The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-07-23
WONDERS BEYOND our KEN.

The most nlIuDle lmdSLialoh
staggering before the stupendous
spectacles brought dimly before the
minds eye by the discoveries OF SCI
ence supplemented by the specuia
lions of scientists. Take. for ex-
ample, the following summary OF an
utterances attributed to PROFESSOR
Birkeland, the eminent Norwegian
physicist:
The earth, said Professor
Birkeland. has existed as globe
more than 100000 100000 years,
and man has lived and developed
for only fraction of that time.
During the last two centuries ne
has developed in culture and sci
ence far more than in all the
previous 100000 years that ne
has existed on the earth. Geo!-
ogy teaches that life upon earth
Is only a brief episode. Pom
caire once said: Human thought
is like a flash Of lightning IN
dark night but it Is conceivable
that new worlds have arrived IN
space more frequently than hui
man beings on earth and IN num-
bers beyond computation.
Countless new planets and even
new suns, or whole solar systems, IN
the continual process Of creation, or
birth, is not new idea; and 1t must
be regarded as reasonable one, es-
pecially so if we accept the theory
that old worlds finally, after millions
of years, finish their allotted span,
die or break up, the scattered mat
ter being attracted elsewhere and re-
formed into new infant celestial Or
ganisms. Such stupenduous pro.
cesses are beyond the grasp OF the
human mind, but their possibility and
even probability may be conceived
through logical reasoning from the
basis of what is actually seen and
known. Even without the aid or the
modern telescope and the trained eye
of the expert turned upon the starry
heavens, it is logical to conclude that
the continual birth, death and chanse
in the world about us is an image In
miniature of similar though gigantic
processes in the vast and higher
planes beyond our view.
Our certain knowledge slowly IN
creases, but the pathway toward the
sure is strewn with the conflicting
guesses of speculative scientists. For
example. Professor Birkeland has es.
tin1ated the period of mans existence
on our earth at 100000 years, yet in
England in 1913 a skeleton was un-
earthed which other eminent scien-
lists declared to be that of woman
who lived not less than million
years ago. Professor Birkeland'
concentration of culture and practi'
cally all scientific development within
the last two centuries Is also open TO
challenge, recent excavations In the
islands Of the Aegean sea. added to
tbe unearthed marvels in Asia Minor
furnishing what some scholars regard
as unouestionable evidences OF pre-
culture and scientific devel
opment rivaling the modern, except
along the lines of purely mechanical
Certainly there Is an IN
crease OF evidence tending to 1ndi
cate the virtual non-existence OF the
new, and leading toward
the conclusion that in great part we
are merely engaged in the re-discov'
ery of what was known In the de
veloped civilizations OF remote an
tiouity before these luxurious ana de-
cadent societies disappeared IN
graves dug by barbarian conquerors
How otherwise are we to expiain-tc
give hit two examples out OF many
the discovery that the Emperor Nero
had three elevators in one OF his pal
aces and the gold filings found in
the teeth OF the most ancient Egyp
tian mummies?