5 o 4 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



that they were studying immutable creatures, there was a sense 

 of restraint in the work, a feeling that investigation had a definite 

 limit beyond which we could not go, and so there was little 

 chance for speculation or theorizing on the nature of causes. 

 When this restraint ,was suddenly and entirely removed by the 

 theory of evolution the reaction was inevitable, and a strong 

 tendency toward the other extreme set in, clearly shown by the 

 number and variety of the theories that have been suggested and 

 published to explain all kinds of natural phenomena. Scientists 

 have been so entirely taken up with explaining how all the won- 

 derful things which we find in the world about us have taken 

 place ; the doctrine of evolution has proved so completely satis- 

 factory at every turn that there is great danger that the ultimate 

 motive for scientific research will be completely lost to sight. 

 Indeed, one may search a great majority of scientific works with- 

 out finding a hint as to any higher motive than mere curiosity, 

 a curiosity differing greatly in quality and extent in differont 

 writers, but very rarely that pure eagerness for " truth " which it 

 sometimes professes to be. So long as the answer to the question 

 How ? is the all-important thing, and so long as that is considered 

 the ultimate question, no proper conception of a nobler motive can 

 be formed. But we must now consider if there is not still another 

 question beyond the How ? which is as far more important than 

 that as that is beyond the question What ? The extraordinary 

 reverence which a certain school of scientists feel toward the 

 question How ? is clearly shown by the quotation in the earlier 

 part of this article, and it will, no doubt, be considered impious 

 by them that any one should presume to go beyond that question. 

 At the same time one can not read that criticism without hav- 

 ing forced upon him the belief that there is another and greater 

 question to be considered, and that question may be briefly stated 

 in the form of Why ? 



It is not by any means a new question, and I claim no merit of 

 originality in bringing it forward here ; but since we have come to 

 see the importance of the means to the end, we seem to have lost 

 sight of the far greater importance of the causes of those means. 

 That is, while we have been busy inquiring how things came to 

 be so, we have either confused with that question, or forgotten 

 altogether to ask, the why. Probably the first objection that will 

 be raised to the consideration of this question will be the futility 

 of seeking ultimate causes ; and the limits of human knowledge 

 will be emphasized to show the folly of going beyond the How ? 

 Now, it is no part of my purpose to consider the question whether 

 there is an Absolute Unknowable ; but I will merely suggest that 

 when it was first proposed to consider how species came to be 

 what they are, it was not only the theologians who raised a great 



