188 Original Articles. [April, 



sufficient number of signatures should have been obtained. The 

 attitude, however, which was assumed by Sir John Herschel and 

 others of high repute, nipped the project in the bud, and effectively 

 suppressed the attempt that was being made by the originators of the 

 movement to interfere with freedom of thought and to convey to the 

 outer world a very false impression of the character and intentions of 

 scientific men. 



" Qui s 'excuse s' accuse " is a proverb remarkably applicable to the 

 present case. Let us suppose the compilers of the document to have 

 been perfectly honest in their object and in their desire to obtain sig- 

 natures, and that the scientific men of Great Britain had signed it 

 with equal sincerity, what would the world have said when the bull 

 was promulgated ? 



" Here is the elite of Science indulging in a protest against its 

 own irreligion ! What must ive think of them if they have formed 

 such a lowly estimate of themselves ? " 



Not desiring to be uncharitable, we will not meddle with the 

 assumption that the originators of the document were sincere, but 

 we venture to affirm that of the whole number of signatures that 

 might have been appended had the movement progressed, about one- 

 third would have been those of persons who honestly believed that 

 their protest would be of service to Science as well as to Eeligion ; an 

 equal proportion would have signed in order that their names might 

 not be omitted from the long list of F.R.S.'s and LL.D.'s which 

 enriched the sheet, and the remaining third, lest their refusal should 

 mark them as infidels. 



There can be no doubt that from time to time works do appear, the 

 publication of which should be condemned, but the antidote to these 

 is the pen of the critic, honestly and fearlessly applied to meet each 

 particular case, and not a general " confession of faith." Whilst a 

 rightful censure upon irreligious works has never failed to bring them 

 into disrepute, the issue of a document such as the one referred to 

 above, would have had the effect of rendering such treatises popular, 

 inasmuch as the attempt to interfere with free thought and unfettered 

 inquiry would merely have served as a plea for their publication. 

 The end aimed at would therefore not have been attained and, as Sir 

 John Herschel very properly said at the time, the document would 

 simply have proved a fresh element of discord in the " already too 

 discordant relations of the Christian world." 



The second event to which we would refer, was the attempt of the 

 Eight Hon. Benjamin Disraeli to cast ridicule upon those naturalists 

 who have adopted the views of Mr. Darwin with respect to the origin 

 of species. This escapade on the part of the leader of Her Majesty's 

 Opposition was sufficiently ridiculous to afford a legitimate theme for 

 the pages of ' Punch,' where the pencil of Mr. Tenniel exhibited it in 

 its true light and with telling effect. But Mr. Disraeli's attack upon 

 scientific investigators was something more than ridiculous ; it was 

 what he certainly did not intend it to be — very unbusiness-like and 

 impolitic. Surely his conception of the scientific men of the present 

 day must have been formed from those records of medieval times, the 



