Science 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



606 



2995. SCIENCE, NATURAL, THE 

 LIMITS OF Physics, as the name itself im- 

 plies, can only deduce the phenomena of the 

 physical world from the properties of mat- 

 ter: the highest aim of experimental science 

 is therefore to ascend to the existence of 

 the laws, and progressively to generalize the 

 same. Whatever lies beyond is no object 

 for physical demonstration, it belongs to 

 another order of more elevated speculations. 

 Immanuel Kant, one of the few philosophers 

 whom no one has yet accused of impiety, 

 has, with rare sagacity, indicated the limits 

 of physical explanation in his renowned "Es- 

 sai sur la Theorie et la Construction des 

 Cieux," Koenigsberg, 1775. HUMBOLDT Pre- 

 face to French translation of the Cosmos. 

 (Translated for Scientific Side-Lights.) 



2996. SCIENCE NEITHER PROVES 

 NOR DENIES A GOD The Inconceivable 

 May Still Be Fact The Realities of Science 

 Point to Infinite Purpose. So far as science 

 is concerned, the idea of a personal God is 

 inconceivable, as are all the attributes which 

 religion recognizes in such a being. On the 

 other hand, it should be admitted as dis- 

 tinctly, that science no more disproves the 

 existence of infinite personal power or wis- 

 dom than she disproves the existence of in- 

 finite material energy (which on the con- 

 trary must be regarded as probable ) , or the 

 existence of infinite space or time (which 

 must be regarded as certain ) .... To 

 the man of science, observing the operation 

 of second causes in every process with which 

 his researches deal, and finding no limit to 

 the operation of such causes, however far 

 back he may trace the chain of causation, 

 the idea of a first cause is as inconceivable 

 in its relation to observed scientific facts as 

 is the idea of infinite space in its relation to 

 the finite space to which the observations 

 of science extend. Yet infinite space must 

 be admitted; nor do I see how even that 

 man of science who would limit his thoughts 

 most rigidly to facts can admit that all 

 things are of which he thinks, without hav- 

 ing impressed upon him the feeling that, 

 in some way he cannot understand, these 

 things represent the operation of infinite 

 purpose. PROCTOR Our Place among Infini- 

 ties, p. 2. (L. G. & Co., 1897.) 



2997. SCIENCE NOT A REVELA- 

 TION OF SPIRITUAL TRUTH No Moral 

 Telescope to Make Discoveries in the Spiri- 

 tual Realm. Without the testimony of an 

 authentic messenger from heaven, I know 

 nothing of heaven's counsels. I never heard 

 of any moral telescope that can bring to my 

 observation the doings or the deliberations 

 which are taking place in the sanctuary of 

 the Eternal. I may put into the registers 

 of my belief all that comes home to me 

 through the senses of the outer man, or by 

 the consciousness of the inner man. But 

 neither the one nor the other can tell me of 

 the purposes of God; can tell me of the 



transactions or the designs of his sublime 

 monarchy; can tell me of the goings forth 

 of Him who is from everlasting unto ever- 

 lasting; can tell me of the march and the 

 movements of that great administration 

 which embraces all worlds, and takes into 

 its wide and comprehensive survey the 

 mighty roll of innumerable ages. . . . 

 The more that this spirit [the modesty of 

 true science] is cultivated and understood, 

 the more will it be found in alliance with 

 that spirit, in virtue of which all that exalt- 

 eth itself against the knowledge of God is 

 humbled, and all lofty imaginations are cast 

 down, and every thought of the heart is 

 brought into the captivity of the obedience 

 of Christ. CHALMERS Astronomical Dis- 

 courses, disc. 2, p. 65. (R. Ct., 1848.) 



2998. SCIENCE NOT TO BE ESTI- 

 MATED BY MERE UTILITY There is no 

 science whose value can be adequately esti- 

 mated by economists and utilitarians of the 

 lower order. Its true quantities cannot be 

 represented by arithmetical figures or mone- 

 tary tables; for its effects on mind must be 

 as surely taken into account as its opera- 

 tions on matter, and what it has accom- 

 plished for the human intellect as certainly 

 as what it has done for the comforts of so- 

 ciety or the interests of commerce. Who 

 can attach a marketable value to the discov- 

 eries of Newton? MILLER Old Red Sand- 

 stone, ch. 10, p. 177. (G. & L., 1851.) 



- 2999. SCIENCE OF NATURE A 



Universal System. This, then, is what is 

 designed to be conveyed by the " foundation 

 of astronomical or cosmical physics." It 

 means the establishment of a science of Na- 

 ture whose conclusions are not only pre- 

 sumed by analogy, but are ascertained by 

 observation, to be valid wherever light can 

 travel and gravity is obeyed a science by 

 which the nature of the stars can be studied 

 upon the earth, and the nature of the earth 

 can be made better known by study of the 

 stars a science, in a word, which is, or 

 aims at being., one and universal, even as 

 Nature the visible reflection of the invis- 

 ible highest Unity is one and universal. 

 CLERKE History of Astronomy, pt. ii, ch. 1, 

 p. 176.. (Bl., 1893.) 



3OOO. SCIENCE OF POLITICS 



Knowledge of Social Laws Still Rudimen- 

 tary. The world is not so prosperous or so 

 happy as that we should readily or willingly 

 believe in the exhaustion of the means 

 which are at our disposal for its better guid- 

 ance. Especially in the great science of poli- 

 tics, which investigates the complicated 

 forces whose action and reaction determine 

 the condition of organized societies of men, 

 we are still standing, as it were, only at the 

 break of day. Our command over the exter- 

 nal elements of Nature is, beyond all com- 

 parison, in advance of our command over 

 the resources of human character. ARGYLL 

 Reign of Law, ch. 7, p. 228. (Burt.) 



