GIFT OF THE HUMDOLDT LIBRARY SERIES. MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. WITH A SUPPLEMENTAL CHAPTER ON GLADSTONE'S "DAWN OF CREATION" AND "PROEM OF GENESIS," AND ON DRUM- MOND'S " NATURAL LAW IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD." BY S. LAING. II NEW YORK: THE HUMBOLDT PUBLISHING Co., 28 LAFAYETTE PLACE. CONTENTS PART I. MODEEN SCIENCE. CHAPTER I. PAGE SPACE ......... 9 Primitive Ideas Natural Standards^Dirnensions of the Earth Of Sun and Solar System Distance of Fixed Stars Their Order and Size Nebulae and other Universes The Telescope and the Infinitely Great The Microscope and the Infinitely Small Uniformity of Law Law of Gravity Acts through all Space Double Stars, Comets, and Meteors Has acted through all Time. CHAPTER II. TIME ........... 17 Evidence of Geology Stratification Denudation Strata identified by Superposition By Fossils Geological Record shown by Upturned Strata General Result Palaeozoic and Primary Periods Secondary Tertiary Time required Coal Formation Chalk Elevations and Depressions of Land Internal Heat of Eirth Earthquakes and Volcanoes Changes of Fauna and Flora Astronomical Time Tides and the Moon Sun's Radiation Earth's Cooling Geology and Astronomy Bearings on Mod- ern Thought. M97454 4 CONTEXTS. CHAPTER III. PAGE MATTER ...... ... 32 Ether and Light Color and Heat Matter and its Elements Molecules and Atoms Spectroscope Uniformity of Matter throughout the Uni- verse Force and Motion Conservation of Energy Electricity, Magnet- ism, and Chemical Action Dissipation of Heat Birth and Death of Worlds. CHAPTER IV. LIFE . . . . . . . . .44 Essence of Life Simplest Form, Protoplasm Monera and Protista Animal and Vegetable Life Spontaneous Generation Development of Species from Primitive Cells Supernatural Theory Zoological Prov- inces Separate Creations Law or 'Miracle Darwinian Theory Struggle for Life Survival of the Fittest Development and Design The Hand Proof required to establish Darwin's Theory as a Law Species Hybrids Man subject to Law. CHAPTER V. ANTIQUITY OF MAN . . . . . .57 Belief in Man's Recent Origin Boucher de Perthes' Discoveries Con- firmed by Prestwich Nature of Implements Celts, Scrapers, and Flakes Human Remains in River Drifts Great Antiquity Implements from Drift at Bournemouth Bone Caves Kent's Cavern Victoria, Gower, and other Caves Caves of France and Belgium Ages of Cave Bear, Mammoth, and Reindeer Artistic Race Drawings of Mammoth, etc. Human Types Neanderthal, Cro-Magnon, Furfooz, etc. Attempts to fix Dates History Bronze Age Neolithic Danish Kitchen-middens Swiss Lake-Dwellings Glacial Period Traces of Ice Causes of Glaciers Croll's Theory Gulf Stream Dates of Glacial Period Rise and Submergence of Land Ter- tiary Man Eocene Period Miocene Evidence for Pliocene and Miocene Man Conclusions as to Antiquity. CHAPTER VI. MAN'S PLACE IN NATUBE . . . . . . . . Origin of Man from an Egg Like other Mammals Development of the Embryo Backbone Eye and other Organs of Sense Fish, Reptile, and Mammalian Stages Comparison with Apes and Monkeys Germs of Hu- man Faculties in Animals The Dog Insects Helplessness of Human Infant Instinct Heredity and Evolution The Missing Link Races of Men Leading Types and Varieties Common Origin Distant Language CONTENTS. 5 PAGE How Formed Grammar Chinese, Aryan, Semitic, etc. Conclusions irom Language Evolution and Antiquity Religions of Savage Races Ghosts and Spirits Anthropomorphic Deities Traces in Neolithic and Palaeolithic Times Development by Evolution Primitive Arts Tools and Weapons Fire Flint Implements Progress from Palasolithic to Neolithic Times Domestic Animals Clothing Ornaments Conclusion, Man a Product of Evolution. PART If. MODERN THOUGHT. CHAPTER VII. MODEBN THOUGHT ......... 113 Lines from Tennyson The Gospel of Modern Thought Change exempli- fied by Carlyle, Renan, and George Eliot Science becoming Universal Attitude of Orthodox Writers Origin of Evil First Cause unknowable New Philosophies and Religions Herbert Spencer and Agnosticism Comte and Positivism Pessimism Mormonism Spiritualism Dreams anl Visions Somnambulism Mesmerism Great Modern Thinkers Carlyle Hero-worship. CHAPTER VIII. MIRACLES .......... 127 Origin of Belief in the Supernatural Thunder Belief in Miracles form- erly Universal St. Paul's Testimony Now Incredible Christian Miracles Apparent Miracles Real Miracles Absurd Miracles Worthy Miracles The Resurrection and Ascension Nature of Evidence required Inspi- ration Prophecy Direct Evidence St. Paul The Gospels What is Known of Them The Synoptic Gospels Resemblances and Differences Their Origin Papias Gospel of St. John Evidence rests on Matthew, Mark, and Luke What each states Compared with one another and with St. John Hopelessly Contradictory Miracle of the Ascension Silence of M rk Probable Early Date of Gospels But not in their Present Form. CHAPTER IX. CHRISTIANITY WITHOUT MIRACLES ....... 142 Practical and Theoretical Christianity Example and Teaching of Christ Christian Dogma Moral Objections Inconsistent with Facts Must be CONTENTS. PAGE accepted as Parables Fall and Kedemption Old Creeds must be Trans- formed or Die Mahometanism Decay of Faith Balance ef Advantages Religious Wars and Persecutions Intolerance Sacrifice Prayer Ab- sence of Theology in Synoptic Gospels Opposite Pole to Christianity Courage and Self-reliance Belief in God and a Future Life Based mainly on Christianity Science gives no Answer Nor Metaphysics So-called Institutions Development of Idea of God Best Proof afforded by Chris- tianity Evolution is Transforming it Reconciliation of Religion and Science. CHAPTER X. PBACTICAL LIFE ......... 153 Conscience Right is Right Self-reverence Courage Respectability Influence of Press Respect for Women Self-respect of Nations Democ- racy and Imperialism Self-knowledge Conceit Luck Speculation Money-making Practical Aims of Life Self-control Conflict of Reason and Instinct Temper Manners Good Habits in Youth Success in Prac- tical Life Education Stoicism Conclusion. SUPPLEMENTAL CHAPTER. Gladstone's "Dawn of Creation" and "Proem to Genesis." Drummond's " Natural Law in the Spiritual World". . . . . .164 PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION. r I ^MJbJ object of this book is to give a clear and concise view of the "* principal results of Modern Science, and of the revolution which they have effected in Modern Thought. I do not pretend to discover fresh facts or to propound new theories, but simply to discharge the humbler though still useful task of presenting what has become the common property of thinking minds, in a popular shape, which may interest those who lack time and oppoitunity for studying special sub- jects in more complete and technical treatises. I have endeavored also to give unity to the subjects treated of, by connecting them with leading ideas : in the case of Science, that of the gradual progress from human standards to those of almost infinite space and duration, and the prevalence of law throughout the universe to the exclusion of supernatural interference; in the case of Thought, the bearings of these discoveries on old creeds and philosophies, and on the practical conduct of life. The endeavor to show how much of religion can be saved from the shipwreck of theology has been the main object of the second part. Those who are acquainted with the scientific literature of the day will at once see how much I have been indebted to Darwin, Lyell, Lubbock, Huxley, Proctor, and other well- known writers. In fact, the first part of this book does not pretend to be more than a compendious popular abridgment of their works. I 8 PREFACE. prefer, therefore, acknowledging rny obligations to them once for all, rather than encumbering each page by detailed references. The second part contains, more of my own reflections on the im- portant subjects discussed, and must stand or fall on its own merits rather than on authority. I can only say that I have endeavored to treat these subjects in a reverential spirit, and that the conclusions arrived at are the result of a conscientious and dispassionate endeavor to arrive at " the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." S. LALNG. MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. CHAPTER I. SPACE. THE first ideas of space were naturally taken from the standard of man's own impressions. The inch, the foot, the cubit, were the lengths of portions of his own body, obviously adapted for measuring objects of comparatively small size with which he came in direct contact. The mile was the distance traversed in 1,000 double paces; the league the distance walked in an hour. The visible horizon suggested the idea that the earth was a flat, circular surface like a round table; and as experience showed that it extended beyond the limits of a single h,orizon, the conception was enlarged, and the size of the table increased so as to take in all the countries known to the geography of successive periods. In like manner the sun, moon, and stars were taken to be at the dis- tance at which they appeared; that is, first of the visible horizon, and then of the larger circle to which it had been found necessary to expand it. It was never doubted that they really revolved, as they seemed to do, round this flat earth circle, dipping under it in the west at night, and reappearing in the east with the day. The conception of the uni- verse, therefore, was of a flat, circular earth surrounded by an ocean stream, in the centre of a crystal sphere which revolved in twenty-four hours round the earth, and in which the heavenly bodies were fixed as lights for man's use to distinguish days and seasons. The maximum idea of space was therefore determined by the size of the earth circle which was necessary to take in all the regions known at the time, with a little margin beyond for the ocean stream, and the space between it and the crystal vault, required to enable the latter to revolve freely. In the time of Homer and the early Greek philosophers, this would prob- ably require a maximum of space of from 5,000 to 10,000 miles. This dimension has been expanded by modern science into one of as many millions, or rather hundreds of millions, as there were formerly single miles, and there is no sign that the limit has been reached. How has this wonderful result been arrived at, and how do we feel certain that it is true? Those who wish thoroughly to understand it must study standard works on Astronomy, but it may be possible to give some clear idea of the processes by which it has been arrived at, and of 10 MODERX SCIENCE AND MODERX THOUGHT. * the cogency ,qf . tne reasoning ;;by which we are compelled to accept facts so contrary tc the first impressions of our natural senses. The fundamental- principle upon which all measurements of space depend, which ^aiw, beyond the actool applicationtof human standards, is this: that distant objects change their bearings for a given change of base, more or less in proportion as they are less or more distant. Suppose I am on board a steamer sailing down the Thames, and I see two churches on the Essex coast directly opposite to me, or bearing due north, the first of which is one mile and the other ten miles distant. I sail one mile due east and again take the bearings. It is evident that the first church will now bear north-west, or have ap- parently moved through 45, i.e., one-eighth part of the circumference of a complete circle, assuming this circumference to be divided into 360 equal parts or degrees; while the more distant church will only have altered its bearing by a much less amount, easily determined by calcu- lation, but which may be taken roughly at 5 instead of 45. The branch of mathematics known as Trigonometry enables us in all cases, without exception, where we know the apparent displace- ment or change of bearing of a dis- tant object produced by taking it "5 ^ * from the opposite ends of a known base, to calculate the distance of that object with as much ease and certainty as if we were working a simple sum of rule of three. The first step is to know our base, and for this purpose it is essential to know the size and form of the earth on which we live. These are determined by very simple consid- erations. If I walk a mile in a straight line, an object at a vast distance like a star will not change its apparent place perceptibly. But if I walk the same distance in a semi circle, what V 5:- was originally on my left hand will ** now be on my right, or will have changed its apparent place by 180. If I walk my mile on the circum- ference of a circle of twice the size, I shall have traversed a qnadrant or one-fourth part of it, and changed the bearing of the distant object exactly half as much, or 90, and so SPACE. 11 on, according- to the size of the circle, which may therefore be readily calculated from the length that must be travelled along it to shift the bearing of the remote object by a given amount, say of 1. If, for instance, by travelling 65 miles from north to south we lower the apparent'height of the Pole star 1, it is mathematically certain that we have travelled this 65 miles, not along a flat surface, but along a circle which is 360 times 65, or, in round numbers, 24,000 miles in circumference and 8,000 miles in diameter. And if, whenever we travel the same distance on a meridian or line drawn on the cir- cumference from north to south, we find tiie same displacement of 1, we may be sure that our journey has been in a true circle, and that the form of the earth is a perfect sphere of these dimensions. Now, this is very nearly what actually occurs when we apply methods of scientific accuracy to measure the earth. The true form of the earth is not exactly spherical, but slightly oval or flatter at the poles, being almost precisely the.form it would have assumed if it had been a fluid mass rotating about a north and south axis. But it is- very nearly spherical, the true polar diameter being 7,899 miles, find the true equatorial diameter 7.925 miles, so that for practical pur- poses we may say roughly that the earth is a spherical body, 24,000 miles round and 8,000 miles across. This gives us a fresh standard from which to start in measuring greater distances. Precisely as we inferred the distance of the church from the steamer in our first illustration, we can infer the distance of the sun, from its displacement caused by observing it from two oppo- site ends of a base of known length on the earth's surface. This is the essential principle of all the calculations, though, when great ac- curacy is sought for, very refined methods of applying the principle are required, turning mainly on the extent to which the apparent occurrence of the same event such as the transit of Venus over the sun's disc is altered by observing it from different points at known distances from one another on the earth's surface. The result is to show that the sun's distance from the earth is, in round numbers, 93,- 000.000 miles. This is not an exact statement, for the earth's orbit is not an exact circle, but the sun and earth really revolve in ellipses about the common centre of gravity. The sun, however, is so much larger than the earth that this centre of gravity falls within the sun's surface, and, practically, the earth describes an ellipse about the sun, the 93,000,000 miles being the mean distance, and the eccentricity, or deviation from the exact circular orbit, being about one-sixtieth part of that mean distance. This distance, again, gives us the size of the sun, for it is easily calculated how large the sun must be to look as large as it does at a distance of 93,000,000 miles. The result is, that it is a sphere of about 880,000 miles in diameter. Its bulk, therefore, ex- ceeds that of the earth in the proportion of 1,384,000 to 1. Its density, or the quantity of matter in it, may be calculated from the effect of its action on the earth under the law of gravity at the dis- tance of 93,000,000 miles. It weighs as much as 354,936 earths. The same method gives us the distance, size, and weight of the moon and planets; and it gives us a fresh standard or base from which to measure still greater distances. The distance of the earth from the sun being 93,000,000 miles, and its orbit an ellipse nearly circular, it follows that it is in mid-winter, in round numbers, 186,000,000 miles distant from the spot where it was at mid-summer. What difference in 12 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. the bearings of the fixed stars is caused by traversing this enormous base? The answer is, in the immense majority of cases, no difference at all; i.e., their distance is so vastly greater than 186,000,000 miles that a change of base to this extent makes no change perceptible to the most refined instruments in their bearings as seen from the earth. But the perfection of modern instruments is such, that a change of even one second, or smooth part of one degree, in the annual parallax, as it is called, of any fixed star, would certainly be detected. This corresponds to a distance of 206,265 times the length of the base of 186,000,000 miles, or of 20,000,000,000,000,000 iriiles, a dis- tance which it would take light moving at the rate of 190,000 miles per second, three years and eighty-three day to traverse. There is only one star in the whole heavens, a bright star called Alpha, in the constellation of the Centaur, which is known to be as near as this. Its annual parallax is 0-976", or very nearly 1", and therefore its distance very nearly 20 millions of millions of miles. All the other stars, of which many millions are visible through powerful telescopes, are further off than this. There are about eight other stars which have been supposed by astronomers to show some trace of an annual parallax of less than half a second, and therefore whose distances may be somewhere from twice to ten times as great as that of Alpha Centauri, and from the quantity of light sent to us from these distances, some approximation has been made to their intrinsic splendor as compared with our sun. That of Alpha (/entauri is computed to be nearly 2^- times that of Sirius, the brightest star in the heavens, 393 times greater than that of the sun. These figures may or may not represent greater size or greater intensity of light, and they are only quoted to give some idea of the vastness of the scale of the universe, cf which our solar system forms a minute part. Nor does even this nearly fathom the depth of the abysses of space. Telescopes enable us to see a vast multitude of stars of varying size and brilliancy. It is computed by astronomers that there are at least one hundred millions of stars within the range of the telescopes used by Herschel for gauging the depth of space, and a thousand millions within the range of the great reflecting telescope of Lord Rosse. As many as eighteen different orders of magnitude have been counted, and the more the power of telescopes is increased the more stars are seen. Now, as there is no reason to suppose that this extreme variety of brilliancy arises from extreme difference of size of one star from an- other, it must be principally owing to difference of distance, so that a star of the eighteenth magnitude is presumably many times further off than any of the first magnitude, the distance of the nearest of which has been proved to be something certainly not less than 20.000,000.000,- 000 miles. In fact, these stellar distances are so great that in order to bring them at all within the range of human imagination we are obliged to apply another standard, that of the velocity of light. Light an be shown to travel at the rate of about 186 millions of miles in 16 minutes, for this is the difference of the time at which we see the same periodical occurrence, as for instance the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites, according as the earth happens to be at the point of its orbit nearest to Jupiter or at that farthest away. The velocity of light is therefore about 184,000 miles per second, a velocity which has been ful'y con- iinned by direct experiments made on the earth's surface. SPACE. 13 These enormous distances are reckoned, therefore, by the number of years which it would take light to come from them, travelling as it does at the rate of 184,000 miles a second. The nearest fixed star, Alpha Centauri, is seen by the ray which left it three years and eighty- three days ago, and has been travelling ever since at the rate of 184,000 miles per second. Sirius, the brightest of the fixed stars, if the deter- mination of its annual parallax is correct, is six limes further off, and is seen, not as it exists to-day but as it existed nearly twenty years ago;, and the light we now see from some of the stars of the eighteen magni- tude can hardly have left them less than 2,000 years ago. Even this, however, is far from exhausting our conception of the magnitude of space. Beyond the stars which are near enough to be seen separately, powerful telescopes show a galaxy in which the united lustre of myriads of stars is only perceptible as a faint nebulous gleam. And in addition to stars the telescope shows us a number of nebulae, or faint patches of light, sometimes globular, sometimes in wreaths, spiral wisps, and other fantastic shapes, scattered about the heavens. Some of these are resolved by powerful telescopes into clusters of stars incon- ceivably numerous and remote, which appear to be separate universes, like that of which our sun and fixed stars form one. Others again cannot be so resolved, and are shown by the spectroscope to be enor- mous masses of glowing gas, or cosmic matter, out of which other universes are in process of formation. We are thus led, step by step, to enlarge our ideas of space from the primitive conception of miles and leagues, until the imagination fails to grasp the infinite vastness of the scale upon which the material universe is really constructed. If the telescope takes us thus far beyond the standards of unaided sense in the direction of the infinitely great, the microscope, aided by calculations as to the nature of light, heat, electricity, and chemical action, takes us as far in the opposite direction of the infinitely small. The microscope enables us actually to see magnitudes of the order of toojoooth of an inch as clearly as the naked eye can see those of ^th. This introduces us into a new world, where we can see a whole universe of things both dead and alive of whose existence our forefathers had no suspicion. A glass of water is seen to swarm with life, and be the abode of bacteria, amcebse, rotifers, and other minute creatures, which dart about, feed, digest, and propagate their species in this small world of their own, very much as jelly-fish and other humble organisms do in the larger seas. The air also is shown to be full of innumerable germs and spores floating in it, and ready to be deposited and spring into life, wherever they find a seed-bed fitted to receive them. Given a favor- able soil in the human frame, and the invisible seeds of scarlet fever, cholera, and small-pox ripen into full crops, just as the germs of a fungus invade the potato crops of a whole district, and lead to Irish famines and the extermination of more than a million of human beings. The microscope also enables us to see the very beginnings of life and watch its primitive element, protoplasm, in the form of a minute speck of jelly-like matter, through which pulsations are constantly passing, and we can watch the transformations by which an elementary cell of this substance splits up, multiplies, and by a continued process of development builds up with these cells all the diversified forms of vegetable and animal life. But far as the microscope carries us down to dimensions vastly 14 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. smaller than those of which the ordinary senses can take cognizance, the modern sciences of light, heat, and chemistry carry us as much farther downwards, as the telescope carries us upwards beyond the boundaries of our solar system into the expanses of stars and nebulae. We are transported into a world of atoms, molecules, and light- waves, where the standard of measurement is no longer in feet or inches, or even in one-hundred-thousandth part of an inch, but in millionths of millimetres, i. e., in 25 ,ooo,ooo,oootht-waves is propagated, and the lines of the spectrum are multiplied until they coalesce and form a continuous band of rainbow-tinted light. If the particles of the gas, instead of being single atoms, are more complex, as molecules or compound molecules, the vibrations are more complex and the different resulting light- waves more numerous, so that the lines in the spectrum are more numerous, and in some cases they coalesce so as to form shaded bands, or what are called fluted lines, instead of simple lines. Moreover, whatever light-waves are originated by the vibrations. MA TTER. 39 of the particles of a gas are absorbed into those vibrations and extin- guished, if they originate from the vibrations of some more energetic particles of another substance outside of it, whose light-waves, travel- ling along the ether, pass through the gas, and are thus shown ?*s dark lines in the spectrum of the other source of light. We can now understand how the assertion is justified that we can analyze the composition of the sun and stars as certainly as if we had a jar full of their substance to analyze in our laboratory. The first glance at a spectrum tells us whether the luminous source is solid, fluid, or gaseous. If its spectrum is continuous it is solid or fluid; we know this for certain, but can tell nothing more. But if it consists of bright lines, we know that it comes direct from matter in the form of luminous gas, and knowing from experiments in the laboratory the exact colors and situations of the lines formed by the different elements of which earthly matter is composed, we can see whether the lines in the spectra of heavenly matter do or do not correspond with any of them. . If bright lines correspond we are sure that the substances correspond, both as to their elementary atoms and their condition as glowing gas. If dark lines in the spectrum of the heavenly body correspond with bright lines in that of a known earthly substance, we are certain that the substances are the same and in the same state of gas, but that the solar or stellar spectrum proceeds from an intensely heated interior solid or fluid nucleus, whose waves have passed through an outer envelope or atmos- phere of this gas. Applying these principles, although the science is still in its infancy and many interesting discoveries remain to be made, this grand discov- ery has become an axiomatic fact Matter is alike everywhere. The light of stars up to the extreme boundary of the visible universe, is com- posed mainly of glowing hydrogen, the same identical hydrogen as we get by decomposing water by a voltaic battery. Of the 71 elementary substances of earthly matter enumerated by chemists, 9 may be considered as doubtful or existing only in exces- sively minute quantities. Of the remaining 62, 22 are known certainly to exist in the sun's atmosphere, 10 more can probably be traced there, and there are only 6 as to which, in the present state of our knowled'ge, there is negative evidence that they are not present. The elements whose presence is proved comprise many of those which are most com- mon in the composition of the earth, as hydrogen, iron, lead, calcium, aluminium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, etc.; and if others, such as oxygen, carbon, and chlorine have not yet been found, good reasons may be assigned why they may not exist in a state likely to give recog- nizable spectrum-lines. The main fact is firmly established that mat- ter is the same throughout all space, from the minutest atom to the remotest star. Thus far w r e have been treating of matter only, and of force . and motion but incidentally. These, however, are equally essential components of the phenomena of the universe. What is force? In the last analysis it is the unknown cause which we assume for motion, or the term in which we sum up whatever produces or tends to produce it. The idea of force, like so many other of our ideas, is taken from our own sensations. If we lift a weight or bend a bow, we are conscious of doing so by an effort. Something which we call will produces a motion in the molecules of the brain, which is transmitted by the nerves to the muscles, where it liberates a certain amount of 40 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. energy stored up by the chemical composition and decomposition of the atoms of food which we consume. This contracts the muscle, and the force of its contraction, transmitted by a system of pulleys and levers to the hand, lifts the weight. If we let go the weight it falls, and the force which lifted it reappears in the force with which it strikes the ground. If we do not let go the weight but place it on a support at the height to which we have raised it, it does not fall, no motion ensues, but the lifting force remains stored up in a tendency to motion, and can be made to reappear as motion at any time by withdrawing the support, when the weight will fall. It is evident, therefore, that force may exist in two forms, either as actually causing motion or as causing a tendency to motion. In this generalized form it has been agreed to call it energy, as less liable to be obscured by the ordinary impressions attached to the word force, which are mainly derived from experiences of actual motion cognizable by the senses. We speak, therefore, of energy as of something which is the basis or primum mobile of all motion or tendency to motion, whether it be in the grosser forms of gravity and mechanical work, or in the subtler forms of moleculer and atomic motions causing the phenomena of heat, light, electricity, magnetism, and chemical action. This energy may exist either in the form of actual motion, when it is called energy of motion, or in that of ten- dency to motion, when it is called energy of position. Thus the bent bow has energy of position which, when the string is let go, is at once converted into energy of motion in the flight of the arrow. Respecting this energy modern science has arrived at this grand generalization, that it is one and the same in all its different manifes- tations, and can neither be created nor destroyed, so that all these varied manifestations are mere transformations of the same primitive energy from one form to another. This is what is meant by the prin- ciple of the "Conservation of Energy." It was arrived at in this way. Speaking roughly it has long been known that he-it could generate mechanical power, as seen in the steam-engine; and conversely that mechanical power could generate heat, as is seen when a sailor, in a chill north-easter, claps his arms together on his breast to warm himself. But it was reserved for Dr. Joule to give this fact the scientific precision of a natural law, by actually measuring the amount of heat that was added to a given weight of water by a given expenditure of mechanical power, and conversely the amount of mechanical work that could be got from a given expenditure of heat. A vast number of carefully-conducted experiments have led to the conclusion that if a kilogramme be allowed to fall through 424 metres and its motion be then suddenly stopped, sufficient heat will be generated to raise the temperature of one kilogramme of water by 1 Centigrade; and conversely this amount of heat would be sufficient to raise one kilogramme to a height of 424 metres. If, therefore, we take as our unit of work that of raising one kilogramme one metre, and as our unit of heat that necessary to raise one kilogramme, of water 1 Centigrade, we may express the propor- tion of heat to work by Paying that one unit of heat is equal to 424 units of work; or, as it is sometimes expressed, that the number 424 is the mechanical equivalent of heat. But the question may be asked, what does this mean, how can MATTER. 41 mechanical work be really transformed into heat or vice versdf The answer is, the energy which was supplied by chemical action to the muscles of the man or horse, or to the water converted into steam by combustion of coal, which originated the mechanical work, was first transformed into its equivalent amount of mechanical energy of motion, and then, when that motion was arrested, was transformed into heat, which is simply the same energy transformed into increased molecular motion. If we wish to carry our inquiry a step further back and ask where the original energy came from which has undergone these transforma- tions, the answer must be, mainly from the sun. The sun's rays, acting on the chlorophyl or green matter of the plants of the coal era, tore asunder the atoms of carbon and oxygen which formed the carbonic acid in the atmosphere, and locked up a store of energy in the form of -carbon in the coal which is burned to produce the steam. In like manner it stored up the energy in the form of carbon in the vegetable products which, either directly, or indirectly after having passed through the body of some animal, supplied the food, whose slow com- bustion in the man or horse supplied the energy which did the work. But where did the energy come from which the sun has been pouring forth for countless ages in the form of light and heat, and of which our earth only intercepts the minutest portion? This is a mys- tery not yet completely solved, but one real cause we can see, which has certainly operated and perhaps been the only one, viz., the mechan- ical energy of the condensation by gravity of the atoms which originally formed the nebulous matter out of which the sun was made. If we ask how came the atoms into existence endowed with this marvellous energy, we have reached the furthest bounds of human knowledge, and can only reply in the words of the poet: "Behind the veil, behind the veil." We can only form metaphysical conceptions, or I might rather call them the vaguest guesses. One is, that they were created and endowed with their elementary properties by an all-wise and all- powerful Creator. This is Theism. Another, that thought is the only reality, and that all the phenom- ena of the universe are thoughts or ideas of one universal, all-pervad- ing Mind. This is Pantheism. Or again, we may frankly acknowledge that the real essence and origin of things are "behind the veil," and not knowable or even conceivable by any faculties with which the human mind is endowed in its present state of existence. This is Agnosticism. There is one other conception, of which we may certainly say that it is not true that is Atheism. No one with the least knowl- edge of science can maintain that it can ever be demonstrated that everything in the universe exists of itself and never had a Creator. But these speculations lead us into the misty regions where, like Milton's devils, "we find no end in wandering mazes lost." Let us return to the solid ground of fact, on which alone the human mind can stand firmly, and like Antaeus gather fresh vigor every time it touches it for further efforts to enlarge the boundaries of knowledge and extend the domain of Cosmos over Chaos. The transformation of energy which we have seen to exist in the uild up its frame and supply waste; heat with which to maintain its circulating fluids and other substances at a proper temperature; motive power or energy to enable it to move, feel, and in the case of man to think; are all proceeds of the slow combustion of materials derived from the vegetable world in the oxygen breathed from the air, just as the work done by a steam-engine is the product of a similar combustion, or chemical combination of the oxygen of the air with the coal shovelled into the fire-box. These distinctions, however, between animals and vegetables are not quite absolute, for, even in the more highly-organized forms of life, there is a border-land where some plants seem to perform the functions of animals, as in those which catch and consume flies and eat and digest pieces of raw meat. Those who wish to pursue this interesting subject further will do well to read the Chapter on Living Matter in Huxley's "Physiography," where they will find it more fully explained, with the inimitable clear- ness which characterizes all the writings of an author who is at the same time one of the first scientific authorities and one of the grea-test masters of English prose. But my present object is not to write a scientific treatise, but shortly to sum up the ascertained results of modern science, with a view to their bearings on modern thought; and from this point of view the immediate question is, ho\v far law, which has been shown to prevail universally throughout space, time, and inorganic matter, can be shown to prevail equally throughout the world of life. Up to a certain point this admits of positive proof. It is as certain that all individual life, from the most elementary protoplasm up to the highest organism Man, originates in a minute or embryo cell, as it is that oxygen and hydrogen combined in certain proportions make water. But if we try to go back one step further, behind the <;ell, we are stopped. In the inorganic world we can reason our way beyond the microscopic matter to the molecule, and from the molecule to the atom, and are only arrested when we come to the ultimate form of matter, and of energy, out of which the universe is built up. But, in the case of life, we are stopped two steps short of this, and cannot tell how the cell containing the germ of life is built up out of the simpler elements. Many attempts have been made to bridge over this gulf, and show how life may originate in chemical compounds, but hitherto without success. Experiments have besn made which, for a time, seemed to show that spontaneous generation was a scientific fact, i.e., that the lowest forms of life, such as bacteria and amoeba, really did originate in infusions containing no germs of life; but they have been met by counter experiments confirming Harvey's dictum, "Omne animal ex ovo," or all life proceeds from antecedent germs of life, and the verdict 48 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. of the best authorities, such as Pasteur, Tyndall, and Huxley is, that spontaneous generation has been ''defeated along the whole line.'* This verdict is perhaps too unqualified, for it certainly appears that, on the assumption with which both sides started, that all organic life was destroyed by exposure to a heat of 212, or the boiling-point of water, the advocates of spontaneous generation had the best of it, as low forms of life did appear in infusions which had been exposed to this heat, and then hermetically sealed, so as to prevent any germs from entering. But it was replied that, as a hard pea takes more boiling than a soft one, it might very well be that heat sufficient to destroy life in any moist organism of sufficient size to be seen by the microscope, might not destroy the germinating power of ultra-micro- scopic germs in a very dry state. And this position seems to have been confirmed by various experiments, showing that such ultra- microscopic germs really do exist, and are given forth in the last life stage of the bacteria which cause putrefaction; and that if they are absent or destroyed by repeated applications of heat, infusions will keep sweet for ever in optically pure air. Above all, the germ theory has received confirmation from the brilliant practical results to which it has led in the hands of Pasteur, enabling him to detect, and to a great extent eradicate, the causes which had led to the oidium of the vine and the pebrine of the silk- worm, thereby saving losses of millions to the industries of France. The germ theory has also led to important results in medical science, and is pointing towards the possibility of combating the most fatal diseases by processes analogous to that by which vaccination has almost freed the human race from the scourge of small-pox. On the whole, therefore, we must be content to accept a verdict of " Not proven " in the case of spontaneous generation, and admit that as regards the first origin of life, science fails us, and there is at present no known law that will account for it. Should spontaneous generation ever be proved to be a fact, it will doubtless be in creating living protoplasm from inorganic ele- ments at its earliest stage, before it has been differentiated even into the primitive form of a nucleated cell or that of an amoeba. This is what the doctrine of evolution would lead us to expect, for it would be in contradiction to it to suppose that the starting-point could be interpolated at any stage subsequent to the lowest. It may be also that this step could only be made under conditions of heat, pressure, and otherwise, which existed in the earlier stage of the earth's existence, but have long since passed away. This, however, is only a small part of the difficulty we have to encounter in reducing life to law. These primeval embyro cells, like as they are in appearance, contain within them the germs of an almost infinite diversity of evolu- tions, each running its separate course distinct from the others. The world of life is not one and uniform, but consists of a vast variety of different species, from the speck of protoplasm up to the forest tree, and from the humble amoeba up to man, each one, at any rate within long intervals of time, breeding true and keeping to its own separate and peculiar path along the line of evolution. The first germ, or nucleated cell, of a bacteria develops into other bacteria and nothing else, that of a coral into corals, of an oak into oaks, of an elephamt into elephants, of a man into man. la the latter LIFE. 49 case we can trace the embryo in its various stages of growth through forms having a certain analogy to those of the fish, the reptile, and the lower mammals, until it finally takes that of the human infant. But we have no experience of a fish, a frog, or a dog, being ever born of human parents, or of any of the lower animals ever producing anything resembling a man. How can this be explained? Naturally the first attempt at explana- tion was by miracle. At a time when everything was explained by miracle, when all unusual occurrences were attributed to supernatural agency, and men lived in an atmosphere of providential interferences, witchcraft, magic, and all sorts of divine and diabolic agencies, nothing seemed easier than to say the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea are all distinct after their kind, because God created them so. But as the supernatural faded away and disappeared in other departments where it had so long reigned supreme, and science began to classify, arrange, and accumulate facts as they really are, it became more and more difficult, or rather impossible, to accept this simple explanation. The very first step destroyed the validity of all the tra- ditional myths which described the origin of life from one simultaneous act of creation at a single centre. The earth is divided into separate zoological provinces, each with its own peculiar animal and vegetable world. The kangaroo, for instance, is found in Australia and then* only. By no possibility could the aboriginal kangaroo have jumped at one bound from Mount Ararat to Australia, leaving no trace of his passage in any intermediate district. This isolation of life in separate provinces applies so rigidly, that we may sum it up by saying generally lhat there are no forms of life common to two provinces unless where migration is possible, or has been possible in past geological periods. In islands at a distance from continents, we find common forms of marine life, for the sea affords a means of communication; and often common forms of bird, insect, and vegetable life, where they may have been wafted by the winds; but forms which neither in the adult or germ state could swim or fly, or be transported by something which did swim or fly; aro invariably wanting. New Zealand affords a most con- spicuous instance of this. Here is a large country with a soil and climate exceptionally well adapted to support a large amount of animal life of the higher orders, and yet it had absolutely no land animals before they were introduced by man. If special creations took place to replenish the earth as soon as any portion of its surface becomes fit to sustain it, why were there no animals in New Zealand? Or, in the Andaman Islands, in the Gulf of Bengal, which are as large as Ireland, covered with luxuriant vegetation, and within 300 miles of the coast of Asia, .where similar jungles swarm with elephants, tigers, deer, and all the varied forms of mammalian life, there are no mammalia except a pigmy black savage and a pigmy black pig, the latter probably intro- duced by man. The sharpness of the division between zoological provinces is well illustrated by that drawn by the Straits of Lombok, where a channel, not twenty miles wide, separates the fauna of Asia and Australia so completely that there are no species of land animals, and only a few of birds and insects, common to the two sides of a channel not so wide as the Straits of Dover. There is no possibility of accounting for this, except by supposing 50 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. that the deep water fissure of the Strait of Lombok has existed from remote geological periods,and barred the migration southwards of those Asiatic animals, which, as long as they found dry land, migrated north- wards and westwards till they were stopped by the Polar and Atlantic Oceans. This difficulty of requiring special creations for separate provinces is enormously enhanced if we look beyond the existing con- dition of things, and trace back the geological record. We must sup- pose separate creations for all the separate provinces of the separate successive formations from the Silurian upward. And the more we investigate the conditions of life either under existing circumstances or in those of past geological epochs, the more enormously are we driven to multiply the number of separate creations which would be necessary to account for the diversity of species. We find life shading off into an indefinite variety of almost imperceptible gradations from the highest organism, man, to the lowest, or speck of protoplasm, and we can draw no hard and fast line and say, up to this point life originated in law, and beyond it we must have recourse to miracle. Either all life or none is a product of evolution acting by defined law, and the affirmation of law is the negation of miracle. Every day brings us an account of some new discovery bringing forms of life nearer together and bridging over intervals thought to be impassable. The discovery of plants living on insects, and which devour and digest pieces of raw meat, has added to the difficulty which has been long felt, in the humbler forms of life, of drawing any clear line of demarcation between the animal and vegetable worlds. Microscopic research brings to light fresh facts confounding our fixed ideas as to the permanence of particular modes of reproducing life, and showing that the same organism may run through various metamorphoses in the course of its life-cycle, during some of which it may be sexual and in others asexual, i.e., it may reproduce itself alter- nately by the co-operation of two beings of opposite sex, and by fissure or budding from one being only which is of no sex. These, and a multitude of other similar facts, complicate enor- mously the problems of life and its developments, whether we attempt to solve it by calling in aid a perpetual series of innumerable miraculous interpositions, or by appealing to ordinary known laws of Nature. Is the latter solution possible, and can the organic world be reduced, as the inorganic world has .been with all its mysteries and infinities of space, time, and matter, from chaos into cosmos, and shown to depend on permanent and harmonious laws'? Is the world of life, like that of matter, a clock, so perfectly constructed from the first that it goes without winding up or regulating? or is it a clock which would never have started going, or having started would soon cease to go if the hand of the watchmaker were not constantly interfering with it? This is the question, which the celebrated Darwinian theory attempts to answer, of which I now proceed to give a short general outline. The varieties among domestic animals are obvious to every one. The race-horse is a very different creature from the dray-horse; the short-horned ox from the Guernsey cow; the greyhound from the Skye terrier. How has this come to pass? Evidently by man's inter- vention, causing long-continued selection in breeding for certain objects. The English race-horse is the product of mating animals distinguished for speed for some fifteen or twenty generations. The greyhound is a similar dog-product by breeding for a longer period LIFE. . 51 -with the same object; as the Skye terrier is of selection in order to get a dog which can follow a fox into a cairn of rocks and fight him when he gets there. In all these cases it is evident that the final result was not attained at once, but by taking advantage of small accidental variations and accumulating them from one generation to another by the principle of heredity, which make offspring reproduce the qualities of their parents. The most precise and scientific experiments on this power of Integrating, or summing up, a progressive series of differentials, or minute differences, between successive generations, are those conducted by Darwin on pigeons. He has shown conclusively that all the races of domestic pigeons, of which there are two or three hundred, are derived from one common ancestor, the wild or blue rock pigeon, and that the pigeon-fancier can always obtain fresh varieties in a few generations by careful interbreeding. Of the existing varieties many now differ widely from one another, both in size, appearance, and even in anatomical structure, so that if they were now discovered for the first time in a fossil state or in a new country, they would assuredly be classed by naturalists as separate species. This is the work of man; is there anything similar to it going on in Nature? Yes, says Darwin, there is a tendeDcy in all life, and especially in the lower forms of life, to reproduce itself vastly quicker than the supply of food and the existence of other life can allow, and the balance of existence is only preserved by the wholesale waste of individuals in what may be called the "struggle for life." In this struggle, which goes on incessantly and on the largest scale, the slightest advantage must tell in the long run, and on the average, in selecting the few who are to survive, and such slight advantages must tend to accumulate from one generation to another under the law of heredity. The cumulative power of selection exercised by man in the breeding of races is therefore necessarily exercised in Nature by the struggle for life, and in the course of time, by the cumulation of advantages originally slight, small and fluctuating variations are hardened into large and permanent ones, and new species are formed. Darwin illustrates this principle of the " struggle for life " with a vast variety of instances, showing how the balance of animal and vegetable life may be preserved or destroyed in the most unexpected :manner. For instance, the fertilization of red clover is effected by humble-bees, and depends on their number; the number of bees in a given district depends mainly on the number of field-mice which destroy their combs and nests; the number of mice depends on the number of cats; and thus the presence or absence of a carnivorous animal may decide the question whether a particular sort of flora shall prevail over others or be extirpated. The countless profusion with which any one species, unchecked by its natural foes, may multiply in a given district, is illustrated by the potato disease, which in a few days invades whole countries; and by the rabbit plague in Australia and New Zealand, where, in less than twenty years, the descendants of a few imported pairs have rendered whole provinces useless for sheep pasture, and stoats are now being imported to restore the balance of life. The tendency in species to produce varieties which by selection may become exaggerated and iixed, is illustrated by the case of the Ancon herd of sheep. A ram lamb was born in Massachusetts in 1791, which had short crooked legs 52 MODERN SCIEXCE AND MODERN THOUGHT, and a long back like a turnspit dog. Being unable to jump over fences like the ordinary sheep, it was thought to possess certain advantages to the farmer, and the breed was established by artificial selection in pairing this ram with its descendants w r ho possessed the same peculiarities. The introduction of the Merino superseded the Ancon by giving a tame sheep not given to jump fences, with a better fleece, and so the breed was not continued, but it is certain that it might have been established as a permanent variety differing from the ordinary sheep as much as the turnspit or Skye terrier differs from the ordinary dog. The tendency of Nature to variation is apparent in the fact that of the many hundred millions of human beings living on the earth, no two are precisely alike, and varieties often appear, as in giants and dwarfs, six-fingered or toed children, hairy and other ' families, which might doubtless be fixed and perpetuated by artificial or natural selection, until they became strongly marked and permanent. It is evident that if the theory of development is true it excludes the old theory of design, or rather, it thrusts it back in the organic, as it has been thrust back in the inorganic world, to the first atoms or origins which were made so perfect as to carry within them all subse- quent phenomena by necessary evolution. Design and development lead to the same result, that of producing organs adapted for the work they have to do, but they lead to it in totally different ways. Develop- ment works from the less to the more perfect, and from the simpler to the more complicated, by incessant changes, small in themselves but constantly accumulating in the required direction. Design supposes that organisms were created specially on a predetermined plan, very much as the sewing-machine or self-binding reaper were constructed by their inventors. Until quite recently all adaptations of means to ends were con- sidered as evidences of design. A series of treatises w r as published some thirty years ago, for prizes left by a late Duke of Bridgewater, to illustrate this theme, among which one by Sir Charles Bell on the Hand attracted a good deal of attention. It was shown what an admirable machine the human hand is for the various purposes for which it is used, and the inference was drawn that it must have been created so by a designer who adapted means to ends in much the same way as is done by a human inventor. But more complete knowledge has dis- pelled this idea, and shown that the design, if there be any, must be placed very much farther back, and is in fact involved in the primitive germ from which all vertebrate life certainly, and probably all life^ animal or vegetable, have been slowly developed. The human hand is in effect the last stage of a development of the vertebrate type, or type of life in which a series of jointed vertebrae form a backbone, which protects a spinal cord containing the nervous centres, gives points of attachment for the muscles, and forms an axis of support for the looser tissues. Certain of these vertebrae throw out bony spines or rays; at first, by a sort of simple process of vegetable growth, which formed the fins of fishes; then some of these rays dropped off and others coalesced into more complex forms, which made the rudimentary limbs of reptiles; and finally, the continued process of development fashioned them into the more perfect limbs of birds and mammals. In this last stage a vast variety of combinations was developed. -Sometimes the bones of the extremities spread out, so as to form long fingers sugporting the feathered wings of birds and the LIFE. 53 membraneous wings of bats; sometimes they coalesced into the solid limbs supporting the bodies of large animals, as in the case of the horse; and finally, at the end of the series, they formed that marvellous instru- ment, the hand, as it appears in the allied genera of monkeys, apes, -and man. Any theory of secondary design and special miraculous creation must evidently account for all the intermediate forms as well as for the final result. We must suppose not one but many thousands of special creations, at a vast variety of places and over a vast extent of time; we must take into account not the successes only, but the failures, where organs appear in a rudimentary form which are per- fectly useless, or in some cases even injurious, to the creature in which they are found. For instance, in the case of the so-called wingless birds, like the dodo of the Mauritius, and the apteryx of New Zealand, which are found in oceanic islands, evolution accounts readily for the atrophy or want of development of organs which were not wanted where the birds had no natural enemies and found their food on the ground; but why should they have been created with rudimentary wings, useless while they remained isolated, and insuf- ficient to prevent their extermination as soon as man, or any other natural enemy, reached the islands where they had lived secure? If we are to adopt the theory of design and special creation, we must be prepared to take Burns' poetical fancy as a scientific truth, and believe that Nature had to try its "prentice hand," and grope its way through repeated trials and failures from the less to the more perfect. Again, the theory of special creation must account not only for the higher organs and forms of life, but for the lower forms also. Are the bacteria, amoebse, and other forms of life which the microscope shows in a drop of water all instances of a miraculous creation? And still more hard to believe, is this the origin of the whole parasitic world of life which is attached to and infests each its own peculiar form of higher life? Is the human tape-worm a product of design, or that wonderful parasite the trichinia, which oscillates between man and the pig, being capable of being born only in the muscles of the -one, and of living only in the intestines of the other? These are the sort of difficulties which have led the scientific world, I may say universally, to abandon the idea of separate special creations, and to substitute for it that which has been proved to be true of the whole inorganic world of stars, suns, planets, and all forms of matter; the idea of an original creation (whatever creation may mean and behind which we cannot go) of ultimate atoms or germs, so perfect that they carried within them all the phenomena of the uni- verse by a necessary process of evolution. This is the idea to which the Darwinian theory leads up, by show- ing natural causes in operation which must inevitably tend to cause and to accumulate slight varieties, until they become large in amount and permanent, thus developing new races within old species, new species within old families, new families within old types, and new and complex types from old and simple ones. The theory is up to a certain point undoubtedly true, and beyond that point in the highest degree probable, but scientific caution obliges us to add that it is still to a considerable extent a "theory," and not a "law." That is, it is not like the law of gravity, a demon- strated certainty throughout the whole universe, but a provisional law 54 MODERX SCIEXCE AXD MODERN THOUGHT. which accounts for a great number of undoubted facts, and supplies a framework into which all other similar facts, as at present ascertained,, appear to fit with a probability not approached by any other theory, and which is enhanced by every fresh discovery made, and by the analogy of what we know to be the laws which regulate the whole inorganic world. To enable us to talk of the "Darwinian law," and not of the "Darwinian theory," we require two demonstrations: 1. That living matter really can originate from inorganic matter. 2. That new species really can be formed from previously existing species. As regards the first, we have seen that the efforts of science have hitherto failed to produce an instance of spontaneous generation, and all we can say is that it is probable that such instances have occurred in earlier ages of our planet, under conditions of light, heat, chemical action, and electricity, different from anything we can now reproduce in our laboratories. This, however, falls short of demonstration, and for the present we must be content to leave the orgin of life as one of the mysteries not yet brought within the domain of law. As regards the second point, we are further advanced towards the possibility of proof. But here also we are met by two difficulties. If we appeal to historical evidence, we are met by the fact that a much greater time than is embraced by any historical record is almost necessarily required for the dying out of any old species and introduction of any new one, by natural selection. And if we appeal to fossil remains we are met by the imperfection of the geo- logical record. As to this, it must be remembered that only a very small portion of the earth's surface has been explored, and of this a very small portion consists of ancient land surfaces or fresh water for- mations, where alone we can expect to meet with traces of the higher forms of animal life. And even these have been so imperfectly explored,, that where we now meet with thousands and tens of thousands of un- doubted human remains lying almost under our feet, it is only within the last thirty years that their existence has ever been suspected. Cuvier, the greatest authority of the last generation, laid it down as an. incontrovertible fact that neither men nor monkeys had existed in the fossil state, or in anything more ancient than the most superficial and recent deposits. We have now ui least twenty specimens of fossil monkeys from one locality alone of the Miocene period, that of Pikermi, near Athens, and many thousands of human remains, at least into the Quaternary period and contemporary with extinct animals, if not earlier. We must be content, therefore, with approximate solu- tions pointing up to but not absolutely demonstrating the truth. What is a species? Speaking generally it is an assemblage of individuals who maintain a separate family type by breeding freely among themselves, and refusing to breed with other species. There can be no doubt that this represents what, at the first view and for a limited range of time, is in accordance with actual facts. The animal and vegetable worlds are practically mapped out into distinct species, and do not present the mass of confusion which would result from indiscriminate cross-breeding. It is clear also that this state of things has lasted for a considerable time, for the paintings on Egyptian tombs, and monuments carry us back more than 4,000 years, and show us the most strongly marked varieties of the human race, such as the LIFE. 55 Semitic, the Egyptian, and the Negro, existing just as they do at the present day. They show us also such extreme varieties of the dog species as the greyhound and the turnspit, then in existence; and the skeletons of animals such as the ox, cat, and crocodile, which have been preserved as mummies, show no appreciable difference from those of their modern descendants. When we come to look closely, however, into the matter, our faith in this absolute rule of the entire independence of species is greatly modified. In the lower grades of life we see everywhere species shading off into one another by insensible gradations, and every extension of our knowledge, both of the existing animal, vegeta- ble, and microscopic worlds, and of those of past geological periods, multiplies instances of intermediate forms, differing from one another far less than do many of the individual varieties of recognized species. In the case of sponges, for instance, the latest conclusion of scientific research is this: that if you rely on minute distinctions as constituting distinct species, there are at least 300 species of one family of sponges, while if you disregard slight differences, which graduate into one another, and are found partly in one and partly in another variety, you must designate them all as forming only one species. Even in higher grades, as species are multiplied, it becomes more and more difficult to say where one ends and the other begins. Take the familiar instance of the grouse and ptarmigan. The red grouse is believed to be peculiar to the British Islands, while the ptarmigan is a very widely spread inhabitant of Arctic regions and high mountains. Which is more probable that the grouse was specially created in the British Islands, apparently for the final cause of bringing sessions of Parlia- ment to wind up business in August, or that, as the rigor of the Glacial period abated, and heather began to grow, certain ptarmigan by degrees modified their habits and took to feeding on heather tops instead of lichens, and by so doing gradually became larger birds and assumed the color best adapted for protection in their new habitation ? In point of fact, grouse showing traces of this descent in smaller size and much whiter plumage are still to be met with. It would be easy to multiply instances, but this consideration seems conclusive. If we reject the Darwinian theory and adopt that of independent species descended from a specially created ancestor or pair of ances- tors, we are driven by each discovery of intermediate or slightly modified forms, into the assumption of more and more special acts of creation, until the number breaks down under its own weight, and belief becomes impossible. For instance, in the Madeira Islands alone, 134 species of air- breathing land-snails have been discovered by naturalists, of which twenty- one only are found in Africa or Europe, and 113 are peculiar to this small group of islands, where they are mostly confined to narrow districts and single valleys. Are we to suppose that each of these 113 species was separately created? Is it not almost certain that they are the modified descendents of the twenty-one species which had found their way there in a former geological period, when Madeira was united to Africa and Spain? There remains only the argument from the fertility of species inter se, and their refusal to breed with other species. This also, when closely examined, appears to be a primd facie deduction, rather than an absolute law. Different species do, in fact, often breed together, 56 MODERX SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. as is seen in the familiar instance of the horse and ass. It is true that in this case the mule is sterile and no new race is established. But this rule is not universal, and quite recently one new hybrid race, that of the leporine, or hare-rabbit, has been created, which is perfectly fertile. The progeny of dog and wolf has also been proved to be per- fectly fertile during the four generations for which the experiment was continued. In the case of cultivated plants and domestic animals, there can be little doubt that new races, which breed true and are perfectly fertile, have been created within recent times from distinct wild species. The Esquimaux dog is so like the Arctic wolf that there can be little doubt he is either a direct descendant, or that both are descendants from a common stock. The same is true of the jackal and some breeds of dogs in the East and Africa, and other races of dogs are closely akin to foxes. But all dogs breed freely together,- and can with difficulty be mated with the wild species which they so closely resemble. The modem Swiss cattle are pronounced by Rutimeyer to show undoubted marks of descent from three distinct species of fossil oxen, the Bos primigenius, .Bos longifrons, and JBos frontosus. There is now in the Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park a hybrid cow, whose sire was an American bison and its mother a hybrid between a zebu and a gayal. This animal is perfectly fertile, and has bred again to the bison; but what is singular is, that this hybrid resembles much more an ordinary domestic English cow than it does any of its progenitors. It is totally unlike the bison, both in appear- ance and disposition, and, except in having a projecting ridge over the withers, it might be mistaken for a coarse, bony, common cow. If a hybrid bull had been born of the same type, and mated with this hybrid cow, there is little doubt that a new race might have been established, extremely different from its ancestors. In fact, nearly all the domesticated animals have the essential characters of new races. We cannot point to wild progenitors existing in any part of the world from which they are descended, and when they run wild they do not revert to any common ancestral form. In the vegetable world instances of fertile hybrids are still more abundant, and the introduction and establishment of new varieties is a matter of every-day occurrence. Now, whatever artificial selection can do in a short time, natural selection can certainly do in a longer time, and nothing short of abs9lute proof of the impossibility of species coming into existence by natural laws should induce us to fall back on the supernatural theory, with all its enormous difficulties of an innumerable multitude of special creations, most of them obviously imperfect and tentative or rather, useless and senseless on any supposition except that of a necessary and progressive evolution. In fact, if it were not for its bearing on the nature and origin of man, few would be found to maintain the theory of miraculous creations, or to doubt that the world of life is regulated by fixed laws as well as the world of matter. But whatever touches man touches us closely, and brings into play a host of cherished aspirations and beliefs, which are too powerful to be displaced readily by calm, scientific reasoning. Shall man, who, we are told, was created in God's image and only " a little lower than the angels," be degraded into relationship with the brutes, and shown to be only the last development of an animal type which, in the case of apes and monkeys, approaches singularly near to him in physical structure"? Are the ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 57 saints and heroes whom we revere, and the beautiful women whom we admire, descended, not from an all-glorious Adam and all-lovely Eve, as portrayed in Milton's "Paradise Lost," but from Palaeolithic savages, more rude and bestial than the lowest tribe of Bushmen or Australians? Is the account of man's creation and fall in the Hebrew Scriptures as pure a myth as that of Noah's ark, or of Deucalion and Pyrrha? The only answer to these questions is that truth is truth, and fact is fact, and that it is always better to act and to believe in con- formity with truth and fact, than to indulge in illusions. There are many things in Nature which jar on our feelings and seem harsh and disagreeable, but yet are hard facts, which we have to recognize and make the best of. Childhood does not pass into manhood without exchanging much that is innocent and attractive for much that is stern and prosaic. Death, with its prodigal waste of immature life, its sudden extinction of mature life in the plenitude of its powers, its heart-rending separations from loved objects, is a most disagreeable fact. But it would not improve matters to keep grown-up lads in nurseries for fear of their meeting with accidents, or becoming hard- ened by contact with the world. Progress, not happiness, is the law of the world; and to improve himself and others by constant struggles upwards is the true destiny of man. In working out this destiny the fearless recognition of truth is essential. Facts are the spokes of the ladder by which we climb from earth to heaven, and any individual, nation, or religion, which, from laziness or prejudice, refuses to recognize fresh facts, has ceased to climb and will end by falling asleep and dropping to a lower level. " Prove everything, hold fast that which is true," is the maxim which has raised mankind from savagery to civilization, and which we must be prepared to act upon at all hazards and at all sacrifices, if we wish to retain that civilization unimpaired and to extend it further. CHAPTER V. ANTIQUITY OF MAN. REAT as the effect has been of the wonderful discoveries of modern science of which I have attempted to give a general view in the preceding chapters, there remains one which has had the greatest effect of all in changing the whole current of moden thought, viz , the discovery of the enormous antiquity of man upon earth, and his slow progress upwards from the rudest savagery to intelligence, morality, and civilization. It is needless to point out in what flagrant and direct opposition this stands to the theory that man is of recent miraculous creation, and that he was originally endowed with a glori- ous nature and high faculties, which were partially forfeited by an act of disobedience. It is important, therefore, to understand clearly the evidence upon which a conclusion rests, so startling and unex- pected as that which traces the origin of man back into the remote periods of geological time. It had been long known that a stone period preceded the use of metals. Flint arrow-heads, stone axes, knives, and chisels, rude 58 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. pottery, and other human remains lie scattered almost everywhere, on or near the existing- surface, and are found in the sepulchral mounds and monuments which abound in all countries until they are destroyed by the progress of agriculture. These are certainly ancient, for their origin was so completely forgotten that the stone hatchets or celts (from the Latin celtis, or chisel) were universally believed to be thunderbolts which had fallen from heaven. But there was no proof that they were very ancient, they were always found at or near the present surface, and if animal remains were associated with them, they were those of the dog, ox, sheep, red deer, and other wild and domestic species now found in the same district. Historical record was not supposed to extend beyond the 4,000 or 5,000 years assigned to it by Bible chronology, and it was thought that this might be sufficient to account for all the changes which had occurred since man first became an inhabitant of the earth. Above all, the negative evidence was relied on, that geologists had explored far and wide, and although, they had found fossil remains which enabled them to restore the characteristic fauna of so many different formations, they had found no trace of man or his works anywhere below the present surface. This seemed so conclusive that Cuvier, the greatest authority of the day, pronounced an emphatic verdict that man had not existed contem- poraneously with any of the extinct animals, and probably not for more than 5,000 or 6,000 years. Here, then, appeared to be an edifice based on scientific fact, in which geologists and theologians could dwell together comfortably, and the weight of their united authority was sufficient t silence all objections, and ignore or explain away the instances which occasionally cropped up, of human remains found in situations implying greater antiquity. Suddenly, I may almost say in a single day, this edifice collapsed like a house of cards, and the fact became apparent that the duration of human life on the earth must be measured by periods of tens, if not of hundreds of thousands of years. It happened thus: A retired French physician, Monsieur Boucher de Perthes, residing at Abbeville, in the valley of the Somme, had a hobby for antiquarianism as decided as that of Monkbarns himself. Abbeville afforded him a capital collecting-ground for the indulgence of his tastes, as the sluggish Somme flows through a series of peat mosses, which are extensively worked for fuel, and afford many remains of the Gallo-Roman and pre-Roman or Celtic period. Higher up, on the slopes of the low hills which bound the wide valley, are numerous beds of gravel, sand, and brick-earth, which are also extensively worked for road and building materials. In these pits remains of the mam- moth, rhinoceros, and other extinct animals are frequently found, and the workmen had noticed occasionally certain curiously-shaped flints, to which they gave the name of "langues du chat," or cats' tongues. Some of these were taken to Monsieur Boucher de Perthes as curiosi- ties for his museum, and he at once recognized them as showing marks of human workmanship. This put him on the trace, and in the year 1841 he himself discovered, in situ, in a seam of sand containing remains of the mammoth, a flint rudely but unmistakably fashioned by human hands into a cutting instrument. During the next few years a large quantity of gravel was removed to form the Champ de Mars at Abbe- ville, and many of these celts or hatchets were found. In 1847, M. Boucher de Perthes published his "Antiquites Celtiques et Antedilu- ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 59 viennes," giving 1 an account of these discoveries,but no one would listen to him. The united authority of theologians and geologists opposed an infallible veto on the reception of such ideas, and it must be admitted that M. Boucher de Perthes himself did his best to discredit his own discoveries by associating them with visionary speculations about suc- cessive deluges and creations of pre-Adamite men. At length Dr Falconer, the well-known palaeontologist, who had brought to light so many wonderful fossil remains 'from the Sewalik hills in India, happened to be passing through Abbeville and visited M. Boucher de Perthes' collection. He was so much struck by what he saw that on arriving in. London he spoke to Mr. Prestwich, the first living authority on the tertiary and quaternary strata, and Mr. Evans, whose authority was ft k *m^' w If fie \^J''W.m FLINT HACHE, FLINT HACHE, From Moulin Quignon, Abbeville. From St. Acheul, Valley of the Somme.. (Half the actual size. ) (Half the actual size.) (From Lubbock's " Prehistoric Times.") equally great on everything relating to the stone implements found in. such numbers in the more recent or Neolithic period. He urged them, to go to Abbeville and examine for themselves whether there was any- thing in these- alleged discoveries. They did so, and the result was that on their return to England Mr. Prestwich read a paper to the Royal Society on the 19th May, 1859, which conclusively and forever estab- lished the fact that flint implement's of unmistakable human workman- ship had been found, associated with the remains of extinct species, in beds of the Quaternary period deposited at a time when the Somme ran at a level more than 100 feet higher than at present, and was only- beginning to excavate its valley. 60 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT, The spell once broken evidence poured in from all quarters, and although twenty-five years only have elapsed since Mr. Prestwich's paper was read, the number of stone and other implements worked by man, deposited in museums, is already counted by tens of thousands, and they have been found from Dev- onshire to India, in Trance, England, Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece, Northern Africa, Palestine, and Hindostan, and in fact wherever they have been looked for, except in northern countries which were buried under ice during the Glacial period. Some idea of the immense number of these rude implements may be formed from the fact that the valley system of one small river, the Little Ouse, which rises near Thetford and flows into the Wash after a course of twenty-five miles, has within little more than ten years yielded about 7,000 specimens. They have been found in great abundance in the valley gravels of the Thames, Ouse, Wiltshire Avon, and in fact in all the river gravels and 'brick- earths of the south and south-east of England; and in those of the Somme, Oise, Seine, Loire, and all the principal river systems of France; and in less numbers, probably because they have been less looked for, in similar situations over an area extending from Central and Southern Europe to Madras and China. It is a remarkable fact about these river-drift implements that they are all nearly of the same type and found (From Lubbock's" Prehistoric Times.") under similar circumstances, that is to say, in the gravels, sands, brick-earths, and fine silt or loess deposited by fivers which have either ceased to run, or which ran at levels higher than their present ones and were only beginning to excavate their present valleys. Also they are always found in association with remains of what is known as the quaternary, as distinguished from the recent or existing fauna, and which is characterized by the mam- moth, the thick-nosed rhinoceros, and other well-known types of extinct animals. 'J?he general character of these implements is very rude, implying a social condition at least as low as that of the Australian savages of the present day. They consist mainly of the flake; the chopper or pebble, roughly chipped to an edge on one side; the scraper, used probably for preparing skins; pointed flints used for boring, and by far the most abundant and characteristic of all, the hdche or celt, a sharp or oval implement, roughly chipped from flint or, in its absence, from any of the hard stones of the district, such as chert or quartzite, and intended to be held in the hand and used "without any haft or handle. These hdches are evidently the first rude type of human tools, FLINT PACHE. From HOXDG, Suffolk. (Half the actual size.) ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 61 from which the later forms of the axe, adze, chisel, wedge, etc., have been derived by a very slow and lengthened process of evolution. They differ, however, in many essential respects, from the more perfect stone celts of later periods and of modern savages. The chipping is very rude, they are never ground or polished, the pointed end is that intended for use, the butt-end being left blunt, showing that the hdche was not haf ted but held in the hand; while the converse is always the case with the finely- chipped or polished stone celts and hatchets of the Neolithic period, which, in its later stages, are to all intents and purposes similar to modern implements, only made of stone instead of metal. But these Palaeolithic hdches are only one step in advance of the rude natural stone which an intelli- gent orang or chimpanzee might pick up to crack a cocoa-nut with, or to grub up a root from the earth, or an insect from a rotten tree. At the same time there is not the remotest doubt as to their being the work of human hands. "When placed side by side with the rudest forms of stone hatchets actually used by the Australian _ -, ,-, ... T/Y. 11 L -i L L j-c POLISHED STONE AXE. and other savages, it is difficult to detect any diner- Neolithic. ence. If placed in an ascending series, from the (Half the actual* size.) oldest and rudest, to the finely-finished axes and (From Lubbock'a arrow-heads of the period immediately preceding "^historic Times.") the use of metal, the progress may be clearly traced by insensible gradations. The blows given to bring the block to the desired shape FLINT ADZE, From Danish Kitchen-middens. (From Lubbock's " Prehistoric Times.") MODEBN STONE ADZE, New Zealand. by intentional chipping have left distinct marks; and archaeologists have succeeded, with a little practice, in fashioning similar implements from modern flints. In fact, forgeries nave been made by workmen in localities where collectors were eager and credulous, though for- DEVELOPMENT OF THE LANCE. PALAEOLITHIC. Mammoth Period. PALAEOLITHIC. Mammotb Period.. PALAEOLITHIC, Period, PALEOLITHIC. Reindeer Period., EARLY N EOLITHIC. LATTC (From Lubbock's " Prehistoric T naes." ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 63 innately such forgeries are easily distinguished from genuine antiques "by the different appearance of the old and recent fractures, and other signs which make it almost impossible to deceive an experienced eye. The conclusion, therefore, of one of our best archaeologists may be safely accepted, that it is as impossible to doubt that these rude stone flakes and hatchets are works of human art, as it would be if we had found clasp-knives and carpenters' adzes. The remains of human skeletons are, as might be expected, very rare in these river drifts, which have been formed under conditions where the preservation of such remains would be very unlikely. In fact, as Sir John Lubbock points out, the bones found in the river gravels are almost invariably those of animals larger than man, such as the mammoth and rhinoceros. Still a few human bones have been found, sufficient to show that these river-drift men were probably a dolichocephalic or long and narrow-headed race, with prominent jaws, massive bones, and great muscular strength, but still, although rude and savage, of an essentially human type, and going a very little way towards bridging over the gap between the savage and the ape. A more complete view, however, of the conditions of human life at these remote periods is afforded by the evidence given by caves, where naturally the remains of man are much more abundant and much better preserved. Before entering, however, on the examination of this class of evidence, it may be well to give an instance which may help to familiarize the imagination with the vast periods of time which must have elapsed since Palaeolithic man left these rude implements within reach of river floods. Among the gravels in which Palaeolithic hdches have been found, are some which cap the cliff at Bournemouth at a height of about 130 feet above the sea. This gravel can be traced in a gradual fall from west to east, along the Hampshire coast and the shores of the Solent to beyond Spithead, and was evidently deposited by a river which carried the drainage of the Dorsetshire and Hampshire downs into the sea to the eastward, and of which the present Avon, Test, and Itchen were tributaries. But for such a river to run in such a course the whole of Poole and Christ-church bays must have been dry land, and the range of chalk downs now broken through at the Needles must have been continuous. To borrow the words Evans in the " Ancient Stone Implements," " Who, standing on the edge of the lofty cliff at Bournemouth, and gazing over the wide expanse of waters between the present shore and a line connecting the Needles on the one hand and the Ballard Down Foreland on the other, can fully comprehend how immensely remote was the epoch when what is now that vast bay was high and dry land, and a long range of chalk downs, 600 feet above the sea, bounded the horizon on the south? And yet this must have Leen the sight that met the eyes of those primeval men who frequented the banks of that ancient river which buried their handiworks in gravels that now cap the cliffs, and of the course of which so strange but indubitable a memorial subsists in what has now become the Solent Sea." Any attempt to assign a more precise date than the vague one of immense antiquity to these early traces of primeval man, had better be postponed until we have examined the more detailed and extensive body of evidence which has been afforded by the exploration of caves, to which the great discovery at Abbeville at once gave an immense 64 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. impulse, and which has since been prosecuted in England, France, Belguim, and Germany, with the greatest ardor and success. The caves in which fossil remains are found occur principally in limestone districts. They are due to the property which water possesses, when charged with a small quantity of carbonic acid, of dissolving lime. Rain falling on the earth's surface takes up carbonic acid from contract with vegetable matter, and a portion of it finds its way through cracks and crevices in the subjacent rock to lower levels, where it comes out in springs of hard water charged with carbonate of lime from the rock which it has dissolved. It has been calculated that the average rainfall on a square mile of chalk thus carries away about 140 tons of solid matter in a year. In this way underground channels are formed, some of which become large enough to admit of streams flowing through them, and even livers, as is seen in the limestone district of Carinthia, where considerable rivers are swallowed up and run for miles beneath the surface. In this way caverns are formed, or sometimes a series of caverns, which represent the pools of the rivers which formerly flowed through them. Accumulations were formed at the bottom of these pools of whatever may have been brought down by the stream, and when, owing to changes in level or denuda- tion of the gathering grounds, the rivers ceased to flow in the old chan- nel, these pools became dry and were converted into caves, in which wild beasts and man found shelter and left their remains. The debris thus formed accumulated with a mixture of blocks which fell from the roof, and of red loamy earth consisting of the residue of the limestone rock insoluble in water, and of dust and mud brought in by winds and floods, and occasionally interstratified by beds of stalagmite, composed of thin films of crystalline carbonate of lime, deposited drop by drop by drippings through the rock forming the roof of the cave. These drip- pings form what are called stalactites, which hang like pendent icicles from the roof of caves, and as the drip falls from these it forms a cor- responding deposit, known as stalagmite, on the floor below. The formation of this deposit is necessarily extremely slow, and it only goes on when the drops of water charged with a minute excess of carbonate of lime come in contact with the air; so that whenever the floor of the cave was under water no stalagmite could be formed. The alternations, therefore, of deposits of stalagmite represent alternations of long- periods during which the cave was generally dry or generally flooded. During the dry periods, when the cave happened to be inhabited, the treadings on the floor would prevent the accumulation of an unbroken deposit of pure stalagmite, and the crystalline matter would be employed in forming a solid cement of the various debris into what is known a a breccia. Another class of caves, or rock-shelters, has been formed along the sides of valleys bounded by cliffs, where the stratification is horizontal or nearly so; but the different beds vary much in hardness and per- meability to water. The softer strata weather away more rapidly than the others, and thus form shallow caves or deep recesses in the face of the cliffs, with a floor of hard rock below and a roof of hard rock above, which afford dry and commodious shelters for any sort of animal, includ- ing man. In other respects they resemble the first class of caves in having their contents cemented into a breccia by the dripping of water charged with carbonate of lime from the roof, and, if the cave hap- pened to be deserted for a long period, this deposit would in the same ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 65 way form a bed of stalagmite and seal up securely everything below it. In some cases, also, the roof would fall in, and thus preserve every- thing previously existing in the cave for the investigation of future geologists. With these general remarks readers will be able to understand the evidence afforded by the remains of man found in caverns. I will begin by taking as a typical case that of Kent's Cavern, near Torquay, because it is one of the earliest and best known, and all the facts concerning it have been verified by explorations carefully conducted by a committee appointed by the British Association in 1864, arid which comprised the names of the most eminent authorities in geology and palaeontology, including those of Sir Charles Lyell, Sir John Lubbock, Mr. Evans, Mr. Boyd Dawkins, Mr. Pengelley, and others. The cave is about a mile east from Torquay harbor, and runs into a hill of Devonian limestone in a winding course, expanding into large chambers connected by narrow passages. The fallowing is the series of deposits in descending order in the large chamber near the entrance: 1. Large blocks of limestone which have fallen from the roof. 2. A layer of black, muddy mould, three inches to twelve inches thick. 3. Stalagmite one foot to three feet thick. 4. Eed cave-earth with angular fragments of limestone of variable thickness, 1 but in places five to six feet thick. In the black earth above the stalagmite were found a number of relics of the Neolithic or polished stone period, with a few articles of bronze and pottery, some of which appear to be of a date as late as that of the Roman occupation of Britain. Associated with these are bones of ox, sheep, goat, pig, and other ordinary forms of existing species, and there is an entire absence of any older fauna, or of any of the ruder forms of Palaeolithic implements. When we get below the stalagmite into the underlying cave-earth, the case is entirely reversed. Not a single specimen of polished or finely- wrought stone, or of pottery, is to be found; a vast number of celts or hdches, scrapers, knives, hammer stones, and other stone implements, are met with, which are all of the rude Palaeolithic type found in the river drifts, with a few bone implements such as harpoon-heads, a pin, an awl, and a needle, like those frequently met with in the caves of France and Belgium. Associated with these are a vast number of bones and teeth, all of which belong to the old quaternary fauna, of which many species have become extinct and others have migrated to distant latitudes. The following is a list of the mammalian remains which have been found in this cave-earth below the stalagmite: ABUNDANT. The Cave Lion, a large extinct species of lion. Cave Hyaena, hyaena. Cave Bear, bear. Grizzly Bear. Mammoth (Elephas primigenius). Rhinoceros (Tichorinus), woolly or thick-nosed extinct species. Horse. Bison. Irish Elk. 66 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. Red Deer. Reindeer. SCARCE. Wolf. Fox. Glutton. Brown Bear. Urus. Hare. Lagomnys, tailless Arctic hare. Water Vole. Field Vole. Bank Vole. Beaver. And one specimen of the Machairodus, or Great Sabre-toothed Tiger, which is one of the characteristic species of the upper Miocene and Pliocene formations. These constitute a fauna which is characteristic of the Pleistocene, Quaternary, or Palaeolithic period, and essentially different from that of the prehistoric or Neolithic period, which is practically the same as that now existing. Wherever remains of the mammoth, woolly rhi- noceros, and cave bear are found, Palaeolithic implements may be expected, and conversely. In fact Palaeolithic man is as essentially part of the characteristic fauna of the Quaternary period, as the Palaeotherium is of the Eocene, or the Deinotherium and Hipparion of the Miocene. A large number of other caves have been explored in England, notably the Victoria Cave near Settle in Yorkshire, the Gower Caves in South Wales, the Brixham Cave in Devonshire, the Woking Cave in Somersetshire, and King Arthur's Cave in Herefordshire, and the results have been everywhere practically the same as those at Kent's Cavern. The same class of implements have been found and the same fauna, with the occasional addition of a few species, among which the hippopotamus is the most remarkable. Everywhere there is the same entire break between the Neolithic and the Palaeolithic deposits, and the same evidence of great antiquity for the latter. It would appear as if in the British area some great geological change, such as submergence beneath the sea or invasion of trie ice, had exterminated or driven away Palaeolithic man, along with the mammoth, rhinoceros, cave bear, and other extinct animals of the Palaeolithic fauna, and after a long lapse of time the area had again become habitable and been occupied by a newer race and by the recent fauna. The same remark applies to the river drifts, which not in England only, but everywhere, appear to belong to a distinct period, vastly more ancient than any of the recent deposits in which Neolithic remains are found. So far, therefore, as the river drifts and British caves are concerned, all that we could say of the Palseolithic period is that it is of vast antiquity, and must have lasted for an immense time, as it was in force for the whole time requisite for rivers like the Somme or Avon, which drain small areas, to cut down their present valleys, often two or three miles wide, from the level of their upper gravels, which are in many places 100 to 150 feet above the level of the highest floods of the present rivers. But the caves of France and Belgium supply us with more evidence, and enable us to trace the history of long periods of Palaeolithic time, and study in detail the succession of changes that have occurred, and ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 67 ihe habits, arts, and industries of the various tribes of primitive men Avho occupied these caves and rock-shelters at these remote periods. In fact, it may be said with truth that we know more about the men who chased the mammoth and reindeer in the South of France perhaps 50,000 years ago, than we do about those who lived there immediately before the classical era, or less than 5,000 years ago. In certain provinces of France and Belgium it happens fortunately that there are extensive districts of limestone, in which caverns and rock-shelters are extremely abundant and full of Palaeolithic remains in an excellent state of preservation. The abundance of such caves may be estimated from the fact that the cliffs, bounding one small river, the Vezere, in the department of Dordogne in the South of France, contain in a distance of eight or ten miles no fewer than nine different stations, each of which has given a vast variety of remains embedded in the breccias and cave-earths of their respective floors; and the small river Lesse in Belgium has been scarcely less prolific. Of the abun- dance of the human and animal remains found in such caverns it may be sufficient to say that one alone, that of Chaleux in the valley of the Lesse, is computed by Dumont to have yielded not less than 40,000 distinct objects. The great abundance of remains thus collected, both of human bones and implements, and of animals contemporaneous with them, have made it possible to classify and arrange, in relative order of time, a good many of the subdivisions of the Palaeolithic period. This has been done partly by the order of superposition and partly by the greater or less rudeness of the implements of stone and bone, and by the greater or less abundance of those animals of the quaternary fauna which appeared first and disappeared soonest. The result has been to show that the period when vast herds of reindeer roamed over the plains of Southern France up to the Pyrenees was not the earliest, but was preceded by a long period when the reindeer was scarce, and the remains of the mammoth, cave bear, and cave hyaena were more abun- dant than in the following ages. The implements of this period are of the earlier river-drift type and extremely rude, and there is an almost entire absence of instruments of bone. Gradually as we pass upwards the more Southern forms of ele- phant, rhinoceros, antelopes, and great carnivora disappear, and the mammoth and cave bear become scarcer, while the reindeer becomes more and more abundant until at length it furnishes the chief source of food, and its horns one of the principal materials for the manu- facture of implements. Concurrently with this change we find a progressive improvement in the arts of life, as shown by stone imple- ments more carefully chipped into a greater variety of forms, and arrow and lance-heads, barbed harpoons, awls, and needles for sewing skins, made chiefly from the antlers of the reindeer. At length we arrive at one of the most interesting facts disclosed by these researches, that during one of the later or reindeer periods of the Palaeolithic era, many of the caves in the South of France, and also in Switzerland and Southern Germany, were occupied by a race who, like the' Esquimaux of the present day, had a strong artistic tendency, and were constantly drawing with the point of a flint on stone or bone, or modeling with flint knives from horns and bones, sketches of the animals they hunted, scenes of the chase, or other objects which struck their fancy. These are exceedingly well done, PORTRAIT OF MAMMOTH. Drawn with a flint on a piece of Mammoth's ivory j from Cave of La Madeleine* Dordogne, France. EARLIEST PORTRAIT OF A MAN, WITH SERPENT AND HORSES' HEADS. From Grotto of Les Eyzies. Reindeer Period. KEINDEER FEEDING.. From Grotto of Thayngen, near Scbaffhausen, Switzerland. ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 69 ;so that there is no difficulty in recognizing the animals intended to be represented, among which are the mammoth, cave bear, reindeer, wild horse, and wild ox. The sketch of the mammoth which is engraved on a piece of ivory, from the cave of La Madeleine in the valley of the Vezere, is particularly interesting, as it corresponds exactly with the mammoth whose body was found entire in frozen mud on the banks of a river in Siberia, and it sets at rest all possible question of man having been really contemporary with this extinct animal in the South of France. The drawings and carvings of other animals, especially of the reindeer, are often extremely spirited, and one especially of a reindeer engraved on a bit of bone from a cave at Thayngen, near Schaffhausen in Switzerland, would do credit to any modern animal painter. A very few human figures are found among these primeval drawings, but strangely, while the animals are so well drawn, those of men are very inferior and almost infantine in execution. They are sufficient, how- ever, to show that the savage of Perigord pursued the formidable aurochs, naked, armed with a lance or javelin, bearded on the chin but not on the rest of the face, and wearing his hair in a tuft on the top of the head. We do not, however, depend on these drawings for evidence of the ort of -men who inhabited these caves in Palaeolithic days. A large '>'-:.. ; . - . v \v? --' . v ^''^?'3.4tty, ..-"'. :-" -^i^tiv ; " ' -" -^ t ;A"*^ ;r^^ :r MENTONE SKELETON. Palaeolithic. Reindeer Period. number of skulls and complete skeletons have been found in different caves, some of which have served as sepulchral vaults for families and tribes, while in others individuals have been crushed by falls of rock, or otherwise interred, and in a few cases skulls and bones have been found at great depths in river drifts, and in the loess, or fine glacial mud which fills up the valley of the Khine and other areas over which the great Swiss glaciers when melting poured their turbid streams. The most celebrated of these are: The Neanderthal and Canstadt skulls, which are considered to belong to the oldest type, having been found in the lowest strata, "which contain the rudest implements and the most archaic fauna. Of 70 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. these the Neanderthal skull has attracted much attention from its singularly brutal appearance, having a very low and receding forehead, and a massive bony ridge over the eyes resembling that of the gorilla. But the brain is of fair capacity, and occasional skulls of a similar type occur at the present day, so that we are not warranted in saying that we have discovered the "missing link" between man and ape, especially as the Engis and other skulls of this period present less, exceptional features. All we can safely say is that the oldest type of man known to us seems to have been characterized by long and narrow heads, prominent eyebrows, medium stature, and great thick- ness of bones and prominence of ridges denoting great muscular strength. The discovery of a sepulchral chamber at Cro-Magnon in the valley of the Vezere, with several entire skeletons, gave evidence of another type which has been found elsewhere in caves of the same age, viz., newer than the earliest mammoth and cave bear age to which the old- est skulls are referred, but older than the subsequent reindeer age, and still characterized by great rudeness of implements. This is a remark- able type, for these savages were really a fine race of men, tall in stature and with well-developed brain. They are long-headed, but not more so than is often found in the best modern European skulls, and the aver- age capacity of the skull exceeded that of most modern races, while their average height was not less than 5 ft. 10 in. for the men, and 5 ft. 6 in. for the women. Another totally different race appears in caves of the same period or a little later, which is known as the Furfooz race, from a sepulchral cave in Belgium where a number of skeletons were discovered, but which appears to have been widely spread throughout Europe towards the middle of the Palaeolithic period. The type of this race is almost exactly that of the" modern Lapp, short in stature, averaging not above 5 ft., though strong and muscular, and with small round heads and high cheek bones. From this time forward, long and short-headed races, and intermediate types resulting probably from their intermix- ture, seem to have existed pretty much as they do at the present day, and the important conclusion to be drawn is, that even as far back as the early Glacial period, man had already existed long enough to develop different races, and in sufficient numbers to scatter wandering tribes of savage hunters widely over the earth and up to the verge of glaciers and the utmost confines of inhospitable regions. In trying to fix anything like definite dates for man's existence upon earth, we must reverse the process by which we have proved the enormous antiquity of his earliest remains, and ascend step by step from the known to the unknown. The first step is that supplied by history. Authentic Egyptian history begins with Menes, the first king who united the different provinces of Egypt into one empire. The date of this event has been fixed by the best authorities, who have devoted their lives to the study of Egyptian texts and monu- ments, at about 5,000 years B.C., or say 7,000 years before the present- time. Boeck makes it B.C., 5702, linger 5618, Mariette 5004, Brugsch 4455, Lauth 4157, Lepsius, 3892, and Bunsen 3623. It will be observed that the tendency of all the more recent investigations is to lengthen the da-te, and that of Mariette may be safely assumed as the minimum limit of time for the foundation of the Egyptian monarchy. ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 71 Now this date shows no trace of approach to a primitive anci uncivilized state of things. On the contrary, Menes is related to have carried out a great engineering work by which the Nile was embanked, its course changed, and the new capitol city of Memphis built on the site reclaimed. His next successor, Tet, is credited with having written learned treatises on medicine and anatomy, and the earliest pyramid, that of Sakkara, was probably built by a king who ascended the throne only eighty-eight years after the death of Menes. The annals and monuments of Chaldsea and China take us back to about 2,500 years B.C., or say for 4,500 years from the present time, and tell the same tale as those of Egypt of dense population and a high degree of civilization already established. In fact, it is evident that the great alluvial valleys of rivers such as the Nile and Euphrates have been inhabited for a number of centuries by a population who had emerged from the hunter and pastoral stage into that of agricul- ture, and had increased and multiplied until great cities were built and mighty monarchies founded, and who were in possession of most of the arts of civilized life. The Egyptian date which carries us back about 7,000 years is, however, by far the earliest upon which we can rely as an authentic record, and any glimmerings ol history beyond this are obviously mythical. Here, then, we take leave of history, and must explore our way upwards by the aid of archaeology and geology. The earliest historical civilizations were all acquainted with metals, chiefly in the form of bronze, which is an alloy of copper and tin, very hard, easily cast, and well adapted for every description of tool and weapon. Indeed, it has only been superseded by iron within recent historical times. But the Bronze Age was preceded by a long Neolithic period, when stone, finely wrought and often ground or polished, was used for the purposes to which metal was afterwards applied. The men of this Neolithic period were compara- tively civilized; they had all the common domestic animals, the dog, horse, ox, sheep, goat, and pig; also some of the cultivated grains, as wheat and barley; they wore clothing and lived in villages. Accord- ing to all appearance they were the first wave of the great migrations into Europe from Asia, and either occupied regions left empty by the last vicissitudes of the Glacial period, or conquered, and partly exter- minated and partly intermixed with, the ruder savages of the Palaeo- lithic period. Some think the Iberian or Basque people may be a remnant of this Neolithic race, who were driven westward by the later wave of Celtic migration just as the Celts were by the still later waves of Teutonic and Slavonic immigrants. Be this as it may, it is certain that a Neolithic people were spread very widely over the globe, as their remains of very similar character are found almost everywhere in Europe, Asia, and America, and always in association^ with the existing or most recent fauna and configuration of the earth's surface. The difficulty in assigning any precise date for these remains arises very much from the fact that the" Neolithic passed into the Bronze or historical civilization,, at different times in different countries. The Australians, the Polynesians, and the Esquimaux were or are still in the Stone period, while steam-engines are spinning cotton at Man- chester, and the most famous cities of Egypt and the East have been for centuries buried under shapeless mounds of their own ruins. It is probable that all Europe remained in the Neolithic stage for 72 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERX THOUGHT. many centuries after the historical date of the commencement of the Egyptian empire. Still there are some remains which may enable us to form an approximate conjecture of the time during which this Neolithic period may have lasted. The two principal clues are furnished: 1. By the Danish mosses and kitchen-middens. 2. By the Swiss lake-dwellings. In Denmark there are a number of peat mosses varying in depth from ten to thirty feet, which have been formed by the filling up of small lakes or ponds in hollows of the Glacial drift. Around the borders of these mosses, and at various depths in them, lie trunks of trees which have grown on their margin. At the present surface are found beech- trees, which are no\v, and have been throughout the whole historical period of 2,000 years, the prevalent form of forest vegetation in Denmark. Lower down is found a zone of oaks, a tree which is now rare and almost superseded by the beech. And still lower, towards the bottom of the mosses, the fallen trees are almost entirely Scotch firs, which have been long unknown in Denmark and when introduced will not thrive there. It is evident, therefore, that there have been three changes of climate, causing three entire changes in the forest vegetation of Denmark, since these mosses began to be formed. The latest has lasted certainly for 2,000 years and we cannot tell how much longer, so that some period of more than 6,000 years must be assumed for the three changes. Now, it is invariably found that remains of the Iron Age are confined to the present or beech era, while bronze is found only in that of oak, and the Age of Stone coincides with that of the Scotch fir. The kitchen-middens afford another memorial of the prehistoric age in Denmark. There are mounds found all along the sheltered sea-coasts of the main-land and islands, consisting chiefly of shells of the oyster, cockle, limpet, and other shell-fish, which have been eaten by the ancient dwellers on these coasts. Mixed up with these are the bones of various land animals, birds, and fish, and flint flakes, axes, worked bones and horns, and other implements, including rude hand- made pottery, The relics are very much the same as those found in the fir zone of the peat mosses, and although old as compared with the Iron or historical age, they do not denote any extreme antiquity. The shells are all of existing species, though the larger size of some of those found on the shores of the Baltic shows that the salt water of the North Sea had then a freer access to it than at present. The bones of animals, birds, and fish are also all of existing species, and no remains of extinct animals, such as the mammoth, or even of reindeer, have been found. By far the most common are the red deer, roe-deer, and wild boar. The dog was known, but appears to have been the only domestic animal. Most of the stone implements are rude, but a few carefully- worked weapons have been foun,d, and a few specimens of polished axes, which, with the presence of pottery and the nature of the fauna, show conclusively that these Danish remains are all of the Neolithic age and subsequent to the close of the Glacial period. Iri fact, similar shell mounds are found in almost all quarters of the globe where savage tribes have lived on the sea-coast, subsisting mainly on shell- fish, and they are probably still being formed on the shores of the ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 73 Greenland and Arctic Seas, and in Australia, and remote islands of the Pacific. Human remains are scarce in these Danish deposits, but numerous skulls and skeletons have been found in tumuli which, from their situ- ation and from stone implements being buried with the dead, may be reasonably inferred to be those of the people of the peat mosses and shell mounds. They denote a short race with small and very round heads, in many respects resembling the present Lapps, but with a more projecting ridge over the eye. On the whole, all we can conclude from these Danish remains is that at some period, not less than 6,000 or 7,000 years ago, when civilization had already been long established in the valley of the Nile, rude races resembling the Lapps or Esquimaux lived on the shores of the Baltic, who, although so much more recent, and acquainted with the domestic dog, pottery, and the art of polishing stone, had not advanced much beyond the condition of the later cave-men of the South of France; and that this race was succeeded by one who brought in the much higher civilization of the Bronze Age. The lake-dwellings of Switzerland give still more detailed and interesting information as to Neolithic times. During a very dry summer in 1854, the Lake of Zurich fell below its usual level and disclosed the remains of ancient piles driven into the mud, from which a number of deer-horns and other implements were dredged up. This led to further researches, and the result has been that a large number of villages built on these piles has been dis- covered in almost all the Swiss lakes, as well as in those of Italy and other countries. On the whole, more than 200 have been discovered in Switzerland, ajnd fresh ones are being constantly brought to light. They range over a long period, a few belonging to the Iron and even to Roman times; while the greater number are almost equally divided between the Age of Bronze and that of Stone. Some of them are of large size, and must have been long inhabited and supported a numerous population, from the immense number of implements found, which at one station alone, that, of Concise on the Lake of Neufchatel, amounted to 25,000. These implements consist mainly of axes, knives, arrow-heads, saws, chisels, hammers, awls, and needles, with a quantity of broken pottery, spindle-whorls, sinkers for nets, and other objects. In the oldest stations, where no trace of metal is found, and the decay of the piles to a lower le^el shows the greatest antiquity, the implements are all of the Neolithic type, and the animal remains associated with, them are all of the recent fauna. There are no mammoths, rhinoceroses, or reindeer; the wild animals are the red deer and roe, the urus, bison, elk, bear, wolf, wild cat, fox, badger, V'ild boar, ibex, and other existing species; and of domestic animals, the dog, pig, horse, goat, sheep, and at least two varieties of oxen. Birds, reptiles, and fish, were all of common existing species. Carbonized ears of wheat and barley have been found, as also pears and apples, and the seeds, stones, and shells of raspberry, blackberry, wild plum, hazel-nut, and beech nut. Twine, and bits of matting made of flax, as well as the occurrence of spindle- whorls, show that the pile-dwellers were acquainted with the art of weaving. On the whole, these pile-villages show that a large population lived in Switzerland for a long time before the dawn of history, who liad already attained a considerable amount of civilization at their 74 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. first appearance, which went on steadily increasing down to the time of the Roman conquest. Various attempts have been made to fix an approximate date for the earliest of these pile-villages, but they have not been very successful. They have been based mainly on the amount of silting up which has taken place in some of the smaller lakes since the piles were driven in, as compared with that which has occurred sinco the Eoman period. The best calculations appear to show that 6,000 or 7,000 years ago Switzerland was already inhabited by men who used polished stone implements, but how long they had been there we had no distinct evidence to show. Perhaps 10,000 years may be taken as the outside limit of time that can be allowed for the Neolithic period in Switzerland, Denmark, or any known part of Europe. In Egypt, however, there is evidence of a much greater antiquity. Fragments of pottery, which was entirely unknown in the Palaeolithic age, have been brought up by borings in the Nile Valley from depths w r hich, at the average rate of accumulation there during the last 3,000 years of three inches and a half in a century, would denote an age of from 13,000 to 18,000 years. Looking at the dense population and high civilization of Egypt at the commencement of history, 7,000 years ago, it is highly probable that this time at least must have elapsed since the country was first occupied by a settled agricultural population as far advanced in the arts of life as the lake-dwellers of Switzerland. Any calculation, however, of Neolithic time takes us back a very short step in the history of the human race. The Palaeolithic period must evidently have been of vastly longer duration. Any attempt to estimate this must depend entirely on geological considerations. Palaeolithic man is part of the Quaternary fauna, which came in with the commencement and continued down to the close of the great Glacial period. In carrying our researches further back, the possibility of assign- ing anything like a definite date for the existence of man depends, therefore, on the question whether it is possible to fix any approximate dates for the commencement and duration of this period. In the first place, how do we know that there has been a Glacial period"? In England we are familiar with water, but not with ice; we there- fore recognize at once the signs of the action of water. If we come across a dry channel, winding in alternating curves between eroded banks, and showing deposits of gravel and silt, we say without hesita- tion, "Here a river formerly ran." But if we had lived in Switzerland, we should recognize with equal certainty the signs of glacial action. Suppose any one visiting Chamouni walks up the valley to the foot of the Mer de Glace, where the Arve issues from the glacier, let us say in autumn, when the front of the glacier has shrunk back some distance, what does he see? Hounded and polished rocks, which seem as if they had been planed by a gigantic plane working downwards over them, and on these a mass of miscellaneous rubbish shot down as if from a dust-cart, consisting of stones of all sizes, some of them boulders as big as a house, scattered irregularly on a mass of clay and sand. When he looks more closely he will see that these stones are not rounded as they would be by running water, but blunted at their angles by a slow grinding action; and in many cases, both the stones ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 75 and the rocks on which they rest are scratched and striated in a direction which is that of the glacier's motion. At the bottom of this rubbish-heap he will find the clay into which the rock has been ground by the full weight of the glacier, very stiff and compact; while if he look down the valley, he will see, on a hot day, a swollen and turbid river issuing from the melting ice and flooding the meadows, on which it will leave a deposit of fine mud. These are effects actually produced by ice; and wherever he sees them he can infer the former presence of glacier, as certainly as when he sees a bed of rounded pebbles he infers the former presence of running water. The planed rocks are com- monly known as roches moutonn'ees from a fancied resemblance of their smooth, rounded hummocks to the backs of a flock of sheep lying down; the rubbish-heaps are called moraines; and the stiff bottom clay with boulders embedded in it is called the grund-moraine, till, or boulder clay; while the blunted and scratched stones are said to be glaciated. These tests, therefore, roches moutonnees , moraines, boulders, and glaciated stones, are infallible proofs that whevever we find them there has been ice-action, either in the form of glaciers, or of icebergs, which are only detached portions of glanciers floated off when the glacier ends in the sea. Now, if our inquirer extends his view, ha will find that these signs, the meaning of which he has learned at the head of the valley of Chamouni, are to be found equally in every valley and over the whole plain of Switzerland, up to a height of more than 3,000 feet on the slope of the opposite Jura range, while on the Italian side the Glacial drift extends far into the plains of Piedmont. Extending our view still more widely, we find that every high mountain range in the Northern hemisphere has had its system of glaciers; and one great mountain mass, that of Scandinavia, has been the nucleus of an enormous ice-cap, radiating to a distance of not less than 1,000 miles, and thick enough to block up with solid ice the North Sea, the German Ocean, the Baltic, and even the Atlantic up to the 100 fathom line. This ice-cap, coalescing with local glaciers from the higher lands of England, Scotland, and Ireland, swept over their surface, regardless of minor inequalities of hill and valley, as far south as to the present Thames Valley, grinding down rocks, scatter- ing drift and boulders, and, in fact, doing the first rough sub-soil ploughing which prepared most of our present arable fields for cultiva- tion. The same ice -sheet spread masses of similar drift over Northern Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and the northern half of European Russia, and left behind it numerous boulders which must have trav- eled all the way from Norway or Lapland. If we cross the Atlantic we find the same thing repeated on a still larger scale in North America. A still more gigantic ice-cap, radiating from the Laurentian ranges, which extend towards the pole from Canada, has glaciated all the minor mountain ranges to the south up to heights sometimes exceeding 3,000 feet, and coales- cing vast glaciers thrown off by the Rocky Mountains from their eastern flanks, has swept over the whole continent, leaving its record in the form of drift and boulders, down to the 40th parallel of latitude. It is difficult to realize the existence of such gigantic glaciers, but the proofs they have left are incontrovertible, and we have only to Jo'ok to Greenland to see similar effects actually in operation. The whole of that vast country, where at former periods of the earth's history,. 76 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. iruit-trees grew and a genial climate prevailed, is now buried deep Tinder one solid ice-cap, from which only a few of the highest peaks protrude, and which discharges its surplus accumulation of winter snow by huge glaciers filling all the fiords and pushing out into the sea with an ice-wall sometimes forty or fifty miles in length, from which icebergs are continually breaking off and floating away. A still more gigantic ice-wall surrounds the Southern Pole, and in a compara- tively low latitute presented an insuperable barrier to the further prog- ress of the ships of Sir J. Ross's expedition. A btill closer examination of the Glacial period shows that it was not one single period of intense cold but a prolonged period, during which there were several alternations, the glaciers having retreated and advanced several times with comparatively mild inter-glacial periods, but finally with a tendency on each successive advance to contract its area, until the ice shrank into the recesses of high moun- tains, where alone we now find it. Another noteworthy point is that during this long Glacial period there were several great oscillations in the level of sea and land. Such was the Glacial period, and to assign its date is to fix the date when we know with certainty that man already existed, and had for some long though unknown time previously been an inhabitant of earth. Is this possible? To answer this question we must begin by considering what are the causes, or combination of causes, which may have given rise to such a Glacial period. When we look at the causes which actually produce existing glaciers, we find that extreme cold alone is not sufficient. In the coldest known region of : the earth, in Eastern Siberia, there are no glaciers, for the land is low and level and the air dry. On the other hand, in New Zealand, in the lat'tude of England and with a mean annual temperature very similar to that of the West of Scotland, enormous glaciers descend to within 700 feefc of the sea-level. The reason is obvious; the Alps of the South Island rise to the height of 11,000 feet above the sea, and the preva- lent westerly winds strike on them laden with moisture from their passage over a wide expanse of ocean. In like manner, in the case of the Swiss Alps, the Himalayas, and other great mountain ranges, high land and moist winds everywhere make glaciers. Given the moist wind, any great depression of temperature, whether arising from elevation of land or other causes, will make it deposit its moisture in the form of snow, and the accumulation of snow on a large surface of elevated land must inevitably relieve itself by pushing down rivers of ice to the point where it melts, just as the rain-fall relieves itself by pouring down rivers to the point where the surplus water finds its level in the sea. When the two conditions of high land and moist winds are combined, low temperature increases their effect, and the snow-fall consolidates into a great ice-cap, from which only the tops of the highest mountains project, and which pushes out gigantic glaciers far over surrounding countries and into adjacent seas. Such is now the one or two days, and spread over the earth from a common centre in Armenia, after having been shut up in pairs for forty days in an ark, during a universal deluge. And finally, that man is not descended from an Adam created quite recently in God's image, and who fell from a high state by an act of disobedience, but from a long series of Palaeolithic ancestors, extending back certainly into the Glacial and probably into the Tertiary period, who have not fallen but progressed, and by a slow and painful process of evolution have gradually developed intelligence, language, arts, and civilization, from the very rudest and most animal-like beginnings. Belief in inspiration, the very key-stone of the system, becomes impossible when it is shown that the accounts given of such important matters* in the writings professing to be inspired are manifestly untrue ; and when the ordinary rules of criticism are brought to bear upon these writings it is at once seen that they are compilations of different ages from various and uncertain sources. The improbability of miracles is enormously increased by the proof of the uniform operation of natural law throughout the vast domains of space, time, matter, and life ; and where the supernatural was formerly considered to be a matter of every-day occurrence, it has vanished step by step, until only the last vestige of it is left in a possible belief in some of the more important and impressive miracles of the Christian dispensation. Even this faint belief is manifestly founded more on reverence for tradition, and love of the religion which the miracles are supposed to support, than on 'n.rv dispassionate view of the evidence on which they rest. Tried by tiio ordinary rules of evidence, it is apparent that it is contradictory and uncertain, and not such as would be sufficient to establish in a court of law any ordi- nary fact, such as the execution of a deed. It is apparent also that the evidence for the most crucial and important of all miracles, that of the Ascension, is not nearly so precise and cogent as that for a num- ber of early Christian and mediaeval miracles which we reject with- out hesitation. What follows? Must we reject these venerable traditions as old wives' fables I I answer, No ; but we must accept them as parables. A great deal of the best teaching of the New Testament is con- CHRISTIANITY WITHOUT MIRACLES. 145 -veyed in the form of parables. Take for instance that of Lazarus and Dives. No one supposes that this is an historical narrative; that this particular Jew, out of the millions of poor and good Jews who have Jived and died, was actually taken up into Abraham's bosom ; and that the remarkable dialogue across the gulf is a literal transcript of an iic.ual conversation. But the moral is taught for all time, that it is l>ad for the rich to indulge in selfish luxury and take no thought of the mass of poverty and misery weltering around them ; and that the con- dition of the poorest of the poor, borne with piety and resignation, may really be better and higher than that of the selfish rich. Apply the same principle to the dogma of the fall and redemption, and we may see in it a parable of the highest meaning. Every one of us must be conscious of having fallen by yielding to temptation and giving way to animal passions. We may have fallen so low that without some redemption, or friendly influence from without, we cannot raise -ourselves from the lower level and regain our lost place. We can see that there are thousands round us, who, from poverty or other adverse circumstances, have got immersed in evil conditions from which it is Lopeles.s to extricate themselves without friendly aid. We can see also that there is nothing more noble and divine than to make sacri- fices in order to be the redeemer who saves as many souls' as possible from this entanglement of evil, and gives them a chance of rising into a happier and better life We may feel.this, and use as an incentive to attempt some humble imitation of it the parable which presents it to us in its highest aspect, and has been the efficient means of stimulating so many good men to do good works. This is surely better than paltering with the truth, and enervating our conscience and intelli- gence by professing to believe in the literal historical accuracy of things which have become incredible to all thinking and educated minds. Of course, I do not mean that these dogmas and miraculous narratives were intended by the original writers to be parables, but only that they have become so to us ; and the alternative lies between rejecting them altogether or accepting them as having an allegorical meaning or latent truth. At any rate, whether we like it or not, this is what we shall have to do, for the conclusions o science are irresistible, and old forms of .faith, however venerable and however endeared by a thousand associa- tions, have no more chance in a collision with science than George Stephenson'scowhad if it stood on the rails and tried to stop the progress of a locomotive. It is not enough to say that a thing is lovely and ami- able, and that its loss will leave a blank, to ensure its continuance. The law of Nature is progress and not happiness. Stars, suns, planets, Jiuman individuals, and human races have their periods of youth, matu- NOTE. Since writing this chapter, I have seen with muc h pleasure an article entitled " Christmas," by Matthew Arnold, in a recent number of the Contem- porary Review, which takes exactly the same view of the allegorical or parabolic sense of miraculous narratives. He takes the instance of the Immaculate Concep- tion and Birth of the Saviour, and shows that it was a myth which grew up, almost inevitably, from the strong impression made on ihe minds of early Christians by the idea of purity set forth by the life and teaching of Jesus, which stood in such striking contrast with the corruption of the heathen world. The same idea led to a similar myth in the case of Gautama, the pure and self-sacrificing founder of the Buddhist religion, and it teaches an eternal truth to all who can look b, low the letter to the spirit of the parable. 146 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. rity and decay, and are continually being transformed into new phases. The old order changes, giving place to new, Aud God fulfills Himself in many ways. Childhood, with its innocence and engaging ways, passes into the sterner and more prosaic attributes of the grown-up man ; fancy decays as reason ripens ; simple faith is replaced by larger knowledge ; and the smooth brow of infancy is often marred by wrinkles of strife and suffering, impressed during the more or less successful struggle in the battle of life; and yet we could not if we would, and would not if we could, arrest the progress of Nature, and say that the child shall never grow into a man. Such also is the fate of creeds. They must be transformed or die ; and the best test of the vitality and intrinsic truth of a religion is just that capacity for transformation against which theologians exclaim as sacrilege. In this respect Christianity has a great advan- tage over other religions. The pious souls who are shocked at any denial of the inspiration of Scripture may console themselves by considering what has been the fate of other religions which have been imprisoned too closely within the limits of a sacred book. Mahomet- anism, the religion of one God and a succession of prophets or great men who have taught his doctrines, is not in theory inconsistent with progress and civilization. But. Mahomet unfortunately wrote a book, the Koran, which, while it contained much that to the Arab mind was sublime and beautiful, was of necessity impregnated with the ideas of the age in which he lived; an age of much ignorance and superstition, of imperfect social arrangements, and of barbarous and ferocious manners. This book came to be accepted as the inspired word of Allah, which it was impious to question, to which nothing could be added, and from which nothing could be taken away. Hence Mahom- etanism has become what we see it a narrow and fanatical creed, incompatible with progress and free thought, and stereotyping insti- stutions, such as polygamy and slavery, which are fatal to any advance towards a higher civilization. From this fate Christianity has been saved by the fortunate circumstance that its sacred books are collec- tions of a variety of writings of different Authors and different ages, reflecting such various and often conflicting phases of thought and belief that of necessity their interpretation was very elastic, and lent itself readily to the changes required by the spirit of successive periods and of different nationalities. Wherever for a time a system of infallibility was enforced, as in Spain by the Inquisition, Christianity became cruel, barbarous, unprogressive, and really very little better than the religion of Islam, to which it closely approximated. Decay of faith, therefore, in dogmatic Christianity is, like other great revolu- tions of thought, a question, not of absolute gain or absolute loss, but of a balance between conflicting advantages and disadvantages. The loss is evident enough, and is set forth with much eloquence and force by the few remaining champions of orthodoxy. The simple, nndoubting faith, which has been for ages the support and consolation of a large portion of mankind, especially of the weak, the humble, and the unlearned, who form an immense majority, cannot disappear with- out a painful wrench, and leaving, for a time, a great blank behind. But, on the other hand, there are a great many real and important- advantages which have to be set on the credit side of the account. CHRISTIANITY WITHOUT MIRACLES. 147 Intolerance is the shadow which dogs the footsteps of faith, ar 1 in many cases more than obscures its benefits. When we consider th:.,' mass of human misery which has been occasioned by religious wars and persecutions; the ruthless extirpation of the Albigenses; the slaughter of the saints whose bones Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold ; the Thirty Years' War, which desolated Germany and threw civilization back for a century ; the civil wars of France ; the Spanish Inquisition ; and a thousand other instances of the baleful effects of religious hatreds, we can almost sympathize with those who pronounce religion an invention of priests for the promotion of evil, and exclaim with the Roman poet: Religio tantum potuit suadere malorum. To this must be added the misery caused by the belief in demon- ology and witchcraft, and the tortures inflicted on innumerable inno- cent victims by prejudices inspired by a literal construction of passages of the Old Testament. Nor is it a small matter to have escaped from the nightmare dreams which must have oppressed so many minds, especially of the young and imaginative, in an age when such a book as Dante's "Inferno 5 ' could be written, and accepted as a gleam of prophetic insight into the horrors of the invisible world. Even in more recent and humane times, intolerance remained as a general mode of thought, inspiring hatred of those whose form of belief differed from that which was generally adopted. It is only within the present generation that true tolerance has come to be established as the law of modern thought, and men have learned to live together and love one another, without reference to intellectual differences of creed and doctrine. Surely this is a great advantage, and we are nearer to the true spirit of Christianity than in the days when a Birmingham mob sacked Priestley's house because he pro- fessed his belief in the saying of Jesus, that " my Father is greater than I." We may read the Athanasian Creed less, but we practice Christian charity more, in the present than in any former age. Another great advantage is that as freer thought has been brought to bear on the mysteries of religion, we have purged off the grosser ideas and arrived at much more enlarged and spiritual con- ceptions. Take, for instance, prayer and sacrifice. In its crude form, sacrifice was a sort of bargain struck with an unseen Power, by which we hoped to obtain some favor which we greatly desired, in exchange for giving up something which we greatly valued. This is the form in which -sacrifice appears in the Old Testament, in Abraham's offer to kill his son Isaac, and in the record of the Moabitish stone, how the king, when besieged in his capital, sacrificed his son, and by so doing obtained the favor of his God and defeated his enemies. In another form, sacrifice was considered as a propitiation to appease the anger of an offended Deity, pictured as a sort of Oriental despot, who must have some one for a victim, and was not particular who it might be ; and even in the Christian dogma the merit of the sacrifice is very closely analogous to that of the Mayor of Calais who went out to King Edward with a halter round his neck, ready to be hanged, so that he might save the lives of his fellow-citizens. Nowadays, no one thinks of sacrifice as anything but the sacrifice 143 MODERX SCIEXCK AXD MODLRX THOUGHT. of lower instincts and passing temptations to a higher ideal, and the voluntary renunciation of selfish ease and pleasure for the good of others. In like manner, the original idea of prayer was that of obtaining a request by flattery or importunity, just as a courtier might do at the court of some earthly king of kings or sultan. It is now spiritualized into the conception that its effect is entirely subjective; that it never really obtains any reversal of the laws of Nature, but that it often exalts the mind to a frame in which things otherwise impossible become possible. A German regiment marches to battle singing Luther's grand old hymn Eiii feste Burg 1st unser Gott. Half the regiment may be freethinkers, but it is nevertheless true that they are more likely to stand firm and win the victory if they chant the hymn, than if they march in silence. Taking all these things into account, there is no reason to despair because the irresistible progress of science has made us Falter where we firmly trod, and ckanged a great deal of what was once fixed and certain faith into vague aspirations and less definite, though larger and more spiritual, conceptions. There is next to no theology in the Christianity of the Synoptic Gospels, which give us by far the nearest and most authentic record of what its N Founder actually taught; and it may be that in sloughing off the mythical legends and metaphysical dogmas which have grown up around it, we shall be, in reality, not banishing the Christian religion from the world, but making it revert to its more simple and spiritual aucestral type, in which form all that is really valuable in its pure and elevated morality may be incorporated more readily with practical life, and assimilated without difficulty with the progressive evolution of modern thought and science. At the same time we must bear in mind that even Christianity in its purest form does not escape from the universal law of polarity, and presents, not the whole truth, but only one very important side of truth. It is the religion of love, purity, gentleness, and charity; important virtues, but not all that constitute the perfection of men or nations. In fact, if carried to the "falsehood of extremes," its very virtues become vices. It would not work in practice, if smitten on one cheek to turn the other ; and any one who attempted to follow literally the precept of " taking no thought for the morrow," and trusting to be fed like the sparrows, would, in modern society, come dangerously near being what Ave call in Scotland a "ne'er-do-weel," that is to say, a soft, molluscous sort of creature, who is a burden on his friends, and ends his days as a pensioner on charity or a writer of begging letters. The foremost men and foremost races of modern society are precisely those who act on the opposite principle, and do look ahead and steer wisely and boldly amidst dangers and difficulties for distant and definite ends. In one of the old Norse Saga there is a saying which has always impressed me greatly. An aged warrior, when asked what he thought of the new religion, replied: "I have heard a great deal of talk of the old Odin and of the new Christ, but whenever things have come to a real pinch, I have always found that my surest trust was in my own right arm and good sword." CHRISTIANITY WITHOUT MIRACLES. 149 This strong self-reliance and hardy courage to do or to endure is, beyond all doubt, the solid rock foundation upon which the manly character of individuals and of nations must be built up. The softer virtues and graces come ofterwards, which are to refine and adorn, and convert the man into the gentle man, or one of Nature's true gentlemen. But without the harder gifts of courage and self-help, n, man is not a man, and the raw material is not there out of which to fashion a Gordon or Christian hero. This may be called the Norse pole as contrasted with the pole of Christianity, and the perfect man is he who can stand firmly between the two opposites, controlling both and being controlled by neither. While I have thought it right, however, to call attention to this counter-pole to Christianity, I should add that with the strong, prac- tical Teutonic races there is not much danger of erring on the side of too much weakness, humility, or asceticism, and therefore the influence of the Christian religion makes mainly for good. Modern civilization has been formed, to a great extent, by grafting the gentler virtues of the Gospel on the robust primitive stock of the barbarians who overthrew Rome. It is the example and teaching of -fesus, the son of the carpenter of Nazareth, which have been mainly instrumental in diffusing ideas of divine love, charity, and purity throughout the world, and humanizing the iron-clad and iron-souled warriors, whose trust was in their stout hearts and strong right arms, and who knew no law but , The good old plan, That he should take who has the power, And he should keep who can. In another respect it is most important that the world, should as far and so long as possible, hold on to Christianity and struggle to save its essential spirit from the shipwreck of its theology, and the sheer impossibility of believing in the literal and historical truth of many of its dogmas. The highest and most consoling beliefs of the human mind are to a great extent bound up with the Christian religion. It' we r.sk our- selves frankly how much, apart from this religion would remain of faith in a God and in a future state of existence the answer must be, very little. Science traces everything back to primeval' atoms and germs, and there it leaves us. How came these atoms and energies there, from which this wonderful universe of worlds has been evolved by inevitable laws? What are they in their essence, and what do they mean? The only answer is, it is unknowable. It is " behind the veil," and may be anything. Spirit may be matter, matter may be spirit. We have no faculties by which we can even form a conception, from any discoveries of the telescope or microscope, from any experiments in the laboratory, or from any facts susceptible of real human knowledge, of what may be the first cause underlying all these phenomena. In like manner we can already to a great extent, and probably in a short time shall be able to the fullest extent, to trace the whole develop- ment of life from the lowest to the highest; from protoplasm, through monera, infusoria, mollusca, vertebrata, fish, reptile, and mammal, up to man and the individual man from the microscopic egg, through the various stages of its evolution up to birth, childhood, maturity, decline, and death. We can trace also the development of ilio human race through enormous periods of time, from the rudest beginnings up 150 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. to its present level of civilization, and 'show how arts, languages, morals, and religions have been evolved gradually by natural laws from primitive elements, many of which are common in their ultimate form to man and the animal creation. But here also science stops. Science can give no account of how these germs and nucleated cells, endowed with these marvellous capacities for evolution, came into existence or got their intrinsic powers. Nor can science enable us to form the remotest conception of what will become of life, consciousness, and conscience, when the material conditions with which they are always associated while within human experience, have been dissolved by death and no longer exist. We know as little in the way of accurate and demonstrable knowledge of our condition after death as we do of our existence if we had an existence before birth. If we turn for an answer to these questions from science to meta- physics we find ourselves in cloud-land. Mists of fine phrases and plausible conjectures form into philosophies, and dissolve away again without leaving a vestige of positive knowledge. Take Descartes' famous fundamental axiom, "Cogito, ergo sum," I think and therefore I exist. Is it really an axiom? Does it take us any nearer to what thought really is, and what is the true meaning of existence ? If the fact that I am conscious of thinking proves the fact that I exist, is the converse true, that whatever does not think does not exist I Am I existent or non-existent during the seven or eight hours of dreamless sleep out of every twenty-four, when to a certainty I am not thinking ? Does a child only begin to exist when it begins to think? If "Cogito, ergo sum " is an intuition to which we can trust, why is not " Non cogito, ergo non sum " an equally good foundation on whifeh to build ^ system of philosophy, and spin out of the brain an ideal system of God, man, and the universe? The so-called intuitions of metaphysics seem really to amount to little more than translations into philosophical language of our own earnest wishes and aspirations. We shudder at the notion of annihila- tion ; we revolt at the idea that all the high faculties of the mature and cultivated mind are to be extinguished by death ; we long for a future life, in which we may again see beloved faces, and, pondering on these things, we have a strong impression that it must not and cannot be, which presently takes the form, in some minds of a philo- sophical turn, of what is called an intuition, on which they proceed to build up a demonstration of God and immortality. But, again, what do they really know more than science has already told us? The essence of all spiritual existence, as far as we know anything of it, is personal consciousness. This clearly depends on, or is indissolubly associated with, a certain condition of a material organ the brain. With a less active condition of this organ, as in sleep, personal consciousness is suspended. In the case of a man recovered from drowning by artificial means, it is gone, and the man is to all intents and purposes dead for perhaps a quarter of an hour, and would remain dead if warm blankets and artificial respiration did not recall him to life. Where and what was he during this interval? and, if his personal identity and conscious existence were gone for that quarter of an hour, why and when did they return? and, if the Humane Society's men had been less prompt, would they ever have returned? These are questions to which no metaphysical system that I have ever seen can return the semblance of an answer. CHRISTIANITY WITHOUT MIRACLES. 151 Again, how is it possible for philosophy to lay down as an axiom ifchat man has an intuitive perception of a Deity, in the face of the fact ihat whole races of savage men have no such perception, and have not got beyond rude fetichismand a vague superstitious fear of ghosts and vil spirits, while others, further advanced, have made their own anthropomorphic gods, obviously from reflections of their own faculties arid passions on the distant mists of the unknown, like the spectres of the Brocken? We can trace the idea of Deity, step by step, from early attempts to explain phenomena of nature, astronomical, legendary, and linguistic myths, and reverence for departed ancestors and heroes, up to the philosophical conceptions of a Plato or a Marcus Aurelius. In the same way we can trace, step by step, the transformation of the tribal God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, into the national God of Israel, who was at first only better and stronger than the gods of the surrounding nations, but finally became the sole God of the universe, degrading the other gods to the category of dumb idols. So, also, we can see the first crude anthropomorphic conceptions of this Deity gradually giving way to purer and nobler ideas. The God who required rest on the seventh day becomes the Almighty one at whose word all things were created. The jealous -and cruel God who withdrew His favor from the chivalrous Saul, because he would not hew his captives in pieces before the Lord, is transformed into the God who "loves mercy and not sacri- fice." The God who found after His own heart the man whose depraved mind could conceive such an act of foul villainy as David practiced towards Uriah, and who not only condoned the crime, but rewarded it by giving the succession to the son of the adulterous intercourse with Bathsheba, has become the God of holy love and purity of the New ^Testament. At which of these stages did the philosophical intuition of God come in, which is said to be an innate faculty of the human mind, and the surest base of all our knowledge of the universe? Where is the inevitable intuitive perception of a personal Deity in the minds of .some of the deepest thinkers and purest livers of the present day, who, like Herbert Spencer, can discern nothing behind the veil but a great unspeakable and unknowable? After all we must fall back on Christianity for any grounds upon which to trust, more or less faintly, in the "larger hope." The Christian religion, apart from any question of miracles, is an existing fact It is a fact which for nineteen centuries has proved, on the " whole, in accordance with other facts and with the deepest feelings and highest aspiration's of the noblest men and women of the foremost races in the progressive march of civilization. Why do we say that its moral teachings, such as we find in the Sermon on the Mount, and in St. Paul's definition of Christian charity, carry conviction with them -and prove themselves? Because they accord with, and give the best expression to, feelings, which in the course of evolution of the human mind from barbarism to civilization have become instinctive. We may be able to trace their origin and development, we may be able to see that they are not primary instincts, implanted at birth like those of the lower animals, but secondary instincts, formed by the action of a civilized environment on hereditary aptitudes. Still there they are, and being what they are, and living in the age and society in which we actually live, they are inevitable and necessary instincts, and it requires no train of reasoning or labored reflection to make us feel that "right is right," and that it is better for ourselves and others to 152 MODERX SCIEXCE AXD MODERX THOUGHT. act on such precepts as those of ' ; loving our neighbors as ourselves,'" and " doing as we would be done by," rather than to reverse these rules and obey the selfish promptings of animal nature. Of the same order, though less clear and cogent, are the teachings of the Gospel respecting God and immortality. They are less clear and less cogent, because the only evidence by which they could be demonstrated from without, that of miracles, has broken clown and failed us; and because we cannot verify them experimentally by an appeal to facts, as we can in regard to the working of moral laws and precepts. But it still remains that they are ideas which have risen inevitably in the course of the evolution of the human mind; and that they fit in with and satisfy, in a way which no other ideas can do, many of the best and deepest feelings which have equally been developed in that mind, in the course of its progressive ascent from lower to higher things. It remains also that true science, while it can add nothing to this proof, takes nothing from it, and while it excludes miracles and supernatural interference after the order of the universe has been once established, leads us back step by step to a great Unknown, in which, from the very fact that it is unknown, everything is possible. Further than this it is not possible to carry the proof. If we are to believe at all in a God, we must be content to believe that He knows better than we do what is right and consistent with the conditions of our own existence and that of the universe ; and thai part of the scheme is, that at a certain stage of the development of our race we should have to exchange the certainty of simple and limited faith for the fainter trust in a larger hope. We may, perhaps, dimly discern some- thing analogous in the progress of each individual from childhood to manhood. He has to part with many a simple belief and unhesitating trust, and climb the hill of life staggering under many a burden of doubt and difficulty; and yet it is better for him to "set a stiff heart to a steep brae, "and struggle upwards while life is in him, rather than to remain an innocent child playing at its foot. Anyhow, whether we like it or not, this is the fact we have to accept ; but the hill is steep, the burden heavy, and we may well be grateful to anything which, however vaguely, helps and cheers us on the way; and from this point, of view, the ideas of God and of a future life taught by the Christian religion, accepted by BO many good men, and hallowed by so many venerable traditions and sacred associations, should be cherished, as far as it is possible to do so without shutting our eyes to facts and indulging in conscious insincerity. For the same reason we shall do well to be tender with the forms and creeds of this religion, even when they appear to be getting obsolete, and their strict and literal interpretation no longer con- sistent with known truths. It is far better that the transformation requisite to bring them into accordance with the evolution of modern thought caused by the discoveries of science, should take place gradu- ally and spontaneously from within, rather than forcibly and abruptly from without. Evolutionists specially ought to trust to the healing influences of time, and the inevitable though gradual survival of that which is most in harmony with its existing environment. Already a great deal has been silently done in this direction. Intolerance and fanaticism have almost disappeared from all cultured minds. Even in the ranks of the clergy themselves, many, in all denominations, are devoting themselves more and more to good works^ and less to theological disputes and sectarian wranglings. PRACTICAL LIFE. 153 The metaphysical side of Christian dogma, is fast receding into the far distance. The Athanasian Creed, which once convulsed empires and occupied a foremost place in the thought of the age, has become a mere form, read once or twice a year by lukewarm preachers to indifferent or scandalized audiences, who would be only too glad to have a decent excuse for dropping it out of sight altogether. Let any sin -ere Christian put to himself candidly the question what part the "Holy Ghost," or the definition of the "Logos," really has in the living faith which guides his actions, and he will be astonished to find into what infinitesimal proportions these once vital dogmas have actually faded. It will be the same with all dogmas which, in their literal and historical interpretation, contradict established facts. They will be either forgotten, or, if they contain a kernel of spiritual meaning, will be transformed into truths taught by parables. In the meantime, it behoves those who see more clearly than others the absolute certainty of the conclusions of science, and the inevitably fatal results to religion of staking its existence on literal interpretations which h;ive become flatly incredible, to do their best to- assist the transformation of the old dogmatic theology into a new 44 Christianity without miracles," which shall retain the essential spirit, the pure morality, the consoling beliefs, and as far as possible the venerable forms and sacred associations of the old faith, while placing them in thorough accordance with freedom of thought, and with the whole body of other truths, discovered and to be discovered, respect- ing the universe and man. CHAPTER X. PRACTICAL LIFE. Self-reyerence, self-knowledge, self-control, These three alone lead life to sovereign power. Yet not for power ; that of itself Would come uncalled for ; but to live by rule, Acting the rule we live by without fear, And because right is right to follow right, Were wisdom in the scorn of consequence. TENNYSON, (Enone. IN these lines, which he puts into the mouth of the goddess of wisdom, Tennyson, the same poet who has already condensed the essence of modern thought in the lines already quoted from "Itt Memoriam," gives us what may be well called "the Gospel of practical life." It is clearly our highest wisdom to follow right, not from selfish calculation or hope of reward, but because "right is right;" in other words, because we have a standard within us which tells us, in an unmistakable voice, what to do and what to refrain from doing. For practical purposes, it is comparatively unimportant how this standard got there; whether, according to old creeds, by direct inspira- tion, or, as modern science tells us, by the slow evolution of primitive faculties, and the accumulation through countless generations of hereditary influences tending towards the survival of the fittest, both of individuals and of societies, in the struggle for life. In either case the standard is there, not as a vague and theoretical, but as an. 154 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. absolute and imperative rule, and the difficulty is not to discern it, but to act up to it. It may be that it is to a great extent the product of education, and depends on the environment in which we are brought up. It may be that if I had been kidnapped when a child by Cornanche Indians, t should have grown up with a very different moral standard touching the taking of scalps and the practice of treacherous murder. But I have not been so kidnapped, and having been born and brought up in a civilized country of the nineteenth century, it is inevitable that outward influences combined with inward capacities should give me a conscience, which tells me in clear enough accents whether I arn doing right or wrong. And it is equally certain that by acting in accordance with this conscience, I shall, on the whole, be doing better for myself and better for others than by disregarding it. It is none too easy to make our life even a tolerable approximation towards doing right for the sake of right, and it would be folly to allow any theoretical considera- tions as to the origin of the idea of right to be an excuse for relaxing any of the constant and strenuous effort which is requisite to keep our feet from straying from the straight path. It is much wiser to cast around us for influences and inducements to strengthen the inward law, and to endeavor by clear insight to bring reason to the aid of faith, and enable us to see intelligently the main causes both of our weakness and of our strength. This is what the poet does for us in the lines above quoted. Rightly considered, <: self-reverence, self-knowledge, and self-control" are the three pillars which support the edifice of a wise and well- ordered practical life. Self-reverence, in its widest meaning, includes the faculty of forming some ideal standard superior to the lower nature of animal man, and recognizing in ourselves some power of approximating to it. The higher the standard the nobler will be the man who cherishes it and tries to attain to it, but it is by no means a rare gift confined to a few select natures. On the contrary, it is the commonest and most universal incentive to good conduct. Even in the rudest and simplest form of admiration for physical courage, it makes heroes of many a common soldier and sailor. If poor Tommy Atkins, fresh from the plough-tail, stands firm in the shattered squares of Waterloo, or on the bloody ridge of Inkermann, it is because he has been brought up in the fixed iden, 1 hat a Briton must not run away from a Frenchman or a Russian. In civil life the idea of respectability, though not a very elevated one and apt to degenerate into narrowness, and what Carlyle and Arnold sneer at as "Gigmanity" and " Philistinism," is yet one of Tery universal and, on the whole, beneficial influence. A large major- ity of the middle and upper working classes lead decorous lives very much because they feel it incumbent on them to be "respectable," in their own eyes and those of their neighbors. In the case of one half of the human race, the female half, the feeling of self-respect and the desire to be what is called respectable afford the strongest and most constantly present securities both for good morals and good manners. The immense majority of British women are modest maidens and faithful wives, not so much from any cold calculation of the bal- ance of advantages, or from fear of consequences, as from an instinct- ive feeling that they cannot be otherwise without losing caste and forfeiting their own self-respect and that of their neighbors. PRACTICAL LIFE. 155 From these common and universal forms of "self-reverence" we rise, step by step, to the higher ideals, which, in every rank and every condition of life, give us among gifted natures what may be called the "salt of the earth, " and the shining examples which guide the world to higher things noble men and noble women. A Sidney, dying on the field of Zutphen, hands over the cup of water to a wounded soldier because his soul, nourished on noble thoughts, and his fancy, fed by the old ballads which, like that of " Chevy Chase, " stirred him like a trumpet-blast, had led him to conceive an ideal of a perfect knight which would have been tarnished by any shade of a selfish action. Gordon sacrifices his life at Khartoum, not only cheerfully but almost instinctively, because the suggestion that he might save himself by abandoning those who had trusted in him seems an absolute impossibility. It is a great advantage of the present day that education and the press bring such instances of devoted heroism vividly before millions who would never otherwise have heard of them. The influence of the press, both in the way of books and newspapers, is happily in this country almost entirely one which makes for good. There is not a noble act done throughout the world, by high or low, by private or officer, by soldier or civilian, which is not held up for praise and admiration ; while any signal instance of cowardice or selfishness is held up to con- tempt Newspaper correspondence and leading articles have, to a great extent, superseded sermons, and do the practical moral work of the world in asserting the right and rebuking wickedness in high places. In like manner all the higher works of poetry, fiction, and biography have a good tendency, and are read by an ever-increasing number of readers. Enid and Elaine, Jeanie Deans, ](Jaura Pendennis, Lucy Roberts, are the sort of models set before girls ; while boys who have any heroic fibre in their nature are fed with such lives as those of Lawrence and Gordon. For all, but especially for the young, there is no help to self-improvement so great as to read good books in a generous spirit ; and nothing which dwarfs the mind so much as to debauch it by frivolous reading, and by the moral dram-drinking of sensational rubbish, until it loses all natural and healthy appetite for the pure and elevated. An affectation of narrow knowingness is also a. very fatal tendency in the youthful mind. A man from whose mouth such words as "rot" and "humbug" are constantly heard is, in nine cases out of ten, a very poor, rotten creature himself. Among the many advantages of self-respect, not the least impor- tant is that it teaches respect for others. The petty jealousies and suspicions, the senseless quarrels, the slanderings aud backbitings, which so often turn sour the wine of life, disappear of themselves when a proper standard of self-respect has been firmly established, and a high ideal of human life has become part of our nature. As Tennyson says: Like simple noble natures credulous Of what they wish for, good in friend or foe ; while on the other hand The long -necked geese of the world Are always hissing dispraise, because their natures are little. There are some who delight in running down everything and everybody, and whose appetite for scandal is so great that they are 156 MODERN SCIENCE AXD MODERN THOUGHT. positively unable to refrain from believing raid spreading an ill-natured tale, if it affects some eminent man, and still more if it affects a, well- known woman. Such are assuredly not the sort of persons whom wo should like to resemble oui selves, or to see our sons and daughters resemble. I have always found through life, a safe rule to go by was, if you hear an ill-natured story of a man, discount nine-tenths of it as a lie, and if of a woman, don't believe a word of it. Perhaps the best test of the amount of real "self-reverence" in. an individual or a nation, is to be found in the tone and manner in which women are treated. A low tone invariably bespeaks a low nature, and testifies to innate coarseness and snobbishness, however high mr : be the rank and polished the outward varnish of the person who indulges in it. On the other hand the roughest miner or backwoodsman is already more than half a gentleman, if his attitude towards women is one of chivalrous courtesy. Nothing looks more hopeful for the future of the human race than to see that the female half of it are constant gainers by the progress of freedom and education. It goes a long way to reconcile one to the dangers of democracy, to find that in the newest and most democratic countries of the world, such as the "United States and British colonies, women can travel alone without fear of insult, and have far more innocent liberty and freedom of thought and action than they have in older societies. Whatever may be the case as regards men, for women there can be no doubt that there is a progressive scale upwards from East to West, from despotism to freedom, from Turkey to America. What has been said of individuals is even more true of nations. Self-respect is the very essence of national life. A great nation may suffer great disasters, and survive them, if the spirit of its people remains intact. England survived the war of American independence, and Prussia recovered from the defeat of Jena. But if a nation loses its vigor and self-respect, if it begins to groan under the burdens of extended empire, an< I to prefer comfort to honor, ignoble ease to noble effort, the hour of its decline has sounded. Imperial Kome did not long survive when she began to contract her frontiers and buy off barbarians. The most fatal thing any Government can do for a coun- try is to destroy its sense of self-respect and teach it to acquiesce in what is felt to be dishonorable. Looking forward to the future of the great British Empire, this is evidently a turning point of its destinies. The triumph of democracy is an inevitable fact ; for knowledge is power, and whether for good or evil, the masses have either acquired, or are fast acquiring knowledge, and with equal political rights numbers will tell. How will this democracy of the future affect Imperial interests, and what will be its attitude in regard to foreign and colonial policy? On the one hand it maybe hoped that by making our institutions more popular, and going down to the heart of the masses, our policy will acquire fresh energy and our public men fresh vigor. The working classes are very patriotic, and, on the whole, more open to the influ- ence of generous ideas than the class immediately above them. In the recent instance of the great civil war in the United States, we have seen a democracy making greater sacrifices of men and money for the idea of maintaining national greatness, the. n was probably ever volunta- rily made by any monarchical or aristocratic country. The Copper- heads, who preached peace where there was no peace, and advised PRACTICAL LIFE. 157 letting the erring sisters go their way rather than spend lives and money in the attempt to coerce them, found no response from a nation who felt that the union was their union, and its greatness the separate personal possession of each individual citizen. But, on the other hand, demagogues will never be wanting to flatter the people, and angle for power by appealing to their lower instincts and advocating measures of present ease and popularity. If a necessity arises for maintaining by the sword an empire which has been won by the sword, the army of parochial politicians who gauge everything by the standard of pounds, shillings, and pence, will be reinforced by the far more respectable body of sentimentalists and humanitarians, who shrink from the shedding of blood in wars the abstract justice of which is not absolutely demonstrated. A large number, perhaps a majority, of platform orators will therefore be found now, as it was in the days of Demosthenes, to denounce arma- ments, ridicule precautions, minimize responsibilities, and look upon India, the Colonies, and extended empire generally, as troublesome encumbrances rather than as glorious possessions. The two conflict- ing ideals constantly set before our future political rulers, the four millions whose votes decide the fate of policies and of ministries, will be, on the one hand, that our first duty. is to hand down the British Empire to our sons no less great and glorious than we received it from our fathers ; on the other, that it is better to stay at home, mind our own affairs, avoid entanglements, contract responsibilities, pass reform bills, and reduce taxes, trusting to the " silver streak " and the chapter of accidents to protect us from invasion. It is the old story of the fable of Hercules, which presents itself constantly to each individual and to every nation. Shall we follow the strait and narrow path which leads upwards, or the broad and easy one which leads, with a pleasant slope to a lower level ? Would it have been better for Paris to give the golden apple to Minerva, counselling "self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control," or to Venus, promising pleasure? SELF-KNOWLEDGE. Oh wad some Power the giftie gie us To see ourselves as ithers see us ! BUKNO. A gift which is unfortunately as rare as it is necessary. Without self-knowledge to see our faults how shall we correct them ? How shall we become wise if insensible to our follies? How shall we achieve success if we learn no lessons from our failures I There are some men so blinded by vanity that they go through life committing ungentlemanly actions while fancying themselves perfect gentlemen ; who are convinced that all men admire them and all women are in love with them, while in reality every one sees through them and laughs at them. A thoroughly impervious vanity is like a waterproof, which throws off the wholesome rain on the outside, while on the inside it is soaked with unhealthy exhalations. Fortunately this type of vanity is not a common one with our English race, who are too proud and self-reliant to feel the petty anxiety of the really vain man to be always shining in the eyes of others. With us it takes more the form of priding ourselves on arti- 158 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. ficial distinctions, and attaching an exaggerated importance to matters of trivial importance. Your commonplace English swell, for instance, is apt to class all mankind under two categories those who associate with lords and wear clothes of a fashionable cut, and those who do- not, and to set down all the former as the " right sort," and all the latter as "brutes." It is a sign of narrowness to make a fetich of these or any other arbitrary distinctions between an upper ten and the rest of mankind, and self-knowledge is never more required than to show the hollowness of adventitious advantages which are not supported by intrinsic merit. A true gentleman feels The rank is but the guinea stamp, The man's the gowd for a' that, and feeling this, he holds out the hand of hearty human sympathy to peasant as well as to peer. If born to rank and riches, self-knowledge tells him that he is simply placed on a pedestal, where, if he fails to act on the maxim that "noblesse oblige," the failure will be the more conspicuous. No man who really knows himself can ever be conceited, for he must be aware how far he has fallen short in practice of his own ideal standard, and how .constantly " he has done things he ought not to have done, and left undone things he ouglit to have done." On the other hand, there is an opposite extreme from which self- knowledge will save a man : that of undue despondency and want of proper confidence and self-reliance. There are men who fail in every- thing they undertake because they have not the heart to undertake it resolutely, and who at last sink down into the hopeless condition of querulous mental invalids, who cherish their ailments rather than combat them, and are rather proud than otherwise to be considered as interesting victims of untoward circumstances. For all the relations of practical life the one essential requisite of success is to see things as they really are, and not as we wish them to be; and for this purpose self-knowledge is the foundation of clear insight. If the focus of the glass is wrongly adjusted it will show only distorted images, but if a clear eye looks through a properly focussed glass, outward objects will be truly represented. Perhaps the commonest of all delusions is that of being born under a lucky star. A man gambles, bets, or speculates because he thinks he is lucky and sure to win. Now, there is in reality no such thing as luck, it is all a question of averages. The only approach to what may be called luck is, that a fool will probably have more of it than a wise man, for as the fool foresees nothing, whenever fortune's die turns up in his favor he sets it down to luck, while the wise man, who has schemed and worked for the event, calls it foresight. But the actual average of events, which depend entirely on chance, will be the same. If a man plays at rouge et noir with one chance in a hundred in favor of the bank, it is certain that if he plays often enough, he will lose his capital once at least for every hundred times he plays. Or, if he speculates on the Stock Exchange, the turn of the market and broker's commission will, in the long run, certainly swallow up his original capital. And yet men will gamble and speculate, because they cannot resist the pleasing illusion that they are lucky, and that it would be very nice to win a large stake without having had to work for it. PRACTICAL LIFE. . 159 There is nothing for which self-knowledge is more indispensable in practical life than to enable a man to steer a straight course between opposite extremes, and to discern clearly the boundary line between Bright and wrong. The law of polarity, by which things good in themselves if pushed to extremes become bad, and every truth develops a corresponding error, is of daily and universal application in practical affairs. Take, for instance, the much-debated question of the pursuit of money. Poets and novelists are never tired of denouncing the " Auri sacra fames," and there is no doubt that, when carried to excess, it is the fertile source of crime; and even in a less degree, it leads to meanness and dishonesty, and has a degrading influence on the individual or the nation who give themselves up too exclusively to the worship of the "almighty dollar." But, on the other hand, the desire, or rather the necessity under the conditions of civilized society, of making money, is by far the most powerful and all-pervading influence of practical life. And, within due bounds and under proper conditions, it is a healthy and beneficial influence. At the lowest stage it obliges men to work instead of being idle, and this is an immense advantage both to the community and to the individual. An idle man, in every grade of society, is generally a worthless and often a bad man ; while an honest working man, whether the work be of the head or hand, is far more likely to be happy and respectable. Again, the necessity of earning money is a wonderful test of the real value of a man in the world's market. We should be all very apt to become pretentious wind-bags of conceit, if we were not brought to our senses by the wholesome douche of having to work for a live- lihood. Many a man who fancies himself intended for a poet or politician, and some who by accident of birth or fortune are pitch- forked into prominent positions, would find it difficult to point out any occupation in which they are honestly worth a couple of hundred a year. Even in the higher departments of art and literature, it may be questioned whether the healthy, natural desire to turn an honest penny has not inspired greater works than a morbid appetite for fame. Shakespeare's ambition was to retire to his native town with a moderate competency ; Walter Scott's to become a laird, with a family estate, in the border-land of the chief of his clan "the bold Buccleugh." And, in the present day, literature is becoming more and more an honorable profession, which men take to, as they do to law or medicine, as a means of earning a livelihood. It must always be borne in mind that under the practical condi- tions of modern civilization, money means not only the possibility of bare existence, but nearly all that makes existence tolerable health, recreation, culture, and independence. The number and locality of the rooms a man lives in, the number of cubic feet and purity of the air he and his family breathe, are questions of rent; the food they eat, the clothes they wear, the books they read, the holidays they enjoy, are all questions of money. And above all, without money there is no inde- pendence. An absolutely penniless man has to fall back on crime or the workhouse; a poor man is at the mercy of a thousand accidents; sickness, fluctuations of trade, caprice of employers, pressure of credi- tors, may at any moment reduce him and those who depend on him to want. It admits of no question, that the first duty of every one is to 160 MODERX SCIENCE AXD MODERX THOUGHT. endeavor to raise himself above this level of ignoble daily cares, and plant himself in a position where he can face the present and look for- ward to the future with tolerable equanimity. As we rise in the scale of society the problem becomes more difficult. Money-making- is very apt to be pushed to excess and lead to gambling and dishonesty ; while the worship of wealth, which is perhaps the besetting sin of the age, is distinctly the cause of much lax morality and snobbish vulgarity. But on the other hand, money is power, and a large fortune honestly acquired and well spent, gives its possessor unrivalled opportunities for doing good. He can assist charities, patronize art, and if gifted with force of character and fair abilities may become a legislator and statesman, and enrol his name in the annals of his country. It is hard to say that if a man has an opportunity of making a large fortune honestly, and feels that he has it in him to use it nobly, he should refrain from doing so because moralists cry "Sour grapes," and tell him that riches are deceitful. But for nothing is '"self-knowledge" more requisite than to enable a man to see clearly how high he can safely aim, and what sort of stake he can prudently play for. The immense majority of mankind have neither the opportunities nor the faculties for playing for very high stakes, and must be contented with the safe game for moderate and attainable ends. One such end is within the reach of almost every one : To make a happy household clime For weaus and wife, / Is the true pathos and sublime Of human life. So says Burns, who has a rare faculty of hitting the right nail on the head; and the ideal he sets before us in these simple lines is at once the truest and the most universal. The man who fails in this is himself a failure ; while the man who by his industry and energy sup- ports a family in comfort and respectability according to their station, and who, at the same time, by control of temper, kindness, unselfish- ness, and swaet reasonableness makes his household a happy one, may feel, even though fortune may not have placed him in a position of higher responsibilities, that he has not lived in vain, that he has per- formed the first duties and tasted the truest pleasures of mortal existence, and that, whatever there may be behind the impenetrable veil, he can face it with head erect, as one of "Nature's gentlemen." SELF-CONTROL. This is, after all, the vitally important element of a happy and suc- cessful life. The compass may point truly to the pole, the chart may show tjie right channel amidst shoals and rocks, but the ship will hardly arrive safely in port unless the helmsman stands at his post in all weathers, ready to meet any sheer of the bow by a timely turn to starboard or to port. So self -reverence and self-knowledge may point out ever so clearly the path of duty, unless self-control is constantly present we shall surely stray from it. At every moment of our lives natural instinct tells us to do one thing, while reason and conscience tell us to do another. It is by an effort that we get up in the morning and go about our daily work. It is by an effort that we refrain from indulgences and forego pleasures, control our passions, restrain our PRACTICAL LIFE: IGI -tempers. The uncultured man is violent, selfish, childish ; it is only by the inherited or acquired practice of self-control that he is trans- formed into the civilized man courteous, considerate, sensible, and reliable. The necessity of self-control in all the more important relations of moral and practical life is so obvious that it would be only repeat- ing commonplaces to enlarge on it. But there is often danger of its being overlooked in those minor morals of conduct which make up the greater part of life, and determine the happiness or misery of oneself and others. For instance, control over the temper. A man never shows his cousinship to the ape so much as when he is in a passion. The mani- festations are so exactly similar irrational violence, nervous agitation, total loss of head, and abdication of all presence of mind and reason- ing power. To see a grown-up man reduced to the level of a spoiled child, or of a monkey who has been disappointed of a nut, is a spectacle of which it is hard to say whether it is more ridiculous or painful. Even worse than occasional violence is the habitual ill- temper which makes life miserable to those who are obliged to put up with it. We call a man who strikes a woman or child with his fist a brute ; what is he if he strikes them daily and hourly, ten times more cruelly, with his tongue? A ten times greater brute. And yet there are men, call- ing themselves gentlemen, who do this, either from sheer brutality of nature, or oftener from inconsiderateness, coarseness of fibre, and inability to exercise self-control in minor matters. There is one very common mistake made, that of considering relationship an excuse for rudeness. The members of a family may relax something of the stiffness of company manners among them- selves, but they should ne\er forget that it is just as much ill-breeding to say a rude thing to a wife, a sister, or a brother, as it would be to say it to any other lady or gentleman. In fact, it is worse, for the other lady can treat you with contempt and keep out of your way, while the poor woman who is tied to you feels it keenly, and has no means of escape from it. Good manners are, in practical life, a great part of good morals ; and there is something to be said for religions which, like the Chinese, lay down rules of politeness, and make salva- tion depend very much on the observance of rites and ceremonies intended to ensure courtesy and decorum in the intercourse of all classes of the community in daily life. Although not so bad as the indulgence of a violent or morose temper, a great deal of unhappiness is caused by a fussy and fidgety disposition, which makes mountains out of molehills, and keeps every one in hot water about trifles. This is one of the common faults of idleness, as genuine work both strengthens the fibre to resist and leaves no time to brood over petty troubles. The excuse one commonly hears from those who give way to these petty infirmities is, "that they cannot help it, they are born with thin skins and excitable tempers." This is the excuse of sloth and weakness. If, as the poet says, Man is man, and master of his fate, what sort of an unmanly creature must he be who cannot master even the slightest impulse or resist the slightest temptation, and allows himself to be ruined into a storm by every passing breath, like a shallow 162 MODERX SCIEXCE AXD MODERX THOUGHT. roadside puddle ? If he will not try lie certaii.Iy will not learn; but if he will honestly try to correct faults, he will find it easier every time, until the fancied impossibilities fade away and are forgotten. A man who is so much afraid of tumbling off that he will never mount a horse, may fancy that Nature has disqualified him for riding ; but for all that, nine men out of ten, if obliged to try say as recruits in a cavalry regiment though they may not all turn out accomplished horsemen, will all learn to ride well enough for practical purposes. It is peculiarly important for the young to set resolutely about correcting bad habits and forming good ones, while the faculties are fresh and the brain supple ; for, in obedience to the law by which molec- ular motions travel by preference along beaten paths, every year cuts deeper the channels of thought and feeliug, whether for good or evil. A brain trained to respond to calls of duty soon does so with ease and elasticity, just as the muscles of the blacksmith's arm or of the ballet- dancer's leg acquire strength and vigor by exercise ; while, on the other hand, motion is a pain and self-control an effort to the soft and flabby limb or brain which has been weakened by self-indulgence. It is scarcely necessary to say that for success in practical life, self-control is the one thing most needful, To take the simplest case, that of a young workingman beginning life with health, knowledge of a trade, or even without it with good thews and sinews, he is the most free and independent of mortals, on one condition that he has saved 10. With this, he is a free agent in disposing of his labor, he can make his contract with an employer on equal terms, he can carry his goods to the best market, and is practically a citizen of the world, ready to start for San Francisco or Melbourne if he thinks he can better himself. Without it, he is a serf tied to the soil, he cannot move from place to place, he must take whatever wages are offered him or starve. But how to save the 10? That is a question of daily and weekly recurrence ; whether to spend an extra shilling in the pleasant way of going to a public-house and sitting with a pipe and a jug of ale by the fireside among jolly companions, or to forego the pleasure and save the shilling. A shilling a week saved will, in four years, give him the 10, and go a good way to establish habits which, if he is enterprising and goes to a colony, or clever and has any luck at home, may readily make the ten a hundred, or even a thousand pounds. So in every class of life, the man who gets on is the man who has schooled himself never to ask whether a thing is pleasant, but whether it is right and reasonable; and who always keeps a bright look-out ahead, and does his best at the task, whatever it may be, that is set before him. Education really resolves itself very much into teaching the young" to acquire this indispensable faculty of self-control. The amount of positive knowledge, useful in after life, acquired at our English public schools, is really very little beyond the three R's. A boy who could teach himself French or German in five months spends five years over Latin and Greek, and in nine cases out of ten forgets them as soon as he leaves school or college. Almost everything we know that is worth knowing we teach ourselves in after life. But the discipline of school is invaluable in teaching the lesson of self-control. Almost every hour of the day a boy at school has to do things that are disagreeable and abstain from doing things that nature prompts, under pain of getting" a caning from the master or a thrashing from other boys. The PRACTICAL LIFE. 163 memory also is exercised, and the faculty of fixing the mind on won; is developed, by useless almost as well as by useful studies, In this point of view even that ne plus ultra of technical pedantry, the Latin grammar, with its "Propria quse maribus " and "As in present!," may have its use in teaching a boy that no matter how absurd or repulsive a task may be, he has got to tackle to it or worse will befall him. But it is in a mpral sense that the influence of a good school is most valuable. The average boy learns that he must not tell lies, he must not be a sneak or a coward, he must take punishment bravdy. and conform to the schoolmaster's standard of discipline and the school-boy's standard of honor. In this way the first lesson of life, stoicism, becomes with most English lads a sort of instinct or second nature. For stoicism, after all, is the foundation and primary element of all useful and honorable life. Whether as Carlyle's "Everlasting No,*' or as George Eliot's advice to take the pains and mishaps of life with- out resorting to moral opium, the conclusion of all the greatest minds is that a man must have something of the Red Indian in him and be able to suffer silently, and burn his own smoke, if he is to be worth any- thing. And still more a woman, who has to bear with and make the best of a thousand petty annoyances without complaint. Men can bear on great occasions, but in the innumerable petty trials of life women as a rule show mo.re self-control and moral fortitude. What would the life of a women be who could not stand being bored with a smiling face, put up with the worries of children and servants with cheerful fortitude, and turn away an angry word by a soft answer? There is much more that might be said, but my object is not to preach or moralize, but simply to record a few of the practical rules and reflections which have impressed themselves on me in the course of a long and busy life. I do so in the hope that perchance they may awaken useful thoughts in some, especially of the younger readers, who may happen to glance over these pages. This mu^hlmay say for them, I have tried them and found them work well. I have lived for more than the Scriptural span of threescore and ten years, a life of varied fortunes and many experiences. I may say, in the words which my favorite poet, Tennyson, puts into the mouth of Ulysses: For ever roaming with a hungry heart, Much have I seen and known, cities of men, And councils, climates, governments. And the conclusion I come to is, not that of the Preacher, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity," but rather that life, with all its drawbacks, is worth living ; and that to have been born in a civilized country in the nineteenth century is a boon for which a man can never be sufficiently thankful. Some may find it otherwise from no fault of their own ; more by their own fault ; but the majority of men and women may lead useful, honorable, and on the whole fairly happy lives, if they will act on the maxim which I have always endeavored, however imper- fectly, to follow FEAR NOTHING I MAKE THE BEST OF EVERYTHING. 164 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. SUPPLEMENTAL CHAPTER. Gladstone's "Dawn of Creation " and " Proem to Genesis." Drummond's "Natural Law in the Spiritual World." SINCE the above work was written, two essays have appeared which require notice ; one, from the celebrity of its author, the other from its extensive circulation. I refer to Mr. Gladstone's articles in the Nineteenth Century, on the "Dawn of Creation and of Worship," and on the "Proem to Genesis ; " and to Professor Drummond's "Natural Law in the Spiritual World." The first essay attempts to prove the inspiration of the Bible from the anticipations of the conclusions of modern science alleged to be contained in the Book of Genesis. The second, that of Professor Drummond, assuming this inspiration and the Calvinistic creed of theology based upon it, professes to show that the latter is the inevitable result of the same identical natural laws as prevail through- out the domain of Science. I propose to deal first with Mr. Gladstone as a theologian. u THE DAWN OF CKEATION AND OF WORSHIP." Mr. Gladstone's article in the Nineteenth Century on the " Dawn of Creation and of Worship " is exactly what might have been expected from him eloquent, rhetorical, diffuse ; anything, in short, except logical and closely-reasoned. His mental attitude towards these questions may be described in two words, as that of a man who is ecclesiastically-minded and Homerically-minded. In fact, about one-third of his essay is taken up by a digression, which is almost entirely irrelevant, as to the extent to which the Olympian gods, as described by Homer, do or do not bear traces of being personifications of natural powers, and do or do not possess attributes which point to derivation from sources common to the author of the " Iliad " and the author of Genesis. It is needless to point out what a very remote bearing this speculation can have on the serious and vitally-important question, whether the account of the creation of the world and of man contained in the Bible is or is not consistent with the ascertained facts of modern science. That the Homeric gods are to a certain extent derived from solar myths is beyond doubt. Phoebus, the shining one, whose arrow-rays, darted in wrath, bring pestilence, is clearly in some senses the sun ; and it admits of no question that the labors of Hercules are principally, if not wholly, taken from the signs of the Zodiac. But there are other elements mixed up with these, and if it should be proved that some of them are borrowed from ancient mythologies common to the Aryan and Semitic races, which is far from being an ascertained fact, it would go a very little way towards settling the question whether the narrative of Noah's ark is a true narrative. The digression is chiefly interesting as illustrating the working of Mr. Gladstone's mind, which is eminently excursive, prone to elaborate details and to dwell on irrelevant issues to an extent which obscures the main argument. It is also a mind eminently sentimental and emotional, and he seems to think that questions of pure scientific fact can be decided by impassioned appeals to the feelings connected with old forms of faith. In such appeals it is needless to say that SUPPLEMENTAL CHAPTER. 1G5 Mr. Gladstone is at home, and that those who are already convinced will find in this, as in his other writings, strains of lofty, if somewhat vague and verbose, eloquence to read and to admire. Nor can it be denied that any candid reader, whether convinced or not, must feel his admiration increased for a man who, amidst the exciting occupa- tions of political life, can keep his mind open to such ' subjects and snatch a leisure hour to write upon them. But when we pass from these side issues to the central question, we cannot allow our admiration for Mr. Gladstone to give more weight to his assertions and arguments than if they proceeded from some unknown Mr. Smith or Mr. Jones. The issue is quite definite and precise. Is or is not the account of the creation contained in the Old Testament true, that is, consistent with real facts which no one can dispute? Mr. Gladstone undertakes to prove that it is true, and that its accordance with facts, as ascertained by modern science, goes a long way to prove the inspiration of the volume in which it is contained. To sustain this weighty proposition it is obvious that the first requisite is to be thoroughly acquainted with the most recent dis- coveries in astronomy, geology, zoology, physiology, and, in fact, with all branches of modern science. The time is long past when the facts had to be tested by their correspondence with the theory of an inspired revelation ; nowadays it is the theory which has to be tested by its correspondence with the facts. Mr. Gladstone enters upon this ardu- ous contest with the gallantry and confidence of an Arab who takes the field armed with sword and spear, to oppose, for the first time, an adversary armed with rifle and revolver. He says himself that he is "wholly destitute of that kind of knowledge which carries authority, 1> and the most cursory perusal of his essay is sufficient to show it. For instance, he states that the fourfold division of animated creation sefc forth in Genesis, viz. : 1. The water population ; 2. The air population ; 3. The land population of animals ; 4. The land population consummated in man "is understood to have been so approved in our time by natural science, that it may be taken as a demonstrated conclusion and estab- lished fact." Is it possible that Mr. Gladstone never heard of the iguanodon of the Wealden, or of the small insectivorous and marsupial animals of the Oolite, or of the labyrinthodon and large batrachians of the Trias, or of the scorpion of the Silurian, all of which lived on land many millions of years before a single species of any fish now inhabiting the waters, or ot any birds now inhabiting the air, had come into existence ? Can he ever have visited the South Kensington Muse- um, and seen the fossil from CEningen, of the feathered creature, half bird, half reptile? And is he ignorant of the great mass of evidence tending to show how the existing forms of bird life were developed from reptilian life, at a period enormously remote, but still long subse- quent to the existence of many species of that "land population" which he complacently assumes that modern science has proved to have had no existence prior to the creation of the population of air and water? If Mr. Gladstone will go to the British Museum, he will see there a slab of sandstone from one of the very oldest formations, and proba- bly deposited more than 100,000,000 years ago ; and what will he see 163 MODERX SCIEXCE AXD MODERX THOUGHT. on this slab ? Little pits made by rain-drops, higher on one side than the other, showing that the shower fell during a smart breeze ; ripple- marks made by the tide exactly similar to those now made in the estuary of the Mersey or Solway, and numerous castings and tracings made in the wet sand by worms. What does this prove ? That at this remote period the winds blew, the rain fell, the tides ebbed and flowed, implying the existence of their cause the sun and moon ; ,tkat an animal creation existed, which, as it lived entirely on land, although moist land, can hardly be described as falling within the category of either a water or an air population. It would be easy to multiply instances, but it is superfluous to do so, when the late President of the Royal Society, Professor Huxlej 7 , the highest living authority on those questions, has so recently as in the last number of the Nineteenth Century said, "If I know anything at all about the results attained by the Natural Science of our time, it is * a demonstrated conclusion and established fact' that the fourfold order given by Mr. Gladstone is not that in which the evidence at our dis- posal tends to show that the water, air, and land populations of the globe have made their appearance." To those who have the most elementary acquaintance with works like those of Lyell, Huxley, and Hae'ckel, the assumption that such a succession is proved by science must appear as amazing as if Mr. Gladstone had stated it to be a demon-- strated conclusion that the earth was flat and not round. His other arguments in support of the Genesis account of creation are of the same nature: those of a man fifty years behind his time in everything that relates to modern science. The history of creation contained in tho first chapter of Genesis, if the words are taken in their obvious and natural meaning, is per- fectly clear and consistent. It is, as Mr. Gladstone says, u a singularly vivid, forcible, and effective popular narrative ; or, if we like to take it so, a sublime poem" of what? Of the cosmogony common to the early thinkers of the ancient world, and which must inevitably have been the first conception of those who, in the infancy of science, began to attempt nn explanation of the origin of the phenomena pre- sented to the natural senses. Man and his habitation the earth were assumed to be the central and primary fac!^ of the universe. The earth was first formed out of chaos; light separated from darkness, the seas from the land ; and the whole surrounded by a firmament or crystal vault, solid enough to separate the waters above, which caused the rain, from the waters below, and to support the heavenly bodies which revolved with it in twenty-four hours round the earth. In this firmament the sun was placed to rule the day, and the moon to rule the' night, and, as its name, "the measurer," v denotes, to measure times and seasons. The s^ars also were added as things of minor impor- tance, probably for ornament, or to aid the work of the moon in nights when the lunar orb was invisible. The inorganic world being thus created, the earth was conceived to have been peopled, once for all, with its existing animal life by three successive stages, viz., the fish, or water population ; the birds, or air population ; and land animals ; and the whole work crowned by the creation of man in God's "own image." This work was conceived to have been carried out by an anthropomorphic Deity, or magnified man, who worked iike a man, by regular spells of il-iy-work, surveying each evening the work of the preceding day to see that it was properly done, and resting on the seventh day nfter his week's SUPPLEMENTAL CHAPTER. 167 labors. This 'is the plain, simple, and obvious meaning which the nar- rative must have conveyed to every one to whom it was addressed at the time, as it did to every one who read it until quite recently. The question is, is it a true narrative, that is, consistent with the facts now established ; and, if untrue, can the volume be inspired which contains mistakes on matters of such importance ? The first observation is, that to bring the question at all within the limits of reasonable discussion it is necessary to assume that the words of the narrative are to be taken in a non-natural sense ; that is, in a sense different from the obvious meaning which they must have conveyed to those to whom they were addressed. This presents no difficulty to Mr. Gladstone, whose mind has a singular capacity for using words in this non-natural sense, and saying things which may mean almost anything that the different political or other proclivities of different hearers may choose to find in them. Thus he has no diffi- culty in assuming that the "firmament," which supports the stars and separates the waters, may mean simply an expanse; or that if the writer of Genesis says "davs'' he means "periods," notwithstanding their duration being expressly defined by an " evening and a morn- ing;" and the reference to them as an~ authority for the seventh natural day being taken as a day of rest. It may be sufficient to say, that to ordinary minds such a use of language by any uninspired writer would be without hesitation termed "Jesuitical," and that there is absolutely no authority for it, except in the preconceived determi- nation, to escape, per fas vel nefas, from the too direct antagonism between Scripture and science. But waiving this point, and allowing the fullest latitude for non-natural meanings, the difficulty is only postponed. The assumption that Laplace's nebular hypothesis, or any other hypothesis at all consistent with known astronomical and geological facts, can in any way be reconciled with the "stages of the majestic process described in the Book of Genesis" is as untenable as that of a solid crystal vault, or of six literal days for creation. Mr. Gladstone argues that if the author of Genesis mentions the creation of the earth as the beginning of the work, and introduces the sun and moon only on the fourth day, he may have meant, not that the sun and moon had no previous existence, but that the "assignment to them of a certain place and orbit respectively, with a light-giving power," only took place long periods after the geological structure of the earth had been completed by the "emergence of our land and its separation from the sea." It is, of course, obvious that the first con- densation of any cosmic nebula must have taken place about a central nucleus ; in other words, about a sun, and that planets and satellites can only have been detached successively, and with their places and orbits assigned, as the rotating mass contracted. By no possibility could an intermediate planet like the earth have been detached out of its order before other members of its family. Still more hazy are Mr. Gladstone's ideas respecting the separa- tion of light from dark, arid wet from dry. He seems to consider light and darkness as separate substances, which, like white and black beans mixed together in a bag, could be taken out and sorted into two separate heaps. No other sense can be attached to the employment of vsnch a phrase as "the detachment and collection of light." It is, of ^course, well known that light is simply the vibration of an almost infinitely rare and elastic medium called ether, and darkness me 168 MODERN SCIENCE AXD MODERN THOUGHT. absence of such vibration ; and that cosmic matter, even in the earlier stages of nebulous formation, is self-luminous, i.e., emits light. IJight, therefore, must inevitably have long preceded the aggregation of this matter into the planet known as the earth. The " detachment of wet from dry, and of solid from liquid," is open to still more obvious objection. It is evidently the expression of one who supposed that the separation of sea from land was a process which took place, once for.all, establishing the present configuration of the earth's sur- face, whereas it is certain that there has been a perpetual rising and sinking, and alternation of sea and land, going on from the earliest geological periods. The chalk, which now forms a large portion of continents and rises into considerable hills, was formed at the bottom of a deep ocean. The Wealden, which, below the chalk, is the Delta, formation of a large river, implies the existence of a continent drained by that river which has long since disappeared beneath the chalk ocean. And so on for all the stratified formations forming nine-tenths of the earth's crust, which must all have been formed beneath water by denudation of older rocks, and subsequently upheaved. Even in quite recent times, and since the appearance of man, Britain has been at one time an archipelago of islands in a frozen sea, and at others part of a continent, roamed over by the mammoth, the Irish elk, and the reindeer. When we pass from inorganic to organic nature, the account of the creation of animated being is in still more direct opposition with facts. We have already seen what a mistake Mr. Gladstone commits in supposing that the succession of life was in the regular order of a water, an air, and a land population. But this is a mere nothing to the difficulty in reconciling the creation of those three orders of being in three successive days with the enormous multitude of special miraculous creations required to account for the vast number of sepa- rate species actually existing in separate zoological provinces of the earth, and for the incalculably vaster number proved by their remains to have come into existence, nourished, and died out in the older geological formations. Madeira alone contains no less than one hun- dred and thirty-four species of land snails peculiar to this little group of islands, of which only twenty-one are found in Europe or Africa. If we discard the theory of evolution for that of miraculous creation, we must suppose the miraculous act to have been exerted one hundred and thirteen times in Madeira alone for no other purpose than that of giving it a variety of land snails. It is, however, when we come to the creation of man that the dis- crepancy between the account in Genesis and the discoveries of modern science strikes us most forcibly. According to Genesis, " God created man in his own image," at a date which, measured by years or genera- tions, is comparatively recent. In the time of Cuvier, on whose authority Mr. Gladstone relies, no geological evidence had been discovered to confute this statement, and the supposed absence of human remains in connection with extinct animals, or in anything older than the merest superficial deposits, was reasonably thought to give it considerable support. But the case was completely altered when hundreds of thousands of undoubted human remains came to be discovered in the gravels of ancient rivers, and securely sealed under beds of stalagmite in caves, associated with remains of extinct animals, and under conditions implying enormous antiquity. No one who has SUPPLEMENTAL CHAPTER. 169 the slightest acquaintance with the subject any longer doubts that Palaeolithic man must have existed at any rate during part of the Glacial period, and in all probability much earlier. His existence on earth must be measured, not by generations or centuries, but by long periods, the units of which cannot be less than ten thousand years. It is equally certain that these primeval men existed in a state of the rudest savagery, and that, instead of falling from a high state, the course of the human race has been that of slow and painful progress upwards from rude and almost bestial beginnings. These discoveries,. of which not even a hint escapes from Mr. Gladstone to show that he is aware of them, have practically revolutionized the attitude of modern thought towards old creeds. It is no longer possible to consider as .inspired revelations, writings which contain views as to man's origin as diametrically opposed to actual facts as the legend of Deucalion and Pyrrha, and very much farther from the truth than the account given in the poem of Lucretius. If it requires some slight acquaintance with nlodern science to recognize fully the impossibilities involved in the account of creation given in the first chapter of Genesis, none is required to perceive the manifest impossibilities of what may be called the second creation of animated life, described in the narrative of the Noachian deluge. Mr. Gladstone makes no reference whatever to this, but it is as integral a part of the Bible as the account of the original creation. What does this narrative tell us ? That God, seeing the wickedness of man, repented of having created him and the other inhabitants of the earth, and determined to destroy them ; but that Noah, the one just man, found grace in His sight, and was warned to construct an ark, or big ship, in which to save from the impending flood himself and family, and a pair, male and , female, of every living thing of all flesh, animals, birds, and reptiles. Another version makes the number of each species taken into the ark seven of each sex of clean animals and of birds, i.e., fourteen instead of two ; but the smaller number may be taken, so as to avoid the appearance of wishing to exaggerate the impossibility of the narra- tive. This being done, the flood came, and covered " all the high hills that were under the whole heaven," utterly destroying every living thing upon the earth, except those who were saved with Noah in the ark. The flood began on the 17th day of the second month say the 17th February and lasted at its height for a hundred and fifty days, the ark grounding on Ararat on the 17th July, and the tops of the other mountains being first seen on the 1st October. The ark was opened, and the animals came forth on the 27th February of the succeeding year, so that they were shut up rather more than twelve months. The account of Noah offering a burnt offering of every clean beast and fowl may be omitted, though clearly inconsistent with the first narra- tive, which says that only one male and one female of each species were preserved ; nor it is necessary to dwell on the very rude anthro- pomorphic conception of God which represents Him as promising never again to destroy the earth because He was pleased by the sweet savor of the roast meat. Compare this narrative with actual facts. In the first place, the number of cubic feet in an ark of the given dimensions is easily calcu- lated, and it is apparent that it would be totally insufficient to accom- modate pairs of all the larger animals, such as elephants, giraffes, 170 MODERN SCIENCE AXD MODERN THOUGHT. rhinoceroses, bisons, buffaloes, oxen of various species, horses, asses, .zebras, quaggas, elks, and the various species of the deer family, elands and other large antelopes, lions, tigers, bears, and other carnivora, to say nothing of all the enormous minor population of the earth, the land birds, reptiles, snails, insects, and so forth, which were all destroyed by a universal deluge flooding the w r hole earth for a year. To say nothing, also, of the vast stores of provender for the herbivora, and flesh for the carnivora, which must have been provided in the ark for more than twelve months' consumption, and of the impossibility of arctic and tropical animals living together for a year / at the same temperature. Nor is the difficulty less, when they emerged from the ark, of seeing how the herbivora could exist until a new vegetation had sprung up on the earth soaked and sodden by being for a year under water, or how the carnivora could exist without preying on the single pairs of herbivorous animals, which were the sole tenants of that earth for long afterwards. Nor is it possible to account for the actual distribution of animal life in different geological provinces if it all radiated from the common centre of a mountain in Armenia. Could the kangaroo, for instance, have jumped at one bound from the top of Ararat to Australia, leaving no trace of its passage in any intermediate district ? Or how can the narrative be reconciled with the fact of the existence, long prior to any possible date of the Noachian deluge, of an enormous variety, both of species and types of land life, which were gradually developed into more and more specialized forms, and which appeared at different periods, grew, flourished, and finally decayed and disappeared? Was the mammoth, whose skeleton, still covered with flesh and hair, was discovered on the frozen banks of the Lena, a descendant of a pair of mammoths who were saved in the ark; or the Elephas meridionalis, whose bones, twice the size of the largest existing elephant, are found in the forest bed at Cromer ; or the anthropoid ape and sabre-toothed tiger of the Miocene; or the palseotherium and anoplotherium of the Eocene, or any of the earlier inhabitants of the earth's land surface ? No stretching of days into periods, or other use of words in a non- natural sense, can in the slightest degree get over the glaring contradiction between the naive and almost infantile story of Noah's ark, and the facts, I will not say of science, but of common sense and common observation, which are patent to every decently well-read schoolboy of the rising generation. The real u dawn of creation " is that traced through three dif- ferent lines of scientific research: First, that of astronomy, showing the progressive condensation of nebulae, nebulous stars, and suns in various stages of their life history. Secondly, that of geology, commencing with the earliest known fossil, the Eozoon Canadiense of the Lauren tian, and continued in a chain; every link of which is firmly welded, through the Silurian, with its abundance of molluscous, crustacean, and vermiform life, and first indication of fishes; the Devonian, with its predominance of fish and first appearance of reptiles; the Mesozoic, with its batrachians; the Secondary formations, in which reptiles of the sea, land, and air pre- ponderated, and the first humble forms of vertebrate land animals began to appear ; and finally the Tertiary, in which mammalian life has become abundant, and type succeeding to type and species SUPPLEMENTAL CHAPTER. 171 to species, are gradually differentiated and specialized, through the Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene periods, until we arrive at the Glacial and Prehistoric periods, and at positive proof of the existence of man. Thirdly, the line of embryology, or development of every individ- ual life, from the primitive speck of protoplasm, and the nucleated cell in which all life originates, passing, as in the parallel c ise of types 'and species, through progressive stages of specialization from the lowest, the amoeba, to the highest, man. who, like all other animals, originates in a cell, and is developed through stages undistinguishable from those of fish, reptile, and mammal, until the cell finally attains the highly specialized development of the quadrumanous, and, last of all, of the human type. In like manner the " dawn of worship" is to be found in the flint hatchets and other rude implements deposited with the dead, as by modern savages, testifying to some sort of belief in spirits and in a future existence. This clearly prevailed in the Neolithic, and possibly in the immensely older Palaeolithic period, though the evidjiice for the latter is at present very weak, and the first object which can be affirmed with any certainty to be an idol or attempt to represent a deity, dates only from the Neolithic period, as do the cannibal feasts, which can be proved to have not infrequently accompanied the inter- ment of important chiefs. For anything beyond this we have to descend to the Historical period, and turn to early monuments, myths, and sacred books. The earliest records by far are those of the Egyp- tian tombs of the first four dynasties, and they tell us little more than this, that with a highly developed civilization, the idea of a future life was very much that of a continuance of the present life, in a tomb which was made to resemble the deceased's actual house, and with surroundings which repeated his actual belongings ; while the whole complicated Egyptian mythology, of symbolized gods and deified animals, was of later origin. If we turn to the earliest mythologies of the Aryan and of the mixed Semitic and other races of Western Asia, we find them plainly originating, to a great extent, in the per- sonification of natural forces, mainly of the sun, on which are engrafted ideas of family, tribal, and national gods, and of deified heroes. Some- times, as the original meaning of the names and attributes of these gods came to be forgotten, the mythologies branched out into innu- merable fables; at other times, among more simple and severe races, or with more philosophic minds in the inner circle of a hereditary priesthood, the fables of polytheism were rejected, and the idea pre- Tailed, either of a unity of nature implying a single author, or of such a preponderance of the national God over all others as led by a differ- ent path to the same result of monotheism. The real merit of the Jewish race and of the Hebrew scriptures is to have conceived this idea earlier, and retained it more firmly, than any of the less philo- sophical and more immoral religions of the ancient world ; and this is a merit of which they can never be deprived, however much the literal accuracy, and consequently the inspiration and miraculous attributes, of these venerable books may be disproved and disappear. Works like this of Mr. Gladstone's, however well intentioned, are in reality profoundly irreligious, for if like the throw of the gambler, who, when the cards or dice go against him, stakes all or nothing on some desperate cast religion is staked on the one issue that in credible 172 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. narratives are true, and were dictated by Divine inspiration, there can be but one result. Every day brings to light fresh discoveries confirm- ing the conclusions of science, and conflicting with the accounts of the creation of the world and man, and of the universal deluge, given in the Old Testament. Every day diffuses a knowledge of these discov- eries more widely among millions of readers. What must be the result if men of "light and leading'' proclaim to the world that if these conclusions of science are true there is an end of religion? "Evidently the same as George Stephenson predicted for the cow who should stand on the rails and try to stop the locomotive, " Yarra awkward for the coo." The really religious writers of the present day are those who, thoroughly understanding and recognizing the facts of science, boldly throw overboard whatever conflicts with them, abandon all theories of inspiration and miraculous interferences with the order of nature, and appeal, in support of religion, to the essential beauty and truth in Christianity underlying the myths and dogmas which have grown up about it ; who, above all, appeal to the fact that it exists and is a product of the evolution of the human mind, satisfying, as nothing else can do so well, many of the purest emotions and loftiest aspirations, which are equally a necessary and inevitable product of that evolution. "PROEM TO GENESIS." Mr. Gladstone's first essay having elicited a crushing and con- clusive reply from Professor Huxley, he followed it up by a second one under the above title, which is chiefly remarkable for the rhetorical dexterity with which he withdraws under a cloud of smoke from the positions rendered untenable by the Professor's heavy artillery, while at the same time he defends the equally untenable positions, not within his opponent's line of fire, by reiterated assertion. Professor Huxley shows that the real facts, as ascertained beyond all doubt by the researches of science, do not correspond with the order of animated creation described in Genesis. Mr. Gladstone admits that this "pulverizes his proposition that there was a scientific con- sensus as to a sequence like that of Genesis, in the production of animal life as between fishes, birds, mammals, and man." He rides off by saying that the writer of the account of creation in Genesis " is not responsible for scientific precision, that nothing can be assigned to him but a statement general, which admits exceptions ; popular, which aims mainly at producing moral impressions ; summary, which cannot but be open to more or less of criticism in detail." In a word, he says, "I think it is a sermon." But hxnv is an account of creation evaporated into a sermon to prove revelation ? Partly by evaporating revelation, which he tells us does not require us to believe that the Bible is strictly and literally true in all its statements, but that it may have a human element of error and uncertainty in the sacred text. This is virtually giving up the whole case, for it opens the door for human reason to inquire at every step, by the ordinary rules of criticism, whether any given statement is part of the divine inspiration, or part of the * human element" of error. Mr. Gladstone sees this, and shrinks from carrying out this line of reasoning to its legitimate conclusions. Accordingly he falls back on so much of his original assertion as has been left undemohshed SUPPLEMENTAL CHAPTER. 173 by Huxley, and endeavors to prove it by repeating it. Admitting that " the statements of Genesis as to plants and reptiles cannot in all points be sustained," he contends that enough remains to prove revelation, notwithstanding these material errors, from the facts, i 'First, that such a record should have been made at all. Secondly, that instead of dwelling on generalities, it has placed itself under the severe conditions of a chronological order, reaching from the past nisus of chaotic matter to the consummated production of a fair and goodly, a furnished and peopled world. Thirdly, that its cosmogony seems, in the light of the nineteenth century, to draw more and more of countenance from the best natural philosophy ; and, Fourthly, that it has described the successive origins of the five great categories of present life with which human experience was and is conversant, in that order which geological authority confirms." The first point may be briefly dismissed. All religions, down to those of the rudest tribes, begin with cosmogonies. That of the Chaldees begins, like that of Genesis, with chaos, describes the separation of sea and land, and ends with the creation of man ; only Bel is said to have made him from clay animated with his own blood, while Jahveh is said to have made him from the dust of the earth. The gist of the question lies in the third and fourth propositions as tested by the second. Now it is precisely this particularity of statement which brings the narrative of Genesis into contradiction with facts. If it had only stated that the universe of sun, moon, stars, and earth had been evolved from chaos, and that life had appeared on the earth in a gradation from the lowest to the highest types, culminating in the creation of man, there would have been nothing in it opposed to modern science, and, on the contrary, it might have been accepted as a wonderful anticipation of its discoveries. But when it states, " under the severe conditions of a chronologi- cal order," that the earth was created on the third day, as defined by an evening and a morning ; and the sun, moon, and stars on a subse- quent day ; and when the vault of heaven is described by a Hebrew word, which, while it expresses the idea of expansion, expresses also that of solidity, sufficient, as we are told both here and in the account of the deluge, to uphold waters and support the heavenly bodies a sense which is given to it by all ancient authors and by the transla- tion of the Septuagint it becomes evident that the statement that "this cosmogony seems, in the light of the nineteenth century, to draw more and more of countenance from the best natural philosophy," is as amazing as that respecting the order of animated creation which has been "pulverized" by Professor Huxley. How could a firmament, which was a mere expanse, support water, and let it down by opening "the windows of heaven," when rain was required for a universal deluge? And how could there be a "day" defined by an "evening and a morning," before the sun had had "assigned to it a certain place and orbit and light-giving power," and if it existed at all, existed only in the form of a diffused and non-lumin* ous nebulous haze? Evening and morning are perfectly definite terms, which imply the existence of the sun and the opening and closing of a natural day of twenty-four hours, either by the apparent revolution of the sun round the earth, or by the real rotation of the earth round its axis, in either case in a "certain place and orbit" of the sun, and with a "light-giving power." 174 MODERN SCIEXCE AXD MODERN THOUGHT. The only attempt to support Mr. Gladstone's original proposition is contained in the reiterated assertion that he is not aware that uuy serious flaw is alleged in the cosmogony of the Proem, and as regards its account of the creation of animated life in the argument that the words probably meant mammals only, and that the Mosaic writer only meant such animals "as were familiarly known to early man." Bub the words are most express; and the serpent, who belongs to the order of reptiles which existed before birds, and from which birds were probably developed, was certainly one of the land animals with which Eastern nations were most familiar, and with which men had the closest connection, as is shown by the narrative of the Garden of Eden, and the traces of N iga, or snake worship, which are found in so many primitive and rude religions. But, after all, the enormous difference between the Biblical account of man's origin and fact comes out most clearly in the narra- tive of Adam's fall and of the Noachian deluge. The impossibilities of the latter have been clearly pointed out ; and it only remains to add that it requires us to believe that all the existing races of mankind Aryan, Semitic, Mongol, Malay, Negro, Negrito, Papuan, American, Australian, and a multitude of others have been developed from one family in less than 4,000 years, while we know, as a positive fact, from the Egyptian temples, that the most marked of these races, the Negro, existed, with all its present char- acteristics, more than 5,000 years ago, and has not varied perceptibly during that period. As regards Adam's fall, the discovery of Palaeolithic man is that which has really given the greatest shock to received theological opinions; for this discovery, which is an entirely new one of the last half century, though now confirmed by innumerable instances, not only flatly contradicts the narratives of recent descent from Adam and Noah, but it assails, in its most vital point, the .whole dogma of Pauline Christianity. The two statements cannot both be true: one, that man has fallen, the other, that he has risen ; one, that he was created in God's image, with high moral and religious faculties, and placed in a garden in a state of innocence and happiness, from which he fell by an act of disobedience, entailing a curse on his descendants only partially redeemed by the atonement ; the other, that he is the product of an evolution, tending ever upwards, over immense geological periods, from savages who chipped their rude flints on the banks of frozen rivers, chased the mammoth and the reindeer on the plains of Southern France, and held their cannibal feasts in caves excavated by small streams which ran 100 feet above their present level. Which is true? And can the book be inspired which gives a totally false account of such a vital matter"? This is the real question, of which Mr. Gladstone's two eloquent essays scarcely even attempt to touch the outer fringe. DRUMMOND'S "NATURAL LAW IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD." It is not surprising that this work has had an immense circulation. It professes to do exactly what multitudes of readers are anxious to see done, viz., to reconcile science and religion, and show that the dogmas of theology are not only not inconsistent with natural laws, but actually based upon and identical with them. SUPPLEMENTAL CHAPTER. 175 Professor Drummond brings to this task many qualifications. lie enters the arena, not like the great majority of orthodox writers, armed only with the obsolete bows and arrows of theological infalli- bility, but equipped with the improved weapons of modern scientific research. He understands what is meant by laws of nature, and does not misrepresent or ignore them. He is learned, he is candid, and he is sincere. His style is clear, and his arguments and phraseology are such that, while the few who have scientific knowledge can understand and appreciate them, the many, who do not understand, cannot fail to find them profound and convincing where they chime in with their preconceived opinions. It is the more necessary, therefore, for those whose sole object is that truth should prevail, to examine the work closely, and endeavor to show clearly what it aims to accomplish, how far it succeeds, and how far its conclusions are vitiated by underlying fallacies. The fundamental idea of Professor Drummond's work is summed up in its title: "Natural Law in the Spiritual World." The object is to prove that the same laws of nature which prevail throughout the organic aud inorganic worlds of science extend, with an unshaken and identical continuity, into the world of spirits, and give positive and scientific proof of the dogmas of religion. To establish this it is clear that the fundamental requisite is to begin with a precise definition and sufficient proof of the two terms of the proposition: "What is 'Natural Law?' What is the 'Spiritual World?"' If, for instance, the proposition were that the same identical law of gravity prevails in the astronomical and geological worlds, we should have to begin by having a clear idea of what we mean by astronomy and what by geology. Astronomy means the knowledge of the sun and its planets, of satellites, comets, meteors, and those distant suns and systems called stars and nebulae as far as their nature is disclosed to us by the telescope and spectroscope. The law of gravity is shown to prevail universally throughout this world, by experiments in the fall of heavy bodies, and calculations from the observed orbits of all heavenly bodies, from the solar system to the remotest double stars. Geology, again, is the science of the formation of the planet which we inhabit, with its succession of strata upon strata, slowly deposited, frequently depressed and elevated, and identified by various types of life, appearing, growing, declining, and dying out, in the different formations. The prevalence of the identical law of gravity throughout the vast periods of time embraced by geology is easily proved from the phenomena of denudation and stratification. It is clear that heavy bodies have always gravitated, as they now gravitate, towards the earth's centre, and that, throughout those remote periods, mountains have been washed down by rivers into the sea as they are now being washed down and there subsided into stratified masses, which have been brought up again by repeated upheavals. But to feel this certainty, we must have a clear idea of geology, and not a vague one, which may include all manner of catastrophes, miraculous interferences, and other phenomena unknown from any experience of existing nature. Apply this to Professor Drummond's proposition. Its first term is clear enough; there can be no doubt what he means by natural 'laws, and no one can define them more forcibly and distinctly. 176 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. He tells us: "No man can study modern science without a change coming over his view of truth. What impresses him about nature ig its solidity. He is then standing upon actual things, among fixed laws/' And again: "There is a sense of solidity about a law of nature which belongs to nothing else in the world. Here at last, amid all that is shifting, is one thing that is sure; one thing outside ourselves, unbiassed, unprejudiced, uninfluenced by like or dislike, by doubt or fear." But how of the other term of the proposition, the "Spiritual World?" Here there is no attempt at definition, and even the fact of its existence is asserted and not proved. In his Introduction, all he says about it is that "his proposal does not include an attempt to prove the existence of the spiritual world. Does that need proof* '" No, if you are content to .keep to the sphere of theology, and accept authority or intuition as sufficient proofs. But yes, if you appeal to Caesar and asked to be tried by Caesar's laws ; in other words, if you attempt to prove religious dogmas by scientific reasonings. He tells us, "The facts of the spiritual world are as real to thousands as the facts of the natural world." So were the facts of witchcraft and demonology. Does it prove them to be true? How is it possible to decide whether certain laws do, or do not, apply to the spiritual world, as long as we are left in entire uncertainty as to what may be meant by it, and whether it is intended to include everything that is not strictly matter, such as human consciousness, individuality, intellect, and morality ; or to be confined to the particular tenets of one particular religious sect? How can we argue with a man about the laws of the spiritual world, without knowing whether he is a Plato, a Confucius, or a Comte, who embraces the whole sphere of humanity ; or a Muggletonian or Plymouth Brother, whose idea of it is limited to the world of those who have been touched by Divine grace to believe in the special doctrines of his own minute congregation ? In the present instance Professor Drummond's conception of the "Spiritual World" is to be gathered, not from any precise definition, but from a careful perusal of his entire work, and by a gradual process of eliminating all that he affirms to form no part of it. Thus, we gradually discover that all the natural elements of human- ity, all that can be discovered by natural reason, all that can be explained and demonstrated, lie totally outside his idea of the "Spiritual World." "What now," he says, " specifically distinguishes a Christian man from a non-Christian man ? Not a higher morality, nobler character, benevolent sympathies, and reverent spirit. The distinction between them is the same as between the organic and inorganic, the living and the dead." And again: " Were we to construct a scientific classification, science would com- pel us to arrange all natural man, moral or immoral, educated or vulgar, as one family. But the spiritual man is removed from this family utterly, by the possession of an additional characteristic." What is this characteristic? SUPPLEMENTAL CHAPTER. 177 The Professor asks and answers the question in the following terms : " What is the something extra which constitutes spiritual life ? It is Christ. He that hath the Son hath life." He repeats this over and over again with ever-increasing emphasis. " The earthly mind may be of noble calibre, enriched by culture, high-toned, virtuous, and pure. But if it know not God I " " The Christian is an unique phenomenon. You cannot account for him. And if you could, he would not be a Christian." If so, I am afraid the Professor's attempt to account for him by biogenesis and other natural laws, must be set down as endeavors to extinguish this " unique phenomenon," and banish Christianity from the world ; for, if this definition be true, there would no longer be any Christians, if Christianity could be accounted for by rational argu- ments. But it would be unfair to take advantage of a slip of the pen, or exaggeration of language, and we pass this over to inquire what, after these explanations, Professor Drummond's " Spiritual World " really amounts to. It is evident that it is simply our old friend, the " Shorter Cate- chism," in a scientific dress. In other words, it is the world of Calvinis- tic Christianity of the peculiar system of theology which turns on the ideas of original sin, fall, redemption, regeneration, election, and predestination. The Professor does not shrink from setting forth this theory in all its grim repulsiveness. " It is an old-fashioned theology," he says, " which divides the world in this way, which speaks of men as living and dead, lost and saved a stern theology all but fallen into disuse. Nevertheless, the grim distinction must be retained. It is a scientific distinction. He that hath not the Son hath not life." That is to say, that no amount of moral excellence or intellectual superiority, ever has saved or ever can save the natural man from the curse of death, entailed on him by Adam's act of disobedience, and that a limited number of elect only can escape from it and inherit eternal life by virtue of the atonement,' and " the breath of God blowing where it listeth, touching with its mystery of life the dead souls of men, and bearing them across the bridgeless gulf between the natural and the spiritual." This proposition, he tells us, is, in the first place, made known to us and proved by revelation, and then confirmed by showing that it is the result of the same identical natural laws as those which prevail in the domain of science. The law on which he mainly relies is that of biogenesis, which, he says, " is the fundamental law of life for both the natural and spiritual worlds." Biogenesis means, that as far as is at present known, all life seems to originate from pre-existing life, and that the passage from the inorganic world of dead matter to the organic world of life, is only made in some unexplained way, which implies the intervention of some agency not reducible to known laws of science, and which therefore may be regarded as supernatural. From this he argues that the same supernatural agency must be assumed to continue throughout higher spheres of existence, and bridge the passage from the natural to the 178 MODERX SCIEXCE AXD MODERX THOUGHT. spiritual world just as it bridges that from atoms of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen into protoplasm. The first remark is that biogenesis is by no means a demonstrably certain and universal law like that of gravity. It simply amounts to this, that up to the present time no demonstration has been given that life can be produced otherwise than from pre-existing life ; and that certain experiments which appeared to establish the reality of spon- taneous generation, have been shown to be fallacious. But the best scientific authorities who have been foremost in detecting the fallacy of these experiments, are also foremost in declaring that as a question of probability and not of positive proof, their belief is that at some earlier stage of the earth's existence, under conditions of heat, pres- sure, and electricity, different from those we can now produce in our laboratories, this passage from the inorganic to the organic has taken place, and no one would be greatly surprised to hear to-morrow of some experiment by which protoplasm had really been manufactured from chemical elements. It is a long way from this to the certainty and universality of laws like those of gravity and the conservation of energy. But waiving this objection, and supposing that biogenesis was really a certain law, what would it teach us ? By whatever process we attempt to sound the depths of the universe, we soon arrive at the end of our tether, and are arrested by the Great Unknown, which we have no faculties enabling us to penetrate. From nebulae to stars, from stars to suns, from suns to planets, from planets down through molecules to atoms, we can explore our way, and connect all phenom- ena by continuous laws. But what lies behind the atoms, what are they, how came they there ? We know as little as we do of life, if there be life, in Saturn ; or of what space may contain beyond the limits reached by the most powerful telescope. If biogenesis ^really be a law, it simply brings us one step nearer to this Great Unknown by following the line of living matter up to protoplasm, than if we follow that of inorganic matter up to atoms. It is no more possible to prove theological dogmas from the laws of protoplasm that it is from the atomic theory. All attempts to prove the extension of natural laws from one sphere into another which is not in pari materia with it, really resolve themselves into analogies, and no one is more aware than Professor Drummondof the danger in such cases of trusting to analogy. He says : " The position we have been led to take up is not that spiritual laws are analogies to natural laws, but that they are the same laws." And again : " Nothing could be more false both to science and religion than attempts to adjust the two spheres by making out ingenious points of contact in detail." The difference between analogies and proofs where the subject is not in pari materia, will be at once apparent if we consider the ana- logies between the world of nature and that of the human mind. Poetry consists, to a great extent, in the faculty of vividly conceiving and expressing such analogies. "When Byron compares the flash of lightning in a midnight storm among the Alps, to the Light of a dark eye in woman, it is beautiful poetry. SUPPLEMENTAL CHAPTER. 179 But does this prove that because the tumult of passion in a woman often ends, like the thunderstorm, in a shower of tears, therefore the same identical laws of electricity which cause the rain cause the tears ? This is Professor Drummond's proposition, and its fallacy will be at once apparent. Again, the danger of founding, religions on analogies will be apparent, if we consider what the consequences would be of extending this mode of reasoning to other religions that Christianity, and other laws than biogenesis. There is no more certain or more universal law than that of the "conservation of energy," but if the human soul is not a mere attribute of matter, but ail independent energy, it follows, if this law extends to it, that it can never die, but only be transformed. The Calvinistic theory of death for the immense majority, and life for the few elect, disappears, and instead of it we have a religion like that of the Brah- mins ,and Buddhists, teaching the transmigration of souls from one form of life to another, and the final absorption of all the separate rills of individual life in the great ocean of Pantheism. Again, polarity is a most universal law, and here we really do know that it extends not only throughout the inorganic and organic worlds, but also into what may by called the natural spiritual world the world of laws and morals, of arts and sciences, of practical conduct, of social and political problems. There is scarcely a question to which the apologue does not apply of the knights who fought because they could each see only one side of the shield, and with reference to which true wisdom has not, in the words of the poet, to Turn to scorn with lips divine The falsehood of extremes. What follows? Shall we embrace the religion of Zoroaster, which certainly gives us the best embodiment of this all-prevailing law, and presents it to us in the form best adapted for a great many of the realities of practical life ? The real truth is that religion, in the sense in which Professor Drummond uses the words " spiritual life," and in which the majority of the Christian world accept it, can only be proved by revelation. This he admits himself, for he says : " The revelation must be assumed. The information, in the first instance, must be vouchsafed as a revelation." The truth therefore of any system of theology, which professes to teach things undiscoverable by ordinary human reason, must depend on two things. Firstly, the evidence for the revelation by which it is made known. Secondly, its accordance with other known and undoubted natu- ral laws. The second point may be considered first, for, although natural laws cannot of themselves discover or prove dogmas beyond the province of natural reason, yet, as all truth must be consistent with itself, it is not possible to believe in any revelation which professes to teach things absolutely irreconcilable with fundamental laws, either of the scientific or of the moral and intellectual worlds. No educated man could sincerely believe a theology which taught that the earth was flat and not round, that the law of gravity was that of the inverse cube 180 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. and not the square of the distance, or that cruelty and ingratitude are virtues and not vices. Tried by this test, the weakness of Professor Drummond"s assump- tion of a "spiritual world," based on the lines of Calvinistic theology, is at once apparent. Stripped of high-sounding theological language, and stated in plain English, what does it amount to? Suppose we read in Herodotus a narrative how some great Asiatic king of kings say, Cambyses, the son of Cyrus offended by some act of disobedience on the part of the governor of a province, made a decree sentencing all the inhabitants of that province to be put to death on attaining a certain age; how the monarch's only son interceded for them with his father, but was told that the laws of the Medes and Persians could not be changed, and that none of the inhabitants of the province could escape the penalty unless the son offered himself as a sacrifice and atonement for them ; how the son, being a noble and generous character, offered himself accordingly, and was put to a pain- ful death ; and thereupon the monarch remitted the penalty, not to all, but to a very small percentage of the inhabitants of the province, selected by lot, or by his favor, "blowing where it listed." Will Professor Drummond, or any one else, tell us how this narra- tive differs from the Calvinistic scheme of theology, or how it can be reconciled with those moral laws of justice, mercy, and loving-kindness, which have come to be fundamental laws in the conceptions and con- sciences of all civilized races of mankind ? If it were possible to conceive of any revelation of such a scheme, supported by evidence so cogent and irresistible that it was impos- sible to doubt it, the only logical conclusion would be that the divine scheme of the universe was that of Zoroaster ; a polarity between the two opposing principles of good and evil, the latter embodied in the father and the former in the son. But the practical conclusion would probably be either blank scepticism, or a belief that there was a mis- take somewhere, either in the revelation, or in the interpretation of it. This, at any rate, is clear, that the evidence for such a revelation must be of the most cogent and convincing character to induce any reasonable man, who approached the subject without prepossession, to entertain it for a moment, and that without such evidence no possible analogy between the scheme and some one or two out of the many laws of nature, could induce him to believe it. Now, this is precisely the point which the defenders of orthodox theology ignore or overlook. The ever-increasing scepticism of the age, of which they complain, is based, not upon refined philosophical speculations, or abstruse arguments, but upon certain plain and matter-of-fact considerations, which the discoveries of modern science have forced on the minds of thinking men. Orthodox Christianity is based on revelation ; what is revelation based on? On the Bible the whole fabric depends on the belief that the Bible is an inspired record conveying a Divine message from God to man. Such a record it is clear cannot contain errors and contradictions upon material points affecting the whole scope and tenor of the mes- sage. If it appear, upon strong primd facie evidence of scientific laws and facts, that it does contain such errors and contradictions, faith must be shaken ; and the first condition of restoring it must be to show, either that these scientific facts are mistaken, or that the SUPPLEMENTAL CHAPTER. 181 accounts in the Bible can be reconciled with them. Thus, for instance, the account of the creation of the material universe, earth, sun, moon, and stars, given in Genesis, seems to be absolutely inconsistent with the real facts as ascertained by astronomy and geology that of the animated creation still more so, whether as described in Genesis, or even more palpably in the narrative of the deluge, and what may be called the second creation of life, in which all the varieties of the human species and the whole innumerable varieties of animal land life are said to be descendants of single pairs who were pris- oned together in the ark for more than twelve months, and whose progeny radiated only some 4,000 years ago from a single centre on a mountain in Armenia. And most destructive of all to old beliefs, the recent discoveries of the remains of Palaeolithic man shatter into fragments the account of man's descent from an Adam created quite recently, in God's image, with high faculties, in a state of innocence and happiness, from which lie fell by an act of disobedience ; and again, still more palpably, from a Noah who was saved in an ark at a elate not nearly so remote from us as the historical monuments of the earlier Egyptian dynasties. If the facts really are that man's existence on the earth can be traced back for enormous periods, during which he has slowly but constantly progressed from a state of the rudest savagery towards civilization and morality, how can this be reconciled with the theory of Adam's fall, which is the foundation of the whole superstructure of redemption and regeneration? And how can the facts be denied, unless we are prepared to admit that the many hundreds of thousands of Palaeolithic remains found from Europe to China, have been placed there by a conspiracy of all the geologists of the world, to forge proofs contradictory of the Mosaic narrative? Again, if we turn to the New Testament, is it possible to consider writings inspired which contain the most distinct and definite prophecy that a certain event, the end of the world, would take place within a certain definite period, the lifetime of some of the existing generation, when, in point of fact, it did not occur, and has not occurred, for nineteen centuries afterwards? Or, how can we believe them inspired, if some of the principal witnesses say of the cardinal miracle of the ascension, that they were commanded to go to Galilee to witness it, while others, who describe it fully and in detail, say that they were commanded not to go to Galilee, but to remain in Jerusalem, where the miracle actually took place ? Or how can we account for the oldest manuscript of the Gospel, which is certainly one of the nearest, if not the nearest, to the original narrative, that according to St. Mark, omitting altogether any mention of any miraculous event connected with the resurrection ? These are the sort of difficulties which force themselves on the minds of all who have the most elementary acquaintance with the facts of modern science and the researches of Biblical* criticism. They are plain questions which require a plain answer ; and, until it is given, it is idle to appeal to authority and tradition, or to think that any amount of ecclesiastical scolding, or appeals to misty metaphysics, or far-fetched analogies to natural laws, can restore the simple creed of our ancestors, or prevent the faith of educated men from becoming day fainter and fainter. If an answer can be given, by all means 182 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. let it be given. "Why should men, like Professor Drummond, who understand what natural laws really mean, and are conversant with the discoveries of modern science, be content to base the whole case for their "spiritual world" on texts from St. Paul and St. John, leaving the real foundations of belief to be defended by champions who rush into the field with the intrepidity of ignorance, and injure the cause they advocate by the obvious weakness of their arguments'? Let Professor Drummond, or any one else who is thoroughly acquainted with the latest discoveries of astronomy, geology, zoology, biology, palaeontology, and Biblical criticism, face the real difficulties of orthodox belief, and show by reasonable arguments how science and religion can be reconciled, and he will meet with no prejudiced opposition. On the contrary, the great majority of mankind, includ- ing men of science, will be only too glad to be able to exchange the fainter for the larger hope. Because a man is acquainted with the facts of science he is not enamoured of annihilation, and would be delighted to find some secure basis on which to rest hopes of a future life, and of again seeing lost and loved faces ; nor could he object to any additional sanction from revelation being given to the Sermon on the Mount, or St. Paul's definition of Christian charity. But, if he is acquainted with these facts, and at all imbued with the spirit of scientific inquiry which characterizes the age in which he lives, he asks for evidence ; not absolutely certain or demonstrative evidence, like that for a proposition of Euclid, but reasonable evidence, such as, standing after being called into court and cross-examined, would satisfy a competent and impartial jury. Such evidence has not hitherto been forthcoming, and assuredly is not supplied by this work of Professor Drummond's. In the mean- time objections not captious, but real, solid, reasonable objections are multiplying every day ; and every attempt to answer them makes it only clearer that the old theology rests on assertion and authority, and not on fact and argument. When the point of attachment of a chain has given way it becomes almost a work of supererogation to test the strength of each separate link. It may be sufficient to say that, starting from the assumption that the spiritual world is identical with the Calvinistic creed, and that the truth of this creed is proved by revelation and confirmed by biogenesis, the rest of Professor Drummond's work consists of attempts to preach science into this creed, and show that its peculiar tenets have analogies in other natural laws. Thus, the law of degeneration, by which organs dwindle and dis- appear by want of use, is used as an analogy for the decay of faculties by neglect, which, if cultivated, might have raised the soul to a higher level. The law of growth is quoted in support of the doctrine of elec- tion, as showing that in either case the growth is not the result of conscious effort, but of some miraculous gift conferred by the grace of God "blowing where it listeth." We cannot, "by taking thought, add a cubic to our stature ; " and by the same law we are told that we cannot by any amount of conscious effort, raising us to a purer life and higher morality bring ourselves one step nearer to salvation. It is true this is flatly contradicted by the previous law, which attri- butes the loss of salvation to neglect ; but such trifles as flat contradic- tions do not much affect those who attempt to "read science inta SUPPLEMENTAL CHAPTER. 183 religion," and they easily escape detection if wrapped up in long scientific words and lubricated by an unctuous theology. Death is the subject of the next chapter, and the argument is that, as death may be considered in the last resort to be the ceasing to be in correspondence with the environment, it is the inevitable fate of all who, not having been led by Divine grace to adopt the Calvinistic creed, are not in harmony with God ; while, on the other hand, eternal life is the necessary attribute of all who have thus been brought into harmony with an eternal and unchanging environment. It is wonderful how high-sounding theories are apt to collapse when touched by the Ithuriel spear of plain English. This of death being the ceasing to correspond with the environment simply amounts to this : that if we had not died we should be still alive a truism which does not advance us much towards a solution of the great problem of a future life. To the ordinary apprehension of ordinary men the question of a future life means this: shall we, after death, retain the consciousness, or personal identity, which in this life distinguishes each individual from the surrounding universe. The practical test most would try it by is shall be able to meet and recognize those whom we have loved and lost? The only elements reason is able to supply towards this moment- ous question are that, as far as our experience and knowledge extend, this life of conscious personal identity is indissolubly connected with a material organ the brain. It did not exist before we were born ; it only came gradually into existence as the infant brain grew and received impressions ; it is suspended when the action of the brain is suspended, as in dreamless sleep and suspended animation; it is strangely distorted or duplicated in abnormal conditions of the brain, as in trance or hypnotism. What will become of it when the brain is dissolved into its elements'? No voice comes from beyond the grave to tell us. It is the mystery of mysteries. Behind the veil, behind the veil ! It is simply childish to tell us that the unknown can be solved by any analogy, more or less fanciful and far-fetched, to the natural laws which bind together phenomena which we really do know. Because matter cannot be created or destroyed, but only transformed, what does this tell . us as to whether personal identity will be continued after death, or annihilated, or absorbed in the great ocean of an all- pervading spirit ? The next chapter is on mortification. This hardly takes the form of scientific argument, but is substantially a sermon on the text of "If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out." As far as any argument goes, the inference, as stated by Professor Drummond himself, seems to be that the best course would be for a man, directly he felt the Tivifying influence of Divine grace, to commit suicide, and thus escape from the old environment of the natural man into the safe refuge of eternal life. If, in condescension to human weakness, this extreme remedy is not adopted, the next best course is "to die as much as he can," and withdraw from all the duties, affections, interests, and pleasures of natural life, into a rigid asceticism. To become a Christian fakir is the ideal set before us for those who have not the courage to adopt the more complete remedy of suicide. 184 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. The chapter on eternal life is a continuation of the same argu- ment as that on death. If Herbert Spencer, in a philosophical discussion on life and death, tells us that with an eternal correspondence between an organism and its environment the organism would live for ever, he simply tells us, in abstract terms, that if there were no cause for death we should continue to live. This, Professor Drummond calls "one of the most startling achievements of recent science, and a contribution of immense moment to the religious mind." No one would probably be more surprised than Mr. Herbert Spencer to find that this generalization of his had been accepted as a positive scientific proof of the " Shorter Catechism." The Professor is much too apt to forget the sage aphorism which implies to philo- sophical and theological speculations, as well as to more sublunary matters: "First catch your hare." First prove the reality of your spiritual life, and it will be time to consider the different scientific sauces with which it may be dressed up. In what possible way does Mr. Herbert Spencer's generalization affect the question whether the Bible is inspired ; whether it is a true revelation of things otherwise unknowable ; and if it be, whether the Calvinistic creed is the true interpretation of it ? All these are ques- tions which require to be established by solid proof, before we can even enter on the discussion of whether anything can be be found in scientific laws or philosophical definitions, which may be thought to afford a more or less fanciful analogy to its peculiar dogmas. After eternal life comes environment, and here, perhaps, the con- trast between the scientific lecturer and the popular preacher comes out more sharply than in any other chapter. The first half is taken up by enumerating instances of the dependence of organisms on their environment. He shows how the color of animals is modified by their surroundings; how the polar bear is white, the tiger striped, the flounder of sandy hue ; how, without air, there could be no mammals, without water no fish, without environment no life. And then he jumps at once to this astounding corollary, that these facts are a mere scientific re-statement of the saying of Christ : " Without me ye can do nothing ; " and the rest of the chapter is very much in the tone of an ordinary sermon on the text of the "lillies of the field," or, "take no thought for the morrow," inculcating absolute dependence on the spiritual environment, "which is God." Conformity to type. The scientific portion of this chapter is based on the fact that, within a limited range of time types breed true, and species of animal life are distinguished from one another by differences which remain constant and admit of classification. The theological inference drawn is that, " As the bird-life builds up a bird the image of itself, so the Christ-like builds up a Christ the image of Himself, in the inward nature of man." The practical conclusion is that this establishes the doctrine of predestination. <4 -Whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son." He adds: "One must confess that the originality of the entire New Testament conception is most startling." No wonder, for to any ordinary mind it must appear startling to be told that predestination is a certain fact because dogs are not bred from birds' eggs. SUPPLEMENTAL CHAPTER. 185 To establish even the faintest analogy to the Christ-life which is assumed, it would be requisite to prove that higher types have invariably been evolved from lower ones, by some miraculous influence trans- forming at once a certain number of favored individuals. Directly the contrary is known to be the case. Types have arisen, flourished, in some cases decayed and died out, in others been transformed, not by any sudden process, but by the slow accumulation over long periods of time, of individual peculiarities, accumulated and fixed by the action of heredity and environment. Bird-life was not always bird-life; it began as reptilian life, and the Archceopteryx is more of a lizard than of a bird. If "conformity to type" really taught anything, it would tell rather in favor of death than of life, for it is certain that many highly organized types of life have died out and disappeared during past geological ages, and science, in the case of the moon, which being a smaller body than the earth has gone though its course of evolution quicker, points rather to ultimate death than to the passage into a higher stage of existence, of all suns, planets, and their inhabitants. But it would be as unscientific to draw conclusions from this, or from the law by which all energy tends to run down into one uniform ocean of rest, as temperatures become equalized, in favor of death as the law of the Unknown, as it is for Professor Drummond to draw from the same premises the conclusion of a Christ-life. It is either altogether unknown, or known only by revelation, and the first condition of the problem is to prove the revelation. Parasitism and semi-parasitism. These chapters give, in much detail, instances of the natural law by which organisms who take life too easily and lean on others for sup- port, degenerate and fall low in the scale of existence. Thus the hermit crab, who is too lazy to make his own shell, and borrows the cast-off shell of some mollusk, loses the shell-secreting faculty, and falls behind the more laborious common crab. This is called semi-parasitism, while parasitism proper extends to the cases where the animal lives in another living animal, and d^wnerates into a mere sac, absorbing nourishment and laying eggs. The conclusions drawn from this collection of interesting facts are certainly most extraordinary. " Roman Catholicism is an organi- zation specially designed to induce the parasitic habit in the souls < of men. It offers the masses a molluscous shell." Even more startling^ it is to be told that "one of the things in the religious world which tends most strongly to induce the parasitic habit is going to church" The italics are not mine but the Professor's. And again : " In those churches, especially when all parts of the worship are subordinated to the sermon, this species of parasitism is peculiarly encouraged." Nay, more, the better the preacher the greater is the danger, and if " Providence had not mercifully delivered the Church from too many great men in its pulpits," the consequences would have been most disastrous to a large circle of Christian people. Church-going Chris- tians may perhaps find some consolation in the obvious fact, that if parasitism be such a deadly danger its extremest form would be found in the very spiritual life which Professor Drummond is attempting to prove. A more complete analogy, to the parasitic sac cannot be found than that of a man who, fastening on to the Calvinistic creed, and arriving at the conviction that he is one of the elect, proceeds, as the 186 MODERX SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. Professor advises, " to die as much as he can," and abstracts himself from all the interests and duties of his natural environment. The chapters are. chiefly interesting as showing the length to which a learned and sincere man, who starts from the predetermina- tion to believe a particular creed, can go on inventing arguments in its support, which, if they were worth anything, would really be most conclusive against it. Classification. The argument of this last chapter is not very apparent. No doubt all the facts of the inorganic and organic worlds, and those relating to natural man, admit of being arranged and classified. Religions also may bo classified so far as they relate to known facts. Thus Mahometanism and Christianity may be classified as two of the world's religions, for there is no doubt of the fact that there are many millions both of Mahometans and of Christians. Or, again, religions may be classified as monotheistic or polytheistic, for, as a matter of fact, both have existed. But this tells us nothing of their intrinsic or relative truth. So, if we assume the existence of Professor Drummond's spiritual world, those who belong to it, or even without assuming its existence, those who believe in it, may fairly be classed as a distinct sect from the rest of mankind. But this no more proves its reality than the classification of negroes as fetish-worshippers proves the truth of fetish worship. As usual, he has to fall back on texts, and quotes from St. John and St. Paul, sayings which seem to establish the reality of a wide distinction between carnal and spiritual life. It might fairly be asked how we can be certain that many of these sayings are not merely tho highly-colored metaphorical expressions in which the Eastern mind invariably clothes its ideas, and whether they ought to be taken in the strict and literal sense, which the words present to the more practical and scientific European intellect. But apart from this question, how does the fact that natural phenomena admit of classification, advance in the slightest degree the proposition that, in addition to the known inorganic and organic king- doms, there must be a third unknown kingdom, which may be best designated as the " Kingdom of God? '' There may or may not be such a kingdom, but assuredly, apart from revelation, we can no more prove or disprove from natural laws, that we shall live after death, than we can that we have lived before birth. It would be easy, taking each chapter in detail, to show the fallacies involved in many of the analogies, and the extent to which scientific facts have been disturbed by the preconceived determination to make them square with the theory of a " Spiritual Life." For instance, when in order to prove the doctrine of eternal life, we are told, " that as we ascend in the scale of life we also rise in the scale of longevity," forgetting that, in this case, the parrot and the tortoise would take precedence of man as heirs of immortality. Or again, when to prove original sin and redemption, we are told that there is in human nature a principle constantly dragging it down to a lower level, which can only be counteracted by the Christ-life; forgetting that long before Christ appeared, humanity had risen, intel- lectually, from the fabrication of stone hatchets to the perfection of tools and technical skill shown in the pyramids ; and morally, from the cannibal feasts of the cavern of Chaleux to the ethics of a Socrates and a Plato. But objections of detail are irrelevant, when it is so obvious that SUPPLEMENTAL CHAPTER. 187 the whole edifice of Professor Drummond's superstructure rests on the assumption that the spiritual life of his definition is a proved and undoubted fact. This again rests on the assumption that certain texts, quoted almost entirely from the writings of two of the many writers whose works constitute the Bible, St. Paul and St. John, are inspired revela- tions of the word of God, and therefore absolutely and certainly true. Take this away, and nothing remains of the peculiar " Spiritual World" and " Christ-life," which are the axioms upon which he builds up every one of his supposed analogies to natural laws. For we can hardly call proof the assertion that these axioms are self-evident to what he admits to be an almost infinitesimally small portion of the whole world, and even of the Christian world. If this were proof it would apply equally to every religion and every superstition, or sect of religion, that has ever existed in the world. And in the same manner the analogies would apply as well, or in many cases better, to other totally different forms of religious belief. This has been already shown generally of his main proposition, and it can be shown in detail of each one of the natural laws which form the subject of the separate chapters. For instance, those of degeneration and parasitism fit in far better with what maybe called the Catholic Christianity of the great majority, which places works above faith, and seeks to rise to a higher level by * strenuous and persistent effort, than with a theory which makes salva- tion depend on a sudden miraculous act of Divine grace, fixed by pre- destination, or "blowing where it listeth." Or, if a learned Brahmin or Buddhist read the chapter on morti- fication, he would exclaim: "Why, here is my faith, aud the essence of my religion." Why does the holy fakir sit naked in the rain and wind, with his hands clasped till the nails grow through the flesh, or upraised till the muscles become rigid, if it be not to " die as much as hie can," detach himself from the evil environment of the natural world, and so anticipate the time when his little rill of illusive individual existence may be absorbed in the mighty ocean of the universal .Spirit? And so of each of the chapters. Better analogies could readily be found for each of them in other creeds ; better, because they would not be mutually contradictory, as these are in assigning in one place persistent effort, and in another, asceticism and passive acquiescence in predestined grace, as the conditions of attaining spiritual life. The truth is, as we have already said, that Professor Drummond, like so many other theological writers, begins at the wrong end. There is absolutely no foundation for his superstructure, except in the assured belief: First, in revelation as taught mankind by an inspired book ; Secondly, in the particular interpretation given to it by the Calvinistic creed. Let him begin at the beginning, and lay the foundation stone, solidly and securely, and it will be time to examine whether the edifice he has built upon it is likely to stand, or is destined to be one of the many enthusiastic speculations, which, in his own words, speak- ing of his own creed, "rise into prominence from time to time, become the watchwords of insignificant parties, and die down ultimately for -want of lives to live them." THE Humboldt Library of Science is the only publication of its kind, the only one containing popular scientific works at low prices. For the most part it contains only works of acknowledged excellence, by authors of the first rank in the world of science. Such works are landmarks destined to stand forever in the history of Mind. Here, in truth, is " strong meat for them that are of full age." In this series are well represented the writings of DARWIN, HUXLEY, SPENCER, TYNDALL, PROCTOR, CLIFFORD, CLODD, BAGEHOT, BAIN, BATES, WALLACE, TRENCH, ROMANES, GRANT ALLEN, BALFOUR STEWART, GEIK IC , HINTON, SULLY, FLAMMARION, , ICTON, WILLIAMS, WILSON, and other leaders of thought in our time. As well might one be a mummy in the tomb of the Pharaohs as pretend to live the life of the nineteenth century without communion of thought with these its Master Minds. Science has in our time invaded every domain of thought and research, throwing new light upon the problems of PHILOSOPHY, THEOLOGY, MAN'S HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, SOCIETY, MEDICINE. In short, producing a revolution in the intellectual and moral world* No educated person, whatever his calling, can afford to keep himself out, of the main current of contemporary scientific research and exposition. The price of the several numbers is fifteen cents ^ach (double numbers thirty cents), which is less than one tenth what is charged by London and New York publishers for exactly the same reading- matter. THE HUMBOLDT LIBRARY is published monthly, and mailed free to any address in the United States, Canada, or Mexico, on receipt of $1.50. To Great Britain, France, Japan, &c., at $1.75 a year. Subscribers get twelve numbers as they appear, single or double. Subscriptions can commence at any time within the current year. THE HUMBOLDT PUBLISHING CO.. 28 Lafayette Place, New York. CATALOGUE OF TriE riuMBOLBT LIBRARY y v OF POPULAR SCIENCE. Containing the works of the foremost scientific writers of the age. The Great Classics of Modern Thought. Strong meat for them that are of full age. Price, Fifteen Cents per number, except as otherwise noted in this catalogue. No. 1. LIGHT SCIENCE FOR LEISURE HOURS.-A Series of Familiar Essays on Scientific Subjects, Natural Phenomena, Ac. By RICHARD A. PROCTOR, B.A., Camb., F.E.A.S., author of "-The Sun," "Other Worlds than Ours," "Saturn," &c. Strange Discoveries respecting the Aurora. The Earth a Magnet. Our Chief Timepiece losing Time. Encke the Astronomer. Venus on the Sun's Face. Recent Solar Researches. Government Aid to Science. American Alms for British Science. The Secret of the North Pole. Is the Gulf Stream a Myth? Floods in Switzerland. CONTENTS. The Tunnel through Mont Cenis. The Greatest Sea -Wave ever known. The Usefulness of Earthquakes. The Earthquake in Peru. A Great Tidal Wave. Deep-Sea Dredgings. Tornadoes. Vesuvius. The Forcing Power of Rain. A Shower of Snow-Crystals. Long Shots. Influence of Marriage on the Death-Rate. The Topographical Survey of India. A Ship Attacked by a Sword- fish. The Safety-Lamp. The Dust we have to Breathe. Photographic Ghosts. The Oxford and Cambridge Rowing Styles. Betting on Horse-Races; or, the State of the Odds. Squaring the Circle. The New Theory of Achilles' Shield. No. 2. THE FORMS OF WATER IN CLOUDS AND RIVERS, ICE AND GLACIERS. B 7 JoHN TYNDALL, LL.D., F.R.S., Professor of Natural Philos- ophy in the Royal Institution, London. With nineteen illustrations drawn under the direction of the author. Clouds. Rains, and Rivers. The Waves of Light. Oceanic Distillation. Tropical Rains. Architecture of Snow. Architecture of Lake Ice. Ice Pinnacles, Towers, and Chasms. CONTENTS. The Motion of Glaciers. Likeness of Glacier Motion to River Motion. Changes of Volume of Water by Heat and Cold. The Molecular Mechanism of Water-congelation. Sea Ice and Icebergs. Ancient Glaciers of Switzer- land. Ancient Glaciers of England,. Scotland. Wales, and Ireland. The Glacial Epoch. Glacier Theories. The Blue Veins of Glaciers. Crevasses. No. 3. PHYSICS AND POLITICS: An Application of the Principles of Natural Selection and Heredity to Political Society .-By WALTER BAGEHOT, author of "The English Constitution." Chapter I. The Preliminary Age. Chapter II. The Use of Conflict. Chapter III. Nation-making. Chapter IV. Nation-making. CONTENTS. I Chapter V. The Age of Discussion. I Chapter VI. Verifiable Progress Politically Con- sidered. THE HUMBOLDT PUBLISHING CO., 28 Lafayette Place, New York. THE HUMBOLDT LIBRARY No. 4. EVIDENCE AS TO MAN'S HUXLEY, F.R.S., F.L.S. With PLACE JN NATURE.-By THOMAS H. numerous illustrations. CONTENTS. Chapter I. The Natural History of the Manlike Apes. Chapter II. The Relations of Man to the Lower Animals. Chapter III. Some Fossil Remains of Man. EDUCATION: INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND HERBERT SPENCER. PHYSICAL.-By CONTENTS. Chapter I. What Knowledge is of Most Worth ? I Chapter II. Intellectual Education. Chapter III. Moral Education. Chapter IV. Physical Education. No. 6. TOWN GEOLOGY. By the Rev. CHARLES KINGSLEY, F.L.S.. F.G.S., Canon of Chester. CONTENTS. Chapter I. The Soil of the Field. Chapter II. The Pebbles in the Street. Chapter III. The Stones in the Wall. Chapter IV. The Coal in the Fire. Chapter V. The Lime in the Mortar. Chapter VI. The Slates on the Roof. No. 7. THE CONSERVATION OF ENERGY.- By BALPOUR STEWART, LL.D., F.K.S., Professor of Natural Philosophy at the Owens College, Manchester, Eng. With an Appendix "The Correlation of Nervous and Mental Forces," by Prof. ALEXANDER BAIN. CONTENTS. Chapter I. What is Energy? Chapter II. Mechanical Energy and its Change into Heat. Chapter III. The Forces and Energies of Nature : the Law of Conservation. Chapter IV. Transmutations of Energy. Chapter V. Historical Sketch: the Dissipation of Energy. Chapter VI. The Position of Life. APPENDIX. The Correlation of Nervous and Mental Forces. No. 8. THE STUDY OF LANGUAGES BROUGHT BACK TO ITS TRUE PRINCIPLES. By C. MARCEL, Kiit. Leg. Hon., author of "Language as a Means of Mental Culture," &c. CONTENTS. Chapter I. Subdivision and Order of Study. Chapter II. The Art of Reading. Chapter III. The Art of Hearing. Chapter IV. The Art Speaking. Chapter V. The Art of Writing. Chapter VI. On Mental Culture. Chapter VII. On Routine. No. 9. THE DATA OF ETHICS. By HERBERT SPENCER. CONT Chapter 1. Conduct in General. Chapter II. The Evolution of Conduct. Chapter III. Good and Bad Conduct. Chapter IV. Ways of Judging Conduct. Chapter V. The Physical View. Chapter VI. The Biological View. Chapter VII. The Psychological View. Chapter VIII. The Sociological View. E N T S. Chapter IX. Criticisms and Explanations. Chapter X. The Relativity of Pains and Pleas- Chapter XI. Egoism versus Altruism. [ures. Chapter XII. Altruism versus Egoism. Chapter XIII. Trial and Compromise. Chapter XIV. Conciliation. Chapter XV. Absolute Ethics and Relative Eth Chapter XVI. The Scope of Ethics. lies. Published monthly. $1.50 per annum. - Single numbers. 15 cents. OF POPULAR SCIENCE. No. 10. THE THEORY OF SOUND IN ITS RELATION TO MUSIC.-By Professor PIETRO BLASERNA, of the Royal University of Rome. With numerous woodcuts. CONTENTS. Chapter I. Periodic Movements: Vibration. Sonorous Vibration. Vibration of a Bell. Vibra- tion of a Tuning-fork. Vibration of a String. Of Plates and Membranes. Vibration of Air in a Sounding - pipe. Meth'od of the Monometric Flame. Concl usion. Chapter II. Transmission of Sound. Propaga- tion in Air. In Water and Other Bodies. Ve- locity of Sound in Air.- In Water and Other Bodies. Reflection of Sound. Echo. Chapter III. Charactei-istics of Sound, and Dif- ference "between Musical Sound and Noise. Loud- ness of Sound, and the Various Causes on which it depends. Principle of the Superposition of Sounds. Soundii is;- boards and Resonators. Chapter IV. Measure of the Number of Vibra- tions. Pitch of Sounds : Limit of Audible Sounds, of Musical Sounds, and of the Human Voice. The "Normal Pitch." Laws of the Vibrations of a. String, and of Harmonics. Chapter V. Musical Sounds. Law of Simple Ratio. Unison: interference. Beats: their ex- planation. Resultant Notes. Octaves, and other Harmonics. Consonant Chords and their limits. The Major fifth, fourth, sixth, and third: the Minor third and sixth. The Seventh Harmonic. Chapter VI. Helmholtz's Double Siren. Appli- cation of the Law of Simple Ratio to three or more notes. Perfect Major and Minor Chords: their nature. Their inversion. Chapter VII. Discords. The Nature of Music and Musical Scales. Ancient Music. Greek Scale. Scale of Pythagoras. Its decay. Ambro- sian and Gregorian Chants. Polyphonic Music: Harmony The Protestant Reformation. Pales- trina. Change of the Musical Scale. The Tonic or Fundamental Chord. The Major Scale. Mu- sical Intervals. The Minor Scale. Key and Trans- position. Sharps and Flats. The Temperate Scale: its inaccuracy. The Desirability of aban- doning it. Chapter VIII. Quality or timbre of Musical Sounds. Forms assumed by the Vibrations. Laws of Harmonics. Quality or timbre of Strings and of Instruments. General Laws of Chords.-^ Noises accompanying Musical Sounds. Quality or timbre of Vocal Musical Sounds. Chapter IX. Difference between Science and Art. Italian and German Music. Separation of the two Schools. Influence of Paris. Conclusion. Nos. 11 and 12. Double number, 3O cents. THE NATURALIST ON THE RIVER AMAZONS.-A Record of Adventures, Habits of Animals, Sketches of Brazilian and Indian Life, and Aspects of Nature under the Equator, during eleven years of travel. B J HENRY WALTER BATES, F.L.S., Assistant Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society of England. CONTENTS. (In Chapter I. Arrival at Para Aspect of the country First walk in the suburbs of Para Birds, lizards, and insects Leaf-carrying ant Sketch of the climate. history, and present condition of Para. Chapter II. The swampy forest of Para A Por- tuguese landed proprietor Life of a Naturalist under the Equator The dryer virgin forests Re- tired creeks Aborigines. Chapter III. The Tocantins River and Cameta Sketch of the River Grove of fan-leaVed palms Native life on the Tocantins. Chapter V. Caripi and the Bay of Marajo Negro observance of Christmas A German family Bats Ant-eaters Humming-birds Domestic life of the inhabitants Hunting excursion with Indians White ants. Chapter VI. The Lower Amazons Modes of traveling on the Amazons Historical sketch of the early explorations of the river First sight of the great river Flat-topped mountains. Chapter VII. Ville Nova, its inhabitants, forest, and animals A rustic festival River Madeira Mura Indians Yellow Fever. Chapter VIII. Santarem Manners and customs part.) of the inhabitants Sketches of Natural History palms, wildfruit-trees, mining-wasps, mason-wasps, bees, and sloths. Chapter IX. Voyage up the Tapajps Modes of obtaining fish Wnite Cebus,and habits and dispo- sitions of Cebi monkeys Adventure with anaconda Smoke-dried monkey Boa-constrictor Hya- cinthine macaw Descent of river to Santarem. Chapter X. The Upper Amazons Desolate ap- pearance of river in the flood season Mental con- dition of Indians Floating pumice-stones from the Andes Falling banks Ega and its inhabitants The four seasons of the Upper Amazons. Chapter XI. Excursions in the neighborhood of Ega Character and customs of the Passe Indians Hunting rambles with natives in the forest. Chapter XII. Animals of the neighborhood of Ega-Scarlet-faced monkeys- Owl- faced night-apes Marmosets Bats Birds Insects Pendulous cocoons Foraging ants Blind ants. Chapter XIII. Excursions beyond Ega Steam- boat traveling on the Amazons Various tribes of Indians Descent to Para Great changes at Para Departure for England. *% This is one of the most charming books of travel ever written, and is both interesting and in- structive. It is a graphic description of " a country of perpetual summer, where trees yield flower and fruit all the year round," "a region where the animals and plants have been fashioned in Nature's choicest moulds." THE HUMBOLDT PUBLISHING CO., 28 Lafayette Place, New York. THE HUMBOLDT LIBRARY No. 13. MIND AND BODY: The Theories of their Relation. By ALEXANDER BAIN, LL.D., Professor of Logic in the University of Aberdeen. CONTENTS. Chapter I. Question Stated. Chapter II. Connection of Mind and Body. Chapter III. The Connection Viewed as Corre spondence, or Concomitant Variation. Chapter IV. General Laws of Alliance of Mind and Body. The Feelings and the Will. Chapter V. The Intellect. Chapter VI. How are Mind and Body united? Chapter VII. History of the Theories of the Soul. No. 14. THE WONDERS OF THE HEAVENS.-By CAMILLE FLAMMARIOX.- Translated from the French by Mrs. NORMAN LOCKYER. With thirty-two Actinoglyph Illustrations. CONTENTS. BOOK FIRST. Chapter I. Night. Chapter II. The Heavens. Chapter IH. Infinite Space. [verse. Chapter IV. General Arrangement of the Uni- Chapter V. Clustei-s and Nebulae. Chapter VI. The Milky Way. BOOK SECOND. Chapter I. The Sidereal World. Chapter II. The Northern Constellations. Chapter III. The Zodiac. Chapter IV. Southern Constellations. Chapter V. The Number of the Stars. Their Distances. Chapter VI. Variable Stars. Temporary Stars. Stars suddenly visible or invisible. Chapter VII. Distant Universes. Double, Mul- tiple, and Colored Suns. . BOOK THIRD. Chapter I. The Planetary System. Chapter II. The Sun. Chapter III. The Sun (continued). Chapter IV. Mercury. Chapter V. Venus/ Chapter VI. Mars. Chapter VII. Jupiter. Chapter. VIII. Saturn. Chapter IX. Uranus. Chapter X. Neptune. Chapter XI. Comets. Chapter XII. Comets (continued). BOOK FOURTH. Chapter I. The Terrestrial Globe. Chapter II. Proofs that the Earth is round. That it turns on an axis, and revolves round the Sun. Chapter III. The Moon. Chapter IV. The Moon (continued). Chapter V. Eclipses. BOOK FIFTH. Chapter I. The Plurality of Inhabited Worlds. Chapter II. The Contemplation of the Heavens. No. 15. LONGEVITY: THE MEANS OF PROLONGING LIFE AFTER MIDDLE AGE. B y JOHN GARDNER, M.D. CONTENTS. What is the Natural Duration of Human Life ? Is the Duration of Life in any degree within em- power ? Some General Considerations respecting Ad- vanced Age. Causes of Neglect of Health. Is Longevity Desirable ? Physiology of Advanced Age. Heredity. The Means of Ameliorating and Retarding the Effects of Age. t Recuperative Power. What is Life? Water : its bearing on Health and Disease. Mineral Waters. Stimulants Spirituous and Malt Liquors and Wine. Climate, its Effects on Longevity. Disregarded Deviations from Health in Aged Persons. (a). Faulty Nutrition General At- tenuation.^). Local Failure of Nutrition. (c). Obesity. Pain the Use and Misuse of Narcotics. (a). Dolor-Senilis. (&). Narcotics. (c). Sarsapa- rilla and other Remedial Agents. Gout New Remedies for. Rheumatism. Lumbago. Limit to the Use of Narcotics. The Stomach and Digestion. The Liver. The Kidneys and Urine. Simple Overflow Al- buminous Urine. Bright's Disease. Muddy Ui-ine, Gravel, Stone. Irritable Bladder. Diabetes. The Lower Bowels. The Throat. Air-passages. Lungs. Bronchitis. The Heart. The Brain Mind, Motive Power, Sleep, Paralysis. Established Facts respecting Longevity. Diseases Fatal after Sixty. Summary. An Expei-iment Proposed. Appendix. Causes of Premature Death. Notes on some Collateral Topics. (a). Longevity of the Patriarchs and in Ancient Times. (&). Flourens on Longevity. (c). Popular Errors respecting Longevity. (d). Waste of Human- Life. (e). Moral and Religious Aspects of Longevity. (/). Importance of Early Treat- ment of Disorders. (o). The Bones of Old People Brittle. (ft). Condition of very Old People. (i). One Hundred and Five Years the Extreme Limit of Human Life. (j). A Case of Recuperation. (k). On the Water used in Country Towns. (I). Pure Aerated Water. (m). Anticipations. (n.) Adulteration of Food, fec., its Effects on Human Life. (o). Cases of Prolonged Life. (p). Appliances Useful to Aged Persons for Immediate Relief of Suffering. Published monthly. $1.5O per annum. Single numbers, 15 cents. OF POPULAR SCIENCE. No. 16. ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES; or, The Causes of the Phenomena of Organic Nature. A Course of Six Lectures. By THOMAS H. HUXLEY, F.R.S., F.L.S., Professor of Natural History in the Jermyn Street School of Mines, London. CONTENTS. Chapter I. The Present Condition of Organic Nature. [ture. Chapter II. The Past Condition of Organic Na- Chapter III. The Method by which the Causes of the Present and Past Conditions of Organic Nature are to be discovered. The Origination of Living Beings. Chapter IV. The Perpetuation of Living Beings. Hereditary Transmission and Variation. Chapter V. The Conditions of Existence as af- fecting the Perpetuation of Living Beings. Chapter VI. A Critical Examination of the Po- sition of Mr. Darwin's work on "The Origin of Species." in relation to the Complete The- ory of the Causes of the Phenomena of Organic Nature. APPENDIX. Criticisms on Darwin's "Origin of Species." No. 17. PROGRESS: ITS LAW AND CAUSE.- With other Disquisitions, viz., The Physiology of Laughter. Origin and Function of Music. The Social Organism. Use and Beauty. The Use of Anthropomorphism. By HERBERT SPENCER. No. 18. LESSONS IN ELECTRICITY. To which is added an Elementary Lecture on Magnetism. By JoHN TYNDALL, D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., Pro- fessor of Natural Philosophy in the Royal Institution of Great Britain. With Sixty Illustrations. CONTENTS. Introduction. Historic Notes. The Art of Experiment. Electric Attractions. Discovery of Conduction and Insulation. The Electroscope. Electrics and Non-Electrics. Electric Repulsions. Fundamental Law of Electric Action. Double or "Polar" Character of the Electric Force. What is Electricity? Electric Induction." The Electrophorus. Action of Points and Flames. The Electrical Machine. The Leyden Jar. Franklin's Cascade Battery. Leyden Jars of the Simplest Form. Ignition by the Electric Spark. Duration of the Electric Spark. Electric Light in Vacuo. Lichtenberg's Figures. Surface Compared with Mass. Physiological Effects of the Electrical Discharge. Atmospheric Electricity. The Returning Stroke. The Leyden Battery. APPENDIX. An Elementary Lecture on Mag- netism. No. 19. FAMILIAR ESSAYS ON SCIENTIFIC SUBJECTS, viz., Oxygen in the Sun. Sun-spot, Storm, and Famine. New Ways of Measuring the Sun's Distance. Drifting Light-waves. The New Star which faded into Star-mist. Star-grouping, Star-drift, and Star-mist. By RICHARD A. PROCTOR. No. 20. THE ROMANCE OF ASTRONOMY.-By R. KALLEY MILLER, M.A., Pel- low and Assistant Tutor of St. Peter's College, Cambridge, England. With an Appendix by RICHARD A. PROCTOR. The Planets. Astrology. The Moon. The Sun. CONTENTS. The Comets. Laplace's Nebular Hypothesis. The Stars. The Nebulae. APPENDIX. The Past History of our Moon. Ancient Babylonian Astrogony. THE HTTMBOLDT PUBLISHING CO., 28 Lafayette Place, New York. THE HUMBOLDT LIBRARY No. 21. ON THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF LIFE.-With Other Essays, viz., The Scientific Aspects of Positivism. A Piece of Chalk. Geo- logical Contemporaneity. A Liberal Education. By THOMAS H. HUXLEY, F.E.S., F.L.S. No. 22. SEEING AND THINKING. B J WILLIAM KINGDON CLIFFORD, F.R.S., Pro- fessor of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics in University College, London, and sometime Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. CONTENTS. The Eye and the Brain. The Eye and Seeing. The Brain and Thinking. Of Boundaries in General. No. 23. SCIENTIFIC SOPHISMS. A Review of Current Theories con- cerning Atoms, Apes, and Men. By SAMUEL WAINWRIGHT, D.D. author of ''Christian Certainty," "The Modern Avernus," &c. CONTENTS. Chapter VIII. The Three Beginnings. Chapter IX. The Three Barriers. Chapter X. Atoms. Chapter XI. Apes. Chapter XII. Men. Chapter XIII. Anirai Mundi. Chapter I. The Right of Search. Chapter II. Evolution: Chapter III. "A Puerile Hypothesis." Chapter IV. " Scientific Levity." Chapter V. A House of Cards. Chapter VI. Sophisms. Chapter VII. Protoplasm. No. 24. POPULAR SCIENTIFIC LECTURES, viz., On the Relation of Optics to Painting. On the Origin of the Planetary System. On Thought in Medicine. On Academic Freedom in German Uni- versities. B y H. HELMHOLTZ, Professor of Physics in the University oi Berlin. No. 25. THE ORIGIN OF NATIONS.- In two parts- On Early Civiliza- tions. On Ethnic Affinities, &C.~ By GEORGE RAWLINSON, M.A., Camden Professor of Ancient History, Oxford. CONTENTS. PART I. EARLY CIVILIZATIONS. Chapter I. Introduction. Chapter II. On the Antiquity of Civilization in Egypt. Chapter HI. On the Antiquity of Civilization at Babylon. Chapter IV. On the Date and Character of Phoenician Civilization. Chapter V. On the Civilizations of Asia Minor Phrygia, Lydia, Lycia, Troas. Chapter VI. On the Civilizations of Central Asia Assyria, Media. Persia, India. Chapter VII On the Civilization of the Etruscans Chapter VIII. On the Civilization of the British Celts. Chapter IX. Results of the Inquiry. PART II. ETHNIC AFFINITIES IN THE: ANCIENT WORLD. Chapter I. The Chief Japhetic Races. Chapter II. Subdivisions of the Japhetic Races, Gomer and Javan. Chapter III. The Chief Hamitic Races. Chapter IV. Subdivisions of Cush. Chapter V? Subdivisions of Mizraim and Canaan. Chapter VI. The Semitic Races. Chapter VII. On the Subdivisions of the Semitic Races. Published montlily. $1.5O per annum. Single numbers, 15 cents. OF POPULAR SCIENCE. No. 2C. THE EVOLUTIONIST AT LARGE. -By GRANT ALLEN. CONTENTS. Chapter I. Microscopic Brains. Chapter II. A Wayside Berry. Chapter III. In Summer Fields. Chapter IV. A Sprig of Water Crowfoot. Chapter V. Slugs and Snails. Chapter VI. A Study of Bones. Chapter VII. Blue Mud. Chapter VIII. Cuckoo-pint. Chapter IX. Berries and BeiTies. Chapter X. Distant Relations. Chapter XI. Among the Heather. Chapter XII. Speckled Trout. Chapter XIII. Dodder and Broomrape. Chapter XIV. Dog's Mercury and Plantain. Chapter XV. Butterfly Psychology. Chapter XVI. Butterfly Esthetics. Chapter XVII. The Origin of Walnuts. Chapter XVIII. A Pretty Land-shell. Chapter XIX. Dogs and Masters. Chapter XX. Blackcock. Chapter XXI. Bindweed. Chapter XXII. On Cornish Cliffs. No. 27. THE HISTORY OF LANDHOLDING FISHER, F.R.H.S. IN ENGLAND.-By JOSEPH I. The Aborigines. II. The Romans. III. The Scandinavians. CONTENTS. IV. The Normans. V. The Plantagenets. VI. The Tudors. VII. The Stuarts. VIII. The House of Hanover. No. 28. FASHION IN DEFORMITY, AS ILLUSTRATED IN THE CUS- TOMS OF BARBAROUS AND CIVILIZED RACES.-By WILLIAM HENRY FLOWER, LL.D., F.R.S., F.K.C.S., P.Z.S., &c., Hunterian Professor of Comparative Anatomy, and Conservator of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. With illustrations. TO WHICH IS ADDED MANNERS AND FASHION.- By HERBERT SPENCER. No. 29. FACTS AND FICTIONS OF ZOOLOGY.- By ANDREW WILSON, Ph.D., F.R.P.S.E., &e., Lecturer on Zoology and Comparative Anatomy in the Edin- burgh Medical School; Lecturer on Physiology, Watt Institution and School of Arts, Edinburgh, &c. With numerous illustrations. Zoological Myths. The Sea-serpents of Science. Some Animal Architects. CONTENTS. Parasites and their Development. What I Saw in an Ant's Nest. ^No. 30. and No. 31. ON THE STUDY OF WORDS- Archbishop of Dublin. RICHARD CHENEVIX TRENCH, D.D., Lecture I. Introductory Lecture. Lecture II. On the Poetry in Words. Lecture III. On the Morality in Words. Lecture IV. On the History in Words. CONTENTS. Lecture V. On the Rise of New Words. Lecture VI. On the Distinction of Words; Lecture VII. The Schoolmaster's Use of Words. No. 32. HEREDITARY TRAITS, AND OTHER ESSAYS.-By RICHARD A, PROCTOR, B.A., F.R.A.S., author of "The Sun," "Other Worlds than Ours, 71 "Saturn," &c. I. Hereditary Traits. II. Artificial Somnambulism. CONTENTS. I III. Bodily Illness as a Mental Stimulant. IV. Dual Consciousness. THE HUMBOLDT PUBLISHING CO., 28 Lafayette Place, New York, THE HUMBOLDT LIBRARY No. 33. VIGNETTES FROM NATURE. By GRANT ALLEN, author of "The Evolu- tionist at Large." I. Fallow Deer. II. Sedge and Woodbrush. III. Red" Campion and White. IV. Butterfly-Hunting Begins. V. Red Campion Again. VI. The Hedgehog's Hole. VII.- On Musbury Castle. VIII. A Big Fossil Bone. IX. Veronica. X. Guelder Rose. XI. The Heron's Haunt. CONTENTS. XII. -A Bed of Nettles. XIII. Loosestrife and Pimpernel. XIV.- The Carp Pond. XV. A Welsh Roadside. XVI. Seaside Weeds. XVII. A Mountain Tarn. XVIII. Wild Thyme. XIX. The Donkey's Ancestors. XX. Beside the "Cromlech. XXI.r-The Fall of the Leaf. XXII. The Fall of the Year. No. 34. THE PHILOSOPHY OF STYLE.- By HERBERT SPENCER, author of "First Principles of Philosophy/' "Social Statics," "Elements of Psychology," "Ele- ments of Biology," "Education," &c. CONTENTS. PART I. Causes of Force in Language -which depend upon Economy of the Mental Energies. I. The Principle of Economy applied to I III. Arrangement of Minor Images in Build- Words, ing up a Thought. II. The Effect of Figurative Language Ex- IV. The Superiority of Poetry to Prose plained. | Explained. PAUT II. Caftses of Force in Language which depend upon Economy of the Mental Sensibilities. TO WHICH IS ADDED THE MOTHER TONGUE. By ALEXANDER BAIN, LL.D., Professor of Logic in the University of Aberdeen. Conditions of Language Acquisition Generally. I The Age for Commencing Grammar. The Mother Tongue. The Higher Composition. CONTENTS, erallv. I The The Teaching Grammar. | English "Literature. No. 35. ORIENTAL RELIGIONS. B 7 JoHN CAIRD, S.T.D., President of the Uuiver, sity of Glasgow, and other authors. CONTENTS. Religions of India. < Brahmanism. Buddhism. By JOHN CAIRD, S.T.D. Religion of China. Confucianism. By Rev. GEORGE MATHESO> T . Religion of Persia. Zoroaster and the Zend Avesta. By Rev. JOHN MILNE, M.A. No. 36. LECTURES ON EVOLUTION.-With an Appendix on The Study of Biology. By THOMAS H. HUXLEY. CONTENTS. I. THREE LECTURES ON EVOLUTION. Lecture I. The Three Hypotheses respecting the History of Nattire. Lecture II. The Hypothesis of Evolution. The Neuti-al and the Favorable Evidence. Lecture III. The Demonstrative Evidence of Evolution. II. A LECTURE ON THE STUDY OF BIOLOGY. No. 37. SIX LECTURES ON LIGHT.- By Prof. JOHN TYNDALL, F.K.S. CONTENTS. Lecture I. Introductory. Lecture II. Origin of Physical Theories. Lectm-e III. Relation of Theories to Experience. Lecture IV. Chromatic Phenomena produced by Crystals on Polarized Light. Lecture V. Range of Vision incommensurate- with Range of Radiation. Lecture VI. Principles of Spectrum Analysis. Solar Chemistry. Summary and Conclusions. Published monthly. $1.5O per annum. Single numbers. 15 cents. OF POPULAR SCIENCE. No. 38 and No. 39. GEOLOGICAL SKETCHES AT HOME AND ABROAD.- By ARCH- IBALD GEIKIE, LL.D., F.R.S., Director-General of the Geological Surveys of Great Britain and Ireland. In Two Parts, each complete in itself. CONTENTS. PART I. No. 38. I. My First Geological Excursion. II. "The Old Man of Hoy." III. The Baron's Stone of Killochan. IV. The Colliers of Carrick. V. Among the Volcanoes of Central France. VI. The Old Glaciers of Noi-way and Scotland. VII. Rock- Weathering Measured by the Decay of Tombstones. PART II. No. 39. I. A Fragment of Primeval Europe. II. In Wyoming. III. The Geysers of the Yellowstone. IV. The Lava Fields of Northwestern Europe. V.-i-The Scottish School of Geology. VI Geographical Evolution. VII. The Geological Influences which have affect- ed the Course of British History. No. 40. THE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION.- By GEORGE J. ROMANES, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S., Zoological Secretary of the Lhmean Society, London. CONTENTS. I. Introduction. V. The Argument from Geographical Distribn- VI. The Argument from Embryology. [tion. II. The Argument from Classification. III. The Argument from Morphology o IV. The Argument from Geologj ure. ruct- VII. Arguments drawn from Certain General Considerations. TO WHICH IS ADDED THE DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION. - PALEONTOLOGY AND Prof. THOMAS H. HUXLEY. NATURAL SELECTION AND NATURAL THEOLOGY.- By EUSTACE B. PONDER, P.P. No. 41. CURRENT DISCUSSIONS IN SCIENCE.-By W. MATTIEU WILLIAMS, F.R.A.S., F.C.S., author of "The Fuel of the Sun," "Through Norway with a Knapsack," "A Simple Treatise on Heat," &c. I. Meteoric Astronomy. II. Dr. Siemens's Theory of the Sun. III. Another World Down Here. IV. The Origin of Volcanoes. V. Note on the Direct Effect of Sun-Spots on Terrestrial Climates. VI. The Philosophy of the Radiometer and its Cosmical Revelations. VII. The Solidity of the Earth. VIII. Meteoric Astronomy. CONTENTS. IX.- X.- XI.- XII.- XIII.- XIV.- XV.- XVI.- Aerial Exploration of the Arctic Regions. "Baily's Beads." World-smashing. On the so-called "Crater-Necks" and "Volcanic Bombs" of Ireland. - Travertine. -Murchison and Babbage. -The "Consumption of Smoke." -The Air of Stove-heated Rooms. No. 42. HISTORY POLLOCK. OF THE SCIENCE OF POLITICS.- By FREDERICK CONTENTS. Chapter I. Introductory. Place of the Theory of Politics in Human Knowledge. Chapter II. The Classic Period: Pericles Soc- rates Plato Aristotle. The Greek Ideal of the State. Chapter III. The Mediaeval Period : The Papacy and the Empire. Thomas Aquinas Dante Bracton Marsilio of Padua. Chapter IV. The Modern Period: Machiavelli Jean Bodin Sir Thomas Smith Hobbes. Chapter V. The Modern Period (contimted): Hooker Locke Rousseau Blackstone. Chapter VI. The Modern Period (continued): Hume Montesquieu Burke. Chapter VII. The Present Century: Political Sovereignty Limits of State Intervention Bentham Austin Maine Bagehot Kant Ahrens Savigny Cornewall Lewis John Stuart Mill Herbert Spencer Laboulaye. No. 43. DARWIN AND HUMBOLDT.-Their Lives and Work.-By Prof. HUXLEY and others. CONTENTS. CHARLES DARWIN. I. Introductory Notice. By TH. H. HUXLEY. II. Life and Character. By GEO. J. ROMANES. III. Work in Geology. By ARCHIBALD GEIKIE. IV. Work in Botany.-ByW.T.TmSELTON DYER. V. Work in Zoology. By GEO. J. ROMANES. VI. Work in Psychology. By GEO. J. ROMANES. ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. I. An Address delivered by Louis AGASSIZ at the Centennial Anniversary of the birth of ALEX- ANDER VON HUMBOLDT, under the auspices of the Boston Society of Natural History, Sept. 14, 1869. II. Remarks by Prof. FREDERIC H. HEDGE, of Harvard University. THE HUMBOLDT PUBLISHING CO., 28 Lafayette Place, New York. THE HUMBOLDT LIBRARY No. 44 and No. 45. THE DAWN OF HISTORY.- An Introduction to Prehistoric Study. Edited by C. F. KEAUY, M.A., of the British Museum. In Two Parts, each complete in itself. CONTENTS. PART I. No. 44. Chapter I. The Earliest Traces of Man. Chapter II. The Second Stone Age. Chapter III. The Growth of Language. Chapter IV. Families of Language. Chapter V. The Nations of the Old World. Chapter VI. Early Social Life. Chapter VII. The Village Community. PART II. No. 45. Chapter VIII. Religion. Chapter IX. Aryan Religions. Chapter X. The Other World. Chapter XI. Mythologies and Folk-Tales. Chapter XII. Picture-Writing. Chapter XIII. Phonetic Writing. [ities. Chapter XIV. Conclusion. Noles and Author- No. 46. THE DISEASES OF MEMORY.- By TH. RIBOT, author of "Heredity," "English Psychology, "&c. Translated from the French by J. FITZGERALD, A.M. CONTENTS. Chapter I. MEMORY AS A BIOLOGICAL, FACT. Memory essentially a biological fact, incident- ally a psychic fact. Organic memory. Mod- ifications of nerve-elements; dynamic associa- tions between these elements. Conscious mem- ory. Conditions of consciousness: intensity: duration. Unconscious cerebration. Nerve- action is the fundamental condition of memory; consciousness is only an accessory. Localiza- tion in the past, or recollection. Mechanism of this operation. It is not a simple .and instan- taneous act; it consists of the addition of sec- ondary states of consciousness to the principal state of consciousness. Memory is a vision in time Localization, theoretical and practical. Reference points. Resemblance and difference between localization in the future and in the past. All memory an illusion. Forgetfulness a condition of memory. Return to the starting- point : conscious memory tends little by little to become automatic. Chapter II. GENERAL, AMNESIA. Classification of the diseases of memory. Tem- porary amnesia. Epileptics. Forgetfulness of certain periods of life. Examples of re-educa- tion. Slow and sudden i-ecoveries. Case of pro- visional memory. Periodical or intermittent amnesia. Formation of two memories, totally or partially distinct. Cases of hypnotism re- corded byMacnish.Azam. and Dnfay. Progress- ive amnesia. Its importance. Reveals the law which governs the destruction of memory. Law of regression : enunciation of this law. In what order memory fails. Counter-proof : it is recon- stituted in inverse order. Confirmatory facts. Congenital amnesia. Extraordinary memory of some idiots. Chapter III. PARTIAL AMNESIA. Reduction of memory to memories. Anatomical and physiological reasons for partial memories^ Amnesia of numbers, names, figures,forms.&c.. Amnesia of signs. Its nature : a loss of motor- memory. Examination of this point. Progress- ive amnesia of signs verifies completely the law of regression. Order of dissolution : proper names: common nouns; verbs and adjectives; interjections, and language of the emotions r gestures. Relation between this dissolution and 1 the evolution of the Indo-European languages. Counter-proof : return of signs in inverse ordeiv Chapter IV. EXALTATION OF MEMORY, OR HYPERMNESIA. General excitation. Partial excitation. Return of lost memories. Return of forgotten lan- guages. Reduction of this fact to the law of re- gression. Case of false memory. Examples, and a suggested explanation. Chapter V. CONCLUSION. Relations between the retention of perceptions and nutrition, between the reproduction of rec- ollections and the general and local circulation. Influence of the quantity and quality of the blood. Examples. The law of regression con- nected with a physiological principle and a psy- chological principle. Recapitulation. No. 47. THE CHILDHOOD OF RELIGIONS.-Embracing a Simple Account of the Birth and Growth of Myths and Legends. By EDWARD CLODD, F.R.A.S., author of "The Childhood of the World," "The Story of Creation," &c. CONTENTS. Chapter I.- Chapter II.- Chapter III.- Chapter IV.- Chapter V.- Chapter VI.- ChapterVIL- Introductory. [Hon. Legends of the Past about the Crea- Creation as told by Science. -Legends of the Past about Mankind. Early Races of Mankind. [tions. -The "Aryan, or Indo-European na- -The Ancient and Modern Hindu Religions. Chapter VIII. Zoroastrianism. the Ancient Re- ligion of Persia. Chapter IX. Buddhism. . Chapter X. The Religions of China. Chapter XI. The Semitic Nations. Chapter XII. Mohammedanism, or Islam. Chapter XIII. On the Study of the Bible. Published monthly. $1.5O per annum. Single numbers. 15 cents* OF POPULAR SCIENCE. No. 48. LIFE IN NATURE. By JAMES HINTON, author of "Man and his Dwelling- Place," "The Mystery of Pain," &c. CONTENTS. Chapter I. Of Function; or, How We Act. Chapter II. Of Nutrition; or, Why We Grow. Chapter III. Of Nutrition; The Vital Force. Chapter IV. Of Living Forms: or, Morphology. Chapter V. Living Forms. The Law of Form. Chapter VI. Is Life Universal? Chapter VIL The Living World. Chapter VIII. Nature and Man. Chapter IX. The Phenomenal and the True. Chapter X. Force . Chapter XI. The Organic and the Inorganic. Chapter XII. The Life of Man. Chapter XIII. Conclusion. No. 49. THE SUN: Its Constitution; Its Phenomena; Its Condition. By NATHAN T. CAHR, LL.D., Judge of the Ninth Judicial Circuit of Indiana. With an Appendix by RICHARD A. PROCTOR and M. W. WILLIAMS. CONTENTS. Section I. Purpose of this Essay. Difficulties of the Subject. Distance from the Earth to tiie Sun. The Diameter of the Sun. The Form of the Sun. Rotaiy Motion of the Sun. Perturbating Movement. The Sun's Orbital Movement. The Sun's Atti-active Force. Den- sity of the Solar Mass. Section IX. The Sun's Atmosphere. Section X. The Chromosphei-e. Section XL Corona, Prominences, and Faculae. Section XII. The Photosphere. Section XIII. The Sun's Heat. Section XIV. Condition of the Interior. Section XV. Effects of Heat on Matter. Section II Section III Section IV Section V Section VI Section VII Section VIII Section XVI.- Section XVII.- Section XVI1L- Section XIX.- Section XX.- Section XXI.- Section XXII. - Section XXIII.- Section XXIV.- Section XXV.- Section XXVI.- Section XXVII.- Section XXVIII -The Expansive Power of Heat. -The Sun's Crust. -The Gaseous Theory. -The Vapor Theory. -The "Cloud-like" Theory. -Supposed Supports of the Fore- going Theories. -The Crust in a Fluid Condition. -Production of the Sun-Spots. -The Area of Sun-Spots Limited. - Periodicity of the Spots. -The Spots are Cavities in the Sun. How the Heat of the Sun reaches the Earth. , The Question of the Extinction of the Sun. Appendix. First. The Sun's Corona and his Spots. By RICHARD A. PROCTOR. Second. The Fuel of the Sun. By RICHARD A. PROCTOR. Third. The Fuel of the Sun. A Reply, by W. M. WILLIAMS. No. 50 and No. 51. MONEY AND THE MECHANISM OF EXCHANGE.- By W. STANLEY JEVONS, M.A., F.R.S., Professor of Logic and Political Economy in the Owens College, Manchester, England. In Two Parts. CONTENTS. Chapter I. Barter. Chapter II. Exchange. Chapter III. The Functions of Money. Chapter IV. Early History of Money. Chapter V. Qualities of the Material of Money Chapter VI. The Metals as Money. Chapter VII. Coins. Chapter VIII. The Principles of Circulation. Chapter IX. Systems of Metallic Money. Chapter X. The English System of Metallic Currency. Chapter XL Fractional Currency. Chapter XII. The Battle of the Standards. Chapter XIII. Technical Matters relating to Coinage. Chapter XIV. International Money. Chapter XV. Chapter XVI. Chapter XVII. Chapter XVIII. Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter XXIII. Chapter XXIV. Chapter XXV. Chapter XXVI. XIX. XX. XXI. XXII. The Mechanism of Exchange. Representative Money. The Nature and Varieties of Promissory Notes. Methods of Regulating a Paper Currency. .Credit Documents. [System. Book Credit and the Banking The Clearing-House System. The Check Bank. Foreign Bills of Exchange. The Bank of England and the Money Market. A Tabular Standard of Value. The Quantity of Money needed by a Nation. No. 52. THE DISEASES OF THE Wl LL- By TH. RIBOT, author of " The Dis- eases of Memory," &c. Translated from the French by J. FITZGERALD, A.M. CONTENTS. Chapter I. Introduction.- The Question Stated. Chapter II. Impairment of the Will. Lack of Impulsion. Chapter III. Impairment of the Will. Excess of Impulsion. Chapter IV. Impairment of VoluntaryAttention. Chapter V. The Realm of Caprice. Chapter VI. Extinction of the Will. Chapter VIL Conclusion. THE HUMBOLDT PUBLISHING CO., 28 Lafayette Place, New York. THE HUMBOLDT LIBRARY No. 53. ANIMAL AUTOMATISM, HENRY HUXLEY, LL.D., F.R.S. AND OTHER ESSAYS.- By THOMAS I. On the Hypothesis that Animals are Automata, and its History. II. Science and Culture. III. On Elementary Instruction in Physiology. CONTENTS. IV. On the Border Territory between the Animal and the Vegetable Kingdoms. V. Universities: Actual and Ideal. THE BIRTH AND GROWTH OF M YTHS.- By EDWARD CLODD, F.R.A.S., author of "The Childhood of the World," "The Childhood of Re- ligions," "The Story of Creation," &e. CONTENTS. XI. Metempsychosis and Transformation. XII. Transformation in the Middle Ages. XIII. The Belief in Transformation Universal. XIV. Beast-Fables. XV. Totemism. XVI. Heraldry: Ancestor- worship. [tives. XVII. Survival of Myth in Historical Narra- XVIIL Myths of King Arthur and Llewellyn. XIX Semitic Myths and Legends. XX. Conclusion. Appendix. An American Indian Myth. I. Nature as Viewed by Primitive Man. H. Personification of the Powers of Natui-e. m. The Sun and Moon in Mythology. IV. The Theories of Certain Comparative Mythologists. V. Aryan Mythology. VI. The Primitive Nature-Myth Transformed. VII. The Stars in Mythology. VIII. Myths of the Destructive Forces of Nature. IX. The Hindu Sun-aud-Cloud Myth. X. Demonology. No. 55. THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF MORALS, AND OTHER ESSAYS. By WILLIAM KINGDON CLIFFORD, F.R.S. CONTENTS. I. On the Scientific Basis of Morals. I III. The Ethics of Belief. II. Right and Wrong: the Scientific Ground IV. The Ethics of Religion, of their Distinction. No. 56 and No. 57. ILLUSIONS: A PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY.- By JAMES SULLY, author of "Sensation and Intuition," "Pessimism," &c. In Two Parts. CONTENTS. Chapter I. The Study of Illusion. Chapter II. The Classification of Illusions. Chapter III. Illusions of Perception : General. Chapter IV. Illusions of Perception (continued). Chapter V. Illusions of Perception (continued). Chapter VI. Illusions of Perception (continued). Chapter VII. Dreams. Chapter VIII. Illusions of Introspection. Chapter IX. Other Quasi-Presentative Illu- sions: Errors of Insight. Chapter X. Illusions of Memory. Chapter XI. Illusions of Belief/ Chapter XII. Results. No. 58 and No. Two double numbers. 30 cents each. THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES BY MEANS OF NATURAL SELEC- TION, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life. B.V CHARLES DARWIN, M.A., F.R.S. New edition, from the sixth and latest English edition, with additions and corrections. Tiro double numbers. CONTENTS. Chapter I. Variation under Domestication. Chapter II. Variation under Nature. Chapter III. Struggle for Existence. Chapter IV. Natural Selection; or. the Sur- vival of the Fittest. Chapter V. Laws of Vaiiation. Chapter VI. Difficulties of the Theory. Chapter VII. Miscellaneous Objections to the Theory of Natural Selection. Chapter VIII. Instinct.' Chapter IX. Hybridism. Chapter X. On the Imperfection of the Geo- logical Record. Chapter XI. On the Geological Succession of Organic Beings. Chapter XII. Geological Distribution. Chapter XIII. Geological Distribution (contin'd). Chapter XIV. Mutual Affinities of Organic Be ings: Morphology: Embryology: Rudimentary Organs. Chapter XV. Recapitulation and Conclusion. Index. Glossary of Scientific Terms. Published monthly. $1.5O per annum. Single numbers, 15 cents. OF POPULAR SCIENCE. No. 60. THE CHILDHOOD OF THE WORLD -A Simple Account of Man in Early Times. By EDWARD CLODD, F.R.A.S., author of "The Childhood of Religions," "The Story of Creation," &c. L- II.- III.- IV.- V. VI.- VII.- VIIL- IX.- X.- XI.- XII.- XIII.- XIV.- XV.- XVI.- XVII.- XVIIL- CONTENTS. PART I. XIX - Introductory. XX.- - Man's First Wants. XXI.- - Man's First Tools. XXII.- -Fire. XXIII.- -Cooking and Pottery. XXIV.- - Dwellings. XXV.- -Use of Metals. XXVI.- - Man's Great Age on the Earth. XXVII. - - Mankind as Shepherds, Farmers, and XXVIII. Traders. - Language. - Writing. - Counting. -Man's Wanderings from his first Home. - Man's Progress in all things. - Decay of Peoples. PART II. Introductory. Man's First Questions. Myths. XXIX.- XXX.- XXXI.- XXXII.- XXXIII. - XXXIV.- XXXV.- XXXVI.- XXXVII.- Myths about Sun and Moon. Myths about Eclipses. Myths about Stars. Myths about the Earth and Man. Man's Ideas about the Soul. Belief in Magic and Witchcraft. Man's Awe of the Unknown. Fetish -Worship. Idolatry. Nature -Worship. 1. Water -Worship. 2. Tree -Worship. 3. Animal -Worship. Polytheism, or Belief in Many Gods Dualism, or Belief in Two Gods. Prayer. Sacrifice. Monotheism, or Belief in One God. Three Stories About Abraham. Man's Belief in a Future Life. Sacred Books. Conclusion. No. 61. MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS.-By RICHARD A. PROCTOR, B.A., F.R.A.S. author of "The Sun," "Other Worlds than Ours," "Saturn," &c. CONTENTS. I. Strange Coincidences. II. Coincidences and Superstitions. III. Gambling Superstitions. IV. Learning Languages. V. Strange Sea Creatures. VI. The Origin of Whales. VII. Prayer and Weather. No. 62. THE RELIGIONS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD, including Egypt, Assyria and Babylonia, Persia, India, Phoenicia, Etruria, Greece, Rome. By GEORGE RAWLINSON, M.A., Camden Professor of Ancient History, Oxford, and Canon, of Canterbury. Author of "The Origin of Nations," "The Five Great Monarchies," &c. CONTENTS. Chapter I. The Religion of the Ancient Egyptians. Chapter II. The Religion of the Assyrians and Babylonians. Chapter III. The Religion of the Ancient Iranians- .. Chapter IV. The Religion of the Early Sanskritic Indians. Chapter V. The Religion of the Phoenicians and Carthaginians. Chapter VI. The Religion of the Etruscans. Chapter VII. The Religion of the Ancient Greeks. Chapter VIII. The Religion of the Ancient Romans. Concluding Remarks. No. PROGRESSIVE MORALITY.- An Essay in Ethics- By THOMAS FOWLER, M.A., LL.D., F.S.A., President of Corpus Christi College, Wykeham Professor of Logic in the University of Oxford. CONTENTS. Chapter I. Introduction. The Sanctions of Conduct. Chapter II. The Moral Sanction or Moral Sentiment. Its Functions, and the Justification of its Claims to . Superiority. Chapter III. Analysis and Formation of the Moral Sentiment. Its Education and Improvement. Chapter IV. The Moral Test and its Justification. Chapter V. The Practical Application of the Moral Test to Existing Morality. THE HUMBOLDT PUBLISHING CO., 28 Lafayette Place, New York. THE HUMBOLDT LIBRARY EVOLUTION IN HISTORY, LANGUAGE, AND SCIENCE. Four addresses delivered at the London Crystal Palace School of Art, Science, and Literature. Past and Present in the East. A Parallelism demonstrating the principle of Causal Evolution, and the necessity of the study of General History. By G. G. ZERFFI, D.Ph., Fellow of the Royal Historical Society of London. A Plea for a More Scientific Study of Geography. By Rev. w. A. HALES, M.A., formerlv Exhibitioner' of Caius College, Cambridge. III. Hereditary Tendencies as Exhibited in History. By HENRY ELLIOT MALDEN, M.A., F.R.H.S., Trinity Hall, Cambridge. IV. Vicissitudes of the English Language. By Rev. ROBINSON THORNTON, D.D., F.R.H.S., formerly Fellow of St. John's College, Oxford. Nos. 74. 75, 76, 77 (double number). THE DESCENT OF TO SEX. By CHARLES vised and Augmented. MAN, AND SELECTION IN RELATION DARWIN. With Illustrations. New Edition, Re- PART I. THE DESCENT OR ORIGIN OF MAN. Chapter I. The Evidence of the Descent of Man from some Lower Form. Chapter II. On the Manner of Development of Man from some Lower Form. Chapter III. Comparison of the Mental Powers of Man and the Lower Animals. Chapter IV. Comparison of the Mental Powers of Man and the Lower Animals (continued). Chapter V. On the Development of the Intel- lectual and Moral Faculties dur- ing Primeval and Civilized Times Chapter VI. On the Affinities and Genealogy of Man. Chapter VH. On the Races of Man. CONTENTS. Chapter PART II. SEXUAL SELECTION. Chapter VIII. Principles of Sexual Selection. Chapter IX. Secondary Sexual Character in the Lower Classes of the An- imal Kingdom. *% Numbers 74, 75, 76. are single numbers (15 cents each) ; Number 77 is a double number (30 cents). Price of the entire work 75 cents. X. Secondary Sexual Characters of Insects. Chapter XI. Insects (continued) Order Lepi- doptera(butternies and moths) Chapter XII. Secondary Sexual Characters of Fishes, Amphibians, and Rep- tiles. Chapter XIII. Secondarv Sexual Characters of Birds. " Chapter XIV. Birds (continued). Chapter XV. Birds (continued). Chapter XVI Birds (conceded). Chapter XVII. Secondary Sexual Characters of Mammals. Chapter XVIII. Secondary Sexual Characters of Mammals (continued). PART III. SEXUAL, SELECTION IN RELATION f o MAN, AND CONCLUSION. Chapter XIX. Secondary Sexual Characters of Man. Chapter XX. Secondary Sexual Characters of Man (continued). [siou. Chapter XXI. General Summary and Conclu- HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF LAND IN ENGLAND, with Suggestions for some Improvement in the law. By WILLIAM LLOYD BIRKBECK, M.A., Master of Downing College, and Downing Professor of the Laws of England in the University of Cambridge. PART I. I. Anglo-Saxon Agriculture. Geiieats and Geburs. Villani. II. Agriculture after the Conquest. Villein- age. Copyholders. Continental Serfs. III. Origin of Large Properties. Estates of Anglo-Saxon Nobility. Evidence of Domesday. IV. The Soke. Socage Tenure. V. Agricultural Communities. VI. Mr. Seebohm. VII. The First Taxation of Laud. The Hide. VIII. Saxon Law of Succession to Land. IX. Effect of the Norman Conquest on the Distribution of Land. X. Norman Law of Succession. XL Strict Entails. The Statute "De Donis Conditionalibus. " XII. Effects of Strict Entails. Scotch Entails. CONTENTS. XIII. Relaxation of Strict Entails. Common Recoveries. XIV. Henry VII. and his Nobles. The Statute of Fines. XV. Strict Settlements. XVI. Effect of Strict Settlements of Land. Mr. Thorold Rogers. XVII. Trustees to Preserve Contingent Re- mainders. XVIII. Powers of Sale. XIX. Inclosure of Waste Lands. Mr. John Walter. Foi-mation of a Peasant Pro- prietary. PART II. I. Amendment of Law of Primogeniture. II. Proposed System of Registration. III. Modern Registration Acts. IV. The Present General Registration Act. Published monthly. $1.5O per annum. Single numbers, 15 cents. OF POPULAR SCIENCE. No. 7r. SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS OF SOME FAMILIAR THINGS.- By w. M. WILLIAMS, F.K.S., F.C.S'. CONTENTS. I. On the Social Benefits of Paraffin. II. The Formation of Coal. III. The Chemistry of Bog Reclamation. IV. The Coloring of Green Tea. V. "Iron-Filings" in Tea. VI. The Origin of Soap. VII. The Action of Frost in Water-Pipes and on Building Materials. . VIII. Fire-Clay and Anthracite. IX. Count Ruml'ord's Cooking-Stoves. X. The Air of Stove-Heated Rooms. XI. Domestic Ventilation. No. 80. CHARLES DARWIN: HIS Double number, 3O cents. LIFE AND WORK.- By GRANT ALLEN. CONTENTS. Chapter I. The World into which Darwin was born. Chapter II. Charles Darwin and his Antecedents. Chapter III. Early Days. Chapter IV. Darwin's Wander- Years. Chapter V. The Period of Incubation. Chapter VI. "The Origin of Species." Chapter VII. The Darwinian Revolution begins. Chapter VIII. The Descent of Man. Chapter IX. The Theory of Courtship. Chapter X. Victory and Rest. Chapter XI. Darwin's Place in the Evolution- ary Movement. Chapter XII. The Net Result. No. 81. THE MYSTERY OF MATTER: and THE PHILOSOPHY OF IGNORANCE. r. ALLANSON PICTON. No. 82. ILLUSIONS OF THE SENSES: AND OTHER ESSAYS.-By RICHARD A. PROCTOR. CONTENTS. I. Illusions of the Senses. I V. Our Dual Brain. II. Animals of the Present and the Past. VI. A New Star in a Star-Cloud. III. Life in Other Worlds. VII. Monster Sea-Serpents. IV. Earthquakes. I VIII. The Origin of Comets. No. 83. PROFIT-SHARING BETWEEN CAPITAL AND LABOR.-Six Essays. By SEDLEY TAYLOR, M.A., late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Eng. CONTENTS. Essay I. Profit-Sharing in the Maison Leclaire. Essay II. Profit-Sharing in Industry. Essay III. Profit-Sharing in Industry (continued}. Essay IV. Profit-Sharing in the Paris and Orleans Railway Company. Essay V. Profit-Sharing in Agriculture. Appendix to Essay V. Mr. Vande- leur's Irish Expei'iment. Essay VI. Profit -Sharing in Distributive Enter- prise. No. 84. STUDIES OF ANIMATED NATURE.-Fom Essays, viz., Bats. By W. S. DALLAS, F.L.S. Dragon-Flies. B y w - s - DALLAS, F.L.S. The Glow-worm and other Phosphorescent Animals. By G. G. Cms- HOLM, M.A., B.Sc. Minute Organisms.-By FREDERICK P. BALKWILL. No. 85. THE ESSENTIAL NATURE OF RELIGION.- By J. ALLANSON PICTON, author of "The Mystery of Matter," &c. CONTENTS. IV. Prophetic Religions. V. Religious Dogma. The Future of Religion. I. Religion and Freedom of Thought. II. The Evolution of Religion. Fetichism. III. Nature - Woi-ship. . . .1 . .!. I I ' THE HUMBOLDT PUBLISHING CO., 28 Lafayette Place, New York. THE HUMBOLDT LIBRARY No. 86. THE UNSEEN UNIVERSE. By WILLIAM KINGDON CLIFFORD, F.R.S. TO WHICH IS ADDED THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE PURE SCIENCES.- By WILLIAM KING- DON CLIFFORD, F.R.S. I. Statement of the Question. II. Knowledge and Feeling. CONTENTS. I III. The Postulates of the Science of Space. IV. The Universal Statements of Arithmetic. No. 87. THE MORPHINE HABIT (MORPHINOMANIA).- Three Lectures by Professor B. BALL, M.D., of the Paris Faculty of Medicine. CONTENTS. III. Moi'phinomama. Diagnosis. Prognosis, and Treatment. I. Morphinomania. General Description. Effects of the Abuse of Morphine. II. Morphinomania. Effects of Abstinence from Morphine. To which is appended four other lectures, viz., ! The Border-Land of Insanity. I ni. Prolonged Dreams. II. Cerebral Dualism. I IV - Insanity in Twins. SCIENCE AND CRIME, AND OTHER ESSAYS -By ANDREW WILSON, F.R.S.E. I. The Earliest Known Life-Relic. II. About Kangaroos, in. On Giants. CONTENTS. I IV. The Polity ef a Pond. V. Skates and Rays. VI. Leaves. No. 89. THE GENESIS OF SCIENCE. -By HERBERT SPENCER. TO WHICH IS ADDED THE COMING OF AGE OF "THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES."-By Professor THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY, F.R.S. No. .90. NOTES ON EARTHQUAKES: with Thirteen Miscellaneous Essays. By RICHARD A. PROCTOR. CONTENTS. I. Notes on Earthquakes. 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The Constitution of Universities. The terms "Studium Generate" and "Uni- versitas." XI. Students, their Numbers and Discipline. Privileges of Universities. Faculties. XII. Graduation. XIII. Oxford and Cambridge. XIV. The University of Prague. XV. University Studies and the Conditions of Graduation. Published monttLly. $1.5O per annum.- Single numbers, 15 cents. OF POPULAR SCIENCE, No. 92. Double number, 30 cents. THE FORMATION OF VEGETABLE MOULD THROUGH THE Action of Earthworms, with Observations on their Habits. By CHARLES DARWIN, LL.D., F.K.S. CONTENTS. Chapter I. Habits of Worms. Chapter II. Habits of Worms (continued). Chapter III. The Amount of Fine Earth brought up by Worms to the surface. Chapter IV. The Part which Worms have played in the Burial of Ancient Build- ings. Chapter V. The Action of Worms in the Denu- dation of the Land. Chapter VI. The Denudation of the Land (con- tinued). Chapter VII. Conclusion. No. 93. SCIENTIFIC METHODS MOUNT BLEYER, M.D. I. 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