Western science

“ The ultimate causes of this phenomenon lie so far beneath the surface that they could be satisfactorily discussed only in a technical essay on the evolution of society. It will be enough for us here to observe that the great geographical discoveries of the sixteenth century and the somewhat later achievements of physical science have, during the past two hundred years, aided powerfully in determining the entrance of the Western world upon an industrial epoch,—an epoch which has for its final object the complete subjection of the powers of nature to purposes of individual comfort and happiness. ”

“ So much for the conceptions of modern western science, which agree in the main with those of the ancient oriental occultists, although of course different names and terms are employed. But, we think it worth while to call your attention to the fact that the western scientists have failed to note the significant presence of a peculiar organ in the human body, which is regarded as most important in its functions and offices by the oriental teachers, and which we believe has a very close connection to the subject just discussed by the western scientists. ”

“ In our universities and centers of learning he will find the exponents of the science still discussing whether it can ever have any laws, and even whether it should be founded on fact or romance. Let him take down any volume of history from its shelf, and endeavor to find any scientific clue therein to the natural laws underlying and controlling the majestic process of life which has unfolded itself in our western civilization, or to the natural laws that have directed the development of other social systems contemporaneous with it, or anterior to it. ”

“ We are beginning to discover that science has marked limitations; there are ranges of reality of which our laboratories can make no possible report which we are beginning to take into account. But in a large way the matured Western outlook upon life has been conditioned by the scientific interpretation of the universe. ”

“ A civilisation which is dominated by this matter-of-fact insight must prevail against any cultural scheme that lacks this element. This characteristic of western civilisation comes to a head in modern science, and it finds its highest material expression in the technology of the machine industry. ”

“ For everything that our present-day psychologist has to tell us—and here we refer not only to the systematic science but also in the wider sense to the physiognomic knowledge of men—relates to the present condition of the Western soul, and not, as hitherto gratuitously assumed, to “the human soul” at large. ”

“ The province of this new science is to correlate the discoveries of a wide range of collateral sciences—paleontology, biology, medicine, and so on—from the point of view of human history and human welfare. To this end all observable races of men are studied as to their physical characteristics, their mental and moral traits, their manners, customs, languages, and religions. A mass of data is already at hand, and in process of sorting and correlating. ”

“ Certainly, we were then far more advanced than the West. But the reason was that, in those days, we in the East had a superior knowledge of Science and its laws. We had then the knowledge of cultivation and weaving. That scientific knowledge went far further than mere skill in hunting which the West then possessed. It requires more science to conduct a stable government than to hunt wild beasts. ”

“ Nor is it to be forgotten that we have awakened an European interest in our researches: general science has been illustrated by treasures of facts drawn from this country, and our discoveries are eagerly sought for and published abroad.
While with our co-workers in many parts of our broad land, we rejoice in this auspicious change, we are far from arrogating it to ourselves. Multiplied labors of many hands have produced the great results. ”

“ Natural science, in all its speculations and extensions and increase of scientific truth, extension of scientific methods—all that, no doubt, constitute the central activities, the intellectual activities, of England and Europe during the last forty years of his life—to all that he was not entirely opened. ”

“ From these sources our country reaps and will long continue to reap, an abundant harvest of information: and if the light of science, as well as of day, springs from the East, we will welcome the rays of both; nor should national pride induce us to reject so rich an offering. ”

“ The chemistry, geology, and physiology, which form the bulk of our positive knowledge, are products of the steam age; and, instead of being dry and remote from the business and associations of practical life, they come home to us every day, guarding our health, assisting our industry, and influencing our opinions. Ancient Egypt, Assyria, and Hindostan, and the prehistoric man in Europe, have been made known to us by late research, and even our histories of Greece and Rome have required rewriting, to adapt them to the advance of our knowledge and philosophy. ”

“ Is there to be seen that knowledge of human nature, and especially that peculiar kind of science, most necessary in these affairs—an acquaintance with the character of foreign countries and of the chief actors in the scene? ”

“ Much of the work of the early scientific explorers in the West reads like a veritable romance; and this governmental work has added enormously to our knowledge in all branches of science, from the natural history of mammals and birds, to the geological formation of mountains, and the contour of the coasts. ”

“ In the first half of the nineteenth century natural history societies were formed in most cities and centers of learning. These were very important factors in the promotion of scientific research as well as in the diffusion of popular knowledge of living things. The aims and activities of twenty-nine such scientific societies, many of which were devoted especially to natural history, are described in one of the early volumes of the Journal (10, 369, 1826) . ”

“ If we desire an illustration of the condition of civilization based upon empirical art, upon facts accidentally discovered, or invention without science, we have merely to turn to China and Japan. These countries have long since utilized all the facts and empirical processes the result of accident or simple invention, and have, consequently, remained stationary for thousands of years, and must remain so continually, unless they borrow a knowledge of science from abroad. ”

“ There is no doubt that the Germans, the French, and the Americans are far more alive to the importance of science, and are far more ready to discuss inventions, discoveries, and scientific topics than we are ourselves. ”

“ Those modern writers, who are disposed to disparage the former intellectual advancement and civilization of Eastern nations, may concede some foundation of observed facts for the curious theories now under consideration, without indulging in exaggerated opinions of the progress of science ”

“ Notwithstanding this, the scientific scholars of America, both the home-born and the adopted sons, have manfully paid for their culture, and done honor to the land. This is true of men in all departments of science,—from that which searches the deeps of the sky to that which explores the shallows of the sea. ”

“ Any mere enumeration of the vast fund of knowledge accumulated by the efforts of man through observation and experiment in the period in which we are interested would be a dry summary, and yet would give some measure of what this marvelous period has accomplished. As 20in geography, man’s energy has in recent years removed the reproach of a “Dark Continent,” of “unexplored” central Asia and the once “inaccessible polar regions,” so in the different departments of science, he has opened up many unknown fields and accumulated vast stores of knowledge. ”

“ It is only during the last369 one or two hundred years that science has achieved her greatest triumphs in Europe, and it is with the aid of those triumphs of science and partly as a direct result of them that European civilisation has progressed during that time. Yet even with us popular opinion has not always been on the side of advancing science. ”

“ It is perhaps impossible at the present day, when the investigation of nature is so much facilitated by the accumulated knowledge of ages in every department of physical science, by the commercial relations existing between countries in all parts of the globe, by a tried method of observation, experiment, and induction, and finally, by the possession of the most ingenious instruments, to form any adequate idea of the numerous difficulties under which the ancient naturalist laboured. ”

“ We shall see, in the next chapter, that when the intellect of Europe began really to apply itself to the observation of nature, the progress towards genuine science soon began to be visible, in this as in other subjects; but before this tendency could operate freely, the history of botany was destined to show, in another instance, how much more grateful to man, even when roused to intelligence and activity, is the study of tradition than the study of nature. ”

“ You have now gone over the greater struggles in the long war between Ecclesiasticism and Science, and have glanced at the lesser fields. You have seen the conflicts in Physical Geography, as to the form of the earth; in Astronomy, as to the place of the earth in the universe, and the evolution of stellar systems in accordance with law; in Chemistry and Physics; in Anatomy and Medicine; in Geology; in Meteorology; in Cartography; in the Industrial and Agricultural Sciences; in Political Economy and Social Science ”

“ And who that knows anything of the world can be silly enough to suppose for a moment that any empirical scheme can ever overthrow, or in the least harm, the established system of scientific medicine? It is founded upon reason and well-established truths, and is essentially the same everywhere, in all countries. Differences as to climate, modes of living, social and domestic habits, may to some extent vary medical treatment; but the essential principles of the science are acknowledged to be everywhere the same, among all Christian nations. ”

“ To attempt a complete account of how this radical change in the attitude of the world to science has come about would be to attempt to write the history of European civilisation in the last half-century. ”

“ Visiting Europe, he made the acquaintance of many of the foremost scientific investigators, became a student in university lecture rooms and laboratories, an interested hearer in scientific conventions, and a correspondent of leading men of science at home and abroad. As a result, he came to the conclusion that the hypothesis of evolution is the only one which explains various leading facts in natural science. ”

“ I answer fearlessly,—The prodigious development of physical science within the last two centuries.
Modern civilization rests upon physical science; take away her gifts to our own country, and our position among the leading nations of the world is gone to-morrow; for it is physical science only, that makes intelligence and moral energy stronger than brute force. ”

“ More and more it is becoming evident that what the West can most readily give to the East is its science and its scientific outlook. This is transferable from country to country, and from race to race, wherever there is a rational society. ”

“ Foreign naturalists are frequently visiting our territory; and, for the most part, convey to Europe the fruits of their researches, while but a small part of our own is examined and described by Americans: certainly this is little to our credit and still less to our advantage. ”

“ He studies nature, becomes an observer and investigator, and finally, thanks to the steadily increasing profundity of his observation, in combination with his genial intuition, an epoch-making discoverer in two great domains of natural science. ”

“ Seven yearly grades were arranged in this scheme, proceeding from the simplest account of the phenomena of nature taught chiefly by object lessons, largely through the elements of Physics and Botany, Chemistry and Human Physiology—all illustrated with practical demonstrations—to more advanced work in these subjects, as well as in Social Science, which embraced not only the theory of commerce and government, but the Natural History of Man up to the point at which Ethnology and Archeology touch history. ”

“ This gentleman, whose industry and zeal in scientific research are literally boundless, and are matched with much penetration, designs visiting the North of Europe to make comparisons between the land of the Lapps and Finns and the sub-Arctic regions of America; and I make no doubt that American science will obtain honor in his person. ”

“ These considerations, we are reminded by the partisans of humanity studies, point back to the educative value of history as corrective of the one-sidedness of the method of science. Science seeks explanation in the mechanical conditions of, and impulses received from, the environment, while history keeps its gaze fixed on human purposes, and studies the genesis of national actions through the previous stages of feelings, convictions, and conscious ideas. ”

“ What does the history of science show? The cumulative character of scientific discovery, the unity of its method or inquiry the common problems that are set for it by previous investigators, and the intimate relations between science, industry, and war seem to make extremely unplausible the hypothesis that scientific development owes most of its achievements to the activities of its leading figures. ”

“ You may again, some of you, chance to hear some smatterer sneering at petty states ignorant of the great discoveries of natural science. Tell him that the highest use of the discoveries of natural science has been to raise large states to the political level of small ones. ”

“ The end and design of the institution are stated to be—“to promote and encourage the knowledge of the antiquities of America, and of the natural history of the country, and to determine the uses to which its various natural productions may be applied: also, to promote and encourage medical discoveries, mathematical disquisitions, philosophical enquiries and experiments; astronomical, meteorological and geographical observations, improvements in 298agriculture, arts, manufactures, commerce, and the cultivation of every science that may tend to advance a free, independent and virtuous people.” ”