The Handy Cyclopedia of Things Worth Knowing Part 14

Cincinnati, Queen of the West and Porkopolis;

Cleveland, Forest City;

Denver, City of the Plains;

Detroit, City of the Straits;

Hartford, Insurance City;

Indianapolis, Railroad City;

Keokuk, Gate City.;

Lafayette, Star City;

Leavenworth, Cottonwood City;

Louisville, Falls City;

Lowell, Spindle City;

McGregor, Pocket City;

Madison, Lake City;

Milwaukee, Cream City;

Nashville, Rock City;

New Haven, Elm City;

New Orleans, Crescent City;

New York, Empire City, Commercial Emporium, Gotham, and Metropolis of America;

Philadelphia, City of Brotherly Love, City of Penn, Quaker City, and Centennial City;

Pittsburgh, Iron City and Smoky City;

Portland (Me.), Hill City;

Providence, Roger Williams' City, and Perry Davis' Pain Killer;

Raleigh, Oak City;

Richmond, (Va.), c.o.c.kade City;

Richmond (Ind.), Quaker City of the West;

Rochester, Aqueduct City;

Salt Lake City, Mormon City;

San Francisco, Golden Gate;

Savannah, Forest City of the South;

Sheboygan, Evergreen City;

St. Louis, Mound City;

St. Paul, North Star City;

Vicksburg, Key City;

Washington, City of Magnificent Distances, and Federal City.

THEOSOPHY.

Much is said nowadays about theosophy, which is really but another name for mysticism. It is not a philosophy, for it will have nothing to do with philosophical methods; it might be called a religion, though it has never had a following large enough to make a very strong impression on the world's religious history. The name is from the Greek word theosophia--divine wisdom--and the object of theosophical study is professedly to understand the nature of divine things. It differs, however, from both philosophy and theology even when these have the same object of investigation. For, in seeking to learn the divine nature and attributes, philosophy employs the methods and principles of natural reasoning; theology uses these, adding to them certain principles derived from revelation. Theosophy, on the other hand, professes to exclude all reasoning processes as imperfect, and to derive its knowledge from direct communication with G.o.d himself. It does not, therefore, accept the truths of recorded revelation as immutable, but as subject to modification by later and personal revelations. The theosophical idea has had followers from the earliest times. Since the Christian era we may cla.s.s among theosophists such sects as Neo-Platonists, the Hesychasts of the Greek Church, the Mystics of mediaeval times, and, in later times, the disciples of Paracelsus, Thalhauser, Bohme, Swedenborg and others. Recently a small sect has arisen, which has taken the name of Theosophists. Its leader was an English gentleman who had become fascinated with the doctrine of Buddhism. Taking a few of his followers to India, they have been prosecuting their studies there, certain individuals attracting considerable attention by a claim to miraculous powers. It need hardly be said that the revelations they have claimed to receive have been, thus far, without element of benefit to the human race.

THE EVOLUTION THEORY.

The evolution or development theory declares the universe as it now exists to be the result of a long series of changes which were so far related to each other as to form a series of growths a.n.a.logous to the evolving of the parts of a growing organism. Herbert Spencer defines evolution as a progress from the h.o.m.ogeneous to the heterogeneous, from general to special, from the simple to the complex elements of life, and it is believed that this process can be traced in the formation of worlds in s.p.a.ce, in the multiplication of types and species among animals and plants, in the origin and changes of languages and literature and the arts, and also in all the changes of human inst.i.tutions and society. a.s.serting the general fact of progress in nature, the evolution theory shows that the method of this progress has been (1) by the multiplication of organs and functions; (2) according to a defined unity of plan, although with (3) intervention of transitional forms, and (4) with modifications dependent upon surrounding conditions.

Ancient writers occasionally seemed to have a glimmering knowledge of the fact of progress in nature, but as a theory "evolution" belongs to the enlightenment of the nineteenth century. Leibnitz, in the latter part of the seventeenth century first uttered the opinion that the earth was once in a fluid condition and Kant about the middle of the eighteenth century, definitely propounded the nebular hypothesis, which was enlarged as a theory by the Herschels. The first writer to suggest the trans.m.u.tation of species among animals was Buffon, about 1750, and other writers followed out the idea. The eccentric Lord Monboddo was the first to suggest the possible descent of man from the ape, about 1774.

In 1813 Dr. W. C. Wells first proposed to apply the principle of natural selection to the natural history of man, and in 1822 Professor Herbert first a.s.serted the probable trans.m.u.tation of species of plants. In 1844 a book appeared called "Vestiges of Creation," which, though evidently not written by a scientific student, yet attracted great attention by its bold and ingenious theories. The authorship of this book was never revealed until after the death of Robert Chambers, a few years since, it became known that this publisher, whom no one would ever have suspected of holding such heterodox theories, had actually written it. But the two great apostles of the evolution theory were Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer. The latter began his great work, the "First Principles of Philosophy," showing the application of evolution in the facts of life, in 1852. In 1859 appeared Darwin's "Origin of Species." The hypothesis of the latter was that different species originated in spontaneous variation, and the survival of the fittest through natural selection and the struggle for existence. This theory was further elaborated and applied by Spencer, Darwin, Huxley, and other writers in Europe and America, and though to-day by no means all the ideas upheld by these early advocates of the theory are still accepted, evolution as a principle is now acknowledged by nearly all scientists. It is taken to be an established fact in nature, a valid induction from man's knowledge of natural order.

THE ENGLISH SPARROW.

The first English sparrow was brought to the United States in 1850, but it was not until 1870 that the species can be said to have firmly established itself. Since then it has taken possession of the country.

Its fecundity is amazing. In the lat.i.tude of New York and southward it hatches, as a rule, five or six broods in a season, with from four to six young in a brood. a.s.suming the average annual product of a pair to be twenty-four young, of which half are females and half males, and a.s.suming further, for the sake of computation, that all live, together with their offspring, it will be seen that in ten years the progeny of a single pair would be 275,716,983,698.

FEMININE HEIGHT AND WEIGHT.

It is often asked how stout a woman ought to be in proportion to her height. A very young girl may becomingly be thinner than a matron, but the following table gives a fair indication of proper proportions:

Height Pounds Height Pounds Five feet about 100 Five feet 7 inches. about 150 Five feet 1 inch about 106 Five feet 8 inches. about 155 Five feet 2 inches about 113 Five feet 10 inches. about 163 Five feet 3 inches about 119 Five feet 10 inches. about 169 Five feet 4 inches about 130 Five feet 11 inches. about 176 Five feet 5 inches about 138 Six feet about 180 Five feet 6 inches about 144 Six feet 1 inch about 186

WHEN A MAN BECOMES OF AGE.