128 



SCIENCE. 



LN. S. Vol. IV. No. 83. 



of humanistic divinities to effect liis escape. 

 So impressed is the human mind by the 

 reign of law in the physical world that it 

 has carried this conception over into the 

 spiritual. ' Natural law in the spiritual 

 world ' is an obvious sequence of natural 

 law in the physical world. It is therefore 

 an intensely human interest that impels to 

 the study of the reign of law. 



Every great branch of learning has been 

 adorned with the names of eminent scholars 

 and discoverers. When we bear in mind 

 that the arts and sciences are the product 

 of directed, conscious human effort, and 

 that it is the lot of but few to be endowed 

 with the intellectual insight, the native 

 sagacity, the penetrating perception to push 

 far beyond their fellows, we are not sur- 

 prised at the smallness of the number of 

 luminous names that shine on the rolls of 

 honor, or that go down to succeeding gen- 

 erations as the great discoverers. The hu- 

 man interest in these names, differentiated 

 from all others by their powers and their 

 contributions to the progress of the world, 

 is equally intense whether they belong to 

 art or architecture, to literature or science. 

 To these men it has been given to delight 

 the soul with beauty, to penetrate the un- 

 known, to enlarge the boundaries of human 

 knowledge, and to gather up the tangled 

 threads of thought and weave them into a 

 tapestry of beautiful design. Each depart- 

 ment of creative art or of learning is justly 

 proud of the distinguished names associated 

 with it. They all inspire the same human 

 interest and are characterized by the same 

 passionate devotion. Galileo, persecuted 

 and condemned for his scientific writings, 

 is still a vivid figure, a living personage in 

 history ; and we look with reverence upon 

 the old bronze lamp or candelabra, swinging 

 on its long suspending rope in the Duomo at 

 Pisa, as it swung centuries ago when 

 Galileo watched it and discovered the 

 isochronism of its pendular motions. Old 



Copernicus, turning over with death- 

 stricken hands the first copy of his book on 

 the solar system, which he dared not pub- 

 lish sooner, is a figure to excite at the same 

 time sympathy and indignation. The genius 

 of Michael Angelo still presides over the 

 art and architecture of Rome, and Raphael 

 will forever stand beside the glowing can- 

 vas of the Sistine Madonna, which burns 

 itself into the soul of every beholder. One 

 almost expects to see Scott standing within 

 the deep shadows of Melrose Abbey by 

 moonlight, or strolling with his faithful 

 hounds in the woods about Abbotsford. 

 Alloway Kirk and the Brig o'Doon are still 

 visited by the strange creations of the busy 

 brain of Burns. How sweetly the chimes 

 of Holy Trinity Church ring out over the 

 hills about Stratford-on-Avon on a quiet 

 evening ! Green are the fields and quiet 

 the cottagers along the cleanly lanes and 

 alleys where the great poet was born. In 

 the spacious chimney corner of the Hath- 

 away cottage linger the shades of Ann 

 Hathaway and "William Shakespeare. It is 

 hard to believe that for 300 years the ashes 

 of Shakespeare have reposed beneath the 

 slab in Holy Trinity, guarded by the fa- 

 mous couplet, 



' ' Blest be the man that spares these stones 

 And curst be he that moves my bones. ' ' 



The scientific traveller in London turn& 

 his steps toward the Royal Institution in 

 Alber marie street, where the noble Faraday 

 worked and achieved immortal renown. 

 There are the coils and magnets and other 

 appliances which his own hands fashioned; 

 and Faraday himself is everywhere present 

 there. How powerful still is the memory 

 of our own Joseph Henry at Princeton, and 

 Washington! Though he be dead, his 

 works do follow him. 



Prof. Butler said in his address at Den- 

 ver : "We must enlarge our conception 

 of the humanities, for humanity is broader 

 and deeper than we have hitherto suspected^ 



