THE SCIENCES 31 



of nature being exhibited in certain sections, the theo- 

 logical in other sections. 



It can be seen that no particular section completely 

 exhibits the whole of nature; and, therefore, that no 

 particular science ought to be regarded as self-sufhcient. 

 Every scientific hypothesis has this limitation, that it 

 describes partial aspects only of reality; and its validity 

 depends upon its harmony with correct descriptions 

 of other aspects of the same reality/ To give an illus- 

 tration suggested by the subject of these lectures, a 

 physical scientist describes primitive man as he would 

 have been if his condition had been determined exclu- 

 sively by natural evolution from the lower species — 

 a very legitimate line of investigation. A theologian 

 describes man's primitive condition from the point of 

 view of supernatural revelation, and as brought about, 

 in part at least, by the coming in of supernatural grace. 

 These two aspects of primitive man need not be 

 regarded as mutually contradictory, for the supernat- 

 ural is not the contra-natural; and they may not be 

 so regarded if both are real. But the two descriptions 

 are concerned with the same concrete matter, and there- 

 fore neither the evolutionary nor the theological descrip- 

 tion of primitive man can be regarded as beyond 

 dispute, if it appears to be inconsistent with the data upon 

 which the other is based. Let me anticipate at this 

 point, and state my conviction that only on the untrue 

 assumption that man's primitive state was exclusively 

 due to natural development can any mutual contra- 



1 Cf. O. Lodge, Life and Matter, pp. 53-61, 74, 75, 140-143. 



