130 " The Scientific Spirit? 



In a general way, the influence of science upon 

 moral progress is connected with what has been 

 termed, "the scientific spirit." This characteristic 

 consists mainly of an intense love of truth, a desire to 

 acquire new knowledge, to arrive at certainty and 

 accuracy ; also an obedience to law in general, and a 

 consequent philosophic resignation to inevitable ills. 

 Science inculcates these qualities, and it is well 

 known that scientific discoverers have usually been 

 highly moral persons, truthful, accurate, law abiding, 

 patient, persevering, temperate, &c. On the other 

 hand, the most lawless persons are usually those who 

 are most ignorant of the great laws which govern 

 their actions, who over-estimate human power and 

 ability, and are impelled by ill-regulated enthusiasm 

 or feeling. 



Belief in and obedience to law, being a fundamental 

 moral quality, is in its turn the source of other moral 

 qualities of less importance ; for instance, it tends to 

 produce calmness, resignation, contentment, patience, 

 submission to the inevitable, &c. No man can be 

 highly moral who disobeys the great principles of 

 nature. We may however obey those laws either 

 intelligently, by acquiring a scientific knowledge of 

 them ; .empirically, by obeying rules framed in accord- 

 ance with them ; or blindly, by obeying dogmas which V 

 happen to agree with them. Those who do not un- 

 derstand laws cannot of course intelligently obey 

 them, and those who most disobey them, consist 

 nearly wholly of those who do not understand them. 



