The Wadsworth dispatch. [volume] (Wadsworth, Nev.) 1892-1899, 1896-11-14
PRIVACY NO LONGER.
SCIENCE INVADES EVERYTHING AND
REVEALS ALL SECRETS.
As We Contemplate the Changes Made by
Infant Science, We Marvel at the Re
suits Which VIII Follow When 1t
Reaches the Age Of nho

NV hhC Will Eoi1OW w hOu ~
Reaches the Age OF Manhood.
Already science has made neighbors
of erstwhile far sundered pla0s s. Al
ready the feat Of girding the earth in
40 minutes once ascribed to magical
power, has been left hopelessly behind
by a new and scientific Puck. Already
privacy has become we'll nigh impossi-
BILE, even that Of ones bodily interior
being no longer guaranteed. Already
science has SO far conquered tho enemies
of life that the living are j~estling each
other for elbow room, and already the
nations sleep-if they ever sleep--with
their fingers on the trigger of the latest
magazine rife. If this be the case IN
the green tree, what may we expect in
the dry? If infant science, only rs years
old, has brought this about, what will
science in a state Of manhood do for us?
Another question intrudes itself here:
Is the transformation, SO far as it has
gone. a gain? Are we the better or the
happier for the achievements of applied
science, or did men, before the new Gre
ator was born, live a more human-shall
we say a more divine-life than is pos
sible now? M. Berthelot has no reply
to such queries. He is the embodiment
of the spirit which wrests from nature
ever new powers and turns them loose
upon mankind to fulfill their destiny.
It is not for the man of science to dis
criminate. for how does he know what
goes to make a new earth? He also
must fulfill his destiny.
Sometimes we read that the age Of
romance has passed, but ask the interna-
tional congress Of applied chemistry
and you will probably hear that it is
only just beginning; that the most fan
tastic dreams of our most imaginative
men are TO what will be as humble prose
is to highest poetry. Who can doubt it!
Who can forbear sometimes from at
tempting a conception of the new
earth?" And how little way can he
whose imagination is most compact ad-
vance without a stagger and a fall? 1t
is no wonder that science lifts her head
and surveys the future with pride.
M. Berthelot promises a new man as
we'll as a new earth. Given the second,
the first is a necessity, for the old Adam
in a reconstructed Eden would soon fall
from CRATE again, unaided by the SER
pent, in whom. by the way, he no lon
ger believes. Once more imagination
runs riot. This new man-what is he to
bef The new woman we know well
enough to make description superfluous.
The real question is whether we are to
argue from this feminine to the as yet
undetermined masculine. Let Us hope
not, for otherwise the lookout is ex-
tremely bad. 1t may be, however, that
the new man of applied science will ex-
emplify the mysterious law regulating
forces which neither increase ncr di-
minish, but swing backward and for
ward like the pendulum Of the tides.
As the woman becomes more and
more m~annish-of course, without being
manly-will the new man become more
and, more womanish? We should like
M. Berthelot to consider that point in
the light of science, which is now. ap-
parently, our only guide. Much de-
ponds on the solution Of the problem,
and it is a very serious consideration
that nothing in the past can help us to
it. M. Berthelot is reported as saying
that 1.-THE entire social organization is
being transformed amid conditions for
the comprehension of which the past
offers no suggestive ~precedents or data.
As Mr.. Gilbert observes in a state OF
embarrassment, Here's a pretty how
dye doi' We are at sea AS to the new
man, without rudder or compass, and it
is O mere toss up whether he may not
turn out to be simply an old woman
Our personal concern, truly, is very
small. The man of the present will last
our time, and, with all his faults, he is
good enough for us, especially as we
know nothing better. But we are taught
to identify ourselves with the race, and,
doing SO, the question as to man .
years hence is one not only of uncer-
tainty, but of painful interest. We shall
not be able to repudiate him, but, on
the other hand. he may disclaim us,
just as many people nowadays scorn-
fully reject the theory of mans descent
from the ape. The subject is thus seen
to be one of a very disquieting nature,
and the sooner the international con-
gress of applied chemistry or other
learned body throws further light upon
it the better. Surely science can give
some inkling Of what its own Adam is
likely to be. We do no ask for particu-
lars of his Eden, because we know that
a railway will run through it, and that
s~ufices, but curiosity as to the recreated
gardener are inevitable. "A good man
and an angel" exclaimed the late estl-
mable DIR. Young, these between.