Cambridge—1871-1879

From Evidence to Understanding: A Precarious Path

“…It says (Ref. 14, p. 639):In the very beginnings of science, the parsons, who managed things then,Being handy with hammer and chisel, made gods in the likeness of men;Till Commerce arose, and at length some men of exceptional powerSupplanted both demons and gods by the atoms, which last to this hour.Yet they did not abolish the gods, but they sent them well out of the way,With the rarest of nectar to drink, and blue fields of nothing to sway.From nothing comes nothing, they told us, nought happens by chance but by fate;There is nothing but atoms and void, all else is mere whims out of date!Then why should a man curry favour with beings who cannot exist,To compass some petty promotion in nebulous kingdoms of mist?But not by the rays of the sun, nor the glittering shafts of the day,Must the gods be dispelled, but by words, and their wonderful play.…”