PRESIDENT NEWCOMB. 5 



what she has to say according to her exact meaning. What he 

 may desire to be true has no bearing at all on the question what 

 really is true. Here arises the inability of men of science to view 

 theological questions in a light which shall be satisfactory to the 

 theologians, and the corresponding inability of the latter to appre- 

 ciate the spirit in which men of science discuss the problems of 

 life and being. We hear much at the present time of a supposed 

 conflict between science and religion, but it is rather a conflict 

 between two sets of men who view nature from opposite and ir- 

 reconcilable standpoints. It is essential, to the understanding of 

 our theme, that we should see in what this difference of view con- 

 sists ; I shall, therefore, endeavor briefly to explain it. 



The theologian looks upon the doctrines he has been taught, as 

 something the truth of which is essential to the welfare of hu- 

 manity, and, we might almost say, to the supremacy of the Creator. 

 He thus invests them with an attribute of moral excellence, im- 

 plied rather than expressed in the term orthodoxy, and looks' upon 

 those who attack them, not simply as men who are mistaken, but 

 as men who are seeking to do a great injury to the human race. 

 Hence, the idea of weighing the arguments on both sides with 

 entire indifference to the result, is one which he cannot be expected 

 to receive with favor, or even to readily comprehend as received 

 by others. His idea of truth is symbolized in the pure marble 

 statue which must be protected from contact with profane hands, 

 and whose value arises from its beauty of form and the excellence 

 of the ideas which it embodies. He therefore looks upon those 

 who attack it, with feelings not unlike those of the keeper of the 

 statue upon a chemist, who refuses to see anything in the statue 

 except a lump of carbonate of calcium of peculiar form, and who 

 wants to handle it, weigh it, determine its specific gravity and its 

 cohesive power, and test its substance with acids. The correspond- 

 ing idea of the scientific investigator is symbolized by the iron- 

 clad turret, which cannot be accepted until it has proved its invul- 

 nerability. Instead, therefore, of being protected from violence 

 as if it were a product of the fine arts, violence is invited. Its 

 weak points are sought out by eyes intent on discovering them, 

 and are exposed to the fire of every logical weapon which can be 

 brought to bear upon them. A scientific theory may thus be 

 completely demolished ; it may prove so far from perfect that its 

 author is glad to withdraw it for repairs or reconstruction ; or it 



