no 



sn.\< ' \ 



sciKNCK 



demand. The celebrated monastery of Einsiedeln 

 (ij.v. | attract* Urge number* of pilgrims, anil the 

 Klgi (q.v.) vast numbers of tourist* in the summer. 

 Senwyx, one of the three original can tons of the 

 Swiss Confederation, and also one of the Four 

 Forest Cantons, ha* supplied the nanio to the 

 whole country of which it forms a |>art. The 

 people govern themselves through a grand council, 



epnM-ling of one MMSentftUVe l< r every 600 

 'nil, and nn executive of seven mcnilieni chosen 

 liy the council from its own body ; all these ruler* 

 are elected for four years. Schwy/., the capital, 

 U picturesquely situated 28 miles l>y rail east of 

 Lucerne. Here on Ixt August 1891 wan held the 

 sixth centenary of the I/eague of Brunnen and the 

 seventh of the founding of l!i<rn. Pop. 6624. 



Sl'llWCa (ttnc. T/ifrmir Xrliniintinie), a seajmrt 

 oo the couth c-.rn.-t of Sicily, stands on a bold dill' 

 30 mile* X\V. of (iirgcnii, has a fine 11th-century 

 cathedral, the ruined castles of the Lunaa and the 

 Perolloa (lietween whom there exi-ted a terrible 

 feinl), hot sulphurous ami -inline springs, and half- 

 way up the adjacent mountain San Calo^ero cave- 

 that have been used aa steam luitli- -in.-e 1'hoe- 

 nii-ian tinn--. Off the coast very productive coral 

 banks were discovered in 1S7.V MO. Agathocles, 

 tyrant of Syracuse, was a native. Pop. 20,709. 



Kclatira i the term given to neuralgia of the 

 great sciatic nerve, the largest in the body, which 

 passes down the back of the thigh. It U charac 

 t'-ii-e.l I iv irregular pains about the hip, especially 

 between the great trochanter of the tUgn-boBe and 

 the bony process on which the body rests when 

 sitting, spreading into neighbouring part-, and 

 running down the Iwick of the thigh to the leg and 

 foot ; or the pains may occupy only isolated parts, 

 as the knee joint, the calf of the leg, or the -.! 



of the foot. It generally differs from the -t 



tvpi.-al form- of Neuralgia (<].v.) in that the pain, 

 though subject t. i severe exacerbations, in constantly 

 present. The nerve usually become- MTV tendeV 

 to touch, either at isolated point* or throughout; 

 and, in severe and prolonged cases, diminution of 

 sensation in the area of dntritration of th.. n.-n.-, 

 and wasting of the muscles of the limh, are apt to 

 occur. It is sometimes dependent on a gouty con- 

 dition of the system; lint more frequently than 

 otln-r form- of neuralgia can be traced to Home 

 definite exposure to cold or wet. It is often a veiy 

 obstinate di.-ea-e : the treatment mu-t ! con- 

 dn.-t'-d on the same lines as that of other form- of 

 neuralgia. Here Acupuncture (q.v.) is specially 

 valuable. In intractable cases Hen; -.tin /</,, ng 

 Le. cutting clown II|MUI the trunk of the n.-n ., ami 

 forcibly milling ii|Hin it -has often lieen successful 

 where all other measure* have failed to cure. The 



same result may s< 'times lie obtained by forcibly 



benling the thigh up towards the aUlomr'n. 



><-i-||, a town in the south-east comer of 

 Sink. :i miles S\V. of Sy-acuse, with some cloth- 

 weaving and cheese-making. N.-ar by are the 

 remains of the ancient Catmeiue. Pop. il.sl-J. 



Krlenrr, in it* widest significance, is the corre- 

 lation of all knowh-dge. To know a truth in its 

 relation to other truths is to know it scientifically. 

 For example, the recognition that the alternation 

 of day and night dcjicnds ii|K.n the apparent daily 

 motion of the -un is a distinct scientific achieve- 

 ment, lieing one of those elementary scientific 

 troths whirh have been the possession of thinking 

 minds from time immemorial. My generalisation 

 from even-day r*|>ericnces like that jn-t men 

 tloned, and from the historic or traditional experi- 

 ences of the rni-e, man has been led to the liclicf 

 that natural events follow en.-h other in an orderly 

 nd connected way. To investigate this orderly 

 connection U the aim of all science ; and in pursu- 



liis aim the human mind consciously or uncon- 

 ,-ly takes for granted the Law of Continuity, 

 which postulates that in their development and 

 interactions the phenomena of nature follow an 

 intelligible plan which never has failed and which 

 never can fail. In assuming intelligibility in 

 nature science rests of necessity upon the funda- 

 mental laws of thought. To express it otherwise, 

 the end of science is the rational interpretation of 

 the facts of existence as disclosed to us by our 

 faculties and senses. 



In all scientific inquiry the first step is to scru- 

 tinise the evidence of the sense-, whose indications 

 are always imperfect and often misleading. History- 

 shows again and again that the supposed scientific 

 beliefs of one age are at variance with the scientific 

 focteof a later age. In e\n\ .-m-h case it will be 

 found that the earlier and false science has laid too 

 great stress on the apparent, and has from insuffi- 

 cient knowledge failed in apprehending the > 

 In the history of Astronomy, the most self-con- 

 tained and in itself the most developed of the 

 physical sciences, we find many familiar illustra- 

 tions of this. None is more striking iierhaps than 

 the recognition of the earth's diurnal rotation as 



the reality which produces the appeal-am f the 



daily motion of sun, moon, and stars. At first a 

 heresy, then a rational hypothesis commanding 

 assent from all thinking minds, the earth's axial 

 rotation is now a demonstrable fact 



Experiment is the great method of scientific 

 inquiry. In it we arbitrarily interfere with the 

 circumstances of a phenomenon, or produce an 

 entirely new phenomenon by an appropriate com. 

 bination of causes. Contrasted with Experiment 

 is Observation, in which we simply watch and 

 record the events as they occur in nature. But 

 even in Astronomy, emphatically an observational 

 science, experiment plays an Important part. The 

 dynamical knowledge which Newton developed 

 into the cosmic law of gravitation was founded on 

 experiment ; and every time the astronomer points 

 his telescope to a celestial object he ex]K'iiments 

 by arbitrarily interfering with the course of the 

 rays of light. Meteorology again, which twenty 

 years ago could hardly be called a science, has 

 made great strides in these days by appealing to 

 laboratory experiments for the elucidation of its 

 phenomena. Likewise in Biology very little true 

 scientific progress was made until experiment was 

 appealed to. Till then Botany and Zoology were 

 simply li-ts of plants and animal-, classified accord- 

 ing to characteristics or according to distribution 

 on t he earth's surface. The gardener and breeder 

 led the way in a form of experimenting which 

 Darwin mode scientific ; while such branches of 

 the subject as Embryology and Bacteriology are as 

 truly experimental as Chemistry itself. In studying 

 the laws alike of inorganic and of organic nature 

 the experimenter must IKS careful not to destroy 

 the phenomenon that is to l>e studied. This con- 

 si.leration makes the biological problem particu- 

 larly difficult of attack. 



In the psychical group of sciences the method of 

 experimenting still awaits development. The com- 

 plexity of the problems presented, and the manner 

 in which they affect the welfare and happiness of 

 humanity, render social and political experimenting 

 -ively hazardous and of doubtful morality. 

 History, however, affords many instructive exam- 

 ples of attempted reforms which were largely 

 tentative. From these and from the general study 

 of customs and rites as they have been in the past 

 and are now, the economist, the ethnologist, the 

 moralist, or the theologian can accumulate his 

 own materials for the upbuilding of his appropriate 

 science. Such sciences are of necessity essentially 

 observational. 



