Conclusion 355 



is the guardian of all the higher values ; but magic is a will-o'-the- 

 wisp which tempts men to their destruction. We have only to 

 think of the resort to magic in modern times, to stop an epidemic, 

 to cure diseases, to protect soldiers against bullets, to wash away sin, 

 and to predict the future, to realise that we are dealing with an evil 

 thing, a genuine survival of savagery. True religion and science 

 have here a bond of sympathy — they have a common enemy to 

 destroy. 



The next essay, by Dr. Charles Singer, takes us into the heart 

 of the subject, the relations between religion and science, treated 

 historically. It should be supplemented by the two brilliant contri- 

 butions of Dr. Singer to " The Legacy of Greece," in which justice 

 is done, almost for the first time, to the achievements of Greek 

 science in the classsical period. The subject is an immense one, 

 too great, as the writer would admit, to be summarised adequately 

 in one essay, while a summary of a summary, in this concluding 

 paper, would obviously be worthless. Accordingly, I shall not 

 attempt to make any comments on the relations of religion and 

 science in antiquity, nor shall I discuss the causes why science 

 decayed and died under the Roman Empire. The Dark Ages, 

 and even the Middle Ages which followed them, are to the scientist 

 a melancholy chapter in human history. I shall confine my re- 

 marks to the modern period, beginning with the revival of learning 

 in Italy. It should be said that Dr. Singer treats the period 

 between Newton and our own day very slightly, leaving it to be 

 dealt with, from a rather different point of view, by Professor 

 Aliotta. 



Dr. Singer " omits any discussion of the revival of learning as 

 irrelevant " to his subject. His reason is that the scholars of the 

 Renaissance were antiquarians rather than researchers, and con- 

 fined themselves chiefly to unearthing the remains of the science 

 of antiquity. It is not easy to see what else they could have done. 

 Greek science had done wonderful things, and had then perished 

 and been forgotten. To disinter what could be found of these 

 treasures was an indispensable preliminary to a new advance. And 

 the great name of Leonardo da Vinci shows that the Italians were 

 ready enough to turn their new knowledge to practical discoveries. 



The truth is, I think, that the Reformation not only checked 

 but obscured the scientific progress which had begun in the century 

 which preceded it. The Reformation and Counter-Reformation 



