Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-09-01
Z 7,.>K Y. Cnt.,As~
Lord Salisbury on UnsOlved Scientific
Problems.

From the New York Sun.
The opening ADDRESS at the sixty-fourth
annual meeting of the British Association
for the Advancement of Science was made
by the president, Lord Salisbury, who is
also chancellor of the University Of oxford.
Not being a priest of science. Lord Sails
bury dscreetly departed from the custom,
established by his predecessors, of recalling
the salient points in the progress of scien-
tiic investigation during the preceding year.
He chose to undertake a survey. not of our
knowledge, but of our ignorance; and he
undoubtedly succeeded in showing that all
we know may fairly be described as faint
and scattered spots of radiance on a back
ground of impenetrable mystery.
1t was pointed out. for instance. that con-
spicuous among the scientific enigmas
which still defy solution is that regarding
the nature and origin of the chemical ele-
ments. OF these. sixty-five are known to US,
but only third of them seem needed to
form the substance of this planet. Another
third are useful but somewhat rare, while
the remaining third are curiosities. Upon
what law or principle was this seemingly
random collection of dissimilar materials
brought together? The chemist is as yet I'M
able to reply
Attention was then directed to the fact
that nitrogen and oxygen are absent from
the spectrum of the sun, although these
two elements constitute the largest portion
of the solid, liquid and aerial components
of the earth. Bearing this in mind, Lord
Salisbury propounded to physicists the fol-
lowing conundrum: IF the earth is a de-
tached bit whirled off the mass of the sun,
how comes 1t that in leaving him we clean
ed him out so completely Of his nitrogen
and oxygen that not trace of these gases
remains to be discovered even by the SEN
stive vision of the spectroscope?"
Another riddle touched upon by the lay
president of the British association is the
nature of what we call the ether. Almost
all we know about the ether is that il I'M
n rofa for
the passage of light as for that of cleo
tricity. Inasmuch as electricity penetrates
everything the inference is that the ether by
which 1t travels must pervade all space,
duction and the fact of undulation the mys-
terry of ether remains inscrutable Then,
again, what have we learned thus far about
the origin of animal and vegetable life?
What was the strange impulse which was
able to strike across the ordinary laws of
inorganic matter and twist them for
moment from their path? The biologist
Referring. finally, to Darwin's theory of
the origin of species, Lord Salisbury con-
terded that one of the strongest objections
to the hypothesis seemed still to retain all
Its force. He had in mind the objection first
made by Lord Kelvin, that the amount of
time required by the advocates of the OAR
winian doctrine for working out their proc
ess of evolution could not be conceded with
out assuming the existence Of totally diff
ferent set Of natural laws from those with
which We are acquainted. If the mathe-
maticians are right and they adhere stur-
Oily to their figures. the biologists cannot
have the time which they demand Much
stress was also laid by Lord Salisbury on
ali admission by Prof. Weismann in a paper
published few months ago. I'VE accept
natural selection" says Weismann, mot
because we are able to demonstrate the
process in detail, nor even because we can
with more or less ease imagine it. but
simply because we must; because II is the
orly possible explanation that we can con-
ceive." Believe where We cannot prove:
that used to be the injunction reserved for
the priests, not of science, but of religion
Lord Salisbury closed a highly interest
ing, because wholly unexpected, address
by quoting a statement of Lord Kelvip's.
Il have always felt that the hypothesis of
natural selection does not contain the true
theory of evolution. II evolution there has
been, in biology. 1 feel profoundly con-
WINGED that the argument Of design has
been greatly too much lost sight Of in re-
cent geological speculations" As a matter
Of fact, these words were uttered some
twenty years ago. but Lord Kelvin, who
followed the president Of the association
with some brief remarks, neither disavowed
nor in any way revised them.