The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1899-11-07

IIl(llsfacter. But he putSnto the list
the following, yiz.:5 Alphabetic writ
ing and the Arabic notation, which
have always been. the two great en-
gines Of knowledge and discovery.
Their inventors are unknown, lost in
the dim twilight of prehistoric times.
Coming after vast interval to the
fourteenth century A. D., We find the
mariners compass, aud in the fifteenth
the printing press, both Of which be-
yond question are Of the same Charac-
Ter and rank as alpha5etie writing.
From the sixteenth century We get 10
physical invention or discovery, but it
witnessed AN amazing move: :nent Of
the human mind, which in good time
gave rise to the great catalogue OF ad-
yances Of the seventeenth century. To
~ nc credit the invention of the tele-
scope, And, though not Of equal rank,
sue oa&rometer aud thermometer, and
tf 9N smother field the invention Of
the diAsrential calculus, the all i'm
portant discovery Of gravitation Of the
laws OF planetary motion, Of the circu-
lation Of the blood, of the measure
ment Of the velocity Of light. TO the
eighteenth century we refer the more
important OF the earle: steps in the
evolution of the steam engine and the
foundation of both modern chemistry
and electrical science. This completes
the list.
What is there to be added to this
list? Some would urge that Jenner's
discovery should be included here,
but this claim Wallace would indig-
nantly deny. In making such list,
it is evident the personal equation OF
the author undoubtedly needs to be
recognized, aud different orders Of az
raagement, even if the elements were
the same, would be assigned by differ
ent students
And now what has the record been
since 1902 How does the nineteeth
century compare with its preaecess ors?
Abrief examination will show us that
IN scientific discovery aud progress it
issnot to be compared with any single
century, hut rather with all past time.
lin fact, it far outweighs the entire
progress of the race from the begin
ming up to 1900. Counting on the
same basis as that which he had pre-
vious,y adopted, Wallace finds twenty
-four discoveries and inventions of the
first class that have had their origin
in the nineteenth century, against the
fifteen or sixteen already enumerated
Of al past time.
Of the same rank With Newton s
theory of gravitatior, which comes
from the seventeenth century, stands
out the doctrine OF the correlation and
conservation of forces of our own cen.
tury, certainly one Of the widest and
most far-reaching generalization that
the mind of mail has yet reached.
Against Kepler's laws from the seven
teenth century we can set the nebuiar
theory of the nineteenth. IF the first
reveals to us myriads Of suns, other
wise unseen, scattered through the il
limitable fields OF space, the second
tells US what substances compose these
suns and maintsin their distant fires,
and, most wonderful of all, the direc-
tion and the rate in which each is NOV
ing. Harvey's immortal discovery OF
the seventeenth century finds 4 full
equivalent in the germ theory OF dis
ease Of the nineteenth. The mariners
compass Of the fourteenth century
easily yields first place to the electric
telegraph of the nineteenth, while the
barometer and thermometer Of the
seventeenth century are certainly less
wonderful, though perhaps not less
serviceable, than the telephone and
photograph and the Roetgen rays of
our own day
= In addition to the advances now
enumerated, the great doctrine Of Or
ganic evolution, supported especially
by the recapitulation theory in en-
bryoiogy, finds nothing to match with
it in broadening and inspiring power
in all the past history of the race. The
same can be said OF the periodic law
of Mendeljeff in chemistry, Of the
molecular theory of gases: OF Lord
Kelyin's vortex theory of matter, OF
the Glacial Period in geology, and OF
the establishment OF the origin and
antiquity Of man, all Of our own cen
tury.
Nothing can be brought from all the
past to compare for one moment in di-
rect application to 'the relief Of mans
estate (Bacon) with the discovery Of
anesthetics, while by his discovery Of
antiseptic surgery the name and fame
of Sir Frederick Lister will grow to
the last syllable of recorded time. In
the mobilization Of nan and the gi1-