Hidden Treasures (1951)

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] did you ever dream of buried trasure of lonely pirate coals of maps with scull and crossbones treasure they say is where you find it for it's not so much where you look but how that counts the the whole universe is one vast overflowing Treasure [Music] Chest the greatest treasure hunt of all time had its beginning almost 400 years ago in the Little Dutch Village of middleberg for it was here that Jan lierse and Zacharias Janson gave to the world the telescope and the microscope the greatest of all tools for treasure hunting it was Galileo who first turned the telescope toward the heavens and thus forged a tool which snapped the Fetters that bound man to the Earth and loosed him to roam the Uncharted Pathways of the heavens I betook myself to observation of the heavenly bodies and first of all I viewed the moon as near as if it were scarcely two semi diameters of the earth distant after the I observed the heavenly bodies both fix stars and planets with Incredible Delight the telescope grew rapidly in size and in importance in shaping the thinking of man and through the passing years man dreamed and built dreamed of a trasure still untouched and built tools to M new gems from the endless Labyrinth of space and then looked in un believing Wonder at the handwork of God and then dreamed again and built yet again the giant of Palomar the giant whose 500 tons of glass and steel is poised so delicately the hand of a child can move it on its [Music] course the giant whose 200 in eye stares unblinking into space to see one billion like years just what is a billion light [Music] years we are impressed today by the fact that man can travel at the speed of sound well let's use the speed as a yard stick to measure distance in space let's imagine a trip through space at the speed of sand 760 mph at this speed we could reach the moon in 12 days 22 hours and 48 minutes to reach the sun would require 5,040 days or almost 14 years but to reach the nearest star we must travel on day and night for 3,800 th000 years if we were to continue at this speed for another 75 billion years we would come at last to the limits of our Galactic system or our universe and from this vantage point we would see in dep of space beyond a tiny hazy object here we discard our jet plane for a beam of light and hurtle on through space a million times faster than the speed of sound [Music] but this is just our next door neighbor in Space the Andromeda galaxy these other galactism or universes seem to be quite similar to our own they are all more or less spiral in shape quite flat when seen from The Edge their diameter is about 100,000 like years and one like year is almost 6 trillion miles they are approximately a million light years apart in space and each is composed of probably a 100 billion stars like our sun how many other universes are there no man knows there are at least 200 million of them just within the range of the Palomar telescope [Music] in this amazing photograph made with the 200 in telescope the bright spots are stars in our own Universe let's block these out now those little hazy spots remaining are not Stars each is Another Universe almost a billion like years away each composed of a 100 billion signs the facts man discovered with a telescope left him completely overwhelmed by a sense of utter insignificance it seemed that man was just an invisible microb crawling on a speck of cosmic dust after all our sun is just a star if there are planets revolving about our sun there could be planets about billions upon billions of other Suns and if there's life on this planet there could be life on other planets how could God care anything about man or even know that he exists why it's foolish to pray why should God care whether our crops grow or not whether we're good or bad or sick or well or even whether we live or die you know you can get into a lot of trouble by looking at things with one eye closed you lose your perspective and you're at to come up with some wrong answers you see the telescope gives us just half the picture in this search for Hidden Treasures and somehow I feel it was more than just an accident that in that same Little Dutch Village and at the same time that Jan lierse produced the first telescope Zacharias Johnson gave to the world the microscope for the microscope was the tool which unlocked the fabulous Treasure of the commonplace thousands of years ago job asked hast thou entered into the Treasures of the snow [Music] Treasures in snow yes Treasures of beauty art Treasures rare and Priceless yet free to all but there are other Treasures too The Treasure of good honest fun in an oldfashioned [Applause] snowfight [Music] oh yes and some back aches too you know it probably come as something of a shock to our friend with a shovel to learn that there are people who spend a great deal of time and energy trying to make it snow and of all places in California for the past several years the California electric power company has been doing something about the weather in their watershed area which is at the high sieras the action in this drama of man's struggle to control the elements begins in a weather station for artificial cloud seeding is successful only when certain precise conditions exist when everything seems just right word is flashed to the nearby airport and these Cloud Farmers go into action first step is preparation of the seed dry ice is ground into tiny pets and then loaded into a P38 plane specially equipped for the cloud seeding [Applause] operation they are these Cloud farmers and their job make it snow not just anywhere but on a narrow strip of land 20 M long and 5 miles wide the watershed area that means pick the right Cloud at just the right altitude and then drop that dry ice with the split-second timing of a Bombadier no long weeks or months of waiting for this Jeune Harvest and that is good for these are impatient men the warm sun shines again the snow melts drop adds to drop rivulet to R pouring into streams tumbling cascading down the mountain sides hurrying to its Destiny to be channeled at last into irrigation systems and then bubble forth to soak into the ground with all its lifegiving wonder and at the call of thirsty roots to rise again and erupt into a miracle A Miracle of Life hast thou entered into the Treasures of the snow that treasure which man May woo but only God can give God too busy to care for man what logic is this when every day we see the miracle of his hand about us light to dispel the darkness could this be yet another treasure in the snow yes for on their tumbling course more treasure is squeezed from these glistening drops their hidden power is bed for a fleeting moment channeled through huge turbo generators water power is transformed into electrical energy and then wafted at the speed of light along slender copper threads to distant cities where man dreams its Fury and harnesses it to a thousand chores to help him in his daily toil and when day is ended lights the lights of a million homes and transforms the night into Jewel Splendor yes there is economic treasure in the snow every inch of snow on that narrow 20 M strip of land means 1 million kilowatt hours of electrical power could it be that there is yet another treasure in that snow a treasure hid from all but careful eyes open only to Patient Seekers after truth yes and it's worth more than all the gold and jewels of men [Music] the snowflake here is the real treasure of the snow hidden deep in the mystery of every Ty tiny flake The Treasure of wisdom and understanding of our God how many snowflakes on a mountain side man could not even name their number God could have made them all the same all a shapeless Mass yet he chose to make them each a wonderful mystery all perfect all fashioned about the same basic six-sided pattern and yet all different perhaps that he might reveal to man his infinite concern for little [Music] things how could God care for man how could he help but care but speaking of treasure look at that stake that's an econ OMC treasure if I ever saw one need a little salt wait a minute look at that salt take one tiny grain that single grain is composed of billions upon billions of particles so small that if we put a million of them in a pile we couldn't even see the pile not even with a microscope now put a drop of water on the grain of salt warm the slide just a bit something is happening to that grain of salt we say it's dissolving millions of those tiny invisible particles are breaking away from the grain of salt and mixing with the molecules of water so the salt grain just disappears but now as the slide is Cooling let's turn to a higher power when the water cools just enough scores of Tiny Little Gems appear as from nowhere Millions upon millions of invisible salt molecules join hands again to form microscopic crystals of salt at the Creator's command invisible particles have joined ranks with such Precision that science can measure no flaw in the Perfection of their Crystal surfaces treasure in the common [Music] place with the microscope The Medicine Chest becomes a treasure chest each substance with its own in that cough syrup you may find Turpin hydrate which produces long slender crystals that form at precise angles which identify these crystals from all others your favorite eyewash probably contains zinc acid each crystal in substance producing its own characteristic Crystal the basis of that beautifully exact science microchemistry oxalic acid forms a tumbling jumble of microscopic Jack straws hydrocone a forest of shimmering [Music] needles more snowflakes no snowflakes have six point Point remember this is ammonium chloride most crystals are microscopic in size but there are exceptions rock candy starts as invisible sugar molecules which build together for microscopic sugar crystals and then if there is a constant supply of sugar molecules and a constant temperature will grow almost indefinitely you may have seen these giant sugar crystals in a jar of jelly that was left in a forgotten corner of your Cellar shelf an ample supply of molecules even temperature and centuries of time these are the ingredients that have transformed the heart of the earth into a storehouse of endless treasure treasure that is drawn men as by a strong magnet into the dark recesses of the Earth cave explorers speleologists they're called spelunkers if you know them well men For Whom the call of strange Adventure is loud and clear their search is not for gold but for the elusive Gem of knowledge to be where man has never been before to know the unknown for Limestone unlike most rock formation is somewhat soluble in water and is particularly susceptible to erosion in areas where there are large Limestone deposits and ample water Subterranean Rivers have cut huge Caverns deep within the Earth some so it never be completely explored for cave exploration has many hazards a loose Rock a fall in the Blackness far from help an underground stream which could become a raging torrent and cut off all Escape careful Spiel lunkers maintain communication with the surface where a Sentry keeps constant watch on the weather the grotesque figures which lend such IR equality to Limestone caves are form by water not carved by tumbling torrents but built quietly through the passing Centuries by the steady dripping of water saturated with dissolved [Music] Limestone while each shimmering drop hangs for a fleeting second it evaporates imperceptibly leaving behind a few tiny molecules this action forms the stalactite from above similar action forms the stalagmite on the floor of the cave just as the crystals formed in that glass of jelly forgotten on the cellar shelf so through the passing years Crystal formations of indescribable Beauty and wonder have been building molecule upon molecule in the dark corers of the earth crystals built of invisible molecules molecules that are built of atoms atoms that are tiny universes with power to blast men from their dreams more of them in a single Crystal than there are stars in all the universes of space [Music] some men climb to mountaintops some descend to Hidden depths but whether they reach up or down they find the wonderwork hand of God as gone before I'd like to share with you what to me is a wonderful experience it's the growth of microscopic crystals under polarized light it's something I've been working with for many years and yet somehow always new and thrilling this is a natural crystal of optical calite just as it came from the ground as it was forming deep in the Earth the molecules were more tightly compressed on one axis than on the other and so it has what is called a double index of refraction that is it splits a beam of light two prisms Made of This Strange material added to a good microscope will reveal some amazing things about very ordinary substances let's take a pinch of triol cover it with a cover slip and then heat it until it melts into a thin film of liquid and then watch that liquid under the microscope at first nothing is visible because the individual molecule of triol could never be seen But as the liquid cools we see the inner workings of how a solid forms from an invisible liquid Millions upon millions of submicroscopic universes are building together to form a solid substance [Music] but some chemicals the crystals form very slowly with others they form almost instantly and they are all different because the invisible molecules are different each substance shows its own special form and [Music] beauty [Music] oh [Music] the desert is a lonely Place God forsaken we sometimes say a place of desolation and death the Old Prospector has spent his life in these burning wastes in search of treasure always hoping someday to strike it rich and yet day by day he has trampled underfoot a Priceless treasure he never dreamed was there a treasure brought to light but recently by the careful searching eye of science the microscopic flowers of the desert belly plants they're somewhat inelegantly but quite appropriately [Music] called for they are planned by God for big men men big enough to stoop low to Marvel at God's care for little things if these plants were a thousand times larger so that their blooms might be perhaps as large as a rose the whole world would have claimed their beauty but hidden among the sand and gravel in their minute perfectness their beauty is reserved humble [Music] men some of these microscopic flowers are merely dwarf varieties of the flowers we find in our garden other new varieties scientists from the California Institute of Technology under the leadership of Dr FW went have been studying these delicate flowers with serious interest by exploring the Enigma of their growth in this strange environment scientists hope to gain new knowledge knowledge to Aid man in his search to find new ways to feed a hungry World specimens collected in the desert are taken back to the laboratory for further study the aart laboratory for plant research is one of the few places where these fragile flowers may be grown artificially here in this Wonderland of science temperature humidity soil chemistry the seasons the amount and the kind of light all can be controlled so as to duplicate almost any climate on [Music] Earth how did the tiny seeds of these delicate plants survive the blistering parching heat of the Summer sun the freezing cold of winter nights how did they take root in the barren shifting Sands of the desert it has been found that these almost invisible seeds Will Survive the rigors of the desert for 5 years or more waiting just the right conditions necessary for their mysterious growth God forsaken not so long as myriads of wondrous plants lift their tiny heads to heaven in witness to God's care for little things it doesn't seem possible that 150 years could have passed after the invention of the microscope before someone thought of looking inside a drop of water after all what could there be in water but water [Music] itself the modern microscope is a far cry from early handmade instruments but in retrospect we can slip back through the years to the most moment when Anthony laen hul first peered into a drop of water with a trembling excitement that was almost nausea this simple Dutchman realized that he had discovered a whole new world a world of enormous littleness with creatures that had lived had reproduced had battled had died completely unknown to all men from the beginning of time to an unbelieving world he announced his find that there were tiny beasties he called them living in water more of them in a single drop than there were people in all his native [Music] land people found it difficult to believe that their bodies could be host to millions of living animals even today man seems to accept his role as walking aquarium with something less than enthusiasm however most of these little fellows are harmless and can be quite amusing after the shock of first acquaintance many are one celled organisms that is their entire body is made up of just one cell a single highly complex cell that provides the functions of locomotion assimilation of food reproduction one tiny cell that somehow Harbors all the wondrous Mystery of Life the amoeba ghost of the microscopic world for years this fantastic one cell creature has stirred the imagination of stallet men of science it expands the cell wall in the direction it wishes to go and then flows its Eerie way through life a tiny blob of protoplasm somehow possessed of life it shuns harmful chemicals avoids strong light and seeks food that will sustain its life the amoeba captures its food by flowing around it and then assimilates the food by absorption through the cell wall protoplasm where in all the universes of space is there a mystery more inscrutable than life itself the volvox has earned its place in creation's Hall of Fame as an example of mutual dependence and cooperation each tiny dot on the surface of these minute spheres is a separate living animal they bind themselves together with invisible strands of protoplasm to form beautiful spherical colonies each animal has two microscopic CIA which it uses as ores by signals sent along the connecting strands they coordinate their efforts so the colony can move about stop turn quickly or even change direction of rotation bvx raise their young within the protective circle of the parent colony the young Volvo group tightly together their ores pointing inward when fully developed they emerge from the parent Colony turn inside out expand and swim off to repeat the cycle we've had a little glimpse of what can exist in a single drop of water but stop and think there are 117,000 drops in a gallon 1 trillion 100 billion gallons in a cubic mile and there are 400 million cubic miles of water on the [Music] earth Captain G Allen Hancock scientist Explorer humanitarian has created a floating laboratory to explore the treasures of Earth's Last Frontier in recent years scientists have become aware of the fabulous Treasure of the sea not sunken gallions with their gold de Bloons but a vast Storehouse crammed with a supply of practically every basic need of man scientists from the University of Southern California show Keen interest in all life found in the sea but none is more important than the microscopic plants and animals trapped in the gossamer web of a plankton net a net woven of the finest silk for here again the real treasure is in Little Things most of us are apt to think of microscopic life only in connection with fresh water but a drop of sea water is even more prolific the amount and variety of microscopic life in the sea is vast beyond all comprehension many microscopic creatures live in tiny transparent houses this little fellow who seems to be practicing a jug Ling act lives in a hollow tube when he decides to go someplace he works his way carefully to the end of the tube starts his outboard motor and swims off glass house and all even the microscopic world has its Comedians and these little fellows are just about as funny as they come [Music] the floor of the ocean is the Museum of the microscopic world for it is here that countless billions of creatures that have lived and died have left a fabulous record of their existence just black slimy mud but the microscope reveals that it is composed almost entirely of minute particles of exquisite beauty the creatures who once lived within the stately Halls of these microscopic mansions built them from chemicals they found in the sea diams build their houses of silica tiny houses of natural glass so small and so perfect that they are used to test the quality of high power microscope lenses there are more than 10,000 varieties of Dions and each builds its house on a pattern different from any [Music] other these are living Dions they are in all water fresh or salt but in the sea their abundance is unbelievable when the batom dies the discarded house sinks to the floor of the ocean impossible though it may seem this 100t Cliff is composed almost entirely of diatoms the John's manfi Corporation is mining this so-called dious Earth in a large scale operation near Loma California for diatoms have properties which give them great commercial value they are practically indestructible and when made into bricks they have amazing properties of insulation because diatoms are very hard and extremely small they are used in high quality polishes and cleaning compounds they're used in paints and in phonograph records many Beverages and foods are purified by filters made of Dions man has discovered an economic treasure in the tiny datam but the real treasure is of far greater worth in one thimble full of this dious Earth there are more than 14 million Dions how many di one scoop of a power shovel if man should try to count them numbers would lose all meaning and remember every one of them was once a living thing an object of the Creator's care this area was once covered By the Waters of an inlet from the sea Waters in which diatoms lived and reproduced in fantastic numbers when they died their tiny houses sank to the bottom leaving a deposit of almost solid diatoms 5 m square and 1,400 ft [Music] deep the God who can form a galaxy of a 100 billion flaming Suns and hurl it into space must be a god of infinite power but a God who can create tiny living organisms and somehow endow them with the architectural genius and ability to Fashion these microscopic Mansions must be capable of infinite concern for little things [Music] treasure hunting in the universe is fun isn't it but as in any treasure hunt the question is what did you find we could spend eternity exploring the universe and not exhaust the wonders of creation but if that's all we find we've missed the one great treasure in life it's wonderful to know the universe but it's infinitely more wonderful to know the one who created the universe to be able to stand at night on a lonely Hilltop look into the heavens and say my heavenly father made those Stars he's my friend My Savior that is life's greatest treasure it would seem that the possession of this treasure should be the first and the highest goal of every life what treasure do you seek what's your goal in life money a new house new automobile this book says seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added under you maybe you say I just want peace of mind how can we expect to have peace if we're out of fellowship with the God who made us if our conscience keeps telling us that God is a righteous God and that we've broken his law do you suppose that The God Who Made Us has failed to make provision for this our most basic need he's provided for every other need the beating of our heart the air we breathe the food we eat the water we drink in nature we find that God has provided for all our physical needs but in this book we find that his care extends Beyond just the need of our body to the deepest need of our soul the message of this book from beginning to end is the fact that God loves us that he wants to forgive us that he offers us a new and a far better life God has provided air for us to breathe we don't have to breathe it we could hold our breath yes and God has offered us forgiveness and salvation we don't have to take it we don't have to believe but failure to believe is like holding our breath it's refusing the provision that God has made for our spiritual life and the penalty is the same death where can we find this treasure it isn't difficult for If any man will dig beneath the hard crust of his unbelief he will discover the greatest of all hidden treasures God himself then he can say the god that made this universe is my God mine because he made me for I am his creature but mine also because of choice for I have chosen to believe in him and and it's wonderful for to as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his [Music] name