Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1883-11-23
G.RE FAILURE OF SCIENCE,

least, near one WhlmE,ef iSo1n science
against religion. II the long warfare
religion las often chosen her ground
with stupidity, selected her Weapons
with ignorance, and welded her forces
with passionate fesbleness; but she new
sr made so t,itiful . display and 90 futile
3 nse of her resources as science made
over the death.bed OF President Garfield.
When the question is OF nebul@, Of at
<tns, Of therock's growth and the earth's
age, Of the spirits substance, Of lhe's
origin, Of the infinite in space, the d.
e. 'nceivable in time, the anknowable IN
u eternityscience has il ali her own way.
We cannot bridge the ehasm between
mind and mattef. No man hath seen
God at any tame to prove Him the Gre
a;or. From the grave no being has
arisen to our eyes, and from the stars no
Voice comes to our ears to dispute what
ever the wise men may say. ~ =
But here was solid ground for science
to stand on and demonstrate her power.
I3he had nothing TO do with the remote,
with the past, with distractions. Before
her eyes. under her hand, Lay 8 human
soul in sore STRATA human life hunted
into the valley of the shadow OF death,
longing to come. out again into the sun
shine of The fair and open day. The
whole nation, the whols world shared in
the longing. Whatever love and wealth
could proffer was ready to the hand of
science. Everything that gratitude
could inspire, everything that ambition
could desire, lay in wait to reward the
man wEo should conduct the august
sufferer back through the gates Of life.
And science accepted the trust man.
fully. The most celebrated and the
most accomplished brought to that
darkened chamber their highest knowl-
edge with ever renewed and unwearying
effort. The railroad and, the telegraph
were put under their control. No cost
bindered any experiment OF curtailed
any care. The nation stood behind,
not only permitting, but urging every
expenditure OF brains and money, TO
the same end, urged their own self
interest, patriotism and humanity. Day
ard night they ceased not to work and
watch, and the result was-failure, alb
hte, thorough, undisputed failure--fail.
IRE SC minute and complete that only
its terrible gravity kept it from being
ridiculous, and not even it's terrible
gravity could keep it from being gro-
tesque.
Science can spin the world back be-
tween her thumb and finger billion
years, and we go spinning with it be-
cause we cannot help ourselves. Science
can locate the soul in the grayish mat
ter Of the brain, and We submit because
we cannot dig deeper than that grayish
matter to search for deeper soul. But
when SCIENCE comes. into q practical
realm, whese We can prove or disprove
her accuracy, her keenest scent for
truth, her finest touch OF skill is to
grope till the man is dead and then find
the, bullet in wash. bowl. Nescience
could do that. What ayaied science to
Garfield? She never treated or touched
the wound which the bullet made and
which she was summoned to heal. She
never even found 1t. She made
two CHASTITY wounds herself, and for
eighty days she clawed at them. The
bullet which the surgeons could not
find naturs carefully encgssed. The
bulIet-wound which they never touched
nature safely and silently healed =: =
Surgical science is reduced 10 the pit
iful claim that she alone kept Garfield
alive for eighty days. This is suicidal
self-relegation to the improbable. Rout-
ed on the tangible field Of fact, she fees
to the 'cloud-land OF speculation, ana
again throws up intrenchments.
Nescience has precisely the same
right and the same reasoa to speculate ;
take asman. in perfect health, and give
him into che control Of surgeons, UNI
wounded, and let them make two such
8 wounds as Garfield suffered at his sur
geons' hands. and lot them bora into
those: wounds every day Us Garfield's
wounds we're, bored Hats>---sonletilnes
with seven different catheters Of dii1er-
emit sizes at = single dressing -and let
them feed the man as Garfield was fed,
and furnish him with the malarious mir
that Garfield breathed, and sequesser
him as Garfield was sequestered. and not
> one man in 10000 would survive the
horror Of it for eighty days s:..,- a=
{ Savans, how dare you, in your limit
less ignorance and Impotence, tamper
with our hope ofimmortality? You are
as unable as the clown or the clod to
discover the secret Of physical lie. With
whatshadow Of reason shall You presume
i. to annihilate spiritual life because its Sc
cret eindes you3 The coarsest fanatic
who can see God only on q tipping
table does not display SO monumental .
/ fatuity e. YOU, who can only touch NOR
tally with your elbows, and would alb
.negate immortality because You cannot
clutch i in your fsts Cropping for
truth 81 the botsom Of well yon would
blot out the sun from the heavens, be.
cause you can only seethe faint glimmer
!. OF the STARS ...8
MN HOLDLNts xfIs OH.y. ss
% is generally admitted that civiliza-