THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 367 



•will be necessary briefly to do in order to show the part which has 

 "been played by physical science. 



During the middle ages the church was in the van of 1mm an pro- 

 gress. She bound together distant lands by the tie of a common 

 belief, a common religious language, a common priesthood, and com- 

 mon prayers. Under her influence all Latin Christians came more 

 or less to feel that they were brethren. Before all the nations of the 

 rude west was placed a lofty ideal of life ; and into all were intro- 

 duced under her auspices some seeds of useful knowledge, of art, of 

 learning, and of refinement. The monks improved agriculture in the 

 north and west ; every pilgrim that went to Rome brought back new 

 ideas ; and the clergy were the conservers and disseminators of the 

 little knowledge of the time. But perhaps the most important work 

 that the church did in those ages was that which she performed in 

 aid of the abolition of serfdom. For lending her powerful assistance 

 to the cause of personal liberty she deserves the everlasting gratitude 

 of mankind. 



With the abolition of villenage the church ceased to lead. Per- 

 sonal freedom led to increased industry, towns sprang up all over 

 Europe, there was a great development of commerce, and wealth 

 increased. Increase of wealth led to a greater diffusion and increase 

 of knowledge ; this in its turn led to inventions and discoveries 

 gunpowder revolutionized war ; the printing press multiplied books 

 the Renascence, or new birth of learning, art, and literature, follows 

 then comes Luther, and personal freedom has led to a movement 

 for spiritual- emancipation. 



The revolt of Luther was contemporary with a great outburst of 

 imprisoned forces and a great onward movement of humanity. 

 Before the middle of the seventeenth century four great national 

 literatures had come into being, the English, the French, the Spanish, 

 and the Italian. The northern part of Europe became religiously 

 independent, and this religious independence was conjoined in two 

 cases, England and Holland, with political freedom. The air was 

 full of bold and original speculations, and nature began for the first 

 time in the history of man to find herself interrogated with success. 

 The first great event in the history of science is the establishment 

 of the heliocentric theory by Copernicus. Copernicus was a 

 contemporary of Luther, dying just three years before him, and, 

 though he lived and died in the old faith, was, in his own way, 



