EDITOR'S TABLE. 



561 



ance; and in the application of these 

 methods it shows a rigor which, by ill- 

 prepared minds, might be mistaken for 

 dogmatism. It insists upon an exact 

 definition or delimitation, so to speak, 

 of the object to be considered. " WJiat 

 are we talking about ? " is a question 

 always in order. It declines to have 

 any dealings with things that are in 

 their nature inaccessible to observation. 

 It refuses to convert sentiments into 

 convictions, or to build assurance upon 

 doubtful analogical inference. It insists 

 upon stopping short just where the 

 facts stop short, and where, therefore, 

 further verification fails. It shuns the 

 dead-reckoning of metaphysical argu- 

 mentation, and is no less guarded in its 

 denials than in its affirmations. "What 

 it can not disprove it will not deny, any 

 more than it will affirm what it can not 

 prove. But if, because a statement or 

 theory can not be disproved, any one 

 wishes to claim that it is proved, Sci- 

 ence protests, just as it would do if one 

 were to pretend that, because a thing 

 can not be proved, it is disproved. On 

 every occasion Science says, "Let us 

 take an exact measure of the facts, and 

 let our words conform thereto." It is 

 this severely truthful attitude which 

 draws down upon men of science so 

 much disfavor in certain quarters. If 

 the scientist would only be a trifle ac- 

 commodating, and where he sees but 

 little would consent to believe much ; 

 if he would only accept the currency 

 of confused thoughts and indetermi- 

 nate expressions ; if he would admin- 

 ister metaphysical comfort instead of 

 constantly pointing to the unalterable 

 and demonstrable conditions of human 

 life he would be more popular with the 

 unthinking multitude, and even with 

 some would-be leaders of thought. But 

 the scientist knows that, if there is any 

 solidity in the edifice of science to-day, 

 it is due to the firm attitude his prede- 

 cessors, and in part his contemporaries, 

 have maintained toward pleasing and 

 popular errors to their determination 

 vol. xxxi. 36 



to see the truth, and to bear witness to 

 it, and to nothing else. We may say, 

 using the words in a certain accom- 

 modated sense, that " scientific ortho- 

 doxy " requires that this attitude shall 

 be maintained. Not to take every pos- 

 sible means for the elimination of error 

 would not be " orthodox " from a scien- 

 tific point of view ; but further than 

 this we can scarcely go in the use of 

 the term. There need be no fear that 

 the progress of knowledge will be 

 checked, or that originality of view will 

 in any way be repressed. The world 

 never had so splendid a generation of 

 scientific workers as it has to-day; and 

 never, as we have already said, was 

 scientific work being done under less 

 restraint, or less undue influence from 

 any kind of personal authority. 



PHYSICAL CULTURE AND MORAL RE- 

 FORM. 



It is impossible to read without in- 

 tense interest of the experiments made 

 in the New York State Reformatory to 

 ascertain whether the moral and men- 

 tal faculties of criminals might not be 

 roused, and to some extent developed, 

 by a judiciously arranged course of 

 physical exercise. It appears, from the 

 report furnished by Dr. H. D. Wey, 

 that these experiments have been at- 

 tended with marked success : mental 

 growth has been promoted, and moral 

 control has been increased as a direct 

 result of the physical training admin- 

 istered. Accepting these statements as 

 correct, as we are quite prepared to do, 

 we see vast possibilities opened up of 

 moral reform among a class of the pop- 

 ulation whose deficiencies have hither- 

 to been the despair of philanthropists 

 and philosophers. The true spirit of 

 humanity was probably never stronger 

 in any man than in Tom Hood ; and yet 

 even he was disposed to leave criminals 

 to their own darkened intelligences and 

 evil dispositions. 



" 'Tis sorry writing on a greasy slate," 



