it either fatal or physically impossible to remain in the vicinity of a safe or vault, were the walls or doors tampered with to such an extent as to allow access to the interior. By use of a very simple form of apparatus containing potassium cyanid and sulfuric acid, a robber would expose himself to the deadly fumes of prussic acid.
Less dangerous, through possibilities of accident to those regularly using a safe, would be the employment of substances crippling a safe-blower or forcing him to an instantaneous retreat. The volatilization of a few drops of ethyl-dichlor-acetate would cause such profuse and persistent weeping that one in the neighborhood would be temporarily blinded if he persisted in remaining. The breaking of a tube of liquid ammonia would render immediate withdrawal
imperative under peril of suffocation.—Thomas H. Norton, Machinery.
(2837)
SCIENCE SHATTERING SUPERSTITIONS There are large numbers of people perpetually bemoaning our degeneracy, and sighing over the departure of the "good old times" of our early American life. The reason of the present distressing state of affairs I heard explained not long ago. One man thought it was because all the "good old doctrines" were nowadays not preached at all, and the other was equally sure that it was because they were preached all the time. Never was a grander fallacy than this whole idea. Never was more ignorance of the past displayed than by those who talk of the falling away of modern times. Never was the Church so bright and fair as now, and never did the sky of the future redden with a more glorious promise of the coming day. In those "good old times" men lived under the horrid shadows of frightful superstitions. Now it is to modern science only that we owe our emancipation from the yoke of this awful tyranny. Scientific explorers have been over the earth; and finding no mouth of hell, that is gone. Science has explained earthquakes and volcanoes, and now devils fight no longer in the bowels of the earth. Etna and Vesuvius are no longer vent-holes of the pit. Astronomy has shattered the follies of astrology; and people have found out that the stars are minding their own business instead of meddling with theirs, and eclipses are no longer moon-swallowing monsters—are only very natural and well behaved shadows. Since psychology is studied we know that witchcraft is folly, and insanity only a disease to be treated and cured. Thus science—like a mother going up-stairs to bed with her frightened boy—has been with her candle into all the old dark corners that used to make us creep, and cringe, and shiver with terror.—Minot J. Savage, The Arena.
(2838)
SCIENCE TRAINS TO SEE Where the untrained eye will see nothing but mire and dirt (says Sir John Lubbock), science will often reveal exquisite possibilities. The mud we tread under our feet in the street is a grimy mixture of clay and sand, soot and water. Separate the sand, however, as Ruskin observes—let the atoms arrange themselves in peace according to their nature—and you have the opal. Separate the clay and it becomes a white earth, for the finest porcelain; or if it still further purifies itself you have a sapphire. Take the soot, and if properly treated it will give you a diamond. While, lastly, the water purified and distilled, will become a dew-drop or crystallize into a lovely star. Or, again, you may see in a shallow pool either the mud lying at the bottom or the image of the sky above.—Public Opinion.
(2839)
Scripture—See Conscience.
Scripture and Experience—See Interpretation
by Experience.
SCRIPTURE FOR ALL OCCASIONS
If you have the blues read the Twenty-seventh
Psalm.
If your pocket-book is empty read the Thirty-seventh Psalm.
If people seem unkind, 1 John 4.
If you are discouraged about your work, 126th Psalm.
If you are all out of sorts, twelfth chapter Hebrews.
If you are losing confidence in men, thirteenth chapter, 1 Corinthians.
If you can not have your own way about everything, James 3.
If you are anxious, Matthew 6.—Honolulu Times.
(2840)
Scruples, Hindering—See Action, Instant.
SCRUPLES, MINUTE
Roger North gives an instance of the
lawyer's absurd attachment to mere forms.
In his days the Court of Common Pleas used
to sit in Westminster Hall, close to the
great door, in order that suitors and their
