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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



be certain that those who make the 

 claim were "materialistic" enough to 

 recognize that thev were claiming the 

 right to exercise faculties of a strictly 

 limited kind, the particular limitations 

 varying from man to man, and that 

 they must not expect the world to look 

 on with admiration at attempts to make 

 mere " freedom " supply the place and 

 do the work of knowledge and compe- 

 tency. To all of every school who ad- 

 here to the old metaphysical views of 

 mind, and who hold themselves pos- 

 sessors of an organ of unlimited pow- 

 ers, we would say : '* You are under an 

 error ; your mind is tethered to your 

 body, It 13 tethered to its own past his- 

 tory, it is tethered to a long Hne of 

 ancestry. Some things it can do, be- 

 cause they fall within its tether ; oth- 

 ers it can not do, because they fall be- 

 yond. Be wise, try to find out what 

 your limitations are, and proportion 

 your intellectual tasks to the width of 

 your intellectual shoulders." Such are 

 the teachings of a healthy materialism, 

 at once the most conservative and the 

 most progressive of doctrines. 



POLITICS AXD SCIENCE. 



The collocation of ideas expressed 

 in this title is not generally regarded 

 as valid or established; but they are 

 unquestionably coming every day into 

 closer relation. The recent campaign, 

 at any rate, is full of suggestion in re- 

 gard to important principles with which 

 it is the office of Science to deal in the 

 working of practical politics. 



The scientific habit of mind is that, 

 above all, which links cause with eflfect 

 and effect with cause, and which, in 

 special phenomena, seeks always to dis- 

 cover the illustration of some general 

 law. In the recent contest the excite- 

 ment was almost unparalleled. For a 

 time the whole nation was in a condi- 

 tion which, in the physical life of the 

 individual, would be represented by a 

 state of high fever. We have heard a 



good deal about " the splendid conduct 

 of the people," and certainly it spoke 

 well for the sense of responsibihty of 

 the citizens.generally that they refrained 

 from acts of disorder. It is, however, 

 a question whether there was anything 

 very admirable in the excitement itself, 

 or in the causes of it. It is a further 

 question of much gravity whether such 

 periods of excitement can be repeated 

 with safety. Can we count upon the 

 same admirable self-control on future 

 occasions, particularly when we con- 

 sider how little confidence each party 

 seems to possess m the honesty and 

 fair-dealing of the other? These are 

 serious questions and call for an an- 

 swer from every thoughtful citizen. 



The excitement of the late contest 

 was largely due to the fact that it was 

 a conflict not so much of principles as of 

 interests. "We are not prepared to deny 

 that a large number of citizens in the 

 aggregate had their own serious views 

 of public policy in connection with the 

 election; but these were not among 

 the most excited members of the com- 

 munity. A man who has faith in a 

 principle will work for it, and be en- 

 thusiastic for it, but he can afford to bide 

 his time. It is the man whose whole 

 course is' determined by party allegi- 

 ance, and who has learned to recognize 

 his political opponents as enemies, not 

 80 much of his views as of his interests, 

 who is carried away by a kind of frenzy 

 in times of political crisis. Such men 

 unfortunately constitute the great ma- 

 jority, and hence the danger which 

 waits upon presidential elections. The 

 practical question which confronts us, 

 then, is how this blind devotion to 

 party is to be counteracted. How are 

 men to be made ashamed of resigning 

 their whole individuality to political 

 leaders, who themselves are often no 

 better than political adventurers? It 

 is evident that what we need is an in- 

 crease of intelligence in the community. 

 We flatter ourselves, of course, that we 

 are the most intelligent community in 



