THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE IN THE PAST YEAR. 139 
matter, beyond it, behind it — immortal. And as the man of science asserts from 
the investigation of its phenomena, it is obedient in its manifestations to the form 
through which it is expressed — or its environment. 
Is there anything here to frighten either? On the contrary, is it not a result 
to enlarge the conceptions of the one and to illuminate the knowledge of the 
other ? And how much more consistent with all the knowledge we have as to all 
other things in the universe, each of which is a perfect thing in itself — and in 
harmony with all things else. It rises to our conception of the infinite instead of 
dividing life into myriads of specialties while its material forms are all upon one 
general plan. It is this great law which, from the study of comparative anatom)'', 
has caused men to stumble over the dogmas manufactured from revelation, 
because the one was totally irreconcilable with the other. But here is common 
ground for all. 
The next step is the inquiry, how are we to know this life ? Theology tells 
us that the books are closed, and we must find it from what we have. But the 
books were closed before Galileo, or Kepler, or Newton were born, and the 
thunder was the voice of God before Franklin drew its secret from the cloud. 
And there are still places where this voice is silent and has ever been. The 
chosen people of heaven never heard this voice of their Jehovah until camped 
before Sinai where Egyptian aridity was replaced by the warm and vapor-laden 
currents from the Indian Ocean. The book is open, has been open since the 
morning stars sang together — open to us if we will read it. And the fundamental 
truth of all religions — the immortal impulse of humanity — will yet be made plain 
by the questionings of science. For the lights of reason, philosophy, and religion, 
all teach us, from every summit of human progress down through the ages — that 
there is nothing necessary for the well being and development of man and his 
happiness on the earth, that is hidden beyond his ability to know if he but asks 
aright. To reach this knowledge of his immortality — to know it — is the highest 
unfoldment, the consummation of humanity^from which immortality is but step- 
ping over the border between the world of matter and the world of life itself. 
In view of the proposed meeting of the British Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science, in Montreal, in 1884, a committee consisting of Messrs. H. Carvill 
Lewis, Edward D. Cope, Persifor Frazer, Angelo Herlprin, and Henry C. Mc- 
Cook, has been appointed by the Academy of Natural Sciences, of Philadelphia, 
to secure the co-operation of other societies and institutions of the city, in extend- 
ing an invitation to the American Association for the Advancement of Science to 
meet in Philadelphia the same year, directly after the Montreal meeting, so as to 
increase the facilities for communication with the British Association. Similar 
action has been taken by the American Philosophical Society and the Franklin 
Institute; and the University of Pennsylvania has offered the use of its halls for 
meetings. 
