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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL. No. 1034 



and who were ready to brave the very Gods them- 

 selves when their blood was up. A few centuries 

 pass away, and under the influence of civilization 

 the descendants of these men are "sicklied o'er 

 with the pale cast of thought" — frank pessi- 

 mists or, at best, make-believe optimists. The 

 courage of the warlike stock may be as hardly 

 tried as before, perhaps more hardly, but the 

 enemy is self. The hero has become a monk. The 

 man of action is replaced by the quietist, whose 

 highest aspiration is to be the passive instrument 

 of the Divine Reason. By the Tiber, as by the 

 Ganges, ethical man admits that the cosmos is too 

 strong for him; and, destroying every bond which 

 ties him to it by ascetic discipline, he seeks sal- 

 vation in absolute renunciation. 



In our present culture the passion to 

 know and the finding of new knowledge 

 calls forth the desire to act even though 

 the two impulses are not always found in 

 the same individual. The very technique 

 of modern science requires action ; ideas are 

 followed by experiments and experiments 

 give new ideas. Discoveries lead to inven- 

 tions which revolutionize social and eco- 

 nomic conditions. On the other hand, prac- 

 tical instruments have suggested some of the 

 grandest ideas of science, as when the prob- 

 lem of the economy of the steam engine led 

 to the discovery of the law of the conser- 

 vation of energy; and who will set any 

 limit to the flow of ideas set free by pres- 

 ent social and industrial conditions? 

 Thought and action are in an infinite alter- 

 nate succession. Because of this, because 

 of the relation of present science to every 

 phase of life — physical, intellectual, eco- 

 nomic, social, ethical — I believe that the 

 love of right thinking will not endanger 

 our will to act. 



Nor is there grave danger in the deter- 

 minism of science, which has proved to be 

 such an efl'ective weapon in the pursuit of 

 knowledge. Present methods of investi- 

 gation become impossible if not based upon 

 the postulate of the "uniformity of na- 

 ture," but, at the same time, the motive to 



carry out our inquiries, the passion for 

 knowing, takes us ever to new and un- 

 trodden fields, broader and of ever increas- 

 ing interest. This enormous unknown re- 

 gion, which renders the prediction of the 

 remote future but idle fancy, and hems 

 our ability to predict our own conduct 

 even in commonplace affairs, leads us to 

 ascribe to Oiurselves freedom to act as we 

 will, and to place upon individuals a proper 

 share of praise and blame for their acts. 

 This feeling, which is instinctive, will not 

 generally give way unless the time should 

 come when all of the events of nature can 

 be foretold with precision. 



It is not my wish to indulge in the pas- 

 time of prophecy. The tendencies of the 

 time, though in reality but ripples, may 

 often seem like mountainous waves about 

 to engulf all. We may consider ourselves 

 fortunate if we can see over the crest of the 

 nearest wave and apply our strength and 

 skill to stem its force. The present danger 

 is not a wave of individualism and an- 

 archy; it is rather a perversion of moral 

 and intellectual ideals that seeks to confine 

 spontaneity and individuality within a 

 pale of external restraint, to minister to all 

 wants, to regulate all joys — in other words, 

 to standardize human character, by smooth- 

 ing out to monotonous level those ups and 

 downs of life that make us what we are. 



Thinking and doing are for the time 

 out of balance. Science has the power to 

 restore and maintain the balance by 

 breathing more of its spirit into practical 

 life, and if an instrument to guide this 

 work is needed — if it is right for men of 

 science to have a confession of faith — I 

 know of none more inspiring than the 

 words that Huxley used in defining his own 

 life purpose : 



To promote the increase of natural knowledge 

 and to forward the application of scientific 

 methods of investigation to all the problems of 



