Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.

PART FIRST.

THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY AND OF THE MOUND BUILDERS, AS RELATED BY SCIENCE.

The discoveries of Columbus, and of Portuguese mariners. shortly before, opened an era of great importance to Europe. and to mankind. They lifted the veil that hid another world from the eyes of the dawning modern civilization, enlarged tenfold the field of adventure and of business activity, and stimulated enterprise by the promise of brilliant rewards. For a thousand years Europe had been a general battle field, whereon fierce passions, towering ambitions and conflicting interests had wasted the resources of church and state. These new openings for energy gradually relieved the deadly stress of conflict between nations and classes, and changed destructive forces into agents of progress and prosperity. In this reconstruction of views and interests, which was made slowly but surely, many illusions and false notions, religious, social and political, disappeared. Mankind seemed now to come of age, so to speak, and enter, for the first time, on the serious work of life.

New experiences and a vast multitude of new facts could not all be harmonized with old theories, and the habit of more attentive observation, which the necessity of fresh explanations gradually introduced, led to the re-organization of the old sciences and to the development of many new ones. It was

the starting point of truer study by more careful investigation. The world, for instance, was proved to be round by mariners who constantly sailed in the same direction till they at length came back to their starting point; this laid a solid foundation for a true theory of the planetary system and the starry world; stimulated inquiry into the laws that govern the motions of the heavenly bodies, and thus enlarged and corrected the Science of Astronomy. In a similar way every branch of knowledge profited by the great events of the Columbian Era.

Yet it took a long time to find out the most effective and reliable methods of study, and to teach men not to draw conclusions too hastily. Many difficulties were met in organizing this practical school. It was not easy to throw off the influence of old habits and views, and men found it hard to believe that those who had been revered for their learning in former times could have made so many great mistakes. The great men and the theories of the past had become identified with institutions whose influence and authority seemed to be attacked by the new learning, and persecution was frequently added to the other embarrassments of the student of science.

Many of the sciences required long and difficult researches, and the observations which must furnish the material for true theories accumulated facts slowly. The science of geology properly commenced with the inquiry how marine shells could have been placed in the heart of rocks and on the top of mountains. It was long before the true explanation could be found. Some rocks did not contain shells at all, but bore the appearance of having cooled from a melted state. These were so numerous, especially in some regions, that it was believed by some that all rock was formed in that way, although that view did not satisfactorily account for the rocks containing the shells. Other regions showed very few, or none, of these fire-made rocks, nearly all contained the remains of organic life, and, the principal effort being to account for them, the theory was advanced that all rocks were formed in water. Much study

THE GROWTH OF MODERN SCIENCE.

29

and discussion followed before it was seen that both these theories were necessary to a complete explanation.

Sometimes it was necessary that one science should reach a certain degree of perfection before it could shed the necessary light on important questions of another; and in others the whole world had to be pretty well known before the true theory could be framed. There was a great attraction in making fresh discoveries, the interest the questions raised constantly increased, and, as every part of the earth became more fully known to the civilized world, the dark points were gradually cleared up. A theory that is nearest the truth will explain the largest number of facts, and, led on by increasing breadth and clearness of explanation, men of science slowly and painfully conquered the difficulties in their way.

But, if the conquest was slow and painful, it was also sure, for it had the solid basis of nature to rest on. If they made mistakes, examined too hastily, and formed conclusions without the most mature consideration, the ever accumulating facts would convict them of error. In this way they learned extreme caution, sought the most accurate instruments and methods to aid their investigations, and, in our own day, have become renowned for the precise and patient care bestowed on their labors. "Scientific Accuracy" implies the most thorough study and the most absolute certainty which the nature of the subject admits.

The glory of all past ages pales before the achievements of the scientific world of our generation and of that which immediately preceded it. The warriors, the statesmen, the artists and the thinkers of past ages appear childish bunglers when compared with these broad-minded, clear-sighted, intellectual and practical giants of our time. The almost miraculous development of the industries and comprehensive activities of recent years, the means by which distance and other obstacles have been deprived of their power to separate men and keep them in ignorance of each other, all come, directly or indi

rectly, from scientific discoveries. So useful has science become to practical life that it has been made, to a great extent, the general superintendent of the business undertakings, of the social and political affairs, and of the thought of the world. If it has too lately received that high position to have banished false principles and injurious violation of the laws of nature, of business and of association, it is yet steadily and vigorously working toward that end, and can not well fail of ultimate success.

Science has acquired this great influence by doing its work within its own special field with great and conscientious thoroughness. It will take nothing for granted, it requires proof; it shuns no labor to arrive at certainty, it will not deceive others nor itself, and declines to pronounce upon a theory until all the facts have been sufficiently examined and reasonable doubts removed. These are its fundamental principles. Some of its teachers, indeed, fail to be always governed by these principles, for they are often more or less imperfectly imbued with its spirit, but their influence is lost in proportion as they are unable to sustain their positions by convincing proof. Science belongs to the material world, the world of facts which are capable of being proved, and it has taught the world the carefulness in receiving such proof that it uses in seeking for it.

Geology has been perfected with this painstaking care. Several miles of the original depth of the rocks of the earth have been turned up to the light of day by the immense forces that assisted in its structure, and they have laid bare, somewhere, nearly every leaf of its journal of its own life and history. By long and patient study its alphabet has been learned and the strange journal read. Chemistry, Zoology, Botany, Physiology, Astronomy, and many other sciences have aided in its work, for they are all branches of one great Science of Nature. As the special energies of each department of nature had their part in making the earth, so the facts of each science

THE DISCOVERIES OF SCIENCE.

31

now assist in explaining how it was made. Not everything is known. On the contrary, study seems only now to have fairly commenced. It has surveyed the general field, it has disciplined its workers, organized its forces, and found out the right way to use them. It has exercised its eye, its hand and its judgment so thoroughly that they can work together with great rapidity and certainty.

It has learned that nature is not a confused collection of contradictions, but that the different parts form a consistent, wellproportioned and harmonious whole; that the laws now controlling its operations are universal, that they always and everywhere produce the same effect under the same circumstances. This unity of nature enables science to transport its students to distant times and far away regions of the universe. The laws of proportion in the animal frame are so well known that, with a few bones, it can reconstruct the whole animal, discover its habits and the circumstances that surrounded it while liv ing. The chemical constitution of the rocks and the animal or vegetable remains found in them, or absent from them, reveal the condition of the seas and the land during the period from which they date. Thus science walks back and forth through the long ages of the past, and studies each period, each class of vegetable or animal life and the operation of the forces that produced it, with even more ease and certainty than a traveler can study a country and its productions, as they stand in all their completeness before his eyes, at the present day. In some respects the observer can get nearer to the secrets of the past than those of the present. Here he can not always go behind the curtain, but there the curtain is drawn, and he has a closer view of causes.

Science sometimes meets with agents and methods of study that make the most important and wonderful revelations. For instance, light, as reflected by different objects, was found to make various revelations as to the nature of those objects, and by this means a multitude of facts in regard to the constitu

« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »