August 4, 1887] 



NATURE 



335 



which in our own minds it has been arrived at, are another. 

 These are liable to human imperfection, and we may not 

 attribute to them the infallibility which belongs to that which is 

 divine. We are not to confound the scaffolding with the 

 building ; nor, if we are anxious for the safety of the edifice, 

 need we therefore fear that, if the scaffolding were tampered 

 with, the whole might come tumbling down, nor should we 

 regard as a dynamiter a fellow-workman who would remove a 

 pole or two. 



That truth must be self- consistent, come from where it may, is 

 an axiom which nobody would dispute ; the only question can be. 

 What is truth? Now, there are truths which we know by 

 intuition, such as the axioms of mathematics ; and there are 

 others, again, which, though we do not perceive them by 

 intuition, yet demonstrably follow from what we do so perceive ; 

 such, for example, are the propositions of mathematics. Then 

 there are other conclusions which we accept as the result of 

 the application of our reason to a study of Nature. Here the 

 evidence is not demonstrative, and the conclusion may have all 

 degrees of support, from such overwhelming evidence as that on 

 which we accept universal gravitation, to what hardly raises the 

 conclusion above the rank of a conjecture. On the other hand, 

 there are conclusions which we accept on totally different 

 grounds ; namely, becau:-e we think that they have been revealed. 

 \Vhy we accept a revelation at all, is a very wide question which 

 I cannot here enter into. That we do accept it is implied in the 

 membership of this Institute. But, granting the acceptance of 

 revelation, the question remains. What and how much is involved 

 in revelation ? That is a question respecting which there are 

 differences of opinion among those whj frankly accept a revela- 

 tion, and with it the supernatural. 



Now, the primary object of the establishment of the Victoria 

 Institute was toexamine thequestions as to which there was z.prwi(i 

 facie appearance of conflict between the conclusions of science 

 and the teachings of revelation. In order that such examination 

 may be usefully carried out, it must be undertaken in a thoroughly 

 impartial spirit, with a readiness honestly to follow truth 

 wherever it may lead. It will not do to assume that the im- 

 munity from error which belongs to the divine belongs also to 

 our apprehension of what constitutes the divine, and that there- 

 fore, if a conflict there be, the error must be on the side of 

 science. It is true, that many statements which are really little 

 more than scientific conjectures are represented, at least by those 

 who take their science at second or third hand, as if they were 

 the well-established conclusions of science. But it is true also 

 that the progress of science has corrected the assertions of a 

 crude theology. We are disposed nowadays to smile at the idea 

 of any opposition between the Copernican system' and the 

 teaching of revelation ; but we need not go back to the days of 

 the persecution of Galileo to find an example of a well-supported 

 scientific conclusion having met with a similar opposition, issuing 

 in a similar result. 



To gauge thoroughly the amount of evidence on which an 

 asserted scientific conclusion rests, one ought to be well ac- 

 quainted with the branch of science to which it relates. Still 

 one can get a fair general notion of the evidence by an amount 

 of reading which is by no means prohibitive, or by conversing 

 with those who have made that branch a special study. It may 

 be that the impression thus left on the mind will be that the 

 votaries of science, carried away by an excess of zeal in the 

 attempt to discover the causes of natural phenomena, have 

 really, though honestly, overestimated the evidence. It may be, 

 on the other hand, that the inquirer will perceive the evidence 

 to be weighty and substantial, in which case it behoves him to 

 reconsider the supposition with which he started, that the con- 

 clusion was opposed to the teaching of revelation. 



One should always bear in mind the great responsibility one 

 incurs, and the mischief one may do, by representing as bound 

 up with revelation that which really forms no part of it. Being 

 by hypothesis no part of it, but only erroneously tacked on to it, 

 it may be false, and being false, it may be in opposition to a 

 conclusion supported by the weightiest evidence, it matters not 

 of what kind, but say scientific. What, then, will be the effect 

 of the error committed by the upholder of revelation ? The 

 educated man of science may see through the fallacy ; but will it 

 not put a weapon into the hands of the infidel lecturer wherewith 

 to attack revealed religion ? 



But whether we can agree or cannot agree with the conclusions 

 at which the scientific investigator may have arrived, let us,- 



above all things, beware of imputing evil motives to him ; of 

 charging him with adopting his conclusions for the purpose of 

 opposing what is revealed. Scientific investigation is eminently 

 truthful. The investigator may be wrong, but it does not follow 

 that he is other than truth-loving. If on some subjects which 

 we deem of the highest importance he does not agree with us — 

 and yet it may be he agrees with us more than we suppose — let 

 us, remembering our own imperfections, both of understanding 

 and of practice, bear in mind that caution of the Apostle : 

 " Who art thou that judgest another man's servant ? To his own 

 master he standeth or falleth." 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



Rendiconti del Reale Istituto Lombardo, June 16. — On the 

 importance of the qualitative bacteriological examination of 

 potable waters, by Prof Leopoldo Maggi. Attention is directed 

 to the mistake made by many chemists, who occupy themselves 

 exclusively with the quantitative examination of potable waters, 

 neglecting the much more important question of the specific 

 quality of the germs, owing to the greater difficulty of distin- 

 guishing between the various forms of these organisms. Waters 

 largely charged with harmless Bacteria are condemned, although 

 perfectly drinkable, while others apparently pure, but really 

 containing deadly germs in small quantity, are declared to be 

 quite safe, often to the great danger of the public health. It is 

 in fact far more a question o{ quality than oi quantity, as shown 

 especially by the recent researches of Chantemesse and Vidal 

 on the Bacillus of typhus. On the other hand, Leone has experi- 

 mentally shown that comparatively pure water is itself a medium 

 of culture, so that a small quantity of innocuous Bacteria may 

 largely increase in it without rendering its use dangerous. Some 

 instructions are added for distinguishing between harmless 

 organisms normally present in water as their natural element, 

 and pathological germs, which render it quite unfit for human 

 consumption. — Meteorological observations made at the Br era 

 Observatory, Milan, during the month of May. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Chemical Society, June 16. — Mr. William Crookes, F. R.S., 

 President, in the chair. — The following papers were read : — A 

 study of the thermal properties of a mixture of ethyl alcohol 

 and ethyl oxide, by Dr. William Ramsay and Dr. Sydney 

 Young. — Derivatives of hydrindonaphthene and tetrahydro- 

 naphthalene, by Dr. W. H. Perkin, Jun. — The synthetical 

 formation of closed carbon chains in the aromatic series, by Dr. 

 F. S. Kipping. — The product of the action of ethylene bromide 

 on ethylic acetosodacetate, by Dr. P. C. Freer and Dr. W. H. 

 Perkin, Jun. — The synthesis of hexamethylene -derivatives, by 

 Dr. P. C. Freer and Dr. W. H. Perkin, Jun. — An attempt to 

 synthetize heptamethylene-derivatives, by Dr. P. C. Freer and 

 Dr. W. H. Perkin, Jun. — The composition of shale-spirit, by 

 Dr. A. K. Miller and Mr. T. Baker. — The magnetic rotatory 

 power of the ethyl salts of maleic and citraconic acids and their 

 isomers, by Dr. W. H. Perkin, F.R.S. — The temperatures at 

 which various sulphates undergo decomposition, by Dr. G. H. 

 Bailey. — The reaction between sulphites and nitrites of metals 

 other than potassium, by Dr. Edward Divers, F.RS., and Mr. 

 Tamemasa Ilaga. — The action of acetyl chloride on acetoximes, 

 by Mr. Victor Meyer and Mr. A. Warrington. — Sulphinic 

 compounds of carbamide and thiocarbamide, by Mr. George 

 McGowan. — Anarcardic acid, by Dr. S. Ruhemann and Mr. 

 S. Skinner. 



Edinburgh, 



Royal Society, July 4. — Mr. J. Murray, Vice-President, in 

 the chair. — Prof. Tait communicated a paper by Mr. A. C. 

 Mitchell on the thermal conductivity of iron, copper, and 

 German silver. Mr. Mitchell made his experiments upon the 

 same bars as were used by Prof. Forbes and Prof. Tait, but the 

 surfaces were nickelized so as to prevent oxidation. The results 

 agree well with those of Prof. Tait, and are probably as correct 

 as the method admits of. — Mr. T. B. Sprague read a paper on 

 the probability that a marriage, entered into by a man of any 





