88 Trans. Acad. Set. of St. Louis. 



their department as more distinctively a '* normative " science 

 in contrast with the departments in which most of you are at 

 work. A few of them may prefer to speak of their line of 

 effort as ** ethical philosophy." Among the Germans, it is 

 almost universally customary to employ the term, " ethische 

 Wissenschaft." 



It is true, however, that there is not the same unanimity of 

 opinion among the workers in this other direction, that we may 

 find among yourselves. I am painfully conscious of this fact, 

 and admit that it may be at first thought a little depressing. 

 They cannot specify in precise language just what points have 

 been established beyond dispute, nor can they say that this 

 and this has been settled once for all by the latest investi- 

 o-ations . Nevertheless there is some good explanation for these 

 divergencies of opinion. In all frankness one may venture 

 the assertion that the issues here are of more vital importance 

 than they would be in those sciences in which most of you are 

 absorbed. The honor of the human soul is at stake. There 

 is here, therefore, a personal element involved, and one which 

 must exert an enormous influence. No such factors are con- 

 cerned in the decision of the question as to whether atoms or 

 ether are realities, or only working hypotheses; whether the 

 wave theory of light is beyond dispute ; or as to the processes 

 by which the living cell once got its start out of inorganic 

 matter. The foundations of the world will not be shaken by 

 any discoveries to be made in these other fields of research, 

 great as the achievements may be. 



But when it comes to a study of the nature and origin of 

 conscience or of ethical ideals, one draws a deep breath of 

 anxiety. The whole social structure in which you and I live 

 and move and have our being is at stake. The sanctity of our 

 home and family life is involved. We are then working at the 

 foundation stones, and the hand that is chipping away at the 

 block may tremble a little at the thought of what is going to 

 fall. 



I have chosen the time of Darwin and the publication of 

 ** The Descent of Man" as the dividing line, because since 

 that time ethical science has gone through about as great a 



