Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1871-07-27
PETROLEUM V. Nasty,
(Which wuz Posimaster.)
Prejudices, Ancient and Modern.

We read in the writings of one of the
most genial and accomplished of modern
authors, that ''the world is no fools or
sluggard's paradise, but battlefield or
dained from Of old" And evidently true
as this is generally, and more especially
and significantly in moral sense, it is
singularly applicable TO the world Of sci
ence. From the uays of Calico to our
own times, the discoverer and successful
explorer, of the region of the dim I'M
known which surrounds our limited yet
constantly extending Cosmos ofascertain
ed knowledge, has had not only to fight
with Nature, who sometimes struggles
hard to keep her secrets, but, having won
access to her mysteries, TO combat the
prejudices, and often the ignorance Of his
fellow men.
The unwillinsnesS of men to adopt a
new revelation of scientific fact is found,
more or less, in all societies, and is CO.
existent with mental emaciatior which we
find everywhere, and the existence of
which we recently had occasion to de-
piore. 1t is, moreover, the most larenta-
ble Characteristic of an ordinary mind,
paralyzed by being used in one direction
NeElroy. last week somewhat euphemis-
tically called ''srccialism' y, that all truth
that is an advance beyond the narrow
sphere of average expel ience, is doubted,
struggled against, and denied not because
il is false, but lecause il is new.
This atrophy OF the mind is, we are
glad to think, diminishing in extent and
influence In the prodigious activity of
the present day, wien even the rapidity
of modern experimental science does not
prevent microscopic investigation ofe every
detail, and the whole domain is thorough
IL searched for new treasures Of fact the
toiieFs after truth have little patience with
the opposition Of the ignorant. And the
extended and liberal Education of this age.
which is the greatest OF the advantages
that society derives from the increase of
wealth, has done much to secure, for all
new discoveries, a fair hearing and a can
did and impartial criticism. Altogether,
we Americans have little to reprcaeh our
selves With on this ground; indeed we
have among us some who run after the
new, be il true or not; and who, in their
zeal for discovery, forget that scientific
know ledge must grow organically, and
not be created out of nothing. But GER
tainiy no truth. however at variance with
the preccnceived ideas Of half educated
men, will fail to fiId hearers in this coun-
tn, although some OF them may merely
tolerate il 20 await the issue, as GaInaliei
did in notable. instance
It is, thea, q most hopeful sign of the
improved intellectual condition Of this
age, that the unreasoning opposition Of
the average mind and the specialist" is
losing strength and pertinacity. The
complete man, whether be be philosopher,
artist merchant, or mechanic, will never
be specialist" in the narrow sense of
that term He will have syinpathies with
and interest in all honest pursuits, and
consider nothing human, and certainly no
human knowledge as alien to him. The
cultivation of the mind is the first duty
Of every man to whom the blessing of ed
ucafion has been given, and fair index
to mans want of mental capacity and
discipline is afforded By the number and
strength Of his prejudices. And the giant
strides of science, during the past few
years, are not more remarkable in theiref-
feet upon the material and intellectual
we'll being of the world, than in the moral
advantages men have gained by The cult
walton of large hearted and catholic toll
GRANGE for oil diversities of opinion. And
this tolerance is reasonable, and viii con-
tinue 70 increase. II would be strange,
indeed, if men who have seen the light
ming chained and taught te work, and fire
made an obedient and docile helpmate to
man, who have learned the history of the
component parts OF the sun, and have seen
the astronomer sweeping the heavens ito
charm her secret from the latest star"
were all to continue to oppose. with blind
and unyieiding o5stinacy, the introduction
Of new process or a new truth. There
are still many persons consti;utionally
unfit for approaching or doing justice to
the talents and the toll of their fellow
men, bat they are fast diminishing in
number; and, under Providence, it is
Science. majestic, beautiful, and benign,
who shall deliver the world from them
and from their yoke
STEPHEN 4. DoUGLAs.-Horace Gree
ley, in the New York Ledger, speaks thus
of Stephen A. Douglas:
Douglas was the rediest Man ever