The Charges Against the Popular Science Monthly. 561 



with a single-mindedness, a freedom from partisan and sec- 

 tarian passion, and an openness and uprightness of pur- 

 pose, that find no parallel in any other great group of men 

 engaged in the advancement of a common interest. These 

 men are entitled to stand first in the respect and confidence 

 of the community ; and to accuse them of being animated 

 in their study of nature by a desire to destroy religion, or 

 to wound the feelings of religious people, is thoroughly 

 unjustifiable. 



The Popular Science Monthly is a record of the scien- 

 tific activity of the age for the last ten years, and it reflects 

 the breadth, the independence, and the catholicity of 

 thought that distinguish the scientific men of our time. 

 There may have been things said in it which people with a 

 formulated faith find objectionable ; but they are the re- 

 sults of honest and earnest thought and the incidents of 

 legitimate discussion, and must, therefore, be tolerated. 

 Science cannot work under the dictation of those inter- 

 ested to restrain it. Are men who make the supreme pur- 

 pose of their lives the understanding of Nature, to stop re- 

 search into the laws of life, the genesis of species, the an- 

 tiquity of man, the functions of the brain, the laws of social 

 growth, or the natural history of superstitions, because 

 there are many who, without ever studying these subjects, 

 have views in relation to them which they do not wish 

 disturbed ? It is impossible. The great modern movement 

 of the human mind which we call science is a part of evolv- 

 ing Nature, and we have no liberty to do anything but rep- 

 resent it as faithfully as we are able. 



