New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-09-11

cnce. because IL is unrelated to any o,
DIR senses. except sight-and to that
only I'm an indirect and not easily rec
| ognized fashion.
Il hold that Science is incompetent
I TO make comprehensive denials. even
/ about the Ether. and that il goes wrong
when it makes the attempt Science
should not deal in negations; II If
strong in ahirmations, but nothing
based on abstraction ought to presume
/ TO deny outside its own region. ],
often happens that things abstracted
from and ignored by one branch OF
science may be taken into considera-
ton by another"
Sir divers Deduction.
This led tho speaker TO the argyll
mcnts that concluded with his utter
ances concerning life after death At
lacking the school of arbitrary scien-
fists who attempt to account for all
things by precise scientific laws, he
said:
They account for things mp to a
point: they account in part for the
color OF sunset. for the majesty Of a
mountain peak, for the glory of ami
mate existence. But do they account
for everything completely? 10 they
account for our own feeling Of JOY and
cxaltation. for our sense OF beauty. for
the manifest beauty existing through
out nature? DO not these things sug-
gcst something higher and noblcr and
more Joyous. something for the sake Of
which all the struggle for existence
goes on?
surely there must Ice deeper
meaning involved In natural objects.
Orthodox explanations are only partial.
though true as far 40 they go. When
We examine each particolorcd pnnule
i'm a pcacock's tail or hair In a zebra y
hide. and realize that the varying
shades on each arc so placed as 10 con
tribute 90 the general design ana pat
tern. u bccor'rs exceedingly difficult 10
explain now this organized co-opera
tion of parts. this harmonious distribu-
ton of pigment cells. has come about
on merely mechanical principles.
Flowers attract insects for fcrtilizu-
ton. and fruit tcmpts animals TO eat
Il i'm order to carry seeds. But these
explanations cannot bc final. We still
have TO explain the insects. So much
beauty cannot be necessary merely 10
attract their attention. We have fur
thcr TO explain this competitive striy-
ing toward life.
Struggle Must Have an Aim.
why do things struggle TO exist?
Surely the effort must have some sig
nincancc, the development some aim.
We thus reach tho problem of Exist
oncc Itself. and the meaning Of Evolu-
ton.
Tho mechanism whereby Existence
cntrcuchca itself Is manifest. or At
least has been 10 a large extent dis
covered Natural Selection Is a vera
cdusa, 80 FAR as 1t goes but If so much
beauty Is necessary for insects, what
about the beauty OF a landscape or OF
clouds? What unitarian object do
those subscryc? Beauty in general is
not taken into account by science.
Very well. that may be all right. but
4, .3ata ri IL y
function 10 discuss II. No. but IL is
my function 10 remind you and myself
that our studies do not exhaust the
Universe, and that II We dogmatize in
negative direction, and say that We
can reduce everything TO physics and
chemistry. We gibbet ourselves as lu-
dicrously narrow pcdants, and arc fall
ing far short Of the richness and full
ness Of our human birthrisht. How
far preferable Is the rovercnt attitude
of the Eastern poet:
1.-The world with eyes bent upon
thy feet stands in awe with all It's ST.
lent stars
"Superiicially and physically we arc
very limited. our sense organs are
adapted TO the observation OF matter;
and nothing else directly appeals TO
ny. our nerve muscle system Is
adapted 10 the production Of motion
in matter, in desired ways; and moth
ing else in the material world can we
accomplish.
Human Equipment Not Liberal.
"Our brain and nerve systems con-
meet us with tho rest of the physical
world our senses give us informa-
rangemcnt3 of matter. Our muscles
enable us to produce changes In those
distributions. That is our equipment
for human life; and human history Is
"A record Of what VIC have done with
these parsimonious privileges.
But If we have learned from science
that Evolution Is real, We have learned
a great deal ! must not venture TO
philosophlze, but certainly from the
point of view Of science Evolution is a
great reality. Surely Evolution is not
an Illusion: surely the universe pro-
crosses In time. Time and Space and
Matter arc distractions, but arc none
the less real; they are data given by
experience; and Time Is the keystone
Of Evolution. Thy centuries follow
each other. pcrfecting small wild