612 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 983 



the clothing, feeding and housing of men, 

 women and children make up the entire 

 round of life, so that for their use the world 

 may have naturally seemed created. This 

 is an ancient and charmingly child-like con- 

 ception. But when we know something of 

 the earth's complexity, of its wonderful in- 

 ter-relations, of its long past and of the cer- 

 tain developments through which it will 

 pass in the future, these false notions give 

 place to much more correct perspectives. 

 Man is indeed a member of the great, or- 

 ganic family, but he has his place in the 

 series, just as do all the other members. He 

 plays his part, but so do they. In some re- 

 spects he is more impressive than other liv- 

 ing creatures; in some respects less so. A 

 well-balanced student of natural science ac- 

 cepts these facts and draws no comparisons 

 of superiority or inferiority. He has borne 

 in upon him the conviction that human 

 affairs are not all of the universe, and that 

 he should be neither undulj^ exalted nor cast 

 down. A calm and steadfast habit of mind 

 should be his and his studies should exer- 

 cise this disciplinary influence upon him. 



The American who has given the best ex- 

 pression to this influence of nature upon 

 man is Bryant. Himself a keen lover of the 

 woods, fields and mountains, he had further 

 the great gift of describing in dignified and 

 musical verse their effects upon him. In 

 his "Forest Hymn" and again in "Thana- 

 topsis" we find these influences beautifully 

 set forth. The calm philosophy which 

 places one apart from the small bickerings 

 and petty things of life rings true in his 

 lines, sb that often the words go coursing 

 through our thoughts when face to face 

 with the sublime phenomena of nature. 



Bryant, however, is not alone in giving 

 utterance to these conceptions of life. 

 Many and many a naturalist — to use again 

 as I have several times already this old 

 descriptive term for a student of nature — 



many a naturalist has felt the same and from 

 time to time has set down in his pages the 

 thoughts regarding a philosophy of life, 

 which sprang for utterance while describing 

 material phenomena. "We have had within 

 a few years a monumental work from a 

 venerable and greatly beloved Austrian 

 geologist, Eduard Suess. He has discussed 

 the "Face of the Earth"; that is, he has 

 passed in review the entire surface of the 

 earth; its elevations and depressions; their 

 connection with geological structure and 

 time of production; their characters; rela- 

 tionships ; systems ; causes. He spreads be- 

 fore us a wonderful panorama and easts a 

 flood of light upon its obscurities. But 

 when he comes to his closing sentences he 

 is reminded that his pages are to be read by 

 men and women, and to have their influ- 

 ence upon human lives. Recognizing, there- 

 fore, the problems which have been solved 

 and the many others which remain for the 

 future, he sums up in the following words : 



In the face of tbese open questions, let us rejoice 

 in the sunshine, the starry firmament and all the 

 manifold diversity of the face of our earth, 

 which has been produced by these very processes, 

 recognizing at the same time to how great a de- 

 gree life is controlled by the nature of the planet 

 and its fortunes. 



J. F. Kemp 



Columbia University 



OUR BAVIXJM BESOUECES-^ 

 The ' ' wonders of radium, ' ' both fact and 

 fable, have been treated so extensively in 

 the scientific and public press that it is not 

 my intention, nor is it at all necessary, to 

 repeat them here. Rather it is my wish 

 to-day to present to a body of men inter- 

 ested in the development of American min- 

 ing the present commercial situation as 

 regards radium and its ores, and to point 



1 Address to the sixteenth annual convention of 

 the American Mining Congress, Philadelphia, Oc- 

 tober 20-24, 1913. 



