178 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 
THE WORLD WITHOUT SCIENCE. 
By F. S. HARRIS. 
As people move about in the world performing their 
several tasks with the aid of numerous mechanical devices 
and surrounded by many conveniences and luxuries, they 
are prone to look upon these conditions as having always 
existed, when in reality the last century has seen more pro- 
gress in scientific discovery than have all the previous 
centuries of human history. It is only necessary to compare 
conditions in the days of our great grandfathers with those 
today to realize how very rapid has been the change. The 
debt that mankind owes to science is made clear on com- 
paring the possibilities of a civilization in the absence of 
science with one assisted by the powerful agencies of modern 
research. 
It has been the practice of a certain class of persons 
to undermine the teachings of science, thinking that they 
were thereby staying the ravages of some hideous monster 
and rendering a service to mankind. Thanks to the gradual 
spread of learning, persons of that class are rapidly being 
replaced by those who see in science nothing to be feared 
but something to be fostered and developed. People are 
finding that the sole aim of science is the discovery of 
truth, and that no amount of suppression will prevent truth 
from eventually being discovered. That scientific workers 
often draw erroneous conclusions from available facts no 
one can deny; but that they should be hindered in the pur- 
suit of their investigations because of a few mistakes would 
be to deny them the charity that is extended in every other 
endeavor of mankind. 
Science, unlike religion, has had to develop very slow- 
ly. In religion, the revealed word has always been a guide 
and has pointed the way; in science, every step has re- 
quired long and tedious work. It required ages for man 
to learn how to draw on nature for her hidden secrets. Old 
habits of thinking had to be discarded and new methods of 
work devised before noteworthy results could be obtained; 
