4.8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



about to be arrived at. Religion is more and more withdrawing 

 from the disputed territory of facts historical and physical, and 

 saying in effect to Science: "I am no longer your rival on this 

 ground ; so now tell us freely all you know about the world and 

 its origin, about man and his descent ; tell us whence we sprang, 

 how we have come to be as we are, with such thoughts and in- 

 stincts, such hopes and fears, such aspirations and superstitions 

 as you wot of ; and what the future is to which we may look for- 

 ward. Tell us if you can the raison d'etre of this universe. 

 Henceforth I shall not dispute with you one single verifiable fact ; 

 so now deliver to the world a free, untrammeled message; tell 

 us all the truth you know." Thus challenged, Science becomes 

 solemn under a new sense of responsibility, and its thoughtful 

 reply might be : "I see but in part, I know but in part. I pass 

 through my hands the successive links of a chain, but the begin- 

 ning of the chain and the end are not only beyond my vision but 

 beyond the flight of my strongest thought. I organize knowl- 

 edge, I minister to the physical and intellectual wants of men; 

 whatever a finite faculty of judgment is capable of, I may hope 

 to accomplish ; but if man has a craving to know his relation to 

 the universe, I can not determine it ; if he wants a higher motive 

 than expediency (in the widest sense) for his actions, I can not 

 supply it ; if he craves to believe in an Infinite Goodness, I can 

 not demonstrate it for him ; if he longs for a life beyond the pres- 

 ent, I can not assure him that such a longing will be realized. 

 Here, then, is your province, with which I engage not to interfere ; 

 and if, while I increase man's power over the energies of physical 

 Nature, you can raise him to a nobler self-control and a higher 

 sense of moral dignity ; if you can satisfy his emotional longings 

 and place his whole life on something more than an empirical 

 foundation, then shall I reverence your work and recognize that 

 I am but your humbler yoke-fellow in the service of the race." 



We have reached the limits of our space, and find that we have 

 only dealt with one point of the book under review. In our opin- 

 ion, however, it is the most important point, as being the one that 

 was most calculated to lead the general reader astray. We 

 should have wished to devote two or three pages to what we con- 

 sider the very faulty account Mr. Kidd gives of the function of 

 the intellect in connection with social progress ; but that, if it is 

 to be done at all, must be done some other day. 



The only industry in the hamlet of Nova Varos, Sandjack of Novi Bazar, is 

 the manufacture of carpets and rugs. Every girl, on marriage, takes one or more 

 rugs and a large painted chest to her husband. For this reason each house makes 

 its own rugs, and each house uses what it makes. 



