574 



FOOT-NOTES TO EVOLUTION. 



ceptions of right-doing and of the motives which con- 

 trol it. Both are part of the mental universe we built 

 around us in our youth, and one in which we would 

 not willingly make changes or extensions. 



It is the work of science to find in some degree the 

 real nature of the universe. Its function is to eliminate, 

 as far as may be, the human equation in every state- 

 ment. By methods of precision of thought and instru- 

 ments of precision of observation science seeks to 

 make our knowledge of the small, the distant, the invisi- 

 ble, the mysterious, as accurate as our knowledge of 

 the common things with which man has dealt for ages. 

 It seeks to make our knowledge of common things ac- 

 curate and precise, that this accuracy and precision may 

 be translated into action. For the ultimate end of sci- 

 ence, as well as its initial impulse, is the regulation of 

 human conduct. Seeing true means thinking right. 

 Right thinking means right action. To bring about 

 right action is the end of science. Greater precision of 

 thought and action makes higher civilization possible. 

 Lack of precision in action is the great cause of human 

 misery, for misery is Nature's protest against the results 

 of wrong conduct. " The world as it is " is the province 



of science. "The God of the things as 

 "The world ^, ^^^„ -^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^ highest 



as It IS. , ■' . , , J • • ,, , 



heaven. As " the world as it is to the 



sane man is glorious, beautiful, noble, and divine, so will 



science be the inspiration of art, poetry, and religion. 



The intellectual growth of man has 



The conflict been one long struggle between the ideas 



between science , , . j • . j- ^i r 



, ,. . of the universe derived directly from re- 



and religion. •' 



alities and the ideas derived from tradi- 

 tion and suggestion. The record of this struggle is the 

 most valuable part of history. In his notable record of 

 this struggle Dr. John W. Draper has called it "The 



