< Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 5.djvu
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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

tain departments of thought where there are facts and phenomena to be known, and knowledge is to be extended, they are denounced as impious intruders; and we can no more say that the mind is free in its action when loaded with execration for taking this or that course, than we can say that the body is free in its movements when loaded with chains. Prof. Tyndall came to this country to lecture upon physics. He stuck strictly to his text, and raised no questions in regard to the scope of scientific inquiries. But he was not let alone. At the banquet he received before leaving us, he was lectured upon the subject of the limits of science, and in the name of religion was bidden to keep in his place, and not attempt to solve the great questions of the origin and end of the world by running his head into the mud of mere physical speculation. Those things, he was told, are not for science, but belong to philosophy and revelation. The fundamental question of the Inaugural Address was thus here publicly thrust upon him from the religious side, and he was instructed what it was proper and what it was not proper for him to do as a scientific inquirer. Both the wisdom of the instructions and the propriety of giving them were extensively indorsed by the press of the country. Prof. Tyndall was, therefore, not let alone, and left free to pursue his course as a scientific man, but his course was dictated to him by the party that does not make science its business. His critics now have their reply, and we hope it is satisfactory. That he has not minced matters, but has met the issue manfully and squarely, we think is to the credit of the side he represents.

In wholesome contrast to the time-serving lamentations above quoted, we give some passages from an editorial in Church and State, a religious newspaper, which shows a heartier appreciation of Prof. Tyndall's work:

"It is one of the most conspicuous benefits of the study of physical science, that its most difficult and fundamental problems may be approached with absolute honesty. To find out the exact truth, whatever it may be, and to give it accurate expression, is the very business of science. The most skillful and successful investigators are always searching for new facts, by which their own provisional conclusions and working hypotheses may be either verified or corrected. They are so far from resenting new discoveries, that they themselves expose to view the weak places in their theories and generalizations, with the very object of calling universal attention to their weakness. They understand no triumph except the triumph of seeing for themselves, and helping other people to see, that which is.
"It is surely a gain to theology and religion that the most influential thinkers of our time—for it would be idle to deny that 'science' is the fashion—are pledged, not only by their own high character, but by the very nature of their pursuits, to absolute truthfulness, and to the most unflinching courage. Even Biblical interpretation would gain largely—and has, in fact, achieved all its modern triumphs by its adoption of an inductive method. Instead of setting out with certain authorized dogmas, and finding 'proofs' for them, somewhere or other, in the sacred Scriptures, our modern scholars set out with some book of Scripture, ascertain its authorship, its date, the readers for whom it was intended, the circumstances in which it appeared, and its actual meaning.
"And when we approach the ultimate problems, not only of religion, but even of life, it is well that we should be made to understand what the issues really are; and Prof. Tyndall has rendered us this service in his address to the British Association—an address so brilliant and noble that we have to lay it aside for a while, and come back to it, for sober criticism, in a calmer mood. No doubt, on both sides, it will be misrepresented, but there it is—stating questions that must be answered, facts that must be accepted and included in any theory either of mind or matter. We shall hope to give a fuller account of it before long; but its concluding words are worthy of the most solemn consideration of all of us who love the truth, however widely we may differ in our conclusions from Prof. Tyndall him self."
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