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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ness declare, and his disbelief will be 

 governed by a sense of duty as much as 

 every other attitude of his mind. There 

 is great need in the present day for 

 those who love the truth in sincerity to 

 seek one another out, and to strengthen 

 one another for the great conflict that 

 has incessantly to be waged with the 

 forces of error, of falsehood, and of 

 moral indifference. What can separate 

 any man, against his will, from the love 

 of the truth? And what should sep- 

 arate from one another men who, 

 though differing momentarily in opin- 

 ion, love the truth with constant and 

 equal devotion ? 



AN UNCANDID CRITICISM. 



We find in the March number of the 

 "Canada Educational Monthly," pub- 

 lished at Toronto, the following remarks 

 about Dr. Andrew D. White and "The 

 Popular Science Monthly " : 



"The same number [of 'The Popular 

 Science Monthly'] contains the conclud- 

 ing portion of Dr. Andrew White's arti- 

 cle on 'Demoniacal Possession and In- 

 sanity.' Dr. Andrew White 'seemeth 

 to be somewhat,' but, we think, many 

 thoughtful readers will say, ' he addeth 

 nothing to me.' Probably the best arti- 

 cle in the number, for most of our read- 

 ers, will be that on ' Natural Science in 

 Elementary Schools.' Sometimes the 

 'Popular Science' is worth reading 

 carefully, but at other times it is some- 

 what unsatisfactory, and many of its 

 writers seem to have atheistical tenden- 

 cies, so that its pages are occasionally 

 disgraced by remarks about Christianity 

 which are too spiteful to be scientific." 



Dr. Andrew D. White is what he is, 

 and whatever he "seemeth to be" to 

 the editor of the " Canada Educational 

 Monthly " will not alter the facts. The 

 ex-President of Cornell and our late 

 Minister to Germany does not need 

 that we should sound his praises as a 

 man of wide and accurate knowledge 

 and of philosophic habit of mind. What 



must have struck every careful reader 

 of his recent articles is, that he handled 

 his subject with the utmost regard for 

 the feelings of those to whom some of 

 his conclusions might have been unwel- 

 come; and it seems proper to remark 

 that, if he "added" nothing else to the 

 editor of the " Canada Educational 

 Monthly," he might have added— had 

 his example been sufficiently heeded — 

 a tone of respect in dealing with the 

 opinions of opponents. It is easier, 

 however, to sneer than to argue, to in- 

 sinuate than to prove or disprove. If 

 Dr. White has presented his subject in 

 a false light, let the " Canada Education- 

 al Monthly " demonstrate the fact. It 

 is hard to "add" anything to people 

 who do not want to have anything add- 

 ed to them except, perhaps, an extra 

 layer of prejudice; but, in the way of 

 adding information, that writer does his 

 own full duty who states relevant facts 

 in a lucid and candid manner. If Dr. 

 White has not done this, let his critics 

 show it. We are not responsible for our 

 contributors' opinions ; but, in the name 

 of intellectual honesty and literary mo- 

 rality, we protest against such criticism 

 as that quoted from our Toronto con- 

 temporary. 



As to " The Popular Science Month- 

 ly," we have no doubt that our habit of 

 letting the leading thinkers of the world 

 express their opinions through our pages 

 is very distasteful to many who still 

 cling, more or less tenaciously, to the 

 slowly decaying superstitions of the 

 past. But the columns of the "Month- 

 ly" will bear witness that these discus- 

 sions, though in the main outspoken, 

 have always been dignified in tone, and 

 as considerate of the feelings of others 

 as the utmost courtesy can require. 



" The Popular Science Monthly" en- 

 deavors to represent the scientific cult- 

 ure of the age in all its fullness and 

 variety ; and it is happy to know that, 

 in doing so, it has the sympathy and 

 support of a very wide circle of readers, 

 including most of the prominent edu- 



