Such are the triumphs of
knowledge; and he who diffuses it among our race, or discovers and
disseminates new truths, advances man nearer to his Creator; he exalts
the whole race; he elevates it in the scale of being, and raises it into
higher and still higher spheres.
It is science that marks the speed of sound and light and lightning,
calculates the eclipses, catalogues the stars, maps the heavens, and
follows, for centuries of the past and the future, the comet's course.
It explores the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. With geology,
it notes the earthquake upheaval of mountains, and, with mineralogy, the
laws of crystallization. With chemistry, it analyzes, decomposes, and
compounds the elements. If, like Canute, it cannot arrest the tidal
wave, it is subjecting it to laws and formulas. Taking the sunbeam for
its pencil, it heliographs man's own image, and the scenery of the earth
and the heavens. Has science any limits or horizon? Can it ever
penetrate the soul of man, and reveal the mystery of his existence and
destiny? It is certainly exploring the facts of sociology, arranging and
generalizing them, and deducing laws.
Man, elevated by knowledge in the scale of being, controls the forces of
nature with greater power and grander results, and accumulates wealth
more rapidly.
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