The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-08-04

Having discovered some time ago prin-
ciple in nature which had apparently been
overlooked by scientists, have been read
ing papers and delivering lectures to try
to persuade professional scientists to study
and discuss the subject, and more espe-
cially to interest the faculty at Berkeley
and Paio Alto in carrying out the neces-
sary experiments, to satisfy those who
would not be convinced by mathematical
reasoning.
had hoped that the scientific enthusi-
asm OF these prominent, well-endowed and
well-equipped universities would have
caused them to take the matter up
promptly, and settle it in way which
fornia or show that was mistaken in the
Interpretation of the natural action which
the experiments indicate.
Having brought the matter before the
Technical Society with that object in view.
and having Professor Soule's promise that
the matter would be attended to at Berke-
ley, and owing to my being engaged in
other business, 1 allowed the matter to
rest on that expectation for the last eight
or nine months; but as no attempt was
being made, so far as could learn. to COM
plete the discussion started by the Techni-
cal Society on the subject, and as numer-
Gus inquiries were coming to me from
other States and from Europe, asking for
information on the subject, 1 concluded
to give my ideas in a pamphlet which l
have lust published, entitled elasticity a
Mode of Notion" copies of which / sent
to the leading scientists in this and other
States; and as THE CALL was the only
news paper in this City which noticed it,
and seemed to have any intelligent idea of
the nature of the scientific principle which
had been discovered, / naturally con-
Guided that it must be the only paper
which has scientific department..
When l published the pamphlet making
the matter as clear and simple and void of
mathematical formula as possible, hoped
it would explain all the difficulties which
naturally surround a new subject, but |
find the inquiries that come to me still ask
for more simplifcatioh.
The question is what is "Kinetic Sta
bility p"
Now as the discovery is of purely scien-
tlfiC character it is not one that can be
sold like an invention for money con-
sideration, and consequently it is to
nobody's interest to substitute newspapers
to boom it.; and as we have no scientific
associations here like they have in London
to spread the knowledge of scientific and
monumental discoveries, it has deyolved
on me single-handed to plant the banner of
truth on the battlements of what has hith-
erto been considered an impregnable
fortress.
Ii my discovery is correct it means not
merely the addition OF one more truth to
science, but it means the removal of
foundation stone on which the whole of
astronomical physics has hitherto rested
for its mathematical treatment
The master mathematician who laid that
stone was no less than the illustrious phi
losopher, Sir Isaac Newton, who declared
the discovery of the law of gravity more
than two centuries ago; a law which has
proven so correct that all the motions of
the solar system have been determined
with precision and completeness which
is next to perfection ITSELF
Now, Newton was not only q mathema-
tician, but also great natural philosopher,
and speculated on causes as well as laws.
And although he was often wrong in his
speculations his theory of the cause of gravi-
tation has. like his law of gravity, remained
invincible against all arguments and ex-
periments which either theologians or sci
entists have hitherto produced. His theory,
itself a power to attract other matter how
ever distant the pieces of matter be from
one another.
This inherent power or property OF mat
ter constitutes an ultima thule to all scien-
tific progress, and is the fin de steele fad
of all materialists. 1t is believed by many
to be the God of the universe, arguing that
without such attractive power there could
be no order in the universe; that every
mo or To- Of rNI1a
to move in straight lines forever if the
sun, by virtue of its attractive power, did
not constantly pull them toward himself;
and it not only requires the sun to pull the
planets, but the planets must also pull the
sun, so as to conform to the laws of action
and reaction.
Perhaps some people may be astonished
to know that many of the most intellectual
scientists IN the world during the last hun
attraction as the only god in nature. And
at the present time such great scientists as
Hankel, Jordan and others confess pub
licly that they are ignorant of the existence
of any power beyond the inherent specific
properties of attraction in matter and the
inherent specific property or power of evo-
luton in organism.
Now, if it can be proven that there is no
such inherent properties or power in
matter or organisms, it will prove dread
full calamity to those who have made that
property or power the foundation of their
belief in that as first cause.
Although in free field truth will event
ually prevail, yet under such com bina-
ton of interests as exist in the scientific
world at present, it becomes uphill work
to overcome the settled convictions of the
intellectual giants of this scientific age.
When we consider with how much ease
such men as Huxley and LIE Conte could put
to flight many of the defenders of revealed
religion, by dressing up scarecrow in the
shape of god, and calling it evolution;
when we consider how easy it was for
Voltaire in the last century to destroy the
faith of millions by exhibiting the great
Newtonian theory as power within mat
ter to produce order and stability out of
chaos, we have good reasons for asserting
that any truth which appears to be antago-
nistic to the established doctrine of in
herent power in matter and inherent
forces in evolution cannot have a fair and
open field for consideration.
Still there is one satisfactory CLEAN of
hope in the knowledge that all scientists
are virtually fighting for truth, although
many times defending error. the result
being due either to the want of potential
energy or to that latent defect common to
all humanity which is generally called
mistaken identity"
To mistaken identity was due the Ptole-
m 81 n theory Of the universe whose advo-