The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1902-11-23
A GOLDEN AGE.
The Wonderful Progress Of the Nine
teenth Century.

From the New York Sun.
A posthumous essay by John Fiske, on
Evolution and the Present Age" appears
in Harper's Magazine for the present
month. It has the beautiful lucidity and
nice sense of proportion which always
distinguish the literary work Of Mr.. Fiske
and bring clearly to the popular compre-
hension the most profound questions of
scientific thought. That Ii, his style Is
the modern style and itself Is one of the
products Of the historical evolution and
intellectual illumination OF which he
writes In this essay. John Fiske was
man Of rare simplicity and genu1neness OF
character. who, forgetting himself. with
out a trace Of self-consciousness, was
wholly absorbed In his effort to obtain a
mastery of his subject in order to eluci-
date It. Thence comes the charm of his
style.
AS Mr.. Fdske starts out by saying IN
this essay, 1t is a commonplace to speak
of the age In which we are living as
wonderful In its material and intellectual
progress. Between the nineteenth CEN
fury and all past time there is a gulf
so broad that 1t may be said to mark
separation between two distinct epochs in
the history of man. The chief character
istics of this new era are defined by Mr..
Fiske as, on the material side. the crea-
tion OF mechanical force, and, on the in
tellectual side. the uniication OF nature"
Before the introduction OF steam the
world was very much the same as 1t had
been in the time Of Nineveh and Babylon.
The domestication of oxen and horses In
the dim historic past had given accelera-
ton to human progress. but the move
ment was slow and inconsiderable as
compared with that which started under
the impulsion Of steam. Transportation
by land and by sea had been the same
since Caesars day, and generally the
characteristics Of civilization had con-
tinued unchanged, with mans own mus
cular energy, supplemented by the
strength of beasts and the use OF COM
paratively primitive tools in his hands,
doing the work OF the worlds production
From Joseph Black with his discovery OF
latent heat, to James Watt, with his in
vention Of the steam engine down to the
latest discoveries In electricity there has
been the unbroken sequence of achieve
ment' which has transformed the whole
face of the world and introduced a new
and distinct era
"A man can now travel the whole
length of the earths circumference in less
time than 1t would have taken Herodotus
to go the length of the Mediterranean"
mot only have numerous petty manu-
features, formerly carried on in separate
households, given place to gigantic fac
tories, but the organization of every in
dustry has been profoundly modified by
railways and telegraphs." Combination
and concentration of the forces of produc-
ton distribution, we may add, have been
made possible and inevitable. and in the
trust system" as it is called loosely
and inaccurately. has begun new devel-
opment against which blind resistance
will be as hopeless as was the original
struggle against the emancipation of
mankind brought about by the introduce
| ton of the steam engine. Ecclesiastical
| opposition to the progress Of science was
| not less futile. The world IL going to
know all it can find out and to utilize
every energy of which 1t can avail itself
| to push along the progress Of mankind.
Even Mr. F1ske's familiarity with the
precise achievements OF chemistry had
| not '.yet begun to deaden the FEELING of
stupefied amusement when he reflected
that scarcely a century has elapsed
since DR.. Priestley informed mankind of
the existence of oxygen" The laboratory
has now created more than 100000 dis
! tinct substances which never existed be-
| fore and never would have come into ex-
! istence but for the human mind" With
the discovery and PRONUNCIATION of the
doctrine Of evolution, q product OF the