May 17, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



541 



cede such rights when the request has come 

 with authority. 



From this point the transition is easy to 

 the consideration of w'hat influence the 

 scientific method maj' exert in a general 

 way upon society as a whole. There is not 

 space in the compass of a review ai-ticle to 

 discuss adequately a matter of so many 

 complications, but it is possible to ofier a 

 syllabus for reflection. It must first of all 

 be kept in mind that world-tvidenem is in the 

 fabric of all sceince. Since induction is 

 objective, the scientific method is cosmopol- 

 itan. The humble describer of a new 

 species of butterfly must have passed, in 

 orderly fashion, all the butterflies of the 

 earth before his mind ere he ventures to set 

 his o^\■n over against the rest as new. The 

 question of the German University labora- 

 torj- — ' Was haben Sie neues gefunden ? ' — 

 presupposes a knowledge of what the world 

 has done before. This characteristic of the 

 scientific method cannot be too strongly 

 emphasized. What then must be the na- 

 tural reflex of the method upon social in- 

 stitutions? 



Science has bound the world together by 

 its spirit no less than by its discoveries. In- 

 terest in others would make communication 

 easy even if the telegraph did not exist. 

 Sympathy is a stronger cable than those 

 that lie along the bottom of the Atlantic. 

 Hence in every region of human intellectual 

 activity one traces the broadening influence 

 of the scientific method. In politics, de- 

 mocracy ; in warfare, luimanity ; in com- 

 merce, freedom ; in art and in literature, 

 realism ; in all the social relations of life, 

 kindliness and charity ; in religion, toler- 

 ance and djaiamic helpfulness — tliese arc^ 

 the children of this scientific method. Per- 

 haps nowhere better than in the field of re- 

 ligion has the change to the new order made 

 itself felt. Religion is to-day recognized as 

 social rather than as individual. Faith is 

 blended in works, and in place of a pitiful 



solicitude for the welfare of one's own im- 

 mortal soul there has been developed a mis- 

 sionaiy spirit, boundless in its self-sacrifice, 

 a magnificient phenomenon of altruism. 

 It is very remarkable when comparing 

 theological literature of say the Oxford 

 Tractarian movement with that of the pres- 

 ent decade, such as the discourses of Wash- 

 ington Gladden or the Unitarian writings 

 of Martineau, to note that the essential dif- 

 ference between the two groups is that in 

 the former everj'thing is discrete and indi- 

 vidualistic in tone, while in the latter every- 

 thing is concrete and social. Under the 

 stress of the scientific method, sanctity has 

 seemed second to helpfulness, just as indi- 

 vidual culture has seemed a less noble end 

 than social progi-ess. 



On the whole the influence of the scien- 

 tific method upon society is two-fold. Stati- 

 cally it has added organizabiUty to the 

 social character, and by virtue of this it has 

 dynamically contributed to the advance in 

 social progress. The influence mentioned 

 upon character could scarcely strike more 

 profoundly, for the capacitj' to take part in 

 organization is possibly the most important 

 trait of all in social character. Precisely 

 as organization becomes most perfect will 

 progress be most rapid. And here one per- 

 ceives that a veritable intellectual sanction 

 for progress is to be sought. The au- 

 thor of Social Evolution has denied that 

 such sanction exists, but apparentlj' without 

 taking into account the very method by 

 which he arrived at tliis conclusion. There 

 is quite as strong an instinctive quality in 

 science as in religion. Each takes progress 

 for granted, each in its own field contributes 

 to the advance, and in so doing each gives 

 its sanction to the movement. Since prog- 

 ress lies principally within the realm of 

 the social organism, its sanctions are social 

 rather than individual. And the error has 

 been in failing to perceive the strong social 

 nature of a certain type of intellection 



