Show STUDENT LIFE was flat and at rest and that the sky was a material substance through openings or windows in which the moon and stars were let down at night as candle lights while the sun daily encircled the earth It was simply not known and its discovof ery was not the result of the efforts one but the culmination of centuries of observation and calculation made by the many earnest and honest men of science who preceded Copernicus and Keppler How true it is that every discovery which adds to the sum of human knowledge comes only after years of mistake and error and as the result of the labors and sacrifices of the many who have gone before and blazed the way for the final and successful effort The human paths to knowledge are strewn with the overturned barricades of error Error is not Somean unmitigated evil however where Huxley has said that next to be-i- n jr right it is better to be definitely and beabsolutely wrong upon any question cause sooner or later the earnest and consistent searcher for the truth will run his head against a fact which will set him right Facts are great levelers and he who has acquired sufficient wisdom to recognize one when he meets with it in opinion opposition to his has already made a beginning for a liberal and scientific education What then is the real purpose of your existence may be asked of the students of this College? You will answer it is to acquire knowledge and to live upright and useful lives bringing to the execution of such purposes all the capacities mental and physical that you severally have and maintaining a persistent and constant effort along your several lines of specialization I say specialization because as before suggested it will be impossible for anyone of you to embrace all knowledge within your attempt How 7 pre-conceiv- ed i5B then are you to accomplish such purI answer by first acquiring a pose? reasonable knowledge of the natural laws which affect your relations to mind and matter your association with your fellows and your obligations to your country It must be remembered always that nature’s laws underlie all the relations cf life and that no human purpose whicn runs counter to them can be sustained This is not an academic but a practical question and it is of the highest importance that we should understand it It is a fact to be learned and at all times recognized It is impossible that you could have continued for any time in the study of the practical and scientific courses available at this College without apreciating this as all your labors have The fact is tended to this conclusion recognized in all the industrial occupations and everywhere there is manifested a desire to know and apply the teachings of nautre’s laws The farmer has begun to understand that something more is demanded for the successful tillage of the soil than hard and unremitting toil and that obedience to nature’s laws will lighten the burdens of life The facts of science have led him through the open door of her great laboratory and in the study of the chemistry of the soil and cognate matters he has found a definite promise of the final solution of his problem The successful breeder of stock turns his thought to the natural laws of heredity and evolution and with the aid of science seeks their The miner reads the interpretation wonderful story time has written in the rocks and minerals of the earth’s crust and geology reveals to him at least the law of probability to guide his explorations And so in other of the industrial pursuits knowledge and wisdom have taken the places of ignorance and super- - |