The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1876-10-12
SCIENTIFIC CULTURE.

Man enters this outward world on the
plane of simple necessity. He begins from
total Ignorance, and has everything to learn.
He is the suhjsct-ehild of nature, her vas
cal and slave. By virtue of this life and
action, he is merely an animal, the ''feather-
less biped," initiating as best he can bis
furrcd, festhered and four-footed relatives,
the denzens of forest, field and air. At
first, reposing absolutely in that crude con-
dition, his bosom soon begins to throb with
higher aspiration, and slowly he learns 20
achieve results and assume development.
He hears a voice of infinite authority say
ing, as the host in the parable to his humble
guest, go up higher" From the drudge
of nature, he is to become the victorious
subduer and transformer of the visible
world. To impel him to this mastery, the
blind forces and elemental energies jostle
him on every side. They crowd upon,
overrun, pinch and alright HIM until he is
coerced into resisting and mastering them
by his understanding, and accomplishes
due victory.
Theu these hostile powers become his
own, the willing servitors of him who
knows the secret of their strength. Fer
culture is the true wonder-worker. 1t
rames the prairie and the savage. u plants
a school house on every hill. lines the riv-
ers with workshops and factories, and turns
the wild acres into orchards and vineyards.
Its vast enginery treads the mountains
down and beats the ocean white. Ii
wrestles with the hurricane, and is not
overthrOwn; it birds the Merrimac and
Missouri to the crank of its wheels; it
grapples with the lightning, and wrenches
services from its grasp. Through culture
man learns to tame the chaos. He has the
planet for his pedestal. His brain is a
magnet running out threads of relation
through every clod and stone, acid and
atom. As, in the old world, all roads led
t. Rome; So, to the eye of culture, from
every object in nature go highways to man.
He is the root and fore whose bloom and
fruitage is the world, and each thread in
the web of universal being has its end in
mans heart and brain. Not stone, or q
plant, or living creature but carries up its
heart-thread into his loom, there to be
wound into human nature, and hcncefortI
to follow his lead, as the organ of the
! REASON that made the world.
Thus can man lift himself above the rude
stress and strain of material nature, over
come Its opacity, make 1t lucid to his
thought, and evolve from its cold substance
the warm beams of bent fit and use. The true
| Orpheus is here whose music leads the rocks
the trees, and the beasts to group them
selves in mild obedience around a new,
superior centre. The history of this strug,
| gle between the will of man and outward
nature we term science. while the ole
poetic Greeks grandly drew the same pic
ture In the figure of Prometheus chained
Helpless, naked, riveted to the rough crsg
he continues serenely at one with himself
knowing that there surely awaits him the
loftiest triumphs and the most victOriou!
| success.
Here it is, the old Pfomethean work to
be done in these new days, as ever. Moth
ing can give escape; nothing can take the
task eff our hands. The hearty acceptance
of scientific culture opens the only path
way to Paradise, for men can De wise only
through the brth-throes of the intellect
and the winged ascent of the soul. Will
solemn watch the serene, all-judgins
spirit waits and looks until the whole ma,
Gerial environment of man shall be pene
trated by the golden shafts of science, anG
all things lie outspread in one great amt,
and cooperation within the mighty horlzol
of rational truth.
If much remains toPbe done, there is
also, every ground for confidence anC
courage. There is a newborn toleration anC
charity breathing like spring time over tn
world. Under this genial warmth, tn
tender leaves of new arts and sciences ar
showing above the ground. Even religion
will one day become identical with good
ness and truth, and so end an old quarrel
A faith has arisen il the alleviatIon anC
gradual extinction of human suffering, il
the rescue of the body frnm vice and degra
dation, IN the Improvement of circumstan
ces, and the aunulment of many tempta
tions; in general terms, culture has creates
a new conscience In States and individuals
and guiding light has issued from it, a
from u sun.