The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-10-23
COSMlC
MAGNlTuDES.
ny HENRY HAMILTON HARDWOOD.

i d
In his Interesting, though Incomplete
aud rather dlsparaginE and depressing
than exalting aud inspiring article
Mans Place in Natiire, PROFESSOR 20
gar IT, Larkn says, truly enough, search
an languages for a word to tell the
smallness of the eartli and not one ca u
be found so accurate rs the word noth-
ing Modarii exact science here merely
corroboratcs the conclusion OF ancient
and mcdiacval contemplation. L,icreilua
two thousand years a go wrote IN metrlcal
philosophy that was not poetry:
S"Omaia cum toclo. tcrr quo narluue,
MI stunt al surlnum 8 ml,ill to.ius on,
nen1--
The earth, the sea, and sky, from pole
to pole,
Arc small, nay nothing, TO the mighty
whole"
Copernicus repeated the observation:
"The magnitude Of thy universe Is so
great that the distance ct the earth from
tho sun las no apparent extent when
compared With tho distance Of the iixed
stars" Moestlin and Radicals and Pascal
expressed themselves similarly Pascal
sublinely.
There were brilliant minds in anti
81 quity,' says French savnnt, 'whose
glesses about the\ world modern SCIENCE
can only confirm" L,icrctius was one OF
them. Another was named Democritus.
|U lHIultlON Oh tllS W ktlttS ~ S'I'nsTH
atom may constitute a world. !" Twen-
tieth century mathematical science pro-
K nounces Democyitus's intuition possibly
correct, because an atom and world
any world-taken together aud comnared
with the Infinite universe become indis-
Ing Unstable one from the o.ner, enen
Shrinking TO imperceptible. ln,n1easuraD!c,
inca lculablo snallness. 10 the ,iathe-
NAUTICAL cosmologlst, then. whatever IL
Z possible In or on a world Is possible IN
Z or on an atom. s
Now this world, the earth, although
vanishngly minute, pan-eosmoEletrieall2
regarded, Is the abode OF beings OF Pc
Il c,iliar organization and potentaitles, r
nlludc particularly to he human species.
II the earth Is yanishingly small. each
individual OF that species must be M
conccivablyf smaller True. II We turn
z our mental regard N one direction only
It Is sometimes enlghtenlng. though. to
& look In two or In all directions. The
.'hearen.horn genius Pascal swept over
both tho large and the small in the
cosmos with his measuring calculating
4 gaze and formulated this Thought
from the survey. Whatever motion.
wha tever number. whatever space. what
ways a larger and a smaller one; so
q that they all hover between zero and 4
n1nity. being always at an Infinite dis I
tance from both extremes. Thus, man
Is either Infinitely Larry or infinitely
small. accordingly az Ne is regarded,
III From l,azy antiquity onward to the.
present day. philosopher after philosopher
has made the discovery afresh that man
is more than an animated, talking, rea-
soning speck or part cie,--that lie is q
small world In himself. m;crocosm.
\ Manu-. the mysterious teacher apostro-
rhized him: Universe In little, thou.
man Ages afterwards, Sir Thomas
Browne announced his finding OF a MI
crocosn, In himself and Ills fsllowlnen.
Recently, Darwin pronounced every or
ganic being microcosn Now, We
know that every organic being consists
mainly OF cells We'll, the German cy-
tologIst Reinke informs US that every
4 cell.ss a microcos.n. And every cell Is
com posed OF molecules. atoms, and, pos
sibiy, corpuscles-eyery molecula atom,
or corpuscle being, pa n-cosmometricaly
regarded, 5indlstingu'shabl bic from either a
y cell. an organism OF whatever size, the
earth. the sun. the solar System, or the
-3en,irc visible stellar universe. Guyan
Z himself says Of atoms that they are
compare lively rs large as nebulae, and
rennes upon Renke by picturing the
hydrogen atom as a world OF little worlds
"a nlacrocosm OF microcosms Finally.
Picton In his prose-poeut, 1.-THE Mystery
OF Matter" dvines that atoms, II made
4 discernlblc, would appear like stars.
@ The number 81 molecules composing a !
q cell Is Immense: the nun, Der OF atoms In a
sn.oleculc Is vast; the number or corpus
clcs in an atom Is large.
Herbert Spencer writes: In each Hole-
Guile OF an oxide or an acid the chemist
z secs one OF these systems (of units)
united with one, two. three or more
systems OF another kind that nc Similar
Is involved. Ascending to orders OF CONS
pounds excessively more heterogeneous.
he finds himself obliged to recognize
molecular complexities ;unrepresentable in
thought: until, on reaching organic mat
& ter. he comes to molecules each OF which
Uaking into account the composite la-
ture OF It's so.called elements) contains
literally moro atoms than the Visible
heavens contain sIars-a toms. combined.
/ system within System, in such ways that
each atom. each system each compound |
system. coch doubly compound system
has Its motion in relation to the rest.
and is capable OF pcrturhing the rest and
or being pcrturbed by them.
said something above about peculiar
organization. DR.. Moods Hutchinson. in
Tho Republic OF the Eody. says more:
'.rhc body ls conceived OF as "a cell
state or cell-republc, composed OF In