Addresses and other papers / by William Williams Keen.

  • Keen, William W. (William Williams), 1837-1932.
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Addresses and other papers / by William Williams Keen. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    tains, burrowed under the slime of the sea, girdled the earth, and put Puck to shame as a lagging messenger. Even in late years the telephone, the trolley, the dynamo, the electric lamp, and wireless telegraphy have all sprung into being as by magic, and soon all of our rivers will be harnessed and made subservient to the comfort of mankind. The human hand, that most perfect instrument, has been almost driven out of the industrial market by various machines which do its work so much more cheaply and often so much better. Metallurgical processes have so cheapened the production of iron, copper, aluminum, and other metals that whereas a few years ago their constant use was impossi¬ ble on account of their cost, they are now common household implements. When I was in college, the so-called Fraunhofer lines were simply a curious phenomenon in the solar spectrum; yet, a few years later, they furnished us with a chemical analysis not only of the sun, but of far distant comets and nebulge, and have determined even the velocity of light coming from the furthest confines of the universe. Nay, more, by means of the spectroscope elements unknown on the earth have been discovered in the sun; and now that by its means we have dis¬ covered helium and know that uranium becomes changed into radium and radium into helium, one element into another, the asserted philosopher’s stone of Paracelsus and the other alchemists, by which they could transform the baser metals into gold, may possibly be found to be of more substantial stuff than dreams are made of. Meanwhile educational endowments of millions have been made. Philanthropy cares for the children, the prisoner, the degenerate, and the lower animals; slavery has been abol¬ ished; the International Tribunal of Arbitration will soon be housed in a palace dedicated to Peace and erected by an American; and religious liberty is enjoyed as never before. But, with all this wonderful progress, where has medicine