FROM THE EVOLUTION PHILOSOPHY. 19 



fbat science makes no assumption of knowledge con- 

 cerning^ those affections of consciousness which are 



frnnprpT^prirlp-fl nnr)ay $& nnVnnwa.Klftj that it has no 



verdict to render regarding that which lies without the 

 domain of knowledge, except to recognize the existence of 

 sucna, sphere as belonging to religion and as capable of 

 satisfying man's religious needs, it is strictly correct to say 

 that science deals only with the knowable. Having told 

 us, thefi7all that we can know about the subject-matter of 

 religion, let us see what else science has to say about man 

 in his . terrestrial and extra-terrestrial relations. For this 

 purpose it is not necessary to take up the various special 

 branches of science. We need but glance cursorily over 

 the whole field. We are concerned only with practical 

 results. Let us see, then, what is the story that lies 

 hidden in the deductions of science. 



The earth on which we dwell is but an infinitesimal part 

 of a vast universe that contains many other worlds besides 

 our own. Of these other worlds nothing is known 

 except such facts concerning their position, movements, and 

 physical constitution as we have been able to gather by the 

 aid of the telescope and the spectroscope. The entire 

 universe, as at present existing, is supposed to have been 

 gradually evolved from nebulous matter the earth after 

 being detached from the general mass still continuing to 

 develop as a separate body, while remaining at the same 

 time a part of the continuously evolving whole. So much 

 for man in his extra-terrestrial relations, what remains 

 unconsidered belongs, as we have seen, to the domain of 

 religion. But what of our past, present, and future, so far 

 as life on this planet is concerned? For information of 

 the past we are dependent on the records that have come 

 down to us in the shape of history, monuments, and fossil 



