382 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



that God may show us " with what sort of a storm-bell he will one day 

 ring in the last judgment." * 



About the end of the first quarter of the eighteenth century, we 

 find, in Switzerland, even the eminent and rational Professor of Mathe- 

 matics, Scheuchzer, publishing a "Physica Sacra," with the Bible as 

 a basis, and forced to admit that the elements, in the most literal sense, 

 utter the voice of God. The same pressure was felt in New England. 

 Typical are the sermons of Increase Mather on " The Voice of God in 

 Stormy Winds." He especially lays stress on the voice of God speak- 

 ing to Job out of the whirlwind, and upon the text, " Wind and storm 

 fulfilling his word." He declares, " When there are great tempests, 

 the angels oftentimes have a hand therein, . . . yea, and sometimes 

 evil angels." He gives several cases of blasphemers struck by light- 

 ning, and says, " Nothing can be more dangerous for mortals than to 

 condemn dreadful providences, and, in particular, dreadful tempests." f 



His distinguished son, Cotton Mather, disentangled himself some- 

 what from the old view, as he had done in the interpretation of 

 comets. J In his " Christian Philosopher," his " Thoughts for the Day 

 of Rain," and his " Sermon preached at the Time of the Late Storm " 

 (in 1723), he is evidently tending toward the modern view. Yet, from 

 time to time, the older view has reasserted itself ; and in France, as 

 recently as the year 1870, we find the Bishop of Verdun ascribing the 

 drought afflicting his diocese to the sin of Sabbath-breaking. 



This theory, which attributed injurious meteorological phenomena 

 mainly to the purposes of God, was a natural development, and com- 

 paratively harmless ; but at a very early period there was evolved 

 another theory, which, having been ripened into a doctrine, cost the 

 earth dear indeed. Never, perhaps, in the modern world has there 

 been a dogma more prolific of physical, mental, and moral agony 

 throughout whole nations and during whole centuries.* This theory, 

 its development by theology, its fearful results to mankind, and its 

 destruction by scientific observation and thought, will form the subject 

 of my next chapter. 



* Sec Stoltzlin, "Gcistliches Donner- und Wettcr-Biichlein" (Zurich, 1781). 



f See Increase Mather, "The Voice of God," etc. (Boston, 1704). This rare volume 

 is in the rich collection of the American Antiquarian Society at Worcester. 



% See a chapter on this subject, by the present writer, in " The Popular Science 

 Monthly " for October, 1885. A new edition, with large additions, has been recently pub- 

 lished by the American Historical Association. 



* See the "Semainc relig. de Lorraine," 1870, p. 445 (cited by " Paul Parfait," in his 

 " Dossier des Pelerinages," 141-143). 



M. Wroblewski has made a successful application of the electric light to tha 

 magic-lantern projection of opaque objects. In the midst of darkness a strong 

 light is concentrated on the object, which becomes intensely illuminated, and its 

 picture may be thrown upon the canvas with the colors fully brought out and 

 even made more brilliant. 



