scope, costing only about twenty-five cents, and known as a "linen tester," furnished the necessary magnifying.
(3360)
USELESS STRUCTURES
Science speaks of useless physiological structures, as when we read in "The Descent of Man":
Man, as well as every other animal, presents
structures which, as far as we can
judge with our little knowledge, are not now
of any service to him, nor have been so
during any former period of his existence,
either in relation to his general condition of
life, or of one sex to the other. Such structures
can not be accounted for by any form
of selection, or by the inherited effects of the
use and disuse of parts.
Useless structures are not discerned
alone by science. History and experience,
in the large field of life, have
seen them many times. The efforts of
man have often reclaimed "useless
structures."
(3361)
USURY IN OLD DAYS
Our Pilgrims were few and poor. The
whole outfit of this historic voyage, including
£1,700 of trading stock, was only
£2,400, and how little was required for their
succor appears in the experience of the soldier,
Captain Miles Standish, who, being
sent to England for assistance—not military,
but financial—(God save the mark!)—succeeded
in borrowing—how much do you suppose?—£150
sterling. Something in the way
of help; and the historian adds, "tho at fifty
per cent interest." So much for a valiant
soldier on a financial expedition. A later
agent, Allerton, was able to borrow for the
colony £200 at a reduced interest of thirty
per cent. Plainly, the money-sharks of our
day may trace an undoubted pedigree to
these London merchants.—Charles Sumner.
(3362)
UTILITY
Many men decide values as Russell Sage did in this incident from The Saturday Evening Post, which illustrates the thrift which has always been present in all transactions made by Russell Sage:
A prominent New York financier says that
recently, while on a tour of inspection over
the Missouri Pacific system, President Gould
took great pride in pointing out to Russell
Sage the late improvements in equipment,
and various new and ingenious devices and
attachments. Among the latter Mr. Gould
was especially pleased to show to Mr. Sage
a certain device by which there is registered
the speed of a train. The device in question
resembled a steam-gage, and was connected
with an axle, so that the pointer registered
the number of revolutions every minute.
Mr. Sage examined the device with great interest. Then, after a moment's pause, he looked up at Mr. Gould, and asked with great solemnity, "Does it earn anything?" "No, I think not," answered the president. "Does it save anything?" "No." "Then," concluded Mr. Sage decidedly, "I would not have it on my car!"
(3363)
See Currents, Utilizing.
UTILITY AS THEISTIC EVIDENCE
Man reasons from himself to the great cause of things. That which is true of man may be true of God.
A prospect-glass or a forceps is an instrument;
they have each a final cause; that
is, they were each made and adjusted for a
certain use. The use of the prospect-glass
is to assist the eye; the use of the forceps is
to assist the hand. The prospect-glass was
made the better to see; the forceps, the better
to grasp. The use did not make these
instruments; they were each made for the
use—which use was foreseen and premeditated
in the mind of the maker of them.
We say of each of them without a shadow
of hesitation: If this had not first been a
thought, it could never have been a thing.
(3364)
UTILITY, DIVINE
Preaching, like every other thing that God permits or ordains, can not be limited by human regulations. Rev. W. H. Fitchett says of John Wesley:
John Wesley heard at Bristol that his
helper, Maxfield, had crossed the mystic border-line
which separates an exhortation from
a sermon, and the story has already been told
of how Wesley rode post-haste to London to
trample out the first sparks of what might
prove to be a conflagration. His mother's
calm eyes and quiet speech arrested him.
She made the one appeal which, to Wesley's
