52 DISCOVERY 



stars. From that time the life of the lad underwent a 

 change ; and when some years later he was asked what 

 had been said to give him higher aspirations the answer 

 was simply, " We talked of the stars." By the light 

 of the heavens he was able to see the dust in the road 

 he had been treading and to select cleaner paths for 

 his journey towards manhood. 



Whether science is studied for its proximate value or 

 for the sake purely of increased knowledge, it creates 

 a consciousness which transfigures life. Neither it nor 

 philosophy can satisfy the religious instincts of the plain 

 man who requires a personal and social being to worship. 

 But though religion exists without science, there is no 

 science without religion ; and the study of the laws of 

 Nature creates a respect for them and reverence for 

 their Maker of a far profounder kind than the ordinary 

 mind can conceive. 



There cannot be any issue between faith and science, for 

 science and faith mutually exclude one another ; not in the sense 

 that the one renders the other impossible, or vice versa, but rather 

 that so far as science extends faith does not exist, and faith begins 

 where science leaves off. It cannot be denied that beyond this 

 limit there may be real objects to be embraced by faith. It is, 

 therefore, not the object of science to destroy faith, but rather to 

 define the boundaries to which knowledge extends, and within 

 these to establish a uniform system. Rudolf Virchow 



There is, indeed, no conflict between religion and 

 science ; one is the expression of an instinct, the other 

 is a spirit of inquiry into the character and meaning 

 of all things visible and invisible in the universe. 

 " Science is bound," said Lord Kelvin, " by the ever- 

 lasting law of honour, to face fearlessly every problem 

 which can fairly be presented to it." It does not set 

 out to establish or depose any particular articles of 

 belief or substance of faith,, but to examine critically 



