By
EDWARD S. HOLDEN, M.A., Sc.D. LL.D.
The Earth, the Sea, the Sky, and their wonders—these are the themes of this
volume. The volume is so small, and the theme so vast! Men have lived on the
earth for hundreds of the sands of years; and its wonders have increased, not
diminished, with their experience.
To our barbarous ancestors of centuries ago, all was mystery—the thunder, the
rainbow, the growing corn, the ocean, the stars. Gradually and by slow steps
they learned to house themselves in trees, in caves, in huts, in houses; to find
a sure supply of food; to provide a stock of serviceable clothing. The arts of
life were born; tools were invented; the priceless boon of fire was received;
tribes and clans united for defence; some measure of security and comfort was
attained.
With security and comfort came leisure; and the mind of early Man began
curiously to inquire the meaning of the mysteries with which he was surrounded.
That curious inquiry was the birth of Science. Art was born when some far-away
ancestor, in an idle hour, [pg xiv] scratched on a bone the drawing of two of his
reindeer fighting, or carved on the walls of his cave the image of the mammoth
that he had but lately slain with his spear and arrows.
In a mind that is completely ignorant there is no wonder. Wonder is the child
of knowledge—of partial and imperfect knowledge, to be sure, but still, of
knowledge. The very first step in Science is to make an inventory of external
Nature (and by and by of the faculties of the mind that thinks). The second step
is to catalogue similar appearances together. It is a much higher flight to seek
the causes of likenesses thus discovered.
A few of the chapters of this volume are items in a mere catalogue of
wonders, and deserve their place by accurate and eloquent description. Most of
them, however, represent higher stages of insight. In the latter, Nature is
viewed not only with the eye of the observer, but also with the mind's eye,
curious to discover the reasons for things seen. The most penetrating inward
inquiry accompanies the acutest external observation in such chapters as those
of Darwin and Huxley, here reprinted.
Now, the point not to be overlooked is this: to Darwin and Huxley, as to
their remote and uncultured ancestors, the World—the Earth, the Sea, the Sky—is
full of wonders and of mysteries, but the wonders are of a higher order. The
problems of the thunder [pg
xv] and of the rainbow as they presented themselves to the men of a
thousand generations ago, have been fully solved: but the questions; what is the
veritable nature of electricity, exactly how does it differ from light, are
still unanswered. And what are simple problems like these to the questions: what
is love; why do we feel a sympathy with this person, an antipathy for that; and
others of the sort? Science has made almost infinite advances since pre-historic
man first felt the feeble current of intellectual curiosity amid his awe of the
storm; it has still to grow almost infinitely before anything like a complete
explanation even of external Nature is achieved.
Suppose that, at some future day, all physical and mechanical laws should be
found to be direct consequences of a single majestic law, just as all the
motions of the planets are (but—are they?) the direct results of the single law
of gravitation. Gravitation will, probably, soon be explained in terms of some
remoter cause, but the reason of that single and ultimate law of the universe
which we have imagined would still remain unknown. Human knowledge will always
have limits, and beyond those limits there will always be room for mystery and
wonder. A complete and exhaustive explanation of the world is inconceivable, so
long as human powers and capacities remain at all as they now are.
It is important to emphasize such truths, especially [pg xvi] in a book addressed to the young.
When a lad hears for the first time that an astronomer, by a simple pointing of
his spectroscope, can determine with what velocity a star is approaching the
earth, or receding from it, or when he hears that the very shape of the
revolving masses of certain stars can be calculated from simple measures of the
sort, he is apt to conclude that Science, which has made such astounding
advances since the days of Galileo and Newton, must eventually reach a complete
explanation of the entire universe. The conclusion is not unnatural, but it is
not correct. There are limits beyond which Science, in this sense, cannot go.
Its scope is limited. Beyond its limits there are problems that it cannot solve,
mysteries that it cannot explain.
At the present moment, for example, the nature of Force is unknown. A weight
released from the hand drops to the earth. Exactly what is the nature of the
force with which the earth attracts it? We do not know, but it so happens that
it is more than likely that an explanation will be reached in our own day.
Gravity will be explained in terms of some more general forces. The mystery will
be pushed back another step, and yet another and another. But the progress is
not indefinite. If all the mechanical actions of the entire universe were to be
formulated as the results of a single law or cause, the cause of that cause
would be still to seek, as has been said. [pg xvii]
We have every right to exult in the amazing achievements of Science; but we
have not understood them until we realize that the universe of Science has
strict limits, within which all its conquests must necessarily be confined.
Humility, and not pride, is the final lesson of scientific work and study.
The choice of the selections printed in this volume has been necessarily
limited by many hampering conditions, that of mere space being one of the most
harassing. Each of the chapters might readily be expanded into a volume. Volumes
might be added on topics almost untouched here. It has been necessary to pass
over almost without notice matters of surpassing interest and importance:
Electricity and its wonderful and new applications; the new Biology, with its
views upon such fundamental questions as the origins of life and death; modern
Astronomy, with its far-reaching pronouncements upon the fate of universes. All
these can only be touched lightly, if at all. It is the chief purpose of this
volume to point the way towards the most modern and the greatest conclusions of
Science, and to lay foundations upon which the reading of a life-time can be
laid.
United States Military
Academy,
West Point, January 1,
1902.
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