624 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



Knowest tliou what wove yon woodbird's nest 



Of leaves and feathers from her breast, 



Or how the fish outbuilt its shell, 



Painting with morn each annual cell? 



Such and so grew these holy piles 



While love and terror laid the tiles; 



Earth proudly wears the Parthenon 



As the best gem upon her zone; 



And Morning opes with haste her lids 



To gaze upon the Pyramids; 



O'er England's abbeys bends the sky 



As on its friends with kindred eye; 



For out of Thought's interior sphere 



These wonders rose to upper air, 



And Nature gladly gave them place, 



Adopted them into her race, 



And granted them an equal date 



With Andes and with Ararat. 



Surely, many utterances which have been accepted as 

 descriptions ought to be interpreted as aspirations, or as 

 having their roots in aspiration instead of in objective 

 knowledge. Does the song of the herald angels, " Glory 

 to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward 

 men," express the exaltation and the yearning of a human 

 soul? or does it describe an optical and acoustical fact a 

 visible host and an audible song? If the former, the 

 exaltation and the yearning are man's imperishable 

 possession a ferment long confined to individuals, but 

 which may by and by become the leaven of the race. If 

 the latter, then belief in the entire transaction is wrecked 

 by non-fulfillment. Look to the East at the present 

 moment as a comment on the promise of peace on earth 

 and goodwill toward men. That promise is a dream ruined 

 by the experience of eighteen centuries, and in that ruin is 

 involved the claim of the " heavenly host" to prophetic 

 vision. But though the mechanical theory proves un- 

 tenable, the immortal song and the feelings it expresses 

 are still ours, to be incorporated, let us hope, in purer and 

 less shadowy forms in the poetry, philosophy, and practice 

 of the future. 



Thus, following the lead of physical science, we are 

 brought without solution of continuity into the presence of 

 problems which, as usually classified, lie entirely outside 

 the domain of physics. To these problems thoughtful and 

 penetrative minds are now applying those methods of 

 research which in physical science have proved their truth 



