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Caption: Convocation - 1930
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of belief of a generation ago, of Newl n. In [890 atom were little particles and electricity a mysterious fluid No* roughly speaking, we talk of atoms, electricity, light ray.^ etc., as identical In 1895 we were startled by the discov ery of Roentgen rays. This, with the discovery of radium and of the disintegration of matter, gave us new views of the universe by 1005. A little later, as I have already remarked, we spoke of the atom as being, roughly, a kind of solar system. Doubt is now expressed as to the correctness of this picture. Einstein's theory that time as well as space must be considered in describing the relations of the part of the universe and the universe in general gave us a new view point. Now it is rumored that he himself ha s me doubt about his former views. I think we may safely say that none of our knowledge, no theory, no so-called "law" about the universe is final. It is after all but a working hypothesis. Final "Truth is eternities awav. And we but climb In the dark of Time, To the dawn of day/' We can but have faith that "out of the false the true 1 will grow/ Science does not teach us to live wiselv. It tells us what results will follow from certain lines of procedure and nothing more. Whether these results are g< K3 or bad for us is a matter on which science has nothing to say. A Dean Gauss of Princeton wrote in a recent article. Linoln, Washington. St. Francis oi Assisi, Confucius, Shri :. Socrates and man\' others all lived wisely without modern science. Wise action is not to be attained by following the dictates of a phy ical law. unless we know beforehand that the end of the working of that law is itself wis* md good. ; When the lion eats an antelope, as Dean Gauss IVS. he . biologically speaking, a good lion because he is acting ac trding to hi nature; but the w rd has no moral meaning • in that connection. Hegcx onto ay that "to make it pos ible for a social, a moral tern, a Civilization 1 endure { 8 )
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