MATERIALISTIC EVOLUTION 33 



marck and others are cited as Catholics does not 

 imply a defense of all their statements from a 

 Catholic point of view. 



It is certainly remarkable, and it may possibly 

 be considered astonishing by some, that almost 

 one half of the illustrious number of the great 

 modern pathfinders in the most modern of sciences 

 should be Catholics. Yet Catholicism, in particu- 

 lar, has by many been superficially believed to 

 stand in conflict with science. It is interesting to 

 note, in this same relation, that the Jesuits them- 

 selves have given to science a vigorous school of 

 evolution at whose head stands the supreme au- 

 thority on ant-life, the Rev. Erich Wasmann, S. J. 

 The Catholic Church has often been described 

 as "narrow." This is true in the same sense in 

 which science and mathematics must always re- 

 main narrow. There can indeed be no disputing 

 the verities of the multiplication table. A fact 

 or truth, once clearly established, simply admits 

 of no alternative; a theory may be freely ques- 

 tioned. Such is the only narrowness that Catho- 

 lics themselves have ever experienced, in common 



Communion in the parish church. (5) On Friday, September 25, 

 the day of his death, he very piously received the last Sacra- 

 ments from Father Richard, one of the assistant priests, and 

 was able afterwards to have a lengthy conversation with Father 

 Boulanger, a Dominican, who was the great man's confessor. 

 I believe this will satisfy anyone, as a proof that Pasteur was 

 a faithful child of the Church, and his example is another 

 confirmation of the words of Pascal that 'a little knowledge 

 estranges one from God, whilst great knowledge brings one 

 nearer to God.' " 



