The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-09-15
SCIENCE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Philadelphia Record.l


 Science, in the broad sense of the term, is knowledge but in its technical sense II excludes artistic and literary knowledge of all descriptions, while arithmetic. al- zebra. pure geometry and other abstract sciences are but so many instruments with some one or more of which the worker in science mus, become familiar. Thus divested of its surroundings. science be- comes synonymous with the natural sciences; that IS. with ,he know ledge of the universe, of the world as a part of that universe, and of our own bodies and minds as part of the world. All the advancement of the present age. the loom. the steam engine, the locomotive, the telegraph, the telephone. the electric mo- tor, are due 10 the knowledge of nature. acquired. .n ;he hrst instance. by those who from sheer love of nature have studied it's wonders and found out its mysteries. careless of the hootings of the mob and the sneers of the cultured. and. in the most instances, applied by the in- ventor and manufacturer. who for their labor have, as a rule, won the applause of millions and filled their pockets with untold gold. It is mere quibbling upon words to say that discoveries in science are due to chance. 4 hundred men ignorant of minerals may pass a moun- tain of cinnabar without dream of i,s value but the flrst practiced miner who sees 1t, though he may be prospecting for gold, knows the value of the mercurial ore. In sense. the immediate finding of anything is chance. Twenty may look and bu, one ind. Often he who looks for one thing finds another. Bu, in all cases the inquiring, observant spiri, anu the necessary knowledge to turn the dis covery To account must be present. other wise the pearl of great price Is thrown away as useless pebble.
 The advancement of science has no, been limited 10 the mastery over materials and powers outside of ourselves. The knowledge of what life Is, of the nature of our bodies. of the structure of the organ in which the mind resides, of the forces which act and the processes which go on within us, has advanced greatly and the only reason that such knowledge has not bettered the condition of the human race 10 greater extent than i, has, Is to be found in the fac; that the application of this knowledge has to be made by the individual himself, ard that the education gwen 10 the individual has taught him 10 take more care of an inanimate machine of human manufacture than of that wondrous result of the long evolution of ages which he calls his body, and which contains all that he can call himself l. Is for lack of necessary knowledge in this respect tha, we ind the great majority of mankind ready to sacrihce character. health and happiness in this world at the shrine of Mammon.
 Were science once properly taugh, in our schools, check could be given to some of the forces which seem to be dis integra,ing society. Wealth, with the power and position accompanying it. is now sought for so anxiously that not only the rights of others, but those of the in- dividual are ignored in the struggle 10 obtain it. Were men taught from infancy the certainty that punishment will in this life surely follow a sin against natuye, and that an outraged society will, in various ways revenge an injury done to its members-were these things taught with the same persistency with which the doctrines of hell and the devil. and how to cheat the devil, are incalculaied, the millennium would soon commence.