The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1908-07-11
SCIENCE AND TRUE RELIGION.

One of the commonest charges of the ignorant
against the Church is that science is forbidden to
It's votaries science that is as a factor in human
belief. Hundreds of instances could be cited to dis
prove the charge but recent book the biography
of Louis Paseur the greatest of modern scientists,
is of itself enough to show that science and true
religion go hand in hand.
Pasteur as the world knows. revoutionzed all
existing theories of certain class of diseases by
his discovery that they originated with and
transmitted by germs. To him primarily is due the
credit for that marvellous discovery in surgery the
application of antisepsis. Before the great Lister
applied this method of treatment in surgery very
large proportion of operations fatal because
the simplest wounds became infected, blood-poson-
ing followed, and the patient died. After Lister
inaugurated his method and it was adopted by the
profession the percentage of mortality in surgery
decreased amazingly.
CuriouSly enough, Pasteur's studies which led to
his greatest triumph began in q controversy with
other scientists, who believed in the spontaneous
origin of certain forms of life which appeared in
fermented substances Pasteur proved the fallacy
of the theory and when he had done So he declared
his belief that no man who had studied life as he
had could doubt the existence of Divine First
Cause.
Under governmental auspices he studied the
diseases of silkworms which were running the silk
industry of France The remedies he devised saved
the industry and with it prevented the loss of mil
lions of dollars. Similarly he saved the sheep and
cattle of his country from extinction applying his
wonderful knowledge to what must have seemed a
cOn1 b,Ci Int, l.
the greatest Importance because it meant the sal
walton of his countrymen from suffering and loss
Curiously enough. he got his first mixing of the
germ theory applied to human disease from his
studies of fermentation in beer and yeast: and fol-
lowing the suggestions he found here he evolved the
scientific formulate which have led to the discovery
of cures for diphtheria for rabies and for typhoid
fever To him is due the primary knowledge that
has made the extinction of yellow fever possible;
and to him must be attributed the first impulse
toward sanitation and preventive medicine which is
prolonging the life of the human race and stripping
disease of its worst terrors
Yet-and this is the gist of the case-this man.
the greatest of all scientists was devout Catholic
from his boyhood. He was transformations in his
religion. as he in all the affairs of life; he had
no quarrel with men who had other beliefs: he was
content to follow his convictions sure of their
foundation on the rock of fact and to his profound
worldly knowledge added the certainty of an
immortal life to which the teachings of his Church
would lead him. His studies never misled or con-
fused his mind; it never occurred to him that mate
rial things could be the end-all of human existence
He dscerned with his magnificent intellect the es
sence of the spiritual life, and to him it was inf
mtey more important to achieve greatness of soul
than greatness of any material kind
No, the true religion has no conflict with
science, as Pasteur proved in his own life On the
contrary, genuine science is but a means of CON
frmlng the eternal truth which real religion is
founded.