SCIENTIFIC FAITH AND WORKS m 



greater part of the populace in the cities of antiquity, of the middle 

 ages, and of our own times in many cities of the orient, we can but feel 

 that the application of science to sanitation, to sewerage, water supply, 

 and housing, has been of immense benefit, although it has by no means 

 kept up with the needs of civilization. The discoveries of preventive 

 medicine have removed the terrors from small-pox and yellow fever, 

 and made impossible the wholesale devastation of great cities by plagues 

 which were common only a few centuries ago. In our own days we 

 have seen the work of the microscopist reveal the cause of the most 

 various diseases, from malaria and cholera to the hookworm disease, 

 while the marvelous work of the surgeon's knife fills us with amaze- 

 ment. If it be desirable to live long, science has largely contributed 

 to benefit mankind in this way. With the improvement in the condi- 

 tions of work has come the possibility for increased amusement. Music 

 is stored up in the phonograph, to be carried to the remotest corners of 

 Asia and Africa, while the kinematograph has rendered all corners of 

 the earth accessible to the multitude, and has vivified the scenes of 

 history. 



Not the least important of the works of science is its effect in the 

 promotion of general peace. As the nations are more closely linked 

 together by the means of transportation and communication, their inter- 

 ests become more nearly alike, and they do not so easily plunge into 

 wars. The applications of science to war have at the same time made 

 it more terrible and deadly, so that nations do not dare to expose them- 

 selves to the chance of physical or commercial extermination thereby 

 involved. If the development of the aeroplane shall make it possible 

 for a fast cruiser like the Lusitania to be sent out equipped with rapid 

 flying-machines which, on catching the strongest battleship shall make 

 it possible to sail over her at too great a height to be shot at, but near 

 enough to drop high explosives that shall destroy her, war will be at 

 an end. The late Edward Atkinson once stated that all that was neces- 

 sary to end war was the invention of a gun that should pick off generals 

 at headquarters as the Boer sharpshooters picked off the British cap- 

 tains and colonels. 



But I have said enough in praise of the works of science. It is no 

 doubt possible to exaggerate their praise. A most judicious and 

 learned observer, his Excellency James Bryce, in a Phi Beta Kappa 

 address at Harvard two years ago, has examined the question, " What 

 is progress," and whether all our modern improvements have consti- 

 tuted real progress from the times of the ancients. His conclusion is 

 somewhat disappointing, and at the end the beam inclines very slightly 

 in the positive direction. He does consider it probable, however, that 

 the advances of science have rendered more tolerable human life, and 

 have lengthened its span. We must not forget, indeed, that with 



