97 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Chanse* 



eapening 





we are precluded from collating the corre- 

 sponding parts of the system of things as it 

 exists now, and as it existed at former 

 periods. If we were inhabitants of another 

 element if the great ocean were our do- 

 main, instead of the narrow limits of the 

 land our difficultie's would be considerably 

 lessened; while, on the other hand, there 

 can be little doubt, altho the reader may 

 perhaps smile at the bare suggestion of 

 such an idea, that an amphibious being 

 who should possess our faculties would still 

 more easily arrive at sound theoretical 

 opinions in geology, since he might behold, 

 on the one hand, the decomposition of rocks 

 in the atmosphere, or the transportation of 

 matter by running water ; and, on the other, 

 examine the deposition of sediment in the 

 sea, and the embedding of animal and vege- 

 table remains in new strata. He might as- 

 certain, by direct observation, the action of 

 a mountain torrent, as well as of a marine 

 current ; might compare the products of vol- 

 canoes poured out upon the land with those 

 ejected beneath the waters; and might 

 mark, on the one hand, the growth of the 

 forest, and, on the other, that of the coral 

 reef. Yet, even with these advantages, he 

 would be liable to fall into the greatest er- 

 rors, when endeavoring to reason on rocks 

 of subterranean origin. He would seek in 

 vain, within the sphere of his observation, 

 for any direct analogy to the process of 

 their formation, and would therefore be in 

 danger of attributing them, wherever they 

 are upraised to view, to some " primeval 

 state of Nature." LYELL Principles of Ge- 

 ology, ch. 5, p. 69. (A., 1854.) 



481. CHARACTER A SUM OF AC- 

 TIVITIES Every Action Counts Hell a 

 Present Fact in Evil Life. The hell to be 

 endured hereafter, of which theology tells, 

 is no worse than the hell we make for our- 

 selves in this world by habitually fashion- 

 ing our characters in the wrong way. Could 

 the young but realize how soon they will be- 

 come mere walking bundles of habits, they 

 would give more heed to their conduct while 

 in the plastic state. We are spinning our 

 own fates, good or evil, and never to be un- 

 done. Every smallest stroke of virtue or of 

 vice leaves its never so little scar. The 

 drunken Rip Van Winkle, in Jefferson's 

 play, excuses himself for every fresh dere- 

 liction by saying, " I won't count this 

 time ! " Well ! he may not count it, and a 

 kind Heaven may not count it; but it is be- 

 ing counted none the less. Down among his 

 nerve-cells and fibers the molecules are 

 counting it, registering and storing it up to 

 be used against him when the next tempta- 

 tion comes. Nothing we ever do is, in 

 strict scientific literalness, wiped out. Of 

 course, this has its good side as well as its 

 bad one. As we become permanent drunk- 

 ards by so many separate drinks, so we be- 

 come saints in the moral, and authorities 

 and experts in the practical and scientific 



spheres, by so many separate acts and hours 

 of work. JAMES Psychology, vol. i, ch. 4, p. 

 127. (H. H. & Co., 1899.) 



482. CHARACTER, FORMATION OF 



Development of the Will Whilst, in its 

 earlier stages, the educator aims to call 

 forth and train the intellectual faculties of 

 his pupil, and to form his moral character, 

 by bringing appropriate external influences 

 to bear upon him, every one who really un- 

 derstands his profession will make it his 

 special object to foster the development, and 

 to promote the right exercise, of that inter- 

 nal power, by the exertion of which each in- 

 dividual becomes the director of his own 

 conduct, and so far the arbiter of his own 

 destinies. This power is exercised by the 

 will, in virtue of its domination over the 

 automatic operations of the mind, as over 

 the automatic movements of the body; the 

 real self-formation of the ego commencing 

 with his consciousness of the ability to de- 

 termine his own course of thought and ac- 

 tion. Until this self -directing power has 

 been acquired, the character is the resultant 

 of the individual's original constitution, and 

 of the circumstances in which he may have 

 been placed; and so long as the circum- 

 stances are unfavorable to its development, 

 and to the operation of those higher tend- 

 encies which should furnish the best mo- 

 tives to its exercise, so long the character of 

 the individual is formed for him rather than 

 by him. CARPENTER Mental Physiology, bk. 

 i, ch. 1, sec. 8, p. 9. (A., 1900.) 



483. CHEAPENING OF LABOR Wom- 

 en and Children Made Victims Legisla- 

 tion Must Control Rapacity. " Thus," says 

 Mr. Baker, one of the most experienced of 

 our factory inspectors, " most of the work- 

 shops of this great commercial country are 

 found to have fallen into the inevitable 

 track of competitive industry, when unre- 

 stricted by law namely, to cheapen prices 

 by the employment of women and children, 

 in the first instance, and then to increase 

 production by protracted hours of work, 

 without much regard to age, to sex, or to 

 physical capability." This is the result of 

 nature of nature, at least, such as ours 

 now is. But it is the result of that nature 

 with all its nobler powers allowed to sleep. 

 Power to control such evils has been given 

 to man, and he is bound to use it. " Free 

 labor, even in a free country," as Mr. Baker 

 says, " requires the strong arm of the law to 

 protect it from the cupidity and ignorance 

 of parents." And by the " strong arm of 

 the law " is meant nothing but the law of 

 conscience and of reason asserting itself over 

 the lower instincts of our nature. If under 

 such conditions of society higher motives 

 are ever to prevail, they must be supplied 

 from without, and must be imposed in au- 

 thoritative form through the legitimate or- 

 gans of positive institution. ARGYLL Reign 

 of Law, ch. 7, p. 214. (Burt.) 



