68 THE KINGDOM OF MAN 



that, exciting and of entrancing interest as have been 

 some of the discoveries of the past few years, there has 

 been nothing to lead us to conclude that we have been 

 on the wrong path nothing which is really revolu- 

 tionary ; that is to say, nothing which cannot be 

 accepted by an intelligible modification of previous 

 conceptions. There is, in fact, continuity and healthy 

 evolution in the realm of science. Whilst some 

 onlookers have declared to the public that science is 

 at an end, its possibilities exhausted, and but little of 

 the hopes it raised realised, others have asserted on the 

 contrary, that the new discoveries such as those relating 

 to the X-rays and to radium are so inconsistent with 

 previous knowledge as to shake the foundations of 

 science, and to justify a belief in any and every absurdity 

 of an unrestrained fancy. These two reciprocally de- 

 structive accusations are due to a class of persons who 

 must be described as the enemies of science. Whether 

 their attitude is due to ignorance or traditions of self- 

 interest, such persons exist. It is one of the objects of 

 our scientific associations and societies to combat those 

 assertions and to demonstrate, by the discoveries an- 

 nounced at their meetings and the consequent orderly 

 building up of the great fabric of l natural knowledge,' 

 that Science has not come to the end of her work 

 has, indeed, only as yet given mankind a foretaste of 

 what she has in store for it that her methods and 

 her accomplished results are sound and trustworthy, 

 serving with perfect adaptability for the increase of true 

 discovery and the expansion and development of those 

 general conceptions of the processes of nature at which 

 she aims. 



New Chemical Elements. There can be no doubt 

 that the past quarter of a century will stand out for 



