Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1910-02-03
Or. Txndall,s Lecture.


As so rarely happens that We are
privileged to listen to a lecture OF the
kind given here by Or. Tyndall, perhaps
few more words in regard to il may not
be amiss. Those who heard the lecture
on "Wireless Telegraphy" a year ago
could understand this one on "Radium"
better, and having heard the one, the
other proved more interesting, as 1t must
be admitted that the whole subject is a
deep one for the average mind to grasp,
not but that Dr. Tyndail aimed to and
did, make it as simple as such subject
can we'll be made.
Six thousand tons OF coal are required
to drive an ocean liner across the Atlantic
and back, and only a teaspoonful OF ra-
dium would be needed to perform the
same service. But how to control ii, and
harness It to our necessities, is the ques-
ton. When the scientist thinks be has
il cornared, he suddenly discovers that 1t
has possessed itself of the very walls Of its
prison, and hasty retreat is made to an
other place, only TO find in short time
that the new stronghold is being taken
By this subtle force, and so on, until at
last the tireless expert emerges with
tiny quantity OF the pure radium reduced
to captivity, after months Of diligence and
activity devoted to its capture. And yet
il is everywhe and in everything about
us. waiting for us to discover the way
and means to set ii to work.
DR.. Tyndall did not undertake to tell
Us what radium is, he only told us what
he knows about it. Scientists are not
agreed as to what it really is, and they
know but little Of what it can do. The
professor who carried a small vial OF II in
his wsist coat pocket when he went to
give lecture, on returning home, found
that it had burned q hole clean through
his skin, and he had to send for doctor
10 heal the wound, and this, too, without
having destroyed his clothes or made any
smoke.
Electricity is an old story, it is stereo-
tvped. blase. Man has reduced 1t to
state OF slavery. We no longer regard
our servant with awe, as our forefathers
would, could they but see the uses to
which electricity is now put. Will our
suceessors ever reduce radium to servili-
~? will our posterity look back and
smile at US because we know not how to
control it and do not know what it can do
for ms? We understand that one of DR..
Tyndall's daughters recently astonished
her college professors by making use OF
some OF her fathers demonstrations In
her class room work.
DIR. Tyndall closed his lecture with
most eloquent application Of these deep
est things in nature to those higher
thoughts Of the heart and the Trinity in
science and the Trinity in God. The
scientists are agreed that somewhere in
the Pleiades there is a center around
which all other planets revolve. And
sometime, somew here, we all shall under
stand the hidden mysteries, provided We
keep our lives attuned in the right " key
note"
The presence OF DR.. Tyndan in the boys
summer camp last summer must have
been a One thing for the boys. We are
indebted to the Y. NJ. G. A. for the inter
estjng lecture of Jan. %, as well as for
ne former one on e'Wireless Telegra-
pbv.u aud a word is also due 10 Prot.
Wilson OF the south Royalton high
school as a member Of the Y. N. c. A..
ior his hearty cooperation With Secretary
Hurd and Mr. Hewitt in bringing Dr.
Tvndall a second time to our doors.
A. g. Whitman.