10 



conjectural than positive, and it is not surprising that those 

 who taught found little aptness in the pupil to extend the 

 knowledge or add to the history of natural phenomena. 



It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that the inspira- 

 tion which enlightened these old-world philosophers paled 

 with ineffectual fires in the minds of those who sat at the 

 feet of the Master, till nothing remained to them but the 

 meagre formulae of the theories so expounded. 



Through all the years intervening, the scholar has 

 missed the application of the lessons nature would impart. 

 Her voice called in vain tor an interpreter, for one who 

 could understand the message of the centuries ; — centuries of 

 untold misery, of dire penalties and woe to the nations of 

 the world, — from man's inability to profit by the sad experi- 

 ences of suffering, to adapt the remedial measures nature 

 sought to impart. 



Until the dawn of the past century, there had not 

 arisen one with the genius to translate the signs and 

 influences that abounded for bettering the condition of the 

 people, and for the culture and advancement of the nations. 



The later history of natural science is eloquent on the 

 triumphs its students have accomplished in the betterment 

 of the world. 



It is a record of the tireless search and earnest seeking 

 after the knowledge that brings understanding of the ways 

 of life, and the better equipment of man to withstand the 

 foes which wage constant war in his natural existence. 



The worthy thinkers and workers of the 2nd and 8rd 

 centuries B.C., could only grasp at the solution of the 

 problems of life and being in and around them. Sentient 

 existence was to their unaided reason, as the wind which 

 carries the seed or spray where it listeth ; but the Greek and 

 Egyptian philosophers did hazard conjectures of the govern- 

 ment of the world, touched with the daring of enthusiasm 

 on the origin of things material in nature, taught in their 

 own particular schools the position of the earth in the solar 

 system, the Pythagorean theory of the Universe, and the 

 teaching of Aristarkus remaining the accepted theory up to 

 the dark ages, when, after the years of that dismal night 

 had passed away, Copernicus confirmed and elaborated the 

 ideas of the Phoenician and Samoan philosophers. 



