CONCLUSION, 325 



perfect science is injurious, it must not therefore be 

 rejected. Science is the constant and vigilant gene- 

 rator of all social improvement, and the most formid- 

 able enemy of the tyranny of a despot, of an oligarchy, 

 or of the multitude, whether it take a religious or 

 secular form. Since sharp instruments are powerful 

 aids to civilization and material prosperity, they are 

 not to be altogether set aside because some persons 

 die miserably by them. As I have always maintained, 

 and now repeat with still stronger conviction, science 

 and freedom, the ever watchful guardians of the human 

 race, are and must always remain the sole remedies 

 for the evils which threaten us. I do not dispute the 

 beneficent influence of other factors combined with 

 these, but, taken alone, they would be powerless, and 

 if science were eclipsed they would be transformed 

 into fresh causes of servitude and ignorance, as it has 

 often appeared in past times when the laws of science 

 and of freedom have been set at nought. I therefore 

 declare science and freedom to be the portion of all, 

 and they should be as widely diffused as possible, since 

 the way to knowledge and a worthy life is open to all 

 men. It is a blasphemy against heaven and earth to 

 presume, in the so-called interest of civil order, to 

 keep the majority of the people in the ignoble servitude 

 of ignorance, and men do not perceive that they thus 

 become ready for any disturbance, and the tools of 

 rogues and agitators. 



I hope and pray that reverence for science and 



