

119 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Conflagration 

 Conquest 





ible after the appearance of the sun. 

 FLAMMARION Popular Astronomy, bk. hi, ch. 

 4, p. 263. (A.) 



589. UnimpeachableWit- 



nesses Disagree. The most extraordinary 

 thing, however [in the eclipse of 1878, seen 

 from Pike's Peak], was a beam of light, in- 

 clined at an angle of about forty-five degrees, 

 about as wide as the sun, and extending 

 to the distance of nearly six of its diam- 

 eters on one side and over twelve on the 

 other; on one side alone, that is, to the 

 amazing distance of over ten million miles 

 from its [the sun's] body. Substantially the 

 same observation was made, as it appeared 

 later, by Professor Newcomb, at a lower level. 

 The direction, when more carefully measured, 

 it was interesting to note, coincided closely 

 with that of the zodiacal light, and a faint 

 central rib added to its resemblance to that 

 body. It is noteworthy, in illustration of 

 what has already been said as to the con- 

 flict of ocular testimony, that tho I, with 

 the great majority of observers below, saw 

 only this beam, two witnesses whose evi- 

 dence is unimpeachable, Professors Young 

 and Abbe, saw a pale beam at right angles 

 to it; and that one observer did not see the 

 beam in question at all. LANGLEY New As- 

 tronomy, ch. 2, p. 55. (H. M. & Co., 1896.) 



590. CONFLICT, SEEMING, OF SCI- 

 ENCE AND RELIGION tfoence Not to Be 



Silenced by Dogma. When, therefore, the 

 disturbing elements of scientific assertion 

 and inquiry shock the religious beliefs of the 

 individual, the sect, or the nation at large, 

 what procedure or line of conduct does it be- 

 come every earnest and cultured person to 

 follow ? Certainly not that of bewailing the 

 destruction, apparent or real, of his temples 

 of belief; not that of bemoaning the razing 

 to the ground of those tents wherein he has 

 so long and comfortably dwelt; and not 

 that, assuredly, of asserting that, because his 

 fathers worshiped in this mountain or in 

 that, he must therefore and of necessity do 

 the same. No; if our beliefs are attacked, 

 and if they are worth defending at all, let 

 us be up and doing. Meet your opponents 

 with their own weapons. Do not go forth 

 with old dogmas to meet scientific truths, as 

 with the armor of medieval times against 

 the weapons of to-day. Study science for 

 yourselves; meet scientific fact and asser- 

 tion by counter-assertion and counter-fact. 

 You will find that in science, more, perhaps, 

 than in commonplace things, there are 

 always two sides to every great question; 

 and you will never fight or gain your battle 

 more readily, or more honestly, than by 

 testing every point by your own knowledge, 

 and by opposing to the advance of your 

 adversaries a barrier of like kind to that 

 which forms their most potent means of 

 offense. ANDREW WILSON Science Culture 

 for the Masses, p. 33. (Hum., 1888.) 



591. CONNECTION OF PHYSICAL 



PHENOMENA The Study of Science A 





Unity behind the Facts. In considering the 

 study of physical phenomena, not merely in 

 its bearings on the material wants of life, 

 but in its general influence on the intellec- 

 tual advancement of mankind, we find its. 

 noblest and most important result to be a 

 knowledge 6f the chain of connection by 

 which all natural forces are linked together 

 and made mutually dependent upon each 

 other ; and it is the perception of these rela- 

 tions that exalts our views and ennobles our 

 enjoyments. Such a result ean, however, 

 only be reaped as the fruit of observation 

 and intellect, combined with the spirit of 

 the age, in which are reflected all the varied 

 phases of thought. HUMBOLDT Cosmos, vol. 

 i, int., p. 23. (H., 1897.) 



592. CONQUEST HAS UNINTENDED 

 RESULT Human Brotherhood Strangely Ad- 

 vanced by War. " The impetuous conquests 

 of Alexander, the more politic and pre- 

 meditated extension of territory made by 

 the Romans, the wild and cruel incursiona 

 of the Mexicans, and the despotic acquisi- 

 tions of the Incas, have in both hemispheres 

 contributed to put an end to the separate 

 existence of many tribes as independent na- 

 tions, and tended at the same time to es- 

 tablish more extended international amal- 

 gamation. Men of great and strong minds, 

 as well as whole nations, acted under the 

 influence of one idea, the purity of which 

 was, however, utterly unknown to them. It 

 was Christianity which first promulgated 

 the truth of its exalted charity, altho the 

 seed sown yielded but a slow and scanty har- 

 vest. Before the religion of Christ mani- 

 fested its form, its existence was only 

 revealed by a faint foreshadowing presenti- 

 ment. In recent times, the idea of civiliza- 

 tion has acquired additional intensity, and 

 has given rise to a desire of extending more 

 widely the relations of national intercourse 

 and of intellectual cultivation; even selfish- 

 ness begins to learn that by such a course 

 its interests will be better served than by 

 violent and forced isolation. Language, 

 more than any other attribute of mankind, 

 binds together the whole human race. By 

 its idiomatic properties it certainly seems- 

 to separate nations, but the reciprocal un- 

 derstanding of foreign languages connects 

 men together, on the other hand, without in- 

 juring individual national characteristics." 

 [Quoted from Wilhelm von Humboldt.] 

 HUMBOLDT Cosmos, vol. i, p. 359. (H., 1897.) 



593. CONQUEST OF NATURE BY 



SAVAGE MAN A House and Feast in the 

 South Sea Islands Fire Kindled by Fric- 

 tion. By the aid of strips of bark for rope, 

 the stems of bamboos for rafters, and the 

 large leaf of the banana for a thatch, the 

 Tahitians in a few minutes built us an ex- 

 cellent house, and with withered leaves 

 made a soft bed. They then proceeded to 

 make a fire and cook our evening meal. A 

 light was procured by rubbing a blunt- 

 pointed stick in a groove made in another,. 



