THE HIGHER VALUES OF SCIENCE 291 



spiritual side, the fight is on; but its importance is not yet 

 comprehended. Lest science fail in its larger mission, the 

 significance of the higher advance should be made known. 

 Science is obliged to exploit its material triumphs in order to 

 gain support in its combat with the idols of the past. The prac- 

 tical man cares little for the thoughts of scientist or philos- 

 opher unless they can be turned to economic account. He 

 nevertheless acquires the scientific point of view by insensi- 

 ble stages, because he habitually employs both the method 

 and the knowledge of science in his everyday life. Science is 

 the great transformer of opinion at the present time. And 

 this transformation is accomplished primarily through the 

 material efficiency of scientific knowledge. Just as religion 

 was more effective spiritually, when it was believed that 

 supplication brought desired material blessings, so science 

 is effective at the present day. But the material benefits 

 which science has conferred upon mankind do not constitute 

 the highest scientific values. 



SCIENCE AND IMAGINATION 



It is often said that nothing remains for imagination, now 

 that science has destroyed the mystery of the universe. 

 This statement has no basis in fact, and arises from a mis- 

 understanding of what science has accomplished. Instead of 

 restricting imagination, science has so enlarged the mental 

 horizon that imagination may take a bolder flight. To 

 primitive man and to the savage who survived in this state 

 until recent times, nature appeared a thing of caprice rather 

 than of ordered sequence. The world was one of spirits, 

 good and evil, who had always to be considered and with 

 whom man must make his peace. The day as well as the 

 night was peopled with beings who ruled in the absence of 

 any definite sequence of events, and safety could be found 

 only by submission or propitiation. Under these conditions 

 imagination had full play. But who in the present genera- 



