367 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Knives 

 Knowledge 



looms, or we may have ourselves become at- 

 tached to them; and so, not liking to dis- 

 card them altogether, we put them away in 

 some dark corner, or perhaps consign them 

 to a seldom-visited lumber-room, where they 

 rest almost forgotten in their obscurity. 

 But at last some ray of sunshine throws a 

 brighter light than usual upon our dark 

 corner; or the opening of the shutters of 

 our lumber-room lets into it the unwonted 

 light of day; and we then find our old sofas 

 and four-post beds so moth-eaten and de- 

 cayed that we turn them out of our house 

 instanter. CARPENTER Nature and Man, 

 lect. 7, p. 215. (A., 1889.) 



1792. KNOWLEDGE A SAFEGUARD 



Biology Guards the Young against Pit- 

 falls. If, however, the study of life-science 

 has one prominent advantage over all other 

 studies, it is that in its nature it acts most 

 powerfully in bringing the present world 

 and its constitution plainly and vividly be- 

 fore the eyes of boys and girls. It excites 

 their interest in life and living things; it 

 suggests trains of thought which extend al- 

 most into every department of knowledge 

 which has a claim on human sympathy and 

 regard. And it can provide the young with 

 that knowledge of themselves which is the 

 surest safeguard against the numerous pit- 

 falls that in this exhausting age threaten 

 the physical and mental health at every 

 epoch of life. ANDREW WILSON Biology in 

 Education, p. 24. (Hum., 1888.) 



1793. KNOWLEDGE, HUMAN, LIMI- 

 TATIONS OF Science Enforces Lesson of 

 Experience Unseen Forces Control the 

 World. It is evident that all the effects of 

 the events with which we are concerned are 

 not and could not possibly be perceived by 

 us. We see and feel things alike the great 

 ones and the small ones, as we esteem them 

 only as they affect our senses; that is, 

 only in small part and for a short time. 

 They soon pass beyond our sight, and while 

 they are within it they never show us all 

 they are, often those which are the greatest 

 seeming to us the least. How little we are 

 able, often, to calculate the influence even 

 upon our own future of events or actions of 

 which we seem to have the most perfect 

 knowledge at the time. And of the effects 

 of these events on others, which must go on, 

 so far as we can estimate, without any end, 

 only the smallest fragment is within our 

 view. It is one of the first lessons taught 

 men by experience, not to judge of events by 

 what they seem alone, but to remember that 

 there may be much more involved in them 

 than appears. To judge of our life, there- 

 fore, merely by that which is seen of it, is 

 to commit ourselves to certain error. . . . 



And this principle is established not only 

 by experience ; it is the lesson which, almost 

 more than any other, science teaches us 

 also. In exploring the material world, we 

 soon find that, in order to understand any 

 part of it aright, we must recognize things 



which are unseen, and have regard to condi- 

 tions or to actions which do not come within 

 our direct perception. It is enough to in- 

 stance the pressure of the air, of which we 

 have no consciousness; the motion of the 

 earth, equally unperceivable by us; the 

 hidden force, lurking in unseen atoms, of 

 chemical affinity, or electricity; the vibra- 

 tions which traverse the universal ether; and, 

 in fine, that invisible unity which makes 

 all her forces one, whereby (holding to the 

 unseen) man has traced out in Nature a 

 perfect order amid all confusion. HINTON 

 The Mystery of Pain, p. 15. (Hum., 1893.) 



1794. 



Tentative Explana- 



tions Alone Yet Possible of Volcanic Phe- 

 nomena. That these operations, like all 

 others going on upon the globe, are gov- 

 erned by great natural laws we cannot for 

 a moment doubt. And that, in all proba- 

 bility, more careful and exact observation 

 and reasoning will at some future time lead 

 us to the recognition of these laws, every 

 student of Nature is sanguine. But at the 

 present time, it must be confessed, we are 

 very far indeed from being able to afford 

 that crowning proof of the truth of our 

 theories of volcanic action which is implied 

 in the power of predicting the period and 

 degree of intensity of their manifestations. 

 JUDD Volcanoes, ch. 2, p. 32. (A., 1899.) 



1795. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER 



For Nations as Well as Individuals. Bacon 

 has said that, in human societies, knowledge 

 is power. Both must rise and sink together. 

 But the knowledge that results from the free 

 action of thought is at once the delight and 

 the indestructible prerogative of man; and 

 in forming part of the wealth of man- 

 kind, it not unfrequently serves as a substi- 

 tute for the natural riches, which are but 

 sparingly scattered over the earth. Those 

 states which take no active part in the gen- 

 eral industrial movement, in the choice and 

 preparation of natural substances, or in the 

 application of mechanics and chemistry, and 

 among whom this activity is not appreciated 

 by all classes of society, will infallibly see 

 their prosperity diminish in proportion as 

 neighboring countries become strengthened 

 and invigorated under the genial influence of 

 arts and sciences. HUMBOLDT Cosmos, vol. 

 i, int., p. 53. (H., 1897.) 



1796. KNOWLEDGE LIMITED BY 

 PRECONCEPTIONS When the question of 

 the range of consciousness was first raised, 

 these conditions [of the subjective and ob- 

 jective limitations of knowledge] were en- 

 tirely overlooked, and the general method of 

 investigation pursued was not one which 

 could lead to any certain results. Conclu- 

 sions were either deduced from certain 

 metaphysical postulates e. g., that the 

 mind, as a simple being, could only contain 

 a single idea at a given moment or the in- 

 vestigations were based solely on introspec- 

 tion. WUNDT Psychology, lect. 16, p. 240. 

 (Son. & Co., 1896.) 



