,,on ,,the ,,advisableness ,,of         
,,improving ,,natural ,,knowledge99     
,by ,thomas ,h4 ,huxley  #a    ,this    
time two hundred years ago--in the      
beginning of ,january1 #afff--those of  
our forefathers who inhabited this great
 and ancient city1 took breath between  
the shocks of two fearful calamities3   
one not quite past1 although its fury   
had abated2 the other to come4  ,within 
a few yards of the very spot on which we
 are assembled1 so the tradition runs1  
that painful and deadly malady1 the     
plague1 appeared in the latter months of
 #affd2 and1 though no new visitor1     
smote the people of ,england1 and       
especially of her capital1 with a       
violence unknown before1 in the course  
of the following year4 ,the hand of a   
master has pictured what happened in    
those dismal months2 and in that truest 
of fictions1 ',the ,history of the      
,plague ,year'1 ,defoe shows death1 with
 every accompaniment of pain and terror1
 stalking through the narrow streets of 

old ,london1 and changing their busy hum
 into a silence broken only by the      
wailing of the mourners of fifty        
thousand dead2 by the woful             
denunciations and mad prayers of        
fanatics2 and by the madder yells of    
despairing profligates4  ,but about this
 time in #afff1 the death-rate had sunk 
to nearly its ordinary amount2 a case of
 plague occurred only here and there1   
and the richer citizens who had flown   
from the pest had returned to their     
dwellings4 ,the remnant of the people   
began to toil at the accustomed round of
 duty1 or of pleasure2 and the stream of
 city life bid fair to flow back along  
its old bed1 with renewed and           
uninterrupted vigour4  ,the newly       
kindled hope was deceitful4 ,the great  
plague1 indeed1 returned no more2 but   
what it had done for the ,londoners1 the
 great fire1 which broke out in the     
autumn of #afff1 did for ,london2 and1  
in ,september of that year1 a heap of   
ashes and the indestructible energy of  

the people were all that remained of the
 glory of five-sixths of the city within
 the walls4  ,our forefathers had their 
own ways of accounting for each of these
 calamities4 ,they submitted to the     
plague in humility and in penitence1 for
 they believed it to be the judgment of 
,god4 ,but1 towards the fire they were  
furiously indignant1 interpreting it as 
the effect of the malice of man1--as the
 work of the ,republicans1 or of the    
,papists1 according as their            
prepossessions ran in favour of loyalty 
or of ,puritanism4  ,it would1 ,i fancy1
 have fared but ill with one who1       
standing where ,i now stand1 in what was
 then a thickly peopled and fashionable 
part of ,london1 should have broached to
 our ancestors the doctrine which ,i now
 propound to you--that all their        
hypotheses were alike wrong2 that the   
plague was no more1 in their sense1     
,divine judgment1 than the fire was the 
work of any political1 or of any        
religious1 sect2 but that they were     

themselves the authors of both plague   
and fire1 and that they must look to    
themselves to prevent the recurrence of 
calamities1 to all appearance so        
peculiarly beyond the reach of human    
control--so evidently the result of the 
wrath of ,god1 or of the craft and      
subtlety of an enemy4  ,and one may     
picture to one's self how harmoniously  
the holy cursing of the ,puritan of that
 day would have chimed in with the      
unholy cursing and the crackling wit of 
the ,rochesters and ,sedleys1 and with  
the revilings of the political fanatics1
 if my imaginary plain dealer had gone  
on to say that1 if the return of such   
misfortunes were ever rendered          
impossible1 it would not be in virtue of
 the victory of the faith of ,laud1 or  
of that of ,milton2 and1 as little1 by  
the triumph of republicanism1 as by that
 of monarchy4 ,but that the one thing   
needful for compassing this end was1    
that the people of ,england should      
second the effort of an insignificant   

corporation1 the establishment of which1
 a few years before the epoch of the    
great plague and the great fire1 had    
been as little noticed1 as they were    
conspicuous4  ,some twenty years before 
the outbreak of the plague a few calm   
and thoughtful students banded          
themselves together for the purpose1 as 
they phrased it1 of improving natural   
knowledge4 ,the ends they proposed to   
attain cannot be stated more clearly    
than in the words of one of the founders
 of the organization3--  ,our business  
was 7precluding matters of theology and 
state affairs7 to discourse and consider
 of philosophical enquiries1 and such as
 related thereunto3--as ,physick1       
,anatomy1 ,geometry1 ,astronomy1        
,navigation1 ,staticks1 ,magneticks1    
,chymicks1 ,mechanicks1 and ,natural    
,experiments2 with the state of these   
studies and their cultivation at home   
and abroad4 ,we then discoursed of the  
circulation of the blood1 the valves in 
the veins1 the venae lacteae1 the       

lymphatic vessels1 the ,copernican      
hypothesis1 the nature of comets and new
 stars1 the satellites of ,jupiter1 the 
oval shape 7as it then appeared7 of     
,saturn1 the spots on the sun and its   
turning on its own axis1 the            
inequalities and selenography of the    
moon1 the several phases of ,venus and  
,mercury1 the improvement of telescopes 
and grinding of glasses for that        
purpose1 the weight of air1 the         
possibility or impossibility of         
vacuities and nature's abhorrence       
thereof1 the ,torricellian experiment in
 quicksilver1 the descent of heavy      
bodies and the degree of acceleration   
therein1 with divers other things of    
like nature1 some of which were then but
 new discoveries1 and others not so     
generally known and embraced as now they
 are2 with other things appertaining to 
what hath been called the ,new          
,philosophy1 which from the times of    
,galileo at ,florence1 and ,sir ,francis
 ,bacon 7,lord ,verulam7 in ,england1   

hath been much cultivated in ,italy1    
,france1 ,germany1 and other parts      
abroad1 as well as with us in ,england4 
,the learned ,dr4 ,wallis1 writing in   
#afif1 narrates in these words1 what    
happened half a century before1 or about
 #afde4 ,the associates met at ,oxford1 
in the rooms of ,dr4 ,wilkins1 who was  
destined to become a bishop2 and        
subsequently coming together in ,london1
 they attracted the notice of the king4 
,and it is a strange evidence of the    
taste for knowledge which the most      
obviously worthless of the ,stuarts     
shared with his father and grandfather1 
that ,charles the ,second was not       
content with saying witty things about  
his philosophers1 but did wise things   
with regard to them4 ,for he not only   
bestowed upon them such attention as he 
could spare from his poodles and his    
mistresses1 but being in his usual state
 of impecuniosity1 begged for them of   
the ,duke of ,ormond2 and1 that step    
being without effect1 gave them ,chelsea

 ,college1 a charter1 and a mace3       
crowning his favours in the best way    
they could be crowned1 by burdening them
 no further with royal patronage or     
state interference4  ,thus it was that  
the half-dozen young men1 studious of   
the ,new ,philosophy1 who met in one    
another's lodgings in ,oxford or in     
,london1 in the middle of the           
seventeenth century1 grew in numerical  
and in real strength1 until1 in the     
latter part1 the ,royal ,society for the
 improvement of ,natural ,knowledge had 
already become famous1 and had acquired 
a claim upon the veneration of          
,englishmen1 which it has ever since    
retained1 as the principal focus of     
scientific activity in our islands1 and 
the chief champion of the cause it was  
formed to support4  ,it was by the aid  
of the ,royal ,society that ,newton     
published his ',principia'4 ,if all the 
books in the world1 except the          
,philosophical ,transactions1 were      
destroyed1 it is safe to say that the   

foundations of physical science would   
remain unshaken1 and that the vast      
intellectual progress of the last two   
centuries would be largely1 though      
incompletely1 recorded4 ,nor have any   
signs of halting or of decrepitude      
manifested themselves in our own times4 
,as in ,dr4 ,wallis's days1 so in these1
 our business is1 precluding theology   
and state affairs1 to discourse and     
consider of philosophical enquiries4    
,but our ,mathematick is one which      
,newton would have to go to school to   
learn2 our ,staticks1 ,mechanicks1      
,magneticks1 ,chymicks1 and ,natural    
,experiments constitute a mass of       
physical and chemical knowledge1 a      
glimpse at which would compensate       
,galileo for the doings of a score of   
inquisitorial cardinals2 our ,physick   
and ,anatomy have embraced such infinite
 varieties of being1 have laid open such
 new worlds in time and space1 have     
grappled1 not unsuccessfully1 with such 
complex problems1 that the eyes of      

,vesalius and of ,harvey might be       
dazzled by the sight of the tree that   
has grown out of their grain of mustard 
seed4  ,the fact is perhaps rather too  
much1 than too little1 forced upon one's
 notice1 nowadays1 that all this        
marvellous intellectual growth has a no 
less wonderful expression in practical  
life2 and that1 in this respect1 if in  
no other1 the movement symbolized by the
 progress of the ,royal ,society stands 
without a parallel in the history of    
mankind4  ,a series of volumes as bulky 
as the ',transactions of the ,royal     
,society' might possibly be filled with 
the subtle speculations of the          
,schoolmen2 not improbably1 the         
obtaining a mastery over the products of
 mediaeval thought might necessitate an 
even greater expenditure of time and of 
energy than the acquirement of the ,new 
,philosophy2 but though such work       
engrossed the best intellects of ,europe
 for a longer time than has elapsed     
since the great fire1 its effects were  

writ in water1 so far as our social     
state is concerned4  ,on the other hand1
 if the noble first ,president of the   
,royal ,society could revisit the upper 
air and once more gladden his eyes with 
a sight of the familiar mace1 he would  
find himself in the midst of a material 
civilization more different from that of
 his day1 than that of the seventeenth  
was from that of the first century4 ,and
 if ,lord ,brouncker's native sagacity  
had not deserted his ghost1 he would    
need no long reflection to discover that
 all these great ships1 these railways1 
these telegraphs1 these factories1 these
 printing-presses1 without which the    
whole fabric of modern ,english society 
would collapse into a mass of stagnant  
and starving pauperism1--that all these 
pillars of our ,state are but the       
ripples1 and the bubbles upon the       
surface of that great spiritual stream1 
the springs of which1 only1 he and his  
fellows were privileged to see2 and     
seeing1 to recognise as that which it   

behoved them above all things to keep   
pure and undefiled4  ,it may not be too 
great a flight of imagination to        
conceive our noble 'revenant' not       
forgetful of the great troubles of his  
own day1 and anxious to know how often  
,london had been burned down since his  
time1 and how often the plague had      
carried off its thousands4 ,he would    
have to learn that1 although ,london    
contains tenfold the inflammable matter 
that it did in #afff2 though1 not       
content with filling our rooms with     
woodwork and light draperies1 we must   
needs lead inflammable and explosive    
gases into every corner of our streets  
and houses1 we never allow even a street
 to burn down4 ,and if he asked how this
 had come about1 we should have to      
explain that the improvement of natural 
knowledge has furnished us with dozens  
of machines for throwing water upon     
fires1 any one of which would have      
furnished the ingenious ,mr4 ,hooke1 the
 first curator and experimenter of the  

,royal ,society1 with ample materials   
for discourse before half a dozen       
meetings of that body2 and that1 to say 
truth1 except for the progress of       
natural knowledge1 we should not have   
been able to make even the tools by     
which these machines are constructed4   
,and1 further1 it would be necessary to 
add1 that although severe fires         
sometimes occur and inflict great       
damage1 the loss is very generally      
compensated by societies1 the operations
 of which have been rendered possible   
only by the progress of natural         
knowledge in the direction of           
mathematics1 and the accumulation of    
wealth in virtue of other natural       
knowledge4  ,but the plague8 ,my ,lord  
,brouncker's observation would not1 ,i  
fear1 lead him to think that ,englishmen
 of the nineteenth century are purer in 
life1 or more fervent in religious      
faith1 than the generation which could  
produce a ,boyle1 an ,evelyn1 and a     
,milton4 ,he might find the mud of      

society at the bottom1 instead of at the
 top1 but ,i fear that the sum total    
would be a deserving of swift judgment  
as at the time of the ,restoration4 ,and
 it would be our duty to explain once   
more1 and this time not without shame1  
that we have no reason to believe that  
it is the improvement of our faith1 nor 
that of our morals1 which keeps the     
plague from our city2 but1 again1 that  
it is the improvement of our natural    
knowledge4  ,we have learned that       
pestilences will only take up their     
abode among those who have prepared     
unswept and ungarnished residences for  
them4 ,their cities must have narrow1   
unwatered streets1 foul with accumulated
 garbage4 ,their houses must be         
ill-drained1 ill-lighted1               
ill-ventilated4 ,their subjects must be 
ill-washed1 ill-fed1 ill-clothed4 ,the  
,london of #affe was such a city4 ,the  
cities of the ,east1 where plague has an
 enduring dwelling1 are such cities4    
,we1 in later times1 have learned       

somewhat of ,nature1 and partly obey    
her4 ,because of this partial           
improvement of our natural knowledge and
 of that fractional obedience1 we have  
no plague2 because that knowledge is    
still very imperfect and that obedience 
yet incomplete1 typhus is our companion 
and cholera our visitor4 ,but it is not 
presumptuous to express the belief that1
 when our knowledge is more complete and
 our obedience the expression of our    
knowledge1 ,london will count her       
centuries of freedom from typhus and    
cholera1 as she now gratefully reckons  
her two hundred years of ignorance of   
that plague which swooped upon her      
thrice in the first half of the         
seventeenth century4  ,surely there is  
nothing in these explanations which is  
not fully borne out by the facts8       
,surely1 the principles involved in them
 are now admitted among the fixed       
beliefs of all thinking men8 ,surely1 it
 is true that our countrymen are less   
subject to fire1 famine1 pestilence1 and

 all the evils which result from a want 
of command over and due anticipation of 
the course of ,nature1 than were the    
countrymen of ,milton2 and health1      
wealth1 and well-being are more abundant
 with us than with them8 ,but no less   
certainly is the difference due to the  
improvement of our knowledge of ,nature1
 and the extent to which that improved  
knowledge has been incorporated with the
 household words of men1 and has        
supplied the springs of their daily     
actions4  ,granting for a moment1 then1 
the truth of that which the depreciators
 of natural knowledge are so fond of    
urging1 that its improvement can only   
add to the resources of our material    
civilization2 admitting it to be        
possible that the founders of the ,royal
 ,society themselves looked for no other
 reward than this1 ,i cannot confess    
that ,i was guilty of exaggeration when 
,i hinted1 that to him who had the gift 
of distinguishing between prominent     
events and important events1 the origin 

of a combined effort on the part of     
mankind to improve natural knowledge    
might have loomed larger than the       
,plague and have outshone the glare of  
the ,fire2 as a something fraught with a
 wealth of beneficence to mankind1 in   
comparison with which the damage done by
 those ghastly evils would shrink into  
insignificance4  ,it is very certain    
that for every victim slain by the      
plague1 hundreds of mankind exist and   
find a fair share of happiness in the   
world by the aid of the spinning jenny4 
,and the great fire1 at its worst1 could
 not have burned the supply of coal1 the
 daily working of which1 in the bowels  
of the earth1 made possible by the steam
 pump1 gives rise to an amount of wealth
 to which the millions lost in old      
,london are but as an old song4  ,but   
spinning jenny and steam pump are1 after
 all1 but toys1 possessing an accidental
 value2 and natural knowledge creates   
multitudes of more subtle contrivances1 
the praises of which do not happen to be

 sung because they are not directly     
convertible into instruments of creating
 wealth4 ,when ,i contemplate natural   
knowledge squandering such gifts among  
men1 the only appropriate comparison ,i 
can find for her is1 to liken her to    
such a peasant woman as one sees in the 
,alps1 striding ever upward1 heavily    
burdened1 and with mind bent only on her
 home2 but yet1 without effort and      
without thought1 knitting for her       
children4 ,now stockings are good and   
comfortable things1 and the children    
will undoubtedly be much the better for 
them2 but surely it would be            
short-sighted1 to say the least of it1  
to depreciate this toiling mother as a  
mere stocking-machine--a mere provider  
of physical comforts8  ,however1 there  
are blind leaders of the blind1 and not 
a few of them1 who take this view of    
natural knowledge1 and can see nothing  
in the bountiful mother of humanity but 
a sort of comfort-grinding machine4     
,according to them1 the improvement of  

natural knowledge always has been1 and  
always must be1 synonymous with no more 
than the improvement of the material    
resources and the increase of the       
gratification of men4  ,natural         
knowledge is1 in their eyes1 no real    
mother of mankind1 bringing them up with
 kindness1 and if need be1 with         
sternness1 in the way they should go1   
and instructing them in all things      
needful for their welfare2 but a sort of
 fairy godmother1 ready to furnish her  
pets with shoes of swiftness1 swords of 
sharpness1 and omnipotent ,aladdin's    
lamps1 so that they may have telegraphs 
to ,saturn1 and see the other side of   
the moon1 and thank ,god they are better
 than their benighted ancestors4 ,if    
this talk were true1 ,i1 for one1 should
 not greatly care to toil in the service
 of natural knowledge4 ,i think ,i would
 just as soon be quietly chipping my own
 flint axe1 after the manner of my      
forefathers a few thousand years back1  
as be troubled with the endless malady  

of thought which now infests us all1 for
 such reward4 ,but ,i venture to say    
that such views are contrary alike to   
reason and to fact4 ,those who discourse
 in such fashion seem to me to be so    
intent upon trying to see what is above 
,nature1 or what is behind her1 that    
they are blind to what stares them in   
the face1 in her4  ,i should not venture
 to speak thus strongly if my           
justification were not to be found in   
the simplest and most obvious facts1--if
 it needed more than an appeal to the   
most notorious truths to justify my     
assertion1 that the improvement of      
natural knowledge1 whatever direction it
 has taken1 and however low the aims of 
those who may have commenced it--has not
 only conferred practical benefits on   
men1 but1 in so doing1 has effected a   
revolution in their conceptions of the  
universe and of themselves1 and has     
profoundly altered their modes of       
thinking and their views of right and   
wrong4 ,i say that natural knowledge1   

seeking to satisfy natural wants1 has   
found the ideas which can alone still   
spiritual cravings4 ,i way that natural 
knowledge1 in desiring to ascertain the 
laws of comfort1 has been driven to     
discover those of conduct1 and to lay   
the foundations of a new morality4  ,let
 us take these points separately2 and1  
first1 what great ideas has natural     
knowledge introduced into men's minds8  
,i cannot but think that the foundations
 of all natural knowledge were laid when
 the reason of man first came face to   
face with the facts of ,nature2 when the
 savage first learned that the fingers  
of one hand are fewer than those of     
both2 that it is shorter to cross a     
stream than to head it2 that a stone    
stops where it is unless it be moved1   
and that it drops from the hand which   
lets it go2 that light and heat come and
 go with the sun2 that sticks burn away 
to a fire2 that plants and animals grow 
and die2 that if he struck his          
fellow-savage a blow he would make him  

angry1 and perhaps get a blow in return1
 while if he offered him a fruit he     
would please him1 and perhaps receive a 
fish in exchange4 ,when men had acquired
 this much knowledge1 the outlines1 rude
 though they were1 of mathematics1 of   
physics1 of chemistry1 of biology1 of   
moral1 economical1 and political        
science1 were sketched4 ,nor did the    
germ of religion fail when science began
 to bud4 ,listen to words which though  
new1 are yet three thousand years old3--
      444,when in heaven the stars about
 the moon     ,look beautiful1 when all 
the winds are laid1     ,and every      
height comes out1 and jutting peak      
,and valley1 and the immeasurable       
heavens     ,break open to their        
highest1 and all the start     ,shine1  
and the shepherd gladdens in his heart4 
#b  ,if the half-savage ,greek could    
share our feelings thus far1 it is      
irrational to doubt that he went        
further1 to find1 as we do1 that upon   
that brief gladness there follows a     

certain sorrow1--the little light of    
awakened human intelligence shines so   
mere a spark amidst the abyss of the    
unknown and unknowable2 seems so        
insufficient to do more than illuminate 
the imperfections that cannot be        
remedied1 the aspirations that cannot be
 realized1 of man's own nature4 ,but in 
this sadness1 this consciousness of the 
limitation of man1 this sense of an open
 secret which he cannot penetrate1 lies 
the essence of all religion2 and the    
attempt to embody it in the forms       
furnished by the intellect is the origin
 of the higher theologies4  ,thus it    
seems impossible to imagine but that the
 foundations of all knowledge--secular  
or sacred--were laid when intelligence  
dawned1 though the superstructure       
remained for long ages so slight and    
feeble as to be compatible with the     
existence of almost any general view    
respecting the mode of governance of the
 universe4 ,no doubt1 from the first1   
there were certain phenomena which1 to  

the rudest mind1 presented a constancy  
of occurrence1 and suggested that a     
fixed order ruled1 at any rate1 among   
them4 ,i doubt if the grossest of       
,fetish worshippers ever imagined that a
 stone must have a god within it to make
 it fall1 or that a fruit had a god     
within it to make it taste sweet4 ,with 
regard to such matters as these1 it is  
hardly questionable that mankind from   
the first took strictly positive and    
scientific views4  ,but1 with respect to
 all the less familiar occurrences which
 present themselves1 uncultured man1 no 
doubt1 has always taken himself as the  
standard of comparison1 as the centre   
and measure of the world2 nor could he  
well avoid doing so4 ,and finding that  
his apparently uncaused will has a      
powerful effect in giving rise to many  
occurrences1 he naturally enough        
ascribed other and greater events to    
other and greater volitions1 and came to
 look upon the world and all that       
therein is1 as the product of the       

volitions of persons like himself1 but  
stronger1 and capable of being appeased 
or angered1 as he himself might be      
soothed or irritated4 ,through such     
conceptions of the plan and working of  
the universe all mankind have passed1 or
 are passing4 ,and we may now consider1 
what has been the effect of the         
improvement of natural knowledge on the 
views of men who have reached this      
stage1 and who have begun to cultivate  
natural knowledge with no desire but    
that of increasing ,god's honour and    
bettering man's estate4  ,for example1  
what could seem wiser1 from a mere      
material point of view1 more innocent1  
from a theological one1 to an ancient   
people1 than that they should learn the 
exact succession of the seasons1 as     
warnings for their husbandmen2 or the   
position of the stars1 as guides to     
their rude navigators8 ,but what has    
grown out of this search for natural    
knowledge of so merely useful a         
character8 ,you all know the reply4     

,astronomy1--which of all sciences has  
filled men's minds with general ideas of
 a character most foreign to their daily
 experience1 and has1 more than any     
other1 rendered it impossible for them  
to accept the beliefs of their fathers4 
,astronomy1--which tells them that this 
so vast and seemingly solid earth is but
 an atom among atoms1 whirling1 no man  
knows whither1 through illimitable      
space2 which demonstrates that what we  
call the peaceful heaven above us1 is   
but that space1 filled by an infinitely 
subtle matter whose particles are       
seething and surging1 like the waves of 
an angry sea2 which opens up to us      
infinite regions where nothing is known1
 or ever seems to have been known1 but  
matter and force1 operating according to
 rigid rules2 which leads us to         
contemplate phenomena the very nature of
 which demonstrates that they must have 
had a beginning1 and that they must have
 an end1 but the very nature of which   
also proves that the beginning was1 to  

our conceptions of time1 infinitely     
remote1 and that the end is as          
immeasurably distant4  ,but it is not   
alone those who pursue astronomy who ask
 for bread and receive ideas4 ,what more
 harmless than the attempt to lift and  
distribute water by pumping it2 what    
more absolutely and grossly utilitarian8
 ,but out of pumps grew the discussions 
about ,nature's abhorrence of a vacuum2 
and then it was discovered that ,nature 
does not abhor a vacuum1 but that air   
has weight2 and that notion paved the   
way for the doctrine that all matter has
 weight1 and that the force which       
produces weight is co-extensive with the
 universe1--in short1 to the theory of  
universal gravitation and endless force4
 ,while learning how to handle gases led
 to the discovery of oxygen1 and to     
modern chemistry1 and to the notion of  
the indestructibility of matter4        
,again1 what simpler1 or more absolutely
 practical1 than the attempt to keep the
 axle of a wheel from heating when the  

wheel turns round very fast8 ,how useful
 for carters and gig drivers to know    
something about this2 and how good were 
it1 if any ingenious person would find  
out the cause of such phenomena1 and    
thence educe a general remedy for them4 
,such an ingenious person was ,count    
,rumford2 and he and his successors have
 landed us in the theory of the         
persistence1 or indestructibility1 of   
force4 ,and in the infinitely minute1 as
 in the infinitely great1 the seekers   
after natural knowledge1 of the kinds   
called physical and chemical1 have      
everywhere found a definite order and   
succession of events which seem never to
 be infringed4  ,and how has it fared   
with ,physick and ,anatomy8 ,have the   
anatomist1 the physiologist1 or the     
physician1 whose business it has been to
 devote themselves assiduously to that  
eminently practical and direct end1 the 
alleviation of the sufferings of        
mankind1--have they been able to confine
 their vision more absolutely to the    

strictly useful8 ,i fear they are worst 
offenders of all4 ,for if the astronomer
 has set before us the infinite         
magnitude of space1 and the practical   
eternity of the duration of the         
universe2 if the physical and chemical  
philosophers have demonstrated the      
infinite minuteness of its constituent  
parts1 and the practical eternity of    
matter and of force2 and if both have   
alike proclaimed the universality of a  
definite and predicable order and       
succession of events1 the workers in    
biology have not only accepted all      
these1 but have added more startling    
theses of their own4 ,for1 as the       
astronomers discover in the earth no    
centre of the universe1 but an eccentric
 speck1 so the naturalists find man to  
be no centre of the living world1 but   
one amidst endless modifications of     
life2 and as the astronomer observes the
 mark of practically endless time set   
upon the arrangements of the solar      
system so the student of life finds the 

records of ancient forms of existence   
peopling the world for ages1 which1 in  
relation to human experience1 are       
infinite4  ,furthermore1 the            
physiologist finds life to be as        
dependent for its manifestation on      
particular molecular arrangements as any
 physical or chemical phenomenon2 and1  
whenever he extends his researches1     
fixed order and unchanging causation    
reveal themselves1 as plainly as in the 
rest of ,nature4  ,nor can ,i find that 
any other fate has awaited the germ of  
,religion4 ,arising1 like all other     
kinds of knowledge1 and out of the      
action and interaction of man's mind1   
with that which is not man's mind1 it   
has taken the intellectual coverings of 
,fetishism or ,polytheism2 of ,theism or
 ,atheism2 of ,superstition or          
,rationalism4 ,with these1 and their    
relative merits and demerits1 ,i have   
nothing to do2 but this it is needful   
for my purpose to say1 that if the      
religion of the present differs from    

that of the past1 it is because the     
theology of the present has become more 
scientific than that of the past2       
because it has not only renounced idols 
of wood and idols of stone1 but begins  
to see the necessity of breaking in     
pieces the idols built up of books and  
traditions and fine-spun ecclesiastical 
cobwebs3 and of cherishing the noblest  
and most human of man's emotions1 by    
worship for the most part of the silent 
sort at the altar of the ,unknown and   
,unknowable4  ,such are a few of the new
 conceptions implanted in our minds by  
the improvement of natural knowledge4   
,men have acquired the ideas of the     
practically infinite extent of the      
universe and of its practical eternity2 
they are familiar with the conception   
that our earth is but an infinitesimal  
fragment of that part of the universe   
which can be seen2 and that1            
nevertheless1 its duration is1 as       
compared with our standards of time1    
infinite4 ,they have further acquired   

the idea that man is but one of         
innumerable forms of life now existing  
in the globe1 and that the present      
existences are but the last of an       
immeasurable series of predecessors4    
,moreover1 every step they have made in 
natural knowledge has tended to extend  
and rivet in their minds the conception 
of a definite order of the              
universe--which is embodied in what are 
called1 by an unhappy metaphor1 the laws
 of ,nature--and to narrow the range and
 loosen the force of men's belief in    
spontaneity1 or in changes other than   
such as arise out of that definite order
 itself4 ,whether these ideas are well  
or ill founded is not the question4 ,no 
one can deny that they exist1 and have  
been the inevitable outgrowth of the    
improvement of natural knowledge4 ,and  
if so1 it cannot be doubted that they   
are changing the form of men's most     
cherished and most important            
convictions4  ,and as regards the second
 point--the extent to which the         

improvement of natural knowledge has    
remodelled and altered what may be      
termed the intellectual ethics of       
men1--what are among the moral          
convictions most fondly held by         
barbarous and semi-barbarous people4    
,they are the convictions that authority
 is the soundest basis of belief2 that  
merit attaches to a readiness to        
believe2 that the doubting disposition  
is a bad one1 and scepticism a sin2 that
 when good authority has pronounced what
 is to be believed1 and faith has       
accepted it1 reason has no further duty4
 ,there are many excellent persons who  
yet hold by these principles1 and it is 
not my present business1 or intention1  
to discuss their views4 ,all ,i wish to 
bring clearly before your minds is the  
unquestionable fact1 that the           
improvement of natural knowledge is     
effected by methods which directly give 
the lie to all these convictions1 and   
assume the exact reverse of each to be  
true4  ,the improver of natural         

knowledge absolutely refuses to         
acknowledge authority1 as such4 ,for    
him1 scepticism is the highest of       
duties2 blind faith the one unpardonable
 sin4 ,and it cannot be otherwise1 for  
every great advance in natural knowledge
 has involved the absolute rejection of 
authority1 the cherishing of the keenest
 scepticism1 the annihilation of the    
spirit of blind faith2 and the most     
ardent votary of science holds his      
firmest convictions1 not because the men
 he most venerates hold them2 not       
because their verity is testified by    
portents and wonders2 but because his   
experience teaches him that whenever he 
chooses to bring these convictions into 
contact with their primary source1      
,nature--whenever he thinks fit to test 
them by appealing to experiment and to  
observation--,nature will confirm them4 
,the man of science has learned to      
believe in justification1 not by faith1 
but by verification4  ,thus1 without for
 a moment pretending to despise the     

practical results of the improvement of 
natural knowledge1 and its beneficial   
influence on material civilization1 it  
must1 ,i think1 be admitted that the    
great ideas1 some of which ,i have      
indicated1 and the ethical spirit which 
,i have endeavoured to sketch1 in the   
few moments which remained at my        
disposal1 constitute the real and       
permanent significance of natural       
knowledge4  ,if these ideas be destined1
 as ,i believe they are1 to be more and 
more firmly established as the world    
grows older2 if that spirit be fated1 as
 ,i believe it is1 to extend itself into
 all departments of human thought1 and  
to become co-extensive with the range of
 knowledge2 if1 as our race approaches  
its maturity1 it discovers1 as ,i       
believe it will1 that there is but one  
kind of knowledge and but one method of 
acquiring it2 then we1 who are still    
children1 may justly feel it our highest
 duty to recognise the advisableness of 
improving natural knowledge1 and so to  

aid ourselves and our successors in     
their course towards the noble goal     
which lies before mankind4     ,footnote
 #a3 ,a ,lay ,sermon delivered in ,st4  
,martin's ,hall on ,sunday1 ,january    
#gth1 #ahff1 and subsequently published 
in the ',fortnightly ,review'4          
,footnote #b3 ,need it be said that this
 is ,tennyson's ,english for ,homer's   
,greek8