630 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



of ideas triumphs achieved by indi- 

 viduals through heroic self-sacritice, 

 and unwearying labor, in the seclusion 

 of the laboratory, the study, and the 

 workshop. And, as regards popular 

 history, it is now pertinent to ask if it 

 might not be wisely extended over this 

 field of human exploit. The records of 

 inventive, scientitic, and social progress 

 might lack something of the tragic ex- 

 citement that belongs to the chronicles 

 of battles and campaigns, and might be 

 read with less avidity thanaccounts of 

 cabinet intrigues, partisan strife, and 

 gossiping sketches of men who have got 

 tliemselves voted into the category of 

 the great ; but, for the serious purposes 

 of education, would not histories of the 

 former type be better suited for the 

 wants of an enterprising, practical, self- 

 governing people, than those which are 

 now pressed upon our schools? We 

 need popular histories of the arts and 

 sciences, of inventions and discoveries, 

 of industries and commerce, the devel- 

 opment of ideas, the order of social 

 changes, and the working of those deep- 

 er forces in human affairs which history 

 has hitherto overlooked, and of which, 

 indeed, mankind has only become fully 

 conscious in recent years. "We need 

 them, but the need is probably no meas- 

 ure of the demand for them. If they 

 Avere written, the chances for their 

 " adoption " would, perhaps, not be 

 very encouraging. But we may indulge 

 the hope that the influence of the Cen- 

 tennial Exhibition will, at any rate, be 

 favorable to the growth of this branch 

 of literature. 



RETROSPECTS OF OUR PAST HUNDRED 

 YEARS. 



The reviews that have been pub- 

 lished of what has been done in this 

 country in the great departments of 

 thought, during the past century, are 

 not without promise that the mind of 

 the time is moving in the direction 

 desiderated in the preceding article. 

 The North American Hevieic, for ex- 



ample, has published a centennial num- 

 ber, devoted entirely to the course of 

 American thought in religion, politics, 

 abstract science, economic science, law, 

 and education, from 1776 to 1870. The 

 papers are able, calm, and philosophic, 

 without a glimpse of the "spread eagle" 

 or trace of the " stump," and their gen- 

 eral tone, in fact, is by no means that 

 of jubilation. 



Mr. J. L. Diman begins by giving an 

 instructive account of religion in Amer- 

 ica, and pointing out the leading changes 

 that have taken place, most important 

 of which is the complete separation 

 which has been effected between church 

 and state. He shows how deep was 

 the conviction in our early history tliat 

 laws for "maintaining public worship, 

 and decently supporting the teachers 

 of religion," are "absolutely necessary 

 for the well-being of society." This 

 view was not the result of ecclesias- 

 tical prejudice, but was most strongly 

 advocated by laymen. Chief-Justice 

 Parsons, not a member of a church, in 

 entering upon his official caa*eer, ex- 

 pressed his most solemn conviction "of 

 the necessity of a public support of 

 religious institutions ; " and, still later, 

 Judge Story maintained the same view. 

 This ground, now generally abandoned 

 by American Protestants, is that still 

 held by the Catholic Church, and gives 

 rise to one of the gravest difficulties of 

 public policy, that in relation to religion 

 and state education. 



As regards the growth of sects, it 

 is stated that " a century ago the more 

 important religious bodies (tested by 

 the number of churches) were ranked 

 in the following order: Congi'egation- 

 al. Baptist, Church of England, Presby- 

 terian, Lutheran, German Reformed, 

 Dutch Reformed, Roman Catholic. By 

 the census of 1870 they stood: Meth- 

 odist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Roman 

 Catholic, Christian, Lutheran, Congre- 

 gational, Protestant Episcopal." The 

 growth of religious organizations has 

 outstripped the growth of population. 

 At the beginning of the Revolution 



