Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1879-05-10

"That win SUFFICE" said Rapperschw III
"For when he ceases to exist die. And you
1.-The whole story, here and now, and wlthou
ait is a terrible price to ask of me, sad RI,
perschwyll, "but larger interests than my prid
are at stake. You shall hear the story
a,ter was 'e11 pred Watcnmaker" ne continued
Is not matter Of vanity when say that
ach1eveQ q marvellous degree OF skill in tn
craft. developed faculty of invention tha
lea me into series OF experiments regarding
the capabilities of purely mechanical combina
ClOns. studied and improved upon the beS
autOmata ever constructed by human ingenu.
interested me: saw in Babbage's idea tn
the world.
Then threw up my business and went +.
at the Sorbonne and perfected myself in tina
Dranch OF knowledge. Meanwhile, my pursuits
nao extended far beyond the purely puysica
sciences. Psychol gy engaged me for a time
ana then assembled into the domain of socio
IogJ, which, when adequately understood, il
IIe summary and final application OF all knowl
g 1t was after years OF preparation, and as thu
outcome OF all my studies, that the great dea o.
my life, which had vaguely haunted me eve
since the zurich days, assumed at last a well
defined and perfect FORM
Inc manner of Dir. RapperSchvyll had
changed from dfStruStful reluctance to frank
enthusiasm. The man himself seemed trans.
d0tmed; Fisher listened attentively and with.
help fancying that the necessity of yielding the
secret, SO long and so jealousy guarded by the
physician, was not entirely distasteful to the
NOW listen, Monsieur" continued DR.. Ran.
peIschwyll, Ito several separate propositions
winch may seem at first to have no direct bear
Ing on ee Oh other.
"My experiments In mechanism had resulted
IN machine which went far beyond Babbage's
In Its powers of calculation. Given the data.
tnere was no limit to the possibilities in this
calculated logartthms, calculated an eclipse. II
was fed with figures, and produced results in
ngures. NOW, the relations of cause and effect
are as fixed and unalterable as the laws of
arithmetic. Logic is, or should be, as exact a
science as mathematics. My new machine was
fed with facts, and produced conclusions. In
short 1t reasoned; and the results Of its rea SON.
ing were always true, while the results OF
human reasoning are often, If not always, false
The source Of error in human logic Is what the
philosophers call the personal equation My
macnlne eliminated the personal equations; 1t
proceeded from cause to effect, from premise to
conc fusion, with steady precision. The human
intellect Is fallble; my machine was, and is, in
faltble in its processes.
me the faliacy OF the medical superstition which
holds the gray matter OF the brain and the vital
principle 10 be 1nseparable. l had seen men
l ng with pistol balls imbedded in the meduila
90 Ongata. had seen the hemispheres aud the
ce ebellum removed from the crania of birds
and small animals and yet they did not die. I
believed that, though the brain were to be re-
not die. although he would certainly be Invested
OF the Intelligence which governed all save the
purely reflex actions of his body
once more: profound study of history from
the sociological point Of view, and not fncon-
slderaDle experience with practical human
nature, had convinced me that the greatest
&c nluses that ever existed were on a plane not
SO very far removed above the level of average
Intellect. The grandest peaks In nv native
country, those which all the world knows by
name, tower only few hundred feet above the
unnamed peaks that surround them
Napoleon Bonaparte lowered only little over
the ab.est men around him. Yet that little was
everything, and he Overran Europe. A man who
surpassed Napoleon, as Napoleon surpassed
Murat, In the mental qualities which transmute
thought into fact would have made himself
supreme master OF the whole world
NOW, TO fuse these three propositions into
one: suppose that take man, and, by remov-
ing the brain that enshrineS ali the errors and
failures of his ancestors away back to the
origin OF the race, remove all sources of weak
ness In his future career. Suppose that. in
place OF the fallible intellect which have re-
moved, l endow him with an artificial intellect
that operates with the certainty OF Universal
laws. Suppose that / launch this superior
LelDg, VINO reasons truly, into the hurry burly
OF his interiors, who reason falsely, and await
the inevitable result with the calmness of a
Monsieur, you have my secret. That is pre-
cisely what l have done. In Moscow, where
institution OF st. Vasili for hopeless idiots, /
found boy OF eleven whom they called Stepan
Borovitch since he was born he had not seen,
heard, spoken, or thought. Nature had granted
him, lt was believed, traction OF the sense OF
smell, and perhaps fraction Of the sense OF
taste, but OF even this there was no positive
ascertalnment: Nature had walled in his soul
most enectually. Occasional inarttculate muir
murings, and an incessant knitting and kne ad.
Ing OF the fingers were his only manifestati lns
OF energy. On bright days they would place
MIN IN little rock1ng-chair, in some spot
and frO for hours, working his slender fingers
and mumbl1ng forth his satisfaction at the
warmth In the plaintive and unvary1ng refrain
first saw him.
81 begged Stepan Borovitch of my GOOD
friend DR.. Duchat II that excellent man had
not long since died he should have shared In
my triumph. / took Stepan TO my home and
piled the saw and the knife. could operate
On that poor, worthless, useless, hopeless ira
Vesty OF humanity as fearlessly and as reckless
ton. That was little more than twenty
years ago. To-day Stepan Borovitch Yields
more power than any other man on the face OF
Inc earth. In ten years he will be the auto
never errs; for the machine that reasons
take"
e IoDCI pOluttU QOWuWdEQ at Tue OlO guardian
OF the town, who was seen toiling up the hill
"DIeamers," continued DR.. KapperschwyIl,
shave speculated on the possibility of finding
among the ruins OF the older civilizations some
brief inscription which shall change the founda-
lions OF human knowledge. Wiser men deride
lhe dream, and laugh at the idea Of scientific
kabaDala. The wiser men are fools Suppose
that Aristotle had discovered on a cuneiform
GOV cred tablet at Nineveh the words, Survival
of the Ffttest.' Philosophy would have gained
twenty-five hundred years. will give you, In
almost as few words, truth equally pregnant
The ultimate evolution of the creature Is into
The creator. Perhaps it viii be twenty-five hun
bred years before that truth finds general &C.
ceptance, yet it is not the less a truth. The
Baron Sav1tch Is my creature, and / am his
creatOr-creatOr OF the ableSt man in Europe,
the ablest man In the world.
Here Is our ladder, Monsieur. l have full
filled my part OF the agreement. Remember
your promise"
After two months tour Of Switzerland and
the Italian lakes, the Fishers found themselves
at the Hotel Splendid In Paris surrounded by
people from the States. 1t was relief 10
Fisher, after his somewhat bewildering expert
enCe at Baden, followed by Surfeit OF stu.
pendouS and ghoStly snow peaks to be once
more among those who Disseminated between
q straight flush and crooked straight. and
whose bosoms thrilled responsive to his own at
the mere mention OF the Bunker Hill Monu-
ment. 1t was particularly agreeable for him to
IND at the Hotel Splendid, In party of East
erQefS who had RI COO Z ho