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,ooot<h of an inch. The dimensions are such 
 that, as we shall see when we come to deal with matter, if the drop of 
 water in which the microscope shows us living animalcula w r ere magni- 
 fied to the size of the earth, the atoms of which it is composed would 
 appear of a size intermediate between that of a rifle-bullet and a 
 cricket-ball. 
 
 This, then, is Nature's scale of space, from millionths of a millime- 
 tre up to millions of millions of miles. Throughout the whole of this 
 enormous range of space the laws of Nature prevail. 
 
 Matter attracts matter by the same law of gravity in the case of 
 double stars revolving about each other at a distance at which a base of 
 180,000,000 miles has long since become a vanishing point, and in the 
 case of atoms which form the substance of a gas, as in that of an apple 
 falling from a tree at the earth's surface. Comets, darting off into the 
 remote regions of space, return after long periods, in obedience to the 
 same law. Clouds of meteoric dust revolve in fixed orbits, determined 
 by the law of gravity as surely as the moon revolves round the earth, 
 and the earth round the sun. 
 
 This is a conclusion of such fundamental importance that it is 
 desirable to give the uninitiated reader some clear idea of what it means 
 and how it is arrived at. Newton's great discovery, the law of gravity, 
 is this that all matter acting in the mass attracts other matter directly 
 as the amount of attracting matter, and inversely as the square of the 
 distance. That is, 2 or 2,000,000 tons attract with twice the force of 
 1 or 1,000,000 tons at the same distance, but with only one-fourth of 
 the same force at double, and one-ninth at triple the distance. 
 
 How is this law proved? This will be best answered by explaining 
 how it was discovered. The force of gravity, or attraction of the earth 
 on bodies at the earth's surface, is a known quantity. The whole 
 matter in a spherical body attracts exactly as if it were all collected 
 at the centre. The force of gravity at the earth's surface is, therefore, 
 that of the earth's mass exerted at a distance of about 4,000 miles, and 
 this can be easily measured by observing the space fallen through, and 
 the velocity acquired, by a falling body in a given time, such as 1". 
 
 Does the same force act at the distance of the moon, or 207,200 
 miles ? This was the question Newton asked himself, and the answer 
 was got at in the following way. If we swing a stone in a sling round 
 our head, it describes a circle as long as we keep the string tight, and 
 its pull inwards just balances the pull of the stone to fly outwards, i.e., 
 to use scientific language, as long as the centripetal just balances the 
 centrifugal force. But if we let go the string the stone darts off in 
 the direction in which, and with the velocity with which, it was moving 
 when the centripetal force ceased to act. 
 
 The moon is such a sling-stone revolving about the earth. At 
 each instant it is moving in the direction of a tangent to its* orbit, and 
 would move on in a straight line along this tangent if it were not 
 deflected from it by some other force. That is, if the moon were now 
 
SPACE. 15 
 
 at Mj, it would, after a given interval of time, be at M 2 if no force had 
 
 acted on it. But in point of fact it is not at M 2 but at M 3 . Therefore 
 
 it has been pulled down from M 2 to M 3 , or if you like, fallen through 
 
 the space M 2 M 3 in the time in which it would have 
 
 travelled over M t M 2 with its velocity at Mj. How 
 
 does this space correspond with the space through 
 
 which a heavy body would have fallen in the same 
 
 time at the earth's surface ? It corresponds exactly, 
 
 assuming the law of gravity to be, that it decreases 
 
 with the square of the distance. 
 
 This may be taken as the first approximation, but 
 the more accurate and universal proofs of the law are 
 derived from mathematical calculations of what the 
 nature of the attractions must be, in the case of the 
 sun, earth, moon, and planets, to make them describe such elliptic 
 orbits and observe such laws, as from Kepler's observations we know 
 actually to be the case. The answer here again is the law of gravity, 
 and no other possible law, and this is confirmed in practice by the fact 
 that we are able, by calculations based on it, to satisfy the requisite of 
 safe prophecy that of knowing beforehand, and to predict eclipses, 
 comets, transits, and occultations, and generally to compile Nautical 
 Almanacs, by which ships know their whereabouts in pathless oceans. 
 
 This, then, affords us a first firm standing-point in any specula- 
 tions as to the nature of the universe. One great law, at any rate, is 
 universal throughout all space, and, as we shall see later, suns, stars, 
 and nebulae are composed of the same matter as the earth and its 
 inhabitants. 
 
 In like manner comets and meteors, though presenting in other 
 respects phenomena not yet fully understood, are proved to obey the 
 same laws and to consist of the same matter. Comets are bodies which 
 revolve round the sun, and are attracted by it and by the planets, in 
 obedience to the ordinary law of gravity, though their density is so 
 slight, that although often of enormous volume, they produce no per- 
 ceptible effect on the planets, even when entangled amidst the satellites 
 of a planet, as Lascelles' comet was among those of Jupiter. 
 
 Their dimensions may be judged of when it is stated that the 
 comet of 1811 had a tail 120 millions of miles in length and 15 millions 
 of miles in diameter at the widest part, while the diameter of the nucleus 
 was about 127,000 miles, or more than ten times that of the earth. 
 In order that bodies of this magnitude, passing near the earth, should 
 not affect its motion or change the length of the year by even a single 
 second, their actual substance must be inconceivably rare. If the tail, 
 for instance, of the comet of 1843 had consisted of the lightest sub- 
 stance known to us, hydrogen gas, its mass would have exceeded that 
 of the sun, and every planet would have been dragged from its orbit. 
 As Proctor says, therefore: " A jar-full of air would probably have out- 
 weighed hundreds of cubic miles of that vast appendage which blazed 
 across the skies to the terror of the ignorant and superstitious." 
 
 The extreme tenuity of a comet's mass is also proved by the phe- 
 nomenon of the tail, which, as the comet approaches the sun, is thrown 
 out sometimes to a length of 90 millions of miles in a few hours. And 
 what is remarkable, this tail is thrown out against the force of gravity 
 by some repulsive force, probably electrical, so that it always points 
 away from the sun. Thus a comet which approaches the sun with a 
 
16 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 tail behind it, will, after passing its perihelion, recede Loin the son 
 with its tail before it, and this although the tail may be of the length 
 of 200 millions of miles as in the comet of 1843. In the course of a 
 few hours, therefore, this enormous tail has been absorbed and a new 
 one started out in an opposite direction. And yet, thin as the matter 
 of comets must be, it obeys the common law of gravity, and whether 
 the comet revolves in an orbit within that of the outer planets, or 
 shoots off into the abysses of space and returns only after hundreds of 
 years, its path is, at each instant, regulated by the same force as that 
 which causes an apple to fall to the ground; and its matter, however 
 attenuated, is ordinary matter, and does not consist of any unknown 
 elements. The spectroscope shows that comets shine partly by re- 
 flected sunlight and partly by light of their own, the latter part being 
 gaseous, and this gas, in most comets, contains carbon, hydrogen, and 
 nitrogen, possibly also oxygen, in the form of hydrocarbons or marsh 
 gas, cyanogen and possibly oxygen compounds of carbon. One comet 
 has recently given the line of sodium, and the presence of iron is 
 strongly suspected. 
 
 As regards meteors, which include shooting stars and aerolites, it 
 has been long known, from actual masses which have fallen on the 
 earth, that they are composed of terrestrial matter, principally of iron, 
 which has been partially fused by the heat engendered by the fiction 
 of the rapid passage through the air. The recurrence of brilliant 
 displays at regular intervals, as for instance those of August and 
 November, when the whole sky often seems alive with shooting stars, 
 had also been noticed; but it was reserved for recent times to prove 
 that these meteor streams are really composed of small planetary bodies 
 revolving round the sun in fixed orbits by the force of gravity, and that 
 their display, as seen by us, arises from the earth in its revolution 
 round the sun happening to intersect some of these meteoric orbits, 
 and the fiction of our atmosphere setting fire to and consuming the 
 smaller meteors which appear as shooting stars. This shows the 
 enormous number of meteors by which space must be tenanted. It is 
 proved that the earth encounters more than a hundred meteor systems, 
 but the chance of any one ring or system being intersected by the 
 earth is extremely small, as the earth is such a minute speck in the 
 whole sun-surrounding space of the solar system. On a scale on which 
 the earth's orbit was represented by a circle of 10 feet diameter, the 
 earth itself would be only about ^th of an inch in diameter, so that if, 
 as astronomers say, the earth encounters about a hundred meteor 
 systems in the course of its annual revolution, space must swarm with 
 an innumerable number of these minute bodies all revolving round the 
 sun by the force of gravity. 
 
 Has this law of gravity been uniform through all time as it 
 undoubtedly is through all space? We have every reason to believe so. 
 The law of gravity, which is the foundation of most of what we call the 
 natural laws of geological action, has certainly prevailed, as will be 
 shown later, through the enormous periods of geological time, and far 
 beyond this we can discern it operating in those astronomical changes 
 by which cosmic matter has been condensed into nebulae, nebulse into 
 suns throwing off planets, and planets throwing off satellites, as they 
 cooled and contracted. We cannot speak with quite the same certainty 
 of infinite time as we can of infinite space, for we have no telescopes 
 to gauge the abysses of time, and no certain standards, like those of 
 
TIME. 17 
 
 the known dimensions of our solar system, to apply to periods too vast 
 for the imagination. 
 
 But we can say this with certainty, that the present law of gravity 
 must have prevailed when the outermost planet of our system, Nep- 
 tune, was condensed into a separate body and began revolving in its 
 present orbit, and that it has continued to act ever since ; while, as a 
 matter of probability, it is as nearly certain as anything can be, that 
 the law by which the apple falls to the ground is an original law of 
 matter, and has existed as long as matter has existed. 
 
 It certainly extends through all space. Double stars at a distance 
 exceeding 20 millions of millions of miles revolve round their common 
 centre of gravity by this law. Atoms and molecules almost infinitely 
 smaller than million ths of millimetres derive from it their specific 
 weights with as much certainty as if they were pounds or hundred- 
 weights. 
 
 What space and matter really may be, we do not know, and if we 
 attempt to reason about their essence and origin, or quit the region 
 of science based on fact, we get into the misty realms of metaphysics, 
 where, like Milton's fallen angels, we 
 
 Find no end in wandering mazes lost. 
 
 But this we do know of a certainty, that be matter and space what 
 they may, they are subject to this one, uniform, all-pervading law; and 
 attract, have always attracted, and will always attract, directly as the 
 mass of the attracting matter and inversely as the square of the dis- 
 tance in space at which the attraction acts. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 TIME. 
 
 EOLOGY has done for time what astronomy has for space it 
 f has expanded the limited ideas derived from natural impression 
 and early tradition, into those of an almost infinite duration. This 
 result is so important that it is desirable that all educated persons, 
 without being professed geologists, should have some clear idea of the 
 nature of the conclusions and of the evidences on which they rest. 
 
 This I will endeavor to give. 
 
 When we come to examine the structure of the earth or rather 
 of the outer crust of the earth which we inhabit with the care and 
 precision of scientific methods, we find that it is not of uniform com- 
 position, but consists mainly of distinct layers, or strata, lying one 
 over the other. This is true not only of the larger beds, or distinct 
 formations, but of the details of each formation, many of which are 
 built up as regularly as the layers of the Great Pyramid, while others 
 are made up of layers no thicker than the leaves of a book. 
 
 Now consider what this fact of stratification implies. In the first 
 place it implies deposit from water, for there is no other agency by 
 which materials can be sorted out and thrown down in horizontal 
 layers, while this agency is now doing the same thing every day and 
 all over the world. The Rhone flows into the lake of Geneva a turbid 
 stream, and flows out of it as clear as crystal. All the matter it brings 
 
18 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 in is deposited at the bottom of the lake, and in course of time will fill 
 it up. This deposit varies with every alternation of flood and drought; 
 the river depositing sometimes boulders and coarse gravel, sometimes 
 shingle, sand, or fine mud, and carrying this material sometimes to a 
 greater and sometimes to a less distance, according to the velocity of 
 the stream. 
 
 Ages hence, when the lake has been converted into dry land, it 
 will be as certain, whenever a pit is dug or a well sunk in it, that it was 
 the work of a river flowing into a lake, as it is to-day, when we can see 
 them at work. 
 
 And what is true of the Khone and the Lake of Geneva, is true on 
 a larger scale of the .Ganges, the Mississippi, and of every sea or 
 ocean, with every river or torrent pouring into it. 
 
 Again, the sea is perpetually wearing away the coasts of all lands, 
 and, where the cliffs are soft and the tides and currents strong, at a 
 very rapid rate. The materials swallowed up are rolled as shingle, 
 ground into sand, or floated as fine mud, and all finally assorted and 
 laid down at the bottom of the sea, not in a confused heap, but in 
 regular succession. On some of them, shell-fish and other marine 
 creatures live and die for generations, and their remains are covered 
 over by fresh sands or clays, and preserved for future geologists. All 
 this is going on now, and when we examine the rocks we find that 
 precisely the same sort of thing has been going on from the newest to 
 the oldest strata. With the exception of a comparatively small amount 
 of igneous rock, which has boiled up from deep sources of molten 
 matter, and been poured out in sheets of lava, or masses of trap, 
 porphyry, and granite, according to the amount of pressure it has 
 undergone and the time it has taken to cool and crystallize, all the 
 earth's surface may be said to consist of stratified matter, showing 
 clear signs of having been deposited from water. Some of the oldest 
 rocks, such as gneiss, may be a little doubtful, as they have clearly been 
 subjected to great heat under great pressure, until they became plastic 
 enough to crystallize as they cooled, and thus destroy any fossils 
 embedded in them and obliterate most of the ordinary signs of strati- 
 fication. But the opinion of the best geologists is that they were 
 originally stratified, and have become what is called "metamorphic," or 
 changed by heat and pressure into the semblance of igneous rocks. 
 But even if these are not included, enough remains to justify the 
 general assertion that the outer crust of the earth, as known to us, is 
 made up mainly of stratified materials which have been deposited from 
 water. 
 
 Now this implies another most important fact, viz., that there must 
 have been waste or denudation of existing land corresponding to the 
 deposit of stratified materials under water. Water cannot generate 
 these materials, and every square mile of such strata, say 10 feet thick, 
 implies the removal of 10 feet from a square mile of land surface by 
 rains and rivers, or of an equivalent amount of cubical content in some 
 other way, as by the erosion of a coast line. This is a very important 
 consideration when we come to estimate the time required for the 
 formation of such a thickness of stratified beds as we find existing. 
 There must have been a fundamental crystalline rock as the earth 
 cooled down from a fluid state and acquired a solid crust, and this 
 rock must have, been worn down by primeval seas and rivers as the 
 progressive cooling admitted of the condensation of aqueous vapor into 
 
TIME. 19 
 
 -water. The waste of this primitive crust must have been deposited in 
 strata at the bottom of those seas in thick masses, covering the original 
 rock, and these again must have been partly crystallized by heat and 
 pressure, and over and over again upheaved and submerged, and 
 themselves worn down by fresh erosion, forming fresh deposits which 
 underwent a repetition of the same process. 
 
 A third important inference from the fact of stratification is that 
 all strata must have been originally deposited horizontally, or very 
 nearly so, and in such order that the lowest is the oldest. 
 
 Suppose we fill a jar with water, and put some white sand into 
 it, and when that has subsided to the bottom and the water is clear, 
 some yellow sand, and again some red sand, it is clear that we shall 
 have at the bottom of the jar three horizontal deposits or strata, one 
 white, one yellow, and one red, and that by no conceivable means can 
 the order in which they were deposited have been other than first 
 white, secondly yellow, and lastly red. This law, therefore, is invaria- 
 ble, that wherever it is possible to trace a series of strata lying one 
 above the other, the lowest is the oldest, and the highest the youngest 
 in point of time. 
 
 If, therefore, all the great formations, from the old Lauren tian 
 up to the newest Tertiary, had been deposited uniformly all over the 
 world, and had remained undisturbed, and we could have seen them 
 in one vertical section in a cliff twenty-five miles high for that is 
 about their total known thickness we should have been able without 
 further difficulty to determine their order of succession and respective 
 magnitudes. 
 
 But this is plainly impossible, for the deposits going on at any 
 one time are of very different character. For instance, we have at 
 present the Globigerina ooze gradually filling the depths of the Atlan- 
 tic with a deposit resembling chalk; the Gulfs of Bengal and Mexico 
 silting up with fine clay from river deposits ; vast tracts in the Pacific, 
 Indian Ocean, and Red Sea, covered with coral and the debris of coral- 
 reefs. How could these, if upheaved into dry land and explored by 
 future geologists, be identified as having been formed contempora- 
 neously ? 
 
 Suppose that coins of Victoria had been dropped in each of them, 
 the geologist who discovered these coins would have no difficulty in 
 concluding that the strata in which they were found were all formed 
 in the nineteenth century. The petrified shells and other remains 
 found in geological strata are such coins. Every great formation has 
 had its own characteristic fauna and flora, or aggregate of animal and 
 vegetable life, varying slowly from one geological age to another, and 
 linked to the past and future by some persistent types and forms, but 
 still with such a preponderance of characteristic fossils as to enable 
 us to assign the rocks in which they occur to their proper place in 
 the volume of the geological record. Innumerable observations have 
 shown that we can rely, with absolute confidence, on the fossils 
 embedded in the different strata of the earth's crust as tests of the 
 period to which they belong, however different the strata may be in 
 mineral composition. 
 
 The next question is how we can ascertain the thickness and 
 order of succession of these strata. We have seen that all stratified 
 rocks were originally deposited from water and therefore horizontally. 
 Had they remained so, in the first place the process of forming strati- 
 
20 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 fied rocks must long ago have come to an end, for all the land surface 
 must have been worn down to the sea level, and with no more land 
 to be denuded, deposition must have ceased at an early period of 
 the earth's history. And, in the second place, we could have known 
 nothing more of the earth's crust than we saw on the surface, and in 
 the shallow pits and borings we could sink below it. But earthquakes 
 and volcanoes, and the various fractures and pressures due to sub- 
 terranean heat and secular contraction and cooling, have been at work 
 counteracting the effects of denudation, and causing: elevations and 
 depressions by which the inequalities of the earth's surface have been 
 renewed, the balance between sea and land maintained, and strata, 
 originally horizontal at the bottom of the ocean, upheaved until sea- 
 shells are found at the top of high mountains, and we can walk for 
 miles over their upturned edges. 
 
 Any one who wishes to understand how geologists have been able 
 to measure such a thickness of the earth's crust, has only to take a 
 book open at page 1 and lay it flat before him. He can see nothing 
 but that one page; but if he turns up the pages on the right-hand 
 side of the book until their edges become horizontal, he can pass over 
 them and count perhaps 500 pages in the space of a couple of inches. 
 
 This is precisely what geologists have been able to do at various- 
 points of the earth's surface where the upturned edges of the p iges 
 of its history are exposed, and they come out, one behind the other, 
 in the due succession in which they were written by Nature. For 
 instance, in travelling from east to west in England we pass continu- 
 ally from newer to older formations Chalk comes in from below 
 Tertiary; Oolite and Lias from below Chalk; then Permian or New Red 
 Sandstone; Carbonifr rous, including the Coal measures; Devonian or 
 Old Red Sandstone; Silurian, Cambrian, and in the extreme north-west 
 of Scotland and the Hebrides, oldest of all the Lauren tian. 
 
 There are somo omissions and interpolations, but, in a general 
 way, it may be said that within the bounds of the British Empire we 
 have such a view of Nature's volume as would be got, in the case 1 
 have supposed, by travelling over its upturned edges from page 1 to 
 page 500. And if each of the great formations be t-iken as a separate 
 chapter, each chapter will be found to be made up of a number of pages, 
 each with its own letter-press and illustrations, though connected with 
 the pages before and after it by the thread of the continuous common 
 subject of their proper chapter; as the chapters again are connected by 
 the continuous common subject-matter of the complete volume. It 
 must not be supposed that the volume is anything like perfect. We 
 have 'to piece it together from fragments found in the limited number 
 of countries which have thus far been scientifically explored, and which 
 do not constitute more than a small part of the earth's surface. We 
 know nothing of what is below the oceans which cover three-fourths 
 of that surface, and there are great gaps in the record during times 
 when portions of the surface were dry land, and consequently no 
 deposit of strata or preservation of fossils was possible. Still a great 
 deal has been accomplished, and the general result, as given by common 
 consent of the best geologists, is as follows: 
 
 The total thickness of known strata is about 130,000 feet or twenty- 
 five miles, or the ^th part of the distance from the earth's surface to 
 its centre. Of this, about 80,000 feet belong to the Laurentian, which 
 is the oldest known stratified deposit; 18,000 to the Cambrian, and 
 
TIME. 21 
 
 '22,000 to the Silurian. These form together what is known as the 
 -Primary or Palaeozoic Epoch. 
 
 In the lowest, the Laurentian, the only faint trace of life discov- 
 ered is that of the Eozoon Canadensc, which is considered to be an 
 undoubted petrifaction of a foraminiferous living organism with a cham- 
 bered shell. 
 
 It must be remembered, however, that these earliest formations 
 have been so changed by slow crystallization under great heat and 
 pressure that all fossils and nearly all traces of stratification must have 
 been obliterated. 
 
 In the Cambrian and Lower Silurian traces of life become more 
 frequent, especially uf low forms of sea-weeds, and in the Upper Silurian 
 we find an abundance of life, consisting of Crustacea, shell-fish, and a few 
 true fish in the upper strata. Some of these shells, as the Lingula, have 
 continued without much change up to the present time; and on the 
 whole we find ourselves in the Silurian period, if not earlier, in presence 
 of a state of things in which substantially present causes operated and 
 present conditions were in force. Bains fell, winds blew, rivers ran, 
 waves eroded cliffs, shell-fish lived and died, and crabs and sand-worms 
 crawled about on shores left dry by each tide, very much as is the case 
 at present. 
 
 The next great divison, which got the name of Primary before the 
 existence of fossils was known in the older or Palaeozoic division, com- 
 prises the Devonian or Old Red Sandstone; the Carboniferous which 
 includes the coal; and the Permian or New Bed Sandstone. The aver- 
 age thickness of these three systems taken together is about 42,000 
 feet. It may be called the era of Fern Forests and of Fish, the 
 former being the principal source of our supplies of coal, and the 
 latter being extremely abundant within the Devonian and Permian 
 formations. 
 
 The third great division is formed by the Secondary group, which 
 includes the Triassic, the Jura, and the Cretaceous or Chalk systems, 
 and has an average thickness of about 15,000 feet. This epoch is 
 emphatically the age of Beptiles as the preceding one was that of 
 Fish, and the prevailing vegetation is no longer one of ferns and 
 mosses, but of Gymnosperms, or plants having naked seeds, the most 
 important class of which is that of the Coniferse or Pine tribe. Dur- 
 ing this period the Plesiosauri, Ichthyosauri, and other gigantic sea- 
 dragons abounded in the oceans; colossal land-dragons, such as the 
 Dinosauri, occupied the continents, and Pterodactyls, a remarkable 
 form of carnivorous flying lizards, ruled the air. Swarms of other 
 reptiles, nearly related to the present lizards, crocodiles, and turtles, 
 abounded both in the sea and land. A few traces of mammals and 
 birds show that these orders had then come into existence, just as a 
 few traces of reptiles are found in the Primary and of fish in the 
 Palaeozoic strata, but the few mammalian remains found are of small 
 animals of the marsupial or lowest type, and the birds are of a transi- 
 tion type between reptiles and true birds. This epoch concludes with 
 the Chalk formation, which is one of deep-sea deposit, where no trace 
 of terrestrial life can be expected. 
 
 Above this comes the Tertiary epoch, when the present order, 
 both of vegetable and animal life, is fairly inaugurated; mammals 
 predominate over other forms of vertebrate animals; existing order, 
 and species begin to appear and increase rapidly; and vegetation 
 
22 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 consists mainly of Angiosperms, or plants with covered seeds, as in our 
 present forests. The total thickness of these strata, from the lowest 
 or Eocene, to the end of the uppermost or Pliocene, is about 3,000 
 feet. Above this comes the Quar ternary, or recent period, which 
 comprises the superficial strata of modern formation, and is character- 
 ized by the undoubted existence of maei and of animal species, which 
 either now exist or have become extinct in quite recent geological 
 times. 
 
 The details of this and of the Tertiary Epoch will be more fully 
 considered when we come to treat of the antiquity of man, with' which 
 they are closely connected. But for the present object, which is that 
 of ascertaining some standard of time for the immense series of 
 ages proved by geology to have elapsed since the earth assumed its 
 present condition, became subject to existing laws and fitted to be the 
 abode of life, it will be sufficient to refer to the older strata. 
 
 The best idea of the enormous intervals of time required for 
 geological changes will be derived from the coal measures. These 
 consist of part only of one geological formation known as the 
 Carboniferous. They are made up of sheets or seams of condensed 
 vegetable matter, varying in thickness from less than an inch to as 
 much as thirty feet, and lying one above another, separated by beds of 
 rocks of various composition. As a rule, every seam of coal rests upon 
 a bed of clay, known as the "under-clay," and is covered by a bed of 
 sandstone or shale. These alternations of clay, coal, and rock, are 
 often repeated a great many times, and in some sections in South 
 Wales and Nova Scotia, there are as many as eighty or a hundred 
 seams of coal, each with its own under-clay below and sandstone or 
 shale above. Some of the coal seams are as much as thirty feet 
 thick, and the total thickness of the coal measures is, in some cases, as. 
 much as 14,000 feet. 
 
 Now consider what these facts mean. Every under-clay was 
 clearly once a surface soil on which the forest vegetation grew, whose 
 accumulated debris forms the overlying seam of coal. The under- clays 
 are full of the fibres of roots, and the stools of trees which once grew 
 on them, are constantly found in situ, with their roots attached just as 
 they stood when the tree fell, and added to the accumulation of 
 vegetable matter, which in modern times forms peat, and in more 
 ancient days, under different conditions of heat and pressure, took the 
 more consolidated form of coal. 
 
 When these vegetable remains are examined with the aid of the 
 microscope it is found that these ancient forests consisted mainly of 
 trees like gigantic club-mosses, mares'-tails, and tree ferns, with a few 
 resembling yew r s and firs. But in many cases the bulk of the coal is 
 composed of the spores and seeds of these ferns and club-mosses, 
 which were ripened and shed every year, and gradually accumulated 
 into a vegetable mould, just as fallen leaves, beech-mast, and other 
 debris gradually form a soil in our existing forests. 
 
 The time required must have been very great to accumulate 
 vegetable matter, principally composed of fine spore dust, to a depth 
 sufficient under great compression to give even a foot of solid coal. 
 Dr. Dawson, who has devoted great attention to the coal-fields of 
 America, says: " We may safely assert that every foot of thickness of 
 pure bituminous coal implies the quiet growth and fall of at least fifty 
 generations of Sigillaria, and therefore an undisturbed condition of 
 
TIME. 23 
 
 forest growth, enduring through many centuries." But this is only 
 the first step in the measure of the time required for the formation 
 of the coal measures. Each seam of coal is, as we have seen, covered 
 by a bed of sand or shale, i. e., of water-borne materials. How can 
 this be accounted for? Evidently in one way only that the land sur- 
 face in which the forest grew subsided gradually until it became first 
 a marsh, and then a lagoon or shallow estuary, which silted up by 
 degrees with deposits of sand or mud, and, finally, was upraised until 
 its surface became dry land, in which a second forest grew, whose 
 debris formed a second coal seam. And so on, over and over again, 
 until the whole series of coal measures had been accumulated, when 
 this alternation of slight submergences and slight rises came to an 
 end, and some more decided movement of the earth's surface in the 
 locality brought on a different state of things. This is in fact exactly 
 what we see taking place on a smaller scale in recent times in such 
 deposits as those of the delta of the Mississippi, where a well sunk 
 at New Orleans passes through a succession of cypress swamps and 
 forest growths, exactly like those now growing on the surface, which 
 are piled one above the other, and separated by deposits of river silt, 
 showing a long alternation of periods of rest when forests grew, fol- 
 lowed by periods of subsidence when they were flooded and their 
 remains were embedded in silt. 
 
 Starting on Dr. Dawson's assumption that one foot of coal 
 represents fifty generations of coal plants, and that each generation 
 of coal' plants took ten years to come to maturity, an assumption 
 which is certainly very moderate, and taking the actually measured 
 thickness of the coal measures in some localities at 12,000 feet, Pro- 
 fessor Huxley calculates that the time represented by the Coal forma- 
 tion alone would be six millions of years. Such a figure is, of course, 
 only a rough approximation, but it is sufficient to show that when we 
 come to deal with geological time, the standard by which we must 
 measure is one of which the unit is a million of years. 
 
 This standard is confirmed by a variety of other considerations. 
 Take the case of the Chalk formation. 
 
 Chalk is almost entirely composed of the microscopic shells of 
 minute organisms, such as now float in the upper strata of our great 
 oceans, and by their subsidence, in the form of an impalpable shell- 
 dust, accumulate what is called the " Globigerina ooze," which is 
 brought up by soundings in the Atlantic and Pacific from great 
 depths. In fact, we may say that a chalk formation is now going on 
 in the depths of existing oceans, and conversely that the old chalk, 
 which now forms hills and elevated downs, was certainly deposited 
 at the bottom of similar deep oceans of the Cretaceous period. The 
 rate of deposit must have been extremely slow, certainly much slower 
 than that of the deposit of the much grosser matter brought down 
 by the Nile in its annual inundations, the growth of which has been 
 estimated from actual measurement at about three inches per cen- 
 tury. If one inch per century were the rate of accumulation of this 
 microscopic shell-dust, subsiding slowly to depths of two or three 
 miles over areas as large as Europe, it would take 1,200 years to form 
 a foot of chalk, and 1,200,000 years to form 1,000 feet. Now there 
 are places where the thickness of the Cretaceous formation, exposed 
 by the edges of its upturned strata, exceeds 5,000 feet, so that this 
 gives an approximation very similar to that furnished by the coal 
 measures. 
 
24 MODERX SCIENCE AXD MODERX THOUGHT. 
 
 We have thus, on a rough approximation, a minimum period 
 of about 6,000,000 years for the accumulation of a single member 
 of one of the separate formations into which the total 130,000 feet of 
 measured strata are subdivided. But this takes 110 account of the long 
 periods during which no accumulation took place at the localities in 
 question, and of the long pauses which must have ensued between each 
 movement of elevation and submergence, and especially between the 
 disappearance of an old an:l appearance of an almost entirely new 
 epoch, with difterent forms of animal and vegetable life. We may be 
 certain also that we are far from knowing the total thickness of strata 
 which will be disclosed when the whole surface of the earth comes to 
 be explored. All we can say is that we have fragmentary pages 
 left in the geological record for, at the very least, 100 millions of 
 years, and that probably the lost pages are quite as numerous as those 
 of w r hich we have an imperfect knowledge. 
 
 Sir Charles Lyell, the highest authority on the subject, is in- 
 clined to estimate the minimum of geological time at 200 millions of 
 years, and few geologists will say that his estimate appears excessive. 
 
 Another test of the vast duration of geological time is afforded by 
 the oscillations of the earth's surface. At first sight we are apt to 
 consider the earth as the stable and the sea as the unstable element. 
 But in reality it is exactly the reverse. Land has been perpetually 
 rising and falling while the level of the sea has remained the- same. 
 This is easily proved by the presence of sea-shells and other marine 
 remains in strata which now form high mountains. In the case of 
 chalk, for instance, there must have been in England a change of 
 relative level of sea and land or more than two milts of vertical height, 
 between the original formation of the chalk at the bottom of a deep 
 ocean and its present position in the North and South Downs. In 
 other cases the change of level is even more conspicuous. The Num- 
 mulite limestone, which is formed like chalk from an accumulation of 
 the minute shells of low organisms floating in the oceans of the 
 early Tertiary period, is found in mountain masses, and has been 
 elevated to a height of 10,000 feet and more in the Alps and 
 Himalayas. 
 
 On a smaller scale, and in more recent times, raised beaches with 
 existing shells and lines of cliffs and caves, are found at various heights 
 above the existing sea-level of many of the coasts of Britain, Scandi- 
 navia, Italy, South America, and other countries. 
 
 Now the first question is, were these changes caused by the land 
 rising or by the sea falling? The answer is, by the land rising Had 
 they been caused by the sea standing at a higher level it must have 
 stood everywhere at this level, at any rate in the same hemisphere and 
 anywhere near the same latitude. But there are large tracts of land 
 which have never been submerged since remote geological periods; 
 and in recent times there is conclusive evidence that the changes of 
 level of sea and land have been partial and not general. Thus in the 
 well-known instance of the columns of the ruined temple of Serapis at 
 Pozzuoli in the Bay of Naples, which forms the illustration on the 
 title page of Lyell's " Principles of Geology," there can be no doubt 
 that since the temple was built, either the sea must have risen and 
 since fallen, or the land sunk and since risen, at least twenty feet since 
 the temple was built less than 2.000 years ago, for up to this height the 
 marble columns tiro riddled by borings of marine shells, whose valves 
 
TIME. 25 
 
 ;aro still to be seen in tlie holes they excavated. But an elevation of 
 the level of the Mediterranean of twenty feet would have submerged 
 a great part of Egypt, and other low-lying lands on the borders of 
 that sea, where we know that no such irruptions of salt water have 
 taken place within historical, or even within recent geological times. 
 
 The conclusion is therefore certain, that the knd at tin's particular 
 spot must have sunk twenty feet, and again risen as much, so as to 
 bring back the floor of the temple to its present position, which stood 
 one hundred years ago just above the sea-level, and that so gradually 
 as not to throw down the three columns which are still standing. A 
 slow subsidence has since set in and is now going on, so that the floor 
 Js now two or three feet below the sea-level. 
 
 Similar proofs may be multiplied to any extent. Along the coasts 
 of the British Islands we find, in some places submarine forests show- 
 ing subsidence, in others raised beaches showing elevation, but they 
 are not continuous at the same level. Along the east coast of Scotland 
 there is ^ remarkable raised beach at a level of about twenty-four feet 
 above the pr&sent one, showing in many places lines of cliff, sea-worn 
 caves, and outlying stacks and skerries, exactly like those of the 
 ^resent coast, though with green fields or sandy links at their base, 
 instead of the waves of the German Ocean. But as we go north this 
 inland cliff gets lower and gradually dies out, and when we get into 
 the extreme north, among the Orkney and Shetland Islands, there are 
 no signs of raised beaches, and everything points towards the recent 
 period having been one of subsidence. 
 
 Again, in Sweden, where marks were cut in rocks in sheltered 
 situations on the tideless Baltic more than a century ago, so as to test 
 the question of an alleged elevation of the land, it has been clearly 
 shown that, in the extreme north of Sweden, the marks have risen 
 nearly seven feet, while in the central portion of the country they have 
 neither risen nor fallen, and in the southern province of Scania they 
 have fallen. 
 
 This would be clearly impossible if the sea and not the land had 
 been the unstable element, and apparent elevations and depressions 
 had been due to a general fall or rise in the level of all the seas of the 
 northern hemisphere. 
 
 In fact, the more we study geology the more we are impressed 
 with the fact that the normal state of the earth is, and has always 
 been, one of incessant changes. Water, raised by evaporation from 
 the seas, falls as rain or snow on land, wastes it away and carries it 
 down from higher to lower levels, to be ultimately deposited at the 
 bottom of the sea. This goes on constantly, and if there were no 
 compensating action, as the seas cover a much larger area than the 
 lands, all land would ultimately disappear, and one universal ocean cover 
 the globe. But inward heat supplies the compensating action, and new 
 lands rise and new mountain chains are upheaved to supply the place 
 of those which disappear. 
 
 This inward heat of the earth is not a mere theory but an 
 ascertained fact; for as we descend from the surface in deep mines or 
 borings, we find the temperature actually does increase at a rate which 
 varies somewhat in different localities, but which averages about 1 
 .Fahrenheit for every 60 feet of depth. At this rate of increase water 
 would boil at a depth of 10,000 feet, and iron and all other metals be 
 melted before we reached 100,000 feet. What actually occurs at great 
 
26 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 depths we do not know with any certainty, for we are not sufficiently 
 acquainted with the laws under which matter may behave when under 
 enormous heat combined with enormous pressure. But we do know 
 from volcanoes and earthquakes that masses of molten rocks and of 
 imprisoned gases exist in certain localities, at depths below the surface 
 which, although large compared with our deepest pits, are almost 
 infinitesimally small compared with the total depth of 4,000 miles 
 from that surface to the earth's centre. 
 
 This much is clear, that, in order to account for observed facts, 
 we must consider the extreme outer crust, or surface of the earth as 
 known to us, as resting on something which is liable to expand and 
 contract slowly with variations of heat, and occasionally, when the 
 tension becomes great, to give violent shocks to the outer crust, send- 
 ing earthquake waves through it, and to send up gases and molten 
 lava through volcanoes, along lines of fissure, and at points of least 
 resistance. It is clear, also, that these movements are not uniform, 
 but that one part of the earth's surface may be rising while another is 
 sinking, and portions of it may be slowly tilting over, so that as one 
 end sinks the other rises. 
 
 The best comparison that can be made is to a sheet of ice which 
 has been much skated over and cracked in numerous directions, so as 
 to have become a sort of mosaic of ice fragment, which, when a thaw 
 sets in and the ice gets sloppy, rise and fall with slightly different 
 motions as a skater, gliding over them, varies the pressure, and 
 occasionally give a crack and let water rise through from below in the 
 line of fissure. The difficulty will not seem so great if we consider 
 that the rocks which form the earth's crust are for the most part 
 elastic, and that an amount of elevation which seems large in itself does 
 not necessarily imply a very steep gradient. Thus, if the elevation 
 which towards the close of the Glacial period carried a bed of existing 
 sea-shells of Arctic type to the top of the hill, Moel Tryfen, in North 
 Wales, which is 1,200 feet high, were, say one of 1,500 feet, this would 
 be given by a gradient of 15 feet a mile, or 1 in 333 for 100 miles. 
 Such a gradient would not be perceptible to the eye, and would 
 certainly not be sufficient to cause any tension likely to rupture rocks 
 or disturb strata. 
 
 Such movements are as a rule extremely slow. In volcanic regions 
 there are occasionally shocks which raise extensive regions a few feet 
 at a blow, and partial elevations and subsidences which throw up cones 
 of lava and cinders, or let mountains down into chasms, in a single 
 explosion. The most noted of these are the instances of Monte Nuovo, 
 near Naples, 800 feet high, and Jorullo, in Mexico, thrown up in one 
 eruption, and the disappearance the other day of a mountain 2,000 feet 
 high in the Straits of Sunda during an earthquake. The largest rise 
 recorded of an extensive area from the shock of an earthquake, is that 
 which occured in South America in 1835, when a range of coast of 500 
 miles from Copiapo to Chiloe was permanently raised five or six feet 
 by a single shock, as was shown by the beds of dead mussels and other 
 shells which had been hoisted up in some places as much as ten feet. 
 It is probable that the great chain of the Andes, whose highest sum- 
 mits reach 27,000 feet, has been raised in a great measure by a 
 succession of similar shocks. 
 
 But for the most part these movements, whether of elevation or 
 depression, go on so slowly and quietly that they escape observation 
 
TIME. 27 
 
 Scandinavia is apparently now rising and Greenland sinking, but most 
 countries have remained appreciably steady, or nearly so, during the 
 historical period. St. Michael's Mount, in Cornwall, is still connected 
 with the mainland by a spit, dry at ebb tide and covered at flood, as it 
 was more than 2,000 years ago when the old Britons carted their tin 
 across to Phoenician traders. Egypt, during a period of 7,000 years, 
 has preserved the same level, or at the most has sunk as slowly as the 
 Nile mud has accumulated. Parts of the English and Scotch coast have 
 risen perhaps twenty feet since the prehistoric period, when canoes 
 were wrecked under what are now the streets of Glasgow, and whales 
 were stranded in the- Carse of Stirling. There is even some evidence 
 that the latest rise may have occurred since the Eoman wall was built 
 from the Forth to the Clyde. In any case, however, the movements 
 have been extremely slow, and there have been frequent oscillations, 
 and long pauses when the level of land and sea remained stationary. 
 The evidence, therefore, from the great changes which have occurred 
 during each geological period, points to the same conclusion as that 
 drawn from the thickness of formations, such as the coal measures 
 and chalk, which must have been accumulated very slowly, viz., that 
 geological time must be measured by a scale of millions of years. 
 
 Another test of the vast duration of geological time is afforded by 
 the changes which have taken place in animal life as we pass from one 
 formation to another, and even within the limits of the same formation. 
 The fauna, or form of existing life at a given period, changes with 
 extreme slowness. During the historical period there has been no 
 perceptible change, and even since the Pliocene period, which cannot 
 be placed at a less distance from us than 200,000 years, and probably 
 at much more, the change has been very small. In the limited class of 
 large land animals it has been considerable; but if we take the far 
 more numerous forms of shell-fish and other marine life, the old species 
 which have become extinct and the new ones which have appeared, do 
 not exceed five per cent, of the whole. This is the more remarkable as. 
 great vicissitudes of climate and variations of sea-level have occurred 
 during the interval. The whole of the Glacial period has come and 
 gone, and Britain has been by turns an archipelago of frozen islands, 
 and part of a continent extending over what is now the German Ocean, 
 and pushing out into the Atlantic up to the one hundred fathom line. 
 
 Reasoning from these facts, assuming the rate of change in the 
 forms of life to have been the same formerly, and summing up the 
 many complete changes of fauna which have occurred during the 
 separate geological formations, Lyell has arrived at the conclusion 
 that geology requires a period of not less than 200 millions of years 
 to account for the phenomena which it discloses. 
 
 Long as the record is of geological time, it is only that of one 
 short chapter in the volume of the history of the universe. Geology 
 only begins when the earth had cooled down into a state resembling 
 the present; when winds blew, rains fell, rivers and seas eroded rocks 
 and formed deposits, and when the conditions were such that life 
 became possible by the remains of which those deposits can be 
 identified. 
 
 But before this period began, which may be called that of the 
 maturity or middle age of our planet, a much vaster time must be 
 allowed for the contraction and cooling of the vaporous ether or 
 cosmic matter of which it is formed, into the state in which the 
 
28 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 phenomena of geology became possible. And if vast in the case of 
 the earth, how must vaster must be the life periods of the larger 
 planets, such as Jupiter, which from their much greater size cool and 
 contract much more slowly, and are not yet advanced beyond the 
 stage of intense youthful heat and glowing luminosity which was left 
 behind by onr earth a great many tens of millions of years ago! And 
 how vastly vaster must be that of the sun, whose mass and volume 
 exceed those of Jupiter in a far higher ratio than Jupiter surpasses 
 the earth! 
 
 And beyond all this in a third degree of vastness come the life 
 periods of those stars or distant suns, which we know to be in some 
 cases as much as three hundred times larger than our sun, and not 
 nearly so far advanced as it in the process of emergence from the 
 fiery nebulous into the solar stage. 
 
 To give some idea of the vast intervals of time required for these 
 changes, a few facts and figures may be given. 
 
 One of the latest speculations of mathematical science is that 
 the rotation of the earth is becoming slower, or in other words the 
 day becoming longer, owing to the retarding action of the tides, which 
 act as a brake on a revolving wheel. If so, mathematical calculation 
 shows that the effect of the reaction on the moon of this action of 
 the moon on the earth, must be that as the earth rotates more slowly, 
 the moon recedes to a greater distance. And vice versci, when the 
 earth rotated more rapidly the moon was nearer to it, until at length, 
 when the process is carried back far enough, we arrrve at a time when 
 the moon was at the earth's surface and the length of the day about 
 three hours. In this state of things the moon is supposed to have 
 been thrown off from the earth, either by one great convulsion, or, 
 more probably, by small masses at a time forming a ring like that of 
 Saturn, which ended by coalescing into a single satellite. With 
 the moon, which is the principal cause of the tides, so much nearer 
 the earth, their rise and fall must have been something enormous, and 
 huge tidal waves like the bore of the Bay of Fundy, but perhaps 500 
 or 1,000 feet high, must have swept twice during each revolution of the 
 earth on its axis, i.e.) twice every three or four hours, along all the 
 narrower seas and channels and over all except the mountainous lands 
 adjoining. 
 
 Now these conclusions may be true or not as regards phases of 
 the earth's life prior to the Silurian period, from which downwards 
 geology shows unmistakably that nothing of the sort, or in the least 
 degree approaching to it, has occurred. But what I wish to point 
 out is that all this superstructure of theory rests on a basis which 
 really does admit of definite demonstration and calculation. 
 
 Halley found that when eclipses of the sun, recorded in ancient 
 annals, are compared with recent observations, a discrepancy is discov- 
 ered in the rate of the moon's motion, which must have been slightly 
 slower. then than it is now. Laplace apparently solved the difficulty by 
 showing that this was an inevitable result of the law of gravity, when 
 , the varying eccentricity of the earth's orbit was properly taken into 
 account; find the calculated amount of the variation from this cause 
 was shown to be exactly what was required to reconcile the observa- 
 tions. But our great English mathematician, Adams, having recently 
 .gone over Laplace's calculations anew, discovered that some factors in 
 the problem had been omitted, which reduced Laplace's acceleration of 
 
TIME. 29' 
 
 the moon's motion by about one-liar 1 , leaving tlio other half to be 
 explained by a real increase in the length of the sidereal day, or time 
 of one complete revolution of the earth about its axis. The retarda- 
 tion required is one sufficient to account for the total accumulated loss 
 of an hour and a quarter in 2,000 years; or in other words, the length 
 of the day is now more by about ^th part of a second than it was 
 2,000 years ago. 
 
 At this rate it would require 168,000 years to make a difference of 
 1 second in the length of the day; 10,080,000 years for a difference of 
 1 minute; and 604,800,000 years for a difference of 1 hour. The rate 
 would not be uniform for the past, JLr as the moon got nearer it would 
 cause higher tides and more retardation; still, the abyss of time seems 
 almost inconceivable to get back to the state in which the earth could, 
 have rotated in three hours and thrown off the moon. 
 
 It is right, however, to state that all mathematical calculations of 
 time, based on the assumed rate at which cosmic matter cools into suns- 
 and planets, and these into solid and habitable globes, are in the high- 
 est degree uncertain. If the original data are right, mathematical 
 calculation inevitably gives right conclusions. But if the data are 
 wrong, or what is the same thing, partial and imperfect, the conclusions 
 will, with equal certainty, be wrong also. Now in this case we certainly 
 do not know " the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the< 
 truth " respecting these processes. Take what is perhaps the most 
 difficult problem presented by science how the sun keeps up so 
 uniformly the enormous amount of heat which it is constantly radiat- 
 ing into space. This radiation is going on in every direction, and the 
 solar heat received by the earth is only that minute portion of it 
 which is intercepted by our little speck of a planet. All the planets 
 together receive less than one 230,000,000th part of the total heat 
 radiated away by the sun and apparently lost in space. Knowing the 
 amount of heat from the sun's rays received at the earth's surface in a, 
 given time, we can calculate the total amount of heat radiated from 
 the sun in that time. It amounts to this, that the sun in. each second 
 of time parts with as much heat as would be given out by the burning 
 of 16,436 millions of millions of tons of the best anthracite coal. And 
 radiation certainly at this rate, if not a higher one, has been going on 
 ever since the commencement of the geological record, w r hich must 
 certainly be reckoned by a great many tens of millions of years. 
 
 What an illustration does this afford of that apparent "waste of 
 Nature" which made Tennyson "falter where he firmly trod" when he 
 came to consider "her secret meaning in her deeds!" 
 
 Yet there can be no doubt that vast as these figures are, they are 
 all the result of natural laws, just r.s we find the law of gravity 
 prevailing throughout space at distances expressed by figures equally 
 vast. The question is, what laws? The only one we know of at present 
 at all adequate to account for such a generation of heat, is the trans- 
 formation into heat of the enormous amount of mechanical force or 
 energy, resulting from the condensation of the mass of nebulous 
 matter from which the sun was formed, into a mass of its present 
 dimensions. This is no doubt a true cause - as far as it goes. It is 
 true that as the mass contracts, heat would be, so to speak, squeezed 
 out of it, very much as water is squeezed out of a wet sponge by 
 compressing it. But it is a question whether it is the sole and 
 sufficient cause. Mathematicians have calculated that even if we 
 
30 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 suppose the original cosmic matter to have had an infinite extension, 
 its condensation into the present sum would only have been sufficient to 
 keep up the actual supply of solar heat for about 15 millions of years. 
 Of this a large portion must have been exhausted before the earth was 
 formed as a separate planet, and had cooled down into a habitabb 
 globe. But even if we took the whole it would be altogether insuf- 
 ficient. All competent geologists are agreed in requiring at least 100 
 millions of years to account for the changes which have taken place in 
 the earth's surface since the first dawn of life recorded in the older 
 rocks. 
 
 Various attempts have been made to reconcile the discrepancy. 
 For instance, it has been said that the constantly repeated impact of 
 masses of meteoric and cometic matter falling into the sun must have 
 caused the destruction of a vast amount of mechanical energy which 
 would be converted into heat. This is true as far as it goes, but it is 
 impossible to conceive of the sun as a target kept at a perpetual and 
 uniform white heat for millions of years by a rain of meteoric bullets 
 constantly fired upon it. More plausibly it is said that we know 
 nothing of the interior constitution of the sun, and that its solid 
 nucleus may be vastly more compressed than is inferred from the 
 dimensions of its visible disc, which is composed of glowing flames and 
 vapors. This also may be a true cause, but, after making every 
 allowance, we must fall back on the statement that the continuance for 
 such enormous periods of such an enormous waste of energy as is 
 given out by the sun, though certainly explainable by laws of Nature, 
 depends on laws not yet thoroughly understood and explained. 
 
 Even in the case, comparatively small and near to us, of the earth, 
 the condition of the interior and the rate of secular cooling afford prob- 
 lems which as yet wait for solution. The result of a number of careful 
 experiments in mines and deep sinkings shows that the temperature, 
 as we descend below the shallow superficial crust which is affected by 
 the seasons, i. 6., by the solar radiation, increases at the average rate of 
 1 Fahrenheit for every 60 feet of depth. That is the average rate, 
 though it varies a good deal in different localities. Now, at this rate 
 we should soon reach a depth at which all known substances would be 
 melted. . 
 
 But astronomical considerations, derived from the Precession of 
 the Equinuxes, favor the idea that the earth is a solid and not a fluid 
 body, and require us in any case to assume a rigid crust of not less than 
 ninety miles in thickness. And if the whole earth belo.w a thin super- 
 ficial crust were in an ordinary state of fluidity from heat, it is difficult 
 to see how it could do otherwise than boil, that is, establishing circulat- 
 ing "currents throughout its mass with disengagement of vapor, in 
 which case the surface crust must be very soon broken up and melted 
 down, just as the superficial crust of a red-hot stream of lava is, if an 
 infusion of fresh lava raises the stream below to white heat, or as a thin 
 film of ice would be if boiling water were poured in below it. 
 
 All we can say is, that the laws under which matter behaves under 
 conditions of heat, pressure, chemical action, and electricity so totally 
 different as must prevail in the interior of the earth, and d fortiori in 
 that of the sun, are as yet very partially known to us. In the mean- 
 time the safest course is to hold by those conclusions of geology which, 
 as far as they go, depend on laws really known to us. For instance, 
 the quantity of mud carried down in a year by the Ganges or Missis- 
 
TIME. 31 
 
 sippi, is a quantity which can be calculated within certain approximate 
 limits. We can tell with certainty how much the deposit of this 
 amount of mud would raise an area, say of 100 square miles, and how 
 long it would take, at this rate, to lower the area of India drained by 
 the Ganges, a sufficient number of feet to give matter enough to fill up 
 the Gulf of Bengal. And if among the older formations we find one, 
 like the Wealden for instance, similar in character to that now forming 
 by the Ganges, we can approximate from its thickness to the time 
 that may have been required to form it. 
 
 In calculations of this sort there is no theory, they are based on 
 positive facts, limited only by a certain possible amount of error either 
 way. In short, the conclusions of geology, at any rate up to the Silu- 
 rian period when the present order of things was fairly inaugurated, are 
 approximate facts and not theories, while the astronomical conclusions 
 are theories based on data so uncertain, that while in some cases they 
 give results incredibly short, like that of 15 millions of years for the 
 whole past process of the formation of the solar system, in others they 
 give results almost incredibly long, as in that which supposes the moon 
 to have been thrown off when the earth was rotating in three hours, 
 while the utmost actual retardation claimed from observation would 
 require 600 millions of years to make it rotate in twenty-three hours 
 instead of twenty-four. 
 
 To one who looks at these discussions between geologists and 
 astronomers not from the point of view of a specialist in either science, 
 but from that of a dispassionate spectator, the safest course, in the 
 present state of our knowledge, seems to be to assume that geology 
 really proves the duration of the present order of things to have been 
 somewhere over 100 millions of years, and that astronomy gives an 
 enormous though unknown time beyond in the past, and to come in the 
 future, for the birth, growth, maturity, decline, and death of the solar 
 system of which our earth is a small planet now passing through the 
 habitab e phase. 
 
 So far, however, as the immediate object of this work is concerned, 
 TIZ., the bearings of modern scientific discovery on modern thought, it 
 is not very material whether the shortest or longest possible standards 
 of time are adopted. The conclusions as to man's position in the uni- 
 verse and the historical truth or falsehood of old beliefs, are the same 
 whether man has existed in a state of constant though slow progression 
 for the last 50,000 years of a period of 15 millions, or for the last 500,- 
 000 years of a period of 150 millions. It is a matter of the deepest 
 scientific interest to arrive at the truth, both as to the age of the solar 
 system, the age of the earth as a body capable of supporting life, the 
 successive orders and dates at which life actually appeared, and the 
 manner and date of the appearence of the most highly organized form 
 of life endowed with new capacities for developing reason and conscience 
 in the form af Man. Those who wish to prove themselves worthy of 
 their great good luck in having been born in a civilized country of the 
 nineteenth century, and not in Palaeolithic periods, will do well to show 
 that curiosity, or appetite for knowledge, which mainly distinguishes 
 the clever from the stupid and the civilized from the savage man, by 
 studying the works of such writers as Lyell, Huxley, Tyndall, and 
 Proctor, where they will find the questions here only briefly stated, 
 developed at fuller length with the most accurate science and in the 
 clearest and most attractive style. But for the moral, philosophical, 
 
32 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 and religious bearings of these discoveries on the current of modern 
 thought, there is such a wide margin that it becomes almost immaterial 
 whether the shortest possible or longest possible periods should be 
 ultimately established. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 MATTER. 
 
 WHAT is the material universe composed of? Ether, Matter, and 
 Energy. Ether is not actually known to us by any test of which 
 the senses can take cognizance, but is a sort of mathematical substance 
 which we are compelled to assume in order to account for the phenomena 
 of light and heat. Light, as we have seen, radiates in all directions from 
 a luminous centre, travelling at the rate of 184,000 miles per second. 
 Now what is light? It is a sensation produced on the brain by some- 
 thing which has been concentrated by the lens of the eye on the retina, 
 and then transmitted along the optic nerve to the brain, where it sets 
 certain molecules vibrating. What is the something which produces 
 this effect? Is it a succession of minute particles, shot like rifle-bullets 
 from the luminous body and impinging on the retina as on a target? 
 Or is it a succession of tiny waves breaking on the retina as the waves 
 of the sea break on the shore? Analogy suggests the latter, for in the 
 case of the sister sense, Sound, we know as a fact that the sensation is 
 produced on the brain by waves of air concentrated by the ear, and. 
 striking on the auditory nerve. But we have a more conclusive proof. 
 If one of a series of particles shot out like bullets overtakes another, 
 the force of impact of the two is increased; but if one wave overtakes 
 another when the crest of the pursuing wave just coincides with the 
 hollow of the wave before it the effect is neutralized, and if the two are 
 of equal size it will be exactly neutralized and both waves will be 
 effaced. In other words, two lights will make darkness. This, there- 
 fore, affords an infallible test. If two lights can make darkness, light 
 is propagated, like sound, by waves. Now two lights do constantly 
 make darkness, as is proved, every day by numerous experiments. 
 Therefore light is caused by waves. 
 
 But to have waves there must be a medium through which the 
 waves are propagated. Without water you could not have ocean waves; 
 without air you could not have sound-waves. Waves are in fact 
 nothing but the successive forms assumed by a set of particles which, 
 when forced from a position of rest, tend to return to that position, and 
 oscillate about it. Place a cork on the surface of a still pond, and then 
 throw in a stone; what follows? Waves are propagated, wjiich seem to 
 travel outwards in circles, but if you watch the cork, you will sea that it 
 does not really travel outwards, but simply rises and falls in the same 
 place. This is equally true of waves of sound and waves of light. But 
 the velocity with which the waves travel depends on the nature of the 
 medium. In a dense medium of imperfect elasticity they travel slowly, 
 in a rare and elastic medium quickly. Now the velocity of a sound- 
 wave in air is about 1,100 feet a second, that of the light-wave about 
 184,000 miles a second, or about one million times greater. It is 
 proved by mathematical calculation that, if the density of two media 
 
MATTER. 
 
 33 
 
 are the same, their elasticities are in proportion to the squares of the 
 velocities with which a wave travels. The elasticity of ether, there- 
 fore, would be a million million times greater than that of air, which, 
 as we know, is measured by its power of resisting a pressure of about 
 15 Ibs. to the square inch. But the ether must in fact be almost infi- 
 nitely rare, as well as almost infinitely elastic, for it causes no perceptible 
 retardation in the "motions of the earth and planets. It must be almost 
 infinitely rare also, because it permeates freely the interior of substances 
 like glass and crystals, through which light-waves pass, showing that 
 the atoms or ultimate particles of which these substances are composed, 
 minute as they are, must be floating in ether like buoys floating on water 
 or balloons in the air. 
 
 The dimensions of the light- waves which travel through this ether at 
 the rate of 184,000 miles a second, can be accurately measured by 
 strict mathematical calculations, depending mainly on the phenomena 
 of interferences, i.e., of the intervals required between successive waves 
 for the crest of one to overtake the depression of another and thus 
 make two lights produce darkness. 
 
 These calculations are much too intricate to admit of popular 
 explanation, but they are as certain as those of the Nautical Almanac, 
 based on the law of gravity, which enable ships to find their way 
 across the pathless ocean, and they give the following results: 
 DIMENSIONS or LIGHT- WAVES. 
 
 COLOKS. 
 
 NUMBER OF WA.VZS 
 IN ONE INCH. 
 
 NUMBBK or OSCILLATIONS 
 IN ONE SECOND. 
 
 Bed 
 
 39,000 
 
 477,000,000,000,000 
 
 Orange 
 
 42,000 
 
 506,000,000,000,000 
 
 Yellow 
 
 44,000 
 
 535,000,000,000,000 
 
 Green 
 
 47,000 
 
 575,000,000,000,000 
 
 Blue 
 
 51,000 
 
 622,000,000,000,000 
 
 Indigo 
 
 54,000 
 
 658,000,000,000,000 
 
 Violet 
 
 57,000 
 
 669,000,000,000,000 
 
 These are the colors whose vibrations affect the brain through 
 the eye with the sensation of light, and which cause the sensation of 
 white light when their different vibrations reach the eye simultaneously. 
 But there are waves and vibrations on each side of these limits, which 
 produce different effects, the longer waves with slower oscillations 
 beyond the red, though no longer causing light causing heat, while the 
 shorter and quicker waves beyond the violet cause chemical action, and 
 are the most active agents in photography. 
 
 We must refer our readers to works treating specially of light for 
 further details, and for an account of the vast variety of beautiful and 
 interesting experiments with polarized'light, colored rings, and other- 
 wise, to which the theory of waves propagated through ether affords 
 the key. For the present purpose it is sufficient to say that modern 
 science compels us to assume, as the substratum of the material 
 universe, such an ether extending everywhere, from the faintest star 
 seen at a distance which requires thousands of years for its rays, travel- 
 ling at the rate of 184,000 miles a second, to reach the earth, down to 
 the infinitesimally small interspace between the atoms of the minutest 
 matter. And throughout the whole of this enormous range lawpre- 
 
34 MODERX SCIENCE AXD MODERX THOUGHT. 
 
 vails, ether vibrates and has always vibrated in the same definite man- 
 ner, just as air vibrates by definite laws when the strings of a piano are 
 struck by the hammers. 
 
 I pass now to the consideration of matter. 
 
 What is matter? In the most general sense it is that which has 
 weight, or is subject to the law of gravity. The next analysis shows 
 that it is something which can exist in the three forms of solid, liquid, 
 or gas, according to the amount of heat. Diminish heat, and the parti- 
 cles approach closer and are linked together by mutual attraction, so as 
 not to be readily parted; this is a solid. Increase the heat up to a cer- 
 tain point, and the particles recede until their mutual attractions-in the 
 interior of the mass neutralize one another, so that the particles can 
 move freely, though still held together as a mass by the sum of all these 
 attractions acting as if concentrated at the centre of gravity; this is the 
 liquid state. Increase the heat still more, and the particles separate 
 until they get beyond the sphere of their mutual attraction and tend to 
 dart off into space, unless confined by some surface on which they exert 
 pressure; this is a gas. 
 
 The most familiar instance of this is afforded by water, which, as 
 we all know, exists in the three forms of ice, w^ater, and vapor or steam, 
 according to the dose of heat which has been incorporated with it 
 
 Pursuing our inquiry further, the next great fact in regard to mat- 
 ter is that it is not all uniform. While most of the common forms with 
 which we are conversant are made up of mixed materials, which can be 
 taken to pieces and shown separately, there are, as at present ascer- 
 tained, some seventy-one substances which defy chemical analysis to 
 decompose them, and must therefore be taken as elementary substances. 
 A great majority of these consist of substances existing in minute quan- 
 tities, and hardly known outside the laboratories of chemists. 
 
 The world of matter, as known to the senses, is mainly composed 
 of combinations, more or less complex, of a few elements. Thus, water 
 is a compound of two simple gases, oxygen and hydrogen; air, of oxy- 
 gen and nitrogen; the solid framework of the earth, mainly of combina- 
 tions of oxygen with carbon, calcium, aluminum, silicon, and a few other 
 bases; salt, of chlorine and sodium; the vegetable world directly and the 
 animal world indirectly, mainly of complex combinations of oxygen, 
 hydrogen, and nitrogen with carbon, and with smaller quantities of 
 silicon, sulphur, potassium, sodium, and phosphorus. The ordinary 
 metals, such as iron, gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, mercury, zinc, nearly 
 complete the list of what may be called ordinary elements. 
 
 Now let us push our analysis a step further, How is matter made 
 up of these elements ? Up to and beyond the furthest point visible by 
 aid of the microscope, matter is divisible. We can break a crystal into 
 fragments, or divide a drop into drops, until they cease to be visible, 
 though still retaining all the properties of the original substance. Can 
 we carry on this process indefinitely, and is matter composed of some- 
 thing that can be divided and subdivided into fractional parts ad injini- 
 tumf The answer isj No, it consists of ultimate but still definite par- 
 ticles which cannot be further subdivided. How is this known? 
 Because we find by experience that substances will only combine in cer- 
 tain definite proportions either of weight or measure. For instance, 
 in forming water exactly eight grains by weight of oxygen combine 
 with exactly one grain of hydrogen, and if there is any excess or frac- 
 tional part of either gas, it remains over in its original f orm uncombined. 
 
MATTER. 35 
 
 In like manner, matter in the form of gas always combines with other 
 matter in the same form by volumes which bear a definite and very 
 simple proportion to each other, and the compound formed bears a 
 definite and very simple ratio to the sum of the volumes of the combin- 
 ing gases. Thus two volumes of hydrogen combine with one of oxygen 
 to form two volumes of water in the state of vapor. 
 
 From these facts certain inferences can be drawn. In the first 
 place it is clear that matter really does consist of minute particles, 
 which do not touch and form a continuous solid but are separated by 
 intervals which increase with increase of temperature. This is evident 
 from -the fact that we can pour a second or third gas into a space 
 already occupied by a first one. Each gas occupies the enclosed space 
 just as if there were no other gas present, and exerts its own proper 
 pressure on the containing vessel, so that the total pressure on it is 
 exactly the sum of the partial pressures. It is easy to see what this 
 means. If a second regiment can be marched into a limited space of 
 ground on which a first regiment is already drawn up, it is evident 
 that the first regiment must be drawn up in loose order, i. e , the 
 soldier-units of which it is composed must stand so far apart that 
 other soldier-units can find room between them without disturbing the 
 formation. But the effect will be that the fire from the front will be 
 increased, as for instance if a soldier of the second regiment, armed 
 with a six-shooter repeating rifle, takes his stand between two soldiers 
 of the first regiment armed with single-barrelled rifles, the effective 
 iire will be increased in the ratio of 8 to 2. And this is precisely what 
 is meant by the statement that the pressure of two gases in the same 
 space is the sum of the separate pressures of each. It is clearly 
 established that the pressure of a gas on a containing surface is caused 
 by the bombarding to which it is subjected from the impacts of an 
 almost infinite number of these almost infinitely small atoms, which, 
 when let loose from the mutual attractions which hold them together 
 in the solid and fluid state, dart about in all directions, colliding with 
 one another and rebounding, like a set of little billiard-balls gone mad, 
 and producing a certain average resultant of momentum outwards 
 which is called pressure. 
 
 Another simile may help us to conceive how the indivisibility of 
 atoms is inferred from the fact that they only combine in definite pro- 
 portions. Suppose a number of gentlemen and ladies promenading 
 promiscuously in a room. The band strikes up a waltz, and they at 
 once proceed to group themselves in couples rotating with rhythmical 
 motion in definite orbits. Clearly, if there are more ladies than gen- 
 tlemen, some of them will be left without partners. So, if instead of 
 a waltz it were a threesome reel, in which each gentleman led out two 
 ladies, there must be ex-ictly twice as many ladies as gentlemen for all 
 to join in the dance. But if a gentleman could be cut up into frac- 
 tional parts, and each fraction developed into a dancing gentleman, as 
 primitive cells split up and produce fresh cells, it would not matter 
 how many ladies there were, as each could be provided with a partner. 
 Now this is strictly analogous to what occurs in chemical combination. 
 Water is formed by each gentleman atom of oxygen taking out a lady 
 atom of hydrogen in each hand, and the sets thus formed commence 
 to dance threesome reels in definite time and measure, any surplus 
 oxygen or hydrogen .atoms beingjlef t out in the cold. Wonderful as 
 it may appear, science enables us not only to say of these inconceivably 
 
36 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 minute atoms that they have a real existence, but to count and weigh: 
 them. This fact has been accomplished by mathematical calculations 
 based on laws which have been ascertained by a long series of experi- 
 ments on the constitution of gases. 
 
 It is found that all substances, when in the form of gas, conform 
 to three laws: 
 
 1. Their volume is inversely proportional to the pressure to which 
 they are subjected. 
 
 2. Their volume is directly proportional to the temperature. 
 
 3. At the same pressure and temperature all gases have the same 
 number of molecules in the same volume. 
 
 From the last law it is obvious that if equal volumes of two gases 
 are of different weight, the cause must be that the molecules of the 
 one are heavier than those of the other. This enables us to express 
 the weight of the molecule of any other gas in some multiple of the 
 unit afforded by the weight of the molecule of the lightest gas, which 
 is hydrogen. Thus, the density of watery vapor being nine times that 
 of hydrogen, we infer that the molecule of water weighs nine times as 
 much as the molecule of hydrogen, and that of oxygen being eight 
 times greater, we infer that the oxygen molecule is eight times heavier 
 than that of hydrogen. 
 
 These weights are checked by the other law which has been stated, 
 that chemical combination between different substances always takes- 
 place in certain definite proportions. Thus, whenever in a chemical 
 process the original substances or the product are or might exist 
 in the state of gas, it is always found that the definite proportions 
 observed in the chemical process are either the proportions of the 
 densities of the respective gases or some simple multiple of these 
 proportions. Thus, the weight of hydrogen being 2, which combines 
 with a weight of oxygen equal to 16 to form a weight of watery vapor 
 equal to 18, the density of the latter is to that of hydrogen as 9 to 1, 
 i.e., as 18 to 2. 
 
 But to get to tae bottom of the matter we must go a step further, 
 and as we have decomposed substances into molecules, we must take 
 the molecules themselves to pieces and see what they are made of. 
 The molecule is the ultimate particle into which any substance can be 
 divided retaining its own peculiar qualities. A molecule of water is 
 as truly water as a drop or a tumblerful. But when chemical decom- 
 position takes place, instead of the molecule of water we have molecules 
 of two entirely different substances, oxygen and hydrogen. Nothing 
 can well be more unlike than the product water and the component 
 parts of which it is made up. Water is a fluid, oxygen a gas; water 
 extinguishes fire, oxygen creates it. Wafer is a harmless drink, oxy- 
 gen the base of the most corrosive acids. It is evident that the water- 
 molecule is a composite, and that its qualities depend, not on the 
 essential qualities of the atoms which have combined to make it, but 
 on the manner of the combination, and the new modes of action into 
 which these atoms have been forced. In his native war-paint oxygen 
 is a furious savage; with a hydrogen atom in each hand he is a polished 
 gentleman. 
 
 Our theory, therefore, leads beyond molecules to atoms, and we 
 have to consider these particles of a still smaller order than molecules, 
 as the ultimate indivisible units of matter of which we have been in 
 search. And even these we must conceive of as corks, as it were, float- 
 
MATTER. 37 
 
 ing in an ocean of ether, causing waves in it by their own proper 
 movements, and agitated by all the successive waves which vibrate 
 through this ether-ocean in the form of light and heat. 
 
 Working on these data, a variety of refined mathematical calcula- 
 tions made by Clausius, Clark Maxwell, Sir W. Thomson, and other 
 eminent mathematicians, have given us approximate figures for the 
 actual size, weight, and velocities of atoms and molecules. The results 
 are truly marvellous. A millimetre is the one thousandth part of a 
 metre, or roughly one twenty-fifth of an inch. The magnitudes with 
 which we have to deal are all of an order where the standard of 
 measurement is expressed by the millionth part of a millimetre. The 
 volume of a molecule of air is only a small fraction of that of a cube 
 whose side would be the millionth of a millimetre. A cubic centimetre, 
 or say a cube whose side is between one- third and one-half of an inch, 
 contains 21,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 molecules. The number of 
 impacts received by each molecule of air during one second will be 
 4,700 millions. The distance traversed between each impact averages 
 95 millionths of a millimetre. 
 
 It may assist in forming some conception of these almost infinitely 
 small magnitudes, to quote an illustration given by Sir W. Thomson as 
 the result of mathematical calculation. Suppose a drop of water were 
 magnified so as to appear of the size of the earth or with a diameter of 
 8,000 miles, the atoms of which it is composed, magnified on the same 
 iscale, would appear of a size intermediate between that of a rifle-bullet 
 .and of a cricket-ball. 
 
 These figures show that space and magnitude extend beyond the 
 standards of ordinary human sense, such as miles, feet, and inches, as 
 far downwards into the region of the infinitely small as they do 
 upwards into that of the infinitely great. 
 
 And throughout the whole of this enormous range law prevails. 
 The same law of gravity gives weight to molecuks and atoms, makes 
 an apple fall to the ground, and causes double stars to revolve round 
 their centre of gravity in elliptic orbits. The law of polarity which 
 converts iron-filings into small magnets under the influence of a 
 permanent magnet or electric current, animates the smallest atom. 
 Atoms arrange themselves into molecules, and molecules into crystals, 
 very much as magnetized iron-filings arrange themselves into regular 
 curves. And the great law seems to prevail universally throughout 
 the material, as it does also throughout the moral world, that you can- 
 not have a North without a South Pole, a positive without a negative, 
 a right without a wrong; and that error consists mainly in what the 
 poet calls "the falsehood of extremes" that is, in allowing the attrac- 
 tion of one pole, or of one opinion, so to absorb us as to take no 
 account of its opposite. 
 
 The universal prevalence of law has received wonderful confirma- 
 tion of late years from the discovery made by the spectroscope that the 
 un, the planets, and the remotest stars are all composed of matter 
 identical with that into which chemical analysis has resolved the constit- 
 uent matter of the earth. This has been proved in the following way: 
 
 If a beam of light is admitted into a darkened room through a 
 small hole or narrow slit, and a triangular piece of glass, called a prism, 
 is interposed in its path, the image thrown on a screen is a rainbow- 
 tinted streak, intersected by numerous fine dark lines, which is called 
 a spectrum. If, instead of solar light, light from other luminous sources 
 
38 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 is similarly treated, it is found that all elementary substances have 
 their peculiar spectra. Light from solid or 'liquid substances gives a 
 continuous spectrum, light from gases or glowing vapors gives a spec- 
 trum of bright lines separated from each other, but always in definite 
 positions according to the nature of the substance. The next great step 
 in the discovery was that these bright lines become dark lines when a 
 light of greater intensity, coming from a solid nucleus, is transmitted 
 through an atmosphere of such gases or vapors. We can thus photo- 
 graph the spectrum of glowing hydrogen, sodium, iron, or other sub- 
 stances, and placing it below a photograph of a solar or stellar spec- 
 trum, see if any of the dark lines of the latter correspond with the 
 bright lines of the former. If they do w 7 e may be certain that these 
 substances actually exist in the sun or star. It is, in fact, just the same 
 thing as if we had been able to bring down a jar full of the solar or 
 stellar matter and analyze it in our laboratories. 
 
 It is difficult to convey any adequate description of these grand 
 discoveries made by the new science of Spectroscopy without referring 
 to special works on the subject; but it may be possible to give som& 
 general idea of the principles on which they are based. 
 
 Light consists of waves propagated through ether. These w r aves 
 are started by the vibrations of the ultimate particles of matter, which, 
 whether in the simplest form of atoms, in the more complex form of 
 molecules, or in the still more complex form of compound molecules, 
 have their own peculiar and distinct vibrations. These vibrations are 
 increased, diminished, or otherwise modified by vibrations of heat and 
 by the collisions which occur between the particles from their own 
 proper motions. If we take the simplest case, that of matter in the 
 form of a gas or vapor composed of single atoms, at a temperature just 
 sufficient to become luminous and at a pressure small enough to keep 
 the atoms widely apart, the vibrations are all of one sort, viz., that 
 peculiar to the elementary substance to which they belong, and one set 
 of waves only is propagated by them through the ether. The spec- 
 trum, therefore, of such a gas is a single line of light, in the definite 
 position which is due to its refrangibility, i.e., to the velocity of the 
 particular wave of light which the particular vibration of those particu- 
 lar atoms is able to propagate. 
 
 When pressure is increased so that the particles are brought closer 
 together, their vibrations made more energetic and their collisions 
 more frequent, more waves, and waves of different qualities are started, 
 and more lines appear in the spectrum and the lines widen out, until at 
 length when the gas becomes very dense, some of the lines overlap and 
 an approach is made towards a continuous spectrum. Finally, 
 when the particles are brought so near together that the substance 
 assumes a fluid or solid state, the number of wave-producing vibrations 
 becomes so great that a complete system of different li<>ht-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 
 <?ase of mechanical work and heat, is not confined to those two cases 
 only, but is a universal law applicable to all actions and arrangements 
 
42 MODERX SCIEXCE AXD MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 of matter which involve motions of atoms, molecules, or masses, and 
 therefore imply the existence of energy. In heat we have had an 
 example of energy exerted in molecular motion and molecular separa- 
 tion. In chemical action we have energy exerted in the separation of 
 atoms, severing them from old combinations and mutual attractions, 
 and bringing them within the sphere of new ones. In electricity, and 
 magnetism which is another form of electricity, we have energy of 
 position which manifests itself in electrical separation, by which matter 
 becomes charged with two opposite energies, positive and negative, 
 which accumulate at separate poles, or on separate surfaces, with 
 an amount of tension which may be reconverted into the original 
 amount of energy of motion when the. spark, passing between them, 
 restores their electrical equilibrium. Of this we have an example in 
 the ordinary electrical machine, where the original energy comes from, 
 the mechanical force which turns the handle, and is given back when 
 the electric spark brings things back to their original state. 
 
 'We have also energy of motion, when instead of electrical separa- 
 tion and tension we have a flow or current of electricity producing the 
 effect of the electric spark in a slovy, quiet, and continuous manner. 
 Thus, in the voltaic battery, the free energy created by the difference 
 of chemical action of an acid on plates of different metals, is trans- 
 formed into a current which charges two poles with opposite elec- 
 tricities, and when the poles are brought together and the circuit is 
 closed, flows through it in a continuous current. This current is 
 an energetic agent which produces various effects. It deflects the 
 magnetic needle, as is seen in the electric telegraph. It creates 
 magnetism, as is seen when the poles of the battery are connected 
 by a wire wrapped round and round a cylinder of soft iron, so as to 
 make the current circulate at right angles to the axis formed by the 
 cylinder. In fact, all magnetism may be consided as the summing up 
 at the two opposite extremities or poles of an axis, of the effects of 
 electric currents circulating round it; as, for instance, the earth is a 
 great magnet because currents caused by the action of the sun circu- 
 late round it nearly parallel to the equator. Electric currents further 
 show their energy by attracting and repelling one another, those 
 flowing in the same direction attracting, and those in opposite direc- 
 tions repelling, the same effect showing itself in magnets, which are 
 in substance collections of circular currents flowing from right to left 
 or left to right according as they are positive or negative. Again, 
 currents produce an effect by inducing currents in other bodies placed 
 near them, very much as the vibrations of a tuning-fork induce vibra- 
 tions and bring out a corresponding note from the strings of a piano 
 or violin ready to sound it. When a coil of wire is connected with a 
 battery and a current passes through it, if it is brought near to another 
 isolated coil it induces a current in an opposite direction, which, when 
 it recedes from it, is changed into a current in the same direction. 
 
 These principles are illustrated by the ordinary dynamo, by which 
 the energy of mechanical work exerted in making magnets revolve in 
 presence of currents, and by various devices accumulating electric 
 energy, is made available either for doing other mechanical work, such 
 as driving a wheel, or for doing molecular or atomic work by pro- 
 ducing heat and light. 
 
 For another transformation of the energy of electric currents is 
 into heat, light, or chemical action. If the two poles of a battery are 
 
MATTER. 4 
 
 connected by a thin platinum wire it will be heated to redness in a 
 few seconds, the friction or resistance to the currant in passing through 
 the limited section of the thin wire producing great heat. If the 
 wire is thicker heat will equally be produced, but more slowly. 
 
 If the poles of the battery are made of carbon, or some substance 
 the particles of which remain solid during intense heat, when they are 
 brought nearly together the current will be completed by an arc of 
 intensely brilliant light, and the carbon will slowly burn away. This 
 is the electric light so commonly used when great illuminating power 
 is wanted. 
 
 Again, the electric current may employ its energy in effecting 
 chemical action. If the poles of a battery, instead of being brought 
 together, are plunged into a vessel of water, decomposition will begin. 
 Oxygen will rise in small bubbles at the positive pole, and hydrogen 
 at the negative. If these two gases are collected together in the same 
 vessel, and an electric current, in the intense and momentary form of 
 a spark, passed through them, they will combine with explosion into 
 the exact amount of water which was decomposed in their formation. 
 
 Everywhere, therefore, we find the same law of universal applica- 
 tion. Energy, like matter, cannot be created or destroyed, but only 
 transformed. It is therefore, in one sense, eternal. But there is 
 another point of view from which this has to be regarded. 
 
 Mechanical work, as we have seen, can always be converted into 
 heat, and heat can, under certain conditions, be reconverted into 
 mechanical work; but not under all conditions. The heat must pass 
 from something at a higher temperature into something at a lower. If 
 the condenser of a steam-engine were always at the same temperature 
 as the boiler, we should get no work out of it. It is easy to under- 
 stand how this is the case if we figure to ourselves a river running down, 
 into a lake. If the stream is dammed up at two different levels, each 
 dam, as long as there is water in it, will turn a mill-wheel. But if all the 
 water runs down into the lake and, owing to a dry season, there is no 
 fresh supply, the wheels will stop and we can get no more work done. 
 So with heat, if it all runs down to one uniform temperature it can no 
 longer be made available to do work. In the case of the river, fresh 
 water is supplied at the higher levels, by the sun's energy raising 'it by 
 evaporation from the seas to the clouds, from which it is deposited as 
 rain or snow. But in the case of heat there is no such self-restoring 
 process, and the tendency is always towards its dissipation; or in other 
 words, towards a more uniform distribution of heat throughout all 
 existing matter. The process is very slow; the original fund of high- 
 temperature heat is enormous, and as long as matter goes on condens- 
 ing fresh supplies of heat are, so to speak, squeezed out of it. 
 
 Stiil there is a limit to condensation, while there is no limit to the 
 tendency of heat to diffuse itself from hotter to colder matter until all 
 temperatures are equalized. The energy is not destroyed; it is still 
 there in the same average amount of total heat, though no longer dif- 
 ferentiated into greater and lesser heats, and therefore no longer avail- 
 able for life, motion, or any other form of transformation. This seems 
 to be the case with the moon, which, being so much smaller, has sooner 
 equalized its heat with surrounding space, and is apparently a burnt-out 
 and dried-up cinder without air or water. And this, as far as we see, 
 must be the ultimate fate of all planets, suns, and solar systems. For- 
 tunately the process is extremely slow, for even our small earth has. 
 
44 MODERX SCIENCE AXD MODERX THOUGHT. 
 
 -enjoyed air, water, sunshine, and all the present conditions necessary 
 for life for the whole geological period, certainly from the Silurian epoch 
 downwards, if not earlier, which cannot well be less than 100 millions 
 of years, and may be much more. Still time, even if reckoned by hun- 
 dreds of millions of years, is not eternity; and as, looking through the 
 telescope at nebulae which appear to be condensing about central 
 nuclei, we can dimly discern a beginning, so, looking at the moon and 
 reasoning from established principles as to the dissipation of heat, we 
 can dimly discern an end. What we really can see is that throughout 
 the whole of this enormous range of space and time law prevails; that, 
 given the original atoms and energies with their original qualities, 
 everything else follows in a regular and inevitable succession; and that 
 the whole material universe is a clock, so perfectly constructed from the 
 beginning as to require no outside interference during the time it has 
 to run to keep it going with absolute correctness. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 LIFE. 
 
 THE universe is divided into two worlds the inorganic, or world 
 of dead matter; and the organic, or world of life. What is life? 
 In its essence it is a state of matter in which the particles are in a 
 continued state of flux, and the individual existence depends, not on 
 the same particles remaining in the same definite shape, but on the 
 permanence of a definite mould or form through which fresh particles 
 are continually entering, forming new combinations and passing away. 
 It may assist in forming a conception of this if we imagine ourselves 
 to be looking at a mountain the top of which is enveloped in a driving 
 mist. The mountain is dead matter, the particles of which continue 
 fixed in the rocks. But the cloud form which envelops it is a mould 
 into which fresh particles of vapor are continually entering and becom- 
 ing visible on the windward side, and passing away and disappearing 
 to leeward. If we add to this the conception that the particles do not, 
 as in the case of the cloud, simply enter in and pass away without 
 change, but are digested, that is, undergo chemical changes by which 
 they are partly assimilated and worked up into component parts of 
 the mould, and partly thrown off in new combinations, we shall arrive 
 at something which is not far off the ultimate idea of what constitutes 
 living matter, in its simplest form of the protoplasm, or speck of jelly- 
 like substance, which is shown to be the primitive basis or raw material 
 of all the more complex forms both of vegetable and animal life. 
 Digestion, therefore, is the primary attribute. A crystal grows from 
 without, by taking on fresh particles and building them up in regular 
 layers according to fixed laws, just as the pyramids of Egypt were built 
 up by laying layer upon layer of squared stones upon surfaces formed 
 of regular figures, and inclined to each other at determinate angles. 
 
 The living plant or animal grows from within by taking supplies 
 of fresh matter into its inner laboratory, where it is worked up into a 
 variety of complex products needed for the existence and reproduction 
 of life. After supplying these, the residue is given back in various 
 forms to the inorganic world, and the final residue of all is given back 
 by death, which is the ultimate end of all life 
 
LIFE. 45 
 
 The simplest form of life, in which it first emerges from the inor- 
 ganic into the organic world, consists of protoplasm, or, as it has been 
 called, the physical basis of life. Protoplasm is a colorless semi-fluid or 
 jelly-like substance, which consists of albuminoid matter, or in other 
 words, of a heterogeneous carbon-compound of very complex chemical 
 composition. It exists in every living cell, and performs the functions 
 of nutrition and reproduction, as well as of sensation and motion. In 
 its simplest form, that of the microscopic monera or protista, the lowest 
 of living beings, we find a homogeneous structureless piece of proto- 
 plasm, without any differentiation of parts. The monera are simple living 
 globules of jelly, without even a nucleus or any sort of organ, and yet 
 they perform all the essential functions of life without any different 
 parts being told off for particular functions. Every particle or mole- 
 cule is of the same chemical composition and a fac-simile of the whole 
 body, as in the case of a crystal. They are, therefore, the first step 
 from the inorganic into the organic world, and i{ spontaneous genera- 
 tion takes place anywhere, it is in the passage of the chemical elements 
 from the simple and stable combinations of the former into the complex, 
 and plastic combinations of the latter. 
 
 These monera are found principally in the sea and in great masses 
 at the bottom of deep oceans, where they form a sort of living slime 
 first described by Huxley in 1868, and called Bathybius. 
 
 The next step upwards is to the cell in which the protoplasm is 
 enclosed in a skin or membrane of modified protoplasm, and a nucleus, 
 or denser spot, is developed in the enclosed mass. This is the primary 
 element from which all the more complicated forms of life are built up. 
 Each cell seems to have an independent life of its own, and a faculty of 
 reproduction by splitting into fresh cells similar to itself, which multi- 
 ply in geometrical progression, assimilating the elements of their sub- 
 stance from the inorganic world so rapidly as to provide the requisite 
 raw material for higher structures. 
 
 The first organized living forms are extremely minute, and can only 
 be recognized by powerful microscopes. A filtered infusion of hay, 
 allowed to stand for two days, will swarm with living things, a number 
 of which do not exceed 40) Joo of an inch in diameter. Minute as these- 
 animalcula are, they are thoroughly alive. They dart about and 
 digest; the smallest speck of jelly-like substance shoots out branches 
 or processes to seize food, and if these come in collision with other 
 substances they withdraw them. They exist in countless myriads, 
 and perform a very important part in the economy of nature. They 
 are the scavengers of the universe, and remove the remains of living 
 matter after death, which would otherwise accumulate until they 
 choked up the earth. This they do by the process of putrefaction, 
 which is due mainly to the multiplication of little rod-like creatures 
 known as bacteria, which work up the once living, now dead, matter 
 into fresh elements, again fitted to play their part in the inorganic 
 and organic worlds. 
 
 One of the simplest of these forms is the amoeba, which is nothing 
 but a naked little lump of cell-matter, or plasma, containing a nucleus; 
 and yet this little speck of jelly moves freely, it shoots out tongues or 
 processes and gradually draws itself up to them with a sort of wave- 
 like motion; it eats and grows, and in growing reproduces itself by 
 contracting in the middle and splitting up into two independent 
 amoebae. 
 
46 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 The germs of these various animalcula swarm in the air, and carry 
 seeds of infection everywhere where they find a soil fitted to receive 
 them; and thus assist the survival of the fittest in the struggle of 
 life, by eliminating weak and unhealthy individuals and species. Thus 
 when the potato, the vine, or the silk-worm has had its constitution 
 enfeebled by prolonged artificial culture, there are germs always ready 
 to revenge the violation of natural laws, and bring the survivors back 
 to a more healthy condition. In like manner the germs of cholera, 
 typhoid, and scarlet fever, enforce the observance of sanitary principles. 
 
 In this simple form the lowest forms of life are not yet sufficiently 
 differentiated to enable us to distinguish clearly between animal and 
 
 AMOEBA. AMCEBA dividing into two. 
 
 Tegetable. and they have been called by some naturalists Protista, 
 while others designate them as Protozoa or Protophyta, according as 
 they show more resemblance to one or the other form of life. But it 
 is often so doubtful that in looking at the same organism through a 
 microscope, Huxley was inclined to consider it as a plant, while Tyndall 
 exclaimed that he could as soon believe that a sheep was a vegetable. 
 
 In the next stage upw r ards, however, life subdivides itself into 
 two great kingdoms, that of the vegetable and of the animal world. 
 Alike in their general definition as contrasted with inorganic matter, 
 and in their common origin from an embryo cell, which divides and 
 subdivides until cell-aggregates are formed, from which the living 
 form is built up by a process of evolution, the plant differs from the 
 animal in this: that the former feeds directly on inorganic matter, 
 while the latter can only feed on it indirectly, after it has been manu- 
 factured by the plant into vegetable substance. 
 
 This is universally true, for if we dine on beef, we dine practically 
 on the grass which the ox ate; that is, on the carbon, oxygen, hydro- 
 gen, and other simple elements which the grass, under the stimulus 
 of light and sunshine, manufactured into complex compounds; and 
 which the ox again, by a second process, manufactured from these 
 compounds into others still more complex, and more easily assimilated 
 by us in the process of digestion. But in no case can we dine, as the 
 plant does, on the simple elements, and thrive on a diet of air and 
 water, with a small admixture of nitrate of ammonia, and of phosphates, 
 sulphates and chlorides, of a few primitive metals. Vegetable life, 
 therefore, is the producer, and animal life the consumer, of the organic 
 world. 
 
 Practically the plant derives most of its substance from the 
 carbonic acid gas in the atmosphere, which green leaves under the 
 stimulus of light and heat have the faculty of decomposing, and 
 
LIFE. 47 
 
 abstract the carbon giving out the oxygen; while the animal, by a 
 reverse process, burns up the compounds manufactured by the plant, 
 principally out of this carbon, by the oxygen obtained from the air 
 by the process of respiration, exhaling the surplus carbon in the form 
 of carbonic acid gas. 
 
 The balancing effect of these two processes may be seen in any 
 aquarium, where animals and vegetables live together in water which 
 is kept pure, while it would become stagnant and poisonous in a few 
 hours, if one of the two forms of life were removed. All that the 
 animal requires therefore for its existence, materials with which to 
 l>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 
 <case in Greenland, and was formerly the caso in Scandinavia, where a 
 huge sheet of ice radiated from it over Northern Germany as far as 
 Dresden, filled up the North Sea, and, coalescing with smaller ice-caps 
 from the highlands of Scotland, England, and W T ales, buried the 
 British Islands up to the Thames under massive ice. At the same 
 period glaciers from the Alps filled the whole plain of Switzerland, and 
 in North America the ice-cap extended from Labrador to Philadelphia. 
 
ANTIQUITY OF MAN. IT 
 
 The first remark to be made is that, as these phenomena depend 
 primarily on moist winds, and only secondarily on cold, and as moist 
 winds imply great evaporation and therefore great solar heat over 
 extensive surfaces of water, all explanations are worthless which sup- 
 pose a general prevalence of cold, either from less solar radiation, pas- 
 sage through a colder region of space, or otherwise. We must seek 
 for a cause which is consistent with the general laws of Nature, and 
 with the leading facts of the actual generation of glaciers at the 
 present day. 
 
 Astronomers believe that they have discovered such a cause, in 
 the theory first started by Mr. Croll, that the glaciation of the 
 Northern hemisphere was due to a secular change in the shape of the 
 earth's orbit, combined with the shorter changes produced by the 
 precession of the equinoxes. The latter cause is due to the fact that 
 the earth is not an exact sphere but slightly protuberant at the equa- 
 tor, and that the attraction of the sun on this protuberant matter 
 prevents the axis round which the earth rotates from remaining 
 exactly parallel with itself, and makes it move slowly round its mean 
 position just as we see in the case of a schoolboy's top, which reels 
 round an imaginary upright axis while spinning rapidly. This revolu- 
 tion in the case of the earth completes its circle in about 21,000 years, 
 so that if summer, when the pole is turned towards the sun, occurred 
 in the Northern hemisphere when the earth was in perihelion, or 
 nearest the sun, and consequently winter when it was in aphelion, or 
 furthest away from the sun, after 10,500 years the position would be 
 exactly reversed, and winter would occur in perihelion and summer in 
 aphelion; the Southern hemisphere then enjoying the same conditions 
 as those of the Northern one 10,500 years earlier. And in another 
 10,500 years things would come back to their original position. 
 
 Now if the earth's orbit were an exact circle this would make no 
 difference, all the four seasons would be of the same duration and 
 would receive the same solar heat, in both hemispheres, and if the 
 orbit were nearly circular, so that the difference between the perihelion 
 and aphelion distances was small, the effect would be small also. But 
 if the orbit flattened out or became more eccentric, the effect would be 
 increased. The time of traversing the aphelion portion of the annual 
 orbit would become longer and that of traversing the perihelion portion 
 shorter, as the orbit departed from the form of a circle and became 
 more elliptic. Whenever, therefore, the North Pole was turned away 
 from the sun in aphelion, the winters would be longer than the 
 summers in the Northern hemisphere, and conversely, the summers 
 would be longer than the winters when, after an interval of 10,500 
 years, precession brought about the opposite condition of things, in 
 which winter occurred in perihelion. 
 
 At present the earth's orbit is nearly circular, and the Northern 
 hemisphere is nearest the sun in winter and furthest from it in summer, 
 but the difference is only about 3,000,000 miles, or a small fraction of 
 the total mean distance of 93,000,000 miles, which makes the winter 
 half of the year shorter than the summer half by nearly eight days. 
 
 But mathematical calculations show that under the complicated 
 attractions of the sun, moon, and larger planets, the eccentricity of the 
 earth's orbit slowly changes at long and irregular intervals, but always 
 within fixed limits, increasing up to a certain point and then dimin- 
 ishing till it approaches the circular form, [when it again increases. 
 
78 MODERX SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 The maximum limit of eccentricity makes the difference between the 
 greatest and least distances of the earth from the sun range between 
 12,000,000 and 14,000,000 miles, which is four or five times as great 
 as at present; and with this eccentricity, and winter in aphelion in 
 the Northern hemisphere, the winter half of the year in Northern 
 latitudes would be twenty-six days longer than the summer half, 
 instead of eight days shorter as at present. In this state of things 
 the quantity of heat received daily from the sun in winter would be 
 such as to lower the temperature of the whole Northern hemisphere 
 by 35 Fahrenheit, and reduce the average January temperature of 
 England from 39 to 4, while the mean summer temperature would 
 be about 60 higher than at present. But this summer heat, derived 
 from solar radiation, would not counteract the cold of winter, for all 
 moisture during winter being accumulated in ice, and snow, most of 
 the solar heat of summer would be expended in supplying latent heat 
 to melt a portion of this frozen accumulation, and dense fogs would 
 intercept a large amount of the solar radiation. 
 
 After 10,500 years this state of things would be entirely reversed, 
 and with twenty-six days more of summer, and the earth 12,000,000 
 miles nearer the sun in winter, the Northern hemisphere would enjoy 
 something like perpetual spring. There can be no doubt that these 
 are real causes, and the only difficulty is to 'account for their not 
 having been more invariable in their operation and given us a constant 
 succession of Glacial periods since the commencement of geological 
 time, whenever the eccentricity became great, which occurs at irregular 
 periods, but practically about three times in 'every 3,000,000 years. 
 The answer is that the effects would only occur when the other con- 
 ditions were present, viz., high land, moist winds, and an absence of 
 oceanic currents of warm water like the Gulf Stream. The latter is 
 one of the main causes which affect temperature. The difference of 
 temperature between the equatorial and polar regions causes a con- 
 stant overflow of heated air from south to north, which is replaced by 
 an indraught of colder air from north to south, which, owing to the 
 greater velocity of the earth's rotation towards the equator, takes the 
 form of trade-winds blowing constantly from a more or less easterly 
 direction. These winds, sweeping over the Atlantic Ocean, raise its 
 level at its western barrier, and the accumulation deflected by America 
 fiows off in a current which extends to the western shores of Europe 
 and carries mild \vinters into the extreme North. In the Orkney and 
 Shetland Islands, which are nearly in the same latitude as Cape Fare- 
 well in Greenland, there is so little ice that skating is a rare accom- 
 plishment, and curling, the roaring game which is so popular some 
 degrees further south, is quite unknown. If the Gulf Stream were 
 diverted, and the highlands of Scotland upheaved to the height of the 
 Alps of New Zealand the whole country would again be buried under 
 glaciers pushing out into the Atlantic and German Ocean. 
 
 These considerations may show why every period of great eccen- 
 tricity was not necessarily a Glacial period, though under certain 
 conditions it must inevitably have been so, and geologists are gener- 
 ally agreed that the last period of the sort must have been one of 
 the main causes of the great refrigeration which set in over the whole 
 Northern hemisphere towards the close of the Pliocene period, and 
 continued until recent times. But in this case we can fix the date 
 with great accuracy, for calculation shows that the last period of 
 
ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 79 
 
 great eccentricity began 240,000 years ago, and lasted 160,000 years. 
 For the last 50,000 years the departure of the earth's orbit from the 
 circular form has been exceptionally small. We may suppose the 
 Glacial period, therefore, to have commenced 240,000 years ago, come 
 to its height 160,000 years ago, and finally passed away 80,000 years 
 before the present time. 
 
 These dates receive much confirmation from conclusions drawn 
 from a totally different class of facts. A bed of existing marine shells 
 of Arctic type, apparently belonging to one of the latest phases of 
 the Glacial period, has been found on the top of a hill in North Wales 
 which is now 1,100 feet above the sea-level, and the same marine drift 
 seems to extend to a height of upwards of 2,000 feet. There must, 
 therefore, have been a depression of the land sufficient to carry it 
 many fathoms below the sea, and a subsequent elevation sufficient to 
 carry the sea bottom up to a height of certainly 1,100 and probably 
 over 2,000 feet. In all probability, these movements were very slow 
 and gradual, like those now going on in Greenland and Scandinavia, 
 for there are no signs of earthquakes or volcanic eruptions in the 
 district; and it is probable that pauses occurred in the movements, and 
 a long pause when subsidence had ceased before elevation began. 
 Without taking these pauses into account, and assuming the elevation 
 only just completed, and that Sir C. Lyell's average of two and a half 
 feet a century is a fair rate for these slow movements, it would have 
 required 50,000 years of continued elevation to bring these shells, and 
 80,000 years to bring the marine drifts, up to their present height 
 above the sea; and a similar period previously must be allowed for 
 their submergence. We may fairly conclude, therefore, that upwards 
 of 100,000 years have elapsed since these shells lived and died at 
 the bottom of the sea towards the close of the Glacial period, 
 which corresponds very well with the date assigned by astronomical 
 calculations. 
 
 Again, another attempt to fix a date for the close of the Glacial 
 period has been made by Monsieur Forel, a Swiss geologist, from 
 actual measurements of the quantity of suspended matter poured into 
 the Lake of Geneva by the Rhone, and the area of the lake which has 
 been silted up since it was filled by ice. It is evident that this silting 
 up at the head of the lake could only begin when the great Rhone 
 glacier, which once extended to the Jura Mountains, had shrunk back 
 into its valley far enough to pour its river into the lake. ^ M. Forel's 
 calculations give 100,000 years as the probable time required for the 
 river to silt up so much of the lake as is now converted into dry land. 
 The data are somewhat vague, as on the one hand the rate of deposition 
 may have been greater when a large mass of ice and snow was being 
 melted, while on the other hand it may have been less, while the 
 glacier still occupied the valley almost to the head of the lake and the 
 Rhone had only a course of a few miles. All that can be said, there- 
 fore, is that it gives an approximate date for the close of the Glacial 
 period which, like that derived from rates of depression and elevation, 
 corresponds wonderfully well with the date required by Cr oil' s^ theory. 
 
 Now, whether the date be a little more or a little less, it is clear 
 that man existed on earth throughout a great part, if not the whole, 
 of the Glacial period. He had existed a long while in conjunction with 
 a fauna of more Southern and African aspect, before the reindeer 
 migrated in vast herds into Southern France. His remains are found 
 
80 MODERN SCIENCE AXD MODERX THOUGHT. 
 
 in caves and river drifts associated with those of hippopotamus, an 
 animal which could by no possibility have lived in rivers which for 
 half the year were bound hard in ice. Such remains must therefore of 
 necessity date either from a period before the great cold had set in, 
 or from some inter-glacial period prior to the great cold which drove 
 the reindeer, musk ox, glutton, and Arctic hare as far south as the 
 elopes of the Pyrenees. 
 
 In England we can trace distinctly at least four successions of 
 boulder clays, that is of the ground moraines of land ice, separated by 
 deposits of drifts, sands, and brick-earths, formed while the glaciers 
 were retreating and melting; and a number of the Palaeolithic imple- 
 ments have been found in what was undoubtedly part of the period of 
 the second or great chalky boulder clay, which overspreads the 
 southern and eastern counties of England up to the Thames Valley. 
 The discovery of Palaeolithic remains in the deposit of St. Prest^ near 
 Chartres, makes it almost certain that some at least of the ruder instru- 
 ments must date back to the very beginning of the Glacial period, and 
 all the evidence points to the conclusion that man was living during 
 the many alternations of climate of that period, and whenever the 
 glaciers retreated, followed them up closely. 
 
 Thus far we have been going on certain and ascertained facts, 
 confirmed by such' numerous and well-authenticated proofs that doubt 
 is impossib e. But \ve get on less certain ground when we try to 
 trace back human origin to more remote periods. As regards this 
 question, we must begin by describing siiortly the geological periods 
 during which the existence of man may have been possible. It is use- 
 less to go back beyond the Chalk, which was deposited in a deep 
 ocean and forms a great break between the modern and the Secondary 
 period, in which latter reptiles predominated, and mammalia are only 
 known by a few remains of small insectivorous and marsupial animals. 
 
 The inauguration of the present state of things commences with 
 the Tertiary period. This has been divided into three stages: the 
 Eocene, in which the first dawn appears of animal life similar in type to 
 that now existing; the Miocene, in which there is a still greater approxi- 
 mation to existing forms of life; and the Pliocene, in which existing 
 types and species become preponderant. Then comes the Pleistocene 
 or Quaternary, including the great Glacial period, during which the 
 whole marine and nearly the whole terrestrial fauna are of ex- 
 isting or recently extinct species, though very different in their 
 geographical distribution from that of the present day. And finally 
 we arrive at the recent period, when the present climate and the pres- 
 ent configuration of lands, seas, and rivers, prevail with very slight 
 modifications, and no changes have taken place either in the specific 
 character or geographical distribution of life, .except such as can be 
 clearly traced to existing causes such as the agency of man. 
 
 This is the geological frame- work into which we have to fit the his- 
 tory of man's appearance upon earth. We have traced him through 
 the recent and Quaternary, can we trace him further into the Tertiary? 
 Speaking generally we may say that the Eocene period was that in 
 which Europe began to assume something like its present configura- 
 tion, and in which mammalian life, of the higher or placental type, 
 began to supplant the lower forms of marsupial life which* had pre- 
 ceded them. But these higher types were for the most part of a more 
 primitive or generalized character than the more specialized types of 
 
ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 81 
 
 later periods, and the highest order, that of the primates, which in- 
 cludes man, ape, and lemur, was, as far as is yet known, represented 
 only by two or three extinct lemurian forms. 
 
 The plan on which Nature has worked in the evolution of life 
 seems always to have been this: she begins by laying down a sort of 
 ground plan, or generalized sketch of a particular form of life, say first 
 of vertebrata, then of fish, then of reptiles, and finally of mammalian life. 
 This sketch resembles the simple theme of a few notes on which a musi- 
 cian proceeds to work out a series of variations, each surpassing the other 
 in complication and specialized development in some particular dhec- 
 tion. Now, in the Eocene period we are in the stage of the theme and 
 first simple variations of the mammalian melody. It hardly seems 
 likely, therefore, that a creature so highly specialized as man, even in 
 his most rudimentary form, should have existed, and in the absence of 
 any direct evidence to the contrary, it is safe to assume that his first 
 appearance must have been of later date. 
 
 But when we come to the Miocene and Pliocene periods, the case 
 is different. It is true that in the Miocene the specialization of certain 
 families, as for instance that of the horse, had not been carried out to 
 the full extent, and that all the species of Miocene land-mammals and 
 several of the genera are now extinct. But there were already true 
 apes and baboons, and even two species of anthropoid ape, one of 
 which, the Dryopithecus, whose fossil remains were found in the 
 South of France, was as large as a man, and has been considered by 
 some anatomists" as in some respects superior to the chimpanzee or 
 gorilla. 
 
 Now, wherever anthropoid apes lived it is clear that, whether as 
 a question of anatomical structure or of climate and surroundings, 
 man, or some creature which was the ancestor of man, might have 
 lived also. Anatomically speaking, apes and monkeys are as much 
 special variations of the mammalian type as man, whom they resemble 
 bone for bone and muscle for muscle, and the physical animal man is 
 simply an instance of the quadrumanous type specialized for erect 
 posture and a larger brain. The larger brain, implying greater intelli- 
 gence, must also have given him advantages in contending with out- 
 ward circumstances, as for instance, by fire and clothing against cold, 
 which might enable him to survive when other species succumbed and 
 became extinct. . 
 
 If he could survive, as we know he did, the adverse conditions 
 and extreme vicissitudes of the Glacial period, there is no reason why he 
 might not have lived in the semi-tropical climate of the Miocene period, 
 when a genial climate extended even to Greenland and Spitzbergen, 
 and when ample forests supplied an abundance of game and edible 
 fruits. The same reasons apply, with still greater force, to the 
 Pliocene period, when existing types and species had become more 
 common and when a mild climate still prevailed. The existence of 
 Tertiary man must antecedently be pronounced highly probable; but 
 probabilities are not. proofs, and the fact of such existence must be 
 determined by the evidence. All that can be said is that while there 
 ought to be great caution in admitting as established a fact of such 
 importance, there ought to be no determined predisposition to dis- 
 believe it,'like that which for so many years retarded the acceptance 
 of the evidence for Paleolithic man. On the contrary, the fact that 
 man existed in such numbers and under such conditions as have been 
 
82 MODERN SCIEXCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 described in the Quaternary period, establishes a strong presumption 
 that his first appearance must date from a much earlier period. 
 
 Let us see how the evidence stands. Undoubted stone implements, 
 and bones bearing traces of cuttings by flint knives, have been found 
 in strata at St. Prest, near Chartres, which were always considered to 
 be Pliocene. Since the discovery, however, some geologists have 
 contended that these strata are not Pliocene, but of the earliest 
 Quaternary or perhaps a transition period between Pliocene and 
 Quaternary. This evidence cannot, therefore, be accepted as conclu- 
 sive for anything more than proof that man's existence extends nt any 
 rate over the whole Quaternary period, comprising the vast glacial and 
 inter glacial ages which have effected, such changes in the earth's 
 surface. 
 
 The next piece of evidence is from Italy, where bones of the 
 Balsenotus, a sort of Pliocene whale, have been discovered in strata 
 undoubtedly Pliocene, which bear marks of incisions which to all 
 appearance must have been made by flint knives employed in hacking 
 off the flesh. Doubts were thrown at first on this, as it was thought 
 that possibly fish, or some gnawing animal like the beaver, might have 
 
 INCISED BOXES OF BAL.ENOTTTS. Pliocene. From Monte Aperto, Italy. 
 Figured by Quartrefages, "Hommes Fossiles et Hommes Sauvages," p. 93. 
 
 cut the grooves with their teeth. But later specimens have been 
 found on which the cuts have a regular curvature which could not 
 have been made by any teeth, and present precisely the same appear- 
 ance as the cuts which are so commonly found on the bones of reindeer 
 and other animals in hundreds of Palaeolithic caves. 
 
 M. Quatrefages, who is a very eminent and at the same time very 
 cautious authority, says, in his last work on the subject published 
 in 1884, "Hommes Fossiles et Hommes Sauvages," that "the most 
 incredulous must be convinced. The hand of man armed with a 
 cutting instrument could alone have left marks of this sort on a plain 
 surface. It is evident that some horde of savages of these remote 
 times has found the carcase of this great cetacean stranded on the 
 shore, and cut the flesh off with stone knives just as the savages of 
 Australia do at the present day." In fact incredulity only exists 
 because this is as yet a solitary instance of Pliocene man, and scientific 
 
ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 83 
 
 men, feeling that if true, further evidence must soon be found, very 
 properly endeavor to keep their judgment in suspense. 
 
 If these bones of the Baleenotus really bear marks of human 
 tools, the spectacle which might have been witnessed on the shore 
 of the Pliocene sea perhaps 500,000 years ago, must have closely 
 resembled that given by Sir John Lubbock from a description by 
 Captain Grey of a recent whale feast in Australia. " When a whale 
 is washed on shore it is a real godsend to them. Fires are immedi- 
 ately lit, to give notice of the joyful event. Then they rub themselves 
 all over with blubber, and anoint their favorite wives in the same way; 
 after which they cut down through the blubber to the beef, which 
 they sometimes eat raw and sometimes broil on pointed sticks. As 
 other natives arrive they 4 fairly eat their way into the whale, and you 
 see them climbing in and about the stinking carcass, choosing tidbits.' 
 For days 'they remain by the carcass, rubbed from head to foot with 
 stinking blubber, gorged to repletion with putrid meat out of temper 
 from indigestion, and therefore engaged in con- 
 stant frays suffering from a cutaneous disorder 
 by high feeding and altogether a disgusting spec- 
 tacle. There is no sight in the world,' Captain 
 Grey adds, ' more revolting than to see a young 
 and gracefully-formed native girl stepping out of 
 the carcase of a putrid whale."' 
 
 The evidence for Miocene man is much of the. 
 same character; very strong and conclusive as far 
 as it goes, but resting on too few instances to be 
 universally accepted. In 1868 the Abbe Bourgeois FLINT S BAPEE. 
 laid before the Anthropological Congress at Paris From Thenay. Miocene 
 certain flints which he had found in situ in un- Figured by Quatrefages 
 doubted Miocene strata at Thenay, in the Beauce, "Homines Fossiles et 
 near Blois. They were received with ^ general Hommes Sauvages, 
 incredulity, and the traces of human design were 
 denied. The Abbe, however, persisted, and having made fresh 
 discoveries the subject was referred to the next meeting of the Congress 
 at Brussels, who appointed a commission of fifteen of the most emi- 
 nent European authorities in such matters to report upon it. Nine 
 reported that some of the flints showed undoubted traces of human 
 workmanship, five were of an opposite opinion, and one was neutral. 
 Since then fresh objects have been found and M. Quatrefages, who 
 had formerly been doubtful, says in his recent work: "These new 
 objects, and especially a scraper which is one of the most distinctly 
 characterized of that class of implements, have removed my last 
 doubts." And certainly, if the figures given at page 92 of his 
 "Hommes Fossiles et Hommes Sauvages" correctly represent the 
 original implements, and they really came from Miocene strata, doubt 
 is no longer possible. The evidence of design in chipping into a 
 determinate shape is quite as clear as in the similar class of imple- 
 ments from Kent's Cavern or the Cave of La Mo-deleine. They must 
 either have been chipped by man, or as Mr. Boyd Dawkins supposes, 
 by the Dryopithecus or some other anthropoid ape which had a dose 
 of intelligence so much superior to the gorilla or chimpanzee as to be 
 able to fabricate tools. But in this case the problem would be solved 
 and the missing link discovered, for such an ape might well have been 
 the ancestor of Palaeolithic man. 
 
MIOCENE IMPLEMENTS FKOM THENAT COMPAKED WITH 
 UNDOUBTED PALEOLITHIC IMPLEMENTS FBOM; 
 QUATEKNAKY CAVES AND DKIFTS. 
 
 MIOCENE. 
 
 QUATERNARY. Chaleus, 
 
 Belgium. Reindeer Period. 
 
 Congres Prehistorique, 
 
 Bruxellss, 1872. 
 
 SCRAPER, OR RUDE 
 
 KNIFE. Thenay. Mio. 
 
 cene. Quatrefages, 
 
 p. 92. 
 
 BORER, oR AWL. 
 
 Thenay." Miocene. 
 
 Congres Prehistorique,,. 
 
 Bruxelles, 1872. - 
 
 SCRAPEP. Thenay. Miocene*. 
 Quatrefages, p. 92. 
 
 QUATEILNARY. 
 
 Le Moustier. 
 
 QUATERNARY. : "Mammoth Period. 
 
 River Drift, Mesvin, Belgium. 
 Congres Prehistorique, Bruxelles, 1872* 
 
ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 
 
 85 
 
 The next instance is from the valley of the Tagus, where flint 
 implements were alleged to have been discovered by an eminent Portu- 
 guese geologist, Seiior Bibeiro, in Miocene strata. The subject was 
 fully discussed on the spot, at a 
 meeting of the Anthropological 
 Congress at Lisbon in 1880. The 
 general opinion seemed to be that 
 some of the implements showed 
 undoubted traces of human de- 
 sign, but some good authorities 
 remained sceptical; and although 
 there was no doubt that they were 
 found in Miocene strata, it was 
 thought possible that flints of 
 Quaternary age might have fallen 
 into fissures, or been mixed up 
 with Miocene sands by floods at 
 some very remote period, and thus 
 become encrusted in a Miocene 
 matrix. 
 
 The verdict here, therefore, must 
 be ''Probable, but not proven." 
 The same will apply to the al- 
 leged discovery of a human skull 
 in California, buried under six 
 distinct layers of hardened vol- 
 canic ashes, and certainly of Plio- 
 cene date, if not earlier. Whitney, 
 the Director of the Geological 
 Survey of the United States, and 
 other American geologists, believe 
 this skull to be Pliocene, but 
 doubts have been thrown on its 
 authenticity, and European geol- 
 ogists do not generally accept it. 
 
 A human bone is described 
 by Lyell, which was found near 
 Yicksburg in a side valley of the Mississippi, associated with bones of 
 the extinct Mastodon and Megalonyx. But, although undoubtedly 
 of great antiquity, there is no proof that it does not belong to the 
 Quaternary period, especially as the mastodon seems to have lived 
 until comparatively recent times in America, its remains being often 
 found in recent bogs and peat mosses. 
 
 The same remark will apply to the skull which was found in 
 digging a well at New Orleans, under six distinct layers of cypress 
 forests such as are now growing on the surface, showing as many 
 periods of successive subsidences, subsequent elevations, and station- 
 ary periods long enough to allow of a forest growth of many genera- 
 tions of large trees. Here again the antiquity must be very great, 
 but we have no reason to carry it back into Tertiary periods, or beyond 
 the recent period when the Mississippi began to flow in its present 
 course and form its present delta. 
 
 Human remains have also been discovered in caves in Brazil 
 associated with bones of extinct animals, but we have no clear infor- 
 
 TEETIARY HAOHE, 
 From Miocene btrata of Tagus Valley. 
 
 (Half the actual size.) 
 
 Quartrefages " Hommes Fossiles et 
 
 Hommes Sauvages." 
 
86 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 mation as to the time when these animals became extinct, or as to the 
 exact order of superposition in which the human skulls and implements 
 were found, and the occurrence of a polished stone celt in the same cave 
 throws still more doubt on their extreme antiquity. 
 
 The existence of Tertiary man must for the present be considered 
 as resting on three instances: 
 
 1. The undoubted flint implements and cut bones (including 
 those of the Elephas meridionalis, a Pliocene and Miocene 
 species) of St. Prest. 
 
 2. The cut bones of the Balsenotus from the Pliocene strata of 
 Monte Aperto in Italy, the cuts on which appear to have been 
 undoubtedly made by the hand of man armed with a sharp 
 cutting stone implement. 
 
 3. The flints from the Miocene strata of Thenay, some of which 
 show unmistakable signs of having been split by fire and 
 chipped into shape by design. 
 
 On the other hand the evidence is entirely negative, that a large 
 number of fossil animal remains have been found in various parts of 
 the world, specially in the Pliocene of the Cromer forest bed, and the 
 Miocene of the Sewalik hills, Pikermi and Nebraska, without finding 
 any trace of man. This is true, and is sufficient to make us require 
 great caution in admitting as fully established a fact of so much impor- 
 tance, which would carry back the antiquity of man from one or two 
 hundred thousand years to at least a million. But the example of 
 Quaternary man shows the danger of trusting too exclusively to 
 negative evidence. Thirty years ago the negative evidence against his 
 existence was considered conclusive. Now his remains have been 
 found over the whole world and in thousands of instances. 
 
 It must be remembered, also, that remains of Tertiary man are 
 not likely to be abundant. If man was then living, it was probably 
 in fewer numbers and in more limited areas. The pressure of popu- 
 lation had not yet driven wandering hordes to follow sea-coasts and 
 cross rivers and mountains in pursuit of food. Probably at this early 
 period man lived more on fruits, and therefore required fewer imple- 
 ments, and his intelligence was less, so that he had less power of 
 fashioning them. For the purposes for which his Palaeolithic descen- 
 dents chipped stones into shape, he may have used natural stones 
 which would often answer the purpose, but which, when thrown away, 
 would leave nothing by which they could be recognized. 
 
 If the forests now inhabited by the gorilla and chimpanzee were 
 submerged and again elevated, no trace would be found of the ex- 
 istence of animals which had built rude nests, used broken branches 
 of trees as clubs, and cracked cocoa-nuts with hammer stones. 
 
 But above all, the surface of these older strata has been so much 
 denuded, that the situations in which alone we might expect to find 
 remains of man have almost entirely disappeared. Ninety-nine hun- 
 dredths of our Quaternary implements come from river drifts or 
 caves. Where are the Pliocene or Miocene rivers or caves ? They 
 have disappeared amidst the revolutions of the earth's surface and the 
 constant denudation which wastes continents away. The negative 
 evidence would be strong if we could point to caves filled with bone- 
 breccias of a Pliocene- or Miocene fauna, in which no trace was found 
 of human remains. But it is weak as against even a single well- 
 ascertained instance, if it merely amounts to such remains not being 
 
ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 87 
 
 frequently found where we could hardly expect to find them. And ifc 
 is weak against the strong 1 presumption that when Quaternary man is 
 found in such numbers and under such conditions, spread over wide 
 areas in inhospitable climates, he must have had his first origin in earlier 
 times. It is, therefore, in the highest degree probable that this origin 
 must have been in Tertiary times, when we know as a certain fact that 
 large anthropoid apes were already in existence. 
 
 If this were so, what would it teach us as to the date of man's 
 appearance ? 
 
 Beckoning by the thickness of the different stratified deposits 
 which make up the earth's crust, and assuming the average rate of 
 their deposition, or what is the same thing, the average rate of waste 
 of land surface to have been the same throughout, the whole Tertiary 
 period carries us back barely one-twentieth part of the way towards the 
 first beginnings of fossil-bearing strata. That is, if 100,000,000 years 
 have elapsed since the earth became sufficiently solidified to support 
 vegetable and animal life, the Tertiary period may have lasted for 
 5,000,000 years; or for 10,000,000 years, if the life-sustaining order of 
 things has lasted, as Lyell supposes, for at least 200,000,000 years. 
 Even if we take the shorter period, the time is ample for the enormous 
 changes which have taken place since the commencement of the Eocene 
 period. The average rate of denudation over the globe has been taken 
 at about one foot in 3,000 years, from actual calculations of the 
 average amount of solid matter carried down by the Mississippi and 
 other great rivers. Now at this rate it would take only 2,000,000 years 
 to wear the whole of Europe down to the sea-level, and, in the absence 
 of any compensating movements of elevation, the whole of North 
 America would be washed away and deposited in strata at the bottom 
 of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in less than 3,000,000 years. 
 
 If, therefore, the origin of man could be traced down to the mid- 
 dle Miocene, or even to the date of the great anthropoid Dryopithecus 
 of Southern France, we should have to assume a period for his exist- 
 ence of probably between one and two millions of years, a mere 
 fraction of the time since the earth became the abode of life and exist- 
 ing causes operated to bring about geological formations. 
 
 As regards the habits and manners of Quaternary man we know 
 very little that is positive, and can only gather some vague indications 
 from the relics of caves and river drifts. These, however, are suffi- 
 cient to establish, with certainty that the law of his existence has been 
 one of continued progress. The older the remains, the ruder are the 
 implements and the fewer the traces of anything approaching to civili- 
 zation. In the Neolithic period man is comparatively civilized. He 
 has domestic animals and cultivated plants; he has clothing and orna- 
 ments, well-fashioned tools and pottery, and permanent dwellings. 
 He lives in societies, builds villages, buries his dead, and shows his 
 faith in a future life by placing with them food and weapons. As we 
 ascend the stream of time these indications of an incipient civilization 
 disappear. The first vestige of the domestic animals is found in the 
 dog which gnawed the bones of the Danish kitchen-middens, and of 
 the earliest Swiss lake-dwellings. When fairly in Palaeolithic times 
 even the dog disappears, and man has to trust to his own unaided 
 efforts in hunting wild animals for food. 
 
 Weapons and implements become more and more rude until, in 
 the oldest deposits, we find nothing but roughly-chipped hatchets, 
 
88 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 arrow-heads, flakes, and scrapers. Implements of bone, such as barbed 
 harpoons, borers, and needles, which are abundant in the midde 
 Palaeolithic or reindeer period, become ruder and disappear. Pottery, 
 which is extremely abundant in the Neolithic period, either disap- 
 pears altogether or becomes so scarce that it is a moot question 
 whether a few of the rudest fragments found in caves are really 
 Palaeolithic. If so, they clearly date from the later Palaeolithic, and 
 pottery was unknown in the earlier Palaeolithic times. 
 
 Judging from the portraits engraved on bone during the reindeer 
 period. Palaeolithic man pursued the chase in a state of nature, though 
 from the presence of bone needles it is probable that the skins of 
 animals may have been occasionally sewed together by split sinews to 
 provide clothing. There can be no doubt that his habitual dwelling 
 was in caves or rock-shelters. Here was his home, here he took his 
 meals and allowed the remains of his food to accumulate. His staple 
 diet consisted of the contemporary wild animals, the mammoth, the 
 rhinoceros, the cave bear, the horse, the aurochs, and the reindeer. 
 Even the great cave lion was occasionally killed and eaten, and the fox 
 and other smaller animals were not despised; while among tribes skilled 
 in the use of the bow and arrow, birds were a common article of food, 
 and fish were harpooned by those who lived near rivers. Wild fruit 
 and roots were also doubtless consumed, and from the formation of 
 his teeth and intestines it is probable that if we could trace the diet of 
 the earliest races of men we should find them to have been f rugivorous, 
 like their congeners the anthropoid apes. 
 
 The abundance of wild animals and the long period for which 
 hunting savages inhabited the same spots may be inferred from the 
 fact that at one station alone, that of Solutre in Burgundy, it is com- 
 puted that the remains of no less than 40,000 horses have been found. 
 All the long bones of the larger animals have been split to extract the 
 marrow, which seems, as with the modern Eskimos and other savages, 
 to have been a great delicacy, and also used for softening skins for the 
 purpose of clothing. 
 
 Among the split bones a sufficient number of human bones have 
 been found to make it certain that Palaeolithic man was, occasionally at 
 least, a cannibal; and in several caves, notably that of Chaleux, in 
 Belgium, these bones, including those of women and children, have been 
 found, charred by fire, and in such numbers as to indicate that they 
 had been the scene of cannibal feasts. It is a remarkable fact that 
 cannibalism seems to have become more frequent as man advanced in 
 civilization, and that while its traces are frequent in Neolithic times, 
 they become very scarce or altogether disappear in the age of the 
 mammoth and the reindeer. 
 
 As regards religious ideas they can only be inferred from the relics 
 buried with the dead, and these are scarce and uncertain for the earlier 
 periods. The caves in which Palaeolithic man lived on the flesh of the 
 Quaternary animals, have been so often used as burying-places in long- 
 subsequent ages, that it is extremely difficult to ascertain whether the 
 skeletons found in them are those of the original inhabitants. Thus 
 the famous cave of Aurignac, in which Lartet thought he had discovered 
 the tomb of men at whose funeral feasts mammoths and rhinoceroses 
 were consumed, is now generally considered to be a Neolithic burying- 
 place superimposed on an abandoned Palaeolithic habitation. 
 
 There are not more than five or six well authenticated instances 
 
MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE. 89 
 
 In which entire Palaeolithic skeletons have been found under circum- 
 stances in which there is a fair presumption that they may have 
 been interred after death, and these afford no clear proof of articles 
 intended for use in a future life having been deposited with them. 
 All we can say, therefore, is that from the commencement of the 
 Neolithic period downwards, there is abundant proof that man had 
 ideas of a future state of existence very similar to those of most of 
 the savage tribes of the present day; such proof is wanting for the 
 immensely longer Palaeolithic period, and we are left to conjecture. 
 The only arts which can with certainty be assigned to our earliest 
 known ancestors are those of fire and of fashioning rude implements 
 from stone by chipping. Everything beyond this is the product of 
 .gradual evolution. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 MAN'S PLACE IN NATUKE. 
 
 A LTHOUGH the establishment of the great antiquity of the 
 \^ human race has attracted more immediate attention, being a 
 fact at once intelligible to the general public, the researches of anato- 
 mists and physiologists, aided by the microscope, have brought to 
 light results quite as remarkable as regards the individual man and 
 his place in Nature. Until recently it was taken for granted that man 
 was a special miraculous creation, altogether superior to and distinct 
 from the rest of the animal world. This assumption, gratifying alike 
 to our vanity and our laziness in the laborious search for truth, 
 has been to a great extent disproved and replaced by the Law of 
 Evolution. 
 
 The most striking proof of this is found when we trace scienti- 
 fically the growth of each individual man 
 from his first origin to his final development. 
 Man, like all other animals, is born of an 
 egg. The primitive egg, or ovum, which 
 was the first germ of our existence, is a 
 small cell about the one-hundredth of an 
 inch in diameter, consisting of a mass of 
 semi-fluid protoplasm enclosed in a mem- 
 brane, and containing a small speck or nu- 
 cleus of more condensed protoplasm. This HUMAN EGG 
 nucleated cell is itself the first form into M d m ^ , 
 which a mass of simple jelly-like protoplasm 
 
 is differentiated in the course of its evolution from its original uniform 
 composition. The nucleated cell is the starting-point of all higher 
 life, and by splitting up and multiplying repetitions of itself in 
 geometrical progression, provides the cell material out of which all 
 the complicated structures of living things are built up. In sexual 
 generation, which prevails in all the higher forms of life, this process 
 requires, in order to start it, the co-operation of two such cells or 
 germs of life, one male, the other female. 
 
 The first remarkable fact is that the human egg is* at its com- 
 .mencement, un distinguishable from that of any other mammal, and 
 
90 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN' THOUGHT. 
 
 remains so for a long period of its growth, going through its earlier 
 stages of development in precisely the same" way. At first the egg 
 behaves exactly as any other single-celled organism, as for instance 
 that of the amoeba, which is considered the simplest form of organized 
 life. It contracts in the middle and divides into two cells, each with 
 its nucleus and each an exact counterpart of the original cell. These 
 two subdivide into four, the four into eight, and so on, until at last a 
 cluster of cells is formed which is called a morula from its resemblance 
 to the fruit of. the mulberry-tree. Development goes on, and the 
 globular lump of cells changes into a globular bladder whose outside 
 skin is built up of flattened cells. Then condensation takes place, 
 from the more rapid growth of cells at particular points, and the 
 foundation is laid of the actual body of the germ or embyro, the 
 other cells of the germ-bladder serving only for its nutrition. Up to 
 this point the germs not only of all mammals including man, but 
 
 MAMMALIAN EGG. 
 First Stage. Second Stage. Third Stage. 
 
 of all vertebrate animals, birds, reptiles, [and fishes, are scarcely 
 distinguishable. 
 
 In the next stage the outer surface of the embyro develops three 
 distinct layers, the outer one of which, or epidermis, becomes the 
 outer skin; the inner one, or epithelium, the mucous membrane or 
 lining of all the intestinal organs; and the intermediate layer the raw 
 material of muscles, bones, and blood-vessels. The embyro is now 
 contracted in the middle and assumes the form of a violin-shaped disc, 
 and a slight longitudinal furrow appears, dividing it into two equal 
 right and left parts, which is gradually converted into a tube con- 
 taining the spinal marrow, to protect which a chain of bones or 
 vertebrae is developed, forming the back-bone. 
 
 And now comes what is the most marvellous part of the process, 
 viz., the development of the brain, eye, ear, and other organs of 
 sense, from these simple elements. The brain begins as a swelling of 
 the foremost end of the cylindrical marrow-tube. This divides itself 
 into five bladders, lying one behind the other, from which the whole 
 complicated structure of the brain and skull is subsequently developed. 
 
 The eye, ear, and other sense-organs, begin in the same way. A 
 slight depression in the outer skin extends until the edges close and 
 form a hollow space in which the eye is formed. At first it is a mere 
 black pigment mark on the interior surface of the inclosed space, 
 which develops into the retina, with a wonderful apparatus of optic 
 nerves for conveying impressions photographed on it to the brain. 
 The enclosed space itself is filled with a fluid, or vitreous humor, from, 
 
MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE. 
 
 91 
 
 which a lens is condensed for collecting the rays of light and con- 
 centrating them on the retina, and by degrees all the beautiful and 
 complicated organs are evolved for perfecting the work of the eye and 
 protecting it from injury. But this fact must be kept clearly in view: 
 the process is identically the same as that by which the eyes of other 
 animals are formed, and its various stages represent those by which 
 the organs of vision have gradually risen to the development of a com- 
 plete eye, in advancing from the lowest to the higher forms of life. 
 Thus in the lowest, or Protista, the eye remains a simple pigment 
 spot, which probably perceives light by being more sensitive to varia- 
 tions of temperature than the surrounding white cells. The next 
 higher family develop a lens, and so on in ascending order, different 
 families developing different contrivances for attaining the same ob- 
 ject, but all starting from the same origin, development of the cells of 
 the epidermis, and leading up to the same result, organs of vision 
 adapted for the ordinary conditions of life of the creature which uses 
 them. I say the ordinary conditions, for there are curious instances 
 of the eye persisting, dwindling from disuse, and finally disappearing, 
 in animals which live underground like the mole, or in subterranean 
 waters like some fish in the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky and under- 
 ground lakes of Carinthia, where the stimulus of light is no longer felt 
 for many generations. 
 
 DOG (six weeks). MAN (eight weeks). 
 
 From Haeckel's " Schopfungsgeschichte." 
 
 The history of the ear and other organs of sense is the same as that 
 of the eye. They are all developments of the cell system of the outer 
 skin, and all pass through stages of development identical with those 
 at which it has been arrested in the progression from lower to higher 
 forms of life. The same principles apply to the development of the 
 inner organs, such as the heart, lungs, liver, etc., a striking illustration 
 of which is found in the fact that the gill arches, or bones which sup- 
 port the gills by which fishes breath^, exist originally in man and all 
 other vertebrate animals above the ranks of fish, but, in the develop- 
 
92 MODERX SCIEXCE AXD MODERX THOUGHT. 
 
 ment of the embryo, they are superseded by the air-breathing 
 apparatus of lungs, and converted to other purposes in the formation of 
 the jaws and organ of hearing. In fact, we may say that every human 
 being passes through the stage of fish and reptile before arriving at 
 that of mammal, and finally of man. 
 
 If we take him up at the more advanced stage, where the embryo has 
 already passed the reptilian form, we find that for a considerable time 
 the line of development remains the same as that of other mammalia. 
 The rudimentary limbs are exactly similar, the five fingers and toes 
 develop in the same way, and the resemblance after the first four 
 weeks' growth between the embryo of a man and a dog is such that 
 it is scarcely possible to distinguish them. Even at the age of eight 
 weeks the embryo man is an animal with a tail, hardly to be distin- 
 guished from an embryo puppy. 
 
 As evolution proceeds the embryo emerges from the general 
 mammalian type into the special order of Primates to which man 
 belongs. This order, beginning with the lemur, rises through the 
 monkey, the baboon, and tailed ape, up to the anthropoid apes, the 
 chimpanzee, gorilla, and orang, which approach nearest to the human 
 type. The succession is gradual from the lower to the higher forms 
 up to the anthropoid apes, but a considerable gap occurs between 
 these and man. It is true that in his physical structure man 
 resembles these apes closely, every bone and muscle of the one having 
 its counterpart in those of the other. But even at its birth the 
 human infant is already specialized by considerable differences. The 
 "brain is larger, its convolutions more complex, the spine has a double 
 curvature, adapting it for an* erect posture, and the legs, with a cor- 
 responding object, are longer and stronger, while the arms are shorter 
 and less adapted for climbing. The thumb also is longer, making the 
 hand a better instrument for all purposes, except that of clasping the 
 branches of trees, for which the long, slender fingers of the ape are 
 more available. The great toe also is less flexible and the foot more 
 adapted for giving the body a firm support and less for being used as 
 a hand. 
 
 As growth proceeds after birth these differences become more and 
 more accentuated. The infant chimpanzee is not so very unlike the 
 infant negro, but after a certain age the sutures of the skull close in 
 the former, making the skull a solid box, which prevents further ex- 
 pansion of the brain, and the growth of the bone is directed towards 
 the lower part of the face, giving the animal a projecting muzzle, 
 massive jaws, and a generally bestial appearance, while at the same 
 time its intelligence is arrested and its ferocious instincts become 
 more prominent. Still these higher apes remain creatures of very 
 considerable intelligence and waim affections, as may be seen in the 
 behavior of those which have been caught young and brought up 
 under the influence of kind treatment. There is a chimpanzee now in 
 the Zoological Gardens at Regent's Park, which can do all but speak, 
 which understands almost every word the keeper says to it, and when 
 told to sing will purse out its lips and make an attempt to utter con- 
 nected notes. In the native state they form societies, obey a chief, 
 and often show great sagacity in their manner of foraging for food and 
 escaping from danger. 
 
 Even in lower grades of life than the anthropoid apes we can see 
 plainly many of the germs of human faculties in an undeveloped state. 
 
MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE. 93 
 
 Those who are fond of dogs, and have lived much with them and 
 understood their ways, must have been struck by the many human- 
 like qualities they possess, and especially by the very great resemblance 
 between young dogs and young children. They both like and dislike 
 very much the same people and the same mode of treatment. They 
 like those who take notice of them, caress them, talk to them, and, 
 above all, those whom they can approach with perfect confidence of 
 receiving uniform kind treatment. They dislike those who have no 
 sympathy with them, or whose treatment of them is either cold or 
 capricious. Their great delight is to play with one another, and often 
 to tease and make a pretence of quarreling and fighting. They both 
 have an instinct for mischief, and are constantly trying it on how far 
 they can go without getting into serious difficulties. 
 
 Later in life, and in more serious matters, the dog has certainly 
 the germs of intelligence, and does a number of things which require 
 a certain exercise of reasoning power. He has a good memory, and 
 imagination enough to be excited at the prospect of a walk where 
 there is a chance of finding a rat or a rabbit, and to dream of chasing 
 imaginary rabbits when he is lying curled up on the hearthrug. Every 
 dog has an individual character of his own as clearly defined as that 
 of an individual man, nor can the rudiments of consciousness be 
 denied to the hound who, in a kennel of twenty others, knows per- 
 fectly well that he is Kover, and not Battler or Ranger, and waits till 
 his name is called to come forward for a biscuit When he has got it, 
 his sense of property makes him appropriate it as his own, and respect, 
 the biscuits appropriated to other dogs, at any rate to the extent of 
 knowing perfectly well that he is doing wrong if he takes them by force 
 or steals them. 
 
 In the moral qualities the dog approaches even more closely to 
 man. His fidelity, affection, and devotion even to death, are proverbial. 
 He feels shame and remorse when he has departed from the canine 
 sense of right and wrong or from the canine standard of honor, and is 
 happy when he feels that he has done his duty. What is this but the 
 working of an elementary conscience? Even in the higher sphere of 
 religious feeling, the dog feels unbounded love and reverence for the 
 master who is the highest being conceivable to him, or in other words, 
 his God; and he shudders as that master does in the presence of any- 
 thing weird and supernatural. Every good ghost story begins by 
 describing,how the dogs howled and shrank to their master's feet when 
 the first shadow of supernatural presence was cast on the haunted 
 castle. 
 
 Capacity for progressive improvement can hardly be denied to a 
 race which has developed such qualities from ancestors who, like the 
 wild and half -wild dogs of Asia and America, had not even learned to 
 bark, and were as unlike the civilized and affectionate collie, as Palaeo- 
 lithic man to his modern successor. In fact, the progress of the dog 
 seems only to be limited by the want of organs of speech, and of an 
 instrument like the hand by which to place himself in closer relation 
 with the outer world. 
 
 The same remarks apply to the elephant, whose great sagacity 
 seems clearly attributable to the possession of such an instrument in 
 the trunk, inferior no doubt to the hand, but still very superior to the 
 paw of the dog or to the hoof-enclosed fore-foot of the horse. In all 
 animals the greater or less perfection of the instruments by which they 
 
94 MODERX SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 act upon and are acted upon by the outer world, seems to be the 
 principal factor in determining the quality of tha brain as an organ of 
 intelligence. 
 
 In the insect world we find still more wonderful exemplifications 
 of the resemblance between animal and human intelligence. Ants live 
 in organized societies, build cities, store up food for winter, keep 
 aphides as milk-cows, carry on slave-hunting raids, and push the 
 division of labor to such an extent that some tribes are all workers, 
 others all warriors and slave-owners. These actions are not all merely 
 mechanical and instinctive, for ants can to a considerable extent adapt 
 themselves to circumstances, and alter their habits and mode of life 
 when it becomes necessary in the " struggle for existence." The same 
 is true of bees, beetles, and other insects, but it is useless to dwell on 
 these, for the organization of the insect world is so different from that 
 of the mammalian, to which man belongs, that no safe analogy can be 
 drawn from one to the other. It is from the higher mammalian types 
 that we can fairly draw the inference that, if like effects are produced 
 by like causes, the more perfect intelligence, consciousness, and 
 morality of man, must be the same in kind though higher in degree 
 than the less perfect manifestations of the same qualities in animals of 
 similar though less perfect physical organization. 
 
 There is one respect in which the human infant differs greatly 
 from the young of other animals, viz., in the long period for which it 
 remains in a condition of utter helplessness. In many of the lower 
 forms of life the young creature emerges into the world with many of 
 its necessary faculties complete, and has to learn comparatively little 
 from education. The chicken runs about and picks up food on the day 
 it escapes from the egg, and the young flycatcher will peck at flies 
 with fragments of the shell still adhering to it. As we rise in the 
 scale of creation, these instinctive aptitudes become fewer, and more 
 time is required before the young animal can shift for itself; and at 
 length, in the human infant, we arrive at a stage where for the first 
 year or two it can do little to preserve its existence except to breathe 
 and suck. 
 
 The reason of this is doubtless to be found in the higher develop- 
 ment to which it is destined to attain. The faculties of every 
 animal depend on two causes first, heredity, or those which have been 
 evolved from the type, and become fixed by succession through a long 
 series of ancestors; secondly, adaptation, or those which are acquired 
 by education, including in the term everything that is requisite to 
 place the animal in harmony with its surrounding environment. The 
 first are what are called instincts, which exist from the birth, and are 
 preserved unconsciously and without an effort. The last involve an 
 effort, and reference from the outer stations of the senses along the 
 telegraph wires called nerves, to the central office of the brain, where 
 the message is recorded and the reply considered and transmitted 
 along another set of nerves to the muscles, where it translates itself 
 into action. In either case the fundamental fact seems to resolve 
 itself into a tendency of molecular motion to follow beaten rather than 
 unknown paths. What the brain has once thought or perceived, it 
 will think or perceive more readily a second time, and in like manner, 
 a message which has once been transmitted and read off along a nerve, 
 from muscle to brain or from brain to muscle, will be transmitted and 
 read off more readily by practice, until at length it ceases to require 
 
MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE. 95 
 
 conscious effort and becomes instinctive. We may see an illustration 
 of this in the facility with which a piano player, who began by learn- 
 ing- the notes with difficulty, acquires such aptitude that the execution 
 of rapid passages becomes mechanical, and can be carried on without 
 a mistake, even when the performer is thinking of something else or 
 talking to a bystander. 
 
 The outer world with which every animal has to deal from its birth 
 upwards, may be compared to a dense forest or jungle through which 
 it has to find its way. A certain number of paths have been cut by its 
 ancestors, and it finds them ready made by heredity; others it con- 
 structs for itself by repeated efforts until they become as broad and 
 easy as those which it inherited; and finally, if the forest is thick and its 
 area extensive it can only be explored by leaving the beaten paths 
 of inherited or acquired instinct, and groping the way painfully by 
 conscious effort and attention. 
 
 We can now see why the lower the animal, or in other words the 
 less extensive the forest, the whole vital energy may be concentrated 
 on the few beaten paths opened by heredity, and a few necessary 
 actions may be performed from the first, instinctively and with great 
 perfection, while in higher organisms the vital energy is employe^ in 
 developing a great mass of future possibilities rather than a small 
 number of inferior present realities. The baby cannot run about the 
 room and feed itself like the chicken, because the baby has to grow 
 into a man or woman, while the chicken has only to grow into a fowl 
 which can do very little more in its adult than in its infant state. 
 
 In fact, when we come to analyze the sum of faculties of the adult 
 man, we find that they are derived to a surprisingly small extent from 
 heredity as compared with education. In saying this, however, it 
 must be understood that the term "heredity" is limited to that direct 
 heredity which transmits characters by instinctive necessity, and not 
 to the far larger sphere of indirect heredity by which faculties, arts, 
 modes of thought, and rules of conduct, are accumulated in civilized 
 societies, and become the principal instrument of education in its 
 larger sense. If it were possible to suppose a human infant born of 
 civilized parents, left entirely to itself, what would it grow into? Per- 
 haps it would learn to walk, though this is not quite certain, as the 
 few wild children who have been discovered in forests, went very 
 much on all fours, and if we can believe the accounts of wolf children 
 in India, those educated among wolves adopt their gait and habits; 
 certainly it would not learn to speak, in the sense of using any articu- 
 late language; its arts would not extend beyond recognizing a few 
 articles of food, and perhaps using stones to crack nuts, and con- 
 structing some rude shelter from branches of trees. It would know 
 nothing of fire, and on the whole would not be so far advanced as its 
 oldest Palaeolithic ancestor. 
 
 As regards a moral sense, and all that we are accustomed to think 
 the highest attributes of humanity, it is clear that his mind would be 
 a blank. Even at a much more advanced stage, such ideas evidently 
 come from education, and are not the results either of inherited 
 instinct or of supernatural gift. An English child kidnapped at an 
 early age by Apache Indians or head-hunting Dyaks, would, to a cer- 
 tainty, consider murder one of the fine arts, and the slaughter of an 
 inoffensive stranger, especially if accomplished with a treachery that 
 made the exploit one of little 'risk, an achievement of the highest man- 
 
96 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 hood. If brought up among Mahometans he would consider polyga- 
 my, if among the Todas polyandry, as the natural and proper relation 
 of the sexes. All that can be said is, that if recaptured and brought 
 back to civilized society, he would perhaps be assisted by heredity in 
 adopting its ideas more readily than would be the case if he had been 
 born a savage. 
 
 It is clear, therefore, that the history of the individual man tells 
 the same story of evolution from low beginnings as is told by that of 
 the human race as traced from Palseolittric, through Neolithic, into 
 modern times. His law is progress, worked out by conscious effort 
 called forth by the environment of outward circumstances, and acceler- 
 ated from time to time by the successful efforts of a few superior men, 
 whose greater sum of energy or happier organization for development, 
 enables them to pioneer new paths through the vast unexplored 
 forests of science, art, and morality. 
 
 The difficulty of accounting for the development of intellect and 
 morality by evolution is not so great as that presented by the differ- 
 ence in physical structure between man aud the highest animal. 
 Given a being with man's brain and man's hand and erect stature, it is 
 easy to see how intelligence must have been gradually evolved, and 
 rules of conduct best adapted for his own good and that of the society 
 in which he lived must have been formed and fixe'd by successive 
 generations, according to the Darwinian laws of the "struggle for 
 life" and the "survival of the fittest." 
 
 But it is not so easy to see how this difference of physical struc- 
 ture arose, and how a being came into existence which had such a 
 brain and hand, and such undeveloped capabilities for an almost 
 unlimited progress. The difficulty is this: the difference in structure 
 between the lowest existing race of man and the highest existing 
 ape is too great to admit of the possibility of one being the direct 
 descendant of the other. The negro in some respects makes a slight 
 approximation towards the Simian type. His skull is narrower, his 
 brain less capacious, his muzzle more projecting, his arm longer than 
 those of the average European man. Still he is essentially a man, 
 and separated by a wide gulf from the chimpanzee or gorilla. Even 
 the idiot or cretin, whose brain is no larger and intelligence no 
 greater than that of the chimpanzee, is an arrested man and not an ape. 
 
 If, therefore, the Darwinian theory holds good in the case of man 
 and ape, we must go back to some common ancestor from whom both 
 may have originated by pursuing different lines of development. But 
 to establish this as a fact and not a theory we require to find that 
 ancestral form, or, at any rate, some intermediate forms tending towards 
 it. We require to find fossil remains proving for the genus nan what 
 the Hipparion and Anchitherium have proved for the genus horse, that 
 is, gradual progressive specialization from a simple ancestral type to 
 more complex existing forms. In other words, we require to discover 
 the " missing link." Now it must be admitted that hitherto, not only 
 have no such missing links been discovered, but the oldest known human 
 skulls and skeletons, which date from the Glacial period, and are 
 probably at least 100,000 years old, show no very decided approxima- 
 tion towards any such pre-human type. On vthe contrary, one of the 
 oldest types, that of the man of the sepulchral cave of Cro-Magnon, is 
 that of a fine race, tall in stature, large in brain, and on the whole 
 superior to many of the existing races of mankind. The reply of 
 
MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE. 97 
 
 course is that the time is insufficient, and if man and the ape had a 
 common ancestor, that as a highly developed anthropoid ape certainly, 
 and man probably, already existed in the Miocene period, such ances- 
 tor must be sought still further back, at a distance compared with 
 which the whole Quaternary period sinks into insignificance. It is 
 said also that the discovery of man's antiquity is of quite recent date, 
 and that thirty years ago the same negative evidence was quoted as 
 conclusive against his existence in times and places which now afford 
 his remains by tens of thousands. All this is true, and it may well 
 make us hesitate before we admit that man, whose structure is so 
 analogous \o that of the animal creation, whose embryonic growth is so 
 strictly accordant with that of other mammals, and whose higher 
 faculties of intelligence and morality are so clearly not miraculous 
 instincts but the products of evolution and education, is alone an 
 exception to the general law of the universe, and is the creature of a 
 special creation. 
 
 This is the more difficult to believe, as the ape family which man 
 so closely resembles in physical structure, contains numerous branches 
 which graduate into one another, but the extremes of which differ 
 more widely than man does from the highest of the ape series. If a 
 special creation is required for man, must there not have been special 
 creations for the chimpanzee, the gorilla, the orang, and for at least 
 100 different species of apes and monkeys which are all built on the 
 same lines? 
 
 What are the facts really known to us as to man, his nature, and 
 his origin 1 ? 
 
 Man is one of a species of which there are in round numbers 
 some 1,200 millions of individuals living at the present time on the 
 earth. Taking thirty years as the average duration of each generation 
 there are thus over 3,000 millions who are born and die per century, 
 and this has gone on more or less during the period embraced by his- 
 tory which extends for a great part of the Old World over thirty 
 centuries, in the case of Assyria and China over forty or fifty, and in 
 Egypt over seventy centuries. At the commencement of these his- 
 torical periods population was dense, probably in Egypt and Western 
 Asia denser than at present, and civilization far advanced. The 
 Pyramids, which are at the same time the oldest and the largest build- 
 ings in the world, prove this conclusively, both from the mechanical 
 skill and astronomical science shown in their construction, and from 
 the great accumulation of capital and highly artificial arrangements of 
 society which could alone have rendered such works possible. The 
 great mass of the population in these olden times lived in what is 
 known as the Old World, and was accumulated mainly in the great 
 valley systems of the Nile, and of the various rivers and irrigated 
 plains of the southern half of the continent of Asia. Northern Asia 
 and Europe were thinly inhabited by ruder tribes. Of America and 
 the interior of Africa we know little until a much later date, but the 
 populatian was in all probability sparse and savage, while in Australia, 
 if it existed at all, it was still scantier and more savage; while in New 
 Zealand and most of the Pacific Islands it has only been introduced 
 by migration within comparatively recent times. 
 
 The next leading fact we have to observe is that the human race 
 is not everywhere the same, but is divided into several well-marked 
 varieties. The most obvious distinction is that of color. In the Old 
 
98 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 World there are three distinct and clearly characterized groups the 
 white, the yellow, and the black. These are found mainly in three 
 separate zoological provinces: the white in the temperate and north- 
 temperate zones of Europe and Western Asia, the yellow in those of 
 Eastern Asia, and the black in the tropical zone, principally of Central 
 Africa. Where they are pure and unmixed, these race-types differ 
 from one another not in color only but in many other important and 
 permanent characters. The average size of the brain, the complexity 
 of its convolutions, the shape of the skull, the bones of the face and 
 jaws, the comparative length of the limbs, the structure of the 
 hair and skin, the characteristic odor, the susceptibilities to various 
 diseases, are all essentially different, so that no observant naturalist, 
 or even observant child or dog, could ever mistake a Chinaman for 
 a Negro, or a Negro for an Englishman. 
 
 Such a naturalist, seeing for the first time typical specimens 
 of the three races, would pronounce them without hesitation to be 
 distinct species, and would predict with much confidence that they 
 would either not cross, or, if they did, would produce a hybrid 
 progeny of inferior fertility. 
 
 But here he would be wrong, for, in fact, the most opposite races 
 breed freely together, and produce a fertile progeny. 
 
 Moreover, when we extend our view beyond the clearly distin- 
 guished types of the white, yellow, and black, as seen in Caucasian, 
 Mongoloid, and Negro races, we find these types breaking off into 
 sub-types and shading off towards each other, while a large propor- 
 tion of the human race consists of brown, red, olive, and copper- 
 colored people, who may either be original varieties, or desctn led 
 from crosses between the primitive races. Small isolated groups also 
 crop up, differing from the main races, of whom it is hard to say from 
 whom they are descended or how they got there; as for instance the 
 Hottentots, in South Africa, the pigmy black Negritos of the Anda- 
 mans and other South Asiatic islands, the Papuans and Australians, 
 the hairy Ainos of Japan, and some of the aboriginal races of India. 
 
 To a certain extent climate seems to have had an influence in 
 creating or developing the main typical differences.- Thus the main 
 line of black races lies along the hot tropical belt of the earth from 
 Old to New Guinea. But the rule is not universal, there is no similar 
 type in tropical America, where a singular uniformity of type and color 
 prevails throughout the whole continent. Even in Africa we find the 
 Negro type, while retaining its black color, shading off towards higher 
 types and losing its more animal-like characteristics. Again, while 
 color becomes generally lighter as we pass from tropical to south- 
 temperate and from south to north-temperate regions, if we go still 
 further north we find darker races, such as the Lapps and Esquimaux, 
 and in one remarkable instance the color within the temperate zone 
 itself actually becomes darker with increase of latitude, and the 
 aboriginal savage of Tasmania, in a climate like that of Devonshire, 
 was blacker than many negroes. 
 
 Even within great and well-defined races themselves there are 
 clearly marked varieties. Thus the white race consists of the two 
 distinct types of the fair-whites and dark-whites, the former pre- 
 vailing in Northern Europe and the latter in Southern Europe, West- 
 ern Asia, and North Africa; the contrast between a fair Swede with 
 flaxen hair and blue eyes, and a swarthy Spaniard with black hair and 
 
MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE. 99 
 
 eyes, being almost as marked as between the latter and some of the 
 higher black or brown races. Throughout a great part of Europe, 
 including specially England, it is evident that the existing population 
 is derived mainly from repeated crosses of these two races with one 
 another and probably with earlier races. 
 
 In the existing state of things also it is evident that if the differ- 
 ent races of mankind ever really did pass into one another under 
 influences like those of climate, the time of their doing so is long 
 past. A colony of English families transported to tropical Africa 
 would to a certainty die out long before they had taken even the first 
 step towards acquiring the black velvety skin, the woolly hair, the 
 projecting muzzle, and the long narrow skull of the typical Negro, 
 while a Negro colony transported to Scotland or Scandinavia would 
 as certainly disappear from diseases of the chest and lungs, long 
 before they began to vary towards the European type. The yellow 
 race seems to be on the whole the best fitted to withstand climate and 
 other external influences, and it certainly shows no signs anywhere 
 of passing over either into the Caucasian or the Negro type. 
 
 On the whole, therefore, if the fact of fertile inter-crossing is to 
 be taken as proving the unity of the human race and their probable 
 descent from a common ancestor, and we are to assume that all the 
 great varieties which we find existing are the result of modifications 
 gradually introduced by climate and surrounding circumstances, it 
 is evident that the point of divergence must be put at an immense 
 distance. 
 
 This is the more certain, as when we look back for a period of 
 more then 4,000 years, we find from the Egyptian monuments that 
 some of the best-marked existing types have undergone no sensible 
 change. The portraits of negroes and of Semitic dark-whites painted 
 on the walls of temples and tombs of the 12th dynasty, about 2,000 
 B.C., might be taken as characteristic portraits of the negro and Jew 
 of the present day, and the modern Egyptian fellah reproduces with 
 little or no change the features of the Ancient Egyptians of the days 
 of Kameses and Arnenophis. It is evident, therefore, that where no 
 great change has taken place from crossing of races, they will main- 
 tain their special characters unaltered for more than 100 generations. 
 Indeed we might say for 200 generations, for the statues and wooden 
 statuettes from the tombs of Sakkara, the ancient Memphis, which 
 certainly date back for more than 5,000 years, show us the Egyptian 
 type in its highest perfection, and with a more intellectual and I 
 might say modern expression than is found 1,000 or 2,000 years 
 later, when the type of the higher classes had evidently deteriorated 
 somewhat from a slight infusion of African elements. 
 
 The same conclusion of the great distance at which any common 
 point of divergence of the various races of mankind must be "placed, is 
 confirmed by a totally different line of inquiry, that into the origin of 
 language. 
 
 Philologists have clearly proved that languages did not spring 
 into existence ready made, like Minerva from the brain of Jupiter, but 
 have followed the general law of Nature, and have had their periods of 
 birth, growth, and evolution from simple into complex organism. 
 Now there is a vast variety of languages, some say more than a thou- 
 sand. A large proportion of these are, of course, only what may be 
 called dialects of the same original language, as in the case of the 
 
100 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 whole Indo-European family, including Sanscrit, Zend, Greek, Latin, 
 Teutonic, Celtic, and Slavonic, with all their offshoots and derived 
 branches, as well as 1 many others. These can be all traced back to. 
 the common root of the primitive language of an Aryan white race, 
 who radiated by successive migrations from some region in the 
 elevated plateaux of Central Asia. Any one who wants to be con- 
 vinced of this has only to refer to Max Mtiller's works and trace the 
 history of one verb, viz., that used to denote individual existence. 
 
 Asmi in Sanscrit has become eimi in Greek, sum in Latin (whence 
 sono, suis, and all the modern derivatives of Latin races), and "am" 
 in English; while the Latin eat, the Greek esti, and the German ist, 
 are clearly akin to the original osti. It may help in understanding 
 how language has been formed if we point out that "I am" originally 
 meant "I breathe," and "he is " is the more general and abstract form 
 of "he stands." 
 
 But there are a number of languages between which no such 
 relationship can be traced, which are constructed on radically different 
 principles, and have no resemblance with one another in their roots, 
 or primitive sounds used to express objects and simple ideas, except in 
 the few cases where it can be traced to importation from abroad, or to 
 imitation of naturally suggested sounds, such as those which have led 
 so many nations to express the idea of "mother" by a sound resem- 
 bling the bleating of a lamb. Obviously, similarity of sound in such 
 words as are used for the ideas of father, mother, cow, crow, thunder, 
 crack, splash, and so on, suggests no common origin, and as most, or 
 at any rate a great many roots, were probably derived originally in 
 this manner, though long since diverted to express other ideas by 
 associations which it is impossible to trace, the wonder rather is that 
 we should find so many languages with so few roots in common. The 
 best authorities tell us that a list of fifty to one hundred languages 
 could be made of which no one has been satisfactorily shown to be 
 related to any other. 
 
 The main distinction between languages, however, is to be found 
 in their inner mechanism, or grammar, rather than in the mere dif- 
 ference of root- sounds. The result of years of mechanical training in 
 barbarous Latin and Greek grammars in our English public schools 
 has been to leave the average Englishman completely ignorant of the 
 real meaning of the word "grammar," and almost incapable of com- 
 prehending that it can mean anything else than a string of arbitrary 
 rules to be learned by heart for the vexation of small boys. 
 
 And yet grammar is really most interesting, as showing the modes 
 by which the dawning human intellect has proceeded, at remote peri- 
 ods and among different races, in working out the great problem of 
 articulate speech, by which man rises into the higher regions of 
 thought and is mainly distinguished from the brute creation. Con- 
 sider first what the problem is, and then some of the principal modes 
 which have been invented to solve it. 
 
 Suppose some primitive race to have accumulated a certain stock 
 of root-words, or simple sounds to signify definite objects and simple 
 ideas, they must soon find that these alone are not sufficient to convey 
 briefly and clearly to other minds the ideas which they wish to 
 express. For instance, suppose a tribe had got root-words to express 
 the ideas of "man," "bear," and "kill." What one of the tribe wants 
 to convey from his own mind to that of his neighbor may be, " 
 
MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE. 101 
 
 man has killed the bear," or " The bear has, killed, the/n^n/' or 
 (or "A) man has killed a bear," or " bears," or " will " or " may have " 
 killed, and so on through a vast number of variations on the original 
 three-note theme. Up to a certain point, a man might succeed in 
 making himself understood by using his three root-sounds in a certain 
 order, aided by the pantomime of accent and gesture; and the 
 Chinese, though one of the oldest civilized peoples of the wo^rld, have 
 scarcely got beyond this stage. But the process would be difficult 
 and uncertain, and at length it would occur to some genius that such 
 modifications as those of definite and indefinite, past and present, 
 singular and plural, etc., were of general application, not to the par- 
 ticular three or four roots which he wished to connect, but to all roots. 
 The next step would be to invent a set of sounds which, attached in 
 some way to the root-sounds, should convey to the hearer the sense in 
 which it was intended that he should take them. 
 
 This is the fundamental idea of grammar, but it has been worked 
 out by different races in the most different manner. The Chinese and 
 other allied races in the South-east of Asia, such as the Burmese and 
 Siamese, have solved it in the simplest manner. Their languages are 
 what is called monosyllabic that is, each word consists of a single 
 syllable, and is a root expressing the fundamental idea, without dis- 
 tinction of noun from verb, active from passive, or other modifications. 
 They have to trust, therefore, to express their meaning, mainly to 
 syntax, or the order in which words succeed one another, which, up to 
 a certain point, is the simplest method, and is largely adopted in 
 modern English. Thus, "Man kill bear," "Bear kill man," convey the 
 meaning just as clearly as the classical languages do by cases, when 
 they distinguish whether the man is the killer or the killed by saying 
 homo or hominem. But the monosyllabic system limits the nations 
 who use it to an inconveniently small number of words, and fails in 
 expressing their more complex relations, so that we find the same word 
 in Chinese or Siamese often expressing the most different ideas, and the 
 meaning can only be conveyed by supplementing the root-words and 
 syntax by accent and other conventional signs which are akin to the 
 primitive devices of gesture language. Thus, in Siamese, the syllable 
 ha, according to the note in which it is intoned, may mean a pestilence, 
 the number five, or the verb " to seek." 
 
 This very primitive and almost infantine form of language is 
 confined to one family, that of the Chinese and Indo-Chinese, who, it 
 may be observed, are by no means simple or primitive in other respects, 
 but stand and have stood for centuries at a comparatively high level of 
 civilization. All other raqes, including the most savage, have adopted 
 some form or other of grammar, i.e , of modifying original root-sounds 
 by additional generic sounds of definite determination; but the devices 
 on which they have hit for this purpose are most various. Thus, the 
 grammar of the Aryan family of languages has been formed by reasoning 
 out such general categories of thought as articles, pronouns, and prep- 
 ositions, coining sounds for them and prefixing these sounds to the 
 root-sounds as separate determinating signs. More complex shades of 
 meaning are conveyed principally by inflections, i.e., by adding certain 
 generic new sounds to the the original root-word, and incorporating 
 them with it so as to form modifications which are a sort of secondary 
 words. Thus the ideas of present, past, and future love, loving, and 
 being loved, lovely, and so on, are formed by transforming the root 
 
102 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 ' sucli. t ~ mpciifmajioiis as amor, amavi, ctmabo, 
 amabilis, etc. We can see this process in the course of formation in. 
 the change which converted the old English form " Caesar his " into 
 the modern genitive "Caesar's." 
 
 Other families again obtain the same Tesults by very different 
 processes. The Semitic languages, for instance, including Hebrew, 
 Arabic, Assyrian, and Phoenician, are what is called " triliteral," i.e. 
 they consist of roots mostly of three consonants, and express different 
 shades of grammatical meaning by altering the internal vowels. Thus 
 from the root m-l-k are derived melek, a king; malak, he reigned, and 
 so on. 
 
 The Turanian family, comprising Huns, Turks, Finns, Lapps, and 
 other Mongolian races of Northern Asia, all speak agglutinative 
 languages, i e., languages in which the root is put first and is followed 
 by suffixes strung on to it, but not incorporated with it and remaining 
 distinct. Thus in Turkish, the root sev, to love, is expanded into 
 sevishdirilmedeler, meaning "incapable of being brought to love one 
 another." 
 
 These are only given as specimens of some of the most marked of 
 the vast varieties of language which have been examined and classified 
 by philologists. They suggest a great many interesting reflections, 
 but I confine myself to those which bear more immediately on the sub- 
 ject of man's origin and development. It is evident that they imply 
 great antiquity for the existence, not of man only, but of separate 
 races of men speaking separate languages. 
 
 Babylonian inscriptions, quite 4,000 years old, show that the 
 characteristic features of the Aryan and Semitic languages were as 
 clearly established then as they are now; and the hieroglyphics of 
 Egyptian monuments, 1,000 years older, show the Coptic language 
 essentially the same. as modern Coptic, and although presenting some 
 points of analogy with Semitic, too different to be classed with it. 
 If these are descended from a common ancestor, clearly their origin, 
 must be extremely remote. And even with unlimited time it is diffi- 
 cult to conceive how such radical differences in the structure of lan- 
 guages could have arisen unless the different races had branched off 
 before any clear form of articulate speech had become fixed. Could 
 a race accustomed for generations to the free-flowing inflectional 
 Aryan, have deserted it for the cramped forms of the Semitic, or vice 
 versd, could the Semite have adopted the modes of thought and 
 expression of Sanscrit? And the same difficulty would apply in at least 
 twenty or thirty cases of other families of language. 
 
 It must be recollected that language is not merely the conven- 
 tional instrument of thought, but to a great extent its creator, and 
 the mould in which it is cast. The mould may be broken, and races 
 abandon old and adopt new languages by force of external circum- 
 stances, such as conquest or contact with and absorption by superior 
 races, but there is no instance of its being so transformed from within 
 as to pass into a totally different type. Nor can we very well see how 
 root-words once attached to fundamental ideas, such for instance as. 
 the simpler numerals, should come to be forgotten and new and totally 
 different words invented. 
 
 Of course, the explanation was easy in the olden days, when 
 everything was referred to miracle. Languages were different because 
 God had made them so, to baffle the attempt of united mankind to 
 
MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE. 103 
 
 build a tower high enough to reach to heaven. But the theory of 
 special miraculous creation for each language cannot stand a moment's 
 investigation. 
 
 As in the case of the animal world, special creations, if admitted 
 at all, must be multiplied to an extent which becomes absurd. Is 
 every petty tribe of savages who speak a language unintelligible to 
 others to be supposed to have had it conferred upon it as a miracu- 
 lous gift? Was the language of the extinct Brazilian tribe, of which 
 Humboldt tells us that a very old parrot spoke the last surviving 
 words, one of the languages used to scatter the builders of the Tower 
 of Babel? Or, still more conclusively, where we know and can prove 
 that one part of a language is the product of natural laws, can we 
 assume that another part of the same language is the result of miracle? 
 Did it require Divine inspiration to make the old Egyptians call a cat 
 miaou, or to teach so many nations to express the idea of mother by 
 imitating the bleating of a lamb? If not, why should half the words 
 in a dictionary be miraculous and half natural? 
 
 And if Caesar is correctly reported to have been more proud of 
 discovering a new case than of conquering Gaul, ought we not to tk ren- 
 der unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's," and assign grammar as well 
 as words to human invention? In short, no reasonable man who studies 
 the subject can doubt that language is just as much a machine of 
 human invention for communicating thought, as the spinning jenny 
 is for spinning cotton. 
 
 The general conclusion, then, to be drawn from the study of 
 language points in the same direction as that of all other branches of 
 science, viz., that their true history is that of evolution from simple 
 origins by the operation of natural laws over long periods of time 
 into forms of greater complexity and higher development. What 
 language really does for us is to take up the thread where the oldest 
 history fails us, and show that even at this date it is impossible to 
 doubt that the human race must have been already in existence for a 
 very long period, and in existence as at the present day in several 
 sharply distinguished varieties, so that the common origin, if there 
 be one, must be placed still further back. As history verified by the 
 Egyptian monuments extends over a period of nearly 7,000 years, 
 this is equivalent to saying that such a period can only b a Tery 
 small part of the total time which has elapsed since man became an 
 inhabitant of the earth. 
 
 The origin and development of religions have been much dis- 
 cussed, but too often with a desire to make theories square with 
 wishes. The subject also does not admit of such precise determina- 
 tion as in treating of arts and languages, which have left traces of 
 themselves in the form of primitive implements and primitive roots. 
 
 The history of religions really begins with written records, or at 
 the earliest with the older myths which are embodied in these records. 
 But these are all comparatively modern, and imply a considerable 
 progress in civilization before they could have existed. If we wish 
 to form some idea of what may have been the primitive elements from 
 which religion was evolved, during the long Neolithic and still longer 
 Palaeolithic periods which preceded history, we must look at what are 
 actually the religious ideas of contemporary savage and semi-barbarous 
 races. 
 
 At the very lowest stage of savagery we find races like the Aus- 
 
104 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 tralians, the Bushmen, the Mincopies, and the Fuegians, -who cannot 
 be said to have any religion at all, or at the most some vague ideas 
 of ghosts and spirits. The Mincopies of the Andaman Islands, who 
 are considered by Professor Owen as "perhaps the most primitive, 
 or lowest in the scale of civilization, of the human race," are reported 
 by Dr. Mowatt to have "no idea of a Supreme Being, no religion, nor 
 any belief in a future state of existence." Sir J. Lubbock says of the 
 Australians that " they have no religion, nor any idea of prayer; 
 but most of them believe in evil spirits, and all have great dread of 
 witchcraft." 
 
 As we rise above this level of the lowest savagery we find ideas 
 of religion beginning to grow from two main tap-roots. The first is 
 the idea of ghosts or spirits, which arises naturally from dreams and 
 visions and develops itself into ancestor and hero-worship, and belief 
 in a world of spirits, good and evil, influencing men's lives and for- 
 tunes, and in many forms of sickness taking possession of their bodies. 
 This spirit-worship also necessarily leads to some dim perception of a 
 future life. 
 
 The other tap-root is the inevitable disposition to account for the 
 phenomena of nature, when men first began to reflect on them, by the 
 agency of invisible beings like themselves; in other words, of anthropo- 
 morphic gods. This is a higher and later stage of religions belief than 
 the former, for it implies a certain disposition to inquire into the 
 causes of things and a certain amount of reasoning power to infer like 
 causes from like results. 
 
 But the two often blend together, as in the religions of the Aryan 
 race, in which we see deified heroes and ancestors crowding the courts 
 of Olympus, with a multitude of anthropomorphic gods, who are often 
 merely obvious personifications of natural phenomena or astronomical 
 myths. Thus Varuna, Ouranos, or Uranus, are personifications of the 
 vault of heaven; Phoebus, the shining one, of the sun; Aurora, of the 
 dawn; while Hercules is half deified hero and half solar myth. Some- 
 times, however, of the two stems of religion one only has flourished, 
 and the other has either never existed, or been overshadowed by the 
 first and relegated to a lower sphere. Thus the great Chinese civili- 
 zation, comprising such a large portion of the human race, has appar- 
 ently developed its religion entirely from the idea of spirits and spirit- 
 worship. The worship of ancestors is its main feature, and its sacred 
 books are, in effect, treatises on ethics and political economy, with rules 
 for rites and ceremonies to enforce decent and decorous behavior, 
 rather than what we should call works of religion. There is no trace 
 of a conception of anthropomorphic gods in the genuine national 
 Chinese religion from Confucius downwards; and even the introduc- 
 tion of Buddhism has done little but add the deified hero, Buddha, to 
 the list of divine ancestors and give more definite shape to various 
 vague superstitions. In like manner the whole Buddhist world can 
 hardly be said to recognize anything beyond their incarnate hero, 
 except a Nirvana or metaphysical abstraction, rather than a personal 
 deity. 
 
 With other races again, and specially the Hebrew, the idea of a 
 tribal' anthropomorphic God has gradually swallowed up that of other 
 gods, developed into that of one Almighty Being, and dwarfed that of 
 ghosts and spirits. The primitive Hebrews, indeed, carried this so 
 far as to exclude all ideas of a future life from their religious system. 
 
MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE. 105 
 
 Their primitive God, however, was strictly anthropomorphic, and 
 modelled on the idea of an Oriental sultan sometimes good and benefi- 
 cent, but sometimes cruel and capricious, and above all jealous of any 
 disrespect and enraged by any disobedience. Morality seems at first 
 to have had little or nothing to do with these conceptions, and there is 
 not the remotest trace in the early history of any religion, of its hav- 
 ing been born ready-made from the necessary intuition of one Almighty 
 God of love, mercy, and justice, which is so confidently assumed by 
 many metaphysicians and theologians. On the contrary, conscience 
 had to be first evolved, and the process may be followed step by step 
 by which, as manners became milder and ideas purer, the grosser 
 attributes of Deity were gradually purged off, and the idea of a just 
 and merciful God was evolved from barbaric elements. 
 
 These considerations, however, lead us far from the question of 
 the first dawn of religion among primitive man. Judging from the 
 earliest facts of history, and the analogy of modern savage races, 
 where we might look for the first traces of religious ideas would be 
 from the contents of tombs and from idols. When a tribe had attained 
 to some definite idea of a future life it would almost certainly bury 
 weapons and implements with its dead, as is the case with modern 
 savages. When it had reached the stage of worshipping anthro- 
 pomorphic deities, it would probably frame images of them, some of 
 which would be found in their tombs and dwellings. 
 
 The latter test soon fails us. In the early Egyptian tombs, and 
 in the remains of the prehistoric cities excavated by Dr. Schliemann, 
 images of owl and ox-headed goddesses, and other symbolical figures 
 or idols, are found in abundance. But when we ascend into Neolithic 
 times, such idols are no longer found, or, if found, it is so rarely that 
 archaeologists still dispute as to their existence. Certain crescents 
 found in the Swiss lake-dwellings were at one time thought to indicate 
 a worship of the moon, but the better opinion seems to be that they 
 were used as rests for the head during sleep, as we find similar objects 
 now used in many parts of the world. Among the many thousand 
 objects recovered from these Swiss lake-dwellings and other Neolithic 
 abodes, there are only a. very few which may possibly have been rude 
 idols or amulets, and the only ones which may be said with some 
 certainty to have been idols, are one or two discovered by Mons. de 
 Braye in some artificial caves of the Neolithic period, excavated in the 
 chalk of Champagne, which appear to be intended for female figures 
 of life size with heads somewhat resembling that of the owl-headed 
 Minerva. 
 
 When we pass to Palaeolithic times the evidence of idols becomes 
 more faint, and rests solely on the conjecture that some of the figures 
 carved by the Eeindeer-men of La Madeleine and other caves, may 
 probably have been intended for amulets. As they were such skilful 
 carvers, and so fond of drawing whatever impressed itself on their 
 imagination, the presumption is strong that they had not advanced to 
 the stage when the worship of gods symbolized by idols had come into 
 existence, as otherwise more undoubted idols must have been found in 
 the caves which were so long their habitations, and which have yielded 
 such a number of remains of works of art. 
 
 The evidence for a belief in a future existence and in spirits is 
 more conclusive. Throughout the whole Neolithic period we find 
 objects buried with the dead which were evidently intended for use in 
 
106 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 a future life. We find also in many Neolithic tombs a singular fact 
 which points to the existence of a very long belief in evil spirits. 
 Many of the skulls, especially of young people, have been trepanned, 
 that is, a piece of the skull has been cut out, making a hole, apparently 
 to let out the evil spirit which was supposed to be causing epilepsy or 
 convulsions; and where the patient had recovered and the wound 
 healed, when he died long afterwards, a piece of the skull, including 
 this trepanned portion, was sometimes cut out and used apparently as 
 an amulet. The objects deposited in graves show that the idea of a 
 future life was, as with most savages of the present day, that of a 
 continuation of the same life as he had led here, though perhaps in 
 happier hunting-grounds. In some cases a great chief seems to have 
 had wives and slaves slaughtered and buried with him, though the 
 proofs of this are more clear and abundant in later- prehistoric times 
 than during the Neolithic period. Cannibalism, however, seems to 
 have occasionally prevailed both in Palaeolithic, Neolithic, and pre- 
 historic times, as it did so extensively among modern savage races 
 before they came under civilizing influences. This is clearly proved 
 by the number of human bones, chiefly of women and young persons, 
 which have been found charred by fire and split open for extraction of 
 the marrow. 
 
 The evidence of belief in a future life becomes more rare and 
 uncertain in Palaeolithic times. Perhaps it may be because we have so 
 few authentic discoveries of Palaeolithic bury ing-places, and so many 
 instances of caves, once inhabited by Palaeolithic races, being used long 
 afterwards as Neolithic sepulchres. After the famous cave of Aurig- 
 nac it is difficult to trust any evidence of the discovery of a real 
 Palaeolithic sepulchre which has not been subsequently disturbed. 
 
 In the few cases also where Palaeolithic skeletons have been found, 
 as in that of the men of Neanderthal and Mentone, they have often been 
 those of single individuals, and it may be doubted whether they were 
 buried there, or merely died in the caves in which they lived, in which 
 case any implements found with them do not necessarily imply that 
 they were placed there for use in a future life. On the whole it seems 
 doubtful whether any certain proofs of burials denoting knowledge of a 
 future life can be found in Palaeolithic times, and if there are, they are 
 certainly few and far between, and confined to the later stages of that 
 period. 
 
 All we can say is, that religion certainly did not descend ready- 
 made among these aboriginal savages, but that, like language, it was 
 slowly developed from beginnings as rude as those we now find among 
 the lowest races of savages. 
 
 It may be well, however, to say here, once for all, what is appli- 
 cable to many other passages in this book, that the question of the 
 origin of any religion is entirely different from that of its truth or 
 falsehood. To explain a thing is not to disprove it; on the contrary, 
 a thing only really becomes true to us when we understand it. A 
 stately oak, with wide-spreading branches, that give shade and shelter 
 to the cattle of the fields, is not the less a fact because we know that 
 it did not drop ready-made from heaven, but grew from an acorn. 
 The intrinsic truth of a religion must, be tested by the conformity 
 which, in a given stage of its evolution, it bears to the facts of the 
 universe as disclosed by science, and to the feelings and moral per- 
 ceptions which have been equally developed by evolution in the 
 contemporary world. 
 
MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE. 107 
 
 All I contend for is, that all religions have grown and been 
 developed from humble origins, and that their history, impartially 
 considered, does not contradict, but on the contrary greatly confirms 
 the law of natural evolution. 
 
 Of the two faculties by which man is commonly distinguished 
 from the brute creation, viz., that of being the speaking and the tool- 
 making animal, the former attribute has been shown to be the product 
 of evolution from origins long since lost in the far-off distance of 
 remote ages. 
 
 The same remark is even more certainly true as regards the other 
 attribute of tool-making, or, in its widest sense, adapting natural laws 
 and natural objects to the arts of life by intelligent application. The 
 primitive roots, so to speak, of this industrial language, which in the 
 case of spoken language for the most part elude our search, are here 
 furnished by the Palaeolithic remains found so abundantly in river 
 drifts and caves. There can be no doubt whatever that the modern 
 wood-cutter's axe and carpenter's adze are the lineal descendants of 
 the rudely-chipped hdches, or celts, which are dug out of the gravels of 
 St. Acheul, or from below the stalagmite of Kent's Cavern. The 
 regular progression can be traced from the mass of flint rudely chipped 
 to a point, with a butt-end left rough to grasp in the hand, up to more 
 symmetrical and carefully-chipped forms ; to implements intended to 
 be hafted or fastened to a handle; to implements ground and polished 
 to a sharp edge and pierced for the handle; and finally to the finished 
 specimens of the later Neolithic period, which exactly represent the 
 adze and battle-axe, and are almost identical with those used quite 
 recently by the Polynesians and other semi-civilized races who had no 
 access to metals. From these the transition to metals is easily traced, 
 the first bronze implements and weapons being facsimiles of those of 
 polished stone which they superseded, and the gradual development 
 of bronze, and from bronze to the cheaper and more generally useful 
 metal, iron, being a matter of quite modern history. 
 
 In like manner, the development of the knife, sword, and all 
 cutting instruments, from the primitive flint flake, can be traced step 
 by step, and is beyond doubt; and equally so the development of all 
 missils, from the primitive chipped flint, used as a javelin or arrow- 
 head, up to the modern rifle. When we catch the first glimpes of the 
 beginnings of human art or industry, the furniture or stock-in-trade of 
 Palaeolithic man appears to have been as follows: 
 
 He was acquainted with fire. This seems to be clearly established 
 by the charred bones, charcoal, and other traces of fire which are found 
 in the oldest Palaeolithic caves, and even in the far distant Miocene 
 period, if we can believe in the flints discovered by the Abbe Bourgeois 
 in the strata of Thenay, some of which appear to have been split by 
 the action of fire. This is a remarkable fact, for a knowledge of 
 the means of kindling fire is by no means a very simple or obvious 
 attainment. Apes and monkeys will sit before a fire and enjoy its 
 warmth, but no monkey has yet developed intelligence enough even to 
 put fresh sticks on to keep up the fire, much less to rekindle it when 
 extinct. Primeval man must often have had experience of fire from 
 natural causes, as from forests and prairies scorched by a tropical sun 
 being set on fire by lightning, or from volcanic eruptions; but how he 
 learned from these to kindle fire for himself is not so obvious. Savage 
 races, as a rule, do so by converting mechanical energy into heat, bjr 
 
108 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 the friction of a stick twirled round in a hole, or rubbed backwards 
 and forwards in a groove in another piece of wood; and there are old 
 observances among civilized nations which show that this was the 
 mode practiced by their ancestors, as when the sacred fire in. the 
 Temple of Vesta was relighted in this manner by the old Romans if it 
 had chanced to be extinguished. It is probable, therefore,, that this 
 was the original mode of obtaining fire, but if so, it must have required 
 a good deal of intelligence and observation, for the discovery is by no 
 means an obvious one, nor is it easy to see any natural process that 
 might suggest it. 
 
 Neither ancient history nor the accounts of existing savage races 
 throw much light on the question. The narratives of the discovery of 
 fire contained in the oldest records are obviously mythical, like the 
 fable of Prometheus, which is itself a version of the older Yedic myth 
 of the god Agni (whence the Latin ignis or fire) having been taken from 
 a casket and given to the first man, Manou, by Pramantha, which in 
 the old Vedic language means taking forcibly by means of friction. Of 
 the same character are the mythical legends of savage races of fire 
 having been first brought by some wonderful bird or animal; and there 
 is nowhere anything like an authentic tradition of the fact of its first 
 introduction. There have been reports of savages who were unac- 
 quainted with fire, but they have never been well authenticated, and 
 the nearest approach to such a state of things was probably furnished 
 by the aborigines of Van Diemen's Land, of whom it is said that in 
 all their wanderings they were particularly careful to bear in their 
 hands the materials for kindling a fire, in the shape of a firebrand, 
 which it was the duty of the women to carry, and to keep carefully 
 refreshed from time to time as it became dull. 
 
 On the whole, traditions all point to fire having been first 
 obtained from friction, and it is possible that the first idea may have 
 been derived from the boughs of trees, or silicious stalks of bamboos, 
 having been set on fire when rubbed together by the action of the 
 wind. 
 
 It is easier to see the origin of the remaining equipment of 
 primitive man, viz., chipped stones, for flints splintered by frost or 
 fire often take naturally the forms of 'sharp-edged flakes and rude 
 hatchets or hammers, and very little invention was required to improve 
 these specimens, or endeavor to imitate them by artificial chippings. 
 It is rather Surprising that this art did not improve more rapidly, 
 for it is evident that the old Palaeolithic period must have lasted a 
 long time before any decided progress began to show itself. And 
 during this long period a singular uniformity appears to have pre- 
 vailed throughout the Palaeolithic world. The rude form of the celt 
 or hdche, with a blunt butt and chipped roughly to a point, is found 
 in the oldest river gravels and caves wherever they have been 
 investigated, and the forms of the Somme and the Thames are 
 repeated in the quartzite implements of the Madras laterite. 
 
 In the very oldest caves and river deposits the tool-equipment 
 of man seems to have been very much limited to these rude celts, used 
 probably for smashing skulls in war and the chase, and splitting bones 
 to get at the marrow ; sharp-edged flakes for cutting ; rude javelin- 
 heads ; and stones chipped to a rounded edge, very like those used by the 
 Esquimaux for scraping bones and skins. As we ascend in time we 
 find arrow-heads of stone and bone, at first unbarbed and gradually 
 
MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE. 109 
 
 becoming barbed, showing that the bow had been discovered; harpoons 
 of bone and fish-hooks ; bone pins and needles ; and a much greater 
 variety and more carefully- chipped forms of flint tools and weapons ; 
 until we finally reach the upper reindeer stage of caves like that of La 
 Madeleine, where artistic drawings and carvings are found, and the 
 equipment generally is superior to that of many existing savage tribes, 
 and not much inferior to that of the Esquimaux and other Arctic races. 
 
 We then pass into Neolithic times, when many of the chief 
 elements of civilization are already in full force. Man has emerged in 
 many localities from the hunter into the pastoral stage, the principal 
 domestic animals are known, and in some of the later lake-dwellings 
 he has advanced a stage further, and has become an agriculturist living 
 in villages. From this to the Bronze and early historical periods, there 
 is no great break, and the ruder tribes of barbarians described by 
 Caesar and Tacitus may well have been the lineal descendants of the 
 Neolithic men whose polished axes and finely-shaped arrow-heads lie 
 scattered over the surface of Europe and are found in innumerable 
 burial-mounds and dolmens. 
 
 But in Palaeolithic times, though we can see constant progress, 
 mankind is still in a state of unmitigated barbarism. Agriculture was 
 clearly unknown, for the hand-mills, pestles, and mortars, which are 
 among the most enduring and abundant relics where grain was used 
 for food, are never met with. Pottery was unknown in all the earlier 
 periods, and it is questionable whether even the rudest forms of baked 
 clay, moulded by hand, are found where there is no intermixture of a 
 subsequent Neolithic habitation. The dog was clearly not a companion 
 of man prior to the era of the Danish kitchen-middens, for the spongy 
 parts of bones which are always gnawed by dogs when dogs are present, 
 are invariably preserved in the debris of Palaeolithic caves, and the few 
 bones of dogs, wolves, and foxes found with human remains in these 
 caves almost always show that the animals had formed part of the 
 food of the inhabitants. 
 
 Other domestic animals were, in all probability, equally unknown, 
 although it has been thought possible that some of the tribes of the 
 reindeer, period may have had herds of the half-tame deer, like the 
 modern Laplanders. This conjecture, however, appears to rest solely 
 on the large number of bones and horns found at certain stations, 
 which may have arisen from their having been occupied for a very long 
 period, and as the dog was unknown, it seems probable that no other, 
 animals had been domesticated. 
 
 As regards clothing, the first certain proofs of its use are afforded 
 by the bone pins and needles, which were evidently employed for 
 fastening the skins of animals together, and the scrapers were probably 
 used for scraping these skins and fashioning the bone implements. It 
 is probable, therefore, that the use of skins as a protection against the 
 cold of the Glacial period, was known at a very early period. 
 
 Ornaments, also, are of very early date, as pierced shells, some- 
 times fossil, and pierced teeth of the bear and other animals are 
 frequently found under circumstances which show that they must 
 have been strung together as necklaces. The skeleton found in a cave 
 at Mentone had a number of perforated shells of Nassa, and a few 
 stag's teeth also perforated, dispersed about the skull, so as to show 
 that they had formed some sort of head ornament. Lumps of red 
 hematite, also, probably used for paint, have been found in some of 
 the caves of the reindeer period 
 
DEVELOPMENT OF THE ARROW. 
 
 PUNT ARROW IN VERTEBRA OF REINDEER. 
 Palaeolithic. . .La Madeleine. 
 
 PALEOLITHIC. 
 Mammoth Period, Le Moostier 
 
 PALEOLITHIC. 
 
 Reindeer Period. 
 
 "First vestige of barb. 
 
 PALEOLITHIC. 
 Reindeer Period. 
 
 PALEOLITHIC. 
 .Reindeer Period, 
 
 NEOLITHIC. 
 Denmark, 
 
 NEOLITHIC. 
 Ireland. 
 
 NEOLITHIC. 
 Denmark. 
 
 RECENT. 
 Esquimaux. 
 
 (From Lnbbock* rehlstorio Tim&s.") 
 
MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE. Ill 
 
 Captain Cook's description of the savages of Tierra del Fuego 
 would have applied to them, that, "although content to be naked, they 
 were very ambitious to be fine;" and probably like -these poor Fue- 
 gians, they adorned themselves with streaks of red, black, and white, 
 and wore bracelets and anklets of shell and bone. 
 
 If we wish to form some idea of the manners and customs of our 
 Palaeolithic ancestors, we must look for them among the existing 
 savage races, whose mode of life, and equipment of tools and weapons, 
 most nearly resemble those of the earliest cave-dwellers. The Austra- 
 lians, the Bushmen of South Africa, the Mincopies of the Andaman 
 Islands, and the Fuegians are probably the lowest specimens of the 
 human race known in modern times; but even these are in some 
 respects further advanced in the arts than the first Palaeolithic man. 
 The Bushmen are skilled in the use of the bow, and have discovered 
 the art of poisoning their arrows. The Australians, Mincopies, and 
 Fuegians have canoes, harpoons, and fish-hooks. The latter approach 
 more nearly to the conditions of life of the savages who accumulated 
 the kitchen-middens on the coasts of Denmark at a much later period, 
 and the Bushmen probably represent better those of the cave-men who 
 lived principally on the produce of the chase of large animals, such as 
 the mammoth, rhinoceros, cave bear, horse, and deer. The pigmy 
 Bushman will attack the elephant, the rhinoceros, and even the lion, 
 and often succeed in killing them by pitfalls or poisoned arrows. 
 
 The inferences, therefore, to be drawn, alike from the physical 
 development of the individual man, and from the origin and growth of 
 all the faculties which specialty distinguish him from the brute creation 
 language, religion, arts, and science all point to the conclusion that 
 he is a product of laws of evolution, and not of special or miraculous 
 creation. 
 
 Still, admitting this, we must admit on the other hand, that until 
 more of the "missing links" are discovered, and the origin of man is 
 placed on a basis of scientific certainty, there is an opening left for the 
 belief that here, if nowhere else, there was some supernatural inter- 
 ference with the laws of Nature, and that the finger of the clock-maker 
 did here alter the hands of the clock from the position which they 
 would have occupied under the original law of its construction. But 
 if this were so, it must equally in candor be admitted that the miracle 
 did not consist in placing man and woman upon earth, at any recent 
 period, or with faculties in any way developed, but could only have 
 consisted in causing a germ or germs to come into existence, different 
 from any that could have been formed by natural evolution, and con- 
 taining within them the possibilities of conscious and civilized man, to 
 be developed from the rudest origins by slow and painful progress 
 over countless 
 
MODERN SCIENCE 
 
 AND 
 
 MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 PART II. 
 CHAPTEE VH. 
 
 MODERN THOTJGHT. 
 
 LIV. 
 
 Oh yet we trust that somehow good 
 Will be the final goal of ill, 
 To pangs of nature, sins of will, 
 
 Defects of doubt, and taints of blood ; 
 
 That nothing walks with aimless feet ; 
 That not one life shall be destroy'd, 
 Or cast as rubbish to the void, 
 
 When God hath made the pile complete ; 
 
 That not a worm is cloven in vain ; 
 That not a moth with vain desire 
 Is shrivel'd in a fruitless fire, 
 
 Or but subserves another's gain. 
 
 Behold, we know not anything. 
 I can but trust that good shall fall 
 At last far off at last, to all, 
 
 And every winter change to spring. 
 
 So runs my dream: but what am I? 
 An infant crying in the night : 
 An infant crying for the light : 
 
 And with no language but a cry. 
 
 LV. 
 
 The wish, that of the living whole 
 No life may fail beyond the grave, 
 Derives it not from what we have 
 
 The likest God within the soul ? 
 
 Are God and Nature then at strife, 
 That Nature lends such evil dreams 
 So careful of the type she seems, 
 
 So careless of the single life ; 
 
114 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT, 
 
 That I, considering everywhere 
 Her secret meaning in her deeds. 
 And finding that of fifty seeds 
 
 She often brings but one to bear, 
 
 I falter where I firmly trod, 
 
 And falling with my weight of cares 
 Upon the great world's altar-stairs 
 
 That slope thro' darkness up to God, 
 
 I stretch lame hands of faith, and grope ; 
 
 And gather dust and chaff, and call 
 
 To what I feel is Lord of all, 
 JLnd faintly trust the larger hope. 
 
 LVI. 
 
 " So careful of the type ?" but no. 
 
 From scarped cliff and quarried stone 
 She cries, " A thousand types are gone 
 I care for nothing, all shall go. 
 
 "Thou makest thine appeal to me : 
 
 I bring to life, I bring to death : 
 
 The spirit does but mean the breath : 
 I know no more." And he, shall he, 
 
 Man, her last work, who seem'd so fair, 
 
 Such spendid purpose in his eyes, 
 
 Who roll'd the psalm to wintry skies, 
 Who built him fanes of fruitless prayer, 
 
 Who trusted God was love indeed, 
 
 And love Creation's final law 
 
 Tho' Nature, red in tooth and claw 
 With ravine, shriek' d against his creed- 
 Who loved, who suffer'd countless ills, 
 
 Who battled for the True, the Just, 
 
 Be blown about the desert dust, 
 Or seal'd within the iron hills ? 
 
 No more ? A monster then, a dream, 
 
 A discord. Dragons of the prime, 
 
 That tare each other in their slime, 
 Were mellow music match'd with him. 
 
 O life as futile, then, as frail ! 
 
 O for thy voice to soothe and bless ! 
 
 Whatjiope of answer, or redress ? 
 Behind "the veil, behind the veil. 
 
 TENNYSON, In Memoriam. 
 
 (By kind permission O/LOBD TENNYSON.) 
 
 THESE noble and solemn lines of a great poet sum up in a few 
 words what may be called "the Gospel of Modern Thought." 
 They describe what is the real attitude of most of the thinking and 
 earnest minds of the present generation. On the one hand, the dis- 
 coveries of science have so far established the universality of law, as 
 to make it impossible for sincere men to retain the faith of their 
 ancestors in dogmas and miracles. On the other, larger views of man 
 and of history have shown that religious sentiment is an essential ele- 
 ment of human nature, and that many of our best feelings, such as 
 
MODERN THOUGHT. 115 
 
 love, hope, conscience, and reverence, will always seek to find reflec- 
 tions of themselves in the unseen world. Hence faith has diminished 
 and charity increased. Fewer believe old creeds, and those who do, 
 believe more faintly ; while fewer denounce them, and are insensible to 
 the good they have done in the past and the truth and beauty of the 
 essential ideas that underlie them. 
 
 On the Continent, and especially in Catholic countries, where 
 religion interferes more with politics and social life, there is still a 
 large amount of active hostility to it, as shown by the massacre of 
 priests by the French Communists ; but, in this country, the old Vol- 
 tairean infidelity has died out, and no one of ordinary culture thinks 
 of denouncing Christianity as an invention of priestcraft. On the 
 contrary, many of our leading minds are at the same time sceptical 
 and religious, and exemplify the truth of another profound saying of 
 Tennyson: 
 
 There is more faith in honest doubt, 
 
 Believe me, than in half the creeds. 
 
 The change which has come over modern thought cannot be bet- 
 ter exemplified than by taking the instance of three great writers 
 whose works have produced a powerful influence Carlyle, Kenan, and 
 George Eliot. They were all three born and brought up in the very 
 heart of different phases of the old beliefs Carlyle, in a family which 
 might be taken as a type of the best qualities of Scottish Presbyterian- 
 ism, bred in a West country farmhouse, under the eye of a father and 
 mother whom he loved and revered, who might have been the origi- 
 nals of Burns' "Cotter's Saturday Night," or the descendants of the 
 martyrs of Claverhouse. His own temperament strongly inclined to a 
 stern Puritanical piety ; his favorite heroes were Cromwell and John 
 Knox ; his whole nature was antipathetic to science. As his biogra- 
 pher, Froude, reports of him, "He liked ill men like Humboldt, 
 Laplace, and the author of the 'Vestiges.' He refused Darwin's trans- 
 mutation of species as unproved ; he fought against it, though I could 
 see he dreaded that it might turn out true." And yet the delibrate 
 conclusion at which he arrived was that "He did not think it possible 
 that educated honest men could even profess much longer to believe 
 in historical Christianity." 
 
 The case of Kenan was equally remarkable. He was bom in the 
 cottage of Breton peasants of the purest type of simple, pious, 
 Catholic faith. Their one idea of rising above the life of a peasant 
 was to become a priest, and their great ambition for their boy was that 
 he might be so far honored as one day to become a country cure. 
 Young Kenan, accordingly, from the first day he showed cleverness, 
 and got to the top of his class in the village school, was destined for 
 the priesthood. He was taken in hand by priests, and found in them 
 his kindest friends ; they sent him to college, and in due time to the 
 Central Seminary where young men were trained for orders. All his 
 traditions, all his affections, all his interests, led in that direction, and 
 yet he gave up everything rather than subscribe to what he no longer 
 believed to be true. His conversion was brought about in this way. 
 Having been appointed assistant to a prof essor'of Hebrew he became 
 a profound scholar in Oriental languages ; this led to his studying the 
 Scriptures carefully in the original, and the conclusion forced itself 
 upon him that the miraculous part of the narrative had no historical 
 foundation. Like Carlyle, the turn of his mind was not scientific, and 
 
116 MODERN SCIENCE AND 'MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 while denying miracles he remained keenly appreciative of all that was 
 beautiful and poetical in the life and teaching of Jesus, which he has 
 brought more vividly before the world in his writings than had ever 
 been done by orthodox commentators. 
 
 George Eliot, again, was brought up in yet another phase of 
 orthodox Christianity that of middle-class nonconformist Evangeli- 
 calism. She embraced this creed fervently, and, as we see in her 
 " Dinah," retained a keen appreciation of all its best elements. But 
 as her intellect expanded and her knowledge widened, she too found 
 it impossible to rest in the old belief, and, with a painful wrench from 
 a revered father and loving friends, she also passed over from the 
 ranks of orthodoxy. She also, after a life of profound and earnest 
 thought, came to the conclusion recorded of her by an intimate friend 
 and admirer, Mr. Myers/ 
 
 "I remember how at Cambridge, I walked with her once in the 
 Fellows' Garden of Trinity, on an evening of rainy May; and she, stirred 
 somewhat beyond her wont, and taking as her text the three words 
 which have been used so often as the inspiring trumpet-calls of men 
 the words God, Immortality, Duty pronounced, with terrible earnest- 
 ness, how inconceivable was ike t first, how unbelievable the second, and 
 yet how peremptory and absolute the third. Never, perhaps, had 
 sterner accents affirmed the law of sovereignty of impersonal and unrec- 
 ompensing law. I listened, and night fell ; her grave, majestic counte- 
 nance turned toward me like a Sibyl's in the gloom ; it was as though she 
 withdrew from my grasp, one by one, the two scrolls of promise, and 
 left me the third scroll only, awful with inevitable fates." 
 
 Such instances as these cannot be the result of mere accident. 
 As long as scepticism was confined to a limited number of scientific men 
 it might be possible to think that it w r as merely the exaggeration of a 
 particular train of thought pursued too exclusively. But when science 
 has become the prevailing mode of thought, and has been brought 
 home to the minds of all educated persons, it is no longer possible to 
 represent it as an exceptional aberration. And where the bell-wether's 
 of thought lead the way the flock will follow. What the greatest 
 thinkers think to-day, the mass of thinkers will think to-morrow, and 
 the great army of non-thinkers will assume to be self-evident the day 
 after. This is very nearly the case at the present day ; the great 
 thinkers have gone before, the mass of thinkers have followed, and the 
 still greater mass of non-thinkers are wavering and about to follow. 
 It is no longer, with those who think at all, a question of absolute faitli 
 against absolute disbelief, but of the more or less shade of u faintness" 
 with which they cling to the "larger hope." 
 
 Tliis is nowhere more apparent than in the writings of those who 
 attempt to stem the tide which sets so strongly against orthodoxy. 
 They resolve themselves mainly into one long wail of " oh the pity of 
 it, the pity of it!" if the simple faith of olden times should disappear 
 from the world. They show eloquently and conclusively that science 
 and philosophy cannot satisfy the aspirations or afford the consolations 
 of religion. They expose the hollowness of the substitutes which have 
 been proposed, such as the worship of the unknowable, or the cult of 
 humanity. They win an easy triumph over the exaggerations of those 
 who resolve all the historical records of Christianity into myths or 
 fabulous fulfilment of prophecies, and they wage fierce battles over 
 minor points, as whether the first quotations from the Gospels are met 
 
MODERN THOUGHT. 117 
 
 with in the first or second half of the second century. But they nowhere 
 attempt to grapple with the real difficulties, and show that the facts 
 and arguments which converted men like Carlyle and Renan are 
 mistaken facts and unsound arguments. Attempts to harmonize the 
 Gospels and to prove the inspiration of writings which contain mani- 
 fest errors and contradictions, have gone the way of Buckland's proof 
 of a universal deluge, and of Hugh Miller's attempt to reconcile Noah's 
 ark and the Genesis account of creation with the facts of geology and 
 astronomy. Not an inch of ground that has been conquered by science 
 has ever been reconquered in fair fight by theology. 
 
 This great scientific movement is of comparatively recent date. 
 Darwin's "Origin of Species "was only published in 1859, and his 
 views as to evolution, development, natural selection, and the prevalence 
 of universal law, have already annexed nearly the whole world of modern 
 thought and become the foundation of all philosopical speculation and 
 scientific inquiry. 
 
 Not only has faith been shaken in the supernatural as a direct and 
 immediate agent in the phenomena of the worlds of matter and of life, 
 but the demonstration of the "struggle for life" and " survival of the 
 fittest " has raised anew, and with vastly augmented force, those ques- 
 tions as to the moral constitution of the universe and the origin of 
 evil, which have so long exercised the highest minds. Is it true that 
 "love" is "Creation's final law," when we find this enormous and 
 apparently prodigal waste of life going on ; these cruel internecine 
 battles between individuals and species in the struggle for existence; 
 this cynical indifference of Nature to suffering ? There are, approxi- 
 mately, 3,600 millions of deaths of human beings in every century, of 
 whom at least 20 per cent., or 720 millions, die before they have attained 
 to clear self-consciousness and conscience. What becomes of them ? 
 "Why were they born ? Are they Nature's failures, and " cast as rubbish 
 to the void?" 
 
 To such questions there is no answer. We are obliged to admit 
 that as the material universe is not, as we once fancied, measured by 
 our standards and regulated at every turn by an intelligence resembling 
 ours ; so neither is the moral universe to be explained by simply magni- 
 fying our own moral ideas, and explaining everything by the action of 
 n Being who does what we should have done in his place. If we insist 
 on this anthropomorphic conception we are driven to this dilemma. 
 Carlyle bases his belief in a God, "the infinite Good One," on this 
 argument : "All that is good, generous, wise, right whatever I deliber- 
 ately and for ever love in others and myself, who or what could by any 
 possibility have given it to me but One who first had it to give ? This 
 is not logic ; this is axiom." 
 
 But how of the evil? No sincere man looking into the depths of his 
 own soul, or at the facts of the world around, can doubt that along 
 with much that is good, generous, wise, and right, there is much that 
 is bad, base, foolish, and wrong. If logic compels us to receive as an 
 .axiom a good author for the former, does not the camo logic equally 
 compel us to accept the axiom that the author of the latter must have 
 been one who "first had it in himself to give?" That is, we must 
 accept the theory of a God \vho is half good, half evil ; or adopt the 
 Zoroastrian conception of a universe contested by an Ormuzd and 
 Ahriman, a good and evil principle, whose power is, for the present at 
 :any rate, equally balanced. 
 
118 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 From this dilemma there is no escape, unless we give up alto- 
 gether the idea of an anthropomorphic deity, and adopt frankly the 
 scientific idea of a First Cause, inscrutable arid past finding out?; and 
 of a universe whose laws we can trace, but of whose real essence we 
 know nothing, and can only suspect or faintly discern a fundamental 
 law which may make the polarity of good and evil a necessary con- 
 dition of existence. This is a more sublime as well as more rational 
 belief than the old orthodox conception ; but there is no doubt that 
 it requires more strength of mind to embrace it, and that it appears 
 cold and cheerless to those who have been accustomed to see special 
 providences in every ordinary occurrence, and to fancy themselves the 
 special objects of supernatural supervision in all the details of daily 
 life. Hopes- and fancies, however, are powerless against facts; and 
 the world is as surely passing from the phase of orthodox into that of 
 scientific belief as youth is passing into manhood, and the planet 
 which we inhabit from the fluid and fiery state into that of temperate 
 heat, progressive cooling, and final extinction as the abode of life. In 
 the meantime, what can we do but possess our souls in patience, fol- 
 low truth wherever it leads us, and trust, as Tennyson advises, that in 
 the long run everything will be for the best, and " every winter turn 
 te spring?" 
 
 The decay of old religious beliefs, and the introduction of new 
 conceptions based on scientific discovery, have given rise to many 
 attempts to found new philosophies, and in some cases new sects and 
 religions, of some of the principal of which a short account may be 
 given. 
 
 ^ One of the greatest thinkers of modern times, Herbert Spencer, 
 -ims expanded the theories of modern science, specially those of the 
 conservation of energy and of Darwinian evolution, into a generalized 
 philosophy, embracing not only the phenomena of the material and 
 living universe, but also history, religion, politics, and all the complex 
 relations of social life. He starts from the principle that throughout 
 the universe, in general and in detail, there is an unceasing redistri- 
 bution of matter and motion. This shows itself as evolution where 
 there is a predominant aggregation of matter and diminution of 
 motion, and as dissolution where matter is disintegrated and motion 
 increased. Thus, in the formation of coal, the motion of the sun's 
 rays is fixed in the condensed matter of the chemical products of 
 vegetation, and is dissipated when, after countless ages, the coal is 
 burned and its substance dissolved into its elements. These changes 
 constitute a transformation of the uniform or homogeneous into the 
 differentiated or heterogeneous, as seen in the condensation of nebu- 
 lous or cosmic matter into suns and planets ; in the varied elements 
 of the inorganic world; "in each organism, vegetable or animal ; in 
 the aggregate of organisms, thought and geologic time ; in the mind ; 
 in society; in all products of social- activity." These changes are all 
 in the direction of passing from an indefinite whole to definite parts, 
 and they are inevitable, unless the original substance were so abso- 
 lutely uniform as to be absolutely stable. 
 
 Once started, this process of differentiation tends necessarily to 
 go on, the surrounding conditions being ever at work, whether by 
 aggregation or dissolution, by joining like to like, or separating unlike 
 from unlike, to sharpen and make more definite existing differences. 
 
 This is in effect a generalized conception of Darwin's laws of the 
 
MODERN THOUGHT. 119 
 
 "struggle for life " and "survival of the fittest." Finally, however, the 
 result of all these changes is that an ultimate equilibrium is reached, 
 which is rest in the inorganic and death in the organic world ; as when 
 the sun with all its planets shall have parted with all its heat, and all 
 its energy shall have run down to one uniform level. From this state 
 it can only be roused by some fresh shock from without, dissipating it 
 again into a mass of diffused matter and unbalanced motions. 
 
 Hence we come to the final statements of the Spencerian philoso- 
 phy, as given in the words of its author : 
 
 "This rhythm of evolution and dissolution, completing itself 
 during short periods in small aggregates, and in the vast aggregates 
 distributed through space completing itself in periods which are im- 
 measurable by human thought, is, so far as we can see, universal and 
 eternal, each alternating phase of the process predominating, now in 
 this region of space and now in that, as local conditions determine. 
 All these phenomena, from their great features even to their minutest 
 details, are necessary results of the persistence of force under its 
 forms of matter and motion. Given these as distributed through 
 space, and their quantities being unchangeable either by increase or 
 decrease, there inevitably result the continuous redistributions distin- 
 guishable as evolution and dissolution, as well as those special traits 
 above enumerated. That which persists, unchanging in quantity, but 
 ever changing in form, under these sensible appearances which the 
 universe presents to us, transcends human knowledge and conception, 
 is an unknown and unknowable power, which we are obliged to recog- 
 nize as without limit in space and without beginning or end in time." 
 
 This is, in its highest form, the philosophy of Agnosticism. A 
 very different thing, be it observed, from Atheism, for it distinctly 
 recognizes an underlying power which, although "unknown and 
 unknowable," may be anything harmonizing with the feelings and 
 aspirations in which all religious sentiment has its origin, so long as it 
 fulfils the condition of not, by too precise definition, coming into 
 collision with something which is not " unknown" but " known" and 
 irreconcilable with it. 
 
 For instance, there is nothing in Agnosticism to negative the 
 possibility of a future state of existence. Behind the veil there may 
 be anything, and no one can say that individual consciousness may not 
 remain or be restored after death, and that our condition may not be 
 in some way better or worse, according to the use we have made of the 
 opportunities of life. But if any one attempts to define this future 
 state and say we shall have spiritual bodies, live in the skies, sing 
 psalms, and wave palm-branches, we say at once "this is partly 
 unknowable and partly known to be impossible." 
 
 These abstract speculations, however, are only adapted for a fe w 
 of the highest thinkers. That which has given the philosophy of 
 Spencer a wide influence is the manner in which he applies these 
 general principles to the subjects which more immediately concern the 
 mass of thinking minds, such as history, politics, and the problems of 
 social life. What Darwin shows in animal life and the origin of species, 
 Spencer traces in the rise and fall of empires, the growth and decline of 
 religions, the increasing complexity of social relations, the conflicting 
 forces of evolution and dissolution at work around us in our every- 
 day life, in the relations of science and theology, capital and labor, state 
 socialism and laissez-faire. For instance, the decline of the Boman 
 
120 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 Empire and its overthrow by the barbarians is analogous to the decay 
 of a planet from loss of internal heat and its dissipation into matter 
 capable of fresh evolution, by the shock of a comet. The ever-increas- 
 ing gulf between wealth and poverty, science and superstition 
 resembles the process by which the one-toed horse became gradu- 
 ally differentiated more and more from the common five-toed type of 
 its remote ancestor. 
 
 These speculations of Spencer, pursued with vast acuteness and 
 research through all branches of social science, though they have not 
 founded a new religion or established a new se'ct, have undoubtedly 
 exercised a great influence on modern thought, especially among the . 
 rising generation. 
 
 Another " ism " which, although it has exercised a much narrower 
 influence than the philosophy of Spencer, has founded a sect and put 
 forward more definite claims to give the world a new religion, is that 
 which is known as " Positivism," or " Comtism," from the name of its 
 founder, Auguste Comte. It is not easy to understand, but its essence 
 seems to be this. 
 
 Admitting that science has killed theology, and that the old forms 
 of supernatural religion, inevitable in the childhood of the world, have 
 become incredible, Comte cast about for some idea which should be at 
 the same time " positive," or based on ascertained fact, and fervid 
 enough to satisfy the cravings of religious sentiment. He thought he 
 found it in "Humanity;" that is, in love and veneration for the abstract 
 idea of the human race, taken collectively, and considered in its past, 
 present, and future relations. As patriotism, a very ardent feeling, is 
 the love of a limited section of the human race ; and as it has been 
 gradually enlarged from the limits of a tribe to those of a city, and 
 from those of a city to those of a country or nationality, he conceived 
 that it might be still further enlarged so as to embrace all mankind. 
 So far it may be admitted that there is a germ of truth in Comte's 
 idea, and that elevated minds may enlarge their view beyond the 
 narrow bounds of a particular country at a particular period, and may 
 derive fresh incentives to action, and fresh subjects for ennobling 
 thought, from a contemplation of the past progress, present condition, 
 and future possibilities of the collective human race. But there is a 
 homely proverb that "charity begins at home," and as we widen the 
 sphere of patriotism or philanthropy we are very apt to diminish their 
 intensity and find them evaporate in a mist of high-sounding phrases. 
 The "friend of man" is very apt to be the friend of no one man in 
 particular, and to make universal philanthropy an excuse for neglect- 
 ing individual charity. 
 
 Apart, however, from this objection, and granting that with 
 increased intercourse and increased culture "Humanity" might be- 
 come a more practical idea, we should be still a long way from making 
 it the basis of a new religion. It is here that Comte has laid himself 
 open to the scoffs of unbelievers, who have gone so far as to call his 
 religion "Catholicism without Christianity," and himself a "grotesque 
 old Frenchman." With the narrow systematizing logic so characteris- 
 tic of the French intellect he has worked out a complete scheme of 
 ritual, hierarchy, and all the apparatus of an old religion. A supreme 
 pontiff at its head, associated with a supreme priestess to represent 
 the female element; for saints the distinguished men who have advanced 
 the different branches of human art and science ; for days of worship, 
 
MODERN THOUGHT. 121 
 
 fete days of these saints and meetings of believers to commemorate 
 their merits. 
 
 All this savors too much of the "Goddess of Liberty," and the 
 theo-philanthropy of the French Revolution, when the disciples of 
 Rousseau cut off heads in the name of universal benevolence, to find 
 much acceptance in a sceptical age and among a practical people. 
 Robuster intellects, like George Eliot, even where they incline to 
 accept Humanity as an ennobling idea, and to recognize Comte as an 
 original thinker, reject all the constructive part of his new religion as 
 unworthy of notice ; while to the mass of mankind the whole thing 
 appears utterly unreal and incomprehensible. 
 
 One more " ism "^-Pessimism, the gospel of feebleness and failure 
 has had a considerable effect on the Continent, though little in this 
 country. It is based on the fact that, in accordance with the universal 
 law of polarity, progress is not an unmixed good, but develops a cor- 
 responding negative of failure. In simple forms of society the dis- 
 tinctions between wealth and poverty, capital and labor, culture and 
 ignorance, are not so sharply defined, and the lot of those who fail 
 in the battle of life is not so hard as when men are congregated in 
 crowded cities, exposed to temptations, and tantalized by the sight 
 of wealth and luxury before their eyes and yet beyond their reach. A 
 mass of misery and discontent is thus created, which in lower natures 
 translates itself into anarchism and fanatical hatred of all above them, 
 while in higher ones it takes the form of theories for the regeneration 
 of the world by levelling everything that exists, and building anew on 
 fresh foundations. Still higher minds see the futility of these theories, 
 and take refuge in a philosophy which pronounces the world a mistake, 
 life an evil, and the only possible solution to be, to put an end to 
 what is radically bad by an act of universal suicide. This is in sub- 
 stance the philosophy of Schopenhauer and the school of Continental 
 Pessimists. It has considerable analogy with that of Buddhism, which 
 considers all personal existence to be a painful dream or illusion, and 
 places supreme happiness in Nirvana, or escape from it by annihilation 
 of individuality. 
 
 To understand how such a doctrine can have found acceptance, we 
 must remember that the tendency of modern civilization is to throw 
 more and more work on the brain and nervous system and less on 
 other organs. This of itself tends to produce more ill-health both of 
 mind and body, especially of those digestive organs upon which the 
 sensation of health and well-being so mainly depends. A dyspeptic 
 man is of necessity an unhappy and desponding man. Moreover, in 
 ruder states of society such weaklings were got rid of by the summary 
 process of being killed off, while with the more humane and refined 
 arrangements of modern times they live on and " weary deaf .heaven 
 with their fruitless cries." 
 
 It is among such men, with cultivated intellects, sensitive nerves, 
 and bad digestion, that we find the prophets and disciples of the 
 gospel of Pessimism. They feel, and feel truly, that as far as they are 
 concerned life is an evil, the pains of which far outweigh its pleasures, 
 and having lost the mediaeval faith in a future life where the balance 
 will be redressed, they see no remedy for the miseries of the world 
 but that of ceasing to be, or annihilation. 
 
 This affords another illustration of the extent to which religions 
 and philosophies are, like the spectre of the Brocken, reflections of 
 
122 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 our own selves on dissolving inists. clothed with our own clothes and 
 repeating our own gestures. To a healthy man or to a strong man 
 the pessimist view of the universe is simply impossible. If he has 
 experienced a fair average of happiness and success in life, he instinct- 
 ively rejects a creed which tells him that there are no lights as well 
 as shadows. If he has a mind of average strength he feels that suffer- 
 ing is a thing to be avoided prudently, borne stoically, or grappled 
 with courageously, and not to be run away from by moral or physical 
 suicide. 
 
 Accordingly Pessimism is not a creed which is ever likely to exert 
 much influence on the strong, practical Anglo-Saxon race, and we can 
 only discern some faint traces of it in the tendency of certain very 
 limited cliques of so-called .ZEstheticism to admire morbid and self- 
 conscious ideals, both in poetry and painting. 
 
 It is a very curious and remarkable fact, that while so many 
 highly intellectual attempts have been made in vain in modern times 
 to found new sects and religions, the only one which has had any real 
 success is that which is based on the most gross and vulgar imposture 
 Mormonism. Mormonism is a fact which, without the vestige of a 
 reasonable " argument to show for itself, originating in the vulgar 
 ravings and forgeries of a vulgar Yankee, violating the first instincts 
 of the family and of society by polygamy, still exists in spite of perse- 
 cutions, and to a certain extent progresses and flourishes. The reason 
 seems to be that instead of being a theory in the air or over the heads 
 of the masses, it is, with all its faults, a practical system in contact 
 with the actual realities of life. Its success is mainly owing to its 
 being an organized system of emigration, and a faith which places its 
 Paradise here on earth and not in the skies. A poor ignorant laborer 
 in Wales or Norway, who becomes a convert to Mormonism, is taken 
 in hand at once, forwarded to his destination, and when he arrives 
 there looked after and put in a way of earning an honest livelihood 
 and probably becoming a landed proprietor. The ideal set before him 
 is not a very high one, that of becoming a sober, industrious, respect- 
 able, narrow-minded citizen of the State of Utah, and a creditable 
 member of the community of Latter Day Saints. But to a poor 
 laborer from the slums of Liverpool, to lead such a life, in the pure 
 mountain air in the valley of the Salt Lake, and see his flocks and 
 herds increasing and his family growing up, without care for the 
 future, is indeed the realization of an earthly Paradise. The moral to 
 draw from this is, that the success of a religion, under the conditions 
 of modern society, does not depend so much on its theory as on the 
 way in which it takes hold of the practical problems of life and shows 
 an aptitude for grappling with them. 
 
 Another wide-spread modern delusion, that of Spiritualism, is 
 akin to Mormonism, as showing how little reason has to do with the 
 beliefs which are most readily propagated among large classes of the 
 community. Nothing but the most morbid appetite for the super- 
 natural, combined with the most absolute ignorance of the laws of 
 evidence, could induce sane people to believe that, if a corner of that 
 mysterious arid awful veil were lifted which separates the living from 
 the dead, we shall discover what? spirits whose vocation it is to turn 
 tables and talk twaddle. 
 
 In vain medium after medium is detected, and the machinery bjr 
 which ghosts are manufactured exposed in police-courts ; in vain the 
 
MODERN THOUGHT. 123 
 
 manifestations of the so-called spirits are repeated by professional 
 conjurers like Maskelyne and Cooke, who disclaim any assistance from 
 the unseen world. People are still found to believe the unbelievable 
 because it gratifies their taste for the marvellous, and enables them to 
 fancy themselves the favored recipients of supernatural communications. 
 
 If (Spiritualism has found a certain amount of acceptance from 
 men of a very different order, who, like Crookes and Wallace, under- 
 stand what scientific evidence really is, it is because the phenomena 
 associated with it, such as mesmerism and clairvoyance, really have a 
 certain basis , of fact, and open up interesting fields for scientific 
 investigation. The working of the brain and nerves in certain abnor- 
 mal conditions, and the physical effects of imagination, are subjects 
 imperfectly understood, but which well deserve accurate inquiry. 
 
 Take, for instance, dreams, which afford the first certain starting- 
 point towards the theory of visions and apparitions. It is as certain 
 that we dream as that we sleep, and that in our sleeping state we 
 often live a sort of second life, which is different from our ordinary 
 waking life. Dreams seem to be made up of impressions which have 
 been photographed on the brain in its waking state, and which are 
 revived and worked up into new combinations and imaginary scenes, 
 when consciousness is suspended. Vivid impressions are thus often 
 worked up into a succession of dreams so vivid as to be scarcely 
 distinguishable from reality. It happened to me, about the middle 
 period of my life, to be sent, almost at a day's notice, to India, where 
 for more than two years I had a period of intensely hard work and 
 great responsibility, as Finance Minister. This naturally left a 
 number of strong impressions on my brain, which for years afterwards 
 kept reviving in a series of connected dreams, in which I fancied 
 myself back in India. I had thus a dream life as well as a real life of 
 Indian experiences, and the former was so vivid that, if I were writing 
 reminiscences, I should sometimes find it difficult to distinguish 
 between the two. 
 
 This enables me to realize how dreams may readily pass into 
 visions. If I had dozed off in an arm-chair after dinner, and fallen 
 into one of my Indian dreams, I might have seen Lord Canning, who 
 had been dead for years, walk into the room as distinctly as if he had 
 been present in person. In a less critical age, and with a less sceptical 
 turn of mind, I might readily have been convinced that I had seen his 
 ghost. 
 
 There can be no doubt that in this way dreams must often, in 
 pre -scientific ages, have originated a bond fide belief in spirits. Her- 
 bert Spencer traces to this cause the origin of all religious be ief. 
 Perhaps this may be carrying it too far, but doubtless it was one of 
 the main causes, especially of that portion of religion which took the 
 form of offerings to the dead and ancestor-worship. 
 
 But a still further step may be taken from the ordinary dream 
 to the waking dream or vision. It is a well-established fact that under 
 peculiar and rare circumstances the brain may dream, that is, revive 
 impressions where there is no corresponding reality, without losing 
 its consciousness. ' There was a celebrated case of a Berlin bookseller 
 in the last century, who, having fallen into bad health, lived for more 
 than a year in the company of ghosts that is, lie constantly saw men 
 and women, with every appearance of being alive, enter the room and 
 come and go as if they had been ordinary visitors. Being a man of a 
 
124 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 scientific turn of mind lie never supposed these were really ghosts, but 
 reasoned on them and recorded his experiences. Instead of sending 
 for a priest and resorting to exorcisms he called in a physician and 
 took a course of medicine, with the result that after a considerable 
 time the ghostly visitors gradually became dim and finally disappeared. 
 
 Numerous other cases are recorded in which there is no doubt 
 that visions have been seen, especially under the influence of religious 
 excitement, and a large number of so-called miraculous appearances 
 and ghost stories are probably owing to this cause rather than to 
 conscious imposture. 
 
 When we consider the enormous number of dreams, and probably 
 considerable number of visions, which occur, instead of being surprised 
 at occasional coincidences, the wonder rather is that they are not more 
 frequent. If only one per cent, of the 30,000,000 inhabitants of the 
 British Isles dream every night, that would give 109,500,000 dreams 
 per annum, a large proportion of which are made up of vivid impres- 
 sions of actual persons and events. It is impossible that some of the 
 combinations of these impressions should not form pictures which are 
 subsequently realized, and we may be sure that the successes only will 
 be noted, and the failures forgotten. It is strange, therefore, that the 
 researches of the Psychical Society should not have brought to light 
 more instances of death-warnings and other remarkable coincidences. 
 To take the vulgar instance of horse-racing. A number of minds are 
 greatly exercised over the problem of picking out winners, and doubt- 
 less a vast number of dreams show colors flashing past winning-posts, 
 and numbers hoisted on the telegraph board. And yet I only remem- 
 ber two tolerably well-authenticated instances in the last half-century, 
 in which any one is said to have backed a winner on the faith of a 
 dream. The only positive result of dreams and visions is that they 
 frequently occur under circumstances where they are almost certain 
 to be mistaken, by unscientific persons in unscientific ages, for actual 
 supernatural appearances. 
 
 Another field for inquiry is opened out by the effects which are 
 undoubtedly produced under certain abnormal conditions of the brain 
 and nervous system, as in epilepsy, somnambulism, and mesmerism. 
 
 In the simplest case, that of epilepsy, the effect is mainly shown 
 by a more intense action of nerve-currents, causing convulsive motions 
 and an unnatural increase of muscular strength and rigidity, SQ that 
 two strong men may be scarcely able to hold one weak woman. In 
 somnambulism, the effects are more complex. The reception of out- 
 ward impressions seems to be limited, so that the whole consciousness 
 and vital energy are concentrated on particular actions, which are thus 
 performed safely, while in the ordinary waking state they would be 
 impossible. Thus a somnambulist walks securely along a plank span- 
 ning an abyss, because the impressions of surrounding space do not 
 reach the brain and confuse it with a sense of danger. In this state 
 also past impressions photographed on the brain, which in the ordi- 
 nary waking state are obscured by other impressions, seem to come 
 out occasionally as in dreams, enabling the somnambulist to do and 
 remember things which would otherwise be beyond his faculties. 
 
 Mesmerism is closely akin to somnambulism. Apart from delu- 
 sion and charlatanism the fact seems to be established that it is 
 possible, by artificial means, to induce a state resembling somnambu- 
 lism in persons of a peculiar nervous temperament. As regards the 
 
MODERN THOUGHT. 125 
 
 means, the essential point seems to be to throw the brain into this 
 abnormal state partly by keeping an unnatural strain on the attention, 
 and partly by acting on it through the imagination. The experiments 
 of Dr. Braid showed that the mesmeric sleep could be induced just as 
 well by keeping the eye strained on a black' wafer stuck on a white 
 wall, as by the manipulations of an operator. This experiment dis- 
 poses of a great deal of mysterious nonsense about magnetic fluids, 
 overpowering wills, and other supposed attributes of professional 
 rnesmerizers, and reduces the question to the plain matter-of-fact level 
 of the relations between the brain, will, imagination, and nervous 
 system, which exist in natural and in artificial somnambulism. These are 
 undoubtedly very curious, and open up a wide field for physiological 
 and mental research. As far as I have seen or read, they seem to 
 turn mainly on the reflex effects of an excited imagination on other 
 organs and faculties. I do not believe that any one could be mesmer- 
 ized who was absolutely ignorant of the subject and unconscious that 
 any one was operating. On the other hand, any one who had fre- 
 quently been mesmerized would fall into the sleep if Jed to believe 
 that an operator was at work when there was really not one. And the 
 peculiar effects shown in the mesmeric state are attributable mainly, 
 if not entirely, to the imagination acting with morbid activity on the 
 slightest hint or suggestion of what is expected. Thus the will disap- 
 pears in the more powerful suggestion of the imagination that the 
 patient has to obey the will of the operator, or do certain things which 
 are in the programme. I can readily believe also that in this state 
 the imagination can perform feats which would be impossible to it 
 in a natural state when it is kept in check by other faculties, and that 
 a good deal of what is called clairvoyance may be explained by the 
 way in which the slightest hint from expression, involuntary muscular 
 motion, or otherwise, is taken advantage of as a substitute for the 
 ordinary modes of communication. Such a faculty may also doubtless 
 be cultivated by practice, and thus explain many of the phenomena of 
 what are called spiritual communications and thought-reading. But 
 that impressions can be made on the brain, or that one mind can com- 
 municate with another, without some physical means of connection 
 between object and subject, is absolutely unproved and remains 
 altogether incredible. 
 
 Among the great writers who, without attempting to found sects, 
 have profoundly influenced modern thought, Carlyle undoubtedly 
 occupies the foremost place. With all his extravagances and eccen- 
 tricities, he was essentially a Hebrew prophet in modern guise, preach- 
 ing a true gospel that of sincerity. To stand on fact and despise 
 shams, to make one's life accord with the "eternal veracities," to strip 
 off outward trappings and look at the ideas they clothe, to worship 
 truth and abhor falsehood; these are the principles which Carlyle 
 is never tired of enforcing in his vivid and picturesque language. The 
 dignity of all faithful work, and the hollowness of mere show and 
 pretence, is another theme on which he delights to dwell ; and the 
 maxim, "Dp the nearest duty that lies to your hand and already the 
 next duty will have become plainer," is his favorite rule for practical 
 conduct. He insists much on "hero-worship," and pushes his con- 
 clusions to an extreme extent, dividing mankind too absolutely into 
 two classes ; on the one hand the heroes who discern facts and the 
 followers who loyally obey them ; on the other, the great mass of 
 
126 MODERX SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 foolish and chattering humanity. Human nature is not really all 
 ^ black or all white, but shaded off by innumerable half-hints and 
 blended gradations. Nevertheless -'hero-worship" contains a great 
 truth, that loyal reverence for what we feel to be above us does not 
 lower a man but elevates him ; and that those really degrade them- 
 selves who have no respect for higher things, and try to drag every- 
 thing down to their own level. 
 
 In insisting on looking through phrases to facts Carlyle touches 
 one of the great dangers of the present day. The spread of educa- 
 tion has given an extension to the influence of words which threatens 
 to become excessive. People read until they have no time to think, 
 and find it easier to borrow the thoughts of others. And a large and 
 ever-increasing portion of the community have learnt, in Yankee phrase, 
 to ' orate," and use the new-found faculty incessantly and remorselessly. 
 I do not refer so much to the obstruction of the Parliamentary machine 
 by floods of talk, for that is an evil which will work its own cure, but 
 to the undue influence which oratory tends to acquire in all constitu- 
 tional countries, where the ultimate power is vested in what is essentially 
 a debating society. A great orator is inevitably a great power in the 
 State, but it does not necessarily follow that he is a great statesman. 
 
 The qualities which make an orator depend to a great extent on gifts 
 of nature, such as a good voice and presence, and still more on the 
 gift of a fervid temperament, which moves and convinces others because 
 the speaker is himself moved and convinced. These may or may not 
 coincide with the gifts of a great statesman, ripe experience, clear 
 judgment, and calm courage. When they do coincide the State will be 
 well ruled; when they do not, the statesman will lack motive power, 
 and the orator will lack statesmanship ; so that between the two the 
 affairs of the nation will be apt to be mismanaged. Still, on the whole 
 we must accept the inevitable, and trust that the public opinion which 
 is formed by many speeches and many articles will give better average 
 results than by attempting to find a hero who might just as readily 
 turn out to be a Cleon as a Pericles. But the influence of Carlyle's 
 teaching will always remain useful as a corrective, and as a warning 
 to public opinion to measure public men by their solid qualities rather 
 than by their oratorical talent. 
 
 The influence of Carlyle has been great on all the foremost minds 
 of his generation, and may be distinctly traced in their writings. If 
 Tennyson makes his Guinevere say: 
 
 Oh God ! what might I have made of Thy fair earth 
 Had I but loved Thy highest creature in it ! 
 We needs must love the highest when we see it. 
 
 This is genuine Carlylese condensed into noble poetry. The whole 
 literature of fiction has been transformed. The fashionable novel, 
 with its dandified coxcomb heroes and simpering fine lady heroines, 
 has been superseded by works like those of Dickens, Thackeray, 
 Trollope, and George Eliot, which satirize folly and pretension how- 
 ever highly placed, and aim at honest, earnest, simple and sincere 
 ideals of true men and women. The whole tone of society has become 
 more manly, and no one now thinks of acquiring fame by wearing a 
 pea-green coat or getting a voucher for Almack's. Artificial distinctions 
 have to a great extent disappeared, the sons of dukes think it no 
 disgrace to earn an honest livelihood as stockbrokers, and self-made 
 
MIRACLES. 127 
 
 men are received on an equal footing everywhere if they have the 
 essential qualities of gentlemen. There is vastly more real equality 
 and real fraternity among men, and every one recognizes, in theory 
 at any rate, the dignity of honest labor, whether of the hand or 
 head. The certain survival also, in the long run, of truth over false- 
 hood, or in other words of the fittest, as being most in accordance 
 with the laws of the universe, is universally recognized as a law in the 
 moral as well as in the material world. 
 
 For these results, which have now become almost commonplaces, 
 those who derived them in their youth direct from works like " Sartor 
 Besartus " can best judge to what an extent modern thought has been 
 indebted to Carlyle. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 MIRACLES. 
 
 WHEN men began to reason on the phenomena of the world 
 around them, it was inevitable that they should begin by refer- 
 ring all striking occurrences to supernatural causes. Just as they 
 measured space by feet and inches, and time by days and years, they 
 referred unusual events to personal agencies. They knew by experience 
 that certain effects were produced by their own wills, muscular energies, 
 and passions ; and when they saw effects which seemed to be of a like 
 nature, they inferred that they must have been produced by like 
 causes. 
 
 To take the familiar instance of thunder. The first savage who 
 thought about it must have said : " The sound is very like the roar with 
 which I spring on a wild beast or an enemy ; the flash of lightning is 
 very like the flash of the arrow or javelin with which I strike him ; the 
 effect is often the same, that he is killed. Surely there must be some 
 one in the clouds, very strong, very angry, very able to do me harm, 
 unless I can propitiate him by prayers or offerings. " But after long 
 centuries, science steps in. An elderly gentleman at Philadelphia, 
 Benjamin Franklin by name, sends up a silk kite during a thunder- 
 storm, and behold! the lightning is drawn down from the skies, 
 tamed, and made to emit harmless sparks, or to follow the course of a 
 conducting wire, at our will and pleasure. There is no more room 
 left for the supernatural in the fiercest tropical thunder-storm than 
 there is in turning the handle of an electrical machine, or sending in a 
 tender to light the streets of London by electric light. And the result 
 is absolutely certain. In the contest between the natural and super- 
 natural, the latter has not only been repulsed but annihilated. The 
 most orthodox believer in miracles, if his faith were brought to the 
 practical test of backing his opinions by his money, would rather 
 insure a gin-palace or gambling saloon protected by a lightning con- 
 ductor than a chapel protected by the prayers of a pious preacher. 
 
 This instance of thunder is a type of the revolution of thought 
 which has been, brought about by modern science in the whole manner 
 of viewing *the phenomena of the surrounding universe. Former ages 
 saw miracles everywhere, the age in which we live sees them nowhere, 
 
128 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 except possibly in the single instance of the miracles recorded in the 
 Bible. In the annals of grave Roman historians, 
 
 In every page loculus bos. 
 
 Not a Caesar or a Consul died, without an ox speaking, or a flaming 
 sword in the skies predicting portents. If the moon happened to pass 
 between the sun and the earth the dim eclipse 
 
 With fear of change perplexes monarchs. 
 
 If the winds blow it is because ^Eolus releases them from the cave ; if 
 the rains fall it is because Jupiter opens the windows of heaven, or 
 Indra causes the cloud-cows to drop their milk on the parched earth. 
 Perhaps no better proof can be afforded of the universal belief that 
 miracles were considered matters of every-day occurrence than is given 
 by the passage in St. Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians, in which he 
 enumerates the principal Christian gifts, and assigns, as it were, their 
 comparative order and the number of marks that should be given to 
 each in a competitive examination. 
 
 The power of " working miracles " comes low in the list. " First 
 apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, 
 then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues." 
 And he goes on to say, in words that come home to every heart in all 
 centuries, that all those things are worthless as compared with that 
 true Christian charity which "suffereth long, and is kind; envieth 
 not ; vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself 
 unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no 
 evil; rejoiceth not in inquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all 
 things, believethall things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." 
 
 This is in the true spirit of modern thought, which, when the 
 externals of religion fail, strives to look below them at its essence, and 
 to retain what is eternally true and beautiful as the ideal of a spiritual 
 and the guide of a practical life, while rejecting all the outward 
 apparatus of metaphysical creeds and incredible miracles, which had 
 only a temporary value, and can no longer be believed without shut- 
 ting one's eyes to facts and becoming guilty of conscious or 
 unconscious insincerity. 
 
 But to return to miracles. Almost the entire world of the 
 supernatural fades away of itself with an extension of our knowledge 
 of the laws of Nature, as surely as the mists melt from the valley before 
 the rays of the morning sun. We have seen how, throughout the 
 wide domains of space, time, and matter, law, uniform, universal, and 
 inexorable, reigns supreme ; and there is absolutely no room for the 
 interference of any outside personal agency to suspend its operations. 
 The last remnant of supernaturalism, therefore, apart from the 
 Christian miracles which we shall presently consider, has shrunk into 
 that doubtful and shady border-land of ghosts, spiritualism and 
 mesmerism, where vision and fact, and partly real partly imaginary 
 effects of abnormal nervous conditions, are mixed up in a nebulous 
 haze with a large dose of imposture and credulity. 
 
 Even this region is being contracted every day by every fresh 
 revelation in a police-court, and every fresh discovery of the laws 
 which really regulate the transmission of nervous energy to and from 
 the brain, in the abnormal state which constitutes epilepsy and 
 somnambulism, and enables an excited imagination to produce physical 
 effects, such as those of drastic drugs on a patient who has actually 
 taken nothing but pills of harmless paste. 
 
MIRACLES. 129 
 
 The question of Christian miracles, however, rests on a different 
 and more serious ground. They have been accepted for ages as the 
 foundation and proof of a religion which has been for nineteen 
 centuries that of the highest civilization and purest morality, and for 
 this reason alone they deserve the most reverent treatment and the 
 most careful consideration. 
 
 Of a large class of these miracles it may be said that there is no 
 reason to doubt them, but none to consider them as violations of law, 
 or anything but the expression, in the language of the time, of natural 
 effects and natural causes. When a large class of maladies were 
 universally attributed to the agency of evil spirits which had taken 
 possession of the patient's body, it was inevitable that many cures 
 would be effected, and that these cures would be set down as the 
 casting out of devils. In many cases also a strong impulse communi- 
 cated to the brain may send a current along a nerve which may 
 temporarily, or even permanently, restore motion to a paralyzed limb, 
 or give fresh vitality to a paralyzed nerve. Thus, the lame may walk, 
 the dumb speak, and the blind see, with no more occasion to invoke 
 supernatural agency than if the same effects had been produced by a 
 current of electricity from a voltaic battery. There is no reason to 
 doubt that miracles of this sort have been frequently wrought by 
 saints and relics, and that even at the present day they may possibly 
 be wrought at Lourdes and other shrines of Catholic faith. Only at 
 the present day we scrutinize the evidence and count the failures, and 
 admit nothing to be supernatural which can be explained as within a 
 fair average result of exceptional cases under the operation of natural 
 laws. In like manner we set down all visions or apparitions as having 
 no objective reality if they can be explained by the known laws of 
 dreams or other vivid revivals of impressions on the brain of the 
 person who perceives them. 
 
 There remains the class of really supernatural miracles, or mira- 
 cles which could by no possibility have occurred as they are described, 
 unless some outward agency had suspended or reversed the laws of 
 Nature. As regards such miracles, a knowledge of these laws enor- 
 mously increases the difficulty in believing in them as actual facts. 
 Take for instance the conversion of water into wine. When nothing 
 was known of the constitution of water or of wine, except that they 
 were both fluids, it was comparatively easy to accept the statement 
 that such a conversion really took place. But now we know that 
 water consists of oxygen and hydrogen combined in a certain simple 
 proportion, and of these and nothing else; while wine contains in 
 addition nitrogen, carbon, and other elements combined in very com- 
 plicated proportions. If the water was not really changed into wine, 
 but only seemed to be so, it was a mere juggling trick, such as the 
 Wizard of the North can show us any day for a shilling. But if it 
 was really changed, something must have been created out of nothing 
 to supply the elements which were not in the original water and were 
 not put into it from without. 
 
 Again, those who have followed the question of spontaneous 
 generation, and witnessed the failure of the ablest chemists to produce 
 the lowest forms of protoplasmic life from inorganic elements, will 
 hardly believe that such a highly organized form of life as a serpent 
 could have been really produced from a wooden rod. And this, be it 
 observed, not only by Moses the prophet of God, but by the jugglers 
 
130 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT, 
 
 who amused the court of Pharaoh by their conjuring tricks ; and for 
 an object of no greater moment than to persuade a king to allow some 
 of his subjects to emigrate, which object, moreover, notwithstanding 
 the miracle, entirely failed, as the king simply "hardened his heart" 
 and persisted in his refusal. 
 
 But passing from this class of grotesque and incredible miracles, 
 let us examine those which may be called worthy miracles ; that is, 
 miracles disfigured by no absurd details, and wrought for objects of 
 sufficient importance to justify supernatural interference, if ever such 
 interference were to take place. At the head of such miracles must 
 undoubtedly oe placed those of the Saviour's resurrection. The 
 appearances to the Apostles, and above all the bodily Ascension to 
 heaven in the presence of more than 500 witnesses, were a fitting 
 termination to the drama of His life and sufferings, and afforded a 
 conclusive test of the fact which was the foundation-stone of the new 
 religion. 
 
 "If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain," say's St. 
 Paul ; and he proceeds to argue that the whole question of the reality 
 of a future life hinges on the fact that Christ really rose from the dead. 
 His theory is that death came into the world by the sin of the first 
 man, Adam, and has been destroyed and swallowed up in immortality 
 by the victory of the second man, Christ. This theory has, from that 
 day to this, been the key-stone of Christian theology. 
 
 There can be no doubt, therefore, that if any miracle is true this 
 must be the one, and, on the other hand, if this miracle cannot be 
 established by sufficient proof, it is idle to discuss the evidence for 
 other miracles. In order to go to the root of the matter therefore, it 
 is necessary to consider, in a calm and judicial spirit, the evidence 
 upon which this miracle of the Resurrection really rests. 
 
 In the first place we must consider what sort of evidence is 
 required to prove a miracle. Clearly it must be evidence of the most 
 cogent and unimpeachable character, far more conclusive than would 
 be sufficient to establish an ordinary occurrence. The discoveries of 
 modern science have shown beyond the possibility of doubt that the 
 miracles which former ages fancied they saw around them every day 
 had no real existence, and that, except possibly in the solitary instance 
 of the Christian miracles, there has been no supernatural interference 
 with the laws of Nature throughout the enormous ranges of space, 
 time, and matter. It may be going too far to say with Hume that no 
 amount of evidence can prove a miracle, since it must always remain 
 more probable that human testimony should be false than that the 
 laws of Nature should have been violated. But it is not going too 
 far to say that the evidence to establish such a violation must be 
 altogether overwhelming and open to no other possible construction. 
 
 Take the case of the allegation that a man who had really died 
 rose in the body from the grave, ate, drank, and held intercourse with 
 living persons. There are some 1,200 millions of human beings living 
 in the world, and somewhat more than three generations in each cen- 
 tury, that is, there are s'ome 3,600 millions of deaths per century, and 
 this has been going on for some forty or fifty centuries, or longer. 
 It is certain, therefore, that at least 150,000 millions of deaths must 
 have taken place, and a large proportion of these under circumstances 
 involving the most heart-rending separations, and the most intense 
 longing on the part of the dying to give, and of the living to receive, 
 
MIRACLES. 131 
 
 some token of affection from beyond the grave. And yet no such 
 token has ever been given, and the veil which separates the dead 
 from the living has never been lifted, except possibly in one case out 
 of this 150,000,000,000. Surely it must require very different evidence 
 to establish the reality of such an exception, from that which would 
 be sufficient to prove the signature to a will or the date of a battle. 
 
 But just when the new views opened up by modern science made 
 it more difficult to believe in miracles, and more exacting in the 
 demand for stronger evidence to support them, the old evidence 
 became greatly weakened. The main evidence which satisfied our fore- 
 fathers was that the Bible was inspired, and that it asserted the 
 reality of the miracles. This, when critically examined, was really no 
 evidence at all, for how did we know that the Bible was inspired? 
 Because it was proved to be so by miracles. The argument was there- 
 fore in a circle, and resembled that of the Hindoo mythology, which 
 rested the earth on an elephant and the elephant on a tortoise. But 
 what did the tortoise rest on? 
 
 To examine the matter more closely, what is the meaning of 
 inspiration? It means that a certain book was not written, as all other 
 books in the world have been written, by writers who were fallible, 
 and whose statements and opinions, however admirable in the main 
 and made in perfect good faith, inevitably reflected the views of the 
 age in which they lived and contained matters which subsequent ages 
 found to be obsolete or erroneous, but that this particular book was 
 miraculously dictated by an infallible God, and therefore absolutely 
 and for all time true. But, as a chain cannot be stronger than its 
 weakest link, if any one of these statements were proved not to be true, 
 the theory of inspiration failed, and human reason was called on to 
 decide by the ordinary methods, whether any, and if any, what parts of 
 the Volume were inspired and what uninspired. 
 
 Now it is absolutely certain that portions of the Bible, and those 
 important portions relating to the creation of the world and of man, 
 are not true, and therefore not inspired. It is certain that the sun, 
 moon, stars, and earth, were not created as the author of Genesis 
 supposed them to have been created, and that the first man, whose 
 Palaeolithic implements are found in caves and river gravels of immense 
 antiquity, was a very different being from the Adam who was created 
 in God's likeness and placed in the Garden of Eden. It is certain that 
 no universal deluge ever took place since man existed, and that the 
 animal life existing in the world, and shown by fossil remains to have 
 existed for untold ages, could by no possibility have originated from 
 pairs of animals living together for forty days in the ark, and radiating 
 from a mountain in Armenia. 
 
 Another test of inspiration is afforded by the presence of con- 
 tradictions. If one writer says that certain events occurred in Galilee 
 while another says that they took place at Jerusalem, they cannot both 
 be inspired. They may be both reminiscences of real events, but they 
 are obviously imperfect and not inspired reminiscences, and require to 
 be tested by the same process of reasoning as we should apply in 
 endeavoring to unravel the truth from the confused and contradictory 
 evidence of conflicting historians. 
 
 Inspiration is clearly as much a miracle as any of the miracles 
 which it relates, and there is only one way conceivable by which it 
 could be proved, so as. to afford a solid basis for faith and give addi- 
 
132 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 tional evidence in support of the supernatural occurrences said to have 
 taken place ; that would be if it carried with it internal evidence of its 
 truth. Such evidence might be afforded in one way, and in one only 
 by prophecy. If any volume written many centuries ago contained a 
 clear, definite, and distinct prophecy of future events, which the writer 
 could by no possibility have known or conjectured, such a prophecy 
 must have been dictated by some agency different from anything 
 known in the ordinary course of nature ; and future ages, seeing the 
 fulfillment of the prophecy, could scarcely doubt that the volume which 
 contained it was inspired. But such a prophecy must be quite defi- 
 nite, so that there could be no doubt as to whether it had been ful- 
 filled or not, and must not consist of vague and mystic utterances, in 
 which future believers might find meanings, probably never thought 
 of by the prophets themselves, confirming the faith which, from other 
 considerations, they thought it a sin to disbelieve. Nor must it con- 
 sist of passionate aspirations for deliverance, and predictions of the 
 downfall of cruel conquerors, wrung from the hearts of an oppressed 
 people in times of imminent danger and crushing despair ; because 
 such predictions have been partly verified and partly transformed in 
 future ages, so as to receive a new and spiritual significance. 
 
 There is one prophecy which affords a test by which to judge of 
 the value of all others as a proof of inspiration, for it is perfectly 
 distinct and definite, and comes from the highest authority that of 
 the approaching end of the world contained in the New Testament. 
 
 St. Matthew reports Jesus to have said : 
 
 "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with 
 his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his 
 works. 
 
 "Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which 
 shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his 
 kingdom." 
 
 It is certain that all standing there did taste death without seeing 
 the Son of Man coming with His angels. The conclusion is irresisti- 
 ble, that either Jesus was mistaken in speaking these words, or else 
 Matthew was mistaken in supposing that He spoke them. 
 
 St. Paul predicts the same event in still more definite terms. He 
 says : 
 
 "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we 
 which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not 
 prevent them which are asleep. 
 
 "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, 
 with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God : and the 
 dead in Christ shall rise first: 
 
 " Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together 
 with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air." 
 
 Here is the most distinct prediction possible, both of the event 
 which was to happen and of the limit of time within which it was to 
 tnke place ; and, to give it additional force, it is specially declared to 
 be an inspired prophecy uttered as "the word of God." 
 
 The time is distinctly stated to be in the lifetime of some of the 
 existing generation, including Paul himself, who is to be one of the 
 "we which are alive," who are not to "prevent," or gain any pre- 
 cedence over, those who have "fallen asleep," or died, in the interval 
 before Christ's coming. By no possibility can this be construed to 
 
MIRACLES. 133 
 
 mean a coming at some indefinite future time, long after all those had 
 died who were to remain and be caught up alive into the clouds. St. 
 Paul doubtless meant what he said, and firmly believed that he was 
 uttering an inspired prophecy which would certainly be fulfilled. But 
 it is certain that it was not fulfilled. Paul and all Paul's contem- 
 poraries have been dead for 1,800 years, and the shout, the voice of 
 the Archangel, and the trump of God, have never been heard. What 
 is this but an absolutely irresistible demonstration that prophecy not 
 only fails to prove inspiration, but, on the contrary, by its failure dis- 
 proves it, and shows that St. Matthew and St. Paul were as liable to 
 make mistakes as any of the hundreds of religious writers who, in later 
 times, have prophesied the approaching end of the world or advent 
 of the millennium. 
 
 The evidence for miracles, therefore, must be taken on its own 
 merits, without aid from any preconceived theory that it is sinful to 
 scrutinize it because the books in which it is. contained are inspired. 
 Applying to it impartially the ordinary rules of evidence, let us see 
 what it amounts to, for that which is really the test case of all other 
 miracles, that of the Resurrection. 
 
 The witnesses are St. Paul and the authors of the four Gospels 
 according to St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, and St. John. Of these, 
 St. Paul is in some respects the best. When a witness is called into 
 court to give evidence, the first question asked is, "Who are you? 
 Gi\re your name and description." St. Paul alone gives a clear answer 
 to this question. There is no doubt that he was an historical per- 
 sonage, who lived at the time and in the manner described in the Acts 
 of the Apostles, and that the Epistle to the Corinthians is a genuine 
 letter written by him. In this Epistle he says: 
 
 "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, 
 how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures ; 
 
 "And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day 
 according to the scriptures : 
 
 "And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve : 
 
 "After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; 
 of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen 
 asleep. 
 
 " After that, he was seen of James ; then of all the apostles. 
 
 " And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out oi 
 due time." 
 
 This is undoubtedly very distinct evidence that the appearances 
 described by St. Paul were currently believed in the circle of early 
 Christians at Jerusalem within twenty years of their alleged occur- 
 rence. 
 
 This is strong testimony, but it is weakened by several considera- 
 tions. In the first place, we know that Paul's frame of mind in regard 
 to miracles was such as to make it certain that he would take them for 
 granted, and not attempt to examine critically the evidence on which 
 they were founded, and this was doubtless the frame of mind of those 
 from whom he received the accounts. Again, he places all the 
 appearances on the same footing as that to himself, which was clearly 
 of the nature of a vision, or strong internal impression, rather than 
 of an objective reality. Upon this vital point, whether the appearances 
 which led to the belief in Christ's resurrection were subjective or 
 objective that is, were visions or physical realities Paul's testimony 
 
134 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 therefore favors the former view, which is quite consistent with the 
 laws of Nature and with experience in other cases. 
 
 And finally, St. Paul's account of the appearances is altogether 
 different from those of the other witnesses, viz., the four Evangelists. 
 
 When we come to consider the testimony of the four Gospels we 
 are confronted by a first difficulty : Who and what are the witnesses t 
 What is really known of them is this : Until the middle of the second 
 century they are never quoted, and were apparently unknown. Some- 
 where about 150 A.E., for the exact date is hotly disputed, we find the 
 first quotations from them, and from that time forwards the quotations 
 become more frequent and their authority increases, until finally they 
 superseded all the other narratives current in the early Church, such 
 as the ' Gospel of the Hebrews," and the " Pastor " of Hermas, and 
 are embodied in the canon of inspired writings of the New Testament. 
 From the earliest time where there is any distinct recognition of them, 
 they appear to have been attributed to the Evangelists whose names 
 they bear, viz., Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 
 
 When we look to internal evidence to give us some further clue as 
 to their authorship and date, we at once meet with a great difficulty. 
 The three Gospels of St. Matthew, Mark, and Luke, are called " Synop- 
 tic," because they give what is substantially the same narrative of the 
 same facts arranged in the same order, and the same sayings and 
 parables giving the same view of the character and teaching of Jesus. 
 In whole passages this resemblance is not merely substantial but literal^ 
 so that we cannot suppose it to arise merely from following the same 
 oral tradition, and cannot doubt that the authors must have copied 
 verbatim either from one another or from some common manuscript. 
 But then comes in this perplexing circumstance. After passages of 
 almost literal identity come in statements which are inconsistent with 
 those of the other Gospels and narratives of important events which 
 are either altogether wan ting or quite differently described in them. 
 
 Thus, in the vital matter of the Resurrection, Matthew says that 
 the disciples were especially commanded to . " go into Galilee ; there 
 shall you see him," and that they did go accordingly, and there saw Him 
 on a mountain where He had appointed them to meet Him; while Luke 
 distinctly says that " he commanded them that they should not depart 
 from Jerusalem," and describes them as remaining there and witnessing 
 a number of appearances, including the crowning miracle of the Ascen- 
 sion (the same, doubtless, as that which St. Paul describes as having 
 taken place in the presence of more than 500 witnesses), of which 
 Matthew, Mark, and John apparently know nothing. And yet the 
 final injunction of Jesus to preach the gospel in His name to all 
 nations is given in almost the same words in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, 
 showing that they must have had before them some common manu- 
 script describing the course of events after the Crucifixion. 
 
 So in minor matters, Mark mentions the cure of one blind man r 
 Bartimseus, who sat by the roadside begging ; in Matthew there are 
 two blind men, and yet the dialogue that passed "What will ye that 
 I shall do unto you 1 ?" " Lord, that our eyes may be opened " is almost 
 word for word the same. It would seem that if they did copy from 
 an original manuscript, they felt themselves free to take any liberties 
 with it they liked, in the way of omission and alteration. 
 
 The only light thrown on this perplexing question of the origin of 
 the Gospels is that afforded by the celebrated passage from Papias. 
 
MIRACLES. 135 
 
 quoted by Eusebius. Papias was Bishop of Hieropolis, in Asia 
 Minor, and suffered martyrdom, when an aged man, about the year 
 164. He was therefore brought up in personal contact, not with the 
 Apostles themselves, but with those who, like Polycarp and others, had 
 been their immediate disciples, and had known and conversed with 
 them. In the passage quoted he states his preference for oral tradition 
 over written documents, and his reasons for it. He says : " If I found 
 some one who had followed the first presbyters, I asked him what he 
 had heard from them ; what said Andrew or Peter, or Philip, Thomas, 
 James, John, or Matthew ; and what said Andrew and John the 
 Presbyter, who were also disciples of the Lord ; for I thought I could 
 not derive as much advantage from books as from the living and abiding 
 oral tradition." And he goes on to give his reasons for not attaching 
 more weight to the two written sources of information which were evi- 
 dently best known and looked upon as of most authority in his time, 
 viz., the Gospels according to St. Matthew and St. Mark. He says that 
 Matthew wrote down in Hebrew the Logia, or principal sayings and 
 discourses of the Lord, "which every one translated as he best could," 
 evidently implying that these numerous translations were, in his opin- 
 ion, loose, inaccurate, and unreliable. As regards Mark, he says that 
 " Mark, who had not known the Lord personally, and had never heard 
 Him, followed Peter later as his interpreter ; and when Peter, in the 
 course of his teaching, mentioned any of the doings or sayings of 
 Christ, took care to note them down exactly, but without any order, 
 and without making a continuous narrative of the discourses of the 
 Lord, which did not enter into the intention of the Apostle. Thus 
 Mark let nothing pass, jotting down a certain number of facts as Peter 
 mentioned them, but having no other care than to omit nothing of 
 what he heard, and to change nothing in it." 
 
 This testimony of Papias is very valuable and very instructive. 
 In the first place, it seems conclusive that the Gospel of St. John was 
 not known to him, and not received in the early Christian Churches of 
 Asia Minor as a work of authority. Had it been so received, Papias 
 must have known of it, brought up as he was at the feet of men who 
 had been John's disciples, and bishop of a Church closely connected 
 with those of which, if there is any faith in tradition, John had been 
 the patriarch and principal founder. And if he had known of such a 
 written Gospel as that of St. John, and believed it to have been really 
 written by the "beloved disciple," the Apostle second only, if second, 
 to St. Peter, it is inconceivable that he should have expressed such an 
 unqualified preference for oral tradition, and made such an almost 
 contemptuous reference to written documents. He must have said: 
 "For, with the exception of the Gospel of the blessed John, I found 
 that little was to be got from books. '' 
 
 It seems clear, therefore, that although the Gospel of St. John may 
 contain genuine reminiscences of an early date, and possibly some 
 which really came from the Apostle himself, the work in its present 
 form could not have been written by him, and must have been compiled 
 at such a late date as to have been unknown in the Christian Churches 
 of the East in the time of Papias. 
 
 The same remark applies to the Gospel of St. Luke, of which 
 Papias has equally no knowledge, and which, from internal evidence, 
 appears to be a later edition of the two earlier Gospels, or of the 
 original manuscripts from which they were taken, altered in places to 
 
136 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 meet objections of a later date, as where the injunction to "go into 
 Galilee; there shall ye see him," is changed into "as he spoke unto 
 you when he was yet in Galilee," obviously to reconcile the statement 
 with the subsequent belief that the Ascension took place at Jerusalem. 
 
 There remain the two original Gospels according to St. Matthew 
 and St. Mark. Volumes of erudition have been written to try and 
 reconcile them with one another, and with the other two Gospels, and 
 to explain the extraordinary resemblances and no less extraordinary 
 differences. Translations have been heaped on translations, and 
 successive editions and revisions piled on one another until the edifice 
 toppled over by its own weight, but, after all, we have nothing better 
 to rely on than the statement of Papias, which there is no reason 
 to mistrust. The basis of the three Synoptic Gospels was probably a 
 collection of facts and anecdotes written down in Greek by Mark, and 
 of discourses written in Hebrew by Matthew. These have been worked 
 up subsequently, at unknown dates y and by unknown authors, aided 
 possibly by oral traditions, into connected narratives or biographies of 
 the life and teachings of the Founder of the religion. 
 
 Possibly, though by no means certainly, we have in the present 
 Gospel according to St. Matthew the nearest approach to the original 
 Logia or doctrinal discourses, and in the present Mark the nearest 
 approach to the original notes recorded by Mark from the dictation of 
 St. Peter. 
 
 As regards the Gospel according to St. John, it appears perfectly 
 clear, both from the silence of Papias, the absence of any reference to 
 it by other early Christian Fathers until the end of the second cen- 
 tury, and still more from internal evidence, that it could not possibly 
 have been written by the Apostle whose name it bears. John, as we 
 know from St. Paul's Epistles, was one of the pillars of the Christian 
 Church of Jerusalem, whose doctrine was in all respects Hebraic, and 
 who opposed the larger idea that a man could be a Christian without 
 first becoming a Jew. 
 
 The writer of tne Gospel is not only ignorant of matters which 
 must have been well known to every Jew, but he is positively prejudiced 
 against Judaism, and represents it in an unfavorable light. His 
 narrative of the events of the life of Jesus, including the miracles, is 
 totally different from that of the Synoptics, and his view of His 
 character and report of His speeches wide as the poles asunder. To 
 the Synoptics Jesus is the man-Messiah foretold by the prophets ; to 
 the author of John He is the " Logos," the incarnation of a meta- 
 physical attribute of the Deity. 
 
 The terse and simple clearness of His sayings recorded by the 
 first, is exchanged in the latter for an involved and cumbrous phrase- 
 ology reminding one of a Papal Encyclical. The amiability and 
 " sweet reasonableness " of the Jesus of the Synoptics, have become 
 acrimonious unreasonableness and egotistical self-glorification in many 
 of the long harangues which are introduced on the most unlikely 
 occasions in the fourth Gospel. 
 
 It is evident, therefore, that this Gospel can afford no aid towards 
 a critical examination of contemporary evidence, and that for this we 
 must look almost entirely to such remains of early records as are pre- 
 served in the Gospels of St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke. With 
 these data, how does the evidence stand as regards the miracles of the 
 Resurrection which are the test cases of all alleged miracles *? 
 
MIRACLES. 137 
 
 It is important to observe that the oldest manuscripts of the 
 Gospel of St. Mark stop at the 8th verse of the last chapter, and that 
 the subsequent verses, 9 20, have every appearance of being a later 
 addition made to reconcile this Gospel better with the prevailing belief 
 and with the other Gospels. Commentators discover a difference in 
 the style and language, and the appearances are described in vague 
 and general language, very different from the distinct details given of 
 them in the other Gospels, and inconsistent with the formal statement 
 twice repeated in the genuine Mark that they were to take place in 
 Galilee. Moreover, if these verses were really in the original Gospel, 
 it is inconceivable how they should have dropped out in the oldest 
 manuscripts, while it is perfectly conceivable how they should have 
 been added at a later period, when the Fathers of the Church began 
 to occupy themselves with the task of harmonizing the different 
 Gospels. 
 
 But if the genuine Mark really terminated with the 8th verse, not 
 only is there no . confirmation of the four miraculous appearances, 
 including the Ascension, recorded by St. Paul as being currently 
 believed by the early Christians within twenty years of their occur- 
 rence, but there is positively no mention of any appearance at all. 
 A young man, clothed in white, tells three women who went to the 
 tomb that Jesus is risen, and tnat they were to tell His disciples and 
 Peter that they would see Him in Galilee ; an injunction which was 
 not carried out, for the women "were afraid, neither said they any- 
 thing to any man." 
 
 In St. Matthew the young man has become an angel, and as the 
 women return from the tomb Jesus met them and said, "All hail," 
 repeating the injunction to tell the disciples to go into Galilee, where the 
 Eleven accordingly went into a mountain where Jesus had appointed 
 them, and "when they saw him they worshipped him: but some 
 doubted." This is the whole of Matthew's testimony. 
 
 St. Luke, again, in his Gospel and Acts amplifies the miraculous 
 appearances almost up to the extent described by St. Paul, though 
 with considerable differences both of addition and omission. The 
 three women become a number of women ; the one angel or young 
 man in shining clothes, two ; the appearance to the women disappears ; 
 Peter is mentioned as running to the sepulchre but departing without 
 seeing anything special except that the body had been removed ; the 
 first appearance recorded is that to the two disciples walking from 
 Emmaus. who knew Him not until their eyes were opened by the 
 breaking of bread, when He vanished ; the next appearance is to the 
 ^Eleven sitting at meat with closed doors; and finally there is the 
 crowning miracle of the Ascension, stated somewhat vaguely in the 
 Gospel, but with more detail in the Acts, describing how He was taken 
 up to heaven and received in a cloud, in the sight of numerous 
 witnesses. This is probably the same miracle as that mentioned by 
 St. Paul as having occurred in the presence of "more than five 
 hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain alive unto 
 this present;" though he mentions two subsequent appearances one 
 to James and a second to all the Apostles of which no trace is found 
 in any other canonical narrative. It is to be noted that all St. Luke's 
 miracles are expressly stated to have occurred at Jerusalem, where 
 Jesus had commanded His disciples to remain, and are, therefore, in 
 direct contradiction with the statements of Matthew and Mark, that 
 
138 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 whatever occurred was in Galilee, where the disciples were expressly 
 enjoined to go. 
 
 When we come to St. John, we find the first part of the narrative 
 of the other Gospels repeated with several variations and a great many 
 additional details. Mary Magdalene is alone and finds the stone 
 removed from the sepulchre. She tells Peter and John, who run 
 together to the tomb; John outruns Peter, but Peter first enters and 
 sees the napkin and linen grave-clothes, but nothing miraculous, and 
 they return to their homes. Mary remains weeping and sees, first two 
 angels, and then Jesus himself, whom she at first does not recognize 
 and mistakes for the gardener. The walk to Emmaus is not mentioned, 
 and the next appearance is to the disciples sitting with closed doors. 
 Another takes place after eight days, for the purpose of convincing 
 Thomas of the reality of the resurrection in the actual body, and here 
 apparently the narrative closes -with the appropriate ending, " That 
 these things are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, 
 the Son of God ; and that believing ye might have' life through his 
 name." But a supplementary chapter is added, describing a miracu- 
 lous draught of fishes and appearance to Peter, John, and five other 
 disciples at the Sea of Tiberias in Galilee, in which the command is 
 given to Peter to " Feed my sheep," and an explanation is introduced 
 of what was doubtless a sore perplexity to the early Christian world, 
 the death of St. John before the coming of the Messiah. 
 
 These are the depositions of the five witnesses, Matthew, Mark, 
 Luke, John, and- Paul, in which the verdict ''proven" or u aot proven" 
 must rest in regard to the issue "miracle" or "no miracle." 
 
 The mere statement of them is enough to show how insufficient 
 they are to establish any ordinary fact, to say nothing of a fact so 
 entirely opposed to all experience as the return to life of one who had 
 really died. Suppose it were a question of proving the signature of a 
 will, what chance would a plaintiff have of obtaining a verdict who 
 produced five witnesses, four of whom could give no certain account 
 of themselves, while the fifth spoke only from hearsay, and the details 
 to which they deposed were hopelessly inconsistent with one another 
 as regards time, place, and other particulars'? The account of the 
 Ascension brings this contradiction into the most glaring light. 
 According to St. Luke and St. Paul this miracle took place at Jeru- 
 salem, in the presence of a large number, St. Paul says over 500 
 persons, before whose eyes Jesus was lifted up in the body into the 
 clouds, and more than half, or over 250 of these witnesses, remained 
 alive for at least twenty years afterwards to testify to the fact. 
 Consider what this implies. Such an event occurring publicly in the 
 presence of 500 witnesses is not like an appearance to a few chosen 
 disciples in a room with closed doors: it must have been the talk of 
 all Jerusalem. 
 
 The prophet who had shortly before entered the city in triumphal 
 procession amidst the acclamations of the multitude, and who, a few 
 days afterwards, by some sudden revolution of popular feeling, had 
 become the object of mob-hatred; who had been solemnly tried, 
 condemned, and executed; that this prophet had been restored to life 
 and visibly translated in the body to heaven in the presence of more 
 than 500 witnesses, must inevitably have caused an immense sensation. 
 However prone the age might be to believe in miracles, such a miracle 
 as this must have startled everyone. The most incredulous must have 
 
MIRACLES. f 139 
 
 been converted ; the High Priest and Pharisees must, in self-defence, 
 have instituted a rigid inquiry ; the Proconsul must have reported to 
 jftome ; Josephus, who, not many years afterwards, wrote the annals 
 of the Jews during this period with considerable detail, must have 
 known of the occurrence and mentioned it. 
 
 And above all, Matthew, Mark, and John must have been aware of 
 the occurrence ; and in all probability, Matthew, John, and Peter, from 
 whom Mark derived his information, must have been among the 500 
 eye witnesses. How then is it possible that, if the event really occurred, 
 they not only should not have mentioned it, but partly by their silence, 
 and partly by their statement that they went into Galilee, have virtually 
 contradicted it. The Ascension, if true, was a capital fact, not only 
 crowning and completing the drama of Christ's life which they were 
 narrating with its most triumphant and appropriate ending, but con- 
 firming, in the strongest possible manner, the doctrine for which 
 they were contending, that He was not an ordinary man or ordinary 
 prophet, but the Messiah, the Son of God, who had redeemed the 
 world from its original curse and conquered sin and death. One 
 might as well suppose that any one writing the life of Wellington 
 would omit the Battle of Waterloo as that any one writing the life of 
 Christ would knowingly and wilfully omit all mention of the Ascension. 
 It must be evident that whoever wrote the original manuscripts from 
 which the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and John were compiled, must 
 either never have heard of the Ascension, or having heard of it did 
 not believe it to be true. This must also apply to the other miracu- 
 lous appearances said to have occurred at Jerusalem. How was it 
 possible for writers who knew of them to make no mention of them, 
 and virtually contradict them by asserting that they did not remain at 
 Jerusalem, but went to Galilee in obedience to a command to that 
 effect, and that the final parting of Jesus from His disciples took 
 place there? 
 
 The most unaccountable fact is the total silence of Mark, who 
 was nearest the fountain-head if he derived his information from St. 
 Peter, as to these miraculous appearances. If his Gospel ended with 
 verse 8 of chapter xvi., as the oldest manuscripts and the internal 
 evidence of the postscripts afterwards added appear to prove, there 
 is absolutely no statement of any such appearance at all. Nothing is 
 said but that three women found the tomb empty and saw a young 
 man clothed in white, who told them that Jesus had risen and gone 
 into Galilee. Now, if there is one fact more certain than another 
 about miraculous legends, it is that as long as they have any vitality 
 at all, they increase and multiply and do not dwindle and diminish. 
 We have an excellent example of this in the way in which a whole 
 cycle of miracles grew up in a short time about the central fact of the 
 martyrdom of St. Thomas a Becket. 
 
 If, therefore, Matthew and Mark knew nothing of the series of 
 miracles, which from St. Paul's statement we must assume to have been 
 currently believed by tho early Christians twenty years after the death 
 of Christ, the only possible explanation is that their Gospels were 
 compiled from narratives which had been written at a still earlier date, 
 before these miracles had been heard of. 
 
 We must suppose that Mark really wrote down what he heard 
 from Peter, and that Peter, being a truthful man, though he probably 
 had a sincere general belief that Christ had risen, declined to state facts 
 
140 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 which he knew had never occurred. This is in entire accordance with 
 what we find in the whole history of ecclesiastical miracles, from those 
 recorded in Scripture down to those of St. Francis of Assisi in the 
 thirteenth century, and of St. Francis Xavier in the sixteenth. Innu- 
 merable as are the accounts of miracles said to have been wrought by 
 relics or by other holy persons, there is no instance of any statement 
 by any credible person that he had himself worked a real miracle. 
 St. Augustine describes in detail many wonderful miracles, including 
 resurrections from the dead, which he said had been wrought to his 
 own knowledge, within his own diocese of Hippo, by the relics of the 
 martyr Stephen. In fact, he says that the number of miracles thus 
 wrought within the last two years since when these relics had been at 
 Hippo, was at least seventy. This testimony is far more precise than 
 any for the Gospel miracles, for it comes from a well-known man of 
 high character, who was on the spot at the time, and speaks of these 
 and many other miracles having occurred to his own knowledge. But 
 he never asserts that he himself had ever wrought a miracle. 
 
 In like manner Paulinus relates many miracles of his master, St. 
 Ambrose, including one of raising the dead; but Ambrose himself never 
 asserts that he performed a miracle. Neither does St. Francis of Assisi, 
 or any of the 25,000 saints of the Roman calendar to whom miracles 
 are attributed. 
 
 Even Jesus himself seems, on several occasions, to have disclaimed 
 the power of working miracles, as when He refused to comply with the 
 perfectly reasonable request of the Jews to attest His Messiahship by 
 a sign, if He wished them to believe in it. 
 
 There is every reason, therefore, to believe that when we find 
 narratives making no mention of important miracles which were after- 
 wards commonly received, they must be taken from records of an 
 earlier date, and proceeding directly from those who, if the miracles 
 were true, would have been the principal eye-witnesses to vouch for 
 them. But, if this be so, how near to the fountain-head do these narra- 
 tives carry us? We lose the miracles, but in compensation we get 
 what may be considered fresh and lively narratives of the life and 
 conversation of Jesus, and confirmation both of His being an historical 
 personage, and of the many anecdotes and sayings which depict His 
 character, and bring Him before us as He really lived. The mythical 
 theory cannot stand which found in every saying and action an ex post 
 facto attempt to show that He fulfilled prophecies and realized 
 Messianic expectations. We can see Him walking through the fields 
 on a Sunday afternoon with His disciples, plucking ears of corn, and 
 rebuking the Pharisees for their puritanical adherence to the letter of 
 the observance of the Sabbath ; we can see Him taking little children 
 in His arms, and talking familiarly at the well with the woman of 
 Samaria; we can hear Him preaching the Sermon on the Mount, and 
 dropping parables from His mouth like precious pearls of instruction 
 in love, charity, and all Christian virtues. We can sympathize with 
 the agony in the garden as with a real scene, and hear the despairing 
 cry, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken mef ' 
 
 It seems to me that faith in the reality of scenes like these is worth 
 a good deal of faith in the metaphysical conundrums of the Athanasian 
 Creed, or in the actual occurrence of incredible miracles. 
 
 Another argument in favor of the early date and genuine character 
 of the primitive records which have been worked up in the Synoptic 
 
MIRACLES. 141 
 
 Gospels, is afforded by the sayings attributed to Jesus. It is impos- 
 sible to imagine that these could be the invention of a later age, when 
 theological questions of faith and doctrine had absorbed almost the 
 entire attention of the Christian world. We have already seen how 
 wide is the difference, both as regards style and phase of thought, 
 between the discourses reported in the fourth Gospel and those of the 
 Synoptics. No one writing in the second or towards the end of the 
 first century, or even earlier in the religious atmosphere of St. Paul's 
 Epistles, could have composed the Sermon on the Mount or the Lord's 
 Prayer. The parables and maxims, instead of teaching nothing but a 
 pure and sublime morality in simple language, must have contained 
 references to the doctrine of the Logos, and the disputes between the 
 Jewish and the Gentile Christians. Even if these discourses had passed 
 long through the fluctuating medium of oral tradition, they must, 
 when finally reduced to writing, have shown many traces of the theo- 
 logical questions which agitated the Christian world. The only 
 explanation is that Apostles like St. Matthew, and St. Peter through 
 Mark, really recorded these sayings in writing while they were fresh 
 in memory, and that their authority secured them from adulteration. 
 
 At the same time it must be borne in mind that while portions of 
 the original narrative appear to carry us back very near to the 
 fountain-head, a large part of the Gospels in their present form is 
 evidently of much later date and of uncertain origin. It is clear that 
 Papias, writing about the year 150, knew nothing of the Gospels of 
 Luke and John, and nothing of those of Matthew and Mark in their 
 present form. The discourses of Matthew and the disconnected notes 
 of Mark, to which he refers, were something very different from the 
 complete histories of the life and teaching of Jesus contained in the 
 present Gospels. It is equally clear that Justin Martyr and Hege- 
 sippus, who wrote about the middle of the* second century, and made 
 frequent quotations of the sayings and doings of the Lord, made them, 
 not from the present canonical Gospels, but from other sources relating 
 the same things in different order and different language. "A Gospel 
 according to the Hebrews " and '* Memoirs of the Apostles " seem to 
 have been the principal sources from which they quoted. 
 
 It is evident however, that during the first two centuries there 
 were a great number of so-called Gospels and Apostolic writings 
 floating about in the Christian world along with oral traditions. The 
 author of Luke tells us this expressly, and later writers refer to a 
 number of works now unknown or classed as apocryphal, and complain 
 of forged Gospels circulated by heretics. None of these writings,, 
 however, seem to have had any peculiar authority or been considered 
 as inspired Scripture, which term is exclusively confined to the Old 
 Testament, until the middle of the second century. 
 
 At length, by a sort of law of the survival of the fittest, the present 
 Gospels acquired an increasing authority and superseded the other 
 works which had competed with them ; but the selection was deter- 
 mined to a great extent, not by those principles of criticism which 
 would now be applied to historical records, but by doctrinal consider- 
 ations of the support they gave to prevalent opinions. In other 
 words, orthodoxy and not authenticity was the test applied, and it is 
 probable that no Christian Father of the second or third century 
 would have hesitated to reject an early manuscript traceable very 
 clearly to an Apostle, in favor of a later compilation of doubtful origin,. 
 
142 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 if the former contained passages which seemed to favor heretical views, 
 while the latter omitted those passages, or altered them in a sense 
 favorable to orthodoxy. 
 
 To sum up the matter, it appears that while the antecedent 
 improbability of miracles has been enormously increased by the con- 
 stant and concurrent proofs of the permanence of the laws of Nature, 
 the evidence for them when dispassionately examined, is altogether 
 insufficient to establish even an ordinary fact. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 CHRISTIANITY WITHOUT MIRACLES. 
 
 CAN Christianity continue to exist without miracles? 
 To answer this question we must distinguish between 'practi 
 cal and theoretical Christianity. The essence of practical Christianitj 7 
 consists in such a genuine acceptance of its moral teaching, and love 
 and reverence for the life and character of its Founder, as may influ- 
 ence conduct, and be a guide and support in life. Theoretical Chris- 
 tianity is that which professes to teach a complete theory of the 
 creation of the world and man, of the relations between man and his 
 Creator, and of his position and destiny in a future state of existence. 
 
 The former needs no miracles. The Sermon on the Mount, and 
 St. Paul's description of Christian charity, carry their own proof with 
 them, and such parables as that of the Good Samaritan require no 
 support, either from historical evidence or from supernatural signs, to 
 come home to every heart whether in the first or in the nineteenth 
 century. The fact that the son of a Jewish mechanic, born in a small 
 town of an obscure province, without any special aid from position, 
 education, or other outward circumstance, succeeded, by the sheer force 
 of the purity and loveliness of his life and teaching, in captivating all 
 hearts and founding a religion which for nineteen centuries has been 
 the main civilizing influence of the world and the faith of its noblest 
 men and noblest races ; this fact, I say, is of itself so admirable and 
 wonderful as not to require the aid of vulgar miracles and metaphysical 
 puzzles in order to be recognized as worthy of the highest reverence. 
 And when such a life was crowned by a death which remains the 
 highest type of what is noblest in man, self-sacrifice in the cause of truth 
 and for the good of others, we may well call it divine, and not quarrel 
 with any language or any forms of worship which tend to keep it in 
 vierw and hold it up to the world as an inducement to a higher life. 
 
 Miracles are not .only unnecessary for a faith of this description, 
 but are a positive hindrance to it. To put it at the lowest, miracles, in 
 an age which has- learned the laws of Nature, must always be open to 
 grave doubts, and thus throw doubt on the- reliability of the narratives 
 which are supposed to depend on them. Moreover, the touching 
 beauty and force of example of the life of Jesus are almost lost if He 
 is evaporated into a sort of supernatural being, totally unlike any con- 
 ceivable member of the human family. We may strive to model our 
 conduct at a humble distance on that of the man Jesus, the carpenter's 
 son, whose father and mother, brothers and sisters, were familiar 
 
CHRISTIANITY WITHOUT MIRACLES. 143 
 
 figures in the streets of Nazareth, but hardly on that of a "Logos," 
 the incarnation of a metaphysical conception of an attribute of the 
 Deity, who existed before all worlds and by whom all things were 
 made. 
 
 But, on the other hand, miracles are indispensable for the dogma, 
 or theoretical side of Christian theology. Let us consider frankly 
 what this dogma is, and how far it is true that is, consistent or incon- 
 sistent with known and indisputable facts. 
 
 The Christain dogma cannot be better stated than in the words 
 of St. Paul, who was its first inventor, or, at any rate, the first by whom 
 it was elaborated into a complete theory. 
 
 "For as in Adam all^ die, even so in Christ shall all be made 
 alive." 
 
 This may be expanded into the following propositions : 
 
 1. That th'e Old Testament is miraculously inspired, and contains 
 a literally true account of the creation of the world and of man/ 
 
 2. That, in accordance with this account, the material universe, 
 earth, sun, moon, and stars, and all living things on the earth and in 
 the seas, were created in six days, after which God rested on the 
 seventh day. 
 
 3. That the first man, Adam, was created in the image of God and 
 after His own likeness, and placed, with the first woman, Eve, in the 
 Garden of Eden, where they lived for a time in a state of innocence, 
 and holding familiar converse with God. 
 
 4. That by an act of disobedience they fell from this high state, 
 were banished from the Garden, and sin and death were inflicted as a 
 penalty on them and their descendants. 
 
 5. That after long ages, during which mankind remained under 
 this curse, God sent His Son, who assumed human form, and by His 
 sacrifice on the cross appeased God's anger, removed the curse, and 
 destroyed the last enemy, death, giving a glorious resurrection and 
 immortal life to those who believed on Him. 
 
 This theory is a complete one, which hangs together in all its 
 parts, and of which no link can be displaced without affecting the 
 others. It is the theory which has been accepted by the Christian 
 world since its first promulgation ; and, although expounded with 
 metaphysical refinements in the Athanasian Creed, and set forth with 
 all the gorgeous surroundings of poetical imagination in Milton's 
 "Paradise Lest," it remains in substance Sb. Paul's theory, that "-as 
 in Adam all die, ever* so in Christ shall all be made alive." 
 
 It is obvious that this theory is open to grave objections on moral 
 grounds. It is more in the character of a jealous Oriental despot than 
 of a loving and merciful Father, to inflict such a punishment on 
 hundreds of millions of unoffending creatures for an act of disobedi- 
 ence on the part of a remote ancestor. And it is still more inconsist- 
 ent with our modern ideas of justice and humanity to require the 
 vicarious sacrifice of an only Son as the condition . of forgiving the 
 offence and removing the curse. 
 
 Nevertheless it must be admitted that, notwithstanding these 
 objections, and harsh as the theory is, it has had a wonderful attrac- 
 tion for many of the highest intellects and noblest nations of the 
 human race. 
 
 It was the creed of Luther, Cromwell, and Milton, and the inspir- 
 ing spirit of Scotch Presbyterianism and English Puritanism. It has* 
 
144 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT. 
 
 inspired great men and great deeds, and although responsible for a 
 good deal of persecution and fanaticism, it must always be spoken of 
 with respect, as a creed which has had a powerful effect in raising 
 men's minds from lower to higher things, and has on the whole done 
 good work in its time. 
 
 But the question of its continuance as a creed which it is possible 
 for sincere men to believe, as literally and historically true, depends 
 not on wishes and feelings, or on reverence for the past, but on hard 
 facts. Is it or is it not consistent with what are now known to be the 
 real truths respecting the constitution of the universe and the origin 
 of life and of man? 
 
 To state this question is to answer it. '.There is hardly one of the 
 facts shown in the preceding chapters to be the undoubted results of 
 modern science which does not shatter to pieces the whole fabric. It 
 is as certain as that two and two make four that the world was not 
 created in the manner described in Genesis ; that the sun, moon, and 
 stars are not lights placed in the firmament or solid crystal vault of 
 heaven to give light upon the earth ; that animals were not all created 
 ii>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." 
 
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 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. 
 
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 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. 
 
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 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. 
 
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 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. 
 
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 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. 
 
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 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. 
 
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 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. 
 II. Photographing Fifteen Million Stars. 
 III. The Story of the Moon. 
 IV. The Earth's Past. 
 V. The Story of the Earth. 
 VI. The Falls of Niagara. 
 VII. The Unknowable. 
 
 VIII. Sun -Worship. 
 IX. Herbert Spencer on Priesthoods. 
 X. The Star of Bethlehem and a Bible Comet. 
 XI. An Historical Puzzle. 
 XEE. Galileo, Darwin, and the Pope. 
 XIII. Science and Politics. 
 XIV. Parents and Children. 
 
 No. 91. Double number, 3tt cents. 
 
 THE RISE OF UNIVERSITIES.- By S. S. LAURIE, LL.D., Professor of the 
 Institutes and History of Education in the University of Edinburgh. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 I. The Romano-Hellenic Schools and their 
 
 Decline. 
 II. Influence of Christianity on Education, and 
 
 Rise of Christian Schools, 
 m. Charlemagne and the Ninth Century. 
 IV. InnerWork of Christian Schools (450-1100). 
 V. Tenth and Eleventh Centuries. 
 VI. The Rise of Universities (A. D. 1100). 
 VII. The First Universities. The Schola Saler- 
 
 nitana and the University of Naples. 
 VIII. The University of Bologna. 
 
 IX The University of Paris. 
 X. 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. 
 
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 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. General Review of the Subject. 
 II. Death by Hanging. 
 III. Death by Electricity. 
 IV. Death by Morphine Injection. 
 
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 FREEDOM 
 
 IN SCIENCE AND TEACHING.- By ERNST HAECKEL, 
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 Chapter 
 
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 FORCE AND ENERGY.-A Theory of Dynamics.- By GRANT ALLEN. 
 
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 PART I. ABSTRACT OR ANALYTIC. 
 
 Chapter 
 Chapter 
 Chapter 
 Chapter 
 Chapter 
 Chapter 
 Chapter 
 Chapter 
 Chapter 
 
 Chapter 
 Chapter 
 Chapter 
 Chapter 
 
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 Chapter V. Conclusion. Attention dependent 
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