10 HISTORY AND SIGNIFICANCE OF SCIENCE 



gods," but the gods do not help us to that which we desire; 

 we help ourselves, by understanding nature and by ordering 

 our lives in conformity to her laws. Courage and high re- 

 solve are needed thus to face the realities of life. The night 

 of fear is still about us, though we face the new day. At 

 times, we lose all hope that a scientific philosophy of life can 

 ever prevail within the hearts of men. In the faith that it 

 will prevail, we lay hold upon scientific truth as we see it 

 around us, believing that in the end no other state of mind 

 will satisfy as well. 



As a final illustration of the part played by science in this 

 spiritual revolution which is the distinctive feature of 

 modern times : The facts of biological science are profoundly 

 modifying human thought. Their effects are seen in the 

 present; and such facts have unbelievable possibilities for 

 the future, because they deal with man's relation to his 

 environment and with the nature of human personality. 

 Biological science seeks to answer the question whence came 

 man, and to explain what man is at the present time. It is 

 also concerned with the whither of man upon this earth; it 

 even dreams that research may some day solve the mystery 

 of death. To-day, the philosopher recognizes the biological 

 basis of philosophy, the theologian the biological develop- 

 ment of theology, the historian the biological background of 

 primitive historical events, and the man in the street the 

 biological nature of his own existence. Indeed, biology 

 occupies a pivotal position in human understanding. 



But above all the applications of particular branches 

 of science, man must apply the scientific method in the 

 solution of social and of individual problems, lest civilization 

 perish through its failure to progress. Biology in partic- 

 ular and science in general are fundamentally related to the 

 welfare of mankind. Human life itself is the most absorbing 

 of all scientific problems. If its riddles are ever to be solved 

 it must be primarily through science and in the terms of 

 science. 



