The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1903-02-26
Mrs. w. w. Strong Reads an Inter-
esting Paper Before the Members
OF Kenosha W0man's Club.
A DINNER FOR PHILOSOPHERS
Mrs. Strong Presents Splendid Resume
of the Science and Philosophy ofs..the
Latter Part of Seventeenth Century.


read before the members of the
Woman's Club, of Kenosha, by Mrs.
w. w. Strong on Wednesday after
noon and the paper was one of the
most interesting and entertaining ever
presented before club of representa-
tive women in Kenosha.
In prefacing her remarks Mrs.
Strong said "Science as science is not
interesting to the popular mind. The
thing accomplished by the scientist, if
it add to the ease and convenience of
life, if it possess commercial value, is
accepted, applauded, wondered at in a
mild way for few hours, and is sthen
promptly forgotten as scientific
achievement"
Mrs. Strong then spoke of how little
the workman who brought the great
works of science to the practical world
knew Of the work that it had been
to invent them. So she found it with
all inventions of the scientist. The
rapid moving practical man accepts
the good things that come to him with
out even so much as giving thought
to the man who worked for years to
produce them and whose victory over
the laws of nature were soon forgot
| ten.
In discussing the science of the Sew
enteenth century Mrs. Strong did it by
bringing to the members of the Club
series of biographies of the men who
had been famous in the scientific world
at that time. Among the men men
toned in this connection were Otto
Guericke, Robert Boyle, John Mayow,
and Sir Isaac Newton. She found in
Newton and Boyle the real leaders in
| the Scientific world at that time, and
magnitude, had contributed discover
les which had left an influence on the
world of science even to the present
time.
She spoke of Guericke as!the pioneer
in the discovery of the electrical sci
ence and showed how his early expert
ments in the world of science had
paved the way for the development of
the uses of electricity.
In Robert Boyle, the leading scien-
fist of Irish parentage, Mrs. Strong
found an interesting subject and she
told many little incidents connected
with his life and work which proved Of
compelling interest.
She spoke of him as the founder
of the Royal Society and as to his
social life with other memb ers of the
society. His discovery of the COM
possibility of air and gases was one
of his greatest works in the scientific
line.
She spoke of Sir Isaac Newton and
painted a pretty word picture of his
little country home in Woolsthorpe,
and told again the story of the apple
falling from the tree and the young
man sitting and wondering why it fell.
It was while sitting in this little Sc
Guided garden that the great law of
gravitation, one of the most import
ant, if not the most important, scien-
tifc discovery of the age was made.
Newton saw the invisible strings
which pulled the apple to the ground
and in short period of time he had
worked out a new system of philosophy
in which the law of gravitation was
the central pivot. This one discovery
showed to the speaker how little a
thing is needed to reveal the great
laws of the natural world. From this
modest incident the great career of
Newton began and when it closed he
was mourned as the greatest of sci
entists. His theories we're all proven
and his work opened a new world to
the man of scientific research.
With this splendid review of the
scientists of the seventeenth century
Mrs. Strong turned to the other part of
the topic-the philosophers and the
manner in which they discovered the
important laws governing the human
mind. She brought forward the his
tory of the materialists, led by Hobbies
and Locke, and the idealists, the fol-
the constant points of dispute between
the two schools formed the basis of
| conversation among the literary peo-
pie of France.
In order to properly present the
views of the philosophers Mrs. Strong
laid an imaginary dinner at the home
of Madame Scanen in Paris in 1872, at
which the philosophers themselves
were the guests of honor. In the
course of the paper Mrs. Strong intro
duced each Of the guests and had him
give in short resume his theories and
his PHILOSOPHERS. In pleasing, COLO
quia1 style and with the touch of
master Mrs. Strong brought out all the
points of interest in such clever man.
ner that the members of the club heard
with regret of the close of the dinner
i and the departure of the guests. 1t
would be impossible to give in this
limited space all the beauties Of the
paper read by Mrs. Strong, but the
many points of interest will long be
Remembered among the members of
the club.
Following the paper an interesting