s strongest
form. I have carefully studied the aged to make certain on this point.
It is a terrible disharmony that the instinctive love of life should
manifest itself so strongly when death is felt to be so near at hand.
Hence the religions of all times have been concerned with the problem of
death.

_III.--Science the Only Remedy for Human Disharmonies_

In religion and in philosophy throughout their whole history we find
attempts to combat the ills arising from the disharmonies of the human
constitution.

Ancient and modern philosophies, like ancient and modern religions, have
concerned themselves with the attempt to remedy the ills of human
existence, and instinctive fear of death has always ensured that great
attention has been paid to the doctrine of immortality.

Science, the youngest daughter of knowledge, has begun to investigate
the great problems affecting humanity. Her first steps, taken along the
lines first clearly laid down by Bacon, were slow and halting. But
medical science has lately made great progress, and has gone very far to
control disease, especially in consequence of the work of Pasteur. It is
said that science has failed because, for instance, tuberculosis
persists, but tuberculosis is propagated not because of the failure of
science, but because of the ignorance and stupidity of the population.
To diminish the spread of tuberculosis, of typhoid fever, of dysentery,
and of many other diseases, it is necessary only to follow the rules of
scientific hygiene without waiting for specific remedies.

Science offers us much hope also when it is directed to the study of old
age and the phenomena which lead to death.

Man, who is the descendant of some anthropoid ape, has inherited a
constitution adapted to an environment very different from that which
now surrounds him. He is possessed of a brain very much more highly
developed than that of his ancestors, and has entered on a new path in
the evolution of the higher organisms. The sudden change in his natural
conditions has brought about a large series of organic disharmonies,
which become more and more acutely felt as he becomes more intelligent
and more sensitive; and thus there has arisen a number of sorrows which
poor humanity has tried to relieve by all the means in its power.
Humanity in its misery has put question after question to science, and
has lost patience at the slowness of the advance of knowledge. It has
declared that the answer