Wichita eagle., 1889-07-12
DUST.


niversary. For three centuries and more the
great stone wall and bridge across the bay at
Ravenswood had been completed, so that
most of the professors from the elder univer-
sity at Berkeley came by this route, looking
down on the upper bay, changed into fields,
with orchards OF two hundred and fifty years
establishment growing where the Nineteenth
century sloops and oyster boats came to the
prehistoric embarcaderos of Mowry's Land
ing and Alviso. great industrial univer-
sity. Workshops reaching for miles along
the beautiful slopes of San Mateo, training
schools, art schools, language schools scien-
tific schools. Berkeley for the classics and
the humanitieS, Stanford university for an
unparalleled grouping Of the great industrial
and scientific activities of the race. For milo
beyond mile ran the gardens, the green houses,
the intensive horticulture which for more
than a thousand years had made the valley
regions OF California the richest and most
thickly populated district IN the world.
Statistics from the census Of the year 5000:
Population of California, forty-seven mil
lions; population of the valleys which impinge
upon San Francisco, including the valleys
caused by the drainage of Suison bay, San
Pablo bay, and the upper half of San Fran
cisco bay, twenty-eight millions One-half OF
these are in the Sacramento San Joaquin
valley, the other half within fifty miles Of
San Francisco city"
The president of the university, Leland
Stamford Ainsworth descendant Of one Of
the Oregon Ainsworths of the Nineteenth
century, delivered his address: Science is
endless" be said ''the race goes on, ever i'm
proving. Those were foolish fears OF the
men of the dark ages, now almost prehistoric,
when this state was founded, this institution
established. The social order has changed
WI they called revolution, and vainly
fought, has proved evolution. We have
come together, on this twelve hundredth an
nlversary, under these ancient stone arches
less to celebrate the past than to plan for
the new connuests of nature Whispers have
gone forth to the world that IN our chemical
laboratory strange discoveries have been
made. These discoveries We give to you to-
Gay, whether for human happiness or human
misery Will depend upon yourselves"
The audience listened with some bewilder-
ment. In that great hall, with its arches of
weather beaten stone, more than &C, 600 peo-
pie were assembled, but delicate electrical
machinery made the speakers voice audible
and the speaker face clearly visible to every
one in the building, and even TO the thou
sands who sat beneath the stately oaks outside
What was this new discovery Would it
make life better worth living! Would it give
a man longer hfe2 At least 1t was evident
that the discovery was one Of thrilling i'm
portance IN the mind of the president. He
spoke with the utmost earnestness. ''For
more than 100 years this university has held
as sacred trust a group Of scientific discov-
cries made by one of its students He wrote
his formulas down and sealed them for this
twelve hundredth anniversary. Three days
before its celebration the faculty of this uni
versity was TO assemble break the seals, test
the formulas and decide whether to reveal
the secrets or TO destroy them forever. We
met; we have decided; we create new pro-
Sessorship, more Important, perhaps, than
any other in existence on the face of the
earth We have chosen Gneal descendant
OF the discovered this group Of secrets, Pro
feSSor Lemuel Jones Carey, and, going back
to one of the almost forgotten writers of the
Nineteenth century, we name his chair the
chair of The Ethics of Dust"
A ripple of half annoyed amusement ran
over the audience Was that all? Only an
other Of those interminable modern subdivis-
ions of biology, or psychology, or bothe
! But the president went on; Professor
Carey was on the right track when this event
occurred. 1t is remarkable that all his in
yestigations have fitted him to utilize and de-
velop this group of new facts Without him
the Ethics of Dust would have had to wait
fifty years for an interpreter. With him
you can catch a glimpse Of its scope today. 1t
is nothing that you imagine. 1t is not long
life; it is not money, or happiness, except in
cidentally. But, perhaps, it means all the
things which any of you, or all Of you, have
ever dreamed about" And the president sat
down. The wall at the back of the stage
opened and revealed laboratory, strange
even TO the eyes of chemists there. Professor
Carey came toward, and set a curious micro
scope on the stand. Then he looked over the
audience and spoke of the great subject
'What we have done is TO conquer the Ill
innate atom, and discover whether it is
healthy or not If it is diseased, it viii pro
duce disease-mentGl moral or physical, as
the case may be. Every one of US has dis
eased atoms in his system. That is what
makes us die too soon; sometimes that is
what makes Us do wrong. When we find the
diseased atom, we cannot destroy il. Moth
ing can. But we can now isolate it so that it
can do no harm-at least, not for ages to
come, perhaps Eever again We can force
each atom-each dust mote which floats
about the worid-to tel its story; can dis /
cover where it has been, and what it has |
done and whether 1t is helpful or hurtful |
Since the number Of atoms III the atmosphere /
of the earth is now definitely ascertained it |
only remains for the human race TO isolate |
from further evil the diseased atoms Us fast |
as possible. Then, q few centuries from now. !
only healthy atoms will remain. This, as / /
need not explain to you, must mean perfect |
health, and a great many other things which |
the newspapers will tell you about"
a great hush fell on the audience. as they /
understood this stupendous claim Then muir 1
murs and cries began 10 break forth, as peo-
pie suddenly spoke 10 each other, forgetting /
In else in the presence of the fact The ulti- /
mate atom bad been conquered That was 4
what science and theology for thousands Of /
years had said could never be done DID it
mean wiping out the secret sins, taking away
the daily temptation from each one! a wo-
man, rich, beautiful, fashionable, rose in the
audience and reached out her hands to Pro-
feSsor Carey. Take away my selhshnessin
she cried man in the prime Of life, /
famous over the continent, rose and called
with deep voice OF passion. Take away that
which once made me false 70 my oath;" The
professor reached his hands out, and said IN
tone which stilled the tempest:
Il cannot. No one can. Yol live and 7ie
In the race If the atoms which work you
evil come to me. viii bind them fast I
cannot draw them from you Cast them out
30 that huuia>.ity may put them in chains
Help others TO cast them out Help me in