Steam and lightning become the slaves
of man. He performs the journey of a day in an hour, and converses in
minutes around the globe. The strength of man may not have been much
increased, but his power is augmented a thousand fold.
His life may not have been materially lengthened, but, in the march of
knowledge, a year now is as a century, compared with man's progress in
the darkness of the middle ages. The eternal advance toward omniscience
goes on, but is like that of the infinite approach of the asymptote,
which never reaches the hyperbolic curve. The onward of science is in a
geometrical ratio, so that in time, the intellectual progress of a day
in the future, must exceed that of a century in the past. Knowledge is
enthroned as king, and grand truths and new ideas are his ministers.
Science takes the diameter of the earth's orbit as a base line and unit
of measurement, and with it spans immensity, and triangulates the
nebulous systems amid the shadowy verges of receding space. Its
researches are cosmical upon the earth and the heavens, and all the
elements minister to its progress. Sink to the lowest mine, or fathom
the ocean's depth, or climb the loftiest mountains, or career through
the heavens on silken wings, and it is there also. On--on--on;
nearer--nearer--still nearer it moves forever and forever, with
accelerated speed, toward the infinite eternal.
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