PHYSICAL AND MENTAL WELFARE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 255, 28 October 1939, Page 6

PHYSICAL AND MENTAL WELFARE

■By P. M. V\.» | Dear People. History is the raw material of pro- 1 phecy. In other words, all reliable prophecy is based on a knowledge of history. There are many vital problems in present-day life which can best be comprehended by analysis of long-range views of the earth’s history; and at a time when Western civilisation seems to be in danger of self-immolation, some of us may well turn to the past for a sign which may act as a guide to a saner contemplation of present conditions in Europe. b 0.000,000 Years Ago. It is one of the privileges of the study of science that it gives a perspective and a sense of proportion that has a wonderfully steadying effect in these anxious days. The 1939 Dundee meetings of the British Association had but completed the first full day’s sittings, when the certainty of War intervened and scattered the visiting thousands of scientists to the ends of the earth. Sir Albert C. Seward, F.R.S., however, had delivered his presidential address, and had been able to transport his audience for a short time to a world that "knew not man" By the magic of his learning and his < olourfui phraseology, he gave his listeners a glimpse of “The Western Isles through the Mist of the Ages”, when they were part of a great continent. the Thulean continent, some >ixty million years ago. The Gift »* lUauty. The earth declare.-* the glory of God! “It requires a special effort for us. said Sir Albert, "who think of ourselves as overloads in Nature’s realm, to visualise a world in which man had no place. Alone in a world which for millions ot years to come would be uninhabited by the human race, we could scarcely fail to look upon the beauty of Nature’s pageantry with a more penetrating vision; our estimate of spiritual values would be raised to a hi ’her level; and we should experience a deeper sense of union with the Infinite.” Beauty is eternal and is one of God’s most wonderful gifts to man. j The Gift of Life. Twentieth - century , into the properties of living and] "dead" matter have lead to a modific- j ation of the extreme materialism of] nineteenth - century science. "Sir' William Bragg has stated,” proclaimed Sir Aloert Seward, "that although some speak of modern science as tending to destroy reverence and faith, he cannot see how that can be said of the student who stands daily in the Presence of the Infinite. These words apply with equal, force to searchers after truth whose main interest is in the living world, no less than to those hose objective is the elucidation of the structure of those forms of matter v- hich are termed by contrast ’dead’ and which yet vibrate with life. The earth was once without animal or human life. When and how living protoplasm had its birth we do no; know; nor do we know whereupon the foundations of the earth were laid. We can only echo in our hearts the voice out of the whirlwind: Whereupon were the foundations thereof fastened? Or who laid the corner stone thereof. When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?* Life is eternal and is God’s most wonderful gift to man. The Gift of Nature’s Miracles. 'Our tendency is to think of the past (as we think of the present» in i relation solely to man. As we look al Nature as into a mirror,’’ continued Sir Albert, "our own image obtrudes itself into the foreground. Had we, however, been dwellers on the Thulean continent, we would even then havel seen the sun by day setting in motion the living machinery of trees and | plants; we would have seen the splen-. dour of the evening sky; we would j have heard the wind in the trees, the ■ music of running water and the songs of birds. We would have seen plants I which even then wore a strangely! familiar garb. We would have become , conscious of the dynamic character of ■ the plant-world. We would have been i driven to the conclusion that the for-!

THE LONG-RANGE VIEW

. ests were mainly composed of surprisingly modern plant-wanderers, liesting for a space of time in a tem- ’ ' porary home upon a drifting contin- • I ent.” Nature’s miracles are eternal 1 and are among God’s free gifts to ‘ i man. The Gift of Knowledge. ■ \ ’[’here are people who ask: What i is the use of the kind of information [ given out by Sir Albert Seward? His i-reply to such criticism is that know- ' i ledge gained from a first-hand study - of Nature, whether living or “dead”, t has a value beyond price. Enjoyment j of the-romance of Creation as recorded in the history of the past and the life of the present is within the ■reach of all who have the desire to ' j read the open pages of Nature’s book. ' For example, the arrival of a migrat1 I ory bird may be controlled by the 3 1appearance of a particular insect; the ‘ arrival of that insect may depend upon s jthe growth of some plant whose ; development may have been affected ; 1 by climatic conditions; and in the very ’ rocks themselves is to be found the ’ I soul of earth’s history. The whole ’ ' world throbs with life, and the joy of ' it ail is ours to share: t i • I said it in the meadow path: s I said it on the mountain stairs: s -'rhe best things any mortal hath Are the.-*- which every mortal . I shares.” ?iAnd if ever' mortal would -partake [and share” to some small extent of knowledge lying neglected at his elbow lerns low confronting th.? ’. farmer, the consumer, the combatant ‘and the non-combatant would ap- ” 1 proach more nearly to solution, ■ ■ Knowledge is, one of God’s most gifts to man. ; Dove or Dev.I? ’ In our own day and time, the gift of knowldge is in process of wiping J from the face of the earth for ever ‘ • the hitleristic horror called War. As l 'a result of peaceful and patient in- ’ 1 vestigation of beneficent science, dis- ‘ | coveries have been made which have : i been ruthlessly commercialised and I brutally degraded. This abuse and j misuse of science has brought into 'existence the very position in which J (to use ("orthodox” phraseology) God can make use of the Devil. Historians ‘of the future will point to the fact /that the moving of the battlefront to i' encircle helpless babes and their ( i mothers, whether at home, at school. ' jin hospital, in evacuation trains or at ‘sea. was exactly the factor which , |determined the end of the War as human tradition of any honour or decencv. Had not this factor first been created by evil exploitation oi . the results of peaceful scientific re- ? search, the habit of resorting to force ■ to settle controversies might have con- . itinued in existence for further hundreds of years. As the president of the . ‘Engineering Section of the 1939 meetlings of the British Association put it, , [or the very eve of War itself. —"The ? ‘aspiration towards winged flight was fc expressed with wisdom more than two 1 (thousand years ago. when the Psalmist ; ‘avowed his longing for the wings of a dove. Mankind now possesses the power of flight; but the crown of achievement cannot be regarded as won until mankind sees that the wings ? • gained are indeed the wings of a dove, | not those of a devil!" Science is one -|of God’s most wonderful gifts to man ’ |and should be used as such. i | Yours as ever. 1