Page:Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.djvu/243

Rh there is any thought which is associated with the West, it is the thought of freedom and progress.

What one great word is whispered on this wind? Science! And Science, the second term in the title of our form of faith, is the fourth side of our Four-square City.

Science is the watchword of our day. Note its advances! In Berkeley's time men travelled in springless wagons, as they had for centuries. An efficient postal system was barely dreamed of. Telegraphs and railways were unknown. It is said that the first steamer coming to America brought with it a book in which it was logically proved that no vessel could possibly cross the ocean if propelled by steam-power alone. In decade after decade this contradiction has been repeated. Thousands of discoveries have been developed into practical benefits to mankind, which at first were derided both by the educated and ignorant.

In the year 1853 a daguerreotypist said to a youth, whose likeness he was taking for a dollar: “People think pictures will be cheaper when they can be taken on paper; but it is not so. The process is possible, but it will cost too much for practical use.” Within a few years of this prophecy a dollar would buy a dozen photographs, each more enduring than the fading old daguerreotype upon which that artist was at work.

So is it every day. Penny postage is a reality. The ocean-cable and the telephone are omnipresent. Electricity now lights our streets, and will soon move our