o the most purely intellectual methods. One of the most
important truths that human beings can know is the perfectly independent
working of the natural laws: one of the best practical conclusions to be
drawn from the observation of Nature is that in the conduct of our own
understandings we should use a like independence.

It would be wrong, in writing to you on subjects so important as these,
to shrink from handling the real difficulties. Every one now is aware
that science must and will pursue her own methods and work according to
her own laws, without concerning herself with the most authoritative
affirmations from without. But if science said one thing and
authoritative tradition said another, no perfectly ingenuous person
could rest contented until he had either reconciled the two or decidedly
rejected one of them. It is impossible for a mind which is honest
towards itself to admit that a proposition is true and false at the same
time, true in science and false in theology. Therefore, although the
intellectual methods are entirely independent of tradition, it may
easily happen that the indirect results of our following those methods
may be the overthrow of some dogma which has for many generations been
considered indispensable to man's spiritual welfare. With regard to this
contingency it need only be observed that the intellectual forces of
humanity must act, like floods and winds, according to their own laws;
and that if they cast down any edifice too weak to resist them, it must
be because the original constructors had not built it substantially, or
because those placed in charge of it had neglected to keep it in repair.
This is their business, not ours. Our work is simply to ascertain truth
by our own independent methods, alike without hostility to any persons
claiming authority, and without deference to them.

FOOTNOTES:

[6] The title of this letter seems so odd, that it may be necessary
to inform the reader that it was addressed to a real person.

[7] I had desired to say something about the uses of tradition in the
industrial arts and in the fine arts, but the subject is a very large
one, and I have not time or space to treat it properly here. I may
observe, however, briefly, that the genuine spirit of tradition has
almost entirely disappeared from English industry and art, where it
has been replaced by a spirit of scientific investigation and
experiment. The true traditi