The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1896-04-25
ADVANCES OF SCIENCE.
They Are Made In the Fickle
Manner of Nature.
THE OAPRICEs OF PROGRESS.

THE OAPRICEs OF PROGRESS.
Man Sought to Fly and Found Steam-AIu-
mininm Is Needed. but Remains In tho
Clay Observation-Disclosures Of Electricity.
i Passing of the Locomotive.
Copyright 1896 by John Clark Ridpathl
VIII
In human history there is little that
is logical. Whoever attempts to apply
the syllOgism to the affairs of men and
nations will be disappointed. 1t may
not be doubted that the civilized life
goes forward by regular stages. but the
stages cannot be calculated or predicted.
The advances are made in the capricious
manner Of the natural world. Meteor
Ology is, on the whole, better science
than history. The event of the atmos-
phere may be discerned at least few
hours before ii comes, but man life gives
SO little premonition of its purpose that
no human foresight can foretell it's ac-
tion for day
The principal reason Of the irregular
progress Of events is to be found in the
fact that modern civilization sympa-
thizes so profoundly with the move
ments Of science. 1t has science for the
chief condition of its growth and evolu-
tion, and science itself is variable
The irregular advances Of science are
the chief cause of the caprices Of prog
ress, In man life it is the unforeseen
that comes to pass, because the advance
Of science is whimsical The scientific
evolution spreads over the earth and
possesses it in the manner of a vine
growing whittier it will Not all Of the
learned societies in the world can turn
one tendril in this direction or in that.
AS result, all invention ard all appl-
cation of natures laws, and consequent
ly all progress, are bound to conform to
the capricious movements of fact that
is in nowise understood. Since one can
not see the next stage in scientific devel-
opment, and since tho mind is so consti-
tuted rs to run before existing condi-
tions and to expect this form or that as
the next aspect of the civilized life,
there is a constant break between fact
and expectation. 1t is thus literally the
unexpected thing that occurs, and the
expected that comes late or never comes
at all.
For this reason the predictions Of the
prophet are not fulfilled. Take the case
Of flying. For more than 100 years
aerial navigation has been expected. 1t
was expected before there was steam
cylinder in the world, before there was
cartridge, before there was q system
Of public postage. That man should be
able to lift himself little and make
his way through the air seems to be
one of the easiest and most natural
stages in progress. The ocean is sea,
and the atmosphere is sea. To navi-
gate the water was one of the earliert
exploits Of man. To navigate the air has
been his long standing ambition, yet
he has not succeeded iii doing it, He has
not made perceptible progress in the di-
rection of doing it. The scientific evolu-
tlon does not seem to lie that way. The
end Of the century finds the principal in
habitant of the earth able to fly as far
as he can jump. Between him and the
frog. considered az aeronauts, honors
are easy.
Fifteen years ago there was more to
be expected from the phonograph than
from either the telephone or the cleo
trical light, or both. The possibility Of
the phonograph was and is larger than
the possibility Of either Of the other
two. The photograph is perhaps the
sublimest hint ever suggested in the
intellectual sphere. It points to com
nIQfn rpvnl1fin n thn l,nI nf
ing and in all the recorded forms Of lit
erature. 1t proposes to put back upon
the natural basis the entire mental prod
ucts Of the world by restoring sound
and the human ear to their normal
offices in the requirement and registra.
tion of knowledge 1t proposes to take
every child among the nations and to
promote and complete his education
along the same lines which he happily
follow ed from his mothers knee until
his progress was broken by an artificial
entrance into the kingdom of books.
But the scheme for the restoration Of
memory and for making every man his
own secretary does not seem to work.
1t does not apply itself. The telephone
goes on to perfection and opens up the
world; every man speaks to his neigh
Dor. The electrical light illumines the
world; every man sees his neighbor
Darkness and crime slink away together
and hide in the same bed underground,
but the dimmed and exhausted eye Is
still obliged to do the work of the ear
as we'll as it's own in the prodig
tasks Of learning.
The earth has in it giant tautalus
called aluminium. Out Of every clay
bank the giant groans to be delivered.
II shovelful Of clay bearing 60 parts
Of aluminium could be made to give up
its treasure for a cent, the world would
be transformed. Whatever so called
"design" there is in nature is here
baked and put at fault. Man needs the
new metal and seeks it with all his in.
genuity, but the baffled chemist ia
obliged in old age to find companion
ship with the bankrupt aeronaut. Nei-
ther does the one fly nor the other find
way.
The nations are walking literally on
bed Of metal more useful than iron
and more beautiful than silver-walk-
ing and finding not. seeing without the
nAs H. IL