Volume 2

Fragments of science : a series of detached essays, addresses, and reviews / by John Tyndall.

  • John Tyndall
Date:
1879
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Fragments of science : a series of detached essays, addresses, and reviews / by John Tyndall. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    such a justification, may fairly urge that the latest conclusioDS of science are in perfect accordance with the doctrine of the Master himself, which manifestly was that the distribution of natural phenomena is not affected by moral or religious causes, 'He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.' Grranting ' the power of Free Will in man,' so strongly claimed by Professor Mansel in his admirable defence of the belief in miracles, and assuming the efficacy of free prayer to produce changes in external nature, it necessarily follows that natural laws are more or less at the mercy of man's volition, and no conclusion founded on the assumed permanence of those laws would be worthy of confidence. It is a wholesome sign for England that she numbers among her clergy men wise enough to understand all this, and courageous enough to act up to their know- ledge. Such men do service to public character, by encouraging a manly and intelligent conflict with the real causes of disease and scarcity, inntead of a delusive reliance on supernatural aid. But they have also a value beyond this local and temporary one. They pre- pare the public mind for changes, which though in- evitable, could hardly, without such preparation, be wrought without violence. Iron is strong ; still, water in crystallising will shiver an iron envelope, and the more unyielding the metal is, the worse for its safety. There are in the world men who would encompass philosophic speculation by a rigid envelope, hoping thereby to restrain it, but in reality giving it explosive force. In England, thanks to men of the stamp to which I have alluded, scope is gradually given to thought for changes of aggregation, and the envelope slowly alters its form, in accordance with the necessities of the time.
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