832 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



"When the scientist transcends these limits, and then only, he is going 

 beyond the bounds of science. The temptation to stroll about, regard- 

 less of limits, is often great, and the scientist, like most of his kindred, 

 frequently indulges in these aberrations. When thus found, he is en- 

 titled to no consideration on account of any sovereignty he may claim 

 to exercise in his usual habitat, and, if overthrown, may be drawn and 

 quartered at the will of his victorious enemy without a remonstrance 

 being uttered by his fellow scientists. He thus occupies a dual posi- 

 tion : in one the knowledge he possesses gives to his assertions a cer- 

 tain authority and to his hypotheses a certain probability of which 

 they are devoid in the other. The discussion and consideration of reli- ' 

 gious questions by scientific men is a common illustration of this ; but 

 the attempt to throw the weight of scientific authority on to one side 

 or the other of any question regarding supra-sensible objects should 

 be steadily frowned down. The acceptance of a thorough nominalism 

 in science and as thorough a realism in religion is by no means incom- 

 patible. Faraday is reported to have replied, to an inquiry as to how 

 he, with his well-known scientific rigor of thought, could hold certain 

 religious opinions, that he did not subject those opinions to scientific 

 tests, as he well knew they could not survive them. Nevertheless, he 

 held them as firmly as though convinced of their scientific soundness. 

 The knowledge of the disintegration of the body after death may co- 

 exist with a strong religious faith in its resurrection. A large propor- 

 tion of scientific men hold religious beliefs for which they have, and 

 care for, no scientific justification. The logical soundness of such a 

 position we will not here discuss. All that we care to do now is to 

 assert most strongly that in science abstractions have no " real " exist- 

 ence, and that, when the scientist says that the explanation of certain 

 powers of animal life by the term "vitality" is no explanation, or 

 that consciousness is dependent upon organization, or uses any of the 

 thousand and one kindred abstractions in a scientific sense, it is sheer 

 meddling to interfere. Were the duty of keeping metaphysics at 

 home inculcated with half the ardor that is used in urging science not 

 to stray, we should hear much less of the conflict between religion and 

 science. As it is, the modern Quixotes see in every scientific definition 

 an imaginary giant, which it is their duty and privilege to destroy. 

 Would they observe a little more closely, they would discover the 

 harmless mechanism of the structure, and would reserve their energies 

 for attacks upon more vulnerable enemies. 



