Jtjne 10, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



887 



perienee, we encounter a vast body of es- 

 tablished belief in reference to all impor- 

 tant subjects, such as society, government, 

 education, religion, etc. It is well if our 

 encounter be only objective, for it is gen- 

 erally true, and a more dangerous fact, 

 that we find ourselves cherishing a large 

 body of belief, often called hereditary, but 

 of course the result of early association. 

 Nothing seems more evident than that all 

 this established belief that we encounter 

 belongs to two categories: the priceless re- 

 sult of generations of experience, and 

 heirloom rubbish. Toward this whole body 

 of belief the scientific attitude of mind is 

 one of unprejudiced inquiry. So far as the 

 attitude is prejudiced, it is unscientific. 

 This is not the spirit of iconoclasm, but 

 an examination of the foundations of be- 

 lief. It is evident that this spirit is dia- 

 metrically opposed to intolerance, and that 

 it can find no common groimd with those 

 who affirm confidently that the present or- 

 ganization of society is as good as it can 

 be; that our republic represents the high- 

 est possible expression of man in reference 

 to government; that the past has discov- 

 ered all that is best in education ; that the 

 mission of religion is to conserve the past 

 rather than to grow into the future. This 

 is not the spirit of unrest, of discomfort, 

 but the evidence of a mind whose every 

 avenue is open to the approach of truth 

 from every direction. For fear of being 

 misunderstood, I hasten to say that this 

 beneficial result of scientific training does 

 not come to all those who cultivate it, any 

 more than is the Christ-like character de- 

 veloped in all those who profess Christian- 

 ity. I regret to say that even some who 

 bear great names in science have been as 

 dogmatic as the most rampant theologian. 

 But the dogmatic scientist and theologian 

 are not to be taken as examples of "the 

 peaceable fruits of righteousness," for 



the general ameliorating influence of re- 

 ligion and of science are none the less ap- 

 parent. It is not the speech of the con- 

 spicuous few that is leavening the lump of 

 human thought, but the quiet work of 

 thousands of teachers. 



2. It is a spirit which demands that a 

 claimed cause shall he demonstrated.— 

 It is in the laboratory that one first really 

 appreciates how many factors must be 

 taken into the count in considering any 

 result, and what an element of uncertainty 

 an unknown factor introduces. Even 

 when the factors of some simple result are 

 well in hand, and we can combine them 

 with reasonable certainty that the result 

 will appear, we may be entirely wrong in 

 our conclusion as to what in the combina- 

 tion has produced the result. For ex- 

 ample, the forms of certain plants were 

 changed at will, by supplying to their 

 surrounding medium various substances., 

 It was easy to obtain definite results, and 

 it was natural to conclude that the chem- 

 ical structure of these particular sub- 

 stances produced the result, and our 

 prescription was narrowed to certain sub- 

 stances. Later it was discovered that the 

 results are not due to the chemical nature 

 of the substances, but to a physical condi- 

 tion developed by their presence, a condi- 

 tion which may be developed by other 

 substances or by no substances; and so 

 our prescription was much enlarged. 



There is a broad application here. In 

 education, we are in danger of slavery to 

 subjects. Having observed that certain 

 ones may be used to produce certain re- 

 sults, we prescribe them as essential to the 

 process, without taking into account the 

 possibility that other subjects may pro- 

 duce similar results. In religion, we are 

 in danger of formulating some specific 

 line of conduct as essential to the result, 

 and of condemning those who do not ad- 



