,,address    ,,delivered ,,before       
,,the ,,british ,,association           
,,assembled ,,at    ,,belfast           
,,with ,,additions        ,,by    ,,john
 ,,tyndall1 ,f4,r4,s4    ,,president    
,,fifth ,,thousand          ,,london    
,,longmans1 ,,green1 ,,and ,,co4        
#ahgd            ',there is one ,god    
supreme over all gods1 diviner than     
mortals1    ,whose form is not like unto
 man's1 and as unlike his nature2       
,but vain mortals imagine that gods like
 themselves are begotten1    ,with human
 sensations and voice and corporeal     
members2    ,so1 if oxen or lions had   
hands and could work in man's fashion1  
,and trace out with chisel or brush     
their conception of ,godhead1    ,then  
would horses depict gods like horses1   
and oxen like oxen1    ,each kind the   
divine with its own form and nature     
endowing4'    ,,xenophanes of ,colophon 
7six centuries ,b4,c471 ',supernatural  
,religion1'  ,vol4 ,i4 p4 #gf4      ',it
 were better to have no opinion of ,god 

at all1 than such an  opinion as is     
unworthy of ,him2 for the one is        
unbelief1 the other is  contumely4'     
,,bacon4          ,,preface4    ,at the 
request of my ,publishers1 strengthened 
by the expressed desire  of many        
,correspondents1 ,i reprint1 with a few 
slight alterations1  this ,address4     
,it was written under some disadvantages
 this year in the ,alps1 and  sent by   
instalments to the printer4  ,when read 
subsequently it proved  too long for its
 purpose1 and several of its passages   
were  accordingly struck out4  ,some of 
them are here restored4    ,it has      
provoked an unexpected amount of        
criticism4  ,this1 in due  time1 will   
subside2 and ,i confidently look forward
 to a calmer future  for a verdict1     
founded not on imaginary sins1 but on   
the real facts  of the case4    ,of the 
numberless strictures and accusations1  
some of them exceeding  fierce1 of which
 ,i have been1 and continue to be1 the  
object1 ,i  refrain from speaking at any

 length4  ,to one or two of them1       
however1  out of respect for their      
sources1 ,i would ask permission briefly
 to  refer4    ,an evening paper of the 
first rank1 after the ascription of     
various  more or less questionable aims 
and motives1 proceeds to the            
imputation1 that ,i permitted the cheers
 of my audience to 'stimulate'  me to   
the utterance of words which no         
right-minded man1 without a  sense of   
the gravest responsibility1 could       
employ4  ,i trust the  author of this   
charge will allow me in all courtesy to 
assure him  that the words ascribed by  
him to the spur of the moment were      
written  in ,switzerland2 that they     
stood in the printed copy of the        
,address  from which ,i read2 that they 
evoked no 'cheers1' but a silence far   
more impressive than cheers2 and that1  
finally1 as regards both  approbation   
and the reverse1 my course had been     
thought over and  decided long before ,i
 ventured to address a ,belfast         

audience4    ,a writer in a most able   
theological journal represents me as    
'patting  religion on the back4'  ,the  
thought of doing so is certainly his1   
not  mine4  ,the facts of religious     
feeling are to me as certain as the     
facts of physics4  ,but the world1 ,i   
hold1 will have to distinguish  between 
the feeling and its forms1 and to vary  
the latter in  accordance with the      
intellectual condition of the age4    ,i
 am unwilling to dwell upon statements  
ascribed to eminent men1  which may be  
imperfectly reported in the newspapers1 
and ,i therefore  pass over a recent    
sermon attributed to the ,bishop of     
,manchester with  the remark1 that one  
engaged so much as he is in busy and1 ,i
 doubt  not on the whole1 beneficent    
outward life1 is not likely to be among 
the earliest to discern the more inward 
and spiritual signs of the  times1 or to
 prepare for the condition which they   
foreshadow4    ,in a recent speech at   
,dewsbury1 the ,dean of ,manchester is  

reported to  have expressed himself     
thus3--',the ,professor 7myself7 ended a
 most  remarkable and eloquent speech by
 terming himself a material  ,atheist4' 
,my attention was drawn to ,dean        
,cowie's statement by a  correspondent1 
who described it as standing            
'conspicuous among the  strange         
calumnies' with which my words have been
 assailed4  ,for  myself ,i use no      
language which could imply that ,i am   
hurt by such  attacks4  ,they have lost 
their power to wound or injure4  ,so    
likewise  as regards a resolution       
recently passed by the ,presbytery of   
,belfast1  in which ,professor ,huxley  
and myself are spoken of as 'ignoring   
the  existence of ,god1 and advocating  
pure and simple materialism2' had  the  
possessive pronoun 'our' preceded       
',god1' and had the words 'what  we     
consider' preceded 'pure1' this         
statement would have been  objectively  
true2 but to make it so this            
qualification is required4    ,cardinal 

,cullen1 ,i am told1 is also actively   
engaged in erecting  spiritual barriers 
against the intrusion of ',infidelity'  
into  ,ireland4  ,his ,eminence1 ,i     
believe1 has reason to suspect that the 
,catholic youth around him are not proof
 to the seductions of science4  ,strong 
as he is1 ,i believe him to be impotent 
here4  ,the youth of  ,ireland will     
imbibe science1 however slowly2 they    
will be leavened by  it1 however        
gradually4  ,and to its inward modifying
 power among  ,catholics themselves1    
rather than to any ,protestant          
propagandism1 or  other external        
influence1 ,i look for the abatement of 
various  incongruities2 among them1 of  
those medival proceedings which1 to  the
 scandal and amazement of our nineteenth
 century intelligence1  have been       
revived among us during the last two    
years4    ,in connexion with the charge 
of ,atheism1 ,i would make one remark4  
,christian men are proved by their      
writings to have their hours of         

weakness and of doubt1 as well as their 
hours of strength and of  conviction2   
and men like myself share1 in their own 
way1 these  variations of mood and      
tense4  ,were the religious views of    
many of my  assailants the only         
alternative ones1 ,i do not know how    
strong the  claims of the doctrine of   
',material ,atheism' upon my allegiance 
might  be4  ,probably they would be very
 strong4  ,but1 as it is1 ,i have       
noticed during years of self-observation
 that it is not in hours of  clearness  
and vigour that this doctrine commends  
itself to my mind2  that in the presence
 of stronger and healthier thought it   
ever  dissolves and disappears1 as      
offering no solution of the mystery in  
which we dwell1 and of which we form a  
part4    ,to coarser attacks and        
denunciations ,i pay no attention2 nor  
have ,i  any real reason to complain of 
revilings addressed to me1 which        
professing ,christians1 as could readily
 be proved1 do not scruple to  use      

towards each other4  ,the more agreeable
 task remains to me of  thanking those  
who have tried1 however hopelessly1 to  
keep accusation  within the bounds of   
justice1 and who1 privately1 and at some
 risk in  public1 have honoured me with 
the expression of their sympathy and    
approval4    ,,john ,,tyndall4          
,athenum ,club4    ,september #af1      
#ahgd4          ,,address1    ,,etc4    
,an impulse inherent in primeval man    
turned his thoughts and  questionings   
betimes towards the sources of natural  
phenomena4  ,the  same impulse1         
inherited and intensified1 is the spur  
of scientific  action to-day4           
,determined by it1 by a process of      
abstraction from  experience we form    
physical theories which lie beyond the  
pale of  experience1 but which satisfy  
the desire of the mind to see every     
natural occurrence resting upon a cause4
  ,in forming their notions of  the     
origin of things1 our earliest historic 
7and doubtless1 we might  add1 our      

prehistoric7 ancestors pursued1 as far  
as their intelligence  permitted1 the   
same course4  ,they also fell back upon 
experience1 but  with this              
difference--that the particular         
experiences which furnished  the weft   
and woof of their theories were drawn1  
not from the study of  nature1 but from 
what lay much closer to them1 the       
observation of  men4  ,their theories   
accordingly took an anthropomorphic     
form4  ,to  supersensual beings1 which1 
'however potent and invisible1 were     
nothing but a species of human          
creatures1 perhaps raised from among    
mankind1 and retaining all human        
passions and appetites1'#a were  handed 
over the rule and governance of natural 
phenomena4    ,tested by observation and
 reflection1 these early notions failed 
in  the long run to satisfy the more    
penetrating intellects of our race4     
,far in the depths of history we find   
men of exceptional power                
differentiating themselves from the     

crowd1 rejecting these  anthropomorphic 
notions1 and seeking to connect natural 
phenomena  with their physical          
principles4  ,but long prior to these   
purer  efforts of the understanding the 
merchant had been abroad1 and  rendered 
the philosopher possible2 commerce had  
been developed1  wealth amassed1 leisure
 for travel and speculation secured1    
while  races educated under different   
conditions1 and therefore differently   
informed and endowed1 had been          
stimulated and sharpened by mutual      
contact4  ,in those regions where the   
commercial aristocracy of  ancient      
,greece mingled with its eastern        
neighbours the sciences were  born1     
being nurtured and developed by         
free-thinking and courageous  men4  ,the
 state of things to be displaced may be 
gathered from a  passage of ,euripides  
quoted by ,hume4  ',there is nothing in 
the world2  no glory1 no prosperity4    
,the gods toss all into confusion2 mix  
everything with its reverse1 that all of

 us1 from our ignorance and             
uncertainty1 may pay them the more      
worship and reverence4'  ,now1 as       
science demands the radical extirpation 
of caprice and the absolute  reliance   
upon law in nature1 there grew with the 
growth of scientific  notions a desire  
and determination to sweep from the     
field of theory  this mob of gods and   
demons1 and to place natural phenomena  
on a  basis more congruent with         
themselves4    ,the problem which had   
been previously approached from above   
was now  attacked from below2 theoretic 
effort passed from the super- to the    
sub-sensible4  ,it was felt that to     
construct the universe in idea it  was  
necessary to have some notion of its    
constituent parts--of what  ,lucretius  
subsequently called the ',first         
,beginnings4'  ,abstracting  again from 
experience1 the leaders of scientific   
speculation reached  at length the      
pregnant doctrine of atoms and          
molecules1 the latest  developments of  

which were set forth with such power and
 clearness at  the last meeting of the  
,british ,association4  ,thought1 no    
doubt1 had  long hovered about this     
doctrine before it attained the         
precision and  completeness which it    
assumed in the mind of ,democritus1#b a 
philosopher who may well for a moment   
arrest our attention4  ',few  great     
men1' says ,lange1 a non-materialist1 in
 his excellent ',history  of            
,materialism1' to the spirit and to the 
letter of which ,i am  equally indebted1
 'have been so despitefully used by     
history as  ,democritus4  ,in the       
distorted images sent down to us through
  unscientific traditions there remains 
of him almost nothing but the  name of  
the laughing philosopher1 while figures 
of immeasurably  smaller significance   
spread themselves out at full length    
before us4'  ,lange speaks of ,bacon's  
high appreciation of ,democritus--for   
ample  illustrations of which ,i am     
indebted to my excellent friend ,mr4    

,spedding1 the learned editor and       
biographer of ,bacon4  ,it is evident1  
indeed1 that ,bacon considered          
,democritus to be a man of weightier    
metal than either ,plato or ,aristotle1 
though their philosophy 'was  noised and
 celebrated in the schools1 amid the din
 and pomp of  professors4'  ,it was not 
they1 but ,genseric and ,attila and the 
barbarians1 who destroyed the atomic    
philosophy4  ',for at a time when  all  
human learning had suffered shipwreck   
these planks of  ,aristotelian and      
,platonic philosophy1 as being of a     
lighter and more  inflated substance1   
were preserved and came down to us1     
while things  more solid sank and almost
 passed into oblivion4'    ,the son of a
 wealthy father1 ,democritus devoted the
 whole of his  inherited fortune to the 
culture of his mind4  ,he travelled     
everywhere2 visited ,athens when        
,socrates and ,plato were there1 but    
quitted the city without making himself 
known4  ,indeed1 the dialectic  strife  

in which ,socrates so much delighted had
 no charms for  ,democritus1 who held   
that 'the man who readily contradicts   
and uses  many words is unfit to learn  
anything truly right4'  ,he is said to  
have discovered and educated ,protagoras
 the sophist1 being struck as  much by  
the manner in which he1 being a hewer of
 wood1 tied up his  faggots as by the   
sagacity of his conversation4           
,democritus returned  poor from his     
travels1 was supported by his brother1  
and at length  wrote his great work     
entitled ',diakosmos1' which he read    
publicly  before the people of his      
native town4  ,he was honoured by his   
countrymen in various ways1 and died    
serenely at a great age4    ,the        
principles enunciated by ,democritus    
reveal his uncompromising  antagonism to
 those who deduced the phenomena of     
nature from the  caprices of the gods4  
,they are briefly these3--#a4 ,from     
nothing comes  nothing4  ,nothing that  
exists can be destroyed4  ,all changes  

are due  to the combination and         
separation of molecules4  #b4 ,nothing  
happens  by chance4  ,every occurrence  
has its cause from which it follows by  
necessity4  #c4 ,the only existing      
things are the atoms and empty  space2  
all else is mere opinion4  #d4 ,the     
atoms are infinite in number  and       
infinitely various in form2 they strike 
together1 and the lateral  motions and  
whirlings which thus arise are the      
beginnings of worlds4  #e4 ,the         
varieties of all things depend upon the 
varieties of their  atoms1 in number1   
size1 and aggregation4  #f4 ,the soul   
consists of  fine1 smooth1 round atoms1 
like those of fire4  ,these are the most
  mobile of all4  ,they interpenetrate  
the whole body1 and in their  motions   
the phenomena of life arise4  ,the first
 five propositions are  a fair general  
statement of the atomic philosophy1 as  
now held4  ,as  regards the sixth1      
,democritus made his fine smooth atoms  
do duty for  the nervous system1 whose  

functions were then unknown4  ,the atoms
 of  ,democritus are individually       
without sensation2 they combine in      
obedience to mechanical laws2 and not   
only organic forms1 but the  phenomena  
of sensation and thought are the result 
of their  combination4    ,that great   
enigma1 'the exquisite adaptation of one
 part of an  organism to another part1  
and to the conditions of life1' more    
especially the construction of the human
 body1 ,democritus made no  attempt to  
solve4  ,empedocles1 a man of more fiery
 and poetic nature1  introduced the     
notion of love and hate among the atoms 
to account for  their combination and   
separation4  ,noticing this gap in the  
doctrine  of ,democritus1 he struck in  
with the penetrating thought1 linked1   
however1 with some wild speculation1    
that it lay in the very nature  of those
 combinations which were suited to their
 ends 7in other  words1 in harmony with 
their environment7 to maintain          
themselves1  while unfit combinations1  

having no proper habitat1 must rapidly  
disappear4  ,thus more than #b1jjj years
 ago the doctrine of the  'survival of  
the fittest1' which in our day1 not on  
the basis of  vague conjecture1 but of  
positive knowledge1 has been raised to  
such  extraordinary significance1 had   
received at all events partial          
enunciation4#c    ,epicurus1#d said to  
be the son of a poor schoolmaster at    
,samos1 is  the next dominant figure in 
the history of the atomic philosophy4   
,he  mastered the writings of           
,democritus1 heard lectures in ,athens1 
went  back to ,sarnos1 and subsequently 
wandered through various countries4  ,he
 finally returned to ,athens1 where he  
bought a garden1 and  surrounded himself
 by pupils1 in the midst of whom he     
lived a pure  and serene life1 and died 
a peaceful death4  ,democritus looked to
 the  soul as the ennobling part of man2
 even beauty without understanding      
partook of animalism4  ,epicurus also   
rated the spirit above the body2  the   

pleasure of the body was that of the    
moment1 while the spirit  could draw    
upon the future and the past4  ,his     
philosophy was almost  identical with   
that of ,democritus2 but he never quoted
 either friend  or foe4  ,one main      
object of ,epicurus was to free the     
world from  superstition and the fear of
 death4  ,death he treated with         
indifference4  ,it merely robs us of    
sensation4  ,as long as we are1  death  
is not2 and when death is1 we are not4  
,life has no more evil  for him who has 
made up his mind that it is no evil not 
to live4  ,he  adored the gods1 but not 
in the ordinary fashion4  ,the idea of  
divine  power1 properly purified1 he    
thought an elevating one4  ,still he    
taught1 ',not he is godless who rejects 
the gods of the crowd1 but  rather he   
who accepts them4'  ,the gods were to   
him eternal and  immortal beings1 whose 
blessedness excluded every thought of   
care or  occupation of any kind4        
,nature pursues her course in accordance

 with  everlasting laws1 the gods never 
interfering4  ,they haunt      ',the    
lucid interspace of world and world     
,where never creeps a cloud or moves a  
wind1    ,nor ever falls the least white
 star of snow1    ,nor ever lowest roll 
of thunder moans1    ,nor sound of human
 sorrow mounts to mar    ,their sacred  
everlasting calm4'#e      ,lange        
considers the relation of ,epicurus to  
the gods subjective2 the  indication    
probably of an ethical requirement of   
his own nature4  ,we  cannot read       
history with open eyes1 or study human  
nature to its  depths1 and fail to      
discern such a requirement4  ,man never 
has been1  and he never will be1        
satisfied with the operations and       
products of  the ,understanding alone2  
hence physical science cannot cover all 
the  demands of his nature4  ,but the   
history of the efforts made to  satisfy 
these demands might be broadly described
 as a history of  errors--the error1 in 
great part1 consisting in ascribing     

fixity to  that which is fluent1 which  
varies as we vary1 being gross when we  
are gross1 and becoming1 as our         
capacities widen1 more abstract and     
sublime4  ,on one great point the mind  
of ,epicurus was at peace4  ,he  neither
 sought nor expected1 here or hereafter1
 any personal profit  from his relation 
to the gods4  ,and it is assuredly a    
fact that  loftiness and serenity of    
thought may be promoted by conceptions  
which involve no idea of profit of this 
kind4  ',did ,i not believe1'  said a   
great man to me once1 'that an          
,intelligence is at the heart of        
things1 my life on earth would be       
intolerable4'  ,the utterer of these    
words is not1 in my opinion1 rendered   
less noble but more noble by  the fact  
that it was the need of ethical harmony 
here1 and not the  thought of personal  
profit hereafter1 that prompted his     
observation4    ,there are persons1 not 
belonging to the highest intellectual   
zone1  nor yet to the lowest1 to whom   

perfect clearness of exposition         
suggests want of depth4  ,they find     
comfort and edification in an  abstract 
and learned phraseology4  ,to some such 
people ,epicurus1 who  spared no pains  
to rid his style of every trace of haze 
and  turbidity1 appeared1 on this very  
account1 superficial4  ,he had1         
however1 a disciple who thought it no   
unworthy occupation to spend  his days  
and nights in the effort to reach the   
clearness of his  master1 and to whom   
the ,greek philosopher is mainly        
indebted for the  extension and         
perpetuation of his fame4  ,a century   
and a half after  the death of          
,epicurus1 ,lucretius#f wrote his great 
poem1 ',on the  ,nature of ,things1' in 
which he1 a ,roman1 developed with      
extraordinary  ardour the philosophy of 
his ,greek predecessor4  ,he wishes to  
win  over his friend ,memnius to the    
school of ,epicurus2 and although he    
has no rewards in a future life to      
offer1 although his object appears  to  

be a purely negative one1 he addresses  
his friend with the heat of  an apostle4
  ,his object1 like that of his great   
forerunner1 is the  destruction of      
superstition2 and considering that men  
trembled before  every natural event as 
a direct monition from the gods1 and    
that  ever-lasting torture was also in  
prospect1 the freedom aimed at by       
,lucretius might perhaps be deemed a    
positive good4  ',this terror1' he      
says1 'and darkness of mind must be     
dispelled1 not by the rays of the  sun  
and glittering shafts of day1 but by the
 aspect and the law of  nature4'  ,he   
refutes the notion that anything can    
come out of  nothing1 or that that which
 is once begotten can be recalled to    
nothing4  ,the first beginnings1 the    
atoms1 are indestructible1 and  into    
them all things can be resolved at last4
  ,bodies are partly  atoms1 and partly 
combinations of atoms2 but the atoms    
nothing can  quench4  ,they are strong  
in solid singleness1 and by their denser

  combination all things can be closely 
packed and exhibit enduring  strength4  
,he denies that matter is infinitely    
divisible4  ,we come at  length to the  
atoms1 without which1 as an imperishable
 substratum1  all order in the          
generation and development of things    
would be  destroyed4    ,the mechanical 
shock of the atoms being in his view the
  all-sufficient cause of things1 he    
combats the notion that the             
constitution of nature has been in any  
way determined by intelligent  design4  
,the inter-action of the atoms          
throughout infinite time  rendered all  
manner of combinations possible4  ,of   
these the fit ones  persisted1 while the
 unfit ones disappeared4  ,not after    
sage  deliberation did the atoms station
 themselves in their right places1  nor 
did they bargain what motions they      
should assume4  ,from all  eternity they
 have been driven together1 and after   
trying motions and  unions of every     
kind1 they fell at length into the      

arrangements out  of which this system  
of things has been formed4  ',if you    
will  apprehend and keep in mind these  
things1 nature1 free at once1 and  rid  
of her haughty lords1 is seen to do all 
things spontaneously of  herself1       
without the meddling of the gods4'#g    
,to meet the objection that his atoms   
cannot be seen1 ,lucretius  describes a 
violent storm1 and shows that the       
invisible particles of  air act in the  
same way as the visible particles of    
water4  ,we  perceive1 moreover1 the    
different smells of things1 yet never   
see  them coming to our nostrils4       
,again1 clothes hung up on a shore which
  waves break upon become moist1 and    
then get dry if spread out in the  sun1 
though no eye can see either the        
approach or the escape of the  water    
particles4  ,a ring1 worn long on the   
finger1 becomes thinner2 a  water-drop  
hollows out a stone2 the ploughshare is 
rubbed away in the  field2 the street   
pavement is worn by the feet2 but the   

particles  that disappear at any moment 
we cannot see4  ,nature acts through    
invisible particles4  ,that ,lucretius  
had a strong scientific  imagination the
 foregoing references prove4  ,a fine   
illustration of  his power in this      
respect is his explanation of the       
apparent rest of  bodies whose atoms are
 in motion4  ,he employs the image of a 
flock of  sheep with skipping lambs1    
which1 seen from a distance1 presents   
simply a white patch upon the green     
hill1 the jumping of the  individual    
lambs being quite invisible4    ,his    
vaguely-grand conception of the atoms   
falling eternally through  space        
suggested the nebular hypothesis to     
,kant1 its first propounder4  ,far      
beyond the limits of our visible world  
are to be found atoms  innumerable1     
which have never been united to form    
bodies1 or which1  if once united1 have 
been again dispersed1 falling silently  
through  immeasurable intervals of time 
and space4  ,as everywhere throughout   

the ,all the same conditions are        
repeated1 so must the phenomena be      
repeated also4  ,above us1 below us1    
beside us1 therefore1 are worlds        
without end2 and this1 when considered1 
must dissipate every thought  of a      
deflection of the universe by the gods4 
,the worlds come and go1  attracting new
 atoms out of limitless space1 or       
dispersing their own  particles4  ,the  
reputed death of ,lucretius1 which forms
 the basis of  ,mr4 ,tennyson's noble   
poem1 is in strict accordance with his  
philosophy1 which was severe and pure4  
,during the centuries lying between the 
first of these three  philosophers and  
the last1 the human intellect was active
 in other  fields than theirs4  ,the    
sophists had run through their career4  
,at  ,athens had appeared ,socrates1    
,plato1 and ,aristotle1 who ruined the  
sophists1 and whose yoke remains to some
 extent unbroken to the  present hour4  
,within this period also the ,school of 
,alexandria was  founded1 ,euclid wrote 

his ',elements1' and made some advance  
in  optics4  ,archimedes had propounded 
the theory of the lever and the         
principles of hydrostatics4  ,pythagoras
 had made his experiments on  the       
harmonic intervals1 while astronomy was 
immensely enriched by the  discoveries  
of ,hipparchus1 who was followed by the 
historically more  celebrated ,ptolemy4 
,anatomy had been made the basis of     
,scientific  medicine2 and it is said by
 ,draper#h that vivisection then began4 
,in fact1 the science of ancient ,greece
 had already cleared the world  of the  
fantastic images of divinities operating
 capriciously through  natural          
phenomena4  ,it had shaken itself free  
from that fruitless  scrutiny 'by the   
internal light of the mind alone1' which
 had vainly  sought to transcend        
experience and reach a knowledge of     
ultimate  causes4  ,instead of          
accidental observation1 it had          
introduced  observation with a purpose2 
instruments were employed to aid the    

senses2 and scientific method was       
rendered in a great measure  complete by
 the union of ,induction and            
,experiment4    ,what1 then1 stopped its
 victorious advance8  ,why was the      
scientific  intellect compelled1 like an
 exhausted soil1 to lie fallow for      
nearly  two millenniums before it could 
regather the elements necessary to  its 
fertility and strength8  ,bacon has     
already let us know one cause2  ,whewell
 ascribes this stationary period to four
 causes--obscurity of  thought1         
servility1 intolerance of disposition1  
enthusiasm of  temper--and he gives     
striking examples of each4#i  ,but these
  characteristics must have had their   
antecedents in the circumstances  of the
 time4  ,rome and the other cities of   
the ,empire had fallen into  moral      
putrefaction4  ,christianity had        
appeared1 offering the gospel  to the   
poor1 and1 by moderation if not         
asceticism of life1  practically        
protesting against the profligacy of the

 age4  ,the  sufferings of the early    
,christians1 and the extraordinary      
exaltation  of mind which enabled them  
to triumph over the diabolical tortures 
to  which they were subjected1#aj must  
have left traces not easily  effaced4   
,they scorned the earth1 in view of that
 'building of ,god1  that house not made
 with hands1 eternal in the heavens4'   
,the  ,scriptures which ministered to   
their spiritual needs were also the     
measure of their ,science4  ,when1 for  
example1 the celebrated question  of    
antipodes came to be discussed1 the     
,bible was with many the  ultimate court
 of appeal4  ,augustin1 who flourished  
,a4,d4 #djj1 would  not deny the        
rotundity of the earth2 but he would    
deny the possible  existence of         
inhabitants at the other side1 'because 
no such race is  recorded in ,scripture 
among the descendants of ,adam4'        
,archbishop  ,boniface was shocked at   
the assumption of a 'world of human     
beings  out of the reach of the means of

 salvation4'  ,thus reined in1 ,science 
was not likely to make much progress4   
,later on the political and  theological
 strife between the ,church and civil   
governments1 so  powerfully depicted by 
,draper1 must have done much to stifle  
investigation4    ,whewell makes many   
wise and brave remarks regarding the    
spirit of the  ,middle ,ages4  ,it was a
 menial spirit4  ,the seekers after     
natural  knowledge had forsaken that    
fountain of living waters1 the direct   
appeal to nature by observation and     
experiment1 and had given  themselves up
 to the remanipulation of the notions of
 their  predecessors4  ,it was a time   
when thought had become abject1 and when
  the acceptance of mere authority led1 
as it always does in science1  to       
intellectual death4  ,natural events1   
instead of being traced to  physical1   
were referred to moral causes2 while an 
exercise of the  phantasy1 almost as    
degrading as the spiritualism of the    
present day1  took the place of         

scientific speculation4  ,then came the 
mysticism of  the ,middle ,ages1 ,magic1
 ,alchemy1 the ,neo-platonic philosophy1
 with  its visionary though sublime     
abstractions1 which caused men to look  
with shame upon their own bodies as     
hindrances to the absorption of  the    
creature in the blessedness of the      
,creator4  ,finally came the            
,scholastic philosophy1 a fusion1       
according to ,lange1 of the             
least-mature notions of ,aristotle with 
the ,christianity of the ,west4         
,intellectual immobility was the result4
  ,as a traveller without a  compass in 
a fog may wander long1 imagining he is  
making way1 and  find himself after     
hours of toil at his starting-point1 so 
the  schoolmen1 having 'tied and untied 
the same knots and formed and           
dissipated the same clouds1' found      
themselves at the end of centuries  in  
their old position4    ,with regard to  
the influence wielded by ,aristotle in  
the ,middle ,ages1  and which1 though to

 a less extent1 he still wields1 ,i     
would ask  permission to make one       
remark4  ,when the human mind has       
achieved  greatness and given evidence  
of extraordinary power in any domain1   
there is a tendency to credit it with   
similar power in all other  domains4    
,thus theologians have found comfort and
 assurance in the  thought that ,newton 
dealt with the question of revelation1  
forgetful  of the fact that the very    
devotion of his powers1 through all the 
best years of his life1 to a totally    
different class of ideas1 not to  speak 
of any natural disqualification1 tended 
to render him less  instead of more     
competent to deal with theological and  
historic  questions4  ,goethe1 starting 
from his established greatness as a     
poet1 and indeed from his positive      
discoveries in ,natural ,history1       
produced a profound impression among the
 painters of ,germany when he  published
 his ',farbenlehre1' in which he        
endeavoured to overthrow  ,newton's     

theory of colours4  ,this theory he     
deemed so obviously  absurd that he     
considered its author a charlatan1 and  
attacked him  with a corresponding      
vehemence of language4  ,in the domain  
of ,natural  ,history ,goethe had made  
really considerable discoveries2 and we 
have  high authority for assuming that1 
had he devoted himself wholly to  that  
side of science1 he might have reached  
in it an eminence  comparable with that 
which he attained as a poet4  ,in       
sharpness of  observation1 in the       
detection of analogies1 however         
apparently  remote1 in the              
classification and organization of facts
 according to  the analogies discerned1 
,goethe possessed extraordinary powers4 
,these elements of scientific inquiry   
fall in with the discipline of  the     
poet4  ,but1 on the other hand1 a mind  
thus richly endowed in the  direction of
 natural history may be almost shorn of 
endowment as  regards the more strictly 
called physical and mechanical sciences4

  ,goethe was in this condition4  ,he   
could not formulate distinct  mechanical
 conceptions2 he could not see the force
 of mechanical  reasoning2 and in       
regions where such reasoning reigns     
supreme he  became a mere ignis fatuus  
to those who followed him4    ,i have   
sometimes permitted myself to compare   
,aristotle with ,goethe1  to credit the 
,stagirite with an almost superhuman    
power of amassing  and systematizing    
facts1 but to consider him fatally      
defective on  that side of the mind in  
respect to which incompleteness has been
  just ascribed to ,goethe4  ,whewell   
refers the errors of ,aristotle1 not  to
 a neglect of facts1 but to 'a neglect  
of the idea appropriate to  the facts2  
the idea of ,mechanical cause1 which is 
,force1 and the  substitution of vague  
or inapplicable notions1 involving only 
relations of space or emotions of       
wonder4'  ,this is doubtless true2  but 
the word 'neglect' implies mere         
intellectual misdirection1  whereas in  

,aristotle1 as in ,goethe1 it was not1  
,i believe1  misdirection1 but sheer    
natural incapacity which lay at the root
 of  his mistakes4  ,as a physicist1    
,aristotle displayed what we should     
consider some of the worst attributes of
 a modern physical                      
investigator--indistinctness of ideas1  
confusion of mind1 and a  confident use 
of language1 which led to the delusive  
notion that he  had really mastered his 
subject1 while he had as yet failed to  
grasp  even the elements of it4  ,he put
 words in the place of things1  subject 
in the place of object4  ,he preached   
,induction without  practising it1      
inverting the true order of inquiry by  
passing from  the general to the        
particular1 instead of from the         
particular to the  general4  ,he made of
 the universe a closed sphere1 in the   
centre of  which he fixed the earth1    
proving from general principles1 to his 
own  satisfaction and to that of the    
world for near #b1jjj years1 that no    

other universe was possible4  ,his      
notions of motion were entirely         
unphysical4  ,it was natural or         
unnatural1 better or worse1 calm or     
violent--no real mechanical conception  
regarding it lying at the  bottom of his
 mind4  ,he affirmed that a vacuum could
 not exist1 and  proved that if it did  
exist motion in it would be impossible4 
,he  determined  priori how many species
 of animals must exist1 and  shows on   
general principles why animals must have
 such and such  parts4  ,when an eminent
 contemporary philosopher1 who is far   
removed  from errors of this kind1      
remembers these abuses of the  priori   
method1 he will be able to make         
allowance for the jealousy of           
physicists as to the acceptance of      
so-called  priori truths4  ,aristotle's 
errors of detail1 as shown by ,eucken   
and ,lange1 were  grave and numerous4   
,he affirmed that only in man we had the
 beating  of the heart1 that the left   
side of the body was colder than the    

right1 that men have more teeth than    
women1 and that there is an  empty space
 at the back of every man's head4       
,there is one essential quality in      
physical conceptions which was  entirely
 wanting in those of ,aristotle and his 
followers4  ,i wish it  could be        
expressed by a word untainted by its    
associations2 it  signifies a capability
 of being placed as a coherent picture  
before  the mind4  ,the ,germans express
 the act of picturing by the word       
vorstellen1 and the picture they call a 
,vorstellung4  ,we have no  word in     
,english which comes nearer to our      
requirements than  ,imagination1 and1   
taken with its proper limitations1 the  
word  answers very well2 but1 as just   
intimated1 it is tainted by its         
associations1 and therefore             
objectionable to some minds4  ,compare1 
with reference to this capacity of      
mental presentation1 the case of  the   
,aristotelian who refers the ascent of  
water in a pump to ,nature's  abhorrence

 of a vacuum1 with that of ,pascal when 
he proposed to solve  the question of   
atmospheric pressure by the ascent of   
the ,puy de  ,dome4  ,in the one case   
the terms of the explanation refuse to  
fall  into place as a physical image2 in
 the other the image is distinct1  the  
fall and rise of the barometer being    
clearly figured as the  balancing of two
 varying and opposing pressures4        
,during the drought of the ,middle ,ages
 in ,christendom1 the ,arabian          
intellect1 as forcibly shown by ,draper1
 was active4  ,with the  intrusion of   
the ,moors into ,spain1 he says1 order1 
learning1 and  refinement took the place
 of their opposites4  ,when smitten with
  disease1 the ,christian peasant       
resorted to a shrine1 the ,moorish one  
to an instructed physician4  ,the ,arabs
 encouraged translations from  the      
,greek philosophers1 but not from the   
,greek poets4  ,they turned in  disgust 
'from the lewdness of our classical     
mythology1 and denounced  as an         

unpardonable blasphemy all connexion    
between the impure  ,olympian ,jove and 
the ,most ,high ,god4'  ,draper traces  
still further  than ,whewell the ,arab  
elements in our scientific terms1 and   
points  out that the under garment of   
ladies retains to this hour its ,arab   
name4  ,he gives examples of what       
,arabian men of science accomplished1   
dwelling particularly on ,alhazen1 who  
was the first to correct the  ,platonic 
notion that rays of light are emitted by
 the eye4  ,he  discovered atmospheric  
refraction1 and points out that we see  
the sun  and the moon after they have   
set4  ,he explains the enlargement of   
the  sun and moon1 and the shortening of
 the vertical diameters of both  these  
bodies1 when near the horizon4  ,he is  
aware that the atmosphere  decreases in 
density with increase of elevation1 and 
actually fixes  its height at #eh miles4
  ,in the ,book of the ,balance ,wisdom1
 he sets  forth the connexion between   
the weight of the atmosphere and its    

increasing density4  ,he shows that a   
body will weigh differently in a  rare  
and dense atmosphere3 he considers the  
force with which plunged  bodies rise   
through heavier media4  ,he understands 
the doctrine of  the centre of gravity1 
and applies it to the investigation of  
balances and steelyards4  ,he recognises
 gravity as a force1 though he  falls   
into the error of making it diminish    
simply as the distance  increased1 and  
of making it purely terrestrial4  ,he   
knows the  relation between the         
velocities1 spaces1 and times of falling
 bodies1  and has distinct ideas of     
capillary attraction4  ,he improved the 
hydrometer4  ,the determination of the  
densities of bodies as given by         
,alhazen approach very closely to our   
own4  ',i join1' says ,draper1 in  the  
pious prayer of ,alhazen1 'that in the  
day of judgment the  ,all-,merciful will
 take pity on the soul of ,abur-,raihn1 
because he  was the first of the race of
 men to construct a table of specific   

gravities4'  ,if all this be historic   
truth 7and ,i have entire  confidence in
 ,dr4 ,draper71 well may he 'deplore the
 systematic manner  in which the        
literature of ,europe has contrived to  
put out of sight  our scientific        
obligations to the ,mahommedans4'#aa    
,the strain upon the mind during the    
stationary period towards               
ultra-terrestrial things1 to the neglect
 of problems close at hand1  was sure to
 provoke reaction4  ,but the reaction   
was gradual2 for the  ground was        
dangerous1 a power being at hand        
competent to crush the  critic who went 
too far4  ,to elude this power and still
 allow  opportunity for the expression  
of opinion1 the doctrine of 'twofold    
truth' was invented1 according to which 
an opinion might be held2               
'theologically' and the opposite opinion
 'philosophically4'#ab  ,thus  in the   
thirteenth century the creation of the  
world in six days1 and  the             
unchangeableness of the individual soul 

which had been so  distinctly affirmed  
by ,st4 ,thomas ,aquinas1 were both     
denied  philosophically1 but admitted to
 be true as articles of the ,catholic   
faith4  ,when ,protagoras uttered the   
maxim which brought upon him so  much   
vituperation1 that' opposite assertions 
are equally true1' he  simply meant that
 human beings differed so much from each
 other that  what was subjectively true 
to the one might be subjectively untrue 
to  the other4  ,the great ,sophist     
never meant to play fast and loose with 
the truth by saying that one of two     
opposite assertions1 made by the  same  
individual1 could possibly escape being 
a lie4  ,it was not  'sophistry1' but   
the dread of theologic vengeance that   
generated this  double dealing with     
conviction2 and it is astonishing to    
notice what  lengths were possible to   
men who were adroit in the use of       
artifices  of this kind4    ,towards the
 close of the stationary period a       
word-weariness1 if ,i may  so express   

it1 took more and more possession of    
men's minds4  ,christendom had become   
sick of the ,school philosophy and its  
verbal  wastes1 which led to no issue1  
but left the intellect in everlasting   
haze4  ,here and there was heard the    
voice of one impatiently crying  in the 
wilderness1 ',not unto ,aristotle1 not  
unto subtle hypothesis1  not unto       
church1 ,bible1 or blind tradition1 must
 we turn for a  knowledge of the        
universe1 but to the direct             
investigation of ,nature  by observation
 and experiment4'  ,in #aedc the        
epoch-making work of  ,copernicus on the
 paths of the heavenly bodies appeared4 
,the total  crash of ,aristotle's closed
 universe with the earth at its centre  
followed as a consequence1 and 'the     
earth moves6' became a kind of          
watchword among intellectual freemen4   
,copernicus was ,canon of the  ,church  
of ,frauenburg1 in the diocese of       
,ermeland4  ,for  three-and-thirty years
 he had withdrawn himself from the world

 and  devoted himself to the            
consolidation of his great scheme of the
 solar  system4  ,he made its blocks    
eternal2 and even to those who feared it
  and desired its overthrow it was so   
obviously strong that they  refrained   
for a time from meddling with it4  ,in  
the last year of the  life of           
,copernicus his book appeared3 it is    
said that the old man  received a copy  
of it a few days before his death1 and  
then departed  in peace4    ,the        
,italian philosopher ,giordano ,bruno   
was one of the earliest  converts to the
 new astronomy4  ,taking ,lucretius as  
his exemplar1 he  revived the notion of 
the infinity of worlds2 and1 combining  
with it  the doctrine of ,copernicus1   
reached the sublime generalization that 
the fixed stars are suns1 scattered     
numberless through space and            
accompanied by satellites1 which bear   
the same relation to them1 that  our    
earth does to our sun1 or our moon to   
our earth4  ,this was an  expansion of  

transcendent import2 but ,bruno came    
closer than this to  our present line of
 thought4  ,struck with the problem of  
the  generation and maintenance of      
organisms1 and duly pondering it1 he    
came to the conclusion that ,nature in  
her productions does not  imitate the   
technic of man4  ,her process is one of 
unravelling and  unfolding4  ,the       
infinity of forms under which matter    
appears were not  imposed upon it by an 
external artificer2 by its own intrinsic
 force  and virtue it brings these forms
 forth4  ,matter is not the mere  naked1
 empty capacity which philosophers have 
pictured her to be1 but  the universal  
mother who brings forth all things as   
the fruit of her  own womb4    ,this    
outspoken man was originally a          
,dominican monk4  ,he was accused  of   
heresy and had to fly1 seeking refuge in
 ,geneva1 ,paris1 ,england1  and        
,germany4  ,in #aeib he fell into the   
hands of the ,inquisition at  ,venice4  
,he was imprisoned for many years1      

tried1 degraded1  excommunicated1 and   
handed over to the civil power1 with the
 request  that he should be treated     
gently and 'without the shedding of     
blood4'  ,this meant that he was to be  
burnt2 and burnt accordingly he was1 on 
the #afth of ,february1 #afjj4  ,to     
escape a similar fate ,galileo1         
thirty-three years afterwards1 abjured1 
upon his knees1 and with his  hand upon 
the holy gospels1 the heliocentric      
doctrine which he knew  to be true4     
,after ,galileo came ,kepler1 who from  
his ,german home  defied the power      
beyond the ,alps4  ,he traced out from  
pre-existing  observations the laws of  
planetary motion4  ,materials were thus 
prepared for ,newton1 who bound those   
empirical laws together by the          
principle of gravitation4    ,in the    
seventeenth century ,bacon and          
,descartes1 the restorers of            
philosophy1 appeared in succession4     
,differently educated and  endowed1     
their philosophic tendencies were       

different4  ,bacon held  fast to        
,induction1 believing firmly in the     
existence of an external  world1 and    
making collected experiences the basis  
of all knowledge4  ,the mathematical    
studies of ,descartes gave him a bias   
towards  ,deduction2 and his fundamental
 principle was much the same as that of 
,protagoras1 who made the individual man
 the measure of all things4  ',i think1 
therefore ,i am1' said ,descartes4      
,only his own identity was  sure to him2
 and the development of this system     
would have led to an  idealism in which 
the outer world would be resolved into a
 mere  phenomenon of consciousness4     
,gassendi1 one of ,descartes's          
contemporaries1 of whom we shall hear   
more presently1 quickly pointed  out    
that the fact of personal existence     
would be proved as well by  reference to
 any other act as to the act of         
thinking4  ,i eat1  therefore ,i am2 or 
,i love1 therefore ,i am1 would be quite
 as  conclusive4  ,lichtenberg showed   

that the very thing to be proved was    
inevitably postulated in the first two  
words1 ',i think2' and that no          
inference from the postulate could by   
any possibility be stronger  than the   
postulate itself4    ,but ,descartes    
deviated strangely from the idealism    
implied in his  fundamental principle4  
,he was the first to reduce1 in a manner
  eminently capable of bearing the test 
of mental presentation1 vital  phenomena
 to purely mechanical principles4       
,through fear or love1  ,descartes was a
 good churchman2 he accordingly rejects 
the notion of  an atom1 because it was  
absurd to suppose that ,god1 if he so   
pleased1  could not divide an atom2 he  
puts in the place of the atoms small    
round particles and light splinters1 out
 of which he builds the  organism4  ,he 
sketches with marvellous physical       
insight a machine1  with water for its  
motive power1 which shall illustrate    
vital  actions4  ,he has made clear to  
his mind that such a machine would be   

competent to carry on the processes of  
digestion1 nutrition1 growth1           
respiration1 and the beating of the     
heart4  ,it would be competent to       
accept impressions from the external    
sense1 to store them up in  imagination 
and memory1 to go through the internal  
movements of the  appetites and         
passions1 the external movement of      
limbs4  ,he deduces  these functions of 
his machine from the mere arrangement of
 its  organs1 as the movement of a clock
 or other automaton is deduced from  its
 weights and wheels4  ',as far as these 
functions are concerned1'  he says1 'it 
is not necessary to conceive any other  
vegetative or  sensitive soul1 nor any  
other principle of motion or of life1   
than  the blood and the spirits agitated
 by the fire which burns  continually in
 the heart1 and which is in no wise     
different from the  fires which exist in
 inanimate bodies4'  ,had ,descartes    
been  acquainted with the steam-engine1 
he would have taken it1 instead of  a   

fall of water1 as his motive power1 and 
shown the perfect analogy  which exists 
between the oxidation of the food in the
 body and that  of the coal in the      
furnace4  ,he would assuredly have      
anticipated  ,mayer in calling the blood
 which the heart diffuses 'the oil of   
the  lamp of life2' deducing all animal 
motions from the combustion of  this    
oil1 as the motions of a steam-engine   
are deduced from the  combustion of its 
coal4  ,as the matter stands1 however1  
and  considering the circumstances of   
the time1 the boldness1 clearness1  and 
precision with which he grasped the     
problem of vital dynamics  constitute a 
marvellous illustration of intellectual 
power4#ac    ,during the ,middle ,ages  
the doctrine of atoms had to all        
appearance  vanished from discussion4   
,in all probability it held its ground  
among sober-minded and thoughtful men1  
though neither the church nor  the world
 was prepared to hear of it with        
tolerance4  ,once1 in the  year #acdh1  

it received distinct expression4  ,but  
retractation by  compulsion immediately 
followed1 and1 thus discouraged1 it     
slumbered  till the seventeenth century1
 when it was revived by a contemporary  
and friend of ,hobbes and ,malmesbury1  
the orthodox ,catholic provost of       
,digne1 ,gassendi4  ,but before stating 
his relation to the ,epicurean          
doctrine1 it will be well to say a few  
words on the effect1 as  regards        
science1 of the general introduction of 
monotheism among  ,european nations4    
',were men1' says ,hume1 'led into the  
apprehension of invisible  intelligent  
power by 'contemplation of the works of 
,nature1 they  could never possibly     
entertain any conception but of one     
single  being1 who bestowed existence   
and order on this vast machine1 and     
adjusted all its parts to one regular   
system4'  ,referring to the  condition  
of the heathen1 who sees a god behind   
every natural event1  thus peopling the 
world with thousands of beings whose    

caprices are  incalculable1 ,lange shows
 the impossibility of any compromise    
between  such notions and those of      
science1 which proceeds on the          
assumption  of never-changing law and   
causality4  ',but1' he continues1 with  
characteristic penetration1 'when the   
great thought of one ,god1  acting as a 
unit upon the universe1 has been seized1
 the connexion of  things in accordance 
with the law of cause and effect is not 
only  thinkable1 but it is a necessary  
consequence of the assumption4  ,for    
when ,i see ten thousand wheels in      
motion1 and know1 or believe1 that  they
 are all driven by one1 then ,i know    
that ,i have before me a  mechanism the 
action of every part of which is        
determined by the plan  of the whole4   
,so much being assumed1 it follows that 
,i may  investigate the structure of    
that machine1 and the various motions of
  its parts4  ,for the time being1      
therefore1 this conception renders      
scientific action free4'  ,in other     

words1 were a capricious ,god at  the   
circumference of every wheel and at the 
end of every lever1 the  action of the  
machine would be incalculable by the    
methods of  science4  ,but the action of
 all its parts being rigidly determined 
by  their connexions and relations1 and 
these being brought into play by  a     
single self-acting driving wheel1 then1 
though this last prime  mover may elude 
me1 ,i am still able to comprehend the  
machinery which  it sets in motion4  ,we
 have here a conception of the relation 
of  ,nature to its ,author which seems  
perfectly acceptable to some minds1  but
 perfectly intolerable to others4       
,newton and ,boyle lived and  worked    
happily under the influence of this     
conception2 ,goethe  rejected it with   
vehemence1 and the same repugnance to   
accepting it  is manifest in            
,carlyle4#ad    ,the analytic and       
synthetic tendencies of the human mind  
exhibit  themselves throughout history1 
great writers ranging themselves        

sometimes on the one side1 sometimes on 
the other4  ,men of warm  feelings and  
minds open to the elevating impressions 
produced by  ,nature as a whole1 whose  
satisfaction1 therefore1 is rather      
ethical  than logical1 lean to the      
synthetic side2 while the analytic      
harmonizes best with the more precise   
and more mechanical bias which  seeks   
the satisfaction of the understanding4  
,some form of pantheism  was usually    
adopted by the one1 while a detached    
,creator1 working  more or less after   
the manner of men1 was often assumed by 
the other4  ,gassendi is hardly to be   
ranked with either4  ,having formally   
acknowledged ,god as the great first    
cause1 he immediately dropped the  idea1
 applied the known laws of mechanics to 
the atoms1 deducing  thence all vital   
phenomena4  ,he defended ,epicurus1 and 
dwelt upon his  purity1 both of doctrine
 and of life4  ,true he was a heathen1  
but so  was ,aristotle4  ,he assailed   
superstition and religion1 and rightly1 

because he did not know the true        
religion4  ,he thought that the gods    
neither rewarded nor punished1 and      
adored them purely in consequence  of   
their completeness2 here we see1 says   
,gassendi1 the reverence of  the child  
instead of the fear of the slave4  ,the 
errors of ,epicurus  shall be corrected1
 the body of his truth retained2 and    
then ,gassendi  proceeds1 as any heathen
 might do1 to build up the world1 and   
all  that therein is1 of atoms and      
molecules4  ,god1 who created earth and 
water1 plants and animals1 produced in  
the first place a definite  number of   
atoms1 which constituted the seed of all
 things4  ,then  began that series of   
combinations and decompositions which   
goes on at  present1 and which will     
continue in future4  ,the principle of  
every  change resides in matter4  ,in   
artificial productions the moving       
principle is different from the material
 worked upon2 but in ,nature  the agent 
works within1 being the most active and 

mobile part of the  material itself4    
,thus1 this bold ecclesiastic1 without  
incurring the  censure of the church or 
the world1 contrives to outstrip ,mr4   
,darwin4  ,the same cast of mind which  
caused him to detach the ,creator from  
his  universe led him also to detach the
 soul from the body1 though to the  body
 he ascribes an influence so large as to
 render the soul almost  unnecessary4   
,the aberrations of reason were in his  
view an affair of  the material brain4  
,mental disease is brain disease2 but   
then the  immortal reason sits apart1   
and cannot be touched by the disease4   
,the errors of madness are errors of the
 instrument1 not of the  performer4     
,it may be more than a mere result of   
education1 connecting itself  probably  
with the deeper mental structure of the 
two men1 that the  idea of ,gassendi    
above enunciated is substantially the   
same as that  expressed by ,professor   
,clerk ,maxwell at the close of the very
 able  lecture delivered by him at      

,bradford last year4  ,according to both
  philosophers1 the atoms1 if ,i        
understand aright1 are the prepared     
materials which1 formed by the skill of 
the highest1 produce by their           
subsequent inter-action all the         
phenomena of the material world4  ,there
 seems to be this difference1 however1  
between ,gassendi and  ,maxwell4  ,the  
one postulates1 the other infers his    
first cause4  ,in his 'manufactured     
articles1' as he calls the atoms1       
,professor  ,maxwell finds the basis of 
an induction which enables him to scale 
philosophic heights considered          
inaccessible by ,kant1 and to take the  
logical step from the atoms to their    
,maker4    ,accepting here the          
leadership of ,kant1 ,i doubt the       
legitimacy of  ,maxwell's logic2 but it 
is impossible not to feel the ethic glow
 with  which his lecture concludes4     
,there is1 moreover1 a very noble strain
  of eloquence in his description of the
 steadfastness of the  atoms3--',natural

 causes1 as we know1 are at work1 which 
tend to  modify1 if they do not at      
length destroy1 all the arrangements and
  dimensions of the earth and the whole 
solar system4  ,but though in  the      
course of ages catastrophes have        
occurred and may yet occur in  the      
heavens1 though ancient systems may be  
dissolved and new systems  evolved out  
of their ruins1 the molecules out of    
which these systems  are built--the     
foundation stones of the material       
universe--remain  unbroken and unworn4' 
,the atomic doctrine1 in whole or in    
part1 was entertained by ,bacon1        
,descartes1 ,hobbes1 ,locke1 ,newton1   
,boyle1 and their successors1 until  the
 chemical law of multiple proportions   
enabled ,dalton to confer  upon it an   
entirely new significance4  ,in our day 
there are  secessions from the theory1  
but it still stands firm4  ,loschmidt1  
,stoney1 and ,sir ,william ,thomson have
 sought to determine the sizes of  the  
atoms1 or rather to fix the limits      

between which their sizes lie2  while   
only last year the discourses of        
,williamson and ,maxwell  illustrate the
 present hold of the doctrine upon the  
foremost  scientific minds4  ,in fact1  
it may be doubted whether1 wanting this 
fundamental conception1 a theory of the 
material universe is capable  of        
scientific statement4      ,ninety years
 subsequent to ,gassendi the doctrine of
 bodily  instruments1 as it may be      
called1 assumed immense importance in   
the  hands of ,bishop ,butler1 who1 in  
his famous ',analogy of ,religion1'     
developed1 from his own point of view1  
and with consummate sagacity1  a similar
 idea4  ,the ,bishop still influences   
superior minds2 and it  will repay us to
 dwell for a moment on his views4  ,he  
draws the  sharpest distinction between 
our real selves and our bodily          
instruments4  ,he does not1 as far as ,i
 remember1 use the word soul1  possibly 
because the term was so hackneyed in his
 day as it had been  for many           

generations previously4  ,but he speaks 
of 'living powers1'  'perceiving' or    
'percipient powers1' 'moving agents1'   
'ourselves1' in  the same sense as we   
should employ the term soul4  ,he dwells
 upon the  fact that limbs may be       
removed1 and mortal diseases assail the 
body1  the mind1 almost up to the moment
 of death1 remaining clear4  ,he  refers
 to sleep and to swoon1 where the       
'living powers' are suspended  but not  
destroyed4  ,he considers it quite as   
easy to conceive of  existence out of   
our bodies as in them3 that we may      
animate a  succession of bodies1 the    
dissolution of all of them having no    
more  tendency to dissolve our real     
selves1 or 'deprive us of living        
faculties--the faculties of perception  
and action--than the  dissolution of any
 foreign matter which we are capable of 
receiving  impressions from1 or making  
use of for the common occasions of      
life4'  ,this is the key of the         
,bishop's position2 'our organized      

bodies are  no more a part of ourselves 
than any other matter around us4'  ,in  
proof of this he calls attention to the 
use of glasses1 which  'prepare objects'
 for the 'percipient power' exactly as  
the eye does4  ,the eye itself is no    
more percipient than the glass2 is quite
 as much  the instrument of the true    
self1 and also as foreign to the true   
self1 as the glass is4  ',and if we see 
with our eyes only in the same  manner  
as we do with glasses1 the like may     
justly be concluded from  analogy of all
 our senses4'    ,lucretius1 as you are 
aware1 reached a precisely opposite     
conclusion2  and it certainly would be  
interesting1 if not profitable1 to us   
all1  to hear what he would or could    
urge in opposition to the reasoning of  
the ,bishop4  ,as a brief discussion of 
the point will enable us to see  the    
bearings of an important question1 ,i   
will here permit a disciple  of         
,lucretius to try the strength of the   
,bishop's position1 and then  allow the 

,bishop to retaliate1 with the view of  
rolling back1 if he  can1 the difficulty
 upon ,lucretius4    ,the argument might
 proceed in this fashion3--             
',subjected to the test of mental       
presentation 7,vorstellung71 your       
views1 most honoured prelate1 would     
present to many minds a great1 if  not  
an insuperable difficulty4  ,you speak  
of living powers1  percipient or        
perceiving powers1 and ourselves2 but   
can you form  a mental picture of any   
one of these apart from the organism    
through  which it is supposed to act8   
,test yourself honestly1 and see whether
  you possess any faculty that would    
enable you to form such a  conception4  
,the true self has a local habitation in
 each of us2 thus  localized1 must it   
not possess a form8  ,if so1 what form8 
,have you  ever for a moment realized   
it8  ,when a leg is amputated the body  
is  divided into two parts2 is the true 
self in both of them or in one8  ,thomas
 ,aquinas might say in both2 but not    

you1 for you appeal to the              
consciousness associated with one of the
 two parts to prove that the  other is  
foreign matter4  ,is consciousness1     
then1 a necessary element  of the true  
self8  ,if so1 what do you say to the   
case of the whole  body being deprived  
of consciousness8  ,if not1 then on what
 grounds  do you deny any portion of the
 true self to the severed limb8  ,it    
seems very singular that1 from the      
beginning to the end of your  admirable 
book 7and no one admires its sober      
strength more than ,i  do71 you never   
once mention the brain or nervous       
system4  ,you begin  at one end of the  
body1 and show that its parts may be    
removed  without prejudice to the       
perceiving power4  ,what if you begin at
 the  other end1 and remove1 instead of 
the leg1 the brain8  ,the body1 as      
before1 is divided into two parts2 but  
both are now in the same  predicament1  
and neither can be appealed to to prove 
that the other  is foreign matter4  ,or1

 instead of going so far as to remove   
the  brain itself1 let a certain portion
 of its bony covering be removed1  and  
let a rhythmic series of pressures and  
relaxations of pressure be  applied to  
the soft substance4  ,at every pressure 
the faculties of  perception and of     
action vanish2 at every relaxation of   
pressure  they are restored4  ,where1   
during the intervals of pressure1 is the
  perceiving power8  ,i once had the    
discharge of a large ,leyden battery    
passed unexpectedly through me3 ,i felt 
nothing1 but was simply  blotted out of 
conscious existence for a sensible      
interval4  ,where  was my true self     
during that interval8  ,men who have    
recovered from  lightning-stroke have   
been much longer in the same state2 and 
indeed  in cases of ordinary concussion 
of the brain1 days may elapse during    
which no experience is registered in    
consciousness4  ,where is the man       
himself during the period of            
insensibility8  ,you may say that ,i beg

  the question when ,i assume the man to
 have been unconscious1 that he  was    
really conscious all the time1 and has  
simply forgotten what had  occurred to  
him4  ,in reply to this1 ,i can only say
 that no one need  shrink from the worst
 tortures that superstition ever        
invented if  only so felt and so        
remembered4  ,i do not think your theory
 of  instruments goes at all to the     
bottom of the matter4  ,a               
telegraph-operator has his instruments1 
by means of which he  converses with the
 world2 our bodies possess a nervous    
system1 which  plays a similar part     
between the perceiving power and        
external  things4  ,cut the wires of the
 operator1 break his battery1           
demagnetize his needle3 by this means   
you certainly sever his  connexion with 
the world2 but inasmuch as these are    
real instruments1  their destruction    
does not touch the man who uses them4   
,the operator  survives1 and he knows   
that he survives4  ,what is it1 ,i would

 ask1  in the human system that answers 
to this conscious survival of the       
operator when the battery of the brain  
is so disturbed as to produce           
insensibility1 or when it is destroyed  
altogether8    ',another consideration1 
which you may consider slight1 presses  
upon  me with some force4  ,the brain   
may change from health to disease1 and  
through such a change the most exemplary
 man may be converted into a  debauchee 
or a murderer4  ,my very noble and      
approved good master had1  as you know1 
threatenings of lewdness introduced into
 his brain by  his jealous wife's       
philter2 and sooner than permit himself 
to run  even the risk of yielding to    
these base promptings he slew himself4  
,how could the hand of ,lucretius have  
been thus turned against himself  if the
 real ,lucretius remained as before8    
,can the brain or can it  not act in    
this distempered way without the        
intervention of the  immortal reason8   
,if it can1 then it is a prime mover    

which requires  only healthy regulation 
to render it reasonably self-acting1 and
  there is no apparent need of your     
immortal reason at all4  ,if it  cannot1
 then the immortal reason1 by its       
mischievous activity in  operating upon 
a broken instrument1 must have the      
credit of  committing every imaginable  
extravagance and crime4  ,i think1 if   
you  will allow me to say so1 that the  
gravest consequences are likely to  flow
 from your estimate of the body4  ,to   
regard the brain as you  would a staff  
or an eyeglass--to shut your eyes to all
 its mystery1  to the perfect           
correlation of its condition and our    
consciousness1 to  the fact that a      
slight excess or defect of blood in it  
produces the  very swoon to which you   
refer1 and that in relation to it our   
meat  and drink and air and exercise    
have a perfectly transcendental value   
and significance--to forget all this    
does1 ,i think1 open a way to           
innumerable errors in our habits of     

life1 and may possibly in some  cases   
initiate and foster that very disease1  
and consequent mental  ruin1 which a    
wiser appreciation of this mysterious   
organ would have  avoided4'    ,i can   
imagine the ,bishop thoughtful after    
hearing this argument4  ,he  was not the
 man to allow anger to mingle with the  
consideration of a  point of this kind4 
,after due reflection1 and having       
strengthened  himself by that honest    
contemplation of the facts which was    
habitual  with him1 and which includes  
the desire to give even adverse facts   
their due weight1 ,i can suppose the    
,bishop to proceed thus3--',you  will   
remember that in the ,analogy of        
,religion1 of which you have so  kindly 
spoken1 ,i did not profess to prove     
anything absolutely1 and  that ,i over  
and over again acknowledged and insisted
 on the smallness  of our knowledge1 or 
rather the depth of our ignorance1 as   
regards  the whole system of the        
universe4  ,my object was to show my    

deistical  friends1 who set forth so    
eloquently the beauty and beneficence of
  ,nature and the ,ruler thereof1 while 
they had nothing but scorn for  the     
so-called absurdities of the ,christian 
scheme1 that they were in  no better    
condition than we were1 and that1 for   
every difficulty  found upon our side1  
quite as great a difficulty was to be   
found upon  theirs4  ,i will now1 with  
your permission1 adopt a similar line of
  argument4  ,you are a ,lucretian1 and 
from the combination and  separation of 
insensate atoms deduce all terrestrial  
things1  including organic forms and    
their phenomena4  ,let me tell you1 in  
the  first instance1 how far ,i am      
prepared to go with you4  ,i admit that 
you can build crystalline forms out of  
this play of molecular force2  that the 
diamond1 amethyst1 and snow-star are    
truly wonderful  structures which are   
thus produced4  ,i will go further and  
acknowledge that even a tree or flower  
might in this way be  organized4  ,nay1 

if you can show me an animal without    
sensation1 ,i  will concede to you that 
it also might be put together by the    
suitable play of molecular force4       
',thus far our way is clear2 but now    
comes my difficulty4  ,your atoms  are  
individually without sensation1 much    
more are they without  intelligence4    
,may ,i ask you1 then1 to try your hand 
upon this  problem8  ,take your dead    
hydrogen atoms1 your dead oxygen atoms1 
your  dead carbon atoms1 your dead      
nitrogen atoms1 your dead phosphorus    
atoms1 and all the other atoms1 dead as 
grains of shot1 of which the  brain is  
formed4  ,imagine them separate and     
sensationless1 observe  them running    
together and forming all imaginable     
combinations4  ,this1  as a purely      
mechanical process1 is seeable by the   
mind4  ,but can you  see1 or dream1 or  
in any way imagine1 how out of that     
mechanical act1  and from these         
individually dead atoms1 sensation1     
thought1 and  emotion are to arise8     

,are you likely to extract ,homer out of
 the  rattling of dice1 or the          
,differential ,calculus out of the clash
 of  billiard-balls8  ,i am not all     
bereft of this ,vorstellungs-,kraft of  
which you speak1 nor am ,i1 like so many
 of my brethren1 a mere vacuum  as      
regards scientific knowledge4  ,i can   
follow a particle of musk  until it     
reaches the olfactory nerve2 ,i can     
follow the waves of sound  until their  
tremors reach the water of the labyrinth
 and set the  otoliths and ,corti's     
fibres in motion2 ,i can also visualize 
the waves  of ether as they cross the   
eye and hit the retina4  ,nay more1 ,i  
am  able to pursue to the central organ 
the motion thus imparted at the         
periphery1 and to see in idea the very  
molecules of the brain thrown  into     
tremors4  ,my insight is not baffled by 
these physical processes4  ,what baffles
 and bewilders me1 is the notion that   
from those physical  tremors things so  
utterly incongruous with them as        

sensation1  thought1 and emotion can be 
derived4  ,you may say1 or think1 that  
this issue of consciousness from the    
clash of atoms is not more  incongruous 
than the flash of light from the union  
of oxygen and  hydrogen4  ,but ,i beg to
 say that it is4  ,for such incongruity 
as the  flash possesses is that which ,i
 now force upon your attention4  ,the   
flash is an affair of consciousness1 the
 objective counterpart of  which is a   
vibration4  ,it is a flash only by your 
interpretation4  ,you are the cause of  
the apparent incongruity1 and you are   
the thing  that puzzles me4  ,i need not
 remind you that the great ,leibnitz    
felt  the difficulty which ,i feel1 and 
that to get rid of this monstrous       
deduction of life from death he         
displaced your atoms by his monads1     
which were more or less perfect mirrors 
of the universe1 and out of  the        
summation and integration of which he   
supposed all the phenomena  of          
life--sentient1 intellectual1 and       

emotional--to arise4    ',your          
difficulty1 then1 as ,i see you are     
ready to admit1 is quite as  great as   
mine4  ,you cannot satisfy the human    
understanding in its  demand for logical
 continuity between molecular processes 
and the  phenomena of consciousness4    
,this is a rock on which materialism    
must  inevitably split whenever it      
pretends to be a complete philosophy of 
life4  ,what is the moral1 my           
,lucretian8  ,you and ,i are not likely 
to  indulge in ill-temper in the        
discussion of these great topics1 where 
we see so much room for honest          
differences of opinion4  ,but there are 
people of less wit or more bigotry 7,i  
say it with humility7 on both  sides1   
who are ever ready to mingle anger and  
vituperation with such  discussions4    
,there are1 for example1 writers of note
 and influence  at the present day who  
are not ashamed to assume the deep      
personal  sin of a great logician to be 
the cause of his unbelief in a          

theologic dogma4  ,and there are others 
who hold that we1 who cherish  our noble
 ,bible1 wrought as it has been into the
 constitution of our  forefathers1 and  
by inheritance into us1 must necessarily
 be  hypocritical and insincere4  ,let  
us disavow and discountenance such      
people1 cherishing the unswerving faith 
that what is good and true in  both our 
arguments will be preserved for the     
benefit of humanity1  while all that is 
bad or false will disappear4'    ,i hold
 the ,bishop's reasoning to be          
unanswerable1 and his liberality  to be 
worthy of imitation4    ,it is worth    
remarking that in one respect the       
,bishop was a product of  his age4      
,long previous to his day the nature of 
the soul had been so  favourite and     
general a topic of discussion1 that1    
when the students  of the ,university of
 ,paris wished to know the leanings of a
 new  ,professor1 they at once requested
 him to lecture upon the soul4  ,about  
the time of ,bishop ,butler the question

 was not only agitated  but extended4   
,it was seen by the clear-witted men who
 entered this  arena that many of their 
best arguments applied equally to brutes
 and  men4  ,the ,bishop's arguments    
were of this character4  ,he saw it1    
admitted it1 accepted the consequences1 
and boldly embraced the whole  animal   
world in his scheme of immortality4     
,bishop ,butler accepted with unwavering
 trust the chronology of the  ,old      
,testament1 describing it as 'confirmed 
by the natural and civil  history of the
 world1 collected from common           
historians1 from the  state of the      
earth1 and from the late inventions of  
arts and  sciences4'  ,these words mark 
progress2 and they must seem somewhat   
hoary to the ,bishop's successors of    
to-day4#ae  ,it is hardly  necessary to 
inform you that since his time the      
domain of the  naturalist has been      
immensely extended--the whole science of
 geology1  with its astounding          
revelations regarding the life of the   

ancient  earth1 having been created4    
,the rigidity of old conceptions has    
been  relaxed1 the public mind being    
rendered gradually tolerant of the  idea
 that not for six thousand1 nor for     
sixty thousand1 nor for six  thousand   
thousand thousand1 but for ons embracing
 untold millions of  years1 this earth  
has been the theatre of life and death4 
,the riddle  of the rocks has been read 
by the geologist and palontologist1 from
  subcambrian depths to the deposits    
thickening over the sea-bottoms of      
to-day4  ,and upon the leaves of that   
stone book are1 as you know1  stamped   
the characters1 plainer and surer than  
those formed by the  ink of history1    
which carry the mind back into abysses  
of past time  compared with which the   
periods which satisfied ,bishop ,butler 
cease  to have a visual angle4  ,the    
lode of discovery once struck1 those    
petrified forms in which life was at one
 time active increased to  multitudes   
and demanded classification4  ,they were

 grouped in genera1  species1 and       
varieties1 according to the degree of   
similarity  subsisting between them4    
,thus confusion was avoided1 each object
  being found in the pigeon-hole        
appropriated to it and to its fellows   
of similar morphological or             
physiological character4  ,the general  
fact soon became evident that none but  
the simplest forms of life lie  lowest  
down1 that as we climb higher among the 
super-imposed strata  more perfect forms
 appear4  ,the change1 however1 from    
form to form  was not continuous1 but by
 steps--some small1 some great4  ',a    
section1' says ,mr4 ,huxley1 'a hundred 
feet thick will exhibit at  different   
heights a dozen species of ,ammonite1   
none of which passes  beyond its        
particular zone of limestone1 or clay1  
into the zone below  it1 or into that   
above it4' ,in the presence of such     
facts it was not  possible to avoid the 
question3--,have these forms1 showing1  
though in  broken stages and with many  

irregularities1 this unmistakable       
general  advance1 been subjected to no  
continuous law of growth or variation8  
,had our education been purely          
scientific1 or had it been sufficiently 
detached from influences which1 however 
ennobling in another domain1  have      
always proved hindrances and delusions  
when introduced as  factors into the    
domain of physics1 the scientific mind  
never could  have swerved from the      
search for a law of growth1 or allowed  
itself  to accept the anthropomorphism  
which regarded each successive stratum  
as a kind of mechanic's bench for the   
manufacture of new species out  of all  
relation to the old4    ,biassed1       
however1 by their previous education1   
the great majority of  naturalists      
invoked a special creative act to       
account for the  appearance of each new 
group of organisms4  ,doubtless there   
were  numbers who were clear-headed     
enough to see that this was no          
explanation at all1 that in point of    

fact it was an attempt1 by the          
introduction of a greater difficulty1 to
 account for a less4  ,but  having      
nothing to offer in the way of          
explanation1 they for the most  part    
held their peace4  ,still the thoughts  
of reflecting men  naturally and        
necessarily simmered round the question4
  ,de ,maillet1 a  contemporary of      
,newton1 has been brought into notice by
 ,professor  ,huxley as one who 'had a  
notion of the modifiability of living   
forms4'  ,in my frequent conversations  
with him1 the late ,sir ,benjamin       
,brodie1 a man of highly philosophic    
mind1 often drew my attention to  the   
fact that1 as early as #agid1 ,charles  
,darwin's grandfather was the  pioneer  
of ,charles ,darwin4#af  ,in #ahja1 and 
in subsequent years1 the  celebrated    
,lamarck1 who produced so profound an   
impression on the  public mind through  
the vigorous exposition of his views by 
the  author of the ',vestiges of        
,creation1' endeavoured to show the     

development of species out of changes of
 habit and external  condition4  ,in    
#ahac ,dr4 ,wells1 the founder of our   
present theory of  ,dew1 read before the
 ,royal ,society a paper in which1 to   
use the words  of ,mr4 ,darwin1 'he     
distinctly recognises the principle of  
natural  selection2 and this is the     
first recognition that has been         
indicated4'  ,the thoroughness and skill
 with which ,wells pursued his  work1   
and the obvious independence of his     
character1 rendered him  long ago a     
favourite with me2 and it gave me the   
liveliest pleasure  to alight upon this 
additional testimony to his penetration4
  ,professor ,grant1 ,mr4 ,patrick      
,matthew1 ,von ,buch1 the author of the 
',vestiges1' ,d',halloy1 and others1#ag 
by the enunciation of opinions  more or 
less clear and correct1 showed that the 
question had been  fermenting long prior
 to the year #aheh1 when ,mr4 ,darwin   
and ,mr4  ,wallace simultaneously but   
independently placed their closely      

concurrent views upon the subject before
 the ,linnean ,society4    ,these papers
 were followed in #ahei by the          
publication of the first  edition of    
',the ,origin of ,species4'  ,all great 
things come slowly to  the birth4       
,copernicus1 as ,i informed you1        
pondered his great work  for            
thirty-three years4  ,newton for nearly 
twenty years kept the idea  of          
,gravitation before his mind2 for twenty
 years also he dwelt upon  his discovery
 of ,fluxions1 and doubtless would have 
continued to make  it the object of his 
private thought had he not found that   
,leibnitz  was upon his track4  ,darwin 
for two and twenty years pondered the   
problem of the origin of species1 and   
doubtless he would have  continued to do
 so had he not found ,wallace upon his  
track4#ah  ,a  concentrated but full and
 powerful epitome of his labours was the
  consequence4  ,the book was by no     
means an easy one2 and probably not  one
 in every score of those who then       

attacked it had read its pages  through1
 or were competent to grasp their       
significance if they had4  ,i do not say
 this merely to discredit them2 for     
there were in those  days some really   
eminent scientific men1 entirely raised 
above the  heat of popular prejudice1   
willing to accept any conclusion that   
science had to offer1 provided it was   
duly backed by fact and  argument1 and  
who entirely mistook ,mr4 ,darwin's     
views4  ,in fact1 the  work needed an   
expounder2 and it found one in ,mr4     
,huxley4  ,i know  nothing more         
admirable in the way of scientific      
exposition than those  early articles of
 his on the origin of species4  ,he     
swept the curve  of discussion through  
the really significant points of the    
subject1  enriched his exposition with  
profound original remarks and           
reflections1 often summing up in a      
single pithy sentence an argument  which
 a less compact mind would have spread  
over pages4  ,but there is  one         

impression made by the book itself which
 no exposition of it1  however luminous1
 can convey2 and that is the impression 
of the vast  amount of labour1 both of  
observation and of thought1 implied in  
its  production4  ,let us glance at its 
principles4    ,it is conceded on all   
hands that what are called varieties are
  continually produced4  ,the rule is   
probably without exception4  ,no  chick 
and no child is in all respects and     
particulars the counterpart  of its     
brother and sister2 and in such         
differences we have 'variety'           
incipient4  ,no naturalist could tell   
how far this variation could be         
carried2 but the great mass of them held
 that never by any amount of  internal  
or external change1 nor by the mixture  
of both1 could the  offspring of the    
same progenitor so far deviate from each
 other as to  constitute different      
species4  ,the function of the          
experimental  philosopher is to combine 
the conditions of nature and to produce 

her  results2 and this was the method of
 ,darwin4#ai  ,he made himself          
acquainted with what could1 without any 
manner of doubt1 be done in  the way of 
producing variation4  ,he associated    
himself with  pigeon-fanciers--bought1  
begged1 kept1 and observed every breed  
that  he could obtain4  ,though derived 
from a common stock1 the diversities  of
 these pigeons were such that 'a score  
of them might be chosen  which1 if shown
 to an ornithologist1 and he were told  
that they were  wild birds1 would       
certainly be ranked by him as           
well-defined  species4'  ,the simple    
principle which guides the              
pigeon-fancier1 as  it does the         
cattle-breeder1 is the selection of some
 variety that  strikes his fancy1 and   
the propagation of this variety by      
inheritance4  ,with his eye still       
directed to the particular  appearance  
which he wishes to exaggerate1 he       
selects it as it  reappears in          
successive broods1 and thus adds        

increment to increment  until an        
astonishing amount of divergence from   
the parent type is  effected4  ,the     
breeder in this case does not produce   
the elements of  the variation4  ,he    
simply observes them1 and by selection  
adds them  together until the required  
result has been obtained4  ',no man1'   
says  ,mr4 ,darwin1 'would ever try to  
make a fantail till he saw a pigeon     
with a tail developed in some slight    
degree in an unusual manner1 or  a      
pouter until he saw a pigeon with a crop
 of unusual size4'  ,thus  nature gives 
the hint1 man acts upon it1 and by the  
law of  inheritance exaggerates the     
deviation4    ,having thus satisfied    
himself by indubitable facts that the   
organization of an animal or of a plant 
7for precisely the same  treatment      
applies to plants7 is to some extent    
plastic1 he passes  from variation under
 domestication to variation under       
nature4  ,hitherto we have dealt with   
the adding together of small changes by 

the conscious selection of man4  ,can   
,nature thus select8  ,mr4  ,darwin's   
answer is1 ',assuredly she can4'  ,the  
number of living things  produced is far
 in excess of the number that can be    
supported2 hence  at some period or     
other of their lives there must be a    
struggle for  existence2 and what is the
 infallible result8  ,if one organism   
were a  perfect copy of the other in    
regard to strength1 skill1 and agility1 
external conditions would decide4  ,but 
this is not the case4  ,here we  have   
the fact of variety offering itself to  
nature1 as in the former  instance it   
offered itself to man2 and those        
varieties which are  least competent to 
cope with surrounding conditions will   
infallibly  give way to those that are  
most competent4  ,to use a familiar     
proverb1 the weakest comes to the wall4 
,but the triumphant fraction  again     
breeds to overproduction1 transmitting  
the qualities which  secured its        
maintenance1 but transmitting them in   

different degrees4  ,the struggle for   
food again supervenes1 and those to whom
 the  favourable quality has been       
transmitted in excess will assuredly    
triumph4  ,it is easy to see that we    
have here the addition of  increments   
favourable to the individual still more 
rigorously carried  out than in the case
 of domestication2 for not only are     
unfavourable  specimens not selected by 
nature1 but they are destroyed4  ,this  
is  what ,mr4 ,darwin calls ',natural   
,selection1' which 'acts by the         
preservation and accumulation of small  
inherited modifications1 each           
profitable to the preserved being4'     
,with this idea he  interpenetrates and 
leavens the vast store of facts that he 
and  others have collected4  ,we cannot1
 without shutting our eyes through  fear
 or prejudice1 fail to see that ,darwin 
is here dealing1 not with  imaginary1   
but with true causes2 nor can we fail to
 discern what vast  modifications may be
 produced by natural selection in       

periods  sufficiently long4  ,each      
individual increment may resemble what  
mathematicians call a 'differential' 7a 
quantity indefinitely small72  but      
definite and great changes may obviously
 be produced by the  integration of     
these infinitesimal quantities through  
practically  infinite time4    ,if      
,darwin1 like ,bruno1 rejects the notion
 of creative power acting  after human  
fashion1 it certainly is not because he 
is unacquainted  with the numberless    
exquisite adaptations on which this     
notion of a  supernatural artificer has 
been founded4  ,his book is a repository
 of  the most startling facts of this   
description4  ,take the marvellous      
observation which he cites from ,dr4    
,crger1 where a bucket with an          
aperture1 serving as a spout1 is formed 
in an orchid4  ,bees visit the  flower3 
in eager search of material for their   
combs they push each  other into the    
bucket1 the drenched ones escaping from 
their  involuntary bath by the spout4   

,here they rub their backs against the  
viscid stigma of the flower and obtain  
glue2 then against the  pollen-masses1  
which are thus stuck to the back of the 
bee and  carried away4  ',when the bee1 
so provided1 flies to another flower1   
or to the same flower a second time1 and
 is pushed by its comrades  into the    
bucket1 and then crawls out by the      
passage1 the pollen-mass  upon its back 
necessarily comes first into contact    
with the viscid  stigma1' which takes up
 the pollen2 and this is how that orchid
 is  fertilized4  ,or take this other   
case of the ,catasetum4  ',bees visit   
these flowers in order to gnaw the      
labellum2 in doing this they  inevitably
 touch a long1 tapering1 sensitive      
projection4  ,this1 when  touched1      
transmits a sensation or vibration to a 
certain membrane1  which is instantly   
ruptured1 setting free a spring1 by     
which the  pollen-mass is shot forth    
like an arrow in the right direction1   
and  adheres by its viscid extremity to 

the back of the bee4'  ,in this way  the
 fertilising pollen is spread abroad4   
,it is the mind thus stored with the    
choicest materials of the  teleologist  
that rejects teleology1 seeking to refer
 these wonders to  natural cases4  ,they
 illustrate1 according to him1 the      
method of  nature1 not the 'technic' of 
a man-like ,artificer4  ,the beauty of  
flowers is due to natural selection4    
,those that distinguish  themselves by  
vividly contrasting colours from the    
surrounding green  leaves are most      
readily seen1 most frequently visited by
 insects1  most often fertilized1 and   
hence most favoured by natural          
selection4  ,coloured berries also      
readily attract the attention of birds  
and  beasts1 which feed upon them1      
spread their manured seeds abroad1 thus 
giving trees and shrubs possessing such 
berries a greater chance in  the        
struggle for existence4    ,with        
profound analytic and synthetic skill1  
,mr4 ,darwin investigates  the          

cell-making instinct of the hive-bee4   
,his method of dealing with  it is      
representative4  ,he falls back from the
 more perfectly to the  less perfectly  
developed instinct--from the hive-bee to
 the humble  bee1 which uses its own    
cocoon as a comb1 and to classes of bees
 of  intermediate skill1 endeavouring to
 show how the passage might be          
gradually made from the lowest to the   
highest4  ,the saving of wax is  the    
most important point in the economy of  
bees4  ,twelve to fifteen  pounds of dry
 sugar are said to be needed for the    
secretion of a  single pound of wax4    
,the quantities of nectar necessary for 
the wax  must therefore be vast2 and    
every improvement of constructive       
instinct which results in the saving of 
wax is a direct profit to the  insect's 
life4  ,the time that would otherwise be
 devoted to the  making of wax is now   
devoted to the gathering and storing of 
honey  for winter food4  ,he passes from
 the humble bee with its rude cells1    

through the ,melipona with its more     
artistic cells1 to the hive-bee  with   
its astonishing architecture4  ,the bees
 place themselves at  equal distances   
apart upon the wax1 sweep and excavate  
equal spheres  round the selected       
points4  ,the spheres intersect1 and the
 planes of  intersection are built up   
with thin lamin4  ,hexagonal cells are  
thus  formed4  ,this mode of treating   
such questions is1 as ,i have said1     
representative4  ,he habitually retires 
from the more perfect and  complex to   
the less perfect and simple1 and carries
 you with him  through stages of        
perfecting1 adds increment to increment 
of  infinitesimal change1 and in this   
way gradually breaks down your          
reluctance to admit that the exquisite  
climax of the whole could be a  result  
of natural selection4    ,mr4 ,darwin   
shirks no difficulty2 and1 saturated as 
the subject was  with his own thought1  
he must have known better than his      
critics the  weakness as well as the    

strength of his theory4  ,this of course
 would  be of little avail were his     
object a temporary dialectic victory    
instead of the establishment of a truth 
which he means to be  ever-lasting4     
,but he takes no pains to disguise the  
weakness he has  discerned2 nay1 he     
takes every pains to bring it into the  
strongest  light4  ,his vast resources  
enable him to cope with objections      
started  by himself and others1 so as to
 leave the final impression upon the    
reader's mind that1 if they be not      
completely answered1 they  certainly are
 not fatal4  ,their negative force being
 thus destroyed1  you are free to be    
influenced by the vast positive mass of 
evidence  he is able to bring before    
you4  ,this largeness of knowledge and  
readiness of resource render ,mr4       
,darwin the most terrible of            
antagonists4  ,accomplished naturalists 
have levelled heavy and  sustained      
criticisms against him--not always with 
the view of fairly  weighing his theory1

 but with the express intention of      
exposing its  weak points only4  ,this  
does not irritate him4  ,he treats every
  objection with a soberness and        
thoroughness which even ,bishop ,butler 
might be proud to imitate1 surrounding  
each fact with its appropriate  detail1 
placing it in its proper relations1 and 
usually giving it a  significance which1
 as long as it was kept isolated1 failed
 to  appear4  ,this is done without a   
trace of ill-temper4  ,he moves over    
the subject with the passionless        
strength of a glacier2 and the  grinding
 of the rocks is not always without a   
counterpart in the  logical             
pulverization of the objector4    ,but  
though in handling this mighty theme all
 passion has been  stilled1 there is an 
emotion of the intellect incident to the
  discernment of new truth which often  
colours and warms the pages of  ,mr4    
,darwin4  ,his success has been great2  
and this implies not only  the solidity 
of his work1 but the preparedness of the

 public mind for  such a revelation4    
,on this head a remark of ,agassiz      
impressed me  more than anything else4  
,sprung from a race of theologians1 this
  celebrated man combated to the last   
the theory of natural selection4  ,one  
of the many times ,i had the pleasure of
 meeting him in the ,united  ,states was
 at ,mr4 ,winthrop's beautiful residence
 at ,brookline1 near  ,boston4  ,rising 
from luncheon1 we all halted as if by a 
common  impulse in front of a window1   
and continued there a discussion which  
had been started at table4  ,the maple  
was in its autumn glory2 and  the       
exquisite beauty of the scene outside   
seemed1 in my case1 to  interpenetrate  
without disturbance the intellectual    
action4  ,earnestly1 almost sadly1      
,agassiz turned1 and said to the        
gentlemen  standing round1 ',i confess  
that ,i was not prepared to see this    
theory  received as it has been by the  
best intellects of our time4  ,its      
success is greater than ,i could have   

thought possible4'    ,in our day grand 
generalizations have been reached4  ,the
 theory of  the origin of species is but
 one of them4  ,another1 of still wider 
grasp and more radical significance1 is 
the doctrine of the  ,conservation of   
,energy1 the ultimate philosophical     
issues of which  are as yet but dimly   
seen--that doctrine which 'binds nature 
fast in  fate' to an extent not hitherto
 recognized1 exacting from every        
antecedent its equivalent consequent1   
from every consequent its  equivalent   
antecedent1 and bringing vital as well  
as physical  phenomena under the        
dominion of that law of causal connexion
 which1  so far as the human            
understanding has yet pierced1 asserts  
itself  everywhere in nature4  ,long in 
advance of all definite experiment  upon
 the subject1 the constancy and         
indestructibility of matter had  been   
affirmed2 and all subsequent experience 
justified the  affirmation4  ,later     
researches extended the attribute of    

indestructibility to force4  ,this idea1
 applied in the first instance  to      
inorganic1 rapidly embraced organic     
nature4  ,the vegetable world1  though  
drawing almost all its nutriment from   
invisible sources1 was  proved          
incompetent to generate anew either     
matter or force4  ,its  matter is for   
the most part transmuted gas2 its force 
transformed  solar force4  ,the animal  
world was proved to be equally          
uncreative1  all its motive energies    
being referred to the combustion of its 
food4  ,the activity of each animal as a
 whole was proved to be the  transferred
 activity of its molecules4  ,the       
muscles were shown to be  stores of     
mechanical force1 potential until       
unlocked by the nerves1  and then       
resulting in muscular contractions4     
,the speed at which  messages fly to and
 fro along the nerves was determined1   
and found to  be1 not as had been       
previously supposed1 equal to that of   
light or  electricity1 but less than the

 speed of a flying eagle4    ,this was  
the work of the physicist3 then came the
 conquests of the  comparative anatomist
 and physiologist1 revealing the        
structure of  every animal1 and the     
function of every organ in the whole    
biological  series1 from the lowest     
zoophyte up to man4  ,the nervous system
 had  been made the object of profound  
and continued study1 the wonderful  and1
 at bottom1 entirely mysterious1        
controlling power which it  exercises   
over the whole organism1 physical and   
mental1 being  recognized more and more4
  ,thought could not be kept back from a
  subject so profoundly suggestive4     
,besides the physical life dealt  with  
by ,mr4 ,darwin1 there is a psychical   
life presenting similar  gradations1 and
 asking equally for a solution4  ,how   
are the different  grades and order of  
,mind to be accounted for8  ,what is the
 principle  of growth of that mysterious
 power which on our planet culminates in
  ,reason8  ,these are questions which1 

though not thrusting themselves  so     
forcibly upon the attention of the      
general public1 had not only  occupied  
many reflecting minds1 but had been     
formally broached by one  of them before
 the ',origin of ,species' appeared4    
,with the mass of materials furnished by
 the physicist and  physiologist in his 
hands1 ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer1 twenty   
years ago1  sought to graft upon this   
basis a system of psychology2 and two   
years  ago a second and greatly         
amplified edition of his work appeared4 
,those who have occupied themselves with
 the beautiful experiments of  ,plateau 
will remember that when two spherules of
 olive-oil1 suspended  in a mixture of  
alcohol and water of the same density as
 the oil1 are  brought together1 they do
 not immediately unite4  ,something like
 a  pellicle appears to be formed around
 the drops1 the rupture of which  is    
immediately followed by the coalescence 
of the globules into one4  ,there are   
organisms whose vital actions are almost

 as purely physical  as that of these   
drops of oil4  ,they come into contact  
and fuse  themselves thus together4     
,from such organisms to others a shade  
higher1 and from these to others a shade
 higher still1 and on through  an       
ever-ascending series1 ,mr4 ,spencer    
conducts his argument4  ,there  are two 
obvious factors to be here taken into   
account--the creature  and the medium in
 which it lives1 or1 as it is often     
expressed1 the  organism and its        
environment4  ,mr4 ,spencer's           
fundamental principle is  that between  
these two factors there is incessant    
interaction4  ,the  organism is played  
upon by the environment1 and is modified
 to meet  the requirements of the       
environment4  ,life he defines to be 'a 
continuous adjustment of internal       
relations to external relations4'    ,in
 the lowest organisms we have a kind of 
tactual sense diffused over  the entire 
body2 then1 through impressions from    
without and their  corresponding        

adjustments1 special portions of the    
surface become  more responsive to      
stimuli than others4  ,the senses are   
nascent1 the  basis of all of them being
 that simple tactual sense which the    
sage  ,democritus recognised #b1cjj     
years ago as their common progenitor4   
,the action of light1 in the first      
instance1 appears to be a mere          
disturbance of the chemical processes in
 the animal organism1 similar  to that  
which occurs in the leaves of plants4   
,by degrees the action  becomes         
localized in a few pigment-cells1 more  
sensitive to light  than the surrounding
 tissue4  ,the eye is here incipient4   
,at first it  is merely capable of      
revealing differences of light and shade
  produced by bodies close at hand4     
,followed as the interception of  the   
light is in almost all cases by the     
contact of the closely  adjacent opaque 
body1 sight in this condition becomes a 
kind of  'anticipatory touch4'  ,the    
adjustment continues2 a slight bulging  

out  of the epidermis over the          
pigment-granules supervenes4  ,a lens is
  incipient1 and1 through the operation 
of infinite adjustments1 at  length     
reaches the perfection that it displays 
in the hawk and eagle4  ,so of the other
 senses2 they are special               
differentiations of a tissue  which was 
originally vaguely sensitive all over4  
,with the development of the senses the 
adjustments between the  organism and   
its environment gradually extend in     
space1 a  multiplication of experiences 
and a corresponding modification of     
conduct being the result4  ,the         
adjustments also extend in time1        
covering continually greater intervals4 
,along with this extension in  space and
 time the adjustments also increase in  
specialty and  complexity1 passing      
through the various grades of brute     
life1 and  prolonging themselves into   
the domain of reason4  ,very striking   
are  ,mr4 ,spencer's remarks regarding  
the influence of the sense of touch     

upon the development of intelligence4   
,this is1 so to say1 the  mother-tongue 
of all the senses1 into which they must 
be translated  to be of service to the  
organism4  ,hence its importance4  ,the 
parrot  is the most intelligent of      
birds1 and its tactual power is also    
greatest4  ,from this sense it gets     
knowledge unattainable by birds  which  
cannot employ their feet as hands4  ,the
 elephant is the most  sagacious of     
quadrupeds--its tactual range and skill1
 and the  consequent multiplication of  
experiences1 which it owes to its       
wonderfully adaptable trunk1 being the  
basis of its sagacity4  ,feline         
animals1 for a similar cause1 are more  
sagacious than hoofed                   
animals--atonement being to some extent 
made1 in the case of the  horse1 by the 
possession of sensitive prehensile lips4
  ,in the  ,primates the evolution of   
intellect and the evolution of tactual  
appendages go hand in hand4  ,in the    
most intelligent anthropoid apes  we    

find the tactual range and delicacy     
greatly augmented1 new avenues  of      
knowledge being thus open to the animal4
  ,man crowns the edifice  here1 not    
only in virtue of his own manipulatory  
power1 but through  the enormous        
extension of his range of experience1 by
 the invention  of instruments of       
precision1 which serve as supplemental  
senses and  supplemental limbs4  ,the   
reciprocal action of these is finely    
described and illustrated4  ,that       
chastened intellectual emotion to  which
 ,i have referred in connexion with ,mr4
 ,darwin is not absent in  ,mr4         
,spencer4  ,his illustrations possess at
 times exceeding vividness  and force2  
and from his style on such occasions it 
is to be inferred  that the ganglia of  
this ,apostle of the ,understanding are 
sometimes  the seat of a nascent poetic 
thrill4    ,it is a fact of supreme     
importance that actions the performance 
of  which at first requires even painful
 effort and deliberation may by  habit  

be rendered automatic4  ,witness the    
slow learning of its  letters by a      
child1 and the subsequent facility of   
reading in a man1  when each group of   
letters which forms a word is instantly1
 and  without effort1 fused to a single 
perception4  ,instance the              
billiard-player1 whose muscles of hand  
and eye1 when he reaches the  perfection
 of his art1 are unconsciously          
cordinated4  ,instance the  musician1   
who1 by practice1 is enabled to fuse a  
multitude of  arrangements1 auditory1   
tactual1 and muscular1 into a process of
  automatic manipulation4  ,combining   
such facts with the doctrine of         
hereditary transmission1 we reach a     
theory of ,instinct4  ,a chick1  after  
coming out of the egg1 balances itself  
correctly1 runs about1  picks up food1  
thus showing that it possesses a power  
of directing  its movements to definite 
ends4  ,how did the chick learn this    
very  complex cordination of eye1       
muscles1 and beak8  ,it has not been    

individually taught2 its personal       
experience is nil2 but it has the       
benefit of ancestral experience4  ,in   
its inherited organization are          
registered all the powers which it      
displays at birth4  ,so also as  regards
 the instinct of the hive-bee1 already  
referred to4  ,the  distance at which   
the insects stand apart when they sweep 
their  hemispheres and build their cells
 is 'organically remembered4'    ,man   
also carries with him the physical      
texture of his ancestry1 as  well as the
 inherited intellect bound up with it4  
,the defects of  intelligence during    
infancy and youth are probably less due 
to a lack  of individual experience than
 to the fact that in early life the     
cerebral organization is still          
incomplete4  ,the period necessary for  
completion varies with the race and with
 the individual4  ,as a round  shot     
outstrips a rifled one on quitting the  
muzzle of the gun1 so the  lower race in
 childhood may outstrip the higher4     

,but the higher  eventually overtakes   
the lower1 and surpasses it in range4   
,as  regards individuals1 we do not     
always find the precocity of youth      
prolonged to mental power in maturity2  
while the dulness of boyhood  is        
sometimes strikingly contrasted with the
 intellectual energy of  after years4   
,newton1 when a boy1 was weakly1 and he 
showed no  particular aptitude at       
school2 but in his eighteenth year he   
went to  ,cambridge1 and soon afterwards
 astonished his teachers by his power   
of dealing with geometrical problems4   
,during his quiet youth his  brain was  
slowly preparing itself to be the organ 
of those energies  which he subsequently
 displayed4    ,by myriad blows 7to use 
a ,lucretian phrase7 the image and      
superscription of the external world are
 stamped as states of  consciousness    
upon the organism1 the depth of the     
impression  depending upon the number of
 the blows4  ,when two or more phenomena
  occur in the environment invariably   

together1 they are stamped to the  same 
depth or to the same relief1 and        
indissolubly connected4  ,and  here we  
come to the threshold of a great        
question4  ,seeing that he  could in no 
way rid himself of the consciousness of 
,space and ,time1  ,kant assumed them to
 be necessary 'forms of intuition1' the 
moulds  and shapes into which our       
intuitions are thrown1 belonging to     
ourselves solely and without objective  
existence4  ,with unexpected  power and 
success ,mr4 ,spencer brings the        
hereditary experience  theory1 as he    
holds it1 to bear upon this question4   
',if there exist  certain external      
relations which are experienced by all  
organisms at  all instants of their     
waking lives--relations which are       
absolutely  constant and                
universal--there will be established    
answering internal  relations that are  
absolutely constant and universal4      
,such relations  we have in those of    
,space and ,time4  ,as the substratum of

 all other  relations of the ,non-,ego1 
they must be responded to by conceptions
  that are the substrata of all other   
relations in the ,ego4  ,being the      
constant and infinitely repeated        
elements of thought1 they must  become  
the automatic elements of thought--the  
elements of thought  which it is        
impossible to get rid of--the forms of  
intuition4    ,throughout this          
application and extension of the ',law  
of ,inseparable  ,association1' ,mr4    
,spencer stands upon his own ground1    
invoking1  instead of the experiences of
 the individual1 the registered         
experiences of the race4  ,his overthrow
 of the restriction of  experience to   
the individual is1 ,i think1 complete4  
,that restriction  ignores the power of 
organizing experience furnished at the  
outset to  each individual2 it ignores  
the different degrees of this power     
possessed by different races and by     
different individuals of the same  race4
  ,were there not in the human brain a  

potency antecedent to all  experience1 a
 dog or cat ought to be as capable of   
education as a  man4  ,these            
predetermined internal relations are    
independent of the  experiences of the  
individual4  ,the human brain is the    
'organised  register of infinitely      
numerous experiences received during the
  evolution of life1 or rather during   
the evolution of that series of         
organisms through which the human       
organism has been reached4  ,the        
effects of the most uniform and frequent
 of these experiences have  been        
successively bequeathed1 principal and  
interest1 and have slowly  mounted to   
that high intelligence which lies latent
 in the brain of  the infant4  ,thus it 
happens that the ,european inherits from
 twenty  to thirty cubic inches more of 
brain than the ,papuan4  ,thus it       
happens that faculties1 as of music1    
which scarcely exist in some  inferior  
races1 become congenital in superior    
ones4  ,thus it happens  that out of    

savages unable to count up to the number
 of their  fingers1 and speaking a      
language containing only nouns and      
verbs1  arise at length our ,newtons and
 ,shakespeares4'      ,at the outset of 
this ,address it was stated that        
physical theories  which lie beyond     
experience are derived by a process of  
abstraction  from experience4  ,it is   
instructive to note from this point of  
view  the successive introduction of new
 conceptions4  ,the idea of the         
attraction of gravitation was preceded  
by the observation of the  attraction of
 iron by a magnet1 and of light bodies  
by rubbed amber4  ,the polarity of      
magnetism and electricity appealed to   
the senses2 and  thus became the        
substratum of the conception that atoms 
and molecules  are endowed with         
definite1 attractive1 and repellent     
poles1 by the  play of which definite   
forms of crystalline architecture are   
produced4  ,thus molecular force becomes
 structural4  ,it required no  great    

boldness of thought to extend its play  
into organic nature1 and  to recognize  
in molecular force the agency by which  
both plants and  animals are built up4  
,in this way out of experience arise    
conceptions which are wholly            
ultra-experiential4  ,none of the       
atomists of antiquity had any notion of 
this play of molecular polar  force1 but
 they had experience of gravity as      
manifested by falling  bodies4          
,abstracting from this1 they permitted  
their atoms to fall  eternally through  
empty space4  ,democritus assumed that  
the larger  atoms moved more rapidly    
than the smaller ones1 which they       
therefore  could overtake1 and with     
which they could combine4  ,epicurus1   
holding  that empty space could offer no
 resistance to motion1 ascribed to all  
the atoms the same velocity2 but he     
seems to have overlooked the            
consequence that under such             
circumstances the atoms could never     
combine4  ,lucretius cut the knot by    

quitting the domain of physics          
altogether1 and causing the atoms to    
move together by a kind of  volition4   
,was the instinct utterly at fault which
 caused ,lucretius thus to  swerve from 
his own principles8  ,diminishing       
gradually the number of  progenitors1   
,mr4 ,darwin comes at length to one     
'primordial form2' but  he does not say1
 as far as ,i remember1 how he supposes 
this form to  have been introduced4  ,he
 quotes with satisfaction the words of a
  celebrated author and divine who had  
'gradually learnt to see that it  is    
just as noble a conception of the ,deity
 to believe ,he created a  few original 
forms1 capable of self-development into 
other and  needful forms1 as to believe 
that ,he required a fresh act of        
creation  to supply the voids caused by 
the action of ,his laws4'  ,what ,mr4   
,darwin thinks of this view of the      
introduction of life ,i do not know4    
,but the anthropomorphism1 which it     
seemed his object to set aside1 is  as  

firmly associated with the creation of a
 few forms as with the  creation of a   
multitude4  ,we need clearness and      
thoroughness here4  ,two courses and two
 only1 are possible4  ,either let us    
open our doors  freely to the conception
 of creative acts1 or1 abandoning them1 
let  us radically change our notions of 
,matter4  ,if we look at matter as      
pictured by ,democritus1 and as defined 
for generations in our  scientific      
text-books1 the notion of any form of   
life whatever coming  out of it is      
utterly unimaginable4  ,the argument    
placed in the mouth  of ,bishop ,butler 
suffices1 in my opinion1 to crush all   
such  materialism as this4  ,but those  
who framed these definitions of  matter 
were not biologists but mathematicians1 
whose labours referred  only to such    
accidents and properties of matter as   
could be expressed  in their formul4    
,the very intentness with which they    
pursued  mechanical science turned their
 thoughts aside from the science of     

life4  ,may not their imperfect         
definitions be the real cause of our    
present dread8  ,let us reverently1 but 
honestly1 look the question in  the     
face4  ,divorced from matter1 where is  
life to be found8  ,whatever  our faith 
may say1 our knowledge shows them to be 
indissolubly  joined4  ,every meal we   
eat1 and every cup we drink1 illustrates
 the  mysterious control of ,mind by    
,matter4    ,trace the line of life     
backwards1 and see it approaching more  
and  more to what we call the purely    
physical condition4  ,we come at  length
 to those organisms which ,i have       
compared to drops of oil  suspended in a
 mixture of alcohol and water4  ,we     
reach the  protogenes of ,haeckel1 in   
which we have 'a type distinguishable   
from a fragment of albumen only by its  
finely granular character4'  ,can we    
pause here8  ,we break a magnet and find
 two poles in each of  its fragments4   
,we continue the process of breaking1   
but1 however  small the parts1 each     

carries with it1 though enfeebled1 the  
polarity  of the whole4  ,and when we   
can break no longer1 we prolong the     
intellectual vision to the polar        
molecules4  ,are we not urged to do     
something similar in the case of life8  
,is there not a temptation  to close to 
some extent with ,lucretius1 when he    
affirms that 'nature  is seen to do all 
things spontaneously of herself without 
the  meddling of the gods8' or with     
,bruno1 when he declares that ,matter is
  not 'that mere empty capacity which   
philosophers have pictured her to  be1  
but the universal mother who brings     
forth all things as the fruit  of her   
own womb8'  ,believing as ,i do in the  
continuity of ,nature1 ,i  cannot stop  
abruptly where our microscopes cease to 
be of use4  ,here  the vision of the    
mind authoritatively supplements the    
vision of the  eye4  ,by an intellectual
 necessity ,i cross the boundary of the 
experimental evidence1 and discern in   
that ,matter which we1 in our  ignorance

 of its latent powers1 and              
notwithstanding our professed  reverence
 for its ,creator1 have hitherto covered
 with opprobrium1 the  promise and      
potency of all terrestial ,life4    ,if 
you ask me whether there exists the     
least evidence to prove that  any form  
of life can be developed out of matter1 
without demonstrable  antecedent life1  
my reply is that evidence considered    
perfectly  conclusive by many has been  
adduced2 and that were some of us who   
have pondered this question to follow a 
very common example1 and  accept        
testimony because it falls in with our  
belief1 we also should  eagerly close   
with the evidence referred to4  ,but    
there is in the  true man of science a  
wish stronger than the wish to have his 
beliefs  upheld2 namely1 the wish to    
have them true4  ,and this stronger wish
  causes him to reject the most         
plausible support if he has reason to   
suspect that it is vitiated by error4   
,those to whom ,i refer as  having      

studied this question1 believing the    
evidence offered in  favour of          
'spontaneous generation' to be thus     
vitiated1 cannot accept  it4  ,they know
 full well that the chemist now prepares
 from inorganic  matter a vast array of 
substances which were some time ago     
regarded  as the sole products of       
vitality4  ,they are intimately         
acquainted  with the structural power of
 matter as evidenced in the phenomena of
  crystallization4  ,they can justify   
scientifically their belief in  its     
potency1 under the proper conditions1 to
 produce organisms4  ,but  in reply to  
your question they will frankly admit   
their inability to  point to any        
satisfactory experimental proof that    
life can be  developed save from        
demonstrable antecedent life4  ,as      
already  indicated1 they draw the line  
from the highest organisms through      
lower ones down to the lowest1 and it is
 the prolongation of this  line by the  
intellect beyond the range of the senses

 that leads them  to the conclusion     
which ,bruno so boldly enunciated4#bj   
,the 'materialism' here professed may be
 vastly different from what  you        
suppose1 and ,i therefore crave your    
gracious patience to the end4  ',the    
question of an external world1' says    
,mr4 ,j4 ,s4 ,mill1 'is the  great      
battleground of metaphysics4'#ba  ,mr4  
,mill himself reduces  external         
phenomena to 'possibilities of          
sensation4'  ,kant1 as we have  seen1   
made time and space 'forms' of our own  
intuitions4  ,fichte1  having first by  
the inexorable logic of his             
understanding proved  himself to be a   
mere link in that chain of eternal      
causation which  holds so rigidly in    
,nature1 violently broke the chain by   
making  ,nature1 and all that it        
inherits1 an apparition of his own      
mind4#bb  ,and it is by no means easy to
 combat such notions4  ,for when ,i say 
,i  see you1 and that ,i have not the   
least doubt about it1 the reply is1     

that what ,i am really conscious of is  
an affection of my own retina4  ,and if 
,i urge that ,i can check my sight of   
you by touching you1 the  retort would  
be that ,i am equally transgressing the 
limits of fact2  for what ,i am really  
conscious of is1 not that you are there1
 but  that the nerves of my hand have   
undergone a change4  ,all we hear1 and  
see1 and touch1 and taste1 and smell1   
are1 it would be urged1 mere  variations
 of our own condition1 beyond which1    
even to the extent of  a hair's breadth1
 we cannot go4  ,that anything answering
 to our  impressions exists outside of  
ourselves is not a fact1 but an         
inference1 to which all validity would  
be denied by an idealist  like          
,berkeley1 or by a sceptic like ,hume4  
,mr4 ,spencer takes another  line4      
,with him1 as with the uneducated man1  
there is no doubt or  question as to the
 existence of an external world4  ,but  
he differs  from the uneducated1 who    
think that the world really is what     

consciousness represents it to be4  ,our
 states of consciousness are  mere      
symbols of an outside entity which      
produces them and  determines the order 
of their succession1 but the real nature
 of  which we can never know4#bc  ,in   
fact1 the whole process of evolution  is
 the manifestation of a ,power          
absolutely inscrutable to the  intellect
 of man4  ,as little in our day as in   
the days of ,job can man  by searching  
find this ,power out4  ,considered      
fundamentally1 then1 it  is by the      
operation of an insoluble mystery that  
life on earth is  evolved1 species      
differentiated1 and mind unfolded from  
their  prepotent elements in the        
immeasurable past4  ,there is1 you will 
observe1 no very rank materialism here4 
,the strength of the doctrine of        
evolution consists1 not in an           
experimental demonstration 7for the     
subject is hardly accessible to  this   
mode of proof71 but in its general      
harmony with scientific  thought4  ,from

 contrast1 moreover1 it derives enormous
 relative  strength4  ,on the one side  
we have a theory 7if it could with any  
propriety be so called7 derived1 as were
 the theories referred to at  the       
beginning of this ,address1 not from the
 study of ,nature1 but from  the        
observation of men--a theory which      
converts the ,power whose  garment is   
seen in the visible universe into an    
,artificer1 fashioned  after the human  
model1 and acting by broken efforts1 as 
man is seen  to act4  ,on the other     
side1 we have the conception that all we
 see  around us1 and all we feel within 
us--the phenomena of physical  nature as
 well as those of the human mind--have  
their unsearchable  roots in a cosmical 
life1 if ,i dare apply the term1 an     
infinitesimal  span of which is offered 
to the investigation of man4  ,and even 
this  span is only knowable in part4    
,we can trace the development of a      
nervous system1 and correlate with it   
the parallel phenomena of  sensation and

 thought4  ,we see with undoubting      
certainty that they go  hand in hand4   
,but we try to soar in a vacuum the     
moment we seek to  comprehend the       
connexion between them4  ,an            
,archimedean fulcrum is  here required  
which the human mind cannot command2 and
 the effort to  solve the problem1 to   
borrow a comparison from an illustrious 
friend  of mine1 is like the effort of a
 man trying to lift himself by his  own 
waistband4  ,all that has been here said
 is to be taken in  connexion with this 
fundamental truth4  ,when 'nascent      
senses' are  spoken of1 when 'the       
differentiation of a tissue at first    
vaguely  sensitive all over' is spoken  
of1 and when these processes are        
associated with 'the modification of an 
organism by its environment1'  the same 
parallelism1 without contact1 or even   
approach to contact1  is implied4  ,man 
the object is separated by an impassable
 gulf from  man the subject4  ,there is 
no motor energy in intellect to carry it

  without logical rupture from the one  
to the other4    ,further1 the doctrine 
of evolution derives man in his totality
 from  the inter-action of organism and 
environment through countless ages      
past4  ,the ,human ,understanding1 for  
example--that faculty which ,mr4        
,spencer has turned so skilfully round  
upon its own antecedents--is  itself a  
result of the play between organism and 
environment through  cosmic ranges of   
time4  ,never surely did prescription   
plead so  irresistible a claim4  ,but   
then it comes to pass that1 over and    
above  his understanding1 there are many
 other things appertaining to man  whose
 perspective rights are quite as strong 
as those of the  understanding itself4  
,it is a result1 for example1 of the    
play of  organism and environment that  
sugar is sweet and that aloes are       
bitter1 that the smell of henbane       
differs from the perfume of a rose4     
,such facts of consciousness 7for which1
 by the way1 no adequate  reason has yet

 been rendered7 are quite as old as the 
understanding2  and many other things   
can boast an equally ancient origin4    
,mr4  ,spencer at one place refers to   
that most powerful of passions--the     
amatory passion--as one which1 when it  
first occurs1 is antecedent to  all     
relative experience whatever2 and we may
 pass its claim as being  at least as   
ancient and valid as that of the        
understanding4  ,then  there are such   
things woven into the texture of man as 
the feeling of  ,awe1 ,reverence1       
,wonder--and not alone the sexual love  
just referred  to1 but the love of the  
beautiful1 physical1 and moral1 in      
,nature1  ,poetry1 and ,art4  ,there is 
also that deep-set feeling which1 since 
the earliest dawn of history1 and       
probably for ages prior to all  history1
 incorporated itself in the ,religions  
of the world4  ,you who  have escaped   
from these religions into the           
high-and-dry light of the  intellect may
 deride them2 but in so doing you deride

 accidents of  form merely1 and fail to 
touch the immovable basis of the        
religious  sentiment in the nature of   
man4  ,to yield this sentiment          
reasonable  satisfaction is the problem 
of problems at the present hour4  ,and  
grotesque in relation to scientific     
culture as many of the religions  of the
 world have been and are--dangerous1 nay
 destructive1 to the  dearest privileges
 of free-men as some of them undoubtedly
 have been1  and would1 if they could1  
be again--it will be wise to recognize  
them  as the forms of a force1          
mischievous1 if permitted to intrude on 
the  region of knowledge1 over which it 
holds no command1 but capable of  being 
guided to noble issues in the region of 
emotion1 which is its  proper and       
elevated sphere4    ,all religious      
theories1 schemes and systems1 which    
embrace notions of  cosmogony1 or which 
otherwise reach into the domain of      
science1 must1  in so far as they do    
this1 submit to the control of science1 

and  relinquish all thought of          
controlling it4  ,acting otherwise      
proved  disastrous in the past1 and it  
is simply fatuous to-day4  ,every       
system which would escape the fate of an
 organism too rigid to adjust  itself to
 its environment must be plastic to the 
extent that the  growth of knowledge    
demands4  ,when this truth has been     
thoroughly  taken in1 rigidity will be  
relaxed1 exclusiveness diminished1      
things  now deemed essential will be    
dropped1 and elements now rejected will 
be assimilated4  ,the lifting of the    
life is the essential point2 and  as    
long as dogmatism1 fanaticism1 and      
intolerance are kept out1  various modes
 of leverage may be employed to raise   
life to a higher  level4  ,science      
itself not unfrequently derives motive  
power from an  ultra-scientific source4 
,whewell speaks of enthusiasm of temper 
as a  hindrance to science2 but he means
 the enthusiasm of weak heads4  ,there  
is a strong and resolute enthusiasm in  

which science finds an  ally2 and it is 
to the lowering of this fire1 rather    
than to the  diminution of intellectual 
insight1 that the lessening             
productiveness  of men of science in    
their mature years is to be ascribed4   
,mr4  ,buckle sought to detach          
intellectual achievement from moral     
force4  ,he gravely erred2 for without  
moral force to whip it into action1 the 
achievements of the intellect would be  
poor indeed4    ,it has been said that  
science divorces itself from literature2
 but  the statement1 like so many       
others1 arises from lack of knowledge4  
,a  glance at the less technical        
writings of its leaders--of its         
,helmholtz1 its ,huxley1 and its ,du    
,bois-,reymond--would show what  breadth
 of literary culture they command4      
,where among modern writers  can you    
find their superiors in clearness and   
vigour of literary  style8  ,science    
desires not isolation1 but freely       
combines with every  effort towards the 

bettering of man's estate4              
,single-handed1 and  supported not by   
outward sympathy1 but by inward force1  
it has built  at least one great wing of
 the many-mansioned home which man in   
his  totality demands4  ,and if rough   
walls and protruding rafter-ends        
indicate that on one side the edifice is
 still incomplete1 it is only  by wise  
combination of the parts required with  
those already  irrevocably built that we
 can hope for completeness4  ,there is  
no  necessary incongruity between what  
has been accomplished and what  remains 
to be done4  ,the moral glow of         
,socrates1 which we all feel by         
ignition1 has in it nothing incompatible
 with the physics of  ,anaxagoras which 
he so much scorned1 but which he would  
hardly scorn  to-day4    ,and here ,i am
 reminded of one amongst us1 hoary1 but 
still strong1  whose prophet-voice some 
thirty years ago1 far more than any     
other of  this age1 unlocked whatever of
 life and nobleness lay latent in its   

most gifted minds--one fit to stand     
beside ,socrates or the ,maccabean      
,eleazar1 and to dare and suffer all    
that they suffered and  dared--fit1 as  
he once said of ,fichte1 'to have been  
the teacher of  the ,stoa1 and to have  
discoursed of ,beauty and ,virtue in the
 groves  of ,academe4'  ,with a capacity
 to grasp physical principles which his 
friend ,goethe did not possess1 and     
which even total lack of exercise  has  
not been able to reduce to atrophy1 it  
is the world's loss that  he1 in the    
vigour of his years1 did not open his   
mind and sympathies  to science1 and    
make its conclusions a portion of his   
message to  mankind4  ,marvellously     
endowed as he was--equally equipped on  
the  side of the ,heart and of the      
,understanding--he might have done much 
towards teaching us how to reconcile the
 claims of both1 and to  enable them in 
coming times to dwell together in unity 
of spirit and  in the bond of peace4    
,and now the end is come4  ,with more   

time1 or greater strength and           
knowledge1 what has been here said might
 have been better said1 while  worthy   
matters here omitted might have received
 fit expression4  ,but  there would have
 been no material deviation from the    
views set forth4  ,as regards myself1   
they are not the growth of a day2 and as
 regards  you1 ,i thought you ought to  
know the environment which1 with or     
without your consent1 is rapidly        
surrounding you1 and in relation to     
which some adjustment on your part may  
be necessary4  ,a hint of  ,hamlet's1   
however1 teaches us all how the troubles
 of common life may  be ended2 and it is
 perfectly possible for you and me to   
purchase  intellectual peace at the     
price of intellectual death4  ,the world
 is  not without refuges of this        
description2 nor is it wanting in       
persons  who seek their shelter and try 
to persuade others to do the same4  ,the
 unstable and the weak will yield to    
this persuasion1 and they to  whom      

repose is sweeter than the truth4  ,but 
,i would exhort you to  refuse the      
offered shelter and to scorn the base   
repose--to accept1  if the choice be    
forced upon you1 commotion before       
stagnation1 the  leap of the torrent    
before the stillness of the swamp4      
,in the course of this ,address ,i have 
touched on debatable questions  and led 
you over what will be deemed dangerous  
ground--and this  partly with the view  
of telling you that as regards these    
questions  science claims unrestricted  
right of search4  ,it is not to the     
point  to say that the views of         
,lucretius and ,bruno1 of ,darwin and   
,spencer1  may be wrong4  ,here ,i      
should agree with you1 deeming it indeed
  certain that these views will undergo 
modification4  ,but the point  is1 that1
 whether right or wrong1 we ask the     
freedom to discuss them4  ,for science1 
however1 no exclusive claim is here     
made2 you are not  urged to erect it    
into an idol4  ,the inexorable advance  

of man's  understanding in the path of  
knowledge1 and those unquenchable claims
  of his moral and emotional nature     
which the understanding can never       
satisfy1 are here equally set forth4    
,the world embraces not only a  ,newton1
 but a ,shakespeare--not only a ,boyle1 
but a ,raphael--not only  a ,kant1 but a
 ,beethoven--not only a ,darwin1 but a  
,carlyle4  ,not in  each of these1 but  
in all1 is human nature whole4  ,they   
are not  opposed1 but supplementary--not
 mutually exclusive1 but reconcilable4  
,and if1 unsatisfied with them all1 the 
human mind1 with the yearning  of a     
pilgrim for his distant home1 will turn 
to the ,mystery from  which it has      
emerged1 seeking so to fashion it as to 
give unity to  thought and faith2 so    
long as this is done1 not only without  
intolerance or bigotry of any kind1 but 
with the enlightened  recognition that  
ultimate fixity of conception is here   
unattainable1  and that each succeeding 
age must be held free to fashion the    

,mystery  in accordance with its own    
needs--then1 casting aside all the      
restrictions of ,materialism1 ,i would  
affirm this to be a field for  the      
noblest exercise of what1 in contrast   
with the knowing  faculties1 may be     
called the creative faculties of man4   
',fill thy heart with it1' said ,goethe1
 'and then name it as thou  wilt4'      
,goethe himself did this in             
untranslateable language4#bd            
,wordsworth did it in words known to all
 ,englishmen1 and which may be  regarded
 as a forecast and religious            
vitalization of the latest and  deepest 
scientific truth1--                     
',for ,i have learned    ,to look on    
nature2 not as in the hour    ,of       
thoughtless youth2 but hearing          
oftentimes    ,the still1 sad music of  
humanity1    ,nor harsh nor grating1    
though of ample power    ,to chasten and
 subdue4  ,and ,i have felt    ,a       
presence that disturbs me with the joy  
,of elevated thoughts2 a sense sublime  

,of something far more deeply           
interfused1    ,whose dwelling is the   
light of setting suns1    ,and the round
 ocean1 and the living air1    ,and the 
blue sky1 and in the mind of man3    ,a 
motion and a spirit1 that impels    ,all
 thinking things1 all objects of all    
thought1    ,and rolls through all      
things4'#be          #a ,hume1 ,natural 
,history of ,religion4    #b ,born #dfj 
,b4,c4    #c ,lange1 #bnd edit41 p4 #bc4
    #d ,born #cdb ,b4,c4    #e          
,tennyson's ,lucretius4    #f ,born #ii 
,b4,c4    #g ,monro's translation4  ,in 
his criticism of this work1             
,contemporary ,review1 #ahfg1 ,dr4      
,hayman does not appear to be aware  of 
the really sound and subtile            
observations on which the reasoning  of 
,lucretius1 though erroneous1 sometimes 
rests4    #h ,history of the            
,intellectual ,development of ,europe1  
p4 #bie4    #i ,history of the          
,inductive ,sciences1 vol4 i4    #aj    
,depicted with terrible vividness in    

,renan's ,antichrist4    #aa            
,intellectual ,development of ,europe1  
p4 #cei4    #ab ,lange1 #bnd edit4 pp4  
#aha1 #ahb4    #ac ,see ,huxley's       
admirable ,essay on ,descartes4  ,lay   
,sermons1 pp4  #hfd1 #cfe4    #ad       
,boyle's model of the universe was the  
,strasburg clock with an  outside       
,artificer4  ,goethe1 on the other hand1
 sang      ',ihm ziemt's die ,welt im   
,innern zu bewegen1    ,natur in sich1  
sich in ,natur zu hegen4'    ,see also  
,carlyle1 ,past and ,present1 ,chap4 ,v4
    #ae ,only to some2 for there are    
dignitaries who even now speak of  the  
earth's rocky crust as so much building 
material prepared for man  at the       
,creation4  ,surely it is time that this
 loose language should  cease4    #af   
,zoonomia1 vol4 i4 pp4 #ejj-eaj4    #ag 
,in #ahee ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer        
7,principles of ,psychology1 #bnd edit4 
vol4 i4 p4 #dfe7 expressed 'the belief  
that life under all its forms  has      
arisen by an unbroken evolution1 and    

through the instrumentality  of what are
 called natural causes4'    #ah ,the    
behaviour of ,mr4 ,wallace in relation  
to this subject has  been dignified in  
the highest desgree4    #ai ,the first  
step only towards experimental          
demonstration has been  taken4          
,experiments now begun might1 a couple  
of centuries hence1  furnish data of    
incalculable value1 which ought to be   
supplied to the  science of the future4 
#bj ,bruno was a ',pantheist1' not an   
',atheist' or a ',materialist4'    #ba  
,examination of ,hamilton1 p4 #aed4     
#bb ,bestimmung des ,menschen4    #bc   
,in a paper1 at once popular and        
profound1 entitled ,recent  ,progress in
 the ,theory of ,vision1 contained in   
the volume of  ,lectures by ,helmholtz1 
published by ,longmans1 this symbolism  
of our  states of consciousness is also 
dwelt upon4  ,the impressions of sense  
are the mere signs of external things4  
,in this paper ,helmholtz  contends     
strongly against the view that the      

consciousness of space is  inborn2 and  
he evidently doubts the power of the    
chick to pick up  grains of corn without
 preliminary lessons4  ,on this point1  
he says1  further experiments are       
needed4  ,such experiments have been    
since  made by ,mr4 ,spalding1 aided1 ,i
 believe1 in some of his observations   
by the accomplished and deeply lamented 
,lady ,amberly2 and they seem  to prove 
conclusively that the chick does not    
need a single moment's  tuition to      
enable it to stand1 run1 govern the     
muscles of its eyes1  and to peck4      
,helmholtz1 however1 is contending      
against the notion of  pre-established  
harmony2 and ,i am not aware of his     
views as to the  organisation of        
experiences of race or breed4    #bd    
,promium to ',gott und ,welt4'    #be   
,tintern ,abbey4          ,,london3     
,,printed ,,by    ,,spottiswoode ,,and  
,,co41 ,,new-,,street ,,square    ,,and 
,,parliament ,,street