SKEPTICISM AND IDOLATRY 211 



bow down and worship these images as realities. So 

 also there are the many who will not stop at the great 

 and scientific work of discovering phenomena and 

 laws, but they will speculate on natural causes and 

 mechanisms. If they do this with an open mind, per- 

 haps no harm is done as Poincare says, and possibly the 

 imagination may be healthfully stimulated. How few 

 stop at this point may be imagined from the examples 

 I have given ; a large and increasing number have be- 

 come idolaters, and are worshiping the graven images 

 of science with dogmatic fervor. 



