The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-07-06

mere are 10 JOe ueStTUC'1Ve rush OI war
and the flow of blood! When the slen-
der thread of the great Germans life
shall break, who dares predict the re-
suits to Europe and the world which
may follow?
Is it not a strange anomaly that Eng
land, having fOrsaken the Turk, Ger
many should take him up? That
movement ostensibly to free Christians
from MOslem oppression should have
once been made abortive bv Protestant
England, and now, since England has
hurried off the stage into Egypt, by
Protestant Germany?
The reason is no secret. What the
great Northern Despot really sought
was not the freedom of the oppressed,
but the capital of Islam. that one peer
less gem, that " KOh-i-nOOr" of the
world that is endued with potencies,
with such hidings of power, that no
inOnarch's brow must ever wear it.
But while its fate is pending all Eu-
rope sleeps under arms, fearing the
rappel to the day of slaughter; and the
millions groan in poverty and toll.
If we pass now, thirdly. to the peace
full domains of science and philosophy,
we find there also the " creature sub
ject to vanity" and the creation travail
ing in pain.
The work of this century has been
to unsettle many of the so-called set
tied theories of science. Some scien-
lists have self-assumed certainty and
dOmineering preci ion in all their ut
terances, but in the light of history
their claims are little less than ludi-
dent theories of geology have appeared
and disappeared within century.
The old theories of light, heat and
electricity have passed away, aud what
is now accepted may share the same
rate.
But the following points may recall
to your minds some Of the lines of ac-
tiOn along which the contest of oppos-
ing theories is waged:
1t we ask science w at is matter
and what is mind, opp sing schools
come forward with conflicting answers.
One hrms that mind is tn spiritual
side of matter, that thought is cerebra-
ton, or discharge of nerve force, aud
that every act of thought and rthec-
ton mas some exciting, external cause
and is never selt-deternined by an act
of personal freedom, the existence Of
such freedom being wholly de MED.
Now, although this theory of mind
seems to Involve the gravest moral
conclusions and results, and to many
thinkers is even absurd, il is nev"rihe-
l'ss advocated with various modifica-
cations by distinguished men, as Tyn-
dali, Huxley, Balm, Spencer, and
large following in speculative thought.
With regard to matter we might rea-
sonably expect a perfect definition,
about which there would be no dIverg-
ence of view. Here, also, we are dis
appointed.
The atomic constitution of matter is
perhaps accepted, bit when we ask
science what the atom Is she falls to
grooming and Travelling in pain on that
minute subject, as she has done for
thousands OF years. 1.-The atom is the
ultimate indivisible unit of matter.'
Very well. Is il spatial? Ii spatial, 1t
can be divided aud is not an ultimate
unit. Ii nOn-sp,tial, no accumulation
of atoms can make II measurable body,
can give weight or form.
''The atom is IL mere center of force"
Here also there is no unity of view
CIcilllsl SlNCs ~ tNCllNC dtllllltN
the astronomer, gravitaton, and tells
us that every atom in the universe at
tracts every other atom. Here lie has
to confess an insoluble mystery. One
body cannot act up IN another and dis
taut body without some medium
through which to act. Muscular force
can attract distant BODY ii connected
with it by chain or other material of
whatever kind. Without any connec-
ton, the exc else IF force is impossible.
But what connection have two atoms
of matter with the diameter of the nni-
verse between them? And yet science
affirms they attract each other. One
resorts to one hypothesis, another to
another. IT'S mystery all. Science
can give us no satisfactory answer.
When we pass by this to the forms
and organisms of matter we are again
met by hostile theories. One school
would persuade you that the conslitu-
ton of the universe is purely mechani-