98 The Higher Usefulness of Science 



thoughtful persons, especially to biologists and 

 ethicists. 



Contenting myself now with the mere dogmatic asser- 

 tion of the great importance to ethics of the biological 

 discoveries thus called attention to, I devote myself to 

 pointing out conditions in the civilization of our day 

 that ought to set every student of biology, no matter 

 in what department, to inquiring earnestly what his 

 professional obligations are as touching the moral wel- 

 fare of the race. I venture to express the view that the 

 utter indifference of many well-stationed biologists 

 toward these matters is prima facie evidence not merely 

 of social recreancy on the part of these persons, but of 

 grave defect in the fundamentals of their scientific 

 point of view. 



I wonder if we men of science are viewing with as 

 much complaisance, even levity, as we pretend to, the 

 bizarre growths in the realm of man's religious instincts 

 that flourish so luxuriantly all about us? I suspect 

 a considerable number of us are beginning to question 

 whether the whole thing is as much of a joke as we 

 had supposed ; whether indeed these growths may not 

 be something more than a few scudding clouds in the 

 prevailing clear sky of our modern rationality. But 

 even if attention has been arrested to this extent, I 

 find little indication that men of science regard the 

 matter as a real phenomenon of modern civilization, 

 and as such deserving attentive study. Indeed it seems 

 as though excessive specialization in scientific discipline 



