SKEPTICISM AND IDOLATRY 207 



same time, it persists in the habit of sneering at meta- 

 physical methods. 



It was with the greatest regret that I found Poincare 

 had given in to this form of idolatry of the graven 

 images of science. His mathematical writings, his 

 physical theories, and his critical spirit had always 

 impressed me as models of clear and vivid thinking. 

 And the statements I have quoted show that he did not 

 adopt this other mode of messy thinking without 

 reluctance. His ideas no longer are unqualified: he 

 is willing to admit only that things seem to point this 

 way or that, as if he had been caught and entangled in 

 this German school of transcendental symbolism, and 

 could not see his way out. 



Sir Oliver Lodge has no such scruples. He rejoices 

 in his beliefs, and delights in promulgating a clear 

 knowledge of all the unknowable things in the universe 

 just as he sees them ; especially by popular essays ad- 

 dressed to those whose lack of technical training makes 

 them unable to discriminate between real and sham 

 science. In his recent presidential address on " Con- 

 tinuity," he tries to accept at once the modern me- 

 chanics and Newtonian mechanics, continuity and dis- 

 continuity, and scientific laws for bodies both mortal 

 and immortal. But with all the trouble which this 

 reconciling of irreconcilables gives him, he always 

 finds comfort and refreshment in his " fervent belief in 



