The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-02-10
A Hundred Years of Science.


its title may suggest one of those books
intended primarily for the general public
and for students rather than for savants
or scholars. 1t contains thirteen chapters.
twelve of which deal with the achieve
ments of science in the nineteenth cen
fury, and the thirteenth, with the unsolved
problems which confront the scientist of
the present day. Among the subjects dis
cussed are astronomy, paleontology, ge-
ology. meteorology, physics, biology, an
atomy. medicine. and psychology. The
condition of each of these branches OF
science at the beginning of the nineteenth
century is contrasted with that which ex-
lists today, and there is a brief account OF
each OF the men who have had to do with
years. There are also portraits OF these
men, and numerous other illustrations of
interest and value. The style, while not so
technical as to bewilder the average
reader, is still sufficiently scientific TO
escape all charge of looseness or inaccu-
racy, and the book will be an especially
valuable one for the use of teachers and
for school libraries.
The book begins with a brief review Of
the condition of science in 1900, and to
the most interesting in the book. since
knowledge once gained has the effect of
seeming as If IT had always existed. and
we are apt to forget, in spite of all re-
minders to the contrary, that the men of
Jefferson's time did not understand nat
ural laws well as the scientist of today.
Some paragraphs which may be taken
almost at random out of the chapter in
question will tend to dispel this impress
sion. The author says:
One might naturally suppose that the science
Of the earth which lies at mans feet would at
least have kept pace with the science of distant
stars But perhaps the very obviousness OF the
phenomena DELAYED the study of the crust OF the
earth. 1t is the unattainable that sllures and
mystites and enchants the developing mind. The
proverbial child spurns its toys and cries for
the moon.
So in those closing DAYS of the eighteenth
century, when astronomers had gone so far to-
ward explaining the mysteries of the distant
portions of the universe, We find n chaos of
opinions regarding the structure and formation
of the earth Guesses were not wanting tc ex-
plain the formation of the world il is true but
with one or two exceptions these are bizarre
indeed One theory supposed the earth TO have
been at hrst solid mass Of ice, which became
animated only after a comet had dashed az. inst
it. Other theories conceived the original globe
as 4 mass OF water, over which hoated vapors
containing the solid elements, which in due lime
were preeipitated as crust upon the waters. In
word, the various schemes supposed the oiigi-
nal mass to have been ice or water or a con
glomerate of water and solids, according TO the
random fancies of the theorists; and the final
separation into land and water was conceived
10 have taken place in all the WAYS which fancy
quite unchecked by any tenable data, could in
vent
Whatever important changes in the general
character Of the surface of the globe were ton
ceiTed to have taken place since its creation
were generally associated with the Mosaic deluige
and the theories which attempted TO explain
this catastrophe were quite on a par with those
which dealt with remoter period of the earth's
history. Some SPECTATORS. holding that the in
terror Of the globe is n great abyss of waters,
conceived that the crust had dropped into his
chssn and had thus been inundated. Others
held that the earth had originally revolved on
vertical axis, and that the sudden change TO
its present position had caused the catastrophe
shifting Of the oceans. But perhaps the fayo-ite
theory was that which supposed a comet to have
wandered near the earth and in whiriing about
II TO have carried the waters through grayitstivn,
in vast tide over the continents.
Again:
OF all the contests that were waging in rhe
various fields Of science in this inconoclastic
epoch, perhaps the hercest and most turbulent
was that which fell within the field Of chemistry.
Indeed, this was one Of the most memorable
warfsres in the history Of polemics. It was a
battle vertically Nspoleonic in its inception,
scope, and incisiveness. As was fitting, II was
contest OF France against the world: but the
Napoeonie parallel fails before the end, for in
this case France not only speedily and TN
compromisingly, but for all time.
The main point at issue concerned the GENITAL
doctrine OF the old cheiuistry-the doctrine of
Becher and stahl, that the only combustible sub
stance in nature is kind OF matter called phlo-
gist5n. which enters into the composition OF
other bodies in varying degree thus determining
their niammahiiity. This theory crude
enough now since We know that phogiston was
fTrafts hgff ions .lp n.zrf sFqf
excellent purpose when it was propounded, and
1t held its place the central doctrine of chenIi
cal philosophy for almost a century.
At the time when this theory was put for
ward. ii must be recalled. the old Aristo,eii,n
idea that the four primal elements are earth,
cir. fire, and water, still held sway as the
working foundation Of all chemical philosophers.
Air and water were accepted simple bodies.
Only few acids and alkalies were known, and
those but imperfeetly; and the existence Of gases
as We now know them. other than air. was hard
" so much suspected. All the known fas.ts
OF chemistry seemed then TO harmonic with tAe
phlogiston hypothesis and 50, later on, did the
new phenomena which were discovered in such
profusion during the last quarter Of the eight
zenith century-the epoch of pneumatic chemis-
try. Hydrogen gas, discovered by Cavendish in
f776. ana called nismmable air. was thought by
come chemists TO be the very principle OF
phlogiston itself. Other "airs'' were adjudged
"dephlogistiosted' or ''phlosisticated' in pro
portion rs they supported failed to support
combustion. The familiar fact Of candle fame
going out when kept in confined space d
ordinary air was said to be due to the saturatiCn
OF the air with phloeiston.
Another interesting contrast of the
opinions Of three generations ago and
those OF today is found in the pages de-
voted to comets. Many people now living
can remember when the advent of a comet
was regarded with panic, as something
likely to involve the earth in a fiery de-
struction. The explana ton which the au-
thor gives OF the real nature of the comet
and the conditions under which it exists
is fairly good example of his general
style in dealing with scientific matters.
When Biela's comet gave the inhabitants II
The eartl such fright in 1882, it really did net
COM within fifty millions Of miles Of us. Even
the great comet through whose flmy tail the
earth passed in 1861 was itself fourteen miles
away The ordinary mind, schooled to measure
space by the tiny stretches Of a pygmy planet,
cannot grasp the import Of such distances; yet
these are mere units Of measure compared with
the vast stretches Of sidereal space. We're the
comet which hurtles past US at speed Of saw
hundred miles second 10 continue its mad
fight unchecked straight out into the void of
space, il must fly on its irigid way eight thou.
sand years before II could reach the very nearest
Of our neiGhbor stars, and even then it would
have penetrated but mere arms length into
the vistss where lie the dozen or so of sidereai
residents that sra next beyond. Even TO the train
ed mind such distances are only vaguely imagin
able Yet the astronomer Of orr century ha;
reached out across this unthinkable void and
brought lack many a secret which our pre-
decessors thought forever beyond human grasp
The queerest revelations of the persist.
ent Ignorance Of our ancestors. however,
are TO be found in the chapter devoted to
paleontology. So firmly was the Biblical
account of the creation fixed in the mind
OF man that all the evidence of the rocks,
though plain as print to the modern geolo-
gist, was for a long time absolutely reject