CHAPTER IX 



AT PRESENT SCIENCE IS IN A DUBIOUS AND CHAOTIC 

 CONDITION 



THE last few years have been remarkable for the 

 diligence with which scientists have scrutinized 

 every phenomena of nature, and the abundance of 

 new facts which have rewarded their researches. 



They have also been remarkable for the changes 

 in scientific opinions, which usually are so gradual 

 as to be imperceptible, but which have recently 

 taken on the speed of the earth's solar revolution 

 in their transition from the old to new theories. 



The vast body of scientists are seldom a unit 

 in the acceptance of any theory, even of the most 

 fundamental nature. And where there is such di- 

 versity of belief each student of nature is entitled 

 to form his own opinions and beliefs. 



But the most pitiable and unfortunate of the one- 

 sided scientists are those who would banish logic 

 from the realms of physics, and who regard a de- 

 duction or a theory as an enemy of science; who 

 heap scorn on analytic reason the highest gift of 

 Deity to man and who deem the tabulation of 

 dry facts without causes the only purpose of science. 

 Who want science fenced in with a stone wall and 

 separated from religion and philosophy, and the 

 earth cut up into sections and labelled astronomy, 

 chemistry, geology, and so on ad infinitum ; as if na- 



