"SPIRITUAL PIRATES:' 601 



So the fanatics and infidels of one generation become the heroes and 

 philanthropists of the next. 



The Concord clique of philosophers has been in past years most 

 bitterly denounced in orthodox circles, and the patriotic old town 

 itself has been called "the hot-bed of moral poison," and various other 

 names equally expressive of the temper of their originators. But now, 

 the leader and exemplar of that radical coterie, the revered and be- 

 loved Emerson, lectures acceptably before the theological students of 

 Andover Seminary, while its chapel pulpit has recently been occupied 

 by a prominent Unitarian clergyman, who, thirty years since, would 

 have been shunned by the Faculty as a teacher of dangerous and per- 

 nicious doctrine. 



Agassiz was no less a truth-seeker, his spirit was no less reverent, 

 his purpose no less pure, when he broached his unscriptural theory, 

 than when he bowed his head in silent worship at the opening of the 

 Penikese School. Now, when the year returns, and he returns no 

 more, we could almost canonize his memory. But why was he anathe- 

 matized a quarter of a century ago? Simply because his position at 

 that time represented the flood-mark of scientific investigation. It 

 has changed place since then, and Tyndall now stands at its level, 

 and must bear the surging of every tide. 



Nothing is more acceptable to the honest thinker than intelligent 

 criticism. Matthew Arnold said ten years ago that it was the great 

 want of Europe. Worthy antagonism is always a valuable auxiliary 

 in the cause of truth. Under its eye, eloquence is not allowed to pass 

 for evidence, nor assertion for argument. It stimulates and reenforces 

 the scholar, and extinguishes the pedant. It tends to prevent men 

 from becoming so ardently in love with their own theories as to be 

 blind to their defects. If it is able, as at the best it is, to set in mo- 

 tion a counter-current of thought, clear and forcible, it has attained 

 its highest uses and becomes a real power. But the mind of the critic 

 should be to the thought before it as the plane-mirror, reflecting it in 

 true colors and exact proportions ; otherwise, instead of just criticism, 

 there follows either too liberal indorsement or undue stricture, ac- 

 cording to the bias of the writer. 



Thus adequately to examine the scientific positions of the day, 

 with a view of supplementing or subverting them, requires an amount 

 of special preparation which few who have worked in other fields of 

 thought have been able to make ; for a certain familiarity with scien- 

 tific nomenclature and experiment, which is often acquired collater- 

 ally by the good student, though of great interest and value to its 

 possessor, is not a reasonable basis for revision of principles, methods, 

 and deductions. The arts are all closely akin, and Sir Joshua Rey- 

 nolds was a fine connoisseur in his own department, and perhaps, 

 like Titania's transient love, he had " a reasonable good ear in music ; " 

 but he probably could not have written a competent critique on the 



