BOTANICAL SUBJECTS. 19 



Science, I take it, furnishes the facts, methodically arranged, 

 while philosophy colligates them, and connects them with the rest 

 of the universe into a theory. 



In " "Worcester's Dictionary," I find that " science is 

 knowledge; that which one knows; the knowledge of many 

 methodically digested, and arranged, so as to become attainable 

 by one ; a knowledge of laws, principles, and relations." 



While philosophy is stated to be the " science of causes and 

 principles ; the investigation of the principles, on which all 

 knowledge, and all being rest." 



As I said, this is rather a " distinction without a difference." 

 A great deal, however, which passes for science among the 

 ignorant is not science at all, but " tackle," which causes endless 

 mental friction. Instead of facilitating the grasp of the 

 philosophy of a thing, it scatters the mind into numerous 

 efforts of memory, and thus hampers the intellect, which is 

 ever striving to connect facts, and comprehend their meaning. 



The interminable words of Grreek and Latin origin hamper 



the intelligence, much as a macadamized road hampers a wheeled 



carriage, before the road is rolled. One hears it stated that Greek 



and Latin are classical languages, and all science, to look learned, 



should be habited in classical terms, much, I suj)pose, as we use 



the top hat to stamp us with respectability, yet we find that the 



Hebrew, Arabic, Assyrian, Sanskrit, and Egyptian languages, 



were classical before the classical Greeks and Latins were born, 



and it would be just as logical if we invented hieroglyphic, 



cuneiform, or Sanskrit names to express what we observe and 



discover in science to-day. To a Sanskrit scholar, Sanskrit terms 



for things would be as easy as Greek terms would be to a Greek 



scholar, but to persons of ordinary intelligence, desirous of 



learning the truth, the foreign terms would be to the mind what 



the unrolled macadamized road is to a vehicle. To the young, 



they are deterrent, and to the old they are a worry. The middle 



aged may perhaps be amused or interested by difficult mental 



gymnastics, much as they are by climbing the Alpine mountains. 



But the end of climbing after all is to get to the top of the 



mountain, and survey everything from a neiv stand point. 



Therefore the easier the journey can be made, it would appear, the 



sooner one can make a philosophical survey of the facts that lie all 



around below. 



B 2 



