The age-herald., 1898-01-16
CATACLYSMAL INVENTIONS.
Their Effect Is Always Slowly Felt and Dis
 trbuted.

From the London Spectator.
 The most cataclysmal of all inventions that of gunpowder (which, by the way, was probably invented twice, for Greek fire must have been the same thing, used with an imperfect knowledge of its impelling power)-and the which most affected the organization of society by destroying the value of armor and equalizing the pow CT of men of different sizes, took a gen. eration to spread abroad, and when it did spread hardly affected the relative strength of the nations. If such an invention were discovered now the papers would ring with prophecies, probably of a German or Brit ish conquest of the world, which would not happen bit the faster for all the "appre- ciations." Printing was a grand discovery and though it did not help the Chinese much, did help Europeans great deal; but it did not help them suddenly, and for the immense majority of mankind it might just as well never have occurred. Steam is grand discovery, but it has not upset the world, it has been utilized only by de- grees, and, like printing, the mass of man. kind know very little about 1t, one-third of the human race, indeed, denouncing it still as something which "haazes and maaZes the blessed fealds."
 The discovery of the way to harness
 lightning, which excites the imagination
 even of poets, is one of the greatest man
 has made; but it has upset nothing except newspaper arrangements, and beyond en- abling nations to talk together as individ- uals do, it has produced no consequences.
 It is, we suppose, possible that somebody
 may discover a way of destroying a fleet
 from balloon, and thus deprive the rich est nation of it's maritime advantages; but a mode of counteracting tIrat discovery would probably be found at the same time, and the balance of maritime power would remain unchanged. There never can
 be an elixir of life, because all men are E sentenced to capital punishment, but a
 preparation which would destroy or neu-
 tralize all hostile bacteria, germs, spores,
 or whatever they call the injurious atoms,
 is, at all events, conceivable; but it would
 be years before it greatly influenced the permanent health even of races bright enough to believe in the physicians opin-
 ions. Remember the savage opposition to
 as strong as that which demonstrates any arithmetical propos tion. 's
 From all that what deduction? Simply this, that the readiness to take alarm, which is one handspring of modern credul- ity, is not justified either by experience or
 theory, and that men should receive all an-
 nouncements of cataclysmal discovery or invention with a willingness to inquire,
 and quiet conviction that if false they do
 not matter, and if true they will affect
 things very slowly, and will develop coun-
 tervailng and restraining influences. Ac-
 cording to science a meteorite big enough to shatter the world might strike it, and
 bring even labor troubles or the German
 emperor's experiments to an end; but the universe is governed by powers before
 which even science is very ignorant, and
 judging from all experience the meteorite
 will either be shattered in time or just
 miss us in it's course through space.