Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1891-06-20
THINGS WE DON'T KNOW.
In the Broad Domain of Sense, Senu.
ment and Drink.

In aiming TO isolate and pick mp. ~
candle and examine few of the
Things We Do Not know" the first
sep is to identify few Of the things
wc think we know, but don't; next a
lew Of the things wc think we don't
Euow. but do--ior that is the same as
not knowing them; aud. finally TO
point out some of those we know we
don't know. and which we sure
enough don't, writes an iconoclast in
The N. Y. Ersnin9 Sun
For example. among the last are q
child's mind, wOmans meaning. a
mans purpose the verdict OF n jury,
The operation OF medicines, the speech
Of cats, ethics of dogs, and sr on; all
Of which we know 10 exist. aud that
we know nothing further about them.
Some folks suppose they know
things learned at school; rs, for ex-
ample. that parallel straight lines in u
plane are two that never meet; but
this isn't true. II the lines are paral-
lei ttey do meet--at iniimily. Others
| hug the delusion that straight line
does not change its direction. however
| prolonged. The fact is. of course,
that straight line is part OF circum-
ference of Infinite radius.
Among things we think we don't
| know. but which we do know all the
time, the first is: What we will our
selves do in IA situation We have once
experienced. We shall. in fact. do
| just what we did before. Ii our con
duet on that occasion turned out i'll
many people think they will do some
thing else. aud that they don't know
what. This is delusiou. They will
do the same old thing. Otherwise
man would learn by experience, which
is against nature.
Another thing man thinks ht
doesn't know is that a fellow-creature
who cheats third for his sake will
cheat him for the fellow-creature'
own sake. Yet this is a truth that
governs human relations as gravita-
ton rules the material universe. 1t is
a menstruum in which the relations oi
men aud women lind universa
| solvent.
Many folks believe they know that
| iron is n substance which can not
| change into different substances. More
| error. Iron maintains its identity al
the temperature Of terrestrial labora
tories. Ii splits up into other sub
stances under the suns heat. Mos
folks think they have "A mental image
of what the moons surface is like. bu
they haven't. They have such an inn
age of that half of its surface whic.
man sees but none of the other half
which man has never seen.
| There are folks who believe they
know what their own inside is like
though they have never seen cadaveI
or "A hog in the cutting up.
There are even school teachers wht
think they know that English vers
! scaus in the number of its syllables
irrespective of the time required t,
utter them. So there are writers O
such verse who Wisconceive outcry t
be poetry If it is metrically articulate
There are painters who believe the,
produce works of art which appeal t
sense without awakening any sympa
thy that is not common TO man, bird
and butterflies. Yet such works ar
not of art.
More people think they know tha
the rudder turns the bow OF a boa
than know that what ii really does i
TO swing the stern.
Most people know. when speaking
of an electric fluid or current that
while electrical phenomena are deyel
opcd succcssively in time and space
nothing exists corresponding to an
of our otlcr conceptions for which tht
words fluid aud current stand. More
than this, very few persons have
formed any kind of provisional hyPoth
esis. even. for reducing to any sort oI
concrete image the simulacrum of ;
tie word electricity.
Among other things we think "
know, but don't. may be enumerated
Pointers on the stock exchange, tn
figures of visible supply of staples
aud the real responsibility Of partie
rated at $1,000 900 or upward 10y th'
commercial agencies.
A popular delusion is that the La
can be made, who is not born SO. Tn,
liars gift is, in fact, one of the rarest
its highest expression consists in th'
insight that discerns its opportunity t.
tell the truth with the certainty OF be
ing disbelieved.
More men believe they can play
draw than there are white black birds
yet the man who can play draw is th'
rarer beast.
Folks talk of steam; 10 most of then
visible vapor is the thing this wore
stands for; MANY think they beliey'
that the cloud they see issuing from :
steam waste-pipe is the agency that
still n visible cloud. moves the steam
engine. Few, perhaps. really beiiey'
this. for the mental impressions o
most of such people on such subject!
are too vague aud unmeaning TO b'
rightly called beliefs. But there is ;
considerable number of people whC
know better than to confound liv'
steam in its working state with visible
vapor; most of these perhaps hav,
read or have heard of an hypothesis By
which particles in the gaseous condi
ton are conceived 10 ily about, bonn
harding the sides of vessels in which
the gases may bc contained comins
into collision with one another How
many stop to reflect that this fancifu
presentation Of the subject is pu. for
ward purely in a provisional way
awaiting the progress OF nvestiga
iions essentially mathematical. AM
that it sustains. to sane conceptions o
the physical world. some such relation
rs spectacular panlomime does 10 tn
conduct of human life in its derby ha
and rubber overshoes2
Woman in general thinks she doe
not show her champagne. She doe
show the first glass. which makes he
either brighter or sillicr than she is b,
nature. which created her either sillie
or brighter than she needs to be.
as he ought TO be nor as silly as thu
preservation OF the race demands
hence. he should drink red wine. which
Is better than champagne any way.
| Brandy is drink for heroes. Avoi'
it.