,,science ,,and ,,morals ,,science ,,and ,,morals ,,and ,,other ,,essays ,,by ,,sir ,,bertram ,c4 ,a4 ,,windle ,m4,a41 ,m4,d41 ,sc4,d41 ,,ll4,d41 ,f4,r4,s41 ,f4,s4,a41 ,k4,s4,g4 ,,of ,,st4 ,,michael',s ,,college1 ,,toronto1 ,,ont4 ,,london ,,burns ,,oates1 ,,ltd #bh ,,orchard ,,street1 ,w #aiai 99 99 99 99 99 ,,to ,,john ,,robert and ,,mary ,o',,connell ,a ,,token ,,of ,,sincere ,,friendship ,,listarkin ,september #aiai 99 99 99 99 99 ,these ,essays have all in one form or another appeared elsewhere2 and ,i have to thank the ,editors of the ,dublin ,review1 ,catholic ,world1 ,america1 and ,studies respectively for kind permission to reproduce them4 ,some of them appear as they were published1 others have been almost rewritten4 ,b4 ,c4 ,a4 ,w4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,contents ,,page ,i4 ,science and ,morals #a #a4 ,the ,gospel of ,science #a #b4 ,science as a ,rule of ,life #ad ,,ii4 ,theophobia and ,nemesis #bf #a4 ,theophobia3 its ,cause #bf #b4 ,theophobia3 its ,nemesis #dd ,,iii4 ,within and ,without the ,system #ef ,,iv4 ,science in ,bondage #gd ,v4 ,science and the ,war #ajf ,,vi4 ,heredity and ,arrangement #abe ,,vii4 ,special ,creation #adb ,,viii4 ,catholic ,writers and ,spontaneous ,generation #aeb ,,ix4 ,a ,theory of ,life #afj ,index of ,names #age ,general ,index #agg 99 99 99 99 99 ,,science ,,and ,,morals ,i4 ,,science ,,and ,,morals #a4 ,,the ,,gospel ,,of ,,science ,in the days before the war the ,annual ,address delivered by the ,president of the ,british ,association was wont to excite at least a mild interest in the breasts of the reading public4 ,it was a kind of ,encyclical from the reigning pontiff of science1 and since that potentate changed every year there was some uncertainty as to his subject and its treatment1 and there was this further piquant attraction1 wanting in other and better-known ,encyclicals1 that the address of one year might not merely contradict but might even exhibit a lofty contempt for that or for those which had immediately preceded it4 ,during the three years immediately preceding the war we had excellent examples of all these things4 ,in the first of them we were treated to a somewhat belated utterance in opposition to ,vitalism4 ,its arguments were mostly based upon what even to the tyro in chemistry seemed to be rather shaky foundations4 ,such indeed they proved to be1 since the deductions drawn from the behaviour of colloids and from ,leduc's pretty toys were promptly disclaimed by leading chemists in the course of the few days after the delivery of the address4 ,further1 the ,president for the year #aiad in his address 7,melbourne1 p4 #ah7a told us that the problem of the origin of life1 which1 let us remind ourselves1 in the #aiab address was on the point of solution1 still stands outside the range of scientific investigation1 and that when the spontaneous formation of formaldehyde is talked of as a first step in that direction he is reminded of nothing so much as of ,harry ,lauder1 in the character of a schoolboy1 pulling his treasures from his pocket--',that's a wassher--for makkin motor-cars6' ,nineteen hundred and twelve pinned its faith on matter and nothing else2 ,nineteen hundred and thirteen assured us that occurrences now regarded as occult can be examined and reduced to order by the methods of science carefully and persistently applied4#b ,further1 the examination of those facts had convinced the deliverer of the address that memory and affection are not limited to that association with matter by which alone they can manifest themselves here and now1 and that personality persists beyond bodily death4 ,nineteen hundred and fourteen proclaimed telepathy a harmless toy1 which1 with necromancy1 has taken the place of eschatology and the inculcation of a ferocious moral code4 ,and yet it is on telepathy1 if we are to believe the daily papers1 that ,sir ,oliver ,lodge largely relies for his proofs4 ,here1 at any rate1 is a pleasing diversity of opinion which fully bears out what was said at the beginning of this paper4 ,it is1 however1 with the third address1 or rather pair of addresses1 that we are concerned2 for the meeting of #aiad1 not only was the first to be held at the ,antipodes1 but also the first to be honoured with two addresses--one in ,melbourne1 the other in ,sydney4 ,their deliverer is a very distinguished and a very independent man of ,science4 ,it was he who insisted1 at a time when the domination of a very rigid form of ,darwinism was much stronger than it is to-day1 that the picture of ,nature as seen by us is a ,discontinuous picture1 though ,discontinuity does not exist in the environment4 ,and it was he who asked whether the ,discontinuity might not be in the living thing itself1 and prefixed to the monumental work#c in which he discussed this question the significant text from the ,bible3 ,all flesh is not the same flesh2 but there is one kind of flesh of men1 another flesh of beasts1 another of fishes1 and another of birds4 ,nearer to our own times1 he was one of a small body of men of science who almost synchronously disinterred the forgotten works of ,abbot ,mendel1 and proclaimed them to the world1 as containing discoveries of the first value4 ,he was thus always something of a ,herald of ,revolt1 and maintains that character in these addresses4 ,we go to ,darwin for his incomparable collection of facts4 ,we would fain emulate his scholarship1 his width and his power of exposition1 but to us he speaks no more with philosophical authority4 ,we read his scheme of evolution as we would those of ,lucretius or ,lamarck1 delighting in their simplicity and their courage 7,m41 p4 #i74 ,naturally1 we turn aside from generalities4 ,it is no time to discuss the origin of the ,mollusca or of ,dicotyledons1 while we are not even sure how it came to pass that ,primula obconica has in twenty-five years produced its abundant new forms almost under our eyes 7ib41 ib474 ,and so on4 ,to take one other example3 there is nothing which was more insisted upon by ,darwinians than the fact that all the various races of domestic fowl known to us came from ,gallus bankiva1 the jungle-fowl of ,india2 in fact ,i think ,i have seen that form enthroned amongst its supposed descendants in more than one museum4 ,so we are taught2 but try to reconstruct the steps in their evolution and you realise your hopeless ignorance 7,m41 p4 #aa74 ,if we cannot construct a tree for fowls1 how absurd to adventure into the deeper recesses of ,phylogeny4 ,if all that ,professor ,bateson says is true1 is not ,driesch right when he speaks of the phantasy christened ,phylogeny8#d ,the addresses1 however1 were not solely concerned with throwing contempt upon views which were yesterday of great respectability1 and which even to-day are as gospel to many4 ,they devoted themselves chiefly to the consideration of the question of heredity1 viewed1 as might be expected1 from the ,mendelian standpoint4 ,now1 at this point it may be said that there are at least two things which we should like to know about heredity--the vehicle and the laws4 ,it is clear that we might know something1 perhaps even a good deal1 about one of these without knowing anything about the other4 ,such in fact is the case2 for we know1 it may fairly be said1 nothing about the vehicle4 ,there are two very widely distinct opinions on this point4 ,there is the mnemic theory1 recently brought before us by the republication of ,butler's most interesting and suggestive work with its translations of ,hering's original paper and ,von ,hartmann's discourse and its very illuminating introduction by ,professor ,hartog4#e ,and there is the continuity theory which teaches that in some way or another the characteristics of the parents and other ancestors are physical parts of the germ4 ,an attempt to explain this was made by ,darwin in his theory of ,pangenesis4 ,others have essayed what ,yves ,delage calls micromeristic interpretations4 ,as to all of these it may be said that when they are reduced to figures the explanation becomes of so complex a character as utterly to break down4 ,we shall see that ,professor ,bateson adopts a third very nebulous explanation4 ,but as regards the laws of heredity there is something else to be said2 for here we really do know something1 and that something we owe in large measure to the innumerable experiments which have been made on ,mendelian lines since the re-discovery of the methods first adopted by the celebrated ,abbot of ,brnn4 ,it is no intention of the writer of this paper to describe the ,mendelian theory1#f which is well known1 at least to all biological readers1 though one or two points in connection with it may yet have to be touched upon4 ,the point of cardinal importance in connection with ,mendelism is that it does reveal a law capable of being numerically stated1 and apparently applicable to a large number of isolated factors in living things4 ,indeed it was this attention to isolated factors which was the first and essential part of ,mendel's method4 ,for example1 others had been content to look at the pea as a whole4 ,mendel applied his analytic method to such things as the colour of the pea1 the smooth or wrinkled character of the skin which covered it1 its dwarfness or height1 and so on4 ,now1 the behaviour of these isolated factors seems to throw a light even upon the vehicle of heredity4 ,we often talk of blood and mixing of blood1 as if blood had anything to do with the question1 when really the ,biblical expression the seed of ,abraham is much more to the point4 ,for it is in the seed that these factors must be1 whether they be mnemic or physical4 ,professor ,bateson 7,m41 p4 #e7 thinks it obvious that they are transmitted by the spermatozoon and the ovum2 but it seems to him unlikely that they are in any simple or literal sense material particles4 ,and he goes on to say1 and this1 ,i think1 is one of his most important statements3 ,i suspect rather that their properties depend on some phenomenon of arrangement4 ,now1 if there be a law behind the phenomena made clear to us by ,mendelian experiments 7as ,mendelians are never tired of asserting71 then it becomes in no way impertinent to ask how that law came into existence1 and who formulated it4 ,darwinism1 according to ,driesch1#g explained how by throwing stones one could build houses of a typical style4 ,in other words1 it claimed to show how something purposively constructed could arise by absolute chance2 at any rate this holds of ,darwinism as codified in the seventies and eighties4 ,of course the ,blind ,chance doctrine breaks down utterly when it comes to be applied to selected cases1 and nothing more definitely disposes of it than the very definite law which emerges as the result of the ,mendelian experiments4 ,that is obvious to the prophets of ,mendelism2 but1 whilst they admit this1 they will have nothing to say to the lawgiver4 ,that is the rankest metaphysics1 as ,dr4 ,johnstone puts it1#h or mysticism1 as others prefer to call it4 ,and yet nothing is more clear than the logical sequence that1 if you have a law1 someone must have made it1 and if you look upon something as a phenomenon of arrangement1 someone must have arranged it4 ,but for reasons not obvious nor confessed1 there is an objection to make any such admission4 ,perhaps it is the taint of the monism of the latter half of the last century which still persists4 ,at any rate1 as ,i have elsewhere pointed out1 there is a most curious passage in another paper by the same author in which he says3 ,with the experimental proof that variation consists largely in the unpacking and repacking of an original complexity1 it is not so certain as we might like to think that the order of these events is not pre-determined4 ,the writer hastens to denounce the horrid heresy on the brink of which he finds himself hesitating1 by adding that he sees no ground whatever for holding such a view1 though in the light of modern research it scarcely looks so absurdly improbable as before4#i ,it is curious that the writer in question does not seem to have been in any way influenced by the eliminative argument so potent in connection with the discussion on ,vitalism4 ,we ask for an explanation of the occurrences--say of regeneration4 ,we find that no physical explanation in the least meets the needs of the case1 and we are consequently obliged to look for it in something differing from the operations of chemistry and physics4 ,of this argument ,dr4 ,johnstone#aj says3 ,it is almost impossible to overestimate the appeal which it makes to the investigator4 ,now1 this matter of arrangement or of pre-determination1 when put forward as an explanation1 even tentatively1 necessitates a step further4 ,that step might possibly be in the direction of pantheism1 though1 according to ,driesch1#aa pantheism is the doctrine that reality is a something which makes itself 7'dieu se fait1' in the words of ,bergson71 whilst theism would be any theory according to which the manifoldness of material reality is predetermined in an immaterial way4 ,and he concludes that those who regard the thesis of the theory of order as necessary for everything that is or can be1 must accept theism1 and are not allowed to speak of 'dieu qui se fait4' ,it is difficult to see how anyone who has studied the rigid order exhibited by experiments on ,mendelian lines can resist the logic of this argument unless indeed he takes a place on ,plate's platform1 which admits that a law entails a lawgiver1 but declares that of the ,lawgiver of ,natural ,laws we can know nothing4#ab ,there is a further point in connection with ,mendelian theories which is worth noting in this connection4 ,it would appear that no new factor is ever brought into being1 that is1 no addition is ever made by variation4 ,according to this theory the things which appear to be added--a new colour or a new scent--were there all the time4 ,they were stopped down or inhibited by some other factor1 which1 when eliminated1 allows them to come into play1 and thus to become obvious to the observer from whom they had been hidden4 ,thus1 ,professor ,bateson 7,m41 p4 #ag7 has confidence that the artistic gifts of mankind will prove to be due1 not to something added to the make-up of an ordinary man1 but to the absence of factors which in the normal person inhibit the development of these gifts4 ,they are almost beyond doubt to be looked upon as releases of powers normally suppressed4 ,the instrument is there1 but it is 'stopped down4' ,that all sorts of things may exist in a very small compass no doubt is true4 ,professor ,bateson reminds us that ,shakespeare was once a speck of protoplasm not so big as a small pin's head4 ,the difficulty--insuperable on ordinary monistic lines--is how all these things got into the germ if no additions ever take place4 ,it was so difficult to account1 for example1 for artistic appreciation on the part of man or for gifts of an artistic character that ,huxley was fain to describe them as gratuitous2 but on this showing all characters are gratuitous in the sense that they are not acquired4 ,we may reasonably inquire not merely how all these characters and factors got themselves arranged or packed1 but where they came from1 and how they came to be in the germ at all1 matters on which we receive no information in these addresses4 ,no doubt the author of the addresses would say that it was no part of his business to explain this matter2 that he took this system of ,nature as a going system and did his best to explain it as such and without attempting1 perhaps even without desiring1 to explain how it got a-going4 ,if that be the case1 and if ignorance on this head must be his confession1 it is a little difficult to understand the confidence with which he sets himself to discuss the extraordinary and far-reaching changes in public opinion which are coming to pass4 ,we shall find these1 as we pass them in review1 to be extraordinary enough1 though not very new4 ,in the first place1 genetic research will make it possible for a nation to elect by what sort of beings it will be represented not very many generations hence1 much as a farmer can decide whether his byres shall be full of shorthorns or ,herefords4 ,it will be very surprising indeed if some nation does not make trial of this new power4 ,they may make awful mistakes1 but ,i think they will try 7,s41 p4 #h74 ,it is curious how the war1 which had just commenced when these addresses were being delivered1 has absolutely disposed1 or ought to have disposed1 of some of the prophecies of the ,president4 ,nothing1 at any rate1 seems more certain than that one result of this most disastrous struggle will be an urgent demand by all the ,states engaged in it for at least as many male children as the mothers of each country can supply1 without special regard to their other characters1 breedable or not breedable4 ,we are even told that ,germany is resorting to expedients which cannot be justified on ,christian principles to fill her depleted homes4 ,whether this be true or not the fact remains that nothing is now more to be desired by all the combatant nations than what we call in ,ireland long families4 ,but even if there had been no war1 there is one other factor which makes it quite certain that no country ever will try1 or if it ventures to try1 will ever succeed in any such experiment1 and that factor1 forgotten by philosophers of this kind1 is human nature4 ,mr4 ,frankfort ,moore years ago wrote a pleasant story1 called ,the ,marriage ,lease1 in which doctrinaire legislation of a somewhat similar kind was described1 and its inevitable failure most amusingly depicted4 ,the war disposes of another of the ,president's maxims 7,s41 p4 #aj71 that the decline in the birth-rate of a country is nothing to be grieved about1 and that the slightest acquaintance with biology shows that the inference may be wholly wrong1 which asserts that a nation in which population is not rapidly increasing must be in a decline 7,s41 p4 #aj74 ,human nature was neglected in the first-mentioned case1 and here it is the turn of history to pass into the shade1 history which1 pace the ,president1 has really a good deal more bearing upon a question of this kind than the school-boy natural history which he thinks capable of settling it4 ,thus we advance from breeding to ,malthusianism4 ,it is perhaps not wonderful that our next step should be the quiet1 and of course painless1 extinction of the unfit4 ,thou shalt not kill1 but needs't not strive ,officiously to keep alive4 ,thus wrote ,clough2 but our author1 it appears1 would go further than this4 ,the preservation of an infant so gravely diseased that it can never be happy or come to any good is something very like wanton cruelty4 ,in private life few men defend such interference 7,s4 #aj74 ,and so such unfortunates should be got rid of1 and will be as soon as scientific knowledge becomes common property--when views more reasonable1 and1 ,i may add1 more humane are likely to prevail4 ,lest we should be depressed by this massacre of the innocents1 we are told that man is just beginning to know himself for what he is--a rather long-lived animal1 with great powers of enjoyment if he does not deliberately forgo them 7,s41 p4 #i74 ,in the past1 poor fool that he has been1 he has not availed himself of his opportunities3 ,hitherto superstition and mythical ideas of sin have predominantly controlled these powers4 ,let us1 however1 take heart3 ,mysticism will not die out2 for those strange fancies knowledge is no cure2 but their forms may change1 and mysticism as a force for the suppression of joy is happily losing its hold on the modern world 7ib41 ib474 ,let us eat and drink--and1 it may be added1 sin--for to-morrow we die4 ,such is the new gospel of science1 an old enough gospel1 tried and found wanting years before its latest prophet arose to proclaim it to the world4 ,surely no more ridiculous utterance ever was made2 for its author evidently did not pause to consider that the sins which make life pleasant to some 7for example1 ,thuggery7 are apt to have quite another aspect to those through whose victimisation the pleasure is obtained4 ,there is also here such a thing as the conscience1 which has to be taken into account4 ,even the biological hedonist must originally possess such a thing and1 it may be supposed1 must deal with it as he would with the gravely diseased children1 and as something which would predominantly control his powers of enjoyment4 ,seriously1 it may be doubted if a more pagan code of morals has ever been laid down1 and this in the ,encyclical of ,science for the year1 a code bad enough to make poor ,mendel turn in his grave could he--good1 honest man--be aware of it1 and imagine that he was in any way responsible for it1 which1 by the way1 is in no way the case4 #b4 ,,science ,,as ,a ,,rule ,,of ,,life ,saint or sinner1 some rule of life we must have1 even if we are wholly unconscious of the fact4 ,a spiritual director will help us to map out a course of action which will assist us to shake off some little of the dust of this dusty world2 and a doctor will lay down for us a dietary which will help us to elude1 for a time at least1 the insidious onsets of the gout4 ,even if we take no formal steps1 spiritual or corporeal1 some rule of life we must achieve for ourselves4 ,we must1 for example1 make up our minds whether we are to open our ears and our purse to tales of misery1 or are to join ourselves with those whose rule of life it is to keep that which they have for themselves4 ,what is true of each of us is none the less true of each and every race--even more true2 for each race must make up its mind definitely as to which rule it will follow4 ,and at the moment there is still doubt and indecision in this matter4 ,the moral problem that confronts ,europe to-day is3 ,what sort of righteousness are we1 individually and collectively1 to pursue8 ,is the new righteousness to be realised in a return to the old brutality8 ,shall the last values be as the first8 ,must ethical process conform to natural process as exemplified by the life of any animal that secures dominancy at the expense of the weaker members of its kind8#ac ,such are the questions raised by a man of science occupying the ,presidential ,chair of an important society and speaking to that society as its ,president4 ,as to the ,christian ideals little need be said1 since we know very well what they are1 and know this most especially1 that practically all of them are in direct opposition to what we may call the ideals of ,nature1 and exercise all their influence in frustrating such laws as that of ,natural ,selection4 ,nature's ,insurgent ,son1 as ,sir ,ray ,lankester calls him1#ad is at constant war with ,nature1 and when we come to consider the matter carefully1 in that respect most fully differentiates himself from all other living things1 none of which make any attempt to control the forces of ,nature for their own advantage4 ,nature's inexorable discipline of death to those who do not rise to her standard--survival and parentage for those alone who do--has been from the earliest times more and more definitely resisted by the will of man4 ,if we may for the purpose of analysis1 as it were1 extract man from the rest of ,nature1 of which he is truly a product and a part1 then we may say that man is ,nature's rebel4 ,where ,nature says ',die6' man says ',i will live4'#ae ,to this it may be added that1 under the influence of ,christianity1 man goes a step further and says3 ,i will endeavour that as many others as may be shall live1 and live happy1 healthy lives1 and shall not untimely die4 ,the law of ,natural ,selection could not be met by more direct opposition4 ,i have said that this is under the influence of ,christianity1 yet the impulse seems to be older than that1 to be part of that moral law which excited ,kant's admiration1 which he coupled with the sight of the starry heavens1 an impulse1 we can scarcely doubt1 implanted in the heart of man by ,god ,himself4 ,it is a remarkable fact that in many--some would say most--of the less civilised races of mankind we find these social virtues1 which some would have us believe are degenerate features foisted on to the race by an enervating superstition4 ,dr4 ,marett has carefully examined into this matter1 and his conclusions are of the greatest interest4#af ,my own theory about the peasant1 as ,i know him1 and about people of lowly culture in general so far as ,i have learnt to know about them1 is that the ethics of amity belong to their natural and normal mood1 whereas the ethics of enmity1 being but 'as the shadow of a passing fear1' are relatively accidental4 ,thus to the thesis that human charity is a by-product1 ,i retort squarely with the counter-thesis that human hatred is a by-product4 ,the brute that lurks in our common human nature will break bounds sometimes2 but ,i believe that whenever man1 be he savage or civilised1 is at home to himself1 his pleasure and pride is to play the good neighbour4 ,it may be urged by way of objection that ,i overestimate the amenities1 whether economic or ethical1 of the primitive state2 that a hard life is bound to produce a hard man4 ,i am afraid that the psychological necessity of the alleged correlation is by no means evident to me4 ,surely the hard-working individual can find plenty of scope for his energies without needing1 let us say1 to beat his wife4 ,nor are the hard-working peoples of the earth especially notorious for their inhumanity4 ,thus the ,eskimo1 whose life is one long fight against the cold1 has the warmest of hearts4 ,mr4 ,stefanson says of his newly discovered ',blonde ,eskimo1' a people still living in the stone age3 ',they are the equals of the best of our own race in good breeding1 kindness1 and the substantial virtues4'#ag ,or again1 heat instead of cold may drive man to the utmost limit of his natural affections4 ,in the deserts of ,central ,australia1 where the native is ever threatened by a scarcity of food1 his constant preoccupation is not how to prey on his companions4 ,rather he unites with them in guilds and brotherhoods1 so that they may feast together in the spirit1 sustaining themselves with the common hope and mutual suggestion of better luck to come4 ,but there is no need to go so far afield for one's proofs4 ,i appeal to those who have made it their business to be intimate with the folk of our own countryside4 ,is it not the fact that unselfishness in regard to the sharing of the necessaries of life is characteristic of those who find them most difficult to come by8 ,the poor are by no means the least 'rich towards ,god4' ,at any rate1 if poverty sometimes hardens1 wealth1 especially sudden wealth1 can harden too1 causing arrogance1 boastfulness1 and the bullying temper4 ',a proud look1 a lying tongue1 and the shedding of innocent blood'--these go together4 ,on the whole1 then1 we may perhaps conclude that the natural bias of mankind is towards kindness to his neighbour1 however much the brute in him may sometimes impel him to uncharitable words or actions4 ,and certainly this natural bias is intensified and made into a binding law by the teachings of ,christ4 ,but there is the other point of view set forward in the philosophy of ,nietzsche--if indeed such writings are worthy of the name philosophy4 ,the world is for the superman4 ,dominancy within the human kind must be secured at all costs4 ,as for the old values1 they are all wrong4 ,christian humility is a slavish virtue2 so is ,christian charity4 ,such values have become 'denaturalised4' ,they are the by-product of certain primitive activities1 which were intended by ,nature to subserve strictly biological ends1 but have somehow escaped from ,nature's control and run riot on their own account4 ,the prophets of this group of ideals1 or some such group of ideals1 have no hesitation in telling us how they would direct the affairs of humanity if they were entrusted with their conduct4 ,it will not be without interest to consider their plans and to endeavour to form some sort of an idea of what kind of place the world would be if they had their way4 ,we can then form our own opinion as to whether a world conducted on such lines would be in any way a tolerable place for human existence4 ,first of all we may dwell briefly on ,natural ,selection as a rule of life1 since it has been put forward as such by quite a number of persons4 ,never1 let it at once be said1 by the great and gentle-hearted originator of that theory1 who during his life had to protest as to the ignorant and exaggerated ideas which were expressed about it and who1 were he now alive1 would certainly be shocked at the teachings which are supposed to follow from his theory and the dire results which they have produced4#ah ,in the first place such a doctrine leads directly to the conclusion that war1 instead of being the curse and disaster which all reasonable people1 not to say all ,christians1 feel it to be1 is1 as ,bernhardi puts it1 a biological necessity1 a regulative element in the life of mankind that cannot be dispensed with4 ,it is the basis of all healthy development4 ,struggle is not merely the destructive but the life-giving principle4 ,the law of the strong holds good everywhere4 ,those forms survive which are able to secure for themselves the most favourable conditions4 ,the weaker succumb4 ,humanity has had at times evidences of the results of this teaching which are not1 one may fairly say1 of a kind to commend themselves to any person possessed of a moderately kindly1 not to say of a ,christian1 disposition4 ,fortunately1 or unfortunately1 we have the opportunity of studying the experiment in actual operation in a race which1 of course in entire ignorance of the fact1 is actually putting into practice the teachings of ,natural ,selection1 though it must be admitted that the practice has not been successful1 nor does it look like being successful1 in raising that race above the very lowest rung of the ladder of civilisation4 ,captain ,whiffen#ai has given a very complete and a very interesting account of the peoples whom he met with during his wanderings in the regions indicated by the title of his book4 ,and he tells us that the survival of the most fit is the very real and the very stern rule of life in the ,amazonian forests4 ,from birth to death it rules the ,indians' life and philosophy4 ,to help to preserve the unfit would often be to prejudice the chances of the fit4 ,there are no arm-chair sentimentalists to oppose this very practical consideration4 ,the ,indian judges it by his standard of common sense3 why live a life that has ceased to be worth living when there is no bugbear of a hell to make one cling to the most miserable of existences rather than risk greater misery8 ,let us now see the kind of life which the author1 freed himself no doubt from the bugbear of hell1 considers eminently sensible--the kind of life of which only an arm-chair sentimentalist would disapprove2 a kind of life1 it may be added1 which will appear to most ordinarily minded people as being one of selfishness raised to its highest power4 ,to begin with the earliest event in life4 ,if a child1 on its appearance in the world1 appears to be in any way defective1 its mother quietly kills it and deposits its body in the forest4 ,if the mother dies in childbirth the child1 unless someone takes pity on it and adopts it1 is killed by the father1 who1 it may be presumed1 is indisposed to take the trouble1 perhaps indeed incapable of doing so1 of rearing the motherless babe4 ,that the child1 in any case1 immediately after birth1 is plunged into cold water1 is not perhaps a conscious method of eliminating the weak1 though it must operate in that direction4 ,at a later period of life should any disease believed to be infectious break out in a tribe1 those attacked by it are immediately left1 even by their closest relatives1 the house is abandoned1 and possibly even burnt4 ,such derelict houses are no uncommon sight in the forest1 grimly desolate mementoes of possible tragedies4 ,when a person becomes insane1 he is first of all exorcised by the medicine man1 and if that fails is put to death by poison by the same functionary4 ,the sick are dealt with on similar lines1 unless there is or seems to be a probability of speedy recovery4 ,cases of chronic illness meet with no sympathy from the ,indians4 ,a man who cannot hunt or fight is regarded as useless1 he is merely a burden on the community4 ,under these circumstances he is either left at home untended or hunted out into the bush to die1 or his end is accelerated by the medicine man4 ,the same fate awaits the aged1 unless they seem to be of value to the tribe on account of their wisdom and experience4 ,all these things placed together give us a perfect picture of life under ,natural ,selection1 and having studied it we may fairly ask whether such a rule of life is one under which any one of us would like to live4 ,in every respect it is the antipodes of the ,christian rule of life1 and of that rule of life which civilised countries1 whether in fact ,christian or not1 have derived from ,christianity and still practise4 ,the non-,christian rule of the ,indians is one under which might is right and no real individual liberty exists1 all personal rights being sacrificed to the supposed needs and benefit of the community4 ,so much from the point of view of ,natural ,selection1 but it would appear that those who have given up that factor as of anything but a very minor value1 if even that1 have also their rule of life founded on their interpretation of ,nature4 ,thus ,professor ,bateson1 the great exponent of ,mendel's doctrines1 who has told us in his ,presidential ,address to the ,british ,association that we must think much less highly of ,natural ,selection than some would have us do1 has1 as has been set forth in the previous section of this essay1 his opinion as to the rule of life which we should follow4 ,professor ,conklyn1 an ,american enthusiast for extreme eugenistic views1 has also set down in print his ideas as to the lines on which our lives are to be run under a scientific domination1 and these are to be dealt with in another article4#bj ,his scheme entails a forcible visit1 not1 it may be supposed1 to the ,altar1 but to the ,registry ,office1 for all persons held to be fit to perpetuate the race1 and forcible restraint1 whether by imprisonment or by sterilisation1 for all others4 ,the first thing which all these essays towards a scientific conduct of life reveal is a total want of perspective1 for they proceed on the hypothesis--which no doubt their authors would defend--that this world and its concerns are everything1 and that the intellectual and physical improvement of the human race by any measures1 however harsh1 is the one thing needful4 ,but beyond this the persons who hold such views seem to have entirely overlooked the fact that their proposed ,state would be one conducted on principles of the bitterest and most galling slavery imaginable by the mind of man1 a form of slavery that never could persist if for a moment it be conceded that it could ever come into operation4 ,the fact is that the whole thing is ludicrous when looked at from the point of view of common sense1 but how few take the trouble to contemplate these schemes as they would be in operation6 ,were they thus to contemplate them1 they would see that1 apart altogether from any religious considerations1 they are wholly impossible1 even from a purely political point of view4 ,that such ideas are intolerable to ,catholic minds1 indeed to any ,christian mind1 goes without saying4 ,driesch 7,science and ,philosophy of the ,organism1 vol4 ii41 p4 #ceh7 has pointed out very clearly that the mechanical theory of life is incompatible with morality1 and that it is impossible to feel morally towards other individuals if one knows that they are machines and nothing more4 ,again1 ,professor ,henslow 7in ,present ,day ,rationalism ,critically ,examined1 p4 #bec7 very pertinently asks those who discard all religious considerations and claim to rely for guidance on the lessons of ,nature1 ,if you have no taste for virtue1 why be virtuous at all1 so long as you do not violate the laws of the land8 ,yet1 in the face of these surely obvious facts1 we find persons making such absurd claims as that made in a recent book by ,rignano1 an ,italian writer 7,essays in ,scientific ,synthesis1 #aiag74 ,it is not often that one meets a book so full of philosophical fallacies as this4 ,we are certain of one fact1 he says1 that the only organ actually brought into play to fight immorality is the organ of the collective conscience and not the religious organ4 ,i suppose no more ludicrously inaccurate remark ever was set down in print2 for1 to begin with1 the collective conscience1 whatever that may be1 does not exist in ,nature1 teste the farmyard and the fowl-run2 and again1 whatever force is connoted by those words must have been set agoing--by what8 ,by ,nature8 ,oh1 most emphatically ,no6 ,nature has no law against immorality2 there is no ,categorical ,imperative in ,nature commanding us to be chaste or kindly or considerate or even just4 ,we must go elsewhere if we are to look for teaching in the virtues4 ,that is the fact that we must keep clearly before our minds when endeavouring to estimate at their proper value the nostrums of writers such as those with whose works we have been dealing4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #a3 ,two addresses were delivered in #aiad--one in ,melbourne1 the other in ,sydney4 ,these will be referred to in this article as ,m4 ,s4 ,footnote #b3 ,sir ,oliver ,lodge3 ,continuity1 p4 #ij4 ,footnote #c3 ,materials for the ,study of ,variation1 ,london1 #ahid4 ,footnote #d3 ,the ,history and ,theory of ,vitalism1 p4 #adj4 ,footnote #e3 ,unconscious ,memory4 ,fifield4 #aiaj4 ,footnote #f3 ,those who desire further information may be referred to ,a ,century of ,scientific ,thought1 by the present writer4 ,burns ,oates4 ,footnote #g3 ,op4 cit41 pp4 #acg-h4 ,footnote #h3 ,the ,philosophy of ,biology1 p4 #fd4 ,footnote #i3 ,in an article in the volume ,darwin and ,modern ,science1 p4 #ajj4 ,footnote #aj3 ,op4 cit41 p4 #cai4 ,footnote #aa3 ,op4 cit41 pp4 #bch-i4 ,footnote #ab3 ,see the discussion on this subject in ,wasmann's ,the ,problem of ,evolution4 ,footnote #ac3 ,r4 ,r4 ,marett1 ,presidential ,address to ,folk-,lore ,society1 #aiae4 ,folk-,lore1 vol4 xxvii41 pp4 #a-ad4 ,footnote #ad3 ,the ,kingdom of ,man4 ,london3 ,constable ,co4 #aijg4 ,footnote #ae3 ,lankester1 op4 cit41 p4 #bf4 ,footnote #af3 ,op4 cit41 pp4 #ba-bg4 ,footnote #ag3 ,my ,life with the ,eskimo 7#aiac71 p4 #ahh4 ,footnote #ah3 ,for a discussion of this question1 see ,bernhardi and ,creation1 by ,sir ,james ,crichton-,browne1 ,f4,r4,s4 ,glasgow3 ,james ,maclehose ,sons4 #aiaf4 ,footnote #ai3 ,the ,northwest ,amazons4 ,london3 ,constable ,co4 #aiae4 ,footnote #bj3 ,science and the ,war1 p4 #abj4 ,,ii4 ,,theophobia ,,and ,,nemesis #a4 ,,theophobia3 ,,its ,,cause ,initium sapienti timor ,domini2 no doubt1 but such fear is only the beginning1 and is not the kind of fear--which also exists--a fear which engenders an actual revulsion against the idea of ,god4 ,it is to this kind of fear which the eminent ,jesuit writer ,wasmann alludes when he says that in many scientific circles there is an absolute ,theophobia1 a dread of the ,creator4 ,i can only regret this1 he continues1 because ,i believe that it is due chiefly to a defective knowledge of ,christian philosophy and theology4 ,that he is entirely right as to the existence of this feeling there can be no doubt2 no one can read at all widely in scientific literature without becoming aware of it4 ,contrary to all the tenets of science there is even a bias against any such idea as that of a ,creator1 though science is supposed to confront all problems without bias of any kind4 ,i need not cite instances of this feeling2 ,i have dealt with it elsewhere4 ,we may take it for granted1 and proceed to look for an explanation for the phenomenon4 ,wasmann attributes it to ignorance1 and he is1 ,i feel sure1 right2 but let us examine the matter a little more closely4 ,why should persons--even if ignorant--have the bias which some obviously present against the idea of a ,god8 ,why should they wish to think that there is no such ,being1 no future existence1 nothing higher than ,nature8 ,some persons maintain that precedent to a denial of ,god there must be a moral failure4 ,that ,i am sure is quite wrong4 ,i should be far from saying that in some materialists there is not a considerable weakening of moral fibre1 or perhaps it would be better put1 a distortion of moral vision1 as evidenced by many of the statements and proposals of eugenists1 for example1 and by the political nostrums of some who wrest science to a purpose for which it was not intended4 ,this no doubt is true1 but it is not quite the argument with which ,i am now dealing1 and that argument1 if it implies moral failure in the persons concerned1 has little if any genuine foundation in fact4 ,mr4 ,devas1 in that very remarkable book1 ,the ,key to the ,world's ,progress1 gives us the useful phrase post-,christians4 ,these people are really pagans living in the ,christian era1 retaining many of the excellent qualities which they owe neither to ,nature nor to paganism1 but to the inheritance--perhaps involuntary and unrecognised--of the influences of ,christianity4 ,many of these people are kind1 benevolent1 scrupulously moral4 ,they have not learned to be such from ,nature1 for ,nature teaches no such lessons4 ,nor have they learnt them from paganism1 for these are not pagan virtues4 ,they are an inheritance from ,christianity4 ,those1 therefore1 who build arguments as to the needlessness of religion on the foundation that persons without any belief in ,god do exhibit all the moral virtues1 build on sand4 ,at any rate the answer to the question which we are discussing is not to be found in this direction4 ,others again will perhaps maintain the thesis that fashion has a great deal to do with this4 ,it is not fashionable to believe in ,god1 or at least it was not4 ,it was highly fashionable to call oneself an agnostic2 perhaps it is not quite so much the vogue now as it was4 ,no doubt there is something in this1 though not very much4 ,it is much easier to go with the tide than against it1 and there are scientific tides as truly as there are tides in the fashion of dress4 ,there was a ,weismann tide1 now nearly at dead water2 there was an anti-vitalistic tide1 now ebbing fast4 ,when these were in full flow it was a hazardous thing for a young man who had to make his own way in the scientific world to swim against either or both of them4 ,fashions change1 and fashion is not so set against the idea of a ,god as it was4 ,the materialistic tide is going out1 and we shall see that there is some truth in the view which holds that the incoming tide is largely that of occultism1 a thing disliked and despised--and indeed with some reason--by the materialistic school even more than it dislikes and despises theistic opinions4 ,fashion1 however1 is not in any way a complete answer to the question we are proposing to ourselves1 nor is the unquestionable fact that scientific men have a strong objection to putting their trust in anything which cannot be subjected either to scientific examination or to experiment4 ,in this attitude there is more than a germ of truth4 ,occam's razor is as valuable an implement to-day as it ever was1 and everyone will admit that we must exhaust all known causes before we proceed to postulate a new one4 ,we have gone beyond the day of the absurd statement that thought 7which is of course unextended7 is as much a secretion of the brain as bile 7which1 equally of course1 is extended7 is of the liver4 ,no one nowadays would commit himself to such a statement1 and men in general would be chary of urging that we should not believe anything which we cannot understand4 ,i have myself heard a distinguished man of science of his day--he is dead this quarter of a century--make that statement in public1 wholly ignoring the fact that any branch of science which we may pursue will supply us with a hundred problems we can neither understand nor explain1 yet the factors of which we are bound to admit4 ,but there is undoubtedly a dislike to accepting anything which cannot be proved by scientific means1 and a tendency to describe as mysticism--a terrible and damning term to apply to anything1 so its employers think6--any explanation which postulates something more in the universe than operations of a physical and chemical character4 ,my own opinion is that the state of things which we are considering finds its explanation in history1 and ,i propose to devote a short space to developing this view4 ,of course we might1 and in some ways should1 go back to the ,reformation and to the destruction of religion which then took place4 ,let us1 however1 pass from that period to a time some hundred and fifty years ago and commence our investigations there1 and in carrying them out ,i propose to make considerable use of the novels of different periods4 ,it is a truism that very little but the dry bones of history can be learnt from histories4 ,nowadays people are sick of reading about more or less immoral monarchs1 and more or less corrupt politicians1 and it may be suspected that most of us have had our bellyful of wars now that the recent contest has come to an end4 ,what one really wants to learn from history is how the ordinary folk1 like ourselves1 were getting on2 what their ideas were2 how the world wagged for them4 ,such information we are much more likely to get from memoirs and1 since such works have been published1 from novels4 ,the novelist is not to be supposed to be committed to acceptance of all the remarks put into the mouths of his characters1 but1 if he is of the second1 not to say the first flight 7and1 if he is not1 he is not worth quoting71 his characters and the general tone of his book will not be out of touch with the times to which they belong4 ,since the novel came into existence as something more than an occasional rarity1 it is the novelists and not the players who are the abstract and brief chronicles of the times1 and it is to them that we shall apply for some of the information we desire4 ,to commence with the ,georgian period1 it is not too much to say that anything like real religion was scarcely ever at a lower ebb in ,england4 ,this is not to say that there was an absolute dearth of religion4 ,law wrote his ,serious ,call during that period1 and there are few books of its kind which have had a greater and more lasting effect4 ,there were others of like but lesser character than ,law1 but1 on the whole1 no one will deny that the clergy of the ,established ,church 7,catholics were1 of course1 in the catacombs7 and the religion which they represented were almost beneath contempt4 ,look1 for example1 at ,esmond1 the typical novel of its period4 ,is there a single clergyman in it who is not an object of contempt1 with the sole exception of the ,jesuit1 who1 though a good deal of the stage variety1 at least gains a measure of the reader's sympathy and respect8 ,thackeray was not himself a ,georgian1 it may be urged4 ,that of course is true1 but no one that knows ,thackeray and knows also ,georgian literature will deny that he was saturated with it and understood the period with which his book dealt better perhaps than those who lived in it themselves4 ,but examine the novelists of the period2 what about ,fielding8 ,parson ,adams is respectable and lovable1 but the general average of parson and religion is certainly about as low as it can be4 ,fielding was not a religious man4 ,possibly1 but what then of ,richardson8 ,we do not find religion at a very high level there2 can anything well be more degraded than the figure cut by ,mr4 ,williams in ,pamela1 for example--the miserable curate upon whom the heroine calls for help in her distress8 ,but apart from that1 look at the whole atmosphere of the book4 ,why1 the moral is that if you resist the immoral onslaughts of your master long enough he will give in and marry you1 and you will be applauded for your successful strategy by all the countryside4 ,such is the book which all agreed to praise as an example of all that a book ought to be from the point of view of virtue4 ,it will be admitted by all conversant with the facts that religion could hardly have been at a lower ebb than it was when what is known as the ,evangelical ,movement came to trouble the placid1 if stagnant and turbid1 pool of the ,established ,church4 ,of course it did not transform the ,church entirely4 ,read ,miss ,austen's novels3 the most perfect pictures of life ever written4 ,there are1 ,i suppose1 some half-dozen clergymen1 pleasant and unpleasant1 depicted in them1 and we may be sure that they fairly well represent the typical average country parson of the period4 ,whatever they may otherwise be1 they all agree in one point1 namely in the complete absence of any such thing as a trace of spirituality4 ,but in the early nineteenth-century ,evangelicanism--specially that terrible variety ,calvinism--was the dominant factor where religion really prevailed as a living influence2 and it is to its influence1 ,i firmly believe1 that we may attribute the genuine detestation of religion which was so marked a feature of a part of the ,victorian and most of the succeeding time4 ,i am not1 of course1 forgetting the ,oxford ,movement1 but1 important as that was and is1 in its earlier years it was almost entirely confined to clerical circles1 exercising comparatively little influence on the laity and practically none at all on that great middle class which had been so much affected by the ,wesleys1 ,whitefield1 ,scott1 ,newton1 and the other pundits of ,evangelicanism4 ,take the characteristic novel of the movement1 if novel it should be called1 ,newman's ,loss and ,gain3 ,i do not remember a single male character in it who is not in ,holy ,orders or on the way thereto4 ,hence1 so far as religious influences are concerned1 it is to the ,evangelical ,movement that we have to look4 ,now1 though in my opinion it was the parent of many evils1 there is no doubt that there was in it real fervour2 intense devotion2 a genuine desire to know and do ,god's will2 a burning love for our ,lord2 coupled with all which were the most distorted and distorting ideas of what was and what was not sin ever conceived by any brain4 ,of this creed ,i can speak from personal knowledge1 for ,i was brought up in it and know it from bitter experience4 ,the exponents of these views were never tired of instilling into their pupils the need for conversion1 which was supposed to be a sudden operation4 ,i have heard persons name the exact moment by the clock and the day on which theirs took place1 and it was often effected by a single text4 ,i have seen the ,bible of an eminent leader in this line which contains a number of texts painted round with colours1 each of which was associated with the conversion of some particular individual4 ,the process was supposed to be effected by the acceptance of ,christ1 and though it was said to be free to all1 it was clear to some at least of those who quite earnestly and really desired it1 that1 however ardent their desires1 they could not secure their realisation4 ,one was supposed to know in some mysterious manner that one was converted2 the operation was permanent in its character2 it could not be repeated2 once thoroughly effected the converted person neither wished to sin nor really did sin4 ,if anyone supposed to have been converted did relapse into evil ways1 then he never had really been converted1 but only seemed to have been4 ,i have heard this circular form of argument urged most strongly by those who were 7by constitution apparently7 absolutely unable to see the illogical position which they were taking up4 ,a further1 and the most awful1 part of the teaching was that however much one desired to be converted1 and however earnestly one prayed for it1 if one died without it damnation was certain4 ,lastly there was the encouraging thought that everything done prior to conversion was equally without merit2 in fact1 one might almost say1 equally evil4 ,these things were dinned into the heads of the young1 in season and out of season2 is it any wonder that so many of them grew up to hate religion8 ,i remember myself the positive terror with which ,i went out even to minor entertainments1 because ,i knew that in all probability close interrogation would be made as to my spiritual condition4 ,let me be reminiscent and recall one case4 ,i was a boy at school and spending my ,easter vacation away from home and with friends4 ,it was my lot to have to dine one night with an old friend of my father's1 a person of some distinction1 who having1 ,i believe1 been a viveur in his youth1 had in later years embraced the most ferocious type of ,evangelicanism4 ,when the ladies had retired ,i was left alone with this formidable person1 whom ,i eyed much as a rabbit eyes a snake into whose cage he has been introduced4 ,nor were my fears groundless1 for no sooner was the room empty than he peremptorily demanded of me whether ,i was saved4 ,on hearing my trembling but perfectly truthful reply that ,i really did not know1 he struck the table with his fist 7,i can see the whole thing quite plainly to-day1 though it is five-and-forty years ago71 exclaiming1 ,then you are a fool1 and if you were to die to-night you most certainly would be damned4 ,i ask those who were brought up in a more kindly and more rational scheme of ,christianity whether it is any wonder that those whose youth was spent in these gloomy shades should welcome the thought that there was no such being as a ,god8 ,associated with this gloomy creed a new series of sins was invented1 as if there were not enough already in the world4 ,it was sinful to dance1 even under the most domestic and proper circumstances4 ,it was a sin to play cards1 even when there was no money on the game4 ,it was a sin to go to the theatre1 even to behold the most inspiring and instructive plays4 ,it was even held by some1 as we shall see1 that the writing of stories or works of imagination was sinful4 ,i once heard a professor of this creed express the doubt whether ,shakespeare had not1 on the whole1 done much more harm than good1 and state that he himself would not allow the works of ,dickens to occupy a place in a hospital library1 from which1 as a matter of fact--for on this point the discussion had arisen--they had been excluded by the then chaplain of the institution1 a man of like views4 ,in fact1 the idea of ,god which was presented to the youth of that period and brought up under such influences was--,i do not say wilfully--that of a kind of super-policeman3 a hard-hearted policeman1 with an exaggerated code of misdoings1 forever waiting round a corner to pounce on evil-doers1 and1 one was obliged to think1 apparently almost pleased at the opportunity of catching them4 ,it need not be said that no disrespect is intended in this4 ,it is a simple and truthful statement of the kind of impression made upon one person by the teachings of that age and school4 ,is it any wonder that persons brought up in such a creed should experience a feeling of relief on learning that there was no ,god1 no sin1 no punishment8 ,add to this the terrors of the exaggerated ,sabbatarianism of the period4 ,what was the ,sunday programme8 ,two lengthy sessions of ,family ,prayers2 two attendances--each lasting at least an hour and a quarter--on services in church2 one1 sometimes two1 hours of ,sunday ,school2 no books but those of a religious character2 no amusements of any kind even for the very young1 unless the putting together of a dissected map of ,palestine could be called an amusement2 what a method of rendering ,sunday attractive to the young6 ,is it any wonder that those brought up on such a plan abandoned1 with a sigh of relief1 all religious exercises when at last they were able to do so8 ,i notice that ,mr4 ,belfort ,bax1 in his ,reminiscences of a ,mid and ,late ,victorian1 alludes to this matter1 saying that1 ,the most cruel of all the results of mid-,victorian religion was1 perhaps1 the rigid enforcement of the most drastic ,sabbatarianism4 ,the horror of the tedium of ,sunday infected more or less the whole of the latter portion of the week4 ,experto crede6 ,he says further1 dealing with the 'fifties1 that the intellectual possibilities of the ,english people were then stunted and cramped by the influence of the dogmatic ,calvinistic theology which was the basis of its traditional sentiment2--it is exactly the point which ,i am trying to make4 ,we may now examine two instances of the kind of teaching with which ,i am dealing and its results4 ,the first is that of the poet ,cowper1 and anyone who takes the trouble to read his life as written by ,southey will find the whole piteous tale fully drawn out4 ,southey hated the ,catholic ,church1 of which1 by the way1 he knew absolutely nothing1 but he had sufficient sense to reject the teachings of ,calvinism4 ,cowper was at times insane and at other times of anything but a well-balanced mind1 and he was just the kind of man who never ought to have been brought under the influences to which he was subjected4 ,his principal adviser was the ,rev4 ,john ,newton1 a well-known ,calvinistic clergyman of the ,church of ,england4 ,he must have been a man of compelling character1 for he it was who brought the ,rev4 ,thomas ,scott1 ,rector of ,aston ,sandford1 out of ,socinianism1 which1 though a minister of the ,church of ,england1 he professed1 into the ,calvinistic view of things1 as ,scott himself tells us in his book ,the ,force of ,truth2 and it must not be forgotten that it was to the writings of this same ,scott that ,newman tells us 7in his ,apologia7 that he owed his very soul4 ,newton1 like many of his fellows1 had no sort of doubt as to his right to act as a director of souls1 nor of his profound knowledge of how they should be dealt with4 ,yet it is to be remembered that1 whilst the ,catholic priest is obliged to undergo a long and careful training before he is permitted to take up this perilous task1 ,newton and those of his kind undertook it without any training whatever4 ,cowper1 as everybody knows1 was carefully and kindly tended by ,mrs4 ,unwin1 a woman a good deal older than himself1 against whose character no word of reproach was ever uttered1 the widow of an old friend of the poet4 ,newton wanted to drive ,mrs4 ,unwin out of his house1 but here at least ,cowper rebelled and showed his very just annoyance1 ,newton actually urged ,cowper to abandon the task of translating ,homer1 a labour undertaken to distract his poor sick mind from thinking of itself1 because such work1 not being of a religious character1 partook of the nature of sin4 ,it is no wonder that such a rule of life had not infrequently the most distressing consequences4 ,newton himself admits that his preaching had the reputation of driving people into lunacy4 ,in a letter asking that steps may be taken to remove one poor victim to an asylum he says3 ,i hope the poor girl is not without some concern for her soul2 and1 indeed1 ,i believe a concern of this kind was the beginning of her disorder4 ,i believe1 he continues1 my name is up about the county for preaching people mad 444 whatever may be the immediate cause1 ,i suppose we have near a dozen1 in different degrees1 disordered in their heads1 and most of them ,i believe truly gracious people4 ,let us turn to the other example which ,i propose to select1 that given by ,mr4 ,gosse in his truly remarkable work ,father and ,son1 one of the most faithful pictures of life ever written4 ,the first instance shall be an extract from the diary of the mother1 obviously a woman of great power and gifts if she had been given an opportunity of displaying them4 ,when ,i was a very little child1 she writes1 ,i used to amuse myself and my brothers with inventing stories such as ,i had read4 ,having1 as ,i suppose1 naturally a restless mind and busy imagination1 this soon became the chief pleasure of my life4 ,unfortunately my brothers were always fond of encouraging this propensity1 and ,i found in ,taylor1 my maid1 a still greater tempter4 ,i had not known there was any harm in it1 until ,miss ,shore 7a ,calvinistic governess71 finding it out1 lectured me severely1 and told me it was wicked4 ,from that time forth ,i considered that to invent a story of any kind was a sin4 ,but the desire to do so was too deeply rooted in my affections to be resisted in my own strength1 7she was at this time nine years of age71 and unfortunately ,i knew neither my corruption nor my weakness1 nor did ,i know where to gain strength4 ,the longing to invent stories grew with a violence2 everything ,i heard or read became food for my distemper4 ,the simplicity of truth was not sufficient for me2 ,i must needs embroider imagination upon it1 and the folly1 vanity and wickedness which disgraced my heart1 are more than ,i am able to express4 ,even now 7at the age of twenty-nine71 though watched1 prayed and striven against1 this is still the sin which most easily besets me4 ,it has hindered my prayers and prevented my improvement1 and therefore has humbled me very much4 ,it is narrated of the well-known ,father ,healy that a young lady having consulted him as to the sin of vanity1 she feeling convinced1 when she looked in her glass1 that she was a very pretty girl1 was answered by him1 ,my child1 that is not a sin2 it is a mistake6 ,it wanted some wise adviser to make the same remark to this poor tortured and deluded woman4 ,illness under this code was always a punishment sent from heaven1 as1 indeed1 it may be2 but1 if anyone was ill it showed that 'the ,lord's hand was extended in chastisement1' and much prayer was poured forth in order that it might be explained to the sufferer1 or to his relations1 in what he or they had sinned4 ,people would1 for instance1 go on living over a cesspool1 working themselves up into an agony to discover how they had incurred the displeasure of the ,lord1 but never moving away4 ,one last instance1 the most remarkable of all1 and we may leave this book4 ,it need hardly be said that a father of the kind depicted in this book would have a holy horror of the ,catholic ,church1 and he had4 ,he welcomed any social disorder in any part of ,italy1 as likely to be annoying to the ,papacy4 ,he celebrated the announcement in the newspapers of a considerable emigration from the ,papal dominions1 by rejoicing at this outcrowding of many1 throughout the harlot's domain1 from her sin and her plagues1 and he even carried his hatred so far as to denounce the keeping of ,christmas1 which to him was nothing less than an act of idolatry4 ,on a certain ,christmas ,day1 the servants1 greatly daring1 disobeyed the order of their master and actually had the audacity to make a small plum-pudding for themselves4 ,actuated by pity1 no doubt1 and by a feeling of kindness towards a small boy deprived of all the joys of the season1 they pressed a slice of this pudding upon the son1 who succumbed--very naturally--to the temptation4 ,shortly after1 however1 being afflicted by a stomach-ache1 remorse came upon him and he rushed to his father1 exclaiming3 ,oh6 papa1 papa1 ,i have eaten of flesh offered to idols6 ,when the father learned what had happened1 he sternly said1 ,where is the accursed thing8 ,having heard that it was on the kitchen table1 he took me by the hand1 and ran with me into the midst of the startled servants1 seized what remained of the pudding1 and with the plate in one hand and me still tight in the other1 ran till we reached the dust-heap1 where he flung the idolatrous confectionery on to the middle of the ashes1 and then raked it deep down into the mass4 ,the suddenness1 the velocity of this extraordinary act1 made an impression on my memory which nothing will ever efface4 ,such is a plain unvarnished account of the kind of way in which numbers of people were brought up in the 'fifties and 'sixties of the last century4 ,can it be wondered that those who had such a childhood should grow up with an absolute horror of the ,person in ,whose name such things--absurdities when not positive crimes--were perpetrated8 ,i firmly believe that these wholly false ideas of ,god and of sin have had more to do with the spread of materialism than many will perhaps be disposed to admit4 ,educated people1 especially those trained in scientific methods1 demand a certain common sense and sobriety in their beliefs4 ,if they are brought up to believe that a grievous sin is committed when they invent an innocent story2 when they go to a theatre or to a dance1 or play a game of cards2 if they have never known the demands of real ,christianity as put forward by the ,catholic ,church1 is it likely that they will cleave to a faith which apparently engenders such absurdities as the ,christmas pudding episode8 ,it is1 indeed1 as ,father ,wasmann says1 a thousand pities that the reasonableness1 the logic1 the dignity of the ,catholic religion should remain for ever hidden from the eyes and minds of many who so often are as they are1 because they were brought up as they were4 ,in all these things we find the key to another problem4 ,in another essay in this volume ,i have called attention to the glad intelligence1 as it seems to a certain school of writers1 that we are freed from the bugbear of sin1 as one of them puts it2 able to enjoy ourselves without any thoughts of that kind4 ,now ,i cannot but believe that such writers are thinking of the bugbear of artificial sins invented by the professors of a gloomy creed of religion4 ,it is not to be supposed that any serious writer--and those to whom ,i allude are eminently such--would speak or write with pleasure and satisfaction of escaping from the bugbear of sins against morality or against one's neighbour2 from the bugbear of dishonesty or theft2 of taking away a person's character2 of running away with his wife4 ,i am convinced that it is the invented crimes of card-playing1 theatre-going1 and the like to which they are alluding3 it could not surely be otherwise2 and that makes it all the more unfortunate that before misusing a technical term like the word sin1 and thus perhaps misleading some young and ardent mind1 such writers could not follow ,father ,wasmann's advice and study some simple manual of ,catholic ethics1 from which they would learn the real doctrine of ,christianity and would discover how very different a thing it is and how very much more reasonable than the distorted caricature which we have been studying4 #b4 ,,theophobia3 ,,its ,,nemesis ,whether my view as to the cause1 or one of the causes1 is right or not1 the fact remains that by the mid-,victorian period ,england had fallen to a very large extent a prey to materialism4 ,many people attribute the sudden onslaught of this to the publication of ,the ,origin of ,species and the controversies of the foolish which followed thereon4 ,samuel ,butler1 that brilliant writer who has not even yet come into his own1 sums up in his novel ,the ,way of ,all ,flesh 7and it may incidentally be remarked1 in himself7 most of the characteristics of the day4 ,many a parsonage home like that of the ,rev4 ,theobald ,pontifex existed in those days1 and more than one ,ernest ,pontifex emerged from them4 ,now in this book ,butler states that the year #aheh was the last of a term during which the peace of the ,church of ,england was singularly unbroken1 and there no doubt he is right2 ,the ,evangelical ,movement 444 had become almost a matter of ancient history4 ,tractarianism had subsided into a tenth-day's wonder2 it was at work1 but it was not noisy4 ,then he says the calm was broken by the publication of three books3 ,essays and ,reviews1 ,the ,origin of ,species1 ,criticisms on the ,pentateuch by ,colenso4 ,few persons probably now remember the first and the last of these books2 the fame of the second is likely to last long4 ,whether again ,butler is right in his idea as to the causes or not1 as to the fact there can be no doubt4 ,we have arrived at a period when the prevalent opinion amongst the intellectual classes was that religion--belief in anything which could not be fully understood--was impossible once one began to think seriously about it4 ,those who did not really look into such questions might go on considering themselves to believe in revelation1 but the moment that a man seriously tackled the subject1 his religion was bound to go1 just as that of ,ernest ,pontifex did at the end of five minutes' conversation with an atheistic shoemaker4#ba ,agnosticism and materialism were in the air1 and remained the dominant features for quite a number of years4 ,there were those who deplored the loss of their faith such as it had been4 ,huxley obviously did2 and ,romanes1 who afterwards returned to the ,church of ,england1 confessedly did4 ,such persons1 and there were many of them1 honestly were unable to believe1 and said so4 ,a great deal of this was due to the attitude of popular science at that time4 ,it was in a hot fit1 and was going to explain everything1 if not to-day1 at least to-morrow4 ,now1 as ,sir ,oliver ,lodge told us before the war1 in his book ,continuity1 we are in a cold fit and we seem only to know that nothing can be known4 ,sir ,arthur ,conan ,doyle1 best known as the creator of ,sherlock ,holmes1 tells us in a recent book from which ,i shall have further to quote 7,the ,new ,revelation1 ,hodder and ,stoughton1 #aiah73 ,when ,i had finished my medical education in #ahhb1 ,i found myself1 like many young medical men1 a convinced materialist as regards our personal destiny4 ,with the facts contained in this statement ,i fully agree4 ,the date in question is almost exactly that at which ,i also became a qualified medical man1 and ,i1 and ,i fancy most of my generation1 believed ourselves to be agnostics if not atheists4 ,it was the atmosphere of the time1 and so strong as with difficulty to be resisted by those who resorted to the ,universities4 ,the point which ,i want to make is that during the latter part of the ,victorian period we had come to a generation of intellectuals practically devoid of religion and followed in that respect by that always larger portion of any generation which1 not having brains to think for itself1 yet desiring to follow the intellectual motif of the day1 adopts whatever is the fashionable attitude for the moment towards unseen things4 ,yesterday it was blank negation2 to-day it tends1 as we shall see1 to be spiritualism2 to-morrow it might be earnest faith3 let us hope so4 ,and as to ,calvinism1 all this was post hoc of course2 propter hoc also as ,i think4 ,what followed8 ,that is what we now have to consider4 ,the first thing which happened was the very natural discovery that science cannot explain everything2 has in fact a strictly limited range of country to deal with4 ,this discovery began to sap the foundations of materialism4 ,then there came the further discovery that all was not well1 as so many supposed that it would be1 under a scheme of life divorced from all connection with religion4 ,mr4 ,lucas1 who has given the world many pleasant books1 none of them with any obvious bias in favour of religion1 in ,over ,bemertons 7one of the most pleasant7 makes one of his characters1 ,mr4 ,dabney1 deplore the loss of the seriousness of the ,victorian era3 ,we believe only in pleasure and success2 our one ideal is getting wealth4 ,parenthetically1 is not that just what might be expected8 ,if there is really nothing but this world1 what better can we seek than as much pleasure as we can get out of it8 ,over ,bemertons was first published in #aijh1 and the remedy which ,mr4 ,dabney then suggested1 with a really curious prophetical insight1 has just been vigorously applied4 ,that remedy was ,war1 nothing more or less4 ,a bloody war--not a punitive expedition or 'a sort of a war' 7he quoted these words with white fury7 'that might get us right again4' ',at great cost1' ,i said4 ',a surgical operation1' he replied1 'if the only means of saving life1 cannot be called expensive4' ,finally the discovery was made that mankind will not for long be content to do altogether without religion2 a need for something more than bread alone being ingrained in his nature4 ,thus even the professedly materialistic societies try to afford something in the way of religious exercises4 ,i have recently seen a notice of one of the so-called ,ethical ,societies in which the members 7at their meetings1 ,i take it7 are requested to silently meditate for five minutes on the good life4#bb ,it would seem to be quite as beneficial and more practical to meditate on split infinitives4 ,a substitute for religion has to be found2 what is it to be8 ,in the years before the war ,mr4 ,masefield published a very interesting book called ,multitude and ,solitude1 which narrates the trials and troubles of two young ,englishmen who make a perilous journey to ,africa in search of the secret of the sleeping-sickness4 ,in all their trials they never seem to have thought of prayer1 in which it may be assumed they did not believe1 but when they returned to ,england it occurred to one of them that there was something wanting in their life1 and he propounded to his friend the view that the world is just coming to see that science is not a substitute for religion1 which is one of the things urged in this paper4 ,he then proceeded to the rather startling conclusion that science is religion of a very deep and austere kind4 ,one is reminded of a well-known passage in the ,bible3 ,inveni et aram in qua scriptum erat ,,ignoto ,,deo4 ,to set up science as an unknown ,god seems a curious choice1 even more curious than the choice of humanity1 which--pitiable object as it is--was at least made in the image of ,god4 ,not to pile up instance upon instance1 let us content ourselves with remembering that ,mr4 ,wells1 who in his earlier novels had certainly not displayed any marked affection for religion1 in the last published before the war 7,marriage7 brings his hero face to face with the great realities1 and makes him exclaim to his wife that he may die a ,christian yet1 and urge upon her the need for prayer1 if only out into the darkness4 ,of course1 as all the reading world knows1 since the war commenced1 ,mr4 ,wells has set up his own altar ,,ignoto ,,deo1 not with much more satisfactory results than those attained by ,mr4 ,masefield4 ,it is an historical fact that times of war have also been times of religious awakening1 and it is natural that they should be so1 for even the most careless must be brought to contemplate something more than the day's enjoyment4 ,it is not then wonderful that the terrible war which has raged with ,europe as the cockpit1 and practically all the nations of the world as participants1 should turn the minds of those who are in the righting line towards thoughts which in times of peace may never have found entrance there4 ,from all sides one hears that this is so1 yet here again it is too often the case that an unknown ,god is sought1 and from want of proper direction not always found4 ,in a recently published memoir of one of the many splendid young fellows by whose death the world has been made poorer during this calamitous war1 there is this moving passage3 ,i know that many hearts are turning towards something1 but cannot find satisfaction in what the ,christian sects offer4 ,and many1 failing to find what they need1 fall back sadly into vague uncertainties and disbelief1 as ,i often do myself4 ,we badly need a ,st4 ,paul who will say to these and other anxious hearts1 ,quod ergo ignorantes colitis1 hoc ego annuntio vobis4 ,however1 it is much more with those who only stand and wait than with those who were actually in the trenches that we are concerned2 what about the lamentable army of wives and mothers1 widows and orphans1 people bereft of those they loved or rising every morning in dread of the news which the day might bring forth2 what about these and their attitude towards the things unseen8 ,that many such have turned to some genuine form of religion is happily beyond dispute1 but it is also unquestionably true that thousands have turned aside to the attractions of spiritualism4 ,a recent article in the ,literary ,supplement of the ,times commenced with the statement that ,among the strange1 dismaying things cast up by the tide of war are those traces of primitive fatalism1 primitive magic1 and equivocal divination which are within general knowledge4 ,the writer of the article in question thinks that as we have taken a huge and lamentable step backwards in civilisation1 we need not be surprised that we should also have receded in the direction of those primitive instincts to which he calls attention4 ,this process had1 however1 begun long before the war4 ,the late ,dr4 ,ryder1 ,provost of the ,birmingham ,oratory1 was a very shrewd observer of public affairs and a very close and dear friend of the present writer4 ,it must be more than twenty years ago since he remarked to me that he thought that materialism had shot its bolt and that the coming danger to religion was spiritualism1 a subject on which1 if ,i remember right1 he had written more than one paper4 ,i asked him what led him to that conclusion1 and his reply was to ask me whether ,i had not noticed the great increase in number of the items in second-hand book catalogues--a form of literature to which we were both much addicted--under the heading ,,occult4 ,since the war1 however1 there can be no doubt about the fact that spiritualism has made great strides4 ,a thousand pieces of evidence prove it4 ,look1 for example1 at the enormous vogue of ,raymond1 a book of which ,i say nothing1 out of personal regard for its author and genuine respect for his honesty and fearlessness4 ,but ,i return to ,sir ,arthur ,doyle's book1 and we find him assuring us that he is personally in touch with thirteen mothers who are in correspondence with their dead sons1 and adds that in only one of these cases was the individual concerned with psychic matters before the war4 ,further1 he explains that it was the war which induced him to take an active interest in a subject which had been before no more than one of passing curiosity4 ,in the presence of an agonised world1 he writes1 hearing every day of the deaths of the flower of our race in the first promise of their unfulfilled youth1 seeing around one the wives and mothers who had no clear conception whither their loved one had gone to1 ,i seemed suddenly to see that this subject with which ,i had so long dallied was not merely a study of a force outside the rules of science1 but that it really was something tremendous1 a breaking down of the walls between the two worlds1 a direct undeniable message from beyond1 a call of hope and of guidance to the human race at the time of its deepest affliction4 ,perhaps it is not wonderful that spiritualism should have won the success which it has1 for it offers a good deal to those who can believe in it4 ,it offers definite intercourse with the departed2 positive knowledge as to the existence of a future state1 and even as to its nature--the last-named intelligence not always very attractive4 ,further1 it requires no particular creed and1 it would appear1 no special code of morals2 for one of its teachings1 ,i gather1 is that it does not greatly matter what a man thinks or even does1 so far as his future welfare is concerned4 ,sir ,a4 ,doyle's book is the least convincing exposition of spiritualism ,i have yet read--and ,i have studied many of them--but it may be taken to include the latest views on the subject4 ,amongst the revelations which he gives1 there is one purporting to come from a spirit who had been a ,catholic and was still a ,catholic1 but had not fared better than the ,protestants2 there were ,buddhists and ,mahommedans in her sphere1 but all fared alike4 ,another spirit informed ,sir ,a4 ,doyle that he had been a freethinker1 but had not suffered in the next life for that reason4 ,this is not the occasion1 and in no way am ,i the man1 to tackle the subject of spiritualism1 but this at least ,i think may be said1 that the person who argues that the whole thing is a fraud and deception does not know what he is talking about4 ,look at the history of the world--,quod semper1 quod ubique1 almost quod ab omnibus4 ,the records of early missionaries--,jesuits especially--teem with accounts of the same kind of phenomena as we read of in connection with sances to-day1 occurring in all sorts of places and amongst widely separated races of mankind4 ,we have it in the ,odyssey2 we have it in ,cicero and in ,pliny2 we have it in the ,bible4 ,all this is not a mere matter of imposition4 ,in a very curious book recently published 7,some ,revelations as to ,raymond1 by a ,plain ,citizen2 ,london1 ,kegan ,paul71 to which some attention may now be devoted1 the writer1 himself a firm believer in spiritualism and one obviously in a position to write about it1 points out that the old term magic has been relegated to the performances of conjurers1 and the terminology so altered as to make spiritualism appear to be a new gospel1 whereas the contrary is the case4 ,the impression prevailed that civilised people were in presence of a new order of phenomena1 and were acquiring a new outlook into the regions of the ,unknown2 whereas the truth was that they were merely repeating1 under new social conditions and in a new environment1 the same experiences that had happened to their ancestors during some thousands of years4 ,here ,i may interject the remark that as far as my reading and knowledge go1 no spirit has ever had a good word to say for the ,catholic religion4 ,what that ,church thinks about spiritualism has been made quite clear1 and that is enough for ,catholics4 ,before leaving the ,plain ,citizen1 we must not omit to notice one strange hypothesis of his1 all the stranger as coming from a professed spiritualist4 ,he maintains--perhaps it would be fairer to say that he lays down as a working hypothesis--the following thesis3 ,spiritualism involves the existence of mediums1 and mediums for the most part have to make their living by their operations4 ,they will not be averse to making their incomes as large as possible4 ,for the purpose of acquiring information as to the affairs of possible clients1 they have1 so he asserts1 an almost ,freemasonic ,association by which all sorts of pieces of intelligence concerning persons of importance are collected and disseminated amongst the brotherhood4 ,it did not require much imagination to suppose that the war would add to the number of their clients1 whether their claims had real foundation or not2 what they wanted above all things was some one of undoubted position who would boom the movement1 in the slang of the day4 ,they laid all their plans to get their man in the author of ,raymond1 and they got him4 ,such is his thesis for what it is worth4 ,however1 it is time to conclude4 ,what ,i wanted to show was that ,theophobia was the ,nemesis of a dreadful type of ,protestantism1 and that spiritualism was the ,nemesis of the materialism associated with that ,theophobia4 ,there is no need to point out to ,catholic readers where the remedy lies1 and where the real ,communion of the saints is to be found4 ,they are not likely to be drawn aside by the ,lo here6 of the false ,christs whom we were promised and whom we are getting4 ,it is for those who have themselves experienced the consolations of the ,catholic religion to do their best1 each in his own way1 to make known to others outside our body what things may be found within4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #ba3 ,an excellent example may be found in ,butler's own career4 ,destined for the ministry of the ,church of ,england 7with his own full consent71 he was set to teach a class in a ,sunday school4 ,finding that some of his pupils were unbaptized1 yet no worse-behaved than the others1 and obviously quite ignorant of what baptism meant1 he abandoned all belief4 ,his biographer1 equally ignorant1 in narrating1 with approval1 this change of opinion1 says1 ,paley had produced evidence of ,christianity1 but none so unmistakable as this to the contrary4 ,footnote #bb3 ,dr4 ,johnson once remarked that to find a substitution for violated morality was the leading feature in all perversions of religion4 ,,iii4 ,,within ,,and ,,without ,,the ,,system ,exclusive and long-continued devotion to any special line of study is liable to lead to forgetfulness of other1 even kindred1 lines--almost1 in extreme cases1 to a kind of atrophy of other parts of the mind4 ,there is the example of ,darwin and his self-confessed loss of the sthetic tastes he once possessed4 ,nor are scientific studies the only ones to produce such an effect4 ,the amusing satire in ,the ,new ,republic has1 perhaps1 lost some of its tang now that the prototype of its ,professor of ,history is almost forgotten1 but it has not lost its point4 ,lady ,ambrose tells the tale3 ,he said to me in a very solemn voice1 ',what a terrible defeat that was which we had at ,bouvines6' ,i answered timidly--not thinking we were at war with anyone--that ,i had seen nothing about it in the papers4 ',h'm6' he said1 giving a sort of grunt that made me feel dreadfully ignorant1 'why1 ,i had an excursus on it myself in the ,archological ,gazette only last week4' ,and1 do you know1 it turned out that the ,battle of ,bouvines was fought in the ,thirteenth ,century1 and had1 as far as ,i could make out1 something to do with ,magna ,charta4 ,it is1 however1 among writers on biological subjects that we find the most salient instances of this contraction4 ,with extraordinary self-abnegation they seem1 in the contemplation of the problem with which they are concerned1 to forget that they themselves are living things1 and1 more than that1 the living things of whom they ought to know and could know most1 however little that most may be4 ,when the biologist begins to philosophise as1 after the manner of his kind1 he often does1 he should leave his microscope and look around him2 whereas he often forgets even to change the high for the low power4 ,thus he limits his field of vision and forgets1 when attempting his explanation1 that it is only within a system that he is working4 ,professor ,ward1 in ,naturalism and ,agnosticism1 says3 ,from the strict premisses of ,positivism we can never prove the existence of other minds or find a place for such conceptions as cause and substance2 for into these premisses the existence of our own mind and its self-activity have not entered4 ,and accordingly we have seen ,naturalism led on in perfect consistency to resolve man into an automaton that goes of itself as part of a still vaster automaton1 ,nature as mechanically conceived1 which goes of itself4 ,true1 this mechanism goes of itself because it is going1 and being altogether inert1 cannot stop or change4 ,how it ever started is indeed a question which science cannot answer1 but which1 on the other hand1 it has no occasion to ask3 time1 its one independent variable1 extends indefinitely without hint of either beginning or end4 ,such a system of knowledge1 once we are inside it1 so to say1 is entirely self-contained and complete4 ,once we are inside it6 what so many writers forget or ignore is that they are inside it1 and that their explanations do not explain the system or how it came to be there or to be in operation4 ,everybody is familiar with ,paley's example of the watch found on the heath4 ,let us carry it a little further4 ,suppose some student1 after devoting years of patient examination to the watch1 were to come forward and say3 ,i have discovered the secret of this watch4 ,there is a spring in it which possesses resiliency1 and it is that which drives the wheels4 ,i think ,i have heard people say that there must have been a watchmaker to design and construct this piece of machinery1 but1 in face of my discoveries1 any such explanation is wholly unnecessary and may be altogether abandoned4 ,perhaps this analogy may be regarded as exaggerated2 but1 before thus condemning it1 let the following passage be studied4 ,it is from a very important book recently published1 which claims 7and has had its claim supported by many periodicals7 to have done away with any need for an explanation of life beyond that which can be given by chemistry and physics1 ,jacques ,loeb's ,organism as a ,whole1 from a ,physico-,chemical ,viewpoint4 ,it would be hard to find a worse example of confused thinking than that of the following passage3 ,the idea that the organism as a whole cannot be explained from a physico-chemical viewpoint rests most strongly on the existence of animal instincts and will4 ,many of the instinctive actions are 'purposeful1' i4e4 assisting to preserve the individual and the race4 ,this again suggests 'design' and a designing 'force1' which we do not find in the realm of physics4 ,we must remember1 however1 that there was a time when the same 'purposefulness' was believed to exist in the cosmos where everything seemed to turn literally and metaphorically around the earth1 the abode of man4 ,in the latter case1 the anthropo- or geo-centric view came to an end when it was shown that the motions of the planets were regulated by ,newton's law1 and that there was no room left for the activities of a guiding power4 ,likewise1 in the realm of instincts1 when it can be shown that these instincts may be reduced to elementary physico-chemical laws1 the assumption of design becomes superfluous4 7,italics mine47 ,in the first place the purposefulness of the movements of the planets is not affected in the very least by the question of heliocentricism4 ,what the author is probably thinking of is an exaggerated and obsolete teleology1 but that is not what seems to be the purport of the passage4 ,let that pass4 ,the main confusion lies in the application of the term ,law4 ,the ,ten ,commandments1 and our familiar friend ,d4,o4,r4,a41 are laws we must obey or take the consequences of our disobedience4 ,the laws which the writer is dealing with are not anything of this kind4 ,newton's ,law is not a thing made by ,newton1 but an orderly system of events which was in existence long before ,newton's time1 but was first demonstrated by him4 ,it tells us how a certain part of the system works--when we are inside it4 ,it does not in the least explain the system any more than the discovery of the resiliency of the spring of the watch explains the watch itself4 ,so far from dispensing with the activities of a guiding power1 ,newton's law is positively clamant for a final explanation1 since it does not tell us1 nor does it pretend to tell us1 how the law came into existence1 still less how the planets came to be there1 or how they happen to be in a state of motion at all4 ,writers of this kind never seem to have grasped the significance of such simple matters as the different kinds of causes1 or to be aware that a formal cause is not an efficient cause1 and that neither of them is a final cause4 ,coming to the latter part of the paragraph1 it is in no way proved that instincts can be reduced to physico-chemical laws1 and1 suppose it were proved1 the assumption of design would be exactly where it is at this moment4 ,it is the old story of ,st4 ,thomas ,aquinas and ,avicenna and their discussion on abiogenesis1 and surely biologists might be expected to have heard of that4 ,the same confusion of thought is to be met with elsewhere in this book1 and in other similar books1 and a few instances may now be examined4 ,samuel ,butler1 in ,life and ,habit1 warns his readers against the dicta of scientific men1 and more particularly against his own dicta1 though he made no claim to be a scientist4 ,if his reader must believe in something1 let him believe in the music of ,handel1 the painting of ,giovanni ,bellini1 and in the thirteenth chapter of ,st4 ,paul's first ,epistle to the ,corinthians4 ,and he exclaims3 ,let us have no more ',lo1 here6' with the professor2 he very rarely knows what he says he knows2 no sooner has he misled the world for a sufficient time with a great flourish of trumpets than he is toppled over by one more plausible than himself4 ,that is a somewhat unkind way of putting it2 but undoubtedly theory after theory is put forward1 and often claimed to be final1 only to disappear when another explanation takes its place4 ,thus at the moment we are in the full flood of the chemical theory which is employed to explain inheritance4 ,that heredity exists we all know1 but so far we know nothing about its mechanism4 ,darwin1 with ,pangenesis1 and others1 using other titles1 argued in favour of a particulate explanation1 but the number of particles which would be necessary to account for the phenomena involved1 this and other difficulties1 have practically put this explanation out of court4 ,then we had the ,mnemic theory of ,hering1 ,butler1 and others1 by which the unconscious memory of the embryo--even the germ--is the explanation4 ,quite lately the mnemic theory has been claimed by ,rignano in his ,scientific ,synthesis as a complete explanation1 in forgetfulness of the fact that even the all-powerful protozoon can only remember what has passed and could certainly not remember that it was some day going to breed a man4 ,at the moment1 things are explained on a chemical basis1 though that basis is far from firm2 is of a shifting nature1 and a little hazy in details4 ,some time ago1 colloids were the cry4 ,a ,president of the ,british ,association almost led one to imagine that the homunculus in the retort might be expected in a few weeks4 ,but the chemists would have none of this1 and denied that the colloids1 about which they ought to know more than do the biologists1 had that promise in them which had been claimed4 ,we had ,leduc and his fairy flowers1 as now we have ,loeb and others with their metabolites and hormones4 ,as to these last1 there seems to be no kind of doubt that the internal secretions of many organs and structures have effects which were1 even a few years ago1 quite unsuspected4 ,those of the thyroid and adrenals are excellent examples4 ,it seems to be the fate1 however1 of all supporters of new theories to run into extravagances4 ,darwin had to remind his enthusiastic disciples that ,natural ,selection could not create variations1 and we may feel some confidence that ,hering1 were he alive1 would urge his followers to bear in mind that memory cannot create a state of affairs which never existed4 ,so far we may certainly say that these internal secretions do produce certain physical effects1 some of them effects not to be suspected by the uninformed reader4 ,there seems to be very good evidence that the growth of antlers in deer depends upon an internal secretion from the sex-gland and from the interstitial tissue of that gland2 for it is apparently upon the secretions of this portion of the gland that the secondary sexual characters depend1 and not merely these1 but also the normal sexual instincts4 ,and this takes us a stage further4 ,the extreme claim is that all instincts1 in fact all thoughts and operations1 are in the last analysis chemical or chemico-physical4 ,let us examine this claim for a moment4 ,the adrenals are two inconspicuous ductless bodies situated immediately above the kidneys4 ,not many years ago1 when the present writer was a medical student1 all that was known about these organs was that when stricken with a certain disease1 known as ,addison's disease from the name of its first describer1 the unfortunate possessor of the diseased glands became of a more or less rich chocolate colour4 ,to-day we know that the internal secretion of these organs is a very powerful styptic1 and there is good reason to believe that a copious discharge accompanies an unusual exhibition of rage4 ,when we are told things of this kind we must first of all remember that the adrenalin does not cause the rage1 though it may produce its concomitant phenomena4 ,if a man flies into a violent passion because someone has trodden upon his corns1 and there is a copious flow of adrenalin from the glands1 it is not that flow which has caused his rage4 ,it may be the flow from the interstitial tissue of the sex-glands which engenders sexual feelings1 but then those are almost wholly physical1 and only in a very minor sense--if even if any true sense--psychical4 ,persons who take the extreme view have never yet suggested that there is a characteristic hormone connected with those psychical attributes alluded to in the chapter of the ,corinthians recommended to our notice by ,butler4 ,in fact they seem to ignore all but the lower or vegetable characters when dealing with psychology from the chemico-physical point of view4 ,finally1 we come again to the fatal and fundamental defect of this as of other explanations2 it is an explanation within the system1 and therefore unphilosophical in so far as it fails to explain the facts through their ultimate or deepest reasons4 ,a large part of ,loeb's book is devoted to a description of the author's remarkable experiments in artificial parthenogenesis1 and an attempt to show that they offer a complete explanation4 ,sir ,william ,tilden1 one of the greatest living authorities on organic chemistry1 tells us that too much has been made of the curious observations of ,j4 ,loeb and others2 and he definitely states that when we consider the propagation of the animal races by the sexual process 444 there can be no fear of contradiction in the statement that in the whole range of physical and chemical phenomena there is no ground for even a suggestion of an explanation4 ,behind this pronouncement of an expert1 one might well shelter oneself2 but the question under consideration merits a little further treatment4 ,the reproduction of kind1 though usually a bi-sexual process1 may1 however1 normally in rare cases be uni-sexual1 and this process is known as ,parthenogenesis4 ,even in human beings certain tumours of the sex-glands1 known as teratomata1 very rare in women and even rarer1 if ever existent1 in men1 have been claimed as examples of attempts at parthenogenesis1 and so far no better explanation is available4 ,now ,loeb and others have succeeded in certain forms--even in a vertebrate like the frog--in inducing development in unimpregnated ova4 ,the evidence for all these things is still slender2 but we will content ourselves with noting that point and passing on to the consideration of the phenomena and the claims put forward in connection with them4 ,we find the task of unravelling the writer's meaning rendered more difficult by a certain confusion in his use of terms1 since fertilisation1 i4e4 syngamy--the union of the different sex products--seems to be confused with segmentation1 i4e4 germination2 and this confusion is accentuated by the claim that the main effect of the spermatozoon in inducing the development of the egg consists in an alteration in the surface of the latter which is apparently of the nature of a cytolysis of the cortical layer4 ,anything that causes this alteration without endangering the rest of the egg may induce its development4 ,when the spermatozoon enters the ovum it causes some alteration in the surface membrane of the latter which1 amongst other things1 prevents the entrance of further spermatozoa4 ,loeb thinks that in causing this alteration it sets up the segmentation of the ovum4 ,that there is a close connection between the two events seems undoubted2 that they are in relation of cause and effect seems likely4 ,it is quite evident that an artificial stimulus can in certain cases set up segmentation1 but never can it cause the fertilisation of the ovum4 ,it may very likely produce the same change in the membrane that is caused by the entrance of the spermatozoon under normal circumstances--membrane formation may be necessarily coincident with the liberation in the egg of some zymose which arises from a pre-existent zymogen4 ,but we are still some way off any assurance that the main object of the spermatozoon in inducing the development of the egg is this surface alteration4 ,it may be the initial effect2 very probably it is2 but since the main function of the spermatozoon must be the introduction of germplasm from the male parent1 it is too much for anyone to ask us to believe that its main function is concerned with surface alteration4 ,loeb argues that the change in the surface membrane is of a chemical character1 and that no doubt may be correct2 but even if we allow him every scientific fact1 or surmise1 he is still1 as in the other cases with which we have dealt1 miles away from any real explanation4 ,he is still inside his chemico-physical explanation to begin with2 and1 even within that1 he still leaves us anxious for the explanation of a number of points--for example1 as to the nature of the chemical process which accompanies1 or is the cause of1 segmentation4 ,we in no way press these questions2 for similar demands could be made in so many cases2 we only indicate that they are there4 ,what we do press is this--that when an authority comes forward to assure us that all the processes of life1 including man's highest as well as his lowest attributes1 can be explained on chemico-physical lines1 we are entitled to ask for a more cogent proof of it than the demonstration1 however complete1 of the germination of an egg1 caused by artificial stimulus and not by the ordinary method of syngamy1 even though that germination may lead to the production of a perfect adult form4 ,we are entitled to ask him to make clear to us not only what is happening within his system1 but--which is far more important--what that system is1 and how it came into existence4 ,we are entitled to ask why the artificial stimulus1 or the entry of the spermatozoon1 produces the effects which it is claimed to produce instead of any one of some score of other effects which it might conceivably have produced4 ,above all we are entitled to ask why there are any effects1 or even why there is any ovum or any spermatozoon or curious physiological investigator1 to give the artificial stimulus4 ,until some light is thrown upon these things we are still within the system1 or merely hovering round its confines1 and are far away from any final or philosophical explanation such as would satisfy the mind of the man who wants to get a real and not a partial knowledge of the things around him4 ,we may now turn to the question of ,vitalism4 ,it was long the regnant theory2 then temporarily the ,cinderella of biology2 it is now returning to its early position1 though still denied by those of the older school of thought who cannot imagine the kitchen wench of yesterday the ruler of to-day4 ,one of the objections to ,vitalism is that this explanation of living things is thought by ignorant writers to be so inextricably mixed up with theological considerations as to furnish a case of stantis aut cadentis ecclesiae4 ,that is1 of course1 absurd2 but it creates an undoubted bias against the theory4 ,hence it is the fashion amongst its opponents to write of it as mystical or1 as ,loeb does1 as supernatural1 probably the most illogical term that could possibly be used4 ,what is ,vitalism8 ,it is the theory that there is some other element--call it entelechy with ,driesch1 or call it what you like--in living things than those elements known to chemistry and physics4 ,if it is not there1 cadit quaestio2 if it is there it is not supernatural4 ,it might with reason be called super-mechanical1 or super-chemical1 or super-physical2 but if it is in ,nature1 as it is held to be1 it is not supernatural in any true sense of that word--no dictionary confines the term ,nature to the operations of chemistry and physics4 ,a good deal of the misconception existing on this point comes from pure ignorance of philosophy1 a subject with which writers of this school seldom have even a nodding acquaintance4 ,the idea of a quasi-superhuman intelligence presiding over the forces of the living is met with in the field of regeneration4 ,echoes of the ,cartesian idea of the soul seem to ring in this statement2 but it could not have been written by anyone who had mastered the ,aristotelian or the ,scholastic explanation of matter and form4 ,but let us take this question of ,regeneration2 the power which all living things have1 in some measure1 though in very different measure1 of reconstructing themselves when injured4 ,it has been dealt with in a masterly manner by ,driesch2 and we may at once say that we do not think that ,loeb has in any way contraverted his argument1 nor even entered the first line of defence of that which is built up around what he calls by the somewhat forbidding name of ,harmonious-,equipotential ,system4 ,let us take one particular example1 a very remarkable one1 which has been cited by both writers--,wolff's experiment on the lens of the eye4 ,the lens is just behind the pupil or central aperture in the iris or coloured ring at the front of the eye1 and behind the cornea which is to the eye what a watch-glass is to a watch4 ,if the lens of the eye be removed from a newt1 as it is from human beings in the operation for cataract1 the animal will grow another one4 ,how does it do it8 ,in certain cases a tiny fragment of the lens has been left behind after the operation1 and the new one grows from that4 ,this is sufficiently wonderful1 but by no means so wonderful as what happens in other cases in which the entire lens has been removed and the new lens grows from the outer pigmented layer of the margin of the iris4 ,to the unbiological reader one source of origin will not seem more wonderful than the other1 but there is really a vast distinction between them4 ,at an early stage in the development of the embryo1 the cells composing it become divisible into three layers4 ,it is even possible1 as ,loeb maintains1 that this differentiation is present in the unsegmented ovum1 in which case the facts to be detailed become still more remarkable and significant4 ,these layers are known as epi-1 meso-1 and hypo-blast2 and from each one of them arise certain portions of the body1 and certain portions only4 ,it would be as remarkable to a biologist to find these layers not breeding true as it would to a fowl-fancier to discover that the eggs of his ,buff ,orpingtons were producing young turkeys or ducks4 ,now the lens is an epiblastic structure1 and the iris is mesoblastic4 ,hence the wonder with which we are filled when we find the iris growing a lens4 ,loeb attempts to explain this in the first instance by telling us that the cells of the iris cannot grow and develop as long as they are pigmented2 that the operation wounds the iris1 allows pigment to escape1 and thus permits of proliferation4 ,we may accept this1 and yet ask why it takes on a form of growth familiar to us only in connection with epiblast8 ,the reply is3 ,young cells when put into the optic cup always become transparent1 no matter what their origin2 it looks as if this were due to a chemical influence1 exercised by the optic cup or by the liquid it contains4 ,lewis has shown that when the optic cup is transplanted into any other place under the epithelium of a larva of a frog the epithelium will always grow into the cup where the latter comes in contact with the epithelium2 and that the ingrowing part will always become transparent4 ,a most remarkable and interesting experiment2 it has this very important limitation--that it is always epithelium with which it has to do1 whereas in ,wolff's experiment the regeneration takes place from mesoblastic tissue4 ,the cause of the transparency may be a chemical reaction--it depends a good deal upon our definition of that phrase4 ,is protoplasm a chemical compound8 ,some have considered it so1 and spoken of its marvellously complicated molecule4 ,of course it is made up of carbon1 hydrogen1 and other substances within the domain of chemistry4 ,but is it1 therefore1 merely a chemical compound8 ,the reply involves the whole riddle of ,vitalism4 ,the author would say that it1 as well as all the living things to which it belongs1 is purely and solely a chemical compound2 and he must take the consequences of his belief4 ,one of these consequences1 from which doubtless he would not shrink1 would be that a super-chemist 7so to speak7 could write him and his experiments and his book down in a series of chemical formul--a consequence which takes a good deal of believing4 ,but it also involves him in a belief in the rigidity of chemical reactions2 and we are entitled to ask for an explanation of the identical behaviour of the chemical reaction in connection with epiblastic and mesoblastic cells--both pure chemical compounds ex hypothesi and1 as far as we can tell from their normal behaviour1 widely differing from one another4 ,the optic cup1 or its contained fluid1 is one chemical compound2 epithelium is another2 mesoblast is a third4 ,we want an explanation of the identical behaviour of the first with either of the two latter2 and this should be borne in mind--that the reaction is not a mere matter of clearing of a tissue as the histologist would clear his section by oil-of-cloves or other reagent1 but of the construction of a different type of cell--epithelial1 not connective tissue4 ,it certainly follows that there must be some superior1 at least widely different1 agency at work than one of a purely chemical character--something which transcends chemical operations4 ,this is precisely what the ,vitalist claims4 ,no one will fail to award praise to any attempts to explain the phenomena of ,nature1 whether within or without any system4 ,loeb's book sets out to do a great deal more--to explain what it does not explain--the ,organism as a ,whole1 and thus to give a philosophical explanation of man4 ,it even claims to afford hints for a rule for his life1 at least so we gather from the ,preface1 where1 alluding to that group of freethinkers1 including d',alembert1 ,diderot1 ,holbach and ,voltaire1 the author tells us that they first dared to follow the consequences of a mechanistic science--incomplete as it then was--to the rules of human conduct1 and thereby laid the foundation of that spirit of tolerance1 justice1 and gentleness which was the hope of our civilisation until it was buried under the wave of homicidal emotion which has swept through the world4 ,on which it is surely reasonable to ask how a chemical reaction can learn so to alter itself as to exhibit tolerance1 justice1 and gentleness1 attributes which it had not previously possessed8 ,such claims of this and other writers1 who would find in the laws of ,nature as formulated to-day 7forgetful that their formul may to-morrow be cast into the furnace7 a rule of life as well as a full explanation of the cosmos1 resemble in their lack of base an inverted pyramid4 ,,iv4 ,,science ,,in ,,bondage ,amongst the numerous taunts which are cast at the ,catholic ,church there is none more frequently employed1 nor1 it may be added1 more generally believed1 nor more injurious to her reputation amongst outsiders--even with her own less-instructed children themselves at times--than the allegation which declares that where the ,church has full sway1 science cannot flourish1 can scarcely in fact exist1 and that the ,church will only permit men of science to study and to teach as and while she permits4 ,to give but one example of this attitude towards the ,church1 readers may be reminded that ,huxley#bc called the ,catholic ,church the vigorous enemy of the highest life of mankind1 and rejoiced that evolution1 in addition to its truth1 has the great merit of being in a position of irreconcilable antagonism to it4 ,an utterly incorrect1 even ignorant statement1 by the way--but let that pass4 ,the same writer1 in a number of places1 in season and out of season1 as we may fairly say1#bd proclaims his wholly erroneous view that there is a necessary antagonism between science and ,roman ,catholic doctrine4 ,we need not labour this point4 ,it is sufficiently obvious1 nor does it need any catena of authorities to establish the fact1 that outside the ,church1 and even1 as we have hinted above1 amongst the less-instructed of her own children1 there is a prevalent idea that the allegation with which this paper proposes to deal is a true bill4 ,those who give credit to the allegation must of course ignore certain very patent facts which are1 it will be allowed1 a little difficult to get over4 ,they must commence by ignoring the historical fact that the greater number--almost all indeed--of the older ,universities1 places specially intended to foster and increase knowledge and research1 owe their origin to ,papal bulls4 ,they must ignore the fact that vast numbers of scientific researches1 often of fundamental importance1 especially perhaps in the subjects of anatomy and physiology1 emanated from learned men attached to seats of learning in ,rome1 and this during the ,middle ,ages1 and that the learned men who were their authors quite frequently held official positions in the ,papal ,court4 ,they must finally ignore the fact that a large number of the most distinguished scientific workers and discoverers in the past were also devout children of the ,catholic ,church4 ,stensen1 the ,father of ,geology and a great anatomical discoverer as well1 was a bishop2 ,mendel1 whose name is so often heard nowadays in biological controversies1 was an abbot4 ,and what about ,galvani1 ,volta1 ,pasteur1 ,schwann 7the originator of the ,cell ,theory71 van ,beneden1 ,johannes ,mller1 admitted by ,huxley to be the greatest anatomist and physiologist among my contemporaries8#be ,what about ,kircher1 ,spallanzani1 ,secchi1 de ,lapparent1 to take the names of persons of different historical periods1 and connected with different subjects1 yet all united in the bond of the ,faith8 ,to point to these men--and a host of other names might be cited--is to overthrow at once and finally the edifice of falsehood reared by enemies of the ,church1 who1 before erecting it1 might reasonably have been asked to look to the security of their foundations4 ,still there is the edifice1 and as every edifice must rest on some kind of foundation or another1 even if that foundation be nothing but sand1 it may be useful and interesting to inquire1 as ,i now propose to do1 what foundation there is--if in fact there is any--for this particular allegation4 ,we might commence by interrogating the persons who make it4 ,the probability is that the reply which would at once be drawn from most of them would amount to this3 ,everybody knows it to be true4 ,if the interrogated person is amongst those less imperfectly informed we shall probably be referred to ,huxley or to some other writer4 ,or we may even find ourselves confronted with that greater knowledge--or less inspissated ignorance--which babbles about ,galileo1 the ,inquisition1 the ,index1 and the imprimatur4 ,galileo and his case we shall consider later on1 for he and it are really germane to the question with which we are dealing4 ,the ,inquisition has really nothing to do with the matter4 ,the ,index we also reserve for a later part of this essay4 ,with the imprimatur we may now deal1 since there is no doubt that there is a genuine misunderstanding on this subject on the part of some people who are misled perhaps through ignorance of ,latin and quite certainly through ignorance of what the whole matter amounts to4 ,let us begin by reminding ourselves that1 though the unchanging ,church is now1 so far as ,i am aware1 the only body which issues an imprimatur1 there were other instances of the exercise of such a privilege even in recent or comparatively recent days4 ,there were ,royal licences to print with which we need not concern ourselves4 ,but1 what is important1 there was a time when the scientific authority of the day assumed the right of issuing an imprimatur4 ,i take the first book which occurs to me1 ,tyson's ,anatomie of a ,pygmie1 and for the sake of those who are not acquainted with it1 ,i may add that this book is not only the foundation-stone of ,comparative ,anatomy1 but also1 through its appendix ,a ,philological ,essay ,concerning the ,pygmies1 the ,cynocephali1 the ,satyrs1 and ,sphinges of the ,ancients1 the foundation-stone of all folk-lore study4 ,on the page fronting the title of this work the following appears3 #ag ,die ,maij1 #afii4 ,imprimatur ,liber cui ,titulus1 ,orang-,outang sive ,homo ,sylvestris1 etc4 ,authore ,edvardo ,tyson1 ,m4,d41 ,r4,s4,s4 ,john ,hoskins1 ,v4,p4,r4,s4 ,what does this mean8 ,in the first place it shows1 what all instructed persons know1 that the ,royal ,society did then exercise the privilege of giving an imprimatur at any rate to books written by its own ,fellows4 ,it cannot be supposed that such imprimatur guaranteed the accuracy of all the statements made by ,tyson1 for we may feel sure that ,john ,hoskins was quite unable to give any such assurance4 ,we must assume that it meant that there was nothing in the book which would reflect discredit upon the ,society of which ,tyson was a ,fellow and from which the imprimatur was obtained4 ,however this may be1 the sway over its ,fellows' publications was exercised1 and indeed very excellent arguments might be adduced for the reassumption of such a sway even to-day4#bf ,though the imprimatur in question has fallen into desuetude1 it is1 as we all know1 the commonest of things for the introductions to works of science to occupy some often considerable part of their space with acknowledgments of assistance given by learned friends who have read the manuscript or the proofs and made suggestions with the object of improving the book or adding to its accuracy4 ,any person who has written a book can feel nothing but gratitude towards those who have helped him to avoid the errors and slips to which even the most careful are subject4 ,so that such acknowledgments of assistance have come to be almost what the lawyers call common form4 ,what they really amount to is a proclamation on the part of the author that he has done his best to ensure that his book is free from mistakes4 ,now the imprimatur really amounts to the same thing1 for it is1 of course1 confined to books or parts of books where theology or philosophy trenching upon theology is concerned4 ,thus a book may deal largely1 perhaps mainly1 with scientific points1 yet necessarily include allusions to theological dogmas4 ,the imprimatur to such a book would relate solely and entirely to the theological parts1 just as the advice of an architectural authority on a point connected with that subject in a work in which it was mentioned only in an incidental manner1 would refer to that point1 and to nothing else4 ,perhaps it should be added1 that no author is obliged to obtain an imprimatur any more than he is compelled to seek advice on any other point in connection with his book4 ,nihil ,obstat1 says the skilled referee3 ,i see no reason to suppose that there is anything in all this which contravenes theological principles4 ,to which the authority appealed to adds imprimatur3 ,then by all means let it be printed4 ,the procedure is no doubt somewhat more stately and formal than the modern system of acknowledgments1 yet in actual practice there is but little to differentiate the two methods of ensuring1 so far as is possible1 that the work is free from mistakes4 ,that neither the assistance of friends nor the imprimatur of authorities is infallible is proved by the facts that mistakes do creep into works of science1 however carefully examined1 and that more than one book with an imprimatur has1 none the less1 found its way on to the ,index4 ,before leaving this branch of the subject one cannot refrain from calling attention to another point4 ,how often in advertisements of books do we not see quotations from reviews in authoritative journals--a medical work from the ,lancet1 a physical or chemical from ,nature8 ,frequently too we see ,mr4 ,so-and-,so1 the well-known authority on the subject1 says of this book1 etc41 etc4 ,what are all these authoritative commendations but an imprimatur up to date8 ,passing from the imprimatur to a closer consideration of our subject1 it is above all things necessary to take the advice of ,samuel ,johnson and clear our minds of cant4 ,every person in this world--save perhaps a ,robinson ,crusoe on an otherwise uninhabited island1 and he only because of his solitary condition--is in bondage more or less to others2 that is to say1 has his freedom more or less interfered with4 ,that this interference is in the interests of the community and so1 in the last analysis1 in the interests of the person interfered with himself1 in no way weakens the argument2 it is rather a potent adjuvant to it4 ,however much ,i may dislike him and however anxious ,i may be to injure him1 ,i may not go out and set fire to my neighbour's house nor to his rick-yard1 unless ,i am prepared to risk the serious legal penalties which will be my lot if ,i am detected in the act4 ,i may not1 if ,i am a small and active boy1 make a slide in the public street in frosty weather1 unless ,i am prepared--as the small boy usually is--to run the gauntlet of the police4 ,in a thousand ways my freedom1 or what ,i call my freedom1 is interfered with3 it is the price which ,i pay for being one item of a social organism and for being in turn protected against others1 who1 in virtue of that protection1 are in their turn deprived of what they might call their liberty4 ,no one can have failed to observe that this interference with personal liberty becomes greater day by day4 ,it is a tendency of modern governments1 based presumably upon increased experience1 to increase these protective regulations4 ,thus we have laws against adulteration of food1 against the placing of buildings concerned with obnoxious trades in positions where people will be inconvenienced by them4 ,we make persons suffering from infectious diseases isolate themselves1 and if they cannot do this at home1 we make them go to the fever hospital4 ,further1 we insist upon the doctor1 whose position resembles that of a confessor1 breaking his obligation of professional secrecy and informing the authorities as to the illness of his patient4 ,we interfere with the liberty of men and women to work as long as they like or to make their children labour for excessive hours4 ,we insist upon dangerous machinery being fenced in4 ,in a thousand ways we--the ,state--interfere with the liberty of our fellows4 ,finally1 when the needs of the community are most pressing we interfere most with the freedom of the subject4 ,thus1 in these islands1 we were recently living under a ,defence of the ,realm ,act--with which no reasonable person quarrelled4 ,yet it forbad many things not only harmless in themselves but habitually permitted in times of peace4 ,we were subject to penalties if we showed lighted windows3 they must be shuttered or provided with heavy curtains4 ,we might not travel in railway carriages at night with the blinds undrawn4 ,the papers might not publish1 nor we say in public1 things which in time of peace would go unnoticed4 ,there were a host of other matters to which allusion need not be made4 ,enough has been said to show that the ,state has and exerts the right to control the actions of those who belong to it1 and that in time of stress it can and does very greatly intensify that control and does so without arousing any real or widespread discontent4 ,of course we all grumble1 but then everybody1 except its own members1 always does more or less grumble at anything done by any government3 that is the ordinary state of affairs4 ,but at any rate we submit ourselves1 more or less gracefully1 to this restraint because we persuade ourselves or are persuaded that it is for the good of the ,state and thus for the good of ourselves1 both as private individuals and as members of the ,state4 ,and many of us1 at any rate1 comfort ourselves with the thought that a great many of the regulations which appear to be most tyrannical and most to interfere with the natural liberty of mankind are devised not with that end in view but with the righteous intention of protecting those weaker members of the body who are unable to protect themselves4 ,if the ,state does not stand by such members and offer itself as their shield and support1 it has no claim to our obedience1 no real right to exist1 and so we put up with the inconvenience1 should such arise1 on account of the protection given to the weaker members and often extended to those who would by no means feel pleased if they heard themselves thus described4 ,let us substitute the ,church for the ,state and let us remember that there are times when she is at closer grips with the powers of evil than may be the case at other times4 ,the parallel is surely sufficiently close4 ,so far as earthly laws can control one1 no one is obliged to be a member of the ,catholic ,church nor a citizen of the ,british ,empire4 ,i can1 if ,i choose1 emigrate to ,america1 in process of time naturalise myself there and join the ,christian ,science organisation or any other body to which ,i find myself attracted4 ,but as long as ,i remain a ,catholic and a ,british citizen ,i must submit myself to the restrictions imposed by the bodies with which ,i have elected to connect myself4 ,we arrive at the conclusion then that the ordinary citizen1 even if he never adverts to the fact1 is in reality controlled and his liberty limited in all sorts of directions4 ,now the scientific man1 in his own work1 is subject to all sorts of limitations1 apart altogether from the limitations to which1 as an ordinary member of the ,state1 he has to submit himself4 ,he is restricted by science3 he is not completely free but is bound by knowledge--the knowledge which he or others have acquired4 ,to say he is limited by it is not to say that he is imprisoned by it or in bondage to it4 ,one does not lose one's intellectual liberty when one learns mathematics1 says the late ,monsignor ,benson in one of his letters1 though one certainly loses the liberty of doing sums wrong or doing them by laborious methods6 ,before setting out upon any research1 the careful man of science sets himself to study the literature of the subject as he calls it4 ,he delves into all sorts of out-of-the-way periodicals to ascertain what such a man has written upon such a point4 ,all this he does in order that he may avoid doing a piece of work over again unnecessarily3 unnecessarily1 for it maybe actually necessary to repeat it1 if it is of very great importance and if it has not been repeated and verified by other observers4 ,further1 he delves into this literature because it is thus that he hopes to avoid the many blind alleys which branch off from every path of research1 delude their explorer with vain hopes and finally bring him face to face with a blank wall4 ,in a word the inquirer consults his authorities and when he finds them worthy of reliance1 he limits his freedom by paying attention to them4 ,he does not say3 ,how am ,i held in bondage by this assertion that the earth goes round the sun1 but accepting that fact1 he rejects such of his conclusions as are obviously irreconcilable with it4 ,surely this is plain common sense and the man who acted otherwise would be setting himself a quite impossible task4 ,it is the weakness of the heuristic method that it sets its pupils to find out things which many abler men have spent years in investigating4 ,the man who sets out to make a research1 without first ascertaining what others have done in that direction1 proposes to accumulate in himself the abilities and the life-work of all previous generations of labourers in that corner of the scientific vineyard4 ,there is a somewhat amusing and certainly interesting instance of this which will bear quotation4 ,the late ,mr4 ,grant ,allen1 who knew something of quite a number of subjects though perhaps not very much about any of them1 devoted most of his time and energies 7outside his stories1 some of which are quite entertaining7 to not always very accurate essays in natural history4 ,one day1 however1 his evil genius prompted him to write and1 worse still1 to publish a book entitled ,force and ,energy3 ,a ,theory of ,dynamics1 in which he purported to deal with a matter of which he knew far less even than he did about animated nature4 ,mark the inevitable result6 ,a copy of the book was forwarded to the journal ,nature1 and sent by its editor to be dealt with by the competent hands of ,sir ,oliver 7then ,professor7 ,lodge4#bg ,this is how that eminent authority dealt with it4 ,there exists a certain class of mind1 he commences1 allied perhaps to the ,greek sophist variety1 to which ignorance of a subject offers no sufficient obstacle to the composition of a treatise upon it4 ,it may be rash to suggest that this type of mind is well developed in philosophers of the ,spencerian school1 though it would be possible to adduce some evidence in support of such a suggestion4 ,in the volume before us1 he continues1 ,mr4 ,grant ,allen sets to work to reconstruct the fundamental science of dynamics1 an edifice which1 since the time of ,galileo and ,newton1 has been standing on what has seemed a fairly secure and substantial basis1 but which he seems to think it is now time to demolish in order to make room for a newly excogitated theory4 ,the attempt is audacious and the result--what might have been expected4 ,the performance lends itself indeed to the most scathing criticism2 blunders and misstatements abound on nearly every page1 and the whole thing is simply an emanation of mental fog4 ,it would occupy too much space to reproduce this criticism with any fullness1 but one or two points exceedingly germane to our subject can hardly go without notice4 ,alluding to a certain question1 which seems to have greatly bothered ,mr4 ,allen and likewise ,mr4 ,clodd1 who1 it would appear1 was associated with him in this performance1 the reviewer says3 ,the puzzle was solved completely long ago1 in the clearest possible manner1 and the ',principia' is the witness to it2 but it is still felt to be a difficulty by beginners1 and ,i suppose there is no offence in applying this harmless epithet to both ,mr4 ,grant ,allen and ,mr4 ,clodd1 so far as the truths of dynamics and physics are concerned4 ,one last quotation3 ,the thing which strikes one most forcibly about the physics of these paper philosophers is the extraordinary contempt which1 if they are consistent1 they must or ought to feel for men of science4 ,if ,newton1 ,lagrange1 ,gauss1 and ,thompson1 to say nothing of smaller men1 have muddled away their brains in concocting a scheme of dynamics wherein the very definitions are all wrong2 if they have arrived at a law of conservation of energy without knowing what the word energy means1 or how to define it2 if they have to be set right by an amateur who has devoted a few weeks or months to the subject and acquired a rude smattering of some of its terms1 'what intolerable fools they must all be6' ,such is the result of asserting one's freedom by escaping the limitations of knowledge6 ,we see what happens when a person sets out to deal with science untrammelled by any considerations as to what others have thought and established4 ,the necessary result is that he plunges headforemost into all or most of the errors which were pitfalls to the first labourers in the field4 ,or1 again1 he painfully and uselessly pursues the blind alleys which they had wandered in1 and from which a perusal of their works would have warned off later comers4 ,oh1 irony of fate6 the same thing precisely happens when men of scientific eminence indulge in religious dissertations1 for of course1 though it is not quite so obvious to such writers1 the same blunder is quite possible in non-scientific fields of knowledge4 ,i once asked one versed in theology what he thought of the religious articles of a distinguished man1 unfamiliar himself with theology1 yet1 none the less1 then splashing freely and to the great admiration of the ignorant1 in the theological pool4 ,his reply was that in so far as they were at all constructive1 they consisted mostly of exploded heresies of the first century4 ,is not this precisely what one would have expected a priori8 ,a man commencing to write on science or religion who neglects the work of earlier writers places himself in the position of the first students of the subject and very naturally will make the same mistakes as they made4 ,he refuses to be hampered and biased by knowledge1 and the result follows quite inevitably4 ,a scientist1 says ,monsignor ,benson1 is hampered and biased by knowing the earth goes round the sun4 ,the fact of the matter is that the man of science is not a solitary figure1 a chimra bombinans in vacuo4 ,in whatever direction he looks he is faced by the figures of other workers and he is limited and hampered by their work4 ,nor are these workers all of them in his own area of country1 for the biologist1 for example1 cannot afford to neglect the doings of the chemist2 if he does he is bound to find himself led into mistakes4 ,no doubt the scientific man is at times needlessly hampered by theories which he and others at the time take to be fairly well established facts1 but which after all turn out to be nothing of the kind4 ,this in no way weakens the argument1 but rather by giving an additional reason for caution1 strengthens it4 ,if we carefully consider the matter we shall be unable to come to any other conclusion than that every writer1 even of the wildest form of fiction1 is in some way and to some extent hampered and limited by knowledge1 by facts1 by things as they are or as they appear to be4 ,that will be admitted2 but it will be urged that the hampering and limiting with which we have been dealing is not merely legitimate but inevitable1 whereas the hampering and limiting--should such there be--on the part of the ,church is wholly illegitimate and indefensible4 ,all that you say is no doubt true1 our antagonist will urge1 but you have still to show that your ,church has any right or title to interfere in these matters4 ,and even if you can make some sort of case for her interference1 you have still to disprove what so many people believe1 namely1 that the right1 real or assumed1 has not been arbitrarily used to the damage1 or at least to the delay of scientific progress4 ,chemistry1 we may suppose our antagonist continuing1 no doubt has a legitimate right to have its say1 even to interfere and that imperatively1 where chemical considerations invade the field of biology1 for example4 ,but what similar right does religion possess8 ,for instance1 he might proceed1 some few years ago a distinguished physiologist1 then occupying the ,chair of the ,british ,association1 invoked the behaviour of certain chemical substances known as colloids in favour of his anti-vitalistic conclusions4 ,at once he was answered by a number of equally eminent chemists that the attitude he had adopted was quite incompatible with facts as known to them2 in a word1 that chemistry disagreed with his ideas as to colloids4 ,everybody admitted that the chemists must have the final word on this subject3 are you now claiming that religion or theology1 or whatever you choose to call it1 is also entitled to a say in a matter of that kind8 ,this supposititious conversation illustrates the confusion which exists in many minds as to the point at issue4 ,one science is entitled to contradict another1 just as one scientific man is entitled to contradict another on a question of fact4 ,but on a question of fact a theologian is not entitled--qu theologian--nor would he be expected to claim to be entitled1 to contradict a man of science4 ,it ought to be widely known1 though it is not1 that the idea that theologians can or wish to intrude--again qu theologians--in scientific disputes as to chemical1 biological1 or other facts1 is a fantastic idea without real foundation save that of the one mistake of the kind made in the case of ,galileo and never repeated--a mistake1 let us hasten to add1 made by a disciplinary authority and--as all parties admit--in no way involving questions of infallibility4 ,to this case we will revert shortly4 ,meanwhile it may be briefly stated that the claim made by the ,church is in connection with some few--some very few--of the theories which men of science build up upon the facts which they have brought to light4 ,some of these theories do appear to contradict theological dogmas1 or at least may seem to simple people to be incompatible with such dogmas1 just as the people of his time--,protestants by the way1 no less than ,catholics--did really think that ,galileo's theory conflicted with ,holy ,writ4 ,in such cases1 and in such cases alone1 the ,church holds that she has at least the right to say that such a theory should not be proclaimed to be true until there is sufficient proof for it to satisfy the scientific world that the point has been demonstrated4 ,this is really what is meant by the tyranny of the ,church2 and it may now be useful to consider briefly what can be said for her position4 ,we must begin by looking at the matter from the ,church's standpoint4 ,it is a good rule to endeavour to understand your opponent's position before you try to confute him2 an excellent rule seldom complied with by anti-,catholic controversialists4 ,now the ,church starts with the proposition that man has an immortal soul destined to eternal happiness or eternal misery1 and she proceeds to claim that she has been divinely constituted to help man to enjoy a future of happiness4 ,of course these are opinions which all do not share1 and with the arguments for and against which we cannot here deal4 ,if a man is quite sure that he has no soul and that there is no hereafter there is nothing more to be said than3 ,let us eat and drink1 for to-morrow we die4 ,nothing very much matters in this world except that we should make ourselves as comfortable as we can during the few years we have to spend in it4 ,again1 there are others who1 whilst believing the first doctrine set down above1 will have none of the other4 ,with them we enter into no argument here1 and only say that to have a guide is better than to have no guide4 ,catholics1 who accept gratefully her guidance1 do believe that the ,church can help a man to save his soul1 and that she is entrusted1 to that end1 with certain powers4 ,her duty is to preserve and guard the ,christian ,revelation--the scheme of doctrine regarding belief and conduct by which ,jesus ,christ taught that souls were to be saved4 ,she is not an arbitrary ruler4 ,her office is primarily that of ,judge and ,interpreter of the deposit of doctrine entrusted to her4 ,in this she claims to be safeguarded against error1 though her infallible utterances would seem incredibly few1 if summed up and presented to the more ignorant of her critics4 ,she also claims to derive from her ,founder legislative power by which she can make decrees1 unmake them or modify and vary them to suit different times and circumstances4 ,she rightfully claims the obedience of her children to this exercise of her authority1 but such disciplinary enactments1 by their very nature variable and modifiable1 do not and cannot come within the province of her infallibility1 and admittedly they need not be always perfectly wise or judicious4 ,such disciplinary utterances1 it may be added1 at least in the field of which we are treating1 indeed in any field1 are also incredibly few when due regard is had to the enormous number of cases passing under the ,church's observation4 ,we saw just now that the ,state exercised a very large jurisdiction for the purpose of protecting the weak who were unable or little able to protect themselves4 ,it is really important to remember1 when we are considering the powers of the ,church and her exercise of them1 that these disciplinary powers are put in operation1 not from mere arrogance or an arbitrary love of domination--as too many suppose--but with the primary intention of protecting and helping the weaker members of the flock4 ,if the ,church consisted entirely of theological experts a good deal of this exercise of disciplinary power might very likely be regarded as wholly unnecessary4 ,thus the ,church freely concedes not only to priests and theologians1 but to other persons adequately instructed in her teaching1 full permission to read books which she has placed on her black list or ,index--from which1 in other words1 she has warned off the weaker members of the flock4 ,the net of ,peter1 however1 as all very well know1 contains a very great variety of fish1 and--to vary the metaphor--to the fisherman was given charge not only of the sheep--foolish enough1 heaven knows6--but also of the still more helpless lambs4 ,thus it becomes the duty and the privilege of the successors of the fisherman to protect the sheep and the lambs1 and not merely to protect them from wild beasts who may try to do harm from without1 but quite as much from the wild rams of the flock who are capable of doing a great deal of injury from within4 ,in one of his letters1 from which quotation has already been made1 the late ,monsignor ,benson sums up1 in homely1 but vivid language1 the point with which we have just been dealing4 ,here are the lambs of ,christ's flock1 he writes3 ,is a stout old ram to upset and confuse them when he needn't 444 even though he is right8 ,the flock must be led gently and turned in a great curve4 ,we can't all whip round in an instant4 ,we are tired and discouraged and some of us are exceedingly stupid and obstinate4 ,very well2 then the rams can't be allowed to make brilliant excursions in all directions and upset us all4 ,we shall get there some day1 if we are treated patiently4 ,we are ,christ's lambs after all4 ,the protection of the weak3 surely1 if it be deemed both just and wise on the part of the civil government to protect its subjects by legislation in regard to adulterated goods1 contagious diseases1 unhealthy workshops and dangerous machinery1 why may not the ,church safeguard her children1 especially her weaker children1 the special object of her care and solicitude1 from noxious intellectual foods8 ,it is just here that the question of the ,index arises4 ,put briefly1 this is a list of books which are not to be read by ,catholics unless they have permission to read them--a permission which1 as we have just seen1 is never refused when any good reason can be given for the request4 ,i can understand the kind of person who says3 ,exactly1 locking up the truth2 why not let everybody read just what they like8 ,to which ,i would reply that every careful parent has an ,index ,prohibitorius for his household2 or ought to have one if he has not4 ,i once knew a woman who allowed her daughter to plunge into ,nana and other works of that character as soon as she could summon up enough knowledge of ,french to fathom their meaning4 ,the daughter grew up and the result has not been encouraging to educationists thinking of proceeding on similar lines4 ,the ,state also has its ,index ,prohibitorius and will not permit indecent books nor indecent pictures to be sold4 ,enough3 let us again clear our minds of cant4 ,there is a limit with regard to publications in every decent ,state and every decent house3 it is only a question where the line is drawn4 ,it is obvious that the ,church must be permitted at least as much privilege in this matter as is claimed by every respectable father of a family4 ,we need not pursue the question of the ,index any further1 but before we leave it let us for a moment turn to another accusation levelled against ,catholic men of science by anti-,catholic writers1 that of concealing their real opinions on scientific matters1 and even of professing views which they do not really hold1 out of a craven fear of ecclesiastical denunciations4 ,the attitude which permits of such an accusation is hardly courteous1 but1 stripped of its verbiage1 that is the accusation as it is made4 ,now1 as there are usually at least some smouldering embers of fire where there is smoke1 there is just one small item of truth behind all this pother4 ,no ,catholic1 scientific man or otherwise1 who really honours his ,faith would desire wilfully to advance theories apparently hostile to its teaching4 ,further1 even if he were convinced of the truth of facts which might appear--it could only be appear--to conflict with that teaching1 he would1 in expounding them1 either show how they could be harmonised with his religion1 or1 if he were wise1 would treat his facts from a severely scientific point of view and leave other considerations to the theologians trained in directions almost invariably unexplored by scientific men4 ,perhaps the memory of old1 far-off1 unhappy events should not be recalled1 but it is pertinent to remark that the troubles in connection with a man whose name once stood for all that was stalwart in ,catholicism1 did not originate in1 nor were they connected with1 any of the scientific books and papers of which the late ,professor ,mivart was the author1 but with those theological essays which all his friends must regret that he should ever have written4 ,it may not be waste of time briefly to consider two of the instances commonly brought up as examples when the allegation with which we are dealing is under consideration4 ,first of all let us consider the case of ,gabriel ,fallopius1 who lived--it is very important to note the date--#aebc-aefb2 a ,catholic and a churchman4 ,now it is gravely asserted that ,fallopius committed himself to misleading views1 views which he knew to be misleading1 because he thought that he was thereby serving the interest of the ,church4 ,what he said concerned fossils1 then beginning to puzzle the scientific world of the day4 ,confronted with these objects and living1 as he did1 in an unscientific age1 when the seven days of creation were interpreted as periods of twenty-four hours each and the universality of the ,noachian deluge was accepted by everybody1 it would have been something like a miracle if he had at once fathomed the true meaning of the shark's teeth1 elephant's bones1 and other fossil remains which came under his notice4 ,his idea was that all these things were mere concretions generated by fermentation in the spots where they were found1 as he very quaintly and even absurdly put it4 ,the accusation1 however1 is not that ,fallopius made a mistake--as many another man has done--but that he deliberately expressed an opinion which he did not hold and did so from religious motives4 ,of course1 this includes the idea that he knew what the real explanation was1 for had he not known it1 he could not have been guilty of making a false statement4 ,there is no evidence whatever that ,fallopius ever had so much as a suspicion of the real explanation1 nor1 it may be added1 had any other man of science for the century which followed his death4 ,then there arose another ,catholic churchman1 ,nicolaus ,stensen 7#afca-afhf71 who1 by the way1 ended his days as a bishop1 who did solve the riddle1 giving the answer which we accept to-day as correct1 and on whom was conferred by his brethren two hundred years later the title of ,the ,father of ,geology4 ,it is a little difficult to understand how the unchanging ,church should have welcomed1 or at least in no way objected to1 ,stensen's views when the mere entertainment of them by ,fallopius is supposed to have terrified him into silence4 ,but when the story of ,fallopius is mistold1 as indicated above1 it need hardly be said that the story of ,stensen is never so much as alluded to4 ,the real facts of the case are these3 ,fallopius was one of the most distinguished men of science of his day4 ,every medical student becomes acquainted with his name because it is attached to two parts of the human body which he first described4 ,he made a mistake about fossils1 and that is the plain truth--as we now know1 a most absurd mistake1 but that is all4 ,as we hinted above1 he is very far from being the only scientific man who has made a mistake4 ,huxley had a very bad fall over ,bathybius and was man enough to admit that he was wrong4 ,curiously enough1 what ,huxley thought a living thing really was a concretion1 just as what ,fallopius thought a concretion had been a living thing4 ,another extremely curious fact is that another distinguished man of science1 who lived three hundred years later than ,fallopius and had all the knowledge which had accumulated during that prolific period to assist him1 the late ,philip ,gosse1 fell into the same pit as ,fallopius4 ,as his son tells us1 he wrote a book to prove that when the sudden act of creation took place the world came into existence so constructed as to bear the appearance of a place which had for ons been inhabited by living things1 or1 as some of his critics unkindly put it1 that ,god hid the fossils in the rocks in order to tempt geologists into infidelity4 ,gosse had the real answer under his eyes which ,fallopius had not1 for the riddle was unread in the latter's days4 ,yet ,gosse's really unpardonable mistake was attributed to himself alone1 and ,plymouth ,brethrenism1 which was the sect to which he belonged1 was not saddled with it1 nor have the ,brethren been called obscurantists because of it4 ,of course there is a second string to the accusation we are dealing with4 ,if the scientific man did really express new and perhaps startling opinions1 they would have been much newer and much more startling had he not held himself in for fear of the ,church and said only about half of what he might have said4 ,it is the half instead of the whole loaf of the former accusation4 ,thus1 in its notice of ,stensen1 the current issue of the ,encyclopdia ,britannica says3 ,cautiously at first1 for fear of offending orthodox opinion1 but afterwards more boldly1 he proclaimed his opinion that these objects 7viz4 fossils7 had once been parts of living animals4 ,one may feel quite certain that if ,stensen had not been a ,catholic ecclesiastic this notice would have run--and far more truthfully--,cautiously at first1 until he felt that the facts at his disposal made his position quite secure1 and then more boldly1 etc4 etc4 ,what in the ordinary man of science is caution1 becomes cowardice in the ,catholic4 ,we shall find another example of this in the case of ,buffon 7#agjg-aghh7 often cited as that of a man who believed all that ,darwin believed and one hundred years before ,darwin1 and who yet was afraid to say it because of the ,church to which he belonged4 ,this mistake is partly due to that lamentable ignorance of ,catholic teaching1 not to say that lamentable incapacity for clear thinking1 on these matters1 which afflicts some non-,catholic writers4 ,let us take an example from an eminently fairly written book1 in which1 dealing with ,buffon1 the author says3 ,i cannot agree with those who think that ,buffon was an out-and-out evolutionist1 who concealed his opinions for fear of the ,church4 ,no doubt he did trim his sails--the palpably insincere ,mais non1 il est certain par la rvlation que tous les animaux ont galement particip la grce de la cration1 following hard upon the too bold hypothesis of the origin of all species from a single one1 is proof of it4 ,of course it is nothing of the kind1 for1 whatever ,buffon may have meant1 and none but himself could tell us1 it is perfectly clear that whether creation was mediate 7as under transformism considered from a ,christian point of view it would be7 or immediate1 every created thing would participate in the grace of creation1 which is just the point which the writer from whom the quotation has been made has missed4 ,the same writer furnishes us with the real explanation of ,buffon's attitude when he says that ,buffon was too sane and matter-of-fact a thinker to go much beyond his facts1 and his evolution doctrine remained always tentative4 ,buffon1 like many another man1 from ,st4 ,augustine down to his own times1 considered the transformist explanation of living nature4 ,he saw that it unified and simplified the conceptions of species and that there were certain facts which seemed strongly to support it4 ,but he does not seem to have thought that they were sufficient to establish it and he puts forward his views in the tentative manner which has just been suggested4 ,the fact is that those who father the accusations with which we have been dealing either do not know1 or scrupulously conceal their knowledge1 that what they proclaim to be scientific cowardice is really scientific caution1 a thing to be lauded and not to be decried4 ,let us turn to apply the considerations with which we have been concerned to the case of ,galileo1 to which generally misunderstood affair we must very briefly allude1 since it is the standby of anti-,catholic controversialists4 ,monsignor ,benson1 in connection with the quotation recently cited1 proclaimed himself a violent defender of the ,cardinals against ,galileo4 ,perhaps no one will be surprised at his attitude1 but those who are not familiar with his ,life and ,letters will certainly be surprised to learn that ,huxley1 after examining into the question1 arrived at the conclusion that the ,pope and the ,college of ,cardinals had rather the best of it4#bh ,none the less it is the stock argument4 ,father ,hull1 ,s4 ,j41 whose admirable1 outspoken1 and impartial study of the case#bi should be on everybody's bookshelves1 freely admits that the ,roman ,congregations made a mistake in this matter and thus takes up a less favourable position towards them than even the violently anti-,catholic ,huxley4 ,no one will deny that the action of the ,congregation was due to a desire to prevent simple persons from having their faith upset by a theory which seemed at the time to contradict the teaching of the ,bible4 ,remember that it was only a theory and that1 when it was put forward1 and indeed for many years afterwards1 it was not only a theory1 but one supported by no sufficient evidence4 ,it was not in fact until many years after ,galileo's death that final and convincing evidence as to the accuracy of his views was laid before the scientific world4 ,there can be but little doubt that if ,galileo had been content to discuss his theory with other men of science1 and not to lay it down as a matter of proved fact--which1 as we have seen1 it was not--he would never have been condemned4 ,whilst we may admit1 with ,father ,hull1 that a mistake was made in this case1 we may urge1 with ,cardinal ,newman1 that it is the only case in which such a thing has happened--surely a remarkable fact4 ,it is not for want of opportunities4 ,father ,hull very properly cites various cases where a like difficulty might possibly have arisen1 but where1 as a matter of fact1 it has not4 ,for example1 the geographical universality of the ,deluge was at one time1 and that not so very long ago1 believed to be asserted by the ,bible2 while1 on the other hand1 geologists seemed to be able to show1 and in the event did show1 that such a view was scientifically untenable4 ,the attention of theologians having been called to this matter1 and a further study made of passages which until then had probably attracted but little notice1 and quite certainly had never been considered from the new point of view1 it became obvious that the meaning which had been attached to the passages in question was not the necessary meaning1 but on the contrary1 a strained interpretation of the words4 ,no public fuss having arisen about this particular difficulty1 the whole matter was gradually and quietly disposed of4 ,as ,father ,hull says1 the new view gradually filtered down from learned circles to the man in the street1 so that nowadays the partiality of the ,deluge is a matter of commonplace knowledge among all educated ,christians1 and is even taught to the rising generation in elementary schools4 ,in accordance with the wise provisions of the ,encyclical ,providentissimus ,deus1 with which all educated ,catholics should make themselves familiar1 conflicts have been avoided on this1 and on other points1 such as the general theory of evolution and the various problems connected with it2 the antiquity of man upon the earth and other matters as to which science is still uncertain4 ,some of these points might seem to conflict with the ,bible and the teachings of the ,church4 ,as ,catholics we can rest assured that the true explanation1 whenever it emerges1 cannot be opposed to the considered teaching of the ,church4 ,what the ,church does--and surely it must be clear that from her standpoint she could not do less--is to instruct ,catholic men of science not to proclaim as proved facts such modern theories--and there are many of them--as still remain wholly unproved1 when these theories are such as might seem to conflict with the teaching of the ,church4 ,this is very far from saying that ,catholics are forbidden to study such theories4 ,on the contrary1 they are encouraged to do so1 and that1 need it be said1 with the one idea of ascertaining the truth8 ,men of science1 ,catholic and otherwise1 have1 as a mere matter of fact1 been time and again encouraged by ,popes and other ecclesiastical authorities to go on searching for the truth1 never1 however1 neglecting the wise maxim that all things must be proved4 ,so long as a theory is unproved1 it must be candidly admitted that it is a crime against science to proclaim it to be incontrovertible truth1 yet this crime is being committed every day4 ,it is really against it that the magisterium of the ,church is exercised4 ,the wholesome discipline which she exercises might also be exercised to the great benefit of the ordinary reading public by some central scientific authority1 can such be imagined1 endowed with the right to say 7and in any way likely to be listened to73 ,such and such a statement is interesting--even extremely interesting--but so far one must admit that no sufficient proof is forthcoming to establish it as a fact3 it ought not1 therefore1 to be spoken of as other than a theory1 nor proclaimed as fact4 ,such constraint when rightly regarded is not or would not be a shackling of the human intellect1 but a kindly and intelligent guidance of those unable to form a proper conclusion themselves4 ,such is the idea of the ,church in the matter with which we have been dealing4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #bc3 ,darwiniana1 p4 #adg4 ,footnote #bd3 ,see1 for example1 his ,life and ,letters1 i41 #cjg4 ,footnote #be3 ,hume1 ,english ,men of ,letters ,series1 p4 #ace4 ,footnote #bf3 ,of course1 it may be argued1 no ,fellow need have applied for an imprimatur2 he did it ex majori cantel as the lawyers say4 ,this may be so1 but the same applies to the ecclesiastical imprimatur4 ,footnote #bg3 ,the review from which the following quotations are made appeared in ,nature on ,january #bd1 #ahhi4 ,footnote #bh3 ,vol4 ii41 p4 #aac4 ,footnote #bi3 ,galileo and ,his ,condemnation1 ,catholic ,truth ,society of ,england4 ,v4 ,,science ,,and ,,the ,,war ,amongst various important matters now brought to a sharper focus in the public eye1 few1 if any1 require more careful attention than that which is concerned with science1 its value1 its position1 its teachings1 and how it should be taught4 ,no one who has followed the domestic difficulties due to our neglect of the warnings of scientific men can fail to see how we have had to suffer because of the lax conduct of those responsible for these things in the past4 ,within the first few weeks after the war broke out--to take one example--every medical man was the recipient of a document telling him of the expected shortage in a number of important drugs and suggesting the substitutes which he might employ4 ,it was a timely warning2 but it need never have been issued if we had not allowed the manufacture of drugs1 and especially those of the so-called synthetic group1 to drift almost entirely into the hands of the ,badische ,aniline ,fabrik1 and kindred firms in ,germany4 ,this difficulty1 now partly overcome1 is one which never would have arisen but for the deaf ear turned to the warnings of the scientific chemists4 ,british pharmaceutical chemists1 with one or two exceptions1 had been relying upon foreign sources not only for synthetic drugs but actually for the raw materials of many of their preparations--such1 for example1 as aconite1 belladonna1 henbane1 all of which can be freely grown--which even grow wild--in these islands2 even1 incredible as it may seem1 for foxglove leaves4 ,these things with many others were imported from ,germany and ,austria4 ,here again leeway has had to be made up2 but it ought never to have been necessary1 and now that the war is over steps should be taken to see that it never need be necessary again4 ,the encouragement of ,british herb-gardens and of scientific experiment therein on the best method of culture for the raw material of our organic medicines must certainly be matters early taken in hand4 ,the classical example of the mortal injury done to ,british manufacture by the ,british manufacturer's former contempt for the scientific man is that of the aniline dyes1 which are so closely associated with the synthetic drugs as to form one subject of discussion4 ,quite early in the war dye-stuffs ran short1 and there was no means of replenishing the stock in ,britain1 nor even in ,america1 these products having formed the staple of a colossal manufacture1 with an enormous financial turnover1 in ,germany4 ,let us look at the history of these dyes4 ,the first aniline dye was discovered quite by accident1 in #ahef1 by the late ,professor ,w4 ,h4 ,perkin4 ,he called it mauve1 from the ,french word for the mallow1 the colour of whose flower it somewhat resembled4 ,in #ahfb there was an ,international ,exhibition in ,london2 and those who remembered it and its predecessor of #ahea have declared that the case of aniline dye-stuffs--for by that time quite a number of new pigments had been discovered--excited at the later the same attention as that given to the ,koh-i-noor at the earlier4 ,the invention1 out of which grew the enormous ,german business already alluded to1 and with which has been associated the discovery and manufacture of the synthetic drugs1 was entirely ,british in its inception and in its early stages4 ,moreover the raw materials on which it depended1 namely1 gas-tar products1 were to be had in greater abundance in ,england than anywhere else4 ,yet1 at the time when the war broke out1 this industry had been allowed almost entirely to drift into ,german hands4 ,how was this8 ,let an expert reply4 ,it was due1 he tells us1 to the neglect of the repeated warnings which have been issued since that time 7viz4 #ahhj1 by which date the ,germans had succeeded in capturing the trade in question7 in no uncertain voice by ,meldola1 ,green1 the ,perkins 7father and son71 and many other ,english chemists4 ,further1 he continues1 two causes have invariably been indicated for the transfer of this industry to ,germany--first the neglect of organic chemistry in the ,universities and colleges of this country 7a neglect which has long ceased71 and then the disregard by manufacturers of scientific methods and assistance and total indifference to the practice of research in connection with their processes and products4 ,i remember talking some twenty-five years ago to a highly educated young student of ,birmingham who was of ,german parentage though of ,english birth4 ,he had just taken the degree of ,doctor of ,science in ,london ,university1 and was on the eve of abandoning the adopted country of his parents for a position in the research laboratories of the ,badische company1 where he would be one among a number of chemists1 running into hundreds1 all engaged in research on gas-tar products4 ,at that moment the great ,birmingham gas-company was employing the services of one trained chemist4 ,such was and is the neglect of science by business men4 ,could it have been otherwise1 considering their bringing up8 ,let me again be reminiscent4 ,i suppose the public school in ,england 7not a ,catholic school1 for ,i was then a ,protestant7 at which ,i pursued what were described as studies did not in any very marked degree differ from its sister schools throughout the country4 ,how was science encouraged there8 ,one hour per week1 exactly one-fifth of the time devoted weekly1 not to ,greek and ,latin 7that would have been almost sacrilegious71 but to the writing of ,greek and ,latin prose and alleged ,greek and ,latin verse--that was the amount of time which was devoted to what was called science4 ,i suppose ,i had an ingrained vocation for science1 for it was the only subject1 except ,english composition1 in which ,i ever felt interest at school4 ,if the vocation had not been there1 any interest in the subject must necessarily have been slain once for all in me1 as ,i am sure it was in scores of others1 by the way it was taught2 for the instruction was confided to the ordinary form-master1 who doled out his questions from a text-book perfunctorily used and probably heartily despised by a man brought up on strict classical or mathematical lines4 ,our manufacturer is brought up in a school of this kind1 and it would be a miracle if he emerged from it with any respect for science4 ,things have changed now1 and for the better1 as they have at most of the ,universities2 but we are dealing with the generation of manufacturers of my age who were largely responsible for the neglects now in question4 ,well1 the boy left his school and went to ,oxford or ,cambridge1 neither of which then greatly encouraged science4 ,its followers were1 ,i believe1 known as ,stinks ,men4 ,at any rate it is only comparatively recently that we have seen the splendid developments of to-day in those ancient institutions4 ,one relic of the ancient days gives us an illuminating idea of how things used to be1 just as a fossil shows us the environment of its day4#cj ,trinity ,college1 ,dublin1 has fine provision for scientific teaching1 and a highly competent staff to teach4 ,but in its constitution it shows the attitude towards science which till lately informed the older ,universities4 ,trinity ,college has in its ,fellowship system one of the most important series of pecuniary rewards perhaps in ,europe1 of an educational character4 ,a man has only once to pass an examination1 admittedly one of great severity and competitive in character1 and thenceforward to go on living respectably and doing such duties as are committed to him1 to be ensured an excellent and increasing income for life4 ,how great the rewards are will be gathered from the fact that a distinguished occupant of one of these positions some years ago endeavoured--with complete success--to enforce on me the importance of the ,fellowship examination by telling me that he had already received over #ej1jjj in emoluments as a result of his success4 ,he has received a good deal more since1 and ,i hope will continue to be the recipient of this shower of gold for many years to come4#ca ,no doubt much might be urged for this system1 which was for a long time popular in ,china for the selection of ,mandarins1 and ,i am not criticising it here4 ,what ,i want to emphasise is that the examination for these valuable positions is either classical or mathematical1 and there it ends4 ,the greatest biologist in the world would have as much chance of a ,fellowship as the ragged urchin in the street unless he could settle ,hoti's business or elucidate ,greek3 ,p or do other things of that kind4 ,it is a luminous example of what was--must we say is8--thought of science in certain academic circles4 ,of course it may be urged--,i have actually heard it urged--that nothing is science save that which is treatable by mathematical methods4 ,it was a kind of inverted ,m4 ,jourdain who used this argument1 a gentleman who imagined himself to have been teaching science during a long life without ever having effected what he supposed to be his object4 ,then1 again1 our manufacturer1 whose object in life is to make money1 is naturally1 perhaps even necessarily1 affected by the kind of salaries which highly trained and highly eminent men of science receive by way of reward for their work4 ,few1 if any1 receive anything like the emoluments attaching to the position of ,county ,court ,judge1 and ,i know of only one case in which a ,professor's income1 to the delight and envy of all the teaching profession1 actually1 for a few years1 soared somewhat near the empyrean of a ,puisne ,judge's reward4 ,perhaps this is not to be wondered at2 for ,parliament always contains many lawyers1 and at the moment1 ,i think1 not a single scientific expert1 at least among the ,commons4 ,this is not really a sordid argument1 though it may appear so4 ,the labourer1 after all1 is worthy of his hire2 but in the scientific world it very1 very seldom happens that the hire is worthy of the labourer4 ,even to this day there is plenty of truth in the description of the attitude of ,mr4 ,meagles towards ,mr4 ,doyce as detailed by the author of ,little ,dorrit4 ,perhaps that is partly because it is generally the man of business1 and not the unhappy man of science1 who gains the money produced by scientific discoveries4 ,these are often1 if not usually1 made by accident1 and by a man on the track of something else1 on the elucidation of which he is probably so intent that he cannot spare time for side-issues1 very likely never even thinks of them4 ,sir ,james ,dewar discovered the principle of the ,thermos flask whilst he was working at the exceedingly difficult subject of the liquefaction of air4 ,i hope ,sir ,james had the prescience to patent his discovery1 and reap the reward which was due to him2 but1 if he did1 he is one amongst a thousand who never took this trouble and of whom ,sic vos non vobis might well be said4 ,when ,sabatier had shown the importance of combinations of hydrogen effected by what is known as a catalyst1 numerous patents were taken out--by other people1 of course--on which were founded very flourishing businesses4 ,sabatier profited by none of these--so ,i understand4 ,he received a ,nobel prize for his discoveries2 but another hath his heritage4 ,though science has not received any great encouragement1 yet in spite of that--the cynic might say because of that--it has made amazing progress during the past half-century4 ,mr4 ,chesterton somewhere notes that a time may easily come when we shall see the great outburst of science in the ,nineteenth ,century as something quite as splendid1 brief1 unique1 and ultimately abandoned as the outburst of art at the ,renaissance4 ,that1 of course1 may be so1 but as to the outburst there can be no question1 nor of its persistence to the present day4 ,that also is surely a curious phenomenon2 for1 as regards most other things1 we seem to be in the trough of the wave1 and not merely in these islands but all over the civilised world4 ,in ,art1 in ,music1 in ,literature1 in the ,drama1 it would be difficult to argue in favour of a pre-eminence1 or even of an equality of the present age1 comparing it with its predecessors4 ,take the politicians of the world2 it is perhaps difficult1 even foolish1 for us who are living with them to prophesy with any approximation of accuracy what the historian of a future day may say about them4 ,he may sum them up as respectable1 honest mediocrities trying to do their best under exceptionally difficult circumstances2 he may put them lower2 he may put them higher2 he may differentiate between those of different nations2 but there is little doubt that1 with the exception of the ,american ,president1 he will not be able to point to any one of the calibre of ,pitt or of ,bismarck or of the less severely tried ,disraeli or ,gladstone4 ,but just the reverse is the case in science1 which has men of the very first rank living1 working1 and discovering to-day4 ,there are indeed signs that even our ,government is cognizant of this4 ,the creation of a ,department of ,industrial ,scientific ,research1 the provision of a substantial income for the same1 the increase of research-grants to learned societies1 these and other things show that some attempt will be made to recognise the value of science to the ,state4 ,further1 the lesson seems to have gone home to some few at least that there is no difference between what have been absurdly called ,pure and ,applied ,science1 since so very many ,applied discoveries--such as the ,thermos--arose in the course of what certainly would have been described as ,pure researches4 ,it is to the public advantage that every educated person should know something about science2 nor is this by any means as big or difficult an achievement as some may imagine4 ,it is not necessary to teach any very large number of persons very much about any particular science or group of sciences4 ,what is really important is that people should imbibe some knowledge of scientific methods--of the meaning of science4 ,this can be done from the study of quite a few fundamental propositions of any one science under a good teacher--a first essential4 ,any person thus educated will1 for the remainder of his life1 be able at least to understand what is meant by science and the scientific method of approaching a problem4 ,he will not1 like an educational troglodyte at a recent ,conference1 refuse to describe anything as science which is not capable of mathematical treatment1 nor allude compendiously to physiological study as the cutting up of frogs4 ,in a word1 he will be an educated man1 which can no more be said of one ignorant of science than it can be of one whose mind has never experienced the softening influence of letters4 ,so far1 everybody whose opinion counts seems to be agreed2 but in any plea for an extended and improved teaching of science1 certain points ought not to be left out of count4 ,in the first place1 science is not the key to all locks2 there are many important things--some of the most important things in life--with which it has nothing whatever to do4 ,it will be well to recall ,mr4 ,balfour's words at the opening of the ,national ,physical ,laboratory3 ,science depends on measurement1 and things not measurable are therefore excluded1 or tend to be excluded1 from its attention4 ,but ,life and ,beauty and ,happiness are not measurable4 ,if there could be a unit of happiness1 politics might begin to be scientific4 ,it follows that there are a number of subjects on which the scientific man is just as fit1 or as unfit1 to express an opinion as any other man4 ,the intense preoccupation which serious scientific studies demand1 may render the man who is engaged therein even less competent to express an opinion on alien subjects than one whose attention1 less concentrated1 has time to range over diverse fields of study4 ,readers of ,darwin's ,life will remember his confession that he had lost all taste for music1 art1 and literature2 that he could not endure to read a line of poetry and found ,shakespeare so intolerably dull that it nauseated him2 and finally1 that his mind seemed to have become a kind of machine for grinding general laws out of a large collection of facts4 ,despite this warning as to the limits of science1 we have no lack of instances of scientific men posing as authorities on subjects on which they had no real right to be heard1 and1 what is worse1 being accepted as such by the uninstructed crowd4 ,thus ,professor ,huxley1 who1 as some one once said1 made science respectable1 was wont to utter pontifical pronouncements on the subject of ,home ,rule for ,ireland4 ,his knowledge of that country was quite rudimentary1 and his visits to it had been as few and as brief as if he had been its ,sovereign2 but that did not prevent him from delivering judgment1 nor unfortunately deter many from following that judgment as if it had been inspired4 ,i am not now arguing as to the rights and wrongs of ,huxley's view on the matter in question3 ,i have my own opinion on that4 ,what ,i am urging is that his position1 whether as a zoologist or1 incidentally1 as a great master of the ,english language1 in no way entitled him to express an opinion or rendered him a better authority on such a question than any casual fellow-traveller in a railway carriage might easily be4 ,this is bad enough2 but what is far worse is when scientific experts on the strength of their study of ,nature assume the right of uttering judicial pronouncements on moral and sociological questions1 judgments some at least of which are subversive of both decency and liberty4 ,thus we have lately been told that it is wanton cruelty to keep a weak or sickly child alive2 and the medical man1 under a reformed system of medical ethics1 is to have leave and licence to put an end to its life in a painless manner4 ,to what enormities and dastardly agreements this might lead need hardly be suggested2 and ,i am quite confident that the members of the honourable profession of physic1 to which ,i am proud to belong1 have no desire whatever for such a reform of the law or of their ethics4 ,then we are told in the same address 7,bateson1 ,british ,association ,addresses in ,australia1 #aiad7 that on the whole a decline in the birth-rate is rather a good thing1 and that families averaging four children are quite enough to keep the world going comfortably4 ,the date of this address will be noted2 and the fact that the war1 which was then just beginning1 has probably caused its author and has caused everybody else to see the utter futility of such assertions4 ,however1 if we are to rear only four children per marriage1 and if we are to give the medical man liberty to weed out the weaklings1 it behoves us to see that the children whom we produce are of the best quality4 ,let us1 therefore1 hie to the stud-farm1 observe its methods and proceed to apply them to the human race4 ,we must definitely prevent feeble-minded persons from propagating their species4 ,within limits1 that is a proposition with which all instructed persons would agree1 though few1 we imagine1 would put their opinions so uncharitably as the lecturer did3 ,the union of such social vermin we should no more permit than we would allow parasites to breed on our own bodies4 ,but we must go farther than this1 and introduce all sorts of restrictions on matrimony1 until finally it comes to be a matter to be arranged under rigid laws by a jury of elderly persons--all1 we may feel perfectly sure1 cranks of the first water4 ,in what milieu are their findings to take effect8 ,it is very important to consider that4 ,the author from whom ,i have been quoting tells us what we want to know4 ,man1 he tells us1 is a rather long-lived animal1 with great powers of enjoyment1 if he does not deliberately forgo them4 ,in the past1 we are told1 superstitious and mythical ideas of sin have predominantly controlled these powers4 ,we have changed all that now2 as the parent in ,punch says to the crying child by the seashore1 ,you've come out to enjoy yourself1 and enjoy yourself you shall6 ,so we are to plunge into the whirlpool of eugenic delights without any fear of that bugbear of a hell which another writer congratulates us on getting rid of4 ,we can1 it appears1 enter upon our eugenic experiment without a single moral scruple to restrain us or a single religious restriction to interfere with us4 ,in this soil is the plant to be grown1 and the first weed to be eradicated is that of the right of personal choice of a partner for life1 or for such other term as the law under the new rgime may require4 ,jack is to be torn from weeping ,jill1 and handed over to reluctant ,joan1 to whom he is personally displeasing and for whom he has not the slightest desire1 and handed over because the ,breeding ,committee think it is likely to prove advantageous for the ,coming ,race4 ,all that may be possible--or may not--but what then8 ,when you are carrying out ,mendelian experiments on peas1 you can enclose your flowers in muslin bags and prevent anything interfering with your observations4 ,and in the stud-farm you can keep the occupants shut up4 ,but what are you going to do with ,jack8 and with ,jill8 ,and still more with ,joan8 ,they cannot be permanently isolated1 neither are they restrained by any mythical ideas of sin4 ,they have been educated to the idea that their highest duty is to enjoy themselves4 ,why should they not do what they like8 ,and consequently1 as any reasoning person can see1 ,the ,inevitable must happen2 and where is your experiment and where the ,coming ,race8 ,it is perfectly useless for doctrinaires to argue1 as doctrinaires will1 about ethical restraints4 ,nature has no ethical restraints2 and any ethical restraints which man has come from that higher nature of his which he does not share with the lower creation4 ,what those whom the late ,mr4 ,devas so aptly called after-,christians always forget is that the humane1 the ,christian side of life1 which they as well as others exhibit1 is due to the influence1 lingering if you like1 of ,christianity4 ,they ignore or forget the pit out of which they were digged4 ,by another ,eugenist we are told that willy-nilly every sound1 healthy person of either sex must get married or at least betake him or herself to the business of propagating the race4 ,that at least is the essence of his singularly offensive dictum that since the celibacy of the ,catholic clergy and of members of ,religious ,orders deprives the ,state of a number of presumably excellent parents1 if monastic orders and institutions are to continue1 they should be open only to the eugenically unfit4#cb ,if the religious call is not to be permitted to dispense a man or woman from entering the estate of matrimony1 it may be assumed that nothing else1 except an unfavourable report from the committee of selection1 will do so4 ,and1 further1 as the one object of all this is to bring super-children into the world1 we must also assume that those who fail in this duty will find themselves in peril of the law4 ,surely what has been set down shows that whatever scientific reputation the writers in question possess1 and it is undeniably great1 it has not equipped them1 one will not merely say with moral or religious ideas1 but with an ordinary knowledge of human nature4 ,it has not equipped them with any conception apparently of political possibilities2 and it has left them without any of that saving salt1 a sense of humour4 ,like ,huxley1 they have started out to give opinions without first having made themselves familiar with the subject on which they were to deliver judgment4 ,it is perhaps little to be wondered at that the intense preoccupation which the study of science entails should tend to induce those whose attention is constantly fixed on ,nature to imagine that from ,nature can be drawn not only lessons of physical life but lessons also of conduct4 ,of course this is quite wrong2 for ,nature has no moral lesson to teach us4 ,we are told to go to the ant--at least the sluggard is--but for what8 ,to amend his sluggardliness4 ,no one has ever suggested that we should go to ,nature to learn to be humble1 kindly1 unselfish1 tolerant1 and ,christian1 in our dealings with others2 and for this excellent reason1 that none of these things can be learnt from ,nature4 ,science is neither moral nor immoral1 but non-moral2 and1 as we have seen a thousand times in this present war1 its kindest gifts to man can be used1 and are used1 for his cruel destruction4 ,in this war1 pre-eminently amongst all wars1 we have the application of pure natural principles unameliorated by the influences of ,christianity1 or of chivalry1 ,christianity's offspring4 ,as ,sir ,robert ,borden has summed it up1 ,german kultur is an attempt to impose upon us the law of the jungle4 ,natural ,selection1 some would have us believe1 is the dominant law of living nature1 and all would agree that it is an important law4 ,let us then1 if we are to follow ,nature1 put it into practice4 ,but ,natural ,selection means the ,survival of the ,fittest in the ,struggle for ,life4 ,it consequently means the ,extermination of the ,less ,fit1 a little fact often left out of count4 ,it means in three words ,might is ,right1 and was not that exactly the proposition by which we were confronted in this war8 ,if ,natural ,selection be our only guide1 let us sink hospital ships1 destroy innocent villages and towns1 exterminate our weaker opponents in any way that seems best to us4 ,it was all summed up centuries ago by the author of the ,book of ,wisdom3 ,let us oppress the poor just man1 and not spare the widow1 nor honour the ancient grey hairs of the aged4 ,but let your strength be the law of justice3 for that which is feeble is found to be nothing worth4 ,that is ,natural ,selection in operation in human life when human beings have been stripped of all mythical ideas of ,sin3 not a pretty picture nor a condition of affairs under which we should like long to exist4 ,some of the other resemblances are less dreadful1 but none the less instructive4 ,let us take the matter of ,mimicry4 ,there is a form of protective mimicry whereby the living thing is like unto its surroundings1 and thus escapes its enemy4 ,we find it in warfare in the use of khaki dress1 in white overalls in snow-time1 in other such expedients4 ,but there is also a form of ,aggressive ,mimicry in which a deadly thing makes itself look like something innocent1 as the wolf tried to look in ,little ,red ,riding ,hood4 ,the ,germans were beginning their attack on ,haumont4 ,their front-line skirmishers1 to throw us into confusion1 had donned caps which were a faint imitation of our own1 and also provided themselves with ,red ,cross brassards 7,the ,battle of ,verdun4 ,h4 ,dugard74 ,not to be tedious on this point1 which really does not require to be laboured1 let me finish with one quotation from a vivid series of war-pictures4 ,boyd ,cable is writing of men in the trenches3 ,civilised ,man1 in his latest art of war1 has gone back to be taught one more simple lesson by the beast of the field and the birds of the air2 the armed hosts are hushed and stilled by the passing air-machine1 exactly as the finches and field-mice of hedgerow and ditch and field are frozen to stillness by the shadow of a hovering hawk1 the beat of its passing wing4 ,no2 an existence passed under conditions of this kind and as the normal state of affairs is not an existence to be contemplated with equanimity4 ,we are anxious that science and scientific teaching should be assisted in every possible way4 ,but let us be quite clear that while science has much to teach us and we much to learn from her1 there are things as to which she has no message to the world4 ,the ,minor ,prophets of science are never tired of advising theologians to keep their hands off science4 ,the ,major ,prophets are too busy to occupy themselves with such polemics4 ,but the theologian is abundantly in his right in saying to the scientific writer ,hands off morals6 for with morality science has nothing to do4 ,let us at any rate avoid that form of kultur which consists in bending ,natural ,history to the teaching of conduct1 uncorrected by any ,christian injunctions to soften its barbarities4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #cj3 ,since these lines were written1 this state of affairs has come to an end and the first ,fellow has been elected for his purely scientific attainments1 in the person of the distinguished geologist1 ,professor ,joly1 ,f4,r4,s4 ,footnote #ca3 ,it was the late distinguished ,provost1 ,sir ,john ,mahaffy1 at whose instance the change in the ,fellowship system was introduced4 ,footnote #cb3 ,conklyn1 ,heredity and ,environment in the ,development of ,men4 ,princeton ,university ,press1 #aiae4 ,,vi4 ,,heredity ,,and ,,arrangement ,some years ago1 when ,i was delivering a lecture at the ,cathedral ,hall of ,westminster1 in the course of the questioning which took place at the termination of the discourse1 which was on vitalism1 ,i was asked by one who signed his paper1 ,so and ,so1 ,atheist1 ,what would you say if you saw a duck come out of a hen's egg8 ,i recognised at once the idea at the back of the question and appreciated the fact that it had been asked by one who1 as some one has said1 called himself an advanced free-thinker1 but was really a very ignorant and vulgar person who was suffering from a surfeit of the ideas of certain people cleverer than himself4 ,but1 as a full discussion of the matter would have taken at least as long as the lecture which ,i had just concluded1 my reply was that before ,i attempted to explain it ,i would wait to see the duck come out of the hen's egg1 since no man had as yet witnessed such an event4 ,i do not know whether my atheistical questioner was satisfied or not1 but ,i heard no more of him4 ,but1 after all1 is it not a marvellous thing that a duck never does come out of a hen's egg8 ,if everything happens by chance1 as some would have us believe1 why is it that a duck does not occasionally emerge from a hen's egg8 ,surely this is a miraculum1 a thing to be wondered at1 yet so common that it goes unnoticed1 like many other wonderful things which are also matters of common everyday occurrence1 such as the spinning of the earth on its own axis and its course round the sun and through the heavens4 ,if we pursue this question further we shall begin to remember that creatures more nearly related to one another also breed true4 ,the hen and the duck are both birds1 but they are not so nearly allied to one another as the lion and the tiger1 both of which are ,felid1 or cats4 ,yet no one ever expects that a tiger will be born of a lioness1 or vice versa4 ,further1 the pug and the greyhound are both of them dogs3 the name canis domesticus applies to both1 and one would be distinguished from the other in a scientific list as ,var4 7i4e4 variety7 'pug1' or ,var4 'greyhound4' ,yet one can imagine the surprise of a breeder if a greyhound was born in his carefully selected and guarded kennel of pugs4 ,in a word1 not only species1 but varieties do tend to breed true2 the child does resemble its parent or parents4 ,no doubt the resemblance is not absolute3 there is variation as well as inheritance4 ,sometimes the variation may be recognised as a feature possessed by a grandparent or even by some collateral relative such as an uncle or great-uncle2 sometimes this may not be the case1 though the non-recognition of the likeness does not in any way preclude the possibility that the peculiarity may have been also possessed by some other member of the family4 ,but on the whole the offspring does closely resemble its parents2 that is to say1 not only the species and the variety but the individual breeds true4 ,look like dey are bleedzed to take atter der pa1 as ,uncle ,remus said when he was explaining how the rabbit comes to have a bobtail4 ,moreover this resemblance is not merely in the great general features4 ,apart from monstrosities1 the children of human beings are human beings2 the children of white parents have white skins1 those of black progenitors are black4 ,commonly1 though not always by any means1 the children of dark-haired parents are themselves dark-haired1 and so on4 ,but smaller features are also transmitted1 and transmitted too for many generations2 for example1 the well-known case of the ,hapsburg lip1 visible in so many portraits of ,spanish monarchs and their near relatives1 and visible in life to-day4 ,again1 there are families in which the inner part of one eyebrow has the hairs growing upwards instead of in the ordinary way1 a feature which is handed on from one generation to another4 ,even more minute features than this have been known to be transmissible and transmitted1 such as a tiny pit in the skin on the ear or on the face4 ,in fact1 there is hardly any feature1 no matter how small1 which may not become a hereditary possession4 ,if in-and-in breeding occur1 as it may do amongst human beings in a locality much removed from other places of habitation1 it may even happen that what may be looked upon as a variety of the human race may arise1 though when it arises it is always easy to wipe it out and restore things to the normal by the introduction of fresh blood1 to use the misleading term commonly employed1 where the ,biblical word seed comes much nearer to the facts4 ,thus there is a well-authenticated case in ,france 7in ,brittany if ,i remember right7 of a six-fingered race which existed for a number of generations in a very isolated place and was restored to five-fingeredness when an increase in the populousness of the district permitted a wider selection in the matter of marriages4 ,and similarly1 not long ago an account was published of an albino race somewhere in ,canada which had acquired a special name4 ,perhaps it has been wiped out by this time by wider marriages1 though these might be effected with greater difficulty by albinos than by six-fingered persons4 ,at any rate no one can doubt that it might at any time be wiped out by such marriages1 though even when apparently wiped out1 sporadic cases might be expected to occur3 what the breeders call throws-back1 when they see an animal which resembles some ancestor further back in the line of descent than its actual progenitors4 ,certainly the most remarkable instance of the reliance which we have come to feel respecting this matter of inheritance is that which was afforded by a recent case of disputed paternity interesting on both sides of the ,atlantic1 since the events in dispute occurred in ,america and the property and the dispute concerning it were in ,england4 ,it was obviously a most difficult and disputable case1 but the judge1 a shrewd observer1 noticed1 when the putative father was in the box1 a feature in his countenance which seemed closely to resemble what was to be seen in the child which he claimed to be his own4 ,a careful examination of the parents and of the child was made by an eminent sculptor1 accustomed to minute observation of small features of variety in those sitting to him as models4 ,he reported and showed to the court that there were remarkable features in the head of the child which resembled1 on the one hand an unusual configuration in the mother--or the woman who claimed to be the mother--and on the other a well-marked feature in her husband4 ,and as a result the father and mother won their case1 and were proclaimed the parents of the child because of the resemblance of these features2 and1 if we think for a moment1 we shall see1 because also of the reliance which the human race has come to place in the fidelity of inheritance1 of its perfect certainty1 so to speak1 that a duck will not come out of a hen's egg1 and the fact of this reliance on a generally received truth remains1 whatever may be said as to the legal aspect of such evidence4 ,inheritance is a fact recognised by everybody1 and the only reason why we refuse to wonder at it is because1 like other wonderful yet everyday facts1 such as the growth of a great tree from a tiny seed1 it is so everyday that we have ceased to wonder at it4 ,it is there3 we know that4 ,but have we any kind of idea how it comes about8 ,the duck does not1 as a matter of common experience1 come out of a hen's egg4 ,why does it come out of a duck's egg8 ,why doesn't it come out1 if only rarely1 from a hen's egg8 ,in other words1 do we know what it is that explains inheritance or how it is that there is such a thing as inheritance8 ,well1 candour obliges me to say that we do not4 ,in spite of all the work which has been expended upon this question we are totally ignorant of the mechanism of heredity4 ,nevertheless it will be instructive to glance at the theories which have been put forward to explain this matter4 ,all living things spring from a small germ1 and in the vast majority of cases this germ is the product in part of the male and in part of the female parent4 ,it is therefore natural that we should in the first place turn our attention to this germ and ask ourselves whether there is anything in its construction which will give us the key of the mystery4 ,there is not1 at least there is nothing definite as shown by our most powerful microscopes4 ,to be sure there is a remarkable substance1 called chromatin because of its capacity for taking up certain dyes1 which evidently plays some profoundly important part in the processes of development4 ,we may suspect that this is the thing which carries the physical characteristics from one generation to another1 but we cannot prove it2 and though some authorities think that it is1 others deny it4 ,even if it be1 it can hardly be supposed that microscopic research will ever be able to establish the fact1 and that for reasons which must now be explained4 ,let us suppose that we visit a vast botanic garden1 and in the seed-time of each of the plants therein contained select from each plant a single ripe seed4 ,it is clear that1 if we take home that collection of seeds1 we shall have in them a miniature picture of the garden from which they were culled1 or at least we shall be in possession of the potentiality of such a garden1 for1 if we sow these seeds and have the good fortune to see them all develop1 take root and grow1 we shall actually possess a replica of the garden from which they came4 ,not exactly1 it may be urged1 for the distribution or arrangement of the seeds must have been carefully looked to1 if the gardens are to resemble each other otherwise than in the mere possession of identical plants4 ,i admit the truth of this1 but cannot for the moment discuss it4 ,at any rate we should have the same plants in both gardens4 ,on this analogy1 many have suggested that every organ in the body--we must go further1 and say that every marked feature in every organ in the body--is represented in the germ by a seed which can grow1 under favourable circumstances1 into just such another organ or feature of an organ4 ,this was the theory put forward by ,darwin under the name of pangenesis1 and by others under other titles with which it is unnecessary to burden these pages4 ,all these theories have been summed together under the name micromeristic1 that is small-fragmented1 or again1 particulate1 since they all postulate the existence in the germ of innumerable small fragments--seeds--which are capable of growing into complete plants or organs under favourable circumstances4 ,again1 this1 even if true1 does not by any means exhaust the matter1 for it does not explain why the seed of the eye implants itself and grows in the right place in the head instead of making a home for itself1 let us say1 in the sole of the foot4 ,but again we must pass over that matter4 ,there is nothing inherently impossible in this theory2 indeed1 if we allow that the transmission of inheritable characteristics is purely material1 and it may be1 there is only one other conceivable way in which it can occur4 ,it is true that the seeds must be almost innumerable1 but the germ1 though small1 is capable of accommodating an almost innumerable number of independent factors1 if the prevalent views as to the constitution of matter are to be believed4 ,and1 as it is quite inconceivable that we can ever have microscopes which could detect such minute objects as the ultimate bricks of which the atom--no1 not even the atoms themselves which compose the germ--consists1 it is impossible that we should be able to say that the seed-theory is untrue4 ,even if we could see these ultimate constituents it is in the last degree unlikely that they would have any resemblance to the things which are1 on this theory to grow from them1 any more than the acorn resembles the oak which is to spring from it4 ,but observe6 the germ on this view must contain not only seeds from the immediate parents but from many1 perhaps all1 of the older generations of the family1 otherwise how are we to account for the appearance of ancestral peculiarities which the father and mother do not show8 ,moreover1 since very minute things1 like the inner angle of the eyebrow1 may independently vary1 there must be an enormous number of seeds apart altogether from the considerations alluded to in the last paragraph4 ,and many authorities who have closely considered the question have come to the conclusion that the complexities introduced would be so great that it is impossible to believe in any micromeristic theory4 ,then1 of course1 we must look out for some other explanation1 and some have suggested that it is to be found in memory--the memory of the germ of what it was once part and the anticipation of what it may once more be4 ,this again is an explanation not susceptible of proof along the lines of a chemical experiment1 but not necessarily1 therefore1 untrue4 ,of course there are two ideas as to memory4 ,if we are pure materialists and imagine every memory in our possession as something stamped1 in some wholly incomprehensible manner1 on some cell of our brain and looked at there1 by some wholly inconceivable agency1 when we sit down to think of past days1 then we must look on the germ1 under the mnemic or memory theory as consisting of fragments each of them impressed with the memory of some particular organ or feature of the body1 and lo6 we find ourselves back again in micromerism4 ,if we are to take a non-materialistic view of memory we are plunged into a metaphysical discussion which cannot here be pursued4 ,a third explanation1 which by the way explains nothing1 is that the whole matter is one of arrangement1 to which we shall return at the close of this paper4 ,the mechanism of inheritance must either be physical#cc or it must be non-physical2 that is1 immaterial4 ,this is what emerges from our discussion1 and so far as science goes to-day it must be admitted that neither of these explanations can be said to be accepted generally by men of science or proved--perhaps even capable of proof--by scientific methods4 ,if we know little or nothing about the mechanism of inheritance1 can we and do we know anything about the laws under which it works1 or has it any laws8 ,or are its operations a mere chance-medley8 ,it is hardly necessary to ask the latter question1 for chance-medley could not lead to regular operations--operations so regular that a court of law may act upon their evidence4 ,yes3 we answer to the first question very lightly but without perhaps always thinking what that affirmative answer implies1 a point to be considered in a moment4 ,it may at once be said that we do now know a good deal about the laws under which inheritance works itself out1 and that knowledge1 as most people are now aware1 is due to the quiet and for a time forgotten labours of ,johann ,gregor ,mendel1 once ,abbot of the ,augustinian ,abbey of ,brnn1 a prelate of that ,church which loud-voiced ignoramuses are never tired of proclaiming to have been from the beginning even down to the present day the impassioned and deadly enemy of all scientific progress4 ,mendel saw that former workers at inheritance had been directing their attention to the tout ensemble of an individual or natural object2 his idea was analytical in its nature1 for he directed his attention to individual characteristics1 such as stature or colour1 or the like4 ,and having thus directed his attention and confined his labours mainly to plants1 since the study of generations of most animals is too lengthy a process for one man to carry out1 he did in fact discover that there are very definite laws1 capable even of numerical statement1 under which inheritance acts4 ,there is no need to explain or discuss them here3 suffice it to say that there are such laws1#cd as is now admitted by an overwhelming majority of the biologists of to-day4 ,mendel's facts were hidden in a somewhat obscure journal2 they lay dormant1 much to his annoyance1 during his lifetime4 ,years after his death his papers were unearthed1 and his discoveries have been proclaimed as being as fundamental to biology as those of ,newton and ,dalton to other sciences4 ,there are1 then1 laws4 ,that means one of two things3 either that these laws arose by chance-medley1 or that some one enacted them4 ,it seems impossible1 when one surveys the orderly operations of ,nature1 among which are those conducted under the laws known by the name of their discoverer1 ,mendel--it seems wholly impossible that these operations arose by chance-medley4 ,to me1 at any rate1 any such explanation is wholly unthinkable4 ,but if it be an impossible explanation1 as ,i and many thousands1 not to say millions1 of other persons believe1 then there is no other way out of it than that these operations must have been planned by some one2 in other words1 that there must have been a ,creator and ,deviser of the world4 ,people hide from this explanation1 and one of the favourite sandbanks in which this particular kind of human ostrich plunges its head is ,nature4 ,nature does this1 and ,nature does that1 forgetting entirely the fact that ,nature is a mere personification and means either chance-medley or a ,creator1 according to the old dilemma4 ,there is a very curious example of this inability or unwillingness to admit--perhaps even to understand--the force of this argument exhibited by those to whom one would suppose that it would come home with overpowering force3 ,i mean1 of course1 the ,mendelians4 ,the most learned of these1 and one of the most open-minded of men1 hints in one place that though he does not think it necessary himself to believe it1 yet it might at least be suggested that1 if in a certain organism we find things so placed that a certain combination is bound to emerge in a certain generation1 such a state of affairs might have been prearranged4 ,now1 if it was prearranged1 the awful fact emerges that there must have been an arranger2 in other words1 a creative power4 ,this explanation is taboo in certain circles4 ,but one may reasonably ask1 ,what then8 ,is it really suggested that these orderly sets of occurrences may occur not once or twice only but thousands and thousands of times1 and this may all happen by chance8 ,a very distant acquaintance with the mathematics of probability will show that this is a wholly untenable theory4 ,we are generally answered by some purely verbal explanation1 like the personification of ,nature already alluded to4 ,thus1 in a recent discussion on inheritance in a ,presidential ,address to the ,british ,association1 to which ,i have already alluded1 the writer with whose explanation ,i have just been dealing states that he thinks it unlikely that the factors of inheritance are in any simple or literal sense material particles1 and proceeds thus3 ,i suspect rather that their properties depend on some phenomenon of arrangement4 ,now1 in the first place1 this is no explanation at all1 for the mechanism of inheritance must be either material or immaterial4 ,if there is a phenomenon of arrangement there must be something to be arranged1 and this something can hardly be other than material if it is to be arranged at all4 ,but let that pass4 ,what is far more important is to remember that if a thing is to be arranged there must be somebody to arrange it1 for chance-medley cannot arrange anything in an orderly manner2 or if it could do so once1 cannot be supposed capable of doing it a second time in a precisely similar manner1 not to say capable of doing it countless thousands of times4 ,if we go into a great museum our first idea1 perhaps our last1 concerns the arrangement found therein4 ,but it may safely be said that no sane person ever entertained that idea without being perfectly aware that the arrangement was made by human hands1 controlled1 in the last resort1 by the brain of the curator of the museum4 ,now1 in a sense1 the living body is a museum containing specimens of different kinds of cells4 ,there are brain-cells1 liver-cells1 bone-cells1 scores of different varieties of cells1 and all of them1 so to speak1 are arranged in their appropriate cases4 ,if we go to the brain-case we can search it through and through without finding a liver-cell1 any more than we should find a typical brain-cell embedded in the marrow of one of the bones4 ,the different specimens all occupy their appropriate positions4 ,how did they get there8 ,the future animal1 like animals of all kinds1 including man1 commences as a single cell4 ,all save a few interesting but at present negligible cases are composed of elements drawn from male and female parents4 ,this cell divides up into a multitude of others4 ,at first these are to all appearances identical1 but later they begin to differentiate1 at first into three classes and afterwards into the multitude of different cells of which the body is composed4 ,further1 these groups of cells become aggregated in appropriate groups1 cells of one kind uniting with cells of the same kind and with no others4 ,here we have to do with arrangement1 consummately skilful arrangement1 an arrangement which practically never fails1 for1 leaving aside the case of monstrosity1 a consideration of which would detain us too long1 not merely are the various cells all placed in their proper positions1 as we have seen1 but their aggregation1 the individual1 is so formed as to belong to the proper compartment of that large museum1 the world--the same compartment as that occupied by his progenitors4 ,neither the particulate nor the chemical theories help us here4 ,the mnemic would1 but it has its initial and insuperable difficulty1 pointed out in another article in this volume1 that1 as you must have an experience before you can remember it1 it in no way accounts for the first operation of arrangement4 ,as to the material explanations1 particulate or chemical1 they amount to something like this3 you have half a cart-load of bricks from one yard and half a cart-load from another1 and when the bricks are dumped down in an appropriate place they form a little house1 just like those occupied by the managers of the brickyards4 ,so they may1 but no one in his sense supposes that they will thus arrange themselves of their own power4 ,some one must arrange them4 ,who arranges the tiny bricks of which the animal body consists1 or what arranges them8 ,to revert to our previous example of the garden2 suppose that we bring back from that which we desire to copy a bag of seeds representing all the plants which it contains4 ,we have a plot of land of the same size as our example2 we dig it and we dung it and then we scatter our seeds perfectly haphazard over its surface4 ,what are the odds as to their coming up in an exactly similar pattern to those in the other garden4 ,mathematicians1 ,i suppose1 could calculate the probabilities1 but they must be infinitesimally small4 ,yet in the case of the animal the pattern is always observed4 ,it is quite useless for any one1 however eminent an authority he may be1 to dismiss the matter by saying ,it is a phenomenon of arrangement1 for that begs the whole question4 ,a ,martian visitor taken to ,westminster ,abbey and told that its construction was a phenomenon of arrangement might be expected to turn a scornful eye upon his cicerone and reply1 ,any fool can see that1 but who arranged it8 ,hence1 though wild horses would not drag such an admission from many1 we are irresistibly compelled to adopt the theory of a ,creator and a ,maintainer also of nature and its operations--so-called--if we are to escape from the absurdities involved in any other explanation4 ,thus there are very important and fundamental matters to be deduced from the very little which we know about inheritance1 just as there are from a hundred and one other lines of consideration related to this world and its contents4 ,we do not know very much--it may fairly be said we know nothing as to the vehicle of inheritance4 ,we know a little1 but it is still a very little even in comparison with what we may yet come to know as the result of careful and long-continued experiment1 about the laws of inheritance4 ,what we do learn from our knowledge1 such as it is1 is the fact that we can give no intelligent or intelligible explanation of the facts brought before us except on the hypothesis of a ,creator and ,maintainer of all things4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #cc3 ,a third explanation1 that the mechanism of inheritance is of a chemical character1 is now being put forward1 and some mention of this view1 which is by no means one of general acceptance1 will be found in another article in this volume4 ,footnote #cd3 ,an account of them will be found in ,a ,century of ,scientific ,thought1 by the present writer1 published by ,messrs4 ,burns ,oates4 ,,vii4 ,,special ,,creation ,professor ,scott1 of ,princeton1 has recently given to the public in his ,westbrook ,lectures#ce an exceedingly impartial1 convincing1 and lucid statement of the evidence for the theory of evolution or transformism4 ,on one point of terminology a few observations may not be amiss1 since there is a certain amount of confusion still existing in the minds of many persons which can be and ought to be cleared up4 ,throughout his book ,professor ,scott contrasts evolution with what he calls special creation4 ,in so doing he is evidently in no way anxious to deny the fact that there is a ,creator1 and that evolution may fairly be regarded as ,his method of creation4 ,in one passage he expressly states that acceptance of the theory of evolution by no means excludes belief in a creative plan4 ,and again1 when dealing with the palontological evidence in favour of evolution1 he points out that ,cuvier and ,agassiz1 examining it as it was known in their day1 interpreted the facts as the carrying out of a systematic creative plan1 an interpretation which the author claims is not at all invalidated by the acceptance of the evolutionary theory4 ,he is not1 we need hardly say1 in any way singular in taking up this attitude1 since it was held by ,darwin1 by ,wallace1 by ,huxley1 and by other sturdy defenders of the doctrine of evolution4 ,yet1 just as at the time that ,darwin's views were first made public1 many thought that they were subversive of ,christianity1 so1 even now1 some whose acquaintance with the problem and its history is of a superficial character1 are inclined when they see the word creation1 even with the qualifying adjective special prefixed to it1 used in contradistinction to evolution1 to imagine that the theory of creation1 and of course of a ,creator1 must fall to the ground if evolution should be proved to be the true explanation of living things and their diversities4 ,it is more than a little difficult for us1 living at the present day1 to understand this curious frame of mind2 yet it certainly existed1 and existed where it might least have been expected to exist4 ,nor is it quite extinct to-day1 though it only lingers in the less instructed class of persons4 ,the misconception arose from a confusion between the fact and the method of creation4 ,as to the former1 no ,catholic1 no ,christian1 no theist has any kind of doubt2 indeed there are those who could not be classified under any of those categories who still would be prepared to admit that there must be a ,first ,cause as the explanation of the universe4 ,some of them1 whose reasoning is a little difficult to follow1 seem to be content with an immanent1 blind god1 a mere mainspring to the clock1 making it move1 no doubt1 but otherwise powerless4 ,if we neglect--in a mathematical sense--those who adopt the agnostic attitude2 content themselves with the formula ignoramus et ignorabimus of ,du ,bois ,reymond1 and confine their investigations to the machine as a going machine without inquiring how it came to be a machine or what set it to work1 we shall1 ,i think1 find that most people who have really thought out the question admit that the only reasonable explanation of things as they are1 is the postulation of a ,free ,first ,cause2 in other words1 an ,omnipotent ,creator of the universe4 ,such1 of course1 is the teaching of the ,scriptures and of the ,church1 and it must be admitted that neither of them carries us very much further in this matter4 ,in fact1 whilst both are perfectly clear and definite about the fact of creation1 neither of them has much to say about the method4 ,yet1 as all admit1 evolution concerns only the method and tells us absolutely nothing about the cause4 ,being omnipotent1 it is obvious that its ,maker might have created the universe in any way which seemed good to ,him--for example1 all at once out of nothing just as it stands at this moment4 ,such a thing would not be impossible to ,omnipotence2 and1 as we know1 ,fallopius1 suddenly confronted by the problems of fossils in the sixteenth century1 did suggest that they were created just as they were1 and that they had never been anything else4 ,so did ,philip ,gosse some two and a half centuries later4 ,there is nothing more sure than that the world was not created just as it is4 ,reason and ,scripture both teach us that1 and geology makes it quite clear that the appearance of living things upon the earth has been successive2 that groups of living things1 like the giant saurians1 which were once the dominant zoological objects1 had their day and have gone1 as we may suppose1 for ever4 ,a few very lowly forms1 like the lamp-shells1 have persisted almost throughout the history of life on the earth1 but on the whole the picture which we see is one of appearances1 culminations1 and disappearances of successive races of living things4 ,there was a time when ,trilobites1 crustaceans whose nearest living representatives are the ,king-,crabs1 first became features of the fauna of the earth4 ,then they increased to such an extent as to become the most prominent feature4 ,then they declined in importance1 disappeared1 and for uncounted ages have existed only as fossils4 ,thus we conclude that the creation of species was a progressive affair1 just as the creation of individuals is a successive affair1 for every living thing1 coming as it does into existence by the power of the ,creator1 is ,his creation and in a very real sense a special creation4 ,now we know very well how living things come into existence to-day2 can we form any idea as to how they originated in the beginning8 ,milton1 in his crude description in ,paradise ,lost1 pictured living things as gradually rising out of and extricating themselves from the soil4 ,the grassy clods now calved1 now half appeared ,the tawny lion1 pawing to get free ,his hinder parts1 then springs as broke from bonds1 ,and rampant shakes his brindled mane2 the ounce1 ,the libbard1 and the tiger1 as the mole ,rising1 the crumbled earth above them threw ,in hillocks3 the swift stag from underground ,bore up his branching head3 scarce from his mould ,behemoth1 biggest born of earth1 up heaved ,his vastness4 ,in this description ,milton probably represented the ideas of his day--a day penetrated with literal interpretation of the ,scripture1 though it is well to recall to our minds the fact that not one word or idea of the above is contained in the ,bible4 ,the only suggestion is that the body of ,adam was fashioned from the slime of the earth1 the precise meaning of which phrase has never been defined by the ,church4 ,again1 we have to say that the ,miltonic scheme is not impossible1 any more than any other scheme is impossible1 but we may further say that it is more than improbable1 and with every reverence we may add that to us it does not seem to be specially consonant with the greatness and wisdom of ,god4 ,there remains the derivative form of creation1 compendiously styled evolution4 ,that this also is a possible method of creation no one will deny1 and it has been discussed as such by many of the greatest thinkers in the history of the ,church4 ,we can consider it1 therefore1 from the point of fact or of knowledge as we now possess it1 and we can do so without imagining that1 in so doing1 we are contemplating a method which is anything else but the carrying out of a creative plan1 existing perfect and complete and from all eternity in the mind of the ,being ,whose conception it was and by whose fiat it came to pass4 ,moreover1 each form produced is a special creation1 since it was specially designed to be as it is and to appear when it did1 just as the clockmaker intends his clock to strike twelve at noon1 though he can hardly be said to make it strike at that moment4 ,hence to place special creation in antagonism to evolution is really to use an ambiguous phraseology4 ,no doubt it is not easy to find the proper phraseology4 ,some have employed the terms immediate and mediate1 to which also a certain amount of ambiguity is attached4 ,perhaps direct and derivative might convey more accurate ideas2 but whatever terminology we adopt1 we are still safe in saying that whether ,god makes things or makes them make themselves ,he is creating them and specially creating them4 ,this is not the place to enter into any elaborate discussion as to the truth of the theory of evolution4 ,few will be found to deny the statement that it is a theory which does explain ,nature as we see it and as we learn its history in the past1 but that does not necessarily prove that it is true4 ,st4 ,thomas ,aquinas1 dealing with the movements of the planets1 makes a very important statement when he tells us1 in so many words1 that1 though the hypothesis with which he is dealing would explain the appearances which he was seeking to explain1 that does not prove that it is the true explanation1 since the real answer to the riddle may be one then unknown to him4 ,there are1 however1 one or two points it may be useful to consider before we leave the question4 ,that evolution may occur within a class seems to be quite certain4 ,the case of the ,porto ,santo rabbits1 one of many cited by ,darwin or brought to knowledge since his time1 will make clear what is meant4 ,porto ,santo is a small island1 not far from ,madeira1 on which a ,portuguese navigator1 named ,zarco1 let loose1 somewhere about the year #adbj1 a doe and a recently born litter of rabbits1 which we may feel quite sure belonged to one of those domestic breeds which have all been derived from the wild rabbit of ,europe known to zoologists as ,lepus ,cuniculus4 ,the island was a favourable spot for the rabbits1 for there do not appear to have been any carnivorous beasts or birds to harry them1 nor were there other land mammals competing with them for food2 and1 as a result1 we are told that they had so far increased and multiplied in forty years as to be described as innumerable4 ,in four and a half centuries these rabbits had become so different from any ,european rabbits that ,haeckel described them as a species apart1 and named it ,lepus ,huxlei4 ,this rabbit is much smaller than the ,european form1 being described as more like a large rat than a rabbit4 ,its colour is very different from its ,european relatives2 it has curious nocturnal habits2 it is exceedingly wild and untamable4 ,most remarkable of all1 and most conclusive as to specific difference1 ,mr4 ,bartlett1 the highly skilled head keeper of the ,london ,zoological ,gardens1 utterly failed to induce the two males which were brought over to those gardens to associate with or to breed with the females of various other breeds of rabbits which were repeatedly placed with them4 ,if the history of these ,porto ,santo rabbits had been unknown to us1 instead of being a matter as to which there can be no doubt1 every naturalist would at once have accepted them as a separate species4 ,we need not hesitate1 it appears1 to do so and to admit that it is a new species which has been produced within historic times and under conditions with which we are fully acquainted4 ,it may1 however1 be argued1 and quite fairly argued1 that such a process of evolution1 though definitely proved1 is a very different thing from such an evolution as would permit of a common ancestry for animals so far apart1 for example1 as a whale and a rabbit1 or perhaps even nearer in relationship1 as between a lion and a seal4 ,to discuss this further would require a dissertation on the highly involved question of species and varieties1 and that is not now to be attempted4 ,what1 however1 may be said is that the difficulties presented by what is called phylogeny--that is1 the relationships of different classes to one another--are so great as to have led more than one man of science to proclaim his belief that evolution has been poly--and not mono--phyletic4 ,such is the view which has been enunciated by ,father ,wasmann1 ,s4,j41 whose authority on a point of this kind is paramount4 ,it has also been upheld by ,professor ,bateson1 a man widely separated from the ,jesuit in all but attachment to science4 ,professor ,bateson summed up his belief in the text which he placed on the title-page of his first great work on ,variation3 the text which proclaims that there is a flesh of men1 another of beasts1 another of birds1 another of fishes4 ,darwin remained to the end of his life undecided between the two views1 for he allowed his original statement as to life having been breathed into one or more forms by the ,creator1 to pass from edition to edition of the ,origin of ,species4 ,if the polyphyletic theory be adopted1 it must be said that the position of the materialist is made far more difficult than it is at present4 ,let us see what it means4 ,on the materialistic hypothesis1 and the same may be said of the pantheistic or any other hypothesis not theistic in nature1 a certain cell came by chance to acquire the attributes of life4 ,from this descended plants and animals of all kinds in divergent series till the edifice was crowned by man4 ,i have elsewhere endeavoured to point out all that is involved in this assumption1 which1 it must be confessed1 is a very large mouthful to swallow4 ,let us now consider what the polyphyletic hypothesis involves4 ,according to this view one cell accidentally developed the attributes of vegetable life2 a further accident leads another cell to initiate the line of invertebrates2 another that of fishes1 let us say2 another of mammals3 the number varying according to the views of the theorist on phylogeny4 ,let us not forget that the cell or cells which accidentally acquired the attributes of life1 had accidentally to shape themselves from dead materials into something of a character wholly unknown in the inorganic world4 ,if one seriously considers the matter it is--so it seems to me--utterly impossible to subscribe to the accidental theory of which the immanent god--the blind god of ,bergson--is a mere variant4 ,one must agree with the late ,lord ,kelvin that science positively affirms creative power 444 which 7she7 compels us to accept as an article of belief4 ,but what are we to say with regard to the series of repeated accidents which the polyphyletic hypothesis would seem to demand8 ,is it really possible that any man could bring himself to place credence in such a marvellous series of occurrences8 ,monophyletic or polyphyletic evolution1 whichever1 if either1 it may have been1 presents no difficulty on the creation hypothesis4 ,the ,divine plan might have embraced either method4 ,it is not merely revelation but ordinary reason which shows us that the wonderful things which we know1 not to speak of the far more wonderful things at which we can only guess1 cannot possibly be explained on any other hypothesis than that of a ,free ,first ,cause--a ,creator4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #ce3 ,the ,theory of ,evolution4 ,by ,william ,berryman ,scott4 ,new ,york3 ,the ,macmillan ,co4 ,,viii4 ,,catholic ,,writers ,,and ,,spontaneous ,,generation ,the names of great ,catholic men of science1 laymen like ,pasteur and ,mller1 or ecclesiastics like ,stensen and ,mendel1 are familiar to all educated persons4 ,but even educated persons1 or at least a great majority of them1 are quite ignorant of the goodly band of workers in science who were devout children of the ,church4 ,nothing perhaps more fully exemplifies this than the history of the controversy respecting the subject whose name is set down as the title of this paper4 ,for centuries a controversy raged at intervals around the question of spontaneous generation4 ,did living things originate1 not merely in the past but every day1 from non-living matter8 ,when we consider such things as the once mysterious appearance of maggots in meat it is not wonderful that in the days before the microscope the answer was in the affirmative4 ,to-day the question may be considered almost closed4 ,true1 the negative proposition cannot be proved1 hence it is impossible to say that spontaneous generation does not take place4 ,however1 the scientific world is at one in the belief that so far all attempts to prove it have failed utterly4 ,st4 ,thomas ,aquinas had a celebrated and sometimes misunderstood controversy with ,avicenna1 a very famous ,arabian philosopher4 ,it was a philosophical1 but not strictly scientific1 controversy1 for both persons accepted or assumed the existence of spontaneous generation4 ,avicenna claimed that it took place by the powers of ,nature alone1 whilst ,st4 ,thomas adopted the attitude which we should adopt to-day1 were spontaneous generation shown to be a fact1 namely1 that if ,nature possessed this power1 it was because the ,creator had willed it so4 ,we come to close quarters with the question itself in #affh1 when ,francesco ,redi 7#afbf-afig7 published his book on the generation of insects and showed that meat protected from flies by wire gauze or parchment did not develop maggots1 whilst meat left unprotected did4 ,from this and from other experiments he was led to formulate the theory that in all cases of apparent production of life from dead matter the real explanation was that living germs from outside had been introduced into it4 ,for a long time this view held the field4 ,redi was1 as his name indicates1 an ,italian1 an inhabitant of ,aretino1 a poet as well as a physician and scientific worker4 ,he was physician to two of the ,grand ,dukes of ,tuscany and an academician of the celebrated ,accademia della ,crusca4 ,those works which ,i have been able to consult on the subject say nothing about his religion1 but there can scarcely be any doubt that he was a ,catholic4 ,at any rate there is no doubt whatever as to the other persons now to be mentioned in connection with the controversy1 which again became active about a century after ,redi had published his book4 ,the antagonists on this occasion were both of them ,catholic priests1 and both of them deserve some brief notice4 ,john ,turberville ,needham 7#agac-agha7 was born in ,london and belonged on both sides to old ,catholic families4 ,he was educated at ,douay and ordained priest at ,cambray in #agch4 ,after teaching in that place for some time he journeyed to ,england and became head-master of the once celebrated school for ,catholic boys at ,twyford1 near ,winchester4 ,from there he went for a short time to ,lisbon as professor of philosophy in the ,english ,college4 ,subsequently he travelled with various ,peers making the grand tour4 ,after that he retired to ,paris1 where he was elected a member of the ,acadmie des ,sciences4 ,he was the first director of the ,imperial ,academy in ,brussels2 a canon1 first of ,dendermonde and afterward of ,soignies4 ,he died in ,brussels and was buried in the ,abbey of ,condenberg4 ,needham was a man of really great scientific attainments1 and perhaps nothing proves the estimation in which he was held more than the fact that in #agdf he was elected a ,fellow of the ,royal ,society1 being the first ,catholic priest to become a member of that distinguished body4 ,when one remembers the attitude at that time1 and much later1 of ,englishmen towards ,catholics it is clear that ,needham's claims to distinction must have been more than ordinarily great4 ,his clear1 firm signature is still to be seen in the charter-book of the society1 and it is interesting to note that he signs his name ,turberville ,needham4 ,needham did not confine his attention to science1 for he was an ardent antiquary1 and in #agfa was elected a ,fellow of that other ancient and exclusive body1 the ,society of ,antiquaries of ,london4 ,in this connection it may be mentioned that ,needham published1 in #agfa1 a book which caused a great sensation1 for he endeavoured to show that he could translate an ,egyptian inscription by means of ,chinese characters2 in other words1 that the forms of writing were germane to one another4 ,he was shown to be quite wrong by some of the learned ,jesuits of the day1 who1 with the assistance of ,chinese men of letters1 proved that the resemblances to which ,needham had called attention were merely superficial4 ,but our interest now is in his controversy with ,spallanzani4 ,lazaro ,spallanzani 7#agbi-agii7 was born at ,scandiano in ,modena and educated at the ,jesuit ,college at ,reggio di ,modena4 ,there was some question as to his entering the ,society2 he did not do so1 however1 but repaired to the ,university of ,bologna1 where his kinswoman1 ,laura ,bassi1 was then professor of physics4 ,he became a priest1 but devoted his life to teaching and experimenting4 ,he must have been something of what we in ,ireland used to call a polymath1 for he professed at one time or another1 in various universities1 logic1 metaphysics1 ,greek1 and finally natural history4 ,he first explained the physics of what children call ducks and drakes made by flat pebbles on water2 laid the foundations of meteorology and vulcanology1 and is perhaps best of all known in connection with what is termed regeneration in the earthworm and above all in the salamander4 ,his experiments still hold the field in a region of study which has vastly extended itself in recent years1 becoming of prime importance in the vitalistic controversy4 ,in the dispute1 however1 with which we are concerned ,needham and ,spallanzani defended opposite positions4 ,the former1 as the result of his observations1 asserted that1 in spite of the boiling and sealing up of organic fluids1 life did appear in them4 ,his opponent claimed that ,needham's experiments had not been sufficiently precise4 ,the latter had enclosed his fluids in bottles fitted with ordinary corks1 covered with mastic varnish1 whilst ,spallanzani1 employing flasks with long necks which he could and did seal by heat when the contents were boiling1 showed that in that case no life was produced4 ,he declared1 and correctly too1 as we now know1 that ,needham's methods did permit of the introduction of something from without4 ,the controversy went to sleep again until the discovery of oxygen by ,priestley in #aggd4 ,when it had been shown that oxygen was essential to the existence of all forms of life1 the question arose as to whether the boiling of the organic fluids in the earlier experiments had not expelled all the oxygen and thus prevented the existence and development of any life4 ,in the further experiments which this query gave rise to1 we meet with another illustrious ,catholic name1 that of ,theodor ,schwann1 better known as the originator of that fundamental piece of scientific knowledge1 the cell-theory4 ,theodor ,schwann 7#ahaj-ahhb7 was born at ,neuss and educated by the ,jesuits1 first at ,cologne1 afterward at ,bonn4 ,after studying at the ,universities of ,wrzburg and ,berlin he became professor in the ,catholic ,university of ,louvain1 where his name was one of the principal glories of this now wrecked seat of learning4 ,thence he went as professor to ,lige1 where he died4 ,he was1 says his biography in the ,encyclopdia ,britannica1 of a peculiarly gentle and amiable character and remained a devout ,catholic throughout his life4 ,schwann's experiments tended to show that the introduction of air--of course containing oxygen--did not lead to the production of life1 if the air had first been thoroughly sterilised4 ,it was thought that this question had been finally answered1 when it was reopened by ,pouchet1 in #ahei4 ,he was a ,frenchman1 the director of the ,natural ,history ,museum of ,rouen1 but as to his religious views ,i have no information4 ,it is quite probable1 however1 that he was a ,catholic4 ,pouchet and all on his side were finally--so far as there can be finality in such a matter--disposed of by ,pasteur1 of whose distinction as a man of science and devoutness as a ,catholic nothing need be said4 ,it is quite unnecessary to devote any consideration here to the character of ,pasteur's experiments1 for they have become a matter of common knowledge to all educated persons4 ,let it suffice to say that they were on the lines first laid down by ,redi and greatly elaborated by ,spallanzani1 namely the exclusion from the fluids or other substances under examination of all possible contamination by minute organisms in the air4 ,spallanzani knew nothing of these organisms2 they were not discovered until many years after his death4 ,but he surmised that there was something which brought corruption into the fluids2 he excluded that something1 with the result that the fluids remained untainted4 ,from our point of view1 however1 there are several things to be learnt4 ,in the first place quite a number of ignorant persons have thought that the discovery of spontaneous generation would upset religious dogmata4 ,that of course is quite absurd4 ,from what has been said above it will be seen that ,st4 ,thomas ,aquinas--in common with all the men of learning of his day--fully believed in it1 as did ,needham1 another ecclesiastic as to whose orthodoxy there is no doubt4 ,further1 the entire controversy is a complete confutation of the false allegation that between ,catholicism and science there is a great gulf set4 ,there have been few longer and more remarkable controversies in the history of science1 and scarce any other--if indeed any other--which has such important bearings upon health and industry than that which relates to bio- or abio-genesis4 ,it is significant to find that the names of so many of the protagonists in this controversy were those of men who were also convinced adherents of the ,catholic ,church4 ,,ix4 ,a ,,theory ,,of ,,life#cf ,of the making of books on the question of ,vitalism there would seem to be no end2 and1 following upon quite a number of others comes this handsome1 well-illustrated1 intensely interesting book1 by one whose writings are always worth study4 ,it purports to deal with the ,origin and ,evolution of ,life2 but1 as to the first1 it leaves us in no way advanced towards any real explanation of that problem on materialistic lines4 ,as to the second1 though there is a vast amount of valuable information1 often illuminating and suggestive1 again we confess that we fail to discover any real philosophy of that process of evolution which the author postulates4 ,these propositions we must now proceed to justify4 ,we can consider them from the most rigidly scientific standpoint1 since1 if every word or almost every word in the book were proved truth1 it would not make the slightest difference to ,catholic ,philosophy1 nor1 indeed1 to ,theistic teachings1 since in the imperishable words of ,paley3 ,there may be many second causes1 and many courses of second causes1 one behind another1 between what we observe of nature and the ,deity2 but there must be intelligence somewhere2 there must be more in nature than what we see2 and1 amongst the things unseen1 there must be an intelligent designing ,author4 ,the scientific writer has to remember that whilst he may explain many things1 his work is a torso unless and until he has either accepted the ,creator as the first ,cause1 which he is too often disinclined to do1 or has supplied an equally satisfactory explanation1 which he is permanently unable to do4 ,on the other hand1 at least some defenders of ,theism in the past might well have borne in mind that1 whilst we are assured of the fact of ,creation1 we know absolutely nothing of its mechanism save that it came about by the command of ,god4 ,there is nothing in which clear thinking and clear writing are more necessary than in discussions of this kind2 and too many of them are vitiated by an obvious lack of philosophical training on the part of the participants4 ,even in this carefully written book there are instances of this kind of thing to which we must allude before considering its main arguments4 ,we know1 for example1 that there has existed a more or less complete chain of beings from monad to man1 that the one-toed horse had a four-toed ancestor1 that man has descended from an unknown ape-like form somewhere in the ,tertiary4 ,we know--that is exactly the opposite of the truth4 ,we know a thing when it is susceptible of proof according to the rigid rules of formal logic2 when1 to doubt it1 would be to give rise to a suspicion as to our sanity2 then we know a thing1 but not until then4 ,now1 as to the sentence quoted1 we may allow the first part to pass unchallenged with some possible demur at the use of the word chain4 ,the second so-called piece of knowledge was doubted by no less an authority than the late ,adam ,sedgwick4 ,the third assertion plainly and distinctly is not the case2 for ,science knows nothing whatsoever about the origin of man's body4 ,in #aija ,branco1 a distinguished palontologist1 with no ,theistic leanings as far as we know1 told the world that man appears on our planet as a genuine homo novus1 and that palontology knows no ancestors of man4 ,nor has any discovery since that date necessitated the modification of that opinion4 ,what the writer means by saying ,we know is ,i am convinced2 but1 with the deepest respect for his undoubted position1 the two things are not quite identical4 ,biology1 like theology1 has its dogmas4 ,leaders have their disciples and blind followers4 ,wise words6 ,they are those of the author with whom we are dealing4 ,to say we know when really we only surmise is a misuse of language1 just as it is also a misuse to ask the question ,does nature make a departure from its previously ordered procedure and substitute chance for law8 since the ordinary reader is all too apt to forget that ,nature is a mere abstraction1 and that to speak of ,nature doing such or such a thing helps us in no way along the road towards an explanation of things4 ,or again3 ,so far as the creative power of energy is concerned1 we are on sure ground4 ,the author has a careful note on the word creation 7p4 #e71 the production of something new out of nothing1 under which definition it is abundantly clear that energy1 whilst it may be productive1 cannot be creative4 ,in fact1 nothing can be creative in any definite and rigid sense1 save a ,creator ,who existed from all eternity and from ,whom all things arose4 ,one more instance of loose argumentation1 and we can turn to the main purport of the book4 ,it is a link in the author's chain which cannot be passed without examination4 ,everybody is familiar with the method of proof by elimination4 ,we set down every possible explanation of a certain occurrence2 we rule out one after the other until but one is left4 ,if we really have set down all the possible explanations1 and if we are quite clear as to the fact that all those which have been excluded are legitimately put out of court1 then the one remaining explanation must be the true one4 ,it is a method of proof which has frequently been applied to the vitalistic problem1 and with the greatest effect1 as it is admitted by some of those who would greatly like to find a materialistic explanation for that problem 7cf4 ,the ,philosophy of ,biology1 ,johnstone1 p4 #cai74 ,let us see how our author employs it4 ,what1 he asks1 is the internal moving principle in living substance8 ,and he replies3 ,we may first exclude the possibility that it acts either through supernatural or teleological interposition through an externally creative power4 ,very well6 ,philosophers tell us that we can assume any position we choose for the purposes of our argument1 but that ultimately we must prove that assumption or admit ourselves beaten4 ,we look anxiously for the proof of the assumption made by our author1 but absolutely no attempt is made to give one4 ,we must be pardoned1 therefore1 if we hesitate to accept such an important statement on his mere ipse dixit4 ,we pass on to the next elimination3 ,although its visible results are in a high degree purposeful1 we may also exclude as unscientific the vitalistic theory of an entelechy#cg or any other form of internal perfecting agency distinct from known or unknown physio-chemical energies4 ,why unscientific8 ,numbers of high authorities have not thought it so2 and in quite recent years such eminent writers as ,driesch and ,mc,dougal have written erudite works to prove this unscientific hypothesis4 ,is there any proof brought forward for this assertion and its corresponding elimination8 ,let us continue the quotation3 ,since certain forms of adaptation which were formerly mysterious can now be explained without the assumption of an entelechy we are encouraged to hope that all forms may be thus explained4 ,the author does not tell us what the mysterious adaptations are1 nor does he offer us the explanations which1 in his opinion1 explain them4 ,we cannot1 therefore1 criticise his views1 and can only remind his readers that1 because an explanation plausibly explains an occurrence1 it is by no means always therefore certain to be the true explanation2 it may1 indeed1 be wholly false4 ,further1 those who have been wandering for the past half-century in the fields of science have become a little wearied of explanations1 vaunted1 for periods of five or ten years1 as the key to open all locks1 and then cast into the furnace4 ,what the author would seem to mean by his statement is this3 ,i am convinced myself that we can do without a 'supernatural' explanation1 and ,i regard as 'unscientific' any explanation which cannot be put to the test of chemistry and physics2 hence ,i must shut the door on anything like an entelechy1 and1 that being so1 it behoves me to look for some other explanation4 ,of course1 we are putting these words into the mouth of our author2 if we were dealing with the matter ourselves we should be inclined to argue that1 by the eliminatory method1 chemistry and physics do prove1 or do help to prove1 the existence of an entelechy4 ,with these expostulations we may turn to the writer's pronouncements on the vitalistic question which seem to us to be worthy of serious consideration4 ,everybody knows that there are two very diverse opinions on this topic2 the one that there is1 the other that there is not something more--a plus--in living than there is in not-living objects4 ,in other words1 that there is a difference of kind1 and not merely of degree1 between a stone and a sparrow4 ,hence the schools of thought called vitalistic and mechanistic4 ,to most persons it has up to now seemed impossible that there could be a third school2 we appeared to be confronted with what the logicians call a ,dichotomy4 ,professor ,osborn seems to us to think otherwise1 though he is not wholly clear on this matter4 ,if we are to reject the vitalistic hypotheses of the ancient ,greeks1 and the modern vitalism of ,driesch1 of ,bergson1 and of others1 and if1 on the other hand1 we are to view1 as he thinks we must1 the cosmos as one of limitless and ordered energy--we have emphasised the word ordered for reasons which will shortly appear--we must clearly look out for some middle way4 ,ordered1 a purely mechanistic and materialistically realised cosmos cannot be4 ,ordered conditions are determined by what we agree to call ,laws2 and these1 as all must admit1 entail a ,lawgiver4 ,the alternative is ,blind ,chance2 and the author1 after considering the question1 agrees1 as again most reasonable persons will agree1 that ,blind ,chance is no explanation of things as they are4 ,he quotes a modern chemist who1 discussing the probability of the environmental fitness of the earth for life being a mere chance process1 remarks3 ,there is1 in truth1 not one chance in countless millions of millions that the many unique properties of carbon1 hydrogen1 and oxygen1 and especially of their stable compounds1 water and carbonic acid1 which chiefly make up the atmosphere of a new planet1 should simultaneously occur in the three elements otherwise than through the operation of a natural law which somehow connects them together4 ,there is no greater probability that these unique properties should be without due cause uniquely favourable to the organic mechanism 7,j4 ,j4 ,henderson1 #aiac74 ,if neither of the classic points of view is tenable1 what then is the explanation1 if1 indeed1 any be possible8 ,the author casts one brief glance down that blind-alley marked ,element ,way4 ,does some known element or some unknown element1 to which the name ,bion might be given1 exist and form the source of the energy in living things8 ,radium has only been known to us for a few years2 can we say that there is no such thing as ,bion8 ,of course we cannot2 but this we can say1 that1 if there is such an element and if it is really responsible for all the protean manifestations of life1 wonderful as radium and its doings are1 they must sink into nothingness beside those of this new and unsuspected entity4 ,the author evidently does not think that this path is a profitable one to pursue1 and we agree with him2 so he turns his attention to the question of energy4 ,energy is the capacity for doing work4 ,it is often1 of course1 latent1 as1 for example1 in a cordite cartridge1 which is a peaceful1 harmless thing until the energy stored up in it is realised with the accompanying explosion and work is done4 ,it is the same with a bent spring2 a clock-weight when the clock is not going1 and so on4 ,we need not develop this matter further2 but one point must be alluded to1 namely1 the gradual exhaustion of the available energy in the changes from one manifestation to another4 ,in all physical processes heat is evolved1 which heat is distributed by conduction and radiation and tends to become universally diffused throughout space4 ,when complete uniformity has been attained1 all physical phenomena will come to an end2 in other words1 our solar system must come to an end1 and it must have had a beginning4 ,it is a well-known argument4 ,is there anything to rewind the clock which is running down before our very eyes8 ,it was once urged that stellar collisions1 and such-like things1 might permit us to postulate a cyclical arrangement 7and thus rearrangement7 of universal phenomena2 but that hypothesis does not seem to find any supporters to-day4 ,in his interesting book1 already mentioned1 ,dr4 ,johnstone called attention to the power possessed by living matter of reversing the process2 but no reversal of this kind and extent can make up for the constant degradation of energy which is taking place all round us4 ,we mention this because it shows that energy cannot1 in any case1 afford an eternal solution1 but only a temporal and therefore a limited one4 ,no one doubts that there is energy in the living thing1 nor that there are what the author calls complexes of energies4 ,no one1 again1 will quarrel with the statement that energy is first seen in the sun1 in the earth1 in the air1 and in the water2 that with life something new appears in the universe1 namely1 a union of the internal and external adjustment of energy which we appropriately call an ,organism4 ,that the germ is an energy complex is no doubt an unproved hypothesis1 as he admits1 but is quite likely4 ,with all these assertions we may agree1 though we cannot with that which follows1 namely1 that energy is creative1 for that such is impossible in any true sense of that word we have already tried to show4 ,we have now to ask ourselves in what way this energy conception of life differs from1 or goes beyond1 the two theories of life--mechanistic and vitalistic1 which have hitherto been supposed to have exhausted the possibilities of explanation4 ,in order to do this we must analyse the author's idea of energy and its relationship to biological processes a little more closely4 ,he begins his study of life and its evolution by considering how nutrition and the derivation of energy can have taken place before chlorophyl had come into existence2 and he very pertinently points to the prototrophic bacteria as probably representing the survival of a primordial stage of life chemistry4 ,thus a primitive feeder1 the bacterium ,nitrosomonas1 for combustion 444 takes in oxygen directly through the intermediate action of iron1 phosphorus or manganese1 each of the single cells being a powerful little chemical laboratory which contains oxidising catalysers1 the activity of which is accelerated by the presence of iron and manganese4 ,still1 in the primordial stage1 ,nitrosomonas lives on ammonium sulphate1 taking its energy 7food7 from the nitrogen of ammonium and forming nitrates4 ,living symbiotically with it is ,nitrobacter1 which takes its energy 7food7 from the nitrates formed by ,nitrosomonas1 oxidising them into nitrates4 ,thus these two species illustrate in its simplest form our law of the interaction of an organism 7,nitrobacter7 with its life environment 7,nitrosomonas7 7p4 #hb1 author's italics74 ,once one has got to this stage1 it is ex hypothesi easy to ascend through the vegetable and animal worlds and to formulate the various laws which appear to have shaped the evolution of life and of species4 ,we are then within the system1 but to arrive at anything worthy of the name of an explanation we have first to get within the system4 ,even then there remains over the task of explaining how the system comes to be there to get inside of4 ,the writer talks of his example as the simplest form4 ,yet1 in his own words1 it is a powerful little chemical laboratory1 well stocked with catalysers and other potent means for carrying on its work4 ,simple6 ,well1 no doubt comparatively simple1 but in reality complex almost beyond the power of words to describe4 ,a chemical laboratory6 ,yes2 and one which performs most delicate operations4 ,well stocked with catalysers6 ,and what are they8 ,most wonderful things which induce change without themselves undergoing any2 discoveries of quite recent date as to which we still know but little4 ,simple seems hardly the word to apply1 save in strict relation to other and higher forms4 ,how did this laboratory come into existence8 ,in what way did it learn to do its work8 ,how did catalysers come to be8 ,was all this mere chance-medley8 ,it is ,paley's example of the watch found on the heath once more4 ,does it help us in any way to talk about energy and complexes of energy and the creative force of energy8 ,to us it does not seem to advance matters one little bit4 ,either these operations of ,nitrosomonas are determined or they are not2 either they are the result of a law or they are the result of blind chance2 in either case the energy which is involved must act according to the conditions ordered or not ordered4 ,in other words3 if it is the dominant factor1 as the writer would lead us to suppose2 if there is direction1 then the action of energy must be directive2 and1 if it is directive1 in what possible way does it differ1 save in name1 from the old entelechy or vital principle1 or whatever else one may choose to call it8 ,on the other hand1 if there is no such a thing as direction1 if everything happens by chance1 if the mechanistic theory is right1 how does energy save us from complete surrender to that theory8 ,from all this it would appear that whilst energy is constantly being exhibited 7and in all sorts of manifestations7 by the living object1 that does not explain anything1 since it does not explain how energy originally came to be1 nor how it came to work under the laws which seem to govern it4 ,it is one more added to the long list of explanations1 which hopelessly break down because those who have put them forward have never apparently applied themselves to the task of grasping the important difference between a final and an intermediate cause4 ,let us sum up this part of our author's teaching in the light of this distinction4 ,the organism is a material complex1 and all sorts of actions and reactions take place in it4 ,they are subject to the laws of physics1 and notably to those relating to energy and its transformations4 ,it has internal energies which must be adjusted to one another and not less to those around it2 that is to say1 it must be more or less in harmony with its environment4 ,there are the problems of germ-plasm1 and its transmission2 the effect on it1 if any1 of the body1 and the reaction of the body to its environment4 ,there are also the catalysers of which we have spoken1 with many problems associated with them1 and throwing a possible and unexpected light on the vexed question of ,vitalism and the ,conservation of ,energy4 ,there are all these things1 manifestations of energy2 there is the watch1 and it is going4 ,but1 as we remarked elsewhere1 the fact that we have learned that the resiliency of the spring in the watch makes it go does not exhaust the explanation of the watch any more than the fact that we know something of the actions and reactions of energy in the organism exhausts its explanation4 ,the watch is going2 so is the organism4 ,each of them1 in a sense1 is a wonderful little laboratory in which manifestations of energy are constantly taking place4 ,the watchmaker constructed the watch for that purpose2 who or what constructed the organism8 ,darwin and the ,darwinians would have said--,natural ,selection4 ,in fact1 ,darwin rather lamented that the old argument from design in nature1 as given by ,paley1 which formerly seemed to me to be so conclusive1 fails now that the law of ,natural ,selection has been discovered4 ,we can no longer argue that1 for instance1 the beautiful hinge of a bivalve shell must have been made by an intelligent being1 like the hinge of a door by man4 ,there seems to be no more design in the variability of organic beings1 and in the action of ,natural ,selection1 than in the course which the wind blows4 ,there again ,darwin fell into a mistake1 because he confused an intermediate with a final cause4 ,even if ,natural ,selection were all that the most ultra-,darwinian could claim it to be1 it could not1 as ,driesch and others have shown1 exhaust the explanation of the organism4 ,as a matter of fact the world of science is very far from thinking of ,natural ,selection as anything more than a factor1 perhaps even a minor factor1 in evolution4 ,the author of the work with which we are dealing tells us that ,darwin's law of selection as a natural explanation of the origin of all fitness in form and function has lost its prestige at the present time1 and all of ,darwinism which now meets with universal acceptance is the law of the survival of the fittest1 a limited application of ,darwin's great idea as expressed by ,herbert ,spencer4 ,but let that pass4 ,in another place the author makes it clear that the explanations of to-day1 including his own1 do not exhaust the subject1 for he says it is incumbent on us to discover the cause of the orderly origin of every character4 ,the nature of such a law we cannot even dream of at present1 for the causes of the majority of vertebrate adaptations remain wholly unknown4 ,in any case we must account for ,natural ,selection2 for if it is a ,law--as some doubt--it must have had a ,lawgiver4 ,the watch must have been an ,idea in some one's mind before it became an accomplished fact1 and ,natural ,selection or any other ,law of ,nature must--unless all reason is nonsense and all nonsense reason--also have been an ,idea before it became a factor4 ,whose ,idea8 ,our author does not help us to answer this question4 ,on the contrary--he tries to set an unclimbable fence in the way of any answer by telling us1 though without any convincing argument to support his statement1 that we may exclude the possibility that it the internal moving principle acts either through supernatural or teleological interposition through an externally creative power4 ,but though he refuses to allow us to look in this direction for a solution of our difficulties1 it must be confessed that he does not help us with any other answer satisfying the question of the origin and evolution of ,life4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote #cf3 ,the ,origin and ,evolution of ,life2 or1 the ,theory of ,action1 ,reaction1 and ,interaction of ,energy4 ,by ,f4 ,h4 ,osborn4 7,g4 ,bell ,sons47 ,footnote #cg3 ,by entelechy--an ,aristotelian term re-introduced by ,driesch--is meant an agency other than one of a purely chemico-physical character1 which differentiates living from not-living substance1 and is responsible for the phenomenon of life4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,index ,,of ,,names ,agassiz1 #adb ,allen1 ,grant1 #he ,aquinas1 ,st4 ,thomas1 #fj1 #adg1 #aec ,austen1 ,miss1 #cb ,avicenna1 #aec ,balfour1 ,rt4 ,hon4 ,a4 ,j41 #aaf ,bassi1 ,laura1 #aee ,bateson1 ,w41 ,f4,r4,s41 #d1 #g1 #aa1 #aah1 #aej ,bax1 ,belfort1 #cg ,benson1 ,mgr41 #hd1 #hh1 #id1 #aja ,bergson1 #aea1 #aff ,bernhardi1 #bj ,borden1 ,sir ,robert1 #abb ,branco1 #afb ,buffon1 #ajj ,butler1 ,samuel #dd1 #fa ,chesterton1 ,g4 ,k41 #aac ,clodd1 ,e41 #hf ,conklyn1 #bc ,cowper1 #cg ,crichton-,browne1 #bj ,cuvier1 #adb ,darwin1 #aaf1 #aca1 #aej1 #agc ,devas1 ,mr4 #bg1 #abj ,dewar1 ,prof4 ,sir ,j41 ,f4,r4,s41 #aac ,doyle1 ,sir ,a4 ,c41 #df1 #ea ,driesch1 #d1 #g1 #bd1 #fi1 #afd1 #aff1 #agc ,fallopius1 #if1 #add ,fielding1 #ca ,gosse1 ,e41 #ci ,gosse1 ,philip1 #ih ,grant ,allen1 #he ,healy1 ,father--,tale of1 #dj ,henderson1 ,j4 ,j41 #afg ,henslow1 #bd ,hull1 ,fr4 ,e41 ,s4,j41 #ajc ,huxley1 #gd1 #ih1 #aja1 #aag ,johnson1 ,dr4 #dh1 #afa1 #afh ,joly1 ,prof41 ,f4,r4,s41 #aaj ,kelvin1 ,lord1 #aea ,lankester1 #ae ,lauder1 ,harry1 #b ,leduc1 #b1 #fb ,lodge1 ,sir ,o41 #c1 #he ,loeb1 ,j14 #eh1 #fb ,lucas1 ,e4 ,v41 on the ,war1 #dg ,mcdougal1 #afd ,mahaffy1 ,sir ,john1 #aaa ,marett1 #ae1 #af ,masefield1 #dh ,mendel1 #ge1 #ace ,milton1 #ade ,mivart1 ,prof41 #if ,needham1 ,john ,turberville1 #aed ,newman1 #cc1 #ch ,newton1 ,the ,rev4 ,j41 #ch ,nietzsche1 #ai ,osborne1 ,prof41 #afj ,paley1 #afj ,pasteur1 #aeg ,perkin1 ,prof4 ,w4 ,h41 #ajg ,pouchet1 #aeg ,priestley1 #aef ,redi1 ,francisco1 #aec ,richardson1 #ca ,rignano1 #be1 #fb ,ryder1 ,dr41 #ea ,sabatier1 #aac ,schwann1 ,theodor1 #aeg ,scott1 ,prof41 #adb ,scott1 ,the ,rev4 ,thomas1 #ch ,sedgwick1 ,adam1 #afb ,spallanzani1 ,lazaro1 #aee ,stensen1 ,nicolaus1 #ge1 #ig1 #ii ,tilden1 ,sir ,william1 #fd ,tyson1 ,edward1 #gg ,wasmann1 #bf1 #aej ,wells1 ,h4 ,g41 #di ,whiffen1 #bj ,,general ,,index ,adam1 #adf ,adrenals1 #fc ,after-,christians1 #abj ,aggressive mimicry1 #abc ,albino race1 ,an1 #abh ,amazonian ,indians1 #bj ,anatomie of a ,pygmie1 #gg ,ancestral peculiarities1 #acc ,aniline dyes1 #ajg ,arrangement1 #h1 #acg ,bacteria1 ,prototrophic1 #afi ,badische ,aniline ,fabrik1 #ajf1 #aji ,bathybius1 #ih ,bion1 #afg ,blind ,chance1 #aff ,bondage of ,knowledge1 ,the1 #hd ,botanic ,garden1 #aca ,breeding ,committees1 #aai ,breeding ,true1 #abf ,bricks and ,builders1 #aci ,bugbear of ,hell1 #ba1 #aai ,calvinism1 #cb ,cartesian idea of the soul1 #fi ,catalysts1 #aac1 #agj ,celibacy1 #abj ,cell-,theory1 ,the1 #aeg ,chance-,medley1 #acd ,chromatin1 #acj ,colloids1 #fb ,continuity1 #df ,conversion1 #cd ,cowardice1 ,alleged1 of ,catholic ,scientists1 #ii ,creation1 #afc2 a method of1 #add ,criticisms on the ,pentateuch1 #de ,cutting up of ,frogs1 #aae ,cytolysis1 #fe ,dabney1 ,mr41 #dg ,defence of the ,realm ,act1 #hb ,degradation of ,energy1 #afh ,derivative ,creation1 #adf ,discontinuity1 #c ,ducks and ,drakes1 #aef ,duck's ,egg1 #abe1 #acj ,dye-stuffs1 #ajg ,elimination1 ,proof by1 #afc ,energy1 #af ,energy1 ,degradation of1 #afi ,entelechy1 #afd1 #aga ,eskimo1 #ai ,esmond1 #ca ,essays and ,reviews1 #de ,eugenics1 #aag ,evangelicanism1 #cb1 #cc1 #dd ,exhibitions1 ,international1 of #ahea and #ahfb1 #aj ,extermination of the ,less ,fit1 #abb ,families1 ,restricted1 #aah ,father and ,son1 #ci ,force and ,energy1 a ,theory of ,dynamics1 #he ,force of ,truth1 ,the1 #ch ,formaldehyde1 #b ,fossils1 ,explanation of1 #ig ,free ,first ,cause1 #add1 #aea ,freethinkers and tolerance1 justice1 and gentleness1 #gc ,germination1 #fe ,guide1 the ,church a1 #ib ,hapsburg lip1 ,the1 #abg ,harmonious-,equipotential ,system1 #fi ,heredity in the ,law ,courts1 #bi ,hormones1 #fc ,horse1 ,pedigree of the1 #afa ,imprimatur1 ,the1 #gg ,in-and-in breeding1 #abg ,index ,prohibitorius1 #ie ,industrial ,scientific ,research1 ,department of1 #aad ,inheritance3 ,chemical theory1 #acd2 ,mnemic theory1 #e1 #fa1 #acc2 ,particulate theories1 #fa1 #acb ,jack1 ,jill1 and ,joan1 #aai ,jungle1 ,the law of1 #abb ,king-crabs1 #ade ,lamp-shells1 #ade ,law and ,heredity1 ,the1 #abi ,law and ,lawgiver1 #i ,law of ,nature1 #agd ,law's ,serious ,call1 #ca ,liberty1 personal1 #hg ,life and ,habit1 #fa ,life1 ,origin of1 #afj ,little ,dorrit1 #aab ,loss and ,gain1 #cc ,maggots in meat1 #aec ,man's pedigree1 #afa ,marriage1 #di ,mauve1 #ajg ,mediate ,creation1 #adg ,memory1 unconscious1 #e ,mendelism1 #f ,method of ,creation1 #add1 #afa ,micromeristic theories1 #e ,mimicry1 #abc ,mnemic ,theory of ,inheritance1 ,the1 #e1 #fa1 #acc ,monastic ,orders1 #aba ,monophyletic evolution1 #aea ,multitude and ,solitude1 #dh ,naturalism and ,agnosticism1 #eg ,natural ,selection1 #ai1 #abb1 #agc ,nature does this1 #acf1 #afb ,nature's insurgent son1 #ae ,new ,republic1 ,the1 #ef ,new ,revelation1 ,the1 #df1 #ea ,nitrobacter1 #agj ,novels and ,novelists1 #cj ,occam's razor1 #bi ,occultism1 #bh1 #ea ,ordered energy1 #aff ,organism as a whole1 #ch ,origin of ,species1 #aej ,over ,bemertons1 #dg ,oxford ,movement1 #cc ,pamela1 #cb ,pangenesis1 #fa1 #aca ,pantheism1 #i ,paradise ,lost1 #ade ,parson ,adams1 #ca ,particulate ,theories of ,inheritance1 #fa1 #acb ,personal ,liberty1 #ha ,philosophy of ,biology1 ,the1 #afc ,phylogeny1 #d1 #adi ,plymouth ,brethren1 #ii ,political leaders of the day1 #aad ,polyphyletic hypothesis1 ,the1 #aej ,porto ,santo rabbits1 #adh ,post-,christians1 #bg ,prototrophic bacteria1 #afi ,providentissimus ,deus1 #ajc ,pugs and ,greyhounds1 #abf ,purposefulness3 a strange confession as to1 #ei ,raymond1 #ea ,resiliency1 #agb ,restricted families1 #aah ,sabbatarianism1 #cf ,salaries of ,scientific ,teachers1 #aab ,saurians1 #ade ,science1 ,catholic ,men of1 #ge-f ,science1 ,neglect of1 at ,schools1 #aji ,sin1 ,mythical ,ideas of1 #abc ,six-fingered race1 ,a1 #abh ,slavery in the ,state1 #bd ,slime of the ,earth1 #adf ,social ,vermin1 #aah ,some ,revelations as to ',raymond1' #ec ,special ,creation1 #adb ,spermatozoon1 #fe ,spiritualism and the ,war1 #ej ,spontaneous ,generation1 #aeb ,springs in the watch1 ,the1 #agb ,stinks ,men1 #aaj ,survival of the ,fittest1 #abb ,syngamy1 #fe ,synthetic drugs1 #ajg ,telepathy1 #b ,teratomata1 #fe ,theophobia1 #bf ,thermos flask1 ,the1 #aac ,throws back1 #abh ,trilobites1 #ade ,trinity ,college1 ,dublin1 #aaj ,tyranny of the ,church1 #ia ,uncle ,remus and the rabbit's tail1 #abg ,unconscious ,memory1 #e1 #fa ,universities1 ,medival1 #ge ,vitalism and ,anti-,vitalism1 #fh1 #afe ,way of ,all ,flesh1 ,the1 #dd ,wisdom1 ,book of1 #abc ,wolff's ,experiment1 #fi 99 99 99 99 99 ,,printed ,,by ,,hazell1 ,,watson ,,and ,,viney1 ,,ld41 ,,london ,,and ,,aylesbury4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,transcriber',s ,,note3 ,every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible1 including obsolete and variant spellings4 ,obvious typographical errors in punctuation 7misplaced quotes and the like7 have been fixed4 ,corrections in brackets in the text are noted below3 page #he years in investigating4 ,the man who sets out to make a research1 without first acertainingascertaining what others have done in that direction1 proposes to page #aba 7,footnote #cb7 ,conklyn1 ,heredity and ,environment in the ,development of ,men4 ,princetown,princeton ,university ,press1 #aiae4 page #acf mere personification and means either chance-medley or a ,creator1 according to the old dilemna4dilemma ,there is a very curious example of this inability page #aec3 ,we come to close quarters with the question itself in #affh1 when ,franceso,francesco ,redi 7#afbf-afig7 published his book on the generation of insects