The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-12-30
THE SEATTLE
REVIEW OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

across the Firth of Forth and the suspen-
sion bridge over the East river show
what the nineteenth century bridge build
ers could do. Tunnels hAve been dug
through the Alps, at the Mont Cents and
the st. Gothard, the latter winding itself
within the mountain. Tunnels have been
driven. too, under st. Clair river, the
Mersey and the Thames. A new archi-
lecture in steel has been devised which
erects buildings twenty and thirty stories
high, and towers that rise thousand feet
in the air
The output of minerals has been enor-
nous. Since the discovery Of gold In Gait
fornia and Australia the worlds stock OF
the precious metal has been trebled. and
silver has almost ceased to be regarded
as a precious metal; but this production
is exceeded in value by the coal, the iron,
the copper, that have been mined in the
same period.
Improved Conditions of Life for
Rich and Poor Alike.
A remarkable result OF the Hood OF in
ventions on social life has been the estab-
iishment Of practical equality among men.
1t was inevitable that their products or
their effects should become common and
within the reach OF all The average OF
welfare and OF comfort throughout the
than in any earlier century, and the inn
provement consists mainly In what has
been added 10 the power of each individ-
ual. Little distinction between persons Is
possible in the use of rapid transporta-
ton, Of abundant and cheap clothing or
fuel or food, Of public and private sani-
tary arrangements, of books. of the dis
coveries of medical science, and SO on. 1t
Is an equality that has been made by
raising the weaker, not by lowering the
stronger. An equally noticeable result il
the extraordinary development of organi-
cation among large bodies Of men, and
the spirit of discipline, without which IL
would be impossible to carry on any large
industrial undertaking. The working OF
railroad depends as much on every EN-
ploye doing his allotted task at the right
moment as Il does on the action OF every
piece In the mechanism of the locomotive.
Men work together for common purpose
as they never did before.
what Medical Science Has Done.
Greatest of all blessings in the saving
of suffering TO mankind was the dlscov-
cry of anaesthetics In 1874, and at the end
Of the century, instead of the total un-
consciousness produced by ether or chlor-
oform, methods have been found to rem
der sonseless TO pain only those parts OF
the body on which the surgeons knife
must act. The finding Of minute animal
and vegetable organisms In the body
brought forth Pasteurs solution OF the
process of fermentation: the examination
of micro-organism and OF their action
on the body established the science of
bacteriology, with it's two-f0ld results,
the discovery Of the microbes o. specific
diseases with the process Of incubation
as means of cure. and Listers eiimina-
tion of gangrene from surgical opera
tions BY the use of antiseptics. an Inn
hot hu n Ia
vestigation every part of the living body.
The microscope has removed the bound
airy between animal and vegetable life.
1t has demonstrated that all organic it's
sue il built up OF cells; that is. of bits OF
protopiasm supplied with n nucleus" and
ID is generally accepted among biologists
that the protoplasm is for all purposes
Identical In plants and animals, that IL Is
the physical basis Of life. and that every
CO.. springs from another cell. The syn
thesis OF organic products from chemical
clements I'm the laboratory demolished
the theory of a vital force and proved
that only natural elements enter Into the
composition OF animal matter.
Changes of Relief wrought by the
Evolutionary Theory.
The boundary is set aside, too. In the
century's answer 20 the problem of life
on the globe The theory OF evolution.
the transmutation OF one species from
another by added characteristics, and the
common origin In one original form, adj
vanced hy Lamarck has satisfied mems
rlinds since Charles Darwin, in 1858, in
hts "Origin OF Species by Natural Selcc-
ton" demonstrated the variations in spe-
eies and pointed out their causes. II has
become impossible 70 believe In a special
creation OF man. belief against which
/ tho geolCgists "a well have accumulated
evidence. The theory of cataclXsinal
changes IN the earths surface has been
abandoned. In the past. as in the pres
ent changes we're gradual and must have
gone on through cons Of time; the fossil
animals waose remains arc found IN the
rocks died oGt as species die out nova
DAYS. There was a time when there was
no life. as the ice covered the earth.
thea low organisms we're born that in
ages became the great mammals Of the
latest strata.
studying the Inanitesimai Things of
Nature.
Perhaps the most marked characteris-
tie os scientific research In the nineteenth
century has been igs study ot the inf
nitely lHtie. 1t has been an age Of in
comedy ABLY minute and accurate me asure-
nents Each branch Of science has turn
cd microscope or spsctrpacppe 20 seek Tor
some primal cause, tae atom, the uloiecale
the cell. tho m!crohe, the number Of lines
in the spectrum, the number OF vibrations
OF NEGt or or fCAt I ne fAkct pNaNtftai Ata
piRyed no part that the mariners conf
pass did IN ths Rse OF discoveries The
patauaN OF a star has haen measured and
tho speed M which Il meyfs. and the sise
and velocity az nolecule o. Eas have
been computed.
The FIRST years Of tho century we're ex-
traoranarily fruitful Youag, BY tnoani
81 the spectrum. gave the FIRST oonvirtc-
lag pro5f OF the uHdalatory theory o.
light and conceived the Idea OF "lumi-
nous ether IN which the vibrations oc-
cur. since then acat. electricity. magnet
tam, chemical AFFINITY. have al bc@n shown
10 be likewise merely forms of vibrating
molten In the ethcF whose existence as
au elastic tigid. tncompFsssiole, frictlon-
less solid nllink all space IS now gNner-
aliy accepted by phyaiciSts naltoha the
ary OF Interchangeable atoms and his first
table % atomic weights provided that ha-
sis Of exRctBess 90 which modern chem
I islry has been built ara the properties