Note 1 — Chapter XIII · 1891. “MORE SCIENCE.”

All thoughtful men who have witnessed the latest developments of the force displayed by Keely, in his researching experiments for aerial navigation, are made to realize that more through his discoveries, than by the progressive development of the altruistic element in humanity (dreamed of by speculative optimists), our race will be brought into that dispensation of peace and harmony, anticipated by “seers” and foretold by prophets as the millennial age. It requires no great measure of foresight to discern, as a natural consequence of the control and application of this force in art and commerce, that ameliorated condition of the masses which will end the mighty conflict now so blindly being waged between capital and labour.1 And to the eye of faith, it is not difficult to look beyond the intervening æons of centuries, to the literal fulfilment of the promise of that millennial period when men shall live in brotherly love together; making heaven of earth as even now it is in our power to do if we live up to Christ’s command: “Whatsoever ye would that others should do unto you, that do ye also unto them.” Had some of the dogmatic scientists of this age followed this command, Keely’s discovery might have been sooner known in all its importance, protecting him, as their acknowledgment would have done, from the persecutions that have operated so detrimentally against the completion of researches which should have been finished before any attempt was made to apply the discovery to commercial ends. No scientist who witnessed the production of the force, displayed by Keely, in a proper spirit, but would have been welcomed by him to further experiments in its operations, as were Professor Leidy and Dr. Wilcox in 1889. So, in truth, those who printed their edicts against Keely about ten years since are, in part, responsible for the loss to the world which this long delay has occasioned. Still, in view of the acknowledged fact that not one of the great laws which science now accepts as incontrovertible truths, but was vehemently denied by the scientists of its time, declared to be a priori impossible; its discoverers and supporters denounced as fools or charlatans, and even investigation refused as being a waste of time and thought; it would be too much to expect from the thinkers of this age any greater degree of readiness to investigate claims, that threatened to demolish their cherished notions, than characterized their predecessors.