1904] BaskbrviIv^e— Science and the People. 69 



human standards of morality, but through all the ages mor- 

 ality has actually been a stationary thing. Different ages 

 have known mighty things in literature and art, but each was 

 the individual outcome of the pen or the brush of the genius, 

 who bequeathed a heritage of his own labors as a stimulus to 

 others; but the mastership passed with him. Not so with 

 science; for, as Whewell has said, "It is not a collection of 

 miscellaneous, uncorrected, unarranged knowledge that can 

 be considered as constituting science." 



Different ages have known mighty things in science, some- 

 times as the outcome of a genius, but equally as often the con- 

 sequence of talent building upon that which was learned 

 before. So, never was one more mistaken than President 

 Woodrow Wilson when he stated that science breaks with the 

 past. 



In order to appreciate the spirit of modern science, we must 

 take a hurried glance at the motives prompting the older 

 workers and consider their environment. We are aware, in 

 the historical development of things, that all present know- 

 ledge arose from a chaotic state enveloping itself in mystery. 

 This was due to the empirical means of observation, supersti- 

 tion attending any inquiry into the why of things, hampering 

 circumscriptions of religions, primitive and more recent, and 

 lack of means of communication. The wise man, exercising 

 a little common sense, wrought cures wonderful in those dark 

 times, many simple for the youngest practitioner of today. 

 While, doubtless, some were prompted by an earnest desire to 

 do good, many were actuated by greed of power and gain, 

 even as today. Fearful of their loss once secured, they often 

 sought to hide their own shortcomings and take advantage of 

 the universal ignorance by their mysticism. These were not 

 the sole motives of all workers, however. The spirit of 

 inquiry has ever been present with mankind. For 



"Ignorance is the curse of God, 

 Knowledge the wings wherewith we fly to heaven." 



Although, three hundred years before Christ, the living 



