The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1858-11-11


position belongs to them than of most
important agencies in the progress of hu-
man kind 1t Is easy 10 see this truth
when, as in the discovery of the New
World by Columbus, it is Illustrated on
grand scale. All know how that even;
gave the thoughts of uen new direction,
how it infused vitality into trade and COLI
merce, how it called the yagrant magma
tions of busy dreauers to realities more
exciting than fiction. how it stirred the
hearts of the hopeful and the brave with
strange emotions But in some degree,
this is what occurs whenever mind makes
a signal conquest and adds new realm
to its doininions. The geometrical dis
coveries Of this age furnished Plato with
the means of reforming the intellectual
culture cf Greece. Jurisprudence i'm
parted similar impulse to Roman mind.
In modern times great discoveries have
fixed new points ofdeparture for the race.
If We take the additions to human knowl-
edge that have been made by astronomy.
chemistry, and geology, we may, indeed
map off the vast space which they occupy
in the positive science of the day. Bu,
who can measure the prodigious influence
over mind which they have exerted !?
Viewed i'll one aspect only viz, the oleUei-
opment Of The sense Of the infinite, no one
can form even an approximate idea of their
invaluable utility. The practical uses Of
these sciences in the civilization of the age
are too palpab!e to require notice. De-
prive Us of them, and it would be c.tas-
trophe almost equivalent to a lapse into
barbarism. But they have rendered a far
higher and nobler service than the senses
Or the understanding can appreciate. To
estimate their worth we must follow them
in their magnificent demonstrations of the
boundlessness and glory OF that inherl
tance, which they have certified on grounds
independent of religion, as the property
and theatre of the human mind. They
have appealed to the senses Of the infinite
within by methods altogether their own.
They have cultivated our sublimest in-
stincts, not by initiating the art of poetry
or following the lead OF intuitional phlloso-
pliers, but by the slow and sure proofs Of
science, by series of discoveries in the
material universe that have brought US
into close contact with the infinite. This
is the great service which modern science
is performing for man. 1t speaks to the
soul, IL speaks language that is as an
ciCnt as the heavens Of God. And al
though it has illustrated and confirmed
the external evidences Of the Scriptures,
yet we can not hold its Office, in this par
ticular, to be compared with the spiritual
glory which it has shed over the hopes
and aspirations of our religious nature
Man needs nothing SO much as great thoughts
and sublime yearnings. He was created to
feel the supernatural within and without him,
and he cannot be man il this sense Of the su-
pernatural be dead ar dormant il his bosom.
Science now befriends him in the hoiest in
terests of his being. 1t digniies and cnnobles
his aims. 1t calls out with intense fervency
his best feelings. Nor is this all. The science
of the nineteenth century holds firmly in its
hand the magic wand of the Imagination.
Truth is indeed stranger than friction. New
worlds are grander things than new poems.
Within q few years the number of known
members of the planetary SYSTEM" says Pro
tessor Loonis, ''has been more than doubled
A planet Of vast dimensions has been added
to our system thirty six new asteroids have
been discovered four new satellites have been
detected; and new ring has been added to
saturn" Add 10 these astronomical results
the recent discoveries of other sciences and
then turn to such 2gnfcenttrains Of thought
as Professor BIbbage elaborates in the moral
Of tue mechanical principl Of action and re-
action tnrn to that ingenious aud profound
tractate, "Thc Stars Of the Earth - TO the
" TclegTdphic System Of the Universe" as pre-
SeIted by President Hitchcock in his "Rcli-
giuu of Geology and tell US if science is not
expanding and cultivating the Imagination
far more than poetry or the tue arts; Take
the grandest passage in the .randeSt poem Of
the world--paradso Lost. Follow Milton in
his flight through the universe stand with
Uricl in the sun and from his lofty watch
tower look over creation; pursue the track Of
the Arch-fend as the air sinks oppressed with
its ponderouS burden and the stars pale their
light beneath the shadows Of it's dusky hue.
and you have an impression Of Subli.ui'y that
poetry only in its highest moods is capable of
creating. Fresh from this wonderful excur-
sion Of genius, visit an astronomical observa-
tory and look through a frSt-class telescope.
If your mind is thoroughly informed with as
Economical knowledge, if you have profound
SenSibilities, quick instinct for grandeur, a
sensitive and glowing imagination, how your
soul is moved aS..literature never moved it, at
this vast spectacle OF silent and overwhelming
majesty Such depth of quietude-suc
hush as if the departed Sabbaths
Of earth had gathered here their solemn peace
fdlness--such spbdued and mystic glory as if
escaped from the vailed splcndors OF Godhead
who ever felt elsewhere 80 close an e9Yirep-
ment of the infinite
SUDDEN CHANGEs.-Mr. George W,
Constable, one Of the Salt Lake mail con-
tractors, says that when he left Salt Lake
Il t.l r Il IL