CLARENCE E. DUTTON-RELATION OF SCIENCE TO CIVILIZATION. 45 
ceptibly the scientific logic is establishing its foothold. Up to the present 
time it must be confessed the progress made bears but a small ratio to 
what must yet be achieved before its candor, its accurac}', its judicial 
temper shall completely dominate the thoughts of mankind. Abso¬ 
lutely, however, much has already been accomplished. There is no doubt 
that men of all classes, except the lowest, reason more logically than 
they did a century ago. Still more conspicuous is the improvement in 
the reasonings of the educated classes, who are relatively more numerous 
and much better informed than in any former period. The improve¬ 
ment, moreover, is wholly along the lines of scientific thought and 
methods. 
Modern civilization has now reached a stage of development in which 
right methods of thinking and reasoning have become imperatively nec¬ 
essary to its safety. All social and economic functions have become 
highly complex. Not only in relation to material wealth, but also in 
social relations our lives have become very artificial and are rapidly 
growing more and more so. The social organization has become like an 
extremely complicated series of machines, with a vast number of co¬ 
ordinated parts, each performing its limited function, and as with all 
very complex machinery the liability to derangement is increasing. But 
unlike any inanimate machine, each individual, as a part of that organi¬ 
zation, is endowed with a limited spontaneity of action. Society is no 
longer governed and regulated by despots, but by the predominant opin¬ 
ion of its members and by the agency of its chosen representatives. But 
if public opinion is to be the ruling power in this complex machinery of 
society, is it not of transcendent importance that public opinion should 
be born, nurtured and disciplined under conditions which constrain it 
towards sound methods of thought and reasoning? And here is for the 
present generation at least, the highest mission of science, to inculcate 
logical methods of thought and reasoning upon the social and economic 
questions of the day. I am far from implying, however, that such 
methods are rare or uncommon in any class of society. On the contrary 
I repeat that much progress in this direction has already been made. 
But more is demanded, and the necessity for it presses harder and harder 
as population and wealth increase, and as social and economic functions 
grow in complexity. Take the burning question of the hour, the silver 
question. The problem is a purely scientific one. It is complex and 
difficult; much more so than most of the public debaters seem to be 
aware of. But its complexitj' is not be} r ond the reach of scientific analy¬ 
sis. Unhappily the question has become a political one, and from time 
immemorial it has been the inveterate habit to argue political questions 
ex parte. It is a survival of the ancient and scholastic methods of deal¬ 
ing with questions, and though tempered in some degree at the present 
