Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1905-08-30
Books, BOOkish
People and Things

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Science and immortality" BY vii.
liam Osler, NJ. d.. F. r. s. Cloth;
limo; "a PIP. Houghton, Mifflip
& Co., Boston. So cents net Post
age cents.
The daughter Of George Goldthwait
Ingersoll by her will founded lecture.
ship at Harvard to be called THE In.
gersoll Lectureship on Immortality
requiring "One lecture to be delivered
each year, on any convenient day be.
tween the last day Of May and the LIST
day Of December, on the subject-'Ths
Immortality Of Man. said lecture not
to form part Of the usual college
course, nor to be delivered by any Pro-
lessor or Tutor as part Of his usual
routine Of instruction, though any pro.
lessor or tutor, may be appointed to
such service"
In 1896, DR.. George A. Gordon de.
livered the lecture; in 1897 Prof. w.
James; in 1898 President Benjamin Ide
Wheeler; in 1899 Prof. Josiah Royce,
and in 1900 John Fiske, whose Life
Everlasting" has been SO generally
read.
DR.. Osler's lecture delivered before
the Harvard class of 1904, gives the
name to this little book which has gone
into sixth edition. The point Of view,
being a physicians. is somewhat diff.
ferent from that Of the theologian or
the specialist. but, being DR.. Osler's,
It is well taken, and all that Is said ID
said with due reserve and reverence.
ITO attempt to say anything on i'm
mortality seems presumptuous-a SUBJ
ject on which everything possible has
been said before, and so well said, not
only by the master minds of the race,
but by the many far wiser than |,
who have spoken from this place. But
having declined the honor once, and
having learned from President Elliot
that others of my profession had also
declined, when second invitation
came, 1t seemed ungracious. even COW.
ardly, not to accept though at the pres.
ent moment. before SO distinguished an
audience, cannot but envy the dis
erection Of my friends, and with such
q task ahead feel as Childe Roland
must have felt before the Dark Tower"
Having thus modestly DISPOSED NJ
the mantle" placed on his shoulders
by President Elliot, DR.. Osler proceeds
to tell us in his simple way, how lit
tie science can help our belief in i'm.
mortality. II we believe in immortal.
ity we do SO as result Of emotional
force; the heart controls. We allow
the intellect to lie fallow. as 1t were.
Immortality and all that 1t may
mean is a dead issue in the great
movements OF the world. The wa,
human life has been cheapened in Qua
Western civilization illustrates prac.
tically how far we are from ans
thought OF future existence. As q
rule, man dies as he has lived. unin.
nuenced practically by the thought VI
future life. The great bulk Of the
people are lukewarm Laodiceans, con.
cerned less with the future life than
with the price Of beef or coal"
But the inevitable tendency towards
feeling which bears every man away
from cold analysis Of such subject
brings DR.. Osler to this:
"The man of science is in sad
Quandary today. He cannot but feel
that the emotional side to which faith
leans makes for all that is bright and
joyous in life. Fed on the dry huska
OF facts, the human heart has hidden
want which science cannot supply"
Darwin wrote: But was very un.
willing to give up my belief. But I
found 1t more and more difficult-to
invent evidence which would suffice
to convince me. This disbelief crept
over me-but 1t was at last complete"
And Ingersoll after all tho utterancs
which reason land sometimes preju.
dice, perhaps) excited. would come to
speak in vague way Of Immortality,
God and the Soul.
| "Some Of you will wander through
all the phases" says DR.. Osler, ito
como at last. trust, to the opinion Of
Cicero, who had rather be mistaken
1 r.. l-t~