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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



country in a way that makes some com- 

 ment desirable. 



Prof. Haeckel, of Jena, gave an ad- 

 dress last September at Munich, before 

 the "German Association of Naturalists 

 and Physicians," in which he took the 

 ground that the doctrine of evolution 

 should be made a part of the system of 

 general education in that country. 



Prof. Vircbow replied to Haeckel in 

 a speech before the same body, on the 

 "Liberty of Science in the Modern 

 State," and argued eloquently against 

 the educational project. He said that 

 the freedom of science now enjoyed in 

 Germany is but of recent growth, and 

 may be imperiled if men of science 

 do not exercise moderation. He re- 

 ferred to the fact that the German so- 

 cialists are Darwinians, and cautioned 

 the savants against so lending themselves 

 to the purposes of this dreaded party 

 as to make it necessary for the state 

 to interfere. But Prof. Vircbow went 

 further, and maintained that the meas- 

 ure proposed would be unjustifiable, 

 because the theory of evolution is not 

 yet sufficiently proved. He did not 

 reason against it, and is understood to 

 be himself an adherent of the doctrine. 

 But, he said, it is not yet established. 

 As an anthropologist he declared that 

 no progress had been made in that 

 branch of science toward the establish- 

 ment of the theory of the descent of 

 man from the lower forms of life. He 

 did not object to it, and considered it a 

 desideratum of science that might be 

 realized at any time. But the proof, 

 he affirmed, is wanting, and the burden 

 of his speech was that what may be, or 

 is merely probable, must not be taken 

 as fact, or made use of in education. 



It is not to be supposed that so au- 

 thoritative a statement would be neg- 

 lected by those who are troubled about 

 the adventurous spirit of modern sci- 

 ence. Ever since his Belfast Address 

 there have been ominous whispers that 

 the next number of the Quarterly He-view 

 would contain an annihilating attack 



upon Prof. Tyndall ; and those interest- 

 ed in this serious result have waited 

 curiously for the onslaught, until they 

 began to fear that the editors had backed 

 out. But the German professor has 

 come to their rescue, and in the Janu- 

 ary issue they let fly their shaft, barbed 

 with Virchow's address. Nor are the 

 Americans behind the English in util- 

 izing the authority of the Berlin physi- 

 ologist. Prof. Gray, of Cambridge, in- 

 troduces the main parts of Virchow's 

 argument to the pages of the New York 

 Independent, with comments designed 

 to enforce its special lessons. He prizes 

 the address as " a timely and earnest 

 protest against what may be called plat- 

 form science not peculiar to Germany, 

 nor to advanced evolutionists against 

 that form of scientific dogmatism which 

 propounds unverified and unverifiable 

 speculations as the conclusions of sci- 

 ence." Now, we must think that Prof. 

 Gray has here failed to make the most 

 telling use of his opportunity. Dogma- 

 tism and undue license of speculation 

 are undoubtedly bad things, to be al- 

 ways condemned, and nothing certainly 

 could be more proper than for Prof. 

 Gray to warn the readers of the Inde- 

 pendent against indulgence in those 

 easily-besetting sins. But would not 

 the point have come out a little better 

 if Prof. Gray had said something like 

 this : " Dogmatism that is, arrogance 

 of opinion, and the disposition to pro- 

 nounce confidently upon matters that 

 are incapable of beingknown or verified 

 is a universal mental habit, inveter- 

 ate in proportion to people's ignorance, 

 against which education makes but 

 slow headway, which has ever charac- 

 terized theology, and is most fostered 

 by those powerful agencies in society 

 churches, Sunday-schools, and religious 

 newspapers ? All of these agencies en- 

 force the early and passive acceptance 

 of dogmas that are beyond the sphere 

 of verification, and teach that repose of 

 belief is the great end to be sought, 

 and doubt a heinous thing not to be 



