The first is merely the natural and instinctive reaction against any disturbing intellectual innovation. It is a flat denial inspired by that unconscious neophobia or xenophobia that possesses all of us more or less. The second stage is the effort at compromise in which usually both the advocates and opponents of the new idea coöperate by endeavoring to prove that it is not so novel and unprecedented as was at first assumed but fits in very fairly with our accepted notions, in fact may be regarded as a supplement or even a natural development of them. The third stage, like the second, is designed as an attempt to disarm opposition by allaying alarm in the conservative mind. The second line of argument has a good deal of validity, for even the most startling and original idea will be found on closer examination to have its roots deep in the ground of the past and to have been approximately anticipated many times before. The third line of argument also contains some truth for we find everyday life does go on in much the same way, although it may seem that the foundations have been knocked from under our mental, moral or social universe by some new notion. Yet as the popular mind gradually accepts and adapts itself to the novel conception we generally find that its influence is even more far-reaching than was at first anticipated. In the case of the Copernican theory it took about two centuries for the controversy to pass through the three stages and the mind of the public to become readjusted to the new conception of the earth’s revolution. In the case of the Darwinian theory of evolution the process was accomplished in about fifty years. The Einstein theory is more subversive of ordinary ideas than either of the others so it would naturally take longer to soak in. But the modern mind seems to be subject to acceleration and we see in the two months since the notion has been sprung upon the public that all three of the lines of argument are appearing at once and so the controversial period may run its course in five years though it will be longer before its indirect influence upon our fundamental philosophy and habits of thought are fully felt. SCIENTIFIC VERSUS LEGAL LAWS