be certain that those who make the claim were "materialistic" enough to recognize that they were claiming the right to exercise faculties of a strictly limited kind, the particular limitations varying from man to man, and that they must not expect the world to look on with admiration at attempts to make mere "freedom" supply the place and do the work of knowledge and competency. To all of every school who adhere to the old metaphysical views of mind, and who hold themselves possessors of an organ of unlimited powers, we would say: "You are under an error; your mind is tethered to your body, it IS tethered to its own past history, it is tethered to a long line of ancestry. Some things it can do, because they fall within its tether; others it can not do, because they fall beyond. Be wise, try to find out what your limitations are, and proportion your intellectual tasks to the width of your intellectual shoulders." Such are the teachings of a healthy materialism, at once the most conservative and the most progressive of doctrines.
POLITICS AND SCIENCE.
The collocation of ideas expressed in this title is not generally regarded as valid or established; but they are unquestionably coming every day into closer relation. The recent campaign, at any rate, is full of suggestion in regard to important principles with which it is the office of Science to deal in the working of practical politics.
The scientific habit of mind is that, above all, which links cause with effect and effect with cause, and which, in special phenomena, seeks always to discover the illustration of some general law. In the recent contest the excitement was almost unparalleled. For a time the whole nation was in a condition which, in the physical life of the individual, would be represented by a state of high fever. We have heard a good deal about "the splendid conduct of the people," and certainly it spoke well for the sense of responsibility of the citizens generally that they refrained from acts of disorder. It is, however, a question whether there was anything very admirable in the excitement itself, or in the causes of it. It is a further question of much gravity whether such periods of excitement can be repeated with safety. Can we count upon the same admirable self-control on future occasions, particularly when we consider how little confidence each party seems to possess in the honesty and fair-dealing of the other? These are serious questions and call for an answer from every thoughtful citizen.
The excitement of the late contest was largely due to the fact that it was a conflict not so much of principles as of interests. We are not prepared to deny that a large number of citizens in the aggregate had their own serious views of public policy in connection with the election; but these were not among the most excited members of the community. A man who has faith in a principle will work for it, and be enthusiastic for it, but he can afford to bide his time. It is the man whose whole course is determined by party allegiance, and who has learned to recognize his political opponents as enemies, not 80 much of his views as of his interests, who is carried away by a kind of frenzy in times of political crisis. Such men unfortunately constitute the great majority, and hence the danger which waits upon presidential elections. The practical question which confronts us, then, is how this blind devotion to party is to be counteracted. How are men to be made ashamed of resigning their whole individuality to political leaders, who themselves are often no better than political adventurers? It is evident that what we need is an increase of intelligence in the community. We flatter ourselves, of course, that we are the most intelligent community in
