January 9, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



51 



ogy, if indeed it has any such relations. 

 But I can not resist recalling the scorn with 

 which, in my boyhood, I remember hearing 

 the minister describe Tyndall's famous pro- 

 posed "prayer-test." I am free to say 

 that I can not at present see why such a 

 proposal should have created such a storm. 

 If people actually believe in the existence 

 of God, and that in addition he does grant 

 requests addressed to him by persons of 

 suitable character, what could be more suit- 

 able for decision by the statistical method 

 than such a simple question ? Fortunately 

 times have changed, and the nature of 

 prayer is now supposed to be quite other- 

 wise, and to have its beneficent effect by 

 reaction on the emitter, quite irrespective 

 of its treatment at the receiving station. 

 Nothing is more striking than the varying 

 attitudes of scientists toward the subject of 

 theology and religion, from the simple 

 faith of a Faraday, Maxwell or Kelvin to 

 the quite different attitude of a Tyndal, 

 Huxley, or Haeckel. I take this to be due to 

 the difficulty of defining the meaning of the 

 theological terms, and to hazard the opin- 

 ion that if we could define them even as 

 well as we can entropy we should be found 

 not to disagree profoundly. If it be true 

 that "the undevout astronomer is mad," 

 it is true because we admit that the chief 

 effect of the pursuit of science is to give us 

 a profound admiration for the workings of 

 nature, together with the conviction that 

 its methods are beautiful, definite and sim- 

 ple, and are capable of being understood 

 by the human mind. If this is to say that 

 they thus show evidence of having been de- 

 signed by a great intelligence, like the hu- 

 man, but enormously more powerful, very 

 well, but it is at this point that we begin to 

 differ as to the meaning of our terms. The 

 chief thing that the scientist should have 

 learned is the possibility of his being mis- 

 taken, and the danger of denying in cases 



where he has no evidence. We must there- 

 fore conclude that while the methods of 

 physical science have a continually widen- 

 ing field of application, we must advise 

 him who asks the profoundly interesting 

 question, "If a man die, shall he live 

 again," to seek to answer it by other 

 methods, if he can. 



Arthur Gordon Webster 



THE TEACHING OF PHYSIOLOGY TO MED- 

 ICAL STUDENTS^ 



In no way is the relative importance of 

 physiology in the medical curriculum bet- 

 ter attested than it is by the designation 

 of "the Institutes of Medicine," under 

 which it still appears in the catalogues of 

 some of the older universities. Originat- 

 ing as a division of anatomy, physiology 

 gradually assumed such importance in the 

 medical curriculum as to necessitate the 

 creation of an independent department, al- 

 though for long the close relationship of 

 the two subjects was maintained on ac- 

 count of the fact that conclusions regarding 

 function had in large part to be inferred 

 from an accurate knowledge of structure. 

 It is for this reason that the study of the 

 microscopic structure of the tissues was, 

 and in some schools still is, assigned to the 

 physiologist, and it is indeed only within 

 comparatively recent years that there has 

 been anything like a general change in the 

 nature of the practical work which the 

 student must do in his course in physiology. 



As it now stands, physiology is generally 

 defined as being the study of the phenom- 

 ena of living things. "It deals with the 

 process of life. ' ' It has nothing to do with 

 the structure or morphology of dead things, 

 although obviously a sound knowledge of 

 this must be acquired before any attempt 



1 Address of the vice-president and chairman of 

 Section K, Physiology and Experimental Medicine, 

 Atlanta, Ga., December, 1913. 



