New-York tribune., 1905-08-16
BASIC TASK OF SCIENCE.
q. III. DARUIN'S ADDRESS.
Application of Theory of Natural
Selection to Matter.


session tonight the president George Howard par
nm delivered an address. Mr.. Darwin is Plumian
professor Of astronomy and experimental phioso-
ohv at Cambridge He il the second son OF the
late Charles Robert Darwin.
President Darwin illustrating the augmentation
- mans power over the forces OF nature in the
ls- four centuries recalled the fact that Barthoo-
new Diaz the dscoVerer OF the Cape OF StoT4ils'
s-ont sixteen months his voyage. while snip
- "a ee tons had just brought his hearers there IN
ofetv and luxury. IN little more than fortnight
~ .o-dav was less romantic, the lot Of man was
.ee- for he had inherited the accumulated
.,sowrnent Of centuries OF genius ana laOoi'
ecovcelv a year passed without some new
,o---el of discovery invention Inc ra'e "1
7fcb the development OF knowledge proceeceu
seemed truly astonishing. but from wlaer pom
~ view The scale Of time was reiauFelS u'iiI-
,-.q-,r for the universe leisurely in It's pro
oa,-s Il must always be profoundly interesting
- .r.,a successive cause and effect in the ossch
- events which make up the history OF the eaI'N
and 10 speculate on the origin and future '4le o-
animals planets. suns and stars he "ouAu
.ta-efo-e Try 10 set forth some of the attempts
zEric, had been made formulate evolutionary
s,ec,llatfon This choice Of a subject had been
almost brought 10 him by the scope OF ms own
scientific work and was. he thought, JUSTIFIED by
the name he bore.
CORRELATION OF DISCOVERIES
A belief in the gradual and orderly transforna-
ton OF nature both animate and inanimate' was OF
luton in both realms of nature were partaI ana
d3scontinuous and the chains OF facts were cor
respondingy short and disconnected AT length lhe
theory Of natural selection by forrulaiIhe une
cause Of the divergence Of forms IN the ORGANIC
world from the parental stock furnished 10 the
naturalist q clev by which he examined the disor-
dered mass Of facts before him. and ne was thus
enabled TO go far in deducing order where chaos
had ruled before. but the problem Of reducing the
heap 10 perfect order would probably battle the in
oF- ~
had been this idea that thousands Of new facts
had been brought 10 light and placed in due order
In the chain OF knowledge.
Il was not his object. nor was he competent 10
examine the extent To- which the theory Of natural
selection had needed modification since il first
formulated by MS fafher and Wallace, but he was
justified maintaining that the general principle
held It's place firmly as permanent acquisition
70 modes OF thought. Evolutionary doctrines con-
cerning inanimate nature, although of much older
date than those which concern life had been pro-
foundly affected by this great impulse and the
origin and history OF the chemical elements and of
stellar systems now occupied far larger space
IN The scientific mind than was formerly the case
The mystery OF life remained as inpenetrabe as
ever.
a NATURAL LAW IN POLITICS.
Eis point OF view illustrated by a reference
10 political history. The degree OF persistence or
pe-manence OF species, Of conhguration Of mat
tsr. OF state depended on the perfection Of its
adaptation 10 Its surrounding conditions. If they
traced the history OF State they found the degree
OF its stability gradually changing. slowly rising
20 a maximum. and then slowly declining When Il
fen 60 nothing revolution ensued. and a form
OF government established. The physicist like
the biologist and the historian, watched the effect
of slowly varying external conditions; he saw the
quality OF persistence stability gradually decay
ing until II vanished, when there ensued what
called in politics a revolution.
These considerations LED him doubt whether
biologists had been correct in looking for continu
Gus transformation Of species. Judging by analogy.
they should rather expect 10 find slight continuous
changes occurring during a long period OF time.
followed BY somewhat sudden transformation into
e species. by rapid extinction. The time
scale in the -ansmutaron Of species OF animals
furnished by the geological record. although
q possible translate that record into
years. The time needed for q change OF type IN
atoms or molecules might be measured by the
DiLionth OF q second, while in the history OF the
stars continuous changes occupied millions Of
years. Notwithstanding this gigantic contrast in
speed the process involved seemed be essentially
the same. The study OF stability and instability.
then, furnished the problems which ;he physicist
and biologist alike attempted to solve.
THEORY OF SINGLE BASE OF MATTER.
The fascinating idea that matter Of all kinds had
a common substratun was Of remote antiquity. In
the Middle Ages the alchernists. inspired by this
idea, conceived the possibility OF Transforming the
baser metals into gold. Although even the disso-
ciative stage OF the alchenisuc problem still lay
searches seemed TO furnish sufficiently clear idea
OF the structure Of atoms 70 enable them to see
what would have TO be done effect transforrna-
rion OF clements Natural selection might seem at
first sight remote the poles asunder from the
idea o. the alchemist. yet dissertation and trans
mutation depended the instability and regaiDed
stability OF the atom. and the survival of tha
stable atom depended on the principle Of natural
selection.
within the last few years electrical researches
had shown that the atom was not indivisible and q
food Of Light had been thrown thereby on the ulti-
mate constitution OF matter. BY various con-
vergent lines Of experiment it had been proved that
the simplest Of all atons-that Of hydrogen-con-
Eisted eight hundred separate parts while
the number of parts in the atom Of the denser
metals be counted by Of thousands
These separate parts of the atom had been called
corpusces. or eectrons, and might he described as
particles of negative electricity. The mechanism
was as vet obscure whereby the mutual repulsion
of the negative corpuscles was restrained from
breaking by the atom. but positive electrical
charge or something equivalent. must exist in the
atom n prevent disruption. The existence in the
Of this community Of negative corpuscles
Yves certain and they knew further that they were
moving in speeds which might in cases be
comparable with the velocity Of light namely.
lg5 miles second. The mechanism whereby
they were held together in a group was, however.
hypothetIcal II appeared that there We're definite
arrangements Of the orbits in which the corpuscles
must revoIve IL they We're 70 be persistent
stable ir their motions The corpuscles in com
nluIity % 2ht make thousands Of revolutions before
insta oty declared itself but il must finally break
up. and the corpusclos must diEperse or rearrange
themselves after the election Of some Of their num-
Der
DURABILITY OF ELEMENTS.