130 • MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



MASTERY OVER THE FORCES OF NATURE. 



Speaking now somewhat figuratively: 



Science has tamed the lightning, and made it convey our messages far 

 over the land, and under the sea, so that our thoughts may almost in- 

 stantly be sent around the world, by the telegraph. Great famines are no 

 longer excusable, because the want of one country can be made known 

 to any other country. 



Science has educated the lighntiug, and taught it to carry voices, and 

 speak our words in distant places, by the telephone. 



Science has "harnessed the lightning" and made it pull loaded cars 

 which until recently were drawn by horses and mules. 



Science has utilized the lightning, to light our streets and houses, to 

 heat furnaces, to melt refractory substances, also to aid our vision so 

 that, by means of the X ray, interiors of bodies may be seen and photo- 

 graphed, fractured bones may be seen and replaced, and surgical relief be 

 given. 



Science has made it possible, by the storage battery, to store up the light- 

 ning, and liberate it as needed for various useful purposes. 



Science has made it possible, by the phonograph, to store up the tones 

 of the human voice, and to so liberate them that they shall be reproduced, 

 from time to time, and utilized for the ordering of business affairs; also 

 to store up the tones of musical instruments and voices, and liberate 

 them at will. 



Science has made it possible to harness Niagara Falls, and to use its 

 energy, and transmit it to distant places for use. And the application 

 of this principle is world-wide. 



MASTERY OVER THE SUBSTANCES OF NATURE. 



Science has made it possible to make the air about us into a liquid 

 which promises to be of wonderful utility, and perhaps to do a consider- 

 able part of the world's work for humanity. 



MASTERY OVER THE DISEASES OF MAN. 



In our own day, a science, bacteriology, dealing with the excessively 

 small things of this world, has revealed to man knowledge which gives 

 him power to restrict and prevent the disease which destroys more lives 

 than does any other; which as a rule destroys man in the prime of life; 

 in our own State annually destroying three thousand of the best among 

 us, and involving an annual loss of millions of dollars, beside the un- 

 speakable anguish to thousands of those of us who remain. 



Now, thanks to the scientific work of many, to Robert Koch more than 

 to any other, there has been revealed knowledge which is able to make us 

 "wise unto salvation" from that "Great White Plague" — consumption 

 which, up to this generation, has been the scourge and destroyer of the 

 flower of the human race, but which now bids fair to disappear. 



Let us not dwell on the many remaining sufferings of mankind, due 

 to man's neglect to seek the truth, and govern his actions thereby. The 

 world has been improving as a place of comfortable existence, but it is 

 still far from perfect. Much remains to be improved. Man is still far 



