i 4 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



civilization had a past, were so elated with their discovery that they 

 stopped short to admire and make over again the past which they had 

 painfully exhumed. There was a revival of medievalism in art, in 

 literature, in politics modern imperialism is an instance of this and 

 that religion was not exempt is shown by ritualism in England. Yet 

 the greater original movement has gone on, and in the realism that is 

 beginning to affect art and literature, as in the spread of democracy, 

 we see the natural growth of one inspiring thought. 



If, then, we observe in the past the complex results of a single 

 strong, animating influence, we may be justified in examining the life 

 about us to see, so far as we may, how it is affected by contemporary 

 thought. One of the most important influences now at work is doubt- 

 less that of science, which is of course as old as human curiosity, and 

 is only new in its results. That the effect of the great advance in sci- 

 entific thought has been to modify considerably most forms of religious 

 belief can not be denied ; and, in spite of the many attempted recon- 

 ciliations of the two, it is not difficult to see that some of the leading 

 dogmas of Christianity are doomed. Fortunately, one of the rewards 

 of the freedom that is given to science is a lack of venom in its attack, 

 and, on the other side, there is an absence of bitterness in those whose 

 opinions it unavoidably alters. There are, of course, exceptions ; mod- 

 ern science has not expelled arrogance from the world, and enlighten- 

 ment Las not wholly driven out bigotry. Yet, in the calmness with 

 which the controversy is carried on, we see how wide-spread is the belief 

 that dosnnas are less essential than the truth which all men alike are seek- 

 ing. As Professor Asa Gray puts it : " No sensible person now be- 

 lieves what the most sensible people believed formerly. Settled scien- 

 tific belief must control religious belief." It is one of the time-hon- 

 ored jests which the late Lord Beaconsfield thrust into his last novel, 

 that the religion of sensible people is what sensible people never tell. 

 They may not, but their tolerance of new truths and the altered po- 

 sition of ecclesiasticism declare all that need be known. 



The present interest in science is distinctly part of the revolution- 

 ary movement which demands, with restless curiosity, why everything 

 should be as it is. This is the question that is put to every existing 

 institution, and science often gives a serviceable answer. The answer 

 is a leveling one to all conventionalities, because science concerns 

 itself only about facts, and it is heard now because science can only 

 exist where thought is free. Freedom of thought is a powerful solvent, 

 and it is especially destructive to all the conventionalities which exist 

 by means of the common agreement that they shall not be examined. 

 We see that in politics the divine right of kings is called in question, 

 and in the uniform tendency of modern times toward democracy the 

 assumption of government by those who are governed. In social 

 matters we perceive a similar movement toward the emancipation of 

 the individual. All knowledge advances from vague generalities to 



