The daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1904-1905, 1904-04-04
ADDRESS BEFoRETHE TOURIST
CLUB LAST FRIDAY
EVENING.
GERMAN POET
AND AUTHOR
One Of the Finest Addresses Heard
in Riehmond the Past Winter.

One of the greatest addresses heard
in Richmond this winter was that of
Prof Dennis last Friday evening be-
fore the Tourist Club on the German
poet and author Goethe and his
"Faust'
After first comparing him with Ho-
mer, Dante and Shakespeare, Prof.
Dennis then proceeded to point out
the special greatness of Goethe. He
first advanced the theory that the
heroes of antiquity were military he
roes, but with the decline of war the
heroes of today are more and more
moral heroes-not necessarily con-
nected with war.
The mind Of Goethe was universal
-comprehending more fully than any
mind of modern times the entire uni
verse. Better than geologist, Goe-
the could analyze the soil. Better
than the botanist he could describe
the tree which grew from the soil,
and better than any one he could in
terpret the significance of the growth
and Towering of the tree.
In the realm of physiology Goethe
discovered the inter maxillar bone.
He also advanced the theory that the
head of man consists of a series of
vertebrae.
Goethe s "Faust' Prof Dennis re-
CARDS as among the very greatest
achievements of the human intellect.
Sometime since the Outlook asked ten
eminent authors to name the two most
influential books of the 10Th century.
All of the ten named Darwin s stOri-
gin of Species" and seven of the ten
Goethe's Faust The other three
gave as their reasons for its omission
that it had been partly written in the
18th century.
The composition of "Faust' was
begun when Goethe was a boy. The
last part was written after he had
passed his S0th year.
In the "Faust' Goethe has brought
something for everyone
Remarking upon Goethe's tribute
to youth Prof. Dennis said he HIM
self would give everything to be
young again.
The "Faust' is drama Of moral
evolution. Faust, professor, be-
comes tired of leading students by the
nose. He goes forth to experience
human life. Goethe makes him as
bad as he can except he is no degen-
crate. He does everything bad. Four
graves on the hillside are attributed
to him.
Prof. Dennis said that with most
people the first part of Faust was
the popular part, but that personally
he preferred the second. The first
part presents the hero as stepped in
crime, the second represents his NOR
al evolution. Part second has not
the dramatic force of part one. Be
tween the two parts there is wide
break IN time. Tn part second Goe-
the has given the forces which make
for man s moral evolution.
The first of these is .Time' Asec-
ond, Government As government
grew so also Faust grew. "How
closely linked are luck and merit
In sketching the growth Of govern
ment the poet is really sketching the
moral growth of the hero Faust.
Prof. Dennis here described the diff
fct1lty of understanding and inter-
preting this poem. Every man falls
down somewhere in "Faust.' The
scientific theories Of Goethe have
practically all been accepted by scien-
fists. For example he combatted the
theory held at Carl
August $ court at Weimar and said
a young man would overthrow IT.
This YOUNG man was Sir Charles Lv-
ell, who showed that like man the
earth had been growing through mil
lions Of years.
! Another force working for man s