The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1866-11-08

fessor at the Sorbonne and College de
France. When he rises to address the
audience there is a thrill Of expectation,
and a hushed anxiety to catch the words
that are falling FROM his lips. He hos
an entire and thorough command Of the
niceties of the French language, and added
to this marvellous familiarity with the
growth and present standpoint Of Science.
Recently, at the distribution of price
awarded by the Polytechnic Association OF
Paris, M. Dumas gave sketch Of the con.
diti0n of scientific knowledge hundred
years ago and compared it with the pro-
gress of the present day. We translate
part of his address:
In l7G5, the employment Of the forces Of
nature was limited to two motors, wind
mills and water mills. Heat had not been
converted into a universal mechanical
power, the steam engine was unknown
The sun marked i'm its daily returns the
hours in the life of man, but Niepce and
Daguerre had not made use Of its light as
the docile instrument of art; photography
had not yet entered into the imagination OF
man.
Electricity had neither given us tho
Voltaic pie, which decomposes the most
obstinate compounds, nor the galvano-
plastic art, which plates the metals without
the aid of fire, nor the electrict light, nor
the electric telegraph. one of the models OF
modern times. due 10 the genius of Ampere;
nor the formidable Ruhmkortf coil, the
rival of gunpowder. and the Just object OF
highest reward. Chemistry had no eNis-
tence. LavOisier had not vet immortalized
his name by the discoveries which explain
the reciprocal relations of matter compos-
ing the surface of the earth. with the same
clCarness that Newton's laws afford the
key to the movement of the stars which
ludorn the heavens Earth, air and water
had not been decomposed; the nature Of
= the metals and that of carbon was un-
known the acids, alkalis and salts now
employed in so many arts, then only Of
fered obscure problems; the cause Of COM
bustion was ignored the existence of gas
distinct from atmospheric air had not been
determined the prOximptc principles OF
plants and animals had not been defined
: their respiration was a mystery, their ru-
O. triton an enigma; agriculture was blind
and devastating practice, running in turn
the different countries of the globe, and
> not permitting to any people to fix itself in
: permanence on any spot.
The movements, the changes and the
81 transformations which affect the material
3 of the surface of the globe and metamor-
? no signification for our ancestors. The
. circuit always in action, which nourishes
:. the plant ut the expense of the plant, and
i which returns to the soil through the ami
! NAL that which it has lost; those harmo-
: nics Of nature which our commonest farm
s er now understands, did not enter into the
u imagination ofthe profoundest philosopher
- IA century ago.
!, Geology was only inspired romance
$ the crust of the earth had not been explored;
=" the history of it's formation had not yet
% been written; it was then unknown that
IS in the fossil remains of a rock is contained
y the infallible story of its origin; that in
& the history of the development of the
. Iglobe are revealed the relative ages of the
. mountains and the clue to the former con-
2 dition of the Alps and Pyrenees and Of
I their rival chains.
Z Thousands of plants had been collected
10 and named, but Jussieu had not yet class
% flied them into natural families Cuvier
= had not applied the same laws to the ami
10 NAL kingdom. One could not then en-
n brace in one view the ensemble of nature,
~ from the ephemeral lichen, which at the
% summit of the Alps or on the confines of
the pole, mark the last palpitations of life,
>. up to the giants of the tropical forest,
- whose existence dates beyond historic
8 times; from the cquivocal microscopic
- productions, the last argument of the par
q tisans Of spontaneous generation, up 10
IS man, created in the image of God. One
., could not, thus guided by Cuvier or Brog-
. Mart, mount from age to age, reconstruct
10 ing in their forms, their aspect, and even
!! their habitations, the animals and plants
81 which have preceded the advent of man
u upon earth and which conduct us through
. epoch on epoch, back to the moment when
z life first manifested itself upon our globe.
10 To-day, man has acquired the right tc
! say Matter, and the forces which IL obeys
= contain no secrets which do not know, Oh
IS shall not be able at some future period "a
.S discover. The history of the earth has nc
q, longer any mystery for me know the
G3 precise date of the transformations upor
w its surface. My eve penetrates the pro
Ss fundity of space; / assign to each star it'
$50 place in the orbit in which it must move
Ss | weigh the sun 1 Rnalyze the substance
- of which it is composed as if it could b'
p6 placed i'm my crucible, and / can say o
80 what elements the stars consist which
decorate the vaults of heaven, even thost
z the light from which requires ages to trav
II el to the focus where the observer perform
~ their dissection upon our earth l play
so with the forces of nature; transform tht
as light into the heat, the heat into light
in electricity, and all of these forms of activi
ofl ty into mechanical power; / convert on
,o compound into another; initiate all th,
. processes of nature dead, and the majority
e- of those of nature living render at will
h the earth fruitful or sterile give to il o
or take from it the power to nourish the plant
" Life is an open book, where, from the em
,ss bryo egg to the death of the animal, rea
~ without obscurity the role of the bloc,
on which circulates that of the heart whic
'al heats and of the lungs which respire tina
ee of the muscles which obey; of tho nerve
IFS which convey the order; of the braii
-. which commands; OF the stomach whic
'i' digests; Qf the chylo which regeneratee.-
Oh In fine, apply to my use all of tho force
is and all of the gifts of nature.
ng This sketch by master hand, reveals {
ce, us the extraordinary progress of Scienc
M during hundred years, and shows no,
ar quietly we appropriate each addition I
&c: our knowledge, without taking into az
Iru count The long years of toll which muI
OH have preceded its full development
w the next hundred years should show equl
va results, it is impossible TO predict whs
ho limit shall be set set TO the progress of tn
world.