EDITOR'S TABLE. 



127 



general science and ethics has hitherto 

 been systematically traced out. 



The most far-reaching and radical 

 revolution in thought of which we 

 have yet had experience consists in the 

 extensive acceptance of the doctrine of 

 evolution. That this doctrine has fun- 

 damental relations with morality is un- 

 deniable. Those theological teachers 

 who hold that religion and morality 

 are so unified that they must stand or 

 fall together are fond of insisting that 

 evolution is fatal to both. This is very 

 much like a desperate abandonment of 

 both to destruction, for the theory is 

 making headway at a rate unprece- 

 dented in the historical growth of opin- 

 ion. It has been developed by studious 

 scientific men, and promulgated like 

 any other scientific conclusion to which 

 they have been led by the established 

 processes of investigation and the estab- 

 lished rules of logic. All our science 

 is pervaded by it, and there is no hope 

 that it can be arrested. It is therefore 

 important to know what it is going to 

 carry away, what it is going to leave, 

 and what it is going to give. Will it 

 subvert morality, or will it lead to a 

 higher morality? 



The answer to this question we can 

 not regard as doubtful. If evolution be 

 true, and man's ethical nature is no ex- 

 ception to the general constitution of 

 things, then evolution is the agency that 

 has developed morality in the past and 

 brought it to its present condition. As- 

 suming that the principles of right and 

 wrong and the laws which regulate hu- 

 man conduct are rooted in the natural 

 order, the sciences of nature which ex- 

 plain that order must have close bear- 

 ings upon the philosophy of human 

 conduct, while the profoundest inter- 

 pretation of the method of the universe 

 that has yet been attained, and which 

 throws a flood of new light upon the 

 nature of man and the development of 

 humanity, must certainly aid us in the 

 study of human activities in their high- 

 est aspects. 



At any rate, we desire to have a re- 



port upon the present state of knowl- 

 edge on this important subject, and we 

 waut it from a man authorized to speak. 

 Mr. Spencer's book on " The Data of 

 Ethics" may be expected to give us the 

 scientific groundwork of the subject in 

 connection with the principle of evolu- 

 tion, and it can not fail to prove help- 

 ful to many minds, both by the instruc- 

 tion it will afford and by the solicitude 

 it will dispel in the present state of 

 transitional opinion. 



THE LATE DANIEL YAUGHAN. 



We print this month the last of a 

 short series of very interesting articles 

 on astronomical subjects by Professor 

 Daniel Vaughan, of Cincinnati. Before 

 we had received from him the corrected 

 proofs of the last article, news came 

 that he was dead. We were of course 

 startled by this intelligence, as his death 

 is a profound loss to American science, 

 and we knew that he was by no means 

 a very old man, and were not aware of 

 his failing health. But there now come 

 to us certain painful disclosures regard- 

 ing his life, of which it is desirable to 

 take notice. 



Daniel Vaughan was born in Ire- 

 land, of wealthy parents, about the year 

 1821. He had a good education from a 

 tutor, and at the village school, and was 

 noted for mathematical ability. He came 

 to this country at the age of sixteen, and 

 went directly West, becoming the teach- 

 er in a country school in Bourbon 

 County, Kentucky. Here he studied in 

 seclusion, and made great proficiency 

 in the higher branches of scientific 

 study ; but, famishing for books and 

 intelligent associations, he went to Cin- 

 cinnati twenty-five years ago, mainly 

 attracted by its library privileges. He 

 now pursued a wide course of scientific 

 inquiry with great vigor and enthusiasm, 

 devoting himself mainly to astronomy 

 and to the larger aspects of natural phe- 

 nomena, which he treated with the free- 

 dom and independence of a strong orig- 



