ti2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



nearly every new advance some disadvantage is connected, that with 

 the development of industrialism there is connected great injustice, 

 that the results of crowding in cities have led to great misery and sick- 

 ness, problems not yet solved, and that the recent survey of Pittsburg 

 has revealed conditions which could doubtless be paralleled elsewhere, 

 but which cause us to blush for our boasted civilization. At the same 

 time, these defects are not to be charged to science, but to the failure 

 to utilize it. On the other hand the increase of insanity due to the 

 greater strenuousness of life brought on by modern conditions is not 

 so easily explained away. 



It is not, however, for all these works of science that I wish to 

 arouse your enthusiasm. As I have before stated, I consider James 

 the more prosaic apostle, while it is Paul that stirs our feelings. What 

 is the object of science, and is it worth our devotion? What are its 

 purposes and methods, and what may we hope from it? Does it con- 

 sist in building railroads and bridges, laying cables, digging tunnels 

 and canals, and converting coal into ice ? I believe it does not. Let us 

 suppose that the advance of science, the adoption of socialism, or what 

 not, has furnished every working man not only with three acres and a 

 cow, but with hot and cold water, sanitary plumbing, steam heating, 

 with cold brine for refrigeration, milk and beer laid on in pipes, with 

 electric lighting, heating and power for the sewing machine, vacuum 

 cleaner and the few remaining domestic necessities, with a telephone 

 for communication and for the enjoyment of contemporary music, a 

 phonograph and automatic piano for that of the past, an automobile 

 and flying machine for transportation and sport, and that the hours of 

 labor have been reduced to four, will universal happiness then reign? 

 I fear not, if this is all. For life does not consist exclusively of eating 

 and drinking, nor yet of pleasure. Unless what we call the soul is 

 improved as well as the body, life is likely to be a poor thing. It is 

 here that we come to the improvement of morals and of taste, and the 

 need for art, literature and science. I mention these together, for their 

 purposes are the same. They elevate the mind, kindle the imagination 

 and give a more lofty outlook on the universe in general. It is the 

 satisfaction of man's legitimate curiosity, his desire to know the how 

 and the why of nature, that is, in my opinion, the true end of science. 

 There are in the world, we are told by the late William Kingdon 

 Clifford, three classes of persons : in the first place, scientific thinkers, 

 secondly, persons who are engaged in work upon what are called scien- 

 tific subjects, but who in general do not, and are not expected to, think 

 about these subjects in a scientific manner, and lastly those whose 

 work and thoughts are unscientific. Scientific thought is not deter- 

 mined by the subject thought of. The subject of science is the uni- 

 verse, its limitations those of the human mind. When the captain of 



