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.