Vlll 



Marvels of the Universe 



light, spectrum analysis and the Rontgen rays, the telephone and the phonograph, the liquefaction 

 of air and even of hydrogen, the far-reaching discoveries of Darwin, the foundation of geology, the 

 discovery of anaesthetics, of helium and radium, the successful campaign against malaria, 

 constitute a galaxy of marvellous discoveries to which no other century can afford a parallel. 



It is sometimes said that science is prosaic, but geologists have shown us more wonderful things 

 in the depths of the earth than Homer or Virgil ever imagined, and the modem views of the origin 

 of volcanoes have revealed to us much more magnificent conceptions than the mere workshop of 

 Vulcan. There are. it seems to me, strong reasons for looking forward to the future with hope. 

 If. indeed, the world was fairly well known to us — if our knowledge bore any considerable 



THE SIBERIAN MAMMOTH. 



The MammotK. or Woolly Elephant, thai formerly ranged over Europe, has been preserved for many thousands of years in 

 the ice of Siberia, During last century many examples %vere discovered with the flesh intact and the wool still attached to the 

 hide. This is no fossil, but an actual preservation of the animal in Nature's cold storage, 



proportion to what we ha\-e still to learn — the case would be very different. But what we know 

 is an infinitesimal fraction of what we do not know. There is no single substance in Nature the 

 uses and the properties of which are as yet completely known to us. There is no animal or plant 

 the whole life-history of which we have yet unravelled. We are surrounded by forces and influ- 

 ences of which we understand nothing, and which we are as yet but dimly commencing to perceive. 



The benefits which Science confers on Man are innumerable and cannot be exaggerated. It 

 is difficult, indeed, to say which branch of Science has done most for us. 



Lastly, Science in the troubles and sorrows of life wiU do much to soothe, comfort and console. 

 If we contemplate the immeasurable lapse of time indicated by geology ; the almost infinitely 

 small, and quite infinitely complex and beautiful structures rendered visible by the microscope, 

 or the depths of space revealed by the telescope, we cannot but be carried out of ourselves. 



