It matters not for us whether
Columbus ever knew that he had discovered a new continent. His
work was to teach that neither hydra, chimera nor abyss--neither
divine injunction nor infernal machination--was in the way of men
visiting every part of the globe, and that the problem of
conquering the world reduced itself to one of sails and rigging,
hull and compass. The better part of Copernicus was to direct man
to a view-point whence he should see that the heavens were of like
matter with the earth. All this done, the acorn was planted from
which the oak of our civilization should spring. The mad quest for
gold which followed the discovery of Columbus, the questionings
which absorbed the attention of the learned, the indignation
excited by the seeming vagaries of a Paracelsus, the fear and
trembling lest the strange doctrine of Copernicus should undermine
the faith of centuries, were all helps to the germination of the
seed--stimuli to thought which urged it on to explore the new
fields opened up to its occupation. This given, all that has since
followed came out in regular order of development, and need be
here considered only in those phases having a special relation to
the purpose of our present meeting.
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