MONISM AND EVOLUTION. 253 



Nadaillac, " and in the midst of the confusion of ideas 

 of which we are the sorrowful witnesses, human pride 

 has attained proportions hitherto unknown. Science 

 has become more dogmatic and more imperious than 

 was ever theology. It counts, by thousands, adepts 

 who speak with emphasis of modern science, with- 

 out very often knowing the first word about it. But 

 I am mistaken they have been taught that modern 

 science is the negation of creation, the negation of 

 the Creator. God belongs to the old regime; the 

 idea of his justice weighs heavily on our enervated 

 consciences. Accordingly, when a hypothesis, or a 

 discovery, seems to contravene Christian beliefs, it is 

 accepted without reflection and promulgated with 

 inexplicable confidence. It is in this fact, rather 

 than in its scientific value, that we must seek the 

 raison d 'etre of transformism." ' 



But probably no better explanation could be 

 given of the confusion and perplexity which now 

 reign supreme, especially among the masses, in mat- 

 ters of science, philosophy and theology, than is ex- 

 pressed by the old Epicurean poet when he affirms : 



" Omnia enim stolidei magis admirantur amantque, 

 Inversis quae sub verbis latitantia cernunt ; 

 Veraque constituunt, quae belle tangere possunt 

 Aureis, et lepido quae sunt fucata sonore." * 



1 " Le Probleme de la Vie," p. 64, et seq. 



2 "For fools rather admire and delight in all things which 

 they see hid under inversions and intricacies of words, and con- 

 sider those assertions to be truths which have power to touch 

 the ear agreeably, and which are disguised with pleasantness of 

 sound." Lucretius, " De Re rum Natura," Lib. I, 642-45. 



