The Frontiers of the Sciences 



We have considered the practical side of the 

 question, but it presents another. The sciences 

 are developing, and every day their principles 

 and methods are becoming more stereotyped, 

 while new sciences are emerging from the shade 

 and becoming organised in their turn. All this 

 multiplies the points of view from which we 

 regard Nature. Are these views of the world to 

 remain eternally distinct, as if they belonged 

 to different objects, or are they destined to 

 coalesce and harmonise in a vast synthesis? 

 Our mind refuses to admit that Science has no 

 existence and that the many aspects under 

 which the sciences exhibit Nature are not 

 aspects of a single reality. 



The problem of the future consists in bringing 

 about this harmony of the sciences foreseen by 

 Taine: "The progress of science consists in 

 the explanation of a series of facts by a higher 

 fact which sums them up. The different 

 sciences can thus be condensed into as many 

 definitions, from which all the truths composing 

 them can be deduced. Then a time comes 

 when we are more daring; we discover the 

 unity of the universe and understand what 



307 



