Science and the Supernatural

Author(s): A. J. Carlson
Source: The Scientific Monthly, Vol. 59, No. 2 (Aug., 1944), pp. 85-95
Published by: American Association for the Advancement of Science
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 THESCIENTIFIC MONTHLY
AUGUST, 1944
SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL'
By A. J. CARLSON
I INTEND to make this discoursemoremod-
est than the title,and I trustyou will find
it so. Science is one, at least in its essential
element,themethodof reachingapproximate
truths. But scientistsare many. On the
topic before us it is preposterousfor any
man to speak for science as a whole and, by
inference,for all scientists. We have scien-
tists who still pray to the gods, scientists
who laugh at the gods,and somewho neither
pray nor laugh, because they think they
understand. I am sure all you expect of me
this evening,and certainlyall I intendto do,
is to discussthesupernaturalin thelightthat
years of servicein the scienee of physiology
have given me. The topic of this discussion
is not of my own selection. The views are
my own. But they are neitherunique nor
original,exceptin the sense of being derived
fromcogitationon the commonlife, cogita-
tions disciplinedby years of research. I am
notfoolishenoughto pretendthatI am about
to presentto you anythingthat is both new
and true. Thereare able tomeson thenature
of science; and literature,ad infinitm, on
the supernatural, especially in religions.
There are able workson the conflictsbetween
science and the supernatural. There are at-
temptsat reconciliationof the supernatural
withscience. We have, in print,confessions
of faithin traditionalreligionsby otherwise
competentscientists. We have, also in print,
rejectionsof the supernaturalby preachers
1 William Vaughan Moody Lecture, University of
Chicago. This address was firstpublished in Science,
73: 217-225, 1931. It was suggested by a reader of
THE SCIENTIFIC MONTHLY that it be reprinted
here to remindsome and to informothers of the out-
look on science and life of a distinguishedphysiolo-
gist, now president of the American Association for
the Advancementof Science.
85
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and teachersof religion. I assume you are
familiarwith some,if not all, of this litera-
ture. Everything I am going to say has
already been said, perhaps better,by other
people. Nevertheless,here is the confession
of a physiologistof lack of faithin the super-
natural,and his reasons.
SCIENCE
It is scarcely necessary,before this audi-
ence, to go into detail as to what we under-
stand by science, although the term is fre-
quentlyused looselyand withvery different
connotations. Probably the most common
meaningof science is a body of established,
verifiable and organized data secured by
controlledobservation,experienceor experi-
ment. Such data frequentlylead to an ap-
proximateunderstandingof the causal rela-
tionsbetweenevents,and theserelationsgive
us the so-calledlaws of science. To my way
of thinking,the elementin science of even
greater importance than the verifyingof
facts,the approximationlaws, the prediction
of processesis the methodby means of which
these data and laws are obtained and the
attitude of the people whose labor has se-
cured them. In otherwords,the mostimpor-
tant element in science appears to be the
scientificmethod. What is the method of
science? In essence it is this-the rejection
in toto of all non-observationaland non-ex-
perimentalauthorityin the field of experi-
ence. No matterhow high in state, church,
societyor sciencethe individual may be who
makes pronouncementon any subject, the
scientistalways asks forthe evidence. When
no evidenceis produced otherthan personal
dicta, past or present, "revelations" in
dreams,or the "voice of God." the scientist
86 THE SCIENTIFIC
can pay no attentionwhatsoever,except to
ask': How do theyget that way? If evidence
is produced,he proceedsto examinethe evi-
dence. Does the evidencejustifythe conclu-
sions or statementsmade? There is nothing
recondite or abstruse in the method of
science. To be sure, in manyfieldsof scien-
tificresearchmethodsof approach, methods
of experimentationand data leading to cer-
tain or probable conclusions are becoming
increasinglyso recondite and specificthat
laymenin general and, in fact, scientistsin
other fields,are unable to follow, but the
principleof themethodis simpleenough,and
that thismethodof approach will give us the
closest approximationto understandingand
truththatwe are able to reachto-dayI think
will be agreed to by all informedpeople.
The principle of the scientificmethod,in
fact, is only a refinement, by analysis and
controls,of the universalprocessof learning
by experience. This is usually called com-
mon sense. The scientificaddition to com-
mon sense is merely a more penetrating
analysis of the complex factors involved,
even in seeminglysimple events, and the
necessityof numerousrepetitionsand con-
trols before conclusions are established.
Where laymen,as a rule, do not understand
or apply the scientificmethodis in the mat-
ter of controls. Thousands of honesterrors
have been committedand ludicrous conclu-
sions promulgatedby failure to understand
the necessity of controls. Illustrative in-
stances of this may be cited from,the field
whereI have mostexperience,namely,physi-
ology and disease. Fortunately,man recov-
ers, as a rule, spontaneouslyfrommany dis-
eases, such as colds, pneumonia,,typhoid
fever,headaches, diarrhea,etc. To be sure,
someof thesediseases may also lead to death,
but if the person having these ailmentsdoes
not die in the processof the malady,thereis
moreor less completerecovery. Now, if the
person not aware of this has the notion
handed to him by his father,his priestor his
mythologythat holy water, holy oil, an
amulet,a prayer,the killingof a goat or the
laying on of hands will cure these diseases,
experiencewill teachhimthatafterapplying
any one or all of these measuresto the sick
persons many of themdo get well. Indeed,
applyingall theseto the sick mightbe a kind
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MONTHLY
of controlbecause a thinkingperson might
be led to wonderwhichof thesemeasureswas
the mostpotentin reestablishinghealth,and
such questioning might lead him to try
whetherthe person might recover without
any of them. But usually this is not done.
Those whobelievethatill healthcan be cured
by prayerwill pray. Those who believethat
an amulet is a cure will apply the amulet,
and thosewhohave faithin holyoil or laying
on of hands will trythesemethods,and most
of the people get well. A true statementof
the facts is that sick persons so treated do
get well after the treatment. The common
error made is that the person recovers be-
cause of the treatment. The experience is
correct. The conclusionis wrong. There is
no control. The obvious control,of course,
is a sufficient numberof people of the same
age with the same malady and none of the
above measuresapplied, and the durationof
theirillness and percentageof recoverycon-
trasted with the treated group. Until con-
sciousnessof the necessityof controlsin all
endeavorsto ascertainnew truthsor in evalu-
ating currenttheories,dogmas or practices,
until this consciousnesshas become a com-
pelling factorin society,man remainsessen-
tially unscientificno matter how much de-
tailed scientificfacts he may rememberand
how much scientificpatter he may have ab-
sorbed. He is like the rooster who crows
everymorningbeforedaybreak,noticesthat
a littlelater the sun rises,and thenconcludes
that it is his crowingwhich brings the sun
above thehorizon.
It seemsthat the supernaturalin the sense
of religions or a religious attitude toward
nature and life is nearly universal among
men at some stage of development. Science
in the sense of elements of the scientific
method,the learning by experience,is even
more universal. It antedates man. The
amoeba appears to workin part by the prin-
ciple of trial and error; so do some of the
higher animals, including the ape. This
type of reaction or behavior in the simpler
formsof animal life does not necessarilycon-
note conscious associative memories, but
thereis no good reasonfordenyingthe latter
factorin the higheranimals. The trial and
errormethodis direct experience. Experi-
ence is experimentationin embryo. The
 SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL 87

very fact that everyknownrace or tribe of the entireuniverse,includingall human ex-

humans has changed (some say progressed perienceand all human relations. The man
or improved) in the practical arts of living, of science seeks for evidence in the case of
in mores,in social organizationand in re- all traditionalbeliefs and practices,and he
ligionis evidenceof somelearninlgby experi- must abstain frompositive views when evi-
ence, despite all the retardingforce of tra- dence is lackingin thesefieldsjust as he does
ditionand myths,and despitethe absence of when evidenceis lacking in his own particu-
consciouscontroland analysis. Learning by lar fieldof endeavor. Of course,it is much
experience,however,can not be dignifiedas moredifficult to apply the methodof science
scienceuntil a criticalanalysis of the factors to such fieldsas religion,social customs,poli-
and rigid controlsof experience are intro- tical and economic institutions. Scientific
duced. controlsare not readily devised or secured,
The attitudeof the scientistis also an im- but the application of the methodof science
portant factor in application of scientific in these fieldshas justifieditselfby results.
method and thereforein the science itself, It has affordedus a betterunderstandingof
or at least in the growthof science. the origin of our social heritage,even if it
This attitudeis, of course,partly charac- has not to date yieldedany considerablebody
terizedby challengeof authority,be it man of verifieddata or laws similar to that of
or God. It is furthercharacterizedby a physics,chemistry,geology or biology. To
serious attempton the part of the scientist the oft-repeatedquestion-Are psychology,
to control his own emotionsand his own sociology,economics,etc., real sciences?-I
wishesin the matter. The scientistis, after would answer: They are, to the extentthat
all, an ordinaryhumanbeing and the control the rigid application of the scientificmethod
of his desires,emotionsor wishes in a prob- and scientificattitude is pursued by the
lem is seldom,if ever,one hundredper cent. people who cultivatethesefields. The biolo-
The scientisttriesto rid himselfof all faiths gist is confrontedin his own.fieldby some
and beliefs. He eitherknowsor he does not of the difficultiesthat other scientists ex-
know. If he knows there is no room for periencewhen theyenterthe fieldsof sociol-
faith or belief. If he does not know he has ogy,political science,psychologyor religion.
no right to faith or belief. He may have The past seems to be behind us despite the
groundsfor hypotheses,but the momenthe idea recentlyadvanced that time may actu-
begins to have faith in his hypothesesthe ally run backwards. Time may run back-
hypothesestend to become myths. One of wards or in circles in the mind of the
my teachers in zoology used to say to us: philosopher,but it does not seem to run
"Friends, it is necessary,at present,to enter- backwardsin biology. At any rate the his-
tain theoriesin zoology,but we must be on tory of the early ancestorsof living plants
our guard againstbeing entertainedby these and animals,and possiblythe very originof
theories." These elementsof the scientific life itself,is only dimlywrittenin the strata
attitudeI have indicatedare scientificideals of the earth of bygone geological epochs.
whichfew,if any,scientistsare able to attain We may discover and describe a link here
all the time,particularlywhentheyare deal- and there,but many of the links are as yet
ing with mattersof traditionor mattersto missing. We can not experimentwith the
which they are emotionallyconditionedin past, we can not establishcontrols. Not only
early youth. that,but many of the processesin the life of
The term science is sometimeslimited to the individualman,animal or plant of to-day
the fieldsof mathematics,astronomy,chem- appear to be as complex,as difficult to ana-
istry, physics, geology, biology, and their lyze and separate and thereforecontrol as
practical applications. This may be due the complexforcesin society.
partlyto the fact thatin thesefieldswe have So much for science. If we have rightly
to-day the greatest body of verifiabledata understood and correctly outlined the
and so-calledlaws of science. However,one method, attitude and scope of science, we
of the elementsin the scientificattitude is mightstop righthere,and let you draw.your
the application of the scientificmethod to own conclusionsas to the supernatural,the

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88 THE SCIENTIFIC MONTHLY

"holy," the "divine." It might be better by divinerights" has been abolished,at least
thus,forthoseof you who have already done in theory. The gradual eliminationof the
so will be boredby therestof thisdiscussion; supernaturaland the divine in governments
and othersmighttake the conclusionson my can not be primarilycredited to science or
meresay so, or reject thembecause contrary scientists. It was foreed by the travails of
to theirfaith. In eithercase furtherdiscuLs- the commonlife. The supernaturalsanction
sion is largelyfutile. in social customs,habits or ethicsfrequently
touches matters of relatively little impor-
THE SUPERNATURAL ASA WAY TO tance,such as the interdictionof eating pork
KNOWLEDGE for the Jew,and the eating of meats on Fri-
By supernaturalwe understandinforina- day for the Catholic, the ritual of baptism
tion, theories,beliefsand practices claiming in the Christian religion, the circumcision
origins otherthan verifiableexperienceand in the Jewishreligion,shaving or not shav-
thinking,or eventscontraryto knownproc- ing the face or the head, etc. The dogma
esses in nature, such as the production of that each individual marriage,when solem-
winefromwateralone; theresurrectionfrom nized by a priest,is a "sacrament" made in
the dead of persons in advanced stages of Heaven by AlmightyGod and holds "till
decomposition;accounts of creation of the death do them part" has a more practical
world and of man by people who were not signlificance.
present at these events,and not in a posi- I am no authorityin thisfield,but accord-
tion to inferfromcosmicdata; specificcodes ing to the best informationnow available it
of behaviorenunciateddirectlyto some man would appear that early moreshad little or
by some anthropomorphic god; arrest of the no connectionwith the supernatural. The
course of the sun throughspace so that the graftingof the supernatural on ethics ap-
Jewish army could see to kill a few more pears to come relativelylate in human his-
natives; castingdevils out of men,and send- tory. At any rate, so far as the essential
ing demons into hogs; human pregnancies mores of practical living is concerned,sim-
solely throughnon-material,that is, divine ilar principleshave been developed in vari-
agencies; perpetual recurrenceof a species ous social groups independent of, parallel
of "immaculate conception" in that a divin- with,or under the influencesof a varietyof
ity sends embryonic " souls" into every religiousbeliefs. These, therefore,have the
human fetus eitherat the momentof union sanctionsof social necessity,convenience,or
of sperm and ova, or later in intrauterine safetyquite apart fromthe supernatural.
life,etc.,ad infinitum, ad absurdum,ad nau- The supernaturalis particularlyabundant
seam. This supernaturalhas been presented in the fieldof religioIns. I shall not attempt
to man with varyingdegrees of clarityin a the impossible,viz., a definitionof religion.
great variety of books and sermons by We have, however,people who entertainre-
prophets, priests, and other holy men, in ligious theoriesand follow religious rituals.
addition to the information in so-called When I speak of the Jewish,the Christian
sacred books,such as the Bible, the Koran, or the MohammedanreligionsI referto the
theVedas and thebook of Mormons. We all theories,practices and attitudespeculiar to
know that there are great variationsamong the people in thesereligiousgroups. I think
modern adherents of the sundry religions we may get somewherein the discussion if
both in the amount that they individually we treat religionin this way ratherthan by
accept and in interpretationsput on what abstract'definition. Most religions have in
they do accept of this supernatural. But commonthe view and belief that some time
the supernatural in this sense is found at somewhereGod or gods, supernaturalbeings
presentin the theories,beliefsand practices communicatedto man informationon the
of most,if not all, religiousgroups. We find origin and nature of the universe, on the
a sprinklingof it here and there in social originand nature of man, on the nature and
habits, customsand ethics. At one time it controlof the forcesof nature about us, on
was prominentin political institutionsand the nature of evil, etc. In most cases these
theory,but in mostparts of the world "rule so-called revelations occurred so long ago

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 SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL 89

thatthe personor personsreceivingthemare his mind and polygamywas no longer ae-

buried in obscurityand myths. We can not cordingto the plan of God! In some cases
analyze the alleged facts and circumstances. the " revelations" are reported as coming
Fortunately,we have in this country two throughdreams; in othercases throughbrush
recentdivinerevelationsof thistype,namely, fires;by direct writingof the fingerof God
Mormonismon the basis of the Book of Mor- on stones, or indirectly through oracles,
mons,and ChristianScience on the basis of popes, the flightof birds and the liver of
the divine teaching of Mary Baker Eddy. slaughteredbulls.
These are so recentthat the personalitiesand The physiologistcan not accept revelations
the circumstancesinvolved are not yet en- from dreams any more than he can detect
tirelyobscuredby mythsand lore. wisdom in hallucinations. The brush fire
What has science to say to all this? The may reveal somethingof the nature of the
most serious aspect of the supernatural is, world,but it can tell us nothingof the origin
not the revelations,per se, the miracles,the of man or the ways of the good life. The
mythsand the guesses, but the injunction supernatural as a way to knowledge is in
that all this mustbe taken on faith,that in- direct conflictwith science.
quiry and doubt is tabu-that is, sin. A That many intelligentpeople of to-day
good deal of "revealed" informationabout both inside and outside the religiousgroups
the nature of the world and the nature of reject much of the anthropomorphism of the
man has proved entirelyerroneous. So far gods and the more palpably absurd phases
as the nature of the world and of man is of the supernaturalas a way to understand-
concernedthe revelationsappear to be noth- ing is no news to you. They usually retain a
ing but what could have been projected as distillateof the supernaturalin formof be-
guesses by any human contemporaryof the liefs in a "moral purpose"yin the universe.
revelations,on the basis of the knowledge And having injected human ethics into an
and theignoranceof thosetimes. The " reve- obviouslya-moraluniverse,2theyendowman
lations" have been of no aid in the advance with personal immortality. This refined
of real knowledgeof cosmogony,physiology, supernaturalismis still essentiallyanthropo-
physics,chemistryor disease. On the con- morphicand homocentric. Even this form
trary,they have, throughhuman stupidity of the supernaturalhas no sanction in sci-
and obscenity,frequentlyaided in retarda- ence or analyzed human needs, as I under-
tion. The revelationsto Joseph Smith (the stand them.
Book of the Mormons),the repeated revela-
tionsby Jehovahto BrighamYoung, and the TIIE CONTENT OF THE SUPERNATURAL
rise of Christian Science are recent. The REVELATIONS
character,education, intelligenceand envi- So far we have consideredthe supernat-
ronmentof the people concernedare fairly ural mainly from the aspect of the way of
well known. In the light of all the known learning, the way of extendingknowledge,
facts in these instances,is there any intelli- the way of greater approximationto truth.
gent man or woman to-day,not steeped in A word or two on the contentof the super-
childhoodin the lore of Mormonismor Chris- natural seems in place here. Most of the
tian Science, who can have any respect for weird stories of creation of the universe,
such revelationsas a source of knowledge? animals, man, of divine or demoniacal con-
When the Mormon leaders received a tip trol of natural forces,of disease, etc., that
fromGod thatpolygamywas orderedby him have come to us vi the supernaturalroute
for his chosenpeople on earth (by the way,
2 The concept of moral and immoral behavior has
a revelationthat is easy to take by the aver-
developed in connection with normal human adults
age humanmale), the United States Govern- or any hypotheticalpersonality,to whom we ascribe
ment did not hesitate to challenge God, or consciousnessof "right" and "wrong," and a feel-
BrighamYoung's sanity and veracity. The ing of freedom of choice in behavior. "A-moral"
Federal Governmentwas powerfuland ada- signifiesthe absence of these elementsof personality,
as in the behavior of young children, animals, the
mant and God yielded through a second insane, and the physico-chemical forces of the uni-
revelationto the effectthat he had changed verse.

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90 THE SCIENTIFIC MONTHLY

run contraryto facts now known, or ren- sistence of the individual after physical
dered untenable,as possibilities,by known death came down to us fromthe ancientsin
facts. Between the stories in the book of most if not all races. What credibilityare
Genesis,as an articleof faith,and the plane- we going to give to the idea solely because
tesimnal hypothesisof Chamberlinand Moul- of its venerableage? So far as I can see, we
ton (probably the greatest intellectual can give no greater credibilityto the an-
achievement so far in the University of cients' views on immortalitythan to their
Chicago) as a workingtheory,science must views on otherthingsabout whichtheyknew
choose the latter. Divine benevolence and nothing. Conscious phenomenaand intelli-
wrath,devils and demonsare not factorsin gence in man, that is, personality,appear to
health and disease, accordingto the data of be just as much an evolutionof the material
modernmedicine. Science and miraclesare world as is the rest of the body processes.
incompatible. Much happens in nature and We seemto be forcedto this conclusionfrom
in man forwhichsciencehas yet no complete the evidence of the intimatedependence of
analysis of the causal chain. We recognize all phases of consciousness,memory,and per-
theunknownbut nottheunknowable. When sonality on the quantity and quality of the
we know that we don't know, that is itself nervous system,and these, in turn, depend
an achievement,for then the fieldis cleared on all the rest of the body mechanisms.
of the confusingand obstructingrubbishof It is perfectlytrue that we can cut offan
tradition,and we are free to use all our in- arm or leg, removecertainperipheralganglia
genuityand imaginationin contrivingmeth- and even a certainlimitedpart of the central
ods to findout. Miracles of sufficiently re- brain withoutseriouslyinterferingwithcon-
cent occurrenceso that fair informationis sciousnessor personality. We can leave the
available of the alleged facts and circum- brain structure anatomically intact, and
stances are resolved into misrepresentation throughpoisons eliminateconsciousnesstem-
or misinterpretation of the facts. In regard porarily or alter the individual personality
to the recurringmiracle of changing bread permanently. The data frombrain tumors,
and wine into human flesh and blood by brain injuries,drugs,such as sedatives,hyp-
Christianrituals,biological and biochemical notiesand anesthetics,experimentalphysiol-
tests of the bread and wine afterbeing sub- ogy, defectiveheredity,show that there is a
jected to such rituals reveal nothingbut the close correspondenceor dependence of con-
originalbread and wine. To personsfairly sciousness,intelligence,memoryor individ-
familiar with biology and physiology the uality on the nervoussystem.
theoryof animal and human evolutionand What is personality? I think biologists
genetic relations is a closer approximation would agree,to-day,that one elementin per-
to whathappened in the past than any guess sonality is heredity,the kind of germplasm
or storyin "sacred books" or mythology. I withwhichwe are endowedat conception.
have a fair acquaintance with most of them. In the case of man and othermammalsthe
The Theory of dual natutreof man (body originalgermplasmis subjectedto monthsof
and "solkl") and its equal: The theoryof intrauterine environment. The latter is
personalitimortality appears to be partly complex,not simple. Such material factors
of mythological and supernatural origin, as the constitution,health and food of the
partly philosophical. The alleged objective motherappear to have a very real influence
evidenceof theseviews is entirelymytholog- on the constitutionof the fetus, and after
ical and supernatural,unless we are to dig- birth such material factors as disease, acei-
nify as evidence the ancient and modern dental injuries, food, etc., may furtherma-
communicationswith the dead by clairvoy- terially modify the final product: man or
ance, "psychic mediums" and "ectoplasm." woman.
When examined,the "ectoplasm" appears to The hereditary personality is further
go the way of all errorsand frauds. I know modifiedand built up gradually by experi-
these attempts,and I am still skeptical. ence and memory,so that to-day I am a
Has science anythingto say on the theory somewhatdifferent person fromwhat I was
of personal immortality? The idea of per- twentyyears ago. It seems at least highly

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 SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL 91

probable,on the basis of biology,physiology golden harp and his oriental worship of
and medicine, that this experience or the adulation. But hunting means destroying
cumulativeeffectof theenvironment depends fellowsnot so very different fromourselves.
on changes built up mainly in the nervous A heaven of mead and pork and fightsand
system. The modificationsof the nervous females forever leaves me cold. Flowers,
systemcalled memoryare less stable than the though they like ourselves last but for the
hereditaryelementsof the nervousorganiza- moment,are finer than gold, and justice
tion. All the presentevidencepoints to the seemsa bettergoal than worship. When the
fact that at death the nervoussystemgoes to shadow lengthensI am contentto call it a
pieces withthe rest of the body. Indeed, the day and leave the workto others. The pass-
disintegrationof the nervous system,and ing of personal immortalityseems to have
with it the personality,may startbeforethe added interestto my work to-day, greater
death of the individual. The tragedies of interestin my students,in my fellow men,
" second childhood," of the aphasias, of in other things that seem worth-whilehu-
senile dementia are known to all informed man efforts.For whenI die, I will be a long
people. It doesn't make any difference timedead.
whetherthe disintegrationis fast or slow. I am perfectlywell aware that many able
We may preservefor a time some externals and finepeople inside and outside this hall
by desiccation,embalmingor petrification. will arise with impatience,if not in anger,
But fossilsand mummiesare as dead as the and say: "Your analysis of the supernatural
ashes of the funeral pyre. I can not con- refersto an extinctspecies. It does not ap-
ceive of events and environ'ments in the fu- ply to religionsor religiouspeople of to-day.
ture that would exactlyreprodueemy hered- You are belaboringa man of straw." What
ityand personalexperience. On thebasis of are the facts? Is supernaturalisma thingof
the knownand the probable,immortalityof yesterday? Have the peoples of the earth
the person is, at present,untenable. Leav- ceased to chant every variant of the tune,
ing, for a moment,the realms of knowledge "The old time religion is good enough for
and reason and speakingof personal wishes, me"? If the orthodoxJew (and that em-
of likes and dislikes,the wish for personal braces most of the Jews) has dethroned
immortality may be an extensionof the plea- Jehovah,and rejected the Bible, I have not
sure in living,sometimescalled "the will to heard of it. Accordingto the latestnews the
live." The quantity of these emotionsap- Pope is still God's viceroy among men and
pears to vary in differentpeople. Many the faithful Roman Catholics still believe
seem to find comfort in the theory of that the voice of the Vatican is the voice of
"Nirvana," the state of everlastinguncon- God. The acceptance of the whole Bible as
sciousness. "Nirvana'" may, withouttrick- divinetruthis not a rarityamongProtestant
ery or undue violence to reason, be trans- Christians. The God of the Jews,the Chris-
lated into what modernbiology indicates as tians and the Mohammedansin 1930 is not
the end of the individual, but the ways of a fossil. Enter almost any religiousservice
attaining "Nirvana" appear to me incom- and you get an earfulof ancientand modern
patible withthe good life here. As for other supernaturalismanent the soul, the devil,
conditions of existence of the individual hell and heaven, sin, redemption,almighty
afterdeath,otherabodes of the "souls," the Gods,angels,divinepurposes,prayer. Is the
sundryinfernosarouse in me, not fear, but supernatural extinct? Take a look on and
pity and wonderhow man can chooseto tor- about this campus, and you will finda very
ture his mind with such eruel absurdities; prolificand very recent growthof chapels
and I have not seen any heaven described and churches:edifices,I am delightedto note,
whereI care to go. My forebearshad their only in part dedicated to the rituals of the
Valhalla with its mead, its roast pork, its "God of old." To be sure the supernatural
combats; the American Indian his happy is not in our federal constitution. But it is
hunting grounds, the followersof Moham- not absent fromstate and municipal codes.
med their heaven of houris; the Christian "Acts of God" are embalmedin legal lore.
has his golden city of many apartments,his Physiologyand biologycan not be taught at

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92 THE SCIENTIFIC MONTHLY

public expense in the states of Tennessee, Within the present year five Protestant
Arkansas and Mississippi because it con- pastors in our neighboringstate, Kentucky,
flicts with "revelation." Is supernatural- are reportedto have publishedthe following
ism dead? What I have said here to-night statement:"God will and can answerprayer
would subject me to arrest and imprison- for rain. God has never withheldrain from
ment in the state of Massachusetts,and dis- the earthexceptin a gracious effortto bring
qualify me as a witnessin court in at least his own people back to the ways of righteous-
six other states in the Union. Yes, my ness and holiness." If there is a God both
friends, supernaturalism is dead, indeed! almightyand just, prayer for rain and all
Let a Jew, a Roman Catholic, a Mohamme- kinds of favorableweather anywhereis un-
dan, or a man of no belief,like myself,run assailable. But if rain is sentto earthin pro-
for governorin any state south of the Masoln portion to holiness and prayer to Jehovah,
and Dixon lin-e(and possiblyin some states the sundry heathens and all worshipersof
nearerhome), or forPresidentof the United "false gods" would have a dry time,not to
States and he will discoversomething ! The speak of plants and animals who, according
world has, indeed, moved since the days of to the Bible, have no souls to pray with.
Galileo, but in some places it has not moved Unfortunatelyfor that kind of faith, the
very far. Why, the handful of liberal and rainfall in heathenPhilippines (that is, be-
informedpeople who have worked.theirway fore the introductionof Christianity) was
out of a cocoon of supernaturalismdoes not greater than in our Christianstate of Ten-
even make a respectableleaven in the college nessee. But this question need not be left
graduate group! in the realmof faithand controversy.It can
PresidentHoover, an engineer,and there- be settled by controlledobservation. What
fore at home in science,stated in his recent is the ratio of rainfall to Christian,Jewish,
Thanksgivingproclamation:"We have been Mohammedanor Mormonprayersin various
blessed with distinctiveevidelee of Divine lands? The states of Washingtonand Ore-
favor. As a nation,we have sufferedfar less gon (west of the Cascades) have more rain
than otherpeoples frompresentworld diffi- than has the state of California (west of the
culties." This statementappears to imply Sierras). Is this difference due to the wick-
that a divinitycontrolseconomiccontingen- edness of Hollywood, and the past genera-
cies and rainfall, and either that we as a tion of gold diggers,and the holiness of the
nation are morallymore worthythan other lumberjack? The adherents of the super-
peoples harder hit by economicand natural natural pray and irrigate the arid lands;
events of the past year, or else that this di- others merely irrigate. The crops seem to
vinity is unfair in decreeing punishments parallel the irrigationratherthan the pray-
and favors. ers. Were it not for supernatural tabus,
According to several Italianl churchmen, manyothersupernaturalclaimscould be put
the recent disastrous earthquakes in Italy to the experimentaltest. It should not be
were caused, not by unbalanced stressesin much moredifficult to determinethe efficacy
the crust of the earth,but by the Christian of prayer against such diseases as syphilis,
God, as punishmentfor the sins of men,wo- malaria, diabetes and goiter,than to estab-
men and little children in the devastated lish the merits of arsenic, quinine, insulin
areas! Granted,for the sake of the argu- and iodine. Not very long ago I read a
ment,that the bishopsare rightand modern signedpublic statementby a lady in thestate
geologyis wrongabout earthquakes,we may of Kansas to the effectthat she had seen a
still ask for evidence that men, women and goiter melt away from the neck of another
little childrenliving in earthquakeareas are lady during the praying of the Reverend
greatersinnersthan people living elsewhere; Aimee Semple McPherson directed toward
and again, if questioningwas not tabu, how this end. This appears like direct evidenee.
can a just and loving god institutesuch in- But metabolism tests, neck measurements
discriminatepunishment? How can a just and motionpicturesof the "melting" proc-
and almightyGod permitsuch catastrophes ess would go furtherto convincethe skeptics.
to occur? What people under intenseemotionsand de-

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 SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL 93

sire to believe thinkthey see has frequently "unknowable," we had betterjoin hands in
no relationto thelightthatactuallyimpinges tackling the unknown, not with worship,
on the retina. Intense faith as well as in- prayer or propitiation,but with the tool of
tense fear seem to predispose to hallucina- science. Here is useful and joyful workfor
tions in many people. everybody.
The moral efficacyof infant and adult
baptism could also be tested experimentally, THE ETHICS OF THE: SUPERNATURAL
although with less accuracy, until better May I make a few concludingremarkson
quantitative measures of human character the ethics of the supernatural,speaking not
are worked out. A prominentphysiologist as a scientistbut as a commonman? The
told me he had done this experimentin ethicsof science is simple: absolute honesty
his own family,having two of his children in recordingand presentingdata, and curb-
baptized, and keeping the other two chil- ing wishes,personalprejudices and emotions
dren as controls. I will not even mention by reason in interpretingthe data.
the results,for we draw no conclusionfrom There appears to be a great variety of
so few experiments,but it mightbe pointed ethics in the supernatural. Looking upon
out that identical twins would be the best the supernatural simply as man's early
material for this test. Is supernaturalism stumblingattemptsat learning, at adjust-
dead? Some Protestant clergymeninform ment, as flounderingstoward greater hap-
us that Jehovahis a prohibitionist, and the piness, as quests for explanationsof the un-
people who oppose our present prohibition known, this variety is both inevitable and
of alcoholic beverages are fighting God. understandable. From this point of view,
Some of the Roman Catholics tell us that the modernman of science has no essential
raising grapes and drinkingwine is God's quarrelswithJesus,Confucius,Zoroaster,or
plan for man. Such confusionon the celes- Buddha. They did the best they could, con-
tial lines of communicationoughtto provoke sidering the ignorance of their times. We
thought. It seems to induce nothing but can do no more. But now and then indi-
reciprocal anger. vidual championsof the supernatural have
Many people take the positionthat science been eitherunusually stupid or inordinately
is well and good in the "material" world. selfishand cruel. The judgmentof posterity
They would exclude the methodand attitude will be severeon themenwho coercedGalileo
of science fromcertainfieldsof human life. and their brethrenof to-day who know or
A prominentNew York rabbi said onlya few mightknow,yet rivetthe shacklesof super-
days ago: " Human feelings and emotions naturalism on the human mind. For they
will remain outside the scope of science for- sin againstman. It is significantthatneither
ever." As if the biological sciences,includ- Jesusnor his apostlesappear to have claimed
ing medicine,have not already produced a any supernaturalauthorityor absolute wis-
very respectablebody of verifiabledata on dom for their sayings or writings. The ig-
the mechanismsof the emotions. The rela- noble doctrineof divine revelationof abso-
tion of the brain to the emotionsis nearly as lute truthfor all timesappears to be a later
elear as the relations of the kidneys to the invention. But in Mormonismand Moham-
secretionof urine or therelationof the gullet medanismit is presentwiththe founders. I
to swallowing. That completeobstructionof said: ignobledoctrine. Intellectualtyranny
-thegullet will preventswallowingI do not is to me as immoral as physical tyranny.
thinkwould be denied even by a rabbi. It is Stiflingfreedomof inquiry and of thinking
a favoritesaying that thereis morethan sci- by religious tabus or legal dicta appears to
ence in the universeand in human life. We me highlyimmoral.
grantthat. At the presentthe unknownex- The view or belief that some one man or
ceeds the known. There is more ignorance group of men (such as Brahmins, popes,
than science. But is that a cause for exulta- priests, etc.), above all other humans, is'
tion? Instead of wasting time and energy specially endowed or enlightened to per-
in the futileeffortof buildingfencesaround petuate and advance truth,and mediate be-
science,and in a meticulouslabeling of the tween gods and man favors tyranny. It

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94 THE SCIENTIFIC MONTHLY

seemsinimicalto knowledgeand human dig- Man is, indeed, a perplexinganimal. He is

nity,henceimmoral. rarely consistentlyconsistentor consistently
The supernaturaltheoriesof "sin," per- inconsistent. The crook is not always
sonifiedevil, redemption,eternaldamnation, crooked,the murderernot always cruel, the
etc., when actually believed, have created thiefnot always greedy. An honorableper-
and are creatingmuch disturbancein man's son may lie and a liar sometimestells the
emotional life, in the way of fear, worry, truth. A shrewdbusiness man may consult
melancholy,if not outrightinsanity. The- a soothsayerand be afraid of a black cat.
theory or doctrine of the vicarious atone- Most men in early childhoodare emotionally
ment in the Christian religion is not only conditionedto the supernatural,just as they
a projection of views and practices of bar- becomeemotionallyconditionedto otherele-
barism into modern life, but it connotesa ments of childhood environment:parents,
principal of punishmentand propitiationat places, playmates,nurseryrhymes,the old
variance with modern sense of justice. It swimminghole, and what not. Retaining
goes without saying that many Christian and recalling these emotions please us.
people are not aware of this. Adults may be conditioned,but usually with
If we take a look at the gods, they can be less emotionalcontentthan the child. We
understood and condoned as inventionsof can be conditionedto science or justice just
man,at varyingstagesof social development. as to the supernatural,but the latterusually
The fossilizationof nearlyall so-calledsacred gets there first. The conditionedemotions
books by edicts and tradition has brought usually outlive one's intellectual metamor-
about the anomalous conditionthat the best phosis. Their disappearance seems to be a
people in manyreligionsto-dayare ethically slow atrophyof disuse. Many factorsappear
superior to their gods. In the recent inva- to enter into the persistenceof early condi-
sion of Palestine the modernIsraelites have tioning to the supernatural,such as group
shownthemselvesin treatmentof the Arabs, loyalty,the desireto conformto social usage,
by and -large, superior to Jehovah of the the disinclinationto disturbor distresspar-
Bible. ents and other intimatefriends; social, po-
If man as well as his social environment litical and financialambitions,etc. Men also
remained stationary, static mores might appear to differin the emotionalsatisfaction
serve very well. But social, economicand obtained from the mystic. Additional fac-
political life appears to be more fluid than tors, such as individual emotionalcapacity,
man. Hence the necessity of continuous may be operative in making some scientists
amendmentof the mores. For example,the thinkand work,while othersthinkand work
travail of modern life is forcingthe prac- and pray. I admit it may be easier for men
tice of birthcontrolinto the open for a more in the physicalsciencesthan for biologiststo
rational and humane settlement,despite the cling to the supernatural,for much of the
thundersfromMount Sinai and the echoes grotesquein the supernaturalconcernsman
thereoffromthe Vatican Hill. If a physi- and other living things rather than inani-
ologist,in 1930, may venture to reinterpret mate nature. But even so, it is a fact that
the aphorismof Paul, anent faith,hope and Rev. Stephen Hale laid the foundationfor
charity,it would read somethinglike this: the science of hemodynamics,and Friar
Faith is of the past, hope must be chastened Mendel discoveredfundamentalprinciplesin
by experience, charity in modern garb, is heredity. So far as I know, the Reverend
misdirectedbenevolence. But thereremains Hale and Friar Mendel were sincere adher-
the endeavor towards understanding,the ents of theirrespectivereligiouscults. Our
hunger for beauty, the urge for justice- social heritage, good, bad and indifferent,
these three,and the greatestof the three is clings to us like the hand and the appendix
justice. of organicinheritance. Hence, like the pro-
Science nurturesinquiry,the supernatural verbial Englishman,we "muddle" but, now
stiflesit. The two are in theirvery essence and then,we "muddle through." Fear and
incompatible,but they can apparently co- faithhave ruled muchof man's past, but the
exist in some scientists of the first rank. millenniumis still far,far away. Now let us

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 SCIENCE AND THE SUPERNATURAL
try what may be accomplished by under-
taking. Give sciencea chance.
I seemto sense a silentsigh fromyou, say-
ing: "Thank God, he is through.'" I am-
nearly. Knowingnextto nothingabout pub-
lic speaking I consultedan experiencedcol-
league, before preparing this talk. He re-
ferred me to a well-knowncanon, which
reads: First, you tell your audience what
you intendto tell,thenyou proceedto tell it,
and lastly you tell what you have just told.
You may have observedthat I have followed
this advice. I have now reached the lastly.
Lest I be accused of hiding my real views
in a plethora of verbiage,I will attemptto
sum up, in threescorewords,what I tried to
SCIENCE
The current discussion of values in college educa-
tion seems determinedto fix in the public mind a
distinction between humanistic studies on the one
hand and scientificstudies on the other. It is a dis-
tinctionthat, in fact, does not exist. If the greatest
humanists of past centuries were to be resurrected
and introduced to modern knowledge, I think that
they would be much more interested in science than
in critiques on creative work already done in the
humanities. They would be disappointed by the wide
turn in college from creative work to talk about it;
and they would doubt the purposes that are to be
served in any civilizationby such " exercises." They
would deplore the glibness and cocksurenessthat gen-
erally mark men who graduate under glib and cock-
sure teachers absorbed in the study of dialectics to
the neglect of judgment. They would be more in-
clined to enquire about the steps by which men
reached the point of discovery and relationships of
forces until recentlyunknown,and of textual inter-
pretations unguessed by their precursors. They
would be interested in the mental climates of suc-
cessive decades that preceded given discoveries. They
would want to know about the critical effectsof a
given enquiry upon furtherenquiry and the mental
saltations and sequences that enabled a man to reach
the goal of an important discovery.
I feel sure that they would also ask about the
social consequences. They would probably be amazed
at the extent to which these consequences are ne-
glected by schoolmen,industrialists, and statesmen
alike, until they are fastened upon the people. They
might end by regretting,as we do, that social under-
standing and controlhave lagged behind the physical
and biological sciences. But I eannot imagine them
regrettingthat discoveries had been made. On the
contrary,I think of them as wishing to jump in and
help furtherdiscovery along and greatly excited by
the opportulnity.
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95
say in seventhousand: As I see it, the super-
natural has no support in science, it is in-
compatiblewith science,it is frequentlyan
active foe of science. It is unnecessaryfor
the good life. And yet,the supernatural,in
varying dilutions,is likely to persist in so-
cietyfora verylong time. The uncondition-
ing and reconditioningof mankindin funda-
mentalshas been a slow process in the past.
It may go a littlefasterin the future. It is
a matterof forgettingthe hypotheticaluni-
versecreatedout of ignoranceand motivated
by our undisciplinedemotions;and a recon-
ditioningto the actual universe,-
as gradually
understood through controlled experience
and experiment.
AND HUMANISM
Put in another way, these humanists of an earlier
period would say that the thing of chief interest to
them is discovery,and that new knowledge bearing
on life and civilization is just as important in our
already complex times as in past times. I cannot
believe that we have made a sound educational plan,
or improved our more or less established college cur-
ricula, until we have rubbed out the line that com-
mentatorskeep drawing between the sciences and the
humanities. It is the constant interplay between the
new and the old, whatever the kind of knowledge it
may be, between the accepted interpretationof past
experience and the challenge to interpretation of
present discovery,that gives us a balanced judgment
and a wider and sounder application of knowledge
to life.
It is for this reason in part that the history of
science becomes of increasing importance. It is also
for this reason that the training of men in the sci-
ences in our graduate schools should not be merely
professional or technical. It is neither safe nor true
to draw generalizations about the deficiencyof scien-
tists or of humanists as groups: one can find bad
examples in either group. What is importantis that
we should reduce the number of such bad examples.
We should make a Ph.D. mean somethingmore than
proficiencyin a small sector of a great subject. A
man should be capable of thinking about the mean-
ings and the applications of his science, and not
merely about a job in teaching "courses" or ad-
vancement in salary in an industry by knowing
enough to hold his job. He should be expected to
see the importance of the great thresholdsof scien-
tific diecoveryand of humanistic interpretationand
he should be eager to cross them and feel the excite-
ment of the search.-From the Annual Report (for
1943) to the Trustees of The Johns Jopkins Univer-
sity by President Isaiah Bowman, predecessor of Dr.
Carlson as President of the A.A.A.S.