to the Edinburgh Geological Society. 43 



which befalls every part of tlic earth's cruKt that rises ahovo tho 

 ■waves. Tho concluding porticjn of the address was as follows : — 



Science and llelifjion. — In conclusion, there is still a sul)j(!ct upon 

 •which I feel impelled, though not without reluctance, to allude on 



, this occasion. I mean the relation at present subsisting between 

 science, especially our branch of science, and religion. It is a 

 difficult and delicate topic, which it seems hardly possible for any 

 one to handle without the certainty of being either misunderstood or 

 misrepresented. Let me state at the outset that I have no contro- 

 versial aim. I do not wish to enter into any argument, but rather 

 to define Avhat it seems to me is tho position to be taken and main- 

 tained by such a society as ours. It is sadly unfortunate that so 

 sharp a line of demarcation should have been drawn between religion. 

 on the one hand and science on the other. This seems to me, indeed, 

 to be only another illustration of that exclusiveness which has marked 

 the history of religious belief. Eeligion has been separated from tho 

 other concerns of man, as if it were a work to be considered and pur- 

 sued apart, instead of being the life and essence of all human duties. 

 Science, which ought to be, and is, of one flesh with religion, has 

 suffered in the universal divorce, — nay, is even regarded as in many 

 respects either actively or passively antagonistic to religion. Men 

 devoted to the cultivation of science necessarily share in the dis- 

 favour which attaches to the subjects they study. We cannot con- 

 ceal from ourselves that the students of our own branch of science, 

 in particular, are regarded with suspicion by a considerable section 

 of their fellow-countrymen. They are by some supposed to have 

 interests directly at variance with those of religion, or at least with 

 those of that portion of the community which delights to call itself 

 ■" the religious world." They seem to be looked upon as in some 

 way banded together for the subversion of all religious belief, and 

 for the introduction of rationalism, infidelity, and atheism. I will 

 not say that such charges have never any shadow of foundation. It 

 is only too true that now and then a man steps out of the ranks of 

 science, and so goes out of his way, to make an unprovoked and 

 needless attack upon beliefs that are consecrated with all that is pure 

 and holy in the hearts of his friends and countrymen — an attack 

 which, if it does no harm to these beliefs, can hardly be considered 

 as doing any good to science. But it would be as unfair to judge of 

 the temper and aims of scientific men in general from such displays, 

 as it would be to estimate the tone of thought in the Church from the 

 occasional eccentricities of a rabid ecclesiastic. Nevertheless, we 

 know that the distrust of science and scientific men is widespread. 

 No feeling of this kind can exist and continue without doing injury, 

 both to those who entertain it and those against whom it is enter- 

 tained. It should be our aim to do all we honestly and honourably 

 can to allay the distrust, knowing that while we cannot but be the 

 tetter for the sympathy and encouragement of our fellow-men, they 

 in turn must needs derive many advantages from the onward march 

 of science. They and we have no interests apart : we are all one 



,in our desires for the welfare and advancement of our common 



