photography alone has rendered possible. The revelations through the spectroscope that the nebula, which had long eluded the scientific astronomer who sought to know its real character, was composed of great masses of glowing gases; the photographing of snows on Mars; the discovery of double stars and of dark stars, and the finding of the planet Neptune, help to make a chapter in scientific revelation that is well worthy a place by the side of the wonderful discoveries of the century in other departments of physical science.

V.

In physics and chemistry progress has kept pace with the march of science elsewhere. If the researches of the nineteenth century had given us nothing more than the great law of the conservation of energy and the conclusive establishment of the undulatory theory of light, it might well demand the right to stand uncovered in the presence of the noblest scientific eras of preceding ages.

The law of the conservation of energy eluded many scientists who seemed to catch glimpses of its truth, from the days of Count Rumford and Sir Humphry Davy until it was flashed almost simultaneously on the consciousness of several men of science, widely removed from one another and entirely unconscious of the fact that other truth-seekers had seen the vision. Although at least five men long claimed to be its discoverers, it is probable that the future will decide between the pretensions of the German physician, Julius Robert von Mayer, and those of the Englishman, James Prescott Joule. It matters little, however, who is entitled to priority. The new truth is now a part of the world's rich heritage, as is also the establishment beyond cavil of the undulatory theory of light, advanced and masterfully maintained by Thomas Young, Augustin Jean Fresnel, and Dominique Francois Arago. These two great facts stand out in the century as lofty mountain peaks, and

their discoverers are entitled to rank with Newton and Copernicus.

In chemistry dazzling achievements marked every decade. A science second to none in utility or in the wonders it disclosed rose as an eternal monument to the patience, industry, courage, and genius of savants who dedicated their lives to the advancement of learning.

In this department of research the advance movement followed the establishment of the atomic theory, first lucidly set forth by John Dalton. This discovery was elucidated and carried forward by enthusiastic workers in many lands, while Sir Humphry Davy was amazing Europe with the voltaic battery, by which he was decomposing certain chemicals. But the story of the century's achievements in chemistry, even in outline, would fill a volume. It is sufficient to observe that with the establishment of the atomic theory chemistry girded herself and went forward on a victorious career, in which she won as glorious laurels as did her fellow-sciences under the fostering care of free thought.

And thus the savants of the nineteenth century turned page after page of Nature's wonder-book, where rocks and fossils of ages long gone by, where the lowly life in the slime of the pool, and where the far-away star-mist that adds to the glory of the firmament became oracles, each unfolding new wonders, magnifying creation's work, and by implication hinting at something far exceeding the most daring dreams of seers throughout the ages. Ah! in the light of the new facts how pitiful and insignificant appears the old-time conception of our world-that childhood dream of an earth the uttermost age of which was six thousand years!

To-day man holds dominion over a world in which the forces of Nature have been wisely and with marvelous forethought working for millions of years. And man, the crown of earth's creation-how he has risen since that faraway day, millenniums ago, when with rude club and with

out the knowledge of fire he seemed ill-qualified to grapple with and subdue the life around him and the mighty forces of Nature, whose operation so terrified him and of whose laws and purposes he was as ignorant as the savage beasts. that menaced his every hour!

It matters not in what direction we turn our gaze, the great world of to-day speaks of the infinite patience and the all-comprehending wisdom of the Source of all life. Do we dig into the earth? Here amid the darkness and the gloom behold provision for the light and warmth of millions, awaiting the time when, by slow and tedious ascent, man shall have need for this bounty and blessing of Nature. And the great coal beds and oil reservoirs are only typical of the beneficence, power, forethought, wisdom, and love transcending finite conception and everywhere visible in creation's handiwork.

Even briefly to cite the vast array of facts, discoveries, and revolutionary, truths that the nineteenth century has revealed would require many volumes. Our purpose has been merely to touch upon some of the more luminous and far-reaching truths that light up the last hundred years and are at once suggestive and helpful to a clearer understanding of the work of the nineteenth century in preparing the way for the supreme struggle and ultimate victory of civilization, in which altruism shall overmaster selfism, and freedom, growth, love, and joy shall be the heritage of all. B. O. FLOWER.

Boston, Mass.

A CONVERSATION

WITH

SAM WALTER FOSS

ON

THE PROMISE OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY FOR THE ARTISANS.

Q. From your charming poems of the common life I infer that while you are deeply in sympathy with the toilers the world over, and keenly alive to present-day injustice, you are an optimist in regard to future social conditions. Will you give us your views on what you believe the twentieth century will accomplish for the artisan class, or rather what will be accomplished in the way of social readjustments that will develop character and dignify and enrich the life of all? For I think thoughtful people are everywhere coming to recognize the solidarity of the race and the implication that such realization carries, viz., that no man can gain permanently or secure anything of real value that will outlive this fleeting life, at the expense of the rights, happiness, or development of another.

A. It is true I am inclined to be optimistic in regard to future social conditions. There is a good normal condition of discontent prevailing in the social world, and the first and longest step toward perfection is discontent. Woe to the age that is satisfied with itself. A good, healthy, savage discontent is a sort of millennial precursor at which we should all rejoice. There is hopeful music in a growl to those with ears to hear. Let the thunder-heads loom above the horizon and the storm rumble nearer-the clover and the columbine will blossom fairer after the shower. I have the cosmic faith that things improve in the long run; if they did not the universe would be a failureand that is a bad thought to think.

The general condition of the artisan class, it seems to me, has improved greatly during my memory, and, of course, it will improve proportionately during the coming hundred years. In spite of all we say to the contrary, most of us actually hate manual labor, as is testified by the alacrity with which we run away from it. The old Adamic curse we still believe in, long after we have ceased to believe in Adam. But the reason the race hates labor so intensely is because it has had too much of it. Continuous labor with one's hands is degrading, besotting, benumbing, unnatural, and wholly inhuman. Men can become work drunkards as well as alcoholic or opium drunkards, and the world to-day is cursed with labor sots-men and women stunted, malformed, atrophied, practically dehumanized by hard work. Large muscles and small brains; great biceps and little souls; strong, broad backs and lean, narrow spiritssuch evidences of the Adamic curse of labor are too evident everywhere to-day. What is needed is a more correct balancing of our social book-keeping. Those of us who do not labor at all should labor more-considerably more; and those of us who labor all the time should labor less-considerably less. A few hours' work a day on the part of all of us would keep the world moving in a practical and mechanical way; and the rest of the time could be devoted to real man-building-the development of human nature up to somewhere near the verge of its possibilities. I am inclined to think that the time is coming when man will be obliged to work with his hands but a few hours each day. We are going to harness the tides, put a girth around the winds, and tap the fires of the under-world. The universe is pulsating with unexpended and everlasting energy that cannot be exhausted. It is man's business to harness the cosmic forces and let them do his drudgery for him. Man will suffer under the curse of labor only until he has learned to transfer his burden to the shoulders of Nature.

Q. In the great centralization of industry, as seen in the forming of trusts, combines, and monopolies, do you see the working out in a practical manner of the claims put forward by Edward Bellamy, William Morris, Joaquin Miller, William