THE FASCINATION OF SCIENCE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 238, 13 November 1909, Page 6

THE FASCINATION OF SCIENCE.

, THE COINCIDENCES OF SCIENCE. Commenting on the coincidence of the simultaneous discovery of the Pole by I'eary mid Cook, the 'London Telegraph says' that "coincidences of this sort, although somewhat ran', are by no moans unexampled. The great historic instance M associated with the promulgation of the theory of Evolution. Charles Darwin had been working for years at the Development of Species and those oth"r gieat generalisations which go under ibe names of Struggle for Existence and Survival of the Fittest. Alfred Russcl Wallace, after a briefer period of study, had formulated an identical theory, based on his experience in the West Indies and elsewhere. And then both men publish their.hypotheses, arrived at in entire independence of one another, at nearly the same moment! The grcijt discovery that our celestial system is not geocentric, but heliocentric -- that the sun does not travel round the earth, but the earth round the sun—is associated with the names of Copernicus'and | Galileo. The liniling of America is not clue to (Jhristnpl'cr Columbus alone, but to a series of hardy sailors who battled ceaselessly with Atlantic waves."

SCIENCE AND THE .MAN IN THE STKEET. "There are evident signs at flic present time that physical science is progressing too fast for the uneducated or semi-educated public in follow; and tno result is a sort of revolt, and a tendency —manifested in organs of popular opinion—to stigmatise all the latest results as mere speculation," writes Sir Oliver Lodge to the Times. "The fact is that a few persons who ought to know better have from time to time expressed the view that the conclusions of modern physicists are too highly speculative, if not altogether groundless; and the public, not in the least understanding those conclusions, has been ready to hope that this may be true.

"But in reality the theories arc not speculation at ail; they are deductions from definite data. There is nothing in. fallible about them, of course, any more than about any other human statement; but they can only be shown to be erroneous by disproving the data or detecting a flaw in the reasoning.

DOES IT MATTER? "It appears to take a generation or two for conclusions of any magnitude to sink in and become acceptable, and then they are accepted not so much by comprehension as by habit.

"Well, the question arises, Does it matter»" continues Sir Oliver. "Does it signify whether the man in the street is tarried with us in our advance into the unknown, or whether he lags hopelessly iiehiml and jeers V lam inclined to think that it does matter, and that it is a real dray upon progress for the responsible and ex cathedra utterances of leaders, based upon strenuous personal \.-ork of the severest kind, to be receive,! as if they were casual and cheap specula oion."

A FARM FOR SCHOOLBOYS. '•One of the tangible results of the meeting of the British Association in Canada bis been the purchase by D r . I.'ray, the Warden of Uradfield College, Berks. „f a ,-anch of 2000 acres near Calgary." says the Times. "A competent Canadian has been appointed superintendent, and it is Dr. dray's intention to all'Ord an opportunity to Hracllield bovs, on completion of their school course,'to acquire practical knowledge of the fanning and ranching conditions of Albci,.-;. Dr. (liny nas warmly congratulated re(ently by I'reniicr Rutherford on securing this line property."