THE CHURCH AND SCIENCE

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 20, 14 May 1903, Page 5

THE CHURCH AND SCIENCE

Under the above heading a writer contributes an interesting article to the Sydney ' Freeman's Journal.' Many years ago, he writes, Humboldt, the great scientist, declared that a huge library might be filled with the grammars, vocabularies, and dictionaries of savage people, collected by the Catholic missionaries, of whom the Jesuits were not the least. In commenting on this Father Dahlmann, S.J., the well-known Indian scholar, claims that the beginning of inquiry Into the philology of the Chinese, Indian, and American tongues may be traced to this unwearying Order. As Ulfilas, Ottfried, and Notker, from their German monasteries, at the dawn of the Middle Ages, impelled the spread of e\angencal and classical literature among the ignorant and half-civilised people of northern Europe, so in late years Catholic missionaries, pioneers of civilisation and science, rob their secrets from the almost impenetrable depths of forests and fastnesses and collect the dialects of the wildest of savage people. In the modest pages of some learned society's proceedings, possibly in Latin, their labors are tabulated, and their names recorded with no hall-mark but the modest initials of their religious Order, and it is to the savant in Europe who collates and compares their work, and combines it in some brilliant deduction, that the meed of the world's praise is given. At this moment Father Goetz, S.J., is in Paris procuring the necessary instruments, astronomical, magnetic, and meteorological, to found

An Observatory at Bulawayo, the capital of Rhodesia. Some four years ago Father Goetz met Cecil Rhodes, who was so much impressed by him that he encouraged him to found this observatory, and no doubt had he lived the South African Dictator would have worthily equipped the institution. But the war, and the death of Mr. Rhodes, arrested its progress, and Father Goetz had to arrange matters otherwise. He went to Georgetown University in the United States, which is also a Jesuit institution, with an observatory of international repute— and from this body , with the aid of the great observatories of Harvard, Lick, and Yerkes, ho secured sufficient assistance to proceed to Paris to select his instruments.

Georgetown University' mentioned above, has secured considerable respect from the learned owing to the enormous influence of its late president. Father Richard, find the remarkable ability of its astronomer, Father Hagen. Here the world-famous astronomer, Father

SSI' £%££ X*e he fo hh r eaV |S ly y e^ nC hheh e c *£ nothing else but the defence of the f Church-and he never o7 n reli^on hI Zt in i h TT Cc to ,. shak « his belief m Church became g h£ 'f^t£ - d £ eper hls inc iuiries Went the firmer became his faith in the greatness of God and the truth of the Catholic Church.' Wn he died Ta few years after health h an w«° CUpatlOn X ° f ? Ome ' which broke diwn his C h i e eUes'in e the a wori3 ember °' *" the leadin * scientific - mt^oinpa H f a ?^ hh + aS already Published ten charts and 22 * ] ?& ie * °j the « tar ? as far south as the 23rd degree, ? i? e fl Other gre f *• observatories In the United States are chiefly engaged m checking the correctness of his rosults. The new institution at Bulawayo, which is between4ooo and 5000 feet above the sea Wl in a perfect climate, will be exceptionally situated for continuing this charting work to the South Pole, besides opening up a new region for meteorological observations. Among tne most ~ Important Scientific Institutions in Asia is the Dominican University of St. Thomas, in Manila. It was founded m 1619 and became a State establishment \jn 1680. Lectures are given in philosophy, theology, canon and civil law, physics, chemistry, medicine. Belles Lettres, and kindred subjects. The stludent list averages from 1200 to 1500 names. Since the war the Americans have recognised the University as a State institution. Another great Asiatic University was established as recently as 1874 by the Jesuits at Beyrout on the Levant. It already contains 700 students in the various faculties, and its Oriental library is already the most important in Asia. A valuable t readme in manuscripts and liturgical and Church history has been collected by the Order throughout Western and Southern Asia, and deposited here. From the printing office of this University is issued an Arabuc edition of the Bitile which is described as a unique work of art, and many periodicals and newspapers are also published from this press. The Jesuit missionaries seem to give considerable attention to astronomical and kindred sciences. Their famous observatory at Manila, one of the iirst in the world for completeness of equipment in its special departments, was recently described in the ' Freeman's Journal.' The Jesuits also control observatories at Shanghai, Calcutta, Antananarivo (Madagascar), Zambesi (East Africa), and Belen (Cuba) the last-named being famous for its inquiries- on the subject of cyclones Father Chevalher, S.J., of Shanghai recently won the crown of the French Academy for his magnificent charts of the Yang-tse-Kiang district : Father Roblet, of East Africa, won a similar honor for a work on the topography of Madagascar , and another Father of the same mission was also crowned for his studies of Madagascar plant life, and on its invertebrate animals Ihe best charts of the Philippines have been drawn by the Jesuits and printed by the United States Governmt nt The Jesuit missionaries at Shanghai also bu.sy themselves with studies of the numerous Chinese dialects, and periodically publish results They aim at creating a Chinese Christian literature, and publish from thenown press a high-class newspaper in Chinese chamctcrs They ha-^ c a valuable Chinese library of o\er 20 noil volumes, and in the technical branch of their institution they teach Chinese students the principles of agncultuio, building, painting, and other arts As recently as Februaiy last the death of Father Zottoh, S J , of this mission^ was recorded, and concerning whom the London Tunes ' said ' Though Pore Zotioh was coniparatn ely unknown to the outer world by reason of the modest and extremely retired life he passed, yet it is doubtful if any other European has ever attained to his immense and exact knowledge of Chinese literature . . ITo was closely engaged at the tune of his death upon a uimorsal dictionary of the Chinese language, in ten or twelve volumes, before the printing of which e\en the special resources of the Jesuit establishment may well sluink. but which it is hoped in the interests of science wili ultimately be accomplished ' Such an encomium in a Catholic paper would be treated as hyperbole, but the ' Times ' is not given to the extravagant eulogy of a Jesuit, even if dead. Not only the Jesuits but other Catholic Missionaries have lighted the lamp of science in dark foreign lands The Parisian Seminary of Foreign Museums has, for example, established a printing press in Hongkong, which has obtained considerable fame in Eastern Asia It has already published over 350 uorks Mich as theological, philosophical, and ordinary school books, in Chinese' Malay, Corean, Annamite, Japanese, and other languages of these regions. Ihe Lazarists, another French Order, who distinguished themsel\rs in East Asia, have l.iU'lv lost by death one of their most \enturous companions, Father Armand David M Grandidicr, President of the Parisian Geographical Society, said of hun : 'ri he iosults of his discoveries have quite exceeded the expectations which may be looked for from the labors of one man He published in 1877 a beautiful work on the birds of China, with an atlas of 180 colored plates in which B<>O species are fully described Il'is book on Chineso plants is the standard authority with the loading students of this subject. Two other workers in this region, Fathers Hende and Rathonis, have combined to publish a work on the Natural History of the Chinese Empire, in which the shells and animals of Indo-China are specially treated. It would take up more space than we have at our disposal to detail

The Triumphs of our Missionaries in Various Lands. W^nd^^-n ll^ 68 * AfriCa ' Cam bone ** Mada«aßcar, SsSfhS?fn Peru l and Renard in West Africa have tory Flthtr« v»,™° rkS T ent ° m °logy and natural hisSchafferer in wLf Tf ?n? n J u apan ' Bu *aye in Congo, and the botfnv nf fnci > hay e T given their attention to centlv riftS , these regions. Father Koiberg, who rethP Pndini £ Ecuador, received flattering notices from what unf o g rt,m U /t° P Th n + lear "? d Periodicals-but it is somebut litffi £l?£ f a A. ordl , nar y English journals take MullPr mv« 81 il} those laborers . who form, as Max Muiier says, the pioneers of science ' It hits, frftmiAntlv apa n rt re whn ked %* ,W Sh *>"££ ists , *!<££ T^clS terchanJe or ?hn£h* Con H tine , nt the ™ is * continuous inIT\ EfJ ? g nil f , thou £ht .and information which makes them ed lanlM^ki 8 * forei £" er must be specially distinguishattraS Fni&Jf a * + so s ier or a politician, in orde? to attract English attention, and, moreover, if he be a S2 £ rrest,i est, a special reason is supplied for discounting his eminence in scientific work. thA rJKfu 8 . ?T rt - arti .^e we have not noted the work of scarce^ hi M Vi n!n !7 ersit -V of Washington, since that can tnto« L* called a missionary enterprise, nor have we m ™V account the labors of the Marist Fathers in tS^iSt*^? an ? t A e Tsla I nds ' for the y are well knowS LprSv tSIt Sl In Aust u ralia the Orders are not yet nuS* ti V ° n £- enou * h to undertake much work besides the preaching and teaching to which they are SSS? I^ - alled ' bUt , We have sSe distinguished gS TL'h ?£ mudsr nudst T th , c late Fath er Julian Tennison ™> Wv ay Ji reSe £} Father John Milne Curran in geology, and Father Slattery, CM., the physicist of St. Stanislaus' College. Bathurst, amongst them-and we may confidently look forward to the publication of their studies on the problems of science in this country.