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About Torch of reason. (Silverton, Oregon) 1896-1903 | View Entire Issue (April 27, 1899)
THE TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON, APRIL 2<, 1899. KNOWLEDGE OF EARTH AND SEA VS. SUPEflSTITION. ... * I. 2 * 5 S Kteel throughout,because the weight E ssa y s by H em b ers of th e C lass rocks Qn the BUrface w;n not t ■ m n h v in . . • < 1 in P hysical G eography in allow expansion, which always F in al E x am in atio n s. takes place in heated bodies; but the nebular theory proves itself, The knowledge of the earth and because at a depth of every fifty sea has done much to destroy and feet the tem perature increases one do away with superstition. Our degree, ucgrcc, and at this rate, --------- r .„ at a depth ancestors regarded the origin of the th irty miles, the heat would be earth as the work of a divine being, great enough to melt any known and told the Rtory of God A lm ighty’s ^ “ ‘tance. generally called, the old idea is ex ploded. It is a great m ystery to some concerning the cause of the tides. But it is from a very sim ple and n atu ra l cause. The attractio n of the moon draw s the water over on to the earth. W hen the sun and moon are pulling in conjunction, we have our highest tide, which is called the spring tide. \\ hen the sun and moon are pulling at right angles, we have the lowest or neap tide. Many people are alw ays ready to jum p at conclusions and believe an y th in g they are told, but if they would be incredulous and try to discover the tru th , they would be sure to find n atural causes for all of these things th a t seem so diffi cult to understand at first. For the Torch of Reason. E asy L essons in Philosophy, BY C H A R L E S C LA R K M IL L A R D . W hen a cabinet m aker would set up in business for him self he gets a shop and gathers into it the m aterials which he expects to use, and what-» ever he m akes m ust be m ade of these m aterials. If he had brought in no w alnut lum ber, he could not fill an order for a w alnut book six days’ work to their children as Superstitious people say a a god case; and every article th a t comes a first step toward the acquirem ent made the world; but can anything out of the shop m ust be entirely of knowledge of the earth. After be more im practical than such an composed of stuff th a t went into the children had been taught about idea? Day and night depend upon “ the stock on h a n d .” So it is with the origin of the earth, they were the rotation of the earth upon its iim or her who thinks. T he brain warned not to do anything th at axis, and the seasons on the inclin is the workshop; the senses are the would cause their heavenly father ation of its axis and revolution doors through which the m aterials to I eeome angry with them, lest ar()Un(J th e BUn> which take6 365i are brought in, and sense im pres tliex should be struck by a th u n days. L ora A mes . Of course, life was ex sions, sights, sounds, etc., are the der I olt. Thus the children were tin ct when the earth was first led to believe th a t this earth was formed, because it was too hot for Of H u m a n ity vs. For H u m a n ity . “ stock on h a n d ,’’ while a bountiful supply of arterial blood represents nothing more nor less th an a place anything to live; but as it cooled, power, tools and appliances for do for God to give vent to his feel some of the principal elements, Miss Clara B rton and the Red ings. People soon began to doubt uniting in the right com binations Cross Society did a grand and noble ing the work. The brain is the th e truthfulness of these state and under right conditions, formed work of hum anity for the com fort m aster m echanic, w orking more or ments, and by trying to prove the lowest forms of anim als and and relief of the sick and wounded less under the orders of the thinker them found th at they were wholly plants, which divided and subdi soldiers and the starving people in who owns the shop. (Of course trad itio n al and would not stand vided, evolving into the higher Cuba. Too great praise cannot be this com parison m ust not be the test of reason. They then be forms of life. Y east is one of the bestowed on th eir efforts. A self- pushed too far). T hus equipped, the th in k er m ay m anufacture gan the search for a theory th at lowest forms of p la n t life, and the sacrificing and devoted woman go thoughts from the raw m aterials, would stand the test. Many the amoeba the lowest of anim al life; ing about the world to adm inister but alw ays with the lim itations ories were advanced and exploded, but the offspring of the first forms comfort t nd consolation to the vic imposed by the variety, abundance until hnaily scientists have given have had so m any years in which tim s of war and famine will be and q uality of the “stock on the world the nebular theory. to change and adapt themselves, sainted hereafter. And yet her ef h a n d .” B ut as the m echanic m av, T his seems to be more philo th a t we now have man as the forts are for relief, and not for stop out of his m aterials, m ake tools sophical than the others, and, con highest form of anim al life and ping the cause th a t m akes relief and appliances to assist him in his sequently, has stood every test th at trees as the highest form of plant necessary. work and combine sim ple m aterials has vet been tried. Now we find It seems th a t the world, speak life. A god surely did not, accord so as to m ake stains, p aints, v a r parents teaching their children the ing to this theory, make the first ing after the m anner of men, has nishes, etc., so the th in k er com causes of these great phenom ena m an, and then steal one of his ribs not a dollar to put into any plan bines simple elem ents into thoughts instead of telling them th a t they and m anufacture for him a help or m eans which has in view the do (re tain in g the ab ility to reproduce were placed here, upon this earth ing away with the cause of suffer meet. O llie G eer . them readily) and uses them to th a t was m ade in six days, as a ing, but it has m illions to spend m ake m ore thoughts, and so on, slave and serv an t of God. The for the victim s who do suffer. thus co n tin u ally adding to his cause of the thunder and light It is well to soothe and save, but It seems ridiculous to think th a t ning, the rainbow, the aurora bore stock. anv one can believe the creation would it not he infinitely better to alis and m any other things which Dr. B ain, in th a t queer and u n story, as told in the Bible, after have none of it to do? were previously supposed to be the and The world will al«o stand any satisfactory work, “ Body hearing the nebular theory ex p lain work of an alm ighty have been ac M ind,” instead of telling his read ed. T his theory is, th a t all m at am ount of im portuning and con counted for. And we find the ers w hat though t is, very carefully ter was a t one time so hot th a t it trib u te liberally to the aid of the student of today inquiring into the tells them w hat it is not. H e says, existed in a gaseous state in the victim s which its uncivilized sys ‘w hy’s” and “ where’s” of things; “ T he brain action is not th o u g h t.” ° . “ ".'f,. *?* i' form of a cloud, or nebula. As this tems of society make, but it brooks yet he is willing to be convinced 1 ’ . But the feeling which im m ediately . . mass began to cool, it acquired a no interference with these existing th a t he is wrong, providing th a t * . ’ 1 systems and brands him who would follows the brain action, as its sufficient proof can be shown. Not « ‘•» '7 and th£e "’ effect, is thought. Sense im pres so with the students of a hundred These rings threw off still other change them as a foe to h u m an ity sions are w hat we feel when the an d fifty or two hundred years , The m ass th a t ts left ,s the and an enemy to his country. Doing acts of hum anity is one brain is acted upon; th o u g h t is ago. They look for granted th a t eun- and the n "K" whlch “ thrPW w hat we feel when the brain acts, the theory' handed down to U,Bln off are the planets and their moons, thing, and working for h um anity is in response to a stim ulus, from by th e ir'a n c e s to rs was true, and I These bodies all re v o k e around the quite another thing. The first is w ithin or from w ithout. Both to regarded w ith contem pt and scorn su "> and as ,he <“a r,h l,p*an ,o c0° ’ most praisew orthy; the la tte r is be gether are the feelings resulting any one who had enough indi- a cru9t was formed the outRid,‘- yond praise. He who has filled from the only sensibility of the »¡duality to step out a n d away Af,er m a"y centuries vegetation hungry m ouths today has done brain, and a series of these feelings from these old, superstitious te a c h -' 8Pr a "g “ P a,,d the low<‘8t form of well, but he who opens a way by is m ind. Reader, when you take Inga. L ouie R auch . an in ,al life b^ a " a PPPar- Tbls which these m ouths can supply low form of life, adapting itself to their own w ants has done infinitely up a book on “ M ental Philosophy its surroundings, after thous- more. He who staunches the b u l or “ Psj’chology” and find th a t the a u th o r fails to tell you w hat mind T he sun was once a great heated ar.ds and thousands of years, devel- let’s wound is a saint, but he who is, or w hat tho u g h t is, you may cloud, or nebula, as it is called, oped into the lower anim als we see stops the bullet is a h u m a n ita ria n . conclude th a t he did not know or and this gaseous cloud became so around us and the man of the pres One is a work of h u m an ity ; the other is work for h u m an ity .— [ H u th a t he wished to keep you in ig h o t th a t it threw off parts of itself ent day. norance. an d formed the planets. As they People used to think th a t thun- m anity. By acting the brain acquires and were sent w hirling into space, they der was a noise God made when he Good is an ever-present rew ard; retains th e ability to repeat the g rad u ally cooled a r d acquired the was angry, and some people believe globular shape. In cooling, the it yet; but when it is discovered i evil is an ever-present punishm ent. actions easily and quickly, and -the steam which was in this nebular th a t it is only the effect of the elec- i There is no need of w aiting for a feeling which follows such repeated action is memory. T houghts are m ass condensed, and a crust was 1 trie spark, or lightning, as it is, hereafter to realize this tru th .