THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



555 



THE PEOtUlESS OF SCIENCE. 



In the numerous reviews of the nine- 

 teenth century published in the maga- 

 zines and in the daily press, science oc- 

 cupies the most prominent place. The 

 news of the world for a day, as we read 

 it in the newspaper, or for a month, 

 as given in certain journals, may con- 

 tain no reference to science, yet the con- 

 temporary events which at the time ex- 

 cite such general interest are forgotten, 

 while the quiet progress of science grad- 

 ually emerges in its true proportions. 

 The century witnessed other great 

 achievements — music in Germany, po- 

 etry in England, the novel in France, 

 Russia and England — but these are like 

 royal palaces, beautiful and complete, 

 more likely now to decay than to 

 grow. Science, on the other hand, 

 has laid the foundations on which the 

 future rests. The applications of science 

 to the arts and to commerce, permitting 

 one man to do what formerly required 

 ten, and giving more nearly than ever 

 before to each the return of his labor, 

 have made modern democracy possible. 

 The methods of science, slowly spread- 

 ing and exerting their control, have 

 made democracy comparatively safe. 

 The results of science will help to 

 make democracy worth the while. 

 Thus, to take an example, there 

 is now sufficient wealth to permit 

 the education of each child; scientific 

 methods will ultimately determine how 

 he shall be educated, and science offers 

 the material to be used in the training. 

 It may be that we shall some day ar- 

 rive at a scientific scholasticism, for 

 atrophy and degeneration are no less 

 real than growth and progress, but it 

 seems probable that the history of the 

 twentieth century will be chiefly a his- 

 tory of science. 



The death of Queen Victoria closes 

 an era in the history of a great nation; 



but, like the century, it is a somewhat 

 artificial period. The monarchy in 

 Great Britain is primarily a social insti- 

 tution, and it does not appear that the 

 Queen exerted any influence on the de- 

 velopment of science, except in so far as 

 her sane and kindly character tended 

 to maintain the peace and morality 

 that are favorable to science. The death 

 of the Prince Consort, forty years ago, 

 was a distinct loss to science, for lie 

 was interested in scientific and educa- 

 tional problems, and showed in the case 

 of the Exhibition of 1851 that he could 

 exert powerful influence on their behalf. 

 Queen Victoria was a German woman of 

 domestic and religious type, and she 

 was doubtless ignorant of the contribu- 

 tions to the physical sciences made by 

 her subjects, while she regarded with 

 aversion the advances in the natural 

 sciences due to Darwin. Still, in the 

 social heirarchy, of which the Queen was 

 the head, science was recognized to a 

 greater extent than ever before. Lords 

 Kelvin, Lister, Playfair and Avebury 

 were elevated to the peerage wholly or 

 in part for scientific w r ork, and minor 

 titles have been conferred in many 

 cases. Scientific men occupy a higher 

 social and political position in Great 

 Britain than in the United States, and 

 this has been an outcome of the Vic- 

 torian Age. It is not, however, due to 

 the favor of a court, but to the great 

 men of science of the period, and to the 

 fact that many of these belong to the 

 higher social classes. King Edward 

 VII. will preside with dignity at scien- 

 tific functions, but it is not likely that 

 he will attempt to exert an active in- 

 fluence on behalf of science. Still, he 

 was educated under the direction of a 

 scientific man, Lord Playfair, and he is 

 said to be well informed in the sciences. 

 It is possible that he will not only give 

 the social recognition which is not with- 



