The Bozeman weekly chronicle. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1883-1889, 1883-07-04


and went in and hid raw hide where
! he could reach it handy.
A Fancied Symposium Between DR..
TyndaIl and A MonOthiest.
| Even the grand old Plato could break
forth intOthe exulting exclamation that
light is the shadow Of God, but it seems
our modern philosophers have manipu-
lated the shadow in preference to the
substance, while DR.. Tyndall possess I'M
limited faith in the sun as the infinite
source of all life, he uses and summons
forth his bitter bile and cutting sar-
casm, and ridicules the God ofthe Mono
theist
Tyndall: Molecular forces determine
the form which the solar energy assumes
in the separation of carbon and oxygen
This energy may be so conditioned as to
result in one case in the formation of
cabbage, and in another the formation Of
an oak. So, also, as regards the reunion
of the carbon and the oxygen, the molc-
cular machinery through which the
combinding energy acts, may, in one
case, weave the texture of frog, while
IN another it may weave the texture of a
man.
Monotheist: Wonderful machinery
this, o man of science, to turn out frogs
and apes and monkeys. and finally men.
If such marvellous achievements rs these
were to be attributes to personal intel
ligent and omipotent being they would be
like Spencer's fairy tales, or the lamp of
Aladdin, but because they are wrought
by the lifeless sun they are easy to di-
gest. Hence DR.. Tyndall sees this mole
cular machinery turning out cablaees
and cucumbers and men. 1t seemsthat
pumpkin heads containing the brains Of
gorillas would produce more intelligent
and rational thought than this. But
whence this wonderful machine Itself
whence the loom which with infinite
ease weaves the organic textures of frogs
and philosophers. Did it weave itself?
or was it woven in some precedent loom,
and can loom weave with a weaver !?
This protoplasmic force which is unin-
telligent and impersonal must possess in
finite wisdom in the arrangements con-
trivances and unrolling of our race from
insr r. -anic mucilaginous substances. Force
drives vessel over the ocean, but intel
ligent and regulating power is required
in conducting it to land. Force must be
intelligent or unintelligent, personal or
impersonal, and there can be no intelli-
gence, without living, thinking, vital
organic entity in which such inheres.
So, after all, DR.. Tyndall your wonderful
machine must have been woven in the
loom of your kindled imagination, and
the molecular machinery to which you
refer must be its ebullient sparks and
| flashes.
Tyndall: Long thinking and expert
menting, have led philosophers to con-
clude that matter is composed of atoms
from which whether separate OF COM
bined, the whole material world is built
up.
Monotheist: But, O man of science,
hast thou not read Of the philosophers
of antiquity, whose names sparkle with
immortal splendor upon the scroll of
fame; how these arrived at the same
conclusion long before the birth of a
Tyndall, Huxley, Darwin and Spencer
Are not your experiments in philosophy
like those in Acoustics, based upon the
theories Of Grccian and Roman men ?
and why claim the praise and immortal
honors of bringing to light truth when
it was discovered thousands Of years ago.
Hast thou not cleaned from the pages of
oriental history how that Thales, Diog.
enes, Appollonius, and Anaxasoras.
taught this doctrine? and hast thOn not
understood that while these atomlcal
philosophers maintained that the mater
ial world is built up of,atoms, they
never violated the principles Of common
sense so unblushingly as to say it was
built without Il builder, that the world
with all its symmetrical b nauty and rytl =
mic:,l order enabled them to arrive at the
safe conclusion that a Supreme Mind was
the Builder. and hast thou not further
more learned that, that sect of philoso-
piers opposed to the atomic school sucl,
as Epicurus, Democritus, Lucretius and
Leucippus have been held in dishonor-
able rep;ite and everlasting contempt,
| for their perversion and debasemcnt of
of the atomic hypothesis. DIR. Tyndall
can espollse faithfully and tenaciously
the pernicious principles of the wave
theory Of sound, and still reject the lin
pid streams of substantiatism while they
are parting at his side. One thing is too
small the other is too large, hence he is
difficult to please. Know, o most adj
vanced philosopher, that this reservoir
of life from which all life proceeds is
God, and that nothing is great or small
with him. The jeweled arches of the
planetary system, the phosphorescent
gems of the sidereal heavens are nothing
in his grasp, yet the indiyisible molecule
receives It's share of light and glory, his
mercy springing forth from the uncre-
ated throne, inspires the feather,
chorister with gladness, and thrills the
nature Of men and angels with unuttel-
able joy. He gives its lustre to the in
sects wing and wheel his throne upor.
the rolling worlds
I MosorHElsr.