Comparing information and knowledge is like asking whether the fatness of a
We are drowning in information but starved for knowledge.
Defining philosophy as “an activity, attempting by means of discussion and reasoning, to make life happy,” he believed that happiness is gained through the achievement of moral self-sufficiency (autarkeia) and freedom from disturbance (ataraxia). The main obstacles to the goal of tranquillity of mind are our unnecessary fears and desires, and the only way to eliminate these is to study natural science. The most serious disturbances of all are fear of death, including fear of punishment after death, and fear of the gods. Scientific inquiry removes fear of death by showing that the mind and spirit are material and mortal, so that they cannot live on after we die: as Epicurus neatly and logically puts it: “Death…is nothing to us: when we exist, death is not present; and when death is present, we do not exist. Consequently it does not concern either the living or the dead, since for the living it is non-existent and the dead no longer exist” (Letter to Menoeceus 125). As for fear of the gods, that disappears when scientific investigation proves that the world was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, that the gods live outside the world and have no inclination or power to intervene in its affairs, and that irregular phenomena such as lightning, thunder, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes have natural causes and are not manifestations of divine anger. Every Epicurean would have agreed with Katisha in the Mikado when she sings: But to him who’s scientific There’s nothing that’s terrific In the falling of a flight of thunderbolts! So the study of natural science is the necessary means whereby the ethical end is attained. And that is its only justification: Epicurus is not interested in scientific knowledge for its own sake, as is clear from his statement that “if we were not disturbed by our suspicions concerning celestial phenomena, and by our fear that death concerns us, and also by our failure to understand the limits of pains and desires, we should have no need of natural science” (Principal Doctrines 11). Lucretius’ attitude is precisely the same as his master’s: all the scientific information in his poem is presented with the aim of removing the disturbances, especially fear of death and fear of the gods, that prevent the attainment of tranquillity of mind. It is very important for the reader of On the Nature of Things to bear this in mind all the time, particularly since the content of the work is predominantly scientific and no systematic exposition of Epicurean ethics is provided.25 Epicurus despised philosophers who do not make it their business to improve people’s moral condition: “Vain is the word of a philosopher by whom no human suffering is cured. For just as medicine is of no use if it fails to banish the diseases of the body, so philosophy is of no use if it fails to banish the suffering of the mind” (Usener fr. 221). It is evident that he would have condemned the majority of modern philosophers and scientists.
Of the various executive abilities, no one excited more anxious concern than that of placing the interests of our fellow-citizens in the hands of honest men, with understanding sufficient for their stations. No duty is at the same time more difficult to fulfil. The knowledge of character possessed by a single individual is of necessity limited. To seek out the best through the whole Union, we must resort to the information which from the best of men, acting disinterestedly and with the purest motives, is sometimes incorrect.
Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
A popular Government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy, or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.
We are drowning in information but starved for knowledge. -- John Naisbitt, Megatrends
Comparing information and knowledge is like asking whether the fatness of a pig is more or less green than the designated hitter rule." -- David Guaspari
Comparing information and knowledge is like asking whether the fatness of a pig is more or less green than the designated hitter rule." -- David Guaspari
"Remember, Information is not knowledge; Knowledge is not Wisdom; Wisdom is not truth; Truth is not beauty; Beauty is not love; Love is not music; Music is the best." -- Frank Zappa
A _Bill of Sight_ is a document furnished to a collector of customs or other proper officer by an importer of goods in England, who, being unable for want of full information to make a perfect entry of goods consigned to him, describes the same to the best of his knowledge and information. The goods may then be provisionally landed, but perfect entry must be made within three days by indorsing on the bill of sight the necessary particulars. In default of perfect entry within three days the goods are taken to the king's warehouse, and if perfect entry is not made within one month and all duties and charges paid, they are sold for payment thereof. See the Customs Consolidation Act 1876. Entry: A
There appeared to be reason for supposing that the drowned informer had hoped for a reward out of this forfeiture, and had obtained some accurate knowledge of Magwitch's affairs. When his body was found, many miles from the scene of his death, and so horribly disfigured that he was only recognizable by the contents of his pockets, notes were still legible, folded in a case he carried. Among these were the name of a banking-house in New South Wales, where a sum of money was, and the designation of certain lands of considerable value. Both these heads of information were in a list that Magwitch, while in prison, gave to Mr. Jaggers, of the possessions he supposed I should inherit. His ignorance, poor fellow, at last served him; he never mistrusted but that my inheritance was quite safe, with Mr. Jaggers's aid.
From this day natural philosophy, and particularly chemistry, in the most comprehensive sense of the term, became nearly my sole occupation. I read with ardour those works, so full of genius and discrimination, which modern inquirers have written on these subjects. I attended the lectures and cultivated the acquaintance of the men of science of the university, and I found even in M. Krempe a great deal of sound sense and real information, combined, it is true, with a repulsive physiognomy and manners, but not on that account the less valuable. In M. Waldman I found a true friend. His gentleness was never tinged by dogmatism, and his instructions were given with an air of frankness and good nature that banished every idea of pedantry. In a thousand ways he smoothed for me the path of knowledge and made the most abstruse inquiries clear and facile to my apprehension. My application was at first fluctuating and uncertain; it gained strength as I proceeded and soon became so ardent and eager that the stars often disappeared in the light of morning whilst I was yet engaged in my laboratory.
She began now to comprehend that he was exactly the man who, in disposition and talents, would most suit her. His understanding and temper, though unlike her own, would have answered all her wishes. It was an union that must have been to the advantage of both; by her ease and liveliness, his mind might have been softened, his manners improved; and from his judgement, information, and knowledge of the world, she must have received benefit of greater importance.
Again the abbe looked at him, then mournfully shook his head; but in accordance with Dantes' request, he began to speak of other matters. The elder prisoner was one of those persons whose conversation, like that of all who have experienced many trials, contained many useful and important hints as well as sound information; but it was never egotistical, for the unfortunate man never alluded to his own sorrows. Dantes listened with admiring attention to all he said; some of his remarks corresponded with what he already knew, or applied to the sort of knowledge his nautical life had enabled him to acquire. A part of the good abbe's words, however, were wholly incomprehensible to him; but, like the aurora which guides the navigator in northern latitudes, opened new vistas to the inquiring mind of the listener, and gave fantastic glimpses of new horizons, enabling him justly to estimate the delight an intellectual mind would have in following one so richly gifted as Faria along the heights of truth, where he was so much at home.
Since the incorporation of the British consular service in the civil service there have been several proposals to "reform" the system with the view of increasing its usefulness, more particularly from the point of view of providing assistance to British trade abroad (see _Reports of Special Committees of the House of Commons on the Consular Service_, 1858, 1872, 1903). It has been frequently urged that British consuls in their commercial knowledge and intercourse with foreign merchants compare unfavourably, for example, with the consuls of the United States. It must be remembered, however, that there are points of striking dissimilarity between the duties of the consuls of these two countries. The American consul is necessarily brought much into touch with the trade and commerce of the country to which he is assigned through the system of consular invoices (see Ad Valorem); in his ordinary reports he is not confined to one stereotyped form, and when preparing special reports (a valuable feature of the United States consular service) he is liberally treated as regards any expense to which he has been put in obtaining information. He is practically free from the multifarious duties which the English consul has to discharge in connexion with the mercantile marine, nor has he to perform marriage ceremonies; and financially he is much better off, being allowed to retain as personal all fees obtained from his notarial duties. The Committee of 1903 was appointed to inquire, _inter alia_, whether the limits of age--25 to 50--for candidates should be altered, and whether service as a vice-consul for a certain period should be required to qualify for promotion to the rank of consul; whether means could not be adopted to give consular officers opportunities of increasing their practical knowledge of commercial matters and to bring them more into personal contact with the commercial community. The suggestions of the committee as the result of its inquiries were adopted in principle by the Foreign Office. The consular service is now grouped into three main divisions: (1) the general service; (2) Levant and Persia; and (3) China, Japan, Korea and Siam. The general consular service is graded into three divisions: first grade, consuls-general, salary £1000 with local allowances; second grade, consuls-general and consuls, salary £800 and local allowances; third grade, consuls, salary £600, with local allowances. Vice-consuls have an annual salary of £350, rising by annual increments of £15 to £450. In the general consular service appointments are sometimes made to the higher offices from the ranks, but more usually from a select list of nominees, who must pass a qualifying examination. A proportion of the vacancies are reserved for competition amongst candidates who have had actual commercial experience. Divisions 2 and 3 are recruited by open competition. There were at one time a small number of commercial agents whose business consisted in watching and reporting on the commerce, industries and products of special districts, and in answering inquiries on commercial subjects. Their duties were subsequently transferred to the consular staff, and a new class of officers, consular attachés, created. The consular attachés divide their time between special investigations abroad, and visits to manufacturing districts in the United Kingdom. The headquarters of the commercial attachés in Europe, except those at Paris and Constantinople, were transferred to London, without defined districts, in 1907 (see _Report on the System of British Commercial Attachés and Agents_, 1908, Cd. 3610). "Pro-consuls" are frequently appointed for the purpose of administering oaths, taking affidavits or affirmations, and performing notarial acts under the Commissioners for Oaths Acts 1889. Entry: A
For his knowledge of public affairs the emperor is thus largely dependent upon such information as courtiers and high officers of state permit to reach him.[29] The palace eunuchs have often exercised great power, though their influence has been less under the Manchus than was the case during previous dynasties. Though in theory the throne commands the services and money of all its subjects yet the crown as such has no revenues peculiarly its own. It is dependent on contributions levied through the high officials on the several provinces, subject always to the will of the people, and without their concurrence and co-operation nothing can be done.[30] The power of the purse and the power of the sword are thus exercised mediately, and the autocratic power is in practice transferred to the general body of high functionaries, or to that clique which for the time being has the ear of the emperor, and is united enough and powerful enough to impose its will on the others. Entry: IV
b. A considerable proportion of healthy sane persons can induce hallucinations of vision by gazing fixedly at a polished surface or into some dark translucent mass; or of hearing, by applying a large shell or similar object to the ear. These methods of inducing hallucinations, especially the former, have long been practised in many countries as modes of divination, various objects being used, e.g. a drop of ink in the palm of the hand, or a polished finger-nail. The object now most commonly used is a polished sphere of clear glass or crystal (see CRYSTAL-GAZING). Hence such hallucinations go by the name of _crystal visions_. The crystal vision often appears as a picture of some distant or unknown scene lying, as it were, in the crystal; and in the picture figures may come and go, and move to and fro, in a perfectly natural manner. In other cases, written or printed words or sentences appear. The percipient, seer or scryer, commonly seems to be in a fully waking state as he observes the objects thus presented. He is usually able to describe and discuss the appearances, successively discriminating details by attentive observation, just as when observing an objective scene; and he usually has no power of controlling them, and no sense of having produced them by his own activity. In some cases these visions have brought back to the mind of the scryer facts or incidents which he could not voluntarily recollect. In other cases they are asserted by credible witnesses to have given to the scryer information, about events distant in time or place, that had not come to his knowledge by normal means. These cases have been claimed as evidence of telepathic communication or even of clairvoyance. But at present the number of well-attested cases of this sort is too small to justify acceptance of this conclusion by those who have only secondhand knowledge of them. Entry: II
_Welwitschia (Tumboa)._--This is by far the most remarkable member of the Gnetales, both as regards habit and the form of its flowers. In a supplement to the systematic work of Engler and Prantl the well-known name _Welwitschia_, instituted by Hooker in 1864 in honour of Welwitsch, the discoverer of the plant, is superseded by that of _Tumboa_, originally suggested by Welwitsch. The genus is confined to certain localities in Damaraland and adjoining territory on the west coast of tropical South Africa. A well-grown plant projects less than a foot above the surface of the ground; the stem, which may have a circumference of more than 12 ft., terminates in a depressed crown resembling a circular table with a median groove across the centre and prominent broad ridges concentric with the margin. The thick tuberous stem becomes rapidly narrower, and passes gradually downwards into a tap-root. A pair of small strap-shaped leaves succeed the two cotyledons of the seedling, and persist as the only leaves during the life of the plant; they retain the power of growth in their basal portion, which is sunk in a narrow groove near the edge of the crown, and the tough lamina, 6 ft. in length, becomes split into narrow strap-shaped or thong-like strips which trail on the ground. Numerous circular pits occur on the concentric ridges of the depressed and wrinkled crown, marking the position of former inflorescences borne in the leaf-axil at different stages in the growth of the plant. An inflorescence has the form of a dichotomously-branched cyme bearing small erect cones; those containing the female flowers attain the size of a fir-cone, and are scarlet in colour. Each cone consists of an axis, on which numerous broad and thin bracts are arranged in regular rows; in the axil of each bract occurs a single flower; a male flower is enclosed by two opposite pairs of leaves, forming a perianth surrounding a central sterile ovule encircled by a ring of stamens united below, but free distally as short filaments, each of which terminates in a trilocular anther. The integument of the sterile ovule is prolonged above the nucellus as a spirally-twisted tube expanded at its apex into a flat stigma-like organ. A complete and functional female flower consists of a single ovule with two integuments, the inner of which is prolonged into a narrow tubular micropyle, like that in the flower of _Gnetum_. The megaspore of _Welwitschia_ is filled with a prothallus-tissue before fertilization, and some of the prothallus-cells function as egg-cells; these grow upwards as long tubes into the apical region of the nucellus, where they come into contact with the pollen-tubes. After the egg-cells have been fertilized by the non-motile male cells they grow into tubular proembryos, producing terminal embryos. The stem is traversed by numerous collateral bundles, which have a limited growth, and are constantly replaced by new bundles developed from strands of secondary meristem. One of the best-known anatomical characteristics of the genus is the occurrence of numerous spindle-shaped or branched fibres with enormously-thickened walls studded with crystals of calcium oxalate. Additional information has been published by Professor Pearson of Cape Town based on material collected in Damaraland in 1904 and 1906-1907. In 1906 he gave an account of the early stages of development of the male and female organs and, among other interesting statements in regard to the general biology of _Welwitschia_, he expressed the opinion that, as Hooker suspected, the ovules are pollinated by insect-agency. In a later paper Pearson considerably extended our knowledge of the reproduction and gametophyte of this genus. Entry: A
HOWARD, CATHERINE (d. 1542), the fifth queen of Henry VIII., was a daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and a granddaughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd duke of Norfolk (d. 1524). Her father was very poor, and Catherine lived mainly with Agnes, widow of the 2nd duke of Norfolk, meeting the king at the house of Stephen Gardiner, bishop of Winchester. Henry was evidently charmed by her; the Roman Catholic party, who disliked the marriage with Anne of Cleves, encouraged his attentions; and after Anne's divorce he was privately married to Catherine at Oatlands in July 1540. Soon afterwards she was publicly acknowledged as queen. Before her marriage Catherine had had several lovers, among them being a musician, Henry Mannock, or Manox; her cousin, Thomas Culpepper; and Francis Dereham, to whom she had certainly been betrothed. After becoming queen she occasionally met Dereham and Culpepper, and in November 1541 Archbishop Cranmer informed Henry that his queen's past life had not been stainless. Cranmer had obtained his knowledge indirectly from an old servant of the duchess of Norfolk. Dereham confessed to his relations with Catherine, and after some denials the queen herself admitted that this was true; but denied that she had ever been betrothed to Dereham, or that she had misconducted herself since her marriage. Dereham and Culpepper were executed in December 1541 and their accomplices were punished, but Catherine was released from prison. Some fresh information, however, very soon came to light showing that she had been unchaste since her marriage; a bill of attainder was passed through parliament, and on the 13th of February 1542 the queen was beheaded. Entry: HOWARD
_Conditions of the Fruit and Flower growing Industries._--As regards open-air fruit-growing, the outlook for new ventures is perhaps brighter than in the hothouse industry, not--as Mr Bear has pointed out--because the area of fruit land in England is too small, but because the level of efficiency, from the selection of varieties to the packing and marketing of the produce, is very much lower in the former than in the latter branch of enterprise. In other words, whereas the practice of the majority of hothouse nurserymen is so skilled, so up-to-date, and so entirely under high pressure that a new competitor, however well trained, will find it difficult to rise above mediocrity, the converse is true of open-air fruit-growers. Many, and an increasing proportion, of the latter are thoroughly efficient in all branches of their business, and are in possession of plantations of the best market varieties of fruit, well cultivated, pruned and otherwise managed. But the extent of fruit plantations completely up to the mark in relation to varieties and treatment of trees and bushes, and in connexion with which the packing and marketing of the produce are equally satisfactory, is small in proportion to the total fruit area of the country. Information concerning the best treatment of fruit trees has spread widely in recent years, and old plantations, as a rule, suffer from the neglect or errors of the past, however skilful their present holders may be. Although the majority of professional market fruit-growers may be well up to the standard in skill, there are numerous contributors to the fruit supply who are either ignorant of the best methods of cultivation and marketing or careless in their application. The bad condition of the great majority of farm orchards is notorious, and many landowners, farmers and amateur gardeners who have planted fruit on a more or less extensive scale have mismanaged their undertakings. For these reasons new growers of open-air fruit for market have opportunities of succeeding by means of superiority to the majority of those with whom they will compete, provided that they possess the requisite knowledge, energy and capital. It has been asserted on sound authority that there is no chance of success for fruit-growers except in districts favourable as regards soil, climate and nearness to a railway or a good market; and, even under these conditions, only for men who have had experience in the industry and are prepared to devote their unremitting attention to it. Most important is it to a beginner that he should ascertain the varieties of fruit that flourish best in his particular district. Certain kinds seem to do well or fairly well in all parts of the country; others, whilst heavy croppers in some localities, are often unsatisfactory in others. Entry: TABLE
BUDDHAGHOSA, a celebrated Buddhist writer. He was a Brahmin by birth and was born near the great Bodhi tree at Budh Gay[=a]; in north India about A.D. 390, his father's name being Kes[=i]. His teacher, Revata, induced him to go to Ceylon, where the commentaries on the scriptures had been preserved in the Sinhalese language, with the object of translating them into P[=a]li. He went accordingly to Anuradhapura, studied there under Sanghap[=a]la, and asked leave of the fraternity there to translate the commentaries. With their consent he then did so, having first shown his ability by writing the work _Visuddhi Magga_ (the Path of Purity, a kind of summary of Buddhist doctrine). When he had completed his many years' labours he returned to the neighbourhood of the Bodhi tree in north India. Before he came to Ceylon he had already written a book entitled _N[=a]nodaya_ (the Rise of Knowledge), and had commenced a commentary on the principal psychological manual contained in the _Pitakas_. This latter work he afterwards rewrote in Ceylon, as the present text (now published by the P[=a]li Text Society) shows. One volume of the _Sumangala Vil[=a]sin[=i]_ (a portion of the commentaries mentioned above) has been edited, and extracts from his comment on the Buddhist canon law. This last work has been discovered in a nearly contemporaneous Chinese translation (an edition in P[=a]li is based on a comparison with that translation). The works here mentioned form, however, only a small portion of what Buddhaghosa wrote. His industry must have been prodigious. He is known to have written books that would fill about 20 octavo volumes of about 400 pages each; and there are other writings ascribed to him which may or may not be really his work. It is too early therefore to attempt a criticism of it. But it is already clear that, when made acceptable, it will be of the greatest value for the history of Indian literature and of Indian ideas. So much is uncertain at present in that history for want of definite dates that the voluminous writings of an author whose date is approximately certain will afford a standard by which the age of other writings can be tested. And as the original commentaries in Sinhalese are now lost his works are the only evidence we have of the traditions then handed down in the Buddhist community. The main source of our information about Buddhaghosa is the _Mah[=a]vamsa_, written in Anur[=a]dhapura about fifty years after he was working there. But there are numerous references to him in P[=a]li books on P[=a]li literature; and a Burmese author of unknown date, but possibly of the 15th century, has compiled a biography of him, the _Buddhaghos' Uppatti_, of little value and no critical judgment. Entry: BUDDHAGHOSA