THE BATTALION
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solar system. Mathematics exposed to Galileo, with the as
sistance of the telescope, the satelites of Jupiter and the moon.-
It was mathematics that urged Columbus to start out on the-
unknown waters to find the lost Atlantis. It was mathematics
that led Torricelli to calculate upon the pressure of the at
mosphere. Mathematics showed Pascal the pressure of liquid,,
it elucidated to Newton the laws of gravitation, and it made
clear, besides those above enumerated, a large number of ma
terial phenomena which were entirely unknown to mankind..
Without mathematics we would still have believed that the
sun is still revolving around the earth, and dwell in constant
fear that at some unexpected day some supernatural being
might arise and command him to stop his jonrney. Without
mathematics the new world would still have been hidden be
yond the distant horizon, and the glittering hills which span
the Hesperian clime would still have been occupied by the-
savage Indian. Commerce, the principal agent of civilization^
is the offspring of mathematics, as only through its instru
mentality all inventions have been made possible. Mathe
matics is the destroyer of all physical barriers, and this makes
the progress of mankind possible. By its assistance the hu
man race is enabled to live as one family, to be united in
bonds of sympathy, and above all through its instrumentality
we are enabled to better comprehend the workings of nature,
and thereby recognize the existence of a supreme being by
whose hand everything is guided.
A. M. Hildebrandt.
The jNeeessity of a General Education to a Spe«
eialist.
In this age it has become necessary to many of the pres
ent rising generation to select some special form of livelihood
which can be practiced without going to the expense of a long
course of general education such as was found in the institu
tions of learning half a century ago. This necessity is not
alone the characteristic of our generation—it has been true