408 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



distress about it. Some are for " giving 

 in," some are for patching up compro- 

 mises, and some for "fighting it out." 

 Meanwhile the tide is carrying every- 

 thing before it, and the confusion of 

 the unready waxes grotesque. The for- 

 eign periodicals arrive monthly loaded 

 with evolutionary discussions; and in 

 the last "Contemporary Review " Cal- 

 derwood, of Edinburgh, announces that 

 even Hegelianism is but "dialectical 

 evolution." 



The "Observer" suggests that we 

 make such a periodical " as the great 

 body of intelligent people will admit 

 with confidence to their homes." This 

 sounds well, but what is it in a little 

 plainer English ? " Divest your ' Month- 

 ly ' of every feature that can be objec- 

 tionable to those who care a good deal 

 7nore for theological than for scientific 

 teachings, and who have a horror of all 

 science as tending to infidelity." We 

 should not be permitted to say a word 

 of the progress of scientific thought, 

 because hardly a step is taken anywhere 

 that somebody with a dogma in that di- 

 rection does not cry, " Halt, you de- 

 stroyer of religion!" We indulge in 

 no exaggeration. The " Observer " is 

 authority here, and right above the ar- 

 ticle in which it recommends that the 

 "Monthly " be kicked off the premises, 

 we read, " Science forges weapons 



CONSTANTLY TO DESTROY THE FAITH." 



What kind of a scientific magazine 

 would that he which should be suited 

 to the state of mind of the dismal creat- 

 ures who take such a view of science 

 as this? We should rather take the 

 " Observer's " alternative, and be kick- 

 ed into the street, than to edit such a 

 periodical. 



The " Observer " accuses science of 

 "forain^r weapons to destroy the faith"; 

 but need we remind it that science de- 

 stroys nothing but ignorance aud error? 

 Only where faith is the enemy of truth 

 can science be the enemy of faith. 

 Science is the best friend of faith, for 

 only when it lias destroyed all it may, 



can faith have any " abiding founda- 

 tion." We are afraid that, when the 

 " Observer " invokes the publishers' 

 boot as a censor of science, it betrays 

 some want of confidence in its own 

 foundation. What shall we say of the 

 security of a religious edifice built upon 

 the basis of literal Old Testament his- 

 tory ? But in the very next column to 

 the article we are noticing, it is laid 

 down: "A denial of toe literal 



VERITY OF TnE Old TESTAMENT HISTORY 

 IS THE FIRST STEP IN MODERN INFIDEL- 

 ITY." 



No more complete or more mis- 

 chievous mistake can be committed 

 than to impute to the scientists of this 

 age any hostility to religion as the mo- 

 tive of their labors. That the course 

 of inquiry often conflicts with cher- 

 ished tenets is undoubtedly true, and 

 it is a painful fact ; but to charge sci- 

 entific men with any intention of in- 

 flicting this pain, or to make them 

 responsible for it, is wholly unjust. 

 The world has never seen in all its his- 

 tory a class of men more noble in pur- 

 pose, more fair-minded, more candid, 

 tolerant, or considerate, than the class 

 of men who, in all countries, though 

 with a common spirit, have devoted 

 themselves to the truth as it is in sci- 

 ence. They have done their work with 

 a single-mindedness, a freedom from 

 partisan and sectarian passion, and an 

 openness and uprightness of purpose, 

 that find no parallel in any other great 

 group of men engaged in the advance- 

 ment of a common interest. These 

 men are entitled to stand first in the 

 respect and confidence of the commu- 

 nity ; and to accuse them of being ani- 

 mated in their study of nature by a de- 

 sire to destroy religion, or to wound 

 the feelings of religious people, is thor- 

 oughly unjustifiable. 



"The Popular Science Monthly " is 

 a record of the scientific activity of the 

 age for the last ten years, and it reflects 

 the breadth, the independence, and the 

 catholicity of thought that distinguish 



