Year: 1873

cipal parts of the whole world, in the
same way as some parts of our bodies
may remain motionless while other
members can move themselves" ETC.


These are only samples of the rest,
which is not in the least better; and in
credible as it seems, it is a fact that the
literary savants of civilized Europe, of
only one century ago, called this very
book of Lucretius Carus, IAN elegant.ex-
plauation of natural philosophy, based on
intelligent and easily understood princi-
ples.'o Out of respect for the ancients,
we would rather be inclined Ito accept the
theory of Hardouin, who attempts to
prove, by critical considerations, that this
and other works attributed to old Roman
authors are the product of some monks
of the 18th century. He only makes an
exception in regard to Cicero, and a few
others, concerning the authenticity of
which nobody can have any doubt.


Notwithstanding that there has been a
great deal of ingenuity wasted in trying
to prove that the world is retrograding,
and that there are such things as 'the
lost arts" of the ancients, and notwith-
standing that we justly confess our adj
miration for many products OF antiquity
as well of the mental as of the material
kind, it cannot be denied, if we are not
wilfully blind to the progress of our times,
that the ancients knew scarcely any thing
practically useful at all. To what did
their knowledge of acoustics and music
amount? What did they know. of cleo
tricity and magnetism They even ig-
nored the existence and weight of the
atmosphere; and of the nature of light
and heat, they could not form the reno
test conception. Even the Greeks, who
left as such precious models of eloquence,
poetry, sculpture, and architecture, were,
in regard to the clear conception of nat
ural phenomena, not further advanced
than our American Indian savages As
soon as observation was substituted for
mere speculation, progress began; in 9th
er words, as soon as man commenced to
abandon his bad habit of indulging in the
full scope of his own imagination, and in
place thereof acknowledged Nature as a
teacher. he commenced to learn some
thing.


The whole human race of the period of
antiquity had the defect which may still
daily be noticed in certain individuals,
old as well as young, who have not yet
attained the docility of mind necessary
to absorb knowledge from without. Such
persons, instead of listening to what 9TH
ers may communicate to them, have the
bad habit of hindering their instructors
with accounts of their own suppositions
and theories, which are often utterly alb
surd. Who has not met persons who
love to hear themselves talk2 These
people have the very worst prospect in
regard to their further mental progress,
and are the very opposite of the lar SUI
perior class who are able to listen pa-
tiently to what others have to say, and
to gather knowledge from exterior sour
ces. in place of from within. from their
own conceited imaginations, which as
experience should have taught them,
over and over again, are utterly worth
less.


1t is especially the investigator of Ma
ture's secrets who must train himself to
mind with docility her teachings, who
must patiently and carefully watch all
the phenomena, during an observation
or an experiment, and especially foster
no previously conceived theories but,
above all things, he must value the great.
est boon which man can ever possibly
attain; The knowledge of the Truth.