CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 Nixon Griff is 
 
CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 3 1924 098 508 488 
 
The original of tliis book is in 
 tlie Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924098508488 
 
Science and the Church 
 
 THE REVEREND J. A. ZAHM, Ph.D., C.S.C. 
 
 Professor of Physics in Notre Dame University; 
 
 Author of "Sound and Music," "Bible, Science, and Faith," "Evolution 
 
 and Dogma," etc. 
 
 Conficitur inde veram philosophiam esse veram religionem, conver- 
 simque veram religionem esse veram philosophiam." 
 
 — SCOTUS ERIGENA. 
 
 The outward form of Truth may Science see 
 
 Revealed to ea^er sight; 
 To feel her throbbing heart fair Faith alone 
 
 May claim as sacred right. 
 
 But he who reads by Science and by Faith 
 
 Creation's God-writ scroll. 
 Enraptured stands before the beauty held 
 
 In Truth's unchanging soul. 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
 D. H. McBRIDE & CO. 
 
 i8q6 
 
90808'^ 
 
 Copyright, i8c 
 
 BY 
 
 J. A. ZAHM. 
 
TO 
 
 B. I. C. E. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 T^HE present work is composed of articles which 
 have at various times appeared in divers periodicals, 
 religious and secular. With the exception of a few 
 omissions and a few verbal changes here and there, 
 they all retain their original form. They are published 
 in book form in response to numerous requests from 
 both the clergy and the laity, and it is hoped that the 
 resulting volume will be of service to all who are inter- 
 ested in the subjects therein discussed. 
 
 For permission to reprint the articles now collected 
 together, I am indebted to the courtesy of the editors 
 of The Noi-th American Review^ The Cosmopolitan 
 Magazine^ The Catholic World, The Rosary, Dona- 
 hoe's Magazine, The Americati Ecclesiastical Rc.z>ie-c 
 and The Bulletin of the Catholic University of 
 
 America. 
 
 J. A. ZAHM, C.S.C. 
 
 Notre Dame University. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PREFACE, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Leo XIII. and Science, ... 9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Leo XIII. AND The Social Question, • • 35 
 
 CHAPTER in. 
 The Vatican Observatory, - - 61 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Light and Liberty in The Study of Science, - 80 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Roman Catholics and Scientific Freedom, too 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 The Study of Science in Our Ecclesiastical Sem- 
 inaries, - 120 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 2^E Forerunner and Rival of Pasteur, - - 151 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 ,,I^uis Pasteur and His Life- Work, - - 172 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 /k New System of Writing for the Blind, - 204 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 >>The Omar of The New World," - 221 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 The Site of The Garden of Eden, - - 258 
 
SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 LEO XIIL AND SCIENCE. 
 
 AFTER an extended audience with the Pope to- 
 ward the close of the }ear 1894, Emilio Caste- 
 lar, Spain's brilliant orator and statesman, did not 
 hesitate to declare : "I have seen all the great men 
 of my time, but Leo XIII. is the greatest of them 
 all." He was not, however, satisfied with this dec- 
 laration, complimentary as it is to the Sovereign 
 Pontiff; he went even further. "Our century," he 
 continued, "has seen only two really great men: 
 Napoleon Bonaparte, at the beginning, and Leo 
 XIIL, at the close." 
 
 These words are indeed high praise, and to some 
 they may seem even extravagant ; but are they ex- 
 travagant? Aside from being a philosopher and a 
 historian, well versed in politics and statecraft, a good 
 judge of men and things, Castelar has had ojjportu- 
 nities for comparing the relative merits of the great 
 men of the century, that have been enjoyed by but 
 few in the same degree. It cannot be urged that the 
 eminent republican leader was prejudiced in favor of 
 
 9 
 
lO SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 the prisoner of the Vatican. On the contrary, if he 
 had any bias at all, and I am not sure that he had 
 none, it predisposed him against, rather than in favor 
 of, the object of his lavish and enthusiastic eulogy. 
 He has pronounced many harsh judgments on the 
 Church, and has at times been rather severe on 
 the Papacy. That he has not always entertained the 
 same high opinion of the present occupant of the 
 Chair of Eeter as the one he now holds is mani- 
 fest from the surprise which was expressed on all 
 sides when, after his audience with the Pope, he gave 
 to the world his impressions of the illustrious Pontiff 
 now happily reigning. His testimony, therefore, is 
 that of a true and intelligent witness. 
 
 And then, too, we must remember that Castelar 
 is not alone in his estimate of the grand old man of 
 the Vatican.' No one who has carefully watched his 
 career since he ascended the Pontifical throne, or who 
 has come in contact with him and had an opportunity 
 of conversing with him on important affairs of church 
 or state, will make any difficulty in admitting that 
 the illustrious Spaniard's verdict is substantially, if 
 not entirely, true. 
 
 It would be no easy matter to enumerate all the 
 present Pope's titles to greatness. Some men are 
 
 'Since the above was written, Prince Bismarck, in speaking 
 to a delegation of students who had called upon him, has de- 
 clared that "the greatest statesman in Europe to-day is Pope 
 Leo. In a recent article in La Revue de Paris, M. E. Spuller, 
 ex-minister of the French Cabinet, asserts that " To enemies 
 and friends Leo XIIL stands on the pinnacle of human great- 
 ness." 
 
LEO XIII. AND SCIENCE. it 
 
 born great, and others achieve greatness by their own 
 individual efforts. Leo XIII. was born great, inas- 
 much as he was richly endowed with all those quali- 
 ties of mind and heart which are essential to true 
 greatness. But it is the greatness he achieved by his 
 long, tireless, and well-directed labors in the cause of 
 truth and in the service of his fellow-men that spe- 
 cially arrests our attention. We may admire the 
 many rare intellectual gifts with which Providence 
 dowered him, but we marvel still more at the noble 
 use which he made of his priceless talents. Heaven 
 was bounteous, even prodigal, in his regard, but the 
 riches which were showered upon him were neither 
 dissipated nor permitted to lie idle. All were con- 
 scientiously, and systematically, and persistently em- 
 ployed in the cause of science and humanity, and 
 were made to multiply a hundred, yea, a thousand 
 fold. Few men, indeed, have husbanded with more 
 care and to better purpose the spiritual and intellect- 
 ual treasures with which the)' have been favored; 
 and few, too, at the sunset of life have been able to 
 look back over a more successful or a more brilliant 
 career, or one more remarkable for untiring devotion 
 to the welfare of their race and to the advancement 
 of all branches of knowledge, sacred or profane. 
 
 It were a difficult task to indicate exactly wherein 
 the world is chiefly Leo XIII. 's debtor. He has 
 done so much for humanity; he has labored so long 
 and so unselfishly for its betterment and elevation; 
 he has striven so earnestly and so courageously for 
 
12 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 the triumph of truth and justice that he has extorted 
 the admiration and earned the gratitude of all, irre- 
 spective of nationality or creed. During the whole 
 of his phenomenally long and active life he has di- 
 rected his best efforts toward the prohiotion of peace 
 and good-will among men, and toward the allevia- 
 tion of the sufferings and miseries of the vast and 
 neglected world of poverty and labor. The labor- 
 ing classes, indeed, never had a more valiant cham- 
 pion, and the poor have never known a more loyal 
 and sympathetic friend or protector than the vener- 
 able Pontiff of the Vatican. 
 
 It is not, however, of Leo XIII. as an accom- 
 plished statesman, as the illustrious exponent of 
 Christian socialism, as the benefactor of the suffer- 
 ing poor, as the advocate of the outcast and down- 
 trodden, as the defender of the rights of the millions 
 of wage-earners of the Old and of the New World, of 
 whom I would now speak. His claims to recogni- 
 tion for all these things are too well known to make 
 it necessary to dwell on them here. I would speak 
 of Leo XIII. as the scholar among scholars; the in- 
 tellectual Pope of an intellectual age; as the founder 
 of schools and universities in a great scholastic era; 
 as the fautor-in-chief of science and philosophy in a 
 century of science; as the grand Pontifical Maecenas 
 of the scientific renaissance of which the Church and 
 the world at large have already felt the influence, 
 and experienced the beneficent results. 
 
 In speaking of Leo XIII. as the friend and pro- 
 
LEO XIII. AND SCIENCE. 13 
 
 moter of science, I shall employ the word "science" 
 not in its restricted and inexact sense, as referring 
 only to the physical and natural sciences — "the phys- 
 cal disciplines," they are more appropriately called — 
 but in its true and broader signification. "Science," 
 as here used, shall have the meaning attached to the 
 term by Plato and Aristotle, viz., the knowledge 
 of things through their causes — cognitio rcritm per 
 causas — and shall, consequently, embrace the whole 
 circle of the sciences, deductive as well as induc- 
 tive.' 
 
 From his earliest youth Leo XIII. had a love of 
 learning that amounted to a passion. He was alwa3's 
 a close and thorough student, and the profundity of 
 his knowledge was equaled only by the variety of his 
 attainments and the delicacy of his taste. He was 
 soon recognized as an accomplished Latinist, and 
 signalized as a master of his own beautiful vernacu- 
 lar, who had few, if any, superiors among his con- 
 temporaries. A distinguished Italian litterateur, 
 Enrico Valle, has declared that in the poems of Leo 
 XHL are combined, in a marvelous manner, the ele- 
 gance of Virgil, the delicacy of Catullus, and the 
 grace of Tibullus. But he is no less a master of 
 versification in the language of Petrarch and Dante 
 than in that of Virgil. 
 
 The gifted singer of Mantua and the great Flor- 
 
 ' The schoolmen defined science as ^'cognitio certa et evidens 
 rerum per suas causas naturali luviine acquisita,^^ a certain and 
 evident knowledge of things through their causes, acquired by 
 the natural powers of reason. 
 
14 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 entine bard have always been special favorites of his, 
 and few have greater admiration for, or a keener per- 
 ception of, the beauties of these matchless poets 
 than has the present occupant of the Papal chair. 
 
 During the thirty years that he administered with 
 such signal success the diocese of Perugia, he 
 showed forth to the world how much he had at heart 
 the cause of education and the advancement of sci- 
 ence. It was here, indeed, that he evinced that 
 passionate ardor for the dissemination of knowledge 
 and for the cultivation of the higher branches of 
 every department of science that was to shine forth 
 so conspicuously in him as Pope, and which was des- 
 tined to contribute such luster to his pontificate. 
 Everywhere, he founded schools and colleges, and 
 was foremost in instituting societies and congresses 
 for the encouragement of study and for the discus- 
 sion of the burning questions of the hour. 
 
 To realize how thoroughly in earnest he was in 
 the all-important work of education, we have only to 
 read the noble pastoral letters which he wrote while 
 yet known as Monsignor Joachim Pecci. We find in 
 these the dominant notes of those clear bugle-calls to 
 action which have attracted such attention in the 
 briefs and encyclicals of the same writer after he was 
 elevated to the pontifical throne. But it is especially 
 when he discourses on the education of the clergy 
 that he is seen at his best. He would have them 
 masters not only of sacred, but of profane science, as 
 well. He realizes, and he does not hesitate to de- 
 
LEO XIII. AND SCIENCE. 15 
 
 clare it, that in the times in which we live, a knowl- 
 edge of the physical and natural sciences is, for the 
 ecclesiastic, not only an accomplishment which may 
 be more or less useful, but that it is a positive neces- 
 sity. For, on the priest he tells us it is incumbent 
 to defend truth against error; to strengthen the weak 
 and vacillating, and to open the eyes of those who 
 "sit in the darkness of the shadow of death." But 
 for such an one, superficial science and ordinary 
 knowledge are not sufficient. Solid, deep, and con- 
 tinual studies are required in order that lie may cope 
 with any assurance of success with the skilled adver- 
 saries which he can now no longer a\oid.' 
 
 ' In the year 1849 the bishops of Umbria assembled in coun- 
 cil at SpoUetto, and among other things which came up for their 
 consideration and adoption was a program of studies proposed 
 by IVIonsignor Pecci. A brief extract from the acts bearing 
 on his program, will exhibit the mind of the future Pope re- 
 garding the studies of ecclesiastics better than would any words 
 of mine. 
 
 "Ac primo non est cur hie eloquamur quid quantique intersit 
 Clericos scientia pollere; quum luculentissime ex eo pateat 
 quod sacrEe Litters, SS. Patres, et cujusvis aetatis Concilia 
 scientiam ab Ecclesise Ministris conceptis verbis exquirant. 
 Ejus autem necessitas hac potissimum tcmpestate elucet, qua 
 tot conatibus adversus veritatem quoquomodo adhibitis sit 
 opus occurrere. Quis enim ignorat incredulos non sacra solum 
 Biblia depravare, sed Physiologia quoque, Chimica, Rlineralo- 
 gia, Diplomatica, Cronologia, aliisque naturalibus facultatibus 
 ad multorum perditionem indesinenter abuti? Ac propterea 
 quis non intelligit plenam notitiam earum facultatum, quae 
 dim veluti voluptuoste soliusve ornamenti reputabantur, 
 Clericis hodie nedum perutilem, sed et pene necessariam esse? 
 
 " Ex quo plane consequitur hisce temporibus Clerum, pr;E- 
 ter scientias ecclesiasticum statum proximius spectantes, 
 ceteris quoque instrui oportere. Quamquam vero hoc sperare 
 nonisi a Clericis praestantioris ingenii, et ex istis paucissimos, 
 aut forte neminem invenire liceat, qui perfectam assequatur 
 notionem omnium facultatum in studiorum curriculo mox 
 describendo comprehensarum ; Sacro nihilominus Consessui 
 
1 6 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 Progress is something that, far from fearing or re- 
 straining, he welcomes with all the energy of his 
 soul. In a pastoral letter which he wrote shortly 
 before the assembling of the Vatican Council, he 
 answers as follows the objections of those who im- 
 agined that one of the first acts of the Council would 
 be to put a brake upon the progress of the age : 
 
 " If by progress is understood discoveries and in- 
 ventions, and the development of the sciences and 
 the arts, oh ! then be assured that there will be no 
 opposition whatever. Revealed dogmas and the 
 holy truths of religion belong, indeed, to a higher 
 order than do mere natural verities, but the former 
 cannot contradict the latter, for both emanate from 
 the one sole principle, which is the essential truth, 
 God himself. If the word "progress" designate the 
 ordinary rules of modern life, and if these rules be 
 in accord with Christian morality, it is impossible 
 that the Council should not give them even greater 
 force and authority than they now possess, since 
 one of its chief objects is to proclaim, protect, and 
 maintain on solid foundations the guiding principles 
 of public and private morality." 
 
 apprime expedire visum est, ut talis studiorum ratio propona- 
 tur, qua in Clericorum universitate, licet suam quisque pro 
 ingenii viribus colat, semper variarum scientiarum complexus 
 cumulusque maneat ex opportunitate excolendarum, ita quidem 
 ut quilibet ex Episcopis ecclesiasticos viros in unaquaque 
 facultate rite edoctos sibi comparare, eorumque opera, ubi 
 occasio postulaverit, uti queat ad errores, quamcumque 
 induerint formam, redarguendos et refellendos. " 
 
 " OEuvres Pastorales de S. E. le Cardinal Joachim Pecci, 
 Archeveque — EvSque de Perouse," Descl6e de Brouwer et Cie, 
 Lille. 
 
LEO XIII. AND SCIENCE. 17 
 
 The same idea he develops more at length, and 
 with still greater eloquence in his celebrated pastoral 
 on "The Church and Civilization." Commenting on 
 the objection, so frequently urged by those who 
 should know better, that the Church is hostile, or, at 
 least, indifferent to the studies and investigations 
 which have conferred such untold benefits on our 
 race, he declares that there is no warrant whatever 
 for the statement that, "The Church is opposed to 
 the study of nature, and of those forces whose ap- 
 plication to the arts of life has contributed so ma- 
 terially to our common weal. A moment's reflec- 
 tion should sufifice to convince any one that the 
 Church, far from being hostile to scientific researches 
 and inventions, is disposed by the very nature of 
 things to encourage and foster their development." 
 
 "Examine and judge for yourselves. Can the 
 Church desire anything more ardently than she de- 
 sires the glory of God and that more perfect knowl- 
 edge of the Divine Artificer, which is obtained by a 
 study of His works ? -But if the universe is a book, 
 on every page of which are inscribed the name and 
 wisdom of God, it is evident that the one who shall 
 have read this book most carefully and intelligently 
 will be the one who will be filled with the greatest love 
 of God, and who will approach most nearly unto 
 Him. If it suffices to have eyes to see that the 
 starry Heavens show forth the glory of their Creator; 
 if it is sufificient to have ears to hear the concert of 
 praise which day giveth unto day, to understand the 
 
i8 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 secrets of Divine knowledge which night declareth 
 unto night, how much more clearly and strikingly 
 shall not the power and the wisdom of the Divinity 
 be manifested to those whose scrutinizing gaze shall 
 explore the distant heavens and the depths of the 
 earth, whose enquiring minds shall range from in- 
 finitesimal atoms to the shining orbs of space; whose 
 keen intellects shall search out the manifold mys- 
 teries of the vegetable world and bring home to them- 
 selves the countless evidences of the Supreme Intel- 
 ligence that has ordered all things in number and 
 measure and weight?" 
 
 Further on, with a beauty of diction all his own, 
 he indites a passage which even the most eloquent of 
 our scientific writers have never surpassed. " How 
 grand and majestic is man when he commands the 
 thunderbolt and causes it to fall harmless at his feet; 
 when he summons the electric flash and sends it as 
 the messenger of his will, through the depths of the 
 ocean, over precipitous mountains and across bound- 
 less deserts! How he is seen in his glory when he 
 orders the force of steam to invest him, as it were, 
 with wings and conduct him with lightning speed 
 across the broad expanse of land and sea! How 
 powerful he appears when, by ingenious contriv- 
 ances, he develops this force itself, imprisons it and, 
 by means of marvelously designed appliances, gives 
 movement and intelligence, so to speak, to brute 
 matter and bids it be his servant and spare him fur- 
 ther toil and fatigue ! Tell me, my brethren, is 
 
LEO XIII. AND SCIENCE. 19 
 
 there not in man some spark of creative power, 
 when he evokes light that it may dispel the dark- 
 ness of night and give beauty and splendor to his 
 vast and palatial abodes ! The Church, our affec- 
 tionate mother, is cognizant of all this progress, and 
 far from desiring to impede it in any way she, on 
 the contrary, at the very sight of it, is thrilled with 
 joy and gladness." It is scarcely an exaggeration 
 to declare that it was, humanly speaking, Cardinal 
 Pecci's magnificent pastoral on "The Church and 
 Civilization" that made him Pope. It appeared on 
 the eve of the meeting of the Conclave to choose 
 a successor to Pius IX., and it signalized its author 
 as the one man, among the princes of the Church, 
 who, by reason of his varied and profound learning, 
 his intimate knowledge of men and affairs, his 
 thorough realization of the needs of his age, and 
 his unquestioned talent and virtue was, of a verity, 
 the elect of the Lord. 
 
 I have dwelt thus at length on the character and 
 ofificial acts of the Cardinal Archbishop of Perugia, 
 in order that the reader might better be able to 
 appreciate his policy and his labors after he had 
 assumed the tiara. The work of Leo XIII. has 
 been, indeed, but a continuation of that which he 
 always had at heart, and which he inaugurated with 
 such signal success while governing his flock in 
 beautiful and historic Umbria. There was nothing 
 sudden or spasmodic about it. It was not some- 
 thing that was conceived only after his accession to 
 
20 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 the Papal throne. It was not for him a new or un- 
 expected departure. Far from it ! He was simply 
 carrying out on a grander scale the plans which he 
 had formed at the beginning of his brilliant career. 
 He was but following a line of policy which charac- 
 terized his earliest episcopal acts, and executing, as 
 Pope, what he essayed in a much more circum- 
 scribed sphere as the ordinary of Perugia. The 
 pastoral letters of the bishop are but preludes to 
 the allocutions and encyclicals of the Sovereign 
 Pontiff, and the noble document on the " The 
 Church and Civilization " is but the key-note to 
 those epoch-making utterances : "^terni Patris" and 
 "Rerum Novarum" and "Immortale Dei." The offi- 
 cial acts of Perugia's chief pastor are but adumbrations 
 of the brilliant achievements of the immortal Doctor 
 of the Universal Church. As a student, as a bishop, 
 as a cardinal, as Pope, Leo XHI. has throughout 
 his long and eventful life been consistent, and has 
 always been actuated by the same ardent desire and 
 the same unfailing determination to do everything 
 in his power that would in any way contribute to the 
 dissemination of knowledge and the advancement 
 of science. 
 
 It would be utterly impossible, within the brief 
 compass of a short chapter, to give an adequate idea 
 of what Leo XIII. has done for the cause of educa- 
 tion and general enlightenment. His briefs, letters, 
 allocutions, and encyclicals fill six good-sized vol- 
 umes. Many of the most important of these docu- 
 
LEO XIII. AND SCIENCE. 21 
 
 ments bear directly on the furtherance of science 
 and original research, while numerous others discuss 
 the same topics incidentally, but scarcely less effect- 
 ively. At one time, it is a weighty pronouncement 
 on the study of philosophy or Sacred Scripture, like 
 the "^terni Patris" or the "Providentissimus Deus;" 
 at another, it is a letter to a private individual, or to 
 an organized society, like his letter to M. Louis Vivfes, 
 encouraging him in his giant undertaking, the pub- 
 lication of the complete works of Albertus Magnus, 
 and his numerous letters to the organizers and direct- 
 ors of the International Catholic Scientific Congress; 
 at another, again, it is a decree authorizing the 
 founding of an astronomical observatory, a faculty 
 of science, or a university ; while at still another, it 
 is a document which unlocks to the scholars of the 
 world the treasures of the far-famed Vatican Library, 
 or establishes within its sacred precincts a school of 
 palaeography to which all lovers of learning and an- 
 tiquity may have ready access. His brain is ever 
 active, and his pen is always in his hand. He allows 
 no opportunity to pass, when a word of encourage- 
 ment from him will help on the cause of education, 
 or advance the interests of science. On one occa- 
 sion, he addresses simple students and inspires in 
 them a love of study and a desire of achieving suc- 
 cess in the higher departments of knowledge. On 
 another, he exhorts the bishops of Hungary, Bava- 
 ria, Portugal, the United States, and Brazil to re- 
 newed activity in the cause of science, both human 
 
2 2 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 and divine. Nothing eludes his eagle eye. It de- 
 tects at a glance the wants of the diverse climes and 
 peoples of the world, and he is ever ready with sage 
 counsel and fatherly encouragement to aid the doubt- 
 ing and strengthen the weak. 
 
 As Pope, he protests as vigorously as he did as 
 bishop against the oft-repeated calumny, that the 
 Church is opposed to scientific progress and the 
 general spread of enlightenment. Both by word 
 and act he demonstrates the falsity of the charge, 
 and shows that it is not only unsupported by the 
 known facts of history, but that a bar to progress 
 would contravene the best interests of the Church 
 herself. As an apologist in this matter, and de- 
 fender of his flock, he is without a peer among his 
 contemporaries, and without a superior at any period 
 of the Church's history. 
 
 In his memorable encyclical ".(Eterni Patris," in 
 which he urges the study of the philosophy of St. 
 Thomas Aquinas, he points out the necessity of phi- 
 losophy as a guide in the study of nature, and shows 
 how the natural and philosophical sciences may be 
 of mutual benefit to one another. " The examina- 
 tion of facts," he says, " and the contemplation of 
 nature will not suffice to make their study fruitful, or 
 assure its advancement; but facts being stated, it is 
 necessary to rise higher and to exercise care in rec- 
 ognizing the nature of material things and in ascer- 
 taining the laws they obey, as well as the principles 
 which give rise to the order in which they stand to 
 
Leo XIII. AND SCIENCE. 23 
 
 each other, the unity of their truth, and their mutual 
 affinity in diversity." 
 
 Commenting on this encyclical before a large 
 throng of scientific men, who were accorded a special 
 audience, he tells them: " Apply yourselves carefully 
 to the study of nature. But in the study of the 
 sciences do not, as those who wickedly turn new dis- 
 coveries against the truth of the philosophic, as well 
 as against those of the revealed order, but rather 
 give thanks to Divine Providence, who has reserved 
 for the men of our day the glory and superiority of 
 materially increasing by their industry the patrimony 
 of the useful things bequeathed to them by their 
 ancestors." 
 
 True philosopher and true lover of science that 
 he is, Leo XIII. sees that there can be no conflict 
 between science and religion; that the Church, far 
 from having anything to apprehend from the ad- 
 vancement of science, has, on the contrary, much to 
 gain; that, far from being opposed to true scientific 
 progress, she is naturally inclined to further such 
 progress, if for no other reason than that she thus 
 greatly contributes to her own power and useful- 
 ness. 
 
 "Reason," declares the Pontiff in his encyclical 
 on "Human Liberty," "plainly teaches that verities 
 divinely revealed and natural truths can never be in 
 real conflict with one another; that whatever is at 
 variance with revealed truth is, by that very fact, 
 false. For this reason, therefore, the divine magis- 
 
24 SCIENCE AMD THE CHURCH. 
 
 terium of the Church is so far from impeding scien- 
 tific research and advancement, or in anywise re- 
 tarding the progress of enlightenment, that it brings 
 to them rather an abundance of light and the se- 
 curity of its protection." 
 
 But while addressing himself to the world in gen- 
 eral, he never loses sight of those who, by their 
 calling, should be teachers and leaders. We have 
 seen what a deep interest he always evinced, while 
 bishop, in the education of those who were destined 
 to be the future Levites of his diocese; how he wished 
 them to be learned, not only in sacred, but in profane 
 science as well. As Sovereign Pontiff, this interest 
 in ecclesiastical students intensified, and his desire 
 to see them become proficient in all the higher 
 branches of knowledge is stronger and more ardent. 
 As scholars and thinkers, he wishes the priests of 
 the Church to be in the front rank of the intellectual 
 movement of the time, and he lets no occasion pass 
 without dilating on the supreme importance of cult- 
 ure and erudition among the clergy in this period of 
 scepticism and polemics. 
 
 In an encyclical to the bishops of Italy hewrites : 
 " Grave are the reasons, and common to every age, 
 that ask many and great adornments of virtues in 
 priests. But this, our age, earnestly demands more 
 and greater. In fact, the defense of the Catholic 
 faith, in which priests ought to labor with special 
 industry, and which in these times is so much more 
 needful, requires no common or average learning, 
 
LEO XIII. AND SCIENCE. 25 
 
 but a training various and exquisite, which may em- 
 brace not only sacred but philosophical studies, and 
 may be well stored in the handling of physical and 
 historical subjects. For the error of men seeking 
 to sap the foundations of Christian wisdom that is to 
 be rooted out is multiplex. And very often the con- 
 test is to be with men clever in devices, obstinate in 
 dispute, who have gathered their resources from all 
 kinds of science 
 
 " Labor then, venerable brethen, so far as you 
 can, that the youth who graduate in sacred studies 
 may not only be more instructed in the investigation 
 of nature, but also instructed well in those arts which 
 relate to the investigation by interpretation or au- 
 thority of the Sacred Writings." 
 
 The same idea is expressed no less unequivocally 
 in a letter addressed to the Bishop of Catania regard- 
 ing the course of studies to be pursued in the great 
 Benedictine College of St. Anselm, in Rome. Be- 
 sides the usual ecclesiastical studies in such institu- 
 tions the illustrious Pontiff desires that special at- 
 tention be given to the study of philosophy, and of 
 the physical and mathematical sciences. "The 
 character of our age," avers the Pope, "demands 
 this, because such studies are rendered more 
 than necessary by the movement in their favor, and 
 what is worse, by the prevalence of error now so 
 rampant. Philosophy is necessary to defend the 
 truths of reason and faith; the physical sciences and 
 mathematics are required in order that this domain be 
 
26 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 not left entirely in possession of the enemy, who con- 
 trives to draw from it a goodly supply of arms with 
 which to attack many truths, both revealed and 
 natural." 
 
 In an encyclical, however, addressed to the hier- 
 archy of the United States, His Holiness speaks even 
 more forcibly and eloquently. Indeed, all that he 
 has hitherto written on the subject which is so dear 
 to his heart seems to find a culmination in one para- 
 graph of this noble document. With the precision 
 and fervid earnestness of a St. Augustine and a Bos- 
 suet, he affirms that " An education cannot be deemed 
 complete which takes no notice of the modern 
 sciences. It is obvious that in the existing keen com- 
 petition of talents and widespread, and in itself noble 
 and praiseworthy, passion for knowledge Catholics 
 ought not to be followers, but leaders. It is neces- 
 sary, therefore, that they should cultivate every re- 
 finement of learning and zealously train their minds 
 to the discovery of the truth and the investigation, 
 so far as possible, of the entire domain of nature." 
 
 Catholics ought jwt to be followers, but leaders. This 
 is the dominating, the all-pervading idea of the 
 Pope, who has been characterized, and how appro- 
 priately, as Lumen in Ccelo — Light in Heaven. True 
 to the traditions handed down by his illustrious pre- 
 decessors; true to the teachings and the lofty aspi- 
 rations of Clement of Alexandria and Origen, of St. 
 Gregory of Nyssa and St. Augustine, of Albertus 
 Magnus, and the Angel of the Schools, Leo XIII. 
 
LBO XIII. AND SCIENCE. 27 
 
 desires that the Church should ever be as a city of 
 light on a mountain, to be seen from afar, and that 
 her ministers should, one and all, be torch-bearers 
 not only of the Gospel but of science as well. 
 
 But Leo XIII. does more than exhort and advise 
 and encourage. This alone were a great thing, con- 
 sidering the exalted position he occupies, and the 
 powerful influence he wields. He not only recom- 
 mends, but acts. He is not only a patron of art, 
 science, and literature, but he is the founder of 
 learned societies and famed universities. The uni- 
 versities of Freiburg, Ottawa and Washington owe 
 their existence to him. The school of scientific phi- 
 losophy at Louvain is his creation. The Catholic 
 universities of Paris, Toulouse and the American 
 College at Rome owe a debt of gratitude to him for 
 favors received. In addition to all this, he founded 
 in the Vatican a school of palaeography and inaugu- 
 rated and equipped what is now justly regarded as 
 one of the best astronomical and meteorological ob- 
 servatories in the world, the great observatory of the 
 Vatican. Nor is this all. According to the univer- 
 sal desire of the scholars, he opened up the secret 
 archives of the Vatican and placed their precious 
 records at the disposition of the world of learning. 
 "Catholic, Protestant, and Jew, men of all nations, 
 may now examine the records of the Papacy for the 
 last six hundred years, the reports of its legates and 
 nuncios, the drafts of the Papal replies and direc- 
 tions, the expenses of the Papal administration, the 
 
28 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 secrets of many a knotty problem in the national 
 histories of Europe and the mechanism of the mis- 
 sionary activity of the Roman Church." 
 
 When Leo XIII. threw open the secret archives 
 of the Vatican he had in mind solely the cause of 
 truth. He had no fear lest something should be 
 discovered which would reflect unfavorably on the 
 Papacy, or that revelations would be made which 
 would affect the prestige and sully the fair name of 
 the Church. Truth, before every other consideration, 
 was his foremost thought. The Church has been 
 before the world for nineteen centuries, and she has 
 nothing to be ashamed of; neither has she anything 
 to fear or conceal. She wishes to be as an open 
 book which those who run may read. Far from 
 dreading disclosure, she courts investigation, and 
 even challenges it when such a process is designed 
 to subserve the cause of truth and religion. 
 
 Not long since, the chief of the corps engaged in 
 preparing certain of the Vatican manuscripts for the 
 press thought it would be better to eliminate from 
 them certain discreditable circumstances connected 
 with the history of the Church. But before acting 
 on this impression he sought instructions from the 
 Pope. The reply of Leo XIII. was characteristic. 
 "Publish everything," he said," "suppress nothing 
 for the sake of policy, even though it may reflect 
 upon the conduct of certain ecclesiastics. If the 
 Gospels were to be written at the present time there 
 would be those who would suggest that the treach- 
 
LEO XIII. AND SCIENCE. 29 
 
 ery of Judas and the dishonesty of St. Peter should 
 be omitted, in order not to offend tender con- 
 sciences." 
 
 The noble Pontiff's letter to Cardinals De Luca, 
 Pitra, and HergenrcEther on "Historical Studies" 
 is another proof, if any were needed, of the truth of 
 these assertions. A short quotation from this splen- 
 did document admirably exhibits the mind of the 
 Pope, and indicates, in a few words, what are the 
 duties and rules of the true historian. He says: 
 "Barren narrative should be opposed by laborious 
 and careful research; prudence of judgment should 
 take the place of rashness of views; levity of opin- 
 ion should yield to a proved knowledge of facts. 
 Every effort should be made by consulting the origi- 
 nal documents to unmask forgery and refute false- 
 hood. Historiographers should ever bear in mind 
 that the first law of history is to dread uttering a false- 
 hood; the next is not to fear stating the truth; lastly, the 
 historians writings should be open to no suspicion of par- 
 tiality or animosity." 
 
 Truly, these are declarations that every historian 
 may ponder with profit. Would that such rules were 
 always followed! How soon would not the entire 
 science of history be transformed and ennobled ! 
 In perusing these simple, yet weighty, statements 
 one is forcibly reminded of the advice given to the 
 historian Janssen by Pius IX.: " Never let your love 
 of the Roman Church," said the sainted Pontiff, 
 "allow you in the least to detract from the truth." 
 
30 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 Could anything be more disinterested, more beauti- 
 ful, more sublime? 
 
 It is the glory of the Popes that they have ever 
 been the patrons and the promoters of science, art, 
 and literature, as well as the exponents and sup- 
 porters of religion and morality. History tells of 
 more than a hundred universities whose foundation 
 is due directly or indirectly to the inspiring and 
 stimulating action of the Papacy. Of these, no 
 fewer than sixty-six had their origin before the 
 Reformation, while the others have been founded 
 since. The erudite Innocent III. laid the founda- 
 tions of the celebrated University of Paris; Clement 
 V. inaugurated that of Orleans; Nicholas IV. 
 that of Montpelier; John XXII. and Eugene IV. 
 that of Angers, whilst scores of other universities, 
 which have so long been the honor and pride of 
 Europe, were called into existence by still other 
 successors of the Fisherman. 
 
 But brilliant as is the record of the most famous 
 of his predecessors, Leo XIII. is the peer, if not the 
 superior, of the best of them in the great work he 
 has achieved in the cause of education and science. 
 Gregory the Great, Leo IV., and Louis XII. are 
 specially distinguished for their zeal for the instruc- 
 tion of youth; Leo X. is renowned for having been 
 at the head of the renaissance of art and literature; 
 Silvester II., the learned Gerbert, and Pius II., the 
 accomplished .^neas Sylvius, are celebrated for the 
 variety and extent of their attainments. Leo XIII. 
 
LEO XIII. AND SCIENCE. 31 
 
 walks in their footsteps and has the same claim to 
 distinction. Like Nicholas V., he has the same 
 affection for men of learning, and is never tired of 
 showing his appreciation of true scholarship. Like 
 Urban VIIL, he is known as a poet of high order, 
 and, like Gregory XIIL, he will ever be remembered 
 for his invaluable services to the science of as- 
 tronomy. Pius VIL and Gregory XVL advanced 
 the cause of art and archeology by their extension 
 of the Vatican Museum; Sixtus V. made the library 
 of the Vatican the wonder of the world. Leo XIIL 
 has enlarged and improved both these magnificent 
 institutions, and made them a hundred-fold more 
 valuable by placing their priceless treasures at the 
 disposal of students and scholars. The world was 
 astonished when it saw Lascaris teaching Greek on 
 the Esquiline, in the shadow of the Palace of Leo. 
 X.; it was no less astonished and gratified when the 
 humble Barnabite Monk, Padre Denza, one of the 
 most eminent of contemporary astronomers, pre- 
 sented himself before the International Congress of 
 Astronomers at Paris as the representative of Leo 
 XIIL, and offered, as the director of the Vatican 
 observatory, to take part in the herculean task of 
 preparing a photographic map of the heavens. Vol- 
 taire rendered due homage to Benedict XIV. when 
 he pronounced him the most learned man of the 
 eighteenth century; Castelar but forestalled the ver- 
 dict of history when he declared that Napoleon 
 Bonaparte and Leo XIIL are the two greatest men 
 of the nineteenth. 
 
32 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 No, it is not science that Leo XIII. dreads; it is 
 ignorance. It is not truth which he fears; it is su- 
 perficiality and error. Far from impeding research, 
 or checking progress, or repressing the soarings of 
 genius, he would encourage them and give them 
 wings to essay loftier flights. He knows that to 
 study the works of the Creator is to study the Crea- 
 tor Himself in the manifestations of His power and 
 wisdom and love. He realizes that the reverent 
 cultivation of the physical sciences must of neces- 
 sity lead to a better understanding of that magnifi- 
 cent poem of creation in which the Divine perfec- 
 tions are exhibited in such passing beauty and 
 splendor. And when these sciences are applied to 
 the practical arts of life, to industry, to agriculture, 
 to engineering, to navigation, to the general welfare 
 of the human family, he is the first one to see that 
 they thereby recount the glory of God, and declare 
 how the hand of Omnipotence has placed the forces 
 and elements of nature at the disposal of His 
 creatures. 
 
 Far from seeing in science an enemy of faith, Leo 
 XIII. recognizes in it an invaluable auxiliary. Like 
 the great Origen, he regards it as "a prelude and in- 
 troduction to Christianity." Like the great author 
 of the Hexapla, he gently chides those timid souls 
 who hold science in suspicion as " children who have 
 a dread of phantoms," and, like this same prodigy of 
 the early Church, he would make " music and mathe- 
 matics, geometry and grammar " — the whole circle 
 
LEO XIII. AND SCIENCE. 33 
 
 of the sciences — serve as a rampart for the defence 
 of the Holy City, the precious depository of revealed 
 trut,h. He remembers that all the great men of 
 science were men of strong religious convictions, as 
 well as men of profound knowledge, and that they 
 found nothing in their studies and discoveries which 
 is irreconcilable with the truths of revelation. Co- 
 pernicus in the preface to his " De Orbium Coeles- 
 tium Revolutionibus," Kepler in the fifth book of his 
 " Harmonice Mundi," Newton in his "Principia,'' 
 Linnaeus in his " Systema Naturae," Euler in his 
 " Lettres sur quelques Sujets de Physique et Phil- 
 osophic," Cuvier in his " Discours sur les Revolu- 
 tions de la Surface du Globe," Barrande in his "Sys- 
 t^me Silurien de la Boh^me," Lenormant in his 
 " Historic Ancienne de I'Orient/'De Rossi in his 
 "Roma Sotteranea Christiana," to name but a few 
 of the Agamemnons of science, have demonstrated 
 in the most convincing manner that the teachings of 
 faith and the teachings of nature, far from being 
 antagonistic, are ever in perfect accord, and far from 
 generating confusion in the mind of the true investi- 
 gator, are seen by him in their proper relations and 
 in their sublime harmony. 
 
 No, I repeat it, Leo XIH. does not fear science 
 and the universal diffusion of knowledge, even the 
 highest knowledge of which the human mind is ca- 
 pable. He does not fear progress, and civilization, 
 and culture. Knowledge, progress, culture, religion, 
 morality he loves with an inborn, abiding, overmas- 
 
34 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 tering love, and his lifework is the best evidence of 
 how zealously, assiduously, and effectively he has 
 labored in the interests of one and all. He does not, 
 indeed, believe with Renan and his admirers that 
 "science will always furnish man with the only 
 means he has for ameliorating his lot." By no 
 means. But it is not because he loves science less, 
 but because he loves religion and morality more. 
 Far from minimizing the value of science or the ne- 
 cessity of progress, he champions and demands both 
 the one with the other. With the great St. Vincent 
 of Lerins, he says in effect : "Let there be progress, 
 therefore; a widespread and eager progress in every 
 century and epoch, both of individuals and of the 
 general body, of every Christian, of the whole 
 Church; a progress in intelligence, knowledge and 
 wisdom, but always within their natural limits and 
 without sacrifice of the identity of Catholic teaching, 
 feeling and opinion." 
 
 These noble sentiments give color and unity to 
 all his official acts; they constitute the burden of his 
 allocutions and encyclicals; they characterize and 
 ennoble his incessant labors in the cause of intellect- 
 ual and social advancement. Judging him by his 
 life-work, and especially by his love for science, for 
 culture, for truth, and religion, Leo XIIL seems to 
 have chosen as his motto the beautiful and pregnant 
 words of Clement of Alexandria : " Let science be 
 accompanied by faith; let faith be illuminated by 
 science." — ttictt^ roivov ij yvaiffig, yvuxTvij dk ij TciarK;. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 LEO XIII. AND THE SOCIAL QUESTION. 
 
 ONE of the greatest questions of the day, it is 
 admitted by all, is the social question, and its 
 most illustrious exponent is, without doubt, the au- 
 gust Pontiff of the Vatican. Ever since his assump- 
 tion of the tiara Leo XIII. has manifested a special 
 interest in all problems relating to the welfare of so- 
 ciety. This is abundantly evinced by his noble 
 encyclicals on these topics, and by his numberless 
 letters to eminent representatives of church and 
 state. 
 
 In a private audience, with which I was favored 
 not long since, the social question was introduced 
 and discussed at some length. I ventured to tell 
 His Holiness that the editor of the North American 
 Review had requested me to write an article on this 
 subject, and that the people of America, non-Catho- 
 lics as well as Catholics, were always pleased to give 
 respectful and reverent attention to his utterances, 
 and especially to all those in anywise bearing on the 
 condition of the laboring classes. 
 
 "Ah, yes," he said, "the Americans are a noble 
 people. I love them greatly. I am aware of the deep 
 
 3S 
 
36 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 interest they take in social problems and was gratified 
 to learn that they received so kindly my encyclical 
 on the condition of labor. You may tell the people 
 of the United States, through the North Atnerican 
 Review, that I shall always be ready to contribute to 
 the fullest extent of my power toward their well- 
 being and happiness, and especially toward the 
 well-being and happiness of the wage-earners of 
 their great republic. 
 
 "The social question," continued the venerable 
 Pontiff, his eyes beaming with light and intelligence 
 as he discoursed on the subject to which he attaches 
 so much importance — "the social question is the 
 great question of the future. La question sociale, c'est 
 la question de I'avenir. It is a question in which all 
 should be interested, and each one should contribute 
 his quota toward lessening and removing the diffi- 
 culties with which it is at present beset. It is 
 particularly desirable that ecclesiastics should be 
 thoroughly conversant with the subject, and that they 
 should take an active part in every discussion and in 
 every movement that looks toward the betterment 
 of the social condition of humanity, and especially 
 the social condition of that major portion which 
 must earn their bread by the sweat of their brow." 
 
 This is but a brief synopsis of what the Holy 
 Father actually said, and conveys no idea whatever 
 of the earnestness and impressiveness which charac- 
 terized the spoken words of the large-hearted and 
 noble-minded occupant of the Chair of Peter. He 
 
LEO Xni. AND THE SOCIAL QUESTION. 37 
 
 dwelt particularly on his encyclicals, "Immortale 
 Dei" and •'Rerum Novarum," and referred incident- 
 ally to other documents, bearing on the same sub- 
 ject, of which he is the author. 
 
 The encyclical "Longinqua Oceani Spatia" is, in a 
 measure, but a supplement of the "RerumNovarum." 
 I shall consider the two documents, therefore, in so 
 far as they both deal with the social problem, as vir- 
 tually one and the same. 
 
 So much by way of preamble. The following 
 pages are designed to give a brief exposition of the 
 origin, character and history of the social question 
 from a Roman Catholic point of view, and to exhibit 
 the gist of the Pope's teaching, as gathered from his 
 letters and encyclicals on this all-important subject. 
 
 I. 
 
 A little more than a century ago, in 1791, the 
 French Revolution abolished by a third and definitive 
 decree the corporations which formed the basis of 
 the old social order. In 1891, Leo XIII. promulgated 
 a new economic charter, at the very moment when 
 the industrial association, which was the outgrowth 
 of the Manchester School, was approaching dissolu- 
 tion. 
 
 In lieu of the old organic regime the French Revo- 
 lution substituted the reign of individualism. Un- 
 limited competition, freedom of labor, the prepond- 
 erance of capital and the general introduction of 
 
38 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 machinery ushered into existence the fourth estate 
 — proletarians, or wage-earners — and with it the so- 
 cial question. The organism became a mechanism, 
 and from its excesses proceeded the evils from 
 which we now suffer. As matters at present stand, 
 we have two inimical forces, standing face to face; 
 on one side the modern state with its army and its 
 police; on the other, socialism and organized labor 
 with its battalions and its long pent-up grievances. 
 
 Never before was humanity confronted with such 
 a danger. It is related that when Antioch was 
 taken by the Persians, A. D. 266, the entire popula- 
 tion of the city was assembled in the theater. The 
 seats of this theater were cut in the foot of the es- 
 carped mountain which crowned the ramparts. The 
 eyes of all present were fixed on the chief actor; 
 every ear was strained to catch his words, when sud- 
 denly his hands began to contract, his arms became 
 paralyzed, and his eyes assumed a startling stare. 
 From the stage on which he stood he beheld the 
 Persians, already masters of the defences of the ill- 
 fated city, rushing down the mountain with resist- 
 less impetuosity. At the same moment the enemy's 
 arrows began to shower down within the precincts 
 of the theater, and to awaken its inmates to a real- 
 ization of their perilous situation. 
 
 Is not our situation analagous ? Have we not 
 felt the earth tremble under our feet, and heard the 
 social revolution — as Lassalle predicted it would — 
 knock at our doors ? And what augments the dan- 
 
LEO XIII. AND THE SOCIAL QUESTION. 39 
 
 ger is that the International seems decided on the 
 policy of delay, until the natural pressure of our so- 
 cial conditions shall place the reins of power in the 
 hands of the "new masters." 1848 and 1870 ap- 
 pear to have been the last attempts of the Fourth 
 Estate to achieve victory by force of arms. Its 
 leaders are unwilling to commit new blunders, and 
 are persuaded that the day will come when socialism 
 will be triumphant. 
 
 Leo XIII. chose this prophetic hour to make 
 known the social evangel to the combatants on both 
 sides. Among the wrecks of human institutions, 
 the Papacy remains the sole international power, 
 sufficiently equipped, sufficiently sure of its own re- 
 sources, sufficiently endowed with light and energy, 
 to attempt the supreme work. It, alone, has imper- 
 turbable faith in the future of humanity. It is ideal- 
 ist, in spite of all deceptions; optimist, notwithstand- 
 ing all the spasmodic weaknesses of the body poli- 
 tic. As in the politico-religious order, Leo XIII. has, 
 through his encyclical, "Immortale Dei," preached 
 the code of reconciliation, so has he, in the economic 
 order, promulgated the charter of social harmony. 
 We recognize in the earnest, but tender words of the 
 Pontiff, the divine perfume of the Master, precise 
 lessons of the Fathers of the Church, and the care- 
 fully pondered and the soundly democratic teachings 
 of the Doctors of the Middle Ages. For the first 
 time, economic science has pity on the wage-earner, 
 and discusses the new issues raised without rancor 
 
40 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 or recrimination. At the same time it exhibits a 
 respect for the rights of all while insisting on the 
 duties of all, which will forever render the ency- 
 clical, "Rerum Novarum," not only the most glorious 
 monument of the present pontificate, but also the 
 most beneficent contribution yet made to the new 
 order of things. In the Church alone is there a 
 condition of stable equilibrium, which always re- 
 mains unaffected. The personal character of the 
 encyclical resides, not so much in the lessons of 
 justice and charity as in the perfect adaptation of 
 revealed truth to our present condition, and in the 
 beautiful and fruitful manner in which the facts of 
 history are harmonized with eternal principles. 
 
 Leo XIII. is at the same time as compassionate 
 as a mother, and as impassable as an anatomist; as 
 just as a judge and as tender as an infant. He loves 
 ardently that poor humanity which is so often blind 
 to its best interests, but which is more frequently 
 betrayed by its own leaders. In him the Papacy 
 appears even to-day, as the empyrean in which all 
 hatreds and struggles are buried and in which all 
 great reconciliations are effected. Indeed the most 
 distinguishing characteristic of the encyclical is that 
 it seeks to harmonize capital and labor, to recon- 
 cile employer with employee, to unite justice and 
 charity. 
 
 The first part of the encyclical shows that the 
 accord between labor and capital is one of the most 
 beautiful and most consoling laws of political econ- 
 
LEO Xlir. AND THE SOCIAL QUESTION. 41 
 
 omy. As God, in the book of Job, "makes peace 
 in the high places," .so does Leo XIII., from the 
 lofty eminence which he occupies, bring to men the 
 peace-giving breath of the Infinite. 
 
 This equilibrium has its origin in the Pope's com- 
 prehensive genius. Leo XIII. knows not that ex- 
 clusivism which divides the social order into separate 
 compartments. His breadth of view and love of 
 humanity preclude this. His keen intellect has 
 grappled firmly with all the difficulties of the sit- 
 uation. Economists too often separate what should 
 ever be united. One expects everything from the 
 state, another looks for a cure only from above> 
 while still others appeal for a solution of the prob- 
 lem to special associations or to private initiative. 
 But Leo XIII. embraces all these factors, and causes 
 every one of them to make for the common weal. 
 The Church, the State, the individual activities, 
 society as a whole, should not they be prodigal 
 of their best efforts in helping forward the work of 
 reconciliation ? 
 
 It is this harmony and breadth of view which 
 give to the encyclical the character of arbitrament 
 which it possesses, and make it, as it were, a kind of 
 truce of God. Hence springs the facility with which 
 the Pontiff steers clear of the quicksands of this 
 vast world. And with what dangers is he not beset? 
 Intrinsic difificulties, technical difficulties, complexity 
 of subject, a continual transformation of political 
 economy, which scarcely permits one to promulgate 
 
42 SCrENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 doctrines and principles, antagonistic passions and 
 rivalries — Leo XIII. has met all these obstacles. 
 
 Thanks to his marvelous competence and his 
 profound knowledge of the subject-matter of debate; 
 his consummate art in separating theories from facts, 
 and principles from remedies, Leo XIII. has avoided 
 these reefs. He is at the same time a doctor and a 
 practical man of affairs; an illuminator and a con- 
 ciliator; resting here on the gospel and St. Thomas 
 Aquinas, and there seeking aid in the immense mod- 
 ern laboratory, where are found both men and 
 hypotheses. 
 
 Such are the distinguishing notes of the ency- 
 clical; its opportuneness, its evangelical character, its 
 irenical harmony, its perfect comprehensiveness. 
 These are combined with scientific precision and an 
 incomparable simplicity of art, in which supreme 
 elegance and exact science unite in sweetest sym- 
 phony. 
 
 IL 
 
 What, it may be asked, has occurred in society, 
 that special exertion is now required to keep in 
 motion a machine which formerly moved of itself 
 without noise and without effort? In what does 
 this much-talked-of social question consist? All 
 are making the same inquiry, but the responses 
 given are as diverse as the prescriptions of physi- 
 cians. More than ever before, the world is brought 
 to face seriously the social question. Formerly, 
 
LEO XIII. AND THE SOCIAL QUESTION. 43 
 
 certain minor social questions perturbed humanity, 
 but the crisis which now confronts us is peculiar to 
 our own epoch. 
 
 It is only the foolish hope of interested opti- 
 mists which will lead men to believe that they are 
 sheltered from the impending catastrophe, because, 
 forsooth, the same endemic malady has before raged 
 in all countries and at all times. It is, indeed, true 
 that social antagonism is not something new or 
 something peculiar to our century. But there is 
 between the past and the present this essential dif- 
 ference. Formerly, after the struggle between em- 
 ployer and employee was over, rest and peace were 
 to be found in the workshop or in the home, whereas 
 to-day the struggle has reached our very hearthstones. 
 It persists in a dull and sullen manner, when it does 
 not break forth openly, and it is ever compassing 
 the ruin of society because it is incessantly destroy- 
 ing all chances of domestic happiness. Never be- 
 fore, indeed, has the social question knocked in so 
 threatening a manner at the doors of the civil 
 order. 
 
 In the introduction to his epoch-making docu- 
 ment, Leo XIII. directs attention to some of the 
 evidences of the dominant evil — extreme riches, 
 extreme misery, and the indescribable desolation 
 which has entered the world of the proletariate in 
 consequence of the atomization of society under the 
 levelling reign of capital. 
 
 Gifted with a methodical mind and endowed with 
 
44 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 a rare genius for classification, the Pope limits him- 
 self to indicating the roots of the evil, without en- 
 tering into details, or descending to investigations 
 of secondary importance. 
 
 It may truly be said that the social question arises 
 from a fivefold revolution: the revolution in machin- 
 ery ; the revolution in political economy ; the revo- 
 lution in religion ; the revolution in the state, and 
 the revolution brought about by the general move- 
 ment of humanity. 
 
 Machinery, or rather the abuse of machinery, was 
 the first to effect a transformation in the economic 
 order. It is not without reason that Lassalle styles 
 it "the revolution incarnate" — Die verkorperte Revo- 
 lution. Machinery has revolutionized the mode of 
 production, the manner of labor, and the distribu- 
 tion of revenue and of property. It has destroyed 
 the workshop and introduced the factory in its stead. 
 It has sterilized manual labor and, by its immense 
 productivity, has internationalized prices and mar- 
 kets. While, on the one hand it has created the 
 despotism of capital, it has, on the other, called into 
 existence the unorganized army of the proletariate. 
 It has ground humanity into a powder without co- 
 hesion and without unity, and has placed the world 
 of labor at the mercy of a few soulless plutocrats. 
 This new order of things means the reign of the 
 few; it implies the permanence of expropriation and 
 the resurrection of ancient Rome, where millions of 
 slaves were trampled under foot by an insolent 
 
LEO XIII. AND THE SOCIAL QUESTION. 45 
 
 oligarchy of wealth. And, finally, by its fatal cen- 
 tralization, machinery has engendered a double Inter- 
 national — the International of capital and the Inter- 
 national of socialism. 
 
 Against such a condition of things there should 
 have been erected some sort of protecting dike. 
 But instead of creating a new order, in conformity 
 with the changed mode of production, economic 
 science introduced into the laws and institutions of 
 the land those very principles which have rendered 
 the influence of machinery sinister and destructive. 
 Of an agency marvellously rich in its potentialities, 
 it has made an engine of revolution. Production, 
 production, nothing but production, such has been 
 the ideal, the last word of the Third Estate and of 
 economists. Adam Smith in England, J. B. Say in 
 France, and Schulze-Delitsch in Germany, have 
 traced out this new legislation, with a view to bring- 
 ing out of machinery all its latent force, without 
 ever thinking of the terrible confusion that was sure 
 to ensue. 
 
 Science and politics have leagued together to 
 render the state omnipotent. How then could soci- 
 alism regard with serenity a factor of such unques- 
 tioned power ? 
 
 Absolute collectivism was born and received with 
 acclamation in the comitia of the people before it was 
 scientifically promulgated by Carl Marx. The sons 
 of toil constitute the majority. Why are they not 
 then the rulers ? 
 
46 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 Riehl, before Sainte-Beuve, had drawn the por- 
 trait of the literary proletarian as the guide of the 
 laboring proletarian. Declassi and a conspirator, 
 ambitious, jealous and vindictive, he finds a use for 
 his knowledge in giving his services to the advance- 
 ment of revolutionary socialism. A German, Riehl 
 spoke for the Germans. But have not his prognos- 
 tications been everywhere verified ? You have sup- 
 plied outcasts and the declassed with all modern 
 arms — education, universal suffrage, literature. You 
 have awakened them to a consciousness of their 
 power. You have taught them that law is the voice 
 of the majority, that education is the stepping-stone 
 by which they may attain to power. You have en- 
 dowed them with sovereignty. You have made 
 them legislators and judges. Why, then, should 
 not the masses rise up and announce to the Third 
 Estate : We are the masters ? 
 
 Politics and their historical environment created 
 Lassalle and Carl Marx. Lassalle and Carl Marx 
 created militant socialism and the International. 
 
 "Liberalism," says Averbeck, "has acted as a 
 state would act if it should banish a part of its citi- 
 zens to a solitary island and let them there begin a 
 struggle for existence. This state gives to the exiles 
 all the treasures of science, libraries and scientific 
 apparatus, but it withholds from them what is neces- 
 sary for subsistence. It is to be presumed that such 
 unfortunates will burn the books in order to warm 
 themselves, and break the instruments in order to 
 
LEO Xm. AND THE SOCIAL QUESTION- 47 
 
 make tools that will enable them to gain the neces- 
 sities of life." The same writer was likewise one of 
 the first to signalize the perils of this political and 
 social contrast. To-day the situation seems even 
 more grave. For, has not the International the 
 same engines of war as the state? Has it not at 
 hand all the appliances requisite to start a revolu- 
 tion? The stupefied Liberals persist in persecuting 
 the Church, in weakening the ethical sense, and 
 dancing on a volcano until everything shall be blown 
 to atoms. 
 
 Do we not read the signs of the times? One 
 would declare that everything conspires to crown 
 the Fourth Estate. As far back as 18 10 there were 
 not wanting far-seeing synthetic minds who foresaw 
 that the reign of social democracy would issue in the 
 natural and fatal termination of civilization. Philos- 
 ophers and critics have expended an infinite amount 
 of wit in their attempts to give a definition of civil- 
 ization, but no two have been able to agree on the 
 same definition. The events of our day, however, 
 make a definition unnecessary, for we have before 
 our very eyes the most salient facts of all history, 
 past and present. For what is the evolution of hu- 
 manity but its expansion and progressive exalta- 
 tion ? 
 
 All the theories of philosophers and all the 
 preachments of exploiters are of no avail. We are 
 moving toward a triumphant democracy. Whether 
 the transformation of the aristocratic and bourgeois 
 
48 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 society into a democratic society be slow or prompt, 
 violent or peaceful, it is none the less inevitable; 
 and, more than this, none the less irrevocable, once 
 it shall have been effected. 
 
 There are several reasons in explanation of the 
 difificulty of a return. All men are not sensible of 
 the exalted charm of liberty, and freedom is not an 
 imperative need for a large number of men. But 
 the sweetness of equality appeals strongly to the 
 most feeble intelligences, and men are slow to re- 
 nounce this pleasure when they have once tasted it. 
 Besides this, the laws and customs of a democratic 
 society are in accord with certain ideas of right and 
 justice, and they find in the conscience as well as in 
 the passions of mena powerful support. 
 
 What intensity marks this movement ! What a 
 formidable support for the Fourth Estate ! And how 
 singular the coincidence of this general current with 
 the present economic crisis. Sieyes wrote: "What 
 is the Third Estate? Nothing. What ought it to 
 be? Everything." Is it astonishing that the chiefs 
 of the International apply these words to the Fourth 
 Estate. 
 
 We have briefly considered the five confluents 
 which constitute the river of the social question. 
 Never has a more complicated situation, or one more 
 pregnant with peril, weighed upon men. What were 
 the invasions of the barbarians from the north of 
 Europe, or the upheavals of the fifteenth and eight- 
 eenth centuries, in comparison with the threatened 
 
LEO XIII, AND THE SOCIAL QUESTION. 49 
 
 explosion of this vast world already stirred to its 
 profoundest depths and in a state of violent ebulli- 
 tion? 
 
 Has not the time at length come when some one 
 should speak in the name of all, and above all; when 
 some one should take up the problem, not with the 
 pedantry of party, nor with affected scholastic dis- 
 play, but with a keen and serene intellect which is 
 competent to get at the heart of things without be- 
 coming entangled, and is capable of taking a com- 
 prehensive survey of the situation without getting 
 confused? Is there not required one of those rare 
 men with whom conscience in everything is a prime 
 necessity, and whose greatest pleasure and recom- 
 pense lie in the laborious pursuit of good and in the 
 absolute discharge of duty? 
 
 Such an one is Leo XIII. With that buoyant 
 and indomitable spirit which has never known weak- 
 ness, of which age has respected the integrity, Leo 
 XIIL, after having disentangled, analyzed, and scru- 
 tinized all the elements of debate, has judged it 
 necessary, not only as a man of science, but also as 
 supreme teacher, to undertake the great work of 
 synthesis and truth. 
 
 in. 
 
 Since issuing his famous encyclical, "Rerum Nova- 
 rum," of which Europe, poisoned by the School of 
 Manchester and by the teachings of a materialistic 
 philosophy, had greater need than young and pros- 
 
50 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 perous America, Leo XIII. has developed his apos- 
 tolic doctrine more in detail. This is observed 
 especially in his letters to the Count de Mun, the 
 Bishop of Grenoble, the Bishop of Liege, the Car- 
 dinal of Mechlin, as well as in his letters to M. 
 Decurtins, to Abbe Six, to Abbe Naudet, and others. 
 All these manifestations of the great Papal mind are 
 bound together by the same golden thread. Go to 
 the people to assist and emancipate them. Establish 
 syndicates and associations for the laboring classes. 
 Demand from the state legislation for their protec- 
 tion, and strive to secure the passage of a law, inter- 
 national in character, which shall protect at the same 
 time both employer and employee from economic 
 piracy. Restrict the hours of labor, and place 
 women and children under proper protection. Give 
 to the poor man a just remuneration for his work, 
 and strive to make him an upright and honorable 
 citizen. Above all, see that religion is the inspiring 
 and directing soul of the home, for without it the 
 work of reconstruction and regeneration is impos- 
 sible. 
 
 That which, above all else, brings out in bold 
 relief the solicitude of Leo XIII. for the laboring 
 man is the injunction which he lays on, the mission 
 which he commits to, the priests of the Church. 
 He wishes them to go forth into the market-place, 
 to visit the factories, to found societies for working- 
 men, to inaugurate conferences for them, and thus 
 to direct the large democratic and social current 
 
LEO XIII. AND THE SOCIAL QUESTION. 51 
 
 which is the result of long ages of effort, labor and 
 sacrifice. To Americans, with their native activity 
 and independence, this is easy and natural. It, 
 however, demanded evangelical courage to impose 
 this on the Old World, where three centuries of 
 renaissance of pagan law, and a century of laissez- 
 faire and laissez-passer have atomized society and 
 divided the human family into two opposing camps, 
 on one side the tyranny of the law and of the em- 
 ployer; on the other, renewed servitude and virtual 
 rebellion — -everywhere hatred, lack of equilibrium, 
 egotism and overt struggle. 
 
 One of the most striking characteristics of the 
 Pope's teaching anent the labor problem is his return 
 to the ideas of evangelical solidarity, to the lessons 
 of social wisdom, and to the principles which gov- 
 erned the guilds of the Middle Ages, all of which, 
 with singular skill, he adapts to the needs and con- 
 ditions of the century just closing. Sometimes 
 reactionaries, and even English Liberals, reproach 
 the Pope with going too far and with favoring 
 methods which are regarded as revolutionary. In 
 the eyes of such people he is a socialist. This 
 revolutionist, however, but relights the almost ex- 
 tinguished torch of Christian traditions. He is 
 simply continuing the spirit of the early ages of the 
 Church. "The day when there shall be placed in 
 the Chair of St. Peter," wrote de Vogue in his Spec- 
 tacles Contemporains, "a Pope animated with the 
 sentiments of Cardinal Gibbons and Cardinal Man- 
 
52 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 ning, the Church will stand forth before the world 
 as the most formidable power it has ever known." 
 So be it. Is not Leo XIII. such a Pontiff? Fear- 
 lessly brushing aside three centuries of cabinet 
 diplomacy, he declares his intention of following the 
 traditions of those illustrious Pontiffs who are hon- 
 ored in history as social law-givers and emancipa- 
 tors of the people. He synthesizes admirably the 
 Gospel, St. John Chrysostom, St. Thomas Aquinas, 
 Gregory VII., Alexander IV., Pius IV., and many 
 others besides. "The danger is imminent," wrote 
 Madam Adam in her Patrie Bourgeoise, "for Leo 
 XIII. is preparing a crusade which a younger Pope 
 may render triumphant. The constitution of the 
 Church and individual devotedness, which Christi- 
 anity, we must admit, is capable of exalting, in a far 
 higher degree than the philosophy of Paul Bert, are 
 calculated to provoke one of those grand movements 
 of moral reform which are always based on a social 
 movement." Madam Adam forgets that it is not a 
 crusade, but a return to the principles of economic 
 and organic mutuality which obtained before the 
 Renaissance, and an adaptation of them to the age 
 in which we live. This is what Leo XIII. told 
 Castelar, the Spanish Republican, in so many words. 
 " It is necessary," said he, "to bring back the Church 
 to its original traditions." In this declaration are 
 revealed at once the historic mind and the original- 
 ity of Leo XIII. In it are disclosed his greatness 
 
LEO XIII. AND THE SOCIAL QUESTION. 53 
 
 and the unity and majestic co-ordination of all his 
 acts and all his teachings. 
 
 Economically and socially, the Renaissance, the 
 resurrection of pagan law, the cult of exaggerated 
 individualism, the philosophy which issued in Dar- 
 winism, have again brought back and made general 
 both the pride and the slavery of ancient Rome. 
 Absolute and pagan theories regarding property, 
 exaltation of liberty, which, while it is the honor of 
 the human mind in the domain of politics, is folly 
 in the domain of economic science, substitution of 
 an artificial mechanism for the normal organism, 
 rupture with industrial organizations, and the atom- 
 ization of society, in a word, all the miseries of our 
 modern world have proceeded from these sources. 
 Our age is, indeed, but a walled-in field of battle, in 
 which egotism, individual interests and passions are 
 engaged in homicidal combat. Formerly society 
 was an edifice, in which each social floor had its 
 protection, its rights, its security, its well-being. It 
 was, to employ another figure, a vast organism, in 
 which each member, while it was subject to the law 
 governing the whole, had its proper functions and 
 its full life. 
 
 It is this thought, eminently Christian and emi- 
 nently evangelic, a thought reposing on justice and 
 love, which is the mainspring of the social action of 
 the Holy Father. Here, as elsewhere, Leo XIII., 
 while always having a regard for the times in which 
 
54 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 we live, supplies us with the traditional means of 
 subsistence and defence. A man of the past and of 
 the future, continuing in his own beneficient way the 
 policy of his illustrious predecessors, while at the 
 same time paving the way for a better to-morrow, 
 without change of principles, but by the application 
 of new methods, the present Pontiff stands conspic- 
 uous in history as an innovator, while he is all the 
 while but a priest of the antique ideal, but an ideal 
 appropriated for our own time. 
 
 Besides the teachings of antiquity there are other 
 guides nearer to us for pontifical initiative. A con- 
 servative power, the Papacy scarcely ever moves in 
 advance of the political and social exigencies of an 
 epoch. It does not create, it codifies. 
 
 The Fathers have determined with precision this 
 law of organic growth. Origen, TertuUian, St. Cyp- 
 rian, St. Augustine, and, above all, St. Vincent of 
 Lerins, have developed the philosophy of this 
 phenomenon. It is thus that they speak of a sensus 
 theologicus, of an intelligentia ecclesiastica, of a sensus 
 Catholicus, which are affirmed, expanded, and trans- 
 lated in a body of doctrines, in eodem sensu et in 
 eodent dogmate. 
 
 In a lower degree, the Papacy appropriates and 
 condenses the human teachings of each epoch in so 
 far as they bear on the immutable principles of the 
 evangelical and traditional deposit. In every direc- 
 tion in which the energies of the Church are em- 
 ployed, we remark a formal evolution of this institu- 
 
LEO XIII. AND THE SOCIAL QUESTION. 55 
 
 tion which is in relation to the evolution of the ideas 
 and the facts of the contemporary world. With the 
 plastic power, which is par excellence the sign of her 
 vitality, the Church adapts herself in our days to 
 the service of societies formed outside of herself, 
 and often opposed to her, as she adapted herself to 
 the feudal system, to the Renaissance, and to all the 
 metamorphoses of her flock. Her work, sometimes, 
 eludes the careless observer, because it goes on by 
 processes which resemble the mysterious processes 
 of growth and development in the higher organisms. 
 Under the action of vital force all the atoms of our 
 body are continually being changed and renewed, but 
 our form and personality are in nowise modified 
 thereby. It is in this sense that we must understand 
 the renovation of the Church and the Papacy. 
 
 The Church and the Papacy are never in a hurry. 
 In everything which does not concern eternity, in 
 the domain of the contingent and the relative, her 
 role is not to anticipate, but to regulate and to con- 
 secrate all the progress definitely made. Some 
 thinkers urge, as an objection and as examples of 
 unexplainable variation, the misfortunes of certain 
 bold spirits, who, in the past, were blamed for hav- 
 ing maintained political and social doctrines which 
 were subsequently cordially received by the Vatican. 
 These innovators had started too soon. Political 
 truths, essentially relative, do not become complete 
 verities and acceptable to Rome save at the moment 
 when they appear practical, or when the circum- 
 
56 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 stances of time and place clearly evince that the 
 fruit is ripe and may be gathered. In all that con- 
 cerns herself, the Church is the sole judge of this 
 moment. 
 
 The encyclical on the condition of labor and 
 other similar acts of Pope Leo XIII. are the official 
 and permanent consecration of the labors and the 
 teachings of the most devoted Catholics of this 
 century in respect of the social question. 
 
 The first one after Ozanam, and the Viscount de 
 Melun, to make a deep impressiou on Rome in this 
 matter was Bishop Ketteler, of Mayence. It was 
 in 1848, when socialism appropriated all the new 
 economic currents, that he promulgated his social 
 evangel. His sermons, preached in the Church of 
 St. Paul, at Frankfort, at the time of the celebrated 
 diet; his conferences with workingmen; his book on 
 " Christianity and Labor"; his discourses at Mayence; 
 all his acts as bishop and statesman had this ideal: 
 Save, emancipate, the Fourth Estate by the applica- 
 tion of the Gospel and the doctrines of St. Thomas 
 to the economic conditions of the day. 
 
 A man of dauntless courage, comprehensive 
 mind, and noble heart, he was at the same time a 
 Catholic Lassalle. At one time, even, Bismarck 
 seriously thought of making him Archbishop of 
 Cologne, and of undertaking with him the great work 
 of social reconstruction. The Kultiirkampf, which 
 the Iron Chancellor inaugurated in order to placate 
 the national liberals, to break the power of Rome 
 
LEO XIII. AND THE SOCIAL QUESTION. 57 
 
 and to divide France, rendered this grandiose pro- 
 ject illusory. Ketteler, however, did not abandon 
 his plans. While the storms raged above the German 
 forests he gathered about him those gallant heroes: 
 Vogelsang, Kuefstein, Scheicher, Hitze, Joerge, 
 Monfang, Schorlemer, Brandts, Bachem, and all 
 that chosen band, who, even in our own day, with 
 less ^lan and more timidity, it is true, continue to 
 develop his ideas. At the Council of the Vatican, 
 before the cannon of Sedan had startled Europe, 
 the Bishop of Mayence hoped to secure official 
 recognition of his programme, and thus to bring the 
 laboring world within the orbit of the Church. But 
 this fondly cherished hope was not realized. "And 
 to think," he complained to the Archbishop of 
 Rouen, "to think that we have not been able to 
 utter that cry of love and sympathy to the outcasts 
 of the century." 
 
 But the seed which he sowed germinated. On 
 the morrow of this same war, a representative of 
 France took up the idea which had its birth beyond 
 the Rhine. Supported by the teachings of Leplay 
 and Perin, the Count de Mun, with the volcanic fire 
 of his eloquence, continued the social crusade. He 
 soon succeeded in rallying around himself such sol- 
 diers as La Tour du Pin, P. Pascal, M. Lorin, Abbe 
 Naudet, Abbe Bataille, Abbe Six, M. Sabatier, and, 
 above all. Cardinal Langenieux and M. Leon Harmel, 
 who led to the Pope the first workingmen's pil- 
 grimage. 
 
58 SCTBNCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 At this same epoch, the Abbe Pettier, professor 
 at Liege, in Belgium, discovered his vocation for 
 social work. A priest and a theologian, he had a 
 singular love for the poor, and was possessed of a 
 judgment that was almost infallible. From the 
 Gospel he drew forth a whole body of social doc- 
 trine, and found a sanction for his apostolate in the 
 highest fonts of Christianity, His programme is an 
 irrefutable, economic codification of the doctrines of 
 the Holy Fathers and of the Doctors of the Middle 
 Ages. In spite of all the attacks which have been 
 directed against it, it remains impregnable. Around 
 him also have gathered a zealous body of co-workers 
 like the Kurths, the Levies, the De Harles, the Ve- 
 tragens, and hosts of others. 
 
 Then, again, there is M. Decurtins, a layman. 
 A born democrat, and a counsellor of the nation, he 
 is as ardent an ultramontane as he is an imperturb- 
 able socialist. A leader of the laboring classes and 
 a man of broad culture, erudite, eloquent, and ener- 
 getic, he is endowed with not only an incomparable 
 capacity for work, but also with an incomparable 
 power of will. 
 
 He it was who effected in Switzerland the fusion 
 of the labor organizations, Catholic and Protestant. 
 He it was who induced his government to convoke 
 a!n assembly of all the Estates in order to consider 
 universal social legislation, a project which was 
 frustrated by William H. It is he, too, who makes 
 
LEO Xni. AND THE SOCIAL QUESTION. 59 
 
 periodical pilgrimages to the Vatican to engage the 
 Holy Father to direct the social movement of our 
 time. He has many rivals and imitators, but the 
 noblest spirits of Helvetia are with him. 
 
 Such, in brief, is the Latino-Germanic genesis, if 
 I may so express myself, of the encyclical. 
 
 The Anglo-Saxon race furnished the Pope with 
 reason for action. Here appear Manning, Gibbons, 
 Ireland and Keane, the last three of whom are almost 
 as well known, and as fully appreciated, in Europe 
 as in their own country. They are men of ardor 
 and action, always optimists, ever alert and never 
 discouraged. Both by vocation and environment 
 they are leaders. Disentangled from the conven- 
 tionalities of the Old World, they are more free 
 than their European confreres; their faith is more 
 pronounced and their word has the true ring of the 
 Gospel of Christ. 
 
 As an American, I am proud that the sacred 
 spark which set Europe and the Vatican aflame was 
 applied by our own favored land. In 1887, when 
 the memorial concerning the Knights of Labor was 
 forwarded to Rome, the Christian world still hesi- 
 tated. But this document was the trumpet note 
 which settled the issue. Rome spoke, the encyclical 
 "Rerum Novarum" was promulgated, and timid, Cath- 
 olic Europe breathed a sigh of relief. 
 
 Such, then, are the origin, the character, and the 
 history of the social idea of Rome. Leo XIII. has 
 
6o SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 been the grand resultant of a historical movement. 
 It is because he was obedient to the laws of his- 
 tory, and because he understood the social needs of 
 his time, that he deserves to be known forever as 
 the Pope of the workingman and the great high- 
 priest of our century. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE VATICAN OBSERVATORY.* 
 
 FROM the earliest Christian times the Popes and 
 the most eminent representatives of the Church 
 have ever evinced a peculiar love for the science of 
 astronomy and exhibited a lively interest in its cul- 
 tivation and advancement. All have found in the 
 study of the heavens something noble and elevating, 
 that was not afforded in the same degree by any of 
 the other sciences, and have drawn from it some of 
 the most beautiful illustrations and arguments to be 
 found in the whole range of natural theology. 
 Among the scholars of the early and mediaeval 
 Church who were specially noted for their predilec- 
 tion for the science of the stars, it will suffice to 
 mention the names of Origen, St. Gregory of Nyssa, 
 St. Augustine, Dionysius, Gerbert, afterward Syl- 
 vester II., Albertus Magnus, Roger Bacon, and 
 Venerable Bede. In later times we have such dis- 
 tinguished names as Copernicus, Regiomontanus, 
 Cardinal de Cusa, Clavius, Scheiner, Gregory XIII., 
 Piazzi, De Vico, and Secchi. 
 
 'This article, it is important to observe, was written in 
 January, 1895. 
 
 61 
 
62 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH 
 
 It was not, however, merely because astronomy- 
 was a fascinating and stimulating science that it was 
 studied with such ardor by saints and doctors, and 
 fostered as it was by the most illustrious of the 
 Church's Pontiffs. For, aside from the inspiration 
 afforded by the contemplation of the wonders of the 
 starry vault, there were also practical considerations 
 which moved the authorities of the Church to en- 
 courage the study of the heavenly bodies Chief 
 among these were the demands of chronology and the 
 necessity of accurately regulating the various festi- 
 vals of the ecclesiastical year. As far back as the 
 time of St. Polycarp, in the second century, there 
 was a dispute as to the time when Easter should be 
 celebrated. The question was taken up by Pope 
 Leo the Great, and later on by Nicholas V., Sixtus 
 IV., and Leo X., but without any satisfactory results. 
 Not until 1582 was the controversy settled, when 
 Gregory XIII. promulgated the reformed calen- 
 dar, and made it obligatory throughout the Catholic 
 world. 
 
 The building in which the work of the reforma- 
 tion of the calendar was executed forms a portion of 
 the immense pile of buildings in Rome known as 
 the Vatican. The upper portion of the structure, in 
 honor of its projector, Gregory XIII., is called the 
 Gregorian Tower. Connected with the Vatican Li- 
 brary, and, indeed, forming part of this wing of the 
 Papal palace, it rises considerably above the adjacent 
 portion of the edifice. It is a large and massive 
 
THE VATICAN OBSERVATORT. 63 
 
 Structure, containing more than a score of spacious 
 apartments, and is in every way well adapted for 
 the purposes of astronomical work. 
 
 The room in which the calendar was reformed is 
 preserved in essentially the same condition in which 
 it existed in the time of Gregory XIII. It is re- 
 markable, not only for its size — it is the largest 
 apartment in the observatory— but also for the beau- 
 tiful frescoes which adorn the walls and ceiling. 
 These, although several centuries old, are still in an 
 excellent state of preservation, and are fully in keep- 
 ing with the other admirable works of art which 
 constitute so conspicuous a feature of the magni- 
 ficent palace of the Vatican. 
 
 In the floor, in the center of the chamber, is a 
 large slab of marble in which is executed the cele- 
 brated meridian of the noted Dominican, Padre 
 Ignazio Danti, one of the commission appointed for 
 the reformation of the calendar. By means of this 
 meridian and a small aperture in the wall, through 
 which a solar beam was permitted to enter, the learn- 
 ed religious was able to demonstrate the necessity of 
 reforming the calendar, and to exhibit, also, the exact- 
 ness of the system proposed by one of his associates, 
 Luigi Lilis, of Calabria. The calendar room, as it is 
 called, is now used for the weekly meetings of the 
 Vatican Astronomical Association, a society com- 
 posed of the staff of the observatory, together with 
 a number of other savants interested in the advance- 
 ment of astronomy, meteorology, and terrestrial mag- 
 
64 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 netism. These reunions are usually presided over 
 by His Eminence, Cardinal Mocenni, assistant Secre- 
 tary of State, who is the Pope's ordinary representa- 
 tive in the general management of the observatory. 
 
 After the completion and promulgation of the 
 Gregorian calendar, the Vatican Observatory under- 
 went various and numerous vicissitudes. The work, 
 which had been commenced so auspiciously, and 
 from which so much was expected, was gradually 
 discontinued, and finally all regular observations 
 were abandoned. The instruments were neglected 
 and dispersed, and eventually little was left but the 
 building itself. Many efforts were made at divers 
 times, especially during the pontificates of Pius VI. 
 and Pius VII., to restore the Observatory to its pris- 
 tine condition and to equip it with the best instru- 
 ments of the day, but even the most earnest of such 
 efforts were attended with only partial success. 
 
 It was reserved for the illustrious Pontiff now 
 reigning, the immortal Leo XIII., to bring to a suc- 
 cessful issue what had been before so frequently 
 attempted, but without serious or lasting results. 
 On the occasion of the memorable Vatican exposi- 
 tion, held in 1888 in honor of the fiftieth anni- 
 versary of Leo XIII. 's elevation to the priesthood, 
 the idea of reorganizing the Observatory took a 
 definite and practical form. Among the countless 
 presents which His Holiness received at the time, 
 were numerous and valuable scientific apparatuses, 
 especially in instruments of precision designed for 
 
THE VATICAN OBSERVATORT. 65 
 
 researches in astronomy, meteorology and geo- 
 dynamics. When the question came up as to what 
 disposition should be made of these instruments, 
 the enlightened Pontiff at once decided that they 
 should be transferred to the Gregorian Observatory 
 and that the building should immediately be reno- 
 vated and enlarged, as might be deemed necessary. 
 Work was accordingly begun without delay, and in 
 a short time the building was not only finished, but 
 the instruments were also in place, and everything 
 was in readiness for systematic and continuous obser- 
 vations according to the latest and most approved 
 methods. 
 
 That the observatory might not again be exposed 
 to the vicissitudes which had marked its previous 
 history, the Holy Father endowed it with a sum 
 ample to meet all current expenses. But he did 
 more than this. In order that it might be on a par 
 with the best equipped observatories in other parts 
 of the world, and in order that the scope of its work 
 might be as extended as that of the best of those 
 of Europe and America, he decreed that certain por- 
 tions of the Vatican palace and gardens should also 
 be set aside for the special use and behoof of the 
 observatory. Near the Gregorian tower he gave a 
 suite of rooms for the reception of a large helio- 
 graph with its necessary appurtenances. This in- 
 strument, used for photographing the sun, is a large 
 and beautiful piece of apparatus, and is an exact 
 duplicate of the one employed by the celebrated 
 
66 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 Janssen in his observatory at Meudon. Besides the 
 rooms reserved in the Gregorian tower for meteo- 
 rological observations, place for such observations 
 was likewise provided at a lower level in the Vatican 
 gardens. 
 
 But by far the most important addition to the 
 previously existing observatory was the famous Le- 
 onine Tower on the summit of the Vatican Hill. 
 This tower, which was constructed in 848 by Leo 
 IV., as a fortress against the inroads of the Saracens, 
 is admirably adapted for the purposes of an observa- 
 tory, and in the estimation of such experts as Otto 
 Struve and Rear- Admiral Mouchez, the distinguished 
 directors of the observatories of Pulkowa and Paris, 
 leaves nothing to be desired, either as to freedom 
 from vibration or perfection of horizon. 
 
 As to solidity, this venerable tower is compara- 
 ble with the pyramids of Cheops and Chefren. Its 
 internal diameter is nearly sixty feet, while the walls 
 at the base are no less than fifteen feet in thickness. 
 There are three stories, two of which are arched 
 over with heavy masonry, while the third supports a 
 large revolving cupola of the latest design and best 
 construction. This structure is about a quarter of a 
 mile distant from the Gregorian Tower, and offers one 
 of the most beautiful and commanding views to be had 
 anywhere in the Eternal City. It is, indeed, from this 
 point that one sees St. Peter's as it was conceived by 
 Michael Angelo, and as the great architect desired 
 it to appear from all sides. Owing to a change in 
 
THE VATICAN OBSERVATORT. 67 
 
 the plan of the building of St. Peter's, which never 
 had Michael Angelo's approval, the magnificent 
 dome of the great basilica is not seen to advantage 
 from the front, as the designer wished it to be, and 
 hence, one must view it from the rear to have an 
 accurate idea of the grandeur and unity of design of 
 this noblest of the world's temples. 
 
 The two lower stories of the Leonine Tower are 
 set apart for researches in terrestrial magnetism and 
 seismology. In the upper story is placed a large 
 photographic equatorial, in size and design exactly 
 like the great instrument in the National Observa- 
 tory of Paris. The chamber in which the equatorial 
 is placed is provided with clocks, barometers, etc., 
 while in adjoining rooms are all the appliances re- 
 quisite for exact and systematic work in celestial 
 photography. 
 
 Just now the astronomers of the Vatican Observ- 
 atory are busily engaged in executing their part of 
 the colossal international chart and catalogue of the 
 heavens. As is well known, the astronomers of the 
 world resolved some years ago, in 1887, to make a 
 photographic map of the entire surface of the stel- 
 lar sphere. This stupendous work, involving the 
 taking of more than forty thousand photographs, 
 was apportioned among eighteen of the chief ob- 
 servatories of the northern and southern hemis- 
 pheres. To each observatory was assigned a certain 
 zone of the heavens, the zone which, considering the 
 latitude of the observatory, could be photographed 
 
68 SCIENCE AND THE CitURCH. 
 
 with the greatest convenience and with the best re- 
 sults. The zone assigned to the Vatican Observa- 
 tory embraced that portion of the heavens confined 
 between fifty-five degrees and sixty-four degrees 
 north declination. 
 
 Each observatory will take two series of photo- 
 graphs, one series for the chart of the heavens, the 
 other for a new catalogue of the stars. The num- 
 ber of photographs to be made by each observatory 
 depends on its location. The observatories in the 
 southern hemisphere, on account of the compara- 
 tively limited number of stations, will have more to 
 do than those north of the equator. Thus, while 
 the astronomers of Catania and Helsingfors will be 
 required to take but i,oo8 photographs each, those 
 of the Cape of Good Hope will be obliged to make 
 no fewer than 1,512. The number to be taken by 
 the Vatican Observatory amounts to 1,040. Of these 
 more than four hundred are now [January, 1895] 
 ready, all of which have been pronounced by the 
 Central Committee of Paris to be of the highest 
 order of excellence. 
 
 It is estimated that it will take about two years 
 more for the Vatican astronomers to complete the 
 task assigned. As may be readily imagined, the 
 work proceeds slowly. It is something that de- 
 mands the attention of experts, and, aside from 
 being very fatiguing, it requires constant and careful 
 attention. The time of exposure of the plates to be 
 used in the preparation of the new catalogue of stars 
 
THE VATICAN OBSERVATQRT. 69 
 
 need not to be more than a few minutes, ordinarily 
 five or six, as it is not the intention to take cogniz- 
 ance of stars which are less than those of the 
 eleventh magnitude. In the chart, however, much 
 smaller stars will appear, as it has been decided 
 that it shall exhibit those even which are only 
 of the fourteenth magnitude. The exposure for 
 such faint objects varies from one to two hours, 
 depending on the condition of the atmosphere and 
 on other circumstances which need not here be 
 indicated. 
 
 So delicate and so powerful are the apparatuses 
 employed that it has been found practicable to 
 photograph stars of even the sixteenth or the seven- 
 teenth magnitude, and it is thought that it would be 
 possible, under favorable conditions, to catch on the 
 sensitized plate stars that are only of the eighteenth 
 or the nineteenth magnitude, objects which are 
 invisible to the eye, even with the aid of the most 
 powerful telescope yet constructed.. 
 
 Some of the photographs of stars aud nebulae 
 which have been taken in the Leonine Observatory 
 required an exposure of no less than nine hours. 
 During all this time the operator was obliged to 
 keep in a reclining posture, with his eye always at 
 the ocular, and his hand on the rods designed for 
 moving the telescope in right ascension and declina- 
 tion. The instrument is, of course, turned by 
 powerful clock-work, but accurate as this is, it is 
 found necessary to adjust by hand the slight irreg- 
 
7o SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 ularities of motion which are inevitable even in the 
 most perfect equatorials. 
 
 The photographs for the catalogue and chart of 
 the heavens are taken on specially prepared plates 
 of sixteen centimeters, about six inches square. In 
 order that the position of any given star may be 
 determined with readiness and exactness, each 
 photograph is crossed by a number of fine lines at 
 right angles to one another. And for the purpose 
 of locating rapidly and accurately the position of 
 the countless stars in the catalogue, the brothers 
 Henry, of the Paris Observatory, have devised an 
 ingenious instrument, known as the macromicrom- 
 eter. One of these valuable apparatuses is in the 
 Vatican Observatory, and is an object of special in- 
 terest to all visitors, especially to astronomers. 
 
 When the photographic catalogue of the stars 
 shall be completed, it will be as far superior to the 
 catalogues of Piazzi, De Lalande, and Argelander as 
 is Rowland's solar spectrum to maps of the sun's 
 spectrum prepared by Frauenhofer, Kirchoff, and 
 Angstrom. The old catalogues fixed the places of 
 some tens of thousands of stars. The new one, now 
 being made, will indicate the position of many tens 
 of millions, and so accurately, that future observers 
 will have no difficulty in determining the direction 
 and amount of any one of the heavenly bodies which 
 may have been photographed. 
 
 But, although the principal work of the Leonine 
 Observatory at the present is the taking of photo- 
 
THE VATICAN OBSERVATORY. •jl 
 
 graphs for the mammoth catalogue and chart which 
 is in course of preparation, it is not the only work. 
 Photographs of the other heavenly bodies, of the 
 moon, the planets, of comets, and nebulae, are also 
 being made. Some of these, indeed, are such splen- 
 did specimens of work that they have elicited the 
 uuqualified admiration of all who have seen them. 
 Considerable attention is also given to the photo- 
 graphing of stellar spectra, and it is the intention of 
 the astronomers in charge to make this a prominent 
 feature of their work as soon as they shall have 
 more time at their disposal than they now have. 
 An interesting series of cloud photographs has 
 likewise been secured. By meteorologists such 
 photographs are considered as possessing special 
 value, and those taken at the Vatican Observatory 
 are pronounced by competent judges to be of super- 
 ior merit. 
 
 In the Gregorian Tower is carried on all the work 
 usually done in an astronomical observatory. It is 
 singularly well equipped with instruments of inves- 
 tigation of all kinds. It is especially well provided 
 with the latest patterns of automatic instruments, 
 particularly in the apartments devoted to meteor- 
 ology. The library is already quite large, and is 
 rapidly increasing in size and importance. It receives 
 the public reports of more than three hundred ob- 
 servatories in all parts of the Old and New World, 
 and in exchange for them it sends out to its corres- 
 pondents its own publications, which are noble illus- 
 
73 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 trations of unvarying accuracy and conscientious 
 labor. 
 
 Leo XIII., as founder of the Vatican Observatory, 
 has always manifested the liveliest interest in the 
 work which is there being accomplished, and is ever 
 ready to do anything in his power which may sub- 
 serve its interests or conduce toward its betterment. 
 I shall never forget the enthusiasm with which he 
 spoke of his Specola, the Italian word for Observa- 
 tory, on the occasion of an audience which I recently 
 had with His Holiness, nor the profound interest 
 which he exhibited 'in the general advance of as- 
 tronomical science. He is thoroughly informed as 
 to what is being done by his observatory, and is 
 proud that the Specola Vatica?ia was one of the first 
 to offer to take part in the great international under- 
 taking of photographing the heavens. 
 
 When I spoke to His Holiness of my intention to 
 write an article on the Observatory for the Cosmo- 
 politan, in order that the people of America might 
 know what he had done for the advancement of the 
 science of astronomy, he seemed specially pleased. 
 " Va bene — good," he said; "I trust you will find it 
 to compare favorably with the other observatories." 
 I replied, that having visited the chief observatories 
 of Europe and America I was familiar with their 
 equipment, and that I was much gratified to find 
 that the observatory of the Vatican could bear com- 
 parison with the best of them. "I am glad to hear 
 you say this," resumed the venerable Pontiff, "for I 
 
THE VATICAN OBSERVATORT. 73 
 
 am much interested in the Observatory and the work 
 which is being done in it, and it is my desire that it 
 shall in no wise be inferior to the most noted of the 
 world's observatories. A noble study is the science 
 of the stars, and one which can not be pursued with 
 too much ardor." 
 
 Indeed, so great importance does Leo XIII. at- 
 tach to the study of astronomy; so much has he at 
 heart the cultivation and advancement of science in 
 general, that he has wished to perpetuate the mem- 
 ory of the establishment of his Observatory in the 
 most signal manner. As is well known, a large and 
 beautiful medal, commemorating the most important 
 event of the year, from an ecclesiastical point of 
 view, is annually struck by the Pope. The medal 
 for 1 89 1, a master-piece by the distinguished en- 
 graver, Bianchi, records the institution of the Vati- 
 can Observatory, and at the same time declares to 
 the world, in imperishable characters, the magnitude 
 of the service rendered by our pontifical Maecenas, 
 not only to astronomy, but also to all the physical 
 sciences as well. 
 
 The President of the Administrative Council of 
 the Vatican Observatory is His Eminence, Cardinal 
 Rampolla, Secretary of State to His Holiness. From 
 its foundation he has shown an ardent and active in- 
 terest in everything that concerned its well-being, 
 and it is not an exaggeration to say that much of the 
 prestige which the Observatory now enjoys is due to 
 the hearty and intelligent manner in which His Emi- 
 
74 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 nence has entered into every proposition which was 
 calculated to place this favorite institution of Leo 
 XIII. among the great observatories of the world. 
 But much as has been done for the Observatory 
 by the Pope and by Cardinals Rampolla and Mo- 
 cenni, it probably would not have won the distinc- 
 tion it now enjoys, had it not been for its learned, 
 zealous and indefatigable director. Padre Denza. 
 From the opening of the Observatory until a few 
 weeks ago, when death suddenly put an end to his 
 brilliant and useful career, the illustrious Barnabite 
 was the soul of the Observatory, so far as the scientific 
 world was concerned. It was he with whom as- 
 tronomers and the directors of other observatories 
 had to communicate when they desired any infor- 
 mation respecting the Vatican Observatory or the 
 work which was there conducted. A profound 
 mathematician, a skillful observer, a patient investi- 
 gator, an ardent lover of nature, he was in every 
 sense of the word an ideal astronomer, and as such 
 he was recognized by his colleagues throughout the 
 world. Besides this, he had a capacity for work 
 that was simply prodigious and a genius for inven- 
 tion which would have made the fortune of any 
 other man. Indeed, some of the most valuable and 
 ingenious instruments in the Vatican Observatory 
 are the product of the fertile brain of this gifted 
 monk. With all this, he was likewise a prolific 
 writer. The author of numerous and valuable works 
 on astronomy, geodynamics, and meteorology, he was 
 
THE VATICAN OBSERVATORT. 75 
 
 besides a regular contributor to numerous scientific 
 publications in Italy and elsewhere. The founder 
 of the Italian Meteorological Society, and for the 
 past third of a century its director-general, he was 
 also a member of a large number of the scientific 
 associations in foreign lands, all of which vied with 
 one another in doing him honor. The rival of his 
 illustrious friend, Padre Secchi, whom he resembled 
 in many traits of character; the friend-confidant of 
 Leo XIII., who keenly feels the loss of his devoted 
 astronomer. Padre Denza leaves behind him, in his 
 contributions to science, " a monument more lasting 
 than brass, and more sublime than the regal eleva- 
 tion of pyramids." He was, indeed, a true votary 
 of astronomy, and it will be long before the void 
 occasioned by his untimely death can be filled. 
 "Brav Uomo — a great man," said the Holy Father, 
 in speaking of him to me only a few days before 
 his demise. "Vir rei astronomiccB et physic ce scientissi- 
 mus — a man thoroughly versed in astronomy and 
 physics," his august friend wrote of him in his brief, 
 announcing the establishment of the Observatory 
 of the Vatican. And no one who is familiar with 
 the life work of Padre Denza will impugn the truth 
 of the characterization, eulogistic as it is. As to 
 his associates in the astronomical world, they will, I 
 am sure, endorse it as a tribute as truthful as it is 
 well deserved, and there will not be one from Green- 
 wich to Rio Janiero who will not deplore the great 
 loss which their science has sustained in his untimely 
 death. 
 
76 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 The assistant director of the Vatican Observa- 
 tory is Padre Lais, a learned member of the Oratory 
 of St. Philip Neri. For many years he was assist- 
 ant of Padre Secchi, of whom he was always a great 
 favorite. He possesses all the enthusiasm for as- 
 tronomical research that so distinguished his re- 
 nowned friends and masters, and has already achieved 
 marked distinction as a conscientious and successful 
 investigator. Like his lamented friend. Padre Denza, 
 he is a ready and prolific writer as well as a careful 
 observer, and is the author of many contributions 
 on astronomy and meteorology which are of ac- 
 knowledged merit and permanent value. At present 
 he devotes most of his time to the great interna- 
 tional, photographic chart of the heavens, and is 
 probably more advanced in this work than any of 
 his colleagues.' Certainly no one is more interested 
 in the success of the undertaking than is Padre Lais, 
 and no one has worked more assiduously or intelli- 
 gently to bring it to an early completion. The soul 
 of enterprise and bonhomie, he is still in the prime 
 of life, and promises to carry on successfully for 
 many decades to come the work so auspiciously be- 
 gun by Padre Denza. 
 
 One of the most zealous collaborators with Padre 
 Lais in the preparation of the photographic chart is 
 Signor Manucci, for a long time the engineer-in- 
 chief of the Vatican. In order to lighten their task, 
 
 'According to the latest advices, Padre Lais's work on the 
 photographic chart is rapidly approaching completion. 
 
THE VATICAN OBSERVATORY. 77 
 
 and that the work in the Leonine tower may be 
 carried on uninterruptedly, and that the great equato- 
 rial may be in constant use, whenever the weather 
 permits. Padre Lais and Signor Manucci alternate 
 with one another in taking photographs. But even 
 by this arrangement the labor entailed is quite ardu- 
 ous, as any one knows who is familiar with the char- 
 acter of the work to be done, and who knows what a 
 strain there is on the observer when he is required 
 to be at the eye-piece of his telescope for several 
 hours without intermission. 
 
 Besides the personnel, already mentioned, of the 
 Observatory, there are several assistants in the various 
 departments who, although less known than those 
 just named, are, nevertheless, doing meritorious work 
 in the cause of science. For this reason their names 
 cannot be passed over in silence. Chief among these 
 are Signor de Andreis, assistant in the department 
 of magnetism and geodynamics, Monsignor Buti, 
 assistant in meteorology, and the Signori Gnoni and 
 Brevitori, Valli, and Kobell, who also fill important 
 positions in this noble temple of Urania. 
 
 But, great and important as are the achievements 
 of the working staff of the Observatory, and we have 
 seen how great and important these are, we can never 
 lose sight of the one who made all these brilliant 
 triumphs of science possible. For all time to come, 
 La Specola Vaticana will be inseparably linked with 
 the career of the Pontiff, now gloriously reigning, 
 and the name of Leo XIII. will be traced in letters 
 
78 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 of gold in the annals of astronomy, as that of one 
 who was not only an ardent lover of this beautiful 
 science, but was also one of its most notable and 
 generous patrons. 
 
 Never shall I forget the impression I experienced 
 one night, on my return from the Leonine tower, 
 where I had left Padre Lais engaged in his work of 
 love, photographing the stars. The genial oratorian 
 and myself had spent several hours together in the 
 Observatory, when I was obliged to take leave of 
 him, a prisoner as he was for the night, on a reclin- 
 ing chair under the eye-piece of his superb equato- 
 rial. Slowly I wended my way through the soli- 
 tude of the Vatican gardens, where all was solemn 
 stillness, and passed around the imposing temple of 
 St. Peter's. Presently, I found myself hard by the 
 venerable obelisk in the Piazza de San Pietro. It 
 was now the hour of midnight; I was quite alone, 
 for there was not a soul to be seen or heard. 
 
 And yet I was not alone, for on looking up to- 
 ward the Pope's apartments in the Vatican I discov- 
 ered that the light in his study had not yet been 
 extinguished. He was not, it is true, engaged in 
 tracing out the path of some shining orb in the dis- 
 tant realm of space, but he was, I felt sure, occupied 
 in something even higher and nobler. While the 
 world below him was slumbering, he was following 
 with his mind's eye the coursfe of human events, or, 
 it may be, he was intent on safeguarding the inter- 
 ests of the three hundred millions who salute him as 
 
THE VATICAN OBSERVATORT^ 79 
 
 father, or on preparing some new message of con- 
 ciliation, peace, and union to be addressed soon to 
 all the children of men. From the moment of his 
 assumption of the tiara until the present, he has been 
 untiring in bringing out in bold relief the natural and 
 and necessary alliance between science and faith, 
 and now he wishes, before closing his glorious ca- 
 reer, to crown his splendid life-work by drawing 
 more closely together the divers religious bodies of 
 Christendom, and having them unite in one fold un- 
 der one shepherd. 
 
 Great and valiant Pontiff ! Zealous lover of sci- 
 ence, religion, and humanity ! Thy expansive and 
 affectionate heart hath attracted toward itself the 
 hearts of the world. Thy keen and unerring intelli- 
 gence hath illuminated the councils of princes and 
 of the wise ones of the earth, and men have called 
 thee blessed. Thou hast had compassion on the 
 poor, the weak, the oppressed, the down-trodden, 
 and hast pleaded before the rich and the powerful 
 the cause of the toiling millions of two hemispheres, 
 and for this shall thy name be held in eternal bene- 
 diction. Well hast thou been designated as Lumen in 
 Ccelo, Light in Heaven. The record of thy life 
 shows how appropriate has been this epithet, and 
 posterity will ratify a judgment which has been pro- 
 nounced by a grateful and loving people. The 
 service which thou hast rendered to science is great; 
 that which thou hast rendered to human-kind is in- 
 comparably greater. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 LIGHT AND LIBERTY IN THE STUDY OF SCIENCE. 
 
 THE epoch in which we live has received various 
 appellations. By some it has been denominated 
 the Age of Steel, by others the Age of Electricity, 
 and by others still, the Age of Aluminum. There 
 is a reason for each of these different designations, 
 but the Age of Science seems to be with the majority 
 a more favored and a more appropriate name. For 
 there can be no doubt that, as compared with any 
 previous period of the world's history, our age is 
 specially remarkable for the attention which it has 
 given to the natural and physical sciences, and for 
 the marvelous results which have followed their 
 cultivation. 
 
 And in some mysterious way science is supposed 
 by many to have brought with it a certain access of 
 light and liberty of thought that could have come 
 from no other source. But this light and liberty 
 and science, we are told, are only for those who 
 have brushed aside the superstitions that faith im- 
 poses, and who have broken loose from the fetters 
 that the Church had forged. They are not for the 
 Christian believer, and least of all for consistent 
 
 80 
 
THE STUDT OF SCIENCE. 8l 
 
 Catholics. The light that illumines the votary of 
 science is not for the Romanist; the liberty about 
 which so much is said, he knows not of; the science 
 that is to revolutionize the world, he may not 
 touch. 
 
 So we are assured by the adepts in modern 
 science, by those who are regarded as the leaders of 
 modern thought, by those especially who boast of 
 enjoying all the privileges and prerogatives guaran- 
 teed those who have submitted themselves unreserv- 
 edly to the guidance and tutelage of science as 
 popularly understood. 
 
 No one can deny that during the present century, 
 and particularly during the past few decades, won- 
 derful progress has been made in every department 
 of science. The sciences of observation and experi- 
 ment have received an impetus they never knew 
 before. Light has been thrown on subjects that 
 were previously enveloped in Cimmerian darkness; 
 questions have been answered that have puzzled 
 philosophers since the time of Aristotle; mysteries 
 have been cleared up that even by the wisest of men 
 were wont to be considered as insoluble. 
 
 Dame Nature, who has long been as mute as the 
 sphinx about many important problems, has at last 
 yielded to the importunities of her questioners and 
 vouchsafed the information desired. The microscope 
 has revealed a new world that our forefathers never 
 dreamed of — "the world of the infinitely little." 
 The telescope has shown us that the earth and the 
 
82 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 solar system are but a speck in a vast universe which 
 apparently knows no limits. 
 
 A few years ago the stars of heaven were num- 
 bered only by thousands. The great refractors of 
 Washington, Pulkowa, and Mount Hamilton have 
 increased the number from thousands to millions. 
 And now, as a final triumph of science, the photo- 
 graphic camera, in conjunction with the telescope, 
 has demonstrated the existence of untold myriads 
 of stars that are invisible with even the highest 
 powers of the colossal Lick instrument, and has, 
 according to Professor Barnard, placed the number 
 of stars in the Milky Way alone that can be fixed 
 on the sensitized plate at the astounding number of 
 five hundred million or more. Inconceivable as is 
 this number, it is, astronomers assert, but a small 
 fraction of the untold billions of orbs that in this 
 portion of the universe move through the fathomless 
 realms of space. For the luminous spheres whose 
 existence is revealed by the telescope and the 
 camera are insignificant in number as compared with 
 those dark and invisible bodies — extinct suns and 
 dead satellites^ that silently and according to fixed 
 laws cycle round and among their light-giving com- 
 panions. 
 
 And yet more. Great as are the triumphs of 
 celestial photography, those of spectrum analysis 
 are still greater. For if, by the telescope and the 
 camera, the number and magnitude, and the distance 
 from us, of the heavenly bodies may be estimated, 
 
THE STUDY OF SCIENCE. 83 
 
 at least partially, the spectroscope goes farther and 
 tells us of the motions of these luminaries — whether 
 they are approaching or receding from us — of their 
 relative ages, and of their chemical constitution. 
 
 Had any one announced a few decades ago, that 
 before the end of the century astronomers would be 
 able to tell the composition of the sun and stars, of 
 comets and nebulae, he would have been laughed at 
 as an idle dreamer. But what was then an impos- 
 sibility is now a demonstrated fact. We know now 
 the constitution of the sun as well, almost, as we 
 know that of the earth, and the spectra of Sirius and 
 Arcturus are as familiar to us as those of lithium 
 and hydrogen. 
 
 What has been said of the science of astronomy 
 may be iterated of other sciences — of biology, 
 geology, prehistoric archaeology, Egyptology, As- 
 syriology, history, Scriptural exegesis, and other 
 branches of knowledge. A flood of light has been 
 thrown on all of them. Instruments of a precision 
 and a delicacy that were unknown until recent years, 
 and methods of research that were never applied 
 before the present generation have put us in posses- 
 sion of facts of which our predecessors had no con- 
 ception, and have given us a power of analysis and 
 synthesis that within its own province is well-nigh 
 irresistible. 
 
 Ours is indeed an age of light, as regards the 
 inductive sciences and the higher criticism. But is 
 it true that those who profess a belief in Christ and 
 
84 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 His Church are deprived of this light? Is it true 
 that dogma and faith cannot coexist with this light? 
 Is it true that the orthodox Christian must be either 
 blind to its existence, or reject in toto the teachings 
 of revelation? No, a thousand times no. We can 
 now declare, and as emphatically as St. Clement of 
 Alexandria declared, seventeen hundred years ago: 
 "There is no faith without science, as there is no 
 science without faith." One supplements the other, 
 and they may not be separated without manifest 
 detriment to both. 
 
 Positivists would have us believe that science 
 consists simply in the study of facts and phenomena; 
 that the sole subject matter of science is that which 
 maybe apprehended by the senses; that the super- 
 sensible and matters of faith and revealed truth are 
 unknown and unknowable. 
 
 But this is not the view taken by the great think- 
 ers of the world — by Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, 
 St. Thomas and their host of followers in every age. 
 Science, according to them, is not a mere dry cata- 
 logue of facts; not a superficial inquiring into phe- 
 nomena, but a knowledge of things through their 
 causes. 
 
 Positivists take the part for the whole. They ac- 
 cept the visible and tangible, and reject the invisible 
 and rational. They limit science to what is known 
 as the experimental sciences, and exclude meta- 
 physics and revelation, as beyond and outside of the 
 purview of science. 
 
THE STUDY OF SCIENCE. 85 
 
 Such being the case, it is obvious that the pos- 
 itivist school of science, far from enjoying more 
 light, has, on the contrary, less than those who cling 
 to the faith delivered to them by the saints, and who 
 are guided by the philosophy of the Lyceum and the 
 School. 
 
 "Experimental intuitions," says Kant in his "Cri- 
 tique of Pure Reason," "separated from the concepts 
 of pure reason, are blind; the concepts of pure rea- 
 son, separated from experimental intuitions are vain 
 and hollow." Hence, says the learned Cardinal 
 Gonzalez: "Science, which deserves the name, can- 
 not prescind from induction, and induction neces- 
 sarily carries with it the metaphysicial idea of a 
 nexus between the parts of the universe. The legiti- 
 mate use of the experimental method presupposes 
 the necessity of collecting, classifying and interpret- 
 ing facts and phenomena — functions which cannot 
 be performed in a truly scientific manner except by 
 the aid of certain rational principles, or as Claude 
 Bernard puts it, 'certain directing ideas.'" 
 
 For this reason His Eminence declares that: "A 
 science which is completely separated from rational 
 principles is a science only in name and appear- 
 ance." 
 
 The proof of this statement, if proof were needed, 
 is found in the fact that the great scientists of the 
 world, in every age, have been men who did not 
 hesitate to acknowledge their indebtedness as scien- 
 tists to the principles of religion and metaphysics. 
 
86 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 Copernicus, Galileo, Descartes, Kepler, Pascal, Lin- 
 naeus, Newton, Mersenne, Leibnitz, Cuvier, Liebig, 
 Johann Miiller, Schwann, Leverrier, Faraday, Amp- 
 ere, Cauchy, Secchi, Barrande, were all men of deep 
 faith, as well as men of profound science. And what 
 is said of those who are no more can also be affirmed 
 of the living. 
 
 The most eminent representatives of science to- 
 day — we do not mean theorists, but those who have 
 accomplished most for the advancement of natural 
 knowledge, and whom the future will regard as the 
 leaders in their respective branches of research — 
 are believers in God, and men of deep religious 
 convictions. 
 
 For many years past two men have been prom- 
 inently before the world as the representatives of 
 modern science. One of them is the famous Louis 
 Pasteur ' — the hero of a thousand victories, the con- 
 queror of the plague, the benefactor of his race, a 
 consistent, loyal, zealous son of the Church Catholic. 
 The other is Ernst Hseckel — the atheistic professor 
 of Germany, the apostle of monism, the one who 
 preaches that the mission of science is to banish 
 from the minds of men the idea of God and substi- 
 tute in its place the concept of a material atom, of 
 eternal, self-existent matter and force. 
 
 "If we do not accept the hypothesis of spontan- 
 eous generation," says Hseckel, "then we must have 
 recourse to the miracle of a supernatural creation," 
 
 'Died Sept. 28, 1895. 
 
THE STUDY OF SCIENCE. 87 
 
 and only those who "renounce their own reason," 
 can believe in a First Cause. 
 
 Pasteur not only declares, but has demonstrated 
 beyond cavil or question, that "spontaneous genera- 
 tion is a chimera." And, far from seeing any re- 
 nunciation of his reason in admitting the existence 
 of a First Cause, his whole life, in word and deed, 
 proclaims his belief not only in the existence of God 
 and his providence, but also in those "eternal veri- 
 ties" — we use his own words — which give a meaning 
 to the laws of nature, and which illumine with a 
 light divine many dark mysteries of the natural order 
 that otherwise would be forever beyond our ken and 
 apprehension. 
 
 What we have said of Pasteur we might repeat 
 of his distinguished collaborator and coreligionist. 
 Van Beneden.' With the exception of Pasteur, he 
 has perhaps achieved more of permanent scientific 
 value in the domain of natural science, notably biol- 
 ogy and geology, than any man living. And, far 
 from finding that his faith enshrouds him in dark- 
 ness, he would be the first to confess that in many 
 of the difficult problems that have been presented to 
 him for solution, his faith was as a beacon that guided 
 him from afar; a pillar of fire that went before 
 him in the gloom. 
 
 It is not true, then, that those who hold to the 
 traditional doctrines of Christianity are deprived of 
 light, which only unbelievers enjoy, and that they 
 
 'Died January 8, 1894. 
 
88 SCrBNCB AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 are debarred from advantages in the pursuit of sci- 
 ence, which they wonld possess if they were to 
 abjure their faith. On the contrary, to the Christian 
 and the Catholic scientist, especially, may be applied 
 the words of our Divine Master, " He that doeth 
 truth cometh to light." 
 
 But what of the second part of our question? 
 Have Catholics the same liberty of thought as those 
 who profess no religious beliefs, and are afifiliatcd to 
 no religious body? Or are they not rather ham- 
 pered by dogmatic restrictions that make the free 
 exercise of their intellect impossible, and are they 
 not therefore barred, if consistent believers in the 
 tenets of their Church, from certain researches in sci- 
 ence which they could pursue ad libitum by forswear- 
 ing their faith? Let us see. These questions are 
 often asked, and will bear more than a superficial 
 examination. 
 
 From a Catholic point of view, it is scarcely nec- 
 essary to observe that the questions propounded are 
 absurd. And this for the simple reason that to the 
 Catholic, liberty and truth are practically synony- 
 mous. To him the study of science is the pursuit of 
 truth, and the Church, far from preventing such 
 pursuit, aids and encourages it. The truths of 
 science, as every one who knows his catechism is 
 aware, are one with the truths of faith. No con- 
 tradiction, therefore, much less antagonism, is pos- 
 sible. Faith and dogma, consequently, far from 
 hampering the scientist in his investigations, in- 
 
THE STUDY OF SCIENCE. 89 
 
 crease the measure of his liberty by extending the 
 boundaries of truth. 
 
 But these a priori reasons, which in themselves 
 are indisputable, are not the only ones we have for 
 believing in the absolute liberty of thought enjoyed 
 by the Catholic scientist. The history of science 
 leaves us in no doubt about the matter. And more 
 conclusive still is the testimony of those who have 
 excelled in science, and who are specially competent 
 to bear witness in the case. Far from feeling tram- 
 meled in their researches, they assure us that they 
 enjoy the utmost freedom, and far from fearing that 
 their studies might lead to discoveries contrary to 
 revelation, they assert that all scientific truths must 
 surely and necessarily illustrate and corroborate the 
 truths of faith. 
 
 It will suffice here to quote the words of the illus- 
 trious Baron Cauchy, the profound scholar, the de- 
 voted son of the Church, and the most eminent 
 mathematician of his age. In an address to his stu- 
 dents he says to them: "Cultivate with ardor the 
 abstract and the natural sciences; decompose mat- 
 ter; unveil to our surprised vision the wonders of 
 nature, and explore, if possible, all the parts of the 
 universe. Search the anrials of nations and the his- 
 tories of ancient peoples* consult the venerable 
 monuments of past ages found in every part of the 
 globe. Far from being alarmed at such investiga- 
 tions, I should provoke them without ceasing. I 
 should encourage them by my own efforts as well as 
 
90 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 by my good wishes. I should not fear that truth 
 might prove to be in contradiction with itself, nor 
 that the facts and documents collected by you would 
 ever be otherwise than in perfect accord with our 
 Sacred Books." 
 
 Every one is aware of the perfect liberty of 
 thought always enjoyed by the children of the 
 Church in the discussion of sundry much contro- 
 verted questions of Genesis and other parts of the 
 Old Testament. Most of these questions are rather 
 questions of science than of faith and morals, and as 
 such are left to the disputation of scientists and the- 
 ologians. The various views entertained by the 
 Greek and Latin Doctors regarding questions of cos- 
 mogony and Scriptural chronology are familiar to all 
 students of science and religion. That they experi- 
 enced the most perfect intellectual freedom is at- 
 tested by both their words and works. The same 
 mental freedom was proclaimed and enjoyed by the 
 Schoolmen, and the same liberty of thought is the 
 prerogative of every Catholic of our own day as 
 well. 
 
 St. Thomas and St. Augustine assert the author- 
 ity of science and reason in their own sphere, even as 
 against the apparently contradictory declarations of 
 Scripture. The illustrioiis Bishop of Hippo tells us 
 explicitly that "if to manifest certain reason be ob- 
 jected an authority of Scripture, he does not under- 
 stand who doth so, and does not object to the truth, 
 the real sense of Scripture to which he can not at- 
 
THE STUDY OF SCIENCE. 9I 
 
 tain, but his own." And St. Thomas warns us in the 
 most positive manner to beware of contradicting 
 certain results attained experimentally by men of 
 science, " lest, on the one hand, we should close to 
 them the way of salvation, and, on the other, be 
 found to have canonized for Scripture our own 
 whimsies." 
 
 But let us take a crucial test of the liberty of 
 thought enjoyed by Catholics in matters of science. 
 We have it at hand in the all-absorbing question of 
 organic evolution, about which so much is said and 
 written, but which is so ill understood in its bearing 
 on the teachings of faith. There are many who be- 
 lieve that the immediate specific creation by God of 
 all forms of plant and animal life is explicitly taught 
 by Scripture, and is, consequently, an article of faith 
 that may not be questioned, much less impugned. 
 To those who are so minded, evolution is nothing 
 short of rank heresy. It is a question that is offen- 
 sive to pious ears, and one that no believer in the 
 integrity of the Scriptures and of Church dogma 
 should touch. 
 
 There are others, however — learned scientists, 
 distinguished theologians, and loyal sons of the 
 Church — who take quite the opposite view. They 
 know that the Church has not pronounced on the 
 subject, and they are satisfied that the words of 
 Genesis cannot be construed so as clearly and for- 
 mally to declare the doctrine of specific and imme- 
 diate creation. 
 
92 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 On the contrary, to them the words of the Sacred 
 Text seem to indicate, if not to favor, creation by 
 secondary causes, or evolution. And when one 
 comes to examine the point carefully, one is satisfied 
 that no less an authority than St. Augustine has laid 
 down principles that will permit us to accept the 
 theistic doctrine of evolution as now taught. 
 
 Of course, it is quite evident that St. Augustine 
 had no idea of evolution in the form in which it is 
 held to-day, but the principles which he maintained 
 are quite consistent with the teachings of those evo- 
 lutionists who conserve the creative act of God. He 
 distinguished clearly between creation, properly so 
 called — opus creationis — and the formation of crea- 
 tures — opus formationis — from pre-existing matter. 
 
 In the first case we have direct and immediate 
 creation; in the second, development, or evolution 
 from primitive germs, by the operation of natural 
 forces. To the laws which determine the develop- 
 ment from these germs of the various forms of plant 
 and animal life, the saint gives the name "causal 
 reasons." Indeed, the saint's intuitive perception of 
 the necessary reign of law in both the inorganic 
 and organic worlds is one of the most distinguish- 
 ing characteristics of his genius. Like the great Sta- 
 girite philosopher, he seemed by sheer force and 
 lucidity of intellect to forestall many of the most 
 important conclusions of modern experimental sci- 
 ence. 
 
 All reasonable minds must be at one as to the 
 
THE STUDT OF SCIENCE. 93 
 
 fact of creation. It is one of the first postulates of 
 sound philosophy. " In the beginning God created 
 heaven and earth." But the manner in which God 
 created the visible universe and the various forms of 
 animate nature is past our finding out. Nothing 
 short of divine revelation can afford us positive 
 knowledge regarding the matter — something which 
 we can safely assume will never be vouchsafed us. 
 
 All that, as Catholics, we are obliged to believe, 
 in respect of the creation of the earth and of the 
 creatures that inhabit it, is : first, that God created 
 matter and force; and secondly, that he created the 
 soul of man. 
 
 Whether the various forms of animate and inani- 
 mate nature were created directly, or by the opera- 
 tion of secondary causes, whether God called them 
 jnto being by an immediate act of creative power, 
 or by a slow process of evolution — by the operation 
 of the causales rationes of St. Augustine — we know 
 not. 
 
 The Scripture is silent on this point, and the 
 Church has defined nothing beyond what is con- 
 tained in the first article of the creed: " I believe 
 in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and 
 earth." 
 
 That there is not in this theistic conception of 
 evolution anything contrary to Catholic dogma fol- 
 lows, as a necessary corollary, from fundamental 
 principles of theology. 
 
 Whether the theory of evolution be true or not 
 
94 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 is quite another question. With this we have now 
 nothing to do. From present indications, it is most 
 probable that it will never get beyond the more or 
 less theoretical stage which it now occupies. To 
 many it appears to be the more probable theory. 
 And to many also it seems to afford a more exalted 
 notion of the power and wisdom of the Creator, 
 than the view of specific and successive creations 
 that has so long obtained. 
 
 But so far as the Church is concerned, we are at 
 perfect liberty to elect whichever theory appeals to 
 our minds as the more probable and the more con- 
 formable to reason. As a matter of fact, some of 
 the ablest scientists and theologians of the Church 
 to-day give a decided preference to the theory of 
 organic evolution, and do not hesitate to defend it 
 whenever occasion offers. 
 
 M. Albert Gaudry, the distinguished palaeontolo- 
 gist and member of the French Institute, speaking 
 of evolution, says it is the "hypothesis which I prefer, 
 but whether it be adopted or not, it appears certain 
 that there has been a plan." At the conclusion of 
 the introduction to his profound work, "Les En- 
 chainements du Monde Animal," in which he advo- 
 cates the theory of evolution, he declares : " How 
 little scever we may be, it is a pleasure and even a 
 duty, too, for us to study nature, because nature is a 
 pure mirror in which is reflected the Divine Beauty." 
 
 The illustrious Belgian geologist and devout 
 Catholic, d'Omalius d'Halloy, referring to the same 
 
THE STUDY OF SCIENCE. 95 
 
 subject, expresses himself as follows: "I find it 
 difficult to believe that the Almighty Being whom I 
 consider as the author of nature, has at divers 
 epochs destroyed all living beings in order to give 
 Himself the pleasure of creating new ones which, 
 although formed on the same general plan, present 
 successive differences, while tending toward the 
 forms now existing." 
 
 To show on the other hand, how far evolution is 
 from being anything more than a theory, it will suf- 
 fice to state that an eminent French scientist has 
 challenged any one to point to a single instance of 
 the transformation of species in the animal kingdom, 
 and as a mark of his good faith has declared his 
 readiness to bring before the Academy of Sciences 
 any such result, by whomsoever discovered, in order 
 to give as great publicity as possible to the fact, and 
 to proclaim before the world the triumph of the 
 author. As yet, however, the challenge has not 
 been accepted. The test is as difficult to meet now 
 as it was when proposed by the illustrious Scotch 
 geologist, Hugh Miller, more than a third of a century 
 ago. 
 
 There can, therefore, be no doubt about the fact 
 that the Catholic scientist enjoys the fullest liberty 
 in the study and discussion of scientific questions, 
 as there can be no doubt that faith and Christian 
 philosophy are to him a source of illumination that 
 agnostics and atheists do not and can not possess. 
 But liberty is not license. The liberty which the 
 
96 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 positivist and the unbeliever boast ot is what St. 
 Augustine calls the "liberty of ruin," a liberty that 
 always degenerates into intellectual and moral 
 slavery. The Church never represses liberty of 
 thought, nor does she ever condemn freedom of 
 discussion. She does, however, condemn what Leo 
 XIII. has aptly termed "madness of opinions." 
 
 "It is, therefore," declares the Holy Father in 
 his celebrated encyclical "Immortale Dei," "simply a 
 calumny to say that the Church rejects promiscuously 
 the fruits of the spirit of our times. She condemns 
 madness of opinions; she condemns wicked designs 
 of discord, and especially that habit of mind in 
 which are seen the beginnings of a voluntary depart- 
 ure from God; but since all that is true must come 
 from God, whatever of truth may be attained by in- 
 vestigation the Church recognizes as a kind of foot- 
 print of the Divine Intellect. And since there is in 
 nature no truth which can detract from the faith due 
 to revelation, but rather much to confirm that faith, 
 and since every discovery of truth may incite either 
 to knowing or praising God, whatever increase the 
 domain of science may receive will always be grati- 
 fying and pleasing to the Church; and she will, 
 according to her custom, foster and advance the 
 branches that unfold a knowledge of nature, as she 
 fosters other branches of learning. In these studies 
 of nature the Church does not oppose any new dis- 
 covery; she makes no opposition to the seeking of 
 the adornments and comforts of life; in fact, an 
 
THE STUDT OF SCIENCE. 97 
 
 enemy to sloth and idleness, she ardently desires 
 that the minds of men be exercised and cultivated 
 so as to bring forth abundant fruits; she supplies 
 incentives to every kind of arts and works; and 
 directing by her divine efficacy all these things to 
 what is honorable and salutary, she strives to pre- 
 vent the intelligence and industry of man from 
 turning him away from God and heavenly good 
 things." 
 
 It is important for us to remember, when we hear 
 infidel scientists prating about light and mental lib- 
 erty being their sole heritage, that we live in an age 
 of fantastical speculation and intellectual anarchy; 
 in an age which mistakes idle and changing hypothe- 
 ses for veritable science; in an age which ignores 
 God, the Lord of Science. 
 
 With truth, therefore, does the distinguished 
 Catholic savant, the Marquis de Nadaillac, affirm 
 that "In the troubled state of modern society, in the 
 midst of the disorder of ideas of which we are the 
 sorrowful witnesses, science has become more dog- 
 matic and more imperious than ever was religion. 
 It counts by thousands its adepts who speak with 
 emphasis of modern science, without knowing the 
 first word about it. I mistake; they have been told 
 that modern science is the negation of creation, the 
 denial of the Creator. God belongs to the old 
 regime; the idea of his justice weighs upon our en- 
 ervated consciences. They accept without reflection 
 and applaud without reserve everything which seems 
 
98 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 to warrant their regarding His action as an unproved 
 hypothesis." 
 
 But let us not be disturbed by the wild talk and 
 extravagant theories that are now the vogue. We 
 need not the feeble light of the glow-worm when we 
 are basking in the sunshine of Truth. We desire 
 not the "liberty of ruin," the license of the atheist 
 and the anarchist, so long as we are in the enjoyment 
 of the liberty secured us by Holy Church — the lib- 
 erty of the sons of God. 
 
 No, we repeat. Catholics are not deprived of lib- 
 erty of thought in anything that can be interpreted 
 as a proper subject for scientific investigation, or for 
 the legitimate exercise of their reason. "Do not," 
 exclaims the eloquent Pere Monsabre, in one of his 
 conferences on theological science, "talk, like the 
 ignorant, of the enslavement of reason. Without 
 reason, theology would not exist, for it is nothing 
 else than the application of the logical faculties — 
 comparative and methodical — to revealed principles. 
 Theology bears reason with it to the throne which 
 it occupies on the highest elevation of the scientific 
 world." 
 
 Whatever may be the attitude of certain scien- 
 tists toward the Church, the relations of the scien- 
 ces of faith with those of reason cannot be other 
 than harmonious. And it is this harmony which 
 springs from the very nature of the relation of 
 science and faith that is the surest evidence of that 
 light and liberty of thought and research which 
 
THE STUDY OF SCIENCE. 99 
 
 every Catholic feels is a portion of his Christian 
 heritage. 
 
 We may then confidently look forward to a syn- 
 thesis of all the sciences in the scheme of faith. 
 Such must be the result of the legitimate develop- 
 ment of science, and of a better understanding of 
 its relations to revealed truth. It is a consummation 
 that has long and earnestly been wished, and which 
 may be nearer realization than even the most san- 
 guine of us would dare to imagine. 
 
 The illustrious Schlegel, who was led by science 
 to the fold of truth, said at the beginning of the cen- 
 tury that: "The reunion in faith of all the sciences, is, 
 in the knowledge of the invisible, a new career 
 which shall be more important in its results than 
 was, three hundred years ago, the discovery of an- 
 other hemisphere; than was the discovery of the 
 true theory of astronomy, or than ever was any other 
 discovery whatsoever." 
 
 When this happy day shall arrive the Church 
 will be able to carry on her work under ideal con- 
 ditions, and the apparent antagonism between sci- 
 ence and religion will be no more. This will mark 
 a happy epoch in the history of our race — an era of 
 light and liberty in the study of all sciences, human 
 and divine. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLICS AND SCIENTIFIC FREEDOM. 
 
 OURS is pre-eminently an age of intellectual 
 activity. And nowhere is this activity more 
 marked than in the domain of certain of the induc- 
 tive sciences, especially the newer sciences of biol- 
 ogy, geology, anthropology, and prehistoric archae- 
 ology. During the last few decades, particularly, 
 these branches of knowledge have been invested 
 with a human interest that is not possessed by any 
 of the other natural sciences. The reason is obvious. 
 Their conclusions have a more direct bearing on the 
 traditional teachings of Christianity, whilst their 
 tendencies are supposed, by many at least, to be the 
 reverse of those of faith and dogma. More than 
 this; matters have come to such a pass in some 
 quarters, that we are gravely informed that we must 
 now choose as our guide either science or the 
 Church. We cannot, we are told, follow the teach- 
 ings of both, because, we are assured, they are hope- 
 lessly irreconcilable. If we still cling to the Church 
 and profess belief in her dogmas; if we accept the 
 Bible as a divinely inspired record, we must, to be 
 consistent, reject the conclusions of science. But if 
 
SCIENTIFIC FREEDOM. lOI 
 
 we elect science as our teacher, then we must, com- 
 pletely and forever, sever our connection with the 
 Church of our fathers, and cast aside, as false and 
 superstitious, the beliefs of our earlier years, beliefs 
 too, that for so many long centuries have been the 
 solace and the happiness of the major portion of 
 civilized humanity. We are told, furthermore, that, 
 as a consequence of the antagonism existing between 
 the teachings of science and the doctrines of the 
 Church, all loyal members of the different Christian 
 communions, especially those who are affiliated to 
 the oldest and most numerous Christian body — the 
 Catholic Church- — are ipso facto debarred from the 
 enjoyment of that intellectual freedom, which we 
 are wont to believe is one of the inalienable rights 
 of man. Christian believers who would devote 
 themselves to the pursuit of science are, it is averred, 
 necessarily so hampered by Scriptural restrictions 
 and forms of dogma, that they are incapable of 
 bringing to the study of nature that unbiased con 
 dition of mind that is so essential to the investiga- 
 tor, and without which all his conclusions are colored 
 and warped. In a word, believers in dogma, espe- 
 cially Catholic dogma, do not, and cannot, enjoy 
 that freedom of thought, which is the privilege of 
 those who have rejected all forms of religious teach- 
 ing, and who have submitted themselves wholly and 
 unreservedly to the guidance of science. 
 
 This is a question that has at all times attracted 
 attention, but at no period of the world's history 
 
102 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 more than at present. It will, therefore, bear an 
 examination, and if it shall appear that the impres- 
 sion now so prevalent, is false and unfounded, it 
 will necessitate a revision of views that have been 
 so long current regarding the attitude of science 
 toward religious beliefs. And if it shall be evinced 
 that the Catholic, who is usually reputed to be the 
 most enthralled by faith and dogma, is not only 
 entirely unfettered, but, on the contrary, enjoys the 
 highest degree of intellectual freedom, then we may 
 safely assume that all Christian communicants enjoy 
 the same liberty of thought, so far as revealed truth 
 is concerned, and that the intellectual thraldom we 
 hear so much of is the veriest chimera. 
 
 I purpose, then, in this chapter briefly to consider 
 the attitude of the Church toward the pursuit of sci- 
 ence, as evidenced by the ordinary magisterium of 
 the Pontiffs and Doctors of the Church, and by the 
 declarations and labors of those of her children who 
 have devoted their lives to the study of nature, and 
 whose splendid achievements in every department of 
 science constitute a most valuable portion of the un- 
 dying patrimony of our race. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to premise that all ortho- 
 dox Christians deny not only the existence, but even 
 the possibility of any conflict between science and 
 revelation. It is impossible that revealed and dem- 
 onstrated truths should not agree, because it is 
 impossible that God should contradict Himself. 
 All truths of the natural, as well as of the supernat- 
 
SCIENTIFIC FREEDOM. 103 
 
 ural, order proceed from Him, and a conflict, there- 
 fore, can never be more than apparent. It may not 
 always be possible at a given time to show their 
 agreement, but it can never be demonstrated that 
 they are contradictory. For it may happen, and 
 occasionally does happen, that the conclusions of 
 science appear to contravene certain articles of faith, 
 when in reality the apparent discord is due entirely 
 to misapprehension of the teachings of faith, or to a 
 misinterpretation of the facts of nature. In such 
 cases the difficulty is but temporary, and is sure to 
 disappear with a better understanding of the facts 
 involved. The dicta, then, that God cannot con- 
 tradict Himself; that science must bear the same 
 testimony as revelation; that one must corroborate 
 the other; that they both must speak the same truths, 
 although in different tongues; that there can never 
 be more than apparent antagonism, are, for the 
 Catholic, as so many truisms that no more require 
 demonstration than the axioms of mathematics. St. 
 Augustine forcibly expresses this idea in a few words 
 when he declares that "every argument, however 
 specious it may be, adduced against the authority of 
 Scripture, deceives by the semblance of truth, for 
 true it cannot be." 
 
 In matters pertaining to faith and morals, the 
 Church has never spoken with a faltering or uncer- 
 tain voice, but regarding questions of philosophy 
 and science that have no direct bearing on dogma, 
 she has always permitted the greatest liberty of 
 
104 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 thought and freedom of discussion. We have most 
 striking instances of this in the works of the early 
 Fathers and Doctors regarding questions that long 
 ages ago, contrary to what is often thought, were 
 the occasion of as much study and controversy as 
 they are now in the closing decade of the nineteenth 
 century. Among these much-mooted questions were 
 those that referred to the Mosaic cosmogony, the 
 Noachian Deluge, the chronology of the Bible, and 
 the age of the human race. 
 
 According to the allegorical system of the Alex- 
 andrine School, of which Origen, Athanasius, and 
 Clement of Alexandria were the most distinguished 
 exponents, all things were created simultaneously, 
 by the fiat of Omnipotence, and the days of creation 
 mentioned in Genesis are to be taken not in a literal, 
 but in a metaphorical sense. The Syrian School, 
 represented by St. Ephrem and St. John Chrysos- 
 tom, held the very opposite view. They stanchly 
 advocated the literal interpretation of Genesis, and 
 maintained that the Genesiac days were days of 
 twenty-four hours each. The celebrated Greek Doc- 
 tors, St. Gregory Nazianzen, St. Basil, and his 
 brother, St. Gregory of Nyssa, who were the chief 
 representatives of what is often called the Cappado- 
 cian School, because they were from Cappadocia, 
 professed what was in reality a sort of synthesis of 
 the teaching of the Alexandrine and Syrian Schools. 
 They taught that matter was first created in its 
 primal, elementary condition, and that it was after- 
 
SCIENTTFIC FREEDOM. 105 
 
 ward, during the six days, which were understood 
 in a literal sense, fashioned into various forms as re- 
 corded in Genesis. This opinion was subsequently 
 adopted by the great Latin Doctors, St. Ambrose 
 and Gregory the Great. 
 
 What will surprise those who are wont to regard 
 all great scientific conceptions as being of modern 
 date is the fact that we find in the "Hexaemeron" of 
 St. Gregory of Nyssa the germs of the celebrated 
 nebular hypothesis of Laplace. Indeeed, the whole 
 of his great work on Genesis is based on the truth 
 of this assumption. But the masterly work of the 
 renowned Latin Doctor, St. Augustine, on the days of 
 creation, "De Genesi ad Litteram," is by far the most 
 complete and comprehensive treatise on the subject 
 that the early Church has given us. He admits the 
 simultaneous creation of the Alexandrians, but re- 
 pudiates the Syrian and Cappadocian interpretation 
 of the six days. Instead of days he demands inde- 
 terminate intervals of time — volumnia sceculonim. 
 His interpretation is essentially the same as that 
 given by modern exegesis, of which he may justly 
 be regarded as the prophet and precursor. A knowl- 
 edge of geology and astronomj', as now understood, 
 would have furnished him with a key to many diffi- 
 culties that in his day were insuperable, because of 
 the impossibility of arriving at correct notions of 
 cosmogony. He was cognizant of what was lack- 
 ing to complete his view of the work of creation, 
 and was willing to leave to others, and to the future. 
 
lo6 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 the development of the ideas to which he had given 
 twenty-five of the best years of his life. 
 
 The diversity of views entertained by the various 
 schools and authorities just named, regarding the 
 interpretation of the Mosaic days of creation, ad- 
 mirably illustrates the liberty of thought which the 
 Church has always permitted her children in matters 
 not connected with faith and morals. The same 
 freedom of thought and discussion has likewise been 
 allowed regarding the Noachian deluge, the chro- 
 nology of the Bible, the age of the human race, 
 and other similar questions, which come within the 
 purview of profane science rather than that of faith 
 or revealed truth. 
 
 And the illustrious Fathers and Doctors just 
 named not only show by their writings that they en- 
 joyed full liberty of thought in all questions of sci- 
 ence, but they tell us so in words that cannot be 
 misunderstood. The Angel of the Schools, St. 
 Thomas Aquinas, indicates the spirit which should 
 animate all who treat such debatable questions as 
 those just mentioned. "As," he says, "Holy writ 
 may be explained in many ways, no one should 
 cling so tenaciously to any particular explanation as 
 to venture to maintain it, when, by any conclusive 
 argument — certa ratmie — it is evident that what one 
 thought to be the sense of Scripture is false." In 
 matters of science, then, we must trust to reason, 
 observation and experiment, and demand proofs for 
 all that is proposed for our acceptance. In the Ian- 
 
SCIENTIFIC FREEDOM. 107 
 
 guage of the great Bishop of Hippo, we must 
 always be on our guard against "the seductive 
 loquacity of a false philosophy, and the timid su- 
 perstition of a false religion;" ' against what the 
 great Apostle of the Gentiles calls "loftiness of 
 words" and "vain deceit," and be ever prepared to 
 exhibit a reasonable assent to the dictates of re- 
 ligion and the dogmas of the Church that commands 
 our allegiance. 
 
 The teachings of Popes and Councils have been 
 in perfect accord with those of Fathers and Doctors. 
 The words of the Council of the Vatican, to go no 
 further, are so explicit on this point as to need no 
 commentary. "The Church," it declares, "does 
 not forbid the human sciences to make use of, each 
 in its own domain, their own principles and meth- 
 ods."^ In his admirable encyclical, "/Eterni Patris," 
 our Holy Father, Leo XHL, makes the same state- 
 ment in almost identical terms. " In those points 
 of doctrine," writes the illustrious Pontiff, "which 
 the human intelligence is able to apprehend by its 
 natural powers, it is right that philosophy should be 
 left to its own methods, and principles, and arguments, 
 provided, however, that it do not audaciously withdraw 
 itself from divine authority." ^ In his encyclical on 
 
 ' Neque falsae philosophise loquacitate seducamur, neque 
 falsae religionis superstitione terreamur. 
 
 ^ Nee sane ipsa vetat hujusmodi disciplinse in suo quseque 
 ambitu propriis utantur principiis et propria methoda. 
 
 *In iis autem doctrinarum capitibus quae percipere humana 
 intelligentia naturaliter potest, aequum plane est, sua methoda, 
 suisque principiis et argumentis uti philosophiam ; non ita 
 tamen, ut auctoritati divine sese audacter subtrahere videatur. 
 
lo8 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 " Human Liberty " the same enlightened head of 
 the Church observes that, "It is not to be forgotten 
 that there is an immense field for the free exercise 
 of the activity and of the minds of men in those 
 things, namely, which have no necessary relation to 
 the teachings of faith and Christian morals, or con- 
 cerning which the Church, without using her au- 
 thority, leaves the judgment of the learned entire 
 and free."' Piux IX., Benedict XIV., and other 
 Popes, whom it were easy to quote, if necessary, 
 safeguard the liberty of thought of the children of 
 the faith, in language equally clear and decisive. 
 
 But the Roman Pontiffs are not satisfied with 
 words. They show by their actions, by the encour- 
 agement they have given men of science in their 
 researches, that they not only permit, but favor the 
 fullest exercise of freedom of thought and inquiry. 
 And what is more, they have encouraged this liberty 
 of thought and investigation in matters which the 
 timid and ill-informed have considered it inexpedient 
 and injudicious to touch, and in matters, too, which 
 those not in sympathy with the Church, would have 
 us believe, she is afraid to examine, or have ex- 
 amined by others. A few instances — many similar 
 ones might be adduced — will illustrate the truth of 
 this statement. 
 
 ' Denique praetereundum non est, immensum patere cam- 
 pum, in quo hominura exQurrere industria, seseque exercere 
 ingenia libere queant; res scilicet quae cum doctrina fidei mor- 
 umque christianarum non habent necessariam cognationem, 
 vel dequibus Ecclesia, nulla adhibita sua auctoritate, judicium 
 eruditorum relinquunt integrum ac liberum. 
 
SCIENTIFIC FREEDOM. 1 09 
 
 Thus when Champollion's discovery of the Egyp- 
 tian hieroglyphics was announced in Europe, "timid 
 minds" says Cardinal Wiseman, "took alarm and 
 reprobated it as tending to lead men to dangerous 
 investigations. It was feared, apparently, that the 
 early Egyptian history thus brought to light, would 
 be employed, as that of the Chaldeans and Assyrians 
 had been in the last century, for the purpose of 
 impugning the Mosaic annals." But the then reign- 
 ing Pontiff, Leo XII, did not share such unfounded 
 fears. On the contrary, he saw that the discovery 
 would be of valuable service to religion, and invited 
 the distinguished savant to prepare a work relating 
 to the obelisks of Rome, which was printed and 
 engraved at the Pope's expense. In referring to this 
 matter in a letter to his friend. Cardinal Wiseman, 
 Champollion writes: "It is a real service which His 
 Holiness renders to science, and I shall be happy if 
 you will be good enough to place at his feet the 
 homage of my profound acknowledgment." 
 
 So, too, was it when the first discoveries were 
 made regarding Quaternary Man. The shouts of 
 triumph raised by the enemies of revelation at the 
 prospect opened up by the discovery of fossil man 
 were indeed calculated to inspire apprehension and 
 distrust in the minds of those who had not made any 
 special study of geology and archaeology, but, who, 
 on the contrary, had been led to regard such studies 
 as having a tendency inimical to the Inspired Record. 
 Pius IX., however, like his predecessor, Leo XII., 
 
no SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 showed that far from endangering the teachings of 
 faith, such researches would rather tend to illustrate 
 and corroborate them. This he did in a signal man- 
 ner by his patronage of the eminent archaeologist, 
 Michele de Rossi, during his exhaustive investiga- 
 tions regarding Quaternary Man in the environs of 
 Rome. 
 
 But it may be urged that the examples of the 
 Popes, in encouraging scientific research, are no indi- 
 cation and still less a guarantee of liberty of thought 
 on the part of their subjects, and cannot be so con- 
 strued. Let us see. 
 
 In 1 867 a memoir was read before the Congress of 
 Anthropology and Prehistoric Archaeology, at Paris, 
 announcing a discovery that, it was claimed, proved 
 beyond doubt the existence of Tertiary Man. The 
 discovery consisted of certain flints found at Thenay, 
 in France, which were so fashioned that their dis- 
 coverer maintained that they were unmistakably the 
 work of human hands. The members of the Con- 
 gress were amazed, and it requires much to surprise 
 a modern anthropologist or archaeologist. The dis- 
 covery was indeed so startling and so far-reaching 
 in its significance, that it seemed imperatively to 
 demand an immediate revision of all views previously 
 entertained by both orthodox Christians and men of 
 science regarding the age of our race. Biblical 
 chronology appeared to be completely disproved^ 
 and it looked as if the truth and integrity of the 
 Sacred Scriptures were jeopardized beyond all hope 
 
SCIENTIFIC FREEDOM. ill 
 
 of salvation. "At last," exclaimed infidel scien- 
 tists, "one fact, whose meaning is as obvious as it is 
 unmistakable, has been adduced, that is diametrically 
 opposed to the teaching of the Bible and theologians, 
 regarding the antiquity of man." A shout of tri- 
 umph went up from the enemies of revealed truth, 
 and the Holy Scriptures, as an inspired record, was 
 relegated to the limbo of myths and dead super- 
 stitions. 
 
 But who was the author of the memoir that cre- 
 ated such a sensation among scientific men? Who 
 was the discoverer of the flints that at once became 
 the nine days' wonder of the civilized world? He 
 was a pious French priest. He was also a learned 
 theologian, and at the same time one of the most ac- 
 complished archaeologists in Europe. But, true scien- 
 tist that he was, he was a student ot facts, and utterly 
 free from all preconceived notions regarding the 
 significance of the facts he observed. He had no 
 favorite theory to defend, nor pet hypothesis to ex- 
 ploit. He accepted the facts as he found them, and 
 was willing to let his inductions from them stand 
 the test of criticism. The facts, to his mind, con- 
 clusively proved the existence of Tertiary Man, 
 and for this reason Abbe Bourgeois was, until the 
 day of his death, Tertiary Man's most ardent and 
 consistent defender. It was subsequently shown 
 that he, together with the majority of the archaeol- 
 ogists of Europe, had misinterpreted the facts in the 
 case; that the flints he discovered were not of human 
 
112 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 manufacture, and that Tertiary Man was something 
 entirely imaginary. 
 
 This, however, matters not. During the many 
 years he devoted to his researches, which seemed to 
 many to presage the certain undermining of all 
 Scriptural authority. Abbe Burgeois was never in- 
 terfered with by his ecclesiastical superiors, and still 
 less, was any Papal influence brought to bear on him 
 to cause him to abandon his investigations, or to 
 suppress the results to which they gave rise. He 
 was always perfectly free and untrammeled, and 
 never for a day, so far as the Church was concerned, 
 did he cease to enjoy the highest degree of scientific 
 freedom. More than this, some of his strongest 
 sympathizers and most earnest collaborators, notably 
 the distinguished archaeologist. Abbe Delaunay, were 
 zealous and loyal ecclesiastics. The Catholic press 
 of Europe was freely placed at his disposition for 
 an exposition of his views, and he, everywhere and 
 on all occasions, received from his confreres in re- 
 ligion that kindly consideration to which his pro- 
 found science and earnest piety entitled him. 
 
 As for himself, he never for a moment experi- 
 enced any doubts about the ultimate bearing of his 
 discoveries on revelation. He did not, like many 
 who were less informed as to the doctrines of their 
 faith, see in his researches anything to justify one in 
 concluding that the teaching€.^f science are hostile 
 to those of the Church, or irreconcilable with the 
 declarations of Scripture. He was too good a theo- 
 
SCIENTIFIC FREEDOM. 113 
 
 logian for that. His discoveries, like many others 
 that had been made before in divers departments of 
 knowledge, might, indeed, be contrary to current 
 opinions, and apparently contradictory to certain 
 declarations of Holy Writ, but the contradiction was 
 nomore than apparent. He trusted to the future for 
 light, and to further and more extended investiga- 
 tion to clear up difficulties that for the moment were 
 insoluble. And has not the sequel justified the wis- 
 dom of his attitude in the premises, and is not his 
 example worthy of imitation by all true votaries of 
 science, and by all advocates of revealed religion as 
 well? 
 
 But, startling as was the announcement made by 
 the Abb6 Bourgeois, it was not more so than the 
 theory of Preadamites, a conjectural race of men 
 which became extinct long before the creation of the 
 traditional father of the human species that was so 
 strongly championed by two other well-known 
 Churchmen — the Abbe Fabre d'Envieu and the dis- 
 tinguished oratorian. Abbe Valroger. And notwith- 
 standing that their theory was apparently contrary 
 to dogma, and subversive of Scriptural teaching, 
 these devoted sons of the Church were left com- 
 pletely undisturbed by ecclesiastical authority. Far 
 from being the victims of the thunderbolts of the 
 Vatican and the persecutions of the inquisition, they 
 continued, to the end of their lives, to enjoy the 
 fullest measure of liberty of thought and freedom of 
 expression. 
 
114 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 What has already been said should convince any 
 unbiased mind that Catholics do, of a truth, enjoy 
 all the scientific freedom in every department of 
 knowledge that the human mind can demand. But, 
 in order to clinch the argument, I shall let some of 
 most distinguished representatives of modern scien- 
 tific and philosophic thought testify for themselves, 
 as well as for their brethren in the faith. 
 
 The illustrious French chemist, M. J. B. Dumas, 
 perpetual secretary of the French Academy of Sci- 
 ences, declares in one of his admirable Eloges that 
 "Faith does not kill science, and science kills faith 
 still less." 
 
 Rosellini, the learned collaborator of Champol- 
 lion, in referring to those who were raising an outcry 
 against the discovery of the distinguished French- 
 man, truthfully observes that "This truth is founded 
 on eternal bases; neither can the envy of man deface 
 it. And if men eminent for their piety and learning 
 admit the new system, what has revelation to fear 
 from it?" 
 
 Pasteur, in the beautiful discourse pronounced by 
 him on the occasion of his reception into the French 
 Academy, does not hesitate to declare that, "If we 
 were deprived of these conceptions" — the truths of 
 faith — "the sciences would lose that grandeur 
 which they draw from their secret relations with 
 the infinite verities." 
 
 Baron Cauchy, the greatest mathematician of his 
 age, who, according to one of his fellow associates 
 
SCIENTIFIC FREEDOM. 1 15 
 
 of the French Institute, possessed the combined 
 genius of Euler, Lagrange, Laplace, Gauss, and 
 Jacobi, affirms that, " It is precisely because it is 
 exact and true that the Christian religion is so 
 eminently favorable to the progress of the sciences, 
 and to the most noble faculties of our intelligence." 
 . . . "It is because it is exact and true that it pre- 
 sides at the sublime meditations of the Augustines, 
 the Descarteses, the Newtons, the Fermats, the 
 Maclaurins, the Pascals, the Linnaeuses, the Eulers, 
 the Copernicuses, the Tycho-Brahes, the Cassinis, 
 of all those great men of all ages, who in the con- 
 templation of nature and of the admirable laws 
 established by the Creator, found without ceasing 
 new motives to bless and adore the author of so 
 great marvels." . . ." I have made a profound study 
 of the human sciences, especially those that are 
 called the exact sciences, and I have more and 
 more recognized the truth of those words of Bacon, 
 'A little philosophy inclineth a man's mind to 
 atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's 
 minds about to religion.' " 
 
 The erudite historian and Orientalist, Francois 
 Lenormant, a famous son of a noble sire, writes in 
 the preface of his great work, " Histoire Ancienne 
 de I'Orient": "I am a Christian, and I proclaim it 
 loudly. But my faith is not affrighted at any of the 
 discoveries of criticism when they are true. A de- 
 voted son of the Church in all necessary things, I 
 claim with the more ardor the rights of scientific 
 
Il6 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 liberty. And from the very fact that I am a Chris- 
 tian, I regard myself as being more completely in 
 the sense and in the spirit of science than those 
 who have the misfortune not to possess the faith." 
 
 "There is not," avers Father Searle, the accom- 
 plished Paulist astronomer, "a single point in the 
 whole edifice of Catholic faith which we do not 
 undertake to rest on the rock of reasonable evidence, 
 to begin with, and to support by corroborative proofs 
 through all these eighteen centuries." 
 
 And thus I might go on with scores of similar 
 witnesses to the fact that nowhere is there greater 
 intellectual liberty than within the pale of the Cath- 
 olic Church, and that none more than her sons enjoy 
 all the rights and prerogatives of scientific freedom. 
 
 A Catholic may not, it is true, proclaim with 
 M. Duval, that "science is the elimination of the 
 supernatural in the explanation of natural things." 
 He may not endeavor, like Hseckel, the apostle of 
 Monism, to replace the Creator by abiogenesis, or 
 spontaneous generation; or hold with Biichner, that 
 "God is only another expression for our ignorance," 
 or that "every science, and especially every philos- 
 ophy that seeks reality instead of appearance, truth 
 instead of pretence, must necessarily be atheistic." 
 This is not intellectual liberty; it is intellectual 
 license, as irrational as it is unscientific and unnat- 
 ural. Haeckel and his school may, if it so please 
 them, descant on "the plastidule soul," and dilate 
 on "the potentialities of carbon"; Vogt may hold 
 
SCIENTIFIC FREEDOM. 117 
 
 that "the brain secretes thought as the liver does 
 bile," or that "all vital action is the result of the 
 molecular forces of the protoplasm that displays it;" 
 but Catholic men of science object to being forced 
 to accept such vagaries as veritable science. Some 
 one has remarked that modern science is more dog- 
 matic than religion has ever been. If by the term 
 "science" be meant the wild theories and fanciful 
 speculations of a certain class of contemporary 
 scientists, the statement is perfectly just. For it is 
 a truth, which no one conversant with the facts will 
 gainsay, that the most dogmatic people in the world 
 to-day are certain scientific theorists of the evolu- 
 tionary and atheistic schools of thought. 
 
 The mistake is that these men reject every induc- 
 tion and every proposition that does not rest on the 
 testimony of the senses. The data of metaphysics, 
 and the truths of revelation, contrary to the teach- 
 ings of sound philosophy, are proscribed as extra- 
 scientific, or anti-scientific. A first cause is excluded 
 from the domain of science, and relegated to that of 
 mysticism, because, say Littre and Spencer, a first 
 cause is unktiowable. They do not believe in the 
 existence of a personal God, because, like Lalande, 
 they are unable to see Him with their telescopes. 
 With Broussais, they deny that there is a soul, 
 because they have never detected it with their 
 scalpels. They would prove the existence of a 
 Creator by the spectroscope, as they disclose the 
 existence of certain terrestrial elements in the sun 
 
Ii8 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 and the stars. They look for the soul at the bottom 
 of their crucibles and retorts, and not finding it 
 there, gravely inform us that it is a fantastic conceit 
 that might find acceptance during the "Ages of 
 Faith," but which can have no place in this age of 
 science and criticism. 
 
 But this extravagant and irreligious teaching is 
 not new in the history of science. In 1806 the 
 French Institute counted more than eighty different 
 theories hostile to the Sacred Scriptures, which had 
 been developed in less than half a century. Not a 
 single one of them now remains. Since 1806, hun- 
 dreds, yea, thousands of other equally fanciful 
 theories have been evolved, and all of them have 
 already been consigned to oblivion. 
 
 One can then say truthfully of much of what is 
 paraded before the world as "modern science" what 
 Edgar Quinet in his "Le Genie des Religions" ob- 
 serves of the "higher criticism": "At first every- 
 thing seems to be changed by its discoveries; but 
 when you recover from the shock and really look 
 into it, you find such a medley of visionary conjecture 
 and reckless theorizing that you despair of founding 
 anything thereupon." 
 
 Not without reason, therefore, does the Apostle 
 of the Gentiles warn us not to be "led away with 
 various and strange doctrines." And foreseeing the 
 dangers to which the children of the faith will be 
 exposed, he exhorts them to "prove all things," 
 and to "hold fast that which is good." By thus 
 
SCIENTIFIC FREEDOM. 119 
 
 acting, by refusing our consent to what does not 
 approve itself to our reason, we exercise to the 
 fullest extent that liberty of thought which we have 
 never forfeited, and which the Church would be the 
 last to have us forfeit. No one, then, more than 
 the orthodox Christian, no one more than the con- 
 sistent Catholic, is in a better position to realize in 
 all their truth those beautiful words of our divine 
 Master: "And you shall know the truth, and the 
 truth shall make you free." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE STUDY OF SCIENCE IN OUR ECCLESIASTICAL 
 
 SEMINARIES.' 
 
 THE distinguishing characteristic of our age, 
 aside from the eager pursuit of the almighty 
 dollar, is the intense ardor it displays in the cultiva- 
 tion of the natural and physical sciences. In no 
 period of history has there ever been manifested 
 anything which approaches the interest which is now 
 centered in the study of the inductive sciences, and 
 often to the exclusion of other branches of know- 
 ledge which are of equal, if not of greater import- 
 ance. What the Renaissance was for art and letters, 
 the period of which we have witnessed the begin- 
 ning seems destined to become for the sciences of 
 observation and experiment. The science of the 
 earth and the science of the stars; the science of 
 animal and vegetable life; the science of matter 
 and the science of the divers forces of nature; the 
 science of the infinitely little and the science of the 
 infinitely great in the material universe — these are 
 the sciences which at the present moment are ab- 
 sorbing almost entirely the best energies of the 
 master intellects of the world. 
 
 'Read before the International Catholic Scientific Congress, 
 Brussels, September, 1894. 
 
SCIENCE IN OUR SEMINARIES. I2i 
 
 Theology and philosophy are still studied, it is 
 true; art and literature have yet their votaries as of 
 yore, but their importance, in the estimation of the 
 general public at least, is quite eclipsed by the sci- 
 ences of physics and chemistry, geology and biol- 
 ogy, astronomy and paleontology, ethnology, and 
 archaeology. And more than this. Not only are 
 theology and philosophy, art and literature, dwarfed 
 beside the newer sciences of these latter days, but 
 they are tinctured and modified by them to a degree 
 that would seem almost incredible to one who has 
 not kept abreast with the giant strides which sci- 
 ence has made, especially during the past few 
 decades. 
 
 As an illustration of the effect which science and 
 scientific theories may have on philosophy and theol- 
 ogy, as well as on literature and history, I need only 
 instance the important role at present played by the 
 theory of evolution. We have now not only a phil- 
 osophy of evolution, but evolutionary philosophies, 
 and evolutionary theologies as well. A majority 
 of our contemporary writers now assume evolution 
 as a demonstrated fact, and their works are written 
 in the light which evolution is supposed to shed on 
 every branch of knowledge, sacred and profane; and, 
 great as is the number who have already given in 
 their adhesion to the theory of evolution, the number 
 is still increasing, and at a pace which is almost 
 bewildering. The spirit of evolution is ubiquitous, 
 and its influence not only permeates, but dominates. 
 
122 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 every department of thought. But the spirit of 
 evolution is the spirit of modern science; since evo- 
 lution, as now understood, is the direct offspring of 
 modern scientific research. To see to what an extent 
 philosophy, theology, history, and literature have 
 been affected by contemporary science, and by evo- 
 lutionary teaching, one need only take up any one 
 of the countless works on these topics which have 
 appeared during the generation just ending. The 
 influence is especially conspicuous in the works of 
 non-Catholic authors, but even in the case of Catho- 
 lics, who are naturally more conservative, the effect 
 is noticeable and often striking. The Zeitgeist with 
 with which we must now reckon — and we cannot 
 realize this fact too soon — is the spirit of science, 
 the spirit of evolution, and the spirit, too, of most 
 of the scepticism, and materialism, and atheism which 
 are now so rife, and which have been engendered by 
 false views of nature, and erroneous inductions from 
 facts observed. 
 
 And this Zeitgeist — this spirit of false science, 
 this spirit of error — is, be it remembered, the great- 
 est enemy against which we have to contend. In 
 the early ages of the Church the war was against 
 paganism, and its protean errors; during the Middle 
 Ages it was against a false philosophy, and the 
 dangerous teachings of Mohammedan doctors; while 
 during the period of the great apostacy of the six- 
 teenth century, and the times immediately subse- 
 quent, the war was for the conservation of the re- 
 
SCIEJVCE IN OUR SEMmARIBS. 123 
 
 ligion of Christ against those who would impose on 
 the Church the fictions of men. In every age, from 
 the dawn of Christianity until the present time, the 
 battle fought was one of true against false religion. 
 It was a battle of the Church of God against the 
 superstitious practices of paganism, the perverse 
 doctrines of Mohammed, and the religious errors of 
 Luther and his asseclae. 
 
 Now, however, it is different. The contest is no 
 longer between religions true and false, but it is a 
 contest of religion with irreligion — a contest with 
 infidelity, agnosticism, atheism. The issue is no 
 longer one between Catholicity and Protestantism. 
 Protestanti*sm as a system of religious error is prac- 
 tically a thing of the past, so far as the Church is 
 concerned. The issue is now between Catholicity 
 on the one hand and agnosticism in its various 
 phases on the other. And this issue, let us bear in 
 mind, is not one which has arisen from theological 
 controversy, nor philosophical speculation, but one 
 which has originated in the multifarious scientific 
 discussions which have followed the investigations 
 and discoveries of modern inductive science. 
 
 Knowing, then, what our enemy is, and the nature 
 of the forces on which he relies for ultimate victory, 
 it behooves us to take measures accordingly. The 
 time of reconnoitring is past; the conflict is imminent 
 and threatens to be long and desperate. Our duty 
 is manifest. It is to arise in all haste, and to prepare 
 to defend the Christian citadel which has withstood 
 
124 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 SO many onslaughts in times past; and which, if her 
 custodians do their duty we know beforehand will 
 pass unscathed through the mighty assault now 
 impending. The battle is, as before, one against 
 the spirit of darkness, and the Lord who has prom- 
 ised protection to His Church, will not fail to come 
 to the assistance of those who invoke His name. 
 
 But although our enemy — the spirit of error — is 
 the same as that against which the soldiers of Christ 
 have been obliged to contend in every age of the 
 Church's history, the arms employed are different. 
 Of this fact, too, we must take cognizance. As it 
 would be madness in our age of -machine guns and 
 high explosives for an army to take to the field pro- 
 vided only with the old-time pike and cross-bow 
 against an enemy equipped with heavy artillery and 
 all the latest munitions of war, so, too, would it be 
 futile for the soldier of the Crucified to hope to 
 achieve victory by the use of arms and methods 
 which, although good in their day, are now no 
 longer available, and, as the methods of combat have 
 changed with the advance of military science, so, 
 too, has the basis of intellectual struggle in the re- 
 ligious and philosophical arena been shifted in order 
 to meet the exigencies of modern science, and in 
 order the more effectually to nullify the assaults of 
 agnosticism, and monism, and scientific atheism. 
 
 These statements are of universal application, but 
 apply specially to the Christian ministry, in whose 
 keeping has been placed the precious deposit of the 
 
•SCIENCE IN OUR SEMINARIES. 125 
 
 faith. In referring to this topic in his admirable 
 work, "De Sacerdote," the golden-mouthed prelate 
 of Constantinople, the illustrious St. John Chrysos- 
 tom, declares that: "We must take all pains that 
 the doctrine of Christ dwell abundantly within us. 
 For the preparations of the enemy's battle are not 
 of one form; the war is in itself various, and waged 
 by divers foes. All use not the same arms, nor con- 
 duct their assault on the same plan. He, therefore, 
 who undertakes to fight them all, must understand 
 the arts of each. He must at once be an archer and 
 a slinger, subaltern and commander, soldier on 
 horseback or on foot, equally able to fight in the 
 ship or on the bulwark. For in ordinary warfare 
 each one opposes his adversary after that manner 
 whereunto he hath been titiined; but in this conflict 
 it is far otherwise; since, should he who must gain 
 the victory be not intimately acquainted with every 
 separate art, the devil well knows how to take ad- 
 vantage of some unguarded point, and introduce his 
 despoilers to seize and tear the flock. This is not 
 the case where he knows the shepherd to be pro- 
 vided with every acquirement, and aware of his 
 deceits. It behooveth us, therefore, to be prepared 
 on every side," 
 
 Cicero declares that no one can hope to attain to 
 eminence as an orator "unless he shall have acquired 
 the knowledge of all sciences." ' The same is fre- 
 
 ^Ac mea quidem sententia, nemo poterit esse omni laude 
 cumulatus orator, nisi erit omnium rerura magnarum atque 
 artium scientiam consequutus. " De Oratore," lib. I. 
 
126 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 quently asserted of the lawyer and physician. With 
 far more truth, however, can it be said of the or- 
 dained defender of the faith, the priest of the living 
 God. He, indeed, should be versed in all science, 
 sacred and profane, and should be thoroughly fa- 
 miliar with all the wiles and artifices of his antago- 
 nist. Clement of Alexandria, that great light of the 
 Christian school of Egypt's noted capital, beauti- 
 fully illustrates this thought by a striking passage 
 in his "Stromata": "As in agriculture and in medi- 
 cine, he is considered the best educated who has ap- 
 plied to the greatest variety of sciences, useful for 
 tilling or for curing, so must we consider him most 
 properly educated who makes all things bear upon 
 the truth; who, from geometry, and music, and gram- 
 mar, and philosophy itself, gathers whatever is useful 
 for the defense of the faith; but the champion who 
 has not trained himself well will surely be despised." 
 "Varied and abundant learning," he insists, "recom- 
 mends him who proposes the great dogmas of faith 
 to the credit of his hearers, inspiring his disciples 
 with admiration and drawing them toward the 
 truth." 
 
 So much importance did Origen attach to a 
 knowledge of profane science that he taught his dis- 
 ciples physics and astronomy before he had them 
 study the Sacred Scriptures. And we all know how 
 eminent in every branch of secular learning were 
 those great lights of the Greek and Latin Churches, 
 St. Basil, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Athanasius, St. 
 
SCIENCE IN OUR SEMINARIES. 127 
 
 Gregory Nazianzen, St. John Chrysostom, St. Am- 
 brose, and St. Augustine, not to mention scores of 
 others. These illustrious Saints and Doctors, to use 
 the words of St. Gregory of Nyssa, "presented 
 learning as a gift to the Church." "In their youth 
 having seized on the spoil of Egypt, and consecrated 
 it to God, they adorned with its wealth the taber- 
 nacle of the Church." They considered truth, in 
 the language of St. Augustine, "wherever found, to 
 be the property of Christ's Church." Again ob- 
 serves the Bishop of Hippo, in speaking of the 
 requisites of the theologian: "If they who are called 
 philosophers have said any true things which are 
 conformable to our faith, so far from dreading them, 
 we must take them for our use, as a possession which 
 they unjustly hold." And St. Jerome, in comment- 
 ing on the words of Ecclesiastes, chap, ii, v. 8: "I 
 heaped together for myself silver and gold and the 
 wealth of kings and provinces," declares that "by 
 the wealth of kings we may understand the doctrines 
 of philosophers and profane sciences, which the ec- 
 clesiastic understanding by his diligence, he is able 
 to catch the wise in their own toils." 
 
 Those great lights of the Middle Ages, Albertus 
 Magnus and the Angel of the Schools, held the same 
 opinion in respect of the value of mundane science 
 as did Augustine, the Gregories, and their confreres. 
 Both were not only dowered with extraordinary in- 
 tellectual gifts, but were equally remarkable for their 
 profound knowledge of profane as well as of sacred 
 
128 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 learning. Indeed, in the works of Albertus' Magnus, 
 which are now being republished by that veteran ed- 
 itor, who has deserved so well of Catholics through- 
 out the world — M. Louis Vives — we find that much 
 which is often supposed to have been discovered in 
 comparatively recent times was known by the great 
 Dominican and his co-workers over six centuries 
 ago. So great, indeed, is the treasure of knowledge 
 disclosed in the works of this wonderful man that 
 Leo XIII., in referring to them, truly observes that, 
 far from contemning the teachings of antiquity, as 
 so many are wont to do, true philosophy, while seek- 
 ing new truths, retains the wisdom of the ancients.' 
 
 But we need not go back to the remote past for 
 striking examples of Churchmen who were remark- 
 able for the variety and extent of their attainments 
 in every department of sacred and profane knowl- 
 edge. We are all familiar with the great work 
 achieved in the cause of religion and science by that 
 distinguished prince of the Church, Nicholas, Cardi- 
 nal Wiseman. And, not to go beyond the living, 
 had not two other princes of the Church, the ven- 
 erable Cardinal Archbishop of Tours, Mg. Meignan,' 
 and the erudite Cardinal Gonzalez," for the restora- 
 tion of whose health petitions were offered to God 
 
 ^ Utique videntur hodie nimis multi ponere ingenii lau- 
 dem in fastidio antiquitatis; sedomnino ilia est philosophandi- 
 ratio optima, exquirere meditando nova, unaque simul sapien- 
 tiam veterum non relinquere. "Epistola ad Ludovicum Vives" 
 de Nova Editione Operum B. Alberti Magni. 
 
 2 Died January, 1896. 
 
 •Died November, 1894. 
 
SCIEXCE IN OUR SEMINARIES. 129 
 
 at all the altars of Spain, shown what a world of 
 good can be accomplished by men who are learned 
 in the science of the world as well as in the science 
 of the Saints? 
 
 It were easy to multiply examples of this kind; 
 to give a long list of the names of learned ecclesias- 
 tics, not to speak of eminent members of the Catholic 
 laity, who have shed lasting luster on the cause of 
 religion, as well as on that of true science and true 
 philosophy. My object, however, is not to give a 
 history of what has been achieved by the sons of 
 holy Church in the cause of science and religion, 
 but rather to exhibit by a few telling examples and 
 quotations the great importance which the most 
 illustrious representatives of the Church, and the 
 most successful exponents of her doctrine, have ever 
 attached to a thorough knowledge of profane science 
 in the work of the ministry — in the preaching of the 
 Gospel, as well as in the instruction of youth, and in 
 the preparation of her future Levites for holy orders. 
 
 Knowing, then, the influence wielded by modern 
 science in the world of contemporary thought; the 
 character of the warfare in which the defenders of 
 the faith are now, and henceforth will be, engaged; 
 and realizing, too, how necessary it is that the chief 
 custodians of the faith, the priests of God's Church, 
 should be men of varied and profound knowledge; 
 how, especially, they should excel in that knowl- 
 edge, which, for the nonce, the world sets such store 
 by, I need make no apology for urging the plea that 
 
I30 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 I now present for the consideration of the Interna- 
 tional Catholic Scientific Congress. 
 
 Under ordinary circumstances I should feel great 
 delicacy in broaching the subject, and should prob- 
 ably hesitate to make it, as it might by some be 
 construed as an impertinent suggestion, or as savor- 
 ing somewhat of implied dictation to ecclesiastical 
 authority. Nothing, however, could be farther from 
 my mind than any such a sentiment. We are all of 
 us here assembled in the interests of both religion 
 and science, and our object, I take it, is not only to 
 discuss the latest results of scientific research, but 
 also to inquire how science may be made to subserve 
 the cause of religion and extend the sphere of her 
 usefulness. We are here not merely to review the 
 achievements of science since our last meeting, and 
 to investigate the latest scientific theories and spec- 
 ulations, but have met for a nobler and a higher 
 purpose — to offer suggestions, to devise ways and 
 means toward making science subservient to the 
 wants of the Church, and toward enlisting its vota- 
 ries in an active crusade against the multifarious 
 forms of scientific error which are now so prevalent 
 in every part of Christendom. 
 
 All who have the interests of religion at heart — 
 and what loyal son of holy Church has not? — must 
 be of one mind on this subject. There can be no 
 difference of opinion in a matter of such grave im- 
 port. The question is no longer: What is to be 
 done? — but how to do it. Bishops and superiors of 
 
SCIENCE IN OUR SEMINARIES. 131 
 
 seminaries the world over are alive to the impor- 
 tance which attaches to a thoroughly educated priest- 
 hood — a priesthood versed in natural and physical 
 science, as well as in divinity and metaphysics — but 
 the difficulty which confronts them in most cases is 
 lack of means and lack of subjects. The vineyard 
 is large and the laborers few. They cannot, even 
 with the best will, allow their seminarians to remain 
 at study as long as they would desire. They must 
 content themselves with what is indispensable, and 
 forego what all concede to be eminently desirable. 
 While countless souls are thirsting for the elementary 
 truths of salvation it seems unreasonable, almost 
 criminal, to withhold from them the bread of life in 
 order to give the aspirants to the priesthood an op- 
 portunity to perfect themselves in purely secular 
 knowledge. 
 
 And then again, it is urged, and with truth, that 
 the vast majority of those who come under the 
 ministrations of the priests are not the wealthy and 
 the learned, but the poor and the illiterate. What 
 these want is not arguments against the false teach- 
 ings of contemporary scientists, but the instruction 
 and the consolation afforded by the gospel of 
 Christ. The work of God's minister among such 
 people consists in teaching the catechism, explain- 
 ing the principles of Christian doctrine, in urging 
 them to lead pure, moral lives, rather than in 
 learned disquisitions on the controverted questions 
 of the hour. 
 
132 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 All this is true, very true. But we should not 
 forget that there is also a very large number, and 
 the number is daily augmenting, who are interested 
 in the controversies originated by scientific research 
 and discovery; that there are many who are more or 
 less affected by the prevailing scepticism, due in 
 great measure to the teachings of modern science; 
 and that there are also many who are earnestly seek- 
 ing for light in the darkness of doubt and infidelity, 
 and craving for a knowledge which might be given 
 them, but which is not forthcoming. We close our 
 eyes to the facts if we imagine for a moment that our 
 young men and women are indifferent to current dis- 
 cussions in geology, biology, astronomy, ethnology, 
 and archaeology; that they are ignorant of the bear- 
 ing of these discussions on Scripture and dogma; or 
 that they are always proof against the allurements 
 of false science, when seen in that brilliant and fas- 
 cinating guise in which she is always made to appear. 
 "The reason," says Cardinal Wiseman, "why infi- 
 delity proved so mischievous in France during the 
 last century was, that its emissaries presented it to 
 the acceptance of the people, tricked out with all 
 the tinsel ornaments of a mock science; because 
 they dealt in illustrations and in specious proofs 
 drawn from every branch of literature; because they 
 sweetened the edge of the poisoned cup with all the 
 charms of an elegant style and lively composition; 
 while, unfortunately, they who undertook to confute 
 them, with the exception of Guenee, and perhaps a 
 
SCIENCE IN OUR SEMINARIES. 133 
 
 few others, dealt in abstract reasoning and mere 
 didactic demonstration.'" 
 
 Great, however, as was the danger to the faith 
 during the period indicated, it is greater now because 
 more widespread. The arguments now advanced 
 against religion are more plausible, because urged 
 in the name, and with the authority of, a more ad- 
 vanced science; the poison of error is most subtle 
 and most potent where its existence is least sus- 
 pected. It is found in books, newspapers, magazines; 
 in works of art, history, literature, philosophy, and 
 religion, as well as science; it is concealed in ser- 
 mons and public discourses, and ofttimes plays havoc 
 in the simplest social gatherings. Everything that 
 comes under the magic spell of science, and here I 
 mean infidel and agnostic science, is affected by the 
 ubiquitous poison. The whole intellectual atmos- 
 phere is polluted with it, and the only saving anti- 
 dote is a strong, healthy, intelligent faith. 
 
 I lay special stress on intelligent faith, because 
 this it is which is often, alas! so sadly lacking. If 
 our people were better instructed in the errors and 
 methods of the dominant teachings of the day, they 
 would not be so exposed as they now are. Fore- 
 warned, it is said, is forearmed, but forewarning in 
 the present crisis is not sufficient. We must arm 
 those who look to us for help and guidance with the 
 helmet of faith and the shield of impregnable truth. 
 
 '"On the connection between Science and Revealed 
 Religion." Lecture XII. 
 
134 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 We must meet the enemy on their own ground, and 
 assail them in their chosen coigne of vantage. A 
 priori reasonings and metaphysical argumentations, 
 which are good enough in their place and with those 
 who are capable of appreciating them, must yield to 
 discussions conducted on a different basis. The 
 geologist, the biologist, the archaeologist, and the 
 astronomer, we must meet on their own ground, and 
 turn their own arms against them. This has been 
 done before; it can be done again. We must show 
 to the world that there is, that there can be, nothing 
 in true science, not sciolism or fantastic theory, 
 which is opposed to faith, or to the explicit declara- 
 tions of the Inspired Record. We must evince that 
 physical science, in the language of Bacon, is, of a 
 truth, " the voice of God revealed in facts — Vox 
 Dei in rebus revelata; " that the Council of the Vati- 
 can was right when it solemnly declared that "there 
 never can be any conflict between reason and faith — 
 nulla unquam inter fidem et rationem vera dissentio esse 
 potest." We must show that the science on which 
 the enemies of the Church are wont to rest their 
 case is sham science, or a science misapplied; that 
 their proofs are but assertions without foundation in 
 fact; that their premises are fallacious, or that their 
 conclusions are false and unwarranted. 
 
 Nowhere, indeed, do we meet with such shallow- 
 ness and superficiality; such pride and pretension; 
 such quibbling and such assertiveness; such decla- 
 mation and such ignorance of the simplest rules of 
 
SCIENCE IN OUR SEMINARIES. 135 
 
 logic, as in many of our scientific works designed 
 for general readers. From such a " distortion of 
 facts," says Count Tolstoi in a recent paper, in re- 
 ply to certain questions put by the German Ethical 
 Society, " arises the curious circumstance that no 
 people have more entangled ideas as to the essence 
 of true knowledge, religion, morality, and exist- 
 ence than men of science," and yet no class of peo- 
 ple make greater demands on our faith than these 
 self-same people who would destroy all faith in the 
 Gospel, and banish religion from the world as a relic 
 of an ignorant and superstitious age, but give us 
 nothing in return. 
 
 But who are to point out error, to distingush true 
 from false science, to save the souls of the unwary 
 from the machinations of the enemy, if it be not the 
 bishops and priests of the Church? And how are 
 our future Levites to meet the enemies of religion, 
 those whom the world salutes as the leaders of ad- 
 vanced thought, and the high priests of science, if 
 they be not specially prepared during their course 
 of study in the seminary? Some, it is true, have an 
 opportunity of making serious studies in science 
 before entering the seminary; but they constitute 
 only a small minority. The aspirants to the priest- 
 hood must, therefore, acquire their knowledge of 
 science in the seminary, if they acquire it at all. 
 The elementary knowledge which they get in the 
 public schools, or gain by general reading, will serve 
 them but little when they are called upon to discuss 
 
136 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 the great questions of science and religion, which in 
 our day are considered to be of such paramount 
 importance. Certain questions of astronomy, geol- 
 ogy, paleontology, biology, ethnology, and archae- 
 ology, they must study not cursorily and superficially, 
 but carefully and profoundly, if they would hope to 
 cope with their adversaries with any hope of 
 success. ' 
 
 I do not, however, mean that they should become 
 specialists in these sciences; that they should sacri- 
 fice the more important branches of philosophy and 
 theology. Far from it. What I do mean is that 
 they should obtain a good working knowledge of 
 these divers branches of science; that they should 
 thoroughly understand the nature of the objections 
 which are urged in the name of these sciences; that 
 they should adequately realize their bearing on faith 
 and morals, on dogma and Holy Scripture. 
 
 By properly directed and systematic effort every 
 student in our seminaries could have these advan- 
 tages, and that, too, without detriment to the more 
 important branches of his course. I would not be 
 satisfied with mere book knowledge. This is not 
 
 ' In revising this article for the press, I am glad to take 
 occasion to add a sentence from a recent discourse of the 
 eloquent Metropolitan of San Francisco, Archbishop Riordan, 
 who, speaking of the necessity of a higher education for the 
 Catholic priesthood, declares: "We have here in America a 
 great work to perform in the interests of religion and for the 
 good of the people ; but we can do nothing unless we can send 
 out into the field men fully equipped by knowledge to meet all 
 the objections which the science of the day may suggest against 
 religion, and to take a leading part themselves in the investiga- 
 tion as well as in the defence of truth." 
 
SCIENCE IN OUR SEMINARIES. 137 
 
 sufficient. Give the seminarist specimens to exam- 
 ine and instruments to experiment with. Teach him 
 how to observe for himself; how to interrogate 
 Nature in the laboratory, in the quarry, in the field, 
 and in the forest. Such training will be of priceless 
 value to him in after life, whether he be a professor 
 in one of our colleges, a preacher in one of our city 
 pulpits, or a simple cure in a country parish. He 
 will thus be better qualified to instruct those con- 
 fided to his care, and better prepared to confute the 
 enemies of religion, and more competent to win 
 from danger those who have become weak in the 
 faith, or bring back to the fold those who have 
 strayed from its sacred precincts. 
 
 There are, I am aware, difficulties in the way of 
 accomplishing what is here outlined. To equip 
 museums and laboratories requires money, and our 
 seminaries are poor. Our bishops and clergy have 
 so many demands on their charity; so much to do 
 for the poor and the sick, the widow and the orphan, 
 that they consider themselves fortunate in being 
 able to accomplish as much as they do. But although 
 all this be true, the case is not hopeless. By no 
 means. The Church, despite the number of those 
 who would wipe her out of existence, has every- 
 where many devoted and zealous friends. Let it be 
 known that specimens and apparatus are particularly 
 desirable in order to carry on the work of ecclesias- 
 tical instruction, and I have faith enough in the good 
 will and co-operation of Catholics to believe that 
 
138 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 they will come to the rescue. I can speak from 
 experience in this matter. For more than twenty 
 years I have had charge of the scientific department 
 of Notre Dame University, and I am, therefore, in a 
 position to testify, from experience, what may be 
 expected from the friends of religion and education 
 when they once become interested in such an im- 
 portant matter as the one we are now considering. 
 
 Of course, I should count much on the co-opera- 
 tion of the members of this Congress. If they col- 
 lectively and individually give the matter their 
 endorsement, and engage not only to encourage the 
 good work themselves, but also to interest their 
 friends in it, we shall, I promise you, soon behold 
 results as surprising as they will be gratifying. 
 
 Something, it is true, has been done already, but 
 much more remains to be accomplished. Much has 
 been done, even by distinguished men here present, 
 both lay and clerical, to aid Catholics in their war- 
 fare against false science and false philosophy, and 
 for this all are duly grateful. Works of acknowl- 
 edged value, from small handbooks to exhaustive 
 treatises, on various controverted questions of sci- 
 ence and religion have been published from time to 
 time, and numerous excellent magazines, in America 
 and Europe, deal learnedly and effectively with the 
 questions of the hour. Indeed, I need not go beyond 
 the limits of this fair city of Brussels to find a pub- 
 lication, the Revue des Questions Scientifiques, which 
 is an honor to religion as well as to science, and of 
 
SCIENCE IN OUR SEMINARIES. 139 
 
 which the Catholic world may be justly proud. As 
 a thorough, accurate expositor of the most advanced 
 thought of the day in every department of science, 
 it has no superior in any language. God reward 
 with an exceeding great reward that noble soul, 
 Father Carbonnelle, S. J., now gone from our midst, 
 who so auspiciously inaugurated it, and bless a 
 thousandfold the labors of those in whose hands the 
 great undertaking is now entrusted. May they live 
 to see realized all their fondest anticipations, and to 
 know that the Revue des Questions Scientifiques is 
 prized in all lands according to its transcendent 
 merits and the unquestioned good it is destined to 
 achieve. 
 
 Another reason why we should devote special 
 attention to the study of science, why the youth in 
 our ecclesiastical seminaries should excel in science, 
 is that the Holy Father wishes it, because our ene- 
 mies fear such study on our part as the greatest 
 calamity which could befall the unholy cause to 
 which they are committed. 
 
 The learned Pontiff, now gloriously reigning, 
 while yet Bishop of Perugia, gave an adumbration 
 of that policy respecting the study and advancement 
 of science which he has so consistently and so suc- 
 cessfully followed since his accession to the Chair 
 of Peter. Time and again since he assumed the 
 tiara he has spoken of the advantages accruing to 
 religion by the study of science. But in no instances, 
 probably, has he given better evidence of his love 
 
140 SCIENCE AMD THE CHURCH. 
 
 of science, and of his ardent desire to see it specially 
 cultivated in our colleges and seminaries, than in his 
 two admirable encyclicals, the "^terni Patris," in 
 which he recommends the study of the philosophy of 
 St. Thomas, and the " Providentissimus Deus," urging 
 a special and profound study of the Sacred Scriptures. 
 His observations in the latter encyclical are so 
 weighty, and bear so directly on the contention I 
 have been making, that you will, I know, pardon 
 me, if I quote somewhat in exte?iso. In referring to 
 the value of a knowledge of natural science to the 
 student of Scripture, the illustrious Pontiff declares: 
 "It is necessary to meet the attacks of those who, 
 abusing their knowledge of physical science, investi- 
 gate the sacred books with minute care in order 
 that they may expose the ignorance displayed on 
 this subject by the authors, and may vilify their 
 writings. And since these contentions are concerned 
 with sensible objects, they are all the more danger- 
 ous, falling, as they do, into the hands of the masses, 
 and especially those of youth, who are fond of 
 literature, and who, when they have once lost their 
 reverence for divine revelation in any of its parts, 
 will easily give up all belief in the whole. It is 
 beyond doubt that the more suitable natural science 
 is, if rightly taught, for ensuring the perception of 
 the glory of the great Maker stamped upon creation, 
 the more effectually it may be employed, if instilled 
 in a wrong way into the minds of the young, to 
 uproot the first principles of sound philosophy, and 
 
SCIENCE IN OUR SEMINARIES. 141 
 
 corrupt morals. Wherefore a knowledge of natural 
 science will afford valuable assistance to the teacher 
 of Sacred Scripture by enabling him the more read- 
 ily to expose and refute the fallacies of this kind 
 also, which are brought forward against the author- 
 ity of the sacred books. Indeed, no real difference 
 can arise between the theologian and the physical 
 scientist, so long as each keeps to his own province, 
 both, in accordance with the warning of St. Augus- 
 tine, being on their guard against ' making any rash 
 statement or asserting as known what is un- 
 known.'" 
 
 Farther on, he observes, and with truth, that "to 
 strive fully to establish the sanctity of the Bible with 
 every aid from the deeper sciences is far more than 
 can be justly expected from the skill of intepreters 
 and theologians alone. It is to be desired also that 
 those amongst Catholics who have attained any 
 reputation in external sciences should join and assist 
 in this work. As in the past, ability of this kind 
 has never been, so it is not now, thank God, wanting 
 to the Church; and it is to be hoped that it will in- 
 crease for the benefit of faith. For we ought to 
 consider nothing of greater importance than that 
 the faith should have more numerous and more 
 powerful defenders, and that they should understand 
 the tactics of her adversaries; and nothing could be 
 more effective in impressing upon the masses the 
 duty of accepting the truth than to see it publicly 
 professed by those who have gained distinction in 
 
142 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 any particular walk of life. Nay, the ill-will of 
 disparagers would quickly cease, or at least they 
 would not dare so boldly to accuse faith of being 
 the enemy of science, if they saw the highest honor 
 and reverence paid to it by distinguished scientific 
 men." 
 
 But the most forcible, and at the same time epi- 
 grammatic, statement of Leo XIII. 's views on the 
 study of science, is to be found in his letter to Mgr. 
 Goossens, the Cardinal Archbishop of Mechlin, re- 
 garding the establishment of a new chair of philos- 
 ophy in the University of Louvain. His words are: 
 "Since the Church is falsely accused of detesting 
 science and of desiring to spread the darkness of 
 ignorance, it behooves Catholics to make it manifest 
 that they do not contemn the lights of science, but 
 covet them earnestly, because they do not subvert 
 the dogmas of faith, but wonderfully illustrate them, 
 inasmuch as both the one and the other have their 
 origin in the same God, the author of faith and the 
 Creator of the world."' 
 
 I have said that the enemies of the Church dread 
 a learned priesthood, especially a priesthood which 
 is profoundly versed in profane science. It is true. 
 They dread nothing more, and declare their appre- 
 
 'Quum porro Ecclesia eo falso nomine in crimen vocetur, 
 quasi perosa scientiarum lucem ignorantiae tenebras studeat 
 offundere, eo conniti oportet Catholicos homines ut prse se 
 ferant palam, se veree scientiae lumina baud fastidire sed appe- 
 tere, quippe quae fidei dogmata non evertunt sed mirifice iUus- 
 trant, quum utraque ab uno dimanent auctore fidei et rerum 
 mundarum Conditore Deo. 
 
SCIENCE IN OUR SEMINARIES. 143 
 
 hension by words and deeds. One of the first acts 
 of Julian the Apostate after he had made shipwreck 
 of the faith was to issue "a decree whereby Chris- 
 tians were debarred from attending public schools 
 and acquiring science." 
 
 Professor Huxley, the noted hierophant of ag- 
 nosticism, makes no secret in declaring what he 
 regards as the one great enemy of science from his 
 point of view. In his "Lay Sermons" in an inter- 
 esting chapter on "Scientific Education" he com- 
 pares the Protestant with the Catholic clergy, and 
 referring to the former he says they "are at present 
 divisible into three sections; an immense body who 
 are ignorant and speak out; a small proportion who 
 know and are silent; and a minute minority who 
 know and who speak according to their knowledge. 
 By the clergy I mean especially the Protestant 
 clergy. Our great antagonist, I speak as a man of 
 science, is the Roman Catholic' Church — the one 
 great spiritual organization which is able to resist, 
 aud must, as a matter of life and death, resist the 
 progress of science and modern civilization, manages 
 her affairs much better. 
 
 "It was my fortune some time ago to pay a visit 
 to one of the most important of the institutions in 
 which the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church in 
 these islands are trained; and it seemed to me that 
 the difference between these men and the comfort- 
 able champions of Anglicanism and dissent, was 
 comparable to the difference between our gallant 
 
144 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 volunteers and the trained veterans of Napoleon's 
 Old Guard." 
 
 Coming as they do, from the high-priest of agnos- 
 ticism these words are significant and deserve pon- 
 dering. They declare that the enemies of the Church 
 to-day, as in the past, regard her representatives as 
 the sole antagonist worthy their steel. The various 
 Protestant sects give them little or no concern. 
 From Protestant ministers agnostic and infidel sci- 
 entists have nothing to apprehend; they have a free 
 field and nothing to impede their progress. It is the 
 Catholic priesthood which they fear, which they 
 have always feared, as they are the only body of 
 men competent to stem the torrent of error which 
 now threatens to overwhelm the land. Strong in the 
 certain truths of a divine faith, endowed with the 
 courage which comes from the spirit of knowledge 
 and fortitude, they form a solid phalanx against the 
 advance of scientific, as well as of religious, error; 
 and constitute a bulwark for the faith which is as 
 impenetrable as a wall "of tenfold adamant." 
 
 But, be it remembered, the priesthood to "which 
 Huxley refers is an educated priesthood; a priest- 
 hood specially trained to combat the errors of the 
 day; errors which are advanced in the name of what 
 the British scientist euphemistically designates "sci- 
 entific thought." He, then, supports my plea, and 
 his words, just quoted, makes for its validity in the 
 most eloquent manner possible. It is our enemies 
 who not infrequently tell us the most wholesome 
 
SCIENCE IN OUR SEMINARIES. 145 
 
 truths, and if we are wise we will profit by them as 
 well as if they came from the most tried and trusted 
 of friends. 
 
 I could wish to enter for our colleges a plea sim- 
 ilar to the one I have just been making in behalf 
 of ecclesiastical seminaries, but it does not come 
 within the scope of the present paper. For in good 
 sooth, let us be honest with ourselves, we must 
 admit that, with few notable exceptions — grand, his- 
 toric old Louvain is one of them — the scientific 
 standing of our Catholic colleges is not what it 
 should be. 
 
 There are, I know, serious difficulties in the way 
 of raising them to the plane on which we would 
 desire to see them, but these difficulties are not in- 
 surmountable. If we were to devote as much time to 
 science as we do to classics, we could exhibit better 
 results. It is not my purpose to decry classics: by 
 no means; but rather to insist on the truth of the old 
 saying, "Hac facere et ilia tton omittere." All who 
 are conversant with the facts in the case will, I 
 think, confess that we are warranted in claiming for 
 science a greater consideration than it has received 
 in our Catholic schools and colleges either in Europe 
 or America. Emeiidemus in melius quod ig)wranter 
 peccavimus. Yes, by all means, let us improve where 
 betterment is so obviously demanded. 
 
 But although an improvement in the status of 
 science in our schools and colleges is a "consum- 
 mation devoutly to be wished," I am, for the present. 
 
146 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 at least, content to rest my case with a considera- 
 tion of the necessity, if not of the ways and means, 
 of imparting a more thorough knowledge of science 
 in our ecclesiastical seminaries. The hope of the 
 Church in the future lies, under God, in the thorough 
 education of the youth who are now preparing for 
 the sacred ministry; and, in the present needs of 
 religion, their education cannot be considered com- 
 plete unless they have at least a good working 
 knowledge of the natural and physical sciences. 
 
 The question, however, may be asked, Why do I 
 bring the consideration of this subject before the 
 International Catholic Scientific Congress? Might 
 it not more properly be discussed in an assemblage 
 of bishops in provincial or plenary councils? 
 Doubtless; but there are countless other things 
 which, in these days of doubt and unrest, impera- 
 tively demand the attention of the hierarchy. And, 
 far from finding it an impertinence on our part to 
 discuss the topic in such an assemblage as the 
 one I have now the honor to address, the prelates of 
 the Church, who rejoice in every good work, by 
 whomsoever inaugurated or achieved, will, I am 
 sure, be only too glad to know that this Congress is 
 interested in the matter, and has at heart what they 
 themselves prize more than aught else — the educa- 
 tion and welfare of those who are to be the future 
 shepherds of Christ's flock. They will be gratified 
 to learn that they, in so important a work, can count 
 on the sympathy and cooperation of such a distin- 
 
SCIENCE IN OUR SEMINARIES. 147 
 
 guished body of men, and have the benefit of their 
 wisdom and science. 
 
 In union, it is said, is strength. I question, how- 
 ever, if any of us fully realize what may be accom- 
 plished in the direction indicated by the concerted 
 action of such a body as the International Catholic 
 Scientific Congress. When we call to mind what 
 has been effected by organizations which were nu- 
 merically much inferior to ours, but which were act- 
 uated by zeal and an insatiable love of learning, it 
 would be almost rash to assign limits to what the 
 combined efforts of the members of this Congress 
 can achieve when they set about an enterprise in 
 dead earnest. The Christian School of Alexandria, of 
 which Origen and Clement were such shining lights; 
 the schools of Syria, and Antioch, and Caesarea, 
 rendered so famous by the achievements of Saints 
 Ephrem, Chrysostom, Basil, Gregory of Nyssa and 
 their collaborators, are ample evidence, if any were 
 required, of what can be accomplished when faith 
 and science are dominated by zeal for truth and love 
 of Holy Church. 
 
 The attribution of omnipotence to this Congress 
 is, of course, something quite foreign to my mind. 
 I do not expect of it impossibilities, but I do look 
 to it for great things in matters both of science and 
 religion. And in this hope, I am sure, there is among 
 those who know what the Congress has already 
 effected during its short existence but one opinion. 
 In these days when steam and electricity have prac- 
 
14S SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 tically annihilated time and space; when the print- 
 ing press brings within the reach of all, even the 
 poorest, the latest acquisition of science, and renders 
 possible a diffusion of knowledge among the masses, 
 that was undreamed of a few decades ago, and 
 which our forefathers, if any one had predicted 
 what has actually come to pass, would have pro- 
 nounced Utopian, if not impossible; in these days of 
 inventions and marvels, we may, I say, hope, and 
 hope reasonably, to achieve what no one but a vis- 
 ionary, a few generations ago, would have attempted, 
 or deemed even feasible. 
 
 In America we have carefully watched the career 
 of this organization ever since its inception. We 
 have been interested in its proceedings, and have 
 scanned its published reports with eagerness and 
 pride. We have all along recognized its power and 
 influence for good, and from the bottom of our 
 hearts we have thanked God for giving to the 
 Church an instrument so potent and so universal in 
 its sphere of action. We have noted with pleasure 
 and gratitude the interest which the Father of the 
 Faithful, and the Princes of the Church, the mem- 
 bers of the episcopate, and the most distinguished 
 representatives of science, have displayed in the 
 meetings of the Congress, and have felt that a 
 bright day is dawning both for science and for 
 religion. 
 
 Let us then be up and doing. Let us realize the 
 power of the instrument which Providence has 
 
SCIENCE IN OUR SEMINARIES. 149 
 
 placed in our hands. We have before us the tradi- 
 tions of Saints and Doctors; the teachings of holy 
 and learned Pontiffs; the appeals of countless souls 
 invoking our assistance; the declared fear of our 
 enemies that we will press into the service of re- 
 ligion the one agency whose power they recognize, 
 and shall we hesitate as to what we shall do? Ah! 
 no. The situation is too critical; there is too much 
 at stake; the issues are too far-reaching, embracing 
 not only time but eternity, to permit any delay or 
 vacillation on our part. 
 
 The work will be arduous, indeed, but it is bound, 
 in the very nature of things, to be prolific in mighty 
 and far-reaching results. Lay and cleric, we can 
 all of us join in the undertaking, and work hand in 
 hand for a common purpose; for the furtherance 
 of a cause in which we are, or should be,' equally 
 concerned, the salvation of souls, and the glorifi- 
 cation of the Church militant. To those of us, on 
 whose shoulders have been placed the burdens 
 and responsibilities of the sacred ministry, can be 
 addressed individually the words of the poet, 
 Browning: 
 " God did anoint thee with His odorous oil. 
 
 To wrestle not to reign." 
 As to our confreres of the laity, they should not 
 forget the words of another bard who tells them: 
 " Not a truth has to art or to science been given. 
 
 But brows have ached for it, and souls toiled and 
 striven." 
 
150 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 And, furthermore, and finally, we should, all and sun- 
 dry, bring home to ourselves the full significance of 
 Longfellow's beautiful lines on " The Ladder of St. 
 Augustine": 
 
 " The heights by great men reached and kept, 
 Were not attained by sudden flight, 
 But they, while their companions slept. 
 Were toiling upward in the night." 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE FORERUNNER AND RIVAL OF PASTEUR. 
 
 ON the 8th of January, 1894, the University of 
 Louvain lost one of her most distinguished 
 sons, and the world of science was called upon to 
 mourn one of its brightest ornaments. On that day 
 the illustrious zoologist and paleontologist, Pierre 
 Joseph Van Beneden, laid down the burden of life, at 
 the ripe old age of eighty-five, leaving behind him a 
 record that even the greatest of the world's scientists 
 might envy. 
 
 To say that Louvain lost in Van Beneden one of 
 her most distinguished sons is saying much. In the 
 course of the five hundred years of her existence — 
 during all of which period she was one of the great 
 beacon-lights of Europe — she has seen in her lec- 
 ture-halls many who now occupy conspicuous posi- 
 tions in the temple of fame. It were, indeed, a 
 difficult matter to recount all her triumphs, or enu- 
 merate the long list of those who have fondly saluted 
 her as Alma Mater, and who, either as students or as 
 professors, have added unfading luster to her es- 
 cutcheon, and contributed, in many ways, to make 
 her name glorious among the great universities of 
 
 151 
 
152 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 the world. Here it was that Justus Lipsius, the 
 noted humanist, and the immortal commentator of 
 Seneca and Tacitus studied and taught; here it was 
 that Bellarmine, the prince of polemical theolo- 
 gians, lectured to delighted audiences; here it was 
 that Vives, who, with Erasmus and Budseus, consti- 
 tuted the triumvirate of the republic of letters of the 
 sixteenth century, lectured on polite literature; and 
 here it was that Adrien van Roomen — Adrianus 
 Romanus — one of the greatest mathematicians of his 
 age, while professor of mathematics, invented mod- 
 ern or symbolical algebra. It was here that Van 
 Helmont, the illustrious chemist, the discoverer of 
 the third kind of matter, gas, a word invented by 
 him, sought knowledge; it was here that Mercator, 
 the first one to make maps and charts by a projec- 
 tion of the surface of the earth in piano completed 
 his studies and prepared himself for the work in 
 which he subsequently won such renown; it was 
 here, too, that Jean Pierre Minkelers made use of 
 coal-gas to light his lecture-rooms, full eight years 
 before it was introduced in Cornwall by Murdock, 
 its reputed inventor. Here, where for five cen- 
 turies art, science, and literature flourished; where 
 the most distinguished professors of Europe lec- 
 tured; where there were as many as six thousand 
 students at one time; where, from the year of its 
 foundation, in 1429, until the present day, Louvain 
 has kept pace with the great Universities of Paris, 
 Oxford, Heidelberg, Vienna, Bologna, and Rome; 
 
THE RIVAL OF PASTEUR. 153 
 
 here it was that Van Beneden, the latest of a long 
 list of intellectual giants, won the admiration of his 
 thousands of pupils, and the plaudits of the world. 
 
 It would be impossible in a brief chapter ade- 
 quately to treat of Van Beneden's life-work. This 
 would require a large volume, and it is to be hoped, 
 in the interest of science and that of the youth of 
 our time, for whom the late savant was so noble and 
 helpful an example, that such a work will not be 
 long in forthcoming. The most I can seek to ac- 
 complish in the limited space at my disposal is to 
 indicate a few of the more remarkable of the late 
 scientist's achievements, and touch briefly on his 
 character as a man and as a son of the Church. 
 
 Like Ampere, Fresnel, Faraday, Pasteur, and 
 others who have achieved distinction by their con- 
 quests in the domain of Nature, Van Beneden was 
 pre-eminently a self-made man. Indeed, one of the 
 most striking lessons of his long and successful ca- 
 reer, the one which the youths of our age should 
 most take to heart, is that which is taught by the 
 Flemish professor's untiring industry and persever- 
 ance. He was credited with genius, but with him, 
 as with all who have earned distinction in science, 
 genius meant hard, continuous work. 
 
 In reply to an address read him in 1877, on the 
 occasion of his fortieth anniversary as professor, he 
 said: "There is a word which I can not admit unless 
 its meaning is defined. That word is genius. If 
 genius is but a synonym for perseverance, we are at 
 
154 SCTENCB AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 one. I need not go beyond Linnaeus, the great nat- 
 uralist of the last century, who has given two 
 precepts which bear directly on this point. These 
 precepts contain the whole secret of the successful 
 naturalist. The first is, never to let a day pass with- 
 out having' done something, nulla die sme linea; the 
 second is, to have method in work, ordo rerum anima. 
 I have endeavored to follow these prescriptions of 
 the philosophical naturalist, and I owe to them, 
 without doubt, the flattering manifestation of which 
 I am to-day the object." 
 
 Pierre Joseph Van Beneden was born in the city 
 of Mechlin, the 15th of December, 1809, and was, 
 therefore, at the time of his death, in his eighty-fifth 
 year. He always entertained the deepest affection 
 for his natal city, and was ever proud to call himself 
 a Malinois. This affection was fully reciprocated by 
 his fellow-townsmen, as was evidenced in a most 
 striking manner on divers occasions. They had 
 made and placed in the city hall a handsome bust of 
 the illustrious scientist, and on the occasion of the 
 demonstration in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of 
 his professorship at Louvain, they testified to their 
 admiration and love by naming one of the most 
 beautiful thoroughfares of the city Avenue Van Ben- 
 eden. 
 
 The future professor of science made his hu- 
 manities in the archiepiscopal college of Mechlin. 
 Here he met, among his professors, the distinguished 
 ecclesiastic, who subsequently became rector of 
 
THE RIVAL OF PASTEUR. 155 
 
 Louvain, and who signalized the beginning of his 
 administration by giving his former pupil the chair 
 of zoology and comparative anatomy, which he filled 
 with such iclat for nearly sixty years. 
 
 After leaving college he entered, in his native 
 city, the shop of an apothecary by the name of 
 Stoffels. This gentleman, who subsequently became 
 known to the world by the reflected light of his tal- 
 ented assistant, had a small collection of shells and 
 minerals, which at once excited the interest of young 
 Van Beneden. It was, indeed, it may be said, the 
 examination of this collection, that gave him his 
 taste for science, and determined his future career. 
 It inspired him with a love of Nature, and from that 
 time forth we find him devoting all his leisure mo- 
 ments to an enthusiastic study of the manifold forms 
 of the organic world. 
 
 At this period of his life, however, his country 
 was in a very unsettled condition, and circumstances 
 were anything but favorable to the prosecution of 
 serious studies of any kind. His country was en- 
 gaged in a sanguinary war with Holland, and Van 
 Beneden felt that he owed it to the land of his birth 
 to take up arms in her defense. But even as a sol- 
 dier he did not forget his love for Nature and her 
 marvels. "I always remember," he tells us himself, 
 "that while fighting under the walls of Antwerp I 
 more than once surprised myself with a fossil-shell 
 in one hand and a cartridge in the other." 
 
 After leaving the army. Van Beneden prepared 
 
156 SCTBNCB AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 himself for the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and on 
 the 19th of July, 1832, passed the requisite exami- 
 nation with great distinction. His next thought was 
 to spend a few months in the celebrated museums of 
 Paris. Here he met a number of distinguished sci- 
 entific men, with whom he formed relations of 
 friendship that proved of countless value to him. 
 Among others, he met one Baron de Ferussac, a 
 well-known conchologist of the time, who secured 
 for his young Flemish friend a bourse from the Bel- 
 gian government, which enabled Van Beneden to 
 prosecute his researches for two years longer than 
 would have been possible if he had been unaided. 
 
 In April, 1836, he was tendered, and accepted, 
 the chair of zoology and comparative anatomy in 
 Belgium's greatest seat of learning, the University 
 of Louvain, a position which he held uninterruptedly 
 until the date of his death. 
 
 From this beginning of his professorial duties, 
 Van Beneden's life-work began in earnest. He soon 
 made a reputation for himself as a professor of more 
 than ordinary ability, and it was not long before his 
 lecture-room was filled with enthusiastic and admir- 
 ing students. In addition to having a profound 
 knowledge of the subject-matter of his discourses, 
 he had a ready command of language, a pleasing 
 delivery, and a faculty for illustrating the most dry 
 and abstruse points which made his lectures intel- 
 lectual treats, instead of distasteful and perfunctory 
 tasks. Besides being fluent of speech, he was a skillful 
 
THE RIVAL OF PASTEUR. 157 
 
 draughtsman, and was able, by a few cleverly-exe- 
 cuted lines on a blackboard, to elucidate without 
 difficulty even the greatest complications of form 
 and structure. 
 
 When not occupied in the lecture-room, he was 
 busily engaged in the laboratory, or in investigating 
 the life-histories of the divers forms of animals in 
 their own peculiar habitats. He did not, by any 
 means, disdain the specimens of museums, but he 
 always contended that far more was to be learned 
 by studying the living subject. In the earlier days 
 of his scientific career the conveniences of travel 
 were not so great as they are at present, but this did 
 not deter him from making extended journeys in 
 search of knowledge. To secure accurate informa- 
 tion regarding the fauna of Europe, he traveled 
 afoot, with staff in hand and knapsack on his back, 
 through France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, 
 Italy, Sweden, and Norway. He carefully explored 
 Vesuvius, .^tna, and the Alps, as well as the coast- 
 line of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. 
 
 But he was not contented with studying the 
 fauna of the countries visited. He investigated their 
 geological and paleontological features as well. As 
 to the fauna, living and extinct, of his own country, 
 he knew it intimately from France to Holland, and 
 from Luxemburg to the North Sea. There was not 
 a nook or corner that he did not explore; not a 
 river or stream with whose denizens he was not fa- 
 miliar. 
 
158 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 In order to become thoroughly acquainted with 
 the multifold forms of marine life which frequented 
 the Belgian coast, it was Van Beneden's wont to go 
 out with the fishermen while engaged in their avo- 
 cation, or to hire boats from them, and explore at 
 his leisure. 
 
 He was always much interested in those monsters 
 of the deep, the cetacea, and he did not hesitate to 
 brave the dangers of a whaling expedition to the 
 North Cape in order to study to the best advantage 
 the nature and habits of this singular order. The 
 results of these expeditions have been embalmed 
 in a series of monographs which are regarded not 
 only as authoritative on the matters treated, but also 
 as models of accurate and pellucid description. 
 
 In 1843 he established at Ostend, at his own ex- 
 pense, a marine laboratory, which was one of the 
 first, if not the first, of the kind ever organized. 
 This was the prototype of the numerous laboratories 
 of a similar character which all the governments of 
 the civilized world have since established in the in- 
 terests of science and commerce. In his laboratory 
 Van Beneden, who had already become famous, was 
 visited by the ablest naturalists of the age. Among 
 those who went there for purposes of study and ob- 
 servation, were Liebig, Max Schultze, Ehrenberg, 
 Johann Miiller, the great anatomist of Berlin, and 
 De Quatrefages, the distinguished professor in the 
 Museum of Natural History at Paris. 
 
 Shortly after the establishment of the laboratory 
 
THE RIVAL OF PASTEUR. 159 
 
 at Ostend, Van Beneden began his epoch-making 
 experiments on intestinal worms. So great was his 
 success in this line of work, so thorough were his 
 observations, and so conclusive were his inductions, 
 that he may, with truth, be called the father of 
 helminthology. He correlated and integrated the 
 scattered observations of his predecessors, and 
 brought order out of chaos; and for the first time 
 the interesting and important science of helmin- 
 thology was put on a logical basis. 
 
 From the time of Aristotle it had generally been 
 believed that certain animals, especially of the lower 
 forms, came into existence without the mediation 
 of antecedent life. Spontaneous generation was re- 
 garded not only as possible, but accepted as a fact, 
 which was evinced by countless phenomena that 
 were regarded as otherwise inexplicable. It was an 
 axiom of science "that the corruption of one thing 
 was the birth of another," and hence the universally 
 accepted opinion that certain worms and insects 
 were generated by the putrefaction of animal matter. 
 
 The first one to attempt an experimental refuta- 
 tion of abiogenesis, or spontaneous generation, was 
 Francesco Redi, an Italian naturalist who flourished 
 two centuries ago. He was in a measure successful 
 so far as the generation of maggots from putrefying 
 flesh was concerned, but his experiments did not 
 cover the difficulties that were founded on the 
 existence of certain animalculae, whose origin was 
 then enveloped in mystery. True, the application 
 
l6o SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 of the microscope to the study of the lower forms 
 of life, by such skilful observers as Leeuwenhock, 
 Reaumur, and Swammerdam did much to corroborate 
 the conclusions of Redi, but the case against spon- 
 taneous generation was far from being definitely set- 
 tled. It found supporters in such distinguished sci- 
 entists as Buffon and Needham, and for a while it 
 appeared as if the difficulty, instead of being solved, 
 had been but removed to the domain of microscopic 
 life. Notwithstanding the searching criticism to 
 which the celebrated Abbate Spallanzani submitted 
 the doctrines of Buffon and Needham, and the in- 
 genious experiments which he devised to overthrow 
 their conclusions, spontaneous generation, with the 
 great majority of scientific men, continued to be ac- 
 cepted as a fact which could not be gainsaid. 
 
 It was thus that matters stood when Van Bene- 
 den, in 1848, began his famous investigations on 
 intestinal worms. Various attempts had previously 
 been made to account for the origin of these para- 
 sites, but without success. In ignorance, therefore, 
 of their nature and origin, the naturalists of the day 
 were content to admit that at least these mysterious 
 creatures came into existence without parents, and 
 that in their case life was not the result of antece- 
 dent life. 
 
 For two long years Van Beneden worked assidu- 
 ously on the problem before him, and at the end of 
 this period he was enabled to announce authorita- 
 tively that the dictum omne vivum ex vivo, that 
 
THE RIVAL OF PASTEUR. i6l 
 
 there is no life without antecedent life, holds good 
 for animal parasites of all kinds as well as for the 
 higher forms of life; that cestodes, nematodes, 
 trematodes, and other parasitic worms have parents 
 as well as the subjects they inhabit. 
 
 A few decades before Van Beneden had begun 
 his researches, the eminent naturalist, Lamarck, had 
 written, "We are now authorized to believe that 
 there are innate worms, or such as are produced by 
 spontaneous generation, and that these are modified 
 from time to time; this is, at present, the opinion of 
 the most enlightened observers." The Louvain pro- 
 fessor not only completely disproved this view, but 
 he effectually banished from the domain of science 
 an error which had been dominant in natural history 
 and philosophy for fully twenty-five centuries. 
 Subsequently, indeed, it attempted to regain its 
 prestige under cover of microbes, bacteria, and other 
 infinitesimal forms of life, but its efforts were at once 
 nullified by the brilliant experiments of Pasteur, who, 
 at the conclusion of his magnificent work, was able 
 to announce positively that spontaneous generation 
 is a chimera. His conclusions, however, were but a 
 corroboration of those reached several years before 
 by his great Belgian rival, and although the experi- 
 ments by which Pasteur arrived at his results must be 
 ranked among the most ingenious and delicate ever 
 devised, nevertheless, the splendor of his achieve- 
 ments in no wise dims the lustre of the work 
 accomplished by the eminent biologist of Louvain. 
 
l62 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 For these important and far-reaching researches 
 the Institut de France awarded Van Beneden the 
 Grand Prix des Sciences Physiques. As was to be 
 expected, the overthrow of such long cherished 
 opinions caused a profound sensation. Naturalists 
 the world over hastened to repeat the experiments 
 of the Flemish savant, and to detect, if possible, a 
 flaw in his demonstration. In Germany, especially, 
 where Van Beneden's work excited the deepest 
 interest, Walden, Von Siebold, and Kiichenmeister 
 submitted his researches to the most rigorous exam- 
 ination, but were at length forced to confess, not 
 only that his conclusions were legitimate, but also 
 that his position was impregnable. 
 
 This one achievement, the exploding of an error 
 which had endured from the days of Aristotle, was 
 enough to render Van Beneden immortal, enough to 
 secure immortality for any man. But great as it 
 was, this was but one of his triumphs. 
 
 In connection with his researches on intestinal 
 worms, he was able not only to disprove the doc- 
 trine of spontaneous generation, but also to shed 
 light on the genealogy and habits of these strange 
 forms of life. For it was while engaged in these 
 researches that he made his startling discovery of 
 the metamorphosis and transmigration of these 
 remarkable creatures. So wonderful, indeed, were 
 these metamorphoses and transmigrations that their 
 discoverer was truly justified in asserting, that 
 
THE RIVAL OF PASTEUR. 163 
 
 "they much surpass in reality the most brilliant and 
 extravagant fictions of the poets." 
 
 A large number of entozoa, it is known, occur in 
 their immature stage — have their creche, as Van 
 Beneden phrases it — in the tissues or organs of such 
 forms of life as constitute the food of their ultimate 
 hosts. Thus the cat obtains a certain species of 
 tcenia, tape worm, from the mouse; the dog derives 
 another from the sheep and the rabbit; while the 
 well-known taitia solium, in the course of its migra- 
 tions, passes from swine to man. 
 
 Van Beneden's great merit lies not only in his 
 demonstration of the fact of metamorphosis and 
 transmigration of the cestoidea, to which the divers 
 species of taenia belong; not merely in his proof 
 that "the cysticercus [larval tsenia] of the pig, 
 when introduced into man, becomes a taenia with as 
 great certainty as the seed of a carrot will produce 
 this plant if sown in suitable soil," but in his 
 demonstration that "cestode worms must necessar- 
 ily" — I use his own words — "pass from one animal to 
 another to complete the phases of their evolution." 
 
 When this wonderful discovery was announced 
 in the French Academy, Flourens, its perpetual 
 secretary, pronounced it "a romance." Now, how- 
 ever, these transmigrations and metamorphoses are 
 so well known and so universally admitted, that, as 
 their discoverer himself remarked some years ago, 
 ''the starting point of the inquiry has been so en- 
 
1 64 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 tirely forgotten that the honor of the discovery has 
 frequently been attributed to fellow-workers, who 
 had no knowledge of it till the demonstration had 
 been completed, and the new interpretation gener- 
 ally accepted. 
 
 The significance and importance of Van Beneden's 
 researches were not long in being recognized. The 
 setiology and prophylaxis of a large class of diseases, 
 which previously had been impossible, were now 
 placed on a scientific basis. With the explosion of 
 the doctrine of spontaneous generation were ban- 
 ished forever from the science of medicine such silly 
 notions, so long current, as that certain diseases are 
 due to "a vitiated condition of the humors," to "a 
 deterioration of the parenchyma," or to "a vermin- 
 ous temperament." The cause and the nature of 
 such diseases were at last known, and if their 
 diagnosis was not always easy, their treatment, at 
 least, as well as their cure, became not only prac- 
 ticable, but also, in many cases, as simple as it was 
 effective. 
 
 Until the conclusion of the researches by Van 
 Beneden on entozoa, and of those by Pasteur on 
 microbes, medicine was at best but an art based on 
 empiricism. Now, thanks to the marvelous dis- 
 coveries of these investigators, -medicine, as well as 
 surgery, is a science; and the physician and surgeon, 
 instead of working in the dark as hitherto, and fight- 
 ing against invisible foes, whose very existence was 
 formerly ignored, are now able to accomplish results 
 
THE RIVAL OF PASTEUR. 165 
 
 and effect cures which before were impossible. Dis- 
 eases that a few decades ago created such havoc 
 among the flocks and herds of the husbandman, 
 and exacted such heavy tributes from afflicted hu- 
 manity, are now put within the power of the cura- 
 tive art, and the plague, far from exciting the horror 
 it formerly caused, is no longer more a source of 
 danger than any other undesirable visitant which can 
 be checked or put under control. And in the bright 
 galaxy of men of science, two luminaries will ever 
 be conspicuous, two names will always be pronounced 
 with benediction by a grateful race, and these are 
 the names of Van Beneden and Pasteur. 
 
 Space will not permit me to make more than a 
 passing allusion to Van Beneden's other labors. 
 Among his most notable researches, after the ones 
 just indicated, are those on the cetacea. His work 
 and discoveries in the fossiliferous strata of Ant- 
 werp are not surpassed in their extent and brilliancy, 
 even by the famous investigations of Cuvier in the 
 Paris basin, or by those of Hugh Miller in the Old 
 Red Sandstone. It is saying much, but it is the 
 truth, when it is declared that the Belgian naturalist 
 was the rival, not only of Pasteur, the greatest of 
 microbists, but also that he was the rival of Cuvier, 
 the most illustrious of comparative anatomists. The 
 inspection of his publications, nearly three hundred 
 of them, all told, many of which are masterpieces 
 of clear and exhaustive treatment, and the magni- 
 ficent work he has done in paleontological classifi- 
 
1 66 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 cation and reconstruction, as exhibited in the mu- 
 seums of Brussels and Louvain, which were almost 
 entirely his creations, are sufficient evidence of the 
 truth of these statements, exaggerated as they may 
 appear to one who is not acquainted with the facts 
 of the case. 
 
 Van Beneden's principal researches, strange as it 
 may appear, were confined to the two extremes of 
 animal creation, to the minute entozoa, and to the 
 giant cetaceans, living and fossil. But whether 
 studying the marvelous forms of microscopic life, 
 or the leviathans of recent and past ages, he was 
 ever the master, and exhibited in all his work a 
 keenness of perception, a comprehensiveness of view, 
 a power of analysis and synthesis, which have been 
 possessed by few in such an eminent degree. He 
 combined the patience and accuracy of Johanij 
 Miiller with the industry and faculty of generaliza- 
 tion of Cuvier, and the profound and extensive 
 knowledge of the elder Agassiz. Certain depart- 
 ments of the fauna of the modern and ancient 
 worlds he had made a life-long study. Nothing es- 
 caped his quick eye or eluded the grasp of his 
 searching intellect. When his pen was not in his 
 hand, he was at work with his scalpel, his microscope, 
 or his trawl. He labored early and late, but he 
 labored intelligently and systematically. This, aside 
 from his talent for observation and experiment, a 
 talent which was carefully cultivated by long prac- 
 tice, enabled him to accomplish what it seems would 
 
THE RIVAL OF PASTEUR. 167 
 
 have required the time and undivided energies of 
 several men, instead of one, unaided and alone. 
 
 It is only when we contrast Van Beneden's work 
 with that which has been accomplished by some of 
 his contemporaries, and which has attained much 
 greater notoriety, that we can fully realize what a 
 genuine student of Nature he was, and how securely 
 we can follow him as an interpreter of Nature's pro- 
 cesses and Nature's laws. We have but to com- 
 pare his charming little work, "Animal Parasites 
 and Messmates" — one of the International Scientific 
 Series, published by the Appletons — with Haeckel's 
 fanciful "Evolution of Man" to appreciate the 
 difference between the two naturalists, and to realize 
 the antithesis between the two schools of thought of 
 which they may be considered the exponents. The 
 Professor of Louvain writes with a sure and uner- 
 ring hand. He makes no statements which he has 
 not either verified himself, or which have not been 
 verified by others. Like the illustrious paleontol- 
 ogist, Barrande, he speaks of what he has seen, and 
 not of what he has imagined, or of what his theory 
 would demand. The Jena naturalist, on the con- 
 trary, is dogmatic, speculative, nebulous; one who 
 not infrequently distorts facts to suit his theory, 
 rather than subject his theory to the inexorable re- 
 quirements of fact; one who is a monist, or atheistic 
 evolutionist first, and an unbiassed, if he is ever 
 unbiassed, student of Nature afterwards. One rises 
 from the reading of Van Beneden's delightful book, 
 
1 68 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 pleased and refreshed, and feeling that he has been 
 admitted into the arcana of Nature by one of her 
 favorite initiates as well as by one of her best quali- 
 fied exponents; whilst the perusal of Hseckel's pro- 
 duction engenders lassitude, confusion, dissatisfac- 
 tion, and often disgust. 
 
 Like Kepler, Newton, Linnsus, Louis Agassiz, 
 Leverrier, and others in the fore-front of the world's 
 great men of science, Van Beneden was a man of 
 deep religious convictions, and real, unaffected piety. 
 He loved to see the handiwork of God in the visi- 
 ble world, and to trace the operations of His provi- 
 dence in the development and conservation of His 
 creatures. He was born and raised a Roman Cath- 
 olic, and to the day of his death he continued a 
 devoted and consistent member of the faith of his 
 fathers. 
 
 "In that great drama which we call Nature," he 
 tells us in the introduction to his "Animal Parasites 
 and Messmates," "each animal plays his special 
 part, and He who has adjusted and regulated every- 
 thing in its due order and proportion, watches with 
 as much care over the preservation of the most re- 
 pulsive insect, as over the brood of the most brilliant 
 bird. Each, as it comes into the world, thoroughly 
 knows its part, and plays it the better because it is 
 more free to obey the dictates of its instinct. There 
 presides over this great drama of life, a law as har- 
 monious as that which regulates the movements of 
 the heavenly bodies; and if death carries off from 
 
THE RIVAL OF PASTEUR. 169 
 
 the scene every hour myriads of living creatures, 
 each hour causes new legions to rise up in order to 
 replace them. It is a whirlwind of being, a chain 
 without end." 
 
 He was a firm believer in the "Grand Ideas," of 
 Plato, and, with Cuvier and Agassiz, he contended 
 that "the statuary who tempers the clay from which 
 to make his model has already conceived in his 
 mind the statue which he is about to produce. Thus 
 it is with the Supreme Artist. His plan from all 
 eternity is present to His thought. He will execute 
 the work in one day, or in a thousand ages. Time 
 is nothing to Him, the work is conceived, it is cre- 
 ated, and each of its parts is only the realization of 
 the creative thought and its predetermined develop- 
 ment in time and space. 
 
 "The more we advance in the study of Nature," 
 he quotes approvingly from Oswald Heer, "the more 
 profound becomes our conviction, that belief in an 
 Almighty Creator and a Divine Wisdom, who has 
 created the heavens and the earth- according to an 
 eternal and preconceived plan, can alone resolve the 
 enigmas of Nature, as well as those of human life, 
 Let us still erect statues to men who have been use- 
 ful to their fellow-creatures, and have distinguished 
 themselves by their genius, but let us not forget 
 what we owe to Him who has placed such marvels 
 in a grain of sand, a word in every drop of water." 
 
 As Van Beneden saw it, there was no conflict 
 between science and religion, nor was there, accord- 
 
170 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 ing to his view, any conflict possible. The word of 
 God, as contained in the Book of Books, could not 
 be at variance with the testimony of the rocks, or 
 the unequivocal teachings of animate nature. Cer- 
 tain scientific theories might be opposed to individ- 
 ual opinions, but science in contradiction to revela- 
 tion, never. 
 
 Among those who are capable of appreciating 
 the bearing and value of the great Belgian's work, 
 few among contemporary scientists stood so high as 
 Van Beneden That his name is not more familiar 
 to the public at large is due to the rigidly scientific 
 character of his work, and to the fact that it was 
 limited mostly to subjects in which only devotees 
 of science and medicine are directly interested. But 
 as an evidence of the esteem in which he was held 
 by the world of science, it is sufficient to state that 
 the chief learned societies of both Europe and Am- 
 erica vied with one another in showing him honor. 
 From Moscow to San Francisco, from Edinburgh to 
 far-off, antipodal Wellington, scientific associations 
 and universities recognized his ability and the mag- 
 nitude of his discoveries, by enrolling him among 
 their members, and by conferring upon him the 
 highest degrees in their gift. He was one of the 
 few corresponding members of the French Institute — 
 a distinction as coveted as it is rare. But more than 
 this: Princes and governments emulated societies 
 and universities in honoring the "grand old man of 
 Louvain," and in bestowing upon him their most 
 
THE RIVAL OF PASTEUR. 1 71 
 
 cherished orders and insignia. Dom Pedro, of 
 Brazil, who entertained a genuine affection for the 
 illustrious savant, was wont to call him cher mattre, 
 and his own sovereign held him in such high esteem 
 that he conferred upon him the highest degree of 
 the nation's order of knighthood, the order of 
 Leopold. 
 
 Well, then, could Louvain's faculty exclaim, by 
 the mouth of its spokesman, Mgr. Abbeloos, on the 
 occasion of the memorial services held a few days 
 after the great scientist's demise : "Cecidit corona 
 capitis nostri" — we have lost our glory and our 
 crown. He was indeed the glory of the distinguished 
 body with which he was so long associated, and it 
 will be long before Louvain, and long before Bel- 
 gium, shall look upon his like again. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 LOUIS PASTEUR AND HIS LIFE-WORK. 
 
 AMONG the men of science whom it has been 
 my good fortune to meet, no one more nearly 
 approaches my ideal of the true savant than the 
 eminent chemist and biologist, Louis Pasteur. And 
 among the various institutions that I have visited, 
 which are specially devoted to the prosecution of 
 science, or are the outgrowth of scientific research, 
 no one has ever possessed for me a greater interest 
 than the famous Institut Pasteur, in Paris. This 
 noble foundation, a monument to the genius of Pas- 
 teur, and a witness to the liberality and the intelli- 
 gent and humane spirit of the French government, 
 is the best illustration, if any were now needed, of 
 the value of experimental science, and of the prac- 
 tical results which accrue from the quiet and patient 
 investigations that are being carried on in so many 
 of our modern laboratories. 
 
 For the past forty years the name of Pasteur has 
 been a household word throughout the civilized 
 world. For ages to come his memory will be held 
 in benediction, and France will point to him with 
 pride as one of the most illustrious of her sons. 
 
 To give even a resume of Pasteur's life-work 
 172 
 
LOUIS PASTEUR AND HIS LIFE-WORK. 173 
 
 would fill a large volume. The record of his 
 achievements is the history of a great and important 
 branch of science. He has opened up new avenues 
 of knowledge, and has given an explanation of 
 many facts and phenomena that had before been in- 
 volved in obscurity and mystery. He has enlarged 
 the domain of chemistry and biology, and has raised 
 medicine from an empirical art to a veritable science. 
 Columbus-like, he has discovered a new world — 
 "The world of the infinitely little," as Pouchet was 
 wont to call it — and demonstrated that it is this 
 world which is the chief agent of all the changes 
 which we witness in organized matter, and that it is 
 the prime, if not the sole, cause of all forms of 
 disease. 
 
 Now that the eyes of the world are turned toward 
 Pasteur as the one whose researches have promised 
 a cure for that dread visitant of Asia, the cholera, 
 I am sure my readers will be pleased to learn some- 
 thing of the one who has been officially designated 
 "the glory of France, the benefactor of agriculture 
 and of French industries"; of one, too, who is no 
 less distinguished as a devoted Catholic than as an 
 eminent scientist; of one who, while an ornament 
 to science as well as an honor to religion, glories 
 more in being known as a son of the Church of 
 Rome than in being recognized as one of the im- 
 mortals of the Institute of France.' 
 
 ' Although this article appeared nearly three years before 
 Pasteur's death — he died Sept. 28, 1895 — I have deemed it best 
 to leave it as it was originally written. 
 
174 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 Louis Pasteur was born December 27, 1822, and 
 hence will soon have reached the allotted term of 
 "three-score and ten years." He was an only child, 
 and from his earliest years he exhibited the germs 
 of those talents that in after-life were to render him 
 so famous. His good and devoted parents, although 
 of humble means, determined to give him a good 
 education, and to attain this end they spared no 
 efforts, and considered no sacrifices too great. "We 
 will," they proudly declared, "make him an edu- 
 cated man"; and how well the youth seconded their 
 wishes is attested by his subsequent career. 
 
 At an early age he manifested a marked taste for 
 chemistry and physics, the pursuit of which soon 
 became his controlling passion. He loved to con- 
 verse with those who could add to his information 
 on these subjects, and never felt happier than when 
 in the company of those who had already won dis- 
 tinction in some of the departments of chemical or 
 physical science. Scientific experiments always had 
 a special charm for him, and he eagerly embraced 
 every opportunity by which he could extend his 
 knowledge of Nature by laboratory work. While 
 yet a young man he evinced a talent for the art of 
 experimentation that commanded the admiration of 
 all who saw him, and which eventually made him an 
 adept without a peer. 
 
 Joined to his taste and talent for experimental 
 work, and to his dexterity and skill in the manipu- 
 lation and designing of instruments, he seemed to 
 
LOUIS PASTEUR AND HIS LIFE-WORK. 175 
 
 be imbued in an eminent degree with the spirit of 
 the inductive philosophy. No one, indeed, has ever 
 employed the inductive method of research more 
 generally or more successfully than he. And the 
 facility with which he could make inductions, even 
 in the most puzzling cases, was marvelous even to 
 those who knew best the genius of the man. But 
 with all this he never lost sight of the natural lim- 
 itations of the method that served his purposes so 
 well. Unlike many scientists of our day, he never 
 permits himself to use the method of induction 
 where deduction alone should be paramount. When 
 dealing with questions of philosophy or religion he 
 employs the principles of Catholic theology and 
 metaphysics, and not those of a system that is avail- 
 able only for sciences which are based on observa- 
 tion and experiment. Like his distinguished coun- 
 trymen, Mersenne and Ampere, he seems to possess 
 an intuitive knowledge of the best methods of ques- 
 tioning Nature and of drawing from her those secrets 
 which she discloses only to the favored few. Like 
 Faraday and Koenig, he is endowed with a mind 
 fertile in resources, and a genius that is quick to de- 
 vise apparatus and methods for proving or disprov- 
 ing a theory. No one can interpret more readil}- 
 than he the language of experiment, or recognize 
 more surely the principles which underlie the phe- 
 nomena observed, or discover more readily the laws 
 to which experiment leads. 
 
 Pasteur's first honors were won in the domain of 
 
176 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 molecular physics. In this branch of science, which 
 he pursued in the celebrated Ecole Normale, at Paris, 
 he was fortunate enough to offer a solution of some 
 questions that had long baffled the ablest chemists 
 and physicists of Europe. But scarcely was he 
 fairly started in this line of work, for which he had 
 a special inclination, when an incident occurred 
 which changed completely the nature of his investi- 
 gations. This was his appointment, at the early age 
 of thirty-two years, as Dean of the Faculty of Sci- 
 ence at Lille. Here he soon found himself engaged 
 in the study of the then obscure subject of fermen- 
 tation. Some experiments which he made while at 
 the Ecole Normale led him to suspect that fermen- 
 tation was in some, if not in all, cases due to the 
 action of certain microscopic organisms. He was 
 not long in proving the truth of his assumption, and 
 in opening up that new world of "the infinitely lit- 
 tle " whose discovery has made Pasteur so famous, 
 and rendered him such a benefactor of his race. 
 One experiment suggested another, and a number of 
 the most brilliant and far-reaching discoveries fol- 
 lowed in rapid succession. According to the old 
 theory, which the great German chemist, Justus von 
 Liebig, revived, fermentation was only a form of 
 oxidation, and could take place only in contact with 
 air. The illustrious chemists, Berzelius and Mit- 
 scherlich, gave a different explanation of the phe- 
 nomenon. According to their view, a ferment was 
 endowed with a very mysterious force, to which they 
 
LOUIS PASTEUR AND HIS LIFE-WORK. 177 
 
 gave the name catalytic, and it brought about de- 
 composition of fermentable matter by its mere 
 presence, or by simple contact with matter capable 
 of being fermented. 
 
 Pasteur was not slow in demolishing Liebig's 
 theory, by demonstrating that fermentable matter 
 never ferments when in contact with perfectly pure 
 air or oxygen. More than this, he proved, in the 
 most conclusive manner, that in many cases air and 
 oxygen not only impede, but are absolutely fatal to 
 fermentation. He demonstrated the falsity of the 
 theory of Berzelius and Mitscherlich by showing that 
 fermentation, far from being the result of some mys- 
 terious catalytic force, was in reality only a phenome- 
 non of nutrition. He showed that what had previ- 
 ously been regarded as a ferment was only matter 
 capable of being fermented; that the real ferment 
 was, in every case, a minute microscopic organism 
 which had hitherto eluded detection. 
 
 Observations made by Leeuwenhoek, Cagniard- 
 Latour, and Schwann on the nature and action of 
 yeast seemed to point to a possible connection be- 
 tween the phenomena of fermentation and living 
 organisms, but these observations, important as they 
 were, remained barren of results until the subject 
 was taken up anew by Pasteur. Touched by his 
 magic wand, one ferment shed light on the nature 
 and habits of another. Indeed, the first successful 
 experiment made by the eminent biologist regarding 
 the cause of fermentation was to him an open se- 
 
178 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 same which disclosed a new order of life whose 
 existence until then had not even been suspected. 
 
 He not only discovered that fermentation was 
 due in all cases to microscopic organisms, but that 
 different fermentable bodies are acted upon by dif- 
 ferent ferments. Thus, the ferment of milk is 
 different from that of butter, while that of beer is 
 different from that of wine. Milk curdles, butter 
 becomes rancid, beer deteriorates, wine sours, not 
 because of oxidation by the air, as Liebig and others 
 imagined, and still less because of some mysterious 
 catalytic force, as others conjectured, but because 
 they are acted upon by the countless microscopic or- 
 ganisms which find in these various substances their 
 proper aliment. What serves as good for one ferment 
 will not afford nourishment to another. In this re- 
 spect, these lowest forms of life are as different from 
 one another, probably more so, than are forms of life 
 which are much higher in the scale of animated na- 
 ture. 
 
 From the phenomena of fermentation to those of 
 putrefaction and slow combustion was but a step. 
 The clear vision of Pasteur saw at a glance that the 
 difference between these various phenomena was 
 nominal rather than real. The putrefaction of flesh 
 and blood, the rotting of wood and leaves, the decay 
 of all forms of animal and vegetable matter were 
 only modifications of the same process that obtains 
 in fermentation. Owing to the presence of sulphur 
 and phosphorous in animal matter, elements that are 
 
LOUIS PASTEUR AND HIS LIFE-WORK. 179 
 
 not found in vegetable tissues, the fermentation of 
 animal compounds is attended with the evolution of 
 certain foul-smelling gases that are never found 
 among the products of vegetable decomposition. 
 
 In all these cases the agents of change and de- 
 struction are microscopic animalculae of various 
 species and forms, sometimes little round cells, at 
 others minute rods of varying length; in one case 
 straight, and in another curved or spiral-shaped. 
 They attack dead matter internally and externally, 
 and multiply at a rate that the imagination fails to 
 grasp. 
 
 These little cells and rods vary in diameter from 
 the one twenty-fifth to the one fifty-thousandth of 
 an inch in diameter. But if thus infinitesimal in 
 size, they, under suitable conditions, soon become 
 almost infinite in number. One of these microbes, 
 it has been computed, will in a single day give rise 
 to no less than twenty millions of similar organisms, 
 each of which is capable of producing other microbes 
 at a similar prodigious rate. 
 
 Early in the course of his investigations, Pasteur 
 discovered that the micro-organisms which are the 
 causes of fermentation, putrefaction, and slow com- 
 bustion might be divided into two distinct classes. 
 Some required a supply of air or oxygen in order to 
 live. These he called aerobia. Others, he found, 
 could exist without oxygen. To some, even air is 
 fatal. These he named anaerobia. In some cases of 
 fermentation only aerobic microbes occur, while in 
 
I So SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 Others anaerobic organisms alone are present. In still 
 other cases both aerobia and anaerobia are at work, 
 the former on the surface of the decaying body, the 
 latter m the interior, away from contact with the at- 
 mosphere. These investigations and discoveries 
 threw a flood of light on a number of phenomena 
 which many men of science had essayed to explain, 
 but in vain. Their first announcement in the French 
 Academy, of which Pasteur at an early age had been 
 elected a member, came as a revelation, and opened 
 up a vista, the extent of which even now, after so 
 much has been accomplished, can not be fully real- 
 ized. To Pasteur himself, each new discovery served 
 as a powerful search-light that illumined the broad 
 but .unknown field before him, a field which he had 
 determined to explore, with what success the whole 
 world now knows. 
 
 Forms of life which were unknown before Pasteur 
 began his researches were now found to exist every- 
 where and in countless numbers. The atmosphere 
 is so filled with them that only by special precau- 
 tions can air be obtained that is absolutely free from 
 them. Every object that meets our gaze swarms 
 with them. Smaller, even, than the invisible motes 
 in the sunbeam, they can be seen only under the 
 higher powers of the microscope, and then frequently 
 only as simple, structureless cells. And yet they 
 are endowed with a vitality and a capacity of chang- 
 ing and destroying the higher forms of organic 
 matter that excites our astonishment more in pro- 
 
LOUIS PASTEUR AND HIS LIFE-WORK. i8l 
 
 portion as we study them more closely. They are 
 veritable masters of the world. They preside over 
 the work of death, and return to the atmosphere all 
 that which has been endowed with life, whether ani- 
 mal or vegetable. 
 
 After having demonstrated the ubiquitous char- 
 acter of these micro-organisms, and shown what 
 powerful agents they are in the decomposition of 
 animal and vegetable matter, Pasteur found himself 
 the possessor of the key to the solution of a number 
 of problems of the highest practical importance. 
 Among these were problems regarding the manufac- 
 ture of vinegar, wine, and beer. 
 
 From time immemorial, manufacturers of these 
 staple articles of commerce had experienced num- 
 berless difficulties not only in their manufacture, but 
 still more in their preservation. All sorts of the- 
 ories were advanced to explain the difficulties en- 
 countered. Some thought that the real cause of the 
 trouble was to be sought in the oxygen of the air. 
 Others imagined that the various constituents of 
 these liquids have a tendency to react on each other, 
 and that the character of the product is determined 
 by the nature of this molecular agitation. Pasteur, 
 however, demonstrated, by a series of experiments, 
 which were as brilliant as they were decisive, that all 
 these views were radically wrong. All the changes 
 observed, he showed, were due to certain living fer- 
 ments which filled the air, and swarmed on the 
 surfaces of the casks in which the liquids were con- 
 
1 82 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 tained, or existed in myriads in the liquids them- 
 selves. In this wise he explained the turbidity and 
 impoverishment of vinegar, the acidity and bitter- 
 ness of wine, and the sourness and putridity of beer. 
 Pasteur, however, was not content with directing 
 attention to the causes of the change, but continued 
 his researches until he was able to indicate how 
 such deleterious alterations might be prevented. 
 Naturally, the first thing to do was to destroy the 
 active agents of fermentation, the little microscopic 
 organisms that cause the deterioration of wine and 
 beer. And this he did by a method which was as 
 simple as it was scientiiic. H.e soon found that a 
 temperature of about 140° F. was fatal to the life 
 of the microbes that infested beer and wine. Noth- 
 ing, then, was easier than to raise these fluids to this 
 temperature and thus destroy all the organisms and 
 germs of organisms which might exist therein. By 
 this short and simple process both wine and beer are 
 rendered proof against fermentation, and can be 
 transported from place to place, and in any climate, 
 without danger of deterioration. This process of 
 preserving wine and beer is extensively employed in 
 both Europe and America, and has already been the 
 means of enabling the manufacturers of these articles 
 to guard against the very heavy losses which they 
 formerly sustained. As applied to beer, the process, 
 in honor of its discoverer, is known as " Pasteuriza- 
 tion," and the beer itself is called "Pasteurized" 
 beer. 
 
LOUIS PASTEUR AND HIS LIFE-WORK. 183 
 
 While engaged in his investigations of the nature 
 of fermentation, Pasteur was suddenly confronted 
 with a problem that had occupied the mind of phi- 
 losophers since the time of Aristotle, viz., that of 
 spontaneous generation. For centuries it had been 
 taught that many, if not all, of the lower forms of 
 life, especially animal parasites, come into the world 
 spontaneously; that is, that they do not proceed 
 from pre-existing germs, and have not parents like 
 themselves. The distinguished Italian scientist and 
 ecclesiastic, Abbate Spallanzani, the naturalist, Redi, 
 and Malpighi, physician to Pope Innocent XII., 
 were the first to show that the alleged cases of spon- 
 taneous generation have no foundation in fact. It 
 was, however, reserved for Pasteur to give the death- 
 blow to a theory which had obtained for nearly 
 three thousand years, and to demonstrate, by the 
 most rigorous and precise experiments, that in the 
 lowest and simplest of microscopic organisms, as 
 well as in the higher forms of life, every living 
 thing springs from some pre-existing germ and has, 
 and must have, a parent like itself. 
 
 At the termination of his researches, which were 
 characterized throughout by logical acumen and 
 consummate skill, Pasteur announced in the Sor- 
 bonne, with all the positiveness of one who is cer- 
 tain of what he declares, that "there is not one cir- 
 cumstance known at the present day which justifies 
 the assertion that microscopic organisms come into 
 the world without germs or parents like themselves. 
 
184 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 Those who maintain the contrary have been the 
 dupes of illusions and of ill-conducted experiments, 
 tainted with -errors which they know not how either 
 to perceive or avoid. Spontaneous generation is a 
 chimera." 
 
 The controversy about spontaneous generation 
 consequent on Pasteur's experiments, excited the 
 keenest interest throughout the scientific world. 
 The atheistic school of science ranged th'emselves 
 against Pasteur in a solid phalanx, because they fore- 
 saw in the disproof of spontaneous generation a 
 scientific demonstration of the falsity of their theo- 
 ries regarding the nature and origin of life. 
 
 Atheists and materialists, like Hseckel, Vogt, 
 and Biichner, had boldly denied the existence of a 
 Creator, on the ground that such a belief was un- 
 scientific. Starting with the assumption that matter 
 and force are eternal, they proclaimed that all the 
 phenomena of the universe could be explained by 
 the interaction of known physical forces, and by the 
 action of these forces on matter. Under the influ- 
 ence of magnetism or electricity, or both, brute 
 matter, they contended, would give rise to the lower 
 forms of animal and vegetable life. These primitive 
 organisms once formed would, in virtue of inherent 
 forces, and under the influence of a proper environ- 
 ment, in time develop into higher forms of life. 
 The conclusion they drew from such reasoning was 
 that God is unnecessary, and that, therefore, he does 
 not exist. To such scientists, Pasteur's demonstra- 
 
LOUIS PASTEUR AND HIS LIFE-WORK. 185 
 
 tion, that spontaneous generation is a chimera, was 
 an argumentum ad hominem, which, on their own 
 principles, was simply unanswerable. So much is 
 this the case that no scientist deserving the name 
 ever speaks of spontaneous generation except as an 
 exploded, theory, a theory that was long-lived, it is 
 true, but which is now dead and apparently beyond 
 any possibility of resuscitation. 
 
 While engaged in his researches on fermentation 
 and spontaneous generation, Pasteur was urged by 
 his friend, J. B. Dumas, to examine into the nature 
 and cause of the silk-worm epidemic that was then 
 rife in the south of France, and which threatened 
 soon to destroy one of the most important industries 
 of southern Europe unless a means could speedily 
 be found for staying the plague and preventing fur- 
 ther ravages. 
 
 Until this time Pasteur had never handled a silk- 
 worm. He could not, however, resist the appeal 
 made to come to the relief of his suffering country- 
 men, and although the work he was called upon to 
 do threatened to withdraw him indefinitely from the 
 researches in which he had met with such signal suc- 
 cess and which promised him still greater triumphs, 
 he determined thoroughly to investigate the silk- 
 worm disease and not to relinquish the self-imposed 
 task until he should bring it to a successful issue. 
 His researches on fermentation and spontaneous 
 generation had prepared him for the work, and he 
 was better qualified for such an undertaking than 
 
1 86 SCIBNCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 any man living. From the outset he was led to be- 
 lieve that the real cause of the trouble would be 
 found in certain micro-organisms similar to those 
 which occasioned the maladies of vinegar, beer, and 
 wine. Nor was he long in demonstrating the truth 
 of his assumption. Pursuing the same methods that 
 had led to such happy results on former occasions, 
 he was soon able to show that the plague was due 
 to certain corpuscles and microbes with which the 
 silk-worms were infected. 
 
 Having discovered the cause of the evil, the 
 next step was to provide a remedy, This also he 
 was able to do, but only after countless experiments 
 and the most arduous and protracted labor. So in- 
 cessant, indeed, was the toil, and so numerous were 
 the difficulties that beset his path, not to speak of 
 the criticisms and opposition which his investigations 
 provoked, that his system yielded to the pressure 
 and for a time his life was despaired of. In 1868, 
 three years after he had entered upon the study of 
 the epidemic, he was stricken with paralysis of one 
 side, from which he still suffers. Two years subse- 
 quently, however, he brought his researches to a 
 close, and had the gratification of seeing his method 
 of preventing the plague in successful operation in 
 all the great centers of silk husbandry, and of feel- 
 ing that he had rescued from what seemed to be 
 certain destruction one of the favorite and most 
 profitable industries of his native country. His 
 discoveries saved thousands of people from penury 
 
LOUIS PASTEUR AND HIS LIFE-WORK. 187 
 
 and starvation, and secured to the treasury of the 
 nation an annual revenue of millions of dollars that 
 would otherwise have been dissipated, perhaps for- 
 ever. As a mark of appreciation of his work. Na- 
 poleon nominated Pasteur a senator, and learned 
 societies of different nations hastened to show him 
 that honor which his admirable achievements had 
 won for him. But Pasteur's greatest reward was the 
 general outburst of gratitude of the thousands of 
 the laboring poor whom the pest was on the verge 
 of depriving of employment, and, with it, home and 
 the means of subsistence. 
 
 Having so completely triumphed over the silk- 
 worm epidemic, Pasteur next directed his attention 
 to the study of infectious diseases in man and the 
 higher animals. From the time he began the study 
 of microbian life, each of his researches seemed to 
 be the stepping-stone to that which followed, and to 
 corroborate the theory that he was the first to pro- 
 mulgate regarding the nature of fermentation and 
 virulent disease. He beheld everywhere those "infi- 
 nitely little" forms of life, which to him were infinitely 
 great. He knew, too, that these were in all cases the 
 offspring of antecedent life, and hence he was able to 
 conduct his experiments and guide his researches 
 with a clearness of vision and with a certainty of 
 induction that otherwise would have been quite im- 
 possible. He took nothing for granted. He proved 
 or disproved every proposition as it was presented 
 to him, and always cleared the way of all obstacles 
 
l88 'SCIEMCE AND THB CHURCH. 
 
 before attempting an advance. His logical, perspi- 
 cacious mind would not permit him to pursue a 
 different course. Past experience had shown him 
 that this was essential to success, and the rigid, in- 
 ductive method by which he had achieved such 
 marvelous results had become so engrained in his 
 mind that working in strict accordance with it had 
 become to him a second nature. 
 
 Previous to the investigations of Pasteur, a the- 
 ory had obtained among certain naturalists and phy- 
 sicians that contagious diseases might be due to 
 animalculae and microscopic parasites, but no defi- 
 nite information had been obtained on the subject. 
 And then, too, doctors and chemists were slow to 
 accept a theory which -was so diametrically opposed 
 to that sanctioned by the name and fame of Liebig. 
 According to the illustrious German chemist and his 
 school, vital action had nothing to do with the gen- 
 esis of disease. The contagia of disease were not, 
 according to them, living things, as we now know 
 them to be, but were rather the results of certain 
 molecular changes, entirely chemical in their nature, 
 which communicated themselves to different por- 
 tions of the living subject. According to this view, 
 diseases, especially those of a communicable char- 
 acter, were engendered by certain viruses, morbific 
 influences, pandemic waves, atmospheric invasions, 
 pythogenic media, and other equally mysterious 
 agencies, all of which were entirely independent of 
 any definite living organisms. 
 
LOUIS PASTEUR AND HIS LIFE-WORK. 1S9 
 
 The first of the infectious diseases to engage the 
 attention of Pasteur was the terrible malady known 
 as splenic fever. From time immemorial this devas- 
 tating plague has created greater havoc among 
 domestic animals than any other cause. In France 
 alone, in certain years, the losses amounted to from 
 fifteen to twenty million francs. In other parts of 
 both the Old and the New Worlds equally formid- 
 able losses are occasioned by the pest. Man, too, 
 as well as his flocks and herds, was subject to the 
 disease, and large was the tribute of human victims 
 annually demanded by the fell disorder. 
 
 Not long after commencing his researches, Pas- 
 teur was able to show that the cause, and the sole 
 cause, of the malady in question, was a peculiar form 
 of microbe known as a bacillus or bacterium. Hav- 
 ing discovered the cause of the disorder, he set 
 about with characteristic determination to find a 
 counteractive. The work was long and difficult, 
 and not without danger. But great as were the 
 difficulties encountered, they succumbed perforce to 
 the genius and perseverance of the experimenter. 
 
 Pasteur was successful in finding not only the ob- 
 ject of his quest, but had, at the same time, the good 
 fortune to make a discovery which was as important 
 and as far-reaching for pathology as was that of 
 gravitation for astronomy. It was no less than an 
 extension of Jenner's great discovery of vaccina- 
 tion. 
 
 After long and toilsome vigils, and a series of 
 
ipo SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 experiments, whose number and ingenuity fill one 
 with admiration and awe, Pasteur found that he 
 could attenuate the virus of splenic fever to any de- 
 gree of potency, and that such virus could be em- 
 ployed to inoculate against the disease itself. When 
 he first announced his great discovery in the Acad- 
 emy of Sciences it was received with loud applause, 
 but so extraordinary was it deemed that there were 
 few who did not consider it too good to be true. 
 Every one saw that the discovery, if real, meant a 
 complete revolution in the theory and practice of 
 medicine and surgery. If the virus of splenic fever 
 could be attenuated and the disease could be pre- 
 vented by inoculation, was it not reasonable to sup- 
 pose that the same processes would yield similar 
 results in the case of all infectious diseases? As for 
 Pasteur himself, so thoroughly had he studied the 
 nature and habits of microscopic parasites, and so 
 thoroughly had he mastered the aetiology of conta- 
 gious diseases, that he was convinced that his dis- 
 coveries in connection with splenic fever would 
 eventually admit of universal application. Subse- 
 quent experiments and investigations by himself and 
 others have fully realized his most sanguine expec- 
 tations, and furnished to the world another and 
 striking instance of the remarkable clearness and 
 compass of his view as an interpreter of Nature and 
 Nature's laws. 
 
 Since Pasteur commenced his researches on fer- 
 mentation and putrefaction, the trend and goal of 
 
LOUIS PASTEUR AND HIS LIFE-WORK. 191 
 
 medical and surgical science have been in the direc- 
 tion indicated by the germ theory of disease, as 
 contra-distinguished from the misleading and un- 
 fruitful theory of Liebig and his followers. As a 
 consequence, the results obtained have been as mar- 
 velous as the germ theory is comprehensive. 
 
 No sooner was Pasteur's great discovery made 
 public than he was called upon to give a demonstra- 
 tion, on a large scale, of the efficacy of his method 
 of treatment. And so successful were his experi- 
 ments that all doubts as to the truth of his predic- 
 tions were at once dispelled. Even those who had 
 been most skeptical united in admitting the conclu- 
 siveness of the demonstration which had been given, 
 and in proclaiming that Pasteur's discovery marked 
 the beginning of a new era in the annals of veteri- 
 nary science, as well as a grand step forward in 
 economic stock-raising. The vaccination of sheep, 
 horses, and cattle soon became general, and was 
 everywhere resorted to as a sure preventive against 
 the malady that for centuries had so decimated the 
 flocks and herds of Europe and the Orient, not to 
 speak of the ravages it had caused in the New 
 World, especially in parts of South America. 
 
 But Pasteur's researches, important as they were 
 in conserving and promoting some of the most im- 
 portant of the world's industries, were of still more 
 value when applied to the treatment of human dis- 
 eases, which annually claim so many thousands of 
 victims. Not to speak of splenic fever, to which 
 
192 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 allusion has already been made, of septicemia, and 
 other equally grave maladies, it will suffice here to 
 instance the antiseptic method of surgery introduced 
 by the celebrated Lister, which is almost universally 
 employed, and which has been productive of such 
 beneficial results. 
 
 Previous to the introduction of the system of 
 this famous surgeon, the mortality in the hospitals, 
 consequent on wounds and surgical operations^ was 
 frightful. Acting in accordance with principles 
 based on Pasteur's discoveries. Lister was able to 
 reduce the percentage of deaths to a small fraction 
 of what it had previously been. In a letter addres- 
 sed to Pasteur the eminent English surgeon writes: 
 "Allow me to take this opportunity of sending you 
 my most cordial thanks for having, by your brilliant 
 researches, demonstrated to me the truth of the 
 germ theory of putrefaction, thus giving me the 
 only principle which could lead to a happy end 
 the antiseptic system." 
 
 In Listerism, as in Pasteurism, the practitioner or 
 operator is not left in the dark as to the agencies he 
 is combating. He is not fighting against some prob- 
 lematic virus, or some mysterious influence, but 
 against a visible, tangible entity. The problem be- 
 fore him is to remove or destroy certain parasitic 
 organisms, whose habits and life-history have been 
 carefully studied and are thoroughly understood. 
 Knowledge takes the place of theory, and certainty 
 
LOUIS PASTEUR AND HIS LIFE-WORK. 1 93 
 
 supersedes speculation and processes which were at 
 best only tentative. 
 
 Pasteur's researches on splenic fever, septicemia, 
 fowl and swine cholera, and his discovery of vac- 
 cines, together with a method of attenuating the 
 most virulent viruses for combating these maladies, 
 paved the way for still greater undertakings and for 
 more brilliant conquests. 
 
 Encouraged by the results he had already real- 
 ized, and confident of the general applicability of 
 his discoveries, he next proceeded to investigate 
 that formidable malady which had hitherto baffled 
 all attempts to arrest it by therapeutical agents. 
 For generations rabies, or hydrophobia, had claimed 
 annually a large number of victims, especially in 
 France and Russsia. When fully developed it was 
 regarded as being as incurable as the leprosy, while 
 the intense sufferings which characterized the dis- 
 order were such as to make it the most dreaded of 
 bodily afflictions. 
 
 For several long years Pasteur, with a corps of 
 devoted and enthusiastic assistants, labored at the 
 problem with all the zeal and energy so character- 
 istic of his nature. Thousands of experiments were 
 made and recorded, tens of thousands of observa- 
 tions were compared and classified, and all with the 
 most scrupulous care and exactitude. Finally, he 
 was rewarded by finding himself able successfully 
 to inoculate dogs against the most virulent forms 
 
194 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 of the disease. Just at this stage of his investiga- 
 tions he was visited, July 6, 1886, by two persons 
 from Alsace who had been bitten by mad dogs. One 
 of these was Joseph Meister, a lad nine years of 
 age, who had received no fewer than fourteen 
 wounds, and whose death seemed inevitable. After 
 consulting with some of his associates, and not with- 
 out great anxiety as to the outcome, Pasteur deter- 
 mined to try on the hapless young victim the method 
 of inoculation that had yielded such promising re- 
 sults in the laboratory. He awaited the effect of 
 his treatment with the greatest solicitude, until, after 
 the lapse of some weeks, he was assured that the 
 patient was out of danger, and that he himself had 
 achieved a glorious victory over the most terrible 
 malady with which humanity can be afflicted.' 
 
 In a short time a magnificent structure, the In- 
 stitut Pasteur, was erected to serve the double pur- 
 pose of laboratory and hospital, and here for a time 
 might be seen patients from all parts of Europe. 
 But so pronounced was the success of the new treat- 
 
 'It may interest my readers to know that young Meister, 
 a bright youth of sixteen, is now connected with the Institut 
 Pasteur. He accompanied me through the laboratories, and the 
 out-buildings in which are kept the scores of dogs, rabbits, 
 guinea pigs, pigeons, etc., which, after inoculation supply the 
 virus used in the operating-room, or which are required for the 
 experiments that are being conducted by physicians and biol- 
 ogists from all parts of Europe and America. The highest 
 ambition of young Joseph is to become a doctor, and to spend 
 his life in the Institut Pasteur. It is needless to say that he 
 has an unbounded admiration for the one who snatched him 
 from the jaws of the most frightful of deaths. " I think," 
 said the boy to me, " that Pasteur is the greatest man that has 
 ever lived." 
 
LOUIS PASTEUR AND HIS LIFE-WORK. 195 
 
 ment that similar institutions were called for and 
 established elsewhere. Now there are upward of 
 twenty of them in different parts of the Old and 
 New Worlds. 
 
 From the very great mortality which formerly 
 characterized the malady, the percentage of deaths 
 has been reduced to a small fraction of one per 
 cent. Hence, it will be seen that the method is well- 
 nigh perfect, and success in any given case, if taken 
 in time, is almost certain. 
 
 For some years past "the great savant of France," 
 as his countrymen love to call him, has been devot- 
 ing special attention to that dread scourge of Asia, 
 the cholera. Will he be as successful this time as 
 he has been in his previous undertakings ? As to 
 myself, I have no doubt about the result. Armed 
 with the accumulated knowledge and experience of 
 nearly half a century, endowed with a genius for ex- 
 perimentation such as no other man probably ever 
 possessed in such an eminent degree, and provided 
 with all the appliances that ingenuity can devise, or 
 that the most liberal institution can supply, we need 
 entertain no doubts as to the outcome of the experi- 
 ments which are now being conducted at the Institut 
 Pasteur. Even at this writing there is reason to be- 
 lieve that Pasteur has arrived at a solution of the 
 problem on which he has been so long laboring. 
 But he is so cautious and conservative that he never 
 makes an announcement until he has studied every 
 phase of the case, and made allowance for all con- 
 
196 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 tingencies. When he does finally announce a cure 
 for cholera, we may have the same confidence in its 
 efficacy as every one now has in his treatment of the 
 other virulent diseases over which he has so signally 
 triumphed.' 
 
 In the researches with which he is now occupied 
 Pasteur is not groping in the dark, or dealing with 
 some occult power that eludes his observation. On the 
 contrary, the enemy he has to combat is as real and 
 tangible as a corps of Prussian soldiers. He is fully 
 acquainted with its nature and strength, and with its 
 methods of advance and attack. The problem now 
 before him is not the location of the foe, for he has 
 it always under his eye, but to devise some means 
 of staying the progress of the invader, or, if possible, 
 of destroying it by turning it against itself, by the 
 same system of inoculation that has worked so ad- 
 mirably in the case of splenic fever and hydro- 
 phobia. 
 
 Until, by observation and experiment, he has 
 made himself sure of the ground on which he stands, 
 Pasteur is the most diffident of men. But once he 
 has experiment to back him up, he fights with a 
 boldness and an impetuosity that to an onlooker sa- 
 vors of rashness. But he is not rash. He is the 
 most prudent and conservative of scientists. He is 
 
 'When I last saw Pasteur, not long before his death, he 
 told me that he had just received word from one of his assist- 
 ants in India, where experiments were being conducted in the 
 cholera-stricken districts, which removed all doubt regarding 
 the success of his method of inoculating against cholera. 
 
LOUIS PASTEUR AND HIS LIFE-WORK. 197 
 
 bold because he is certain that he is right. Woe 
 betide the unfortunate adversary who falls into his 
 terrible hands ! for, as a member of the Academy of 
 Science once said to a member of the Academy of 
 Medicine, who spoke of scientifically strangling the 
 illustrious biologist, " Pasteur is never mistaken." 
 
 To few men has it been vouchsafed, as to Pasteur, 
 to witness the beneficent results of their labors and 
 discoveries. No man has encountered more oppo- 
 sition than he; no man has fought more and fiercer 
 battles; no man has won so many victories. He has 
 now the satisfaction of seeing his theories almost 
 universally accepted; of knowing that his principles 
 are everywhere triumphant, and that his discoveries 
 have been instrumental in effecting untold good for 
 the amelioration of the condition of suffering hu- 
 manity. 
 
 Honors have been showered upon him by his own 
 and by foreign countries, and throughout the civil- 
 ized world he is reverently spoken of as one of the 
 greatest benefactors of his race. 
 
 In 1862 he was elected a member of the French 
 Institute, of which he has ever since been one of the 
 most indefatigable and successful workers, as well as 
 the most distinguished representative. The French 
 government has granted him a pension of 20,000 
 francs "in consideration of his services to science 
 and industry," a form of recognition that has but 
 few, if any, precedents in France, but something that 
 was more than merited. In 1868 he was awarded a 
 
198 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 prize of 10,000 florins by the Agricultural Minister 
 of Austria for his researches on the disease of silk- 
 worms. Five years later the Societe d'Encourage- 
 ment awarded him a prize of 12,000 francs for his 
 studies on fermentation, and for the remedy discov- 
 ered by him for the silk-worm disease. 
 
 A recent writer, in referring to Pasteur, speaks of 
 him as one "whose researches have yielded so much 
 material profit that one thinks of him as of the 
 orange-tree standing in all the glory of blossom and 
 fruit at the same time." With truth, therefore, did 
 Professor Huxley declare that " Pasteur's discov- 
 eries suffice, of themselves, to cover the war indem- 
 nity of five milliards of francs paid by France to 
 Germany." 
 
 This is a great deal to say of the work of one 
 man, but to any one acquainted with the marvelous 
 achievements of the distinguished Frenchman it will 
 not appear as an exaggeration. But, extraordinary 
 as is the work that has already been accomplished, 
 much yet remains for future observers and experi- 
 menters. Pasteur himself acknowledges that his 
 discoveries are but the beginning of the grand tri- 
 umphs which the future shall witness. "You will 
 see," he frequently remarks, "how it will all grow 
 by and by. Would that my time were longer!" 
 
 For the past third of a century Pasteur has been 
 a prolific writer. Besides his communications to 
 the French Academy, and numerous contributions 
 to scientific journals, he has written several works 
 
LOUIS PASTEUR AND HIS LIFE-WORK. 199 
 
 on fermentation, and on the maladies of wine, beer, 
 vinegar, and the silk-worm, which, since their publi- 
 cation, have been the acknowledged standards on 
 the subjects of which they treat. He has a clear, 
 trenchant style, and in all his productions he shows 
 himself a consummate master of the art of exposi- 
 tion. Some of the addresses he has delivered be- 
 fore the Academy are models of chaste and polished 
 diction, and exhibit a verve that betokens a highly- 
 cultivated imagination, as well as true poetic instinct. 
 They are especially remarkable for the manner in 
 which he champions the cause of revealed truth, of 
 which he has on all occasions shown himself an ar- 
 dent and intrepid defender. 
 
 In his discourse pronounced on the occasion of 
 his reception into the French Institute, he referred 
 to the teachings of faith as an instrument of prog- 
 ress and as a safeguard for the man of science, and 
 declared that if we were deprived of the conceptions 
 due to these teachings, "science would lose that 
 grandeur which it possesses in virtue of its secret 
 relations with the divine verities." On another oc- 
 casion, two decades later, when delivering the eulogy 
 on M. Littre, one of his eonfreres in the Academy, 
 the old man eloquently tells his associates of the 
 Institute that "the conception of the infinite in cre- 
 ation is everywhere irresistibly manifest. It places 
 the supernatural in every human heart. The idea 
 of God is a form of the idea of the infinite." 
 
 Not only has Pasteur on all occasions the cour- 
 
200 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 age of his convictions, but he puts in practice the 
 faith he so openly and courageously professes. I 
 have said that he is prouder of being a Catholic than 
 of being an Academician. This is characteristic of 
 the man. Worldly honors are to him but ineffective 
 baubles and hollow gewgaws, except in so far as 
 they are an evidence of what he has achieved for 
 the betterment of the condition of his fellow-men. 
 Of a charitable and generous nature, he is ever 
 ready to extend a helping hand to the poor and the 
 afflicted. Shortly before my last trip to the Institut 
 Pasteur a good religious brother brought to him a 
 boy who had just been bitten by a rabid dog. The 
 brother explained to M. Pasteur that the parents of 
 the lad were in very straitened circumstances, and 
 would not be able to pay much for the treatment of 
 their son, or for his maintenance at the hospital. 
 "Leave that to me, please, mon frere. I shall pro- 
 vide for the boy myself and see that he receives 
 every attention. Call for him ten days hence, 
 and he will be well and out of danger." Ten days 
 later the lad was returned to his overjoyed pa- 
 rents, and without a centime of expense to them, 
 sound and whole. It was difficult to tell to whom 
 this kind action brought the greater happiness; the 
 parents, whose son had been rescued from an immi- 
 nent and frightful death, or Pasteur, who had given 
 the patient a new lease of life, when, but for his skill, 
 there was little or no hope for its conservation. But 
 this is only one of the many instances of his liber- 
 
LOUIS PASTEUR AND HIS LIFE-WORK. 201 
 
 ality and kindly disposition. He is always, in a quiet 
 and unobserved way, performing just such noble ac- 
 tions, and there is not, I venture to assert, a single 
 person in the whole of Paris to whom the poor and 
 unfortunate can appeal with greater assurance of 
 comfort and relief. 
 
 Notwithstanding his long experience in the lab- 
 oratory and his familiarity with every phase of brute 
 and human suffering, Pasteur still retains a nature 
 as gentle and a heart as tender as a woman's. While 
 talking with him one day in the Institut Pasteur, 
 in a hallway adjoining the operating room, we pres- 
 ently heard the smothered cry of a child who was 
 being inoculated against rabies. Pasteur started 
 with an expression of deep anguish. " Come away," 
 he said, "where we cannot hear these cries of pain. 
 I am neither a physician nor a surgeon, and I cannot 
 bear such sounds of distress." 
 
 Contrary to what is generally supposed, Pasteur 
 does not operate on any of the thousands of patients 
 who annually flock to his laboratory. He delegates 
 the work of inoculation to a staff of trained sur- 
 geons, who prepare and administer the prophylactic 
 virus under his immediate supervision. I have never 
 seen him in the operating room, and he studiously 
 avoids it unless called there by stern duty, which he 
 never shirks. He cannot endure any exhibition of 
 human suffering, and he is as little inured to it to- 
 day as he was when he began his researches on the 
 aetiology of virulent disease. 
 
203 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 It is difficult to appreciate the magnitude and im- 
 portance of Pasteur's life-work, or to over-estimate 
 the extent to which mankind is his debtor. Like 
 Copernicus and Galileo, Kepler and Newton, he has 
 cleared away difficulties that before him were insu- 
 perable barriers to progress, and has demonstrated 
 the existence of law and order where previously all 
 was thought to be chance and chaos. 
 
 Alexander is called great because he worsted 
 in battle the barbarous hordes of the East. Caesar 
 is awarded the laurel crown of victory for his con- 
 quests in Germany and Gaul. Napoleon is honored 
 with triumphal arches, and saluted as the world's 
 greatest chieftain, because he was able to vanquish 
 the combined armies of Europe. In Pasteur we 
 have one, who, in the seclusion of his laboratory, 
 without noise and without bloodshed, has proved 
 himself a greater conqueror than either Alexander, 
 or Csesar, or Napoleon. In him we honor the hero 
 who has triumphed over the plague that for centuries 
 had demanded such formidable tributes from all the 
 nations of the earth. To him suffering humanity 
 is indebted for illumining with the search-light of 
 his genius a world, the world of the infinitely little, 
 the world of microscopic parasites, that, prior to his 
 time, had been shrouded in more than Cimmerian 
 darkness. Chemists and biologists, physicians and 
 surgeons, have to thank him for transporting them 
 across a gulf seemingly more impassable than a 
 Serbonian bog, and putting them in a position to 
 
LOUIS PASTEUR AND HIS LIFE-WORK. 203 
 
 cope with an enemy which had hitherto occupied a 
 coign of vantage from which it could not be dis- 
 lodged. Hence, so long as disease shall continue 
 to claim its victims, and so long as suffering may be 
 assuaged; so long as men shall esteem worth and 
 merit, and so long as gratitude shall find a place in 
 their hearts, so long also will the world applaud the 
 achievements and be moved by the example of that 
 illustrious votary of science, and that loyal son of 
 the Church, Louis Pasteur. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A NEW SYSTEM OF WRITING FOR THE BLIND. 
 
 FROM the earliest ages of Christianity those af- 
 flicted with the loss of sight have ever been 
 objects of pity and commiseration, but, strange as it 
 may appear, little was done for their instruction and 
 for the amelioration of their condition of dark and 
 perpetual isolation until the end of the last century. 
 Then it was that M. Valentin Haiiy, the brother of 
 the illustrious Abbe Haiiy, the father of crystal- 
 lography, entered upon his philanthropic career, and 
 proved to the world not only the possibility, but 
 also the practicability, of the general education of 
 the blind. 
 
 In 1784 he inaugurated in Paris the first institu- 
 tion for the education of the blind which had ever 
 been successfully attempted. Previous efforts, it is 
 true, had been made by divers persons to enable the 
 sightless to enjoy some of the advantages of an 
 education, but these were attended with only very 
 limited success. As early as 1670 Padre Lana 
 Terzi, an Italian Jesuit, wrote a treatise on the in- 
 struction of the blind, while almost a century later 
 the Abbe Deschamps drew up a plan for their in- 
 
 204 
 
WRITING FOR THE BLIND. 205 
 
 struction in reading and writing. But these were 
 only tentative efforts which were not destined to is- 
 sue in any practical or lasting results. 
 
 Haiiy was the first one who had the happy idea 
 to print in characters which could be recognized by 
 the touch. His first book, "Essay on the Education 
 of the Blind," printed in raised or relief letters, was 
 published in 1786, and was subsequently translated 
 into English by the blind poet, Dr. Thomas Black- 
 lock. By Haiiy's invention the blind were enabled 
 to read with their fingers, but as yet no means had 
 been devised which would enable them to write. 
 
 The first one to propose a practical and success- 
 ful method of writing for the blind was M. Louis 
 Braille, a blind pupil of the Institut des Jeunes Aveu- 
 gles in Paris. This was in 1834. The merits of 
 Braille's invention were at once recognized, and his 
 system of writing, like Haiiy's system of reading, 
 was soon almost universally accepted and employed 
 in the education of the blind. Other systems both 
 for printing and writing soon followed those of 
 Haiiy and Braille. Among these are to be noted 
 that of the Abbe Carton, a modification of Braille's, 
 which has had a certain vogue in Belgium. In some 
 of the systems introduced Roman letters, more or 
 less modified, are used. In others, stenographic 
 characters are employed, while in others still, a pho- 
 netic alphabet is adopted. The systems which 
 have been in most general use in Great Britain and 
 the United States are those devised by Fry, Moon, 
 
2o6 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 Alston, and Howe, in all of which the characters 
 deviate more or less widely from Roman letters. 
 In France, with the exception of one institution. 
 Braille's system prevails universally both for print- 
 ing and writing. It is also extensively used in 
 Belgium, Switzerland, and Holland, while for writing 
 it is employed in almost all the countries of Europe- 
 
 Although open to some objections. Braille's sys- 
 tem is quite simple both for the purposes of printing 
 and writing. As is well known, all the characters, 
 according to this method, are composed of varying 
 combinations of six dots. But useful as is this 
 system of tangible point writing and printing, and 
 great as are the blessings which it has conferred on 
 the blind, it still leaves much to be desired. It is 
 indeed an advance on the invention of Haiiy. This 
 philanthropist made reading possible for the blind; 
 Braille taught them how to write with facility. But 
 designed as it was for the blind, his invention was of 
 little or no service to them when they wished to cor- 
 respond with those who are blessed with eyesight. 
 Consisting of purely arbitrary signs, entirely dif- 
 ferent from those composing the ordinary alphabets 
 used by persons endowed with the power of vision, 
 it afforded them no assistance when they desired to 
 communicate with those who were ignorant of the 
 system. 
 
 For this reason, notwithstanding all that had 
 been achieved for the behoof and advancement of 
 the blind, it was necessary to make yet another step 
 
WRITING FOR THE BLIND. 207 
 
 forward before these hapless people could com- 
 municate readily with their more fortunate brethren. 
 It was, in a word, necessary to devise a system 
 which both the Ijlind and not-blind could readily 
 understand and use. And this invention, important 
 and far-reaching as it is, has actually been effected, 
 although little or nothing has yet been said or heard 
 of it, at least outside of France, where for some 
 years past it has been undergoing a thorough test 
 in a certain private institution which is destined 
 sooner or later to become famous. 
 
 The inventor of the new system is a lady. Mile. 
 Mulot, of Angers, France. The institution wherein 
 the method has been put to the test is a school un- 
 der the direction of the inventress herself, and is 
 known as L'Ecole des Jeunes Aveugles. Wonderful 
 results have already been achieved by the use of the 
 system, and it may be safely predicted that it is only 
 a question of time until it will supersede all others 
 in both Europe and America. Discarding all the 
 arbitrary signs and symbols which had been hitherto 
 employed. Mile. Mulot makes use of the ordinary 
 Roman letters, and at once cuts the Gordian knot, 
 which had so long puzzled some of the keenest 
 minds of the educational world. By means of a 
 simple frame, contrived for the purpose, and a blunt 
 style, she has made it possible for the blind to cor- 
 respond not only with the blind, but also with the 
 seeing with equal readiness and satisfaction. The 
 most astonishing thing about the invention is its 
 
2o8 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 simplicity, and like many other extraordinary dis- 
 coveries, it now seems strange that the idea did not 
 occur to some one long before. 
 
 The frame, or stylographic guide, employed is 
 essentially nothing more than a metal plate — ordin- 
 arily, there are two of them hinged together for the 
 sake of convenience — in which there is a number of 
 square perforations arranged in parallel lines. At 
 each corner of these perforations there are small 
 indentations which enable the writer not only to 
 move his style in and around the aperture, but also 
 permit him to move it up and down, thus forming 
 vertical lines at the right and left of the little squares. 
 By moving the style from one angle to the other 
 of the perforation, or from little notches, cut on the 
 four sides of the square, it is possible to write with 
 the greatest ease and exactness the ordinary letters, 
 large and small, of the Roman alphabet. Thus the 
 letter u is composed of one horizontal and two 
 vertical lines, the letter x of two diagonals, while 
 the letter o, is made up of two horizontal and two 
 vertical lines, all slightly curved. For letters like 
 b, d, p, q, the writer is obliged to move his style 
 into the proper indentation at one of the corners of 
 the square. Thus, d would be made like the letter 
 o with a prolongation upwards of the vertical line 
 at the right. 
 
 When it is desired to use the instrument m writ- 
 ing to the blind, a sheet of letter-paper is placed under 
 it, and above a sheet of blotting-paper, which serves 
 
WRITING FOR THE BLIND. 209 
 
 as a cushion. The blind person writes from right to 
 left of the sheet, while the style, by reason of the 
 blotting-paper underneath, brings out the letters in 
 relief on the side opposite that on which they are 
 written. On looking at the reverse side of the writ- 
 ten page, the letters are seen in their natural position, 
 and are read as in ordinary writing from left to 
 right. 
 
 The letters, it is true, are not much raised, but 
 the relief is quite sufficient to enable the delicate, 
 well-trained fingers of the blind to distinguish them 
 with the greatest ease and rapidity. When the mat- 
 ter written is intended for those whose vision has not 
 been lost, a sheet of carbon-paper is placed between 
 the cushion, or blotting-paper, and the paper on which 
 the characters are written. The letters are then not 
 only brought out in relief, as before, but they are 
 likewise colored, as they are on the printed page 
 from a type-writing machine. 
 
 So simple and so accurate is the method that 
 even little children are, by its means, enabled to be- 
 come expert writers in a comparatively short time. 
 When ordinary care is taken, the letters made are of 
 unvarying uniformity, and may even be of mechanical 
 exactness. All the lines of the written page must be 
 parallel, because the perforations in the frame are 
 parallel; and the letters must be uniform, because all 
 the little squares in the plate are of the same un- 
 varying size. For this reason, a page written with 
 the aid of Mile. Mulct's device is not only per- 
 
2IO SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 fectly legible to any one capable of reading ordinary 
 writing, but it also exhibits far more regularity than 
 is possible when the style or pen is held in the un- 
 guided hand. 
 
 But, remarkable as is the facility with which the 
 blind can write with this machine, the rapidity with 
 which they can form letters is even more astonish- 
 ing. By frequent trials it has been demonstrated 
 that they can take down ordinary dictations without 
 difficulty, and with fully as great accuracy as those 
 who have the use of their eyes. Already in a 
 number of instances the pupils of Mile. Mulot's 
 school have presented themselves before the gov- 
 ernment examining-boards, and, without having had 
 any favor shown them, have acquitted themselves 
 quite as creditably as their more fortunate com- 
 panions. 
 
 These successes, as yet but little known outside 
 the circle of a few friends of Mile. Mulot and her 
 enterprising school, open up a grand vista to the 
 educator and the humanitarian. Something that was 
 impossible a few years ago, the education of the 
 blind alongside those who are not blind, is now quite 
 feasible, and it will not be long, I trust, before they 
 will enjoy all the advantages which the new system 
 is capable of affording them. Anything that can be 
 taught by dictation can, by the new method, be 
 learned almost as well and as quickly by the blind 
 as by the sighted. It is, indeed, difficult fully to 
 
WRITING FOR THE BLIND. 211 
 
 realize as yet all the benefits that would follow from 
 the general adoption of the new method, and to 
 forecast the great amelioration that would result 
 thereby in the condition of the blind. One of the 
 most pitiful consequences of their misfortune, isola- 
 tion, would at once be removed, and a new world of 
 enjoyment and usefulness would, in consequence, be 
 opened to them. Not only would the intensity of 
 their affliction immeasurably be diminished by thus 
 being, able to associate with their more favored 
 brethren, but the world would also don a brighter 
 aspect to the friends and relatives of such unfortu- 
 nates. 
 
 But it may be asked: "Why is it that a system 
 which presents such marked advantages over all 
 other systems has not been adopted ere this, at least 
 in France, where those interested in such matters 
 should surely be cognizant of its merits?" It is the 
 old story of petty jealousy and the unwillingness on 
 the part of the self-complacent officials of state insti- 
 tutions lo admit that anything good can come from 
 private enterprise or individual initiative. The pro- 
 fessors and managers of the National Institute for 
 the Blind in Paris are not unaware of the superiority 
 of Mile. Mulot's system, but their pride forbids 
 them to acknowledge that the method followed in 
 the humble little Catholic school of Angers is supe- 
 rior to that adopted in the institutions of the nation, 
 or that the happy idea of a woman has enabled her 
 
212 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 to accomplish what men had striven for but in vain, 
 and what they themselves, were they but honest, 
 would have been glad to achieve had they but been 
 blessed with such good fortune as has been vouch- 
 safed to her whose invention they affect to ignore 
 and despise. Such ignoble jealousy and such tena- 
 cious conservation of antiquated methods in the face 
 of others which are demonstrably simpler and better, 
 are at all times reprehensible, but doubly and trebly 
 so when they affect the well-being and progress of 
 countless thousands of our sightless fellow-creatures. 
 But truth and justice always triumph, and real merit 
 is sure to be recognized sooner or later, One need 
 not, then, be a seer to predict that it is only a ques- 
 tion of time, and, I trust, but a very short time, 
 until the beneficent system of Mile. Mulot shall be 
 known and adopted not only in France, but in all 
 the institutes for the blind throughout the civilized 
 world. 
 
 What precedes may seem to some an exaggera- 
 tion of the merits of the new system, and yet I am 
 far from having exhausted all that might be said in 
 its favor. A comparison of a specimen of writing 
 according to Braille's system with one according to 
 the system devised by Mile. Mulot, together with an 
 illustration of the results which one is capable of at- 
 taining by following the new method, will prove 
 incontestably that all that has so far been said in its 
 behalf is based on facts which speak more eloquently 
 than words. • ^ 
 
t • 
 
 • • •• 
 
 • • •• 
 
 # • 
 « • 
 
 WRITING FOR THE BLIND. 213 
 
 In the following specimens of writing the first is 
 according to Braille's method, and the second ac- 
 cording to that introduced by Mile. Mulot. In the 
 first, the letters are composed of a certain number of 
 dots variously arranged, and designed solely for the 
 blind. In the second specimen, the characters em- 
 ployed are ordinary Roman letters, and are readily 
 
 ; . . •: Sochez cfonc 
 •:•,...•.•:. d^ L'Ofn't 
 . * : '.:. cli5cerner 
 
 •:•.•:.. ..' Le pLahh'sur 
 
 9 
 
 Braille's System of Writing Mlle. Mulct's System of Writnig 
 
 FOR THE Blind. for the Blind. 
 
 recognized by all who have the use of their eyes, 
 and are as easily, if not more easily, distinguished 
 by the blind as are the dots or raised points of the 
 former. The first specimen is intelligible only to 
 the sightless who are familiar with Braille's method; 
 the second is read alike by the blind and the not- 
 blind, and thus it affords a means of communication 
 between the two classes of persons that is not fur- 
 nished by the older system. 
 
 The proposition in both examples given is the 
 same, and in both instances is expressed in French. 
 Translated into English it reads: "Learn, then, to 
 distinguish a friend from a flatterer." 
 
 I have already stated that some of the pupils of 
 L'ficole des Jeuries Aveugles, at Angers, have had 
 
214 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 their ability, as well as the system they followed, 
 fully tested by the examiners of the government 
 schools, and that they have stood the test in a most 
 surprising manner. 
 
 But a far more remarkable illustration of the su- 
 perior merits of the new system is supplied by the 
 signal success of one of the pupils of Mile. Mulot, 
 M. Vento, a young man who has been blind from 
 his birth. 
 
 M. Vento was a studious pupil and bright, al- 
 though one would not say that he was exceptionally 
 talented. Having pursued his studies in the school 
 of Mile. Mulot as far as She was able to take him, 
 it was his good fortune to fall into the hands of 
 Rev. Father Goupille, C.S.C., the present learned 
 and sympathetic rector of the College of the Holy 
 Cross, at Neuilly, near Paris. The good father's in- 
 terest was at once aroused, and he immediately 
 resolved to attempt what at first sight appeared al- 
 most visionary. He had examined Mile. Mulot's 
 system and recognized its capabilities; he had con- 
 fidence in the intelligence and industry of M. Vento, 
 and he accordingly determined to take him through 
 a full classical course and prepare him for passing 
 an examination and for taking his baccalaureate in 
 the Sorbonne. 
 
 No one had ever entered upon such an undertak- 
 ing before, or, if any one did, there is no record left 
 of final success. Both teacher and pupil went to 
 work with a will. Father Goupille took his pupil — 
 
WRITING FOR THE BLIND. 215 
 
 nion aveugle, as he always affectionately called him-- 
 through a thorough course of Greek, Latin, and 
 French literature. The blind man was introduced 
 to the beauties of Homer and Virgil, and made fa- 
 miliar with the choicest specimens of poesy and 
 eloquence; ancient and modern history, logic and 
 philosophy he likewise mastered, and in a way that 
 surprised all who knew him. Science and mathe- 
 matics he had studied before he met Father Gou- 
 pille. 
 
 In due course of time M. Vento was ready to 
 present himself for his degree. "Will your pupil be 
 able to pass his examination?" I asked Father Gou- 
 pille a few days before M. Vento faced his examiners 
 in the halls of the Sorbonne. "Sans doute" — with- 
 out doubt — he instantly replied. " Not only will he 
 pass, but he will acquit himself with marked distinc- 
 tion." I thought at the time that he was a little 
 over-sanguine, but subsequent events proved that I 
 was mistaken. 
 
 Early one morning Father Goupille, his pupil, and 
 Mile. Mulot started for the Sorbonne. As I saw 
 them setting out for this venerable seat of learning, 
 I was, I must confess, quite curious to know what 
 would be the result of their undertaking. On their 
 part, however, there was neither doubt nor trepida- 
 tion; for, on the faces of all three one could read 
 the imprint of hope and confidence, the confidence 
 that comes from a consciousness of knowledge and 
 power. 
 
3l6 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 The examiners of the Sorbonne were astonished 
 beyond measure to see a blind man before them an 
 applicant for a degree, but they could not discrimi- 
 nate against him on account of his misfortune; 
 neither could they show him any special favor. 
 
 JrlK-XlU^ c e 5 . d ( 5 b ,• n q u e , c /n f. e 
 
 ^^' voas L-accoroe. fierce c, u • 
 |L voos aijTie. 
 "^ Vou£ done coffifle a lo , 
 
 ^ <^ o n n « , s s ej n c e 
 
 This last M. Vento neither expected nor desired. 
 The same questions, accordingly, were given to him 
 as were put to other candidates for a similar degree. 
 The learned professors were amazed at the readiness 
 and accuracy of the blind man's answers, and the 
 facility and exactness with which he wrote his ver- 
 sions from Latin and Greek. 
 
 The result was, as Father Goupille had predicted 
 it would be, a glorious success. It was a splendid tri- 
 umph for pupil and teacher. Above all, it was the 
 most striking and conclusive proof of the superiority 
 
WRITING FOR THE BLIND. 217 
 
 of the system devised by Mile. Mulot for the educa- 
 tion of the blind. 
 
 A short note from M. Vento to Father Goupille, 
 written immediately after the result of the examina- 
 tion was made known, announces the issue of their 
 joint efforts in words as simple as they are touch- 
 ing. I give (on preceding page) the note in French, 
 with the subjoined translation: 
 
 " Rev. Father: My distinguished success, as 
 you desired it, seems to me to be entirely yours; it 
 is God who accords it to you, because He loves you. 
 To you, then, as to Him, my lively gratitude. 
 
 "Vento." 
 
 I append two more letters as specimens of what 
 can be done by students who follow the system I 
 have been describing. The first is a New Year's 
 greeting from M. Vento to a distinguished friend 
 of L']£cole des Jeunes Aveugles at Angers, and the 
 other is a similar letter from one of the children of 
 Mile. Mulot's interesting institute. Not even the 
 most exacting could demand stronger evidence of 
 the superiority of the new system. Neither letter 
 was written for public inspection, much less for the 
 press, and yet they will bear the most searching 
 criticism that the opponents of Mile. Mulot are ca- 
 pable of making. 
 
 From the foregoing it will be seen that a new era 
 has dawned for those who have so long lived in 
 darkness and isolation. Mile. Mulot's invention is 
 destined, so soon as it is properly known and ap- 
 
2l8 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 predated, to revolutionize completely the methods 
 at present followed in the instruction of the blind. 
 She has accomplished a work that will secure for 
 her the gratitude of countless thousands, and will 
 place her among such noble benefactors of humanity 
 as Hauy, 'Braille, and the Abbes de L'Ep6e and Si- 
 
 Jeunes Aveualas 
 
 ANOERS 
 
 < COlB 
 
 Won brt!B Ri^aVcnd pcre — cese.'^bre H 
 
 tocJ JoLjfS '^Ji ^eCEfifc p're- 
 
 ftri at t'lnhiri-b inesklmd- i , .-, . 
 
 Lies pet lbs hveooLes 
 
 kU <,»)e. vlous. 6-Jet b,£n <J•/.^ge^s de,.«ndeot tous 
 
 ^ouLu accordtr w L...u<irt tts [oucs duos Leur prlere, 
 
 'de. I^acl -lljLot. tt o moi ptr- 
 
 BonoBLLcpiBnt, j'c propite- du nNk^n et du soir.^jUf 
 
 du COftimepctneob dt'Ltf noJ_ '■<^' ^^f I»'ieu ben'isse Lu 
 
 ■JeLLe, dnnie pour -Jaus of, Cornjreuwt'ioo de Skc Lroix 
 
 It if, U-Jtc me.9 plus' re-?- ''■* envoi eqb » cKucon de 
 
 ptctutux stabim&nt? d'uF- ^"^ Meobres en pwrblcoKer 
 
 U, ^«ux Lt9 ptJs «rd.nt^ ''°'"^" ^, _'lTt7','"^"^' 
 =^e iijon ceur . -, vJepbo • 
 
 •Joseph ^ecot 
 
 card, all, like herself, devoted children of Holy 
 Church, who have contributed so much towards the 
 amelioration of the condition of the blind, the deaf, 
 and the dumb, and who have made it possible for 
 these unfortunates to enjoy many of the pleasures 
 and blessings of life which were before entirely 
 closed to them. 
 
 When one remembers what a large percentage of 
 our race is afflicted with blindness — one in one thou- 
 
WRITING FOR THE BLIND. 219 
 
 sand in temperate climates and a still larger propor- 
 tion in other latitudes — one will realize more fully 
 the greatness of the benefits which must accrue from 
 the general introduction of Mile. Mulot's method of 
 writing. It puts within the reach of all who are de- 
 prived of sight a means of communication with their 
 fellow-men, and of acquiring an education in the 
 higher branches of knowledge that a short time ago 
 would have been deemed impossible. 
 
 In times past, indeed, great things were achieved 
 by the sightless. Huber, the celebrated naturalist, 
 was blind from his youth. Theresa von Paradis, the 
 noted pianist and composer, was blind from her 
 childhood. Nicholas Sanderson, the successor of 
 Newton in the chair of mathematics in the Univer- 
 sity of Cambridge, was blind from his infancy. 
 Nicaise, of Mechlin, and Peter Pontanus, deprived 
 of vision when they were but three years of age, won 
 distinction in law and divinity, philosophy and liter- 
 ature. Margaret of Ravenna and Frances Brown 
 lost their sight when but a few months old, but, not- 
 withstanding this, they were able to attain to emi- 
 nence in theology and morals, poetry and fiction. 
 John Metcalf became blind at the age of six, and 
 John Gough at the age of three, and yet the former 
 was afterward distinguished as a road surveyor and 
 contractor, while the latter became famous as a bot- 
 anist and a natural philosopher. The Bohemian 
 patriot, Zisca, was celebrated as a military genius, 
 and, nevertheless, it is said of him that "he was 
 
220 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 more dreaded by his enemies after he became blind 
 than before." 
 
 But all the persons just named achieved success 
 by the sheer force of genius. Mile. Mulot has, by 
 her invention, put it in the power of any one, pos- 
 sessing ordinary industry and perseverance, to ac- 
 complish what only those dowered vVith extraordinary 
 talents and energy would otherwise attempt. She 
 has given a spur to the ambition of the sightless, 
 ennobled their aspirations, and fortified their cour- 
 age. She has shown them that labor and determi- 
 nation may, at least in a measure, replace genius in 
 the intellectual world, and that their privation, great 
 as it may seem, is not without numerous and impor- 
 tant compensating advantages. All honor, therefore, 
 to her and to the generous and sympathetic friends 
 who have so nobly seconded her efforts in her work 
 of mercy and charity. May she live to see the sys- 
 tem, which she has labored so assiduously to perfect, 
 adopted throughout the world, and may she be per- 
 mitted also to enjoy at least the recompense of ap- 
 preciation which is so frequently, alas ! withheld 
 from the greatest of the world's benefactors ! 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 "THE OMAR OF THE NEW WORLD." 
 
 SOME years ago I spent the greater part of the 
 winter in the City of Mexico. While there I 
 made frequent visits to El Museo Nacional de Mexico 
 — the national museum — which always possessed for 
 me a peculiar interest. There is much in the museum 
 to arrest the attention of any one interested in sci- 
 ence, history, and archaeology. It is especially rich 
 in collections and records relating to the earlier in- 
 habitants of the country, particularly the Toltecs 
 and the Aztecs. Indeed, as a unique witness of the 
 civilization and achievements of a people who were 
 once as eminent as they are now obscure, I know of 
 nothing to compare with the treasures of Mexico's 
 great museum unless it be the collections of the far- 
 famed museum of Bulak, in Cairo. ' In both of these 
 noble repositories are exhibited the relics of a civ- 
 ilization long past, of a people who, in their day, 
 were the acknowledged leaders in art and science, 
 and whose culture and genius, as attested by monu- 
 
 ' Since the above was written the museum has been trans- 
 ferred to more commodious quarters; to-wit: to the large and 
 beautiful Palace of Gizeh, in the outskirts of Cairo, and on the 
 way to the great pyramids. 
 
 221 
 
2 22 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 ments of all kinds, have excited the admiration of 
 all subsequent generations. 
 
 In Bulak, thanks to the founder of the museum, 
 the erudite and indefatigable Mariette Pasha, and to 
 the labors of Maspero, Brugsch, Schweinfurth, and 
 others, we have a glimpse of Nile-land as it was un- 
 der the Pharaohs thousands of years ago. And in 
 the hieroglyphics that cover the papyri, sarcophagi, 
 blocks and slabs of stone therein collected, are pro- 
 vided the materials for a history extending from the 
 time of the builders of the pyramids to the reign 
 of the last of the Ptolemies. It is strange, but it is 
 true nevertheless, that it is only within the last half 
 century that a history of Egypt has been possible. 
 The discovery of the Rosetta stone, and the deci- 
 phering of its mystic symbols by the immortal 
 Champollion, opened, for the first time, the number- 
 less treasure-houses, before practically valueless, of 
 Egyptian lore and history. Now every inscription, 
 every sphinx, obelisk, pyramid, temple, and sar- 
 cophagus, as well as every roll of papyrus, has its 
 story to tell, and in language that can no longer be 
 mistaken or misunderstood. 
 
 In the Egypt of the new world, as Mexico is 
 often styled, there is much to remind one of the 
 Valley of the Nile. The points of resemblance 
 between the inhabitants of the two countries are 
 numerous and striking. Both Egyptians and Mexi- 
 cans of old were as superior in intellectual attain- 
 ments to their neighbors and contemporaries, as 
 
"THE OMAR OF THE NEW WORLD:' 223 
 
 were the Greeks and Romans in advance of the 
 barbarians by whom they were surrounded, and with 
 whom they were in almost constant conflict. If 
 Egypt was the cradle of science in the Old World, 
 Mexico was the birth-place of knowledge in the 
 New. There is, too, a similarity in the monuments 
 of the two countries that, after the lapse of so many 
 ages, excites the astonishment of the most casual 
 observer. The pyramids of Gizeh and Sakkara 
 have their analogues in those of Cholula and Teoti- 
 huacan. The stately temples of Thebes, Philae, 
 Abydos, and Medinet-Abou are matched by the 
 Cyclopean edifices of Mitla and the architectural 
 wonders of Palenque and Chichen-Itza, of Uxmal 
 and Mayapan. The statues of the Pharaohs, from 
 the giant sculptures of Rameses the Great, at Aboo- 
 Simbel, to those that have been brought to light by 
 recent excavations in the buried cities of the Delta; 
 the sphinxes of Memphis as well as the monster 
 near Cheops; the obelisks of Karnak and Helio- 
 polis naturally suggest comparison with equally 
 marvelous objects found in such profusion in Chia- 
 pas, in Oaxaca, in and about Tula, throughout the 
 vale of Anahuac, and amid the rich and tangled 
 forests of Yucatan. Among other conspicuous ob- 
 jects of Toltec and Aztec origin that have always 
 attracted the attention of the learned are the cele- 
 brated calendar stone, formerly in the left wall of 
 the Cathedral, but lately transferred to the museum; 
 the great sacrificial stone on which so many myriads 
 
224 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 of human victims were sacrificed in response to the 
 behests of ignorance and superstition; the grotesque 
 statues of Chac-Mool and Nehuazcoyotl, not to 
 speak of others equally hideous and fantastic. 
 
 It would be outside the scope of this chapter to 
 trace the many points of resemblance between the 
 remarkable people of Ancient Egypt, and the equally 
 remarkable race that held sway in Mexico previous 
 to the arrival of Cortez. It were alike foreign to 
 my purpose to institute anything like a detailed 
 comparison between the relics and monuments still 
 scattered all over these countries, or those collected 
 in the two grand museums of Bulak and Mexico. 
 Any one who has ever visited the two lands, or 
 studied the treasures of the two collections referred 
 to will be led, almost irresistibly, to seek resem- 
 blances and make comparisons, so strikingly are the 
 genius and the character of the Egyptian repro- 
 duced in the Toltec and the Aztec. 
 
 But while pursuing my investigations in El Museo 
 Nacional, meeting at every turn something that re- 
 minded me of the magnificent repository on the 
 bank of the Nile, I was suddenly and painfully made 
 aware that there was a difference in the raison d'etre 
 of the two collections. The chief, if not the sole, 
 object of the museum of Bulak is to aid one in de- 
 termining the history of the past. Everything, 
 therefore, is presented in such a manner as to enable 
 the student to arrive at a correct knowledge of facts. 
 Nowhere, in this noble institution, will one be con- 
 
''THE OMAR OF THE NEW WORLD." 225 
 
 fronted with anything that savors of prejudice or 
 willful ignorance. I regret that I cannot say as 
 much for the museum, or, rather, those in charge of 
 the museum of Mexico. For reasons that unbiased 
 investigators would hesitate to accept, the curator, 
 Sr. Sanchez, has forced the museum to appear as a 
 witness for the perpetuation of a falsehood, and for 
 the fostering of a prejudice that should long since 
 have been relegated to that limbo created for his- 
 torical lies by modern criticism and exact research. 
 I refer to the alleged destruction of the antiquities and 
 hieroglyphical records of the country by the early 
 missionaries, and notably by the first Bishop and 
 Archbishop of Mexico, Fray Don Juan Zumarraga. 
 In looking over one of the official publications' of 
 the museum, the first thing to arrest the attention of 
 the reader is a historical notice of the institution, 
 written by the professor of zoology, Sr. D. Jesus 
 Sanchez. At the very outset of his account we find 
 the following sentence: "When the fury of the first 
 Archbishop, Zumarraga, and that of the conquerors 
 and missionaries had exhausted itself in destroying 
 the writings and monuments of the Aztecs, all such 
 records being considered as an invincible obstacle to 
 the abolition of idolatory and the establishment of 
 Christianity among the conquered peoples, there 
 came a more enlightened period, when people began 
 to realize the irreparable loss which had been sus- 
 tained by the New World." And, a little further 
 ' "Anales del Museo." Tom.i., p. 47. 
 
2 26 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 on, the same writer adds: "The kings of Spain en- 
 deavored, as far as possible, to repair the evil occa- 
 sioned by ignorance and fanaticism." 
 
 Such sweeping statements, in a work that should 
 give only unquestioned facts, are something, it will 
 be admitted, that is calculated to provoke surprise, 
 if not resentment. One expects to meet such 
 charges in works of which the bias is manifest, and 
 in which prejudice and bigotry are frequently the 
 chief characteristics, but in an official contribution 
 to science, like the volume of the "Anales" just re- 
 ferred to, a gross misstatement of fact can admit of 
 no palliation whatever, unless it be the plea of in- 
 vincible ignorance. It is but fair, however, to Sr. 
 Sanchez to observe that, if ignorance in a historian 
 could ever be pleaded as an extenuating circum- 
 stance for making a statement unsupported by evi- 
 dence, the Mexican professor is entitled to be 
 treated with leniency in the case under consideration. 
 He had, without sufficient examination, accepted as 
 true a charge which many historians had made 
 against the illustrious prelate of Mexico, and had 
 taken it for granted that he was dealing with a fact 
 of authentic history. 
 
 My studies of Mexican history had convinced me 
 that the indictment made against Bishop Zumarraga 
 and his confreres was, like many other facts of so- 
 called history, something that reposed on nothing 
 better than a fabrication, pure and simple. However, 
 to get further information on the subject, I deter- 
 
"THE OMAR OF THE NEW WORLDr 227 
 
 mined to call on the distinguished Mexican historian, 
 the late Sr. Don Joaquin Garcia Icazbalceta, as I 
 knew that he was fully informed regarding the ques- 
 tion, and could, better than any one living, refer me 
 to all the authorities bearing on the subject. 
 
 Sr. Icazbalceta has accomplished for the history 
 of Mexico what the lamented John Gilmary Shea 
 did for the history of our own country, and what the 
 erudite and painstaking Janssens achieved for that 
 of Germany. Indeed, the many respects in which 
 these three eminent men closely resembled each 
 other were quite extraordinary. They all had a 
 genius for history, and a memory for facts, and dates, 
 and names which was simply phenomenal. All three 
 devoted special attention to the history of the six- 
 teenth century, and all were successful in bringing 
 to the light of day numerous important documents 
 that had long been buried in oblivion. The " Biblio- 
 graphia Mexicana del Siglo, XVI.," a voluminous 
 collection of precious documents, edited and pub- 
 lished for the first time, a few years ago, is a monu- 
 ment to the zeal and erudition of the distinguished 
 Mexican author, of which Catholics throughout the 
 world may justly feel proud. In this scholarly work, 
 which is not so well known as it should be, one will 
 find the best answer to the many erroneous state- 
 ments made by superficial writers regarding the part 
 taken by ecclesiastics in the work of civilizing and 
 Christianizing the nations of New Spain. 
 
 On my calling on Sr. Icazbalceta I found that he 
 
228 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 had just published a life of Bishop Zumarraga,' and 
 that the work contained precisely the facts and in 
 formation I was seeking. Indeed, so thoroughly 
 has the illustrious author accomplished his task, that 
 no one can pretend to an accurate knowledge of the 
 subject under examination who has not read the 
 chapter which discusses it ex professo, and, in such 
 wise, as to terminate forever all further controversy. 
 
 The charge made by Sr. Sanchez in the "Anales 
 del Museo" has been repeated by English and Amer- 
 ican writers with all the variations of which bigotry 
 and prejudice could render it susceptible. 
 
 Robertson in his "History of America'' ^ says: 
 " The obscurity in which the ignorance of its con- 
 querors involved the annals of Mexico was augmented 
 by the superstition of those who succeeded them. As 
 the memory of past events was preserved among the 
 Mexicans by figures painted on skins, on cotton 
 cloth, on a kind of pasteboard, or on the bark of 
 trees, the early missionaries, unable to comprehend 
 their meaning, and struck with their uncouth forms, 
 conceived them to be monuments of idolatry, which 
 ought to be destroyed, in order to facilitate the con- 
 version of the Indians. In obedience to an edict 
 issued by Juan de Zumarraga, a Franciscan monk, 
 the first Bishop of Mexico, as many records of the 
 
 ' "Don Fray Juan de Zumarraga, Primer Obispo Y Arzobispo 
 de Mexico, Estudio Biographico y Bibliographico, por Joaquin 
 Garcia Icazbalceta ; Con un Appendice de Documentos Inedi- 
 toso Raros, Mexico;" Antiqua Libreria de Andrade y Morales, 
 Portal de Agustinos. No. 3, 1881. 
 
 ^Book. vii, near the beginning. 
 
"THE OMAR OP THE NEW WORLDS' 229 
 
 ancient Mexican story as could be collected were 
 committed to the flames. In consequence of this 
 fanatical zeal of the monks who first visited New 
 Spain, which their successors soon began to lament, 
 whatever knowledge of remote events such rude 
 monuments contained was almost entirely lost; and 
 no information remained, concerning the ancient 
 revolutions and policy of the empire, but what was 
 derived from tradition, or from some fragments of 
 their historical paintings that escaped the barbarous 
 researches of Zumarraga." 
 
 Such a theme, as one might anticipate, was a 
 grateful one to a writer like Prescott. It enabled 
 him to give full rein to his fancy and afforded him 
 a better opportunity of venting his spleen against the 
 monks and the Church than any other subject con- 
 nected with the history of the conquest. We are 
 not surprised, therefore, when we read his very high- 
 ly colored account of the role which he attributes to 
 the bishop in the destruction of the manuscripts of 
 the nation's archives. 
 
 "At the time of the arrival of the Spaniards," 
 writes Prescott, " great quantities of these manu- 
 scripts were treasured up in the country. Numerous 
 persons were employed in painting, and the dexter- 
 ity of their operations excited the astonishment of 
 the conquerors. Unfortunately this was .mingled 
 with other unworthy feelings. The strange, un- 
 known characters inscribed on them excited suspi- 
 cion. They were looked upon as magic scrolls; and 
 
230 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH 
 
 were regarded in the light with the idols and tem- 
 ples, as the symbols of a pestilent superstition, that 
 must be extirpated. The first Archbishop of Mexico, 
 Don Juan de Zumarraga — a name that should be as 
 immortal as that of Omar — collected these paintings 
 from every quarter, especially from Tezcuco, the 
 most cultivated capital in Anahuac, and the great 
 depository of the national archives He then caused 
 them to be piled up in a 'mountain-heap' — as it is 
 called by the Spanish writers themselves — in the 
 market-place of Tlatelolco and reduced them all to 
 ashes. His great countryman. Archbishop Ximenes, 
 had celebrated a similar auto-da-fe, of Arabic manu- 
 scripts in Granada, some twenty years before. Never 
 did fanaticism achieve two more signal triumphs, 
 than by the annihilation of so many curious monu- 
 ments of human ingenuity and learning. The un- 
 lettered soldiers were not slow in imitating the 
 example of their prelate. Every chart and volume 
 which fell into their hands was wantonly destroyed, 
 so that when the scholars of a later and more en- 
 lightened age anxiously sought to recover some of 
 these memorials of civilization, nearly all had per- 
 ished and the few surviving were jealously hidden 
 by the natives." ' 
 
 Mr. Hubert Howe Bancroft reiterates the story 
 in his voluminous but loosely put together work 
 " The Native Races of the Pacific Coast." The chief 
 if not the only merit of Mr. Bancroft, as a historian, 
 
 ' "History of the Conquest of Mexico," Book i, ch. 4. 
 
"THE OMAR OF THE NEW WORLDS' 231 
 
 it may be remarked en passant, lies in the fact that 
 his foot-notes, in which he cites his authorities, are 
 apparently given with care and exactness, and that 
 he has amassed a rare collection of manuscripts and 
 other materials, which will always be of inestimable 
 value to the student of history. In the subject un- 
 der discussion he follows in the wake of Robertson 
 and Prescott. And in lieu of stating dispassionately 
 the facts of the case, he takes occasion as in numer- 
 ous other places, in his many ponderous tomes, to 
 deliver a violent declamation against monks and 
 bishops, but, as with Robertson and Prescott, the 
 special object of his bitter invective is Mexico's first 
 prelate, Don Fray Juan de Zumarraga. He saj's: — 
 ■'Unfortunately, the picture-writings, particularly 
 those in the hands of priests — those most highly 
 prized by the native scholar, those which would, if 
 preserved, have been of priceless value to the stu- 
 dents of later times — while in common with the 
 products of other arts they excited the admiration 
 of the foreign invaders, at the same time they 
 aroused the pious fears of the European priesthood. 
 The nature of the writings was little understood. 
 Their contents were deemed to be for the most part 
 religious mysteries, painted devices of the devil, the 
 strongest band that held the people to their aborigi- 
 nal faith, and the most formidable obstacle in the 
 way of their conversion to the true faith. The des- 
 truction of the pagan scrolls was deemed essential 
 to the progress of the Church, and was consequently 
 
232 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 ordered, and most successfully carried out under the 
 direction of the bishops and their subordinates. The 
 most famous of these fanatical destroyers of a New 
 World's literature being Juan de Zumarraga, who 
 made a public bonfire of the nation's archives. The 
 fact already noticed, that the national annals were pre- 
 served together in a few of the larger cities, made 
 the task of Zumarraga and his confreres compara- 
 tively an easy one, and all the more important records, 
 with very few probable exceptions, were blotted from 
 existence. The priests, however, sent some speci- 
 mens, either originals or copies, home to Europe, 
 vi^here they attracted momentary curiosity and were 
 then lost and forgotten. Many of the tribute rolls, 
 and other paintings of the more ordinary class, with, 
 perhaps, a few of the historical writings, were hid- 
 den by the natives and thus saved from destruction." ' 
 When one learns that Prescott was a friend and 
 a correspondent of Icazbalceta, as is also Bancroft, 
 and that both the one and the other, the latter es- 
 pecially, were in a position to get reliable informa- 
 tion concerning the question with which we are 
 now engaged, one must feel that there can be but 
 very little excuse for their misrepresentations of the 
 facts of history. They allowed themselves to be 
 carried along with the current, because it afforded 
 them a rare opportunity to indulge in a rhetorical 
 harangue against persons and institutions with whom 
 and with which they were not in sympathy, and be- 
 ' "Native Races of the Pacific Coast," vol. ii, p. 527. 
 
»THB OMAR OF THE NEW WORLDS 233 
 
 cause their natural bias, and preconceived notions, 
 which are ill concealed, led them to cling to a fic- 
 tion, rather than accept an authentic statement of 
 fact which Sr. Icazbalceta was in a position to furnish 
 on demand. 
 
 But, it will be urged, even the illustrious Hum- 
 boldt rehearses the same charges as do the writers 
 just quoted. ' This is true, but it only goes to show 
 how difficult it is sometimes, even for a great mind, 
 one earnestly seeking after truth, to avoid being 
 swayed by prejudgments and to steer clear of error; 
 how almost impossible it may be to disentangle truth 
 from the mazes of falsehood, when a determinate 
 statement or proposition has been given a similitude 
 of truth by dint of constant repetition from genera- 
 tion to generation. The saying, "Lie, lie, some- 
 thing will stick," is particularly applicable to the 
 case in point, and shows how easy it is, not only to 
 distort the facts of history, but to put in circulation 
 errors and falsehoods that it may require centuries 
 to eradicate. 
 
 We have given extracts from only a few writers, 
 all of whom are well known and recognized by the 
 general public as standard authorities on the subjects 
 which they respectively treat. Sr. Sanchez, in sup- 
 port of his thesis, quotes no fewer than eighteen 
 
 ' "In his "Vues des Cordillferes," p. 26, Ed. in folio, he says, 
 "Lorsque 1' feveque Zumarraga, religieux Franciscian, entre- 
 prit de dfetruire tout ce qui avail rapport au culte, a I' histoire et 
 aux antiquit^s des peuples indigenes de 1' Am6rique, il fit aussi 
 briser les idoles de la plainede Micoatl." 
 
234 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 authors, most of whom wrote in Spanish. Among 
 the best known and most distinguished of these are 
 Motolinia, Sahagun, Duran, Padilla, Herrera, Torque- 
 mada, Ixtlilxochitl, Clavijero and Alaman. Sr. Icaz- 
 balceta, however, goes much further, In addition 
 to the authorities adduced by Sr. Sanchez he cites 
 and critically examines the testimony of fifteen 
 others, whom Sr. Scanchez had not consulted, or 
 whom, at least, he does not mention in his " Resena 
 Historica." Among these may be named Mendieta, 
 Cavo, Veytia, and the Italian traveler, Gemelli 
 Careri. Sr. Icazbalceta thus summons before his 
 tribunal no fewer than thirty-three witnesses, em- 
 bracing all the more noteworthy writers on the ques- 
 tion at issue, from Mr. Bancroft, the latest traducer 
 of Bishop Zumarraga, to Pedro de Gante, who wrote 
 in 1529. Examining each author in turn, beginning 
 with Mr. Bancroft, he goes back to those who first 
 gave currency to the charges which have so long 
 obtained against the venerable prelate of Mexico. 
 Some of the more modern witnesses he dismisses 
 forthwith, because they fail to adduce the author- 
 ities on which they base their statements. Others 
 he rejects because they are manifestly so prej- 
 udiced and so actuated by antipathy and passion 
 that they are disqualified from testifying. Others 
 still are excluded, because in citing their authorities, 
 they give the judge an opportunity of weighing the 
 testimony as presented by the primitive authors. 
 After a brief but searching examination, in which 
 
"THE OMAR OF THE NEW WORLDS' 235 
 
 the judge surprises us at every step by his keen an- 
 alytical treatment of the case no less than by his mar- 
 velously comprehensive knowledge of all the facts 
 bearing on the question, he reduces the number of 
 those competent to testify from thirty-three to thir- 
 teen. Twenty are at once pronounced incapable of 
 giving evidence, either on account of strong prepos- 
 sessions adverse to the accused, orbecause they sim- 
 ply repeated what had been stated by others before 
 them. 
 
 These thirteen authors Sr. Icazbalceta divides 
 into three classes according as they speak of the 
 destruction of temples, or idols, or picture-writings. 
 The reasons that prevailed for the destruction of 
 temples or idols were not the same as those that 
 would lead to the destruction of picture-writings, nor 
 were the consequences flowing from such destruction 
 the same in the three cases. Again, each one of 
 these three divisions is subdivided into two others, 
 the first embracing those authors who speak of the 
 bishop, and the second comprising those whose evi- 
 dence relates to others, missionaries or not. 
 
 The destruction of the teocallis, or pagan temples, 
 was a religious and a military necessity. The mission- 
 aries came to convert the Indians, and to bring them 
 to a knowledge of the true faith. But they could 
 have accomplished little or nothing if the natives 
 had been left in undisturbed possession of their an- 
 cient places of worship. The pagan priests, who far 
 outnumbered the missionaries, could under such cir- 
 
236 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 cumstances have counteracted without effort all the 
 results that could have been achieved by the min- 
 isters of the Gospel. The only thing, therefore, 
 to be done, unless the work of Christianizing the 
 Indian was to be rendered futile, was to expel the 
 pagan priests from their temples, and to prevent 
 their return by razing the temples to the ground. 
 
 But even if the missionaries had riot found them- 
 selves obliged to destroy the edifices dedicated to 
 the worship of false gods and polluted by the blood 
 of thousands of human victims, their destruction 
 would still have been deemed an imperative neces- 
 sity from a military point of view. Every teocalli 
 was a fortress, and it was obviously an impossibility 
 for a small handful of men to retain possession of the 
 country for any length of time, if the Indians, who 
 were but partially subdued, were allowed to retain 
 what, in the event of revolt, would have been a most 
 formidable means of offence and defence. 
 
 The peculiar form of the teocallis, being pyramids 
 of earth or stone, surmounted by small wooden tow- 
 ers, and temples, was such as to preclude the possi- 
 bility of converting them to uses other than those 
 for which they had been designed. With the pagan 
 temples of ancient Greece and Rome it was quite 
 different. Their structure was of a character which 
 admirably adapted them to the purposes of Christian 
 worship. The simple blessing of the Church, was, 
 therefore, all that was requisite to change them from 
 habitations of Satan to the abodes of the true God. 
 
''THE OMAR OF THE NEW WORLD." 237 
 
 Nevertheless the teocallis that were made of stone 
 served one good purpose. They supplied material 
 for the erection of churches and oratories. And the 
 poor Aztecs, who had for generations been so in- 
 humanly treated by their cruel priesthood, were only 
 too glad to lend a helping hand toward demolishing 
 the blood-stained edifices on whose altars had been 
 sacrificed so many who were near and dear to themi 
 The sacrificial stone, always reeking with human 
 blood, was replaced by the altar of unbloody sacri- 
 fice, and the joyful bell, calling the people to prayer, 
 was substituted for the mournful tepotiaxili, whose 
 lugubrious tones gave the signal for the slaughter of 
 some new band of trembling and terror-stricken 
 victims. 
 
 According to Motolinia, the work of demolishing 
 the teocallis was begun January i, 1525, in Tezcuco. 
 But Bishop Zumarraga did not arrive in New Spain 
 until December 1528, three years subsequently. He 
 could, therefore, have had nothing to do with the 
 destruction of the great teocallis in the capital, because 
 this was decreed and effected by Cortez immediately 
 after the taking of the city, and was one of the first 
 things demanded before the task of rebuilding the 
 city could be undertaken. The same may be said of 
 the pyramidal temples in other places. The mate- 
 rial of which they were constructed was required for 
 the building of churches and chapels, and the ma- 
 jority of the teocallis were appropriated for this pur- 
 pose before Bishop Zumarraga even set foot on 
 
338 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 Mexican soil. In summing up the evidence bearing 
 on the destruction of the teocallis Sr. Icazbalceta de- 
 clares: "I do not know of a single trustworthy doc- 
 ument by means of which it can be proved that 
 Bishop Zumarraga ever laid hands on a single 
 temple." ' 
 
 If there were reasons for the demolition of tem- 
 ples, there were still stronger ones for the annihila- 
 tion of idols. In no other way could the Indians 
 be effectually withdrawn from their heathenish cus- 
 toms and practices. And considering the incredible 
 number of idols which were found everywhere, their 
 total extirpation was no inconsiderable task. They 
 were met with at every turn — in the house, in the 
 garden, in parks and in forests, on the mountain top, 
 and in places where one would least expect to find 
 them. Indeed so loath were some of the natives to 
 part with their fetiches that, for surer safe-keeping, 
 they concealed them at the foot of crosses and 
 crucifixes. 
 
 Some writers, among them Clavigero, have af- 
 fected to believe that the objects of worship of the 
 Indians should have been preserved in museums for 
 the benefit of students of a subsequent age. Such 
 action would have been sheer folly, aye, worse than 
 folly, madness. What interpretation would the In- 
 dians have put on such a procedure? Only one, 
 and that, to them, the most natural one. They 
 would have regarded the preservation of their idols, 
 
 ' Op. cit.,p. 346. 
 
''THE OMAR OF THE NEW WORLDS 239 
 
 and the appointing of persons to take care of them, 
 as a certain indication that the Spaniards themselves 
 considered them as so many deities and would, ac- 
 cordingly, have construed any evidence of appre- 
 ciation into an act of worship. The only course, 
 therefore, left open to the missionaries, if they were 
 to convince the Indians that their preaching was in 
 accordance with their practice, was for them to be 
 consistent. It was necessary for them to show their 
 abhorrence of every form of idolatry, and to dem- 
 onstrate to the benighted pagans that their idols 
 could be treated with every kind of indignity, and 
 broken into fragments, without the slightest fear 
 that such actions would bring down upon the heads 
 of those who dared such things the wrath and 
 avenging thunderbolts of some outraged god. Hence 
 idols wherever found, were overthrown. They were 
 often, moreover, ignominiously cast into the fire, and 
 thus treated as the meanest of criminals. They 
 were defaced and broken and subjected to every 
 species of contumely, until the Aztec had learned 
 the lesson, which could not have been taught him 
 so well in any other way, that his idols were as 
 powerless to aid him as they were to help them- 
 selves, and that, far from being regarded as objects 
 of worship, they were to be treated with contempt 
 and reprobation. 
 
 And what share had Bishop Zumarraga in this 
 justifiable destruction of idols? Very little indeed. 
 Nothing that was done before his arrival at the close 
 
340 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 of the year 1528 can be attributed to him. It is 
 true that he gave orders that the idol of Teotihuacan 
 should be precipitated from the high position which 
 it occupied. A century later Gemelli found it 
 broken in three pieces at the foot of the pyramid 
 on which it had been located. Had there been any 
 reason for preserving these pieces they could even 
 then, easily have been reunited, and the idol would 
 have been restored to its original form. 
 
 But aside from this solitary case, in which the 
 bishop simply performed his duty, there is not an- 
 other instance that can be cited where he is known 
 to have taken an active part in the destruction of 
 idols. Ixtlilxochitl indeed accuses him of having 
 destroyed the bas-relief of Tezcotzinco, but then, 
 as we shall learn, the testimony of this writer is 
 open to suspicion, and often deserving of little or 
 no credit whatever. PadiUa also holds him respon- 
 sible for defacing the figure of a coyote, sculptured 
 in the solid rock, on the summit of a certain moun- 
 tain. The last two charges, however, are so vague 
 in their character, and the testimony, of at least one 
 of the witnesses, so unreliable, that they both can 
 be dismissed without further comment. 
 
 Pass we now to the alleged destruction of manu- 
 scripts, or picture-writings. Of the thirteen authors, 
 out of the thirty-three, whose testimony Sr. Icazbal- 
 ceta deemed worthy of examination, six must now 
 be excluded, as they speak solely of the destruction 
 of temples and idols, and make no allusion to that 
 
''THE OMAR OF THE NEW WORLD!' 24 1 
 
 of pictures or manuscripts. Only seven are now 
 left, and of these seven we need consider but two, 
 Torquemada, and Ixtlilxochitl. The former is the 
 first to attribute to the bishop the burning of manu- 
 scripts, but he says nothing of the archives of 
 Tezcuco. It is of the latter writer that I shall have 
 most to say, as he it was who originated the story 
 regarding the extent and magnificence of the treas- 
 ures preserved in the archives of Tezcuco. And as 
 it is on the wholesale destruction of these archives 
 that most stress has been laid, especially by modern 
 authors, I shall, without further preamble, make a 
 few brief observations regarding the character of 
 Ixtlilxochitl as a historian, and inquire how far he 
 merits our confidence in his statements anent the 
 question now under investigation. 
 
 Don Fernando de Alvo Ixtlilxochitl, who wrote 
 between the years 1600 and 161 5 or 16 16, over 
 fifty years after the death of Bishop Zumarraga,' 
 was a descendant of the kings of Tezcuco. Having 
 been reduced to straightened circumstances, he 
 deemed it politic, in order to interest the Spanish 
 Government in his behalf, to exaggerate the glory 
 of his ancestors and the splendor of their achieve- 
 ments in War and peace. According to him, Tezcuco 
 was "the Athens of Anahuac; her king, the glorious 
 descendant of the great Chichemecan monarchs, 
 was the oracle of the kings of Mexico; the one 
 
 ' The venerable prelate died June 3, 1548, at the age of 
 more than four score years. The exact date of his birth is 
 unknown. 
 
242 SCTENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 whose voice was raised in council and who was 
 always consulted in difficult cases. There the Mex- 
 ican language was spoken in its greatest purity; 
 there literature was cultivated, and there likewise 
 were preserved all the treasures of science and wis- 
 dom of the race. In Tezcuco were schools of 
 poetry and music, of oratory and philosophy. Her 
 temples and palaces and gardens surpassed in beauty 
 and magnificence those of the great Tenochtitlan. 
 He even goes so far as to assert that the kings of 
 Mexico were tributary to those of Tezcuco." 
 
 If we now turn to another Aztec historian, Tezo- 
 zomoc, we shall learn that the king of Tezcuco was 
 nothing more than the first feudary of the Emperor 
 of Mexico. We are told that the splendor of the 
 Mexican court was unsurpassed and that the power 
 of her rulers admitted neither division nor rivalry 
 
 Which of the two authors shall we credit? For 
 our present purpose the answer is immaterial. If we 
 refuse to believe Ixtlilxochitl when declaring the 
 existence of the archives, whose value he so highly 
 extols, we need go no further, as that could not 
 have been destroyed which did not exist. If, how- 
 ever, we credit his assertions about the existence of 
 such archives, we must also accept his statements, 
 when he declares, as he does in two different pas- 
 sages, that the Tlascalans, when they entered Tez- 
 cuco, in company with Cortez, set fire to "the prin- 
 cipal palaces of king Nezahuilpilli in such wise that 
 they burned all the royal archives of all New Spain, 
 
^THB OMAR OF THE NEW WORLD." 243 
 
 and the memories of her antiquities perished from 
 that time." 
 
 The entrance of Cortez at the head of his army, 
 into the city, was effected the last day of the year 
 1 520. Eight years subsequently. Bishop Zumarraga 
 came to Mexico for the first time. "What Tezcucan 
 archives did he then burn, if they had already been 
 all destroyed? Did he perchance set fire to the 
 ashes of the papers previously burned by the Tlas- 
 calans?" 
 
 But we have not yet discovered the author of the 
 story imputing to Bishop Zumarraga the burning of 
 the archives of Tezcuco. Who was he? When did 
 he live? What is his standing as an authority on 
 the question? Neither Ixtlilxochitl nor Clavigero, 
 nor any of the earlier writers ascribe to' the bishop 
 this Omar-like act of vandalism. Who, then, is the 
 author of the fiction? 
 
 Incredible as it may appear, the story was first 
 fabricated towards the close of the last century by a 
 certain writer by the name of Mier", nearly three 
 centuries after the event is alleged to have occurred. 
 Mier's friend and companion Don Carlos Bustamente, 
 took up the fabrication and, adding to it a few touches 
 
 ' His words, as quoted by Icazbalceta, p. 317, op. cit., are 
 "Al primer obispo de Mexico se le antojo que todos los manu- 
 scritos simbolicos de los indios eran figuras magicas, hechi- 
 cerias y demonios, y se hizoun deber religioso de exterminar- 
 los por si y por medio de los misioneros, entregando a las 
 llamas todas las librerias de los Aztecas de los quales solo la de 
 Tezcuco, que era su Atenas, se levaba tan alta como una mon- 
 tah&y cuando de orden de Zumarraga la sacaron a quemar. " 
 
244 SCIEMCB AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 of his own, gave it a circulation that it has retained 
 until the present time. 
 
 Both Mier and Bustamente had a special grudge 
 against Spaniards and bishops. In the estimation 
 of the former, Bishop Zumarraga was guilty of three 
 unpardonable sins. He was a Spaniard. He was a 
 monk. He was a bishop. 
 
 Anyone that has read aught of Mier is not sur- 
 prised at his having invented such a fable as the one 
 in question. He was fully capable of this and much 
 more, as his writings evince on almost every page. 
 But fortunately for the cause of truth and justice 
 both Mier and Bustamente have at last received 
 their deserts. Their unscrupulous tampering with 
 the facts of history has been discovered, and they 
 now stand with all impartial readers as utterly dis- 
 credited. A Nemesis, just and certain, has over- 
 taken them, and both the authors and their works 
 have been summarily consigned to the dark and pit- 
 iless waters of Lethe. 
 
 But, it will be insisted, if Bishop Zumarraga did 
 not burn the archives of Tezcuco, because they were 
 not in existence at his time, he was guilty, neverthe- 
 less, of what was equivalent to this in destroying all 
 the picture-writings on which he could lay his hands. 
 
 We come again to a question of fact. Did the 
 bishop do what his accusers maintain he did, or is 
 he to be pronounced innocent of the charge so often 
 preferred against him? 
 
 The only evidence which can be produced to 
 
''THE OMAR OF THE NEW WORLDS 245 
 
 substantiate this last charge is that which is based 
 on a letter, written by the bishop himself, to the 
 general chapter of Tolosa, held in June, 1531. In 
 this letter, that has given rise to much disputation, 
 occurs the following sentence: " Baptizata sunt plus- 
 quam ducenta quinquaginta millia hominum; quin- 
 ginta deorum templa sunt destructa, et plusquam 
 vicies m\\\z figura damonum, quas adorabant, fractae 
 et combustse.'" 
 
 The whole controversy here, as will be seen at a 
 glance, turns on the meaning of the words "figurcB 
 dcBtnonumy The earlier writers understood them to 
 signify false gods or idols, and Sr. Icazbalceta con- 
 tends that this is the only meaning which history 
 and sound criticism will permit one to assign them. 
 Those, however, who take the opposite view argue 
 that " figuroe damonufn" must refer to picture- 
 writings because of the word combustce — burnt — 
 which, they maintain, could not apply to such in- 
 combustible materials as idols of stone. These 
 objectors forget that there were idols of paper and 
 wood as well as of stone. They lose sight, too, of the 
 fact that even those of stone were not infrequently 
 covered with cloth and other inflammable material, 
 and that it was a common occurrence to cast stone 
 idols into the fire, to show thus the execration in 
 which they should be held, and then break them in 
 pieces afterward. 
 
 'Various copies of this letter, in Latin and in Spanish, are 
 given in the valuable appendix of Sr. Icazbalceta's learned 
 monograph. 
 
246 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 Such being the case, what becomes of, the indict- 
 ment so often brought against the venerable prelate 
 concerning the part he is reputed to have taken in 
 the destruction of the records of the country of his 
 adoption? The words of the letter just quoted can- 
 not, as we have seen, bear the interpretation so often 
 put upon them by the bishop's vilifiers. The testi- 
 mony of Ixtlilxochitl, so frequently adduced, is of 
 no value. That of his contemporary, Torquemada, 
 rests on only vague surmises, and on the artful fabri- 
 cations of certain Indians — Indios embusteros, Icaz- 
 balceta styles them — whom the Spanish historian 
 employed as interpreters, and who, to conceal their 
 ignorance, and to further their own designs, inten- 
 tionally led him into many and grave errors. Mier 
 and Bustamente — the fathers of the story about the 
 burning of the "mountain-heap" of precious docu- 
 ments which Prescott so laments — are, for reasons 
 already given, entirely ruled out of court. 
 
 Sr. Icazbalceta's answer to the question just asked 
 is short and to the point. "There is," he says, "no 
 certainty that there is due to Bishop Zumarraga the 
 destruction of a single picture." ' 
 
 We might securely rest our case on this positive 
 and emphatic declaration of the distinguished his- 
 torian. But the desire completely to vindicate the 
 character of the much-maligned bishop impels me 
 to make a few more observations concerning himself 
 and his associates. 
 ' Op. cit., p. 364. 
 
'^THB OMAR OF THE NEW WORLDS 247 
 
 It betrays an utter ignorance of the life and 
 achievements of the man to refer to him, as so many 
 have done, as an ignorant vandal, a fanatical icono- 
 clast, the Omar of the New World, as one actuated 
 by "brutal, superstitious, and voluntary ignor- 
 ance" — these are Bustamente's words — for nothing 
 could be farther from the truth. Even Sr. Sanchez 
 is forced to acknowledge that the bishop was a man 
 of great energy and humility, a personage of exalted 
 virtue and apostolic zeal, and the valiant defender of 
 the Indian, to whom he was ever a friend and a father. 
 
 Bishop Zumarraga, as his biographer demon- 
 strates, was, without peradventure, a man who would 
 have reflected honor on any country and on any age. 
 As an ecclesiastic, he will compare favorably with 
 the most eminent of his countrymen. As a states- 
 man, he won the confidence of the rulers of Spain, 
 and commanded the respect and admiration of the 
 government authorities in the land of the Aztec. 
 
 He was, in every sense of the word, the shepherd 
 of, his flock. He was their defender against their 
 oppressors, and their benefactor in sickness and dis- 
 tress. At his own expense, he erected hospitals and 
 asylums, and made provision for the widow and the 
 orphan. He built schools and colleges for the edu- 
 cation of the natives, and endeavored, by every 
 means in his power, to secure for them all the bene- 
 fits of a Christian civilization. 
 
 That he might be able to carry on more effectu- 
 ally and more expeditiously the work of instructing 
 
248 SC/EMCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 the Indian, he sent to Spain for a printing-press, and 
 had established in his episcopal city, under his im- 
 » mediate supervision, the first printing-office in the 
 New World. On this press were printed books in 
 both the Spanish and Mexican languages, and the 
 number of works published during the lifetime of 
 the far-seeing prelate would be a matter of astonish- 
 ment to those who have been taught to regard him 
 as a narrow-minded, ignorant monk. 
 
 Besides having others write for the instruction of 
 his people, he wrote much himself. Indeed, some 
 of the most useful and most popular works then pub- 
 lished were from his facile and prolific pen. They 
 were mostly plain expositions of Christian doctrine, 
 and were admirably adapted to the capacity of those 
 for whom they were intended. They were charac- 
 terized by a simplicity, directness, and persliasiveness 
 which gave them a power for good that few similar 
 works have ever possessed in such an eminent de- 
 gree. He may not, indeed, be ranked among the 
 classic authors of Spain; he had not the elegance of 
 diction of Fray Luis de Granada, but he had the fac- 
 ulty of expressing the saving truths of the Gospel 
 with a force and an unction that appealed to the 
 heart as well as the intellect, with an effect which 
 was almost irresistible. Even to-day some of his 
 works might be read with nearly as much profit and 
 edification as when they were first published. 
 
 And with all his other cares he found time to or- 
 ganize and develop many new industries that were 
 
"THE OMAR OF THE NEW WORLD:' 249 
 
 destined soon to contribute materially to the public 
 weal. He caused to be brought from Spain the 
 most valuable kinds of fruit trees, and had them 
 planted where he thought they would thrive best. 
 He fostered sericulture, and the manufacture of silk, 
 and so great was the amount produced that it soon 
 became an important article of commerce. The 
 same may be said of the cultivation of flax and the 
 production of linen. He also caused to be imported 
 such domestic animals as were judged to be most 
 useful to his people. To teach the Indians various 
 trades, and to familiarize them with European meth- 
 ods of agriculture and manufacture, he invited 
 laborers and artisans from Spain, and brought them 
 to Mexico at his own expense. 
 
 As a Churchman he recalls to our minds St. 
 Thomas of Villanova, and St. Isidore of Seville. 
 As an administrator, there was much in him that 
 gave such eclat to the career of his illustrious 
 countryman. Cardinal Ximenes. As a statesman 
 and a diplomat, obliged to deal, at one time with the 
 Emperor, at another with the viceroy, and again 
 with councils and chapters without number, he ex- 
 hibited all the sagacity and enterprise and compre- 
 hensiveness of viewwhich so distinguished Richelieu, 
 without, however, displaying any of those qualities 
 which have made the great cardinal the object of 
 so much adverse criticism. 
 
 And, yet, it is this man, who did so much to ame- 
 liorate the condition of the Indian and to elevate 
 
250 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 him to a higher plane; who was an energetic pro- 
 moter, if not the organizer, of every movement 
 that tended to develop the resources of the country; 
 who contributed so much to the dissemination of 
 knowledge among the masses, and labored so assid- 
 uously and successfully in the cause of higher edu- 
 cation; whose whole life was marked by a spirit of 
 enterprise, liberality and broadmindedness which 
 always distinguish genuine greatness — it is this man, 
 the honor of his age and country, and the benefac- 
 tor of his race, that certain prejudiced and super- 
 ficial writers would have us believe was an ignorant, 
 fanatical monk; whose sole mission was to keep the 
 world in ignorance, and whose highest ambition was 
 the aggrandizement, even at the sacrifice of honor 
 and principle, of the community to which he be- 
 longed, and the Church of which he was a repre- 
 sentative. Well one might exclaim with the 
 Roman orator, "0 tempora, mores!" But, thank 
 God, the light of truth is beginning to break in 
 upon the obscurity that has so long prevailed, and 
 that has so long prevented one of the noblest of 
 men from being seen and known in his true character. 
 
 What has been said of Bishop Zumarraga regard- 
 ing the part he took in the destruction of the nation's 
 archives, and of precious manuscripts, can also, in 
 great measure, be iterated of his associates, the 
 monks and priests who were his coadjutors in the 
 work of evangelizing the Indian. 
 
 They are accused of having destroyed historical 
 
"THE OMAR OF THE NEW WORLD P 251 
 
 records that would now be of priceless value. But 
 no one, even when challenged to do so, has ever yet 
 stated what was destroyed, when, or by whom. It 
 is sufficient here to affirm that the charges made 
 against the early missionaries have been grossly ex- 
 aggerated. In many respects the charges are dem- 
 onstrably false. For reasons, which at the time 
 were deemed justifiable, they did, indeed, it may be 
 admitted, destroy some picture-writings, but when 
 they discovered their mistake, they made ample 
 reparation for all the losses they had occasioned, 
 
 It is obviously not my purpose to make an apol- 
 ogy for the missionaries for having destroyed idols 
 and pagan temples. They would have been derelict 
 in one of their first duties if they had done other- 
 wise. Neither is it my intention to minimize the 
 importance of some of the records which have dis- 
 appeared, nor to undervalue anything that would 
 throw light on the history of Mexico before the 
 Conquest. But I must enter an emphatic protest 
 against holding innocent men responsible for what 
 they never did, or even thought of doing — what 
 they could not have done even if they had been so 
 minded. 
 
 It is a notorious fact that the picture-writings of 
 Mexico had suffered serious losses even before the 
 missionaries had touched the shores of the country. 
 Sahagun relates the destruction of such records by 
 the Indians in the time of King Izcoatl. Pomar, as 
 well as Ixtlilxochitl, recount the burning by the Tlas- 
 
252 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 calans of the archives of Tezcuco. In order to gain 
 possession of the city of Mexico, Cortez found him- 
 self compelled to demolish the greater part of it, 
 including the teocallis. With this wholesale devas- 
 tation of the Capital disappeared many, if not most, 
 of the annals therein preserved. Add to these three 
 great causes of destruction, with which the mission- 
 aries, and much more Bishop Zumarraga, had noth- 
 ing to do; the various losses incident to the long 
 and protracted wars that desolated the country, as 
 well as those which were entailed by neglect and 
 the ravages of time, and we shall find that, at the 
 period of the arrival of the missionaries, there was 
 not much left for them to destroy, even if they had 
 been so inclined. 
 
 Certainly there were no longer in existence those 
 "mountains of manuscripts" which fanciful writers 
 tell us of, which, according to Don Ignacio Cubas, 
 were sufficient to feed the flames of a large bonfire 
 for three months. Neither have we any reason for 
 believing that these documents possessed that in- 
 trinsic value attributed to them by Sr. Cubas, still 
 less that there were consigned to them invaluable se- 
 crets and discoveries which were unknown to civil- 
 ized Europe. Historians of the Draper stamp are 
 wont to claim the beginnings in every art and sci- 
 ence for the mystical and much-overrated Arabs of 
 the Middle Ages. Sr. Cubas, as his writings evince, 
 does not hesitate to make a like claim for the un- 
 known and overlauded annalists of ancient Mexico. 
 
''THE OMAR OF THE NEW WORLDr 253 
 
 On reading his description of the great bonfire, 
 one would imagine that Sr. Cubas was an eye-wit- 
 ness, so detailed is his account, instead of a chroni- 
 cler, who lived full three centuries after the date to 
 which the event is assigned. And so precise is the 
 information he vouchsafes us regarding the contents 
 of the manuscripts consumed by the flames that we 
 should infer that he had at hand a catalogue of all 
 the libraries then and there destroyed. But the 
 careful student of history will find that the state- 
 ments of Cubas, unsupported, as they are, by any 
 reference, are no more deserving of credence than 
 the assertion of Robertson regarding the special edict 
 of Bishop Zumarraga, ordering the destruction of 
 the nation's archives, an edict which Icazbalceta 
 does not hesitate to state no one has ever seen, for 
 the simple reason that it was never issued. 
 
 It has been averred that the missionaries made 
 ample reparation for any losses of which, through in- 
 advertence or lack of information, they may have been 
 the cause. Indeed, all the knowledge that we now 
 possess regarding the history of ancient Mexico we 
 owe to them. They were the first to learn the lan- 
 guages of the peoples with whom they came in con- 
 tact; the first to collect and preserve what was left 
 ot the past history of the na,tion; and the first to in- 
 terpret and translate the picture-writings, and thus 
 make fhem available for students and historians of 
 a later age. 
 
 But yet more. It must not be forgotten that the 
 
254 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 only value which Mexican picture-writings now pos- 
 sess is that given them by the works of the much 
 abused monks and ecclesiastics who lived and 
 labored in Mexico immediately after the Conquest. 
 Without their writings, the hieroglyphical records of 
 Mexico would be as unintelligible as were those of 
 Egypt before the grand discovery of Champollion. 
 It is easy for plagiarists and sciolists of a subsequent 
 period to cast reproach on the missionaries who la- 
 bored during the first century after the settlement of 
 Mexico by the Spaniards, but it must be borne in 
 mind that it was these same missionaries, and they 
 alone, who have given us the key to the interpreta- 
 tion of the native records, and that they it is who 
 have supplied us with all the materials of the na- 
 tion's history which are now at our disposal. With- 
 out their contributions the history of Mexico before 
 the advent of the Spaniards would be impossible, 
 and we should to-day know little more of the coun- 
 try and its early inhabitants than is now known of 
 the Mound-Builders of Ohio and Illinois, or of the 
 Cliff-Dwellers of Arizona and Colorado. 
 
 To recapitulate: Thanks to the masterly "Estudio 
 Biographico y Bibliographico " of Sr. Icazbalceta, 
 whose argument I have endeavored to present as 
 clearly as possible in the foregoing pages, we are 
 now able to view the life and character of the vener- 
 able pioneer bishop of Mexico in their tru^ light. 
 Far from being an ignorant and fanatical iconoclast, 
 the destroyer of a nation's records, and the treasures 
 
"THE OMAR OF THE NEW WORLDS 255 
 
 of a new world's literature, he was one of the most 
 intelligent, progressive, and generous spirits of 
 his own or of any age. This is proved to demon- 
 stration by every act of his episcopal career. 
 
 That Bishop Zumarraga destroyed even a single 
 temple there is no evidence whatever. Had he done 
 so, no reasonable man could find fault with him, as 
 the reasons for their destruction were, as we have 
 seen, numerous and imperative. 
 
 Authentic history tells us of only one idol, that 
 of Teotihuacan, destroyed in direct pursuance of his 
 orders. No doubt many others were destroyed with 
 his knowledge and approval. It would be a strange 
 thing, indeed, to see a Christian bishop in a pagan 
 country so far forgetting his primal duty as to not 
 remove the worst stumbling-blocks standing in the 
 way of the people's entrance into the Fold of Christ. 
 But we are speaking not of a question of duty, but 
 of a question of fact. Had not the work of demol- 
 ishing temples and destroying idols been well under 
 way, if not almost completed, before the bishop's 
 arrival, there can be no doubt that he would have 
 done his duty as intrepidly and as thoroughly as it 
 had been performed by those who were m the field 
 before him. 
 
 As to "the great rock of scandal," as Sr. Icaz- 
 balceta calls it, the destruction of the national 
 archives, there is no certainty that the bishop ever 
 destroyed, directly or indirectly, a single manuscript. 
 No one ever charged him with having done so until 
 
256 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 over half a century after his death. It was then, 
 when all who had known the venerable prelate were 
 dead, and when, consequently, no one could rise up 
 to contradict their statements, that Torquemada and 
 Ixtlilxochitl published those libels, and originated 
 those calumnies which have constituted the founda- 
 tion of all those bitter invectives and envenomed 
 diatribes which have so long been directed against 
 one of the best and noblest of men. Excluding the 
 testimony of the two authors just mentioned, be- 
 cause, as we have learned, it is impeachable on so 
 many grounds, every presumption is in the bishop's 
 favor. His earnest and persevering efforts in behalf 
 of education, the establishment, shortly after his ar- 
 rival, of a school in his episcopal city for the inter- 
 pretation of picture-writings, the personal interest 
 he manifested in everything that related to the his- 
 tory and traditions of the aborigines, as is evinced, 
 among other things, by his Memoria to the Council 
 of Trent, concerning the antiquities of New Spain, 
 all go to demonstrate that Bishop Zumarraga was, 
 in sentiment and in action, the very opposite of what 
 he is represented to have been by a certain class of 
 writers whose dicta have been accepted, almost uni- 
 versally, as the incontrovertible facts of history. 
 
 "Sound criticism," says Sr. Icazbalceta, in con- 
 cluding his elaborate investigation — and I am glad to 
 terminate this long article in his own words — "can 
 no longer permit the repetition of these absurd 
 
"THE OMAR OF THE NEW WORLD:' 257 
 
 charges against the missionaries, and, in particular, 
 those against Bishop Zumarraga. The one who still 
 persists in maintaining such an absurdity simply de- 
 clares how superficial have been his studies, and how 
 completely he is under the dominion of passion." 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE SITE OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN. 
 
 WHERE was the Garden of Eden located? 
 Where was the geat of Paradise? In what 
 quarter of the globe are we to look for the cradle of 
 our race? These are questions that have been asked 
 again and again, time out of mind. Philosophers 
 and theologians, historians, archaeologists, biologists, 
 and zoologists, have taken them up and discussed 
 them in bulky tomes, but none of the answers so far 
 given have met with general acceptance. 
 
 A special human interest attaches to these ques- 
 tions, and hence the marked attention they have 
 always received from both the learned and the illit- 
 erate. In them there is something that excites our 
 curiosity, and stimulates the spirit of investigation 
 as do few other subjects. They speak of the origin 
 of humanity and of the beginnings of history than 
 which nothing is more fascinating or mysterious. 
 
 The questions asked are three in number, but 
 they are in reality one and the same. Paradise and 
 Eden, for the purpose of this chapter, may be con- 
 sidered synonymous terms, and both may be looked 
 upon as the mother-region of mankind. An answer, 
 
 258 
 
THE SITE OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN. 259 
 
 therefore, to any one of the questions propounded, 
 will be for most persons, for all believers in the 
 Bible assuredly, a response to all three, and what is 
 said of one may, in great measure, be iterated, and 
 with equal truth, of the other two. 
 
 At the very outset we are surprised by the 
 diversity of opinions that have obtained regarding 
 the site of the Terrestrial Paradise, and the various 
 points of view from which it has been considered. 
 A collection of the various notions that have pre- 
 vailed, and of the opinions that have been defended, 
 would form an interesting contribution to our litera- 
 ture, and illustrate some strange phases in the 
 development of human thought. It would, indeed, 
 be difficult to find anything more curious or instruct- 
 ive, or that better exemplifies how hopelessly at sea 
 scholars may be regarding a subject which, at the 
 first blush, would seem to admit of at least an ap- 
 proximate, if not a definitive, solution. 
 
 Some of the earlier commentators of the Script- 
 ures, Philo-Judaeus, Origen, and the majority of the 
 Alexandrine School viewed Paradise in a mystical 
 and allegorical rather than in a literal sense, although 
 they did not deny the existence of a real Paradise 
 in a geographical sense. According to Philo, it 
 typified virtue, whilst according to Origen it was a 
 picture of the soul or of heaven. In their view 
 Paradise was not terrestrial, but celestial; the trees 
 spoken of were not trees, but angelic virtues; the 
 rivers mentioned were waters of grace; the delights 
 
26o SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 of the garden were the peace and happiness which 
 are fruits of innocence. By many the Paradise de- 
 scribed by Moses was regarded as identical with that 
 spoken of in the New Testament, and it was accord- 
 ingly located in a mysterious region intermediate 
 between heaven and earth, but belonging to both. 
 
 Many modern exegetists, especially among those 
 belonging to the rationalistic school, or the school 
 of the "Higher Criticism," go much farther than 
 the interpreters of the Alexandrine School, and 
 deny in toto the existence of the Garden of Eden as 
 described by the author of Genesis. According to 
 their view, the stories of Eden and Paradise are 
 but myths which are no more deserving of credence 
 than are those of the Greeks, Hindus, and Persians, 
 respecting the Isles of the Blessed, Mt. Meru, and 
 Haraberezaiti. To them the Garden of Eden is but 
 the Hebrew analogue of the Elysian Fields, the 
 Gardens of the Hesperides, the Fortunate Isles of 
 the Greeks; the Asgard of the Scandinavians, and 
 the Kwen-lun of the Chinese; all of which, we are 
 told, are as truly mythological in character, and as 
 devoid of foundation in fact as are the tales and 
 legends of the peoples named in respect of their 
 gods, demi-gods, and heroes. 
 
 To add to the doubt and confusion introduced by 
 those who refuse to see in the Mosaic Garden of Eden 
 anything beyond myth or allegory, certain represent- 
 atives of modern thought come forward and tell us 
 that science has demonstrated that there could not 
 
THE SITE OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN. 261 
 
 have been such a place as the traditional Paradise, 
 and that it could not have been the cradle of our race, 
 for the simple reason that humanity has not, as is 
 generally imagined, descended from a single pair, 
 but from several pairs. The defenders of this theory, 
 known as polygenists, assure us that the doctrine of 
 the unity of species, to which the world has so long 
 pledged its faith, is no longer tenable; that instead 
 of being one, there are many species of man; and 
 that they not only have no genetic connection with 
 one another, but that they originate in different 
 parts of the earth far remote from each other. 
 
 It is true, that polygenists are not agreed as to 
 the number of the species into which the genus Homo 
 should be divided, or what characters should deter- 
 mine the different species. It is, indeed, difficult 
 to find any two who agree on these points. Accord- 
 ing to Virey there are but two species; Professor 
 Louis Agassiz makes nine; Borey de Saint Vincent 
 finds fifteen, while Desmoulins raises the number to 
 sixteen. 
 
 By some anthropologists the races or species of 
 men are divided according to the color of the skin 
 or hair; by others according to the form and size of 
 the skull; and by others still, according to the size 
 of the facial angle. Again, men are grouped accord- 
 ing as they may have straight or wooly hair, or 
 according to the combined characters of the hair, 
 cranium and complexion. It may here be remarked 
 that as used by polygenists the terms races and spe- 
 
262 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 cies are singularly vague and confused, and the lines 
 of demarcation drawn by different authors are often 
 as fanciful as their theories are grotesque. 
 
 Agassiz divides the earth into nine great regions 
 or kingdoms, which were first peopled by men es- 
 pecially created for these different divisions of the 
 globe. He would have it, however, that all these 
 groups of mankind constituted but one species, 
 although descending from different parents, but his 
 opponents, in spite of all his protestations that he 
 was a moxiogenist, insisted on it that he was a polyg- 
 enist pure and simple. 
 
 At all events, whatever may have been the great 
 naturalist's contention regarding the unity of the 
 human species, his theory made for several points of 
 origin for the human family instead of one, accord- 
 ing to the traditional view. There v/ere, therefore, 
 not one but several cradles for humanity; several 
 mother-regions for the progenitors of the countless 
 tribes that now inhabit the world. This view, it is 
 obvious, is entirely subversive of the Adamic origin 
 of the human species, and denies by implication the 
 truthfulness of the Genesiac narrative respecting the 
 Garden of Eden as the birthplace of humanity. 
 
 Quatrefages, however, has shown that this "the- 
 ory which attaches a human race to every center of 
 appearance as a local product of that center, ought 
 to be rejected by anyone who sets the least value 
 upon the results of observation."' How Agassiz, 
 
 ' "The Human Species," p. 167. 
 
THE SITE OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN. 263 
 
 with his vast knowledge, could give his name to a 
 theory which is contradicted not only by zoology 
 and anthropology, but also by ethnology and lin- 
 guistics, has always been an enigma that many of 
 his friends and admirers have found inexplicable. 
 
 Vogt, like Agassiz, contends for different centers 
 of appearance for humanity, but, unlike the Cam- 
 bridge professor, he is a staunch believer in the 
 simian origin of man. Vogt is an ardent evolution- 
 ist, while Agassiz, to the day of his death, battled 
 against evolution as a theory that was utterly at 
 variance with both the facts of biology and paleon- 
 tology. Agassiz was a believer in God, the Creator 
 of all things, while Vogt ignores, if he does not 
 deny, the existence of a personal Creator, for the 
 reason, he tells us, that there is " no sphere of action 
 for such a being." Not only, according to Vogt, 
 are there manifold species of men indigenous to 
 different and widely-separated regions of the earth, 
 but these species are the descendants of certain an- 
 thropoid apes, of certain "missing links," connecting 
 man with the baboons and monkeys of the Old and 
 New Worlds. American races of men, he will have 
 it, are derived from American apes, Negroes from 
 African apes, Negritos from Asiatic apes. ' 
 
 Haeckel agrees in the main with Vogt in his evo- 
 lutionary views respecting the simian origin of man, 
 
 ■ "Lectures on Man," London, 1864, p. 467. In his " Memoire 
 sur les Microcfephales," however, the Genevese naturalist 
 carries back the genealogy of man to one primeval ancestor. 
 
264 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 but inclines to monogenism rather than polygenism. 
 The professor of Jena denies, however, that there 
 was ever, strictly speaking, a first man, or a first 
 pair, from which all the races of men are descended. 
 Man's first ancestor, far from being the perfect man 
 depicted by Moses or Milton, was but a simple speck 
 of protoplasm, in the form of an humble' moneron 
 or amoeba, which made its appearance on our planet 
 not a few thousands of years ago, but many millions, 
 yea many "milliards of thousands of years ago." 
 He sketches out the genealogy of our race through 
 twenty-two typical, transitional forms; some of which 
 have never had any existence outside of Haeckel's 
 fertile brain, and asks us to accept his fantasies as 
 the latest results of veritable science. He differs 
 from many of his colleagues in advocating but one 
 centre of appearance for mankind. In this respect, 
 at least, he is at one with those who hold the unity 
 of origin of the human species, although the com- 
 mon ancestor of the various races of men, according 
 to Hsckel, is much further separated in time from 
 those who now inhabit the earth than is Adam, the 
 traditional father of our species. Haeckel's Para- 
 dise — he puts an interrogation mark after Paradise, 
 which is rather singular in one who is always so 
 positive in his statements — is located in a hypo- 
 thetical continent at the bottom of the Indian 
 Ocean. From this submerged continent, of which 
 Wallace declares there is no good evidence, Haeckel 
 would have us believe, are derived the various races 
 
THE SITE OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN. 265 
 
 and tribes of men who now people the Old World 
 and the New. Lemuria, then, according to Hasckel 
 takes the place of the Garden of Eden as des- 
 cribed in Genesis, and an insignificant amoeba re- 
 places the Scriptural Adam as the progenitor of 
 mankind ! 
 
 Without entering into details it is sufificient to 
 observe here that the theories of Agassiz, Vogt, and 
 Hseckel are very far from meeting with general ac- 
 ceptance. There is no evidence whatever either in 
 favor of polygenism or of the simian prigin of man. 
 On the contrary, the more closely the subject is 
 investigated, the more carefully all the facts bearing 
 on the case are scrutinized and compared, the more 
 inevitable becomes the inference in favor of mono- 
 geny. 
 
 The ablest exponents in every department of 
 science have been and are defenders of the doctrine 
 of the unity of the human species. Linnaeus, Buffon, 
 Cuvier, the two Geoffroys, Humboldt, Johann 
 Mijller, Quatrefages and Mivart have, from purely 
 scientific data, demonstrated that all the evidence, 
 so far adduced and collated, proves, in the most un- 
 mistakable manner, that there is but one species of 
 man, and that the teaching of science regarding the 
 specific unity of mankind is identical with that of 
 Scripture. Polygenism, therefore, may be dismissed 
 as an hypothesis which is not only untenable, but 
 as one which is not sustained by any of the sciences 
 which are appealed to in its defence. With truth 
 
266 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 then does Winchel declare "the plural origin of man- 
 kind is a doctrine now almost entirely superseded."' 
 
 Even so ardent a polygenist as the distinguished 
 linguist, Pott, of Halle, is compelled to affirm, "I 
 must declare, although with regret, that there is 
 nothing in philology which is directly opposed to 
 the derivation of all men from a single primitive 
 pair, and the prospect of one day demonstrating 
 such origin by decisive arguments drawn from lin- 
 guistics cannot be ignored." For this and other 
 similar reasons, which it were easy to adduce, we 
 may consider the unity of the human species as one 
 of the accepted teachings of science as well as one 
 of the admitted dogmas of general Christian belief. 
 
 What has been said of polygenism may likewise 
 be predicted of the theory of the animal origin of 
 man. Not only is it not proven, but all positive 
 evidence is decidedly against it. No "missing 
 link," no pithecanthropoid, no alalus, connecting 
 man with any species of catarrhine apes, or other ir- 
 rational mammal, has yet been discovered, and, 
 judging from the systematic and zealous, yet fruit- 
 less, search which has been made for such a link, in 
 all parts of the world, we may safely conclude that 
 it never will be forthcoming. 
 
 I make this declaration not because I have any 
 prejudices against the theory of evolution as applied 
 to plant life or to animals other than man, for I have 
 none. Evolution is a theory which, like any other 
 
 1 " Pre- Adamites," p. 297. 
 
THE SITE OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN. 267 
 
 theory, must stand or fall according as it is sup- 
 ported or not supported by the facts on which it is 
 supposed to rest. So far is it from being estab- 
 lished that many of the most eminent authorities in 
 contemporary science hesitate to give in their adhe- 
 sion to the theory as currently taught. It is, indeed, 
 a plausible and a fascinating theory, but is it war- 
 ranted by a correct interpretation of nature? We 
 might allow it to be or not to be. But even if dem- 
 onstrated, it has nothing to do, so far as the evi- 
 dence now stands, with the evolution of man. There 
 is nothing in organic evolution properly understood 
 that is irreconcilable either with Scriptural teaching 
 or Christian orthodoxy. All statements to the con- 
 trary proceed from either scientific or hermeneutical 
 myopia, or both together. For it is a notable fact 
 that in the Mosaic account of Creation the word 
 bara — to create from nothing — is used only three 
 times, first in the creation of inorganic matter, sec- 
 ondly in the creation of animal life, and lastly in the 
 creation of man, into whose face was " breathed the 
 breath of life." As far, then, as revelation is con- 
 cerned, there is nothing in a theistic view of evolu- 
 tion which any orthodox Christian may not accept. 
 On the contrary, far from being opposed to the the- 
 ory that animal and plant life is developed and 
 differentiated by the operation of natural causes, the 
 words of the Sacred Text seem to imply it, if they 
 do not express and corroborate it. But, be this as 
 it may, whatever views we may entertain respecting 
 
268 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 the evolution of plants and animals, we are still en- 
 titled to hold to the traditional belief that man is 
 not only specifically one, but also that he was spe- 
 cially created with all his noble powers of mind and 
 soul, and not evolved from some lower form of ani- 
 mal life. 
 
 The unity of human origin is, then, a fact. The 
 Bible declares it, science confirms it. The special 
 creation of our first parents is also a fact' Scrip- 
 ture attests it and science allows it. These facts 
 being admitted, we have eliminated from the discus- 
 sion two elements of difficulty that we need not fur- 
 ther consider. 
 
 There was, then, a first man. There was a prim- 
 eval pair from which all the rest of mankind have 
 descended. Humanity, then, had a birthplace. 
 There was, consequently, a Paradise, a Garden of 
 Eden, as declared by the Scriptures, and as disclosed 
 by the traditions of so many nations and races of 
 men. 
 
 But the question again arises: Where was this 
 mother- region of our race? Where was the Garden 
 of Eden of which Genesis speaks? In what part of 
 the world shall we look for this Paradise of delights 
 of which sages have spoken and of which poets have 
 sung? It must have been somewhere on the earth's 
 surface. It will not do to say that such a birthplace 
 for humanity is a myth and never had any exist- 
 
 ' For a fuller discussion of tiie questions here involved, see 
 my " Evolution and Dogma," part II, chap. 6. 
 
THE SITE OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN. 269 
 
 ence. From what precedes, it is clear that such a 
 supposition is not only ungrounded but absurd. 
 
 Some have thought that the question could be 
 answered off-hand, from the indications given by the 
 Bible alone. Others have fancied that the data of 
 science were quite sufificient to settle all doubts re- 
 garding the matter. Others again are like Hudi- 
 bras, who 
 
 "Knew the seat of Paradise, 
 Could tell in what degree it lies. 
 And as he was disposed, could prove it 
 Below the moon, or else above it." 
 
 In the minds of some the question is encumbered 
 with insuperable difficulties, and a reply to the 
 queries raised is, in the very nature of the case, im- 
 possible. In the minds of others, these same diffi- 
 culties are brushed aside by a majestic wave of the 
 hand, and the exact spot occupied by the Garden of 
 Eden is at once pointed out. There are those who 
 despair of ever knowing more about the matter than 
 we know now, whilst there are others who anticipate 
 the early discovery of some Chaldean tablet, some 
 Accado-Sumerian monument, or some antediluvian 
 record that will give full details and settle, as if by 
 magic, all further controversy. 
 
 Truth to tell, there is scarcely a region on the 
 earth's surface in which the Garden of Eden has not 
 been located at one time or other. Some have 
 imagined that it was at the Pole in the "faerie 
 North," others at the Equator; some have placed it 
 
270 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 in Siberia, others in Peru. It has been located in 
 the places now occupied by the Caspian Sea and 
 Lake Van; on the banks of the Ganges, and in the 
 island of Ceylon. Hebron, Damascus, Jerusalem, 
 Babylon have each been considered as situated on 
 the identical spot where our first parents were cre- 
 ated and where they fell. According to Credner, 
 the Garden of Eden was in the Canary Islands; ac- 
 cording to Hasse, it was in Prussia, on the shores of 
 the Baltic. Herder imagined it to have been in 
 Cashmere; Wellhausen opined that it was farther 
 East; while De Bertheau held that it was in the 
 north of the continent. Livingstone sought for it in 
 equatorial Africa, and hoped to find it at the head 
 waters of the Nile, if he could but be fortunate 
 enough to discover them. Daumer maintained that 
 it was in Australia, whence man emigrated to Amer- 
 ica, and thence to Asia and Europe by way of Beh- 
 ring's Straits. The terrestrial Paradise of the old 
 Celts was in Avalon, a sea-girt isle of the North; 
 whilst the Paradise of the Jewish commentators who 
 have followed Josephus and mediaeval Hebrew ex- 
 egetists is " in the very center of the earth, some- 
 where in the shadowy East, far removed from the 
 approach of mortals." 
 
 Galindo places the primitive home of our race in 
 the New World; H. L. Morgan makes the valley of 
 the Colombia River the Garden of Eden, the "seed- 
 land of the Ganowanian family," whom, it seems, he 
 regards as autocthonous. Dr. Rudolph Falb, by a 
 
THE SITE OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN. 27 1 
 
 careful study of the Quichua and Aimara languages, 
 fancies that he has discovered such a close relation- 
 ship between them and the Aryan and Semitic 
 tongues that he is warranted in concluding that we 
 must look to the lofty plateaus of Bolivia and Peru 
 for the cradle of the human race. Professor D. G. 
 Brinton, in a recent lecture, expresses his belief that 
 the first home of our race was either in Western Eu- 
 rope or in Northern Africa. 
 
 From the time of Cosmos Indicopleustes, who 
 flourished in the sixth century, to our own, travel- 
 ers and explorers have sought for the Garden of 
 Eden, and geographers have indicated on their maps 
 the places they imagined it should occupy. Sir 
 John Mandeville, who made his celebrated journey 
 to the East in the early part of the fourteenth 
 century, places Paradise "beyond the land, and isles, 
 and deserts of Prester John's lordship." "Of Para- 
 dise," he says, " I cannot speak properly for I was 
 
 not there I repent not going there, but I 
 
 was not worthy." "But," he continues, "Terres- 
 trial Paradise, as wise men say, is the highest place 
 of the earth; and is so high that it nearly touches 
 the circle of the moon there as the moon makes 
 her turn." 
 
 Again, he tells us, "You shall understand that 
 no mortal may approach to that Paradise; for by 
 land no man may go, for wild beasts that are in the 
 deserts, and for the high mountains and great, huge 
 rocks that no man may pass by for the dark places 
 
272 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 that are there; and by the rivers may no man go, 
 for the water runs so roughly and so sharply, be- 
 cause it comes down so outrageously from the high 
 places above, that it runs in so great waves that no 
 ship may row or sail against it; and the water roars 
 so, and makes so huge a noise, and so great a tem- 
 pest, that' no man may hear another in the ship, 
 though he cried with all the might he could. Many 
 great lords have essayed with great will many times 
 to pass by those rivers toward Paradise, with full 
 great companies; but they might not speed on their 
 voyage; and many died for weariness of rowing 
 against the strong waves; and many of them became 
 blind, and many deaf, from the noise of the water; 
 and some perished and were lost in the waves, so 
 that no mortal man may approach to that place 
 without the special grace of God." ' 
 
 Columbus, as we learn from his letters, thought 
 he had found the site of the Garden of Eden, in 
 what is now Venezuela, or Colombia. True, he was 
 not aware that he had discovered a new continent. 
 He was under the impression that he was on the 
 east coast of Asia, the ocSan-laved shores of far-off 
 Cathay. He accepted as true the traditional belief 
 which lo. ated Paradise in farther India, or yet more 
 to the eastward, and was fully persuaded that he 
 had, in the Orinoco, discovered one of the rivers 
 that watered Eden. 
 
 '"The Voyage and Travaile of Sir John Mandeville," 
 chap. 30. 
 
THE SITE OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN. 273 
 
 Writing to his royal patrons, Ferdinand and 
 Isabella, of the region at the head-waters of the 
 Orinoco, he says: "I have no doubt, that if I could 
 pass below the equinoctial line, after reaching the 
 highest point of which I have spoken, I would find 
 a much milder temperature and a variation in the 
 stars and in the water; not that I suppose that ele- 
 vated point to be navigable, nor, indeed, that there 
 is any water there; indeed, I believe it impossible to 
 ascend thither, because I am convinced that it is the 
 spot of the earthly Paradise, whither no one can go 
 but by God's permission." Continuing, he adds, 
 "There are great indications of this being the ter- 
 restrial Paradise, for its site coincides with the 
 opinions of the holy and wise theologians whom I 
 have mentioned; and moreover, the other evidences 
 agree with the supposition, for I have never either 
 read or heard of fresh water coming in so large a 
 quantity in close conjunction with the water of the 
 sea; the idea is also corroborated by the blandness 
 of the temperature; and if the water of which I 
 speak does not proceed from the earthly Paradise, it 
 appears to be still more marvelous, for I do not be- 
 lieve that there is any river in the world so large or 
 so deep." "The more I reason on the subject," he 
 concludes, "the more satisfied I become that the 
 terrestrial Paradise is situated on the spot I have de- 
 scribed; and I ground my opinion upon the argu- 
 ments and authorities already quoted. May it please 
 the Lord to grant your Highnesses a long life and 
 
274 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 health, and peace to follow out so noble an investi- 
 gation, in which I think our Lord will receive great 
 service, Spain considerable increase of its greatness, 
 and all Christians much consolation and pleasure, 
 because by this means the name of our Lord will be 
 published abroad." ' 
 
 Unger considered Paradise as situated in the lost 
 Atlantis. Ignatius Donnelly does the same. Ac- 
 cepting Plato's account of it, as given in the Tim- 
 aeus, as so much veritable history, he attempts to 
 show not only that Atlantis was the Garden of 
 Eden, but that it was also the only possible centre 
 of distribution for the various races which now 
 people the Old and the New World. And more 
 than this. "Not only," he avers, "was it the original 
 home of mankind, but it was likewise the focus 
 whence have eradiated all our cereals and most use- 
 ful plants and fruits and all our domestic animals."^ 
 Here, too, he claims, many of the most valuable in- 
 ventions which have ever blessed our race had their 
 origin. In a word, if we are to believe Donnelly, 
 Atlantis was the home of art, science and literature, 
 and the people who inhabited it not only enjoyed 
 all the peace and happiness of which the ancient 
 poets speak as being the lot of the privileged mor- 
 tals of the Golden Age, but they were the prototypes 
 of the gods, demi-gods and heroes of a later and 
 less fortunate period. 
 
 ' " Select Letters of Christopher Columbus," translated by 
 R. H. Major, F. S. A., pp. 136-142. 
 
 ^ See "Atlantis, The Antediluvian World," chap, 9. 
 
THE SITE OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN. 275 
 
 M. Mayou, in an ingenious article, in a late num- 
 ber of La Nouvelle Revue ' argues that the Desert 
 of Sahara embraces what was once the Garden of 
 Eden. What is now a bleak and arid waste was 
 once, he believes, a land of marvelous beauty and 
 fertility, watered by large rivers and meandering 
 streams; covered with rich verdure and luxuriant 
 vegetation; densely populated and the happy home 
 of a peaceful and contented people. A new read- 
 ing of Genesis, in the light of certain hieroglyphical 
 inscriptions of the twelfth dynasty regarding the 
 pyramid of Cheops, will, he assures us, solve the 
 mystery that has so long enshrouded the monument 
 Gizeh, and reveal the reason why all attempts 
 hitherto made to locate the Paradise of Scripture 
 have proved futile. The Nile, he will have it, for- 
 merly flowed through Sahara, where it divided into 
 four branches, constituting the quadrifurcate river 
 of Genesis. At this time the people of Egypt, who, 
 even then, were a powerful and a highly civilized 
 nation, suffered from lack of water, and cast about 
 for increasing their supply of this all-important 
 element. They obtained it by deflecting the course 
 of the Nile, and directing it through their own 
 country. By making a large cut or ditch through 
 an elevation near Khartoum, they appropriated to 
 themselves the waters of the great reservoirs of 
 equatorial Africa, and shut off from their neighbors 
 in Sahara the only source of irrigation on which 
 
 ' Les Secrets des Pyramids de Memphis, April 15, 1893. 
 
2^6 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 their country could depend. It was thus man and 
 not God, who closed Paradise, and made entrance 
 into it impossible, by taking from it the water that 
 gave it fecundity and life. 
 
 Mr. W. F. Warren, Count Saporta and others, 
 basing their opinions on certain forced interpreta- 
 tions of various ancient legends and traditions, and 
 on the results of scientific explorations of the regions 
 within the Arctic Circle, reach the conclusion that 
 the first home of our race was in the circumpolar 
 North. The investigations of botanists declare the 
 singular, but as yet inexplicable fact, that "all the 
 floral types and forms revealed in the oldest fossils 
 of the earth originated in the region of the North 
 Pole, and thence spread first over the northern and 
 then over the southern hemisphere, proceeding from 
 north to south." The writers just mentioned make 
 the same contention for the world's fauna. And 
 why, they inquire, are we not justified in locating 
 humanity's birthplace where the animals and plants 
 which serve man and on which he subsists and which 
 have accompanied him on his migrations over the 
 earth's surface, are known to have originated? 
 "Only from the circumpolar regions of the North," 
 affirms Count Saporta, "could primitive humanity 
 have radiated as from a centre to spread into the 
 several continents at once and to give rise to suc- 
 cessive emigrations toward the south. This theory 
 best agrees with the presumed march of the human 
 
THE SITE OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN. 277 
 
 races."' At the Pole of the earth, therefore, "the 
 sacred quarter" of the world, "the navel of the 
 earth," "the mesomphalos," the umbilicus orbis 
 terrarum, are we to look for the long lost Eden, for 
 the cradle of our race. There where the aurora 
 borealis is seen in all its splendor, under a canopy 
 formed by palpitating and wafting draperies, quiver- 
 ing curtains, and shining streamers of prismatic 
 hues of matchless brilliancy and varying intensity, 
 our first parents spent the first happy days of their 
 existence and there, amid a frozen desolation lie 
 buried the "hearthstone of humanity's earliest and 
 loveliest home."'' 
 
 From the foregoing opinions, entertained at va- 
 rious times, the reader can infer how prominent a 
 part wild conjecture, unbridled fancy, and love of 
 learned paradox have played in the numerous inves- 
 tigations which have been made with a view of de- 
 termining the geographical seat of Paradise. And, 
 be it remembered, allusion has been made to only a 
 few of the opinions that have in times past been 
 promulgated respecting humanity's pristine home. 
 Nearly a hundred different theories regarding the 
 location of the birthplace of our race have been ad- 
 vocated at one time or other, nearly all of which are 
 now discarded as improbable or ridiculous. 
 
 Must we, then, look upon the Garden of Eden as 
 
 ' Popular Science Monthly, Sept., 1883, p. 678. 
 '^ "Paradise Found," p. 433, by W. F. Warren. 
 
378 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 a philosophic myth, as many have done, and can we 
 find no place for it but Utopia? Because we refuse 
 to believe that it was located on some elevated pla- 
 teau of the Andes, or on the top of some mountain 
 in farther India, or .in the desert of Sahara, or in the 
 fabled Atlantis, or in some mythical Hyperborean 
 land which has been icebound for the past million 
 years or more, must we abandon all further quest for 
 this "sacred quarter" of the world? 
 
 Or, and here we run against another objection, 
 must we believe that such a place is "past finding 
 out," because, forsooth, a certain school of modern 
 scientists will have it that man has been on earth far 
 longer than is commonly supposed according to the 
 traditional view. Must we accept as demonstrated 
 the current teachings regarding the antiquity of our 
 race which are based on a few skulls, flint-flakes, and 
 arrow-heads found in sundry parts of the Old and 
 New Worlds, and conclude that all reputed indica- 
 tions as to man's cradle-land are misleading and that 
 all vestiges of his early sojourn on our planet are 
 obliterated? 
 
 In view of the diverse and conflicting opinions 
 that have been held by the foremost exponents of 
 science concerning certain finds which have been 
 made during the past few decades, one should hesi- 
 tate about giving an affirmative answer to these 
 questions. 
 
 Most of our readers are familiar with the contro- 
 versy that raged a few years ago about the flint- 
 
THE SITS: OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN. 279 
 
 flakes discovered by Abbe Bourgeois at Thenay, and 
 the proof they were fancied to give to the theory of 
 Tertiary man. Tertiary man is now utterly discred- 
 ited by all sober-minded scientists. Our readers 
 will remember, too, the sensation occasioned by the 
 discoveries of the Neanderthal man who was vari- 
 ously estimated to have antiquity of from several 
 hundred thousand to less than a hundred years. 
 And they are not ignorant of a discussion which is 
 still going on respecting the age of certain flint- 
 flakes and implements found at Trenton, on the 
 banks of the Delaware, remains which, according to 
 to some archaeologists, attest for the aborigines of 
 New Jersey an antiquity of ten or twenty thousand 
 years, while other equally competent experts assert 
 that there is not a scintilla of evidence that such re- 
 mains date back more than a few centuries at most. 
 Again, no one who makes any pretense of keep- 
 ing abreast with current discussions in science can 
 be ignorant of a controversy now going on between 
 astronomers, physicists, and mathematicians on the 
 one side, and certain geologists, biologists, and arch- 
 aeologists on the other, regarding a question — the 
 age of the earth — that has a direct bearing on the 
 antiquity of the human species. Lord Kelvin, Pro- 
 fessors Tait and Newcomb, George H. Darwin, M. 
 Faye, Clarence King, and others assure us that, rea- 
 soning from calculable data, the age of the world, 
 instead of counting hundreds of millions and billions 
 of years, as many geologists and biologists assert, can, 
 
28o SCIBNCE AXD THE CHURCH. 
 
 not exceed ten or twenty million years at most, and 
 that, consequently, the period during which man has 
 existed on earth must of necessity be proportion- 
 ally brief. Until, therefore, geologists, biologists, 
 and archaeologists can agree among themselves as to 
 the interpretation of the facts with which their re- 
 spective sciences deal, and until they can disprove 
 what now seem to be undeniable conclusions of 
 physics, mathematics, and astronomy; until, in a 
 word, they can establish by certain proofs that the 
 traditional view of the recent origin of man is not 
 well founded, we may feel at liberty to maintain that 
 his appearance does not antedate the time assigned 
 to this event by a legitimate interpretation of the 
 Septuagint Version of the Hebrew Scriptures. Such 
 being the case, we have the age of our race reduced 
 from the untold aeons of Darwin and Haeckel and 
 De Mortillet to a period that does not cover, at the 
 outside, more than ten or twelve thousand years. 
 
 It is easy, then, to see how human history may 
 extend back to our first progenitor; how we may 
 have reliable traditional knowledge of the conditions 
 of life and place of abode of our first parents, and 
 how, in a word, history and tradition, aided by mod- 
 ern research, may enable us to determine, at least 
 approximately, humanity's cradle-land, the Garden 
 of Eden of the Bible. 
 
 Just here we encounter another difficulty that re- 
 quires explanation. Primitive man, it is objected by 
 many modern writers, if not the offspring of some 
 
THE SITE OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN. 281 
 
 anthropomorphic ape, if not "descended from a 
 hairy quadruped furnished with a tail and pointed 
 ears, probably arboreal in his habits," as Darwin de- 
 scribes him, was far from approaching the Mosaic or 
 Miltonic ideal which has so long flattered our vanity. 
 Primitive man, far from being the type of physical 
 perfection, and intellectual power, and moral excel- 
 lence we have been wont to regard him, was, we ar€ 
 assured, but little removed, either in moral or phys- 
 ical characters, from the Ourang-Outang; was as far 
 below certain African and Oceanic negroes as the 
 latter are inferior to the Teutonic or Pelasgic types. 
 These premises being taken for granted, the conclu- 
 sion is drawn, that if Genesiac man is a myth, the 
 Garden of Eden is also a myth. 
 
 But is it certain that this new view of the condition 
 of primitive man is correct? Is there any evidence 
 that he was the brutal, groveling savage that he is 
 so often pictured to have been; that there was a 
 time when, in the words of a German writer, "peo- 
 ple were unable to make any conceivable distinction 
 between a plant and a man"? One can safely and 
 unhesitatingly affirm that there is no more evidence 
 for such a view of primitive man than there is for 
 polygenism, or the simian origin of our race, or for 
 the vast antiquity so often claimed for the human 
 species; theories, which, if not all discredited, cer- 
 tainly do not repose on the firm foundation of thor- 
 oughly attested, irrefragable, scientific facts. 
 
 So far, not a single fact has been disclosed by the 
 
282 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 Study of the various races of men, civilized or sav- 
 age, which cannot be explained as well by retro- 
 gression from a higher type, as by development from 
 a lower one; that devolution and subsequent partial 
 progress, it may be, cannot account for as well as 
 evolution. Even Renan is forced to admit that there 
 is not a single example in all history evidencing the 
 passage of any people, by its unaided efforts, from 
 a state of savagery to a condition of civilization. 
 Taking history as our guide, and it is our only safe 
 guide in the premises, we cannot go back to a time 
 when man was either physically or intellectually on 
 a lower plane than he is now; or when he was not 
 capable of as high ethical conceptions as he is to- 
 day; or when his religious nature was less elevated 
 or responsive than it is at present. We may go back 
 to the beginnings of history, and even to the pre- 
 historic past, and man is civilized. This is the lesson 
 taught by the excavations of Schliemann at My- 
 cenae and Hissarlik, not to speak of similar investi- 
 gations made elsewhere in the Orient by other 
 explorers. The Egyptians, as we first know them, 
 far from being savages, were the builders of temples 
 and monuments which are still the admiration of the 
 world. Assyria, Chaldea, Babylonia, as shown by 
 the marvelous discoveries in the valleys of the 
 Tigris and Euphrates during the past decades, were 
 not inferior to Egypt in civilization or culture, and 
 there is similarly incontestable evidence for believing 
 that their predecessors, the Accadians and Sume- 
 
THE SITE OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN. 283 
 
 rians, were equally enlightened and advanced in all 
 the more important arts of life. 
 
 That the antediluvians, and the patriarchs and the 
 immediate descendants of our first common father 
 were less highly endowed physically and intellectu- 
 ally; that their moral and religious conceptions were 
 of a lower order science cannot assert, because sci- 
 ence, as science, can know nothing without the aid 
 of history, and history, as just stated, but confirms 
 and amplifies the indications of Scripture. 
 
 It is not my purpose to urge the opinion of De 
 Maistre; who contended that the civilization of prim- 
 itive man was of the most advanced and splendid 
 character; to maintain that Adam and his immediate 
 descendants had all the advantages of what we now 
 denominate civilization; that they enjoyed all the 
 refinements of luxury in the way of food, dress, fur- 
 niture, habitation, means of locomotion, the product 
 of ages of invention and industry, which are so char- 
 acteristic of our age; that they were distinguished 
 by the culture of which we boast so much; that they 
 excelled in art or literature, or were noted for their 
 zeal in promoting the cause of science, or forward- 
 ing the progress of invention and discovery. Far 
 from it. The civilization which we set so much 
 store by, and which has its drawbacks as well as its 
 advantages, is the fruit of slow and gradual evolu- 
 tion; the accumulated results of hundreds of gener- 
 ations of labor and experience; the heritage devel- 
 oped by the expenditure of thousands of years of 
 
284 SCIETfCB AND THE CHURCIt. 
 
 the world's best thought and energy. But what I 
 do maintain is, that primitive man was neither the de- 
 based and groveling brute of certain contemporary 
 anthropologists, nor the magnificent savage of Rous- 
 seau, a being whose desires were confined to the 
 gratification of his physical needs and passions, who 
 was mild and impassive, and utterly indifferent to 
 either good or evil. Prescinding from the super- 
 natural state to which, according to Scripture, man 
 was raised, and the original grace of which theology 
 speaks, reason and science, not to speak of the 
 unanimous testimony of the ethnic traditions of our 
 race, tell us that man, as he came from the hands of 
 his Creator, was physically a perfect specimen of 
 humanity, endowed with all the gifts of mind and 
 soul necessary to enable him to govern the family 
 of which he was the chief, and to instruct its mem- 
 bers in their duties toward God and toward one an- 
 other. Homines Sylvafici, the first men undoubtedly 
 were in the sense that they lived in forests and on 
 plains, and not in palaces and cities. Ignorant they 
 unquestionably were of the most, if not all, of the 
 arts of life that we now deem indispensable. They 
 could neither read nor write. Their language, prob- 
 ably monosyllabic, was undoubtedly of the simplest 
 character. It was, as we may believe, a human in- 
 vention, and not a divine institution. The Creator 
 undoubtedly endowed man with intelligence and the 
 faculty of speech, and in this sfense it may be as- 
 serted that language is of divine origin. He gave 
 
THE SITE OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN. 285 
 
 man the instrument of speech, but there is no evi- 
 dence that He did more than this. Still less is there 
 any evidence that He was the immediate Author of 
 the first language spoken by our race, that language 
 for which a certain school of philologists have so 
 long been seeking, and from which, they will have 
 it, all other forms of speech are derived.' But, not- 
 withstanding this, they were still, those who were 
 true to the lessons of the father of humanity, physi- 
 cally, morally, and intellectually, the peers, if not 
 the superiors, of any of their descendants. Far 
 from being just a little above the brutes, they were 
 rather but a little below the angels. They were 
 men of perfect physique and of almost god-like 
 intelligence. Considering the degeneracy of the race 
 as compared with the original type, one can truly 
 say of man as he now is, that he is, in the words 
 of Emerson, " but a dwarf of humanity," "a god in 
 ruins." 
 
 Again, the much-mooted question as to the geo- 
 graphical seat of Eden comes to the fore. Has 
 
 ' The view that spoken language is a human invention and 
 not a divine institution, is not, as is so often imagined, entirely a 
 modern one with Catholic scholars. It was held and defended 
 by St. Gregory of Nyssa, in the fourth century, as will be seen 
 in his twelfth book "Against Eunomius." The essence of lan- 
 guage, as all know, is an intellectual activity known as the 
 verbum mentale; while actual speech, the verbum oris, is the ex- 
 ternal manifestation of thoughts by articulate sounds. God 
 undoubtedly gave our first parents the power of speech, the 
 verbum mentale, but there is no reason to believe that He also 
 endowed them with the verbum oris, and much less that He 
 constructed for their special behoof a complete and perfect lan- 
 guage. 
 
286 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 modern research done anything toward clearing up 
 the mystery which has so long enveloped the Para- 
 disaic home of our race, or are we to renounce for- 
 ever all hope of even an approximate solution of 
 the enigma. 
 
 Leaving out of consideration the vagaries of cer- 
 tain transformists and polygenists; discarding the 
 dreams of eccentric speculators and paradox-mong- 
 ers, it may be asserted of a truth that the general 
 consensus of the highest and most trustworthy 
 authorities, in every department of inquiry, is agreed 
 on locating the cradle of humanity somewhere in 
 Western Asia. 
 
 Quatrefages, the eminent anthropologist is dis- 
 posed to consider the lofty plateau of Pamir as the 
 original hearthstone of mankind.' This is also the 
 view of the distinguished orientalist, Francois Len- 
 ormant.^ 
 
 According to Lenormant the four rivers — the 
 Phison, Gehon, Tigris and Euphrates — which 
 watered Gan-Eden or Paradise, were what are now 
 known as the Indus, Oxus, Tarin and Jaxartes. Here, 
 too, curiously enough, on this "Roof of the World," 
 on this "Central Boss of Asia," is the spot where 
 the Puranas locate the primeval Aryan Paradise, the 
 holy Mount Meru; the centre, according to Parsi 
 traditions, whence radiated the first Aryan migra- 
 tions, and one of the regions of the earth which 
 
 ' "The Human Species ", pp. 175-177. 
 
 ^ " Histoire American de I'Orient," torn, i, p. 104, 
 
THE SITE OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN. 287 
 
 even Mohammedan teaching has assigned as the 
 cradle-land of our species. 
 
 The theories, however, of Quatrefages and Len- 
 ormant, plausible as they may appear from certain 
 points of view, and cleverly advocated as they are 
 by their originators, do not find much favor with the 
 generality of scholars. The concurrent testimony 
 of the majority of investigators who have most 
 profoundly studied the subject unites in proclaiming 
 the basin drained by the Euphrates and the Tigris 
 as the almost certain mother-region of the human 
 family. It is here that the author of Genesis locates 
 the Garden of Eden. 
 
 It will not do to say that the testimony of the 
 Bible is ruled out of court, because in the estimation 
 of so many it is regarded as a divinely inspired 
 record. It is here considered simply as a historical 
 document, composed by one who knew whereof 
 he wrote, and whose narrative, humanly considered, 
 bears every indication of having been founded on 
 information that was perfectly reliable, and drawn 
 from traditions which were fresh and carefully pre- 
 served by the descendants of the Patriarchs. 
 Neither will it avail to object that the authenticity 
 of the Genesiac account of Eden has been impaired 
 by modern criticism or proven to be unworthy of 
 credence. Such statements as all know, have been 
 made, but assertion is not proof, conjecture is not 
 demonstration. 
 
 Nor again can it be argued that the time which 
 
288 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 intervened between the creation of our first parents 
 and the date of the composition of Genesis was so 
 great as to preclude the possibility of simple tradi- 
 tion being adequate to preserve in their integrity all 
 the facts of the Mosaic narrative. 
 
 When we realize the power of memory, as illus- 
 trated in the conservation and transmission from 
 generation to generation of the noble epics of 
 Homer; when we reflect that the "Rig Veda," 
 which is four times the length of the Iliad, was 
 preserved intact from age to age, and is still pre- 
 served by the unaided memory; when we bear in 
 mind that the great body of Vedic literature, stu- 
 pendous as it is in volume, has been perpetuated and 
 handed down to us by oral traditions despite the fact 
 that the art of writing has been known in India for 
 twenty-five centuries; when we remember that there 
 is yet a class of Hindu priests, who still learn the 
 contents of their sacred books "as their ancestors 
 learnt it thousands of years ago, from the lips of a 
 teacher," we shall experience no difficulty in under- 
 standing how the author of Genesis could give an 
 accurate account of what so profoundly affected the 
 first representatives of our race. Only a few gen- 
 erations existed between Adam and Moses, and it 
 would be preposterous to assert that the Hebrew 
 lawgiver could not have an exact traditional knowl- 
 edge of what took place in antediluvian times, when 
 we know of what wonderful feats the disciplined 
 
THE SITE OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN. 289 
 
 memory is capable in other matters that are more 
 difficult and far less important. 
 
 Yet more. When we consider how admirably 
 and unexpectedly recent explorations in the valley 
 of the Nile and in the plains of Mesopotamia have 
 illustrated and corroborated so many passages of 
 Holy Writ; how Egyptian inscriptions and Chaldean 
 tablets have illumined and explained what before 
 was unintelligible and seemingly at variance with 
 the known facts of history, we may justly hesitate 
 about accepting the latest hypothesis the " Higher 
 Criticism" may urge against the authenticity of 
 Genesis because, forsooth, some passages in the text 
 may not admit of ready or certain interpretation. 
 And then, too, when we remember what has been 
 accomplished in exegesis since Layard, and Botta, 
 and Smith, and Rawlinson began their epoch-making 
 investigations, we can form some estimate as to what 
 the future has in store in the way of buried records 
 regarding the history of the patriarchal world. 
 
 For the reasons indicated, therefore, and for 
 others which need not be specified, we can, I insist, 
 safely trust to the declarations of the Genesiac nar- 
 rative regarding the location of Eden, and find in it 
 our best guide toward answering the long-vexed 
 question of humanity's first abode. 
 
 In following the Bible it is quite evident that the 
 site of the Garden of Eden must have been some- 
 where between the sources of the Euphrates and 
 
290 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 the Tigris and the embouchure of these rivers in the 
 Persian Gulf. There can be no doubt about the 
 topography of Paradise thus far. These two rivers 
 are specially mentioned as among the four which 
 watered the Garden of delights. It is true that 
 Renan and others will have it that the Tigris and 
 Euphrates here mentioned were named after other 
 rivers, probably in Northern India, which, long ages 
 before, were known by these names. It has also 
 been surmised that both of these names were sub- 
 stituted for names entirely different, which have 
 long since been forgotten. There is, however, not 
 the slightest trace of genuine evidence for either of 
 these assumptions. But the great difficulty for 
 those who accept the indications of the Scriptural 
 account of Paradise, and believe that the Euphrates 
 and Tigris of Genesis are identical with the rivers 
 that at present are so named, is the identification of 
 the two other rivers mentioned, viz., the Phison and 
 the Gehon. 
 
 Many scholars and theologians, among them the 
 erudite Dom Calmet, locating Eden in the high lands 
 of Armenia, where the Euphrates and Tigris take 
 their rise, have imagined that by the Phison and the 
 Gehon are to be understood the Phasis and the 
 Araxes. But the great objection to this theory is 
 that these rivers, which have entirely different 
 sources and are totally disconnected, can by no 
 legitimate construction of the narrative be consid- 
 ered as being branches of one parent stream. 
 
THE SITE OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN. 291 
 
 The distinguished orientalist, Sir Henry Rawlin- 
 son, one of the founders of the science of Assyriology, 
 places Eden in the land of Eridu, in Babylonia, a land 
 celebrated in Chaldean hymns both for its great fer- 
 tility and singular beauty. According to this view, 
 the Djuha, which flowed by the city of Eridu, would 
 be the Gehon, and the Arahter would be the Phison, 
 while the other two rivers, the Tigris and the Eu- 
 phrates, which now water the plains of Babylonia, 
 are the identical rivers of that name referred to in 
 Genesis. Rawlinson's view is substantially the same 
 as one put forth two centuries ago by Huet, the 
 learned Bishop of Avranches, and maintained by 
 such eminent scholars as Morin, Bochart, and others 
 of their contemporaries. It has much in its favor, 
 but in the present status of the question is less 
 probable than other views that have been advanced. 
 
 Some sixteen years ago Friedrich Delitzsch, 
 professor of Assyriology, in Leipsic, published his 
 remarkable book, "Wo lag. das Paradies," in which he 
 advanced the opinion that the Garden of Eden oc- 
 cupied the same site on which was subsequently 
 built the city of Babylon. According to his theory, 
 which is very ingeniously devised and defended, the 
 Phison and Gehon of Scripture were no other than 
 two canals, the Pallacopas and the Schatt-en-Nil. 
 The former, which was a large and navigable canal, 
 answering to the Phison, started from the Euphrates 
 below Babylon, and following the course formerly 
 taken by the Euphrates itself finally emptied its 
 
392 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 waters into the Persian Gulf. The other canal, 
 called by the Arabs Schatt-en-Nil, likewise large 
 and navigable, starts from the left bank of the 
 Euphrates at Babylon and constitutes the Gehon. 
 It afterwards returns to the parent stream near the 
 confines of central and southern Babylonia. In 
 spite, however, of the array of interesting facts 
 marshalled together in support of his thesis and the 
 air of plausibility he has been able to give to his 
 arguments, Delitzsch does not seem to have many 
 supporters of his theory as it was at one time sup- 
 posed he would have. His proffered explanations 
 of the Genesiac narrative are often rather sugges- 
 tions of difficulties that in the present state of 
 knowledge are simply unanswerable. 
 
 Going further southward we come to another 
 locality which has often been looked upon as the 
 true site of Paradise. This is the land intervening 
 between the confluence of the Tigris and the Eu- 
 phrates and the Persian Gulf. Into the Shatt-el- 
 Arab, formed by the union of the Euphrates and the 
 Tigris, flow two other large rivers, the Karun and 
 the Kerkhah, the former of which, it is contended, 
 corresponds to the Phison, and the latter to the 
 Gehon. Both these rivers, as well as the Euphra- 
 tes and Tigris, admirably conform to the descrip- 
 tions of them given in the second chapter of 
 Genesis. The Karun especially has all the charac- 
 teristics of the Phison. Originating in the mountains 
 of eastern Persia, it traverses formations of meta- 
 
THE SITE OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN. 293 
 
 morphic and crystalline rocks in which are found 
 not only gold but also the minerals which are sup- 
 posed to answer to the onyx and bdellium of the 
 Sacred Text. ' 
 
 An objection has been urged against this site on 
 the ground that the words of Scripture appear to 
 imply that Paradise was not below the confluence of 
 the four rivers, as this view demands, but rather 
 above the point whence they diverge. To this it may 
 be replied that too much stress seems to be laid on 
 this difficulty which, after all, is more apparent than 
 real. The meaning to be attached to the words will 
 manifestly depend greatly on the location of the 
 author of the Edenic narrative at the time of writ- 
 ing, and the point from which he is supposed to 
 have viewed the site of Paradise. They may there- 
 ■ fore be interpreted to mean that Eden was situated 
 below the point of confluence of the four rivers 
 and not above their point of confluence as is gen- 
 erally supposed. 
 
 Another objection, and by most people supposed 
 to be an unanswerable one, against locating the 
 Garden of Eden in the basin watered by the Shatt- 
 el-Arab is that the land between the confluence of 
 the four rivers and the Persian Gulf, was at the time 
 of Moses either a dismal uninhabitable marsh or 
 was entirely submerged. 
 
 There is, no doubt, good reason for believing 
 
 ' Cf. chap. 4 of "Modern Science in Bible Lands," by J. W. 
 Dawson. 
 
294 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 that within historic times the Persian Gulf extended 
 much further northward than it now reaches; that 
 not only much of the southern Chaldean plain was 
 under the sea, but that all the four Paradisaic rivers 
 entered the gulf at different points. This, however, 
 does not invalidate the argument in favor of the 
 Garden of Eden having been located south of the 
 confluence of the Euphrates and the Tigris. For if 
 it is a fact that the country in this section was en- 
 tirely submerged in early historic times, it is equally 
 certain that since the advent of man on earth the 
 Babylonian plain extended much further south- 
 ward than it does at present. For there is incon- 
 testable geologic proof that in the beginning of the 
 human period not only were Europe and Western 
 Asia more elevated than they now are, but also that 
 much of the northern portion of the Persian Gulf 
 was occupied by dry land, much higher and better 
 drained than the land which now borders the sea in 
 this vicinity. At the close of the Pleistocene period, 
 and prior to the appearance of man, the Shatt-el- 
 Arab was longer than it is at present; the country 
 through which it passed was not only elevated above 
 its present level, but was also, as we may conceive, 
 highly fertile, well wooded and covered with luxu- 
 riant vegetation of a subtropical character. The 
 climate was mild and equable and the environment 
 was all that could be desired to make this spot an 
 ideal home for the first representatives of our race. 
 Such a view does not, as may be urged, neces- 
 
THE SITE OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN. 295 
 
 sarily presuppose a greater antiquity for man than 
 orthodoxy is willing to concede. The elevation and 
 depression of the northern coast line of the Persian 
 Gulf do not, as the Uniformitarian school of geolo- 
 gists contend, imply the aeons which have been 
 claimed for them. On the contrary, as has been 
 demonstrated by the recent investigations of How- 
 orth and Prestwich, ' there have been since the ad- 
 vent of man on earth abrupt and transitory eleva- 
 tions and subsidences over large continental areas. 
 At the close of the "Mammoth Age" which was 
 subsequent to the appearance of man, according to 
 most geologists, there was, says Howorth, "a very 
 violent and wide-spread dislocation of the earth's 
 crust, which led to the upheaval of some of the 
 loftiest mountain chains," and with this, as he sup- 
 poses, was immediately connected the latest epoch 
 of mountain building, by which the Himalayas and 
 Cordilleras, the Ural, Altai and Thian-Shan Mount- 
 ains were tilted up to their present heights. "Such 
 an upheaval," he asserts, " was accompanied by an 
 equally rapid and substantial subsidence in other 
 places, of which there is much evidence."^ 
 
 Here, then, at the long last, we have found the 
 object of our quest. In the basin drained by the 
 Shatt-el-Arab, on the northern border of the Per- 
 
 ■Cf. Prestwich in tlie "Proceedings of the Royal Society," 
 vol. liii., 1893, and his interesting little book, "The Tradition 
 of the Flood." See also Howorth's two learned works, "The 
 Mammoth and the Flood," and "The Glacial Nightmare and 
 the Flood." 
 
 ^ Geological Magazine, 1892, p. 63. 
 
296 SCIENCE AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 sian Gulf, at the extreme south of old Babylonia, 
 so famous in history, the theater of so many polit- 
 ical, social and religious revolutions, and the trysting 
 place of humanity's first intellectual jousts, must we 
 locate the Garden of Eden. Here, too, we find the 
 prototype of the Elysian Fields, the Gardens of the 
 Hesperides, the Isles of the Blessed, the Olympus, 
 the Center of the Earth, the Omphalos, of which 
 poets have sung and of which all peoples have their 
 traditions. ' 
 
 This sacred spot, while answering fully to the 
 description of the Genesiac narrative, at the" same 
 time meets all the requirements of theology and 
 satisfies all the exigencies of history and science. 
 
 'After the above was in print, I was pleased to find what 
 is essentially a confirmation of the views advocated in this 
 paper, in the latest work of the illustrious Orientalist, Prof. 
 A. H. Sayce, of Oxford. In "The Higher Criticism and the 
 Verdict of the Monuments," p. 95, this distinguished scholar 
 writes of the site of Eden as follows: 
 
 " The scenery, however, is entirely Babylonian. , The Eden 
 itself, in which the garden was planted, was the plain of Baby- 
 lonia. This we now know from the evidence of the cuneiform 
 texts. It was called by its inhabitants the Edinu, a word bor- 
 rowed by the Semites from the Accado-Sumerian edin, ' the 
 (fertile) plain. ' To the east of it lay the land of the ' Nomads, ' 
 termed 5fod in Genesis, and Manda in the inscriptions. The 
 river which watered the garden was the Persian Gulf, known 
 to the Babylonians as ' the river,' or, more fully, ' the bitter' or 
 'salt river.' It was regarded as the source of the four other 
 rivers whose ' heads ' were thus at the spots where they flowed 
 into the source which at once received and fed them." 
 
 This is also the view, as I have learned since the above was 
 written, which is entertained by Professor Haupt, of Johns 
 Hopkins University, and by the Abbfe Dessailly in his exhaust- 
 ive work, " Le Paradis Terrestre et la Race Nfegre." On page 
 312 of this book he writes, " Le Paradis 6tait plac6 sur un 
 fieuve unique ; nous le plagons sur le beau et majestueux fleuve 
 du Chatt-ei-Arab." 
 
THE SITE OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN- 297 
 
 All the indications of authentic history point to 
 this spot as the cradle of our race. It was here in- 
 deed that history was first written; it was in this land 
 that the first libraries were formed; it was in the 
 capitals of Mesopotamia that literature essayed its 
 earliest flights. 
 
 From this spot went forth those streams of hu- 
 manity that have long since reached every nook 
 and corner of the habitable earth. From this quar- 
 ter of the globe have come all our most useful 
 plants and cereals, wheat, rye, oats, barley, and 
 most of our domestic animals. Hence have pro- 
 ceeded the cow, the hog, the sheep that supply us 
 with food and clothing; the horse, the ass, and the 
 camel, that carry our burdens, and the ever faithful 
 dog, man's vigilant protector and friend. 
 
 It is toward this point that all the lines of human 
 thought converge as to their natural center. Thither 
 must linguistics look for a solution of many of its 
 riddles. To this favored portion of the world must 
 ethnology go if it would read aright the affiliations 
 of the various races and the countless tribes of 
 human kind. Here alone have the traditions of the 
 great Euphratean valley their proper interpretation, 
 and here alone have the myths which have so long 
 puzzled Orientalists their full significance. 
 
 The Garden of Eden is not, then, "a bit of 
 mythical geography," as it has so often been de- 
 nominated. It is a fact, and one of the most inter- 
 esting and important and suggestive facts of all 
 
398 SCIENCE AND TH& CHURCH. 
 
 history; the open sesame which explains many facts 
 that were else an enigma; the thread of Ariadne" 
 that prevents us from losing ourselves in "the laby- 
 rinth of fanciful theories and in the chaos of clash- 
 ing opinions," in which the lot of the modern 
 searcher after truth is cast. 
 
 No; the story of the Garden of Eden is not, I 
 repeat it, a mere fiction. It is a trustworthy narra- 
 tive, which, in the words of a distinguished French 
 writer, "gives us, under the form of infantine poesy, 
 the first page of the moral history of humanity; of 
 that history which has for documents not simply a 
 few flints, more or less perfectly fashioned, but all 
 that survivance of a divine life in the human soul 
 manifested by its aspirations and its dolors, and by 
 that universal sentiment of forfeiture which is evi- 
 denced in all mythologies, and which is the dominant 
 aspiration of all religions." 
 
 And, strange irony of fate! It is in close prox- 
 imity to the spot here indicated for the seat of 
 Paradise that those who are most opposed to the 
 Biblical account of man's origin have been com- 
 pelled, by the overmastering indications of science, 
 to locate the birthplace of our race. For not far to 
 the south of the lower Euphratean basin is situated 
 Hseckel's hypothetical Lemuria,' a submerged con- 
 tinent of which, as already stated, there is no satis- 
 factory evidence, and whose existence, even if 
 proven, would throw no more light on the Biblical 
 
 ' " History of Creation," vol. i, p. 361, 'and vol. 2, p. 326. 
 
THE SITE OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN. 299 
 
 Eden than is afforded by the area contended for in 
 this chapter. Where the Euphrates, therefore, 
 empties its waters into the Persian Gulf, or at a point 
 not far remote, was it that "the Lord God planted 
 a Paradise of pleasure from the beginning, wherein 
 he placed man whom he had formed."' This is the 
 sacred spot which tradition, history, and science, 
 with no uncertain voice, designate as the land 
 wherein lived the men of the "Golden Age," as 
 humanity's first and fairest and happiest home. 
 ' Genesis, 11, 8.