Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1875-04-10
The naht OF scienna

the Central congregational Church,
Brooklyn, Rev. DIR. Scudder, pastor, was
very appropriately made the occasion Of
the vast amount Of work
done by Christian missionaries for the
of science. BY Invitation of
the pastor, George May Powell, of the
Oriental typographical Corps, repeated
section Of series of geographical papers |
recently prepared and read by him before \
the American Institute. This section is !
devoted TO the discussion OF the work
done by the missionaries of the fifty-f0ur
various Boards and Societies, for the adj
vancement of geographic and kindred
sciences. He said -
Probably no source Of knowledge In this depart
meat has been so vast, varied and prolific, at SO
insignificant expense to the world, rs tie investi
cations and contributions of these missionaries.
They have patiently collected and truthfully ira IS
mitted great amount of exact and most valuable
geographical knowledge. All this h; s been done
without money and without price, though it would
have cost millions Of treasure TO secure tie same
by any other means. This, with work as civ.
LIKING and also commerce. ;reating agency a..
most impolderlble Ia its results, may be written
on the financial balance. sheets of the nations as
so much "net gain" All this as simply parasitic
growth on the Tree of Life they go to plant.
Much of discovery, especially in regions most
difficult to reach which has been credited to at.
venturous and enterprising travellers and eXplor.
ers as their own, would be more correctly stated
II written down as simply forwarded through
them, to the scientific world, by these mission.
aries.
Ohe of the first steps in the march to conquer
the typographical mysteries of unknown lands,
is to acquire knowledge of the languages of the
peoples inhabiting them. On this head he quoted
as follows from Warrens "rhese for Those" :
"Our missionaries on the Pacific coast are
thought to have demonstrated that these thou.
sands of islands were once settled by men of com.
mon origin. So the original seed or parent stock
is satisfactorily ascertained How came they to
this result? By reIuciA- those many languages
to form, and bringing them within the range of
philosophical Investigation and classification"
chronological Society, in New York, rarely holds
meeting where papers from missionaries on this
topic are not read. Missions have furnished the
means, says one, "that enable the German il his
closet te compare more than 200 languages one
with another, He has at his command the most
unpronounceable words in which Eliot preached;
the monosyllabe of China; the lorlly Sanskrit;
the multifarious dialects of modern India the
smooth languages Of the South Sea Islands; mu.
steal dialects of the African tribes; hfrsh guttur.
ais of the American Indians; and also the Ian.
guages Of various Oriental peoples" Says Col.
burn: "But for the researches of missionaries,
the whole Peninsula of farther India would be in
q great part terra incogRitG"
Almost equally important steps in this march
are those by whicA We eater the realms Of bJtlny,
geology, Zoology, astronomy, ani other depart.
ments Of knowledge, germlle to this subject.
Professor Whitney, of Yale College, Secretary of
the American Oriental Society, writes "ReliSioA,
commerce and scientific zeal rival one another ia
bringing new regions and peoples to light and in
uacovering the long buried remains of others, lost
or decayed; and of the three, the first is the most
pervading and effective"
! The outpoSts of tie mission work are stationary
and scattered like the stars above, over the earth
beneath. They are commanded by those thor
oughly trained in academic shades, and who are
quite as competent to throw the rays OF the lamp
of science as of ethics into the darkest corners Of
reg ons otherwise unknown. This permanence OF
location, and this scholastic training, together
with their great number, combine conditions, in
/ eXpenSlFely lnsullnB great amount, NS well III
good quality, of scientific work.
~ have SEEM" says Warren, "a letter from thu
! celebrated astronomer, Harsche, expressing
thanks to q missionary in Persia Rev. d. T. Stod
dard, for important meteorological discoveries
He pledged to Mr.. stoddard vote of thanks from
the Royal Society"
Carl Rittey, "tie prince of geographers," con
fesses he could not have written his vast works
"Erdkunde" and others, without the aid of mate
rial collected and transmitted by missionaries.
| Champions essays on the botany and geoog,
Of South Africa, in "Silliman's Journal" and Ol
tho topography Of that region in the America
Journal of Science" are few only among tin
works of that talented and cultured Christian
gentleman, who gave his forum. as well as hi,
life to one of the most difficult missions of tlt
world.
Said Professor Sillman: at would be impos
sible for the historian OF the islands of the Pacf
to ignore the important contributions Of mission
aries to the department. of science"
The geological specimens sent by Rev. william
Walker, from Africa; papers sent the American
Association of Science, by Rev. Ebenezer Bun
CESS, on the geology of the Cape Of Good Hope
and the exceedingly important work of Jdsti
Perkins, in determining the geology of Persia
are also cases in point The "New Englander
says that Zulu Land" by Grout-for twent
years n missionary in Africa-"ias tn. accurac
of Photograph" AMI Al lersoa says, "Wi.
. llama Middle Kingdom" i'll 200 pages, is prot
ably the best account ever published of til
Chinese Empire.
Btlbi, ole o. tle great cyclopo liaists, is mos
hearty ia his ackaowie lSc.nelt of tie value o
tie scieltil1 researches of missionaries; ant
Ayassiz tsstilcS tllt, "Few are aw ire how niue.
we owe the missionaries for both their intelligen
Observable of facts, aud their Collecting of spec
linens. We must look to them," says Agassil
"not little, for all in our future efforts for til
advancement of science" "rhe Missionary IIel
ALL" says Carl Ritter, ais wlor3 the reller mas
looS t. md the most valuable documents TIA
have ever beeA sent over by any society, an
where a rich store of sciehtic, historical aal al
: tquaran details may be seen" .
1t would require money enough to enlow q SC
, ciety, > long to keep even one man-who shout
be, in point of intellect character, ana culture
their perrin the place of many of these ilel
maj shals of science. Moflt hl8 wJr6el lift
years il Africa, and many Others as long, q
nearly so, elsewlr'. OF the wori of the mis-
sonary Livingstone, in these departments of SC
eAce, as we'll rs rengion, we feel scarce wortA
to speak. Tie sweetness and the sadness, the re
nance and reality, the grief and the grandeur c
the story seem to say, stand before it in silence
/ and with head uncovered"
Ny own intercourse with missionaries-lookin
at this work with the eye of a business man--whe
in Northern Africa and Western Asia, for the Or
: entail and Typographical Corpi, i'll 1915, fully co
roborates the testimony cited IN this paper; 9
; has alsomy subsequent correspondence with thel
in the same connection, For versatility, origina
ity, and executive ability, not only in the woi
/ icy are sent to 10, and are dong 81 well, but
their nCtiOl the fDrnm DSt women
the East, b promote geography ami its atteniai
sciences, they stand before the world in light a