124 THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE n 



significance. At the present time, science, work- 

 ing in the light of clear knowledge, has attacked 

 splenic fever and has beaten it ; it is attacking 

 hydrophobia with no mean promise of success ; 

 sooner or later it will deal, in the same way, with 

 diphtheria, typhoid and scarlet fever. To one 

 who has seen half a street swept clear of its 

 children, or has lost his own by these horrible pes- 

 tilences, passing one's offspring through the fire to 

 Moloch seems humanity, compared with the pro- 

 posal to deprive them of half their chances of 

 health and life because of the discomfort to dogs 

 and cats, rabbits and frogs, which may be involved 

 in the search for means of guarding them. 



An immense extension has been effected in our 

 knowledge of the distribution of plants and 

 animals ; and the elucidation of the causes which 

 have brought about that distribution has been 

 greatly advanced. The establishment of meteor- 

 ological observations by all civilised nations, lias 

 furnished a solid foundation to climatology ; 

 while a growing sense of the importance of the 

 influence of the "straggle for existence" affords 

 a wholesome check to the tendency to overrate 

 the influence of climate on distribution. I Ex- 

 peditions, such as that of the " Challenger," 

 equipped, not for geographical exploration and 

 discovery, but for the purpose of throwing light 

 on problems of physical and biological science, 

 have been sent out by our own and other GOM in- 



