- 



iS THE POP CLAP SCIEXCE MOXTHLY. 



shall he not be able to find it." Why should it be one thing, in its 

 effect npon the emotions, to say. " Patience is a virtue.'* and quite an- 

 other thing, in its effect npon the emotions, to say with Homer. 



a for an enduring heart have the destinies appointed to the children of 

 men Why should it be one thing, in its effect upon the emotions. 



ny with Spinoza. feUcitas in eo cor .7 homo suutn esse 



eonservare potest "Man's happiness consists in his being able to pre- 

 serve his own essence/ 1 and quite another thing, in its effect upon the 

 emotions. :: ay, u W hat is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole 

 world and lose himself, forfeit himself": " How does this difference 

 of effect arise \ I can not tell, and I am not much concerned to know ; 

 the important thing is that it does arise, and that we can profit by it. 

 But how, finallv, are poetry and eloquence to exercise the power of 

 relating the results of natural science to man's instinct for conduct, his 

 instinct for beautv ? And here asrain I answer that I do not know 

 how thev will exercise it, but that thev can and will exercise it I am 

 s ".re. I do not mean that modern philosophical poets and modern 

 philosophical moral: its .re to relate for us the results of modern scien- 

 tific- research to our need for conduct, our need for beauty. I mean 

 that w . shall find, as a matter of experience, if we know the best that 

 has been thought and uttered in the world, we shall find that the art 

 and poetry and eloquence of men who lived, perhaps, long ago, who 

 had the most limited natural knowledge, who had the most erroneous 

 conceptions about many important matters, we shall find that they 

 have, in fact, not only the power of refreshing and delighting us, they 

 have also the power such are the strength and worth, in essentials, of 

 their authors criticism of life thev have a fortifving and elevating 

 and quickening and sn^rsrestive power capable of wonderfully helping 

 in to relate the results of modern science to our need for conduct, our 

 need for beautv. Homer's conceptions of the physical universe were, 

 I imagine, grotesque ; but really, under the shock of hearing from 

 modern science that u the world is not subordinated to man's use, and 

 that man is not the cvnosure of things terrestrial," I could desire no 



:er comfort than Homers line which I quoted just now : 



TAirrbr yap Motpcu 6vfU)7 Qicav arQp&rrouriy 



" for an enduring heart have the destinies appointed to the children of 



men.*' 



And the more that men's minds are cleared, the more that the re- 

 sults of science are frankly accepted, the more that poetry and elo- 

 quence come to be studied as what they really are the criticism of 

 life by gifted men, alive and active with extraordinary power at an 

 unusual number of points so much the more will the value of humane 

 let: : nd of art also, which is an utterance having a like kind of 



"Iliad," xxiv, 49. 



