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About Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1879)
& THE Wf Isf J SrXXj&Jf Vol. VIII. JUNE. 1879. No. 0. Qitcrurtj. UTTLTTY AN J) PJIOGJIISSS. Coiiiiiiuiiccniuiit Ortition dullveruil by O. !'. Mor ion. .J iiir- lltli, lSTH.I Jjf HE world is never quiut. The mail ed nur in which men think and act va rics with each successive age. This lact, it behooves us to consider. Without its due recognition, the phenomena of .so cial life are ever in danger of being misunderstood. Progress lies in the continual readjust ment of social forces. The now is ever appearing to modify or supplant the old. Progress, again, s independent of human control. If its movements seem blind and indeterminate, lime only will correct that tendency which assumes an evil as pect. The present age is one of confusion. It is witnessing the rapid spread of forces that have thus far been rudimentary. Their incongruity with those which have hitherto predominated, has produced a conflict between the discordant elements. Nowhere is this fact more apparent than in our own country. The seething cal dron of Niagara is but a fit symbol to iop rcbeut the restless movements of Ameri.. can society. p In thu discoveries of science, wc find the chief reason for the peculiar nature of the age. So long as science was en. cumbered with metaphysical sophistry, its power over the world was limited. Hut when it bectme cininenth experi mental, it began to revolutionize all for mer modes of thought and types of in dustry. Two simple inventions, the tele scope and the microscope, have, by re vealiug innumerable wonders, made a general wreck of all theories that stood in their way. But great as their influence has proved to be, it is overshadowed by thai of the countless inventions which meet the more practical needs of men. In this form, science is potent and subtle, and it is fell in every department of our social life. When once a new field is open to the free play of the intellect, the activity of thought knows no bounds. Through thu very pleasure of exercise, it soems re solved to leave nothing untouched in the course of its speculations. In this fact, lies the secret of the social turmoil. If the inquiries of modern science have rev olutionizcd both industry and thought, they have not yet acquired the stability of age. The old impulses, through their inertia, must ever retain a large share of their influence. Amid the confusion, speculation and I doubl are rife. One class of men speak I
