The sun., 1919-03-02


be revealed; that man possesses in ths
structure Of his own being, in the illimit-
able powers Of hts own mind, the key to
all mysteries.
a Century Of Science ~ America is
the report Of the unlocking Of thousands,
myrads, OF these compartments in which
Nature has hidden her secrets, chiefly as
these have been reported in the pages Of
the successive numbers Of Americas old
est scientific periodical, TIE America.
Journal OF Science, founded in 1918 BY
Benjamin Silliman at Yale College. The
torch lighted by the great geologist, who
has been called "the guardian Of Ameri-
can science" has been kept alight at New
Haven for hundred years as it has been
passed down, first to his son-in law, James
Dwight Dana, and then TO the latters son,
Edward Salisbury Dana, the present edi-
tor OF the Journa! and chief Of the group
of scientific authors who have contrib
uted chapters TO the book. For brief
periods during The illness Of the present
Prof. Dana Henry Smith Williams and
later ID. Il. Gregory occupied the editorial
chair OF the Joarnal; these were merely
substitute appointments, however, SO that
it can fairly be said that in its hundred
years Of existence the Journal Of Ameri-
con Science has had but three editors, the
present being the grandson of the first.
Where is there another periodical with
such n record of editorial longeyityf
While in no sense such biography Of
an institution as is Frank O'Brien's Stovy
Of the Sun, for example, nevertheless the
record in A Century Of Science Of the
founding and growth OF tie 1mer'can
Journal Of Science is human document
In the light it throws not only upon the
men whose names stand out in the an
mails Of the worlds search for truth but
upon the names whereby truth has been
found, fragment by fragment, and ap-
piled to human life. A hundred years is
80 short time in the life Of mankind
that the reader constantly finds himself
gasping with amazement as chance SEN
tence drives home the realization how
radically and unbelievably new is so much
OF the knowledge that has already become
the commonplace of elementary text
books.
II.
We read that when Thomas Jefferson
came to Philadelphia in 1897 to take Office
as Vice-President OF the United States he
brought with him the fossil bones of
prehistoric animal and a manuscript in
which he d.roriha<i tho cruot oIo,-, - G A.,
huge ground stoth as pertaining to an
animal of the Ion family which, he firmly
believed, was still to bc found living and
roaming over the Virginia mountains! 1t
was through archaeological research, slim
ulated by jefferson Tin whose honor the
ground sloth hes been given the name of
''megalon!x ie.iersoui"l. that the world
finally learned that these fossil skeletons
were not the remains oI race of giants,
as many still believed hundred years
ago, or of beasts still to be found in re-
mote and unexplored corners of Ike earth.
1t is perhaps not going too far TO sug-
Gest that the study of vertebrate paleOn-
tology and the facts revealed by the work
of such men as Rembrandt Peale, Louis
Agessiz, Othniel c. Marsh and thousand
less distinguished though no less earnest
delivers among American men of science
cleared the way for he public acceptance
Of The whole mass OF disclosed scientific
truths by pushing aside tho veil of fable
and superstition, blasting the door Of
dogma from its hinges and giving myth
ology its death blow Thus the way was
cleared for Darwin and the evolutionary
theory. the broad gateway through which
mankind las gained access to so many
unsupported vaults in the great store
house OF truth long walled off from hu-
man approach. j is interesting TO note
that Thomas Jefferson became one Of the
original subscribers 10 the Journal. al
though, as he wrote from Monticello to
Prof Siiliraan on April II. 1913, 81 have
very. generally withdrawn from snbscrjb-
ing % or reading periodical publications
from the love OF rest which age produces,