926 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 389. 



should call that a violation of the laws of 

 nature, indeed!' Yet the next year, not 

 one, but many, cartloads of black stones 

 did tumble out of the blue sky, not in some 

 far off: land, but in France itself. 



It is of interest to ask what became of 

 the 'laws of nature' after such a terrible 

 blow. The 'laws of nature' were adjusted, 

 and after being enlarged by a little patch- 

 ing, so as to take in the new fact, were 

 found to be just as good as ever! . So it 

 is always ; when the miracle has happened, 

 then and only then it becomes most clear 

 that it was no miracle at all, and that no 

 'law of nature' has been broken. 



Applying the parable to ourselves then, 

 how shall we deaJ with new 'facts' which 

 are on trial, things perhaps not wholly 

 demonstrated, yet partly plausible ? Dur- 

 ing the very last generation hypnotism was 

 such a violation of natural law. Now it 

 is a part of it. What shall we say, again, 

 about telepathy, which seemed so absurd 

 to most of us a dozen years ago? I do not 

 say there is such a thing now, but I would 

 like to take the occasion to express my 

 feeling that Sir William Crookes, as presi- 

 dent of the British Association, took the 

 right, as he took the courageous, course in 

 speaking of it in the terms he did. I might 

 cite other things, the objects of ridicule 

 only a few years ago, of debate now, but 

 which have not all found supporters who 

 possess the courage of their convictions. 



The lesson for us in dealing with them 

 is not that we should refuse to believe, on 

 the one hand, and sneer at everything 

 which is on its trial ; for this, though a very 

 general and safe procedure, is not the one 

 to be recommended to those of us who have 

 some higher ideal than acquiescence with 

 the current belief. 



The lesson for us is that we must not 

 consider that anything is absolutely settled 

 or true. 



This is not to say that we are to be blown 



about by every wind of scientific doctrine. 

 It is to be understood as a practical rule 

 of life, that we must act with the majority 

 where our faith does not compel us to dc 

 otherwise ; but it seems to me that we must 

 always keep ready for use somewhere; iu 

 the background of our mind possibly, but 

 somewhere, the perhaps trite notion that 

 we know nothing absolutely or in its 

 essence; and remember that though trite 

 it is always true, and to be kept as a guide 

 at every turning of the scientific road, 

 when we cannot tell what is coming next. 



How many doctrines of our own day will 

 stand the light of the next century ? What 

 will they be saying of our doctrine of evolu- 

 tion then? I do not know; but let me re- 

 peat what I have said elsewhere, that 

 the truths of the scientific church are not 

 dogmas, but something put foryyard as 

 provisional only, and which her most faith- 

 ful children are welcome to disprove if 

 they can. I believe that science as a whole 

 is advancing with hitherto unknown rapid- 

 ity, but that the evidence of this advance 

 is not in reasoning, but in the observation 

 that our doctrine is proving itself, by the 

 fact that through its aid nature obeys us. 

 more and more, as I certainly believe it. 

 does. 



Never let us forget, however, that man, 

 being the servant and interpreter of nature,, 

 as Bacon says, can do and understand so 

 much, and so much only, as he has observed 

 of the course of nature, and that beyond 

 this he neither knows anything nor can do 

 anything. No walk along 'the high priori 

 road' will take him where he wants to go, 

 and no 'law of nature' will certainly help- 

 him. 



But these 'laws,' having authority only 

 as far as they are settled by evidence, 

 and by observation alone, it may be a 

 just inquiry as to what constitutes observa- 

 tion, and above all, who judges the evi- 

 dence. If the kinetic theory of gases, for in- 



