Opis: The Century and the School, Lecture - Soldan F. Louis

Excerpt from The Century and the School, Lecture: Read Before the National Educational Association, at Atlanta, Ga

We are told by philologists that our forefathers in making the myths which we find in their poetry and legends were wiser than they knew. In these myths modern philology has discovered wonderful truths. It professes to know more about Apollo than the Greeks, more about Jupiter than the Romans, and more about Thor than the Saxons of the North. When it is thus the practice to invest ancient myths with modern meaning, we may be allowed to select one of these myths for the purpose of this paper, and try to find in ancient lore the foreshadowing of a modern view.

There is no story more prevalent in northern mythology, than that of little beings, gifted with extraordinary powers. In the tales of Scotland and of old England the little Brownies play an important part. They sweep the floor which the servant has neglected, they do the work which the lazy mortal has forgotten to do. They are the working spirits, the little active principles. So in the mythology of the Norse peoples, the giants and Gods, powerful in stature and deeds, seem in reality dependent for their weapons, armor, and all their worldly goods upon the diligence of those little dwarfs, who are the types of wisdom and industry. To their skill the gods and giants owe the arms by which alone they retain power and sway. And yet these little beings live removed from the eyes of the world and from the light of day. In modest retirement they are the guardians of the highest treasures of mountain and mine. In the darkness of the caverns they toiled and labored, they ply the hammer and make for Odin the never-missing spear, for Thor the terrible hammer, they build for Freya the free ship, and they weave the golden hair of the goddess of the earth.

If we are allowed to carry into this story an explanation of our own, it seems as if the ancient myth foreshadowed a discovery of our century, namely, the truth that the events of nature and of the world are not brought about by Titanic revolutions, but are the result of the silent and persistent forces which work quietly and unobservedly in every atom and cell. Apparently insignificant processes which surround us everywhere and at every moment, are sufficient to account for all the changes in nature. The little forces shape the world, and not the gigantic revolutions of which former theories spoke.

This recognition of the power of the silent and little forces of nature, which work out of sight, in the depths of the world, is the view peculiar to the science of our century. Our century has discovered these little powers and observed their work in nature.

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Szczegóły: The Century and the School, Lecture - Soldan F. Louis

Nazwa: The Century and the School, Lecture Read Before the National Educational Association, at Atlanta, Ga (Classic Reprint)
Autor: Soldan F. Louis
Wydawnictwo: FB &c Ltd
Kod paskowy: 9781330145333
Języki: angielski
Ilość stron: 22
Format: 15.2x22.9cm
Oprawa: Miękka

Recenzje: The Century and the School, Lecture - Soldan F. Louis