THE TWO ASPECTS OF SCIENCE 9 



a separate name, they were called " natural philosophy " 

 in distinction to " moral philosophy " ; and they were 

 also called " natural science " in distinction to " moral 

 science " ; for at that time " philosophy " and " science " 

 had practically the same meaning and were used inter- 

 changeably, although the former was the commoner. 

 All these expressions survive ; at the older universities 

 a professor of natural philosophy is indistinguishable 

 from a professor of physics or chemistry ; and " moral 

 science " is a common name for what is more usually 

 called philosophy. That " natural philosophy " has 

 become almost obsolete while " natural science " sur- 

 vives, is due partly to the inexplicable vagaries of language 

 which determine, apparently at random, which of two 

 synonyms is to die out ; but it is also partly due to the 

 fact that the older branches of learning from which the 

 students of science desired to separate themselves w r ere 

 more often known as philosophy than as science. Again 

 the " natural " has been dropped, and only the " science " 

 retained, partly by mere abbreviation (just as " omnibus " 

 has been changed into " bus "), and partly because 

 students of science were by no means averse from hearing 

 their study called " science " without any qualification ; 

 for " science " is simply the Latin for " knowledge," and 

 the implication that all that is not science is not know- 

 ledge, naturally flattered their vanity. And it is impor- 

 tant to remember this history. For the older and 

 more general use of the word to mean pure knowledge 

 in general, or indeed any kind of knowledge, has not 

 vanished ; and we must be on our guard against imagin- 

 ing that everything to which the words " science " and 

 " scientific " are attached to-day have anything more to 

 do with natural science than with any other kind of 

 knowledge. When a journalist speaks of a " scientific 

 batsman " he merely means that he is skilful and does 

 not imply that he is learned in physics or astronomy. 



