The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1867-02-14
fEon lhs NsM York obseFysr.
I Century of Science.

z L a 81
NDne Of the most eloquent men in
France Is NJ Dumas, Senator, member
ofsthe lIRsttnte, ex-Ministerof Iastruc-
ton, Professor at the Sorbonne and
College de France. Recently az the
distribution Of prizes awarded by the
Polytechnic Association Of Paris, M.
Dumas gave d asketch Of the condition
of scientific knowledge hundred years
ago ,and dcompared it withsthe progress
Of the present day. Wegive a part OF
bis address. - ~ seN
n 9Ip fT65theeuIploy the forces
Of nature, was limited to two motors,
wind mills, and water-mills. Heat bad
not been converted into a universal
maDhanical power, the steam engine
was unknown. The sun marked by its
daily returns the houfsin the life OF man,
hut, ,Niepce and Daguerre had not made
use of its light as the docile instrument
ofAft; photography had not yet entered
into the imagination Of man, ,Elec-
tricity had neither given us the Voltaic
pile, which decomposes the obstinate
compounds, nor the galvanoplastic art
which plates the metals without the aid
of FIRE, NOR the electric light, nor the
electric telegraph, one Of the maryeis
Of modern times, due to the genius Of
sAmpere, NOR the formidable Ruhmkorff
coil, the rival of gunpowder, and the
Just object ofshighest reward. Chem
istrY had no existence. LaVoisier had
not vet immortalised his name by those
discoveries which explain the reciprocal
Telations Of matter composing the sur
face of the earth. with the same clearness
that Newton's laws afford the Key to the
movements of the stars which adornthe
heavens Earth, air, and water had not
been decomposed; the nature of the
metals and tofscarbon was unknown
the acids, alkalies,. and salts now en-
ployed in 90 mapy.arts then only offered
obscure problems; the cause Of com
bustion was ignored; the existence Of
gas, distinct from atmospheric air had
not been determined; the proximate
priCipies of plants and animals had not
been defined; their respiration was
mystery, their nutrition an enigma;
agriculture was blind and devastating
practice, running in turn the different
countries of the globe, and not permit
ting to any people TO fix itself in per-
maEsnee on apyPpot.5 The movements,
the changes, and the transformations
which affect the material Of the surface
Of the globe and metamorphose 1t ac-
cording to times and places, had no
qualification for our ancestors, 1.-The
circuit, Always il action, which nour-
iEheS tue plant at the expense Of the
k0ii TIE animal at the. expense Of the
plant and which returns tc the Boil
fhbo6gh the animal that which it has
lost; these harmonies of nature, which
ihecommonest farmer nowunderstands,
did bot enterihio heimagination Of the
profoundestp philosopher q century ago.
Geology was nothing more than inspired
romance tho crust of the earth had not
been explored; the history Of its form
alton bad not yet been written it was
then unknown that in the fossil remains
Ofarock iscohtained 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 cine TO the former condition Of the
Alps and Pyrenees, and Of their fiva
chains. Thousands Of plants have been
collected and named, but Jussieu had
not yet classified them into natural
families; Cnyier had not applied the
same laws to The animal kingdoml One
could not then embrace ID ohal view the
sshsuh6le of nature, from the ephemera
1iehens which, at the summit OF thu
ALPS, or on the confines Of the pole
mark the last palpitations of life, up Il
the giants Of the tropical forests, who's,
existence dates beyond historic times
from The equivocal microscopic produc
tions, the last Argument of spontaueou
generation, up TO man created in the
image of God. One could not, guided
~ CpYier oT Brogniart, mount from ag
70 age, reconslructing in their forms
tIleif aspect, and even their habilhtions
the animais and plants which have pre-
s.Gceded Che advent Of man upon earth
and which conducts us through epocl
,npon epoch, back 10 the moment WheI
vlile' 'frst maintained itself upon the globe
To-day man has acquired the right Il
say: Matter, and the forces which i
s0beys, oontains no secrets which l dc
sffot know, or shall not be able atscmt
future period to discovers the history
Of the earth hw no longer any mystery
for he, am present at ils earliest ages
] reconstruct tBe beings Whomit haI
n0drlahed Iknow 8he precise date O.
tho traRelofmali0ns upon It's surface
Ny eye penelrates the profundity o
sspaOe,e ! assign to each star ia place il
sfbesofbit n which II must move
weigh thA sun; Il aRalyze thS sWbstanc,
Of which Il is composed, aS " IL CoulC
sbe'pheed iu.my eruGble, aldEt ] can. sa,
sofsMkat eIementG iho stats consist whicl
decorate the vaVle OF tieaseh, ever
those the ightff6ih which rdiiires age
s4oNaYell 10 the to6psSyhet0 the observ
eF-perfnTTas their dissection upon on
TsFlhP fplay With the forces Of nature
] transform the light into heat, the hea
~. fts.Lk a1oat.t.,t,s int ,nacnntts,,