To give an idea of the scientific inquiry and sharp observation of mind
in those days, I might cite Dante as a master exponent of nature study,
and adept of science. Passing over his experiment in optics given in
Paradiso, given so naturally as to justify the inference that
investigation in physics was then not an uncommon mode of gaining
knowledge, I call your attention to an observation made by Alexander
Von Humboldt, the distinguished scientist, to prove that nothing escaped
the eyes of Dante, intent equally upon natural phenomena and the things
of the soul. Von Humboldt suggests that the rhetorical figure employed
by Dante in his description of the River of Light with its banks of
wonderful flowers (Par. XXX, 61) is an application of our poet's
knowledge of the phosphorescence of the ocean. If you have ever looked
down the side of a steamship at night as it ploughed its way forward,
and if you have ever observed in the sea the thousand darting lights
just below the water line your enjoyable experience will enable you
to appreciate the beauty of this passage. I now quote:
"I saw a glory like a stream flow by
In brightness rushing and on either side
Were banks that with spring's wondrous hues might vie
And from that river living sparks did soar
And sank on all sides in the flow'rets bloom
Like precious rubies set in golden ore
Then as if drunk with all the rich perfume
Back to the wondrous torrent did they roll
And as one sank another filled its room.
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