West Chester University - Serpentine Yearbook (West Chester, PA)

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CLASS NINETEEN SIXTEEN niiiiiun of the niundanu than the direct advocates ol the sijirit. Besides freeing- tliein fr(jiii the atrophying effects of routine labor, scientists have made the punisliment of wickedness and vice t|uicker and more certain. Edison, for instance, did more to stop crime when he invented his dynamo and incandescent !am]) than lialf the preachers of the country put together. Not that we think less of the preachers, but tliat we think more of Edison. But scientists ha ' e done more than nierelx inhiljit evil: they have given a method of accomjilishing a result. The extensi -e application of the scientific melliod, which in essence is nothing more than the applica- tion of mathematics, is so patent that we need stop no longer on that subject. Besides they have set an example. The subordination of the in- di ' idual to the masses without su])pression finds its most numerous ex- amples in science and will continue to do so. Unknown the scientist works in his laboratory performing a thousand experiments l)efore he succeeds, ' fhe public know nothing of the days, the weeks, the years, — it took von Baeyer 15 years to synthesize indigo — when unmerciful dis- aster followed faster, followed faster. ' fhey know, if at all, only of suc- cesses. The .scientist has not the commendation nor the condemnation of the many to encourage him. An unshaken faith in his methods, in his ideals, in that Power, whose manifestation he in -estigates. alone holds him to his task. Finally, and most important, the student of science is reared in an atmosphere of orderliness and theism. Chance and atheism find no jilace here. Given certain antecedents and conditions, definite conclusions must follow. This ])rinciple holds for the microcosmos as well as for the macrocosmos. Moreover it does not ]3revent the exercise of prayer and imagination : it simplv makes both more onlerh ' . Do they lose any of their 1)eauty or effecti ' eness thereb} ' ? Are they not really enhanced? Are not the beautiful and the effective, in their final analysis, essentially orderliness ? Even when apparently most iconoclastic, is not science con- structive? Does it not destroy one system of consistencies, only to substi- tute a wider, a deei er, a more spiritual order? Then let us welcome this age of science, not as the inevitable which nuist be endured, but as the greatest means this world has yet ex- perienced for uplifting mankind, not only materially, but spiritually. Herbert Greenw. ld. Page 14

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THE SERPENTINE 5Ilf spirit of timtt jl LTHOUGH all human endeavor has for its guiding spirit, aside from that of self-preservation, the uplift of mankind, the methods differ ratlically. . rt, by means of pictures, music, sculpture, or beautifully proportioned buildings, tries to relieve life of its sordidness and gross materialism. Literature expresses the same high and noble thoughts in words, whereas history, by holding before us examples of what men have done, inspires us to emulate them. It is science, however, that has made the products of our artistic co-laborers accessible to the masses. Note the decrease in the cost of travel and transpcjrtation. Note the ach ' ance in color photography and printing, in bookmaking, in talking machines, and in motion pictures. These are the agencies that acquaint man with the beautiful, the in- spiring. However, j efore a man can be cii rapport with art, literature and the co-called humanities, he must be in the proper physical and mental con- dition. There have always been a few, who, either through ability or a combination of circumstances, have been able to acquire the necessities of life with comparatively little effort, so that they have been able to spend a large surplus of their time and energy putting themselves in such physical and mental condition that thev could respond to these in- fluences. On the other hand the masses have not been so favorablv situated. It is to them that science is extending a helping hand. It puts them in a ] osition to stand spirituallv on the same level with the fa ored tenth by facilitatinig the acfjuisition of the necessities of life, therein ' releasing a larger surplus of their time and energy for the acquisition of the extra mundane. Of course science cannot guaran- tee that this suri)Ius will be disposed of, so as to realize tlie nljject. That remains for the individual to decide. It places the instrument in his hands. He can use it for good or for ill. However, this is certain : without the instrument no good can be accomiJlished. Scientists have been criticised for their materialism. The - have been called, sometimes, foes of the spirit. This criticism has been made, of course, by those outside the pale of science. As a matter of fact, scientists have done more to release the masses from the do- Page 13

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THE SERPENTINE Page 15