408 EVOLUTION AND DOGMA. 



ter, has, in these later years, been greatly decreased 

 by the conviction that the fit character is not pos- 

 sessed by any people, nor is likely to be possessed 

 for ages to come." ' 



Conquests of Science. 



It would be a grave mistake, however, to imagine 

 that, because science has become bankrupt in some 

 things, she has lost her prestige entirely. Nothing 

 could be farther from the truth. No one who is ac- 

 quainted with the brilliant conquests of science dur- 

 ing the present century, could entertain such an opin- 

 ion for a moment. What M. Brunetiere means, and 

 what all those who indorse his statements mean, is 

 that she has failed by attempting what was beyond 

 her competence ; by essaying to solve problems and 

 effect reforms that lie entirely within the domain of 

 religion and philosophy. She has erred by con- 

 founding empiricism with metaphysics, and become 

 insolvent only by assuming liabilities that were man- 

 ifestly outside of her sphere of action. But so long 

 as she was content with her own methods, and con- 

 fined her investigations to her own province, she 

 made good all her promises, if she did not accom- 

 plish even more. A glance at the annals of science 

 during the past few decades, to go back no further, 

 should satisfy the most skeptical on this point. 

 She has given to the arts of life an impetus they 

 never felt before. The forces of steam and electric- 

 ity have received a development and been given ap- 

 plications that have been the marvel of the world. 



1 See McClure's Magazine, for March, 1894. 



