590 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and recognized truths. There can be no doubt of the conclusion 

 to be drawn from this proposition : this scientifically untenable 

 conception must be given up, and replaced, if possible, by another 

 and better one. I believe that I can answer the question that 

 would naturally be asked here, whether another better view ex- 

 ists, in the affirmative. What I have to say on the subject will 

 therefore be legitimately divided into two parts the destructive 

 and the constructive. It is easier in this case, as in others, to 

 destroy than to build up, and the insufficiency of the usual 

 mechanical view will be easier to demonstrate than the sufficiency 

 of the new one, which I shall call the energistic view. But if I 

 declare at once that this new theory has already had opportunity 

 to show its quality in the field of experimental science, so favor- 

 able to calm examination and impartial testing, it will then be 

 able, even if it can not secure conviction of its correctness, to 

 demand recognition of its claim to consideration. 



It may not be superfluous for me to announce in the beginning 

 that I contemplate an exclusively scientific discussion. I put 

 away absolutely and unconditionally all conclusions which might 

 be drawn from the result for other, ethical and religious, pur- 

 poses. I do this, not because I undervalue the importance of such 

 considerations, but because my result has been obtained independ- 

 ently of them, purely on the ground of exact science. Even for 

 the tilling of this ground the word holds good that he who puts 

 hand to the plow and looks back is not made for the kingdom. 

 The naturalist is pledged to declare what he has found, whomso- 

 ever it may hurt or help, and we may surely trust that earnest 

 seeking, though it may lead us astray for a little while, will never 

 do it permanently. I do not forget that my attempt places me in 

 contradiction with the opinions of men who have achieved much 

 in science, and to whom we all look up in admiration. I hope 

 you will not impute conceit to me because I differ from them on 

 so important a subject. It is not conceit when the sailor whose 

 post is in the " crow's nest " causes the course of the great ship 

 on which he is only a servant to be turned by the cry of " Break- 

 ers ahead!" It is his duty to tell what he sees, and he would 

 fail in this duty if he neglected to do so. In the same sense I 

 have a duty to discharge. Yet none of you is obliged to change 

 his scientific course merely on my call of " Breakers ahead ! " 

 Each of you may test whether a reality stands before my eyes, or 

 I am deceived by a vision. But since I believe that the special 

 kind of scientific work which is my calling permits me for the 

 moment to discern certain phenomena more clearly than they 

 appear from other points of view, I should consider it wrong if 

 I failed for reasons outside of it to speak of what I have seen. 



In order to set ourselves right in the infinity of the world of 



