^4 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



An interesting discussion followed, touching the value and uses 

 of the man^ oils, specimens of which had been shown by Mr. 

 Page. 



Linseed Oil. 



This article having been alluded to, Mr. J. A. Miller remarked 

 that it was a common custom in some parts of Germany to fry 

 potatoes in linseed oil. 



Dr. L. Feuchtwanger said in Europe it was usual to neutralize 

 the smell of linseed oil, used in painting the interior of public 

 buildings, etc., by scattering around the room a quantity of onions- 



COSMOGOMY. 



Prof. R. P. Stevens occupied the remainder of the evening in 

 showing that in every age certain notions had been entertained 

 by philosophers regarding cosmogony, which had no foundation 

 in truth. It is always essential to discriminate between the real 

 and the imaginative in scientific investigations. To point out this 

 more clearly, he mentioned a number of instances in which great 

 men, trusting to their imagination for their facts, formed extraor- 

 dinary theories. The stoics supposed that moisture was the agent 

 by which the Deity acted on matter, and that the elements were 

 convertible. In our own day men were found who have held the 

 same views in a modified form, and maintained that from the sea 

 was derived every organism. E mari omnia was the maxim of 

 Oken, and the gentleman who has lately endeavored here to 

 prove that continents were the results of ocean currents, belongs, 

 without doubt, to the same school. It seems now clear that nearly 

 every gre^it philosopher of modern times, who has given the world 

 valuable thoughts, has also put forth many hypothesis that were 

 untenable. Decartes, Spinoza, Leibnitz, and even the great Kep- 

 ler, entertained theories which later investigations have shown to 

 be mere fancies, having no foundation in fact. The true path to 

 scientific discovery is to accumulate facts and then deduce the law. 

 The wrong one is to devise the rule and then seek for confirmatory 

 evidence. It might be necessary, in some instances, to advance 

 a hypothesis in order to expedite true progress ; but even this 

 should be based on correct observations. 



The most noted hypothesis advanced in modern times is that of 

 Laplace, regarding the formation of our solar system. It has now 

 many advocates, but the following objections may be raised agjdnst 

 its assumj)tions : 



