e diel, 11 nëntor 2007

1



1. The place of imagination in mental economy: Practical nature of
imagination--Imagination in the interpretation of history, literature,
and art--Imagination and science--Everyday uses of imagination--The
building of ideals and plans--Imagination and conduct--Imagination and
thinking. 2. The material used by imagination: Images the stuff of
imagination--The two factors in imagination--Imagination limited by
stock of images--Limited also by our constructive ability--The need of a
purpose. 3. Types of imagination: Reproductive imagination--Creative
imagination. 4. Training the imagination: Gathering of material for
imagination--We must not fail to build--We should carry our ideals into
action. 5. Problems for observation and introspection . . . . . . . . 127




e premte, 9 nëntor 2007

This last admission opens the door to those that place good fortune in



the same line with happiness, and raises the question, how happiness
is attained
This last admission opens the door to those that place good fortune in
the same line with happiness, and raises the question, how happiness
is attained. By teaching? By habitual exercise? By divine grace? By
Fortune? If there be any gift vouchsafed by divine grace to man, it
ought to be this; but whether such be the case or not, it is at any
rate the most divine and best of all acquisitions. To ascribe such an
acquisition as this to Fortune would be absurd. Nature, which always
aims at the best, provides that it shall be attained, through a
certain course of teaching and training, by all who are not physically
or mentally disqualified. It thus falls within the scope of political
science, whose object is to impart the best character and active
habits to the citizens. It is with good reason that we never call a
horse happy, for he can never reach such an attainment; nor indeed can
a child be so called while yet a child, for the same reason; though in
his case we may hope for the future, presuming on a full term of life,
as was before postulated (IX.). But-this long term allows room for
extreme calamities and change in a man"s lot. Are we then to say, with
Solon, that no one can be called happy so long as he lives? or that
the same man may often pass backwards and forwards from happiness to
misery? No; this only shows the mistake of resting happiness upon so
unsound a basis as external fortune. The only true basis of it is the
active manifestation of mental excellence, which no ill fortune can
efface from a man"s mind (X.). Such a man will bear calamity, if it
comes, with dignity, and can never be made thoroughly miserable. If he
be moderately supplied as to external circumstances, he is to be
styled happy; that is, happy as a man--as far as man can reasonably
expect. Even after his decease he-will be affected, yet only feebly
affected, by the good or ill fortune of his surviving children.
Aristotle evidently assigns little or no value to presumed posthumous
happiness (XI.).




e enjte, 8 nëntor 2007

The above rules embody our preachment on individual hygiene



The above rules embody our preachment on individual hygiene. We have
stated them as fifteen separate kinds of procedure. In actual life,
however, our acts can not be so separated. The neglect or observance of
one rule carries with it, to some extent, the neglect or observance of
other rules. For instance, one can not take muscular exercise without,
to some extent, taking breathing exercises. Swimming serves as a means
of cleanliness, of skin gymnastics, of general exercise and of
amusement. A game of tennis implies the practise, to some extent, of at
least five of the fifteen rules.




e mërkurë, 7 nëntor 2007

Geologists estimate from the deposition of salt in the oceans,



and from the rates of denudation and sedimentation, that the
formation of the rock strata has consumed from 60,000,000 to
100,000,000 years
Geologists estimate from the deposition of salt in the oceans,
and from the rates of denudation and sedimentation, that the
formation of the rock strata has consumed from 60,000,000 to
100,000,000 years. If the Earth had substantially its present
form 80,000,000 years ago we are safe in saying that the period
of time represented in the building up of the Earth from a
small nucleus to its present dimensions has been vastly longer,
probably reckoned in the thousands of millions of years.




e shtunë, 3 nëntor 2007

The cardinal evil that Chalmers feared has, however, been



averted
The cardinal evil that Chalmers feared has, however, been
averted. The natives still own 97 1/2 per cent. of the entire
land area, and wise laws guard them in this precious
possession, and aim to protect them from all manner of unjust
exploitation. It is much to the credit of the government that
the cleanest native villages and the most healthy, ambitious
and industrious tribes, are those nearest the white
settlements. Contact between the races has resulted in the
betterment, not in the degradation, of the Papuan natives.




e premte, 2 nëntor 2007

Hutcheson"s views are to be found in his "Inquiry into the Ideas of



Beauty and Virtue," his "Treatise on the Passions," and his posthumous
work, "A System of Moral Philosophy
Hutcheson"s views are to be found in his "Inquiry into the Ideas of
Beauty and Virtue," his "Treatise on the Passions," and his posthumous
work, "A System of Moral Philosophy." The last-mentioned, as the
completest exposition of his Ethics, Speculative and Practical, is
followed here.




e enjte, 1 nëntor 2007

[Footnote 21: Butler"s definition of conscience, and his whole



treatment of it, have created a great puzzle of classification, as to
whether he is to be placed along with the upholders of a "moral sense
[Footnote 21: Butler"s definition of conscience, and his whole
treatment of it, have created a great puzzle of classification, as to
whether he is to be placed along with the upholders of a "moral sense."
Shaftesbury is more explicit:




We have described many of the unhygienic practises common to-day as



direct results of upsetting Nature"s equilibrium
We have described many of the unhygienic practises common to-day as
direct results of upsetting Nature"s equilibrium. Others are indirect
results. These latter practises may be described as attempts to remedy
the evils of the former, the 'remedies,' however, being often worse than
the diseases. Much of our drugging, some of our wrong food habits and
not a little of our immorality are simply crude and unscientific
attempts to compensate for disturbances or deviations from a normal
life. We wake ourselves up, as it were, with caffein, move our bowels
with a cathartic, induce an appetite with a cocktail, seek rest from the
day"s fatigue and worries in nicotin, and put ourselves to sleep with an
opiate. In these practises we are evidently trying in wrong ways to
compensate respectively for insufficient sleep, insufficient
peristalsis, indigestion, overfatigue, and insomnia--evils due, as
previously explained, to upsetting Nature"s balance, between work,
play, rest and sleep.




e mërkurë, 31 tetor 2007

But the chief aim of the Papuan government is to introduce



civilization among the natives, and a slow increase in the
European population is of primary necessity to the
accomplishment of this result
But the chief aim of the Papuan government is to introduce
civilization among the natives, and a slow increase in the
European population is of primary necessity to the
accomplishment of this result.




e hënë, 29 tetor 2007

It is said that Abbe Fissiaux, the head of the colony of Marseilles,



when visiting Mettray, a kind of reform school, at which boys under
sixteen years of age, who have committed offences without discernment,
are sent, asked the colonists to point out to him the three best boys
It is said that Abbe Fissiaux, the head of the colony of Marseilles,
when visiting Mettray, a kind of reform school, at which boys under
sixteen years of age, who have committed offences without discernment,
are sent, asked the colonists to point out to him the three best boys.
The looks of the whole body immediately designated three young persons
whose conduct had been irreproachable to an exceptional degree. He then
applied a more delicate test. 'Point out to me,' said he, 'the worst
boy.' All the children remained motionless, and made no sign; but one
little urchin came forward, with a pitiful air, and said, in a very low
tone, '_It is me._' Such were the public sentiment and sense of honor,
even in a reform school. This frankness in the lad was followed by
reformation; and he became in after years a good soldier,--the life
anticipated for many members of the institution.




The chemist has made the wine industry reasonably independent



of climatic conditions; he has enabled it to produce
substantially the same wine, year in and year out, no matter
what the weather; he has reduced the spoilage from 25 per cent
The chemist has made the wine industry reasonably independent
of climatic conditions; he has enabled it to produce
substantially the same wine, year in and year out, no matter
what the weather; he has reduced the spoilage from 25 per cent.
to 0.46 per cent. of the total; he has increased the shipping
radius of the goods and has made preservatives unnecessary. In
the copper industry he has learned and has taught how to make
operations so constant and so continuous that in the
manufacture of blister copper valuations are less than $1.00
apart on every $10,000 worth of product and in refined copper
the valuations of the product do not differ by more than $1.00
in every $50,000 worth of product. The quality of output is
maintained constant within microscopic differences. Without the
chemist the corn-products industry would never have arisen and
in 1914 this industry consumed as much corn as was grown in
that year by the nine states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont,
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey
and Delaware combined; this amount is equal to the entire
production of the state of North Carolina and about 80 per
cent. of the production of each of the states of Georgia,
Michigan and Wisconsin; the chemist has produced over 100
useful commercial products from corn, which, without him, would
never have been produced. In the asphalt industry the chemist
has taught how to lay a road surface that will always be good,
and he has learned and taught how to construct a suitable road
surface for different conditions of service. In the cottonseed
oil industry, the chemist standardized methods of production,
reduced losses, increased yields, made new use of wastes and
by-products, and has added somewhere between $10 and $12 to the
value of each bale of cotton grown. In the cement industry, the
chemist has ascertained new ingredients, has utilized
theretofore waste products for this purpose, has reduced the
waste heaps of many industries and made them his starting
material; he has standardized methods of manufacture,
introduced methods of chemical control and has insured
constancy and permanency of quality and quantity of output. In
the sugar industry, the chemist has been active for so long a
time that 'the memory of man runneth not to the contrary.' The
sugar industry without the chemist is unthinkable. The Welsbach
mantle is distinctly a chemist"s invention and its successful
and economical manufacture depends largely upon chemical
methods. It would be difficult to give a just estimate of the
economic effect of this device upon illumination, so great and
valuable is it. In the textile industry, he has substituted
uniform, rational, well-thought out and simple methods of
treatment of all the various textile fabrics and fibers where
mystery, empiricism, 'rule-of-thumb' and their accompanying
uncertainties reigned. In the fertilizer industry, it was the
chemist who learned and who taught how to make our immense beds
of phosphate rock useful and serviceable to man in the
enrichment of the soil; he has taught how to make waste
products of other industries useful and available for
fertilization and he has shown how to make the gas works
contribute to the fertility of the soil. In the soda industry,
the chemist can successfully claim that he has founded it,
developed it and brought it to its present state of perfection
and utility, but not without the help of other technical men;
the fundamental ideas were and are chemical. In the leather
industry, the chemist has given us all of the modern methods of
mineral tanning, and without them the modern leather industry
is unthinkable. In the case of vegetable-tanned leather he has
also stepped in, standardized the quality of incoming material
and of outgoing product. In the flour industry the chemist has
learned and taught how to select the proper grain for specific
purposes, to standardize the product, and how to make flour
available for certain specific culinary and food purposes. In
the brewing industry, the chemist has standardized the methods
of determining the quality of incoming material and of outgoing
products, and has assisted in the development of a product of a
quality far beyond that obtaining prior to his entry into that
industry. In the preservation of foods, the chemist made the
fundamental discoveries; up to twenty years ago, however, he
took little or no part in the commercial operations, but now is
almost indispensable to commercial success. In the water supply
of cities, the chemist has put certainty in the place of
uncertainty; he has learned and has shown how, by chemical
methods of treatment and control, raw water of varying quality
can be made to yield potable water of substantially uniform
composition and quality. The celluloid industry and the
nitro-cellulose industry owe their very existence and much of
their development to the chemist. In the glass industry the
chemist has learned and taught how to prepare glasses suitable
for the widest ranges of uses and to control the quality and
quantity of the output. In the pulp and paper industry, the
chemist made the fundamental observations, inventions and
operations and to-day he is in control of all the operations of
the plant itself; to the chemist also is due the cheap
production of many of the materials entering into this
industry, as well as the increased and expanding market for the
product itself.




e shtunë, 27 tetor 2007

The principle of which I speak can be seen everywhere in a



comparison between the ancient and universal things and the modern
and specialist things
The principle of which I speak can be seen everywhere in a
comparison between the ancient and universal things and the modern
and specialist things. The object of a theodolite is to lie level;
the object of a stick is to swing loose at any angle; to whirl
like the very wheel of liberty. The object of a lancet is to lance;
when used for slashing, gashing, ripping, lopping off heads and limbs,
it is a disappointing instrument. The object of an electric light is
merely to light (a despicable modesty); and the object of an asbestos
stove . . . I wonder what is the object of an asbestos stove?
If a man found a coil of rope in a desert he could at least
think of all the things that can be done with a coil of rope;
and some of them might even be practical. He could tow a boat
or lasso a horse. He could play cat"s-cradle, or pick oakum.
He could construct a rope-ladder for an eloping heiress, or cord
her boxes for a travelling maiden aunt. He could learn to tie a bow,
or he could hang himself. Far otherwise with the unfortunate
traveller who should find a telephone in the desert. You can
telephone with a telephone; you cannot do anything else with it.
And though this is one of the wildest joys of life, it falls by one
degree from its full delirium when there is nobody to answer you.
The contention is, in brief, that you must pull up a hundred roots,
and not one, before you uproot any of these hoary and simple expedients.
It is only with great difficulty that a modem scientific sociologist
can be got to see that any old method has a leg to stand on.
But almost every old method has four or five legs to stand on.
Almost all the old institutions are quadrupeds; and some of
them are centipedes.




e enjte, 25 tetor 2007

Dostoievsky himself is of it, and is luminous not with a mere



facet flash of its philosophy but with the whole orb of it
Dostoievsky himself is of it, and is luminous not with a mere
facet flash of its philosophy but with the whole orb of it. To
him the Russians 'are more than human, they are pan-human.'




III



III.--On Human Happiness, he has only a few general remarks. Happiness
is an object of essential and eternal value. Happiness is the _end_,
and the _only_ end, conceivable by us, of God"s providence and
government; but He pursues this end in subordination to rectitude.
Virtue tends to happiness, but does not always secure it. A person that
sacrifices his life rather than violate his conscience, or betray his
country, gives up all possibility of any present reward, and loses the
more in proportion as his virtue is more glorious.




e mërkurë, 24 tetor 2007

On the other hand, if, as the author believes, the moral feelings are



not innate, they are not for that reason less natural
On the other hand, if, as the author believes, the moral feelings are
not innate, they are not for that reason less natural. It is natural to
man to speak, to reason, to cultivate the ground, to build cities,
though these are acquired faculties. So the moral faculty, if not a
part of our nature, is a natural outgrowth of it; capable, in a certain
small degree, of springing up spontaneously, and of being brought to a
high pitch by means of cultivation. It is also susceptible, by the use
of the external sanctions and the force of early impressions, of being
cultivated in almost any direction, and of being perverted to absurdity
and mischief.




Mr



Mr. Webster had never great personal popularity. His presence was
majestic, but forbidding. His manners were agreeable, and sometimes
fascinating to his friends, when he was in a genial mood; but he was
often reserved or even austere to strangers, and terrible to his
enemies. His style of thought was mathematical, his language expressive,
but never popular. He wrote as a man would dictate an essay which was to
appear as a posthumous work. His eloquence was not that which often
passes for eloquence upon the stump or at the bar. He seldom attempted
to court the people, and when he did, it was as if he mocked himself,
and scorned the spirit which could be moved by the breezes of popular
favor. He was not free from faults, personal and political; yet he
acquired a control which has not been possessed by any man since
Washington. Whenever he was to speak, the public were anxious to hear
and to read. Hardly any man has had the fortune to present his views in
addresses, letters, and speeches, to so large a portion of his
countrymen; yet the people whom he addressed, and who were anxious for
his words and opinions, did not always, or even generally, agree with
him. Mr. Webster"s power was chiefly, if not solely, intellectual. He
had not the personal qualities of Mr. Clay or General Jackson; he was
not, like Mr. Jefferson the chosen exponent of a political creed, and
the admitted leader of a great political party; nor had he the military
character and universally acknowledged patriotism of General Washington,
which made him first in the hearts of his countrymen. Mr. Webster stands
alone. His domain is the intellect, and thus far in America he is
without a rival. To Mr. Webster, and to all men proportionately,
according to the measure of their gifts and attainments, we may apply
his great words: 'A superior and commanding human intellect, a truly
great man, when Heaven vouchsafes so rare a gift, is not a temporary
flame, burning brightly for a while, and then giving place to returning
darkness. It is rather a spark of fervent heat, as well as radiant
light, with power to enkindle the common mass of human mind; so that,
when it glimmers in its own decay, and finally goes out in death, no
night follows, but it leaves the world all light, all on fire, from the
potent contact of its own spirit.'




e martë, 23 tetor 2007

We should seek to comprehend the relations of the government, the



principles on which it is founded; and, while we justly complain of its
defects, and seek to remedy them, we ought also to compare it with other
systems that exist, or that might be established
We should seek to comprehend the relations of the government, the
principles on which it is founded; and, while we justly complain of its
defects, and seek to remedy them, we ought also to compare it with other
systems that exist, or that might be established. This proposition
involves an intelligent realization by the people of the character of
their institutions; and I am thus led to express the apprehension that
the popular political education of our day is inferior to that of the
revolutionary era, and of the age that immediately succeeded it.




The problem lying before each individual who would enter fully into this



rich world of environment, then, is to discover at first hand just as
large a part of the material world about him as possible
The problem lying before each individual who would enter fully into this
rich world of environment, then, is to discover at first hand just as
large a part of the material world about him as possible. In the most
humble environment of the most uneventful life is to be found the
material for discoveries and inventions yet undreamed of. Lying in the
shade of an apple tree under the open sky, Newton read from a falling
apple the fundamental principles of the law of gravitation which has
revolutionized science; sitting at a humble tea table Watt watched the
gurgling of the steam escaping from the kettle, and evolved the steam
engine therefrom; with his simple kite, Franklin drew down the lightning
from the clouds, and started the science of electricity; through
studying a ball, the ancient scholars conceived the earth to be a
sphere, and Columbus discovered America.




e hënë, 22 tetor 2007

During middle age, life"s active period, there is an equilibrium



between the body"s waste and repair: one equals the other
During middle age, life"s active period, there is an equilibrium
between the body"s waste and repair: one equals the other. The
machine, when properly managed, then holds its own. A French
physiologist fixes the close of this period for the ideal man of the
future at eighty, when, he says, old age begins. Few have such
inherited power, and live with such physiological wisdom, as to keep
their machine in good repair,--in good working-order,--to that late
period. From the age of twenty-five or thirty, however, to that of
sixty or sixty-five, this equilibrium occurs. Repair then equals
waste; reconstruction equals destruction. The female organization,
like the male, is now developed: its tissues are consolidated; its
functions are established. With decent care, it can perform an immense
amount of physical and mental labor. It is now capable of its best
work. But, in order to do its best, it must obey the law of
periodicity; just as the male organization, to do its best, must obey
the law of sustained effort.




Muller, Wirgin and others[15] have shown that alcohol restricts the



formation of antibodies (the function of which is to resist infection in
the blood) in rabbits, and Laitinen[16] has shown that the prolonged
administration of small doses in men (15 cc
Muller, Wirgin and others[15] have shown that alcohol restricts the
formation of antibodies (the function of which is to resist infection in
the blood) in rabbits, and Laitinen[16] has shown that the prolonged
administration of small doses in men (15 cc.) is sufficient to lower
vital resistance, especially to typhoid fever.