158 THE KINGDOM OF MAN 



entertainments, more diverting, but not really more 

 capable of giving pleasure than those in which science 

 was popularised. No doubt the organisation and pro- 

 fessional character of scientific work are to a large extent 

 the cause of this falling-off in its attraction for amateurs. 

 But perhaps that decadence is also due in some measure 

 to the increased general demand for a kind of manu- 

 factured gaiety, readily sent out in these days of easy 

 transport from the great centres of fashionable amusement 

 to the provinces and rural districts. 



Before concluding this retrospect, I would venture to 

 allude to the relations of scientific progress to religion. 

 Putting aside the troubles connected with special creeds 

 and churches and the claims of the clerical profession to 

 certain funds and employments to the exclusion of laymen, 

 it should, I think, be recognized that there is no essential 

 antagonism between the scientific spirit and what is called 

 the religious sentiment. ' Religion,' said Bishop Creighton, 

 ' means the knowledge of our destiny and of the means of 

 fulfilling it.' We can say no more and no less of Science. 

 Men of Science seek, in all reverence, to discover the 

 Almighty, the Everlasting. They claim sympathy and 

 friendship with those who, like themselves, have turned 

 away from the more material struggles of human life, and 

 have set their hearts and minds on the knowledge of the 

 Eternal. 



