Kelsey Kliwinski

Professor Cunningham-Bryant
Mosaic II: Humanities Seminar 852
February 17, 2014

Sir Cyril Herman Hinshelwood, an English chemist from the 1800-century
defined science as, An imaginative adventure of the mind seeking truth in a world of
mystery. The significance of science as a whole has been a reoccurring theme recently
in my life, and truly eye opening. From exploring the Wagner Free Institute of Science to
reading texts by Edward Jenner and Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Ive gained the knowledge of how
science is still an evolving thing. With the help of imaginative minds seeking answers
through scientific methods, our world has been able to evolve into something remarkable.
However, to reach these new findings ethics and proper processes should be thought
about for the sake of humanity. Jenner, Vonnegut, and the Wagner museum all assist in
the idea of science being an educational process through experience.
The Wagner Free Institute of Science provides a wide variety of specimens from
the nineteenth century to the present, demonstrating the diversity in the world through out
time. While walking around the Wagner museum seeing all of these bones, minerals,
seashells, and animals I was having a hard time connecting a theme with the two
Authors from class till it hit me, science! Duh! Jenner, being a scientist in the 1900, did
not have access to the kind of technology or knowledge of diseases compared to now in
2014. On the seventh day he complained of uneasiness in the axilla, and on the ninth he
became a little chilly, lost his appetite, and had a slight headache. During the whole of
this day he was perceptibly indisposed, and spent the night with some degree of
restlessness, but on the day following he was perfectly well (Jenner, Case XVII). Jenner
put peoples lives in danger from testing if cowpox could cure small pox. After his first
success with his remedy, he started testing on more and more people not really thinking
about ethics. I came across a case in the museum that demonstrated Jenner and the theme
of survival of the fittest because during that time people would do anything in order to
survive this disease. This case contained two shrews, a mole, and a mouse that all are tiny
rodents living under ground. These rodents all had to learn to borrow underground for
insects or else they wouldnt last long. Their features such as a nose helping them locate
worms/insects or a poisonous bite to kill off predators connect with the theme of survival
of the fittest and learning through experience what can help one to survive.
In the beginning, God created the earth, and he looked upon it in his cosmic
loneliness. And God said, "Let Us make living creatures out of mud, so the mud can see
what we have done." And God created every living creature that now moveth, and one
was man. Mud as man alone could speak. God leaned close to mud as man sat, looked
around, and spoke. "What is the purpose of all this?" he asked politely. "Everything must
have a purpose?" asked God. "Certainly," said man. "Then I leave it to you to think of
one for all this," said God. And He went away (Vonnegut, 265).
This passage from Cats Cradle shows the meaning of life through creation. The
world started out with nothing, then revolutionized with science and the formation of
things. There was one case in the Wagner museum with all kinds of human and animal
skeletal bones. These bones were a creation over time to be able to support the life of a
living species. They would show a change over time due to adaptions the specie had to
make in order to survive. Being in an anatomy class right now I found this exhibit
extremely fascinating being able to identify all the different types of bones on the variety
of species.
With science being so exciting to learn about, people sometimes forget about the
ethics on humanity and the harm it can cause. There was one exhibit that described the
interest people had in taxidermy and the effect it had on the wildlife. Taxidermy was a
practice primarily used for preservations by arranging the skin into life like form. During
the 1960s the value of these items increased along with peoples interest. While money
was causing people think unethically, taxidermy lead to a huge decline in wild life during
this century. Compared to Jenner and Vonnegut, there was no ethical thinking in the
relation to the harm or destruction it would do to humanity.
The Wagner museum has a unique set up made for visitors to be able to use for
educational purposes. The specimens and exhibits were arranged in a systematic display
from simple to more complex organisms throughout time. Being able to walk through the
exhibition hall with the organization of their collection helped me gain a wider
comprehension of what has lived through out time and the adaptations organisms created
for themselves in order to survive or evolve.
The overall idea of science being a huge contribution to the make up of our world
and how in depth of time it can go back to blows my mind. The Wagner museum
broadened my interest in what else can be out there that has not been seen yet. Then it
makes me wonder how many more unethical experiments in life have lead to a great
discovery. For me being able to visualize the time periods of specimens, while also
gaining knowledge through personal stories by Jenner and Vonnegut, demonstrates the
imagination of the mind seeking answers to the world.