ions of vindictive fools and greedy
scoundrels, the mischief and adventures of half-witted geniuses and
licensed rogues that have been figures of the prologue.

The future of science has become the future of the race. So much of
an inkling of the truth is beginning to be appreciated. That is
ordinarily taken to mean that the process by which the Wessex man
became the New York and London man, the accumulation of accidental
discoveries and inspired inventions of scattered individuals, will go
on, providing a succession of marvels and miracles for the careerist
and his retinue. Not only is he to be entertained and served by them,
but any commercial value will also be exploited by him. The natural
wonders of the laboratories have taken the place of the supernatural
absurdities of the medieval mind as a fillip for the imagination of
the man in the street. Even spiritualism apes the technique of the
physicist. The credulity of reporters alone concerning developments
in surgery, for example, is incredible. There is enough rot published
daily for a brief to be made out against the idolatry of science.

THE RELIGION OF SCIENCE

Science also as a religion, as a faith to bind men together, as a
substitute for the moribund old mythologies and theologies which kept
them sundered, is commencing to be talked of in a more serious tone.
The wonder-maker may have forced upon him, may welcome, the honors
of the priest, though he pose as the humble slave of Nature and her
secrets. Presently the foundations and institutes, which coexist with
the cathedrals and churches, just as once the new Christian chapels
and congregations stood side by side with pagan temples and heathen
shrines, may oust their rivals, and assume the monopoly of ritual.
Should its spirit remain fine and clear, should it maintain the
glorious promise of its dawn, should its high priests realize the
perpetually widening intimations of its universal triumph, and escape
the ossification that has overtaken all young and hopeful things and
institutions, the real foundation for a future of the species would be
laid, and so its ultimate suicide prevented.

The time has gone by, however, for any complacent assurance that the
redemption of mankind is to be attained by a new religion of words.
There is no doubt that the damnation or salvation of an individual has
often been determined by a religious crisis, in which the magic of
words have worked their witchery. There is plent