Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 76.djvu/110

106 quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens." I shall make it my task to show, by a not too literal application of the text, that similar effects may be produced through science. The more practical and prosaic Apostle James, on the other hand, in a chapter somewhat disparaging faith, exalts works, and issues the challenge, "Shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works." It is no doubt easier in the case of science to play the rôle of James than that of Paul. The works of science are abundant, and are appreciated of all. To catalogue them is an easy and somewhat commonplace task. But in order to better appreciate them let us take a brief glance at the world before it was under the influence of science as it is to-day.

If we consider the differences between ourselves and the ancients, we are at once struck by the fact that the chief dissimilarity is that they had little or nothing that can properly be called science. Deep thinkers they had, poets that have never been surpassed for lofty imagination and noble diction, teachers who devoted their lives to the attempt to solve the mysteries of existence, but the systematic study of the workings of nature is essentially modern. The great Hebrew nation, to whom we are indebted for so much that is fundamental in our religion and morals, brought the laws of conduct and the purity of life to an extent never equalled by the other nations of antiquity. Being essentially a race of simple shepherds and agriculturists, although in close contact with nature they produced no art, graphic or architectural, and left no engineering works to arouse our admiration for their resourcefulness. The sacred writings of the Hebrews are full of allusions to nature, in both its kind and terrible aspects. "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades? or loose the bands of Orion? Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him? Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handiwork." These are specimens of the Hebrews' attitude toward nature, one of deep awe and reverence for its mighty Creator rather than of admiration for nature itself. The idea of studying into the workings of nature would, no doubt, have seemed preposterous and irreverent to such minds. The bow in the cloud was naturally accepted as a pledge made by God to men, while its circular form and unvarying arrangement of colors led to no curiosity to know why. The Egyptians, who so long were masters of the Hebrews, surpassed them in their interference with nature, and carried on engineering operations on an extensive scale, though of a simple character. They devised simple engines for raising the water of the Nile, and developed great irrigation systems, while the pyramids still