271 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Forms 

 Freedom 



storms by which it had been shaken, from 

 the aggressions of hostile nations. The Ar- 

 abs lead us back to the imperishable sources 

 of Greek philosophy; and besides the in- 

 fluence thus exercised on scientific cultiva- 

 tion, they have also extended and opened 

 new paths in the domain of natural investi- 

 gation. . . . The Arabs are to be re- 

 garded as the actual founders of physical 

 science, considered in the sense which we 

 now apply to the words. 



It is undoubtedly extremely difficult to 

 associate any absolute beginning with any 

 definite epoch of time in the history of the 

 mental world and of the intimately con- 

 nected elements of thought. Individual lumi- 

 nous points of knowledge, and the processes 

 by which knoAvledge was gradually attained, 

 may be traced scattered through very early 

 periods of time. How great is the difference 

 that separates Discorides, who distilled mer- 

 cury from cinnabar, from the Arabian chem- 

 ist Dscheber; how widely is Ptolemy, as an 

 optician, removed from Alhazen; but we 

 must, nevertheless, date the foundation of 

 the physical sciences, and even of natural 

 science, from the point where new paths 

 were first trodden by many different in- 

 vestigators, altho with unequal success. 

 HUMBOLDT Cosmos, vol. ii, pt. ii, pp. 201- 

 209. (H., 1897.) ' 



1321. FRAGMENT OF ANCIENT 

 EARTH Mountain Carved from Vaster Mass. 

 How this wondrous mountain [the Mat- 

 terhorn] has been formed will be the sub- 

 ject of subsequent inquiry. It is not a spurt 

 of molten matter ejected from the nucleus 

 of the earth ; from base to summit there 

 is no truly igneous rock. It has no doubt 

 been upraised by subterranean forces, but 

 that it has been lifted as an isolated mass 

 is not conceivable. It must have formed 

 part of a mighty boss or swelling, from 

 which the mountain was subsequently sculp- 

 tured. TYNDALL Hours of Exercise in the 

 Alps, ch. 14, p. 164. (A., 1898.) 



1322. FRAGMENT PRESERVED FROM 

 LOST WORK OF ARISTOTLE Description 



of Natural Beauty An Argument for Cre- 

 ative Power. We possess a genuine frag- 

 ment which Cicero [" De Natura Deorum," 

 ii, 37] has preserved to us from a lost work 

 of Aristotle. It runs thus : " If there were 

 beings who lived in the depths of the earth, 

 in dwellings adorned with statues and paint- 

 ings and everything which is possessed in 

 rich abundance by those whom we esteem 

 fortunate; and if these beings could receive 

 tidings of the power and might of the gods, 

 and could then emerge from their hidden 

 dwellings through the open fissures of the 

 earth to the places which we inhabit; if 

 they could suddenly behold the earth, and 

 the sea, and the vault of heaven; could rec- 

 ognize the expanse of the cloudy firmament, 

 and the might of the winds of heaven, and 

 admire the sun in its majesty, beauty, and 

 radiant effulgence; and, lastly, when night 



veiled the earth in darkness, they could 

 behold the starry heavens, the changing 

 moon, and the stars rising and setting in 

 the unvarying course ordained from eter- 

 nity they would surely exclaim, ' There are 

 gods, and such great things must be the 

 work of their hands.' " It has been justly 

 observed that this passage is alone sufficient 

 to corroborate Cicero's opinion of " the gold- 

 en flow of Aristotle's eloquence," and that 

 his words are pervaded by something of the 

 inspired force of Plato's genius. Such a 

 testimony to the existence of the heavenly 

 powers, drawn from the beauty and stu- 

 pendous greatness of the works of creation, 

 is rarely to be met with in the works of 

 antiquity. HUMBOLDT Cosmos, vol. ii, pt. 

 i, p. 29. (H., 1897.) 



1323. FREEDOM AND INDEPEND- 

 ENCE OF THE SEXES IN AMERICA 



Youthful Acquaintanceships Coeducation. 

 It has been given especially to one nation 

 to lead the world in its assault upon this 

 mistaken law [of separation of sexes in 

 youth], and to demonstrate to mankind that 

 in the unconstrained and artless relations 

 of youth lie higher safeguards than the 

 polite conventions of society can afford. The 

 people of America have proved that the 

 blending of the sweet currents of different 

 family lives in social intercourse, in recre- 

 ation, and most original of all in educa- 

 tion, can take place freely and joyously with- 

 out any sacrifice of man's reverence for 

 woman, or woman's reverence for herself; 

 and, springing out of these naturally min- 

 gled lives, there must more and more come 

 those sacred and happy homes which are 

 the surest guaranties for the moral prog- 

 ress of a nation. So long as the first con- 

 cern of a country is for its homes, it mat- 

 ters little what it seeks second or third. 

 DRUMMOND Ascent of Man, ch. 9, p. 304. 

 (J. P., 1900.) 



1324. FREEDOM AND NECESSITY 



Freedom To Do Right. I protest that if 

 some great Power would agree to make me 

 always think what is true and do what is 

 right, on condition of being turned into a 

 sort of clock and wound up every morning 

 before I got out of bed, I should instantly 

 close with the offer. The only freedom I 

 care about is the freedom to do right; the 

 freedom to do wrong I am ready to part 

 with on the cheapest terms to any one who 

 will take it of me. HUXLEY Lay Sermons, 

 serin. 14, p. 340. (G. P. P., 1899.) 



1325. FREEDOM NOT ABSOLUTE 



Exemption from Some Special Restraint. 

 Is man's voluntary agency a delusion, or is 

 it, on the contrary, just what we feel it to 

 be, and is it only from misconception of its 

 nature that we puzzle over its relation to 

 law? We speak, and speak truly, of our 

 wills being free; but free from what? It 

 seems to be forgotten that freedom is not an 

 absolute, but a relative term. There is no 

 such thing existing as absolute freedom 



