Judges of Science 237 



of philosophy are able, under due compulsion of opinion, to 

 retreat from positions that have become untenable ; while the 

 dead hand of a book sets and stiffens, amidst texts and form- 

 ulae, until it becomes a mere petrifaction, fit only for that 

 function of stumbling-block, which it so admirably performs. 

 Wherever bibliolatry has prevailed, bigotry and cruelty have 

 accompanied it. It lies at the root of the deep-seated, some- 

 times disguised, but never absent, antagonism of all varieties 

 of ecclesiasticism to the freedom of thought and to the spirit of 

 scientific investigation." 



Moreover, Presbyter is but Priest writ large, and the 

 Protestant clergy were the leaders in denunciation of 

 every person and every branch of investigation or of 

 thought in any way connected with evolution. Hux- 

 ley was no respecter of persons, and, following the 

 example of Darwin, he was ready to study carefully 

 any arguments for or against any scientific doctrines 

 by whomsoever or howsoever brought forward. The 

 right of criticism and duty of doubt, which he insisted 

 on for himself, he was extremely willing to extend to 

 others, and, as a matter of fact he was on terms of inti- 

 mate friendship with some of his most distinguished 

 clerical opponents. But to an extent which it is al- 

 most impossible now to realise, the clergy generally 

 abused their legitimate position and authority, and 

 demanded or assumed a right to give authoritative 

 opinions on questions which did not come within their 

 domain. It was the old attempt of the Church to 

 make its authority felt in all departments of thought 

 and of action, and the attempt was made in the tradi- 

 tional fashion. Questions of fact were associated with 

 questions of morality, and those who held one view as 

 to the meaning and implication of certain facts were 

 denounced as wicked. Huxley at once carried the 

 war into the enemy's own country : 



