Transition Period. 301 



a sort of sacrilege to tear it away ! So it is with 

 systems of belief — with theories. They may 

 abound with uncontrovertible facts, but every fact 

 may still be the source of mischief, because misinter- 

 preted. And yet these theories stand because they 

 have some famous names to uphold them. 



But let us have faith and patience. The solar 

 system had to wait long before man could see its 

 beauty, from the Sun as centre, and form a true 

 system of Astronomy. Men raged against a true 

 theory of the heavens as infidel and absurd, and 

 clung to their old systems invented by great men. 

 The chemical elements waited longer to have men 

 leami their simple laws of combination, and that 

 bodies become heavier by being burned. Not a 

 century has passed since men believed in phlogis- 

 ton, — that something escaped from bodies when 

 burning, so that they become lighter, — as some 

 men now believe that when the air is heavy, the 

 smoke falls ! Longer still did the earth wait to 

 have her strata counted and measured ; and a few 

 of the generation still remain, who believe that 

 the earth is not quite six thousand years older than 

 themselves. 



When old notions begin to break up because 

 shown to be false, then men rush to opposite ex- 

 tremes. Then, in the disturbance of the transition 

 period,3.\l sorts of crudities appear. The best thing 

 for the overthrow of a bad theory, is that it shall 

 have as many supporters and hard workers in its 

 favor as possible. As a building with poor founda- 

 tion, and weak materials, and defective workman- 



