The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1885-06-14
TRIBUNE PHILOSOPHY
4 Writer Who Objects to its
Application
sosr FACTS AND FIGURES
, Being True, WIN not DC
VINCE RsIished by the american
Gentleman

m address before the grau.o ".
III o. +be collegiate Institute, IN TINS
CitS' on the evening of June 9sn, ~ ths
Guy, Om of the Tribune advises the
pitn nIors to "study the sciences as they
scnoi@ go - and then to show his famll-
nave ' m;tb sciences INDUCES in the fel.
, ,an,;Dg scientific incOngruities; I'm all
i ~" a9ss Of t.. past there is no spectacle
p s 50 grand as that presented by the
nan nan 81 sobools of the United States,
a at 5000 miles from sea 10 s ca
no master ever composed music
am, anu .. ~ tender and solemn as the anthem
n With the revolving hours, rises
w. - tho schools and fills the land with
melody daily. while the sun runs one
a;sbtb of his daily course" L wonder
10 tine students thought OF tins
VIC: Of scientific knowledge, and
~ tbo philosopher has been engaged, In
HE earlier days, in teaching the young
;do. how TO shoot" if this be a sample,
~ the scientific instruction he then in
dnIped in. its eccentricities must GER
ta,nIv have shamed those of the Ajax
Inv their contrariety with the facts; and
their variance with all natural laws.
Now let us examine how far tnls state
ment is in accordance Win tne Lacts.
We were not aware that the sun nae
daily course, and the rotation OF tne
hours is caused by the reVoiutlon Vi
the earth on its axis, when also pro,
duces day and night. The United
States, at present, are blessed Win
nineteen hours OF daylight, !eaVlng
only five hours during which the sun
is completely lost to our view. The
school hours are from 9 a. m. to I'm.
Six hours, which added to the differ
ence in time three hours from one ex-
IRENE of our Territory TO the other,
embracing a distance OF 5000 miles
Iongitudinally would give the period dur
ing which school sessions are held daily
in the United States at nine hours. Now
how the philosopher of the Tribune can
make the nineteen hours of daylight
or the nine hours of school-time, one
eighth of the entire twenty-four hours;
or how he can make the sun SO, 900 goo
miles away travel daily in an orbit equal
to the earth's circumference is some
thing entirely beyond our comprehen-
sion. The Tribune editor, evidently
had the circumference of the earth only
in view when he made that statement.
but as we proceed northward to the ex-
treme point at which human habitation
is to be found, the days and nights be-
come extended until they embrace half
the year; and during all that long day
the sun is seen, apparently, but to dip
below the northern horizon when he
again ascends and pursues his fight
towards the meridian.
This same; Tribune philosopher, some
time ago. commenting on a scientific
communication, put forward theories
so crude, so unscientific, and so much
at variance with the truth as to be
simply matters of establishment to his
readers. He on that occasion stated:
"The truth is thatno force of nature and
no property of matter ever has or ever
can create anything. In the vegetable
and animal kingdoms there are perpet-
ual reproductions but no creations.
Creation is a prerogative of the mind,
and surely it is easier to imagine a
mind that has always existed than mat
ter that has always existed, especially
when we find that matter is controlled
perpetually by fixed laws which could
not have been If it is but the result of
the grinding OF the glaciers of eternity"
NOW how man, with the genius of the
Tribune editor could be guilty of pen
nlng such stuff appears so incredible as
TO make us almost doubt the perfect
sanity OF any human being. Surely the
foregoing paragraph eminently exhibits
tne sgrandlloquence of ignorance.
scientists are all agreed that there was
time when the conditions of life did
not exist upon our planet. The day
came, however, when those conditions
were realized-the earth then became
covered with vegetation and with
anlmais, finally man was created.
Iynoall, IN one of his addresses, saws !:
Are we not forced to conclude with
!Hucreuus when he afirms that nature
Is seen to do all things spontaneously
OF herself without the meddling of the
gods; or with Bruno when he declares
tnat matter is not that empty capacity
winch philosophers have pictured her
gut the universal mother who brings
forth all things as the fruit of her own
womb. Abandoning all Disguise, Tyn-
Qsu continues. The confession feel
pound to make before you is that pro-
long the vision backward. across the
boundary OF the experimental evidence
and discern IN that matter which we in
our ignorance have hitherto covered
with opprobrium the promise and
potency of every form and QUALITY 81
NE. Now how does this master Of
science and the philosopher of the
iI10une compare? Had not the latte,
peter enter the school of nature and
learn something of her constitution and
laws before giving utterance to the un
stu1led vagaries of wild imagination
anu presenting them to the world a:
tacts. We see nature producing every
tnlng spontaneously, but there was
ume when no animal or vegetable Life
existed upon our globe. How ther
came all this wonderful variety? Shall
we adopt the true, the common-sense
view that certain conditions OF nature
the creative principles, at one time hello
IuIl sway. and produced all the varietie!
We now behold as well as MANY other,
mat nave now passed away, or shuttin,
our ewes to the facts staring us in tn,
Iace and omnipresent, leave the domain
oireason and giving reins to our imagin
= GU n create for ourselves phantom
200 as the author of all tn,
wonders we behold. AS Tyndal
says, matter contains within
ltselt,. undyingly and indestructibly tn
promise and potency of every form an,
quality OF life which only require tn