Books: History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science

J >> John William Draper >> History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science

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TOLERATION. The avowed object of the Reformation was, to remove
from Christianity the pagan ideas and pagan rites engrafted upon
it by Constantine and his successors, in their attempt to
reconcile the Roman Empire to it. The Protestants designed to
bring it back to its primitive purity; and hence, while restoring
the ancient doctrines, they cast out of it all such practices as
the adoration of the Virgin Mary and the invocation of saints.
The Virgin Mary, we are assured by the Evangelists, had accepted
the duties of married life, and borne to her husband several
children. In the prevailing idolatry, she had ceased to be
regarded as the carpenter's wife; she had become the queen of
heaven, and the mother of God.

DA VINCI. The science of the Arabians followed the invading track
of their literature, which had come into Christendom by two
routes--the south of France, and Sicily. Favored by the exile of
the popes to Avignon, and by the Great Schism, it made good its
foothold in Upper Italy. The Aristotelian or Inductive
philosophy, clad in the Saracenic costume that Averroes had given
it, made many secret and not a few open friends. It found many
minds eager to receive and able to appreciate it. Among these
were Leonardo da Vinci, who proclaimed the fundamental principle
that experiment and observation are the only reliable foundations
of reasoning in science, that experiment is the only trustworthy
interpreter of Nature, and is essential to the ascertainment of
laws. He showed that the action of two perpendicular forces upon
a point is the same as that denoted by the diagonal of a
rectangle, of which they represent the sides. From this the
passage to the proposition of oblique forces was very easy. This
proposition was rediscovered by Stevinus, a century later, and
applied by him to the explanation of the mechanical powers. Da
Vinci gave a clear exposition of the theory of forces applied
obliquely on a lever, discovered the laws of friction
subsequently demonstrated by Amontons, and understood the
principle of virtual velocities. He treated of the conditions of
descent of bodies along inclined planes and circular arcs,
invented the camera-obscura, discussed correctly several
physiological problems, and foreshadowed some of the great
conclusions of modern geology, such as the nature of fossil
remains, and the elevation of continents. He explained the
earth-light reflected by the moon. With surprising versatility of
genius he excelled as a sculptor, architect, engineer; was
thoroughly versed in the astronomy, anatomy, and chemistry of his
times. In painting, he was the rival of Michel Angelo; in a
competition between them, he was considered to have established
his superiority. His "Last Supper," on the wall of the refectory
of the Dominican convent of Sta. Maria delle Grazie, is well
known, from the numerous engravings and copies that have been
made of it.

ITALIAN SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. Once firmly established in the
north of Italy, Science soon extended her sway over the entire
peninsula. The increasing number of her devotees is indicated by
the rise and rapid multiplication of learned societies. These
were reproductions of the Moorish ones that had formerly existed
in Granada and Cordova. As if to mark by a monument the track
through which civilizing influences had come, the Academy of
Toulouse, founded in 1345, has survived to our own times. It
represented, however, the gay literature of the south of France,
and was known under the fanciful title of "the Academy of Floral
Games." The first society for the promotion of physical science,
the Academia Secretorum Naturae, was founded at Naples, by
Baptista Porta. It was, as Tiraboschi relates, dissolved by the
ecclesiastical authorities. The Lyncean was founded by Prince
Frederic Cesi at Rome; its device plainly indicated its
intention: a lynx, with its eyes turned upward toward heaven,
tearing a triple-headed Cerberus with its claws. The Accademia
del Cimento, established at Florence, 1657, held its meetings in
the ducal palace. It lasted ten years, and was then suppressed at
the instance of the papal government; as an equivalent, the
brother of the grand-duke was made a cardinal. It numbered many
great men, such as Torricelli and Castelli, among its members.
The condition of admission into it was an abjuration of all
faith, and a resolution to inquire into the truth. These
societies extricated the cultivators of science from the
isolation in which they had hitherto lived, and, by promoting
their intercommunication and union, imparted activity and
strength to them all.

Returning now from this digression, this historical sketch of the
circumstances under which science was introduced into Europe, I
pass to the consideration of its manner of action and its
results.

INTELLECTUAL INFLUENCE OF SCIENCE. The influence of science on
modern civilization has been twofold: 1. Intellectual; 2.
Economical. Under these titles we may conveniently consider it.

Intellectually it overthrew the authority of tradition. It
refused to accept, unless accompanied by proof, the dicta of any
master, no matter how eminent or honored his name. The conditions
of admission into the Italian Accademia del Cimento, and the
motto adopted by the Royal Society of London, illustrate the
position it took in this respect.

It rejected the supernatural and miraculous as evidence in
physical discussions. It abandoned sign-proof such as the Jews in
old days required, and denied that a demonstration can be given
through an illustration of something else, thus casting aside the
logic that had been in vogue for many centuries.

In physical inquiries, its mode of procedure was, to test the
value of any proposed hypothesis, by executing computations in
any special case on the basis or principle of that hypothesis,
and then, by performing an experiment or making an observation,
to ascertain whether the result of these agreed with the result
of the computation. If it did not, the hypothesis was to be
rejected.

We may here introduce an illustration or two of this mode of
procedure:

THEORIES OF GRAVITATION AND PHLOGISTON. Newton, suspecting that
the influence of the earth's attraction, gravity, may extend as
far as the moon, and be the force that causes her to revolve in
her orbit round the earth, calculated that, by her motion in her
orbit, she was deflected from the tangent thirteen feet every
minute; but, by ascertaining the space through which bodies would
fall in one minute at the earth's surface, and supposing it to be
diminished in the ratio of the inverse square, it appeared that
the attraction at the moon's orbit would draw a body through more
than fifteen feet. He, therefore, for the time, considered his
hypothesis as unsustained. But it so happened that Picard shortly
afterward executed more correctly a new measurement of a degree;
this changed the estimated magnitude of the earth, and the
distance of the moon, which was measured in earth-semidiameters.
Newton now renewed his computation, and, as I have related on a
previous page, as it drew to a close, foreseeing that a
coincidence was about to be established, was so much agitated
that he was obliged to ask a friend to complete it. The
hypothesis was sustained.

A second instance will sufficiently illustrate the method under
consideration. It is presented by the chemical theory of
phlogiston. Stahl, the author of this theory, asserted that there
is a principle of inflammability, to which he gave the name
phlogiston, having the quality of uniting with substances. Thus,
when what we now term a metallic oxide was united to it, a metal
was produced; and, if the phlogiston were withdrawn, the metal
passed back into its earthy or oxidized state. On this principle,
then, the metals were compound bodies, earths combined with
phlogiston.

SCIENCE AND ECCLESIASTICISM. But during the eighteenth century
the balance was introduced as an instrument of chemical research.
Now, if the phlogistic hypothesis be true, it would follow that a
metal should be the heavier, its oxide the lighter body, for the
former contains something--phlogiston--that has been added to the
latter. But, on weighing a portion of any metal, and also the
oxide producible from it, the latter proves to be the heavier,
and here the phlogistic hypothesis fails. Still further, on
continuing the investigation, it may be shown that the oxide or
calx, as it used to be called, has become heavier by combining
with one of the ingredients of the air.

To Lavoisier is usually attributed this test experiment; but the
fact that the weight of a metal increases by calcination was
established by earlier European experimenters, and, indeed, was
well known to the Arabian chemists. Lavoisier, however, was the
first to recognize its great importance. In his hands it produced
a revolution in chemistry.

The abandonment of the phlogistic theory is an illustration of
the readiness with which scientific hypotheses are surrendered,
when found to be wanting in accordance with facts. Authority and
tradition pass for nothing. Every thing is settled by an appeal
to Nature. It is assumed that the answers she gives to a
practical interrogation will ever be true.

Comparing now the philosophical principles on which science was
proceeding, with the principles on which ecclesiasticism rested,
we see that, while the former repudiated tradition, to the latter
it was the main support while the former insisted on the
agreement of calculation and observation, or the correspondence
of reasoning and fact, the latter leaned upon mysteries; while
the former summarily rejected its own theories, if it saw that
they could not be coordinated with Nature, the latter found merit
in a faith that blindly accepted the inexplicable, a satisfied
contemplation of "things above reason." The alienation between
the two continually increased. On one side there was a sentiment
of disdain, on the other a sentiment of hatred. Impartial
witnesses on all hands perceived that science was rapidly
undermining ecclesiasticism.

MATHEMATICS. Mathematics had thus become the great instrument of
scientific research, it had become the instrument of scientific
reasoning. In one respect it may be said that it reduced the
operations of the mind to a mechanical process, for its symbols
often saved the labor of thinking. The habit of mental exactness
it encouraged extended to other branches of thought, and produced
an intellectual revolution. No longer was it possible to be
satisfied with miracle-proof, or the logic that had been relied
upon throughout the middle ages. Not only did it thus influence
the manner of thinking, it also changed the direction of thought.
Of this we may be satisfied by comparing the subjects considered
in the transactions of the various learned societies with the
discussions that had occupied the attention of the middle ages.

But the use of mathematics was not limited to the verification of
theories; as above indicated, it also furnished a means of
predicting what had hitherto been unobserved. In this it offered
a counterpart to the prophecies of ecclesiasticism. The discovery
of Neptune is an instance of the kind furnished by astronomy, and
that of conical refraction by the optical theory of undulations.

But, while this great instrument led to such a wonderful
development in natural science, it was itself undergoing
development--improvement. Let us in a few lines recall its
progress.

The germ of algebra may be discerned in the works of Diophantus
of Alexandria, who is supposed to have lived in the second
century of our era. In that Egyptian school Euclid had formerly
collected the great truths of geometry, and arranged them in
logical sequence. Archimedes, in Syracuse, had attempted the
solution of the higher problems by the method of exhaustions.
Such was the tendency of things that, had the patronage of
science been continued, algebra would inevitably have been
invented.

To the Arabians we owe our knowledge of the rudiments of algebra;
we owe to them the very name under which this branch of
mathematics passes. They had carefully added, to the remains of
the Alexandrian School, improvements obtained in India, and had
communicated to the subject a certain consistency and form. The
knowledge of algebra, as they possessed it, was first brought
into Italy about the beginning of the thirteenth century. It
attracted so little attention, that nearly three hundred years
elapsed before any European work on the subject appeared. In 1496
Paccioli published his book entitled "Arte Maggiore," or
"Alghebra." In 1501, Cardan, of Milan, gave a method for the
solution of cubic equations; other improvements were contributed
by Scipio Ferreo, 1508, by Tartalea, by Vieta. The Germans now
took up the subject. At this time the notation was in an
imperfect state.

The publication of the Geometry of Descartes, which contains the
application of algebra to the definition and investigation of
curve lines (1637), constitutes an epoch in the history of the
mathematical sciences. Two years previously, Cavalieri's work on
Indivisibles had appeared. This method was improved by Torricelli
and others. The way was now open, for the development of the
Infinitesimal Calculus, the method of Fluxions of Newton, and the
Differential and Integral Calculus of Leibnitz. Though in his
possession many years previously, Newton published nothing on
Fluxions until 1704; the imperfect notation he employed retarded
very much the application of his method. Meantime, on the
Continent, very largely through the brilliant solutions of some
of the higher problems, accomplished by the Bernouillis, the
Calculus of Leibnitz was universally accepted, and improved by
many mathematicians. An extraordinary development of the science
now took place, and continued throughout the century. To the
Binomial theorem, previously discovered by Newton, Taylor now
added, in his "Method of Increments," the celebrated theorem that
bears his name. This was in 1715. The Calculus of Partial
Differences was introduced by Euler in 1734. It was extended by
D'Alembert, and was followed by that of Variations, by Euler and
Lagrange, and by the method of Derivative Functions, by Lagrange,
in 1772.

But it was not only in Italy, in Germany, in England, in France,
that this great movement in mathematics was witnessed; Scotland
had added a new gem to the intellectual diadem with which her
brow is encircled, by the grand invention of Logarithms, by
Napier of Merchiston. It is impossible to give any adequate
conception of the scientific importance of this incomparable
invention. The modern physicist and astronomer will most
cordially agree with Briggs, the Professor of Mathematics in
Gresham College, in his exclamation: "I never saw a book that
pleased me better, and that made I me more wonder!" Not without
reason did the immortal Kepler regard Napier "to be the greatest
man of his age, in the department to which he had applied his
abilities." Napier died in 1617. It is no exaggeration to say
that this invention, by shortening the labors, doubled the life
of the astronomer.

But here I must check myself. I must remember that my present
purpose is not to give the history of mathematics, but to
consider what science has done for the advancement of human
civilization. And now, at once, recurs the question, How is it
that the Church produced no geometer in her autocratic reign of
twelve hundred years?

With respect to pure mathematics this remark may be made: Its
cultivation does not demand appliances that are beyond the reach
of most individuals. Astronomy must have its observatory,
chemistry its laboratory; but mathematics asks only personal
disposition and a few books. No great expenditures are called
for, nor the services of assistants. One would think that nothing
could be more congenial, nothing more delightful, even in the
retirement of monastic life.

Shall we answer with Eusebius, "It is through contempt of such
useless labor that we think so little of these matters; we turn
our souls to the exercise of better things?" Better things! What
can be better than absolute truth? Are mysteries, miracles, lying
impostures, better? It was these that stood in the way!

The ecclesiastical authorities had recognized, from the outset of
this scientific invasion, that the principles it was
disseminating were absolutely irreconcilable with the current
theology. Directly and indirectly, they struggled against it. So
great was their detestation of experimental science, that they
thought they had gained a great advantage when the Accademia del
Cimento was suppressed. Nor was the sentiment restricted to
Catholicism. When the Royal Society of London was founded,
theological odium was directed against it with so much rancor
that, doubtless, it would have been extinguished, had not King
Charles II. given it his open and avowed support. It was accused
of an intention of "destroying the established religion, of
injuring the universities, and of upsetting ancient and solid
learning."

THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. We have only to turn over the pages
of its Transactions to discern how much this society has done for
the progress of humanity. It was incorporated in 1662, and has
interested itself in all the great scientific movements and
discoveries that have since been made. It published Newton's
"Principia;" it promoted Halley's voyage, the first scientific
expedition undertaken by any government; it made experiments on
the transfusion of blood, and accepted Harvey's discovery of the
circulation. The encouragement it gave to inoculation led Queen
Caroline to beg six condemned criminals for experiment, and then
to submit her own children to that operation. Through its
encouragement Bradley accomplished his great discovery, the
aberration of the fixed stars, and that of the nutation of the
earth's axis; to these two discoveries, Delambre says, we owe the
exactness of modern astronomy. It promoted the improvement of the
thermometer, the measure of temperature, and in Harrison's watch,
the chronometer, the measure of time. Through it the Gregorian
Calendar was introduced into England, in 1752, against a violent
religious opposition. Some of its Fellows were pursued through
the streets by an ignorant and infuriated mob, who believed it
had robbed them of eleven days of their lives; it was found
necessary to conceal the name of Father Walmesley, a learned
Jesuit, who had taken deep interest in the matter; and, Bradley
happening to die during the commotion, it was declared that he
had suffered a judgment from Heaven for his crime!

THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. If I were to attempt to do justice
to the merits of this great society, I should have to devote many
pages, to such subjects as the achromatic telescope of Dollond;
the dividing engine of Ramsden, which first gave precision to
astronomical observations, the measurement of a degree on the
earth's surface by Mason and Dixon; the expeditions of Cook in
connection with the transit of Venus; his circumnavigation of the
earth; his proof that scurvy, the curse of long sea-voyages, may
be avoided by the use of vegetable substances; the polar
expeditions; the determination of the density of the earth by
Maskelyne's experiments at Scheliallion, and by those of
Cavendish; the discovery of the planet Uranus by Herschel; the
composition of water by Cavendish and Watt; the determination of
the difference of longitude between London and Paris; the
invention of the voltaic pile; the surveys of the heavens by the
Herschels; the development of the principle of interference by
Young, and his establishment of the undulatory theory of light;
the ventilation of jails and other buildings; the introduction of
gas for city illumination; the ascertainment of the length of the
seconds-pendulum; the measurement of the variations of gravity in
different latitudes; the operations to ascertain the curvature of
the earth; the polar expedition of Ross; the invention of the
safety-lamp by Davy, and his decomposition of the alkalies and
earths; the electro-magnetic discoveries of Oersted and Faraday;
the calculating- engines of Babbage; the measures taken at the
instance of Humboldt for the establishment of many magnetic
observatories; the verification of contemporaneous magnetic
disturbances over the earth's surface. But it is impossible, in
the limited space at my disposal, to give even so little as a
catalogue of its Transactions. Its spirit was identical with that
which animated the Accademia del Cimento, and its motto
accordingly was "Nullius in Verba." It proscribed superstition,
and permitted only calculation, observation, and experiment.

INFLUENCE OF SCIENCE. Not for a moment must it be supposed that
in these great attempts, these great Successes, the Royal Society
stood alone. In all the capitals of Europe there were Academies,
Institutes, or Societies, equal in distinction, and equally
successful in promoting human knowledge and modern civilization.

THE ECONOMICAL INFLUENCES OF SCIENCE.

The scientific study of Nature tends not only to correct and
ennoble the intellectual conceptions of man; it serves also to
ameliorate his physical condition. It perpetually suggests to him
the inquiry, how he may make, by their economical application,
ascertained facts subservient to his use.

The investigation of principles is quickly followed by practical
inventions. This, indeed, is the characteristic feature of our
times. It has produced a great revolution in national policy.

In former ages wars were made for the procuring of slaves. A
conqueror transported entire populations, and extorted from them
forced labor, for it was only by human labor that human labor
could be relieved. But when it was discovered that physical
agents and mechanical combinations could be employed to
incomparably greater advantage, public policy underwent a change;
when it was recognized that the application of a new principle,
or the invention of a new machine, was better than the
acquisition of an additional slave, peace became preferable to
war. And not only so, but nations possessing great slave or serf
populations, as was the care in America and Russia, found that
considerations of humanity were supported by considerations of
interest, and set their bondmen free.

SCIENTIFIC INVENTIONS. Thus we live in a period of which a
characteristic is the supplanting of human and animal labor by
machines. Its mechanical inventions have wrought a social
revolution. We appeal to the natural, not to the supernatural,
for the accomplishment of our ends. It is with the "modern
civilization" thus arising that Catholicism refuses to be
reconciled. The papacy loudly proclaims its inflexible
repudiation of this state of affairs, and insists on a
restoration of the medieval condition of things.

That a piece of amber, when rubbed, will attract and then repel
light bodies, was a fact known six hundred years before Christ.
It remained an isolated, uncultivated fact, a mere trifle, until
sixteen hundred years after Christ. Then dealt with by the
scientific methods of mathematical discussion and experiment, and
practical application made of the result, it has permitted men to
communicate instantaneously with each other across continents and
under oceans. It has centralized the world. By enabling the
sovereign authority to transmit its mandates without regard to
distance or to time, it has revolutionized statesmanship and
condensed political power.

In the Museum of Alexandria there was a machine invented by Hero,
the mathematician, a little more than one hundred years before
Christ. It revolved by the agency of steam, and was of the form
that we should now call a reaction-engine. This, the germ of one
of the most important inventions ever made, was remembered as a
mere curiosity for seventeen hundred years.

Chance had nothing to do with the invention of the modern
steam-engine. It was the product of meditation and experiment. Ia
the middle of the seventeenth century several mechanical
engineers attempted to utilize the properties of steam; their
labors were brought to perfection by Watt in the middle of the
eighteenth.

The steam-engine quickly became the drudge of civilization. It
performed the work of many millions of men. It gave, to those who
would have been condemned to a life of brutal toil, the
opportunity of better pursuits. He who formerly labored might now
think.

Its earliest application was in such operations as pumping,
wherein mere force is required. Soon, however, it vindicated its
delicacy of touch in the industrial arts of spinning and weaving.
It created vast manufacturing establishments, and supplied
clothing for the world. It changed the industry of nations.

In its application, first to the navigation of rivers, and then
to the navigation of the ocean, it more than quadrupled the speed
that had heretofore been attained. Instead of forty days being
requisite for the passage, the Atlantic might now be crossed in
eight. But, in land transportation, its power was most strikingly
displayed. The admirable invention of the locomotive enabled men
to travel farther in less than an hour than they formerly could
have done in more than a day.

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