CHARLES B, WARRING, PH.D. 227 



when scientists could burn Bruno, and imprison Galilleo, 

 for holding theories contrary to their own, for it was for 

 this and not for contradicting Bible theories — the Bible 

 has no theories — that those men and others were perse- 

 cuted. 



The danger now is of a very different character. 

 Sometimes they retard the progress of science, by be- 

 littling new discoveries. It is said that no physician 

 over forty years of age, contemporary with Harvey, 

 adopted his views as to the circulation of the blood. It 

 is said, too, that Newton refused to look into Huyghens' 

 invention of the achromatic telescope, because his theory 

 of refraction said that achromatism was impossible. 

 And, saddest of all, Solomon Cans, a Frenchman, who 

 believed that steam could be made to drive machinery, 

 and insisted on talking and writing about it, was thought 

 insane. For years he was shut up in a madhouse, where 

 at last his reason gave way, and he died a raving maniac. 

 Count Rumford's famous experiment, the foundation of 

 the modern theory of heat, received little attention until 

 long after his death. 



Another danger comes from too great readiness to 

 accept theories — or even mere hypotheses — as tests of 

 truth. This is especially apt to occur in the border land 

 of science — in that broad and undefined region living 

 between physics and metaphysics. Here we find dis- 

 cussions of space of more than three dimensions, of the 

 nature of atoms, of the kinetic theory of gases, of the 

 origin of axioms, and the like. Here is much that is 

 assumed as known in biology, and notably in the depart- 

 ment of biology which treats of the origin of species. 



These dangers are comparatively harmless, for the 

 truth will always prevail, although its triumph may long 

 be delayed. A third danger may result in more serious 

 consequences. I refer to the use to which theories are 

 sometimes put, especially those which really, or, as is 



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