PROGRESSIVENESS OF SCIENCE. 49 



covery of the central corpuscles or centrosomes 

 somewhat enigmatical, apparently very important, 

 and practically constant components of the animal 

 cell members of the " cell-firm " dates from only 

 a few years ago. 



Nor should it be forgotten that we live in a world 

 of change, in which a process of evolution is going 

 on, and that, therefore, the subject-matter of a sci- 

 ence is developing just as the science is. We hear of 

 stars that die and of others that are a-making (we 

 may use the present tense though the events are, of 

 course, vastly older than our observation of them) ; 

 even in a human lifetime the minutest moment 

 compared with the earth's age the features of a 

 countryside may change perceptibly, indeed a shora 

 may get a new face in a single storm ; the distribu- 

 tion of plants and animals is in process of rapid 

 flux; the characters of organisms, including our- 

 selves, are slowly but surely changing. Thus with 

 an evolving subject-matter before our eyes, we need 

 say little about the prospect of completed science. 



SCIENTIFIC CONCLUSIONS OF THE FIRST MAGNITUDE. 



We hear so much nowadays in regard to the 

 rapid progress of science that there seems some dan- 

 ger lest our impression become exaggeratedly san- 

 guine. In more critical moods, however, the suspi- 

 cion arises that in spite of the rapid accumulation of 

 natural knowledge, information often proves itself 

 the death of wit ; and that in spite of the remarkable 

 diffusion of the scientific mood throughout wide cir- 

 cles in our community, the growth of scientific in- 

 sight is really very slow. 



That this suspicion is not unfounded becomes clear 



