EDITOR'S TABLE. 



557 



tudes of presumably educated people, 

 many of them living in luxury made 

 possible only by scientific invention, 

 dislike both the name and the thing. 

 They dislike the exactness of science, 

 dim as their apprehension of it may be ; 

 they dislike its methods ; they dislike the 

 standard it sets up truth, conformity 

 to fact, without regard to previously 

 established opinions. The apostle of 

 truth who preaches severe doctrine in 

 the wilderness is not to their liking; 

 give them one clad in soft raiment who 

 preaches comfortable doctrine in a richly 

 upholstered church. And how is it with 

 the men into whose hands the practical 

 applications of science bring measureless 

 wealth? Do they, as a general thing, 

 show any recognition of its importance 

 to the world? Are they interested in 

 aiding research ? Do they determine 

 that no one who has an impulse toward 

 scientific discovery shall, if they can 

 help it, lack the means of laboring in 

 so noble a direction? Alas, no! The 

 favorite direction for the rich man's 

 wealth is toward the theological college. 

 From the number and magnificence of 

 the donations and bequests to theologi- 

 cal colleges, in this country particularly, 

 one would suppose that the age was 

 starving for theological knowledge, or 

 perchance that theology had produced 

 the wealth that was the source of these 

 benefactions. How the theological or 

 denominational colleges treat science, in 

 so far as they may adopt it as a branch 

 of study, two or three well-known in- 

 stances suffice to show Dr. Winchell 

 driven from the chair of Geology in 

 Vanderbilt University; Prof. Woodrow 

 from the chair of Natural Science at the 

 Columbia (S. 0.) Theological Seminary ; 

 and Prof. Toy, now of Harvard, from a 

 position held by him in a similar insti- 

 tution at Louisville. As we write, Prof. 

 Briggs, of this city, who, though not a 

 student of natural science, believes in 

 the application of scientific principles to 

 questions of ecclesiastical history, is in 

 danger of losing his chair at the Union 



Theological Seminary ; while a Canadian 

 scholar, Prof. Workman, of Victoria 

 University (Methodist), is running a 

 similar risk from an exactly similar 

 cause. We have no wish to speak un- 

 kindly of theological colleges in general ; 

 some of them, as we know, are doing 

 excellent work in certain directions; 

 but we are strongly of opinion that be- 

 quests or donations to such colleges are 

 not apt to advance the cause of science. 

 That cause will no doubt gain ground 

 more and more through the general ad- 

 vance of society, however much money 

 our millionaires may devote to impeding 

 its progress ; but it might be greatly 

 helped by judicious benefactions. A 

 French savant, M. Cahours, has lately 

 bequeathed the sum of one hundred 

 thousand francs to the French Academy 

 of Sciences for the purpose of assisting 

 young men of a scientific bent of mind 

 to pursue original researches or experi- 

 ments for which they may not them- 

 selves possess the means. This we re- 

 gard as one of the most hopeful ways 

 in which wealth seeking a useful social 

 application could be expended. Much 

 work that would be valuable remains 

 undone simply because the person pos- 

 sessing the germ-idea is unable, through 

 lack of pecuniary resources, to develop 

 it. Or the man with the idea puts him- 

 self in the hands of others, who, taking 

 advantage of his poverty, make such 

 terms as leave him with only a vestige 

 of interest in the product of his own 

 brain. There is room for much im- 

 provement in the attitude of men of 

 wealth, and indeed of society at large, 

 toward science; and, as Prof. Menden- 

 hall showed last year in his address at 

 Indianapolis, there is room for improve- 

 ment in the attitude of men of science 

 toward the community at large. The 

 best fruits of science will not be reaped, 

 and society will not undergo its great 

 transformation, until, on both sides, the 

 needed improvement is accomplished 

 until science receives the place of honor 

 in the thoughts of all, and those who ore 



