374 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



Universal Father, who, in answer to the prayers of His 

 children, alters the currents of those phenomena. Thus 

 far Theology and Science go hand in hand. The concep- 

 tion of an ether, for example, trembling with the waves 

 of light, is suggested by the ordinary phenomena of wave- 

 motion in water and in air; and in like manner the concep- 

 tion of personal volition in nature is suggested by the 

 ordinary action of man upon earth. I therefore urge no 

 impossibilities, though I am constantly charged with doing 

 so. I do not even urge inconsistency, but, on the contrary, 

 frankly admit that the theologian has as good a right to 

 place his conception at the root of phenomena as I have 

 to place mine. 



But without verification a theoretic conception is a mere 

 figment of the intellect, and I am sorry to find us parting 

 company at this point. The region of theory, both in 

 science and theology, lies behind the world of the senses, 

 but the verification of theory occurs in the sensible world. 

 To check the theory we have simply to compare the deduc- 

 tions from it with the facts of observation. If the deduc- 

 tions be in accordance with the facts, we accept the 

 theory: if in opposition, the theory is given up. A single 

 experiment is frequently devised, by which the theory 

 must stand or fall. Of this character was the determina- 

 tion of the velocity of light in liquids, as a crucial test of 

 the Emission Theory. According to it, light traveled 

 faster in water than in air; according to the Undulatory 

 Theory, it traveled faster in air than in water. An exper- 

 iment suggested by Arago, and executed by Fizeau and 

 Foucault was conclusive against Newton's theory. 



But while science cheerfully submits to this ordeal, it 

 seems impossible to devise a mode of verification of their 

 theories which does not rouse resentment in theological 

 minds. Is it that, while the pleasure of the scientific man 

 culminates in the demonstrated harmony between theory 

 and fact, the highest pleasure of the religious man has 

 been already tasted in the very act of praying, prior to 

 verification, any further effort in this direction being a 

 mere disturbance of his peace? Or is it that we have be- 

 fore us a residue of that mysticism of the middle ages, so 

 admirably described by Whewell that " practice of refer- 

 ring things and events not to clear and distinct notions, 

 not to general rules capable of direct verification, but to 



