South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1917-12-07
Lntenstying the
Wonder of
Science
BY Garrett p. Seryiss.

ones own time. but l do not think
that there is mucr danger of over
statement with regard to the scienti-
fc advances that the present gen.
Grafton of men is looking upon.
Radio-activity, the X-rays, tele-
I phony, wireless telegraphy. auto-loc-
/ emotion, mechanical fight, the cleo
| trical transmission of power. the
/ transfutation of chemical elements.
the unwilling of the world within the
atom, the miracles Of medi-
cine and surgery, the narrowing Of
| the mystery that surrounds the
| principle of life-when all these
have sprung forth within one mans
life span he cannot class the time
in which he lives with any CORES
ponding period Of the past, or fail
to see that it is vertically a new day
which is dawning around him.
There can be no question but that
to thousands of minds this swift
rush onward of human knowledge
and achievement brings a feeling of
awe mingled with lurking terror, as
if it were the visible fulflment of
ancient prophecy. Some men shake
their heads. shrug their shoulders,
and say: This is fast goingl Be
ready for a wreck We are speed
! ing over forbidden 3 ound, invad-
/ ing the golf links of the gods!'
And others. connecting these sci
entifc wonders with the outbreak
and the fearful raging of the world
war. and with the legends of AR
mageddon," openly say that here
are the predicted signs Of the Last
Day." the end of the age;
| Hora novissima.. temPora, pessima,
sInt; yigilemus.
Ecce minaciter imminct arbiter
lille supremus!
WOrld-Old Secrets Barred.
Well. if we really were rushing
headlong upon fate, as timid souls
seem TO apprehend that we are, no
one could deny that our manner of
doing it was gloriOusly reckless. No
arcanum. no hidden place or secret
| of nature or the universe, escapes
! the most searching inquiry
Consider the new effort TO uncover
the secret of gravitation, to which
1 have referred in a preceding ar
ticle. If the experiments on which
J il depends are not misleading, man
has it in his power Ito a very limit
ed extent, of course). TO indulge in
scientific play with the force that
holds not only the earth but the
universe together. He can reverse it.
Prof. Nipher. by simply changing
the electrical potential Of bodies.
makes their gravitational attraction
upon one another either vanish or
become a repUlsion at his will
Suppose we extend. i'm magma
| ton, this laboratory experiment so
that instead of pair of lead balls
it is the earth and the moon that
are concerned. We first change the
electric potential of the earth just
enough to reduce its gravitational
pull TO zero, and the moon is set
free. the. rein of Newton's great law
falls from her neck. But, like a
prisoner immemorially Injured to
! chains, she does not yet compre-
bend her liberty
Then We push the experiment fur
ther, and a force of repulsion be-
gins to rise where before there was
attraction. The moon feels this
| breath of unwOnted freedom urging
her to so to her way, TO scorn her
ancient masters, the earth and the
sun. now fallen into a palsy. to see
the great universe for herself and
TO rekindle her beams with a thou
sand-fold increase of splendor amid
the thronging sun-tOrches of the
milky way.
Is 1t Forbidden Ground?
What sense of suppressed or un-
! developed divinity in man is il that
makes him thus push, with his
! imagination. far beyond the practi-
cal limits of his discoveries?
Has he really an Unborn right 10
go farther than the hampering CON
ditions of his terrestrial life per-
nit? Is he actually trenching up
on the domains Of superior powers
when he thrusts himself boldly for
ward into the clouds Of ignorance
that envelop him?
Is there some basis for the leg
end that the gods, like miliiOnaires,
are conservative and indisposed TO
make room at their table for new
Corners?
Every time man picks another
orumb of knowledge from the floor,
he looks up, through the glass of his
imagination, to the circle of con-
wives around the Olympian board.
and pictures himself cutting the
great loaves and tipping the mighty
hagOns that regale complete divin-
ity.
Let us return TO earth. and satisfy
/ ourselves. as far as we can, with re-
suits of these discoveries and specu-
/ latiOns about gravitation that fall
within our terrestrial competence of
/ understanding.
Prof T. ]. J. See. who has long
insisted that gravitation is depend
ent upon electromagnetic waves, as
/ serts that in this manner one Of the
/ long standing and most puzzling
Z problems Of astronomy becomes easy
I of solution, that namely OF the ir-
! regularity Of the orbital motions OF
I the moon. As soon as we cOmpre-
bend. says Prof. See, that the prin-