245 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Allure 

 family 



not by looking outward, but by looking in- 

 ward; not by observing, but by thinking. 

 ARGYLL Reign of Law, ch. 2, p. 65. (Burt.) 



1197. FAITH, SCIENCE TEACHES 



NEED OF Our System but a Corner of Space 

 All History but a Moment of Time. Ho\v, 

 then, are we to view the startling fact thus 

 brought before us ? Must we admit that so 

 much of the Creator's work is vain in truth 

 as in appearance? or, on the other hand, 

 must we reject the evidence of science? As 

 it seems to me, we need do neither one nor 

 the other. We have before us a great mys- 

 tery; but it is not a new thing to find the 

 ways of God unsearchable by man. Our 

 faith in the wisdom of God need not be 

 shaken unless we assume that our science 

 teaches us the whole of that which is. But 

 inasmuch as science itself has taught us 

 over and over again how little we really 

 know, how little we can know, I think that 

 we may very well believe in this instance 

 that the seeming mystery arises from the 

 imperfectness of our knowledge. If we could 

 see the whole plan of the Creator, instead 

 of the minutest portion; if we could scan 

 the whole of space, instead of the merest 

 corner; if all time were before us, instead 

 of a span we might pronounce judgment. 

 As it is, what, after all, has science taught 

 us but what we had already learned ? " The 

 judgments of God are unsearchable, and 

 his ways past finding out" (Rom. xi, 33; 

 1 Cor. xiii, 12). PROCTOR Our Place among 

 Infinities, p. 43. (L. G. & Co., 1897.) 



1198. FAITHFULNESS THROUGH ALL 



THINGS The Magnetic Needle Wonderful 

 Power of Magnetism. This study of the 

 magnetism of our wandering planet is very 

 interesting, and one which is still very little 

 known. Here is a weak needle, a slip of 

 magnetic iron, which with its restless and 

 agitated finger incessantly seeks a region 

 near the north. Carry this needle in a bal- 

 loon up to the higher aerial regions, where 

 human life begins to be extinguished; shut 

 it up in a tomb closely separated from the 

 light of day; take it down into the pit of a 

 mine, to more than a thousand yards in 

 depth, and incessantly, day and night, with- 

 out fatigue and without rest, it watches, 

 trembles, throbs, seeks the point which at- 

 tracts it across the sky, through the earth, 

 and through the night. FLAMMARION Pop- 

 ular Astronomy, bk. iii, ch. 5, p. 289. (A.) 



1199. FAMILY AND HOME PART OF 



SELF The Broadening of Individual Life. 

 Our immediate family is a part of ourselves. 

 Our father and mother, our wife and babes, 

 are bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. 

 When they die, a part of our very selves is 

 gone. If they do anything wrong, it is our 

 shame. If they are insulted, our anger 

 flashes forth as readily as if we stood in 

 their place. Our home comes next. Its 

 scenes are part of our life; its aspects awa- 

 ken the tenderest feelings of affection; and 



we do not easily forgive the stranger who, 

 in visiting it^ finds fault with its arrange- 

 ments or treats it with contempt. All these 

 different things are the objects of instinc- 

 tive preferences coupled with the most im- 

 portant practical interests of life. JAMES 

 Psychology, vol. i, ch. 10, p. 292. (H. H. & 

 Co., 1899.) 



1200. FAMILY THE EDUCATOR OF 



MANKIND Love and Righteousness. Look- 

 ing at the mere dynamics of the question, 

 the family contains all the machinery and 

 nearly all the power for the moral educa- 

 tion of mankind. Feebly, but adequately, 

 in the early chapters of man's history, it 

 fulfilled its function of nursing love, the 

 mother of all morality; and righteousness, 

 the father of all morality, so preparing a 

 parentage for all the beautiful spiritual 

 children which in later years should spring 

 from them. If life henceforth is to go on 

 at all, it must be a better life, a more loving 

 life, a more abundant life; and this pre- 

 mium upon love means if it means any- 

 thing that evolution is taking henceforth 

 an ethical direction. DRUMMOND Ascent of 

 Man, ch. 9, p. 316. (J. P., 1900.) 



1 20 1 . FAMILY THE FOUNDATION OF 

 SOCIAL PROGRESS The Masterpiece of Evo- 

 lution. If the crowning work of organic 

 evolution is the mammalia, the consumma- 

 tion of the mammalia is the family. Physic- 

 ally, psychically, ethically, the family is 

 the masterpiece of evolution. The creation 

 of evolution, it was destined to become the 

 most active instrument and ally which evo- 

 lution has ever had. For what is its evolu- 

 tionary significance? It is the generator 

 and the repository of the forces which alone 

 can carry out the social and moral progress 

 of the world. There they rally when they 

 become enfeebled, there their excesses are 

 counterbalanced, and thence they radiate 

 out, refined and reenforced, to do their holy 

 work. DRUMMOND Ascent of Man, ch. 9, 

 p. 316. (J. P., 1900.) 



1202. FAMILY, THE HUMAN, EN- 

 DURES THROUGHOUT THE YEAR Ad- 

 vance from Conditions of Lower Animals. 

 But when man's evolution made a certain 

 progress, and when the mother's care 

 reached mature perfection, it was no longer 

 imperative for children to be born only when 

 the sun was shining and the fruits grew 

 ripe. The parents could now make provision 

 for any weather and for any dearth. They 

 could give their little ones clothes when 

 nights grew cold; they could build barna 

 and granaries against times of famine. In 

 any climate, and at any time, their young 

 were safe ; and the old marriage dates, with 

 their subsequent desertions, were struck 

 from the human calendar. So arose, or at 

 least was inaugurated, family life, the first 

 and the last nursery of the higher sym- 

 pathies, and the home of all that was after- 

 wards holy in the world. One could not 



