Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1866-05-11
oNEHUNpRED YEARS oF SCIENCE.

Is thrill of expectation, and a hushed
anxiety to catch the words that are to fall
from his lips He has an entire and thorough
command of the nieetIes Of the French Ian
guage, and added To this marvellous famil-
iarty with the growth and present standpoint
of science. Recently. at the distribution Of
prizes awarded by the Polytechnic Associa-
tion Of Paris, NJ Dumas gave sketch of
the condition Of scientific knowledge a hun
dred years ago, and ecapared it with the
progress of the present day We translate
a part Of his address:
''l765, 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 by its daily returns the hours in the
life of man, but Niepce and Daguerre had
not made use Of its light as the doeile in
strument of art; photography had not yet
entered into the imagination of man.
Electricity had neither given us the
Voltaic pile, which decomposes the most
obstinate compounds nor the galvanoplastic
art, which plates the mentals without the
aid of fire, nor the electric light, nor the cleo
tic telegraph, one Of the maryels OF modern
times, due to the genius of Ampere: nor the
lOIniaDlC IAuuAlhUIu Gull bIC l1fdl VI III
powderand the just object ofhighest reward.
Chemistry had no existence. Lavolster had
not vet immortalized his name by those dis
coyeries which explain the reciprocal rela-
tions of matter composing the surface of
the earth with the same clearness that New
TOMS laws afford the key to the movements
of the stars which adorn the heavens.
Earth, air and water had not been decom-
posed the nature Of the metals and that of
carbon was unknown; the acids, alkalis and
salts, now employed in SO many arts, then
only offered obscure problems; the cause of
combustion was ignored; the existence OF
gas, distinct from atmospheric AIR, had not
been determined; the proximate principles
of plants and animals had not been defined;
their respiration was a mystery, their nu-
triton an enigma; agriculture was blind
and devastating practice, running in turn
the different countries of the globe, and not
permitting 70 any people to fix itself in per-
manence on any spot.
1.-The movements, the changes and the
transformation which affect the material OF
the surface of the globe and Inetamorphose
it according to times and places, had no
signi6cation for our ancestors. The circuit
always in action, which nourishes the plant
at the expense of the soil, the animal at the
expense Of the plant, and which returns to
the soil through the animal that which It
has lost those harmonies of nature which
our commonest farmer now understands,
did not enter into the imagination OF the
pFofoundest philosopher century ago.
GEOLOGY was only inspired rouaancc
the crust Of the earth has not been explor-
ed the history of its formation has not
vet been written it was then unknown that
in the fossil remains of rock is contained
the infallible story of its origin that in the
history Of the development of the globe IS
revealed the relative ages of the mountains
and the clew to the former condition Of the
Alps and Pyrenees and Of their rival chains
Thousands of plants had been collected and
named. but Jussien had not yet classified
them into natural families; Cuyier had not
applied the same laws to the animal king
dom. One could not then embrace 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 palpitatiens OF life, up to the
giants of the tropical forests, whose exist
ence dates beyond historic times; from the
equivocal microscopic productions, the last
argument of the partisans OF spontaneous
generation, up to man created IN the image
of God One could not, thus guided by
Cuvier or Brogniart, mount from age to
age, reconstructing In their forms, their as
pect, and even their habitations, the ami
mails and plants which have preceded the
advent of man upon earth, and which con-
duct us through epoch on epoch, back to
the moment when life first manifested Itself
upon our globe.
To-day man has acquired the right to
say:
contain no secrets which / do not know, or
shall not be able at some future period to
discover; the history of the earth has no
longer any mystery for me; | am present
at its earliest ages; | reconstruct the beings
whom it has nourished; | know she precise
date of the tranformations upon Its surf
ace.
''My eye penetrates the profundity of
space | assign to each star its place in the
orbit in which it must move; / weigh the
sun | aHalyze the substance Of which it is
as if it could be placed in my
crucible. and | can say of what elements the
stars consist which decorate the vaults Of
heaven, even those the light from which
ages to travel to the focus where
the observer performs their dissection upon
our earth; / play with the forces of nature;
i transform the light into beat, the heat
into light, electricity into magnetism, mag
netism into electricity, and all of these
forms Of activity into mechanical power; |
one compound into another; | imi-
tate all the processes of nature dead, and
the majority of those of nature living
render at viii the earth fruitful or sterile
[ rive to it or | take from it the power to
noutish the plant Life is an open book,
where, from the embryo egg to the death Of
the animal, | read without obscurity the
role of the blood which circulates that of
the heart which beats, and of the langs
which respire; that of the muscles which
obey; of the nerves which convey the or
der of the brain which commands Of
the stomach which digests; Of the chyle
which regeneratcs. In fine, | apply to my
use all of the forces and all of the gifts of
nature
This sketch by master-hand reveals to
us the extraordinary progress of science du-
ring hundred years, and shows how quiet
IL we appropriate each addition TO our
knowledge, without taking into account the
long years of toll which must have preceded
its full development. If the next hundred
years should show equal results, it is inpos-
sible to predict what limit shall be set to the
progress Of the world:
NICELY CAUGHT Some Fenians in New
York were trying to coax two green Irish
servant girls to invest their hard earn
ings in their bonds, and stated as an in
that ''all the Irish girls in the
next house had taken some.
- 4 II : on xVav Yid YES was the SbarD