The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1885-12-02
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THE AGE OF DISCOVERY

At no time since men have dwelt up-
on the earth have their notions abou,
the universe undergone so great a
change as in the century of which we
are now approaching the end. Never
before has knowledge increased so ran
IDLY; never before has philosophical
speculation been so actively conduct
ed. or its results so widely diffused. II
IS characteristic of organic evolution
that numerous progressive tendencies,
for long time lnconspicuous, now and
then unite to bring about a striking
and apparently sudden change: or a
set of forces, quietly accumulatinv in
one direction. at length unlock some
new reservoir of force. and abruptly
inaugurate new series of phenomena,
as when water rises in tank until its
overflow sets whirling system of
toothed wheels. 1t may be that Nature
makes no leaps. but in this way she
now and then makes very long strides.
Ii Is IN this way that the course of or
ganlc development is marked here and
there by memorable epochs, which
seem to open new chapters in the his
tory OF the universe. There was such an
epoch when the common ancestor of
ascldian and amphioxus first showed
rudlmentary traces of vertebrai COL
umn- There was such an epoch when
the air-bladder of early amphibians be.
gan to do duty as a lung. Greatest of
ali. since the epoch. still hidden from
our ken, when organic life began upon
The surface of the globe. was the birth
OF that new era when, through a won-
drous change in the direction OF the
txrs.t III Of,
tv appeared upon the scene. In the
career of the human race we can like
wise point to periods in which it has
become apparent that an immense
stride was taken. Such a period marks
the dawning of human history, when
after countless ages of desuitory tribal
warfare, men succeeded in uniting into
comparatively stable political societies,
and through the medium of written
language began handing down to pos
terlty the record of their thoughts and
deeds Since that morning twilight of
history there has been no era so strong
ly marked, no change so swift or so
far-reaching in the conditions of hu-
man life, as that which began with the
great maritime discoveries of the fif-
teenth century. and is approaching its
elimination to-day. In its earlier
stages this modern era was signalized
by sporadic achievements of the human
intellect, great in themselves, and lead
ing to such stupendous results as the
boldest dared not dream of. Such
achievements were the invention of
printing. the telescope and microscope
the geometry of Descartes, the astron-
omy of Newton, the physics of Huy-
ghens, the physiology of Harvey.
Mans senses were thus indefinitely en-
larged as his means of registration
were perfected; he became capable of
extending physical inferences from the
earth to the heavens; and he made his
first acquaintance with that luminifer-
Gus ether which was by and by to re-
veal the intimate structure of matter
in regions far beyond the power of the
microscope to penetrate.
1t is only with the present century
that the vastness of the changes thus
beginning to be wrought has become
apparent. The scientific achievements
OF the human intellect no longer occur
sporadicaily; they follow one upon an
other, like the organized and systemat-
ic conquest of resistless army. Each
u
erful implement in the hands of innu-
merable workers, and each year wins
over fresh regions of the universe from
the unknown TO the known. Our own
generation has become so wonted to
this unresting march OF discovery that
we already take 1t as matter OF
course. Our minds become easily
deadened to its real import, and the
examples we cite in illustration of it
have an air of triteness. We scarcely
need TO be reminded that all the advan-
ces made in locomotion, from the days
of NeuuchadneZZar TO those of Andrew
Jackson, were as nothing compared to
the change that has been wrought
within a few years by the introduction
of railroads. Ia these times. when
Puck has fulfilled his boast and put a
girdle about the earth in forty minutes,
we are not. yet, perhaps, in danger OF
forgetting that a century has not
elapsed since he who caught the light
ming upon his kite was laid in the
grave. Yet the lesson of the facts, as
well as of the grandmother spinning
wheel that stands by the parlor fireside,
is well to bear in mind. The change
lneTeln exempllneu since Penelope
piled her distaff is far less than that
which has occurred within the memory
of living men. the development OF
machinery, which has worked such
woniers. have greatly altered the po-
litical conditions of human society. Sc
that huge republic like the United
States is now as snug and compact and
easily manageable as was the tiny re-
public of Switzerland in the eighteenth
century. The number of men that can
live upon a given area of the earth {
surface has been multiplied manifold,
and while the mass of human life has
thus increased. its value has been al
the same time enhanced. John Fiske
| IN November AtidHtic