266 THE PRESENT IMPORTANCE OF SCIENCE 



other applications not so immediately allied to things 

 material. 



The claim that material environment and social conditions 

 arising therefrom largely determine aspiration and accom- 

 plishment will be challenged in certain quarters. There are, 

 in general, two methods of procedure, which are held to be 

 efficacious as means to progress. The one is by exhortation 

 and example, the other by making it possible for the good in 

 men to find an outlet. The former is important, but the 

 latter is prerequisite to the social, and hence to the spiritual, 

 advancement of large bodies of men. Without belying the 

 thesis that the more important values of science are spiritual, 

 we may regard material conditions as of the utmost impor- 

 tance, in so far as they place spiritual attainmant within 

 reach. It can be shown that material factors are a most 

 effective stimulus to social progress ; and scientific knowledge 

 is the means by which new material factors are brought into 

 being. 



Although the individual and not his environment is the 

 primary factor, the ideals, the opinions, and the mental 

 habits of men are so closely related to their conditions of life 

 that improvement of material and social environment is 

 regarded by many able thinkers as the most practical and 

 effective means to progress. It is even maintained that the 

 moral relations of men in any age are largely a product of the 

 cultural level of the population. Great moral leaders arise 

 and exhortation has its uses, but there can be no real progress 

 save as the level of material, and therefore of social, condi- 

 tions is gradually advanced. If this be acknowledged, at- 

 tention should be directed to the amelioration of the condi- 

 tions which ''stop down" aspirations that might spring into 

 being. The cultural level is the vulnerable point of attack, 

 if we really want progress. The reason why exhortation is so 

 popular is that it hurts no one, does not produce disturbing 

 consequences, and is inexpensive for those who foot the bills. 2 



2 This point of view is ably maintained by J. Beattie Crozier in the volume 



