The Washington times., 1920-07-22


Edith Allan writes from No. sos
West First street, Los Angeles,
Did you ever consider that it has
been discovered recently that ALL
Is life, motion. even in the iron,
bolid rock, even in glass?"
Nobody has yet been able to tell
exaetly what LIFE really is. We
know that there is motion every
where. The invisible molecules,
atoms, and electrons that make up
a piece Of solid iron held in your
hand are Ill moving with fright
fll rapidity. Instead of being
soiid," as we suppose, the atoms
OF iron, in proportion to their
diameters, are separated from
each other as widely as the earth
Is separated from the sun, ninety
three millions miles away. In
other words, our solar system is
as nearly solid" as silver spoon.
A good enough definition might
be: Life is VOLUNTARY mo-
ton. matter is INVOLUNTARY
motion"
Everything, every atom of mat
ter in the entire universe, is in a
constant state of motion. The def
milton, however, would hardly do
for lower forms of life. The
sponge and the sensitive plant
have what seem to be voluntary
motions, but they are presumably
not conscious motions.
The interesting thing about the
letter from Miss Allan, who urges
us Ito think and investigate in a
constructive way" is her enthusi-
asm for science.
She knows, of course, that
Giordano Bruno, burned alive in
Rome three hundred and twenty
years ago, was also much inter-
ested in the study Of life, matter,
and motion, Bruno, before Cali
leo used his telescope, wrote on
the Plurality of Worlds" saying
that every star is a sun with in
visible planets revolving around it.
Bruno, whose chief crime in the
eyes of those that burned him was
his statement that space is in
finite and filed with worlds, many
Of them inhabited, declared that
the entire universe is a soul that
lives in all things. Matter is
the mother Of forms and then
their grave" He thought that all
the matter in the universe, plus
the "soul of the universe" con-
stituted God.
He talked too much and too
soon, and it is no wonder they
burned him, since they couldn't
frighten him into keeping quiet.
Anyhow, he was a brave man,
for he said, when the horrible
sentence to be burned alive was
passed upon him, Perhaps it is
with greater fear that ye pass
this sentence upon me than / re-
ceive it."
AS the flames made charcoal of
his body and hid him from view,
his executioners, quite pleased
with themselves, said to him: go
now and find the imaginary
worlds that you have talked SO
much about"
They thought they had ended him
and his theories, that they had
proved the earth to be the center
of everything, and that the sun
and all the stars in heaven revolve
around it. But they were wrong.
The practical reader may ask:
"Why do you waste this expensive
white paper to talk about Giordano
Bruno; he doesn't interest me, and,
anyhow, he is dead?" But he does
interest you, for certainly you are
interested in Shakespeare. You
ought to be. When Shakespeare
was a penniless youth in London,
Giordano Bruno, constantly trav-
cling to keep away from the gen
tlemen that wanted to catch and
burn him up, was in London also.
Shakespeare undoubtedly read
what Bruno wrote. Perhaps he
met and talked with him, for
Shakespeare had an inquiring
mind.
In any case, there is no doubt
that Bruno's theories stirred into
activity the brain of young Shake
speare, just as later theories are
stirring into activity our youthful
scientific friend, Edith Allan, of
No. 503 West First street, Los An
geles.
Excuse the lack of news COM
ment today.