reason . VOL. 3. earth. M en’s m inds, indeed, rose to a conception of th. c< lestial and Strike for Liberty. universal atm osphere through the study of the terrestrial and local BY JOHN PRESCOTT G U ILD . one. From the phenom ena of A IL ! ye who strik e for lib e rty ! sound, as displayed in the air, A cheer for each an d all Who1 risk th e ir lives or shed th e ir they ascended to the phenom ena of blood light, as displayed in the ether; To break th e ty r a n t’s th ra ll. which is the name given to the in- Why should you live and suffer on, The su p p o rt of a k nave? te rstellar m edium . For the T orch of Reaeon. H Far b e tte r rise and w ar w ith w rong, To die, th a n be a slave! NO. 9. SILVERTON, OREGON, THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 1899. The notion of th is m edium must not be considered as a vague or fanciful conception on the part of scientific men. Of its reality most But who shall strik e for lib e rty ? »hall those of lordly blood, Alone, l>e fit to th u s redeem T hem selves from m a s te r’s rod? W ho gave them blood th a t th ey m ig h t f (h a8 c o n v jn c e d „ „ t h e y boast j They should have b e tte r w eal? are of tho existence of the sun and The Uselessness of Religion. From it, as a center, waves would issue in all directions, and a wader BY JEAN MESI. I ER. as he approached the place of die-j turbanee would be met by stronger ; and stronger waves. T his gradual H E world is a necessary augm entation of the im pression agent; all the beings which m ade upon the wader is exactly compose it are united to analagous to the augm entation of each other, and cannot do o th er light when we approach a lum in- wise th an they do, so long as they ous source. In the one case, how- are moved by the same causes and ever, the coarse common nerves of possessed of the same qualities. If the body suffice; for the other we they lose these qualities, they will m ust have the finer optic nerve. act necessarily in a different way. But suppose the water w ithdraw n; God him self (ad m ittin g his exist- the action a t a distance would then ence a moment) can not be regard- cease, and, as far as the sense of e(j ftg a free a gen(. jf there existed touch is concerned, the wader a god, his m anner of acting would would first be rendered conscious necessarily be determ ined by the of the m otion of the wheel by the qualities inherent in his n atu re ; blow of the paddles. The transfer nothing would he able to alter or to ence of motion from the paddles to oppose his wishes. T his consider the water is m echanically sim ilar ed, neither our actions nor our to the transference of m olecular prayers nor our sacrifices could motion from the heated body to the suspend or change his invariable eth er; and the propagation o f 1 progress and his im m utable designs, waves through the liquid is me from which we are compelled to chanically sim ilar to the propaga conclude th a t all religion would be tion of light and rad ian t heat. entirely useless. As far as our knowledge of space If theologians were not co n stan t extends, we are to conceive it as ly contradicting each other, ihey the holder of the lum inous ether, would know from th eir own h y p o th through which are interspersed, at eses, that m an can not be called enorm ous distances ap art, the pon free for an instant. Is not m an derous nuclei of the stars. Associ suppose«! to he in a continual d e ated with th e star th at most con pendence upon God? Is one free, cerns us we have a group of dark wlieu one could not have existed or p lanetary masses revolving at v a r can not live w ithout God, and ious distances around it, each when one ceases to exist at the again rotating on its own axis; and pleasure of his suprem e will? If finally, associated with some of God created man of nothing, if the these planets we have dark bodies preservation of man is continual of m inor note— the moons. W h eth creation, if God can not lose sight er the other fixed stars have sim i of his creature for an in stan t, if all lar planetary com panions or not is th a t happens to him is a result of to us a m atter of pure conjecture, tfie divine will, if man is nothing which m ay or may not enter into of himself, if all the events which our conception of the universe. But he experiences are the effects of di- p roBably every thoughtful person vine decrees, if he can not do any Believes, with regard to those dis- good w ithout help from above, how suns, th at there is, in space, Can it be pretended th a t m an en- som ething besides our system on joys liberty d u rin g one m om ent of T ™ Tl» 'un.inifero.te ether has . , „ definite m echanical properties. It W ho shall be struck for lib e rty ? 1 is alm ost infinitely more aten u a te d Some second-rated crew ? Shall first in stre n g th presum e to break, than any known gas, hut its prop T h at thev m ay take anew ? 0 boasting o n e s ! W h at is th e ir dow er, erties are those o f a solid ra th e r T h at they th e e a rth should rule? th an those of a gas. It resembles If t h a t ’s th e ir trad e, th e n curse th e hour jelly ra th e r than air. T his was They ever w ent to sc h o o l! not the first conception of the e th Oh, strik e, each one, for lib e rty ! er, hut it is th a t forced upon us by No m a tte r who ye be; Ob, strik e at those who m ake you slaves, a more com plete knowledge of its No m a tte r th e ir d e g re e : The sighing sain ts, th e kneeling knaves, phenom ena. A body thus consti A like, s o m e d ay, shall see T h a t th ere is dug for th em deep graves, tuted m ay have its boundaries; hut By sons of lib e r ty ! although the ether m ay not be co extensive with space, it m ust at »til events extend as far as the most The Constitution of Nature. d istan t visible stars. In fact, it is the vehicle of their light, and w ith BY JOHN TY N D A LL. out it they could not be seen. This all-pervading substance takes up E can not th in k of space their m olecular trem ors,and coveys as finite, for w herever them with inconceivable rap id ity to in im agination we erect our organs of vision. It is the a boundary, we are compelled to tran sp o rted shiver of bodies co u n t think of space as existing beyond less m illions of miles distant,w hich it. T hus by the incessant dissolu tran slates itself in hum an Con tion of lim its we arrive at a more sciousness into the splendor of the or less adequate idea of the infinity firm am ent at night. of space. But though compelled to If th e ether have a boundary, think of space as unbounded, there masses of ponderable m atter m ight is no mental necessity com pelling conceived to exist beyond it, but us to th in k of it either as filled or they could emit no light. Beyond em pty; w hether it is so or not the ether dark suns m ight burn, must be decided bv experim ent and there, under proper conditions, observation. T h at it is not entirely com hustion m ight be carried on; void the starry heavens declare; fuel m ight consum e unseen, and hut the question still rem ains, are m etals be fused in invisible fires. which they shine. From this general view of the the stars them selves hung in vacuo? A body, moreover, once heated Are the vast regions which su r there would continue forever heat present condition of space, we pass round them , and across which their ed; a sun or planet once molten to the inquiry w hether things w e re Was light is propagated, absolutely would continue forever molten. so created at the beginning. em pty? A century ago, the answer For, the loss of heat being sim ply space furnished a t once, by the fiat to .hi» question, founded on the the abstraclion of m okcuiar motion of O m nipotence, with these burning In presence of the revela- Newtoman theory, would have by (he ethe(. where t)lis mediun) ¡, orbs? b e en , No, for particles of ligiit are abaenj no coo|j ng could occur. A tions of science this view is fading continually shot th rough space.” 8en, ien, bejngi „ „ a p |,r(Mching 8 m ore a n J n)Ore Be|ljnd the or()8 rhe reply of m odern sc.ence also region> wollld neg».,ve, but on dtfferent grounds. j f no en(ation It has the heat possible reason for gradations of wh,ch haVe *Wen con'1eni"id - rejecting the idea of lum iniferous w arinth depeI)deDt on th e law8 of And w ithout going so far back as particles; hut in support of the con- ra d ia |jo n would n(>, exift) a n ,l a c t- , 'h e nebulae, the m an of sciencecan W < t'l-inti that the celestial spaces are (» „ ta c t would first reveal the d with m atter, it is a b le to oth r ^eat of an extra ethereal sun. proofs almost as cogent as those which can be adduced of the exist- Im agine a paddle wheel placed ence of an atm osphere round the in w ater and caused to rotate. fiis life? I f God did not save him in the m om ent when he sins, how could m an sin? If G«»d preserves him, God, therefore, forces him to live jib order to sin. -------- —--------- If pain is sent by G od’s ordinance aH a schooling either to its victim s or to its witnesses, is it not b las phem ous presum ption to try to re lieve it? Much danger, according to th is theory, is to be apprehended from the everlasting painlessness of heaven And even on earth m ight (>ur ^ g , # prove th a t out of common non- few clergym en at stated intervals, lum inous m atter this whole pomp th a t they m ay not m erely excite our . sam p ath y by their suffering, but of stars m ight have been evolved. galso set us an exam ple of C hristian [F rag m e n ts of Science. resignation?— Tolleinache.