Sept. 4, 1885.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



205 



In the nature of things Knowledije as a monthly 

 magazine must be an experiment. I shall S]iare no pains 

 to make it a success. I hope friendly readers ^vill co- 

 operate, as they can very readily and cffcrfivcly do, by 

 announcing to others the new lirinirtun'. 'I'lic "funu in 

 which Knowledge has hitlieri.! :ijii,r;ind in iTi^urd to 

 size of page will be retained ; luit as thcr.- will now no 

 longer be that necessity for rapid work wiiieli the ^veekly 

 number had involved. Knowledge will present in many 

 respects an improved appearance. Original articles will 

 occupy a larger relative proportion of our sjiace, which 

 will of couvsc be al.'.n absolutely lar-.r. 'J'lu. c.nii.laii.t 



leading subjects apiuMi- w ill m. 1.,iil:vi- \..- yiswiu-d. As 

 to the quantity of matter, uriLciual and .sukct, iu each 

 number, comparison can be contldently invited with any 

 monthly or weekly serial, not backed by novels or short 

 stories, or padded with mere business communications 

 or the long-winded drivel of paradoxists and their kind. 



I hope to receive for " Knowledge, a Monthly Illus- 

 trated Magazine of Science, Literature, and Art," such 

 support as will amply justify its continuance in the 

 course entered upon. I will not say less ; but there is so 

 much other work inviting me that (remembering duties 

 nearer to me than those I owe to science) I cannot at 

 present say more. 



We are going to change our course somewhat freely in 

 another respect. At the outset of our career, we ex- 

 pressed a determination not to deal willi the influeiue nf 

 science on religion, though satisfied tlint tliat inlliience 

 had been purifying and wholesome. This was regarded 

 by many as a promise. In reality it was a precaution. 

 We wished to escape the flood of controversy, which we 

 knew would pour in upon us if that subject were opened. 

 That we did not escape, a glance at the "Replies to 

 Correspondents " will serve to show ; but we kept our 

 jrrespondence columns tolerably clear of the odium 



theologicum, 





principal object. But ii 



our position is different. We can present thi 

 science in regard to religion without introducing con- 

 troversy. We can answer the questions which are 

 repeatedly being asked as to what science can do to 

 replace the religious feelings which many seem to think, 

 mistakenly enough, that they must abandon if they would 

 tread the scientific pathway. 



Ton give us, say many, the I^verlast in-- No, in which 

 is neither hope nor solace, neither lulp in the work of 

 life nor promise of better things hereafter. Js science 

 without religion and without hope ? Must the votary of 

 science be without faith, without worship, without a law 

 of duty ? 



We shall endeavour to show tlial the leuli lir^s ef 

 science involve no such gloomy ami li.i|eh s | ieiure. 

 Science answers with an Everlasting Yea, t lie .pie.st i.ms 

 of those who desire to possess faith, to feel rcverenee, 

 and to recognise the sense of duty and right. 



,„M pr, 





The great philesopher of o 

 followed bya train nf ill^eipli- 

 religion. But he kim^s, wh: 

 purifying of old rcli;j-iiins fre 

 destructive process. Through the mhnite : 

 of the cletired sky the real glory of the 

 beginning to be seen. Purified — even it mtiy bo to 



r felt, tliat the 

 ■ depths 



perfect transparency,— religion will remain religion still. 

 It will have its temples, but temples not made with 

 hands ; its worship, but a worship cleansed from all that 

 is unworthy ; its code of morals, but a code based on 

 reason and on justice. One characteristic alone, which 

 has been associated with religion, the religion taught by 

 pure science will not jiossess. Its very essence will be 

 freedom from all intiih r.iin e, I;, cause it recognises in 

 all true forms of ri-li_ :i i _ after good, a desire 



to feel the presence ai: i ,, -mething outside of 



us that makes fur ri'jl;' , .icicc c:iii be intolerant only 

 cf intnleranre. The icl]_.inu of science is indeed in 

 liaiaiici,_\ \\ iih all tnic-aiiiiinL,' religions, discordant only 

 \Nith what i.s sclf■lli.'^ccrllallt,- -the jarring voice of cruelty 



We propose to begin, in our first monthly number, a 

 series of papers in -which the positive aspect of the 

 teaching of science in regard to religion -will be con- 

 sidered. We had intended to bring out this series of 

 papers as by Thomas Foster, our alter ego; but as it is 

 now an open secret that Thomas Foster and R. A. Proctor 

 are one, the better plan will be to put over the articles 

 the proper name of their writer. The use of a second 

 name has served its purpose, in securing for articles out- 

 side science, attention which the old rule " Ne sutor ultra 

 crepidam " would have turned from them. Mr. Foster's 

 articles on "Happiness" for example were published 

 widely in America (and handsomely paid for, let me 

 remark in passing) by the editor of the Popular Science 

 ^Liiiflihj. i5ut there were inconveniences in the plan. 

 F(.r instance, Mr. Foster was invited by one of the most 

 eminent Spencerians in America, to meet other admirers 

 of Mr. Herbert Spencer, including Mr. Proctor, at a 

 public gathering, — an invitation which he could not 

 readily decline yet could not possibly accept without 

 duplicity. 



Hereafter, therefore, Mr. Thomas Foster disappears 

 from these pages. (It should have been Forster, — from 

 an old family cognomen Forster Thomas, by which the 

 eldest son in my family has been called for many gene- 

 rations, but I had forgotten how the name was spelled, 

 — not so remarkable a forgetfulness as it might be sup- 

 posed, seeing that the last owner of the name died twenty 

 years before I was bom.) 



"A Fatiifr " -writes indignantly thus respecting lawn- 

 tennis as playcii liy his daughters: — "I have noticed 

 that after a -ame of lawn-tennis my girls appear to be 

 almot exlian^icd, thev perspire profusclj", and are sus- 

 ceptible to draught, Th. Ir .^1, . y \. ili.jurl - A\... ..m- of 

 their excessive weaii; -. :: i i-. ' - -nnes 



been lamed and usei I - : 1 1 I i, ,. •, him 



to play lawn-tennis, l' ac, i. i -,cc,- i.. 1: n . ,,,\ ^^ , men- 

 kind laid up will, sprain,-d ankles and t>Nisted wrists, 

 .straint-.l t.-mlnns and .olds in the head." 





apa. The best tennis-plavers of the 

 isimi will not be anc-rv «ith vcu for 

 iris awav. It is oliNau^ fi-ctu vcur 

 aec.'unt.r'cad bet u ecu the" lines, that ycnr •■ ucniLukmd"" 

 have tried U> play in cermet'-- a-vT 1 c '- !u eU d boots, 

 getting far more e.xhau,-; i il ■': : ' ; ■ ■ ir ill-suited 

 habiliinents than llii-cucl, il,c i > ,. -c. (Though 

 girls icill overdo such thin-s, ] ,m as i h. v overdrive 

 willing iiorses, and dance too oil en and too long.) In 

 rational dress lawn-tennis would not be half the work 

 they find it, and would assuredly give ten times as much 



