The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-11-10
wHAr FoI.Ks WAX ARour.

treme. Science very often claims to be
greater than intlnty, and even settles, to
its OWN satisfaction, ut least, the entire
plan OF the universe. That it has to
change this plan every few years, not, of
course, initiates against. it's professors.
You and however, and the man around
the corner also, know that science is
principally imagination and Inference
and we also know that its claims are
very often controverted by persons deal
ing III the same particular line of bust
ness.
"A long time ago science made nm inves-
tiSation, and determined that the world
was so many thousand years old. A few
weeks ago ii was discovered that science
had made IL big mistake in this matter
Some excavations on the site of an an.
cient city of Babylon have unearthcd an
entirely separate and distinct city under
meath Babylon, and this adds ut least
1000 years to the age of the world. Still
further Investigations may bring to light
several previous Babylons, and the con-
clusion will be reached that none of us
know anything abut the age of the world
Another mistake made by science is in
the composition of the earth. 1t dug
down i'll IL certain place, and then gravely
divided the earth into strata and gave
each II name in history. But strata differ
in different places, as can be proven by
any one who undertakes an investigation;
and if such Il thing as digging indie tinitey
could be carried on without regard to
depth, more marvellous results would en-
sue. About twenty five years ago, under
the direction of the British museum, ex-
tcnsivc researches were made on this sub
jcct.
In the western part OF Wales there is ii
q. a Il M 4, In.
place of experiment. Holes were bored
in the rock sides of the cave every twenty
feet, and samples of the earth procured.
One hundred and thirty-scven strata
were discovered, and this is in utter CON
trldiction of the conclusion arrived at by
the scientists heretofore There were
found in addition to the usual gravel,
clay ana loam amelia, totola, urgay, and
Il host Of other combinations too numer-
Gus to mention. The earth differs in
different places, and no one composition
can he regarded rs the composition of the
whole
Some of the creates. mistakes made by
science are in astronomy. We have had
the skies mapped out, ANA the stars
counted, and yet every littlc while or so
the map had to he changed AS the in
vention Of telescopes progresses and they
are made larger and more powerful, the
larger number of stars do they bring to
view, and the result is Il confusion likely
to throw IL doubt upon all scientific at.
taiumcnt Prior to 400 all our pretended
researches in the way of astronomy were
simply reproductions of the work Of the
heather astronomer Concintus, who flour.
ished 4OOO years i. &.
Science declares that thu earth revolyrs
on It's axis once every twenty.four hours,
~ . ..
mt all. Professor Dionigi Togni, late of
Switzerland, but temporarily domiciled
in this city, is prepared to dispute this
propositions eff the sun and moon do
not move,' says he. "why, then, speak Of
them rs rising aud setting. If the earth
rcvolves, how is il that the water in the
st. Johns river is not spilled MI over
Jacksonville during this daily revolu-
tionN There is something in this, be-
cause no vessel can he revolved--so swiftly
orso slowly but what some of its contents
will drop out during the process.
One of the most laughablc mistakes
made by science is in its recent nvcstiga-
tions into Mars. AS far back as the year
17S, Nelipdo, who stood at the head of
Greek scientists, and whose work on as
tronomy was regarded as classic up to
1888 declared that Mars was inhabited
combined with organic synthesis, he had
discovered human beings pcrambulating
over that monster planet. He had seen
not only canals, but street car railways,
roof gardens and what he surmised might
be political conventions.
Now comes modern science and declares
that Mars las no atmosphere and there
fore cannot be inhabited. Is not this nv.
pothesis ludicrous in the extreme? What
right has science to confine itself to such
a little, pcnt'up Utica? What right has
it to assume that the same conditions pre-
vail Oh all planets as exist Oh this earth.
the poor little planet that we inhabit? Is
1T not reasonable to suppose that the Su.
preme Power can adjust conditions to fit
certain life, and vice versa? And yet
science pretcnds to differ with this Su.
premc Power, tins first great cause.
Science has made one of its biggest mis-
takes in lbs analysis of the ocean. 1t de
cares that the sadness of the ocean is de
rived from IL constant inpouring of minute
PARTICLES of chloride of sodium, gath
cred up by the air and deposited into this
almost boundlesS eXpansc of water. 1t
has also figured out how many tons OF
salt is contained by the ocean in solution
Now, the ocean is full OF fresh water
springs, and could nature be made to
stand still while the measurement was
made of the salt of the ocean, these
springs could have such an influence as
TO make the ocean II fresh water body be-
fore the measurement was completed
The sadness of the water of the ocean
is caused by the immense number of cod
flsh that swim around therein Any one
who has ever eaten codGsh-and who has
not?-knows how intensely salt they are,
and how long they have to be soaked in
fresh water to make thin paatable.
Now, Just imagine the billions and trill-
ions OF goldfish swimming around in the
ocean, generations and generations OF