4 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



It is charged that science " has no answer " to the question, 

 What is the meaning, what is the function of religion in social 

 development ? It is asserted that " contemporary literature may 

 be searched almost in vain for evidence of any true realization of 

 the fact " that religious beliefs " must have some immense utili- 

 tarian function to perform " in the evolution of society. What 

 are we to say to this ? Simply that Mr. Kidd is not well informed 

 on the subject of which he writes. We shall not be accused of 

 diverging very far from the highroad of science, of betaking our- 

 selves to any very obscure or devious paths, if we venture to 

 quote on this point Dr. Henry Maudsley, author of a number of 

 well-known works on mental physiology. Let us, then, turn to 

 his work on Body and Will, republished in this country eleven 

 years ago, and see what we can find bearing on this very ques- 

 tion. On page 208 we read : " It is most necessary to bear in mind 

 that forms and ceremonies, stereotyped propositions, articles of 

 faith, and dogmas of theology do not constitute the essence of re- 

 ligion, but its vesture, and that, apart from all such forms and 

 modes of interpretation, it responds to an eternal need of human 

 sentiment. For it is inspired by the moral sentiments of human- 

 ity and rests on the deep foundations of sacrifice of self, devotion 

 to the kind, the heroism of duty, pity for the poor and suffering, 

 and faith in the triumph of good. It appeals to and is the out- 

 come of the heart, not of the understanding; and so goes down 

 into lower depths than the fathom line of the understanding can 

 sound ; for the intellect is aristocratic and the heart democratic, 

 knowledge puffing up, but love uniting and building up, and the 

 true social problem is to democratize the intellect through the 

 heart. It is the deep fusing feeling of human solidarity, in what- 

 soever doctrines and ceremonies it may be organized for the time, 

 that is religion in its truest sense ; for it is in the social organism 

 what the heart is in the bodily organism, and, when it ceases to 

 beat in conscience, death and corruption ensue." Dr. Maudsley 

 did not sound a trumpet before him that all the world might sus- 

 pend its ordinary business in order to admire his originality, be- 

 cause he knew enough to know that, while what he was saying 

 was well worth saying, it was not so very original after all. But 

 after reading the above-quoted sentences from so well known a 

 writer, what are we to think of Mr. Kidd's statement that " con- 

 temporary literature may be searched almost in vain " for any 

 true recognition of the "utilitarian function of religion in the 

 evolution of society " ? And what great degree of originality can 

 we attribute to the definition of religion which, after an elaborate 

 preamble, Mr. Kidd delivers to us : "A religion is a form of be- 

 lief providing an ultra-rational sanction for that large class of 

 conduct in the individual where his interests and the interests of 



