Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 48.djvu/935

Rh so bestowed could not be sold? If it was agricultural land it would have to be either improved or unimproved: in either case capital, not to mention industry, would be required to work it; and in the second case to give away the improvements would be to give away the labor of other men. Make land absolutely unsalable, and the economic operations of the world would be impeded in the most serious manner. The more, for our own part, we look into these questions, the more we are driven back to the conviction that the way out which is so much desired lies in the improvement of individual character with consequent increase of individual power and better adaptation to surrounding conditions. As it is, we find that the well-developed individualities can take care of themselves pretty well; they have the power of adapting themselves to their surroundings, and taking so useful a part in the world's work that, even under the much abused capitalistic system, they thrive very well. The problem is to make more sound individuals; and that problem does not seem to be in its nature insoluble—therein differing from some that are set by social reformers.

Then, is this your way, some one may ask, for getting rid of ananké? By no means: it is our way for making the best of it. In every well-balanced mind the thought of necessity is habitually present, calling forth efforts of self-restraint which tend to conserve and consolidate the individual's happiness and well-being. We contemplate, therefore, a constant recognition of necessity, but a recognition which enables a man to meet it on ground more or less of his own choosing, and not as the Nemesis of error and weakness or the ironic destroyer of futile schemes and baseless visions.

thoughtful contemporary. The Nation, is quick to point out the abuse which absurd people of all kinds will make of Prof. Röntgen's discovery of the peculiar action of the so-called X rays. "The stubborn power," it says, "of ignorance to wrest every new scientific scripture to its own destruction is already beginning to display itself in connection with the wonderful Röntgen discovery. Quack doctors are quick to say, 'Aha! this shows that our electric rings and mesmeric belts and psychic brushes and combs are just what we claim them to be.' The mysterious cathode rays, invisible but powerful, will doubtless renew the faith of many a despairing brother who carries a potato in his pocket for rheumatism. What the theological apologists will argue from the apparent need of readjusting the theory of light, those of our readers who are skilled in their methods of reasoning can guess. The Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, the reasonableness of prayer for rain, the duty of instantly subscribing both to the creed and for the religious weekly of the able editor making the argument, will be among the very least of the things conclusively proved by the new photography."

Such is the penalty for every new discovery of Science. By one of the oddest perversions of the reasoning faculty which it is possible to conceive, the very advances made by Science are converted into so many reasons for disparaging her authority, and drawing conclusions in favor of notions for which there is no evidence at all. Science did not know this before: ergo, Science is fallible; ergo, this or that shaky doctrine is so far confirmed. Such is the logical process, and possibly there is some