force";[AN] the claims of science are raised to the highest pitch; and yet its insuperable limits are clearly defined. The defender of the harmony of scientific with religious thought has nothing more to desire. The very place where science comes to a halt, acknowledging that its utmost boundary has been reached, is the place where it is demonstrated that scientific thought and religious are not involved in real conflict. FOOTNOTES: [AB] These allowances may well be made for Professor Clifford, one of the most extravagant assailants of religious faith. [AC] Professor Tait in answer to Mr. Froude has advanced the evidence. _International Review_, Nov. 1878, vol. v. No. 6. The collected papers have been republished, _Atlas Series_, No. 11. [AD] _Recent Advances in Physical Science_, by P. G. Tait, Professor of Natural Philosophy, University of Edinburgh, p. 17. [AE] _Ib_. p. 2. [AF] _Recent Advances in Physical Science_, p. 14. [AG] See Appendix III. [AH] _The Conservation of Energy_, by Balfour Stewart, p. 26. [AI] _The Conservation of Energy_, p. 36. [AJ] _Recent Advances of Physical Science_, p. 17. [AK] Tait's _Recent Advances_, p. 15. [AL] _Recent Advances_, p. 20. [AM] _Recent Advances_, p. 22. [AN] _The Doctrine of Descent_, by Oscar Schmidt, p. 20. LECTURE IV. ORGANIZED EXISTENCE: LIFE AND ITS DEVELOPMENT.--(DARWIN'S "THEORY OF EVOLUTION.") In prosecuting our inquiry as to the most recent advances in science, we pass now from inorganic to organic existence; from the testimony of physicists, to that of zoölogists. This transition in itself starts a scientific problem, beyond which we are carried onward to a distinct and very complicated area of existence, higher in order, and pressing upon attention an incalculable variety of details, exceedingly difficult to harmonize. In the earlier stage of physical research, all observation and experiment lead forward to general results, which gain ready acceptance because they may be said to be involved in scientific procedure itself. In this more advanced stage it is otherwise. In the former, unorganized matter is the same everywhere; and the laws of energy can be studied with equal facility in Europe or in America, in northern latitudes or in southern. But when we begin to direct attention upon life in its manifold forms, as these are scattered all over the world, multitudes of distinct observations have to be prosecuted, and their results slowly accumulated, before even the most competent workers can occupy a position from which it is possible to make a beginning with our forecast of general conclusions. Even in the most favorable circumstances, a great deal must be left to problematic inference, and even to imagination. Gatherings of facts may be recorded in a manner which places them beyond reach of doubt, while theories founded upon them hang long in suspense, waiting confirmation on condition of being able to endure protracted criticism, and manifold applications. This