The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1891-09-05
TRUTHS OF NATURE
Two OF Them Discovered by IA Poet--Nin,
aud Matter One.

Two OF Them Discovered by Poet--Nint
and Matter One.
"Wondcrful is It not, that two of the
greatest truths ot nature should have
been first discovered by a poet, who
was not scientist at alp" said the
professor to n Star reporter. at was
Goethe whose genius inspired intuition
arst lighted upon the bottom fact OF
botany, since recognized, namely, that
each plant has but two parts-leaf and
stem. The reproductive portious-pis-
til, petal stigma, calyx and corolia-7are
only modified leaves Now and then,
us if for the very purpose ofproving this
proposition, n green rose is developed
with leaf-lilse petals, and it is the same
way with other things vegetable-they
NIL revert occasionally to their primitive
FORMS
"The other grand discovery made by
Goethe was in the philosophy of the
animal kingdom. One day, while walk
ing through the fields, he came upon
the skeleton of beast that had died.
practical anatomist, If he had paused
to consider the remains, would have
discussed with himself merely the rela.
tion of the bones, but the poet viewed
the whole framework of the animal
that had been with the enlarged vision
of theorist. While doing so the fact
dawned upon him, recognized at this
later day by science, that the skull of
the creature was after all, only an en-
larged vertebre or expanded section of
the backbone. The conclusion imme-
diately followed that the brain was but
magnified portion of the spinal cord.
"Thus was new discovery in the
philosophy of nature first hit upon.
Science now recognizes it as truth.
Just as the flower is only leaf modified
for reproductive purposes, so the brain
is simply an extremity of the spinal
cord eXfoliated into an elaborate, highly
convoluted organ of thinking.
Did you ever think what it meant by
what we call the convolutions of the
brain? Take the brain of chicken--a
creature proverbially stupid-and you
will find that it is nearly smooth. The
| brain of man, on the other hand, is sc
covered with worm-lille convolutions
as to resemble so much macaroni. Now
| will show you by Il little sketch what
| these convolutions signify.
Let me have your pencil and note
book. Here is an outline, roughly
sketched, of Manhattan island as it wa:
before the white man landed upon it
You will observe that it's entire shore
line is only extended enough to accom-
modate a few thousand ships NOR,
along it. Now, observe what Man
haitian island is like to-day, as | sletcl
in the long wharves projecting from i
like fringe on all sides. At thes,
wharves all the commerce of the worlt
can be moored.
''Take notice how my pencil, follow
ing its contour as modified by mans in
genuity, goes in and out, tracing tn
convolutions of the brain. What bloo
is to the brain commerce is to New
York, and the more surface afforded
for circulation or shore line for lyin
against the better the thinking or tn
more active and enlarged the traffic.
rather pretty illustration, is it not?
"The grasp of the human understand
ing expands every day. 1t is only
few years since Humboldt conceived tn
mighty truth that cosmos-the univeI
sal organization of things-was on
system, however many universes it ma
contain, each atom in it depending upo
and having relation to all of the other
: Next came Lamarck, who showed tn;
all animals are kin.
'"Then followed the great inventor
the spectroscope, who proved that a
of the stars are composed of the san
sorts of materials as those which nal
up the earth. Finally came the disco
erers who learned that the invisib
: powers of nature-heat, light, soun
electricity, magnetism, etc,--arc ;
forms of motion. All these propositio
have been demonstrated. What t
most advanced scientists are strivil
now to prove is that mind and matt
are one and the same. That propo
ton represents the highest intellectu
effort of the age. e."-Washington Star