45 6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



in modern civilization, it has become the great principle of philan- 

 thropy. Now the sufferings of all mankind touch the hearts of all 

 men. If a tornado destroys a village, the whole world tenders alms ; 

 if a party of heroes are starving in the ice-fields of the North, their 

 sufferings kindle sympathy in the heart of every civilized man. 



But there is a charity unknown to tribal society, and little known 

 in early civilization — a charity born of knowledge, a charity kindled 

 in the hearts of men by science. It is charity for men's opinions — 

 philosophic charity. In all the past, he whose opinions were not in 

 conformity with current beliefs was held to be depraved, and hem- 

 lock was his portion, or fagots were used for his purification. 



It has at last been discovered that the world has always been full 

 of error, and we are beginning to appreciate how man has struggled 

 through the ages from error to error toward the truth. We now know 

 that false opinions are begotten of ignorance, and in the light of uni- 

 versal truth all men are ignorant, and as the scholar discovers how little 

 of the vast realm of knowledge he has conquered he grows in philo- 

 sophic charity for others. The history of the world is replete with 

 illustrations to the effect that the greater the ignorance the greater the 

 abomination of unconforming opinion, and the greater the knowledge 

 the greater the charity for dissenting opinions. 



♦■» 



EYOLUTION AND THE DESTINY OF MAN. 



Bx W. D. LE SUEUE. 



" rrillE Destiny of Man viewed in the Light of his Origin " is tlfe 

 -L important and interesting subject to which Professor Fiske de- 

 votes the last work that has issued from his pen. It is as true to-day 

 as it was in the days of that Northumbrian king whose reason for 

 hearing the Christian missionaries has so often been cited with ap- 

 proval, that men have a longing to know what may lie beyond the 

 portal of death which closes so solemnly and, as it would seem, mysteri- 

 ously upon all the activities of life. The Christian religion has been 

 answering the question in its own way for well-nigh nineteen hundred 

 years, and it might not be too much to say that upon that answer, au- 

 thoritatively given, more than upon anything else, its wonderful and 

 prolonged vitality has depended. What troubles the minds of many 

 to-day is a doubt as to whether there are solid and reasonable grounds 

 for what has so long been taught with authority. Was the tone of 

 certainty assumed by Christian teachers at the outset anything more 

 than a strong persuasion due to the workings of imagination ? Does 

 the answer so confidently given, and so devoutly accepted by count- 

 less multitudes in past ages, still hold good ? Is the soul of man 



