Historical Relations 117 



doctrine exhibits at times the appearance of a conflict between the 

 religious and the scientific standpoint. That appearance is illusory. 

 The conflict was not of faith versus observation, but of opinion 

 versus opinion. 



But it may be asked, was there then no science in the Middle 

 Ages ? Were none of the heresies, for instance, with which the 

 Church had to deal of the nature of scientific hypotheses ? 



To answer this question is difficult, and yet we must attempt 

 it. To answer it with completeness we should have to define what 

 we mean by science and this would lead us far afield. We may 

 note, however, that science in its most developed form exhibits 

 certain characteristic features. 



{a) It deals with judgements to which universal assent is 

 obtainable. 



(Jb) It is a consciously progressively increasing body of know- 

 ledge and doctrine. 



{c) The only tests of validity that it can accept are the tests of 

 experience, and these tests it must always demand. 



{d) An essential process of science is the drawing up of general 

 laws from the results of observation. 



{e) It is necessary for the growth of science and is perhaps a 

 corollary of the other features that the conclusions, being based on 

 the evidence, should not be prejudged. 



Now a fixed and definite scheme of the Universe was accepted 

 as a postulate by all thinkers of the Middle Ages. That scheme 

 was derived from Aristotle but modified to fit the specific Christian 

 doctrine of creation. With these things always before the mind, 

 scientific investigation in our sense of the word was almost im- 

 possible to the medieval man. He could never embark on that 

 great voyage of exploration with the sense of infinite possibilities 

 which is the birthright of every young researcher nowadays. 



Moreover, the scholastic's universe, it must be remembered, 

 so far as it was material, was limited. The outer limit was the 

 primum mobile, the outermost of the concentric spheres of which 

 the Aristotelian world was composed. Of the structure and nature 

 of all within the sphere of the primum mobile Aristotle and Ptolemy 

 had equipped him with a definite scheme. The self-appointed 

 task of medieval science was to elaborate that scheme in connec- 

 tion with the moral world. This was especially undertaken by 

 mystical writers, often working more or less consciously under the 



