I'm not so sure that strict barrier is really there. Instead science will have to be carefully defined each and every time you use the word so as not to mislead people. Particle physics will not triumph as the real basis of physics.

True the study of consciousness is known as metaphysics but it will not remain as the "junior science of abstract theory." Consciousness does a better job of describing the real world we live in. The material basis is actually the first rung on the latter.

The experimenter is part of the experiment and by sticking to a material bias, she is only describing the world of the 5 senses. That will be seen as senseless proposition as understanding deepens.

Just as all mathematics is theoretical only, so too is all science. That's the kind of world we really live in.