The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 30, 1900, Page 6

6 HEINR\CH \\HEINE ) ALEXANDRE D s VMA J\ von Gosthe the Whit rican po: the pow lar It was no lon {forms, but the c itman of a religion gmas, of an athletic democ- flant health and the creative wers of mankind. The new giant had found a giant spokesman in its native poet of P al forest and limitless airie, of ecy of good nding love and proph- ne. 1 to cc Founder of the historical romance, the wave of which is now passing over the literary sea, was Sir Walter Scott (1 1832). His was the purpose of celebrating the glories of br v, chivalry, p e, as revealed in the histor s of Scotland and England. His Waverley novels attracted theatten- tion not only of the English-speaking d, but of all Europe besldes, giving to the school of historical romance, with all its faults and few virtues. His “Ivanhoe” will always be loved by the youthful ; his “Bride of Lam- mermoo will appeal to the sympathies of generations. The ring of his poems, too, will hold many youthful hearts, too fresh for criticisy But the supreme in the estimation of the William Makepeace Thackeray 1863), whose depicting of character, psych- . fi\ ————— 10nu beca aintances \nd there is His Pi an smile ill interest thou yuld nd the nd a ade mp and which the with pt by unborn ryday 1 cghitine Lotrd Bv. ms,” with me Lieder” of the inco: within a hu iparable geniuses produced dred years Beyvond question the most finlshed poet of the period was Alfred Tennvson (1509-1892) he marvelous perfe verse easily him f the his conten of his melodi him to every one who had ear or heart for true poetry. His noble elegy, “In M 0, his romantic “Idyils of the F and a hundred shorter poems enshrine his fame for all time. Ana what of that great metaphysic: poet of the age, Robert Browning (1812- 1859)? His power of conception, his vivid- ness of imagery are more than compen- sations for involved thought and elisions that confuse all but the most thoughtful reader. Tennyson may not have been able to understand ‘“‘Sordello,”” but the “Blot on the 'Scutcheon” has been called the greatest poem of the age. The breadth of his sympathy, the depth of his thought and the wholesomeness of his life and theories have made good Browning's claim to a place in the front rank of the commanaing spirits of the age. Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) belongs to the century more than his date would suggest, for his criticlsm and his works prepared the sofl for the development of the genius of Goethe, and armed the mind of the public against false ideals of art. His “Laocoon,” for instance, is still studied for its excellent style, as well as its doctrines on esthet! It is a pity .that his “Wilhelm Tel!” is spoiled for many foreign pupils by being taken as a text book, for it is a skilifully arranged and charming drama. It is, however, in THE SUNDAY CALL NN — s LESLEY WELLINGTON - long s most popuifr reat service for k work by philosophy. anc the ablest of E idea is, without doubt, or vy minds. glisk originator of the romantic novel I entury. was Victor Huego L 1 his boyhood, 4 most perfect 0od, putting so ‘much ue feeling into his poems ine me.of universal interest. ned no little sue- he “le he s as a novelist that = richest laurels of fame. this does not vet seem to be waning. Alexandre Dumas '(1803-1870) was no less suc adventure, and ands. of Monte men'’ has ) be for- much ge as they name stands foremost as a nove Hawthorne (1304 t, that of Nathaniel ). Covering the new ve the world the s well as the no < delightful “House of Seven Gables,” with all its poetic power, The head of the ie its owner, literature first from recognized Ameri & a force to be reckoned wi the works of Hawthorne. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1507- 1882) is the most popular of America's poets. It is true that he transferred the romanticism of the early part of the cen- tury from Europe to the Western Conti- nent,~but there was an originality in his method which made the o0ld ideas new on new soil, fawdth the great epic of the departing Indian; “Evangeline” epitome of the romance of the new Aca- dia, and ‘““The Courtship of Miles Stan- dish” the tuneful romance of stern Puri- ta His shorter poems are favorites with many of the people who seek the simply beautiful and melodious. The chicf man of letters of the new world was James Russell Lowell. even though there is no one supremely great production from his pen. “The Biglow Paper were a historic force, and the keen criticism of his numerous essays made for the best appreciation of the no- blest in literature. As the well rounded literary character who could write lvric, epic or satirical poems, trenchant critical essays and 'state papers of weight and worth with equal facility and finish, Lowell stands forth as the hest expression of manhood that the American literary word has known. TISTS.—He who lald the founda- tions t was to follow by seek- ing out heaven's first law, order, was Alexander von Humboldt (1 whose majestic sweep of mind the of the world were re harmanious ene visit to His America (in. hily been termed econd d ) ew World. spread of his ception of the harmoaious whole e, and the part which the minutest particle plays in the economy of the warld, ke leveled the path for the more revolutionary work which was to follow. Charles Darwin (1808-1882) was the man who gave the century its characteristic theory and the principle which underlay The young naturalist, who had been ay for a five years’ trip on the Beagle, prepared to doubt the accepted dogma of the permanence and invaria- bility of species, but it was not until he bad found an explanation of the process by which one species develops from an- r in the theory of “natural selecti he made announcement of his revo- overy (1858) in *““The Origin of Species. Since his day the kindred sciences have come forward to support his theory, and paleontolegy and embryology have con- firmed the principle laid down by Darwin. Electrical science was in its infancy, with little more than the existence of elec- tric force recognized, when Michael Faraday (1791-1867) was discovered by Sir Humphry .Davy binding books. The se- crets of voltaic and magnetic induction vielded to Faraday's experiments, and electrolysis, the wonderful chemical ac- tion of the electric current, followed. He was the pathfinder in practical elec- tricity, the one man to whom the applica- tion of electricity to practical purposes 1s due. What this means needs but a glance about us to understand. The spread of scientific knowledge among the people has risen to great heights chiefly through the influence of Thomas Huxley (1825-18%5). Like Dar- win, he began work on one of the vessels sent out by the, British Government, and it was after the publication of “The Ori- 8in of Specles” that he began his life task of convincing the people of the tmuth of evolution, FIFTY GREATEST MEN What rthe Present and et By ren and voice he fought for and with Darwin, arousing antagonism especially by his position toward orthodoxy. He was the inventor of the much-abused term agnosticism, helping largely in the modern movement which has made it im- possible to blame people for doubt, The moSt popular and widely known representative of the host of men engaged upon the study of bacteria and the pre- vention of disease by special inoculation is Louis Pasteur (1822-18%5). He solved many chemical problems in early life and by 1858 had given his name to a method of removing the harmful bacteria from water by special flitration. He is regarded chiefly, however, for the success with which his inoculation for the cure of hydrophobia has met, since 1584. The century has seen some great changes in methods of government and in the raps of the various powers. For these changes the responsibility rests first upon THE STATESMEN.—The Iron Chancel- lor of United Germany welded by his own blows into a permanent whole, Otto Ed- ward Leopold von Bismarck-Schoen- hausen (1815-18%) towers above the hori- zon In all his power. Trained In diplo- macy in St. Petersburg and Paris, he re- turned to become President of the Cabinet and to close a parliament which would not vota the money for the reorganizing of the arroy. He accomplished his purposes re- lentlessly, humiliating Austria in 1366 and taking Alsace-Lorraine from France in 1570 The unity of Germany is his achieve- ment, and the reform of the coinage, codi- fication of the laws, nationalization of the rafiroads and introduction of a pro- tective tariff were but means to this end. The power that he wielded was more au- tocratic than that of any monarch, but it drew its warrant from the strength of his personality alone. In constructive statesmanship Benia- min Disraeli (1804-1581) came nearest in achievement to Bismarck, though his method was altogether different. It is to him that Victoria owes her title of Em- press of India (1578), and to him was the passage of the reform bill (I867) largely due, If he had to achieve by indirect methods what Bismarck did by force it was due to the difawan: fiellum in whick he worked. His great opponent, England's Grand Old Man, (1809-1898; Ewart the 1 Wllliadm was in d and her w ways could never suc bill for home rule there. Charles Stewart Parnell the Irish state cestry back to A< was the first pr miral ident tewart, £ the the leader of the in 1880. It was with him formed the parlia home rule bill, w} of all the Irish mer split in the Libe Lord Salisbury The great r this departme Thiers ( Glad beral 1 an, who traced Irish Irish home rule par 8 N, t Land League, in 1579, and succeeded Shaw as stone 1848-1391), an-