Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-07-18
Truths OF NATURE.
Two Of Them Discovered by Post-Mind
and Matter One.

and Matter One.
"WoNDERFUL, is 1T NOT, THAT TWO
w Of the greatest truths of nature should
have been first discovered by poet, who was
not a scientist at alll' said the professor to q
STAR reporter. at was Goethe whose genius
inspired intuition first lighted upon the bottom
fact of botany, since recognized, namely, that
each plant has but two parts-leaf and stem.
The reproductive portions-pistil petal, stigma,
calyx and corolla-sre only modified leaves.
Now and then, as if for the very purpose of
proving this proposition, green rose is devel-
oped with leaf-like petals. and it is the same
way with other things vegetable-they all re-
vert occasionally to their primitive forms.
'The other grand discovery made by Goethe
was in the philosophy Of the animal kingdom.
One day, while walking through the fields, he
came upon the skeleton of beast that had
died Apractical anatOmist. if he had paused to
consider the remains, would have discussed
with himself merely the relation of the bones.
but the poet viewed the whole framework of
the animal that had been with the enlarged
vision of theorist. While doing 30 the fact
dawned upon him, recognized at this later day
by science, that the skull Of the creature was
after all, only an enlarged vertebra or ex,
banded section Of the backbone. The conclu-
sion Immediately followed that the brain was
but magnihed portion Of the spinal cord.
THUS was a new discovery in the philosophy
OF nature first hit upon. Science now recog-
nizes 1t as truth. Just as the flower is only a
leaf modified for reproductive purposes. 50 the
brain is simply an extremity of the spinal cord
exfoliated into an elaborate, highly convoluted
Or can Of thinking.
CONvOLUTIoNs OF THE BRAIN
"Did you ever think what is 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 CT q man, on the other
hand, is SO covered with worm-like convolu-
tions as to resemble SO much maccaroni. Now.
l will show You bya 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 was before the white man landed
upon 1t. You will observe that its entire shore
line is only extended enough to accommodate
a few thousand ships moored along it. Now,
observe what Manhattan Island 10 like TODAY. AZ
l sketch in the long wharves projecting from it
like fringe on all sides. At these wharves all
the commerce Of the world can be moored.
.'rake notice how my pencil, following its
contour as modified by mans ingenuity, goes
in and out, tracing the convolutions Of the
brain. What blood Is to the brain commerce
is to New York, and the more surface afforded
for circulation or shore line for lying against
the better the thinking or the moro active and
enlarged the traffic. A rather pretty ulustra-
ton, IL it not?
1.-The grasp of the human understanding
expands every day. It is only few years since
Humboldt conceived the mighty truth that
Cosmos-the universal organization.of thinRs-
was one system. however many unive-ses IL NAV
contain, each atom in 1t depending upon and
having relation to all Of the Others. Next
came Lamarck, who showed that all animals
are kin. Then followed the great inventor Of
the spectroacope Who urove6 that ali ~ a..
as those which make up the earth. Finally
came the discoverers who learned that the in
visible powers Of nature, heat, light,
sound, electricity. magnetism, &C., are
all forms Of motion. All these Propositions
have been demonstrated. What the most sd-
vanced scientists are striving now 70 prove 10
that mind and matter are one and the same.
That proposition represents the highest In.
tellectuaI effort Of the age"