J .] SCIENCE AND CULTURE. 15 



played by natural knowledge. Not only is our daily 

 life shaped by it, not only does the prosperity of 

 millions of men depend upon it, but our whole theory of 

 life has long been influenced, consciously or uncon- 

 sciously, by the general conceptions of the universe, 

 which have been forced upon us by physical science. 



In fact, the most elementary acquaintance with 

 the results of scientific investigation shows us that 

 they offer a broad and striking contradiction to the 

 opinions so implicitly credited and taught in the 

 middle ages. 



The notions of the beginning and the end of the 

 world entertained by bur forefathers are no longer 

 credible. It is very certain that the earth is not the 

 chief body in the material universe, and that the world 

 is not subordinated to man's use. It is even more 

 certain that nature is the expression of a definite 

 order with which nothing interferes, and that the 

 chief business of mankind is to learn that order 

 and govern themselves accordingly. Moreover this 

 scientific " criticism of life " presents itself to us with 

 different credentials from any other. It appeals not 

 to authority, nor to what anybody may have thought 

 or said, but to nature. It admits that all our inter- 

 pretations of natural fact are more or less imperfect 

 and symbolic, and bids the learner seek for truth not 

 among words but among things. It warns us that 

 the assertion which outstrips evidence is not only a 

 blunder but a crime. 



The purely classical education advocated by the 

 representatives of the Humanists in our day, gives no 



