102 



NATURAL" SCIENCE NEWS. 



and flowers, luxurious in their 

 beauty, providing for the wants of 

 man and animals, clothing old 

 earth in a magnificient garb, how 

 admirable are these! What an in- 

 numerable host of animals she 

 possesses — some like the lion and 

 tiger, so fierce and strong and ter- 

 rible; others like the sheep and 

 cow and horse, useful and gentle, 

 supplying man with food and 

 clothing and aid in his labors, and 

 the birds, whose gorgeous plumage 

 delights the eye, and whose songs 

 fill the woods with music, all the 

 gladness in their little hearts gush- 

 ing forth from their throats. And 

 then, Nature's most marvellous 

 productions, Nature's triumph, 

 that in which Nature displays her 

 most wonderous abilities — man 

 himself! How beautiful is the 

 structure of his body! So minute, 

 so delicate, and yet so perfect, so 

 inimitable! How great are the 

 workings of his mind! How spa- 

 cious his intellectual powers! And 

 when this wonderful mechanism 

 requires repair, when the body has 

 lost its most precious treasure — 

 health, where do we go for reme- 

 dies? Where, indeed, but to Na- 

 ture! For the diseases inflicted 

 by Nature, Nature has remedies, 

 if man but knows them. 



What beauteous phenomena oc- 

 cur in Naturel. For instance, light, 

 how precious is this bounty. 

 Schiller knew this when he said: 



"O, eine edle Mimmelsgabe ist 

 Das Licht des Auges — Alle Wesen leben 

 Vora Lichte, jedes gluckliche Geschiipf — 

 Die Pflanze selbst kehrt freudig sich 

 zum Lichte." 



Light, by means of which man 

 can perceive objects millions upon 

 millions of miles away, a distance, 

 a space, so vast, so immeasurable, 

 that the mind of man, though pow- 

 erful it is, is too weak, too puny, 

 to appreciate its immensity! 



And sound, by which man can 

 enjoy music, sweet melodies, soft 

 tunes. But more valuable than 

 this, through its means mankind 

 may be instructed, may obtain 

 knowledge! And electricity, that 

 subtle force which enables man to 

 perform wonders, to undertake en- 

 terprises which without its aid 

 would be impossible — to accom- 

 plish most gigantic tasks! The 

 spotless snow, the falling rain, sup- 

 plying the oceans, plants, and 

 man with water, the rattling hail, 

 the rushing storms, lashing the 

 seas into fury, and carrying de- 

 struction in their paths, the roaring 

 and crashing thunder and the flash- 

 ing lightning — how grand these 

 are! What tremendous power 



controlls the flights of the planets 

 through space! Bodies so incom- 

 prehensively immense in size, of 

 such an unimaginably enormous 

 weight, whirled with wonderful 

 speed through a vastness which 

 defies description, and yet so per- 

 fectly under Nature's control. 

 How humble, how insignificant is 

 the strength of man compared 

 with these awful powers! How 

 admirably accurate and precise is 

 Nature! How strict her laws are! 

 How bountiful, how lavishing she 

 is! How stupendous are the pow- 

 ers of the elements! Can these 

 things fail to excite admiration? 

 Can they fail to arouse the emo- 

 tions? Is it strange that men in 

 ancient times, men who knew so 

 little about Nature, is it strange, I 

 ask, that they should look upon 

 her with awe, and suppose her 

 wonderful forces to be controlled 

 and regulated by beings superior 

 to man? 



But the mysteries of Nature are 

 yet far from being solved. Truth 

 and enlightenment come gradual- 

 ly. All things in Nature are for a 

 purpose, though man may not yet 

 know what this purpose is. Be- 

 fore man will know all, man will 

 have ceased to exist. But whom 

 have we to thank for all we do 

 know of these marvellous, wonder- 

 ful, grand and imposing powers? 

 Science, and the indefatigable ef- 

 forts, the inexhaustible genius of 

 those great and noble and wise 

 men, who upheld and promoted 

 science among humanity, even in 

 the darkest hours' of ignorance, 

 when religious insanity threatened 

 to overwhelm it! Science is Truth! 

 Truth is Science! Why and for 

 how long will humanity persist in 

 hiding from truth, from enlighten- 

 ment? 



"No one so deaf as he who will not hear! 

 No one so blind as he who will not see!" 



So long as man will insist upon 

 avoiding the light of science, of 

 knowledge, of wisdom, so long 

 civilization will fail to attain its 

 perfection, so long man will not 

 progress as he should! Study 

 Nature, deeply, profoundly, with 

 all your heart and energy, and you 

 study the most beautiful, the most 

 refining, the most elevating, the 

 most lofty theme that can engage 

 the human mind. Say to yourself, 

 "Geslio scire omnia/" and investi- 

 gate, observe, ascertain. Well 

 may I say with Froude: "The 

 knowledge that a man can use is 

 the only real knowledge, the 

 knowledge that has life and growth 

 in it and converts itself into prac- 



tical power. The rest hangs like 

 dust about the brain, or dries like 

 raindrops off the stones." Here 

 in studying Nature you will find 

 the real knowledge, the true knowl- 

 edge, the knowledge which you 

 will be a wiser and better and 

 truer man for possessing. 



"Delibera hoc, dum ego redeo." 



O. A. Dahms, 

 Davenport, Iowa. 



Echoes from Bird Land. 



The fashion now is^ big sleeves, 

 some time ago it was, tight sleeves. 

 The hair is now worn in a Psyche; 

 not long ago the French-twist was 

 in vogue. 



Constantly the fashions change, 

 and without a thought we change 

 with them. 



Nearly two decades ago a lady 

 came into an evening gathering 

 with a dead bird on her bonnet. 

 This was something new, a novel 

 idea her admirers said. Without 

 stopping to reflect, with the thought 

 only of self adornment, with the 

 hereditary impulse to adopt every 

 thing new, the fancy was seized 

 upon by those we term the gentler 

 sex, and only when Fashion itself 

 shall be no more will the full extent 

 of the mischief be known. Like a 

 blighting wind it has passed from 

 continent to continent, and before 

 its ruthless blast, into the millinery 

 depots of our great cities are an- 

 nuity swept one hundred million vic- 

 tims. Does it mean any thing to 

 us that our birds are thus slaught- 

 ered? Ask the witnesses. The 

 New England fruit grower replies: 

 "Plums and peaches once grew 

 abundantly in New England, now 

 their growth is practically impos- 

 sible; insects too abundant to be 

 kept down by the decreasing num- 

 ber of birds, ruin our trees." 



The observing farmer witnesses, 

 "I would Qrather a man would 

 shoot my best dog than the covey 

 of quails which live on my farm, so 

 destructive are they to obnoxious 

 grubs and insects." Prof. Fisk of 

 Buffalo says: "It is estimated that 

 birds save annually to agricultural 

 purposes alone over $100,000,000 

 in the United States." 



From the sea sh jres and the for- 

 ests, from the rivers and the moun- 

 tains comes the wail of our little 

 suffering friends as if they say; "Aid 

 us, or we perish." Can we afford 

 to have our land depopulated of 

 the feathery tenants of field and 

 river? 



The otherwise kind hearted wo- 



