The sun., 1919-07-20

IL.
Yet the direct and intimate relation be-
tween the different branches of science is
not only the most important single fact
that can be predicted of all of them, but
it is so easy to grasp in the light OF pres
ent day knowledge that the average boy
or girl in the sixth or seventh grade can
assimilate it, once it is presented to him in
terms Of the everyday world which he
knows. Once let the practice become gen
eral Of giving to every child as the essen
tial cornerstone of his education an init
mate personal acquaintance with the
truths upon which all science rests and it
will be but few generations before We
shall have world set free from the turmoil
and chaos Of clashing religious systems de-
irving from dogma and superstition and
from conflicting theories of government
born of ignorance. No priesthood can
terrorize, no demagogy sway a race OF
men who know the truths Of science; the
rights of kings vanish before the sublimely
simple revelation Of the absolute unity Of
all matter; the universal brotherhood pro-
claimed by the Socialist becomes narrow
and selfish conception in contrast with the
universal oneness, dimly seen by Saint
Francis and by Omar the Tentmaker and
now proved and accepted by science, that
reveals man as blood brother to the sun
and stars no less than to the birds Of the
air, the beasts Of the field and the very
rocks beneath his feet.
1t is a significant phase Of the trend OF
the times noted by many commentators
and referred to in various terms as par
taking of the nature of a spiritual rebirth
that many men Of science should at this
time find themselves impelled to sum up
and set down the truths Of our universal
scheme, 90 far as these have been re-
vealed to them, in such form and manner
as to make them accessible to and under
standable by the common run Of men. At
no previous time has it been made so SIM
pie and SO easy for the uniformed to in
form themselves Of the progress which
scientific research has made In the sixty
years since chemistry began to take on
the shape and form of an exact science, the
twenty years since the rediscovery Of the
Mendelian law Of heredity laid the foun-
dations for biological investigation and
understanding. It is now possible, for
the first time, TO learn by the perusal Of
few volumes, easily assimilable-by any in
telligent person in a week of evenings, not
only the essential basic facts about US, but
world we live in and the life about US, but
very much Of the bearing of these facts
upon our everyday affairs, upon our own
inner and spiritual lives, and upon the
future Of the world and of those that
dwell therein.
Let not the reader be disappointed who
may, upon reaching this paragraph, have
leaped to the conclusion that there has at
last been given to the world that synthesis
Of the sciences Of which Herbert Spencer
dreamed, the comprehensive codifcation
Of natural law that must some day be
compiled and that, when it comes, must
rank with the Bible itself rs a treasury
Of divine wisdom and a guide TO human
life. The time is not yet ripe for that;
there are still too many gaps to be
bridged by research and experiment be-
fore there can be compiled such an ideal
compendium as would carry the complete
answer TO Pontius Pilates question that
has echoed down two thousand years:
"What Is truthP But where those Of an
earlier generation found themselves stand
ing, bafled, on the beaches of an I'M
Known, mcharted sea, there now stretches
q great bridge, pier after pier marking
the straight path, the nearer spans already
trussed and girded for all time so that the
truth seeking traveller finds himself be-
fore he is aware far beyond the landmarks
that so lately marked the ultima thule Of
knowledge and peering outward, leaping
in Imagination the spaces still unbridged,
until he seems family to discern the dis