166 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



young man or young woman, when he or she issues from school doors, 

 should have enough definite knowledge of the great laws of the physi- 

 cal universe to instantly denounce blue-glass theories and attempts at 

 perpetual motion, not from the pride of knowledge, but from the feel- 

 ing that error, credulity, and superstition should be combated with 

 truth. 



-- 



MODERN SCIENCE IN ITS RELATION TO LITERA- 

 TURE. 



By WILLIAM BRACKETT. 



THE innovations made by science upon other modes of thought 

 and study within the last half century are without a parallel in 

 the history of human progress. It has swept away many of our most 

 cherished convictions, hoary with the dust of ages, and left others in 

 their places entirely irreconcilable with them. Marching on with the 

 might and majesty of a conqueror, it has spread dismay in the ranks 

 of opposing forces, and caused a complete abdication in its favor of 

 many of those who were most hostile to it. Nor has it taken the field 

 in an aggressive or bellicose spirit. On the contrary, . almost all its 

 conquests have been made without any design of inspiring opposition 

 or terror, and while engaged in pursuits that of all others require for 

 their prosecution the most pacific and philosophic temper. 



It might be easily shown by the comparison, were this essential to 

 my design, that in the three great departments of human study, 

 namely, those of science, religion, and literature, the cultivators of 

 science have always shown a disposition to be more tolerant of opposi- 

 tion and more lenient toward their enemies than those engaged in 

 either of the other pursuits. It might be shown that religious contro- 

 versies, and the animosities engendered by them, hold the first rank in 

 the scale of bitterness. Next come those of a literary nature, which, 

 in the last century, were scarcely less implacable ; while, with few ex- 

 ceptions, the great problems that have engaged the attention of scien- 

 tists have been singularly free from heated and acrimonious discus- 

 sion. 



Much of this serene treatment of scientific subjects is due, no 

 doubt, to their peculiar nature. In a given investigation the truth 

 must, sooner or later, come to the light. Either the investigation will 

 have to be abandoned altogether, because it is found to be beyond the 

 province of the human understanding, or the problem will eventually 

 be solved. In either event, long-continued doubt and uncertainty can 

 not hang over the result. Hence few will venture, if so disposed, to 

 cast ridicule upon efforts which may be crowned with success, and 

 which may in the end expose the scoffers to similar reproaches. 



