Take that we spoke of late, which draws to ground
The staff my hand lets fall; it draws at least—
Thus much man thinks and knows, if nothing more.
These lines were written in reference to Keely’s discovery of the infinite subdivision of the atom; for not until a much later period was Browning influenced by a New York journalist to look upon Keely as “a modern Cagliostro.” Keely’s discovery was the key-note of “Ferishtah’s Fancies,” written by Browning before he met this journalist.
Professor Koenig writes:—I have long given up the idea of understanding the Universe; with a little insight into its microcosm, I would feel quite satisfied; as every day it becomes more puzzling.
But there are no boundaries set to knowledge in the life of the Soul, and these discoveries reach out so far towards the Infinite, that we are led by them to realize how much there is left for science to explore in the supposed unfathomable depths of the etheric domain, whence proceeds the influence that connects us with that infinite and eternal energy from which all things proceed.
The attitude of willingness to receive truths, of whatever nature, now manifested by men of science in regard to Keely’s experimental research, is shared by all who are not “wise in their own conceit.” They stand ready to welcome, while waiting for proof, the discovery of Darwin’s grand-niece, Mrs. F. J. Hughes, as now demonstrated by Keely, viz., that the laws which develop and control harmonies, develop and control the universe; and they will rejoice to be convinced (as Keely teaches) that all corpuscular aggregation absorbs energy, holding it latent in its embrace until liberated by a certain order of vibration; that nature does not aggregate one form of matter under one law, and another form of matter under another law. When this has been demonstrated, to their entire satisfaction, they will acknowledge that Faraday’s speculations on the nature of force and matter pointed the way to Keely’s discoveries. Some broad-minded men have been pursuing lines of research which give evidence of their desire to solve the problem for themselves as to the mode of rupturing the atom, which science declares to be indivisible. Before any great scientific principle receives distinct enunciation, says Tyndall, it has dwelt more or less clearly in many minds. The intellectual plateau is already high, and our discoverers are those who, like peaks above the plateau, rise over the general level of thought at the time. If, as Browning has said,
’Tis not what man does which exalts him, but what man would do,
surely this discoverer merits the sympathy and the admiration of all men, whether he succeeds commercially or not, for his persistent efforts to make his discoveries of use to the world. Keely has always said that scientists would never be able to understand his discoveries until he had reached some practical or commercial result. Only now he sees an interest awakened among men of science, which is as gratifying to him as it is unexpected. For the first time in his life, he is working with the appreciation of men competent to comprehend what he has done in the past, and what remains to be done in the future, without one aspiration on their part for monetary results.
Foremost among these men was the late Joseph Leidy, Professor of Biology in the University of Pennsylvania; but physicists were not satisfied to take the opinion of this great man, because he was a biologist. What better preparation than the study of the science of life could a man have to qualify him for discriminating between laws of nature as conjectured by physicists, and Nature’s operations as demonstrated by Keely?