Excerpt from Christianity and the Leaders of Modern Science: A Contribution to the History of Culture in the Nineteenth Century A few days ago the newspapers announced that Mr. Edison had declared himself a materialist. He had satisfied himself that the physico-chemical forces at work in the brain, with the resultant electrical effects, were sufficient to account for all the phenomena of conscious life in man. This was the first public intimation that the distinguished inventor had turned philosopher. He had previously been known as an ingenious contriver of useful mechanisms. He had invented the phonograph, megaphone, kinetoscope, and had introduced many important improvements in telegraphy. His success in bending the forces of Nature to his will had won him a deserved celebrity; he was recognised as an adept in the application of science to practical ends, if not in science itself. Such fame notwithstanding, his profession of materialism left the world wholly unperturbed. No believer saw in it a new menace to his faith; no unbeliever found in it a new justification of his unbelief. The incident passed with a tribute of comment from the press scantier than would be accorded to a horse race or a prize fight. This attitude of the public mind seems to indicate a healthy spread of sober thought, a growing capacity to appreciate at their true value the pronouncements of "science" on the supreme problems of life. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.