The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1891-06-18
CHAUTAUQUA
SCIENTIFIC AND ORDINARY KNOWLEDGE.

SCIENTIFIC AND ORDINARY KNOWLEDGE.
CA Special Paper)
If yeu ask a man of average educational attain
ments why he does not pursue the higher scientific
branches of education be will invariably answer:
80. it is too deep for me. am capable of pur-
suing such studies" Or perhaps they will go to the
other extreme. and say: Science what do 1
want to study the sciences for? know all about
them now
The first answer is given because. like the ma.
jority Of people, he thinks that scientific knowl.
edge is of an eRtrely different nature from ord-
nary knowledge: and the manner by which we ac-
quire one will not enable to obtain the other
But is this true? Let US see if there Is not close
resemblance in the manner by which both are OBJ
tanned. If we examine the various sciences we
will see that they had their origin in the crude
actions of ordinary minds. For instance. the saw.
age counts to a hundred or thousand Beyond
that he does not need to go, but by counting thus
far, he has made the rudimen,ary steps in the
science of numbers What is at first art. by de.
velopment becomes science SO is it with Ian.
guage, at first the human had but few words
expressive of their actual necessities. but they
established closer relations with one another, as
trade and barter increased language was de.
veloped. and that. which at first was art became
ticed BY the shepherds of DID, of giving some ia.
millar name to the apparent form of certain
groups of stars. Thus we have the Great and
Little Bear, the Lion. Serpent. Scorpion. Ram, etc.
So the art of LAND measuring practiced by the
ancient Egyptians, and improved upon by Thales.
the Milesan, has given rise to the sciences of
geometry, trigonometry. etc. The common knowl-
edge of growth, fermentation, com ustion and de-
no dat If ;oaIs mi
simple fact that amber would attract light bodies
of matter. after being rubbed with dry cloth,
was the germ planted in 1870 by DR.. William
Gilbert, of Colchester, England and cultivated so
carefully by such men as Gray. De Fay. Guy Lus-
sac. Galvani. Volta, Davy. Farraday. Franklin.
Thompson Ohme. Ampher DIR. Hare, of Philadel-
pha. and the grandest of all. Edison, that devel-
oped electrical science
Thus we that the common knowledge of the
uncultivated has supplied the foundation upon
which all, or nearly all of our sciences have been
built.
What has been the prime cause in their develop
ment? 1t has been observation and experiment
applied inductively and deductively, by individ-
ual after individual generation after generation.
For example the science Of electricity, one of recent
origin, arose from the fact above mentioned. of
the power of amber to attract light bodies. This
was common knowledge, observation and expert
ments upon other substances discovered the load
stone or natural magnet, from which the mariners
compass was made. The gradual accumulation
of such facts. caused men to observe more closely
until finally scientific observation and expert.
ment developed the fact that force prevailed all
nature, and which as we know, has been placed
under the control Of man. Again. the invention
of the steam engine-the discovery that revolu.
tionized the commercial and the social relations
Of the entire world-was conceived in the mind of
. child. James Watts who constructed the first
complete and satisfactory steam engine. This
branch of science is deeply indebted to such men
as Boulton, Papin, Newcoman, Thompson, Watt
and others.
We thus see that science is the higher develop.
ment of the ordinary knowledge of the unculti-
vated obtained by careful and continuous obser.
walton and experiment; and the skillful forma.
ton of theories to account for existing state
facts. or the appearances noted while conducting
experiments. And right here let me state. that
many people contrast theory with practice. dispar
aging the former and commencing the latter; a
little thought will show the fallacy of this idea
There can be no practice without a theory. II
would be impossible for any to make shoe
without first having formed some theory how a
shoe should be made. No more can we practice
science without having some theory of the science
we intend to practice.
The study of the sciences will be found to be
the same as the study of the common rudiments
of education, to obtain which we attend school,
on the average, about ten years. And the reward
for these trials of childhood and youth, is the
knowledge Of reading, writing and ciphering. We
leave school just as we begin to think nationally
with the idea that our education is completed
And here lies the difference between scientific