WHAT IS DARWINISM t 139 



subjects belonging to their respective depart- 

 ments. This deference no one is disposed to 

 deny to men of science. But it is to be 

 remembered that no department of human 

 knowledge is isolated. One runs into and 

 overlaps another. "We have abundant evidence 

 that the devotees of natural science are not 

 willing to confine themselves to the depart- 

 ment of nature, in the common sense of that 

 word. They not only speculate, but dogma- 

 tize, on the highest questions of philosophy, 

 morality, and religion. And further, admitting 

 the special claims to deference on the part of 

 scientific men, other men have their rights. 

 They have the right to judge of the consistency 

 of the assertions of men of science and of the 

 logic of their reasoning. They have the right to 

 set off the testimony of one or more experts 

 against the testimony of others; and espe- 

 cially, they have the right to reject all specu- 

 lations, hypotheses, and theories, which come 

 in conflict with well established truths. It is 

 ground of profound gratitude to God that He 

 has given to the human mind intuitions which 

 are infallible, laws of belief which men cannot 

 disregard any more than the laws of nature, 

 and also convictions produced by the Spirit of 



