Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1899-11-09

"All are parts of one stupendous whole"
Tie purpose of observation anC
study is to find out the relations oil
the various parts Of nature, then we
classify them, if there is any fact OF
power, or event whose relation to other
facts or powers or events we cannot
see, then. we do not know it. Any.
| thing that seems separate or isolated
is unknown to us because it is ineXpli-
| cable, we cannot find an explanation
of what stands apart from other
things. 1t is this that makes the
mystery of the world, but the mystery
disappears when we discover the re-
| latiOn Of any fact to some other and
| understand what it means. When
! Newton saw that the stars and planets
were held in their orbits by the same
| law and power which caused the apple
| to fall to the ground, then a part of
| the mystery of that phenomena dis
appeared. the descent of the apples
and the movements of the solar system
were seen to be governed by the same
law, that was real gain in knowledge.
To know anything, then, we must
have reduced it to the laws of thought.
If the astronomer sees a strange star
in the heavens he is not content until
he finds whence it comes and whittier
it is going.
The scientist does not know any
object until he has brought it into
some SyStem-until that which is an
object Of the senses becomes an object
of thought: SO that the whole Scien-
titic movement is Il rational interpre-
tatiOn of the world.
Understanding makes nature, says
the great German philosopher, Kant,
that is, nature represents ideas, there
Is something in it for mans intelli-
gence, without this it is a mere heap
OF material, forces and events having
no relation and no meaning, making
the whole life Of man irrational.
This is why the agnOStic position is
irrational. 1t is d contradiction of
intelligence to say we can only know
phenomena. for as we have seen there
can be no knowledge unless we under
stand the outer appearances.
Karl PeaSOn in his grammar of
science is entirely mistaken when he
says "We find that the mind is limited
to the one SOurcethat of SenSe-impreS-
sion for its cOntentS-that it can claSSi-
fy, associate, construct, but always
with the same material. either in its
Immediate or stored up form"
There you have as complete con-
tradictiOn aS a man could make, if
there is nothing beside sense impress
SionS how can there be any claSSifica-
tion, if you put things together and
say they belong to each other-they are
related, you must know the pIan-the
purpOSe-yOur mind has the thought of
it. You cannot build a fine structure
out of heap of stones, you must have
IDEAS, some plan before you can gather
them tOge' her, arrange them in order
and raise them for public uses.
But Karl Pearson cannot keep to
his SenSe-impreSSiOnS. He likenS the
mind to aSOrtlng-machine, all kinds of
sensations and magnitudeS flow into
it. some to be rejected at once, others
to be sorted in order and arranged in
place and time. Now if SenSe-impreS-
SlOnS are to be sorted and arranged
then there must be something superior
to SenSe-impreSSiOnS to do the work.
Listen to what he says further and you
will see how thought slips in along
with his Sense-impreSSiOnS. He goes
on in these words sit may be the
perceptive faculty itself which, with
out being directly conscious of it con-
tributes the ordered sequence in time
and space OF SenSe-impreSSiOnS
Nat lral law in the scientific sense is
the conscious product of the per-
ception, the working of the sorting
machine: the whole of ordered nature
is in this sense the product Of mind.
You see he has got behind that So
called impenetrable wall of sense
impression. This is one example
which shows how impossible it is for
an Intelligent man to imprison him
self in material world, his mind will
not be caught and held in it.
Prof. Tyndall confesses this outright
in these words The domain of the
senses in nature is infinitely small in
comparison with the vast region of
thought that lies beyond them: by
means of data furnished in the narrow
world Of the senses we make ourselves
DIT home in other worlds which can be
traversed by the intellect alone.
Even Prof. Clifford iconoclastic as
he was realized there was something
he could not destroy. His definition
of matter as mind-Stuff is clumsy and
vague, but it showed that material
iStic theory of the world was impos-
Sible to him. He was obliged to con-
fesS that 1--WE do not live in a world of
sensation, but in world of thought"
The world of matter then is no
nearer to us than the world of spirit
Matter is no more real-nO more visible
or tangible than spirit. The reality of
matter is no more get-at-able than
the reality Of spirit. The facts
of science are not cOgniZable by the
senses. No man has ever seen a
particle of that ether which, scientific
men say enfOldS the grOSSer SUBJ
stances of the muItitudinouS stars.
No human eye has seen one Of those
atoms Of the atomic theory. these
scientific assertions are interpretations
of certain facts: the power of thought
has fashioned them out of materials
seen by the outer eye. Every SenSuouS
perception is a mixture of subject and
OBJECT, the person seeing and the
thing he sees. The beauty of the
world is garment which our thought
weaveS out of al eternal substance Of
truth.
The mind of man will not be impri-
SOned within the material things of
the world it will see through them to
find what they mean: deScendS into the
depths of the earth and the darkness
becomes luminous, we read the story
of an infinite patience in the prepara-
tion of the earth for civilized man.
The mind scars into the heavens,
sweeps their vast expanSe. hears the
music of their rhymic movements and
catches glimpse of a wisdom whose
heights and depths we cannot reach.
The mind looks backward through the
long ages and watches the procession
of life. the slow advance, the gradual