VIE CHOW ON THE TEACHING OF SCIENCE. 



73 



les3 folly of the spiritualist, or the pernicious non- 

 sense of the materialist." x 



Whether the " clerical world " has settled into 

 this belief or not, I do not know ; nor would it 

 appear to bear very closely upon the argument. 

 The clergy, as a body, are so far from being com- 

 petent to pass any opinion upon such a question 

 in biology, that they are still a whole world apart 

 from having formed any conception of the mean- 

 ing and tendency of the doctrine. They cannot 

 know that, if these things be true, their occupa- 

 tion is gone ; that the things they preach — God, 

 the soul, a future life, human responsibility, con- 

 science — are all delusions — " gross, selfish, and 

 repulsive " delusions. If they once even distant- 

 ly conceived this, we should hear no more of con- 

 troversy about mint, anise, and cummin ; about 

 high, low, and broad ; about attitude, gesture, and 

 grimace ; about pictures, flowers, and candles ; 

 about alb, cope, and chasuble ; but all would unite 

 to form one compact and powerful phalanx, to 

 repel the common enemy that threatens to over- 

 whelm them under the false name of science. They 

 would no longer coquet, as many do, with a vain 

 and foolish philosophy, because it loudly pro- 

 claims itself to be the latest development of en- 

 lightenment. They would no longer seek for 



weak compromises where compromise is, by 

 the very terms and conditions of the case, im- 

 possible ; but they would with one accord show 

 to all men in what highest sense they are the 

 children of our Father who is in heaven ; they 

 would cry aloud with him of old : " If the Lord 

 be God, then follow him ; but if Baal, then follow 

 him." 



Not because it is unutterably disgusting and 

 humiliating, but because the idea is profoundly 

 and irredeemably unscientific, founded on false 

 data, false conceptions, and false reasoning, do I 

 altogether repudiate our " wormy " and ape-like 

 ancestry. Upon man everywhere, debased, de- 

 graded, fallen from his high estate though he 

 may be, I see the seal and impress of his special 

 and divine origin. His commission is to have 

 dominion over, not to claim kindred with, the 

 beasts of the earth. His privilege is to do ear- 

 nestly, faithfully, and intelligently — not as an 

 irresponsible machine, but as a free agent, able 

 to stand, yet free to fall — the work given him 

 by his Creator. His one supreme hope is that, 

 when this little span of material existence is past, 

 he may enter upon a higher and enduring life, to 

 hear, as the portals of eternity open before him, 

 the blessed words, " Well done, good and faith- 

 ful." — Nineteenth Century. 



YIKCHOW ON THE TEACHING OF SCIENCE. 



By Phofessoe W. KJNGDON CLIFFORD. 



THE jubilee meeting of German naturalists 

 and physicians at Munich last year was 

 marked by an incident which has deservedly at- 

 tracted attention in this country. Addresses 

 were delivered to the Association, among others, 

 by three very eminent men, and, as was natural 

 on such an occasion, each of them took the form 

 of a review of the situation of science at this 

 moment. Haeckel, of Jena, led the way by a dis- 

 course on the present position of the evolution 

 theory ; on the nature of the evidence for various 

 parts of it ; the bearing of it upon mental science 

 or psychology, upon education, and upon morals. 

 He was followed by Nageli, of Munich, "On the 

 Limits of Natural Knowledge," who pointed out 

 that we have a limited number of senses, and that 



1 " Recent Advances in Physical Science." By 

 Prof. Tait. Introductory Chapter, p. 25. 



we cannot deal with things which are too large, or 

 too small, or too far away, or with events which 

 happened too long ago ; but that, if we will be 

 satisfied with such kind of knowledge as we can 

 get, we do really know something, and may come 

 to know a great deal more. 



But the words most listened to and most re- 

 peated were undoubtedly those of Virchow, of 

 Berlin, on the liberty of science in the modern 

 state. He recalled the early days of the Associ- 

 ation, when it had to meet in secret for fear of 

 the authorities ; and he warned his colleagues 

 that their present liberty was not a secure posses- 

 sion, that a reaction was possible, and that they 

 should endeavor to make sure of their ground 

 by a wise moderation, by a putting forward of 

 those things which are established in the sight 

 of all men, rather than of individual opinions. 



