The cover was produced by the transcriber and is placed in
the public domain.
WHERE SCIENCE
AND RELIGION
MEET
'We are still, as in Plato's age, groping about fora new method more comprehensive than any of thosethat now prevail; and also more permanent. Andwe seem to see at a distance the promise of such amethod, which can hardly be any other than themethod of idealized experience, having roots whichstrike far down into the history of philosophy. Itis a method which does not divorce the presentfrom the past, or the part from the whole, or the abstractfrom the concrete, or theory from fact, or thedivine from the human, or one science from another,but labours to connect them. Along such a roadwe have proceeded a few steps, sufficient, perhaps,to make us reflect on the want of method whichprevails in our own day. In another age, all thebranches of knowledge, whether relating to God orman or nature, will become the knowledge of "therevelation of a single science," and all things, likethe stars in heaven, will shed their light upon oneanother.'
NOTE
I have not named my authorities orgiven references to any passages intheir books. My critics, friendly or unfriendly,may complain of this omission.But I hope they will not. I hope they willsee that I have gathered my materialstogether for a clearly shown purpose withwhich particular references and frequentdefined quotations would have interfered.I wanted to build a wayside cottage fortravellers who are in haste and will soonpass on, not a museum for the leisurelystudent. I hope, then, that my criticswill criticize the cottage to their hearts'content—I shall do my best to learn fromthem,—but I beg them not to treat it as amuseum whose curator has either not hadthe sense or not taken the trouble to ticketits contents.
In place of references I have given in anappendix two short lists of easily accessiblebooks which will give technical supportto the substance of this little work.I have learnt much from them andtaken—all but quoted—much. I make noapology for including, among books fromwhich I have learnt, two of my own.Nothing teaches as solidly as trying toteach. And the record of a learnersometimes helps learners, when the oraclesof the learned fail. But I must acknowledgehere my own great indebtednessto two of those learned, my old instructors,Sir Edward Schäfer and Sir EdwinRay Lankester, whose admirable lessonsin the biological sciences of which they aredistinguished professors laid a scientificfoundation in me for all my subsequentstudy.
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