The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-10-23
NOTES BY THE WAY.
A Rambler's Observations on
Things in General.
ABOUT COMMEMORATIONs.
Great Men Who Must Have Anniversaries
What Rsnau Ate Educating Gorillas
a Toothless Age.
Written for THE MORNING CALL.

NOTWITHSTANDING the proclamation OF
holiday for the Columbus celebration, many
honest and patriotic citizens kept right
ahead with their work To them it was a
matter of slight moment whether Columbus
sighted Watlings Island On the 21st Octo-
Der, l492; or whether a Scandinavian was
familiar with Greenland and Labrador
| coastwlSe QUO years previous; or whether a
| derelct Japanese was acquainted with
] Northwest America about the same period.
! History had not in the dark ages the aid of
printing to diffuse Information. When
| Columbus commenced his work the dawn
of printing had just begun TO tighten the
universal gloom. After that epoch the la
borious photographic works of the monas-
| teries were unnecessary feats of skilled
labor. The learning might persist, but the
! labor of hand could be dispensed with. The
learning that came with printing was not
| the privilege of the few, but the birthright
of all. Printing as an industry and art
| exercised unquestionably an immense stimu-
| lus upon this period of awakening, when
| the earth was ransacked from end to end
| for new ideas. The discoveries of the Bavi-
gators were simultaneous with the discov-
| cry of the mechanical means 10 make them
known. The very knowledge that there
was N6w World as great in area as Europe
and Africa, but not so great as Asia, made
penple in Europe think as they had never
done before. On swept the conquest of the
human mind over matter with q mighty
rush.
Even the celebration of the Columtus dis
coyery is gain TO the masses to-day. 1t
encourages them to think about what the
earth was at period when learning and
aria Of mt in q CT Of
transition. What were the celebrations in
vogue when Columbus set out on his first
voyage? What was there to celebrate?
There were courts and tournaments, grand
people with their noses In tile air. who had
mistaken notions on political economy and
the scope of human duty; powerful arls-
tocracy and subdued and submissive pop
ulatl0n of plodders and serfs. The church
had lis festivals; the monarchs their heavy
handed sports and expressions, and the
common people had the liberty to groan or
go into revolt but there was little TO eel
citrate in the manner of this Columbus fes-
tlval. The feasts of the Old World come
down the stream of time from very misty
epoch and evoke partial enthusiasm. But
let US except the feie Of the taking OF the
Bastile, deed forever memorable, in the
spirit of revolt. which led to great deal
more. With all the advancement we have
made since ChTistophePs time it is thick
SblBNeu cOHuucL DOt 10 lake tue nat OH 10
his memory four centuries after he solved
the problem of Western navigation.
LII due time all the great men and women
who have stamped human thought with an
abiding influence will have sueh immor-
tality as proceeds from celebrations The
Greeks and Romans might have entered up
long list of notables. and passed half the
year in memorial iubilation, but chronology
is defective when we go back to those days
of the cradle of intellect. Shakespeare has
been celebrated, also Dante and Rabelais
Burns has been honored, and Byron will
not escape a compliment Longfellow is
certain to have fame in banquet. and an
ode to his memory, and so may Whittier and
Tennyson. A formidable list of scientific
men must succeed TO anniversary honor
Kepler, Coptrnicus. Calico, Newton,
Young Darwin, HelmholtZ. and many
others who have jointed together the his
tory of nature out of Its bones. But if the
world drifts into celebrations and national
holidays on account OF all the great men
who have lived, there will be little time af-
forded to shape the culture of their success
sors in greatness The wisdom of selection
In these fetes is apparent. Too much CONF
memorative jubiatIon would tend to
atrophy OF the intellect.
Some commemorations there are which
entitled to the credit of putting botany as
science on the right road to publication in
truths well? Absolutely the world knew
nothing about botany in any exact sense
century and a half ago. Linneus led the
way. The knowledge of sexes in plants
was dormant before his day. The very life
of plant was unknown. What could any
one know Of this vast kingdom of life with
out knowing the functions by which exist
ence was continued? Nor were we much
farther ahead in the domain of anatomy
century before. To think that Bacon and
Newton and Aristotle were ignorant about
the life of daisy or lily is amazingI
Then what can be said OF chemistry? 1t
is little more than a century old as the
alchemists left ii. How many men are en-
titled to fame in this marvellous field :? All
the ancieDts were as ignorant of chemistry
as of the electric telegraph. They descanted
upon earth. air, fire and water as elements,
and therein their knowledge was comprised
for thousands of years. How very rapid has
been the expansion of knowledge in this
field, and yet how feeble to reach ultimate
conclusions! Hundreds OF workers have
made chemistry what il is to-day, and few
of them are assuredly entitled to commem-
orative credit when their centenary comes
round.
Take again the enormously important
domain OF mechanics in thousand dlrec-
| tons. The principles were known for
many centuries before practical application
achieved anything revolutionary. century
of mechanics has, in fact. revolution lied
mans control of the material earth. Elec-
| trieity Is a development Some day CRATE
full mankind will commemorate Watt, Full
ton, Stephenson. Faraday HelmholtZ, Morse,
Wheatstone and Edison. DISCOVERIES at
least are entitled to recognition.
The Russian Government can hardly rel
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making Of its barbarous treatment OF Jews
expelled. The photographs in evidence Of
torture, indignity and tyranny, without
scntilla of reason save aversion to an
other race, cannot be controverted. The
Cars advisers gibbet the prosecuted race
without remorse. just as If they were so
many animals to be herded out Of the coun-
Try upon pastures new. Civilization may
well be aghast at learning from photo
graph that Jews are driven through the
streets of Russian towns and cities man.
acled so heavily that the idea might arise
that the Russians are making frantic en-
deayor to chain the Jews TO Muscovite soil.
To handcuf such exiles in pairs and bind
the pairs together by padlocked chain. is
a pretty spectacle in the nineteenth century
within a country which has undertaken the
mission of driving Turkey out of European
barbarism and England out Of India as
civilization inferior to its own. The
chosen race will chastise the Gar In the
coming centuries. as it has every country
which has essayed the role of oppressor.
1t handles the money OF the world, and the
Car needs some perpetually.
The performances Of the riders between
Vienna and Berlin are exciting ridicule and
bringing out sundry profitable comments.
1t is plain that these gallant military cham
pions in the saddle would, every one of
them, have been beaten by trottng- horse
driven to wagon. What. for instance, Is a