450 MODERN SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION : 
sider that branch of the subject which more immediately 
demands our attention. i 
Although the progress of the age to which I have re- 
ferred has been a matter of wonder and delight to all- 
students of humanity and civilization, many of our best 
men have been somewhat alarmed and dizzed by it; and 
while accepting the achievements of modern industry and 
thought as full of present good and future promise, they 
are not a little concerned lest our railroad speed of pro- 
gress should lead to its legitimate consequences, a final 
crash—not of things material, but of those of infinitely 
more value—of opinions and of faith. As often as it is 
boasted that this is preëminently an age of progress, that 
boast is met by the inevitable “but” (which qualifies our 
praise of all things earthly) “it is equally an age of scep- 
ticism.” For the truth of this assertion the proof is 
nearly as palpable as of the other; and in view of the 
ruthlessness with which the man of the present removes 
ancient landmarks and profanes shrines hallowed by the 
faith of centuries, it is not surprising that many of the 
good and wise among us should deplore a liberty of 
thought leading, in their view, inevitably to license; and 
mourn over this wide-spread scepticism as an evil and in- 
scrutable disease that has fallen upon the minds and hearts 
of men. 
Now for every consequence there must be an adequate 
cause ; and while confessing the fact of this modern lack 
of faith, I have thought that a few moments given to an 
analysis of it, and an attempt to trace it to its source 
might not be wholly misspent,—might possibly, indeed, 
result in giving a grain of encouragement to those who 
_ look with distrust and dread upon the: investigations and 
=~ discussions which now occupy so large a portion of the 
oe : time and thought of our men of science. ` 
