Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1900-09-22
nEsEREr EVENING NEWS. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER % 1900

DESERET EN EN1NO
construct Tor the purposes OF geometry
/ we find everywhere constructors already
| IN the angular crystals OF the mineral
| world or In the rounded geometry Or
1 living forms. or IN the curvillnear mo-
! lion of falling bodies. Could nature be
| d geometer by mere chance any more
| than man could be-
Physical science Is a mere record Of
| the wisdom we find expressed IN nature.
| II nature were not the expression Of
| ideas. lt could not be translated into
| thought. The scientist lnterprets the
| thought that Is 40 nature just as the
| antiquarian interprets the thought OF
| the Babylonlans from the cuneiform In
scrlptlons on the ancient pottery
NATURE A THOUGHT SYSTEM.
Nature is thought-systom The
| fixed "order of nature has become
| trite expression In scientific llteraturei
| but II there Is order IN nature, then
| that order ls an expression Of thought.
In an our experience, order, wherever
] II exists In human affairs, Is result Of
| thought and disorder, or CONFUSION Is
result NJ thoughtlessness, or lack OF
| intelligent plan II | go into the IL
| brary and find that an the books there
| In are classified and arranged accord
| Ing 90 "a definite plan into a harmonious
| and ineligible system, Il needs no ar
Bumcnt 20 convince me that this order
| Is the result OF q plan ana exhibits
| the thought Of tho librarian. Nor does
anyone need 20 make any attempt 20
show me that such n classification OF
the books and treatiscs as ] ma there
Is due 10 some occult and mysterious
power OF the books themselves, or 81
the shelves. or ~ the building by
means Of which the books are enabled
10 classify themselves In this way |
know better And when | open the
primer of the book Of nature, and learn
that whole Kingdoms VI animals are
built upon a plan. or a type a9 the
biologists term II. when ] learn that all
plants are fashioned according 10 def
mite patterng-many Of the patterns be-
Ing Of rare beauty and suggestivencss;
when / learn that the very elements Of
which matter Is composed ultimate
atoms of chemical scienCe--are them
selves grouped into wonderful systems
OF aggregation In mathematical exact
ness and never with any confusion; 80
I'm these cases, also. / refuse 10 believe
that the inert elements Themselves pos
gsss the Intelligence and power which
are implied In the system Of which they
form parts,
THE WISDOM OF NATURE
distinctly remember the vague sense
OF the wisdom OF nature which came
over me when. some eighteen years
ago / listened 10 the explanation by DR..
Park OF the development Of the embryo
In animals In the apparently homo
geneous prOtOplasm, there appear cells,
one after another, which proceed deity
TO arrange themselves into an outline OF
the future animal--a fine line az first
locating the backbone. And then II
u.s.. writes Huxley. "as II a delicate fin
ger traced out the line 10 be occupied
by the spinal column and moulded the
contour OF the body. plnchlng up the
head az one end and the tall at the 9TH
or IN so artistic a way that after
watching the process hour by hour one
Is almost Involuntary impressed by
the notion that some more subtle aid TO
vision than an achromatic would show
the hidden artist. with his plan before
him. striving with skilful manipulation
TO complete his work
II may be sad that these cells multiply
their own properties or powers. / reply
that the plan which they realize Is not
theirs any more than the plan that coral
called Neptunes cup which is built by
successive generations OF polyps, Is the
plan OF these little senseless creatures.
Many generations Of pOlyps build the
broad and gently swelling circular base.
Then other generations change the d.
rectlon, and fashion the cylindrical
stem, which Is gradually swelled out by
successive generations Of them into the
regularly curved hollow bowl II viii
scarcely be claimed that they are the
designers. Why Is IT, In short that
certain cells arrange themselves into
rose petals others into rose leaves?
Why do some aggregations OF cells de-
vel0p into fungus or an oak tree. 9TH
ers into wheat. or melons. or pine trees.
though all are under precisely the same
external "cosmic conditions as 10 soil
and cllmate2 Why do some colonies of
cells develop into oysters, others into
great scientists? or why do some cells
form eye-lashes, others fnger-nails, 9TH
ers bone? These are questions, the
answer TO which Is TO be found only In
the assumption OF an Intelligent VIII,
which controls and guides all those
~ and study under the name OF science.
But the real significance Of the facts
Is still deeper
THE PARTICULAR AND THE UNI
VERsAL REASON.
Mind. or spirit can only be known In
opposition to that which IL non-spirit-
ual. A mind without a world Of eX-
ternal objects, an external world with
out a mind 10 think It, are not possible.
Either mind or matter taken by Itself,
would mean nothing. Intelligence and
It's objects imply each other They have
no existence or meaning except In re-
latiOn 10 each other. A self which does
not refer itself 10 that which Is not self
a nOt-self out Of relation 20 self, Is a
notion as empty and as impossible as
an inside without an outside, an upper
without an under II there were such
"a thing as a world beyond thought. we.
at least, could never know anything
about H. Nature and mind are not
two independent things, but the men,
bers OF one organic whole. Each has a
being OF It's own. but each implies the
other This Is the doctrine Of idealism
Whether We adopt II or not II Is clear,
that mind knows nature only because
law, order, and reason exist In nature.
Nature is realized mind and therefore
Il yields itself up 10 the thought which
understands H. Mind discovers itself In
nature as In a mirror. Mind does not
therefore create nature but finds itself
IN nature The individual mind must
cease TO assert itself and must accept
what nature gives. before It can at
tain so any true knowledge Of nature.
In order 20 attain TO the universal life
Of reason that Is In the world, writes
Prof Card, 1T Is an indispensable con-
dition that / renOunce my own indlyid-
uality. my particular thought and opn-
ion, and find the true realization OF my
own reason In that absolute truth or
reason which Nature manIfests An
scientific investigation proceeds upon
the belief that there Is thought. order
plan system In a word. reason IN ma.
ture.' n We can only find H. An finite
thought rests on and becomes possible
ON flnrAtfuA an gtfunnuffigft tN M, ~