SCIENCE AND REVOLUTION 



ratus of its organization to its assistance against 

 the new and startling evolution of things and 

 ideas. So Tycho de Brahe entered the arena to 

 defend the Ptolemaic system against Galilei and 

 Kepler. Tetzlaff defended the right of the 

 church to levy taxes. Luther was challenged to 

 defend his ideas at Worms. And the feudal 

 rulers were instigated to gather their armed 

 forces and make war on the burghers and peas- 

 ants. The Reformation with its economic and 

 mental revolution struck deep into the flesh of 

 the church, and paved the way for the subse- 

 quent freedom of scientific investigation which 

 accumulated in the course of the following cen- 

 turies the basic facts for a consistent theory of 

 evolution. 



When astronomy, geography, experimental 

 physics, and physiology were engaged in their 

 first determined attempts to clear away the meta- 

 physical rubbish of the Middle Ages and push 

 human thought once more into its truly evolu- 

 tionary course, philosophy likewise awoke from 

 its long slumber. For almost 1900 years, the 

 methods of the natural philosophers had been 

 abandoned. During all that time, the human 

 mind had been wandering aimlessly in the mazes 

 of metaphysical speculation. Revelation, instead 



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