Mexico weekly ledger., 1888-08-23

sP~A~ was oceNee, SAs Aoo yoaiS
ago Calvary made the first battery.
In 1916 the ineandeseent plant was
invented,
In 1880 Mr.. Edison took out a
patent on the machine he now
uses. Mr.. Edison has done much
in the discovery of electricity and
method of using il, but he was
neither first nor best.
When you call it electricity YOU
have reached a definite idea, and
that Is as far Is you can go. You
can test it and use it, and calculate
its force. Many suppose electric
lty flows through the wires but
this is wrong, it Is force and is
driven through. So much force
makes so much motion. Electricity
Is not II hidden and mysterious
thing. Although we cannot define
1t, 1T is definite, mechanical and
exact.
The room in which Mr.. Lew
ellyn gave his talk was crowded
with visitors.
The following visitors We're pres
ent Wednesday:
Mrs. Ian Jones, Miss Dora Hayden,
Miss Celia Norris, Miss Jessie Wells, Miss
Annie French, Miss Kate Allison, Miss
Nobia Settles, Mrs. Jos. Glandon, Mrs,
C. r. Gibbs, Miss Martha Sullinger, Miss
Matte Harding, Miss Ida Clendennin,
Miss Pearl Williams, Miss Nellie Coons,
Miss Mary Jones, Miss Bina Wyatt, Miss
Arab Hubbard, Miss Jennie Mcdonald,
Mrs. Maths, Mrs. Mead White, Misses
Georgia and Fannie Guthrie, Miss Carrie
Umstead, Miss Susie Marshall, Miss Edith
HoIlngshead, MT. Robinson, HallsyIlle;
ID. l.. Roberts, Hallsville; j. F Llewellyn,
Mr.. j. N. Basket, Mr.. Z. T. Brashears,
Mr.. C. +. Clark, Mr.. Ware, DR.. w. ".
Walker, Mr.. T. J. Turner, Mrs. Mary
Marshall, Mrs. w. II. White, Mrs. E. B.
Lytle, Lancaster; Miss Sallie Gex.
Prof. Mcmillan introduced the
lecturer, Prof. 7. Berry Smith, as
one of the best on the subject of
Chemistry. Mr.. Smith said:
"Chemistry as remembered by
you, is the name of a book which
you studied in days gone by, and
of which the memories are not
very pleasant. 1t was unlike all
other books. 1t seemed to be a
combination of all other books you
had ever seen and filled with a
mighty store of strange new facts,
of mysterious experiments and of
curious pictures and more curious
apparatus. But be assured good
friends you have a very erroneous
notion of chemistry. Your dislike
for anything that goes by the name
of chemistry is not the fault of its
self, but of the methods employed
in teaching. Chemistry is an ex-
perimental science and every step
nearly can be demonstrated by ex-
prriment. Suppose you study
arithmetic and never see a, prob
lem, the subject would be dry; the
same is true of algebra and gram
mar and music and many other
branches of learning in all of these
facts are established by numerous
examples; yet the SCIENCE of ehem-
lstry the great fundamental science
of all the sciences of nature,i is eth
er entirely neglected or else hur-
RED over, frequently, without an
experiment in proof of a single
fact. Wherever God has written
there is harmony. His book of
nature is open to us all and shows
unity throughout, though the sepa-
rate chapters may be written i'll
varying type, as that of the skies
in stars, the fields in flowers and
the rocks in fossil. But what man
has written how much discrepancy
there is, disagreement here and
fat contradiction there, and more
different still what man writer
perisnes. And yet though this is
true man seems to prefer the study
of human more than the divine.
But it is gratifying to know there
is a decided tendency among men
to-day to pay more attention to the
science of nature.
Chemistry is the first of natural
sciences it is reference to funda-
mental changes in matter and first
in the sense of earliest in the order
of material sciences. "In the be-
ginning God made the heaven and
the earth" AS far as we can con-
ceive, the first act of creation was
the formation of matter in the sim
plest form.
In the beginning then, God Gre
ated seventy different kinds of
atoms and distributed them through
space just as the particles of atmos-
phere are placed around us to-day.
That was the first step. What was
the next? To answer that let us
make an experiment or two. Then
followed the experiments, which
We're very instructive. He contin-
ued by saying we saw smoke and
flame, heard noise and smell strange
odors in the air; this indicates
change. We learn that force of
some kind must take place in order
to form changes in matter.
"The earth was without form and
darkness was upon the Deep" and
"the spirit of God moved upon the
face of the waters )" "God said, let
there be light and there was light"
| am prone to think that Spirit of
God is the scriptural name for force.
Force manifests itself in various
ways, as heat, electricity, &c, all
equally mysterious and it may be
all of the mysteries begin and end
with the Spirit of God.
1t is the clash of atom against
atom that produces heat and light.
The heat of our stoves and furnaces
comes from the clash of atom, oxy-
gen and fuel. We heat our bodies
in like manner. We are only stoves
into which we are accustomed to
shovel fuel three times a day all
the year round.
Enough has been said to show
that the first science of creation was
chemistry. Let US consider this
matter-a little hy refarpnce to some