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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



complish something. Still another ad- 

 vantage that may be derived from the 

 organization is revealed in Prof. Bol- 

 ton's idea of its furnishing accommo- 

 dations in a single building for all the 

 libraries of the societies and for such 

 other libraries of scientific works as 

 may seek a domicile there ; each library 

 to be kept distinct, but accessible alike 

 to all the societies, and one supplement- 

 ing the others. For this and other pur- 

 poses of the Alliance a building will be 

 necessary, and a plea in behalf of this 

 was made by Prof. N. L. Britton. 



Another view of. the advantages 

 that may be derived from this move- 

 ment is afforded by the advances which 

 are being made in all departments of 

 enterprise in which scientific research 

 is the original and most important fac- 

 tor. " The practical men," said the 

 Hon. Addison Brown, basing his re- 

 mark on the confession to him of an 

 electrical expert who had made several 

 very interesting and important inven- 

 tions, " do not work at random, but 

 upon the basis of what scientific re- 

 search and publication have previously 

 put within their grasp." Capitalists 

 and corporations have derived immense 

 wealth and power from the fruits of 

 this work ; and yet science, which has 

 furnished them the instruments of their 

 success, has received the most niggardly 

 treatment from them, and has been 

 spurned and scorned by them as un- 

 practical. A society that will serve as 

 a center for its scattered forces and 

 give it a voice by which it can assert 

 itself and emphasize its claim for recog- 

 nition can not fail to help it greatly in 

 commanding the homage of its debtors. 



MORAL EVOLUTION. 



THE recent articles of Prof. St. 

 George Mivart on Happiness in Hell, 

 in spite of what must seem to many 

 their fanciful character, may reason- 

 ably be regarded as an encouraging 

 sign of the progress the modern world 



is making in the direction of reasona- 

 ble views and humane sentiments. Mr. 

 Mivart states at the outset that " not a 

 few persons have abandoned Christian- 

 ity " on account of the popular doctrine 

 of a hell involving unending torture for 

 untold multitudes of human beings, and 

 that this doctrine now " constitutes the 

 very greatest difficulty for many who 

 desire to obtain a rational religious be- 

 lief and to accept the Church's teach- 

 ing." The object which he has in view 

 is to show that the absurd and cruel 

 ideas which have gathered round the 

 conception of hell are no essential or 

 authoritative part of Christian doctrine. 

 Whether he has succeeded in doing so, 

 we must leave to the professional the- 

 ologians to discuss and, if possible, de- 

 cide ; but, meantime, some of the writ- 

 er's utterances deserve to be put on 

 record as evidences of the moral evo- 

 lution which theology itself is under- 

 going. 



"To think," says Prof. Mivart, 

 " that God could punish men however 

 slightly, still less could damn them for 

 all eternity, for anything which they 

 had not full power to avoid, or for any 

 act the nature or consequences of which 

 they did not fully understand, is a doc- 

 trine so monstrous and revolting that 

 stark atheism is plainly a preferable 

 belief." The writer of these words 

 could evidently not subscribe to the 

 Westminster Confession, nor to the 

 views of those Congregationalists who 

 have lately been so much exercised 

 over the daring theory advanced by 

 some of their brethren that fairly de- 

 cent heathen may perchance escape 

 hell without any aid from missionaries. 

 A Catholic authority whom Mr. Mivart 

 quotes says that " if there is one thing 

 certain it is this that no one will ever 

 be punished with the positive punish- 

 ments of the life to come who has not 

 with full knowledge, complete con- 

 sciousness, and full consent turned his 

 back upon Almighty God." The same 

 authority further says that "the God 



