easily examined; you may pick them up on any of the battle-fields of
science; but on that field they were used with more effect than on
almost any other. These weapons were two epithets--the epithets
'Infidel' and 'Atheist.' These can hardly be classed with civilized
weapons; they are burning arrows; they set fire to great masses of
popular prejudices. Smoke rises to obscure the real questions. Fire
bursts out at times to destroy the attacked party. They are poisoned
weapons. They go to the heart of loving women; they alienate dear
children; they injure the man after life is ended, for they leave
poisoned wounds in the hearts of those who loved him best--fears for his
eternal happiness, dread of the Divine displeasure. The battle-fields
of science are thickly strewn with these. They have been used against
almost every man who has ever done anything for his fellow-men. The list
of those who have been denounced as Infidel and Atheist includes almost
all great men of science--general scholars, inventors, philanthropists.
The deepest Christian life, the most noble Christian character has not
availed to shield combatants. Christians like Isaac Newton and Pascal,
and John Locke and John Howard, have had these weapons hurled against
them. Nay, in these very times we have seen a noted champion hurl these
weapons against John Milton, and with it another missile which often
appears on these battle-fields--the epithets of 'blasphemer' and 'hater
of the Lord.' Of course, in these days these weapons though often
effective in disturbing the ease of good men and though often powerful
in scaring women, are somewhat blunted. Indeed, they do not infrequently
injure assailants more than assailed. So it was not in the days of
Galileo. These weapons were then in all their sharpness and venom.
The first champion who appears against him is Bellarmine, one of the
greatest of theologians and one of the poorest of scientists. He was
earnest, sincere, learned, but made the fearful mistake for the world
of applying direct literal interpretation of Scripture to science. The
consequences were sad, indeed. Could he with his vast powers have taken
a different course, humanity would have been spared the long and fearful
war which ensued, and religion would have saved to herself thousands
on thousands of the best and brightest men in after ages. The weapons,
which men of Bellarmine's stamp used, were theological. They held
up before the world the dreadful consequences which must result to
Christian theology were the doctrine to prevail that the heavenly bodies
revolve about the sun, and not about the earth.
"The next great series of battles were fought on those great fields
occupied by such sciences as _Chemistry and Natural Philosophy_. Even
before these sciences were out of their childhood--while yet they were
tottering mainly towards, childish objects and by childish steps--the
champions of that same old mistaken conception of rigid Scriptural
interpretation began the war. The catalogue of chemists and physicists
persecuted or thwarted would fill volumes."
After alluding to many other battle-fields of science which might not
for want of time be dwelt upon at length the lecturer reviewed the
battle grounds of medicine and anatomy on which some of the severest
warfare has been waged.
The speaker here remarked that "perhaps the most unfortunate thing that
has ever been done for Christianity is the tying it to forms of science
and systems of education, which are doomed and gradually sinking. Just
as in the time of Roger Bacon excellent but mistaken men devoted all
their energies to binding Christianity to Aristotle. Just as in the time
of Reuchlin and Erasmus they insisted on binding Christianity to Thomas
Aquinas, so in the time of Vesalius such men gave all efforts to linking
Christianity to Galen. The cry has been the same in all ages. It is the
same which we hear in this age against scientific studies--the cry
for what is called '_sound learning_.' Whether standing for Aristotle
against Bacon, or Aquinas against Erasmus, or Galen against Vesalius,
or making mechanical Greek verses at Eton, instead of studying the
handiwork of the Almighty, or reading Euripides with translations
instead of Leasing and Goethe in the original, the cry always is for
'sound learning.' The idea always is that these studies are _safe_."
The speaker next proceeded to show that not alone in Catholic countries,
has such warfare been waged, and that even now in Protestant America the
fight is going on.
One of the fields on which the severest warfare had raged in Protestant
countries was that of Geology. "From the first lispings of investigators
in this science there was war. The early sound doctrine was that fossil
remains were _lusus naturae_--freaks of nature--and in 1517 Fracastor
was violently attacked because he thought them something more. No less a
man than Bernard Palissy followed up the contest, on the right side, in
France, but it required 150 years to carry the day fairly against this
single preposterous theory. The champion who dealt it the deadly blow
was Scilla, and his weapons were facts obtained by examination of
the fossils of Calabria, (1670). But the advocates of tampering with
scientific reasoning soon retired to a now position. It was strong, for
it was apparently based upon Scripture--though, as the whole world now
knows, an utterly exploded interpretation of Scripture. The new position
was that the fossils were produced by the deluge of Noah. In vain had
it been shown by such devoted Christians as Bernard Palissy that this
theory was utterly untenable; in vain did good men protest against the
injury sure to result to religion by tying it to a scientific theory
sure to be exploded--the doctrine that the fossils were remains of
animals drowned at the flood continued to be upheld by the great
majority as '_sound_' doctrine. It took 120 year for the searchers
of God's truth, as revealed in nature--such men as Buffon, Linnaeus,
Woodward, and Whitehurst--to run under these mighty fabrics of error,
and by statements which could not be resisted, to explode them.
"Strange as it may at first seem, the war on geology was waged more
fiercely in Protestant countries than Catholic, and of all countries
England furnished the most bitter opponents. You have noted already that
there are generally two sorts of attacks on a new science. First,
there is the attack by pitting against science some great doctrine in
theology. You saw this in astronomy, when Bellarmine and others insisted
that the doctrine of the earth's revolving about the sun is contrary to
the doctrine of the Incarnation. So now against geology it was urged
that the scientific doctrine that the fossils represented animals which
died before Adam was contrary to the doctrine of Adam's fall, and that
death entered the world by sin. Then there is the attack by the literal
interpretation of texts, which serves a better purpose generally in
arousing prejudice. It is difficult to realize it now, but within the
memory of the majority of those before me, the battle was raging most
fiercely in England, and both these kinds of artillery were in full play
and filling the civilized world with their roar. Less than thirty years
ago, the Rev. J. Mellor Brown was hurling at all geologists alike, and
especially at such Christian divines as Dr. Burkland, Dean Conybeare,
and Pye Smith, and such religious scholars as Professor Sedgwick, the
epithets of 'Infidel,' 'Impugner of the Sacred Record,' and 'Assailant
of the Volume of God.' His favorite weapon was the charge that these
men were 'attacking the Truth of God,' forgetting that they were simply
opposing the mistaken interpretations of J. Mellor Brown. He declared
geology 'not a subject of lawful inquiry;' he speaks of it as 'a dark
art,' as 'dangerous and disreputable,' as a 'forbidden province.' This
attempt to scare men from science having failed, various other means
were taken.
"To say nothing about England, it is humiliating to human nature to
remember the trials to which the pettiest and narrowest of men subjected
such Christian scholars in our country as Benjamin Silliman and Edward
Hitchcock. But it is a duty and a pleasure to state here that one great
Christian scholar did honor to religion and to himself by standing
up for the claims of science despite all these clamors. That man was
Nicholas Wiseman, better known afterward as Cardinal Wiseman. The
conduct of this pillar of the Roman Catholic Church contrasts nobly with
that of timid Protestants who were filling England with shrieks and
denunciations. Perhaps the most singular attempt against geology was
that made by a fine specimen of the English Don, Dean Cockburn of York,
to _abuse_ its champions out of the field. Without apparently the
simplest elementary knowledge of geology, he opened a battery of abuse.
He gives it to the world at large by pulpit and press; he even inflicts
it upon leading statesmen by private letters. But these weapons did not
succeed. They were like Chinese gongs and dragon lanterns against rifled
cannon. Buckland, Pye Smith, Lyell, Silliman, Hitchcock, Murchison,
Agassiz, Dana, and a host of of noble champions besides, pressed on the
battle for truth was won. And was it won merely for men of science?
The whole civilized world declares that it was won for religion; that
thereby has infinitely increased the knowledge of the power and goodness
of God."
The lecturer classed the present opposition of the Catholics to the Free
School system in this country among the long list of battles between
science and theology and concluded his lecture as follows:
"But, my friends, I will not weary you with so recent a chapter in the
history of the great warfare extending through the centuries. There
are cheering omens. The greatest and best men in the churches--the men
standing at centers of thought--are insisting with power, more and more,
that religion shall no longer be tied to so injurious a policy--that
searchers for truth, whether in Theology or Natural Science, shall work
on as friends, sure that, no matter how much at variance they may at
times seem to be, the truths they reach shall finally be fused into each
other. No one need fear the result. No matter whether science shall
complete her demonstration that man has been on the earth six thousand
years or six hundred thousand. No matter whether she reveal new ideas of
the Creator or startling relations between his creatures--the result,
when fully thought out, will serve and strengthen religion not less than
science. The very finger of the Almighty has written on history that
science must be studied by means proper to itself, and in no other way.
That history is before us all. No one can gainsay it. It is decisive,
for it is this: There has never been a scientific theory framed for the
use of Scriptural texts, which has been made to stand. This fact alone
shows that our wonderful volume of sacred literature was not given for
any such purpose as that to which so many earnest men have endeavored
to wrest it. The power of that volume has been mighty indeed. It has
inspired the best deeds our world has known. Despite the crusts which
men have formed about it--despite the fetters which they have placed
upon it--Christianity has blessed age after age of the past, and will go
on as a blessing through age after age of the future. Let the Warfare
of Science, then, be changed. Let it be a warfare in which religion
and science shall stand together as allies, not against each other as
enemies. Let the fight be for truth of every kind against falsehood of
every kind--for justice against injustice--for right against wrong--for
beauty against deformity--for goodness against vice--and the great
warfare which has brought so many sufferings, shall bring to the earth
God's richest blessings."
* * * * *
HOW FRENCH BANK NOTES ARE MADE.
When a new batch of French notes is to be printed, an equivalent number
of the choicely prepared and preserved sheets of paper is handed over
to the superintendent of the printing office. This office is among the
inner buildings of the Bank of France, and is governed by very rigorous
rules in all things. The operatives are all picked men, skillful,
active, and silent. The sheets, the ink, and the matrixes of the plates
are kept securely under lock and key until actually wanted. The
printing is effected by steam-worked presses. The ink is blue, and its
composition known only to a few of the authorities. An inspector goes
his rounds during the continuance of the operations, watching every
press, every workman, every process. A beautiful machine, distinct from
the press, is employed to print the variable numbers on the note; fed
with sheets of paper, it will number a thousand of them in succession,
changing the digits each time, and scarcely requiring to be touched
meanwhile; even the removal of one note and the placing of another are
effected by automatic agency. At every successive stage the note is
examined. So complete is the registration of everything that a record is
always at hand of the number of sheets rejected ever since the Bank of
France was established, be its defects in the paper, the printing, or
the numbering. When the master-printer has delivered up his packets of
printed and numbered sheets, each note is stamped with the signature of
the Secretary-General and the Comptroller. This completes the _creation_
of notes. The notes so created are kept in a strong box, of which the
Secretary-General and the Comptroller have keys, and are retained until
the day of _issue_. The chief cashier tells the Governor that he wants a
new supply of a particular denomination of notes, the Governor tells the
council, the council tell the secretary-general and the comptroller, and
these two functionaries open their strong box, and hand over the notes
demanded. The notes at this time are not really money; they do not
become so until the chief cashier has put his signature to each, and
registered its number in a book.
The life of a French bank note is said to average two or three
years, and does not terminate until the condition is very shaky
indeed--crimpled, pierced with pinholes, corner creases torn, soft,
tarnished, decrepit while yet young. Some have been half-burned; one has
been found half-digested in the stomach of a goat, and one boiled in a
waistcoat-pocket by a laundress. No matter; the cashier at the bank will
do his best to decipher it; he will indeed take an infinity of trouble
to put together the ashes of a burned note, and will give the owner a
new note or the value in coin, if satisfied of the integrity of the
old one. The bank authorities preserve specimens of this kind as
curiosities, minute fragments gummed in their proper position on a sheet
of paper. Very few of the notes are actually and irrevocably lost.
During the last sixty-seven years 24,000 bank notes of 1,000 francs each
have been issued, and of this number 23,958 had been returned to the
bank by the month of January 1869, leaving only 42 unaccounted for.
Whether these 42 are still in existence, or have seen burned into
uncollected ashes, or are at the bottom of the sea, or elsewhere, is not
known. Of 500-franc notes, 24,935 have been returned out of 25,000. The
bank holds itself morally and financially responsible for the small
number of notes unreturned, ready to cash them if at any time presented.
The bank sends the old notes again and again into circulation, if
verified and usable; but they are examined first, and any that are found
too defective are canceled by stamping a hole in them. These canceled
notes pass from one official to another, and are grouped in classified
bundles; the book that records the birth of each note now receives a
notification of its civil death, and after three years incarceration in
a great oak chest, a grand conflagration takes place. A huge fire is
kindled in an open court; the defunct notes are thrown into a sort of
revolving wire-cage over the fire; the cage is kept rotating; and the
minute fragments of ash, whirled out of the cage through the meshes,
take their flight into infinite space--no one knows whither. The Bank of
France prints a certain number of notes per day, and destroys a smaller
number, so as to have always in reserve a sufficient supply of new notes
to meet any emergency; but the actual burning, the grand flare-up takes
place only about once a month, when perhaps 150,000 will be burned
at once. The French go down to lower denominations than the Rank of
England, having notes of 100 francs and 50 francs, equivalent to £4 and
£2. There must be a great deal of printing always going on in the Bank
of France, seeing that in 1868 they issued 2,711 000 notes, of an
aggregate value of 904,750,000 francs (averaging about £13 each), and
burned 1,927,192, value 768,854,900 francs.
It _sounds_ a very dreadful thing for 30,000,000 sterling in bank notes
to be willfully burned in one year. But there is always a phoenix to
rise from its ashes; the bank can regenerate as fast as it kills. The
Bank of France, in 1846, put in circulation a beautiful crimson printed
note for 5,000 francs; but the French people did not like notes of so
high a denomination, and all but a very few of this kind have been
returned and canceled. On one occasion, a superb individual, wishing to
pay a dowry in handsome style, obtained twelve notes of 5,000 francs
each for the purpose; but they were returned the very next day by the
banker, who much preferred smaller notes for his general purposes. The
notes now regularly kept in circulation in France are those of 1,000,
500, 100, and 50 francs.
* * * * *
WHAT THE NEWSPAPERS SAY.
A VALUABLE PAPER.--Of all the journals published in the United States,
for the mechanic and scientific man, there is nothing that will in any
way compare with the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, published by Munn & Co., of 37
Park Row, New York. Whether as a work of reference, a record of current
scientific development, or as an organ and exponent of our inventors, it
stands alone for the general ability of its conduct, the voluminousness
and variety of its contents, the exactitude and extent of its knowledge,
and the correctness of its information. The SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN is a
credit at once to the press and our country, and the small price of
a yearly subscription ($3), purchases, it is quite safe to say, the
largest amount of solid value to be procured for a like expenditure in
the world. With our more intelligent mechanics it has long been a great
favorite, while to the inventor it is absolutely indispensable. It has
had many imitators and competitors in its day, but they have nearly all
died the natural death of a feeble inferiority.--_Argus_ (Brooklyn, N.
Y.)
* * * * *
THE GREAT JOURNAL OF ARTS AND SCIENCE.--There is a place in the
periodical literature of America which is occupied by only one journal;
namely, the well-known SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN.
It is almost indispensable to a well-balanced intelligence, that a
certain proportion of its reading should be devoted to the industrial
arts and sciences, those natural manifestations of the high mental
development of the age. Every number of the journal has sixteen imperial
pages, embellished with engravings, as illustrations, which are gems of
art in themselves. It is most ably edited, and its usefulness is not
impaired by technical terms nor dry details.--_Milwaukee Sentinel._
* * * * *
THE SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN.--This paper is the oldest in its peculiar
province in the United States, and was, for many years, the only one.
More recently others have arisen, and are following in its footsteps;
but the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN still maintains its position as the best
American journal of the inventive arts. Its Patent Office department
alone is invaluable to inventors, while its editorial articles,
illustrations, etc., give not only information, but a constant stimulus
to the productive faculty.--_Mobile Register_.
* * * * *
Among the papers which we could not very well do without is the
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, issued from the well-known office of Munn & Co., 37
Park Row, New York. Carefully edited, nicely printed, well illustrated,
it is not only a complete record of the progress of useful inventions,
but a trustworthy guide to many of the scientific topics that enlist
attention at the present day. No one can be a reader of this most
valuable journal, without being kept well informed as to current matters
of scientific discovery.--_Congregationalist_ (Boston).
* * * * *
THE SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN.--In another column we publish the prospectus of
this great paper, and would direct our readers to it. It should be on
the work bench of every mechanic, and particularly the young men of our
country, upon whose intelligence and mechanical skill depends the
future dignity of labor and prosperity of American arts and
sciences.--_Monitor_ (Huntington, Pa.)
* * * * *
We could fill our pages with similar notices, but will close with the
following from our cotemporary _De Hope_, published at Holland, Mich.,
which we doubt not will be read with interest:
Wij plaatsen in dit Nummer het prospectus van den SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN.
Het is een zeer schoon blad, dat vooral behoort gelezen te worden door
Handwerkslieden. Nieuwe uitvindingen, verbeteringen op het terrein van
werktuigkunde, enz, worden daar steeds in vermeld en beschreven. De
prijs is zeer matig voor zulk cen blad; drie dollars per jaar. Dat
belangstellenden de advertentie lezen.
* * * * *
CHINESE METHODS OF PRESERVING EGGS.
As much has been said of late about the mode of preserving eggs, it may
not be uninteresting to say a few words about the Chinese methods, as
related by a French chemist, M. Paul Champion, who has lately visited
that country, and published a very interesting book on the ancient and
modern industries of that curious people. A very common method is to
place the eggs in a mixture of clay and water; the clay hardens around
the eggs, and is said to preserve them good for a considerable time. But
another and much more elaborate method is also commonly practiced. An
infusion of three pounds of tea is made in boiling water, and to this
are added three pounds of quicklime (or seven pounds when the operation
is performed in winter), nine pounds of sea-salt, and seven pounds of
ashes of burnt oak finely powdered. This is all well mixed together
into a smooth paste by means of a wooden spatula, and then each egg is
covered with it by hand, gloves being worn to prevent the corrosive
action of the lime on the hands. When the eggs are all covered with the
mixture, they are rolled in a mass of straw ashes, and then placed in
baskets with balls of rice--boiled, we presume--to keep the eggs from
touching each other. About 100 to 150 eggs are placed in one basket. In
about three months the whole becomes hardened into a crust, and then the
eggs are sent to market; the retail price of such eggs is generally less
than a penny each. These eggs are highly esteemed in China, and always
served in good houses; but they have undergone a strange transformation,
which certainly would not recommend them to English palates; the yolk
has assumed a decidedly green tinge, and the white is set. When broken,
they emit that unpleasant sulphurous smell which would certainly cause
their instant banishment from our breakfast-tables. However, the Chinese
are admitted, even by Frenchmen, to be great _gourmets_; and we can
only say, therefore, that in questions of eating there is certainly no
disputing about tastes.
* * * * *
STEAM BOILER INSPECTION.
Mr. Alfred Guthrie, U.S. Inspector, informs us that the following
resolution was recently adopted by the Board of Supervising Inspectors:
Resolved, That a special committee be appointed, to whom shall be
referred the subject-matter of steam boiler explosions, who shall be
requested to take up the subject in all its varied complications, and
present the result of their inquiries, with their opinions of the real
causes of such explosions, accompanied by such information as may be
of practical benefit and general interest, to be reported at the next
annual meeting of the board for its consideration.
Mr. Guthrie, whose address will be at Washington, D.C. until January 10,
desires to receive suggestions from practical engineers upon the subject
of boiler explosions.
* * * * *
EDITORIAL SUMMARY.
Darkness of complexion has been attributed to the sun's power from
the age of Solomon to this day. "Look not upon me because I am black,
because the sun hath looked upon me." And there cannot be a doubt that,
to a certain degree, the opinion is well founded--the invisible rays in
the solar beams, which change vegetable color, and have been employed
with such remarkable effect on the daguerreotype, act upon every
substance on which they fall, producing mysterious and wonderful changes
in their molecular state, man not excepted.
* * * * *
The three companies under whose protection Chinese are brought into
California, keep an accurate account of the condition and employment
of the persons they import. From these books it appears that 138,000
Chinese have been brought into California. Of these, 10,426 have died,
57,323 have returned to China, and about 91,000 still remain on the
Pacific coast. But only 41,000 live in California. Of these 41,000,
9,300 are women, children, old and decrepit, or criminals confined in
the jails. The California authorities have at length decided to admit
Chinese testimony in the courts.
* * * * *
One of our subscribers residing in Maine has read our article "How to
Spend the Winter Evenings," and writes to us that up in his section they
have no trouble on that score. As soon as the day's work is over the
inhabitants commence the job of trying to get their rooms warm, and as
soon as a comfortable temperature is reached it is time to go to bed.
* * * * *