THE MEANING OF SCIENCE TO MANKIND 5 



cient medievalism survives to enable us to appreciate the 

 intellectual atmosphere which existed in Europe from the 

 decline of the Greco-Roman culture to the dawn of the 

 Renaissance. For more than a thousand years, the final 

 authority, in temporal as in spiritual matters, was scriptural 

 phraseology and the traditional teachings of the masters of 

 antiquity. The writings of Galen were law in human anat- 

 omy; the Bible was regarded as a trustworthy textbook in 

 natural history. This condition of mind was an outcome of 

 the enthronement of authoritative statement in the place of 

 critical judgment. It reflected the theological doctrine of 

 authority inherent in every phrase of a Scripture conceived 

 to be inspired. In contrast to this manner of thinking, 

 science recognizes only nature as the ultimate authority in 

 the interpretation of nature. Facts, which any one may 

 verify for himself, are the justifications for the authoritative 

 statements of science. Insensibly, the popular mind is reach- 

 ing this scientific concept. The older authority may stand, 

 apparently well buttressed and secure, but in reality it has 

 been undermined by the progressive recognition of the 

 authority of nature. 



The craftsman of the Middle Ages never doubted the 

 reality of the universe depicted by theology. Performing all 

 the labor incident to the creation of a finished product out of 

 raw material, he could think in terms of a Deity who had 

 made man with His hands and who arbitrarily changed the 

 course of nature. The modern industrial worker, who per- 

 forms a small part of the process incident to factory output, 

 and whose universe is the universe of scientific fact, is more 

 likely to regard himself as controlling and directing forces of 

 nature which are represented in his machine. This latter 

 point of view has its limitations and calls for corrective 

 treatment, lest the individual engaged in industry come to 

 regard himself as merely a cog in a mechanism. But it is 

 accomplishing one beneficial result. It is instilling into the 

 worker's mind, and so into the minds of all mankind, the 



