Future 



Generation 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



274 



ories for the future grounded on historical 

 analysis of the past. Tocqueville, for ex- 

 ample, and others, finding, as they thought, 

 through all history, a steady progress in 

 the direction of social and political equality, 

 argued that, to smooth this transition, and 

 make the best of what is certainly coming, 

 is the 'proper employment of political fore- 

 sight. We do not find M. Comte supporting 

 his recommendations by a similar line of ar- 

 gument. They rest as completely, each on 

 its separate reasons of supposed utility, as 

 with philosophers who, like Bentham, theo- 

 rize on politics without any historical basis 

 at all. The only bridge of connection which 

 leads from his historical speculations to his 

 practical conclusions is the inference that, 

 since the old powers of society, both in the 

 region of thought and of action, are decli- 

 ning and destined to disappear, leaving only 

 the two rising powers positive thinkers 

 on the one hand, leaders of industry on the 

 other the future necessarily belongs to 

 these: spiritual power to the former, tem- 

 poral to the latter. As a specimen of his- 

 torical forecast this is very deficient; for 

 are there not the masses as well as the 

 leaders of industry? and is not theirs also 

 a growing power? MILL Positive Philos- 

 ophy of Auguste Comte, p. 107. (H. H. 

 & Co., 1887.) 



1336. FUTURE OF ASTRONOMY All 



Present Knowledge But a Beginning A 

 Reaching-up toward God. Outside the solar 

 system, the problems which demand a prac- 

 tical solution are all but infinite in number 

 and extent. And these have all arisen and 

 crowded upon our thoughts within less than 

 a hundred years. For sidereal science be- 

 came a recognized branch of astronomy only 

 through Herschel's discovery of the revolu- 

 tions of double stars in 1802. Yet already 

 it may be and has been called " the astron- 

 omy of the future " : so rapidly has the de- 

 velopment of a keen and universal inter- 

 est attended and stimulated the growth of 

 power to investigate this sublime subject. 

 What has been done is little is scarcely a 

 beginning; yet it is much in comparison 

 with the total blank of a century past. And 

 our knowledge will, we are easily persuaded, 

 appear in turn the merest ignorance to those 

 who come after us. Yet it is not to be 

 despised, since by it we reach up groping 

 fingers to touch the hem of the garment 

 of the Most High. CLERKE History of As- 

 tronomy, pt. ii, ch. 13, p. 528. (Bl., 1893.) 



1337. FUTURE OF EARTH NOT TO 

 BE SUNLESS Provision for Vast Duration 

 of the Sun. We may therefore assume with 

 great probability that the sun will still con- 

 tinue in its condensation, even if it only 

 attained the density of the earth tho 

 it will probably become far denser in the 

 interior owing to the enormous pressure 

 this would develop fresh quantities of heat, 

 which would be sufficient to maintain for an 

 additional 17,000,000 of years the same in- 



tensity of sunshine as that which is now 

 the source of all terrestrial life. HELM- 

 HOLTZ Popular Lectures, lect. 4, p. 182. (L. 

 G. & Co., 1898.) 



1338. FUTURE TO SURPASS PRES- 

 ENT Even in our own time we may hope 

 to see some improvement; but the unselfish 

 mind will find its highest gratification in 

 the belief that, whatever may be the case 

 with ourselves, our descendants will under- 

 stand many things which are hidden from 

 us now, will better appreciate the beautiful 

 world in which we live, avoid much of that 

 suffering to which we are subject, enjoy 

 many blessings of which we are not yet 

 worthy, and escape many of those tempta- 

 tions which we deplore, but cannot wholly 

 resist. AVEBURY Prehistoric Times , ch. 16, 

 p. 577. (A., 1900.) 



1339. GAMBLING, FOLLY OF Math- 

 ematical Calculation of Bank's Sure Win- 

 nings. Games which exercise either body or 

 mind have been of high value in civilization 

 as trainers of man's faculties. Games of 

 pure chance played for money stand on 

 quite a different footing; they have been 

 from the first a delusion and a curse. In 

 our own time there is perhaps no more piti- 

 able sign of the slowness with which scien- 

 tific ideas spread than to hear the well- 

 dressed crowds round the gaming-table at 

 Monaco talking about runs of luck, and fan- 

 cying that it makes a difference whether 

 one backs the black or the red. This goes 

 on, altho schoolboys are now taught the 

 real doctrine of chances, and how to reckon 

 the fixed percentage of each week's stakes 

 that will be raked in by the croupier, and 

 not come back. TYLOR Anthropology, ch. 

 12, p. 308. (A., 1898.) 



1340. GANGES WASHING DOWN A 

 CONTINENT Soil Transported by Great 

 River Iluman Building Insignificant in 

 Comparison. The Rev. Mr. Everest insti- 

 tuted, in 1831-2, a series of observations on 

 the earthy matter brought down by the 

 Ganges, at Ghazepoor, 500 miles from the 

 sea. He found that, in 1831, the number 

 of cubic feet of water discharged by the 

 river per second at that place was, during 

 the 



Rains (4 months) 494,208 



Winter (5 months) 71,200 



Hot weather (3 months) 36,330 



so that we may state in round numbers that 

 500,000 cubic feet per seqond flow down dur- 

 ing the four months of the flood season, 

 from June to September, and less than 60,- 

 000 per second during the remaining eight 

 months. 



The average quantity of solid matter sus- 

 pended in the water during the rains was, 

 by weight, -3-5^ th part; but as the water is 

 about one-half the specific gravity of the 

 dried mud, the solid matter discharged is 

 fsth part in bulk, or 577 cubic feet per 

 second. This gives a total of 6,082,041,600 

 cubic feet for the discharge in the 122 days 



