The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-12-21

81 IN weight by a large percentage. and
thar ibis gain was equal to a certain loss
Sustained by the atmosphere SURROUNDING
ltEe burning body. This overturning OF
lthe 7hIogistore idea was not accepted
without much controversy and very care
ful experimentation. all of which added
10 It's strength.
| The point once gained and a score OF
more other truths We're precipitated. The
lstfence of chemistry was born. Alchemy
lin search of gold had given place tc
chemistry in search of truth, a1d for the
Hove OF truth Apriori speculation had
given place to aposterori knowledge
Law was established in the anarchy Of
Accumulated facts. and men began to ap'
Ipreciate chemistry a profound science
lgoverned by laws as unchanging as the
universe.
Chemistry has been taken only as al
lexample; any other science might be
mentioned with equal fitness, for a sec
lond renaissance was a hand. Immedi
lately before and after Lavoissier, Other
lmen in other branches were likewise In
spired The harmony of the spheres un
der KepIer's laws became as beautiful
d tribute to the Creator who, in His owl
way set them moving in their orbits, as
the mythical song of the stars was &c
the mortal mind that conceived the beau
tiful myth. The mysterious process oil
birth and growth of plant and animal
llne great plan OF the AESdlOI IN VI iiSiAi7
of new forms into existence became "a
wondrous story book thy Father hath
written for thee" more wondrous even
than the mind of man had conceived in
his mythology. more wondrous, more
beautiful and not least, more true.
| How was ii done in SO short a time
we may ask. By men who We're willing
to work years before trusting themselves
| TO express a theory.
But can we call this second renais-
sance?
Can we call this a reawakening? Per
| haps better a birth-the birth of a new
method in the progress of human cul-
ture-opening up a new world of knowi-
edge.
In comparing the culture value of sci
ence with that of the classics, let us con-
slider several of the points for which
study of the classics has been so strenu-
ously upheld e. &, mental discipline IN
the languages, nara tive In history, Gull
tiYation of the Imagination in mythology,
and appreciation of the beautiful in all.
/ wish to uphold the idea not that sci
ence is pre-eminently the study in all
these respects, but that il is quite the
equal in every way of the branches
known as purely classical.
In the matter of mental discipline we
must consider the memory and the rea-
soning power. The physical sciences
physics and chemistry, passing into as
tronomy-can surely find no superior for
training the mind that is adapted to
them In memory exercise the mastery
of chemical formulate and equations, of
the various equivalents and laws of ac-
ton in physics. the planetary movements
and star magnitudes in astronomy can
surely compete with the infections of a
language or the variety of sentence con-
Struction.
In narrative we have geology. Is not
the life of an ancient kingdom riValled
in interest by a geological age, its mighty
heroes by the gigantic animals that lived
before us, its wars. its customs, its tribes
by the struggles. the habits and the va
rious groups of IFS animals, the keen zest
of reading its history in ancient inscrip-
tions or parchment bN the achievements
of the seolOgist IN reading the stories in
rock and fossil tooth or foot print? IL
not the economic study in tracing the de-
velopment of civilization by birth and
death of generation on generation of en-
pires equaled in wonder when trace
step by step in these unimpeachable rec
ords the evolution of a more perfect ami
NAL by birth ana death of generations
now extinct? How truly so when we find
in the end that the former is but niche
in the edifice of the latter.
Is there no training of the Imagination
in science? Must the scientist become a
mechanical searcher for fact and lose the
power to build fancies about the objects
and forces with which he works? In the
summer of 90 on a geological expedition
through the head waters of the Co unbia
we were encamped in Il large amphi-
theatre-like valley, through which flow
ed the John Day river. From its edge
the banks rose abruptly for a distance.
then more level plain, then rose the
amphitheater, in terraces 80 to 100 feet
in each, almost a score in number, to the
summit of the encircing hills, more than
q thousand feet above To the unimagi-
native eye alone there was unmistakable
proof that there had been succession of
upheavals of the land, carrying with il
the river on its back. In the intervals
the river had cut down its bed and was
still cutting. But how easy to personify
these monster forces struggling there in
this colossal amphitheatre the one TO
throw off its enemy by violent upheavaI
the other to conquer by the more quiet
but constant wearing away of the
strength of its adversary; how easy to
people these terrace benches with the gil
ants Of the mountain. old grizzled Titans
who sat and watched the struggle below
aud appiauded In the thunder
Is there for the geologist for the as
tronomer. for the naturalist. no appre-
citation of the sublime, of the beautiful.
OF the infinite? Is the sacredness all lost
sight of and must We turn to the works
Of men for our culture?
\ thousand friendships are made by
him who learns the ways of the birds
ANA lowers and nothing can teach him
Z" feel greater JOY than when they speak
TO him words that ne can understand \
ride around Diamond Head LAST week put
a handful of small brown seaweed. in
my collecting pouch Half an hour with
them under the microscope and the in
PRODUCTION was complete, they had Ueceiv-
ed me into their home and ] them into
mine-we are now good friends forever
ana how much more a little brown scrap
of seaweed means since my real eyes
have seen it,
IT is without the limits of this paper to
consider the technical training resulting
from scientific study. the use of the
hands in the laboratory. the ability TO do
things, the correlation of the mind and
body. Yet what can be more truly cul-
ture than the cultivating of such har-
mony between thought and action? The
keen deductive method of reasoning is the
result of science study. The discussion
thus far has been 10 demonstrate the
lapet pf