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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/16729-8.txt b/16729-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a45bb2b --- /dev/null +++ b/16729-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11414 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Lay Sermons, Addresses and Reviews, by Thomas +Henry Huxley + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Lay Sermons, Addresses and Reviews + + +Author: Thomas Henry Huxley + + + +Release Date: September 21, 2005 [eBook #16729] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAY SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND +REVIEWS*** + + +E-text prepared by Clare Boothby, Martin Pettit, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) + + + +LAY SERMONS, ADDRESSES, AND REVIEWS + +by + +THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY, LL.D., F.R.S. + +London: +MacMillan and Co. +London +R. Clay, Sons, and Taylor, Printers, +Bread Street Hill. + +1870 + + + + + + + +A PREFATORY LETTER. + + +MY DEAR TYNDALL, + +I should have liked to provide this collection of "Lay Sermons, +Addresses, and Reviews," with a Dedication and a Preface. In the former, +I should have asked you to allow me to associate your name with the +book, chiefly on the ground that the oldest of the papers in it is a +good deal younger than our friendship. In the latter, I intended to +comment upon certain criticisms with which some of these Essays have +been met. + +But, on turning the matter over in my mind, I began to fear that a +formal dedication at the beginning of such a volume would look like a +grand lodge in front of a set of cottages; while a complete defence of +any of my old papers would simply amount to writing a new one--a labour +for which I am, at present, by no means fit. + +The book must go forth, therefore, without any better substitute for +either Dedication, or Preface, than this letter; before concluding which +it is necessary for me to notify you, and any other reader, of two or +three matters. + +The first is, that the oldest Essay of the whole, that "On the +Educational Value of the Natural History Sciences," contains a view of +the nature of the differences between living and not-living bodies out +of which I have long since grown. + +Secondly, in the same paper, there is a statement concerning the method +of the mathematical sciences, which, repeated and expanded elsewhere, +brought upon me, during the meeting of the British Association at +Exeter, the artillery of our eminent friend Professor Sylvester. + +No one knows better than you do, how readily I should defer to the +opinion of so great a mathematician if the question at issue were +really, as he seems to think it is, a mathematical one. But I submit, +that the dictum of a mathematical athlete upon a difficult problem which +mathematics offers to philosophy, has no more special weight, than the +verdict of that great pedestrian Captain Barclay would have had, in +settling a disputed point in the physiology of locomotion. + +The genius which sighs for new worlds to conquer beyond that surprising +region in which "geometry, algebra, and the theory of numbers melt into +one another like sunset tints, or the colours of a dying dolphin," may +be of comparatively little service in the cold domain (mostly lighted by +the moon, some say) of philosophy. And the more I think of it, the more +does our friend seem to me to fall into the position of one of those +"verständige Leute," about whom he makes so apt a quotation from Goethe. +Surely he has not duly considered two points. The first, that I am in no +way answerable for the origination of the doctrine he criticises: and +the second, that if we are to employ the terms observation, induction, +and experiment, in the sense in which he uses them, logic is as much an +observational, inductive, and experimental science as mathematics; and +that, I confess, appears to me to be a _reductio ad absurdum_ of his +argument. + +Thirdly, the essay "On the Physical Basis of Life" was intended to +contain a plain and untechnical statement of one of the great tendencies +of modern biological thought, accompanied by a protest, from the +philosophical side, against what is commonly called Materialism. The +result of my well-meant efforts I find to be, that I am generally +credited with having invented "protoplasm" in the interests of +"materialism." My unlucky "Lay Sermon" has been attacked by +microscopists, ignorant alike of Biology and Philosophy; by +philosophers, not very learned in either Biology or Microscopy; by +clergymen of several denominations; and by some few writers who have +taken the trouble to understand the subject. I trust that these last +will believe that I leave the essay unaltered from no want of respectful +attention to all they have said. + +Fourthly, I wish to refer all who are interested in the topics discussed +in my address on "Geological Reform," to the reply with which Sir +William Thomson has honoured me. + +And, lastly, let me say that I reprint the review of "The Origin of +Species" simply because it has been cited as mine by a late President of +the Geological Society. If you find its phraseology, in some places, to +be more vigorous than seems needful, recollect that it was written in +the heat of our first battles over the Novum Organon of biology; that we +were all ten years younger in those days; and last, but not least, that +it was not published until it had been submitted to the revision of a +friend for whose judgment I had then, as I have now, the greatest +respect. + +Ever, my dear TYNDALL, + +Yours very faithfully, + +T.H. HUXLEY + +LONDON, _June 1870_. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +I. + PAGE +ON THE ADVISABLENESS OF IMPROVING NATURAL KNOWLEDGE. + (A Lay Sermon delivered in St. Martin's Hall, on the evening + of Sunday, the 7th of January, 1866, and subsequently published + in the _Fortnightly Review_) 3 + +II. + +EMANCIPATION--BLACK AND WHITE. + (The _Reader_, May 20th, 1865) 23 + +III. + +A LIBERAL EDUCATION: AND WHERE TO FIND IT. (An Address + to the South London Working Men's College, delivered on the + 4th of January, 1868, and subsequently published in _Macmillan's + Magazine_) 31 + +IV. + +SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION: NOTES OF AN AFTER-DINNER SPEECH. (Delivered + before the Liverpool Philomathic Society in April 1869, + and subsequently published in _Macmillan's Magazine_) 60 + +V. + +ON THE EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SCIENCES. + (An Address delivered at St. Martin's Hall, on the 22d July, + 1854, and published as a pamphlet in that year) 80 + +VI. + + +ON THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY. (A Lecture delivered at the South + Kensington Museum, in 1861, and subsequently published by the + Department of Science and Art) 104 + +VII. + +ON THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF LIFE. (A Lay Sermon delivered in + Edinburgh, on Sunday, the 8th of November, 1868, at the request + of the late Rev. James Cranbrook; subsequently published in the + _Fortnightly Review_) 132 + +VIII. + +THE SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS OF POSITIVISM. (A Reply to Mr. Congreve's + Attack upon the preceding Paper. Published in the _Fortnightly + Review._ 1869) 162 + +IX. + +ON A PIECE OF CHALK. (A Lecture delivered to the Working Men of + Norwich, during the Meeting of the British Association, in 1868. + Subsequently published in _Macmillan's Magazine_) 192 + +X. + +GEOLOGICAL CONTEMPORANEITY AND PERSISTENT TYPES OF LIFE. (The + Anniversary Address to the Geological Society for 1862) 223 + +XI. + +GEOLOGICAL REFORM. (The Anniversary Address to the Geological + Society for 1869) 251 + +XII. + +THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. (The _Westminster Review_, April 1860) 280 + +XIII. + +CRITICISMS ON "THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES." (The _Natural History + Review_, 1864) 328 + +XIV. + +ON DESCARTES' "DISCOURSE TOUCHING THE METHOD OF USING ONE'S +REASON RIGHTLY AND OF SEEKING SCIENTIFIC TRUTH." (An Address to + the Cambridge Young Men's Christian Society, delivered on the + 24th of March, 1870, and subsequently published in + _Macmillan's Magazine_) 351 + + + + +LAY SERMONS, ADDRESSES, AND REVIEWS. + + + + +I. + +ON THE ADVISABLENESS OF IMPROVING NATURAL KNOWLEDGE. + + +This time two hundred years ago--in the beginning of January, +1666--those of our forefathers who inhabited this great and ancient +city, took breath between the shocks of two fearful calamities, one not +quite past, although its fury had abated; the other to come. + +Within a few yards of the very spot on which we are assembled, so the +tradition runs, that painful and deadly malady, the plague, appeared in +the latter months of 1664; and, though no new visitor, smote the people +of England, and especially of her capital, with a violence unknown +before, in the course of the following year. The hand of a master has +pictured what happened in those dismal months; and in that truest of +fictions, "The History of the Plague Year," Defoe shows death, with +every accompaniment of pain and terror, stalking through the narrow +streets of old London, and changing their busy hum into a silence broken +only by the wailing of the mourners of fifty thousand dead; by the woful +denunciations and mad prayers of fanatics; and by the madder yells of +despairing profligates. + +But, about this time in 1666, the death-rate had sunk to nearly its +ordinary amount; a case of plague occurred only here and there, and the +richer citizens who had flown from the pest had returned to their +dwellings. The remnant of the people began to toil at the accustomed +round of duty, or of pleasure; and the stream of city life bid fair to +flow back along its old bed, with renewed and uninterrupted vigour. + +The newly kindled hope was deceitful. The great plague, indeed, returned +no more; but what it had done for the Londoners, the great fire, which +broke out in the autumn of 1666, did for London; and, in September of +that year, a heap of ashes and the indestructible energy of the people +were all that remained of the glory of five-sixths of the city within +the walls. + + +Our forefathers had their own ways of accounting for each of these +calamities. They submitted to the plague in humility and in penitence, +for they believed it to be the judgment of God. But, towards the fire +they were furiously indignant, interpreting it as the effect of the +malice of man,--as the work of the Republicans, or of the Papists, +according as their prepossessions ran in favour of loyalty or of +Puritanism. + +It would, I fancy, have fared but ill with one who, standing where I now +stand, in what was then a thickly peopled and fashionable part of +London, should have broached to our ancestors the doctrine which I now +propound to you--that all their hypotheses were alike wrong; that the +plague was no more, in their sense, Divine judgment, than the fire was +the work of any political, or of any religious, sect; but that they were +themselves the authors of both plague and fire, and that they must look +to themselves to prevent the recurrence of calamities, to all appearance +so peculiarly beyond the reach of human control--so evidently the result +of the wrath of God, or of the craft and subtlety of an enemy. + +And one may picture to oneself how harmoniously the holy cursing of the +Puritan of that day would have chimed in with the unholy cursing and the +crackling wit of the Rochesters and Sedleys, and with the revilings of +the political fanatics, if my imaginary plain dealer had gone on to say +that, if the return of such misfortunes were ever rendered impossible, +it would not be in virtue of the victory of the faith of Laud, or of +that of Milton; and, as little, by the triumph of republicanism, as by +that of monarchy. But that the one thing needful for compassing this end +was, that the people of England should second the efforts of an +insignificant corporation, the establishment of which, a few years +before the epoch of the great plague and the great fire, had been as +little noticed, as they were conspicuous. + + +Some twenty years before the outbreak of the plague a few calm and +thoughtful students banded themselves together for the purpose, as they +phrased it, of "improving natural knowledge." The ends they proposed to +attain cannot be stated more clearly than in the words of one of the +founders of the organization:-- + +"Our business was (precluding matters of theology and state affairs) to +discourse and consider of philosophical enquiries, and such as related +thereunto:--as Physick, Anatomy, Geometry, Astronomy, Navigation, +Staticks, Magneticks, Chymicks, Mechanicks, and Natural Experiments; +with the state of these studies and their cultivation at home and +abroad. We then discoursed of the circulation of the blood, the valves +in the veins, the venĉ lacteĉ, the lymphatic vessels, the Copernican +hypothesis, the nature of comets and new stars, the satellites of +Jupiter, the oval shape (as it then appeared) of Saturn, the spots on +the sun and its turning on its own axis, the inequalities and +selenography of the moon, the several phases of Venus and Mercury, the +improvement of telescopes and grinding of glasses for that purpose, the +weight of air, the possibility or impossibility of vacuities and +nature's abhorrence thereof, the Torricellian experiment in quicksilver, +the descent of heavy bodies and the degree of acceleration therein, with +divers other things of like nature, some of which were then but new +discoveries, and others not so generally known and embraced as now they +are; with other things appertaining to what hath been called the New +Philosophy, which, from the times of Galileo at Florence, and Sir +Francis Bacon (Lord Verulam) in England, hath been much cultivated in +Italy, France, Germany, and other parts abroad, as well as with us in +England." + +The learned Dr. Wallis, writing in 1696, narrates, in these words, what +happened half a century before, or about 1645. The associates met at +Oxford, in the rooms of Dr. Wilkins, who was destined to become a +bishop; and subsequently coming together in London, they attracted the +notice of the king. And it is a strange evidence of the taste for +knowledge which the most obviously worthless of the Stuarts shared with +his father and grandfather, that Charles the Second was not content +with saying witty things about his philosophers, but did wise things +with regard to them. For he not only bestowed upon them such attention +as he could spare from his poodles and his mistresses, but, being in his +usual state of impecuniosity, begged for them of the Duke of Ormond; +and, that step being without effect, gave them Chelsea College, a +charter, and a mace: crowning his favours in the best way they could be +crowned, by burdening them no further with royal patronage or state +interference. + +Thus it was that the half-dozen young men, studious of the "New +Philosophy," who met in one another's lodgings in Oxford or in London, +in the middle of the seventeenth century, grew in numerical and in real +strength, until, in its latter part, the "Royal Society for the +Improvement of Natural Knowledge" had already become famous, and had +acquired a claim upon the veneration of Englishmen, which it has ever +since retained, as the principal focus of scientific activity in our +islands, and the chief champion of the cause it was formed to support. + +It was by the aid of the Royal Society that Newton published his +"Principia." If all the books in the world, except the Philosophical +Transactions, were destroyed, it is safe to say that the foundations of +physical science would remain unshaken, and that the vast intellectual +progress of the last two centuries would be largely, though +incompletely, recorded. Nor have any signs of halting or of decrepitude +manifested themselves in our own times. As in Dr. Wallis's days, so in +these, "our business is, precluding theology and state affairs, to +discourse and consider of philosophical enquiries." But our +"Mathematick" is one which Newton would have to go to school to learn; +our "Staticks, Mechanicks, Magneticks, Chymicks, and Natural +Experiments" constitute a mass of physical and chemical knowledge, a +glimpse at which would compensate Galileo for the doings of a score of +inquisitorial cardinals; our "Physick" and "Anatomy" have embraced such +infinite varieties of being, have laid open such new worlds in time and +space, have grappled, not unsuccessfully, with such complex problems, +that the eyes of Vesalius and of Harvey might be dazzled by the sight of +the tree that has grown out of their grain of mustard seed. + + +The fact is perhaps rather too much, than too little, forced upon one's +notice, nowadays, that all this marvellous intellectual growth has a no +less wonderful expression in practical life; and that, in this respect, +if in no other, the movement symbolized by the progress of the Royal +Society stands without a parallel in the history of mankind. + +A series of volumes as bulky as the Transactions of the Royal Society +might possibly be filled with the subtle speculations of the schoolmen; +not improbably, the obtaining a mastery over the products of mediĉval +thought might necessitate an even greater expenditure of time and of +energy than the acquirement of the "New Philosophy;" but though such +work engrossed the best intellects of Europe for a longer time than has +elapsed since the great fire, its effects were "writ in water," so far +as our social state is concerned. + +On the other hand, if the noble first President of the Royal Society +could revisit the upper air and once more gladden his eyes with a sight +of the familiar mace, he would find himself in the midst of a material +civilization more different from that of his day, than that of the +seventeenth, was from that of the first, century. And if Lord +Brouncker's native sagacity had not deserted his ghost, he would need no +long reflection to discover that all these great ships, these railways, +these telegraphs, these factories, these printing presses, without which +the whole fabric of modern English society would collapse into a mass of +stagnant and starving pauperism,--that all these pillars of our State +are but the ripples and the bubbles upon the surface of that great +spiritual stream, the springs of which, only, he and his fellows were +privileged to see; and seeing, to recognise as that which it behoved +them above all things to keep pure and undefiled. + +It may not be too great a flight of imagination to conceive our noble +_revenant_ not forgetful of the great troubles of his own day, and +anxious to know how often London had been burned down since his time, +and how often the plague had carried off its thousands. He would have to +learn that, although London contains tenfold the inflammable matter that +it did in 1666; though, not content with filling our rooms with woodwork +and light draperies, we must needs lead inflammable and explosive gases +into every corner of our streets and houses, we never allow even a +street to burn down. And if he asked how this had come about, we should +have to explain that the improvement of natural knowledge has furnished +us with dozens of machines for throwing water upon fires, anyone of +which would have furnished the ingenious Mr. Hooke, the first "curator +and experimenter" of the Royal Society, with ample materials for +discourse before half a dozen meetings of that body; and that, to say +truth, except for the progress of natural knowledge, we should not have +been able to make even the tools by which these machines are +constructed. And, further, it would be necessary to add, that although +severe fires sometimes occur and inflict great damage, the loss is very +generally compensated by societies, the operations of which have been +rendered possible only by the progress of natural knowledge in the +direction of mathematics, and the accumulation of wealth in virtue of +other natural knowledge. + +But the plague? My Lord Brouncker's observation would not, I fear, lead +him to think that Englishmen of the nineteenth century are purer in +life, or more fervent in religious faith, than the generation which +could produce a Boyle, an Evelyn, and a Milton. He might find the mud of +society at the bottom, instead of at the top, but I fear that the sum +total would be as deserving of swift judgment as at the time of the +Restoration. And it would be our duty to explain once more, and this +time not without shame, that we have no reason to believe that it is the +improvement of our faith, nor that of our morals, which keeps the plague +from our city; but, again, that it is the improvement of our natural +knowledge. + +We have learned that pestilences will only take up their abode among +those who have prepared unswept and ungarnished residences for them. +Their cities must have narrow, unwatered streets, foul with accumulated +garbage. Their houses must be ill-drained, ill-lighted, ill-ventilated. +Their subjects must be ill-washed, ill-fed, ill-clothed. The London of +1665 was such a city. The cities of the East, where plague has an +enduring dwelling, are such cities. We, in later times, have learned +somewhat of Nature, and partly obey her. Because of this partial +improvement of our natural knowledge and of that fractional obedience, +we have no plague; because that knowledge is still very imperfect and +that obedience yet incomplete, typhus is our companion and cholera our +visitor. But it is not presumptuous to express the belief that, when our +knowledge is more complete and our obedience the expression of our +knowledge, London will count her centuries of freedom from typhus and +cholera, as she now gratefully reckons her two hundred years of +ignorance of that plague which swooped upon her thrice in the first half +of the seventeenth century. + +Surely, there is nothing in these explanations which is not fully borne +out by the facts? Surely, the principles involved in them are now +admitted among the fixed beliefs of all thinking men? Surely, it is true +that our countrymen are less subject to fire, famine, pestilence, and +all the evils which result from a want of command over and due +anticipation of the course of Nature, than were the countrymen of +Milton; and health, wealth, and well-being are more abundant with us +than with them? But no less certainly is the difference due to the +improvement of our knowledge of Nature, and the extent to which that +improved knowledge has been incorporated with the household words of +men, and has supplied the springs of their daily actions. + +Granting for a moment, then, the truth of that which the depreciators of +natural knowledge are so fond of urging, that its improvement can only +add to the resources of our material civilization; admitting it to be +possible that the founders of the Royal Society themselves looked for no +other reward than this, I cannot confess that I was guilty of +exaggeration when I hinted, that to him who had the gift of +distinguishing between prominent events and important events, the origin +of a combined effort on the part of mankind to improve natural knowledge +might have loomed larger than the Plague and have outshone the glare of +the Fire; as a something fraught with a wealth of beneficence to +mankind, in comparison with which the damage done by those ghastly evils +would shrink into insignificance. + +It is very certain that for every victim slain by the plague, hundreds +of mankind exist and find a fair share of happiness in the world, by the +aid of the spinning jenny. And the great fire, at its worst, could not +have burned the supply of coal, the daily working of which, in the +bowels of the earth, made possible by the steam pump, gives rise to an +amount of wealth to which the millions lost in old London are but as an +old song. + + +But spinning jenny and steam pump are, after all, but toys, possessing +an accidental value; and natural knowledge creates multitudes of more +subtle contrivances, the praises of which do not happen to be sung +because they are not directly convertible into instruments for creating +wealth. When I contemplate natural knowledge squandering such gifts +among men, the only appropriate comparison I can find for her is, to +liken her to such a peasant woman as one sees in the Alps, striding ever +upward, heavily burdened, and with mind bent only on her home; but yet, +without effort and without thought, knitting for her children. Now +stockings are good and comfortable things, and the children will +undoubtedly be much the better for them; but surely it would be +short-sighted, to say the least of it, to depreciate this toiling mother +as a mere stocking-machine--a mere provider of physical comforts? + +However, there are blind leaders of the blind, and not a few of them, +who take this view of natural knowledge, and can see nothing in the +bountiful mother of humanity but a sort of comfort-grinding machine. +According to them, the improvement of natural knowledge always has been, +and always must be, synonymous with no more than the improvement of the +material resources and the increase of the gratifications of men. + +Natural knowledge is, in their eyes, no real mother of mankind, bringing +them up with kindness, and, if need be, with sternness, in the way they +should go, and instructing them in all things needful for their welfare; +but a sort of fairy godmother, ready to furnish her pets with shoes of +swiftness, swords of sharpness, and omnipotent Aladdin's lamps, so that +they may have telegraphs to Saturn, and see the other side of the moon, +and thank God they are better than their benighted ancestors. + +If this talk were true, I, for one, should not greatly care to toil in +the service of natural knowledge. I think I would just as soon be +quietly chipping my own flint axe, after the manner of my forefathers a +few thousand years back, as be troubled with the endless malady of +thought which now infests us all, for such reward. But I venture to say +that such views are contrary alike to reason and to fact. Those who +discourse in such fashion seem to me to be so intent upon trying to see +what is above Nature, or what is behind her, that they are blind to what +stares them in the face, in her. + +I should not venture to speak thus strongly if my justification were not +to be found in the simplest and most obvious facts,--if it needed more +than an appeal to the most notorious truths to justify my assertion, +that the improvement of natural knowledge, whatever direction it has +taken, and however low the aims of those who may have commenced it--has +not only conferred practical benefits on men, but, in so doing, has +effected a revolution in their conceptions of the universe and of +themselves, and has profoundly altered their modes of thinking and their +views of right and wrong. I say that natural knowledge, seeking to +satisfy natural wants, has found the ideas which can alone still +spiritual cravings. I say that natural knowledge, in desiring to +ascertain the laws of comfort, has been driven to discover those of +conduct; and to lay the foundations of a new morality. + + +Let us take these points separately; and, first, what great ideas has +natural knowledge introduced into men's minds? + +I cannot but think that the foundations of all natural knowledge were +laid when the reason of man first came face to face with the facts of +Nature: when the savage first learned that the fingers of one hand are +fewer than those of both; that it is shorter to cross a stream than to +head it; that a stone stops where it is unless it be moved, and that it +drops from the hand which lets it go; that light and heat come and go +with the sun; that sticks burn away in a fire; that plants and animals +grow and die; that if he struck his fellow-savage a blow he would make +him angry, and perhaps get a blow in return, while if he offered him a +fruit he would please him, and perhaps receive a fish in exchange. When +men had acquired this much knowledge, the outlines, rude though they +were, of mathematics, of physics, of chemistry, of biology, of moral, +economical, and political science, were sketched. Nor did the germ of +religion fail when science began to bud. Listen to words which, though +new, are yet three thousand years old:-- + + "...When in heaven the stars about the moon + Look beautiful, when all the winds are laid, + And every height comes out, and jutting peak + And valley, and the immeasurable heavens + Break open to their highest, and all the stars + Shine, and the shepherd gladdens in his heart."[1] + +If the half-savage Greek could share our feelings thus far, it is +irrational to doubt that he went further, to find, as we do, that upon +that brief gladness there follows a certain sorrow,--the little light of +awakened human intelligence shines so mere a spark amidst the abyss of +the unknown and unknowable; seems so insufficient to do more than +illuminate the imperfections that cannot be remedied, the aspirations +that cannot be realized, of man's own nature. But in this sadness, this +consciousness of the limitation of man, this sense of an open secret +which he cannot penetrate, lies the essence of all religion; and the +attempt to embody it in the forms furnished by the intellect is the +origin of the higher theologies. + +Thus it seems impossible to imagine but that the foundations of all +knowledge--secular or sacred--were laid when intelligence dawned, though +the superstructure remained for long ages so slight and feeble as to be +compatible with the existence of almost any general view respecting the +mode of governance of the universe. No doubt, from the first, there were +certain phenomena which, to the rudest mind, presented a constancy of +occurrence, and suggested that a fixed order ruled, at any rate, among +them. I doubt if the grossest of Fetish worshippers ever imagined that a +stone must have a god within it to make it fall, or that a fruit had a +god within it to make it taste sweet. With regard to such matters as +these, it is hardly questionable that mankind from the first took +strictly positive and scientific views. + +But, with respect to all the less familiar occurrences which present +themselves, uncultured man, no doubt, has always taken himself as the +standard of comparison, as the centre and measure of the world; nor +could he well avoid doing so. And finding that his apparently uncaused +will has a powerful effect in giving rise to many occurrences, he +naturally enough ascribed other and greater events to other and greater +volitions, and came to look upon the world and all that therein is, as +the product of the volitions of persons like himself, but stronger, and +capable of being appeased or angered, as he himself might be soothed or +irritated. Through such conceptions of the plan and working of the +universe all mankind have passed, or are passing. And we may now +consider, what has been the effect of the improvement of natural +knowledge on the views of men who have reached this stage, and who have +begun to cultivate natural knowledge with no desire but that of +"increasing God's honour and bettering man's estate." + +For example: what could seem wiser, from a mere material point of view, +more innocent, from a theological one, to an ancient people, than that +they should learn the exact succession of the seasons, as warnings for +their husbandmen; or the position of the stars, as guides to their rude +navigators? But what has grown out of this search for natural knowledge +of so merely useful a character? You all know the reply. +Astronomy,--which of all sciences has filled men's minds with general +ideas of a character most foreign to their daily experience, and has, +more than any other, rendered it impossible for them to accept the +beliefs of their fathers. Astronomy,--which tells them that this so vast +and seemingly solid earth is but an atom among atoms, whirling, no man +knows whither, through illimitable space; which demonstrates that what +we call the peaceful heaven above us, is but that space, filled by an +infinitely subtle matter whose particles are seething and surging, like +the waves of an angry sea; which opens up to us infinite regions where +nothing is known, or ever seems to have been known, but matter and +force, operating according to rigid rules; which leads us to contemplate +phenomena the very nature of which demonstrates that they must have had +a beginning, and that they must have an end, but the very nature of +which also proves that the beginning was, to our conceptions of time, +infinitely remote, and that the end is as immeasurably distant. + +But it is not alone those who pursue astronomy who ask for bread and +receive ideas. What more harmless than the attempt to lift and +distribute water by pumping it; what more absolutely and grossly +utilitarian? But out of pumps grew the discussions about Nature's +abhorrence of a vacuum; and then it was discovered that Nature does not +abhor a vacuum, but that air has weight; and that notion paved the way +for the doctrine that all matter has weight, and that the force which +produces weight is co-extensive with the universe,--in short, to the +theory of universal gravitation and endless force. While learning how to +handle gases led to the discovery of oxygen, and to modern chemistry, +and to the notion of the indestructibility of matter. + +Again, what simpler, or more absolutely practical, than the attempt to +keep the axle of a wheel from heating when the wheel turns round very +fast? How useful for carters and gig drivers to know something about +this; and how good were it, if any ingenious person would find out the +cause of such phenomena, and thence educe a general remedy for them. +Such an ingenious person was Count Rumford; and he and his successors +have landed us in the theory of the persistence, or indestructibility, +of force. And in the infinitely minute, as in the infinitely great, the +seekers after natural knowledge, of the kinds called physical and +chemical, have everywhere found a definite order and succession of +events which seem never to be infringed. + +And how has it fared with "Physick" and Anatomy? Have the anatomist, the +physiologist, or the physician, whose business it has been to devote +themselves assiduously to that eminently practical and direct end, the +alleviation of the sufferings of mankind,--have they been able to +confine their vision more absolutely to the strictly useful? I fear they +are worst offenders of all. For if the astronomer has set before us the +infinite magnitude of space, and the practical eternity of the duration +of the universe; if the physical and chemical philosophers have +demonstrated the infinite minuteness of its constituent parts, and the +practical eternity of matter and of force; and if both have alike +proclaimed the universality of a definite and predicable order and +succession of events, the workers in biology have not only accepted all +these, but have added more startling theses of their own. For, as the +astronomers discover in the earth no centre of the universe, but an +eccentric speck, so the naturalists find man to be no centre of the +living world, but one amidst endless modifications of life; and as the +astronomer observes the mark of practically endless time set upon the +arrangements of the solar system, so the student of life finds the +records of ancient forms of existence peopling the world for ages, +which, in relation to human experience, are infinite. + +Furthermore, the physiologist finds life to be as dependent for its +manifestation on particular molecular arrangements as any physical or +chemical phenomenon; and, wherever he extends his researches, fixed +order and unchanging causation reveal themselves, as plainly as in the +rest of Nature. + +Nor can I find that any other fate has awaited the germ of Religion. +Arising, like all other kinds of knowledge, out of the action and +interaction of man's mind, with that which is not man's mind, it has +taken the intellectual coverings of Fetishism or Polytheism; of Theism +or Atheism; of Superstition or Rationalism. With these, and their +relative merits and demerits, I have nothing to do; but this it is +needful for my purpose to say, that if the religion of the present +differs from that of the past, it is because the theology of the present +has become more scientific than that of the past; because it has not +only renounced idols of wood and idols of stone, but begins to see the +necessity of breaking in pieces the idols built up of books and +traditions and fine-spun ecclesiastical cobwebs: and of cherishing the +noblest and most human of man's emotions, by worship "for the most part +of the silent sort" at the altar of the Unknown and Unknowable. + +Such are a few of the new conceptions implanted in our minds by the +improvement of natural knowledge. Men have acquired the ideas of the +practically infinite extent of the universe and of its practical +eternity; they are familiar with the conception that our earth is but an +infinitesimal fragment of that part of the universe which can be seen; +and that, nevertheless, its duration is, as compared with our standards +of time, infinite. They have further acquired the idea that man is but +one of innumerable forms of life now existing in the globe, and that the +present existences are but the last of an immeasurable series of +predecessors. Moreover, every step they have made in natural knowledge +has tended to extend and rivet in their minds the conception of a +definite order of the universe--which is embodied in what are called, by +an unhappy metaphor, the laws of Nature--and to narrow the range and +loosen the force of men's belief in spontaneity, or in changes other +than such as arise out of that definite order itself. + +Whether these ideas are well or ill founded is not the question. No one +can deny that they exist, and have been the inevitable outgrowth of the +improvement of natural knowledge. And if so, it cannot be doubted that +they are changing the form of men's most cherished and most important +convictions. + + +And as regards the second point--the extent to which the improvement of +natural knowledge has remodelled and altered what may be termed the +intellectual ethics of men,--what are among the moral convictions most +fondly held by barbarous and semi-barbarous people? + +They are the convictions that authority is the soundest basis of belief; +that merit attaches to a readiness to believe; that the doubting +disposition is a bad one, and scepticism a sin; that when good authority +has pronounced what is to be believed, and faith has accepted it, reason +has no further duty. There are many excellent persons who yet hold by +these principles, and it is not my present business, or intention, to +discuss their views. All I wish to bring clearly before your minds is +the unquestionable fact, that the improvement of natural knowledge is +effected by methods which directly give the lie to all these +convictions, and assume the exact reverse of each to be true. + +The improver of natural knowledge absolutely refuses to acknowledge +authority, as such. For him, scepticism is the highest of duties; blind +faith the one unpardonable sin. And it cannot be otherwise, for every +great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection +of authority, the cherishing of the keenest scepticism, the annihilation +of the spirit of blind faith: and the most ardent votary of science +holds his firmest convictions, not because the men he most venerates +hold them; not because their verity is testified by portents and +wonders; but because his experience teaches him that whenever he chooses +to bring these convictions into contact with their primary source, +Nature--whenever he thinks fit to test them by appealing to experiment +and to observation--Nature will confirm them. The man of science has +learned to believe in justification, not by faith, but by verification. + + +Thus, without for a moment pretending to despise the practical results +of the improvement of natural knowledge, and its beneficial influence on +material civilization, it must, I think, be admitted that the great +ideas, some of which I have indicated, and the ethical spirit which I +have endeavoured to sketch, in the few moments which remained at my +disposal, constitute the real and permanent significance of natural +knowledge. + +If these ideas be destined, as I believe they are, to be more and more +firmly established as the world grows older; if that spirit be fated, as +I believe it is, to extend itself into all departments of human thought, +and to become co-extensive with the range of knowledge; if, as our race +approaches its maturity, it discovers, as I believe it will, that there +is but one kind of knowledge and but one method of acquiring it; then +we, who are still children, may justly feel it our highest duty to +recognise the advisableness of improving natural knowledge, and so to +aid ourselves and our successors in their course towards the noble goal +which lies before mankind. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] Need it be said that this is Tennyson's English for Homer's Greek? + + + + +II. + +EMANCIPATION--BLACK AND WHITE. + + +Quashie's plaintive inquiry, "Am I not a man and a brother?" seems at +last to have received its final reply--the recent decision of the fierce +trial by battle on the other side of the Atlantic fully concurring with +that long since delivered here in a more peaceful way. + +The question is settled; but even those who are most thoroughly +convinced that the doom is just, must see good grounds for repudiating +half the arguments which have been employed by the winning side; and for +doubting whether its ultimate results will embody the hopes of the +victors, though they may more than realize the fears of the vanquished. +It may be quite true that some negroes are better than some white men; +but no rational man, cognizant of the facts, believes that the average +negro is the equal, still less the superior, of the average white man. +And, if this be true, it is simply incredible that, when all his +disabilities are removed, and our prognathous relative has a fair field +and no favour, as well as no oppressor, he will be able to compete +successfully with his bigger-brained and smaller-jawed rival, in a +contest which is to be carried on by thoughts and not by bites. The +highest places in the hierarchy of civilization will assuredly not be +within the reach of our dusky cousins, though it is by no means +necessary that they should be restricted to the lowest. But whatever the +position of stable equilibrium into which the laws of social gravitation +may bring the negro, all responsibility for the result will henceforward +lie between Nature and him. The white man may wash his hands of it, and +the Caucasian conscience be void of reproach for evermore. And this, if +we look to the bottom of the matter, is the real justification for the +abolition policy. + +The doctrine of equal natural rights may be an illogical delusion; +emancipation may convert the slave from a well fed animal into a +pauperised man; mankind may even have to do without cotton shirts; but +all these evils must be faced, if the moral law, that no human being can +arbitrarily dominate over another without grievous damage to his own +nature, be, as many think, as readily demonstrable by experiment as any +physical truth. If this be true, no slavery can be abolished without a +double emancipation, and the master will benefit by freedom more than +the freed-man. + +The like considerations apply to all the other questions of emancipation +which are at present stirring the world--the multifarious demands that +classes of mankind shall be relieved from restrictions imposed by the +artifice of man, and not by the necessities of Nature. One of the most +important, if not the most important, of all these, is that which daily +threatens to become the "irrepressible" woman question. What social and +political rights have women? What ought they to be allowed, or not +allowed, to do, be, and suffer? And, as involved in, and underlying all +these questions, how ought they to be educated? + +There are philogynists as fanatical as any "misogynists" who, reversing +our antiquated notions, bid the man look upon the woman as the higher +type of humanity; who ask us to regard the female intellect as the +clearer and the quicker, if not the stronger; who desire us to look up +to the feminine moral sense as the purer and the nobler; and bid man +abdicate his usurped sovereignty over Nature in favour of the female +line. On the other hand, there are persons not to be outdone in all +loyalty and just respect for woman-kind, but by nature hard of head and +haters of delusion, however charming, who not only repudiate the new +woman-worship which so many sentimentalists and some philosophers are +desirous of setting up, but, carrying their audacity further, deny even +the natural equality of the sexes. They assert, on the contrary, that in +every excellent character, whether mental or physical, the average woman +is inferior to the average man, in the sense of having that character +less in quantity, and lower in quality. Tell these persons of the rapid +perceptions and the instinctive intellectual insight of women, and they +reply that the feminine mental peculiarities, which pass under these +names, are merely the outcome of a greater impressibility to the +superficial aspects of things, and of the absence of that restraint upon +expression, which, in men, is imposed by reflection and a sense of +responsibility. Talk of the passive endurance of the weaker sex, and +opponents of this kind remind you that Job was a man, and that, until +quite recent times, patience and long-suffering were not counted among +the specially feminine virtues. Claim passionate tenderness as +especially feminine, and the inquiry is made whether all the best +love-poetry in existence (except, perhaps, the "Sonnets from the +Portuguese") has not been written by men; whether the song which +embodies the ideal of pure and tender passion--Adelaida--was written by +_Frau_ Beethoven; whether it was the Fornarina, or Raphael, who painted +the Sistine Madonna. Nay, we have known one such heretic go so far as to +lay his hands upon the ark itself, so to speak, and to defend the +startling paradox that, even in physical beauty, man is the superior. He +admitted, indeed, that there was a brief period of early youth when it +might be hard to say whether the prize should be awarded to the graceful +undulations of the female figure, or the perfect balance and supple +vigour of the male frame. But while our new Paris might hesitate between +the youthful Bacchus and the Venus emerging from the foam, he averred +that, when Venus and Bacchus had reached thirty, the point no longer +admitted of a doubt; the male form having then attained its greatest +nobility, while the female is far gone in decadence; and that, at this +epoch, womanly beauty, so far as it is independent of grace or +expression, is a question of drapery and accessories. + +Supposing, however, that all these arguments have a certain foundation; +admitting for a moment, that they are comparable to those by which the +inferiority of the negro to the white man may be demonstrated, are they +of any value as against woman-emancipation? Do they afford us the +smallest ground for refusing to educate women as well as men--to give +women the same civil and political rights as men? No mistake is so +commonly made by clever people as that of assuming a cause to be bad +because the arguments of its supporters are, to a great extent, +nonsensical. And we conceive that those who may laugh at the arguments +of the extreme philogynists, may yet feel bound to work heart and soul +towards the attainment of their practical ends. + +As regards education, for example. Granting the alleged defects of +women, is it not somewhat absurd to sanction and maintain a system of +education which would seem to have been specially contrived to +exaggerate all these defects? + +Naturally not so firmly strung, nor so well balanced, as boys, girls are +in great measure debarred from the sports and physical exercises which +are justly thought absolutely necessary for the full development of the +vigour of the more favoured sex. Women are, by nature, more excitable +than men--prone to be swept by tides of emotion, proceeding from hidden +and inward, as well as from obvious and external causes; and female +education does its best to weaken every physical counterpoise to this +nervous mobility--tends in all ways to stimulate the emotional part of +the mind and stunt the rest. We find girls naturally timid, inclined to +dependence, born conservatives; and we teach them that independence is +unladylike; that blind faith is the right frame of mind; and that +whatever we may be permitted, and indeed encouraged, to do to our +brother, our sister is to be left to the tyranny of authority and +tradition. With few insignificant exceptions, girls have been educated +either to be drudges, or toys, beneath man; or a sort of angels above +him; the highest ideal aimed at oscillating between Clärchen and +Beatrice. The possibility that the ideal of womanhood lies neither in +the fair saint, nor in the fair sinner; that the female type of +character is neither better nor worse than the male, but only weaker; +that women are meant neither to be men's guides nor their playthings, +but their comrades, their fellows and their equals, so far as Nature +puts no bar to that equality, does not seem to have entered into the +minds of those who have had the conduct of the education of girls. + +If the present system of female education stands self-condemned, as +inherently absurd; and if that which we have just indicated is the true +position of woman, what is the first step towards a better state of +things? We reply, emancipate girls. Recognise the fact that they share +the senses, perceptions, feelings, reasoning powers, emotions, of boys, +and that the mind of the average girl is less different from that of the +average boy, than the mind of one boy is from that of another; so that +whatever argument justifies a given education for all boys, justifies +its application to girls as well. So far from imposing artificial +restrictions upon the acquirement of knowledge by women, throw every +facility in their way. Let our Faustinas, if they will, toil through the +whole round of + + "Juristerei und Medizin, + Und leider! auch Philosophie." + +Let us have "sweet girl graduates" by all means. They will be none the +less sweet for a little wisdom; and the "golden hair" will not curl less +gracefully outside the head by reason of there being brains within. Nay, +if obvious practical difficulties can be overcome, let those women who +feel inclined to do so descend into the gladiatorial arena of life, not +merely in the guise of _retiariĉ_, as heretofore, but as bold +_sicariĉ_, breasting the open fray. Let them, if they so please, become +merchants, barristers, politicians. Let them have a fair field, but let +them understand, as the necessary correlative, that they are to have no +favour. Let Nature alone sit above the lists, "rain influence and judge +the prize." + +And the result? For our parts, though loth to prophesy, we believe it +will be that of other emancipations. Women will find their place, and it +will neither be that in which they have been held, nor that to which +some of them aspire. Nature's old salique law will not be repealed, and +no change of dynasty will be effected. The big chests, the massive +brains, the vigorous muscles and stout frames, of the best men will +carry the day, whenever it is worth their while to contest the prizes of +life with the best women. And the hardship of it is, that the very +improvement of the women will lessen their chances. Better mothers will +bring forth better sons, and the impetus gained by the one sex will be +transmitted, in the next generation, to the other. The most Darwinian of +theorists will not venture to propound the doctrine, that the physical +disabilities under which women have hitherto laboured, in the struggle +for existence with men, are likely to be removed by even the most +skilfully conducted process of educational selection. + +We are, indeed, fully prepared to believe that the bearing of children +may, and ought, to become as free from danger and long disability, to +the civilized woman, as it is to the savage; nor is it improbable that, +as society advances towards its right organization, motherhood will +occupy a less space of woman's life than it has hitherto done. But +still, unless the human species is to come to an end altogether--a +consummation which can hardly be desired by even the most ardent +advocate of "women's rights"--somebody must be good enough to take the +trouble and responsibility of annually adding to the world exactly as +many people as die out of it. In consequence of some domestic +difficulties, Sydney Smith is said to have suggested that it would have +been good for the human race had the model offered by the hive been +followed, and had all the working part of the female community been +neuters. Failing any thorough-going reform of this kind, we see nothing +for it but the old division of humanity into men potentially, or +actually, fathers, and women potentially, if not actually, mothers. And +we fear that so long as this potential motherhood is her lot, woman will +be found to be fearfully weighted in the race of life. + +The duty of man is to see that not a grain is piled upon that load +beyond what Nature imposes; that injustice is not added to inequality. + + + + +III. + +A LIBERAL EDUCATION: AND WHERE TO FIND IT. + + +The business which the South London Working Men's College has undertaken +is a great work; indeed, I might say, that Education, with which that +college proposes to grapple, is the greatest work of all those which lie +ready to a man's hand just at present. + +And, at length, this fact is becoming generally recognised. You cannot +go anywhere without hearing a buzz of more or less confused and +contradictory talk on this subject--nor can you fail to notice that, in +one point at any rate, there is a very decided advance upon like +discussions in former days. Nobody outside the agricultural interest now +dares to say that education is a bad thing. If any representative of the +once large and powerful party, which, in former days, proclaimed this +opinion, still exists in a semi-fossil state, he keeps his thoughts to +himself. In fact, there is a chorus of voices, almost distressing in +their harmony, raised in favour of the doctrine that education is the +great panacea for human troubles, and that, if the country is not +shortly to go to the dogs, everybody must be educated. + +The politicians tell us, "you must educate the masses because they are +going to be masters." The clergy join in the cry for education, for they +affirm that the people are drifting away from church and chapel into the +broadest infidelity. The manufacturers and the capitalists swell the +chorus lustily. They declare that ignorance makes bad workmen; that +England will soon be unable to turn out cotton goods, or steam engines, +cheaper than other people; and then, Ichabod! Ichabod! the glory will be +departed from us. And a few voices are lifted up in favour of the +doctrine that the masses should be educated because they are men and +women with unlimited capacities of being, doing, and suffering, and that +it is as true now, as ever it was, that the people perish for lack of +knowledge. + +These members of the minority, with whom I confess I have a good deal of +sympathy, are doubtful whether any of the other reasons urged in favour +of the education of the people are of much value--whether, indeed, some +of them are based upon either wise or noble grounds of action. They +question if it be wise to tell people that you will do for them, out of +fear of their power, what you have left undone, so long as your only +motive was compassion for their weakness and their sorrows. And, if +ignorance of everything which it is needful a ruler should know is +likely to do so much harm in the governing classes of the future, why is +it, they ask reasonably enough, that such ignorance in the governing +classes of the past has not been viewed with equal horror? + +Compare the average artisan and the average country squire, and it may +be doubted if you will find a pin to choose between the two in point of +ignorance, class feeling, or prejudice. It is true that the ignorance +is of a different sort--that the class feeling is in favour of a +different class, and that the prejudice has a distinct flavour of +wrong-headedness in each case--but it is questionable if the one is +either a bit better, or a bit worse than the other. The old +protectionist theory is the doctrine of trades unions as applied by the +squires, and the modern trades unionism is the doctrine of the squires +applied by the artisans. Why should we be worse off under one _régime_ +than under the other? + +Again, this sceptical minority asks the clergy to think whether it is +really want of education which keeps the masses away from their +ministrations--whether the most completely educated men are not as open +to reproach on this score as the workmen; and whether, perchance, this +may not indicate that it is not education which lies at the bottom of +the matter? + +Once more, these people, whom there is no pleasing, venture to doubt +whether the glory, which rests upon being able to undersell all the rest +of the world, is a very safe kind of glory--whether we may not purchase +it too dear; especially if we allow education, which ought to be +directed to the making of men, to be diverted into a process of +manufacturing human tools, wonderfully adroit in the exercise of some +technical industry, but good for nothing else. + +And, finally, these people inquire whether it is the masses alone who +need a reformed and improved education. They ask whether the richest of +our public schools might not well be made to supply knowledge, as well +as gentlemanly habits, a strong class feeling, and eminent proficiency +in cricket. They seem to think that the noble foundations of our old +universities are hardly fulfilling their functions in their present +posture of half-clerical seminaries, half racecourses, where men are +trained to win a senior wranglership, or a double-first, as horses are +trained to win a cup, with as little reference to the needs of +after-life in the case of the man as in that of the racer. And, while as +zealous for education as the rest, they affirm that, if the education of +the richer classes were such as to fit them to be the leaders and the +governors of the poorer; and, if the education of the poorer classes +were such as to enable them to appreciate really wise guidance and good +governance; the politicians need not fear mob-law, nor the clergy lament +their want of flocks, nor the capitalists prognosticate the annihilation +of the prosperity of the country. + +Such is the diversity of opinion upon the why and the wherefore of +education. And my hearers will be prepared to expect that the practical +recommendations which are put forward are not less discordant. There is +a loud cry for compulsory education. We English, in spite of constant +experience to the contrary, preserve a touching faith in the efficacy of +acts of parliament; and I believe we should have compulsory education in +the course of next session, if there were the least probability that +half a dozen leading statesmen of different parties would agree what +that education should be. + +Some hold that education without theology is worse than none. Others +maintain, quite as strongly, that education with theology is in the same +predicament. But this is certain, that those who hold the first opinion +can by no means agree what theology should be taught; and that those who +maintain the second are in a small minority. + +At any rate "make people learn to read, write, and cipher," say a great +many; and the advice is undoubtedly sensible as far as it goes. But, as +has happened to me in former days, those who, in despair of getting +anything better, advocate this measure, are met with the objection that +it is very like making a child practise the use of a knife, fork, and +spoon, without giving it a particle of meat. I really don't know what +reply is to be made to such an objection. + +But it would be unprofitable to spend more time in disentangling, or +rather in showing up the knots in, the ravelled skeins of our +neighbours. Much more to the purpose is it to ask if we possess any clue +of our own which may guide us among these entanglements. And by way of a +beginning, let us ask ourselves--What is education? Above all things, +what is our ideal of a thoroughly liberal education?--of that education +which, if we could begin life again, we would give ourselves--of that +education which, if we could mould the fates to our own will, we would +give our children. Well, I know not what may be your conceptions upon +this matter, but I will tell you mine, and I hope I shall find that our +views are not very discrepant. + + +Suppose it were perfectly certain that the life and fortune of every one +of us would, one day or other, depend upon his winning or losing a game +at chess. Don't you think that we should all consider it to be a primary +duty to learn at least the names and the moves of the pieces; to have a +notion of a gambit, and a keen eye for all the means of giving and +getting out of check? Do you not think that we should look with a +disapprobation amounting to scorn, upon the father who allowed his son, +or the state which allowed its members, to grow up without knowing a +pawn from a knight? + +Yet it is a very plain and elementary truth, that the life, the fortune, +and the happiness of every one of us, and, more or less, of those who +are connected with us, do depend upon our knowing something of the rules +of a game infinitely more difficult and complicated than chess. It is a +game which has been played for untold ages, every man and woman of us +being one of the two players in a game of his or her own. The +chess-board is the world, the pieces are the phenomena of the universe, +the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature. The player on +the other side is hidden from us. We know that his play is always fair, +just, and patient. But also we know, to our cost, that he never +overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance. To +the man who plays well, the highest stakes are paid, with that sort of +overflowing generosity with which the strong shows delight in strength. +And one who plays ill is checkmated--without haste, but without remorse. + +My metaphor will remind some of you of the famous picture in which +Retzsch has depicted Satan playing at chess with man for his soul. +Substitute for the mocking fiend in that picture, a calm, strong angel +who is playing for love, as we say, and would rather lose than win--and +I should accept it as an image of human life. + +Well, what I mean by Education is learning the rules of this mighty +game. In other words, education is the instruction of the intellect in +the laws of Nature, under which name I include not merely things and +their forces, but men and their ways; and the fashioning of the +affections and of the will into an earnest and loving desire to move in +harmony with those laws. For me, education means neither more nor less +than this. Anything which professes to call itself education must be +tried by this standard, and if it fails to stand the test, I will not +call it education, whatever may be the force of authority, or of +numbers, upon the other side. + +It is important to remember that, in strictness, there is no such thing +as an uneducated man. Take an extreme case. Suppose that an adult man, +in the full vigour of his faculties, could be suddenly placed in the +world, as Adam is said to have been, and then left to do as he best +might. How long would he be left uneducated? Not five minutes. Nature +would begin to teach him, through the eye, the ear, the touch, the +properties of objects. Pain and pleasure would be at his elbow telling +him to do this and avoid that; and by slow degrees the man would receive +an education, which, if narrow, would be thorough, real, and adequate to +his circumstances, though there would be no extras and very few +accomplishments. + +And if to this solitary man entered a second Adam, or, better still, an +Eve, a new and greater world, that of social and moral phenomena, would +be revealed. Joys and woes, compared with which all others might seem +but faint shadows, would spring from the new relations. Happiness and +sorrow would take the place of the coarser monitors, pleasure and pain; +but conduct would still be shaped by the observation of the natural +consequences of actions; or, in other words, by the laws of the nature +of man. + +To every one of us the world was once as fresh and new as to Adam. And +then, long before we were susceptible of any other mode of instruction, +Nature took us in hand, and every minute of waking life brought its +educational influence, shaping our actions into rough accordance with +Nature's laws, so that we might not be ended untimely by too gross +disobedience. Nor should I speak of this process of education as past, +for any one, be he as old as he may. For every man, the world is as +fresh as it was at the first day, and as full of untold novelties for +him who has the eyes to see them. And Nature is still continuing her +patient education of us in that great university, the universe, of which +we are all members--Nature having no Test-Acts. + +Those who take honours in Nature's university, who learn the laws which +govern men and things and obey them, are the really great and successful +men in this world. The great mass of mankind are the "Poll," who pick up +just enough to get through without much discredit. Those who won't learn +at all are plucked; and then you can't come up again. Nature's pluck +means extermination. + +Thus the question of compulsory education is settled so far as Nature is +concerned. Her bill on that question was framed and passed long ago. +But, like all compulsory legislation, that of Nature is harsh and +wasteful in its operation. Ignorance is visited as sharply as wilful +disobedience--incapacity meets with the same punishment as crime. +Nature's discipline is not even a word and a blow, and the blow first; +but the blow without the word. It is left to you to find out why your +ears are boxed. + +The object of what we commonly call education--that education in which +man intervenes and which I shall distinguish as artificial education--is +to make good these defects in Nature's methods; to prepare the child to +receive Nature's education, neither incapably nor ignorantly, nor with +wilful disobedience; and to understand the preliminary symptoms of her +displeasure, without waiting for the box on the ear. In short, all +artificial education ought to be an anticipation of natural education. +And a liberal education is an artificial education, which has not only +prepared a man to escape the great evils of disobedience to natural +laws, but has trained him to appreciate and to seize upon the rewards, +which Nature scatters with as free a hand as her penalties. + +That man, I think, has had a liberal education, who has been so trained +in youth that his body is the ready servant of his will, and does with +ease and pleasure all the work that, as a mechanism, it is capable of; +whose intellect is a clear, cold, logic engine, with all its parts of +equal strength, and in smooth working order; ready, like a steam engine, +to be turned to any kind of work, and spin the gossamers as well as +forge the anchors of the mind; whose mind is stored with a knowledge of +the great and fundamental truths of Nature and of the laws of her +operations; one who, no stunted ascetic, is full of life and fire, but +whose passions are trained to come to heel by a vigorous will, the +servant of a tender conscience; who has learned to love all beauty, +whether of Nature or of art, to hate all vileness, and to respect others +as himself. + +Such an one and no other, I conceive, has had a liberal education; for +he is, as completely as a man can be, in harmony with Nature. He will +make the best of her, and she of him. They will get on together rarely; +she as his ever beneficent mother; he as her mouth-piece, her conscious +self, her minister and interpreter. + + +Where is such an education as this to be had? Where is there any +approximation to it? Has any one tried to found such an education? +Looking over the length and breadth of these islands, I am afraid that +all these questions must receive a negative answer. Consider our primary +schools, and what is taught in them. A child learns:-- + +1. To read, write, and cipher, more or less well; but in a very large +proportion of cases not so well as to take pleasure in reading, or to be +able to write the commonest letter properly. + +2. A quantity of dogmatic theology, of which the child, nine times out +of ten, understands next to nothing. + +3. Mixed up with this, so as to seem to stand or fall with it, a few of +the broadest and simplest principles of morality. This, to my mind, is +much as if a man of science should make the story of the fall of the +apple in Newton's garden, an integral part of the doctrine of +gravitation, and teach it as of equal authority with the law of the +inverse squares. + +4. A good deal of Jewish history and Syrian geography, and, perhaps, a +little something about English history and the geography of the child's +own country. But I doubt if there is a primary school in England in +which hangs a map of the hundred in which the village lies, so that the +children may be practically taught by it what a map means. + +5. A certain amount of regularity, attentive obedience, respect for +others: obtained by fear, if the master be incompetent or foolish; by +love and reverence, if he be wise. + +So far as this school course embraces a training in the theory and +practice of obedience to the moral laws of Nature, I gladly admit, not +only that it contains a valuable educational element, but that, so far, +it deals with the most valuable and important part of all education. +Yet, contrast what is done in this direction with what might be done; +with the time given to matters of comparatively no importance; with the +absence of any attention to things of the highest moment; and one is +tempted to think of Falstaff's bill and "the halfpenny worth of bread to +all that quantity of sack." + +Let us consider what a child thus "educated" knows, and what it does not +know. Begin with the most important topic of all--morality, as the guide +of conduct. The child knows well enough that some acts meet with +approbation and some with disapprobation. But it has never heard that +there lies in the nature of things a reason for every moral law, as +cogent and as well defined as that which underlies every physical law; +that stealing and lying are just as certain to be followed by evil +consequences, as putting your hand in the fire, or jumping out of a +garret window. Again, though the scholar may have been made acquainted, +in dogmatic fashion, with the broad laws of morality, he has had no +training in the application of those laws to the difficult problems +which result from the complex conditions of modern civilization. Would +it not be very hard to expect anyone to solve a problem in conic +sections who had merely been taught the axioms and definitions of +mathematical science? + +A workman has to bear hard labour, and perhaps privation, while he sees +others rolling in wealth, and feeding their dogs with what would keep +his children from starvation. Would it not be well to have helped that +man to calm the natural promptings of discontent by showing him, in his +youth, the necessary connexion of the moral law which prohibits stealing +with the stability of society--by proving to him, once for all, that it +is better for his own people, better for himself, better for future +generations, that he should starve than steal? If you have no foundation +of knowledge, or habit of thought, to work upon, what chance have you of +persuading a hungry man that a capitalist is not a thief "with a +circumbendibus?" And if he honestly believes that, of what avail is it +to quote the commandment against stealing, when he proposes to make the +capitalist disgorge? + +Again, the child learns absolutely nothing of the history or the +political organization of his own country. His general impression is, +that everything of much importance happened a very long while ago; and +that the Queen and the gentlefolks govern the country much after the +fashion of King David and the elders and nobles of Israel--his sole +models. Will you give a man with this much information a vote? In easy +times he sells it for a pot of beer. Why should he not? It is of about +as much use to him as a chignon, and he knows as much what to do with +it, for any other purpose. In bad times, on the contrary, he applies his +simple theory of government, and believes that his rulers are the cause +of his sufferings--a belief which sometimes bears remarkable practical +fruits. + +Least of all, does the child gather from this primary "education" of +ours a conception of the laws of the physical world, or of the relations +of cause and effect therein. And this is the more to be lamented, as the +poor are especially exposed to physical evils, and are more interested +in removing them than any other class of the community. If any one is +concerned in knowing the ordinary laws of mechanics one would think it +is the hand-labourer, whose daily toil lies among levers and pulleys; or +among the other implements of artisan work. And if any one is interested +in the laws of health, it is the poor workman, whose strength is wasted +by ill-prepared food, whose health is sapped by bad ventilation and bad +drainage, and half whose children are massacred by disorders which might +be prevented. Not only does our present primary education carefully +abstain from hinting to the workman that some of his greatest evils are +traceable to mere physical agencies, which could be removed by energy, +patience, and frugality; but it does worse--it renders him, so far as it +can, deaf to those who could help him, and tries to substitute an +Oriental submission to what is falsely declared to be the will of God, +for his natural tendency to strive after a better condition. + +What wonder then, if very recently, an appeal has been made to +statistics for the profoundly foolish purpose of showing that education +is of no good--that it diminishes neither misery, nor crime, among the +masses of mankind? I reply, why should the thing which has been called +education do either the one or the other? If I am a knave or a fool, +teaching me to read and write won't make me less of either one or the +other--unless somebody shows me how to put my reading and writing to +wise and good purposes. + +Suppose any one were to argue that medicine is of no use, because it +could be proved statistically, that the percentage of deaths was just +the same, among people who had been taught how to open a medicine chest, +and among those who did not so much as know the key by sight. The +argument is absurd; but it is not more preposterous than that against +which I am contending. The only medicine for suffering, crime, and all +the other woes of mankind, is wisdom. Teach a man to read and write, and +you have put into his hands the great keys of the wisdom box. But it is +quite another matter whether he ever opens the box or not. And he is as +likely to poison as to cure himself, if, without guidance, he swallows +the first drug that comes to hand. In these times a man may as well be +purblind, as unable to read--lame, as unable to write. But I protest +that, if I thought the alternative were a necessary one, I would rather +that the children of the poor should grow up ignorant of both these +mighty arts, than that they should remain ignorant of that knowledge to +which these arts are means. + + +It may be said that all these animadversions may apply to primary +schools, but that the higher schools, at any rate, must be allowed to +give a liberal education. In fact, they professedly sacrifice everything +else to this object. + +Let us inquire into this matter. What do the higher schools, those to +which the great middle class of the country sends it children, teach, +over and above the instruction given in the primary schools? There is a +little more reading and writing of English. But, for all that, every +one knows that it is a rare thing to find a boy of the middle or upper +classes who can read aloud decently, or who can put his thoughts on +paper in clear and grammatical (to say nothing of good or elegant) +language. The "ciphering" of the lower schools expands into elementary +mathematics in the higher; into arithmetic, with a little algebra, a +little Euclid. But I doubt if one boy in five hundred has ever heard the +explanation of a rule of arithmetic, or knows his Euclid otherwise than +by rote. + +Of theology, the middle class schoolboy gets rather less than poorer +children, less absolutely and less relatively, because there are so many +other claims upon his attention. I venture to say that, in the great +majority of cases, his ideas on this subject when he leaves school are +of the most shadowy and vague description, and associated with painful +impressions of the weary hours spent in learning collects and catechism +by heart. + +Modern geography, modern history, modern literature; the English +language as a language; the whole circle of the sciences, physical, +moral, and social, are even more completely ignored in the higher than +in the lower schools. Up till within a few years back, a boy might have +passed through any one of the great public schools with the greatest +distinction and credit, and might never so much as have heard of one of +the subjects I have just mentioned. He might never have heard that the +earth goes round the sun; that England underwent a great revolution in +1688, and France another in 1789; that there once lived certain notable +men called Chaucer, Shakspeare, Milton, Voltaire, Goethe, Schiller. The +first might be a German and the last an Englishman for anything he +could tell you to the contrary. And as for science, the only idea the +word would suggest to his mind would be dexterity in boxing. + +I have said that this was the state of things a few years back, for the +sake of the few righteous who are to be found among the educational +cities of the plain. But I would not have you too sanguine about the +result, if you sound the minds of the existing generation of public +school-boys, on such topics as those I have mentioned. + +Now let us pause to consider this wonderful state of affairs; for the +time will come when Englishmen will quote it as the stock example of the +stolid stupidity of their ancestors in the nineteenth century. The most +thoroughly commercial people, the greatest voluntary wanderers and +colonists the world has ever seen, are precisely the middle classes of +this country. If there be a people which has been busy making history on +the great scale for the last three hundred years--and the most +profoundly interesting history--history which, if it happened to be that +of Greece or Rome, we should study with avidity--it is the English. If +there be a people which, during the same period, has developed a +remarkable literature, it is our own. If there be a nation whose +prosperity depends absolutely and wholly upon their mastery over the +forces of Nature, upon their intelligent apprehension of, and obedience +to, the laws of the creation and distribution of wealth, and of the +stable equilibrium of the forces of society, it is precisely this +nation. And yet this is what these wonderful people tell their +sons:--"At the cost of from one to two thousand pounds of our hard +earned money, we devote twelve of the most precious years of your lives +to school. There you shall toil, or be supposed to toil; but there you +shall not learn one single thing of all those you will most want to +know, directly you leave school and enter upon the practical business of +life. You will in all probability go into business, but you shall not +know where, or how, any article of commerce is produced, or the +difference between an export or an import, or the meaning of the word +'capital.' You will very likely settle in a colony, but you shall not +know whether Tasmania is part of New South Wales, or _vice versâ_. + +"Very probably you may become a manufacturer, but you shall not be +provided with the means of understanding the working of one of your own +steam-engines, or the nature of the raw products you employ; and, when +you are asked to buy a patent, you shall not have the slightest means of +judging whether the inventor is an impostor who is contravening the +elementary principles of science, or a man who will make you as rich as +Croesus. + +"You will very likely get into the House of Commons. You will have to +take your share in making laws which may prove a blessing or a curse to +millions of men. But you shall not hear one word respecting the +political organization of your country; the meaning of the controversy +between freetraders and protectionists shall never have been mentioned +to you: you shall not so much as know that there are such things as +economical laws. + +"The mental power which will be of most importance in your daily life +will be the power of seeing things as they are without regard to +authority; and of drawing accurate general conclusions from particular +facts. But at school and at college you shall know of no source of truth +but authority; nor exercise your reasoning faculty upon anything but +deduction from that which is laid down by authority. + +"You will have to weary your soul with work, and many a time eat your +bread in sorrow and in bitterness, and you shall not have learned to +take refuge in the great source of pleasure without alloy, the serene +resting-place for worn human nature,--the world of art." + +Said I not rightly that we are a wonderful people? I am quite prepared +to allow, that education entirely devoted to these omitted subjects +might not be a completely liberal education. But is an education which +ignores them all, a liberal education? Nay, is it too much to say that +the education which should embrace these subjects and no others, would +be a real education, though an incomplete one; while an education which +omits them is really not an education at all, but a more or less useful +course of intellectual gymnastics? + + +For what does the middle-class school put in the place of all these +things which are left out? It substitutes what is usually comprised +under the compendious title of the "classics"--that is to say, the +languages, the literature, and the history of the ancient Greeks and +Romans, and the geography of so much of the world as was known to these +two great nations of antiquity. Now, do not expect me to depreciate the +earnest and enlightened pursuit of classical learning. I have not the +least desire to speak ill of such occupations, nor any sympathy with +those who run them down. On the contrary, if my opportunities had lain +in that direction, there is no investigation into which I could have +thrown myself with greater delight than that of antiquity. + +What science can present greater attractions than philology? How can a +lover of literary excellence fail to rejoice in the ancient +masterpieces? And with what consistency could I, whose business lies so +much in the attempt to decipher the past, and to build up intelligible +forms out of the scattered fragments of long-extinct beings, fail to +take a sympathetic, though an unlearned, interest in the labours of a +Niebuhr, a Gibbon, or a Grote? Classical history is a great section of +the palĉontology of man; and I have the same double respect for it as +for other kinds of palĉontology--that is to say, a respect for the facts +which it establishes as for all facts, and a still greater respect for +it as a preparation for the discovery of a law of progress. + +But if the classics were taught as they might be taught--if boys and +girls were instructed in Greek and Latin, not merely as languages, but +as illustrations of philological science; if a vivid picture of life on +the shores of the Mediterranean, two thousand years ago, were imprinted +on the minds of scholars; if ancient history were taught, not as a weary +series of feuds and fights, but traced to its causes in such men placed +under such conditions; if, lastly, the study of the classical books were +followed in such a manner as to impress boys with their beauties, and +with the grand simplicity of their statement of the everlasting problems +of human life, instead of with their verbal and grammatical +peculiarities; I still think it as little proper that they should form +the basis of a liberal education for our contemporaries, as I should +think it fitting to make that sort of palĉontology with which I am +familiar, the back-bone of modern education. + +It is wonderful how close a parallel to classical training could be made +out of that palĉontology to which I refer. In the first place I could +get up an osteological primer so arid, so pedantic in its terminology, +so altogether distasteful to the youthful mind, as to beat the recent +famous production of the head-masters out of the field in all these +excellences. Next, I could exercise my boys upon easy fossils, and bring +out all their powers of memory and all their ingenuity in the +application of my osteo-grammatical rules to the interpretation, or +construing, of those fragments. To those who had reached the higher +classes, I might supply odd bones to be built up into animals, giving +great honour and reward to him who succeeded in fabricating monsters +most entirely in accordance with the rules. That would answer to +verse-making and essay-writing in the dead languages. + +To be sure, if a great comparative anatomist were to look at these +fabrications he might shake his head, or laugh. But what then? Would +such a catastrophe destroy the parallel? What think you would Cicero, or +Horace, say to the production of the best sixth form going? And would +not Terence stop his ears and run out if he could be present at an +English performance of his own plays? Would Hamlet, in the mouths of a +set of French actors, who should insist on pronouncing English after the +fashion of their own tongue, be more hideously ridiculous? + +But it will be said that I am forgetting the beauty, and the human +interest, which appertain to classical studies. To this I reply that it +is only a very strong man who can appreciate the charms of a landscape, +as he is toiling up a steep hill, along a bad road. What with +short-windedness, stones, ruts, and a pervading sense of the wisdom of +rest and be thankful, most of us have little enough sense of the +beautiful under these circumstances. The ordinary school-boy is +precisely in this case. He finds Parnassus uncommonly steep, and there +is no chance of his having much time or inclination to look about him +till he gets to the top. And nine times out of ten he does not get to +the top. + +But if this be a fair picture of the results of classical teaching at +its best--and I gather from those who have authority to speak on such +matters that it is so--what is to be said of classical teaching at its +worst, or in other words, of the classics of our ordinary middle-class +schools[2]? I will tell you. It means getting up endless forms and rules +by heart. It means turning Latin and Greek into English, for the mere +sake of being able to do it, and without the smallest regard to the +worth, or worthlessness, of the author read. It means the learning of +innumerable, not always decent, fables in such a shape that the meaning +they once had is dried up into utter trash; and the only impression left +upon a boy's mind is, that the people who believed such things must have +been the greatest idiots the world ever saw. And it means, finally, that +after a dozen years spent at this kind of work, the sufferer shall be +incompetent to interpret a passage in an author he has not already got +up; that he shall loathe the sight of a Greek or Latin book; and that he +shall never open, or think of, a classical writer again, until, +wonderful to relate, he insists upon submitting his sons to the same +process. + +These be your gods, O Israel! For the sake of this net result (and +respectability) the British father denies his children all the knowledge +they might turn to account in life, not merely for the achievement of +vulgar success, but for guidance in the great crises of human existence. +This is the stone he offers to those whom he is bound by the strongest +and tenderest ties to feed with bread. + + +If primary and secondary education are in this unsatisfactory state, +what is to be said to the universities? This is an awful subject, and +one I almost fear to touch with my unhallowed hands; but I can tell you +what those say who have authority to speak. + +The Rector of Lincoln College, in his lately published, valuable +"Suggestions for Academical Organization with especial reference to +Oxford," tells us (p. 127):-- + +"The colleges were, in their origin, endowments, not for the elements of +a general liberal education, but for the prolonged study of special and +professional faculties by men of riper age. The universities embraced +both these objects. The colleges, while they incidentally aided in +elementary education, were specially devoted to the highest learning.... + +"This was the theory of the middle-age university and the design of +collegiate foundations in their origin. Time and circumstances have +brought about a total change. The colleges no longer promote the +researches of science, or direct professional study. Here and there +college walls may shelter an occasional student, but not in larger +proportions than may be found in private life. Elementary teaching of +youths under twenty is now the only function performed by the +university, and almost the only object of college endowments. Colleges +were homes for the life-study of the highest and most abstruse parts of +knowledge. They have become boarding schools in which the elements of +the learned languages are taught to youths." + +If Mr. Pattison's high position, and his obvious love and respect for +his university, be insufficient to convince the outside world that +language so severe is yet no more than just, the authority of the +Commissioners who reported on the University of Oxford in 1850 is open +to no challenge. Yet they write:-- + +"It is generally acknowledged that both Oxford and the country at large +suffer greatly from the absence of a body of learned men devoting their +lives to the cultivation of science, and to the direction of academical +education. + +"The fact that so few books of profound research emanate from the +University of Oxford, materially impairs its character as a seat of +learning, and consequently its hold on the respect of the nation." + +Cambridge can claim no exemption from the reproaches addressed to +Oxford. And thus there seems no escape from the admission that what we +fondly call our great seats of learning are simply "boarding schools" +for bigger boys; that learned men are not more numerous in them than out +of them; that the advancement of knowledge is not the object of fellows +of colleges; that, in the philosophic calm and meditative stillness of +their greenswarded courts, philosophy does not thrive, and meditation +bears few fruits. + +It is my great good fortune to reckon amongst my friends resident +members of both universities, who are men of learning and research, +zealous cultivators of science, keeping before their minds a noble ideal +of a university, and doing their best to make that ideal a reality; and, +to me, they would necessarily typify the universities, did not the +authoritative statements I have quoted compel me to believe that they +are exceptional, and not representative men. Indeed, upon calm +consideration, several circumstances lead me to think that the Rector of +Lincoln College and the Commissioners cannot be far wrong. + +I believe there can be no doubt that the foreigner who should wish to +become acquainted with the scientific, or the literary, activity of +modern England, would simply lose his time and his pains if he visited +our universities with that object. + +And, as for works of profound research on any subject, and, above all, +in that classical lore for which the universities profess to sacrifice +almost everything else, why, a third-rate, poverty-stricken German +university turns out more produce of that kind in one year, than our +vast and wealthy foundations elaborate in ten. + +Ask the man who is investigating any question, profoundly and +thoroughly--be it historical, philosophical, philological, physical, +literary, or theological; who is trying to make himself master of any +abstract subject (except, perhaps, political economy and geology, both +of which are intensely Anglican sciences) whether he is not compelled +to read half a dozen times as many German, as English, books? And +whether, of these English books, more than one in ten is the work of a +fellow of a college, or a professor of an English university? + +Is this from any lack of power in the English as compared with the +German mind? The countrymen of Grote and of Mill, of Faraday, of Robert +Brown, of Lyell, and of Darwin, to go no further back than the +contemporaries of men of middle age, can afford to smile at such a +suggestion. England can show now, as she has been able to show in every +generation since civilization spread over the West, individual men who +hold their own against the world, and keep alive the old tradition of +her intellectual eminence. + +But, in the majority of cases, these men are what they are in virtue of +their native intellectual force, and of a strength of character which +will not recognise impediments. They are not trained in the courts of +the Temple of Science, but storm the walls of that edifice in all sorts +of irregular ways, and with much loss of time and power, in order to +obtain their legitimate positions. + +Our universities not only do not encourage such men; do not offer them +positions, in which it should be their highest duty to do, thoroughly, +that which they are most capable of doing; but, as far as possible, +university training shuts out of the minds of those among them, who are +subjected to it, the prospect that there is anything in the world for +which they are specially fitted. Imagine the success of the attempt to +still the intellectual hunger any of the men I have mentioned, by +putting before him, as the object of existence, the successful mimicry +of the measure of a Greek song, or the roll of Ciceronian prose! Imagine +how much success would be likely to attend the attempt to persuade such +men, that the education which leads to perfection in such elegancies is +alone to be called culture; while the facts of history, the process of +thought, the conditions of moral and social existence, and the laws of +physical nature, are left to be dealt with as they may, by outside +barbarians! + +It is not thus that the German universities, from being beneath notice a +century ago, have become what they are now--the most intensely +cultivated and the most productive intellectual corporations the world +has ever seen. + +The student who repairs to them sees in the list of classes and of +professors a fair picture of the world of knowledge. Whatever he needs +to know there is some one ready to teach him, some one competent to +discipline him in the way of learning; whatever his special bent, let +him but be able and diligent, and in due time he shall find distinction +and a career. Among his professors, he sees men whose names are known +and revered throughout the civilized world; and their living example +infects him with a noble ambition, and a love for the spirit of work. + +The Germans dominate the intellectual world by virtue of the same simple +secret as that which made Napoleon the master of old Europe. They have +declared _la carrière ouverte aux talents_, and every Bursch marches +with a professor's gown in his knapsack. Let him become a great scholar, +or man of science, and ministers will compete for his services. In +Germany, they do not leave the chance of his holding the office he +would render illustrious to the tender mercies of a hot canvass, and the +final wisdom of a mob of country parsons. + +In short, in Germany, the universities are exactly what the Rector of +Lincoln and the Commissioners tell us the English universities are not; +that is to say, corporations "of learned men devoting their lives to the +cultivation of science, and the direction of academical education." They +are not "boarding schools for youths," nor clerical seminaries; but +institutions for the higher culture of men, in which the theological +faculty is of no more importance, or prominence, than the rest; and +which are truly "universities," since they strive to represent and +embody the totality of human knowledge, and to find room for all forms +of intellectual activity. + +May zealous and clear-headed reformers like Mr. Pattison succeed in +their noble endeavours to shape our universities towards some such ideal +as this, without losing what is valuable and distinctive in their social +tone! But until they have succeeded, a liberal education will be no more +obtainable in our Oxford and Cambridge Universities than in our public +schools. + + +If I am justified in my conception of the ideal of a liberal education; +and if what I have said about the existing educational institutions of +the country is also true, it is clear that the two have no sort of +relation to one another; that the best of our schools and the most +complete of our university trainings give but a narrow, one-sided, and +essentially illiberal education--while the worst give what is really +next to no education at all. The South London Working-Men's College +could not copy any of these institutions if it would. I am bold enough +to express the conviction that it ought not if it could. + +For what is wanted is the reality and not the mere name of a liberal +education; and this College must steadily set before itself the ambition +to be able to give that education sooner or later. At present we are but +beginning, sharpening our educational tools, as it were, and, except a +modicum of physical science, we are not able to offer much more than is +to be found in an ordinary school. + +Moral and social science--one of the greatest and most fruitful of our +future classes, I hope--at present lacks only one thing in our +programme, and that is a teacher. A considerable want, no doubt; but it +must be recollected that it is much better to want a teacher than to +want the desire to learn. + +Further, we need what, for want of a better name, I must call Physical +Geography. What I mean is that which the Germans call "_Erdkunde_." It +is a description of the earth, of its place and relation to other +bodies; of its general structure, and of its great features--winds, +tides, mountains, plains; of the chief forms of the vegetable and animal +worlds, of the varieties of man. It is the peg upon which the greatest +quantity of useful and entertaining scientific information can be +suspended. + +Literature is not upon the College programme; but I hope some day to see +it there. For literature is the greatest of all sources of refined +pleasure, and one of the great uses of a liberal education is to enable +us to enjoy that pleasure. There is scope enough for the purposes of +liberal education in the study of the rich treasures of our own language +alone. All that is needed is direction, and the cultivation of a refined +taste by attention to sound criticism. But there is no reason why French +and German should not be mastered sufficiently to read what is worth +reading in those languages, with pleasure and with profit. + +And finally, by-and-by, we must have History; treated not as a +succession of battles and dynasties; not as a series of biographies; not +as evidence that Providence has always been on the side of either Whigs +or Tories; but as the development of man in times past, and in other +conditions than our own. + +But, as it is one of the principles of our College to be +self-supporting, the public must lead, and we must follow, in these +matters. If my hearers take to heart what I have said about liberal +education, they will desire these things, and I doubt not we shall be +able to supply them. But we must wait till the demand is made. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[2] For a justification of what is here said about these schools, see +that valuable book, "Essays on a Liberal Education," _passim_. + + + + +IV. + +SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION: NOTES OF AN AFTER-DINNER SPEECH. + + [MR. THACKERAY, talking of after-dinner speeches, has + lamented that "one never can recollect the fine things one thought + of in the cab," in going to the place of entertainment. I am not + aware that there are any "fine things" in the following pages, but + such as there are stand to a speech which really did get itself + spoken, at the hospitable table of the Liverpool Philomathic + Society, more or less in the position of what "one thought of in + the cab."] + + +The introduction of scientific training into the general education of +the country is a topic upon which I could not have spoken, without some +more or less apologetic introduction, a few years ago. But upon this, as +upon other matters, public opinion has of late undergone a rapid +modification. Committees of both Houses of the Legislature have agreed +that something must be done in this direction, and have even thrown out +timid and faltering suggestions as to what should be done; while at the +opposite pole of society, committees of working-men have expressed their +conviction that scientific training is the one thing needful for their +advancement, whether as men, or as workmen. Only the other day, it was +my duty to take part in the reception of a deputation of London working +men, who desired to learn from Sir Roderick Murchison, the Director of +the Royal School of Mines, whether the organization of the Institution +in Jermyn Street could be made available for the supply of that +scientific instruction, the need of which could not have been +apprehended, or stated, more clearly than it was by them. + +The heads of colleges in our great Universities (who have not the +reputation of being the most mobile of persons) have, in several cases, +thought it well that, out of the great number of honours and rewards at +their disposal, a few should hereafter be given to the cultivators of +the physical sciences. Nay, I hear that some colleges have even gone so +far as to appoint one, or, may be, two special tutors for the purpose of +putting the facts and principles of physical science before the +undergraduate mind. And I say it with gratitude and great respect for +those eminent persons, that the head masters of our public schools, +Eton, Harrow, Winchester, have addressed themselves to the problem of +introducing instruction in physical science among the studies of those +great educational bodies, with much honesty of purpose and enlightenment +of understanding; and I live in hope that, before long, important +changes in this direction will be carried into effect in those +strongholds of ancient prescription. In fact, such changes have already +been made, and physical science, even now, constitutes a recognised +element of the school curriculum in Harrow and Rugby, whilst I +understand that ample preparations for such studies are being made at +Eton and elsewhere. + +Looking at these facts, I might perhaps spare myself the trouble of +giving any reasons for the introduction of physical science into +elementary education; yet I cannot but think that it may be well, if I +place before you some considerations which, perhaps, have hardly +received full attention. + +At other times, and in other places, I have endeavoured to state the +higher and more abstract arguments, by which the study of physical +science may be shown to be indispensable to the complete training of the +human mind; but I do not wish it to be supposed that, because I happen +to be devoted to more or less abstract and "unpractical" pursuits, I am +insensible to the weight which ought to be attached to that which has +been said to be the English conception of Paradise--"namely, getting +on." I look upon it, that "getting on" is a very important matter +indeed. I do not mean merely for the sake of the coarse and tangible +results of success, but because humanity is so constituted that a vast +number of us would never be impelled to those stretches of exertion +which make us wiser and more capable men, if it were not for the +absolute necessity of putting on our faculties all the strain they will +bear, for the purpose of "getting on" in the most practical sense. + +Now the value of a knowledge of physical science as a means of getting +on, is indubitable. There are hardly any of our trades, except the +merely huckstering ones, in which some knowledge of science may not be +directly profitable to the pursuer of that occupation. As industry +attains higher stages of its development, as its processes become more +complicated and refined, and competition more keen, the sciences are +dragged in, one by one, to take their share in the fray; and he who can +best avail himself of their help is the man who will come out uppermost +in that struggle for existence which goes on as fiercely beneath the +smooth surface of modern society, as among the wild inhabitants of the +woods. + +But, in addition to the bearing of science on ordinary practical life, +let me direct your attention to its immense influence on several of the +professions. I ask any one who has adopted the calling of an engineer, +how much time he lost when he left school, because he had to devote +himself to pursuits which were absolutely novel and strange, and of +which he had not obtained the remotest conception from his instructors? +He had to familiarize himself with ideas of the course and powers of +Nature, to which his attention had never been directed during his +school-life, and to learn, for the first time, that a world of facts +lies outside and beyond the world of words. I appeal to those who know +what Engineering is, to say how far I am right in respect to that +profession; but with regard to another, of no less importance, I shall +venture to speak of my own knowledge. There is no one of who may not at +any moment be thrown, bound hand and foot by physical incapacity, into the +hands of a medical practitioner. The chances of life and death for all +and each of us may, at any moment, depend on the skill with which that +practitioner is able to make out what is wrong in our bodily frames, +and on his ability to apply the proper remedy to the defect. + +The necessities of modern life are such, and the class from which the +medical profession is chiefly recruited is so situated, that few medical +men can hope to spend more than three or four, or it may be five, years +in the pursuit of those studies which are immediately germane to physic. +How is that all too brief period spent at present? I speak as an old +examiner, having served some eleven or twelve years in that capacity in +the University of London, and therefore having a practical acquaintance +with the subject; but I might fortify myself by the authority of the +President of the College of Surgeons, Mr. Quain, whom I heard the other +day in an admirable address (the Hunterian Oration) deal fully and +wisely with this very topic[3]. + +A young man commencing the study of medicine is at once required to +endeavour to make an acquaintance with a number of sciences, such as +Physics, as Chemistry, as Botany, as Physiology, which are absolutely +and entirely strange to him, however excellent his so-called education +at school may have been. Not only is he devoid of all apprehension of +scientific conceptions, not only does he fail to attach any meaning to +the words "matter," "force," or "law" in their scientific senses, but, +worse still, he has no notion of what it is to come into contact with +nature, or to lay his mind alongside of a physical fact, and try to +conquer it, in the way our great naval hero told his captains to master +their enemies. His whole mind has been given to books, and I am hardly +exaggerating if I say that they are more real to him than Nature. He +imagines that all knowledge can be got out of books, and rests upon the +authority of some master or other; nor does he entertain any misgiving +that the method of learning which led to proficiency in the rules of +grammar, will suffice to lead him to a mastery of the laws of Nature. +The youngster, thus unprepared for serious study, is turned loose among +his medical studies, with the result, in nine cases out of ten, that the +first year of his curriculum is spent in learning how to learn. Indeed, +he is lucky, if at the end of the first year, by the exertions of his +teachers and his own industry, he has acquired even that art of arts. +After which there remain not more than three, or perhaps four, years for +the profitable study of such vast sciences as Anatomy, Physiology, +Therapeutics, Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics, and the like, upon his +knowledge or ignorance of which it depends whether the practitioner +shall diminish, or increase, the bills of mortality. Now what is it but +the preposterous condition of ordinary school education which prevents a +young man of seventeen, destined for the practice of medicine, from +being fully prepared for the study of nature; and from coming to the +medical school, equipped with that preliminary knowledge of the +principles of Physics, of Chemistry, and of Biology, upon which he has +now to waste one of the precious years, every moment of which ought to +be given to those studies which bear directly upon the knowledge of his +profession? + +There is another profession, to the members of which, I think, a certain +preliminary knowledge of physical science might be quite as valuable as +to the medical man. The practitioner of medicine sets before himself the +noble object of taking care of man's bodily welfare; but the members of +this other profession undertake to "minister to minds diseased," and, so +far as may be, to diminish sin and soften sorrow. Like the medical +profession, the clerical, of which I now speak, rests its power to heal +upon its knowledge of the order of the universe--upon certain theories +of man's relation to that which lies outside him. It is not my business +to express any opinion about these theories. I merely wish to point out +that, like all other theories, they are professedly based upon matter of +fact. Thus the clerical profession has to deal with the facts of Nature +from a certain point of view; and hence it comes into contact with that +of the man of science, who has to treat the same facts from another +point of view. You know how often that contact is to be described as +collision, or violent friction; and how great the heat, how little the +light, which commonly results from it. + +In the interests of fair play, to say nothing of those of mankind, I +ask, Why do not the clergy as a body acquire, as a part of their +preliminary education, some such tincture of physical science as will +put them in a position to understand the difficulties in the way of +accepting their theories, which are forced upon the mind of every +thoughtful and intelligent man, who has taken the trouble to instruct +himself in the elements of natural knowledge? + +Some time ago I attended a large meeting of the clergy, for the purpose +of delivering an address which I had been invited to give. I spoke of +some of the most elementary facts in physical science, and of the manner +in which they directly contradict certain of the ordinary teachings of +the clergy. The result was, that, after I had finished, one section of +the assembled ecclesiastics attacked me with all the intemperance of +pious zeal, for stating facts and conclusions which no competent judge +doubts; while, after the first speakers had subsided, amidst the cheers +of the great majority of their colleagues, the more rational minority +rose to tell me that I had taken wholly superfluous pains, that they +already knew all about what I had told them, and perfectly agreed with +me. A hard-headed friend of mine, who was present, put the not unnatural +question, "Then why don't you say so in your pulpits?" to which inquiry +I heard no reply. + +In fact the clergy are at present divisible into three sections: an +immense body who are ignorant and speak out; a small proportion who know +and are silent; and a minute minority who know and speak according to +their knowledge. By the clergy, I mean especially the Protestant clergy. +Our great antagonist--I speak as a man of science--the Roman Catholic +Church, the one great spiritual organization which is able to resist, +and must, as a matter of life and death, resist, the progress of science +and modern civilization, manages her affairs much better. + +It was my fortune some time ago to pay a visit to one of the most +important of the institutions in which the clergy of the Roman Catholic +Church in these islands are trained; and it seemed to me that the +difference between these men and the comfortable champions of +Anglicanism and of Dissent, was comparable to the difference between our +gallant Volunteers and the trained veterans of Napoleon's Old Guard. + +The Catholic priest is trained to know his business, and do it +effectually. The professors of the college in question, learned, +zealous, and determined men, permitted me to speak frankly with them. +We talked like outposts of opposed armies during a truce--as friendly +enemies; and when I ventured to point out the difficulties their +students would have to encounter from scientific thought, they replied: +"Our Church has lasted many ages, and has passed safely through many +storms. The present is but a new gust of the old tempest, and we do not +turn out our young men less fitted to weather it, than they have been, +in former times, to cope with the difficulties of those times. The +heresies of the day are explained to them by their professors of +philosophy and science, and they are taught how those heresies are to be +met." + +I heartily respect an organization which faces its enemies in this way; +and I wish that all ecclesiastical organizations were in as effective a +condition. I think it would be better, not only for them, but for us. +The army of liberal thought is, at present, in very loose order; and +many a spirited free-thinker makes use of his freedom mainly to vent +nonsense. We should be the better for a vigorous and watchful enemy to +hammer us into cohesion and discipline; and I, for one, lament that the +bench of Bishops cannot show a man of the calibre of Butler of the +"Analogy," who, if he were alive, would make short work of much of the +current _à priori_ "infidelity." + + +I hope you will consider that the arguments I have now stated, even if +there were no better ones, constitute a sufficient apology for urging +the introduction of science into schools. The next question to which I +have to address myself is, What sciences ought to be thus taught? And +this is one of the most important of questions, because my side (I am +afraid I am a terribly candid friend) sometimes spoils its cause by +going in for too much. There are other forms of culture beside physical +science; and I should be profoundly sorry to see the fact forgotten, or +even to observe a tendency to starve, or cripple, literary, or ĉsthetic, +culture for the sake of science. Such a narrow view of the nature of +education has nothing to do with my firm conviction that a complete and +thorough scientific culture ought to be introduced into all schools. By +this, however, I do not mean that every schoolboy should be taught +everything in science. That would be a very absurd thing to conceive, +and a very mischievous thing to attempt. What I mean is, that no boy nor +girl should leave school without possessing a grasp of the general +character of science, and without having been disciplined, more or less, +in the methods of all sciences; so that, when turned into the world to +make their own way, they shall be prepared to face scientific problems, +not by knowing at once the conditions of every problem, or by being able +at once to solve it; but by being familiar with the general current of +scientific thought, and by being able to apply the methods of science in +the proper way, when they have acquainted themselves with the conditions +of the special problem. + +That is what I understand by scientific education. To furnish a boy with +such an education, it is by no means necessary that he should devote his +whole school existence to physical science: in fact, no one would lament +so one-sided a proceeding more than I. Nay more, it is not necessary for +him to give up more than a moderate share of his time to such studies, +if they be properly selected and arranged, and if he be trained in them +in a fitting manner. + +I conceive the proper course to be somewhat as follows. To begin with, +let every child be instructed in those general views of the phenomena of +Nature for which we have no exact English name. The nearest +approximation to a name for what I mean, which we possess, is "physical +geography." The Germans have a better, "Erdkunde," ("earth knowledge" or +"geology" in its etymological sense,) that is to say, a general +knowledge of the earth, and what is on it, in it, and about it. If any +one who has had experience of the ways of young children will call to +mind their questions, he will find that so far as they can be put into +any scientific category, they come under this head of "Erdkunde." The +child asks, "What is the moon, and why does it shine?" "What is this +water, and where does it run?" "What is the wind?" "What makes the waves +in the sea?" "Where does this animal live, and what is the use of that +plant?" And if not snubbed and stunted by being told not to ask foolish +questions, there is no limit to the intellectual craving of a young +child; nor any bounds to the slow, but solid, accretion of knowledge and +development of the thinking faculty in this way. To all such questions, +answers which are necessarily incomplete, though true as far as they go, +may be given by any teacher whose ideas represent real knowledge and not +mere book learning; and a panoramic view of Nature, accompanied by a +strong infusion of the scientific habit of mind, may thus be placed +within the reach of every child of nine or ten. + +After this preliminary opening of the eyes to the great spectacle of the +daily progress of Nature, as the reasoning faculties of the child grow, +and he becomes familiar with the use of the tools of knowledge--reading, +writing, and elementary mathematics--he should pass on to what is, in +the more strict sense, physical science. Now there are two kinds of +physical science: the one regards form and the relation of forms to one +another; the other deals with causes and effects. In many of what we +term our sciences, these two kinds are mixed up together; but systematic +botany is a pure example of the former kind, and physics of the latter +kind, of science. Every educational advantage which training in +physical science can give is obtainable from the proper study of these +two; and I should be contented, for the present, if they, added to our +"Erdkunde," furnished the whole of the scientific curriculum of schools. +Indeed I conceive it would be one of the greatest boons which could be +conferred upon England, if henceforward every child in the country were +instructed in the general knowledge of the things about it, in the +elements of physics, and of botany. But I should be still better pleased +if there could be added somewhat of chemistry, and an elementary +acquaintance with human physiology. + +So far as school education is concerned, I want to go no further just +now; and I believe that such instruction would make an excellent +introduction to that preparatory scientific training which, as I have +indicated, is so essential for the successful pursuit of our most +important professions. But this modicum of instruction must be so given +as to ensure real knowledge and practical discipline. If scientific +education is to be dealt with as mere bookwork, it will be better not to +attempt it, but to stick to the Latin Grammar, which makes no pretence +to be anything but bookwork. + +If the great benefits of scientific training are sought, it is essential +that such training should be real: that is to say, that the mind of the +scholar should be brought into direct relation with fact, that he should +not merely be told a thing, but made to see by the use of his own +intellect and ability that the thing is _so_ and no otherwise. The great +peculiarity of scientific training, that in virtue of which it cannot be +replaced by any other discipline whatsoever, is this bringing of the +mind directly into contact with fact, and practising the intellect in +the completest form of induction; that is to say, in drawing conclusions +from particular facts made known by immediate observation of Nature. + +The other studies which enter into ordinary education do not discipline +the mind in this way. Mathematical training is almost purely deductive. +The mathematician starts with a few simple propositions, the proof of +which is so obvious that they are called self-evident, and the rest of +his work consists of subtle deductions from them. The teaching of +languages, at any rate as ordinarily practised, is of the same general +nature,--authority and tradition furnish the data, and the mental +operations of the scholar are deductive. + +Again: if history be the subject of study, the facts are still taken +upon the evidence of tradition and authority. You cannot make a boy see +the battle of Thermopylĉ for himself, or know, of his own knowledge, +that Cromwell once ruled England. There is no getting into direct +contact with natural fact by this road; there is no dispensing with +authority, but rather a resting upon it. + +In all these respects, science differs from other educational +discipline, and prepares the scholar for common life. What have we to do +in every-day life? Most of the business which demands our attention is +matter of fact, which needs, in the first place, to be accurately +observed or apprehended; in the second, to be interpreted by inductive +and deductive reasonings, which are altogether similar in their nature +to those employed in science. In the one case, as in the other, whatever +is taken for granted is so taken at one's own peril; fact and reason +are the ultimate arbiters, and patience and honesty are the great +helpers out of difficulty. + +But if scientific training is to yield its most eminent results, it +must, I repeat, be made practical. That is to say, in explaining to a +child the general phenomena of Nature, you must, as far as possible, +give reality to your teaching by object-lessons; in teaching him botany, +he must handle the plants and dissect the flowers for himself; in +teaching him physics and chemistry, you must not be solicitous to fill +him with information, but you must be careful that what he learns he +knows of his own knowledge. Don't be satisfied with telling him that a +magnet attracts iron. Let him see that it does; let him feel the pull of +the one upon the other for himself. And, especially, tell him that it is +his duty to doubt until he is compelled, by the absolute authority of +Nature, to believe that which is written in books. Pursue this +discipline carefully and conscientiously, and you may make sure that, +however scanty may be the measure of information which you have poured +into the boy's mind, you have created an intellectual habit of priceless +value in practical life. + +One is constantly asked, When should this scientific education be +commenced? I should say with the dawn of intelligence. As I have already +said, a child seeks for information about matters of physical science as +soon as it begins to talk. The first teaching it wants is an +object-lesson of one sort or another; and as soon as it is fit for +systematic instruction of any kind, it is fit for a modicum of science. + +People talk of the difficulty of teaching young children such matters, +and in the same breath insist upon their learning their Catechism, +which contains propositions far harder to comprehend than anything in +the educational course I have proposed. Again, I am incessantly told +that we, who advocate the introduction of science into schools, make no +allowance for the stupidity of the average boy or girl; but, in my +belief, that stupidity, in nine cases out of ten, "_fit, non nascitur_," +and is developed by a long process of parental and pedagogic repression +of the natural intellectual appetites, accompanied by a persistent +attempt to create artificial ones for food which is not only tasteless, +but essentially indigestible. + +Those who urge the difficulty of instructing young people in science are +apt to forget another very important condition of success--important in +all kinds of teaching, but most essential, I am disposed to think, when +the scholars are very young. This condition is, that the teacher should +himself really and practically know his subject. If he does, he will be +able to speak of it in the easy language, and with the completeness of +conviction, with which he talks of any ordinary every-day matter. If he +does not, he will be afraid to wander beyond the limits of the technical +phraseology which he has got up; and a dead dogmatism, which oppresses, +or raises opposition, will take the place of the lively confidence, born +of personal conviction, which cheers and encourages the eminently +sympathetic mind of childhood. + +I have already hinted that such scientific training as we seek for may +be given without making any extravagant claim upon the time now devoted +to education. We ask only for "a most favoured nation" clause in our +treaty with the schoolmaster; we demand no more than that science shall +have as much time given to it as any other single subject--say four +hours a week in each class of an ordinary school. + +For the present, I think men of science would be well content with such +an arrangement as this; but, speaking for myself, I do not pretend to +believe that such an arrangement can be, or will be, permanent. In these +times the educational tree seems to me to have its roots in the air, its +leaves and flowers in the ground; and, I confess, I should very much +like to turn it upside down, so that its roots might be solidly embedded +among the facts of Nature, and draw thence a sound nutriment for the +foliage and fruit of literature and of art. No educational system can +have a claim to permanence, unless it recognises the truth that +education has two great ends to which everything else must be +subordinated. The one of these is to increase knowledge; the other is to +develop the love of right and the hatred of wrong. + +With wisdom and uprightness a nation can make its way worthily, and +beauty will follow in the footsteps of the two, even if she be not +specially invited; while there is perhaps no sight in the whole world +more saddening and revolting than is offered by men sunk in ignorance of +everything but what other men have written; seemingly devoid of moral +belief or guidance; but with the sense of beauty so keen, and the power +of expression so cultivated, that their sensual caterwauling may be +almost mistaken for the music of the spheres. + +At present, education is almost entirely devoted to the cultivation of +the power of expression, and of the sense of literary beauty. The matter +of having anything to say, beyond a hash of other people's opinions, or +of possessing any criterion of beauty, so that we may distinguish +between the Godlike and the devilish, is left aside as of no moment. I +think I do not err in saying that if science were made the foundation of +education, instead of being, at most, stuck on as cornice to the +edifice, this state of things could not exist. + +In advocating the introduction of physical science as a leading element +in education, I by no means refer only to the higher schools. On the +contrary, I believe that such a change is even more imperatively called +for in those primary schools, in which the children of the poor are +expected to turn to the best account the little time they can devote to +the acquisition of knowledge. A great step in this direction has already +been made by the establishment of science-classes under the Department +of Science and Art,--a measure which came into existence unnoticed, but +which will, I believe, turn out to be of more importance to the welfare +of the people, than many political changes, over which the noise of +battle has rent the air. + +Under the regulations to which I refer, a schoolmaster can set up a +class in one or more branches of science; his pupils will be examined, +and the State will pay him, at a certain rate, for all who succeed in +passing. I have acted as an examiner under this system from the +beginning of its establishment, and this year I expect to have not fewer +than a couple of thousand sets of answers to questions in Physiology, +mainly from young people of the artisan class, who have been taught in +the schools which are now scattered all over Great Britain and Ireland. +Some of my colleagues, who have to deal with subjects such as Geometry, +for which the present teaching power is better organized, I understand +are likely to have three or four times as many papers. So far as my own +subjects are concerned, I can undertake to say that a great deal of the +teaching, the results of which are before me in these examinations, is +very sound and good; and I think it is in the power of the examiners, +not only to keep up the present standard, but to cause an almost +unlimited improvement. Now what does this mean? It means that by holding +out a very moderate inducement, the masters of primary schools in many +parts of the country have been led to convert them into little foci of +scientific instruction; and that they and their pupils have contrived to +find, or to make, time enough to carry out this object with a very +considerable degree of efficiency. That efficiency will, I doubt not, be +very much increased as the system becomes known and perfected, even with +the very limited leisure left to masters and teachers on week-days. And +this leads me to ask, Why should scientific teaching be limited to +week-days? + +Ecclesiastically-minded persons are in the habit of calling things they +do not like by very hard names, and I should not wonder if they brand +the proposition I am about to make as blasphemous, and worse. But, not +minding this, I venture to ask, Would there really be anything wrong in +using part of Sunday for the purpose of instructing those who have no +other leisure, in a knowledge of the phenomena of Nature, and of man's +relation to nature? + +I should like to see a scientific Sunday-school in every parish, not for +the purpose of superseding any existing means of teaching the people +the things that are for their good, but side by side with them. I cannot +but think that there is room for all of us to work in helping to bridge +over the great abyss of ignorance which lies at our feet. + +And if any of the ecclesiastical persons to whom I have referred, object +that they find it derogatory to the honour of the God whom they worship, +to awaken the minds of the young to the infinite wonder and majesty of +the works which they proclaim His, and to teach them those laws which +must needs be His laws, and therefore of all things needful for man to +know--I can only recommend them to be let blood and put on low diet. +There must be something very wrong going on in the instrument of logic, +if it turns out such conclusions from such premisses. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[3] Mr. Quain's words (_Medical Times and Gazette_, February 20) +are:--"A few words as to our special Medical course of instruction and +the influence upon it of such changes in the elementary schools as I +have mentioned. The student now enters at once upon several +sciences--physics, chemistry, anatomy, physiology, botany, pharmacy, +therapeutics--all these, the facts and the language and the laws of +each, to be mastered in eighteen months. Up to the beginning of the +Medical course many have learned little. We cannot claim anything better +than the Examiner of the University of London and the Cambridge Lecturer +have reported for their Universities. Supposing that at school young +people had acquired some exact elementary knowledge in physics, +chemistry, and a branch of natural history--say botany--with the +physiology connected with it, they would then have gained necessary +knowledge, with some practice in inductive reasoning. The whole studies +are processes of observation and induction--the best discipline of the +mind for the purposes of life--for our purposes not less than any. 'By +such study (says Dr. Whewell) of one or more departments of inductive +science the mind may escape from the thraldom of mere words.' By that +plan the burden of the early Medical course would be much lightened, and +more time devoted to practical studies, including Sir Thomas Watson's +'final and supreme stage' of the knowledge of Medicine." + + + + +V. + +ON THE EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SCIENCES. + + +The subject to which I have to beg your attention during the ensuing +hour is "The Relation of Physiological Science to other branches of +Knowledge." + +Had circumstances permitted of the delivery, in their strict logical +order, of that series of discourses of which the present lecture is a +member, I should have preceded my friend and colleague Mr. Henfrey, who +addressed you on Monday last; but while, for the sake of that order, I +must beg you to suppose that this discussion of the Educational bearings +of Biology in general _does_ precede that of Special Zoology and Botany, +I am rejoiced to be able to take advantage of the light thus already +thrown upon the tendency and methods of Physiological Science. + +Regarding Physiological Science, then, in its widest sense--as the +equivalent of _Biology_--the Science of Individual Life--we have to +consider in succession: + +1. Its position and scope as a branch of knowledge. + +2. Its value as a means of mental discipline. + +3. Its worth as practical information. + +And lastly, + +4. At what period it may best be made a branch of Education. + +Our conclusions on the first of these heads must depend, of course, upon +the nature of the subject-matter of Biology; and I think a few +preliminary considerations will place before you in a clear light the +vast difference which exists between the living bodies with which +Physiological science is concerned, and the remainder of the +universe;--between the phĉnomena of Number and Space, of Physical and of +Chemical force, on the one hand, and those of Life on the other. + +The mathematician, the physicist, and the chemist contemplate things in +a condition of rest; they look upon a state of equilibrium as that to +which all bodies normally tend. + +The mathematician does not suppose that a quantity will alter, or that a +given point in space will change its direction with regard to another +point, spontaneously. And it is the same with the physicist. When Newton +saw the apple fall, he concluded at once that the act of falling was not +the result of any power inherent in the apple, but that it was the +result of the action of something else on the apple. In a similar +manner, all physical force is regarded as the disturbance of an +equilibrium to which things tended before its exertion,--to which they +will tend again after its cessation. + +The chemist equally regards chemical change in a as the effect of the +action of something external to the body changed. A chemical compound +once formed would persist for ever, if no alteration took place in +surrounding conditions. + +But to the student of Life the aspect of nature is reversed. Here, +incessant, and, so far as we know, spontaneous change is the rule, rest +the exception--the anomaly to be accounted for. Living things have no +inertia, and tend to no equilibrium. + +Permit me, however, to give more force and clearness to these somewhat +abstract considerations, by an illustration or two. + +Imagine a vessel full of water, at the ordinary temperature, in an +atmosphere saturated with vapour. The _quantity_ and the _figure_ of +that water will not change, so far as we know, for ever. + +Suppose a lump of gold be thrown into the vessel--motion and disturbance +of figure exactly proportional to the momentum of the gold will take +place. But after a time the effects of this disturbance will +subside--equilibrium will be restored, and the water will return to its +passive state. + +Expose the water to cold--it will solidify--and in so doing its +particles will arrange themselves in definite crystalline shapes. But +once formed, these crystals change no further. + +Again, substitute for the lump of gold some substance capable of +entering into chemical relations with the water:--say, a mass of that +substance which is called "protein"--the substance of flesh:--a very +considerable disturbance of equilibrium will take place--all sorts of +chemical compositions and decompositions will occur; but in the end, as +before, the result will be the resumption of a condition of rest. + +Instead of such a mass of _dead_ protein, however, take a particle of +_living_ protein--one of those minute microscopic living things which +throng our pools, and are known as Infusoria--such a creature, for +instance, as an Euglena, and place it in our vessel of water. It is a +round mass provided with a long filament, and except in this peculiarity +of shape, presents no appreciable physical or chemical difference +whereby it might be distinguished from the particle of dead protein. + +But the difference in the phĉnomena to which it will give rise is +immense: in the first place it will develop a vast quantity of physical +force--cleaving the water in all directions with considerable rapidity +by means of the vibrations of the long filament or cilium. + +Nor is the amount of chemical energy which the little creature possesses +less striking. It is a perfect laboratory in itself, and it will act and +react upon the water and the matters contained therein; converting them +into new compounds resembling its own substance, and, at the same time, +giving up portions of its own substance which have become effete. + +Furthermore, the Euglena will increase in size; but this increase is by +no means unlimited, as the increase of a crystal might be. After it has +grown to a certain extent it divides, and each portion assumes the form +of the original, and proceeds to repeat the process of growth and +division. + +Nor is this all. For after a series of such divisions and subdivisions, +these minute points assume a totally new form, lose their long +tails--round themselves, and secrete a sort of envelope or box, in which +they remain shut up for a time, eventually to resume, directly or +indirectly, their primitive mode of existence. + +Now, so far as we know, there is no natural limit to the existence of +the Euglena, or of any other living germ. A living species once launched +into existence tends to live for ever. + +Consider how widely different this living particle is from the dead +atoms with which the physicist and chemist have to do! + +The particle of gold falls to the bottom and rests--the particle of dead +protein decomposes and disappears--it also rests: but the _living_ +protein mass neither tends to exhaustion of its forces nor to any +permanency of form, but is essentially distinguished as a disturber of +equilibrium so far as force is concerned,--as undergoing continual +metamorphosis and change, in point of form. + +Tendency to equilibrium of force and to permanency of form then, are the +characters of that portion of the universe which does not live--the +domain of the chemist and physicist. + +Tendency to disturb existing equilibrium,--to take on forms which +succeed one another in definite cycles, is the character of the living +world. + +What is the cause of this wonderful difference between the dead particle +and the living particle of matter appearing in other respects identical? +that difference to which we give the name of Life? + +I, for one, cannot tell you. It may be that, by and by, philosophers +will discover some higher laws of which the facts of life are particular +cases--very possibly they will find out some bond between +physico-chemical phĉnomena on the one hand, and vital phĉnomena on the +other. At present, however, we assuredly know of none; and I think we +shall exercise a wise humility in confessing that, for us at least, this +successive assumption of different states--(external conditions +remaining the same)--this _spontaneity of action_--if I may use a term +which implies more than I would be answerable for--which constitutes so +vast and plain a practical distinction between living bodies and those +which do not live, is an ultimate fact; indicating as such, the +existence of a broad line of demarcation between the subject-matter of +Biological and that of all other sciences. + +For I would have it understood that this simple Euglena is the type of +_all_ living things, so far as the distinction between these and inert +matter is concerned. That cycle of changes, which is constituted by +perhaps not more than two or three steps in the Euglena, is as clearly +manifested in the multitudinous stages through which the germ of an oak +or of a man passes. Whatever forms the Living Being may take on, whether +simple or complex, _production_, _growth_, _reproduction_, are the +phĉnomena which distinguish it from that which does not live. + +If this be true, it is clear that the student, in passing from the +physico-chemical to the physiological sciences, enters upon a totally +new order of facts; and it will next be for us to consider how far these +new facts involve _new_ methods, or require a modification of those with +which he is already acquainted. Now a great deal is said about the +peculiarity of the scientific method in general, and of the different +methods which are pursued in the different sciences. The Mathematics +are said to have one special method; Physics another, Biology a third, +and so forth. For my own part, I must confess that I do not understand +this phraseology. + +So far as I can arrive at any clear comprehension of the matter, Science +is not, as many would seem to suppose, a modification of the black art, +suited to the tastes of the nineteenth century, and flourishing mainly +in consequence of the decay of the Inquisition. + +Science is, I believe, nothing but _trained and organized common sense_, +differing from the latter only as a veteran may differ from a raw +recruit: and its methods differ from those of common sense only so far +as the guardsman's cut and thrust differ from the manner in which a +savage wields his club. The primary power is the same in each case, and +perhaps the untutored savage has the more brawny arm of the two. The +_real_ advantage lies in the point and polish of the swordsman's weapon; +in the trained eye quick to spy out the weakness of the adversary; in +the ready hand prompt to follow it on the instant. But after all, the +sword exercise is only the hewing and poking of the clubman developed +and perfected. + +So, the vast results obtained by Science are won by no mystical +faculties, by no mental processes, other than those which are practised +by every one of us, in the humblest and meanest affairs of life. A +detective policeman discovers a burglar from the marks made by his shoe, +by a mental process identical with that by which Cuvier restored the +extinct animals of Montmartre from fragments of their bones. Nor does +that process of induction and deduction by which a lady, finding a stain +of a peculiar kind upon her dress, concludes that somebody has upset +the inkstand thereon, differ in any way, in kind, from that by which +Adams and Leverrier discovered a new planet. + +The man of science, in fact, simply uses with scrupulous exactness, the +methods which we all, habitually and at every moment, use carelessly; +and the man of business must as much avail himself of the scientific +method--must be as truly a man of science--as the veriest bookworm of us +all; though I have no doubt that the man of business will find himself +out to be a philosopher with as much surprise as M. Jourdain exhibited, +when he discovered that he had been all his life talking prose. If, +however, there be no real difference between the methods of science and +those of common life, it would seem, on the face of the matter, highly +improbable that there should be any difference between the methods of +the different sciences; nevertheless, it is constantly taken for +granted, that there is a very wide difference between the Physiological +and other sciences in point of method. + +In the first place it is said--and I take this point first, because the +imputation is too frequently admitted by Physiologists themselves--that +Biology differs from the Physico-chemical and Mathematical sciences in +being "inexact." + +Now, this phrase "inexact" must refer either to the _methods_ or to the +_results_ of Physiological science. + +It cannot be correct to apply it to the methods; for, as I hope to show +you by and by, these are identical in all sciences, and whatever is true +of Physiological method is true of Physical and Mathematical method. + +Is it then the _results_ of Biological science which are "inexact"? I +think not. If I say that respiration is performed by the lungs; that +digestion is effected in the stomach; that the eye is the organ of +sight; that the jaws of a vertebrated animal never open sideways, but +always up and down; while those of an annulose animal always open +sideways, and never up and down--I am enumerating propositions which are +as exact as anything in Euclid. How then has this notion of the +inexactness of Biological science come about? I believe from two causes: +first, because, in consequence of the great complexity of the science +and the multitude of interfering conditions, we are very often only +enabled to predict approximatively what will occur under given +circumstances; and secondly, because, on account of the comparative +youth of the Physiological sciences, a great many of their laws are +still imperfectly worked out. But, in an educational point of view, it +is most important to distinguish between the essence of a science and +the accidents which surround it; and essentially, the methods and +results of Physiology are as exact as those of Physics or Mathematics. + +It is said that the Physiological method is especially _comparative_[4]; +and this dictum also finds favour in the eyes of many. I should be +sorry to suggest that the speculators on scientific classification have +been misled by the accident of the name of one leading branch of +Biology--_Comparative Anatomy_; but I would ask whether _comparison_, +and that classification which is the result of comparison, are not the +essence of every science whatsoever? How is it possible to discover a +relation of cause and effect of _any_ kind without comparing a series of +cases together in which the supposed cause and effect occur singly, or +combined? So far from comparison being in any way peculiar to Biological +science, it is, I think, the essence of every science. + +A speculative philosopher again tells us that the Biological sciences +are distinguished by being sciences of observation and not of +experiment![5] + +Of all the strange assertions into which speculation without practical +acquaintance with a subject may lead even an able man, I think this is +the very strangest. Physiology not an experimental science! Why, there +is not a function of a single organ in the body which has not been +determined wholly and solely by experiment. How did Harvey determine the +nature of the circulation, except by experiment? How did Sir Charles +Bell determine the functions of the roots of the spinal nerves, save by +experiment? How do we know the use of a nerve at all, except by +experiment? Nay, how do you know even that your eye is your seeing +apparatus, unless you make the experiment of shutting it; or that your +ear is your hearing apparatus, unless you close it up and thereby +discover that you become deaf? + +It would really be much more true to say that Physiology is _the_ +experimental science _par excellence_ of all sciences; that in which +there is least to be learnt by mere observation, and that which affords +the greatest field for the exercise of those faculties which +characterise the experimental philosopher. I confess, if any one were to +ask me for a model application of the logic of experiment, I should know +no better work to put into his hands than Bernard's late Researches on +the Functions of the Liver.[6] + +Not to give this lecture a too controversial tone, however, I must only +advert to one more doctrine, held by a thinker of our own age and +country, whose opinions are worthy of all respect. It is, that the +Biological sciences differ from all others, inasmuch as in _them_ +classification takes place by type and not by definition.[7] + +It is said, in short, that a natural-history class is not capable of +being defined--that the class Rosaceĉ, for instance, or the class of +Fishes, is not accurately and absolutely definable, inasmuch as its +members will present exceptions to every possible definition; and that +the members of the class are united together only by the circumstance +that they are all more like some imaginary average rose or average fish, +than they resemble anything else. + +But here, as before, I think the distinction has arisen entirely from +confusing a transitory imperfection with an essential character. So long +as our information concerning them is imperfect, we class all objects +together according to resemblances which we _feel_, but cannot _define_: +we group them round _types_, in short. Thus, if you ask an ordinary +person what kinds of animals there are, he will probably say, beasts, +birds, reptiles, fishes, insects, &c. Ask him to define a beast from a +reptile, and he cannot do it; but he says, things like a cow or a horse +are beasts, and things like a frog or a lizard are reptiles. You see _he +does_ class by type, and not by definition. But how does this +classification differ from that of the scientific Zoologist? How does +the meaning of the scientific class-name of "Mammalia" differ from the +unscientific of "Beasts"? + +Why, exactly because the former depends on a definition, the latter on a +type. The class Mammalia is scientifically defined as "all animals which +have a vertebrated skeleton and suckle their young." Here is no +reference to type, but a definition rigorous enough for a geometrician. +And such is the character which every scientific naturalist recognises +as that to which his classes must aspire--knowing, as he does, that +classification by type is simply an acknowledgment of ignorance and a +temporary device. + +So much in the way of negative argument as against the reputed +differences, between Biological and other methods. No such differences, +I believe, really exist. The subject-matter of Biological science is +different from that of other sciences, but the methods of all are +identical; and these methods are-- + +1. _Observation_ of facts--including under this head that _artificial +observation_ which is called _experiment_. + +2. That process of tying up similar facts into bundles, ticketed and +ready for use, which is called _Comparison_ and _Classification_,--the +results of the process, the ticketed bundles, being named _General +propositions_. + +3. _Deduction_, which takes us from the general proposition to facts +again--teaches us, if I may so say, to anticipate from the ticket what +is inside the bundle. And finally-- + +4. _Verification_, which is the process of ascertaining whether, in +point of fact, our anticipation is a correct one. + +Such are the methods of all science whatsoever; but perhaps you will +permit me to give you an illustration of their employment in the science +of Life; and I will take as a special case, the establishment of the +doctrine of the _Circulation of the Blood_. + +In this case, _simple observation_ yields us a knowledge of the +existence of the blood from some accidental hĉmorrhage, we will say: we +may even grant that it informs us of the localization of this blood in +particular vessels, the heart, &c., from some accidental cut or the +like. It teaches also the existence of a pulse in various parts of the +body, and acquaints us with the structure of the heart and vessels. + +Here, however, _simple observation_ stops, and we must have recourse to +_experiment_. + +You tie a vein, and you find that the blood accumulates on the side of +the ligature opposite the heart. You tie an artery, and you find that +the blood accumulates on the side near the heart. Open the chest, and +you see the heart contracting with great force. Make openings into its +principal cavities, and you will find that all the blood flows out, and +no more pressure is exerted on either side of the arterial or venous +ligature. + +Now all these facts, taken together, constitute the evidence that the +blood is propelled by the heart through the arteries, and returns by the +veins--that, in short, the blood circulates. + +Suppose our experiments and observations have been made on horses, then +we group and ticket them into a general proposition, thus:--_all horses +have a circulation of their blood_. + +Henceforward a horse is a sort of indication or label, telling us where +we shall find a peculiar series of phĉnomena called the circulation of +the blood. + +Here is our _general proposition_ then. + +How and when are we justified in making our next step--a _deduction_ +from it? + +Suppose our physiologist, whose experience is limited to horses, meets +with a zebra for the first time,--will he suppose that this +generalization holds good for zebras also? + +That depends very much on his turn of mind. But we will suppose him to +be a bold man. He will say, "The zebra is certainly not a horse, but it +is very like one,--so like, that it must be the 'ticket' or mark of a +blood-circulation also; and, I conclude that the zebra has a +circulation." + +That is a deduction, a very fair deduction, but by no means to be +considered scientifically secure. This last quality in fact can only be +given by _verification_--that is, by making a zebra the subject of all +the experiments performed on the horse. Of course, in the present case, +the _deduction_ would be _confirmed_ by this process of verification, +and the result would be, not merely a positive widening of knowledge, +but a fair increase of confidence in the truth of one's generalizations +in other cases. + +Thus, having settled the point in the zebra and horse, our philosopher +would have great confidence in the existence of a circulation in the +ass. Nay, I fancy most persons would excuse him, if in this case he did +not take the trouble to go through the process of verification at all; +and it would not be without a parallel in the history of the human mind, +if our imaginary physiologist now maintained that he was acquainted with +asinine circulation _à priori_. + +However, if I might impress any caution upon your minds, it is, the +utterly conditional nature of all our knowledge,--the danger of +neglecting the process of verification under any circumstances; and the +film upon which we rest, the moment our deductions carry us beyond the +reach of this great process of verification. There is no better instance +of this than is afforded by the history of our knowledge of the +circulation of the blood in the animal kingdom until the year 1824. In +every animal possessing a circulation at all, which had been observed up +to that time, the current of the blood was known to take one definite +and invariable direction. Now, there is a class of animals called +_Ascidians_, which possess a heart and a circulation, and up to the +period of which I speak, no one would have dreamt of questioning the +propriety of the deduction, that these creatures have a circulation in +one direction; nor would any one have thought it worth while to verify +the point. But, in that year, M. von Hasselt happening to examine a +transparent animal of this class, found to his infinite surprise, that +after the heart had beat a certain number of times, it stopped, and then +began beating the opposite way--so as to reverse the course of the +current, which returned by and by to its original direction. + +I have myself timed the heart of these little animals. I found it as +regular as possible in its periods of reversal: and I know no spectacle +in the animal kingdom more wonderful than that which it presents--all +the more wonderful that to this day it remains an unique fact, peculiar +to this class among the whole animated world. At the same time I know of +no more striking case of the necessity of the _verification_ of even +those deductions which seem founded on the widest and safest inductions. + +Such are the methods of Biology--methods which are obviously identical +with those of all other sciences, and therefore wholly incompetent to +form the ground of any distinction between it and them.[8] + +But I shall be asked at once, Do you mean to say that there is no +difference between the habit of mind of a mathematician and that of a +naturalist? Do you imagine that Laplace might have been put into the +Jardin des Plantes, and Cuvier into the Observatory, with equal +advantage to the progress of the sciences they professed? + +To which I would reply, that nothing could be further from my thoughts. +But different habits and various special tendencies of two sciences do +not imply different methods. The mountaineer and the man of the plains +have very different habits of progression, and each would be at a loss +in the other's place; but the method of progression, by putting one leg +before the other, is the same in each case. Every step of each is a +combination of a lift and a push; but the mountaineer lifts more and the +lowlander pushes more. And I think the case of two sciences resembles +this. + +I do not question for a moment, that while the Mathematician is busied +with deductions _from_ general propositions, the Biologist is more +especially occupied with observation, comparison, and those processes +which lead _to_ general propositions. All I wish to insist upon is, that +this difference depends not on any fundamental distinction in the +sciences themselves, but on the accidents of their subject-matter, of +their relative complexity, and consequent relative perfection. + +The Mathematician deals with two properties of objects only, number and +extension, and all the inductions he wants have been formed and finished +ages ago. He is occupied now with nothing but deduction and +verification. + +The Biologist deals with a vast number of properties of objects, and +his inductions will not be completed, I fear, for ages to come; but when +they are, his science will be as deductive and as exact as the +Mathematics themselves. + +Such is the relation of Biology to those sciences which deal with +objects having fewer properties than itself. But as the student, in +reaching Biology, looks back upon sciences of a less complex and +therefore more perfect nature; so, on the other hand, does he look +forward to other more complex and less perfect branches of knowledge. +Biology deals only with living beings as isolated things--treats only of +the life of the individual: but there is a higher division of science +still, which considers living beings as aggregates--which deals with the +relation of living beings one to another--the science which _observes_ +men--whose _experiments_ are made by nations one upon another, in +battle-fields--whose _general propositions_ are embodied in history, +morality, and religion--whose _deductions_ lead to our happiness or our +misery,--and whose _verifications_ so often come too late, and serve +only + + "To point a moral or adorn a tale"-- + +I mean the science of Society or _Sociology_. + +I think it is one of the grandest features of Biology, that it occupies +this central position in human knowledge. There is no side of the human +mind which physiological study leaves uncultivated. Connected by +innumerable ties with abstract science, Physiology is yet in the most +intimate relation with humanity; and by teaching us that law and order, +and a definite scheme of development, regulate even the strangest and +wildest manifestations of individual life, she prepares the student to +look for a goal even amidst the erratic wanderings of mankind, and to +believe that history offers something more than an entertaining chaos--a +journal of a toilsome, tragi-comic march nowhither. + +The preceding considerations have, I hope, served to indicate the +replies which befit the two first of the questions which I set before +you at starting, viz. what is the range and position of Physiological +Science as a branch of knowledge, and what is its value as a means of +mental discipline. + +Its _subject-matter_ is a large moiety of the universe--its _position_ +is midway between the physico-chemical and the social sciences. Its +_value_ as a branch of discipline is partly that which it has in common +with all sciences--the training and strengthening of common sense; +partly that which is more peculiar to itself--the great exercise which +it affords to the faculties of observation and comparison; and I may +add, the _exactness_ of knowledge which it requires on the part of those +among its votaries who desire to extend its boundaries. + +If what has been said as to the position and scope of Biology be +correct, our third question--What is the practical value of +physiological instruction?--might, one would think, be left to answer +itself. + +On other grounds even, were mankind deserving of the title "rational," +which they arrogate to themselves, there can be no question that they +would consider, as the most necessary of all branches of instruction for +themselves and for their children, that which professes to acquaint them +with the conditions of the existence they prize so highly--which teaches +them how to avoid disease and to cherish health, in themselves and +those who are dear to them. + +I am addressing, I imagine, an audience of educated persons; and yet I +dare venture to assert that, with the exception of those of my hearers +who may chance to have received a medical education, there is not one +who could tell me what is the meaning and use of an act which he +performs a score of times every minute, and whose suspension would +involve his immediate death;--I mean the act of breathing--or who could +state in precise terms why it is that a confined atmosphere is injurious +to health. + +The _practical value_ of Physiological knowledge! Why is it that +educated men can be found to maintain that a slaughter-house in the +midst of a great city is rather a good thing than otherwise?--that +mothers persist in exposing the largest possible amount of surface of +their children to the cold, by the absurd style of dress they adopt, and +then marvel at the peculiar dispensation of Providence, which removes +their infants by bronchitis and gastric fever? Why is it that quackery +rides rampant over the land; and that not long ago, one of the largest +public rooms in this great city could be filled by an audience gravely +listening to the reverend expositor of the doctrine--that the simple +physiological phenomena known as spirit-rapping, table-turning, +phreno-magnetism, and by I know not what other absurd and inappropriate +names, are due to the direct and personal agency of Satan? + +Why is all this, except from the utter ignorance as to the simplest laws +of their own animal life, which prevails among even the most highly +educated persons in this country? + +But there are other branches of Biological Science, besides Physiology +proper, whose practical influence, though less obvious, is not, as I +believe, less certain. I have heard educated men speak with an +ill-disguised contempt of the studies of the naturalist, and ask, not +without a shrug, "What is the use of knowing all about these miserable +animals--what bearing has it on human life?" + +I will endeavour to answer that question. I take it that all will admit +there is definite Government of this universe--that its pleasures and +pains are not scattered at random, but are distributed in accordance +with orderly and fixed laws, and that it is only in accordance with all +we know of the rest of the world, that there should be an agreement +between one portion of the sensitive creation and another in these +matters. + +Surely then it interests us to know the lot of other animal +creatures--however far below us, they are still the sole created things +which share with us the capability of pleasure and the susceptibility to +pain. + +I cannot but think that he who finds a certain proportion of pain and +evil inseparably woven up in the life of the very worms, will bear his +own share with more courage and submission; and will, at any rate, view +with suspicion those weakly amiable theories of the Divine government, +which would have us believe pain to be an oversight and a mistake,--to +be corrected by and by. On the other hand, the predominance of happiness +among living things--their lavish beauty--the secret and wonderful +harmony which pervades them all, from the highest to the lowest, are +equally striking refutations of that modern Manichean doctrine, which +exhibits the world as a slave-mill, worked with many tears, for mere +utilitarian ends. + +There is yet another way in which natural history may, I am convinced, +take a profound hold upon practical life,--and that is, by its influence +over our finer feelings, as the greatest of all sources of that pleasure +which is derivable from beauty. I do not pretend that natural-history +knowledge, as such, can increase our sense of the beautiful in natural +objects. I do not suppose that the dead soul of Peter Bell, of whom the +great poet of nature says,-- + + A primrose by the river's brim, + A yellow primrose was to him,-- + And it was nothing more,-- + +would have been a whit roused from its apathy, by the information that +the primrose is a Dicotyledonous Exogen, with a monopetalous corolla and +central placentation. But I advocate natural-history knowledge from this +point of view, because it would lead us to _seek_ the beauties of +natural objects, instead of trusting to chance to force them on our +attention. To a person uninstructed in natural history, his country, or +sea-side, stroll is a walk through a gallery filled with wonderful works +of art, nine-tenths of which have their faces turned to the wall. Teach +him something of natural history, and you place in his hands a catalogue +of those which are worth turning round. Surely our innocent pleasures +are not so abundant in this life, that we can afford to despise this or +any other source of them. We should fear being banished for our neglect +to that limbo, where the great Florentine tells us are those who, during +this life, "wept when they might be joyful." + +But I shall be trespassing unwarrantably on your kindness, if I do not +proceed at once to my last point--the time at which Physiological +Science should first form a part of the Curriculum of Education. + +The distinction between the teaching of the facts of a science as +instruction, and the teaching it systematically as knowledge, has +already been placed before you in a previous lecture: and it appears to +me, that, as with other sciences, the _common facts_ of Biology--the +uses of parts of the body--the names and habits of the living creatures +which surround us--may be taught with advantage to the youngest child. +Indeed, the avidity of children for this kind of knowledge, and the +comparative ease with which they retain it, is something quite +marvellous. I doubt whether any toy would be so acceptable to young +children as a vivarium, of the same kind as, but of course on a smaller +scale than, those admirable devices in the Zoological Gardens. + +On the other hand, systematic teaching in Biology cannot be attempted +with success until the student has attained to a certain knowledge of +physics and chemistry: for though the phĉnomena of life are dependent +neither on physical nor on chemical, but on vital forces, yet they +result in all sorts of physical and chemical changes, which can only be +judged by their own laws. + +And now to sum up in a few words the conclusions to which I hope you see +reason to follow me. + +Biology needs no apologist when she demands a place--and a prominent +place--in any scheme of education worthy of the name. Leave out the +Physiological sciences from your curriculum, and you launch the student +into the world, undisciplined in that science whose subject-matter +would best develop his powers of observation; ignorant of facts of the +deepest importance for his own and others' welfare; blind to the richest +sources of beauty in God's creation; and unprovided with that belief in +a living law, and an order manifesting itself in and through endless +change and variety, which might serve to check and moderate that phase +of despair through which, if he take an earnest interest in social +problems, he will assuredly sooner or later pass. + +Finally, one word for myself. I have not hesitated to speak strongly +where I have felt strongly; and I am but too conscious that the +indicative and imperative moods have too often taken the place of the +more becoming subjunctive and conditional. I feel, therefore, how +necessary it is to beg you to forget the personality of him who has thus +ventured to address you, and to consider only the truth or error in what +has been said. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[4] "In the third place, we have to review the method of Comparison, +which is so specially adapted to the study of living bodies, and by +which, above all others, that study must be advanced. In Astronomy, this +method is necessarily inapplicable; and it is not till we arrive at +Chemistry that this third means of investigation can be used, and then +only in subordination to the two others. It is in the study, both +statical and dynamical, of living bodies that it first acquires its full +development; and its use elsewhere can be only through its application +here."--COMTE'S _Positive Philosophy_, translated by Miss Martineau. +Vol. i. p. 372. + +By what method does M. Comte suppose that the equality or inequality of +forces and quantities and the dissimilarity or similarity of +forms--points of some slight importance not only in Astronomy and +Physics, but even in Mathematics--are ascertained, if not by Comparison? + +[5] "Proceeding to the second class of means,--Experiment cannot but be +less and less decisive, in proportion to the complexity of the phĉnomena +to be explored; and therefore we saw this resource to be less effectual +in chemistry than in physics: and we now find that it is eminently +useful in chemistry in comparison with physiology. _In fact, the nature +of the phĉnomena seems to offer almost insurmountable impediments to any +extensive and prolific application of such a procedure in +biology._"--Comte, vol i. p. 367. + +M. Comte, as his manner is, contradicts himself two pages further on, +but that will hardly relieve him from the responsibility of such a +paragraph as the above. + +[6] "Nouvelle Fonction du Foie considéré comme organe producteur de +matière sucrée chez l'Homme et les Animaux," par M. Claude Bernard. + +[7] "_Natural Groups given by Type, not by Definition...._ The class is +steadily fixed, though not precisely limited; it is given, though not +circumscribed; it is determined, not by a boundary-line without, but by +a central point within; not by what it strictly excludes, but what it +eminently includes; by an example, not by a precept; in short, instead +of Definition we have a _Type_ for our director. A type is an example of +any class, for instance, a species of a genus, which is considered as +eminently possessing the characters of the class. All the species which +have a greater affinity with this type-species than with any others, +form the genus, and are ranged about it, deviating from it in various +directions and different degrees."--WHEWELL, _The Philosophy of the +Inductive Sciences_, vol. i. pp. 476, 477. + +[8] Save for the pleasure of doing so, I need hardly point out my +obligations to Mr. J.S. Mill's "System of Logic," in this view of +scientific method. + + + + +VI. + +ON THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY. + + +Natural history is the name familiarly applied to the study of the +properties of such natural bodies as minerals, plants, and animals; the +sciences which embody the knowledge man has acquired upon these subjects +are commonly termed Natural Sciences, in contradistinction to other, +so-called "physical," sciences; and those who devote themselves +especially to the pursuit of such sciences have been, and are, commonly +termed "Naturalists." + +Linnĉus was a naturalist in this wide sense, and his "Systema Naturĉ" +was a work upon natural history, in the broadest acceptation of the +term; in it, that great methodizing spirit embodied all that was known +in his time of the distinctive characters of minerals, animals, and +plants. But the enormous stimulus which Linnĉus gave to the +investigation of nature soon rendered it impossible that any one man +should write another "Systema Naturĉ," and extremely difficult for any +one to become a naturalist such as Linnĉus was. + +Great as have been the advances made by all the three branches of +science, of old included under the title of natural history, there can +be no doubt that zoology and botany have grown in an enormously greater +ratio than mineralogy; and hence, as I suppose, the name of "natural +history" has gradually become more and more definitely attached to these +prominent divisions of the subject, and by "naturalist" people have +meant more and more distinctly to imply a student of the structure and +functions of living beings. + +However this may be, it is certain that the advance of knowledge has +gradually widened the distance between mineralogy and its old +associates, while it has drawn zoology and botany closer together; so +that of late years it has been found convenient (and indeed necessary) +to associate the sciences which deal with vitality and all its phenomena +under the common head of "biology;" and the biologists have come to +repudiate any blood-relationship with their foster-brothers, the +mineralogists. + +Certain broad laws have a general application throughout both the animal +and the vegetable worlds, but the ground common to these kingdoms of +nature is not of very wide extent, and the multiplicity of details is so +great, that the student of living beings finds himself obliged to devote +his attention exclusively either to the one or the other. If he elects +to study plants, under any aspect, we know at once what to call him; he +is a botanist, and his science is botany. But if the investigation of +animal life be his choice, the name generally applied to him will vary, +according to the kind of animals he studies, or the particular phenomena +of animal life to which he confines his attention. If the study of man +is his object, he is called an anatomist, or a physiologist, or an +ethnologist; but if he dissects animals, or examines into the mode in +which their functions are performed, he is a comparative anatomist or +comparative physiologist. If he turns his attention to fossil animals, +he is a palĉontologist. If his mind is more particularly directed to the +description, specific discrimination, classification, and distribution +of animals, he is termed a zoologist. + +For the purposes of the present discourse, however, I shall recognise +none of these titles save the last, which I shall employ as the +equivalent of botanist, and I shall use the term zoology as denoting the +whole doctrine of animal life, in contradistinction to botany, which +signifies the whole doctrine of vegetable life. + +Employed in this sense, zoology, like botany, is divisible into three +great but subordinate sciences, morphology, physiology, and +distribution, each of which may, to a very great extent, be studied +independently of the other. + +Zoological morphology is the doctrine of animal form or structure. +Anatomy is one of its branches, development is another; while +classification is the expression of the relations which different +animals bear to one another, in respect of their anatomy and their +development. + +Zoological distribution is the study of animals in relation to the +terrestrial conditions which obtain now, or have obtained at any +previous epoch of the earth's history. + +Zoological physiology, lastly, is the doctrine of the functions or +actions of animals. It regards animal bodies as machines impelled by +certain forces, and performing an amount of work, which can be +expressed in terms of the ordinary forces of nature. The final object of +physiology is to deduce the facts of morphology, on the one hand, and +those of distribution on the other, from the laws of the molecular +forces of matter. + +Such is the scope of zoology. But if I were to content myself with the +enunciation of these dry definitions, I should ill exemplify that method +of teaching this branch of physical science, which it is my chief +business to-night to recommend. Let us turn away then from abstract +definitions. Let us take some concrete living thing, some animal, the +commoner the better, and let us see how the application of common sense +and common logic to the obvious facts it presents, inevitably leads us +into all these branches of zoological science. + +I have before me a lobster. When I examine it, what appears to be the +most striking character it presents? Why, I observe that this part which +we call the tail of the lobster, is made up of six distinct hard rings +and a seventh terminal piece. If I separate one of the middle rings, say +the third, I find it carries upon its under surface a pair of limbs or +appendages, each of which consists of a stalk and two terminal pieces. +So that I can represent a transverse section of the ring and its +appendages upon the diagram board in this way. + +If I now take the fourth ring I find it has the same structure, and so +have the fifth and the second; so that, in each of these divisions of +the tail, I find parts which correspond with one another, a ring and two +appendages; and in each appendage a stalk and two end pieces. These +corresponding parts are called, in the technical language of anatomy, +"homologous parts." The ring of the third division is the "homologue" +of the ring of the fifth, the appendage of the former is the homologue +of the appendage of the latter. And, as each division exhibits +corresponding parts in corresponding places, we say that all the +divisions are constructed upon the same plan. But now let us consider +the sixth division. It is similar to, and yet different from, the +others. The ring is essentially the same as in the other divisions; but +the appendages look at first as if they were very different; and yet +when we regard them closely, what do we find? A stalk and two terminal +divisions, exactly as in the others, but the stalk is very short and +very thick, the terminal divisions are very broad and flat, and one of +them is divided into two pieces. + +I may say, therefore, that the sixth segment is like the others in plan, +but that it is modified in its details. + +The first segment is like the others, so far as its ring is concerned, +and though its appendages differ from any of those yet examined in the +simplicity of their structure, parts corresponding with the stem and one +of the divisions of the appendages of the other segments can be readily +discerned in them. + +Thus it appears that the lobster's tail is composed of a series of +segments which are fundamentally similar, though each presents peculiar +modifications of the plan common to all. But when I turn to the fore +part of the body I see, at first, nothing but a great shield-like shell, +called technically the "carapace," ending in front in a sharp spine, on +either side of which are the curious compound eyes, set upon the ends of +stout moveable stalks. Behind these, on the under side of the body, are +two pairs of long feelers, or antennĉ, followed by six pairs of jaws, +folded against one another over the mouth, and five pairs of legs, the +foremost of these being the great pinchers, or claws, of the lobster. + +It looks, at first, a little hopeless to attempt to find in this complex +mass a series of rings, each with its pair of appendages, such as I have +shown you in the abdomen, and yet it is not difficult to demonstrate +their existence. Strip off the legs, and you will find that each pair is +attached to a very definite segment of the under wall of the body; but +these segments, instead of being the lower parts of free rings, as in +the tail, are such parts of rings which are all solidly united and bound +together; and the like is true of the jaws, the feelers, and the +eye-stalks, every pair of which is borne upon its own special segment. +Thus the conclusion is gradually forced upon us, that the body of the +lobster is composed of as many rings as there are pairs of appendages, +namely, twenty in all, but that the six hindmost rings remain free and +moveable, while the fourteen front rings become firmly soldered +together, their backs forming one continuous shield--the carapace. + +Unity of plan, diversity in execution, is the lesson taught by the study +of the rings of the body, and the same instruction is given still more +emphatically by the appendages. If I examine the outermost jaw I find it +consists of three distinct portions, an inner, a middle, and an outer, +mounted upon a common stem; and if I compare this jaw with the legs +behind it, or the jaws in front of it, I find it quite easy to see, +that, in the legs, it is the part of the appendage which corresponds +with the inner division, which becomes modified into what we know +familiarly as the "leg," while the middle division, disappears, and the +outer division is hidden under the carapace. Nor is it more difficult to +discern that, in the appendages of the tail, the middle division appears +again and the outer vanishes; while, on the other hand, in the foremost +jaw, the so-called mandible, the inner division only is left; and, in +the same way, the parts of the feelers and of the eye-stalks can be +identified with those of the legs and jaws. + +But whither does all this tend? To the very remarkable conclusion that a +unity of plan, of the same kind as that discoverable in the tail or +abdomen of the lobster, pervades the whole organization of its skeleton, +so that I can return to the diagram representing any one of the rings of +the tail, which I drew upon the board, and by adding a third division to +each appendage, I can use it as a sort of scheme or plan of any ring of +the body. I can give names to all the parts of that figure, and then if +I take any segment of the body of the lobster, I can point out to you +exactly, what modification the general plan has undergone in that +particular segment; what part has remained moveable, and what has become +fixed to another; what has been excessively developed and metamorphosed, +and what has been suppressed. + +But I imagine I hear the question, How is all this to be tested? No +doubt it is a pretty and ingenious way of looking at the structure of +any animal, but is it anything more? Does Nature acknowledge, in any +deeper way, this unity of plan we seem to trace? + +The objection suggested by these questions is a very valid and important +one, and morphology was in an unsound state, so long as it rested upon +the mere perception of the analogies which obtain between fully formed +parts. The unchecked ingenuity of speculative anatomists proved itself +fully competent to spin any number of contradictory hypotheses out of +the same facts, and endless morphological dreams threatened to supplant +scientific theory. + +Happily, however, there is a criterion of morphological truth, and a +sure test of all homologies. Our lobster has not always been what we see +it; it was once an egg, a semifluid mass of yolk, not so big as a pin's +head, contained in a transparent membrane, and exhibiting not the least +trace of any one of those organs, whose multiplicity and complexity, in +the adult, are so surprising. After a time a delicate patch of cellular +membrane appeared upon one face of this yolk, and that patch was the +foundation of the whole creature, the clay out of which it would be +moulded. Gradually investing the yolk, it became subdivided by +transverse constrictions into segments, the forerunners of the rings of +the body. Upon the ventral surface of each of the rings thus sketched +out, a pair of bud-like prominences made their appearance--the rudiments +of the appendages of the ring. At first, all the appendages were alike, +but, as they grew, most of them became distinguished into a stem and two +terminal divisions, to which, in the middle part of the body, was added +a third outer division; and it was only at a later period, that by the +modification, or absorption, of certain of these primitive constituents, +the limbs acquired their perfect form. + +Thus the study of development proves that the doctrine of unity of plan +is not merely a fancy, that it is not merely one way of looking at the +matter, but that it is the expression of deep-seated natural facts. The +legs and jaws of the lobster may not merely be regarded as modifications +of a common type,--in fact and in nature they are so,--the leg and the +jaw of the young animal being, at first, indistinguishable. + +These are wonderful truths, the more so because the zoologist finds them +to be of universal application. The investigation of a polype, of a +snail, of a fish, of a horse, or of a man, would have led us, though by +a less easy path, perhaps, to exactly the same point. Unity of plan +everywhere lies hidden under the mask of diversity of structure--the +complex is everywhere evolved out of the simple. Every animal has at +first the form of an egg, and every animal and every organic part, in +reaching its adult state, passes through conditions common to other +animals and other adult parts; and this leads me to another point. I +have hitherto spoken as if the lobster were alone in the world, but, as +I need hardly remind you, there are myriads of other animal organisms. +Of these, some, such as men, horses, birds, fishes, snails, slugs, +oysters, corals, and sponges, are not in the least like the lobster. But +other animals, though they may differ a good deal from the lobster, are +yet either very like it, or are like something that is like it. The cray +fish, the rock lobster, and the prawn, and the shrimp, for example, +however different, are yet so like lobsters, that a child would group +them as of the lobster kind, in contradistinction to snails and slugs; +and these last again would form a kind by themselves, in +contradistinction to cows, horses, and sheep, the cattle kind. + +But this spontaneous grouping into "kinds" is the first essay of the +human mind at classification, or the calling by a common name of those +things that are alike, and the arranging them in such a manner as best +to suggest the sum of their likenesses and unlikenesses to other things. + +Those kinds which include no other subdivisions than the sexes, or +various breeds, are called, in technical language, species. The English +lobster is a species, our cray fish is another, our prawn is another. In +other countries, however, there are lobsters, cray fish, and prawns, +very like ours, and yet presenting sufficient differences to deserve +distinction. Naturalists, therefore, express this resemblance and this +diversity by grouping them as distinct species of the same "genus." But +the lobster and the cray fish, though belonging to distinct genera, have +many features in common, and hence are grouped together in an assemblage +which is called a family. More distant resemblances connect the lobster +with the prawn and the crab, which are expressed by putting all these +into the same order. Again, more remote, but still very definite, +resemblances unite the lobster with the woodlouse, the king crab, the +water-flea, and the barnacle, and separate them from all other animals; +whence they collectively constitute the larger group, or class, +_Crustacea_. But the _Crustacea_ exhibit many peculiar features in +common with insects, spiders, and centipedes, so that these are grouped +into the still larger assemblage or "province" _Articulata_; and, +finally, the relations which these have to worms and other lower +animals, are expressed by combining the whole vast aggregate into the +sub-kingdom of _Annulosa_. + +If I had worked my way from a sponge instead of a lobster, I should have +found it associated, by like ties, with a great number of other animals +into the sub-kingdom _Protozoa_; if I had selected a fresh-water polype +or a coral, the members of what naturalists term the sub-kingdom +_Clenterata_ would have grouped themselves around my type; had a snail +been chosen, the inhabitants of all univalve and bivalve, land and +water, shells, the lamp shells, the squids, and the sea-mat would have +gradually linked themselves on to it as members of the same sub-kingdom +of _Mollusca_; and finally, starting from man, I should have been +compelled to admit first, the ape, the rat, the horse, the dog, into the +same class; and then the bird, the crocodile, the turtle, the frog, and +the fish, into the same sub-kingdom of _Vertebrata_. + +And if I had followed out all these various lines of classification +fully, I should discover in the end that there was no animal, either +recent or fossil, which did not at once fall into one or other of these +sub-kingdoms. In other words, every animal is organized upon one or +other of the five, or more, plans, whose existence renders our +classification possible. And so definitely and precisely marked is the +structure of each animal, that, in the present state of our knowledge, +there is not the least evidence to prove that a form, in the slightest +degree transitional between any of the two groups _Vertebrata, Annulosa, +Mollusca_, and _Clenterata_, either exists, or has existed, during that +period of the earth's history which is recorded by the geologist. +Nevertheless, you must not for a moment suppose, because no such +transitional forms are known, that the members of the sub-kingdoms are +disconnected from, or independent of, one another. On the contrary, in +their earliest condition they are all alike, and the primordial germs +of a man, a dog, a bird, a fish, a beetle, a snail, and a polype are, in +no essential structural respects, distinguishable. + +In this broad sense, it may with truth be said, that all living animals, +and all those dead creations which geology reveals, are bound together +by an all-pervading unity of organization, of the same character, though +not equal in degree, to that which enables us to discern one and the +same plan amidst the twenty different segments of a lobster's body. +Truly it has been said, that to a clear eye the smallest fact is a +window through which the Infinite may be seen. + +Turning from these purely morphological considerations, let us now +examine into the manner in which the attentive study of the lobster +impels us into other lines of research. + +Lobsters are found in all the European seas; but on the opposite shores +of the Atlantic and in the seas of the southern hemisphere they do not +exist. They are, however, represented in these regions by very closely +allied, but distinct forms--the _Homarus Americanus_ and the _Homarus +Capensis_: so that we may say that the European has one species of +_Homarus_; the American, another; the African, another; and thus the +remarkable facts of geographical distribution begin to dawn upon us. + +Again, if we examine the contents of the earth's crust, we shall find in +the latter of those deposits, which have served as the great burying +grounds of past ages, numberless lobster-like animals, but none so +similar to our living lobster as to make zoologists sure that they +belonged even to the same genus. If we go still further back in time, +we discover, in the oldest rocks of all, the remains of animals, +constructed on the same general plan as the lobster, and belonging to +the same great group of _Crustacea_; but for the most part totally +different from the lobster, and indeed from any other living form of +crustacean; and thus we gain a notion of that successive change of the +animal population of the globe, in past ages, which is the most striking +fact revealed by geology. + +Consider, now, where our inquiries have led us. We studied our type +morphologically, when we determined its anatomy and its development, and +when comparing it, in these respects, with other animals, we made out +its place in a system of classification. If we were to examine every +animal in a similar manner, we should establish a complete body of +zoological morphology. + +Again, we investigated the distribution of our type in space and in +time, and, if the like had been done with every animal, the sciences of +geographical and geological distribution would have attained their +limit. + +But you will observe one remarkable circumstance, that, up to this +point, the question of the life of these organisms has not come under +consideration. Morphology and distribution might be studied almost as +well, if animals and plants were a peculiar kind of crystals, and +possessed none of those functions which distinguish living beings so +remarkably. But the facts of morphology and distribution have to be +accounted for, and the science, whose aim it is to account for them, is +Physiology. + +Let us return to our lobster once more. If we watched the creature in +its native element, we should see it climbing actively the submerged +rocks, among which it delights to live, by means of its strong legs; or +swimming by powerful strokes of its great tail, the appendages of whose +sixth joint are spread out into a broad fan-like propeller: seize it, +and it will show you that its great claws are no mean weapons of +offence; suspend a piece of carrion among its haunts, and it will +greedily devour it, tearing and crushing the flesh by means of its +multitudinous jaws. + +Suppose that we had known nothing of the lobster but as an inert mass, +an organic crystal, if I may use the phrase, and that we could suddenly +see it exerting all these powers, what wonderful new ideas and new +questions would arise in our minds! The great new question would be, +"How does all this take place?" the chief new idea would be, the idea of +adaptation to purpose,--the notion, that the constituents of animal +bodies are not mere unconnected parts, but organs working together to an +end. Let us consider the tail of the lobster again from this point of +view. Morphology has taught us that it is a series of segments composed +of homologous parts, which undergo various modifications--beneath and +through which a common plan of formation is discernible. But if I look +at the same part physiologically, I see that it is a most beautifully +constructed organ of locomotion, by means of which the animal can +swiftly propel itself either backwards or forwards. + +But how is this remarkable propulsive machine made to perform its +functions? If I were suddenly to kill one of these animals and to take +out all the soft parts, I should find the shell to be perfectly inert, +to have no more power of moving itself than is possessed by the +machinery of a mill, when disconnected from its steam-engine or +water-wheel. But if I were to open it, and take out the viscera only, +leaving the white flesh, I should perceive that the lobster could bend +and extend its tail as well as before. If I were to cut off the tail, I +should cease to find any spontaneous motion in it; but on pinching any +portion of the flesh, I should observe that it underwent a very curious +change--each fibre becoming shorter and thicker. By this act of +contraction, as it is termed, the parts to which the ends of the fibre +are attached are, of course, approximated; and according to the +relations of their points of attachment to the centres of motion of the +different rings, the bending or the extension of the tail results. Close +observation of the newly opened lobster would soon show that all its +movements are due to the same cause--the shortening and thickening of +these fleshy fibres, which are technically called muscles. + +Here, then, is a capital fact. The movements of the lobster are due to +muscular contractility. But why does a muscle contract at one time and +not at another? Why does one whole group of muscles contract when the +lobster wishes to extend his tail, and another group, when he desires to +bend it? What is it originates, directs, and controls the motive power? + +Experiment, the great instrument for the ascertainment of truth in +physical science, answers this question for us. In the head of the +lobster there lies a small mass of that peculiar tissue which is known +as nervous substance. Cords of similar matter connect this brain of the +lobster, directly or indirectly, with the muscles. Now, if these +communicating cords are cut, the brain remaining entire, the power of +exerting what we call voluntary motion in the parts below the section is +destroyed; and on the other hand, if, the cords remaining entire, the +brain mass be destroyed, the same voluntary mobility is equally lost. +Whence the inevitable conclusion is, that the power of originating these +motions resides in the brain, and is propagated along the nervous cords. + +In the higher animals the phĉnomena which attend this transmission have +been investigated, and the exertion of the peculiar energy which resides +in the nerves has been found to be accompanied by a disturbance of the +electrical state of their molecules. + +If we could exactly estimate the signification of this disturbance; if +we could obtain the value of a given exertion of nerve force by +determining the quantity of electricity, or of heat, of which it is the +equivalent; if we could ascertain upon what arrangement, or other +condition of the molecules of matter, the manifestation of the nervous +and muscular energies depends, (and doubtless science will some day or +other ascertain these points,) physiologists would have attained their +ultimate goal in this direction; they would have determined the relation +of the motive force of animals to the other forms of force found in +nature; and if the same process had been successfully performed for all +the operations which are carried on in, and by, the animal frame, +physiology would be perfect, and the facts of morphology and +distribution would be deducible from the laws which physiologists had +established, combined with those determining the condition of the +surrounding universe. + +There is not a fragment of the organism of this humble animal, whose +study would not lead us into regions of thought as large as those which +I have briefly opened up to you; but what I have been saying, I trust, +has not only enabled you to form a conception of the scope and purport +of zoology, but has given you an imperfect example of the manner in +which, in my opinion, that science, or indeed any physical science, may +be best taught. The great matter is, to make teaching real and +practical, by fixing the attention of the student on particular facts; +but at the same time it should be rendered broad and comprehensive, by +constant reference to the generalizations of which all particular facts +are illustrations. The lobster has served as a type of the whole animal +kingdom, and its anatomy and physiology have illustrated for us some of +the greatest truths of biology. The student who has once seen for +himself the facts which I have described, has had their relations +explained to him, and has clearly comprehended them, has, so far, a +knowledge of zoology, which is real and genuine, however limited it may +be, and which is worth more than all the mere reading knowledge of the +science he could ever acquire. His zoological information is, so far, +knowledge and not mere hearsay. + +And if it were my business to fit you for the certificate in zoological +science granted by this department, I should pursue a course precisely +similar in principle to that which I have taken to-night. I should +select a fresh-water sponge, a fresh-water polype or a _Cyanĉa_, a +fresh-water mussel, a lobster, a fowl, as types of the five primary +divisions of the animal kingdom. I should explain their structure very +fully, and show how each illustrated the great principles of zoology. +Having gone very carefully and fully over this ground, I should feel +that you had a safe foundation, and I should then take you in the same +way, but less minutely, over similarly selected illustrative types of +the classes; and then I should direct your attention to the special +forms enumerated under the head of types, in this syllabus, and to the +other facts there mentioned. + +That would, speaking generally, be my plan. But I have undertaken to +explain to you the best mode of acquiring and communicating a knowledge +of zoology, and you may therefore fairly ask me for a more detailed and +precise account of the manner in which I should propose to furnish you +with the information I refer to. + +My own impression is, that the best model for all kinds of training in +physical science is that afforded by the method of teaching anatomy, in +use in the medical schools. This method consists of three +elements--lectures, demonstrations, and examinations. + +The object of lectures is, in the first place, to awaken the attention +and excite the enthusiasm of the student; and this, I am sure, may be +effected to a far greater extent by the oral discourse and by the +personal influence of a respected teacher than in any other way. +Secondly, lectures have the double use of guiding the student to the +salient points of a subject, and at the same time forcing him to attend +to the whole of it, and not merely to that part which takes his fancy. +And lastly, lectures afford the student the opportunity of seeking +explanations of those difficulties which will; and indeed ought to, +arise in the course of his studies. + +But for a student to derive the utmost possible value from lectures, +several precautions are needful. + +I have a strong impression that the better a discourse is, as an +oration, the worse it is as a lecture. The flow of the discourse carries +you on without proper attention to its sense; you drop a word or a +phrase, you lose the exact meaning for a moment, and while you strive to +recover yourself, the speaker has passed on to something else. + +The practice I have adopted of late years, in lecturing to students, is +to condense the substance of the hour's discourse into a few dry +propositions, which are read slowly and taken down from dictation; the +reading of each being followed by a free commentary, expanding and +illustrating the proposition, explaining terms, and removing any +difficulties that may be attackable in that way, by diagrams made +roughly, and seen to grow under the lecturer's hand. In this manner you, +at any rate, insure the co-operation of the student to a certain extent. +He cannot leave the lecture-room entirely empty if the taking of notes +is enforced; and a student must be preternaturally dull and mechanical, +if he can take notes and hear them properly explained, and yet learn +nothing. + +What books shall I read? is a question constantly put by the student to +the teacher. My reply usually is, "None: write your notes out carefully +and fully; strive to understand them thoroughly; come to me for the +explanation of anything you cannot understand; and I would rather you +did not distract your mind by reading." A properly composed course of +lectures ought to contain fully as much matter as a student can +assimilate in the time occupied by its delivery; and the teacher should +always recollect that his business is to feed, and not to cram the +intellect. Indeed, I believe that a student who gains from a course of +lectures the simple habit of concentrating his attention upon a +definitely limited series of facts, until they are thoroughly mastered, +has made a step of immeasurable importance. + +But, however good lectures may be, and however extensive the course of +reading by which they are followed up, they are but accessories to the +great instrument of scientific teaching--demonstration. If I insist +unweariedly, nay fanatically, upon the importance of physical science as +an educational agent, it is because the study of any branch of science, +if properly conducted, appears to me to fill up a void left by all other +means of education. I have the greatest respect and love for literature; +nothing would grieve me more than to see literary training other than a +very prominent branch of education: indeed, I wish that real literary +discipline were far more attended to than it is; but I cannot shut my +eyes to the fact, that there is a vast difference between men who have +had a purely literary, and those who have had a sound scientific, +training. + +Seeking for the cause of this difference, I imagine I can find it in the +fact, that, in the world of letters, learning and knowledge are one, and +books are the source of both; whereas in science, as in life, learning +and knowledge are distinct, and the study of things, and not of books, +is the source of the latter. + +All that literature has to bestow may be obtained by reading and by +practical exercise in writing, and in speaking; but I do not exaggerate +when I say, that none of the best gifts of science are to be won by +these means. On the contrary, the great benefit which a scientific +education bestows, whether as training or as knowledge, is dependent +upon the extent to which the mind of the student is brought into +immediate contact with facts--upon the degree to which he learns the +habit of appealing directly to Nature, and of acquiring through his +senses concrete images of those properties of things, which are, and +always will be, but approximatively expressed in human language. Our way +of looking at Nature, and of speaking about her, varies from year to +year; but a fact once seen, a relation of cause and effect, once +demonstratively apprehended, are possessions which neither change nor +pass away, but, on the contrary, form fixed centres, about which other +truths aggregate by natural affinity. + +Therefore, the great business of the scientific teacher is, to imprint +the fundamental, irrefragable facts of his science, not only by words +upon the mind, but by sensible impressions upon the eye, and ear, and +touch of the student, in so complete a manner, that every term used, or +law enunciated, should afterwards call up vivid images of the particular +structural, or other, facts which furnished the demonstration of the +law, or the illustration of the term. + +Now this important operation can only be achieved by constant +demonstration, which may take place to a certain imperfect extent during +a lecture, but which ought also to be carried on independently, and +which should be addressed to each individual student, the teacher +endeavouring, not so much to show a thing to the learner, as to make him +see it for himself. + +I am well aware that there are great practical difficulties in the way +of effectual zoological demonstrations. The dissection of animals is +not altogether pleasant, and requires much time; nor is it easy to +secure an adequate supply of the needful specimens. The botanist has +here a great advantage; his specimens are easily obtained, are clean and +wholesome, and can be dissected in a private house as well as anywhere +else; and hence, I believe, the fact, that botany is so much more +readily and better taught than its sister science. But, be it difficult +or be it easy, if zoological science is to be properly studied, +demonstration, and, consequently, dissection, must be had. Without it, +no man can have a really sound knowledge of animal organization. + +A good deal may be done, however, without actual dissection on the +student's part, by demonstration upon specimens and preparations; and in +all probability it would not be very difficult, were the demand +sufficient, to organize collections of such objects, sufficient for all +the purposes of elementary teaching, at a comparatively cheap rate. Even +without these, much might be effected, if the zoological collections, +which are open to the public, were arranged according to what has been +termed the "typical principle;" that is to say, if the specimens exposed +to public view were so selected, that the public could learn something +from them, instead of being, as at present, merely confused by their +multiplicity. For example, the grand ornithological gallery at the +British Museum contains between two and three thousand species of birds, +and sometimes five or six specimens of a species. They are very pretty +to look at, and some of the cases are, indeed, splendid; but undertake +to say, that no man but a professed ornithologist has ever gathered +much information from the collection. Certainly, no one of the tens of +thousands of the general public who have walked through that gallery +ever knew more about the essential peculiarities of birds when he left +the gallery, than when he entered it. But if, somewhere in that vast +hall, there were a few preparations, exemplifying the leading structural +peculiarities and the mode of development of a common fowl; if the types +of the genera, the leading modifications in the skeleton, in the plumage +at various ages, in the mode of nidification, and the like, among birds, +were displayed; and if the other specimens were put away in a place +where the men of science, to whom they are alone useful, could have free +access to them, I can conceive that this collection might become a great +instrument of scientific education. + +The last implement of the teacher to which I have adverted is +examination--a means of education now so thoroughly understood that I +need hardly enlarge upon it. I hold that both written and oral +examinations are indispensable, and, by requiring the description of +specimens, they may be made to supplement demonstration. + +Such is the fullest reply the time at my disposal will allow me to give +to the question--how may a knowledge of zoology be best acquired and +communicated? + +But there is a previous question which may be moved, and which, in fact, +I know many are inclined to move. It is the question, why should +training masters be encouraged to acquire a knowledge of this, or any +other branch of physical science? What is the use, it is said, of +attempting to make physical science a branch of primary education? It +is not probable that teachers, in pursuing such studies, will be led +astray from the acquirement of more important but less attractive +knowledge? And, even if they can learn something of science without +prejudice to their usefulness, what is the good of their attempting to +instil that knowledge into boys whose real business is the acquisition +of reading, writing, and arithmetic? + +These questions are, and will be, very commonly asked, for they arise +from that profound ignorance of the value and true position of physical +science, which infests the minds of the most highly educated and +intelligent classes of the community. But if I did not feel well assured +that they are capable of being easily and satisfactorily answered; that +they have been answered over and over again; and that the time will come +when men of liberal education will blush to raise such questions,--I +should be ashamed of my position here to-night. Without doubt, it is +your great and very important function to carry out elementary +education; without question, anything that should interfere with the +faithful fulfilment of that duty on your part would be a great evil; and +if I thought that your acquirement of the elements of physical science, +and your communication of those elements to your pupils, involved any +sort of interference with your proper duties, I should be the first +person to protest against your being encouraged to do anything of the +kind. + +But is it true that the acquisition of such a knowledge of science as is +proposed, and the communication of that knowledge, are calculated to +weaken your usefulness? Or may I not rather ask, is it possible for you +to discharge your functions properly without these aids? + +What is the purpose of primary intellectual education? I apprehend that +its first object is to train the young in the use of those tools +wherewith men extract knowledge from the ever-shifting succession of +phenomena which pass before their eyes; and that its second object is to +inform them of the fundamental laws which have been found by experience +to govern the course of things, so that they may not be turned out into +the world naked, defenceless, and a prey to the events they might +control. + +A boy is taught to read his own and other languages, in order that he +may have access to infinitely wider stores of knowledge than could ever +be opened to him by oral intercourse with his fellow men; he learns to +write, that his means of communication with the rest of mankind may be +indefinitely enlarged, and that he may record and store up the knowledge +he acquires. He is taught elementary mathematics, that he may understand +all those relations of number and form, upon which the transactions of +men, associated in complicated societies, are built, and that he may +have some practice in deductive reasoning. + +All these operations of reading, writing, and ciphering, are +intellectual tools, whose use should, before all things, be learned, and +learned thoroughly; so that the youth may be enabled to make his life +that which it ought to be, a continual progress in learning and in +wisdom. + +But, in addition, primary education endeavours to fit a boy out with a +certain equipment of positive knowledge. He is taught the great laws of +morality; the religion of his sect; so much history and geography as +will tell him where the great countries of the world are, what they are, +and how they have become what they are. + +Without doubt all these are most fitting and excellent things to teach a +boy; I should be very sorry to omit any of them from any scheme of +primary intellectual education. The system is excellent, so far as it +goes. + +But if I regard it closely, a curious reflection arises. I suppose that, +fifteen hundred years ago, the child of any well-to-do Roman citizen was +taught just these same things; reading and writing in his own, and, +perhaps, the Greek tongue; the elements of mathematics; and the +religion, morality, history, and geography current in his time. +Furthermore, I do not think I err in affirming, that, if such a +Christian Roman boy, who had finished his education, could be +transplanted into one of our public schools, and pass through its course +of instruction, he would not meet with a single unfamiliar line of +thought; amidst all the new facts he would have to learn, not one would +suggest a different mode of regarding the universe from that current in +his own time. + +And yet surely there is some great difference between the civilization +of the fourth century and that of the nineteenth, and still more between +the intellectual habits and tone of thought of that day and this? + +And what has made this difference? I answer fearlessly,--The prodigious +development of physical science within the last two centuries. + +Modern civilization rests upon physical science; take away her gifts to +our own country, and our position among the leading nations of the world +is gone to-morrow; for it is physical science only, that makes +intelligence and moral energy stronger than brute force. + +The whole of modern thought is steeped in science; it has made its way +into the works of our best poets, and even the mere man of letters, who +affects to ignore and despise science, is unconsciously impregnated with +her spirit, and indebted for his best products to her methods. I believe +that the greatest intellectual revolution mankind has yet seen is now +slowly taking place by her agency. She is teaching the world that the +ultimate court of appeal is observation and experiment, and not +authority; she is teaching it to estimate the value of evidence; she is +creating a firm and living faith in the existence of immutable moral and +physical laws, perfect obedience to which is the highest possible aim of +an intelligent being. + +But of all this your old stereotyped system of education takes no note. +Physical science, its methods, its problems, and its difficulties, will +meet the poorest boy at every turn, and yet we educate him in such a +manner that he shall enter the world as ignorant of the existence of the +methods and facts of science as the day he was born. The modern world is +full of artillery; and we turn out our children to do battle in it, +equipped with the shield and sword of an ancient gladiator. + +Posterity will cry shame on us if we do not remedy this deplorable state +of things. Nay, if we live twenty years longer, our own consciences will +cry shame on us. + +It is my firm conviction that the only way to remedy it is, to make the +elements of physical science an integral part of primary education. I +have endeavoured to show you how that may be done for that branch of +science which it is my business to pursue; and I can but add, that I +should look upon the day when every schoolmaster throughout this land +was a centre of genuine, however rudimentary, scientific knowledge, as +an epoch in the history of the country. + +But let me entreat you to remember my last words. Addressing myself to +you, as teachers, I would say, mere book learning in physical science is +a sham and a delusion--what you teach, unless you wish to be impostors, +that you must first know; and real knowledge in science means personal +acquaintance with the facts, be they few or many.[9] + +FOOTNOTE: + +[9] It has been suggested to me that these words may be taken to imply a +discouragement on my part of any sort of scientific instruction which +does not give an acquaintance with the facts at first hand. But this is +not my meaning. The ideal of scientific teaching is, no doubt, a system +by which the scholar sees every fact for himself, and the teacher +supplies only the explanations. Circumstances, however, do not often +allow of the attainment of that ideal, and we must put up with the next +best system--one in which the scholar takes a good deal on trust from a +teacher, who, knowing the facts by his own knowledge, can describe them +with so much vividness as to enable his audience to form competent ideas +concerning them. The system which I repudiate is that which allows +teachers who have not come into direct contact with the leading facts of +a science to pass their second-hand information on. The scientific +virus, like vaccine lymph, if passed through too long a succession of +organisms, will lose all its effect in protecting the young against the +intellectual epidemics to which they are exposed. + + + + +VII. + +ON THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF LIFE.[10] + + +In order to make the title of this discourse generally intelligible, I +have translated the term "Protoplasm," which is the scientific name of +the substance of which I am about to speak, by the words "the physical +basis of life." I suppose that, to many, the idea that there is such a +thing as a physical basis, or matter, of life may be novel--so widely +spread is the conception of life as a something which works through +matter, but is independent of it; and even those who are aware that +matter and life are inseparably connected, may not be prepared for the +conclusion plainly suggested by the phrase, "_the_ physical basis or +matter of life," that there is some one kind of matter which is common +to all living beings, and that their endless diversities are bound +together by a physical, as well as an ideal, unity. In fact, when first +apprehended, such a doctrine as this appears almost shocking to common +sense. + +What, truly, can seem to be more obviously different from one another in +faculty, in form, and in substance, than the various kinds of living +beings? What community of faculty can there be between the +brightly-coloured lichen, which so nearly resembles a mere mineral +incrustation of the bare rock on which it grows, and the painter, to +whom it is instinct with beauty, or the botanist, whom it feeds with +knowledge? + +Again, think of the microscopic fungus--a mere infinitesimal ovoid +particle, which finds space and duration enough to multiply into +countless millions in the body of a living fly; and then of the wealth +of foliage, the luxuriance of flower and fruit, which lies between this +bald sketch of a plant and the giant pine of California, towering to the +dimensions of a cathedral spire, or the Indian fig, which covers acres +with its profound shadow, and endures while nations and empires come and +go around its vast circumference? Or, turning to the other half of the +world of life, picture to yourselves the great Finner whale, hugest of +beasts that live, or have lived, disporting his eighty or ninety feet of +bone, muscle, and blubber, with easy roll, among waves in which the +stoutest ship that ever left dockyard would founder hopelessly; and +contrast him with the invisible animalcules--mere gelatinous specks, +multitudes of which could, in fact, dance upon the point of a needle +with the same ease as the angels of the Schoolmen could, in imagination. +With these images before your minds, you may well ask, what community +of form, or structure, is there between the animalcule and the whale; or +between the fungus and the fig-tree? And, _à fortiori_, between all +four? + +Finally, if we regard substance, or material composition, what hidden +bond can connect the flower which a girl wears in her hair and the blood +which courses through her youthful veins; or, what is there in common +between the dense and resisting mass of the oak, or the strong fabric of +the tortoise, and those broad disks of glassy jelly which may be seen +pulsating through the waters of a calm sea, but which drain away to mere +films in the hand which raises them out of their element? + +Such objections as these must, I think, arise in the mind of every one +who ponders, for the first time, upon the conception of a single +physical basis of life underlying all the diversities of vital +existence; but I propose to demonstrate to you that, notwithstanding +these apparent difficulties, a threefold unity--namely, a unity of +power, or faculty, a unity of form, and a unity of substantial +composition--does pervade the whole living world. + + +No very abstruse argumentation is needed, in the first place, to prove +that the powers, or faculties, of all kinds of living matter, diverse as +they may be in degree, are substantially similar in kind. + +Goethe has condensed a survey of all the powers of mankind into the +well-known epigram:-- + + "Warum treibt sich das Volk so und schreit? Es will sich ernähren + Kinder zeugen, und die nähren so gut es vermag. + + * * * * * + + Weiter bringt es kein Mensch, stell' er sich wie er auch will." + +In physiological language this means, that all the multifarious and +complicated activities of man are comprehensible under three categories. +Either they are immediately directed towards the maintenance and +development of the body, or they effect transitory changes in the +relative positions of parts of the body, or they tend towards the +continuance of the species. Even those manifestations of intellect, of +feeling, and of will, which we rightly name the higher faculties, are +not excluded from this classification, inasmuch as to every one but the +subject of them, they are known only as transitory changes in the +relative positions of parts of the body. Speech, gesture, and every +other form of human action are, in the long run, resolvable into +muscular contraction, and muscular contraction is but a transitory +change in the relative positions of the parts of a muscle. But the +scheme which is large enough to embrace the activities of the highest +form of life, covers all those of the lower creatures. The lowest plant, +or animalcule, feeds, grows, and reproduces its kind. In addition, all +animals manifest those transitory changes of form which we class under +irritability and contractility; and, it is more than probable, that when +the vegetable world is thoroughly explored, we shall find all plants in +possession of the same powers, at one time or other of their existence. + +I am not now alluding to such phĉnomena, at once rare and conspicuous, +as those exhibited by the leaflets of the sensitive plant, or the +stamens of the barberry, but to much more widely-spread, and, at the +same time, more subtle and hidden, manifestations of vegetable +contractility. You are doubtless aware that the common nettle owes its +stinging property to the innumerable stiff and needle-like, though +exquisitely delicate, hairs which cover its surface. Each +stinging-needle tapers from a broad base to a slender summit, which, +though rounded at the end, is of such microscopic fineness that it +readily penetrates, and breaks off in, the skin. The whole hair consists +of a very delicate outer case of wood, closely applied to the inner +surface of which is a layer of semifluid matter, full of innumerable +granules of extreme minuteness. This semi-fluid lining is protoplasm, +which thus constitutes a kind of bag, full of a limpid liquid, and +roughly corresponding in form with the interior of the hair which it +fills. When viewed with a sufficiently high magnifying power, the +protoplasmic layer of the nettle hair is seen to be in a condition of +unceasing activity. Local contractions of the whole thickness of its +substance pass slowly and gradually from point to point, and give rise +to the appearance of progressive waves, just as the bending of +successive stalks of corn by a breeze produces the apparent billows of a +corn-field. + +But, in addition to these movements, and independently of them, the +granules are driven, in relatively rapid streams, through channels in +the protoplasm which seem to have a considerable amount of persistence. +Most commonly, the currents in adjacent parts of the protoplasm take +similar directions; and, thus, there is a general stream up one side of +the hair and down the other. But this does not prevent the existence of +partial currents which take different routes; and, sometimes, trains of +granules may be seen coursing swiftly in opposite directions, within a +twenty-thousandth of an inch of one another; while, occasionally, +opposite streams come into direct collision, and, after a longer or +shorter struggle, one predominates. The cause of these currents seems +to lie in contractions of the protoplasm which bounds the channels in +which they flow, but which are so minute that the best microscopes show +only their effects, and not themselves. + +The spectacle afforded by the wonderful energies prisoned within the +compass of the microscopic hair of a plant, which we commonly regard as +a merely passive organism, is not easily forgotten by one who has +watched its display, continued hour after hour, without pause or sign of +weakening. The possible complexity of many other organic forms, +seemingly as simple as the protoplasm of the nettle, dawns upon one; and +the comparison of such a protoplasm to a body with an internal +circulation, which has been put forward by an eminent physiologist, +loses much of its startling character. Currents similar to those of the +hairs of the nettle have been observed in a great multitude of very +different plants, and weighty authorities have suggested that they +probably occur, in more or less perfection, in all young vegetable +cells. If such be the case, the wonderful noonday silence of a tropical +forest is, after all, due only to the dulness of our hearing; and could +our ears catch the murmur of these tiny Maelstroms, as they whirl in the +innumerable myriads of living cells which constitute each tree, we +should be stunned, as with the roar of a great city. + +Among the lower plants, it is the rule rather than the exception, that +contractility should be still more openly manifested at some periods of +their existence. The protoplasm of _Algĉ_ and _Fungi_ becomes, under +many circumstances, partially, or completely, freed from its woody +case, and exhibits movements of its whole mass, or is propelled by the +contractility of one, or more, hair-like prolongations of its body, +which are called vibratile cilia. And, so far as the conditions of the +manifestation of the phĉnomena of contractility have yet been studied, +they are the same for the plant as for the animal. Heat and electric +shocks influence both, and in the same way, though it may be in +different degrees. It is by no means my intention to suggest that there +is no difference in faculty between the lowest plant and the highest, or +between plants and animals. But the difference between the powers of the +lowest plant, or animal, and those of the highest, is one of degree, not +of kind, and depends, as Milne-Edwards long ago so well pointed out, +upon the extent to which the principle of the division of labour is +carried out in the living economy. In the lowest organism all parts are +competent to perform all functions, and one and the same portion of +protoplasm may successively take on the function of feeding, moving, or +reproducing apparatus. In the highest, on the contrary, a great number +of parts combine to perform each function, each part doing its allotted +share of the work with great accuracy and efficiency, but being useless +for any other purpose. + +On the other hand, notwithstanding all the fundamental resemblances +which exist between the powers of the protoplasm in plants and in +animals, they present a striking difference (to which I shall advert +more at length presently), in the fact that plants can manufacture fresh +protoplasm out of mineral compounds, whereas animals are obliged to +procure it ready made, and hence, in the long run, depend upon plants. +Upon what condition this difference in the powers of the two great +divisions of the world of life depends, nothing is at present known. + +With such qualification as arises out of the last-mentioned fact, it may +be truly said that the acts of all living things are fundamentally one. +Is any such unity predicable of their forms? Let us seek in easily +verified facts for a reply to this question. If a drop of blood be drawn +by pricking one's finger, and viewed with proper precautions and under a +sufficiently high microscopic power, there will be seen, among the +innumerable multitude of little, circular, discoidal bodies, or +corpuscles, which float in it and give it its colour, a comparatively +small number of colourless corpuscles, of somewhat larger size and very +irregular shape. If the drop of blood be kept at the temperature of the +body, these colourless corpuscles will be seen to exhibit a marvellous +activity, changing their forms with great rapidity, drawing in and +thrusting out prolongations of their substance, and creeping about as if +they were independent organisms. + +The substance which is thus active is a mass of protoplasm, and its +activity differs in detail, rather than in principle, from that of the +protoplasm of the nettle. Under sundry circumstances the corpuscle dies +and becomes distended into a round mass, in the midst of which is seen a +smaller spherical body, which existed, but was more or less hidden, in +the living corpuscle, and is called its _nucleus_. Corpuscles of +essentially similar structure are to be found in the skin, in the lining +of the mouth, and scattered through the whole framework of the body. +Nay, more; in the earliest condition of the human organism, in that +state in which it has but just become distinguishable from the egg in +which it arises, it is nothing but an aggregation of such corpuscles, +and every organ of the body was, once, no more than such an aggregation. + +Thus a nucleated mass of protoplasm turns out to be what may be termed +the structural unit of the human body. As a matter of fact, the body, in +its earliest state, is a mere multiple of such units; and, in its +perfect condition, it is a multiple of such units, variously modified. + +But does the formula which expresses the essential structural character +of the highest animal cover all the rest, as the statement of its powers +and faculties covered that of all others? Very nearly. Beast and fowl, +reptile and fish, mollusk, worm, and polype, are all composed of +structural units of the same character, namely, masses of protoplasm +with a nucleus. There are sundry very low animals, each of which, +structurally, is a mere colourless blood-corpuscle, leading an +independent life. But, at the very bottom of the animal scale, even this +simplicity becomes simplified, and all the phĉnomena of life are +manifested by a particle of protoplasm without a nucleus. Nor are such +organisms insignificant by reason of their want of complexity. It is a +fair question whether the protoplasm of those simplest forms of life, +which people an immense extent of the bottom of the sea, would not +outweigh that of all the higher living beings which inhabit the land put +together. And in ancient times, no less than at the present day, such +living beings as these have been the greatest of rock builders. + +What has been said of the animal world is no less true of plants. +Imbedded in the protoplasm at the broad, or attached, end of the nettle +hair, there lies a spheroidal nucleus. Careful examination further +proves that the whole substance of the nettle is made up of a repetition +of such masses of nucleated protoplasm, each contained in a wooden case, +which is modified in form, sometimes into a woody fibre, sometimes into +a duct or spiral vessel, sometimes into a pollen grain, or an ovule. +Traced back to its earliest state, the nettle arises as the man does, in +a particle of nucleated protoplasm. And in the lowest plants, as in the +lowest animals, a single mass of such protoplasm may constitute the +whole plant, or the protoplasm may exist without a nucleus. + +Under these circumstances it may well be asked, how is one mass of +non-nucleated protoplasm to be distinguished from another? why call one +"plant" and the other "animal"? + +The only reply is that, so far as form is concerned, plants and animals +are not separable, and that, in many cases, it is a mere matter of +convention whether we call a given organism an animal or a plant. There +is a living body called _Ĉthalium septicum_, which appears upon decaying +vegetable substances, and, in one of its forms, is common upon the +surfaces of tan-pits. In this condition it is, to all intents and +purposes, a fungus, and formerly was always regarded as such; but the +remarkable investigations of De Bary have shown that, in another +condition, the _Ĉthalium_ is an actively locomotive creature, and takes +in solid matters, upon which, apparently, it feeds, thus exhibiting the +most characteristic feature of animality. Is this a plant; or is it an +animal? Is it both; or is it neither? Some decide in favour of the last +supposition, and establish an intermediate kingdom, a sort of biological +No Man's Land for all these questionable forms. But, as it is admittedly +impossible to draw any distinct boundary line between this no man's land +and the vegetable world on the one hand, or the animal, on the other, it +appears to me that this proceeding merely doubles the difficulty which, +before, was single. + +Protoplasm, simple or nucleated, is the formal basis of all life. It is +the clay of the potter: which, bake it and paint it as he will, remains +clay, separated by artifice, and not by nature, from the commonest brick +or sun-dried clod. + +Thus it becomes clear that all living powers are cognate, and that all +living forms are fundamentally of one character. The researches of the +chemist have revealed a no less striking uniformity of material +composition in living matter. + +In perfect strictness, it is true that chemical investigation can tell +us little or nothing, directly, of the composition of living matter, +inasmuch as such matter must needs die in the act of analysis,--and upon +this very obvious ground, objections, which I confess seem to me to be +somewhat frivolous, have been raised to the drawing of any conclusions +whatever respecting the composition of actually living matter, from that +of the dead matter of life, which alone is accessible to us. But +objectors of this class do not seem to reflect that it is also, in +strictness, true that we know nothing about the composition of any body +whatever, as it is. The statement that a crystal of calc-spar consists +of carbonate of lime, is quite true, if we only mean that, by +appropriate processes, it may be resolved into carbonic acid and +quicklime. If you pass the same carbonic acid over the very quicklime +thus obtained, you will obtain carbonate of lime again; but it will not +be calc-spar, nor anything like it. Can it, therefore, be said that +chemical analysis teaches nothing about the chemical composition of +calc-spar? Such a statement would be absurd; but it is hardly more so +than the talk one occasionally hears about the uselessness of applying +the results of chemical analysis to the living bodies which have yielded +them. + +One fact, at any rate, is out of reach of such refinements, and this is, +that all the forms of protoplasm which have yet been examined contain +the four elements, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, in very +complex union, and that they behave similarly towards several reagents. +To this complex combination, the nature of which has never been +determined with exactness, the name of Protein has been applied. And if +we use this term with such caution as may properly arise out of our +comparative ignorance of the things for which it stands, it may be truly +said, that all protoplasm is proteinaceous; or, as the white, or +albumen, of an egg is one of the commonest examples of a nearly pure +protein matter, we may say that all living matter is more or less +albuminoid. + +Perhaps it would not yet be safe to say that all forms of protoplasm are +affected by the direct action of electric shocks; and yet the number of +cases in which the contraction of protoplasm is shown to be effected by +this agency increases every day. + +Nor can it be affirmed with perfect confidence, that all forms of +protoplasm are liable to undergo that peculiar coagulation at a +temperature of 40°--50° centigrade, which has been called +"heat-stiffening," though Kühne's beautiful researches have proved this +occurrence to take place in so many and such diverse living beings, that +it is hardly rash to expect that the law holds good for all. + + +Enough has, perhaps, been said to prove the existence of a general +uniformity in the character of the protoplasm, or physical basis, of +life, in whatever group of living beings it may be studied. But it will +be understood that this general uniformity by no means excludes any +amount of special modifications of the fundamental substance. The +mineral, carbonate of lime, assumes an immense diversity of characters, +though no one doubts that, under all these Protean changes, it is one +and the same thing. + +And now, what is the ultimate fate, and what the origin, of the matter +of life? + +Is it, as some of the older naturalists supposed, diffused throughout +the universe in molecules, which are indestructible and unchangeable in +themselves; but, in endless transmigration, unite in innumerable +permutations, into the diversified forms of life we know? Or, is the +matter of life composed of ordinary matter, differing from it only in +the manner in which its atoms are aggregated? Is it built up of ordinary +matter, and again resolved into ordinary matter when its work is done? + +Modern science does not hesitate a moment between these alternatives. +Physiology writes over the portals of life-- + + "Debemur morti nos nostraque," + +with a profounder meaning than the Roman poet attached to that +melancholy line. Under whatever disguise it takes refuge, whether fungus +or oak, worm or man, the living protoplasm not only ultimately dies and +is resolved into its mineral and lifeless constituents, but is always +dying, and, strange as the paradox may sound, could not live unless it +died. + +In the wonderful story of the "Peau de Chagrin," the hero becomes +possessed of a magical wild ass' skin, which yields him the means of +gratifying all his wishes. But its surface represents the duration of +the proprietor's life; and for every satisfied desire the skin shrinks +in proportion to the intensity of fruition, until at length life and the +last handbreadth of the _peau de chagrin_ disappear with the +gratification of a last wish. + +Balzac's studies had led him over a wide range of thought and +speculation, and his shadowing forth of physiological truth in this +strange story may have been intentional. At any rate, the matter of life +is a veritable _peau de chagrin_, and for every vital act it is somewhat +the smaller. All work implies waste, and the work of life results, +directly or indirectly, in the waste of protoplasm. + +Every word uttered by a speaker costs him some physical loss; and, in +the strictest sense, he burns that others may have light--so much +eloquence, so much of his body resolved into carbonic acid, water, and +urea. It is clear that this process of expenditure cannot go on for +ever. But happily, the protoplasmic _peau de chagrin_ differs from +Balzac's in its capacity of being repaired, and brought back to its full +size, after every exertion. + +For example, this present lecture, whatever its intellectual worth to +you, has a certain physical value to me, which is, conceivably, +expressible by the number of grains of protoplasm and other bodily +substance wasted in maintaining my vital processes during its delivery. +My _peau de chagrin_ will be distinctly smaller at the end of the +discourse than it was at the beginning. By and by, I shall probably have +recourse to the substance commonly called mutton, for the purpose of +stretching it back to its original size. Now this mutton was once the +living protoplasm, more or less modified, of another animal--a sheep. As +I shall eat it, it is the same matter altered, not only by death, but by +exposure to sundry artificial operations in the process of cooking. + +But these changes, whatever be their extent, have not rendered it +incompetent to resume its old functions as matter of life. A singular +inward laboratory, which I possess, will dissolve a certain portion of +the modified protoplasm; the solution so formed will pass into my veins; +and the subtle influences to which it will then be subjected will +convert the dead protoplasm into living protoplasm, and transubstantiate +sheep into man. + +Nor is this all. If digestion were a thing to be trifled with, I might +sup upon lobster, and the matter of life of the crustacean would undergo +the same wonderful metamorphosis into humanity. And were I to return to +my own place by sea, and undergo shipwreck, the crustacea might, and +probably would, return the compliment, and demonstrate our common nature +by turning my protoplasm into living lobster. Or, if nothing better were +to be had, I might supply my wants with mere bread, and I should find +the protoplasm of the wheat-plant to be convertible into man, with no +more trouble than that of the sheep, and with far less, I fancy, than +that of the lobster. + +Hence it appears to be a matter of no great moment what animal, or what +plant, I lay under contribution for protoplasm, and the fact speaks +volumes for the general identity of that substance in all living beings. +I share this catholicity of assimilation with other animals, all of +which, so far as we know, could thrive equally well on the protoplasm of +any of their fellows, or of any plant; but here the assimilative powers +of the animal world cease. A solution of smelling-salts in water, with +an infinitesimal proportion of some other saline matters, contains all +the elementary bodies which enter into the composition of protoplasm; +but, as I need hardly say, a hogshead of that fluid would not keep a +hungry man from starving, nor would it save any animal whatever from a +like fate. An animal cannot make protoplasm, but must take it ready-made +from some other animal, or some plant--the animal's highest feat of +constructive chemistry being to convert dead protoplasm into that living +matter of life which is appropriate to itself. + +Therefore, in seeking for the origin of protoplasm, we must eventually +turn to the vegetable world. The fluid containing carbonic acid, water, +and ammonia, which offers such a Barmecide feast to the animal, is a +table richly spread to multitudes of plants; and, with a due supply of +only such materials, many a plant will not only maintain itself in +vigour, but grow and multiply, until it has increased a million-fold, or +a million million-fold, the quantity of protoplasm which it originally +possessed; in this way building up the matter of life, to an indefinite +extent, from the common matter of the universe. + +Thus, the animal can only raise the complex substance of dead +protoplasm to the higher power, as one may say, of living protoplasm; +while the plant can raise the less complex substances--carbonic acid, +water, and ammonia--to the same stage of living protoplasm, if not to +the same level. But the plant also has its limitations. Some of the +fungi, for example, appear to need higher compounds to start with; and +no known plant can live upon the uncompounded elements of protoplasm. A +plant supplied with pure carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, +phosphorus, sulphur, and the like, would as infallibly die as the animal +in his bath of smelling-salts, though it would be surrounded by all the +constituents of protoplasm. Nor, indeed, need the process of +simplification of vegetable food be carried so far as this, in order to +arrive at the limit of the plant's thaumaturgy. Let water, carbonic +acid, and all the other needful constituents be supplied with ammonia, +and an ordinary plant will still be unable to manufacture protoplasm. + +Thus the matter of life, so far as we know it (and we have no right to +speculate on any other), breaks up, in consequence of that continual +death which is the condition of its manifesting vitality, into carbonic +acid, water, and ammonia, which certainly possess no properties but +those of ordinary matter. And out of these same forms of ordinary +matter, and from none which are simpler, the vegetable world builds up +all the protoplasm which keeps the animal world a going. Plants are the +accumulators of the power which animals distribute and disperse. + +But it will be observed, that the existence of the matter of life +depends on the pre-existence of certain compounds; namely, carbonic +acid, water, and ammonia. Withdraw any one of these three from the +world and all vital phĉnomena come to an end. They are related to the +protoplasm of the plant, as the protoplasm of the plant is to that of +the animal. Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen are all lifeless +bodies. Of these, carbon and oxygen unite, in certain proportions and +under certain conditions, to give rise to carbonic acid; hydrogen and +oxygen produce water; nitrogen and hydrogen give rise to ammonia. These +new compounds like the elementary bodies of which they are composed, are +lifeless. But when they are brought together, under certain conditions +they give rise to the still more complex body, protoplasm, and this +protoplasm exhibits the phenomena of life. + +I see no break in this series of steps in molecular complication, and I +am unable to understand why the language which is applicable to any one +term of the series may not be used to any of the others. We think fit to +call different kinds of matter carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen, +and to speak of the various powers and activities of these substances as +the properties of the matter of which they are composed. + +When hydrogen and oxygen are mixed in a certain proportion, and an +electric spark is passed through them, they disappear, and a quantity of +water, equal in weight to the sum of their weights, appears in their +place. There is not the slightest parity between the passive and active +powers of the water and those of the oxygen and hydrogen which have +given rise to it. At 32° Fahrenheit, and far below that temperature, +oxygen and hydrogen are elastic gaseous bodies, whose particles tend to +rush away from one another with great force. Water, at the same +temperature, is a strong though brittle solid, whose particles tend to +cohere into definite geometrical shapes, and sometimes build up frosty +imitations of the most complex forms of vegetable foliage. + +Nevertheless we call these, and many other strange phĉnomena, the +properties of the water, and we do not hesitate to believe that, in some +way or another, they result from the properties of the component +elements of the water. We do not assume that a something called +"aquosity" entered into and took possession of the oxide of hydrogen as +soon as it was formed, and then guided the aqueous particles to their +places in the facets of the crystal, or amongst the leaflets of the +hoar-frost. On the contrary, we live in the hope and in the faith that, +by the advance of molecular physics, we shall by and by be able to see +our way as clearly from the constituents of water to the properties of +water, as we are now able to deduce the operations of a watch from the +form of its parts and the manner in which they are put together. + +Is the case in any way changed when carbonic acid, water, and ammonia +disappear, and in their place, under the influence of pre-existing +living protoplasm, an equivalent weight of the matter of life makes its +appearance? + +It is true that there is no sort of parity between the properties of the +components and the properties of the resultant, but neither was there in +the case of the water. It is also true that what I have spoken of as the +influence of pre-existing living matter is something quite +unintelligible; but does anybody quite comprehend the _modus operandi_ +of an electric spark, which traverses a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen? + +What justification is there, then, for the assumption of the existence +in the living matter of a something which has no representative, or +correlative, in the not living matter which gave rise to it? What better +philosophical status has "vitality" than "aquosity"? And why should +"vitality" hope for a better fate than the other "itys" which have +disappeared since Martinus Scriblerus accounted for the operation of the +meat-jack by its inherent "meat roasting quality," and scorned the +"materialism" of those who explained the turning of the spit by a +certain mechanism worked by the draught of the chimney? + +If scientific language is to possess a definite and constant +signification whenever it is employed, it seems to me that we are +logically bound to apply to the protoplasm, or physical basis of life, +the same conceptions as those which are held to be legitimate elsewhere. +If the phĉnomena exhibited by water are its properties, so are those +presented by protoplasm, living or dead, its properties. + +If the properties of water may be properly said to result from the +nature and disposition of its component molecules, I can find no +intelligible ground for refusing to say that the properties of +protoplasm result from the nature and disposition of its molecules. + +But I bid you beware that, in accepting these conclusions, you are +placing your feet on the first rung of a ladder which, in most people's +estimation, is the reverse of Jacob's, and leads to the antipodes of +heaven. It may seem a small thing to admit that the dull vital actions +of a fungus, or a foraminifer, are the properties of their protoplasm, +and are the direct results of the nature of the matter of which they +are composed. But if, as I have endeavoured to prove to you, their +protoplasm is essentially identical with, and most readily converted +into, that of any animal, I can discover no logical halting-place +between the admission that such is the case, and the further concession +that all vital action may, with equal propriety, be said to be the +result of the molecular forces of the protoplasm which displays it. And +if so, it must be true, in the same sense and to the same extent, that +the thoughts to which I am now giving utterance, and your thoughts +regarding them, are the expression of molecular changes in that matter +of life which is the source of our other vital phĉnomena. + + +Past experience leads me to be tolerably certain that, when the +propositions I have just placed before you are accessible to public +comment and criticism, they will be condemned by many zealous persons, +and perhaps by some few of the wise and thoughtful. I should not wonder +if "gross and brutal materialism" were the mildest phrase applied to +them in certain quarters. And, most undoubtedly, the terms of the +propositions are distinctly materialistic. Nevertheless two things are +certain: the one, that I hold the statements to be substantially true; +the other, that I, individually, am no materialist, but, on the +contrary, believe materialism to involve grave philosophical error. + +This union of materialistic terminology with the repudiation of +materialistic philosophy, I share with some of the most thoughtful men +with whom I am acquainted. And, when I first undertook to deliver the +present discourse, it appeared to me to be a fitting opportunity to +explain how such a union is not only consistent with, but necessitated +by, sound logic. I purposed to lead you through the territory of vital +phenomena to the materialistic slough in which you find yourselves now +plunged, and then to point out to you the sole path by which, in my +judgment, extrication is possible. + +An occurrence of which I was unaware until my arrival here last night, +renders this line of argument singularly opportune. I found in your +papers the eloquent address "On the Limits of Philosophical Inquiry," +which a distinguished prelate of the English Church delivered before the +members of the Philosophical Institution on the previous day. My +argument, also, turns upon this very point of the limits of +philosophical inquiry; and I cannot bring out my own views better than +by contrasting them with those so plainly, and, in the main, fairly, +stated by the Archbishop of York. + +But I may be permitted to make a preliminary comment upon an occurrence +that greatly astonished me. Applying the name of "the New Philosophy" to +that estimate of the limits of philosophical inquiry which I, in common +with many other men of science, hold to be just, the Archbishop opens +his address by identifying this "New Philosophy" with the Positive +Philosophy of M. Comte (of whom he speaks as its "founder"); and then +proceeds to attack that philosopher and his doctrines vigorously. + +Now, so far as I am concerned, the most reverend prelate might +dialectically hew M. Comte in pieces, as a modern Agag, and I should not +attempt to stay his hand. In so far as my study of what specially +characterises the Positive Philosophy has led me, I find therein little +or nothing of any scientific value, and a great deal which is as +thoroughly antagonistic to the very essence of science as anything in +ultramontane Catholicism. In fact, M. Comte's philosophy in practice +might be compendiously described as Catholicism _minus_ Christianity. + +But what has Comtism to do with the "New Philosophy," as the Archbishop +defines it in the following passage? + + "Let me briefly remind you of the leading principles of this new + philosophy. + + "All knowledge is experience of facts acquired by the senses. The + traditions of older philosophies have obscured our experience by + mixing with it much that the senses cannot observe, and until these + additions are discarded our knowledge is impure. Thus metaphysics + tell us that one fact which we observe is a cause, and another is + the effect of that cause; but upon a rigid analysis, we find that + our senses observe nothing of cause or effect: they observe, first, + that one fact succeeds another, and, after some opportunity, that + this fact has never failed to follow--that for cause and effect we + should substitute invariable succession. An older philosophy + teaches us to define an object by distinguishing its essential from + its accidental qualities: but experience knows nothing of essential + and accidental; she sees only that certain marks attach to an + object, and, after many observations, that some of them attach + invariably, whilst others may at times be absent.... As all + knowledge is relative, the notion of anything being necessary must + be banished with other traditions."[11] + +There is much here that expresses the spirit of the "New Philosophy," if +by that term be meant the spirit of modern science; but I cannot but +marvel that the assembled wisdom and learning of Edinburgh should have +uttered no sign of dissent, when Comte was declared to be the founder of +these doctrines. No one will accuse Scotchmen of habitually forgetting +their great countrymen; but it was enough to make David Hume turn in +his grave, that here, almost within earshot of his house, an instructed +audience should have listened, without a murmur, while his most +characteristic doctrines were attributed to a French writer of fifty +years later date, in whose dreary and verbose pages we miss alike the +vigour of thought and the exquisite clearness of style of the man whom I +make bold to term the most acute thinker of the eighteenth century--even +though that century produced Kant. + +But I did not come to Scotland to vindicate the honour of one of the +greatest men she has ever produced. My business is to point out to you +that the only way of escape out of the crass materialism in which we +just now landed, is the adoption and strict working-out of the very +principles which the Archbishop holds up to reprobation. + +Let us suppose that knowledge is absolute, and not relative, and +therefore, that our conception of matter represents that which it really +is. Let us suppose, further, that we do know more of cause and effect +than a certain definite order of succession among facts, and that we +have a knowledge of the necessity of that succession--and hence, of +necessary laws--and I, for my part, do not see what escape there is from +utter materialism and necessarianism. For it is obvious that our +knowledge of what we call the material world, is, to begin with, at +least as certain and definite as that of the spiritual world, and that +our acquaintance with law is of as old a date as our knowledge of +spontaneity. Further, I take it to be demonstrable that it is utterly +impossible to prove that anything whatever may not be the effect of a +material and necessary cause, and that human logic is equally +incompetent to prove that any act is really spontaneous. A really +spontaneous act is one which, by the assumption, has no cause; and the +attempt to prove such a negative as this is, on the face of the matter, +absurd. And while it is thus a philosophical impossibility to +demonstrate that any given phĉnomenon is not the effect of a material +cause, any one who is acquainted with the history of science will admit, +that its progress has, in all ages, meant, and now, more than ever, +means, the extension of the province of what we call matter and +causation, and the concomitant gradual banishment from all regions of +human thought of what we call spirit and spontaneity. + +I have endeavoured, in the first part of this discourse, to give you a +conception of the direction towards which modern physiology is tending; +and I ask you, what is the difference between the conception of life as +the product of a certain disposition of material molecules, and the old +notion of an Archĉus governing and directing blind matter within each +living body, except this--that here, as elsewhere, matter and law have +devoured spirit and spontaneity? And as surely as every future grows out +of past and present, so will the physiology of the future gradually +extend the realm of matter and law until it is co-extensive with +knowledge, with feeling, and with action. + +The consciousness of this great truth weighs like a nightmare, I +believe, upon many of the best minds of these days. They watch what they +conceive to be the progress of materialism, in such fear and powerless +anger as a savage feels, when, during an eclipse, the great shadow +creeps over the face of the sun. The advancing tide of matter threatens +to drown their souls; the tightening grasp of law impedes their freedom; +they are alarmed lest man's moral nature be debased by the increase of +his wisdom. + +If the "New Philosophy" be worthy of the reprobation with which it is +visited, I confess their fears seem to me, to be well founded. While, on +the contrary, could David Hume be consulted, I think he would smile at +their perplexities, and chide them for doing even as the heathen, and +falling down in terror before the hideous idols their own hands have +raised. + +For, after all, what do we know of this terrible "matter," except as a +name for the unknown and hypothetical cause of states of our own +consciousness? And what do we know of that "spirit" over whose +threatened extinction by matter a great lamentation is arising, like +that which was heard at the death of Pan, except that it is also a name +for an unknown and hypothetical cause, or condition, of states of +consciousness? In other words, matter and spirit are but names for the +imaginary substrata of groups of natural phĉnomena. + +And what is the dire necessity and "iron" law under which men groan? +Truly, most gratuitously invented bugbears. I suppose if there be an +"iron" law, it is that of gravitation; and if there be a physical +necessity, it is that a stone, unsupported, must fall to the ground. But +what is all we really know and can know about the latter phĉnomenon? +Simply, that, in all human experience, stones have fallen to the ground +under these conditions; that we have not the smallest reason for +believing that any stone so circumstanced will not fall to the ground; +and that we have, on the contrary, every reason to believe that it will +so fall. It is very convenient to indicate that all the conditions of +belief have been fulfilled in this case, by calling the statement that +unsupported stones will fall to the ground, "a law of nature." But when, +as commonly happens, we change _will_ into _must_, we introduce an idea +of necessity which most assuredly does not lie in the observed facts, +and has no warranty that I can discover elsewhere. For my part, I +utterly repudiate and anathematize the intruder. Fact I know; and Law I +know; but what is this Necessity, save an empty shadow of my own mind's +throwing? + +But, if it is certain that we can have no knowledge of the nature of +either matter or spirit, and that the notion of necessity is something +illegitimately thrust into the perfectly legitimate conception of law, +the materialistic position that there is nothing in the world but +matter, force, and necessity, is as utterly devoid of justification as +the most baseless of theological dogmas. The fundamental doctrines of +materialism, like those of spiritualism, and most other "isms," lie +outside "the limits of philosophical inquiry," and David Hume's great +service to humanity is his irrefragable demonstration of what these +limits are. Hume called himself a sceptic, and therefore others cannot +be blamed if they apply the same title to him; but that does not alter +the fact that the name, with its existing implications, does him gross +injustice. + +If a man asks me what the politics of the inhabitants of the moon are, +and I reply that I do not know; that neither I, nor any one else, have +any means of knowing; and that, under these circumstances, I decline to +trouble myself about the subject at all, I do not think he has any +right to call me a sceptic. On the contrary, in replying thus, I +conceive that I am simply honest and truthful, and show a proper regard +for the economy of time. So Hume's strong and subtle intellect takes up +a great many problems about which we are naturally curious, and shows us +that they are essentially questions of lunar politics, in their essence +incapable of being answered, and therefore not worth the attention of +men who have work to do in the world. And he thus ends one of his +essays:-- + + "If we take in hand any volume of Divinity, or school metaphysics, + for instance, let us ask, _Does it contain any abstract reasoning + concerning quantity or number_? No. _Does it contain any + experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence_? + No. Commit it then to the flames; for it can contain nothing but + sophistry and illusion."[12] + +Permit me to enforce this most wise advice. Why trouble ourselves about +matters of which, however important they may be, we do know nothing, and +can know nothing? We live in a world which is full of misery and +ignorance, and the plain duty of each and all of us is to try to make +the little corner he can influence somewhat less miserable and somewhat +less ignorant than it was before he entered it. To do this effectually +it is necessary to be fully possessed of only two beliefs: the first, +that the order of nature is ascertainable by our faculties to an extent +which is practically unlimited; the second, that our volition counts for +something as a condition of the course of events. + +Each of these beliefs can be verified experimentally, as often as we +like to try. Each, therefore, stands upon the strongest foundation upon +which any belief can rest, and forms one of our highest truths. If we +find that the ascertainment of the order of nature is facilitated by +using one terminology, or one set of symbols, rather than another, it is +our clear duty to use the former; and no harm can accrue, so long as we +bear in mind, that we are dealing merely with terms and symbols. + +In itself it is of little moment whether we express the phĉnomena of +matter in terms of spirit; or the phĉnomena of spirit, in terms of +matter: matter may be regarded as a form of thought, thought may be +regarded as a property of matter--each statement has a certain relative +truth. But with a view to the progress of science, the materialistic +terminology is in every way to be preferred. For it connects thought +with the other phĉnomena of the universe, and suggests inquiry into the +nature of those physical conditions, or concomitants of thought, which +are more or less accessible to us, and a knowledge of which may, in +future, help us to exercise the same kind of control over the world of +thought, as we already possess in respect of the material world; +whereas, the alternative, or spiritualistic, terminology is utterly +barren, and leads to nothing but obscurity and confusion of ideas. + +Thus there can be little doubt, that the further science advances, the +more extensively and consistently will all the phĉnomena of nature be +represented by materialistic formulĉ and symbols. + +But the man of science, who, forgetting the limits of philosophical +inquiry, slides from these formulĉ and symbols into what is commonly +understood by materialism, seems to me to place himself on a level with +the mathematician, who should mistake the _x_'s and _y_'s, with which he +works his problems, for real entities--and with this further +disadvantage, as compared with the mathematician, that the blunders of +the latter are of no practical consequence, while the errors of +systematic materialism may paralyse the energies and destroy the beauty +of a life. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[10] The substance of this paper was contained in a discourse which was +delivered in Edinburgh on the evening of Sunday, the 8th of November, +1868--being the first of a series of Sunday evening addresses upon +non-theological topics, instituted by the Rev. J. Cranbrook. Some +phrases, which could possess only a transitory and local interest, have +been omitted; instead of the newspaper report of the Archbishop of +York's address, his Grace's subsequently-published pamphlet "On the +Limits of Philosophical Inquiry" is quoted; and I have, here and there, +endeavoured to express my meaning more fully and clearly than I seem to +have done in speaking--if I may judge by sundry criticisms upon what I +am supposed to have said, which have appeared. But in substance, and, so +far as my recollection serves, in form, what is here written corresponds +with what was there said. + +[11] "The Limits of Philosophical Inquiry," pp. 4 and 5. + +[12] Hume's Essay "Of the Academical or Sceptical Philosophy," in the +"Inquiry concerning the Human Understanding." + + + + +VIII. + +THE SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS OF POSITIVISM. + + +It is now some sixteen or seventeen years since I became acquainted with +the "Philosophic Positive," the "Discours sur l'Ensemble du +Positivisme," and the "Politique Positive" of Auguste Comte. I was led +to study these works partly by the allusions to them in Mr. Mill's +"Logic," partly by the recommendation of a distinguished theologian, and +partly by the urgency of a valued friend, the late Professor Henfrey, +who looked upon M. Comte's bulky volumes as a mine of wisdom, and lent +them to me that I might dig and be rich. After due perusal, I found +myself in a position to echo my friend's words, though I may have laid +more stress on the "mine" than on the "wisdom." For I found the veins of +ore few and far between, and the rock so apt to run to mud, that one +incurred the risk of being intellectually smothered in the working. +Still, as I was glad to acknowledge, I did come to a nugget here and +there; though not, so far as my experience went, in the discussions on +the philosophy of the physical sciences, but in the chapters on +speculative and practical sociology. In these there was indeed much to +arouse the liveliest interest in one whose boat had broken away from +the old moorings, and who had been content "to lay out an anchor by the +stern" until daylight should break and the fog clear. Nothing could be +more interesting to a student of biology than to see the study of the +biological sciences laid down, as an essential part of the prolegomena +of a new view of social phenomena. Nothing could be more satisfactory to +a worshipper of the severe truthfulness of science than the attempt to +dispense with all beliefs, save such as could brave the light, and seek, +rather than fear, criticism; while, to a lover of courage and +outspokenness, nothing could be more touching than the placid +announcement on the title-page of the "Discours sur l'Ensemble du +Positivisme," that its author proposed + + "Réorganiser, sans Dieu ni roi, + Par le culte systématique de l'Humanité," + +the shattered frame of modern society. + +In those days I knew my "Faust" pretty well, and, after reading this +word of might, I was minded to chant the well-known stanzas of the +"Geisterchor"-- + + "Weh! Weh! + Die schöne welt. + Sie stürzt, sie zerfällt + Wir tragen + Die Trümmern ins Nichts hinüber. + Mächtiger + Der Erdensöhne, + Prächtiger, + Baue sie wieder + In deinem Busen baue sie auf." + +Great, however, was my perplexity, not to say disappointment, as I +followed the progress of this "mighty son of earth" in his work of +reconstruction. Undoubtedly "Dieu" disappeared, but the "Nouveau +Grand-Être Suprême," a gigantic fetish, turned out bran-new by M. +Comte's own hands, reigned in his stead. "Roi" also was not heard of; +but, in his place, I found a minutely-defined social organization, +which, if it ever came into practice, would exert a despotic authority +such as no sultan has rivalled, and no Puritan presbytery, in its +palmiest days, could hope to excel. While, as for the "culte +systématique de l'Humanité," I, in my blindness, could not distinguish +it from sheer Popery, with M. Comte in the chair of St. Peter, and the +names of most of the saints changed. To quote "Faust" again, I found +myself saying with Gretchen,-- + + "Ungefähr sagt das der Pfarrer auch + Nur mit ein bischen andern Worten." + +Rightly or wrongly, this was the impression which, all those years ago, +the study of M. Comte's works left on my mind, combined with the +conviction, which I shall always be thankful to him for awakening in me, +that the organization of society upon a new and purely scientific basis +is not only practicable, but is the only political object much worth +fighting for. + +As I have said, that part of M. Comte's writings which deals with the +philosophy of physical science appeared to me to possess singularly +little value, and to show that he had but the most superficial, and +merely second-hand, knowledge of most branches of what is usually +understood by science. I do not mean by this merely to say that Comte +was behind our present knowledge, or that he was unacquainted with the +details of the science of his own day. No one could justly make such +defects cause of complaint in a philosophical writer of the past +generation. What struck me was his want of apprehension of the great +features of science; his strange mistakes as to the merits of his +scientific contemporaries; and his ludicrously erroneous notions about +the part which some of the scientific doctrines current in his time were +destined to play in the future. With these impressions in my mind, no +one will be surprised if I acknowledge that, for these sixteen years, it +has been a periodical source of irritation to me to find M. Comte put +forward as a representative of scientific thought; and to observe that +writers whose philosophy had its legitimate parent in Hume, or in +themselves, were labelled "Comtists" or "Positivists" by public writers, +even in spite of vehement protests to the contrary. It has cost Mr. Mill +hard rubbings to get that label off; and I watch Mr. Spencer, as one +regards a good man struggling with adversity, still engaged in eluding +its adhesiveness, and ready to tear away skin and all, rather than let +it stick. My own turn might come next; and, therefore, when an eminent +prelate the other day gave currency and authority to the popular +confusion, I took an opportunity of incidentally revindicating Hume's +property in the so-called "New Philosophy," and, at the same time, of +repudiating Comtism on my own behalf.[13] + +The few lines devoted to Comtism in my paper on the "Physical Basis of +Life" were, in intention, strictly limited to these two purposes. But +they seem to have given more umbrage than I intended they should, to the +followers of M. Comte in this country, for some of whom, let me observe +in passing, I entertain a most unfeigned respect; and Mr. Congreve's +recent article gives expression to the displeasure which I have excited +among the members of the Comtian body. + +Mr. Congreve, in a peroration which seems especially intended to catch +the attention of his readers, indignantly challenges me to admire M. +Comte's life, "to deny that it has a marked character of grandeur about +it;" and he uses some very strong language because I show no sign of +veneration for his idol. I confess I do not care to occupy myself with +the denigration of a man who, on the whole, deserves to be spoken of +with respect. Therefore, I shall enter into no statement of the reasons +which lead me unhesitatingly to accept Mr. Congreve's challenge, and to +refuse to recognise anything which deserves the name of grandeur of +character in M. Comte, unless it be his arrogance, which is undoubtedly +sublime. All I have to observe is, that if Mr. Congreve is justified in +saying that I speak with a tinge of contempt for his spiritual father, +the reason for such colouring of my language is to be found in the fact, +that, when I wrote, I had but just arisen from the perusal of a work +with which he is doubtless well acquainted, M. Littré's "Auguste Comte +et la Philosophic Positive." + +Though there are tolerably fixed standards of right and wrong, and even +of generosity and meanness, it may be said that the beauty, or grandeur, +of a life is more or less a matter of taste; and Mr. Congreve's notions +of literary excellence are so different from mine that, it may be, we +should diverge as widely in our judgment of moral beauty or ugliness. +Therefore, while retaining my own notions, I do not presume to quarrel +with his. But when Mr. Congreve devotes a great deal of laboriously +guarded insinuation to the endeavour to lead the public to believe that +I have been guilty of the dishonesty of having criticised Comte without +having read him, I must be permitted to remind him that he has neglected +the well-known maxim of a diplomatic sage, "If you want to damage a man, +you should say what is probable, as well as what is true." + +And when Mr. Congreve speaks of my having an advantage over him in my +introduction of "Christianity" into the phrase that "M. Comte's +philosophy, in practice, might be described as Catholicism _minus_ +Christianity;" intending thereby to suggest that I have, by so doing, +desired to profit by an appeal to the _odium theologicum_,--he lays +himself open to a very unpleasant retort. + +What if I were to suggest that Mr. Congreve had not read Comte's works; +and that the phrase "the context shows that the view of the writer +ranges--however superficially--over the whole works. This is obvious +from the mention of Catholicism," demonstrates that Mr. Congreve has no +acquaintance with the "Philosophie Positive"? I think the suggestion +would be very unjust and unmannerly, and I shall not make it. But the +fact remains, that this little epigram of mine, which has so greatly +provoked Mr. Congreve, is neither more nor less than a condensed +paraphrase of the following passage, which is to be found at page 344 of +the fifth volume of the "Philosophie Positive:"[14]-- + + "La seule solution possible de ce grand problème historique, qui + n'a jamais pu être philosophiquement posé jusqu'ici, consiste à + concevoir, en sens radicalement inverse des notions habituelles, + _que ce qui devait nécessairement périr ainsi, dans le + catholicisme, c'était la doctrine, et non l'organisation_, qui n'a + été passagèrement ruinée que par suite de son inévitable adhérence + élémentaire a la philosophie théologique, destinée à succomber + graduellement sous l'irrésistible émancipation de la raison + humaine; _tandis qu'une telle constitution, convenablement + reconstruite sur des bases intellectuelles à la fois plus étendues + et plus stables, devra finalement présider à l'indispensable + réorganisation spirituelle des sociétés modernes, sauf les + différences essentielles spontanément correspondantes à l'extrême + diversité des doctrines fondamentales_; à moins de supposer, ce qui + serait certainement contradictoire à l'ensemble des lois de notre + nature, que les immenses efforts de tant de grands hommes, secondés + par la persévérante sollicitude des nations civilisées, dans la + fondation séculaire de ce chef-d'oeuvre politique de la sagesse + humaine, doivent être enfin irrévocablement perdus pour l'élite de + l'humanité sauf les résultats, capitaux mais provisoires, qui s'y + rapportaient immédiatement. Cette explication générale, déjà + évidemment motivée par la suite des considérations propres à ce + chapitre, sera de plus en plus confirmée par tout le reste de + notre opération historique, _dont elle constituera spontanément la + principale conclusion politique."_ + +Nothing can be clearer. Comte's ideal, as stated by himself, is Catholic +organization without Catholic doctrine, or, in other words, Catholicism +_minus_ Christianity. Surely it is utterly unjustifiable to ascribe to +me base motives for stating a man's doctrines, as nearly as may be, in +his own words! + +My readers would hardly be interested were I to follow Mr. Congreve any +further, or I might point out that the fact of his not having heard me +lecture is hardly a safe ground for his speculations as to what I do not +teach. Nor do I feel called upon to give any opinion as to M. Comte's +merits or demerits as regards sociology. Mr. Mill (whose competence to +speak on these matters I suppose will not be questioned, even by Mr. +Congreve) has dealt with M. Comte's philosophy from this point of view, +with a vigour and authority to which I cannot for a moment aspire; and +with a severity, not unfrequently amounting to contempt, which I have +not the wish, if I had the power, to surpass. I, as a mere student in +these questions, am content to abide by Mr. Mill's judgment until some +one shows cause for its reversal, and I decline to enter into a +discussion which I have not provoked. + +The sole obligation which lies upon me is to justify so much as still +remains without justification of what I have written respecting +Positivism--namely, the opinion expressed in the following paragraph:-- + + "In so far as my study of what specially characterises the Positive + Philosophy has led me, I find therein little or nothing of any + scientific value, and a great deal which is as thoroughly + antagonistic to the very essence of science as any thing in + ultramontane Catholicism." + +Here are two propositions: the first, that the "Philosophie Positive" +contains little or nothing of any scientific value; the second, that +Comtism is, in spirit, anti-scientific. I shall endeavour to bring +forward ample evidence in support of both. + +I. No one who possesses even a superficial acquaintance with physical +science can read Comte's "Leçons" without becoming aware that he was at +once singularly devoid of real knowledge on these subjects, and +singularly unlucky. What is to be thought of the contemporary of Young +and of Fresnel, who never misses an opportunity of casting scorn upon +the hypothesis of an ether--the fundamental basis not only of the +undulatory theory of light, but of so much else in modern physics--and +whose contempt for the intellects of some of the strongest men of his +generation was such, that he puts forward the mere existence of night as +a refutation of the undulatory theory?[15] What a wonderful gauge of his +own value as a scientific critic does he afford, by whom we are informed +that phrenology is a great science, and psychology a chimĉra; that Gall +was one of the great men of his age, and that Cuvier was "brilliant but +superficial"![16] How unlucky must one consider the bold speculator who, +just before the dawn of modern histology--which is simply the +application of the microscope to anatomy--reproves what he calls "the +abuse of microscopic investigations," and "the exaggerated credit" +attached to them; who, when the morphological uniformity of the tissues +of the great majority of plants and animals was on the eve of being +demonstrated, treated with ridicule those who attempt to refer all +tissues to a "tissu générateur," formed by "le chimérique et +inintelligible assemblage d'une sorte de monades organiques, qui +seraient dès lors les vrais éléments primordiaux de tout corps +vivant;"[17] and who finally tells us, that all the objections against a +linear arrangement of the species of living beings are in their essence +foolish, and that the order of the animal series is "necessarily +linear,"[18] when the exact contrary is one of the best-established and +the most important truths of zoology. Appeal to mathematicians, +astronomers, physicists,[19] chemists, biologists, about the +"Philosophie Positive," and they all, with one consent, begin to make +protestation that, whatever M. Comte's other merits, he has shed no +light upon the philosophy of their particular studies. + +To be just, however, it must be admitted that even M. Comte's most +ardent disciples are content to be judiciously silent about his +knowledge or appreciation of the sciences themselves, and prefer to base +their master's claims to scientific authority upon his "law of the three +states," and his "classification of the sciences." But here, also, I +must join issue with them as completely as others--notably Mr. Herbert +Spencer--have done before me. A critical examination of what M. Comte +has to say about the "law of the three states" brings out nothing but a +series of more or less contradictory statements of an imperfectly +apprehended truth; and his "classification of the sciences," whether +regarded historically or logically, is, in my judgment, absolutely +worthless. + +Let us consider the law of "the three states" as it is put before us in +the opening of the first Leçon of the "Philosophie Positive:"-- + + "En étudiant ainsi le développement total de l'intelligence humaine + dans ses diverses sphères d'activité, depuis son premier essor le + plus simple jusqu'à nos jours, je crois avoir découvert une grande + loi fondamentale, à laquelle il est assujetti par une nécessité + invariable, et qui me semble pouvoir être solidement établie, soit + sur les preuves rationelles fournies par la connaissance de notre + organisation, soit sur les vérifications historiques résultant d'un + examen attentif du passé. Cette loi consiste en ce que chacune de + nos conceptions principales, chaque branche de nos connaissances, + passe successivement par trois états théoriques différents; l'état + théologique, ou fictif; l'état métaphysique, ou abstrait; l'état + scientifique, ou positif. En d'autres termes, l'esprit humain, par + sa nature, emploie successivement dans chacune de ses recherches + trois méthodes de philosopher, dont _le caractère est + essentiellement différent et même radicalement opposé_; d'abord la + méthode théologique, ensuite la méthode métaphysique, et enfin la + méthode positive. De là, trois sortes de philosophie, ou de + systèmes généraux de conceptions sur l'ensemble des phénomènes _qui + s'excluent mutuellement_; la première est le point de départ + nécessaire de l'intelligence humaine; la troisième, son état fixe + et définitif; la seconde est uniquement destinée à servir de + transition."[20] + +Nothing can be more precise than these statements, which may be put into +the following propositions:-- + +(a) The human intellect is subjected to the law by an invariable +necessity, which is demonstrable, _à priori_, from the nature and +constitution of the intellect; while, as a matter of historical fact, +the human intellect has been subjected to the law. + +(b) Every branch of human knowledge passes through the three states, +necessarily beginning with the first stage. + +(c) The three states mutually exclude one another, being essentially +different, and even radically opposed. + +Two questions present themselves. Is M. Comte consistent with himself in +making these assertions? And is he consistent with fact? I reply to both +questions in the negative; and, as regards the first, I bring forward as +my witness a remarkable passage which is to be found in the fourth +volume of the "Philosophic Positive" (p. 491), when M. Comte had had +time to think out, a little more fully, the notions crudely stated in +the first volume:-- + + "A proprement parler, la philosophie théologique, même dans notre + première enfance, individuelle ou sociale, n'a jamais pu être + rigoureusement universelle, c'est-à-dire que, pour les ordres + quelconques de phénomènes, _les faits les plus simples et les plus + communs ont toujours été regardés comme essentiellement assujettis + à des lois naturelles, au lieu d'être attribués à l'arbitraire + volonté des agents surnaturels_. L'illustre Adam Smith a, par + example, très-heureusement remarqué dans ses essais philosophiques, + qu'on ne trouvait, en aucun temps ni en aucun pays, un dieu pour la + pesanteur. _Il en est ainsi, en général, même à l'égard des sujets + les plus compliqués, envers tous les phénomènes assez élémentaires + et assez familiers pour que la parfaite invariabilité de leurs + relations effectives ait toujours dû frapper spontanément + l'observateur le moins préparé_. Dans l'ordre moral et social, + qu'une vaine opposition voudrait aujourd'hui systématiquement + interdire à la philosophie positive, il y a eu nécessairement, en + tout temps, la pensée des lois naturelles, relativement aux plus + simples phénomènes de la vie journalière, comme l'exige évidemment + la conduite générale de notre existence réelle, individuelle ou + sociale, qui n'aurait pu jamais comporter aucune prévoyance + quelconque, si tous les phénomènes humains avaient été + rigoureusement attribués à des agents surnaturels, puisque dès lors + la prière aurait logiquement constitué la seule ressource + imaginable pour influer sur le cours habituel des actions humaines. + _On doit même remarquer, à ce sujet, que c'est, au contraire, + l'ébauche spontanée des premières lois naturelles propres aux + actes individuels ou sociaux qui, fictivement transportée à tous + les phénomènes du monde extérieur, a d'abord fourni, d'après nos + explications précédentes, le vrai principe fondamental de la + philosophie théologique. Ainsi, le germe élémentaire de la + philosophie positive est certainement tout aussi primitif au fond + que celui de la philosophie théologique elle-même, quoi qu'il n'ait + pu se développer que beaucoup plus tard._ Une telle notion importe + extrêmement à la parfaite rationalité de notre théorie + sociologique, puisque la vie humaine ne pouvant jamais offrir + aucune véritable création quelconque, mais toujours une simple + évolution graduelle, l'essor final de l'esprit positif deviendrait + scientifiquement incompréhensible, si, dès l'origine, on n'en + concevait, à tous égards, les premiers rudiments nécessaires. + Depuis cette situation primitive, à mesure que nos observations se + sont spontanément étendues et généralisées, cet essor, d'abord à + peine appréciable, a constamment suivi, sans cesser longtemps + d'être subalterne, une progression très-lente, mais continue, la + philosophie théologique restant toujours réservée pour les + phénomènes, de moins en moins nombreux, dont les lois naturelles ne + pouvaient encore être aucunement connues." + +Compare the propositions implicitly laid down here with those contained +in the earlier volume. (a) As a matter of fact, the human intellect +has _not_ been invariably subjected to the law of the three states, and +therefore the necessity of the law _cannot_ be demonstrable _à priori_. +(b) Much of our knowledge of all kinds has _not_ passed through the +three states, and more particularly, as M. Comte is careful to point +out, not through the first, (c) The positive state has more or less +co-existed with the theological, from the dawn of human intelligence. +And, by way of completing the series of contradictions, the assertion +that the three states are "essentially different and even radically +opposed," is met a little lower on the same page by the declaration that +"the metaphysical state is, at bottom, nothing but a simple general +modification of the first;" while, in the fortieth Leçon, as also in the +interesting early essay entitled "Considérations philosophiques sur les +Sciences et les Savants (1825)," the three states are practically +reduced to two. "Le véritable esprit général de toute philosophie +théologique ou métaphysique consiste à prendre pour principe, dans +l'explication des phénomènes du monde extérieur, notre sentiment +immédiat des phénomènes humains; tandis que au contraire, la philosophie +positive est toujours caractérisée, non moins profondément, par la +subordination nécessaire et rationnelle de la conception de l'homme à +celle du monde."[21] + +I leave M. Cointe's disciples to settle which of these contradictory +statements expresses their master's real meaning. All I beg leave to +remark is, that men of science are not in the habit of paying much +attention to "laws" stated in this fashion. + +The second statement is undoubtedly far more rational and consistent +with fact than the first; but I cannot think it is a just or adequate +account of the growth of intelligence, either in the individual man, or +in the human species. Any one who will carefully watch the development +of the intellect of a child will perceive that, from the first, its mind +is mirroring nature in two different ways. On the one hand, it is merely +drinking in sensations and building up associations, while it forms +conceptions of things and their relations which are more thoroughly +"positive," or devoid of entanglement with hypotheses of any kind, than +they will ever be in after-life. No child has recourse to imaginary +personifications in order to account for the ordinary properties of +objects which are not alive, or do not represent living things. It does +not imagine that the taste of sugar is brought about by a god of +sweetness, or that a spirit of jumping causes a ball to bound. Such +phĉnomena, which form the basis of a very large part of its ideas, are +taken as matters of course--as ultimate facts which suggest no +difficulty and need no explanation. So far as all these common, though +important, phĉnomena are concerned, the child's mind is in what M. Comte +would call the "positive" state. + +But, side by side with this mental condition, there rises another. The +child becomes aware of itself as a source of action and a subject of +passion and of thought. The acts which follow upon its own desires are +among the most interesting and prominent of surrounding occurrences; and +these acts, again, plainly arise either out of affections caused by +surrounding things, or of other changes in itself. Among these +surrounding things, the most interesting and important are mother and +father, brethren and nurses. The hypothesis that these wonderful +creatures are of like nature to itself is speedily forced upon the +child's mind; and this primitive piece of anthropomorphism turns out to +be a highly successful speculation, which finds its justification at +every turn. No wonder, then, that it is extended to other similarly +interesting objects which are not too unlike these--to the dog, the cat, +and the canary, the doll, the toy, and the picture-book--that these are +endowed with wills and affections, and with capacities for being "good" +and "naughty." But surely it would be a mere perversion of language to +call this a "theological" state of mind, either in the proper sense of +the word "theological," or as contrasted with "scientific" or +"positive." The child does not worship either father or mother, dog or +doll. On the contrary, nothing is more curious than the absolute +irreverence, if I may so say, of a kindly-treated young child; its +tendency to believe in itself as the centre of the universe, and its +disposition to exercise despotic tyranny over those who could crush it +with a finger. + +Still less is there anything unscientific, or anti-scientific, in this +infantile anthropomorphism. The child observes that many phĉnomena are +the consequences of affections of itself; it soon has excellent reasons +for the belief that many other phĉnomena are consequences of the +affections of other beings, more or less like itself. And having thus +good evidence for believing that many of the most interesting +occurrences about it are explicable on the hypothesis that they are the +work of intelligences like itself--having discovered a _vera causa_ for +many phĉnomena--why should the child limit the application of so +fruitful an hypothesis? The dog has a sort of intelligence, so has the +cat; why should not the doll and the picture-book also have a share, +proportioned to their likeness to intelligent things? + +The only limit which does arise is exactly that which, as a matter of +science, should arise; that is to say, the anthropomorphic +interpretation is applied only to those phĉnomena which, in their +general nature, or their apparent capriciousness, resemble those which +the child observes to be caused by itself, or by beings like itself. All +the rest are regarded as things which explain themselves, or are +inexplicable. + +It is only at a later stage of intellectual development that the +intelligence of man awakes to the apparent conflict between the +anthropomorphic, and what I may call the physical,[22] aspect of +nature, and either endeavours to extend the anthropomorphic view over +the whole of nature--which is the tendency of theology; or to give the +same exclusive predominance to the physical view--which is the tendency +of science; or adopts a middle course, and taking from the +anthropomorphic view its tendency to personify, and from the physical +view its tendency to exclude volition and affection, ends in what M. +Comte calls the "metaphysical" state--"metaphysical," in M. Comte's +writings, being a general term of abuse for anything he does not like. + +What is true of the individual is, _mutatis mutandis_, true of the +intellectual development of the species. It is absurd to say of men in a +state of primitive savagery, that all their conceptions are in a +theological state. Nine-tenths of them are eminently realistic, and as +"positive" as ignorance and narrowness can make them. It no more occurs +to a savage than it does to a child, to ask the why of the daily and +ordinary occurrences which form the greater part of his mental life. But +in regard to the more striking, or out-of-the-way, events, which force +him to speculate, he is highly anthropomorphic; and, as compared with a +child, his anthropomorphism is complicated by the intense impression +which the death of his own kind makes upon him, as indeed it well may. +The warrior, full of ferocious energy, perhaps the despotic chief of +his tribe, is suddenly struck down. A child may insult the man a moment +before so awful; a fly rests, undisturbed, on the lips from which +undisputed command issued. And yet the bodily aspect of the man seems +hardly more altered than when he slept, and, sleeping, seemed to himself +to leave his body and wander through dreamland. What then if that +something, which is the essence of the man, has really been made to +wander by the violence done to it, and is unable, or has forgotten, to +come back to its shell? Will it not retain somewhat of the powers it +possessed during life? May it not help us if it be pleased, or (as seems +to be by far the more general impression) hurt us if it be angered? Will +it not be well to do towards it those things which would have soothed +the man and put him in good humour during his life? It is impossible to +study trustworthy accounts of savage thought without seeing, that some +such train of ideas as this, lies at the bottom of their speculative +beliefs. + +There are savages without God, in any proper sense of the word, but none +without ghosts. And the Fetishism, Ancestor-worship, Hero-worship, and +Demonology of primitive savages, are all, I believe, different manners +of expression of their belief in ghosts, and of the anthropomorphic +interpretation of out-of-the-way events, which is its concomitant. +Witchcraft and sorcery are the practical expressions of these beliefs; +and they stand in the same relation to religious worship as the simple +anthropomorphism of children, or savages, does to theology. + +In the progress of the species from savagery to advanced civilization, +anthropomorphism grows into theology, while physicism (if I may so call +it) develops into science; but the development of the two is +contemporaneous, not successive. For each, there long exists an assured +province which is not invaded by the other; while, between the two, lies +a debateable land, ruled by a sort of bastards, who owe their complexion +to physicism and their substance to anthropomorphism, and are M. Comte's +particular aversions--metaphysical entities. + +But, as the ages lengthen, the borders of Physicism increase. The +territories of the bastards are all annexed to science; and even +Theology, in her purer forms, has ceased to be anthropomorphic, however +she may talk. Anthropomorphism has taken stand in its last fortress--man +himself. But science closely invests the walls; and Philosophers gird +themselves for battle upon the last and greatest of all speculative +problems--Does human nature possess any free, volitional, or truly +anthropomorphic element, or is it only the cunningest of all Nature's +clocks? Some, among whom I count myself, think that the battle will for +ever remain a drawn one, and that, for all practical purposes, this +result is as good as anthropomorphism winning the day. + +The classification of the sciences, which, in the eyes of M. Comte's +adherents, constitutes his second great claim to the dignity of a +scientific philosopher, appears to me to be open to just the same +objections as the law of the three states. It is inconsistent in itself, +and it is inconsistent with fact. Let us consider the main points of +this classification successively:-- + + "Il faut distinguer par rapport à tous les ordres des phénomènes, + deux genres de sciences naturelles; les unes abstraites, + générales, ont pour objet la découverte des lois qui régissent les + diverses classes de phénomènes, en considérant tous les cas qu'on + peut concevoir; les autres concrètes, particulières, descriptives, + et qu'on désigne quelquefois sous le nom des sciences naturelles + proprement dites, consistent dans l'application de ces lois à + l'histoire effective des différents êtres existants."[23] + +The "abstract" sciences are subsequently said to be mathematics, +astronomy, physics, chemistry, physiology, and social physics--the +titles of the two latter being subsequently changed to biology and +sociology. M. Comte exemplifies the distinction between his abstract and +his concrete sciences as follows:-- + + "On pourra d'abord l'apercevoir très-nettement en comparant, d'une + part, la physiologie générale, et d'une autre part la zoologie et + la botanique proprement dites. Ce sont évidemment, en effet, deux + travaux d'un caractère fort distinct, que d'étudier, en général, + les lois de la vie, ou de déterminer le mode d'existence de chaque + corps vivant, en particulier. _Cette seconde étude, en outre, est + nécessairememt fondée sur la première._"--P. 57. + +All the unreality and mere bookishness of M. Comte's knowledge of +physical science comes out in the passage I have italicised. "The +special study of living beings is based upon a general study of the laws +of life!" What little I know about the matter leads me to think, that, +if M. Comte had possessed the slightest practical acquaintance with +biological science, he would have turned his phraseology upside down, +and have perceived that we can have no knowledge of the general laws of +life, except that which is based upon the study of particular living +beings. + +The illustration is surely unluckily chosen; but the language in which +these so-called abstract sciences are defined seems to me to be still +more open to criticism. With what propriety can astronomy, or physics, +or chemistry, or biology, be said to occupy themselves with the +consideration of "all conceivable cases" which fall within their +respective provinces? Does the astronomer occupy himself with any other +system of the universe than that which is visible to him? Does he +speculate upon the possible movements of bodies which may attract one +another in the inverse proportion of the cube of their distances, say? +Does biology, whether "abstract" or "concrete," occupy itself with any +other form of life than those which exist, or have existed? And, if the +abstract sciences embrace all conceivable cases of the operation of the +laws with which they are concerned, would not they, necessarily, embrace +the subjects of the concrete sciences, which, inasmuch as they exist, +must needs be conceivable? In fact, no such distinction as that which M. +Comte draws is tenable. The first stage of his classification breaks by +its own weight. + +But granting M. Comte his six abstract sciences, he proceeds to arrange +them according to what he calls their natural order or hierarchy, their +places in this hierarchy being determined by the degree of generality +and simplicity of the conceptions with which they deal. Mathematics +occupies the first, astronomy the second, physics the third, chemistry +the fourth, biology the fifth, and sociology the sixth and last place in +the series. M. Comte's arguments in favour of this classification are +first-- + + "Sa conformité essentielle avec la co-ordination, en quelque sorte + spontanée, qui se trouve en effet implicitement admise par les + savants livrés à l'étude des diverse branches de la philosophie + naturelle." + +But I absolutely deny the existence of this conformity. If there is one +thing clear about the progress of modern science, it is the tendency to +reduce all scientific problems, except those which are purely +mathematical, to questions of molecular physics--that is to, say, to the +attractions, repulsions, motions, and co-ordination of the ultimate +particles of matter. Social phĉnomena are the result of the interaction +of the components of society, or men, with one another and the +surrounding universe. But, in the language of physical science, which, +by the nature of the case, is materialistic, the actions of men, so far +as they are recognisable by science, are the results of molecular +changes in the matter of which they are composed; and, in the long run, +these must come into the hands of the physicist. _A fortiori_, the +phĉnomena of biology and of chemistry are, in their ultimate analysis, +questions of molecular physics. Indeed, the fact is acknowledged by all +chemists and biologists who look beyond their immediate occupations. And +it is to be observed, that the phĉnomena of biology are as directly and +immediately connected with molecular physics as are those of chemistry. +Molar physics, chemistry, and biology are not three successive steps in +the ladder of knowledge, as M. Comte would have us believe, but three +branches springing from the common stem of molecular physics. + +As to astronomy, I am at a loss to understand how any one who will give +a moment's attention to the nature of the science can fail to see that +it consists of two parts: first, of a description of the phĉnomena, +which is as much entitled as descriptive zoology, or botany, is, to the +name of natural history; and, secondly, of an explanation of the +phĉnomena, furnished by the laws of a force--gravitation--the study of +which is as much a part of physics, as is that of heat, or electricity. +It would be just as reasonable to make the study of the heat of the sun +a science preliminary to the rest of thermotics, as to place the study +of the attraction of the bodies, which compose the universe in general, +before that of the particular terrestrial bodies, which alone we can +experimentally know. Astronomy, in fact, owes its perfection to the +circumstance that it is the only branch of natural history, the +phĉnomena of which are largely expressible by mathematical conceptions, +and which can be, to a great extent, explained by the application of +very simple physical laws. + +With regard to mathematics, it is to be observed, in the first place, +that M. Comte mixes up under that head the pure relations of space and +of quantity, which are properly included under the name, with rational +mechanics and statics, which are mathematical developments of the most +general conceptions of physics, namely, the notions of force and of +motion. Relegating these to their proper place in physics, we have left +pure mathematics, which can stand neither at the head, nor at the tail, +of any hierarchy of the sciences, since, like logic, it is equally +related to all; though the enormous practical difficulty of applying +mathematics to the more complex phĉnomena of nature removes them, for +the present, out of its sphere. + +On this subject of mathematics, again, M. Comte indulges in assertions +which can only be accounted for by his total ignorance of physical +science practically. As for example:-- + + "C'est donc par l'étude des mathématiques, _et seulement par elle_, + que l'on peut se faire une idée juste et approfondie de ce que + c'est qu'une _science_. C'est là _uniquement_ qu'on doit chercher à + connaître avec précision _la méthode générale que l'esprit humain + emploie constamment dans toutes ses recherches positives_, parce + que nulle part ailleurs les questions ne sont résolues d'une + manière aussi complète et les déductions prolongées aussi loin avec + une sévérité rigoureuse. C'est là également que notre entendement a + donné les plus grandes preuves de sa force, parce que les ideés + qu'il y considère sont du plus haut degré d'abstraction possible + dans l'ordre positif. _Toute éducation scientifique qui ne commence + point par une telle étude pèche donc nécessairement par sa + base._"[24] + +That is to say, the only study which can confer "a just and +comprehensive idea of what is meant by science," and, at the same time, +furnish an exact conception of the general method of scientific +investigation, is that which knows nothing of observation, nothing of +experiment, nothing of induction, nothing of causation! And education, +the whole secret of which consists in proceeding from the easy to the +difficult, the concrete to the abstract, ought to be turned the other +way, and pass from the abstract to the concrete. + +M. Comte puts a second argument in favour of his hierarchy of the +sciences thus:-- + + "Un second caractère très-essentiel de notre classification, c'est + d'être nécessairement conforme à l'ordre effectif du développement + de la philosophie naturelle. C'est ce que vérifie tout ce qu'on + sait de l'histoire des sciences."[25] + +But Mr. Spencer has so thoroughly and completely demonstrated the +absence of any correspondence between the historical development of the +sciences, and their position in the Comtean hierarchy, in his essay on +the "Genesis of Science," that I shall not waste time in repeating his +refutation. + +A third proposition in support of the Comtean classification of the +sciences stands as follows:-- + + "En troisième lieu cette classification présente la propriété + très-remarquable de marquer exactement la perfection relative des + différentes sciences, laquelle consiste essentiellement dans le + degré de précision des connaissances et dans leur co-ordination + plus ou moins intime."[26] + +I am quite unable to understand the distinction which M. Comte +endeavours to draw in this passage in spite of his amplifications +further on. Every science must consist of precise knowledge, and that +knowledge must be co-ordinated into general proportions, or it is not +science. When M. Comte, in exemplification of the statement I have +cited, says that "les phénomènes organiques ne comportent qu'une étude à +la fois moins exacte et moins systématique que les phénomènes des corps +bruts," I am at a loss to comprehend what he means. If I affirm that +"when a motor nerve is irritated, the muscle connected with it becomes +simultaneously shorter and thicker, without changing its volume," it +appears to me that the statement is as precise or exact (and not merely +as true) as that of the physicist who should say, that "when a piece of +iron is heated, it becomes simultaneously longer and thicker and +increases in volume;" nor can I discover any difference, in point of +precision, between the statement of the morphological law that "animals +which suckle their young have two occipital condyles," and the +enunciation of the physical law that "water subjected to electrolysis +is replaced by an equal weight of the gases, oxygen and hydrogen." As +for anatomical or physiological investigation being less "systematic" +than that of the physicist or chemist, the assertion is simply +unaccountable. The methods of physical science are everywhere the same +in principle, and the physiological investigator who was not +"systematic" would, on the whole, break down rather sooner than the +inquirer into simpler subjects. + +Thus M. Comte's classification of the sciences, under all its aspects, +appears to me to be a complete failure. It is impossible, in an article +which is already too long, to inquire how it may be replaced by a +better; and it is the less necessary to do so, as a second edition of +Mr. Spencer's remarkable essay on this subject has just been published. +After wading through pages of the long-winded confusion and second-hand +information of the "Philosophic Positive," at the risk of a _crise +cérébrale_--it is as good as a shower-bath to turn to the +"Classification of the Sciences," and refresh oneself with Mr. Spencer's +profound thought, precise knowledge, and clear language. + +II. The second proposition to which I have committed myself, in the +paper to which I have been obliged to refer so often, is, that the +"Positive Philosophy" contains "a great deal which is as thoroughly +antagonistic to the very essence of science as is anything in +ultramontane Catholicism." + +What I refer to in these words, is, on the one hand, the dogmatism and +narrowness which so often mark M. Comte's discussion of doctrines which +he does not like, and reduce his expressions of opinion to mere +passionate puerilities; as, for example, when he is arguing against the +assumption of an ether, or when he is talking (I cannot call it arguing) +against psychology, or political economy. On the other hand, I allude to +the spirit of meddling systematization and regulation which animates +even the "Philosophic Positive," and breaks out, in the latter volumes +of that work, into no uncertain foreshadowing of the anti-scientific +monstrosities of Comte's later writings. + +Those who try to draw a line of demarcation between the spirit of the +"Philosophic Positive," and that of the "Politique" and its successors, +(if I may express an opinion from fragmentary knowledge of these last,) +must have overlooked, or forgotten, what Comte himself labours to show, +and indeed succeeds in proving, in the "Appendice Général" of the +"Politique Positive." "Dès mon début," he writes, "je tentai de fonder +le nouveau pouvoir spirituel que j'institue aujourd'hui." "Ma politique, +loin d'être aucunement opposée à ma philosophie, en constitue tellement +la suite naturelle que celle-ci fut directement instituée pour servir de +base à celle-là, comme le prouve cet appendice."[27] + +This is quite true. In the remarkable essay entitled "Considérations sur +le Pouvoir spirituel," published in March 1826, Comte advocates the +establishment of a "modern spiritual power," which, he anticipates, may +exercise an even greater influence over temporal affairs, than did the +Catholic clergy, at the height of their vigour and independence, in the +twelfth century. This spiritual power is, in fact, to govern opinion, +and to have the supreme control over education, in each nation of the +West; and the spiritual powers of the several European peoples are to be +associated together and placed under a common direction or "souveraineté +spirituelle." + +A system of "Catholicism _minus_ Christianity" was therefore completely +organized in Comte's mind, four years before the first volume of the +"Philosophie Positive" was written; and, naturally, the papal spirit +shows itself in that work, not only in the ways I have already +mentioned, but, notably, in the attack on liberty of conscience which +breaks out in the fourth volume:-- + + "Il n'y a point de liberté de conscience en astronomie, en + physique, en chimie, en physiologie même, en ce sens que chacun + trouverait absurde de ne pas croire de confiance aux principes + établis dans les sciences par les hommes compétents." + +"Nothing in ultramontane Catholicism" can, in my judgment, be more +completely sacerdotal, more entirely anti-scientific, than this dictum. +All the great steps in the advancement of science have been made by just +those men who have not hesitated to doubt the "principles established in +the sciences by competent persons;" and the great teaching of +science--the great use of it as an instrument of mental discipline--is +its constant inculcation of the maxim, that the sole ground on which any +statement has a right to be believed is the impossibility of refuting +it. + +Thus, without travelling beyond the limits of the "Philosophie +Positive," we find its author contemplating the establishment of a +system of society, in which an organized spiritual power shall over-ride +and direct the temporal power, as completely as the Innocents and +Gregorys tried to govern Europe in the middle ages; and repudiating the +exercise of liberty of conscience against the "_hommes compétents_", of +whom, by the assumption, the new priesthood would be composed. Was Mr. +Congreve as forgetful of this, as he seems to have been of some other +parts of the "Philosophie Positive," when he wrote, that "in any +limited, careful use of the term, no candid man could say that the +Positive Philosophy contained a great deal as thoroughly antagonistic to +[the very essence of[28]] science as Catholicism"? + +M. Comte, it will have been observed, desires to retain the whole of +Catholic organization; and the logical practical result of this part of +his doctrine would be the establishment of something corresponding with +that eminently Catholic, but admittedly anti-scientific, +institution--the Holy Office. + +I hope I have said enough to show that I wrote the few lines I devoted +to M. Comte and his philosophy, neither unguardedly, nor ignorantly, +still less maliciously. I shall be sorry if what I have now added, in my +own justification, should lead any to suppose that I think M. Comte's +works worthless; or that I do not heartily respect, and sympathise with, +those who have been impelled by him to think deeply upon social +problems, and to strive nobly for social regeneration. It is the virtue +of that impulse, I believe, which will save the name and fame of Auguste +Comte from oblivion. As for his philosophy, I part with it by quoting +his own words, reported to me by a quondam Comtist, now an eminent +member of the Institute of France, M. Charles Robin:-- + + "La Philosophie est une tentative incessante de l'esprit humain + pour arriver au repos: mais elle se trouve incessamment aussi + dérangée par les progrès continus de la science. De là vient pour + le philosophe l'obligation de refaire chaque soir la synthèse de + ses conceptions; et un jour viendra où l'homme raisonnable ne fera + plus d'autre prière du soir." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[13] I am glad to observe that Mr. Congreve, in the criticism with which +he has favoured me in the number of the _Fortnightly Review_ for April +1869, does not venture to challenge the justice of the claim I make for +Hume. He merely suggests that I have been wanting in candour in not +mentioning Comte's high opinion of Hume. After mature reflection I am +unable to discern my fault. If I had suggested that Comte had borrowed +from Hume without acknowledgment; or if, instead of trying to express my +own sense of Hume's merits with the modesty which becomes a writer who +has no authority in matters of philosophy, I had affirmed that no one +had properly appreciated him, Mr. Congreve's remarks would apply: but as +I did neither of these things, they appear to me to be irrelevant, if +not unjustifiable. And even had it occurred to me to quote M. Comte's +expressions about Hume, I do not know that I should have cited them, +inasmuch as, on his own showing, M. Comte occasionally speaks very +decidedly touching writers of whose works he has not read a line. Thus, +in Tome VI. of the "Philosophie Positive," p. 619, M. Comte writes: "Le +plus grand des métaphysiciens modernes, l'illustre Kant, a noblement +mérité une éternelle admiration en tentant, le premier, d'échapper +directement a l'absolu philosophique par sa célèbre conception de la +double réalité, à la fois objective et subjective, qui indique un si +juste sentiment de la saine philosophie." + +But in the "Préface Personnelle" in the same volume, p. 35, M. Comte +tells us:--"Je n'ai jamais lu, en aucune langue, ni Vico, _ni Kant_, ni +Herder, ni Hegel, &c.; je ne connais leurs divers ouvrages que d'après +quelques relations indirectes et certains extraits fort insuffisants." + +Who knows but that the "&c." may include Hume? And in that case what is +the value of M. Comte's praise of him? + +[14] Now and always I quote the second edition, by Littré. + +[15] "Philosophie Positive," ii. p. 440. + +[16] "Le brillant mais superficiel Cuvier."--_Philosophie Positive_, vi. +p. 383. + +[17] "Philosophie Positive," iii. p. 369. + +[18] Ibid. p. 387. + +[19] Hear the late Dr. Whewell, who calls Comte "a shallow pretender," +so far as all the modern sciences, except astronomy, are concerned; and +tells us that "his pretensions to discoveries are, as Sir John Herschel +has shown, absurdly fallacious."--"Comte and Positivism," _Macmillan's +Magazine_, March 1866. + +[20] "Philosophie Positive," i. pp. 8, 9. + +[21] "Philosophie Positive," iii. p. 188. + +[22] The word "positive" is in every way objectionable. In one sense it +suggests that mental quality which was undoubtedly largely developed in +M. Comte, but can best be dispensed with in a philosopher; in another, +it is unfortunate in its application to a system which starts with +enormous negations; in its third, and specially philosophical sense, as +implying a system of thought which assumes nothing beyond the content of +observed facts, it implies that which never did exist, and never will. + +[23] "Philosophie Positive," i. p. 56. + +[24] "Philosophie Positive," i. p. 99. + +[25] Ibid., i. p. 77. + +[26] "Philosophie Positive," i. p. 78. + +[27] Loc. cit., Préface Spéciale, pp. i. ii. + +[28] Mr. Congreve leaves out these important words, which show that I +refer to the spirit, and not to the details of science. + + + + +IX. + +ON A PIECE OF CHALK. + +A LECTURE TO WORKING MEN. + + +If a well were to be sunk at our feet in the midst of the city of +Norwich, the diggers would very soon find themselves at work in that +white substance almost too soft to be called rock, with which we are all +familiar as "chalk." + +Not only here, but over the whole county of Norfolk, the well-sinker +might carry his shaft down many hundred feet without coming to the end +of the chalk; and, on the sea-coast, where the waves have pared away the +face of the land which breasts them, the scarped faces of the high +cliffs are often wholly formed of the same material. Northward, the +chalk may be followed as far as Yorkshire; on the south coast it appears +abruptly in the picturesque western bays of Dorset, and breaks into the +Needles of the Isle of Wight; while on the shores of Kent it supplies +that long line of white cliffs to which England owes her name of Albion. + +Were the thin soil which covers it all washed away, a curved band of +white chalk, here broader, and there narrower, might be followed +diagonally across England from Lulworth in Dorset, to Flamborough Head +in Yorkshire--a distance of over 280 miles as the crow flies. + +From this band to the North Sea, on the east, and the Channel, on the +south, the chalk is largely hidden by other deposits; but, except in the +Weald of Kent and Sussex, it enters into the very foundation of all the +south-eastern counties. + +Attaining, as it does in some places, a thickness of more than a +thousand feet, the English chalk must be admitted to be a mass of +considerable magnitude. Nevertheless, it covers but an insignificant +portion of the whole area occupied by the chalk formation of the globe, +which has precisely the same general characters as ours, and is found in +detached patches, some less, and others more extensive, than the +English. + +Chalk occurs in north-west Ireland; it stretches over a large part of +France,--the chalk which underlies Paris being, in fact, a continuation +of that of the London basin; it runs through Denmark and Central Europe, +and extends southward to North Africa; while, eastward, it appears in +the Crimea and in Syria, and may be traced as far as the shores of the +Sea of Aral, in Central Asia. + +If all the points at which true chalk occurs were circumscribed, they +would lie within an irregular oval about 3,000 miles in long +diameter--the area of which would be as great as that of Europe, and +would many times exceed that of the largest existing inland sea--the +Mediterranean. + +Thus the chalk is no unimportant element in the masonry of the earth's +crust, and it impresses a peculiar stamp, varying with the conditions +to which it is exposed, on the scenery of the districts in which it +occurs. The undulating downs and rounded coombs, covered with +sweet-grassed turf, of our inland chalk country, have a peacefully +domestic and mutton-suggesting prettiness, but can hardly be called +either grand or beautiful. But, on our southern coasts, the wall-sided +cliffs, many hundred feet high, with vast needles and pinnacles standing +out in the sea, sharp and solitary enough to serve as perches for the +wary cormorant, confer a wonderful beauty and grandeur upon the chalk +headlands. And, in the East, chalk has its share in the formation of +some of the most venerable of mountain ranges, such as the Lebanon. + + +What is this wide-spread component of the surface of the earth? and +whence did it come? + +You may think this no very hopeful inquiry. You may not unnaturally +suppose that the attempt to solve such problems as these can lead to no +result, save that of entangling the inquirer in vague speculations, +incapable of refutation and of verification. + +If such were really the case, I should have selected some other subject +than a "piece of chalk" for my discourse. But, in truth, after much +deliberation, I have been unable to think of any topic which would so +well enable me to lead you to see how solid is the foundation upon which +some of the most startling conclusions of physical science rest. + +A great chapter of the history of the world is written in the chalk. Few +passages in the history of man can be supported by such an overwhelming +mass of direct and indirect evidence as that which testifies to the +truth of the fragment of the history of the globe, which I hope to +enable you to read, with your own eyes, to-night. + +Let me add, that few chapters of human history have a more profound +significance for ourselves. I weigh my words well when I assert, that +the man who should know the true history of the bit of chalk which every +carpenter carries about in his breeches-pocket, though ignorant of all +other history, is likely, if he will think his knowledge out to its +ultimate results, to have a truer, and therefore a better, conception of +this wonderful universe, and of man's relation to it, than the most +learned student who is deep-read in the records of humanity and ignorant +of those of Nature. + +The language of the chalk is not hard to learn, not nearly so hard as +Latin, if you only want to get at the broad features of the story it has +to tell; and I propose that we now set to work to spell that story out +together. + +We all know that if we "burn" chalk the result is quicklime. Chalk, in +fact, is a compound of carbonic acid gas and lime, and when you make it +very hot the carbonic acid flies away and the lime is left. + +By this method of procedure we see the lime, but we do not see the +carbonic acid. If, on the other hand, you were to powder a little chalk, +and drop it into a good deal of strong vinegar, there would be a great +bubbling and fizzing, and, finally, a clear liquid, in which no sign of +chalk would appear. Here you see the carbonic acid in the bubbles; the +lime, dissolved in the vinegar, vanishes from sight. There are a great +many other ways of showing that chalk is essentially nothing but +carbonic acid and quicklime. Chemists enunciate the result of all the +experiments which prove this, by stating that chalk is almost wholly +composed of "carbonate of lime." + +It is desirable for us to start from the knowledge of this fact, though +it may not seem to help us very far towards what we seek. For carbonate +of lime is a widely-spread substance, and is met with under very various +conditions. All sorts of limestones are composed of more or less pure +carbonate of lime. The crust which is often deposited by waters which +have drained through limestone rocks, in the form of what are called +stalagmites and stalactites, is carbonate of lime. Or, to take a more +familiar example, the fur on the inside of a tea-kettle is carbonate of +lime; and, for anything chemistry tells us to the contrary, the chalk +might be a kind of gigantic fur upon the bottom of the earth-kettle, +which is kept pretty hot below. + +Let us try another method of making the chalk tell us its own history. +To the unassisted eye chalk looks simply like a very loose and open kind +of stone. But it is possible to grind a slice of chalk down so thin that +you can see through it--until it is thin enough, in fact, to be examined +with any magnifying power that may be thought desirable. A thin slice of +the fur of a kettle might be made in the same way. If it were examined +microscopically, it would show itself to be a more or less distinctly +laminated mineral substance, and nothing more. + +But the slice of chalk presents a totally different appearance when +placed under the microscope. The general mass of it is made up of very +minute granules; but imbedded in this matrix, are innumerable bodies, +some smaller and some larger, but, on a rough average, not more than a +hundredth of an inch in diameter, having a well-defined shape and +structure. A cubic inch of some specimens of chalk may contain hundreds +of thousands of these bodies, compacted together with incalculable +millions of the granules. + +The examination of a transparent slice gives a good notion of the manner +in which the components of the chalk are arranged, and of their relative +proportions. But, by rubbing up some chalk with a brush in water and +then pouring off the milky fluid, so as to obtain sediments of different +degrees of fineness, the granules and the minute rounded bodies may be +pretty well separated from one another, and submitted to microscopic +examination, either as opaque or as transparent objects. By combining +the views obtained in these various methods, each of the rounded bodies +may be proved to be a beautifully-constructed calcareous fabric, made up +of a number of chambers, communicating freely with one another. The +chambered bodies are of various forms. One of the commonest is something +like a badly-grown raspberry, being formed of a number of nearly +globular chambers of different sizes congregated together. It is called +_Globigerina_, and some specimens of chalk consist of little else than +_Globigerinĉ_ and granules. + +Let us fix our attention upon the _Globigerina_. It is the spoor of the +game we are tracking. If we can learn what it is and what are the +conditions of its existence, we shall see our way to the origin and past +history of the chalk. + +A suggestion which may naturally enough present itself is, that these +curious bodies are the result of some process of aggregation which has +taken place in the carbonate of lime; that, just as in winter, the rime +on our windows simulates the most delicate and elegantly arborescent +foliage--proving that the mere mineral water may, under certain +conditions, assume the outward form of organic bodies--so this mineral +substance, carbonate of lime, hidden away in the bowels of the earth, +has taken the shape of these chambered bodies. I am not raising a merely +fanciful and unreal objection. Very learned men, in former days, have +even entertained the notion that all the formed things found in rocks +are of this nature; and if no such conception is at present held to be +admissible, it is because long and varied experience has now shown that +mineral matter never does assume the form and structure we find in +fossils. If any one were to try to persuade you that an oyster-shell +(which is also chiefly composed of carbonate of lime) had crystallized +out of sea-water, I suppose you would laugh at the absurdity. Your +laughter would be justified by the fact that all experience tends to +show that oyster-shells are formed by the agency of oysters, and in no +other way. And if there were no better reasons, we should be justified, +on like grounds, in believing that _Globigerina_ is not the product of +anything but vital activity. + +Happily, however, better evidence in proof of the organic nature of the +_Globigerinĉ_ than that of analogy is forthcoming. It so happens that +calcareous skeletons, exactly similar to the _Globigerinĉ_ of the chalk, +are being formed, at the present moment, by minute living creatures, +which flourish in multitudes, literally more numerous than the sands of +the sea-shore, over a large extent of that part of the earth's surface +which is covered by the ocean. + +The history of the discovery of these living _Globigerinĉ_, and of the +part which they play in rock-building, is singular enough. It is a +discovery which, like others of no less scientific importance, has +arisen, incidentally, out of work devoted to very different and +exceedingly practical interests. + +When men first took to the sea, they speedily learned to look out for +shoals and rocks; and the more the burthen of their ships increased, the +more imperatively necessary it became for sailors to ascertain with +precision the depth of the waters they traversed. Out of this necessity +grew the use of the lead and sounding-line; and, ultimately, +marine-surveying, which is the recording of the form of coasts and of +the depth of the sea, as ascertained by the sounding-lead, upon charts. + +At the same time, it became desirable to ascertain and to indicate the +nature of the sea-bottom, since this circumstance greatly affects its +goodness as holding ground for anchors. Some ingenious tar, whose name +deserves a better fate than the oblivion into which it has fallen, +attained this object by "arming" the bottom of the lead with a lump of +grease, to which more or less of the sand or mud, or broken shells, as +the case might be, adhered, and was brought to the surface. But, however +well adapted such an apparatus might be for rough nautical purposes, +scientific accuracy could not be expected from the armed lead, and to +remedy its defects (especially when applied to sounding in great depths) +Lieut. Brooke, of the American Navy, some years ago invented a most +ingenious machine, by which a considerable portion of the superficial +layer of the sea-bottom can be scooped out and brought up, from any +depth to which the lead descends. + +In 1853, Lieut. Brooke obtained mud from the bottom of the North +Atlantic, between Newfoundland and the Azores, at a depth of more than +10,000 feet, or two miles, by the help of this sounding apparatus. The +specimens were sent for examination to Ehrenberg of Berlin, and to +Bailey of West Point, and those able microscopists found that this +deep-sea mud was almost entirely composed of the skeletons of living +organisms--the greater proportion of these being just like the +_Globigerinĉ_ already known to occur in the chalk. + +Thus far, the work had been carried on simply in the interests of +science, but Lieut. Brooke's method of sounding acquired a high +commercial value, when the enterprise of laying down the telegraph-cable +between this country and the United States was undertaken. For it became +a matter of immense importance to know, not only the depth of the sea +over the whole line along which the cable was to be laid, but the exact +nature of the bottom, so as to guard against chances of cutting or +fraying the strands of that costly rope. The Admiralty consequently +ordered Captain Dayman, an old friend and shipmate of mine, to ascertain +the depth over the whole line of the cable, and to bring back specimens +of the bottom. In former days, such a command as this might have sounded +very much like one of the impossible things which the young prince in +the Fairy Tales is ordered to do before he can obtain the hand of the +Princess. However, in the months of June and July 1857, my friend +performed the task assigned to him with great expedition and precision, +without, so far as I know, having met with any reward of that kind. The +specimens of Atlantic mud which he procured were sent to me to be +examined and reported upon.[29] + +The result of all these operations is, that we know the contours and the +nature of the surface-soil covered by the North Atlantic, for a distance +of 1,700 miles from east to west, as well as we know that of any part of +the dry land. + +It is a prodigious plain--one of the widest and most even plains in the +world. If the sea were drained off, you might drive a wagon all the way +from Valentia, on the west coast of Ireland, to Trinity Bay, in +Newfoundland. And, except upon one sharp incline about 200 miles from +Valentia, I am not quite sure that it would even be necessary to put the +skid on, so gentle are the ascents and descents upon that long route. +From Valentia the road would lie down hill for about 200 miles to the +point at which the bottom is now covered by 1,700 fathoms of sea-water. +Then would come the central plain, more than a thousand miles wide, the +inequalities of the surface of which would be hardly perceptible, though +the depth of water upon it now varies from 10,000 to 15,000 feet; and +there are places in which Mont Blanc might be sunk without showing its +peak above water. Beyond this, the ascent on the American side +commences, and gradually leads, for about 300 miles, to the Newfoundland +shore. + +Almost the whole of the bottom of this central plain (which extends for +many hundred miles in a north and south direction) is covered by a fine +mud, which, when brought to the surface, dries into a greyish-white +friable substance. You can write with this on a blackboard, if you are +so inclined; and, to the eye, it is quite like very soft, greyish chalk. +Examined chemically, it proves to be composed almost wholly of carbonate +of lime; and if you make a section of it, in the same way as that of the +piece of chalk was made, and view it with the microscope, it presents +innumerable _Globigerinĉ_, embedded in a granular matrix. + +Thus this deep-sea mud is substantially chalk. I say substantially, +because there are a good many minor differences: but as these have no +bearing on the question immediately before us,--which is the nature of +the _Globigerinĉ_ of the chalk,--it is unnecessary to speak of them. + +_Globigerinĉ_ of every size, from the smallest to the largest, are +associated together in the Atlantic mud, and the chambers of many are +filled by a soft animal matter. This soft substance is, in fact, the +remains of the creature to which the _Globigerina_ shell, or rather +skeleton, owes its existence--and which is an animal of the simplest +imaginable description. It is, in fact, a mere particle of living jelly, +without defined parts of any kind--without a mouth, nerves, muscles, or +distinct organs, and only manifesting its vitality to ordinary +observation by thrusting out and retracting from all parts of its +surface, long filamentous processes, which serve for arms and legs. Yet +this amorphous particle, devoid of everything which, in the higher +animals, we call organs, is capable of feeding, growing, and +multiplying; of separating from the ocean the small proportion of +carbonate of lime which is dissolved in sea-water; and of building up +that substance into a skeleton for itself, according to a pattern which +can be imitated by no other known agency. + +The notion that animals can live and flourish in the sea, at the vast +depths from which apparently living _Globigerinĉ_ have been brought up, +does not agree very well with our usual conceptions respecting the +conditions of animal life; and it is not so absolutely impossible as it +might at first sight appear to be, that the _Globigerinĉ_ of the +Atlantic sea-bottom do not live and die where they are found. + +As I have mentioned, the soundings from the great Atlantic plain are +almost entirely made up of _Globigerinĉ_, with the granules which have +been mentioned, and some few other calcareous shells; but a small +percentage of the chalky mud--perhaps at most some five per cent. of +it--is of a different nature, and consists of shells and skeletons +composed of silex, or pure flint. These silicious bodies belong partly +to the lowly vegetable organisms which are called _Diatomaceĉ_, and +partly to the minute, and extremely simple, animals, termed +_Radiolaria_. It is quite certain that these creatures do not live at +the bottom of the ocean, but at its surface--where they may be obtained +in prodigious numbers by the use of a properly constructed net. Hence +it follows that these silicious organisms, though they are not heavier +than the lightest dust, must have fallen, in some cases, through fifteen +thousand feet of water, before they reached their final resting-place on +the ocean floor. And, considering how large a surface these bodies +expose in proportion to their weight, it is probable that they occupy a +great length of time in making their burial journey from the surface of +the Atlantic to the bottom. + +But if the _Radiolaria_ and Diatoms are thus rained upon the bottom of +the sea, from the superficial layer of its waters in which they pass +their lives, it is obviously possible that the _Globigerinĉ_ may be +similarly derived; and if they were so, it would be much more easy to +understand how they obtain their supply of food than it is at present. +Nevertheless, the positive and negative evidence all points the other +way. The skeletons of the full-grown, deep-sea _Globigerinĉ_ are so +remarkably solid and heavy in proportion to their surface as to seem +little fitted for floating; and, as a matter of fact, they are not to be +found along with the Diatoms and _Radiolaria_, in the uppermost stratum +of the open ocean. + +It has been observed, again, that the abundance of _Globigerinĉ_, in +proportion to other organisms of like kind, increases with the depth of +the sea; and that deep-water _Globigerinĉ_ are larger than those which +live in shallower parts of the sea; and such facts negative the +supposition that these organisms have been swept by currents from the +shallows into the deeps of the Atlantic. + +It therefore seems to be hardly doubtful that these wonderful creatures +live and die at the depths in which they are found.[30] + +However, the important points for us are, that the living _Globigerinĉ_ +are exclusively marine animals, the skeletons of which abound at the +bottom of deep seas; and that there is not a shadow of reason for +believing that the habits of the _Globigerinĉ_ of the chalk differed +from those of the existing species. But if this be true, there is no +escaping the conclusion that the chalk itself is the dried mud of an +ancient deep sea. + +In working over the soundings collected by Captain Dayman, I was +surprised to find that many of what I have called the "granules" of that +mud, were not, as one might have been tempted to think at first, the +mere powder and waste of _Globigerinĉ_, but that they had a definite +form and size, I termed these bodies "_coccoliths_," and doubted their +organic nature. Dr. Wallich verified my observation, and added the +interesting discovery that, not unfrequently, bodies similar to these +"coccoliths" were aggregated together into spheroids, which he termed +"_coccospheres_." So far as we knew, these bodies, the nature of which +is extremely puzzling and problematical, were peculiar to the Atlantic +soundings. + +But, a few years ago, Mr. Sorby, in making a careful examination of the +chalk by means of thin sections and otherwise, observed, as Ehrenberg +had done before him, that much of its granular basis possesses a +definite form. Comparing these formed particles with those in the +Atlantic soundings, he found the two to be identical; and thus proved +that the chalk, like the soundings, contains these mysterious coccoliths +and coccospheres. Here was a further and a most interesting +confirmation, from internal evidence, of the essential identity of the +chalk with modern deep-sea mud. _Globigerinĉ_, coccoliths, and +coccospheres are found as the chief constituents of both, and testify to +the general similarity of the conditions under which both have been +formed.[31] + +The evidence furnished by the hewing, facing, and superposition of the +stones of the Pyramids, that these structures were built by men, has no +greater weight than the evidence that the chalk was built by +_Globigerinĉ_; and the belief that those ancient pyramid-builders were +terrestrial and air-breathing creatures like ourselves, is not better +based than the conviction that the chalk-makers lived in the sea. + +But as our belief in the building of the Pyramids by men is not only +grounded on the internal evidence afforded by these structures, but +gathers strength from multitudinous collateral proofs, and is clinched +by the total absence of any reason for a contrary belief; so the +evidence drawn from the _Globigerinĉ_ that the chalk is an ancient +sea-bottom, is fortified by innumerable independent lines of evidence; +and our belief in the truth of the conclusion to which all positive +testimony tends, receives the like negative justification from the fact +that no other hypothesis has a shadow of foundation. + +It may be worth while briefly to consider a few of these collateral +proofs that the chalk was deposited at the bottom of the sea. + +The great mass of the chalk is composed, as we have seen, of the +skeletons of _Globigerinĉ_, and other simple organisms, imbedded in +granular matter. Here and there, however, this hardened mud of the +ancient sea reveals the remains of higher animals which have lived and +died, and left their hard parts in the mud, just as the oysters die and +leave their shells behind them, in the mud of the present seas. + +There are, at the present day, certain groups of animals which are never +found in fresh waters, being unable to live anywhere but in the sea. +Such are the corals; those corallines which are called _Polyzoa_; those +creatures which fabricate the lamp-shells, and are called _Brachiopoda_; +the pearly _Nautilus_, and all animals allied to it; and all the forms +of sea-urchins and star-fishes. + +Not only are all these creatures confined to salt water at the present +day; but, so far as our records of the past go, the conditions of their +existence have been the same: hence, their occurrence in any deposit is +as strong evidence as can be obtained, that that deposit was formed in +the sea. Now the remains of animals of all the kinds which have been +enumerated, occur in the chalk, in greater or less abundance; while not +one of those forms of shell-fish which are characteristic of fresh water +has yet been observed in it. + +When we consider that the remains of more than three thousand distinct +species of aquatic animals have been discovered among the fossils of the +chalk, that the great majority of them are of such forms as are now met +with only in the sea, and that there is no reason to believe that any +one of them inhabited fresh water--the collateral evidence that the +chalk represents an ancient sea-bottom acquires as great force as the +proof derived from the nature of the chalk itself. I think you will now +allow that I did not overstate my case when I asserted that we have as +strong grounds for believing that all the vast area of dry land, at +present occupied by the chalk, was once at the bottom of the sea, as we +have for any matter of history whatever; while there is no justification +for any other belief. + +No less certain is it that the time during which the countries we now +call south-east England, France, Germany, Poland, Russia, Egypt, Arabia, +Syria, were more or less completely covered by a deep sea, was of +considerable duration. + +We have already seen that the chalk is, in places, more than a thousand +feet thick. I think you will agree with me, that it must have taken some +time for the skeletons of animalcules of a hundredth of an inch in +diameter to heap up such a mass as that. I have said that throughout the +thickness of the chalk the remains of other animals are scattered. These +remains are often in the most exquisite state of preservation. The +valves of the shell-fishes are commonly adherent; the long spines of +some of the sea-urchins, which would be detached by the smallest jar, +often remain in their places. In a word, it is certain that these +animals have lived and died when the place which they now occupy was +the surface of as much of the chalk as had then been deposited; and that +each has been covered up by the layer of _Globigerinĉ_ mud, upon which +the creatures imbedded a little higher up have, in like manner, lived +and died. But some of these remains prove the existence of reptiles of +vast size in the chalk sea. These lived their time, and had their +ancestors and descendants, which assuredly implies time, reptiles being +of slow growth. + +There is more curious evidence, again, that the process of covering up, +or, in other words, the deposit of _Globigerinĉ_ skeletons, did not go +on very fast. It is demonstrable that an animal of the cretaceous sea +might die, that its skeleton might lie uncovered upon the sea-bottom +long enough to lose all its outward coverings and appendages by +putrefaction; and that, after this had happened, another animal might +attach itself to the dead and naked skeleton, might grow to maturity, +and might itself die before the calcareous mud had buried the whole. + +Cases of this kind are admirably described by Sir Charles Lyell. He +speaks of the frequency with which geologists find in the chalk a +fossilized sea-urchin, to which is attached the lower valve of a +_Crania_. This is a kind of shell-fish, with a shell composed of two +pieces, of which, as in the oyster, one is fixed and the other free. + +"The upper valve is almost invariably wanting, though occasionally found +in a perfect state of preservation in the white chalk at some distance. +In this case, we see clearly that the sea-urchin first lived from youth +to age, then died and lost its spines, which were carried away. Then +the young _Crania_ adhered to the bared shell, grew and perished in its +turn; after which, the upper valve was separated from the lower, before +the Echinus became enveloped in chalky mud."[32] + +A specimen in the Museum of Practical Geology, in London, still further +prolongs the period which must have elapsed between the death of the +sea-urchin, and its burial by the _Globigerinĉ_. For the outward face of +the valve of a _Crania_, which is attached to a sea-urchin +(_Micraster_), is itself overrun by an incrusting coralline, which +spreads thence over more or less of the surface of the sea-urchin. It +follows that, after the upper valve of the _Crania_ fell off, the +surface of the attached valve must have remained exposed long enough to +allow of the growth of the whole coralline, since corallines do not live +imbedded in mud. + +The progress of knowledge may, one day, enable us to deduce from such +facts as these the maximum rate at which the chalk can have accumulated, +and thus to arrive at the minimum duration of the chalk period. Suppose +that the valve of the _Crania_ upon which a coralline has fixed itself +in the way just described, is so attached to the sea-urchin that no part +of it is more than an inch above the face upon which the sea-urchin +rests. Then, as the coralline could not have fixed itself, if the +_Crania_ had been covered up with chalk mud, and could not have lived +had itself been so covered, it follows, that an inch of chalk mud could +not have accumulated within the time between the death and decay of the +soft parts of the sea-urchin and the growth of the coralline to the full +size which it has attained. If the decay of the soft parts of the +sea-urchin; the attachment, growth to maturity, and decay of the +_Crania_; and the subsequent attachment and growth of the coralline, +took a year (which is a low estimate enough), the accumulation of the +inch of chalk must have taken more than a year: and the deposit of a +thousand feet of chalk must, consequently, have taken more than twelve +thousand years. + +The foundation of all this calculation is, of course, a knowledge of the +length of time the _Crania_ and the coralline needed to attain their +full size; and, on this head, precise knowledge is at present wanting. +But there are circumstances which tend to show, that nothing like an +inch of chalk has accumulated during the life of a _Crania_; and, on any +probable estimate of the length of that life, the chalk period must have +had a much longer duration than that thus roughly assigned to it. + + +Thus, not only is it certain that the chalk is the mud of an ancient +sea-bottom; but it is no less certain, that the chalk sea existed during +an extremely long period, though we may not be prepared to give a +precise estimate of the length of that period in years. The relative +duration is clear, though the absolute duration may not be definable. +The attempt to affix any precise date to the period at which the chalk +sea began, or ended, its existence, is baffled by difficulties of the +same kind. But the relative age of the cretaceous epoch may be +determined with as great ease and certainty as the long duration of that +epoch. + +You will have heard of the interesting discoveries recently made, in +various parts of Western Europe, of flint implements, obviously worked +into shape by human hands, under circumstances which show conclusively +that man is a very ancient denizen of these regions. + +It has been proved that the old populations of Europe, whose existence +has been revealed to us in this way, consisted of savages, such as the +Esquimaux are now; that, in the country which is now France, they hunted +the reindeer, and were familiar with the ways of the mammoth and the +bison. The physical geography of France was in those days different from +what it is now--the river Somme, for instance, having cut its bed a +hundred feet deeper between that time and this; and, it is probable, +that the climate was more like that of Canada or Siberia, than that of +Western Europe. + +The existence of these people is forgotten even in the traditions of the +oldest historical nations. The name and fame of them had utterly +vanished until a few years back; and the amount of physical change which +has been effected since their day, renders it more than probable that, +venerable as are some of the historical nations, the workers of the +chipped flints of Hoxne or of Amiens are to them, as they are to us, in +point of antiquity. + +But, if we assign to these hoar relics of long vanished generations of +men the greatest age that can possibly be claimed for them, they are not +older than the drift, or boulder clay, which, in comparison with the +chalk, is but a very juvenile deposit. You need go no further than your +own sea-board for evidence of this fact. At one of the most charming +spots on the coast of Norfolk, Cromer, you will see the boulder clay +forming a vast mass, which lies upon the chalk, and must consequently +have come into existence after it. Huge boulders of chalk are, in fact, +included in the clay, and have evidently been brought to the position +they now occupy, by the same agency as that which has planted blocks of +syenite from Norway side by side with them. + +The chalk, then, is certainly older than the boulder clay. If you ask +how much, I will again take you no further than the same spot upon your +own coasts for evidence. I have spoken of the boulder clay and drift as +resting upon the chalk. That is not strictly true. Interposed between +the chalk and the drift is a comparatively insignificant layer, +containing vegetable matter. But that layer tells a wonderful history. +It is full of stumps of trees standing as they grew. Fir-trees are there +with their cones, and hazel-bushes with their nuts; there stand the +stools of oak and yew trees, beeches and alders. Hence this stratum is +appropriately called the "forest-bed." + +It is obvious that the chalk must have been upheaved and converted into +dry land, before the timber trees could grow upon it. As the bolls of +some of these trees are from two to three feet in diameter, it is no +less clear that the dry land thus formed remained in the same condition +for long ages. And not only do the remains of stately oaks and +well-grown firs testify to the duration of this condition of things, but +additional evidence to the same effect is afforded by the abundant +remains of elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, and other great wild +beasts, which it has yielded to the zealous search of such men as the +Rev. Mr. Gunn. + +When you look at such a collection as he has formed, and bethink you +that these elephantine bones did veritably carry their owners about, +and these great grinders crunch, in the dark woods of which the +forest-bed is now the only trace, it is impossible not to feel that they +are as good evidence of the lapse of time as the annual rings of the +tree-stumps. + +Thus there is a writing upon the wall of cliffs at Cromer, and whoso +runs may read it. It tells us, with an authority which cannot be +impeached, that the ancient sea-bed of the chalk sea was raised up, and +remained dry land, until it was covered with forest, stocked with the +great game whose spoils have rejoiced your geologists. How long it +remained in that condition cannot be said; but "the whirligig of time +brought its revenges" in those days as in these. That dry land, with the +bones and teeth of generations of long-lived elephants, hidden away +among the gnarled roots and dry leaves of its ancient trees, sank +gradually to the bottom of the icy sea, which covered it with huge +masses of drift and boulder clay. Sea-beasts, such as the walrus, now +restricted to the extreme north, paddled about where birds had twittered +among the topmost twigs of the fir-trees. How long this state of things +endured we know not, but at length it came to an end. The upheaved +glacial mud hardened into the soil of modern Norfolk. Forests grew once +more, the wolf and the beaver replaced the reindeer and the elephant; +and at length what we call the history of England dawned. + +Thus you have, within the limits of your own county, proof that the +chalk can justly claim a very much greater antiquity than even the +oldest physical traces of mankind. But we may go further and +demonstrate, by evidence of the same authority as that which testifies +to the existence of the father of men, that the chalk is vastly older +than Adam himself. + +The Book of Genesis informs us that Adam, immediately upon his creation, +and before the appearance of Eve, was placed in the Garden of Eden. The +problem of the geographical position of Eden has greatly vexed the +spirits of the learned in such matters, but there is one point +respecting which, so far as I know, no commentator has ever raised a +doubt. This is, that of the four rivers which are said to run out of it, +Euphrates and Hiddekel are identical with the rivers now known by the +names of Euphrates and Tigris. + +But the whole country in which these mighty rivers take their origin, +and through which they run, is composed of rocks which are either of the +same age as the chalk, or of later date. So that the chalk must not only +have been formed, but, after its formation, the time required for the +deposit of these later rocks, and for their upheaval into dry land, must +have elapsed, before the smallest brook which feeds the swift stream of +"the great river, the river of Babylon," began to flow. + + +Thus, evidence which cannot be rebutted, and which need not be +strengthened, though if time permitted I might indefinitely increase its +quantity, compels you to believe that the earth, from the time of the +chalk to the present day, has been the theatre of a series of changes as +vast in their amount, as they were slow in their progress. The area on +which we stand has been first sea and then land, for at least four +alternations; and has remained in each of these conditions for a period +of great length. + +Nor have these wonderful metamorphoses of sea into land, and of land +into sea, been confined to one corner of England. During the chalk +period, or "cretaceous epoch," not one of the present great physical +features of the globe was in existence. Our great mountain ranges, +Pyrenees, Alps, Himalayas, Andes, have all been upheaved since the chalk +was deposited, and the cretaceous sea flowed over the sites of Sinai and +Ararat. + +All this is certain, because rocks of cretaceous, or still later, date +have shared in the elevatory movements which gave rise to these mountain +chains; and may be found perched up, in some cases, many thousand feet +high upon their flanks. And evidence of equal cogency demonstrates that, +though, in Norfolk, the forest-bed rests directly upon the chalk, yet it +does so, not because the period at which the forest grew immediately +followed that at which the chalk was formed, but because an immense +lapse of time, represented elsewhere by thousands of feet of rock, is +not indicated at Cromer. + +I must ask you to believe that there is no less conclusive proof that a +still more prolonged succession of similar changes occurred, before the +chalk was deposited. Nor have we any reason to think that the first term +in the series of these changes is known. The oldest sea-beds preserved +to us are sands, and mud, and pebbles, the wear and tear of rocks which +were formed in still older oceans. + +But, great as is the magnitude of these physical changes of the world, +they have been accompanied by a no less striking series of modifications +in its living inhabitants. + +All the great classes of animals, beasts of the field, fowls of the +air, creeping things, and things which dwell in the waters, flourished +upon the globe long ages before the chalk was deposited. Very few, +however, if any, of these ancient forms of animal life were identical +with those which now live. Certainly not one of the higher animals was +of the same species as any of those now in existence. The beasts of the +field, in the days before the chalk, were not our beasts of the field, +nor the fowls of the air such as those which the eye of men has seen +flying, unless his antiquity dates infinitely further back than we at +present surmise. If we could be carried back into those times, we should +be as one suddenly set down in Australia before it was colonized. We +should see mammals, birds, reptiles, fishes, insects, snails, and the +like, clearly recognisable as such, and yet not one of them would be +just the same as those with which we are familiar, and many would be +extremely different. + +From that time to the present, the population of the world has undergone +slow and gradual, but incessant, changes. There has been no grand +catastrophe--no destroyer has swept away the forms of life of one +period, and replaced them by a totally new creation; but one species has +vanished and another has taken its place; creatures of one type of +structure have diminished, those of another have increased, as time has +passed on. And thus, while the differences between the living creatures +of the time before the chalk and those of the present day appear +startling, if placed side by side, we are led from one to the other by +the most gradual progress, if we follow the course of Nature through +the whole series of those relics of her operations which she has left +behind. + +And it is by the population of the chalk sea that the ancient and the +modern inhabitants of the world are most completely connected. The +groups which are dying out flourish, side by side, with the groups which +are now the dominant forms of life. + +Thus the chalk contains remains of those strange flying and swimming +reptiles, the pterodactyl, the ichthyosaurus, and the plesiosaurus, +which are found in no later deposits, but abounded in preceding ages. +The chambered shells called ammonites and belemnites, which are so +characteristic of the period preceding the cretaceous, in like manner +die with it. + +But, amongst these fading remainders of a previous state of things, are +some very modern forms of life, looking like Yankee pedlars among a +tribe of Red Indians. Crocodiles of modern type appear; bony fishes, +many of them very similar to existing species, almost supplant the forms +of fish which predominate in more ancient seas; and many kinds of living +shell-fish first become known to us in the chalk. The vegetation +acquires a modern aspect. A few living animals are not even +distinguishable as species, from those which existed at that remote +epoch. The _Globigerina_ of the present day, for example, is not +different specifically from that of the chalk; and the same may be said +of many other _Foraminifera_. I think it probable that critical and +unprejudiced examination will show that more than one species of much +higher animals have had a similar longevity; but the only example which +I can at present give confidently is the snake's-head lamp-shell +(_Terebratulina caput serpentis_), which lives in our English seas and +abounded (as _Terebratulina striata_ of authors) in the chalk. + +The longest line of human ancestry must hide its diminished head before +the pedigree of this insignificant shell-fish. We Englishmen are proud +to have an ancestor who was present at the Battle of Hastings. The +ancestors of _Terebratulina caput serpentis_ may have been present at a +battle of _Ichthyosauria_ in that part of the sea which, when the chalk +was forming, flowed over the site of Hastings. While all around has +changed, this _Terebratulina_ has peacefully propagated its species from +generation to generation, and stands to this day, as a living testimony +to the continuity of the present with the past history of the globe. + + +Up to this moment I have stated, so far as I know, nothing but +well-authenticated facts, and the immediate conclusions which they force +upon the mind. + +But the mind is so constituted that it does not willingly rest in facts +and immediate causes, but seeks always after a knowledge of the remoter +links in the chain of causation. + +Taking the many changes of any given spot of the earth's surface, from +sea to land and from land to sea, as an established fact, we cannot +refrain from asking ourselves how these changes have occurred. And when +we have explained them--as they must be explained--by the alternate slow +movements of elevation and depression which have affected the crust of +the earth, we go still further back, and ask, Why these movements? + +I am not certain that any one can give you a satisfactory answer to +that question. Assuredly I cannot. All that can be said, for certain, +is, that such movements are part of the ordinary course of nature, +inasmuch as they are going on at the present time. Direct proof may be +given, that some parts of the land of the northern hemisphere are at +this moment insensibly rising and others insensibly sinking; and there +is indirect, but perfectly satisfactory, proof, that an enormous area +now covered by the Pacific has been deepened thousands of feet, since +the present inhabitants of that sea came into existence. + +Thus there is not a shadow of a reason for believing that the physical +changes of the globe, in past times, have been effected by other than +natural causes. + +Is there any more reason for believing that the concomitant +modifications in the forms of the living inhabitants of the globe have +been brought about in other ways? + +Before attempting to answer this question, let us try to form a distinct +mental picture of what has happened in some special case. + +The crocodiles are animals which, as a group, have a very vast +antiquity. They abounded ages before the chalk was deposited; they +throng the rivers in warm climates, at the present day. There is a +difference in the form of the joints of the back-bone, and in some minor +particulars, between the crocodiles of the present epoch and those which +lived before the chalk; but, in the cretaceous epoch, as I have already +mentioned, the crocodiles had assumed the modern type of structure. +Notwithstanding this, the crocodiles of the chalk are not identically +the same as those which lived in the times called "older tertiary," +which succeeded the cretaceous epoch; and the crocodiles of the older +tertiaries are not identical with those of the newer tertiaries, nor are +these identical with existing forms. I leave open the question whether +particular species may have lived on from epoch to epoch. But each epoch +has had its peculiar crocodiles; though all, since the chalk, have +belonged to the modern type, and differ simply in their proportions, and +in such structural particulars as are discernible only to trained eyes. + +How is the existence of this long succession of different species of +crocodiles to be accounted for? + +Only two suppositions seem to be open to us--Either each species of +crocodile has been specially created, or it has arisen out of some +pre-existing form by the operation of natural causes. + +Choose your hypothesis; I have chosen mine. I can find no warranty for +believing in the distinct creation of a score of successive species of +crocodiles in the course of countless ages of time. Science gives no +countenance to such a wild fancy; nor can even the perverse ingenuity of +a commentator pretend to discover this sense, in the simple words in +which the writer of Genesis records the proceedings of the fifth and +sixth days of the Creation. + +On the other hand, I see no good reason for doubting the necessary +alternative, that all these varied species have been evolved from +pre-existing crocodilian forms, by the operation of causes as completely +a part of the common order of nature, as those which have effected the +changes of the inorganic world. + +Few will venture to affirm that the reasoning which applies to +crocodiles loses its force among other animals, or among plants. If one +series of species has come into existence by the operation of natural +causes, it seems folly to deny that all may have arisen in the same way. + + +A small beginning has led us to a great ending. If I were to put the bit +of chalk with which we started into the hot but obscure flame of burning +hydrogen, it would presently shine like the sun. It seems to me that +this physical metamorphosis is no false image of what has been the +result of our subjecting it to a jet of fervent, though nowise +brilliant, thought to-night. It has become luminous, and its clear rays, +penetrating the abyss of the remote past, have brought within our ken +some stages of the evolution of the earth. And in the shifting "without +haste, but without rest" of the land and sea, as in the endless +variation of the forms assumed by living beings, we have observed +nothing but the natural product of the forces originally possessed by +the substance of the universe. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[29] See Appendix to Captain Dayman's "Deep Sea Soundings in the North +Atlantic Ocean, between Ireland and Newfoundland, made in H.M.S. +_Cyclops_. Published by order of the Lords Commissioners of the +Admiralty, 1858." They have since formed the subject of an elaborate +Memoir by Messrs. Parker and Jones, published in the _Philosophical +Transactions_ for 1865. + +[30] During the cruise of H.M.S. _Bull-dog_, commanded by Sir Leopold +M'Clintock, in 1860, living star-fish were brought up, clinging to the +lowest part of the sounding-line, from a depth of 1,260 fathoms, midway +between Cape Farewell, in Greenland, and the Rockall banks. Dr. Wallich +ascertained that the sea-bottom at this point consisted of the ordinary +_Globigerina_ ooze, and that the stomachs of the star-fishes were full +of _Globigerinĉ_. This discovery removes all objections to the existence +of living _Globigerinĉ_ at great depths, which are based upon the +supposed difficulty of maintaining animal life under such conditions; +and it throws the burden of proof upon those who object to the +supposition that the _Globigerinĉ_ live and die where they are found. + +[31] I have recently traced out the development of the "coccoliths" from +a diameter of 1/7000th of an inch up to their largest size (which is +about 1/1600th), and no longer doubt that they are produced by +independent organisms, which, like the _Globigerinĉ_, live and die at +the bottom of the sea. + +[32] "Elements of Geology," by Sir Charles Lyell, Bart. F.R.S., p. 23. + + + + +X. + +GEOLOGICAL CONTEMPORANEITY AND PERSISTENT TYPES OF LIFE. + + +Merchants occasionally go through a wholesome, though troublesome and +not always satisfactory, process which they term "taking stock." After +all the excitement of speculation, the pleasure of gain, and the pain of +loss, the trader makes up his mind to face facts and to learn the exact +quantity and quality of his solid and reliable possessions. + +The man of science does well sometimes to imitate this procedure; and, +forgetting for the time the importance of his own small winnings, to +re-examine the common stock in trade, so that he may make sure how far +the stock of bullion in the cellar--on the faith of whose existence so +much paper has been circulating--is really the solid gold of truth. + +The Anniversary Meeting of the Geological Society seems to be an +occasion well suited for an undertaking of this kind--for an inquiry, in +fact, into the nature and value of the present results of +palĉontological investigation; and the more so, as all those who have +paid close attention to the late multitudinous discussions in which +palĉontology is implicated, must have felt the urgent necessity of some +such scrutiny. + + +First in order, as the most definite and unquestionable of all the +results of palĉontology, must be mentioned the immense extension and +impulse given to botany, zoology, and comparative anatomy, by the +investigation of fossil remains. Indeed, the mass of biological facts +has been so greatly increased, and the range of biological speculation +has been so vastly widened, by the researches of the geologist and +palĉontologist, that it is to be feared there are naturalists in +existence who look upon geology as Brindley regarded rivers. "Rivers," +said the great engineer, "were made to feed canals;" and geology, some +seem to think, was solely created to advance comparative anatomy. + +Were such a thought justifiable, it could hardly expect to be received +with favour by this assembly. But it is not justifiable. Your favourite +science has her own great aims independent of all others; and if, +notwithstanding her steady devotion to her own progress, she can scatter +such rich alms among her sisters, it should be remembered that her +charity is of the sort that does not impoverish, but "blesseth him that +gives and him that takes." + +Regard the matter as we will, however, the facts remain. Nearly 40,000 +species of animals and plants have been added to the Systema Naturĉ by +palĉontological research. This is a living population equivalent to that +of a new continent in mere number; equivalent to that of a new +hemisphere, if we take into account the small population of insects as +yet found fossil, and the large proportion and peculiar organization of +many of the Vertebrata. + +But, beyond this, it is perhaps not too much to say that, except for the +necessity of interpreting palĉontological facts, the laws of +distribution would have received less careful study; while few +comparative anatomists (and those not of the first order) would have +been induced by mere love of detail, as such, to study the minutiĉ of +osteology, were it not that in such minutiĉ lie the only keys to the +most interesting riddles offered by the extinct animal world. + +These assuredly are great and solid gains. Surely it is matter for no +small congratulation that in half a century (for palĉontology, though it +dawned earlier, came into full day only with Cuvier) a subordinate +branch of biology should have doubled the value and the interest of the +whole group of sciences to which it belongs. + +But this is not all. Allied with geology, palĉontology has established +two laws of inestimable importance: the first, that one and the same +area of the earth's surface has been successively occupied by very +different kinds of living beings; the second, that the order of +succession established in one locality holds good, approximately, in +all. + +The first of these laws is universal and irreversible; the second is an +induction from a vast number of observations, though it may possibly, +and even probably, have to admit of exceptions. As a consequence of the +second law, it follows that a peculiar relation frequently subsists +between series of strata, containing organic remains, in different +localities. The series resemble one another, not only in virtue of a +general resemblance of the organic remains in the two, but also in +virtue of a resemblance in the order and character of the serial +succession in each. There is a resemblance of arrangement; so that the +separate terms of each series, as well as the whole series, exhibit a +correspondence. + +Succession implies time; the lower members of a series of sedimentary +rocks are certainly older than the upper; and when the notion of age was +once introduced as the equivalent of succession, it was no wonder that +correspondence in succession came to be looked upon as correspondence in +age, or "contemporaneity." And, indeed, so long as relative age only is +spoken of, correspondence in succession _is_ correspondence in age; it +is _relative_ contemporaneity. + + +But it would have been very much better for geology if so loose and +ambiguous a word as "contemporaneous" had been excluded from her +terminology, and if, in its stead, some term expressing similarity of +serial relation, and excluding the notion of time altogether, had been +employed to denote correspondence in position in two or more series of +strata. + +In anatomy, where such correspondence of position has constantly to be +spoken of, it is denoted by the word "homology" and its derivatives; and +for Geology (which after all is only the anatomy and physiology of the +earth) it might be well to invent some single word, such as "homotaxis" +(similarity of order), in order to express an essentially similar idea. +This, however, has not been done, and most probably the inquiry will at +once be made--To what end burden science with a new and strange term in +place of one old, familiar, and part of our common language? + +The reply to this question will become obvious as the inquiry into the +results of palĉontology is pushed further. + +Those whose business it is to acquaint themselves specially with the +works of palĉontologists, in fact, will be fully aware that very few, if +any, would rest satisfied with such a statement of the conclusions of +their branch of biology as that which has just been given. + +Our standard repertories of palĉontology profess to teach us far higher +things--to disclose the entire succession of living forms upon the +surface of the globe; to tell us of a wholly different distribution of +climatic conditions in ancient times; to reveal the character of the +first of all living existences; and to trace out the law of progress +from them to us. + +It may not be unprofitable to bestow on these professions a somewhat +more critical examination than they have hitherto received, in order to +ascertain how far they rest on an irrefragable basis; or whether, after +all, it might not be well for palĉontologists to learn a little more +carefully that scientific "ars artium," the art of saying "I don't +know." And to this end let us define somewhat more exactly the extent of +these pretensions of palĉontology. + +Every one is aware that Professor Bronn's "Untersuchungen" and Professor +Pictet's "Traité de Paléontologie" are works of standard authority, +familiarly consulted by every working palĉontologist. It is desirable to +speak of these excellent books, and of their distinguished authors, +with the utmost respect, and in a tone as far as possible removed from +carping criticism; indeed, if they are specially cited in this place, it +is merely in justification of the assertion that the following +propositions, which may be found implicitly, or explicitly, in the works +in question, are regarded by the mass of palĉontologists and geologists, +not only on the Continent but in this country, as expressing some of the +best-established results of palĉontology. Thus:-- + +Animals and plants began their existence together, not long after the +commencement of the deposition of the sedimentary rocks; and then +succeeded one another, in such a manner, that totally distinct faunas +and florĉ occupied the whole surface of the earth, one after the other, +and during distinct epochs of time. + +A geological formation is the sum of all the strata deposited over the +whole surface of the earth during one of these epochs: a geological +fauna or flora is the sum of all the species of animals or plants which +occupied the whole surface of the globe, during one of these epochs. + +The population of the earth's surface was at first very similar in all +parts, and only from the middle of the Tertiary epoch onwards, began to +show a distinct distribution in zones. + +The constitution of the original population, as well as the numerical +proportions of its members, indicates a warmer and, on the whole, +somewhat tropical climate, which remained tolerably equable throughout +the year. The subsequent distribution of living beings in zones is the +result of a gradual lowering of the general temperature, which first +began to be felt at the poles. + + +It is not now proposed to inquire whether these doctrines are true or +false; but to direct your attention to a much simpler though very +essential preliminary question--What is their logical basis? what are +the fundamental assumptions upon which they all logically depend? and +what is the evidence on which those fundamental propositions demand our +assent? + +These assumptions are two: the first, that the commencement of the +geological record is coeval with the commencement of life on the globe; +the second, that geological contemporaneity is the same thing as +chronological synchrony. Without the first of these assumptions there +would of course be no ground for any statement respecting the +commencement of life; without the second, all the other statements +cited, every one of which implies a knowledge of the state of different +parts of the earth at one and the same time, will be no less devoid of +demonstration. + +The first assumption obviously rests entirely on negative evidence. This +is, of course, the only evidence that ever can be available to prove the +commencement of any series of phĉnomena; but, at the same time, it must +be recollected that the value of negative evidence depends entirely on +the amount of positive corroboration it receives. If A.B. wishes to +prove an _alibi_, it is of no use for him to get a thousand witnesses +simply to swear that they did not see him in such and such a place, +unless the witnesses are prepared to prove that they must have seen him +had he been there. But the evidence that animal life commenced with the +Lingula-flags, _e.g._, would seem to be exactly of this unsatisfactory +uncorroborated sort. The Cambrian witnesses simply swear they "haven't +seen anybody their way;" upon which the counsel for the other side +immediately puts in ten or twelve thousand feet of Devonian sandstones +to make oath they never saw a fish or a mollusk, though all the world +knows there were plenty in their time. + +But then it is urged that, though the Devonian rocks in one part of the +world exhibit no fossils, in another they do, while the lower Cambrian +rocks nowhere exhibit fossils, and hence no living being could have +existed in their epoch. + +To this there are two replies: the first, that the observational basis +of the assertion that the lowest rocks are nowhere fossiliferous is an +amazingly small one, seeing how very small an area, in comparison to +that of the whole world, has yet been fully searched; the second, that +the argument is good for nothing unless the unfossiliferous rocks in +question were not only _contemporaneous_ in the geological sense, but +_synchronous_ in the chronological sense. To use the _alibi_ +illustration again. If a man wishes to prove he was in neither of two +places, A and B, on a given day, his witnesses for each place must be +prepared to answer for the whole day. If they can only prove that he was +not at A in the morning, and not at B in the afternoon, the evidence of +his absence from both is _nil_, because he might have been at B in the +morning and at A in the afternoon. + +Thus everything depends upon the validity of the second assumption. And +we must proceed to inquire what is the real meaning of the word +"contemporaneous" as employed by geologists. To this end a concrete +example may be taken. + +The Lias of England and the Lias of Germany, the Cretaceous rocks of +Britain and the Cretaceous rocks of Southern India, are termed by +geologists "contemporaneous" formations; but whenever any thoughtful +geologist is asked whether he means to say that they were deposited +synchronously, he says, "No,--only within the same great epoch." And if, +in pursuing the inquiry, he is asked what may be the approximate value +in time of a "great epoch"--whether it means a hundred years, or a +thousand, or a million, or ten million years--his reply is, "I cannot +tell." + +If the further question be put, whether physical geology is in +possession of any method by which the actual synchrony (or the reverse) +of any two distant deposits can be ascertained, no such method can be +heard of; it being admitted by all the best authorities that neither +similarity of mineral composition, nor of physical character, nor even +direct continuity of stratum, are _absolute_ proofs of the synchronism +of even approximated sedimentary strata: while, for distant deposits, +there seems to be no kind of physical evidence attainable of a nature +competent to decide whether such deposits were formed simultaneously, or +whether they possess any given difference of antiquity. To return to an +example already given. All competent authorities will probably assent to +the proposition that physical geology does not enable us in any way to +reply to this question--Were the British Cretaceous rocks deposited at +the same time as those of India, or are they a million of years younger +or a million of years older? + +Is palĉontology able to succeed where physical geology fails? Standard +writers on palĉontology, as has been seen, assume that she can. They +take it for granted, that deposits containing similar organic remains +are synchronous--at any rate in a broad sense; and yet, those who will +study the eleventh and twelfth chapters of Sir Henry De la Beche's +remarkable "Researches in Theoretical Geology," published now nearly +thirty years ago, and will carry out the arguments there most luminously +stated, to their logical consequences, may very easily convince +themselves that even absolute identity of organic contents is no proof +of the synchrony of deposits, while absolute diversity is no proof of +difference of date. Sir Henry De la Beche goes even further, and adduces +conclusive evidence to show that the different parts of one and the same +stratum, having a similar composition throughout, containing the same +organic remains, and having similar beds above and below it, may yet +differ to any conceivable extent in age. + +Edward Forbes was in the habit of asserting that the similarity of the +organic contents of distant formations was _primâ facie_ evidence, not +of their similarity, but of their difference of age; and holding as he +did the doctrine of single specific centres, the conclusion was as +legitimate as any other; for the two districts must have been occupied +by migration from one of the two, or from an intermediate spot, and the +chances against exact coincidence of migration and of imbedding are +infinite. + +In point of fact, however, whether the hypothesis of single or of +multiple specific centres be adopted, similarity of organic contents +cannot possibly afford any proof of the synchrony of the deposits which +contain them; on the contrary, it is demonstrably compatible with the +lapse of the most prodigious intervals of time, and with interposition +of vast changes in the organic and inorganic worlds, between the epochs +in which such deposits were formed. + +On what amount of similarity of their faunĉ is the doctrine of the +contemporaneity of the European and of the North American Silurians +based? In the last edition of Sir Charles Lyell's "Elementary Geology" +it is stated, on the authority of a former President of this Society, +the late Daniel Sharpe, that between 30 and 40 per cent. of the species +of Silurian Mollusca are common to both sides of the Atlantic. By way of +due allowance for further discovery, let us double the lesser number and +suppose that 60 per cent. of the species are common to the North +American and the British Silurians. Sixty per cent. of species in common +is, then, proof of contemporaneity. + +Now suppose that, a million or two of years hence, when Britain has made +another dip beneath the sea and has come up again, some geologist +applies this doctrine, in comparing the strata laid bare by the upheaval +of the bottom, say, of St. George's Channel with what may then remain of +the Suffolk Crag. Reasoning in the same way, he will at once decide the +Suffolk Crag and the St. George's Channel beds to be contemporaneous; +although we happen to know that a vast period (even in the geological +sense) of time, and physical changes of almost unprecedented extent, +separate the two. + +But if it be a demonstrable fact that strata containing more than 60 or +70 per cent. of species of Mollusca in common, and comparatively close +together, may yet be separated by an amount of geological time +sufficient to allow of some of the greatest physical changes the world +has seen, what becomes of that sort of contemporaneity the sole evidence +of which is a similarity of facies, or the identity of half a dozen +species, or of a good many genera? + +And yet there is no better evidence for the contemporaneity assumed by +all who adopt the hypotheses of universal faunĉ and florĉ, of a +universally uniform climate, and of a sensible cooling of the globe +during geological time. + +There seems, then, no escape from the admission that neither physical +geology, nor palĉontology, possesses any method by which the absolute +synchronism of two strata can be demonstrated. All that geology can +prove is local order of succession. It is mathematically certain that, +in any given vertical linear section of an undisturbed series of +sedimentary deposits, the bed which lies lowest is the oldest. In any +other vertical linear section of the same series, of course, +corresponding beds will occur in a similar order; but, however great may +be the probability, no man can say with absolute certainty that the beds +in the two sections were synchronously deposited. For areas of moderate +extent, it is doubtless true that no practical evil is likely to result +from assuming the corresponding beds to be synchronous or strictly +contemporaneous; and there are multitudes of accessory circumstances +which may fully justify the assumption of such synchrony. But the moment +the geologist has to deal with large areas, or with completely separated +deposits, the mischief of confounding that "homotaxis" or "similarity of +arrangement," which _can_ be demonstrated, with "synchrony" or "identity +of date," for which there is not a shadow of proof, under the one common +term of "contemporaneity" becomes incalculable, and proves the constant +source of gratuitous speculations. + +For anything that geology or palĉontology are able to show to the +contrary, a Devonian fauna and flora in the British Islands may have +been contemporaneous with Silurian life in North America, and with a +Carboniferous fauna and flora in Africa. Geographical provinces and +zones may have been as distinctly marked in the Palĉozoic epoch as at +present, and those seemingly sudden appearances of new genera and +species, which we ascribe to new creation, may be simple results of +migration. + +It may be so; it may be otherwise. In the present condition of our +knowledge and of our methods, one verdict--"not proven, and not +proveable"--must be recorded against all the grand hypotheses of the +palĉontologist respecting the general succession of life on the globe. +The order and nature of terrestrial life, as a whole, are open +questions. Geology at present provides us with most valuable +topographical records, but she has not the means of working them up into +a universal history. Is such a universal history, then, to be regarded +as unattainable? Are all the grandest and most interesting problems +which offer themselves to the geological student essentially insoluble? +Is he in the position of a scientific Tantalus--doomed always to thirst +for a knowledge which he cannot obtain? The reverse is to be hoped; nay, +it may not be impossible to indicate the source whence help will come. + +In commencing these remarks, mention was made of the great obligations +under which the naturalist lies to the geologist and palĉontologist. +Assuredly the time will come when these obligations will be repaid +tenfold, and when the maze of the world's past history, through which +the pure geologist and the pure palĉontologist find no guidance, will be +securely threaded by the clue furnished by the naturalist. + +All who are competent to express an opinion on the subject are, at +present, agreed that the manifold varieties of animal and vegetable form +have not either come into existence by chance, nor result from +capricious exertions of creative power; but that they have taken place +in a definite order, the statement of which order is what men of science +term a natural law. Whether such a law is to be regarded as an +expression of the mode of operation of natural forces, or whether it is +simply a statement of the manner in which a supernatural power has +thought fit to act, is a secondary question, so long as the existence of +the law and the possibility of its discovery by the human intellect are +granted. But he must be a half-hearted philosopher who, believing in +that possibility, and having watched the gigantic strides of the +biological sciences during the last twenty years, doubts that science +will sooner or later make this further step, so as to become possessed +of the law of evolution of organic forms--of the unvarying order of that +great chain of causes and effects of which all organic forms, ancient +and modern, are the links. And then, if ever, we shall be able to begin +to discuss, with profit, the questions respecting the commencement of +life, and the nature of the successive populations of the globe, which +so many seem to think are already answered. + + +The preceding arguments make no particular claim to novelty; indeed they +have been floating more or less distinctly before the minds of +geologists for the last thirty years; and if, at the present time, it +has seemed desirable to give them more definite and systematic +expression, it is because palĉontology is every day assuming a greater +importance, and now requires to rest on a basis the firmness of which is +thoroughly well assured. Among its fundamental conceptions, there must +be no confusion between what is certain and what is more or less +probable.[33] But, pending the construction of a surer foundation than +palĉontology now possesses, it may be instructive, assuming for the +nonce the general correctness of the ordinary hypothesis of geological +contemporaneity, to consider whether the deductions which are ordinarily +drawn from the whole body of palĉontological facts are justifiable. + +The evidence on which such conclusions are based is of two kinds, +negative and positive. The value of negative evidence, in connexion with +this inquiry, has been so fully and clearly discussed in an address from +the chair of this Society,[34] which none of us have forgotten, that +nothing need at present be said about it; the more, as the +considerations which have been laid before you have certainly not tended +to increase your estimation of such evidence. It will be preferable to +turn to the positive facts of palĉontology, and to inquire what they +tell us. + +We are all accustomed to speak of the number and the extent of the +changes in the living population of the globe during geological time as +something enormous; and indeed they are so, if we regard only the +negative differences which separate the older rocks from the more +modern, and if we look upon specific and generic changes as great +changes, which from one point of view they truly are. But leaving the +negative differences out of consideration, and looking only at the +positive data furnished by the fossil world from a broader point of +view--from that of the comparative anatomist who has made the study of +the greater modifications of animal form his chief business--a surprise +of another kind dawns upon the mind; and under _this_ aspect the +smallness of the total change becomes as astonishing as was its +greatness under the other. + +There are two hundred known orders of plants; of these not one is +certainly known to exist exclusively in the fossil state. The whole +lapse of geological time has as yet yielded not a single new ordinal +type of vegetable structure.[35] + +The positive change in passing from the recent to the ancient animal +world is greater, but still singularly small. No fossil animal is so +distinct from those now living as to require to be arranged even in a +separate class from those which, contain existing forms. It is only +when we come to the orders, which may be roughly estimated at about a +hundred and thirty, that we meet with fossil animals so distinct from +those now living as to require orders for themselves; and these do not +amount, on the most liberal estimate, to more than about 10 per cent, of +the whole. + +There is no certainly known extinct order of Protozoa; there is but one +among the Clenterata--that of the rugose corals; there is none among +the Mollusca; there are three, the Cystidea, Blastoidea, and +Edrioasterida, among the Echinoderms; and two, the Trilobita and +Eurypterida, among the Crustacea; making altogether five for the great +sub-kingdom of Annulosa. Among Vertebrates there is no ordinally +distinct fossil fish: there is only one extinct order of Amphibia--the +Labyrinthodonts; but there are at least four distinct orders of +Reptilia, viz. the Ichthyosauria, Plesiosauria, Pterosauria, Dinosauria, +and perhaps another or two. There is no known extinct order of Birds, +and no certainly known extinct order of Mammals, the ordinal +distinctness of the "Toxodontia" being doubtful. + +The objection that broad statements of this kind, after all, rest +largely on negative evidence is obvious, but it has less force than may +at first be supposed; for, as might be expected from the circumstances +of the case, we possess more abundant positive evidence regarding Fishes +and marine Mollusks than respecting any other forms of animal life; and +yet these offer us, through the whole range of geological time, no +species ordinarily distinct from those now living; while the far less +numerous class of Echinoderms presents three, and the Crustacea two, +such orders, though none of these come down later than the Palĉozoic +age. Lastly, the Reptilia present the extraordinary and exceptional +phĉnomenon of as many extinct as existing orders, if not more; the four +mentioned maintaining their existence from the Lias to the Chalk +inclusive. + +Some years ago one of your Secretaries pointed out another kind of +positive palĉontological evidence tending towards the same +conclusion--afforded by the existence of what he termed "persistent +types" of vegetable and of animal life.[36] He stated, on the authority +of Dr. Hooker, that there are Carboniferous plants which appear to be +generically identical with some now living; that the cone of the Oolitic +_Araucaria_ is hardly distinguishable from that of an existing species; +that a true _Pinus_ appears in the Purbecks and a _Juglans_ in the +Chalk; while, from the Bagshot Sands, a _Banksia_, the wood of which is +not distinguishable from that of species now living in Australia, had +been obtained. + +Turning to the animal kingdom, he affirmed the tabulate corals of the +Silurian rocks to be wonderfully like those which now exist; while even +the families of the Aporosa were all represented in the older Mesozoic +rocks. + +Among the Mollusca similar facts were adduced. Let it be borne in mind +that _Avicula_, _Mytilus_, _Chiton_, _Natica_, _Patella_, _Trochus_, +_Discina_, _Orbicula_, _Lingula_, _Rhynchonella_, and _Nautilus_, all of +which are existing _genera_, are given without a doubt as Silurian in +the last edition of "Siluria;" while the highest forms of the highest +Cephalopods are represented in the Lias by a genus, _Belemnoteuthis_, +which presents the closest relation to the existing _Loligo_. + +The two highest groups of the Annulosa, the Insecta and the Arachnida, +are represented in the Coal, either by existing genera, or by forms +differing from existing genera in quite minor peculiarities. + +Turning to the Vertebrata, the only palĉozoic Elasmobranch Fish of which +we have any complete knowledge is the Devonian and Carboniferous +_Pleuracanthus_, which differs no more from existing Sharks than these +do from one another. + +Again, vast as is the number of undoubtedly Ganoid fossil Fishes, and +great as is their range in time, a large mass of evidence has recently +been adduced to show that almost all those respecting which we possess +sufficient information, are referable to the same sub-ordinal groups as +the existing _Lepidosteus_, _Polypterus_, and Sturgeon; and that a +singular relation obtains between the older and the younger Fishes; the +former, the Devonian Ganoids, being almost all members of the same +sub-order as _Polypterus_, while the Mesozoic Ganoids are almost all +similarly allied to _Lepidosteus_.[37] + +Again, what can be more remarkable than the singular constancy of +structure preserved throughout a vast period of time by the family of +the Pycnodonts and by that of the true Coelacanths: the former +persisting, with but insignificant modifications, from the Carboniferous +to the Tertiary rocks, inclusive; the latter existing, with still less +change, from the Carboniferous rocks to the Chalk, inclusive? + +Among Reptiles, the highest living group, that of the Crocodilia, is +represented, at the early part of the Mesozoic epoch, by species +identical in the essential characters of their organization with those +now living, and differing from the latter only in such matters as the +form of the articular facets of the vertebral centra, in the extent to +which the nasal passages are separated from the cavity of the mouth by +bone, and in the proportions of the limbs. + +And even as regards the Mammalia, the scanty remains of Triassic and +Oolitic species afford no foundation for the supposition that the +organization of the oldest forms differed nearly so much from some of +those which now live as these differ from one another. + +It is needless to multiply these instances; enough has been said to +justify the statement that, in view of the immense diversity of known +animal and vegetable forms, and the enormous lapse of time indicated by +the accumulation of fossiliferous strata, the only circumstance to be +wondered at is, not that the changes of life, as exhibited by positive +evidence, have been so great, but that they have been so small. + + +Be they great or small, however, it is desirable to attempt to estimate +them. Let us, therefore, take each great division of the animal world in +succession, and, whenever an order or a family can be shown to have had +a prolonged existence, let us endeavour to ascertain how far the later +members of the group differ from the earlier ones. If these later +members, in all or in many cases, exhibit a certain amount of +modification, the fact is so far, evidence in favour of a general law of +change; and, in a rough way, the rapidity of that change will be +measured by the demonstrable amount of modification. On the other hand, +it must be recollected that the absence of any modification, while it +may leave the doctrine of the existence of a law of change without +positive support, cannot possibly disprove all forms of that doctrine, +though it may afford a sufficient refutation of many of them. + +The PROTOZOA.--The Protozoa are represented throughout the +whole range of geological series, from the Lower Silurian formation to +the present day. The most ancient forms recently made known by Ehrenberg +are exceedingly like those which now exist: no one has ever pretended +that the difference between any ancient and any modern Foraminifera is +of more than generic value; nor are the oldest Foraminifera either +simpler, more embryonic, or less differentiated, than the existing +forms. + +The CLENTERATA.--The Tabulate Corals have existed from the +Silurian epoch to the present day, but I am not aware that the ancient +_Heliolites_ possesses a single mark of a more embryonic or less +differentiated character, or less high organization, than the existing +_Heliopora_. As for the Aporose Corals, in what respect is the Silurian +_Paloeocydus_ less highly organized or more embryonic than the modern +_Fungia_, or the Liassic Aporosa than the existing members of the same +families? + +The _Mollusca_.--In what sense is the living _Waldheimia_ less +embryonic, or more specialized, than the palĉozoic _Spirifer_; or the +existing _Rhynchonellĉ_, _Craniĉ_, _Discinĉ_, _Lingulĉ_, than the +Silurian species of the same genera? In what sense can _Loligo_ or +_Spirula_ be said to be more specialized, or less embryonic, than +_Belemnites_; or the modern species of Lamellibranch and Gasteropod +genera, than the Silurian species of the same genera? + +The ANNULOSA.--The Carboniferous Insecta and Arachnida are +neither less specialized, nor more embryonic, than those that now live, +nor are the Liassic Cirripedia and Macrura; while several of the +Brachyura, which appear in the Chalk, belong to existing genera; and +none exhibit either an intermediate, or an embryonic, character. + +The VERTEBRATA.--Among fishes I have referred to the +Coelacanthini (comprising the genera _Coelacanthus_, _Holophagus_, +_Undina_, and _Macropoma_) as affording an example of a persistent type; +and it is most remarkable to note the smallness of the differences +between any of these fishes (affecting at most the proportions of the +body and fins, and the character and sculpture of the scales), +notwithstanding their enormous range in time. In all the essentials of +its very peculiar structure, the _Macropoma_ of the Chalk is identical +with the _Coelacanthus_ of the Coal. Look at the genus _Lepidotus_, +again, persisting without a modification of importance from the Liassic +to the Eocene formations, inclusive. + +Or among the Teleostei--in what respect is the _Beryx_ of the Chalk more +embryonic, or less differentiated, than _Beryx lineatus_ of King +George's Sound? + +Or to turn to the higher Vertebrata--in what sense are the Liassic +Chelonia inferior to those which now exist? How are the Cretaceous +Ichthyosauria, Plesiosauria, or Pterosauria less embryonic, or more +differentiated, species than those of the Lias? + +Or lastly, in what circumstance is the _Phascolotherium_ more embryonic, +or of a more generalized type, than the modern Opossum; or a +_Lophiodon_, or a _Palĉotherium_, than a modern _Tapirus_ or _Hyrax_? + +These examples might be almost indefinitely multiplied, but surely they +are sufficient to prove that the only safe and unquestionable testimony +we can procure--positive evidence--fails to demonstrate any sort of +progressive modification towards a less embryonic, or less generalized, +type in a great many groups of animals of long-continued geological +existence. In these groups there is abundant evidence of variation--none +of what is ordinarily understood as progression; and, if the known +geological record is to be regarded as even any considerable fragment of +the whole, it is inconceivable that any theory of a necessarily +progressive development can stand, for the numerous orders and families +cited afford no trace of such a process. + +But it is a most remarkable fact, that, while the groups which have been +mentioned, and many besides, exhibit no sign of progressive +modification, there are others, coexisting with them, under the same +conditions, in which more or less distinct indications of such a process +seem to be traceable. Among such indications I may remind you of the +predominance of Holostome Gasteropoda in the older rocks as compared +with that of Siphonostome Gasteropoda in the later. A case less open to +the objection of negative evidence, however, is that afforded by the +Tetrabranchiate Cephalopoda, the forms of the shells and of the septal +sutures exhibiting a certain increase of complexity in the newer genera. +Here, however, one is met at once with the occurrence of _Orthoceras_ +and _Baculites_ at the two ends of the series, and of the fact that one +of the simplest genera, _Nautilus_, is that which now exists. + +The Crinoidea, in the abundance of stalked forms in the ancient +formations as compared with their present rarity, seem to present us +with a fair case of modification from a more embryonic towards a less +embryonic condition. But then, on careful consideration of the facts, +the objection arises that the stalk, calyx, and arms of the palĉozoic +Crinoid are exceedingly different from the corresponding organs of a +larval _Comatula_; and it might with perfect justice be argued that +_Actinocrinus_ and _Eucalyptocrinus_, for example, depart to the full as +widely, in one direction, from the stalked embryo of _Comatula_, as +_Comatula_ itself does in the other. + +The Echinidea, again, are frequently quoted as exhibiting a gradual +passage from a more generalized to a more specialized type, seeing that +the elongated, or oval, Spatangoids appear after the spheroidal +Echinoids. But here it might be argued, on the other hand, that the +spheroidal Echinoids, in reality, depart further from the general plan +and from the embryonic form than the elongated Spatangoids do; and that +the peculiar dental apparatus and the pedicellariĉ of the former are +marks of at least as great differentiation as the petaloid ambulacra and +semitĉ of the latter. + +Once more, the prevalence of Macrurous before Brachyurous Podophthalmia +is, apparently, a fair piece of evidence in favour of progressive +modification in the same order of Crustacea; and yet the case will not +stand much sifting, seeing that the Macrurous Podophthalmia depart as +far in one direction from the common type of Podophthalmia, or from any +embryonic condition of the Brachyura, as the Brachyura do in the other; +and that the middle terms between Macrura and Brachyura--the +Anomura--are little better represented in the older Mesozoic rocks than +the Brachyura are. + +None of the cases of progressive modification which are cited from among +the Invertebrata appear to me to have a foundation less open to +criticism than these; and if this be so, no careful reasoner would, I +think, be inclined to lay very great stress upon them. Among the +Vertebrata, however, there are a few examples which appear to be far +less open to objection. + +It is, in fact, true of several groups of Vertebrata which have lived +through a considerable range of time, that the endoskeleton (more +particularly the spinal column) of the older genera presents a less +ossified, and, so far, less differentiated, condition than that of the +younger genera. Thus the Devonian Ganoids, though almost all members of +the same sub-order as _Polypterus,_ and presenting numerous important +resemblances to the existing genus, which possesses biconcave vertebrĉ, +are, for the most part, wholly devoid of ossified vertebral centra. The +Mesozoic Lepidosteidĉ, again, have, at most, biconcave vertebrĉ, while +the existing _Lepidosteus_ has Salamandroid, opisthocoelous, vertebrĉ. +So, none of the Palĉozoic Sharks have shown themselves to be possessed +of ossified vertebrĉ, while the majority of modern Sharks possess such +vertebrĉ. Again, the more ancient Crocodilia and Lacertilia have +vertebrĉ with the articular facets of their centra flattened or +biconcave, while the modern members of the same group have them +procoelous. But the most remarkable examples of progressive +modification of the vertebral column, in correspondence with geological +age, are those afforded by the Pycnodonts among fish, and the +Labyrinthodonts among Amphibia. + +The late able ichthyologist Heckel pointed out the fact, that, while the +Pycnodonts never possess true vertebral centra, they differ in the +degree of expansion and extension of the ends of the bony arches of the +vertebrĉ upon the sheath of the notochord; the Carboniferous forms +exhibiting hardly any such expansion, while the Mesozoic genera present +a greater and greater development, until, in the Tertiary forms, the +expanded ends become suturally united so as to form a sort of false +vertebra. Hermann von Meyer, again, to whose luminous researches we are +indebted for our present large knowledge of the organization of the +older Labyrinthodonts, has proved that the Carboniferous _Archegosaurus_ +had very imperfectly developed vertebral centra, while the Triassic +_Mastodonsaurus_ had the same parts completely ossified.[38] + +The regularity and evenness of the dentition of the _Anoplotherium_, as +contrasted with that of existing Artiodactyles, and the assumed nearer +approach of the dentition of certain ancient Carnivores to the typical +arrangement, have also been cited as exemplifications of a law of +progressive development, but I know of no other cases based on positive +evidence which are worthy of particular notice. + +What then does an impartial survey of the positively ascertained truths +of palĉontology testify in relation to the common doctrines of +progressive modification, which suppose that modification to have taken +place by a necessary progress from more to less embryonic forms, or from +more to less generalized types, within the limits of the period +represented by the fossiliferous rocks? + +It negatives those doctrines; for it either shows us no evidence of any +such modification, or demonstrates it to have been very slight; and as +to the nature of that modification, it yields no evidence whatsoever +that the earlier members of any long-continued group were more +generalized in structure than the later ones. To a certain extent, +indeed, it may be said that imperfect ossification of the vertebral +column is an embryonic character; but, on the other hand, it would be +extremely incorrect to suppose that the vertebral columns of the older +Vertebrata are in any sense embryonic in their whole structure. + +Obviously, if the earliest fossiliferous rocks now known are coeval with +the commencement of life, and if their contents give us any just +conception of the nature and the extent of the earliest fauna and flora, +the insignificant amount of modification which can be demonstrated to +have taken place in any one group of animals, or plants, is quite +incompatible with the hypothesis that all living forms are the results +of a necessary process of progressive development, entirely comprised +within the time represented by the fossiliferous rocks. + +Contrariwise, any admissible hypothesis of progressive modification +must be compatible with persistence without progression, through +indefinite periods. And should such an hypothesis eventually be proved +to be true, in the only way in which it can be demonstrated, viz. by +observation and experiment upon the existing forms of life, the +conclusion will inevitably present itself, that the Palĉozoic, Mesozoic, +and Cainozoic faunĉ and florĉ, taken together, bear somewhat the same +proportion to the whole series of living beings which have occupied this +globe, as the existing fauna and flora do to them. + +Such are the results of palĉontology as they appear, and have for some +years appeared, to the mind of an inquirer who regards that study simply +as one of the applications of the great biological sciences, and who +desires to see it placed upon the same sound basis as other branches of +physical inquiry. If the arguments which have been brought forward are +valid, probably no one, in view of the present state of opinion, will be +inclined to think the time wasted which has been spent upon their +elaboration. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[33] "Le plus grand service qu'on puisse rendre à la science est d'y +faire place nette avant d'y rien construire."--CUVIER. + +[34] Anniversary Address for 1851, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. vii. + +[35] See Hooker's "Introductory Essay to the Flora of Tasmania," p. +xxiii. + +[36] See the abstract of a Lecture "On the Persistent Types of Animal +Life" in the "Notices of the Meetings of the Royal Institution of Great +Britain," June 3, 1859, vol. iii. p. 151. + +[37] "Memoirs of the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom.--Decade x. +Preliminary Essay upon the Systematic Arrangement of the Fishes of the +Devonian Epoch." + +[38] As this Address is passing through the press (March 7, 1862), +evidence lies before me of the existence of a new Labyrinthodont +(_Pholidogaster_), from the Edinburgh coal-field, with well-ossified +vertebral centra. + + + + +XI. + +GEOLOGICAL REFORM. + + "A great reform in geological speculation seems now to have become + necessary." + + "It is quite certain that a great mistake has been made,--that + British popular geology at the present time is in direct opposition + to the principles of Natural Philosophy."[39] + + +In reviewing the course of geological thought during the past year, for +the purpose of discovering those matters to which I might most fitly +direct your attention in the Address which it now becomes my duty to +deliver from the Presidential Chair, the two somewhat alarming sentences +which I have just read, and which occur in an able and interesting essay +by an eminent natural philosopher, rose into such prominence before my +mind that they eclipsed everything else. + +It surely is a matter of paramount importance for the British geologists +(some of them very popular geologists too) here in solemn annual session +assembled, to inquire whether the severe judgment thus passed upon them, +by so high an authority as Sir William Thomson is one to which they +must plead guilty _sans phrase_, or whether they are prepared to say +"not guilty," and appeal for a reversal of the sentence to that higher +court of educated scientific opinion to which we are all amenable. + +As your attorney-general for the time being, I thought I could not do +better than get up the case with a view of advising you. It is true that +the charges brought forward by the other side involve the consideration +of matters quite foreign to the pursuits with which I am ordinarily +occupied; but, in that respect, I am only in the position which is, nine +times out of ten, occupied by counsel, who nevertheless contrive to gain +their causes, mainly by force of mother-wit and common sense, aided by +some training in other intellectual exercises. + +Nerved by such precedents, I proceed to put my pleading before you. + +And the first question with which I propose to deal is, What is it to +which Sir W. Thomson refers when he speaks of "geological speculation" +and "British popular geology"? + +I find three, more or less contradictory, systems of geological thought, +each of which might fairly enough claim these appellations, standing +side by side in Britain. I shall call one of them CATASTROPHISM, another +UNIFORMITARIANISM, the third EVOLUTIONISM; and I shall try briefly to +sketch the characters of each, that you may say whether the +classification is, or is not, exhaustive. + +By CATASTROPHISM, I mean any form of geological speculation +which, in order to account for the phĉnomena of geology, supposes the +operation of forces different in their nature, or immeasurably different +in power, from those which we at present see in action in the universe. + +The Mosaic cosmogony is, in this sense, catastrophic, because it +assumes the operation of extra-natural power. The doctrine of violent +upheavals, _débâcles_, and cataclysms in general, is catastrophic, so +far as it assumes that these were brought about by causes which have now +no parallel. There was a time when catastrophism might, pre-eminently, +have claimed the title of "British popular geology;" and assuredly it +has yet many adherents, and reckons among its supporters some of the +most honoured members of this Society. + +By UNIFORMITARIANISM, I mean especially, the teaching of Hutton +and of Lyell. + +That great, though incomplete work, "The Theory of the Earth," seems to +me to be one of the most remarkable contributions to geology which is +recorded in the annals of the science. So far as the not-living world is +concerned, uniformitarianism lies there, not only in germ, but in +blossom and fruit. + +If one asks how it is that Hutton was led to entertain views so far in +advance of those prevalent in his time, in some respects; while, in +others, they seem almost curiously limited, the answer appears to me to +be plain. + +Hutton was in advance of the geological speculation of his time, +because, in the first place, he had amassed a vast store of knowledge of +the facts of geology, gathered by personal observation in travels of +considerable extent; and because, in the second place, he was thoroughly +trained in the physical and chemical science of his day, and thus +possessed, as much as any one in his time could possess it, the +knowledge which is requisite for the just interpretation of geological +phĉnomena, and the habit of thought which fits a man for scientific +inquiry. + +It is to this thorough scientific training, that I ascribe Hutton's +steady and persistent refusal to look to other causes than those now in +operation, for the explanation of geological phĉnomena. + +Thus he writes:--"I do not pretend, as he [M. de Luc] does in his +theory, to describe the beginning of things. I take things such as I +find them at present; and from these I reason with regard to that which +must have been."[40] + +And again:--"A theory of the earth, which has for object truth, can have +no retrospect to that which had preceded the present order of the world; +for this order alone is what we have to reason upon; and to reason +without data is nothing but delusion. A theory, therefore, which is +limited to the actual constitution of this earth cannot be allowed to +proceed one step beyond the present order of things."[41] + +And so clear is he, that no causes beside such as are now in operation +are needed to account for the character and disposition of the +components of the crust of the earth, that he says, broadly and +boldly:-- "... There is no part of the earth which has not had the same +origin, so far as this consists in that earth being collected at the +bottom of the sea, and afterwards produced, as land, along with masses +of melted substances, by the operation of mineral causes."[42] + +But other influences were at work upon Hutton beside those of a mind +logical by Nature, and scientific by sound training; and the peculiar +turn which his speculations took seems to me to be unintelligible, +unless these be taken into account. The arguments of the French +astronomers and mathematicians, which, at the end of the last century, +were held to demonstrate the existence of a compensating arrangement +among the celestial bodies, whereby all perturbations eventually reduced +themselves to oscillations on each side of a mean position, and the +stability of the solar system was secured, had evidently taken strong +hold of Hutton's mind. + +In those oddly constructed periods which seem to have prejudiced many +persons against reading his works, but which are full of that peculiar, +if unattractive, eloquence which flows from mastery of the subject, +Hutton says:-- + +"We have now got to the end of our reasoning; we have no data further to +conclude immediately from that which actually is. But we have got +enough; we have the satisfaction to find, that in Nature there is +wisdom, system, and consistency. For having, in the natural history of +this earth, seen a succession of worlds, we may from this conclude that +there is a system in Nature; in like manner as, from seeing revolutions +of the planets, it is concluded, that there is a system by which they +are intended to continue those revolutions. But if the succession of +worlds is established in the system of Nature, it is in vain to look for +anything higher in the origin of the earth. The result, therefore, of +this physical inquiry is, that we find no vestige of a beginning,--no +prospect of an end."[43] + +Yet another influence worked strongly upon Hutton. Like most +philosophers of his age, he coquetted with those final causes which have +been named barren virgins, but which might be more fitly termed the +_hetairĉ_ of philosophy, so constantly have they led men astray. The +final cause of the existence of the world is, for Hutton, the production +of life and intelligence. + +"We have now considered the globe of this earth as a machine, +constructed upon chemical as well as mechanical principles, by which its +different parts are all adapted, in form, in quality, and in quantity, +to a certain end; an end attained with certainty or success; and an end +from which we may perceive wisdom, in contemplating the means employed. + +"But is this world to be considered thus merely as a machine, to last no +longer than its parts retain their present position, their proper forms +and qualities? Or may it not be also considered as an organized body? +such as has a constitution in which the necessary decay of the machine +is naturally repaired, in the exertion of those productive powers by +which it had been formed. + +"This is the view in which we are now to examine the globe; to see if +there be, in the constitution of this world, a reproductive operation, +by which a ruined constitution may be again repaired, and a duration or +stability thus procured to the machine, considered as a world sustaining +plants and animals."[44] + +Kirwan, and the other Philistines of the day, accused Hutton of +declaring that his theory implied that the world never had a beginning, +and never differed in condition from its present state. Nothing could be +more grossly unjust, as he expressly guards himself against any such +conclusion in the following terms:-- + +"But in thus tracing back the natural operations which have succeeded +each other, and mark to us the course of time past, we come to a period +in which we cannot see any farther. This, however, is not the beginning +of the operations which proceed in time and according to the wise +economy of this world; nor is it the establishing of that which, in the +course of time, had no beginning; it is only the limit of our +retrospective view of those operations which have come to pass in time, +and have been conducted by supreme intelligence."[45] + +I have spoken of Uniformitarianism as the doctrine of Hutton and of +Lyell. If I have quoted the older writer rather than the newer, it is +because his works are little known, and his claims on our veneration too +frequently forgotten, not because I desire to dim the fame of his +eminent successor. Few of the present generation of geologists have read +Playfair's "Illustrations," fewer still the original "Theory of the +Earth;" the more is the pity; but which of us has not thumbed every page +of the "Principles of Geology?" I think that he who writes fairly the +history of his own progress in geological thought, will not be able to +separate his debt to Hutton from his obligations to Lyell; and the +history of the progress of individual geologists is the history of +geology. + +No one can doubt that the influence of uniformitarian views has been +enormous, and, in the main, most beneficial and favourable to the +progress of sound geology. + +Nor can it be questioned that Uniformitarianism has even a stronger +title than Catastrophism to call itself the geological speculation of +Britain, or, if you will, British popular geology. For it is eminently a +British doctrine, and has even now made comparatively little progress +on the continent of Europe. Nevertheless it seems to me to be open to +serious criticism upon one of its aspects. + +I have shown how unjust was the insinuation that Hutton denied a +beginning to the world. But it would not be unjust to say that he +persistently, in practice, shut his eyes to the existence of that prior +and different state of things which, in theory, he admitted; and, in +this aversion to look beyond the veil of stratified rocks, Lyell follows +him. + +Hutton and Lyell alike agree in their indisposition to carry their +speculations a step beyond the period recorded in the most ancient +strata now open to observation in the crust of the earth. This is, for +Hutton, "the point in which we cannot see any farther;" while Lyell +tells us,-- + +"The astronomer may find good reasons for ascribing the earth's form to +the original fluidity of the mass, in times long antecedent to the first +introduction of living beings into the planet; but the geologist must be +content to regard the earliest monuments which it is his task to +interpret, as belonging to a period when the crust had already acquired +great solidity and thickness, probably as great as it now possesses, and +when volcanic rocks, not essentially differing from those now produced, +were formed from time to time, the intensity of volcanic heat being +neither greater nor less than it is now."[46] + +And again, "As geologists, we learn that it is not only the present +condition of the globe which has been suited to the accommodation of +myriads of living creatures, but that many former states also have been +adapted to the organization and habits of prior races of beings. The +disposition of the seas, continents and islands, and the climates, have +varied; the species likewise have been changed; and yet they have all +been so modelled, on types analogous to those of existing plants and +animals, as to indicate, throughout, a perfect harmony of design and +unity of purpose. To assume that the evidence of the beginning, or end, +of so vast a scheme lies within the reach of our philosophical +inquiries, or even of our speculations, appears to be inconsistent with +a just estimate of the relations which subsist between the finite powers +of man and the attributes of an infinite and eternal Being."[47] + +The limitations implied in these passages appear to me to constitute the +weakness and the logical defect of uniformitarianism. No one will impute +blame to Hutton that, in face of the imperfect condition, in his day, of +those physical sciences which furnish the keys to the riddles of +geology, he should have thought it practical wisdom to limit his theory +to an attempt to account for "the present order of things;" but I am at +a loss to comprehend why, for all time, the geologist must be content to +regard the oldest fossiliferous rocks as the _ultima Thule_ of his +science; or what there is inconsistent with the relations between the +finite and the infinite mind, in the assumption, that we may discern +somewhat of the beginning, or of the end, of this speck in space we call +our earth. The finite mind is certainly competent to trace out the +development of the fowl within the egg; and I know not on what ground it +should find more difficulty in unravelling the complexities of the +development of the earth. In fact, as Kant has well remarked,[48] the +cosmical process is really simpler than the biological. + +This attempt to limit, at a particular point, the progress of inductive +and deductive reasoning from the things which are, to those which +were--this faithlessness to its own logic, seems to me to have cost +Uniformitarianism the place, as the permanent form of geological +speculation, which it might otherwise have held. + +It remains that I should put before you what I understand to be the +third phase of geological speculation--namely, EVOLUTIONISM. + +I shall not make what I have to say on this head clear, unless I +diverge, or seem to diverge, for a while, from the direct path of my +discourse, so far as to explain what I take to be the scope of geology +itself. I conceive geology to be the history of the earth, in precisely +the same sense as biology is the history of living beings; and I trust +you will not think that I am overpowered by the influence of a dominant +pursuit if I say that I trace a close analogy between these two +histories. + +If I study a living being, under what heads does the knowledge I obtain +fall? I can learn its structure, or what we call its ANATOMY; +and its DEVELOPMENT, or the series of changes which it passes +through to acquire its complete structure. Then I find that the living +being has certain powers resulting from its own activities, and the +interaction of these with the activities of other things--the knowledge +of which is PHYSIOLOGY. Beyond this the living being has a +position in space and time, which is its DISTRIBUTION. All +these form the body of ascertainable facts which constitute the _status +quo_ of the living creature. But these facts have their causes; and the +ascertainment of these causes is the doctrine of ĈTIOLOGY. + +If we consider what is knowable about the earth, we shall find that such +earth-knowledge--if I may so translate the word geology--falls into the +same categories. + +What is termed stratigraphical geology is neither more nor less than the +anatomy of the earth; and the history of the succession of the +formations is the history of a succession of such anatomies, or +corresponds with development, as distinct from generation. + +The internal heat of the earth, the elevation and depression of its +crust, its belchings forth of vapours, ashes, and lava, are its +activities, in as strict a sense, as are warmth and the movements and +products of respiration the activities of an animal. The phĉnomena of +the seasons, of the trade winds, of the Gulf-stream, are as much the +results of the reaction between these inner activities and outward +forces, as are the budding of the leaves in spring and their falling in +autumn the effects of the interaction between the organization of a +plant and the solar light and heat. And, as the study of the activities +of the living being is called its physiology, so are these phĉnomena the +subject-matter of an analogous telluric physiology, to which we +sometimes give the name of meteorology, sometimes that of physical +geography, sometimes that of geology. Again, the earth has a place in +space and in time, and relations to other bodies in both these +respects, which constitute its distribution. This subject is usually +left to the astronomer; but a knowledge of its broad outlines seems to +me to be an essential constituent of the stock of geological ideas. + +All that can be ascertained concerning the structure, succession of +conditions, actions, and position in space of the earth, is the matter +of fact of its natural history. But, as in biology, there remains the +matter of reasoning from these facts to their causes, which is just as +much science as the other, and indeed more; and this constitutes +geological ĉtiology. + +Having regard to this general scheme of geological knowledge and +thought, it is obvious that geological speculation may be, so to speak, +anatomical and developmental speculation, so far as it relates to points +of stratigraphical arrangement which are out of reach of direct +observation; or, it may be physiological speculation, so far as it +relates to undetermined problems relative to the activities of the +earth; or, it may be distributional speculation, if it deals with +modifications of the earth's place in space; or, finally, it will be +ĉtiological speculation, if it attempts to deduce the history of the +world, as a whole, from the known properties of the matter of the earth, +in the conditions in which the earth has been placed. + +For the purposes of the present discourse I may take this last to be +what is meant by "geological speculation." + +Now uniformitarianism, as we have seen, tends to ignore geological +speculation in this sense altogether. + +The one point the catastrophists and the uniformitarians agreed upon, +when this Society was founded, was to ignore it. And you will find, if +you look back into our records, that our revered fathers in geology +plumed themselves a good deal upon the practical sense and wisdom of +this proceeding. As a temporary measure, I do not presume to challenge +its wisdom; but in all organized bodies temporary changes are apt to +produce permanent effects; and as time has slipped by, altering all the +conditions which may have made such mortification of the scientific +flesh desirable, I think the effect of the stream of cold water which +has steadily flowed over geological speculation within these walls, has +been of doubtful beneficence. + +The sort of geological speculation to which I am now referring +(geological ĉtiology, in short) was created, as a science, by that +famous philosopher Immanuel Kant, when, in 1755, he wrote his "General +Natural History and Theory of the Celestial Bodies; or an Attempt to +account for the Constitution and the mechanical Origin of the Universe +upon Newtonian principles."[49] + +In this very remarkable, but seemingly little-known treatise,[50] Kant +expounds a complete cosmogony, in the shape of a theory of the causes +which have led to the development of the universe from diffused atoms of +matter endowed with simple attractive and repulsive forces. + +"Give me matter," says Kant, "and I will build the world;" and he +proceeds to deduce from the simple data from which he starts, a doctrine +in all essential respects similar to the well-known "Nebular Hypothesis" +of Laplace.[51] He accounts for the relation of the masses and the +densities of the planets to their distances from the sun, for the +eccentricities of their orbits, for their rotations, for their +satellites, for the general agreement in the direction of rotation among +the celestial bodies, for Saturn's ring, and for the zodiacal light. He +finds, in each system of worlds, indications that the attractive force +of the central mass will eventually destroy its organization, by +concentrating upon itself the matter of the whole system; but, as the +result of this concentration, he argues for the development of an amount +of heat which will dissipate the mass once more into a molecular chaos +such as that in which it began. + +Kant pictures to himself the universe as once an infinite expansion of +formless and diffused matter. At one point of this he supposes a single +centre of attraction set up; and, by strict deductions from admitted +dynamical principles, shows how this must result in the development of a +prodigious central body, surrounded by systems of solar and planetary +worlds in all stages of development. In vivid language he depicts the +great world-mĉlstrom, widening the margins of its prodigious eddy in the +slow progress of millions of ages, gradually reclaiming more and more of +the molecular waste, and converting chaos into cosmos. But what is +gained at the margin is lost in the centre; the attractions of the +central systems bring their constituents together, which then, by the +heat evolved, are converted once more into molecular chaos. Thus the +worlds that are, lie between the ruins of the worlds that have been and +the chaotic materials of the worlds that shall be; and, in spite of all +waste and destruction, Cosmos is extending his borders at the expense of +Chaos. + +Kant's further application of his views to the earth itself is to be +found in his "Treatise on Physical Geography"[52] (a term under which +the then unknown science of geology was included), a subject which he +had studied with very great care and on which he lectured for many +years. The fourth section of the first part of this Treatise is called +"History of the great Changes which the Earth has formerly undergone and +is still undergoing," and is, in fact, a brief and pregnant essay upon +the principles of geology. Kant gives an account first "of the gradual +changes which are now taking place" under the heads of such as are +caused by earthquakes, such as are brought about by rain and rivers, +such as are effected by the sea, such as are produced by winds and +frost; and, finally, such as result from the operations of man. + +The second part is devoted to the "Memorials of the Changes which the +Earth has undergone in remote antiquity." These are enumerated as:--A. +Proofs that the sea formerly covered the whole earth. B. Proofs that the +sea has often been changed into dry land and then again into sea. C. A +discussion of the various-theories of the earth put forward by +Scheuchzer, Moro, Bonnet, Woodward, White, Leibnitz, Linnĉus, and +Buffon. + +The third part contains an "Attempt to give a sound explanation of the +ancient history of the earth." + +I suppose that it would be very easy to pick holes in the details of +Kant's speculations, whether cosmological, or specially telluric, in +their application. But, for all that, he seems to me to have been the +first person to frame a complete system of geological speculation by +founding the doctrine of evolution. + +With as much truth as Hutton, Kant could say, "I take things just as I +find them at present, and, from these, I reason with regard to that +which must have been." Like Hutton, he is never tired of pointing out +that "in Nature there is wisdom, system, and consistency." And, as in +these great principles, so in believing that the cosmos has a +reproductive operation "by which a ruined constitution may be repaired," +he forestalls Hutton; while, on the other hand, Kant is true to science. +He knows no bounds to geological speculation but those of the intellect. +He reasons back to a beginning of the present state of things; he admits +the possibility of an end. + +I have said that the three schools of geological speculation which I +have termed Catastrophism, Uniformitarianism, and Evolutionism are +commonly supposed to be antagonistic to one another; and I presume it +will have become obvious that, in my belief, the last is destined to +swallow up the other two. But it is proper to remark that each of the +latter has kept alive the tradition of precious truths. + +CATASTROPHISM has insisted upon the existence of a practically +unlimited bank of force, on which the theorist might draw; and it has +cherished the idea of the development of the earth from a state in which +its form, and the forces which it exerted, were very different from +those we now know. That such difference of form and power once existed +is a necessary part of the doctrine of evolution. + +UNIFORMITARIANISM, on the other hand, has with equal justice +insisted upon a practically unlimited bank of time, ready to discount +any quantity of hypothetical paper. It has kept before our eyes the +power of the infinitely little, time being granted, and has compelled us +to exhaust known causes, before flying to the unknown. + +To my mind there appears to be no sort of necessary theoretical +antagonism between Catastrophism and Uniformitarianism. On the contrary, +it is very conceivable that catastrophes may be part and parcel of +uniformity. Let me illustrate my case by analogy. The working of a clock +is a model of uniform action; good time-keeping means uniformity of +action. But the striking of the clock is essentially a catastrophe; the +hammer might be made to blow up a barrel of gunpowder, or turn on a +deluge of water; and, by proper arrangement, the clock, instead of +marking the hours, might strike at all sorts of irregular periods, never +twice alike, in the intervals, force, or number of its blows. +Nevertheless, all these irregular, and apparently lawless, catastrophes +would be the result of an absolutely uniformitarian action; and we might +have two schools of clock-theorists, one studying the hammer and the +other the pendulum. + +Still less is there any necessary antagonism between either of these +doctrines and that of Evolution, which embraces all that is sound in +both Catastrophism and Uniformitarianism, while it rejects the arbitrary +assumptions of the one and the, as arbitrary, limitations of the other. +Nor is the value of the doctrine of Evolution to the philosophic thinker +diminished by the fact that it applies the same method to the living and +the not-living world; and embraces, in one stupendous analogy, the +growth of a solar system from molecular chaos, the shaping of the earth +from the nebulous cubhood of its youth, through innumerable changes and +immeasurable ages, to its present form; and the development of a living +being from the shapeless mass of protoplasm we term a germ. + +I do not know whether Evolutionism can claim that amount of currency +which would entitle it to be called British popular geology; but, more +or less vaguely, it is assuredly present in the minds of most +geologists. + + +Such being the three phases of geological speculation, we are now in a +position to inquire which of these it is that Sir William Thomson calls +upon us to reform in the passages which I have cited. + +It is obviously Uniformitarianism which the distinguished physicist +takes to be the representative of geological speculation in general. And +thus a first issue is raised, inasmuch as many persons (and those not +the least thoughtful among the younger geologists) do not accept strict +Uniformitarianism as the final form of geological speculation. We should +say, if Hutton and Playfair declare the course of the world to have been +always the same, point out the fallacy by all means; but, in so doing, +do not imagine that you are proving modern geology to be in opposition +to natural philosophy. I do not suppose that, at the present day, any +geologist would be found to maintain absolute Uniformitarianism, to deny +that the rapidity of the rotation of the earth _may_ be diminishing, +that the sun _may_ be waxing dim, or that the earth itself _may_ be +cooling. Most of us, I suspect, are Gallios, "who care for none of these +things," being of opinion that, true or fictitious, they have made no +practical difference to the earth, during the period of which, a record +is preserved in stratified deposits. + +The accusation that we have been running counter to the _principles_ of +natural philosophy, therefore, is devoid of foundation. The only +question which can arise is whether we have, or have not, been tacitly +making assumptions which are in opposition to certain conclusions which +may be drawn from those principles. And this question subdivides itself +into two:--the first, are we really contravening such conclusions? the +second, if we are, are those conclusions so firmly based that we may not +contravene them? I reply in the negative to both these questions, and I +will give you my reasons for so doing. Sir William Thomson believes that +he is able to prove, by physical reasonings, "that the existing state of +things on the earth, life on the earth--all geological history showing +continuity of life--must be limited within some such period of time as +one hundred million years" (loc. cit. p. 25). + +The first inquiry which arises plainly is, has it ever been denied that +this period _may_ be enough for the purposes of geology? + +The discussion of this question is greatly embarrassed by the vagueness +with which the assumed limit is, I will not say defined, but +indicated,--"some such period of past time as one hundred million +years." Now does this mean that it may have been two, or three, or four +hundred million years? Because this really makes all the difference.[53] + +I presume that 100,000 feet may be taken as a full allowance for the +total thickness of stratified rocks containing traces of life; 100,000 +divided by 100,000,000 = 0.001. Consequently, the deposit of 100,000 +feet of stratified rock in 100,000,000 years means that the deposit has +taken place at the rate of 1/1000 of a foot, or, say, 1/83 of an inch, +per annum. + +Well, I do not know that any one is prepared to maintain that, even +making all needful allowances, the stratified rocks may not have been +formed, on the average, at the rate of 1/83 of an inch per annum. I +suppose that if such could be shown to be the limit of world-growth, we +could put up with the allowance without feeling that our speculations +had undergone any revolution. And perhaps, after all, the qualifying +phrase "some such period" may not necessitate the assumption of more +than 1/166, or 1/249, or 1/332 of an inch of deposit per year, which, of +course, would give us still more ease and comfort. + +But, it may be said, that it is biology, and not geology, which asks for +so much time--that the succession of life demands vast intervals; but +this appears to me to be reasoning in a circle. Biology takes her time +from geology. The only reason we have for believing in the slow rate of +the change in living forms is the fact that they persist through a +series of deposits which, geology informs us, have taken a long while to +make. If the geological clock is wrong, all the naturalist will have to +do is to modify his notions of the rapidity of change accordingly. And I +venture to point out that, when we are told that the limitation of the +period during which living beings have inhabited this planet to one, +two, or three hundred million years requires a complete revolution in +geological speculation, the _onus probandi_ rests on the maker of the +assertion, who brings forward not a shadow of evidence in its support. + +Thus, if we accept the limitation of time placed before us by Sir W. +Thomson, it is not obvious, on the face of the matter, that we shall +have to alter, or reform, our ways in any appreciable degree; and we may +therefore proceed with much calmness, and indeed much indifference, as +to the result, to inquire whether that limitation is justified by the +arguments employed in its support. + +These arguments are three in number:-- + +I. The first is based upon the undoubted fact that the tides tend to +retard the rate of the earth's rotation upon its axis. That this must be +so is obvious, if one considers, roughly, that the tides result from the +pull which the sun and the moon exert upon the sea, causing it to act as +a sort of break upon the rotating solid earth. + +Kant, who was by no means a mere "abstract philosopher," but a good +mathematician and well versed in the physical science of his time, not +only proved this in an essay of exquisite clearness and intelligibility, +now more than a century old,[54] but deduced from it some of its more +important consequences, such as the constant turning of one face of the +moon towards the earth. + +But there is a long step from the demonstration of a tendency to the +estimation of the practical value of that tendency, which is all with +which we are at present concerned. The facts bearing on this point +appear to stand as follow:-- + +It is a matter of observation that the moon's mean motion is (and has +for the last 3,000 years been) undergoing an acceleration, relatively to +the rotation of the earth. Of course this may result from one of two +causes: the moon may really have been moving more swiftly in its orbit; +or the earth may have been rotating more slowly on its axis. + +Laplace believed he had accounted for this phĉnomenon by the fact that +the eccentricity of the earth's orbit has been diminishing throughout +these 3,000 years. This would produce a diminution of the mean +attraction of the sun on the moon; or, in other words, an increase in +the attraction of the earth on the moon: and, consequently, an increase +in the rapidity of the orbital motion of the latter body. Laplace, +therefore, laid the responsibility of the acceleration upon the moon; +and if his views were correct, the tidal retardation must either be +insignificant in amount, or be counteracted by some other agency. + +Our great astronomer, Adams, however, appears to have found a flaw in +Laplace's calculation, and to have shown that only half the observed +retardation could be accounted for in the way he had suggested. There +remains, therefore, the other half to be accounted for; and here, in the +absence of all positive knowledge, three sets of hypotheses have been +suggested. + +(a) M. Delaunay suggests that the earth is at fault, in consequence +of the tidal retardation. Messrs. Adams, Thomson, and Tait work out this +suggestion, and, "on a certain assumption as to the proportion of +retardations due to the sun and the moon," find the earth may lose +twenty-two seconds of time in a century from this cause.[55] + +(b) But M. Dufour suggests that the retardation of the earth (which +is hypothetically assumed to exist) may be due in part, or wholly, to +the increase of the moment of inertia of the earth by meteors falling +upon its surface. This suggestion also meets with the entire approval of +Sir W. Thomson, who shows that meteor-dust, accumulating at the rate of +one foot in 4,000 years, would account for the remainder of +retardation.[56] + +(c) Thirdly, Sir W. Thomson brings forward an hypothesis of his own +with respect to the cause of the hypothetical retardation of the earth's +rotation:-- + +"Let us suppose ice to melt from the polar regions (20° round each pole, +we may say) to the extent of something more than a foot thick, enough to +give 1.1 foot of water over those areas, or 0.006 of a foot of water if +spread over the whole globe, which would, in reality, raise the +sea-level by only some such undiscoverable difference as three-fourths +of an inch or an inch. This, or the reverse, which we believe might +happen any year, and could certainly not be detected without far more +accurate observations and calculations for the mean sea-level than any +hitherto made, would slacken or quicken the earth's rate as a timekeeper +by one-tenth of a second per year."[57] + +I do not presume to throw the slightest doubt upon the accuracy of any +of the calculations made by such distinguished mathematicians as those +who have made the suggestions I have cited. On the contrary, it is +necessary to my argument to assume that they are all correct. But I +desire to point out that this seems to be one of the many cases in which +the admitted accuracy of mathematical processes is allowed to throw a +wholly inadmissible appearance of authority over the results obtained by +them. Mathematics may be compared to a mill of exquisite workmanship, +which grinds you stuff of any degree of fineness; but, nevertheless, +what you get out depends on what you put in; and as the grandest mill in +the world will not extract wheat-flour from peascods, so pages of +formulĉ will not get a definite result out of loose data. + +In the present instance it appears to be admitted:-- + +1. That it is not absolutely certain, after all, whether the moon's mean +motion is undergoing acceleration, or the earth's rotation +retardation.[58] And yet this is the key of the whole position. + +2. If the rapidity of the earth's rotation is diminishing, it is not +certain how much of that retardation is due to tidal friction,--how much +to meteors,--how much to possible excess of melting over accumulation of +polar ice, during the period covered by observation, which amounts, at +the outside, to not more than 2,600 years. + +3. The effect of a different distribution of land and water in modifying +the retardation caused by tidal friction, and of reducing it, under some +circumstances, to a minimum, does not appear to be taken into account. + +4. During the Miocene epoch the polar ice was certainly many feet +thinner than it has been during, or since, the Glacial epoch. Sir W. +Thomson tells us that the accumulation of something more than a foot of +ice around the poles (which implies the withdrawal of, say, an inch of +water from the general surface of the sea) will cause the earth to +rotate quicker by one-tenth of a second per annum. It would appear, +therefore, that the earth may have been rotating, throughout the whole +period which has elapsed from the commencement of the Glacial epoch down +to the present time, one, or more, seconds per annum quicker than it +rotated during the Miocene epoch. + +But, according to Sir W. Thomson's calculation, tidal retardation will +only account for a retardation of 22" in a century, or 22/100 (say 1/5) +of a second per annum. + +Thus, assuming that the accumulation of polar ice since the Miocene +epoch has only been sufficient to produce ten times the effect of a coat +of ice one foot thick, we shall have an accelerating cause which covers +all the loss from tidal action, and leaves a balance of 4/5 a second per +annum in the way of acceleration. + +If tidal retardation can be thus checked and overthrown by other +temporary conditions, what becomes of the confident assertion, based +upon the assumed uniformity of tidal retardation, that ten thousand +million years ago the earth must have been rotating more than twice as +fast as at present, and, therefore, that we geologists are "in direct +opposition to the principles of Natural Philosophy" if we spread +geological history over that time? + +II. The second argument is thus stated by Sir W. Thomson:--"An article, +by myself, published in 'Macmillan's Magazine' for March 1862, on the +age of the sun's heat, explains results of investigation into various +questions as to possibilities regarding the amount of heat that the sun +could have, dealing with it as you would with a stone, or a piece of +matter, only taking into account the sun's dimensions, which showed it +to be possible that the sun may have already illuminated the earth for +as many as one hundred million years, but at the same time rendered it +almost certain that he had not illuminated the earth for five hundred +millions of years. The estimates here are necessarily very vague; but +yet, vague as they are, I do not know that it is possible, upon any +reasonable estimate founded on known properties of matter, to say that +we can believe the sun has really illuminated the earth for five hundred +million years."[59] + +I do not wish to "Hansardize" Sir William Thomson by laying much stress +on the fact that, only fifteen years ago, he entertained a totally +different view of the origin of the sun's heat, and believed that the +energy radiated from year to year was supplied from year to year--a +doctrine which would have suited Hutton perfectly. But the fact that so +eminent a physical philosopher has, thus recently, held views opposite +to those which he now entertains, and that he confesses his own +estimates to be "very vague," justly entitles us to disregard those +estimates, if any distinct facts on our side go against them. However, I +am not aware that such facts exist. As I have already said, for anything +I know, one, two, or three hundred millions of years may serve the needs +of geologists perfectly well. + +III. The third line of argument is based upon the temperature of the +interior of the earth. Sir W. Thomson refers to certain investigations +which prove that the present thermal condition of the interior of the +earth implies either a heating of the earth within the last 20,000 years +of as much as 100° F., or a greater heating all over the surface at some +time further back than 20,000 years, and then proceeds thus:-- + +"Now, are geologists prepared to admit that, at some time within the +last 20,000 years, there has been all over the earth so high a +temperature as that? I presume not; no geologist--no _modern_ +geologist--would for a moment admit the hypothesis that the present +state of underground heat is due to a heating of the surface at so late +a period as 20,000 years ago. If that is not admitted, we are driven to +a greater heat at some time more than 20,000 years ago. A greater +heating all over the surface than 100° Fahrenheit would kill nearly all +existing plants and animals, I may safely say. Are modern geologists +prepared to say that all life was killed off the earth 50,000, 100,000, +or 200,000 years ago? For the uniformity theory, the further back the +time of high surface-temperature is put the better; but the further back +the time of heating, the hotter it must have been. The best for those +who draw most largely on time is that which puts it furthest back; and +that is the theory that the heating was enough to melt the whole. But +even if it was enough to melt the whole, we must still admit some limit, +such as fifty million years, one hundred million years, or two or three +hundred million years ago. Beyond that we cannot go."[60] + +It will be observed that the "limit" is once again of the vaguest, +ranging from 50,000,000 years to 300,000,000. And the reply is, once +more, that, for anything that can be proved to the contrary, one or two +hundred million years might serve the purpose, even of a thorough-going +Huttonian uniformitarian, very well. + +But if, on the other hand, the 100,000,000 or 200,000,000 years appear +to be insufficient for geological purposes, we must closely criticise +the method by which the limit is reached. The argument is simple enough. +_Assuming_ the earth to be nothing but a cooling mass, the quantity of +heat lost per year, _supposing_ the rate of cooling to have been +uniform, multiplied by any given number of years, will be given the +minimum temperature that number of years ago. + +But is the earth nothing but a cooling mass, "like a hot-water jar such +as is used in carriages," or "a globe of sandstone?" and has its cooling +been uniform? An affirmative answer to both these questions seems to be +necessary to the validity of the calculations on which Sir W. Thomson +lays so much stress. + +Nevertheless it surely may be urged that such affirmative answers are +purely hypothetical, and that other suppositions have an equal right to +consideration. + +For example, is it not possible that, at the prodigious temperature +which would seem to exist at 100 miles below the surface, all the +metallic bases may behave as mercury does at a red heat, when it refuses +to combine with oxygen; while, nearer the surface, and therefore at a +lower temperature, they may enter into combination (as mercury does with +oxygen a few degrees below its boiling-point) and so give rise to a +heat totally distinct from that which they possess as cooling bodies? +And has it not also been proved by recent researches that the quality of +the atmosphere may immensely affect its permeability to heat; and, +consequently, profoundly modify the rate of cooling the globe as a +whole? + +I do not think it can be denied that such conditions may exist, and may +so greatly affect the supply, and the loss, of terrestrial heat as to +destroy the value of any calculations which leave them out of sight. + + +My functions as your advocate are at an end. I speak with more than the +sincerity of a mere advocate when I express the belief that the case +against us has entirely broken down. The cry for reform which has been +raised without, is superfluous, inasmuch as we have long been reforming +from within, with all needful speed. And the critical examination of the +grounds upon which the very grave charge of opposition to the principles +of Natural Philosophy has been brought against us, rather shows that we +have exercised a wise discrimination in declining, for the present, to +meddle with our foundations. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[39] On Geological Time. By Sir W. Thomson, LL.D. Transactions of the +Geological Society of Glasgow, vol. iii. + +[40] The Theory of the Earth, vol. i. p. 173, note. + +[41] Ibid. p. 281. + +[42] Ibid. p. 371. + +[43] The Theory of the Earth, vol. i. p. 200. + +[44] The Theory of the Earth, vol. i. pp. 16, 17. + +[45] The Theory of the Earth, vol. i. p. 223. + +[46] Principles of Geology, vol. ii. p. 211. + +[47] Principles of Geology, vol. ii. p. 613. + +[48] "Man darf es sich also nicht befremden lassen, wenn ich mich +unterstehe zu sagen, dass eher die Bildung aller Himmelskörper, die +Ursache ihrer Bewegungen, kurz der Ursprung der ganzen gegenwärtigen +Verfassung des Weltbaues werden können eingesehen werden, ehe die +Erzeugung eines einzigen Krautes oder einer Raupe aus mechanischen +Gründen, deutlich und vollständig kund werden wird."--KANT'S _Sämmtliche +Werke_, Bd. I. p. 220. + +[49] Grant ("History of Physical Astronomy," p. 574) makes but the +briefest reference to Kant. + +[50] "Allgemeine Naturgeschichte und Theorie des Himmels; oder Versuch +von der Verfassung und dem mechanischen Ursprunge des ganzen +Weltgebäudes nach Newton'schen Grundsatzen abgehandelt."--KANT'S +_Sämmtliche Werke_, Bd. i. p. 207. + +[51] Système du Monde, tome ii. chap. 6 + +[52] Kant's "Sämmtliche Werke," Bd. viii. p. 145. + +[53] Sir William Thomson implies (loc. cit. p. 16), that the precise +time is of no consequence: "the principle is the same;" but, as the +principle is admitted, the whole discussion turns on its practical +results. + +[54] "Untersuchung der Frage ob die Erde in ihrer Umdrehung um die +Achse, wodurch sie die Abwechselung des Tages und der Nacht +hervorbringt, einige Veränderung seit den ersten Zeiten ihres Ursprunges +erlitten habe, &c."--KANT'S _Sämmtliche Werke_, Bd. i. p. 178. + +[55] Sir W. Thomson, loc. cit., p. 14. + +[56] Loc. cit., p. 27 + +[57] Ibid. + +[58] It will be understood that I do not wish to deny that the earth's +rotation _may be_ undergoing retardation. + +[59] Loc. cit., p. 20. + +[60] Loc. cit., p. 24. + + + + +XII. + +THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. + + +Mr. Darwin's long-standing and well-earned scientific eminence probably +renders him indifferent to that social notoriety which passes by the +name of success; but if the calm spirit of the philosopher have not yet +wholly superseded the ambition and the vanity of the carnal man within +him, he must be well satisfied with the results of his venture in +publishing the "Origin of Species." Overflowing the narrow bounds of +purely scientific circles, the "species question" divides with Italy and +the Volunteers the attention of general society. Everybody has read Mr. +Darwin's book, or, at least, has given an opinion upon its merits or +demerits; pietists, whether lay or ecclesiastic, decry it with the mild +railing which sounds so charitable; bigots denounce it with ignorant +invective; old ladies, of both sexes, consider it a decidedly dangerous +book, and even savans, who have no better mud to throw, quote antiquated +writers to show that its author is no better than an ape himself; while +every philosophical thinker hails it as a veritable Whitworth gun in the +armory of liberalism; and all competent naturalists and physiologists, +whatever their opinions as to the ultimate fate of the doctrines put +forth, acknowledge that the work in which they are embodied is a solid +contribution to knowledge and inaugurates a new epoch in natural +history. + +Nor has the discussion of the subject been restrained within the limits +of conversation. When the public is eager and interested, reviewers must +minister to its wants; and the genuine _littérateur_ is too much in the +habit of acquiring his knowledge from the book he judges--as the +Abyssinian is said to provide himself with steaks from the ox which +carries him--to be withheld from criticism of a profound scientific work +by the mere want of the requisite preliminary scientific acquirement; +while, on the other hand, the men of science who wish well to the new +views, no less than those who dispute their validity, have naturally +sought opportunities of expressing their opinions. Hence it is not +surprising that almost all the critical journals have noticed Mr. +Darwin's work at greater or less length; and so many disquisitions, of +every degree of excellence, from the poor product of ignorance, too +often stimulated by prejudice, to the fair and thoughtful essay of the +candid student of Nature, have appeared, that it seems an almost +hopeless task to attempt to say anything new upon the question. + +But it may be doubted if the knowledge and acumen of prejudged +scientific opponents, or the subtlety of orthodox special pleaders, have +yet exerted their full force in mystifying the real issues of the great +controversy which has been set afoot, and whose end is hardly likely to +be seen by this generation; so that, at this eleventh hour, and even +failing anything new, it may be useful to state afresh that which is +true, and to put the fundamental positions advocated by Mr. Darwin in +such a form that they may be grasped by those whose special studies lie +in other directions. And the adoption of this course may be the more +advisable, because notwithstanding its great deserts, and indeed partly +on account of them, the "Origin of Species" is by no means an easy book +to read--if by reading is implied the full comprehension of an author's +meaning. + +We do not speak jestingly in saying that it is Mr. Darwin's misfortune +to know more about the question he has taken up than any man living. +Personally and practically exercised in zoology, in minute anatomy, in +geology; a student of geographical distribution, not on maps and in +museums only, but by long voyages and laborious collection; having +largely advanced each of these branches of science, and having spent +many years in gathering and sifting materials for his present work, the +store of accurately registered facts upon which the author of the +"Origin of Species" is able to draw at will is prodigious. + +But this very superabundance of matter must have been embarrassing to a +writer who, for the present, can only put forward an abstract of his +views; and thence it arises, perhaps, that notwithstanding the clearness +of the style, those who attempt fairly to digest the book find much of +it a sort of intellectual pemmican--a mass of facts crushed and pounded +into shape, rather than held together by the ordinary medium of an +obvious logical bond: due attention will, without doubt, discover this +bond, but it is often hard to find. + +Again, from sheer want of room, much has to be taken for granted which +might readily enough be proved; and hence, while the adept, who can +supply the missing links in the evidence from his own knowledge, +discovers fresh proof of the singular thoroughness with which all +difficulties have been considered and all unjustifiable suppositions +avoided, at every reperusal of Mr. Darwin's pregnant paragraphs, the +novice in biology is apt to complain of the frequency of what he fancies +is gratuitous assumption. + +Thus while it may be doubted if, for some years, any one is likely to be +competent to pronounce judgment on all the issues raised by Mr. Darwin, +there is assuredly abundant room for him, who, assuming the humbler, +though perhaps as useful, office of an interpreter between the "Origin +of Species" and the public, contents himself with endeavouring to point +out the nature of the problems which it discusses; to distinguish +between the ascertained facts and the theoretical views which it +contains; and finally, to show the extent to which the explanation it +offers satisfies the requirements of scientific logic. At any rate, it +is this office which we propose to undertake in the following pages. + +It may be safely assumed that our readers have a general conception of +the nature of the objects to which the word "species" is applied; but it +has, perhaps, occurred to few, even of those who are naturalists _ex +professo_, to reflect, that, as commonly employed, the term has a double +sense and denotes two very different orders of relations. When we call a +group of animals, or of plants, a species, we may imply thereby either, +that all these animals or plants have some common peculiarity of form +or structure; or, we may mean that they possess some common functional +character. That part of biological science which deals with form and +structure is called Morphology--that which concerns itself with +function, Physiology--so that we may conveniently speak of these two +senses, or aspects, of "species"--the one as morphological, the other as +physiological. Regarded from the former point of view, a species is +nothing more than a kind of animal or plant, which is distinctly +definable from all others, by certain constant, and not merely sexual, +morphological peculiarities. Thus horses form a species, because the +group of animals to which that name is applied is distinguished from all +others in the world by the following constantly associated characters. +They have 1. A vertebral column; 2. Mammĉ; 3. A placental embryo; 4. +Four legs; 5. A single well-developed toe in each foot provided with a +hoof; 6. A bushy tail; and 7. Callosities on the inner sides of both the +fore and the hind legs. The asses, again, form a distinct species, +because, with the same characters, as far as the fifth in the above +list, all asses have tufted tails, and have callosities only on the +inner side of the fore legs. If animals were discovered having the +general characters of the horse, but sometimes with callosities only on +the fore legs, and more or less tufted tails; or animals having the +general characters of the ass, but with more or less bushy tails, and +sometimes with callosities on both pairs of legs, besides being +intermediate in other respects--the two species would have to be merged +into one. They could no longer be regarded as morphologically distinct +species, for they would not be distinctly definable one from the other. + +However bare and simple this definition of species may appear to be, we +confidently appeal to all practical naturalists, whether zoologists, +botanists, or palĉontologists, to say if, in the vast majority of cases, +they know, or mean to affirm, anything more of the group of animals or +plants they so denominate than what has just been stated. Even the most +decided advocates of the received doctrines respecting species admit +this. + + "I apprehend," says Professor Owen,[61] "that few naturalists + now-a-days, in describing and proposing a name for what they call + 'a new _species_,' use that term to signify what was meant by it + twenty or thirty years ago; that is, an originally distinct + creation, maintaining its primitive distinction by obstructive + generative peculiarities. The proposer of the new species now + intends to state no more than he actually knows; as, for example, + that the differences on which he founds the specific character are + constant in individuals of both sexes, so far as observation has + reached; and that they are not due to domestication or to + artificially superinduced external circumstances, or to any outward + influence within his cognizance; that the species is wild, or is + such as it appears by Nature." + +If we consider, in fact, that by far the largest proportion of recorded +existing species are known only by the study of their skins, or bones, +or other lifeless exuvia; that we are acquainted with none, or next to +none, of their physiological peculiarities, beyond those which can be +deduced from their structure, or are open to cursory observation; and +that we cannot hope to learn more of any of those extinct forms of life +which now constitute no inconsiderable proportion of the known Flora and +Fauna of the world: it is obvious that the definitions of these species +can be only of a purely structural or morphological character. It is +probable that naturalists would have avoided much confusion of ideas if +they had more frequently borne these necessary limitations of our +knowledge in mind. But while it may safely be admitted that we are +acquainted with only the morphological characters of the vast majority +of species--the functional, or physiological, peculiarities of a few +have been carefully investigated, and the result of that study forms a +large and most interesting portion of the physiology of reproduction. + +The student of Nature wonders the more and is astonished the less, the +more conversant he becomes with her operations; but of all the perennial +miracles she offers to his inspection, perhaps the most worthy of +admiration is the development of a plant or of an animal from its +embryo. Examine the recently laid egg of some common animal, such as a +salamander or a newt. It is a minute spheroid in which the best +microscope will reveal nothing but a structureless sac, enclosing a +glairy fluid, holding granules in suspension. But strange possibilities +lie dormant in that semi-fluid globule. Let a moderate supply of warmth +reach its watery cradle, and the plastic matter undergoes changes so +rapid and yet so steady and purposelike in their succession, that one +can only compare them to those operated by a skilled modeller upon a +formless lump of clay. As with an invisible trowel, the mass is divided +and subdivided into smaller and smaller portions, until it is reduced to +an aggregation of granules not too large to build withal the finest +fabrics of the nascent organism. And, then, it is as if a delicate +finger traced out the line to be occupied by the spinal column, and +moulded the contour of the body; pinching up the head at one end, the +tail at the other, and fashioning flank and limb into due salamandrine +proportions, in so artistic a way, that, after watching the process hour +by hour, one is almost involuntarily possessed by the notion, that some +more subtle aid to vision than an achromatic, would show the hidden +artist, with his plan before him, striving with skilful manipulation to +perfect his work. + +As life advances, and the young amphibian ranges the waters, the terror +of his insect contemporaries, not only are the nutritious particles +supplied by its prey, by the addition of which to its frame growth takes +place, laid down, each in its proper spot, and in such due proportion to +the rest, as to reproduce the form, the colour and the size, +characteristic of the parental stock; but even the wonderful powers of +reproducing lost parts possessed by these animals are controlled by the +same governing tendency. Cut off the legs, the tail, the jaws, +separately or all together, and, as Spallanzani showed long ago, these +parts not only grow again, but the redintegrated limb is formed on the +same type as those which were lost. The new jaw, or leg, is a newt's, +and never by any accident more like that of a frog. What is true of the +newt is true of every animal and of every plant; the acorn tends to +build itself up again into a woodland giant such as that from whose twig +it fell; the spore of the humblest lichen reproduces the green or brown +incrustation which gave it birth; and at the other end of the scale of +life, the child that resembled neither the paternal nor the maternal +side of the house would be regarded as a kind of monster. + +So that the one end to which, in all living beings, the formative +impulse is tending--the one scheme which the Archĉus of the old +speculators strives to carry out, seems to be to mould the offspring +into the likeness of the parent. It is the first great law of +reproduction, that the offspring tends to resemble its parent or +parents, more closely than anything else. + +Science will some day show us how this law is a necessary consequence of +the more general laws which govern matter; but for the present, more can +hardly be said than that it appears to be in harmony with them. We know +that the phĉnomena of vitality are not something apart from other +physical phĉnomena, but one with them; and matter and force are the two +names of the one artist who fashions the living as well as the lifeless. +Hence living bodies should obey the same great laws as other +matter--nor, throughout Nature, is there a law of wider application than +this, that a body impelled by two forces takes the direction of their +resultant. But living bodies may be regarded as nothing but extremely +complex bundles of forces held in a mass of matter, as the complex +forces of a magnet are held in the steel by its coercive force; and, +since the differences of sex are comparatively slight, or, in other +words, the sum of the forces in each has a very similar tendency, their +resultant, the offspring, may reasonably be expected to deviate but +little from a course parallel to either, or to both. + +Represent the reason of the law to ourselves by what physical metaphor +or analogy we will, however, the great matter is to apprehend its +existence and the importance of the consequences deducible from it. For +things which are like to the same are like to one another, and if, in a +great series of generations, every offspring is like its parent, it +follows that all the offspring and all the parents must be like one +another; and that, given an original parental stock, with the +opportunity of undisturbed multiplication, the law in question +necessitates the production, in course of time, of an indefinitely large +group, the whole of whose members are at once very similar and are blood +relations, having descended from the same parent, or pair of parents. +The proof that all the members of any given group of animals, or plants, +had thus descended, would be ordinarily considered sufficient to entitle +them to the rank of physiological species, for most physiologists +consider species to be definable as "the offspring of a single primitive +stock." + +But though it is quite true that all those groups we call species _may_, +according to the known laws of reproduction, have descended from a +single stock, and though it is very likely they really have done so, yet +this conclusion rests on deduction and can hardly hope to establish +itself upon a basis of observation. And the primitiveness of the +supposed single stock, which, after all, is the essential part of the +matter, is not only a hypothesis, but one which has not a shadow of +foundation, if by "primitive" be meant "independent of any other living +being." A scientific definition, of which an unwarrantable hypothesis +forms an essential part, carries its condemnation within itself; but +even supposing such a definition were, in form, tenable, the +physiologist who should attempt to apply it in Nature would soon find +himself involved in great, if not inextricable difficulties. As we have +said, it is indubitable that offspring _tend_ to resemble the parental +organism, but it is equally true that the similarity attained never +amounts to identity, either in form or in structure. There is always a +certain amount of deviation, not only from the precise characters of a +single parent, but when, as in most animals and many plants, the sexes +are lodged in distinct individuals, from an exact mean between the two +parents. And indeed, on general principles, this slight deviation seems +as intelligible as the general similarity, if we reflect how complex the +co-operating "bundles of forces" are, and how improbable it is that, in +any case, their true resultant shall coincide with any mean between the +more obvious characters of the two parents. Whatever be its cause, +however, the co-existence of this tendency to minor variation with the +tendency to general similarity, is of vast importance in its bearing on +the question of the origin of species. + +As a general rule, the extent to which an offspring differs from its +parent is slight enough; but, occasionally, the amount of difference is +much more strongly marked, and then the divergent offspring receives the +name of a Variety. Multitudes, of what there is every reason to believe +are such varieties, are known, but the origin of very few has been +accurately recorded, and of these we will select two as more especially +illustrative of the main features of variation. The first of them is +that of the "Ancon," or "Otter" sheep, of which a careful account is +given by Colonel David Humphreys, F.R.S., in a letter to Sir Joseph +Banks, published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1813. It appears +that one Seth Wright, the proprietor of a farm on the banks of the +Charles River, in Massachusetts, possessed a flock of fifteen ewes and a +ram of the ordinary kind. In the year 1791, one of the ewes presented +her owner with a male lamb, differing, for no assignable reason, from +its parents by a proportionally long body and short bandy legs, whence +it was unable to emulate its relatives in those sportive leaps over the +neighbours' fences, in which they were in the habit of indulging, much +to the good farmer's vexation. + +The second case is that detailed by a no less unexceptionable authority +than Réaumur in his "Art de faire éclore les Poulets." A Maltese couple, +named Kelleia, whose hands and feet were constructed upon the ordinary +human model, had born to them a son, Gratio, who possessed six perfectly +moveable fingers on each hand and six toes, not quite so well formed, on +each foot. No cause could be assigned for the appearance of this unusual +variety of the human species. + +Two circumstances are well worthy of remark in both these cases. In +each, the variety appears to have arisen in full force, and, as it were, +_per saltum_; a wide and definite difference appearing, at once, between +the Ancon ram and the ordinary sheep; between the six-fingered and +six-toed Gratio Kelleia and ordinary men. In neither case is it possible +to point out any obvious reason for the appearance of the variety. +Doubtless there were determining causes for these as for all other +phĉnomena; but they do not appear, and we can be tolerably certain that +what are ordinarily understood as changes in physical conditions, as in +climate, in food, or the like, did not take place and had nothing to do +with the matter. It was no case of what is commonly called adaptation to +circumstances; but, to use a conveniently erroneous phrase, the +variations arose spontaneously. The fruitless search after final causes +leads their pursuers a long way; but even those hardy teleologists, who +are ready to break through all the laws of physics in chase of their +favourite will-o'-the-wisp, may be puzzled to discover what purpose +could be attained by the stunted legs of Seth Wright's ram or the +hexadactyle members of Gratio Kelleia. + +Varieties then arise we know not why; and it is more than probable that +the majority of varieties have arisen in this "spontaneous" manner, +though we are, of course, far from denying that they may be traced, in +some cases, to distinct external influences; which are assuredly +competent to alter the character of the tegumentary covering, to change +colour, to increase or diminish the size of muscles, to modify +constitution, and, among plants, to give rise to the metamorphosis of +stamens into petals, and so forth. But however they may have arisen, +what especially interests us at present is, to remark that, once in +existence, varieties obey the fundamental law of reproduction that like +tends to produce like, and their offspring exemplify it by tending to +exhibit the same deviation from the parental stock as themselves. +Indeed, there seems to be, in many instances, a pre-potent influence +about a newly-arisen variety which gives it what one may call an unfair +advantage over the normal descendants from the same stock. This is +strikingly exemplified by the case of Gratio Kelleia, who married a +woman with the ordinary pentadactyle extremities, and had by her four +children, Salvator, George, André, and Marie. Of these children +Salvator, the eldest boy, had six fingers and six toes, like his father; +the second and third, also boys, had five fingers and five toes, like +their mother, though the hands and feet of George were slightly +deformed; the last, a girl, had five fingers and five toes, but the +thumbs were slightly deformed. The variety thus reproduced itself purely +in the eldest, while the normal type reproduced itself purely in the +third, and almost purely in the second and last: so that it would seem, +at first, as if the normal type were more powerful than the variety. But +all these children grew up and intermarried with normal wives and +husband, and then, note what took place: Salvator had four children, +three of whom exhibited the hexadactyle members of their grandfather and +father, while the youngest had the pentadactyle limbs of the mother and +grandmother; so that here, notwithstanding a double pentadactyle +dilution of the blood, the hexadactyle variety had the best of it. The +same pre-potency of the variety was still more markedly exemplified in +the progeny of two of the other children, Marie and George. Marie (whose +thumbs only were deformed) gave birth to a boy with six toes, and three +other normally formed children; but George, who was not quite so pure a +pentadactyle, begot, first, two girls, each of whom had six fingers and +toes; then a girl with six fingers on each hand and six toes on the +right foot, but only five toes on the left; and lastly, a boy with only +five fingers and toes. In these instances, therefore, the variety, as it +were, leaped over one generation to reproduce itself in full force in +the next. Finally, the purely pentadactyle André was the father of many +children, not one of whom departed from the normal parental type. + +If a variation which approaches the nature of a monstrosity can strive +thus forcibly to reproduce itself, it is not wonderful that less +aberrant modifications should tend to be preserved even more strongly; +and the history of the Ancon sheep is, in this respect, particularly +instructive. With the "'cuteness" characteristic of their nation, the +neighbours of the Massachusetts farmer imagined it would be an excellent +thing if all his sheep were imbued with the stay-at-home tendencies +enforced by Nature upon the newly-arrived ram; and they advised Wright +to kill the old patriarch of his fold, and install the Ancon ram in his +place. The result justified their sagacious anticipations, and coincided +very nearly with what occurred to the progeny of Gratio Kelleia. The +young lambs were almost always either pure Ancons, or pure ordinary +sheep.[62] But when sufficient Ancon sheep were obtained to interbreed +with one another, it was found that the offspring was always pure Ancon. +Colonel Humphreys, in fact, states that he was acquainted with only "one +questionable case of a contrary nature." Here, then, is a remarkable and +well-established instance, not only of a very distinct race being +established _per saltum_, but of that race breeding "true" at once, and +showing no mixed forms, even when crossed with another breed. + +By taking care to select Ancons of both sexes, for breeding from, it +thus became easy to establish an extremely well-marked race; so peculiar +that, even when herded with other sheep, it was noted that the Ancons +kept together. And there is every reason to believe that the existence +of this breed might have been indefinitely protracted; but the +introduction of the Merino sheep, which were not only very superior to +the Ancons in wool and meat, but quite as quiet and orderly, led to the +complete neglect of the new breed, so that, in 1813, Colonel Humphreys +found it difficult to obtain the specimen, whose skeleton was presented +to Sir Joseph Banks. We believe that, for many years, no remnant of it +has existed in the United States. + +Gratio Kelleia was not the progenitor of a race of six-fingered men, as +Seth Wright's ram became a nation of Ancon sheep, though the tendency of +the variety to perpetuate itself appears to have been fully as strong, +in the one case as in the other. And the reason of the difference is not +far to seek. Seth Wright took care not to weaken the Ancon blood by +matching his Ancon ewes with any but males of the same variety, while +Gratio Kelleia's sons were too far removed from the patriarchal times to +intermarry with their sisters; and his grandchildren seem not to have +been attracted by their six-fingered cousins. In other words, in the one +example a race was produced, because, for several generations, care was +taken to _select_ both parents of the breeding stock, from animals +exhibiting a tendency to vary in the same direction; while, in the +other, no race was evolved, because no such selection was exercised. A +race is a propagated variety; and as, by the laws of reproduction, +offspring tend to assume the parental form, they will be more likely to +propagate a variation exhibited by both parents than that possessed by +only one. + +There is no organ of the body of an animal which may not, and does not, +occasionally, vary more or less from the normal type; and there is no +variation which may not be transmitted, and which, if selectively +transmitted, may not become the foundation of a race. This great truth, +sometimes forgotten by philosophers, has long been familiar to practical +agriculturists and breeders: and upon it rest all the methods of +improving the breeds of domestic animals, which, for the last century, +have been followed with so much success in England. Colour, form, size, +texture of hair or wool, proportions of various parts, strength or +weakness of constitution, tendency to fatten or to remain lean, to give +much or little milk, speed, strength, temper, intelligence, special +instincts; there is not one of these characters whose transmission is +not an every-day occurrence within the experience of cattle-breeders, +stock-farmers, horse-dealers, and dog and poultry fanciers. Nay, it is +only the other day that an eminent physiologist, Dr. Brown-Séquard, +communicated to the Royal Society his discovery that epilepsy, +artificially produced in guinea-pigs, by a means which he has +discovered, is transmitted to their offspring. + +But a race, once produced, is no more a fixed and immutable entity than +the stock whence it sprang; variations arise among its members, and as +these variations are transmitted like any others, new races may be +developed out of the pre-existing ones _ad infinitum_, or, at least, +within any limit at present determined. Given sufficient time and +sufficiently careful selection, and the multitude of races which may +arise from a common stock is as astonishing as are the extreme +structural differences which they may present. A remarkable example of +this is to be found in the rock-pigeon, which Mr. Darwin has, in our +opinion, satisfactorily demonstrated to be the progenitor of all our +domestic pigeons, of which there are certainly more than a hundred +well-marked races. The most noteworthy of these races are, the four +great stocks known to the "fancy" as tumblers, pouters, carriers, and +fantails; birds which not only differ most singularly in size, colour, +and habits, but in the form of the beak and of the skull: in the +proportions of the beak to the skull; in the number of tail-feathers; in +the absolute and relative size of the feet; in the presence or absence +of the uropygial gland; in the number of vertebrĉ in the back; in short, +in precisely those characters in which the genera and species of birds +differ from one another. + +And it is most remarkable and instructive to observe, that none of these +races can be shown to have been originated by the action of changes in +what are commonly called external circumstances, upon the wild +rock-pigeon. On the contrary, from time immemorial, pigeon fanciers have +had essentially similar methods of treating their pets, which have been +housed, fed, protected and cared for in much the same way in all +pigeonries. In fact, there is no case better adapted than that of the +pigeons, to refute the doctrine which one sees put forth on high +authority, that "no other characters than those founded on the +development of bone for the attachment of muscles" are capable of +variation. In precise contradiction of this hasty assertion, Mr. +Darwin's researches prove that the skeleton of the wings in domestic +pigeons has hardly varied at all from that of the wild type; while, on +the other hand, it is in exactly those respects, such as the relative +length of the beak and skull, the number of the vertebrĉ, and the number +of the tail-feathers, in which muscular exertion can have no important +influence, that the utmost amount of variation has taken place. + + +We have said that the following out of the properties exhibited by +physiological species would lead us into difficulties, and at this point +they begin to be obvious; for, if, as a result of spontaneous variation +and of selective breeding, the progeny of a common stock may become +separated into groups distinguished from one another by constant, not +sexual, morphological characters, it is clear that the physiological +definition of species is likely to clash with the morphological +definition. No one would hesitate to describe the pouter and the tumbler +as distinct species, if they were found fossil, or if their skins and +skeletons were imported, as those of exotic wild birds commonly +are--and, without doubt, if considered alone, they are good and distinct +morphological species. On the other hand, they are not physiological +species, for they are descended from a common stock, the rock-pigeon. + +Under these circumstances, as it is admitted on all sides that races +occur in Nature, how are we to know whether any apparently distinct +animals are really of different physiological species, or not, seeing +that the amount of morphological difference is no safe guide? Is there +any test of a physiological species? The usual answer of physiologists +is in the affirmative. It is said that such a test is to be found in the +phĉnomena of hybridization--in the results of crossing races, as +compared with the results of crossing species. + +So far as the evidence goes at present, individuals, of what are +certainly known to be mere races produced by selection, however distinct +they may appear to be, not only breed freely together, but the offspring +of such crossed races are only perfectly fertile with one another. Thus, +the spaniel and the greyhound, the dray-horse and the Arab, the pouter +and the tumbler, breed together with perfect freedom, and their +mongrels, if matched with other mongrels of the same kind, are equally +fertile. + +On the other hand, there can be no doubt that the individuals of many +natural species are either absolutely infertile, if crossed with +individuals of other species, or, if they give rise to hybrid offspring, +the hybrids so produced are infertile when paired together. The horse +and the ass, for instance, if so crossed, give rise to the mule, and +there is no certain evidence of offspring ever having been produced by a +male and female mule. The unions of the rock-pigeon and the ring-pigeon +appear to be equally barren of result. Here, then, says the +physiologist, we have a means of distinguishing any two true species +from any two varieties. If a male and a female, selected from each +group, produce offspring, and that offspring is fertile with others +produced in the same way, the groups are races and not species. If, on +the other hand, no result ensues, or if the offspring are infertile with +others produced in the same way, they are true physiological species. +The test would be an admirable one, if, in the first place, it were +always practicable to apply it, and if, in the second, it always +yielded results susceptible of a definite interpretation. Unfortunately, +in the great majority of cases, this touchstone for species is wholly +inapplicable. + +The constitution of many wild animals is so altered by confinement that +they will not breed even with their own females, so that the negative +results obtained from crosses are of no value; and the antipathy of wild +animals of different species for one another, or even of wild and tame +members of the same species, is ordinarily so great, that it is hopeless +to look for such unions in Nature. The hermaphrodism of most plants, the +difficulty in the way of ensuring the absence of their own, or the +proper working of other pollen, are obstacles of no less magnitude in +applying the test to them. And in both, animals and plants is superadded +the further difficulty, that experiments must be continued over a long +time for the purpose of ascertaining the fertility of the mongrel or +hybrid progeny, as well as of the first crosses from which they spring. + +Not only do these great practical difficulties lie in the way of +applying the hybridization test, but even when this oracle can be +questioned, its replies are sometimes as doubtful as those of Delphi. +For example, cases are cited by Mr. Darwin, of plants which are more +fertile with the pollen of another species than with their own; and +there are others, such as certain _fuci_, whose male element will +fertilize the ovule of a plant of distinct species, while the males of +the latter species are ineffective with the females of the first. So +that, in the last-named instance, a physiologist, who should cross the +two species in one way, would decide that they were true species; while +another, who should cross them in the reverse way, would, with equal +justice, according to the rule, pronounce them to be mere races. Several +plants, which there is great reason to believe are mere varieties, are +almost sterile when crossed; while both animals and plants, which have +always been regarded by naturalists as of distinct species, turn out, +when the test is applied, to be perfectly fertile. Again, the sterility +or fertility of crosses seems to bear no relation to the structural +resemblances or differences of the members of any two groups. + +Mr. Darwin has discussed this question with singular ability and +circumspection, and his conclusions are summed up as follow, at page 276 +of his work:-- + + "First crosses between forms sufficiently distinct to be ranked as + species, and their hybrids, are very generally, but not + universally, sterile. The sterility is of all degrees, and is often + so slight that the two most careful experimentalists who have ever + lived have come to diametrically opposite conclusions in ranking + forms by this test. The sterility is innately variable in + individuals of the same species, and is eminently susceptible of + favourable and unfavourable conditions. The degree of sterility + does not strictly follow systematic affinity, but is governed by + several curious and complex laws. It is generally different, and + sometimes widely different, in reciprocal crosses between the same + two species. It is not always equal in degree in a first cross, and + in the hybrid produced from this cross. + + "In the same manner as in grafting trees, the capacity of one + species or variety to take on another is incidental on generally + unknown differences in their vegetative systems; so in crossing, + the greater or less facility of one species to unite with another + is incidental on unknown differences in their reproductive systems. + There is no more reason to think that species have been specially + endowed with various degrees of sterility to prevent them crossing + and breeding in Nature, than to think that trees have been + specially endowed with various and somewhat analogous degrees of + difficulty in being grafted together, in order to prevent them + becoming inarched in our forests. + + "The sterility of first crosses between pure species, which have + their reproductive systems perfect, seems to depend on several + circumstances; in some cases largely on the early death of the + embryo. The sterility of hybrids which have their reproductive + systems imperfect, and which have had this system and their whole + organization disturbed by being compounded of two distinct species, + seems closely allied to that sterility which so frequently affects + pure species when their natural conditions of life have been + disturbed. This view is supported by a parallelism of another kind; + namely, that the crossing of forms, only slightly different, is + favourable to the vigour and fertility of the offspring; and that + slight changes in the conditions of life are apparently favourable + to the vigour and fertility of all organic beings. It is not + surprising that the degree of difficulty in uniting two species, + and the degree of sterility of their hybrid offspring, should + generally correspond, though due to distinct causes; for both + depend on the amount of difference of some kind between the species + which are crossed. Nor is it surprising that the facility of + effecting a first cross, the fertility of hybrids produced from it, + and the capacity of being grafted together--though this latter + capacity evidently depends on widely different + circumstances--should all run to a certain extent parallel with the + systematic affinity of the forms which are subjected to experiment; + for systematic affinity attempts to express all kinds of + resemblance between all species. + + "First crosses between forms known to be varieties, or sufficiently + alike to be considered as varieties, and their mongrel offspring, + are very generally, but not quite universally, fertile. Nor is this + nearly general and perfect fertility surprising, when we remember + how liable we are to argue in a circle with respect to varieties in + a state of Nature; and when we remember that the greater number of + varieties have been produced under domestication by the selection + of mere external differences, and not of differences in the + reproductive system. In all other respects, excluding fertility, + there is a close general resemblance between hybrids and + mongrels."--Pp. 276-8. + +We fully agree with the general tenor of this weighty passage; but +forcible as are these arguments, and little as the value of fertility or +infertility as a test of species may be, it must not be forgotten that +the really important fact, so far as the inquiry into the origin of +species goes, is, that there are such things in Nature as groups of +animals and of plants, whose members are incapable of fertile union with +those of other groups; and that there are such things as hybrids, which +are absolutely sterile when crossed with other hybrids. For if such +phĉnomena as these were exhibited by only two of those assemblages of +living objects, to which the name of species (whether it be used in its +physiological or in its morphological sense) is given, it would have to +be accounted for by any theory of the origin of species, and every +theory which could not account for it would be, so far, imperfect. + +Up to this point we have been dealing with matters of fact, and the +statements which we have laid before the reader would, to the best of +our knowledge, be admitted to contain a fair exposition of what is at +present known respecting the essential properties of species, by all who +have studied the question. And whatever may be his theoretical views, no +naturalist will probably be disposed to demur to the following summary +of that exposition:-- + +Living beings, whether animals or plants, are divisible into multitudes +of distinctly definable kinds, which are morphological species. They are +also divisible into groups of individuals, which breed freely together, +tending to reproduce their like, and are physiological species. Normally +resembling their parents, the offspring of members of these species are +still liable to vary, and the variation may be perpetuated by selection, +as a race, which race, in many cases, presents all the characteristics +of a morphological species. But it is not as yet proved that a race ever +exhibits, when crossed with another race of the same species, those +phĉnomena of hybridization which are exhibited by many species when +crossed with other species. On the other hand, not only is it not +proved that all species give rise to hybrids infertile _inter se_, but +there is much reason to believe that, in crossing, species exhibit every +gradation from perfect sterility to perfect fertility. + + +Such are the most essential characteristics of species. Even were man +not one of them--a member of the same system and subject to the same +laws--the question of their origin, their causal connexion, that is, +with the other phĉnomena of the universe, must have attracted his +attention, as soon as his intelligence had raised itself above the level +of his daily wants. + +Indeed history relates that such was the case, and has embalmed for us +the speculations upon the origin of living beings, which were among the +earliest products of the dawning intellectual activity of man. In those +early days positive knowledge was not to be had, but the craving after +it needed, at all hazards, to be satisfied, and according to the +country, or the turn of thought of the speculator, the suggestion that +all living things arose from the mud of the Nile, from a primeval egg, +or from some more anthropomorphic agency, afforded a sufficient +resting-place for his curiosity. The myths of Paganism are as dead as +Osiris or Zeus, and the man who should revive them, in opposition to the +knowledge of our time, would be justly laughed to scorn; but the coeval +imaginations current among the rude inhabitants of Palestine, recorded +by writers whose very name and age are admitted by every scholar to be +unknown, have unfortunately not yet shared their fate, but, even at this +day, are regarded by nine-tenths of the civilized world as the +authoritative standard of fact and the criterion of the justice of +scientific conclusions, in all that relates to the origin of things, +and, among them, of species. In this nineteenth century, as at the dawn +of modern physical science, the cosmogony of the semi-barbarous Hebrew +is the incubus of the philosopher and the opprobrium of the orthodox. +Who shall number the patient and earnest seekers after truth, from the +days of Galileo until now, whose lives have been embittered and their +good name blasted by the mistaken zeal of Bibliolaters? Who shall count +the host of weaker men whose sense of truth has been destroyed in the +effort to harmonize impossibilities--whose life has been wasted in the +attempt to force the generous new wine of Science into the old bottles +of Judaism, compelled by the outcry of the same strong party? + +It is true that if philosophers have suffered, their cause has been +amply avenged. Extinguished theologians lie about the cradle of every +science as the strangled snakes beside that of Hercules; and history +records that whenever science and orthodoxy have been fairly opposed, +the latter has been forced to retire from the lists, bleeding and +crushed, if not annihilated; scotched, if not slain. But orthodoxy is +the Bourbon of the world of thought. It learns not, neither can it +forget; and though, at present, bewildered and afraid to move, it is as +willing as ever to insist that the first chapter of Genesis contains the +beginning and the end of sound science; and to visit, with such petty +thunderbolts as its half-paralysed hands can hurl, those who refuse to +degrade Nature to the level of primitive Judaism. + +Philosophers, on the other hand, have no such aggressive tendencies. +With eyes fixed on the noble goal to which "per aspera et ardua" they +tend, they may, now and then, be stirred to momentary wrath by the +unnecessary obstacles with which the ignorant, or the malicious, +encumber, if they cannot bar, the difficult path; but why should their +souls be deeply vexed? The majesty of Fact is on their side, and the +elemental forces of Nature are working for them. Not a star comes to the +meridian at its calculated time but testifies to the justice of their +methods--their beliefs are "one with the falling rain and with the +growing corn." By doubt they are established, and open inquiry is their +bosom friend. Such men have no fear of traditions however venerable, and +no respect for them when they become mischievous and obstructive; but +they have better than mere antiquarian business in hand, and if dogmas, +which ought to be fossil but are not, are not forced upon their notice, +they are too happy to treat them as non-existent. + + +The hypotheses respecting the origin of species which profess to stand +upon a scientific basis, and, as such, alone demand serious attention, +are of two kinds. The one, the "special creation" hypothesis, presumes +every species to have originated from one or more stocks, these not +being the result of the modification of any other form of living +matter--or arising by natural agencies--but being produced, as such, by +a supernatural creative act. + +The other, the so-called "transmutation" hypothesis, considers that all +existing species are the result of the modification of pre-existing +species, and those of their predecessors, by agencies similar to those +which at the present day produce varieties and races, and therefore in +an altogether natural way; and it is a probable, though not a necessary +consequence of this hypothesis, that all living beings have arisen from +a single stock. With respect to the origin of this primitive stock, or +stocks, the doctrine of the origin of species is obviously not +necessarily concerned. The transmutation hypothesis, for example, is +perfectly consistent either with the conception of a special creation of +the primitive germ, or with the supposition of its having arisen, as a +modification of inorganic matter, by natural causes. + +The doctrine of special creation owes its existence very largely to the +supposed necessity of making science accord with the Hebrew cosmogony; +but it is curious to observe that, as the doctrine is at present +maintained by men of science, it is as hopelessly inconsistent with the +Hebrew view as any other hypothesis. + +If there be any result which has come more clearly out of geological +investigation than another, it is, that the vast series of extinct +animals and plants is not divisible, as it was once supposed to be, into +distinct groups, separated by sharply marked boundaries. There are no +great gulfs between epochs and formations--no successive periods marked +by the appearance of plants, of water animals, and of land animals, _en +masse_. Every year adds to the list of links between what the older +geologists supposed to be widely separated epochs: witness the crags +linking the drift with the older tertiaries; the Maestricht beds linking +the tertiaries with the chalk; the St. Cassian beds exhibiting an +abundant fauna of mixed mesozoic and palĉozoic types, in rocks of an +epoch once supposed to be eminently poor in life; witness, lastly, the +incessant disputes as to whether a given stratum shall be reckoned +devonian or carboniferous, silurian or devonian, cambrian or silurian. + +This truth is further illustrated in a most interesting manner by the +impartial and highly competent testimony of M. Pictet, from whose +calculations of what percentage of the genera of animals, existing in +any formation, lived during the preceding formation, it results that in +no case is the proportion less than _one-third_, or 33 per cent. It is +the triassic formation, or the commencement of the mesozoic epoch, which +has received this smallest inheritance from preceding ages. The other +formations not uncommonly exhibit 60, 80, or even 94 per cent. of genera +in common with those whose remains are imbedded in their predecessor. +Not only is this true, but the subdivisions of each formation exhibit +new species characteristic of, and found only in, them; and, in many +cases, as in the lias for example, the separate beds of these +subdivisions are distinguished by well-marked and peculiar forms of +life. A section, a hundred feet thick, will exhibit, at different +heights, a dozen species of ammonite, none of which passes beyond its +particular zone of limestone, or clay, into the zone below it or into +that above it; so that those who adopt the doctrine of special creation +must be prepared to admit that at intervals of time, corresponding with +the thickness of these beds, the Creator thought fit to interfere with +the natural course of events for the purpose of making a new ammonite. +It is not easy to transplant oneself into the frame of mind of those who +can accept such a conclusion as this, on any evidence short of absolute +demonstration; and it is difficult to see what is to be gained by so +doing, since, as we have said, it is obvious that such a view of the +origin of living beings is utterly opposed to the Hebrew cosmogony. +Deserving no aid from the powerful arm of bibliolatry, then, does the +received form of the hypothesis of special creation derive any support +from science or sound logic? Assuredly not much. The arguments brought +forward in its favour all take one form: If species were not +supernaturally created, we cannot understand the facts _x_, or _y_, or +_z_; we cannot understand the structure of animals or plants, unless we +suppose they were contrived for special ends; we cannot understand the +structure of the eye, except by supposing it to have been made to see +with; we cannot understand instincts, unless we suppose animals to have +been miraculously endowed with them. + +As a question of dialectics, it must be admitted that this sort of +reasoning is not very formidable to those who are not to be frightened +by consequences. It is an _argumentum ad ignorantiam_--take this +explanation or be ignorant. But suppose we prefer to admit our ignorance +rather than adopt a hypothesis at variance with all the teachings of +Nature? Or, suppose for a moment we admit the explanation, and then +seriously ask ourselves how much the wiser are we; what does the +explanation explain? Is it any more than a grandiloquent way of +announcing the fact, that we really know nothing about the matter? A +phenomenon is explained when it is shown to be a case of some general +law of Nature; but the supernatural interposition of the Creator can, by +the nature of the case, exemplify no law, and if species have really +arisen in this way, it is absurd to attempt to discuss their origin. + +Or, lastly, let us ask ourselves whether any amount of evidence which +the nature of our faculties permits us to attain, can justify us in +asserting that any phĉnomenon is out of the reach of natural causation. +To this end it is obviously necessary that we should know all the +consequences to which all possible combinations, continued through +unlimited time, can give rise. If we knew these, and found none +competent to originate species, we should have good ground for denying +their origin by natural causation. Till we know them, any hypothesis is +better than one which involves us in such miserable presumption. + +But the hypothesis of special creation is not only a mere specious mask +for our ignorance; its existence in Biology marks the youth and +imperfection of the science. For what is the history of every science +but the history of the elimination of the notion of creative, or other +interferences, with the natural order of the phĉnomena which are the +subject-matter of that science? When Astronomy was young "the morning +stars sang together for joy," and the planets were guided in their +courses by celestial hands. Now, the harmony of the stars has resolved +itself into gravitation according to the inverse squares of the +distances, and the orbits of the planets are deducible from the laws of +the forces which allow a schoolboy's stone to break a window. The +lightning was the angel of the Lord; but it has pleased Providence, in +these modern times, that science should make it the humble messenger of +man, and we know that every flash that shimmers about the horizon on a +summer's evening is determined by ascertainable conditions, and that its +direction and brightness might, if our knowledge of these were great +enough, have been calculated. + +The solvency of great mercantile companies rests on the validity of the +laws which have been ascertained to govern the seeming irregularity of +that human life which the moralist bewails as the most uncertain of +things; plague, pestilence, and famine are admitted, by all but fools, +to be the natural result of causes for the most part fully within human +control, and not the unavoidable tortures inflicted by wrathful +Omnipotence upon his helpless handiwork. + +Harmonious order governing eternally continuous progress--the web and +woof of matter and force interweaving by slow degrees, without a broken +thread, that veil which lies between us and the Infinite--that universe +which alone we know or can know; such is the picture which science draws +of the world, and in proportion as any part of that picture is in unison +with the rest, so may we feel sure that it is rightly painted. Shall +Biology alone remain out of harmony with her sister sciences? + +Such arguments against the hypothesis of the direct creation of species +as these are plainly enough deducible from general considerations; but +there are, in addition, phĉnomena exhibited by species themselves, and +yet not so much a part of their very essence as to have required earlier +mention, which are in the highest degree perplexing, if we adopt the +popularly accepted hypothesis. Such are the facts of distribution in +space and in time; the singular phĉnomena brought to light by the study +of development; the structural relations of species upon which our +systems of classification are founded; the great doctrines of +philosophical anatomy, such as that of homology, or of the community of +structural plan exhibited by large groups of species differing very +widely in their habits and functions. + +The species of animals which inhabit the sea on opposite sides of the +isthmus of Panama are wholly distinct;[63] the animals and plants which +inhabit islands are commonly distinct from those of the neighbouring +mainlands, and yet have a similarity of aspect. The mammals of the +latest tertiary epoch in the Old and New Worlds belong to the same +genera, or family groups, as those which now inhabit the same great +geographical area. The crocodilian reptiles which existed in the +earliest secondary epoch were similar in general structure to those now +living, but exhibit slight differences in their vertebrĉ, nasal +passages, and one or two other points. The guinea-pig has teeth which +are shed before it is born, and hence can never subserve the masticatory +purpose for which they seem contrived, and, in like manner, the female +dugong has tusks which never cut the gum. All the members of the same +great group run through similar conditions in their development, and all +their parts, in the adult state, are arranged according to the same +plan. Man is more like a gorilla than a gorilla is like a lemur. Such +are a few, taken at random, among the multitudes of similar facts which +modern research has established; but when the student seeks for an +explanation of them from the supporters of the received hypothesis of +the origin of species, the reply he receives is, in substance, of +Oriental simplicity and brevity--"Mashallah! it so pleases God!" There +are different species on opposite sides of the isthmus of Panama, +because they were created different on the two sides. The pliocene +mammals are like the existing ones, because such was the plan of +creation; and we find rudimental organs and similarity of plan, because +it has pleased the Creator to set before himself a "divine exemplar or +archetype," and to copy it in his works; and somewhat ill, those who +hold this view imply, in some of them. That such verbal hocus-pocus +should be received as science will one day be regarded as evidence of +the low state of intelligence in the nineteenth century, just as we +amuse ourselves with the phraseology about Nature's abhorrence of a +vacuum, wherewith Torricelli's compatriots were satisfied to explain the +rise of water in a pump. And be it recollected that this sort of +satisfaction works not only negative but positive ill, by discouraging +inquiry, and so depriving man of the usufruct of one of the most fertile +fields of his great patrimony, Nature. + +The objections to the doctrine of the origin of species by special +creation which have been detailed, must have occurred, with more or less +force, to the mind of every one who has seriously and independently +considered the subject. It is therefore no wonder that, from time to +time, this hypothesis should have been met by counter hypotheses, all as +well, and some better, founded than itself; and it is curious to remark +that the inventors of the opposing views seem to have been led into them +as much by their knowledge of geology, as by their acquaintance with +biology. In fact, when the mind has once admitted the conception of the +gradual production of the present physical state of our globe, by +natural causes operating through long ages of time, it will be little +disposed to allow that living beings have made their appearance in +another way, and the speculations of De Maillet and his successors are +the natural complement of Scilla's demonstration of the true nature of +fossils. + +A contemporary of Newton and of Leibnitz, sharing therefore in the +intellectual activity of the remarkable age which witnessed the birth of +modern physical science, Benoît de Maillet spent a long life as a +consular agent of the French Government in various Mediterranean ports. +For sixteen years, in fact, he held the office of Consul-General in +Egypt, and the wonderful phĉnomena offered by the valley of the Nile +appear to have strongly impressed his mind, to have directed his +attention to all facts of a similar order which came within his +observation, and to have led him to speculate on the origin of the +present condition of our globe and of its inhabitants. But, with all his +ardour for science, De Maillet seems to have hesitated to publish views +which, notwithstanding the ingenious attempts to reconcile them with the +Hebrew hypothesis contained in the preface to "Telliamed," were hardly +likely to be received with favour by his contemporaries. + +But a short time had elapsed since more than one of the great anatomists +and physicists of the Italian school had paid dearly for their +endeavours to dissipate some of the prevalent errors; and their +illustrious pupil, Harvey, the founder of modern physiology, had not +fared so well, in a country less oppressed by the benumbing influences +of theology, as to tempt any man to follow his example. Probably not +uninfluenced by these considerations, his Catholic majesty's +Consul-General for Egypt kept his theories to himself throughout a long +life, for "Telliamed," the only scientific work which is known to have +proceeded from his pen, was not printed till 1735, when its author had +reached the ripe age of seventy-nine; and though De Maillet lived three +years longer, his book was not given to the world before 1748. Even then +it was anonymous to those who were not in the secret of the anagramatic +character of its title; and the preface and dedication are so worded as, +in case of necessity, to give the printer a fair chance of falling back +on the excuse that the work was intended for a mere _jeu d'esprit_. + +The speculations of the supposititious Indian sage, though quite as +sound as those of many a "Mosaic Geology," which sells exceedingly well, +have no great value if we consider them by the light of modern science. +The waters are supposed to have originally covered the whole globe; to +have deposited the rocky masses which compose its mountains by processes +comparable to those which are now forming mud, sand, and shingle; and +then to have gradually lowered their level, leaving the spoils of their +animal and vegetable inhabitants embedded in the strata. As the dry land +appeared, certain of the aquatic animals are supposed to have taken to +it, and to have become gradually adapted to terrestrial and aërial modes +of existence. But if we regard the general tenor and style of the +reasoning in relation to the state of knowledge of the day, two +circumstances appear very well worthy of remark. The first, that De +Maillet had a notion of the modifiability of living forms (though +without any precise information on the subject), and how such +modifiability might account for the origin of species; the second, that +he very clearly apprehended the great modern geological doctrine, so +strongly insisted upon by Hutton, and so ably and comprehensively +expounded by Lyell, that we must look to existing causes for the +explanation of past geological events. Indeed, the following passage of +the preface, in which De Maillet is supposed to speak of the Indian +philosopher Telliamed, his _alter ego_, might have been written by the +most philosophical uniformitarian of the present day:-- + + "Ce qu'il y a d'étonnant, est que pour arriver à ces connoissances + il semble avoir perverti l'ordre naturel, pui-qu'au lieu de + s'attacher d'abord à rechercher l'origine de notre globe il a + commencé par travailler à s'instruire de la nature. Mais à + l'entendre, ce renversement de l'ordre a été pour lui l'effet d'un + génie favorable qui l'a conduit pas à pas et comme par la main aux + découvertes les plus sublimes. C'est en décomposant la substance de + ce globe par une anatomie exacte de toutes ses parties qu'il a + premièrement appris de quelles matières il etait composé et quels + arrangemens ces mêmes matières observaient entre elles. Ces + lumières jointes à l'esprit de comparaison toujours nécessaire à + quiconque entreprend de percer les voiles dont la nature aime à se + cacher, ont servi de guide à notre philosophe pour parvenir à des + connoissances plus intéressantes. Par la matière et l'arrangement + de ces compositions il prétend avoir reconnu quelle est la + véritable origine de ce globe que nous habitons, comment et par qui + il a été formé."--Pp. xix. xx. + +But De Maillet was before his age, and as could hardly fail to happen to +one who speculated on a zoological and botanical question before +Linnĉus, and on a physiological problem before Haller, he fell into +great errors here and there; and hence, perhaps, the general neglect of +his work. Robinet's speculations are rather behind, than in advance of, +those of De Maillet; and though Linnĉus may have played with the +hypothesis of transmutation, it obtained no serious support until +Lamarck adopted it, and advocated it with great ability in his +"Philosophie Zoologique." + +Impelled towards the hypothesis of the transmutation of species, partly +by his general cosmological and geological views; partly by the +conception of a graduated, though irregularly branching, scale of being, +which had arisen out of his profound study of plants and of the lower +forms of animal life, Lamarck, whose general line of thought often +closely resembles that of De Maillet, made a great advance upon the +crude and merely speculative manner in which that writer deals with the +question of the origin of living beings, by endeavouring to find +physical causes competent to effect that change of one species into +another, which De Maillet had only supposed to occur. And Lamarck +conceived that he had found in Nature such causes, amply sufficient for +the purpose in view. It is a physiological fact, he says, that organs +are increased in size by action, atrophied by inaction; it is another +physiological fact that modifications produced are transmissible to +offspring. Change the actions of an animal, therefore, and you will +change its structure, by increasing the development of the parts newly +brought into use and by the diminution of those less used; but by +altering the circumstances which surround it you will alter its actions, +and hence, in the long run, change of circumstance must produce change +of organization. All the species of animals, therefore, are, in +Lamarck's view, the result of the indirect action of changes of +circumstance upon those primitive germs which he considered to have +originally arisen, by spontaneous generation, within the waters of the +globe. It is curious, however, that Lamarck should insist so +strongly[64] as he has done, that circumstances never in any degree +directly modify the form or the organization of animals, but only +operate by changing their wants and consequently their actions; for he +thereby brings upon himself the obvious question, how, then, do plants, +which cannot be said to have wants or actions, become modified? To this +he replies, that they are modified by the changes in their nutritive +processes, which are effected by changing circumstances; and it does not +seem to have occurred to him that such changes might be as well supposed +to take place among animals. + +When we have said that Lamarck felt that mere speculation was not the +way to arrive at the origin of species, but that it was necessary, in +order to the establishment of any sound theory on the subject, to +discover by observation or otherwise, some _vera causa_, competent to +give rise to them; that he affirmed the true order of classification to +coincide with the order of their development one from another; that he +insisted on the necessity of allowing sufficient time, very strongly; +and that all the varieties of instinct and reason were traced back by +him to the same cause as that which has given rise to species, we have +enumerated his chief contributions to the advance of the question. On +the other hand, from his ignorance of any power in Nature competent to +modify the structure of animals, except the development of parts, or +atrophy of them, in consequence of a change of needs, Lamarck was led to +attach infinitely greater weight than it deserves to this agency, and +the absurdities into which he was led have met with deserved +condemnation. Of the struggle for existence, on which, as, we shall +see, Mr. Darwin lays such great stress, he had no conception; indeed, he +doubts whether there really are such things as extinct species, unless +they be such large animals as may have met their death at the hands of +man; and so little does he dream of there being any other destructive +causes at work, that, in discussing the possible existence of fossil +shells, he asks, "Pourquoi d'ailleurs seroient-ils perdues dès que +l'homme n'a pu opérer leur destruction?" (Phil. Zool., vol. i. p. 77.) +Of the influence of selection Lamarck has as little notion, and he makes +no use of the wonderful phĉnomena which are exhibited by domesticated +animals, and illustrate its powers. The vast influence of Cuvier was +employed against the Lamarckian views, and, as the untenability of some +of his conclusions was easily shown, his doctrines sank under the +opprobium of scientific, as well as of theological, heterodoxy. Nor have +the efforts made of late years to revive them tended to re-establish +their credit in the minds of sound thinkers acquainted with the facts of +the case; indeed it may be doubted whether Lamarck has not suffered more +from his friends than from his foes. + +Two years ago, in fact, though we venture to question if even the +strongest supporters of the special creation hypothesis had not, now and +then, an uneasy consciousness that all was not right, their position +seemed more impregnable than ever, if not by its own inherent strength, +at any rate by the obvious failure of all the attempts which had been +made to carry it. On the other hand, however much the few, who thought +deeply on the question of species, might be repelled by the generally +received dogmas, they saw no way of escaping from them, save by the +adoption of suppositions, so little justified by experiment or by +observation, as to be at least equally distasteful. + +The choice lay between two absurdities and a middle condition of uneasy +scepticism; which last, however unpleasant and unsatisfactory, was +obviously the only justifiable state of mind under the circumstances. + +Such being the general ferment in the minds of naturalists, it is no +wonder that they mustered strong in the rooms of the Linnĉan Society, on +the 1st of July of the year 1858, to hear two papers by authors living +on opposite sides of the globe, working out their results independently, +and yet professing to have discovered one and the same solution of all +the problems connected with species. The one of these authors was an +able naturalist, Mr. Wallace, who had been employed for some years in +studying the productions of the islands of the Indian Archipelago, and +who had forwarded a memoir embodying his views to Mr. Darwin, for +communication to the Linnĉan Society. On perusing the essay, Mr. Darwin +was not a little surprised to find that it embodied some of the leading +ideas of a great work which he had been preparing for twenty years, and +parts of which, containing a development of the very same views, had +been perused by his private friends fifteen or sixteen years before. +Perplexed in what manner to do full justice both to his friend and to +himself, Mr. Darwin placed the matter in the hands of Dr. Hooker and Sir +Charles Lyell, by whose advice he communicated a brief abstract of his +own views to the Linnĉan Society, at the same time that Mr. Wallace's +paper was read. Of that abstract, the work on the "Origin of Species" is +an enlargement; but a complete statement of Mr. Darwin's doctrine is +looked for in the large and well-illustrated work which he is said to be +preparing for publication. + + +The Darwinian hypothesis has the merit of being eminently simple and +comprehensible in principle, and its essential positions may be stated +in a very few words: all species have been produced by the development +of varieties from common stocks by the conversion of these first into +permanent races and then into new species, by the process of _natural +selection_, which process is essentially identical with that artificial +selection by which man has originated the races of domestic animals--the +_struggle for existence_ taking the place of man, and exerting, in the +case of natural selection, that selective action which he performs in +artificial selection. + +The evidence brought forward by Mr. Darwin in support of his hypothesis +is of three kinds. First, he endeavours to prove that species may be +originated by selection; secondly, he attempts to show that natural +causes are competent to exert selection; and thirdly, he tries to prove +that the most remarkable and apparently anomalous phĉnomena exhibited by +the distribution, development, and mutual relations of species, can be +shown to be deducible from the general doctrine of their origin, which +he propounds, combined with the known facts of geological change; and +that, even if all these phĉnomena are not at present explicable by it, +none are necessarily inconsistent with it. + +There cannot be a doubt that the method of inquiry which Mr. Darwin has +adopted is not only rigorously in accordance with the canons of +scientific logic, but that it is the only adequate method. Critics +exclusively trained in classics or in mathematics, who have never +determined a scientific fact in their lives by induction from experiment +or observation, prate learnedly about Mr. Darwin's method, which is not +inductive enough, not Baconian enough, forsooth, for them. But even if +practical acquaintance with the process of scientific investigation is +denied them, they may learn, by the perusal of Mr. Mill's admirable +chapter "On the Deductive Method," that there are multitudes of +scientific inquiries, in which the method of pure induction helps the +investigator but a very little way. + + "The mode of investigation," says Mr. Mill, "which, from the proved + inapplicability of direct methods of observation and experiment, + remains to us as the main source of the knowledge we possess, or + can acquire, respecting the conditions and laws of recurrence of + the more complex phĉnomena, is called, in its most general + expression, the deductive method, and consists of three operations: + the first, one of direct induction; the second, of ratiocination; + and the third, of verification." + +Now, the conditions which have determined the existence of species are +not only exceedingly complex, but, so far as the great majority of them +are concerned, are necessarily beyond our cognizance. But what Mr. +Darwin has attempted to do is in exact accordance with the rule laid +down by Mr. Mill; he has endeavoured to determine certain great facts +inductively, by observation and experiment; he has then reasoned from +the data thus furnished; and lastly, he has tested the validity of his +ratiocination by comparing his deductions with the observed facts of +Nature. Inductively, Mr. Darwin endeavours to prove that species arise +in a given way. Deductively, he desires to show that, if they arise in +that way, the facts of distribution, development, classification, &c., +may be accounted for, _i.e._ may be deduced from their mode of origin, +combined with admitted changes in physical geography and climate, during +an indefinite period. And this explanation, or coincidence of observed +with deduced facts, is, so far as it extends, a verification of the +Darwinian view. + +There is no fault to be found with Mr. Darwin's method, then; but it is +another question whether he has fulfilled all the conditions imposed by +that method. Is it satisfactorily proved, in fact, that species may be +originated by selection? that there is such a thing as natural +selection? that none of the phĉnomena exhibited by species are +inconsistent with the origin of species in this way? If these questions +can be answered in the affirmative, Mr. Darwin's view steps out of the +ranks of hypotheses into those of proved theories; but, so long as the +evidence at present adduced falls short of enforcing that affirmation, +so long, to our minds, must the new doctrine be content to remain among +the former--an extremely valuable, and in the highest degree probable, +doctrine, indeed the only extant hypothesis which is worth anything in a +scientific point of view; but still a hypothesis, and not yet the theory +of species. + +After much consideration, and with assuredly no bias against Mr. +Darwin's views, it is our clear conviction that, as the evidence stands, +it is not absolutely proven that a group of animals, having all the +characters exhibited by species in Nature, has ever been originated by +selection, whether artificial or natural. Groups having the +morphological character of species, distinct and permanent races in +fact, have been so produced over and over again; but there is no +positive evidence, at present, that any group of animals has, by +variation and selective breeding, given rise to another group which was +even in the least degree infertile with the first. Mr. Darwin is +perfectly aware of this weak point, and brings forward a multitude of +ingenious and important arguments to diminish the force of the +objection. We admit the value of these arguments to their fullest +extent; nay, we will go so far as to express our belief that +experiments, conducted by a skilful physiologist, would very probably +obtain the desired production of mutually more or less infertile breeds +from a common stock, in a comparatively few years; but still, as the +case stands at present, this "little rift within the lute" is not to be +disguised nor overlooked. + +In the remainder of Mr. Darwin's argument our own private ingenuity has +not hitherto enabled us to pick holes of any great importance; and +judging by what we hear and read, other adventurers in the same field do +not seem to have been much more fortunate. It has been urged, for +instance, that in his chapters on the struggle for existence and on +natural selection, Mr. Darwin does not so much prove that natural +selection does occur, as that it must occur; but, in fact, no other sort +of demonstration is attainable. A race does not attract our attention in +Nature until it has, in all probability, existed for a considerable +time, and then it is too late to inquire into the conditions of its +origin. Again, it is said that there is no real analogy between the +selection which takes place under domestication, by human influence, and +any operation which can be effected by Nature, for man interferes +intelligently. Reduced to its elements, this argument implies that an +effect produced with trouble by an intelligent agent must, _à fortiori_, +be more troublesome, if not impossible, to an unintelligent agent. Even +putting aside the question whether Nature, acting as she does according +to definite and invariable laws, can be rightly called an unintelligent +agent, such a position as this is wholly untenable. Mix salt and sand, +and it shall puzzle the wisest of men, with his mere natural appliances, +to separate all the grains of sand from all the grains of salt; but a +shower of rain will effect the same object in ten minutes. And so, while +man may find it tax all his intelligence to separate any variety which +arises, and to breed selectively from it, the destructive agencies +incessantly at work in Nature, if they find one variety to be more +soluble in circumstances than the other, will inevitably, in the long +run, eliminate it. + +A frequent and a just objection to the Lamarckian hypothesis of the +transmutation of species is based upon the absence of transitional forms +between many species. But against the Darwinian hypothesis this argument +has no force. Indeed, one of the most valuable and suggestive parts of +Mr. Darwin's work is that in which he proves, that the frequent absence +of transitions is a necessary consequence of his doctrine, and that the +stock whence two or more species have sprung, need in no respect be +intermediate between these species. If any two species have arisen from +a common stock in the same way as the carrier and the pouter, say, have +arisen from the rock-pigeon, then the common stock of these two species +need be no more intermediate between the two than the rock-pigeon is +between the carrier and pouter. Clearly appreciate the force of this +analogy, and all the arguments against the origin of species by +selection, based on the absence of transitional forms, fall to the +ground. And Mr. Darwin's position might, we think, have been even +stronger than it is if he had not embarrassed himself with the aphorism, +"_Natura non facit saltum_," which turns up so often in his pages. We +believe, as we have said above, that Nature does make jumps now and +then, and a recognition of the fact is of no small importance in +disposing of many minor objections to the doctrine of transmutation. + +But we must pause. The discussion of Mr. Darwin's arguments in detail +would lead us far beyond the limits within which we proposed, at +starting, to confine this article. Our object has been attained if we +have given an intelligible, however brief, account of the established +facts connected with species, and of the relation of the explanation of +those facts offered by Mr. Darwin to the theoretical views held by his +predecessors and his contemporaries, and, above all, to the requirements +of scientific logic. We have ventured to point out that it does not, as +yet, satisfy all those requirements; but we do not hesitate to assert +that it is as superior to any preceding or contemporary hypothesis, in +the extent of observational and experimental basis on which it rests, in +its rigorously scientific method, and in its power of explaining +biological phĉnomena, as was the hypothesis of Copernicus to the +speculations of Ptolemy. But the planetary orbits turned out to be not +quite circular after all, and, grand as was the service Copernicus +rendered to science, Kepler and Newton had to come after him. What if +the orbit of Darwinism should be a little too circular? What if species +should offer residual phĉnomena, here and there, not explicable by +natural selection? Twenty years hence naturalists may be in a position +to say whether this is, or is not, the case; but in either event they +will owe the author of "The Origin of Species" an immense debt of +gratitude. We should leave a very wrong impression on the reader's mind +if we permitted him to suppose that the value of that work depends +wholly on the ultimate justification of the theoretical views which it +contains. On the contrary, if they were disproved to-morrow, the book +would still be the best of its kind--the most compendious statement of +well-sifted facts bearing on the doctrine of species that has ever +appeared. The chapters on Variation, on the Struggle for Existence, on +Instinct, on Hybridism, on the Imperfection of the Geological Record, on +Geographical Distribution, have not only no equals, but, so far as our +knowledge goes, no competitors, within the range of biological +literature. And viewed as a whole, we do not believe that, since the +publication of Von Baer's Researches on Development, thirty years ago, +any work has appeared calculated to exert so large an influence, not +only on the future of Biology, but in extending the domination of +Science over regions of thought into which she has, as yet, hardly +penetrated. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[61] On the Osteology of the Chimpanzees and Orangs: Transactions of the +Zoological Society, 1858. + +[62] Colonel Humphreys' statements are exceedingly explicit on this +point:--"When an Ancon ewe is impregnated by a common ram, the increase +resembles wholly either the ewe or the ram. The increase of the common +ewe impregnated by an Ancon ram follows entirely the one or the other, +without blending any of the distinguishing and essential peculiarities +of both. Frequent instances have happened where common ewes have had +twins by Ancon rams, when one exhibited the complete marks and features +of the ewe, the other of the ram. The contrast has been rendered +singularly striking, when one short-legged and one long-legged lamb, +produced at a birth, have been seen sucking the dam at the same +time."--_Philosophical Transactions_, 1813, Pt. I., pp. 89, 90. + +[63] Recent investigations tend to show that this statement is not +strictly accurate.--1870. + +[64] See Phil. Zoologique, vol. i. p. 222, et seq. + + + + +XIII. + +CRITICISMS ON "THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES." + + 1. UEBER DIE DARWIN'SCHE SCHÖPFUNGSTHEORIE; EIN VORTAG, VON A. + KÖLLIKER. Leipzig, 1864. + + 2. EXAMINATION DU LIVRE DE M. DARWIN SUR L'ORIGINE DES ESPÈCES. + PAR P. FLOURENS. Paris, 1864. + + +In the course of the present year [1864] several foreign commentaries +upon Mr. Darwin's great work have made their appearance. Those who have +perused that remarkable chapter of the "Antiquity of Man," in which Sir +Charles Lyell draws a parallel between the development of species and +that of languages, will be glad to hear that one of the most eminent +philologers of Germany, Professor Schleicher, has, independently, +published a most instructive and philosophical pamphlet (an excellent +notice of which is to be found in the _Reader_, for February 27th of +this year) supporting similar views with all the weight of his special +knowledge and established authority as a linguist. Professor Haeckel, to +whom Schleicher addresses himself, previously took occasion, in his +splendid monograph on the _Radiolaria_,[65] to express his high +appreciation of, and general concordance with, Mr. Darwin's views. + +But the most elaborate criticisms of the "Origin of Species" which have +appeared are two works of very widely different merit, the one by +Professor Kölliker, the well-known anatomist and histologist of +Würzburg; the other by M. Flourens, Perpetual Secretary of the French +Academy of Sciences. + +Professor Kölliker's critical essay "Upon the Darwinian Theory" is, like +all that proceeds from the pen of that thoughtful and accomplished +writer, worthy of the most careful consideration. It comprises a brief +but clear sketch of Darwin's views, followed by an enumeration of the +leading difficulties in the way of their acceptance; difficulties which +would appear to be insurmountable to Professor Kölliker, inasmuch as he +proposes to replace Mr. Darwin's Theory by one which he terms the +"Theory of Heterogeneous Generation." We shall proceed to consider first +the destructive, and secondly, the constructive portion of the essay. + +We regret to find ourselves compelled to dissent very widely from many +of Professor Kölliker's remarks; and from none more thoroughly than from +those in which he seeks to define what we may term the philosophical +position of Darwinism. + + "Darwin," says Professor Kölliker, "is, in the fullest sense of the + Word, a Teleologist. He says quite distinctly (First Edition, pp. + 199, 200) that every particular in the structure of an animal has + been created for its benefit, and he regards the whole series of + animal forms only from this point of view." + +And again: + + "7. The teleological general conception adopted by Darwin is a + mistaken one. + + "Varieties arise irrespectively of the notion of purpose, or of + utility, according to general laws of Nature, and may be either + useful, or hurtful, or indifferent. + + "The assumption that an organism exists only on account of some + definite end in view, and represents something more than the + incorporation of a general idea, or law, implies a one-sided + conception of the universe. Assuredly, every organ has, and every + organism fulfils, its end, but its purpose is not the condition of + its existence. Every organism is also sufficiently perfect for the + purpose it serves, and in that, at least, it is useless to seek for + a cause of its improvement." + +It is singular how differently one and the same book will impress +different minds. That which struck the present writer most forcibly on +his first perusal of the "Origin of Species" was the conviction that +Teleology, as commonly understood, had received its deathblow at Mr. +Darwin's hands. For the teleological argument runs thus: an organ or +organism (A) is precisely fitted to perform a function or purpose (B); +therefore it was specially constructed to perform that function. In +Paley's famous illustration, the adaptation of all the parts of the +watch to the function, or purpose, of showing the time, is held to be +evidence that the watch was specially contrived to that end; on the +ground, that the only cause we know of, competent to produce such an +effect as a watch which shall keep time, is a contriving intelligence +adapting the means directly to that end. + +Suppose, however, that any one had been able to show that the watch had +not been made directly by any person, but that it was the result of the +modification of another watch which kept time but poorly; and that this +again had proceeded from a structure which could hardly be called a +watch at all--seeing that it had no figures on the dial and the hands +were rudimentary; and that going back and back in time we came at last +to a revolving barrel as the earliest traceable rudiment of the whole +fabric. And imagine that it had been possible to show that all these +changes had resulted, first, from a tendency of the structure to vary +indefinitely; and secondly, from something in the surrounding world +which helped all variations in the direction of an accurate time-keeper, +and checked all those in other directions; then it is obvious that the +force of Paley's argument would be gone. For it would be demonstrated +that an apparatus thoroughly well adapted to a particular purpose might +be the result of a method of trial and error worked by unintelligent +agents, as well as of the direct application of the means appropriate to +that end, by an intelligent agent. + +Now it appears to us that what we have here, for illustration's sake, +supposed to be done with the watch, is exactly what the establishment of +Darwin's Theory will do for the organic world. For the notion that every +organism has been created as it is and launched straight at a purpose, +Mr. Darwin substitutes the conception of something which may fairly be +termed a method of trial and error. Organisms vary incessantly; of these +variations the few meet with surrounding conditions which suit them and +thrive; the many are unsuited and become extinguished. + +According to Teleology, each organism is like a rifle bullet fired +straight at a mark; according to Darwin, organisms are like grapeshot of +which one hits something and the rest fall wide. + +For the teleologist an organism exists because it was made for the +conditions in which it is found; for the Darwinian an organism exists +because, out of many of its kind, it is the only one which has been +able to persist in the conditions in which it is found. + +Teleology implies that the organs of every organism are perfect and +cannot be improved; the Darwinian theory simply affirms that they work +well enough to enable the organism to hold its own against such +competitors as it has met with, but admits the possibility of indefinite +improvement. But an example may bring into clearer light the profound +opposition between the ordinary teleological, and the Darwinian, +conception. + +Cats catch mice, small birds and the like, very well. Teleology tells us +that they do so because they were expressly constructed for so +doing--that they are perfect mousing apparatuses, so perfect and so +delicately adjusted that no one of their organs could be altered, +without the change involving the alteration of all the rest. Darwinism +affirms, on the contrary, that there was no express construction +concerned in the matter; but that among the multitudinous variations of +the Feline stock, many of which died out from want of power to resist +opposing influences, some, the cats, were better fitted to catch mice +than others, whence they throve and persisted, in proportion to the +advantage over their fellows thus offered to them. + +Far from imagining that cats exist _in order_ to catch mice well, +Darwinism supposes that cats exist _because_ they catch mice +well--mousing being not the end, but the condition, of their existence. +And if the cat-type has long persisted as we know it, the interpretation +of the fact upon Darwinian principles would be, not that the cats have +remained invariable, but that such varieties as have incessantly +occurred have been, on the whole, less fitted to get on in the world +than the existing stock. + +If we apprehend the spirit of the "Origin of Species" rightly, then, +nothing can be more entirely and absolutely opposed to Teleology, as it +is commonly understood, than the Darwinian Theory. So far from being a +"Teleologist in the fullest sense of the word," we should deny that he +is a Teleologist in the ordinary sense at all; and we should say that, +apart from his merits as a naturalist, he has rendered a most remarkable +service to philosophical thought by enabling the student of Nature to +recognise, to their fullest extent, those adaptations to purpose which +are so striking in the organic world, and which Teleology has done good +service in keeping before our minds, without being false to the +fundamental principles of a scientific conception of the universe. The +apparently diverging teachings of the Teleologist and of the +Morphologist are reconciled by the Darwinian hypothesis. + +But leaving our own impressions of the "Origin of Species," and turning +to those passages specially cited by Professor Kölliker, we cannot admit +that they bear the interpretation he puts upon them. Darwin, if we read +him rightly, does _not_ affirm that every detail in the structure of an +animal has been created for its benefit. His words are (p. 199):-- + + "The foregoing remarks lead me to say a few words on the protest + lately made by some naturalists against the utilitarian doctrine + that every detail of structure has been produced for the good of + its possessor. They believe that very many structures have been + created for beauty in the eyes of man, or for mere variety. This + doctrine, if true, would be absolutely fatal to my theory--yet I + fully admit that many structures are of no direct use to their + possessor." + +And after sundry illustrations and qualifications, he concludes (p. +200):-- + + "Hence every detail of structure in every living creature (making + some little allowance for the direct action of physical conditions) + may be viewed either as having been of special use to some + ancestral form, or as being now of special use to the descendants + of this form--either directly, or indirectly, through the complex + laws of growth." + +But it is one thing to say, Darwinically, that every detail observed in +an animal's structure is of use to it, or has been of use to its +ancestors; and quite another to affirm, teleologically, that every +detail of an animal's structure has been created for its benefit. On the +former hypothesis, for example, the teeth of the foetal _Balĉna_ have +a meaning; on the latter, none. So far as we are aware, there is not a +phrase in the "Origin of Species," inconsistent with Professor +Kölliker's position, that "varieties arise irrespectively of the notion +of purpose, or of utility, according to general laws of Nature, and may +be either useful, or hurtful, or indifferent." + +On the contrary, Mr. Darwin writes (Summary of Chap. V.):-- + + "Our ignorance of the laws of variation is profound. Not in one + case out of a hundred can we pretend to assign any reason why this + or that part varies more or less from the same part in the + parents.... The external conditions of life, as climate and food, + &c. seem to have induced some slight modifications. Habit, in + producing constitutional differences, and use, in strengthening, + and disuse, in weakening and diminishing organs, seem to have been + more potent in their effects." + +And finally, as if to prevent all possible misconception, Mr. Darwin +concludes his Chapter on Variation with these pregnant words:-- + + "Whatever the cause may be of each slight difference in the + offspring from their parents--and a cause for each must exist--it + is the steady accumulation, through natural selection of such + differences, when beneficial to the individual, that gives rise to + all the more important modifications of structure, by which the + innumerable beings on the face of the earth are enabled to struggle + with each other, and the best adapted to survive." + +We have dwelt at length upon this subject, because of its great general +importance, and because we believe that Professor Kölliker's criticisms +on this head are based upon a misapprehension of Mr. Darwin's +views--substantially they appear to us to coincide with his own. The +other objections which Professor Kölliker enumerates and discusses are +the following:[66]-- + + "1. No transitional forms between existing species are known; and + known varieties, whether selected or spontaneous, never go so far + as to establish new species." + +To this Professor Kölliker appears to attach some weight. He makes the +suggestion that the short-faced tumbler pigeon may be a pathological +product. + + "2. No transitional forms of animals are met with among the organic + remains of earlier epochs." + +Upon this, Professor Kölliker remarks that the absence of transitional +forms in the fossil world, though not necessarily fatal to Darwin's +views, weakens his case. + + "3. The struggle for existence does not take place." + +To this objection, urged by Pelzeln, Kölliker, very justly, attaches no +weight. + + "4. A tendency of organisms to give rise to useful varieties, and a + natural selection, do not exist. + + "The varieties which are found arise in consequence of manifold + external influences, and it is not obvious why they all, or + partially, should be particularly useful. Each animal suffices for + its own ends, is perfect of its kind, and needs no further + development. Should, however, a variety be useful and even maintain + itself, there is no obvious reason why it should change any + further. The whole conception of the imperfection of organisms and + the necessity of their becoming perfected is plainly the weakest + side of Darwin's Theory, and a _pis aller_ (Nothbehelf) because + Darwin could think of no other principle by which to explain the + metamorphoses which, as I also believe, have occurred." + + +Here again we must venture to dissent completely from Professor +Kölliker's conception of Mr. Darwin's hypothesis. It appears to us to be +one of the many peculiar merits of that hypothesis that it involves no +belief in a necessary and continual progress of organisms. + +Again, Mr. Darwin, if we read him aright, assumes no special tendency of +organisms to give rise to useful varieties, and knows nothing of needs +of development, or necessity of perfection. What he says is, in +substance: All organisms vary. It is in the highest degree improbable +that any given variety should have exactly the same relations to +surrounding conditions as the parent stock. In that case it is either +better fitted (when the variation may be called useful), or worse +fitted, to cope with them. If better, it will tend to supplant the +parent stock; if worse, it will tend to be extinguished by the parent +stock. + +If (as is hardly conceivable) the new variety is so perfectly adapted to +the conditions that no improvement upon it is possible,--it will +persist, because, though it does not cease to vary, the varieties will +be inferior to itself. + +If, as is more probable, the new variety is by no means perfectly +adapted to its conditions, but only fairly well adapted to them, it will +persist, so long as none of the varieties which it throws off are +better adapted than itself. + +On the other hand, as soon as it varies in a useful way, _i.e._ when the +variation is such as to adapt it more perfectly to its conditions, the +fresh variety will tend to supplant the former. + +So far from a gradual progress towards perfection forming any necessary +part of the Darwinian creed, it appears to us that it is perfectly +consistent with indefinite persistence in one state, or with a gradual +retrogression. Suppose, for example, a return of the glacial epoch and a +spread of polar climatal conditions over the whole globe. The operation +of natural selection under these circumstances would tend, on the whole, +to the weeding out of the higher organisms and the cherishing of the +lower forms of life. Cryptogamic vegetation would have the advantage +over Phanerogamic; _Hydrozoa_ over Corals; _Crustacea_ over _Insecta_, +and _Amphipoda_ and _Isopoda_ over the higher _Crustacea_; Cetaceans and +Seals over the _Primates_; the civilization of the Esquimaux over that +of the European. + + "5. Pelzeln has also objected that if the later organisms have + proceeded from the earlier, the whole developmental series, from + the simplest to the highest, could not now exist; in such a case + the simpler organisms must have disappeared." + +To this Professor Kölliker replies, with perfect justice, that the +conclusion drawn by Pelzeln does not really follow from Darwin's +premises, and that, if we take the facts of Palĉontology as they stand, +they rather support than oppose Darwin's theory. + + "6. Great weight must be attached to the objection brought forward + by Huxley, otherwise a warm supporter of Darwin's hypothesis, that + we know of no varieties which are sterile with one another, as is + the rule among sharply distinguished animal forms. + + "If Darwin is right, it must be demonstrated that forms may be + produced by selection, which, like the present sharply + distinguished animal forms, are infertile when coupled with one + another, and this has not been done." + +The weight of this objection is obvious; but our ignorance of the +conditions of fertility and sterility, the want of carefully conducted +experiments extending over long series of years, and the strange +anomalies presented by the results of the cross-fertilization of many +plants, should all, as Mr. Darwin has urged, be taken into account in +considering it. + +The seventh objection is that we have already discussed (_suprà_, p. +329). + +The eighth and last stands as follows:-- + + "8. The developmental theory of Darwin is not needed to enable us + to understand the regular harmonious progress of the complete + series of organic forms from the simpler to the more perfect. + + "The existence of general laws of Nature explains this harmony, + even if we assume that all beings have arisen separately and + independent of one another. Darwin forgets that inorganic nature, + in which there can be no thought of a genetic connexion of forms, + exhibits the same regular plan, the same harmony, as the organic + world; and that, to cite only one example, there is as much a + natural system of minerals as of plants and animals." + +We do not feel quite sure that we seize Professor Kölliker's meaning +here, but he appears to suggest that the observation of the general +order and harmony which pervade inorganic nature, would lead us to +anticipate a similar order and harmony in the organic world. And this is +no doubt true, but it by no means follows that the particular order and +harmony observed among them should be that which we see. Surely the +stripes of dun horses, and the teeth of the foetal _Balĉna_, are not +explained by the "existence of general laws of Nature." Mr. Darwin +endeavours to explain the exact order of organic nature which exists; +not the mere fact that there is some order. + +And with regard to the existence of a natural system of minerals; the +obvious reply is that there may be a natural classification of any +objects--of stones on a sea-beach, or of works of art; a natural +classification being simply an assemblage of objects in groups, so as to +express their most important and fundamental resemblances and +differences. No doubt Mr. Darwin believes that those resemblances and +differences upon which our natural systems or classifications of animals +and plants are based, are resemblances and differences which have been +produced genetically, but we can discover no reason for supposing that +he denies the existence of natural classifications of other kinds. + +And, after all, is it quite so certain that a genetic relation may not +underlie the classification of minerals? The inorganic world has not +always been what we see it. It has certainly had its metamorphoses, and, +very probably, a long "Entwickelungsgeschichte" out of a nebular +blastema. Who knows how far that amount of likeness among sets of +minerals, in virtue of which they are now grouped into families and +orders, may not be the expression of the common conditions to which that +particular patch of nebulous fog, which may have been constituted by +their atoms, and of which they may be, in the strictest sense, the +descendants, was subjected? + +It will be obvious from what has preceded, that we do not agree with +Professor Kölliker in thinking the objections which he brings forward +so weighty as to be fatal to Darwin's view. But even if the case were +otherwise, we should be unable to accept the "Theory of Heterogeneous +Generation" which is offered as a substitute. That theory is thus +stated:-- + + "The fundamental conception of this hypothesis is, that, under the + influence of a general law of development, the germs of organisms + produce others different from themselves. This might happen (1) by + the fecundated ova passing, in the course of their development, + under particular circumstances, into higher forms; (2) by the + primitive and later organisms producing other organisms without + fecundation, out of germs or eggs (Parthenogenesis)." + +In favour of this hypothesis, Professor Kölliker adduces the well-known +facts of Agamogenesis, or "alternate generation;" the extreme +dissimilarity of the males and females of many animals; and of the +males, females, and neuters of those insects which live in colonies: and +he defines its relations to the Darwinian theory as follows:-- + + "It is obvious that my hypothesis is apparently very similar to + Darwin's, inasmuch as I also consider that the various forms of + animals have proceeded directly from one another. My hypothesis of + the creation of organisms by heterogeneous generation, however, is + distinguished very essentially from Darwin's by the entire absence + of the principle of useful variations and their natural selection; + and my fundamental conception is this, that a great plan of + development lies at the foundation of the origin of the whole + organic world, impelling the simpler forms to more and more complex + developments. How this law operates, what influences determine the + development of the eggs and germs, and impel them to assume + constantly new forms, I naturally cannot pretend to say; but I can + at least adduce the great analogy of the alternation of + generations. If a _Bipinnaria_, a _Brachialaria_, a _Pluteus_, is + competent to produce the Echinoderm, which is so widely different + from it; if a hydroid polype can produce the higher Medusa; if the + vermiform Trematode 'nurse' can develop within itself the very + unlike _Cercaria_, it will not appear impossible that the egg, or + ciliated embryo, of a sponge, for once, under special conditions, + might become a hydroid polype, or the embryo of a Medusa, an + Echinoderm." + +It is obvious, from these extracts, that Professor Kölliker's hypothesis +is based upon the supposed existence of a close analogy between the +phĉnomena of Agamogenesis and the production of new species from +pre-existing ones. But is the analogy a real one? We think that it is +not, and, by the hypothesis, cannot be. + +For what are the phĉnomena of Agamogenesis, stated generally? An +impregnated egg develops into an asexual form, A; this gives rise, +asexually, to a second form or forms, B, more or less different from A. +B may multiply asexually again; in the simpler cases, however, it does +not, but, acquiring sexual characters, produces impregnated eggs from +whence A once more arises. + +No case of Agamogenesis is known in which, _when A differs widely from +B_, it is itself capable of sexual propagation. No case whatever is +known in which the progeny of B, by sexual generation, is other than a +reproduction of A. + +But if this be a true statement of the nature of the process of +Agamogenesis, how can it enable us to comprehend the production of new +species from already existing ones? Let us suppose Hyĉnas to have +preceded Dogs, and to have produced the latter in this way. Then the +Hyĉna will represent A, and the Dog, B. The first difficulty that +presents itself is that the Hyĉna must be asexual, or the process will +be wholly without analogy in the world of Agamogenesis. But passing over +this difficulty, and supposing a male and female Dog to be produced at +the same time from the Hyĉna stock, the progeny of the pair, if the +analogy of the simpler kinds of Agamogenesis[67] is to be followed, +should be a litter, not of puppies, but of young Hyĉnas. For the +Agamogenetic series is always, as we have seen, A: B: A: B, &c.; +whereas, for the production of a new species, the series must be A: B: +B: B, &c. The production of new species, or genera, is the extreme +permanent divergence from the primitive stock. All known Agamogenetic +processes, on the other hand, end in a complete return to the primitive +stock. How then is the production of new species to be rendered +intelligible by the analogy of Agamogenesis? + +The other alternative put by Professor Kölliker--the passage of +fecundated ova in the course of their development into higher +forms--would, if it occurred, be merely an extreme case of variation in +the Darwinian sense, greater in degree than, but perfectly similar in +kind to, that which occurred when the well-known Ancon Ram was developed +from an ordinary Ewe's ovum. Indeed we have always thought that Mr. +Darwin has unnecessarily hampered himself by adhering so strictly to his +favourite "Natura non facit saltum." We greatly suspect that she does +make considerable jumps in the way of variation now and then, and that +these saltations give rise to some of the gaps which appear to exist in +the series of known forms. + + +Strongly and freely as we have ventured to disagree with Professor +Kölliker, we have always done so with regret, and we trust without +violating that respect which is due, not only to his scientific eminence +and to the careful study which he has devoted to the subject, but to the +perfect fairness of his argumentation, and the generous appreciation of +the worth of Mr. Darwin's labours which he always displays. It would be +satisfactory to be able to say as much for M. Flourens. + +But the Perpetual Secretary of the French Academy of Sciences deals with +Mr. Darwin as the first Napoleon would have treated an "idéologue;" and +while displaying a painful weakness of logic and shallowness of +information, assumes a tone of authority, which always touches upon the +ludicrous, and sometimes passes the limits of good breeding. + +For example (p. 56):-- + + "M. Darwin continue: 'Aucune distinction absolue n'a été et ne peut + être établie entre les espèces et les variétés.' Je vous ai déjà + dit que vous vous trompiez; une distinction absolue sépare les + variétés d'avec les espèces." + +"_Je vous ai déjà dit_; moi, M. le Secrétaire perpétuel de l'Académie +des Sciences: et vous + + 'Qui n'êtes rien, + Pas même Académicien;' + +what do you mean by asserting the contrary?" Being devoid of the +blessings of an Academy in England, we are unaccustomed to see our +ablest men treated in this fashion even by a "Perpetual Secretary." + +Or again, considering that if there is any one quality of Mr. Darwin's +work to which friends and foes have alike borne witness, it is his +candour and fairness in admitting and discussing objections, what is to +be thought of M. Flourens' assertion, that + + "M. Darwin ne cite que les auteurs qui partagent ses opinions." (P. + 40.) + +Once more (p. 65): + + "Enfin l'ouvrage de M. Darwin a paru. On ne peut qu'être frappé du + talent de l'auteur. Mais que d'idées obscures, que d'idées fausses! + Quel jargon métaphysique jeté mal à propos dans l'histoire + naturelle, qui tombe dans le galimatias dès qu'elle sort des idées + claires, des idées justes! Quel langage prétentieux et vide! + Quelles personifications puériles et surannées! O lucidité! O + solidité de l'esprit Français, que devenez-vous?" + +"Obscure ideas," "metaphysical jargon," "pretentious and empty +language," "puerile and superannuated personifications." Mr. Darwin has +many and hot opponents on this side of the Channel and in Germany, but +we do not recollect to have found precisely these sins in the long +catalogue of those hitherto laid to his charge. It is worth while, +therefore, to examine into these discoveries effected solely by the aid +of the "lucidity and solidity" of the mind of M. Flourens. + +According to M. Flourens, Mr. Darwin's great error is that he has +personified Nature (p. 10), and further that he has + + "imagined a natural selection: he imagines afterwards that this + power of selecting (_pouvoir d'élire_) which he gives to Nature is + similar to the power of man. These two suppositions admitted, + nothing stops him: he plays with Nature as he likes, and makes her + do all he pleases." (P. 6.) + +And this is the way M. Flourens extinguishes natural selection: + + "Voyons donc encore une fois, ce qu'il peut y avoir de fondé dans + ce qu'on nomme _élection naturelle_. + + "_L'élection naturelle_ n'est sous un autre nom que la nature. Pour + un être organísé, la nature n'est que l'organisation, ni plus ni + moins. + + "Il faudra donc aussi personnifier _l'organisation_, et dire que + _l'organisation_ choisit _l'organisation_. _L'election naturelle_ + est cette _forme substantielle_ dont on jonait autrefois avec tant + de facilité. Aristote disait que 'Si l'art de bâtir était dans le + bois, cet art agirait comme la nature.' A la place de _l'art de + bâtir_ M. Darwin met _l'election naturelle_, et c'est tout un: l'un + n'est pas plus chimérique que l'autre." (P. 31.) + +And this is really all that M. Flourens can make of Natural Selection. +We have given the original, in fear lest a translation should be +regarded as a travesty; but with the original before the reader, we may +try to analyse the passage. "For an organized being, Nature is only +organization, neither more nor less." + +Organized beings then have absolutely no relation to inorganic nature: a +plant does not depend on soil or sunshine, climate, depth in the ocean, +height above it; the quantity of saline matters in water have no +influence upon animal life; the substitution of carbonic acid for oxygen +in our atmosphere would hurt nobody! That these are absurdities no one +should know better than M. Flourens; but they are logical deductions +from the assertion just quoted, and from the further statement that +natural selection means only that "organization chooses and selects +organization." + +For if it be once admitted (what no sane man denies) that the chances of +life of any given organism are increased by certain conditions (A) and +diminished by their opposites (B), then it is mathematically certain +that any change of conditions in the direction of (A) will exercise a +selective influence in favour of that organism, tending to its increase +and multiplication, while any change in the direction of (B) will +exercise a selective influence against that organism, tending to its +decrease and extinction. + +Or, on the other hand, conditions remaining the same, let a given +organism vary (and no one doubts that they do vary) in two directions: +into one form (a) better fitted to cope with these conditions than the +original stock, and a second (b) less well adapted to them. Then it is +no less certain that the conditions in question must exercise a +selective influence in favour of (a) and against (b), so that (a) +will tend to predominance, and (b) to extirpation. + +That M. Flourens should be unable to perceive the logical necessity of +these simple arguments, which lie at the foundation of all Mr. Darwin's +reasoning; that he should confound an irrefragable deduction from the +observed relations of organisms to the conditions which lie around them, +with a metaphysical "forme substantielle," or a chimerical +personification of the powers of Nature, would be incredible, were it +not that other passages of his work leave no room for doubt upon the +subject. + + "On imagine une _élection naturelle_ que, pour plus de ménagement, + on me dit être _inconsciente_, sans s'apercevoir que le contre-sens + littéral est précisément là: _élection inconsciente_." (P. 52.) + + "J'ai déjà dit ce qu'il faut penser de _l'élection naturelle_. Ou + _l'élection naturelle_ n'est rien, ou c'est la nature: mais la + nature douée _d'élection_, mais la nature personnifiée: dernière + erreur du dernier siècle: Le xix^e ne fait plus de + personnifications." (P. 53.) + +M. Flourens cannot imagine an unconscious selection--it is for him a +contradiction in terms. Did M. Flourens ever visit one of the prettiest +watering-places of "la belle France," the Baie d'Arcachon? If so, he +will probably have passed through the district of the Landes, and will +have had an opportunity of observing the formation of "dunes" on a grand +scale. What are these "dunes?" The winds and waves of the Bay of Biscay +have not much consciousness, and yet they have with great care +"selected," from among an infinity of masses of silex of all shapes and +sizes, which have been submitted to their action, all the grains of sand +below a certain size, and have heaped them by themselves over a great +area. This sand has been "unconsciously selected" from amidst the gravel +in which it first lay with as much precision as if man had "consciously +selected" it by the aid of a sieve. Physical Geology is full of such +selections--of the picking out of the soft from the hard, of the soluble +from the insoluble, of the fusible from the infusible, by natural +agencies to which we are certainly not in the habit of ascribing +consciousness. + +But that which wind and sea are to a sandy beach, the sum of influences, +which we term the "conditions of existence," is to living organisms. The +weak are sifted out from the strong. A frosty night "selects" the hardy +plants in a plantation from among the tender ones as effectually as if +it were the wind, and they, the sand and pebbles, of our illustration; +or, on the other hand, as if the intelligence of a gardener had been +operative in cutting the weaker organisms down. The thistle, which has +spread over the Pampas, to the destruction of native plants, has been +more effectually "selected" by the unconscious operation of natural +conditions than if a thousand agriculturists had spent their time in +sowing it. + +It is one of Mr. Darwin's many great services to Biological science that +he has demonstrated the significance of these facts. He has shown +that--given variation and given change of conditions--the inevitable +result is the exercise of such an influence upon organisms that one is +helped and another is impeded; one tends to predominate, another to +disappear; and thus the living world bears within itself, and is +surrounded by, impulses towards incessant change. + +But the truths just stated are as certain as any other physical laws, +quite independently of the truth, or falsehood, of the hypothesis which +Mr. Darwin has based upon them; and that M. Flourens, missing the +substance and grasping at a shadow, should be blind to the admirable +exposition of them, which Mr. Darwin has given, and see nothing there +but a "dernière erreur du dernier siècle"--a personification of +Nature--leads us indeed to cry with him: "O lucidité! O solidité de +l'esprit Français, que devenez-vous?" + +M. Flourens has, in fact, utterly failed to comprehend the first +principles of the doctrine which he assails so rudely. His objections to +details are of the old sort, so battered and hackneyed on this side of +the Channel, that not even a Quarterly Reviewer could be induced to pick +them up for the purpose of pelting Mr. Darwin over again. We have Cuvier +and the mummies; M. Roulin and the domesticated animals of America; the +difficulties presented by hybridism and by Palĉontology; Darwinism a +_rifacciamento_ of De Maillet and Lamarck; Darwinism a system without a +commencement, and its author bound to believe in M. Pouchet, &c. &c. How +one knows it all by heart, and with what relief one reads at p. 65-- + + "Je laisse M. Darwin!" + +But we cannot leave M. Flourens without calling our readers' attention +to his wonderful tenth chapter, "De la Préexistence des Germes et de +l'Epigénèse," which opens thus:-- + + "Spontaneous generation is only a chimĉra. This point established, + two hypotheses remain: that of _pre-existence_ and that of + _epigenesis_. The one of these hypotheses has as little foundation + as the other." (P. 163.) + + "The doctrine of _epigenesis_ is derived from Harvey: following by + ocular inspection the development of the new being in the Windsor + does, he saw each part appear successively, and taking the moment + of _appearance_ for the moment of _formation_ he imagined + _epigenesis_." (P. 165.) + +On the contrary, says M. Flourens (p. 167), + + "The new being is formed at a stroke (_tout d'un coup_), as a + whole, instantaneously; it is not formed part by part, and at + different times. It is formed at once; it is formed at the single + _individual_ moment at which the conjunction of the male and female + elements takes place." + +It will be observed that M. Flourens uses language which cannot be +mistaken. For him, the labours of Von Baer, of Rathke, of Coste, and +their contemporaries and successors in Germany, France, and England, are +non-existent; and, as Darwin "_imagina_" natural selection, so Harvey +"_imagina_" that doctrine which gives him an even greater claim to the +veneration of posterity than his better known discovery of the +circulation of the blood. + +Language such as that we have quoted is, in fact, so preposterous, so +utterly incompatible with anything but absolute ignorance of some of the +best established facts, that we should have passed it over in silence +had it not appeared to afford some clue to M. Flourens' unhesitating, _à +priori_, repudiation of all forms of the doctrine of the progressive +modification of living beings. He whose mind remains uninfluenced by an +acquaintance with the phĉnomena of development, must indeed lack one of +the chief motives towards the endeavour to trace a genetic relation +between the different existing forms of life. Those who are ignorant of +Geology, find no difficulty in believing that the world was made as it +is; and the shepherd, untutored in history, sees no reason to regard the +green mounds which indicate the site of a Roman camp, as aught but part +and parcel of the primĉval hill-side. So M. Flourens, who believes that +embryos are formed "tout d'un coup," naturally finds no difficulty in +conceiving that species came into existence in the same way. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[65] "Die Radiolarien: eine Monographie," p. 231. + +[66] Space will not allow us to give Professor Kölliker's arguments in +detail; our readers will find a full and accurate version of them in the +_Reader_ for August 13th and 20th, 1864. + +[67] If, on the contrary, we follow the analogy of the more complex +forms of Agamogenesis, such as that exhibited by some _Trematoda_ and by +the _Aphides_, the Hyĉna must produce, asexually, a brood of asexual +Dogs, from which other sexless Dogs must proceed. At the end of a +certain number of terms of the series, the Dogs would acquire sexes and +generate young; but these young would be, not Dogs, but Hyĉnas. In fact, +we have _demonstrated_, in Agamogenetic phĉnomena, that inevitable +recurrence to the original type, which is _asserted_ to be true of +variations in general, by Mr. Darwin's opponents; and which, if the +assertion could be changed into a demonstration, would, in fact, be +fatal to his hypothesis. + + + + +XIV. + +ON DESCARTES' "DISCOURSE TOUCHING THE METHOD OF USING ONE'S REASON +RIGHTLY AND OF SEEKING SCIENTIFIC TRUTH." + + +It has been well said that "all the thoughts of men, from the beginning +of the world until now, are linked together into one great chain;" but +the conception of the intellectual filiation of mankind which is +expressed in these words may, perhaps, be more fitly shadowed forth by a +different metaphor. The thoughts of men seem rather to be comparable to +the leaves, flowers, and fruit upon the innumerable branches of a few +great stems, fed by commingled and hidden roots. These stems bear the +names of the half-a-dozen men, endowed with intellects of heroic force +and clearness, to whom we are led, at whatever point of the world of +thought the attempt to trace its history commences; just as certainly as +the following up the small twigs of a tree to the branchlets which bear +them, and tracing the branchlets to their supporting branches, brings +us, sooner or later, to the bole. + +It seems to me that the thinker who, more than any other, stands in the +relation of such a stem towards the philosophy and the science of the +modern world is René Descartes. I mean, that if you lay hold of any +characteristic product of modern ways of thinking, either in the region +of philosophy, or in that of science, you find the spirit of that +thought, if not its form, to have been present in the mind of the great +Frenchman. + +There are some men who are counted great because they represent the +actuality of their own age, and mirror it as it is. Such an one was +Voltaire, of whom it was epigrammatically said, "he expressed +everybody's thoughts better than anybody."[68] But there are other men +who attain greatness because they embody the potentiality of their own +day, and magically reflect the future. They express the thoughts which +will be everybody's two or three centuries after them. Such an one was +Descartes. + +Born, in 1596, nearly three hundred years ago, of a noble family in +Touraine, René Descartes grew up into a sickly and diminutive child, +whose keen wit soon gained him that title of "the Philosopher," which, +in the mouths of his noble kinsmen, was more than, half a reproach. The +best schoolmasters of the day, the Jesuits, educated him as well as a +French boy of the seventeenth century could be educated. And they must +have done their work honestly and well, for, before his schoolboy days +were over, he had discovered that the most of what he had learned, +except in mathematics, was devoid of solid and real value. + + "Therefore," says he, in that "Discourse"[69] which I have taken + for my text, "as soon as I was old enough to be set free from the + government of my teachers, I entirely forsook the study of letters; + and determining to seek no other knowledge than that which I could + discover within myself, or in the great book of the world, I spent + the remainder of my youth in travelling; in seeing courts and + armies; in the society of people of different humours and + conditions; in gathering varied experience; in testing myself by + the chances of fortune; and in always trying to profit by my + reflections on what happened.... And I always had an intense desire + to learn how to distinguish truth from falsehood, in order to be + clear about my actions, and to walk surefootedly in this life." + +But "learn what is true, in order to do what is right," is the summing +up of the whole duty of man, for all who are unable to satisfy their +mental hunger with the east wind of authority; and to those of us +moderns who are in this position, it is one of Descartes' great claims +to our reverence as a spiritual ancestor, that, at three-and-twenty, he +saw clearly that this was his duty, and acted up to his conviction. At +two-and-thirty, in fact, finding all other occupations incompatible with +the search after the knowledge which leads to action, and being +possessed of a modest competence, he withdrew into Holland; where he +spent nine years in learning and thinking, in such retirement that only +one or two trusted friends knew of his whereabouts. + +In 1637 the firstfruits of these long meditations were given to the +world in the famous "Discourse touching the Method of using Reason +rightly and of seeking scientific Truth," which, at once an +autobiography and a philosophy, clothes the deepest thought in language +of exquisite harmony, simplicity, and clearness. + +The central propositions of the whole "Discourse" are these. There is a +path that leads to truth so surely, that if any one who will follow it +must needs reach the goal, whether his capacity be great or small. And +there is one guiding rule by which a man may always find this path, and +keep himself from straying when he has found it. This golden rule +is--give unqualified assent to no propositions but those the truth of +which is so clear and distinct that they cannot be doubted. + +The enunciation of this great first commandment of science consecrated +Doubt. It removed Doubt from the seat of penance among the grievous sins +to which it had long been condemned, and enthroned it in that high place +among the primary duties, which is assigned to it by the scientific +conscience of these latter days. Descartes was the first among the +moderns to obey this commandment deliberately; and, as a matter of +religious duty, to strip off all his beliefs and reduce himself to a +state of intellectual nakedness, until such time as he could satisfy +himself which were fit to be worn. He thought a bare skin healthier than +the most respectable and well-cut clothing of what might, possibly, be +mere shoddy. + +When I say that Descartes consecrated doubt, you must remember that it +was that sort of doubt which Goethe has called "the active scepticism, +whose whole aim is to conquer itself;"[70] and not that other sort which +is born of flippancy and ignorance, and whose aim is only to perpetuate +itself, as an excuse for idleness and indifference. But it is impossible +to define what is meant by scientific doubt better than in Descartes' +own words. After describing the gradual progress of his negative +criticism, he tells us:-- + + "For all that, I did not imitate the sceptics, who doubt only for + doubting's sake, and pretend to be always undecided; on the + contrary, my whole intention was to arrive at certainty, and to dig + away the drift and the sand until I reached the rock or the clay + beneath." + +And further, since no man of common sense, when he pulls down his house +for the purpose of rebuilding it, fails to provide himself with some +shelter while the work is in progress; so, before demolishing the +spacious, if not commodious, mansion of his old beliefs, Descartes +thought it wise to equip himself with what he calls "_une morale par +provision_," by which he resolved to govern his practical life until +such time as he should be better instructed. The laws of this +"provisional self-government" are embodied in four maxims, of which one +binds our philosopher to submit himself to the laws and religion in +which he was brought up; another, to act, on all those occasions which +call for action, promptly and according to the best of his judgment, and +to abide, without repining, by the result: a third rule is to seek +happiness in limiting his desires, rather than in attempting to satisfy +them; while the last is to make the search after truth the business of +his life. + +Thus prepared to go on living while he doubted, Descartes proceeded to +face his doubts like a man. One thing was clear to him, he would not lie +to himself--would, under no penalties, say, "I am sure" of that of which +he was not sure; but would go on digging and delving until he came to +the solid adamant; or, at worst, made sure there was no adamant. As the +record of his progress tells us, he was obliged to confess that life is +full of delusions; that authority may err; that testimony may be false +or mistaken; that reason lands us in endless fallacies; that memory is +often as little trustworthy as hope; that the evidence of the very +senses may be misunderstood; that dreams are real as long as they last, +and that what we call reality may be a long and restless dream. Nay, it +is conceivable that some powerful and malicious being may find his +pleasure in deluding us, and in making us believe the thing which is +not, every moment of our lives. What, then, is certain? What even, if +such a being exists, is beyond the reach of his powers of delusion? Why, +the fact that the thought, the present consciousness, exists. Our +thoughts may be delusive, but they cannot be fictitious. As thoughts, +they are real and existent, and the cleverest deceiver cannot make them +otherwise. + +Thus, thought is existence. More than that, so far as we are concerned, +existence is thought, all our conceptions of existence being some kind +or other of thought. Do not for a moment suppose that these are mere +paradoxes or subtleties. A little reflection upon the commonest facts +proves them to be irrefragable truths. For example, I take up a marble, +and I find it to be a red, round, hard, single body. We call the +redness, the roundness, the hardness, and the singleness, "qualities" of +the marble; and it sounds, at first, the height of absurdity to say that +all these qualities are modes of our own consciousness, which cannot +even be conceived to exist in the marble. But consider the redness, to +begin with. How does the sensation of redness arise? The waves of a +certain very attenuated matter, the particles of which are vibrating +with vast rapidity, but with very different velocities, strike upon the +marble, and those which vibrate with one particular velocity are thrown +off from its surface in all directions. The optical apparatus of the eye +gathers some of these together, and gives them such a course that they +impinge upon the surface of the retina, which is a singularly delicate +apparatus, connected with the termination of the fibres of the optic +nerve. The impulses of the attenuated matter, or ether, affect this +apparatus and the fibres of the optic nerve in a certain way; and the +change in the fibres of the optic nerve produces yet other changes in +the brain; and these, in some fashion unknown to us, give rise to the +feeling, or consciousness, of redness. If the marble could remain +unchanged, and either the rate of vibration of the ether, or the nature +of the retina, could be altered, the marble would seem not red, but some +other colour. There are many people who are what are called colourblind, +being unable to distinguish one colour from another. Such an one might +declare our marble to be green; and he would be quite as right in saying +that it is green, as we are in declaring it to be red. But then, as the +marble cannot, in itself, be both green and red, at the same time, this +shows that the quality "redness" must be in our consciousness and not in +the marble. + +In like manner, it is easy to see that the roundness and the hardness +are forms of our consciousness, belonging to the groups which we call +sensations of sight and touch. If the surface of the cornea were +cylindrical, we should have a very different notion of a round body from +that which we possess now; and if the strength of the fabric, and the +force of the muscles, of the body were increased a hundredfold, our +marble would seem to be as soft as a pellet of bread crumbs. + +Not only is it obvious that all these qualities are in us, but, if you +will make the attempt, you will find it quite impossible to conceive of +"blueness," "roundness," and "hardness" as existing without reference to +some such consciousness as our own. It may seem strange to say that even +the "singleness" of the marble is relative to us; but extremely simple +experiments will show that such is veritably the case, and that our two +most trustworthy senses may be made to contradict one another on this +very point. Hold the marble between the finger and thumb, and look at it +in the ordinary way. Sight and touch agree that it is single. Now +squint, and sight tells you that there are two marbles, while touch +asserts that there is only one. Next, return the eyes to their natural +position, and, having crossed the forefinger and the middle finger, put +the marble between their tips. Then touch will declare that there are +two marbles, while sight says that there is only one; and touch claims +our belief, when we attend to it, just as imperatively as sight does. + +But it may be said, the marble takes up a certain space which could not +be occupied, at the same time, by anything else. In other words, the +marble has the primary quality of matter, extension. Surely this quality +must be in the thing, and not in our minds? But the reply must still be; +whatever may, or may not, exist in the thing, all that we can know of +these qualities is a state of consciousness. What we call extension is a +consciousness of a relation between two, or more, affections of the +sense of sight, or of touch. And it is wholly inconceivable that what +we call extension should exist independently of such consciousness as +our own. Whether, notwithstanding this inconceivability, it does so +exist, or not, is a point on which I offer no opinion. + +Thus, whatever our marble may be in itself, all that we can know of it +is under the shape of a bundle of our own consciousnesses. + +Nor is our knowledge of anything we know or feel more, or less, than a +knowledge of states of consciousness. And our whole life is made up of +such states. Some of these states we refer to a cause we call "self;" +others to a cause or causes which may be comprehended under the title of +"not-self." But neither of the existence of "self," nor of that of +"not-self," have we, or can we by any possibility have, any such +unquestionable and immediate certainty as we have of the states of +consciousness which we consider to be their effects. They are not +immediately observed facts, but results of the application of the law of +causation to those facts. Strictly speaking, the existence of a "self" +and of a "not-self" are hypotheses by which we account for the facts of +consciousness. They stand upon the same footing as the belief in the +general trustworthiness of memory, and in the general constancy of the +order of nature--as hypothetical assumptions which cannot be proved, or +known with that highest degree of certainty which is given by immediate +consciousness; but which, nevertheless, are of the highest practical +value, inasmuch as the conclusions logically drawn from them are always +verified by experience. + +This, in my judgment, is the ultimate issue of Descartes' argument; but +it is proper for me to point out that we have left Descartes himself +some way behind us. He stopped at the famous formula, "I think, +therefore I am." But a little consideration will show this formula to be +full of snares and verbal entanglements. In the first place, the +"therefore" has no business there. The "I am" is assumed in the "I +think," which is simply another way of saying "I am thinking." And, in +the second place, "I think" is not one simple proposition, but three +distinct assertions rolled into one. The first of these is, "something +called I exists;" the second is, "something called thought exists;" and +the third is, "the thought is the result of the action of the I." + +Now, it will be obvious to you, that the only one of these three +propositions which can stand the Cartesian test of certainty is the +second. It cannot be doubted, for the very doubt is an existent thought. +But the first and third, whether true or not, may be doubted, and have +been doubted. For the assertor may be asked, How do you know that +thought is not self-existent; or that a given thought is not the effect +of its antecedent thought, or of some external power? And a diversity of +other questions, much more easily put than answered. Descartes, +determined as he was to strip off all the garments which the intellect +weaves for itself, forgot this gossamer shirt of the "self;" to the +great detriment, and indeed ruin, of his toilet when he began to clothe +himself again. + +But it is beside my purpose to dwell upon the minor peculiarities of the +Cartesian philosophy. All I wish to put clearly before your minds thus +far, is that Descartes, having commenced by declaring doubt to be a +duty, found certainty in consciousness alone; and that the necessary +outcome of his views is what may properly be termed Idealism; namely, +the doctrine that, whatever the universe may be, all we can know of it +is the picture presented to us by consciousness. This picture may be a +true likeness--though how this can be is inconceivable; or it may have +no more resemblance to its cause than one of Bach's fugues has to the +person who is playing it; or than a piece of poetry has to the mouth and +lips of a reciter. It is enough for all the practical purposes of human +existence if we find that our trust in the representations of +consciousness is verified by results; and that, by their help, we are +enabled "to walk surefootedly in this life." + +Thus the method, or path which leads to truth, indicated by Descartes, +takes us straight to the Critical Idealism of his great successor Kant. +It is that Idealism which declares the ultimate fact of all knowledge to +be a consciousness, or, in other words, a mental phenomenon; and +therefore affirms the highest of all certainties, and indeed the only +absolute certainty, to be the existence of mind. But it is also that +Idealism which refuses to make any assertions, either positive or +negative, as to what lies beyond consciousness. It accuses the subtle +Berkeley of stepping beyond the limits of knowledge when he declared +that a substance of matter does not exist; and of illogicality, for not +seeing that the arguments which he supposed demolished the existence of +matter were equally destructive to the existence of soul. And it refuses +to listen to the jargon of more recent days about the "Absolute," and +all the other hypostatized adjectives, the initial letters of the names +of which are generally printed in capital letters; just as you give a +Grenadier a bearskin cap, to make him look more formidable than he is by +nature. + +I repeat, the path indicated and followed by Descartes which we have +hitherto been treading, leads through doubt to that critical Idealism +which lies at the heart of modern metaphysical thought. But the +"Discourse" shows us another, and apparently very different, path, which +leads, quite as definitely, to that correlation of all the phĉnomena of +the universe with matter and motion, which lies at the heart of modern +physical thought, and which most people call Materialism. + +The early part of the seventeenth century, when Descartes reached +manhood, is one of the great epochs of the intellectual life of mankind. +At that time, physical science suddenly strode into the arena of public +and familiar thought, and openly challenged, not only Philosophy and the +Church, but that common ignorance which passes by the name of Common +Sense. The assertion of the motion of the earth was a defiance to all +three, and Physical Science threw down her glove by the hand of Galileo. + +It is not pleasant to think of the immediate result of the combat; to +see the champion of science, old, worn, and on his knees before the +Cardinal Inquisitor, signing his name to what he knew to be a lie. And, +no doubt, the Cardinals rubbed their hands as they thought how well they +had silenced and discredited their adversary. But two hundred years have +passed, and however feeble or faulty her soldiers, Physical Science sits +crowned and enthroned as one of the legitimate rulers of the world of +thought. Charity children would be ashamed not to know that the earth +moves; while the Schoolmen are forgotten; and the Cardinals--well, the +Cardinals are at the oecumenical Council, still at their old business +of trying to stop the movement of the world. + +As a ship, which having lain becalmed with every stitch of canvas set, +bounds away before the breeze which springs up astern, so the mind of +Descartes, poised in equilibrium of doubt, not only yielded to the full +force of the impulse towards physical science and physical ways of +thought, given by his great contemporaries, Galileo and Harvey, but shot +beyond them; and anticipated, by bold speculation, the conclusions, +which could only be placed upon a secure foundation by the labours of +generations of workers. + +Descartes saw that the discoveries of Galileo meant that the remotest +parts of the universe were governed by mechanical laws; while those of +Harvey meant that the same laws presided over the operations of that +portion of the world which is nearest to us, namely, our own bodily +frame. And crossing the interval between the centre and its vast +circumference by one of the great strides of genius, Descartes sought to +resolve all the phĉnomena of the universe into matter and motion, or +forces operating according to law.[71] This grand conception, which is +sketched in the "Discours," and more fully developed in the "Principes" +and in the "Traité de l'Homme," he worked out with extraordinary power +and knowledge; and with the effect of arriving, in the last-named essay, +at that purely mechanical view of vital phĉnomena towards which modern +physiology is striving. + +Let us try to understand how Descartes got into this path, and why it +led him where it did. The mechanism of the circulation of the blood had +evidently taken a great hold of his mind, as he describes it several +times, at much length. After giving a full account of it in the +"Discourse," and erroneously describing the motion of the blood, not to +the contraction of the walls of the heart, but to the heat which he +supposes to be generated there, he adds:-- + + "This motion, which I have just explained, is as much the necessary + result of the structure of the parts which one can see in the + heart, and of the heat which one may feel there with one's fingers, + and of the nature of the blood, which may be experimentally + ascertained; as is that of a clock of the force, the situation, and + the figure, of its weight and of its wheels." + +But if this apparently vital operation were explicable as a simple +mechanism, might not other vital operations be reducible to the same +category? Descartes replies without hesitation in the affirmative. + + "The animal spirits," says he, "resemble a very subtle fluid, or a + very pure and vivid flame, and are continually generated in the + heart, and ascend to the brain as to a sort of reservoir. Hence + they pass into the nerves and are distributed to the muscles, + causing contraction, or relaxation, according to their quantity." + +Thus, according to Descartes, the animal body is an automaton, which is +competent to perform all the animal functions in exactly the same way as +a clock or any other piece of mechanism. As he puts the case himself:-- + + "In proportion as these spirits [the animal spirits] enter the + cavities of the brain, they pass thence into the pores of its + substance, and from these pores into the nerves; where, according + as they enter, or even only tend to enter, more or less, into one + than into another, they have the power of altering the figure of + the muscles into which the nerves are inserted, and by this means + of causing all the limbs to move. Thus, as you may have seen in the + grottoes and the fountains in royal gardens, the force with which + the water issues from its reservoir is sufficient to move various + machines, and even to make them play instruments, or pronounce + words according to the different disposition of the pipes which + lead the water. + + "And, in truth, the nerves of the machine which I am describing may + very well be compared to the pipes of these waterworks; its muscles + and its tendons to the other various engines and springs which seem + to move them; its animal spirits to the water which impels them, of + which the heart is the fountain; while the cavities of the brain + are the central office. Moreover, respiration and other such + actions as are natural and usual in the body, and which depend on + the course of the spirits, are like the movements of a clock, or of + a mill, which may be kept up by the ordinary flow of the water. + + "The external objects which, by their mere presence, act upon the + organs of the senses; and which, by this means, determine the + corporal machine to move in many different ways, according as the + parts of the brain are arranged, are like the strangers who, + entering into some of the grottoes of these waterworks, + unconsciously cause the movements which take place in their + presence. For they cannot enter without treading upon certain + planks so arranged that, for example, if they approach a bathing + Diana, they cause her to hide among the reeds; and if they attempt + to follow her, they see approaching a Neptune, who threatens them + with his trident; or if they try some other way, they cause some + monster who vomits water into their faces, to dart out; or like + contrivances, according to the fancy of the engineers who have made + them. And lastly, when the _rational soul_ is lodged in this + machine, it will have its principal seat in the brain, and will + take the place of the engineer, who ought to be in that part of the + works with which all the pipes are connected, when he wishes to + increase, or to slacken, or in some way to alter, their + movements."[72] + +And again still more strongly:-- + + "All the functions which I have attributed to this machine (the + body), as the digestion of food, the pulsation of the heart and of + the arteries; the nutrition and the growth of the limbs; + respiration, wakefulness, and sleep; the reception of light, + sounds, odours, flavours, heat, and such like qualities, in the + organs of the external senses; the impression of the ideas of these + in the organ of common sense and in the imagination; the retention, + or the impression, of these ideas on the memory; the internal + movements of the appetites and the passions; and lastly, the + external movements of all the limbs, which follow so aptly, as well + the action of the objects which are presented to the senses, as the + impressions which meet in the memory, that they imitate as nearly + as possible those of a real man:[73] I desire, I say, that you + should consider that these functions in the machine naturally + proceed from the mere arrangement of its organs, neither more nor + less than do the movements of a clock, or other automaton, from + that of its weights and its wheels; so that, so far as these are + concerned, it is not necessary to conceive any other vegetative or + sensitive soul, nor any other principle of motion, or of life, than + the blood and the spirits agitated by the fire which burns + continually in the heart, and which is no wise essentially + different from all the fires which exist in inanimate bodies."[74] + +The spirit of these passages is exactly that of the most advanced +physiology of the present day; all that is necessary to make them +coincide with our present physiology in form, is to represent the +details of the working of the animal machinery in modern language, and +by the aid of modern conceptions. + +Most undoubtedly, the digestion of food in the human body is a purely +chemical process; and the passage of the nutritive parts of that food +into the blood, a physical operation. Beyond all question, the +circulation of the blood is simply a matter of mechanism, and results +from the structure and arrangement of the parts of the heart and +vessels, from the contractility of those organs, and from the +regulation of that contractility by an automatically acting nervous +apparatus. The progress of physiology has further shown, that the +contractility of the muscles and the irritability of the nerves are +purely the results of the molecular mechanism of those organs; and that +the regular movements of the respiratory, alimentary, and other internal +organs are governed and guided, as mechanically, by their appropriate +nervous centres. The even rhythm of the breathing of every one of us +depends upon the structural integrity of a particular region of the +medulla oblongata, as much as the ticking of a clock depends upon the +integrity of the escapement. You may take away the hands of a clock and +break up its striking machinery, but it will still tick; and a man may +be unable to feel, speak, or move, and yet he will breathe. + +Again, in entire accordance with Descartes' affirmation, it is certain +that the modes of motion which constitute the physical basis of light, +sound, and heat, are transmuted into affections of nervous matter by the +sensory organs. These affections are, so to speak, a kind of physical +ideas, which are retained in the central organs, constituting what might +be called physical memory, and may be combined in a manner which answers +to association and imagination, or may give rise to muscular +contractions, in those "reflex actions" which are the mechanical +representatives of volitions. + +Consider what happens when a blow is aimed at the eye.[75] Instantly, +and without our knowledge or will, and even against the will, the +eyelids close. What is it that happens? A picture of the rapidly +advancing fist is made upon the retina at the back of the eye. The +retina changes this picture into an affection of a number of the fibres +of the optic nerve; the fibres of the optic nerve affect certain parts +of the brain; the brain, in consequence, affects those particular fibres +of the seventh nerve which go to the orbicular muscle of the eyelids; +the change in these nerve-fibres causes the muscular fibres to change +their dimensions, so as to become shorter and broader; and the result is +the closing of the slit between the two lids, round which these fibres +are disposed. Here is a pure mechanism, giving rise to a purposive +action, and strictly comparable to that by which Descartes supposes his +waterwork Diana to be moved. But we may go further, and inquire whether +our volition, in what we term voluntary action, ever plays any other +part than that of Descartes' engineer, sitting in his office, and +turning this tap or the other, as he wishes to set one or another +machine in motion, but exercising no direct influence upon the movements +of the whole. + +Our voluntary acts consist of two parts: firstly, we desire to perform a +certain action; and, secondly, we somehow set a-going a machinery which +does what we desire. But so little do we directly influence that +machinery, that nine-tenths of us do not even know its existence. + +Suppose one wills to raise one's arm and whirl it round. Nothing is +easier. But the majority of us do not know that nerves and muscles are +concerned in this process; and the best anatomist among us would be +amazingly perplexed, if he were called upon to direct the succession, +and the relative strength, of the multitudinous nerve-changes, which are +the actual causes of this very simple operation. + +So again in speaking. How many of us know that the voice is produced in +the larynx, and modified by the mouth? How many among these instructed +persons understand how the voice is produced and modified? And what +living man, if he had unlimited control over all the nerves supplying +the mouth and larynx of another person, could make him pronounce a +sentence? Yet, if one has anything to say, what is easier than to say +it? We desire the utterance of certain words: we touch the spring of the +word-machine, and they are spoken. Just as Descartes' engineer, when he +wanted a particular hydraulic machine to play, had only to turn a tap, +and what he wished was done. It is because the body is a machine that +education is possible. Education is the formation of habits, a +superinducing of an artificial organization upon the natural +organization of the body; so that acts, which at first required a +conscious effort, eventually became unconscious and mechanical. If the +act which primarily requires a distinct consciousness and volition of +its details, always needed the same effort, education would be an +impossibility. + +According to Descartes, then, all the functions which are common to man +and animals are performed by the body as a mere mechanism, and he looks +upon consciousness as the peculiar distinction of the "_chose +pensante_," of the "rational soul," which in man (and in man only, in +Descartes' opinion) is superadded to the body. This rational soul he +conceived to be lodged in the pineal gland, as in a sort of central +office; and, here, by the intermediation of the animal spirits, it +became aware of what was going on in the body, or influenced the +operations of the body. Modern physiologists do not ascribe so exalted +a function to the little pineal gland, but, in a vague sort of way, they +adopt Descartes' principle, and suppose that the soul is lodged in the +cortical part of the brain--at least this is commonly regarded as the +seat and instrument of consciousness. + +Descartes has clearly stated what he conceived to be the difference +between spirit and matter. Matter is substance which has extension, but +does not think; spirit is substance which thinks, but has no extension. +It is very hard to form a definite notion of what this phraseology +means, when it is taken in connexion with the location of the soul in +the pineal gland; and I can only represent it to myself as signifying +that the soul is a mathematical point, having place but not extension, +within the limits of the pineal gland. Not only has it place, but it +must exert force; for, according to the hypothesis, it is competent, +when it wills, to change the course of the animal spirits, which consist +of matter in motion. Thus the soul becomes a centre of force. But, at +the same time, the distinction between spirit and matter vanishes; +inasmuch as matter, according to a tenable hypothesis, may be nothing +but a multitude of centres of force. The case is worse if we adopt the +modern vague notion that consciousness is seated in the grey matter of +the cerebrum, generally; for, as the grey matter has extension, that +which is lodged in it must also have extension. And thus we are led, in +another way, to lose spirit in matter. + +In truth, Descartes' physiology, like the modern physiology of which it +anticipates the spirit, leads straight to Materialism, so far as that +title is rightly applicable to the doctrine that we have no knowledge +of any thinking substance, apart from extended substance; and that +thought is as much a function of matter as motion is. Thus we arrive at +the singular result that, of the two paths opened up to us in the +"Discourse upon Method," the one leads, by way of Berkeley and Hume, to +Kant and Idealism; while the other leads, by way of De La Mettrie and +Priestley, to modern physiology and Materialism.[76] Our stem divides +into two main branches, which grow in opposite ways, and bear flowers +which look as different as they can well be. But each branch is sound +and healthy, and has as much life and vigour as the other. + +If a botanist found this state of things in a new plant, I imagine that +he might be inclined to think that his tree was monoecious--that the +flowers were of different sexes, and that, so far from setting up a +barrier between the two branches of the tree, the only hope of fertility +lay in bringing them together. I may be taking too much of a +naturalist's view of the case, but I must confess that this is exactly +my notion of what is to be done with metaphysics and physics. Their +differences are complementary, not antagonistic; and thought will never +be completely fruitful until the one unites with the other. Let me try +to explain what I mean. I hold, with the Materialist, that the human +body, like all living bodies, is a machine, all the operations of which +will, sooner or later, be explained on physical principles. I believe +that we shall, sooner or later, arrive at a mechanical equivalent of +consciousness, just as we have arrived at a mechanical equivalent of +heat. If a pound weight falling through a distance of a foot gives rise +to a definite amount of heat, which may properly be said to be its +equivalent; the same pound weight falling through a foot on a man's hand +gives rise to a definite amount of feeling, which might with equal +propriety be said to be its equivalent in consciousness.[77] And as we +already know that there is a certain parity between the intensity of a +pain and the strength of one's desire to get rid of that pain; and +secondly, that there is a certain correspondence between the intensity +of the heat, or mechanical violence, which gives rise to the pain, and +the pain itself; the possibility of the establishment of a correlation +between mechanical force and volition becomes apparent. And the same +conclusion is suggested by the fact that, within certain limits, the +intensity of the mechanical force we exert is proportioned to the +intensity of our desire to exert it. + +Thus I am prepared to go with the Materialists wherever the true pursuit +of the path of Descartes may lead them; and I am glad, on all occasions, +to declare my belief that their fearless development of the +materialistic aspect of these matters has had an immense, and a most +beneficial, influence upon physiology and psychology. Nay more, when +they go farther than I think they are entitled to do--when they +introduce Calvinism into science and declare that man is nothing but a +machine, I do not see any particular harm in their doctrines, so long as +they admit that which is a matter of experimental fact--namely, that it +is a machine capable of adjusting itself within certain limits. + +I protest that if some great Power would agree to make me always think +what is true and do what is right, on condition of being turned into a +sort of clock and wound up every morning before I got out of bed, I +should instantly close with the offer. The only freedom I care about is +the freedom to do right; the freedom to do wrong I am ready to part with +on the cheapest terms to any one who will take it of me. But when the +Materialists stray beyond the borders of their path and begin to talk +about there being nothing else in the universe but Matter and Force and +Necessary Laws, and all the rest of _their_ "grenadiers," I decline to +follow them. I go back to the point from which we started, and to the +other path of Descartes. I remind you that we have already seen clearly +and distinctly, and in a manner which admits of no doubt, that all our +knowledge is a knowledge of states of consciousness. "Matter" and +"Force" are, so far as we can know, mere names for certain forms of +consciousness. "Necessary" means that of which we cannot conceive the +contrary. "Law" means a rule which we have always found to hold good, +and which we expect always will hold good. Thus it is an indisputable +truth that what we call the material world is only known to us under the +forms of the ideal world; and, as Descartes tells us, our knowledge of +the soul is more intimate and certain than our knowledge of the body. +If I say that impenetrability is a property of matter, all that I can +really mean is that the consciousness I call extension, and the +consciousness I call resistance, constantly accompany one another. Why +and how they are thus related is a mystery. And if I say that thought is +a property of matter, all that I can mean is that, actually or possibly, +the consciousness of extension and that of resistance accompany all +other sorts of consciousness. But, as in the former case, why they are +thus associated is an insoluble mystery. + +From all this it follows that what I may term legitimate materialism, +that is, the extension of the conceptions and of the methods of physical +science to the highest as well as the lowest phenomena of vitality, is +neither more nor less than a sort of shorthand Idealism; and Descartes' +two paths meet at the summit of the mountain, though they set out on +opposite sides of it. + +The reconciliation of physics and metaphysics lies in the acknowledgment +of faults upon both sides; in the confession by physics that all the +phĉnomena of nature are, in their ultimate analysis, known to us only as +facts of consciousness; in the admission by metaphysics, that the facts +of consciousness are, practically, interpretable only by the methods and +the formulĉ of physics: and, finally, in the observance by both +metaphysical and physical thinkers of Descartes' maxim--assent to no +proposition the matter of which is not so clear and distinct that it +cannot be doubted. + + +When you did me the honour to ask me to deliver this address, I confess +I was perplexed what topic to select. For you are emphatically and +distinctly a _Christian_ body; while science and philosophy, within the +range of which lie all the topics on which I could venture to speak, are +neither Christian, nor Unchristian, but are Extrachristian, and have a +world of their own, which, to use language which will be very familiar +to your ears just now, is not only "unsectarian," but is altogether +"secular." The arguments which I have put before you to-night, for +example, are not inconsistent, so far as I know, with any form of +theology. + +After much consideration, I thought that I might be most useful to you, +if I attempted to give you some vision of this Extrachristian world, as +it appears to a person who lives a good deal in it; and if I tried to +show you by what methods the dwellers therein try to distinguish truth +from falsehood, in regard to some of the deepest and most difficult +problems that beset humanity, "in order to be clear about their actions, +and to walk surefootedly in this life," as Descartes says. + +It struck me that if the execution of my project came anywhere near the +conception of it, you would become aware that the philosophers and the +men of science are not exactly what they are sometimes represented to +you to be; and that their methods and paths do not lead so +perpendicularly downwards as you are occasionally told they do. And I +must admit, also, that a particular and personal motive weighed with +me,--namely, the desire to show that a certain discourse, which brought +a great storm about my head some time ago, contained nothing but the +ultimate development of the views of the father of modern philosophy. I +do not know if I have been quite wise in allowing this last motive to +weigh with me. They say that the most dangerous thing one can do in a +thunderstorm is to shelter oneself under a great tree, and the history +of Descartes' life shows how narrowly he escaped being riven by the +lightnings, which were more destructive in his time than in ours. + +Descartes lived and died a good Catholic, and prided himself upon having +demonstrated the existence of God and of the soul of man. As a reward +for his exertions, his old friends the Jesuits put his works upon the +"Index," and called him an Atheist; while the Protestant divines of +Holland declared him to be both a Jesuit and an Atheist. His books +narrowly escaped being burned by the hangman; the fate of Vanini was +dangled before his eyes; and the misfortunes of Galileo so alarmed him, +that he well-nigh renounced the pursuits by which the world has so +greatly benefited, and was driven into subterfuges and evasions which +were not worthy of him. + +"Very cowardly," you may say; and so it was. But you must make allowance +for the fact that, in the seventeenth century, not only did heresy mean +possible burning, or imprisonment, but the very suspicion of it +destroyed a man's peace, and rendered the calm pursuit of truth +difficult or impossible. I fancy that Descartes was a man to care more +about being worried and disturbed, than about being burned outright; +and, like many other men, sacrificed for the sake of peace and +quietness, what he would have stubbornly maintained against downright +violence. + +However this may be, let those who are sure they would have done better +throw stones at him. I have no feelings but those of gratitude and +reverence for the man who did what he did, when he did; and a sort of +shame that any one should repine against taking a fair share of such +treatment as the world thought good enough for him. + +Finally, it occurs to me that, such being my feeling about the matter, +it may be useful to all of us if I ask you, "What is yours? Do you think +that the Christianity of the seventeenth century looks nobler and more +attractive for such treatment of such a man?" You will hardly reply that +it does. But if it does not, may it not be well if all of you do what +lies within your power to prevent the Christianity of the nineteenth +century from repeating the scandal? + +There are one or two living men, who, a couple of centuries hence, will +be remembered as Descartes is now, because they have produced great +thoughts which will live and grow as long as mankind lasts. + +If the twenty-first century studies their history, it will find that the +Christianity of the middle of the nineteenth century recognised them +only as objects of vilification. It is for you and such as you, +Christian young men, to say whether this shall be as true of the +Christianity of the future as it is of that of the present. I appeal to +you to say "No," in your own interest, and in that of the Christianity +you profess. + +In the interest of Science, no appeal is needful; as Dante sings of +Fortune-- + + "Quest' è colei, ch'è tanto posta in croce + Pur da color, che le dovrian dar lode + Dandole biasmo a torto e mala voce. + Ma ella s' è beata, e ciò non ode: + Con l' altre prime creature lieta + Volve sua spera, e beata si gode:"[78] + +so, whatever evil voices may rage, Science, secure among the powers that +are eternal, will do her work and be blessed. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[68] I forget who it was said of him: "Il a plus que personne l'esprit +que tout le monde a." + +[69] "Discours de la Méthode pour bien conduire sa Raison et chercher la +Vérité dans les Sciences." + +[70] "Eine thätige Skepsis ist die, welche unablässig bemüht ist sich +selbst zu überwinden, und durch geregelte Erfahrung zu einer Art von +bedingtrer Zuverlässigkeit zu gelangen."--_Maximen und Reflexionen_, 7 +Abtheilung. + +[71] "Au milieu de toutes ses erreurs, il ne faut pas méconnaître une +grande idée, qui consiste à avoir tenté pour la première fois de ramener +tous les phénomènes naturels à n'être qu'un simple dévelloppement des +lois de la mécanique," is the weighty judgment of Biot, cited by +Bouillier (_Histoire de la Philosophie Cartésienne_, t. i. p. 196). + +[72] "Traité de l'Homme" (Cousin's Edition), p. 347. + +[73] Descartes pretends that he does not apply his views to the human +body, but only to an imaginary machine which, if it could be +constructed, would do all that the human body does; throwing a sop to +Cerberus unworthily; and uselessly, because Cerberus was by no means +stupid enough to swallow it. + +[74] "Traité de l'Homme," p. 427. + +[75] Compare "Traité des Passions," Art. XIII. and XVI. + +[76] Bouillier, into whose excellent "History of the Cartesian +Philosophy" I had not looked when this passage was written, says, very +justly, that Descartes "a merité le titre de pére de la physique, aussi +bien que celui de pére de la métaphysique moderne" (t. i. p. 197). See +also Kuno Fischer's "Geschichte der neuen Philosophie," Bd. i.; and the +very remarkable work of Lange, "Geschichte des Materialismus."--A good +translation of the latter would be a great service to philosophy in +England. + +[77] For all the qualifications which need to be made here, I refer the +reader to the thorough discussion of the nature of the relation between +nerve-action and consciousness in Mr. Herbert Spencer's "Principles of +Psychology," p. 115 _et seq._ + +[78] + "And this is she who's put on cross so much, + Even by them who ought to give her praise, + Giving her wrongly ill repute and blame. + But she is blessed, and she hears not this: + She, with the other primal creatures, glad + Revolves her sphere, and blessed joys herself." + + _Inferno_, vii. 90-95 (W.M. Rossetti's Translation). + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAY SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND REVIEWS*** + + +******* This file should be named 16729-8.txt or 16729-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/7/2/16729 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Lay Sermons, Addresses and Reviews</p> +<p>Author: Thomas Henry Huxley</p> +<p>Release Date: September 21, 2005 [eBook #16729]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAY SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND REVIEWS***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Clare Boothby, Martin Pettit,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (https://www.pgdp.net/)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<h1>LAY SERMONS, ADDRESSES,</h1> + +<p class='center'>AND</p> + +<h1>REVIEWS.</h1> + + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY, LL.D., F.R.S.</h2> + +<p class='center'>London:<br /> +MACMILLAN AND CO.<br /> +1870.</p> + +<p class='center'>LONDON<br /> +R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS,<br /> +BREAD STREET HILL.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2>A PREFATORY LETTER.</h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap">My dear Tyndall</span>,</p> + +<p>I should have liked to provide this collection of "Lay Sermons, +Addresses, and Reviews," with a Dedication and a Preface. In the former, +I should have asked you to allow me to associate your name with the +book, chiefly on the ground that the oldest of the papers in it is a +good deal younger than our friendship. In the latter, I intended to +comment upon certain criticisms with which some of these Essays have +been met.</p> + +<p>But, on turning the matter over in my mind, I began to fear that a +formal dedication at the beginning of such a volume would look like a +grand lodge in front of a set of cottages; while a complete defence of +any of my old papers would simply amount to writing a new one—a labour +for which I am, at present, by no means fit.</p> + +<p>The book must go forth, therefore, without any better substitute for +either Dedication, or Preface, than this letter; before concluding which +it is necessary for me to notify you, and any other reader, of two or +three matters.</p> + +<p>The first is, that the oldest Essay of the whole, that "On the +Educational Value of the Natural History Sciences," contains a view of +the nature of the differences between living and not-living bodies out +of which I have long since grown.</p> + +<p>Secondly, in the same paper, there is a statement concerning the method +of the mathematical sciences, which, repeated and expanded elsewhere, +brought upon me, during the meeting of the British Association at +Exeter, the artillery of our eminent friend Professor Sylvester.</p> + +<p>No one knows better than you do, how readily I should defer to the +opinion of so great a mathematician if the question at issue were +really, as he seems to think it is, a mathematical one. But I submit, +that the dictum of a mathematical athlete upon a difficult problem which +mathematics offers to philosophy, has no more special weight, than the +verdict of that great pedestrian Captain Barclay would have had, in +settling a disputed point in the physiology of locomotion.</p> + +<p>The genius which sighs for new worlds to conquer beyond that surprising +region in which "geometry, algebra, and the theory of numbers melt into +one another like sunset tints, or the colours of a dying dolphin," may +be of comparatively little service in the cold domain (mostly lighted by +the moon, some say) of philosophy. And the more I think of it, the more +does our friend seem to me to fall into the position of one of those +"verständige Leute," about whom he makes so apt a quotation from Goethe. +Surely he has not duly considered two points. The first, that I am in no +way answerable for the origination of the doctrine he criticises: and +the second, that if we are to employ the terms observation, induction, +and experiment, in the sense in which he uses them, logic is as much an +observational, inductive, and experimental science as mathematics; and +that, I confess, appears to me to be a <i>reductio ad absurdum</i> of his +argument.</p> + +<p>Thirdly, the essay "On the Physical Basis of Life" was intended to +contain a plain and untechnical statement of one of the great tendencies +of modern biological thought, accompanied by a protest, from the +philosophical side, against what is commonly called Materialism. The +result of my well-meant efforts I find to be, that I am generally +credited with having invented "protoplasm" in the interests of +"materialism." My unlucky "Lay Sermon" has been attacked by +microscopists, ignorant alike of Biology and Philosophy; by +philosophers, not very learned in either Biology or Microscopy; by +clergymen of several denominations; and by some few writers who have +taken the trouble to understand the subject. I trust that these last +will believe that I leave the essay unaltered from no want of respectful +attention to all they have said.</p> + +<p>Fourthly, I wish to refer all who are interested in the topics discussed +in my address on "Geological Reform," to the reply with which Sir +William Thomson has honoured me.</p> + +<p>And, lastly, let me say that I reprint the review of "The Origin of +Species" simply because it has been cited as mine by a late President of +the Geological Society. If you find its phraseology, in some places, to +be more vigorous than seems needful, recollect that it was written in +the heat of our first battles over the Novum Organon of biology; that we +were all ten years younger in those days; and last, but not least, that +it was not published until it had been submitted to the revision of a +friend for whose judgment I had then, as I have now, the greatest +respect.</p> + +<p> +Ever, my dear <span class="smcap">Tyndall</span>,<br /> +<br /> +Yours very faithfully,<br /> +<br /> +T.H. HUXLEY<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">London</span>, <i>June 1870</i>.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> +<div class="index"> +<ul> +<li><a href="#I">I.</a> +<ul> + <li class="subitem"><span class="smcap">On the Advisableness of Improving Natural Knowledge.</span><br /> +(A Lay Sermon delivered in St. Martin's Hall, on the evening of Sunday, the 7th of January, 1866, +and subsequently published in the <i>Fortnightly Review</i>)</li> +</ul></li> +<li><a href="#II">II.</a> +<ul> + <li class="subitem"><span class="smcap">Emancipation—Black and White.</span><br /> +(The <i>Reader</i>, May 20th, 1865)</li> +</ul></li> + +<li><a href="#III">III.</a> +<ul> + <li class="subitem"><span class="smcap">A Liberal Education: and Where to Find It.</span><br /> +(An Address to the South London Working Men's College, delivered on the +4th of January, 1868, and subsequently published in <i>Macmillan's Magazine</i>)</li> +</ul></li> + +<li><a href="#IV">IV.</a> +<ul> + <li class="subitem"><span class="smcap">Scientific Education: Notes of an After-Dinner Speech.</span><br /> +(Delivered before the Liverpool Philomathic Society in April 1869, +and subsequently published in <i>Macmillan's Magazine</i>)</li> +</ul></li> + +<li><a href="#V">V.</a> +<ul> + <li class="subitem"><span class="smcap">On the Educational Value of the Natural History Sciences.</span><br /> +(An Address delivered at St. Martin's Hall, on the 22d July, 1854, +and published as a pamphlet in that year)</li> +</ul></li> + +<li><a href="#VI">VI.</a> +<ul> + <li class="subitem"><span class="smcap">On the Study of Zoology.</span><br /> +(A Lecture delivered at the South Kensington Museum, in 1861, and subsequently published by the +Department of Science and Art)</li> +</ul></li> + +<li><a href="#VII">VII.</a> +<ul> + <li class="subitem"><span class="smcap">On the Physical Basis of Life.</span><br /> +(A Lay Sermon delivered in Edinburgh, on Sunday, the 8th of November, 1868, at the request +of the late Rev. James Cranbrook; subsequently published in the <i>Fortnightly Review</i>)</li> +</ul></li> + +<li><a href="#VIII">VIII.</a> +<ul> + <li class="subitem"><span class="smcap">The Scientific Aspects of Positivism.</span><br /> +(A Reply to Mr. Congreve's Attack upon the preceding Paper. Published in the <i>Fortnightly Review.</i> 1869)</li> +</ul></li> + +<li><a href="#IX">IX.</a> +<ul> + <li class="subitem"><span class="smcap">On a Piece of Chalk.</span><br /> +(A Lecture delivered to the Working Men of Norwich, during the Meeting of the British Association, in 1868. +Subsequently published in <i>Macmillan's Magazine</i>)</li> +</ul></li> + +<li><a href="#X">X.</a> +<ul> + <li class="subitem"><span class="smcap">Geological Contemporaneity and Persistent Types of Life.</span><br /> +(The Anniversary Address to the Geological Society for 1862)</li> +</ul></li> + +<li><a href="#XI">XI.</a> +<ul> + <li class="subitem"><span class="smcap">Geological Reform.</span><br /> +(The Anniversary Address to the Geological Society for 1869)</li> +</ul></li> + +<li><a href="#XII">XII.</a> +<ul> + <li class="subitem"><span class="smcap">The Origin of Species.</span><br /> +(The <i>Westminster Review</i>, April 1860)</li> +</ul></li> + +<li><a href="#XIII">XIII.</a> +<ul> + <li class="subitem"><span class="smcap">Criticisms on "The Origin of Species."</span><br /> +(The <i>Natural History Review</i>, 1864)</li> +</ul></li> + +<li><a href="#XIV">XIV.</a> +<ul> + <li class="subitem"><span class="smcap">On Descartes' "Discourse Touching the Method of Using One's +Reason Rightly and of Seeking Scientific Truth."</span><br /> +(An Address to the Cambridge Young Men's Christian Society, delivered +on the 24th of March, 1870, and subsequently published in <i>Macmillan's Magazine</i>)</li> +</ul></li> + +</ul> +</div> + +<hr /> +<h2>LAY SERMONS, ADDRESSES, AND REVIEWS.</h2> + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I.</h2> + +<h3>ON THE ADVISABLENESS OF IMPROVING NATURAL KNOWLEDGE.</h3> + +<p>This time two hundred years ago—in the beginning of January, +1666—those of our forefathers who inhabited this great and ancient +city, took breath between the shocks of two fearful calamities, one not +quite past, although its fury had abated; the other to come.</p> + +<p>Within a few yards of the very spot on which we are assembled, so the +tradition runs, that painful and deadly malady, the plague, appeared in +the latter months of 1664; and, though no new visitor, smote the people +of England, and especially of her capital, with a violence unknown +before, in the course of the following year. The hand of a master has +pictured what happened in those dismal months; and in that truest of +fictions, "The History of the Plague Year," Defoe shows death, with +every accompaniment of pain and terror, stalking through the narrow +streets of old London, and changing their busy hum into a silence broken +only by the wailing of the mourners of fifty thousand dead; by the woful +denunciations and mad prayers of fanatics; and by the madder yells of +despairing profligates.</p> + +<p>But, about this time in 1666, the death-rate had sunk to nearly its +ordinary amount; a case of plague occurred only here and there, and the +richer citizens who had flown from the pest had returned to their +dwellings. The remnant of the people began to toil at the accustomed +round of duty, or of pleasure; and the stream of city life bid fair to +flow back along its old bed, with renewed and uninterrupted vigour.</p> + +<p>The newly kindled hope was deceitful. The great plague, indeed, returned +no more; but what it had done for the Londoners, the great fire, which +broke out in the autumn of 1666, did for London; and, in September of +that year, a heap of ashes and the indestructible energy of the people +were all that remained of the glory of five-sixths of the city within +the walls.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>Our forefathers had their own ways of accounting for each of these +calamities. They submitted to the plague in humility and in penitence, +for they believed it to be the judgment of God. But, towards the fire +they were furiously indignant, interpreting it as the effect of the +malice of man,—as the work of the Republicans, or of the Papists, +according as their prepossessions ran in favour of loyalty or of +Puritanism.</p> + +<p>It would, I fancy, have fared but ill with one who, standing where I now +stand, in what was then a thickly peopled and fashionable part of +London, should have broached to our ancestors the doctrine which I now +propound to you—that all their hypotheses were alike wrong; that the +plague was no more, in their sense, Divine judgment, than the fire was +the work of any political, or of any religious, sect; but that they were +themselves the authors of both plague and fire, and that they must look +to themselves to prevent the recurrence of calamities, to all appearance +so peculiarly beyond the reach of human control—so evidently the result +of the wrath of God, or of the craft and subtlety of an enemy.</p> + +<p>And one may picture to oneself how harmoniously the holy cursing of the +Puritan of that day would have chimed in with the unholy cursing and the +crackling wit of the Rochesters and Sedleys, and with the revilings of +the political fanatics, if my imaginary plain dealer had gone on to say +that, if the return of such misfortunes were ever rendered impossible, +it would not be in virtue of the victory of the faith of Laud, or of +that of Milton; and, as little, by the triumph of republicanism, as by +that of monarchy. But that the one thing needful for compassing this end +was, that the people of England should second the efforts of an +insignificant corporation, the establishment of which, a few years +before the epoch of the great plague and the great fire, had been as +little noticed, as they were conspicuous.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>Some twenty years before the outbreak of the plague a few calm and +thoughtful students banded themselves together for the purpose, as they +phrased it, of "improving natural knowledge." The ends they proposed to +attain cannot be stated more clearly than in the words of one of the +founders of the organization:—</p> + +<p>"Our business was (precluding matters of theology and state affairs) to +discourse and consider of philosophical enquiries, and such as related +thereunto:—as Physick, Anatomy, Geometry, Astronomy, Navigation, +Staticks, Magneticks, Chymicks, Mechanicks, and Natural Experiments; +with the state of these studies and their cultivation at home and +abroad. We then discoursed of the circulation of the blood, the valves +in the veins, the venæ lacteæ, the lymphatic vessels, the Copernican +hypothesis, the nature of comets and new stars, the satellites of +Jupiter, the oval shape (as it then appeared) of Saturn, the spots on +the sun and its turning on its own axis, the inequalities and +selenography of the moon, the several phases of Venus and Mercury, the +improvement of telescopes and grinding of glasses for that purpose, the +weight of air, the possibility or impossibility of vacuities and +nature's abhorrence thereof, the Torricellian experiment in quicksilver, +the descent of heavy bodies and the degree of acceleration therein, with +divers other things of like nature, some of which were then but new +discoveries, and others not so generally known and embraced as now they +are; with other things appertaining to what hath been called the New +Philosophy, which, from the times of Galileo at Florence, and Sir +Francis Bacon (Lord Verulam) in England, hath been much cultivated in +Italy, France, Germany, and other parts abroad, as well as with us in +England."</p> + +<p>The learned Dr. Wallis, writing in 1696, narrates, in these words, what +happened half a century before, or about 1645. The associates met at +Oxford, in the rooms of Dr. Wilkins, who was destined to become a +bishop; and subsequently coming together in London, they attracted the +notice of the king. And it is a strange evidence of the taste for +knowledge which the most obviously worthless of the Stuarts shared with +his father and grandfather, that Charles the Second was not content +with saying witty things about his philosophers, but did wise things +with regard to them. For he not only bestowed upon them such attention +as he could spare from his poodles and his mistresses, but, being in his +usual state of impecuniosity, begged for them of the Duke of Ormond; +and, that step being without effect, gave them Chelsea College, a +charter, and a mace: crowning his favours in the best way they could be +crowned, by burdening them no further with royal patronage or state +interference.</p> + +<p>Thus it was that the half-dozen young men, studious of the "New +Philosophy," who met in one another's lodgings in Oxford or in London, +in the middle of the seventeenth century, grew in numerical and in real +strength, until, in its latter part, the "Royal Society for the +Improvement of Natural Knowledge" had already become famous, and had +acquired a claim upon the veneration of Englishmen, which it has ever +since retained, as the principal focus of scientific activity in our +islands, and the chief champion of the cause it was formed to support.</p> + +<p>It was by the aid of the Royal Society that Newton published his +"Principia." If all the books in the world, except the Philosophical +Transactions, were destroyed, it is safe to say that the foundations of +physical science would remain unshaken, and that the vast intellectual +progress of the last two centuries would be largely, though +incompletely, recorded. Nor have any signs of halting or of decrepitude +manifested themselves in our own times. As in Dr. Wallis's days, so in +these, "our business is, precluding theology and state affairs, to +discourse and consider of philosophical enquiries." But our +"Mathematick" is one which Newton would have to go to school to learn; +our "Staticks, Mechanicks, Magneticks, Chymicks, and Natural +Experiments" constitute a mass of physical and chemical knowledge, a +glimpse at which would compensate Galileo for the doings of a score of +inquisitorial cardinals; our "Physick" and "Anatomy" have embraced such +infinite varieties of being, have laid open such new worlds in time and +space, have grappled, not unsuccessfully, with such complex problems, +that the eyes of Vesalius and of Harvey might be dazzled by the sight of +the tree that has grown out of their grain of mustard seed.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>The fact is perhaps rather too much, than too little, forced upon one's +notice, nowadays, that all this marvellous intellectual growth has a no +less wonderful expression in practical life; and that, in this respect, +if in no other, the movement symbolized by the progress of the Royal +Society stands without a parallel in the history of mankind.</p> + +<p>A series of volumes as bulky as the Transactions of the Royal Society +might possibly be filled with the subtle speculations of the schoolmen; +not improbably, the obtaining a mastery over the products of mediæval +thought might necessitate an even greater expenditure of time and of +energy than the acquirement of the "New Philosophy;" but though such +work engrossed the best intellects of Europe for a longer time than has +elapsed since the great fire, its effects were "writ in water," so far +as our social state is concerned.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, if the noble first President of the Royal Society +could revisit the upper air and once more gladden his eyes with a sight +of the familiar mace, he would find himself in the midst of a material +civilization more different from that of his day, than that of the +seventeenth, was from that of the first, century. And if Lord +Brouncker's native sagacity had not deserted his ghost, he would need no +long reflection to discover that all these great ships, these railways, +these telegraphs, these factories, these printing presses, without which +the whole fabric of modern English society would collapse into a mass of +stagnant and starving pauperism,—that all these pillars of our State +are but the ripples and the bubbles upon the surface of that great +spiritual stream, the springs of which, only, he and his fellows were +privileged to see; and seeing, to recognise as that which it behoved +them above all things to keep pure and undefiled.</p> + +<p>It may not be too great a flight of imagination to conceive our noble +<i>revenant</i> not forgetful of the great troubles of his own day, and +anxious to know how often London had been burned down since his time, +and how often the plague had carried off its thousands. He would have to +learn that, although London contains tenfold the inflammable matter that +it did in 1666; though, not content with filling our rooms with woodwork +and light draperies, we must needs lead inflammable and explosive gases +into every corner of our streets and houses, we never allow even a +street to burn down. And if he asked how this had come about, we should +have to explain that the improvement of natural knowledge has furnished +us with dozens of machines for throwing water upon fires, anyone of +which would have furnished the ingenious Mr. Hooke, the first "curator +and experimenter" of the Royal Society, with ample materials for +discourse before half a dozen meetings of that body; and that, to say +truth, except for the progress of natural knowledge, we should not have +been able to make even the tools by which these machines are +constructed. And, further, it would be necessary to add, that although +severe fires sometimes occur and inflict great damage, the loss is very +generally compensated by societies, the operations of which have been +rendered possible only by the progress of natural knowledge in the +direction of mathematics, and the accumulation of wealth in virtue of +other natural knowledge.</p> + +<p>But the plague? My Lord Brouncker's observation would not, I fear, lead +him to think that Englishmen of the nineteenth century are purer in +life, or more fervent in religious faith, than the generation which +could produce a Boyle, an Evelyn, and a Milton. He might find the mud of +society at the bottom, instead of at the top, but I fear that the sum +total would be as deserving of swift judgment as at the time of the +Restoration. And it would be our duty to explain once more, and this +time not without shame, that we have no reason to believe that it is the +improvement of our faith, nor that of our morals, which keeps the plague +from our city; but, again, that it is the improvement of our natural +knowledge.</p> + +<p>We have learned that pestilences will only take up their abode among +those who have prepared unswept and ungarnished residences for them. +Their cities must have narrow, unwatered streets, foul with accumulated +garbage. Their houses must be ill-drained, ill-lighted, ill-ventilated. +Their subjects must be ill-washed, ill-fed, ill-clothed. The London of +1665 was such a city. The cities of the East, where plague has an +enduring dwelling, are such cities. We, in later times, have learned +somewhat of Nature, and partly obey her. Because of this partial +improvement of our natural knowledge and of that fractional obedience, +we have no plague; because that knowledge is still very imperfect and +that obedience yet incomplete, typhus is our companion and cholera our +visitor. But it is not presumptuous to express the belief that, when our +knowledge is more complete and our obedience the expression of our +knowledge, London will count her centuries of freedom from typhus and +cholera, as she now gratefully reckons her two hundred years of +ignorance of that plague which swooped upon her thrice in the first half +of the seventeenth century.</p> + +<p>Surely, there is nothing in these explanations which is not fully borne +out by the facts? Surely, the principles involved in them are now +admitted among the fixed beliefs of all thinking men? Surely, it is true +that our countrymen are less subject to fire, famine, pestilence, and +all the evils which result from a want of command over and due +anticipation of the course of Nature, than were the countrymen of +Milton; and health, wealth, and well-being are more abundant with us +than with them? But no less certainly is the difference due to the +improvement of our knowledge of Nature, and the extent to which that +improved knowledge has been incorporated with the household words of +men, and has supplied the springs of their daily actions.</p> + +<p>Granting for a moment, then, the truth of that which the depreciators of +natural knowledge are so fond of urging, that its improvement can only +add to the resources of our material civilization; admitting it to be +possible that the founders of the Royal Society themselves looked for no +other reward than this, I cannot confess that I was guilty of +exaggeration when I hinted, that to him who had the gift of +distinguishing between prominent events and important events, the origin +of a combined effort on the part of mankind to improve natural knowledge +might have loomed larger than the Plague and have outshone the glare of +the Fire; as a something fraught with a wealth of beneficence to +mankind, in comparison with which the damage done by those ghastly evils +would shrink into insignificance.</p> + +<p>It is very certain that for every victim slain by the plague, hundreds +of mankind exist and find a fair share of happiness in the world, by the +aid of the spinning jenny. And the great fire, at its worst, could not +have burned the supply of coal, the daily working of which, in the +bowels of the earth, made possible by the steam pump, gives rise to an +amount of wealth to which the millions lost in old London are but as an +old song.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>But spinning jenny and steam pump are, after all, but toys, possessing +an accidental value; and natural knowledge creates multitudes of more +subtle contrivances, the praises of which do not happen to be sung +because they are not directly convertible into instruments for creating +wealth. When I contemplate natural knowledge squandering such gifts +among men, the only appropriate comparison I can find for her is, to +liken her to such a peasant woman as one sees in the Alps, striding ever +upward, heavily burdened, and with mind bent only on her home; but yet, +without effort and without thought, knitting for her children. Now +stockings are good and comfortable things, and the children will +undoubtedly be much the better for them; but surely it would be +short-sighted, to say the least of it, to depreciate this toiling mother +as a mere stocking-machine—a mere provider of physical comforts?</p> + +<p>However, there are blind leaders of the blind, and not a few of them, +who take this view of natural knowledge, and can see nothing in the +bountiful mother of humanity but a sort of comfort-grinding machine. +According to them, the improvement of natural knowledge always has been, +and always must be, synonymous with no more than the improvement of the +material resources and the increase of the gratifications of men.</p> + +<p>Natural knowledge is, in their eyes, no real mother of mankind, bringing +them up with kindness, and, if need be, with sternness, in the way they +should go, and instructing them in all things needful for their welfare; +but a sort of fairy godmother, ready to furnish her pets with shoes of +swiftness, swords of sharpness, and omnipotent Aladdin's lamps, so that +they may have telegraphs to Saturn, and see the other side of the moon, +and thank God they are better than their benighted ancestors.</p> + +<p>If this talk were true, I, for one, should not greatly care to toil in +the service of natural knowledge. I think I would just as soon be +quietly chipping my own flint axe, after the manner of my forefathers a +few thousand years back, as be troubled with the endless malady of +thought which now infests us all, for such reward. But I venture to say +that such views are contrary alike to reason and to fact. Those who +discourse in such fashion seem to me to be so intent upon trying to see +what is above Nature, or what is behind her, that they are blind to what +stares them in the face, in her.</p> + +<p>I should not venture to speak thus strongly if my justification were not +to be found in the simplest and most obvious facts,—if it needed more +than an appeal to the most notorious truths to justify my assertion, +that the improvement of natural knowledge, whatever direction it has +taken, and however low the aims of those who may have commenced it—has +not only conferred practical benefits on men, but, in so doing, has +effected a revolution in their conceptions of the universe and of +themselves, and has profoundly altered their modes of thinking and their +views of right and wrong. I say that natural knowledge, seeking to +satisfy natural wants, has found the ideas which can alone still +spiritual cravings. I say that natural knowledge, in desiring to +ascertain the laws of comfort, has been driven to discover those of +conduct; and to lay the foundations of a new morality.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>Let us take these points separately; and, first, what great ideas has +natural knowledge introduced into men's minds?</p> + +<p>I cannot but think that the foundations of all natural knowledge were +laid when the reason of man first came face to face with the facts of +Nature: when the savage first learned that the fingers of one hand are +fewer than those of both; that it is shorter to cross a stream than to +head it; that a stone stops where it is unless it be moved, and that it +drops from the hand which lets it go; that light and heat come and go +with the sun; that sticks burn away in a fire; that plants and animals +grow and die; that if he struck his fellow-savage a blow he would make +him angry, and perhaps get a blow in return, while if he offered him a +fruit he would please him, and perhaps receive a fish in exchange. When +men had acquired this much knowledge, the outlines, rude though they +were, of mathematics, of physics, of chemistry, of biology, of moral, +economical, and political science, were sketched. Nor did the germ of +religion fail when science began to bud. Listen to words which, though +new, are yet three thousand years old:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class='stanza'><div>"...When in heaven the stars about the moon</div> +<div>Look beautiful, when all the winds are laid,</div> +<div>And every height comes out, and jutting peak</div> +<div>And valley, and the immeasurable heavens</div> +<div>Break open to their highest, and all the stars</div> +<div>Shine, and the shepherd gladdens in his heart."<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></div></div> +</div> + +<p>If the half-savage Greek could share our feelings thus far, it is +irrational to doubt that he went further, to find, as we do, that upon +that brief gladness there follows a certain sorrow,—the little light of +awakened human intelligence shines so mere a spark amidst the abyss of +the unknown and unknowable; seems so insufficient to do more than +illuminate the imperfections that cannot be remedied, the aspirations +that cannot be realized, of man's own nature. But in this sadness, this +consciousness of the limitation of man, this sense of an open secret +which he cannot penetrate, lies the essence of all religion; and the +attempt to embody it in the forms furnished by the intellect is the +origin of the higher theologies.</p> + +<p>Thus it seems impossible to imagine but that the foundations of all +knowledge—secular or sacred—were laid when intelligence dawned, though +the superstructure remained for long ages so slight and feeble as to be +compatible with the existence of almost any general view respecting the +mode of governance of the universe. No doubt, from the first, there were +certain phenomena which, to the rudest mind, presented a constancy of +occurrence, and suggested that a fixed order ruled, at any rate, among +them. I doubt if the grossest of Fetish worshippers ever imagined that a +stone must have a god within it to make it fall, or that a fruit had a +god within it to make it taste sweet. With regard to such matters as +these, it is hardly questionable that mankind from the first took +strictly positive and scientific views.</p> + +<p>But, with respect to all the less familiar occurrences which present +themselves, uncultured man, no doubt, has always taken himself as the +standard of comparison, as the centre and measure of the world; nor +could he well avoid doing so. And finding that his apparently uncaused +will has a powerful effect in giving rise to many occurrences, he +naturally enough ascribed other and greater events to other and greater +volitions, and came to look upon the world and all that therein is, as +the product of the volitions of persons like himself, but stronger, and +capable of being appeased or angered, as he himself might be soothed or +irritated. Through such conceptions of the plan and working of the +universe all mankind have passed, or are passing. And we may now +consider, what has been the effect of the improvement of natural +knowledge on the views of men who have reached this stage, and who have +begun to cultivate natural knowledge with no desire but that of +"increasing God's honour and bettering man's estate."</p> + +<p>For example: what could seem wiser, from a mere material point of view, +more innocent, from a theological one, to an ancient people, than that +they should learn the exact succession of the seasons, as warnings for +their husbandmen; or the position of the stars, as guides to their rude +navigators? But what has grown out of this search for natural knowledge +of so merely useful a character? You all know the reply. +Astronomy,—which of all sciences has filled men's minds with general +ideas of a character most foreign to their daily experience, and has, +more than any other, rendered it impossible for them to accept the +beliefs of their fathers. Astronomy,—which tells them that this so vast +and seemingly solid earth is but an atom among atoms, whirling, no man +knows whither, through illimitable space; which demonstrates that what +we call the peaceful heaven above us, is but that space, filled by an +infinitely subtle matter whose particles are seething and surging, like +the waves of an angry sea; which opens up to us infinite regions where +nothing is known, or ever seems to have been known, but matter and +force, operating according to rigid rules; which leads us to contemplate +phenomena the very nature of which demonstrates that they must have had +a beginning, and that they must have an end, but the very nature of +which also proves that the beginning was, to our conceptions of time, +infinitely remote, and that the end is as immeasurably distant.</p> + +<p>But it is not alone those who pursue astronomy who ask for bread and +receive ideas. What more harmless than the attempt to lift and +distribute water by pumping it; what more absolutely and grossly +utilitarian? But out of pumps grew the discussions about Nature's +abhorrence of a vacuum; and then it was discovered that Nature does not +abhor a vacuum, but that air has weight; and that notion paved the way +for the doctrine that all matter has weight, and that the force which +produces weight is co-extensive with the universe,—in short, to the +theory of universal gravitation and endless force. While learning how to +handle gases led to the discovery of oxygen, and to modern chemistry, +and to the notion of the indestructibility of matter.</p> + +<p>Again, what simpler, or more absolutely practical, than the attempt to +keep the axle of a wheel from heating when the wheel turns round very +fast? How useful for carters and gig drivers to know something about +this; and how good were it, if any ingenious person would find out the +cause of such phenomena, and thence educe a general remedy for them. +Such an ingenious person was Count Rumford; and he and his successors +have landed us in the theory of the persistence, or indestructibility, +of force. And in the infinitely minute, as in the infinitely great, the +seekers after natural knowledge, of the kinds called physical and +chemical, have everywhere found a definite order and succession of +events which seem never to be infringed.</p> + +<p>And how has it fared with "Physick" and Anatomy? Have the anatomist, the +physiologist, or the physician, whose business it has been to devote +themselves assiduously to that eminently practical and direct end, the +alleviation of the sufferings of mankind,—have they been able to +confine their vision more absolutely to the strictly useful? I fear they +are worst offenders of all. For if the astronomer has set before us the +infinite magnitude of space, and the practical eternity of the duration +of the universe; if the physical and chemical philosophers have +demonstrated the infinite minuteness of its constituent parts, and the +practical eternity of matter and of force; and if both have alike +proclaimed the universality of a definite and predicable order and +succession of events, the workers in biology have not only accepted all +these, but have added more startling theses of their own. For, as the +astronomers discover in the earth no centre of the universe, but an +eccentric speck, so the naturalists find man to be no centre of the +living world, but one amidst endless modifications of life; and as the +astronomer observes the mark of practically endless time set upon the +arrangements of the solar system, so the student of life finds the +records of ancient forms of existence peopling the world for ages, +which, in relation to human experience, are infinite.</p> + +<p>Furthermore, the physiologist finds life to be as dependent for its +manifestation on particular molecular arrangements as any physical or +chemical phenomenon; and, wherever he extends his researches, fixed +order and unchanging causation reveal themselves, as plainly as in the +rest of Nature.</p> + +<p>Nor can I find that any other fate has awaited the germ of Religion. +Arising, like all other kinds of knowledge, out of the action and +interaction of man's mind, with that which is not man's mind, it has +taken the intellectual coverings of Fetishism or Polytheism; of Theism +or Atheism; of Superstition or Rationalism. With these, and their +relative merits and demerits, I have nothing to do; but this it is +needful for my purpose to say, that if the religion of the present +differs from that of the past, it is because the theology of the present +has become more scientific than that of the past; because it has not +only renounced idols of wood and idols of stone, but begins to see the +necessity of breaking in pieces the idols built up of books and +traditions and fine-spun ecclesiastical cobwebs: and of cherishing the +noblest and most human of man's emotions, by worship "for the most part +of the silent sort" at the altar of the Unknown and Unknowable.</p> + +<p>Such are a few of the new conceptions implanted in our minds by the +improvement of natural knowledge. Men have acquired the ideas of the +practically infinite extent of the universe and of its practical +eternity; they are familiar with the conception that our earth is but an +infinitesimal fragment of that part of the universe which can be seen; +and that, nevertheless, its duration is, as compared with our standards +of time, infinite. They have further acquired the idea that man is but +one of innumerable forms of life now existing in the globe, and that the +present existences are but the last of an immeasurable series of +predecessors. Moreover, every step they have made in natural knowledge +has tended to extend and rivet in their minds the conception of a +definite order of the universe—which is embodied in what are called, by +an unhappy metaphor, the laws of Nature—and to narrow the range and +loosen the force of men's belief in spontaneity, or in changes other +than such as arise out of that definite order itself.</p> + +<p>Whether these ideas are well or ill founded is not the question. No one +can deny that they exist, and have been the inevitable outgrowth of the +improvement of natural knowledge. And if so, it cannot be doubted that +they are changing the form of men's most cherished and most important +convictions.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>And as regards the second point—the extent to which the improvement of +natural knowledge has remodelled and altered what may be termed the +intellectual ethics of men,—what are among the moral convictions most +fondly held by barbarous and semi-barbarous people?</p> + +<p>They are the convictions that authority is the soundest basis of belief; +that merit attaches to a readiness to believe; that the doubting +disposition is a bad one, and scepticism a sin; that when good authority +has pronounced what is to be believed, and faith has accepted it, reason +has no further duty. There are many excellent persons who yet hold by +these principles, and it is not my present business, or intention, to +discuss their views. All I wish to bring clearly before your minds is +the unquestionable fact, that the improvement of natural knowledge is +effected by methods which directly give the lie to all these +convictions, and assume the exact reverse of each to be true.</p> + +<p>The improver of natural knowledge absolutely refuses to acknowledge +authority, as such. For him, scepticism is the highest of duties; blind +faith the one unpardonable sin. And it cannot be otherwise, for every +great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection +of authority, the cherishing of the keenest scepticism, the annihilation +of the spirit of blind faith: and the most ardent votary of science +holds his firmest convictions, not because the men he most venerates +hold them; not because their verity is testified by portents and +wonders; but because his experience teaches him that whenever he chooses +to bring these convictions into contact with their primary source, +Nature—whenever he thinks fit to test them by appealing to experiment +and to observation—Nature will confirm them. The man of science has +learned to believe in justification, not by faith, but by verification.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>Thus, without for a moment pretending to despise the practical results +of the improvement of natural knowledge, and its beneficial influence on +material civilization, it must, I think, be admitted that the great +ideas, some of which I have indicated, and the ethical spirit which I +have endeavoured to sketch, in the few moments which remained at my +disposal, constitute the real and permanent significance of natural +knowledge.</p> + +<p>If these ideas be destined, as I believe they are, to be more and more +firmly established as the world grows older; if that spirit be fated, as +I believe it is, to extend itself into all departments of human thought, +and to become co-extensive with the range of knowledge; if, as our race +approaches its maturity, it discovers, as I believe it will, that there +is but one kind of knowledge and but one method of acquiring it; then +we, who are still children, may justly feel it our highest duty to +recognise the advisableness of improving natural knowledge, and so to +aid ourselves and our successors in their course towards the noble goal +which lies before mankind.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Need it be said that this is Tennyson's English for Homer's +Greek?</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II.</h2> + +<h3>EMANCIPATION—BLACK AND WHITE.</h3> + + +<p>Quashie's plaintive inquiry, "Am I not a man and a brother?" seems at +last to have received its final reply—the recent decision of the fierce +trial by battle on the other side of the Atlantic fully concurring with +that long since delivered here in a more peaceful way.</p> + +<p>The question is settled; but even those who are most thoroughly +convinced that the doom is just, must see good grounds for repudiating +half the arguments which have been employed by the winning side; and for +doubting whether its ultimate results will embody the hopes of the +victors, though they may more than realize the fears of the vanquished. +It may be quite true that some negroes are better than some white men; +but no rational man, cognizant of the facts, believes that the average +negro is the equal, still less the superior, of the average white man. +And, if this be true, it is simply incredible that, when all his +disabilities are removed, and our prognathous relative has a fair field +and no favour, as well as no oppressor, he will be able to compete +successfully with his bigger-brained and smaller-jawed rival, in a +contest which is to be carried on by thoughts and not by bites. The +highest places in the hierarchy of civilization will assuredly not be +within the reach of our dusky cousins, though it is by no means +necessary that they should be restricted to the lowest. But whatever the +position of stable equilibrium into which the laws of social gravitation +may bring the negro, all responsibility for the result will henceforward +lie between Nature and him. The white man may wash his hands of it, and +the Caucasian conscience be void of reproach for evermore. And this, if +we look to the bottom of the matter, is the real justification for the +abolition policy.</p> + +<p>The doctrine of equal natural rights may be an illogical delusion; +emancipation may convert the slave from a well fed animal into a +pauperised man; mankind may even have to do without cotton shirts; but +all these evils must be faced, if the moral law, that no human being can +arbitrarily dominate over another without grievous damage to his own +nature, be, as many think, as readily demonstrable by experiment as any +physical truth. If this be true, no slavery can be abolished without a +double emancipation, and the master will benefit by freedom more than +the freed-man.</p> + +<p>The like considerations apply to all the other questions of emancipation +which are at present stirring the world—the multifarious demands that +classes of mankind shall be relieved from restrictions imposed by the +artifice of man, and not by the necessities of Nature. One of the most +important, if not the most important, of all these, is that which daily +threatens to become the "irrepressible" woman question. What social and +political rights have women? What ought they to be allowed, or not +allowed, to do, be, and suffer? And, as involved in, and underlying all +these questions, how ought they to be educated?</p> + +<p>There are philogynists as fanatical as any "misogynists" who, reversing +our antiquated notions, bid the man look upon the woman as the higher +type of humanity; who ask us to regard the female intellect as the +clearer and the quicker, if not the stronger; who desire us to look up +to the feminine moral sense as the purer and the nobler; and bid man +abdicate his usurped sovereignty over Nature in favour of the female +line. On the other hand, there are persons not to be outdone in all +loyalty and just respect for woman-kind, but by nature hard of head and +haters of delusion, however charming, who not only repudiate the new +woman-worship which so many sentimentalists and some philosophers are +desirous of setting up, but, carrying their audacity further, deny even +the natural equality of the sexes. They assert, on the contrary, that in +every excellent character, whether mental or physical, the average woman +is inferior to the average man, in the sense of having that character +less in quantity, and lower in quality. Tell these persons of the rapid +perceptions and the instinctive intellectual insight of women, and they +reply that the feminine mental peculiarities, which pass under these +names, are merely the outcome of a greater impressibility to the +superficial aspects of things, and of the absence of that restraint upon +expression, which, in men, is imposed by reflection and a sense of +responsibility. Talk of the passive endurance of the weaker sex, and +opponents of this kind remind you that Job was a man, and that, until +quite recent times, patience and long-suffering were not counted among +the specially feminine virtues. Claim passionate tenderness as +especially feminine, and the inquiry is made whether all the best +love-poetry in existence (except, perhaps, the "Sonnets from the +Portuguese") has not been written by men; whether the song which +embodies the ideal of pure and tender passion—Adelaida—was written by +<i>Frau</i> Beethoven; whether it was the Fornarina, or Raphael, who painted +the Sistine Madonna. Nay, we have known one such heretic go so far as to +lay his hands upon the ark itself, so to speak, and to defend the +startling paradox that, even in physical beauty, man is the superior. He +admitted, indeed, that there was a brief period of early youth when it +might be hard to say whether the prize should be awarded to the graceful +undulations of the female figure, or the perfect balance and supple +vigour of the male frame. But while our new Paris might hesitate between +the youthful Bacchus and the Venus emerging from the foam, he averred +that, when Venus and Bacchus had reached thirty, the point no longer +admitted of a doubt; the male form having then attained its greatest +nobility, while the female is far gone in decadence; and that, at this +epoch, womanly beauty, so far as it is independent of grace or +expression, is a question of drapery and accessories.</p> + +<p>Supposing, however, that all these arguments have a certain foundation; +admitting for a moment, that they are comparable to those by which the +inferiority of the negro to the white man may be demonstrated, are they +of any value as against woman-emancipation? Do they afford us the +smallest ground for refusing to educate women as well as men—to give +women the same civil and political rights as men? No mistake is so +commonly made by clever people as that of assuming a cause to be bad +because the arguments of its supporters are, to a great extent, +nonsensical. And we conceive that those who may laugh at the arguments +of the extreme philogynists, may yet feel bound to work heart and soul +towards the attainment of their practical ends.</p> + +<p>As regards education, for example. Granting the alleged defects of +women, is it not somewhat absurd to sanction and maintain a system of +education which would seem to have been specially contrived to +exaggerate all these defects?</p> + +<p>Naturally not so firmly strung, nor so well balanced, as boys, girls are +in great measure debarred from the sports and physical exercises which +are justly thought absolutely necessary for the full development of the +vigour of the more favoured sex. Women are, by nature, more excitable +than men—prone to be swept by tides of emotion, proceeding from hidden +and inward, as well as from obvious and external causes; and female +education does its best to weaken every physical counterpoise to this +nervous mobility—tends in all ways to stimulate the emotional part of +the mind and stunt the rest. We find girls naturally timid, inclined to +dependence, born conservatives; and we teach them that independence is +unladylike; that blind faith is the right frame of mind; and that +whatever we may be permitted, and indeed encouraged, to do to our +brother, our sister is to be left to the tyranny of authority and +tradition. With few insignificant exceptions, girls have been educated +either to be drudges, or toys, beneath man; or a sort of angels above +him; the highest ideal aimed at oscillating between Clärchen and +Beatrice. The possibility that the ideal of womanhood lies neither in +the fair saint, nor in the fair sinner; that the female type of +character is neither better nor worse than the male, but only weaker; +that women are meant neither to be men's guides nor their playthings, +but their comrades, their fellows and their equals, so far as Nature +puts no bar to that equality, does not seem to have entered into the +minds of those who have had the conduct of the education of girls.</p> + +<p>If the present system of female education stands self-condemned, as +inherently absurd; and if that which we have just indicated is the true +position of woman, what is the first step towards a better state of +things? We reply, emancipate girls. Recognise the fact that they share +the senses, perceptions, feelings, reasoning powers, emotions, of boys, +and that the mind of the average girl is less different from that of the +average boy, than the mind of one boy is from that of another; so that +whatever argument justifies a given education for all boys, justifies +its application to girls as well. So far from imposing artificial +restrictions upon the acquirement of knowledge by women, throw every +facility in their way. Let our Faustinas, if they will, toil through the +whole round of</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class='stanza'><div>"Juristerei und Medizin,</div> +<div>Und leider! auch Philosophie."</div></div> +</div> + +<p>Let us have "sweet girl graduates" by all means. They will be none the +less sweet for a little wisdom; and the "golden hair" will not curl less +gracefully outside the head by reason of there being brains within. Nay, +if obvious practical difficulties can be overcome, let those women who +feel inclined to do so descend into the gladiatorial arena of life, not +merely in the guise of <i>retiariæ</i>, as heretofore, but as bold +<i>sicariæ</i>, breasting the open fray. Let them, if they so please, become +merchants, barristers, politicians. Let them have a fair field, but let +them understand, as the necessary correlative, that they are to have no +favour. Let Nature alone sit above the lists, "rain influence and judge +the prize."</p> + +<p>And the result? For our parts, though loth to prophesy, we believe it +will be that of other emancipations. Women will find their place, and it +will neither be that in which they have been held, nor that to which +some of them aspire. Nature's old salique law will not be repealed, and +no change of dynasty will be effected. The big chests, the massive +brains, the vigorous muscles and stout frames, of the best men will +carry the day, whenever it is worth their while to contest the prizes of +life with the best women. And the hardship of it is, that the very +improvement of the women will lessen their chances. Better mothers will +bring forth better sons, and the impetus gained by the one sex will be +transmitted, in the next generation, to the other. The most Darwinian of +theorists will not venture to propound the doctrine, that the physical +disabilities under which women have hitherto laboured, in the struggle +for existence with men, are likely to be removed by even the most +skilfully conducted process of educational selection.</p> + +<p>We are, indeed, fully prepared to believe that the bearing of children +may, and ought, to become as free from danger and long disability, to +the civilized woman, as it is to the savage; nor is it improbable that, +as society advances towards its right organization, motherhood will +occupy a less space of woman's life than it has hitherto done. But +still, unless the human species is to come to an end altogether—a +consummation which can hardly be desired by even the most ardent +advocate of "women's rights"—somebody must be good enough to take the +trouble and responsibility of annually adding to the world exactly as +many people as die out of it. In consequence of some domestic +difficulties, Sydney Smith is said to have suggested that it would have +been good for the human race had the model offered by the hive been +followed, and had all the working part of the female community been +neuters. Failing any thorough-going reform of this kind, we see nothing +for it but the old division of humanity into men potentially, or +actually, fathers, and women potentially, if not actually, mothers. And +we fear that so long as this potential motherhood is her lot, woman will +be found to be fearfully weighted in the race of life.</p> + +<p>The duty of man is to see that not a grain is piled upon that load +beyond what Nature imposes; that injustice is not added to inequality.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III.</h2> + +<h3>A LIBERAL EDUCATION: AND WHERE TO FIND IT.</h3> + + +<p>The business which the South London Working Men's College has undertaken +is a great work; indeed, I might say, that Education, with which that +college proposes to grapple, is the greatest work of all those which lie +ready to a man's hand just at present.</p> + +<p>And, at length, this fact is becoming generally recognised. You cannot +go anywhere without hearing a buzz of more or less confused and +contradictory talk on this subject—nor can you fail to notice that, in +one point at any rate, there is a very decided advance upon like +discussions in former days. Nobody outside the agricultural interest now +dares to say that education is a bad thing. If any representative of the +once large and powerful party, which, in former days, proclaimed this +opinion, still exists in a semi-fossil state, he keeps his thoughts to +himself. In fact, there is a chorus of voices, almost distressing in +their harmony, raised in favour of the doctrine that education is the +great panacea for human troubles, and that, if the country is not +shortly to go to the dogs, everybody must be educated.</p> + +<p>The politicians tell us, "you must educate the masses because they are +going to be masters." The clergy join in the cry for education, for they +affirm that the people are drifting away from church and chapel into the +broadest infidelity. The manufacturers and the capitalists swell the +chorus lustily. They declare that ignorance makes bad workmen; that +England will soon be unable to turn out cotton goods, or steam engines, +cheaper than other people; and then, Ichabod! Ichabod! the glory will be +departed from us. And a few voices are lifted up in favour of the +doctrine that the masses should be educated because they are men and +women with unlimited capacities of being, doing, and suffering, and that +it is as true now, as ever it was, that the people perish for lack of +knowledge.</p> + +<p>These members of the minority, with whom I confess I have a good deal of +sympathy, are doubtful whether any of the other reasons urged in favour +of the education of the people are of much value—whether, indeed, some +of them are based upon either wise or noble grounds of action. They +question if it be wise to tell people that you will do for them, out of +fear of their power, what you have left undone, so long as your only +motive was compassion for their weakness and their sorrows. And, if +ignorance of everything which it is needful a ruler should know is +likely to do so much harm in the governing classes of the future, why is +it, they ask reasonably enough, that such ignorance in the governing +classes of the past has not been viewed with equal horror?</p> + +<p>Compare the average artisan and the average country squire, and it may +be doubted if you will find a pin to choose between the two in point of +ignorance, class feeling, or prejudice. It is true that the ignorance +is of a different sort—that the class feeling is in favour of a +different class, and that the prejudice has a distinct flavour of +wrong-headedness in each case—but it is questionable if the one is +either a bit better, or a bit worse than the other. The old +protectionist theory is the doctrine of trades unions as applied by the +squires, and the modern trades unionism is the doctrine of the squires +applied by the artisans. Why should we be worse off under one <i>régime</i> +than under the other?</p> + +<p>Again, this sceptical minority asks the clergy to think whether it is +really want of education which keeps the masses away from their +ministrations—whether the most completely educated men are not as open +to reproach on this score as the workmen; and whether, perchance, this +may not indicate that it is not education which lies at the bottom of +the matter?</p> + +<p>Once more, these people, whom there is no pleasing, venture to doubt +whether the glory, which rests upon being able to undersell all the rest +of the world, is a very safe kind of glory—whether we may not purchase +it too dear; especially if we allow education, which ought to be +directed to the making of men, to be diverted into a process of +manufacturing human tools, wonderfully adroit in the exercise of some +technical industry, but good for nothing else.</p> + +<p>And, finally, these people inquire whether it is the masses alone who +need a reformed and improved education. They ask whether the richest of +our public schools might not well be made to supply knowledge, as well +as gentlemanly habits, a strong class feeling, and eminent proficiency +in cricket. They seem to think that the noble foundations of our old +universities are hardly fulfilling their functions in their present +posture of half-clerical seminaries, half racecourses, where men are +trained to win a senior wranglership, or a double-first, as horses are +trained to win a cup, with as little reference to the needs of +after-life in the case of the man as in that of the racer. And, while as +zealous for education as the rest, they affirm that, if the education of +the richer classes were such as to fit them to be the leaders and the +governors of the poorer; and, if the education of the poorer classes +were such as to enable them to appreciate really wise guidance and good +governance; the politicians need not fear mob-law, nor the clergy lament +their want of flocks, nor the capitalists prognosticate the annihilation +of the prosperity of the country.</p> + +<p>Such is the diversity of opinion upon the why and the wherefore of +education. And my hearers will be prepared to expect that the practical +recommendations which are put forward are not less discordant. There is +a loud cry for compulsory education. We English, in spite of constant +experience to the contrary, preserve a touching faith in the efficacy of +acts of parliament; and I believe we should have compulsory education in +the course of next session, if there were the least probability that +half a dozen leading statesmen of different parties would agree what +that education should be.</p> + +<p>Some hold that education without theology is worse than none. Others +maintain, quite as strongly, that education with theology is in the same +predicament. But this is certain, that those who hold the first opinion +can by no means agree what theology should be taught; and that those who +maintain the second are in a small minority.</p> + +<p>At any rate "make people learn to read, write, and cipher," say a great +many; and the advice is undoubtedly sensible as far as it goes. But, as +has happened to me in former days, those who, in despair of getting +anything better, advocate this measure, are met with the objection that +it is very like making a child practise the use of a knife, fork, and +spoon, without giving it a particle of meat. I really don't know what +reply is to be made to such an objection.</p> + +<p>But it would be unprofitable to spend more time in disentangling, or +rather in showing up the knots in, the ravelled skeins of our +neighbours. Much more to the purpose is it to ask if we possess any clue +of our own which may guide us among these entanglements. And by way of a +beginning, let us ask ourselves—What is education? Above all things, +what is our ideal of a thoroughly liberal education?—of that education +which, if we could begin life again, we would give ourselves—of that +education which, if we could mould the fates to our own will, we would +give our children. Well, I know not what may be your conceptions upon +this matter, but I will tell you mine, and I hope I shall find that our +views are not very discrepant.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>Suppose it were perfectly certain that the life and fortune of every one +of us would, one day or other, depend upon his winning or losing a game +at chess. Don't you think that we should all consider it to be a primary +duty to learn at least the names and the moves of the pieces; to have a +notion of a gambit, and a keen eye for all the means of giving and +getting out of check? Do you not think that we should look with a +disapprobation amounting to scorn, upon the father who allowed his son, +or the state which allowed its members, to grow up without knowing a +pawn from a knight?</p> + +<p>Yet it is a very plain and elementary truth, that the life, the fortune, +and the happiness of every one of us, and, more or less, of those who +are connected with us, do depend upon our knowing something of the rules +of a game infinitely more difficult and complicated than chess. It is a +game which has been played for untold ages, every man and woman of us +being one of the two players in a game of his or her own. The +chess-board is the world, the pieces are the phenomena of the universe, +the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature. The player on +the other side is hidden from us. We know that his play is always fair, +just, and patient. But also we know, to our cost, that he never +overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance. To +the man who plays well, the highest stakes are paid, with that sort of +overflowing generosity with which the strong shows delight in strength. +And one who plays ill is checkmated—without haste, but without remorse.</p> + +<p>My metaphor will remind some of you of the famous picture in which +Retzsch has depicted Satan playing at chess with man for his soul. +Substitute for the mocking fiend in that picture, a calm, strong angel +who is playing for love, as we say, and would rather lose than win—and +I should accept it as an image of human life.</p> + +<p>Well, what I mean by Education is learning the rules of this mighty +game. In other words, education is the instruction of the intellect in +the laws of Nature, under which name I include not merely things and +their forces, but men and their ways; and the fashioning of the +affections and of the will into an earnest and loving desire to move in +harmony with those laws. For me, education means neither more nor less +than this. Anything which professes to call itself education must be +tried by this standard, and if it fails to stand the test, I will not +call it education, whatever may be the force of authority, or of +numbers, upon the other side.</p> + +<p>It is important to remember that, in strictness, there is no such thing +as an uneducated man. Take an extreme case. Suppose that an adult man, +in the full vigour of his faculties, could be suddenly placed in the +world, as Adam is said to have been, and then left to do as he best +might. How long would he be left uneducated? Not five minutes. Nature +would begin to teach him, through the eye, the ear, the touch, the +properties of objects. Pain and pleasure would be at his elbow telling +him to do this and avoid that; and by slow degrees the man would receive +an education, which, if narrow, would be thorough, real, and adequate to +his circumstances, though there would be no extras and very few +accomplishments.</p> + +<p>And if to this solitary man entered a second Adam, or, better still, an +Eve, a new and greater world, that of social and moral phenomena, would +be revealed. Joys and woes, compared with which all others might seem +but faint shadows, would spring from the new relations. Happiness and +sorrow would take the place of the coarser monitors, pleasure and pain; +but conduct would still be shaped by the observation of the natural +consequences of actions; or, in other words, by the laws of the nature +of man.</p> + +<p>To every one of us the world was once as fresh and new as to Adam. And +then, long before we were susceptible of any other mode of instruction, +Nature took us in hand, and every minute of waking life brought its +educational influence, shaping our actions into rough accordance with +Nature's laws, so that we might not be ended untimely by too gross +disobedience. Nor should I speak of this process of education as past, +for any one, be he as old as he may. For every man, the world is as +fresh as it was at the first day, and as full of untold novelties for +him who has the eyes to see them. And Nature is still continuing her +patient education of us in that great university, the universe, of which +we are all members—Nature having no Test-Acts.</p> + +<p>Those who take honours in Nature's university, who learn the laws which +govern men and things and obey them, are the really great and successful +men in this world. The great mass of mankind are the "Poll," who pick up +just enough to get through without much discredit. Those who won't learn +at all are plucked; and then you can't come up again. Nature's pluck +means extermination.</p> + +<p>Thus the question of compulsory education is settled so far as Nature is +concerned. Her bill on that question was framed and passed long ago. +But, like all compulsory legislation, that of Nature is harsh and +wasteful in its operation. Ignorance is visited as sharply as wilful +disobedience—incapacity meets with the same punishment as crime. +Nature's discipline is not even a word and a blow, and the blow first; +but the blow without the word. It is left to you to find out why your +ears are boxed.</p> + +<p>The object of what we commonly call education—that education in which +man intervenes and which I shall distinguish as artificial education—is +to make good these defects in Nature's methods; to prepare the child to +receive Nature's education, neither incapably nor ignorantly, nor with +wilful disobedience; and to understand the preliminary symptoms of her +displeasure, without waiting for the box on the ear. In short, all +artificial education ought to be an anticipation of natural education. +And a liberal education is an artificial education, which has not only +prepared a man to escape the great evils of disobedience to natural +laws, but has trained him to appreciate and to seize upon the rewards, +which Nature scatters with as free a hand as her penalties.</p> + +<p>That man, I think, has had a liberal education, who has been so trained +in youth that his body is the ready servant of his will, and does with +ease and pleasure all the work that, as a mechanism, it is capable of; +whose intellect is a clear, cold, logic engine, with all its parts of +equal strength, and in smooth working order; ready, like a steam engine, +to be turned to any kind of work, and spin the gossamers as well as +forge the anchors of the mind; whose mind is stored with a knowledge of +the great and fundamental truths of Nature and of the laws of her +operations; one who, no stunted ascetic, is full of life and fire, but +whose passions are trained to come to heel by a vigorous will, the +servant of a tender conscience; who has learned to love all beauty, +whether of Nature or of art, to hate all vileness, and to respect others +as himself.</p> + +<p>Such an one and no other, I conceive, has had a liberal education; for +he is, as completely as a man can be, in harmony with Nature. He will +make the best of her, and she of him. They will get on together rarely; +she as his ever beneficent mother; he as her mouth-piece, her conscious +self, her minister and interpreter.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>Where is such an education as this to be had? Where is there any +approximation to it? Has any one tried to found such an education? +Looking over the length and breadth of these islands, I am afraid that +all these questions must receive a negative answer. Consider our primary +schools, and what is taught in them. A child learns:—</p> + +<p>1. To read, write, and cipher, more or less well; but in a very large +proportion of cases not so well as to take pleasure in reading, or to be +able to write the commonest letter properly.</p> + +<p>2. A quantity of dogmatic theology, of which the child, nine times out +of ten, understands next to nothing.</p> + +<p>3. Mixed up with this, so as to seem to stand or fall with it, a few of +the broadest and simplest principles of morality. This, to my mind, is +much as if a man of science should make the story of the fall of the +apple in Newton's garden, an integral part of the doctrine of +gravitation, and teach it as of equal authority with the law of the +inverse squares.</p> + +<p>4. A good deal of Jewish history and Syrian geography, and, perhaps, a +little something about English history and the geography of the child's +own country. But I doubt if there is a primary school in England in +which hangs a map of the hundred in which the village lies, so that the +children may be practically taught by it what a map means.</p> + +<p>5. A certain amount of regularity, attentive obedience, respect for +others: obtained by fear, if the master be incompetent or foolish; by +love and reverence, if he be wise.</p> + +<p>So far as this school course embraces a training in the theory and +practice of obedience to the moral laws of Nature, I gladly admit, not +only that it contains a valuable educational element, but that, so far, +it deals with the most valuable and important part of all education. +Yet, contrast what is done in this direction with what might be done; +with the time given to matters of comparatively no importance; with the +absence of any attention to things of the highest moment; and one is +tempted to think of Falstaff's bill and "the halfpenny worth of bread to +all that quantity of sack."</p> + +<p>Let us consider what a child thus "educated" knows, and what it does not +know. Begin with the most important topic of all—morality, as the guide +of conduct. The child knows well enough that some acts meet with +approbation and some with disapprobation. But it has never heard that +there lies in the nature of things a reason for every moral law, as +cogent and as well defined as that which underlies every physical law; +that stealing and lying are just as certain to be followed by evil +consequences, as putting your hand in the fire, or jumping out of a +garret window. Again, though the scholar may have been made acquainted, +in dogmatic fashion, with the broad laws of morality, he has had no +training in the application of those laws to the difficult problems +which result from the complex conditions of modern civilization. Would +it not be very hard to expect anyone to solve a problem in conic +sections who had merely been taught the axioms and definitions of +mathematical science?</p> + +<p>A workman has to bear hard labour, and perhaps privation, while he sees +others rolling in wealth, and feeding their dogs with what would keep +his children from starvation. Would it not be well to have helped that +man to calm the natural promptings of discontent by showing him, in his +youth, the necessary connexion of the moral law which prohibits stealing +with the stability of society—by proving to him, once for all, that it +is better for his own people, better for himself, better for future +generations, that he should starve than steal? If you have no foundation +of knowledge, or habit of thought, to work upon, what chance have you of +persuading a hungry man that a capitalist is not a thief "with a +circumbendibus?" And if he honestly believes that, of what avail is it +to quote the commandment against stealing, when he proposes to make the +capitalist disgorge?</p> + +<p>Again, the child learns absolutely nothing of the history or the +political organization of his own country. His general impression is, +that everything of much importance happened a very long while ago; and +that the Queen and the gentlefolks govern the country much after the +fashion of King David and the elders and nobles of Israel—his sole +models. Will you give a man with this much information a vote? In easy +times he sells it for a pot of beer. Why should he not? It is of about +as much use to him as a chignon, and he knows as much what to do with +it, for any other purpose. In bad times, on the contrary, he applies his +simple theory of government, and believes that his rulers are the cause +of his sufferings—a belief which sometimes bears remarkable practical +fruits.</p> + +<p>Least of all, does the child gather from this primary "education" of +ours a conception of the laws of the physical world, or of the relations +of cause and effect therein. And this is the more to be lamented, as the +poor are especially exposed to physical evils, and are more interested +in removing them than any other class of the community. If any one is +concerned in knowing the ordinary laws of mechanics one would think it +is the hand-labourer, whose daily toil lies among levers and pulleys; or +among the other implements of artisan work. And if any one is interested +in the laws of health, it is the poor workman, whose strength is wasted +by ill-prepared food, whose health is sapped by bad ventilation and bad +drainage, and half whose children are massacred by disorders which might +be prevented. Not only does our present primary education carefully +abstain from hinting to the workman that some of his greatest evils are +traceable to mere physical agencies, which could be removed by energy, +patience, and frugality; but it does worse—it renders him, so far as it +can, deaf to those who could help him, and tries to substitute an +Oriental submission to what is falsely declared to be the will of God, +for his natural tendency to strive after a better condition.</p> + +<p>What wonder then, if very recently, an appeal has been made to +statistics for the profoundly foolish purpose of showing that education +is of no good—that it diminishes neither misery, nor crime, among the +masses of mankind? I reply, why should the thing which has been called +education do either the one or the other? If I am a knave or a fool, +teaching me to read and write won't make me less of either one or the +other—unless somebody shows me how to put my reading and writing to +wise and good purposes.</p> + +<p>Suppose any one were to argue that medicine is of no use, because it +could be proved statistically, that the percentage of deaths was just +the same, among people who had been taught how to open a medicine chest, +and among those who did not so much as know the key by sight. The +argument is absurd; but it is not more preposterous than that against +which I am contending. The only medicine for suffering, crime, and all +the other woes of mankind, is wisdom. Teach a man to read and write, and +you have put into his hands the great keys of the wisdom box. But it is +quite another matter whether he ever opens the box or not. And he is as +likely to poison as to cure himself, if, without guidance, he swallows +the first drug that comes to hand. In these times a man may as well be +purblind, as unable to read—lame, as unable to write. But I protest +that, if I thought the alternative were a necessary one, I would rather +that the children of the poor should grow up ignorant of both these +mighty arts, than that they should remain ignorant of that knowledge to +which these arts are means.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>It may be said that all these animadversions may apply to primary +schools, but that the higher schools, at any rate, must be allowed to +give a liberal education. In fact, they professedly sacrifice everything +else to this object.</p> + +<p>Let us inquire into this matter. What do the higher schools, those to +which the great middle class of the country sends it children, teach, +over and above the instruction given in the primary schools? There is a +little more reading and writing of English. But, for all that, every +one knows that it is a rare thing to find a boy of the middle or upper +classes who can read aloud decently, or who can put his thoughts on +paper in clear and grammatical (to say nothing of good or elegant) +language. The "ciphering" of the lower schools expands into elementary +mathematics in the higher; into arithmetic, with a little algebra, a +little Euclid. But I doubt if one boy in five hundred has ever heard the +explanation of a rule of arithmetic, or knows his Euclid otherwise than +by rote.</p> + +<p>Of theology, the middle class schoolboy gets rather less than poorer +children, less absolutely and less relatively, because there are so many +other claims upon his attention. I venture to say that, in the great +majority of cases, his ideas on this subject when he leaves school are +of the most shadowy and vague description, and associated with painful +impressions of the weary hours spent in learning collects and catechism +by heart.</p> + +<p>Modern geography, modern history, modern literature; the English +language as a language; the whole circle of the sciences, physical, +moral, and social, are even more completely ignored in the higher than +in the lower schools. Up till within a few years back, a boy might have +passed through any one of the great public schools with the greatest +distinction and credit, and might never so much as have heard of one of +the subjects I have just mentioned. He might never have heard that the +earth goes round the sun; that England underwent a great revolution in +1688, and France another in 1789; that there once lived certain notable +men called Chaucer, Shakspeare, Milton, Voltaire, Goethe, Schiller. The +first might be a German and the last an Englishman for anything he +could tell you to the contrary. And as for science, the only idea the +word would suggest to his mind would be dexterity in boxing.</p> + +<p>I have said that this was the state of things a few years back, for the +sake of the few righteous who are to be found among the educational +cities of the plain. But I would not have you too sanguine about the +result, if you sound the minds of the existing generation of public +school-boys, on such topics as those I have mentioned.</p> + +<p>Now let us pause to consider this wonderful state of affairs; for the +time will come when Englishmen will quote it as the stock example of the +stolid stupidity of their ancestors in the nineteenth century. The most +thoroughly commercial people, the greatest voluntary wanderers and +colonists the world has ever seen, are precisely the middle classes of +this country. If there be a people which has been busy making history on +the great scale for the last three hundred years—and the most +profoundly interesting history—history which, if it happened to be that +of Greece or Rome, we should study with avidity—it is the English. If +there be a people which, during the same period, has developed a +remarkable literature, it is our own. If there be a nation whose +prosperity depends absolutely and wholly upon their mastery over the +forces of Nature, upon their intelligent apprehension of, and obedience +to, the laws of the creation and distribution of wealth, and of the +stable equilibrium of the forces of society, it is precisely this +nation. And yet this is what these wonderful people tell their +sons:—"At the cost of from one to two thousand pounds of our hard +earned money, we devote twelve of the most precious years of your lives +to school. There you shall toil, or be supposed to toil; but there you +shall not learn one single thing of all those you will most want to +know, directly you leave school and enter upon the practical business of +life. You will in all probability go into business, but you shall not +know where, or how, any article of commerce is produced, or the +difference between an export or an import, or the meaning of the word +'capital.' You will very likely settle in a colony, but you shall not +know whether Tasmania is part of New South Wales, or <i>vice versâ</i>.</p> + +<p>"Very probably you may become a manufacturer, but you shall not be +provided with the means of understanding the working of one of your own +steam-engines, or the nature of the raw products you employ; and, when +you are asked to buy a patent, you shall not have the slightest means of +judging whether the inventor is an impostor who is contravening the +elementary principles of science, or a man who will make you as rich as +Crœsus.</p> + +<p>"You will very likely get into the House of Commons. You will have to +take your share in making laws which may prove a blessing or a curse to +millions of men. But you shall not hear one word respecting the +political organization of your country; the meaning of the controversy +between freetraders and protectionists shall never have been mentioned +to you: you shall not so much as know that there are such things as +economical laws.</p> + +<p>"The mental power which will be of most importance in your daily life +will be the power of seeing things as they are without regard to +authority; and of drawing accurate general conclusions from particular +facts. But at school and at college you shall know of no source of truth +but authority; nor exercise your reasoning faculty upon anything but +deduction from that which is laid down by authority.</p> + +<p>"You will have to weary your soul with work, and many a time eat your +bread in sorrow and in bitterness, and you shall not have learned to +take refuge in the great source of pleasure without alloy, the serene +resting-place for worn human nature,—the world of art."</p> + +<p>Said I not rightly that we are a wonderful people? I am quite prepared +to allow, that education entirely devoted to these omitted subjects +might not be a completely liberal education. But is an education which +ignores them all, a liberal education? Nay, is it too much to say that +the education which should embrace these subjects and no others, would +be a real education, though an incomplete one; while an education which +omits them is really not an education at all, but a more or less useful +course of intellectual gymnastics?</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>For what does the middle-class school put in the place of all these +things which are left out? It substitutes what is usually comprised +under the compendious title of the "classics"—that is to say, the +languages, the literature, and the history of the ancient Greeks and +Romans, and the geography of so much of the world as was known to these +two great nations of antiquity. Now, do not expect me to depreciate the +earnest and enlightened pursuit of classical learning. I have not the +least desire to speak ill of such occupations, nor any sympathy with +those who run them down. On the contrary, if my opportunities had lain +in that direction, there is no investigation into which I could have +thrown myself with greater delight than that of antiquity.</p> + +<p>What science can present greater attractions than philology? How can a +lover of literary excellence fail to rejoice in the ancient +masterpieces? And with what consistency could I, whose business lies so +much in the attempt to decipher the past, and to build up intelligible +forms out of the scattered fragments of long-extinct beings, fail to +take a sympathetic, though an unlearned, interest in the labours of a +Niebuhr, a Gibbon, or a Grote? Classical history is a great section of +the palæontology of man; and I have the same double respect for it as +for other kinds of palæontology—that is to say, a respect for the facts +which it establishes as for all facts, and a still greater respect for +it as a preparation for the discovery of a law of progress.</p> + +<p>But if the classics were taught as they might be taught—if boys and +girls were instructed in Greek and Latin, not merely as languages, but +as illustrations of philological science; if a vivid picture of life on +the shores of the Mediterranean, two thousand years ago, were imprinted +on the minds of scholars; if ancient history were taught, not as a weary +series of feuds and fights, but traced to its causes in such men placed +under such conditions; if, lastly, the study of the classical books were +followed in such a manner as to impress boys with their beauties, and +with the grand simplicity of their statement of the everlasting problems +of human life, instead of with their verbal and grammatical +peculiarities; I still think it as little proper that they should form +the basis of a liberal education for our contemporaries, as I should +think it fitting to make that sort of palæontology with which I am +familiar, the back-bone of modern education.</p> + +<p>It is wonderful how close a parallel to classical training could be made +out of that palæontology to which I refer. In the first place I could +get up an osteological primer so arid, so pedantic in its terminology, +so altogether distasteful to the youthful mind, as to beat the recent +famous production of the head-masters out of the field in all these +excellences. Next, I could exercise my boys upon easy fossils, and bring +out all their powers of memory and all their ingenuity in the +application of my osteo-grammatical rules to the interpretation, or +construing, of those fragments. To those who had reached the higher +classes, I might supply odd bones to be built up into animals, giving +great honour and reward to him who succeeded in fabricating monsters +most entirely in accordance with the rules. That would answer to +verse-making and essay-writing in the dead languages.</p> + +<p>To be sure, if a great comparative anatomist were to look at these +fabrications he might shake his head, or laugh. But what then? Would +such a catastrophe destroy the parallel? What think you would Cicero, or +Horace, say to the production of the best sixth form going? And would +not Terence stop his ears and run out if he could be present at an +English performance of his own plays? Would Hamlet, in the mouths of a +set of French actors, who should insist on pronouncing English after the +fashion of their own tongue, be more hideously ridiculous?</p> + +<p>But it will be said that I am forgetting the beauty, and the human +interest, which appertain to classical studies. To this I reply that it +is only a very strong man who can appreciate the charms of a landscape, +as he is toiling up a steep hill, along a bad road. What with +short-windedness, stones, ruts, and a pervading sense of the wisdom of +rest and be thankful, most of us have little enough sense of the +beautiful under these circumstances. The ordinary school-boy is +precisely in this case. He finds Parnassus uncommonly steep, and there +is no chance of his having much time or inclination to look about him +till he gets to the top. And nine times out of ten he does not get to +the top.</p> + +<p>But if this be a fair picture of the results of classical teaching at +its best—and I gather from those who have authority to speak on such +matters that it is so—what is to be said of classical teaching at its +worst, or in other words, of the classics of our ordinary middle-class +schools<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>? I will tell you. It means getting up endless forms and rules +by heart. It means turning Latin and Greek into English, for the mere +sake of being able to do it, and without the smallest regard to the +worth, or worthlessness, of the author read. It means the learning of +innumerable, not always decent, fables in such a shape that the meaning +they once had is dried up into utter trash; and the only impression left +upon a boy's mind is, that the people who believed such things must have +been the greatest idiots the world ever saw. And it means, finally, that +after a dozen years spent at this kind of work, the sufferer shall be +incompetent to interpret a passage in an author he has not already got +up; that he shall loathe the sight of a Greek or Latin book; and that he +shall never open, or think of, a classical writer again, until, +wonderful to relate, he insists upon submitting his sons to the same +process.</p> + +<p>These be your gods, O Israel! For the sake of this net result (and +respectability) the British father denies his children all the knowledge +they might turn to account in life, not merely for the achievement of +vulgar success, but for guidance in the great crises of human existence. +This is the stone he offers to those whom he is bound by the strongest +and tenderest ties to feed with bread.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>If primary and secondary education are in this unsatisfactory state, +what is to be said to the universities? This is an awful subject, and +one I almost fear to touch with my unhallowed hands; but I can tell you +what those say who have authority to speak.</p> + +<p>The Rector of Lincoln College, in his lately published, valuable +"Suggestions for Academical Organization with especial reference to +Oxford," tells us (p. 127):—</p> + +<p>"The colleges were, in their origin, endowments, not for the elements of +a general liberal education, but for the prolonged study of special and +professional faculties by men of riper age. The universities embraced +both these objects. The colleges, while they incidentally aided in +elementary education, were specially devoted to the highest learning....</p> + +<p>"This was the theory of the middle-age university and the design of +collegiate foundations in their origin. Time and circumstances have +brought about a total change. The colleges no longer promote the +researches of science, or direct professional study. Here and there +college walls may shelter an occasional student, but not in larger +proportions than may be found in private life. Elementary teaching of +youths under twenty is now the only function performed by the +university, and almost the only object of college endowments. Colleges +were homes for the life-study of the highest and most abstruse parts of +knowledge. They have become boarding schools in which the elements of +the learned languages are taught to youths."</p> + +<p>If Mr. Pattison's high position, and his obvious love and respect for +his university, be insufficient to convince the outside world that +language so severe is yet no more than just, the authority of the +Commissioners who reported on the University of Oxford in 1850 is open +to no challenge. Yet they write:—</p> + +<p>"It is generally acknowledged that both Oxford and the country at large +suffer greatly from the absence of a body of learned men devoting their +lives to the cultivation of science, and to the direction of academical +education.</p> + +<p>"The fact that so few books of profound research emanate from the +University of Oxford, materially impairs its character as a seat of +learning, and consequently its hold on the respect of the nation."</p> + +<p>Cambridge can claim no exemption from the reproaches addressed to +Oxford. And thus there seems no escape from the admission that what we +fondly call our great seats of learning are simply "boarding schools" +for bigger boys; that learned men are not more numerous in them than out +of them; that the advancement of knowledge is not the object of fellows +of colleges; that, in the philosophic calm and meditative stillness of +their greenswarded courts, philosophy does not thrive, and meditation +bears few fruits.</p> + +<p>It is my great good fortune to reckon amongst my friends resident +members of both universities, who are men of learning and research, +zealous cultivators of science, keeping before their minds a noble ideal +of a university, and doing their best to make that ideal a reality; and, +to me, they would necessarily typify the universities, did not the +authoritative statements I have quoted compel me to believe that they +are exceptional, and not representative men. Indeed, upon calm +consideration, several circumstances lead me to think that the Rector of +Lincoln College and the Commissioners cannot be far wrong.</p> + +<p>I believe there can be no doubt that the foreigner who should wish to +become acquainted with the scientific, or the literary, activity of +modern England, would simply lose his time and his pains if he visited +our universities with that object.</p> + +<p>And, as for works of profound research on any subject, and, above all, +in that classical lore for which the universities profess to sacrifice +almost everything else, why, a third-rate, poverty-stricken German +university turns out more produce of that kind in one year, than our +vast and wealthy foundations elaborate in ten.</p> + +<p>Ask the man who is investigating any question, profoundly and +thoroughly—be it historical, philosophical, philological, physical, +literary, or theological; who is trying to make himself master of any +abstract subject (except, perhaps, political economy and geology, both +of which are intensely Anglican sciences) whether he is not compelled +to read half a dozen times as many German, as English, books? And +whether, of these English books, more than one in ten is the work of a +fellow of a college, or a professor of an English university?</p> + +<p>Is this from any lack of power in the English as compared with the +German mind? The countrymen of Grote and of Mill, of Faraday, of Robert +Brown, of Lyell, and of Darwin, to go no further back than the +contemporaries of men of middle age, can afford to smile at such a +suggestion. England can show now, as she has been able to show in every +generation since civilization spread over the West, individual men who +hold their own against the world, and keep alive the old tradition of +her intellectual eminence.</p> + +<p>But, in the majority of cases, these men are what they are in virtue of +their native intellectual force, and of a strength of character which +will not recognise impediments. They are not trained in the courts of +the Temple of Science, but storm the walls of that edifice in all sorts +of irregular ways, and with much loss of time and power, in order to +obtain their legitimate positions.</p> + +<p>Our universities not only do not encourage such men; do not offer them +positions, in which it should be their highest duty to do, thoroughly, +that which they are most capable of doing; but, as far as possible, +university training shuts out of the minds of those among them, who are +subjected to it, the prospect that there is anything in the world for +which they are specially fitted. Imagine the success of the attempt to +still the intellectual hunger airy of the men I have mentioned, by +putting before him, as the object of existence, the successful mimicry +of the measure of a Greek song, or the roll of Ciceronian prose! Imagine +how much success would be likely to attend the attempt to persuade such +men, that the education which leads to perfection in such elegancies is +alone to be called culture; while the facts of history, the process of +thought, the conditions of moral and social existence, and the laws of +physical nature, are left to be dealt with as they may, by outside +barbarians!</p> + +<p>It is not thus that the German universities, from being beneath notice a +century ago, have become what they are now—the most intensely +cultivated and the most productive intellectual corporations the world +has ever seen.</p> + +<p>The student who repairs to them sees in the list of classes and of +professors a fair picture of the world of knowledge. Whatever he needs +to know there is some one ready to teach him, some one competent to +discipline him in the way of learning; whatever his special bent, let +him but be able and diligent, and in due time he shall find distinction +and a career. Among his professors, he sees men whose names are known +and revered throughout the civilized world; and their living example +infects him with a noble ambition, and a love for the spirit of work.</p> + +<p>The Germans dominate the intellectual world by virtue of the same simple +secret as that which made Napoleon the master of old Europe. They have +declared <i>la carrière ouverte aux talents</i>, and every Bursch marches +with a professor's gown in his knapsack. Let him become a great scholar, +or man of science, and ministers will compete for his services. In +Germany, they do not leave the chance of his holding the office he +would render illustrious to the tender mercies of a hot canvass, and the +final wisdom of a mob of country parsons.</p> + +<p>In short, in Germany, the universities are exactly what the Rector of +Lincoln and the Commissioners tell us the English universities are not; +that is to say, corporations "of learned men devoting their lives to the +cultivation of science, and the direction of academical education." They +are not "boarding schools for youths," nor clerical seminaries; but +institutions for the higher culture of men, in which the theological +faculty is of no more importance, or prominence, than the rest; and +which are truly "universities," since they strive to represent and +embody the totality of human knowledge, and to find room for all forms +of intellectual activity.</p> + +<p>May zealous and clear-headed reformers like Mr. Pattison succeed in +their noble endeavours to shape our universities towards some such ideal +as this, without losing what is valuable and distinctive in their social +tone! But until they have succeeded, a liberal education will be no more +obtainable in our Oxford and Cambridge Universities than in our public +schools.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>If I am justified in my conception of the ideal of a liberal education; +and if what I have said about the existing educational institutions of +the country is also true, it is clear that the two have no sort of +relation to one another; that the best of our schools and the most +complete of our university trainings give but a narrow, one-sided, and +essentially illiberal education—while the worst give what is really +next to no education at all. The South London Working-Men's College +could not copy any of these institutions if it would. I am bold enough +to express the conviction that it ought not if it could.</p> + +<p>For what is wanted is the reality and not the mere name of a liberal +education; and this College must steadily set before itself the ambition +to be able to give that education sooner or later. At present we are but +beginning, sharpening our educational tools, as it were, and, except a +modicum of physical science, we are not able to offer much more than is +to be found in an ordinary school.</p> + +<p>Moral and social science—one of the greatest and most fruitful of our +future classes, I hope—at present lacks only one thing in our +programme, and that is a teacher. A considerable want, no doubt; but it +must be recollected that it is much better to want a teacher than to +want the desire to learn.</p> + +<p>Further, we need what, for want of a better name, I must call Physical +Geography. What I mean is that which the Germans call "<i>Erdkunde</i>." It +is a description of the earth, of its place and relation to other +bodies; of its general structure, and of its great features—winds, +tides, mountains, plains; of the chief forms of the vegetable and animal +worlds, of the varieties of man. It is the peg upon which the greatest +quantity of useful and entertaining scientific information can be +suspended.</p> + +<p>Literature is not upon the College programme; but I hope some day to see +it there. For literature is the greatest of all sources of refined +pleasure, and one of the great uses of a liberal education is to enable +us to enjoy that pleasure. There is scope enough for the purposes of +liberal education in the study of the rich treasures of our own language +alone. All that is needed is direction, and the cultivation of a refined +taste by attention to sound criticism. But there is no reason why French +and German should not be mastered sufficiently to read what is worth +reading in those languages, with pleasure and with profit.</p> + +<p>And finally, by-and-by, we must have History; treated not as a +succession of battles and dynasties; not as a series of biographies; not +as evidence that Providence has always been on the side of either Whigs +or Tories; but as the development of man in times past, and in other +conditions than our own.</p> + +<p>But, as it is one of the principles of our College to be +self-supporting, the public must lead, and we must follow, in these +matters. If my hearers take to heart what I have said about liberal +education, they will desire these things, and I doubt not we shall be +able to supply them. But we must wait till the demand is made.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> For a justification of what is here said about these +schools, see that valuable book, "Essays on a Liberal Education," +<i>passim</i>.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV.</h2> + +<h3>SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION: NOTES OF AN AFTER-DINNER SPEECH.</h3> + +<blockquote><p>[<span class="smcap">Mr. Thackeray</span>, talking of after-dinner speeches, has +lamented that "one never can recollect the fine things one thought +of in the cab," in going to the place of entertainment. I am not +aware that there are any "fine things" in the following pages, but +such as there are stand to a speech which really did get itself +spoken, at the hospitable table of the Liverpool Philomathic +Society, more or less in the position of what "one thought of in +the cab."]</p></blockquote> + + +<p>The introduction of scientific training into the general education of +the country is a topic upon which I could not have spoken, without some +more or less apologetic introduction, a few years ago. But upon this, as +upon other matters, public opinion has of late undergone a rapid +modification. Committees of both Houses of the Legislature have agreed +that something must be done in this direction, and have even thrown out +timid and faltering suggestions as to what should be done; while at the +opposite pole of society, committees of working-men have expressed their +conviction that scientific training is the one thing needful for their +advancement, whether as men, or as workmen. Only the other day, it was +my duty to take part in the reception of a deputation of London working +men, who desired to learn from Sir Roderick Murchison, the Director of +the Royal School of Mines, whether the organization of the Institution +in Jermyn Street could be made available for the supply of that +scientific instruction, the need of which could not have been +apprehended, or stated, more clearly than it was by them.</p> + +<p>The heads of colleges in our great Universities (who have not the +reputation of being the most mobile of persons) have, in several cases, +thought it well that, out of the great number of honours and rewards at +their disposal, a few should hereafter be given to the cultivators of +the physical sciences. Nay, I hear that some colleges have even gone so +far as to appoint one, or, may be, two special tutors for the purpose of +putting the facts and principles of physical science before the +undergraduate mind. And I say it with gratitude and great respect for +those eminent persons, that the head masters of our public schools, +Eton, Harrow, Winchester, have addressed themselves to the problem of +introducing instruction in physical science among the studies of those +great educational bodies, with much honesty of purpose and enlightenment +of understanding; and I live in hope that, before long, important +changes in this direction will be carried into effect in those +strongholds of ancient prescription. In fact, such changes have already +been made, and physical science, even now, constitutes a recognised +element of the school curriculum in Harrow and Rugby, whilst I +understand that ample preparations for such studies are being made at +Eton and elsewhere.</p> + +<p>Looking at these facts, I might perhaps spare myself the trouble of +giving any reasons for the introduction of physical science into +elementary education; yet I cannot but think that it may be well, if I +place before you some considerations which, perhaps, have hardly +received full attention.</p> + +<p>At other times, and in other places, I have endeavoured to state the +higher and more abstract arguments, by which the study of physical +science may be shown to be indispensable to the complete training of the +human mind; but I do not wish it to be supposed that, because I happen +to be devoted to more or less abstract and "unpractical" pursuits, I am +insensible to the weight which ought to be attached to that which has +been said to be the English conception of Paradise—"namely, getting +on." I look upon it, that "getting on" is a very important matter +indeed. I do not mean merely for the sake of the coarse and tangible +results of success, but because humanity is so constituted that a vast +number of us would never be impelled to those stretches of exertion +which make us wiser and more capable men, if it were not for the +absolute necessity of putting on our faculties all the strain they will +bear, for the purpose of "getting on" in the most practical sense.</p> + +<p>Now the value of a knowledge of physical science as a means of getting +on, is indubitable. There are hardly any of our trades, except the +merely huckstering ones, in which some knowledge of science may not be +directly profitable to the pursuer of that occupation. As industry +attains higher stages of its development, as its processes become more +complicated and refined, and competition more keen, the sciences are +dragged in, one by one, to take their share in the fray; and he who can +best avail himself of their help is the man who will come out uppermost +in that struggle for existence which goes on as fiercely beneath the +smooth surface of modern society, as among the wild inhabitants of the +woods.</p> + +<p>But, in addition to the bearing of science on ordinary practical life, +let me direct your attention to its immense influence on several of the +professions. I ask any one who has adopted the calling of an engineer, +how much time he lost when he left school, because he had to devote +himself to pursuits which were absolutely novel and strange, and of +which he had not obtained the remotest conception from his instructors? +He had to familiarize himself with ideas of the course and powers of +Nature, to which his attention had never been directed during his +school-life, and to learn, for the first time, that a world of facts +lies outside and beyond the world of words. I appeal to those who know +what Engineering is, to say how far I am right in respect to that +profession; but with regard to another, of no less importance, I shall +venture to speak of my own knowledge. There is no one of who may not at +any moment be thrown, bound hand and foot by physical incapacity, into the +hands of a medical practitioner. The chances of life and death for all +and each of us may, at any moment, depend on the skill with which that +practitioner is able to make out what is wrong in our bodily frames, +and on his ability to apply the proper remedy to the defect.</p> + +<p>The necessities of modern life are such, and the class from which the +medical profession is chiefly recruited is so situated, that few medical +men can hope to spend more than three or four, or it may be five, years +in the pursuit of those studies which are immediately germane to physic. +How is that all too brief period spent at present? I speak as an old +examiner, having served some eleven or twelve years in that capacity in +the University of London, and therefore having a practical acquaintance +with the subject; but I might fortify myself by the authority of the +President of the College of Surgeons, Mr. Quain, whom I heard the other +day in an admirable address (the Hunterian Oration) deal fully and +wisely with this very topic<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a>.</p> + +<p>A young man commencing the study of medicine is at once required to +endeavour to make an acquaintance with a number of sciences, such as +Physics, as Chemistry, as Botany, as Physiology, which are absolutely +and entirely strange to him, however excellent his so-called education +at school may have been. Not only is he devoid of all apprehension of +scientific conceptions, not only does he fail to attach any meaning to +the words "matter," "force," or "law" in their scientific senses, but, +worse still, he has no notion of what it is to come into contact with +nature, or to lay his mind alongside of a physical fact, and try to +conquer it, in the way our great naval hero told his captains to master +their enemies. His whole mind has been given to books, and I am hardly +exaggerating if I say that they are more real to him than Nature. He +imagines that all knowledge can be got out of books, and rests upon the +authority of some master or other; nor does he entertain any misgiving +that the method of learning which led to proficiency in the rules of +grammar, will suffice to lead him to a mastery of the laws of Nature. +The youngster, thus unprepared for serious study, is turned loose among +his medical studies, with the result, in nine cases out of ten, that the +first year of his curriculum is spent in learning how to learn. Indeed, +he is lucky, if at the end of the first year, by the exertions of his +teachers and his own industry, he has acquired even that art of arts. +After which there remain not more than three, or perhaps four, years for +the profitable study of such vast sciences as Anatomy, Physiology, +Therapeutics, Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics, and the like, upon his +knowledge or ignorance of which it depends whether the practitioner +shall diminish, or increase, the bills of mortality. Now what is it but +the preposterous condition of ordinary school education which prevents a +young man of seventeen, destined for the practice of medicine, from +being fully prepared for the study of nature; and from coming to the +medical school, equipped with that preliminary knowledge of the +principles of Physics, of Chemistry, and of Biology, upon which he has +now to waste one of the precious years, every moment of which ought to +be given to those studies which bear directly upon the knowledge of his +profession?</p> + +<p>There is another profession, to the members of which, I think, a certain +preliminary knowledge of physical science might be quite as valuable as +to the medical man. The practitioner of medicine sets before himself the +noble object of taking care of man's bodily welfare; but the members of +this other profession undertake to "minister to minds diseased," and, so +far as may be, to diminish sin and soften sorrow. Like the medical +profession, the clerical, of which I now speak, rests its power to heal +upon its knowledge of the order of the universe—upon certain theories +of man's relation to that which lies outside him. It is not my business +to express any opinion about these theories. I merely wish to point out +that, like all other theories, they are professedly based upon matter of +fact. Thus the clerical profession has to deal with the facts of Nature +from a certain point of view; and hence it comes into contact with that +of the man of science, who has to treat the same facts from another +point of view. You know how often that contact is to be described as +collision, or violent friction; and how great the heat, how little the +light, which commonly results from it.</p> + +<p>In the interests of fair play, to say nothing of those of mankind, I +ask, Why do not the clergy as a body acquire, as a part of their +preliminary education, some such tincture of physical science as will +put them in a position to understand the difficulties in the way of +accepting their theories, which are forced upon the mind of every +thoughtful and intelligent man, who has taken the trouble to instruct +himself in the elements of natural knowledge?</p> + +<p>Some time ago I attended a large meeting of the clergy, for the purpose +of delivering an address which I had been invited to give. I spoke of +some of the most elementary facts in physical science, and of the manner +in which they directly contradict certain of the ordinary teachings of +the clergy. The result was, that, after I had finished, one section of +the assembled ecclesiastics attacked me with all the intemperance of +pious zeal, for stating facts and conclusions which no competent judge +doubts; while, after the first speakers had subsided, amidst the cheers +of the great majority of their colleagues, the more rational minority +rose to tell me that I had taken wholly superfluous pains, that they +already knew all about what I had told them, and perfectly agreed with +me. A hard-headed friend of mine, who was present, put the not unnatural +question, "Then why don't you say so in your pulpits?" to which inquiry +I heard no reply.</p> + +<p>In fact the clergy are at present divisible into three sections: an +immense body who are ignorant and speak out; a small proportion who know +and are silent; and a minute minority who know and speak according to +their knowledge. By the clergy, I mean especially the Protestant clergy. +Our great antagonist—I speak as a man of science—the Roman Catholic +Church, the one great spiritual organization which is able to resist, +and must, as a matter of life and death, resist, the progress of science +and modern civilization, manages her affairs much better.</p> + +<p>It was my fortune some time ago to pay a visit to one of the most +important of the institutions in which the clergy of the Roman Catholic +Church in these islands are trained; and it seemed to me that the +difference between these men and the comfortable champions of +Anglicanism and of Dissent, was comparable to the difference between our +gallant Volunteers and the trained veterans of Napoleon's Old Guard.</p> + +<p>The Catholic priest is trained to know his business, and do it +effectually. The professors of the college in question, learned, +zealous, and determined men, permitted me to speak frankly with them. +We talked like outposts of opposed armies during a truce—as friendly +enemies; and when I ventured to point out the difficulties their +students would have to encounter from scientific thought, they replied: +"Our Church has lasted many ages, and has passed safely through many +storms. The present is but a new gust of the old tempest, and we do not +turn out our young men less fitted to weather it, than they have been, +in former times, to cope with the difficulties of those times. The +heresies of the day are explained to them by their professors of +philosophy and science, and they are taught how those heresies are to be +met."</p> + +<p>I heartily respect an organization which faces its enemies in this way; +and I wish that all ecclesiastical organizations were in as effective a +condition. I think it would be better, not only for them, but for us. +The army of liberal thought is, at present, in very loose order; and +many a spirited free-thinker makes use of his freedom mainly to vent +nonsense. We should be the better for a vigorous and watchful enemy to +hammer us into cohesion and discipline; and I, for one, lament that the +bench of Bishops cannot show a man of the calibre of Butler of the +"Analogy," who, if he were alive, would make short work of much of the +current <i>à priori</i> "infidelity."</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>I hope you will consider that the arguments I have now stated, even if +there were no better ones, constitute a sufficient apology for urging +the introduction of science into schools. The next question to which I +have to address myself is, What sciences ought to be thus taught? And +this is one of the most important of questions, because my side (I am +afraid I am a terribly candid friend) sometimes spoils its cause by +going in for too much. There are other forms of culture beside physical +science; and I should be profoundly sorry to see the fact forgotten, or +even to observe a tendency to starve, or cripple, literary, or æsthetic, +culture for the sake of science. Such a narrow view of the nature of +education has nothing to do with my firm conviction that a complete and +thorough scientific culture ought to be introduced into all schools. By +this, however, I do not mean that every schoolboy should be taught +everything in science. That would be a very absurd thing to conceive, +and a very mischievous thing to attempt. What I mean is, that no boy nor +girl should leave school without possessing a grasp of the general +character of science, and without having been disciplined, more or less, +in the methods of all sciences; so that, when turned into the world to +make their own way, they shall be prepared to face scientific problems, +not by knowing at once the conditions of every problem, or by being able +at once to solve it; but by being familiar with the general current of +scientific thought, and by being able to apply the methods of science in +the proper way, when they have acquainted themselves with the conditions +of the special problem.</p> + +<p>That is what I understand by scientific education. To furnish a boy with +such an education, it is by no means necessary that he should devote his +whole school existence to physical science: in fact, no one would lament +so one-sided a proceeding more than I. Nay more, it is not necessary for +him to give up more than a moderate share of his time to such studies, +if they be properly selected and arranged, and if he be trained in them +in a fitting manner.</p> + +<p>I conceive the proper course to be somewhat as follows. To begin with, +let every child be instructed in those general views of the phenomena of +Nature for which we have no exact English name. The nearest +approximation to a name for what I mean, which we possess, is "physical +geography." The Germans have a better, "Erdkunde," ("earth knowledge" or +"geology" in its etymological sense,) that is to say, a general +knowledge of the earth, and what is on it, in it, and about it. If any +one who has had experience of the ways of young children will call to +mind their questions, he will find that so far as they can be put into +any scientific category, they come under this head of "Erdkunde." The +child asks, "What is the moon, and why does it shine?" "What is this +water, and where does it run?" "What is the wind?" "What makes the waves +in the sea?" "Where does this animal live, and what is the use of that +plant?" And if not snubbed and stunted by being told not to ask foolish +questions, there is no limit to the intellectual craving of a young +child; nor any bounds to the slow, but solid, accretion of knowledge and +development of the thinking faculty in this way. To all such questions, +answers which are necessarily incomplete, though true as far as they go, +may be given by any teacher whose ideas represent real knowledge and not +mere book learning; and a panoramic view of Nature, accompanied by a +strong infusion of the scientific habit of mind, may thus be placed +within the reach of every child of nine or ten.</p> + +<p>After this preliminary opening of the eyes to the great spectacle of the +daily progress of Nature, as the reasoning faculties of the child grow, +and he becomes familiar with the use of the tools of knowledge—reading, +writing, and elementary mathematics—he should pass on to what is, in +the more strict sense, physical science. Now there are two kinds of +physical science: the one regards form and the relation of forms to one +another; the other deals with causes and effects. In many of what we +term our sciences, these two kinds are mixed up together; but systematic +botany is a pure example of the former kind, and physics of the latter +kind, of science. Every educational advantage which training in +physical science can give is obtainable from the proper study of these +two; and I should be contented, for the present, if they, added to our +"Erdkunde," furnished the whole of the scientific curriculum of schools. +Indeed I conceive it would be one of the greatest boons which could be +conferred upon England, if henceforward every child in the country were +instructed in the general knowledge of the things about it, in the +elements of physics, and of botany. But I should be still better pleased +if there could be added somewhat of chemistry, and an elementary +acquaintance with human physiology.</p> + +<p>So far as school education is concerned, I want to go no further just +now; and I believe that such instruction would make an excellent +introduction to that preparatory scientific training which, as I have +indicated, is so essential for the successful pursuit of our most +important professions. But this modicum of instruction must be so given +as to ensure real knowledge and practical discipline. If scientific +education is to be dealt with as mere bookwork, it will be better not to +attempt it, but to stick to the Latin Grammar, which makes no pretence +to be anything but bookwork.</p> + +<p>If the great benefits of scientific training are sought, it is essential +that such training should be real: that is to say, that the mind of the +scholar should be brought into direct relation with fact, that he should +not merely be told a thing, but made to see by the use of his own +intellect and ability that the thing is <i>so</i> and no otherwise. The great +peculiarity of scientific training, that in virtue of which it cannot be +replaced by any other discipline whatsoever, is this bringing of the +mind directly into contact with fact, and practising the intellect in +the completest form of induction; that is to say, in drawing conclusions +from particular facts made known by immediate observation of Nature.</p> + +<p>The other studies which enter into ordinary education do not discipline +the mind in this way. Mathematical training is almost purely deductive. +The mathematician starts with a few simple propositions, the proof of +which is so obvious that they are called self-evident, and the rest of +his work consists of subtle deductions from them. The teaching of +languages, at any rate as ordinarily practised, is of the same general +nature,—authority and tradition furnish the data, and the mental +operations of the scholar are deductive.</p> + +<p>Again: if history be the subject of study, the facts are still taken +upon the evidence of tradition and authority. You cannot make a boy see +the battle of Thermopylæ for himself, or know, of his own knowledge, +that Cromwell once ruled England. There is no getting into direct +contact with natural fact by this road; there is no dispensing with +authority, but rather a resting upon it.</p> + +<p>In all these respects, science differs from other educational +discipline, and prepares the scholar for common life. What have we to do +in every-day life? Most of the business which demands our attention is +matter of fact, which needs, in the first place, to be accurately +observed or apprehended; in the second, to be interpreted by inductive +and deductive reasonings, which are altogether similar in their nature +to those employed in science. In the one case, as in the other, whatever +is taken for granted is so taken at one's own peril; fact and reason +are the ultimate arbiters, and patience and honesty are the great +helpers out of difficulty.</p> + +<p>But if scientific training is to yield its most eminent results, it +must, I repeat, be made practical. That is to say, in explaining to a +child the general phenomena of Nature, you must, as far as possible, +give reality to your teaching by object-lessons; in teaching him botany, +he must handle the plants and dissect the flowers for himself; in +teaching him physics and chemistry, you must not be solicitous to fill +him with information, but you must be careful that what he learns he +knows of his own knowledge. Don't be satisfied with telling him that a +magnet attracts iron. Let him see that it does; let him feel the pull of +the one upon the other for himself. And, especially, tell him that it is +his duty to doubt until he is compelled, by the absolute authority of +Nature, to believe that which is written in books. Pursue this +discipline carefully and conscientiously, and you may make sure that, +however scanty may be the measure of information which you have poured +into the boy's mind, you have created an intellectual habit of priceless +value in practical life.</p> + +<p>One is constantly asked, When should this scientific education be +commenced? I should say with the dawn of intelligence. As I have already +said, a child seeks for information about matters of physical science as +soon as it begins to talk. The first teaching it wants is an +object-lesson of one sort or another; and as soon as it is fit for +systematic instruction of any kind, it is fit for a modicum of science.</p> + +<p>People talk of the difficulty of teaching young children such matters, +and in the same breath insist upon their learning their Catechism, +which contains propositions far harder to comprehend than anything in +the educational course I have proposed. Again, I am incessantly told +that we, who advocate the introduction of science into schools, make no +allowance for the stupidity of the average boy or girl; but, in my +belief, that stupidity, in nine cases out of ten, "<i>fit, non nascitur</i>," +and is developed by a long process of parental and pedagogic repression +of the natural intellectual appetites, accompanied by a persistent +attempt to create artificial ones for food which is not only tasteless, +but essentially indigestible.</p> + +<p>Those who urge the difficulty of instructing young people in science are +apt to forget another very important condition of success—important in +all kinds of teaching, but most essential, I am disposed to think, when +the scholars are very young. This condition is, that the teacher should +himself really and practically know his subject. If he does, he will be +able to speak of it in the easy language, and with the completeness of +conviction, with which he talks of any ordinary every-day matter. If he +does not, he will be afraid to wander beyond the limits of the technical +phraseology which he has got up; and a dead dogmatism, which oppresses, +or raises opposition, will take the place of the lively confidence, born +of personal conviction, which cheers and encourages the eminently +sympathetic mind of childhood.</p> + +<p>I have already hinted that such scientific training as we seek for may +be given without making any extravagant claim upon the time now devoted +to education. We ask only for "a most favoured nation" clause in our +treaty with the schoolmaster; we demand no more than that science shall +have as much time given to it as any other single subject—say four +hours a week in each class of an ordinary school.</p> + +<p>For the present, I think men of science would be well content with such +an arrangement as this; but, speaking for myself, I do not pretend to +believe that such an arrangement can be, or will be, permanent. In these +times the educational tree seems to me to have its roots in the air, its +leaves and flowers in the ground; and, I confess, I should very much +like to turn it upside down, so that its roots might be solidly embedded +among the facts of Nature, and draw thence a sound nutriment for the +foliage and fruit of literature and of art. No educational system can +have a claim to permanence, unless it recognises the truth that +education has two great ends to which everything else must be +subordinated. The one of these is to increase knowledge; the other is to +develop the love of right and the hatred of wrong.</p> + +<p>With wisdom and uprightness a nation can make its way worthily, and +beauty will follow in the footsteps of the two, even if she be not +specially invited; while there is perhaps no sight in the whole world +more saddening and revolting than is offered by men sunk in ignorance of +everything but what other men have written; seemingly devoid of moral +belief or guidance; but with the sense of beauty so keen, and the power +of expression so cultivated, that their sensual caterwauling may be +almost mistaken for the music of the spheres.</p> + +<p>At present, education is almost entirely devoted to the cultivation of +the power of expression, and of the sense of literary beauty. The matter +of having anything to say, beyond a hash of other people's opinions, or +of possessing any criterion of beauty, so that we may distinguish +between the Godlike and the devilish, is left aside as of no moment. I +think I do not err in saying that if science were made the foundation of +education, instead of being, at most, stuck on as cornice to the +edifice, this state of things could not exist.</p> + +<p>In advocating the introduction of physical science as a leading element +in education, I by no means refer only to the higher schools. On the +contrary, I believe that such a change is even more imperatively called +for in those primary schools, in which the children of the poor are +expected to turn to the best account the little time they can devote to +the acquisition of knowledge. A great step in this direction has already +been made by the establishment of science-classes under the Department +of Science and Art,—a measure which came into existence unnoticed, but +which will, I believe, turn out to be of more importance to the welfare +of the people, than many political changes, over which the noise of +battle has rent the air.</p> + +<p>Under the regulations to which I refer, a schoolmaster can set up a +class in one or more branches of science; his pupils will be examined, +and the State will pay him, at a certain rate, for all who succeed in +passing. I have acted as an examiner under this system from the +beginning of its establishment, and this year I expect to have not fewer +than a couple of thousand sets of answers to questions in Physiology, +mainly from young people of the artisan class, who have been taught in +the schools which are now scattered all over Great Britain and Ireland. +Some of my colleagues, who have to deal with subjects such as Geometry, +for which the present teaching power is better organized, I understand +are likely to have three or four times as many papers. So far as my own +subjects are concerned, I can undertake to say that a great deal of the +teaching, the results of which are before me in these examinations, is +very sound and good; and I think it is in the power of the examiners, +not only to keep up the present standard, but to cause an almost +unlimited improvement. Now what does this mean? It means that by holding +out a very moderate inducement, the masters of primary schools in many +parts of the country have been led to convert them into little foci of +scientific instruction; and that they and their pupils have contrived to +find, or to make, time enough to carry out this object with a very +considerable degree of efficiency. That efficiency will, I doubt not, be +very much increased as the system becomes known and perfected, even with +the very limited leisure left to masters and teachers on week-days. And +this leads me to ask, Why should scientific teaching be limited to +week-days?</p> + +<p>Ecclesiastically-minded persons are in the habit of calling things they +do not like by very hard names, and I should not wonder if they brand +the proposition I am about to make as blasphemous, and worse. But, not +minding this, I venture to ask, Would there really be anything wrong in +using part of Sunday for the purpose of instructing those who have no +other leisure, in a knowledge of the phenomena of Nature, and of man's +relation to nature?</p> + +<p>I should like to see a scientific Sunday-school in every parish, not for +the purpose of superseding any existing means of teaching the people +the things that are for their good, but side by side with them. I cannot +but think that there is room for all of us to work in helping to bridge +over the great abyss of ignorance which lies at our feet.</p> + +<p>And if any of the ecclesiastical persons to whom I have referred, object +that they find it derogatory to the honour of the God whom they worship, +to awaken the minds of the young to the infinite wonder and majesty of +the works which they proclaim His, and to teach them those laws which +must needs be His laws, and therefore of all things needful for man to +know—I can only recommend them to be let blood and put on low diet. +There must be something very wrong going on in the instrument of logic, +if it turns out such conclusions from such premisses.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Mr. Quain's words (<i>Medical Times and Gazette</i>, February +20) are:—"A few words as to our special Medical course of instruction +and the influence upon it of such changes in the elementary schools as I +have mentioned. The student now enters at once upon several +sciences—physics, chemistry, anatomy, physiology, botany, pharmacy, +therapeutics—all these, the facts and the language and the laws of +each, to be mastered in eighteen months. Up to the beginning of the +Medical course many have learned little. We cannot claim anything better +than the Examiner of the University of London and the Cambridge Lecturer +have reported for their Universities. Supposing that at school young +people had acquired some exact elementary knowledge in physics, +chemistry, and a branch of natural history—say botany—with the +physiology connected with it, they would then have gained necessary +knowledge, with some practice in inductive reasoning. The whole studies +are processes of observation and induction—the best discipline of the +mind for the purposes of life—for our purposes not less than any. 'By +such study (says Dr. Whewell) of one or more departments of inductive +science the mind may escape from the thraldom of mere words.' By that +plan the burden of the early Medical course would be much lightened, and +more time devoted to practical studies, including Sir Thomas Watson's +'final and supreme stage' of the knowledge of Medicine."</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V.</h2> + +<h3>ON THE EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SCIENCES.</h3> + + +<p>The subject to which I have to beg your attention during the ensuing +hour is "The Relation of Physiological Science to other branches of +Knowledge."</p> + +<p>Had circumstances permitted of the delivery, in their strict logical +order, of that series of discourses of which the present lecture is a +member, I should have preceded my friend and colleague Mr. Henfrey, who +addressed you on Monday last; but while, for the sake of that order, I +must beg you to suppose that this discussion of the Educational bearings +of Biology in general <i>does</i> precede that of Special Zoology and Botany, +I am rejoiced to be able to take advantage of the light thus already +thrown upon the tendency and methods of Physiological Science.</p> + +<p>Regarding Physiological Science, then, in its widest sense—as the +equivalent of <i>Biology</i>—the Science of Individual Life—we have to +consider in succession:</p> + +<p>1. Its position and scope as a branch of knowledge.</p> + +<p>2. Its value as a means of mental discipline.</p> + +<p>3. Its worth as practical information.</p> + +<p>And lastly,</p> + +<p>4. At what period it may best be made a branch of Education.</p> + +<p>Our conclusions on the first of these heads must depend, of course, upon +the nature of the subject-matter of Biology; and I think a few +preliminary considerations will place before you in a clear light the +vast difference which exists between the living bodies with which +Physiological science is concerned, and the remainder of the +universe;—between the phænomena of Number and Space, of Physical and of +Chemical force, on the one hand, and those of Life on the other.</p> + +<p>The mathematician, the physicist, and the chemist contemplate things in +a condition of rest; they look upon a state of equilibrium as that to +which all bodies normally tend.</p> + +<p>The mathematician does not suppose that a quantity will alter, or that a +given point in space will change its direction with regard to another +point, spontaneously. And it is the same with the physicist. When Newton +saw the apple fall, he concluded at once that the act of falling was not +the result of any power inherent in the apple, but that it was the +result of the action of something else on the apple. In a similar +manner, all physical force is regarded as the disturbance of an +equilibrium to which things tended before its exertion,—to which they +will tend again after its cessation.</p> + +<p>The chemist equally regards chemical change in a as the effect of the +action of something external to the body changed. A chemical compound +once formed would persist for ever, if no alteration took place in +surrounding conditions.</p> + +<p>But to the student of Life the aspect of nature is reversed. Here, +incessant, and, so far as we know, spontaneous change is the rule, rest +the exception—the anomaly to be accounted for. Living things have no +inertia, and tend to no equilibrium.</p> + +<p>Permit me, however, to give more force and clearness to these somewhat +abstract considerations, by an illustration or two.</p> + +<p>Imagine a vessel full of water, at the ordinary temperature, in an +atmosphere saturated with vapour. The <i>quantity</i> and the <i>figure</i> of +that water will not change, so far as we know, for ever.</p> + +<p>Suppose a lump of gold be thrown into the vessel—motion and disturbance +of figure exactly proportional to the momentum of the gold will take +place. But after a time the effects of this disturbance will +subside—equilibrium will be restored, and the water will return to its +passive state.</p> + +<p>Expose the water to cold—it will solidify—and in so doing its +particles will arrange themselves in definite crystalline shapes. But +once formed, these crystals change no further.</p> + +<p>Again, substitute for the lump of gold some substance capable of +entering into chemical relations with the water:—say, a mass of that +substance which is called "protein"—the substance of flesh:—a very +considerable disturbance of equilibrium will take place—all sorts of +chemical compositions and decompositions will occur; but in the end, as +before, the result will be the resumption of a condition of rest.</p> + +<p>Instead of such a mass of <i>dead</i> protein, however, take a particle of +<i>living</i> protein—one of those minute microscopic living things which +throng our pools, and are known as Infusoria—such a creature, for +instance, as an Euglena, and place it in our vessel of water. It is a +round mass provided with a long filament, and except in this peculiarity +of shape, presents no appreciable physical or chemical difference +whereby it might be distinguished from the particle of dead protein.</p> + +<p>But the difference in the phænomena to which it will give rise is +immense: in the first place it will develop a vast quantity of physical +force—cleaving the water in all directions with considerable rapidity +by means of the vibrations of the long filament or cilium.</p> + +<p>Nor is the amount of chemical energy which the little creature possesses +less striking. It is a perfect laboratory in itself, and it will act and +react upon the water and the matters contained therein; converting them +into new compounds resembling its own substance, and, at the same time, +giving up portions of its own substance which have become effete.</p> + +<p>Furthermore, the Euglena will increase in size; but this increase is by +no means unlimited, as the increase of a crystal might be. After it has +grown to a certain extent it divides, and each portion assumes the form +of the original, and proceeds to repeat the process of growth and +division.</p> + +<p>Nor is this all. For after a series of such divisions and subdivisions, +these minute points assume a totally new form, lose their long +tails—round themselves, and secrete a sort of envelope or box, in which +they remain shut up for a time, eventually to resume, directly or +indirectly, their primitive mode of existence.</p> + +<p>Now, so far as we know, there is no natural limit to the existence of +the Euglena, or of any other living germ. A living species once launched +into existence tends to live for ever.</p> + +<p>Consider how widely different this living particle is from the dead +atoms with which the physicist and chemist have to do!</p> + +<p>The particle of gold falls to the bottom and rests—the particle of dead +protein decomposes and disappears—it also rests: but the <i>living</i> +protein mass neither tends to exhaustion of its forces nor to any +permanency of form, but is essentially distinguished as a disturber of +equilibrium so far as force is concerned,—as undergoing continual +metamorphosis and change, in point of form.</p> + +<p>Tendency to equilibrium of force and to permanency of form then, are the +characters of that portion of the universe which does not live—the +domain of the chemist and physicist.</p> + +<p>Tendency to disturb existing equilibrium,—to take on forms which +succeed one another in definite cycles, is the character of the living +world.</p> + +<p>What is the cause of this wonderful difference between the dead particle +and the living particle of matter appearing in other respects identical? +that difference to which we give the name of Life?</p> + +<p>I, for one, cannot tell you. It may be that, by and by, philosophers +will discover some higher laws of which the facts of life are particular +cases—very possibly they will find out some bond between +physico-chemical phænomena on the one hand, and vital phænomena on the +other. At present, however, we assuredly know of none; and I think we +shall exercise a wise humility in confessing that, for us at least, this +successive assumption of different states—(external conditions +remaining the same)—this <i>spontaneity of action</i>—if I may use a term +which implies more than I would be answerable for—which constitutes so +vast and plain a practical distinction between living bodies and those +which do not live, is an ultimate fact; indicating as such, the +existence of a broad line of demarcation between the subject-matter of +Biological and that of all other sciences.</p> + +<p>For I would have it understood that this simple Euglena is the type of +<i>all</i> living things, so far as the distinction between these and inert +matter is concerned. That cycle of changes, which is constituted by +perhaps not more than two or three steps in the Euglena, is as clearly +manifested in the multitudinous stages through which the germ of an oak +or of a man passes. Whatever forms the Living Being may take on, whether +simple or complex, <i>production</i>, <i>growth</i>, <i>reproduction</i>, are the +phænomena which distinguish it from that which does not live.</p> + +<p>If this be true, it is clear that the student, in passing from the +physico-chemical to the physiological sciences, enters upon a totally +new order of facts; and it will next be for us to consider how far these +new facts involve <i>new</i> methods, or require a modification of those with +which he is already acquainted. Now a great deal is said about the +peculiarity of the scientific method in general, and of the different +methods which are pursued in the different sciences. The Mathematics +are said to have one special method; Physics another, Biology a third, +and so forth. For my own part, I must confess that I do not understand +this phraseology.</p> + +<p>So far as I can arrive at any clear comprehension of the matter, Science +is not, as many would seem to suppose, a modification of the black art, +suited to the tastes of the nineteenth century, and flourishing mainly +in consequence of the decay of the Inquisition.</p> + +<p>Science is, I believe, nothing but <i>trained and organized common sense</i>, +differing from the latter only as a veteran may differ from a raw +recruit: and its methods differ from those of common sense only so far +as the guardsman's cut and thrust differ from the manner in which a +savage wields his club. The primary power is the same in each case, and +perhaps the untutored savage has the more brawny arm of the two. The +<i>real</i> advantage lies in the point and polish of the swordsman's weapon; +in the trained eye quick to spy out the weakness of the adversary; in +the ready hand prompt to follow it on the instant. But after all, the +sword exercise is only the hewing and poking of the clubman developed +and perfected.</p> + +<p>So, the vast results obtained by Science are won by no mystical +faculties, by no mental processes, other than those which are practised +by every one of us, in the humblest and meanest affairs of life. A +detective policeman discovers a burglar from the marks made by his shoe, +by a mental process identical with that by which Cuvier restored the +extinct animals of Montmartre from fragments of their bones. Nor does +that process of induction and deduction by which a lady, finding a stain +of a peculiar kind upon her dress, concludes that somebody has upset +the inkstand thereon, differ in any way, in kind, from that by which +Adams and Leverrier discovered a new planet.</p> + +<p>The man of science, in fact, simply uses with scrupulous exactness, the +methods which we all, habitually and at every moment, use carelessly; +and the man of business must as much avail himself of the scientific +method—must be as truly a man of science—as the veriest bookworm of us +all; though I have no doubt that the man of business will find himself +out to be a philosopher with as much surprise as M. Jourdain exhibited, +when he discovered that he had been all his life talking prose. If, +however, there be no real difference between the methods of science and +those of common life, it would seem, on the face of the matter, highly +improbable that there should be any difference between the methods of +the different sciences; nevertheless, it is constantly taken for +granted, that there is a very wide difference between the Physiological +and other sciences in point of method.</p> + +<p>In the first place it is said—and I take this point first, because the +imputation is too frequently admitted by Physiologists themselves—that +Biology differs from the Physico-chemical and Mathematical sciences in +being "inexact."</p> + +<p>Now, this phrase "inexact" must refer either to the <i>methods</i> or to the +<i>results</i> of Physiological science.</p> + +<p>It cannot be correct to apply it to the methods; for, as I hope to show +you by and by, these are identical in all sciences, and whatever is true +of Physiological method is true of Physical and Mathematical method.</p> + +<p>Is it then the <i>results</i> of Biological science which are "inexact"? I +think not. If I say that respiration is performed by the lungs; that +digestion is effected in the stomach; that the eye is the organ of +sight; that the jaws of a vertebrated animal never open sideways, but +always up and down; while those of an annulose animal always open +sideways, and never up and down—I am enumerating propositions which are +as exact as anything in Euclid. How then has this notion of the +inexactness of Biological science come about? I believe from two causes: +first, because, in consequence of the great complexity of the science +and the multitude of interfering conditions, we are very often only +enabled to predict approximatively what will occur under given +circumstances; and secondly, because, on account of the comparative +youth of the Physiological sciences, a great many of their laws are +still imperfectly worked out. But, in an educational point of view, it +is most important to distinguish between the essence of a science and +the accidents which surround it; and essentially, the methods and +results of Physiology are as exact as those of Physics or Mathematics.</p> + +<p>It is said that the Physiological method is especially <i>comparative</i><a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a>; +and this dictum also finds favour in the eyes of many. I should be +sorry to suggest that the speculators on scientific classification have +been misled by the accident of the name of one leading branch of +Biology—<i>Comparative Anatomy</i>; but I would ask whether <i>comparison</i>, +and that classification which is the result of comparison, are not the +essence of every science whatsoever? How is it possible to discover a +relation of cause and effect of <i>any</i> kind without comparing a series of +cases together in which the supposed cause and effect occur singly, or +combined? So far from comparison being in any way peculiar to Biological +science, it is, I think, the essence of every science.</p> + +<p>A speculative philosopher again tells us that the Biological sciences +are distinguished by being sciences of observation and not of +experiment!<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<p>Of all the strange assertions into which speculation without practical +acquaintance with a subject may lead even an able man, I think this is +the very strangest. Physiology not an experimental science! Why, there +is not a function of a single organ in the body which has not been +determined wholly and solely by experiment. How did Harvey determine the +nature of the circulation, except by experiment? How did Sir Charles +Bell determine the functions of the roots of the spinal nerves, save by +experiment? How do we know the use of a nerve at all, except by +experiment? Nay, how do you know even that your eye is your seeing +apparatus, unless you make the experiment of shutting it; or that your +ear is your hearing apparatus, unless you close it up and thereby +discover that you become deaf?</p> + +<p>It would really be much more true to say that Physiology is <i>the</i> +experimental science <i>par excellence</i> of all sciences; that in which +there is least to be learnt by mere observation, and that which affords +the greatest field for the exercise of those faculties which +characterise the experimental philosopher. I confess, if any one were to +ask me for a model application of the logic of experiment, I should know +no better work to put into his hands than Bernard's late Researches on +the Functions of the Liver.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + +<p>Not to give this lecture a too controversial tone, however, I must only +advert to one more doctrine, held by a thinker of our own age and +country, whose opinions are worthy of all respect. It is, that the +Biological sciences differ from all others, inasmuch as in <i>them</i> +classification takes place by type and not by definition.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>It is said, in short, that a natural-history class is not capable of +being defined—that the class Rosaceæ, for instance, or the class of +Fishes, is not accurately and absolutely definable, inasmuch as its +members will present exceptions to every possible definition; and that +the members of the class are united together only by the circumstance +that they are all more like some imaginary average rose or average fish, +than they resemble anything else.</p> + +<p>But here, as before, I think the distinction has arisen entirely from +confusing a transitory imperfection with an essential character. So long +as our information concerning them is imperfect, we class all objects +together according to resemblances which we <i>feel</i>, but cannot <i>define</i>: +we group them round <i>types</i>, in short. Thus, if you ask an ordinary +person what kinds of animals there are, he will probably say, beasts, +birds, reptiles, fishes, insects, &c. Ask him to define a beast from a +reptile, and he cannot do it; but he says, things like a cow or a horse +are beasts, and things like a frog or a lizard are reptiles. You see <i>he +does</i> class by type, and not by definition. But how does this +classification differ from that of the scientific Zoologist? How does +the meaning of the scientific class-name of "Mammalia" differ from the +unscientific of "Beasts"?</p> + +<p>Why, exactly because the former depends on a definition, the latter on a +type. The class Mammalia is scientifically defined as "all animals which +have a vertebrated skeleton and suckle their young." Here is no +reference to type, but a definition rigorous enough for a geometrician. +And such is the character which every scientific naturalist recognises +as that to which his classes must aspire—knowing, as he does, that +classification by type is simply an acknowledgment of ignorance and a +temporary device.</p> + +<p>So much in the way of negative argument as against the reputed +differences, between Biological and other methods. No such differences, +I believe, really exist. The subject-matter of Biological science is +different from that of other sciences, but the methods of all are +identical; and these methods are—</p> + +<p>1. <i>Observation</i> of facts—including under this head that <i>artificial +observation</i> which is called <i>experiment</i>.</p> + +<p>2. That process of tying up similar facts into bundles, ticketed and +ready for use, which is called <i>Comparison</i> and <i>Classification</i>,—the +results of the process, the ticketed bundles, being named <i>General +propositions</i>.</p> + +<p>3. <i>Deduction</i>, which takes us from the general proposition to facts +again—teaches us, if I may so say, to anticipate from the ticket what +is inside the bundle. And finally—</p> + +<p>4. <i>Verification</i>, which is the process of ascertaining whether, in +point of fact, our anticipation is a correct one.</p> + +<p>Such are the methods of all science whatsoever; but perhaps you will +permit me to give you an illustration of their employment in the science +of Life; and I will take as a special case, the establishment of the +doctrine of the <i>Circulation of the Blood</i>.</p> + +<p>In this case, <i>simple observation</i> yields us a knowledge of the +existence of the blood from some accidental hæmorrhage, we will say: we +may even grant that it informs us of the localization of this blood in +particular vessels, the heart, &c., from some accidental cut or the +like. It teaches also the existence of a pulse in various parts of the +body, and acquaints us with the structure of the heart and vessels.</p> + +<p>Here, however, <i>simple observation</i> stops, and we must have recourse to +<i>experiment</i>.</p> + +<p>You tie a vein, and you find that the blood accumulates on the side of +the ligature opposite the heart. You tie an artery, and you find that +the blood accumulates on the side near the heart. Open the chest, and +you see the heart contracting with great force. Make openings into its +principal cavities, and you will find that all the blood flows out, and +no more pressure is exerted on either side of the arterial or venous +ligature.</p> + +<p>Now all these facts, taken together, constitute the evidence that the +blood is propelled by the heart through the arteries, and returns by the +veins—that, in short, the blood circulates.</p> + +<p>Suppose our experiments and observations have been made on horses, then +we group and ticket them into a general proposition, thus:—<i>all horses +have a circulation of their blood</i>.</p> + +<p>Henceforward a horse is a sort of indication or label, telling us where +we shall find a peculiar series of phænomena called the circulation of +the blood.</p> + +<p>Here is our <i>general proposition</i> then.</p> + +<p>How and when are we justified in making our next step—a <i>deduction</i> +from it?</p> + +<p>Suppose our physiologist, whose experience is limited to horses, meets +with a zebra for the first time,—will he suppose that this +generalization holds good for zebras also?</p> + +<p>That depends very much on his turn of mind. But we will suppose him to +be a bold man. He will say, "The zebra is certainly not a horse, but it +is very like one,—so like, that it must be the 'ticket' or mark of a +blood-circulation also; and, I conclude that the zebra has a +circulation."</p> + +<p>That is a deduction, a very fair deduction, but by no means to be +considered scientifically secure. This last quality in fact can only be +given by <i>verification</i>—that is, by making a zebra the subject of all +the experiments performed on the horse. Of course, in the present case, +the <i>deduction</i> would be <i>confirmed</i> by this process of verification, +and the result would be, not merely a positive widening of knowledge, +but a fair increase of confidence in the truth of one's generalizations +in other cases.</p> + +<p>Thus, having settled the point in the zebra and horse, our philosopher +would have great confidence in the existence of a circulation in the +ass. Nay, I fancy most persons would excuse him, if in this case he did +not take the trouble to go through the process of verification at all; +and it would not be without a parallel in the history of the human mind, +if our imaginary physiologist now maintained that he was acquainted with +asinine circulation <i>à priori</i>.</p> + +<p>However, if I might impress any caution upon your minds, it is, the +utterly conditional nature of all our knowledge,—the danger of +neglecting the process of verification under any circumstances; and the +film upon which we rest, the moment our deductions carry us beyond the +reach of this great process of verification. There is no better instance +of this than is afforded by the history of our knowledge of the +circulation of the blood in the animal kingdom until the year 1824. In +every animal possessing a circulation at all, which had been observed up +to that time, the current of the blood was known to take one definite +and invariable direction. Now, there is a class of animals called +<i>Ascidians</i>, which possess a heart and a circulation, and up to the +period of which I speak, no one would have dreamt of questioning the +propriety of the deduction, that these creatures have a circulation in +one direction; nor would any one have thought it worth while to verify +the point. But, in that year, M. von Hasselt happening to examine a +transparent animal of this class, found to his infinite surprise, that +after the heart had beat a certain number of times, it stopped, and then +began beating the opposite way—so as to reverse the course of the +current, which returned by and by to its original direction.</p> + +<p>I have myself timed the heart of these little animals. I found it as +regular as possible in its periods of reversal: and I know no spectacle +in the animal kingdom more wonderful than that which it presents—all +the more wonderful that to this day it remains an unique fact, peculiar +to this class among the whole animated world. At the same time I know of +no more striking case of the necessity of the <i>verification</i> of even +those deductions which seem founded on the widest and safest inductions.</p> + +<p>Such are the methods of Biology—methods which are obviously identical +with those of all other sciences, and therefore wholly incompetent to +form the ground of any distinction between it and them.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> + +<p>But I shall be asked at once, Do you mean to say that there is no +difference between the habit of mind of a mathematician and that of a +naturalist? Do you imagine that Laplace might have been put into the +Jardin des Plantes, and Cuvier into the Observatory, with equal +advantage to the progress of the sciences they professed?</p> + +<p>To which I would reply, that nothing could be further from my thoughts. +But different habits and various special tendencies of two sciences do +not imply different methods. The mountaineer and the man of the plains +have very different habits of progression, and each would be at a loss +in the other's place; but the method of progression, by putting one leg +before the other, is the same in each case. Every step of each is a +combination of a lift and a push; but the mountaineer lifts more and the +lowlander pushes more. And I think the case of two sciences resembles +this.</p> + +<p>I do not question for a moment, that while the Mathematician is busied +with deductions <i>from</i> general propositions, the Biologist is more +especially occupied with observation, comparison, and those processes +which lead <i>to</i> general propositions. All I wish to insist upon is, that +this difference depends not on any fundamental distinction in the +sciences themselves, but on the accidents of their subject-matter, of +their relative complexity, and consequent relative perfection.</p> + +<p>The Mathematician deals with two properties of objects only, number and +extension, and all the inductions he wants have been formed and finished +ages ago. He is occupied now with nothing but deduction and +verification.</p> + +<p>The Biologist deals with a vast number of properties of objects, and +his inductions will not be completed, I fear, for ages to come; but when +they are, his science will be as deductive and as exact as the +Mathematics themselves.</p> + +<p>Such is the relation of Biology to those sciences which deal with +objects having fewer properties than itself. But as the student, in +reaching Biology, looks back upon sciences of a less complex and +therefore more perfect nature; so, on the other hand, does he look +forward to other more complex and less perfect branches of knowledge. +Biology deals only with living beings as isolated things—treats only of +the life of the individual: but there is a higher division of science +still, which considers living beings as aggregates—which deals with the +relation of living beings one to another—the science which <i>observes</i> +men—whose <i>experiments</i> are made by nations one upon another, in +battle-fields—whose <i>general propositions</i> are embodied in history, +morality, and religion—whose <i>deductions</i> lead to our happiness or our +misery,—and whose <i>verifications</i> so often come too late, and serve +only</p> + +<blockquote><p>"To point a moral or adorn a tale"—</p></blockquote> + +<p>I mean the science of Society or <i>Sociology</i>.</p> + +<p>I think it is one of the grandest features of Biology, that it occupies +this central position in human knowledge. There is no side of the human +mind which physiological study leaves uncultivated. Connected by +innumerable ties with abstract science, Physiology is yet in the most +intimate relation with humanity; and by teaching us that law and order, +and a definite scheme of development, regulate even the strangest and +wildest manifestations of individual life, she prepares the student to +look for a goal even amidst the erratic wanderings of mankind, and to +believe that history offers something more than an entertaining chaos—a +journal of a toilsome, tragi-comic march nowhither.</p> + +<p>The preceding considerations have, I hope, served to indicate the +replies which befit the two first of the questions which I set before +you at starting, viz. what is the range and position of Physiological +Science as a branch of knowledge, and what is its value as a means of +mental discipline.</p> + +<p>Its <i>subject-matter</i> is a large moiety of the universe—its <i>position</i> +is midway between the physico-chemical and the social sciences. Its +<i>value</i> as a branch of discipline is partly that which it has in common +with all sciences—the training and strengthening of common sense; +partly that which is more peculiar to itself—the great exercise which +it affords to the faculties of observation and comparison; and I may +add, the <i>exactness</i> of knowledge which it requires on the part of those +among its votaries who desire to extend its boundaries.</p> + +<p>If what has been said as to the position and scope of Biology be +correct, our third question—What is the practical value of +physiological instruction?—might, one would think, be left to answer +itself.</p> + +<p>On other grounds even, were mankind deserving of the title "rational," +which they arrogate to themselves, there can be no question that they +would consider, as the most necessary of all branches of instruction for +themselves and for their children, that which professes to acquaint them +with the conditions of the existence they prize so highly—which teaches +them how to avoid disease and to cherish health, in themselves and +those who are dear to them.</p> + +<p>I am addressing, I imagine, an audience of educated persons; and yet I +dare venture to assert that, with the exception of those of my hearers +who may chance to have received a medical education, there is not one +who could tell me what is the meaning and use of an act which he +performs a score of times every minute, and whose suspension would +involve his immediate death;—I mean the act of breathing—or who could +state in precise terms why it is that a confined atmosphere is injurious +to health.</p> + +<p>The <i>practical value</i> of Physiological knowledge! Why is it that +educated men can be found to maintain that a slaughter-house in the +midst of a great city is rather a good thing than otherwise?—that +mothers persist in exposing the largest possible amount of surface of +their children to the cold, by the absurd style of dress they adopt, and +then marvel at the peculiar dispensation of Providence, which removes +their infants by bronchitis and gastric fever? Why is it that quackery +rides rampant over the land; and that not long ago, one of the largest +public rooms in this great city could be filled by an audience gravely +listening to the reverend expositor of the doctrine—that the simple +physiological phenomena known as spirit-rapping, table-turning, +phreno-magnetism, and by I know not what other absurd and inappropriate +names, are due to the direct and personal agency of Satan?</p> + +<p>Why is all this, except from the utter ignorance as to the simplest laws +of their own animal life, which prevails among even the most highly +educated persons in this country?</p> + +<p>But there are other branches of Biological Science, besides Physiology +proper, whose practical influence, though less obvious, is not, as I +believe, less certain. I have heard educated men speak with an +ill-disguised contempt of the studies of the naturalist, and ask, not +without a shrug, "What is the use of knowing all about these miserable +animals—what bearing has it on human life?"</p> + +<p>I will endeavour to answer that question. I take it that all will admit +there is definite Government of this universe—that its pleasures and +pains are not scattered at random, but are distributed in accordance +with orderly and fixed laws, and that it is only in accordance with all +we know of the rest of the world, that there should be an agreement +between one portion of the sensitive creation and another in these +matters.</p> + +<p>Surely then it interests us to know the lot of other animal +creatures—however far below us, they are still the sole created things +which share with us the capability of pleasure and the susceptibility to +pain.</p> + +<p>I cannot but think that he who finds a certain proportion of pain and +evil inseparably woven up in the life of the very worms, will bear his +own share with more courage and submission; and will, at any rate, view +with suspicion those weakly amiable theories of the Divine government, +which would have us believe pain to be an oversight and a mistake,—to +be corrected by and by. On the other hand, the predominance of happiness +among living things—their lavish beauty—the secret and wonderful +harmony which pervades them all, from the highest to the lowest, are +equally striking refutations of that modern Manichean doctrine, which +exhibits the world as a slave-mill, worked with many tears, for mere +utilitarian ends.</p> + +<p>There is yet another way in which natural history may, I am convinced, +take a profound hold upon practical life,—and that is, by its influence +over our finer feelings, as the greatest of all sources of that pleasure +which is derivable from beauty. I do not pretend that natural-history +knowledge, as such, can increase our sense of the beautiful in natural +objects. I do not suppose that the dead soul of Peter Bell, of whom the +great poet of nature says,—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class='stanza'><div>A primrose by the river's brim,</div> +<div>A yellow primrose was to him,—</div> +<div>And it was nothing more,—</div></div> +</div> + +<p>would have been a whit roused from its apathy, by the information that +the primrose is a Dicotyledonous Exogen, with a monopetalous corolla and +central placentation. But I advocate natural-history knowledge from this +point of view, because it would lead us to <i>seek</i> the beauties of +natural objects, instead of trusting to chance to force them on our +attention. To a person uninstructed in natural history, his country, or +sea-side, stroll is a walk through a gallery filled with wonderful works +of art, nine-tenths of which have their faces turned to the wall. Teach +him something of natural history, and you place in his hands a catalogue +of those which are worth turning round. Surely our innocent pleasures +are not so abundant in this life, that we can afford to despise this or +any other source of them. We should fear being banished for our neglect +to that limbo, where the great Florentine tells us are those who, during +this life, "wept when they might be joyful."</p> + +<p>But I shall be trespassing unwarrantably on your kindness, if I do not +proceed at once to my last point—the time at which Physiological +Science should first form a part of the Curriculum of Education.</p> + +<p>The distinction between the teaching of the facts of a science as +instruction, and the teaching it systematically as knowledge, has +already been placed before you in a previous lecture: and it appears to +me, that, as with other sciences, the <i>common facts</i> of Biology—the +uses of parts of the body—the names and habits of the living creatures +which surround us—may be taught with advantage to the youngest child. +Indeed, the avidity of children for this kind of knowledge, and the +comparative ease with which they retain it, is something quite +marvellous. I doubt whether any toy would be so acceptable to young +children as a vivarium, of the same kind as, but of course on a smaller +scale than, those admirable devices in the Zoological Gardens.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, systematic teaching in Biology cannot be attempted +with success until the student has attained to a certain knowledge of +physics and chemistry: for though the phænomena of life are dependent +neither on physical nor on chemical, but on vital forces, yet they +result in all sorts of physical and chemical changes, which can only be +judged by their own laws.</p> + +<p>And now to sum up in a few words the conclusions to which I hope you see +reason to follow me.</p> + +<p>Biology needs no apologist when she demands a place—and a prominent +place—in any scheme of education worthy of the name. Leave out the +Physiological sciences from your curriculum, and you launch the student +into the world, undisciplined in that science whose subject-matter +would best develop his powers of observation; ignorant of facts of the +deepest importance for his own and others' welfare; blind to the richest +sources of beauty in God's creation; and unprovided with that belief in +a living law, and an order manifesting itself in and through endless +change and variety, which might serve to check and moderate that phase +of despair through which, if he take an earnest interest in social +problems, he will assuredly sooner or later pass.</p> + +<p>Finally, one word for myself. I have not hesitated to speak strongly +where I have felt strongly; and I am but too conscious that the +indicative and imperative moods have too often taken the place of the +more becoming subjunctive and conditional. I feel, therefore, how +necessary it is to beg you to forget the personality of him who has thus +ventured to address you, and to consider only the truth or error in what +has been said.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> "In the third place, we have to review the method of +Comparison, which is so specially adapted to the study of living bodies, +and by which, above all others, that study must be advanced. In +Astronomy, this method is necessarily inapplicable; and it is not till +we arrive at Chemistry that this third means of investigation can be +used, and then only in subordination to the two others. It is in the +study, both statical and dynamical, of living bodies that it first +acquires its full development; and its use elsewhere can be only through +its application here."—<span class="smcap">Comte's</span> <i>Positive Philosophy</i>, +translated by Miss Martineau. Vol. i. p. 372. +</p><p> +By what method does M. Comte suppose that the equality or inequality of +forces and quantities and the dissimilarity or similarity of +forms—points of some slight importance not only in Astronomy and +Physics, but even in Mathematics—are ascertained, if not by +Comparison?</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> "Proceeding to the second class of means,—Experiment +cannot but be less and less decisive, in proportion to the complexity of +the phænomena to be explored; and therefore we saw this resource to be +less effectual in chemistry than in physics: and we now find that it is +eminently useful in chemistry in comparison with physiology. <i>In fact, +the nature of the phænomena seems to offer almost insurmountable +impediments to any extensive and prolific application of such a +procedure in biology.</i>"—Comte, vol i. p. 367. +</p><p> +M. Comte, as his manner is, contradicts himself two pages further on, +but that will hardly relieve him from the responsibility of such a +paragraph as the above.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> "Nouvelle Fonction du Foie considéré comme organe +producteur de matière sucrée chez l'Homme et les Animaux," par M. Claude +Bernard.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> "<i>Natural Groups given by Type, not by Definition....</i> The +class is steadily fixed, though not precisely limited; it is given, +though not circumscribed; it is determined, not by a boundary-line +without, but by a central point within; not by what it strictly +excludes, but what it eminently includes; by an example, not by a +precept; in short, instead of Definition we have a <i>Type</i> for our +director. A type is an example of any class, for instance, a species of +a genus, which is considered as eminently possessing the characters of +the class. All the species which have a greater affinity with this +type-species than with any others, form the genus, and are ranged about +it, deviating from it in various directions and different +degrees."—<span class="smcap">Whewell</span>, <i>The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences</i>, +vol. i. pp. 476, 477.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Save for the pleasure of doing so, I need hardly point out +my obligations to Mr. J.S. Mill's "System of Logic," in this view of +scientific method.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI.</h2> + +<h3>ON THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY.</h3> + + +<p>Natural history is the name familiarly applied to the study of the +properties of such natural bodies as minerals, plants, and animals; the +sciences which embody the knowledge man has acquired upon these subjects +are commonly termed Natural Sciences, in contradistinction to other, +so-called "physical," sciences; and those who devote themselves +especially to the pursuit of such sciences have been, and are, commonly +termed "Naturalists."</p> + +<p>Linnæus was a naturalist in this wide sense, and his "Systema Naturæ" +was a work upon natural history, in the broadest acceptation of the +term; in it, that great methodizing spirit embodied all that was known +in his time of the distinctive characters of minerals, animals, and +plants. But the enormous stimulus which Linnæus gave to the +investigation of nature soon rendered it impossible that any one man +should write another "Systema Naturæ," and extremely difficult for any +one to become a naturalist such as Linnæus was.</p> + +<p>Great as have been the advances made by all the three branches of +science, of old included under the title of natural history, there can +be no doubt that zoology and botany have grown in an enormously greater +ratio than mineralogy; and hence, as I suppose, the name of "natural +history" has gradually become more and more definitely attached to these +prominent divisions of the subject, and by "naturalist" people have +meant more and more distinctly to imply a student of the structure and +functions of living beings.</p> + +<p>However this may be, it is certain that the advance of knowledge has +gradually widened the distance between mineralogy and its old +associates, while it has drawn zoology and botany closer together; so +that of late years it has been found convenient (and indeed necessary) +to associate the sciences which deal with vitality and all its phenomena +under the common head of "biology;" and the biologists have come to +repudiate any blood-relationship with their foster-brothers, the +mineralogists.</p> + +<p>Certain broad laws have a general application throughout both the animal +and the vegetable worlds, but the ground common to these kingdoms of +nature is not of very wide extent, and the multiplicity of details is so +great, that the student of living beings finds himself obliged to devote +his attention exclusively either to the one or the other. If he elects +to study plants, under any aspect, we know at once what to call him; he +is a botanist, and his science is botany. But if the investigation of +animal life be his choice, the name generally applied to him will vary, +according to the kind of animals he studies, or the particular phenomena +of animal life to which he confines his attention. If the study of man +is his object, he is called an anatomist, or a physiologist, or an +ethnologist; but if he dissects animals, or examines into the mode in +which their functions are performed, he is a comparative anatomist or +comparative physiologist. If he turns his attention to fossil animals, +he is a palæontologist. If his mind is more particularly directed to the +description, specific discrimination, classification, and distribution +of animals, he is termed a zoologist.</p> + +<p>For the purposes of the present discourse, however, I shall recognise +none of these titles save the last, which I shall employ as the +equivalent of botanist, and I shall use the term zoology as denoting the +whole doctrine of animal life, in contradistinction to botany, which +signifies the whole doctrine of vegetable life.</p> + +<p>Employed in this sense, zoology, like botany, is divisible into three +great but subordinate sciences, morphology, physiology, and +distribution, each of which may, to a very great extent, be studied +independently of the other.</p> + +<p>Zoological morphology is the doctrine of animal form or structure. +Anatomy is one of its branches, development is another; while +classification is the expression of the relations which different +animals bear to one another, in respect of their anatomy and their +development.</p> + +<p>Zoological distribution is the study of animals in relation to the +terrestrial conditions which obtain now, or have obtained at any +previous epoch of the earth's history.</p> + +<p>Zoological physiology, lastly, is the doctrine of the functions or +actions of animals. It regards animal bodies as machines impelled by +certain forces, and performing an amount of work, which can be +expressed in terms of the ordinary forces of nature. The final object of +physiology is to deduce the facts of morphology, on the one hand, and +those of distribution on the other, from the laws of the molecular +forces of matter.</p> + +<p>Such is the scope of zoology. But if I were to content myself with the +enunciation of these dry definitions, I should ill exemplify that method +of teaching this branch of physical science, which it is my chief +business to-night to recommend. Let us turn away then from abstract +definitions. Let us take some concrete living thing, some animal, the +commoner the better, and let us see how the application of common sense +and common logic to the obvious facts it presents, inevitably leads us +into all these branches of zoological science.</p> + +<p>I have before me a lobster. When I examine it, what appears to be the +most striking character it presents? Why, I observe that this part which +we call the tail of the lobster, is made up of six distinct hard rings +and a seventh terminal piece. If I separate one of the middle rings, say +the third, I find it carries upon its under surface a pair of limbs or +appendages, each of which consists of a stalk and two terminal pieces. +So that I can represent a transverse section of the ring and its +appendages upon the diagram board in this way.</p> + +<p>If I now take the fourth ring I find it has the same structure, and so +have the fifth and the second; so that, in each of these divisions of +the tail, I find parts which correspond with one another, a ring and two +appendages; and in each appendage a stalk and two end pieces. These +corresponding parts are called, in the technical language of anatomy, +"homologous parts." The ring of the third division is the "homologue" +of the ring of the fifth, the appendage of the former is the homologue +of the appendage of the latter. And, as each division exhibits +corresponding parts in corresponding places, we say that all the +divisions are constructed upon the same plan. But now let us consider +the sixth division. It is similar to, and yet different from, the +others. The ring is essentially the same as in the other divisions; but +the appendages look at first as if they were very different; and yet +when we regard them closely, what do we find? A stalk and two terminal +divisions, exactly as in the others, but the stalk is very short and +very thick, the terminal divisions are very broad and flat, and one of +them is divided into two pieces.</p> + +<p>I may say, therefore, that the sixth segment is like the others in plan, +but that it is modified in its details.</p> + +<p>The first segment is like the others, so far as its ring is concerned, +and though its appendages differ from any of those yet examined in the +simplicity of their structure, parts corresponding with the stem and one +of the divisions of the appendages of the other segments can be readily +discerned in them.</p> + +<p>Thus it appears that the lobster's tail is composed of a series of +segments which are fundamentally similar, though each presents peculiar +modifications of the plan common to all. But when I turn to the fore +part of the body I see, at first, nothing but a great shield-like shell, +called technically the "carapace," ending in front in a sharp spine, on +either side of which are the curious compound eyes, set upon the ends of +stout moveable stalks. Behind these, on the under side of the body, are +two pairs of long feelers, or antennæ, followed by six pairs of jaws, +folded against one another over the mouth, and five pairs of legs, the +foremost of these being the great pinchers, or claws, of the lobster.</p> + +<p>It looks, at first, a little hopeless to attempt to find in this complex +mass a series of rings, each with its pair of appendages, such as I have +shown you in the abdomen, and yet it is not difficult to demonstrate +their existence. Strip off the legs, and you will find that each pair is +attached to a very definite segment of the under wall of the body; but +these segments, instead of being the lower parts of free rings, as in +the tail, are such parts of rings which are all solidly united and bound +together; and the like is true of the jaws, the feelers, and the +eye-stalks, every pair of which is borne upon its own special segment. +Thus the conclusion is gradually forced upon us, that the body of the +lobster is composed of as many rings as there are pairs of appendages, +namely, twenty in all, but that the six hindmost rings remain free and +moveable, while the fourteen front rings become firmly soldered +together, their backs forming one continuous shield—the carapace.</p> + +<p>Unity of plan, diversity in execution, is the lesson taught by the study +of the rings of the body, and the same instruction is given still more +emphatically by the appendages. If I examine the outermost jaw I find it +consists of three distinct portions, an inner, a middle, and an outer, +mounted upon a common stem; and if I compare this jaw with the legs +behind it, or the jaws in front of it, I find it quite easy to see, +that, in the legs, it is the part of the appendage which corresponds +with the inner division, which becomes modified into what we know +familiarly as the "leg," while the middle division, disappears, and the +outer division is hidden under the carapace. Nor is it more difficult to +discern that, in the appendages of the tail, the middle division appears +again and the outer vanishes; while, on the other hand, in the foremost +jaw, the so-called mandible, the inner division only is left; and, in +the same way, the parts of the feelers and of the eye-stalks can be +identified with those of the legs and jaws.</p> + +<p>But whither does all this tend? To the very remarkable conclusion that a +unity of plan, of the same kind as that discoverable in the tail or +abdomen of the lobster, pervades the whole organization of its skeleton, +so that I can return to the diagram representing any one of the rings of +the tail, which I drew upon the board, and by adding a third division to +each appendage, I can use it as a sort of scheme or plan of any ring of +the body. I can give names to all the parts of that figure, and then if +I take any segment of the body of the lobster, I can point out to you +exactly, what modification the general plan has undergone in that +particular segment; what part has remained moveable, and what has become +fixed to another; what has been excessively developed and metamorphosed, +and what has been suppressed.</p> + +<p>But I imagine I hear the question, How is all this to be tested? No +doubt it is a pretty and ingenious way of looking at the structure of +any animal, but is it anything more? Does Nature acknowledge, in any +deeper way, this unity of plan we seem to trace?</p> + +<p>The objection suggested by these questions is a very valid and important +one, and morphology was in an unsound state, so long as it rested upon +the mere perception of the analogies which obtain between fully formed +parts. The unchecked ingenuity of speculative anatomists proved itself +fully competent to spin any number of contradictory hypotheses out of +the same facts, and endless morphological dreams threatened to supplant +scientific theory.</p> + +<p>Happily, however, there is a criterion of morphological truth, and a +sure test of all homologies. Our lobster has not always been what we see +it; it was once an egg, a semifluid mass of yolk, not so big as a pin's +head, contained in a transparent membrane, and exhibiting not the least +trace of any one of those organs, whose multiplicity and complexity, in +the adult, are so surprising. After a time a delicate patch of cellular +membrane appeared upon one face of this yolk, and that patch was the +foundation of the whole creature, the clay out of which it would be +moulded. Gradually investing the yolk, it became subdivided by +transverse constrictions into segments, the forerunners of the rings of +the body. Upon the ventral surface of each of the rings thus sketched +out, a pair of bud-like prominences made their appearance—the rudiments +of the appendages of the ring. At first, all the appendages were alike, +but, as they grew, most of them became distinguished into a stem and two +terminal divisions, to which, in the middle part of the body, was added +a third outer division; and it was only at a later period, that by the +modification, or absorption, of certain of these primitive constituents, +the limbs acquired their perfect form.</p> + +<p>Thus the study of development proves that the doctrine of unity of plan +is not merely a fancy, that it is not merely one way of looking at the +matter, but that it is the expression of deep-seated natural facts. The +legs and jaws of the lobster may not merely be regarded as modifications +of a common type,—in fact and in nature they are so,—the leg and the +jaw of the young animal being, at first, indistinguishable.</p> + +<p>These are wonderful truths, the more so because the zoologist finds them +to be of universal application. The investigation of a polype, of a +snail, of a fish, of a horse, or of a man, would have led us, though by +a less easy path, perhaps, to exactly the same point. Unity of plan +everywhere lies hidden under the mask of diversity of structure—the +complex is everywhere evolved out of the simple. Every animal has at +first the form of an egg, and every animal and every organic part, in +reaching its adult state, passes through conditions common to other +animals and other adult parts; and this leads me to another point. I +have hitherto spoken as if the lobster were alone in the world, but, as +I need hardly remind you, there are myriads of other animal organisms. +Of these, some, such as men, horses, birds, fishes, snails, slugs, +oysters, corals, and sponges, are not in the least like the lobster. But +other animals, though they may differ a good deal from the lobster, are +yet either very like it, or are like something that is like it. The cray +fish, the rock lobster, and the prawn, and the shrimp, for example, +however different, are yet so like lobsters, that a child would group +them as of the lobster kind, in contradistinction to snails and slugs; +and these last again would form a kind by themselves, in +contradistinction to cows, horses, and sheep, the cattle kind.</p> + +<p>But this spontaneous grouping into "kinds" is the first essay of the +human mind at classification, or the calling by a common name of those +things that are alike, and the arranging them in such a manner as best +to suggest the sum of their likenesses and unlikenesses to other things.</p> + +<p>Those kinds which include no other subdivisions than the sexes, or +various breeds, are called, in technical language, species. The English +lobster is a species, our cray fish is another, our prawn is another. In +other countries, however, there are lobsters, cray fish, and prawns, +very like ours, and yet presenting sufficient differences to deserve +distinction. Naturalists, therefore, express this resemblance and this +diversity by grouping them as distinct species of the same "genus." But +the lobster and the cray fish, though belonging to distinct genera, have +many features in common, and hence are grouped together in an assemblage +which is called a family. More distant resemblances connect the lobster +with the prawn and the crab, which are expressed by putting all these +into the same order. Again, more remote, but still very definite, +resemblances unite the lobster with the woodlouse, the king crab, the +water-flea, and the barnacle, and separate them from all other animals; +whence they collectively constitute the larger group, or class, +<i>Crustacea</i>. But the <i>Crustacea</i> exhibit many peculiar features in +common with insects, spiders, and centipedes, so that these are grouped +into the still larger assemblage or "province" <i>Articulata</i>; and, +finally, the relations which these have to worms and other lower +animals, are expressed by combining the whole vast aggregate into the +sub-kingdom of <i>Annulosa</i>.</p> + +<p>If I had worked my way from a sponge instead of a lobster, I should have +found it associated, by like ties, with a great number of other animals +into the sub-kingdom <i>Protozoa</i>; if I had selected a fresh-water polype +or a coral, the members of what naturalists term the sub-kingdom +<i>Clenterata</i> would have grouped themselves around my type; had a snail +been chosen, the inhabitants of all univalve and bivalve, land and +water, shells, the lamp shells, the squids, and the sea-mat would have +gradually linked themselves on to it as members of the same sub-kingdom +of <i>Mollusca</i>; and finally, starting from man, I should have been +compelled to admit first, the ape, the rat, the horse, the dog, into the +same class; and then the bird, the crocodile, the turtle, the frog, and +the fish, into the same sub-kingdom of <i>Vertebrata</i>.</p> + +<p>And if I had followed out all these various lines of classification +fully, I should discover in the end that there was no animal, either +recent or fossil, which did not at once fall into one or other of these +sub-kingdoms. In other words, every animal is organized upon one or +other of the five, or more, plans, whose existence renders our +classification possible. And so definitely and precisely marked is the +structure of each animal, that, in the present state of our knowledge, +there is not the least evidence to prove that a form, in the slightest +degree transitional between any of the two groups <i>Vertebrata, Annulosa, +Mollusca</i>, and <i>Clenterata</i>, either exists, or has existed, during that +period of the earth's history which is recorded by the geologist. +Nevertheless, you must not for a moment suppose, because no such +transitional forms are known, that the members of the sub-kingdoms are +disconnected from, or independent of, one another. On the contrary, in +their earliest condition they are all alike, and the primordial germs +of a man, a dog, a bird, a fish, a beetle, a snail, and a polype are, in +no essential structural respects, distinguishable.</p> + +<p>In this broad sense, it may with truth be said, that all living animals, +and all those dead creations which geology reveals, are bound together +by an all-pervading unity of organization, of the same character, though +not equal in degree, to that which enables us to discern one and the +same plan amidst the twenty different segments of a lobster's body. +Truly it has been said, that to a clear eye the smallest fact is a +window through which the Infinite may be seen.</p> + +<p>Turning from these purely morphological considerations, let us now +examine into the manner in which the attentive study of the lobster +impels us into other lines of research.</p> + +<p>Lobsters are found in all the European seas; but on the opposite shores +of the Atlantic and in the seas of the southern hemisphere they do not +exist. They are, however, represented in these regions by very closely +allied, but distinct forms—the <i>Homarus Americanus</i> and the <i>Homarus +Capensis</i>: so that we may say that the European has one species of +<i>Homarus</i>; the American, another; the African, another; and thus the +remarkable facts of geographical distribution begin to dawn upon us.</p> + +<p>Again, if we examine the contents of the earth's crust, we shall find in +the latter of those deposits, which have served as the great burying +grounds of past ages, numberless lobster-like animals, but none so +similar to our living lobster as to make zoologists sure that they +belonged even to the same genus. If we go still further back in time, +we discover, in the oldest rocks of all, the remains of animals, +constructed on the same general plan as the lobster, and belonging to +the same great group of <i>Crustacea</i>; but for the most part totally +different from the lobster, and indeed from any other living form of +crustacean; and thus we gain a notion of that successive change of the +animal population of the globe, in past ages, which is the most striking +fact revealed by geology.</p> + +<p>Consider, now, where our inquiries have led us. We studied our type +morphologically, when we determined its anatomy and its development, and +when comparing it, in these respects, with other animals, we made out +its place in a system of classification. If we were to examine every +animal in a similar manner, we should establish a complete body of +zoological morphology.</p> + +<p>Again, we investigated the distribution of our type in space and in +time, and, if the like had been done with every animal, the sciences of +geographical and geological distribution would have attained their +limit.</p> + +<p>But you will observe one remarkable circumstance, that, up to this +point, the question of the life of these organisms has not come under +consideration. Morphology and distribution might be studied almost as +well, if animals and plants were a peculiar kind of crystals, and +possessed none of those functions which distinguish living beings so +remarkably. But the facts of morphology and distribution have to be +accounted for, and the science, whose aim it is to account for them, is +Physiology.</p> + +<p>Let us return to our lobster once more. If we watched the creature in +its native element, we should see it climbing actively the submerged +rocks, among which it delights to live, by means of its strong legs; or +swimming by powerful strokes of its great tail, the appendages of whose +sixth joint are spread out into a broad fan-like propeller: seize it, +and it will show you that its great claws are no mean weapons of +offence; suspend a piece of carrion among its haunts, and it will +greedily devour it, tearing and crushing the flesh by means of its +multitudinous jaws.</p> + +<p>Suppose that we had known nothing of the lobster but as an inert mass, +an organic crystal, if I may use the phrase, and that we could suddenly +see it exerting all these powers, what wonderful new ideas and new +questions would arise in our minds! The great new question would be, +"How does all this take place?" the chief new idea would be, the idea of +adaptation to purpose,—the notion, that the constituents of animal +bodies are not mere unconnected parts, but organs working together to an +end. Let us consider the tail of the lobster again from this point of +view. Morphology has taught us that it is a series of segments composed +of homologous parts, which undergo various modifications—beneath and +through which a common plan of formation is discernible. But if I look +at the same part physiologically, I see that it is a most beautifully +constructed organ of locomotion, by means of which the animal can +swiftly propel itself either backwards or forwards.</p> + +<p>But how is this remarkable propulsive machine made to perform its +functions? If I were suddenly to kill one of these animals and to take +out all the soft parts, I should find the shell to be perfectly inert, +to have no more power of moving itself than is possessed by the +machinery of a mill, when disconnected from its steam-engine or +water-wheel. But if I were to open it, and take out the viscera only, +leaving the white flesh, I should perceive that the lobster could bend +and extend its tail as well as before. If I were to cut off the tail, I +should cease to find any spontaneous motion in it; but on pinching any +portion of the flesh, I should observe that it underwent a very curious +change—each fibre becoming shorter and thicker. By this act of +contraction, as it is termed, the parts to which the ends of the fibre +are attached are, of course, approximated; and according to the +relations of their points of attachment to the centres of motion of the +different rings, the bending or the extension of the tail results. Close +observation of the newly opened lobster would soon show that all its +movements are due to the same cause—the shortening and thickening of +these fleshy fibres, which are technically called muscles.</p> + +<p>Here, then, is a capital fact. The movements of the lobster are due to +muscular contractility. But why does a muscle contract at one time and +not at another? Why does one whole group of muscles contract when the +lobster wishes to extend his tail, and another group, when he desires to +bend it? What is it originates, directs, and controls the motive power?</p> + +<p>Experiment, the great instrument for the ascertainment of truth in +physical science, answers this question for us. In the head of the +lobster there lies a small mass of that peculiar tissue which is known +as nervous substance. Cords of similar matter connect this brain of the +lobster, directly or indirectly, with the muscles. Now, if these +communicating cords are cut, the brain remaining entire, the power of +exerting what we call voluntary motion in the parts below the section is +destroyed; and on the other hand, if, the cords remaining entire, the +brain mass be destroyed, the same voluntary mobility is equally lost. +Whence the inevitable conclusion is, that the power of originating these +motions resides in the brain, and is propagated along the nervous cords.</p> + +<p>In the higher animals the phænomena which attend this transmission have +been investigated, and the exertion of the peculiar energy which resides +in the nerves has been found to be accompanied by a disturbance of the +electrical state of their molecules.</p> + +<p>If we could exactly estimate the signification of this disturbance; if +we could obtain the value of a given exertion of nerve force by +determining the quantity of electricity, or of heat, of which it is the +equivalent; if we could ascertain upon what arrangement, or other +condition of the molecules of matter, the manifestation of the nervous +and muscular energies depends, (and doubtless science will some day or +other ascertain these points,) physiologists would have attained their +ultimate goal in this direction; they would have determined the relation +of the motive force of animals to the other forms of force found in +nature; and if the same process had been successfully performed for all +the operations which are carried on in, and by, the animal frame, +physiology would be perfect, and the facts of morphology and +distribution would be deducible from the laws which physiologists had +established, combined with those determining the condition of the +surrounding universe.</p> + +<p>There is not a fragment of the organism of this humble animal, whose +study would not lead us into regions of thought as large as those which +I have briefly opened up to you; but what I have been saying, I trust, +has not only enabled you to form a conception of the scope and purport +of zoology, but has given you an imperfect example of the manner in +which, in my opinion, that science, or indeed any physical science, may +be best taught. The great matter is, to make teaching real and +practical, by fixing the attention of the student on particular facts; +but at the same time it should be rendered broad and comprehensive, by +constant reference to the generalizations of which all particular facts +are illustrations. The lobster has served as a type of the whole animal +kingdom, and its anatomy and physiology have illustrated for us some of +the greatest truths of biology. The student who has once seen for +himself the facts which I have described, has had their relations +explained to him, and has clearly comprehended them, has, so far, a +knowledge of zoology, which is real and genuine, however limited it may +be, and which is worth more than all the mere reading knowledge of the +science he could ever acquire. His zoological information is, so far, +knowledge and not mere hearsay.</p> + +<p>And if it were my business to fit you for the certificate in zoological +science granted by this department, I should pursue a course precisely +similar in principle to that which I have taken to-night. I should +select a fresh-water sponge, a fresh-water polype or a <i>Cyanæa</i>, a +fresh-water mussel, a lobster, a fowl, as types of the five primary +divisions of the animal kingdom. I should explain their structure very +fully, and show how each illustrated the great principles of zoology. +Having gone very carefully and fully over this ground, I should feel +that you had a safe foundation, and I should then take you in the same +way, but less minutely, over similarly selected illustrative types of +the classes; and then I should direct your attention to the special +forms enumerated under the head of types, in this syllabus, and to the +other facts there mentioned.</p> + +<p>That would, speaking generally, be my plan. But I have undertaken to +explain to you the best mode of acquiring and communicating a knowledge +of zoology, and you may therefore fairly ask me for a more detailed and +precise account of the manner in which I should propose to furnish you +with the information I refer to.</p> + +<p>My own impression is, that the best model for all kinds of training in +physical science is that afforded by the method of teaching anatomy, in +use in the medical schools. This method consists of three +elements—lectures, demonstrations, and examinations.</p> + +<p>The object of lectures is, in the first place, to awaken the attention +and excite the enthusiasm of the student; and this, I am sure, may be +effected to a far greater extent by the oral discourse and by the +personal influence of a respected teacher than in any other way. +Secondly, lectures have the double use of guiding the student to the +salient points of a subject, and at the same time forcing him to attend +to the whole of it, and not merely to that part which takes his fancy. +And lastly, lectures afford the student the opportunity of seeking +explanations of those difficulties which will; and indeed ought to, +arise in the course of his studies.</p> + +<p>But for a student to derive the utmost possible value from lectures, +several precautions are needful.</p> + +<p>I have a strong impression that the better a discourse is, as an +oration, the worse it is as a lecture. The flow of the discourse carries +you on without proper attention to its sense; you drop a word or a +phrase, you lose the exact meaning for a moment, and while you strive to +recover yourself, the speaker has passed on to something else.</p> + +<p>The practice I have adopted of late years, in lecturing to students, is +to condense the substance of the hour's discourse into a few dry +propositions, which are read slowly and taken down from dictation; the +reading of each being followed by a free commentary, expanding and +illustrating the proposition, explaining terms, and removing any +difficulties that may be attackable in that way, by diagrams made +roughly, and seen to grow under the lecturer's hand. In this manner you, +at any rate, insure the co-operation of the student to a certain extent. +He cannot leave the lecture-room entirely empty if the taking of notes +is enforced; and a student must be preternaturally dull and mechanical, +if he can take notes and hear them properly explained, and yet learn +nothing.</p> + +<p>What books shall I read? is a question constantly put by the student to +the teacher. My reply usually is, "None: write your notes out carefully +and fully; strive to understand them thoroughly; come to me for the +explanation of anything you cannot understand; and I would rather you +did not distract your mind by reading." A properly composed course of +lectures ought to contain fully as much matter as a student can +assimilate in the time occupied by its delivery; and the teacher should +always recollect that his business is to feed, and not to cram the +intellect. Indeed, I believe that a student who gains from a course of +lectures the simple habit of concentrating his attention upon a +definitely limited series of facts, until they are thoroughly mastered, +has made a step of immeasurable importance.</p> + +<p>But, however good lectures may be, and however extensive the course of +reading by which they are followed up, they are but accessories to the +great instrument of scientific teaching—demonstration. If I insist +unweariedly, nay fanatically, upon the importance of physical science as +an educational agent, it is because the study of any branch of science, +if properly conducted, appears to me to fill up a void left by all other +means of education. I have the greatest respect and love for literature; +nothing would grieve me more than to see literary training other than a +very prominent branch of education: indeed, I wish that real literary +discipline were far more attended to than it is; but I cannot shut my +eyes to the fact, that there is a vast difference between men who have +had a purely literary, and those who have had a sound scientific, +training.</p> + +<p>Seeking for the cause of this difference, I imagine I can find it in the +fact, that, in the world of letters, learning and knowledge are one, and +books are the source of both; whereas in science, as in life, learning +and knowledge are distinct, and the study of things, and not of books, +is the source of the latter.</p> + +<p>All that literature has to bestow may be obtained by reading and by +practical exercise in writing, and in speaking; but I do not exaggerate +when I say, that none of the best gifts of science are to be won by +these means. On the contrary, the great benefit which a scientific +education bestows, whether as training or as knowledge, is dependent +upon the extent to which the mind of the student is brought into +immediate contact with facts—upon the degree to which he learns the +habit of appealing directly to Nature, and of acquiring through his +senses concrete images of those properties of things, which are, and +always will be, but approximatively expressed in human language. Our way +of looking at Nature, and of speaking about her, varies from year to +year; but a fact once seen, a relation of cause and effect, once +demonstratively apprehended, are possessions which neither change nor +pass away, but, on the contrary, form fixed centres, about which other +truths aggregate by natural affinity.</p> + +<p>Therefore, the great business of the scientific teacher is, to imprint +the fundamental, irrefragable facts of his science, not only by words +upon the mind, but by sensible impressions upon the eye, and ear, and +touch of the student, in so complete a manner, that every term used, or +law enunciated, should afterwards call up vivid images of the particular +structural, or other, facts which furnished the demonstration of the +law, or the illustration of the term.</p> + +<p>Now this important operation can only be achieved by constant +demonstration, which may take place to a certain imperfect extent during +a lecture, but which ought also to be carried on independently, and +which should be addressed to each individual student, the teacher +endeavouring, not so much to show a thing to the learner, as to make him +see it for himself.</p> + +<p>I am well aware that there are great practical difficulties in the way +of effectual zoological demonstrations. The dissection of animals is +not altogether pleasant, and requires much time; nor is it easy to +secure an adequate supply of the needful specimens. The botanist has +here a great advantage; his specimens are easily obtained, are clean and +wholesome, and can be dissected in a private house as well as anywhere +else; and hence, I believe, the fact, that botany is so much more +readily and better taught than its sister science. But, be it difficult +or be it easy, if zoological science is to be properly studied, +demonstration, and, consequently, dissection, must be had. Without it, +no man can have a really sound knowledge of animal organization.</p> + +<p>A good deal may be done, however, without actual dissection on the +student's part, by demonstration upon specimens and preparations; and in +all probability it would not be very difficult, were the demand +sufficient, to organize collections of such objects, sufficient for all +the purposes of elementary teaching, at a comparatively cheap rate. Even +without these, much might be effected, if the zoological collections, +which are open to the public, were arranged according to what has been +termed the "typical principle;" that is to say, if the specimens exposed +to public view were so selected, that the public could learn something +from them, instead of being, as at present, merely confused by their +multiplicity. For example, the grand ornithological gallery at the +British Museum contains between two and three thousand species of birds, +and sometimes five or six specimens of a species. They are very pretty +to look at, and some of the cases are, indeed, splendid; but undertake +to say, that no man but a professed ornithologist has ever gathered +much information from the collection. Certainly, no one of the tens of +thousands of the general public who have walked through that gallery +ever knew more about the essential peculiarities of birds when he left +the gallery, than when he entered it. But if, somewhere in that vast +hall, there were a few preparations, exemplifying the leading structural +peculiarities and the mode of development of a common fowl; if the types +of the genera, the leading modifications in the skeleton, in the plumage +at various ages, in the mode of nidification, and the like, among birds, +were displayed; and if the other specimens were put away in a place +where the men of science, to whom they are alone useful, could have free +access to them, I can conceive that this collection might become a great +instrument of scientific education.</p> + +<p>The last implement of the teacher to which I have adverted is +examination—a means of education now so thoroughly understood that I +need hardly enlarge upon it. I hold that both written and oral +examinations are indispensable, and, by requiring the description of +specimens, they may be made to supplement demonstration.</p> + +<p>Such is the fullest reply the time at my disposal will allow me to give +to the question—how may a knowledge of zoology be best acquired and +communicated?</p> + +<p>But there is a previous question which may be moved, and which, in fact, +I know many are inclined to move. It is the question, why should +training masters be encouraged to acquire a knowledge of this, or any +other branch of physical science? What is the use, it is said, of +attempting to make physical science a branch of primary education? It +is not probable that teachers, in pursuing such studies, will be led +astray from the acquirement of more important but less attractive +knowledge? And, even if they can learn something of science without +prejudice to their usefulness, what is the good of their attempting to +instil that knowledge into boys whose real business is the acquisition +of reading, writing, and arithmetic?</p> + +<p>These questions are, and will be, very commonly asked, for they arise +from that profound ignorance of the value and true position of physical +science, which infests the minds of the most highly educated and +intelligent classes of the community. But if I did not feel well assured +that they are capable of being easily and satisfactorily answered; that +they have been answered over and over again; and that the time will come +when men of liberal education will blush to raise such questions,—I +should be ashamed of my position here to-night. Without doubt, it is +your great and very important function to carry out elementary +education; without question, anything that should interfere with the +faithful fulfilment of that duty on your part would be a great evil; and +if I thought that your acquirement of the elements of physical science, +and your communication of those elements to your pupils, involved any +sort of interference with your proper duties, I should be the first +person to protest against your being encouraged to do anything of the +kind.</p> + +<p>But is it true that the acquisition of such a knowledge of science as is +proposed, and the communication of that knowledge, are calculated to +weaken your usefulness? Or may I not rather ask, is it possible for you +to discharge your functions properly without these aids?</p> + +<p>What is the purpose of primary intellectual education? I apprehend that +its first object is to train the young in the use of those tools +wherewith men extract knowledge from the ever-shifting succession of +phenomena which pass before their eyes; and that its second object is to +inform them of the fundamental laws which have been found by experience +to govern the course of things, so that they may not be turned out into +the world naked, defenceless, and a prey to the events they might +control.</p> + +<p>A boy is taught to read his own and other languages, in order that he +may have access to infinitely wider stores of knowledge than could ever +be opened to him by oral intercourse with his fellow men; he learns to +write, that his means of communication with the rest of mankind may be +indefinitely enlarged, and that he may record and store up the knowledge +he acquires. He is taught elementary mathematics, that he may understand +all those relations of number and form, upon which the transactions of +men, associated in complicated societies, are built, and that he may +have some practice in deductive reasoning.</p> + +<p>All these operations of reading, writing, and ciphering, are +intellectual tools, whose use should, before all things, be learned, and +learned thoroughly; so that the youth may be enabled to make his life +that which it ought to be, a continual progress in learning and in +wisdom.</p> + +<p>But, in addition, primary education endeavours to fit a boy out with a +certain equipment of positive knowledge. He is taught the great laws of +morality; the religion of his sect; so much history and geography as +will tell him where the great countries of the world are, what they are, +and how they have become what they are.</p> + +<p>Without doubt all these are most fitting and excellent things to teach a +boy; I should be very sorry to omit any of them from any scheme of +primary intellectual education. The system is excellent, so far as it +goes.</p> + +<p>But if I regard it closely, a curious reflection arises. I suppose that, +fifteen hundred years ago, the child of any well-to-do Roman citizen was +taught just these same things; reading and writing in his own, and, +perhaps, the Greek tongue; the elements of mathematics; and the +religion, morality, history, and geography current in his time. +Furthermore, I do not think I err in affirming, that, if such a +Christian Roman boy, who had finished his education, could be +transplanted into one of our public schools, and pass through its course +of instruction, he would not meet with a single unfamiliar line of +thought; amidst all the new facts he would have to learn, not one would +suggest a different mode of regarding the universe from that current in +his own time.</p> + +<p>And yet surely there is some great difference between the civilization +of the fourth century and that of the nineteenth, and still more between +the intellectual habits and tone of thought of that day and this?</p> + +<p>And what has made this difference? I answer fearlessly,—The prodigious +development of physical science within the last two centuries.</p> + +<p>Modern civilization rests upon physical science; take away her gifts to +our own country, and our position among the leading nations of the world +is gone to-morrow; for it is physical science only, that makes +intelligence and moral energy stronger than brute force.</p> + +<p>The whole of modern thought is steeped in science; it has made its way +into the works of our best poets, and even the mere man of letters, who +affects to ignore and despise science, is unconsciously impregnated with +her spirit, and indebted for his best products to her methods. I believe +that the greatest intellectual revolution mankind has yet seen is now +slowly taking place by her agency. She is teaching the world that the +ultimate court of appeal is observation and experiment, and not +authority; she is teaching it to estimate the value of evidence; she is +creating a firm and living faith in the existence of immutable moral and +physical laws, perfect obedience to which is the highest possible aim of +an intelligent being.</p> + +<p>But of all this your old stereotyped system of education takes no note. +Physical science, its methods, its problems, and its difficulties, will +meet the poorest boy at every turn, and yet we educate him in such a +manner that he shall enter the world as ignorant of the existence of the +methods and facts of science as the day he was born. The modern world is +full of artillery; and we turn out our children to do battle in it, +equipped with the shield and sword of an ancient gladiator.</p> + +<p>Posterity will cry shame on us if we do not remedy this deplorable state +of things. Nay, if we live twenty years longer, our own consciences will +cry shame on us.</p> + +<p>It is my firm conviction that the only way to remedy it is, to make the +elements of physical science an integral part of primary education. I +have endeavoured to show you how that may be done for that branch of +science which it is my business to pursue; and I can but add, that I +should look upon the day when every schoolmaster throughout this land +was a centre of genuine, however rudimentary, scientific knowledge, as +an epoch in the history of the country.</p> + +<p>But let me entreat you to remember my last words. Addressing myself to +you, as teachers, I would say, mere book learning in physical science is +a sham and a delusion—what you teach, unless you wish to be impostors, +that you must first know; and real knowledge in science means personal +acquaintance with the facts, be they few or many.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> It has been suggested to me that these words may be taken +to imply a discouragement on my part of any sort of scientific +instruction which does not give an acquaintance with the facts at first +hand. But this is not my meaning. The ideal of scientific teaching is, +no doubt, a system by which the scholar sees every fact for himself, and +the teacher supplies only the explanations. Circumstances, however, do +not often allow of the attainment of that ideal, and we must put up with +the next best system—one in which the scholar takes a good deal on +trust from a teacher, who, knowing the facts by his own knowledge, can +describe them with so much vividness as to enable his audience to form +competent ideas concerning them. The system which I repudiate is that +which allows teachers who have not come into direct contact with the +leading facts of a science to pass their second-hand information on. The +scientific virus, like vaccine lymph, if passed through too long a +succession of organisms, will lose all its effect in protecting the +young against the intellectual epidemics to which they are exposed.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII.</h2> + +<h3>ON THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF LIFE.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></h3> + + +<p>In order to make the title of this discourse generally intelligible, I +have translated the term "Protoplasm," which is the scientific name of +the substance of which I am about to speak, by the words "the physical +basis of life." I suppose that, to many, the idea that there is such a +thing as a physical basis, or matter, of life may be novel—so widely +spread is the conception of life as a something which works through +matter, but is independent of it; and even those who are aware that +matter and life are inseparably connected, may not be prepared for the +conclusion plainly suggested by the phrase, "<i>the</i> physical basis or +matter of life," that there is some one kind of matter which is common +to all living beings, and that their endless diversities are bound +together by a physical, as well as an ideal, unity. In fact, when first +apprehended, such a doctrine as this appears almost shocking to common +sense.</p> + +<p>What, truly, can seem to be more obviously different from one another in +faculty, in form, and in substance, than the various kinds of living +beings? What community of faculty can there be between the +brightly-coloured lichen, which so nearly resembles a mere mineral +incrustation of the bare rock on which it grows, and the painter, to +whom it is instinct with beauty, or the botanist, whom it feeds with +knowledge?</p> + +<p>Again, think of the microscopic fungus—a mere infinitesimal ovoid +particle, which finds space and duration enough to multiply into +countless millions in the body of a living fly; and then of the wealth +of foliage, the luxuriance of flower and fruit, which lies between this +bald sketch of a plant and the giant pine of California, towering to the +dimensions of a cathedral spire, or the Indian fig, which covers acres +with its profound shadow, and endures while nations and empires come and +go around its vast circumference? Or, turning to the other half of the +world of life, picture to yourselves the great Finner whale, hugest of +beasts that live, or have lived, disporting his eighty or ninety feet of +bone, muscle, and blubber, with easy roll, among waves in which the +stoutest ship that ever left dockyard would founder hopelessly; and +contrast him with the invisible animalcules—mere gelatinous specks, +multitudes of which could, in fact, dance upon the point of a needle +with the same ease as the angels of the Schoolmen could, in imagination. +With these images before your minds, you may well ask, what community +of form, or structure, is there between the animalcule and the whale; or +between the fungus and the fig-tree? And, <i>à fortiori</i>, between all +four?</p> + +<p>Finally, if we regard substance, or material composition, what hidden +bond can connect the flower which a girl wears in her hair and the blood +which courses through her youthful veins; or, what is there in common +between the dense and resisting mass of the oak, or the strong fabric of +the tortoise, and those broad disks of glassy jelly which may be seen +pulsating through the waters of a calm sea, but which drain away to mere +films in the hand which raises them out of their element?</p> + +<p>Such objections as these must, I think, arise in the mind of every one +who ponders, for the first time, upon the conception of a single +physical basis of life underlying all the diversities of vital +existence; but I propose to demonstrate to you that, notwithstanding +these apparent difficulties, a threefold unity—namely, a unity of +power, or faculty, a unity of form, and a unity of substantial +composition—does pervade the whole living world.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>No very abstruse argumentation is needed, in the first place, to prove +that the powers, or faculties, of all kinds of living matter, diverse as +they may be in degree, are substantially similar in kind.</p> + +<p>Goethe has condensed a survey of all the powers of mankind into the +well-known epigram:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class='stanza'><div>"Warum treibt sich das Volk so und schreit? Es will sich ernähren</div> +<div class='i2'>Kinder zeugen, und die nähren so gut es vermag.</div></div> +<div class='stanza'><div>Weiter bringt es kein Mensch, stell' er sich wie er auch will."</div></div> +</div> + +<p>In physiological language this means, that all the multifarious and +complicated activities of man are comprehensible under three categories. +Either they are immediately directed towards the maintenance and +development of the body, or they effect transitory changes in the +relative positions of parts of the body, or they tend towards the +continuance of the species. Even those manifestations of intellect, of +feeling, and of will, which we rightly name the higher faculties, are +not excluded from this classification, inasmuch as to every one but the +subject of them, they are known only as transitory changes in the +relative positions of parts of the body. Speech, gesture, and every +other form of human action are, in the long run, resolvable into +muscular contraction, and muscular contraction is but a transitory +change in the relative positions of the parts of a muscle. But the +scheme which is large enough to embrace the activities of the highest +form of life, covers all those of the lower creatures. The lowest plant, +or animalcule, feeds, grows, and reproduces its kind. In addition, all +animals manifest those transitory changes of form which we class under +irritability and contractility; and, it is more than probable, that when +the vegetable world is thoroughly explored, we shall find all plants in +possession of the same powers, at one time or other of their existence.</p> + +<p>I am not now alluding to such phænomena, at once rare and conspicuous, +as those exhibited by the leaflets of the sensitive plant, or the +stamens of the barberry, but to much more widely-spread, and, at the +same time, more subtle and hidden, manifestations of vegetable +contractility. You are doubtless aware that the common nettle owes its +stinging property to the innumerable stiff and needle-like, though +exquisitely delicate, hairs which cover its surface. Each +stinging-needle tapers from a broad base to a slender summit, which, +though rounded at the end, is of such microscopic fineness that it +readily penetrates, and breaks off in, the skin. The whole hair consists +of a very delicate outer case of wood, closely applied to the inner +surface of which is a layer of semifluid matter, full of innumerable +granules of extreme minuteness. This semi-fluid lining is protoplasm, +which thus constitutes a kind of bag, full of a limpid liquid, and +roughly corresponding in form with the interior of the hair which it +fills. When viewed with a sufficiently high magnifying power, the +protoplasmic layer of the nettle hair is seen to be in a condition of +unceasing activity. Local contractions of the whole thickness of its +substance pass slowly and gradually from point to point, and give rise +to the appearance of progressive waves, just as the bending of +successive stalks of corn by a breeze produces the apparent billows of a +corn-field.</p> + +<p>But, in addition to these movements, and independently of them, the +granules are driven, in relatively rapid streams, through channels in +the protoplasm which seem to have a considerable amount of persistence. +Most commonly, the currents in adjacent parts of the protoplasm take +similar directions; and, thus, there is a general stream up one side of +the hair and down the other. But this does not prevent the existence of +partial currents which take different routes; and, sometimes, trains of +granules may be seen coursing swiftly in opposite directions, within a +twenty-thousandth of an inch of one another; while, occasionally, +opposite streams come into direct collision, and, after a longer or +shorter struggle, one predominates. The cause of these currents seems +to lie in contractions of the protoplasm which bounds the channels in +which they flow, but which are so minute that the best microscopes show +only their effects, and not themselves.</p> + +<p>The spectacle afforded by the wonderful energies prisoned within the +compass of the microscopic hair of a plant, which we commonly regard as +a merely passive organism, is not easily forgotten by one who has +watched its display, continued hour after hour, without pause or sign of +weakening. The possible complexity of many other organic forms, +seemingly as simple as the protoplasm of the nettle, dawns upon one; and +the comparison of such a protoplasm to a body with an internal +circulation, which has been put forward by an eminent physiologist, +loses much of its startling character. Currents similar to those of the +hairs of the nettle have been observed in a great multitude of very +different plants, and weighty authorities have suggested that they +probably occur, in more or less perfection, in all young vegetable +cells. If such be the case, the wonderful noonday silence of a tropical +forest is, after all, due only to the dulness of our hearing; and could +our ears catch the murmur of these tiny Maelstroms, as they whirl in the +innumerable myriads of living cells which constitute each tree, we +should be stunned, as with the roar of a great city.</p> + +<p>Among the lower plants, it is the rule rather than the exception, that +contractility should be still more openly manifested at some periods of +their existence. The protoplasm of <i>Algæ</i> and <i>Fungi</i> becomes, under +many circumstances, partially, or completely, freed from its woody +case, and exhibits movements of its whole mass, or is propelled by the +contractility of one, or more, hair-like prolongations of its body, +which are called vibratile cilia. And, so far as the conditions of the +manifestation of the phænomena of contractility have yet been studied, +they are the same for the plant as for the animal. Heat and electric +shocks influence both, and in the same way, though it may be in +different degrees. It is by no means my intention to suggest that there +is no difference in faculty between the lowest plant and the highest, or +between plants and animals. But the difference between the powers of the +lowest plant, or animal, and those of the highest, is one of degree, not +of kind, and depends, as Milne-Edwards long ago so well pointed out, +upon the extent to which the principle of the division of labour is +carried out in the living economy. In the lowest organism all parts are +competent to perform all functions, and one and the same portion of +protoplasm may successively take on the function of feeding, moving, or +reproducing apparatus. In the highest, on the contrary, a great number +of parts combine to perform each function, each part doing its allotted +share of the work with great accuracy and efficiency, but being useless +for any other purpose.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, notwithstanding all the fundamental resemblances +which exist between the powers of the protoplasm in plants and in +animals, they present a striking difference (to which I shall advert +more at length presently), in the fact that plants can manufacture fresh +protoplasm out of mineral compounds, whereas animals are obliged to +procure it ready made, and hence, in the long run, depend upon plants. +Upon what condition this difference in the powers of the two great +divisions of the world of life depends, nothing is at present known.</p> + +<p>With such qualification as arises out of the last-mentioned fact, it may +be truly said that the acts of all living things are fundamentally one. +Is any such unity predicable of their forms? Let us seek in easily +verified facts for a reply to this question. If a drop of blood be drawn +by pricking one's finger, and viewed with proper precautions and under a +sufficiently high microscopic power, there will be seen, among the +innumerable multitude of little, circular, discoidal bodies, or +corpuscles, which float in it and give it its colour, a comparatively +small number of colourless corpuscles, of somewhat larger size and very +irregular shape. If the drop of blood be kept at the temperature of the +body, these colourless corpuscles will be seen to exhibit a marvellous +activity, changing their forms with great rapidity, drawing in and +thrusting out prolongations of their substance, and creeping about as if +they were independent organisms.</p> + +<p>The substance which is thus active is a mass of protoplasm, and its +activity differs in detail, rather than in principle, from that of the +protoplasm of the nettle. Under sundry circumstances the corpuscle dies +and becomes distended into a round mass, in the midst of which is seen a +smaller spherical body, which existed, but was more or less hidden, in +the living corpuscle, and is called its <i>nucleus</i>. Corpuscles of +essentially similar structure are to be found in the skin, in the lining +of the mouth, and scattered through the whole framework of the body. +Nay, more; in the earliest condition of the human organism, in that +state in which it has but just become distinguishable from the egg in +which it arises, it is nothing but an aggregation of such corpuscles, +and every organ of the body was, once, no more than such an aggregation.</p> + +<p>Thus a nucleated mass of protoplasm turns out to be what may be termed +the structural unit of the human body. As a matter of fact, the body, in +its earliest state, is a mere multiple of such units; and, in its +perfect condition, it is a multiple of such units, variously modified.</p> + +<p>But does the formula which expresses the essential structural character +of the highest animal cover all the rest, as the statement of its powers +and faculties covered that of all others? Very nearly. Beast and fowl, +reptile and fish, mollusk, worm, and polype, are all composed of +structural units of the same character, namely, masses of protoplasm +with a nucleus. There are sundry very low animals, each of which, +structurally, is a mere colourless blood-corpuscle, leading an +independent life. But, at the very bottom of the animal scale, even this +simplicity becomes simplified, and all the phænomena of life are +manifested by a particle of protoplasm without a nucleus. Nor are such +organisms insignificant by reason of their want of complexity. It is a +fair question whether the protoplasm of those simplest forms of life, +which people an immense extent of the bottom of the sea, would not +outweigh that of all the higher living beings which inhabit the land put +together. And in ancient times, no less than at the present day, such +living beings as these have been the greatest of rock builders.</p> + +<p>What has been said of the animal world is no less true of plants. +Imbedded in the protoplasm at the broad, or attached, end of the nettle +hair, there lies a spheroidal nucleus. Careful examination further +proves that the whole substance of the nettle is made up of a repetition +of such masses of nucleated protoplasm, each contained in a wooden case, +which is modified in form, sometimes into a woody fibre, sometimes into +a duct or spiral vessel, sometimes into a pollen grain, or an ovule. +Traced back to its earliest state, the nettle arises as the man does, in +a particle of nucleated protoplasm. And in the lowest plants, as in the +lowest animals, a single mass of such protoplasm may constitute the +whole plant, or the protoplasm may exist without a nucleus.</p> + +<p>Under these circumstances it may well be asked, how is one mass of +non-nucleated protoplasm to be distinguished from another? why call one +"plant" and the other "animal"?</p> + +<p>The only reply is that, so far as form is concerned, plants and animals +are not separable, and that, in many cases, it is a mere matter of +convention whether we call a given organism an animal or a plant. There +is a living body called <i>Æthalium septicum</i>, which appears upon decaying +vegetable substances, and, in one of its forms, is common upon the +surfaces of tan-pits. In this condition it is, to all intents and +purposes, a fungus, and formerly was always regarded as such; but the +remarkable investigations of De Bary have shown that, in another +condition, the <i>Æthalium</i> is an actively locomotive creature, and takes +in solid matters, upon which, apparently, it feeds, thus exhibiting the +most characteristic feature of animality. Is this a plant; or is it an +animal? Is it both; or is it neither? Some decide in favour of the last +supposition, and establish an intermediate kingdom, a sort of biological +No Man's Land for all these questionable forms. But, as it is admittedly +impossible to draw any distinct boundary line between this no man's land +and the vegetable world on the one hand, or the animal, on the other, it +appears to me that this proceeding merely doubles the difficulty which, +before, was single.</p> + +<p>Protoplasm, simple or nucleated, is the formal basis of all life. It is +the clay of the potter: which, bake it and paint it as he will, remains +clay, separated by artifice, and not by nature, from the commonest brick +or sun-dried clod.</p> + +<p>Thus it becomes clear that all living powers are cognate, and that all +living forms are fundamentally of one character. The researches of the +chemist have revealed a no less striking uniformity of material +composition in living matter.</p> + +<p>In perfect strictness, it is true that chemical investigation can tell +us little or nothing, directly, of the composition of living matter, +inasmuch as such matter must needs die in the act of analysis,—and upon +this very obvious ground, objections, which I confess seem to me to be +somewhat frivolous, have been raised to the drawing of any conclusions +whatever respecting the composition of actually living matter, from that +of the dead matter of life, which alone is accessible to us. But +objectors of this class do not seem to reflect that it is also, in +strictness, true that we know nothing about the composition of any body +whatever, as it is. The statement that a crystal of calc-spar consists +of carbonate of lime, is quite true, if we only mean that, by +appropriate processes, it may be resolved into carbonic acid and +quicklime. If you pass the same carbonic acid over the very quicklime +thus obtained, you will obtain carbonate of lime again; but it will not +be calc-spar, nor anything like it. Can it, therefore, be said that +chemical analysis teaches nothing about the chemical composition of +calc-spar? Such a statement would be absurd; but it is hardly more so +than the talk one occasionally hears about the uselessness of applying +the results of chemical analysis to the living bodies which have yielded +them.</p> + +<p>One fact, at any rate, is out of reach of such refinements, and this is, +that all the forms of protoplasm which have yet been examined contain +the four elements, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, in very +complex union, and that they behave similarly towards several reagents. +To this complex combination, the nature of which has never been +determined with exactness, the name of Protein has been applied. And if +we use this term with such caution as may properly arise out of our +comparative ignorance of the things for which it stands, it may be truly +said, that all protoplasm is proteinaceous; or, as the white, or +albumen, of an egg is one of the commonest examples of a nearly pure +protein matter, we may say that all living matter is more or less +albuminoid.</p> + +<p>Perhaps it would not yet be safe to say that all forms of protoplasm are +affected by the direct action of electric shocks; and yet the number of +cases in which the contraction of protoplasm is shown to be effected by +this agency increases every day.</p> + +<p>Nor can it be affirmed with perfect confidence, that all forms of +protoplasm are liable to undergo that peculiar coagulation at a +temperature of 40°—50° centigrade, which has been called +"heat-stiffening," though Kühne's beautiful researches have proved this +occurrence to take place in so many and such diverse living beings, that +it is hardly rash to expect that the law holds good for all.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>Enough has, perhaps, been said to prove the existence of a general +uniformity in the character of the protoplasm, or physical basis, of +life, in whatever group of living beings it may be studied. But it will +be understood that this general uniformity by no means excludes any +amount of special modifications of the fundamental substance. The +mineral, carbonate of lime, assumes an immense diversity of characters, +though no one doubts that, under all these Protean changes, it is one +and the same thing.</p> + +<p>And now, what is the ultimate fate, and what the origin, of the matter +of life?</p> + +<p>Is it, as some of the older naturalists supposed, diffused throughout +the universe in molecules, which are indestructible and unchangeable in +themselves; but, in endless transmigration, unite in innumerable +permutations, into the diversified forms of life we know? Or, is the +matter of life composed of ordinary matter, differing from it only in +the manner in which its atoms are aggregated? Is it built up of ordinary +matter, and again resolved into ordinary matter when its work is done?</p> + +<p>Modern science does not hesitate a moment between these alternatives. +Physiology writes over the portals of life—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class='stanza'><div>"Debemur morti nos nostraque,"</div></div> +</div> + +<p>with a profounder meaning than the Roman poet attached to that +melancholy line. Under whatever disguise it takes refuge, whether fungus +or oak, worm or man, the living protoplasm not only ultimately dies and +is resolved into its mineral and lifeless constituents, but is always +dying, and, strange as the paradox may sound, could not live unless it +died.</p> + +<p>In the wonderful story of the "Peau de Chagrin," the hero becomes +possessed of a magical wild ass' skin, which yields him the means of +gratifying all his wishes. But its surface represents the duration of +the proprietor's life; and for every satisfied desire the skin shrinks +in proportion to the intensity of fruition, until at length life and the +last handbreadth of the <i>peau de chagrin</i> disappear with the +gratification of a last wish.</p> + +<p>Balzac's studies had led him over a wide range of thought and +speculation, and his shadowing forth of physiological truth in this +strange story may have been intentional. At any rate, the matter of life +is a veritable <i>peau de chagrin</i>, and for every vital act it is somewhat +the smaller. All work implies waste, and the work of life results, +directly or indirectly, in the waste of protoplasm.</p> + +<p>Every word uttered by a speaker costs him some physical loss; and, in +the strictest sense, he burns that others may have light—so much +eloquence, so much of his body resolved into carbonic acid, water, and +urea. It is clear that this process of expenditure cannot go on for +ever. But happily, the protoplasmic <i>peau de chagrin</i> differs from +Balzac's in its capacity of being repaired, and brought back to its full +size, after every exertion.</p> + +<p>For example, this present lecture, whatever its intellectual worth to +you, has a certain physical value to me, which is, conceivably, +expressible by the number of grains of protoplasm and other bodily +substance wasted in maintaining my vital processes during its delivery. +My <i>peau de chagrin</i> will be distinctly smaller at the end of the +discourse than it was at the beginning. By and by, I shall probably have +recourse to the substance commonly called mutton, for the purpose of +stretching it back to its original size. Now this mutton was once the +living protoplasm, more or less modified, of another animal—a sheep. As +I shall eat it, it is the same matter altered, not only by death, but by +exposure to sundry artificial operations in the process of cooking.</p> + +<p>But these changes, whatever be their extent, have not rendered it +incompetent to resume its old functions as matter of life. A singular +inward laboratory, which I possess, will dissolve a certain portion of +the modified protoplasm; the solution so formed will pass into my veins; +and the subtle influences to which it will then be subjected will +convert the dead protoplasm into living protoplasm, and transubstantiate +sheep into man.</p> + +<p>Nor is this all. If digestion were a thing to be trifled with, I might +sup upon lobster, and the matter of life of the crustacean would undergo +the same wonderful metamorphosis into humanity. And were I to return to +my own place by sea, and undergo shipwreck, the crustacea might, and +probably would, return the compliment, and demonstrate our common nature +by turning my protoplasm into living lobster. Or, if nothing better were +to be had, I might supply my wants with mere bread, and I should find +the protoplasm of the wheat-plant to be convertible into man, with no +more trouble than that of the sheep, and with far less, I fancy, than +that of the lobster.</p> + +<p>Hence it appears to be a matter of no great moment what animal, or what +plant, I lay under contribution for protoplasm, and the fact speaks +volumes for the general identity of that substance in all living beings. +I share this catholicity of assimilation with other animals, all of +which, so far as we know, could thrive equally well on the protoplasm of +any of their fellows, or of any plant; but here the assimilative powers +of the animal world cease. A solution of smelling-salts in water, with +an infinitesimal proportion of some other saline matters, contains all +the elementary bodies which enter into the composition of protoplasm; +but, as I need hardly say, a hogshead of that fluid would not keep a +hungry man from starving, nor would it save any animal whatever from a +like fate. An animal cannot make protoplasm, but must take it ready-made +from some other animal, or some plant—the animal's highest feat of +constructive chemistry being to convert dead protoplasm into that living +matter of life which is appropriate to itself.</p> + +<p>Therefore, in seeking for the origin of protoplasm, we must eventually +turn to the vegetable world. The fluid containing carbonic acid, water, +and ammonia, which offers such a Barmecide feast to the animal, is a +table richly spread to multitudes of plants; and, with a due supply of +only such materials, many a plant will not only maintain itself in +vigour, but grow and multiply, until it has increased a million-fold, or +a million million-fold, the quantity of protoplasm which it originally +possessed; in this way building up the matter of life, to an indefinite +extent, from the common matter of the universe.</p> + +<p>Thus, the animal can only raise the complex substance of dead +protoplasm to the higher power, as one may say, of living protoplasm; +while the plant can raise the less complex substances—carbonic acid, +water, and ammonia—to the same stage of living protoplasm, if not to +the same level. But the plant also has its limitations. Some of the +fungi, for example, appear to need higher compounds to start with; and +no known plant can live upon the uncompounded elements of protoplasm. A +plant supplied with pure carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, +phosphorus, sulphur, and the like, would as infallibly die as the animal +in his bath of smelling-salts, though it would be surrounded by all the +constituents of protoplasm. Nor, indeed, need the process of +simplification of vegetable food be carried so far as this, in order to +arrive at the limit of the plant's thaumaturgy. Let water, carbonic +acid, and all the other needful constituents be supplied with ammonia, +and an ordinary plant will still be unable to manufacture protoplasm.</p> + +<p>Thus the matter of life, so far as we know it (and we have no right to +speculate on any other), breaks up, in consequence of that continual +death which is the condition of its manifesting vitality, into carbonic +acid, water, and ammonia, which certainly possess no properties but +those of ordinary matter. And out of these same forms of ordinary +matter, and from none which are simpler, the vegetable world builds up +all the protoplasm which keeps the animal world a going. Plants are the +accumulators of the power which animals distribute and disperse.</p> + +<p>But it will be observed, that the existence of the matter of life +depends on the pre-existence of certain compounds; namely, carbonic +acid, water, and ammonia. Withdraw any one of these three from the +world and all vital phænomena come to an end. They are related to the +protoplasm of the plant, as the protoplasm of the plant is to that of +the animal. Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen are all lifeless +bodies. Of these, carbon and oxygen unite, in certain proportions and +under certain conditions, to give rise to carbonic acid; hydrogen and +oxygen produce water; nitrogen and hydrogen give rise to ammonia. These +new compounds like the elementary bodies of which they are composed, are +lifeless. But when they are brought together, under certain conditions +they give rise to the still more complex body, protoplasm, and this +protoplasm exhibits the phenomena of life.</p> + +<p>I see no break in this series of steps in molecular complication, and I +am unable to understand why the language which is applicable to any one +term of the series may not be used to any of the others. We think fit to +call different kinds of matter carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen, +and to speak of the various powers and activities of these substances as +the properties of the matter of which they are composed.</p> + +<p>When hydrogen and oxygen are mixed in a certain proportion, and an +electric spark is passed through them, they disappear, and a quantity of +water, equal in weight to the sum of their weights, appears in their +place. There is not the slightest parity between the passive and active +powers of the water and those of the oxygen and hydrogen which have +given rise to it. At 32° Fahrenheit, and far below that temperature, +oxygen and hydrogen are elastic gaseous bodies, whose particles tend to +rush away from one another with great force. Water, at the same +temperature, is a strong though brittle solid, whose particles tend to +cohere into definite geometrical shapes, and sometimes build up frosty +imitations of the most complex forms of vegetable foliage.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless we call these, and many other strange phænomena, the +properties of the water, and we do not hesitate to believe that, in some +way or another, they result from the properties of the component +elements of the water. We do not assume that a something called +"aquosity" entered into and took possession of the oxide of hydrogen as +soon as it was formed, and then guided the aqueous particles to their +places in the facets of the crystal, or amongst the leaflets of the +hoar-frost. On the contrary, we live in the hope and in the faith that, +by the advance of molecular physics, we shall by and by be able to see +our way as clearly from the constituents of water to the properties of +water, as we are now able to deduce the operations of a watch from the +form of its parts and the manner in which they are put together.</p> + +<p>Is the case in any way changed when carbonic acid, water, and ammonia +disappear, and in their place, under the influence of pre-existing +living protoplasm, an equivalent weight of the matter of life makes its +appearance?</p> + +<p>It is true that there is no sort of parity between the properties of the +components and the properties of the resultant, but neither was there in +the case of the water. It is also true that what I have spoken of as the +influence of pre-existing living matter is something quite +unintelligible; but does anybody quite comprehend the <i>modus operandi</i> +of an electric spark, which traverses a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen?</p> + +<p>What justification is there, then, for the assumption of the existence +in the living matter of a something which has no representative, or +correlative, in the not living matter which gave rise to it? What better +philosophical status has "vitality" than "aquosity"? And why should +"vitality" hope for a better fate than the other "itys" which have +disappeared since Martinus Scriblerus accounted for the operation of the +meat-jack by its inherent "meat roasting quality," and scorned the +"materialism" of those who explained the turning of the spit by a +certain mechanism worked by the draught of the chimney?</p> + +<p>If scientific language is to possess a definite and constant +signification whenever it is employed, it seems to me that we are +logically bound to apply to the protoplasm, or physical basis of life, +the same conceptions as those which are held to be legitimate elsewhere. +If the phænomena exhibited by water are its properties, so are those +presented by protoplasm, living or dead, its properties.</p> + +<p>If the properties of water may be properly said to result from the +nature and disposition of its component molecules, I can find no +intelligible ground for refusing to say that the properties of +protoplasm result from the nature and disposition of its molecules.</p> + +<p>But I bid you beware that, in accepting these conclusions, you are +placing your feet on the first rung of a ladder which, in most people's +estimation, is the reverse of Jacob's, and leads to the antipodes of +heaven. It may seem a small thing to admit that the dull vital actions +of a fungus, or a foraminifer, are the properties of their protoplasm, +and are the direct results of the nature of the matter of which they +are composed. But if, as I have endeavoured to prove to you, their +protoplasm is essentially identical with, and most readily converted +into, that of any animal, I can discover no logical halting-place +between the admission that such is the case, and the further concession +that all vital action may, with equal propriety, be said to be the +result of the molecular forces of the protoplasm which displays it. And +if so, it must be true, in the same sense and to the same extent, that +the thoughts to which I am now giving utterance, and your thoughts +regarding them, are the expression of molecular changes in that matter +of life which is the source of our other vital phænomena.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>Past experience leads me to be tolerably certain that, when the +propositions I have just placed before you are accessible to public +comment and criticism, they will be condemned by many zealous persons, +and perhaps by some few of the wise and thoughtful. I should not wonder +if "gross and brutal materialism" were the mildest phrase applied to +them in certain quarters. And, most undoubtedly, the terms of the +propositions are distinctly materialistic. Nevertheless two things are +certain: the one, that I hold the statements to be substantially true; +the other, that I, individually, am no materialist, but, on the +contrary, believe materialism to involve grave philosophical error.</p> + +<p>This union of materialistic terminology with the repudiation of +materialistic philosophy, I share with some of the most thoughtful men +with whom I am acquainted. And, when I first undertook to deliver the +present discourse, it appeared to me to be a fitting opportunity to +explain how such a union is not only consistent with, but necessitated +by, sound logic. I purposed to lead you through the territory of vital +phenomena to the materialistic slough in which you find yourselves now +plunged, and then to point out to you the sole path by which, in my +judgment, extrication is possible.</p> + +<p>An occurrence of which I was unaware until my arrival here last night, +renders this line of argument singularly opportune. I found in your +papers the eloquent address "On the Limits of Philosophical Inquiry," +which a distinguished prelate of the English Church delivered before the +members of the Philosophical Institution on the previous day. My +argument, also, turns upon this very point of the limits of +philosophical inquiry; and I cannot bring out my own views better than +by contrasting them with those so plainly, and, in the main, fairly, +stated by the Archbishop of York.</p> + +<p>But I may be permitted to make a preliminary comment upon an occurrence +that greatly astonished me. Applying the name of "the New Philosophy" to +that estimate of the limits of philosophical inquiry which I, in common +with many other men of science, hold to be just, the Archbishop opens +his address by identifying this "New Philosophy" with the Positive +Philosophy of M. Comte (of whom he speaks as its "founder"); and then +proceeds to attack that philosopher and his doctrines vigorously.</p> + +<p>Now, so far as I am concerned, the most reverend prelate might +dialectically hew M. Comte in pieces, as a modern Agag, and I should not +attempt to stay his hand. In so far as my study of what specially +characterises the Positive Philosophy has led me, I find therein little +or nothing of any scientific value, and a great deal which is as +thoroughly antagonistic to the very essence of science as anything in +ultramontane Catholicism. In fact, M. Comte's philosophy in practice +might be compendiously described as Catholicism <i>minus</i> Christianity.</p> + +<p>But what has Comtism to do with the "New Philosophy," as the Archbishop +defines it in the following passage?</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Let me briefly remind you of the leading principles of this new +philosophy.</p> + +<p>"All knowledge is experience of facts acquired by the senses. The +traditions of older philosophies have obscured our experience by +mixing with it much that the senses cannot observe, and until these +additions are discarded our knowledge is impure. Thus metaphysics +tell us that one fact which we observe is a cause, and another is +the effect of that cause; but upon a rigid analysis, we find that +our senses observe nothing of cause or effect: they observe, first, +that one fact succeeds another, and, after some opportunity, that +this fact has never failed to follow—that for cause and effect we +should substitute invariable succession. An older philosophy +teaches us to define an object by distinguishing its essential from +its accidental qualities: but experience knows nothing of essential +and accidental; she sees only that certain marks attach to an +object, and, after many observations, that some of them attach +invariably, whilst others may at times be absent.... As all +knowledge is relative, the notion of anything being necessary must +be banished with other traditions."<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>There is much here that expresses the spirit of the "New Philosophy," if +by that term be meant the spirit of modern science; but I cannot but +marvel that the assembled wisdom and learning of Edinburgh should have +uttered no sign of dissent, when Comte was declared to be the founder of +these doctrines. No one will accuse Scotchmen of habitually forgetting +their great countrymen; but it was enough to make David Hume turn in +his grave, that here, almost within earshot of his house, an instructed +audience should have listened, without a murmur, while his most +characteristic doctrines were attributed to a French writer of fifty +years later date, in whose dreary and verbose pages we miss alike the +vigour of thought and the exquisite clearness of style of the man whom I +make bold to term the most acute thinker of the eighteenth century—even +though that century produced Kant.</p> + +<p>But I did not come to Scotland to vindicate the honour of one of the +greatest men she has ever produced. My business is to point out to you +that the only way of escape out of the crass materialism in which we +just now landed, is the adoption and strict working-out of the very +principles which the Archbishop holds up to reprobation.</p> + +<p>Let us suppose that knowledge is absolute, and not relative, and +therefore, that our conception of matter represents that which it really +is. Let us suppose, further, that we do know more of cause and effect +than a certain definite order of succession among facts, and that we +have a knowledge of the necessity of that succession—and hence, of +necessary laws—and I, for my part, do not see what escape there is from +utter materialism and necessarianism. For it is obvious that our +knowledge of what we call the material world, is, to begin with, at +least as certain and definite as that of the spiritual world, and that +our acquaintance with law is of as old a date as our knowledge of +spontaneity. Further, I take it to be demonstrable that it is utterly +impossible to prove that anything whatever may not be the effect of a +material and necessary cause, and that human logic is equally +incompetent to prove that any act is really spontaneous. A really +spontaneous act is one which, by the assumption, has no cause; and the +attempt to prove such a negative as this is, on the face of the matter, +absurd. And while it is thus a philosophical impossibility to +demonstrate that any given phænomenon is not the effect of a material +cause, any one who is acquainted with the history of science will admit, +that its progress has, in all ages, meant, and now, more than ever, +means, the extension of the province of what we call matter and +causation, and the concomitant gradual banishment from all regions of +human thought of what we call spirit and spontaneity.</p> + +<p>I have endeavoured, in the first part of this discourse, to give you a +conception of the direction towards which modern physiology is tending; +and I ask you, what is the difference between the conception of life as +the product of a certain disposition of material molecules, and the old +notion of an Archæus governing and directing blind matter within each +living body, except this—that here, as elsewhere, matter and law have +devoured spirit and spontaneity? And as surely as every future grows out +of past and present, so will the physiology of the future gradually +extend the realm of matter and law until it is co-extensive with +knowledge, with feeling, and with action.</p> + +<p>The consciousness of this great truth weighs like a nightmare, I +believe, upon many of the best minds of these days. They watch what they +conceive to be the progress of materialism, in such fear and powerless +anger as a savage feels, when, during an eclipse, the great shadow +creeps over the face of the sun. The advancing tide of matter threatens +to drown their souls; the tightening grasp of law impedes their freedom; +they are alarmed lest man's moral nature be debased by the increase of +his wisdom.</p> + +<p>If the "New Philosophy" be worthy of the reprobation with which it is +visited, I confess their fears seem to me, to be well founded. While, on +the contrary, could David Hume be consulted, I think he would smile at +their perplexities, and chide them for doing even as the heathen, and +falling down in terror before the hideous idols their own hands have +raised.</p> + +<p>For, after all, what do we know of this terrible "matter," except as a +name for the unknown and hypothetical cause of states of our own +consciousness? And what do we know of that "spirit" over whose +threatened extinction by matter a great lamentation is arising, like +that which was heard at the death of Pan, except that it is also a name +for an unknown and hypothetical cause, or condition, of states of +consciousness? In other words, matter and spirit are but names for the +imaginary substrata of groups of natural phænomena.</p> + +<p>And what is the dire necessity and "iron" law under which men groan? +Truly, most gratuitously invented bugbears. I suppose if there be an +"iron" law, it is that of gravitation; and if there be a physical +necessity, it is that a stone, unsupported, must fall to the ground. But +what is all we really know and can know about the latter phænomenon? +Simply, that, in all human experience, stones have fallen to the ground +under these conditions; that we have not the smallest reason for +believing that any stone so circumstanced will not fall to the ground; +and that we have, on the contrary, every reason to believe that it will +so fall. It is very convenient to indicate that all the conditions of +belief have been fulfilled in this case, by calling the statement that +unsupported stones will fall to the ground, "a law of nature." But when, +as commonly happens, we change <i>will</i> into <i>must</i>, we introduce an idea +of necessity which most assuredly does not lie in the observed facts, +and has no warranty that I can discover elsewhere. For my part, I +utterly repudiate and anathematize the intruder. Fact I know; and Law I +know; but what is this Necessity, save an empty shadow of my own mind's +throwing?</p> + +<p>But, if it is certain that we can have no knowledge of the nature of +either matter or spirit, and that the notion of necessity is something +illegitimately thrust into the perfectly legitimate conception of law, +the materialistic position that there is nothing in the world but +matter, force, and necessity, is as utterly devoid of justification as +the most baseless of theological dogmas. The fundamental doctrines of +materialism, like those of spiritualism, and most other "isms," lie +outside "the limits of philosophical inquiry," and David Hume's great +service to humanity is his irrefragable demonstration of what these +limits are. Hume called himself a sceptic, and therefore others cannot +be blamed if they apply the same title to him; but that does not alter +the fact that the name, with its existing implications, does him gross +injustice.</p> + +<p>If a man asks me what the politics of the inhabitants of the moon are, +and I reply that I do not know; that neither I, nor any one else, have +any means of knowing; and that, under these circumstances, I decline to +trouble myself about the subject at all, I do not think he has any +right to call me a sceptic. On the contrary, in replying thus, I +conceive that I am simply honest and truthful, and show a proper regard +for the economy of time. So Hume's strong and subtle intellect takes up +a great many problems about which we are naturally curious, and shows us +that they are essentially questions of lunar politics, in their essence +incapable of being answered, and therefore not worth the attention of +men who have work to do in the world. And he thus ends one of his +essays:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"If we take in hand any volume of Divinity, or school metaphysics, +for instance, let us ask, <i>Does it contain any abstract reasoning +concerning quantity or number</i>? No. <i>Does it contain any +experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence</i>? +No. Commit it then to the flames; for it can contain nothing but +sophistry and illusion."<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>Permit me to enforce this most wise advice. Why trouble ourselves about +matters of which, however important they may be, we do know nothing, and +can know nothing? We live in a world which is full of misery and +ignorance, and the plain duty of each and all of us is to try to make +the little corner he can influence somewhat less miserable and somewhat +less ignorant than it was before he entered it. To do this effectually +it is necessary to be fully possessed of only two beliefs: the first, +that the order of nature is ascertainable by our faculties to an extent +which is practically unlimited; the second, that our volition counts for +something as a condition of the course of events.</p> + +<p>Each of these beliefs can be verified experimentally, as often as we +like to try. Each, therefore, stands upon the strongest foundation upon +which any belief can rest, and forms one of our highest truths. If we +find that the ascertainment of the order of nature is facilitated by +using one terminology, or one set of symbols, rather than another, it is +our clear duty to use the former; and no harm can accrue, so long as we +bear in mind, that we are dealing merely with terms and symbols.</p> + +<p>In itself it is of little moment whether we express the phænomena of +matter in terms of spirit; or the phænomena of spirit, in terms of +matter: matter may be regarded as a form of thought, thought may be +regarded as a property of matter—each statement has a certain relative +truth. But with a view to the progress of science, the materialistic +terminology is in every way to be preferred. For it connects thought +with the other phænomena of the universe, and suggests inquiry into the +nature of those physical conditions, or concomitants of thought, which +are more or less accessible to us, and a knowledge of which may, in +future, help us to exercise the same kind of control over the world of +thought, as we already possess in respect of the material world; +whereas, the alternative, or spiritualistic, terminology is utterly +barren, and leads to nothing but obscurity and confusion of ideas.</p> + +<p>Thus there can be little doubt, that the further science advances, the +more extensively and consistently will all the phænomena of nature be +represented by materialistic formulæ and symbols.</p> + +<p>But the man of science, who, forgetting the limits of philosophical +inquiry, slides from these formulæ and symbols into what is commonly +understood by materialism, seems to me to place himself on a level with +the mathematician, who should mistake the <i>x</i>'s and <i>y</i>'s, with which he +works his problems, for real entities—and with this further +disadvantage, as compared with the mathematician, that the blunders of +the latter are of no practical consequence, while the errors of +systematic materialism may paralyse the energies and destroy the beauty +of a life.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> The substance of this paper was contained in a discourse +which was delivered in Edinburgh on the evening of Sunday, the 8th of +November, 1868—being the first of a series of Sunday evening addresses +upon non-theological topics, instituted by the Rev. J. Cranbrook. Some +phrases, which could possess only a transitory and local interest, have +been omitted; instead of the newspaper report of the Archbishop of +York's address, his Grace's subsequently-published pamphlet "On the +Limits of Philosophical Inquiry" is quoted; and I have, here and there, +endeavoured to express my meaning more fully and clearly than I seem to +have done in speaking—if I may judge by sundry criticisms upon what I +am supposed to have said, which have appeared. But in substance, and, so +far as my recollection serves, in form, what is here written corresponds +with what was there said.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> "The Limits of Philosophical Inquiry," pp. 4 and 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Hume's Essay "Of the Academical or Sceptical Philosophy," +in the "Inquiry concerning the Human Understanding."</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII.</h2> + +<h3>THE SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS OF POSITIVISM.</h3> + + +<p>It is now some sixteen or seventeen years since I became acquainted with +the "Philosophic Positive," the "Discours sur l'Ensemble du +Positivisme," and the "Politique Positive" of Auguste Comte. I was led +to study these works partly by the allusions to them in Mr. Mill's +"Logic," partly by the recommendation of a distinguished theologian, and +partly by the urgency of a valued friend, the late Professor Henfrey, +who looked upon M. Comte's bulky volumes as a mine of wisdom, and lent +them to me that I might dig and be rich. After due perusal, I found +myself in a position to echo my friend's words, though I may have laid +more stress on the "mine" than on the "wisdom." For I found the veins of +ore few and far between, and the rock so apt to run to mud, that one +incurred the risk of being intellectually smothered in the working. +Still, as I was glad to acknowledge, I did come to a nugget here and +there; though not, so far as my experience went, in the discussions on +the philosophy of the physical sciences, but in the chapters on +speculative and practical sociology. In these there was indeed much to +arouse the liveliest interest in one whose boat had broken away from +the old moorings, and who had been content "to lay out an anchor by the +stern" until daylight should break and the fog clear. Nothing could be +more interesting to a student of biology than to see the study of the +biological sciences laid down, as an essential part of the prolegomena +of a new view of social phenomena. Nothing could be more satisfactory to +a worshipper of the severe truthfulness of science than the attempt to +dispense with all beliefs, save such as could brave the light, and seek, +rather than fear, criticism; while, to a lover of courage and +outspokenness, nothing could be more touching than the placid +announcement on the title-page of the "Discours sur l'Ensemble du +Positivisme," that its author proposed</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class='stanza'><div>"Réorganiser, sans Dieu ni roi,</div> +<div>Par le culte systématique de l'Humanité,"</div></div> +</div> + +<p>the shattered frame of modern society.</p> + +<p>In those days I knew my "Faust" pretty well, and, after reading this +word of might, I was minded to chant the well-known stanzas of the +"Geisterchor"—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class='stanza'><div>"Weh! Weh!</div> +<div>Die schöne welt.</div> +<div>Sie stürzt, sie zerfällt</div> +<div>Wir tragen</div> +<div>Die Trümmern ins Nichts hinüber.</div> +<div>Mächtiger</div> +<div>Der Erdensöhne,</div> +<div>Prächtiger,</div> +<div>Baue sie wieder</div> +<div>In deinem Busen baue sie auf."</div></div> +</div> + +<p>Great, however, was my perplexity, not to say disappointment, as I +followed the progress of this "mighty son of earth" in his work of +reconstruction. Undoubtedly "Dieu" disappeared, but the "Nouveau +Grand-Être Suprême," a gigantic fetish, turned out bran-new by M. +Comte's own hands, reigned in his stead. "Roi" also was not heard of; +but, in his place, I found a minutely-defined social organization, +which, if it ever came into practice, would exert a despotic authority +such as no sultan has rivalled, and no Puritan presbytery, in its +palmiest days, could hope to excel. While, as for the "culte +systématique de l'Humanité," I, in my blindness, could not distinguish +it from sheer Popery, with M. Comte in the chair of St. Peter, and the +names of most of the saints changed. To quote "Faust" again, I found +myself saying with Gretchen,—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class='stanza'><div>"Ungefähr sagt das der Pfarrer auch</div> +<div>Nur mit ein bischen andern Worten."</div></div> +</div> + +<p>Rightly or wrongly, this was the impression which, all those years ago, +the study of M. Comte's works left on my mind, combined with the +conviction, which I shall always be thankful to him for awakening in me, +that the organization of society upon a new and purely scientific basis +is not only practicable, but is the only political object much worth +fighting for.</p> + +<p>As I have said, that part of M. Comte's writings which deals with the +philosophy of physical science appeared to me to possess singularly +little value, and to show that he had but the most superficial, and +merely second-hand, knowledge of most branches of what is usually +understood by science. I do not mean by this merely to say that Comte +was behind our present knowledge, or that he was unacquainted with the +details of the science of his own day. No one could justly make such +defects cause of complaint in a philosophical writer of the past +generation. What struck me was his want of apprehension of the great +features of science; his strange mistakes as to the merits of his +scientific contemporaries; and his ludicrously erroneous notions about +the part which some of the scientific doctrines current in his time were +destined to play in the future. With these impressions in my mind, no +one will be surprised if I acknowledge that, for these sixteen years, it +has been a periodical source of irritation to me to find M. Comte put +forward as a representative of scientific thought; and to observe that +writers whose philosophy had its legitimate parent in Hume, or in +themselves, were labelled "Comtists" or "Positivists" by public writers, +even in spite of vehement protests to the contrary. It has cost Mr. Mill +hard rubbings to get that label off; and I watch Mr. Spencer, as one +regards a good man struggling with adversity, still engaged in eluding +its adhesiveness, and ready to tear away skin and all, rather than let +it stick. My own turn might come next; and, therefore, when an eminent +prelate the other day gave currency and authority to the popular +confusion, I took an opportunity of incidentally revindicating Hume's +property in the so-called "New Philosophy," and, at the same time, of +repudiating Comtism on my own behalf.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + +<p>The few lines devoted to Comtism in my paper on the "Physical Basis of +Life" were, in intention, strictly limited to these two purposes. But +they seem to have given more umbrage than I intended they should, to the +followers of M. Comte in this country, for some of whom, let me observe +in passing, I entertain a most unfeigned respect; and Mr. Congreve's +recent article gives expression to the displeasure which I have excited +among the members of the Comtian body.</p> + +<p>Mr. Congreve, in a peroration which seems especially intended to catch +the attention of his readers, indignantly challenges me to admire M. +Comte's life, "to deny that it has a marked character of grandeur about +it;" and he uses some very strong language because I show no sign of +veneration for his idol. I confess I do not care to occupy myself with +the denigration of a man who, on the whole, deserves to be spoken of +with respect. Therefore, I shall enter into no statement of the reasons +which lead me unhesitatingly to accept Mr. Congreve's challenge, and to +refuse to recognise anything which deserves the name of grandeur of +character in M. Comte, unless it be his arrogance, which is undoubtedly +sublime. All I have to observe is, that if Mr. Congreve is justified in +saying that I speak with a tinge of contempt for his spiritual father, +the reason for such colouring of my language is to be found in the fact, +that, when I wrote, I had but just arisen from the perusal of a work +with which he is doubtless well acquainted, M. Littré's "Auguste Comte +et la Philosophic Positive."</p> + +<p>Though there are tolerably fixed standards of right and wrong, and even +of generosity and meanness, it may be said that the beauty, or grandeur, +of a life is more or less a matter of taste; and Mr. Congreve's notions +of literary excellence are so different from mine that, it may be, we +should diverge as widely in our judgment of moral beauty or ugliness. +Therefore, while retaining my own notions, I do not presume to quarrel +with his. But when Mr. Congreve devotes a great deal of laboriously +guarded insinuation to the endeavour to lead the public to believe that +I have been guilty of the dishonesty of having criticised Comte without +having read him, I must be permitted to remind him that he has neglected +the well-known maxim of a diplomatic sage, "If you want to damage a man, +you should say what is probable, as well as what is true."</p> + +<p>And when Mr. Congreve speaks of my having an advantage over him in my +introduction of "Christianity" into the phrase that "M. Comte's +philosophy, in practice, might be described as Catholicism <i>minus</i> +Christianity;" intending thereby to suggest that I have, by so doing, +desired to profit by an appeal to the <i>odium theologicum</i>,—he lays +himself open to a very unpleasant retort.</p> + +<p>What if I were to suggest that Mr. Congreve had not read Comte's works; +and that the phrase "the context shows that the view of the writer +ranges—however superficially—over the whole works. This is obvious +from the mention of Catholicism," demonstrates that Mr. Congreve has no +acquaintance with the "Philosophie Positive"? I think the suggestion +would be very unjust and unmannerly, and I shall not make it. But the +fact remains, that this little epigram of mine, which has so greatly +provoked Mr. Congreve, is neither more nor less than a condensed +paraphrase of the following passage, which is to be found at page 344 of +the fifth volume of the "Philosophie Positive:"<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a>—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"La seule solution possible de ce grand problème historique, qui +n'a jamais pu être philosophiquement posé jusqu'ici, consiste à +concevoir, en sens radicalement inverse des notions habituelles, +<i>que ce qui devait nécessairement périr ainsi, dans le +catholicisme, c'était la doctrine, et non l'organisation</i>, qui n'a +été passagèrement ruinée que par suite de son inévitable adhérence +élémentaire a la philosophie théologique, destinée à succomber +graduellement sous l'irrésistible émancipation de la raison +humaine; <i>tandis qu'une telle constitution, convenablement +reconstruite sur des bases intellectuelles à la fois plus étendues +et plus stables, devra finalement présider à l'indispensable +réorganisation spirituelle des sociétés modernes, sauf les +différences essentielles spontanément correspondantes à l'extrême +diversité des doctrines fondamentales</i>; à moins de supposer, ce qui +serait certainement contradictoire à l'ensemble des lois de notre +nature, que les immenses efforts de tant de grands hommes, secondés +par la persévérante sollicitude des nations civilisées, dans la +fondation séculaire de ce chef-d'œuvre politique de la sagesse +humaine, doivent être enfin irrévocablement perdus pour l'élite de +l'humanité sauf les résultats, capitaux mais provisoires, qui s'y +rapportaient immédiatement. Cette explication générale, déjà +évidemment motivée par la suite des considérations propres à ce +chapitre, sera de plus en plus confirmée par tout le reste de +notre opération historique, <i>dont elle constituera spontanément la +principale conclusion politique."</i></p></blockquote> + +<p>Nothing can be clearer. Comte's ideal, as stated by himself, is Catholic +organization without Catholic doctrine, or, in other words, Catholicism +<i>minus</i> Christianity. Surely it is utterly unjustifiable to ascribe to +me base motives for stating a man's doctrines, as nearly as may be, in +his own words!</p> + +<p>My readers would hardly be interested were I to follow Mr. Congreve any +further, or I might point out that the fact of his not having heard me +lecture is hardly a safe ground for his speculations as to what I do not +teach. Nor do I feel called upon to give any opinion as to M. Comte's +merits or demerits as regards sociology. Mr. Mill (whose competence to +speak on these matters I suppose will not be questioned, even by Mr. +Congreve) has dealt with M. Comte's philosophy from this point of view, +with a vigour and authority to which I cannot for a moment aspire; and +with a severity, not unfrequently amounting to contempt, which I have +not the wish, if I had the power, to surpass. I, as a mere student in +these questions, am content to abide by Mr. Mill's judgment until some +one shows cause for its reversal, and I decline to enter into a +discussion which I have not provoked.</p> + +<p>The sole obligation which lies upon me is to justify so much as still +remains without justification of what I have written respecting +Positivism—namely, the opinion expressed in the following paragraph:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"In so far as my study of what specially characterises the Positive +Philosophy has led me, I find therein little or nothing of any +scientific value, and a great deal which is as thoroughly +antagonistic to the very essence of science as any thing in +ultramontane Catholicism."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Here are two propositions: the first, that the "Philosophie Positive" +contains little or nothing of any scientific value; the second, that +Comtism is, in spirit, anti-scientific. I shall endeavour to bring +forward ample evidence in support of both.</p> + +<p>I. No one who possesses even a superficial acquaintance with physical +science can read Comte's "Leçons" without becoming aware that he was at +once singularly devoid of real knowledge on these subjects, and +singularly unlucky. What is to be thought of the contemporary of Young +and of Fresnel, who never misses an opportunity of casting scorn upon +the hypothesis of an ether—the fundamental basis not only of the +undulatory theory of light, but of so much else in modern physics—and +whose contempt for the intellects of some of the strongest men of his +generation was such, that he puts forward the mere existence of night as +a refutation of the undulatory theory?<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> What a wonderful gauge of his +own value as a scientific critic does he afford, by whom we are informed +that phrenology is a great science, and psychology a chimæra; that Gall +was one of the great men of his age, and that Cuvier was "brilliant but +superficial"!<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> How unlucky must one consider the bold speculator who, +just before the dawn of modern histology—which is simply the +application of the microscope to anatomy—reproves what he calls "the +abuse of microscopic investigations," and "the exaggerated credit" +attached to them; who, when the morphological uniformity of the tissues +of the great majority of plants and animals was on the eve of being +demonstrated, treated with ridicule those who attempt to refer all +tissues to a "tissu générateur," formed by "le chimérique et +inintelligible assemblage d'une sorte de monades organiques, qui +seraient dès lors les vrais éléments primordiaux de tout corps +vivant;"<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> and who finally tells us, that all the objections against a +linear arrangement of the species of living beings are in their essence +foolish, and that the order of the animal series is "necessarily +linear,"<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> when the exact contrary is one of the best-established and +the most important truths of zoology. Appeal to mathematicians, +astronomers, physicists,<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> chemists, biologists, about the +"Philosophie Positive," and they all, with one consent, begin to make +protestation that, whatever M. Comte's other merits, he has shed no +light upon the philosophy of their particular studies.</p> + +<p>To be just, however, it must be admitted that even M. Comte's most +ardent disciples are content to be judiciously silent about his +knowledge or appreciation of the sciences themselves, and prefer to base +their master's claims to scientific authority upon his "law of the three +states," and his "classification of the sciences." But here, also, I +must join issue with them as completely as others—notably Mr. Herbert +Spencer—have done before me. A critical examination of what M. Comte +has to say about the "law of the three states" brings out nothing but a +series of more or less contradictory statements of an imperfectly +apprehended truth; and his "classification of the sciences," whether +regarded historically or logically, is, in my judgment, absolutely +worthless.</p> + +<p>Let us consider the law of "the three states" as it is put before us in +the opening of the first Leçon of the "Philosophie Positive:"—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"En étudiant ainsi le développement total de l'intelligence humaine +dans ses diverses sphères d'activité, depuis son premier essor le +plus simple jusqu'à nos jours, je crois avoir découvert une grande +loi fondamentale, à laquelle il est assujetti par une nécessité +invariable, et qui me semble pouvoir être solidement établie, soit +sur les preuves rationelles fournies par la connaissance de notre +organisation, soit sur les vérifications historiques résultant d'un +examen attentif du passé. Cette loi consiste en ce que chacune de +nos conceptions principales, chaque branche de nos connaissances, +passe successivement par trois états théoriques différents; l'état +théologique, ou fictif; l'état métaphysique, ou abstrait; l'état +scientifique, ou positif. En d'autres termes, l'esprit humain, par +sa nature, emploie successivement dans chacune de ses recherches +trois méthodes de philosopher, dont <i>le caractère est +essentiellement différent et même radicalement opposé</i>; d'abord la +méthode théologique, ensuite la méthode métaphysique, et enfin la +méthode positive. De là, trois sortes de philosophie, ou de +systèmes généraux de conceptions sur l'ensemble des phénomènes <i>qui +s'excluent mutuellement</i>; la première est le point de départ +nécessaire de l'intelligence humaine; la troisième, son état fixe +et définitif; la seconde est uniquement destinée à servir de +transition."<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>Nothing can be more precise than these statements, which may be put into +the following propositions:—</p> + +<p>(<i>a</i>) The human intellect is subjected to the law by an invariable +necessity, which is demonstrable, <i>à priori</i>, from the nature and +constitution of the intellect; while, as a matter of historical fact, +the human intellect has been subjected to the law.</p> + +<p>(<i>b</i>) Every branch of human knowledge passes through the three states, +necessarily beginning with the first stage.</p> + +<p>(<i>c</i>) The three states mutually exclude one another, being essentially +different, and even radically opposed.</p> + +<p>Two questions present themselves. Is M. Comte consistent with himself in +making these assertions? And is he consistent with fact? I reply to both +questions in the negative; and, as regards the first, I bring forward as +my witness a remarkable passage which is to be found in the fourth +volume of the "Philosophic Positive" (p. 491), when M. Comte had had +time to think out, a little more fully, the notions crudely stated in +the first volume:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"A proprement parler, la philosophie théologique, même dans notre +première enfance, individuelle ou sociale, n'a jamais pu être +rigoureusement universelle, c'est-à-dire que, pour les ordres +quelconques de phénomènes, <i>les faits les plus simples et les plus +communs ont toujours été regardés comme essentiellement assujettis +à des lois naturelles, au lieu d'être attribués à l'arbitraire +volonté des agents surnaturels</i>. L'illustre Adam Smith a, par +example, très-heureusement remarqué dans ses essais philosophiques, +qu'on ne trouvait, en aucun temps ni en aucun pays, un dieu pour la +pesanteur. <i>Il en est ainsi, en général, même à l'égard des sujets +les plus compliqués, envers tous les phénomènes assez élémentaires +et assez familiers pour que la parfaite invariabilité de leurs +relations effectives ait toujours dû frapper spontanément +l'observateur le moins préparé</i>. Dans l'ordre moral et social, +qu'une vaine opposition voudrait aujourd'hui systématiquement +interdire à la philosophie positive, il y a eu nécessairement, en +tout temps, la pensée des lois naturelles, relativement aux plus +simples phénomènes de la vie journalière, comme l'exige évidemment +la conduite générale de notre existence réelle, individuelle ou +sociale, qui n'aurait pu jamais comporter aucune prévoyance +quelconque, si tous les phénomènes humains avaient été +rigoureusement attribués à des agents surnaturels, puisque dès lors +la prière aurait logiquement constitué la seule ressource +imaginable pour influer sur le cours habituel des actions humaines. +<i>On doit même remarquer, à ce sujet, que c'est, au contraire, +l'ébauche spontanée des premières lois naturelles propres aux +actes individuels ou sociaux qui, fictivement transportée à tous +les phénomènes du monde extérieur, a d'abord fourni, d'après nos +explications précédentes, le vrai principe fondamental de la +philosophie théologique. Ainsi, le germe élémentaire de la +philosophie positive est certainement tout aussi primitif au fond +que celui de la philosophie théologique elle-même, quoi qu'il n'ait +pu se développer que beaucoup plus tard.</i> Une telle notion importe +extrêmement à la parfaite rationalité de notre théorie +sociologique, puisque la vie humaine ne pouvant jamais offrir +aucune véritable création quelconque, mais toujours une simple +évolution graduelle, l'essor final de l'esprit positif deviendrait +scientifiquement incompréhensible, si, dès l'origine, on n'en +concevait, à tous égards, les premiers rudiments nécessaires. +Depuis cette situation primitive, à mesure que nos observations se +sont spontanément étendues et généralisées, cet essor, d'abord à +peine appréciable, a constamment suivi, sans cesser longtemps +d'être subalterne, une progression très-lente, mais continue, la +philosophie théologique restant toujours réservée pour les +phénomènes, de moins en moins nombreux, dont les lois naturelles ne +pouvaient encore être aucunement connues."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Compare the propositions implicitly laid down here with those contained +in the earlier volume. (<i>a</i>) As a matter of fact, the human intellect +has <i>not</i> been invariably subjected to the law of the three states, and +therefore the necessity of the law <i>cannot</i> be demonstrable <i>à priori</i>. +(<i>b</i>) Much of our knowledge of all kinds has <i>not</i> passed through the +three states, and more particularly, as M. Comte is careful to point +out, not through the first, (<i>c</i>) The positive state has more or less +co-existed with the theological, from the dawn of human intelligence. +And, by way of completing the series of contradictions, the assertion +that the three states are "essentially different and even radically +opposed," is met a little lower on the same page by the declaration that +"the metaphysical state is, at bottom, nothing but a simple general +modification of the first;" while, in the fortieth Leçon, as also in the +interesting early essay entitled "Considérations philosophiques sur les +Sciences et les Savants (1825)," the three states are practically +reduced to two. "Le véritable esprit général de toute philosophie +théologique ou métaphysique consiste à prendre pour principe, dans +l'explication des phénomènes du monde extérieur, notre sentiment +immédiat des phénomènes humains; tandis que au contraire, la philosophie +positive est toujours caractérisée, non moins profondément, par la +subordination nécessaire et rationnelle de la conception de l'homme à +celle du monde."<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> + +<p>I leave M. Cointe's disciples to settle which of these contradictory +statements expresses their master's real meaning. All I beg leave to +remark is, that men of science are not in the habit of paying much +attention to "laws" stated in this fashion.</p> + +<p>The second statement is undoubtedly far more rational and consistent +with fact than the first; but I cannot think it is a just or adequate +account of the growth of intelligence, either in the individual man, or +in the human species. Any one who will carefully watch the development +of the intellect of a child will perceive that, from the first, its mind +is mirroring nature in two different ways. On the one hand, it is merely +drinking in sensations and building up associations, while it forms +conceptions of things and their relations which are more thoroughly +"positive," or devoid of entanglement with hypotheses of any kind, than +they will ever be in after-life. No child has recourse to imaginary +personifications in order to account for the ordinary properties of +objects which are not alive, or do not represent living things. It does +not imagine that the taste of sugar is brought about by a god of +sweetness, or that a spirit of jumping causes a ball to bound. Such +phænomena, which form the basis of a very large part of its ideas, are +taken as matters of course—as ultimate facts which suggest no +difficulty and need no explanation. So far as all these common, though +important, phænomena are concerned, the child's mind is in what M. Comte +would call the "positive" state.</p> + +<p>But, side by side with this mental condition, there rises another. The +child becomes aware of itself as a source of action and a subject of +passion and of thought. The acts which follow upon its own desires are +among the most interesting and prominent of surrounding occurrences; and +these acts, again, plainly arise either out of affections caused by +surrounding things, or of other changes in itself. Among these +surrounding things, the most interesting and important are mother and +father, brethren and nurses. The hypothesis that these wonderful +creatures are of like nature to itself is speedily forced upon the +child's mind; and this primitive piece of anthropomorphism turns out to +be a highly successful speculation, which finds its justification at +every turn. No wonder, then, that it is extended to other similarly +interesting objects which are not too unlike these—to the dog, the cat, +and the canary, the doll, the toy, and the picture-book—that these are +endowed with wills and affections, and with capacities for being "good" +and "naughty." But surely it would be a mere perversion of language to +call this a "theological" state of mind, either in the proper sense of +the word "theological," or as contrasted with "scientific" or +"positive." The child does not worship either father or mother, dog or +doll. On the contrary, nothing is more curious than the absolute +irreverence, if I may so say, of a kindly-treated young child; its +tendency to believe in itself as the centre of the universe, and its +disposition to exercise despotic tyranny over those who could crush it +with a finger.</p> + +<p>Still less is there anything unscientific, or anti-scientific, in this +infantile anthropomorphism. The child observes that many phænomena are +the consequences of affections of itself; it soon has excellent reasons +for the belief that many other phænomena are consequences of the +affections of other beings, more or less like itself. And having thus +good evidence for believing that many of the most interesting +occurrences about it are explicable on the hypothesis that they are the +work of intelligences like itself—having discovered a <i>vera causa</i> for +many phænomena—why should the child limit the application of so +fruitful an hypothesis? The dog has a sort of intelligence, so has the +cat; why should not the doll and the picture-book also have a share, +proportioned to their likeness to intelligent things?</p> + +<p>The only limit which does arise is exactly that which, as a matter of +science, should arise; that is to say, the anthropomorphic +interpretation is applied only to those phænomena which, in their +general nature, or their apparent capriciousness, resemble those which +the child observes to be caused by itself, or by beings like itself. All +the rest are regarded as things which explain themselves, or are +inexplicable.</p> + +<p>It is only at a later stage of intellectual development that the +intelligence of man awakes to the apparent conflict between the +anthropomorphic, and what I may call the physical,<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> aspect of +nature, and either endeavours to extend the anthropomorphic view over +the whole of nature—which is the tendency of theology; or to give the +same exclusive predominance to the physical view—which is the tendency +of science; or adopts a middle course, and taking from the +anthropomorphic view its tendency to personify, and from the physical +view its tendency to exclude volition and affection, ends in what M. +Comte calls the "metaphysical" state—"metaphysical," in M. Comte's +writings, being a general term of abuse for anything he does not like.</p> + +<p>What is true of the individual is, <i>mutatis mutandis</i>, true of the +intellectual development of the species. It is absurd to say of men in a +state of primitive savagery, that all their conceptions are in a +theological state. Nine-tenths of them are eminently realistic, and as +"positive" as ignorance and narrowness can make them. It no more occurs +to a savage than it does to a child, to ask the why of the daily and +ordinary occurrences which form the greater part of his mental life. But +in regard to the more striking, or out-of-the-way, events, which force +him to speculate, he is highly anthropomorphic; and, as compared with a +child, his anthropomorphism is complicated by the intense impression +which the death of his own kind makes upon him, as indeed it well may. +The warrior, full of ferocious energy, perhaps the despotic chief of +his tribe, is suddenly struck down. A child may insult the man a moment +before so awful; a fly rests, undisturbed, on the lips from which +undisputed command issued. And yet the bodily aspect of the man seems +hardly more altered than when he slept, and, sleeping, seemed to himself +to leave his body and wander through dreamland. What then if that +something, which is the essence of the man, has really been made to +wander by the violence done to it, and is unable, or has forgotten, to +come back to its shell? Will it not retain somewhat of the powers it +possessed during life? May it not help us if it be pleased, or (as seems +to be by far the more general impression) hurt us if it be angered? Will +it not be well to do towards it those things which would have soothed +the man and put him in good humour during his life? It is impossible to +study trustworthy accounts of savage thought without seeing, that some +such train of ideas as this, lies at the bottom of their speculative +beliefs.</p> + +<p>There are savages without God, in any proper sense of the word, but none +without ghosts. And the Fetishism, Ancestor-worship, Hero-worship, and +Demonology of primitive savages, are all, I believe, different manners +of expression of their belief in ghosts, and of the anthropomorphic +interpretation of out-of-the-way events, which is its concomitant. +Witchcraft and sorcery are the practical expressions of these beliefs; +and they stand in the same relation to religious worship as the simple +anthropomorphism of children, or savages, does to theology.</p> + +<p>In the progress of the species from savagery to advanced civilization, +anthropomorphism grows into theology, while physicism (if I may so call +it) develops into science; but the development of the two is +contemporaneous, not successive. For each, there long exists an assured +province which is not invaded by the other; while, between the two, lies +a debateable land, ruled by a sort of bastards, who owe their complexion +to physicism and their substance to anthropomorphism, and are M. Comte's +particular aversions—metaphysical entities.</p> + +<p>But, as the ages lengthen, the borders of Physicism increase. The +territories of the bastards are all annexed to science; and even +Theology, in her purer forms, has ceased to be anthropomorphic, however +she may talk. Anthropomorphism has taken stand in its last fortress—man +himself. But science closely invests the walls; and Philosophers gird +themselves for battle upon the last and greatest of all speculative +problems—Does human nature possess any free, volitional, or truly +anthropomorphic element, or is it only the cunningest of all Nature's +clocks? Some, among whom I count myself, think that the battle will for +ever remain a drawn one, and that, for all practical purposes, this +result is as good as anthropomorphism winning the day.</p> + +<p>The classification of the sciences, which, in the eyes of M. Comte's +adherents, constitutes his second great claim to the dignity of a +scientific philosopher, appears to me to be open to just the same +objections as the law of the three states. It is inconsistent in itself, +and it is inconsistent with fact. Let us consider the main points of +this classification successively:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Il faut distinguer par rapport à tous les ordres des phénomènes, +deux genres de sciences naturelles; les unes abstraites, +générales, ont pour objet la découverte des lois qui régissent les +diverses classes de phénomènes, en considérant tous les cas qu'on +peut concevoir; les autres concrètes, particulières, descriptives, +et qu'on désigne quelquefois sous le nom des sciences naturelles +proprement dites, consistent dans l'application de ces lois à +l'histoire effective des différents êtres existants."<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>The "abstract" sciences are subsequently said to be mathematics, +astronomy, physics, chemistry, physiology, and social physics—the +titles of the two latter being subsequently changed to biology and +sociology. M. Comte exemplifies the distinction between his abstract and +his concrete sciences as follows:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"On pourra d'abord l'apercevoir très-nettement en comparant, d'une +part, la physiologie générale, et d'une autre part la zoologie et +la botanique proprement dites. Ce sont évidemment, en effet, deux +travaux d'un caractère fort distinct, que d'étudier, en général, +les lois de la vie, ou de déterminer le mode d'existence de chaque +corps vivant, en particulier. <i>Cette seconde étude, en outre, est +nécessairememt fondée sur la première.</i>"—P. 57.</p></blockquote> + +<p>All the unreality and mere bookishness of M. Comte's knowledge of +physical science comes out in the passage I have italicised. "The +special study of living beings is based upon a general study of the laws +of life!" What little I know about the matter leads me to think, that, +if M. Comte had possessed the slightest practical acquaintance with +biological science, he would have turned his phraseology upside down, +and have perceived that we can have no knowledge of the general laws of +life, except that which is based upon the study of particular living +beings.</p> + +<p>The illustration is surely unluckily chosen; but the language in which +these so-called abstract sciences are defined seems to me to be still +more open to criticism. With what propriety can astronomy, or physics, +or chemistry, or biology, be said to occupy themselves with the +consideration of "all conceivable cases" which fall within their +respective provinces? Does the astronomer occupy himself with any other +system of the universe than that which is visible to him? Does he +speculate upon the possible movements of bodies which may attract one +another in the inverse proportion of the cube of their distances, say? +Does biology, whether "abstract" or "concrete," occupy itself with any +other form of life than those which exist, or have existed? And, if the +abstract sciences embrace all conceivable cases of the operation of the +laws with which they are concerned, would not they, necessarily, embrace +the subjects of the concrete sciences, which, inasmuch as they exist, +must needs be conceivable? In fact, no such distinction as that which M. +Comte draws is tenable. The first stage of his classification breaks by +its own weight.</p> + +<p>But granting M. Comte his six abstract sciences, he proceeds to arrange +them according to what he calls their natural order or hierarchy, their +places in this hierarchy being determined by the degree of generality +and simplicity of the conceptions with which they deal. Mathematics +occupies the first, astronomy the second, physics the third, chemistry +the fourth, biology the fifth, and sociology the sixth and last place in +the series. M. Comte's arguments in favour of this classification are +first—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Sa conformité essentielle avec la co-ordination, en quelque sorte +spontanée, qui se trouve en effet implicitement admise par les +savants livrés à l'étude des diverse branches de la philosophie +naturelle."</p></blockquote> + +<p>But I absolutely deny the existence of this conformity. If there is one +thing clear about the progress of modern science, it is the tendency to +reduce all scientific problems, except those which are purely +mathematical, to questions of molecular physics—that is to, say, to the +attractions, repulsions, motions, and co-ordination of the ultimate +particles of matter. Social phænomena are the result of the interaction +of the components of society, or men, with one another and the +surrounding universe. But, in the language of physical science, which, +by the nature of the case, is materialistic, the actions of men, so far +as they are recognisable by science, are the results of molecular +changes in the matter of which they are composed; and, in the long run, +these must come into the hands of the physicist. <i>A fortiori</i>, the +phænomena of biology and of chemistry are, in their ultimate analysis, +questions of molecular physics. Indeed, the fact is acknowledged by all +chemists and biologists who look beyond their immediate occupations. And +it is to be observed, that the phænomena of biology are as directly and +immediately connected with molecular physics as are those of chemistry. +Molar physics, chemistry, and biology are not three successive steps in +the ladder of knowledge, as M. Comte would have us believe, but three +branches springing from the common stem of molecular physics.</p> + +<p>As to astronomy, I am at a loss to understand how any one who will give +a moment's attention to the nature of the science can fail to see that +it consists of two parts: first, of a description of the phænomena, +which is as much entitled as descriptive zoology, or botany, is, to the +name of natural history; and, secondly, of an explanation of the +phænomena, furnished by the laws of a force—gravitation—the study of +which is as much a part of physics, as is that of heat, or electricity. +It would be just as reasonable to make the study of the heat of the sun +a science preliminary to the rest of thermotics, as to place the study +of the attraction of the bodies, which compose the universe in general, +before that of the particular terrestrial bodies, which alone we can +experimentally know. Astronomy, in fact, owes its perfection to the +circumstance that it is the only branch of natural history, the +phænomena of which are largely expressible by mathematical conceptions, +and which can be, to a great extent, explained by the application of +very simple physical laws.</p> + +<p>With regard to mathematics, it is to be observed, in the first place, +that M. Comte mixes up under that head the pure relations of space and +of quantity, which are properly included under the name, with rational +mechanics and statics, which are mathematical developments of the most +general conceptions of physics, namely, the notions of force and of +motion. Relegating these to their proper place in physics, we have left +pure mathematics, which can stand neither at the head, nor at the tail, +of any hierarchy of the sciences, since, like logic, it is equally +related to all; though the enormous practical difficulty of applying +mathematics to the more complex phænomena of nature removes them, for +the present, out of its sphere.</p> + +<p>On this subject of mathematics, again, M. Comte indulges in assertions +which can only be accounted for by his total ignorance of physical +science practically. As for example:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"C'est donc par l'étude des mathématiques, <i>et seulement par elle</i>, +que l'on peut se faire une idée juste et approfondie de ce que +c'est qu'une <i>science</i>. C'est là <i>uniquement</i> qu'on doit chercher à +connaître avec précision <i>la méthode générale que l'esprit humain +emploie constamment dans toutes ses recherches positives</i>, parce +que nulle part ailleurs les questions ne sont résolues d'une +manière aussi complète et les déductions prolongées aussi loin avec +une sévérité rigoureuse. C'est là également que notre entendement a +donné les plus grandes preuves de sa force, parce que les ideés +qu'il y considère sont du plus haut degré d'abstraction possible +dans l'ordre positif. <i>Toute éducation scientifique qui ne commence +point par une telle étude pèche donc nécessairement par sa +base.</i>"<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>That is to say, the only study which can confer "a just and +comprehensive idea of what is meant by science," and, at the same time, +furnish an exact conception of the general method of scientific +investigation, is that which knows nothing of observation, nothing of +experiment, nothing of induction, nothing of causation! And education, +the whole secret of which consists in proceeding from the easy to the +difficult, the concrete to the abstract, ought to be turned the other +way, and pass from the abstract to the concrete.</p> + +<p>M. Comte puts a second argument in favour of his hierarchy of the +sciences thus:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Un second caractère très-essentiel de notre classification, c'est +d'être nécessairement conforme à l'ordre effectif du développement +de la philosophie naturelle. C'est ce que vérifie tout ce qu'on +sait de l'histoire des sciences."<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>But Mr. Spencer has so thoroughly and completely demonstrated the +absence of any correspondence between the historical development of the +sciences, and their position in the Comtean hierarchy, in his essay on +the "Genesis of Science," that I shall not waste time in repeating his +refutation.</p> + +<p>A third proposition in support of the Comtean classification of the +sciences stands as follows:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"En troisième lieu cette classification présente la propriété +très-remarquable de marquer exactement la perfection relative des +différentes sciences, laquelle consiste essentiellement dans le +degré de précision des connaissances et dans leur co-ordination +plus ou moins intime."<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>I am quite unable to understand the distinction which M. Comte +endeavours to draw in this passage in spite of his amplifications +further on. Every science must consist of precise knowledge, and that +knowledge must be co-ordinated into general proportions, or it is not +science. When M. Comte, in exemplification of the statement I have +cited, says that "les phénomènes organiques ne comportent qu'une étude à +la fois moins exacte et moins systématique que les phénomènes des corps +bruts," I am at a loss to comprehend what he means. If I affirm that +"when a motor nerve is irritated, the muscle connected with it becomes +simultaneously shorter and thicker, without changing its volume," it +appears to me that the statement is as precise or exact (and not merely +as true) as that of the physicist who should say, that "when a piece of +iron is heated, it becomes simultaneously longer and thicker and +increases in volume;" nor can I discover any difference, in point of +precision, between the statement of the morphological law that "animals +which suckle their young have two occipital condyles," and the +enunciation of the physical law that "water subjected to electrolysis +is replaced by an equal weight of the gases, oxygen and hydrogen." As +for anatomical or physiological investigation being less "systematic" +than that of the physicist or chemist, the assertion is simply +unaccountable. The methods of physical science are everywhere the same +in principle, and the physiological investigator who was not +"systematic" would, on the whole, break down rather sooner than the +inquirer into simpler subjects.</p> + +<p>Thus M. Comte's classification of the sciences, under all its aspects, +appears to me to be a complete failure. It is impossible, in an article +which is already too long, to inquire how it may be replaced by a +better; and it is the less necessary to do so, as a second edition of +Mr. Spencer's remarkable essay on this subject has just been published. +After wading through pages of the long-winded confusion and second-hand +information of the "Philosophic Positive," at the risk of a <i>crise +cérébrale</i>—it is as good as a shower-bath to turn to the +"Classification of the Sciences," and refresh oneself with Mr. Spencer's +profound thought, precise knowledge, and clear language.</p> + +<p>II. The second proposition to which I have committed myself, in the +paper to which I have been obliged to refer so often, is, that the +"Positive Philosophy" contains "a great deal which is as thoroughly +antagonistic to the very essence of science as is anything in +ultramontane Catholicism."</p> + +<p>What I refer to in these words, is, on the one hand, the dogmatism and +narrowness which so often mark M. Comte's discussion of doctrines which +he does not like, and reduce his expressions of opinion to mere +passionate puerilities; as, for example, when he is arguing against the +assumption of an ether, or when he is talking (I cannot call it arguing) +against psychology, or political economy. On the other hand, I allude to +the spirit of meddling systematization and regulation which animates +even the "Philosophic Positive," and breaks out, in the latter volumes +of that work, into no uncertain foreshadowing of the anti-scientific +monstrosities of Comte's later writings.</p> + +<p>Those who try to draw a line of demarcation between the spirit of the +"Philosophic Positive," and that of the "Politique" and its successors, +(if I may express an opinion from fragmentary knowledge of these last,) +must have overlooked, or forgotten, what Comte himself labours to show, +and indeed succeeds in proving, in the "Appendice Général" of the +"Politique Positive." "Dès mon début," he writes, "je tentai de fonder +le nouveau pouvoir spirituel que j'institue aujourd'hui." "Ma politique, +loin d'être aucunement opposée à ma philosophie, en constitue tellement +la suite naturelle que celle-ci fut directement instituée pour servir de +base à celle-là, comme le prouve cet appendice."<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p> + +<p>This is quite true. In the remarkable essay entitled "Considérations sur +le Pouvoir spirituel," published in March 1826, Comte advocates the +establishment of a "modern spiritual power," which, he anticipates, may +exercise an even greater influence over temporal affairs, than did the +Catholic clergy, at the height of their vigour and independence, in the +twelfth century. This spiritual power is, in fact, to govern opinion, +and to have the supreme control over education, in each nation of the +West; and the spiritual powers of the several European peoples are to be +associated together and placed under a common direction or "souveraineté +spirituelle."</p> + +<p>A system of "Catholicism <i>minus</i> Christianity" was therefore completely +organized in Comte's mind, four years before the first volume of the +"Philosophie Positive" was written; and, naturally, the papal spirit +shows itself in that work, not only in the ways I have already +mentioned, but, notably, in the attack on liberty of conscience which +breaks out in the fourth volume:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Il n'y a point de liberté de conscience en astronomie, en +physique, en chimie, en physiologie même, en ce sens que chacun +trouverait absurde de ne pas croire de confiance aux principes +établis dans les sciences par les hommes compétents."</p></blockquote> + +<p>"Nothing in ultramontane Catholicism" can, in my judgment, be more +completely sacerdotal, more entirely anti-scientific, than this dictum. +All the great steps in the advancement of science have been made by just +those men who have not hesitated to doubt the "principles established in +the sciences by competent persons;" and the great teaching of +science—the great use of it as an instrument of mental discipline—is +its constant inculcation of the maxim, that the sole ground on which any +statement has a right to be believed is the impossibility of refuting +it.</p> + +<p>Thus, without travelling beyond the limits of the "Philosophie +Positive," we find its author contemplating the establishment of a +system of society, in which an organized spiritual power shall over-ride +and direct the temporal power, as completely as the Innocents and +Gregorys tried to govern Europe in the middle ages; and repudiating the +exercise of liberty of conscience against the "<i>hommes compétents</i>", of +whom, by the assumption, the new priesthood would be composed. Was Mr. +Congreve as forgetful of this, as he seems to have been of some other +parts of the "Philosophie Positive," when he wrote, that "in any +limited, careful use of the term, no candid man could say that the +Positive Philosophy contained a great deal as thoroughly antagonistic to +[the very essence of<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a>] science as Catholicism"?</p> + +<p>M. Comte, it will have been observed, desires to retain the whole of +Catholic organization; and the logical practical result of this part of +his doctrine would be the establishment of something corresponding with +that eminently Catholic, but admittedly anti-scientific, +institution—the Holy Office.</p> + +<p>I hope I have said enough to show that I wrote the few lines I devoted +to M. Comte and his philosophy, neither unguardedly, nor ignorantly, +still less maliciously. I shall be sorry if what I have now added, in my +own justification, should lead any to suppose that I think M. Comte's +works worthless; or that I do not heartily respect, and sympathise with, +those who have been impelled by him to think deeply upon social +problems, and to strive nobly for social regeneration. It is the virtue +of that impulse, I believe, which will save the name and fame of Auguste +Comte from oblivion. As for his philosophy, I part with it by quoting +his own words, reported to me by a quondam Comtist, now an eminent +member of the Institute of France, M. Charles Robin:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"La Philosophie est une tentative incessante de l'esprit humain +pour arriver au repos: mais elle se trouve incessamment aussi +dérangée par les progrès continus de la science. De là vient pour +le philosophe l'obligation de refaire chaque soir la synthèse de +ses conceptions; et un jour viendra où l'homme raisonnable ne fera +plus d'autre prière du soir."</p></blockquote> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> I am glad to observe that Mr. Congreve, in the criticism +with which he has favoured me in the number of the <i>Fortnightly Review</i> +for April 1869, does not venture to challenge the justice of the claim I +make for Hume. He merely suggests that I have been wanting in candour in +not mentioning Comte's high opinion of Hume. After mature reflection I +am unable to discern my fault. If I had suggested that Comte had +borrowed from Hume without acknowledgment; or if, instead of trying to +express my own sense of Hume's merits with the modesty which becomes a +writer who has no authority in matters of philosophy, I had affirmed +that no one had properly appreciated him, Mr. Congreve's remarks would +apply: but as I did neither of these things, they appear to me to be +irrelevant, if not unjustifiable. And even had it occurred to me to +quote M. Comte's expressions about Hume, I do not know that I should +have cited them, inasmuch as, on his own showing, M. Comte occasionally +speaks very decidedly touching writers of whose works he has not read a +line. Thus, in Tome VI. of the "Philosophie Positive," p. 619, M. Comte +writes: "Le plus grand des métaphysiciens modernes, l'illustre Kant, a +noblement mérité une éternelle admiration en tentant, le premier, +d'échapper directement a l'absolu philosophique par sa célèbre +conception de la double réalité, à la fois objective et subjective, qui +indique un si juste sentiment de la saine philosophie." +</p><p> +But in the "Préface Personnelle" in the same volume, p. 35, M. Comte +tells us:—"Je n'ai jamais lu, en aucune langue, ni Vico, <i>ni Kant</i>, ni +Herder, ni Hegel, &c.; je ne connais leurs divers ouvrages que d'après +quelques relations indirectes et certains extraits fort insuffisants." +</p><p> +Who knows but that the "&c." may include Hume? And in that case what is +the value of M. Comte's praise of him?</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Now and always I quote the second edition, by Littré.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> "Philosophie Positive," ii. p. 440.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> "Le brillant mais superficiel Cuvier."—<i>Philosophie +Positive</i>, vi. p. 383.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> "Philosophie Positive," iii. p. 369.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Ibid. p. 387.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Hear the late Dr. Whewell, who calls Comte "a shallow +pretender," so far as all the modern sciences, except astronomy, are +concerned; and tells us that "his pretensions to discoveries are, as Sir +John Herschel has shown, absurdly fallacious."—"Comte and Positivism," +<i>Macmillan's Magazine</i>, March 1866.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> "Philosophie Positive," i. pp. 8, 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> "Philosophie Positive," iii. p. 188.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> The word "positive" is in every way objectionable. In one +sense it suggests that mental quality which was undoubtedly largely +developed in M. Comte, but can best be dispensed with in a philosopher; +in another, it is unfortunate in its application to a system which +starts with enormous negations; in its third, and specially +philosophical sense, as implying a system of thought which assumes +nothing beyond the content of observed facts, it implies that which +never did exist, and never will.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> "Philosophie Positive," i. p. 56.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> "Philosophie Positive," i. p. 99.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Ibid., i. p. 77.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> "Philosophie Positive," i. p. 78.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> Loc. cit., Préface Spéciale, pp. i. ii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Mr. Congreve leaves out these important words, which show +that I refer to the spirit, and not to the details of science.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX.</h2> + +<h3>ON A PIECE OF CHALK.</h3> + +<p class='center'>A LECTURE TO WORKING MEN.</p> + + +<p>If a well were to be sunk at our feet in the midst of the city of +Norwich, the diggers would very soon find themselves at work in that +white substance almost too soft to be called rock, with which we are all +familiar as "chalk."</p> + +<p>Not only here, but over the whole county of Norfolk, the well-sinker +might carry his shaft down many hundred feet without coming to the end +of the chalk; and, on the sea-coast, where the waves have pared away the +face of the land which breasts them, the scarped faces of the high +cliffs are often wholly formed of the same material. Northward, the +chalk may be followed as far as Yorkshire; on the south coast it appears +abruptly in the picturesque western bays of Dorset, and breaks into the +Needles of the Isle of Wight; while on the shores of Kent it supplies +that long line of white cliffs to which England owes her name of Albion.</p> + +<p>Were the thin soil which covers it all washed away, a curved band of +white chalk, here broader, and there narrower, might be followed +diagonally across England from Lulworth in Dorset, to Flamborough Head +in Yorkshire—a distance of over 280 miles as the crow flies.</p> + +<p>From this band to the North Sea, on the east, and the Channel, on the +south, the chalk is largely hidden by other deposits; but, except in the +Weald of Kent and Sussex, it enters into the very foundation of all the +south-eastern counties.</p> + +<p>Attaining, as it does in some places, a thickness of more than a +thousand feet, the English chalk must be admitted to be a mass of +considerable magnitude. Nevertheless, it covers but an insignificant +portion of the whole area occupied by the chalk formation of the globe, +which has precisely the same general characters as ours, and is found in +detached patches, some less, and others more extensive, than the +English.</p> + +<p>Chalk occurs in north-west Ireland; it stretches over a large part of +France,—the chalk which underlies Paris being, in fact, a continuation +of that of the London basin; it runs through Denmark and Central Europe, +and extends southward to North Africa; while, eastward, it appears in +the Crimea and in Syria, and may be traced as far as the shores of the +Sea of Aral, in Central Asia.</p> + +<p>If all the points at which true chalk occurs were circumscribed, they +would lie within an irregular oval about 3,000 miles in long +diameter—the area of which would be as great as that of Europe, and +would many times exceed that of the largest existing inland sea—the +Mediterranean.</p> + +<p>Thus the chalk is no unimportant element in the masonry of the earth's +crust, and it impresses a peculiar stamp, varying with the conditions +to which it is exposed, on the scenery of the districts in which it +occurs. The undulating downs and rounded coombs, covered with +sweet-grassed turf, of our inland chalk country, have a peacefully +domestic and mutton-suggesting prettiness, but can hardly be called +either grand or beautiful. But, on our southern coasts, the wall-sided +cliffs, many hundred feet high, with vast needles and pinnacles standing +out in the sea, sharp and solitary enough to serve as perches for the +wary cormorant, confer a wonderful beauty and grandeur upon the chalk +headlands. And, in the East, chalk has its share in the formation of +some of the most venerable of mountain ranges, such as the Lebanon.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>What is this wide-spread component of the surface of the earth? and +whence did it come?</p> + +<p>You may think this no very hopeful inquiry. You may not unnaturally +suppose that the attempt to solve such problems as these can lead to no +result, save that of entangling the inquirer in vague speculations, +incapable of refutation and of verification.</p> + +<p>If such were really the case, I should have selected some other subject +than a "piece of chalk" for my discourse. But, in truth, after much +deliberation, I have been unable to think of any topic which would so +well enable me to lead you to see how solid is the foundation upon which +some of the most startling conclusions of physical science rest.</p> + +<p>A great chapter of the history of the world is written in the chalk. Few +passages in the history of man can be supported by such an overwhelming +mass of direct and indirect evidence as that which testifies to the +truth of the fragment of the history of the globe, which I hope to +enable you to read, with your own eyes, to-night.</p> + +<p>Let me add, that few chapters of human history have a more profound +significance for ourselves. I weigh my words well when I assert, that +the man who should know the true history of the bit of chalk which every +carpenter carries about in his breeches-pocket, though ignorant of all +other history, is likely, if he will think his knowledge out to its +ultimate results, to have a truer, and therefore a better, conception of +this wonderful universe, and of man's relation to it, than the most +learned student who is deep-read in the records of humanity and ignorant +of those of Nature.</p> + +<p>The language of the chalk is not hard to learn, not nearly so hard as +Latin, if you only want to get at the broad features of the story it has +to tell; and I propose that we now set to work to spell that story out +together.</p> + +<p>We all know that if we "burn" chalk the result is quicklime. Chalk, in +fact, is a compound of carbonic acid gas and lime, and when you make it +very hot the carbonic acid flies away and the lime is left.</p> + +<p>By this method of procedure we see the lime, but we do not see the +carbonic acid. If, on the other hand, you were to powder a little chalk, +and drop it into a good deal of strong vinegar, there would be a great +bubbling and fizzing, and, finally, a clear liquid, in which no sign of +chalk would appear. Here you see the carbonic acid in the bubbles; the +lime, dissolved in the vinegar, vanishes from sight. There are a great +many other ways of showing that chalk is essentially nothing but +carbonic acid and quicklime. Chemists enunciate the result of all the +experiments which prove this, by stating that chalk is almost wholly +composed of "carbonate of lime."</p> + +<p>It is desirable for us to start from the knowledge of this fact, though +it may not seem to help us very far towards what we seek. For carbonate +of lime is a widely-spread substance, and is met with under very various +conditions. All sorts of limestones are composed of more or less pure +carbonate of lime. The crust which is often deposited by waters which +have drained through limestone rocks, in the form of what are called +stalagmites and stalactites, is carbonate of lime. Or, to take a more +familiar example, the fur on the inside of a tea-kettle is carbonate of +lime; and, for anything chemistry tells us to the contrary, the chalk +might be a kind of gigantic fur upon the bottom of the earth-kettle, +which is kept pretty hot below.</p> + +<p>Let us try another method of making the chalk tell us its own history. +To the unassisted eye chalk looks simply like a very loose and open kind +of stone. But it is possible to grind a slice of chalk down so thin that +you can see through it—until it is thin enough, in fact, to be examined +with any magnifying power that may be thought desirable. A thin slice of +the fur of a kettle might be made in the same way. If it were examined +microscopically, it would show itself to be a more or less distinctly +laminated mineral substance, and nothing more.</p> + +<p>But the slice of chalk presents a totally different appearance when +placed under the microscope. The general mass of it is made up of very +minute granules; but imbedded in this matrix, are innumerable bodies, +some smaller and some larger, but, on a rough average, not more than a +hundredth of an inch in diameter, having a well-defined shape and +structure. A cubic inch of some specimens of chalk may contain hundreds +of thousands of these bodies, compacted together with incalculable +millions of the granules.</p> + +<p>The examination of a transparent slice gives a good notion of the manner +in which the components of the chalk are arranged, and of their relative +proportions. But, by rubbing up some chalk with a brush in water and +then pouring off the milky fluid, so as to obtain sediments of different +degrees of fineness, the granules and the minute rounded bodies may be +pretty well separated from one another, and submitted to microscopic +examination, either as opaque or as transparent objects. By combining +the views obtained in these various methods, each of the rounded bodies +may be proved to be a beautifully-constructed calcareous fabric, made up +of a number of chambers, communicating freely with one another. The +chambered bodies are of various forms. One of the commonest is something +like a badly-grown raspberry, being formed of a number of nearly +globular chambers of different sizes congregated together. It is called +<i>Globigerina</i>, and some specimens of chalk consist of little else than +<i>Globigerinæ</i> and granules.</p> + +<p>Let us fix our attention upon the <i>Globigerina</i>. It is the spoor of the +game we are tracking. If we can learn what it is and what are the +conditions of its existence, we shall see our way to the origin and past +history of the chalk.</p> + +<p>A suggestion which may naturally enough present itself is, that these +curious bodies are the result of some process of aggregation which has +taken place in the carbonate of lime; that, just as in winter, the rime +on our windows simulates the most delicate and elegantly arborescent +foliage—proving that the mere mineral water may, under certain +conditions, assume the outward form of organic bodies—so this mineral +substance, carbonate of lime, hidden away in the bowels of the earth, +has taken the shape of these chambered bodies. I am not raising a merely +fanciful and unreal objection. Very learned men, in former days, have +even entertained the notion that all the formed things found in rocks +are of this nature; and if no such conception is at present held to be +admissible, it is because long and varied experience has now shown that +mineral matter never does assume the form and structure we find in +fossils. If any one were to try to persuade you that an oyster-shell +(which is also chiefly composed of carbonate of lime) had crystallized +out of sea-water, I suppose you would laugh at the absurdity. Your +laughter would be justified by the fact that all experience tends to +show that oyster-shells are formed by the agency of oysters, and in no +other way. And if there were no better reasons, we should be justified, +on like grounds, in believing that <i>Globigerina</i> is not the product of +anything but vital activity.</p> + +<p>Happily, however, better evidence in proof of the organic nature of the +<i>Globigerinæ</i> than that of analogy is forthcoming. It so happens that +calcareous skeletons, exactly similar to the <i>Globigerinæ</i> of the chalk, +are being formed, at the present moment, by minute living creatures, +which flourish in multitudes, literally more numerous than the sands of +the sea-shore, over a large extent of that part of the earth's surface +which is covered by the ocean.</p> + +<p>The history of the discovery of these living <i>Globigerinæ</i>, and of the +part which they play in rock-building, is singular enough. It is a +discovery which, like others of no less scientific importance, has +arisen, incidentally, out of work devoted to very different and +exceedingly practical interests.</p> + +<p>When men first took to the sea, they speedily learned to look out for +shoals and rocks; and the more the burthen of their ships increased, the +more imperatively necessary it became for sailors to ascertain with +precision the depth of the waters they traversed. Out of this necessity +grew the use of the lead and sounding-line; and, ultimately, +marine-surveying, which is the recording of the form of coasts and of +the depth of the sea, as ascertained by the sounding-lead, upon charts.</p> + +<p>At the same time, it became desirable to ascertain and to indicate the +nature of the sea-bottom, since this circumstance greatly affects its +goodness as holding ground for anchors. Some ingenious tar, whose name +deserves a better fate than the oblivion into which it has fallen, +attained this object by "arming" the bottom of the lead with a lump of +grease, to which more or less of the sand or mud, or broken shells, as +the case might be, adhered, and was brought to the surface. But, however +well adapted such an apparatus might be for rough nautical purposes, +scientific accuracy could not be expected from the armed lead, and to +remedy its defects (especially when applied to sounding in great depths) +Lieut. Brooke, of the American Navy, some years ago invented a most +ingenious machine, by which a considerable portion of the superficial +layer of the sea-bottom can be scooped out and brought up, from any +depth to which the lead descends.</p> + +<p>In 1853, Lieut. Brooke obtained mud from the bottom of the North +Atlantic, between Newfoundland and the Azores, at a depth of more than +10,000 feet, or two miles, by the help of this sounding apparatus. The +specimens were sent for examination to Ehrenberg of Berlin, and to +Bailey of West Point, and those able microscopists found that this +deep-sea mud was almost entirely composed of the skeletons of living +organisms—the greater proportion of these being just like the +<i>Globigerinæ</i> already known to occur in the chalk.</p> + +<p>Thus far, the work had been carried on simply in the interests of +science, but Lieut. Brooke's method of sounding acquired a high +commercial value, when the enterprise of laying down the telegraph-cable +between this country and the United States was undertaken. For it became +a matter of immense importance to know, not only the depth of the sea +over the whole line along which the cable was to be laid, but the exact +nature of the bottom, so as to guard against chances of cutting or +fraying the strands of that costly rope. The Admiralty consequently +ordered Captain Dayman, an old friend and shipmate of mine, to ascertain +the depth over the whole line of the cable, and to bring back specimens +of the bottom. In former days, such a command as this might have sounded +very much like one of the impossible things which the young prince in +the Fairy Tales is ordered to do before he can obtain the hand of the +Princess. However, in the months of June and July 1857, my friend +performed the task assigned to him with great expedition and precision, +without, so far as I know, having met with any reward of that kind. The +specimens of Atlantic mud which he procured were sent to me to be +examined and reported upon.<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p> + +<p>The result of all these operations is, that we know the contours and the +nature of the surface-soil covered by the North Atlantic, for a distance +of 1,700 miles from east to west, as well as we know that of any part of +the dry land.</p> + +<p>It is a prodigious plain—one of the widest and most even plains in the +world. If the sea were drained off, you might drive a wagon all the way +from Valentia, on the west coast of Ireland, to Trinity Bay, in +Newfoundland. And, except upon one sharp incline about 200 miles from +Valentia, I am not quite sure that it would even be necessary to put the +skid on, so gentle are the ascents and descents upon that long route. +From Valentia the road would lie down hill for about 200 miles to the +point at which the bottom is now covered by 1,700 fathoms of sea-water. +Then would come the central plain, more than a thousand miles wide, the +inequalities of the surface of which would be hardly perceptible, though +the depth of water upon it now varies from 10,000 to 15,000 feet; and +there are places in which Mont Blanc might be sunk without showing its +peak above water. Beyond this, the ascent on the American side +commences, and gradually leads, for about 300 miles, to the Newfoundland +shore.</p> + +<p>Almost the whole of the bottom of this central plain (which extends for +many hundred miles in a north and south direction) is covered by a fine +mud, which, when brought to the surface, dries into a greyish-white +friable substance. You can write with this on a blackboard, if you are +so inclined; and, to the eye, it is quite like very soft, greyish chalk. +Examined chemically, it proves to be composed almost wholly of carbonate +of lime; and if you make a section of it, in the same way as that of the +piece of chalk was made, and view it with the microscope, it presents +innumerable <i>Globigerinæ</i>, embedded in a granular matrix.</p> + +<p>Thus this deep-sea mud is substantially chalk. I say substantially, +because there are a good many minor differences: but as these have no +bearing on the question immediately before us,—which is the nature of +the <i>Globigerinæ</i> of the chalk,—it is unnecessary to speak of them.</p> + +<p><i>Globigerinæ</i> of every size, from the smallest to the largest, are +associated together in the Atlantic mud, and the chambers of many are +filled by a soft animal matter. This soft substance is, in fact, the +remains of the creature to which the <i>Globigerina</i> shell, or rather +skeleton, owes its existence—and which is an animal of the simplest +imaginable description. It is, in fact, a mere particle of living jelly, +without defined parts of any kind—without a mouth, nerves, muscles, or +distinct organs, and only manifesting its vitality to ordinary +observation by thrusting out and retracting from all parts of its +surface, long filamentous processes, which serve for arms and legs. Yet +this amorphous particle, devoid of everything which, in the higher +animals, we call organs, is capable of feeding, growing, and +multiplying; of separating from the ocean the small proportion of +carbonate of lime which is dissolved in sea-water; and of building up +that substance into a skeleton for itself, according to a pattern which +can be imitated by no other known agency.</p> + +<p>The notion that animals can live and flourish in the sea, at the vast +depths from which apparently living <i>Globigerinæ</i> have been brought up, +does not agree very well with our usual conceptions respecting the +conditions of animal life; and it is not so absolutely impossible as it +might at first sight appear to be, that the <i>Globigerinæ</i> of the +Atlantic sea-bottom do not live and die where they are found.</p> + +<p>As I have mentioned, the soundings from the great Atlantic plain are +almost entirely made up of <i>Globigerinæ</i>, with the granules which have +been mentioned, and some few other calcareous shells; but a small +percentage of the chalky mud—perhaps at most some five per cent. of +it—is of a different nature, and consists of shells and skeletons +composed of silex, or pure flint. These silicious bodies belong partly +to the lowly vegetable organisms which are called <i>Diatomaceæ</i>, and +partly to the minute, and extremely simple, animals, termed +<i>Radiolaria</i>. It is quite certain that these creatures do not live at +the bottom of the ocean, but at its surface—where they may be obtained +in prodigious numbers by the use of a properly constructed net. Hence +it follows that these silicious organisms, though they are not heavier +than the lightest dust, must have fallen, in some cases, through fifteen +thousand feet of water, before they reached their final resting-place on +the ocean floor. And, considering how large a surface these bodies +expose in proportion to their weight, it is probable that they occupy a +great length of time in making their burial journey from the surface of +the Atlantic to the bottom.</p> + +<p>But if the <i>Radiolaria</i> and Diatoms are thus rained upon the bottom of +the sea, from the superficial layer of its waters in which they pass +their lives, it is obviously possible that the <i>Globigerinæ</i> may be +similarly derived; and if they were so, it would be much more easy to +understand how they obtain their supply of food than it is at present. +Nevertheless, the positive and negative evidence all points the other +way. The skeletons of the full-grown, deep-sea <i>Globigerinæ</i> are so +remarkably solid and heavy in proportion to their surface as to seem +little fitted for floating; and, as a matter of fact, they are not to be +found along with the Diatoms and <i>Radiolaria</i>, in the uppermost stratum +of the open ocean.</p> + +<p>It has been observed, again, that the abundance of <i>Globigerinæ</i>, in +proportion to other organisms of like kind, increases with the depth of +the sea; and that deep-water <i>Globigerinæ</i> are larger than those which +live in shallower parts of the sea; and such facts negative the +supposition that these organisms have been swept by currents from the +shallows into the deeps of the Atlantic.</p> + +<p>It therefore seems to be hardly doubtful that these wonderful creatures +live and die at the depths in which they are found.<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p> + +<p>However, the important points for us are, that the living <i>Globigerinæ</i> +are exclusively marine animals, the skeletons of which abound at the +bottom of deep seas; and that there is not a shadow of reason for +believing that the habits of the <i>Globigerinæ</i> of the chalk differed +from those of the existing species. But if this be true, there is no +escaping the conclusion that the chalk itself is the dried mud of an +ancient deep sea.</p> + +<p>In working over the soundings collected by Captain Dayman, I was +surprised to find that many of what I have called the "granules" of that +mud, were not, as one might have been tempted to think at first, the +mere powder and waste of <i>Globigerinæ</i>, but that they had a definite +form and size, I termed these bodies "<i>coccoliths</i>," and doubted their +organic nature. Dr. Wallich verified my observation, and added the +interesting discovery that, not unfrequently, bodies similar to these +"coccoliths" were aggregated together into spheroids, which he termed +"<i>coccospheres</i>." So far as we knew, these bodies, the nature of which +is extremely puzzling and problematical, were peculiar to the Atlantic +soundings.</p> + +<p>But, a few years ago, Mr. Sorby, in making a careful examination of the +chalk by means of thin sections and otherwise, observed, as Ehrenberg +had done before him, that much of its granular basis possesses a +definite form. Comparing these formed particles with those in the +Atlantic soundings, he found the two to be identical; and thus proved +that the chalk, like the soundings, contains these mysterious coccoliths +and coccospheres. Here was a further and a most interesting +confirmation, from internal evidence, of the essential identity of the +chalk with modern deep-sea mud. <i>Globigerinæ</i>, coccoliths, and +coccospheres are found as the chief constituents of both, and testify to +the general similarity of the conditions under which both have been +formed.<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p> + +<p>The evidence furnished by the hewing, facing, and superposition of the +stones of the Pyramids, that these structures were built by men, has no +greater weight than the evidence that the chalk was built by +<i>Globigerinæ</i>; and the belief that those ancient pyramid-builders were +terrestrial and air-breathing creatures like ourselves, is not better +based than the conviction that the chalk-makers lived in the sea.</p> + +<p>But as our belief in the building of the Pyramids by men is not only +grounded on the internal evidence afforded by these structures, but +gathers strength from multitudinous collateral proofs, and is clinched +by the total absence of any reason for a contrary belief; so the +evidence drawn from the <i>Globigerinæ</i> that the chalk is an ancient +sea-bottom, is fortified by innumerable independent lines of evidence; +and our belief in the truth of the conclusion to which all positive +testimony tends, receives the like negative justification from the fact +that no other hypothesis has a shadow of foundation.</p> + +<p>It may be worth while briefly to consider a few of these collateral +proofs that the chalk was deposited at the bottom of the sea.</p> + +<p>The great mass of the chalk is composed, as we have seen, of the +skeletons of <i>Globigerinæ</i>, and other simple organisms, imbedded in +granular matter. Here and there, however, this hardened mud of the +ancient sea reveals the remains of higher animals which have lived and +died, and left their hard parts in the mud, just as the oysters die and +leave their shells behind them, in the mud of the present seas.</p> + +<p>There are, at the present day, certain groups of animals which are never +found in fresh waters, being unable to live anywhere but in the sea. +Such are the corals; those corallines which are called <i>Polyzoa</i>; those +creatures which fabricate the lamp-shells, and are called <i>Brachiopoda</i>; +the pearly <i>Nautilus</i>, and all animals allied to it; and all the forms +of sea-urchins and star-fishes.</p> + +<p>Not only are all these creatures confined to salt water at the present +day; but, so far as our records of the past go, the conditions of their +existence have been the same: hence, their occurrence in any deposit is +as strong evidence as can be obtained, that that deposit was formed in +the sea. Now the remains of animals of all the kinds which have been +enumerated, occur in the chalk, in greater or less abundance; while not +one of those forms of shell-fish which are characteristic of fresh water +has yet been observed in it.</p> + +<p>When we consider that the remains of more than three thousand distinct +species of aquatic animals have been discovered among the fossils of the +chalk, that the great majority of them are of such forms as are now met +with only in the sea, and that there is no reason to believe that any +one of them inhabited fresh water—the collateral evidence that the +chalk represents an ancient sea-bottom acquires as great force as the +proof derived from the nature of the chalk itself. I think you will now +allow that I did not overstate my case when I asserted that we have as +strong grounds for believing that all the vast area of dry land, at +present occupied by the chalk, was once at the bottom of the sea, as we +have for any matter of history whatever; while there is no justification +for any other belief.</p> + +<p>No less certain is it that the time during which the countries we now +call south-east England, France, Germany, Poland, Russia, Egypt, Arabia, +Syria, were more or less completely covered by a deep sea, was of +considerable duration.</p> + +<p>We have already seen that the chalk is, in places, more than a thousand +feet thick. I think you will agree with me, that it must have taken some +time for the skeletons of animalcules of a hundredth of an inch in +diameter to heap up such a mass as that. I have said that throughout the +thickness of the chalk the remains of other animals are scattered. These +remains are often in the most exquisite state of preservation. The +valves of the shell-fishes are commonly adherent; the long spines of +some of the sea-urchins, which would be detached by the smallest jar, +often remain in their places. In a word, it is certain that these +animals have lived and died when the place which they now occupy was +the surface of as much of the chalk as had then been deposited; and that +each has been covered up by the layer of <i>Globigerinæ</i> mud, upon which +the creatures imbedded a little higher up have, in like manner, lived +and died. But some of these remains prove the existence of reptiles of +vast size in the chalk sea. These lived their time, and had their +ancestors and descendants, which assuredly implies time, reptiles being +of slow growth.</p> + +<p>There is more curious evidence, again, that the process of covering up, +or, in other words, the deposit of <i>Globigerinæ</i> skeletons, did not go +on very fast. It is demonstrable that an animal of the cretaceous sea +might die, that its skeleton might lie uncovered upon the sea-bottom +long enough to lose all its outward coverings and appendages by +putrefaction; and that, after this had happened, another animal might +attach itself to the dead and naked skeleton, might grow to maturity, +and might itself die before the calcareous mud had buried the whole.</p> + +<p>Cases of this kind are admirably described by Sir Charles Lyell. He +speaks of the frequency with which geologists find in the chalk a +fossilized sea-urchin, to which is attached the lower valve of a +<i>Crania</i>. This is a kind of shell-fish, with a shell composed of two +pieces, of which, as in the oyster, one is fixed and the other free.</p> + +<p>"The upper valve is almost invariably wanting, though occasionally found +in a perfect state of preservation in the white chalk at some distance. +In this case, we see clearly that the sea-urchin first lived from youth +to age, then died and lost its spines, which were carried away. Then +the young <i>Crania</i> adhered to the bared shell, grew and perished in its +turn; after which, the upper valve was separated from the lower, before +the Echinus became enveloped in chalky mud."<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p> + +<p>A specimen in the Museum of Practical Geology, in London, still further +prolongs the period which must have elapsed between the death of the +sea-urchin, and its burial by the <i>Globigerinæ</i>. For the outward face of +the valve of a <i>Crania</i>, which is attached to a sea-urchin +(<i>Micraster</i>), is itself overrun by an incrusting coralline, which +spreads thence over more or less of the surface of the sea-urchin. It +follows that, after the upper valve of the <i>Crania</i> fell off, the +surface of the attached valve must have remained exposed long enough to +allow of the growth of the whole coralline, since corallines do not live +imbedded in mud.</p> + +<p>The progress of knowledge may, one day, enable us to deduce from such +facts as these the maximum rate at which the chalk can have accumulated, +and thus to arrive at the minimum duration of the chalk period. Suppose +that the valve of the <i>Crania</i> upon which a coralline has fixed itself +in the way just described, is so attached to the sea-urchin that no part +of it is more than an inch above the face upon which the sea-urchin +rests. Then, as the coralline could not have fixed itself, if the +<i>Crania</i> had been covered up with chalk mud, and could not have lived +had itself been so covered, it follows, that an inch of chalk mud could +not have accumulated within the time between the death and decay of the +soft parts of the sea-urchin and the growth of the coralline to the full +size which it has attained. If the decay of the soft parts of the +sea-urchin; the attachment, growth to maturity, and decay of the +<i>Crania</i>; and the subsequent attachment and growth of the coralline, +took a year (which is a low estimate enough), the accumulation of the +inch of chalk must have taken more than a year: and the deposit of a +thousand feet of chalk must, consequently, have taken more than twelve +thousand years.</p> + +<p>The foundation of all this calculation is, of course, a knowledge of the +length of time the <i>Crania</i> and the coralline needed to attain their +full size; and, on this head, precise knowledge is at present wanting. +But there are circumstances which tend to show, that nothing like an +inch of chalk has accumulated during the life of a <i>Crania</i>; and, on any +probable estimate of the length of that life, the chalk period must have +had a much longer duration than that thus roughly assigned to it.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>Thus, not only is it certain that the chalk is the mud of an ancient +sea-bottom; but it is no less certain, that the chalk sea existed during +an extremely long period, though we may not be prepared to give a +precise estimate of the length of that period in years. The relative +duration is clear, though the absolute duration may not be definable. +The attempt to affix any precise date to the period at which the chalk +sea began, or ended, its existence, is baffled by difficulties of the +same kind. But the relative age of the cretaceous epoch may be +determined with as great ease and certainty as the long duration of that +epoch.</p> + +<p>You will have heard of the interesting discoveries recently made, in +various parts of Western Europe, of flint implements, obviously worked +into shape by human hands, under circumstances which show conclusively +that man is a very ancient denizen of these regions.</p> + +<p>It has been proved that the old populations of Europe, whose existence +has been revealed to us in this way, consisted of savages, such as the +Esquimaux are now; that, in the country which is now France, they hunted +the reindeer, and were familiar with the ways of the mammoth and the +bison. The physical geography of France was in those days different from +what it is now—the river Somme, for instance, having cut its bed a +hundred feet deeper between that time and this; and, it is probable, +that the climate was more like that of Canada or Siberia, than that of +Western Europe.</p> + +<p>The existence of these people is forgotten even in the traditions of the +oldest historical nations. The name and fame of them had utterly +vanished until a few years back; and the amount of physical change which +has been effected since their day, renders it more than probable that, +venerable as are some of the historical nations, the workers of the +chipped flints of Hoxne or of Amiens are to them, as they are to us, in +point of antiquity.</p> + +<p>But, if we assign to these hoar relics of long vanished generations of +men the greatest age that can possibly be claimed for them, they are not +older than the drift, or boulder clay, which, in comparison with the +chalk, is but a very juvenile deposit. You need go no further than your +own sea-board for evidence of this fact. At one of the most charming +spots on the coast of Norfolk, Cromer, you will see the boulder clay +forming a vast mass, which lies upon the chalk, and must consequently +have come into existence after it. Huge boulders of chalk are, in fact, +included in the clay, and have evidently been brought to the position +they now occupy, by the same agency as that which has planted blocks of +syenite from Norway side by side with them.</p> + +<p>The chalk, then, is certainly older than the boulder clay. If you ask +how much, I will again take you no further than the same spot upon your +own coasts for evidence. I have spoken of the boulder clay and drift as +resting upon the chalk. That is not strictly true. Interposed between +the chalk and the drift is a comparatively insignificant layer, +containing vegetable matter. But that layer tells a wonderful history. +It is full of stumps of trees standing as they grew. Fir-trees are there +with their cones, and hazel-bushes with their nuts; there stand the +stools of oak and yew trees, beeches and alders. Hence this stratum is +appropriately called the "forest-bed."</p> + +<p>It is obvious that the chalk must have been upheaved and converted into +dry land, before the timber trees could grow upon it. As the bolls of +some of these trees are from two to three feet in diameter, it is no +less clear that the dry land thus formed remained in the same condition +for long ages. And not only do the remains of stately oaks and +well-grown firs testify to the duration of this condition of things, but +additional evidence to the same effect is afforded by the abundant +remains of elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, and other great wild +beasts, which it has yielded to the zealous search of such men as the +Rev. Mr. Gunn.</p> + +<p>When you look at such a collection as he has formed, and bethink you +that these elephantine bones did veritably carry their owners about, +and these great grinders crunch, in the dark woods of which the +forest-bed is now the only trace, it is impossible not to feel that they +are as good evidence of the lapse of time as the annual rings of the +tree-stumps.</p> + +<p>Thus there is a writing upon the wall of cliffs at Cromer, and whoso +runs may read it. It tells us, with an authority which cannot be +impeached, that the ancient sea-bed of the chalk sea was raised up, and +remained dry land, until it was covered with forest, stocked with the +great game whose spoils have rejoiced your geologists. How long it +remained in that condition cannot be said; but "the whirligig of time +brought its revenges" in those days as in these. That dry land, with the +bones and teeth of generations of long-lived elephants, hidden away +among the gnarled roots and dry leaves of its ancient trees, sank +gradually to the bottom of the icy sea, which covered it with huge +masses of drift and boulder clay. Sea-beasts, such as the walrus, now +restricted to the extreme north, paddled about where birds had twittered +among the topmost twigs of the fir-trees. How long this state of things +endured we know not, but at length it came to an end. The upheaved +glacial mud hardened into the soil of modern Norfolk. Forests grew once +more, the wolf and the beaver replaced the reindeer and the elephant; +and at length what we call the history of England dawned.</p> + +<p>Thus you have, within the limits of your own county, proof that the +chalk can justly claim a very much greater antiquity than even the +oldest physical traces of mankind. But we may go further and +demonstrate, by evidence of the same authority as that which testifies +to the existence of the father of men, that the chalk is vastly older +than Adam himself.</p> + +<p>The Book of Genesis informs us that Adam, immediately upon his creation, +and before the appearance of Eve, was placed in the Garden of Eden. The +problem of the geographical position of Eden has greatly vexed the +spirits of the learned in such matters, but there is one point +respecting which, so far as I know, no commentator has ever raised a +doubt. This is, that of the four rivers which are said to run out of it, +Euphrates and Hiddekel are identical with the rivers now known by the +names of Euphrates and Tigris.</p> + +<p>But the whole country in which these mighty rivers take their origin, +and through which they run, is composed of rocks which are either of the +same age as the chalk, or of later date. So that the chalk must not only +have been formed, but, after its formation, the time required for the +deposit of these later rocks, and for their upheaval into dry land, must +have elapsed, before the smallest brook which feeds the swift stream of +"the great river, the river of Babylon," began to flow.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>Thus, evidence which cannot be rebutted, and which need not be +strengthened, though if time permitted I might indefinitely increase its +quantity, compels you to believe that the earth, from the time of the +chalk to the present day, has been the theatre of a series of changes as +vast in their amount, as they were slow in their progress. The area on +which we stand has been first sea and then land, for at least four +alternations; and has remained in each of these conditions for a period +of great length.</p> + +<p>Nor have these wonderful metamorphoses of sea into land, and of land +into sea, been confined to one corner of England. During the chalk +period, or "cretaceous epoch," not one of the present great physical +features of the globe was in existence. Our great mountain ranges, +Pyrenees, Alps, Himalayas, Andes, have all been upheaved since the chalk +was deposited, and the cretaceous sea flowed over the sites of Sinai and +Ararat.</p> + +<p>All this is certain, because rocks of cretaceous, or still later, date +have shared in the elevatory movements which gave rise to these mountain +chains; and may be found perched up, in some cases, many thousand feet +high upon their flanks. And evidence of equal cogency demonstrates that, +though, in Norfolk, the forest-bed rests directly upon the chalk, yet it +does so, not because the period at which the forest grew immediately +followed that at which the chalk was formed, but because an immense +lapse of time, represented elsewhere by thousands of feet of rock, is +not indicated at Cromer.</p> + +<p>I must ask you to believe that there is no less conclusive proof that a +still more prolonged succession of similar changes occurred, before the +chalk was deposited. Nor have we any reason to think that the first term +in the series of these changes is known. The oldest sea-beds preserved +to us are sands, and mud, and pebbles, the wear and tear of rocks which +were formed in still older oceans.</p> + +<p>But, great as is the magnitude of these physical changes of the world, +they have been accompanied by a no less striking series of modifications +in its living inhabitants.</p> + +<p>All the great classes of animals, beasts of the field, fowls of the +air, creeping things, and things which dwell in the waters, flourished +upon the globe long ages before the chalk was deposited. Very few, +however, if any, of these ancient forms of animal life were identical +with those which now live. Certainly not one of the higher animals was +of the same species as any of those now in existence. The beasts of the +field, in the days before the chalk, were not our beasts of the field, +nor the fowls of the air such as those which the eye of men has seen +flying, unless his antiquity dates infinitely further back than we at +present surmise. If we could be carried back into those times, we should +be as one suddenly set down in Australia before it was colonized. We +should see mammals, birds, reptiles, fishes, insects, snails, and the +like, clearly recognisable as such, and yet not one of them would be +just the same as those with which we are familiar, and many would be +extremely different.</p> + +<p>From that time to the present, the population of the world has undergone +slow and gradual, but incessant, changes. There has been no grand +catastrophe—no destroyer has swept away the forms of life of one +period, and replaced them by a totally new creation; but one species has +vanished and another has taken its place; creatures of one type of +structure have diminished, those of another have increased, as time has +passed on. And thus, while the differences between the living creatures +of the time before the chalk and those of the present day appear +startling, if placed side by side, we are led from one to the other by +the most gradual progress, if we follow the course of Nature through +the whole series of those relics of her operations which she has left +behind.</p> + +<p>And it is by the population of the chalk sea that the ancient and the +modern inhabitants of the world are most completely connected. The +groups which are dying out flourish, side by side, with the groups which +are now the dominant forms of life.</p> + +<p>Thus the chalk contains remains of those strange flying and swimming +reptiles, the pterodactyl, the ichthyosaurus, and the plesiosaurus, +which are found in no later deposits, but abounded in preceding ages. +The chambered shells called ammonites and belemnites, which are so +characteristic of the period preceding the cretaceous, in like manner +die with it.</p> + +<p>But, amongst these fading remainders of a previous state of things, are +some very modern forms of life, looking like Yankee pedlars among a +tribe of Red Indians. Crocodiles of modern type appear; bony fishes, +many of them very similar to existing species, almost supplant the forms +of fish which predominate in more ancient seas; and many kinds of living +shell-fish first become known to us in the chalk. The vegetation +acquires a modern aspect. A few living animals are not even +distinguishable as species, from those which existed at that remote +epoch. The <i>Globigerina</i> of the present day, for example, is not +different specifically from that of the chalk; and the same may be said +of many other <i>Foraminifera</i>. I think it probable that critical and +unprejudiced examination will show that more than one species of much +higher animals have had a similar longevity; but the only example which +I can at present give confidently is the snake's-head lamp-shell +(<i>Terebratulina caput serpentis</i>), which lives in our English seas and +abounded (as <i>Terebratulina striata</i> of authors) in the chalk.</p> + +<p>The longest line of human ancestry must hide its diminished head before +the pedigree of this insignificant shell-fish. We Englishmen are proud +to have an ancestor who was present at the Battle of Hastings. The +ancestors of <i>Terebratulina caput serpentis</i> may have been present at a +battle of <i>Ichthyosauria</i> in that part of the sea which, when the chalk +was forming, flowed over the site of Hastings. While all around has +changed, this <i>Terebratulina</i> has peacefully propagated its species from +generation to generation, and stands to this day, as a living testimony +to the continuity of the present with the past history of the globe.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>Up to this moment I have stated, so far as I know, nothing but +well-authenticated facts, and the immediate conclusions which they force +upon the mind.</p> + +<p>But the mind is so constituted that it does not willingly rest in facts +and immediate causes, but seeks always after a knowledge of the remoter +links in the chain of causation.</p> + +<p>Taking the many changes of any given spot of the earth's surface, from +sea to land and from land to sea, as an established fact, we cannot +refrain from asking ourselves how these changes have occurred. And when +we have explained them—as they must be explained—by the alternate slow +movements of elevation and depression which have affected the crust of +the earth, we go still further back, and ask, Why these movements?</p> + +<p>I am not certain that any one can give you a satisfactory answer to +that question. Assuredly I cannot. All that can be said, for certain, +is, that such movements are part of the ordinary course of nature, +inasmuch as they are going on at the present time. Direct proof may be +given, that some parts of the land of the northern hemisphere are at +this moment insensibly rising and others insensibly sinking; and there +is indirect, but perfectly satisfactory, proof, that an enormous area +now covered by the Pacific has been deepened thousands of feet, since +the present inhabitants of that sea came into existence.</p> + +<p>Thus there is not a shadow of a reason for believing that the physical +changes of the globe, in past times, have been effected by other than +natural causes.</p> + +<p>Is there any more reason for believing that the concomitant +modifications in the forms of the living inhabitants of the globe have +been brought about in other ways?</p> + +<p>Before attempting to answer this question, let us try to form a distinct +mental picture of what has happened in some special case.</p> + +<p>The crocodiles are animals which, as a group, have a very vast +antiquity. They abounded ages before the chalk was deposited; they +throng the rivers in warm climates, at the present day. There is a +difference in the form of the joints of the back-bone, and in some minor +particulars, between the crocodiles of the present epoch and those which +lived before the chalk; but, in the cretaceous epoch, as I have already +mentioned, the crocodiles had assumed the modern type of structure. +Notwithstanding this, the crocodiles of the chalk are not identically +the same as those which lived in the times called "older tertiary," +which succeeded the cretaceous epoch; and the crocodiles of the older +tertiaries are not identical with those of the newer tertiaries, nor are +these identical with existing forms. I leave open the question whether +particular species may have lived on from epoch to epoch. But each epoch +has had its peculiar crocodiles; though all, since the chalk, have +belonged to the modern type, and differ simply in their proportions, and +in such structural particulars as are discernible only to trained eyes.</p> + +<p>How is the existence of this long succession of different species of +crocodiles to be accounted for?</p> + +<p>Only two suppositions seem to be open to us—Either each species of +crocodile has been specially created, or it has arisen out of some +pre-existing form by the operation of natural causes.</p> + +<p>Choose your hypothesis; I have chosen mine. I can find no warranty for +believing in the distinct creation of a score of successive species of +crocodiles in the course of countless ages of time. Science gives no +countenance to such a wild fancy; nor can even the perverse ingenuity of +a commentator pretend to discover this sense, in the simple words in +which the writer of Genesis records the proceedings of the fifth and +sixth days of the Creation.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, I see no good reason for doubting the necessary +alternative, that all these varied species have been evolved from +pre-existing crocodilian forms, by the operation of causes as completely +a part of the common order of nature, as those which have effected the +changes of the inorganic world.</p> + +<p>Few will venture to affirm that the reasoning which applies to +crocodiles loses its force among other animals, or among plants. If one +series of species has come into existence by the operation of natural +causes, it seems folly to deny that all may have arisen in the same way.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>A small beginning has led us to a great ending. If I were to put the bit +of chalk with which we started into the hot but obscure flame of burning +hydrogen, it would presently shine like the sun. It seems to me that +this physical metamorphosis is no false image of what has been the +result of our subjecting it to a jet of fervent, though nowise +brilliant, thought to-night. It has become luminous, and its clear rays, +penetrating the abyss of the remote past, have brought within our ken +some stages of the evolution of the earth. And in the shifting "without +haste, but without rest" of the land and sea, as in the endless +variation of the forms assumed by living beings, we have observed +nothing but the natural product of the forces originally possessed by +the substance of the universe.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> See Appendix to Captain Dayman's "Deep Sea Soundings in +the North Atlantic Ocean, between Ireland and Newfoundland, made in +H.M.S. <i>Cyclops</i>. Published by order of the Lords Commissioners of the +Admiralty, 1858." They have since formed the subject of an elaborate +Memoir by Messrs. Parker and Jones, published in the <i>Philosophical +Transactions</i> for 1865.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> During the cruise of H.M.S. <i>Bull-dog</i>, commanded by Sir +Leopold M'Clintock, in 1860, living star-fish were brought up, clinging +to the lowest part of the sounding-line, from a depth of 1,260 fathoms, +midway between Cape Farewell, in Greenland, and the Rockall banks. Dr. +Wallich ascertained that the sea-bottom at this point consisted of the +ordinary <i>Globigerina</i> ooze, and that the stomachs of the star-fishes +were full of <i>Globigerinæ</i>. This discovery removes all objections to the +existence of living <i>Globigerinæ</i> at great depths, which are based upon +the supposed difficulty of maintaining animal life under such +conditions; and it throws the burden of proof upon those who object to +the supposition that the <i>Globigerinæ</i> live and die where they are +found.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> I have recently traced out the development of the +"coccoliths" from a diameter of 1/7000th of an inch up to their largest +size (which is about 1/1600th), and no longer doubt that they are +produced by independent organisms, which, like the <i>Globigerinæ</i>, live +and die at the bottom of the sea.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> "Elements of Geology," by Sir Charles Lyell, Bart. F.R.S., +p. 23.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X.</h2> + +<h3>GEOLOGICAL CONTEMPORANEITY AND PERSISTENT TYPES OF LIFE.</h3> + + +<p>Merchants occasionally go through a wholesome, though troublesome and +not always satisfactory, process which they term "taking stock." After +all the excitement of speculation, the pleasure of gain, and the pain of +loss, the trader makes up his mind to face facts and to learn the exact +quantity and quality of his solid and reliable possessions.</p> + +<p>The man of science does well sometimes to imitate this procedure; and, +forgetting for the time the importance of his own small winnings, to +re-examine the common stock in trade, so that he may make sure how far +the stock of bullion in the cellar—on the faith of whose existence so +much paper has been circulating—is really the solid gold of truth.</p> + +<p>The Anniversary Meeting of the Geological Society seems to be an +occasion well suited for an undertaking of this kind—for an inquiry, in +fact, into the nature and value of the present results of +palæontological investigation; and the more so, as all those who have +paid close attention to the late multitudinous discussions in which +palæontology is implicated, must have felt the urgent necessity of some +such scrutiny.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>First in order, as the most definite and unquestionable of all the +results of palæontology, must be mentioned the immense extension and +impulse given to botany, zoology, and comparative anatomy, by the +investigation of fossil remains. Indeed, the mass of biological facts +has been so greatly increased, and the range of biological speculation +has been so vastly widened, by the researches of the geologist and +palæontologist, that it is to be feared there are naturalists in +existence who look upon geology as Brindley regarded rivers. "Rivers," +said the great engineer, "were made to feed canals;" and geology, some +seem to think, was solely created to advance comparative anatomy.</p> + +<p>Were such a thought justifiable, it could hardly expect to be received +with favour by this assembly. But it is not justifiable. Your favourite +science has her own great aims independent of all others; and if, +notwithstanding her steady devotion to her own progress, she can scatter +such rich alms among her sisters, it should be remembered that her +charity is of the sort that does not impoverish, but "blesseth him that +gives and him that takes."</p> + +<p>Regard the matter as we will, however, the facts remain. Nearly 40,000 +species of animals and plants have been added to the Systema Naturæ by +palæontological research. This is a living population equivalent to that +of a new continent in mere number; equivalent to that of a new +hemisphere, if we take into account the small population of insects as +yet found fossil, and the large proportion and peculiar organization of +many of the Vertebrata.</p> + +<p>But, beyond this, it is perhaps not too much to say that, except for the +necessity of interpreting palæontological facts, the laws of +distribution would have received less careful study; while few +comparative anatomists (and those not of the first order) would have +been induced by mere love of detail, as such, to study the minutiæ of +osteology, were it not that in such minutiæ lie the only keys to the +most interesting riddles offered by the extinct animal world.</p> + +<p>These assuredly are great and solid gains. Surely it is matter for no +small congratulation that in half a century (for palæontology, though it +dawned earlier, came into full day only with Cuvier) a subordinate +branch of biology should have doubled the value and the interest of the +whole group of sciences to which it belongs.</p> + +<p>But this is not all. Allied with geology, palæontology has established +two laws of inestimable importance: the first, that one and the same +area of the earth's surface has been successively occupied by very +different kinds of living beings; the second, that the order of +succession established in one locality holds good, approximately, in +all.</p> + +<p>The first of these laws is universal and irreversible; the second is an +induction from a vast number of observations, though it may possibly, +and even probably, have to admit of exceptions. As a consequence of the +second law, it follows that a peculiar relation frequently subsists +between series of strata, containing organic remains, in different +localities. The series resemble one another, not only in virtue of a +general resemblance of the organic remains in the two, but also in +virtue of a resemblance in the order and character of the serial +succession in each. There is a resemblance of arrangement; so that the +separate terms of each series, as well as the whole series, exhibit a +correspondence.</p> + +<p>Succession implies time; the lower members of a series of sedimentary +rocks are certainly older than the upper; and when the notion of age was +once introduced as the equivalent of succession, it was no wonder that +correspondence in succession came to be looked upon as correspondence in +age, or "contemporaneity." And, indeed, so long as relative age only is +spoken of, correspondence in succession <i>is</i> correspondence in age; it +is <i>relative</i> contemporaneity.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>But it would have been very much better for geology if so loose and +ambiguous a word as "contemporaneous" had been excluded from her +terminology, and if, in its stead, some term expressing similarity of +serial relation, and excluding the notion of time altogether, had been +employed to denote correspondence in position in two or more series of +strata.</p> + +<p>In anatomy, where such correspondence of position has constantly to be +spoken of, it is denoted by the word "homology" and its derivatives; and +for Geology (which after all is only the anatomy and physiology of the +earth) it might be well to invent some single word, such as "homotaxis" +(similarity of order), in order to express an essentially similar idea. +This, however, has not been done, and most probably the inquiry will at +once be made—To what end burden science with a new and strange term in +place of one old, familiar, and part of our common language?</p> + +<p>The reply to this question will become obvious as the inquiry into the +results of palæontology is pushed further.</p> + +<p>Those whose business it is to acquaint themselves specially with the +works of palæontologists, in fact, will be fully aware that very few, if +any, would rest satisfied with such a statement of the conclusions of +their branch of biology as that which has just been given.</p> + +<p>Our standard repertories of palæontology profess to teach us far higher +things—to disclose the entire succession of living forms upon the +surface of the globe; to tell us of a wholly different distribution of +climatic conditions in ancient times; to reveal the character of the +first of all living existences; and to trace out the law of progress +from them to us.</p> + +<p>It may not be unprofitable to bestow on these professions a somewhat +more critical examination than they have hitherto received, in order to +ascertain how far they rest on an irrefragable basis; or whether, after +all, it might not be well for palæontologists to learn a little more +carefully that scientific "ars artium," the art of saying "I don't +know." And to this end let us define somewhat more exactly the extent of +these pretensions of palæontology.</p> + +<p>Every one is aware that Professor Bronn's "Untersuchungen" and Professor +Pictet's "Traité de Paléontologie" are works of standard authority, +familiarly consulted by every working palæontologist. It is desirable to +speak of these excellent books, and of their distinguished authors, +with the utmost respect, and in a tone as far as possible removed from +carping criticism; indeed, if they are specially cited in this place, it +is merely in justification of the assertion that the following +propositions, which may be found implicitly, or explicitly, in the works +in question, are regarded by the mass of palæontologists and geologists, +not only on the Continent but in this country, as expressing some of the +best-established results of palæontology. Thus:—</p> + +<p>Animals and plants began their existence together, not long after the +commencement of the deposition of the sedimentary rocks; and then +succeeded one another, in such a manner, that totally distinct faunas +and floræ occupied the whole surface of the earth, one after the other, +and during distinct epochs of time.</p> + +<p>A geological formation is the sum of all the strata deposited over the +whole surface of the earth during one of these epochs: a geological +fauna or flora is the sum of all the species of animals or plants which +occupied the whole surface of the globe, during one of these epochs.</p> + +<p>The population of the earth's surface was at first very similar in all +parts, and only from the middle of the Tertiary epoch onwards, began to +show a distinct distribution in zones.</p> + +<p>The constitution of the original population, as well as the numerical +proportions of its members, indicates a warmer and, on the whole, +somewhat tropical climate, which remained tolerably equable throughout +the year. The subsequent distribution of living beings in zones is the +result of a gradual lowering of the general temperature, which first +began to be felt at the poles.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>It is not now proposed to inquire whether these doctrines are true or +false; but to direct your attention to a much simpler though very +essential preliminary question—What is their logical basis? what are +the fundamental assumptions upon which they all logically depend? and +what is the evidence on which those fundamental propositions demand our +assent?</p> + +<p>These assumptions are two: the first, that the commencement of the +geological record is coeval with the commencement of life on the globe; +the second, that geological contemporaneity is the same thing as +chronological synchrony. Without the first of these assumptions there +would of course be no ground for any statement respecting the +commencement of life; without the second, all the other statements +cited, every one of which implies a knowledge of the state of different +parts of the earth at one and the same time, will be no less devoid of +demonstration.</p> + +<p>The first assumption obviously rests entirely on negative evidence. This +is, of course, the only evidence that ever can be available to prove the +commencement of any series of phænomena; but, at the same time, it must +be recollected that the value of negative evidence depends entirely on +the amount of positive corroboration it receives. If A.B. wishes to +prove an <i>alibi</i>, it is of no use for him to get a thousand witnesses +simply to swear that they did not see him in such and such a place, +unless the witnesses are prepared to prove that they must have seen him +had he been there. But the evidence that animal life commenced with the +Lingula-flags, <i>e.g.</i>, would seem to be exactly of this unsatisfactory +uncorroborated sort. The Cambrian witnesses simply swear they "haven't +seen anybody their way;" upon which the counsel for the other side +immediately puts in ten or twelve thousand feet of Devonian sandstones +to make oath they never saw a fish or a mollusk, though all the world +knows there were plenty in their time.</p> + +<p>But then it is urged that, though the Devonian rocks in one part of the +world exhibit no fossils, in another they do, while the lower Cambrian +rocks nowhere exhibit fossils, and hence no living being could have +existed in their epoch.</p> + +<p>To this there are two replies: the first, that the observational basis +of the assertion that the lowest rocks are nowhere fossiliferous is an +amazingly small one, seeing how very small an area, in comparison to +that of the whole world, has yet been fully searched; the second, that +the argument is good for nothing unless the unfossiliferous rocks in +question were not only <i>contemporaneous</i> in the geological sense, but +<i>synchronous</i> in the chronological sense. To use the <i>alibi</i> +illustration again. If a man wishes to prove he was in neither of two +places, A and B, on a given day, his witnesses for each place must be +prepared to answer for the whole day. If they can only prove that he was +not at A in the morning, and not at B in the afternoon, the evidence of +his absence from both is <i>nil</i>, because he might have been at B in the +morning and at A in the afternoon.</p> + +<p>Thus everything depends upon the validity of the second assumption. And +we must proceed to inquire what is the real meaning of the word +"contemporaneous" as employed by geologists. To this end a concrete +example may be taken.</p> + +<p>The Lias of England and the Lias of Germany, the Cretaceous rocks of +Britain and the Cretaceous rocks of Southern India, are termed by +geologists "contemporaneous" formations; but whenever any thoughtful +geologist is asked whether he means to say that they were deposited +synchronously, he says, "No,—only within the same great epoch." And if, +in pursuing the inquiry, he is asked what may be the approximate value +in time of a "great epoch"—whether it means a hundred years, or a +thousand, or a million, or ten million years—his reply is, "I cannot +tell."</p> + +<p>If the further question be put, whether physical geology is in +possession of any method by which the actual synchrony (or the reverse) +of any two distant deposits can be ascertained, no such method can be +heard of; it being admitted by all the best authorities that neither +similarity of mineral composition, nor of physical character, nor even +direct continuity of stratum, are <i>absolute</i> proofs of the synchronism +of even approximated sedimentary strata: while, for distant deposits, +there seems to be no kind of physical evidence attainable of a nature +competent to decide whether such deposits were formed simultaneously, or +whether they possess any given difference of antiquity. To return to an +example already given. All competent authorities will probably assent to +the proposition that physical geology does not enable us in any way to +reply to this question—Were the British Cretaceous rocks deposited at +the same time as those of India, or are they a million of years younger +or a million of years older?</p> + +<p>Is palæontology able to succeed where physical geology fails? Standard +writers on palæontology, as has been seen, assume that she can. They +take it for granted, that deposits containing similar organic remains +are synchronous—at any rate in a broad sense; and yet, those who will +study the eleventh and twelfth chapters of Sir Henry De la Beche's +remarkable "Researches in Theoretical Geology," published now nearly +thirty years ago, and will carry out the arguments there most luminously +stated, to their logical consequences, may very easily convince +themselves that even absolute identity of organic contents is no proof +of the synchrony of deposits, while absolute diversity is no proof of +difference of date. Sir Henry De la Beche goes even further, and adduces +conclusive evidence to show that the different parts of one and the same +stratum, having a similar composition throughout, containing the same +organic remains, and having similar beds above and below it, may yet +differ to any conceivable extent in age.</p> + +<p>Edward Forbes was in the habit of asserting that the similarity of the +organic contents of distant formations was <i>primâ facie</i> evidence, not +of their similarity, but of their difference of age; and holding as he +did the doctrine of single specific centres, the conclusion was as +legitimate as any other; for the two districts must have been occupied +by migration from one of the two, or from an intermediate spot, and the +chances against exact coincidence of migration and of imbedding are +infinite.</p> + +<p>In point of fact, however, whether the hypothesis of single or of +multiple specific centres be adopted, similarity of organic contents +cannot possibly afford any proof of the synchrony of the deposits which +contain them; on the contrary, it is demonstrably compatible with the +lapse of the most prodigious intervals of time, and with interposition +of vast changes in the organic and inorganic worlds, between the epochs +in which such deposits were formed.</p> + +<p>On what amount of similarity of their faunæ is the doctrine of the +contemporaneity of the European and of the North American Silurians +based? In the last edition of Sir Charles Lyell's "Elementary Geology" +it is stated, on the authority of a former President of this Society, +the late Daniel Sharpe, that between 30 and 40 per cent. of the species +of Silurian Mollusca are common to both sides of the Atlantic. By way of +due allowance for further discovery, let us double the lesser number and +suppose that 60 per cent. of the species are common to the North +American and the British Silurians. Sixty per cent. of species in common +is, then, proof of contemporaneity.</p> + +<p>Now suppose that, a million or two of years hence, when Britain has made +another dip beneath the sea and has come up again, some geologist +applies this doctrine, in comparing the strata laid bare by the upheaval +of the bottom, say, of St. George's Channel with what may then remain of +the Suffolk Crag. Reasoning in the same way, he will at once decide the +Suffolk Crag and the St. George's Channel beds to be contemporaneous; +although we happen to know that a vast period (even in the geological +sense) of time, and physical changes of almost unprecedented extent, +separate the two.</p> + +<p>But if it be a demonstrable fact that strata containing more than 60 or +70 per cent. of species of Mollusca in common, and comparatively close +together, may yet be separated by an amount of geological time +sufficient to allow of some of the greatest physical changes the world +has seen, what becomes of that sort of contemporaneity the sole evidence +of which is a similarity of facies, or the identity of half a dozen +species, or of a good many genera?</p> + +<p>And yet there is no better evidence for the contemporaneity assumed by +all who adopt the hypotheses of universal faunæ and floræ, of a +universally uniform climate, and of a sensible cooling of the globe +during geological time.</p> + +<p>There seems, then, no escape from the admission that neither physical +geology, nor palæontology, possesses any method by which the absolute +synchronism of two strata can be demonstrated. All that geology can +prove is local order of succession. It is mathematically certain that, +in any given vertical linear section of an undisturbed series of +sedimentary deposits, the bed which lies lowest is the oldest. In any +other vertical linear section of the same series, of course, +corresponding beds will occur in a similar order; but, however great may +be the probability, no man can say with absolute certainty that the beds +in the two sections were synchronously deposited. For areas of moderate +extent, it is doubtless true that no practical evil is likely to result +from assuming the corresponding beds to be synchronous or strictly +contemporaneous; and there are multitudes of accessory circumstances +which may fully justify the assumption of such synchrony. But the moment +the geologist has to deal with large areas, or with completely separated +deposits, the mischief of confounding that "homotaxis" or "similarity of +arrangement," which <i>can</i> be demonstrated, with "synchrony" or "identity +of date," for which there is not a shadow of proof, under the one common +term of "contemporaneity" becomes incalculable, and proves the constant +source of gratuitous speculations.</p> + +<p>For anything that geology or palæontology are able to show to the +contrary, a Devonian fauna and flora in the British Islands may have +been contemporaneous with Silurian life in North America, and with a +Carboniferous fauna and flora in Africa. Geographical provinces and +zones may have been as distinctly marked in the Palæozoic epoch as at +present, and those seemingly sudden appearances of new genera and +species, which we ascribe to new creation, may be simple results of +migration.</p> + +<p>It may be so; it may be otherwise. In the present condition of our +knowledge and of our methods, one verdict—"not proven, and not +proveable"—must be recorded against all the grand hypotheses of the +palæontologist respecting the general succession of life on the globe. +The order and nature of terrestrial life, as a whole, are open +questions. Geology at present provides us with most valuable +topographical records, but she has not the means of working them up into +a universal history. Is such a universal history, then, to be regarded +as unattainable? Are all the grandest and most interesting problems +which offer themselves to the geological student essentially insoluble? +Is he in the position of a scientific Tantalus—doomed always to thirst +for a knowledge which he cannot obtain? The reverse is to be hoped; nay, +it may not be impossible to indicate the source whence help will come.</p> + +<p>In commencing these remarks, mention was made of the great obligations +under which the naturalist lies to the geologist and palæontologist. +Assuredly the time will come when these obligations will be repaid +tenfold, and when the maze of the world's past history, through which +the pure geologist and the pure palæontologist find no guidance, will be +securely threaded by the clue furnished by the naturalist.</p> + +<p>All who are competent to express an opinion on the subject are, at +present, agreed that the manifold varieties of animal and vegetable form +have not either come into existence by chance, nor result from +capricious exertions of creative power; but that they have taken place +in a definite order, the statement of which order is what men of science +term a natural law. Whether such a law is to be regarded as an +expression of the mode of operation of natural forces, or whether it is +simply a statement of the manner in which a supernatural power has +thought fit to act, is a secondary question, so long as the existence of +the law and the possibility of its discovery by the human intellect are +granted. But he must be a half-hearted philosopher who, believing in +that possibility, and having watched the gigantic strides of the +biological sciences during the last twenty years, doubts that science +will sooner or later make this further step, so as to become possessed +of the law of evolution of organic forms—of the unvarying order of that +great chain of causes and effects of which all organic forms, ancient +and modern, are the links. And then, if ever, we shall be able to begin +to discuss, with profit, the questions respecting the commencement of +life, and the nature of the successive populations of the globe, which +so many seem to think are already answered.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>The preceding arguments make no particular claim to novelty; indeed they +have been floating more or less distinctly before the minds of +geologists for the last thirty years; and if, at the present time, it +has seemed desirable to give them more definite and systematic +expression, it is because palæontology is every day assuming a greater +importance, and now requires to rest on a basis the firmness of which is +thoroughly well assured. Among its fundamental conceptions, there must +be no confusion between what is certain and what is more or less +probable.<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> But, pending the construction of a surer foundation than +palæontology now possesses, it may be instructive, assuming for the +nonce the general correctness of the ordinary hypothesis of geological +contemporaneity, to consider whether the deductions which are ordinarily +drawn from the whole body of palæontological facts are justifiable.</p> + +<p>The evidence on which such conclusions are based is of two kinds, +negative and positive. The value of negative evidence, in connexion with +this inquiry, has been so fully and clearly discussed in an address from +the chair of this Society,<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> which none of us have forgotten, that +nothing need at present be said about it; the more, as the +considerations which have been laid before you have certainly not tended +to increase your estimation of such evidence. It will be preferable to +turn to the positive facts of palæontology, and to inquire what they +tell us.</p> + +<p>We are all accustomed to speak of the number and the extent of the +changes in the living population of the globe during geological time as +something enormous; and indeed they are so, if we regard only the +negative differences which separate the older rocks from the more +modern, and if we look upon specific and generic changes as great +changes, which from one point of view they truly are. But leaving the +negative differences out of consideration, and looking only at the +positive data furnished by the fossil world from a broader point of +view—from that of the comparative anatomist who has made the study of +the greater modifications of animal form his chief business—a surprise +of another kind dawns upon the mind; and under <i>this</i> aspect the +smallness of the total change becomes as astonishing as was its +greatness under the other.</p> + +<p>There are two hundred known orders of plants; of these not one is +certainly known to exist exclusively in the fossil state. The whole +lapse of geological time has as yet yielded not a single new ordinal +type of vegetable structure.<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p> + +<p>The positive change in passing from the recent to the ancient animal +world is greater, but still singularly small. No fossil animal is so +distinct from those now living as to require to be arranged even in a +separate class from those which, contain existing forms. It is only +when we come to the orders, which may be roughly estimated at about a +hundred and thirty, that we meet with fossil animals so distinct from +those now living as to require orders for themselves; and these do not +amount, on the most liberal estimate, to more than about 10 per cent, of +the whole.</p> + +<p>There is no certainly known extinct order of Protozoa; there is but one +among the Cœlenterata—that of the rugose corals; there is none among +the Mollusca; there are three, the Cystidea, Blastoidea, and +Edrioasterida, among the Echinoderms; and two, the Trilobita and +Eurypterida, among the Crustacea; making altogether five for the great +sub-kingdom of Annulosa. Among Vertebrates there is no ordinally +distinct fossil fish: there is only one extinct order of Amphibia—the +Labyrinthodonts; but there are at least four distinct orders of +Reptilia, viz. the Ichthyosauria, Plesiosauria, Pterosauria, Dinosauria, +and perhaps another or two. There is no known extinct order of Birds, +and no certainly known extinct order of Mammals, the ordinal +distinctness of the "Toxodontia" being doubtful.</p> + +<p>The objection that broad statements of this kind, after all, rest +largely on negative evidence is obvious, but it has less force than may +at first be supposed; for, as might be expected from the circumstances +of the case, we possess more abundant positive evidence regarding Fishes +and marine Mollusks than respecting any other forms of animal life; and +yet these offer us, through the whole range of geological time, no +species ordinarily distinct from those now living; while the far less +numerous class of Echinoderms presents three, and the Crustacea two, +such orders, though none of these come down later than the Palæozoic +age. Lastly, the Reptilia present the extraordinary and exceptional +phænomenon of as many extinct as existing orders, if not more; the four +mentioned maintaining their existence from the Lias to the Chalk +inclusive.</p> + +<p>Some years ago one of your Secretaries pointed out another kind of +positive palæontological evidence tending towards the same +conclusion—afforded by the existence of what he termed "persistent +types" of vegetable and of animal life.<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> He stated, on the authority +of Dr. Hooker, that there are Carboniferous plants which appear to be +generically identical with some now living; that the cone of the Oolitic +<i>Araucaria</i> is hardly distinguishable from that of an existing species; +that a true <i>Pinus</i> appears in the Purbecks and a <i>Juglans</i> in the +Chalk; while, from the Bagshot Sands, a <i>Banksia</i>, the wood of which is +not distinguishable from that of species now living in Australia, had +been obtained.</p> + +<p>Turning to the animal kingdom, he affirmed the tabulate corals of the +Silurian rocks to be wonderfully like those which now exist; while even +the families of the Aporosa were all represented in the older Mesozoic +rocks.</p> + +<p>Among the Mollusca similar facts were adduced. Let it be borne in mind +that <i>Avicula</i>, <i>Mytilus</i>, <i>Chiton</i>, <i>Natica</i>, <i>Patella</i>, <i>Trochus</i>, +<i>Discina</i>, <i>Orbicula</i>, <i>Lingula</i>, <i>Rhynchonella</i>, and <i>Nautilus</i>, all of +which are existing <i>genera</i>, are given without a doubt as Silurian in +the last edition of "Siluria;" while the highest forms of the highest +Cephalopods are represented in the Lias by a genus, <i>Belemnoteuthis</i>, +which presents the closest relation to the existing <i>Loligo</i>.</p> + +<p>The two highest groups of the Annulosa, the Insecta and the Arachnida, +are represented in the Coal, either by existing genera, or by forms +differing from existing genera in quite minor peculiarities.</p> + +<p>Turning to the Vertebrata, the only palæozoic Elasmobranch Fish of which +we have any complete knowledge is the Devonian and Carboniferous +<i>Pleuracanthus</i>, which differs no more from existing Sharks than these +do from one another.</p> + +<p>Again, vast as is the number of undoubtedly Ganoid fossil Fishes, and +great as is their range in time, a large mass of evidence has recently +been adduced to show that almost all those respecting which we possess +sufficient information, are referable to the same sub-ordinal groups as +the existing <i>Lepidosteus</i>, <i>Polypterus</i>, and Sturgeon; and that a +singular relation obtains between the older and the younger Fishes; the +former, the Devonian Ganoids, being almost all members of the same +sub-order as <i>Polypterus</i>, while the Mesozoic Ganoids are almost all +similarly allied to <i>Lepidosteus</i>.<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p> + +<p>Again, what can be more remarkable than the singular constancy of +structure preserved throughout a vast period of time by the family of +the Pycnodonts and by that of the true Cœlacanths: the former +persisting, with but insignificant modifications, from the Carboniferous +to the Tertiary rocks, inclusive; the latter existing, with still less +change, from the Carboniferous rocks to the Chalk, inclusive?</p> + +<p>Among Reptiles, the highest living group, that of the Crocodilia, is +represented, at the early part of the Mesozoic epoch, by species +identical in the essential characters of their organization with those +now living, and differing from the latter only in such matters as the +form of the articular facets of the vertebral centra, in the extent to +which the nasal passages are separated from the cavity of the mouth by +bone, and in the proportions of the limbs.</p> + +<p>And even as regards the Mammalia, the scanty remains of Triassic and +Oolitic species afford no foundation for the supposition that the +organization of the oldest forms differed nearly so much from some of +those which now live as these differ from one another.</p> + +<p>It is needless to multiply these instances; enough has been said to +justify the statement that, in view of the immense diversity of known +animal and vegetable forms, and the enormous lapse of time indicated by +the accumulation of fossiliferous strata, the only circumstance to be +wondered at is, not that the changes of life, as exhibited by positive +evidence, have been so great, but that they have been so small.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>Be they great or small, however, it is desirable to attempt to estimate +them. Let us, therefore, take each great division of the animal world in +succession, and, whenever an order or a family can be shown to have had +a prolonged existence, let us endeavour to ascertain how far the later +members of the group differ from the earlier ones. If these later +members, in all or in many cases, exhibit a certain amount of +modification, the fact is so far, evidence in favour of a general law of +change; and, in a rough way, the rapidity of that change will be +measured by the demonstrable amount of modification. On the other hand, +it must be recollected that the absence of any modification, while it +may leave the doctrine of the existence of a law of change without +positive support, cannot possibly disprove all forms of that doctrine, +though it may afford a sufficient refutation of many of them.</p> + +<p>The <span class="smcap">Protozoa</span>.—The Protozoa are represented throughout the +whole range of geological series, from the Lower Silurian formation to +the present day. The most ancient forms recently made known by Ehrenberg +are exceedingly like those which now exist: no one has ever pretended +that the difference between any ancient and any modern Foraminifera is +of more than generic value; nor are the oldest Foraminifera either +simpler, more embryonic, or less differentiated, than the existing +forms.</p> + +<p>The <span class="smcap">Cœig;lenterata</span>.—The Tabulate Corals have existed from the +Silurian epoch to the present day, but I am not aware that the ancient +<i>Heliolites</i> possesses a single mark of a more embryonic or less +differentiated character, or less high organization, than the existing +<i>Heliopora</i>. As for the Aporose Corals, in what respect is the Silurian +<i>Palœocydus</i> less highly organized or more embryonic than the modern +<i>Fungia</i>, or the Liassic Aporosa than the existing members of the same +families?</p> + +<p>The <i>Mollusca</i>.—In what sense is the living <i>Waldheimia</i> less +embryonic, or more specialized, than the palæozoic <i>Spirifer</i>; or the +existing <i>Rhynchonellæ</i>, <i>Craniæ</i>, <i>Discinæ</i>, <i>Lingulæ</i>, than the +Silurian species of the same genera? In what sense can <i>Loligo</i> or +<i>Spirula</i> be said to be more specialized, or less embryonic, than +<i>Belemnites</i>; or the modern species of Lamellibranch and Gasteropod +genera, than the Silurian species of the same genera?</p> + +<p>The <span class="smcap">Annulosa</span>.—The Carboniferous Insecta and Arachnida are +neither less specialized, nor more embryonic, than those that now live, +nor are the Liassic Cirripedia and Macrura; while several of the +Brachyura, which appear in the Chalk, belong to existing genera; and +none exhibit either an intermediate, or an embryonic, character.</p> + +<p>The <span class="smcap">Vertebrata</span>.—Among fishes I have referred to the +Cœlacanthini (comprising the genera <i>Cœlacanthus</i>, <i>Holophagus</i>, +<i>Undina</i>, and <i>Macropoma</i>) as affording an example of a persistent type; +and it is most remarkable to note the smallness of the differences +between any of these fishes (affecting at most the proportions of the +body and fins, and the character and sculpture of the scales), +notwithstanding their enormous range in time. In all the essentials of +its very peculiar structure, the <i>Macropoma</i> of the Chalk is identical +with the <i>Cœlacanthus</i> of the Coal. Look at the genus <i>Lepidotus</i>, +again, persisting without a modification of importance from the Liassic +to the Eocene formations, inclusive.</p> + +<p>Or among the Teleostei—in what respect is the <i>Beryx</i> of the Chalk more +embryonic, or less differentiated, than <i>Beryx lineatus</i> of King +George's Sound?</p> + +<p>Or to turn to the higher Vertebrata—in what sense are the Liassic +Chelonia inferior to those which now exist? How are the Cretaceous +Ichthyosauria, Plesiosauria, or Pterosauria less embryonic, or more +differentiated, species than those of the Lias?</p> + +<p>Or lastly, in what circumstance is the <i>Phascolotherium</i> more embryonic, +or of a more generalized type, than the modern Opossum; or a +<i>Lophiodon</i>, or a <i>Palæotherium</i>, than a modern <i>Tapirus</i> or <i>Hyrax</i>?</p> + +<p>These examples might be almost indefinitely multiplied, but surely they +are sufficient to prove that the only safe and unquestionable testimony +we can procure—positive evidence—fails to demonstrate any sort of +progressive modification towards a less embryonic, or less generalized, +type in a great many groups of animals of long-continued geological +existence. In these groups there is abundant evidence of variation—none +of what is ordinarily understood as progression; and, if the known +geological record is to be regarded as even any considerable fragment of +the whole, it is inconceivable that any theory of a necessarily +progressive development can stand, for the numerous orders and families +cited afford no trace of such a process.</p> + +<p>But it is a most remarkable fact, that, while the groups which have been +mentioned, and many besides, exhibit no sign of progressive +modification, there are others, coexisting with them, under the same +conditions, in which more or less distinct indications of such a process +seem to be traceable. Among such indications I may remind you of the +predominance of Holostome Gasteropoda in the older rocks as compared +with that of Siphonostome Gasteropoda in the later. A case less open to +the objection of negative evidence, however, is that afforded by the +Tetrabranchiate Cephalopoda, the forms of the shells and of the septal +sutures exhibiting a certain increase of complexity in the newer genera. +Here, however, one is met at once with the occurrence of <i>Orthoceras</i> +and <i>Baculites</i> at the two ends of the series, and of the fact that one +of the simplest genera, <i>Nautilus</i>, is that which now exists.</p> + +<p>The Crinoidea, in the abundance of stalked forms in the ancient +formations as compared with their present rarity, seem to present us +with a fair case of modification from a more embryonic towards a less +embryonic condition. But then, on careful consideration of the facts, +the objection arises that the stalk, calyx, and arms of the palæozoic +Crinoid are exceedingly different from the corresponding organs of a +larval <i>Comatula</i>; and it might with perfect justice be argued that +<i>Actinocrinus</i> and <i>Eucalyptocrinus</i>, for example, depart to the full as +widely, in one direction, from the stalked embryo of <i>Comatula</i>, as +<i>Comatula</i> itself does in the other.</p> + +<p>The Echinidea, again, are frequently quoted as exhibiting a gradual +passage from a more generalized to a more specialized type, seeing that +the elongated, or oval, Spatangoids appear after the spheroidal +Echinoids. But here it might be argued, on the other hand, that the +spheroidal Echinoids, in reality, depart further from the general plan +and from the embryonic form than the elongated Spatangoids do; and that +the peculiar dental apparatus and the pedicellariæ of the former are +marks of at least as great differentiation as the petaloid ambulacra and +semitæ of the latter.</p> + +<p>Once more, the prevalence of Macrurous before Brachyurous Podophthalmia +is, apparently, a fair piece of evidence in favour of progressive +modification in the same order of Crustacea; and yet the case will not +stand much sifting, seeing that the Macrurous Podophthalmia depart as +far in one direction from the common type of Podophthalmia, or from any +embryonic condition of the Brachyura, as the Brachyura do in the other; +and that the middle terms between Macrura and Brachyura—the +Anomura—are little better represented in the older Mesozoic rocks than +the Brachyura are.</p> + +<p>None of the cases of progressive modification which are cited from among +the Invertebrata appear to me to have a foundation less open to +criticism than these; and if this be so, no careful reasoner would, I +think, be inclined to lay very great stress upon them. Among the +Vertebrata, however, there are a few examples which appear to be far +less open to objection.</p> + +<p>It is, in fact, true of several groups of Vertebrata which have lived +through a considerable range of time, that the endoskeleton (more +particularly the spinal column) of the older genera presents a less +ossified, and, so far, less differentiated, condition than that of the +younger genera. Thus the Devonian Ganoids, though almost all members of +the same sub-order as <i>Polypterus,</i> and presenting numerous important +resemblances to the existing genus, which possesses biconcave vertebræ, +are, for the most part, wholly devoid of ossified vertebral centra. The +Mesozoic Lepidosteidæ, again, have, at most, biconcave vertebræ, while +the existing <i>Lepidosteus</i> has Salamandroid, opisthocœlous, vertebræ. +So, none of the Palæozoic Sharks have shown themselves to be possessed +of ossified vertebræ, while the majority of modern Sharks possess such +vertebræ. Again, the more ancient Crocodilia and Lacertilia have +vertebræ with the articular facets of their centra flattened or +biconcave, while the modern members of the same group have them +procœlous. But the most remarkable examples of progressive +modification of the vertebral column, in correspondence with geological +age, are those afforded by the Pycnodonts among fish, and the +Labyrinthodonts among Amphibia.</p> + +<p>The late able ichthyologist Heckel pointed out the fact, that, while the +Pycnodonts never possess true vertebral centra, they differ in the +degree of expansion and extension of the ends of the bony arches of the +vertebræ upon the sheath of the notochord; the Carboniferous forms +exhibiting hardly any such expansion, while the Mesozoic genera present +a greater and greater development, until, in the Tertiary forms, the +expanded ends become suturally united so as to form a sort of false +vertebra. Hermann von Meyer, again, to whose luminous researches we are +indebted for our present large knowledge of the organization of the +older Labyrinthodonts, has proved that the Carboniferous <i>Archegosaurus</i> +had very imperfectly developed vertebral centra, while the Triassic +<i>Mastodonsaurus</i> had the same parts completely ossified.<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p> + +<p>The regularity and evenness of the dentition of the <i>Anoplotherium</i>, as +contrasted with that of existing Artiodactyles, and the assumed nearer +approach of the dentition of certain ancient Carnivores to the typical +arrangement, have also been cited as exemplifications of a law of +progressive development, but I know of no other cases based on positive +evidence which are worthy of particular notice.</p> + +<p>What then does an impartial survey of the positively ascertained truths +of palæontology testify in relation to the common doctrines of +progressive modification, which suppose that modification to have taken +place by a necessary progress from more to less embryonic forms, or from +more to less generalized types, within the limits of the period +represented by the fossiliferous rocks?</p> + +<p>It negatives those doctrines; for it either shows us no evidence of any +such modification, or demonstrates it to have been very slight; and as +to the nature of that modification, it yields no evidence whatsoever +that the earlier members of any long-continued group were more +generalized in structure than the later ones. To a certain extent, +indeed, it may be said that imperfect ossification of the vertebral +column is an embryonic character; but, on the other hand, it would be +extremely incorrect to suppose that the vertebral columns of the older +Vertebrata are in any sense embryonic in their whole structure.</p> + +<p>Obviously, if the earliest fossiliferous rocks now known are coeval with +the commencement of life, and if their contents give us any just +conception of the nature and the extent of the earliest fauna and flora, +the insignificant amount of modification which can be demonstrated to +have taken place in any one group of animals, or plants, is quite +incompatible with the hypothesis that all living forms are the results +of a necessary process of progressive development, entirely comprised +within the time represented by the fossiliferous rocks.</p> + +<p>Contrariwise, any admissible hypothesis of progressive modification +must be compatible with persistence without progression, through +indefinite periods. And should such an hypothesis eventually be proved +to be true, in the only way in which it can be demonstrated, viz. by +observation and experiment upon the existing forms of life, the +conclusion will inevitably present itself, that the Palæozoic, Mesozoic, +and Cainozoic faunæ and floræ, taken together, bear somewhat the same +proportion to the whole series of living beings which have occupied this +globe, as the existing fauna and flora do to them.</p> + +<p>Such are the results of palæontology as they appear, and have for some +years appeared, to the mind of an inquirer who regards that study simply +as one of the applications of the great biological sciences, and who +desires to see it placed upon the same sound basis as other branches of +physical inquiry. If the arguments which have been brought forward are +valid, probably no one, in view of the present state of opinion, will be +inclined to think the time wasted which has been spent upon their +elaboration.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> "Le plus grand service qu'on puisse rendre à la science +est d'y faire place nette avant d'y rien construire."—<span class="smcap">Cuvier</span>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Anniversary Address for 1851, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. +vol. vii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> See Hooker's "Introductory Essay to the Flora of +Tasmania," p. xxiii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> See the abstract of a Lecture "On the Persistent Types of +Animal Life" in the "Notices of the Meetings of the Royal Institution of +Great Britain," June 3, 1859, vol. iii. p. 151.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> "Memoirs of the Geological Survey of the United +Kingdom.—Decade x. Preliminary Essay upon the Systematic Arrangement of +the Fishes of the Devonian Epoch."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> As this Address is passing through the press (March 7, +1862), evidence lies before me of the existence of a new Labyrinthodont +(<i>Pholidogaster</i>), from the Edinburgh coal-field, with well-ossified +vertebral centra.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI.</h2> + +<h3>GEOLOGICAL REFORM.</h3> + +<blockquote><p>"A great reform in geological speculation seems now to have become +necessary."</p> + +<p>"It is quite certain that a great mistake has been made,—that +British popular geology at the present time is in direct opposition +to the principles of Natural Philosophy."<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p></blockquote> + + +<p>In reviewing the course of geological thought during the past year, for +the purpose of discovering those matters to which I might most fitly +direct your attention in the Address which it now becomes my duty to +deliver from the Presidential Chair, the two somewhat alarming sentences +which I have just read, and which occur in an able and interesting essay +by an eminent natural philosopher, rose into such prominence before my +mind that they eclipsed everything else.</p> + +<p>It surely is a matter of paramount importance for the British geologists +(some of them very popular geologists too) here in solemn annual session +assembled, to inquire whether the severe judgment thus passed upon them, +by so high an authority as Sir William Thomson is one to which they +must plead guilty <i>sans phrase</i>, or whether they are prepared to say +"not guilty," and appeal for a reversal of the sentence to that higher +court of educated scientific opinion to which we are all amenable.</p> + +<p>As your attorney-general for the time being, I thought I could not do +better than get up the case with a view of advising you. It is true that +the charges brought forward by the other side involve the consideration +of matters quite foreign to the pursuits with which I am ordinarily +occupied; but, in that respect, I am only in the position which is, nine +times out of ten, occupied by counsel, who nevertheless contrive to gain +their causes, mainly by force of mother-wit and common sense, aided by +some training in other intellectual exercises.</p> + +<p>Nerved by such precedents, I proceed to put my pleading before you.</p> + +<p>And the first question with which I propose to deal is, What is it to +which Sir W. Thomson refers when he speaks of "geological speculation" +and "British popular geology"?</p> + +<p>I find three, more or less contradictory, systems of geological thought, +each of which might fairly enough claim these appellations, standing +side by side in Britain. I shall call one of them +<span class="smcap">Catastrophism</span>, another <span class="smcap">Uniformitarianism</span>, the third +<span class="smcap">Evolutionism</span>; and I shall try briefly to sketch the characters +of each, that you may say whether the classification is, or is not, +exhaustive.</p> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">Catastrophism</span>, I mean any form of geological speculation +which, in order to account for the phænomena of geology, supposes the +operation of forces different in their nature, or immeasurably different +in power, from those which we at present see in action in the universe.</p> + +<p>The Mosaic cosmogony is, in this sense, catastrophic, because it +assumes the operation of extra-natural power. The doctrine of violent +upheavals, <i>débâcles</i>, and cataclysms in general, is catastrophic, so +far as it assumes that these were brought about by causes which have now +no parallel. There was a time when catastrophism might, pre-eminently, +have claimed the title of "British popular geology;" and assuredly it +has yet many adherents, and reckons among its supporters some of the +most honoured members of this Society.</p> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">Uniformitarianism</span>, I mean especially, the teaching of Hutton +and of Lyell.</p> + +<p>That great, though incomplete work, "The Theory of the Earth," seems to +me to be one of the most remarkable contributions to geology which is +recorded in the annals of the science. So far as the not-living world is +concerned, uniformitarianism lies there, not only in germ, but in +blossom and fruit.</p> + +<p>If one asks how it is that Hutton was led to entertain views so far in +advance of those prevalent in his time, in some respects; while, in +others, they seem almost curiously limited, the answer appears to me to +be plain.</p> + +<p>Hutton was in advance of the geological speculation of his time, +because, in the first place, he had amassed a vast store of knowledge of +the facts of geology, gathered by personal observation in travels of +considerable extent; and because, in the second place, he was thoroughly +trained in the physical and chemical science of his day, and thus +possessed, as much as any one in his time could possess it, the +knowledge which is requisite for the just interpretation of geological +phænomena, and the habit of thought which fits a man for scientific +inquiry.</p> + +<p>It is to this thorough scientific training, that I ascribe Hutton's +steady and persistent refusal to look to other causes than those now in +operation, for the explanation of geological phænomena.</p> + +<p>Thus he writes:—"I do not pretend, as he [M. de Luc] does in his +theory, to describe the beginning of things. I take things such as I +find them at present; and from these I reason with regard to that which +must have been."<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p> + +<p>And again:—"A theory of the earth, which has for object truth, can have +no retrospect to that which had preceded the present order of the world; +for this order alone is what we have to reason upon; and to reason +without data is nothing but delusion. A theory, therefore, which is +limited to the actual constitution of this earth cannot be allowed to +proceed one step beyond the present order of things."<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p> + +<p>And so clear is he, that no causes beside such as are now in operation +are needed to account for the character and disposition of the +components of the crust of the earth, that he says, broadly and +boldly:— "... There is no part of the earth which has not had the same +origin, so far as this consists in that earth being collected at the +bottom of the sea, and afterwards produced, as land, along with masses +of melted substances, by the operation of mineral causes."<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></p> + +<p>But other influences were at work upon Hutton beside those of a mind +logical by Nature, and scientific by sound training; and the peculiar +turn which his speculations took seems to me to be unintelligible, +unless these be taken into account. The arguments of the French +astronomers and mathematicians, which, at the end of the last century, +were held to demonstrate the existence of a compensating arrangement +among the celestial bodies, whereby all perturbations eventually reduced +themselves to oscillations on each side of a mean position, and the +stability of the solar system was secured, had evidently taken strong +hold of Hutton's mind.</p> + +<p>In those oddly constructed periods which seem to have prejudiced many +persons against reading his works, but which are full of that peculiar, +if unattractive, eloquence which flows from mastery of the subject, +Hutton says:—</p> + +<p>"We have now got to the end of our reasoning; we have no data further to +conclude immediately from that which actually is. But we have got +enough; we have the satisfaction to find, that in Nature there is +wisdom, system, and consistency. For having, in the natural history of +this earth, seen a succession of worlds, we may from this conclude that +there is a system in Nature; in like manner as, from seeing revolutions +of the planets, it is concluded, that there is a system by which they +are intended to continue those revolutions. But if the succession of +worlds is established in the system of Nature, it is in vain to look for +anything higher in the origin of the earth. The result, therefore, of +this physical inquiry is, that we find no vestige of a beginning,—no +prospect of an end."<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p> + +<p>Yet another influence worked strongly upon Hutton. Like most +philosophers of his age, he coquetted with those final causes which have +been named barren virgins, but which might be more fitly termed the +<i>hetairæ</i> of philosophy, so constantly have they led men astray. The +final cause of the existence of the world is, for Hutton, the production +of life and intelligence.</p> + +<p>"We have now considered the globe of this earth as a machine, +constructed upon chemical as well as mechanical principles, by which its +different parts are all adapted, in form, in quality, and in quantity, +to a certain end; an end attained with certainty or success; and an end +from which we may perceive wisdom, in contemplating the means employed.</p> + +<p>"But is this world to be considered thus merely as a machine, to last no +longer than its parts retain their present position, their proper forms +and qualities? Or may it not be also considered as an organized body? +such as has a constitution in which the necessary decay of the machine +is naturally repaired, in the exertion of those productive powers by +which it had been formed.</p> + +<p>"This is the view in which we are now to examine the globe; to see if +there be, in the constitution of this world, a reproductive operation, +by which a ruined constitution may be again repaired, and a duration or +stability thus procured to the machine, considered as a world sustaining +plants and animals."<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></p> + +<p>Kirwan, and the other Philistines of the day, accused Hutton of +declaring that his theory implied that the world never had a beginning, +and never differed in condition from its present state. Nothing could be +more grossly unjust, as he expressly guards himself against any such +conclusion in the following terms:—</p> + +<p>"But in thus tracing back the natural operations which have succeeded +each other, and mark to us the course of time past, we come to a period +in which we cannot see any farther. This, however, is not the beginning +of the operations which proceed in time and according to the wise +economy of this world; nor is it the establishing of that which, in the +course of time, had no beginning; it is only the limit of our +retrospective view of those operations which have come to pass in time, +and have been conducted by supreme intelligence."<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p> + +<p>I have spoken of Uniformitarianism as the doctrine of Hutton and of +Lyell. If I have quoted the older writer rather than the newer, it is +because his works are little known, and his claims on our veneration too +frequently forgotten, not because I desire to dim the fame of his +eminent successor. Few of the present generation of geologists have read +Playfair's "Illustrations," fewer still the original "Theory of the +Earth;" the more is the pity; but which of us has not thumbed every page +of the "Principles of Geology?" I think that he who writes fairly the +history of his own progress in geological thought, will not be able to +separate his debt to Hutton from his obligations to Lyell; and the +history of the progress of individual geologists is the history of +geology.</p> + +<p>No one can doubt that the influence of uniformitarian views has been +enormous, and, in the main, most beneficial and favourable to the +progress of sound geology.</p> + +<p>Nor can it be questioned that Uniformitarianism has even a stronger +title than Catastrophism to call itself the geological speculation of +Britain, or, if you will, British popular geology. For it is eminently a +British doctrine, and has even now made comparatively little progress +on the continent of Europe. Nevertheless it seems to me to be open to +serious criticism upon one of its aspects.</p> + +<p>I have shown how unjust was the insinuation that Hutton denied a +beginning to the world. But it would not be unjust to say that he +persistently, in practice, shut his eyes to the existence of that prior +and different state of things which, in theory, he admitted; and, in +this aversion to look beyond the veil of stratified rocks, Lyell follows +him.</p> + +<p>Hutton and Lyell alike agree in their indisposition to carry their +speculations a step beyond the period recorded in the most ancient +strata now open to observation in the crust of the earth. This is, for +Hutton, "the point in which we cannot see any farther;" while Lyell +tells us,—</p> + +<p>"The astronomer may find good reasons for ascribing the earth's form to +the original fluidity of the mass, in times long antecedent to the first +introduction of living beings into the planet; but the geologist must be +content to regard the earliest monuments which it is his task to +interpret, as belonging to a period when the crust had already acquired +great solidity and thickness, probably as great as it now possesses, and +when volcanic rocks, not essentially differing from those now produced, +were formed from time to time, the intensity of volcanic heat being +neither greater nor less than it is now."<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p> + +<p>And again, "As geologists, we learn that it is not only the present +condition of the globe which has been suited to the accommodation of +myriads of living creatures, but that many former states also have been +adapted to the organization and habits of prior races of beings. The +disposition of the seas, continents and islands, and the climates, have +varied; the species likewise have been changed; and yet they have all +been so modelled, on types analogous to those of existing plants and +animals, as to indicate, throughout, a perfect harmony of design and +unity of purpose. To assume that the evidence of the beginning, or end, +of so vast a scheme lies within the reach of our philosophical +inquiries, or even of our speculations, appears to be inconsistent with +a just estimate of the relations which subsist between the finite powers +of man and the attributes of an infinite and eternal Being."<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p> + +<p>The limitations implied in these passages appear to me to constitute the +weakness and the logical defect of uniformitarianism. No one will impute +blame to Hutton that, in face of the imperfect condition, in his day, of +those physical sciences which furnish the keys to the riddles of +geology, he should have thought it practical wisdom to limit his theory +to an attempt to account for "the present order of things;" but I am at +a loss to comprehend why, for all time, the geologist must be content to +regard the oldest fossiliferous rocks as the <i>ultima Thule</i> of his +science; or what there is inconsistent with the relations between the +finite and the infinite mind, in the assumption, that we may discern +somewhat of the beginning, or of the end, of this speck in space we call +our earth. The finite mind is certainly competent to trace out the +development of the fowl within the egg; and I know not on what ground it +should find more difficulty in unravelling the complexities of the +development of the earth. In fact, as Kant has well remarked,<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> the +cosmical process is really simpler than the biological.</p> + +<p>This attempt to limit, at a particular point, the progress of inductive +and deductive reasoning from the things which are, to those which +were—this faithlessness to its own logic, seems to me to have cost +Uniformitarianism the place, as the permanent form of geological +speculation, which it might otherwise have held.</p> + +<p>It remains that I should put before you what I understand to be the +third phase of geological speculation—namely, <span class="smcap">Evolutionism</span>.</p> + +<p>I shall not make what I have to say on this head clear, unless I +diverge, or seem to diverge, for a while, from the direct path of my +discourse, so far as to explain what I take to be the scope of geology +itself. I conceive geology to be the history of the earth, in precisely +the same sense as biology is the history of living beings; and I trust +you will not think that I am overpowered by the influence of a dominant +pursuit if I say that I trace a close analogy between these two +histories.</p> + +<p>If I study a living being, under what heads does the knowledge I obtain +fall? I can learn its structure, or what we call its <span class="smcap">Anatomy</span>; +and its <span class="smcap">Development</span>, or the series of changes which it passes +through to acquire its complete structure. Then I find that the living +being has certain powers resulting from its own activities, and the +interaction of these with the activities of other things—the knowledge +of which is <span class="smcap">Physiology</span>. Beyond this the living being has a +position in space and time, which is its <span class="smcap">Distribution</span>. All +these form the body of ascertainable facts which constitute the <i>status +quo</i> of the living creature. But these facts have their causes; and the +ascertainment of these causes is the doctrine of <span class="smcap">Ætiology</span>.</p> + +<p>If we consider what is knowable about the earth, we shall find that such +earth-knowledge—if I may so translate the word geology—falls into the +same categories.</p> + +<p>What is termed stratigraphical geology is neither more nor less than the +anatomy of the earth; and the history of the succession of the +formations is the history of a succession of such anatomies, or +corresponds with development, as distinct from generation.</p> + +<p>The internal heat of the earth, the elevation and depression of its +crust, its belchings forth of vapours, ashes, and lava, are its +activities, in as strict a sense, as are warmth and the movements and +products of respiration the activities of an animal. The phænomena of +the seasons, of the trade winds, of the Gulf-stream, are as much the +results of the reaction between these inner activities and outward +forces, as are the budding of the leaves in spring and their falling in +autumn the effects of the interaction between the organization of a +plant and the solar light and heat. And, as the study of the activities +of the living being is called its physiology, so are these phænomena the +subject-matter of an analogous telluric physiology, to which we +sometimes give the name of meteorology, sometimes that of physical +geography, sometimes that of geology. Again, the earth has a place in +space and in time, and relations to other bodies in both these +respects, which constitute its distribution. This subject is usually +left to the astronomer; but a knowledge of its broad outlines seems to +me to be an essential constituent of the stock of geological ideas.</p> + +<p>All that can be ascertained concerning the structure, succession of +conditions, actions, and position in space of the earth, is the matter +of fact of its natural history. But, as in biology, there remains the +matter of reasoning from these facts to their causes, which is just as +much science as the other, and indeed more; and this constitutes +geological ætiology.</p> + +<p>Having regard to this general scheme of geological knowledge and +thought, it is obvious that geological speculation may be, so to speak, +anatomical and developmental speculation, so far as it relates to points +of stratigraphical arrangement which are out of reach of direct +observation; or, it may be physiological speculation, so far as it +relates to undetermined problems relative to the activities of the +earth; or, it may be distributional speculation, if it deals with +modifications of the earth's place in space; or, finally, it will be +ætiological speculation, if it attempts to deduce the history of the +world, as a whole, from the known properties of the matter of the earth, +in the conditions in which the earth has been placed.</p> + +<p>For the purposes of the present discourse I may take this last to be +what is meant by "geological speculation."</p> + +<p>Now uniformitarianism, as we have seen, tends to ignore geological +speculation in this sense altogether.</p> + +<p>The one point the catastrophists and the uniformitarians agreed upon, +when this Society was founded, was to ignore it. And you will find, if +you look back into our records, that our revered fathers in geology +plumed themselves a good deal upon the practical sense and wisdom of +this proceeding. As a temporary measure, I do not presume to challenge +its wisdom; but in all organized bodies temporary changes are apt to +produce permanent effects; and as time has slipped by, altering all the +conditions which may have made such mortification of the scientific +flesh desirable, I think the effect of the stream of cold water which +has steadily flowed over geological speculation within these walls, has +been of doubtful beneficence.</p> + +<p>The sort of geological speculation to which I am now referring +(geological ætiology, in short) was created, as a science, by that +famous philosopher Immanuel Kant, when, in 1755, he wrote his "General +Natural History and Theory of the Celestial Bodies; or an Attempt to +account for the Constitution and the mechanical Origin of the Universe +upon Newtonian principles."<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a></p> + +<p>In this very remarkable, but seemingly little-known treatise,<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> Kant +expounds a complete cosmogony, in the shape of a theory of the causes +which have led to the development of the universe from diffused atoms of +matter endowed with simple attractive and repulsive forces.</p> + +<p>"Give me matter," says Kant, "and I will build the world;" and he +proceeds to deduce from the simple data from which he starts, a doctrine +in all essential respects similar to the well-known "Nebular Hypothesis" +of Laplace.<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> He accounts for the relation of the masses and the +densities of the planets to their distances from the sun, for the +eccentricities of their orbits, for their rotations, for their +satellites, for the general agreement in the direction of rotation among +the celestial bodies, for Saturn's ring, and for the zodiacal light. He +finds, in each system of worlds, indications that the attractive force +of the central mass will eventually destroy its organization, by +concentrating upon itself the matter of the whole system; but, as the +result of this concentration, he argues for the development of an amount +of heat which will dissipate the mass once more into a molecular chaos +such as that in which it began.</p> + +<p>Kant pictures to himself the universe as once an infinite expansion of +formless and diffused matter. At one point of this he supposes a single +centre of attraction set up; and, by strict deductions from admitted +dynamical principles, shows how this must result in the development of a +prodigious central body, surrounded by systems of solar and planetary +worlds in all stages of development. In vivid language he depicts the +great world-mælstrom, widening the margins of its prodigious eddy in the +slow progress of millions of ages, gradually reclaiming more and more of +the molecular waste, and converting chaos into cosmos. But what is +gained at the margin is lost in the centre; the attractions of the +central systems bring their constituents together, which then, by the +heat evolved, are converted once more into molecular chaos. Thus the +worlds that are, lie between the ruins of the worlds that have been and +the chaotic materials of the worlds that shall be; and, in spite of all +waste and destruction, Cosmos is extending his borders at the expense of +Chaos.</p> + +<p>Kant's further application of his views to the earth itself is to be +found in his "Treatise on Physical Geography"<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> (a term under which +the then unknown science of geology was included), a subject which he +had studied with very great care and on which he lectured for many +years. The fourth section of the first part of this Treatise is called +"History of the great Changes which the Earth has formerly undergone and +is still undergoing," and is, in fact, a brief and pregnant essay upon +the principles of geology. Kant gives an account first "of the gradual +changes which are now taking place" under the heads of such as are +caused by earthquakes, such as are brought about by rain and rivers, +such as are effected by the sea, such as are produced by winds and +frost; and, finally, such as result from the operations of man.</p> + +<p>The second part is devoted to the "Memorials of the Changes which the +Earth has undergone in remote antiquity." These are enumerated as:—A. +Proofs that the sea formerly covered the whole earth. B. Proofs that the +sea has often been changed into dry land and then again into sea. C. A +discussion of the various-theories of the earth put forward by +Scheuchzer, Moro, Bonnet, Woodward, White, Leibnitz, Linnæus, and +Buffon.</p> + +<p>The third part contains an "Attempt to give a sound explanation of the +ancient history of the earth."</p> + +<p>I suppose that it would be very easy to pick holes in the details of +Kant's speculations, whether cosmological, or specially telluric, in +their application. But, for all that, he seems to me to have been the +first person to frame a complete system of geological speculation by +founding the doctrine of evolution.</p> + +<p>With as much truth as Hutton, Kant could say, "I take things just as I +find them at present, and, from these, I reason with regard to that +which must have been." Like Hutton, he is never tired of pointing out +that "in Nature there is wisdom, system, and consistency." And, as in +these great principles, so in believing that the cosmos has a +reproductive operation "by which a ruined constitution may be repaired," +he forestalls Hutton; while, on the other hand, Kant is true to science. +He knows no bounds to geological speculation but those of the intellect. +He reasons back to a beginning of the present state of things; he admits +the possibility of an end.</p> + +<p>I have said that the three schools of geological speculation which I +have termed Catastrophism, Uniformitarianism, and Evolutionism are +commonly supposed to be antagonistic to one another; and I presume it +will have become obvious that, in my belief, the last is destined to +swallow up the other two. But it is proper to remark that each of the +latter has kept alive the tradition of precious truths.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Catastrophism</span> has insisted upon the existence of a practically +unlimited bank of force, on which the theorist might draw; and it has +cherished the idea of the development of the earth from a state in which +its form, and the forces which it exerted, were very different from +those we now know. That such difference of form and power once existed +is a necessary part of the doctrine of evolution.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Uniformitarianism</span>, on the other hand, has with equal justice +insisted upon a practically unlimited bank of time, ready to discount +any quantity of hypothetical paper. It has kept before our eyes the +power of the infinitely little, time being granted, and has compelled us +to exhaust known causes, before flying to the unknown.</p> + +<p>To my mind there appears to be no sort of necessary theoretical +antagonism between Catastrophism and Uniformitarianism. On the contrary, +it is very conceivable that catastrophes may be part and parcel of +uniformity. Let me illustrate my case by analogy. The working of a clock +is a model of uniform action; good time-keeping means uniformity of +action. But the striking of the clock is essentially a catastrophe; the +hammer might be made to blow up a barrel of gunpowder, or turn on a +deluge of water; and, by proper arrangement, the clock, instead of +marking the hours, might strike at all sorts of irregular periods, never +twice alike, in the intervals, force, or number of its blows. +Nevertheless, all these irregular, and apparently lawless, catastrophes +would be the result of an absolutely uniformitarian action; and we might +have two schools of clock-theorists, one studying the hammer and the +other the pendulum.</p> + +<p>Still less is there any necessary antagonism between either of these +doctrines and that of Evolution, which embraces all that is sound in +both Catastrophism and Uniformitarianism, while it rejects the arbitrary +assumptions of the one and the, as arbitrary, limitations of the other. +Nor is the value of the doctrine of Evolution to the philosophic thinker +diminished by the fact that it applies the same method to the living and +the not-living world; and embraces, in one stupendous analogy, the +growth of a solar system from molecular chaos, the shaping of the earth +from the nebulous cubhood of its youth, through innumerable changes and +immeasurable ages, to its present form; and the development of a living +being from the shapeless mass of protoplasm we term a germ.</p> + +<p>I do not know whether Evolutionism can claim that amount of currency +which would entitle it to be called British popular geology; but, more +or less vaguely, it is assuredly present in the minds of most +geologists.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>Such being the three phases of geological speculation, we are now in a +position to inquire which of these it is that Sir William Thomson calls +upon us to reform in the passages which I have cited.</p> + +<p>It is obviously Uniformitarianism which the distinguished physicist +takes to be the representative of geological speculation in general. And +thus a first issue is raised, inasmuch as many persons (and those not +the least thoughtful among the younger geologists) do not accept strict +Uniformitarianism as the final form of geological speculation. We should +say, if Hutton and Playfair declare the course of the world to have been +always the same, point out the fallacy by all means; but, in so doing, +do not imagine that you are proving modern geology to be in opposition +to natural philosophy. I do not suppose that, at the present day, any +geologist would be found to maintain absolute Uniformitarianism, to deny +that the rapidity of the rotation of the earth <i>may</i> be diminishing, +that the sun <i>may</i> be waxing dim, or that the earth itself <i>may</i> be +cooling. Most of us, I suspect, are Gallios, "who care for none of these +things," being of opinion that, true or fictitious, they have made no +practical difference to the earth, during the period of which, a record +is preserved in stratified deposits.</p> + +<p>The accusation that we have been running counter to the <i>principles</i> of +natural philosophy, therefore, is devoid of foundation. The only +question which can arise is whether we have, or have not, been tacitly +making assumptions which are in opposition to certain conclusions which +may be drawn from those principles. And this question subdivides itself +into two:—the first, are we really contravening such conclusions? the +second, if we are, are those conclusions so firmly based that we may not +contravene them? I reply in the negative to both these questions, and I +will give you my reasons for so doing. Sir William Thomson believes that +he is able to prove, by physical reasonings, "that the existing state of +things on the earth, life on the earth—all geological history showing +continuity of life—must be limited within some such period of time as +one hundred million years" (loc. cit. p. 25).</p> + +<p>The first inquiry which arises plainly is, has it ever been denied that +this period <i>may</i> be enough for the purposes of geology?</p> + +<p>The discussion of this question is greatly embarrassed by the vagueness +with which the assumed limit is, I will not say defined, but +indicated,—"some such period of past time as one hundred million +years." Now does this mean that it may have been two, or three, or four +hundred million years? Because this really makes all the difference.<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p> + +<p>I presume that 100,000 feet may be taken as a full allowance for the +total thickness of stratified rocks containing traces of life; 100,000 +divided by 100,000,000 = 0.001. Consequently, the deposit of 100,000 +feet of stratified rock in 100,000,000 years means that the deposit has +taken place at the rate of 1/1000 of a foot, or, say, 1/83 of an inch, +per annum.</p> + +<p>Well, I do not know that any one is prepared to maintain that, even +making all needful allowances, the stratified rocks may not have been +formed, on the average, at the rate of 1/83 of an inch per annum. I +suppose that if such could be shown to be the limit of world-growth, we +could put up with the allowance without feeling that our speculations +had undergone any revolution. And perhaps, after all, the qualifying +phrase "some such period" may not necessitate the assumption of more +than 1/166, or 1/249, or 1/332 of an inch of deposit per year, which, of +course, would give us still more ease and comfort.</p> + +<p>But, it may be said, that it is biology, and not geology, which asks for +so much time—that the succession of life demands vast intervals; but +this appears to me to be reasoning in a circle. Biology takes her time +from geology. The only reason we have for believing in the slow rate of +the change in living forms is the fact that they persist through a +series of deposits which, geology informs us, have taken a long while to +make. If the geological clock is wrong, all the naturalist will have to +do is to modify his notions of the rapidity of change accordingly. And I +venture to point out that, when we are told that the limitation of the +period during which living beings have inhabited this planet to one, +two, or three hundred million years requires a complete revolution in +geological speculation, the <i>onus probandi</i> rests on the maker of the +assertion, who brings forward not a shadow of evidence in its support.</p> + +<p>Thus, if we accept the limitation of time placed before us by Sir W. +Thomson, it is not obvious, on the face of the matter, that we shall +have to alter, or reform, our ways in any appreciable degree; and we may +therefore proceed with much calmness, and indeed much indifference, as +to the result, to inquire whether that limitation is justified by the +arguments employed in its support.</p> + +<p>These arguments are three in number:—</p> + +<p>I. The first is based upon the undoubted fact that the tides tend to +retard the rate of the earth's rotation upon its axis. That this must be +so is obvious, if one considers, roughly, that the tides result from the +pull which the sun and the moon exert upon the sea, causing it to act as +a sort of break upon the rotating solid earth.</p> + +<p>Kant, who was by no means a mere "abstract philosopher," but a good +mathematician and well versed in the physical science of his time, not +only proved this in an essay of exquisite clearness and intelligibility, +now more than a century old,<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> but deduced from it some of its more +important consequences, such as the constant turning of one face of the +moon towards the earth.</p> + +<p>But there is a long step from the demonstration of a tendency to the +estimation of the practical value of that tendency, which is all with +which we are at present concerned. The facts bearing on this point +appear to stand as follow:—</p> + +<p>It is a matter of observation that the moon's mean motion is (and has +for the last 3,000 years been) undergoing an acceleration, relatively to +the rotation of the earth. Of course this may result from one of two +causes: the moon may really have been moving more swiftly in its orbit; +or the earth may have been rotating more slowly on its axis.</p> + +<p>Laplace believed he had accounted for this phænomenon by the fact that +the eccentricity of the earth's orbit has been diminishing throughout +these 3,000 years. This would produce a diminution of the mean +attraction of the sun on the moon; or, in other words, an increase in +the attraction of the earth on the moon: and, consequently, an increase +in the rapidity of the orbital motion of the latter body. Laplace, +therefore, laid the responsibility of the acceleration upon the moon; +and if his views were correct, the tidal retardation must either be +insignificant in amount, or be counteracted by some other agency.</p> + +<p>Our great astronomer, Adams, however, appears to have found a flaw in +Laplace's calculation, and to have shown that only half the observed +retardation could be accounted for in the way he had suggested. There +remains, therefore, the other half to be accounted for; and here, in the +absence of all positive knowledge, three sets of hypotheses have been +suggested.</p> + +<p>(<i>a</i>.) M. Delaunay suggests that the earth is at fault, in consequence +of the tidal retardation. Messrs. Adams, Thomson, and Tait work out this +suggestion, and, "on a certain assumption as to the proportion of +retardations due to the sun and the moon," find the earth may lose +twenty-two seconds of time in a century from this cause.<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p> + +<p>(<i>b</i>.) But M. Dufour suggests that the retardation of the earth (which +is hypothetically assumed to exist) may be due in part, or wholly, to +the increase of the moment of inertia of the earth by meteors falling +upon its surface. This suggestion also meets with the entire approval of +Sir W. Thomson, who shows that meteor-dust, accumulating at the rate of +one foot in 4,000 years, would account for the remainder of +retardation.<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></p> + +<p>(<i>c</i>.) Thirdly, Sir W. Thomson brings forward an hypothesis of his own +with respect to the cause of the hypothetical retardation of the earth's +rotation:—</p> + +<p>"Let us suppose ice to melt from the polar regions (20° round each pole, +we may say) to the extent of something more than a foot thick, enough to +give 1.1 foot of water over those areas, or 0.006 of a foot of water if +spread over the whole globe, which would, in reality, raise the +sea-level by only some such undiscoverable difference as three-fourths +of an inch or an inch. This, or the reverse, which we believe might +happen any year, and could certainly not be detected without far more +accurate observations and calculations for the mean sea-level than any +hitherto made, would slacken or quicken the earth's rate as a timekeeper +by one-tenth of a second per year."<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p> + +<p>I do not presume to throw the slightest doubt upon the accuracy of any +of the calculations made by such distinguished mathematicians as those +who have made the suggestions I have cited. On the contrary, it is +necessary to my argument to assume that they are all correct. But I +desire to point out that this seems to be one of the many cases in which +the admitted accuracy of mathematical processes is allowed to throw a +wholly inadmissible appearance of authority over the results obtained by +them. Mathematics may be compared to a mill of exquisite workmanship, +which grinds you stuff of any degree of fineness; but, nevertheless, +what you get out depends on what you put in; and as the grandest mill in +the world will not extract wheat-flour from peascods, so pages of +formulæ will not get a definite result out of loose data.</p> + +<p>In the present instance it appears to be admitted:—</p> + +<p>1. That it is not absolutely certain, after all, whether the moon's mean +motion is undergoing acceleration, or the earth's rotation +retardation.<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> And yet this is the key of the whole position.</p> + +<p>2. If the rapidity of the earth's rotation is diminishing, it is not +certain how much of that retardation is due to tidal friction,—how much +to meteors,—how much to possible excess of melting over accumulation of +polar ice, during the period covered by observation, which amounts, at +the outside, to not more than 2,600 years.</p> + +<p>3. The effect of a different distribution of land and water in modifying +the retardation caused by tidal friction, and of reducing it, under some +circumstances, to a minimum, does not appear to be taken into account.</p> + +<p>4. During the Miocene epoch the polar ice was certainly many feet +thinner than it has been during, or since, the Glacial epoch. Sir W. +Thomson tells us that the accumulation of something more than a foot of +ice around the poles (which implies the withdrawal of, say, an inch of +water from the general surface of the sea) will cause the earth to +rotate quicker by one-tenth of a second per annum. It would appear, +therefore, that the earth may have been rotating, throughout the whole +period which has elapsed from the commencement of the Glacial epoch down +to the present time, one, or more, seconds per annum quicker than it +rotated during the Miocene epoch.</p> + +<p>But, according to Sir W. Thomson's calculation, tidal retardation will +only account for a retardation of 22" in a century, or 22/100 (say ⅕) +of a second per annum.</p> + +<p>Thus, assuming that the accumulation of polar ice since the Miocene +epoch has only been sufficient to produce ten times the effect of a coat +of ice one foot thick, we shall have an accelerating cause which covers +all the loss from tidal action, and leaves a balance of ⅘ a second per +annum in the way of acceleration.</p> + +<p>If tidal retardation can be thus checked and overthrown by other +temporary conditions, what becomes of the confident assertion, based +upon the assumed uniformity of tidal retardation, that ten thousand +million years ago the earth must have been rotating more than twice as +fast as at present, and, therefore, that we geologists are "in direct +opposition to the principles of Natural Philosophy" if we spread +geological history over that time?</p> + +<p>II. The second argument is thus stated by Sir W. Thomson:—"An article, +by myself, published in 'Macmillan's Magazine' for March 1862, on the +age of the sun's heat, explains results of investigation into various +questions as to possibilities regarding the amount of heat that the sun +could have, dealing with it as you would with a stone, or a piece of +matter, only taking into account the sun's dimensions, which showed it +to be possible that the sun may have already illuminated the earth for +as many as one hundred million years, but at the same time rendered it +almost certain that he had not illuminated the earth for five hundred +millions of years. The estimates here are necessarily very vague; but +yet, vague as they are, I do not know that it is possible, upon any +reasonable estimate founded on known properties of matter, to say that +we can believe the sun has really illuminated the earth for five hundred +million years."<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a></p> + +<p>I do not wish to "Hansardize" Sir William Thomson by laying much stress +on the fact that, only fifteen years ago, he entertained a totally +different view of the origin of the sun's heat, and believed that the +energy radiated from year to year was supplied from year to year—a +doctrine which would have suited Hutton perfectly. But the fact that so +eminent a physical philosopher has, thus recently, held views opposite +to those which he now entertains, and that he confesses his own +estimates to be "very vague," justly entitles us to disregard those +estimates, if any distinct facts on our side go against them. However, I +am not aware that such facts exist. As I have already said, for anything +I know, one, two, or three hundred millions of years may serve the needs +of geologists perfectly well.</p> + +<p>III. The third line of argument is based upon the temperature of the +interior of the earth. Sir W. Thomson refers to certain investigations +which prove that the present thermal condition of the interior of the +earth implies either a heating of the earth within the last 20,000 years +of as much as 100° F., or a greater heating all over the surface at some +time further back than 20,000 years, and then proceeds thus:—</p> + +<p>"Now, are geologists prepared to admit that, at some time within the +last 20,000 years, there has been all over the earth so high a +temperature as that? I presume not; no geologist—no <i>modern</i> +geologist—would for a moment admit the hypothesis that the present +state of underground heat is due to a heating of the surface at so late +a period as 20,000 years ago. If that is not admitted, we are driven to +a greater heat at some time more than 20,000 years ago. A greater +heating all over the surface than 100° Fahrenheit would kill nearly all +existing plants and animals, I may safely say. Are modern geologists +prepared to say that all life was killed off the earth 50,000, 100,000, +or 200,000 years ago? For the uniformity theory, the further back the +time of high surface-temperature is put the better; but the further back +the time of heating, the hotter it must have been. The best for those +who draw most largely on time is that which puts it furthest back; and +that is the theory that the heating was enough to melt the whole. But +even if it was enough to melt the whole, we must still admit some limit, +such as fifty million years, one hundred million years, or two or three +hundred million years ago. Beyond that we cannot go."<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p> + +<p>It will be observed that the "limit" is once again of the vaguest, +ranging from 50,000,000 years to 300,000,000. And the reply is, once +more, that, for anything that can be proved to the contrary, one or two +hundred million years might serve the purpose, even of a thorough-going +Huttonian uniformitarian, very well.</p> + +<p>But if, on the other hand, the 100,000,000 or 200,000,000 years appear +to be insufficient for geological purposes, we must closely criticise +the method by which the limit is reached. The argument is simple enough. +<i>Assuming</i> the earth to be nothing but a cooling mass, the quantity of +heat lost per year, <i>supposing</i> the rate of cooling to have been +uniform, multiplied by any given number of years, will be given the +minimum temperature that number of years ago.</p> + +<p>But is the earth nothing but a cooling mass, "like a hot-water jar such +as is used in carriages," or "a globe of sandstone?" and has its cooling +been uniform? An affirmative answer to both these questions seems to be +necessary to the validity of the calculations on which Sir W. Thomson +lays so much stress.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless it surely may be urged that such affirmative answers are +purely hypothetical, and that other suppositions have an equal right to +consideration.</p> + +<p>For example, is it not possible that, at the prodigious temperature +which would seem to exist at 100 miles below the surface, all the +metallic bases may behave as mercury does at a red heat, when it refuses +to combine with oxygen; while, nearer the surface, and therefore at a +lower temperature, they may enter into combination (as mercury does with +oxygen a few degrees below its boiling-point) and so give rise to a +heat totally distinct from that which they possess as cooling bodies? +And has it not also been proved by recent researches that the quality of +the atmosphere may immensely affect its permeability to heat; and, +consequently, profoundly modify the rate of cooling the globe as a +whole?</p> + +<p>I do not think it can be denied that such conditions may exist, and may +so greatly affect the supply, and the loss, of terrestrial heat as to +destroy the value of any calculations which leave them out of sight.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>My functions as your advocate are at an end. I speak with more than the +sincerity of a mere advocate when I express the belief that the case +against us has entirely broken down. The cry for reform which has been +raised without, is superfluous, inasmuch as we have long been reforming +from within, with all needful speed. And the critical examination of the +grounds upon which the very grave charge of opposition to the principles +of Natural Philosophy has been brought against us, rather shows that we +have exercised a wise discrimination in declining, for the present, to +meddle with our foundations.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> On Geological Time. By Sir W. Thomson, LL.D. Transactions +of the Geological Society of Glasgow, vol. iii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> The Theory of the Earth, vol. i. p. 173, note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> Ibid. p. 281.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> Ibid. p. 371.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> The Theory of the Earth, vol. i. p. 200.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> The Theory of the Earth, vol. i. pp. 16, 17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> The Theory of the Earth, vol. i. p. 223.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> Principles of Geology, vol. ii. p. 211.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> Principles of Geology, vol. ii. p. 613.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> "Man darf es sich also nicht befremden lassen, wenn ich +mich unterstehe zu sagen, dass eher die Bildung aller Himmelskörper, die +Ursache ihrer Bewegungen, kurz der Ursprung der ganzen gegenwärtigen +Verfassung des Weltbaues werden können eingesehen werden, ehe die +Erzeugung eines einzigen Krautes oder einer Raupe aus mechanischen +Gründen, deutlich und vollständig kund werden wird."—<span class="smcap">Kant's</span> +<i>Sämmtliche Werke</i>, Bd. I. p. 220.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> Grant ("History of Physical Astronomy," p. 574) makes but +the briefest reference to Kant.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> "Allgemeine Naturgeschichte und Theorie des Himmels; oder +Versuch von der Verfassung und dem mechanischen Ursprunge des ganzen +Weltgebäudes nach Newton'schen Grundsatzen +abgehandelt."—<span class="smcap">Kant's</span> <i>Sämmtliche Werke</i>, Bd. i. p. 207.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> Système du Monde, tome ii. chap. 6</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> Kant's "Sämmtliche Werke," Bd. viii. p. 145.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> Sir William Thomson implies (loc. cit. p. 16), that the +precise time is of no consequence: "the principle is the same;" but, as +the principle is admitted, the whole discussion turns on its practical +results.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> "Untersuchung der Frage ob die Erde in ihrer Umdrehung um +die Achse, wodurch sie die Abwechselung des Tages und der Nacht +hervorbringt, einige Veränderung seit den ersten Zeiten ihres Ursprunges +erlitten habe, &c."—<span class="smcap">Kant's</span> <i>Sämmtliche Werke</i>, Bd. i. p. 178.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> Sir W. Thomson, loc. cit., p. 14.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> Loc. cit., p. 27</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> Ibid.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> It will be understood that I do not wish to deny that the +earth's rotation <i>may be</i> undergoing retardation.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> Loc. cit., p. 20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> Loc. cit., p. 24.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII.</h2> + +<h3>THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES.</h3> + + +<p>Mr. Darwin's long-standing and well-earned scientific eminence probably +renders him indifferent to that social notoriety which passes by the +name of success; but if the calm spirit of the philosopher have not yet +wholly superseded the ambition and the vanity of the carnal man within +him, he must be well satisfied with the results of his venture in +publishing the "Origin of Species." Overflowing the narrow bounds of +purely scientific circles, the "species question" divides with Italy and +the Volunteers the attention of general society. Everybody has read Mr. +Darwin's book, or, at least, has given an opinion upon its merits or +demerits; pietists, whether lay or ecclesiastic, decry it with the mild +railing which sounds so charitable; bigots denounce it with ignorant +invective; old ladies, of both sexes, consider it a decidedly dangerous +book, and even savans, who have no better mud to throw, quote antiquated +writers to show that its author is no better than an ape himself; while +every philosophical thinker hails it as a veritable Whitworth gun in the +armory of liberalism; and all competent naturalists and physiologists, +whatever their opinions as to the ultimate fate of the doctrines put +forth, acknowledge that the work in which they are embodied is a solid +contribution to knowledge and inaugurates a new epoch in natural +history.</p> + +<p>Nor has the discussion of the subject been restrained within the limits +of conversation. When the public is eager and interested, reviewers must +minister to its wants; and the genuine <i>littérateur</i> is too much in the +habit of acquiring his knowledge from the book he judges—as the +Abyssinian is said to provide himself with steaks from the ox which +carries him—to be withheld from criticism of a profound scientific work +by the mere want of the requisite preliminary scientific acquirement; +while, on the other hand, the men of science who wish well to the new +views, no less than those who dispute their validity, have naturally +sought opportunities of expressing their opinions. Hence it is not +surprising that almost all the critical journals have noticed Mr. +Darwin's work at greater or less length; and so many disquisitions, of +every degree of excellence, from the poor product of ignorance, too +often stimulated by prejudice, to the fair and thoughtful essay of the +candid student of Nature, have appeared, that it seems an almost +hopeless task to attempt to say anything new upon the question.</p> + +<p>But it may be doubted if the knowledge and acumen of prejudged +scientific opponents, or the subtlety of orthodox special pleaders, have +yet exerted their full force in mystifying the real issues of the great +controversy which has been set afoot, and whose end is hardly likely to +be seen by this generation; so that, at this eleventh hour, and even +failing anything new, it may be useful to state afresh that which is +true, and to put the fundamental positions advocated by Mr. Darwin in +such a form that they may be grasped by those whose special studies lie +in other directions. And the adoption of this course may be the more +advisable, because notwithstanding its great deserts, and indeed partly +on account of them, the "Origin of Species" is by no means an easy book +to read—if by reading is implied the full comprehension of an author's +meaning.</p> + +<p>We do not speak jestingly in saying that it is Mr. Darwin's misfortune +to know more about the question he has taken up than any man living. +Personally and practically exercised in zoology, in minute anatomy, in +geology; a student of geographical distribution, not on maps and in +museums only, but by long voyages and laborious collection; having +largely advanced each of these branches of science, and having spent +many years in gathering and sifting materials for his present work, the +store of accurately registered facts upon which the author of the +"Origin of Species" is able to draw at will is prodigious.</p> + +<p>But this very superabundance of matter must have been embarrassing to a +writer who, for the present, can only put forward an abstract of his +views; and thence it arises, perhaps, that notwithstanding the clearness +of the style, those who attempt fairly to digest the book find much of +it a sort of intellectual pemmican—a mass of facts crushed and pounded +into shape, rather than held together by the ordinary medium of an +obvious logical bond: due attention will, without doubt, discover this +bond, but it is often hard to find.</p> + +<p>Again, from sheer want of room, much has to be taken for granted which +might readily enough be proved; and hence, while the adept, who can +supply the missing links in the evidence from his own knowledge, +discovers fresh proof of the singular thoroughness with which all +difficulties have been considered and all unjustifiable suppositions +avoided, at every reperusal of Mr. Darwin's pregnant paragraphs, the +novice in biology is apt to complain of the frequency of what he fancies +is gratuitous assumption.</p> + +<p>Thus while it may be doubted if, for some years, any one is likely to be +competent to pronounce judgment on all the issues raised by Mr. Darwin, +there is assuredly abundant room for him, who, assuming the humbler, +though perhaps as useful, office of an interpreter between the "Origin +of Species" and the public, contents himself with endeavouring to point +out the nature of the problems which it discusses; to distinguish +between the ascertained facts and the theoretical views which it +contains; and finally, to show the extent to which the explanation it +offers satisfies the requirements of scientific logic. At any rate, it +is this office which we propose to undertake in the following pages.</p> + +<p>It may be safely assumed that our readers have a general conception of +the nature of the objects to which the word "species" is applied; but it +has, perhaps, occurred to few, even of those who are naturalists <i>ex +professo</i>, to reflect, that, as commonly employed, the term has a double +sense and denotes two very different orders of relations. When we call a +group of animals, or of plants, a species, we may imply thereby either, +that all these animals or plants have some common peculiarity of form +or structure; or, we may mean that they possess some common functional +character. That part of biological science which deals with form and +structure is called Morphology—that which concerns itself with +function, Physiology—so that we may conveniently speak of these two +senses, or aspects, of "species"—the one as morphological, the other as +physiological. Regarded from the former point of view, a species is +nothing more than a kind of animal or plant, which is distinctly +definable from all others, by certain constant, and not merely sexual, +morphological peculiarities. Thus horses form a species, because the +group of animals to which that name is applied is distinguished from all +others in the world by the following constantly associated characters. +They have 1. A vertebral column; 2. Mammæ; 3. A placental embryo; 4. +Four legs; 5. A single well-developed toe in each foot provided with a +hoof; 6. A bushy tail; and 7. Callosities on the inner sides of both the +fore and the hind legs. The asses, again, form a distinct species, +because, with the same characters, as far as the fifth in the above +list, all asses have tufted tails, and have callosities only on the +inner side of the fore legs. If animals were discovered having the +general characters of the horse, but sometimes with callosities only on +the fore legs, and more or less tufted tails; or animals having the +general characters of the ass, but with more or less bushy tails, and +sometimes with callosities on both pairs of legs, besides being +intermediate in other respects—the two species would have to be merged +into one. They could no longer be regarded as morphologically distinct +species, for they would not be distinctly definable one from the other.</p> + +<p>However bare and simple this definition of species may appear to be, we +confidently appeal to all practical naturalists, whether zoologists, +botanists, or palæontologists, to say if, in the vast majority of cases, +they know, or mean to affirm, anything more of the group of animals or +plants they so denominate than what has just been stated. Even the most +decided advocates of the received doctrines respecting species admit +this.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"I apprehend," says Professor Owen,<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> "that few naturalists +now-a-days, in describing and proposing a name for what they call +'a new <i>species</i>,' use that term to signify what was meant by it +twenty or thirty years ago; that is, an originally distinct +creation, maintaining its primitive distinction by obstructive +generative peculiarities. The proposer of the new species now +intends to state no more than he actually knows; as, for example, +that the differences on which he founds the specific character are +constant in individuals of both sexes, so far as observation has +reached; and that they are not due to domestication or to +artificially superinduced external circumstances, or to any outward +influence within his cognizance; that the species is wild, or is +such as it appears by Nature."</p></blockquote> + +<p>If we consider, in fact, that by far the largest proportion of recorded +existing species are known only by the study of their skins, or bones, +or other lifeless exuvia; that we are acquainted with none, or next to +none, of their physiological peculiarities, beyond those which can be +deduced from their structure, or are open to cursory observation; and +that we cannot hope to learn more of any of those extinct forms of life +which now constitute no inconsiderable proportion of the known Flora and +Fauna of the world: it is obvious that the definitions of these species +can be only of a purely structural or morphological character. It is +probable that naturalists would have avoided much confusion of ideas if +they had more frequently borne these necessary limitations of our +knowledge in mind. But while it may safely be admitted that we are +acquainted with only the morphological characters of the vast majority +of species—the functional, or physiological, peculiarities of a few +have been carefully investigated, and the result of that study forms a +large and most interesting portion of the physiology of reproduction.</p> + +<p>The student of Nature wonders the more and is astonished the less, the +more conversant he becomes with her operations; but of all the perennial +miracles she offers to his inspection, perhaps the most worthy of +admiration is the development of a plant or of an animal from its +embryo. Examine the recently laid egg of some common animal, such as a +salamander or a newt. It is a minute spheroid in which the best +microscope will reveal nothing but a structureless sac, enclosing a +glairy fluid, holding granules in suspension. But strange possibilities +lie dormant in that semi-fluid globule. Let a moderate supply of warmth +reach its watery cradle, and the plastic matter undergoes changes so +rapid and yet so steady and purposelike in their succession, that one +can only compare them to those operated by a skilled modeller upon a +formless lump of clay. As with an invisible trowel, the mass is divided +and subdivided into smaller and smaller portions, until it is reduced to +an aggregation of granules not too large to build withal the finest +fabrics of the nascent organism. And, then, it is as if a delicate +finger traced out the line to be occupied by the spinal column, and +moulded the contour of the body; pinching up the head at one end, the +tail at the other, and fashioning flank and limb into due salamandrine +proportions, in so artistic a way, that, after watching the process hour +by hour, one is almost involuntarily possessed by the notion, that some +more subtle aid to vision than an achromatic, would show the hidden +artist, with his plan before him, striving with skilful manipulation to +perfect his work.</p> + +<p>As life advances, and the young amphibian ranges the waters, the terror +of his insect contemporaries, not only are the nutritious particles +supplied by its prey, by the addition of which to its frame growth takes +place, laid down, each in its proper spot, and in such due proportion to +the rest, as to reproduce the form, the colour and the size, +characteristic of the parental stock; but even the wonderful powers of +reproducing lost parts possessed by these animals are controlled by the +same governing tendency. Cut off the legs, the tail, the jaws, +separately or all together, and, as Spallanzani showed long ago, these +parts not only grow again, but the redintegrated limb is formed on the +same type as those which were lost. The new jaw, or leg, is a newt's, +and never by any accident more like that of a frog. What is true of the +newt is true of every animal and of every plant; the acorn tends to +build itself up again into a woodland giant such as that from whose twig +it fell; the spore of the humblest lichen reproduces the green or brown +incrustation which gave it birth; and at the other end of the scale of +life, the child that resembled neither the paternal nor the maternal +side of the house would be regarded as a kind of monster.</p> + +<p>So that the one end to which, in all living beings, the formative +impulse is tending—the one scheme which the Archæus of the old +speculators strives to carry out, seems to be to mould the offspring +into the likeness of the parent. It is the first great law of +reproduction, that the offspring tends to resemble its parent or +parents, more closely than anything else.</p> + +<p>Science will some day show us how this law is a necessary consequence of +the more general laws which govern matter; but for the present, more can +hardly be said than that it appears to be in harmony with them. We know +that the phænomena of vitality are not something apart from other +physical phænomena, but one with them; and matter and force are the two +names of the one artist who fashions the living as well as the lifeless. +Hence living bodies should obey the same great laws as other +matter—nor, throughout Nature, is there a law of wider application than +this, that a body impelled by two forces takes the direction of their +resultant. But living bodies may be regarded as nothing but extremely +complex bundles of forces held in a mass of matter, as the complex +forces of a magnet are held in the steel by its coercive force; and, +since the differences of sex are comparatively slight, or, in other +words, the sum of the forces in each has a very similar tendency, their +resultant, the offspring, may reasonably be expected to deviate but +little from a course parallel to either, or to both.</p> + +<p>Represent the reason of the law to ourselves by what physical metaphor +or analogy we will, however, the great matter is to apprehend its +existence and the importance of the consequences deducible from it. For +things which are like to the same are like to one another, and if, in a +great series of generations, every offspring is like its parent, it +follows that all the offspring and all the parents must be like one +another; and that, given an original parental stock, with the +opportunity of undisturbed multiplication, the law in question +necessitates the production, in course of time, of an indefinitely large +group, the whole of whose members are at once very similar and are blood +relations, having descended from the same parent, or pair of parents. +The proof that all the members of any given group of animals, or plants, +had thus descended, would be ordinarily considered sufficient to entitle +them to the rank of physiological species, for most physiologists +consider species to be definable as "the offspring of a single primitive +stock."</p> + +<p>But though it is quite true that all those groups we call species <i>may</i>, +according to the known laws of reproduction, have descended from a +single stock, and though it is very likely they really have done so, yet +this conclusion rests on deduction and can hardly hope to establish +itself upon a basis of observation. And the primitiveness of the +supposed single stock, which, after all, is the essential part of the +matter, is not only a hypothesis, but one which has not a shadow of +foundation, if by "primitive" be meant "independent of any other living +being." A scientific definition, of which an unwarrantable hypothesis +forms an essential part, carries its condemnation within itself; but +even supposing such a definition were, in form, tenable, the +physiologist who should attempt to apply it in Nature would soon find +himself involved in great, if not inextricable difficulties. As we have +said, it is indubitable that offspring <i>tend</i> to resemble the parental +organism, but it is equally true that the similarity attained never +amounts to identity, either in form or in structure. There is always a +certain amount of deviation, not only from the precise characters of a +single parent, but when, as in most animals and many plants, the sexes +are lodged in distinct individuals, from an exact mean between the two +parents. And indeed, on general principles, this slight deviation seems +as intelligible as the general similarity, if we reflect how complex the +co-operating "bundles of forces" are, and how improbable it is that, in +any case, their true resultant shall coincide with any mean between the +more obvious characters of the two parents. Whatever be its cause, +however, the co-existence of this tendency to minor variation with the +tendency to general similarity, is of vast importance in its bearing on +the question of the origin of species.</p> + +<p>As a general rule, the extent to which an offspring differs from its +parent is slight enough; but, occasionally, the amount of difference is +much more strongly marked, and then the divergent offspring receives the +name of a Variety. Multitudes, of what there is every reason to believe +are such varieties, are known, but the origin of very few has been +accurately recorded, and of these we will select two as more especially +illustrative of the main features of variation. The first of them is +that of the "Ancon," or "Otter" sheep, of which a careful account is +given by Colonel David Humphreys, F.R.S., in a letter to Sir Joseph +Banks, published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1813. It appears +that one Seth Wright, the proprietor of a farm on the banks of the +Charles River, in Massachusetts, possessed a flock of fifteen ewes and a +ram of the ordinary kind. In the year 1791, one of the ewes presented +her owner with a male lamb, differing, for no assignable reason, from +its parents by a proportionally long body and short bandy legs, whence +it was unable to emulate its relatives in those sportive leaps over the +neighbours' fences, in which they were in the habit of indulging, much +to the good farmer's vexation.</p> + +<p>The second case is that detailed by a no less unexceptionable authority +than Réaumur in his "Art de faire éclore les Poulets." A Maltese couple, +named Kelleia, whose hands and feet were constructed upon the ordinary +human model, had born to them a son, Gratio, who possessed six perfectly +moveable fingers on each hand and six toes, not quite so well formed, on +each foot. No cause could be assigned for the appearance of this unusual +variety of the human species.</p> + +<p>Two circumstances are well worthy of remark in both these cases. In +each, the variety appears to have arisen in full force, and, as it were, +<i>per saltum</i>; a wide and definite difference appearing, at once, between +the Ancon ram and the ordinary sheep; between the six-fingered and +six-toed Gratio Kelleia and ordinary men. In neither case is it possible +to point out any obvious reason for the appearance of the variety. +Doubtless there were determining causes for these as for all other +phænomena; but they do not appear, and we can be tolerably certain that +what are ordinarily understood as changes in physical conditions, as in +climate, in food, or the like, did not take place and had nothing to do +with the matter. It was no case of what is commonly called adaptation to +circumstances; but, to use a conveniently erroneous phrase, the +variations arose spontaneously. The fruitless search after final causes +leads their pursuers a long way; but even those hardy teleologists, who +are ready to break through all the laws of physics in chase of their +favourite will-o'-the-wisp, may be puzzled to discover what purpose +could be attained by the stunted legs of Seth Wright's ram or the +hexadactyle members of Gratio Kelleia.</p> + +<p>Varieties then arise we know not why; and it is more than probable that +the majority of varieties have arisen in this "spontaneous" manner, +though we are, of course, far from denying that they may be traced, in +some cases, to distinct external influences; which are assuredly +competent to alter the character of the tegumentary covering, to change +colour, to increase or diminish the size of muscles, to modify +constitution, and, among plants, to give rise to the metamorphosis of +stamens into petals, and so forth. But however they may have arisen, +what especially interests us at present is, to remark that, once in +existence, varieties obey the fundamental law of reproduction that like +tends to produce like, and their offspring exemplify it by tending to +exhibit the same deviation from the parental stock as themselves. +Indeed, there seems to be, in many instances, a pre-potent influence +about a newly-arisen variety which gives it what one may call an unfair +advantage over the normal descendants from the same stock. This is +strikingly exemplified by the case of Gratio Kelleia, who married a +woman with the ordinary pentadactyle extremities, and had by her four +children, Salvator, George, André, and Marie. Of these children +Salvator, the eldest boy, had six fingers and six toes, like his father; +the second and third, also boys, had five fingers and five toes, like +their mother, though the hands and feet of George were slightly +deformed; the last, a girl, had five fingers and five toes, but the +thumbs were slightly deformed. The variety thus reproduced itself purely +in the eldest, while the normal type reproduced itself purely in the +third, and almost purely in the second and last: so that it would seem, +at first, as if the normal type were more powerful than the variety. But +all these children grew up and intermarried with normal wives and +husband, and then, note what took place: Salvator had four children, +three of whom exhibited the hexadactyle members of their grandfather and +father, while the youngest had the pentadactyle limbs of the mother and +grandmother; so that here, notwithstanding a double pentadactyle +dilution of the blood, the hexadactyle variety had the best of it. The +same pre-potency of the variety was still more markedly exemplified in +the progeny of two of the other children, Marie and George. Marie (whose +thumbs only were deformed) gave birth to a boy with six toes, and three +other normally formed children; but George, who was not quite so pure a +pentadactyle, begot, first, two girls, each of whom had six fingers and +toes; then a girl with six fingers on each hand and six toes on the +right foot, but only five toes on the left; and lastly, a boy with only +five fingers and toes. In these instances, therefore, the variety, as it +were, leaped over one generation to reproduce itself in full force in +the next. Finally, the purely pentadactyle André was the father of many +children, not one of whom departed from the normal parental type.</p> + +<p>If a variation which approaches the nature of a monstrosity can strive +thus forcibly to reproduce itself, it is not wonderful that less +aberrant modifications should tend to be preserved even more strongly; +and the history of the Ancon sheep is, in this respect, particularly +instructive. With the "'cuteness" characteristic of their nation, the +neighbours of the Massachusetts farmer imagined it would be an excellent +thing if all his sheep were imbued with the stay-at-home tendencies +enforced by Nature upon the newly-arrived ram; and they advised Wright +to kill the old patriarch of his fold, and install the Ancon ram in his +place. The result justified their sagacious anticipations, and coincided +very nearly with what occurred to the progeny of Gratio Kelleia. The +young lambs were almost always either pure Ancons, or pure ordinary +sheep.<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> But when sufficient Ancon sheep were obtained to interbreed +with one another, it was found that the offspring was always pure Ancon. +Colonel Humphreys, in fact, states that he was acquainted with only "one +questionable case of a contrary nature." Here, then, is a remarkable and +well-established instance, not only of a very distinct race being +established <i>per saltum</i>, but of that race breeding "true" at once, and +showing no mixed forms, even when crossed with another breed.</p> + +<p>By taking care to select Ancons of both sexes, for breeding from, it +thus became easy to establish an extremely well-marked race; so peculiar +that, even when herded with other sheep, it was noted that the Ancons +kept together. And there is every reason to believe that the existence +of this breed might have been indefinitely protracted; but the +introduction of the Merino sheep, which were not only very superior to +the Ancons in wool and meat, but quite as quiet and orderly, led to the +complete neglect of the new breed, so that, in 1813, Colonel Humphreys +found it difficult to obtain the specimen, whose skeleton was presented +to Sir Joseph Banks. We believe that, for many years, no remnant of it +has existed in the United States.</p> + +<p>Gratio Kelleia was not the progenitor of a race of six-fingered men, as +Seth Wright's ram became a nation of Ancon sheep, though the tendency of +the variety to perpetuate itself appears to have been fully as strong, +in the one case as in the other. And the reason of the difference is not +far to seek. Seth Wright took care not to weaken the Ancon blood by +matching his Ancon ewes with any but males of the same variety, while +Gratio Kelleia's sons were too far removed from the patriarchal times to +intermarry with their sisters; and his grandchildren seem not to have +been attracted by their six-fingered cousins. In other words, in the one +example a race was produced, because, for several generations, care was +taken to <i>select</i> both parents of the breeding stock, from animals +exhibiting a tendency to vary in the same direction; while, in the +other, no race was evolved, because no such selection was exercised. A +race is a propagated variety; and as, by the laws of reproduction, +offspring tend to assume the parental form, they will be more likely to +propagate a variation exhibited by both parents than that possessed by +only one.</p> + +<p>There is no organ of the body of an animal which may not, and does not, +occasionally, vary more or less from the normal type; and there is no +variation which may not be transmitted, and which, if selectively +transmitted, may not become the foundation of a race. This great truth, +sometimes forgotten by philosophers, has long been familiar to practical +agriculturists and breeders: and upon it rest all the methods of +improving the breeds of domestic animals, which, for the last century, +have been followed with so much success in England. Colour, form, size, +texture of hair or wool, proportions of various parts, strength or +weakness of constitution, tendency to fatten or to remain lean, to give +much or little milk, speed, strength, temper, intelligence, special +instincts; there is not one of these characters whose transmission is +not an every-day occurrence within the experience of cattle-breeders, +stock-farmers, horse-dealers, and dog and poultry fanciers. Nay, it is +only the other day that an eminent physiologist, Dr. Brown-Séquard, +communicated to the Royal Society his discovery that epilepsy, +artificially produced in guinea-pigs, by a means which he has +discovered, is transmitted to their offspring.</p> + +<p>But a race, once produced, is no more a fixed and immutable entity than +the stock whence it sprang; variations arise among its members, and as +these variations are transmitted like any others, new races may be +developed out of the pre-existing ones <i>ad infinitum</i>, or, at least, +within any limit at present determined. Given sufficient time and +sufficiently careful selection, and the multitude of races which may +arise from a common stock is as astonishing as are the extreme +structural differences which they may present. A remarkable example of +this is to be found in the rock-pigeon, which Mr. Darwin has, in our +opinion, satisfactorily demonstrated to be the progenitor of all our +domestic pigeons, of which there are certainly more than a hundred +well-marked races. The most noteworthy of these races are, the four +great stocks known to the "fancy" as tumblers, pouters, carriers, and +fantails; birds which not only differ most singularly in size, colour, +and habits, but in the form of the beak and of the skull: in the +proportions of the beak to the skull; in the number of tail-feathers; in +the absolute and relative size of the feet; in the presence or absence +of the uropygial gland; in the number of vertebræ in the back; in short, +in precisely those characters in which the genera and species of birds +differ from one another.</p> + +<p>And it is most remarkable and instructive to observe, that none of these +races can be shown to have been originated by the action of changes in +what are commonly called external circumstances, upon the wild +rock-pigeon. On the contrary, from time immemorial, pigeon fanciers have +had essentially similar methods of treating their pets, which have been +housed, fed, protected and cared for in much the same way in all +pigeonries. In fact, there is no case better adapted than that of the +pigeons, to refute the doctrine which one sees put forth on high +authority, that "no other characters than those founded on the +development of bone for the attachment of muscles" are capable of +variation. In precise contradiction of this hasty assertion, Mr. +Darwin's researches prove that the skeleton of the wings in domestic +pigeons has hardly varied at all from that of the wild type; while, on +the other hand, it is in exactly those respects, such as the relative +length of the beak and skull, the number of the vertebræ, and the number +of the tail-feathers, in which muscular exertion can have no important +influence, that the utmost amount of variation has taken place.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>We have said that the following out of the properties exhibited by +physiological species would lead us into difficulties, and at this point +they begin to be obvious; for, if, as a result of spontaneous variation +and of selective breeding, the progeny of a common stock may become +separated into groups distinguished from one another by constant, not +sexual, morphological characters, it is clear that the physiological +definition of species is likely to clash with the morphological +definition. No one would hesitate to describe the pouter and the tumbler +as distinct species, if they were found fossil, or if their skins and +skeletons were imported, as those of exotic wild birds commonly +are—and, without doubt, if considered alone, they are good and distinct +morphological species. On the other hand, they are not physiological +species, for they are descended from a common stock, the rock-pigeon.</p> + +<p>Under these circumstances, as it is admitted on all sides that races +occur in Nature, how are we to know whether any apparently distinct +animals are really of different physiological species, or not, seeing +that the amount of morphological difference is no safe guide? Is there +any test of a physiological species? The usual answer of physiologists +is in the affirmative. It is said that such a test is to be found in the +phænomena of hybridization—in the results of crossing races, as +compared with the results of crossing species.</p> + +<p>So far as the evidence goes at present, individuals, of what are +certainly known to be mere races produced by selection, however distinct +they may appear to be, not only breed freely together, but the offspring +of such crossed races are only perfectly fertile with one another. Thus, +the spaniel and the greyhound, the dray-horse and the Arab, the pouter +and the tumbler, breed together with perfect freedom, and their +mongrels, if matched with other mongrels of the same kind, are equally +fertile.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, there can be no doubt that the individuals of many +natural species are either absolutely infertile, if crossed with +individuals of other species, or, if they give rise to hybrid offspring, +the hybrids so produced are infertile when paired together. The horse +and the ass, for instance, if so crossed, give rise to the mule, and +there is no certain evidence of offspring ever having been produced by a +male and female mule. The unions of the rock-pigeon and the ring-pigeon +appear to be equally barren of result. Here, then, says the +physiologist, we have a means of distinguishing any two true species +from any two varieties. If a male and a female, selected from each +group, produce offspring, and that offspring is fertile with others +produced in the same way, the groups are races and not species. If, on +the other hand, no result ensues, or if the offspring are infertile with +others produced in the same way, they are true physiological species. +The test would be an admirable one, if, in the first place, it were +always practicable to apply it, and if, in the second, it always +yielded results susceptible of a definite interpretation. Unfortunately, +in the great majority of cases, this touchstone for species is wholly +inapplicable.</p> + +<p>The constitution of many wild animals is so altered by confinement that +they will not breed even with their own females, so that the negative +results obtained from crosses are of no value; and the antipathy of wild +animals of different species for one another, or even of wild and tame +members of the same species, is ordinarily so great, that it is hopeless +to look for such unions in Nature. The hermaphrodism of most plants, the +difficulty in the way of ensuring the absence of their own, or the +proper working of other pollen, are obstacles of no less magnitude in +applying the test to them. And in both, animals and plants is superadded +the further difficulty, that experiments must be continued over a long +time for the purpose of ascertaining the fertility of the mongrel or +hybrid progeny, as well as of the first crosses from which they spring.</p> + +<p>Not only do these great practical difficulties lie in the way of +applying the hybridization test, but even when this oracle can be +questioned, its replies are sometimes as doubtful as those of Delphi. +For example, cases are cited by Mr. Darwin, of plants which are more +fertile with the pollen of another species than with their own; and +there are others, such as certain <i>fuci</i>, whose male element will +fertilize the ovule of a plant of distinct species, while the males of +the latter species are ineffective with the females of the first. So +that, in the last-named instance, a physiologist, who should cross the +two species in one way, would decide that they were true species; while +another, who should cross them in the reverse way, would, with equal +justice, according to the rule, pronounce them to be mere races. Several +plants, which there is great reason to believe are mere varieties, are +almost sterile when crossed; while both animals and plants, which have +always been regarded by naturalists as of distinct species, turn out, +when the test is applied, to be perfectly fertile. Again, the sterility +or fertility of crosses seems to bear no relation to the structural +resemblances or differences of the members of any two groups.</p> + +<p>Mr. Darwin has discussed this question with singular ability and +circumspection, and his conclusions are summed up as follow, at page 276 +of his work:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"First crosses between forms sufficiently distinct to be ranked as +species, and their hybrids, are very generally, but not +universally, sterile. The sterility is of all degrees, and is often +so slight that the two most careful experimentalists who have ever +lived have come to diametrically opposite conclusions in ranking +forms by this test. The sterility is innately variable in +individuals of the same species, and is eminently susceptible of +favourable and unfavourable conditions. The degree of sterility +does not strictly follow systematic affinity, but is governed by +several curious and complex laws. It is generally different, and +sometimes widely different, in reciprocal crosses between the same +two species. It is not always equal in degree in a first cross, and +in the hybrid produced from this cross.</p> + +<p>"In the same manner as in grafting trees, the capacity of one +species or variety to take on another is incidental on generally +unknown differences in their vegetative systems; so in crossing, +the greater or less facility of one species to unite with another +is incidental on unknown differences in their reproductive systems. +There is no more reason to think that species have been specially +endowed with various degrees of sterility to prevent them crossing +and breeding in Nature, than to think that trees have been +specially endowed with various and somewhat analogous degrees of +difficulty in being grafted together, in order to prevent them +becoming inarched in our forests.</p> + +<p>"The sterility of first crosses between pure species, which have +their reproductive systems perfect, seems to depend on several +circumstances; in some cases largely on the early death of the +embryo. The sterility of hybrids which have their reproductive +systems imperfect, and which have had this system and their whole +organization disturbed by being compounded of two distinct species, +seems closely allied to that sterility which so frequently affects +pure species when their natural conditions of life have been +disturbed. This view is supported by a parallelism of another kind; +namely, that the crossing of forms, only slightly different, is +favourable to the vigour and fertility of the offspring; and that +slight changes in the conditions of life are apparently favourable +to the vigour and fertility of all organic beings. It is not +surprising that the degree of difficulty in uniting two species, +and the degree of sterility of their hybrid offspring, should +generally correspond, though due to distinct causes; for both +depend on the amount of difference of some kind between the species +which are crossed. Nor is it surprising that the facility of +effecting a first cross, the fertility of hybrids produced from it, +and the capacity of being grafted together—though this latter +capacity evidently depends on widely different +circumstances—should all run to a certain extent parallel with the +systematic affinity of the forms which are subjected to experiment; +for systematic affinity attempts to express all kinds of +resemblance between all species.</p> + +<p>"First crosses between forms known to be varieties, or sufficiently +alike to be considered as varieties, and their mongrel offspring, +are very generally, but not quite universally, fertile. Nor is this +nearly general and perfect fertility surprising, when we remember +how liable we are to argue in a circle with respect to varieties in +a state of Nature; and when we remember that the greater number of +varieties have been produced under domestication by the selection +of mere external differences, and not of differences in the +reproductive system. In all other respects, excluding fertility, +there is a close general resemblance between hybrids and +mongrels."—Pp. 276-8.</p></blockquote> + +<p>We fully agree with the general tenor of this weighty passage; but +forcible as are these arguments, and little as the value of fertility or +infertility as a test of species may be, it must not be forgotten that +the really important fact, so far as the inquiry into the origin of +species goes, is, that there are such things in Nature as groups of +animals and of plants, whose members are incapable of fertile union with +those of other groups; and that there are such things as hybrids, which +are absolutely sterile when crossed with other hybrids. For if such +phænomena as these were exhibited by only two of those assemblages of +living objects, to which the name of species (whether it be used in its +physiological or in its morphological sense) is given, it would have to +be accounted for by any theory of the origin of species, and every +theory which could not account for it would be, so far, imperfect.</p> + +<p>Up to this point we have been dealing with matters of fact, and the +statements which we have laid before the reader would, to the best of +our knowledge, be admitted to contain a fair exposition of what is at +present known respecting the essential properties of species, by all who +have studied the question. And whatever may be his theoretical views, no +naturalist will probably be disposed to demur to the following summary +of that exposition:—</p> + +<p>Living beings, whether animals or plants, are divisible into multitudes +of distinctly definable kinds, which are morphological species. They are +also divisible into groups of individuals, which breed freely together, +tending to reproduce their like, and are physiological species. Normally +resembling their parents, the offspring of members of these species are +still liable to vary, and the variation may be perpetuated by selection, +as a race, which race, in many cases, presents all the characteristics +of a morphological species. But it is not as yet proved that a race ever +exhibits, when crossed with another race of the same species, those +phænomena of hybridization which are exhibited by many species when +crossed with other species. On the other hand, not only is it not +proved that all species give rise to hybrids infertile <i>inter se</i>, but +there is much reason to believe that, in crossing, species exhibit every +gradation from perfect sterility to perfect fertility.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>Such are the most essential characteristics of species. Even were man +not one of them—a member of the same system and subject to the same +laws—the question of their origin, their causal connexion, that is, +with the other phænomena of the universe, must have attracted his +attention, as soon as his intelligence had raised itself above the level +of his daily wants.</p> + +<p>Indeed history relates that such was the case, and has embalmed for us +the speculations upon the origin of living beings, which were among the +earliest products of the dawning intellectual activity of man. In those +early days positive knowledge was not to be had, but the craving after +it needed, at all hazards, to be satisfied, and according to the +country, or the turn of thought of the speculator, the suggestion that +all living things arose from the mud of the Nile, from a primeval egg, +or from some more anthropomorphic agency, afforded a sufficient +resting-place for his curiosity. The myths of Paganism are as dead as +Osiris or Zeus, and the man who should revive them, in opposition to the +knowledge of our time, would be justly laughed to scorn; but the coeval +imaginations current among the rude inhabitants of Palestine, recorded +by writers whose very name and age are admitted by every scholar to be +unknown, have unfortunately not yet shared their fate, but, even at this +day, are regarded by nine-tenths of the civilized world as the +authoritative standard of fact and the criterion of the justice of +scientific conclusions, in all that relates to the origin of things, +and, among them, of species. In this nineteenth century, as at the dawn +of modern physical science, the cosmogony of the semi-barbarous Hebrew +is the incubus of the philosopher and the opprobrium of the orthodox. +Who shall number the patient and earnest seekers after truth, from the +days of Galileo until now, whose lives have been embittered and their +good name blasted by the mistaken zeal of Bibliolaters? Who shall count +the host of weaker men whose sense of truth has been destroyed in the +effort to harmonize impossibilities—whose life has been wasted in the +attempt to force the generous new wine of Science into the old bottles +of Judaism, compelled by the outcry of the same strong party?</p> + +<p>It is true that if philosophers have suffered, their cause has been +amply avenged. Extinguished theologians lie about the cradle of every +science as the strangled snakes beside that of Hercules; and history +records that whenever science and orthodoxy have been fairly opposed, +the latter has been forced to retire from the lists, bleeding and +crushed, if not annihilated; scotched, if not slain. But orthodoxy is +the Bourbon of the world of thought. It learns not, neither can it +forget; and though, at present, bewildered and afraid to move, it is as +willing as ever to insist that the first chapter of Genesis contains the +beginning and the end of sound science; and to visit, with such petty +thunderbolts as its half-paralysed hands can hurl, those who refuse to +degrade Nature to the level of primitive Judaism.</p> + +<p>Philosophers, on the other hand, have no such aggressive tendencies. +With eyes fixed on the noble goal to which "per aspera et ardua" they +tend, they may, now and then, be stirred to momentary wrath by the +unnecessary obstacles with which the ignorant, or the malicious, +encumber, if they cannot bar, the difficult path; but why should their +souls be deeply vexed? The majesty of Fact is on their side, and the +elemental forces of Nature are working for them. Not a star comes to the +meridian at its calculated time but testifies to the justice of their +methods—their beliefs are "one with the falling rain and with the +growing corn." By doubt they are established, and open inquiry is their +bosom friend. Such men have no fear of traditions however venerable, and +no respect for them when they become mischievous and obstructive; but +they have better than mere antiquarian business in hand, and if dogmas, +which ought to be fossil but are not, are not forced upon their notice, +they are too happy to treat them as non-existent.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>The hypotheses respecting the origin of species which profess to stand +upon a scientific basis, and, as such, alone demand serious attention, +are of two kinds. The one, the "special creation" hypothesis, presumes +every species to have originated from one or more stocks, these not +being the result of the modification of any other form of living +matter—or arising by natural agencies—but being produced, as such, by +a supernatural creative act.</p> + +<p>The other, the so-called "transmutation" hypothesis, considers that all +existing species are the result of the modification of pre-existing +species, and those of their predecessors, by agencies similar to those +which at the present day produce varieties and races, and therefore in +an altogether natural way; and it is a probable, though not a necessary +consequence of this hypothesis, that all living beings have arisen from +a single stock. With respect to the origin of this primitive stock, or +stocks, the doctrine of the origin of species is obviously not +necessarily concerned. The transmutation hypothesis, for example, is +perfectly consistent either with the conception of a special creation of +the primitive germ, or with the supposition of its having arisen, as a +modification of inorganic matter, by natural causes.</p> + +<p>The doctrine of special creation owes its existence very largely to the +supposed necessity of making science accord with the Hebrew cosmogony; +but it is curious to observe that, as the doctrine is at present +maintained by men of science, it is as hopelessly inconsistent with the +Hebrew view as any other hypothesis.</p> + +<p>If there be any result which has come more clearly out of geological +investigation than another, it is, that the vast series of extinct +animals and plants is not divisible, as it was once supposed to be, into +distinct groups, separated by sharply marked boundaries. There are no +great gulfs between epochs and formations—no successive periods marked +by the appearance of plants, of water animals, and of land animals, <i>en +masse</i>. Every year adds to the list of links between what the older +geologists supposed to be widely separated epochs: witness the crags +linking the drift with the older tertiaries; the Maestricht beds linking +the tertiaries with the chalk; the St. Cassian beds exhibiting an +abundant fauna of mixed mesozoic and palæozoic types, in rocks of an +epoch once supposed to be eminently poor in life; witness, lastly, the +incessant disputes as to whether a given stratum shall be reckoned +devonian or carboniferous, silurian or devonian, cambrian or silurian.</p> + +<p>This truth is further illustrated in a most interesting manner by the +impartial and highly competent testimony of M. Pictet, from whose +calculations of what percentage of the genera of animals, existing in +any formation, lived during the preceding formation, it results that in +no case is the proportion less than <i>one-third</i>, or 33 per cent. It is +the triassic formation, or the commencement of the mesozoic epoch, which +has received this smallest inheritance from preceding ages. The other +formations not uncommonly exhibit 60, 80, or even 94 per cent. of genera +in common with those whose remains are imbedded in their predecessor. +Not only is this true, but the subdivisions of each formation exhibit +new species characteristic of, and found only in, them; and, in many +cases, as in the lias for example, the separate beds of these +subdivisions are distinguished by well-marked and peculiar forms of +life. A section, a hundred feet thick, will exhibit, at different +heights, a dozen species of ammonite, none of which passes beyond its +particular zone of limestone, or clay, into the zone below it or into +that above it; so that those who adopt the doctrine of special creation +must be prepared to admit that at intervals of time, corresponding with +the thickness of these beds, the Creator thought fit to interfere with +the natural course of events for the purpose of making a new ammonite. +It is not easy to transplant oneself into the frame of mind of those who +can accept such a conclusion as this, on any evidence short of absolute +demonstration; and it is difficult to see what is to be gained by so +doing, since, as we have said, it is obvious that such a view of the +origin of living beings is utterly opposed to the Hebrew cosmogony. +Deserving no aid from the powerful arm of bibliolatry, then, does the +received form of the hypothesis of special creation derive any support +from science or sound logic? Assuredly not much. The arguments brought +forward in its favour all take one form: If species were not +supernaturally created, we cannot understand the facts <i>x</i>, or <i>y</i>, or +<i>z</i>; we cannot understand the structure of animals or plants, unless we +suppose they were contrived for special ends; we cannot understand the +structure of the eye, except by supposing it to have been made to see +with; we cannot understand instincts, unless we suppose animals to have +been miraculously endowed with them.</p> + +<p>As a question of dialectics, it must be admitted that this sort of +reasoning is not very formidable to those who are not to be frightened +by consequences. It is an <i>argumentum ad ignorantiam</i>—take this +explanation or be ignorant. But suppose we prefer to admit our ignorance +rather than adopt a hypothesis at variance with all the teachings of +Nature? Or, suppose for a moment we admit the explanation, and then +seriously ask ourselves how much the wiser are we; what does the +explanation explain? Is it any more than a grandiloquent way of +announcing the fact, that we really know nothing about the matter? A +phenomenon is explained when it is shown to be a case of some general +law of Nature; but the supernatural interposition of the Creator can, by +the nature of the case, exemplify no law, and if species have really +arisen in this way, it is absurd to attempt to discuss their origin.</p> + +<p>Or, lastly, let us ask ourselves whether any amount of evidence which +the nature of our faculties permits us to attain, can justify us in +asserting that any phænomenon is out of the reach of natural causation. +To this end it is obviously necessary that we should know all the +consequences to which all possible combinations, continued through +unlimited time, can give rise. If we knew these, and found none +competent to originate species, we should have good ground for denying +their origin by natural causation. Till we know them, any hypothesis is +better than one which involves us in such miserable presumption.</p> + +<p>But the hypothesis of special creation is not only a mere specious mask +for our ignorance; its existence in Biology marks the youth and +imperfection of the science. For what is the history of every science +but the history of the elimination of the notion of creative, or other +interferences, with the natural order of the phænomena which are the +subject-matter of that science? When Astronomy was young "the morning +stars sang together for joy," and the planets were guided in their +courses by celestial hands. Now, the harmony of the stars has resolved +itself into gravitation according to the inverse squares of the +distances, and the orbits of the planets are deducible from the laws of +the forces which allow a schoolboy's stone to break a window. The +lightning was the angel of the Lord; but it has pleased Providence, in +these modern times, that science should make it the humble messenger of +man, and we know that every flash that shimmers about the horizon on a +summer's evening is determined by ascertainable conditions, and that its +direction and brightness might, if our knowledge of these were great +enough, have been calculated.</p> + +<p>The solvency of great mercantile companies rests on the validity of the +laws which have been ascertained to govern the seeming irregularity of +that human life which the moralist bewails as the most uncertain of +things; plague, pestilence, and famine are admitted, by all but fools, +to be the natural result of causes for the most part fully within human +control, and not the unavoidable tortures inflicted by wrathful +Omnipotence upon his helpless handiwork.</p> + +<p>Harmonious order governing eternally continuous progress—the web and +woof of matter and force interweaving by slow degrees, without a broken +thread, that veil which lies between us and the Infinite—that universe +which alone we know or can know; such is the picture which science draws +of the world, and in proportion as any part of that picture is in unison +with the rest, so may we feel sure that it is rightly painted. Shall +Biology alone remain out of harmony with her sister sciences?</p> + +<p>Such arguments against the hypothesis of the direct creation of species +as these are plainly enough deducible from general considerations; but +there are, in addition, phænomena exhibited by species themselves, and +yet not so much a part of their very essence as to have required earlier +mention, which are in the highest degree perplexing, if we adopt the +popularly accepted hypothesis. Such are the facts of distribution in +space and in time; the singular phænomena brought to light by the study +of development; the structural relations of species upon which our +systems of classification are founded; the great doctrines of +philosophical anatomy, such as that of homology, or of the community of +structural plan exhibited by large groups of species differing very +widely in their habits and functions.</p> + +<p>The species of animals which inhabit the sea on opposite sides of the +isthmus of Panama are wholly distinct;<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> the animals and plants which +inhabit islands are commonly distinct from those of the neighbouring +mainlands, and yet have a similarity of aspect. The mammals of the +latest tertiary epoch in the Old and New Worlds belong to the same +genera, or family groups, as those which now inhabit the same great +geographical area. The crocodilian reptiles which existed in the +earliest secondary epoch were similar in general structure to those now +living, but exhibit slight differences in their vertebræ, nasal +passages, and one or two other points. The guinea-pig has teeth which +are shed before it is born, and hence can never subserve the masticatory +purpose for which they seem contrived, and, in like manner, the female +dugong has tusks which never cut the gum. All the members of the same +great group run through similar conditions in their development, and all +their parts, in the adult state, are arranged according to the same +plan. Man is more like a gorilla than a gorilla is like a lemur. Such +are a few, taken at random, among the multitudes of similar facts which +modern research has established; but when the student seeks for an +explanation of them from the supporters of the received hypothesis of +the origin of species, the reply he receives is, in substance, of +Oriental simplicity and brevity—"Mashallah! it so pleases God!" There +are different species on opposite sides of the isthmus of Panama, +because they were created different on the two sides. The pliocene +mammals are like the existing ones, because such was the plan of +creation; and we find rudimental organs and similarity of plan, because +it has pleased the Creator to set before himself a "divine exemplar or +archetype," and to copy it in his works; and somewhat ill, those who +hold this view imply, in some of them. That such verbal hocus-pocus +should be received as science will one day be regarded as evidence of +the low state of intelligence in the nineteenth century, just as we +amuse ourselves with the phraseology about Nature's abhorrence of a +vacuum, wherewith Torricelli's compatriots were satisfied to explain the +rise of water in a pump. And be it recollected that this sort of +satisfaction works not only negative but positive ill, by discouraging +inquiry, and so depriving man of the usufruct of one of the most fertile +fields of his great patrimony, Nature.</p> + +<p>The objections to the doctrine of the origin of species by special +creation which have been detailed, must have occurred, with more or less +force, to the mind of every one who has seriously and independently +considered the subject. It is therefore no wonder that, from time to +time, this hypothesis should have been met by counter hypotheses, all as +well, and some better, founded than itself; and it is curious to remark +that the inventors of the opposing views seem to have been led into them +as much by their knowledge of geology, as by their acquaintance with +biology. In fact, when the mind has once admitted the conception of the +gradual production of the present physical state of our globe, by +natural causes operating through long ages of time, it will be little +disposed to allow that living beings have made their appearance in +another way, and the speculations of De Maillet and his successors are +the natural complement of Scilla's demonstration of the true nature of +fossils.</p> + +<p>A contemporary of Newton and of Leibnitz, sharing therefore in the +intellectual activity of the remarkable age which witnessed the birth of +modern physical science, Benoît de Maillet spent a long life as a +consular agent of the French Government in various Mediterranean ports. +For sixteen years, in fact, he held the office of Consul-General in +Egypt, and the wonderful phænomena offered by the valley of the Nile +appear to have strongly impressed his mind, to have directed his +attention to all facts of a similar order which came within his +observation, and to have led him to speculate on the origin of the +present condition of our globe and of its inhabitants. But, with all his +ardour for science, De Maillet seems to have hesitated to publish views +which, notwithstanding the ingenious attempts to reconcile them with the +Hebrew hypothesis contained in the preface to "Telliamed," were hardly +likely to be received with favour by his contemporaries.</p> + +<p>But a short time had elapsed since more than one of the great anatomists +and physicists of the Italian school had paid dearly for their +endeavours to dissipate some of the prevalent errors; and their +illustrious pupil, Harvey, the founder of modern physiology, had not +fared so well, in a country less oppressed by the benumbing influences +of theology, as to tempt any man to follow his example. Probably not +uninfluenced by these considerations, his Catholic majesty's +Consul-General for Egypt kept his theories to himself throughout a long +life, for "Telliamed," the only scientific work which is known to have +proceeded from his pen, was not printed till 1735, when its author had +reached the ripe age of seventy-nine; and though De Maillet lived three +years longer, his book was not given to the world before 1748. Even then +it was anonymous to those who were not in the secret of the anagramatic +character of its title; and the preface and dedication are so worded as, +in case of necessity, to give the printer a fair chance of falling back +on the excuse that the work was intended for a mere <i>jeu d'esprit</i>.</p> + +<p>The speculations of the supposititious Indian sage, though quite as +sound as those of many a "Mosaic Geology," which sells exceedingly well, +have no great value if we consider them by the light of modern science. +The waters are supposed to have originally covered the whole globe; to +have deposited the rocky masses which compose its mountains by processes +comparable to those which are now forming mud, sand, and shingle; and +then to have gradually lowered their level, leaving the spoils of their +animal and vegetable inhabitants embedded in the strata. As the dry land +appeared, certain of the aquatic animals are supposed to have taken to +it, and to have become gradually adapted to terrestrial and aërial modes +of existence. But if we regard the general tenor and style of the +reasoning in relation to the state of knowledge of the day, two +circumstances appear very well worthy of remark. The first, that De +Maillet had a notion of the modifiability of living forms (though +without any precise information on the subject), and how such +modifiability might account for the origin of species; the second, that +he very clearly apprehended the great modern geological doctrine, so +strongly insisted upon by Hutton, and so ably and comprehensively +expounded by Lyell, that we must look to existing causes for the +explanation of past geological events. Indeed, the following passage of +the preface, in which De Maillet is supposed to speak of the Indian +philosopher Telliamed, his <i>alter ego</i>, might have been written by the +most philosophical uniformitarian of the present day:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Ce qu'il y a d'étonnant, est que pour arriver à ces connoissances +il semble avoir perverti l'ordre naturel, pui-qu'au lieu de +s'attacher d'abord à rechercher l'origine de notre globe il a +commencé par travailler à s'instruire de la nature. Mais à +l'entendre, ce renversement de l'ordre a été pour lui l'effet d'un +génie favorable qui l'a conduit pas à pas et comme par la main aux +découvertes les plus sublimes. C'est en décomposant la substance de +ce globe par une anatomie exacte de toutes ses parties qu'il a +premièrement appris de quelles matières il etait composé et quels +arrangemens ces mêmes matières observaient entre elles. Ces +lumières jointes à l'esprit de comparaison toujours nécessaire à +quiconque entreprend de percer les voiles dont la nature aime à se +cacher, ont servi de guide à notre philosophe pour parvenir à des +connoissances plus intéressantes. Par la matière et l'arrangement +de ces compositions il prétend avoir reconnu quelle est la +véritable origine de ce globe que nous habitons, comment et par qui +il a été formé."—Pp. xix. xx.</p></blockquote> + +<p>But De Maillet was before his age, and as could hardly fail to happen to +one who speculated on a zoological and botanical question before +Linnæus, and on a physiological problem before Haller, he fell into +great errors here and there; and hence, perhaps, the general neglect of +his work. Robinet's speculations are rather behind, than in advance of, +those of De Maillet; and though Linnæus may have played with the +hypothesis of transmutation, it obtained no serious support until +Lamarck adopted it, and advocated it with great ability in his +"Philosophie Zoologique."</p> + +<p>Impelled towards the hypothesis of the transmutation of species, partly +by his general cosmological and geological views; partly by the +conception of a graduated, though irregularly branching, scale of being, +which had arisen out of his profound study of plants and of the lower +forms of animal life, Lamarck, whose general line of thought often +closely resembles that of De Maillet, made a great advance upon the +crude and merely speculative manner in which that writer deals with the +question of the origin of living beings, by endeavouring to find +physical causes competent to effect that change of one species into +another, which De Maillet had only supposed to occur. And Lamarck +conceived that he had found in Nature such causes, amply sufficient for +the purpose in view. It is a physiological fact, he says, that organs +are increased in size by action, atrophied by inaction; it is another +physiological fact that modifications produced are transmissible to +offspring. Change the actions of an animal, therefore, and you will +change its structure, by increasing the development of the parts newly +brought into use and by the diminution of those less used; but by +altering the circumstances which surround it you will alter its actions, +and hence, in the long run, change of circumstance must produce change +of organization. All the species of animals, therefore, are, in +Lamarck's view, the result of the indirect action of changes of +circumstance upon those primitive germs which he considered to have +originally arisen, by spontaneous generation, within the waters of the +globe. It is curious, however, that Lamarck should insist so +strongly<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> as he has done, that circumstances never in any degree +directly modify the form or the organization of animals, but only +operate by changing their wants and consequently their actions; for he +thereby brings upon himself the obvious question, how, then, do plants, +which cannot be said to have wants or actions, become modified? To this +he replies, that they are modified by the changes in their nutritive +processes, which are effected by changing circumstances; and it does not +seem to have occurred to him that such changes might be as well supposed +to take place among animals.</p> + +<p>When we have said that Lamarck felt that mere speculation was not the +way to arrive at the origin of species, but that it was necessary, in +order to the establishment of any sound theory on the subject, to +discover by observation or otherwise, some <i>vera causa</i>, competent to +give rise to them; that he affirmed the true order of classification to +coincide with the order of their development one from another; that he +insisted on the necessity of allowing sufficient time, very strongly; +and that all the varieties of instinct and reason were traced back by +him to the same cause as that which has given rise to species, we have +enumerated his chief contributions to the advance of the question. On +the other hand, from his ignorance of any power in Nature competent to +modify the structure of animals, except the development of parts, or +atrophy of them, in consequence of a change of needs, Lamarck was led to +attach infinitely greater weight than it deserves to this agency, and +the absurdities into which he was led have met with deserved +condemnation. Of the struggle for existence, on which, as, we shall +see, Mr. Darwin lays such great stress, he had no conception; indeed, he +doubts whether there really are such things as extinct species, unless +they be such large animals as may have met their death at the hands of +man; and so little does he dream of there being any other destructive +causes at work, that, in discussing the possible existence of fossil +shells, he asks, "Pourquoi d'ailleurs seroient-ils perdues dès que +l'homme n'a pu opérer leur destruction?" (Phil. Zool., vol. i. p. 77.) +Of the influence of selection Lamarck has as little notion, and he makes +no use of the wonderful phænomena which are exhibited by domesticated +animals, and illustrate its powers. The vast influence of Cuvier was +employed against the Lamarckian views, and, as the untenability of some +of his conclusions was easily shown, his doctrines sank under the +opprobium of scientific, as well as of theological, heterodoxy. Nor have +the efforts made of late years to revive them tended to re-establish +their credit in the minds of sound thinkers acquainted with the facts of +the case; indeed it may be doubted whether Lamarck has not suffered more +from his friends than from his foes.</p> + +<p>Two years ago, in fact, though we venture to question if even the +strongest supporters of the special creation hypothesis had not, now and +then, an uneasy consciousness that all was not right, their position +seemed more impregnable than ever, if not by its own inherent strength, +at any rate by the obvious failure of all the attempts which had been +made to carry it. On the other hand, however much the few, who thought +deeply on the question of species, might be repelled by the generally +received dogmas, they saw no way of escaping from them, save by the +adoption of suppositions, so little justified by experiment or by +observation, as to be at least equally distasteful.</p> + +<p>The choice lay between two absurdities and a middle condition of uneasy +scepticism; which last, however unpleasant and unsatisfactory, was +obviously the only justifiable state of mind under the circumstances.</p> + +<p>Such being the general ferment in the minds of naturalists, it is no +wonder that they mustered strong in the rooms of the Linnæan Society, on +the 1st of July of the year 1858, to hear two papers by authors living +on opposite sides of the globe, working out their results independently, +and yet professing to have discovered one and the same solution of all +the problems connected with species. The one of these authors was an +able naturalist, Mr. Wallace, who had been employed for some years in +studying the productions of the islands of the Indian Archipelago, and +who had forwarded a memoir embodying his views to Mr. Darwin, for +communication to the Linnæan Society. On perusing the essay, Mr. Darwin +was not a little surprised to find that it embodied some of the leading +ideas of a great work which he had been preparing for twenty years, and +parts of which, containing a development of the very same views, had +been perused by his private friends fifteen or sixteen years before. +Perplexed in what manner to do full justice both to his friend and to +himself, Mr. Darwin placed the matter in the hands of Dr. Hooker and Sir +Charles Lyell, by whose advice he communicated a brief abstract of his +own views to the Linnæan Society, at the same time that Mr. Wallace's +paper was read. Of that abstract, the work on the "Origin of Species" is +an enlargement; but a complete statement of Mr. Darwin's doctrine is +looked for in the large and well-illustrated work which he is said to be +preparing for publication.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>The Darwinian hypothesis has the merit of being eminently simple and +comprehensible in principle, and its essential positions may be stated +in a very few words: all species have been produced by the development +of varieties from common stocks by the conversion of these first into +permanent races and then into new species, by the process of <i>natural +selection</i>, which process is essentially identical with that artificial +selection by which man has originated the races of domestic animals—the +<i>struggle for existence</i> taking the place of man, and exerting, in the +case of natural selection, that selective action which he performs in +artificial selection.</p> + +<p>The evidence brought forward by Mr. Darwin in support of his hypothesis +is of three kinds. First, he endeavours to prove that species may be +originated by selection; secondly, he attempts to show that natural +causes are competent to exert selection; and thirdly, he tries to prove +that the most remarkable and apparently anomalous phænomena exhibited by +the distribution, development, and mutual relations of species, can be +shown to be deducible from the general doctrine of their origin, which +he propounds, combined with the known facts of geological change; and +that, even if all these phænomena are not at present explicable by it, +none are necessarily inconsistent with it.</p> + +<p>There cannot be a doubt that the method of inquiry which Mr. Darwin has +adopted is not only rigorously in accordance with the canons of +scientific logic, but that it is the only adequate method. Critics +exclusively trained in classics or in mathematics, who have never +determined a scientific fact in their lives by induction from experiment +or observation, prate learnedly about Mr. Darwin's method, which is not +inductive enough, not Baconian enough, forsooth, for them. But even if +practical acquaintance with the process of scientific investigation is +denied them, they may learn, by the perusal of Mr. Mill's admirable +chapter "On the Deductive Method," that there are multitudes of +scientific inquiries, in which the method of pure induction helps the +investigator but a very little way.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The mode of investigation," says Mr. Mill, "which, from the proved +inapplicability of direct methods of observation and experiment, +remains to us as the main source of the knowledge we possess, or +can acquire, respecting the conditions and laws of recurrence of +the more complex phænomena, is called, in its most general +expression, the deductive method, and consists of three operations: +the first, one of direct induction; the second, of ratiocination; +and the third, of verification."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Now, the conditions which have determined the existence of species are +not only exceedingly complex, but, so far as the great majority of them +are concerned, are necessarily beyond our cognizance. But what Mr. +Darwin has attempted to do is in exact accordance with the rule laid +down by Mr. Mill; he has endeavoured to determine certain great facts +inductively, by observation and experiment; he has then reasoned from +the data thus furnished; and lastly, he has tested the validity of his +ratiocination by comparing his deductions with the observed facts of +Nature. Inductively, Mr. Darwin endeavours to prove that species arise +in a given way. Deductively, he desires to show that, if they arise in +that way, the facts of distribution, development, classification, &c., +may be accounted for, <i>i.e.</i> may be deduced from their mode of origin, +combined with admitted changes in physical geography and climate, during +an indefinite period. And this explanation, or coincidence of observed +with deduced facts, is, so far as it extends, a verification of the +Darwinian view.</p> + +<p>There is no fault to be found with Mr. Darwin's method, then; but it is +another question whether he has fulfilled all the conditions imposed by +that method. Is it satisfactorily proved, in fact, that species may be +originated by selection? that there is such a thing as natural +selection? that none of the phænomena exhibited by species are +inconsistent with the origin of species in this way? If these questions +can be answered in the affirmative, Mr. Darwin's view steps out of the +ranks of hypotheses into those of proved theories; but, so long as the +evidence at present adduced falls short of enforcing that affirmation, +so long, to our minds, must the new doctrine be content to remain among +the former—an extremely valuable, and in the highest degree probable, +doctrine, indeed the only extant hypothesis which is worth anything in a +scientific point of view; but still a hypothesis, and not yet the theory +of species.</p> + +<p>After much consideration, and with assuredly no bias against Mr. +Darwin's views, it is our clear conviction that, as the evidence stands, +it is not absolutely proven that a group of animals, having all the +characters exhibited by species in Nature, has ever been originated by +selection, whether artificial or natural. Groups having the +morphological character of species, distinct and permanent races in +fact, have been so produced over and over again; but there is no +positive evidence, at present, that any group of animals has, by +variation and selective breeding, given rise to another group which was +even in the least degree infertile with the first. Mr. Darwin is +perfectly aware of this weak point, and brings forward a multitude of +ingenious and important arguments to diminish the force of the +objection. We admit the value of these arguments to their fullest +extent; nay, we will go so far as to express our belief that +experiments, conducted by a skilful physiologist, would very probably +obtain the desired production of mutually more or less infertile breeds +from a common stock, in a comparatively few years; but still, as the +case stands at present, this "little rift within the lute" is not to be +disguised nor overlooked.</p> + +<p>In the remainder of Mr. Darwin's argument our own private ingenuity has +not hitherto enabled us to pick holes of any great importance; and +judging by what we hear and read, other adventurers in the same field do +not seem to have been much more fortunate. It has been urged, for +instance, that in his chapters on the struggle for existence and on +natural selection, Mr. Darwin does not so much prove that natural +selection does occur, as that it must occur; but, in fact, no other sort +of demonstration is attainable. A race does not attract our attention in +Nature until it has, in all probability, existed for a considerable +time, and then it is too late to inquire into the conditions of its +origin. Again, it is said that there is no real analogy between the +selection which takes place under domestication, by human influence, and +any operation which can be effected by Nature, for man interferes +intelligently. Reduced to its elements, this argument implies that an +effect produced with trouble by an intelligent agent must, <i>à fortiori</i>, +be more troublesome, if not impossible, to an unintelligent agent. Even +putting aside the question whether Nature, acting as she does according +to definite and invariable laws, can be rightly called an unintelligent +agent, such a position as this is wholly untenable. Mix salt and sand, +and it shall puzzle the wisest of men, with his mere natural appliances, +to separate all the grains of sand from all the grains of salt; but a +shower of rain will effect the same object in ten minutes. And so, while +man may find it tax all his intelligence to separate any variety which +arises, and to breed selectively from it, the destructive agencies +incessantly at work in Nature, if they find one variety to be more +soluble in circumstances than the other, will inevitably, in the long +run, eliminate it.</p> + +<p>A frequent and a just objection to the Lamarckian hypothesis of the +transmutation of species is based upon the absence of transitional forms +between many species. But against the Darwinian hypothesis this argument +has no force. Indeed, one of the most valuable and suggestive parts of +Mr. Darwin's work is that in which he proves, that the frequent absence +of transitions is a necessary consequence of his doctrine, and that the +stock whence two or more species have sprung, need in no respect be +intermediate between these species. If any two species have arisen from +a common stock in the same way as the carrier and the pouter, say, have +arisen from the rock-pigeon, then the common stock of these two species +need be no more intermediate between the two than the rock-pigeon is +between the carrier and pouter. Clearly appreciate the force of this +analogy, and all the arguments against the origin of species by +selection, based on the absence of transitional forms, fall to the +ground. And Mr. Darwin's position might, we think, have been even +stronger than it is if he had not embarrassed himself with the aphorism, +"<i>Natura non facit saltum</i>," which turns up so often in his pages. We +believe, as we have said above, that Nature does make jumps now and +then, and a recognition of the fact is of no small importance in +disposing of many minor objections to the doctrine of transmutation.</p> + +<p>But we must pause. The discussion of Mr. Darwin's arguments in detail +would lead us far beyond the limits within which we proposed, at +starting, to confine this article. Our object has been attained if we +have given an intelligible, however brief, account of the established +facts connected with species, and of the relation of the explanation of +those facts offered by Mr. Darwin to the theoretical views held by his +predecessors and his contemporaries, and, above all, to the requirements +of scientific logic. We have ventured to point out that it does not, as +yet, satisfy all those requirements; but we do not hesitate to assert +that it is as superior to any preceding or contemporary hypothesis, in +the extent of observational and experimental basis on which it rests, in +its rigorously scientific method, and in its power of explaining +biological phænomena, as was the hypothesis of Copernicus to the +speculations of Ptolemy. But the planetary orbits turned out to be not +quite circular after all, and, grand as was the service Copernicus +rendered to science, Kepler and Newton had to come after him. What if +the orbit of Darwinism should be a little too circular? What if species +should offer residual phænomena, here and there, not explicable by +natural selection? Twenty years hence naturalists may be in a position +to say whether this is, or is not, the case; but in either event they +will owe the author of "The Origin of Species" an immense debt of +gratitude. We should leave a very wrong impression on the reader's mind +if we permitted him to suppose that the value of that work depends +wholly on the ultimate justification of the theoretical views which it +contains. On the contrary, if they were disproved to-morrow, the book +would still be the best of its kind—the most compendious statement of +well-sifted facts bearing on the doctrine of species that has ever +appeared. The chapters on Variation, on the Struggle for Existence, on +Instinct, on Hybridism, on the Imperfection of the Geological Record, on +Geographical Distribution, have not only no equals, but, so far as our +knowledge goes, no competitors, within the range of biological +literature. And viewed as a whole, we do not believe that, since the +publication of Von Baer's Researches on Development, thirty years ago, +any work has appeared calculated to exert so large an influence, not +only on the future of Biology, but in extending the domination of +Science over regions of thought into which she has, as yet, hardly +penetrated.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> On the Osteology of the Chimpanzees and Orangs: +Transactions of the Zoological Society, 1858.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> Colonel Humphreys' statements are exceedingly explicit on +this point:—"When an Ancon ewe is impregnated by a common ram, the +increase resembles wholly either the ewe or the ram. The increase of the +common ewe impregnated by an Ancon ram follows entirely the one or the +other, without blending any of the distinguishing and essential +peculiarities of both. Frequent instances have happened where common +ewes have had twins by Ancon rams, when one exhibited the complete marks +and features of the ewe, the other of the ram. The contrast has been +rendered singularly striking, when one short-legged and one long-legged +lamb, produced at a birth, have been seen sucking the dam at the same +time."—<i>Philosophical Transactions</i>, 1813, Pt. I., pp. 89, 90.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> Recent investigations tend to show that this statement is +not strictly accurate.—1870.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> See Phil. Zoologique, vol. i. p. 222, et seq.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>XIII.</h2> + +<h3>CRITICISMS ON "THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES."</h3> + +<blockquote><p>1. <span class="smcap">Ueber die Darwin'sche Schöpfungstheorie; ein Vortag, von A. +Kölliker</span>. Leipzig, 1864.</p> + +<p>2. <span class="smcap">Examination du Livre de M. Darwin sur l'Origine des Espèces. +Par P. Flourens</span>. Paris, 1864.</p></blockquote> + + +<p>In the course of the present year [1864] several foreign commentaries +upon Mr. Darwin's great work have made their appearance. Those who have +perused that remarkable chapter of the "Antiquity of Man," in which Sir +Charles Lyell draws a parallel between the development of species and +that of languages, will be glad to hear that one of the most eminent +philologers of Germany, Professor Schleicher, has, independently, +published a most instructive and philosophical pamphlet (an excellent +notice of which is to be found in the <i>Reader</i>, for February 27th of +this year) supporting similar views with all the weight of his special +knowledge and established authority as a linguist. Professor Haeckel, to +whom Schleicher addresses himself, previously took occasion, in his +splendid monograph on the <i>Radiolaria</i>,<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> to express his high +appreciation of, and general concordance with, Mr. Darwin's views.</p> + +<p><a name="P329" id="P329"></a>But the most elaborate criticisms of the "Origin of Species" which have +appeared are two works of very widely different merit, the one by +Professor Kölliker, the well-known anatomist and histologist of +Würzburg; the other by M. Flourens, Perpetual Secretary of the French +Academy of Sciences.</p> + +<p>Professor Kölliker's critical essay "Upon the Darwinian Theory" is, like +all that proceeds from the pen of that thoughtful and accomplished +writer, worthy of the most careful consideration. It comprises a brief +but clear sketch of Darwin's views, followed by an enumeration of the +leading difficulties in the way of their acceptance; difficulties which +would appear to be insurmountable to Professor Kölliker, inasmuch as he +proposes to replace Mr. Darwin's Theory by one which he terms the +"Theory of Heterogeneous Generation." We shall proceed to consider first +the destructive, and secondly, the constructive portion of the essay.</p> + +<p>We regret to find ourselves compelled to dissent very widely from many +of Professor Kölliker's remarks; and from none more thoroughly than from +those in which he seeks to define what we may term the philosophical +position of Darwinism.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Darwin," says Professor Kölliker, "is, in the fullest sense of the +Word, a Teleologist. He says quite distinctly (First Edition, pp. +199, 200) that every particular in the structure of an animal has +been created for its benefit, and he regards the whole series of +animal forms only from this point of view."</p></blockquote> + +<p>And again:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"7. The teleological general conception adopted by Darwin is a +mistaken one.</p> + +<p>"Varieties arise irrespectively of the notion of purpose, or of +utility, according to general laws of Nature, and may be either +useful, or hurtful, or indifferent.</p> + +<p>"The assumption that an organism exists only on account of some +definite end in view, and represents something more than the +incorporation of a general idea, or law, implies a one-sided +conception of the universe. Assuredly, every organ has, and every +organism fulfils, its end, but its purpose is not the condition of +its existence. Every organism is also sufficiently perfect for the +purpose it serves, and in that, at least, it is useless to seek for +a cause of its improvement."</p></blockquote> + +<p>It is singular how differently one and the same book will impress +different minds. That which struck the present writer most forcibly on +his first perusal of the "Origin of Species" was the conviction that +Teleology, as commonly understood, had received its deathblow at Mr. +Darwin's hands. For the teleological argument runs thus: an organ or +organism (A) is precisely fitted to perform a function or purpose (B); +therefore it was specially constructed to perform that function. In +Paley's famous illustration, the adaptation of all the parts of the +watch to the function, or purpose, of showing the time, is held to be +evidence that the watch was specially contrived to that end; on the +ground, that the only cause we know of, competent to produce such an +effect as a watch which shall keep time, is a contriving intelligence +adapting the means directly to that end.</p> + +<p>Suppose, however, that any one had been able to show that the watch had +not been made directly by any person, but that it was the result of the +modification of another watch which kept time but poorly; and that this +again had proceeded from a structure which could hardly be called a +watch at all—seeing that it had no figures on the dial and the hands +were rudimentary; and that going back and back in time we came at last +to a revolving barrel as the earliest traceable rudiment of the whole +fabric. And imagine that it had been possible to show that all these +changes had resulted, first, from a tendency of the structure to vary +indefinitely; and secondly, from something in the surrounding world +which helped all variations in the direction of an accurate time-keeper, +and checked all those in other directions; then it is obvious that the +force of Paley's argument would be gone. For it would be demonstrated +that an apparatus thoroughly well adapted to a particular purpose might +be the result of a method of trial and error worked by unintelligent +agents, as well as of the direct application of the means appropriate to +that end, by an intelligent agent.</p> + +<p>Now it appears to us that what we have here, for illustration's sake, +supposed to be done with the watch, is exactly what the establishment of +Darwin's Theory will do for the organic world. For the notion that every +organism has been created as it is and launched straight at a purpose, +Mr. Darwin substitutes the conception of something which may fairly be +termed a method of trial and error. Organisms vary incessantly; of these +variations the few meet with surrounding conditions which suit them and +thrive; the many are unsuited and become extinguished.</p> + +<p>According to Teleology, each organism is like a rifle bullet fired +straight at a mark; according to Darwin, organisms are like grapeshot of +which one hits something and the rest fall wide.</p> + +<p>For the teleologist an organism exists because it was made for the +conditions in which it is found; for the Darwinian an organism exists +because, out of many of its kind, it is the only one which has been +able to persist in the conditions in which it is found.</p> + +<p>Teleology implies that the organs of every organism are perfect and +cannot be improved; the Darwinian theory simply affirms that they work +well enough to enable the organism to hold its own against such +competitors as it has met with, but admits the possibility of indefinite +improvement. But an example may bring into clearer light the profound +opposition between the ordinary teleological, and the Darwinian, +conception.</p> + +<p>Cats catch mice, small birds and the like, very well. Teleology tells us +that they do so because they were expressly constructed for so +doing—that they are perfect mousing apparatuses, so perfect and so +delicately adjusted that no one of their organs could be altered, +without the change involving the alteration of all the rest. Darwinism +affirms, on the contrary, that there was no express construction +concerned in the matter; but that among the multitudinous variations of +the Feline stock, many of which died out from want of power to resist +opposing influences, some, the cats, were better fitted to catch mice +than others, whence they throve and persisted, in proportion to the +advantage over their fellows thus offered to them.</p> + +<p>Far from imagining that cats exist <i>in order</i> to catch mice well, +Darwinism supposes that cats exist <i>because</i> they catch mice +well—mousing being not the end, but the condition, of their existence. +And if the cat-type has long persisted as we know it, the interpretation +of the fact upon Darwinian principles would be, not that the cats have +remained invariable, but that such varieties as have incessantly +occurred have been, on the whole, less fitted to get on in the world +than the existing stock.</p> + +<p>If we apprehend the spirit of the "Origin of Species" rightly, then, +nothing can be more entirely and absolutely opposed to Teleology, as it +is commonly understood, than the Darwinian Theory. So far from being a +"Teleologist in the fullest sense of the word," we should deny that he +is a Teleologist in the ordinary sense at all; and we should say that, +apart from his merits as a naturalist, he has rendered a most remarkable +service to philosophical thought by enabling the student of Nature to +recognise, to their fullest extent, those adaptations to purpose which +are so striking in the organic world, and which Teleology has done good +service in keeping before our minds, without being false to the +fundamental principles of a scientific conception of the universe. The +apparently diverging teachings of the Teleologist and of the +Morphologist are reconciled by the Darwinian hypothesis.</p> + +<p>But leaving our own impressions of the "Origin of Species," and turning +to those passages specially cited by Professor Kölliker, we cannot admit +that they bear the interpretation he puts upon them. Darwin, if we read +him rightly, does <i>not</i> affirm that every detail in the structure of an +animal has been created for its benefit. His words are (p. 199):—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The foregoing remarks lead me to say a few words on the protest +lately made by some naturalists against the utilitarian doctrine +that every detail of structure has been produced for the good of +its possessor. They believe that very many structures have been +created for beauty in the eyes of man, or for mere variety. This +doctrine, if true, would be absolutely fatal to my theory—yet I +fully admit that many structures are of no direct use to their +possessor."</p></blockquote> + +<p>And after sundry illustrations and qualifications, he concludes (p. +200):—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Hence every detail of structure in every living creature (making +some little allowance for the direct action of physical conditions) +may be viewed either as having been of special use to some +ancestral form, or as being now of special use to the descendants +of this form—either directly, or indirectly, through the complex +laws of growth."</p></blockquote> + +<p>But it is one thing to say, Darwinically, that every detail observed in +an animal's structure is of use to it, or has been of use to its +ancestors; and quite another to affirm, teleologically, that every +detail of an animal's structure has been created for its benefit. On the +former hypothesis, for example, the teeth of the fœtal <i>Balæna</i> have +a meaning; on the latter, none. So far as we are aware, there is not a +phrase in the "Origin of Species," inconsistent with Professor +Kölliker's position, that "varieties arise irrespectively of the notion +of purpose, or of utility, according to general laws of Nature, and may +be either useful, or hurtful, or indifferent."</p> + +<p>On the contrary, Mr. Darwin writes (Summary of Chap. V.):—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Our ignorance of the laws of variation is profound. Not in one +case out of a hundred can we pretend to assign any reason why this +or that part varies more or less from the same part in the +parents.... The external conditions of life, as climate and food, +&c. seem to have induced some slight modifications. Habit, in +producing constitutional differences, and use, in strengthening, +and disuse, in weakening and diminishing organs, seem to have been +more potent in their effects."</p></blockquote> + +<p>And finally, as if to prevent all possible misconception, Mr. Darwin +concludes his Chapter on Variation with these pregnant words:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Whatever the cause may be of each slight difference in the +offspring from their parents—and a cause for each must exist—it +is the steady accumulation, through natural selection of such +differences, when beneficial to the individual, that gives rise to +all the more important modifications of structure, by which the +innumerable beings on the face of the earth are enabled to struggle +with each other, and the best adapted to survive."</p></blockquote> + +<p>We have dwelt at length upon this subject, because of its great general +importance, and because we believe that Professor Kölliker's criticisms +on this head are based upon a misapprehension of Mr. Darwin's +views—substantially they appear to us to coincide with his own. The +other objections which Professor Kölliker enumerates and discusses are +the following:<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a>—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"1. No transitional forms between existing species are known; and +known varieties, whether selected or spontaneous, never go so far +as to establish new species."</p></blockquote> + +<p>To this Professor Kölliker appears to attach some weight. He makes the +suggestion that the short-faced tumbler pigeon may be a pathological +product.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"2. No transitional forms of animals are met with among the organic +remains of earlier epochs."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Upon this, Professor Kölliker remarks that the absence of transitional +forms in the fossil world, though not necessarily fatal to Darwin's +views, weakens his case.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"3. The struggle for existence does not take place."</p></blockquote> + +<p>To this objection, urged by Pelzeln, Kölliker, very justly, attaches no +weight.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"4. A tendency of organisms to give rise to useful varieties, and a +natural selection, do not exist.</p> + +<p>"The varieties which are found arise in consequence of manifold +external influences, and it is not obvious why they all, or +partially, should be particularly useful. Each animal suffices for +its own ends, is perfect of its kind, and needs no further +development. Should, however, a variety be useful and even maintain +itself, there is no obvious reason why it should change any +further. The whole conception of the imperfection of organisms and +the necessity of their becoming perfected is plainly the weakest +side of Darwin's Theory, and a <i>pis aller</i> (Nothbehelf) because +Darwin could think of no other principle by which to explain the +metamorphoses which, as I also believe, have occurred."</p></blockquote> + +<p class='tbrk'>Here again we must venture to dissent completely from Professor +Kölliker's conception of Mr. Darwin's hypothesis. It appears to us to be +one of the many peculiar merits of that hypothesis that it involves no +belief in a necessary and continual progress of organisms.</p> + +<p>Again, Mr. Darwin, if we read him aright, assumes no special tendency of +organisms to give rise to useful varieties, and knows nothing of needs +of development, or necessity of perfection. What he says is, in +substance: All organisms vary. It is in the highest degree improbable +that any given variety should have exactly the same relations to +surrounding conditions as the parent stock. In that case it is either +better fitted (when the variation may be called useful), or worse +fitted, to cope with them. If better, it will tend to supplant the +parent stock; if worse, it will tend to be extinguished by the parent +stock.</p> + +<p>If (as is hardly conceivable) the new variety is so perfectly adapted to +the conditions that no improvement upon it is possible,—it will +persist, because, though it does not cease to vary, the varieties will +be inferior to itself.</p> + +<p>If, as is more probable, the new variety is by no means perfectly +adapted to its conditions, but only fairly well adapted to them, it will +persist, so long as none of the varieties which it throws off are +better adapted than itself.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, as soon as it varies in a useful way, <i>i.e.</i> when the +variation is such as to adapt it more perfectly to its conditions, the +fresh variety will tend to supplant the former.</p> + +<p>So far from a gradual progress towards perfection forming any necessary +part of the Darwinian creed, it appears to us that it is perfectly +consistent with indefinite persistence in one state, or with a gradual +retrogression. Suppose, for example, a return of the glacial epoch and a +spread of polar climatal conditions over the whole globe. The operation +of natural selection under these circumstances would tend, on the whole, +to the weeding out of the higher organisms and the cherishing of the +lower forms of life. Cryptogamic vegetation would have the advantage +over Phanerogamic; <i>Hydrozoa</i> over Corals; <i>Crustacea</i> over <i>Insecta</i>, +and <i>Amphipoda</i> and <i>Isopoda</i> over the higher <i>Crustacea</i>; Cetaceans and +Seals over the <i>Primates</i>; the civilization of the Esquimaux over that +of the European.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"5. Pelzeln has also objected that if the later organisms have +proceeded from the earlier, the whole developmental series, from +the simplest to the highest, could not now exist; in such a case +the simpler organisms must have disappeared."</p></blockquote> + +<p>To this Professor Kölliker replies, with perfect justice, that the +conclusion drawn by Pelzeln does not really follow from Darwin's +premises, and that, if we take the facts of Palæontology as they stand, +they rather support than oppose Darwin's theory.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"6. Great weight must be attached to the objection brought forward +by Huxley, otherwise a warm supporter of Darwin's hypothesis, that +we know of no varieties which are sterile with one another, as is +the rule among sharply distinguished animal forms.</p> + +<p>"If Darwin is right, it must be demonstrated that forms may be +produced by selection, which, like the present sharply +distinguished animal forms, are infertile when coupled with one +another, and this has not been done."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The weight of this objection is obvious; but our ignorance of the +conditions of fertility and sterility, the want of carefully conducted +experiments extending over long series of years, and the strange +anomalies presented by the results of the cross-fertilization of many +plants, should all, as Mr. Darwin has urged, be taken into account in +considering it.</p> + +<p>The seventh objection is that we have already +discussed (<i>suprà</i>, <a href="#P329">here.</a>).</p> + +<p>The eighth and last stands as follows:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"8. The developmental theory of Darwin is not needed to enable us +to understand the regular harmonious progress of the complete +series of organic forms from the simpler to the more perfect.</p> + +<p>"The existence of general laws of Nature explains this harmony, +even if we assume that all beings have arisen separately and +independent of one another. Darwin forgets that inorganic nature, +in which there can be no thought of a genetic connexion of forms, +exhibits the same regular plan, the same harmony, as the organic +world; and that, to cite only one example, there is as much a +natural system of minerals as of plants and animals."</p></blockquote> + +<p>We do not feel quite sure that we seize Professor Kölliker's meaning +here, but he appears to suggest that the observation of the general +order and harmony which pervade inorganic nature, would lead us to +anticipate a similar order and harmony in the organic world. And this is +no doubt true, but it by no means follows that the particular order and +harmony observed among them should be that which we see. Surely the +stripes of dun horses, and the teeth of the fœtal <i>Balæna</i>, are not +explained by the "existence of general laws of Nature." Mr. Darwin +endeavours to explain the exact order of organic nature which exists; +not the mere fact that there is some order.</p> + +<p>And with regard to the existence of a natural system of minerals; the +obvious reply is that there may be a natural classification of any +objects—of stones on a sea-beach, or of works of art; a natural +classification being simply an assemblage of objects in groups, so as to +express their most important and fundamental resemblances and +differences. No doubt Mr. Darwin believes that those resemblances and +differences upon which our natural systems or classifications of animals +and plants are based, are resemblances and differences which have been +produced genetically, but we can discover no reason for supposing that +he denies the existence of natural classifications of other kinds.</p> + +<p>And, after all, is it quite so certain that a genetic relation may not +underlie the classification of minerals? The inorganic world has not +always been what we see it. It has certainly had its metamorphoses, and, +very probably, a long "Entwickelungsgeschichte" out of a nebular +blastema. Who knows how far that amount of likeness among sets of +minerals, in virtue of which they are now grouped into families and +orders, may not be the expression of the common conditions to which that +particular patch of nebulous fog, which may have been constituted by +their atoms, and of which they may be, in the strictest sense, the +descendants, was subjected?</p> + +<p>It will be obvious from what has preceded, that we do not agree with +Professor Kölliker in thinking the objections which he brings forward +so weighty as to be fatal to Darwin's view. But even if the case were +otherwise, we should be unable to accept the "Theory of Heterogeneous +Generation" which is offered as a substitute. That theory is thus +stated:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The fundamental conception of this hypothesis is, that, under the +influence of a general law of development, the germs of organisms +produce others different from themselves. This might happen (1) by +the fecundated ova passing, in the course of their development, +under particular circumstances, into higher forms; (2) by the +primitive and later organisms producing other organisms without +fecundation, out of germs or eggs (Parthenogenesis)."</p></blockquote> + +<p>In favour of this hypothesis, Professor Kölliker adduces the well-known +facts of Agamogenesis, or "alternate generation;" the extreme +dissimilarity of the males and females of many animals; and of the +males, females, and neuters of those insects which live in colonies: and +he defines its relations to the Darwinian theory as follows:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"It is obvious that my hypothesis is apparently very similar to +Darwin's, inasmuch as I also consider that the various forms of +animals have proceeded directly from one another. My hypothesis of +the creation of organisms by heterogeneous generation, however, is +distinguished very essentially from Darwin's by the entire absence +of the principle of useful variations and their natural selection; +and my fundamental conception is this, that a great plan of +development lies at the foundation of the origin of the whole +organic world, impelling the simpler forms to more and more complex +developments. How this law operates, what influences determine the +development of the eggs and germs, and impel them to assume +constantly new forms, I naturally cannot pretend to say; but I can +at least adduce the great analogy of the alternation of +generations. If a <i>Bipinnaria</i>, a <i>Brachialaria</i>, a <i>Pluteus</i>, is +competent to produce the Echinoderm, which is so widely different +from it; if a hydroid polype can produce the higher Medusa; if the +vermiform Trematode 'nurse' can develop within itself the very +unlike <i>Cercaria</i>, it will not appear impossible that the egg, or +ciliated embryo, of a sponge, for once, under special conditions, +might become a hydroid polype, or the embryo of a Medusa, an +Echinoderm."</p></blockquote> + +<p>It is obvious, from these extracts, that Professor Kölliker's hypothesis +is based upon the supposed existence of a close analogy between the +phænomena of Agamogenesis and the production of new species from +pre-existing ones. But is the analogy a real one? We think that it is +not, and, by the hypothesis, cannot be.</p> + +<p>For what are the phænomena of Agamogenesis, stated generally? An +impregnated egg develops into an asexual form, A; this gives rise, +asexually, to a second form or forms, B, more or less different from A. +B may multiply asexually again; in the simpler cases, however, it does +not, but, acquiring sexual characters, produces impregnated eggs from +whence A once more arises.</p> + +<p>No case of Agamogenesis is known in which, <i>when A differs widely from +B</i>, it is itself capable of sexual propagation. No case whatever is +known in which the progeny of B, by sexual generation, is other than a +reproduction of A.</p> + +<p>But if this be a true statement of the nature of the process of +Agamogenesis, how can it enable us to comprehend the production of new +species from already existing ones? Let us suppose Hyænas to have +preceded Dogs, and to have produced the latter in this way. Then the +Hyæna will represent A, and the Dog, B. The first difficulty that +presents itself is that the Hyæna must be asexual, or the process will +be wholly without analogy in the world of Agamogenesis. But passing over +this difficulty, and supposing a male and female Dog to be produced at +the same time from the Hyæna stock, the progeny of the pair, if the +analogy of the simpler kinds of Agamogenesis<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> is to be followed, +should be a litter, not of puppies, but of young Hyænas. For the +Agamogenetic series is always, as we have seen, A: B: A: B, &c.; +whereas, for the production of a new species, the series must be A: B: +B: B, &c. The production of new species, or genera, is the extreme +permanent divergence from the primitive stock. All known Agamogenetic +processes, on the other hand, end in a complete return to the primitive +stock. How then is the production of new species to be rendered +intelligible by the analogy of Agamogenesis?</p> + +<p>The other alternative put by Professor Kölliker—the passage of +fecundated ova in the course of their development into higher +forms—would, if it occurred, be merely an extreme case of variation in +the Darwinian sense, greater in degree than, but perfectly similar in +kind to, that which occurred when the well-known Ancon Ram was developed +from an ordinary Ewe's ovum. Indeed we have always thought that Mr. +Darwin has unnecessarily hampered himself by adhering so strictly to his +favourite "Natura non facit saltum." We greatly suspect that she does +make considerable jumps in the way of variation now and then, and that +these saltations give rise to some of the gaps which appear to exist in +the series of known forms.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>Strongly and freely as we have ventured to disagree with Professor +Kölliker, we have always done so with regret, and we trust without +violating that respect which is due, not only to his scientific eminence +and to the careful study which he has devoted to the subject, but to the +perfect fairness of his argumentation, and the generous appreciation of +the worth of Mr. Darwin's labours which he always displays. It would be +satisfactory to be able to say as much for M. Flourens.</p> + +<p>But the Perpetual Secretary of the French Academy of Sciences deals with +Mr. Darwin as the first Napoleon would have treated an "idéologue;" and +while displaying a painful weakness of logic and shallowness of +information, assumes a tone of authority, which always touches upon the +ludicrous, and sometimes passes the limits of good breeding.</p> + +<p>For example (p. 56):—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"M. Darwin continue: 'Aucune distinction absolue n'a été et ne peut +être établie entre les espèces et les variétés.' Je vous ai déjà +dit que vous vous trompiez; une distinction absolue sépare les +variétés d'avec les espèces."</p></blockquote> + +<p>"<i>Je vous ai déjà dit</i>; moi, M. le Secrétaire perpétuel de l'Académie +des Sciences: et vous</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class='stanza'><div>'Qui n'êtes rien,</div> +<div>Pas même Académicien;'</div></div> +</div> + +<p>what do you mean by asserting the contrary?" Being devoid of the +blessings of an Academy in England, we are unaccustomed to see our +ablest men treated in this fashion even by a "Perpetual Secretary."</p> + +<p>Or again, considering that if there is any one quality of Mr. Darwin's +work to which friends and foes have alike borne witness, it is his +candour and fairness in admitting and discussing objections, what is to +be thought of M. Flourens' assertion, that</p> + +<blockquote><p>"M. Darwin ne cite que les auteurs qui partagent ses opinions." (P. +40.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>Once more (p. 65):</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Enfin l'ouvrage de M. Darwin a paru. On ne peut qu'être frappé du +talent de l'auteur. Mais que d'idées obscures, que d'idées fausses! +Quel jargon métaphysique jeté mal à propos dans l'histoire +naturelle, qui tombe dans le galimatias dès qu'elle sort des idées +claires, des idées justes! Quel langage prétentieux et vide! +Quelles personifications puériles et surannées! O lucidité! O +solidité de l'esprit Français, que devenez-vous?"</p></blockquote> + +<p>"Obscure ideas," "metaphysical jargon," "pretentious and empty +language," "puerile and superannuated personifications." Mr. Darwin has +many and hot opponents on this side of the Channel and in Germany, but +we do not recollect to have found precisely these sins in the long +catalogue of those hitherto laid to his charge. It is worth while, +therefore, to examine into these discoveries effected solely by the aid +of the "lucidity and solidity" of the mind of M. Flourens.</p> + +<p>According to M. Flourens, Mr. Darwin's great error is that he has +personified Nature (p. 10), and further that he has</p> + +<blockquote><p>"imagined a natural selection: he imagines afterwards that this +power of selecting (<i>pouvoir d'élire</i>) which he gives to Nature is +similar to the power of man. These two suppositions admitted, +nothing stops him: he plays with Nature as he likes, and makes her +do all he pleases." (P. 6.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>And this is the way M. Flourens extinguishes natural selection:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Voyons donc encore une fois, ce qu'il peut y avoir de fondé dans +ce qu'on nomme <i>élection naturelle</i>.</p> + +<p>"<i>L'élection naturelle</i> n'est sous un autre nom que la nature. Pour +un être organísé, la nature n'est que l'organisation, ni plus ni +moins.</p> + +<p>"Il faudra donc aussi personnifier <i>l'organisation</i>, et dire que +<i>l'organisation</i> choisit <i>l'organisation</i>. <i>L'election naturelle</i> +est cette <i>forme substantielle</i> dont on jonait autrefois avec tant +de facilité. Aristote disait que 'Si l'art de bâtir était dans le +bois, cet art agirait comme la nature.' A la place de <i>l'art de +bâtir</i> M. Darwin met <i>l'election naturelle</i>, et c'est tout un: l'un +n'est pas plus chimérique que l'autre." (P. 31.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>And this is really all that M. Flourens can make of Natural Selection. +We have given the original, in fear lest a translation should be +regarded as a travesty; but with the original before the reader, we may +try to analyse the passage. "For an organized being, Nature is only +organization, neither more nor less."</p> + +<p>Organized beings then have absolutely no relation to inorganic nature: a +plant does not depend on soil or sunshine, climate, depth in the ocean, +height above it; the quantity of saline matters in water have no +influence upon animal life; the substitution of carbonic acid for oxygen +in our atmosphere would hurt nobody! That these are absurdities no one +should know better than M. Flourens; but they are logical deductions +from the assertion just quoted, and from the further statement that +natural selection means only that "organization chooses and selects +organization."</p> + +<p>For if it be once admitted (what no sane man denies) that the chances of +life of any given organism are increased by certain conditions (A) and +diminished by their opposites (B), then it is mathematically certain +that any change of conditions in the direction of (A) will exercise a +selective influence in favour of that organism, tending to its increase +and multiplication, while any change in the direction of (B) will +exercise a selective influence against that organism, tending to its +decrease and extinction.</p> + +<p>Or, on the other hand, conditions remaining the same, let a given +organism vary (and no one doubts that they do vary) in two directions: +into one form (<i>a</i>) better fitted to cope with these conditions than the +original stock, and a second (<i>b</i>) less well adapted to them. Then it is +no less certain that the conditions in question must exercise a +selective influence in favour of (<i>a</i>) and against (<i>b</i>), so that (<i>a</i>) +will tend to predominance, and (<i>b</i>) to extirpation.</p> + +<p>That M. Flourens should be unable to perceive the logical necessity of +these simple arguments, which lie at the foundation of all Mr. Darwin's +reasoning; that he should confound an irrefragable deduction from the +observed relations of organisms to the conditions which lie around them, +with a metaphysical "forme substantielle," or a chimerical +personification of the powers of Nature, would be incredible, were it +not that other passages of his work leave no room for doubt upon the +subject.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"On imagine une <i>élection naturelle</i> que, pour plus de ménagement, +on me dit être <i>inconsciente</i>, sans s'apercevoir que le contre-sens +littéral est précisément là: <i>élection inconsciente</i>." (P. 52.)</p> + +<p>"J'ai déjà dit ce qu'il faut penser de <i>l'élection naturelle</i>. Ou +<i>l'élection naturelle</i> n'est rien, ou c'est la nature: mais la +nature douée <i>d'élection</i>, mais la nature personnifiée: dernière +erreur du dernier siècle: Le xix^e ne fait plus de +personnifications." (P. 53.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>M. Flourens cannot imagine an unconscious selection—it is for him a +contradiction in terms. Did M. Flourens ever visit one of the prettiest +watering-places of "la belle France," the Baie d'Arcachon? If so, he +will probably have passed through the district of the Landes, and will +have had an opportunity of observing the formation of "dunes" on a grand +scale. What are these "dunes?" The winds and waves of the Bay of Biscay +have not much consciousness, and yet they have with great care +"selected," from among an infinity of masses of silex of all shapes and +sizes, which have been submitted to their action, all the grains of sand +below a certain size, and have heaped them by themselves over a great +area. This sand has been "unconsciously selected" from amidst the gravel +in which it first lay with as much precision as if man had "consciously +selected" it by the aid of a sieve. Physical Geology is full of such +selections—of the picking out of the soft from the hard, of the soluble +from the insoluble, of the fusible from the infusible, by natural +agencies to which we are certainly not in the habit of ascribing +consciousness.</p> + +<p>But that which wind and sea are to a sandy beach, the sum of influences, +which we term the "conditions of existence," is to living organisms. The +weak are sifted out from the strong. A frosty night "selects" the hardy +plants in a plantation from among the tender ones as effectually as if +it were the wind, and they, the sand and pebbles, of our illustration; +or, on the other hand, as if the intelligence of a gardener had been +operative in cutting the weaker organisms down. The thistle, which has +spread over the Pampas, to the destruction of native plants, has been +more effectually "selected" by the unconscious operation of natural +conditions than if a thousand agriculturists had spent their time in +sowing it.</p> + +<p>It is one of Mr. Darwin's many great services to Biological science that +he has demonstrated the significance of these facts. He has shown +that—given variation and given change of conditions—the inevitable +result is the exercise of such an influence upon organisms that one is +helped and another is impeded; one tends to predominate, another to +disappear; and thus the living world bears within itself, and is +surrounded by, impulses towards incessant change.</p> + +<p>But the truths just stated are as certain as any other physical laws, +quite independently of the truth, or falsehood, of the hypothesis which +Mr. Darwin has based upon them; and that M. Flourens, missing the +substance and grasping at a shadow, should be blind to the admirable +exposition of them, which Mr. Darwin has given, and see nothing there +but a "dernière erreur du dernier siècle"—a personification of +Nature—leads us indeed to cry with him: "O lucidité! O solidité de +l'esprit Français, que devenez-vous?"</p> + +<p>M. Flourens has, in fact, utterly failed to comprehend the first +principles of the doctrine which he assails so rudely. His objections to +details are of the old sort, so battered and hackneyed on this side of +the Channel, that not even a Quarterly Reviewer could be induced to pick +them up for the purpose of pelting Mr. Darwin over again. We have Cuvier +and the mummies; M. Roulin and the domesticated animals of America; the +difficulties presented by hybridism and by Palæontology; Darwinism a +<i>rifacciamento</i> of De Maillet and Lamarck; Darwinism a system without a +commencement, and its author bound to believe in M. Pouchet, &c. &c. How +one knows it all by heart, and with what relief one reads at p. 65—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class='stanza'><div>"Je laisse M. Darwin!"</div></div> +</div> + +<p>But we cannot leave M. Flourens without calling our readers' attention +to his wonderful tenth chapter, "De la Préexistence des Germes et de +l'Epigénèse," which opens thus:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Spontaneous generation is only a chimæra. This point established, +two hypotheses remain: that of <i>pre-existence</i> and that of +<i>epigenesis</i>. The one of these hypotheses has as little foundation +as the other." (P. 163.)</p> + +<p>"The doctrine of <i>epigenesis</i> is derived from Harvey: following by +ocular inspection the development of the new being in the Windsor +does, he saw each part appear successively, and taking the moment +of <i>appearance</i> for the moment of <i>formation</i> he imagined +<i>epigenesis</i>." (P. 165.)</p></blockquote> + +<p>On the contrary, says M. Flourens (p. 167),</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The new being is formed at a stroke (<i>tout d'un coup</i>), as a +whole, instantaneously; it is not formed part by part, and at +different times. It is formed at once; it is formed at the single +<i>individual</i> moment at which the conjunction of the male and female +elements takes place."</p></blockquote> + +<p>It will be observed that M. Flourens uses language which cannot be +mistaken. For him, the labours of Von Baer, of Rathke, of Coste, and +their contemporaries and successors in Germany, France, and England, are +non-existent; and, as Darwin "<i>imagina</i>" natural selection, so Harvey +"<i>imagina</i>" that doctrine which gives him an even greater claim to the +veneration of posterity than his better known discovery of the +circulation of the blood.</p> + +<p>Language such as that we have quoted is, in fact, so preposterous, so +utterly incompatible with anything but absolute ignorance of some of the +best established facts, that we should have passed it over in silence +had it not appeared to afford some clue to M. Flourens' unhesitating, <i>à +priori</i>, repudiation of all forms of the doctrine of the progressive +modification of living beings. He whose mind remains uninfluenced by an +acquaintance with the phænomena of development, must indeed lack one of +the chief motives towards the endeavour to trace a genetic relation +between the different existing forms of life. Those who are ignorant of +Geology, find no difficulty in believing that the world was made as it +is; and the shepherd, untutored in history, sees no reason to regard the +green mounds which indicate the site of a Roman camp, as aught but part +and parcel of the primæval hill-side. So M. Flourens, who believes that +embryos are formed "tout d'un coup," naturally finds no difficulty in +conceiving that species came into existence in the same way.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> "Die Radiolarien: eine Monographie," p. 231.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> Space will not allow us to give Professor Kölliker's +arguments in detail; our readers will find a full and accurate version +of them in the <i>Reader</i> for August 13th and 20th, 1864.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> If, on the contrary, we follow the analogy of the more +complex forms of Agamogenesis, such as that exhibited by some +<i>Trematoda</i> and by the <i>Aphides</i>, the Hyæna must produce, asexually, a +brood of asexual Dogs, from which other sexless Dogs must proceed. At +the end of a certain number of terms of the series, the Dogs would +acquire sexes and generate young; but these young would be, not Dogs, +but Hyænas. In fact, we have <i>demonstrated</i>, in Agamogenetic phænomena, +that inevitable recurrence to the original type, which is <i>asserted</i> to +be true of variations in general, by Mr. Darwin's opponents; and which, +if the assertion could be changed into a demonstration, would, in fact, +be fatal to his hypothesis.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>XIV.</h2> + +<h3>ON DESCARTES' "DISCOURSE TOUCHING THE METHOD OF USING ONE'S REASON +RIGHTLY AND OF SEEKING SCIENTIFIC TRUTH."</h3> + + +<p>It has been well said that "all the thoughts of men, from the beginning +of the world until now, are linked together into one great chain;" but +the conception of the intellectual filiation of mankind which is +expressed in these words may, perhaps, be more fitly shadowed forth by a +different metaphor. The thoughts of men seem rather to be comparable to +the leaves, flowers, and fruit upon the innumerable branches of a few +great stems, fed by commingled and hidden roots. These stems bear the +names of the half-a-dozen men, endowed with intellects of heroic force +and clearness, to whom we are led, at whatever point of the world of +thought the attempt to trace its history commences; just as certainly as +the following up the small twigs of a tree to the branchlets which bear +them, and tracing the branchlets to their supporting branches, brings +us, sooner or later, to the bole.</p> + +<p>It seems to me that the thinker who, more than any other, stands in the +relation of such a stem towards the philosophy and the science of the +modern world is René Descartes. I mean, that if you lay hold of any +characteristic product of modern ways of thinking, either in the region +of philosophy, or in that of science, you find the spirit of that +thought, if not its form, to have been present in the mind of the great +Frenchman.</p> + +<p>There are some men who are counted great because they represent the +actuality of their own age, and mirror it as it is. Such an one was +Voltaire, of whom it was epigrammatically said, "he expressed +everybody's thoughts better than anybody."<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> But there are other men +who attain greatness because they embody the potentiality of their own +day, and magically reflect the future. They express the thoughts which +will be everybody's two or three centuries after them. Such an one was +Descartes.</p> + +<p>Born, in 1596, nearly three hundred years ago, of a noble family in +Touraine, René Descartes grew up into a sickly and diminutive child, +whose keen wit soon gained him that title of "the Philosopher," which, +in the mouths of his noble kinsmen, was more than, half a reproach. The +best schoolmasters of the day, the Jesuits, educated him as well as a +French boy of the seventeenth century could be educated. And they must +have done their work honestly and well, for, before his schoolboy days +were over, he had discovered that the most of what he had learned, +except in mathematics, was devoid of solid and real value.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Therefore," says he, in that "Discourse"<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> which I have taken +for my text, "as soon as I was old enough to be set free from the +government of my teachers, I entirely forsook the study of letters; +and determining to seek no other knowledge than that which I could +discover within myself, or in the great book of the world, I spent +the remainder of my youth in travelling; in seeing courts and +armies; in the society of people of different humours and +conditions; in gathering varied experience; in testing myself by +the chances of fortune; and in always trying to profit by my +reflections on what happened.... And I always had an intense desire +to learn how to distinguish truth from falsehood, in order to be +clear about my actions, and to walk surefootedly in this life."</p></blockquote> + +<p>But "learn what is true, in order to do what is right," is the summing +up of the whole duty of man, for all who are unable to satisfy their +mental hunger with the east wind of authority; and to those of us +moderns who are in this position, it is one of Descartes' great claims +to our reverence as a spiritual ancestor, that, at three-and-twenty, he +saw clearly that this was his duty, and acted up to his conviction. At +two-and-thirty, in fact, finding all other occupations incompatible with +the search after the knowledge which leads to action, and being +possessed of a modest competence, he withdrew into Holland; where he +spent nine years in learning and thinking, in such retirement that only +one or two trusted friends knew of his whereabouts.</p> + +<p>In 1637 the firstfruits of these long meditations were given to the +world in the famous "Discourse touching the Method of using Reason +rightly and of seeking scientific Truth," which, at once an +autobiography and a philosophy, clothes the deepest thought in language +of exquisite harmony, simplicity, and clearness.</p> + +<p>The central propositions of the whole "Discourse" are these. There is a +path that leads to truth so surely, that if any one who will follow it +must needs reach the goal, whether his capacity be great or small. And +there is one guiding rule by which a man may always find this path, and +keep himself from straying when he has found it. This golden rule +is—give unqualified assent to no propositions but those the truth of +which is so clear and distinct that they cannot be doubted.</p> + +<p>The enunciation of this great first commandment of science consecrated +Doubt. It removed Doubt from the seat of penance among the grievous sins +to which it had long been condemned, and enthroned it in that high place +among the primary duties, which is assigned to it by the scientific +conscience of these latter days. Descartes was the first among the +moderns to obey this commandment deliberately; and, as a matter of +religious duty, to strip off all his beliefs and reduce himself to a +state of intellectual nakedness, until such time as he could satisfy +himself which were fit to be worn. He thought a bare skin healthier than +the most respectable and well-cut clothing of what might, possibly, be +mere shoddy.</p> + +<p>When I say that Descartes consecrated doubt, you must remember that it +was that sort of doubt which Goethe has called "the active scepticism, +whose whole aim is to conquer itself;"<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> and not that other sort which +is born of flippancy and ignorance, and whose aim is only to perpetuate +itself, as an excuse for idleness and indifference. But it is impossible +to define what is meant by scientific doubt better than in Descartes' +own words. After describing the gradual progress of his negative +criticism, he tells us:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"For all that, I did not imitate the sceptics, who doubt only for +doubting's sake, and pretend to be always undecided; on the +contrary, my whole intention was to arrive at certainty, and to dig +away the drift and the sand until I reached the rock or the clay +beneath."</p></blockquote> + +<p>And further, since no man of common sense, when he pulls down his house +for the purpose of rebuilding it, fails to provide himself with some +shelter while the work is in progress; so, before demolishing the +spacious, if not commodious, mansion of his old beliefs, Descartes +thought it wise to equip himself with what he calls "<i>une morale par +provision</i>," by which he resolved to govern his practical life until +such time as he should be better instructed. The laws of this +"provisional self-government" are embodied in four maxims, of which one +binds our philosopher to submit himself to the laws and religion in +which he was brought up; another, to act, on all those occasions which +call for action, promptly and according to the best of his judgment, and +to abide, without repining, by the result: a third rule is to seek +happiness in limiting his desires, rather than in attempting to satisfy +them; while the last is to make the search after truth the business of +his life.</p> + +<p>Thus prepared to go on living while he doubted, Descartes proceeded to +face his doubts like a man. One thing was clear to him, he would not lie +to himself—would, under no penalties, say, "I am sure" of that of which +he was not sure; but would go on digging and delving until he came to +the solid adamant; or, at worst, made sure there was no adamant. As the +record of his progress tells us, he was obliged to confess that life is +full of delusions; that authority may err; that testimony may be false +or mistaken; that reason lands us in endless fallacies; that memory is +often as little trustworthy as hope; that the evidence of the very +senses may be misunderstood; that dreams are real as long as they last, +and that what we call reality may be a long and restless dream. Nay, it +is conceivable that some powerful and malicious being may find his +pleasure in deluding us, and in making us believe the thing which is +not, every moment of our lives. What, then, is certain? What even, if +such a being exists, is beyond the reach of his powers of delusion? Why, +the fact that the thought, the present consciousness, exists. Our +thoughts may be delusive, but they cannot be fictitious. As thoughts, +they are real and existent, and the cleverest deceiver cannot make them +otherwise.</p> + +<p>Thus, thought is existence. More than that, so far as we are concerned, +existence is thought, all our conceptions of existence being some kind +or other of thought. Do not for a moment suppose that these are mere +paradoxes or subtleties. A little reflection upon the commonest facts +proves them to be irrefragable truths. For example, I take up a marble, +and I find it to be a red, round, hard, single body. We call the +redness, the roundness, the hardness, and the singleness, "qualities" of +the marble; and it sounds, at first, the height of absurdity to say that +all these qualities are modes of our own consciousness, which cannot +even be conceived to exist in the marble. But consider the redness, to +begin with. How does the sensation of redness arise? The waves of a +certain very attenuated matter, the particles of which are vibrating +with vast rapidity, but with very different velocities, strike upon the +marble, and those which vibrate with one particular velocity are thrown +off from its surface in all directions. The optical apparatus of the eye +gathers some of these together, and gives them such a course that they +impinge upon the surface of the retina, which is a singularly delicate +apparatus, connected with the termination of the fibres of the optic +nerve. The impulses of the attenuated matter, or ether, affect this +apparatus and the fibres of the optic nerve in a certain way; and the +change in the fibres of the optic nerve produces yet other changes in +the brain; and these, in some fashion unknown to us, give rise to the +feeling, or consciousness, of redness. If the marble could remain +unchanged, and either the rate of vibration of the ether, or the nature +of the retina, could be altered, the marble would seem not red, but some +other colour. There are many people who are what are called colourblind, +being unable to distinguish one colour from another. Such an one might +declare our marble to be green; and he would be quite as right in saying +that it is green, as we are in declaring it to be red. But then, as the +marble cannot, in itself, be both green and red, at the same time, this +shows that the quality "redness" must be in our consciousness and not in +the marble.</p> + +<p>In like manner, it is easy to see that the roundness and the hardness +are forms of our consciousness, belonging to the groups which we call +sensations of sight and touch. If the surface of the cornea were +cylindrical, we should have a very different notion of a round body from +that which we possess now; and if the strength of the fabric, and the +force of the muscles, of the body were increased a hundredfold, our +marble would seem to be as soft as a pellet of bread crumbs.</p> + +<p>Not only is it obvious that all these qualities are in us, but, if you +will make the attempt, you will find it quite impossible to conceive of +"blueness," "roundness," and "hardness" as existing without reference to +some such consciousness as our own. It may seem strange to say that even +the "singleness" of the marble is relative to us; but extremely simple +experiments will show that such is veritably the case, and that our two +most trustworthy senses may be made to contradict one another on this +very point. Hold the marble between the finger and thumb, and look at it +in the ordinary way. Sight and touch agree that it is single. Now +squint, and sight tells you that there are two marbles, while touch +asserts that there is only one. Next, return the eyes to their natural +position, and, having crossed the forefinger and the middle finger, put +the marble between their tips. Then touch will declare that there are +two marbles, while sight says that there is only one; and touch claims +our belief, when we attend to it, just as imperatively as sight does.</p> + +<p>But it may be said, the marble takes up a certain space which could not +be occupied, at the same time, by anything else. In other words, the +marble has the primary quality of matter, extension. Surely this quality +must be in the thing, and not in our minds? But the reply must still be; +whatever may, or may not, exist in the thing, all that we can know of +these qualities is a state of consciousness. What we call extension is a +consciousness of a relation between two, or more, affections of the +sense of sight, or of touch. And it is wholly inconceivable that what +we call extension should exist independently of such consciousness as +our own. Whether, notwithstanding this inconceivability, it does so +exist, or not, is a point on which I offer no opinion.</p> + +<p>Thus, whatever our marble may be in itself, all that we can know of it +is under the shape of a bundle of our own consciousnesses.</p> + +<p>Nor is our knowledge of anything we know or feel more, or less, than a +knowledge of states of consciousness. And our whole life is made up of +such states. Some of these states we refer to a cause we call "self;" +others to a cause or causes which may be comprehended under the title of +"not-self." But neither of the existence of "self," nor of that of +"not-self," have we, or can we by any possibility have, any such +unquestionable and immediate certainty as we have of the states of +consciousness which we consider to be their effects. They are not +immediately observed facts, but results of the application of the law of +causation to those facts. Strictly speaking, the existence of a "self" +and of a "not-self" are hypotheses by which we account for the facts of +consciousness. They stand upon the same footing as the belief in the +general trustworthiness of memory, and in the general constancy of the +order of nature—as hypothetical assumptions which cannot be proved, or +known with that highest degree of certainty which is given by immediate +consciousness; but which, nevertheless, are of the highest practical +value, inasmuch as the conclusions logically drawn from them are always +verified by experience.</p> + +<p>This, in my judgment, is the ultimate issue of Descartes' argument; but +it is proper for me to point out that we have left Descartes himself +some way behind us. He stopped at the famous formula, "I think, +therefore I am." But a little consideration will show this formula to be +full of snares and verbal entanglements. In the first place, the +"therefore" has no business there. The "I am" is assumed in the "I +think," which is simply another way of saying "I am thinking." And, in +the second place, "I think" is not one simple proposition, but three +distinct assertions rolled into one. The first of these is, "something +called I exists;" the second is, "something called thought exists;" and +the third is, "the thought is the result of the action of the I."</p> + +<p>Now, it will be obvious to you, that the only one of these three +propositions which can stand the Cartesian test of certainty is the +second. It cannot be doubted, for the very doubt is an existent thought. +But the first and third, whether true or not, may be doubted, and have +been doubted. For the assertor may be asked, How do you know that +thought is not self-existent; or that a given thought is not the effect +of its antecedent thought, or of some external power? And a diversity of +other questions, much more easily put than answered. Descartes, +determined as he was to strip off all the garments which the intellect +weaves for itself, forgot this gossamer shirt of the "self;" to the +great detriment, and indeed ruin, of his toilet when he began to clothe +himself again.</p> + +<p>But it is beside my purpose to dwell upon the minor peculiarities of the +Cartesian philosophy. All I wish to put clearly before your minds thus +far, is that Descartes, having commenced by declaring doubt to be a +duty, found certainty in consciousness alone; and that the necessary +outcome of his views is what may properly be termed Idealism; namely, +the doctrine that, whatever the universe may be, all we can know of it +is the picture presented to us by consciousness. This picture may be a +true likeness—though how this can be is inconceivable; or it may have +no more resemblance to its cause than one of Bach's fugues has to the +person who is playing it; or than a piece of poetry has to the mouth and +lips of a reciter. It is enough for all the practical purposes of human +existence if we find that our trust in the representations of +consciousness is verified by results; and that, by their help, we are +enabled "to walk surefootedly in this life."</p> + +<p>Thus the method, or path which leads to truth, indicated by Descartes, +takes us straight to the Critical Idealism of his great successor Kant. +It is that Idealism which declares the ultimate fact of all knowledge to +be a consciousness, or, in other words, a mental phenomenon; and +therefore affirms the highest of all certainties, and indeed the only +absolute certainty, to be the existence of mind. But it is also that +Idealism which refuses to make any assertions, either positive or +negative, as to what lies beyond consciousness. It accuses the subtle +Berkeley of stepping beyond the limits of knowledge when he declared +that a substance of matter does not exist; and of illogicality, for not +seeing that the arguments which he supposed demolished the existence of +matter were equally destructive to the existence of soul. And it refuses +to listen to the jargon of more recent days about the "Absolute," and +all the other hypostatized adjectives, the initial letters of the names +of which are generally printed in capital letters; just as you give a +Grenadier a bearskin cap, to make him look more formidable than he is by +nature.</p> + +<p>I repeat, the path indicated and followed by Descartes which we have +hitherto been treading, leads through doubt to that critical Idealism +which lies at the heart of modern metaphysical thought. But the +"Discourse" shows us another, and apparently very different, path, which +leads, quite as definitely, to that correlation of all the phænomena of +the universe with matter and motion, which lies at the heart of modern +physical thought, and which most people call Materialism.</p> + +<p>The early part of the seventeenth century, when Descartes reached +manhood, is one of the great epochs of the intellectual life of mankind. +At that time, physical science suddenly strode into the arena of public +and familiar thought, and openly challenged, not only Philosophy and the +Church, but that common ignorance which passes by the name of Common +Sense. The assertion of the motion of the earth was a defiance to all +three, and Physical Science threw down her glove by the hand of Galileo.</p> + +<p>It is not pleasant to think of the immediate result of the combat; to +see the champion of science, old, worn, and on his knees before the +Cardinal Inquisitor, signing his name to what he knew to be a lie. And, +no doubt, the Cardinals rubbed their hands as they thought how well they +had silenced and discredited their adversary. But two hundred years have +passed, and however feeble or faulty her soldiers, Physical Science sits +crowned and enthroned as one of the legitimate rulers of the world of +thought. Charity children would be ashamed not to know that the earth +moves; while the Schoolmen are forgotten; and the Cardinals—well, the +Cardinals are at the Œcumenical Council, still at their old business +of trying to stop the movement of the world.</p> + +<p>As a ship, which having lain becalmed with every stitch of canvas set, +bounds away before the breeze which springs up astern, so the mind of +Descartes, poised in equilibrium of doubt, not only yielded to the full +force of the impulse towards physical science and physical ways of +thought, given by his great contemporaries, Galileo and Harvey, but shot +beyond them; and anticipated, by bold speculation, the conclusions, +which could only be placed upon a secure foundation by the labours of +generations of workers.</p> + +<p>Descartes saw that the discoveries of Galileo meant that the remotest +parts of the universe were governed by mechanical laws; while those of +Harvey meant that the same laws presided over the operations of that +portion of the world which is nearest to us, namely, our own bodily +frame. And crossing the interval between the centre and its vast +circumference by one of the great strides of genius, Descartes sought to +resolve all the phænomena of the universe into matter and motion, or +forces operating according to law.<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> This grand conception, which is +sketched in the "Discours," and more fully developed in the "Principes" +and in the "Traité de l'Homme," he worked out with extraordinary power +and knowledge; and with the effect of arriving, in the last-named essay, +at that purely mechanical view of vital phænomena towards which modern +physiology is striving.</p> + +<p>Let us try to understand how Descartes got into this path, and why it +led him where it did. The mechanism of the circulation of the blood had +evidently taken a great hold of his mind, as he describes it several +times, at much length. After giving a full account of it in the +"Discourse," and erroneously describing the motion of the blood, not to +the contraction of the walls of the heart, but to the heat which he +supposes to be generated there, he adds:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"This motion, which I have just explained, is as much the necessary +result of the structure of the parts which one can see in the +heart, and of the heat which one may feel there with one's fingers, +and of the nature of the blood, which may be experimentally +ascertained; as is that of a clock of the force, the situation, and +the figure, of its weight and of its wheels."</p></blockquote> + +<p>But if this apparently vital operation were explicable as a simple +mechanism, might not other vital operations be reducible to the same +category? Descartes replies without hesitation in the affirmative.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The animal spirits," says he, "resemble a very subtle fluid, or a +very pure and vivid flame, and are continually generated in the +heart, and ascend to the brain as to a sort of reservoir. Hence +they pass into the nerves and are distributed to the muscles, +causing contraction, or relaxation, according to their quantity."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Thus, according to Descartes, the animal body is an automaton, which is +competent to perform all the animal functions in exactly the same way as +a clock or any other piece of mechanism. As he puts the case himself:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"In proportion as these spirits [the animal spirits] enter the +cavities of the brain, they pass thence into the pores of its +substance, and from these pores into the nerves; where, according +as they enter, or even only tend to enter, more or less, into one +than into another, they have the power of altering the figure of +the muscles into which the nerves are inserted, and by this means +of causing all the limbs to move. Thus, as you may have seen in the +grottoes and the fountains in royal gardens, the force with which +the water issues from its reservoir is sufficient to move various +machines, and even to make them play instruments, or pronounce +words according to the different disposition of the pipes which +lead the water.</p> + +<p>"And, in truth, the nerves of the machine which I am describing may +very well be compared to the pipes of these waterworks; its muscles +and its tendons to the other various engines and springs which seem +to move them; its animal spirits to the water which impels them, of +which the heart is the fountain; while the cavities of the brain +are the central office. Moreover, respiration and other such +actions as are natural and usual in the body, and which depend on +the course of the spirits, are like the movements of a clock, or of +a mill, which may be kept up by the ordinary flow of the water.</p> + +<p>"The external objects which, by their mere presence, act upon the +organs of the senses; and which, by this means, determine the +corporal machine to move in many different ways, according as the +parts of the brain are arranged, are like the strangers who, +entering into some of the grottoes of these waterworks, +unconsciously cause the movements which take place in their +presence. For they cannot enter without treading upon certain +planks so arranged that, for example, if they approach a bathing +Diana, they cause her to hide among the reeds; and if they attempt +to follow her, they see approaching a Neptune, who threatens them +with his trident; or if they try some other way, they cause some +monster who vomits water into their faces, to dart out; or like +contrivances, according to the fancy of the engineers who have made +them. And lastly, when the <i>rational soul</i> is lodged in this +machine, it will have its principal seat in the brain, and will +take the place of the engineer, who ought to be in that part of the +works with which all the pipes are connected, when he wishes to +increase, or to slacken, or in some way to alter, their +movements."<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>And again still more strongly:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"All the functions which I have attributed to this machine (the +body), as the digestion of food, the pulsation of the heart and of +the arteries; the nutrition and the growth of the limbs; +respiration, wakefulness, and sleep; the reception of light, +sounds, odours, flavours, heat, and such like qualities, in the +organs of the external senses; the impression of the ideas of these +in the organ of common sense and in the imagination; the retention, +or the impression, of these ideas on the memory; the internal +movements of the appetites and the passions; and lastly, the +external movements of all the limbs, which follow so aptly, as well +the action of the objects which are presented to the senses, as the +impressions which meet in the memory, that they imitate as nearly +as possible those of a real man:<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> I desire, I say, that you +should consider that these functions in the machine naturally +proceed from the mere arrangement of its organs, neither more nor +less than do the movements of a clock, or other automaton, from +that of its weights and its wheels; so that, so far as these are +concerned, it is not necessary to conceive any other vegetative or +sensitive soul, nor any other principle of motion, or of life, than +the blood and the spirits agitated by the fire which burns +continually in the heart, and which is no wise essentially +different from all the fires which exist in inanimate bodies."<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>The spirit of these passages is exactly that of the most advanced +physiology of the present day; all that is necessary to make them +coincide with our present physiology in form, is to represent the +details of the working of the animal machinery in modern language, and +by the aid of modern conceptions.</p> + +<p>Most undoubtedly, the digestion of food in the human body is a purely +chemical process; and the passage of the nutritive parts of that food +into the blood, a physical operation. Beyond all question, the +circulation of the blood is simply a matter of mechanism, and results +from the structure and arrangement of the parts of the heart and +vessels, from the contractility of those organs, and from the +regulation of that contractility by an automatically acting nervous +apparatus. The progress of physiology has further shown, that the +contractility of the muscles and the irritability of the nerves are +purely the results of the molecular mechanism of those organs; and that +the regular movements of the respiratory, alimentary, and other internal +organs are governed and guided, as mechanically, by their appropriate +nervous centres. The even rhythm of the breathing of every one of us +depends upon the structural integrity of a particular region of the +medulla oblongata, as much as the ticking of a clock depends upon the +integrity of the escapement. You may take away the hands of a clock and +break up its striking machinery, but it will still tick; and a man may +be unable to feel, speak, or move, and yet he will breathe.</p> + +<p>Again, in entire accordance with Descartes' affirmation, it is certain +that the modes of motion which constitute the physical basis of light, +sound, and heat, are transmuted into affections of nervous matter by the +sensory organs. These affections are, so to speak, a kind of physical +ideas, which are retained in the central organs, constituting what might +be called physical memory, and may be combined in a manner which answers +to association and imagination, or may give rise to muscular +contractions, in those "reflex actions" which are the mechanical +representatives of volitions.</p> + +<p>Consider what happens when a blow is aimed at the eye.<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> Instantly, +and without our knowledge or will, and even against the will, the +eyelids close. What is it that happens? A picture of the rapidly +advancing fist is made upon the retina at the back of the eye. The +retina changes this picture into an affection of a number of the fibres +of the optic nerve; the fibres of the optic nerve affect certain parts +of the brain; the brain, in consequence, affects those particular fibres +of the seventh nerve which go to the orbicular muscle of the eyelids; +the change in these nerve-fibres causes the muscular fibres to change +their dimensions, so as to become shorter and broader; and the result is +the closing of the slit between the two lids, round which these fibres +are disposed. Here is a pure mechanism, giving rise to a purposive +action, and strictly comparable to that by which Descartes supposes his +waterwork Diana to be moved. But we may go further, and inquire whether +our volition, in what we term voluntary action, ever plays any other +part than that of Descartes' engineer, sitting in his office, and +turning this tap or the other, as he wishes to set one or another +machine in motion, but exercising no direct influence upon the movements +of the whole.</p> + +<p>Our voluntary acts consist of two parts: firstly, we desire to perform a +certain action; and, secondly, we somehow set a-going a machinery which +does what we desire. But so little do we directly influence that +machinery, that nine-tenths of us do not even know its existence.</p> + +<p>Suppose one wills to raise one's arm and whirl it round. Nothing is +easier. But the majority of us do not know that nerves and muscles are +concerned in this process; and the best anatomist among us would be +amazingly perplexed, if he were called upon to direct the succession, +and the relative strength, of the multitudinous nerve-changes, which are +the actual causes of this very simple operation.</p> + +<p>So again in speaking. How many of us know that the voice is produced in +the larynx, and modified by the mouth? How many among these instructed +persons understand how the voice is produced and modified? And what +living man, if he had unlimited control over all the nerves supplying +the mouth and larynx of another person, could make him pronounce a +sentence? Yet, if one has anything to say, what is easier than to say +it? We desire the utterance of certain words: we touch the spring of the +word-machine, and they are spoken. Just as Descartes' engineer, when he +wanted a particular hydraulic machine to play, had only to turn a tap, +and what he wished was done. It is because the body is a machine that +education is possible. Education is the formation of habits, a +superinducing of an artificial organization upon the natural +organization of the body; so that acts, which at first required a +conscious effort, eventually became unconscious and mechanical. If the +act which primarily requires a distinct consciousness and volition of +its details, always needed the same effort, education would be an +impossibility.</p> + +<p>According to Descartes, then, all the functions which are common to man +and animals are performed by the body as a mere mechanism, and he looks +upon consciousness as the peculiar distinction of the "<i>chose +pensante</i>," of the "rational soul," which in man (and in man only, in +Descartes' opinion) is superadded to the body. This rational soul he +conceived to be lodged in the pineal gland, as in a sort of central +office; and, here, by the intermediation of the animal spirits, it +became aware of what was going on in the body, or influenced the +operations of the body. Modern physiologists do not ascribe so exalted +a function to the little pineal gland, but, in a vague sort of way, they +adopt Descartes' principle, and suppose that the soul is lodged in the +cortical part of the brain—at least this is commonly regarded as the +seat and instrument of consciousness.</p> + +<p>Descartes has clearly stated what he conceived to be the difference +between spirit and matter. Matter is substance which has extension, but +does not think; spirit is substance which thinks, but has no extension. +It is very hard to form a definite notion of what this phraseology +means, when it is taken in connexion with the location of the soul in +the pineal gland; and I can only represent it to myself as signifying +that the soul is a mathematical point, having place but not extension, +within the limits of the pineal gland. Not only has it place, but it +must exert force; for, according to the hypothesis, it is competent, +when it wills, to change the course of the animal spirits, which consist +of matter in motion. Thus the soul becomes a centre of force. But, at +the same time, the distinction between spirit and matter vanishes; +inasmuch as matter, according to a tenable hypothesis, may be nothing +but a multitude of centres of force. The case is worse if we adopt the +modern vague notion that consciousness is seated in the grey matter of +the cerebrum, generally; for, as the grey matter has extension, that +which is lodged in it must also have extension. And thus we are led, in +another way, to lose spirit in matter.</p> + +<p>In truth, Descartes' physiology, like the modern physiology of which it +anticipates the spirit, leads straight to Materialism, so far as that +title is rightly applicable to the doctrine that we have no knowledge +of any thinking substance, apart from extended substance; and that +thought is as much a function of matter as motion is. Thus we arrive at +the singular result that, of the two paths opened up to us in the +"Discourse upon Method," the one leads, by way of Berkeley and Hume, to +Kant and Idealism; while the other leads, by way of De La Mettrie and +Priestley, to modern physiology and Materialism.<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> Our stem divides +into two main branches, which grow in opposite ways, and bear flowers +which look as different as they can well be. But each branch is sound +and healthy, and has as much life and vigour as the other.</p> + +<p>If a botanist found this state of things in a new plant, I imagine that +he might be inclined to think that his tree was monœcious—that the +flowers were of different sexes, and that, so far from setting up a +barrier between the two branches of the tree, the only hope of fertility +lay in bringing them together. I may be taking too much of a +naturalist's view of the case, but I must confess that this is exactly +my notion of what is to be done with metaphysics and physics. Their +differences are complementary, not antagonistic; and thought will never +be completely fruitful until the one unites with the other. Let me try +to explain what I mean. I hold, with the Materialist, that the human +body, like all living bodies, is a machine, all the operations of which +will, sooner or later, be explained on physical principles. I believe +that we shall, sooner or later, arrive at a mechanical equivalent of +consciousness, just as we have arrived at a mechanical equivalent of +heat. If a pound weight falling through a distance of a foot gives rise +to a definite amount of heat, which may properly be said to be its +equivalent; the same pound weight falling through a foot on a man's hand +gives rise to a definite amount of feeling, which might with equal +propriety be said to be its equivalent in consciousness.<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> And as we +already know that there is a certain parity between the intensity of a +pain and the strength of one's desire to get rid of that pain; and +secondly, that there is a certain correspondence between the intensity +of the heat, or mechanical violence, which gives rise to the pain, and +the pain itself; the possibility of the establishment of a correlation +between mechanical force and volition becomes apparent. And the same +conclusion is suggested by the fact that, within certain limits, the +intensity of the mechanical force we exert is proportioned to the +intensity of our desire to exert it.</p> + +<p>Thus I am prepared to go with the Materialists wherever the true pursuit +of the path of Descartes may lead them; and I am glad, on all occasions, +to declare my belief that their fearless development of the +materialistic aspect of these matters has had an immense, and a most +beneficial, influence upon physiology and psychology. Nay more, when +they go farther than I think they are entitled to do—when they +introduce Calvinism into science and declare that man is nothing but a +machine, I do not see any particular harm in their doctrines, so long as +they admit that which is a matter of experimental fact—namely, that it +is a machine capable of adjusting itself within certain limits.</p> + +<p>I protest that if some great Power would agree to make me always think +what is true and do what is right, on condition of being turned into a +sort of clock and wound up every morning before I got out of bed, I +should instantly close with the offer. The only freedom I care about is +the freedom to do right; the freedom to do wrong I am ready to part with +on the cheapest terms to any one who will take it of me. But when the +Materialists stray beyond the borders of their path and begin to talk +about there being nothing else in the universe but Matter and Force and +Necessary Laws, and all the rest of <i>their</i> "grenadiers," I decline to +follow them. I go back to the point from which we started, and to the +other path of Descartes. I remind you that we have already seen clearly +and distinctly, and in a manner which admits of no doubt, that all our +knowledge is a knowledge of states of consciousness. "Matter" and +"Force" are, so far as we can know, mere names for certain forms of +consciousness. "Necessary" means that of which we cannot conceive the +contrary. "Law" means a rule which we have always found to hold good, +and which we expect always will hold good. Thus it is an indisputable +truth that what we call the material world is only known to us under the +forms of the ideal world; and, as Descartes tells us, our knowledge of +the soul is more intimate and certain than our knowledge of the body. +If I say that impenetrability is a property of matter, all that I can +really mean is that the consciousness I call extension, and the +consciousness I call resistance, constantly accompany one another. Why +and how they are thus related is a mystery. And if I say that thought is +a property of matter, all that I can mean is that, actually or possibly, +the consciousness of extension and that of resistance accompany all +other sorts of consciousness. But, as in the former case, why they are +thus associated is an insoluble mystery.</p> + +<p>From all this it follows that what I may term legitimate materialism, +that is, the extension of the conceptions and of the methods of physical +science to the highest as well as the lowest phenomena of vitality, is +neither more nor less than a sort of shorthand Idealism; and Descartes' +two paths meet at the summit of the mountain, though they set out on +opposite sides of it.</p> + +<p>The reconciliation of physics and metaphysics lies in the acknowledgment +of faults upon both sides; in the confession by physics that all the +phænomena of nature are, in their ultimate analysis, known to us only as +facts of consciousness; in the admission by metaphysics, that the facts +of consciousness are, practically, interpretable only by the methods and +the formulæ of physics: and, finally, in the observance by both +metaphysical and physical thinkers of Descartes' maxim—assent to no +proposition the matter of which is not so clear and distinct that it +cannot be doubted.</p> + +<p class='tbrk'>When you did me the honour to ask me to deliver this address, I confess +I was perplexed what topic to select. For you are emphatically and +distinctly a <i>Christian</i> body; while science and philosophy, within the +range of which lie all the topics on which I could venture to speak, are +neither Christian, nor Unchristian, but are Extrachristian, and have a +world of their own, which, to use language which will be very familiar +to your ears just now, is not only "unsectarian," but is altogether +"secular." The arguments which I have put before you to-night, for +example, are not inconsistent, so far as I know, with any form of +theology.</p> + +<p>After much consideration, I thought that I might be most useful to you, +if I attempted to give you some vision of this Extrachristian world, as +it appears to a person who lives a good deal in it; and if I tried to +show you by what methods the dwellers therein try to distinguish truth +from falsehood, in regard to some of the deepest and most difficult +problems that beset humanity, "in order to be clear about their actions, +and to walk surefootedly in this life," as Descartes says.</p> + +<p>It struck me that if the execution of my project came anywhere near the +conception of it, you would become aware that the philosophers and the +men of science are not exactly what they are sometimes represented to +you to be; and that their methods and paths do not lead so +perpendicularly downwards as you are occasionally told they do. And I +must admit, also, that a particular and personal motive weighed with +me,—namely, the desire to show that a certain discourse, which brought +a great storm about my head some time ago, contained nothing but the +ultimate development of the views of the father of modern philosophy. I +do not know if I have been quite wise in allowing this last motive to +weigh with me. They say that the most dangerous thing one can do in a +thunderstorm is to shelter oneself under a great tree, and the history +of Descartes' life shows how narrowly he escaped being riven by the +lightnings, which were more destructive in his time than in ours.</p> + +<p>Descartes lived and died a good Catholic, and prided himself upon having +demonstrated the existence of God and of the soul of man. As a reward +for his exertions, his old friends the Jesuits put his works upon the +"Index," and called him an Atheist; while the Protestant divines of +Holland declared him to be both a Jesuit and an Atheist. His books +narrowly escaped being burned by the hangman; the fate of Vanini was +dangled before his eyes; and the misfortunes of Galileo so alarmed him, +that he well-nigh renounced the pursuits by which the world has so +greatly benefited, and was driven into subterfuges and evasions which +were not worthy of him.</p> + +<p>"Very cowardly," you may say; and so it was. But you must make allowance +for the fact that, in the seventeenth century, not only did heresy mean +possible burning, or imprisonment, but the very suspicion of it +destroyed a man's peace, and rendered the calm pursuit of truth +difficult or impossible. I fancy that Descartes was a man to care more +about being worried and disturbed, than about being burned outright; +and, like many other men, sacrificed for the sake of peace and +quietness, what he would have stubbornly maintained against downright +violence.</p> + +<p>However this may be, let those who are sure they would have done better +throw stones at him. I have no feelings but those of gratitude and +reverence for the man who did what he did, when he did; and a sort of +shame that any one should repine against taking a fair share of such +treatment as the world thought good enough for him.</p> + +<p>Finally, it occurs to me that, such being my feeling about the matter, +it may be useful to all of us if I ask you, "What is yours? Do you think +that the Christianity of the seventeenth century looks nobler and more +attractive for such treatment of such a man?" You will hardly reply that +it does. But if it does not, may it not be well if all of you do what +lies within your power to prevent the Christianity of the nineteenth +century from repeating the scandal?</p> + +<p>There are one or two living men, who, a couple of centuries hence, will +be remembered as Descartes is now, because they have produced great +thoughts which will live and grow as long as mankind lasts.</p> + +<p>If the twenty-first century studies their history, it will find that the +Christianity of the middle of the nineteenth century recognised them +only as objects of vilification. It is for you and such as you, +Christian young men, to say whether this shall be as true of the +Christianity of the future as it is of that of the present. I appeal to +you to say "No," in your own interest, and in that of the Christianity +you profess.</p> + +<p>In the interest of Science, no appeal is needful; as Dante sings of +Fortune—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class='stanza'><div>"Quest' è colei, ch'è tanto posta in croce</div> +<div class='i2'>Pur da color, che le dovrian dar lode</div> +<div>Dandole biasmo a torto e mala voce.</div> +<div class='i2'>Ma ella s' è beata, e ciò non ode:</div> +<div>Con l' altre prime creature lieta</div> +<div class='i2'>Volve sua spera, e beata si gode:"<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a></div></div> +</div> + +<p>so, whatever evil voices may rage, Science, secure among the powers that +are eternal, will do her work and be blessed.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> I forget who it was said of him: "Il a plus que personne +l'esprit que tout le monde a."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> "Discours de la Méthode pour bien conduire sa Raison et +chercher la Vérité dans les Sciences."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> "Eine thätige Skepsis ist die, welche unablässig bemüht +ist sich selbst zu überwinden, und durch geregelte Erfahrung zu einer +Art von bedingtrer Zuverlässigkeit zu gelangen."—<i>Maximen und +Reflexionen</i>, 7 Abtheilung.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> "Au milieu de toutes ses erreurs, il ne faut pas +méconnaître une grande idée, qui consiste à avoir tenté pour la première +fois de ramener tous les phénomènes naturels à n'être qu'un simple +dévelloppement des lois de la mécanique," is the weighty judgment of +Biot, cited by Bouillier (<i>Histoire de la Philosophie Cartésienne</i>, t. +i. p. 196).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> "Traité de l'Homme" (Cousin's Edition), p. 347.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> Descartes pretends that he does not apply his views to the +human body, but only to an imaginary machine which, if it could be +constructed, would do all that the human body does; throwing a sop to +Cerberus unworthily; and uselessly, because Cerberus was by no means +stupid enough to swallow it.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> "Traité de l'Homme," p. 427.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> Compare "Traité des Passions," Art. XIII. and XVI.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> Bouillier, into whose excellent "History of the Cartesian +Philosophy" I had not looked when this passage was written, says, very +justly, that Descartes "a merité le titre de pére de la physique, aussi +bien que celui de pére de la métaphysique moderne" (t. i. p. 197). See +also Kuno Fischer's "Geschichte der neuen Philosophie," Bd. i.; and the +very remarkable work of Lange, "Geschichte des Materialismus."—A good +translation of the latter would be a great service to philosophy in +England.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> For all the qualifications which need to be made here, I +refer the reader to the thorough discussion of the nature of the +relation between nerve-action and consciousness in Mr. Herbert Spencer's +"Principles of Psychology," p. 115 <i>et seq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> +</p><div class="poem"> +<div class='stanza'><div>"And this is she who's put on cross so much,</div> +<div>Even by them who ought to give her praise,</div> +<div>Giving her wrongly ill repute and blame.</div> +<div>But she is blessed, and she hears not this:</div> +<div>She, with the other primal creatures, glad</div> +<div>Revolves her sphere, and blessed joys herself."</div> +<div class="i6"><i>Inferno</i>, vii. 90-95 (W.M. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Lay Sermons, Addresses and Reviews + + +Author: Thomas Henry Huxley + + + +Release Date: September 21, 2005 [eBook #16729] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAY SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND +REVIEWS*** + + +E-text prepared by Clare Boothby, Martin Pettit, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) + + + +LAY SERMONS, ADDRESSES, AND REVIEWS + +by + +THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY, LL.D., F.R.S. + +London: +MacMillan and Co. +London +R. Clay, Sons, and Taylor, Printers, +Bread Street Hill. + +1870 + + + + + + + +A PREFATORY LETTER. + + +MY DEAR TYNDALL, + +I should have liked to provide this collection of "Lay Sermons, +Addresses, and Reviews," with a Dedication and a Preface. In the former, +I should have asked you to allow me to associate your name with the +book, chiefly on the ground that the oldest of the papers in it is a +good deal younger than our friendship. In the latter, I intended to +comment upon certain criticisms with which some of these Essays have +been met. + +But, on turning the matter over in my mind, I began to fear that a +formal dedication at the beginning of such a volume would look like a +grand lodge in front of a set of cottages; while a complete defence of +any of my old papers would simply amount to writing a new one--a labour +for which I am, at present, by no means fit. + +The book must go forth, therefore, without any better substitute for +either Dedication, or Preface, than this letter; before concluding which +it is necessary for me to notify you, and any other reader, of two or +three matters. + +The first is, that the oldest Essay of the whole, that "On the +Educational Value of the Natural History Sciences," contains a view of +the nature of the differences between living and not-living bodies out +of which I have long since grown. + +Secondly, in the same paper, there is a statement concerning the method +of the mathematical sciences, which, repeated and expanded elsewhere, +brought upon me, during the meeting of the British Association at +Exeter, the artillery of our eminent friend Professor Sylvester. + +No one knows better than you do, how readily I should defer to the +opinion of so great a mathematician if the question at issue were +really, as he seems to think it is, a mathematical one. But I submit, +that the dictum of a mathematical athlete upon a difficult problem which +mathematics offers to philosophy, has no more special weight, than the +verdict of that great pedestrian Captain Barclay would have had, in +settling a disputed point in the physiology of locomotion. + +The genius which sighs for new worlds to conquer beyond that surprising +region in which "geometry, algebra, and the theory of numbers melt into +one another like sunset tints, or the colours of a dying dolphin," may +be of comparatively little service in the cold domain (mostly lighted by +the moon, some say) of philosophy. And the more I think of it, the more +does our friend seem to me to fall into the position of one of those +"verstaendige Leute," about whom he makes so apt a quotation from Goethe. +Surely he has not duly considered two points. The first, that I am in no +way answerable for the origination of the doctrine he criticises: and +the second, that if we are to employ the terms observation, induction, +and experiment, in the sense in which he uses them, logic is as much an +observational, inductive, and experimental science as mathematics; and +that, I confess, appears to me to be a _reductio ad absurdum_ of his +argument. + +Thirdly, the essay "On the Physical Basis of Life" was intended to +contain a plain and untechnical statement of one of the great tendencies +of modern biological thought, accompanied by a protest, from the +philosophical side, against what is commonly called Materialism. The +result of my well-meant efforts I find to be, that I am generally +credited with having invented "protoplasm" in the interests of +"materialism." My unlucky "Lay Sermon" has been attacked by +microscopists, ignorant alike of Biology and Philosophy; by +philosophers, not very learned in either Biology or Microscopy; by +clergymen of several denominations; and by some few writers who have +taken the trouble to understand the subject. I trust that these last +will believe that I leave the essay unaltered from no want of respectful +attention to all they have said. + +Fourthly, I wish to refer all who are interested in the topics discussed +in my address on "Geological Reform," to the reply with which Sir +William Thomson has honoured me. + +And, lastly, let me say that I reprint the review of "The Origin of +Species" simply because it has been cited as mine by a late President of +the Geological Society. If you find its phraseology, in some places, to +be more vigorous than seems needful, recollect that it was written in +the heat of our first battles over the Novum Organon of biology; that we +were all ten years younger in those days; and last, but not least, that +it was not published until it had been submitted to the revision of a +friend for whose judgment I had then, as I have now, the greatest +respect. + +Ever, my dear TYNDALL, + +Yours very faithfully, + +T.H. HUXLEY + +LONDON, _June 1870_. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +I. + PAGE +ON THE ADVISABLENESS OF IMPROVING NATURAL KNOWLEDGE. + (A Lay Sermon delivered in St. Martin's Hall, on the evening + of Sunday, the 7th of January, 1866, and subsequently published + in the _Fortnightly Review_) 3 + +II. + +EMANCIPATION--BLACK AND WHITE. + (The _Reader_, May 20th, 1865) 23 + +III. + +A LIBERAL EDUCATION: AND WHERE TO FIND IT. (An Address + to the South London Working Men's College, delivered on the + 4th of January, 1868, and subsequently published in _Macmillan's + Magazine_) 31 + +IV. + +SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION: NOTES OF AN AFTER-DINNER SPEECH. (Delivered + before the Liverpool Philomathic Society in April 1869, + and subsequently published in _Macmillan's Magazine_) 60 + +V. + +ON THE EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SCIENCES. + (An Address delivered at St. Martin's Hall, on the 22d July, + 1854, and published as a pamphlet in that year) 80 + +VI. + + +ON THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY. (A Lecture delivered at the South + Kensington Museum, in 1861, and subsequently published by the + Department of Science and Art) 104 + +VII. + +ON THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF LIFE. (A Lay Sermon delivered in + Edinburgh, on Sunday, the 8th of November, 1868, at the request + of the late Rev. James Cranbrook; subsequently published in the + _Fortnightly Review_) 132 + +VIII. + +THE SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS OF POSITIVISM. (A Reply to Mr. Congreve's + Attack upon the preceding Paper. Published in the _Fortnightly + Review._ 1869) 162 + +IX. + +ON A PIECE OF CHALK. (A Lecture delivered to the Working Men of + Norwich, during the Meeting of the British Association, in 1868. + Subsequently published in _Macmillan's Magazine_) 192 + +X. + +GEOLOGICAL CONTEMPORANEITY AND PERSISTENT TYPES OF LIFE. (The + Anniversary Address to the Geological Society for 1862) 223 + +XI. + +GEOLOGICAL REFORM. (The Anniversary Address to the Geological + Society for 1869) 251 + +XII. + +THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. (The _Westminster Review_, April 1860) 280 + +XIII. + +CRITICISMS ON "THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES." (The _Natural History + Review_, 1864) 328 + +XIV. + +ON DESCARTES' "DISCOURSE TOUCHING THE METHOD OF USING ONE'S +REASON RIGHTLY AND OF SEEKING SCIENTIFIC TRUTH." (An Address to + the Cambridge Young Men's Christian Society, delivered on the + 24th of March, 1870, and subsequently published in + _Macmillan's Magazine_) 351 + + + + +LAY SERMONS, ADDRESSES, AND REVIEWS. + + + + +I. + +ON THE ADVISABLENESS OF IMPROVING NATURAL KNOWLEDGE. + + +This time two hundred years ago--in the beginning of January, +1666--those of our forefathers who inhabited this great and ancient +city, took breath between the shocks of two fearful calamities, one not +quite past, although its fury had abated; the other to come. + +Within a few yards of the very spot on which we are assembled, so the +tradition runs, that painful and deadly malady, the plague, appeared in +the latter months of 1664; and, though no new visitor, smote the people +of England, and especially of her capital, with a violence unknown +before, in the course of the following year. The hand of a master has +pictured what happened in those dismal months; and in that truest of +fictions, "The History of the Plague Year," Defoe shows death, with +every accompaniment of pain and terror, stalking through the narrow +streets of old London, and changing their busy hum into a silence broken +only by the wailing of the mourners of fifty thousand dead; by the woful +denunciations and mad prayers of fanatics; and by the madder yells of +despairing profligates. + +But, about this time in 1666, the death-rate had sunk to nearly its +ordinary amount; a case of plague occurred only here and there, and the +richer citizens who had flown from the pest had returned to their +dwellings. The remnant of the people began to toil at the accustomed +round of duty, or of pleasure; and the stream of city life bid fair to +flow back along its old bed, with renewed and uninterrupted vigour. + +The newly kindled hope was deceitful. The great plague, indeed, returned +no more; but what it had done for the Londoners, the great fire, which +broke out in the autumn of 1666, did for London; and, in September of +that year, a heap of ashes and the indestructible energy of the people +were all that remained of the glory of five-sixths of the city within +the walls. + + +Our forefathers had their own ways of accounting for each of these +calamities. They submitted to the plague in humility and in penitence, +for they believed it to be the judgment of God. But, towards the fire +they were furiously indignant, interpreting it as the effect of the +malice of man,--as the work of the Republicans, or of the Papists, +according as their prepossessions ran in favour of loyalty or of +Puritanism. + +It would, I fancy, have fared but ill with one who, standing where I now +stand, in what was then a thickly peopled and fashionable part of +London, should have broached to our ancestors the doctrine which I now +propound to you--that all their hypotheses were alike wrong; that the +plague was no more, in their sense, Divine judgment, than the fire was +the work of any political, or of any religious, sect; but that they were +themselves the authors of both plague and fire, and that they must look +to themselves to prevent the recurrence of calamities, to all appearance +so peculiarly beyond the reach of human control--so evidently the result +of the wrath of God, or of the craft and subtlety of an enemy. + +And one may picture to oneself how harmoniously the holy cursing of the +Puritan of that day would have chimed in with the unholy cursing and the +crackling wit of the Rochesters and Sedleys, and with the revilings of +the political fanatics, if my imaginary plain dealer had gone on to say +that, if the return of such misfortunes were ever rendered impossible, +it would not be in virtue of the victory of the faith of Laud, or of +that of Milton; and, as little, by the triumph of republicanism, as by +that of monarchy. But that the one thing needful for compassing this end +was, that the people of England should second the efforts of an +insignificant corporation, the establishment of which, a few years +before the epoch of the great plague and the great fire, had been as +little noticed, as they were conspicuous. + + +Some twenty years before the outbreak of the plague a few calm and +thoughtful students banded themselves together for the purpose, as they +phrased it, of "improving natural knowledge." The ends they proposed to +attain cannot be stated more clearly than in the words of one of the +founders of the organization:-- + +"Our business was (precluding matters of theology and state affairs) to +discourse and consider of philosophical enquiries, and such as related +thereunto:--as Physick, Anatomy, Geometry, Astronomy, Navigation, +Staticks, Magneticks, Chymicks, Mechanicks, and Natural Experiments; +with the state of these studies and their cultivation at home and +abroad. We then discoursed of the circulation of the blood, the valves +in the veins, the venae lacteae, the lymphatic vessels, the Copernican +hypothesis, the nature of comets and new stars, the satellites of +Jupiter, the oval shape (as it then appeared) of Saturn, the spots on +the sun and its turning on its own axis, the inequalities and +selenography of the moon, the several phases of Venus and Mercury, the +improvement of telescopes and grinding of glasses for that purpose, the +weight of air, the possibility or impossibility of vacuities and +nature's abhorrence thereof, the Torricellian experiment in quicksilver, +the descent of heavy bodies and the degree of acceleration therein, with +divers other things of like nature, some of which were then but new +discoveries, and others not so generally known and embraced as now they +are; with other things appertaining to what hath been called the New +Philosophy, which, from the times of Galileo at Florence, and Sir +Francis Bacon (Lord Verulam) in England, hath been much cultivated in +Italy, France, Germany, and other parts abroad, as well as with us in +England." + +The learned Dr. Wallis, writing in 1696, narrates, in these words, what +happened half a century before, or about 1645. The associates met at +Oxford, in the rooms of Dr. Wilkins, who was destined to become a +bishop; and subsequently coming together in London, they attracted the +notice of the king. And it is a strange evidence of the taste for +knowledge which the most obviously worthless of the Stuarts shared with +his father and grandfather, that Charles the Second was not content +with saying witty things about his philosophers, but did wise things +with regard to them. For he not only bestowed upon them such attention +as he could spare from his poodles and his mistresses, but, being in his +usual state of impecuniosity, begged for them of the Duke of Ormond; +and, that step being without effect, gave them Chelsea College, a +charter, and a mace: crowning his favours in the best way they could be +crowned, by burdening them no further with royal patronage or state +interference. + +Thus it was that the half-dozen young men, studious of the "New +Philosophy," who met in one another's lodgings in Oxford or in London, +in the middle of the seventeenth century, grew in numerical and in real +strength, until, in its latter part, the "Royal Society for the +Improvement of Natural Knowledge" had already become famous, and had +acquired a claim upon the veneration of Englishmen, which it has ever +since retained, as the principal focus of scientific activity in our +islands, and the chief champion of the cause it was formed to support. + +It was by the aid of the Royal Society that Newton published his +"Principia." If all the books in the world, except the Philosophical +Transactions, were destroyed, it is safe to say that the foundations of +physical science would remain unshaken, and that the vast intellectual +progress of the last two centuries would be largely, though +incompletely, recorded. Nor have any signs of halting or of decrepitude +manifested themselves in our own times. As in Dr. Wallis's days, so in +these, "our business is, precluding theology and state affairs, to +discourse and consider of philosophical enquiries." But our +"Mathematick" is one which Newton would have to go to school to learn; +our "Staticks, Mechanicks, Magneticks, Chymicks, and Natural +Experiments" constitute a mass of physical and chemical knowledge, a +glimpse at which would compensate Galileo for the doings of a score of +inquisitorial cardinals; our "Physick" and "Anatomy" have embraced such +infinite varieties of being, have laid open such new worlds in time and +space, have grappled, not unsuccessfully, with such complex problems, +that the eyes of Vesalius and of Harvey might be dazzled by the sight of +the tree that has grown out of their grain of mustard seed. + + +The fact is perhaps rather too much, than too little, forced upon one's +notice, nowadays, that all this marvellous intellectual growth has a no +less wonderful expression in practical life; and that, in this respect, +if in no other, the movement symbolized by the progress of the Royal +Society stands without a parallel in the history of mankind. + +A series of volumes as bulky as the Transactions of the Royal Society +might possibly be filled with the subtle speculations of the schoolmen; +not improbably, the obtaining a mastery over the products of mediaeval +thought might necessitate an even greater expenditure of time and of +energy than the acquirement of the "New Philosophy;" but though such +work engrossed the best intellects of Europe for a longer time than has +elapsed since the great fire, its effects were "writ in water," so far +as our social state is concerned. + +On the other hand, if the noble first President of the Royal Society +could revisit the upper air and once more gladden his eyes with a sight +of the familiar mace, he would find himself in the midst of a material +civilization more different from that of his day, than that of the +seventeenth, was from that of the first, century. And if Lord +Brouncker's native sagacity had not deserted his ghost, he would need no +long reflection to discover that all these great ships, these railways, +these telegraphs, these factories, these printing presses, without which +the whole fabric of modern English society would collapse into a mass of +stagnant and starving pauperism,--that all these pillars of our State +are but the ripples and the bubbles upon the surface of that great +spiritual stream, the springs of which, only, he and his fellows were +privileged to see; and seeing, to recognise as that which it behoved +them above all things to keep pure and undefiled. + +It may not be too great a flight of imagination to conceive our noble +_revenant_ not forgetful of the great troubles of his own day, and +anxious to know how often London had been burned down since his time, +and how often the plague had carried off its thousands. He would have to +learn that, although London contains tenfold the inflammable matter that +it did in 1666; though, not content with filling our rooms with woodwork +and light draperies, we must needs lead inflammable and explosive gases +into every corner of our streets and houses, we never allow even a +street to burn down. And if he asked how this had come about, we should +have to explain that the improvement of natural knowledge has furnished +us with dozens of machines for throwing water upon fires, anyone of +which would have furnished the ingenious Mr. Hooke, the first "curator +and experimenter" of the Royal Society, with ample materials for +discourse before half a dozen meetings of that body; and that, to say +truth, except for the progress of natural knowledge, we should not have +been able to make even the tools by which these machines are +constructed. And, further, it would be necessary to add, that although +severe fires sometimes occur and inflict great damage, the loss is very +generally compensated by societies, the operations of which have been +rendered possible only by the progress of natural knowledge in the +direction of mathematics, and the accumulation of wealth in virtue of +other natural knowledge. + +But the plague? My Lord Brouncker's observation would not, I fear, lead +him to think that Englishmen of the nineteenth century are purer in +life, or more fervent in religious faith, than the generation which +could produce a Boyle, an Evelyn, and a Milton. He might find the mud of +society at the bottom, instead of at the top, but I fear that the sum +total would be as deserving of swift judgment as at the time of the +Restoration. And it would be our duty to explain once more, and this +time not without shame, that we have no reason to believe that it is the +improvement of our faith, nor that of our morals, which keeps the plague +from our city; but, again, that it is the improvement of our natural +knowledge. + +We have learned that pestilences will only take up their abode among +those who have prepared unswept and ungarnished residences for them. +Their cities must have narrow, unwatered streets, foul with accumulated +garbage. Their houses must be ill-drained, ill-lighted, ill-ventilated. +Their subjects must be ill-washed, ill-fed, ill-clothed. The London of +1665 was such a city. The cities of the East, where plague has an +enduring dwelling, are such cities. We, in later times, have learned +somewhat of Nature, and partly obey her. Because of this partial +improvement of our natural knowledge and of that fractional obedience, +we have no plague; because that knowledge is still very imperfect and +that obedience yet incomplete, typhus is our companion and cholera our +visitor. But it is not presumptuous to express the belief that, when our +knowledge is more complete and our obedience the expression of our +knowledge, London will count her centuries of freedom from typhus and +cholera, as she now gratefully reckons her two hundred years of +ignorance of that plague which swooped upon her thrice in the first half +of the seventeenth century. + +Surely, there is nothing in these explanations which is not fully borne +out by the facts? Surely, the principles involved in them are now +admitted among the fixed beliefs of all thinking men? Surely, it is true +that our countrymen are less subject to fire, famine, pestilence, and +all the evils which result from a want of command over and due +anticipation of the course of Nature, than were the countrymen of +Milton; and health, wealth, and well-being are more abundant with us +than with them? But no less certainly is the difference due to the +improvement of our knowledge of Nature, and the extent to which that +improved knowledge has been incorporated with the household words of +men, and has supplied the springs of their daily actions. + +Granting for a moment, then, the truth of that which the depreciators of +natural knowledge are so fond of urging, that its improvement can only +add to the resources of our material civilization; admitting it to be +possible that the founders of the Royal Society themselves looked for no +other reward than this, I cannot confess that I was guilty of +exaggeration when I hinted, that to him who had the gift of +distinguishing between prominent events and important events, the origin +of a combined effort on the part of mankind to improve natural knowledge +might have loomed larger than the Plague and have outshone the glare of +the Fire; as a something fraught with a wealth of beneficence to +mankind, in comparison with which the damage done by those ghastly evils +would shrink into insignificance. + +It is very certain that for every victim slain by the plague, hundreds +of mankind exist and find a fair share of happiness in the world, by the +aid of the spinning jenny. And the great fire, at its worst, could not +have burned the supply of coal, the daily working of which, in the +bowels of the earth, made possible by the steam pump, gives rise to an +amount of wealth to which the millions lost in old London are but as an +old song. + + +But spinning jenny and steam pump are, after all, but toys, possessing +an accidental value; and natural knowledge creates multitudes of more +subtle contrivances, the praises of which do not happen to be sung +because they are not directly convertible into instruments for creating +wealth. When I contemplate natural knowledge squandering such gifts +among men, the only appropriate comparison I can find for her is, to +liken her to such a peasant woman as one sees in the Alps, striding ever +upward, heavily burdened, and with mind bent only on her home; but yet, +without effort and without thought, knitting for her children. Now +stockings are good and comfortable things, and the children will +undoubtedly be much the better for them; but surely it would be +short-sighted, to say the least of it, to depreciate this toiling mother +as a mere stocking-machine--a mere provider of physical comforts? + +However, there are blind leaders of the blind, and not a few of them, +who take this view of natural knowledge, and can see nothing in the +bountiful mother of humanity but a sort of comfort-grinding machine. +According to them, the improvement of natural knowledge always has been, +and always must be, synonymous with no more than the improvement of the +material resources and the increase of the gratifications of men. + +Natural knowledge is, in their eyes, no real mother of mankind, bringing +them up with kindness, and, if need be, with sternness, in the way they +should go, and instructing them in all things needful for their welfare; +but a sort of fairy godmother, ready to furnish her pets with shoes of +swiftness, swords of sharpness, and omnipotent Aladdin's lamps, so that +they may have telegraphs to Saturn, and see the other side of the moon, +and thank God they are better than their benighted ancestors. + +If this talk were true, I, for one, should not greatly care to toil in +the service of natural knowledge. I think I would just as soon be +quietly chipping my own flint axe, after the manner of my forefathers a +few thousand years back, as be troubled with the endless malady of +thought which now infests us all, for such reward. But I venture to say +that such views are contrary alike to reason and to fact. Those who +discourse in such fashion seem to me to be so intent upon trying to see +what is above Nature, or what is behind her, that they are blind to what +stares them in the face, in her. + +I should not venture to speak thus strongly if my justification were not +to be found in the simplest and most obvious facts,--if it needed more +than an appeal to the most notorious truths to justify my assertion, +that the improvement of natural knowledge, whatever direction it has +taken, and however low the aims of those who may have commenced it--has +not only conferred practical benefits on men, but, in so doing, has +effected a revolution in their conceptions of the universe and of +themselves, and has profoundly altered their modes of thinking and their +views of right and wrong. I say that natural knowledge, seeking to +satisfy natural wants, has found the ideas which can alone still +spiritual cravings. I say that natural knowledge, in desiring to +ascertain the laws of comfort, has been driven to discover those of +conduct; and to lay the foundations of a new morality. + + +Let us take these points separately; and, first, what great ideas has +natural knowledge introduced into men's minds? + +I cannot but think that the foundations of all natural knowledge were +laid when the reason of man first came face to face with the facts of +Nature: when the savage first learned that the fingers of one hand are +fewer than those of both; that it is shorter to cross a stream than to +head it; that a stone stops where it is unless it be moved, and that it +drops from the hand which lets it go; that light and heat come and go +with the sun; that sticks burn away in a fire; that plants and animals +grow and die; that if he struck his fellow-savage a blow he would make +him angry, and perhaps get a blow in return, while if he offered him a +fruit he would please him, and perhaps receive a fish in exchange. When +men had acquired this much knowledge, the outlines, rude though they +were, of mathematics, of physics, of chemistry, of biology, of moral, +economical, and political science, were sketched. Nor did the germ of +religion fail when science began to bud. Listen to words which, though +new, are yet three thousand years old:-- + + "...When in heaven the stars about the moon + Look beautiful, when all the winds are laid, + And every height comes out, and jutting peak + And valley, and the immeasurable heavens + Break open to their highest, and all the stars + Shine, and the shepherd gladdens in his heart."[1] + +If the half-savage Greek could share our feelings thus far, it is +irrational to doubt that he went further, to find, as we do, that upon +that brief gladness there follows a certain sorrow,--the little light of +awakened human intelligence shines so mere a spark amidst the abyss of +the unknown and unknowable; seems so insufficient to do more than +illuminate the imperfections that cannot be remedied, the aspirations +that cannot be realized, of man's own nature. But in this sadness, this +consciousness of the limitation of man, this sense of an open secret +which he cannot penetrate, lies the essence of all religion; and the +attempt to embody it in the forms furnished by the intellect is the +origin of the higher theologies. + +Thus it seems impossible to imagine but that the foundations of all +knowledge--secular or sacred--were laid when intelligence dawned, though +the superstructure remained for long ages so slight and feeble as to be +compatible with the existence of almost any general view respecting the +mode of governance of the universe. No doubt, from the first, there were +certain phenomena which, to the rudest mind, presented a constancy of +occurrence, and suggested that a fixed order ruled, at any rate, among +them. I doubt if the grossest of Fetish worshippers ever imagined that a +stone must have a god within it to make it fall, or that a fruit had a +god within it to make it taste sweet. With regard to such matters as +these, it is hardly questionable that mankind from the first took +strictly positive and scientific views. + +But, with respect to all the less familiar occurrences which present +themselves, uncultured man, no doubt, has always taken himself as the +standard of comparison, as the centre and measure of the world; nor +could he well avoid doing so. And finding that his apparently uncaused +will has a powerful effect in giving rise to many occurrences, he +naturally enough ascribed other and greater events to other and greater +volitions, and came to look upon the world and all that therein is, as +the product of the volitions of persons like himself, but stronger, and +capable of being appeased or angered, as he himself might be soothed or +irritated. Through such conceptions of the plan and working of the +universe all mankind have passed, or are passing. And we may now +consider, what has been the effect of the improvement of natural +knowledge on the views of men who have reached this stage, and who have +begun to cultivate natural knowledge with no desire but that of +"increasing God's honour and bettering man's estate." + +For example: what could seem wiser, from a mere material point of view, +more innocent, from a theological one, to an ancient people, than that +they should learn the exact succession of the seasons, as warnings for +their husbandmen; or the position of the stars, as guides to their rude +navigators? But what has grown out of this search for natural knowledge +of so merely useful a character? You all know the reply. +Astronomy,--which of all sciences has filled men's minds with general +ideas of a character most foreign to their daily experience, and has, +more than any other, rendered it impossible for them to accept the +beliefs of their fathers. Astronomy,--which tells them that this so vast +and seemingly solid earth is but an atom among atoms, whirling, no man +knows whither, through illimitable space; which demonstrates that what +we call the peaceful heaven above us, is but that space, filled by an +infinitely subtle matter whose particles are seething and surging, like +the waves of an angry sea; which opens up to us infinite regions where +nothing is known, or ever seems to have been known, but matter and +force, operating according to rigid rules; which leads us to contemplate +phenomena the very nature of which demonstrates that they must have had +a beginning, and that they must have an end, but the very nature of +which also proves that the beginning was, to our conceptions of time, +infinitely remote, and that the end is as immeasurably distant. + +But it is not alone those who pursue astronomy who ask for bread and +receive ideas. What more harmless than the attempt to lift and +distribute water by pumping it; what more absolutely and grossly +utilitarian? But out of pumps grew the discussions about Nature's +abhorrence of a vacuum; and then it was discovered that Nature does not +abhor a vacuum, but that air has weight; and that notion paved the way +for the doctrine that all matter has weight, and that the force which +produces weight is co-extensive with the universe,--in short, to the +theory of universal gravitation and endless force. While learning how to +handle gases led to the discovery of oxygen, and to modern chemistry, +and to the notion of the indestructibility of matter. + +Again, what simpler, or more absolutely practical, than the attempt to +keep the axle of a wheel from heating when the wheel turns round very +fast? How useful for carters and gig drivers to know something about +this; and how good were it, if any ingenious person would find out the +cause of such phenomena, and thence educe a general remedy for them. +Such an ingenious person was Count Rumford; and he and his successors +have landed us in the theory of the persistence, or indestructibility, +of force. And in the infinitely minute, as in the infinitely great, the +seekers after natural knowledge, of the kinds called physical and +chemical, have everywhere found a definite order and succession of +events which seem never to be infringed. + +And how has it fared with "Physick" and Anatomy? Have the anatomist, the +physiologist, or the physician, whose business it has been to devote +themselves assiduously to that eminently practical and direct end, the +alleviation of the sufferings of mankind,--have they been able to +confine their vision more absolutely to the strictly useful? I fear they +are worst offenders of all. For if the astronomer has set before us the +infinite magnitude of space, and the practical eternity of the duration +of the universe; if the physical and chemical philosophers have +demonstrated the infinite minuteness of its constituent parts, and the +practical eternity of matter and of force; and if both have alike +proclaimed the universality of a definite and predicable order and +succession of events, the workers in biology have not only accepted all +these, but have added more startling theses of their own. For, as the +astronomers discover in the earth no centre of the universe, but an +eccentric speck, so the naturalists find man to be no centre of the +living world, but one amidst endless modifications of life; and as the +astronomer observes the mark of practically endless time set upon the +arrangements of the solar system, so the student of life finds the +records of ancient forms of existence peopling the world for ages, +which, in relation to human experience, are infinite. + +Furthermore, the physiologist finds life to be as dependent for its +manifestation on particular molecular arrangements as any physical or +chemical phenomenon; and, wherever he extends his researches, fixed +order and unchanging causation reveal themselves, as plainly as in the +rest of Nature. + +Nor can I find that any other fate has awaited the germ of Religion. +Arising, like all other kinds of knowledge, out of the action and +interaction of man's mind, with that which is not man's mind, it has +taken the intellectual coverings of Fetishism or Polytheism; of Theism +or Atheism; of Superstition or Rationalism. With these, and their +relative merits and demerits, I have nothing to do; but this it is +needful for my purpose to say, that if the religion of the present +differs from that of the past, it is because the theology of the present +has become more scientific than that of the past; because it has not +only renounced idols of wood and idols of stone, but begins to see the +necessity of breaking in pieces the idols built up of books and +traditions and fine-spun ecclesiastical cobwebs: and of cherishing the +noblest and most human of man's emotions, by worship "for the most part +of the silent sort" at the altar of the Unknown and Unknowable. + +Such are a few of the new conceptions implanted in our minds by the +improvement of natural knowledge. Men have acquired the ideas of the +practically infinite extent of the universe and of its practical +eternity; they are familiar with the conception that our earth is but an +infinitesimal fragment of that part of the universe which can be seen; +and that, nevertheless, its duration is, as compared with our standards +of time, infinite. They have further acquired the idea that man is but +one of innumerable forms of life now existing in the globe, and that the +present existences are but the last of an immeasurable series of +predecessors. Moreover, every step they have made in natural knowledge +has tended to extend and rivet in their minds the conception of a +definite order of the universe--which is embodied in what are called, by +an unhappy metaphor, the laws of Nature--and to narrow the range and +loosen the force of men's belief in spontaneity, or in changes other +than such as arise out of that definite order itself. + +Whether these ideas are well or ill founded is not the question. No one +can deny that they exist, and have been the inevitable outgrowth of the +improvement of natural knowledge. And if so, it cannot be doubted that +they are changing the form of men's most cherished and most important +convictions. + + +And as regards the second point--the extent to which the improvement of +natural knowledge has remodelled and altered what may be termed the +intellectual ethics of men,--what are among the moral convictions most +fondly held by barbarous and semi-barbarous people? + +They are the convictions that authority is the soundest basis of belief; +that merit attaches to a readiness to believe; that the doubting +disposition is a bad one, and scepticism a sin; that when good authority +has pronounced what is to be believed, and faith has accepted it, reason +has no further duty. There are many excellent persons who yet hold by +these principles, and it is not my present business, or intention, to +discuss their views. All I wish to bring clearly before your minds is +the unquestionable fact, that the improvement of natural knowledge is +effected by methods which directly give the lie to all these +convictions, and assume the exact reverse of each to be true. + +The improver of natural knowledge absolutely refuses to acknowledge +authority, as such. For him, scepticism is the highest of duties; blind +faith the one unpardonable sin. And it cannot be otherwise, for every +great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection +of authority, the cherishing of the keenest scepticism, the annihilation +of the spirit of blind faith: and the most ardent votary of science +holds his firmest convictions, not because the men he most venerates +hold them; not because their verity is testified by portents and +wonders; but because his experience teaches him that whenever he chooses +to bring these convictions into contact with their primary source, +Nature--whenever he thinks fit to test them by appealing to experiment +and to observation--Nature will confirm them. The man of science has +learned to believe in justification, not by faith, but by verification. + + +Thus, without for a moment pretending to despise the practical results +of the improvement of natural knowledge, and its beneficial influence on +material civilization, it must, I think, be admitted that the great +ideas, some of which I have indicated, and the ethical spirit which I +have endeavoured to sketch, in the few moments which remained at my +disposal, constitute the real and permanent significance of natural +knowledge. + +If these ideas be destined, as I believe they are, to be more and more +firmly established as the world grows older; if that spirit be fated, as +I believe it is, to extend itself into all departments of human thought, +and to become co-extensive with the range of knowledge; if, as our race +approaches its maturity, it discovers, as I believe it will, that there +is but one kind of knowledge and but one method of acquiring it; then +we, who are still children, may justly feel it our highest duty to +recognise the advisableness of improving natural knowledge, and so to +aid ourselves and our successors in their course towards the noble goal +which lies before mankind. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] Need it be said that this is Tennyson's English for Homer's Greek? + + + + +II. + +EMANCIPATION--BLACK AND WHITE. + + +Quashie's plaintive inquiry, "Am I not a man and a brother?" seems at +last to have received its final reply--the recent decision of the fierce +trial by battle on the other side of the Atlantic fully concurring with +that long since delivered here in a more peaceful way. + +The question is settled; but even those who are most thoroughly +convinced that the doom is just, must see good grounds for repudiating +half the arguments which have been employed by the winning side; and for +doubting whether its ultimate results will embody the hopes of the +victors, though they may more than realize the fears of the vanquished. +It may be quite true that some negroes are better than some white men; +but no rational man, cognizant of the facts, believes that the average +negro is the equal, still less the superior, of the average white man. +And, if this be true, it is simply incredible that, when all his +disabilities are removed, and our prognathous relative has a fair field +and no favour, as well as no oppressor, he will be able to compete +successfully with his bigger-brained and smaller-jawed rival, in a +contest which is to be carried on by thoughts and not by bites. The +highest places in the hierarchy of civilization will assuredly not be +within the reach of our dusky cousins, though it is by no means +necessary that they should be restricted to the lowest. But whatever the +position of stable equilibrium into which the laws of social gravitation +may bring the negro, all responsibility for the result will henceforward +lie between Nature and him. The white man may wash his hands of it, and +the Caucasian conscience be void of reproach for evermore. And this, if +we look to the bottom of the matter, is the real justification for the +abolition policy. + +The doctrine of equal natural rights may be an illogical delusion; +emancipation may convert the slave from a well fed animal into a +pauperised man; mankind may even have to do without cotton shirts; but +all these evils must be faced, if the moral law, that no human being can +arbitrarily dominate over another without grievous damage to his own +nature, be, as many think, as readily demonstrable by experiment as any +physical truth. If this be true, no slavery can be abolished without a +double emancipation, and the master will benefit by freedom more than +the freed-man. + +The like considerations apply to all the other questions of emancipation +which are at present stirring the world--the multifarious demands that +classes of mankind shall be relieved from restrictions imposed by the +artifice of man, and not by the necessities of Nature. One of the most +important, if not the most important, of all these, is that which daily +threatens to become the "irrepressible" woman question. What social and +political rights have women? What ought they to be allowed, or not +allowed, to do, be, and suffer? And, as involved in, and underlying all +these questions, how ought they to be educated? + +There are philogynists as fanatical as any "misogynists" who, reversing +our antiquated notions, bid the man look upon the woman as the higher +type of humanity; who ask us to regard the female intellect as the +clearer and the quicker, if not the stronger; who desire us to look up +to the feminine moral sense as the purer and the nobler; and bid man +abdicate his usurped sovereignty over Nature in favour of the female +line. On the other hand, there are persons not to be outdone in all +loyalty and just respect for woman-kind, but by nature hard of head and +haters of delusion, however charming, who not only repudiate the new +woman-worship which so many sentimentalists and some philosophers are +desirous of setting up, but, carrying their audacity further, deny even +the natural equality of the sexes. They assert, on the contrary, that in +every excellent character, whether mental or physical, the average woman +is inferior to the average man, in the sense of having that character +less in quantity, and lower in quality. Tell these persons of the rapid +perceptions and the instinctive intellectual insight of women, and they +reply that the feminine mental peculiarities, which pass under these +names, are merely the outcome of a greater impressibility to the +superficial aspects of things, and of the absence of that restraint upon +expression, which, in men, is imposed by reflection and a sense of +responsibility. Talk of the passive endurance of the weaker sex, and +opponents of this kind remind you that Job was a man, and that, until +quite recent times, patience and long-suffering were not counted among +the specially feminine virtues. Claim passionate tenderness as +especially feminine, and the inquiry is made whether all the best +love-poetry in existence (except, perhaps, the "Sonnets from the +Portuguese") has not been written by men; whether the song which +embodies the ideal of pure and tender passion--Adelaida--was written by +_Frau_ Beethoven; whether it was the Fornarina, or Raphael, who painted +the Sistine Madonna. Nay, we have known one such heretic go so far as to +lay his hands upon the ark itself, so to speak, and to defend the +startling paradox that, even in physical beauty, man is the superior. He +admitted, indeed, that there was a brief period of early youth when it +might be hard to say whether the prize should be awarded to the graceful +undulations of the female figure, or the perfect balance and supple +vigour of the male frame. But while our new Paris might hesitate between +the youthful Bacchus and the Venus emerging from the foam, he averred +that, when Venus and Bacchus had reached thirty, the point no longer +admitted of a doubt; the male form having then attained its greatest +nobility, while the female is far gone in decadence; and that, at this +epoch, womanly beauty, so far as it is independent of grace or +expression, is a question of drapery and accessories. + +Supposing, however, that all these arguments have a certain foundation; +admitting for a moment, that they are comparable to those by which the +inferiority of the negro to the white man may be demonstrated, are they +of any value as against woman-emancipation? Do they afford us the +smallest ground for refusing to educate women as well as men--to give +women the same civil and political rights as men? No mistake is so +commonly made by clever people as that of assuming a cause to be bad +because the arguments of its supporters are, to a great extent, +nonsensical. And we conceive that those who may laugh at the arguments +of the extreme philogynists, may yet feel bound to work heart and soul +towards the attainment of their practical ends. + +As regards education, for example. Granting the alleged defects of +women, is it not somewhat absurd to sanction and maintain a system of +education which would seem to have been specially contrived to +exaggerate all these defects? + +Naturally not so firmly strung, nor so well balanced, as boys, girls are +in great measure debarred from the sports and physical exercises which +are justly thought absolutely necessary for the full development of the +vigour of the more favoured sex. Women are, by nature, more excitable +than men--prone to be swept by tides of emotion, proceeding from hidden +and inward, as well as from obvious and external causes; and female +education does its best to weaken every physical counterpoise to this +nervous mobility--tends in all ways to stimulate the emotional part of +the mind and stunt the rest. We find girls naturally timid, inclined to +dependence, born conservatives; and we teach them that independence is +unladylike; that blind faith is the right frame of mind; and that +whatever we may be permitted, and indeed encouraged, to do to our +brother, our sister is to be left to the tyranny of authority and +tradition. With few insignificant exceptions, girls have been educated +either to be drudges, or toys, beneath man; or a sort of angels above +him; the highest ideal aimed at oscillating between Claerchen and +Beatrice. The possibility that the ideal of womanhood lies neither in +the fair saint, nor in the fair sinner; that the female type of +character is neither better nor worse than the male, but only weaker; +that women are meant neither to be men's guides nor their playthings, +but their comrades, their fellows and their equals, so far as Nature +puts no bar to that equality, does not seem to have entered into the +minds of those who have had the conduct of the education of girls. + +If the present system of female education stands self-condemned, as +inherently absurd; and if that which we have just indicated is the true +position of woman, what is the first step towards a better state of +things? We reply, emancipate girls. Recognise the fact that they share +the senses, perceptions, feelings, reasoning powers, emotions, of boys, +and that the mind of the average girl is less different from that of the +average boy, than the mind of one boy is from that of another; so that +whatever argument justifies a given education for all boys, justifies +its application to girls as well. So far from imposing artificial +restrictions upon the acquirement of knowledge by women, throw every +facility in their way. Let our Faustinas, if they will, toil through the +whole round of + + "Juristerei und Medizin, + Und leider! auch Philosophie." + +Let us have "sweet girl graduates" by all means. They will be none the +less sweet for a little wisdom; and the "golden hair" will not curl less +gracefully outside the head by reason of there being brains within. Nay, +if obvious practical difficulties can be overcome, let those women who +feel inclined to do so descend into the gladiatorial arena of life, not +merely in the guise of _retiariae_, as heretofore, but as bold +_sicariae_, breasting the open fray. Let them, if they so please, become +merchants, barristers, politicians. Let them have a fair field, but let +them understand, as the necessary correlative, that they are to have no +favour. Let Nature alone sit above the lists, "rain influence and judge +the prize." + +And the result? For our parts, though loth to prophesy, we believe it +will be that of other emancipations. Women will find their place, and it +will neither be that in which they have been held, nor that to which +some of them aspire. Nature's old salique law will not be repealed, and +no change of dynasty will be effected. The big chests, the massive +brains, the vigorous muscles and stout frames, of the best men will +carry the day, whenever it is worth their while to contest the prizes of +life with the best women. And the hardship of it is, that the very +improvement of the women will lessen their chances. Better mothers will +bring forth better sons, and the impetus gained by the one sex will be +transmitted, in the next generation, to the other. The most Darwinian of +theorists will not venture to propound the doctrine, that the physical +disabilities under which women have hitherto laboured, in the struggle +for existence with men, are likely to be removed by even the most +skilfully conducted process of educational selection. + +We are, indeed, fully prepared to believe that the bearing of children +may, and ought, to become as free from danger and long disability, to +the civilized woman, as it is to the savage; nor is it improbable that, +as society advances towards its right organization, motherhood will +occupy a less space of woman's life than it has hitherto done. But +still, unless the human species is to come to an end altogether--a +consummation which can hardly be desired by even the most ardent +advocate of "women's rights"--somebody must be good enough to take the +trouble and responsibility of annually adding to the world exactly as +many people as die out of it. In consequence of some domestic +difficulties, Sydney Smith is said to have suggested that it would have +been good for the human race had the model offered by the hive been +followed, and had all the working part of the female community been +neuters. Failing any thorough-going reform of this kind, we see nothing +for it but the old division of humanity into men potentially, or +actually, fathers, and women potentially, if not actually, mothers. And +we fear that so long as this potential motherhood is her lot, woman will +be found to be fearfully weighted in the race of life. + +The duty of man is to see that not a grain is piled upon that load +beyond what Nature imposes; that injustice is not added to inequality. + + + + +III. + +A LIBERAL EDUCATION: AND WHERE TO FIND IT. + + +The business which the South London Working Men's College has undertaken +is a great work; indeed, I might say, that Education, with which that +college proposes to grapple, is the greatest work of all those which lie +ready to a man's hand just at present. + +And, at length, this fact is becoming generally recognised. You cannot +go anywhere without hearing a buzz of more or less confused and +contradictory talk on this subject--nor can you fail to notice that, in +one point at any rate, there is a very decided advance upon like +discussions in former days. Nobody outside the agricultural interest now +dares to say that education is a bad thing. If any representative of the +once large and powerful party, which, in former days, proclaimed this +opinion, still exists in a semi-fossil state, he keeps his thoughts to +himself. In fact, there is a chorus of voices, almost distressing in +their harmony, raised in favour of the doctrine that education is the +great panacea for human troubles, and that, if the country is not +shortly to go to the dogs, everybody must be educated. + +The politicians tell us, "you must educate the masses because they are +going to be masters." The clergy join in the cry for education, for they +affirm that the people are drifting away from church and chapel into the +broadest infidelity. The manufacturers and the capitalists swell the +chorus lustily. They declare that ignorance makes bad workmen; that +England will soon be unable to turn out cotton goods, or steam engines, +cheaper than other people; and then, Ichabod! Ichabod! the glory will be +departed from us. And a few voices are lifted up in favour of the +doctrine that the masses should be educated because they are men and +women with unlimited capacities of being, doing, and suffering, and that +it is as true now, as ever it was, that the people perish for lack of +knowledge. + +These members of the minority, with whom I confess I have a good deal of +sympathy, are doubtful whether any of the other reasons urged in favour +of the education of the people are of much value--whether, indeed, some +of them are based upon either wise or noble grounds of action. They +question if it be wise to tell people that you will do for them, out of +fear of their power, what you have left undone, so long as your only +motive was compassion for their weakness and their sorrows. And, if +ignorance of everything which it is needful a ruler should know is +likely to do so much harm in the governing classes of the future, why is +it, they ask reasonably enough, that such ignorance in the governing +classes of the past has not been viewed with equal horror? + +Compare the average artisan and the average country squire, and it may +be doubted if you will find a pin to choose between the two in point of +ignorance, class feeling, or prejudice. It is true that the ignorance +is of a different sort--that the class feeling is in favour of a +different class, and that the prejudice has a distinct flavour of +wrong-headedness in each case--but it is questionable if the one is +either a bit better, or a bit worse than the other. The old +protectionist theory is the doctrine of trades unions as applied by the +squires, and the modern trades unionism is the doctrine of the squires +applied by the artisans. Why should we be worse off under one _regime_ +than under the other? + +Again, this sceptical minority asks the clergy to think whether it is +really want of education which keeps the masses away from their +ministrations--whether the most completely educated men are not as open +to reproach on this score as the workmen; and whether, perchance, this +may not indicate that it is not education which lies at the bottom of +the matter? + +Once more, these people, whom there is no pleasing, venture to doubt +whether the glory, which rests upon being able to undersell all the rest +of the world, is a very safe kind of glory--whether we may not purchase +it too dear; especially if we allow education, which ought to be +directed to the making of men, to be diverted into a process of +manufacturing human tools, wonderfully adroit in the exercise of some +technical industry, but good for nothing else. + +And, finally, these people inquire whether it is the masses alone who +need a reformed and improved education. They ask whether the richest of +our public schools might not well be made to supply knowledge, as well +as gentlemanly habits, a strong class feeling, and eminent proficiency +in cricket. They seem to think that the noble foundations of our old +universities are hardly fulfilling their functions in their present +posture of half-clerical seminaries, half racecourses, where men are +trained to win a senior wranglership, or a double-first, as horses are +trained to win a cup, with as little reference to the needs of +after-life in the case of the man as in that of the racer. And, while as +zealous for education as the rest, they affirm that, if the education of +the richer classes were such as to fit them to be the leaders and the +governors of the poorer; and, if the education of the poorer classes +were such as to enable them to appreciate really wise guidance and good +governance; the politicians need not fear mob-law, nor the clergy lament +their want of flocks, nor the capitalists prognosticate the annihilation +of the prosperity of the country. + +Such is the diversity of opinion upon the why and the wherefore of +education. And my hearers will be prepared to expect that the practical +recommendations which are put forward are not less discordant. There is +a loud cry for compulsory education. We English, in spite of constant +experience to the contrary, preserve a touching faith in the efficacy of +acts of parliament; and I believe we should have compulsory education in +the course of next session, if there were the least probability that +half a dozen leading statesmen of different parties would agree what +that education should be. + +Some hold that education without theology is worse than none. Others +maintain, quite as strongly, that education with theology is in the same +predicament. But this is certain, that those who hold the first opinion +can by no means agree what theology should be taught; and that those who +maintain the second are in a small minority. + +At any rate "make people learn to read, write, and cipher," say a great +many; and the advice is undoubtedly sensible as far as it goes. But, as +has happened to me in former days, those who, in despair of getting +anything better, advocate this measure, are met with the objection that +it is very like making a child practise the use of a knife, fork, and +spoon, without giving it a particle of meat. I really don't know what +reply is to be made to such an objection. + +But it would be unprofitable to spend more time in disentangling, or +rather in showing up the knots in, the ravelled skeins of our +neighbours. Much more to the purpose is it to ask if we possess any clue +of our own which may guide us among these entanglements. And by way of a +beginning, let us ask ourselves--What is education? Above all things, +what is our ideal of a thoroughly liberal education?--of that education +which, if we could begin life again, we would give ourselves--of that +education which, if we could mould the fates to our own will, we would +give our children. Well, I know not what may be your conceptions upon +this matter, but I will tell you mine, and I hope I shall find that our +views are not very discrepant. + + +Suppose it were perfectly certain that the life and fortune of every one +of us would, one day or other, depend upon his winning or losing a game +at chess. Don't you think that we should all consider it to be a primary +duty to learn at least the names and the moves of the pieces; to have a +notion of a gambit, and a keen eye for all the means of giving and +getting out of check? Do you not think that we should look with a +disapprobation amounting to scorn, upon the father who allowed his son, +or the state which allowed its members, to grow up without knowing a +pawn from a knight? + +Yet it is a very plain and elementary truth, that the life, the fortune, +and the happiness of every one of us, and, more or less, of those who +are connected with us, do depend upon our knowing something of the rules +of a game infinitely more difficult and complicated than chess. It is a +game which has been played for untold ages, every man and woman of us +being one of the two players in a game of his or her own. The +chess-board is the world, the pieces are the phenomena of the universe, +the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature. The player on +the other side is hidden from us. We know that his play is always fair, +just, and patient. But also we know, to our cost, that he never +overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance. To +the man who plays well, the highest stakes are paid, with that sort of +overflowing generosity with which the strong shows delight in strength. +And one who plays ill is checkmated--without haste, but without remorse. + +My metaphor will remind some of you of the famous picture in which +Retzsch has depicted Satan playing at chess with man for his soul. +Substitute for the mocking fiend in that picture, a calm, strong angel +who is playing for love, as we say, and would rather lose than win--and +I should accept it as an image of human life. + +Well, what I mean by Education is learning the rules of this mighty +game. In other words, education is the instruction of the intellect in +the laws of Nature, under which name I include not merely things and +their forces, but men and their ways; and the fashioning of the +affections and of the will into an earnest and loving desire to move in +harmony with those laws. For me, education means neither more nor less +than this. Anything which professes to call itself education must be +tried by this standard, and if it fails to stand the test, I will not +call it education, whatever may be the force of authority, or of +numbers, upon the other side. + +It is important to remember that, in strictness, there is no such thing +as an uneducated man. Take an extreme case. Suppose that an adult man, +in the full vigour of his faculties, could be suddenly placed in the +world, as Adam is said to have been, and then left to do as he best +might. How long would he be left uneducated? Not five minutes. Nature +would begin to teach him, through the eye, the ear, the touch, the +properties of objects. Pain and pleasure would be at his elbow telling +him to do this and avoid that; and by slow degrees the man would receive +an education, which, if narrow, would be thorough, real, and adequate to +his circumstances, though there would be no extras and very few +accomplishments. + +And if to this solitary man entered a second Adam, or, better still, an +Eve, a new and greater world, that of social and moral phenomena, would +be revealed. Joys and woes, compared with which all others might seem +but faint shadows, would spring from the new relations. Happiness and +sorrow would take the place of the coarser monitors, pleasure and pain; +but conduct would still be shaped by the observation of the natural +consequences of actions; or, in other words, by the laws of the nature +of man. + +To every one of us the world was once as fresh and new as to Adam. And +then, long before we were susceptible of any other mode of instruction, +Nature took us in hand, and every minute of waking life brought its +educational influence, shaping our actions into rough accordance with +Nature's laws, so that we might not be ended untimely by too gross +disobedience. Nor should I speak of this process of education as past, +for any one, be he as old as he may. For every man, the world is as +fresh as it was at the first day, and as full of untold novelties for +him who has the eyes to see them. And Nature is still continuing her +patient education of us in that great university, the universe, of which +we are all members--Nature having no Test-Acts. + +Those who take honours in Nature's university, who learn the laws which +govern men and things and obey them, are the really great and successful +men in this world. The great mass of mankind are the "Poll," who pick up +just enough to get through without much discredit. Those who won't learn +at all are plucked; and then you can't come up again. Nature's pluck +means extermination. + +Thus the question of compulsory education is settled so far as Nature is +concerned. Her bill on that question was framed and passed long ago. +But, like all compulsory legislation, that of Nature is harsh and +wasteful in its operation. Ignorance is visited as sharply as wilful +disobedience--incapacity meets with the same punishment as crime. +Nature's discipline is not even a word and a blow, and the blow first; +but the blow without the word. It is left to you to find out why your +ears are boxed. + +The object of what we commonly call education--that education in which +man intervenes and which I shall distinguish as artificial education--is +to make good these defects in Nature's methods; to prepare the child to +receive Nature's education, neither incapably nor ignorantly, nor with +wilful disobedience; and to understand the preliminary symptoms of her +displeasure, without waiting for the box on the ear. In short, all +artificial education ought to be an anticipation of natural education. +And a liberal education is an artificial education, which has not only +prepared a man to escape the great evils of disobedience to natural +laws, but has trained him to appreciate and to seize upon the rewards, +which Nature scatters with as free a hand as her penalties. + +That man, I think, has had a liberal education, who has been so trained +in youth that his body is the ready servant of his will, and does with +ease and pleasure all the work that, as a mechanism, it is capable of; +whose intellect is a clear, cold, logic engine, with all its parts of +equal strength, and in smooth working order; ready, like a steam engine, +to be turned to any kind of work, and spin the gossamers as well as +forge the anchors of the mind; whose mind is stored with a knowledge of +the great and fundamental truths of Nature and of the laws of her +operations; one who, no stunted ascetic, is full of life and fire, but +whose passions are trained to come to heel by a vigorous will, the +servant of a tender conscience; who has learned to love all beauty, +whether of Nature or of art, to hate all vileness, and to respect others +as himself. + +Such an one and no other, I conceive, has had a liberal education; for +he is, as completely as a man can be, in harmony with Nature. He will +make the best of her, and she of him. They will get on together rarely; +she as his ever beneficent mother; he as her mouth-piece, her conscious +self, her minister and interpreter. + + +Where is such an education as this to be had? Where is there any +approximation to it? Has any one tried to found such an education? +Looking over the length and breadth of these islands, I am afraid that +all these questions must receive a negative answer. Consider our primary +schools, and what is taught in them. A child learns:-- + +1. To read, write, and cipher, more or less well; but in a very large +proportion of cases not so well as to take pleasure in reading, or to be +able to write the commonest letter properly. + +2. A quantity of dogmatic theology, of which the child, nine times out +of ten, understands next to nothing. + +3. Mixed up with this, so as to seem to stand or fall with it, a few of +the broadest and simplest principles of morality. This, to my mind, is +much as if a man of science should make the story of the fall of the +apple in Newton's garden, an integral part of the doctrine of +gravitation, and teach it as of equal authority with the law of the +inverse squares. + +4. A good deal of Jewish history and Syrian geography, and, perhaps, a +little something about English history and the geography of the child's +own country. But I doubt if there is a primary school in England in +which hangs a map of the hundred in which the village lies, so that the +children may be practically taught by it what a map means. + +5. A certain amount of regularity, attentive obedience, respect for +others: obtained by fear, if the master be incompetent or foolish; by +love and reverence, if he be wise. + +So far as this school course embraces a training in the theory and +practice of obedience to the moral laws of Nature, I gladly admit, not +only that it contains a valuable educational element, but that, so far, +it deals with the most valuable and important part of all education. +Yet, contrast what is done in this direction with what might be done; +with the time given to matters of comparatively no importance; with the +absence of any attention to things of the highest moment; and one is +tempted to think of Falstaff's bill and "the halfpenny worth of bread to +all that quantity of sack." + +Let us consider what a child thus "educated" knows, and what it does not +know. Begin with the most important topic of all--morality, as the guide +of conduct. The child knows well enough that some acts meet with +approbation and some with disapprobation. But it has never heard that +there lies in the nature of things a reason for every moral law, as +cogent and as well defined as that which underlies every physical law; +that stealing and lying are just as certain to be followed by evil +consequences, as putting your hand in the fire, or jumping out of a +garret window. Again, though the scholar may have been made acquainted, +in dogmatic fashion, with the broad laws of morality, he has had no +training in the application of those laws to the difficult problems +which result from the complex conditions of modern civilization. Would +it not be very hard to expect anyone to solve a problem in conic +sections who had merely been taught the axioms and definitions of +mathematical science? + +A workman has to bear hard labour, and perhaps privation, while he sees +others rolling in wealth, and feeding their dogs with what would keep +his children from starvation. Would it not be well to have helped that +man to calm the natural promptings of discontent by showing him, in his +youth, the necessary connexion of the moral law which prohibits stealing +with the stability of society--by proving to him, once for all, that it +is better for his own people, better for himself, better for future +generations, that he should starve than steal? If you have no foundation +of knowledge, or habit of thought, to work upon, what chance have you of +persuading a hungry man that a capitalist is not a thief "with a +circumbendibus?" And if he honestly believes that, of what avail is it +to quote the commandment against stealing, when he proposes to make the +capitalist disgorge? + +Again, the child learns absolutely nothing of the history or the +political organization of his own country. His general impression is, +that everything of much importance happened a very long while ago; and +that the Queen and the gentlefolks govern the country much after the +fashion of King David and the elders and nobles of Israel--his sole +models. Will you give a man with this much information a vote? In easy +times he sells it for a pot of beer. Why should he not? It is of about +as much use to him as a chignon, and he knows as much what to do with +it, for any other purpose. In bad times, on the contrary, he applies his +simple theory of government, and believes that his rulers are the cause +of his sufferings--a belief which sometimes bears remarkable practical +fruits. + +Least of all, does the child gather from this primary "education" of +ours a conception of the laws of the physical world, or of the relations +of cause and effect therein. And this is the more to be lamented, as the +poor are especially exposed to physical evils, and are more interested +in removing them than any other class of the community. If any one is +concerned in knowing the ordinary laws of mechanics one would think it +is the hand-labourer, whose daily toil lies among levers and pulleys; or +among the other implements of artisan work. And if any one is interested +in the laws of health, it is the poor workman, whose strength is wasted +by ill-prepared food, whose health is sapped by bad ventilation and bad +drainage, and half whose children are massacred by disorders which might +be prevented. Not only does our present primary education carefully +abstain from hinting to the workman that some of his greatest evils are +traceable to mere physical agencies, which could be removed by energy, +patience, and frugality; but it does worse--it renders him, so far as it +can, deaf to those who could help him, and tries to substitute an +Oriental submission to what is falsely declared to be the will of God, +for his natural tendency to strive after a better condition. + +What wonder then, if very recently, an appeal has been made to +statistics for the profoundly foolish purpose of showing that education +is of no good--that it diminishes neither misery, nor crime, among the +masses of mankind? I reply, why should the thing which has been called +education do either the one or the other? If I am a knave or a fool, +teaching me to read and write won't make me less of either one or the +other--unless somebody shows me how to put my reading and writing to +wise and good purposes. + +Suppose any one were to argue that medicine is of no use, because it +could be proved statistically, that the percentage of deaths was just +the same, among people who had been taught how to open a medicine chest, +and among those who did not so much as know the key by sight. The +argument is absurd; but it is not more preposterous than that against +which I am contending. The only medicine for suffering, crime, and all +the other woes of mankind, is wisdom. Teach a man to read and write, and +you have put into his hands the great keys of the wisdom box. But it is +quite another matter whether he ever opens the box or not. And he is as +likely to poison as to cure himself, if, without guidance, he swallows +the first drug that comes to hand. In these times a man may as well be +purblind, as unable to read--lame, as unable to write. But I protest +that, if I thought the alternative were a necessary one, I would rather +that the children of the poor should grow up ignorant of both these +mighty arts, than that they should remain ignorant of that knowledge to +which these arts are means. + + +It may be said that all these animadversions may apply to primary +schools, but that the higher schools, at any rate, must be allowed to +give a liberal education. In fact, they professedly sacrifice everything +else to this object. + +Let us inquire into this matter. What do the higher schools, those to +which the great middle class of the country sends it children, teach, +over and above the instruction given in the primary schools? There is a +little more reading and writing of English. But, for all that, every +one knows that it is a rare thing to find a boy of the middle or upper +classes who can read aloud decently, or who can put his thoughts on +paper in clear and grammatical (to say nothing of good or elegant) +language. The "ciphering" of the lower schools expands into elementary +mathematics in the higher; into arithmetic, with a little algebra, a +little Euclid. But I doubt if one boy in five hundred has ever heard the +explanation of a rule of arithmetic, or knows his Euclid otherwise than +by rote. + +Of theology, the middle class schoolboy gets rather less than poorer +children, less absolutely and less relatively, because there are so many +other claims upon his attention. I venture to say that, in the great +majority of cases, his ideas on this subject when he leaves school are +of the most shadowy and vague description, and associated with painful +impressions of the weary hours spent in learning collects and catechism +by heart. + +Modern geography, modern history, modern literature; the English +language as a language; the whole circle of the sciences, physical, +moral, and social, are even more completely ignored in the higher than +in the lower schools. Up till within a few years back, a boy might have +passed through any one of the great public schools with the greatest +distinction and credit, and might never so much as have heard of one of +the subjects I have just mentioned. He might never have heard that the +earth goes round the sun; that England underwent a great revolution in +1688, and France another in 1789; that there once lived certain notable +men called Chaucer, Shakspeare, Milton, Voltaire, Goethe, Schiller. The +first might be a German and the last an Englishman for anything he +could tell you to the contrary. And as for science, the only idea the +word would suggest to his mind would be dexterity in boxing. + +I have said that this was the state of things a few years back, for the +sake of the few righteous who are to be found among the educational +cities of the plain. But I would not have you too sanguine about the +result, if you sound the minds of the existing generation of public +school-boys, on such topics as those I have mentioned. + +Now let us pause to consider this wonderful state of affairs; for the +time will come when Englishmen will quote it as the stock example of the +stolid stupidity of their ancestors in the nineteenth century. The most +thoroughly commercial people, the greatest voluntary wanderers and +colonists the world has ever seen, are precisely the middle classes of +this country. If there be a people which has been busy making history on +the great scale for the last three hundred years--and the most +profoundly interesting history--history which, if it happened to be that +of Greece or Rome, we should study with avidity--it is the English. If +there be a people which, during the same period, has developed a +remarkable literature, it is our own. If there be a nation whose +prosperity depends absolutely and wholly upon their mastery over the +forces of Nature, upon their intelligent apprehension of, and obedience +to, the laws of the creation and distribution of wealth, and of the +stable equilibrium of the forces of society, it is precisely this +nation. And yet this is what these wonderful people tell their +sons:--"At the cost of from one to two thousand pounds of our hard +earned money, we devote twelve of the most precious years of your lives +to school. There you shall toil, or be supposed to toil; but there you +shall not learn one single thing of all those you will most want to +know, directly you leave school and enter upon the practical business of +life. You will in all probability go into business, but you shall not +know where, or how, any article of commerce is produced, or the +difference between an export or an import, or the meaning of the word +'capital.' You will very likely settle in a colony, but you shall not +know whether Tasmania is part of New South Wales, or _vice versa_. + +"Very probably you may become a manufacturer, but you shall not be +provided with the means of understanding the working of one of your own +steam-engines, or the nature of the raw products you employ; and, when +you are asked to buy a patent, you shall not have the slightest means of +judging whether the inventor is an impostor who is contravening the +elementary principles of science, or a man who will make you as rich as +Croesus. + +"You will very likely get into the House of Commons. You will have to +take your share in making laws which may prove a blessing or a curse to +millions of men. But you shall not hear one word respecting the +political organization of your country; the meaning of the controversy +between freetraders and protectionists shall never have been mentioned +to you: you shall not so much as know that there are such things as +economical laws. + +"The mental power which will be of most importance in your daily life +will be the power of seeing things as they are without regard to +authority; and of drawing accurate general conclusions from particular +facts. But at school and at college you shall know of no source of truth +but authority; nor exercise your reasoning faculty upon anything but +deduction from that which is laid down by authority. + +"You will have to weary your soul with work, and many a time eat your +bread in sorrow and in bitterness, and you shall not have learned to +take refuge in the great source of pleasure without alloy, the serene +resting-place for worn human nature,--the world of art." + +Said I not rightly that we are a wonderful people? I am quite prepared +to allow, that education entirely devoted to these omitted subjects +might not be a completely liberal education. But is an education which +ignores them all, a liberal education? Nay, is it too much to say that +the education which should embrace these subjects and no others, would +be a real education, though an incomplete one; while an education which +omits them is really not an education at all, but a more or less useful +course of intellectual gymnastics? + + +For what does the middle-class school put in the place of all these +things which are left out? It substitutes what is usually comprised +under the compendious title of the "classics"--that is to say, the +languages, the literature, and the history of the ancient Greeks and +Romans, and the geography of so much of the world as was known to these +two great nations of antiquity. Now, do not expect me to depreciate the +earnest and enlightened pursuit of classical learning. I have not the +least desire to speak ill of such occupations, nor any sympathy with +those who run them down. On the contrary, if my opportunities had lain +in that direction, there is no investigation into which I could have +thrown myself with greater delight than that of antiquity. + +What science can present greater attractions than philology? How can a +lover of literary excellence fail to rejoice in the ancient +masterpieces? And with what consistency could I, whose business lies so +much in the attempt to decipher the past, and to build up intelligible +forms out of the scattered fragments of long-extinct beings, fail to +take a sympathetic, though an unlearned, interest in the labours of a +Niebuhr, a Gibbon, or a Grote? Classical history is a great section of +the palaeontology of man; and I have the same double respect for it as +for other kinds of palaeontology--that is to say, a respect for the facts +which it establishes as for all facts, and a still greater respect for +it as a preparation for the discovery of a law of progress. + +But if the classics were taught as they might be taught--if boys and +girls were instructed in Greek and Latin, not merely as languages, but +as illustrations of philological science; if a vivid picture of life on +the shores of the Mediterranean, two thousand years ago, were imprinted +on the minds of scholars; if ancient history were taught, not as a weary +series of feuds and fights, but traced to its causes in such men placed +under such conditions; if, lastly, the study of the classical books were +followed in such a manner as to impress boys with their beauties, and +with the grand simplicity of their statement of the everlasting problems +of human life, instead of with their verbal and grammatical +peculiarities; I still think it as little proper that they should form +the basis of a liberal education for our contemporaries, as I should +think it fitting to make that sort of palaeontology with which I am +familiar, the back-bone of modern education. + +It is wonderful how close a parallel to classical training could be made +out of that palaeontology to which I refer. In the first place I could +get up an osteological primer so arid, so pedantic in its terminology, +so altogether distasteful to the youthful mind, as to beat the recent +famous production of the head-masters out of the field in all these +excellences. Next, I could exercise my boys upon easy fossils, and bring +out all their powers of memory and all their ingenuity in the +application of my osteo-grammatical rules to the interpretation, or +construing, of those fragments. To those who had reached the higher +classes, I might supply odd bones to be built up into animals, giving +great honour and reward to him who succeeded in fabricating monsters +most entirely in accordance with the rules. That would answer to +verse-making and essay-writing in the dead languages. + +To be sure, if a great comparative anatomist were to look at these +fabrications he might shake his head, or laugh. But what then? Would +such a catastrophe destroy the parallel? What think you would Cicero, or +Horace, say to the production of the best sixth form going? And would +not Terence stop his ears and run out if he could be present at an +English performance of his own plays? Would Hamlet, in the mouths of a +set of French actors, who should insist on pronouncing English after the +fashion of their own tongue, be more hideously ridiculous? + +But it will be said that I am forgetting the beauty, and the human +interest, which appertain to classical studies. To this I reply that it +is only a very strong man who can appreciate the charms of a landscape, +as he is toiling up a steep hill, along a bad road. What with +short-windedness, stones, ruts, and a pervading sense of the wisdom of +rest and be thankful, most of us have little enough sense of the +beautiful under these circumstances. The ordinary school-boy is +precisely in this case. He finds Parnassus uncommonly steep, and there +is no chance of his having much time or inclination to look about him +till he gets to the top. And nine times out of ten he does not get to +the top. + +But if this be a fair picture of the results of classical teaching at +its best--and I gather from those who have authority to speak on such +matters that it is so--what is to be said of classical teaching at its +worst, or in other words, of the classics of our ordinary middle-class +schools[2]? I will tell you. It means getting up endless forms and rules +by heart. It means turning Latin and Greek into English, for the mere +sake of being able to do it, and without the smallest regard to the +worth, or worthlessness, of the author read. It means the learning of +innumerable, not always decent, fables in such a shape that the meaning +they once had is dried up into utter trash; and the only impression left +upon a boy's mind is, that the people who believed such things must have +been the greatest idiots the world ever saw. And it means, finally, that +after a dozen years spent at this kind of work, the sufferer shall be +incompetent to interpret a passage in an author he has not already got +up; that he shall loathe the sight of a Greek or Latin book; and that he +shall never open, or think of, a classical writer again, until, +wonderful to relate, he insists upon submitting his sons to the same +process. + +These be your gods, O Israel! For the sake of this net result (and +respectability) the British father denies his children all the knowledge +they might turn to account in life, not merely for the achievement of +vulgar success, but for guidance in the great crises of human existence. +This is the stone he offers to those whom he is bound by the strongest +and tenderest ties to feed with bread. + + +If primary and secondary education are in this unsatisfactory state, +what is to be said to the universities? This is an awful subject, and +one I almost fear to touch with my unhallowed hands; but I can tell you +what those say who have authority to speak. + +The Rector of Lincoln College, in his lately published, valuable +"Suggestions for Academical Organization with especial reference to +Oxford," tells us (p. 127):-- + +"The colleges were, in their origin, endowments, not for the elements of +a general liberal education, but for the prolonged study of special and +professional faculties by men of riper age. The universities embraced +both these objects. The colleges, while they incidentally aided in +elementary education, were specially devoted to the highest learning.... + +"This was the theory of the middle-age university and the design of +collegiate foundations in their origin. Time and circumstances have +brought about a total change. The colleges no longer promote the +researches of science, or direct professional study. Here and there +college walls may shelter an occasional student, but not in larger +proportions than may be found in private life. Elementary teaching of +youths under twenty is now the only function performed by the +university, and almost the only object of college endowments. Colleges +were homes for the life-study of the highest and most abstruse parts of +knowledge. They have become boarding schools in which the elements of +the learned languages are taught to youths." + +If Mr. Pattison's high position, and his obvious love and respect for +his university, be insufficient to convince the outside world that +language so severe is yet no more than just, the authority of the +Commissioners who reported on the University of Oxford in 1850 is open +to no challenge. Yet they write:-- + +"It is generally acknowledged that both Oxford and the country at large +suffer greatly from the absence of a body of learned men devoting their +lives to the cultivation of science, and to the direction of academical +education. + +"The fact that so few books of profound research emanate from the +University of Oxford, materially impairs its character as a seat of +learning, and consequently its hold on the respect of the nation." + +Cambridge can claim no exemption from the reproaches addressed to +Oxford. And thus there seems no escape from the admission that what we +fondly call our great seats of learning are simply "boarding schools" +for bigger boys; that learned men are not more numerous in them than out +of them; that the advancement of knowledge is not the object of fellows +of colleges; that, in the philosophic calm and meditative stillness of +their greenswarded courts, philosophy does not thrive, and meditation +bears few fruits. + +It is my great good fortune to reckon amongst my friends resident +members of both universities, who are men of learning and research, +zealous cultivators of science, keeping before their minds a noble ideal +of a university, and doing their best to make that ideal a reality; and, +to me, they would necessarily typify the universities, did not the +authoritative statements I have quoted compel me to believe that they +are exceptional, and not representative men. Indeed, upon calm +consideration, several circumstances lead me to think that the Rector of +Lincoln College and the Commissioners cannot be far wrong. + +I believe there can be no doubt that the foreigner who should wish to +become acquainted with the scientific, or the literary, activity of +modern England, would simply lose his time and his pains if he visited +our universities with that object. + +And, as for works of profound research on any subject, and, above all, +in that classical lore for which the universities profess to sacrifice +almost everything else, why, a third-rate, poverty-stricken German +university turns out more produce of that kind in one year, than our +vast and wealthy foundations elaborate in ten. + +Ask the man who is investigating any question, profoundly and +thoroughly--be it historical, philosophical, philological, physical, +literary, or theological; who is trying to make himself master of any +abstract subject (except, perhaps, political economy and geology, both +of which are intensely Anglican sciences) whether he is not compelled +to read half a dozen times as many German, as English, books? And +whether, of these English books, more than one in ten is the work of a +fellow of a college, or a professor of an English university? + +Is this from any lack of power in the English as compared with the +German mind? The countrymen of Grote and of Mill, of Faraday, of Robert +Brown, of Lyell, and of Darwin, to go no further back than the +contemporaries of men of middle age, can afford to smile at such a +suggestion. England can show now, as she has been able to show in every +generation since civilization spread over the West, individual men who +hold their own against the world, and keep alive the old tradition of +her intellectual eminence. + +But, in the majority of cases, these men are what they are in virtue of +their native intellectual force, and of a strength of character which +will not recognise impediments. They are not trained in the courts of +the Temple of Science, but storm the walls of that edifice in all sorts +of irregular ways, and with much loss of time and power, in order to +obtain their legitimate positions. + +Our universities not only do not encourage such men; do not offer them +positions, in which it should be their highest duty to do, thoroughly, +that which they are most capable of doing; but, as far as possible, +university training shuts out of the minds of those among them, who are +subjected to it, the prospect that there is anything in the world for +which they are specially fitted. Imagine the success of the attempt to +still the intellectual hunger any of the men I have mentioned, by +putting before him, as the object of existence, the successful mimicry +of the measure of a Greek song, or the roll of Ciceronian prose! Imagine +how much success would be likely to attend the attempt to persuade such +men, that the education which leads to perfection in such elegancies is +alone to be called culture; while the facts of history, the process of +thought, the conditions of moral and social existence, and the laws of +physical nature, are left to be dealt with as they may, by outside +barbarians! + +It is not thus that the German universities, from being beneath notice a +century ago, have become what they are now--the most intensely +cultivated and the most productive intellectual corporations the world +has ever seen. + +The student who repairs to them sees in the list of classes and of +professors a fair picture of the world of knowledge. Whatever he needs +to know there is some one ready to teach him, some one competent to +discipline him in the way of learning; whatever his special bent, let +him but be able and diligent, and in due time he shall find distinction +and a career. Among his professors, he sees men whose names are known +and revered throughout the civilized world; and their living example +infects him with a noble ambition, and a love for the spirit of work. + +The Germans dominate the intellectual world by virtue of the same simple +secret as that which made Napoleon the master of old Europe. They have +declared _la carriere ouverte aux talents_, and every Bursch marches +with a professor's gown in his knapsack. Let him become a great scholar, +or man of science, and ministers will compete for his services. In +Germany, they do not leave the chance of his holding the office he +would render illustrious to the tender mercies of a hot canvass, and the +final wisdom of a mob of country parsons. + +In short, in Germany, the universities are exactly what the Rector of +Lincoln and the Commissioners tell us the English universities are not; +that is to say, corporations "of learned men devoting their lives to the +cultivation of science, and the direction of academical education." They +are not "boarding schools for youths," nor clerical seminaries; but +institutions for the higher culture of men, in which the theological +faculty is of no more importance, or prominence, than the rest; and +which are truly "universities," since they strive to represent and +embody the totality of human knowledge, and to find room for all forms +of intellectual activity. + +May zealous and clear-headed reformers like Mr. Pattison succeed in +their noble endeavours to shape our universities towards some such ideal +as this, without losing what is valuable and distinctive in their social +tone! But until they have succeeded, a liberal education will be no more +obtainable in our Oxford and Cambridge Universities than in our public +schools. + + +If I am justified in my conception of the ideal of a liberal education; +and if what I have said about the existing educational institutions of +the country is also true, it is clear that the two have no sort of +relation to one another; that the best of our schools and the most +complete of our university trainings give but a narrow, one-sided, and +essentially illiberal education--while the worst give what is really +next to no education at all. The South London Working-Men's College +could not copy any of these institutions if it would. I am bold enough +to express the conviction that it ought not if it could. + +For what is wanted is the reality and not the mere name of a liberal +education; and this College must steadily set before itself the ambition +to be able to give that education sooner or later. At present we are but +beginning, sharpening our educational tools, as it were, and, except a +modicum of physical science, we are not able to offer much more than is +to be found in an ordinary school. + +Moral and social science--one of the greatest and most fruitful of our +future classes, I hope--at present lacks only one thing in our +programme, and that is a teacher. A considerable want, no doubt; but it +must be recollected that it is much better to want a teacher than to +want the desire to learn. + +Further, we need what, for want of a better name, I must call Physical +Geography. What I mean is that which the Germans call "_Erdkunde_." It +is a description of the earth, of its place and relation to other +bodies; of its general structure, and of its great features--winds, +tides, mountains, plains; of the chief forms of the vegetable and animal +worlds, of the varieties of man. It is the peg upon which the greatest +quantity of useful and entertaining scientific information can be +suspended. + +Literature is not upon the College programme; but I hope some day to see +it there. For literature is the greatest of all sources of refined +pleasure, and one of the great uses of a liberal education is to enable +us to enjoy that pleasure. There is scope enough for the purposes of +liberal education in the study of the rich treasures of our own language +alone. All that is needed is direction, and the cultivation of a refined +taste by attention to sound criticism. But there is no reason why French +and German should not be mastered sufficiently to read what is worth +reading in those languages, with pleasure and with profit. + +And finally, by-and-by, we must have History; treated not as a +succession of battles and dynasties; not as a series of biographies; not +as evidence that Providence has always been on the side of either Whigs +or Tories; but as the development of man in times past, and in other +conditions than our own. + +But, as it is one of the principles of our College to be +self-supporting, the public must lead, and we must follow, in these +matters. If my hearers take to heart what I have said about liberal +education, they will desire these things, and I doubt not we shall be +able to supply them. But we must wait till the demand is made. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[2] For a justification of what is here said about these schools, see +that valuable book, "Essays on a Liberal Education," _passim_. + + + + +IV. + +SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION: NOTES OF AN AFTER-DINNER SPEECH. + + [MR. THACKERAY, talking of after-dinner speeches, has + lamented that "one never can recollect the fine things one thought + of in the cab," in going to the place of entertainment. I am not + aware that there are any "fine things" in the following pages, but + such as there are stand to a speech which really did get itself + spoken, at the hospitable table of the Liverpool Philomathic + Society, more or less in the position of what "one thought of in + the cab."] + + +The introduction of scientific training into the general education of +the country is a topic upon which I could not have spoken, without some +more or less apologetic introduction, a few years ago. But upon this, as +upon other matters, public opinion has of late undergone a rapid +modification. Committees of both Houses of the Legislature have agreed +that something must be done in this direction, and have even thrown out +timid and faltering suggestions as to what should be done; while at the +opposite pole of society, committees of working-men have expressed their +conviction that scientific training is the one thing needful for their +advancement, whether as men, or as workmen. Only the other day, it was +my duty to take part in the reception of a deputation of London working +men, who desired to learn from Sir Roderick Murchison, the Director of +the Royal School of Mines, whether the organization of the Institution +in Jermyn Street could be made available for the supply of that +scientific instruction, the need of which could not have been +apprehended, or stated, more clearly than it was by them. + +The heads of colleges in our great Universities (who have not the +reputation of being the most mobile of persons) have, in several cases, +thought it well that, out of the great number of honours and rewards at +their disposal, a few should hereafter be given to the cultivators of +the physical sciences. Nay, I hear that some colleges have even gone so +far as to appoint one, or, may be, two special tutors for the purpose of +putting the facts and principles of physical science before the +undergraduate mind. And I say it with gratitude and great respect for +those eminent persons, that the head masters of our public schools, +Eton, Harrow, Winchester, have addressed themselves to the problem of +introducing instruction in physical science among the studies of those +great educational bodies, with much honesty of purpose and enlightenment +of understanding; and I live in hope that, before long, important +changes in this direction will be carried into effect in those +strongholds of ancient prescription. In fact, such changes have already +been made, and physical science, even now, constitutes a recognised +element of the school curriculum in Harrow and Rugby, whilst I +understand that ample preparations for such studies are being made at +Eton and elsewhere. + +Looking at these facts, I might perhaps spare myself the trouble of +giving any reasons for the introduction of physical science into +elementary education; yet I cannot but think that it may be well, if I +place before you some considerations which, perhaps, have hardly +received full attention. + +At other times, and in other places, I have endeavoured to state the +higher and more abstract arguments, by which the study of physical +science may be shown to be indispensable to the complete training of the +human mind; but I do not wish it to be supposed that, because I happen +to be devoted to more or less abstract and "unpractical" pursuits, I am +insensible to the weight which ought to be attached to that which has +been said to be the English conception of Paradise--"namely, getting +on." I look upon it, that "getting on" is a very important matter +indeed. I do not mean merely for the sake of the coarse and tangible +results of success, but because humanity is so constituted that a vast +number of us would never be impelled to those stretches of exertion +which make us wiser and more capable men, if it were not for the +absolute necessity of putting on our faculties all the strain they will +bear, for the purpose of "getting on" in the most practical sense. + +Now the value of a knowledge of physical science as a means of getting +on, is indubitable. There are hardly any of our trades, except the +merely huckstering ones, in which some knowledge of science may not be +directly profitable to the pursuer of that occupation. As industry +attains higher stages of its development, as its processes become more +complicated and refined, and competition more keen, the sciences are +dragged in, one by one, to take their share in the fray; and he who can +best avail himself of their help is the man who will come out uppermost +in that struggle for existence which goes on as fiercely beneath the +smooth surface of modern society, as among the wild inhabitants of the +woods. + +But, in addition to the bearing of science on ordinary practical life, +let me direct your attention to its immense influence on several of the +professions. I ask any one who has adopted the calling of an engineer, +how much time he lost when he left school, because he had to devote +himself to pursuits which were absolutely novel and strange, and of +which he had not obtained the remotest conception from his instructors? +He had to familiarize himself with ideas of the course and powers of +Nature, to which his attention had never been directed during his +school-life, and to learn, for the first time, that a world of facts +lies outside and beyond the world of words. I appeal to those who know +what Engineering is, to say how far I am right in respect to that +profession; but with regard to another, of no less importance, I shall +venture to speak of my own knowledge. There is no one of who may not at +any moment be thrown, bound hand and foot by physical incapacity, into the +hands of a medical practitioner. The chances of life and death for all +and each of us may, at any moment, depend on the skill with which that +practitioner is able to make out what is wrong in our bodily frames, +and on his ability to apply the proper remedy to the defect. + +The necessities of modern life are such, and the class from which the +medical profession is chiefly recruited is so situated, that few medical +men can hope to spend more than three or four, or it may be five, years +in the pursuit of those studies which are immediately germane to physic. +How is that all too brief period spent at present? I speak as an old +examiner, having served some eleven or twelve years in that capacity in +the University of London, and therefore having a practical acquaintance +with the subject; but I might fortify myself by the authority of the +President of the College of Surgeons, Mr. Quain, whom I heard the other +day in an admirable address (the Hunterian Oration) deal fully and +wisely with this very topic[3]. + +A young man commencing the study of medicine is at once required to +endeavour to make an acquaintance with a number of sciences, such as +Physics, as Chemistry, as Botany, as Physiology, which are absolutely +and entirely strange to him, however excellent his so-called education +at school may have been. Not only is he devoid of all apprehension of +scientific conceptions, not only does he fail to attach any meaning to +the words "matter," "force," or "law" in their scientific senses, but, +worse still, he has no notion of what it is to come into contact with +nature, or to lay his mind alongside of a physical fact, and try to +conquer it, in the way our great naval hero told his captains to master +their enemies. His whole mind has been given to books, and I am hardly +exaggerating if I say that they are more real to him than Nature. He +imagines that all knowledge can be got out of books, and rests upon the +authority of some master or other; nor does he entertain any misgiving +that the method of learning which led to proficiency in the rules of +grammar, will suffice to lead him to a mastery of the laws of Nature. +The youngster, thus unprepared for serious study, is turned loose among +his medical studies, with the result, in nine cases out of ten, that the +first year of his curriculum is spent in learning how to learn. Indeed, +he is lucky, if at the end of the first year, by the exertions of his +teachers and his own industry, he has acquired even that art of arts. +After which there remain not more than three, or perhaps four, years for +the profitable study of such vast sciences as Anatomy, Physiology, +Therapeutics, Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics, and the like, upon his +knowledge or ignorance of which it depends whether the practitioner +shall diminish, or increase, the bills of mortality. Now what is it but +the preposterous condition of ordinary school education which prevents a +young man of seventeen, destined for the practice of medicine, from +being fully prepared for the study of nature; and from coming to the +medical school, equipped with that preliminary knowledge of the +principles of Physics, of Chemistry, and of Biology, upon which he has +now to waste one of the precious years, every moment of which ought to +be given to those studies which bear directly upon the knowledge of his +profession? + +There is another profession, to the members of which, I think, a certain +preliminary knowledge of physical science might be quite as valuable as +to the medical man. The practitioner of medicine sets before himself the +noble object of taking care of man's bodily welfare; but the members of +this other profession undertake to "minister to minds diseased," and, so +far as may be, to diminish sin and soften sorrow. Like the medical +profession, the clerical, of which I now speak, rests its power to heal +upon its knowledge of the order of the universe--upon certain theories +of man's relation to that which lies outside him. It is not my business +to express any opinion about these theories. I merely wish to point out +that, like all other theories, they are professedly based upon matter of +fact. Thus the clerical profession has to deal with the facts of Nature +from a certain point of view; and hence it comes into contact with that +of the man of science, who has to treat the same facts from another +point of view. You know how often that contact is to be described as +collision, or violent friction; and how great the heat, how little the +light, which commonly results from it. + +In the interests of fair play, to say nothing of those of mankind, I +ask, Why do not the clergy as a body acquire, as a part of their +preliminary education, some such tincture of physical science as will +put them in a position to understand the difficulties in the way of +accepting their theories, which are forced upon the mind of every +thoughtful and intelligent man, who has taken the trouble to instruct +himself in the elements of natural knowledge? + +Some time ago I attended a large meeting of the clergy, for the purpose +of delivering an address which I had been invited to give. I spoke of +some of the most elementary facts in physical science, and of the manner +in which they directly contradict certain of the ordinary teachings of +the clergy. The result was, that, after I had finished, one section of +the assembled ecclesiastics attacked me with all the intemperance of +pious zeal, for stating facts and conclusions which no competent judge +doubts; while, after the first speakers had subsided, amidst the cheers +of the great majority of their colleagues, the more rational minority +rose to tell me that I had taken wholly superfluous pains, that they +already knew all about what I had told them, and perfectly agreed with +me. A hard-headed friend of mine, who was present, put the not unnatural +question, "Then why don't you say so in your pulpits?" to which inquiry +I heard no reply. + +In fact the clergy are at present divisible into three sections: an +immense body who are ignorant and speak out; a small proportion who know +and are silent; and a minute minority who know and speak according to +their knowledge. By the clergy, I mean especially the Protestant clergy. +Our great antagonist--I speak as a man of science--the Roman Catholic +Church, the one great spiritual organization which is able to resist, +and must, as a matter of life and death, resist, the progress of science +and modern civilization, manages her affairs much better. + +It was my fortune some time ago to pay a visit to one of the most +important of the institutions in which the clergy of the Roman Catholic +Church in these islands are trained; and it seemed to me that the +difference between these men and the comfortable champions of +Anglicanism and of Dissent, was comparable to the difference between our +gallant Volunteers and the trained veterans of Napoleon's Old Guard. + +The Catholic priest is trained to know his business, and do it +effectually. The professors of the college in question, learned, +zealous, and determined men, permitted me to speak frankly with them. +We talked like outposts of opposed armies during a truce--as friendly +enemies; and when I ventured to point out the difficulties their +students would have to encounter from scientific thought, they replied: +"Our Church has lasted many ages, and has passed safely through many +storms. The present is but a new gust of the old tempest, and we do not +turn out our young men less fitted to weather it, than they have been, +in former times, to cope with the difficulties of those times. The +heresies of the day are explained to them by their professors of +philosophy and science, and they are taught how those heresies are to be +met." + +I heartily respect an organization which faces its enemies in this way; +and I wish that all ecclesiastical organizations were in as effective a +condition. I think it would be better, not only for them, but for us. +The army of liberal thought is, at present, in very loose order; and +many a spirited free-thinker makes use of his freedom mainly to vent +nonsense. We should be the better for a vigorous and watchful enemy to +hammer us into cohesion and discipline; and I, for one, lament that the +bench of Bishops cannot show a man of the calibre of Butler of the +"Analogy," who, if he were alive, would make short work of much of the +current _a priori_ "infidelity." + + +I hope you will consider that the arguments I have now stated, even if +there were no better ones, constitute a sufficient apology for urging +the introduction of science into schools. The next question to which I +have to address myself is, What sciences ought to be thus taught? And +this is one of the most important of questions, because my side (I am +afraid I am a terribly candid friend) sometimes spoils its cause by +going in for too much. There are other forms of culture beside physical +science; and I should be profoundly sorry to see the fact forgotten, or +even to observe a tendency to starve, or cripple, literary, or aesthetic, +culture for the sake of science. Such a narrow view of the nature of +education has nothing to do with my firm conviction that a complete and +thorough scientific culture ought to be introduced into all schools. By +this, however, I do not mean that every schoolboy should be taught +everything in science. That would be a very absurd thing to conceive, +and a very mischievous thing to attempt. What I mean is, that no boy nor +girl should leave school without possessing a grasp of the general +character of science, and without having been disciplined, more or less, +in the methods of all sciences; so that, when turned into the world to +make their own way, they shall be prepared to face scientific problems, +not by knowing at once the conditions of every problem, or by being able +at once to solve it; but by being familiar with the general current of +scientific thought, and by being able to apply the methods of science in +the proper way, when they have acquainted themselves with the conditions +of the special problem. + +That is what I understand by scientific education. To furnish a boy with +such an education, it is by no means necessary that he should devote his +whole school existence to physical science: in fact, no one would lament +so one-sided a proceeding more than I. Nay more, it is not necessary for +him to give up more than a moderate share of his time to such studies, +if they be properly selected and arranged, and if he be trained in them +in a fitting manner. + +I conceive the proper course to be somewhat as follows. To begin with, +let every child be instructed in those general views of the phenomena of +Nature for which we have no exact English name. The nearest +approximation to a name for what I mean, which we possess, is "physical +geography." The Germans have a better, "Erdkunde," ("earth knowledge" or +"geology" in its etymological sense,) that is to say, a general +knowledge of the earth, and what is on it, in it, and about it. If any +one who has had experience of the ways of young children will call to +mind their questions, he will find that so far as they can be put into +any scientific category, they come under this head of "Erdkunde." The +child asks, "What is the moon, and why does it shine?" "What is this +water, and where does it run?" "What is the wind?" "What makes the waves +in the sea?" "Where does this animal live, and what is the use of that +plant?" And if not snubbed and stunted by being told not to ask foolish +questions, there is no limit to the intellectual craving of a young +child; nor any bounds to the slow, but solid, accretion of knowledge and +development of the thinking faculty in this way. To all such questions, +answers which are necessarily incomplete, though true as far as they go, +may be given by any teacher whose ideas represent real knowledge and not +mere book learning; and a panoramic view of Nature, accompanied by a +strong infusion of the scientific habit of mind, may thus be placed +within the reach of every child of nine or ten. + +After this preliminary opening of the eyes to the great spectacle of the +daily progress of Nature, as the reasoning faculties of the child grow, +and he becomes familiar with the use of the tools of knowledge--reading, +writing, and elementary mathematics--he should pass on to what is, in +the more strict sense, physical science. Now there are two kinds of +physical science: the one regards form and the relation of forms to one +another; the other deals with causes and effects. In many of what we +term our sciences, these two kinds are mixed up together; but systematic +botany is a pure example of the former kind, and physics of the latter +kind, of science. Every educational advantage which training in +physical science can give is obtainable from the proper study of these +two; and I should be contented, for the present, if they, added to our +"Erdkunde," furnished the whole of the scientific curriculum of schools. +Indeed I conceive it would be one of the greatest boons which could be +conferred upon England, if henceforward every child in the country were +instructed in the general knowledge of the things about it, in the +elements of physics, and of botany. But I should be still better pleased +if there could be added somewhat of chemistry, and an elementary +acquaintance with human physiology. + +So far as school education is concerned, I want to go no further just +now; and I believe that such instruction would make an excellent +introduction to that preparatory scientific training which, as I have +indicated, is so essential for the successful pursuit of our most +important professions. But this modicum of instruction must be so given +as to ensure real knowledge and practical discipline. If scientific +education is to be dealt with as mere bookwork, it will be better not to +attempt it, but to stick to the Latin Grammar, which makes no pretence +to be anything but bookwork. + +If the great benefits of scientific training are sought, it is essential +that such training should be real: that is to say, that the mind of the +scholar should be brought into direct relation with fact, that he should +not merely be told a thing, but made to see by the use of his own +intellect and ability that the thing is _so_ and no otherwise. The great +peculiarity of scientific training, that in virtue of which it cannot be +replaced by any other discipline whatsoever, is this bringing of the +mind directly into contact with fact, and practising the intellect in +the completest form of induction; that is to say, in drawing conclusions +from particular facts made known by immediate observation of Nature. + +The other studies which enter into ordinary education do not discipline +the mind in this way. Mathematical training is almost purely deductive. +The mathematician starts with a few simple propositions, the proof of +which is so obvious that they are called self-evident, and the rest of +his work consists of subtle deductions from them. The teaching of +languages, at any rate as ordinarily practised, is of the same general +nature,--authority and tradition furnish the data, and the mental +operations of the scholar are deductive. + +Again: if history be the subject of study, the facts are still taken +upon the evidence of tradition and authority. You cannot make a boy see +the battle of Thermopylae for himself, or know, of his own knowledge, +that Cromwell once ruled England. There is no getting into direct +contact with natural fact by this road; there is no dispensing with +authority, but rather a resting upon it. + +In all these respects, science differs from other educational +discipline, and prepares the scholar for common life. What have we to do +in every-day life? Most of the business which demands our attention is +matter of fact, which needs, in the first place, to be accurately +observed or apprehended; in the second, to be interpreted by inductive +and deductive reasonings, which are altogether similar in their nature +to those employed in science. In the one case, as in the other, whatever +is taken for granted is so taken at one's own peril; fact and reason +are the ultimate arbiters, and patience and honesty are the great +helpers out of difficulty. + +But if scientific training is to yield its most eminent results, it +must, I repeat, be made practical. That is to say, in explaining to a +child the general phenomena of Nature, you must, as far as possible, +give reality to your teaching by object-lessons; in teaching him botany, +he must handle the plants and dissect the flowers for himself; in +teaching him physics and chemistry, you must not be solicitous to fill +him with information, but you must be careful that what he learns he +knows of his own knowledge. Don't be satisfied with telling him that a +magnet attracts iron. Let him see that it does; let him feel the pull of +the one upon the other for himself. And, especially, tell him that it is +his duty to doubt until he is compelled, by the absolute authority of +Nature, to believe that which is written in books. Pursue this +discipline carefully and conscientiously, and you may make sure that, +however scanty may be the measure of information which you have poured +into the boy's mind, you have created an intellectual habit of priceless +value in practical life. + +One is constantly asked, When should this scientific education be +commenced? I should say with the dawn of intelligence. As I have already +said, a child seeks for information about matters of physical science as +soon as it begins to talk. The first teaching it wants is an +object-lesson of one sort or another; and as soon as it is fit for +systematic instruction of any kind, it is fit for a modicum of science. + +People talk of the difficulty of teaching young children such matters, +and in the same breath insist upon their learning their Catechism, +which contains propositions far harder to comprehend than anything in +the educational course I have proposed. Again, I am incessantly told +that we, who advocate the introduction of science into schools, make no +allowance for the stupidity of the average boy or girl; but, in my +belief, that stupidity, in nine cases out of ten, "_fit, non nascitur_," +and is developed by a long process of parental and pedagogic repression +of the natural intellectual appetites, accompanied by a persistent +attempt to create artificial ones for food which is not only tasteless, +but essentially indigestible. + +Those who urge the difficulty of instructing young people in science are +apt to forget another very important condition of success--important in +all kinds of teaching, but most essential, I am disposed to think, when +the scholars are very young. This condition is, that the teacher should +himself really and practically know his subject. If he does, he will be +able to speak of it in the easy language, and with the completeness of +conviction, with which he talks of any ordinary every-day matter. If he +does not, he will be afraid to wander beyond the limits of the technical +phraseology which he has got up; and a dead dogmatism, which oppresses, +or raises opposition, will take the place of the lively confidence, born +of personal conviction, which cheers and encourages the eminently +sympathetic mind of childhood. + +I have already hinted that such scientific training as we seek for may +be given without making any extravagant claim upon the time now devoted +to education. We ask only for "a most favoured nation" clause in our +treaty with the schoolmaster; we demand no more than that science shall +have as much time given to it as any other single subject--say four +hours a week in each class of an ordinary school. + +For the present, I think men of science would be well content with such +an arrangement as this; but, speaking for myself, I do not pretend to +believe that such an arrangement can be, or will be, permanent. In these +times the educational tree seems to me to have its roots in the air, its +leaves and flowers in the ground; and, I confess, I should very much +like to turn it upside down, so that its roots might be solidly embedded +among the facts of Nature, and draw thence a sound nutriment for the +foliage and fruit of literature and of art. No educational system can +have a claim to permanence, unless it recognises the truth that +education has two great ends to which everything else must be +subordinated. The one of these is to increase knowledge; the other is to +develop the love of right and the hatred of wrong. + +With wisdom and uprightness a nation can make its way worthily, and +beauty will follow in the footsteps of the two, even if she be not +specially invited; while there is perhaps no sight in the whole world +more saddening and revolting than is offered by men sunk in ignorance of +everything but what other men have written; seemingly devoid of moral +belief or guidance; but with the sense of beauty so keen, and the power +of expression so cultivated, that their sensual caterwauling may be +almost mistaken for the music of the spheres. + +At present, education is almost entirely devoted to the cultivation of +the power of expression, and of the sense of literary beauty. The matter +of having anything to say, beyond a hash of other people's opinions, or +of possessing any criterion of beauty, so that we may distinguish +between the Godlike and the devilish, is left aside as of no moment. I +think I do not err in saying that if science were made the foundation of +education, instead of being, at most, stuck on as cornice to the +edifice, this state of things could not exist. + +In advocating the introduction of physical science as a leading element +in education, I by no means refer only to the higher schools. On the +contrary, I believe that such a change is even more imperatively called +for in those primary schools, in which the children of the poor are +expected to turn to the best account the little time they can devote to +the acquisition of knowledge. A great step in this direction has already +been made by the establishment of science-classes under the Department +of Science and Art,--a measure which came into existence unnoticed, but +which will, I believe, turn out to be of more importance to the welfare +of the people, than many political changes, over which the noise of +battle has rent the air. + +Under the regulations to which I refer, a schoolmaster can set up a +class in one or more branches of science; his pupils will be examined, +and the State will pay him, at a certain rate, for all who succeed in +passing. I have acted as an examiner under this system from the +beginning of its establishment, and this year I expect to have not fewer +than a couple of thousand sets of answers to questions in Physiology, +mainly from young people of the artisan class, who have been taught in +the schools which are now scattered all over Great Britain and Ireland. +Some of my colleagues, who have to deal with subjects such as Geometry, +for which the present teaching power is better organized, I understand +are likely to have three or four times as many papers. So far as my own +subjects are concerned, I can undertake to say that a great deal of the +teaching, the results of which are before me in these examinations, is +very sound and good; and I think it is in the power of the examiners, +not only to keep up the present standard, but to cause an almost +unlimited improvement. Now what does this mean? It means that by holding +out a very moderate inducement, the masters of primary schools in many +parts of the country have been led to convert them into little foci of +scientific instruction; and that they and their pupils have contrived to +find, or to make, time enough to carry out this object with a very +considerable degree of efficiency. That efficiency will, I doubt not, be +very much increased as the system becomes known and perfected, even with +the very limited leisure left to masters and teachers on week-days. And +this leads me to ask, Why should scientific teaching be limited to +week-days? + +Ecclesiastically-minded persons are in the habit of calling things they +do not like by very hard names, and I should not wonder if they brand +the proposition I am about to make as blasphemous, and worse. But, not +minding this, I venture to ask, Would there really be anything wrong in +using part of Sunday for the purpose of instructing those who have no +other leisure, in a knowledge of the phenomena of Nature, and of man's +relation to nature? + +I should like to see a scientific Sunday-school in every parish, not for +the purpose of superseding any existing means of teaching the people +the things that are for their good, but side by side with them. I cannot +but think that there is room for all of us to work in helping to bridge +over the great abyss of ignorance which lies at our feet. + +And if any of the ecclesiastical persons to whom I have referred, object +that they find it derogatory to the honour of the God whom they worship, +to awaken the minds of the young to the infinite wonder and majesty of +the works which they proclaim His, and to teach them those laws which +must needs be His laws, and therefore of all things needful for man to +know--I can only recommend them to be let blood and put on low diet. +There must be something very wrong going on in the instrument of logic, +if it turns out such conclusions from such premisses. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[3] Mr. Quain's words (_Medical Times and Gazette_, February 20) +are:--"A few words as to our special Medical course of instruction and +the influence upon it of such changes in the elementary schools as I +have mentioned. The student now enters at once upon several +sciences--physics, chemistry, anatomy, physiology, botany, pharmacy, +therapeutics--all these, the facts and the language and the laws of +each, to be mastered in eighteen months. Up to the beginning of the +Medical course many have learned little. We cannot claim anything better +than the Examiner of the University of London and the Cambridge Lecturer +have reported for their Universities. Supposing that at school young +people had acquired some exact elementary knowledge in physics, +chemistry, and a branch of natural history--say botany--with the +physiology connected with it, they would then have gained necessary +knowledge, with some practice in inductive reasoning. The whole studies +are processes of observation and induction--the best discipline of the +mind for the purposes of life--for our purposes not less than any. 'By +such study (says Dr. Whewell) of one or more departments of inductive +science the mind may escape from the thraldom of mere words.' By that +plan the burden of the early Medical course would be much lightened, and +more time devoted to practical studies, including Sir Thomas Watson's +'final and supreme stage' of the knowledge of Medicine." + + + + +V. + +ON THE EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SCIENCES. + + +The subject to which I have to beg your attention during the ensuing +hour is "The Relation of Physiological Science to other branches of +Knowledge." + +Had circumstances permitted of the delivery, in their strict logical +order, of that series of discourses of which the present lecture is a +member, I should have preceded my friend and colleague Mr. Henfrey, who +addressed you on Monday last; but while, for the sake of that order, I +must beg you to suppose that this discussion of the Educational bearings +of Biology in general _does_ precede that of Special Zoology and Botany, +I am rejoiced to be able to take advantage of the light thus already +thrown upon the tendency and methods of Physiological Science. + +Regarding Physiological Science, then, in its widest sense--as the +equivalent of _Biology_--the Science of Individual Life--we have to +consider in succession: + +1. Its position and scope as a branch of knowledge. + +2. Its value as a means of mental discipline. + +3. Its worth as practical information. + +And lastly, + +4. At what period it may best be made a branch of Education. + +Our conclusions on the first of these heads must depend, of course, upon +the nature of the subject-matter of Biology; and I think a few +preliminary considerations will place before you in a clear light the +vast difference which exists between the living bodies with which +Physiological science is concerned, and the remainder of the +universe;--between the phaenomena of Number and Space, of Physical and of +Chemical force, on the one hand, and those of Life on the other. + +The mathematician, the physicist, and the chemist contemplate things in +a condition of rest; they look upon a state of equilibrium as that to +which all bodies normally tend. + +The mathematician does not suppose that a quantity will alter, or that a +given point in space will change its direction with regard to another +point, spontaneously. And it is the same with the physicist. When Newton +saw the apple fall, he concluded at once that the act of falling was not +the result of any power inherent in the apple, but that it was the +result of the action of something else on the apple. In a similar +manner, all physical force is regarded as the disturbance of an +equilibrium to which things tended before its exertion,--to which they +will tend again after its cessation. + +The chemist equally regards chemical change in a as the effect of the +action of something external to the body changed. A chemical compound +once formed would persist for ever, if no alteration took place in +surrounding conditions. + +But to the student of Life the aspect of nature is reversed. Here, +incessant, and, so far as we know, spontaneous change is the rule, rest +the exception--the anomaly to be accounted for. Living things have no +inertia, and tend to no equilibrium. + +Permit me, however, to give more force and clearness to these somewhat +abstract considerations, by an illustration or two. + +Imagine a vessel full of water, at the ordinary temperature, in an +atmosphere saturated with vapour. The _quantity_ and the _figure_ of +that water will not change, so far as we know, for ever. + +Suppose a lump of gold be thrown into the vessel--motion and disturbance +of figure exactly proportional to the momentum of the gold will take +place. But after a time the effects of this disturbance will +subside--equilibrium will be restored, and the water will return to its +passive state. + +Expose the water to cold--it will solidify--and in so doing its +particles will arrange themselves in definite crystalline shapes. But +once formed, these crystals change no further. + +Again, substitute for the lump of gold some substance capable of +entering into chemical relations with the water:--say, a mass of that +substance which is called "protein"--the substance of flesh:--a very +considerable disturbance of equilibrium will take place--all sorts of +chemical compositions and decompositions will occur; but in the end, as +before, the result will be the resumption of a condition of rest. + +Instead of such a mass of _dead_ protein, however, take a particle of +_living_ protein--one of those minute microscopic living things which +throng our pools, and are known as Infusoria--such a creature, for +instance, as an Euglena, and place it in our vessel of water. It is a +round mass provided with a long filament, and except in this peculiarity +of shape, presents no appreciable physical or chemical difference +whereby it might be distinguished from the particle of dead protein. + +But the difference in the phaenomena to which it will give rise is +immense: in the first place it will develop a vast quantity of physical +force--cleaving the water in all directions with considerable rapidity +by means of the vibrations of the long filament or cilium. + +Nor is the amount of chemical energy which the little creature possesses +less striking. It is a perfect laboratory in itself, and it will act and +react upon the water and the matters contained therein; converting them +into new compounds resembling its own substance, and, at the same time, +giving up portions of its own substance which have become effete. + +Furthermore, the Euglena will increase in size; but this increase is by +no means unlimited, as the increase of a crystal might be. After it has +grown to a certain extent it divides, and each portion assumes the form +of the original, and proceeds to repeat the process of growth and +division. + +Nor is this all. For after a series of such divisions and subdivisions, +these minute points assume a totally new form, lose their long +tails--round themselves, and secrete a sort of envelope or box, in which +they remain shut up for a time, eventually to resume, directly or +indirectly, their primitive mode of existence. + +Now, so far as we know, there is no natural limit to the existence of +the Euglena, or of any other living germ. A living species once launched +into existence tends to live for ever. + +Consider how widely different this living particle is from the dead +atoms with which the physicist and chemist have to do! + +The particle of gold falls to the bottom and rests--the particle of dead +protein decomposes and disappears--it also rests: but the _living_ +protein mass neither tends to exhaustion of its forces nor to any +permanency of form, but is essentially distinguished as a disturber of +equilibrium so far as force is concerned,--as undergoing continual +metamorphosis and change, in point of form. + +Tendency to equilibrium of force and to permanency of form then, are the +characters of that portion of the universe which does not live--the +domain of the chemist and physicist. + +Tendency to disturb existing equilibrium,--to take on forms which +succeed one another in definite cycles, is the character of the living +world. + +What is the cause of this wonderful difference between the dead particle +and the living particle of matter appearing in other respects identical? +that difference to which we give the name of Life? + +I, for one, cannot tell you. It may be that, by and by, philosophers +will discover some higher laws of which the facts of life are particular +cases--very possibly they will find out some bond between +physico-chemical phaenomena on the one hand, and vital phaenomena on the +other. At present, however, we assuredly know of none; and I think we +shall exercise a wise humility in confessing that, for us at least, this +successive assumption of different states--(external conditions +remaining the same)--this _spontaneity of action_--if I may use a term +which implies more than I would be answerable for--which constitutes so +vast and plain a practical distinction between living bodies and those +which do not live, is an ultimate fact; indicating as such, the +existence of a broad line of demarcation between the subject-matter of +Biological and that of all other sciences. + +For I would have it understood that this simple Euglena is the type of +_all_ living things, so far as the distinction between these and inert +matter is concerned. That cycle of changes, which is constituted by +perhaps not more than two or three steps in the Euglena, is as clearly +manifested in the multitudinous stages through which the germ of an oak +or of a man passes. Whatever forms the Living Being may take on, whether +simple or complex, _production_, _growth_, _reproduction_, are the +phaenomena which distinguish it from that which does not live. + +If this be true, it is clear that the student, in passing from the +physico-chemical to the physiological sciences, enters upon a totally +new order of facts; and it will next be for us to consider how far these +new facts involve _new_ methods, or require a modification of those with +which he is already acquainted. Now a great deal is said about the +peculiarity of the scientific method in general, and of the different +methods which are pursued in the different sciences. The Mathematics +are said to have one special method; Physics another, Biology a third, +and so forth. For my own part, I must confess that I do not understand +this phraseology. + +So far as I can arrive at any clear comprehension of the matter, Science +is not, as many would seem to suppose, a modification of the black art, +suited to the tastes of the nineteenth century, and flourishing mainly +in consequence of the decay of the Inquisition. + +Science is, I believe, nothing but _trained and organized common sense_, +differing from the latter only as a veteran may differ from a raw +recruit: and its methods differ from those of common sense only so far +as the guardsman's cut and thrust differ from the manner in which a +savage wields his club. The primary power is the same in each case, and +perhaps the untutored savage has the more brawny arm of the two. The +_real_ advantage lies in the point and polish of the swordsman's weapon; +in the trained eye quick to spy out the weakness of the adversary; in +the ready hand prompt to follow it on the instant. But after all, the +sword exercise is only the hewing and poking of the clubman developed +and perfected. + +So, the vast results obtained by Science are won by no mystical +faculties, by no mental processes, other than those which are practised +by every one of us, in the humblest and meanest affairs of life. A +detective policeman discovers a burglar from the marks made by his shoe, +by a mental process identical with that by which Cuvier restored the +extinct animals of Montmartre from fragments of their bones. Nor does +that process of induction and deduction by which a lady, finding a stain +of a peculiar kind upon her dress, concludes that somebody has upset +the inkstand thereon, differ in any way, in kind, from that by which +Adams and Leverrier discovered a new planet. + +The man of science, in fact, simply uses with scrupulous exactness, the +methods which we all, habitually and at every moment, use carelessly; +and the man of business must as much avail himself of the scientific +method--must be as truly a man of science--as the veriest bookworm of us +all; though I have no doubt that the man of business will find himself +out to be a philosopher with as much surprise as M. Jourdain exhibited, +when he discovered that he had been all his life talking prose. If, +however, there be no real difference between the methods of science and +those of common life, it would seem, on the face of the matter, highly +improbable that there should be any difference between the methods of +the different sciences; nevertheless, it is constantly taken for +granted, that there is a very wide difference between the Physiological +and other sciences in point of method. + +In the first place it is said--and I take this point first, because the +imputation is too frequently admitted by Physiologists themselves--that +Biology differs from the Physico-chemical and Mathematical sciences in +being "inexact." + +Now, this phrase "inexact" must refer either to the _methods_ or to the +_results_ of Physiological science. + +It cannot be correct to apply it to the methods; for, as I hope to show +you by and by, these are identical in all sciences, and whatever is true +of Physiological method is true of Physical and Mathematical method. + +Is it then the _results_ of Biological science which are "inexact"? I +think not. If I say that respiration is performed by the lungs; that +digestion is effected in the stomach; that the eye is the organ of +sight; that the jaws of a vertebrated animal never open sideways, but +always up and down; while those of an annulose animal always open +sideways, and never up and down--I am enumerating propositions which are +as exact as anything in Euclid. How then has this notion of the +inexactness of Biological science come about? I believe from two causes: +first, because, in consequence of the great complexity of the science +and the multitude of interfering conditions, we are very often only +enabled to predict approximatively what will occur under given +circumstances; and secondly, because, on account of the comparative +youth of the Physiological sciences, a great many of their laws are +still imperfectly worked out. But, in an educational point of view, it +is most important to distinguish between the essence of a science and +the accidents which surround it; and essentially, the methods and +results of Physiology are as exact as those of Physics or Mathematics. + +It is said that the Physiological method is especially _comparative_[4]; +and this dictum also finds favour in the eyes of many. I should be +sorry to suggest that the speculators on scientific classification have +been misled by the accident of the name of one leading branch of +Biology--_Comparative Anatomy_; but I would ask whether _comparison_, +and that classification which is the result of comparison, are not the +essence of every science whatsoever? How is it possible to discover a +relation of cause and effect of _any_ kind without comparing a series of +cases together in which the supposed cause and effect occur singly, or +combined? So far from comparison being in any way peculiar to Biological +science, it is, I think, the essence of every science. + +A speculative philosopher again tells us that the Biological sciences +are distinguished by being sciences of observation and not of +experiment![5] + +Of all the strange assertions into which speculation without practical +acquaintance with a subject may lead even an able man, I think this is +the very strangest. Physiology not an experimental science! Why, there +is not a function of a single organ in the body which has not been +determined wholly and solely by experiment. How did Harvey determine the +nature of the circulation, except by experiment? How did Sir Charles +Bell determine the functions of the roots of the spinal nerves, save by +experiment? How do we know the use of a nerve at all, except by +experiment? Nay, how do you know even that your eye is your seeing +apparatus, unless you make the experiment of shutting it; or that your +ear is your hearing apparatus, unless you close it up and thereby +discover that you become deaf? + +It would really be much more true to say that Physiology is _the_ +experimental science _par excellence_ of all sciences; that in which +there is least to be learnt by mere observation, and that which affords +the greatest field for the exercise of those faculties which +characterise the experimental philosopher. I confess, if any one were to +ask me for a model application of the logic of experiment, I should know +no better work to put into his hands than Bernard's late Researches on +the Functions of the Liver.[6] + +Not to give this lecture a too controversial tone, however, I must only +advert to one more doctrine, held by a thinker of our own age and +country, whose opinions are worthy of all respect. It is, that the +Biological sciences differ from all others, inasmuch as in _them_ +classification takes place by type and not by definition.[7] + +It is said, in short, that a natural-history class is not capable of +being defined--that the class Rosaceae, for instance, or the class of +Fishes, is not accurately and absolutely definable, inasmuch as its +members will present exceptions to every possible definition; and that +the members of the class are united together only by the circumstance +that they are all more like some imaginary average rose or average fish, +than they resemble anything else. + +But here, as before, I think the distinction has arisen entirely from +confusing a transitory imperfection with an essential character. So long +as our information concerning them is imperfect, we class all objects +together according to resemblances which we _feel_, but cannot _define_: +we group them round _types_, in short. Thus, if you ask an ordinary +person what kinds of animals there are, he will probably say, beasts, +birds, reptiles, fishes, insects, &c. Ask him to define a beast from a +reptile, and he cannot do it; but he says, things like a cow or a horse +are beasts, and things like a frog or a lizard are reptiles. You see _he +does_ class by type, and not by definition. But how does this +classification differ from that of the scientific Zoologist? How does +the meaning of the scientific class-name of "Mammalia" differ from the +unscientific of "Beasts"? + +Why, exactly because the former depends on a definition, the latter on a +type. The class Mammalia is scientifically defined as "all animals which +have a vertebrated skeleton and suckle their young." Here is no +reference to type, but a definition rigorous enough for a geometrician. +And such is the character which every scientific naturalist recognises +as that to which his classes must aspire--knowing, as he does, that +classification by type is simply an acknowledgment of ignorance and a +temporary device. + +So much in the way of negative argument as against the reputed +differences, between Biological and other methods. No such differences, +I believe, really exist. The subject-matter of Biological science is +different from that of other sciences, but the methods of all are +identical; and these methods are-- + +1. _Observation_ of facts--including under this head that _artificial +observation_ which is called _experiment_. + +2. That process of tying up similar facts into bundles, ticketed and +ready for use, which is called _Comparison_ and _Classification_,--the +results of the process, the ticketed bundles, being named _General +propositions_. + +3. _Deduction_, which takes us from the general proposition to facts +again--teaches us, if I may so say, to anticipate from the ticket what +is inside the bundle. And finally-- + +4. _Verification_, which is the process of ascertaining whether, in +point of fact, our anticipation is a correct one. + +Such are the methods of all science whatsoever; but perhaps you will +permit me to give you an illustration of their employment in the science +of Life; and I will take as a special case, the establishment of the +doctrine of the _Circulation of the Blood_. + +In this case, _simple observation_ yields us a knowledge of the +existence of the blood from some accidental haemorrhage, we will say: we +may even grant that it informs us of the localization of this blood in +particular vessels, the heart, &c., from some accidental cut or the +like. It teaches also the existence of a pulse in various parts of the +body, and acquaints us with the structure of the heart and vessels. + +Here, however, _simple observation_ stops, and we must have recourse to +_experiment_. + +You tie a vein, and you find that the blood accumulates on the side of +the ligature opposite the heart. You tie an artery, and you find that +the blood accumulates on the side near the heart. Open the chest, and +you see the heart contracting with great force. Make openings into its +principal cavities, and you will find that all the blood flows out, and +no more pressure is exerted on either side of the arterial or venous +ligature. + +Now all these facts, taken together, constitute the evidence that the +blood is propelled by the heart through the arteries, and returns by the +veins--that, in short, the blood circulates. + +Suppose our experiments and observations have been made on horses, then +we group and ticket them into a general proposition, thus:--_all horses +have a circulation of their blood_. + +Henceforward a horse is a sort of indication or label, telling us where +we shall find a peculiar series of phaenomena called the circulation of +the blood. + +Here is our _general proposition_ then. + +How and when are we justified in making our next step--a _deduction_ +from it? + +Suppose our physiologist, whose experience is limited to horses, meets +with a zebra for the first time,--will he suppose that this +generalization holds good for zebras also? + +That depends very much on his turn of mind. But we will suppose him to +be a bold man. He will say, "The zebra is certainly not a horse, but it +is very like one,--so like, that it must be the 'ticket' or mark of a +blood-circulation also; and, I conclude that the zebra has a +circulation." + +That is a deduction, a very fair deduction, but by no means to be +considered scientifically secure. This last quality in fact can only be +given by _verification_--that is, by making a zebra the subject of all +the experiments performed on the horse. Of course, in the present case, +the _deduction_ would be _confirmed_ by this process of verification, +and the result would be, not merely a positive widening of knowledge, +but a fair increase of confidence in the truth of one's generalizations +in other cases. + +Thus, having settled the point in the zebra and horse, our philosopher +would have great confidence in the existence of a circulation in the +ass. Nay, I fancy most persons would excuse him, if in this case he did +not take the trouble to go through the process of verification at all; +and it would not be without a parallel in the history of the human mind, +if our imaginary physiologist now maintained that he was acquainted with +asinine circulation _a priori_. + +However, if I might impress any caution upon your minds, it is, the +utterly conditional nature of all our knowledge,--the danger of +neglecting the process of verification under any circumstances; and the +film upon which we rest, the moment our deductions carry us beyond the +reach of this great process of verification. There is no better instance +of this than is afforded by the history of our knowledge of the +circulation of the blood in the animal kingdom until the year 1824. In +every animal possessing a circulation at all, which had been observed up +to that time, the current of the blood was known to take one definite +and invariable direction. Now, there is a class of animals called +_Ascidians_, which possess a heart and a circulation, and up to the +period of which I speak, no one would have dreamt of questioning the +propriety of the deduction, that these creatures have a circulation in +one direction; nor would any one have thought it worth while to verify +the point. But, in that year, M. von Hasselt happening to examine a +transparent animal of this class, found to his infinite surprise, that +after the heart had beat a certain number of times, it stopped, and then +began beating the opposite way--so as to reverse the course of the +current, which returned by and by to its original direction. + +I have myself timed the heart of these little animals. I found it as +regular as possible in its periods of reversal: and I know no spectacle +in the animal kingdom more wonderful than that which it presents--all +the more wonderful that to this day it remains an unique fact, peculiar +to this class among the whole animated world. At the same time I know of +no more striking case of the necessity of the _verification_ of even +those deductions which seem founded on the widest and safest inductions. + +Such are the methods of Biology--methods which are obviously identical +with those of all other sciences, and therefore wholly incompetent to +form the ground of any distinction between it and them.[8] + +But I shall be asked at once, Do you mean to say that there is no +difference between the habit of mind of a mathematician and that of a +naturalist? Do you imagine that Laplace might have been put into the +Jardin des Plantes, and Cuvier into the Observatory, with equal +advantage to the progress of the sciences they professed? + +To which I would reply, that nothing could be further from my thoughts. +But different habits and various special tendencies of two sciences do +not imply different methods. The mountaineer and the man of the plains +have very different habits of progression, and each would be at a loss +in the other's place; but the method of progression, by putting one leg +before the other, is the same in each case. Every step of each is a +combination of a lift and a push; but the mountaineer lifts more and the +lowlander pushes more. And I think the case of two sciences resembles +this. + +I do not question for a moment, that while the Mathematician is busied +with deductions _from_ general propositions, the Biologist is more +especially occupied with observation, comparison, and those processes +which lead _to_ general propositions. All I wish to insist upon is, that +this difference depends not on any fundamental distinction in the +sciences themselves, but on the accidents of their subject-matter, of +their relative complexity, and consequent relative perfection. + +The Mathematician deals with two properties of objects only, number and +extension, and all the inductions he wants have been formed and finished +ages ago. He is occupied now with nothing but deduction and +verification. + +The Biologist deals with a vast number of properties of objects, and +his inductions will not be completed, I fear, for ages to come; but when +they are, his science will be as deductive and as exact as the +Mathematics themselves. + +Such is the relation of Biology to those sciences which deal with +objects having fewer properties than itself. But as the student, in +reaching Biology, looks back upon sciences of a less complex and +therefore more perfect nature; so, on the other hand, does he look +forward to other more complex and less perfect branches of knowledge. +Biology deals only with living beings as isolated things--treats only of +the life of the individual: but there is a higher division of science +still, which considers living beings as aggregates--which deals with the +relation of living beings one to another--the science which _observes_ +men--whose _experiments_ are made by nations one upon another, in +battle-fields--whose _general propositions_ are embodied in history, +morality, and religion--whose _deductions_ lead to our happiness or our +misery,--and whose _verifications_ so often come too late, and serve +only + + "To point a moral or adorn a tale"-- + +I mean the science of Society or _Sociology_. + +I think it is one of the grandest features of Biology, that it occupies +this central position in human knowledge. There is no side of the human +mind which physiological study leaves uncultivated. Connected by +innumerable ties with abstract science, Physiology is yet in the most +intimate relation with humanity; and by teaching us that law and order, +and a definite scheme of development, regulate even the strangest and +wildest manifestations of individual life, she prepares the student to +look for a goal even amidst the erratic wanderings of mankind, and to +believe that history offers something more than an entertaining chaos--a +journal of a toilsome, tragi-comic march nowhither. + +The preceding considerations have, I hope, served to indicate the +replies which befit the two first of the questions which I set before +you at starting, viz. what is the range and position of Physiological +Science as a branch of knowledge, and what is its value as a means of +mental discipline. + +Its _subject-matter_ is a large moiety of the universe--its _position_ +is midway between the physico-chemical and the social sciences. Its +_value_ as a branch of discipline is partly that which it has in common +with all sciences--the training and strengthening of common sense; +partly that which is more peculiar to itself--the great exercise which +it affords to the faculties of observation and comparison; and I may +add, the _exactness_ of knowledge which it requires on the part of those +among its votaries who desire to extend its boundaries. + +If what has been said as to the position and scope of Biology be +correct, our third question--What is the practical value of +physiological instruction?--might, one would think, be left to answer +itself. + +On other grounds even, were mankind deserving of the title "rational," +which they arrogate to themselves, there can be no question that they +would consider, as the most necessary of all branches of instruction for +themselves and for their children, that which professes to acquaint them +with the conditions of the existence they prize so highly--which teaches +them how to avoid disease and to cherish health, in themselves and +those who are dear to them. + +I am addressing, I imagine, an audience of educated persons; and yet I +dare venture to assert that, with the exception of those of my hearers +who may chance to have received a medical education, there is not one +who could tell me what is the meaning and use of an act which he +performs a score of times every minute, and whose suspension would +involve his immediate death;--I mean the act of breathing--or who could +state in precise terms why it is that a confined atmosphere is injurious +to health. + +The _practical value_ of Physiological knowledge! Why is it that +educated men can be found to maintain that a slaughter-house in the +midst of a great city is rather a good thing than otherwise?--that +mothers persist in exposing the largest possible amount of surface of +their children to the cold, by the absurd style of dress they adopt, and +then marvel at the peculiar dispensation of Providence, which removes +their infants by bronchitis and gastric fever? Why is it that quackery +rides rampant over the land; and that not long ago, one of the largest +public rooms in this great city could be filled by an audience gravely +listening to the reverend expositor of the doctrine--that the simple +physiological phenomena known as spirit-rapping, table-turning, +phreno-magnetism, and by I know not what other absurd and inappropriate +names, are due to the direct and personal agency of Satan? + +Why is all this, except from the utter ignorance as to the simplest laws +of their own animal life, which prevails among even the most highly +educated persons in this country? + +But there are other branches of Biological Science, besides Physiology +proper, whose practical influence, though less obvious, is not, as I +believe, less certain. I have heard educated men speak with an +ill-disguised contempt of the studies of the naturalist, and ask, not +without a shrug, "What is the use of knowing all about these miserable +animals--what bearing has it on human life?" + +I will endeavour to answer that question. I take it that all will admit +there is definite Government of this universe--that its pleasures and +pains are not scattered at random, but are distributed in accordance +with orderly and fixed laws, and that it is only in accordance with all +we know of the rest of the world, that there should be an agreement +between one portion of the sensitive creation and another in these +matters. + +Surely then it interests us to know the lot of other animal +creatures--however far below us, they are still the sole created things +which share with us the capability of pleasure and the susceptibility to +pain. + +I cannot but think that he who finds a certain proportion of pain and +evil inseparably woven up in the life of the very worms, will bear his +own share with more courage and submission; and will, at any rate, view +with suspicion those weakly amiable theories of the Divine government, +which would have us believe pain to be an oversight and a mistake,--to +be corrected by and by. On the other hand, the predominance of happiness +among living things--their lavish beauty--the secret and wonderful +harmony which pervades them all, from the highest to the lowest, are +equally striking refutations of that modern Manichean doctrine, which +exhibits the world as a slave-mill, worked with many tears, for mere +utilitarian ends. + +There is yet another way in which natural history may, I am convinced, +take a profound hold upon practical life,--and that is, by its influence +over our finer feelings, as the greatest of all sources of that pleasure +which is derivable from beauty. I do not pretend that natural-history +knowledge, as such, can increase our sense of the beautiful in natural +objects. I do not suppose that the dead soul of Peter Bell, of whom the +great poet of nature says,-- + + A primrose by the river's brim, + A yellow primrose was to him,-- + And it was nothing more,-- + +would have been a whit roused from its apathy, by the information that +the primrose is a Dicotyledonous Exogen, with a monopetalous corolla and +central placentation. But I advocate natural-history knowledge from this +point of view, because it would lead us to _seek_ the beauties of +natural objects, instead of trusting to chance to force them on our +attention. To a person uninstructed in natural history, his country, or +sea-side, stroll is a walk through a gallery filled with wonderful works +of art, nine-tenths of which have their faces turned to the wall. Teach +him something of natural history, and you place in his hands a catalogue +of those which are worth turning round. Surely our innocent pleasures +are not so abundant in this life, that we can afford to despise this or +any other source of them. We should fear being banished for our neglect +to that limbo, where the great Florentine tells us are those who, during +this life, "wept when they might be joyful." + +But I shall be trespassing unwarrantably on your kindness, if I do not +proceed at once to my last point--the time at which Physiological +Science should first form a part of the Curriculum of Education. + +The distinction between the teaching of the facts of a science as +instruction, and the teaching it systematically as knowledge, has +already been placed before you in a previous lecture: and it appears to +me, that, as with other sciences, the _common facts_ of Biology--the +uses of parts of the body--the names and habits of the living creatures +which surround us--may be taught with advantage to the youngest child. +Indeed, the avidity of children for this kind of knowledge, and the +comparative ease with which they retain it, is something quite +marvellous. I doubt whether any toy would be so acceptable to young +children as a vivarium, of the same kind as, but of course on a smaller +scale than, those admirable devices in the Zoological Gardens. + +On the other hand, systematic teaching in Biology cannot be attempted +with success until the student has attained to a certain knowledge of +physics and chemistry: for though the phaenomena of life are dependent +neither on physical nor on chemical, but on vital forces, yet they +result in all sorts of physical and chemical changes, which can only be +judged by their own laws. + +And now to sum up in a few words the conclusions to which I hope you see +reason to follow me. + +Biology needs no apologist when she demands a place--and a prominent +place--in any scheme of education worthy of the name. Leave out the +Physiological sciences from your curriculum, and you launch the student +into the world, undisciplined in that science whose subject-matter +would best develop his powers of observation; ignorant of facts of the +deepest importance for his own and others' welfare; blind to the richest +sources of beauty in God's creation; and unprovided with that belief in +a living law, and an order manifesting itself in and through endless +change and variety, which might serve to check and moderate that phase +of despair through which, if he take an earnest interest in social +problems, he will assuredly sooner or later pass. + +Finally, one word for myself. I have not hesitated to speak strongly +where I have felt strongly; and I am but too conscious that the +indicative and imperative moods have too often taken the place of the +more becoming subjunctive and conditional. I feel, therefore, how +necessary it is to beg you to forget the personality of him who has thus +ventured to address you, and to consider only the truth or error in what +has been said. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[4] "In the third place, we have to review the method of Comparison, +which is so specially adapted to the study of living bodies, and by +which, above all others, that study must be advanced. In Astronomy, this +method is necessarily inapplicable; and it is not till we arrive at +Chemistry that this third means of investigation can be used, and then +only in subordination to the two others. It is in the study, both +statical and dynamical, of living bodies that it first acquires its full +development; and its use elsewhere can be only through its application +here."--COMTE'S _Positive Philosophy_, translated by Miss Martineau. +Vol. i. p. 372. + +By what method does M. Comte suppose that the equality or inequality of +forces and quantities and the dissimilarity or similarity of +forms--points of some slight importance not only in Astronomy and +Physics, but even in Mathematics--are ascertained, if not by Comparison? + +[5] "Proceeding to the second class of means,--Experiment cannot but be +less and less decisive, in proportion to the complexity of the phaenomena +to be explored; and therefore we saw this resource to be less effectual +in chemistry than in physics: and we now find that it is eminently +useful in chemistry in comparison with physiology. _In fact, the nature +of the phaenomena seems to offer almost insurmountable impediments to any +extensive and prolific application of such a procedure in +biology._"--Comte, vol i. p. 367. + +M. Comte, as his manner is, contradicts himself two pages further on, +but that will hardly relieve him from the responsibility of such a +paragraph as the above. + +[6] "Nouvelle Fonction du Foie considere comme organe producteur de +matiere sucree chez l'Homme et les Animaux," par M. Claude Bernard. + +[7] "_Natural Groups given by Type, not by Definition...._ The class is +steadily fixed, though not precisely limited; it is given, though not +circumscribed; it is determined, not by a boundary-line without, but by +a central point within; not by what it strictly excludes, but what it +eminently includes; by an example, not by a precept; in short, instead +of Definition we have a _Type_ for our director. A type is an example of +any class, for instance, a species of a genus, which is considered as +eminently possessing the characters of the class. All the species which +have a greater affinity with this type-species than with any others, +form the genus, and are ranged about it, deviating from it in various +directions and different degrees."--WHEWELL, _The Philosophy of the +Inductive Sciences_, vol. i. pp. 476, 477. + +[8] Save for the pleasure of doing so, I need hardly point out my +obligations to Mr. J.S. Mill's "System of Logic," in this view of +scientific method. + + + + +VI. + +ON THE STUDY OF ZOOLOGY. + + +Natural history is the name familiarly applied to the study of the +properties of such natural bodies as minerals, plants, and animals; the +sciences which embody the knowledge man has acquired upon these subjects +are commonly termed Natural Sciences, in contradistinction to other, +so-called "physical," sciences; and those who devote themselves +especially to the pursuit of such sciences have been, and are, commonly +termed "Naturalists." + +Linnaeus was a naturalist in this wide sense, and his "Systema Naturae" +was a work upon natural history, in the broadest acceptation of the +term; in it, that great methodizing spirit embodied all that was known +in his time of the distinctive characters of minerals, animals, and +plants. But the enormous stimulus which Linnaeus gave to the +investigation of nature soon rendered it impossible that any one man +should write another "Systema Naturae," and extremely difficult for any +one to become a naturalist such as Linnaeus was. + +Great as have been the advances made by all the three branches of +science, of old included under the title of natural history, there can +be no doubt that zoology and botany have grown in an enormously greater +ratio than mineralogy; and hence, as I suppose, the name of "natural +history" has gradually become more and more definitely attached to these +prominent divisions of the subject, and by "naturalist" people have +meant more and more distinctly to imply a student of the structure and +functions of living beings. + +However this may be, it is certain that the advance of knowledge has +gradually widened the distance between mineralogy and its old +associates, while it has drawn zoology and botany closer together; so +that of late years it has been found convenient (and indeed necessary) +to associate the sciences which deal with vitality and all its phenomena +under the common head of "biology;" and the biologists have come to +repudiate any blood-relationship with their foster-brothers, the +mineralogists. + +Certain broad laws have a general application throughout both the animal +and the vegetable worlds, but the ground common to these kingdoms of +nature is not of very wide extent, and the multiplicity of details is so +great, that the student of living beings finds himself obliged to devote +his attention exclusively either to the one or the other. If he elects +to study plants, under any aspect, we know at once what to call him; he +is a botanist, and his science is botany. But if the investigation of +animal life be his choice, the name generally applied to him will vary, +according to the kind of animals he studies, or the particular phenomena +of animal life to which he confines his attention. If the study of man +is his object, he is called an anatomist, or a physiologist, or an +ethnologist; but if he dissects animals, or examines into the mode in +which their functions are performed, he is a comparative anatomist or +comparative physiologist. If he turns his attention to fossil animals, +he is a palaeontologist. If his mind is more particularly directed to the +description, specific discrimination, classification, and distribution +of animals, he is termed a zoologist. + +For the purposes of the present discourse, however, I shall recognise +none of these titles save the last, which I shall employ as the +equivalent of botanist, and I shall use the term zoology as denoting the +whole doctrine of animal life, in contradistinction to botany, which +signifies the whole doctrine of vegetable life. + +Employed in this sense, zoology, like botany, is divisible into three +great but subordinate sciences, morphology, physiology, and +distribution, each of which may, to a very great extent, be studied +independently of the other. + +Zoological morphology is the doctrine of animal form or structure. +Anatomy is one of its branches, development is another; while +classification is the expression of the relations which different +animals bear to one another, in respect of their anatomy and their +development. + +Zoological distribution is the study of animals in relation to the +terrestrial conditions which obtain now, or have obtained at any +previous epoch of the earth's history. + +Zoological physiology, lastly, is the doctrine of the functions or +actions of animals. It regards animal bodies as machines impelled by +certain forces, and performing an amount of work, which can be +expressed in terms of the ordinary forces of nature. The final object of +physiology is to deduce the facts of morphology, on the one hand, and +those of distribution on the other, from the laws of the molecular +forces of matter. + +Such is the scope of zoology. But if I were to content myself with the +enunciation of these dry definitions, I should ill exemplify that method +of teaching this branch of physical science, which it is my chief +business to-night to recommend. Let us turn away then from abstract +definitions. Let us take some concrete living thing, some animal, the +commoner the better, and let us see how the application of common sense +and common logic to the obvious facts it presents, inevitably leads us +into all these branches of zoological science. + +I have before me a lobster. When I examine it, what appears to be the +most striking character it presents? Why, I observe that this part which +we call the tail of the lobster, is made up of six distinct hard rings +and a seventh terminal piece. If I separate one of the middle rings, say +the third, I find it carries upon its under surface a pair of limbs or +appendages, each of which consists of a stalk and two terminal pieces. +So that I can represent a transverse section of the ring and its +appendages upon the diagram board in this way. + +If I now take the fourth ring I find it has the same structure, and so +have the fifth and the second; so that, in each of these divisions of +the tail, I find parts which correspond with one another, a ring and two +appendages; and in each appendage a stalk and two end pieces. These +corresponding parts are called, in the technical language of anatomy, +"homologous parts." The ring of the third division is the "homologue" +of the ring of the fifth, the appendage of the former is the homologue +of the appendage of the latter. And, as each division exhibits +corresponding parts in corresponding places, we say that all the +divisions are constructed upon the same plan. But now let us consider +the sixth division. It is similar to, and yet different from, the +others. The ring is essentially the same as in the other divisions; but +the appendages look at first as if they were very different; and yet +when we regard them closely, what do we find? A stalk and two terminal +divisions, exactly as in the others, but the stalk is very short and +very thick, the terminal divisions are very broad and flat, and one of +them is divided into two pieces. + +I may say, therefore, that the sixth segment is like the others in plan, +but that it is modified in its details. + +The first segment is like the others, so far as its ring is concerned, +and though its appendages differ from any of those yet examined in the +simplicity of their structure, parts corresponding with the stem and one +of the divisions of the appendages of the other segments can be readily +discerned in them. + +Thus it appears that the lobster's tail is composed of a series of +segments which are fundamentally similar, though each presents peculiar +modifications of the plan common to all. But when I turn to the fore +part of the body I see, at first, nothing but a great shield-like shell, +called technically the "carapace," ending in front in a sharp spine, on +either side of which are the curious compound eyes, set upon the ends of +stout moveable stalks. Behind these, on the under side of the body, are +two pairs of long feelers, or antennae, followed by six pairs of jaws, +folded against one another over the mouth, and five pairs of legs, the +foremost of these being the great pinchers, or claws, of the lobster. + +It looks, at first, a little hopeless to attempt to find in this complex +mass a series of rings, each with its pair of appendages, such as I have +shown you in the abdomen, and yet it is not difficult to demonstrate +their existence. Strip off the legs, and you will find that each pair is +attached to a very definite segment of the under wall of the body; but +these segments, instead of being the lower parts of free rings, as in +the tail, are such parts of rings which are all solidly united and bound +together; and the like is true of the jaws, the feelers, and the +eye-stalks, every pair of which is borne upon its own special segment. +Thus the conclusion is gradually forced upon us, that the body of the +lobster is composed of as many rings as there are pairs of appendages, +namely, twenty in all, but that the six hindmost rings remain free and +moveable, while the fourteen front rings become firmly soldered +together, their backs forming one continuous shield--the carapace. + +Unity of plan, diversity in execution, is the lesson taught by the study +of the rings of the body, and the same instruction is given still more +emphatically by the appendages. If I examine the outermost jaw I find it +consists of three distinct portions, an inner, a middle, and an outer, +mounted upon a common stem; and if I compare this jaw with the legs +behind it, or the jaws in front of it, I find it quite easy to see, +that, in the legs, it is the part of the appendage which corresponds +with the inner division, which becomes modified into what we know +familiarly as the "leg," while the middle division, disappears, and the +outer division is hidden under the carapace. Nor is it more difficult to +discern that, in the appendages of the tail, the middle division appears +again and the outer vanishes; while, on the other hand, in the foremost +jaw, the so-called mandible, the inner division only is left; and, in +the same way, the parts of the feelers and of the eye-stalks can be +identified with those of the legs and jaws. + +But whither does all this tend? To the very remarkable conclusion that a +unity of plan, of the same kind as that discoverable in the tail or +abdomen of the lobster, pervades the whole organization of its skeleton, +so that I can return to the diagram representing any one of the rings of +the tail, which I drew upon the board, and by adding a third division to +each appendage, I can use it as a sort of scheme or plan of any ring of +the body. I can give names to all the parts of that figure, and then if +I take any segment of the body of the lobster, I can point out to you +exactly, what modification the general plan has undergone in that +particular segment; what part has remained moveable, and what has become +fixed to another; what has been excessively developed and metamorphosed, +and what has been suppressed. + +But I imagine I hear the question, How is all this to be tested? No +doubt it is a pretty and ingenious way of looking at the structure of +any animal, but is it anything more? Does Nature acknowledge, in any +deeper way, this unity of plan we seem to trace? + +The objection suggested by these questions is a very valid and important +one, and morphology was in an unsound state, so long as it rested upon +the mere perception of the analogies which obtain between fully formed +parts. The unchecked ingenuity of speculative anatomists proved itself +fully competent to spin any number of contradictory hypotheses out of +the same facts, and endless morphological dreams threatened to supplant +scientific theory. + +Happily, however, there is a criterion of morphological truth, and a +sure test of all homologies. Our lobster has not always been what we see +it; it was once an egg, a semifluid mass of yolk, not so big as a pin's +head, contained in a transparent membrane, and exhibiting not the least +trace of any one of those organs, whose multiplicity and complexity, in +the adult, are so surprising. After a time a delicate patch of cellular +membrane appeared upon one face of this yolk, and that patch was the +foundation of the whole creature, the clay out of which it would be +moulded. Gradually investing the yolk, it became subdivided by +transverse constrictions into segments, the forerunners of the rings of +the body. Upon the ventral surface of each of the rings thus sketched +out, a pair of bud-like prominences made their appearance--the rudiments +of the appendages of the ring. At first, all the appendages were alike, +but, as they grew, most of them became distinguished into a stem and two +terminal divisions, to which, in the middle part of the body, was added +a third outer division; and it was only at a later period, that by the +modification, or absorption, of certain of these primitive constituents, +the limbs acquired their perfect form. + +Thus the study of development proves that the doctrine of unity of plan +is not merely a fancy, that it is not merely one way of looking at the +matter, but that it is the expression of deep-seated natural facts. The +legs and jaws of the lobster may not merely be regarded as modifications +of a common type,--in fact and in nature they are so,--the leg and the +jaw of the young animal being, at first, indistinguishable. + +These are wonderful truths, the more so because the zoologist finds them +to be of universal application. The investigation of a polype, of a +snail, of a fish, of a horse, or of a man, would have led us, though by +a less easy path, perhaps, to exactly the same point. Unity of plan +everywhere lies hidden under the mask of diversity of structure--the +complex is everywhere evolved out of the simple. Every animal has at +first the form of an egg, and every animal and every organic part, in +reaching its adult state, passes through conditions common to other +animals and other adult parts; and this leads me to another point. I +have hitherto spoken as if the lobster were alone in the world, but, as +I need hardly remind you, there are myriads of other animal organisms. +Of these, some, such as men, horses, birds, fishes, snails, slugs, +oysters, corals, and sponges, are not in the least like the lobster. But +other animals, though they may differ a good deal from the lobster, are +yet either very like it, or are like something that is like it. The cray +fish, the rock lobster, and the prawn, and the shrimp, for example, +however different, are yet so like lobsters, that a child would group +them as of the lobster kind, in contradistinction to snails and slugs; +and these last again would form a kind by themselves, in +contradistinction to cows, horses, and sheep, the cattle kind. + +But this spontaneous grouping into "kinds" is the first essay of the +human mind at classification, or the calling by a common name of those +things that are alike, and the arranging them in such a manner as best +to suggest the sum of their likenesses and unlikenesses to other things. + +Those kinds which include no other subdivisions than the sexes, or +various breeds, are called, in technical language, species. The English +lobster is a species, our cray fish is another, our prawn is another. In +other countries, however, there are lobsters, cray fish, and prawns, +very like ours, and yet presenting sufficient differences to deserve +distinction. Naturalists, therefore, express this resemblance and this +diversity by grouping them as distinct species of the same "genus." But +the lobster and the cray fish, though belonging to distinct genera, have +many features in common, and hence are grouped together in an assemblage +which is called a family. More distant resemblances connect the lobster +with the prawn and the crab, which are expressed by putting all these +into the same order. Again, more remote, but still very definite, +resemblances unite the lobster with the woodlouse, the king crab, the +water-flea, and the barnacle, and separate them from all other animals; +whence they collectively constitute the larger group, or class, +_Crustacea_. But the _Crustacea_ exhibit many peculiar features in +common with insects, spiders, and centipedes, so that these are grouped +into the still larger assemblage or "province" _Articulata_; and, +finally, the relations which these have to worms and other lower +animals, are expressed by combining the whole vast aggregate into the +sub-kingdom of _Annulosa_. + +If I had worked my way from a sponge instead of a lobster, I should have +found it associated, by like ties, with a great number of other animals +into the sub-kingdom _Protozoa_; if I had selected a fresh-water polype +or a coral, the members of what naturalists term the sub-kingdom +_Clenterata_ would have grouped themselves around my type; had a snail +been chosen, the inhabitants of all univalve and bivalve, land and +water, shells, the lamp shells, the squids, and the sea-mat would have +gradually linked themselves on to it as members of the same sub-kingdom +of _Mollusca_; and finally, starting from man, I should have been +compelled to admit first, the ape, the rat, the horse, the dog, into the +same class; and then the bird, the crocodile, the turtle, the frog, and +the fish, into the same sub-kingdom of _Vertebrata_. + +And if I had followed out all these various lines of classification +fully, I should discover in the end that there was no animal, either +recent or fossil, which did not at once fall into one or other of these +sub-kingdoms. In other words, every animal is organized upon one or +other of the five, or more, plans, whose existence renders our +classification possible. And so definitely and precisely marked is the +structure of each animal, that, in the present state of our knowledge, +there is not the least evidence to prove that a form, in the slightest +degree transitional between any of the two groups _Vertebrata, Annulosa, +Mollusca_, and _Clenterata_, either exists, or has existed, during that +period of the earth's history which is recorded by the geologist. +Nevertheless, you must not for a moment suppose, because no such +transitional forms are known, that the members of the sub-kingdoms are +disconnected from, or independent of, one another. On the contrary, in +their earliest condition they are all alike, and the primordial germs +of a man, a dog, a bird, a fish, a beetle, a snail, and a polype are, in +no essential structural respects, distinguishable. + +In this broad sense, it may with truth be said, that all living animals, +and all those dead creations which geology reveals, are bound together +by an all-pervading unity of organization, of the same character, though +not equal in degree, to that which enables us to discern one and the +same plan amidst the twenty different segments of a lobster's body. +Truly it has been said, that to a clear eye the smallest fact is a +window through which the Infinite may be seen. + +Turning from these purely morphological considerations, let us now +examine into the manner in which the attentive study of the lobster +impels us into other lines of research. + +Lobsters are found in all the European seas; but on the opposite shores +of the Atlantic and in the seas of the southern hemisphere they do not +exist. They are, however, represented in these regions by very closely +allied, but distinct forms--the _Homarus Americanus_ and the _Homarus +Capensis_: so that we may say that the European has one species of +_Homarus_; the American, another; the African, another; and thus the +remarkable facts of geographical distribution begin to dawn upon us. + +Again, if we examine the contents of the earth's crust, we shall find in +the latter of those deposits, which have served as the great burying +grounds of past ages, numberless lobster-like animals, but none so +similar to our living lobster as to make zoologists sure that they +belonged even to the same genus. If we go still further back in time, +we discover, in the oldest rocks of all, the remains of animals, +constructed on the same general plan as the lobster, and belonging to +the same great group of _Crustacea_; but for the most part totally +different from the lobster, and indeed from any other living form of +crustacean; and thus we gain a notion of that successive change of the +animal population of the globe, in past ages, which is the most striking +fact revealed by geology. + +Consider, now, where our inquiries have led us. We studied our type +morphologically, when we determined its anatomy and its development, and +when comparing it, in these respects, with other animals, we made out +its place in a system of classification. If we were to examine every +animal in a similar manner, we should establish a complete body of +zoological morphology. + +Again, we investigated the distribution of our type in space and in +time, and, if the like had been done with every animal, the sciences of +geographical and geological distribution would have attained their +limit. + +But you will observe one remarkable circumstance, that, up to this +point, the question of the life of these organisms has not come under +consideration. Morphology and distribution might be studied almost as +well, if animals and plants were a peculiar kind of crystals, and +possessed none of those functions which distinguish living beings so +remarkably. But the facts of morphology and distribution have to be +accounted for, and the science, whose aim it is to account for them, is +Physiology. + +Let us return to our lobster once more. If we watched the creature in +its native element, we should see it climbing actively the submerged +rocks, among which it delights to live, by means of its strong legs; or +swimming by powerful strokes of its great tail, the appendages of whose +sixth joint are spread out into a broad fan-like propeller: seize it, +and it will show you that its great claws are no mean weapons of +offence; suspend a piece of carrion among its haunts, and it will +greedily devour it, tearing and crushing the flesh by means of its +multitudinous jaws. + +Suppose that we had known nothing of the lobster but as an inert mass, +an organic crystal, if I may use the phrase, and that we could suddenly +see it exerting all these powers, what wonderful new ideas and new +questions would arise in our minds! The great new question would be, +"How does all this take place?" the chief new idea would be, the idea of +adaptation to purpose,--the notion, that the constituents of animal +bodies are not mere unconnected parts, but organs working together to an +end. Let us consider the tail of the lobster again from this point of +view. Morphology has taught us that it is a series of segments composed +of homologous parts, which undergo various modifications--beneath and +through which a common plan of formation is discernible. But if I look +at the same part physiologically, I see that it is a most beautifully +constructed organ of locomotion, by means of which the animal can +swiftly propel itself either backwards or forwards. + +But how is this remarkable propulsive machine made to perform its +functions? If I were suddenly to kill one of these animals and to take +out all the soft parts, I should find the shell to be perfectly inert, +to have no more power of moving itself than is possessed by the +machinery of a mill, when disconnected from its steam-engine or +water-wheel. But if I were to open it, and take out the viscera only, +leaving the white flesh, I should perceive that the lobster could bend +and extend its tail as well as before. If I were to cut off the tail, I +should cease to find any spontaneous motion in it; but on pinching any +portion of the flesh, I should observe that it underwent a very curious +change--each fibre becoming shorter and thicker. By this act of +contraction, as it is termed, the parts to which the ends of the fibre +are attached are, of course, approximated; and according to the +relations of their points of attachment to the centres of motion of the +different rings, the bending or the extension of the tail results. Close +observation of the newly opened lobster would soon show that all its +movements are due to the same cause--the shortening and thickening of +these fleshy fibres, which are technically called muscles. + +Here, then, is a capital fact. The movements of the lobster are due to +muscular contractility. But why does a muscle contract at one time and +not at another? Why does one whole group of muscles contract when the +lobster wishes to extend his tail, and another group, when he desires to +bend it? What is it originates, directs, and controls the motive power? + +Experiment, the great instrument for the ascertainment of truth in +physical science, answers this question for us. In the head of the +lobster there lies a small mass of that peculiar tissue which is known +as nervous substance. Cords of similar matter connect this brain of the +lobster, directly or indirectly, with the muscles. Now, if these +communicating cords are cut, the brain remaining entire, the power of +exerting what we call voluntary motion in the parts below the section is +destroyed; and on the other hand, if, the cords remaining entire, the +brain mass be destroyed, the same voluntary mobility is equally lost. +Whence the inevitable conclusion is, that the power of originating these +motions resides in the brain, and is propagated along the nervous cords. + +In the higher animals the phaenomena which attend this transmission have +been investigated, and the exertion of the peculiar energy which resides +in the nerves has been found to be accompanied by a disturbance of the +electrical state of their molecules. + +If we could exactly estimate the signification of this disturbance; if +we could obtain the value of a given exertion of nerve force by +determining the quantity of electricity, or of heat, of which it is the +equivalent; if we could ascertain upon what arrangement, or other +condition of the molecules of matter, the manifestation of the nervous +and muscular energies depends, (and doubtless science will some day or +other ascertain these points,) physiologists would have attained their +ultimate goal in this direction; they would have determined the relation +of the motive force of animals to the other forms of force found in +nature; and if the same process had been successfully performed for all +the operations which are carried on in, and by, the animal frame, +physiology would be perfect, and the facts of morphology and +distribution would be deducible from the laws which physiologists had +established, combined with those determining the condition of the +surrounding universe. + +There is not a fragment of the organism of this humble animal, whose +study would not lead us into regions of thought as large as those which +I have briefly opened up to you; but what I have been saying, I trust, +has not only enabled you to form a conception of the scope and purport +of zoology, but has given you an imperfect example of the manner in +which, in my opinion, that science, or indeed any physical science, may +be best taught. The great matter is, to make teaching real and +practical, by fixing the attention of the student on particular facts; +but at the same time it should be rendered broad and comprehensive, by +constant reference to the generalizations of which all particular facts +are illustrations. The lobster has served as a type of the whole animal +kingdom, and its anatomy and physiology have illustrated for us some of +the greatest truths of biology. The student who has once seen for +himself the facts which I have described, has had their relations +explained to him, and has clearly comprehended them, has, so far, a +knowledge of zoology, which is real and genuine, however limited it may +be, and which is worth more than all the mere reading knowledge of the +science he could ever acquire. His zoological information is, so far, +knowledge and not mere hearsay. + +And if it were my business to fit you for the certificate in zoological +science granted by this department, I should pursue a course precisely +similar in principle to that which I have taken to-night. I should +select a fresh-water sponge, a fresh-water polype or a _Cyanaea_, a +fresh-water mussel, a lobster, a fowl, as types of the five primary +divisions of the animal kingdom. I should explain their structure very +fully, and show how each illustrated the great principles of zoology. +Having gone very carefully and fully over this ground, I should feel +that you had a safe foundation, and I should then take you in the same +way, but less minutely, over similarly selected illustrative types of +the classes; and then I should direct your attention to the special +forms enumerated under the head of types, in this syllabus, and to the +other facts there mentioned. + +That would, speaking generally, be my plan. But I have undertaken to +explain to you the best mode of acquiring and communicating a knowledge +of zoology, and you may therefore fairly ask me for a more detailed and +precise account of the manner in which I should propose to furnish you +with the information I refer to. + +My own impression is, that the best model for all kinds of training in +physical science is that afforded by the method of teaching anatomy, in +use in the medical schools. This method consists of three +elements--lectures, demonstrations, and examinations. + +The object of lectures is, in the first place, to awaken the attention +and excite the enthusiasm of the student; and this, I am sure, may be +effected to a far greater extent by the oral discourse and by the +personal influence of a respected teacher than in any other way. +Secondly, lectures have the double use of guiding the student to the +salient points of a subject, and at the same time forcing him to attend +to the whole of it, and not merely to that part which takes his fancy. +And lastly, lectures afford the student the opportunity of seeking +explanations of those difficulties which will; and indeed ought to, +arise in the course of his studies. + +But for a student to derive the utmost possible value from lectures, +several precautions are needful. + +I have a strong impression that the better a discourse is, as an +oration, the worse it is as a lecture. The flow of the discourse carries +you on without proper attention to its sense; you drop a word or a +phrase, you lose the exact meaning for a moment, and while you strive to +recover yourself, the speaker has passed on to something else. + +The practice I have adopted of late years, in lecturing to students, is +to condense the substance of the hour's discourse into a few dry +propositions, which are read slowly and taken down from dictation; the +reading of each being followed by a free commentary, expanding and +illustrating the proposition, explaining terms, and removing any +difficulties that may be attackable in that way, by diagrams made +roughly, and seen to grow under the lecturer's hand. In this manner you, +at any rate, insure the co-operation of the student to a certain extent. +He cannot leave the lecture-room entirely empty if the taking of notes +is enforced; and a student must be preternaturally dull and mechanical, +if he can take notes and hear them properly explained, and yet learn +nothing. + +What books shall I read? is a question constantly put by the student to +the teacher. My reply usually is, "None: write your notes out carefully +and fully; strive to understand them thoroughly; come to me for the +explanation of anything you cannot understand; and I would rather you +did not distract your mind by reading." A properly composed course of +lectures ought to contain fully as much matter as a student can +assimilate in the time occupied by its delivery; and the teacher should +always recollect that his business is to feed, and not to cram the +intellect. Indeed, I believe that a student who gains from a course of +lectures the simple habit of concentrating his attention upon a +definitely limited series of facts, until they are thoroughly mastered, +has made a step of immeasurable importance. + +But, however good lectures may be, and however extensive the course of +reading by which they are followed up, they are but accessories to the +great instrument of scientific teaching--demonstration. If I insist +unweariedly, nay fanatically, upon the importance of physical science as +an educational agent, it is because the study of any branch of science, +if properly conducted, appears to me to fill up a void left by all other +means of education. I have the greatest respect and love for literature; +nothing would grieve me more than to see literary training other than a +very prominent branch of education: indeed, I wish that real literary +discipline were far more attended to than it is; but I cannot shut my +eyes to the fact, that there is a vast difference between men who have +had a purely literary, and those who have had a sound scientific, +training. + +Seeking for the cause of this difference, I imagine I can find it in the +fact, that, in the world of letters, learning and knowledge are one, and +books are the source of both; whereas in science, as in life, learning +and knowledge are distinct, and the study of things, and not of books, +is the source of the latter. + +All that literature has to bestow may be obtained by reading and by +practical exercise in writing, and in speaking; but I do not exaggerate +when I say, that none of the best gifts of science are to be won by +these means. On the contrary, the great benefit which a scientific +education bestows, whether as training or as knowledge, is dependent +upon the extent to which the mind of the student is brought into +immediate contact with facts--upon the degree to which he learns the +habit of appealing directly to Nature, and of acquiring through his +senses concrete images of those properties of things, which are, and +always will be, but approximatively expressed in human language. Our way +of looking at Nature, and of speaking about her, varies from year to +year; but a fact once seen, a relation of cause and effect, once +demonstratively apprehended, are possessions which neither change nor +pass away, but, on the contrary, form fixed centres, about which other +truths aggregate by natural affinity. + +Therefore, the great business of the scientific teacher is, to imprint +the fundamental, irrefragable facts of his science, not only by words +upon the mind, but by sensible impressions upon the eye, and ear, and +touch of the student, in so complete a manner, that every term used, or +law enunciated, should afterwards call up vivid images of the particular +structural, or other, facts which furnished the demonstration of the +law, or the illustration of the term. + +Now this important operation can only be achieved by constant +demonstration, which may take place to a certain imperfect extent during +a lecture, but which ought also to be carried on independently, and +which should be addressed to each individual student, the teacher +endeavouring, not so much to show a thing to the learner, as to make him +see it for himself. + +I am well aware that there are great practical difficulties in the way +of effectual zoological demonstrations. The dissection of animals is +not altogether pleasant, and requires much time; nor is it easy to +secure an adequate supply of the needful specimens. The botanist has +here a great advantage; his specimens are easily obtained, are clean and +wholesome, and can be dissected in a private house as well as anywhere +else; and hence, I believe, the fact, that botany is so much more +readily and better taught than its sister science. But, be it difficult +or be it easy, if zoological science is to be properly studied, +demonstration, and, consequently, dissection, must be had. Without it, +no man can have a really sound knowledge of animal organization. + +A good deal may be done, however, without actual dissection on the +student's part, by demonstration upon specimens and preparations; and in +all probability it would not be very difficult, were the demand +sufficient, to organize collections of such objects, sufficient for all +the purposes of elementary teaching, at a comparatively cheap rate. Even +without these, much might be effected, if the zoological collections, +which are open to the public, were arranged according to what has been +termed the "typical principle;" that is to say, if the specimens exposed +to public view were so selected, that the public could learn something +from them, instead of being, as at present, merely confused by their +multiplicity. For example, the grand ornithological gallery at the +British Museum contains between two and three thousand species of birds, +and sometimes five or six specimens of a species. They are very pretty +to look at, and some of the cases are, indeed, splendid; but undertake +to say, that no man but a professed ornithologist has ever gathered +much information from the collection. Certainly, no one of the tens of +thousands of the general public who have walked through that gallery +ever knew more about the essential peculiarities of birds when he left +the gallery, than when he entered it. But if, somewhere in that vast +hall, there were a few preparations, exemplifying the leading structural +peculiarities and the mode of development of a common fowl; if the types +of the genera, the leading modifications in the skeleton, in the plumage +at various ages, in the mode of nidification, and the like, among birds, +were displayed; and if the other specimens were put away in a place +where the men of science, to whom they are alone useful, could have free +access to them, I can conceive that this collection might become a great +instrument of scientific education. + +The last implement of the teacher to which I have adverted is +examination--a means of education now so thoroughly understood that I +need hardly enlarge upon it. I hold that both written and oral +examinations are indispensable, and, by requiring the description of +specimens, they may be made to supplement demonstration. + +Such is the fullest reply the time at my disposal will allow me to give +to the question--how may a knowledge of zoology be best acquired and +communicated? + +But there is a previous question which may be moved, and which, in fact, +I know many are inclined to move. It is the question, why should +training masters be encouraged to acquire a knowledge of this, or any +other branch of physical science? What is the use, it is said, of +attempting to make physical science a branch of primary education? It +is not probable that teachers, in pursuing such studies, will be led +astray from the acquirement of more important but less attractive +knowledge? And, even if they can learn something of science without +prejudice to their usefulness, what is the good of their attempting to +instil that knowledge into boys whose real business is the acquisition +of reading, writing, and arithmetic? + +These questions are, and will be, very commonly asked, for they arise +from that profound ignorance of the value and true position of physical +science, which infests the minds of the most highly educated and +intelligent classes of the community. But if I did not feel well assured +that they are capable of being easily and satisfactorily answered; that +they have been answered over and over again; and that the time will come +when men of liberal education will blush to raise such questions,--I +should be ashamed of my position here to-night. Without doubt, it is +your great and very important function to carry out elementary +education; without question, anything that should interfere with the +faithful fulfilment of that duty on your part would be a great evil; and +if I thought that your acquirement of the elements of physical science, +and your communication of those elements to your pupils, involved any +sort of interference with your proper duties, I should be the first +person to protest against your being encouraged to do anything of the +kind. + +But is it true that the acquisition of such a knowledge of science as is +proposed, and the communication of that knowledge, are calculated to +weaken your usefulness? Or may I not rather ask, is it possible for you +to discharge your functions properly without these aids? + +What is the purpose of primary intellectual education? I apprehend that +its first object is to train the young in the use of those tools +wherewith men extract knowledge from the ever-shifting succession of +phenomena which pass before their eyes; and that its second object is to +inform them of the fundamental laws which have been found by experience +to govern the course of things, so that they may not be turned out into +the world naked, defenceless, and a prey to the events they might +control. + +A boy is taught to read his own and other languages, in order that he +may have access to infinitely wider stores of knowledge than could ever +be opened to him by oral intercourse with his fellow men; he learns to +write, that his means of communication with the rest of mankind may be +indefinitely enlarged, and that he may record and store up the knowledge +he acquires. He is taught elementary mathematics, that he may understand +all those relations of number and form, upon which the transactions of +men, associated in complicated societies, are built, and that he may +have some practice in deductive reasoning. + +All these operations of reading, writing, and ciphering, are +intellectual tools, whose use should, before all things, be learned, and +learned thoroughly; so that the youth may be enabled to make his life +that which it ought to be, a continual progress in learning and in +wisdom. + +But, in addition, primary education endeavours to fit a boy out with a +certain equipment of positive knowledge. He is taught the great laws of +morality; the religion of his sect; so much history and geography as +will tell him where the great countries of the world are, what they are, +and how they have become what they are. + +Without doubt all these are most fitting and excellent things to teach a +boy; I should be very sorry to omit any of them from any scheme of +primary intellectual education. The system is excellent, so far as it +goes. + +But if I regard it closely, a curious reflection arises. I suppose that, +fifteen hundred years ago, the child of any well-to-do Roman citizen was +taught just these same things; reading and writing in his own, and, +perhaps, the Greek tongue; the elements of mathematics; and the +religion, morality, history, and geography current in his time. +Furthermore, I do not think I err in affirming, that, if such a +Christian Roman boy, who had finished his education, could be +transplanted into one of our public schools, and pass through its course +of instruction, he would not meet with a single unfamiliar line of +thought; amidst all the new facts he would have to learn, not one would +suggest a different mode of regarding the universe from that current in +his own time. + +And yet surely there is some great difference between the civilization +of the fourth century and that of the nineteenth, and still more between +the intellectual habits and tone of thought of that day and this? + +And what has made this difference? I answer fearlessly,--The prodigious +development of physical science within the last two centuries. + +Modern civilization rests upon physical science; take away her gifts to +our own country, and our position among the leading nations of the world +is gone to-morrow; for it is physical science only, that makes +intelligence and moral energy stronger than brute force. + +The whole of modern thought is steeped in science; it has made its way +into the works of our best poets, and even the mere man of letters, who +affects to ignore and despise science, is unconsciously impregnated with +her spirit, and indebted for his best products to her methods. I believe +that the greatest intellectual revolution mankind has yet seen is now +slowly taking place by her agency. She is teaching the world that the +ultimate court of appeal is observation and experiment, and not +authority; she is teaching it to estimate the value of evidence; she is +creating a firm and living faith in the existence of immutable moral and +physical laws, perfect obedience to which is the highest possible aim of +an intelligent being. + +But of all this your old stereotyped system of education takes no note. +Physical science, its methods, its problems, and its difficulties, will +meet the poorest boy at every turn, and yet we educate him in such a +manner that he shall enter the world as ignorant of the existence of the +methods and facts of science as the day he was born. The modern world is +full of artillery; and we turn out our children to do battle in it, +equipped with the shield and sword of an ancient gladiator. + +Posterity will cry shame on us if we do not remedy this deplorable state +of things. Nay, if we live twenty years longer, our own consciences will +cry shame on us. + +It is my firm conviction that the only way to remedy it is, to make the +elements of physical science an integral part of primary education. I +have endeavoured to show you how that may be done for that branch of +science which it is my business to pursue; and I can but add, that I +should look upon the day when every schoolmaster throughout this land +was a centre of genuine, however rudimentary, scientific knowledge, as +an epoch in the history of the country. + +But let me entreat you to remember my last words. Addressing myself to +you, as teachers, I would say, mere book learning in physical science is +a sham and a delusion--what you teach, unless you wish to be impostors, +that you must first know; and real knowledge in science means personal +acquaintance with the facts, be they few or many.[9] + +FOOTNOTE: + +[9] It has been suggested to me that these words may be taken to imply a +discouragement on my part of any sort of scientific instruction which +does not give an acquaintance with the facts at first hand. But this is +not my meaning. The ideal of scientific teaching is, no doubt, a system +by which the scholar sees every fact for himself, and the teacher +supplies only the explanations. Circumstances, however, do not often +allow of the attainment of that ideal, and we must put up with the next +best system--one in which the scholar takes a good deal on trust from a +teacher, who, knowing the facts by his own knowledge, can describe them +with so much vividness as to enable his audience to form competent ideas +concerning them. The system which I repudiate is that which allows +teachers who have not come into direct contact with the leading facts of +a science to pass their second-hand information on. The scientific +virus, like vaccine lymph, if passed through too long a succession of +organisms, will lose all its effect in protecting the young against the +intellectual epidemics to which they are exposed. + + + + +VII. + +ON THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF LIFE.[10] + + +In order to make the title of this discourse generally intelligible, I +have translated the term "Protoplasm," which is the scientific name of +the substance of which I am about to speak, by the words "the physical +basis of life." I suppose that, to many, the idea that there is such a +thing as a physical basis, or matter, of life may be novel--so widely +spread is the conception of life as a something which works through +matter, but is independent of it; and even those who are aware that +matter and life are inseparably connected, may not be prepared for the +conclusion plainly suggested by the phrase, "_the_ physical basis or +matter of life," that there is some one kind of matter which is common +to all living beings, and that their endless diversities are bound +together by a physical, as well as an ideal, unity. In fact, when first +apprehended, such a doctrine as this appears almost shocking to common +sense. + +What, truly, can seem to be more obviously different from one another in +faculty, in form, and in substance, than the various kinds of living +beings? What community of faculty can there be between the +brightly-coloured lichen, which so nearly resembles a mere mineral +incrustation of the bare rock on which it grows, and the painter, to +whom it is instinct with beauty, or the botanist, whom it feeds with +knowledge? + +Again, think of the microscopic fungus--a mere infinitesimal ovoid +particle, which finds space and duration enough to multiply into +countless millions in the body of a living fly; and then of the wealth +of foliage, the luxuriance of flower and fruit, which lies between this +bald sketch of a plant and the giant pine of California, towering to the +dimensions of a cathedral spire, or the Indian fig, which covers acres +with its profound shadow, and endures while nations and empires come and +go around its vast circumference? Or, turning to the other half of the +world of life, picture to yourselves the great Finner whale, hugest of +beasts that live, or have lived, disporting his eighty or ninety feet of +bone, muscle, and blubber, with easy roll, among waves in which the +stoutest ship that ever left dockyard would founder hopelessly; and +contrast him with the invisible animalcules--mere gelatinous specks, +multitudes of which could, in fact, dance upon the point of a needle +with the same ease as the angels of the Schoolmen could, in imagination. +With these images before your minds, you may well ask, what community +of form, or structure, is there between the animalcule and the whale; or +between the fungus and the fig-tree? And, _a fortiori_, between all +four? + +Finally, if we regard substance, or material composition, what hidden +bond can connect the flower which a girl wears in her hair and the blood +which courses through her youthful veins; or, what is there in common +between the dense and resisting mass of the oak, or the strong fabric of +the tortoise, and those broad disks of glassy jelly which may be seen +pulsating through the waters of a calm sea, but which drain away to mere +films in the hand which raises them out of their element? + +Such objections as these must, I think, arise in the mind of every one +who ponders, for the first time, upon the conception of a single +physical basis of life underlying all the diversities of vital +existence; but I propose to demonstrate to you that, notwithstanding +these apparent difficulties, a threefold unity--namely, a unity of +power, or faculty, a unity of form, and a unity of substantial +composition--does pervade the whole living world. + + +No very abstruse argumentation is needed, in the first place, to prove +that the powers, or faculties, of all kinds of living matter, diverse as +they may be in degree, are substantially similar in kind. + +Goethe has condensed a survey of all the powers of mankind into the +well-known epigram:-- + + "Warum treibt sich das Volk so und schreit? Es will sich ernaehren + Kinder zeugen, und die naehren so gut es vermag. + + * * * * * + + Weiter bringt es kein Mensch, stell' er sich wie er auch will." + +In physiological language this means, that all the multifarious and +complicated activities of man are comprehensible under three categories. +Either they are immediately directed towards the maintenance and +development of the body, or they effect transitory changes in the +relative positions of parts of the body, or they tend towards the +continuance of the species. Even those manifestations of intellect, of +feeling, and of will, which we rightly name the higher faculties, are +not excluded from this classification, inasmuch as to every one but the +subject of them, they are known only as transitory changes in the +relative positions of parts of the body. Speech, gesture, and every +other form of human action are, in the long run, resolvable into +muscular contraction, and muscular contraction is but a transitory +change in the relative positions of the parts of a muscle. But the +scheme which is large enough to embrace the activities of the highest +form of life, covers all those of the lower creatures. The lowest plant, +or animalcule, feeds, grows, and reproduces its kind. In addition, all +animals manifest those transitory changes of form which we class under +irritability and contractility; and, it is more than probable, that when +the vegetable world is thoroughly explored, we shall find all plants in +possession of the same powers, at one time or other of their existence. + +I am not now alluding to such phaenomena, at once rare and conspicuous, +as those exhibited by the leaflets of the sensitive plant, or the +stamens of the barberry, but to much more widely-spread, and, at the +same time, more subtle and hidden, manifestations of vegetable +contractility. You are doubtless aware that the common nettle owes its +stinging property to the innumerable stiff and needle-like, though +exquisitely delicate, hairs which cover its surface. Each +stinging-needle tapers from a broad base to a slender summit, which, +though rounded at the end, is of such microscopic fineness that it +readily penetrates, and breaks off in, the skin. The whole hair consists +of a very delicate outer case of wood, closely applied to the inner +surface of which is a layer of semifluid matter, full of innumerable +granules of extreme minuteness. This semi-fluid lining is protoplasm, +which thus constitutes a kind of bag, full of a limpid liquid, and +roughly corresponding in form with the interior of the hair which it +fills. When viewed with a sufficiently high magnifying power, the +protoplasmic layer of the nettle hair is seen to be in a condition of +unceasing activity. Local contractions of the whole thickness of its +substance pass slowly and gradually from point to point, and give rise +to the appearance of progressive waves, just as the bending of +successive stalks of corn by a breeze produces the apparent billows of a +corn-field. + +But, in addition to these movements, and independently of them, the +granules are driven, in relatively rapid streams, through channels in +the protoplasm which seem to have a considerable amount of persistence. +Most commonly, the currents in adjacent parts of the protoplasm take +similar directions; and, thus, there is a general stream up one side of +the hair and down the other. But this does not prevent the existence of +partial currents which take different routes; and, sometimes, trains of +granules may be seen coursing swiftly in opposite directions, within a +twenty-thousandth of an inch of one another; while, occasionally, +opposite streams come into direct collision, and, after a longer or +shorter struggle, one predominates. The cause of these currents seems +to lie in contractions of the protoplasm which bounds the channels in +which they flow, but which are so minute that the best microscopes show +only their effects, and not themselves. + +The spectacle afforded by the wonderful energies prisoned within the +compass of the microscopic hair of a plant, which we commonly regard as +a merely passive organism, is not easily forgotten by one who has +watched its display, continued hour after hour, without pause or sign of +weakening. The possible complexity of many other organic forms, +seemingly as simple as the protoplasm of the nettle, dawns upon one; and +the comparison of such a protoplasm to a body with an internal +circulation, which has been put forward by an eminent physiologist, +loses much of its startling character. Currents similar to those of the +hairs of the nettle have been observed in a great multitude of very +different plants, and weighty authorities have suggested that they +probably occur, in more or less perfection, in all young vegetable +cells. If such be the case, the wonderful noonday silence of a tropical +forest is, after all, due only to the dulness of our hearing; and could +our ears catch the murmur of these tiny Maelstroms, as they whirl in the +innumerable myriads of living cells which constitute each tree, we +should be stunned, as with the roar of a great city. + +Among the lower plants, it is the rule rather than the exception, that +contractility should be still more openly manifested at some periods of +their existence. The protoplasm of _Algae_ and _Fungi_ becomes, under +many circumstances, partially, or completely, freed from its woody +case, and exhibits movements of its whole mass, or is propelled by the +contractility of one, or more, hair-like prolongations of its body, +which are called vibratile cilia. And, so far as the conditions of the +manifestation of the phaenomena of contractility have yet been studied, +they are the same for the plant as for the animal. Heat and electric +shocks influence both, and in the same way, though it may be in +different degrees. It is by no means my intention to suggest that there +is no difference in faculty between the lowest plant and the highest, or +between plants and animals. But the difference between the powers of the +lowest plant, or animal, and those of the highest, is one of degree, not +of kind, and depends, as Milne-Edwards long ago so well pointed out, +upon the extent to which the principle of the division of labour is +carried out in the living economy. In the lowest organism all parts are +competent to perform all functions, and one and the same portion of +protoplasm may successively take on the function of feeding, moving, or +reproducing apparatus. In the highest, on the contrary, a great number +of parts combine to perform each function, each part doing its allotted +share of the work with great accuracy and efficiency, but being useless +for any other purpose. + +On the other hand, notwithstanding all the fundamental resemblances +which exist between the powers of the protoplasm in plants and in +animals, they present a striking difference (to which I shall advert +more at length presently), in the fact that plants can manufacture fresh +protoplasm out of mineral compounds, whereas animals are obliged to +procure it ready made, and hence, in the long run, depend upon plants. +Upon what condition this difference in the powers of the two great +divisions of the world of life depends, nothing is at present known. + +With such qualification as arises out of the last-mentioned fact, it may +be truly said that the acts of all living things are fundamentally one. +Is any such unity predicable of their forms? Let us seek in easily +verified facts for a reply to this question. If a drop of blood be drawn +by pricking one's finger, and viewed with proper precautions and under a +sufficiently high microscopic power, there will be seen, among the +innumerable multitude of little, circular, discoidal bodies, or +corpuscles, which float in it and give it its colour, a comparatively +small number of colourless corpuscles, of somewhat larger size and very +irregular shape. If the drop of blood be kept at the temperature of the +body, these colourless corpuscles will be seen to exhibit a marvellous +activity, changing their forms with great rapidity, drawing in and +thrusting out prolongations of their substance, and creeping about as if +they were independent organisms. + +The substance which is thus active is a mass of protoplasm, and its +activity differs in detail, rather than in principle, from that of the +protoplasm of the nettle. Under sundry circumstances the corpuscle dies +and becomes distended into a round mass, in the midst of which is seen a +smaller spherical body, which existed, but was more or less hidden, in +the living corpuscle, and is called its _nucleus_. Corpuscles of +essentially similar structure are to be found in the skin, in the lining +of the mouth, and scattered through the whole framework of the body. +Nay, more; in the earliest condition of the human organism, in that +state in which it has but just become distinguishable from the egg in +which it arises, it is nothing but an aggregation of such corpuscles, +and every organ of the body was, once, no more than such an aggregation. + +Thus a nucleated mass of protoplasm turns out to be what may be termed +the structural unit of the human body. As a matter of fact, the body, in +its earliest state, is a mere multiple of such units; and, in its +perfect condition, it is a multiple of such units, variously modified. + +But does the formula which expresses the essential structural character +of the highest animal cover all the rest, as the statement of its powers +and faculties covered that of all others? Very nearly. Beast and fowl, +reptile and fish, mollusk, worm, and polype, are all composed of +structural units of the same character, namely, masses of protoplasm +with a nucleus. There are sundry very low animals, each of which, +structurally, is a mere colourless blood-corpuscle, leading an +independent life. But, at the very bottom of the animal scale, even this +simplicity becomes simplified, and all the phaenomena of life are +manifested by a particle of protoplasm without a nucleus. Nor are such +organisms insignificant by reason of their want of complexity. It is a +fair question whether the protoplasm of those simplest forms of life, +which people an immense extent of the bottom of the sea, would not +outweigh that of all the higher living beings which inhabit the land put +together. And in ancient times, no less than at the present day, such +living beings as these have been the greatest of rock builders. + +What has been said of the animal world is no less true of plants. +Imbedded in the protoplasm at the broad, or attached, end of the nettle +hair, there lies a spheroidal nucleus. Careful examination further +proves that the whole substance of the nettle is made up of a repetition +of such masses of nucleated protoplasm, each contained in a wooden case, +which is modified in form, sometimes into a woody fibre, sometimes into +a duct or spiral vessel, sometimes into a pollen grain, or an ovule. +Traced back to its earliest state, the nettle arises as the man does, in +a particle of nucleated protoplasm. And in the lowest plants, as in the +lowest animals, a single mass of such protoplasm may constitute the +whole plant, or the protoplasm may exist without a nucleus. + +Under these circumstances it may well be asked, how is one mass of +non-nucleated protoplasm to be distinguished from another? why call one +"plant" and the other "animal"? + +The only reply is that, so far as form is concerned, plants and animals +are not separable, and that, in many cases, it is a mere matter of +convention whether we call a given organism an animal or a plant. There +is a living body called _AEthalium septicum_, which appears upon decaying +vegetable substances, and, in one of its forms, is common upon the +surfaces of tan-pits. In this condition it is, to all intents and +purposes, a fungus, and formerly was always regarded as such; but the +remarkable investigations of De Bary have shown that, in another +condition, the _AEthalium_ is an actively locomotive creature, and takes +in solid matters, upon which, apparently, it feeds, thus exhibiting the +most characteristic feature of animality. Is this a plant; or is it an +animal? Is it both; or is it neither? Some decide in favour of the last +supposition, and establish an intermediate kingdom, a sort of biological +No Man's Land for all these questionable forms. But, as it is admittedly +impossible to draw any distinct boundary line between this no man's land +and the vegetable world on the one hand, or the animal, on the other, it +appears to me that this proceeding merely doubles the difficulty which, +before, was single. + +Protoplasm, simple or nucleated, is the formal basis of all life. It is +the clay of the potter: which, bake it and paint it as he will, remains +clay, separated by artifice, and not by nature, from the commonest brick +or sun-dried clod. + +Thus it becomes clear that all living powers are cognate, and that all +living forms are fundamentally of one character. The researches of the +chemist have revealed a no less striking uniformity of material +composition in living matter. + +In perfect strictness, it is true that chemical investigation can tell +us little or nothing, directly, of the composition of living matter, +inasmuch as such matter must needs die in the act of analysis,--and upon +this very obvious ground, objections, which I confess seem to me to be +somewhat frivolous, have been raised to the drawing of any conclusions +whatever respecting the composition of actually living matter, from that +of the dead matter of life, which alone is accessible to us. But +objectors of this class do not seem to reflect that it is also, in +strictness, true that we know nothing about the composition of any body +whatever, as it is. The statement that a crystal of calc-spar consists +of carbonate of lime, is quite true, if we only mean that, by +appropriate processes, it may be resolved into carbonic acid and +quicklime. If you pass the same carbonic acid over the very quicklime +thus obtained, you will obtain carbonate of lime again; but it will not +be calc-spar, nor anything like it. Can it, therefore, be said that +chemical analysis teaches nothing about the chemical composition of +calc-spar? Such a statement would be absurd; but it is hardly more so +than the talk one occasionally hears about the uselessness of applying +the results of chemical analysis to the living bodies which have yielded +them. + +One fact, at any rate, is out of reach of such refinements, and this is, +that all the forms of protoplasm which have yet been examined contain +the four elements, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, in very +complex union, and that they behave similarly towards several reagents. +To this complex combination, the nature of which has never been +determined with exactness, the name of Protein has been applied. And if +we use this term with such caution as may properly arise out of our +comparative ignorance of the things for which it stands, it may be truly +said, that all protoplasm is proteinaceous; or, as the white, or +albumen, of an egg is one of the commonest examples of a nearly pure +protein matter, we may say that all living matter is more or less +albuminoid. + +Perhaps it would not yet be safe to say that all forms of protoplasm are +affected by the direct action of electric shocks; and yet the number of +cases in which the contraction of protoplasm is shown to be effected by +this agency increases every day. + +Nor can it be affirmed with perfect confidence, that all forms of +protoplasm are liable to undergo that peculiar coagulation at a +temperature of 40 deg.--50 deg. centigrade, which has been called +"heat-stiffening," though Kuehne's beautiful researches have proved this +occurrence to take place in so many and such diverse living beings, that +it is hardly rash to expect that the law holds good for all. + + +Enough has, perhaps, been said to prove the existence of a general +uniformity in the character of the protoplasm, or physical basis, of +life, in whatever group of living beings it may be studied. But it will +be understood that this general uniformity by no means excludes any +amount of special modifications of the fundamental substance. The +mineral, carbonate of lime, assumes an immense diversity of characters, +though no one doubts that, under all these Protean changes, it is one +and the same thing. + +And now, what is the ultimate fate, and what the origin, of the matter +of life? + +Is it, as some of the older naturalists supposed, diffused throughout +the universe in molecules, which are indestructible and unchangeable in +themselves; but, in endless transmigration, unite in innumerable +permutations, into the diversified forms of life we know? Or, is the +matter of life composed of ordinary matter, differing from it only in +the manner in which its atoms are aggregated? Is it built up of ordinary +matter, and again resolved into ordinary matter when its work is done? + +Modern science does not hesitate a moment between these alternatives. +Physiology writes over the portals of life-- + + "Debemur morti nos nostraque," + +with a profounder meaning than the Roman poet attached to that +melancholy line. Under whatever disguise it takes refuge, whether fungus +or oak, worm or man, the living protoplasm not only ultimately dies and +is resolved into its mineral and lifeless constituents, but is always +dying, and, strange as the paradox may sound, could not live unless it +died. + +In the wonderful story of the "Peau de Chagrin," the hero becomes +possessed of a magical wild ass' skin, which yields him the means of +gratifying all his wishes. But its surface represents the duration of +the proprietor's life; and for every satisfied desire the skin shrinks +in proportion to the intensity of fruition, until at length life and the +last handbreadth of the _peau de chagrin_ disappear with the +gratification of a last wish. + +Balzac's studies had led him over a wide range of thought and +speculation, and his shadowing forth of physiological truth in this +strange story may have been intentional. At any rate, the matter of life +is a veritable _peau de chagrin_, and for every vital act it is somewhat +the smaller. All work implies waste, and the work of life results, +directly or indirectly, in the waste of protoplasm. + +Every word uttered by a speaker costs him some physical loss; and, in +the strictest sense, he burns that others may have light--so much +eloquence, so much of his body resolved into carbonic acid, water, and +urea. It is clear that this process of expenditure cannot go on for +ever. But happily, the protoplasmic _peau de chagrin_ differs from +Balzac's in its capacity of being repaired, and brought back to its full +size, after every exertion. + +For example, this present lecture, whatever its intellectual worth to +you, has a certain physical value to me, which is, conceivably, +expressible by the number of grains of protoplasm and other bodily +substance wasted in maintaining my vital processes during its delivery. +My _peau de chagrin_ will be distinctly smaller at the end of the +discourse than it was at the beginning. By and by, I shall probably have +recourse to the substance commonly called mutton, for the purpose of +stretching it back to its original size. Now this mutton was once the +living protoplasm, more or less modified, of another animal--a sheep. As +I shall eat it, it is the same matter altered, not only by death, but by +exposure to sundry artificial operations in the process of cooking. + +But these changes, whatever be their extent, have not rendered it +incompetent to resume its old functions as matter of life. A singular +inward laboratory, which I possess, will dissolve a certain portion of +the modified protoplasm; the solution so formed will pass into my veins; +and the subtle influences to which it will then be subjected will +convert the dead protoplasm into living protoplasm, and transubstantiate +sheep into man. + +Nor is this all. If digestion were a thing to be trifled with, I might +sup upon lobster, and the matter of life of the crustacean would undergo +the same wonderful metamorphosis into humanity. And were I to return to +my own place by sea, and undergo shipwreck, the crustacea might, and +probably would, return the compliment, and demonstrate our common nature +by turning my protoplasm into living lobster. Or, if nothing better were +to be had, I might supply my wants with mere bread, and I should find +the protoplasm of the wheat-plant to be convertible into man, with no +more trouble than that of the sheep, and with far less, I fancy, than +that of the lobster. + +Hence it appears to be a matter of no great moment what animal, or what +plant, I lay under contribution for protoplasm, and the fact speaks +volumes for the general identity of that substance in all living beings. +I share this catholicity of assimilation with other animals, all of +which, so far as we know, could thrive equally well on the protoplasm of +any of their fellows, or of any plant; but here the assimilative powers +of the animal world cease. A solution of smelling-salts in water, with +an infinitesimal proportion of some other saline matters, contains all +the elementary bodies which enter into the composition of protoplasm; +but, as I need hardly say, a hogshead of that fluid would not keep a +hungry man from starving, nor would it save any animal whatever from a +like fate. An animal cannot make protoplasm, but must take it ready-made +from some other animal, or some plant--the animal's highest feat of +constructive chemistry being to convert dead protoplasm into that living +matter of life which is appropriate to itself. + +Therefore, in seeking for the origin of protoplasm, we must eventually +turn to the vegetable world. The fluid containing carbonic acid, water, +and ammonia, which offers such a Barmecide feast to the animal, is a +table richly spread to multitudes of plants; and, with a due supply of +only such materials, many a plant will not only maintain itself in +vigour, but grow and multiply, until it has increased a million-fold, or +a million million-fold, the quantity of protoplasm which it originally +possessed; in this way building up the matter of life, to an indefinite +extent, from the common matter of the universe. + +Thus, the animal can only raise the complex substance of dead +protoplasm to the higher power, as one may say, of living protoplasm; +while the plant can raise the less complex substances--carbonic acid, +water, and ammonia--to the same stage of living protoplasm, if not to +the same level. But the plant also has its limitations. Some of the +fungi, for example, appear to need higher compounds to start with; and +no known plant can live upon the uncompounded elements of protoplasm. A +plant supplied with pure carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, +phosphorus, sulphur, and the like, would as infallibly die as the animal +in his bath of smelling-salts, though it would be surrounded by all the +constituents of protoplasm. Nor, indeed, need the process of +simplification of vegetable food be carried so far as this, in order to +arrive at the limit of the plant's thaumaturgy. Let water, carbonic +acid, and all the other needful constituents be supplied with ammonia, +and an ordinary plant will still be unable to manufacture protoplasm. + +Thus the matter of life, so far as we know it (and we have no right to +speculate on any other), breaks up, in consequence of that continual +death which is the condition of its manifesting vitality, into carbonic +acid, water, and ammonia, which certainly possess no properties but +those of ordinary matter. And out of these same forms of ordinary +matter, and from none which are simpler, the vegetable world builds up +all the protoplasm which keeps the animal world a going. Plants are the +accumulators of the power which animals distribute and disperse. + +But it will be observed, that the existence of the matter of life +depends on the pre-existence of certain compounds; namely, carbonic +acid, water, and ammonia. Withdraw any one of these three from the +world and all vital phaenomena come to an end. They are related to the +protoplasm of the plant, as the protoplasm of the plant is to that of +the animal. Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen are all lifeless +bodies. Of these, carbon and oxygen unite, in certain proportions and +under certain conditions, to give rise to carbonic acid; hydrogen and +oxygen produce water; nitrogen and hydrogen give rise to ammonia. These +new compounds like the elementary bodies of which they are composed, are +lifeless. But when they are brought together, under certain conditions +they give rise to the still more complex body, protoplasm, and this +protoplasm exhibits the phenomena of life. + +I see no break in this series of steps in molecular complication, and I +am unable to understand why the language which is applicable to any one +term of the series may not be used to any of the others. We think fit to +call different kinds of matter carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen, +and to speak of the various powers and activities of these substances as +the properties of the matter of which they are composed. + +When hydrogen and oxygen are mixed in a certain proportion, and an +electric spark is passed through them, they disappear, and a quantity of +water, equal in weight to the sum of their weights, appears in their +place. There is not the slightest parity between the passive and active +powers of the water and those of the oxygen and hydrogen which have +given rise to it. At 32 deg. Fahrenheit, and far below that temperature, +oxygen and hydrogen are elastic gaseous bodies, whose particles tend to +rush away from one another with great force. Water, at the same +temperature, is a strong though brittle solid, whose particles tend to +cohere into definite geometrical shapes, and sometimes build up frosty +imitations of the most complex forms of vegetable foliage. + +Nevertheless we call these, and many other strange phaenomena, the +properties of the water, and we do not hesitate to believe that, in some +way or another, they result from the properties of the component +elements of the water. We do not assume that a something called +"aquosity" entered into and took possession of the oxide of hydrogen as +soon as it was formed, and then guided the aqueous particles to their +places in the facets of the crystal, or amongst the leaflets of the +hoar-frost. On the contrary, we live in the hope and in the faith that, +by the advance of molecular physics, we shall by and by be able to see +our way as clearly from the constituents of water to the properties of +water, as we are now able to deduce the operations of a watch from the +form of its parts and the manner in which they are put together. + +Is the case in any way changed when carbonic acid, water, and ammonia +disappear, and in their place, under the influence of pre-existing +living protoplasm, an equivalent weight of the matter of life makes its +appearance? + +It is true that there is no sort of parity between the properties of the +components and the properties of the resultant, but neither was there in +the case of the water. It is also true that what I have spoken of as the +influence of pre-existing living matter is something quite +unintelligible; but does anybody quite comprehend the _modus operandi_ +of an electric spark, which traverses a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen? + +What justification is there, then, for the assumption of the existence +in the living matter of a something which has no representative, or +correlative, in the not living matter which gave rise to it? What better +philosophical status has "vitality" than "aquosity"? And why should +"vitality" hope for a better fate than the other "itys" which have +disappeared since Martinus Scriblerus accounted for the operation of the +meat-jack by its inherent "meat roasting quality," and scorned the +"materialism" of those who explained the turning of the spit by a +certain mechanism worked by the draught of the chimney? + +If scientific language is to possess a definite and constant +signification whenever it is employed, it seems to me that we are +logically bound to apply to the protoplasm, or physical basis of life, +the same conceptions as those which are held to be legitimate elsewhere. +If the phaenomena exhibited by water are its properties, so are those +presented by protoplasm, living or dead, its properties. + +If the properties of water may be properly said to result from the +nature and disposition of its component molecules, I can find no +intelligible ground for refusing to say that the properties of +protoplasm result from the nature and disposition of its molecules. + +But I bid you beware that, in accepting these conclusions, you are +placing your feet on the first rung of a ladder which, in most people's +estimation, is the reverse of Jacob's, and leads to the antipodes of +heaven. It may seem a small thing to admit that the dull vital actions +of a fungus, or a foraminifer, are the properties of their protoplasm, +and are the direct results of the nature of the matter of which they +are composed. But if, as I have endeavoured to prove to you, their +protoplasm is essentially identical with, and most readily converted +into, that of any animal, I can discover no logical halting-place +between the admission that such is the case, and the further concession +that all vital action may, with equal propriety, be said to be the +result of the molecular forces of the protoplasm which displays it. And +if so, it must be true, in the same sense and to the same extent, that +the thoughts to which I am now giving utterance, and your thoughts +regarding them, are the expression of molecular changes in that matter +of life which is the source of our other vital phaenomena. + + +Past experience leads me to be tolerably certain that, when the +propositions I have just placed before you are accessible to public +comment and criticism, they will be condemned by many zealous persons, +and perhaps by some few of the wise and thoughtful. I should not wonder +if "gross and brutal materialism" were the mildest phrase applied to +them in certain quarters. And, most undoubtedly, the terms of the +propositions are distinctly materialistic. Nevertheless two things are +certain: the one, that I hold the statements to be substantially true; +the other, that I, individually, am no materialist, but, on the +contrary, believe materialism to involve grave philosophical error. + +This union of materialistic terminology with the repudiation of +materialistic philosophy, I share with some of the most thoughtful men +with whom I am acquainted. And, when I first undertook to deliver the +present discourse, it appeared to me to be a fitting opportunity to +explain how such a union is not only consistent with, but necessitated +by, sound logic. I purposed to lead you through the territory of vital +phenomena to the materialistic slough in which you find yourselves now +plunged, and then to point out to you the sole path by which, in my +judgment, extrication is possible. + +An occurrence of which I was unaware until my arrival here last night, +renders this line of argument singularly opportune. I found in your +papers the eloquent address "On the Limits of Philosophical Inquiry," +which a distinguished prelate of the English Church delivered before the +members of the Philosophical Institution on the previous day. My +argument, also, turns upon this very point of the limits of +philosophical inquiry; and I cannot bring out my own views better than +by contrasting them with those so plainly, and, in the main, fairly, +stated by the Archbishop of York. + +But I may be permitted to make a preliminary comment upon an occurrence +that greatly astonished me. Applying the name of "the New Philosophy" to +that estimate of the limits of philosophical inquiry which I, in common +with many other men of science, hold to be just, the Archbishop opens +his address by identifying this "New Philosophy" with the Positive +Philosophy of M. Comte (of whom he speaks as its "founder"); and then +proceeds to attack that philosopher and his doctrines vigorously. + +Now, so far as I am concerned, the most reverend prelate might +dialectically hew M. Comte in pieces, as a modern Agag, and I should not +attempt to stay his hand. In so far as my study of what specially +characterises the Positive Philosophy has led me, I find therein little +or nothing of any scientific value, and a great deal which is as +thoroughly antagonistic to the very essence of science as anything in +ultramontane Catholicism. In fact, M. Comte's philosophy in practice +might be compendiously described as Catholicism _minus_ Christianity. + +But what has Comtism to do with the "New Philosophy," as the Archbishop +defines it in the following passage? + + "Let me briefly remind you of the leading principles of this new + philosophy. + + "All knowledge is experience of facts acquired by the senses. The + traditions of older philosophies have obscured our experience by + mixing with it much that the senses cannot observe, and until these + additions are discarded our knowledge is impure. Thus metaphysics + tell us that one fact which we observe is a cause, and another is + the effect of that cause; but upon a rigid analysis, we find that + our senses observe nothing of cause or effect: they observe, first, + that one fact succeeds another, and, after some opportunity, that + this fact has never failed to follow--that for cause and effect we + should substitute invariable succession. An older philosophy + teaches us to define an object by distinguishing its essential from + its accidental qualities: but experience knows nothing of essential + and accidental; she sees only that certain marks attach to an + object, and, after many observations, that some of them attach + invariably, whilst others may at times be absent.... As all + knowledge is relative, the notion of anything being necessary must + be banished with other traditions."[11] + +There is much here that expresses the spirit of the "New Philosophy," if +by that term be meant the spirit of modern science; but I cannot but +marvel that the assembled wisdom and learning of Edinburgh should have +uttered no sign of dissent, when Comte was declared to be the founder of +these doctrines. No one will accuse Scotchmen of habitually forgetting +their great countrymen; but it was enough to make David Hume turn in +his grave, that here, almost within earshot of his house, an instructed +audience should have listened, without a murmur, while his most +characteristic doctrines were attributed to a French writer of fifty +years later date, in whose dreary and verbose pages we miss alike the +vigour of thought and the exquisite clearness of style of the man whom I +make bold to term the most acute thinker of the eighteenth century--even +though that century produced Kant. + +But I did not come to Scotland to vindicate the honour of one of the +greatest men she has ever produced. My business is to point out to you +that the only way of escape out of the crass materialism in which we +just now landed, is the adoption and strict working-out of the very +principles which the Archbishop holds up to reprobation. + +Let us suppose that knowledge is absolute, and not relative, and +therefore, that our conception of matter represents that which it really +is. Let us suppose, further, that we do know more of cause and effect +than a certain definite order of succession among facts, and that we +have a knowledge of the necessity of that succession--and hence, of +necessary laws--and I, for my part, do not see what escape there is from +utter materialism and necessarianism. For it is obvious that our +knowledge of what we call the material world, is, to begin with, at +least as certain and definite as that of the spiritual world, and that +our acquaintance with law is of as old a date as our knowledge of +spontaneity. Further, I take it to be demonstrable that it is utterly +impossible to prove that anything whatever may not be the effect of a +material and necessary cause, and that human logic is equally +incompetent to prove that any act is really spontaneous. A really +spontaneous act is one which, by the assumption, has no cause; and the +attempt to prove such a negative as this is, on the face of the matter, +absurd. And while it is thus a philosophical impossibility to +demonstrate that any given phaenomenon is not the effect of a material +cause, any one who is acquainted with the history of science will admit, +that its progress has, in all ages, meant, and now, more than ever, +means, the extension of the province of what we call matter and +causation, and the concomitant gradual banishment from all regions of +human thought of what we call spirit and spontaneity. + +I have endeavoured, in the first part of this discourse, to give you a +conception of the direction towards which modern physiology is tending; +and I ask you, what is the difference between the conception of life as +the product of a certain disposition of material molecules, and the old +notion of an Archaeus governing and directing blind matter within each +living body, except this--that here, as elsewhere, matter and law have +devoured spirit and spontaneity? And as surely as every future grows out +of past and present, so will the physiology of the future gradually +extend the realm of matter and law until it is co-extensive with +knowledge, with feeling, and with action. + +The consciousness of this great truth weighs like a nightmare, I +believe, upon many of the best minds of these days. They watch what they +conceive to be the progress of materialism, in such fear and powerless +anger as a savage feels, when, during an eclipse, the great shadow +creeps over the face of the sun. The advancing tide of matter threatens +to drown their souls; the tightening grasp of law impedes their freedom; +they are alarmed lest man's moral nature be debased by the increase of +his wisdom. + +If the "New Philosophy" be worthy of the reprobation with which it is +visited, I confess their fears seem to me, to be well founded. While, on +the contrary, could David Hume be consulted, I think he would smile at +their perplexities, and chide them for doing even as the heathen, and +falling down in terror before the hideous idols their own hands have +raised. + +For, after all, what do we know of this terrible "matter," except as a +name for the unknown and hypothetical cause of states of our own +consciousness? And what do we know of that "spirit" over whose +threatened extinction by matter a great lamentation is arising, like +that which was heard at the death of Pan, except that it is also a name +for an unknown and hypothetical cause, or condition, of states of +consciousness? In other words, matter and spirit are but names for the +imaginary substrata of groups of natural phaenomena. + +And what is the dire necessity and "iron" law under which men groan? +Truly, most gratuitously invented bugbears. I suppose if there be an +"iron" law, it is that of gravitation; and if there be a physical +necessity, it is that a stone, unsupported, must fall to the ground. But +what is all we really know and can know about the latter phaenomenon? +Simply, that, in all human experience, stones have fallen to the ground +under these conditions; that we have not the smallest reason for +believing that any stone so circumstanced will not fall to the ground; +and that we have, on the contrary, every reason to believe that it will +so fall. It is very convenient to indicate that all the conditions of +belief have been fulfilled in this case, by calling the statement that +unsupported stones will fall to the ground, "a law of nature." But when, +as commonly happens, we change _will_ into _must_, we introduce an idea +of necessity which most assuredly does not lie in the observed facts, +and has no warranty that I can discover elsewhere. For my part, I +utterly repudiate and anathematize the intruder. Fact I know; and Law I +know; but what is this Necessity, save an empty shadow of my own mind's +throwing? + +But, if it is certain that we can have no knowledge of the nature of +either matter or spirit, and that the notion of necessity is something +illegitimately thrust into the perfectly legitimate conception of law, +the materialistic position that there is nothing in the world but +matter, force, and necessity, is as utterly devoid of justification as +the most baseless of theological dogmas. The fundamental doctrines of +materialism, like those of spiritualism, and most other "isms," lie +outside "the limits of philosophical inquiry," and David Hume's great +service to humanity is his irrefragable demonstration of what these +limits are. Hume called himself a sceptic, and therefore others cannot +be blamed if they apply the same title to him; but that does not alter +the fact that the name, with its existing implications, does him gross +injustice. + +If a man asks me what the politics of the inhabitants of the moon are, +and I reply that I do not know; that neither I, nor any one else, have +any means of knowing; and that, under these circumstances, I decline to +trouble myself about the subject at all, I do not think he has any +right to call me a sceptic. On the contrary, in replying thus, I +conceive that I am simply honest and truthful, and show a proper regard +for the economy of time. So Hume's strong and subtle intellect takes up +a great many problems about which we are naturally curious, and shows us +that they are essentially questions of lunar politics, in their essence +incapable of being answered, and therefore not worth the attention of +men who have work to do in the world. And he thus ends one of his +essays:-- + + "If we take in hand any volume of Divinity, or school metaphysics, + for instance, let us ask, _Does it contain any abstract reasoning + concerning quantity or number_? No. _Does it contain any + experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence_? + No. Commit it then to the flames; for it can contain nothing but + sophistry and illusion."[12] + +Permit me to enforce this most wise advice. Why trouble ourselves about +matters of which, however important they may be, we do know nothing, and +can know nothing? We live in a world which is full of misery and +ignorance, and the plain duty of each and all of us is to try to make +the little corner he can influence somewhat less miserable and somewhat +less ignorant than it was before he entered it. To do this effectually +it is necessary to be fully possessed of only two beliefs: the first, +that the order of nature is ascertainable by our faculties to an extent +which is practically unlimited; the second, that our volition counts for +something as a condition of the course of events. + +Each of these beliefs can be verified experimentally, as often as we +like to try. Each, therefore, stands upon the strongest foundation upon +which any belief can rest, and forms one of our highest truths. If we +find that the ascertainment of the order of nature is facilitated by +using one terminology, or one set of symbols, rather than another, it is +our clear duty to use the former; and no harm can accrue, so long as we +bear in mind, that we are dealing merely with terms and symbols. + +In itself it is of little moment whether we express the phaenomena of +matter in terms of spirit; or the phaenomena of spirit, in terms of +matter: matter may be regarded as a form of thought, thought may be +regarded as a property of matter--each statement has a certain relative +truth. But with a view to the progress of science, the materialistic +terminology is in every way to be preferred. For it connects thought +with the other phaenomena of the universe, and suggests inquiry into the +nature of those physical conditions, or concomitants of thought, which +are more or less accessible to us, and a knowledge of which may, in +future, help us to exercise the same kind of control over the world of +thought, as we already possess in respect of the material world; +whereas, the alternative, or spiritualistic, terminology is utterly +barren, and leads to nothing but obscurity and confusion of ideas. + +Thus there can be little doubt, that the further science advances, the +more extensively and consistently will all the phaenomena of nature be +represented by materialistic formulae and symbols. + +But the man of science, who, forgetting the limits of philosophical +inquiry, slides from these formulae and symbols into what is commonly +understood by materialism, seems to me to place himself on a level with +the mathematician, who should mistake the _x_'s and _y_'s, with which he +works his problems, for real entities--and with this further +disadvantage, as compared with the mathematician, that the blunders of +the latter are of no practical consequence, while the errors of +systematic materialism may paralyse the energies and destroy the beauty +of a life. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[10] The substance of this paper was contained in a discourse which was +delivered in Edinburgh on the evening of Sunday, the 8th of November, +1868--being the first of a series of Sunday evening addresses upon +non-theological topics, instituted by the Rev. J. Cranbrook. Some +phrases, which could possess only a transitory and local interest, have +been omitted; instead of the newspaper report of the Archbishop of +York's address, his Grace's subsequently-published pamphlet "On the +Limits of Philosophical Inquiry" is quoted; and I have, here and there, +endeavoured to express my meaning more fully and clearly than I seem to +have done in speaking--if I may judge by sundry criticisms upon what I +am supposed to have said, which have appeared. But in substance, and, so +far as my recollection serves, in form, what is here written corresponds +with what was there said. + +[11] "The Limits of Philosophical Inquiry," pp. 4 and 5. + +[12] Hume's Essay "Of the Academical or Sceptical Philosophy," in the +"Inquiry concerning the Human Understanding." + + + + +VIII. + +THE SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS OF POSITIVISM. + + +It is now some sixteen or seventeen years since I became acquainted with +the "Philosophic Positive," the "Discours sur l'Ensemble du +Positivisme," and the "Politique Positive" of Auguste Comte. I was led +to study these works partly by the allusions to them in Mr. Mill's +"Logic," partly by the recommendation of a distinguished theologian, and +partly by the urgency of a valued friend, the late Professor Henfrey, +who looked upon M. Comte's bulky volumes as a mine of wisdom, and lent +them to me that I might dig and be rich. After due perusal, I found +myself in a position to echo my friend's words, though I may have laid +more stress on the "mine" than on the "wisdom." For I found the veins of +ore few and far between, and the rock so apt to run to mud, that one +incurred the risk of being intellectually smothered in the working. +Still, as I was glad to acknowledge, I did come to a nugget here and +there; though not, so far as my experience went, in the discussions on +the philosophy of the physical sciences, but in the chapters on +speculative and practical sociology. In these there was indeed much to +arouse the liveliest interest in one whose boat had broken away from +the old moorings, and who had been content "to lay out an anchor by the +stern" until daylight should break and the fog clear. Nothing could be +more interesting to a student of biology than to see the study of the +biological sciences laid down, as an essential part of the prolegomena +of a new view of social phenomena. Nothing could be more satisfactory to +a worshipper of the severe truthfulness of science than the attempt to +dispense with all beliefs, save such as could brave the light, and seek, +rather than fear, criticism; while, to a lover of courage and +outspokenness, nothing could be more touching than the placid +announcement on the title-page of the "Discours sur l'Ensemble du +Positivisme," that its author proposed + + "Reorganiser, sans Dieu ni roi, + Par le culte systematique de l'Humanite," + +the shattered frame of modern society. + +In those days I knew my "Faust" pretty well, and, after reading this +word of might, I was minded to chant the well-known stanzas of the +"Geisterchor"-- + + "Weh! Weh! + Die schoene welt. + Sie stuerzt, sie zerfaellt + Wir tragen + Die Truemmern ins Nichts hinueber. + Maechtiger + Der Erdensoehne, + Praechtiger, + Baue sie wieder + In deinem Busen baue sie auf." + +Great, however, was my perplexity, not to say disappointment, as I +followed the progress of this "mighty son of earth" in his work of +reconstruction. Undoubtedly "Dieu" disappeared, but the "Nouveau +Grand-Etre Supreme," a gigantic fetish, turned out bran-new by M. +Comte's own hands, reigned in his stead. "Roi" also was not heard of; +but, in his place, I found a minutely-defined social organization, +which, if it ever came into practice, would exert a despotic authority +such as no sultan has rivalled, and no Puritan presbytery, in its +palmiest days, could hope to excel. While, as for the "culte +systematique de l'Humanite," I, in my blindness, could not distinguish +it from sheer Popery, with M. Comte in the chair of St. Peter, and the +names of most of the saints changed. To quote "Faust" again, I found +myself saying with Gretchen,-- + + "Ungefaehr sagt das der Pfarrer auch + Nur mit ein bischen andern Worten." + +Rightly or wrongly, this was the impression which, all those years ago, +the study of M. Comte's works left on my mind, combined with the +conviction, which I shall always be thankful to him for awakening in me, +that the organization of society upon a new and purely scientific basis +is not only practicable, but is the only political object much worth +fighting for. + +As I have said, that part of M. Comte's writings which deals with the +philosophy of physical science appeared to me to possess singularly +little value, and to show that he had but the most superficial, and +merely second-hand, knowledge of most branches of what is usually +understood by science. I do not mean by this merely to say that Comte +was behind our present knowledge, or that he was unacquainted with the +details of the science of his own day. No one could justly make such +defects cause of complaint in a philosophical writer of the past +generation. What struck me was his want of apprehension of the great +features of science; his strange mistakes as to the merits of his +scientific contemporaries; and his ludicrously erroneous notions about +the part which some of the scientific doctrines current in his time were +destined to play in the future. With these impressions in my mind, no +one will be surprised if I acknowledge that, for these sixteen years, it +has been a periodical source of irritation to me to find M. Comte put +forward as a representative of scientific thought; and to observe that +writers whose philosophy had its legitimate parent in Hume, or in +themselves, were labelled "Comtists" or "Positivists" by public writers, +even in spite of vehement protests to the contrary. It has cost Mr. Mill +hard rubbings to get that label off; and I watch Mr. Spencer, as one +regards a good man struggling with adversity, still engaged in eluding +its adhesiveness, and ready to tear away skin and all, rather than let +it stick. My own turn might come next; and, therefore, when an eminent +prelate the other day gave currency and authority to the popular +confusion, I took an opportunity of incidentally revindicating Hume's +property in the so-called "New Philosophy," and, at the same time, of +repudiating Comtism on my own behalf.[13] + +The few lines devoted to Comtism in my paper on the "Physical Basis of +Life" were, in intention, strictly limited to these two purposes. But +they seem to have given more umbrage than I intended they should, to the +followers of M. Comte in this country, for some of whom, let me observe +in passing, I entertain a most unfeigned respect; and Mr. Congreve's +recent article gives expression to the displeasure which I have excited +among the members of the Comtian body. + +Mr. Congreve, in a peroration which seems especially intended to catch +the attention of his readers, indignantly challenges me to admire M. +Comte's life, "to deny that it has a marked character of grandeur about +it;" and he uses some very strong language because I show no sign of +veneration for his idol. I confess I do not care to occupy myself with +the denigration of a man who, on the whole, deserves to be spoken of +with respect. Therefore, I shall enter into no statement of the reasons +which lead me unhesitatingly to accept Mr. Congreve's challenge, and to +refuse to recognise anything which deserves the name of grandeur of +character in M. Comte, unless it be his arrogance, which is undoubtedly +sublime. All I have to observe is, that if Mr. Congreve is justified in +saying that I speak with a tinge of contempt for his spiritual father, +the reason for such colouring of my language is to be found in the fact, +that, when I wrote, I had but just arisen from the perusal of a work +with which he is doubtless well acquainted, M. Littre's "Auguste Comte +et la Philosophic Positive." + +Though there are tolerably fixed standards of right and wrong, and even +of generosity and meanness, it may be said that the beauty, or grandeur, +of a life is more or less a matter of taste; and Mr. Congreve's notions +of literary excellence are so different from mine that, it may be, we +should diverge as widely in our judgment of moral beauty or ugliness. +Therefore, while retaining my own notions, I do not presume to quarrel +with his. But when Mr. Congreve devotes a great deal of laboriously +guarded insinuation to the endeavour to lead the public to believe that +I have been guilty of the dishonesty of having criticised Comte without +having read him, I must be permitted to remind him that he has neglected +the well-known maxim of a diplomatic sage, "If you want to damage a man, +you should say what is probable, as well as what is true." + +And when Mr. Congreve speaks of my having an advantage over him in my +introduction of "Christianity" into the phrase that "M. Comte's +philosophy, in practice, might be described as Catholicism _minus_ +Christianity;" intending thereby to suggest that I have, by so doing, +desired to profit by an appeal to the _odium theologicum_,--he lays +himself open to a very unpleasant retort. + +What if I were to suggest that Mr. Congreve had not read Comte's works; +and that the phrase "the context shows that the view of the writer +ranges--however superficially--over the whole works. This is obvious +from the mention of Catholicism," demonstrates that Mr. Congreve has no +acquaintance with the "Philosophie Positive"? I think the suggestion +would be very unjust and unmannerly, and I shall not make it. But the +fact remains, that this little epigram of mine, which has so greatly +provoked Mr. Congreve, is neither more nor less than a condensed +paraphrase of the following passage, which is to be found at page 344 of +the fifth volume of the "Philosophie Positive:"[14]-- + + "La seule solution possible de ce grand probleme historique, qui + n'a jamais pu etre philosophiquement pose jusqu'ici, consiste a + concevoir, en sens radicalement inverse des notions habituelles, + _que ce qui devait necessairement perir ainsi, dans le + catholicisme, c'etait la doctrine, et non l'organisation_, qui n'a + ete passagerement ruinee que par suite de son inevitable adherence + elementaire a la philosophie theologique, destinee a succomber + graduellement sous l'irresistible emancipation de la raison + humaine; _tandis qu'une telle constitution, convenablement + reconstruite sur des bases intellectuelles a la fois plus etendues + et plus stables, devra finalement presider a l'indispensable + reorganisation spirituelle des societes modernes, sauf les + differences essentielles spontanement correspondantes a l'extreme + diversite des doctrines fondamentales_; a moins de supposer, ce qui + serait certainement contradictoire a l'ensemble des lois de notre + nature, que les immenses efforts de tant de grands hommes, secondes + par la perseverante sollicitude des nations civilisees, dans la + fondation seculaire de ce chef-d'oeuvre politique de la sagesse + humaine, doivent etre enfin irrevocablement perdus pour l'elite de + l'humanite sauf les resultats, capitaux mais provisoires, qui s'y + rapportaient immediatement. Cette explication generale, deja + evidemment motivee par la suite des considerations propres a ce + chapitre, sera de plus en plus confirmee par tout le reste de + notre operation historique, _dont elle constituera spontanement la + principale conclusion politique."_ + +Nothing can be clearer. Comte's ideal, as stated by himself, is Catholic +organization without Catholic doctrine, or, in other words, Catholicism +_minus_ Christianity. Surely it is utterly unjustifiable to ascribe to +me base motives for stating a man's doctrines, as nearly as may be, in +his own words! + +My readers would hardly be interested were I to follow Mr. Congreve any +further, or I might point out that the fact of his not having heard me +lecture is hardly a safe ground for his speculations as to what I do not +teach. Nor do I feel called upon to give any opinion as to M. Comte's +merits or demerits as regards sociology. Mr. Mill (whose competence to +speak on these matters I suppose will not be questioned, even by Mr. +Congreve) has dealt with M. Comte's philosophy from this point of view, +with a vigour and authority to which I cannot for a moment aspire; and +with a severity, not unfrequently amounting to contempt, which I have +not the wish, if I had the power, to surpass. I, as a mere student in +these questions, am content to abide by Mr. Mill's judgment until some +one shows cause for its reversal, and I decline to enter into a +discussion which I have not provoked. + +The sole obligation which lies upon me is to justify so much as still +remains without justification of what I have written respecting +Positivism--namely, the opinion expressed in the following paragraph:-- + + "In so far as my study of what specially characterises the Positive + Philosophy has led me, I find therein little or nothing of any + scientific value, and a great deal which is as thoroughly + antagonistic to the very essence of science as any thing in + ultramontane Catholicism." + +Here are two propositions: the first, that the "Philosophie Positive" +contains little or nothing of any scientific value; the second, that +Comtism is, in spirit, anti-scientific. I shall endeavour to bring +forward ample evidence in support of both. + +I. No one who possesses even a superficial acquaintance with physical +science can read Comte's "Lecons" without becoming aware that he was at +once singularly devoid of real knowledge on these subjects, and +singularly unlucky. What is to be thought of the contemporary of Young +and of Fresnel, who never misses an opportunity of casting scorn upon +the hypothesis of an ether--the fundamental basis not only of the +undulatory theory of light, but of so much else in modern physics--and +whose contempt for the intellects of some of the strongest men of his +generation was such, that he puts forward the mere existence of night as +a refutation of the undulatory theory?[15] What a wonderful gauge of his +own value as a scientific critic does he afford, by whom we are informed +that phrenology is a great science, and psychology a chimaera; that Gall +was one of the great men of his age, and that Cuvier was "brilliant but +superficial"![16] How unlucky must one consider the bold speculator who, +just before the dawn of modern histology--which is simply the +application of the microscope to anatomy--reproves what he calls "the +abuse of microscopic investigations," and "the exaggerated credit" +attached to them; who, when the morphological uniformity of the tissues +of the great majority of plants and animals was on the eve of being +demonstrated, treated with ridicule those who attempt to refer all +tissues to a "tissu generateur," formed by "le chimerique et +inintelligible assemblage d'une sorte de monades organiques, qui +seraient des lors les vrais elements primordiaux de tout corps +vivant;"[17] and who finally tells us, that all the objections against a +linear arrangement of the species of living beings are in their essence +foolish, and that the order of the animal series is "necessarily +linear,"[18] when the exact contrary is one of the best-established and +the most important truths of zoology. Appeal to mathematicians, +astronomers, physicists,[19] chemists, biologists, about the +"Philosophie Positive," and they all, with one consent, begin to make +protestation that, whatever M. Comte's other merits, he has shed no +light upon the philosophy of their particular studies. + +To be just, however, it must be admitted that even M. Comte's most +ardent disciples are content to be judiciously silent about his +knowledge or appreciation of the sciences themselves, and prefer to base +their master's claims to scientific authority upon his "law of the three +states," and his "classification of the sciences." But here, also, I +must join issue with them as completely as others--notably Mr. Herbert +Spencer--have done before me. A critical examination of what M. Comte +has to say about the "law of the three states" brings out nothing but a +series of more or less contradictory statements of an imperfectly +apprehended truth; and his "classification of the sciences," whether +regarded historically or logically, is, in my judgment, absolutely +worthless. + +Let us consider the law of "the three states" as it is put before us in +the opening of the first Lecon of the "Philosophie Positive:"-- + + "En etudiant ainsi le developpement total de l'intelligence humaine + dans ses diverses spheres d'activite, depuis son premier essor le + plus simple jusqu'a nos jours, je crois avoir decouvert une grande + loi fondamentale, a laquelle il est assujetti par une necessite + invariable, et qui me semble pouvoir etre solidement etablie, soit + sur les preuves rationelles fournies par la connaissance de notre + organisation, soit sur les verifications historiques resultant d'un + examen attentif du passe. Cette loi consiste en ce que chacune de + nos conceptions principales, chaque branche de nos connaissances, + passe successivement par trois etats theoriques differents; l'etat + theologique, ou fictif; l'etat metaphysique, ou abstrait; l'etat + scientifique, ou positif. En d'autres termes, l'esprit humain, par + sa nature, emploie successivement dans chacune de ses recherches + trois methodes de philosopher, dont _le caractere est + essentiellement different et meme radicalement oppose_; d'abord la + methode theologique, ensuite la methode metaphysique, et enfin la + methode positive. De la, trois sortes de philosophie, ou de + systemes generaux de conceptions sur l'ensemble des phenomenes _qui + s'excluent mutuellement_; la premiere est le point de depart + necessaire de l'intelligence humaine; la troisieme, son etat fixe + et definitif; la seconde est uniquement destinee a servir de + transition."[20] + +Nothing can be more precise than these statements, which may be put into +the following propositions:-- + +(a) The human intellect is subjected to the law by an invariable +necessity, which is demonstrable, _a priori_, from the nature and +constitution of the intellect; while, as a matter of historical fact, +the human intellect has been subjected to the law. + +(b) Every branch of human knowledge passes through the three states, +necessarily beginning with the first stage. + +(c) The three states mutually exclude one another, being essentially +different, and even radically opposed. + +Two questions present themselves. Is M. Comte consistent with himself in +making these assertions? And is he consistent with fact? I reply to both +questions in the negative; and, as regards the first, I bring forward as +my witness a remarkable passage which is to be found in the fourth +volume of the "Philosophic Positive" (p. 491), when M. Comte had had +time to think out, a little more fully, the notions crudely stated in +the first volume:-- + + "A proprement parler, la philosophie theologique, meme dans notre + premiere enfance, individuelle ou sociale, n'a jamais pu etre + rigoureusement universelle, c'est-a-dire que, pour les ordres + quelconques de phenomenes, _les faits les plus simples et les plus + communs ont toujours ete regardes comme essentiellement assujettis + a des lois naturelles, au lieu d'etre attribues a l'arbitraire + volonte des agents surnaturels_. L'illustre Adam Smith a, par + example, tres-heureusement remarque dans ses essais philosophiques, + qu'on ne trouvait, en aucun temps ni en aucun pays, un dieu pour la + pesanteur. _Il en est ainsi, en general, meme a l'egard des sujets + les plus compliques, envers tous les phenomenes assez elementaires + et assez familiers pour que la parfaite invariabilite de leurs + relations effectives ait toujours du frapper spontanement + l'observateur le moins prepare_. Dans l'ordre moral et social, + qu'une vaine opposition voudrait aujourd'hui systematiquement + interdire a la philosophie positive, il y a eu necessairement, en + tout temps, la pensee des lois naturelles, relativement aux plus + simples phenomenes de la vie journaliere, comme l'exige evidemment + la conduite generale de notre existence reelle, individuelle ou + sociale, qui n'aurait pu jamais comporter aucune prevoyance + quelconque, si tous les phenomenes humains avaient ete + rigoureusement attribues a des agents surnaturels, puisque des lors + la priere aurait logiquement constitue la seule ressource + imaginable pour influer sur le cours habituel des actions humaines. + _On doit meme remarquer, a ce sujet, que c'est, au contraire, + l'ebauche spontanee des premieres lois naturelles propres aux + actes individuels ou sociaux qui, fictivement transportee a tous + les phenomenes du monde exterieur, a d'abord fourni, d'apres nos + explications precedentes, le vrai principe fondamental de la + philosophie theologique. Ainsi, le germe elementaire de la + philosophie positive est certainement tout aussi primitif au fond + que celui de la philosophie theologique elle-meme, quoi qu'il n'ait + pu se developper que beaucoup plus tard._ Une telle notion importe + extremement a la parfaite rationalite de notre theorie + sociologique, puisque la vie humaine ne pouvant jamais offrir + aucune veritable creation quelconque, mais toujours une simple + evolution graduelle, l'essor final de l'esprit positif deviendrait + scientifiquement incomprehensible, si, des l'origine, on n'en + concevait, a tous egards, les premiers rudiments necessaires. + Depuis cette situation primitive, a mesure que nos observations se + sont spontanement etendues et generalisees, cet essor, d'abord a + peine appreciable, a constamment suivi, sans cesser longtemps + d'etre subalterne, une progression tres-lente, mais continue, la + philosophie theologique restant toujours reservee pour les + phenomenes, de moins en moins nombreux, dont les lois naturelles ne + pouvaient encore etre aucunement connues." + +Compare the propositions implicitly laid down here with those contained +in the earlier volume. (a) As a matter of fact, the human intellect +has _not_ been invariably subjected to the law of the three states, and +therefore the necessity of the law _cannot_ be demonstrable _a priori_. +(b) Much of our knowledge of all kinds has _not_ passed through the +three states, and more particularly, as M. Comte is careful to point +out, not through the first, (c) The positive state has more or less +co-existed with the theological, from the dawn of human intelligence. +And, by way of completing the series of contradictions, the assertion +that the three states are "essentially different and even radically +opposed," is met a little lower on the same page by the declaration that +"the metaphysical state is, at bottom, nothing but a simple general +modification of the first;" while, in the fortieth Lecon, as also in the +interesting early essay entitled "Considerations philosophiques sur les +Sciences et les Savants (1825)," the three states are practically +reduced to two. "Le veritable esprit general de toute philosophie +theologique ou metaphysique consiste a prendre pour principe, dans +l'explication des phenomenes du monde exterieur, notre sentiment +immediat des phenomenes humains; tandis que au contraire, la philosophie +positive est toujours caracterisee, non moins profondement, par la +subordination necessaire et rationnelle de la conception de l'homme a +celle du monde."[21] + +I leave M. Cointe's disciples to settle which of these contradictory +statements expresses their master's real meaning. All I beg leave to +remark is, that men of science are not in the habit of paying much +attention to "laws" stated in this fashion. + +The second statement is undoubtedly far more rational and consistent +with fact than the first; but I cannot think it is a just or adequate +account of the growth of intelligence, either in the individual man, or +in the human species. Any one who will carefully watch the development +of the intellect of a child will perceive that, from the first, its mind +is mirroring nature in two different ways. On the one hand, it is merely +drinking in sensations and building up associations, while it forms +conceptions of things and their relations which are more thoroughly +"positive," or devoid of entanglement with hypotheses of any kind, than +they will ever be in after-life. No child has recourse to imaginary +personifications in order to account for the ordinary properties of +objects which are not alive, or do not represent living things. It does +not imagine that the taste of sugar is brought about by a god of +sweetness, or that a spirit of jumping causes a ball to bound. Such +phaenomena, which form the basis of a very large part of its ideas, are +taken as matters of course--as ultimate facts which suggest no +difficulty and need no explanation. So far as all these common, though +important, phaenomena are concerned, the child's mind is in what M. Comte +would call the "positive" state. + +But, side by side with this mental condition, there rises another. The +child becomes aware of itself as a source of action and a subject of +passion and of thought. The acts which follow upon its own desires are +among the most interesting and prominent of surrounding occurrences; and +these acts, again, plainly arise either out of affections caused by +surrounding things, or of other changes in itself. Among these +surrounding things, the most interesting and important are mother and +father, brethren and nurses. The hypothesis that these wonderful +creatures are of like nature to itself is speedily forced upon the +child's mind; and this primitive piece of anthropomorphism turns out to +be a highly successful speculation, which finds its justification at +every turn. No wonder, then, that it is extended to other similarly +interesting objects which are not too unlike these--to the dog, the cat, +and the canary, the doll, the toy, and the picture-book--that these are +endowed with wills and affections, and with capacities for being "good" +and "naughty." But surely it would be a mere perversion of language to +call this a "theological" state of mind, either in the proper sense of +the word "theological," or as contrasted with "scientific" or +"positive." The child does not worship either father or mother, dog or +doll. On the contrary, nothing is more curious than the absolute +irreverence, if I may so say, of a kindly-treated young child; its +tendency to believe in itself as the centre of the universe, and its +disposition to exercise despotic tyranny over those who could crush it +with a finger. + +Still less is there anything unscientific, or anti-scientific, in this +infantile anthropomorphism. The child observes that many phaenomena are +the consequences of affections of itself; it soon has excellent reasons +for the belief that many other phaenomena are consequences of the +affections of other beings, more or less like itself. And having thus +good evidence for believing that many of the most interesting +occurrences about it are explicable on the hypothesis that they are the +work of intelligences like itself--having discovered a _vera causa_ for +many phaenomena--why should the child limit the application of so +fruitful an hypothesis? The dog has a sort of intelligence, so has the +cat; why should not the doll and the picture-book also have a share, +proportioned to their likeness to intelligent things? + +The only limit which does arise is exactly that which, as a matter of +science, should arise; that is to say, the anthropomorphic +interpretation is applied only to those phaenomena which, in their +general nature, or their apparent capriciousness, resemble those which +the child observes to be caused by itself, or by beings like itself. All +the rest are regarded as things which explain themselves, or are +inexplicable. + +It is only at a later stage of intellectual development that the +intelligence of man awakes to the apparent conflict between the +anthropomorphic, and what I may call the physical,[22] aspect of +nature, and either endeavours to extend the anthropomorphic view over +the whole of nature--which is the tendency of theology; or to give the +same exclusive predominance to the physical view--which is the tendency +of science; or adopts a middle course, and taking from the +anthropomorphic view its tendency to personify, and from the physical +view its tendency to exclude volition and affection, ends in what M. +Comte calls the "metaphysical" state--"metaphysical," in M. Comte's +writings, being a general term of abuse for anything he does not like. + +What is true of the individual is, _mutatis mutandis_, true of the +intellectual development of the species. It is absurd to say of men in a +state of primitive savagery, that all their conceptions are in a +theological state. Nine-tenths of them are eminently realistic, and as +"positive" as ignorance and narrowness can make them. It no more occurs +to a savage than it does to a child, to ask the why of the daily and +ordinary occurrences which form the greater part of his mental life. But +in regard to the more striking, or out-of-the-way, events, which force +him to speculate, he is highly anthropomorphic; and, as compared with a +child, his anthropomorphism is complicated by the intense impression +which the death of his own kind makes upon him, as indeed it well may. +The warrior, full of ferocious energy, perhaps the despotic chief of +his tribe, is suddenly struck down. A child may insult the man a moment +before so awful; a fly rests, undisturbed, on the lips from which +undisputed command issued. And yet the bodily aspect of the man seems +hardly more altered than when he slept, and, sleeping, seemed to himself +to leave his body and wander through dreamland. What then if that +something, which is the essence of the man, has really been made to +wander by the violence done to it, and is unable, or has forgotten, to +come back to its shell? Will it not retain somewhat of the powers it +possessed during life? May it not help us if it be pleased, or (as seems +to be by far the more general impression) hurt us if it be angered? Will +it not be well to do towards it those things which would have soothed +the man and put him in good humour during his life? It is impossible to +study trustworthy accounts of savage thought without seeing, that some +such train of ideas as this, lies at the bottom of their speculative +beliefs. + +There are savages without God, in any proper sense of the word, but none +without ghosts. And the Fetishism, Ancestor-worship, Hero-worship, and +Demonology of primitive savages, are all, I believe, different manners +of expression of their belief in ghosts, and of the anthropomorphic +interpretation of out-of-the-way events, which is its concomitant. +Witchcraft and sorcery are the practical expressions of these beliefs; +and they stand in the same relation to religious worship as the simple +anthropomorphism of children, or savages, does to theology. + +In the progress of the species from savagery to advanced civilization, +anthropomorphism grows into theology, while physicism (if I may so call +it) develops into science; but the development of the two is +contemporaneous, not successive. For each, there long exists an assured +province which is not invaded by the other; while, between the two, lies +a debateable land, ruled by a sort of bastards, who owe their complexion +to physicism and their substance to anthropomorphism, and are M. Comte's +particular aversions--metaphysical entities. + +But, as the ages lengthen, the borders of Physicism increase. The +territories of the bastards are all annexed to science; and even +Theology, in her purer forms, has ceased to be anthropomorphic, however +she may talk. Anthropomorphism has taken stand in its last fortress--man +himself. But science closely invests the walls; and Philosophers gird +themselves for battle upon the last and greatest of all speculative +problems--Does human nature possess any free, volitional, or truly +anthropomorphic element, or is it only the cunningest of all Nature's +clocks? Some, among whom I count myself, think that the battle will for +ever remain a drawn one, and that, for all practical purposes, this +result is as good as anthropomorphism winning the day. + +The classification of the sciences, which, in the eyes of M. Comte's +adherents, constitutes his second great claim to the dignity of a +scientific philosopher, appears to me to be open to just the same +objections as the law of the three states. It is inconsistent in itself, +and it is inconsistent with fact. Let us consider the main points of +this classification successively:-- + + "Il faut distinguer par rapport a tous les ordres des phenomenes, + deux genres de sciences naturelles; les unes abstraites, + generales, ont pour objet la decouverte des lois qui regissent les + diverses classes de phenomenes, en considerant tous les cas qu'on + peut concevoir; les autres concretes, particulieres, descriptives, + et qu'on designe quelquefois sous le nom des sciences naturelles + proprement dites, consistent dans l'application de ces lois a + l'histoire effective des differents etres existants."[23] + +The "abstract" sciences are subsequently said to be mathematics, +astronomy, physics, chemistry, physiology, and social physics--the +titles of the two latter being subsequently changed to biology and +sociology. M. Comte exemplifies the distinction between his abstract and +his concrete sciences as follows:-- + + "On pourra d'abord l'apercevoir tres-nettement en comparant, d'une + part, la physiologie generale, et d'une autre part la zoologie et + la botanique proprement dites. Ce sont evidemment, en effet, deux + travaux d'un caractere fort distinct, que d'etudier, en general, + les lois de la vie, ou de determiner le mode d'existence de chaque + corps vivant, en particulier. _Cette seconde etude, en outre, est + necessairememt fondee sur la premiere._"--P. 57. + +All the unreality and mere bookishness of M. Comte's knowledge of +physical science comes out in the passage I have italicised. "The +special study of living beings is based upon a general study of the laws +of life!" What little I know about the matter leads me to think, that, +if M. Comte had possessed the slightest practical acquaintance with +biological science, he would have turned his phraseology upside down, +and have perceived that we can have no knowledge of the general laws of +life, except that which is based upon the study of particular living +beings. + +The illustration is surely unluckily chosen; but the language in which +these so-called abstract sciences are defined seems to me to be still +more open to criticism. With what propriety can astronomy, or physics, +or chemistry, or biology, be said to occupy themselves with the +consideration of "all conceivable cases" which fall within their +respective provinces? Does the astronomer occupy himself with any other +system of the universe than that which is visible to him? Does he +speculate upon the possible movements of bodies which may attract one +another in the inverse proportion of the cube of their distances, say? +Does biology, whether "abstract" or "concrete," occupy itself with any +other form of life than those which exist, or have existed? And, if the +abstract sciences embrace all conceivable cases of the operation of the +laws with which they are concerned, would not they, necessarily, embrace +the subjects of the concrete sciences, which, inasmuch as they exist, +must needs be conceivable? In fact, no such distinction as that which M. +Comte draws is tenable. The first stage of his classification breaks by +its own weight. + +But granting M. Comte his six abstract sciences, he proceeds to arrange +them according to what he calls their natural order or hierarchy, their +places in this hierarchy being determined by the degree of generality +and simplicity of the conceptions with which they deal. Mathematics +occupies the first, astronomy the second, physics the third, chemistry +the fourth, biology the fifth, and sociology the sixth and last place in +the series. M. Comte's arguments in favour of this classification are +first-- + + "Sa conformite essentielle avec la co-ordination, en quelque sorte + spontanee, qui se trouve en effet implicitement admise par les + savants livres a l'etude des diverse branches de la philosophie + naturelle." + +But I absolutely deny the existence of this conformity. If there is one +thing clear about the progress of modern science, it is the tendency to +reduce all scientific problems, except those which are purely +mathematical, to questions of molecular physics--that is to, say, to the +attractions, repulsions, motions, and co-ordination of the ultimate +particles of matter. Social phaenomena are the result of the interaction +of the components of society, or men, with one another and the +surrounding universe. But, in the language of physical science, which, +by the nature of the case, is materialistic, the actions of men, so far +as they are recognisable by science, are the results of molecular +changes in the matter of which they are composed; and, in the long run, +these must come into the hands of the physicist. _A fortiori_, the +phaenomena of biology and of chemistry are, in their ultimate analysis, +questions of molecular physics. Indeed, the fact is acknowledged by all +chemists and biologists who look beyond their immediate occupations. And +it is to be observed, that the phaenomena of biology are as directly and +immediately connected with molecular physics as are those of chemistry. +Molar physics, chemistry, and biology are not three successive steps in +the ladder of knowledge, as M. Comte would have us believe, but three +branches springing from the common stem of molecular physics. + +As to astronomy, I am at a loss to understand how any one who will give +a moment's attention to the nature of the science can fail to see that +it consists of two parts: first, of a description of the phaenomena, +which is as much entitled as descriptive zoology, or botany, is, to the +name of natural history; and, secondly, of an explanation of the +phaenomena, furnished by the laws of a force--gravitation--the study of +which is as much a part of physics, as is that of heat, or electricity. +It would be just as reasonable to make the study of the heat of the sun +a science preliminary to the rest of thermotics, as to place the study +of the attraction of the bodies, which compose the universe in general, +before that of the particular terrestrial bodies, which alone we can +experimentally know. Astronomy, in fact, owes its perfection to the +circumstance that it is the only branch of natural history, the +phaenomena of which are largely expressible by mathematical conceptions, +and which can be, to a great extent, explained by the application of +very simple physical laws. + +With regard to mathematics, it is to be observed, in the first place, +that M. Comte mixes up under that head the pure relations of space and +of quantity, which are properly included under the name, with rational +mechanics and statics, which are mathematical developments of the most +general conceptions of physics, namely, the notions of force and of +motion. Relegating these to their proper place in physics, we have left +pure mathematics, which can stand neither at the head, nor at the tail, +of any hierarchy of the sciences, since, like logic, it is equally +related to all; though the enormous practical difficulty of applying +mathematics to the more complex phaenomena of nature removes them, for +the present, out of its sphere. + +On this subject of mathematics, again, M. Comte indulges in assertions +which can only be accounted for by his total ignorance of physical +science practically. As for example:-- + + "C'est donc par l'etude des mathematiques, _et seulement par elle_, + que l'on peut se faire une idee juste et approfondie de ce que + c'est qu'une _science_. C'est la _uniquement_ qu'on doit chercher a + connaitre avec precision _la methode generale que l'esprit humain + emploie constamment dans toutes ses recherches positives_, parce + que nulle part ailleurs les questions ne sont resolues d'une + maniere aussi complete et les deductions prolongees aussi loin avec + une severite rigoureuse. C'est la egalement que notre entendement a + donne les plus grandes preuves de sa force, parce que les idees + qu'il y considere sont du plus haut degre d'abstraction possible + dans l'ordre positif. _Toute education scientifique qui ne commence + point par une telle etude peche donc necessairement par sa + base._"[24] + +That is to say, the only study which can confer "a just and +comprehensive idea of what is meant by science," and, at the same time, +furnish an exact conception of the general method of scientific +investigation, is that which knows nothing of observation, nothing of +experiment, nothing of induction, nothing of causation! And education, +the whole secret of which consists in proceeding from the easy to the +difficult, the concrete to the abstract, ought to be turned the other +way, and pass from the abstract to the concrete. + +M. Comte puts a second argument in favour of his hierarchy of the +sciences thus:-- + + "Un second caractere tres-essentiel de notre classification, c'est + d'etre necessairement conforme a l'ordre effectif du developpement + de la philosophie naturelle. C'est ce que verifie tout ce qu'on + sait de l'histoire des sciences."[25] + +But Mr. Spencer has so thoroughly and completely demonstrated the +absence of any correspondence between the historical development of the +sciences, and their position in the Comtean hierarchy, in his essay on +the "Genesis of Science," that I shall not waste time in repeating his +refutation. + +A third proposition in support of the Comtean classification of the +sciences stands as follows:-- + + "En troisieme lieu cette classification presente la propriete + tres-remarquable de marquer exactement la perfection relative des + differentes sciences, laquelle consiste essentiellement dans le + degre de precision des connaissances et dans leur co-ordination + plus ou moins intime."[26] + +I am quite unable to understand the distinction which M. Comte +endeavours to draw in this passage in spite of his amplifications +further on. Every science must consist of precise knowledge, and that +knowledge must be co-ordinated into general proportions, or it is not +science. When M. Comte, in exemplification of the statement I have +cited, says that "les phenomenes organiques ne comportent qu'une etude a +la fois moins exacte et moins systematique que les phenomenes des corps +bruts," I am at a loss to comprehend what he means. If I affirm that +"when a motor nerve is irritated, the muscle connected with it becomes +simultaneously shorter and thicker, without changing its volume," it +appears to me that the statement is as precise or exact (and not merely +as true) as that of the physicist who should say, that "when a piece of +iron is heated, it becomes simultaneously longer and thicker and +increases in volume;" nor can I discover any difference, in point of +precision, between the statement of the morphological law that "animals +which suckle their young have two occipital condyles," and the +enunciation of the physical law that "water subjected to electrolysis +is replaced by an equal weight of the gases, oxygen and hydrogen." As +for anatomical or physiological investigation being less "systematic" +than that of the physicist or chemist, the assertion is simply +unaccountable. The methods of physical science are everywhere the same +in principle, and the physiological investigator who was not +"systematic" would, on the whole, break down rather sooner than the +inquirer into simpler subjects. + +Thus M. Comte's classification of the sciences, under all its aspects, +appears to me to be a complete failure. It is impossible, in an article +which is already too long, to inquire how it may be replaced by a +better; and it is the less necessary to do so, as a second edition of +Mr. Spencer's remarkable essay on this subject has just been published. +After wading through pages of the long-winded confusion and second-hand +information of the "Philosophic Positive," at the risk of a _crise +cerebrale_--it is as good as a shower-bath to turn to the +"Classification of the Sciences," and refresh oneself with Mr. Spencer's +profound thought, precise knowledge, and clear language. + +II. The second proposition to which I have committed myself, in the +paper to which I have been obliged to refer so often, is, that the +"Positive Philosophy" contains "a great deal which is as thoroughly +antagonistic to the very essence of science as is anything in +ultramontane Catholicism." + +What I refer to in these words, is, on the one hand, the dogmatism and +narrowness which so often mark M. Comte's discussion of doctrines which +he does not like, and reduce his expressions of opinion to mere +passionate puerilities; as, for example, when he is arguing against the +assumption of an ether, or when he is talking (I cannot call it arguing) +against psychology, or political economy. On the other hand, I allude to +the spirit of meddling systematization and regulation which animates +even the "Philosophic Positive," and breaks out, in the latter volumes +of that work, into no uncertain foreshadowing of the anti-scientific +monstrosities of Comte's later writings. + +Those who try to draw a line of demarcation between the spirit of the +"Philosophic Positive," and that of the "Politique" and its successors, +(if I may express an opinion from fragmentary knowledge of these last,) +must have overlooked, or forgotten, what Comte himself labours to show, +and indeed succeeds in proving, in the "Appendice General" of the +"Politique Positive." "Des mon debut," he writes, "je tentai de fonder +le nouveau pouvoir spirituel que j'institue aujourd'hui." "Ma politique, +loin d'etre aucunement opposee a ma philosophie, en constitue tellement +la suite naturelle que celle-ci fut directement instituee pour servir de +base a celle-la, comme le prouve cet appendice."[27] + +This is quite true. In the remarkable essay entitled "Considerations sur +le Pouvoir spirituel," published in March 1826, Comte advocates the +establishment of a "modern spiritual power," which, he anticipates, may +exercise an even greater influence over temporal affairs, than did the +Catholic clergy, at the height of their vigour and independence, in the +twelfth century. This spiritual power is, in fact, to govern opinion, +and to have the supreme control over education, in each nation of the +West; and the spiritual powers of the several European peoples are to be +associated together and placed under a common direction or "souverainete +spirituelle." + +A system of "Catholicism _minus_ Christianity" was therefore completely +organized in Comte's mind, four years before the first volume of the +"Philosophie Positive" was written; and, naturally, the papal spirit +shows itself in that work, not only in the ways I have already +mentioned, but, notably, in the attack on liberty of conscience which +breaks out in the fourth volume:-- + + "Il n'y a point de liberte de conscience en astronomie, en + physique, en chimie, en physiologie meme, en ce sens que chacun + trouverait absurde de ne pas croire de confiance aux principes + etablis dans les sciences par les hommes competents." + +"Nothing in ultramontane Catholicism" can, in my judgment, be more +completely sacerdotal, more entirely anti-scientific, than this dictum. +All the great steps in the advancement of science have been made by just +those men who have not hesitated to doubt the "principles established in +the sciences by competent persons;" and the great teaching of +science--the great use of it as an instrument of mental discipline--is +its constant inculcation of the maxim, that the sole ground on which any +statement has a right to be believed is the impossibility of refuting +it. + +Thus, without travelling beyond the limits of the "Philosophie +Positive," we find its author contemplating the establishment of a +system of society, in which an organized spiritual power shall over-ride +and direct the temporal power, as completely as the Innocents and +Gregorys tried to govern Europe in the middle ages; and repudiating the +exercise of liberty of conscience against the "_hommes competents_", of +whom, by the assumption, the new priesthood would be composed. Was Mr. +Congreve as forgetful of this, as he seems to have been of some other +parts of the "Philosophie Positive," when he wrote, that "in any +limited, careful use of the term, no candid man could say that the +Positive Philosophy contained a great deal as thoroughly antagonistic to +[the very essence of[28]] science as Catholicism"? + +M. Comte, it will have been observed, desires to retain the whole of +Catholic organization; and the logical practical result of this part of +his doctrine would be the establishment of something corresponding with +that eminently Catholic, but admittedly anti-scientific, +institution--the Holy Office. + +I hope I have said enough to show that I wrote the few lines I devoted +to M. Comte and his philosophy, neither unguardedly, nor ignorantly, +still less maliciously. I shall be sorry if what I have now added, in my +own justification, should lead any to suppose that I think M. Comte's +works worthless; or that I do not heartily respect, and sympathise with, +those who have been impelled by him to think deeply upon social +problems, and to strive nobly for social regeneration. It is the virtue +of that impulse, I believe, which will save the name and fame of Auguste +Comte from oblivion. As for his philosophy, I part with it by quoting +his own words, reported to me by a quondam Comtist, now an eminent +member of the Institute of France, M. Charles Robin:-- + + "La Philosophie est une tentative incessante de l'esprit humain + pour arriver au repos: mais elle se trouve incessamment aussi + derangee par les progres continus de la science. De la vient pour + le philosophe l'obligation de refaire chaque soir la synthese de + ses conceptions; et un jour viendra ou l'homme raisonnable ne fera + plus d'autre priere du soir." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[13] I am glad to observe that Mr. Congreve, in the criticism with which +he has favoured me in the number of the _Fortnightly Review_ for April +1869, does not venture to challenge the justice of the claim I make for +Hume. He merely suggests that I have been wanting in candour in not +mentioning Comte's high opinion of Hume. After mature reflection I am +unable to discern my fault. If I had suggested that Comte had borrowed +from Hume without acknowledgment; or if, instead of trying to express my +own sense of Hume's merits with the modesty which becomes a writer who +has no authority in matters of philosophy, I had affirmed that no one +had properly appreciated him, Mr. Congreve's remarks would apply: but as +I did neither of these things, they appear to me to be irrelevant, if +not unjustifiable. And even had it occurred to me to quote M. Comte's +expressions about Hume, I do not know that I should have cited them, +inasmuch as, on his own showing, M. Comte occasionally speaks very +decidedly touching writers of whose works he has not read a line. Thus, +in Tome VI. of the "Philosophie Positive," p. 619, M. Comte writes: "Le +plus grand des metaphysiciens modernes, l'illustre Kant, a noblement +merite une eternelle admiration en tentant, le premier, d'echapper +directement a l'absolu philosophique par sa celebre conception de la +double realite, a la fois objective et subjective, qui indique un si +juste sentiment de la saine philosophie." + +But in the "Preface Personnelle" in the same volume, p. 35, M. Comte +tells us:--"Je n'ai jamais lu, en aucune langue, ni Vico, _ni Kant_, ni +Herder, ni Hegel, &c.; je ne connais leurs divers ouvrages que d'apres +quelques relations indirectes et certains extraits fort insuffisants." + +Who knows but that the "&c." may include Hume? And in that case what is +the value of M. Comte's praise of him? + +[14] Now and always I quote the second edition, by Littre. + +[15] "Philosophie Positive," ii. p. 440. + +[16] "Le brillant mais superficiel Cuvier."--_Philosophie Positive_, vi. +p. 383. + +[17] "Philosophie Positive," iii. p. 369. + +[18] Ibid. p. 387. + +[19] Hear the late Dr. Whewell, who calls Comte "a shallow pretender," +so far as all the modern sciences, except astronomy, are concerned; and +tells us that "his pretensions to discoveries are, as Sir John Herschel +has shown, absurdly fallacious."--"Comte and Positivism," _Macmillan's +Magazine_, March 1866. + +[20] "Philosophie Positive," i. pp. 8, 9. + +[21] "Philosophie Positive," iii. p. 188. + +[22] The word "positive" is in every way objectionable. In one sense it +suggests that mental quality which was undoubtedly largely developed in +M. Comte, but can best be dispensed with in a philosopher; in another, +it is unfortunate in its application to a system which starts with +enormous negations; in its third, and specially philosophical sense, as +implying a system of thought which assumes nothing beyond the content of +observed facts, it implies that which never did exist, and never will. + +[23] "Philosophie Positive," i. p. 56. + +[24] "Philosophie Positive," i. p. 99. + +[25] Ibid., i. p. 77. + +[26] "Philosophie Positive," i. p. 78. + +[27] Loc. cit., Preface Speciale, pp. i. ii. + +[28] Mr. Congreve leaves out these important words, which show that I +refer to the spirit, and not to the details of science. + + + + +IX. + +ON A PIECE OF CHALK. + +A LECTURE TO WORKING MEN. + + +If a well were to be sunk at our feet in the midst of the city of +Norwich, the diggers would very soon find themselves at work in that +white substance almost too soft to be called rock, with which we are all +familiar as "chalk." + +Not only here, but over the whole county of Norfolk, the well-sinker +might carry his shaft down many hundred feet without coming to the end +of the chalk; and, on the sea-coast, where the waves have pared away the +face of the land which breasts them, the scarped faces of the high +cliffs are often wholly formed of the same material. Northward, the +chalk may be followed as far as Yorkshire; on the south coast it appears +abruptly in the picturesque western bays of Dorset, and breaks into the +Needles of the Isle of Wight; while on the shores of Kent it supplies +that long line of white cliffs to which England owes her name of Albion. + +Were the thin soil which covers it all washed away, a curved band of +white chalk, here broader, and there narrower, might be followed +diagonally across England from Lulworth in Dorset, to Flamborough Head +in Yorkshire--a distance of over 280 miles as the crow flies. + +From this band to the North Sea, on the east, and the Channel, on the +south, the chalk is largely hidden by other deposits; but, except in the +Weald of Kent and Sussex, it enters into the very foundation of all the +south-eastern counties. + +Attaining, as it does in some places, a thickness of more than a +thousand feet, the English chalk must be admitted to be a mass of +considerable magnitude. Nevertheless, it covers but an insignificant +portion of the whole area occupied by the chalk formation of the globe, +which has precisely the same general characters as ours, and is found in +detached patches, some less, and others more extensive, than the +English. + +Chalk occurs in north-west Ireland; it stretches over a large part of +France,--the chalk which underlies Paris being, in fact, a continuation +of that of the London basin; it runs through Denmark and Central Europe, +and extends southward to North Africa; while, eastward, it appears in +the Crimea and in Syria, and may be traced as far as the shores of the +Sea of Aral, in Central Asia. + +If all the points at which true chalk occurs were circumscribed, they +would lie within an irregular oval about 3,000 miles in long +diameter--the area of which would be as great as that of Europe, and +would many times exceed that of the largest existing inland sea--the +Mediterranean. + +Thus the chalk is no unimportant element in the masonry of the earth's +crust, and it impresses a peculiar stamp, varying with the conditions +to which it is exposed, on the scenery of the districts in which it +occurs. The undulating downs and rounded coombs, covered with +sweet-grassed turf, of our inland chalk country, have a peacefully +domestic and mutton-suggesting prettiness, but can hardly be called +either grand or beautiful. But, on our southern coasts, the wall-sided +cliffs, many hundred feet high, with vast needles and pinnacles standing +out in the sea, sharp and solitary enough to serve as perches for the +wary cormorant, confer a wonderful beauty and grandeur upon the chalk +headlands. And, in the East, chalk has its share in the formation of +some of the most venerable of mountain ranges, such as the Lebanon. + + +What is this wide-spread component of the surface of the earth? and +whence did it come? + +You may think this no very hopeful inquiry. You may not unnaturally +suppose that the attempt to solve such problems as these can lead to no +result, save that of entangling the inquirer in vague speculations, +incapable of refutation and of verification. + +If such were really the case, I should have selected some other subject +than a "piece of chalk" for my discourse. But, in truth, after much +deliberation, I have been unable to think of any topic which would so +well enable me to lead you to see how solid is the foundation upon which +some of the most startling conclusions of physical science rest. + +A great chapter of the history of the world is written in the chalk. Few +passages in the history of man can be supported by such an overwhelming +mass of direct and indirect evidence as that which testifies to the +truth of the fragment of the history of the globe, which I hope to +enable you to read, with your own eyes, to-night. + +Let me add, that few chapters of human history have a more profound +significance for ourselves. I weigh my words well when I assert, that +the man who should know the true history of the bit of chalk which every +carpenter carries about in his breeches-pocket, though ignorant of all +other history, is likely, if he will think his knowledge out to its +ultimate results, to have a truer, and therefore a better, conception of +this wonderful universe, and of man's relation to it, than the most +learned student who is deep-read in the records of humanity and ignorant +of those of Nature. + +The language of the chalk is not hard to learn, not nearly so hard as +Latin, if you only want to get at the broad features of the story it has +to tell; and I propose that we now set to work to spell that story out +together. + +We all know that if we "burn" chalk the result is quicklime. Chalk, in +fact, is a compound of carbonic acid gas and lime, and when you make it +very hot the carbonic acid flies away and the lime is left. + +By this method of procedure we see the lime, but we do not see the +carbonic acid. If, on the other hand, you were to powder a little chalk, +and drop it into a good deal of strong vinegar, there would be a great +bubbling and fizzing, and, finally, a clear liquid, in which no sign of +chalk would appear. Here you see the carbonic acid in the bubbles; the +lime, dissolved in the vinegar, vanishes from sight. There are a great +many other ways of showing that chalk is essentially nothing but +carbonic acid and quicklime. Chemists enunciate the result of all the +experiments which prove this, by stating that chalk is almost wholly +composed of "carbonate of lime." + +It is desirable for us to start from the knowledge of this fact, though +it may not seem to help us very far towards what we seek. For carbonate +of lime is a widely-spread substance, and is met with under very various +conditions. All sorts of limestones are composed of more or less pure +carbonate of lime. The crust which is often deposited by waters which +have drained through limestone rocks, in the form of what are called +stalagmites and stalactites, is carbonate of lime. Or, to take a more +familiar example, the fur on the inside of a tea-kettle is carbonate of +lime; and, for anything chemistry tells us to the contrary, the chalk +might be a kind of gigantic fur upon the bottom of the earth-kettle, +which is kept pretty hot below. + +Let us try another method of making the chalk tell us its own history. +To the unassisted eye chalk looks simply like a very loose and open kind +of stone. But it is possible to grind a slice of chalk down so thin that +you can see through it--until it is thin enough, in fact, to be examined +with any magnifying power that may be thought desirable. A thin slice of +the fur of a kettle might be made in the same way. If it were examined +microscopically, it would show itself to be a more or less distinctly +laminated mineral substance, and nothing more. + +But the slice of chalk presents a totally different appearance when +placed under the microscope. The general mass of it is made up of very +minute granules; but imbedded in this matrix, are innumerable bodies, +some smaller and some larger, but, on a rough average, not more than a +hundredth of an inch in diameter, having a well-defined shape and +structure. A cubic inch of some specimens of chalk may contain hundreds +of thousands of these bodies, compacted together with incalculable +millions of the granules. + +The examination of a transparent slice gives a good notion of the manner +in which the components of the chalk are arranged, and of their relative +proportions. But, by rubbing up some chalk with a brush in water and +then pouring off the milky fluid, so as to obtain sediments of different +degrees of fineness, the granules and the minute rounded bodies may be +pretty well separated from one another, and submitted to microscopic +examination, either as opaque or as transparent objects. By combining +the views obtained in these various methods, each of the rounded bodies +may be proved to be a beautifully-constructed calcareous fabric, made up +of a number of chambers, communicating freely with one another. The +chambered bodies are of various forms. One of the commonest is something +like a badly-grown raspberry, being formed of a number of nearly +globular chambers of different sizes congregated together. It is called +_Globigerina_, and some specimens of chalk consist of little else than +_Globigerinae_ and granules. + +Let us fix our attention upon the _Globigerina_. It is the spoor of the +game we are tracking. If we can learn what it is and what are the +conditions of its existence, we shall see our way to the origin and past +history of the chalk. + +A suggestion which may naturally enough present itself is, that these +curious bodies are the result of some process of aggregation which has +taken place in the carbonate of lime; that, just as in winter, the rime +on our windows simulates the most delicate and elegantly arborescent +foliage--proving that the mere mineral water may, under certain +conditions, assume the outward form of organic bodies--so this mineral +substance, carbonate of lime, hidden away in the bowels of the earth, +has taken the shape of these chambered bodies. I am not raising a merely +fanciful and unreal objection. Very learned men, in former days, have +even entertained the notion that all the formed things found in rocks +are of this nature; and if no such conception is at present held to be +admissible, it is because long and varied experience has now shown that +mineral matter never does assume the form and structure we find in +fossils. If any one were to try to persuade you that an oyster-shell +(which is also chiefly composed of carbonate of lime) had crystallized +out of sea-water, I suppose you would laugh at the absurdity. Your +laughter would be justified by the fact that all experience tends to +show that oyster-shells are formed by the agency of oysters, and in no +other way. And if there were no better reasons, we should be justified, +on like grounds, in believing that _Globigerina_ is not the product of +anything but vital activity. + +Happily, however, better evidence in proof of the organic nature of the +_Globigerinae_ than that of analogy is forthcoming. It so happens that +calcareous skeletons, exactly similar to the _Globigerinae_ of the chalk, +are being formed, at the present moment, by minute living creatures, +which flourish in multitudes, literally more numerous than the sands of +the sea-shore, over a large extent of that part of the earth's surface +which is covered by the ocean. + +The history of the discovery of these living _Globigerinae_, and of the +part which they play in rock-building, is singular enough. It is a +discovery which, like others of no less scientific importance, has +arisen, incidentally, out of work devoted to very different and +exceedingly practical interests. + +When men first took to the sea, they speedily learned to look out for +shoals and rocks; and the more the burthen of their ships increased, the +more imperatively necessary it became for sailors to ascertain with +precision the depth of the waters they traversed. Out of this necessity +grew the use of the lead and sounding-line; and, ultimately, +marine-surveying, which is the recording of the form of coasts and of +the depth of the sea, as ascertained by the sounding-lead, upon charts. + +At the same time, it became desirable to ascertain and to indicate the +nature of the sea-bottom, since this circumstance greatly affects its +goodness as holding ground for anchors. Some ingenious tar, whose name +deserves a better fate than the oblivion into which it has fallen, +attained this object by "arming" the bottom of the lead with a lump of +grease, to which more or less of the sand or mud, or broken shells, as +the case might be, adhered, and was brought to the surface. But, however +well adapted such an apparatus might be for rough nautical purposes, +scientific accuracy could not be expected from the armed lead, and to +remedy its defects (especially when applied to sounding in great depths) +Lieut. Brooke, of the American Navy, some years ago invented a most +ingenious machine, by which a considerable portion of the superficial +layer of the sea-bottom can be scooped out and brought up, from any +depth to which the lead descends. + +In 1853, Lieut. Brooke obtained mud from the bottom of the North +Atlantic, between Newfoundland and the Azores, at a depth of more than +10,000 feet, or two miles, by the help of this sounding apparatus. The +specimens were sent for examination to Ehrenberg of Berlin, and to +Bailey of West Point, and those able microscopists found that this +deep-sea mud was almost entirely composed of the skeletons of living +organisms--the greater proportion of these being just like the +_Globigerinae_ already known to occur in the chalk. + +Thus far, the work had been carried on simply in the interests of +science, but Lieut. Brooke's method of sounding acquired a high +commercial value, when the enterprise of laying down the telegraph-cable +between this country and the United States was undertaken. For it became +a matter of immense importance to know, not only the depth of the sea +over the whole line along which the cable was to be laid, but the exact +nature of the bottom, so as to guard against chances of cutting or +fraying the strands of that costly rope. The Admiralty consequently +ordered Captain Dayman, an old friend and shipmate of mine, to ascertain +the depth over the whole line of the cable, and to bring back specimens +of the bottom. In former days, such a command as this might have sounded +very much like one of the impossible things which the young prince in +the Fairy Tales is ordered to do before he can obtain the hand of the +Princess. However, in the months of June and July 1857, my friend +performed the task assigned to him with great expedition and precision, +without, so far as I know, having met with any reward of that kind. The +specimens of Atlantic mud which he procured were sent to me to be +examined and reported upon.[29] + +The result of all these operations is, that we know the contours and the +nature of the surface-soil covered by the North Atlantic, for a distance +of 1,700 miles from east to west, as well as we know that of any part of +the dry land. + +It is a prodigious plain--one of the widest and most even plains in the +world. If the sea were drained off, you might drive a wagon all the way +from Valentia, on the west coast of Ireland, to Trinity Bay, in +Newfoundland. And, except upon one sharp incline about 200 miles from +Valentia, I am not quite sure that it would even be necessary to put the +skid on, so gentle are the ascents and descents upon that long route. +From Valentia the road would lie down hill for about 200 miles to the +point at which the bottom is now covered by 1,700 fathoms of sea-water. +Then would come the central plain, more than a thousand miles wide, the +inequalities of the surface of which would be hardly perceptible, though +the depth of water upon it now varies from 10,000 to 15,000 feet; and +there are places in which Mont Blanc might be sunk without showing its +peak above water. Beyond this, the ascent on the American side +commences, and gradually leads, for about 300 miles, to the Newfoundland +shore. + +Almost the whole of the bottom of this central plain (which extends for +many hundred miles in a north and south direction) is covered by a fine +mud, which, when brought to the surface, dries into a greyish-white +friable substance. You can write with this on a blackboard, if you are +so inclined; and, to the eye, it is quite like very soft, greyish chalk. +Examined chemically, it proves to be composed almost wholly of carbonate +of lime; and if you make a section of it, in the same way as that of the +piece of chalk was made, and view it with the microscope, it presents +innumerable _Globigerinae_, embedded in a granular matrix. + +Thus this deep-sea mud is substantially chalk. I say substantially, +because there are a good many minor differences: but as these have no +bearing on the question immediately before us,--which is the nature of +the _Globigerinae_ of the chalk,--it is unnecessary to speak of them. + +_Globigerinae_ of every size, from the smallest to the largest, are +associated together in the Atlantic mud, and the chambers of many are +filled by a soft animal matter. This soft substance is, in fact, the +remains of the creature to which the _Globigerina_ shell, or rather +skeleton, owes its existence--and which is an animal of the simplest +imaginable description. It is, in fact, a mere particle of living jelly, +without defined parts of any kind--without a mouth, nerves, muscles, or +distinct organs, and only manifesting its vitality to ordinary +observation by thrusting out and retracting from all parts of its +surface, long filamentous processes, which serve for arms and legs. Yet +this amorphous particle, devoid of everything which, in the higher +animals, we call organs, is capable of feeding, growing, and +multiplying; of separating from the ocean the small proportion of +carbonate of lime which is dissolved in sea-water; and of building up +that substance into a skeleton for itself, according to a pattern which +can be imitated by no other known agency. + +The notion that animals can live and flourish in the sea, at the vast +depths from which apparently living _Globigerinae_ have been brought up, +does not agree very well with our usual conceptions respecting the +conditions of animal life; and it is not so absolutely impossible as it +might at first sight appear to be, that the _Globigerinae_ of the +Atlantic sea-bottom do not live and die where they are found. + +As I have mentioned, the soundings from the great Atlantic plain are +almost entirely made up of _Globigerinae_, with the granules which have +been mentioned, and some few other calcareous shells; but a small +percentage of the chalky mud--perhaps at most some five per cent. of +it--is of a different nature, and consists of shells and skeletons +composed of silex, or pure flint. These silicious bodies belong partly +to the lowly vegetable organisms which are called _Diatomaceae_, and +partly to the minute, and extremely simple, animals, termed +_Radiolaria_. It is quite certain that these creatures do not live at +the bottom of the ocean, but at its surface--where they may be obtained +in prodigious numbers by the use of a properly constructed net. Hence +it follows that these silicious organisms, though they are not heavier +than the lightest dust, must have fallen, in some cases, through fifteen +thousand feet of water, before they reached their final resting-place on +the ocean floor. And, considering how large a surface these bodies +expose in proportion to their weight, it is probable that they occupy a +great length of time in making their burial journey from the surface of +the Atlantic to the bottom. + +But if the _Radiolaria_ and Diatoms are thus rained upon the bottom of +the sea, from the superficial layer of its waters in which they pass +their lives, it is obviously possible that the _Globigerinae_ may be +similarly derived; and if they were so, it would be much more easy to +understand how they obtain their supply of food than it is at present. +Nevertheless, the positive and negative evidence all points the other +way. The skeletons of the full-grown, deep-sea _Globigerinae_ are so +remarkably solid and heavy in proportion to their surface as to seem +little fitted for floating; and, as a matter of fact, they are not to be +found along with the Diatoms and _Radiolaria_, in the uppermost stratum +of the open ocean. + +It has been observed, again, that the abundance of _Globigerinae_, in +proportion to other organisms of like kind, increases with the depth of +the sea; and that deep-water _Globigerinae_ are larger than those which +live in shallower parts of the sea; and such facts negative the +supposition that these organisms have been swept by currents from the +shallows into the deeps of the Atlantic. + +It therefore seems to be hardly doubtful that these wonderful creatures +live and die at the depths in which they are found.[30] + +However, the important points for us are, that the living _Globigerinae_ +are exclusively marine animals, the skeletons of which abound at the +bottom of deep seas; and that there is not a shadow of reason for +believing that the habits of the _Globigerinae_ of the chalk differed +from those of the existing species. But if this be true, there is no +escaping the conclusion that the chalk itself is the dried mud of an +ancient deep sea. + +In working over the soundings collected by Captain Dayman, I was +surprised to find that many of what I have called the "granules" of that +mud, were not, as one might have been tempted to think at first, the +mere powder and waste of _Globigerinae_, but that they had a definite +form and size, I termed these bodies "_coccoliths_," and doubted their +organic nature. Dr. Wallich verified my observation, and added the +interesting discovery that, not unfrequently, bodies similar to these +"coccoliths" were aggregated together into spheroids, which he termed +"_coccospheres_." So far as we knew, these bodies, the nature of which +is extremely puzzling and problematical, were peculiar to the Atlantic +soundings. + +But, a few years ago, Mr. Sorby, in making a careful examination of the +chalk by means of thin sections and otherwise, observed, as Ehrenberg +had done before him, that much of its granular basis possesses a +definite form. Comparing these formed particles with those in the +Atlantic soundings, he found the two to be identical; and thus proved +that the chalk, like the soundings, contains these mysterious coccoliths +and coccospheres. Here was a further and a most interesting +confirmation, from internal evidence, of the essential identity of the +chalk with modern deep-sea mud. _Globigerinae_, coccoliths, and +coccospheres are found as the chief constituents of both, and testify to +the general similarity of the conditions under which both have been +formed.[31] + +The evidence furnished by the hewing, facing, and superposition of the +stones of the Pyramids, that these structures were built by men, has no +greater weight than the evidence that the chalk was built by +_Globigerinae_; and the belief that those ancient pyramid-builders were +terrestrial and air-breathing creatures like ourselves, is not better +based than the conviction that the chalk-makers lived in the sea. + +But as our belief in the building of the Pyramids by men is not only +grounded on the internal evidence afforded by these structures, but +gathers strength from multitudinous collateral proofs, and is clinched +by the total absence of any reason for a contrary belief; so the +evidence drawn from the _Globigerinae_ that the chalk is an ancient +sea-bottom, is fortified by innumerable independent lines of evidence; +and our belief in the truth of the conclusion to which all positive +testimony tends, receives the like negative justification from the fact +that no other hypothesis has a shadow of foundation. + +It may be worth while briefly to consider a few of these collateral +proofs that the chalk was deposited at the bottom of the sea. + +The great mass of the chalk is composed, as we have seen, of the +skeletons of _Globigerinae_, and other simple organisms, imbedded in +granular matter. Here and there, however, this hardened mud of the +ancient sea reveals the remains of higher animals which have lived and +died, and left their hard parts in the mud, just as the oysters die and +leave their shells behind them, in the mud of the present seas. + +There are, at the present day, certain groups of animals which are never +found in fresh waters, being unable to live anywhere but in the sea. +Such are the corals; those corallines which are called _Polyzoa_; those +creatures which fabricate the lamp-shells, and are called _Brachiopoda_; +the pearly _Nautilus_, and all animals allied to it; and all the forms +of sea-urchins and star-fishes. + +Not only are all these creatures confined to salt water at the present +day; but, so far as our records of the past go, the conditions of their +existence have been the same: hence, their occurrence in any deposit is +as strong evidence as can be obtained, that that deposit was formed in +the sea. Now the remains of animals of all the kinds which have been +enumerated, occur in the chalk, in greater or less abundance; while not +one of those forms of shell-fish which are characteristic of fresh water +has yet been observed in it. + +When we consider that the remains of more than three thousand distinct +species of aquatic animals have been discovered among the fossils of the +chalk, that the great majority of them are of such forms as are now met +with only in the sea, and that there is no reason to believe that any +one of them inhabited fresh water--the collateral evidence that the +chalk represents an ancient sea-bottom acquires as great force as the +proof derived from the nature of the chalk itself. I think you will now +allow that I did not overstate my case when I asserted that we have as +strong grounds for believing that all the vast area of dry land, at +present occupied by the chalk, was once at the bottom of the sea, as we +have for any matter of history whatever; while there is no justification +for any other belief. + +No less certain is it that the time during which the countries we now +call south-east England, France, Germany, Poland, Russia, Egypt, Arabia, +Syria, were more or less completely covered by a deep sea, was of +considerable duration. + +We have already seen that the chalk is, in places, more than a thousand +feet thick. I think you will agree with me, that it must have taken some +time for the skeletons of animalcules of a hundredth of an inch in +diameter to heap up such a mass as that. I have said that throughout the +thickness of the chalk the remains of other animals are scattered. These +remains are often in the most exquisite state of preservation. The +valves of the shell-fishes are commonly adherent; the long spines of +some of the sea-urchins, which would be detached by the smallest jar, +often remain in their places. In a word, it is certain that these +animals have lived and died when the place which they now occupy was +the surface of as much of the chalk as had then been deposited; and that +each has been covered up by the layer of _Globigerinae_ mud, upon which +the creatures imbedded a little higher up have, in like manner, lived +and died. But some of these remains prove the existence of reptiles of +vast size in the chalk sea. These lived their time, and had their +ancestors and descendants, which assuredly implies time, reptiles being +of slow growth. + +There is more curious evidence, again, that the process of covering up, +or, in other words, the deposit of _Globigerinae_ skeletons, did not go +on very fast. It is demonstrable that an animal of the cretaceous sea +might die, that its skeleton might lie uncovered upon the sea-bottom +long enough to lose all its outward coverings and appendages by +putrefaction; and that, after this had happened, another animal might +attach itself to the dead and naked skeleton, might grow to maturity, +and might itself die before the calcareous mud had buried the whole. + +Cases of this kind are admirably described by Sir Charles Lyell. He +speaks of the frequency with which geologists find in the chalk a +fossilized sea-urchin, to which is attached the lower valve of a +_Crania_. This is a kind of shell-fish, with a shell composed of two +pieces, of which, as in the oyster, one is fixed and the other free. + +"The upper valve is almost invariably wanting, though occasionally found +in a perfect state of preservation in the white chalk at some distance. +In this case, we see clearly that the sea-urchin first lived from youth +to age, then died and lost its spines, which were carried away. Then +the young _Crania_ adhered to the bared shell, grew and perished in its +turn; after which, the upper valve was separated from the lower, before +the Echinus became enveloped in chalky mud."[32] + +A specimen in the Museum of Practical Geology, in London, still further +prolongs the period which must have elapsed between the death of the +sea-urchin, and its burial by the _Globigerinae_. For the outward face of +the valve of a _Crania_, which is attached to a sea-urchin +(_Micraster_), is itself overrun by an incrusting coralline, which +spreads thence over more or less of the surface of the sea-urchin. It +follows that, after the upper valve of the _Crania_ fell off, the +surface of the attached valve must have remained exposed long enough to +allow of the growth of the whole coralline, since corallines do not live +imbedded in mud. + +The progress of knowledge may, one day, enable us to deduce from such +facts as these the maximum rate at which the chalk can have accumulated, +and thus to arrive at the minimum duration of the chalk period. Suppose +that the valve of the _Crania_ upon which a coralline has fixed itself +in the way just described, is so attached to the sea-urchin that no part +of it is more than an inch above the face upon which the sea-urchin +rests. Then, as the coralline could not have fixed itself, if the +_Crania_ had been covered up with chalk mud, and could not have lived +had itself been so covered, it follows, that an inch of chalk mud could +not have accumulated within the time between the death and decay of the +soft parts of the sea-urchin and the growth of the coralline to the full +size which it has attained. If the decay of the soft parts of the +sea-urchin; the attachment, growth to maturity, and decay of the +_Crania_; and the subsequent attachment and growth of the coralline, +took a year (which is a low estimate enough), the accumulation of the +inch of chalk must have taken more than a year: and the deposit of a +thousand feet of chalk must, consequently, have taken more than twelve +thousand years. + +The foundation of all this calculation is, of course, a knowledge of the +length of time the _Crania_ and the coralline needed to attain their +full size; and, on this head, precise knowledge is at present wanting. +But there are circumstances which tend to show, that nothing like an +inch of chalk has accumulated during the life of a _Crania_; and, on any +probable estimate of the length of that life, the chalk period must have +had a much longer duration than that thus roughly assigned to it. + + +Thus, not only is it certain that the chalk is the mud of an ancient +sea-bottom; but it is no less certain, that the chalk sea existed during +an extremely long period, though we may not be prepared to give a +precise estimate of the length of that period in years. The relative +duration is clear, though the absolute duration may not be definable. +The attempt to affix any precise date to the period at which the chalk +sea began, or ended, its existence, is baffled by difficulties of the +same kind. But the relative age of the cretaceous epoch may be +determined with as great ease and certainty as the long duration of that +epoch. + +You will have heard of the interesting discoveries recently made, in +various parts of Western Europe, of flint implements, obviously worked +into shape by human hands, under circumstances which show conclusively +that man is a very ancient denizen of these regions. + +It has been proved that the old populations of Europe, whose existence +has been revealed to us in this way, consisted of savages, such as the +Esquimaux are now; that, in the country which is now France, they hunted +the reindeer, and were familiar with the ways of the mammoth and the +bison. The physical geography of France was in those days different from +what it is now--the river Somme, for instance, having cut its bed a +hundred feet deeper between that time and this; and, it is probable, +that the climate was more like that of Canada or Siberia, than that of +Western Europe. + +The existence of these people is forgotten even in the traditions of the +oldest historical nations. The name and fame of them had utterly +vanished until a few years back; and the amount of physical change which +has been effected since their day, renders it more than probable that, +venerable as are some of the historical nations, the workers of the +chipped flints of Hoxne or of Amiens are to them, as they are to us, in +point of antiquity. + +But, if we assign to these hoar relics of long vanished generations of +men the greatest age that can possibly be claimed for them, they are not +older than the drift, or boulder clay, which, in comparison with the +chalk, is but a very juvenile deposit. You need go no further than your +own sea-board for evidence of this fact. At one of the most charming +spots on the coast of Norfolk, Cromer, you will see the boulder clay +forming a vast mass, which lies upon the chalk, and must consequently +have come into existence after it. Huge boulders of chalk are, in fact, +included in the clay, and have evidently been brought to the position +they now occupy, by the same agency as that which has planted blocks of +syenite from Norway side by side with them. + +The chalk, then, is certainly older than the boulder clay. If you ask +how much, I will again take you no further than the same spot upon your +own coasts for evidence. I have spoken of the boulder clay and drift as +resting upon the chalk. That is not strictly true. Interposed between +the chalk and the drift is a comparatively insignificant layer, +containing vegetable matter. But that layer tells a wonderful history. +It is full of stumps of trees standing as they grew. Fir-trees are there +with their cones, and hazel-bushes with their nuts; there stand the +stools of oak and yew trees, beeches and alders. Hence this stratum is +appropriately called the "forest-bed." + +It is obvious that the chalk must have been upheaved and converted into +dry land, before the timber trees could grow upon it. As the bolls of +some of these trees are from two to three feet in diameter, it is no +less clear that the dry land thus formed remained in the same condition +for long ages. And not only do the remains of stately oaks and +well-grown firs testify to the duration of this condition of things, but +additional evidence to the same effect is afforded by the abundant +remains of elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, and other great wild +beasts, which it has yielded to the zealous search of such men as the +Rev. Mr. Gunn. + +When you look at such a collection as he has formed, and bethink you +that these elephantine bones did veritably carry their owners about, +and these great grinders crunch, in the dark woods of which the +forest-bed is now the only trace, it is impossible not to feel that they +are as good evidence of the lapse of time as the annual rings of the +tree-stumps. + +Thus there is a writing upon the wall of cliffs at Cromer, and whoso +runs may read it. It tells us, with an authority which cannot be +impeached, that the ancient sea-bed of the chalk sea was raised up, and +remained dry land, until it was covered with forest, stocked with the +great game whose spoils have rejoiced your geologists. How long it +remained in that condition cannot be said; but "the whirligig of time +brought its revenges" in those days as in these. That dry land, with the +bones and teeth of generations of long-lived elephants, hidden away +among the gnarled roots and dry leaves of its ancient trees, sank +gradually to the bottom of the icy sea, which covered it with huge +masses of drift and boulder clay. Sea-beasts, such as the walrus, now +restricted to the extreme north, paddled about where birds had twittered +among the topmost twigs of the fir-trees. How long this state of things +endured we know not, but at length it came to an end. The upheaved +glacial mud hardened into the soil of modern Norfolk. Forests grew once +more, the wolf and the beaver replaced the reindeer and the elephant; +and at length what we call the history of England dawned. + +Thus you have, within the limits of your own county, proof that the +chalk can justly claim a very much greater antiquity than even the +oldest physical traces of mankind. But we may go further and +demonstrate, by evidence of the same authority as that which testifies +to the existence of the father of men, that the chalk is vastly older +than Adam himself. + +The Book of Genesis informs us that Adam, immediately upon his creation, +and before the appearance of Eve, was placed in the Garden of Eden. The +problem of the geographical position of Eden has greatly vexed the +spirits of the learned in such matters, but there is one point +respecting which, so far as I know, no commentator has ever raised a +doubt. This is, that of the four rivers which are said to run out of it, +Euphrates and Hiddekel are identical with the rivers now known by the +names of Euphrates and Tigris. + +But the whole country in which these mighty rivers take their origin, +and through which they run, is composed of rocks which are either of the +same age as the chalk, or of later date. So that the chalk must not only +have been formed, but, after its formation, the time required for the +deposit of these later rocks, and for their upheaval into dry land, must +have elapsed, before the smallest brook which feeds the swift stream of +"the great river, the river of Babylon," began to flow. + + +Thus, evidence which cannot be rebutted, and which need not be +strengthened, though if time permitted I might indefinitely increase its +quantity, compels you to believe that the earth, from the time of the +chalk to the present day, has been the theatre of a series of changes as +vast in their amount, as they were slow in their progress. The area on +which we stand has been first sea and then land, for at least four +alternations; and has remained in each of these conditions for a period +of great length. + +Nor have these wonderful metamorphoses of sea into land, and of land +into sea, been confined to one corner of England. During the chalk +period, or "cretaceous epoch," not one of the present great physical +features of the globe was in existence. Our great mountain ranges, +Pyrenees, Alps, Himalayas, Andes, have all been upheaved since the chalk +was deposited, and the cretaceous sea flowed over the sites of Sinai and +Ararat. + +All this is certain, because rocks of cretaceous, or still later, date +have shared in the elevatory movements which gave rise to these mountain +chains; and may be found perched up, in some cases, many thousand feet +high upon their flanks. And evidence of equal cogency demonstrates that, +though, in Norfolk, the forest-bed rests directly upon the chalk, yet it +does so, not because the period at which the forest grew immediately +followed that at which the chalk was formed, but because an immense +lapse of time, represented elsewhere by thousands of feet of rock, is +not indicated at Cromer. + +I must ask you to believe that there is no less conclusive proof that a +still more prolonged succession of similar changes occurred, before the +chalk was deposited. Nor have we any reason to think that the first term +in the series of these changes is known. The oldest sea-beds preserved +to us are sands, and mud, and pebbles, the wear and tear of rocks which +were formed in still older oceans. + +But, great as is the magnitude of these physical changes of the world, +they have been accompanied by a no less striking series of modifications +in its living inhabitants. + +All the great classes of animals, beasts of the field, fowls of the +air, creeping things, and things which dwell in the waters, flourished +upon the globe long ages before the chalk was deposited. Very few, +however, if any, of these ancient forms of animal life were identical +with those which now live. Certainly not one of the higher animals was +of the same species as any of those now in existence. The beasts of the +field, in the days before the chalk, were not our beasts of the field, +nor the fowls of the air such as those which the eye of men has seen +flying, unless his antiquity dates infinitely further back than we at +present surmise. If we could be carried back into those times, we should +be as one suddenly set down in Australia before it was colonized. We +should see mammals, birds, reptiles, fishes, insects, snails, and the +like, clearly recognisable as such, and yet not one of them would be +just the same as those with which we are familiar, and many would be +extremely different. + +From that time to the present, the population of the world has undergone +slow and gradual, but incessant, changes. There has been no grand +catastrophe--no destroyer has swept away the forms of life of one +period, and replaced them by a totally new creation; but one species has +vanished and another has taken its place; creatures of one type of +structure have diminished, those of another have increased, as time has +passed on. And thus, while the differences between the living creatures +of the time before the chalk and those of the present day appear +startling, if placed side by side, we are led from one to the other by +the most gradual progress, if we follow the course of Nature through +the whole series of those relics of her operations which she has left +behind. + +And it is by the population of the chalk sea that the ancient and the +modern inhabitants of the world are most completely connected. The +groups which are dying out flourish, side by side, with the groups which +are now the dominant forms of life. + +Thus the chalk contains remains of those strange flying and swimming +reptiles, the pterodactyl, the ichthyosaurus, and the plesiosaurus, +which are found in no later deposits, but abounded in preceding ages. +The chambered shells called ammonites and belemnites, which are so +characteristic of the period preceding the cretaceous, in like manner +die with it. + +But, amongst these fading remainders of a previous state of things, are +some very modern forms of life, looking like Yankee pedlars among a +tribe of Red Indians. Crocodiles of modern type appear; bony fishes, +many of them very similar to existing species, almost supplant the forms +of fish which predominate in more ancient seas; and many kinds of living +shell-fish first become known to us in the chalk. The vegetation +acquires a modern aspect. A few living animals are not even +distinguishable as species, from those which existed at that remote +epoch. The _Globigerina_ of the present day, for example, is not +different specifically from that of the chalk; and the same may be said +of many other _Foraminifera_. I think it probable that critical and +unprejudiced examination will show that more than one species of much +higher animals have had a similar longevity; but the only example which +I can at present give confidently is the snake's-head lamp-shell +(_Terebratulina caput serpentis_), which lives in our English seas and +abounded (as _Terebratulina striata_ of authors) in the chalk. + +The longest line of human ancestry must hide its diminished head before +the pedigree of this insignificant shell-fish. We Englishmen are proud +to have an ancestor who was present at the Battle of Hastings. The +ancestors of _Terebratulina caput serpentis_ may have been present at a +battle of _Ichthyosauria_ in that part of the sea which, when the chalk +was forming, flowed over the site of Hastings. While all around has +changed, this _Terebratulina_ has peacefully propagated its species from +generation to generation, and stands to this day, as a living testimony +to the continuity of the present with the past history of the globe. + + +Up to this moment I have stated, so far as I know, nothing but +well-authenticated facts, and the immediate conclusions which they force +upon the mind. + +But the mind is so constituted that it does not willingly rest in facts +and immediate causes, but seeks always after a knowledge of the remoter +links in the chain of causation. + +Taking the many changes of any given spot of the earth's surface, from +sea to land and from land to sea, as an established fact, we cannot +refrain from asking ourselves how these changes have occurred. And when +we have explained them--as they must be explained--by the alternate slow +movements of elevation and depression which have affected the crust of +the earth, we go still further back, and ask, Why these movements? + +I am not certain that any one can give you a satisfactory answer to +that question. Assuredly I cannot. All that can be said, for certain, +is, that such movements are part of the ordinary course of nature, +inasmuch as they are going on at the present time. Direct proof may be +given, that some parts of the land of the northern hemisphere are at +this moment insensibly rising and others insensibly sinking; and there +is indirect, but perfectly satisfactory, proof, that an enormous area +now covered by the Pacific has been deepened thousands of feet, since +the present inhabitants of that sea came into existence. + +Thus there is not a shadow of a reason for believing that the physical +changes of the globe, in past times, have been effected by other than +natural causes. + +Is there any more reason for believing that the concomitant +modifications in the forms of the living inhabitants of the globe have +been brought about in other ways? + +Before attempting to answer this question, let us try to form a distinct +mental picture of what has happened in some special case. + +The crocodiles are animals which, as a group, have a very vast +antiquity. They abounded ages before the chalk was deposited; they +throng the rivers in warm climates, at the present day. There is a +difference in the form of the joints of the back-bone, and in some minor +particulars, between the crocodiles of the present epoch and those which +lived before the chalk; but, in the cretaceous epoch, as I have already +mentioned, the crocodiles had assumed the modern type of structure. +Notwithstanding this, the crocodiles of the chalk are not identically +the same as those which lived in the times called "older tertiary," +which succeeded the cretaceous epoch; and the crocodiles of the older +tertiaries are not identical with those of the newer tertiaries, nor are +these identical with existing forms. I leave open the question whether +particular species may have lived on from epoch to epoch. But each epoch +has had its peculiar crocodiles; though all, since the chalk, have +belonged to the modern type, and differ simply in their proportions, and +in such structural particulars as are discernible only to trained eyes. + +How is the existence of this long succession of different species of +crocodiles to be accounted for? + +Only two suppositions seem to be open to us--Either each species of +crocodile has been specially created, or it has arisen out of some +pre-existing form by the operation of natural causes. + +Choose your hypothesis; I have chosen mine. I can find no warranty for +believing in the distinct creation of a score of successive species of +crocodiles in the course of countless ages of time. Science gives no +countenance to such a wild fancy; nor can even the perverse ingenuity of +a commentator pretend to discover this sense, in the simple words in +which the writer of Genesis records the proceedings of the fifth and +sixth days of the Creation. + +On the other hand, I see no good reason for doubting the necessary +alternative, that all these varied species have been evolved from +pre-existing crocodilian forms, by the operation of causes as completely +a part of the common order of nature, as those which have effected the +changes of the inorganic world. + +Few will venture to affirm that the reasoning which applies to +crocodiles loses its force among other animals, or among plants. If one +series of species has come into existence by the operation of natural +causes, it seems folly to deny that all may have arisen in the same way. + + +A small beginning has led us to a great ending. If I were to put the bit +of chalk with which we started into the hot but obscure flame of burning +hydrogen, it would presently shine like the sun. It seems to me that +this physical metamorphosis is no false image of what has been the +result of our subjecting it to a jet of fervent, though nowise +brilliant, thought to-night. It has become luminous, and its clear rays, +penetrating the abyss of the remote past, have brought within our ken +some stages of the evolution of the earth. And in the shifting "without +haste, but without rest" of the land and sea, as in the endless +variation of the forms assumed by living beings, we have observed +nothing but the natural product of the forces originally possessed by +the substance of the universe. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[29] See Appendix to Captain Dayman's "Deep Sea Soundings in the North +Atlantic Ocean, between Ireland and Newfoundland, made in H.M.S. +_Cyclops_. Published by order of the Lords Commissioners of the +Admiralty, 1858." They have since formed the subject of an elaborate +Memoir by Messrs. Parker and Jones, published in the _Philosophical +Transactions_ for 1865. + +[30] During the cruise of H.M.S. _Bull-dog_, commanded by Sir Leopold +M'Clintock, in 1860, living star-fish were brought up, clinging to the +lowest part of the sounding-line, from a depth of 1,260 fathoms, midway +between Cape Farewell, in Greenland, and the Rockall banks. Dr. Wallich +ascertained that the sea-bottom at this point consisted of the ordinary +_Globigerina_ ooze, and that the stomachs of the star-fishes were full +of _Globigerinae_. This discovery removes all objections to the existence +of living _Globigerinae_ at great depths, which are based upon the +supposed difficulty of maintaining animal life under such conditions; +and it throws the burden of proof upon those who object to the +supposition that the _Globigerinae_ live and die where they are found. + +[31] I have recently traced out the development of the "coccoliths" from +a diameter of 1/7000th of an inch up to their largest size (which is +about 1/1600th), and no longer doubt that they are produced by +independent organisms, which, like the _Globigerinae_, live and die at +the bottom of the sea. + +[32] "Elements of Geology," by Sir Charles Lyell, Bart. F.R.S., p. 23. + + + + +X. + +GEOLOGICAL CONTEMPORANEITY AND PERSISTENT TYPES OF LIFE. + + +Merchants occasionally go through a wholesome, though troublesome and +not always satisfactory, process which they term "taking stock." After +all the excitement of speculation, the pleasure of gain, and the pain of +loss, the trader makes up his mind to face facts and to learn the exact +quantity and quality of his solid and reliable possessions. + +The man of science does well sometimes to imitate this procedure; and, +forgetting for the time the importance of his own small winnings, to +re-examine the common stock in trade, so that he may make sure how far +the stock of bullion in the cellar--on the faith of whose existence so +much paper has been circulating--is really the solid gold of truth. + +The Anniversary Meeting of the Geological Society seems to be an +occasion well suited for an undertaking of this kind--for an inquiry, in +fact, into the nature and value of the present results of +palaeontological investigation; and the more so, as all those who have +paid close attention to the late multitudinous discussions in which +palaeontology is implicated, must have felt the urgent necessity of some +such scrutiny. + + +First in order, as the most definite and unquestionable of all the +results of palaeontology, must be mentioned the immense extension and +impulse given to botany, zoology, and comparative anatomy, by the +investigation of fossil remains. Indeed, the mass of biological facts +has been so greatly increased, and the range of biological speculation +has been so vastly widened, by the researches of the geologist and +palaeontologist, that it is to be feared there are naturalists in +existence who look upon geology as Brindley regarded rivers. "Rivers," +said the great engineer, "were made to feed canals;" and geology, some +seem to think, was solely created to advance comparative anatomy. + +Were such a thought justifiable, it could hardly expect to be received +with favour by this assembly. But it is not justifiable. Your favourite +science has her own great aims independent of all others; and if, +notwithstanding her steady devotion to her own progress, she can scatter +such rich alms among her sisters, it should be remembered that her +charity is of the sort that does not impoverish, but "blesseth him that +gives and him that takes." + +Regard the matter as we will, however, the facts remain. Nearly 40,000 +species of animals and plants have been added to the Systema Naturae by +palaeontological research. This is a living population equivalent to that +of a new continent in mere number; equivalent to that of a new +hemisphere, if we take into account the small population of insects as +yet found fossil, and the large proportion and peculiar organization of +many of the Vertebrata. + +But, beyond this, it is perhaps not too much to say that, except for the +necessity of interpreting palaeontological facts, the laws of +distribution would have received less careful study; while few +comparative anatomists (and those not of the first order) would have +been induced by mere love of detail, as such, to study the minutiae of +osteology, were it not that in such minutiae lie the only keys to the +most interesting riddles offered by the extinct animal world. + +These assuredly are great and solid gains. Surely it is matter for no +small congratulation that in half a century (for palaeontology, though it +dawned earlier, came into full day only with Cuvier) a subordinate +branch of biology should have doubled the value and the interest of the +whole group of sciences to which it belongs. + +But this is not all. Allied with geology, palaeontology has established +two laws of inestimable importance: the first, that one and the same +area of the earth's surface has been successively occupied by very +different kinds of living beings; the second, that the order of +succession established in one locality holds good, approximately, in +all. + +The first of these laws is universal and irreversible; the second is an +induction from a vast number of observations, though it may possibly, +and even probably, have to admit of exceptions. As a consequence of the +second law, it follows that a peculiar relation frequently subsists +between series of strata, containing organic remains, in different +localities. The series resemble one another, not only in virtue of a +general resemblance of the organic remains in the two, but also in +virtue of a resemblance in the order and character of the serial +succession in each. There is a resemblance of arrangement; so that the +separate terms of each series, as well as the whole series, exhibit a +correspondence. + +Succession implies time; the lower members of a series of sedimentary +rocks are certainly older than the upper; and when the notion of age was +once introduced as the equivalent of succession, it was no wonder that +correspondence in succession came to be looked upon as correspondence in +age, or "contemporaneity." And, indeed, so long as relative age only is +spoken of, correspondence in succession _is_ correspondence in age; it +is _relative_ contemporaneity. + + +But it would have been very much better for geology if so loose and +ambiguous a word as "contemporaneous" had been excluded from her +terminology, and if, in its stead, some term expressing similarity of +serial relation, and excluding the notion of time altogether, had been +employed to denote correspondence in position in two or more series of +strata. + +In anatomy, where such correspondence of position has constantly to be +spoken of, it is denoted by the word "homology" and its derivatives; and +for Geology (which after all is only the anatomy and physiology of the +earth) it might be well to invent some single word, such as "homotaxis" +(similarity of order), in order to express an essentially similar idea. +This, however, has not been done, and most probably the inquiry will at +once be made--To what end burden science with a new and strange term in +place of one old, familiar, and part of our common language? + +The reply to this question will become obvious as the inquiry into the +results of palaeontology is pushed further. + +Those whose business it is to acquaint themselves specially with the +works of palaeontologists, in fact, will be fully aware that very few, if +any, would rest satisfied with such a statement of the conclusions of +their branch of biology as that which has just been given. + +Our standard repertories of palaeontology profess to teach us far higher +things--to disclose the entire succession of living forms upon the +surface of the globe; to tell us of a wholly different distribution of +climatic conditions in ancient times; to reveal the character of the +first of all living existences; and to trace out the law of progress +from them to us. + +It may not be unprofitable to bestow on these professions a somewhat +more critical examination than they have hitherto received, in order to +ascertain how far they rest on an irrefragable basis; or whether, after +all, it might not be well for palaeontologists to learn a little more +carefully that scientific "ars artium," the art of saying "I don't +know." And to this end let us define somewhat more exactly the extent of +these pretensions of palaeontology. + +Every one is aware that Professor Bronn's "Untersuchungen" and Professor +Pictet's "Traite de Paleontologie" are works of standard authority, +familiarly consulted by every working palaeontologist. It is desirable to +speak of these excellent books, and of their distinguished authors, +with the utmost respect, and in a tone as far as possible removed from +carping criticism; indeed, if they are specially cited in this place, it +is merely in justification of the assertion that the following +propositions, which may be found implicitly, or explicitly, in the works +in question, are regarded by the mass of palaeontologists and geologists, +not only on the Continent but in this country, as expressing some of the +best-established results of palaeontology. Thus:-- + +Animals and plants began their existence together, not long after the +commencement of the deposition of the sedimentary rocks; and then +succeeded one another, in such a manner, that totally distinct faunas +and florae occupied the whole surface of the earth, one after the other, +and during distinct epochs of time. + +A geological formation is the sum of all the strata deposited over the +whole surface of the earth during one of these epochs: a geological +fauna or flora is the sum of all the species of animals or plants which +occupied the whole surface of the globe, during one of these epochs. + +The population of the earth's surface was at first very similar in all +parts, and only from the middle of the Tertiary epoch onwards, began to +show a distinct distribution in zones. + +The constitution of the original population, as well as the numerical +proportions of its members, indicates a warmer and, on the whole, +somewhat tropical climate, which remained tolerably equable throughout +the year. The subsequent distribution of living beings in zones is the +result of a gradual lowering of the general temperature, which first +began to be felt at the poles. + + +It is not now proposed to inquire whether these doctrines are true or +false; but to direct your attention to a much simpler though very +essential preliminary question--What is their logical basis? what are +the fundamental assumptions upon which they all logically depend? and +what is the evidence on which those fundamental propositions demand our +assent? + +These assumptions are two: the first, that the commencement of the +geological record is coeval with the commencement of life on the globe; +the second, that geological contemporaneity is the same thing as +chronological synchrony. Without the first of these assumptions there +would of course be no ground for any statement respecting the +commencement of life; without the second, all the other statements +cited, every one of which implies a knowledge of the state of different +parts of the earth at one and the same time, will be no less devoid of +demonstration. + +The first assumption obviously rests entirely on negative evidence. This +is, of course, the only evidence that ever can be available to prove the +commencement of any series of phaenomena; but, at the same time, it must +be recollected that the value of negative evidence depends entirely on +the amount of positive corroboration it receives. If A.B. wishes to +prove an _alibi_, it is of no use for him to get a thousand witnesses +simply to swear that they did not see him in such and such a place, +unless the witnesses are prepared to prove that they must have seen him +had he been there. But the evidence that animal life commenced with the +Lingula-flags, _e.g._, would seem to be exactly of this unsatisfactory +uncorroborated sort. The Cambrian witnesses simply swear they "haven't +seen anybody their way;" upon which the counsel for the other side +immediately puts in ten or twelve thousand feet of Devonian sandstones +to make oath they never saw a fish or a mollusk, though all the world +knows there were plenty in their time. + +But then it is urged that, though the Devonian rocks in one part of the +world exhibit no fossils, in another they do, while the lower Cambrian +rocks nowhere exhibit fossils, and hence no living being could have +existed in their epoch. + +To this there are two replies: the first, that the observational basis +of the assertion that the lowest rocks are nowhere fossiliferous is an +amazingly small one, seeing how very small an area, in comparison to +that of the whole world, has yet been fully searched; the second, that +the argument is good for nothing unless the unfossiliferous rocks in +question were not only _contemporaneous_ in the geological sense, but +_synchronous_ in the chronological sense. To use the _alibi_ +illustration again. If a man wishes to prove he was in neither of two +places, A and B, on a given day, his witnesses for each place must be +prepared to answer for the whole day. If they can only prove that he was +not at A in the morning, and not at B in the afternoon, the evidence of +his absence from both is _nil_, because he might have been at B in the +morning and at A in the afternoon. + +Thus everything depends upon the validity of the second assumption. And +we must proceed to inquire what is the real meaning of the word +"contemporaneous" as employed by geologists. To this end a concrete +example may be taken. + +The Lias of England and the Lias of Germany, the Cretaceous rocks of +Britain and the Cretaceous rocks of Southern India, are termed by +geologists "contemporaneous" formations; but whenever any thoughtful +geologist is asked whether he means to say that they were deposited +synchronously, he says, "No,--only within the same great epoch." And if, +in pursuing the inquiry, he is asked what may be the approximate value +in time of a "great epoch"--whether it means a hundred years, or a +thousand, or a million, or ten million years--his reply is, "I cannot +tell." + +If the further question be put, whether physical geology is in +possession of any method by which the actual synchrony (or the reverse) +of any two distant deposits can be ascertained, no such method can be +heard of; it being admitted by all the best authorities that neither +similarity of mineral composition, nor of physical character, nor even +direct continuity of stratum, are _absolute_ proofs of the synchronism +of even approximated sedimentary strata: while, for distant deposits, +there seems to be no kind of physical evidence attainable of a nature +competent to decide whether such deposits were formed simultaneously, or +whether they possess any given difference of antiquity. To return to an +example already given. All competent authorities will probably assent to +the proposition that physical geology does not enable us in any way to +reply to this question--Were the British Cretaceous rocks deposited at +the same time as those of India, or are they a million of years younger +or a million of years older? + +Is palaeontology able to succeed where physical geology fails? Standard +writers on palaeontology, as has been seen, assume that she can. They +take it for granted, that deposits containing similar organic remains +are synchronous--at any rate in a broad sense; and yet, those who will +study the eleventh and twelfth chapters of Sir Henry De la Beche's +remarkable "Researches in Theoretical Geology," published now nearly +thirty years ago, and will carry out the arguments there most luminously +stated, to their logical consequences, may very easily convince +themselves that even absolute identity of organic contents is no proof +of the synchrony of deposits, while absolute diversity is no proof of +difference of date. Sir Henry De la Beche goes even further, and adduces +conclusive evidence to show that the different parts of one and the same +stratum, having a similar composition throughout, containing the same +organic remains, and having similar beds above and below it, may yet +differ to any conceivable extent in age. + +Edward Forbes was in the habit of asserting that the similarity of the +organic contents of distant formations was _prima facie_ evidence, not +of their similarity, but of their difference of age; and holding as he +did the doctrine of single specific centres, the conclusion was as +legitimate as any other; for the two districts must have been occupied +by migration from one of the two, or from an intermediate spot, and the +chances against exact coincidence of migration and of imbedding are +infinite. + +In point of fact, however, whether the hypothesis of single or of +multiple specific centres be adopted, similarity of organic contents +cannot possibly afford any proof of the synchrony of the deposits which +contain them; on the contrary, it is demonstrably compatible with the +lapse of the most prodigious intervals of time, and with interposition +of vast changes in the organic and inorganic worlds, between the epochs +in which such deposits were formed. + +On what amount of similarity of their faunae is the doctrine of the +contemporaneity of the European and of the North American Silurians +based? In the last edition of Sir Charles Lyell's "Elementary Geology" +it is stated, on the authority of a former President of this Society, +the late Daniel Sharpe, that between 30 and 40 per cent. of the species +of Silurian Mollusca are common to both sides of the Atlantic. By way of +due allowance for further discovery, let us double the lesser number and +suppose that 60 per cent. of the species are common to the North +American and the British Silurians. Sixty per cent. of species in common +is, then, proof of contemporaneity. + +Now suppose that, a million or two of years hence, when Britain has made +another dip beneath the sea and has come up again, some geologist +applies this doctrine, in comparing the strata laid bare by the upheaval +of the bottom, say, of St. George's Channel with what may then remain of +the Suffolk Crag. Reasoning in the same way, he will at once decide the +Suffolk Crag and the St. George's Channel beds to be contemporaneous; +although we happen to know that a vast period (even in the geological +sense) of time, and physical changes of almost unprecedented extent, +separate the two. + +But if it be a demonstrable fact that strata containing more than 60 or +70 per cent. of species of Mollusca in common, and comparatively close +together, may yet be separated by an amount of geological time +sufficient to allow of some of the greatest physical changes the world +has seen, what becomes of that sort of contemporaneity the sole evidence +of which is a similarity of facies, or the identity of half a dozen +species, or of a good many genera? + +And yet there is no better evidence for the contemporaneity assumed by +all who adopt the hypotheses of universal faunae and florae, of a +universally uniform climate, and of a sensible cooling of the globe +during geological time. + +There seems, then, no escape from the admission that neither physical +geology, nor palaeontology, possesses any method by which the absolute +synchronism of two strata can be demonstrated. All that geology can +prove is local order of succession. It is mathematically certain that, +in any given vertical linear section of an undisturbed series of +sedimentary deposits, the bed which lies lowest is the oldest. In any +other vertical linear section of the same series, of course, +corresponding beds will occur in a similar order; but, however great may +be the probability, no man can say with absolute certainty that the beds +in the two sections were synchronously deposited. For areas of moderate +extent, it is doubtless true that no practical evil is likely to result +from assuming the corresponding beds to be synchronous or strictly +contemporaneous; and there are multitudes of accessory circumstances +which may fully justify the assumption of such synchrony. But the moment +the geologist has to deal with large areas, or with completely separated +deposits, the mischief of confounding that "homotaxis" or "similarity of +arrangement," which _can_ be demonstrated, with "synchrony" or "identity +of date," for which there is not a shadow of proof, under the one common +term of "contemporaneity" becomes incalculable, and proves the constant +source of gratuitous speculations. + +For anything that geology or palaeontology are able to show to the +contrary, a Devonian fauna and flora in the British Islands may have +been contemporaneous with Silurian life in North America, and with a +Carboniferous fauna and flora in Africa. Geographical provinces and +zones may have been as distinctly marked in the Palaeozoic epoch as at +present, and those seemingly sudden appearances of new genera and +species, which we ascribe to new creation, may be simple results of +migration. + +It may be so; it may be otherwise. In the present condition of our +knowledge and of our methods, one verdict--"not proven, and not +proveable"--must be recorded against all the grand hypotheses of the +palaeontologist respecting the general succession of life on the globe. +The order and nature of terrestrial life, as a whole, are open +questions. Geology at present provides us with most valuable +topographical records, but she has not the means of working them up into +a universal history. Is such a universal history, then, to be regarded +as unattainable? Are all the grandest and most interesting problems +which offer themselves to the geological student essentially insoluble? +Is he in the position of a scientific Tantalus--doomed always to thirst +for a knowledge which he cannot obtain? The reverse is to be hoped; nay, +it may not be impossible to indicate the source whence help will come. + +In commencing these remarks, mention was made of the great obligations +under which the naturalist lies to the geologist and palaeontologist. +Assuredly the time will come when these obligations will be repaid +tenfold, and when the maze of the world's past history, through which +the pure geologist and the pure palaeontologist find no guidance, will be +securely threaded by the clue furnished by the naturalist. + +All who are competent to express an opinion on the subject are, at +present, agreed that the manifold varieties of animal and vegetable form +have not either come into existence by chance, nor result from +capricious exertions of creative power; but that they have taken place +in a definite order, the statement of which order is what men of science +term a natural law. Whether such a law is to be regarded as an +expression of the mode of operation of natural forces, or whether it is +simply a statement of the manner in which a supernatural power has +thought fit to act, is a secondary question, so long as the existence of +the law and the possibility of its discovery by the human intellect are +granted. But he must be a half-hearted philosopher who, believing in +that possibility, and having watched the gigantic strides of the +biological sciences during the last twenty years, doubts that science +will sooner or later make this further step, so as to become possessed +of the law of evolution of organic forms--of the unvarying order of that +great chain of causes and effects of which all organic forms, ancient +and modern, are the links. And then, if ever, we shall be able to begin +to discuss, with profit, the questions respecting the commencement of +life, and the nature of the successive populations of the globe, which +so many seem to think are already answered. + + +The preceding arguments make no particular claim to novelty; indeed they +have been floating more or less distinctly before the minds of +geologists for the last thirty years; and if, at the present time, it +has seemed desirable to give them more definite and systematic +expression, it is because palaeontology is every day assuming a greater +importance, and now requires to rest on a basis the firmness of which is +thoroughly well assured. Among its fundamental conceptions, there must +be no confusion between what is certain and what is more or less +probable.[33] But, pending the construction of a surer foundation than +palaeontology now possesses, it may be instructive, assuming for the +nonce the general correctness of the ordinary hypothesis of geological +contemporaneity, to consider whether the deductions which are ordinarily +drawn from the whole body of palaeontological facts are justifiable. + +The evidence on which such conclusions are based is of two kinds, +negative and positive. The value of negative evidence, in connexion with +this inquiry, has been so fully and clearly discussed in an address from +the chair of this Society,[34] which none of us have forgotten, that +nothing need at present be said about it; the more, as the +considerations which have been laid before you have certainly not tended +to increase your estimation of such evidence. It will be preferable to +turn to the positive facts of palaeontology, and to inquire what they +tell us. + +We are all accustomed to speak of the number and the extent of the +changes in the living population of the globe during geological time as +something enormous; and indeed they are so, if we regard only the +negative differences which separate the older rocks from the more +modern, and if we look upon specific and generic changes as great +changes, which from one point of view they truly are. But leaving the +negative differences out of consideration, and looking only at the +positive data furnished by the fossil world from a broader point of +view--from that of the comparative anatomist who has made the study of +the greater modifications of animal form his chief business--a surprise +of another kind dawns upon the mind; and under _this_ aspect the +smallness of the total change becomes as astonishing as was its +greatness under the other. + +There are two hundred known orders of plants; of these not one is +certainly known to exist exclusively in the fossil state. The whole +lapse of geological time has as yet yielded not a single new ordinal +type of vegetable structure.[35] + +The positive change in passing from the recent to the ancient animal +world is greater, but still singularly small. No fossil animal is so +distinct from those now living as to require to be arranged even in a +separate class from those which, contain existing forms. It is only +when we come to the orders, which may be roughly estimated at about a +hundred and thirty, that we meet with fossil animals so distinct from +those now living as to require orders for themselves; and these do not +amount, on the most liberal estimate, to more than about 10 per cent, of +the whole. + +There is no certainly known extinct order of Protozoa; there is but one +among the Clenterata--that of the rugose corals; there is none among +the Mollusca; there are three, the Cystidea, Blastoidea, and +Edrioasterida, among the Echinoderms; and two, the Trilobita and +Eurypterida, among the Crustacea; making altogether five for the great +sub-kingdom of Annulosa. Among Vertebrates there is no ordinally +distinct fossil fish: there is only one extinct order of Amphibia--the +Labyrinthodonts; but there are at least four distinct orders of +Reptilia, viz. the Ichthyosauria, Plesiosauria, Pterosauria, Dinosauria, +and perhaps another or two. There is no known extinct order of Birds, +and no certainly known extinct order of Mammals, the ordinal +distinctness of the "Toxodontia" being doubtful. + +The objection that broad statements of this kind, after all, rest +largely on negative evidence is obvious, but it has less force than may +at first be supposed; for, as might be expected from the circumstances +of the case, we possess more abundant positive evidence regarding Fishes +and marine Mollusks than respecting any other forms of animal life; and +yet these offer us, through the whole range of geological time, no +species ordinarily distinct from those now living; while the far less +numerous class of Echinoderms presents three, and the Crustacea two, +such orders, though none of these come down later than the Palaeozoic +age. Lastly, the Reptilia present the extraordinary and exceptional +phaenomenon of as many extinct as existing orders, if not more; the four +mentioned maintaining their existence from the Lias to the Chalk +inclusive. + +Some years ago one of your Secretaries pointed out another kind of +positive palaeontological evidence tending towards the same +conclusion--afforded by the existence of what he termed "persistent +types" of vegetable and of animal life.[36] He stated, on the authority +of Dr. Hooker, that there are Carboniferous plants which appear to be +generically identical with some now living; that the cone of the Oolitic +_Araucaria_ is hardly distinguishable from that of an existing species; +that a true _Pinus_ appears in the Purbecks and a _Juglans_ in the +Chalk; while, from the Bagshot Sands, a _Banksia_, the wood of which is +not distinguishable from that of species now living in Australia, had +been obtained. + +Turning to the animal kingdom, he affirmed the tabulate corals of the +Silurian rocks to be wonderfully like those which now exist; while even +the families of the Aporosa were all represented in the older Mesozoic +rocks. + +Among the Mollusca similar facts were adduced. Let it be borne in mind +that _Avicula_, _Mytilus_, _Chiton_, _Natica_, _Patella_, _Trochus_, +_Discina_, _Orbicula_, _Lingula_, _Rhynchonella_, and _Nautilus_, all of +which are existing _genera_, are given without a doubt as Silurian in +the last edition of "Siluria;" while the highest forms of the highest +Cephalopods are represented in the Lias by a genus, _Belemnoteuthis_, +which presents the closest relation to the existing _Loligo_. + +The two highest groups of the Annulosa, the Insecta and the Arachnida, +are represented in the Coal, either by existing genera, or by forms +differing from existing genera in quite minor peculiarities. + +Turning to the Vertebrata, the only palaeozoic Elasmobranch Fish of which +we have any complete knowledge is the Devonian and Carboniferous +_Pleuracanthus_, which differs no more from existing Sharks than these +do from one another. + +Again, vast as is the number of undoubtedly Ganoid fossil Fishes, and +great as is their range in time, a large mass of evidence has recently +been adduced to show that almost all those respecting which we possess +sufficient information, are referable to the same sub-ordinal groups as +the existing _Lepidosteus_, _Polypterus_, and Sturgeon; and that a +singular relation obtains between the older and the younger Fishes; the +former, the Devonian Ganoids, being almost all members of the same +sub-order as _Polypterus_, while the Mesozoic Ganoids are almost all +similarly allied to _Lepidosteus_.[37] + +Again, what can be more remarkable than the singular constancy of +structure preserved throughout a vast period of time by the family of +the Pycnodonts and by that of the true Coelacanths: the former +persisting, with but insignificant modifications, from the Carboniferous +to the Tertiary rocks, inclusive; the latter existing, with still less +change, from the Carboniferous rocks to the Chalk, inclusive? + +Among Reptiles, the highest living group, that of the Crocodilia, is +represented, at the early part of the Mesozoic epoch, by species +identical in the essential characters of their organization with those +now living, and differing from the latter only in such matters as the +form of the articular facets of the vertebral centra, in the extent to +which the nasal passages are separated from the cavity of the mouth by +bone, and in the proportions of the limbs. + +And even as regards the Mammalia, the scanty remains of Triassic and +Oolitic species afford no foundation for the supposition that the +organization of the oldest forms differed nearly so much from some of +those which now live as these differ from one another. + +It is needless to multiply these instances; enough has been said to +justify the statement that, in view of the immense diversity of known +animal and vegetable forms, and the enormous lapse of time indicated by +the accumulation of fossiliferous strata, the only circumstance to be +wondered at is, not that the changes of life, as exhibited by positive +evidence, have been so great, but that they have been so small. + + +Be they great or small, however, it is desirable to attempt to estimate +them. Let us, therefore, take each great division of the animal world in +succession, and, whenever an order or a family can be shown to have had +a prolonged existence, let us endeavour to ascertain how far the later +members of the group differ from the earlier ones. If these later +members, in all or in many cases, exhibit a certain amount of +modification, the fact is so far, evidence in favour of a general law of +change; and, in a rough way, the rapidity of that change will be +measured by the demonstrable amount of modification. On the other hand, +it must be recollected that the absence of any modification, while it +may leave the doctrine of the existence of a law of change without +positive support, cannot possibly disprove all forms of that doctrine, +though it may afford a sufficient refutation of many of them. + +The PROTOZOA.--The Protozoa are represented throughout the +whole range of geological series, from the Lower Silurian formation to +the present day. The most ancient forms recently made known by Ehrenberg +are exceedingly like those which now exist: no one has ever pretended +that the difference between any ancient and any modern Foraminifera is +of more than generic value; nor are the oldest Foraminifera either +simpler, more embryonic, or less differentiated, than the existing +forms. + +The CLENTERATA.--The Tabulate Corals have existed from the +Silurian epoch to the present day, but I am not aware that the ancient +_Heliolites_ possesses a single mark of a more embryonic or less +differentiated character, or less high organization, than the existing +_Heliopora_. As for the Aporose Corals, in what respect is the Silurian +_Paloeocydus_ less highly organized or more embryonic than the modern +_Fungia_, or the Liassic Aporosa than the existing members of the same +families? + +The _Mollusca_.--In what sense is the living _Waldheimia_ less +embryonic, or more specialized, than the palaeozoic _Spirifer_; or the +existing _Rhynchonellae_, _Craniae_, _Discinae_, _Lingulae_, than the +Silurian species of the same genera? In what sense can _Loligo_ or +_Spirula_ be said to be more specialized, or less embryonic, than +_Belemnites_; or the modern species of Lamellibranch and Gasteropod +genera, than the Silurian species of the same genera? + +The ANNULOSA.--The Carboniferous Insecta and Arachnida are +neither less specialized, nor more embryonic, than those that now live, +nor are the Liassic Cirripedia and Macrura; while several of the +Brachyura, which appear in the Chalk, belong to existing genera; and +none exhibit either an intermediate, or an embryonic, character. + +The VERTEBRATA.--Among fishes I have referred to the +Coelacanthini (comprising the genera _Coelacanthus_, _Holophagus_, +_Undina_, and _Macropoma_) as affording an example of a persistent type; +and it is most remarkable to note the smallness of the differences +between any of these fishes (affecting at most the proportions of the +body and fins, and the character and sculpture of the scales), +notwithstanding their enormous range in time. In all the essentials of +its very peculiar structure, the _Macropoma_ of the Chalk is identical +with the _Coelacanthus_ of the Coal. Look at the genus _Lepidotus_, +again, persisting without a modification of importance from the Liassic +to the Eocene formations, inclusive. + +Or among the Teleostei--in what respect is the _Beryx_ of the Chalk more +embryonic, or less differentiated, than _Beryx lineatus_ of King +George's Sound? + +Or to turn to the higher Vertebrata--in what sense are the Liassic +Chelonia inferior to those which now exist? How are the Cretaceous +Ichthyosauria, Plesiosauria, or Pterosauria less embryonic, or more +differentiated, species than those of the Lias? + +Or lastly, in what circumstance is the _Phascolotherium_ more embryonic, +or of a more generalized type, than the modern Opossum; or a +_Lophiodon_, or a _Palaeotherium_, than a modern _Tapirus_ or _Hyrax_? + +These examples might be almost indefinitely multiplied, but surely they +are sufficient to prove that the only safe and unquestionable testimony +we can procure--positive evidence--fails to demonstrate any sort of +progressive modification towards a less embryonic, or less generalized, +type in a great many groups of animals of long-continued geological +existence. In these groups there is abundant evidence of variation--none +of what is ordinarily understood as progression; and, if the known +geological record is to be regarded as even any considerable fragment of +the whole, it is inconceivable that any theory of a necessarily +progressive development can stand, for the numerous orders and families +cited afford no trace of such a process. + +But it is a most remarkable fact, that, while the groups which have been +mentioned, and many besides, exhibit no sign of progressive +modification, there are others, coexisting with them, under the same +conditions, in which more or less distinct indications of such a process +seem to be traceable. Among such indications I may remind you of the +predominance of Holostome Gasteropoda in the older rocks as compared +with that of Siphonostome Gasteropoda in the later. A case less open to +the objection of negative evidence, however, is that afforded by the +Tetrabranchiate Cephalopoda, the forms of the shells and of the septal +sutures exhibiting a certain increase of complexity in the newer genera. +Here, however, one is met at once with the occurrence of _Orthoceras_ +and _Baculites_ at the two ends of the series, and of the fact that one +of the simplest genera, _Nautilus_, is that which now exists. + +The Crinoidea, in the abundance of stalked forms in the ancient +formations as compared with their present rarity, seem to present us +with a fair case of modification from a more embryonic towards a less +embryonic condition. But then, on careful consideration of the facts, +the objection arises that the stalk, calyx, and arms of the palaeozoic +Crinoid are exceedingly different from the corresponding organs of a +larval _Comatula_; and it might with perfect justice be argued that +_Actinocrinus_ and _Eucalyptocrinus_, for example, depart to the full as +widely, in one direction, from the stalked embryo of _Comatula_, as +_Comatula_ itself does in the other. + +The Echinidea, again, are frequently quoted as exhibiting a gradual +passage from a more generalized to a more specialized type, seeing that +the elongated, or oval, Spatangoids appear after the spheroidal +Echinoids. But here it might be argued, on the other hand, that the +spheroidal Echinoids, in reality, depart further from the general plan +and from the embryonic form than the elongated Spatangoids do; and that +the peculiar dental apparatus and the pedicellariae of the former are +marks of at least as great differentiation as the petaloid ambulacra and +semitae of the latter. + +Once more, the prevalence of Macrurous before Brachyurous Podophthalmia +is, apparently, a fair piece of evidence in favour of progressive +modification in the same order of Crustacea; and yet the case will not +stand much sifting, seeing that the Macrurous Podophthalmia depart as +far in one direction from the common type of Podophthalmia, or from any +embryonic condition of the Brachyura, as the Brachyura do in the other; +and that the middle terms between Macrura and Brachyura--the +Anomura--are little better represented in the older Mesozoic rocks than +the Brachyura are. + +None of the cases of progressive modification which are cited from among +the Invertebrata appear to me to have a foundation less open to +criticism than these; and if this be so, no careful reasoner would, I +think, be inclined to lay very great stress upon them. Among the +Vertebrata, however, there are a few examples which appear to be far +less open to objection. + +It is, in fact, true of several groups of Vertebrata which have lived +through a considerable range of time, that the endoskeleton (more +particularly the spinal column) of the older genera presents a less +ossified, and, so far, less differentiated, condition than that of the +younger genera. Thus the Devonian Ganoids, though almost all members of +the same sub-order as _Polypterus,_ and presenting numerous important +resemblances to the existing genus, which possesses biconcave vertebrae, +are, for the most part, wholly devoid of ossified vertebral centra. The +Mesozoic Lepidosteidae, again, have, at most, biconcave vertebrae, while +the existing _Lepidosteus_ has Salamandroid, opisthocoelous, vertebrae. +So, none of the Palaeozoic Sharks have shown themselves to be possessed +of ossified vertebrae, while the majority of modern Sharks possess such +vertebrae. Again, the more ancient Crocodilia and Lacertilia have +vertebrae with the articular facets of their centra flattened or +biconcave, while the modern members of the same group have them +procoelous. But the most remarkable examples of progressive +modification of the vertebral column, in correspondence with geological +age, are those afforded by the Pycnodonts among fish, and the +Labyrinthodonts among Amphibia. + +The late able ichthyologist Heckel pointed out the fact, that, while the +Pycnodonts never possess true vertebral centra, they differ in the +degree of expansion and extension of the ends of the bony arches of the +vertebrae upon the sheath of the notochord; the Carboniferous forms +exhibiting hardly any such expansion, while the Mesozoic genera present +a greater and greater development, until, in the Tertiary forms, the +expanded ends become suturally united so as to form a sort of false +vertebra. Hermann von Meyer, again, to whose luminous researches we are +indebted for our present large knowledge of the organization of the +older Labyrinthodonts, has proved that the Carboniferous _Archegosaurus_ +had very imperfectly developed vertebral centra, while the Triassic +_Mastodonsaurus_ had the same parts completely ossified.[38] + +The regularity and evenness of the dentition of the _Anoplotherium_, as +contrasted with that of existing Artiodactyles, and the assumed nearer +approach of the dentition of certain ancient Carnivores to the typical +arrangement, have also been cited as exemplifications of a law of +progressive development, but I know of no other cases based on positive +evidence which are worthy of particular notice. + +What then does an impartial survey of the positively ascertained truths +of palaeontology testify in relation to the common doctrines of +progressive modification, which suppose that modification to have taken +place by a necessary progress from more to less embryonic forms, or from +more to less generalized types, within the limits of the period +represented by the fossiliferous rocks? + +It negatives those doctrines; for it either shows us no evidence of any +such modification, or demonstrates it to have been very slight; and as +to the nature of that modification, it yields no evidence whatsoever +that the earlier members of any long-continued group were more +generalized in structure than the later ones. To a certain extent, +indeed, it may be said that imperfect ossification of the vertebral +column is an embryonic character; but, on the other hand, it would be +extremely incorrect to suppose that the vertebral columns of the older +Vertebrata are in any sense embryonic in their whole structure. + +Obviously, if the earliest fossiliferous rocks now known are coeval with +the commencement of life, and if their contents give us any just +conception of the nature and the extent of the earliest fauna and flora, +the insignificant amount of modification which can be demonstrated to +have taken place in any one group of animals, or plants, is quite +incompatible with the hypothesis that all living forms are the results +of a necessary process of progressive development, entirely comprised +within the time represented by the fossiliferous rocks. + +Contrariwise, any admissible hypothesis of progressive modification +must be compatible with persistence without progression, through +indefinite periods. And should such an hypothesis eventually be proved +to be true, in the only way in which it can be demonstrated, viz. by +observation and experiment upon the existing forms of life, the +conclusion will inevitably present itself, that the Palaeozoic, Mesozoic, +and Cainozoic faunae and florae, taken together, bear somewhat the same +proportion to the whole series of living beings which have occupied this +globe, as the existing fauna and flora do to them. + +Such are the results of palaeontology as they appear, and have for some +years appeared, to the mind of an inquirer who regards that study simply +as one of the applications of the great biological sciences, and who +desires to see it placed upon the same sound basis as other branches of +physical inquiry. If the arguments which have been brought forward are +valid, probably no one, in view of the present state of opinion, will be +inclined to think the time wasted which has been spent upon their +elaboration. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[33] "Le plus grand service qu'on puisse rendre a la science est d'y +faire place nette avant d'y rien construire."--CUVIER. + +[34] Anniversary Address for 1851, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. vii. + +[35] See Hooker's "Introductory Essay to the Flora of Tasmania," p. +xxiii. + +[36] See the abstract of a Lecture "On the Persistent Types of Animal +Life" in the "Notices of the Meetings of the Royal Institution of Great +Britain," June 3, 1859, vol. iii. p. 151. + +[37] "Memoirs of the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom.--Decade x. +Preliminary Essay upon the Systematic Arrangement of the Fishes of the +Devonian Epoch." + +[38] As this Address is passing through the press (March 7, 1862), +evidence lies before me of the existence of a new Labyrinthodont +(_Pholidogaster_), from the Edinburgh coal-field, with well-ossified +vertebral centra. + + + + +XI. + +GEOLOGICAL REFORM. + + "A great reform in geological speculation seems now to have become + necessary." + + "It is quite certain that a great mistake has been made,--that + British popular geology at the present time is in direct opposition + to the principles of Natural Philosophy."[39] + + +In reviewing the course of geological thought during the past year, for +the purpose of discovering those matters to which I might most fitly +direct your attention in the Address which it now becomes my duty to +deliver from the Presidential Chair, the two somewhat alarming sentences +which I have just read, and which occur in an able and interesting essay +by an eminent natural philosopher, rose into such prominence before my +mind that they eclipsed everything else. + +It surely is a matter of paramount importance for the British geologists +(some of them very popular geologists too) here in solemn annual session +assembled, to inquire whether the severe judgment thus passed upon them, +by so high an authority as Sir William Thomson is one to which they +must plead guilty _sans phrase_, or whether they are prepared to say +"not guilty," and appeal for a reversal of the sentence to that higher +court of educated scientific opinion to which we are all amenable. + +As your attorney-general for the time being, I thought I could not do +better than get up the case with a view of advising you. It is true that +the charges brought forward by the other side involve the consideration +of matters quite foreign to the pursuits with which I am ordinarily +occupied; but, in that respect, I am only in the position which is, nine +times out of ten, occupied by counsel, who nevertheless contrive to gain +their causes, mainly by force of mother-wit and common sense, aided by +some training in other intellectual exercises. + +Nerved by such precedents, I proceed to put my pleading before you. + +And the first question with which I propose to deal is, What is it to +which Sir W. Thomson refers when he speaks of "geological speculation" +and "British popular geology"? + +I find three, more or less contradictory, systems of geological thought, +each of which might fairly enough claim these appellations, standing +side by side in Britain. I shall call one of them CATASTROPHISM, another +UNIFORMITARIANISM, the third EVOLUTIONISM; and I shall try briefly to +sketch the characters of each, that you may say whether the +classification is, or is not, exhaustive. + +By CATASTROPHISM, I mean any form of geological speculation +which, in order to account for the phaenomena of geology, supposes the +operation of forces different in their nature, or immeasurably different +in power, from those which we at present see in action in the universe. + +The Mosaic cosmogony is, in this sense, catastrophic, because it +assumes the operation of extra-natural power. The doctrine of violent +upheavals, _debacles_, and cataclysms in general, is catastrophic, so +far as it assumes that these were brought about by causes which have now +no parallel. There was a time when catastrophism might, pre-eminently, +have claimed the title of "British popular geology;" and assuredly it +has yet many adherents, and reckons among its supporters some of the +most honoured members of this Society. + +By UNIFORMITARIANISM, I mean especially, the teaching of Hutton +and of Lyell. + +That great, though incomplete work, "The Theory of the Earth," seems to +me to be one of the most remarkable contributions to geology which is +recorded in the annals of the science. So far as the not-living world is +concerned, uniformitarianism lies there, not only in germ, but in +blossom and fruit. + +If one asks how it is that Hutton was led to entertain views so far in +advance of those prevalent in his time, in some respects; while, in +others, they seem almost curiously limited, the answer appears to me to +be plain. + +Hutton was in advance of the geological speculation of his time, +because, in the first place, he had amassed a vast store of knowledge of +the facts of geology, gathered by personal observation in travels of +considerable extent; and because, in the second place, he was thoroughly +trained in the physical and chemical science of his day, and thus +possessed, as much as any one in his time could possess it, the +knowledge which is requisite for the just interpretation of geological +phaenomena, and the habit of thought which fits a man for scientific +inquiry. + +It is to this thorough scientific training, that I ascribe Hutton's +steady and persistent refusal to look to other causes than those now in +operation, for the explanation of geological phaenomena. + +Thus he writes:--"I do not pretend, as he [M. de Luc] does in his +theory, to describe the beginning of things. I take things such as I +find them at present; and from these I reason with regard to that which +must have been."[40] + +And again:--"A theory of the earth, which has for object truth, can have +no retrospect to that which had preceded the present order of the world; +for this order alone is what we have to reason upon; and to reason +without data is nothing but delusion. A theory, therefore, which is +limited to the actual constitution of this earth cannot be allowed to +proceed one step beyond the present order of things."[41] + +And so clear is he, that no causes beside such as are now in operation +are needed to account for the character and disposition of the +components of the crust of the earth, that he says, broadly and +boldly:-- "... There is no part of the earth which has not had the same +origin, so far as this consists in that earth being collected at the +bottom of the sea, and afterwards produced, as land, along with masses +of melted substances, by the operation of mineral causes."[42] + +But other influences were at work upon Hutton beside those of a mind +logical by Nature, and scientific by sound training; and the peculiar +turn which his speculations took seems to me to be unintelligible, +unless these be taken into account. The arguments of the French +astronomers and mathematicians, which, at the end of the last century, +were held to demonstrate the existence of a compensating arrangement +among the celestial bodies, whereby all perturbations eventually reduced +themselves to oscillations on each side of a mean position, and the +stability of the solar system was secured, had evidently taken strong +hold of Hutton's mind. + +In those oddly constructed periods which seem to have prejudiced many +persons against reading his works, but which are full of that peculiar, +if unattractive, eloquence which flows from mastery of the subject, +Hutton says:-- + +"We have now got to the end of our reasoning; we have no data further to +conclude immediately from that which actually is. But we have got +enough; we have the satisfaction to find, that in Nature there is +wisdom, system, and consistency. For having, in the natural history of +this earth, seen a succession of worlds, we may from this conclude that +there is a system in Nature; in like manner as, from seeing revolutions +of the planets, it is concluded, that there is a system by which they +are intended to continue those revolutions. But if the succession of +worlds is established in the system of Nature, it is in vain to look for +anything higher in the origin of the earth. The result, therefore, of +this physical inquiry is, that we find no vestige of a beginning,--no +prospect of an end."[43] + +Yet another influence worked strongly upon Hutton. Like most +philosophers of his age, he coquetted with those final causes which have +been named barren virgins, but which might be more fitly termed the +_hetairae_ of philosophy, so constantly have they led men astray. The +final cause of the existence of the world is, for Hutton, the production +of life and intelligence. + +"We have now considered the globe of this earth as a machine, +constructed upon chemical as well as mechanical principles, by which its +different parts are all adapted, in form, in quality, and in quantity, +to a certain end; an end attained with certainty or success; and an end +from which we may perceive wisdom, in contemplating the means employed. + +"But is this world to be considered thus merely as a machine, to last no +longer than its parts retain their present position, their proper forms +and qualities? Or may it not be also considered as an organized body? +such as has a constitution in which the necessary decay of the machine +is naturally repaired, in the exertion of those productive powers by +which it had been formed. + +"This is the view in which we are now to examine the globe; to see if +there be, in the constitution of this world, a reproductive operation, +by which a ruined constitution may be again repaired, and a duration or +stability thus procured to the machine, considered as a world sustaining +plants and animals."[44] + +Kirwan, and the other Philistines of the day, accused Hutton of +declaring that his theory implied that the world never had a beginning, +and never differed in condition from its present state. Nothing could be +more grossly unjust, as he expressly guards himself against any such +conclusion in the following terms:-- + +"But in thus tracing back the natural operations which have succeeded +each other, and mark to us the course of time past, we come to a period +in which we cannot see any farther. This, however, is not the beginning +of the operations which proceed in time and according to the wise +economy of this world; nor is it the establishing of that which, in the +course of time, had no beginning; it is only the limit of our +retrospective view of those operations which have come to pass in time, +and have been conducted by supreme intelligence."[45] + +I have spoken of Uniformitarianism as the doctrine of Hutton and of +Lyell. If I have quoted the older writer rather than the newer, it is +because his works are little known, and his claims on our veneration too +frequently forgotten, not because I desire to dim the fame of his +eminent successor. Few of the present generation of geologists have read +Playfair's "Illustrations," fewer still the original "Theory of the +Earth;" the more is the pity; but which of us has not thumbed every page +of the "Principles of Geology?" I think that he who writes fairly the +history of his own progress in geological thought, will not be able to +separate his debt to Hutton from his obligations to Lyell; and the +history of the progress of individual geologists is the history of +geology. + +No one can doubt that the influence of uniformitarian views has been +enormous, and, in the main, most beneficial and favourable to the +progress of sound geology. + +Nor can it be questioned that Uniformitarianism has even a stronger +title than Catastrophism to call itself the geological speculation of +Britain, or, if you will, British popular geology. For it is eminently a +British doctrine, and has even now made comparatively little progress +on the continent of Europe. Nevertheless it seems to me to be open to +serious criticism upon one of its aspects. + +I have shown how unjust was the insinuation that Hutton denied a +beginning to the world. But it would not be unjust to say that he +persistently, in practice, shut his eyes to the existence of that prior +and different state of things which, in theory, he admitted; and, in +this aversion to look beyond the veil of stratified rocks, Lyell follows +him. + +Hutton and Lyell alike agree in their indisposition to carry their +speculations a step beyond the period recorded in the most ancient +strata now open to observation in the crust of the earth. This is, for +Hutton, "the point in which we cannot see any farther;" while Lyell +tells us,-- + +"The astronomer may find good reasons for ascribing the earth's form to +the original fluidity of the mass, in times long antecedent to the first +introduction of living beings into the planet; but the geologist must be +content to regard the earliest monuments which it is his task to +interpret, as belonging to a period when the crust had already acquired +great solidity and thickness, probably as great as it now possesses, and +when volcanic rocks, not essentially differing from those now produced, +were formed from time to time, the intensity of volcanic heat being +neither greater nor less than it is now."[46] + +And again, "As geologists, we learn that it is not only the present +condition of the globe which has been suited to the accommodation of +myriads of living creatures, but that many former states also have been +adapted to the organization and habits of prior races of beings. The +disposition of the seas, continents and islands, and the climates, have +varied; the species likewise have been changed; and yet they have all +been so modelled, on types analogous to those of existing plants and +animals, as to indicate, throughout, a perfect harmony of design and +unity of purpose. To assume that the evidence of the beginning, or end, +of so vast a scheme lies within the reach of our philosophical +inquiries, or even of our speculations, appears to be inconsistent with +a just estimate of the relations which subsist between the finite powers +of man and the attributes of an infinite and eternal Being."[47] + +The limitations implied in these passages appear to me to constitute the +weakness and the logical defect of uniformitarianism. No one will impute +blame to Hutton that, in face of the imperfect condition, in his day, of +those physical sciences which furnish the keys to the riddles of +geology, he should have thought it practical wisdom to limit his theory +to an attempt to account for "the present order of things;" but I am at +a loss to comprehend why, for all time, the geologist must be content to +regard the oldest fossiliferous rocks as the _ultima Thule_ of his +science; or what there is inconsistent with the relations between the +finite and the infinite mind, in the assumption, that we may discern +somewhat of the beginning, or of the end, of this speck in space we call +our earth. The finite mind is certainly competent to trace out the +development of the fowl within the egg; and I know not on what ground it +should find more difficulty in unravelling the complexities of the +development of the earth. In fact, as Kant has well remarked,[48] the +cosmical process is really simpler than the biological. + +This attempt to limit, at a particular point, the progress of inductive +and deductive reasoning from the things which are, to those which +were--this faithlessness to its own logic, seems to me to have cost +Uniformitarianism the place, as the permanent form of geological +speculation, which it might otherwise have held. + +It remains that I should put before you what I understand to be the +third phase of geological speculation--namely, EVOLUTIONISM. + +I shall not make what I have to say on this head clear, unless I +diverge, or seem to diverge, for a while, from the direct path of my +discourse, so far as to explain what I take to be the scope of geology +itself. I conceive geology to be the history of the earth, in precisely +the same sense as biology is the history of living beings; and I trust +you will not think that I am overpowered by the influence of a dominant +pursuit if I say that I trace a close analogy between these two +histories. + +If I study a living being, under what heads does the knowledge I obtain +fall? I can learn its structure, or what we call its ANATOMY; +and its DEVELOPMENT, or the series of changes which it passes +through to acquire its complete structure. Then I find that the living +being has certain powers resulting from its own activities, and the +interaction of these with the activities of other things--the knowledge +of which is PHYSIOLOGY. Beyond this the living being has a +position in space and time, which is its DISTRIBUTION. All +these form the body of ascertainable facts which constitute the _status +quo_ of the living creature. But these facts have their causes; and the +ascertainment of these causes is the doctrine of AETIOLOGY. + +If we consider what is knowable about the earth, we shall find that such +earth-knowledge--if I may so translate the word geology--falls into the +same categories. + +What is termed stratigraphical geology is neither more nor less than the +anatomy of the earth; and the history of the succession of the +formations is the history of a succession of such anatomies, or +corresponds with development, as distinct from generation. + +The internal heat of the earth, the elevation and depression of its +crust, its belchings forth of vapours, ashes, and lava, are its +activities, in as strict a sense, as are warmth and the movements and +products of respiration the activities of an animal. The phaenomena of +the seasons, of the trade winds, of the Gulf-stream, are as much the +results of the reaction between these inner activities and outward +forces, as are the budding of the leaves in spring and their falling in +autumn the effects of the interaction between the organization of a +plant and the solar light and heat. And, as the study of the activities +of the living being is called its physiology, so are these phaenomena the +subject-matter of an analogous telluric physiology, to which we +sometimes give the name of meteorology, sometimes that of physical +geography, sometimes that of geology. Again, the earth has a place in +space and in time, and relations to other bodies in both these +respects, which constitute its distribution. This subject is usually +left to the astronomer; but a knowledge of its broad outlines seems to +me to be an essential constituent of the stock of geological ideas. + +All that can be ascertained concerning the structure, succession of +conditions, actions, and position in space of the earth, is the matter +of fact of its natural history. But, as in biology, there remains the +matter of reasoning from these facts to their causes, which is just as +much science as the other, and indeed more; and this constitutes +geological aetiology. + +Having regard to this general scheme of geological knowledge and +thought, it is obvious that geological speculation may be, so to speak, +anatomical and developmental speculation, so far as it relates to points +of stratigraphical arrangement which are out of reach of direct +observation; or, it may be physiological speculation, so far as it +relates to undetermined problems relative to the activities of the +earth; or, it may be distributional speculation, if it deals with +modifications of the earth's place in space; or, finally, it will be +aetiological speculation, if it attempts to deduce the history of the +world, as a whole, from the known properties of the matter of the earth, +in the conditions in which the earth has been placed. + +For the purposes of the present discourse I may take this last to be +what is meant by "geological speculation." + +Now uniformitarianism, as we have seen, tends to ignore geological +speculation in this sense altogether. + +The one point the catastrophists and the uniformitarians agreed upon, +when this Society was founded, was to ignore it. And you will find, if +you look back into our records, that our revered fathers in geology +plumed themselves a good deal upon the practical sense and wisdom of +this proceeding. As a temporary measure, I do not presume to challenge +its wisdom; but in all organized bodies temporary changes are apt to +produce permanent effects; and as time has slipped by, altering all the +conditions which may have made such mortification of the scientific +flesh desirable, I think the effect of the stream of cold water which +has steadily flowed over geological speculation within these walls, has +been of doubtful beneficence. + +The sort of geological speculation to which I am now referring +(geological aetiology, in short) was created, as a science, by that +famous philosopher Immanuel Kant, when, in 1755, he wrote his "General +Natural History and Theory of the Celestial Bodies; or an Attempt to +account for the Constitution and the mechanical Origin of the Universe +upon Newtonian principles."[49] + +In this very remarkable, but seemingly little-known treatise,[50] Kant +expounds a complete cosmogony, in the shape of a theory of the causes +which have led to the development of the universe from diffused atoms of +matter endowed with simple attractive and repulsive forces. + +"Give me matter," says Kant, "and I will build the world;" and he +proceeds to deduce from the simple data from which he starts, a doctrine +in all essential respects similar to the well-known "Nebular Hypothesis" +of Laplace.[51] He accounts for the relation of the masses and the +densities of the planets to their distances from the sun, for the +eccentricities of their orbits, for their rotations, for their +satellites, for the general agreement in the direction of rotation among +the celestial bodies, for Saturn's ring, and for the zodiacal light. He +finds, in each system of worlds, indications that the attractive force +of the central mass will eventually destroy its organization, by +concentrating upon itself the matter of the whole system; but, as the +result of this concentration, he argues for the development of an amount +of heat which will dissipate the mass once more into a molecular chaos +such as that in which it began. + +Kant pictures to himself the universe as once an infinite expansion of +formless and diffused matter. At one point of this he supposes a single +centre of attraction set up; and, by strict deductions from admitted +dynamical principles, shows how this must result in the development of a +prodigious central body, surrounded by systems of solar and planetary +worlds in all stages of development. In vivid language he depicts the +great world-maelstrom, widening the margins of its prodigious eddy in the +slow progress of millions of ages, gradually reclaiming more and more of +the molecular waste, and converting chaos into cosmos. But what is +gained at the margin is lost in the centre; the attractions of the +central systems bring their constituents together, which then, by the +heat evolved, are converted once more into molecular chaos. Thus the +worlds that are, lie between the ruins of the worlds that have been and +the chaotic materials of the worlds that shall be; and, in spite of all +waste and destruction, Cosmos is extending his borders at the expense of +Chaos. + +Kant's further application of his views to the earth itself is to be +found in his "Treatise on Physical Geography"[52] (a term under which +the then unknown science of geology was included), a subject which he +had studied with very great care and on which he lectured for many +years. The fourth section of the first part of this Treatise is called +"History of the great Changes which the Earth has formerly undergone and +is still undergoing," and is, in fact, a brief and pregnant essay upon +the principles of geology. Kant gives an account first "of the gradual +changes which are now taking place" under the heads of such as are +caused by earthquakes, such as are brought about by rain and rivers, +such as are effected by the sea, such as are produced by winds and +frost; and, finally, such as result from the operations of man. + +The second part is devoted to the "Memorials of the Changes which the +Earth has undergone in remote antiquity." These are enumerated as:--A. +Proofs that the sea formerly covered the whole earth. B. Proofs that the +sea has often been changed into dry land and then again into sea. C. A +discussion of the various-theories of the earth put forward by +Scheuchzer, Moro, Bonnet, Woodward, White, Leibnitz, Linnaeus, and +Buffon. + +The third part contains an "Attempt to give a sound explanation of the +ancient history of the earth." + +I suppose that it would be very easy to pick holes in the details of +Kant's speculations, whether cosmological, or specially telluric, in +their application. But, for all that, he seems to me to have been the +first person to frame a complete system of geological speculation by +founding the doctrine of evolution. + +With as much truth as Hutton, Kant could say, "I take things just as I +find them at present, and, from these, I reason with regard to that +which must have been." Like Hutton, he is never tired of pointing out +that "in Nature there is wisdom, system, and consistency." And, as in +these great principles, so in believing that the cosmos has a +reproductive operation "by which a ruined constitution may be repaired," +he forestalls Hutton; while, on the other hand, Kant is true to science. +He knows no bounds to geological speculation but those of the intellect. +He reasons back to a beginning of the present state of things; he admits +the possibility of an end. + +I have said that the three schools of geological speculation which I +have termed Catastrophism, Uniformitarianism, and Evolutionism are +commonly supposed to be antagonistic to one another; and I presume it +will have become obvious that, in my belief, the last is destined to +swallow up the other two. But it is proper to remark that each of the +latter has kept alive the tradition of precious truths. + +CATASTROPHISM has insisted upon the existence of a practically +unlimited bank of force, on which the theorist might draw; and it has +cherished the idea of the development of the earth from a state in which +its form, and the forces which it exerted, were very different from +those we now know. That such difference of form and power once existed +is a necessary part of the doctrine of evolution. + +UNIFORMITARIANISM, on the other hand, has with equal justice +insisted upon a practically unlimited bank of time, ready to discount +any quantity of hypothetical paper. It has kept before our eyes the +power of the infinitely little, time being granted, and has compelled us +to exhaust known causes, before flying to the unknown. + +To my mind there appears to be no sort of necessary theoretical +antagonism between Catastrophism and Uniformitarianism. On the contrary, +it is very conceivable that catastrophes may be part and parcel of +uniformity. Let me illustrate my case by analogy. The working of a clock +is a model of uniform action; good time-keeping means uniformity of +action. But the striking of the clock is essentially a catastrophe; the +hammer might be made to blow up a barrel of gunpowder, or turn on a +deluge of water; and, by proper arrangement, the clock, instead of +marking the hours, might strike at all sorts of irregular periods, never +twice alike, in the intervals, force, or number of its blows. +Nevertheless, all these irregular, and apparently lawless, catastrophes +would be the result of an absolutely uniformitarian action; and we might +have two schools of clock-theorists, one studying the hammer and the +other the pendulum. + +Still less is there any necessary antagonism between either of these +doctrines and that of Evolution, which embraces all that is sound in +both Catastrophism and Uniformitarianism, while it rejects the arbitrary +assumptions of the one and the, as arbitrary, limitations of the other. +Nor is the value of the doctrine of Evolution to the philosophic thinker +diminished by the fact that it applies the same method to the living and +the not-living world; and embraces, in one stupendous analogy, the +growth of a solar system from molecular chaos, the shaping of the earth +from the nebulous cubhood of its youth, through innumerable changes and +immeasurable ages, to its present form; and the development of a living +being from the shapeless mass of protoplasm we term a germ. + +I do not know whether Evolutionism can claim that amount of currency +which would entitle it to be called British popular geology; but, more +or less vaguely, it is assuredly present in the minds of most +geologists. + + +Such being the three phases of geological speculation, we are now in a +position to inquire which of these it is that Sir William Thomson calls +upon us to reform in the passages which I have cited. + +It is obviously Uniformitarianism which the distinguished physicist +takes to be the representative of geological speculation in general. And +thus a first issue is raised, inasmuch as many persons (and those not +the least thoughtful among the younger geologists) do not accept strict +Uniformitarianism as the final form of geological speculation. We should +say, if Hutton and Playfair declare the course of the world to have been +always the same, point out the fallacy by all means; but, in so doing, +do not imagine that you are proving modern geology to be in opposition +to natural philosophy. I do not suppose that, at the present day, any +geologist would be found to maintain absolute Uniformitarianism, to deny +that the rapidity of the rotation of the earth _may_ be diminishing, +that the sun _may_ be waxing dim, or that the earth itself _may_ be +cooling. Most of us, I suspect, are Gallios, "who care for none of these +things," being of opinion that, true or fictitious, they have made no +practical difference to the earth, during the period of which, a record +is preserved in stratified deposits. + +The accusation that we have been running counter to the _principles_ of +natural philosophy, therefore, is devoid of foundation. The only +question which can arise is whether we have, or have not, been tacitly +making assumptions which are in opposition to certain conclusions which +may be drawn from those principles. And this question subdivides itself +into two:--the first, are we really contravening such conclusions? the +second, if we are, are those conclusions so firmly based that we may not +contravene them? I reply in the negative to both these questions, and I +will give you my reasons for so doing. Sir William Thomson believes that +he is able to prove, by physical reasonings, "that the existing state of +things on the earth, life on the earth--all geological history showing +continuity of life--must be limited within some such period of time as +one hundred million years" (loc. cit. p. 25). + +The first inquiry which arises plainly is, has it ever been denied that +this period _may_ be enough for the purposes of geology? + +The discussion of this question is greatly embarrassed by the vagueness +with which the assumed limit is, I will not say defined, but +indicated,--"some such period of past time as one hundred million +years." Now does this mean that it may have been two, or three, or four +hundred million years? Because this really makes all the difference.[53] + +I presume that 100,000 feet may be taken as a full allowance for the +total thickness of stratified rocks containing traces of life; 100,000 +divided by 100,000,000 = 0.001. Consequently, the deposit of 100,000 +feet of stratified rock in 100,000,000 years means that the deposit has +taken place at the rate of 1/1000 of a foot, or, say, 1/83 of an inch, +per annum. + +Well, I do not know that any one is prepared to maintain that, even +making all needful allowances, the stratified rocks may not have been +formed, on the average, at the rate of 1/83 of an inch per annum. I +suppose that if such could be shown to be the limit of world-growth, we +could put up with the allowance without feeling that our speculations +had undergone any revolution. And perhaps, after all, the qualifying +phrase "some such period" may not necessitate the assumption of more +than 1/166, or 1/249, or 1/332 of an inch of deposit per year, which, of +course, would give us still more ease and comfort. + +But, it may be said, that it is biology, and not geology, which asks for +so much time--that the succession of life demands vast intervals; but +this appears to me to be reasoning in a circle. Biology takes her time +from geology. The only reason we have for believing in the slow rate of +the change in living forms is the fact that they persist through a +series of deposits which, geology informs us, have taken a long while to +make. If the geological clock is wrong, all the naturalist will have to +do is to modify his notions of the rapidity of change accordingly. And I +venture to point out that, when we are told that the limitation of the +period during which living beings have inhabited this planet to one, +two, or three hundred million years requires a complete revolution in +geological speculation, the _onus probandi_ rests on the maker of the +assertion, who brings forward not a shadow of evidence in its support. + +Thus, if we accept the limitation of time placed before us by Sir W. +Thomson, it is not obvious, on the face of the matter, that we shall +have to alter, or reform, our ways in any appreciable degree; and we may +therefore proceed with much calmness, and indeed much indifference, as +to the result, to inquire whether that limitation is justified by the +arguments employed in its support. + +These arguments are three in number:-- + +I. The first is based upon the undoubted fact that the tides tend to +retard the rate of the earth's rotation upon its axis. That this must be +so is obvious, if one considers, roughly, that the tides result from the +pull which the sun and the moon exert upon the sea, causing it to act as +a sort of break upon the rotating solid earth. + +Kant, who was by no means a mere "abstract philosopher," but a good +mathematician and well versed in the physical science of his time, not +only proved this in an essay of exquisite clearness and intelligibility, +now more than a century old,[54] but deduced from it some of its more +important consequences, such as the constant turning of one face of the +moon towards the earth. + +But there is a long step from the demonstration of a tendency to the +estimation of the practical value of that tendency, which is all with +which we are at present concerned. The facts bearing on this point +appear to stand as follow:-- + +It is a matter of observation that the moon's mean motion is (and has +for the last 3,000 years been) undergoing an acceleration, relatively to +the rotation of the earth. Of course this may result from one of two +causes: the moon may really have been moving more swiftly in its orbit; +or the earth may have been rotating more slowly on its axis. + +Laplace believed he had accounted for this phaenomenon by the fact that +the eccentricity of the earth's orbit has been diminishing throughout +these 3,000 years. This would produce a diminution of the mean +attraction of the sun on the moon; or, in other words, an increase in +the attraction of the earth on the moon: and, consequently, an increase +in the rapidity of the orbital motion of the latter body. Laplace, +therefore, laid the responsibility of the acceleration upon the moon; +and if his views were correct, the tidal retardation must either be +insignificant in amount, or be counteracted by some other agency. + +Our great astronomer, Adams, however, appears to have found a flaw in +Laplace's calculation, and to have shown that only half the observed +retardation could be accounted for in the way he had suggested. There +remains, therefore, the other half to be accounted for; and here, in the +absence of all positive knowledge, three sets of hypotheses have been +suggested. + +(a) M. Delaunay suggests that the earth is at fault, in consequence +of the tidal retardation. Messrs. Adams, Thomson, and Tait work out this +suggestion, and, "on a certain assumption as to the proportion of +retardations due to the sun and the moon," find the earth may lose +twenty-two seconds of time in a century from this cause.[55] + +(b) But M. Dufour suggests that the retardation of the earth (which +is hypothetically assumed to exist) may be due in part, or wholly, to +the increase of the moment of inertia of the earth by meteors falling +upon its surface. This suggestion also meets with the entire approval of +Sir W. Thomson, who shows that meteor-dust, accumulating at the rate of +one foot in 4,000 years, would account for the remainder of +retardation.[56] + +(c) Thirdly, Sir W. Thomson brings forward an hypothesis of his own +with respect to the cause of the hypothetical retardation of the earth's +rotation:-- + +"Let us suppose ice to melt from the polar regions (20 deg. round each +pole, we may say) to the extent of something more than a foot thick, enough +to give 1.1 foot of water over those areas, or 0.006 of a foot of water if +spread over the whole globe, which would, in reality, raise the +sea-level by only some such undiscoverable difference as three-fourths +of an inch or an inch. This, or the reverse, which we believe might +happen any year, and could certainly not be detected without far more +accurate observations and calculations for the mean sea-level than any +hitherto made, would slacken or quicken the earth's rate as a timekeeper +by one-tenth of a second per year."[57] + +I do not presume to throw the slightest doubt upon the accuracy of any +of the calculations made by such distinguished mathematicians as those +who have made the suggestions I have cited. On the contrary, it is +necessary to my argument to assume that they are all correct. But I +desire to point out that this seems to be one of the many cases in which +the admitted accuracy of mathematical processes is allowed to throw a +wholly inadmissible appearance of authority over the results obtained by +them. Mathematics may be compared to a mill of exquisite workmanship, +which grinds you stuff of any degree of fineness; but, nevertheless, +what you get out depends on what you put in; and as the grandest mill in +the world will not extract wheat-flour from peascods, so pages of +formulae will not get a definite result out of loose data. + +In the present instance it appears to be admitted:-- + +1. That it is not absolutely certain, after all, whether the moon's mean +motion is undergoing acceleration, or the earth's rotation +retardation.[58] And yet this is the key of the whole position. + +2. If the rapidity of the earth's rotation is diminishing, it is not +certain how much of that retardation is due to tidal friction,--how much +to meteors,--how much to possible excess of melting over accumulation of +polar ice, during the period covered by observation, which amounts, at +the outside, to not more than 2,600 years. + +3. The effect of a different distribution of land and water in modifying +the retardation caused by tidal friction, and of reducing it, under some +circumstances, to a minimum, does not appear to be taken into account. + +4. During the Miocene epoch the polar ice was certainly many feet +thinner than it has been during, or since, the Glacial epoch. Sir W. +Thomson tells us that the accumulation of something more than a foot of +ice around the poles (which implies the withdrawal of, say, an inch of +water from the general surface of the sea) will cause the earth to +rotate quicker by one-tenth of a second per annum. It would appear, +therefore, that the earth may have been rotating, throughout the whole +period which has elapsed from the commencement of the Glacial epoch down +to the present time, one, or more, seconds per annum quicker than it +rotated during the Miocene epoch. + +But, according to Sir W. Thomson's calculation, tidal retardation will +only account for a retardation of 22" in a century, or 22/100 (say 1/5) +of a second per annum. + +Thus, assuming that the accumulation of polar ice since the Miocene +epoch has only been sufficient to produce ten times the effect of a coat +of ice one foot thick, we shall have an accelerating cause which covers +all the loss from tidal action, and leaves a balance of 4/5 a second per +annum in the way of acceleration. + +If tidal retardation can be thus checked and overthrown by other +temporary conditions, what becomes of the confident assertion, based +upon the assumed uniformity of tidal retardation, that ten thousand +million years ago the earth must have been rotating more than twice as +fast as at present, and, therefore, that we geologists are "in direct +opposition to the principles of Natural Philosophy" if we spread +geological history over that time? + +II. The second argument is thus stated by Sir W. Thomson:--"An article, +by myself, published in 'Macmillan's Magazine' for March 1862, on the +age of the sun's heat, explains results of investigation into various +questions as to possibilities regarding the amount of heat that the sun +could have, dealing with it as you would with a stone, or a piece of +matter, only taking into account the sun's dimensions, which showed it +to be possible that the sun may have already illuminated the earth for +as many as one hundred million years, but at the same time rendered it +almost certain that he had not illuminated the earth for five hundred +millions of years. The estimates here are necessarily very vague; but +yet, vague as they are, I do not know that it is possible, upon any +reasonable estimate founded on known properties of matter, to say that +we can believe the sun has really illuminated the earth for five hundred +million years."[59] + +I do not wish to "Hansardize" Sir William Thomson by laying much stress +on the fact that, only fifteen years ago, he entertained a totally +different view of the origin of the sun's heat, and believed that the +energy radiated from year to year was supplied from year to year--a +doctrine which would have suited Hutton perfectly. But the fact that so +eminent a physical philosopher has, thus recently, held views opposite +to those which he now entertains, and that he confesses his own +estimates to be "very vague," justly entitles us to disregard those +estimates, if any distinct facts on our side go against them. However, I +am not aware that such facts exist. As I have already said, for anything +I know, one, two, or three hundred millions of years may serve the needs +of geologists perfectly well. + +III. The third line of argument is based upon the temperature of the +interior of the earth. Sir W. Thomson refers to certain investigations +which prove that the present thermal condition of the interior of the +earth implies either a heating of the earth within the last 20,000 years +of as much as 100 deg. F., or a greater heating all over the surface at +some time further back than 20,000 years, and then proceeds thus:-- + +"Now, are geologists prepared to admit that, at some time within the +last 20,000 years, there has been all over the earth so high a +temperature as that? I presume not; no geologist--no _modern_ +geologist--would for a moment admit the hypothesis that the present +state of underground heat is due to a heating of the surface at so late +a period as 20,000 years ago. If that is not admitted, we are driven to +a greater heat at some time more than 20,000 years ago. A greater +heating all over the surface than 100 deg. Fahrenheit would kill nearly all +existing plants and animals, I may safely say. Are modern geologists +prepared to say that all life was killed off the earth 50,000, 100,000, +or 200,000 years ago? For the uniformity theory, the further back the +time of high surface-temperature is put the better; but the further back +the time of heating, the hotter it must have been. The best for those +who draw most largely on time is that which puts it furthest back; and +that is the theory that the heating was enough to melt the whole. But +even if it was enough to melt the whole, we must still admit some limit, +such as fifty million years, one hundred million years, or two or three +hundred million years ago. Beyond that we cannot go."[60] + +It will be observed that the "limit" is once again of the vaguest, +ranging from 50,000,000 years to 300,000,000. And the reply is, once +more, that, for anything that can be proved to the contrary, one or two +hundred million years might serve the purpose, even of a thorough-going +Huttonian uniformitarian, very well. + +But if, on the other hand, the 100,000,000 or 200,000,000 years appear +to be insufficient for geological purposes, we must closely criticise +the method by which the limit is reached. The argument is simple enough. +_Assuming_ the earth to be nothing but a cooling mass, the quantity of +heat lost per year, _supposing_ the rate of cooling to have been +uniform, multiplied by any given number of years, will be given the +minimum temperature that number of years ago. + +But is the earth nothing but a cooling mass, "like a hot-water jar such +as is used in carriages," or "a globe of sandstone?" and has its cooling +been uniform? An affirmative answer to both these questions seems to be +necessary to the validity of the calculations on which Sir W. Thomson +lays so much stress. + +Nevertheless it surely may be urged that such affirmative answers are +purely hypothetical, and that other suppositions have an equal right to +consideration. + +For example, is it not possible that, at the prodigious temperature +which would seem to exist at 100 miles below the surface, all the +metallic bases may behave as mercury does at a red heat, when it refuses +to combine with oxygen; while, nearer the surface, and therefore at a +lower temperature, they may enter into combination (as mercury does with +oxygen a few degrees below its boiling-point) and so give rise to a +heat totally distinct from that which they possess as cooling bodies? +And has it not also been proved by recent researches that the quality of +the atmosphere may immensely affect its permeability to heat; and, +consequently, profoundly modify the rate of cooling the globe as a +whole? + +I do not think it can be denied that such conditions may exist, and may +so greatly affect the supply, and the loss, of terrestrial heat as to +destroy the value of any calculations which leave them out of sight. + + +My functions as your advocate are at an end. I speak with more than the +sincerity of a mere advocate when I express the belief that the case +against us has entirely broken down. The cry for reform which has been +raised without, is superfluous, inasmuch as we have long been reforming +from within, with all needful speed. And the critical examination of the +grounds upon which the very grave charge of opposition to the principles +of Natural Philosophy has been brought against us, rather shows that we +have exercised a wise discrimination in declining, for the present, to +meddle with our foundations. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[39] On Geological Time. By Sir W. Thomson, LL.D. Transactions of the +Geological Society of Glasgow, vol. iii. + +[40] The Theory of the Earth, vol. i. p. 173, note. + +[41] Ibid. p. 281. + +[42] Ibid. p. 371. + +[43] The Theory of the Earth, vol. i. p. 200. + +[44] The Theory of the Earth, vol. i. pp. 16, 17. + +[45] The Theory of the Earth, vol. i. p. 223. + +[46] Principles of Geology, vol. ii. p. 211. + +[47] Principles of Geology, vol. ii. p. 613. + +[48] "Man darf es sich also nicht befremden lassen, wenn ich mich +unterstehe zu sagen, dass eher die Bildung aller Himmelskoerper, die +Ursache ihrer Bewegungen, kurz der Ursprung der ganzen gegenwaertigen +Verfassung des Weltbaues werden koennen eingesehen werden, ehe die +Erzeugung eines einzigen Krautes oder einer Raupe aus mechanischen +Gruenden, deutlich und vollstaendig kund werden wird."--KANT'S _Saemmtliche +Werke_, Bd. I. p. 220. + +[49] Grant ("History of Physical Astronomy," p. 574) makes but the +briefest reference to Kant. + +[50] "Allgemeine Naturgeschichte und Theorie des Himmels; oder Versuch +von der Verfassung und dem mechanischen Ursprunge des ganzen +Weltgebaeudes nach Newton'schen Grundsatzen abgehandelt."--KANT'S +_Saemmtliche Werke_, Bd. i. p. 207. + +[51] Systeme du Monde, tome ii. chap. 6 + +[52] Kant's "Saemmtliche Werke," Bd. viii. p. 145. + +[53] Sir William Thomson implies (loc. cit. p. 16), that the precise +time is of no consequence: "the principle is the same;" but, as the +principle is admitted, the whole discussion turns on its practical +results. + +[54] "Untersuchung der Frage ob die Erde in ihrer Umdrehung um die +Achse, wodurch sie die Abwechselung des Tages und der Nacht +hervorbringt, einige Veraenderung seit den ersten Zeiten ihres Ursprunges +erlitten habe, &c."--KANT'S _Saemmtliche Werke_, Bd. i. p. 178. + +[55] Sir W. Thomson, loc. cit., p. 14. + +[56] Loc. cit., p. 27 + +[57] Ibid. + +[58] It will be understood that I do not wish to deny that the earth's +rotation _may be_ undergoing retardation. + +[59] Loc. cit., p. 20. + +[60] Loc. cit., p. 24. + + + + +XII. + +THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. + + +Mr. Darwin's long-standing and well-earned scientific eminence probably +renders him indifferent to that social notoriety which passes by the +name of success; but if the calm spirit of the philosopher have not yet +wholly superseded the ambition and the vanity of the carnal man within +him, he must be well satisfied with the results of his venture in +publishing the "Origin of Species." Overflowing the narrow bounds of +purely scientific circles, the "species question" divides with Italy and +the Volunteers the attention of general society. Everybody has read Mr. +Darwin's book, or, at least, has given an opinion upon its merits or +demerits; pietists, whether lay or ecclesiastic, decry it with the mild +railing which sounds so charitable; bigots denounce it with ignorant +invective; old ladies, of both sexes, consider it a decidedly dangerous +book, and even savans, who have no better mud to throw, quote antiquated +writers to show that its author is no better than an ape himself; while +every philosophical thinker hails it as a veritable Whitworth gun in the +armory of liberalism; and all competent naturalists and physiologists, +whatever their opinions as to the ultimate fate of the doctrines put +forth, acknowledge that the work in which they are embodied is a solid +contribution to knowledge and inaugurates a new epoch in natural +history. + +Nor has the discussion of the subject been restrained within the limits +of conversation. When the public is eager and interested, reviewers must +minister to its wants; and the genuine _litterateur_ is too much in the +habit of acquiring his knowledge from the book he judges--as the +Abyssinian is said to provide himself with steaks from the ox which +carries him--to be withheld from criticism of a profound scientific work +by the mere want of the requisite preliminary scientific acquirement; +while, on the other hand, the men of science who wish well to the new +views, no less than those who dispute their validity, have naturally +sought opportunities of expressing their opinions. Hence it is not +surprising that almost all the critical journals have noticed Mr. +Darwin's work at greater or less length; and so many disquisitions, of +every degree of excellence, from the poor product of ignorance, too +often stimulated by prejudice, to the fair and thoughtful essay of the +candid student of Nature, have appeared, that it seems an almost +hopeless task to attempt to say anything new upon the question. + +But it may be doubted if the knowledge and acumen of prejudged +scientific opponents, or the subtlety of orthodox special pleaders, have +yet exerted their full force in mystifying the real issues of the great +controversy which has been set afoot, and whose end is hardly likely to +be seen by this generation; so that, at this eleventh hour, and even +failing anything new, it may be useful to state afresh that which is +true, and to put the fundamental positions advocated by Mr. Darwin in +such a form that they may be grasped by those whose special studies lie +in other directions. And the adoption of this course may be the more +advisable, because notwithstanding its great deserts, and indeed partly +on account of them, the "Origin of Species" is by no means an easy book +to read--if by reading is implied the full comprehension of an author's +meaning. + +We do not speak jestingly in saying that it is Mr. Darwin's misfortune +to know more about the question he has taken up than any man living. +Personally and practically exercised in zoology, in minute anatomy, in +geology; a student of geographical distribution, not on maps and in +museums only, but by long voyages and laborious collection; having +largely advanced each of these branches of science, and having spent +many years in gathering and sifting materials for his present work, the +store of accurately registered facts upon which the author of the +"Origin of Species" is able to draw at will is prodigious. + +But this very superabundance of matter must have been embarrassing to a +writer who, for the present, can only put forward an abstract of his +views; and thence it arises, perhaps, that notwithstanding the clearness +of the style, those who attempt fairly to digest the book find much of +it a sort of intellectual pemmican--a mass of facts crushed and pounded +into shape, rather than held together by the ordinary medium of an +obvious logical bond: due attention will, without doubt, discover this +bond, but it is often hard to find. + +Again, from sheer want of room, much has to be taken for granted which +might readily enough be proved; and hence, while the adept, who can +supply the missing links in the evidence from his own knowledge, +discovers fresh proof of the singular thoroughness with which all +difficulties have been considered and all unjustifiable suppositions +avoided, at every reperusal of Mr. Darwin's pregnant paragraphs, the +novice in biology is apt to complain of the frequency of what he fancies +is gratuitous assumption. + +Thus while it may be doubted if, for some years, any one is likely to be +competent to pronounce judgment on all the issues raised by Mr. Darwin, +there is assuredly abundant room for him, who, assuming the humbler, +though perhaps as useful, office of an interpreter between the "Origin +of Species" and the public, contents himself with endeavouring to point +out the nature of the problems which it discusses; to distinguish +between the ascertained facts and the theoretical views which it +contains; and finally, to show the extent to which the explanation it +offers satisfies the requirements of scientific logic. At any rate, it +is this office which we propose to undertake in the following pages. + +It may be safely assumed that our readers have a general conception of +the nature of the objects to which the word "species" is applied; but it +has, perhaps, occurred to few, even of those who are naturalists _ex +professo_, to reflect, that, as commonly employed, the term has a double +sense and denotes two very different orders of relations. When we call a +group of animals, or of plants, a species, we may imply thereby either, +that all these animals or plants have some common peculiarity of form +or structure; or, we may mean that they possess some common functional +character. That part of biological science which deals with form and +structure is called Morphology--that which concerns itself with +function, Physiology--so that we may conveniently speak of these two +senses, or aspects, of "species"--the one as morphological, the other as +physiological. Regarded from the former point of view, a species is +nothing more than a kind of animal or plant, which is distinctly +definable from all others, by certain constant, and not merely sexual, +morphological peculiarities. Thus horses form a species, because the +group of animals to which that name is applied is distinguished from all +others in the world by the following constantly associated characters. +They have 1. A vertebral column; 2. Mammae; 3. A placental embryo; 4. +Four legs; 5. A single well-developed toe in each foot provided with a +hoof; 6. A bushy tail; and 7. Callosities on the inner sides of both the +fore and the hind legs. The asses, again, form a distinct species, +because, with the same characters, as far as the fifth in the above +list, all asses have tufted tails, and have callosities only on the +inner side of the fore legs. If animals were discovered having the +general characters of the horse, but sometimes with callosities only on +the fore legs, and more or less tufted tails; or animals having the +general characters of the ass, but with more or less bushy tails, and +sometimes with callosities on both pairs of legs, besides being +intermediate in other respects--the two species would have to be merged +into one. They could no longer be regarded as morphologically distinct +species, for they would not be distinctly definable one from the other. + +However bare and simple this definition of species may appear to be, we +confidently appeal to all practical naturalists, whether zoologists, +botanists, or palaeontologists, to say if, in the vast majority of cases, +they know, or mean to affirm, anything more of the group of animals or +plants they so denominate than what has just been stated. Even the most +decided advocates of the received doctrines respecting species admit +this. + + "I apprehend," says Professor Owen,[61] "that few naturalists + now-a-days, in describing and proposing a name for what they call + 'a new _species_,' use that term to signify what was meant by it + twenty or thirty years ago; that is, an originally distinct + creation, maintaining its primitive distinction by obstructive + generative peculiarities. The proposer of the new species now + intends to state no more than he actually knows; as, for example, + that the differences on which he founds the specific character are + constant in individuals of both sexes, so far as observation has + reached; and that they are not due to domestication or to + artificially superinduced external circumstances, or to any outward + influence within his cognizance; that the species is wild, or is + such as it appears by Nature." + +If we consider, in fact, that by far the largest proportion of recorded +existing species are known only by the study of their skins, or bones, +or other lifeless exuvia; that we are acquainted with none, or next to +none, of their physiological peculiarities, beyond those which can be +deduced from their structure, or are open to cursory observation; and +that we cannot hope to learn more of any of those extinct forms of life +which now constitute no inconsiderable proportion of the known Flora and +Fauna of the world: it is obvious that the definitions of these species +can be only of a purely structural or morphological character. It is +probable that naturalists would have avoided much confusion of ideas if +they had more frequently borne these necessary limitations of our +knowledge in mind. But while it may safely be admitted that we are +acquainted with only the morphological characters of the vast majority +of species--the functional, or physiological, peculiarities of a few +have been carefully investigated, and the result of that study forms a +large and most interesting portion of the physiology of reproduction. + +The student of Nature wonders the more and is astonished the less, the +more conversant he becomes with her operations; but of all the perennial +miracles she offers to his inspection, perhaps the most worthy of +admiration is the development of a plant or of an animal from its +embryo. Examine the recently laid egg of some common animal, such as a +salamander or a newt. It is a minute spheroid in which the best +microscope will reveal nothing but a structureless sac, enclosing a +glairy fluid, holding granules in suspension. But strange possibilities +lie dormant in that semi-fluid globule. Let a moderate supply of warmth +reach its watery cradle, and the plastic matter undergoes changes so +rapid and yet so steady and purposelike in their succession, that one +can only compare them to those operated by a skilled modeller upon a +formless lump of clay. As with an invisible trowel, the mass is divided +and subdivided into smaller and smaller portions, until it is reduced to +an aggregation of granules not too large to build withal the finest +fabrics of the nascent organism. And, then, it is as if a delicate +finger traced out the line to be occupied by the spinal column, and +moulded the contour of the body; pinching up the head at one end, the +tail at the other, and fashioning flank and limb into due salamandrine +proportions, in so artistic a way, that, after watching the process hour +by hour, one is almost involuntarily possessed by the notion, that some +more subtle aid to vision than an achromatic, would show the hidden +artist, with his plan before him, striving with skilful manipulation to +perfect his work. + +As life advances, and the young amphibian ranges the waters, the terror +of his insect contemporaries, not only are the nutritious particles +supplied by its prey, by the addition of which to its frame growth takes +place, laid down, each in its proper spot, and in such due proportion to +the rest, as to reproduce the form, the colour and the size, +characteristic of the parental stock; but even the wonderful powers of +reproducing lost parts possessed by these animals are controlled by the +same governing tendency. Cut off the legs, the tail, the jaws, +separately or all together, and, as Spallanzani showed long ago, these +parts not only grow again, but the redintegrated limb is formed on the +same type as those which were lost. The new jaw, or leg, is a newt's, +and never by any accident more like that of a frog. What is true of the +newt is true of every animal and of every plant; the acorn tends to +build itself up again into a woodland giant such as that from whose twig +it fell; the spore of the humblest lichen reproduces the green or brown +incrustation which gave it birth; and at the other end of the scale of +life, the child that resembled neither the paternal nor the maternal +side of the house would be regarded as a kind of monster. + +So that the one end to which, in all living beings, the formative +impulse is tending--the one scheme which the Archaeus of the old +speculators strives to carry out, seems to be to mould the offspring +into the likeness of the parent. It is the first great law of +reproduction, that the offspring tends to resemble its parent or +parents, more closely than anything else. + +Science will some day show us how this law is a necessary consequence of +the more general laws which govern matter; but for the present, more can +hardly be said than that it appears to be in harmony with them. We know +that the phaenomena of vitality are not something apart from other +physical phaenomena, but one with them; and matter and force are the two +names of the one artist who fashions the living as well as the lifeless. +Hence living bodies should obey the same great laws as other +matter--nor, throughout Nature, is there a law of wider application than +this, that a body impelled by two forces takes the direction of their +resultant. But living bodies may be regarded as nothing but extremely +complex bundles of forces held in a mass of matter, as the complex +forces of a magnet are held in the steel by its coercive force; and, +since the differences of sex are comparatively slight, or, in other +words, the sum of the forces in each has a very similar tendency, their +resultant, the offspring, may reasonably be expected to deviate but +little from a course parallel to either, or to both. + +Represent the reason of the law to ourselves by what physical metaphor +or analogy we will, however, the great matter is to apprehend its +existence and the importance of the consequences deducible from it. For +things which are like to the same are like to one another, and if, in a +great series of generations, every offspring is like its parent, it +follows that all the offspring and all the parents must be like one +another; and that, given an original parental stock, with the +opportunity of undisturbed multiplication, the law in question +necessitates the production, in course of time, of an indefinitely large +group, the whole of whose members are at once very similar and are blood +relations, having descended from the same parent, or pair of parents. +The proof that all the members of any given group of animals, or plants, +had thus descended, would be ordinarily considered sufficient to entitle +them to the rank of physiological species, for most physiologists +consider species to be definable as "the offspring of a single primitive +stock." + +But though it is quite true that all those groups we call species _may_, +according to the known laws of reproduction, have descended from a +single stock, and though it is very likely they really have done so, yet +this conclusion rests on deduction and can hardly hope to establish +itself upon a basis of observation. And the primitiveness of the +supposed single stock, which, after all, is the essential part of the +matter, is not only a hypothesis, but one which has not a shadow of +foundation, if by "primitive" be meant "independent of any other living +being." A scientific definition, of which an unwarrantable hypothesis +forms an essential part, carries its condemnation within itself; but +even supposing such a definition were, in form, tenable, the +physiologist who should attempt to apply it in Nature would soon find +himself involved in great, if not inextricable difficulties. As we have +said, it is indubitable that offspring _tend_ to resemble the parental +organism, but it is equally true that the similarity attained never +amounts to identity, either in form or in structure. There is always a +certain amount of deviation, not only from the precise characters of a +single parent, but when, as in most animals and many plants, the sexes +are lodged in distinct individuals, from an exact mean between the two +parents. And indeed, on general principles, this slight deviation seems +as intelligible as the general similarity, if we reflect how complex the +co-operating "bundles of forces" are, and how improbable it is that, in +any case, their true resultant shall coincide with any mean between the +more obvious characters of the two parents. Whatever be its cause, +however, the co-existence of this tendency to minor variation with the +tendency to general similarity, is of vast importance in its bearing on +the question of the origin of species. + +As a general rule, the extent to which an offspring differs from its +parent is slight enough; but, occasionally, the amount of difference is +much more strongly marked, and then the divergent offspring receives the +name of a Variety. Multitudes, of what there is every reason to believe +are such varieties, are known, but the origin of very few has been +accurately recorded, and of these we will select two as more especially +illustrative of the main features of variation. The first of them is +that of the "Ancon," or "Otter" sheep, of which a careful account is +given by Colonel David Humphreys, F.R.S., in a letter to Sir Joseph +Banks, published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1813. It appears +that one Seth Wright, the proprietor of a farm on the banks of the +Charles River, in Massachusetts, possessed a flock of fifteen ewes and a +ram of the ordinary kind. In the year 1791, one of the ewes presented +her owner with a male lamb, differing, for no assignable reason, from +its parents by a proportionally long body and short bandy legs, whence +it was unable to emulate its relatives in those sportive leaps over the +neighbours' fences, in which they were in the habit of indulging, much +to the good farmer's vexation. + +The second case is that detailed by a no less unexceptionable authority +than Reaumur in his "Art de faire eclore les Poulets." A Maltese couple, +named Kelleia, whose hands and feet were constructed upon the ordinary +human model, had born to them a son, Gratio, who possessed six perfectly +moveable fingers on each hand and six toes, not quite so well formed, on +each foot. No cause could be assigned for the appearance of this unusual +variety of the human species. + +Two circumstances are well worthy of remark in both these cases. In +each, the variety appears to have arisen in full force, and, as it were, +_per saltum_; a wide and definite difference appearing, at once, between +the Ancon ram and the ordinary sheep; between the six-fingered and +six-toed Gratio Kelleia and ordinary men. In neither case is it possible +to point out any obvious reason for the appearance of the variety. +Doubtless there were determining causes for these as for all other +phaenomena; but they do not appear, and we can be tolerably certain that +what are ordinarily understood as changes in physical conditions, as in +climate, in food, or the like, did not take place and had nothing to do +with the matter. It was no case of what is commonly called adaptation to +circumstances; but, to use a conveniently erroneous phrase, the +variations arose spontaneously. The fruitless search after final causes +leads their pursuers a long way; but even those hardy teleologists, who +are ready to break through all the laws of physics in chase of their +favourite will-o'-the-wisp, may be puzzled to discover what purpose +could be attained by the stunted legs of Seth Wright's ram or the +hexadactyle members of Gratio Kelleia. + +Varieties then arise we know not why; and it is more than probable that +the majority of varieties have arisen in this "spontaneous" manner, +though we are, of course, far from denying that they may be traced, in +some cases, to distinct external influences; which are assuredly +competent to alter the character of the tegumentary covering, to change +colour, to increase or diminish the size of muscles, to modify +constitution, and, among plants, to give rise to the metamorphosis of +stamens into petals, and so forth. But however they may have arisen, +what especially interests us at present is, to remark that, once in +existence, varieties obey the fundamental law of reproduction that like +tends to produce like, and their offspring exemplify it by tending to +exhibit the same deviation from the parental stock as themselves. +Indeed, there seems to be, in many instances, a pre-potent influence +about a newly-arisen variety which gives it what one may call an unfair +advantage over the normal descendants from the same stock. This is +strikingly exemplified by the case of Gratio Kelleia, who married a +woman with the ordinary pentadactyle extremities, and had by her four +children, Salvator, George, Andre, and Marie. Of these children +Salvator, the eldest boy, had six fingers and six toes, like his father; +the second and third, also boys, had five fingers and five toes, like +their mother, though the hands and feet of George were slightly +deformed; the last, a girl, had five fingers and five toes, but the +thumbs were slightly deformed. The variety thus reproduced itself purely +in the eldest, while the normal type reproduced itself purely in the +third, and almost purely in the second and last: so that it would seem, +at first, as if the normal type were more powerful than the variety. But +all these children grew up and intermarried with normal wives and +husband, and then, note what took place: Salvator had four children, +three of whom exhibited the hexadactyle members of their grandfather and +father, while the youngest had the pentadactyle limbs of the mother and +grandmother; so that here, notwithstanding a double pentadactyle +dilution of the blood, the hexadactyle variety had the best of it. The +same pre-potency of the variety was still more markedly exemplified in +the progeny of two of the other children, Marie and George. Marie (whose +thumbs only were deformed) gave birth to a boy with six toes, and three +other normally formed children; but George, who was not quite so pure a +pentadactyle, begot, first, two girls, each of whom had six fingers and +toes; then a girl with six fingers on each hand and six toes on the +right foot, but only five toes on the left; and lastly, a boy with only +five fingers and toes. In these instances, therefore, the variety, as it +were, leaped over one generation to reproduce itself in full force in +the next. Finally, the purely pentadactyle Andre was the father of many +children, not one of whom departed from the normal parental type. + +If a variation which approaches the nature of a monstrosity can strive +thus forcibly to reproduce itself, it is not wonderful that less +aberrant modifications should tend to be preserved even more strongly; +and the history of the Ancon sheep is, in this respect, particularly +instructive. With the "'cuteness" characteristic of their nation, the +neighbours of the Massachusetts farmer imagined it would be an excellent +thing if all his sheep were imbued with the stay-at-home tendencies +enforced by Nature upon the newly-arrived ram; and they advised Wright +to kill the old patriarch of his fold, and install the Ancon ram in his +place. The result justified their sagacious anticipations, and coincided +very nearly with what occurred to the progeny of Gratio Kelleia. The +young lambs were almost always either pure Ancons, or pure ordinary +sheep.[62] But when sufficient Ancon sheep were obtained to interbreed +with one another, it was found that the offspring was always pure Ancon. +Colonel Humphreys, in fact, states that he was acquainted with only "one +questionable case of a contrary nature." Here, then, is a remarkable and +well-established instance, not only of a very distinct race being +established _per saltum_, but of that race breeding "true" at once, and +showing no mixed forms, even when crossed with another breed. + +By taking care to select Ancons of both sexes, for breeding from, it +thus became easy to establish an extremely well-marked race; so peculiar +that, even when herded with other sheep, it was noted that the Ancons +kept together. And there is every reason to believe that the existence +of this breed might have been indefinitely protracted; but the +introduction of the Merino sheep, which were not only very superior to +the Ancons in wool and meat, but quite as quiet and orderly, led to the +complete neglect of the new breed, so that, in 1813, Colonel Humphreys +found it difficult to obtain the specimen, whose skeleton was presented +to Sir Joseph Banks. We believe that, for many years, no remnant of it +has existed in the United States. + +Gratio Kelleia was not the progenitor of a race of six-fingered men, as +Seth Wright's ram became a nation of Ancon sheep, though the tendency of +the variety to perpetuate itself appears to have been fully as strong, +in the one case as in the other. And the reason of the difference is not +far to seek. Seth Wright took care not to weaken the Ancon blood by +matching his Ancon ewes with any but males of the same variety, while +Gratio Kelleia's sons were too far removed from the patriarchal times to +intermarry with their sisters; and his grandchildren seem not to have +been attracted by their six-fingered cousins. In other words, in the one +example a race was produced, because, for several generations, care was +taken to _select_ both parents of the breeding stock, from animals +exhibiting a tendency to vary in the same direction; while, in the +other, no race was evolved, because no such selection was exercised. A +race is a propagated variety; and as, by the laws of reproduction, +offspring tend to assume the parental form, they will be more likely to +propagate a variation exhibited by both parents than that possessed by +only one. + +There is no organ of the body of an animal which may not, and does not, +occasionally, vary more or less from the normal type; and there is no +variation which may not be transmitted, and which, if selectively +transmitted, may not become the foundation of a race. This great truth, +sometimes forgotten by philosophers, has long been familiar to practical +agriculturists and breeders: and upon it rest all the methods of +improving the breeds of domestic animals, which, for the last century, +have been followed with so much success in England. Colour, form, size, +texture of hair or wool, proportions of various parts, strength or +weakness of constitution, tendency to fatten or to remain lean, to give +much or little milk, speed, strength, temper, intelligence, special +instincts; there is not one of these characters whose transmission is +not an every-day occurrence within the experience of cattle-breeders, +stock-farmers, horse-dealers, and dog and poultry fanciers. Nay, it is +only the other day that an eminent physiologist, Dr. Brown-Sequard, +communicated to the Royal Society his discovery that epilepsy, +artificially produced in guinea-pigs, by a means which he has +discovered, is transmitted to their offspring. + +But a race, once produced, is no more a fixed and immutable entity than +the stock whence it sprang; variations arise among its members, and as +these variations are transmitted like any others, new races may be +developed out of the pre-existing ones _ad infinitum_, or, at least, +within any limit at present determined. Given sufficient time and +sufficiently careful selection, and the multitude of races which may +arise from a common stock is as astonishing as are the extreme +structural differences which they may present. A remarkable example of +this is to be found in the rock-pigeon, which Mr. Darwin has, in our +opinion, satisfactorily demonstrated to be the progenitor of all our +domestic pigeons, of which there are certainly more than a hundred +well-marked races. The most noteworthy of these races are, the four +great stocks known to the "fancy" as tumblers, pouters, carriers, and +fantails; birds which not only differ most singularly in size, colour, +and habits, but in the form of the beak and of the skull: in the +proportions of the beak to the skull; in the number of tail-feathers; in +the absolute and relative size of the feet; in the presence or absence +of the uropygial gland; in the number of vertebrae in the back; in short, +in precisely those characters in which the genera and species of birds +differ from one another. + +And it is most remarkable and instructive to observe, that none of these +races can be shown to have been originated by the action of changes in +what are commonly called external circumstances, upon the wild +rock-pigeon. On the contrary, from time immemorial, pigeon fanciers have +had essentially similar methods of treating their pets, which have been +housed, fed, protected and cared for in much the same way in all +pigeonries. In fact, there is no case better adapted than that of the +pigeons, to refute the doctrine which one sees put forth on high +authority, that "no other characters than those founded on the +development of bone for the attachment of muscles" are capable of +variation. In precise contradiction of this hasty assertion, Mr. +Darwin's researches prove that the skeleton of the wings in domestic +pigeons has hardly varied at all from that of the wild type; while, on +the other hand, it is in exactly those respects, such as the relative +length of the beak and skull, the number of the vertebrae, and the number +of the tail-feathers, in which muscular exertion can have no important +influence, that the utmost amount of variation has taken place. + + +We have said that the following out of the properties exhibited by +physiological species would lead us into difficulties, and at this point +they begin to be obvious; for, if, as a result of spontaneous variation +and of selective breeding, the progeny of a common stock may become +separated into groups distinguished from one another by constant, not +sexual, morphological characters, it is clear that the physiological +definition of species is likely to clash with the morphological +definition. No one would hesitate to describe the pouter and the tumbler +as distinct species, if they were found fossil, or if their skins and +skeletons were imported, as those of exotic wild birds commonly +are--and, without doubt, if considered alone, they are good and distinct +morphological species. On the other hand, they are not physiological +species, for they are descended from a common stock, the rock-pigeon. + +Under these circumstances, as it is admitted on all sides that races +occur in Nature, how are we to know whether any apparently distinct +animals are really of different physiological species, or not, seeing +that the amount of morphological difference is no safe guide? Is there +any test of a physiological species? The usual answer of physiologists +is in the affirmative. It is said that such a test is to be found in the +phaenomena of hybridization--in the results of crossing races, as +compared with the results of crossing species. + +So far as the evidence goes at present, individuals, of what are +certainly known to be mere races produced by selection, however distinct +they may appear to be, not only breed freely together, but the offspring +of such crossed races are only perfectly fertile with one another. Thus, +the spaniel and the greyhound, the dray-horse and the Arab, the pouter +and the tumbler, breed together with perfect freedom, and their +mongrels, if matched with other mongrels of the same kind, are equally +fertile. + +On the other hand, there can be no doubt that the individuals of many +natural species are either absolutely infertile, if crossed with +individuals of other species, or, if they give rise to hybrid offspring, +the hybrids so produced are infertile when paired together. The horse +and the ass, for instance, if so crossed, give rise to the mule, and +there is no certain evidence of offspring ever having been produced by a +male and female mule. The unions of the rock-pigeon and the ring-pigeon +appear to be equally barren of result. Here, then, says the +physiologist, we have a means of distinguishing any two true species +from any two varieties. If a male and a female, selected from each +group, produce offspring, and that offspring is fertile with others +produced in the same way, the groups are races and not species. If, on +the other hand, no result ensues, or if the offspring are infertile with +others produced in the same way, they are true physiological species. +The test would be an admirable one, if, in the first place, it were +always practicable to apply it, and if, in the second, it always +yielded results susceptible of a definite interpretation. Unfortunately, +in the great majority of cases, this touchstone for species is wholly +inapplicable. + +The constitution of many wild animals is so altered by confinement that +they will not breed even with their own females, so that the negative +results obtained from crosses are of no value; and the antipathy of wild +animals of different species for one another, or even of wild and tame +members of the same species, is ordinarily so great, that it is hopeless +to look for such unions in Nature. The hermaphrodism of most plants, the +difficulty in the way of ensuring the absence of their own, or the +proper working of other pollen, are obstacles of no less magnitude in +applying the test to them. And in both, animals and plants is superadded +the further difficulty, that experiments must be continued over a long +time for the purpose of ascertaining the fertility of the mongrel or +hybrid progeny, as well as of the first crosses from which they spring. + +Not only do these great practical difficulties lie in the way of +applying the hybridization test, but even when this oracle can be +questioned, its replies are sometimes as doubtful as those of Delphi. +For example, cases are cited by Mr. Darwin, of plants which are more +fertile with the pollen of another species than with their own; and +there are others, such as certain _fuci_, whose male element will +fertilize the ovule of a plant of distinct species, while the males of +the latter species are ineffective with the females of the first. So +that, in the last-named instance, a physiologist, who should cross the +two species in one way, would decide that they were true species; while +another, who should cross them in the reverse way, would, with equal +justice, according to the rule, pronounce them to be mere races. Several +plants, which there is great reason to believe are mere varieties, are +almost sterile when crossed; while both animals and plants, which have +always been regarded by naturalists as of distinct species, turn out, +when the test is applied, to be perfectly fertile. Again, the sterility +or fertility of crosses seems to bear no relation to the structural +resemblances or differences of the members of any two groups. + +Mr. Darwin has discussed this question with singular ability and +circumspection, and his conclusions are summed up as follow, at page 276 +of his work:-- + + "First crosses between forms sufficiently distinct to be ranked as + species, and their hybrids, are very generally, but not + universally, sterile. The sterility is of all degrees, and is often + so slight that the two most careful experimentalists who have ever + lived have come to diametrically opposite conclusions in ranking + forms by this test. The sterility is innately variable in + individuals of the same species, and is eminently susceptible of + favourable and unfavourable conditions. The degree of sterility + does not strictly follow systematic affinity, but is governed by + several curious and complex laws. It is generally different, and + sometimes widely different, in reciprocal crosses between the same + two species. It is not always equal in degree in a first cross, and + in the hybrid produced from this cross. + + "In the same manner as in grafting trees, the capacity of one + species or variety to take on another is incidental on generally + unknown differences in their vegetative systems; so in crossing, + the greater or less facility of one species to unite with another + is incidental on unknown differences in their reproductive systems. + There is no more reason to think that species have been specially + endowed with various degrees of sterility to prevent them crossing + and breeding in Nature, than to think that trees have been + specially endowed with various and somewhat analogous degrees of + difficulty in being grafted together, in order to prevent them + becoming inarched in our forests. + + "The sterility of first crosses between pure species, which have + their reproductive systems perfect, seems to depend on several + circumstances; in some cases largely on the early death of the + embryo. The sterility of hybrids which have their reproductive + systems imperfect, and which have had this system and their whole + organization disturbed by being compounded of two distinct species, + seems closely allied to that sterility which so frequently affects + pure species when their natural conditions of life have been + disturbed. This view is supported by a parallelism of another kind; + namely, that the crossing of forms, only slightly different, is + favourable to the vigour and fertility of the offspring; and that + slight changes in the conditions of life are apparently favourable + to the vigour and fertility of all organic beings. It is not + surprising that the degree of difficulty in uniting two species, + and the degree of sterility of their hybrid offspring, should + generally correspond, though due to distinct causes; for both + depend on the amount of difference of some kind between the species + which are crossed. Nor is it surprising that the facility of + effecting a first cross, the fertility of hybrids produced from it, + and the capacity of being grafted together--though this latter + capacity evidently depends on widely different + circumstances--should all run to a certain extent parallel with the + systematic affinity of the forms which are subjected to experiment; + for systematic affinity attempts to express all kinds of + resemblance between all species. + + "First crosses between forms known to be varieties, or sufficiently + alike to be considered as varieties, and their mongrel offspring, + are very generally, but not quite universally, fertile. Nor is this + nearly general and perfect fertility surprising, when we remember + how liable we are to argue in a circle with respect to varieties in + a state of Nature; and when we remember that the greater number of + varieties have been produced under domestication by the selection + of mere external differences, and not of differences in the + reproductive system. In all other respects, excluding fertility, + there is a close general resemblance between hybrids and + mongrels."--Pp. 276-8. + +We fully agree with the general tenor of this weighty passage; but +forcible as are these arguments, and little as the value of fertility or +infertility as a test of species may be, it must not be forgotten that +the really important fact, so far as the inquiry into the origin of +species goes, is, that there are such things in Nature as groups of +animals and of plants, whose members are incapable of fertile union with +those of other groups; and that there are such things as hybrids, which +are absolutely sterile when crossed with other hybrids. For if such +phaenomena as these were exhibited by only two of those assemblages of +living objects, to which the name of species (whether it be used in its +physiological or in its morphological sense) is given, it would have to +be accounted for by any theory of the origin of species, and every +theory which could not account for it would be, so far, imperfect. + +Up to this point we have been dealing with matters of fact, and the +statements which we have laid before the reader would, to the best of +our knowledge, be admitted to contain a fair exposition of what is at +present known respecting the essential properties of species, by all who +have studied the question. And whatever may be his theoretical views, no +naturalist will probably be disposed to demur to the following summary +of that exposition:-- + +Living beings, whether animals or plants, are divisible into multitudes +of distinctly definable kinds, which are morphological species. They are +also divisible into groups of individuals, which breed freely together, +tending to reproduce their like, and are physiological species. Normally +resembling their parents, the offspring of members of these species are +still liable to vary, and the variation may be perpetuated by selection, +as a race, which race, in many cases, presents all the characteristics +of a morphological species. But it is not as yet proved that a race ever +exhibits, when crossed with another race of the same species, those +phaenomena of hybridization which are exhibited by many species when +crossed with other species. On the other hand, not only is it not +proved that all species give rise to hybrids infertile _inter se_, but +there is much reason to believe that, in crossing, species exhibit every +gradation from perfect sterility to perfect fertility. + + +Such are the most essential characteristics of species. Even were man +not one of them--a member of the same system and subject to the same +laws--the question of their origin, their causal connexion, that is, +with the other phaenomena of the universe, must have attracted his +attention, as soon as his intelligence had raised itself above the level +of his daily wants. + +Indeed history relates that such was the case, and has embalmed for us +the speculations upon the origin of living beings, which were among the +earliest products of the dawning intellectual activity of man. In those +early days positive knowledge was not to be had, but the craving after +it needed, at all hazards, to be satisfied, and according to the +country, or the turn of thought of the speculator, the suggestion that +all living things arose from the mud of the Nile, from a primeval egg, +or from some more anthropomorphic agency, afforded a sufficient +resting-place for his curiosity. The myths of Paganism are as dead as +Osiris or Zeus, and the man who should revive them, in opposition to the +knowledge of our time, would be justly laughed to scorn; but the coeval +imaginations current among the rude inhabitants of Palestine, recorded +by writers whose very name and age are admitted by every scholar to be +unknown, have unfortunately not yet shared their fate, but, even at this +day, are regarded by nine-tenths of the civilized world as the +authoritative standard of fact and the criterion of the justice of +scientific conclusions, in all that relates to the origin of things, +and, among them, of species. In this nineteenth century, as at the dawn +of modern physical science, the cosmogony of the semi-barbarous Hebrew +is the incubus of the philosopher and the opprobrium of the orthodox. +Who shall number the patient and earnest seekers after truth, from the +days of Galileo until now, whose lives have been embittered and their +good name blasted by the mistaken zeal of Bibliolaters? Who shall count +the host of weaker men whose sense of truth has been destroyed in the +effort to harmonize impossibilities--whose life has been wasted in the +attempt to force the generous new wine of Science into the old bottles +of Judaism, compelled by the outcry of the same strong party? + +It is true that if philosophers have suffered, their cause has been +amply avenged. Extinguished theologians lie about the cradle of every +science as the strangled snakes beside that of Hercules; and history +records that whenever science and orthodoxy have been fairly opposed, +the latter has been forced to retire from the lists, bleeding and +crushed, if not annihilated; scotched, if not slain. But orthodoxy is +the Bourbon of the world of thought. It learns not, neither can it +forget; and though, at present, bewildered and afraid to move, it is as +willing as ever to insist that the first chapter of Genesis contains the +beginning and the end of sound science; and to visit, with such petty +thunderbolts as its half-paralysed hands can hurl, those who refuse to +degrade Nature to the level of primitive Judaism. + +Philosophers, on the other hand, have no such aggressive tendencies. +With eyes fixed on the noble goal to which "per aspera et ardua" they +tend, they may, now and then, be stirred to momentary wrath by the +unnecessary obstacles with which the ignorant, or the malicious, +encumber, if they cannot bar, the difficult path; but why should their +souls be deeply vexed? The majesty of Fact is on their side, and the +elemental forces of Nature are working for them. Not a star comes to the +meridian at its calculated time but testifies to the justice of their +methods--their beliefs are "one with the falling rain and with the +growing corn." By doubt they are established, and open inquiry is their +bosom friend. Such men have no fear of traditions however venerable, and +no respect for them when they become mischievous and obstructive; but +they have better than mere antiquarian business in hand, and if dogmas, +which ought to be fossil but are not, are not forced upon their notice, +they are too happy to treat them as non-existent. + + +The hypotheses respecting the origin of species which profess to stand +upon a scientific basis, and, as such, alone demand serious attention, +are of two kinds. The one, the "special creation" hypothesis, presumes +every species to have originated from one or more stocks, these not +being the result of the modification of any other form of living +matter--or arising by natural agencies--but being produced, as such, by +a supernatural creative act. + +The other, the so-called "transmutation" hypothesis, considers that all +existing species are the result of the modification of pre-existing +species, and those of their predecessors, by agencies similar to those +which at the present day produce varieties and races, and therefore in +an altogether natural way; and it is a probable, though not a necessary +consequence of this hypothesis, that all living beings have arisen from +a single stock. With respect to the origin of this primitive stock, or +stocks, the doctrine of the origin of species is obviously not +necessarily concerned. The transmutation hypothesis, for example, is +perfectly consistent either with the conception of a special creation of +the primitive germ, or with the supposition of its having arisen, as a +modification of inorganic matter, by natural causes. + +The doctrine of special creation owes its existence very largely to the +supposed necessity of making science accord with the Hebrew cosmogony; +but it is curious to observe that, as the doctrine is at present +maintained by men of science, it is as hopelessly inconsistent with the +Hebrew view as any other hypothesis. + +If there be any result which has come more clearly out of geological +investigation than another, it is, that the vast series of extinct +animals and plants is not divisible, as it was once supposed to be, into +distinct groups, separated by sharply marked boundaries. There are no +great gulfs between epochs and formations--no successive periods marked +by the appearance of plants, of water animals, and of land animals, _en +masse_. Every year adds to the list of links between what the older +geologists supposed to be widely separated epochs: witness the crags +linking the drift with the older tertiaries; the Maestricht beds linking +the tertiaries with the chalk; the St. Cassian beds exhibiting an +abundant fauna of mixed mesozoic and palaeozoic types, in rocks of an +epoch once supposed to be eminently poor in life; witness, lastly, the +incessant disputes as to whether a given stratum shall be reckoned +devonian or carboniferous, silurian or devonian, cambrian or silurian. + +This truth is further illustrated in a most interesting manner by the +impartial and highly competent testimony of M. Pictet, from whose +calculations of what percentage of the genera of animals, existing in +any formation, lived during the preceding formation, it results that in +no case is the proportion less than _one-third_, or 33 per cent. It is +the triassic formation, or the commencement of the mesozoic epoch, which +has received this smallest inheritance from preceding ages. The other +formations not uncommonly exhibit 60, 80, or even 94 per cent. of genera +in common with those whose remains are imbedded in their predecessor. +Not only is this true, but the subdivisions of each formation exhibit +new species characteristic of, and found only in, them; and, in many +cases, as in the lias for example, the separate beds of these +subdivisions are distinguished by well-marked and peculiar forms of +life. A section, a hundred feet thick, will exhibit, at different +heights, a dozen species of ammonite, none of which passes beyond its +particular zone of limestone, or clay, into the zone below it or into +that above it; so that those who adopt the doctrine of special creation +must be prepared to admit that at intervals of time, corresponding with +the thickness of these beds, the Creator thought fit to interfere with +the natural course of events for the purpose of making a new ammonite. +It is not easy to transplant oneself into the frame of mind of those who +can accept such a conclusion as this, on any evidence short of absolute +demonstration; and it is difficult to see what is to be gained by so +doing, since, as we have said, it is obvious that such a view of the +origin of living beings is utterly opposed to the Hebrew cosmogony. +Deserving no aid from the powerful arm of bibliolatry, then, does the +received form of the hypothesis of special creation derive any support +from science or sound logic? Assuredly not much. The arguments brought +forward in its favour all take one form: If species were not +supernaturally created, we cannot understand the facts _x_, or _y_, or +_z_; we cannot understand the structure of animals or plants, unless we +suppose they were contrived for special ends; we cannot understand the +structure of the eye, except by supposing it to have been made to see +with; we cannot understand instincts, unless we suppose animals to have +been miraculously endowed with them. + +As a question of dialectics, it must be admitted that this sort of +reasoning is not very formidable to those who are not to be frightened +by consequences. It is an _argumentum ad ignorantiam_--take this +explanation or be ignorant. But suppose we prefer to admit our ignorance +rather than adopt a hypothesis at variance with all the teachings of +Nature? Or, suppose for a moment we admit the explanation, and then +seriously ask ourselves how much the wiser are we; what does the +explanation explain? Is it any more than a grandiloquent way of +announcing the fact, that we really know nothing about the matter? A +phenomenon is explained when it is shown to be a case of some general +law of Nature; but the supernatural interposition of the Creator can, by +the nature of the case, exemplify no law, and if species have really +arisen in this way, it is absurd to attempt to discuss their origin. + +Or, lastly, let us ask ourselves whether any amount of evidence which +the nature of our faculties permits us to attain, can justify us in +asserting that any phaenomenon is out of the reach of natural causation. +To this end it is obviously necessary that we should know all the +consequences to which all possible combinations, continued through +unlimited time, can give rise. If we knew these, and found none +competent to originate species, we should have good ground for denying +their origin by natural causation. Till we know them, any hypothesis is +better than one which involves us in such miserable presumption. + +But the hypothesis of special creation is not only a mere specious mask +for our ignorance; its existence in Biology marks the youth and +imperfection of the science. For what is the history of every science +but the history of the elimination of the notion of creative, or other +interferences, with the natural order of the phaenomena which are the +subject-matter of that science? When Astronomy was young "the morning +stars sang together for joy," and the planets were guided in their +courses by celestial hands. Now, the harmony of the stars has resolved +itself into gravitation according to the inverse squares of the +distances, and the orbits of the planets are deducible from the laws of +the forces which allow a schoolboy's stone to break a window. The +lightning was the angel of the Lord; but it has pleased Providence, in +these modern times, that science should make it the humble messenger of +man, and we know that every flash that shimmers about the horizon on a +summer's evening is determined by ascertainable conditions, and that its +direction and brightness might, if our knowledge of these were great +enough, have been calculated. + +The solvency of great mercantile companies rests on the validity of the +laws which have been ascertained to govern the seeming irregularity of +that human life which the moralist bewails as the most uncertain of +things; plague, pestilence, and famine are admitted, by all but fools, +to be the natural result of causes for the most part fully within human +control, and not the unavoidable tortures inflicted by wrathful +Omnipotence upon his helpless handiwork. + +Harmonious order governing eternally continuous progress--the web and +woof of matter and force interweaving by slow degrees, without a broken +thread, that veil which lies between us and the Infinite--that universe +which alone we know or can know; such is the picture which science draws +of the world, and in proportion as any part of that picture is in unison +with the rest, so may we feel sure that it is rightly painted. Shall +Biology alone remain out of harmony with her sister sciences? + +Such arguments against the hypothesis of the direct creation of species +as these are plainly enough deducible from general considerations; but +there are, in addition, phaenomena exhibited by species themselves, and +yet not so much a part of their very essence as to have required earlier +mention, which are in the highest degree perplexing, if we adopt the +popularly accepted hypothesis. Such are the facts of distribution in +space and in time; the singular phaenomena brought to light by the study +of development; the structural relations of species upon which our +systems of classification are founded; the great doctrines of +philosophical anatomy, such as that of homology, or of the community of +structural plan exhibited by large groups of species differing very +widely in their habits and functions. + +The species of animals which inhabit the sea on opposite sides of the +isthmus of Panama are wholly distinct;[63] the animals and plants which +inhabit islands are commonly distinct from those of the neighbouring +mainlands, and yet have a similarity of aspect. The mammals of the +latest tertiary epoch in the Old and New Worlds belong to the same +genera, or family groups, as those which now inhabit the same great +geographical area. The crocodilian reptiles which existed in the +earliest secondary epoch were similar in general structure to those now +living, but exhibit slight differences in their vertebrae, nasal +passages, and one or two other points. The guinea-pig has teeth which +are shed before it is born, and hence can never subserve the masticatory +purpose for which they seem contrived, and, in like manner, the female +dugong has tusks which never cut the gum. All the members of the same +great group run through similar conditions in their development, and all +their parts, in the adult state, are arranged according to the same +plan. Man is more like a gorilla than a gorilla is like a lemur. Such +are a few, taken at random, among the multitudes of similar facts which +modern research has established; but when the student seeks for an +explanation of them from the supporters of the received hypothesis of +the origin of species, the reply he receives is, in substance, of +Oriental simplicity and brevity--"Mashallah! it so pleases God!" There +are different species on opposite sides of the isthmus of Panama, +because they were created different on the two sides. The pliocene +mammals are like the existing ones, because such was the plan of +creation; and we find rudimental organs and similarity of plan, because +it has pleased the Creator to set before himself a "divine exemplar or +archetype," and to copy it in his works; and somewhat ill, those who +hold this view imply, in some of them. That such verbal hocus-pocus +should be received as science will one day be regarded as evidence of +the low state of intelligence in the nineteenth century, just as we +amuse ourselves with the phraseology about Nature's abhorrence of a +vacuum, wherewith Torricelli's compatriots were satisfied to explain the +rise of water in a pump. And be it recollected that this sort of +satisfaction works not only negative but positive ill, by discouraging +inquiry, and so depriving man of the usufruct of one of the most fertile +fields of his great patrimony, Nature. + +The objections to the doctrine of the origin of species by special +creation which have been detailed, must have occurred, with more or less +force, to the mind of every one who has seriously and independently +considered the subject. It is therefore no wonder that, from time to +time, this hypothesis should have been met by counter hypotheses, all as +well, and some better, founded than itself; and it is curious to remark +that the inventors of the opposing views seem to have been led into them +as much by their knowledge of geology, as by their acquaintance with +biology. In fact, when the mind has once admitted the conception of the +gradual production of the present physical state of our globe, by +natural causes operating through long ages of time, it will be little +disposed to allow that living beings have made their appearance in +another way, and the speculations of De Maillet and his successors are +the natural complement of Scilla's demonstration of the true nature of +fossils. + +A contemporary of Newton and of Leibnitz, sharing therefore in the +intellectual activity of the remarkable age which witnessed the birth of +modern physical science, Benoit de Maillet spent a long life as a +consular agent of the French Government in various Mediterranean ports. +For sixteen years, in fact, he held the office of Consul-General in +Egypt, and the wonderful phaenomena offered by the valley of the Nile +appear to have strongly impressed his mind, to have directed his +attention to all facts of a similar order which came within his +observation, and to have led him to speculate on the origin of the +present condition of our globe and of its inhabitants. But, with all his +ardour for science, De Maillet seems to have hesitated to publish views +which, notwithstanding the ingenious attempts to reconcile them with the +Hebrew hypothesis contained in the preface to "Telliamed," were hardly +likely to be received with favour by his contemporaries. + +But a short time had elapsed since more than one of the great anatomists +and physicists of the Italian school had paid dearly for their +endeavours to dissipate some of the prevalent errors; and their +illustrious pupil, Harvey, the founder of modern physiology, had not +fared so well, in a country less oppressed by the benumbing influences +of theology, as to tempt any man to follow his example. Probably not +uninfluenced by these considerations, his Catholic majesty's +Consul-General for Egypt kept his theories to himself throughout a long +life, for "Telliamed," the only scientific work which is known to have +proceeded from his pen, was not printed till 1735, when its author had +reached the ripe age of seventy-nine; and though De Maillet lived three +years longer, his book was not given to the world before 1748. Even then +it was anonymous to those who were not in the secret of the anagramatic +character of its title; and the preface and dedication are so worded as, +in case of necessity, to give the printer a fair chance of falling back +on the excuse that the work was intended for a mere _jeu d'esprit_. + +The speculations of the supposititious Indian sage, though quite as +sound as those of many a "Mosaic Geology," which sells exceedingly well, +have no great value if we consider them by the light of modern science. +The waters are supposed to have originally covered the whole globe; to +have deposited the rocky masses which compose its mountains by processes +comparable to those which are now forming mud, sand, and shingle; and +then to have gradually lowered their level, leaving the spoils of their +animal and vegetable inhabitants embedded in the strata. As the dry land +appeared, certain of the aquatic animals are supposed to have taken to +it, and to have become gradually adapted to terrestrial and aerial modes +of existence. But if we regard the general tenor and style of the +reasoning in relation to the state of knowledge of the day, two +circumstances appear very well worthy of remark. The first, that De +Maillet had a notion of the modifiability of living forms (though +without any precise information on the subject), and how such +modifiability might account for the origin of species; the second, that +he very clearly apprehended the great modern geological doctrine, so +strongly insisted upon by Hutton, and so ably and comprehensively +expounded by Lyell, that we must look to existing causes for the +explanation of past geological events. Indeed, the following passage of +the preface, in which De Maillet is supposed to speak of the Indian +philosopher Telliamed, his _alter ego_, might have been written by the +most philosophical uniformitarian of the present day:-- + + "Ce qu'il y a d'etonnant, est que pour arriver a ces connoissances + il semble avoir perverti l'ordre naturel, pui-qu'au lieu de + s'attacher d'abord a rechercher l'origine de notre globe il a + commence par travailler a s'instruire de la nature. Mais a + l'entendre, ce renversement de l'ordre a ete pour lui l'effet d'un + genie favorable qui l'a conduit pas a pas et comme par la main aux + decouvertes les plus sublimes. C'est en decomposant la substance de + ce globe par une anatomie exacte de toutes ses parties qu'il a + premierement appris de quelles matieres il etait compose et quels + arrangemens ces memes matieres observaient entre elles. Ces + lumieres jointes a l'esprit de comparaison toujours necessaire a + quiconque entreprend de percer les voiles dont la nature aime a se + cacher, ont servi de guide a notre philosophe pour parvenir a des + connoissances plus interessantes. Par la matiere et l'arrangement + de ces compositions il pretend avoir reconnu quelle est la + veritable origine de ce globe que nous habitons, comment et par qui + il a ete forme."--Pp. xix. xx. + +But De Maillet was before his age, and as could hardly fail to happen to +one who speculated on a zoological and botanical question before +Linnaeus, and on a physiological problem before Haller, he fell into +great errors here and there; and hence, perhaps, the general neglect of +his work. Robinet's speculations are rather behind, than in advance of, +those of De Maillet; and though Linnaeus may have played with the +hypothesis of transmutation, it obtained no serious support until +Lamarck adopted it, and advocated it with great ability in his +"Philosophie Zoologique." + +Impelled towards the hypothesis of the transmutation of species, partly +by his general cosmological and geological views; partly by the +conception of a graduated, though irregularly branching, scale of being, +which had arisen out of his profound study of plants and of the lower +forms of animal life, Lamarck, whose general line of thought often +closely resembles that of De Maillet, made a great advance upon the +crude and merely speculative manner in which that writer deals with the +question of the origin of living beings, by endeavouring to find +physical causes competent to effect that change of one species into +another, which De Maillet had only supposed to occur. And Lamarck +conceived that he had found in Nature such causes, amply sufficient for +the purpose in view. It is a physiological fact, he says, that organs +are increased in size by action, atrophied by inaction; it is another +physiological fact that modifications produced are transmissible to +offspring. Change the actions of an animal, therefore, and you will +change its structure, by increasing the development of the parts newly +brought into use and by the diminution of those less used; but by +altering the circumstances which surround it you will alter its actions, +and hence, in the long run, change of circumstance must produce change +of organization. All the species of animals, therefore, are, in +Lamarck's view, the result of the indirect action of changes of +circumstance upon those primitive germs which he considered to have +originally arisen, by spontaneous generation, within the waters of the +globe. It is curious, however, that Lamarck should insist so +strongly[64] as he has done, that circumstances never in any degree +directly modify the form or the organization of animals, but only +operate by changing their wants and consequently their actions; for he +thereby brings upon himself the obvious question, how, then, do plants, +which cannot be said to have wants or actions, become modified? To this +he replies, that they are modified by the changes in their nutritive +processes, which are effected by changing circumstances; and it does not +seem to have occurred to him that such changes might be as well supposed +to take place among animals. + +When we have said that Lamarck felt that mere speculation was not the +way to arrive at the origin of species, but that it was necessary, in +order to the establishment of any sound theory on the subject, to +discover by observation or otherwise, some _vera causa_, competent to +give rise to them; that he affirmed the true order of classification to +coincide with the order of their development one from another; that he +insisted on the necessity of allowing sufficient time, very strongly; +and that all the varieties of instinct and reason were traced back by +him to the same cause as that which has given rise to species, we have +enumerated his chief contributions to the advance of the question. On +the other hand, from his ignorance of any power in Nature competent to +modify the structure of animals, except the development of parts, or +atrophy of them, in consequence of a change of needs, Lamarck was led to +attach infinitely greater weight than it deserves to this agency, and +the absurdities into which he was led have met with deserved +condemnation. Of the struggle for existence, on which, as, we shall +see, Mr. Darwin lays such great stress, he had no conception; indeed, he +doubts whether there really are such things as extinct species, unless +they be such large animals as may have met their death at the hands of +man; and so little does he dream of there being any other destructive +causes at work, that, in discussing the possible existence of fossil +shells, he asks, "Pourquoi d'ailleurs seroient-ils perdues des que +l'homme n'a pu operer leur destruction?" (Phil. Zool., vol. i. p. 77.) +Of the influence of selection Lamarck has as little notion, and he makes +no use of the wonderful phaenomena which are exhibited by domesticated +animals, and illustrate its powers. The vast influence of Cuvier was +employed against the Lamarckian views, and, as the untenability of some +of his conclusions was easily shown, his doctrines sank under the +opprobium of scientific, as well as of theological, heterodoxy. Nor have +the efforts made of late years to revive them tended to re-establish +their credit in the minds of sound thinkers acquainted with the facts of +the case; indeed it may be doubted whether Lamarck has not suffered more +from his friends than from his foes. + +Two years ago, in fact, though we venture to question if even the +strongest supporters of the special creation hypothesis had not, now and +then, an uneasy consciousness that all was not right, their position +seemed more impregnable than ever, if not by its own inherent strength, +at any rate by the obvious failure of all the attempts which had been +made to carry it. On the other hand, however much the few, who thought +deeply on the question of species, might be repelled by the generally +received dogmas, they saw no way of escaping from them, save by the +adoption of suppositions, so little justified by experiment or by +observation, as to be at least equally distasteful. + +The choice lay between two absurdities and a middle condition of uneasy +scepticism; which last, however unpleasant and unsatisfactory, was +obviously the only justifiable state of mind under the circumstances. + +Such being the general ferment in the minds of naturalists, it is no +wonder that they mustered strong in the rooms of the Linnaean Society, on +the 1st of July of the year 1858, to hear two papers by authors living +on opposite sides of the globe, working out their results independently, +and yet professing to have discovered one and the same solution of all +the problems connected with species. The one of these authors was an +able naturalist, Mr. Wallace, who had been employed for some years in +studying the productions of the islands of the Indian Archipelago, and +who had forwarded a memoir embodying his views to Mr. Darwin, for +communication to the Linnaean Society. On perusing the essay, Mr. Darwin +was not a little surprised to find that it embodied some of the leading +ideas of a great work which he had been preparing for twenty years, and +parts of which, containing a development of the very same views, had +been perused by his private friends fifteen or sixteen years before. +Perplexed in what manner to do full justice both to his friend and to +himself, Mr. Darwin placed the matter in the hands of Dr. Hooker and Sir +Charles Lyell, by whose advice he communicated a brief abstract of his +own views to the Linnaean Society, at the same time that Mr. Wallace's +paper was read. Of that abstract, the work on the "Origin of Species" is +an enlargement; but a complete statement of Mr. Darwin's doctrine is +looked for in the large and well-illustrated work which he is said to be +preparing for publication. + + +The Darwinian hypothesis has the merit of being eminently simple and +comprehensible in principle, and its essential positions may be stated +in a very few words: all species have been produced by the development +of varieties from common stocks by the conversion of these first into +permanent races and then into new species, by the process of _natural +selection_, which process is essentially identical with that artificial +selection by which man has originated the races of domestic animals--the +_struggle for existence_ taking the place of man, and exerting, in the +case of natural selection, that selective action which he performs in +artificial selection. + +The evidence brought forward by Mr. Darwin in support of his hypothesis +is of three kinds. First, he endeavours to prove that species may be +originated by selection; secondly, he attempts to show that natural +causes are competent to exert selection; and thirdly, he tries to prove +that the most remarkable and apparently anomalous phaenomena exhibited by +the distribution, development, and mutual relations of species, can be +shown to be deducible from the general doctrine of their origin, which +he propounds, combined with the known facts of geological change; and +that, even if all these phaenomena are not at present explicable by it, +none are necessarily inconsistent with it. + +There cannot be a doubt that the method of inquiry which Mr. Darwin has +adopted is not only rigorously in accordance with the canons of +scientific logic, but that it is the only adequate method. Critics +exclusively trained in classics or in mathematics, who have never +determined a scientific fact in their lives by induction from experiment +or observation, prate learnedly about Mr. Darwin's method, which is not +inductive enough, not Baconian enough, forsooth, for them. But even if +practical acquaintance with the process of scientific investigation is +denied them, they may learn, by the perusal of Mr. Mill's admirable +chapter "On the Deductive Method," that there are multitudes of +scientific inquiries, in which the method of pure induction helps the +investigator but a very little way. + + "The mode of investigation," says Mr. Mill, "which, from the proved + inapplicability of direct methods of observation and experiment, + remains to us as the main source of the knowledge we possess, or + can acquire, respecting the conditions and laws of recurrence of + the more complex phaenomena, is called, in its most general + expression, the deductive method, and consists of three operations: + the first, one of direct induction; the second, of ratiocination; + and the third, of verification." + +Now, the conditions which have determined the existence of species are +not only exceedingly complex, but, so far as the great majority of them +are concerned, are necessarily beyond our cognizance. But what Mr. +Darwin has attempted to do is in exact accordance with the rule laid +down by Mr. Mill; he has endeavoured to determine certain great facts +inductively, by observation and experiment; he has then reasoned from +the data thus furnished; and lastly, he has tested the validity of his +ratiocination by comparing his deductions with the observed facts of +Nature. Inductively, Mr. Darwin endeavours to prove that species arise +in a given way. Deductively, he desires to show that, if they arise in +that way, the facts of distribution, development, classification, &c., +may be accounted for, _i.e._ may be deduced from their mode of origin, +combined with admitted changes in physical geography and climate, during +an indefinite period. And this explanation, or coincidence of observed +with deduced facts, is, so far as it extends, a verification of the +Darwinian view. + +There is no fault to be found with Mr. Darwin's method, then; but it is +another question whether he has fulfilled all the conditions imposed by +that method. Is it satisfactorily proved, in fact, that species may be +originated by selection? that there is such a thing as natural +selection? that none of the phaenomena exhibited by species are +inconsistent with the origin of species in this way? If these questions +can be answered in the affirmative, Mr. Darwin's view steps out of the +ranks of hypotheses into those of proved theories; but, so long as the +evidence at present adduced falls short of enforcing that affirmation, +so long, to our minds, must the new doctrine be content to remain among +the former--an extremely valuable, and in the highest degree probable, +doctrine, indeed the only extant hypothesis which is worth anything in a +scientific point of view; but still a hypothesis, and not yet the theory +of species. + +After much consideration, and with assuredly no bias against Mr. +Darwin's views, it is our clear conviction that, as the evidence stands, +it is not absolutely proven that a group of animals, having all the +characters exhibited by species in Nature, has ever been originated by +selection, whether artificial or natural. Groups having the +morphological character of species, distinct and permanent races in +fact, have been so produced over and over again; but there is no +positive evidence, at present, that any group of animals has, by +variation and selective breeding, given rise to another group which was +even in the least degree infertile with the first. Mr. Darwin is +perfectly aware of this weak point, and brings forward a multitude of +ingenious and important arguments to diminish the force of the +objection. We admit the value of these arguments to their fullest +extent; nay, we will go so far as to express our belief that +experiments, conducted by a skilful physiologist, would very probably +obtain the desired production of mutually more or less infertile breeds +from a common stock, in a comparatively few years; but still, as the +case stands at present, this "little rift within the lute" is not to be +disguised nor overlooked. + +In the remainder of Mr. Darwin's argument our own private ingenuity has +not hitherto enabled us to pick holes of any great importance; and +judging by what we hear and read, other adventurers in the same field do +not seem to have been much more fortunate. It has been urged, for +instance, that in his chapters on the struggle for existence and on +natural selection, Mr. Darwin does not so much prove that natural +selection does occur, as that it must occur; but, in fact, no other sort +of demonstration is attainable. A race does not attract our attention in +Nature until it has, in all probability, existed for a considerable +time, and then it is too late to inquire into the conditions of its +origin. Again, it is said that there is no real analogy between the +selection which takes place under domestication, by human influence, and +any operation which can be effected by Nature, for man interferes +intelligently. Reduced to its elements, this argument implies that an +effect produced with trouble by an intelligent agent must, _a fortiori_, +be more troublesome, if not impossible, to an unintelligent agent. Even +putting aside the question whether Nature, acting as she does according +to definite and invariable laws, can be rightly called an unintelligent +agent, such a position as this is wholly untenable. Mix salt and sand, +and it shall puzzle the wisest of men, with his mere natural appliances, +to separate all the grains of sand from all the grains of salt; but a +shower of rain will effect the same object in ten minutes. And so, while +man may find it tax all his intelligence to separate any variety which +arises, and to breed selectively from it, the destructive agencies +incessantly at work in Nature, if they find one variety to be more +soluble in circumstances than the other, will inevitably, in the long +run, eliminate it. + +A frequent and a just objection to the Lamarckian hypothesis of the +transmutation of species is based upon the absence of transitional forms +between many species. But against the Darwinian hypothesis this argument +has no force. Indeed, one of the most valuable and suggestive parts of +Mr. Darwin's work is that in which he proves, that the frequent absence +of transitions is a necessary consequence of his doctrine, and that the +stock whence two or more species have sprung, need in no respect be +intermediate between these species. If any two species have arisen from +a common stock in the same way as the carrier and the pouter, say, have +arisen from the rock-pigeon, then the common stock of these two species +need be no more intermediate between the two than the rock-pigeon is +between the carrier and pouter. Clearly appreciate the force of this +analogy, and all the arguments against the origin of species by +selection, based on the absence of transitional forms, fall to the +ground. And Mr. Darwin's position might, we think, have been even +stronger than it is if he had not embarrassed himself with the aphorism, +"_Natura non facit saltum_," which turns up so often in his pages. We +believe, as we have said above, that Nature does make jumps now and +then, and a recognition of the fact is of no small importance in +disposing of many minor objections to the doctrine of transmutation. + +But we must pause. The discussion of Mr. Darwin's arguments in detail +would lead us far beyond the limits within which we proposed, at +starting, to confine this article. Our object has been attained if we +have given an intelligible, however brief, account of the established +facts connected with species, and of the relation of the explanation of +those facts offered by Mr. Darwin to the theoretical views held by his +predecessors and his contemporaries, and, above all, to the requirements +of scientific logic. We have ventured to point out that it does not, as +yet, satisfy all those requirements; but we do not hesitate to assert +that it is as superior to any preceding or contemporary hypothesis, in +the extent of observational and experimental basis on which it rests, in +its rigorously scientific method, and in its power of explaining +biological phaenomena, as was the hypothesis of Copernicus to the +speculations of Ptolemy. But the planetary orbits turned out to be not +quite circular after all, and, grand as was the service Copernicus +rendered to science, Kepler and Newton had to come after him. What if +the orbit of Darwinism should be a little too circular? What if species +should offer residual phaenomena, here and there, not explicable by +natural selection? Twenty years hence naturalists may be in a position +to say whether this is, or is not, the case; but in either event they +will owe the author of "The Origin of Species" an immense debt of +gratitude. We should leave a very wrong impression on the reader's mind +if we permitted him to suppose that the value of that work depends +wholly on the ultimate justification of the theoretical views which it +contains. On the contrary, if they were disproved to-morrow, the book +would still be the best of its kind--the most compendious statement of +well-sifted facts bearing on the doctrine of species that has ever +appeared. The chapters on Variation, on the Struggle for Existence, on +Instinct, on Hybridism, on the Imperfection of the Geological Record, on +Geographical Distribution, have not only no equals, but, so far as our +knowledge goes, no competitors, within the range of biological +literature. And viewed as a whole, we do not believe that, since the +publication of Von Baer's Researches on Development, thirty years ago, +any work has appeared calculated to exert so large an influence, not +only on the future of Biology, but in extending the domination of +Science over regions of thought into which she has, as yet, hardly +penetrated. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[61] On the Osteology of the Chimpanzees and Orangs: Transactions of the +Zoological Society, 1858. + +[62] Colonel Humphreys' statements are exceedingly explicit on this +point:--"When an Ancon ewe is impregnated by a common ram, the increase +resembles wholly either the ewe or the ram. The increase of the common +ewe impregnated by an Ancon ram follows entirely the one or the other, +without blending any of the distinguishing and essential peculiarities +of both. Frequent instances have happened where common ewes have had +twins by Ancon rams, when one exhibited the complete marks and features +of the ewe, the other of the ram. The contrast has been rendered +singularly striking, when one short-legged and one long-legged lamb, +produced at a birth, have been seen sucking the dam at the same +time."--_Philosophical Transactions_, 1813, Pt. I., pp. 89, 90. + +[63] Recent investigations tend to show that this statement is not +strictly accurate.--1870. + +[64] See Phil. Zoologique, vol. i. p. 222, et seq. + + + + +XIII. + +CRITICISMS ON "THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES." + + 1. UEBER DIE DARWIN'SCHE SCHOePFUNGSTHEORIE; EIN VORTAG, VON A. + KOeLLIKER. Leipzig, 1864. + + 2. EXAMINATION DU LIVRE DE M. DARWIN SUR L'ORIGINE DES ESPECES. + PAR P. FLOURENS. Paris, 1864. + + +In the course of the present year [1864] several foreign commentaries +upon Mr. Darwin's great work have made their appearance. Those who have +perused that remarkable chapter of the "Antiquity of Man," in which Sir +Charles Lyell draws a parallel between the development of species and +that of languages, will be glad to hear that one of the most eminent +philologers of Germany, Professor Schleicher, has, independently, +published a most instructive and philosophical pamphlet (an excellent +notice of which is to be found in the _Reader_, for February 27th of +this year) supporting similar views with all the weight of his special +knowledge and established authority as a linguist. Professor Haeckel, to +whom Schleicher addresses himself, previously took occasion, in his +splendid monograph on the _Radiolaria_,[65] to express his high +appreciation of, and general concordance with, Mr. Darwin's views. + +But the most elaborate criticisms of the "Origin of Species" which have +appeared are two works of very widely different merit, the one by +Professor Koelliker, the well-known anatomist and histologist of +Wuerzburg; the other by M. Flourens, Perpetual Secretary of the French +Academy of Sciences. + +Professor Koelliker's critical essay "Upon the Darwinian Theory" is, like +all that proceeds from the pen of that thoughtful and accomplished +writer, worthy of the most careful consideration. It comprises a brief +but clear sketch of Darwin's views, followed by an enumeration of the +leading difficulties in the way of their acceptance; difficulties which +would appear to be insurmountable to Professor Koelliker, inasmuch as he +proposes to replace Mr. Darwin's Theory by one which he terms the +"Theory of Heterogeneous Generation." We shall proceed to consider first +the destructive, and secondly, the constructive portion of the essay. + +We regret to find ourselves compelled to dissent very widely from many +of Professor Koelliker's remarks; and from none more thoroughly than from +those in which he seeks to define what we may term the philosophical +position of Darwinism. + + "Darwin," says Professor Koelliker, "is, in the fullest sense of the + Word, a Teleologist. He says quite distinctly (First Edition, pp. + 199, 200) that every particular in the structure of an animal has + been created for its benefit, and he regards the whole series of + animal forms only from this point of view." + +And again: + + "7. The teleological general conception adopted by Darwin is a + mistaken one. + + "Varieties arise irrespectively of the notion of purpose, or of + utility, according to general laws of Nature, and may be either + useful, or hurtful, or indifferent. + + "The assumption that an organism exists only on account of some + definite end in view, and represents something more than the + incorporation of a general idea, or law, implies a one-sided + conception of the universe. Assuredly, every organ has, and every + organism fulfils, its end, but its purpose is not the condition of + its existence. Every organism is also sufficiently perfect for the + purpose it serves, and in that, at least, it is useless to seek for + a cause of its improvement." + +It is singular how differently one and the same book will impress +different minds. That which struck the present writer most forcibly on +his first perusal of the "Origin of Species" was the conviction that +Teleology, as commonly understood, had received its deathblow at Mr. +Darwin's hands. For the teleological argument runs thus: an organ or +organism (A) is precisely fitted to perform a function or purpose (B); +therefore it was specially constructed to perform that function. In +Paley's famous illustration, the adaptation of all the parts of the +watch to the function, or purpose, of showing the time, is held to be +evidence that the watch was specially contrived to that end; on the +ground, that the only cause we know of, competent to produce such an +effect as a watch which shall keep time, is a contriving intelligence +adapting the means directly to that end. + +Suppose, however, that any one had been able to show that the watch had +not been made directly by any person, but that it was the result of the +modification of another watch which kept time but poorly; and that this +again had proceeded from a structure which could hardly be called a +watch at all--seeing that it had no figures on the dial and the hands +were rudimentary; and that going back and back in time we came at last +to a revolving barrel as the earliest traceable rudiment of the whole +fabric. And imagine that it had been possible to show that all these +changes had resulted, first, from a tendency of the structure to vary +indefinitely; and secondly, from something in the surrounding world +which helped all variations in the direction of an accurate time-keeper, +and checked all those in other directions; then it is obvious that the +force of Paley's argument would be gone. For it would be demonstrated +that an apparatus thoroughly well adapted to a particular purpose might +be the result of a method of trial and error worked by unintelligent +agents, as well as of the direct application of the means appropriate to +that end, by an intelligent agent. + +Now it appears to us that what we have here, for illustration's sake, +supposed to be done with the watch, is exactly what the establishment of +Darwin's Theory will do for the organic world. For the notion that every +organism has been created as it is and launched straight at a purpose, +Mr. Darwin substitutes the conception of something which may fairly be +termed a method of trial and error. Organisms vary incessantly; of these +variations the few meet with surrounding conditions which suit them and +thrive; the many are unsuited and become extinguished. + +According to Teleology, each organism is like a rifle bullet fired +straight at a mark; according to Darwin, organisms are like grapeshot of +which one hits something and the rest fall wide. + +For the teleologist an organism exists because it was made for the +conditions in which it is found; for the Darwinian an organism exists +because, out of many of its kind, it is the only one which has been +able to persist in the conditions in which it is found. + +Teleology implies that the organs of every organism are perfect and +cannot be improved; the Darwinian theory simply affirms that they work +well enough to enable the organism to hold its own against such +competitors as it has met with, but admits the possibility of indefinite +improvement. But an example may bring into clearer light the profound +opposition between the ordinary teleological, and the Darwinian, +conception. + +Cats catch mice, small birds and the like, very well. Teleology tells us +that they do so because they were expressly constructed for so +doing--that they are perfect mousing apparatuses, so perfect and so +delicately adjusted that no one of their organs could be altered, +without the change involving the alteration of all the rest. Darwinism +affirms, on the contrary, that there was no express construction +concerned in the matter; but that among the multitudinous variations of +the Feline stock, many of which died out from want of power to resist +opposing influences, some, the cats, were better fitted to catch mice +than others, whence they throve and persisted, in proportion to the +advantage over their fellows thus offered to them. + +Far from imagining that cats exist _in order_ to catch mice well, +Darwinism supposes that cats exist _because_ they catch mice +well--mousing being not the end, but the condition, of their existence. +And if the cat-type has long persisted as we know it, the interpretation +of the fact upon Darwinian principles would be, not that the cats have +remained invariable, but that such varieties as have incessantly +occurred have been, on the whole, less fitted to get on in the world +than the existing stock. + +If we apprehend the spirit of the "Origin of Species" rightly, then, +nothing can be more entirely and absolutely opposed to Teleology, as it +is commonly understood, than the Darwinian Theory. So far from being a +"Teleologist in the fullest sense of the word," we should deny that he +is a Teleologist in the ordinary sense at all; and we should say that, +apart from his merits as a naturalist, he has rendered a most remarkable +service to philosophical thought by enabling the student of Nature to +recognise, to their fullest extent, those adaptations to purpose which +are so striking in the organic world, and which Teleology has done good +service in keeping before our minds, without being false to the +fundamental principles of a scientific conception of the universe. The +apparently diverging teachings of the Teleologist and of the +Morphologist are reconciled by the Darwinian hypothesis. + +But leaving our own impressions of the "Origin of Species," and turning +to those passages specially cited by Professor Koelliker, we cannot admit +that they bear the interpretation he puts upon them. Darwin, if we read +him rightly, does _not_ affirm that every detail in the structure of an +animal has been created for its benefit. His words are (p. 199):-- + + "The foregoing remarks lead me to say a few words on the protest + lately made by some naturalists against the utilitarian doctrine + that every detail of structure has been produced for the good of + its possessor. They believe that very many structures have been + created for beauty in the eyes of man, or for mere variety. This + doctrine, if true, would be absolutely fatal to my theory--yet I + fully admit that many structures are of no direct use to their + possessor." + +And after sundry illustrations and qualifications, he concludes (p. +200):-- + + "Hence every detail of structure in every living creature (making + some little allowance for the direct action of physical conditions) + may be viewed either as having been of special use to some + ancestral form, or as being now of special use to the descendants + of this form--either directly, or indirectly, through the complex + laws of growth." + +But it is one thing to say, Darwinically, that every detail observed in +an animal's structure is of use to it, or has been of use to its +ancestors; and quite another to affirm, teleologically, that every +detail of an animal's structure has been created for its benefit. On the +former hypothesis, for example, the teeth of the foetal _Balaena_ have +a meaning; on the latter, none. So far as we are aware, there is not a +phrase in the "Origin of Species," inconsistent with Professor +Koelliker's position, that "varieties arise irrespectively of the notion +of purpose, or of utility, according to general laws of Nature, and may +be either useful, or hurtful, or indifferent." + +On the contrary, Mr. Darwin writes (Summary of Chap. V.):-- + + "Our ignorance of the laws of variation is profound. Not in one + case out of a hundred can we pretend to assign any reason why this + or that part varies more or less from the same part in the + parents.... The external conditions of life, as climate and food, + &c. seem to have induced some slight modifications. Habit, in + producing constitutional differences, and use, in strengthening, + and disuse, in weakening and diminishing organs, seem to have been + more potent in their effects." + +And finally, as if to prevent all possible misconception, Mr. Darwin +concludes his Chapter on Variation with these pregnant words:-- + + "Whatever the cause may be of each slight difference in the + offspring from their parents--and a cause for each must exist--it + is the steady accumulation, through natural selection of such + differences, when beneficial to the individual, that gives rise to + all the more important modifications of structure, by which the + innumerable beings on the face of the earth are enabled to struggle + with each other, and the best adapted to survive." + +We have dwelt at length upon this subject, because of its great general +importance, and because we believe that Professor Koelliker's criticisms +on this head are based upon a misapprehension of Mr. Darwin's +views--substantially they appear to us to coincide with his own. The +other objections which Professor Koelliker enumerates and discusses are +the following:[66]-- + + "1. No transitional forms between existing species are known; and + known varieties, whether selected or spontaneous, never go so far + as to establish new species." + +To this Professor Koelliker appears to attach some weight. He makes the +suggestion that the short-faced tumbler pigeon may be a pathological +product. + + "2. No transitional forms of animals are met with among the organic + remains of earlier epochs." + +Upon this, Professor Koelliker remarks that the absence of transitional +forms in the fossil world, though not necessarily fatal to Darwin's +views, weakens his case. + + "3. The struggle for existence does not take place." + +To this objection, urged by Pelzeln, Koelliker, very justly, attaches no +weight. + + "4. A tendency of organisms to give rise to useful varieties, and a + natural selection, do not exist. + + "The varieties which are found arise in consequence of manifold + external influences, and it is not obvious why they all, or + partially, should be particularly useful. Each animal suffices for + its own ends, is perfect of its kind, and needs no further + development. Should, however, a variety be useful and even maintain + itself, there is no obvious reason why it should change any + further. The whole conception of the imperfection of organisms and + the necessity of their becoming perfected is plainly the weakest + side of Darwin's Theory, and a _pis aller_ (Nothbehelf) because + Darwin could think of no other principle by which to explain the + metamorphoses which, as I also believe, have occurred." + + +Here again we must venture to dissent completely from Professor +Koelliker's conception of Mr. Darwin's hypothesis. It appears to us to be +one of the many peculiar merits of that hypothesis that it involves no +belief in a necessary and continual progress of organisms. + +Again, Mr. Darwin, if we read him aright, assumes no special tendency of +organisms to give rise to useful varieties, and knows nothing of needs +of development, or necessity of perfection. What he says is, in +substance: All organisms vary. It is in the highest degree improbable +that any given variety should have exactly the same relations to +surrounding conditions as the parent stock. In that case it is either +better fitted (when the variation may be called useful), or worse +fitted, to cope with them. If better, it will tend to supplant the +parent stock; if worse, it will tend to be extinguished by the parent +stock. + +If (as is hardly conceivable) the new variety is so perfectly adapted to +the conditions that no improvement upon it is possible,--it will +persist, because, though it does not cease to vary, the varieties will +be inferior to itself. + +If, as is more probable, the new variety is by no means perfectly +adapted to its conditions, but only fairly well adapted to them, it will +persist, so long as none of the varieties which it throws off are +better adapted than itself. + +On the other hand, as soon as it varies in a useful way, _i.e._ when the +variation is such as to adapt it more perfectly to its conditions, the +fresh variety will tend to supplant the former. + +So far from a gradual progress towards perfection forming any necessary +part of the Darwinian creed, it appears to us that it is perfectly +consistent with indefinite persistence in one state, or with a gradual +retrogression. Suppose, for example, a return of the glacial epoch and a +spread of polar climatal conditions over the whole globe. The operation +of natural selection under these circumstances would tend, on the whole, +to the weeding out of the higher organisms and the cherishing of the +lower forms of life. Cryptogamic vegetation would have the advantage +over Phanerogamic; _Hydrozoa_ over Corals; _Crustacea_ over _Insecta_, +and _Amphipoda_ and _Isopoda_ over the higher _Crustacea_; Cetaceans and +Seals over the _Primates_; the civilization of the Esquimaux over that +of the European. + + "5. Pelzeln has also objected that if the later organisms have + proceeded from the earlier, the whole developmental series, from + the simplest to the highest, could not now exist; in such a case + the simpler organisms must have disappeared." + +To this Professor Koelliker replies, with perfect justice, that the +conclusion drawn by Pelzeln does not really follow from Darwin's +premises, and that, if we take the facts of Palaeontology as they stand, +they rather support than oppose Darwin's theory. + + "6. Great weight must be attached to the objection brought forward + by Huxley, otherwise a warm supporter of Darwin's hypothesis, that + we know of no varieties which are sterile with one another, as is + the rule among sharply distinguished animal forms. + + "If Darwin is right, it must be demonstrated that forms may be + produced by selection, which, like the present sharply + distinguished animal forms, are infertile when coupled with one + another, and this has not been done." + +The weight of this objection is obvious; but our ignorance of the +conditions of fertility and sterility, the want of carefully conducted +experiments extending over long series of years, and the strange +anomalies presented by the results of the cross-fertilization of many +plants, should all, as Mr. Darwin has urged, be taken into account in +considering it. + +The seventh objection is that we have already discussed (_supra_, p. +329). + +The eighth and last stands as follows:-- + + "8. The developmental theory of Darwin is not needed to enable us + to understand the regular harmonious progress of the complete + series of organic forms from the simpler to the more perfect. + + "The existence of general laws of Nature explains this harmony, + even if we assume that all beings have arisen separately and + independent of one another. Darwin forgets that inorganic nature, + in which there can be no thought of a genetic connexion of forms, + exhibits the same regular plan, the same harmony, as the organic + world; and that, to cite only one example, there is as much a + natural system of minerals as of plants and animals." + +We do not feel quite sure that we seize Professor Koelliker's meaning +here, but he appears to suggest that the observation of the general +order and harmony which pervade inorganic nature, would lead us to +anticipate a similar order and harmony in the organic world. And this is +no doubt true, but it by no means follows that the particular order and +harmony observed among them should be that which we see. Surely the +stripes of dun horses, and the teeth of the foetal _Balaena_, are not +explained by the "existence of general laws of Nature." Mr. Darwin +endeavours to explain the exact order of organic nature which exists; +not the mere fact that there is some order. + +And with regard to the existence of a natural system of minerals; the +obvious reply is that there may be a natural classification of any +objects--of stones on a sea-beach, or of works of art; a natural +classification being simply an assemblage of objects in groups, so as to +express their most important and fundamental resemblances and +differences. No doubt Mr. Darwin believes that those resemblances and +differences upon which our natural systems or classifications of animals +and plants are based, are resemblances and differences which have been +produced genetically, but we can discover no reason for supposing that +he denies the existence of natural classifications of other kinds. + +And, after all, is it quite so certain that a genetic relation may not +underlie the classification of minerals? The inorganic world has not +always been what we see it. It has certainly had its metamorphoses, and, +very probably, a long "Entwickelungsgeschichte" out of a nebular +blastema. Who knows how far that amount of likeness among sets of +minerals, in virtue of which they are now grouped into families and +orders, may not be the expression of the common conditions to which that +particular patch of nebulous fog, which may have been constituted by +their atoms, and of which they may be, in the strictest sense, the +descendants, was subjected? + +It will be obvious from what has preceded, that we do not agree with +Professor Koelliker in thinking the objections which he brings forward +so weighty as to be fatal to Darwin's view. But even if the case were +otherwise, we should be unable to accept the "Theory of Heterogeneous +Generation" which is offered as a substitute. That theory is thus +stated:-- + + "The fundamental conception of this hypothesis is, that, under the + influence of a general law of development, the germs of organisms + produce others different from themselves. This might happen (1) by + the fecundated ova passing, in the course of their development, + under particular circumstances, into higher forms; (2) by the + primitive and later organisms producing other organisms without + fecundation, out of germs or eggs (Parthenogenesis)." + +In favour of this hypothesis, Professor Koelliker adduces the well-known +facts of Agamogenesis, or "alternate generation;" the extreme +dissimilarity of the males and females of many animals; and of the +males, females, and neuters of those insects which live in colonies: and +he defines its relations to the Darwinian theory as follows:-- + + "It is obvious that my hypothesis is apparently very similar to + Darwin's, inasmuch as I also consider that the various forms of + animals have proceeded directly from one another. My hypothesis of + the creation of organisms by heterogeneous generation, however, is + distinguished very essentially from Darwin's by the entire absence + of the principle of useful variations and their natural selection; + and my fundamental conception is this, that a great plan of + development lies at the foundation of the origin of the whole + organic world, impelling the simpler forms to more and more complex + developments. How this law operates, what influences determine the + development of the eggs and germs, and impel them to assume + constantly new forms, I naturally cannot pretend to say; but I can + at least adduce the great analogy of the alternation of + generations. If a _Bipinnaria_, a _Brachialaria_, a _Pluteus_, is + competent to produce the Echinoderm, which is so widely different + from it; if a hydroid polype can produce the higher Medusa; if the + vermiform Trematode 'nurse' can develop within itself the very + unlike _Cercaria_, it will not appear impossible that the egg, or + ciliated embryo, of a sponge, for once, under special conditions, + might become a hydroid polype, or the embryo of a Medusa, an + Echinoderm." + +It is obvious, from these extracts, that Professor Koelliker's hypothesis +is based upon the supposed existence of a close analogy between the +phaenomena of Agamogenesis and the production of new species from +pre-existing ones. But is the analogy a real one? We think that it is +not, and, by the hypothesis, cannot be. + +For what are the phaenomena of Agamogenesis, stated generally? An +impregnated egg develops into an asexual form, A; this gives rise, +asexually, to a second form or forms, B, more or less different from A. +B may multiply asexually again; in the simpler cases, however, it does +not, but, acquiring sexual characters, produces impregnated eggs from +whence A once more arises. + +No case of Agamogenesis is known in which, _when A differs widely from +B_, it is itself capable of sexual propagation. No case whatever is +known in which the progeny of B, by sexual generation, is other than a +reproduction of A. + +But if this be a true statement of the nature of the process of +Agamogenesis, how can it enable us to comprehend the production of new +species from already existing ones? Let us suppose Hyaenas to have +preceded Dogs, and to have produced the latter in this way. Then the +Hyaena will represent A, and the Dog, B. The first difficulty that +presents itself is that the Hyaena must be asexual, or the process will +be wholly without analogy in the world of Agamogenesis. But passing over +this difficulty, and supposing a male and female Dog to be produced at +the same time from the Hyaena stock, the progeny of the pair, if the +analogy of the simpler kinds of Agamogenesis[67] is to be followed, +should be a litter, not of puppies, but of young Hyaenas. For the +Agamogenetic series is always, as we have seen, A: B: A: B, &c.; +whereas, for the production of a new species, the series must be A: B: +B: B, &c. The production of new species, or genera, is the extreme +permanent divergence from the primitive stock. All known Agamogenetic +processes, on the other hand, end in a complete return to the primitive +stock. How then is the production of new species to be rendered +intelligible by the analogy of Agamogenesis? + +The other alternative put by Professor Koelliker--the passage of +fecundated ova in the course of their development into higher +forms--would, if it occurred, be merely an extreme case of variation in +the Darwinian sense, greater in degree than, but perfectly similar in +kind to, that which occurred when the well-known Ancon Ram was developed +from an ordinary Ewe's ovum. Indeed we have always thought that Mr. +Darwin has unnecessarily hampered himself by adhering so strictly to his +favourite "Natura non facit saltum." We greatly suspect that she does +make considerable jumps in the way of variation now and then, and that +these saltations give rise to some of the gaps which appear to exist in +the series of known forms. + + +Strongly and freely as we have ventured to disagree with Professor +Koelliker, we have always done so with regret, and we trust without +violating that respect which is due, not only to his scientific eminence +and to the careful study which he has devoted to the subject, but to the +perfect fairness of his argumentation, and the generous appreciation of +the worth of Mr. Darwin's labours which he always displays. It would be +satisfactory to be able to say as much for M. Flourens. + +But the Perpetual Secretary of the French Academy of Sciences deals with +Mr. Darwin as the first Napoleon would have treated an "ideologue;" and +while displaying a painful weakness of logic and shallowness of +information, assumes a tone of authority, which always touches upon the +ludicrous, and sometimes passes the limits of good breeding. + +For example (p. 56):-- + + "M. Darwin continue: 'Aucune distinction absolue n'a ete et ne peut + etre etablie entre les especes et les varietes.' Je vous ai deja + dit que vous vous trompiez; une distinction absolue separe les + varietes d'avec les especes." + +"_Je vous ai deja dit_; moi, M. le Secretaire perpetuel de l'Academie +des Sciences: et vous + + 'Qui n'etes rien, + Pas meme Academicien;' + +what do you mean by asserting the contrary?" Being devoid of the +blessings of an Academy in England, we are unaccustomed to see our +ablest men treated in this fashion even by a "Perpetual Secretary." + +Or again, considering that if there is any one quality of Mr. Darwin's +work to which friends and foes have alike borne witness, it is his +candour and fairness in admitting and discussing objections, what is to +be thought of M. Flourens' assertion, that + + "M. Darwin ne cite que les auteurs qui partagent ses opinions." (P. + 40.) + +Once more (p. 65): + + "Enfin l'ouvrage de M. Darwin a paru. On ne peut qu'etre frappe du + talent de l'auteur. Mais que d'idees obscures, que d'idees fausses! + Quel jargon metaphysique jete mal a propos dans l'histoire + naturelle, qui tombe dans le galimatias des qu'elle sort des idees + claires, des idees justes! Quel langage pretentieux et vide! + Quelles personifications pueriles et surannees! O lucidite! O + solidite de l'esprit Francais, que devenez-vous?" + +"Obscure ideas," "metaphysical jargon," "pretentious and empty +language," "puerile and superannuated personifications." Mr. Darwin has +many and hot opponents on this side of the Channel and in Germany, but +we do not recollect to have found precisely these sins in the long +catalogue of those hitherto laid to his charge. It is worth while, +therefore, to examine into these discoveries effected solely by the aid +of the "lucidity and solidity" of the mind of M. Flourens. + +According to M. Flourens, Mr. Darwin's great error is that he has +personified Nature (p. 10), and further that he has + + "imagined a natural selection: he imagines afterwards that this + power of selecting (_pouvoir d'elire_) which he gives to Nature is + similar to the power of man. These two suppositions admitted, + nothing stops him: he plays with Nature as he likes, and makes her + do all he pleases." (P. 6.) + +And this is the way M. Flourens extinguishes natural selection: + + "Voyons donc encore une fois, ce qu'il peut y avoir de fonde dans + ce qu'on nomme _election naturelle_. + + "_L'election naturelle_ n'est sous un autre nom que la nature. Pour + un etre organise, la nature n'est que l'organisation, ni plus ni + moins. + + "Il faudra donc aussi personnifier _l'organisation_, et dire que + _l'organisation_ choisit _l'organisation_. _L'election naturelle_ + est cette _forme substantielle_ dont on jonait autrefois avec tant + de facilite. Aristote disait que 'Si l'art de batir etait dans le + bois, cet art agirait comme la nature.' A la place de _l'art de + batir_ M. Darwin met _l'election naturelle_, et c'est tout un: l'un + n'est pas plus chimerique que l'autre." (P. 31.) + +And this is really all that M. Flourens can make of Natural Selection. +We have given the original, in fear lest a translation should be +regarded as a travesty; but with the original before the reader, we may +try to analyse the passage. "For an organized being, Nature is only +organization, neither more nor less." + +Organized beings then have absolutely no relation to inorganic nature: a +plant does not depend on soil or sunshine, climate, depth in the ocean, +height above it; the quantity of saline matters in water have no +influence upon animal life; the substitution of carbonic acid for oxygen +in our atmosphere would hurt nobody! That these are absurdities no one +should know better than M. Flourens; but they are logical deductions +from the assertion just quoted, and from the further statement that +natural selection means only that "organization chooses and selects +organization." + +For if it be once admitted (what no sane man denies) that the chances of +life of any given organism are increased by certain conditions (A) and +diminished by their opposites (B), then it is mathematically certain +that any change of conditions in the direction of (A) will exercise a +selective influence in favour of that organism, tending to its increase +and multiplication, while any change in the direction of (B) will +exercise a selective influence against that organism, tending to its +decrease and extinction. + +Or, on the other hand, conditions remaining the same, let a given +organism vary (and no one doubts that they do vary) in two directions: +into one form (a) better fitted to cope with these conditions than the +original stock, and a second (b) less well adapted to them. Then it is +no less certain that the conditions in question must exercise a +selective influence in favour of (a) and against (b), so that (a) +will tend to predominance, and (b) to extirpation. + +That M. Flourens should be unable to perceive the logical necessity of +these simple arguments, which lie at the foundation of all Mr. Darwin's +reasoning; that he should confound an irrefragable deduction from the +observed relations of organisms to the conditions which lie around them, +with a metaphysical "forme substantielle," or a chimerical +personification of the powers of Nature, would be incredible, were it +not that other passages of his work leave no room for doubt upon the +subject. + + "On imagine une _election naturelle_ que, pour plus de menagement, + on me dit etre _inconsciente_, sans s'apercevoir que le contre-sens + litteral est precisement la: _election inconsciente_." (P. 52.) + + "J'ai deja dit ce qu'il faut penser de _l'election naturelle_. Ou + _l'election naturelle_ n'est rien, ou c'est la nature: mais la + nature douee _d'election_, mais la nature personnifiee: derniere + erreur du dernier siecle: Le xix^e ne fait plus de + personnifications." (P. 53.) + +M. Flourens cannot imagine an unconscious selection--it is for him a +contradiction in terms. Did M. Flourens ever visit one of the prettiest +watering-places of "la belle France," the Baie d'Arcachon? If so, he +will probably have passed through the district of the Landes, and will +have had an opportunity of observing the formation of "dunes" on a grand +scale. What are these "dunes?" The winds and waves of the Bay of Biscay +have not much consciousness, and yet they have with great care +"selected," from among an infinity of masses of silex of all shapes and +sizes, which have been submitted to their action, all the grains of sand +below a certain size, and have heaped them by themselves over a great +area. This sand has been "unconsciously selected" from amidst the gravel +in which it first lay with as much precision as if man had "consciously +selected" it by the aid of a sieve. Physical Geology is full of such +selections--of the picking out of the soft from the hard, of the soluble +from the insoluble, of the fusible from the infusible, by natural +agencies to which we are certainly not in the habit of ascribing +consciousness. + +But that which wind and sea are to a sandy beach, the sum of influences, +which we term the "conditions of existence," is to living organisms. The +weak are sifted out from the strong. A frosty night "selects" the hardy +plants in a plantation from among the tender ones as effectually as if +it were the wind, and they, the sand and pebbles, of our illustration; +or, on the other hand, as if the intelligence of a gardener had been +operative in cutting the weaker organisms down. The thistle, which has +spread over the Pampas, to the destruction of native plants, has been +more effectually "selected" by the unconscious operation of natural +conditions than if a thousand agriculturists had spent their time in +sowing it. + +It is one of Mr. Darwin's many great services to Biological science that +he has demonstrated the significance of these facts. He has shown +that--given variation and given change of conditions--the inevitable +result is the exercise of such an influence upon organisms that one is +helped and another is impeded; one tends to predominate, another to +disappear; and thus the living world bears within itself, and is +surrounded by, impulses towards incessant change. + +But the truths just stated are as certain as any other physical laws, +quite independently of the truth, or falsehood, of the hypothesis which +Mr. Darwin has based upon them; and that M. Flourens, missing the +substance and grasping at a shadow, should be blind to the admirable +exposition of them, which Mr. Darwin has given, and see nothing there +but a "derniere erreur du dernier siecle"--a personification of +Nature--leads us indeed to cry with him: "O lucidite! O solidite de +l'esprit Francais, que devenez-vous?" + +M. Flourens has, in fact, utterly failed to comprehend the first +principles of the doctrine which he assails so rudely. His objections to +details are of the old sort, so battered and hackneyed on this side of +the Channel, that not even a Quarterly Reviewer could be induced to pick +them up for the purpose of pelting Mr. Darwin over again. We have Cuvier +and the mummies; M. Roulin and the domesticated animals of America; the +difficulties presented by hybridism and by Palaeontology; Darwinism a +_rifacciamento_ of De Maillet and Lamarck; Darwinism a system without a +commencement, and its author bound to believe in M. Pouchet, &c. &c. How +one knows it all by heart, and with what relief one reads at p. 65-- + + "Je laisse M. Darwin!" + +But we cannot leave M. Flourens without calling our readers' attention +to his wonderful tenth chapter, "De la Preexistence des Germes et de +l'Epigenese," which opens thus:-- + + "Spontaneous generation is only a chimaera. This point established, + two hypotheses remain: that of _pre-existence_ and that of + _epigenesis_. The one of these hypotheses has as little foundation + as the other." (P. 163.) + + "The doctrine of _epigenesis_ is derived from Harvey: following by + ocular inspection the development of the new being in the Windsor + does, he saw each part appear successively, and taking the moment + of _appearance_ for the moment of _formation_ he imagined + _epigenesis_." (P. 165.) + +On the contrary, says M. Flourens (p. 167), + + "The new being is formed at a stroke (_tout d'un coup_), as a + whole, instantaneously; it is not formed part by part, and at + different times. It is formed at once; it is formed at the single + _individual_ moment at which the conjunction of the male and female + elements takes place." + +It will be observed that M. Flourens uses language which cannot be +mistaken. For him, the labours of Von Baer, of Rathke, of Coste, and +their contemporaries and successors in Germany, France, and England, are +non-existent; and, as Darwin "_imagina_" natural selection, so Harvey +"_imagina_" that doctrine which gives him an even greater claim to the +veneration of posterity than his better known discovery of the +circulation of the blood. + +Language such as that we have quoted is, in fact, so preposterous, so +utterly incompatible with anything but absolute ignorance of some of the +best established facts, that we should have passed it over in silence +had it not appeared to afford some clue to M. Flourens' unhesitating, _a +priori_, repudiation of all forms of the doctrine of the progressive +modification of living beings. He whose mind remains uninfluenced by an +acquaintance with the phaenomena of development, must indeed lack one of +the chief motives towards the endeavour to trace a genetic relation +between the different existing forms of life. Those who are ignorant of +Geology, find no difficulty in believing that the world was made as it +is; and the shepherd, untutored in history, sees no reason to regard the +green mounds which indicate the site of a Roman camp, as aught but part +and parcel of the primaeval hill-side. So M. Flourens, who believes that +embryos are formed "tout d'un coup," naturally finds no difficulty in +conceiving that species came into existence in the same way. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[65] "Die Radiolarien: eine Monographie," p. 231. + +[66] Space will not allow us to give Professor Koelliker's arguments in +detail; our readers will find a full and accurate version of them in the +_Reader_ for August 13th and 20th, 1864. + +[67] If, on the contrary, we follow the analogy of the more complex +forms of Agamogenesis, such as that exhibited by some _Trematoda_ and by +the _Aphides_, the Hyaena must produce, asexually, a brood of asexual +Dogs, from which other sexless Dogs must proceed. At the end of a +certain number of terms of the series, the Dogs would acquire sexes and +generate young; but these young would be, not Dogs, but Hyaenas. In fact, +we have _demonstrated_, in Agamogenetic phaenomena, that inevitable +recurrence to the original type, which is _asserted_ to be true of +variations in general, by Mr. Darwin's opponents; and which, if the +assertion could be changed into a demonstration, would, in fact, be +fatal to his hypothesis. + + + + +XIV. + +ON DESCARTES' "DISCOURSE TOUCHING THE METHOD OF USING ONE'S REASON +RIGHTLY AND OF SEEKING SCIENTIFIC TRUTH." + + +It has been well said that "all the thoughts of men, from the beginning +of the world until now, are linked together into one great chain;" but +the conception of the intellectual filiation of mankind which is +expressed in these words may, perhaps, be more fitly shadowed forth by a +different metaphor. The thoughts of men seem rather to be comparable to +the leaves, flowers, and fruit upon the innumerable branches of a few +great stems, fed by commingled and hidden roots. These stems bear the +names of the half-a-dozen men, endowed with intellects of heroic force +and clearness, to whom we are led, at whatever point of the world of +thought the attempt to trace its history commences; just as certainly as +the following up the small twigs of a tree to the branchlets which bear +them, and tracing the branchlets to their supporting branches, brings +us, sooner or later, to the bole. + +It seems to me that the thinker who, more than any other, stands in the +relation of such a stem towards the philosophy and the science of the +modern world is Rene Descartes. I mean, that if you lay hold of any +characteristic product of modern ways of thinking, either in the region +of philosophy, or in that of science, you find the spirit of that +thought, if not its form, to have been present in the mind of the great +Frenchman. + +There are some men who are counted great because they represent the +actuality of their own age, and mirror it as it is. Such an one was +Voltaire, of whom it was epigrammatically said, "he expressed +everybody's thoughts better than anybody."[68] But there are other men +who attain greatness because they embody the potentiality of their own +day, and magically reflect the future. They express the thoughts which +will be everybody's two or three centuries after them. Such an one was +Descartes. + +Born, in 1596, nearly three hundred years ago, of a noble family in +Touraine, Rene Descartes grew up into a sickly and diminutive child, +whose keen wit soon gained him that title of "the Philosopher," which, +in the mouths of his noble kinsmen, was more than, half a reproach. The +best schoolmasters of the day, the Jesuits, educated him as well as a +French boy of the seventeenth century could be educated. And they must +have done their work honestly and well, for, before his schoolboy days +were over, he had discovered that the most of what he had learned, +except in mathematics, was devoid of solid and real value. + + "Therefore," says he, in that "Discourse"[69] which I have taken + for my text, "as soon as I was old enough to be set free from the + government of my teachers, I entirely forsook the study of letters; + and determining to seek no other knowledge than that which I could + discover within myself, or in the great book of the world, I spent + the remainder of my youth in travelling; in seeing courts and + armies; in the society of people of different humours and + conditions; in gathering varied experience; in testing myself by + the chances of fortune; and in always trying to profit by my + reflections on what happened.... And I always had an intense desire + to learn how to distinguish truth from falsehood, in order to be + clear about my actions, and to walk surefootedly in this life." + +But "learn what is true, in order to do what is right," is the summing +up of the whole duty of man, for all who are unable to satisfy their +mental hunger with the east wind of authority; and to those of us +moderns who are in this position, it is one of Descartes' great claims +to our reverence as a spiritual ancestor, that, at three-and-twenty, he +saw clearly that this was his duty, and acted up to his conviction. At +two-and-thirty, in fact, finding all other occupations incompatible with +the search after the knowledge which leads to action, and being +possessed of a modest competence, he withdrew into Holland; where he +spent nine years in learning and thinking, in such retirement that only +one or two trusted friends knew of his whereabouts. + +In 1637 the firstfruits of these long meditations were given to the +world in the famous "Discourse touching the Method of using Reason +rightly and of seeking scientific Truth," which, at once an +autobiography and a philosophy, clothes the deepest thought in language +of exquisite harmony, simplicity, and clearness. + +The central propositions of the whole "Discourse" are these. There is a +path that leads to truth so surely, that if any one who will follow it +must needs reach the goal, whether his capacity be great or small. And +there is one guiding rule by which a man may always find this path, and +keep himself from straying when he has found it. This golden rule +is--give unqualified assent to no propositions but those the truth of +which is so clear and distinct that they cannot be doubted. + +The enunciation of this great first commandment of science consecrated +Doubt. It removed Doubt from the seat of penance among the grievous sins +to which it had long been condemned, and enthroned it in that high place +among the primary duties, which is assigned to it by the scientific +conscience of these latter days. Descartes was the first among the +moderns to obey this commandment deliberately; and, as a matter of +religious duty, to strip off all his beliefs and reduce himself to a +state of intellectual nakedness, until such time as he could satisfy +himself which were fit to be worn. He thought a bare skin healthier than +the most respectable and well-cut clothing of what might, possibly, be +mere shoddy. + +When I say that Descartes consecrated doubt, you must remember that it +was that sort of doubt which Goethe has called "the active scepticism, +whose whole aim is to conquer itself;"[70] and not that other sort which +is born of flippancy and ignorance, and whose aim is only to perpetuate +itself, as an excuse for idleness and indifference. But it is impossible +to define what is meant by scientific doubt better than in Descartes' +own words. After describing the gradual progress of his negative +criticism, he tells us:-- + + "For all that, I did not imitate the sceptics, who doubt only for + doubting's sake, and pretend to be always undecided; on the + contrary, my whole intention was to arrive at certainty, and to dig + away the drift and the sand until I reached the rock or the clay + beneath." + +And further, since no man of common sense, when he pulls down his house +for the purpose of rebuilding it, fails to provide himself with some +shelter while the work is in progress; so, before demolishing the +spacious, if not commodious, mansion of his old beliefs, Descartes +thought it wise to equip himself with what he calls "_une morale par +provision_," by which he resolved to govern his practical life until +such time as he should be better instructed. The laws of this +"provisional self-government" are embodied in four maxims, of which one +binds our philosopher to submit himself to the laws and religion in +which he was brought up; another, to act, on all those occasions which +call for action, promptly and according to the best of his judgment, and +to abide, without repining, by the result: a third rule is to seek +happiness in limiting his desires, rather than in attempting to satisfy +them; while the last is to make the search after truth the business of +his life. + +Thus prepared to go on living while he doubted, Descartes proceeded to +face his doubts like a man. One thing was clear to him, he would not lie +to himself--would, under no penalties, say, "I am sure" of that of which +he was not sure; but would go on digging and delving until he came to +the solid adamant; or, at worst, made sure there was no adamant. As the +record of his progress tells us, he was obliged to confess that life is +full of delusions; that authority may err; that testimony may be false +or mistaken; that reason lands us in endless fallacies; that memory is +often as little trustworthy as hope; that the evidence of the very +senses may be misunderstood; that dreams are real as long as they last, +and that what we call reality may be a long and restless dream. Nay, it +is conceivable that some powerful and malicious being may find his +pleasure in deluding us, and in making us believe the thing which is +not, every moment of our lives. What, then, is certain? What even, if +such a being exists, is beyond the reach of his powers of delusion? Why, +the fact that the thought, the present consciousness, exists. Our +thoughts may be delusive, but they cannot be fictitious. As thoughts, +they are real and existent, and the cleverest deceiver cannot make them +otherwise. + +Thus, thought is existence. More than that, so far as we are concerned, +existence is thought, all our conceptions of existence being some kind +or other of thought. Do not for a moment suppose that these are mere +paradoxes or subtleties. A little reflection upon the commonest facts +proves them to be irrefragable truths. For example, I take up a marble, +and I find it to be a red, round, hard, single body. We call the +redness, the roundness, the hardness, and the singleness, "qualities" of +the marble; and it sounds, at first, the height of absurdity to say that +all these qualities are modes of our own consciousness, which cannot +even be conceived to exist in the marble. But consider the redness, to +begin with. How does the sensation of redness arise? The waves of a +certain very attenuated matter, the particles of which are vibrating +with vast rapidity, but with very different velocities, strike upon the +marble, and those which vibrate with one particular velocity are thrown +off from its surface in all directions. The optical apparatus of the eye +gathers some of these together, and gives them such a course that they +impinge upon the surface of the retina, which is a singularly delicate +apparatus, connected with the termination of the fibres of the optic +nerve. The impulses of the attenuated matter, or ether, affect this +apparatus and the fibres of the optic nerve in a certain way; and the +change in the fibres of the optic nerve produces yet other changes in +the brain; and these, in some fashion unknown to us, give rise to the +feeling, or consciousness, of redness. If the marble could remain +unchanged, and either the rate of vibration of the ether, or the nature +of the retina, could be altered, the marble would seem not red, but some +other colour. There are many people who are what are called colourblind, +being unable to distinguish one colour from another. Such an one might +declare our marble to be green; and he would be quite as right in saying +that it is green, as we are in declaring it to be red. But then, as the +marble cannot, in itself, be both green and red, at the same time, this +shows that the quality "redness" must be in our consciousness and not in +the marble. + +In like manner, it is easy to see that the roundness and the hardness +are forms of our consciousness, belonging to the groups which we call +sensations of sight and touch. If the surface of the cornea were +cylindrical, we should have a very different notion of a round body from +that which we possess now; and if the strength of the fabric, and the +force of the muscles, of the body were increased a hundredfold, our +marble would seem to be as soft as a pellet of bread crumbs. + +Not only is it obvious that all these qualities are in us, but, if you +will make the attempt, you will find it quite impossible to conceive of +"blueness," "roundness," and "hardness" as existing without reference to +some such consciousness as our own. It may seem strange to say that even +the "singleness" of the marble is relative to us; but extremely simple +experiments will show that such is veritably the case, and that our two +most trustworthy senses may be made to contradict one another on this +very point. Hold the marble between the finger and thumb, and look at it +in the ordinary way. Sight and touch agree that it is single. Now +squint, and sight tells you that there are two marbles, while touch +asserts that there is only one. Next, return the eyes to their natural +position, and, having crossed the forefinger and the middle finger, put +the marble between their tips. Then touch will declare that there are +two marbles, while sight says that there is only one; and touch claims +our belief, when we attend to it, just as imperatively as sight does. + +But it may be said, the marble takes up a certain space which could not +be occupied, at the same time, by anything else. In other words, the +marble has the primary quality of matter, extension. Surely this quality +must be in the thing, and not in our minds? But the reply must still be; +whatever may, or may not, exist in the thing, all that we can know of +these qualities is a state of consciousness. What we call extension is a +consciousness of a relation between two, or more, affections of the +sense of sight, or of touch. And it is wholly inconceivable that what +we call extension should exist independently of such consciousness as +our own. Whether, notwithstanding this inconceivability, it does so +exist, or not, is a point on which I offer no opinion. + +Thus, whatever our marble may be in itself, all that we can know of it +is under the shape of a bundle of our own consciousnesses. + +Nor is our knowledge of anything we know or feel more, or less, than a +knowledge of states of consciousness. And our whole life is made up of +such states. Some of these states we refer to a cause we call "self;" +others to a cause or causes which may be comprehended under the title of +"not-self." But neither of the existence of "self," nor of that of +"not-self," have we, or can we by any possibility have, any such +unquestionable and immediate certainty as we have of the states of +consciousness which we consider to be their effects. They are not +immediately observed facts, but results of the application of the law of +causation to those facts. Strictly speaking, the existence of a "self" +and of a "not-self" are hypotheses by which we account for the facts of +consciousness. They stand upon the same footing as the belief in the +general trustworthiness of memory, and in the general constancy of the +order of nature--as hypothetical assumptions which cannot be proved, or +known with that highest degree of certainty which is given by immediate +consciousness; but which, nevertheless, are of the highest practical +value, inasmuch as the conclusions logically drawn from them are always +verified by experience. + +This, in my judgment, is the ultimate issue of Descartes' argument; but +it is proper for me to point out that we have left Descartes himself +some way behind us. He stopped at the famous formula, "I think, +therefore I am." But a little consideration will show this formula to be +full of snares and verbal entanglements. In the first place, the +"therefore" has no business there. The "I am" is assumed in the "I +think," which is simply another way of saying "I am thinking." And, in +the second place, "I think" is not one simple proposition, but three +distinct assertions rolled into one. The first of these is, "something +called I exists;" the second is, "something called thought exists;" and +the third is, "the thought is the result of the action of the I." + +Now, it will be obvious to you, that the only one of these three +propositions which can stand the Cartesian test of certainty is the +second. It cannot be doubted, for the very doubt is an existent thought. +But the first and third, whether true or not, may be doubted, and have +been doubted. For the assertor may be asked, How do you know that +thought is not self-existent; or that a given thought is not the effect +of its antecedent thought, or of some external power? And a diversity of +other questions, much more easily put than answered. Descartes, +determined as he was to strip off all the garments which the intellect +weaves for itself, forgot this gossamer shirt of the "self;" to the +great detriment, and indeed ruin, of his toilet when he began to clothe +himself again. + +But it is beside my purpose to dwell upon the minor peculiarities of the +Cartesian philosophy. All I wish to put clearly before your minds thus +far, is that Descartes, having commenced by declaring doubt to be a +duty, found certainty in consciousness alone; and that the necessary +outcome of his views is what may properly be termed Idealism; namely, +the doctrine that, whatever the universe may be, all we can know of it +is the picture presented to us by consciousness. This picture may be a +true likeness--though how this can be is inconceivable; or it may have +no more resemblance to its cause than one of Bach's fugues has to the +person who is playing it; or than a piece of poetry has to the mouth and +lips of a reciter. It is enough for all the practical purposes of human +existence if we find that our trust in the representations of +consciousness is verified by results; and that, by their help, we are +enabled "to walk surefootedly in this life." + +Thus the method, or path which leads to truth, indicated by Descartes, +takes us straight to the Critical Idealism of his great successor Kant. +It is that Idealism which declares the ultimate fact of all knowledge to +be a consciousness, or, in other words, a mental phenomenon; and +therefore affirms the highest of all certainties, and indeed the only +absolute certainty, to be the existence of mind. But it is also that +Idealism which refuses to make any assertions, either positive or +negative, as to what lies beyond consciousness. It accuses the subtle +Berkeley of stepping beyond the limits of knowledge when he declared +that a substance of matter does not exist; and of illogicality, for not +seeing that the arguments which he supposed demolished the existence of +matter were equally destructive to the existence of soul. And it refuses +to listen to the jargon of more recent days about the "Absolute," and +all the other hypostatized adjectives, the initial letters of the names +of which are generally printed in capital letters; just as you give a +Grenadier a bearskin cap, to make him look more formidable than he is by +nature. + +I repeat, the path indicated and followed by Descartes which we have +hitherto been treading, leads through doubt to that critical Idealism +which lies at the heart of modern metaphysical thought. But the +"Discourse" shows us another, and apparently very different, path, which +leads, quite as definitely, to that correlation of all the phaenomena of +the universe with matter and motion, which lies at the heart of modern +physical thought, and which most people call Materialism. + +The early part of the seventeenth century, when Descartes reached +manhood, is one of the great epochs of the intellectual life of mankind. +At that time, physical science suddenly strode into the arena of public +and familiar thought, and openly challenged, not only Philosophy and the +Church, but that common ignorance which passes by the name of Common +Sense. The assertion of the motion of the earth was a defiance to all +three, and Physical Science threw down her glove by the hand of Galileo. + +It is not pleasant to think of the immediate result of the combat; to +see the champion of science, old, worn, and on his knees before the +Cardinal Inquisitor, signing his name to what he knew to be a lie. And, +no doubt, the Cardinals rubbed their hands as they thought how well they +had silenced and discredited their adversary. But two hundred years have +passed, and however feeble or faulty her soldiers, Physical Science sits +crowned and enthroned as one of the legitimate rulers of the world of +thought. Charity children would be ashamed not to know that the earth +moves; while the Schoolmen are forgotten; and the Cardinals--well, the +Cardinals are at the oecumenical Council, still at their old business +of trying to stop the movement of the world. + +As a ship, which having lain becalmed with every stitch of canvas set, +bounds away before the breeze which springs up astern, so the mind of +Descartes, poised in equilibrium of doubt, not only yielded to the full +force of the impulse towards physical science and physical ways of +thought, given by his great contemporaries, Galileo and Harvey, but shot +beyond them; and anticipated, by bold speculation, the conclusions, +which could only be placed upon a secure foundation by the labours of +generations of workers. + +Descartes saw that the discoveries of Galileo meant that the remotest +parts of the universe were governed by mechanical laws; while those of +Harvey meant that the same laws presided over the operations of that +portion of the world which is nearest to us, namely, our own bodily +frame. And crossing the interval between the centre and its vast +circumference by one of the great strides of genius, Descartes sought to +resolve all the phaenomena of the universe into matter and motion, or +forces operating according to law.[71] This grand conception, which is +sketched in the "Discours," and more fully developed in the "Principes" +and in the "Traite de l'Homme," he worked out with extraordinary power +and knowledge; and with the effect of arriving, in the last-named essay, +at that purely mechanical view of vital phaenomena towards which modern +physiology is striving. + +Let us try to understand how Descartes got into this path, and why it +led him where it did. The mechanism of the circulation of the blood had +evidently taken a great hold of his mind, as he describes it several +times, at much length. After giving a full account of it in the +"Discourse," and erroneously describing the motion of the blood, not to +the contraction of the walls of the heart, but to the heat which he +supposes to be generated there, he adds:-- + + "This motion, which I have just explained, is as much the necessary + result of the structure of the parts which one can see in the + heart, and of the heat which one may feel there with one's fingers, + and of the nature of the blood, which may be experimentally + ascertained; as is that of a clock of the force, the situation, and + the figure, of its weight and of its wheels." + +But if this apparently vital operation were explicable as a simple +mechanism, might not other vital operations be reducible to the same +category? Descartes replies without hesitation in the affirmative. + + "The animal spirits," says he, "resemble a very subtle fluid, or a + very pure and vivid flame, and are continually generated in the + heart, and ascend to the brain as to a sort of reservoir. Hence + they pass into the nerves and are distributed to the muscles, + causing contraction, or relaxation, according to their quantity." + +Thus, according to Descartes, the animal body is an automaton, which is +competent to perform all the animal functions in exactly the same way as +a clock or any other piece of mechanism. As he puts the case himself:-- + + "In proportion as these spirits [the animal spirits] enter the + cavities of the brain, they pass thence into the pores of its + substance, and from these pores into the nerves; where, according + as they enter, or even only tend to enter, more or less, into one + than into another, they have the power of altering the figure of + the muscles into which the nerves are inserted, and by this means + of causing all the limbs to move. Thus, as you may have seen in the + grottoes and the fountains in royal gardens, the force with which + the water issues from its reservoir is sufficient to move various + machines, and even to make them play instruments, or pronounce + words according to the different disposition of the pipes which + lead the water. + + "And, in truth, the nerves of the machine which I am describing may + very well be compared to the pipes of these waterworks; its muscles + and its tendons to the other various engines and springs which seem + to move them; its animal spirits to the water which impels them, of + which the heart is the fountain; while the cavities of the brain + are the central office. Moreover, respiration and other such + actions as are natural and usual in the body, and which depend on + the course of the spirits, are like the movements of a clock, or of + a mill, which may be kept up by the ordinary flow of the water. + + "The external objects which, by their mere presence, act upon the + organs of the senses; and which, by this means, determine the + corporal machine to move in many different ways, according as the + parts of the brain are arranged, are like the strangers who, + entering into some of the grottoes of these waterworks, + unconsciously cause the movements which take place in their + presence. For they cannot enter without treading upon certain + planks so arranged that, for example, if they approach a bathing + Diana, they cause her to hide among the reeds; and if they attempt + to follow her, they see approaching a Neptune, who threatens them + with his trident; or if they try some other way, they cause some + monster who vomits water into their faces, to dart out; or like + contrivances, according to the fancy of the engineers who have made + them. And lastly, when the _rational soul_ is lodged in this + machine, it will have its principal seat in the brain, and will + take the place of the engineer, who ought to be in that part of the + works with which all the pipes are connected, when he wishes to + increase, or to slacken, or in some way to alter, their + movements."[72] + +And again still more strongly:-- + + "All the functions which I have attributed to this machine (the + body), as the digestion of food, the pulsation of the heart and of + the arteries; the nutrition and the growth of the limbs; + respiration, wakefulness, and sleep; the reception of light, + sounds, odours, flavours, heat, and such like qualities, in the + organs of the external senses; the impression of the ideas of these + in the organ of common sense and in the imagination; the retention, + or the impression, of these ideas on the memory; the internal + movements of the appetites and the passions; and lastly, the + external movements of all the limbs, which follow so aptly, as well + the action of the objects which are presented to the senses, as the + impressions which meet in the memory, that they imitate as nearly + as possible those of a real man:[73] I desire, I say, that you + should consider that these functions in the machine naturally + proceed from the mere arrangement of its organs, neither more nor + less than do the movements of a clock, or other automaton, from + that of its weights and its wheels; so that, so far as these are + concerned, it is not necessary to conceive any other vegetative or + sensitive soul, nor any other principle of motion, or of life, than + the blood and the spirits agitated by the fire which burns + continually in the heart, and which is no wise essentially + different from all the fires which exist in inanimate bodies."[74] + +The spirit of these passages is exactly that of the most advanced +physiology of the present day; all that is necessary to make them +coincide with our present physiology in form, is to represent the +details of the working of the animal machinery in modern language, and +by the aid of modern conceptions. + +Most undoubtedly, the digestion of food in the human body is a purely +chemical process; and the passage of the nutritive parts of that food +into the blood, a physical operation. Beyond all question, the +circulation of the blood is simply a matter of mechanism, and results +from the structure and arrangement of the parts of the heart and +vessels, from the contractility of those organs, and from the +regulation of that contractility by an automatically acting nervous +apparatus. The progress of physiology has further shown, that the +contractility of the muscles and the irritability of the nerves are +purely the results of the molecular mechanism of those organs; and that +the regular movements of the respiratory, alimentary, and other internal +organs are governed and guided, as mechanically, by their appropriate +nervous centres. The even rhythm of the breathing of every one of us +depends upon the structural integrity of a particular region of the +medulla oblongata, as much as the ticking of a clock depends upon the +integrity of the escapement. You may take away the hands of a clock and +break up its striking machinery, but it will still tick; and a man may +be unable to feel, speak, or move, and yet he will breathe. + +Again, in entire accordance with Descartes' affirmation, it is certain +that the modes of motion which constitute the physical basis of light, +sound, and heat, are transmuted into affections of nervous matter by the +sensory organs. These affections are, so to speak, a kind of physical +ideas, which are retained in the central organs, constituting what might +be called physical memory, and may be combined in a manner which answers +to association and imagination, or may give rise to muscular +contractions, in those "reflex actions" which are the mechanical +representatives of volitions. + +Consider what happens when a blow is aimed at the eye.[75] Instantly, +and without our knowledge or will, and even against the will, the +eyelids close. What is it that happens? A picture of the rapidly +advancing fist is made upon the retina at the back of the eye. The +retina changes this picture into an affection of a number of the fibres +of the optic nerve; the fibres of the optic nerve affect certain parts +of the brain; the brain, in consequence, affects those particular fibres +of the seventh nerve which go to the orbicular muscle of the eyelids; +the change in these nerve-fibres causes the muscular fibres to change +their dimensions, so as to become shorter and broader; and the result is +the closing of the slit between the two lids, round which these fibres +are disposed. Here is a pure mechanism, giving rise to a purposive +action, and strictly comparable to that by which Descartes supposes his +waterwork Diana to be moved. But we may go further, and inquire whether +our volition, in what we term voluntary action, ever plays any other +part than that of Descartes' engineer, sitting in his office, and +turning this tap or the other, as he wishes to set one or another +machine in motion, but exercising no direct influence upon the movements +of the whole. + +Our voluntary acts consist of two parts: firstly, we desire to perform a +certain action; and, secondly, we somehow set a-going a machinery which +does what we desire. But so little do we directly influence that +machinery, that nine-tenths of us do not even know its existence. + +Suppose one wills to raise one's arm and whirl it round. Nothing is +easier. But the majority of us do not know that nerves and muscles are +concerned in this process; and the best anatomist among us would be +amazingly perplexed, if he were called upon to direct the succession, +and the relative strength, of the multitudinous nerve-changes, which are +the actual causes of this very simple operation. + +So again in speaking. How many of us know that the voice is produced in +the larynx, and modified by the mouth? How many among these instructed +persons understand how the voice is produced and modified? And what +living man, if he had unlimited control over all the nerves supplying +the mouth and larynx of another person, could make him pronounce a +sentence? Yet, if one has anything to say, what is easier than to say +it? We desire the utterance of certain words: we touch the spring of the +word-machine, and they are spoken. Just as Descartes' engineer, when he +wanted a particular hydraulic machine to play, had only to turn a tap, +and what he wished was done. It is because the body is a machine that +education is possible. Education is the formation of habits, a +superinducing of an artificial organization upon the natural +organization of the body; so that acts, which at first required a +conscious effort, eventually became unconscious and mechanical. If the +act which primarily requires a distinct consciousness and volition of +its details, always needed the same effort, education would be an +impossibility. + +According to Descartes, then, all the functions which are common to man +and animals are performed by the body as a mere mechanism, and he looks +upon consciousness as the peculiar distinction of the "_chose +pensante_," of the "rational soul," which in man (and in man only, in +Descartes' opinion) is superadded to the body. This rational soul he +conceived to be lodged in the pineal gland, as in a sort of central +office; and, here, by the intermediation of the animal spirits, it +became aware of what was going on in the body, or influenced the +operations of the body. Modern physiologists do not ascribe so exalted +a function to the little pineal gland, but, in a vague sort of way, they +adopt Descartes' principle, and suppose that the soul is lodged in the +cortical part of the brain--at least this is commonly regarded as the +seat and instrument of consciousness. + +Descartes has clearly stated what he conceived to be the difference +between spirit and matter. Matter is substance which has extension, but +does not think; spirit is substance which thinks, but has no extension. +It is very hard to form a definite notion of what this phraseology +means, when it is taken in connexion with the location of the soul in +the pineal gland; and I can only represent it to myself as signifying +that the soul is a mathematical point, having place but not extension, +within the limits of the pineal gland. Not only has it place, but it +must exert force; for, according to the hypothesis, it is competent, +when it wills, to change the course of the animal spirits, which consist +of matter in motion. Thus the soul becomes a centre of force. But, at +the same time, the distinction between spirit and matter vanishes; +inasmuch as matter, according to a tenable hypothesis, may be nothing +but a multitude of centres of force. The case is worse if we adopt the +modern vague notion that consciousness is seated in the grey matter of +the cerebrum, generally; for, as the grey matter has extension, that +which is lodged in it must also have extension. And thus we are led, in +another way, to lose spirit in matter. + +In truth, Descartes' physiology, like the modern physiology of which it +anticipates the spirit, leads straight to Materialism, so far as that +title is rightly applicable to the doctrine that we have no knowledge +of any thinking substance, apart from extended substance; and that +thought is as much a function of matter as motion is. Thus we arrive at +the singular result that, of the two paths opened up to us in the +"Discourse upon Method," the one leads, by way of Berkeley and Hume, to +Kant and Idealism; while the other leads, by way of De La Mettrie and +Priestley, to modern physiology and Materialism.[76] Our stem divides +into two main branches, which grow in opposite ways, and bear flowers +which look as different as they can well be. But each branch is sound +and healthy, and has as much life and vigour as the other. + +If a botanist found this state of things in a new plant, I imagine that +he might be inclined to think that his tree was monoecious--that the +flowers were of different sexes, and that, so far from setting up a +barrier between the two branches of the tree, the only hope of fertility +lay in bringing them together. I may be taking too much of a +naturalist's view of the case, but I must confess that this is exactly +my notion of what is to be done with metaphysics and physics. Their +differences are complementary, not antagonistic; and thought will never +be completely fruitful until the one unites with the other. Let me try +to explain what I mean. I hold, with the Materialist, that the human +body, like all living bodies, is a machine, all the operations of which +will, sooner or later, be explained on physical principles. I believe +that we shall, sooner or later, arrive at a mechanical equivalent of +consciousness, just as we have arrived at a mechanical equivalent of +heat. If a pound weight falling through a distance of a foot gives rise +to a definite amount of heat, which may properly be said to be its +equivalent; the same pound weight falling through a foot on a man's hand +gives rise to a definite amount of feeling, which might with equal +propriety be said to be its equivalent in consciousness.[77] And as we +already know that there is a certain parity between the intensity of a +pain and the strength of one's desire to get rid of that pain; and +secondly, that there is a certain correspondence between the intensity +of the heat, or mechanical violence, which gives rise to the pain, and +the pain itself; the possibility of the establishment of a correlation +between mechanical force and volition becomes apparent. And the same +conclusion is suggested by the fact that, within certain limits, the +intensity of the mechanical force we exert is proportioned to the +intensity of our desire to exert it. + +Thus I am prepared to go with the Materialists wherever the true pursuit +of the path of Descartes may lead them; and I am glad, on all occasions, +to declare my belief that their fearless development of the +materialistic aspect of these matters has had an immense, and a most +beneficial, influence upon physiology and psychology. Nay more, when +they go farther than I think they are entitled to do--when they +introduce Calvinism into science and declare that man is nothing but a +machine, I do not see any particular harm in their doctrines, so long as +they admit that which is a matter of experimental fact--namely, that it +is a machine capable of adjusting itself within certain limits. + +I protest that if some great Power would agree to make me always think +what is true and do what is right, on condition of being turned into a +sort of clock and wound up every morning before I got out of bed, I +should instantly close with the offer. The only freedom I care about is +the freedom to do right; the freedom to do wrong I am ready to part with +on the cheapest terms to any one who will take it of me. But when the +Materialists stray beyond the borders of their path and begin to talk +about there being nothing else in the universe but Matter and Force and +Necessary Laws, and all the rest of _their_ "grenadiers," I decline to +follow them. I go back to the point from which we started, and to the +other path of Descartes. I remind you that we have already seen clearly +and distinctly, and in a manner which admits of no doubt, that all our +knowledge is a knowledge of states of consciousness. "Matter" and +"Force" are, so far as we can know, mere names for certain forms of +consciousness. "Necessary" means that of which we cannot conceive the +contrary. "Law" means a rule which we have always found to hold good, +and which we expect always will hold good. Thus it is an indisputable +truth that what we call the material world is only known to us under the +forms of the ideal world; and, as Descartes tells us, our knowledge of +the soul is more intimate and certain than our knowledge of the body. +If I say that impenetrability is a property of matter, all that I can +really mean is that the consciousness I call extension, and the +consciousness I call resistance, constantly accompany one another. Why +and how they are thus related is a mystery. And if I say that thought is +a property of matter, all that I can mean is that, actually or possibly, +the consciousness of extension and that of resistance accompany all +other sorts of consciousness. But, as in the former case, why they are +thus associated is an insoluble mystery. + +From all this it follows that what I may term legitimate materialism, +that is, the extension of the conceptions and of the methods of physical +science to the highest as well as the lowest phenomena of vitality, is +neither more nor less than a sort of shorthand Idealism; and Descartes' +two paths meet at the summit of the mountain, though they set out on +opposite sides of it. + +The reconciliation of physics and metaphysics lies in the acknowledgment +of faults upon both sides; in the confession by physics that all the +phaenomena of nature are, in their ultimate analysis, known to us only as +facts of consciousness; in the admission by metaphysics, that the facts +of consciousness are, practically, interpretable only by the methods and +the formulae of physics: and, finally, in the observance by both +metaphysical and physical thinkers of Descartes' maxim--assent to no +proposition the matter of which is not so clear and distinct that it +cannot be doubted. + + +When you did me the honour to ask me to deliver this address, I confess +I was perplexed what topic to select. For you are emphatically and +distinctly a _Christian_ body; while science and philosophy, within the +range of which lie all the topics on which I could venture to speak, are +neither Christian, nor Unchristian, but are Extrachristian, and have a +world of their own, which, to use language which will be very familiar +to your ears just now, is not only "unsectarian," but is altogether +"secular." The arguments which I have put before you to-night, for +example, are not inconsistent, so far as I know, with any form of +theology. + +After much consideration, I thought that I might be most useful to you, +if I attempted to give you some vision of this Extrachristian world, as +it appears to a person who lives a good deal in it; and if I tried to +show you by what methods the dwellers therein try to distinguish truth +from falsehood, in regard to some of the deepest and most difficult +problems that beset humanity, "in order to be clear about their actions, +and to walk surefootedly in this life," as Descartes says. + +It struck me that if the execution of my project came anywhere near the +conception of it, you would become aware that the philosophers and the +men of science are not exactly what they are sometimes represented to +you to be; and that their methods and paths do not lead so +perpendicularly downwards as you are occasionally told they do. And I +must admit, also, that a particular and personal motive weighed with +me,--namely, the desire to show that a certain discourse, which brought +a great storm about my head some time ago, contained nothing but the +ultimate development of the views of the father of modern philosophy. I +do not know if I have been quite wise in allowing this last motive to +weigh with me. They say that the most dangerous thing one can do in a +thunderstorm is to shelter oneself under a great tree, and the history +of Descartes' life shows how narrowly he escaped being riven by the +lightnings, which were more destructive in his time than in ours. + +Descartes lived and died a good Catholic, and prided himself upon having +demonstrated the existence of God and of the soul of man. As a reward +for his exertions, his old friends the Jesuits put his works upon the +"Index," and called him an Atheist; while the Protestant divines of +Holland declared him to be both a Jesuit and an Atheist. His books +narrowly escaped being burned by the hangman; the fate of Vanini was +dangled before his eyes; and the misfortunes of Galileo so alarmed him, +that he well-nigh renounced the pursuits by which the world has so +greatly benefited, and was driven into subterfuges and evasions which +were not worthy of him. + +"Very cowardly," you may say; and so it was. But you must make allowance +for the fact that, in the seventeenth century, not only did heresy mean +possible burning, or imprisonment, but the very suspicion of it +destroyed a man's peace, and rendered the calm pursuit of truth +difficult or impossible. I fancy that Descartes was a man to care more +about being worried and disturbed, than about being burned outright; +and, like many other men, sacrificed for the sake of peace and +quietness, what he would have stubbornly maintained against downright +violence. + +However this may be, let those who are sure they would have done better +throw stones at him. I have no feelings but those of gratitude and +reverence for the man who did what he did, when he did; and a sort of +shame that any one should repine against taking a fair share of such +treatment as the world thought good enough for him. + +Finally, it occurs to me that, such being my feeling about the matter, +it may be useful to all of us if I ask you, "What is yours? Do you think +that the Christianity of the seventeenth century looks nobler and more +attractive for such treatment of such a man?" You will hardly reply that +it does. But if it does not, may it not be well if all of you do what +lies within your power to prevent the Christianity of the nineteenth +century from repeating the scandal? + +There are one or two living men, who, a couple of centuries hence, will +be remembered as Descartes is now, because they have produced great +thoughts which will live and grow as long as mankind lasts. + +If the twenty-first century studies their history, it will find that the +Christianity of the middle of the nineteenth century recognised them +only as objects of vilification. It is for you and such as you, +Christian young men, to say whether this shall be as true of the +Christianity of the future as it is of that of the present. I appeal to +you to say "No," in your own interest, and in that of the Christianity +you profess. + +In the interest of Science, no appeal is needful; as Dante sings of +Fortune-- + + "Quest' e colei, ch'e tanto posta in croce + Pur da color, che le dovrian dar lode + Dandole biasmo a torto e mala voce. + Ma ella s' e beata, e cio non ode: + Con l' altre prime creature lieta + Volve sua spera, e beata si gode:"[78] + +so, whatever evil voices may rage, Science, secure among the powers that +are eternal, will do her work and be blessed. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[68] I forget who it was said of him: "Il a plus que personne l'esprit +que tout le monde a." + +[69] "Discours de la Methode pour bien conduire sa Raison et chercher la +Verite dans les Sciences." + +[70] "Eine thaetige Skepsis ist die, welche unablaessig bemueht ist sich +selbst zu ueberwinden, und durch geregelte Erfahrung zu einer Art von +bedingtrer Zuverlaessigkeit zu gelangen."--_Maximen und Reflexionen_, 7 +Abtheilung. + +[71] "Au milieu de toutes ses erreurs, il ne faut pas meconnaitre une +grande idee, qui consiste a avoir tente pour la premiere fois de ramener +tous les phenomenes naturels a n'etre qu'un simple develloppement des +lois de la mecanique," is the weighty judgment of Biot, cited by +Bouillier (_Histoire de la Philosophie Cartesienne_, t. i. p. 196). + +[72] "Traite de l'Homme" (Cousin's Edition), p. 347. + +[73] Descartes pretends that he does not apply his views to the human +body, but only to an imaginary machine which, if it could be +constructed, would do all that the human body does; throwing a sop to +Cerberus unworthily; and uselessly, because Cerberus was by no means +stupid enough to swallow it. + +[74] "Traite de l'Homme," p. 427. + +[75] Compare "Traite des Passions," Art. XIII. and XVI. + +[76] Bouillier, into whose excellent "History of the Cartesian +Philosophy" I had not looked when this passage was written, says, very +justly, that Descartes "a merite le titre de pere de la physique, aussi +bien que celui de pere de la metaphysique moderne" (t. i. p. 197). See +also Kuno Fischer's "Geschichte der neuen Philosophie," Bd. i.; and the +very remarkable work of Lange, "Geschichte des Materialismus."--A good +translation of the latter would be a great service to philosophy in +England. + +[77] For all the qualifications which need to be made here, I refer the +reader to the thorough discussion of the nature of the relation between +nerve-action and consciousness in Mr. Herbert Spencer's "Principles of +Psychology," p. 115 _et seq._ + +[78] + "And this is she who's put on cross so much, + Even by them who ought to give her praise, + Giving her wrongly ill repute and blame. + But she is blessed, and she hears not this: + She, with the other primal creatures, glad + Revolves her sphere, and blessed joys herself." + + _Inferno_, vii. 90-95 (W.M. 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