SCIENCE AND CULTURE 123 



great and characteristically modern literature, of mod- 

 ern painting, and, especially, of modern music, there is 

 one feature of the present state of the civilised world 

 which separates it more widely from the Renascence, 

 than the Renascence was separated from the middle 

 ages. 



This distinctive character of our own times lies in the 

 vast and constantly increasing part which is played by^t 

 natural knowledge. Not only is our daily life shaped 

 by it; not only does the prosperity of millions of men 

 depend upon it, but our whole theory of life has long 

 been influenced, consciously or unconsciously, by the 

 general conceptions of the universe, which have been 

 forced upon us by physical science. 



In fact, the most elementary acquaintance with the 

 results of scientific investigation shows us that they 

 offer a broad and striking contradiction to the opinion 

 so implicitly credited and taught in the middle ages. 



The notions of the beginning and the end of the world 

 entertained by our forefathers are no longer credible. 

 It is very certain that the earth is not the chief body 

 in the material universe, and that the world is not sub- 

 ordinated to man's use. It is even more certain that 

 nature is the expression of a definite order with which 

 nothing interferes, and that the chief business of man- 

 kind is to learn that order and govern themselves ac- 

 cordingly. Moreover this scientific "criticism of life" 

 presents itself to us with different credentials from any 

 other. It appeals not to authority, nor to what anybody 

 may have thought or said, but to nature. It admits that 

 all our interpretations of natural fact are more or less 

 imperfect and symbolic, and bids the learner seek for 

 truth not among words but among things. It warns 

 us that the assertion which outstrips evidence is not only 

 a blunder but a crime. 



