Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1872-11-28
Sound Sense in . Scientific Chair


Science coming to its senses may
seem to be an absurdity, but there is
some evidence that it is a fact. No
true man would disparase science, and
they therefore who despise the highest
ana truest of all sciences,-that which
belongs 10 the region Of mind and spir-
it,-are not t, pe men, At least not fully
developed men; they are ouc-sided,
partial, and often p,ejudiced. The
apostles Of thought have sought to ex'
plain effects without an adequate cause
they substitute words for things, and
would persuade the world that when
they have proved that something should
be as they have put it, therefore THEN
statement Of fact 10 the rationale Of it.
It is not too much to affirm that
science has not yet assigned an ade-
quate cause for anything. The origin
Of life Is a. profound = mystery to-day
as before Huxley, or Darwin, OF Tyn-
dali, or any Of their predecessors lived.
The development theory has never
reached the beginning Of the SERIES
Nothing has been proved, but every
thing has been taken for granted or
assumed. But the pom sto, the place
for the foot of tho lever is the one
essential thing for , lift. If chain
has a rotten link, it il useless for draugbt,
and Just Us useless is it if the staple has
not hold fast. What has all the
modern discoveries in science done to-
ward accounting for the phenomena OF
the world around and above US? Why
docs stone fall when dropped from a
height? Dr.. Carpenter, President Of
the British Association, at its late meet
ing at Brighton, took hold of this sub
ject with the skill Of = master. Boing
at the head of an association Of scient-
lists, his utterances are the more note
worthy, and We could not conceal the
satisfaction with which We read the FOL-
lowing Introductory remarks, so in har-
mony with the uniform sentiments Of
this journal, but in this day We very
rarely hear from the chairs of scientific
schools. The President said:
ut has been customary with success
Give occupants Of this chair, distin-
guished as leaders in their several
divisions Of the noble army Of Science,
to open the proceedings Of the meetings
over which they respee lively presided
with some aspect Of nature in her rela.
ton to man. But I an not aware that
any Of them has taken up tho other
side Of the inquiry-that which con.
Germs man MS the interpreter Of Ma.
ture;' and l have thought it inappro.
pirate to lead you to the consideration
Of the mental processes by which are
formed these fundamental conceptions
Of matter and force, Of cause and effect,
of law and order which furnish the basis
OF oil scientific reasoning, aud consti-
tute the phtlosophia prtn'a Of Bacon.
There is great deal Of what cannot
but reward a. fallacious and mislead-
ling philosophy oppositions to science
falsely so-called '-abroad in the world
at the present time. Aud 1 hope to sat-
isfy you that those who set up their
conceptions Of the orderly sequence
which they discern in the phenomena
Of Nature as fixed and dstcrminute
laws, by which those phenomena not
only are within all human experience,
but always have been, and always must
be, invariably governed, are really
guilty Of tho intellectual arrogance
they condemn in the systems Of the an
clients, and place themselves in diamet-
rioal antagonism to those real philoso-
piers by whose comprehensive grasp
and penetrating insight that order has
been 20 far disclosed. IN p Obser-
1e..