458 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
been proved to be true. A mere theory will make little head- way because no one will feel any humiliation in either not know- ing it or not accepting it. But when the indications fairly set in that it is something scientifically demonstrated, ignorance becomes a disgrace and non-acceptance a proof of ignorance. A rivalry springs up both to know and to embrace, and thou- sands who have only the most meager acquaintance with such truths openly defend them.
The history of science is full of illustrations. The profound impression which any great cosmic truth makes even upon the least instructed portion of the public is well exemplified in the dis- covery, or rather rediscovery, of the heliocentric system by Coper- nicus and Galileo. Although at first antagonized by the church as contrary to Holy Writ, it was soon universally accepted and came to constitute a part of the stock of knowledge of millions who could not follow out the simplest mathematical demonstra- tion, clearly showing that it is not necessary to be an astronomer or a mathematician to understand laws that have taxed the brains of the ablest astronomers and mathematicians to demonstrate.
Passing to physics, not to speak of the discovery of the law of gravitation which is so closely connected with the heliocen- tric system, but which everybody now understands in a certain way, we may note the social effect of the establishment of the law of the conservation of energy. How profoundly it influences the life and even the conduct of all but the very lowest classes of society. Everybody realizes that the invisible powers around him have been rescued from a state of chaos and reduced to a condition of law. Add to this the inspiration it has lent to invention and the condition it has furnished for the recent strides in engineering and mechanic art.
The march of geological truth has not been less prolific of social results. The knowledge of the world that has resulted from the researches of Werner, Blumenbach, Hutton and Lyell has exerted a moral influence that penetrates into the lowest strata of society. It has also led to the development of the resources of the earth as nothing else could have done.
