78 Science, her Claims, Position, and Duties. [January, 
When Darwin, Wallace, Bates, Belt, and other practical 
naturalists, speak of the “‘ struggle for existence ” and of the 
‘‘survival of the fittest,” they mean by the term “ fittest ” 
simply that which is in the closest harmony with sur- 
rounding conditions. But outsiders—such as divines, 
lawyers, politicians, economists, and literary men—very 
generally go away with the impression that by this word the 
advocates of development imply whatsoever is in the abstract 
best and worthiest, or whatsoever is most useful to man and 
most beautiful in his eyes. Under the influence of this 
mistake they are led astray, in one of two opposite direc- 
tions, according to their prepossessions. Those, on the one 
hand, who know that without man’s active intervention 
worthless weeds would soon choke the precious grain, be- 
lieve that they have here found the reductio ad absurdum of 
‘“‘ Darwinism.’”’ On the other hand, certain economists who 
hold that success is the sole test of merit, and who believe 
the inventor who starves 1n a garret less “‘ worthy ” than the 
‘financier’? who robs him of his invention, fancy they see 
in the theory of development the scientific consecration of 
their private creed. Their consequent adoption of a part of 
its language brings ‘‘ Darwinism” into contempt. 
Scientific men should, above all things, insist that every 
scientific theory must stand or fall on its own merits, and 
not in virtue of its assumed ‘‘ tendencies.’”’” We can ac- 
knowledge no extraneous jurisdiction. Time was when the 
Church claimed to be the depository not merely of spiritual 
but of physical truth; this usurpation is at an end. Science, 
no longer a ‘‘handmaid,” sits crowned and armed in her 
own sphere. But here, as elsewhere, rights imply duties. 
Firmly and consistently as she must claim and hold the un- 
divided right to the interpretation of the physical universe, 
no less firmly must she abstain from every attempt to extend 
her jurisdiction over the emotional phase of man’s being. 
Professor Tyndall, desirous, doubtless, to lay before the 
public some of the most recent and advanced results of 
modern speculation, was not happy in certain parts of his 
speech. If he did not a¢tually cross the border, he appeared 
so todo. A teacher, further, should beware of needlessly 
exciting against himself and his views the passions of his 
pupils. It is rarely prudent to attack a prejudice in pitched 
battle. All that there is in this ‘‘ Address”’ really valuable, 
truthful, and to the point, might, we believe, have been said 
without wounding the feelings of many estimable men, and 
without raising a storm, all whose results will scarcely be 
favourable to the cause of Science. One of the best remarks 
