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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/39977-8.txt b/39977-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c6881a9 --- /dev/null +++ b/39977-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14688 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Illustrations of Universal Progress, by Herbert Spencer + +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: Illustrations of Universal Progress + A Series of Discussions + +Author: Herbert Spencer + +Release Date: June 12, 2012 [EBook #39977] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ILLUSTRATIONS OF UNIVERSAL PROGRESS *** + + + + +Produced by Adrian Mastronardi, tallforasmurf and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE + + +In this etext, the oe ligature is shown as [oe]. + +While proofing and formatting this document the Project Gutenberg team +noted and corrected 23 typographical errors, for example "Beauieu" for +"Beaulieu". All were deemed trivial and their correction had no effect +on the sense of the text. + + + + + + ILLUSTRATIONS + + OF + + UNIVERSAL PROGRESS; + + A Series of Discussions. + + + BY + HERBERT SPENCER, + + AUTHOR OF + "THE PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOLOGY," "SOCIAL STATICS," + "ESSAYS, MORAL, POLITICAL AND ÆSTHETIC," "EDUCATION," + "FIRST PRINCIPLES," ETC., ETC., ETC. + + + WITH + + _A NOTICE OF SPENCER'S "NEW SYSTEM OF PHILOSOPHY."_ + + + NEW YORK: + D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, + 443 & 445 BROADWAY. + 1865. + + + + + WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. + + PUBLISHED BY D. APPLETON & CO. + + _EDUCATION--INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL._ 1 vol., 12mo. Cloth, + $1.25. + + _A NEW SYSTEM OF PHILOSOPHY._ Vol. I. _FIRST PRINCIPLES._ Large 12mo. + 503 pages. Cloth $2.00. + + _PRINCIPLES OF BIOLOGY._ In Quarterly Parts, by Subscription. $2.00 + per year. + + NOW IN PRESS: + + _ESSAYS--MORAL, POLITICAL, AND ÆSTHETIC._ 1 vol., large 12mo. Cloth. + + _Copies sent by mail, postpaid, on receipt of price._ + + ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by + D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, + In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the + Southern District of New York. + + + + + AMERICAN NOTICE + + OF A + + NEW SYSTEM OF PHILOSOPHY. + + BY + + HERBERT SPENCER. + + +The author of the following work, Mr. Herbert Spencer, of England, has +entered upon the publication of a new philosophical system, so original and +comprehensive as to deserve the attention of all earnest inquirers. He +proposes nothing less than to unfold such a complete philosophy of Nature, +physical, organic, mental and social, as Science has now for the first time +made possible, and which, if successfully executed, will constitute a +momentous step in the progress of thought. + +His system is designed to embrace five works; each a distinct treatise, but +all closely connected in plan, and treating of the following subjects in +the order presented: 1st, First Principles; 2d, Principles of Biology; 3d, +Principles of Psychology; 4th, Principles of Sociology; 5th, Principles of +Morality. The opening work of the series--_First Principles_--though +somewhat of an introductory character, is an independent and completed +argument. It consists of two parts: first, "The Unknowable," and second, +"The Laws of the Knowable." Unattractive as these titles may seem, they +indicate a discussion of great originality and transcendent interest. + +When public consideration is invited to a system of philosophy so extended +as to comprehend the entire scheme of nature and humanity, and so bold as +to deal with them in the ripest spirit of science, it is natural that many +should ask at the outset how the author stands related to the problem of +Religion. Mr. Spencer finds this the preliminary question of his +philosophy, and engages with it at the threshold of his undertaking. Before +attempting to work out a philosophical scheme, he sees that it is at first +necessary to find how far Philosophy can go and where she must stop--the +necessary limits of human knowledge, or the circle which bounds all +rational and legitimate investigation; and this opens at once the profound +and imminent question of the spheres and relation of Religion and Science. + +Mr. Spencer is a leading representative of that school of thinkers which +holds that, as man is finite, he can grasp and know only the finite;--that +by the inexorable conditions of thought all real knowledge is relative and +phenomenal, and hence that we cannot go behind phenomena to find the +ultimate causes and solve the ultimate mystery of being. In such assertions +as that "God cannot by any searching be found out;" that "a God understood +would be no God at all;" and that "to think God _is_ as we think Him to be +is blasphemy," we see the recognition of this idea of the inscrutableness +of the Absolute Cause. The doctrine itself is neither new nor limited to a +few exceptional thinkers. It is widely affirmed by enlightened science, and +pervades nearly all the cultivated theology of the present day. Sir William +Hamilton and Dr. Mansel are among its recent and ablest expounders. "With +the exception," says Sir William Hamilton, "of a few late absolutist +theorizers in Germany, this is perhaps the truth of all others most +harmoniously reëchoed by every philosopher of every school;" and among +these he names Protagoras, Aristotle, St. Augustine, Melanchthon, Scaliger, +Bacon, Spinoza, Newton, and Kant. + +But though Mr. Spencer accepts this doctrine, he has not left it where he +found it. The world is indebted to him for having advanced the argument to +a higher and grander conclusion--a conclusion which changes the +philosophical aspect of the whole question, and involves the profoundest +consequences. Hamilton and Mansel bring us, by their inexorable logic, to +the result that we can neither know nor conceive the Infinite, and that +every attempt to do so involves us in contradiction and absurdity; but +having reached this vast negation, their logic and philosophy break down. +Accepting their conclusions as far as they go, Mr. Spencer maintains the +utter incompleteness of their reasoning, and, pushing the inquiry still +farther, he demonstrates that though we cannot grasp the Infinite in +_thought_, we can realize it in _consciousness_. He shows that though by +the laws of thinking we are rigorously prevented from forming a +_conception_ of that Incomprehensible, Omnipotent Power by which we are +acted upon in all phenomena, yet we are, by the laws of thought, equally +prevented from ridding ourselves of the _consciousness_ of this Power. He +proves that this consciousness of a Supreme Cause is not _negative_, but +_positive_--that it is indestructible, and has a higher certainty than any +other belief whatever. The Unknowable, then, in the view of Mr. Spencer, is +not a mere term of negation, nor a word employed only to express our +ignorance, but it means that Infinite Reality, that Supreme but Inscrutable +Cause, of which the universe is but a manifestation, and which has an +ever-present disclosure in human consciousness. + +Having thus found an indestructible basis in human nature for the religious +sentiment, Mr. Spencer next shows that all religions rest upon this +foundation, and contain a fundamental verity--a soul of truth, which +remains when their conflicting doctrines and discordant peculiarities are +mutually cancelled. In the lower and grosser forms of religion this truth +is but dimly discerned, but becomes ever clearer the more highly the +religion is developed, surviving every change, and remaining untouched by +the severest criticism. + +Mr. Spencer then proceeds to demonstrate that all science tends to +precisely the same great conclusion;--in all directions investigation leads +to insoluble mystery. Alike in the external and the internal worlds, the +man of science sees himself in the midst of perpetual changes of which he +can discover neither the beginning nor the end. If he looks inward, he +perceives that both ends of the thread of consciousness are beyond his +grasp. If he resolve the appearances, properties, and movements of +surrounding things into manifestations of Force in Space and Time, he still +finds that Force, Space, and Time pass all understanding. Thus do all lines +of argument converge to the same conclusion. Whether we scrutinize internal +consciousness or external phenomena, or trace to their root the faiths of +mankind, we reach that common ground where all antagonisms disappear--that +highest and most abstract of all truths, which is affirmed with equal +certainty by both religion and science, and in which may be found their +full and final reconciliation. + +It is perhaps hardly just to Mr. Spencer to state his position upon this +grave subject without giving also the accompanying reasoning; but so +compressed and symmetrical is his argument that it cannot be put into +narrower compass without mutilation. To those interested in the advance of +thought in this direction, we may say that the discussion will be found +unsurpassed in nobleness of aim, eloquence of statement, philosophic +breadth, and depth and power of reasoning. + +This portion of the work embraces five chapters, as follows: I. Religion +and Science; II. Ultimate Religious Ideas; III. Ultimate Scientific Ideas; +IV. The Relativity of all Knowledge; V. The Reconciliation. + +The second and larger portion of _First Principles_ Mr. Spencer designates +"The Laws of the Knowable." By these he understands those fundamental and +universal principles reached by scientific investigation, which underlie +all phenomena, and are necessary to their explanation. Certain great laws +have been established which are found equally true in all departments of +nature, and these are made the foundation of his philosophy. The sublime +idea of the Unity of the Universe, to which science has long been tending, +Mr. Spencer has made peculiarly his own. Through the vast diversities of +nature he discerns a oneness of order and method, which necessitates but +one philosophy of being; the same principles being found to regulate the +course of celestial movement, terrestrial changes, and the phenomena of +life, mind, and society. These may all be comprehended in a single +philosophical scheme, so that each shall throw light upon the other, and +the mastery of one help to the comprehension of all. + +To Mr. Spencer the one conception which spans the universe and solves the +widest range of its problems--which reaches outward through boundless space +and back through illimitable time, resolving the deepest questions of life, +mind, society, history, and civilization, which predicts the glorious +possibilities of the future, and reveals the august method by which the +Divine Power works evermore,--this one, all-elucidating conception, is +expressed by the term EVOLUTION. To this great subject he has devoted his +remarkable powers of thought for many years, and stands toward it not only +in the relation of an expositor, but also in that of a discoverer. + +The fact that all living beings are developed from a minute structureless +germ has long been known, while the law which governs their evolution--that +the change is ever from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous--has been +arrived at within a generation. But this fact of growth is by no means +limited to the physical history of plants and animals--it is exemplified +upon a far more extended scale. Astronomers hold that the solar system has +gone through such a process, and Geologists teach that the earth has had +its career of evolution. Animals have a mental as well as a physical +development, and there is also a progress of knowledge, of religion, of the +arts and sciences, of institutions, manners, governments, and civilization +itself. Mr. Spencer has the honour of having first established the +universality of the principle by which all these changes are governed. The +law of evolution, which has been hitherto limited to plants and animals, he +demonstrates to be the law of _all_ evolution. This doctrine is unfolded in +the first Essay of the present volume, and is more or less fully +illustrated in the others; but it will be found elaborately worked out in +the second part of _First Principles_. + +The course of the discussion in this part of the work will be best shown by +enumerating the titles to the chapters, which are as follows: I. Laws in +General; II. The Law of Evolution; III. The Same continued; IV. The Causes +of Evolution; V. Space, Time, Matter, Motion, and Force; VI. The +Indestructibility of Matter; VII. The Continuity of Motion; VIII. The +Persistence of Force; IX. The Correlation and Equivalence of Forces; X. The +Direction of Motion; XI. The Rhythm of Motion; XII. The Conditions +Essential to Evolution; XIII. The Instability of the Homogeneous; XIV. The +Multiplication of Effects; XV. Differentiation and Integration; XVI. +Equilibration; XVII. Summary and Conclusion. + +A most interesting and fruitful field of thought, it will be seen, is here +traversed by our author, and the latest and highest questions of science +are discussed under novel aspects and in new relations. Not only do the +pages abound with acute suggestions and fresh views, but the entire +argument, in its leading demonstrations, and the full breadth of its +philosophic scope, is stamped with a high originality. + + * * * * * + +Having thus determined the sphere of philosophy and ascertained those +fundamental principles governing all orders of phenomena which are to be +subsequently used for guidance and verification, the author proceeds to the +second work of the series, which is devoted to Biology, or the Science of +Life. He regards life not as a foreign and unintelligible something, thrust +into the scheme of nature, of which we can know nothing save its mystery, +but as an essential part of the universal plan. The harmonies of life are +regarded as but phases of the universal harmony, and Biology is studied by +the same methods as other departments of science. The great truths of +Physics and Chemistry are applied to its elucidation; its facts are +collected, its inductions established, and constantly verified by the first +principles laid down at the outset. Apart from its connections with the +philosophical system, of which it forms a part, this work will have great +intrinsic interest. Nothing was more needed than a compact and +well-digested statement of those general principles of life to which +science has arrived, and Mr. Spencer's presentation is proving to be just +what is required. Some idea of his mode of treating the subject may be +formed by glancing over a few of his first chapter-headings. PART FIRST: I. +Organic Matter; II. The Actions of Forces on Organic Matter; III. The +Reactions of Organic Matter on Forces; IV. Proximate Definition of Life; V. +The Correspondence between Life and its Circumstances; VI. The Degree of +Life Varies with the Degree of Correspondence; VII. Inductions of Biology. +PART SECOND: I. Growth; II. Development; III. Function; IV. Waste and +Repair; V. Adaptation; VI. Individuality; VII. Genesis; VIII. Heredity; IX. +Variation; X. Genesis, Heredity and Variation; XI. Classification; XII. +Distribution. + + * * * * * + +In the scheme of nature Mind is ever associated with Life. The third +division of this philosophical system will therefore be Psychology, or the +Science of Mind. This great subject will be considered, not by the narrow +methods usual with metaphysicians, but in its broadest aspects as a phase +of nature's order--to be studied by observation and induction through the +whole range of psychical manifestation in animated beings. The subject of +mind will be regarded in the light of the great truths of Biology +previously established; the connections of mind and life will be traced; +the progress of mentality as exhibited in the animal grades, and the +evolution of the intellectual faculties in man will be delineated and the +coöperation of mind and nature in the production of ideas and intelligence +unfolded. We have no work upon mind of this comprehensive and thoroughly +scientific character: the materials are abundant, and the necessity of +their organization is widely recognized. That Mr. Spencer is eminently the +man to perform this great task is proved by the fact that he is already the +author of the most profound and able contribution to the advancement of +psychological science that has appeared for many years. + + * * * * * + +In the true philosophic order, Biology and Psychology prepare the way for +the study of social science, and hence the fourth part of Mr. Spencer's +system will treat of Sociology, or the natural laws of society. As a +knowledge of individuals must precede an understanding of their mutual +relations, so an exposition of the laws of life and mind, which constitute +the science of human nature, must precede the successful study of social +phenomena. In this part will be considered the development of society, or +that intellectual and moral progress which depends upon the growth of human +ideas and feelings in their necessary order. The evolution of political, +ecclesiastical, and industrial organizations will be traced, and a +statement made of those principles underlying all social progress, without +which there can be no successful regulation of the affairs of society. Mr. +Spencer's mind has long been occupied with these important questions, as +the reader will find by referring to his able work upon "Social Statics," +published several years ago. + + * * * * * + +Lastly, in Part Fifth, Mr. Spencer proposes to consider the _Principles of +Morality_, bringing to bear the truths furnished by Biology, Psychology, +and Sociology, to determine the true theory of right living. He will show +that the true moral ideal and limit of progress is the attainment of an +equilibrium between constitution and conditions of existence, and trace +those principles of private conduct, physical, intellectual, moral, and +religious that follow from the conditions to complete individual life. +Those rules of human action which all civilized nations have registered as +essential laws--the inductions of morality--will be delineated, and also +those mutual limitations of men's actions necessitated by their coexistence +as units of society, which constitute the foundation of justice. + + * * * * * + +It cannot be doubted that the order here indicated, as it corresponds to +the method of nature, is the one which Philosophy must pursue in the +future. It combines the precision of science with the harmony and unity of +universal truth. The time is past when Biology can be considered with no +reference to the laws of Physics; Mind with no reference to the science of +Life, and Sociology, without having previously mastered the foregoing +subjects. The progress of knowledge is now toward more definite, +systematic, and comprehensive views, while it is the highest function of +intellect to coördinate and bind together its isolated and fragmentary +parts. In carrying out his great plan, therefore, Mr. Spencer is but +embodying the large philosophical tendencies of the age. + +If it is urged that his scheme is too vast for any one man to accomplish, +it may be replied: 1st. That it is not intended to treat the various +subjects exhaustively, but only to state general principles with just +sufficient details for their clear illustration. 2d. A considerable portion +of the work is already issued, and much more is ready for publication, +while the author is still in the prime of life. 3d. It must be remembered +that intellects occasionally appear, endowed with that comprehensive grasp +and high organizing power which fits them for vast undertakings. The reader +will find at the close of the volume Mr. Spencer's Prospectus of his +system. That he who has so clearly mapped out his work is the proper one to +execute it, we think will be fully apparent to all who peruse the present +volume. + +An impression prevails with many that Mr. Spencer belongs to the positive +school of M. Auguste Comte. This is an entire misapprehension; but the +position having been assumed by several of his reviewers, he repels the +charge in the following letter, which appeared in the _New Englander_ for +January, 1864. + +_To the Editor of the New Englander_: + +SIR:--While recognizing the appreciative tone and general candour of +the article in your last number, entitled "Herbert Spencer on Ultimate +Religious Ideas," allow me to point out one error which pervades it. +The writer correctly represents the leading positions of my argument, +but he inadvertently conveys a wrong impression respecting my +tendencies and sympathies. He says of me, "the spirit of his philosophy +is evidently that of the so-called positive method which has now many +partial disciples, as well as many zealous adherents among the thinkers +of England." Further on I am tacitly classed with "the English admirers +and disciples of the great Positivist;" and it is presently added that +"in Mr. Spencer we have an example of a positivist, who does not treat +the subject of religion with supercilious neglect." Here and +throughout, the implication is that I am a follower of Comte. This is a +mistake. That M. Comte has given a general exposition of the doctrine +and method elaborated by science, and has applied to it a name which +has obtained a certain currency, is true. But it is not true that the +holders of this doctrine and followers of this method are disciples of +M. Comte. Neither their modes of inquiry nor their views concerning +human knowledge in its nature and limits are appreciably different from +what they were before. If they are Positivists it is in the sense that +all men of science have been more or less consistently Positivists; and +the applicability of M. Comte's title to them no more makes them his +disciples than does its applicability to the men of science who lived +and died before M. Comte wrote, make them his disciples. + +My own attitude toward M. Comte and his partial adherents has been all +along that of antagonism. In an essay on the "Genesis of Science," +published in 1854, and republished with other essays in 1857, I have +endeavoured to show that his theory of the logical dependence and +historical development of the sciences is untrue. I have still among my +papers the memoranda of a second review (for which I failed to obtain a +place), the purpose of which was to show the untenableness of his +theory of intellectual progress. The only doctrine of importance in +which I agree with him--the relativity of all knowledge--is one common +to him and sundry other thinkers of earlier date; and even this I hold +in a different sense from that in which he held it. But on all points +that are distinctive of his philosophy, I differ from him. I deny his +Hierarchy of the Sciences. I regard his division of intellectual +progress into the three phases, theological, metaphysical, and +positive, as superficial. I reject utterly his Religion of Humanity. +And his ideal of society I hold in detestation. Some of his minor views +I accept; some of his incidental remarks seem to me to be profound, but +from everything which distinguishes Comteism as a system, I dissent +entirely. The only influence on my own course of thought which I can +trace to M. Comte's writings, is the influence that results from +meeting with antagonistic opinions definitely expressed. + +Such being my position, you will, I think, see that by classing me as a +Positivist, and tacitly including me among the English admirers and +disciples of Comte, your reviewer unintentionally misrepresents me. I +am quite ready to bear the odium attaching to opinions which I do hold; +but I object to have added the odium attaching to opinions which I _do +not_ hold. If, by publishing this letter in your forthcoming number, +you will allow me to set myself right with the American public on this +matter, you will greatly oblige me. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, + + HERBERT SPENCER. + +We take the liberty of making an extract from a private letter of Mr. +Spencer, which contains some further observations in the same connection: + +"There appears to have got abroad in the United States, a very +erroneous impression respecting the influence of Comte's writings in +England. I suppose that the currency obtained by the words 'Positivism' +and 'Positivist,' is to blame for this. Comte having designated by the +term Positive Philosophy all that body of definitely-established +knowledge which men of science have been gradually organizing into a +coherent body of doctrine, and having habitually placed this in +opposition to the incoherent body of doctrine defended by theologians, +it has become the habit of the theological party to think of the +antagonist scientific party under this title of Positivists applied to +them by Comte. And thus, from the habit of calling them Positivists +there has grown up the assumption that they call themselves +Positivists, and that they are the disciples of Comte. The truth is +that Comte and his doctrines receive here scarcely any attention. I +know something of the scientific world in England, and I cannot name a +single man of science who acknowledges himself a follower of Comte, or +accepts the title of Positivist. Lest, however, there should be some +such who were unknown to me, I have recently made inquiries into the +matter. To Professor Tyndall I put the question whether Comte had +exerted any appreciable influence on his own course of thought: and he +replied, 'So far as I know, my own course of thought would have been +exactly the same had Comte never existed.' I then asked, 'Do you know +any men of science whose views have been affected by Comte's writings?' +and his answer was: 'His influence on scientific thought in England is +absolutely _nil_.' To the same questions Prof. Huxley returned, in +other words, the same answers. Professors Huxley and Tyndall, being +leaders in their respective departments, and being also men of general +culture and philosophic insight, I think that, joining their +impressions with my own, I am justified in saying that the scientific +world of England is wholly uninfluenced by Comte. Such small influence +as he has had here has been on some literary men and historians--men +who were attracted by the grand achievements of science, who were +charmed by the plausible system of scientific generalizations put forth +by Comte, with the usual French regard for symmetry and disregard for +fact, and who were, from their want of scientific training, unable to +detect the essential fallaciousness of his system. Of these the most +notable example was the late Mr. Buckle. Besides him, I can name but +seven men who have been in any appreciable degree influenced by Comte; +and of these, four, if not five, are scarcely known to the public." + +Mr. Spencer's philosophical series is published by D. Appleton & Co., New +York, in quarterly parts (80 to 100 pages each), by subscription, at two +dollars a year. "_First Principles_" is issued in one volume, and four +parts of Biology have appeared. We subjoin some notices of his philosophy +from American and English reviews. + + + _From the National Quarterly Review_ (American.) + +Comte thus founded social science, and opened a path for future +discoverers; but he did not perceive, any more than previous inquirers, +the fundamental law of human evolution. It was reserved for Herbert +Spencer to discover this all-comprehensive law which is found to +explain alike all the phenomena of man's history and all those of +external nature. This sublime discovery, that the universe is in a +continuous process of evolution from the homogeneous to the +heterogeneous, with which only Newton's law of gravitation is at all +worthy to be compared, underlies not only physics, but also history. It +reveals the law to which social changes conform. + + + _From the Christian Examiner._ + +Reverent and bold--reverent for truth, though not for the forms of +truth, and not for much that we hold true--bold in the destruction of +error, though without that joy in destruction which often claims the +name of boldness;--these works are interesting in themselves and in +their relation to the current thought of the time. They seem at first +sight to form the turning point in the positive philosophy, but closer +examination shows us that it is only a new and marked stage in a +regular growth. It is the positive philosophy reaching the higher +relations of our being, and establishing what before it ignored because +it had not reached, and by ignoring seemed to deny. This system +formerly excluded theology and psychology. In the works of Herbert +Spencer we have the rudiments of a positive theology and an immense +step toward the perfection of the science of psychology.... Such is a +brief and meagre sketch of a discussion which we would commend to be +followed in detail by every mind interested in theological studies. +Herbert Spencer comes in good faith from what has been so long a +hostile camp, bringing a flag of truce and presenting terms of +agreement meant to be honourable to both parties: let us give him a +candid hearing.... In conclusion, we would remark that the work of +Herbert Spencer referred to (First Principles) is not mainly +theological, but will present the latest and broadest generalizations +of science, and we would commend to our readers this author, too little +known among us, as at once one of the clearest of teachers and one of +the wisest and most honourable of opponents. + + + _From the New Englander._ + +Though we find here some unwarranted assumptions, as well as some grave +omissions, yet this part (Laws of the Knowable) may be considered, upon +the whole, as a fine specimen of scientific reasoning. Considerable +space is devoted to the "Law of Evolution" the discovery of which is +the author's chief claim to originality, and certainly evinces great +power of generalization. To quote the abstract definition without a +full statement of the inductions from which it is derived would convey +no fair impression of the breadth and strength of the thought which it +epitomizes. Of Mr. Spencer's general characteristics as a writer, we +may observe that his style is marked by great purity, clearness, and +force; though it is somewhat diffuse, and the abstract nature of some +of his topics occasionally renders his thought difficult of +apprehension. His treatment of his subjects is generally thorough and +sometimes exhaustive; his arguments are always ingenious if not always +convincing; his illustrations are drawn from almost every accessible +field of human knowledge, and his method of "putting things" is such as +to make the most of his materials. He is undoubtedly entitled to a high +rank among the speculative and philosophic writers of the present +day.... + +In Mr. Spencer we have the example of a positivist, who does not treat +the subject of religion with supercilious neglect, and who illustrates +by his own method of reasoning upon the highest objects of human +thought, the value of those metaphysical studies which it is so much +the fashion of his school to decry. For both these reasons the volume, +which we now propose to examine, deserves the careful attention of the +theologian who desires to know what one of the strongest thinkers of +his school, commonly thought atheistic in its tendencies, can say in +behalf of our ultimate religious ideas. For if we mistake not, in spite +of the very negative character of his own results, he has furnished +some strong arguments for the doctrine of a positive Christian +theology. We shall be mistaken if we expect to find him carelessly +passing these matters by (religious faith and theological science) as +in all respects beyond knowledge and of no practical concern. On the +contrary, he gives them profound attention, and arrives at conclusions +in regard to them which even the Christian theologian must allow to +contain a large measure of truth. While showing the _unsearchable +nature_ of the ultimate facts on which religion depends, he +demonstrates their _real existence_ and their great importance.... In +answering these questions Mr. Spencer has, we think, arrived nearer to +a true philosophy than either Hamilton or Mansel. At least he has +indicated in a more satisfactory manner than they have done, the +positive datum of consciousness that the unconditioned, though +inscrutable, _exists_. It may be said that Mr. Spencer is not +chargeable with excluding God from the universe, or denying all +revelation of Him in His works, since he earnestly defends the truth +that an inscrutable power is shown to _exist_. We certainly would not +charge him with theoretical atheism, holding as he does this ultimate +religious idea. + + + _From the North American Review._ + +The law of organic development announced in the early part of the +present century, by Goethe, Schelling, and Von Baer, and vaguely +expressed in the formula, that "evolution is always from the homogenous +to the heterogeneous, and from the simple to the complex," has recently +been extended by Herbert Spencer so as to include all phenomena +whatsoever. He has shown that this law of evolution is the law of _all_ +evolution. Whether it be in the development of the earth or of life +upon its surface, in the development of Society, of government, of +manufactures, of commerce, of language, literature, science and art, +this same advance from the simple to the complex, through successive +differentiations, holds uniformly. The stupendous induction from all +classes of phenomena by which Mr. Spencer proceeds to establish and +illustrate his theorem cannot be given here. + + + _From the Christian Spectator_ (_English_). + +Mr. Spencer claims for his view that it is not only a religious +position, but preëminently _the_ religious position; and we are most +thoroughly disposed to agree with him, though we think he does not +appreciate the force of his own argument, nor fully understand his own +words. For let us now attempt to realize the meaning of this fact, of +which Mr. Spencer and his compeers have put us in possession; let us +endeavour to see whether its bearings are really favorable or adverse +to religion. They are put forward indeed avowedly as adverse to any +other religion than a mere reverential acquiescence in ignorance +concerning all that truly exists; but it appears to us that this +supposed opposition to religion arises from the fact that the doctrine +itself is so profoundly, so intensely, so overwhelmingly religious, +nay, so utterly and entirely CHRISTIAN, that its true meaning could not +be seen for very glory. Like Moses, when he came down from the Mount, +this positive philosophy comes with a veil over its face, that its too +divine radiance may be hidden for a time. This is Science that has been +conversing with GOD, and brings in her hand His law written on tables +of stone. + + + _From the Reader._ + +To answer the question of the likelihood of the permanence of Mr. +Mill's philosophic reign, ... we should have to take account, among +other things, of the differences from Mr. Mill already shown by the +extraordinarily able and peculiarly original thinker whose name we have +associated with Mr. Mill's at the head of this article. We may take +occasion, at another time, to call attention to these speculations of +Mr. Herbert Spencer, whose works in the meantime, and especially that +new one whose title we have cited, we recommend to all those select +readers whose appreciation of masterly exposition, and great reach and +boldness of generalization, does not depend on their mere disposition +to agree with the doctrines propounded. + + + _From the British Quarterly Review._ + +Complete in itself, it is at the same time but a part of a whole, +which, if it should be constructed in proportion, will be ten times as +great. For these First Principles are merely the foundation of a system +of philosophy, bolder, more elaborate and comprehensive, perhaps, than +any other which has been hitherto designed in England.... Widely as it +will be seen we differ from the author on some points, we very +sincerely hope he may succeed in accomplishing the bold and magnificent +project he has mapped out. + + + _From the Cornhill Magazine._ + +Our "Survey," superficial as it is, must include at least the mention +of a work so lofty in aim, and so remarkable in execution as the system +of Philosophy which Mr. Herbert Spencer is issuing to subscribers.... +In spite of all dissidence respecting the conclusions, the serious +reader will applaud the profound earnestness and thoroughness with +which these conclusions are advocated; the universal scientific +knowledge brought to bear on them by way of illustration, and the acute +and subtle thinking displayed in every chapter. + + + _From the Parthenon._ + +By these books he has wedged his way into fame in a manner distinctly +original, and curiously marked.... There is a peculiar charm in this +author's style, in that it sacrifices to no common taste, while at the +same time it makes the most abstruse questions intelligible.... The +book, if it is to be noticed with the slightest degree of fairness, +requires to be read and re-read, to be studied apart from itself and +with itself. For whatever may be its ultimate fate--although as the +ages go on it shall become but as the lispings of a little child, a +little more educated than other lisping children of the same time--this +is certain, that, as a book addressed to the present, it lifts the mind +far above the ordinary range of thought, suggests new associations, +arranges chaotic pictures, strikes often a broad harmony, and even +moves the heart by an intellectual struggle as passionless as fate, but +as irresistible as time. + + + _From the Critic._ + +Mr. Spencer is the foremost mind of the only philosophical school in +England which has arrived at a consistent scheme... Beyond this school +we encounter an indolent chaotic eclecticism. Mr. Spencer claims the +respect due to distinct and daring individuality; others are echoes or +slaves. Mr. Spencer may be a usurper, but he has the voice and gesture +of a king. + + + _From the Medico-Chirurgical Review._ + +Mr. Spencer is equally remarkable for his search after first +principles; for his acute attempts to decompose mental phenomena into +their primary elements; and for his broad generalizations of mental +activity, viewed in connection with nature, instinct, and all the +analogies presented by _life_ in its universal aspects. + + + + +EDITOR'S PREFACE. + + +The essays contained in the present volume were first published in the +English periodicals--chiefly the Quarterly Reviews. They contain ideas of +permanent interest, and display an amount of thought and labor evidently +much greater than is usually bestowed on review articles. They were written +with a view to ultimate republication in an enduring form, and were issued +in London with several other papers, under the title of "Essays; +Scientific, Political, and Speculative," first and second series;--the +former appearing in 1857, and the latter in 1863. + +The interest created in Mr. Spencer's writings by the publication in this +country of his valuable work on "Education," and by criticisms of his other +works, has created a demand for these discussions which can only be +supplied by their republication. They are now, however, issued in a new +form, and are more suited to develop the author's purpose in their +preparation; for while each of these essays has its intrinsic and +independent claims upon the reader's attention, they are all at the same +time but parts of a connected and comprehensive argument. Nearly all of Mr. +Spencer's essays have relations more or less direct to the general doctrine +of Evolution--a doctrine which he has probably done more to unfold and +illustrate than any other thinker. The papers comprised in the present +volume are those which deal with the subject in its most obvious and +prominent aspects. + +Although the argument contained in the first essay on "Progress; its Law +and Cause," has been published in an amplified form in the author's "First +Principles," it has been thought best to prefix it to the present +collection as a key to the full interpretation of the other essays. + +To those who read this volume its commendation will be superfluous; we will +only say that those who become interested in his course of thought will +find it completely elaborated in his new System of Philosophy, now in +course of publication. + +The remaining articles of Mr. Spencer's first and second series will be +shortly published, in a volume entitled "Essays; Moral, Political, and +Æsthetic." + + NEW YORK, _March_, 1864. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + I. Progress: Its Law and Cause, 1 + II. Manners and Fashion, 61 + III. The Genesis of Science, 116 + IV. The Physiology of Laughter, 194 + V. The Origin and Function of Music, 210 + VI. The Nebular Hypothesis, 239 + VII. Bain on the Emotions and the Will, 300 + VIII. Illogical Geology, 325 + IX. The Development Hypothesis, 377 + X. The Social Organism, 384 + XI. Use and Beauty, 429 + XII. The Sources of Architectural Types, 434 + XIII. The Use of Anthropomorphism, 440 + + + + +I. PROGRESS: ITS LAW AND CAUSE. + + +The current conception of Progress is somewhat shifting and indefinite. +Sometimes it comprehends little more than simple growth--as of a nation in +the number of its members and the extent of territory over which it has +spread. Sometimes it has reference to quantity of material products--as +when the advance of agriculture and manufactures is the topic. Sometimes +the superior quality of these products is contemplated: and sometimes the +new or improved appliances by which they are produced. When, again, we +speak of moral or intellectual progress, we refer to the state of the +individual or people exhibiting it; while, when the progress of Knowledge, +of Science, of Art, is commented upon, we have in view certain abstract +results of human thought and action. Not only, however, is the current +conception of Progress more or less vague, but it is in great measure +erroneous. It takes in not so much the reality of Progress as its +accompaniments--not so much the substance as the shadow. That progress in +intelligence seen during the growth of the child into the man, or the +savage into the philosopher, is commonly regarded as consisting in the +greater number of facts known and laws understood: whereas the actual +progress consists in those internal modifications of which this increased +knowledge is the expression. Social progress is supposed to consist in the +produce of a greater quantity and variety of the articles required for +satisfying men's wants; in the increasing security of person and property; +in widening freedom of action: whereas, rightly understood, social progress +consists in those changes of structure in the social organism which have +entailed these consequences. The current conception is a teleological one. +The phenomena are contemplated solely as bearing on human happiness. Only +those changes are held to constitute progress which directly or indirectly +tend to heighten human happiness. And they are thought to constitute +progress simply _because_ they tend to heighten human happiness. But +rightly to understand progress, we must inquire what is the nature of these +changes, considered apart from our interests. Ceasing, for example, to +regard the successive geological modifications that have taken place in the +Earth, as modifications that have gradually fitted it for the habitation of +Man, and as _therefore_ a geological progress, we must seek to determine +the character common to these modifications--the law to which they all +conform. And similarly in every other case. Leaving out of sight +concomitants and beneficial consequences, let us ask what Progress is in +itself. + +In respect to that progress which individual organisms display in the +course of their evolution, this question has been answered by the Germans. +The investigations of Wolff, Goethe, and Von Baer, have established the +truth that the series of changes gone through during the development of a +seed into a tree, or an ovum into an animal, constitute an advance from +homogeneity of structure to heterogeneity of structure. In its primary +stage, every germ consists of a substance that is uniform throughout, both +in texture and chemical composition. The first step is the appearance of a +difference between two parts of this substance; or, as the phenomenon is +called in physiological language, a differentiation. Each of these +differentiated divisions presently begins itself to exhibit some contrast +of parts; and by and by these secondary differentiations become as definite +as the original one. This process is continuously repeated--is +simultaneously going on in all parts of the growing embryo; and by endless +such differentiations there is finally produced that complex combination of +tissues and organs constituting the adult animal or plant. This is the +history of all organisms whatever. It is settled beyond dispute that +organic progress consists in a change from the homogeneous to the +heterogeneous. + +Now, we propose in the first place to show, that this law of organic +progress is the law of all progress. Whether it be in the development of +the Earth, in the development of Life upon its surface, in the development +of Society, of Government, of Manufactures, of Commerce, of Language, +Literature, Science, Art, this same evolution of the simple into the +complex, through successive differentiations, holds throughout. From the +earliest traceable cosmical changes down to the latest results of +civilization, we shall find that the transformation of the homogeneous into +the heterogeneous, is that in which Progress essentially consists. + +With the view of showing that _if_ the Nebular Hypothesis be true, the +genesis of the solar system supplies one illustration of this law, let us +assume that the matter of which the sun and planets consist was once in a +diffused form; and that from the gravitation of its atoms there resulted a +gradual concentration. By the hypothesis, the solar system in its nascent +state existed as an indefinitely extended and nearly homogeneous medium--a +medium almost homogeneous in density, in temperature, and in other physical +attributes. The first advance towards consolidation resulted in a +differentiation between the occupied space which the nebulous mass still +filled, and the unoccupied space which it previously filled. There +simultaneously resulted a contrast in density and a contrast in +temperature, between the interior and the exterior of this mass. And at the +same time there arose throughout it rotatory movements, whose velocities +varied according to their distances from its centre. These differentiations +increased in number and degree until there was evolved the organized group +of sun, planets, and satellites, which we now know--a group which presents +numerous contrasts of structure and action among its members. There are the +immense contrasts between the sun and planets, in bulk and in weight; as +well as the subordinate contrasts between one planet and another, and +between the planets and their satellites. There is the similarly marked +contrast between the sun as almost stationary, and the planets as moving +round him with great velocity; while there are the secondary contrasts +between the velocities and periods of the several planets, and between +their simple revolutions and the double ones of their satellites, which +have to move round their primaries while moving round the sun. There is the +yet further strong contrast between the sun and the planets in respect of +temperature; and there is reason to suppose that the planets and satellites +differ from each other in their proper heat, as well as in the heat they +receive from the sun. + +When we bear in mind that, in addition to these various contrasts, the +planets and satellites also differ in respect to their distances from each +other and their primary; in respect to the inclinations of their orbits, +the inclinations of their axes, their times of rotation on their axes, +their specific gravities, and their physical constitutions; we see what a +high degree of heterogeneity the solar system exhibits, when compared with +the almost complete homogeneity of the nebulous mass out of which it is +supposed to have originated. + +Passing from this hypothetical illustration, which must be taken for what +it is worth, without prejudice to the general argument, let us descend to a +more certain order of evidence. It is now generally agreed among geologists +that the Earth was at first a mass of molten matter; and that it is still +fluid and incandescent at the distance of a few miles beneath its surface. +Originally, then, it was homogeneous in consistence, and, in virtue of the +circulation that takes place in heated fluids, must have been comparatively +homogeneous in temperature; and it must have been surrounded by an +atmosphere consisting partly of the elements of air and water, and partly +of those various other elements which assume a gaseous form at high +temperatures. That slow cooling by radiation which is still going on at an +inappreciable rate, and which, though originally far more rapid than now, +necessarily required an immense time to produce any decided change, must +ultimately have resulted in the solidification of the portion most able to +part with its heat--namely, the surface. In the thin crust thus formed we +have the first marked differentiation. A still further cooling, a +consequent thickening of this crust, and an accompanying deposition of all +solidifiable elements contained in the atmosphere, must finally have been +followed by the condensation of the water previously existing as vapour. A +second marked differentiation must thus have arisen: and as the +condensation must have taken place on the coolest parts of the +surface--namely, about the poles--there must thus have resulted the first +geographical distinction of parts. To these illustrations of growing +heterogeneity, which, though deduced from the known laws of matter, may be +regarded as more or less hypothetical, Geology adds an extensive series +that have been inductively established. Its investigations show that the +Earth has been continually becoming more heterogeneous in virtue of the +multiplication of the strata which form its crust; further, that it has +been becoming more heterogeneous in respect of the composition of these +strata, the latter of which, being made from the detritus of the older +ones, are many of them rendered highly complex by the mixture of materials +they contain; and that this heterogeneity has been vastly increased by the +action of the Earth's still molten nucleus upon its envelope, whence have +resulted not only a great variety of igneous rocks, but the tilting up of +sedimentary strata at all angles, the formation of faults and metallic +veins, the production of endless dislocations and irregularities. Yet +again, geologists teach us that the Earth's surface has been growing more +varied in elevation--that the most ancient mountain systems are the +smallest, and the Andes and Himalayas the most modern; while in all +probability there have been corresponding changes in the bed of the ocean. +As a consequence of these ceaseless differentiations, we now find that no +considerable portion of the Earth's exposed surface is like any other +portion, either in contour, in geologic structure, or in chemical +composition; and that in most parts it changes from mile to mile in all +these characteristics. + +Moreover, it must not be forgotten that there has been simultaneously going +on a gradual differentiation of climates. As fast as the Earth cooled and +its crust solidified, there arose appreciable differences in temperature +between those parts of its surface most exposed to the sun and those less +exposed. Gradually, as the cooling progressed, these differences became +more pronounced; until there finally resulted those marked contrasts +between regions of perpetual ice and snow, regions where winter and summer +alternately reign for periods varying according to the latitude, and +regions where summer follows summer with scarcely an appreciable variation. +At the same time the successive elevations and subsidences of different +portions of the Earth's crust, tending as they have done to the present +irregular distribution of land and sea, have entailed various modifications +of climate beyond those dependent on latitude; while a yet further series +of such modifications have been produced by increasing differences of +elevation in the land, which have in sundry places brought arctic, +temperate, and tropical climates to within a few miles of each other. And +the general result of these changes is, that not only has every extensive +region its own meteorologic conditions, but that every locality in each +region differs more or less from others in those conditions, as in its +structure, its contour, its soil. Thus, between our existing Earth, the +phenomena of whose varied crust neither geographers, geologists, +mineralogists, nor meteorologists have yet enumerated, and the molten globe +out of which it was evolved, the contrast in heterogeneity is sufficiently +striking. + +When from the Earth itself we turn to the plants and animals that have +lived, or still live, upon its surface, we find ourselves in some +difficulty from lack of facts. That every existing organism has been +developed out of the simple into the complex, is indeed the first +established truth of all; and that every organism that has existed was +similarly developed, is an inference which no physiologist will hesitate to +draw. But when we pass from individual forms of life to Life in general, +and inquire whether the same law is seen in the _ensemble_ of its +manifestations,--whether modern plants and animals are of more +heterogeneous structure than ancient ones, and whether the Earth's present +Flora and Fauna are more heterogeneous than the Flora and Fauna of the +past,--we find the evidence so fragmentary, that every conclusion is open +to dispute. Two-thirds of the Earth's surface being covered by water; a +great part of the exposed land being inaccessible to, or untravelled by, +the geologist; the greater part of the remainder having been scarcely more +than glanced at; and even the most familiar portions, as England, having +been so imperfectly explored that a new series of strata has been added +within these four years,--it is manifestly impossible for us to say with +any certainty what creatures have, and what have not, existed at any +particular period. Considering the perishable nature of many of the lower +organic forms, the metamorphosis of many sedimentary strata, and the gaps +that occur among the rest, we shall see further reason for distrusting our +deductions. On the one hand, the repeated discovery of vertebrate remains +in strata previously supposed to contain none,--of reptiles where only fish +were thought to exist,--of mammals where it was believed there were no +creatures higher than reptiles,--renders it daily more manifest how small +is the value of negative evidence. + +On the other hand, the worthlessness of the assumption that we have +discovered the earliest, or anything like the earliest, organic remains, is +becoming equally clear. That the oldest known sedimentary rocks have been +greatly changed by igneous action, and that still older ones have been +totally transformed by it, is becoming undeniable. And the fact that +sedimentary strata earlier than any we know, have been melted up, being +admitted, it must also be admitted that we cannot say how far back in time +this destruction of sedimentary strata has been going on. Thus it is +manifest that the title, _Palæozoic_, as applied to the earliest known +fossiliferous strata, involves a _petitio principii_; and that, for aught +we know to the contrary, only the last few chapters of the Earth's +biological history may have come down to us. On neither side, therefore, is +the evidence conclusive. Nevertheless we cannot but think that, scanty as +they are, the facts, taken altogether, tend to show both that the more +heterogeneous organisms have been evolved in the later geologic periods, +and that Life in general has been more heterogeneously manifested as time +has advanced. Let us cite, in illustration, the one case of the +_vertebrata_. The earliest known vertebrate remains are those of Fishes; +and Fishes are the most homogeneous of the vertebrata. Later and more +heterogeneous are Reptiles. Later still, and more heterogeneous still, are +Mammals and Birds. If it be said, as it may fairly be said, that the +Palæozoic deposits, not being estuary deposits, are not likely to contain +the remains of terrestrial vertebrata, which may nevertheless have existed +at that era, we reply that we are merely pointing to the leading facts, +_such as they are_. + +But to avoid any such criticism, let us take the mammalian subdivision +only. The earliest known remains of mammals are those of small marsupials, +which are the lowest of the mammalian type; while, conversely, the highest +of the mammalian type--Man--is the most recent. The evidence that the +vertebrate fauna, as a whole, has become more heterogeneous, is +considerably stronger. To the argument that the vertebrate fauna of the +Palæozoic period, consisting, so far as we know, entirely of Fishes, was +less heterogeneous than the modern vertebrate fauna, which includes +Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals, of multitudinous genera, it may be replied, +as before, that estuary deposits of the Palæozoic period, could we find +them, might contain other orders of vertebrata. But no such reply can be +made to the argument that whereas the marine vertebrata of the Palæozoic +period consisted entirely of cartilaginous fishes, the marine vertebrata of +later periods include numerous genera of osseous fishes; and that, +therefore, the later marine vertebrate faunas are more heterogeneous than +the oldest known one. Nor, again, can any such reply be made to the fact +that there are far more numerous orders and genera of mammalian remains in +the tertiary formations than in the secondary formations. Did we wish +merely to make out the best case, we might dwell upon the opinion of Dr. +Carpenter, who says that "the general facts of Palæontology appear to +sanction the belief, that _the same plan_ may be traced out in what may be +called _the general life of the globe_, as in _the individual life_ of +every one of the forms of organized being which now people it." Or we might +quote, as decisive, the judgment of Professor Owen, who holds that the +earlier examples of each group of creatures severally departed less widely +from archetypal generality than the later ones--were severally less unlike +the fundamental form common to the group as a whole; that is to +say--constituted a less heterogeneous group of creatures; and who further +upholds the doctrine of a biological progression. But in deference to an +authority for whom we have the highest respect, who considers that the +evidence at present obtained does not justify a verdict either way, we are +content to leave the question open. + +Whether an advance from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous is or is not +displayed in the biological history of the globe, it is clearly enough +displayed in the progress of the latest and most heterogeneous +creature--Man. It is alike true that, during the period in which the Earth +has been peopled, the human organism has grown more heterogeneous among the +civilized divisions of the species; and that the species, as a whole, has +been growing more heterogeneous in virtue of the multiplication of races +and the differentiation of these races from each other. + +In proof of the first of these positions, we may cite the fact that, in the +relative development of the limbs, the civilized man departs more widely +from the general type of the placental mammalia than do the lower human +races. While often possessing well-developed body and arms, the Papuan has +extremely small legs: thus reminding us of the quadrumana, in which there +is no great contrast in size between the hind and fore limbs. But in the +European, the greater length and massiveness of the legs has become very +marked--the fore and hind limbs are relatively more heterogeneous. Again, +the greater ratio which the cranial bones bear to the facial bones +illustrates the same truth. Among the vertebrata in general, progress is +marked by an increasing heterogeneity in the vertebral column, and more +especially in the vertebræ constituting the skull: the higher forms being +distinguished by the relatively larger size of the bones which cover the +brain, and the relatively smaller size of those which form the jaw, &c. +Now, this characteristic, which is stronger in Man than in any other +creature, is stronger in the European than in the savage. Moreover, judging +from the greater extent and variety of faculty he exhibits, we may infer +that the civilized man has also a more complex or heterogeneous nervous +system than the uncivilized man: and indeed the fact is in part visible in +the increased ratio which his cerebrum bears to the subjacent ganglia. + +If further elucidation be needed, we may find it in every nursery. The +infant European has sundry marked points of resemblance to the lower human +races; as in the flatness of the alæ of the nose, the depression of its +bridge, the divergence and forward opening of the nostrils, the form of the +lips, the absence of a frontal sinus, the width between the eyes, the +smallness of the legs. Now, as the developmental process by which these +traits are turned into those of the adult European, is a continuation of +that change from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous displayed during the +previous evolution of the embryo, which every physiologist will admit; it +follows that the parallel developmental process by which the like traits of +the barbarous races have been turned into those of the civilized races, has +also been a continuation of the change from the homogeneous to the +heterogeneous. The truth of the second position--that Mankind, as a whole, +have become more heterogeneous--is so obvious as scarcely to need +illustration. Every work on Ethnology, by its divisions and subdivisions of +races, bears testimony to it. Even were we to admit the hypothesis that +Mankind originated from several separate stocks, it would still remain +true, that as, from each of these stocks, there have sprung many now widely +different tribes, which are proved by philological evidence to have had a +common origin, the race as a whole is far less homogeneous than it once +was. Add to which, that we have, in the Anglo-Americans, an example of a +new variety arising within these few generations; and that, if we may trust +to the description of observers, we are likely soon to have another such +example in Australia. + +On passing from Humanity under its individual form, to Humanity as socially +embodied, we find the general law still more variously exemplified. The +change from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous is displayed equally in +the progress of civilization as a whole, and in the progress of every tribe +or nation; and is still going on with increasing rapidity. As we see in +existing barbarous tribes, society in its first and lowest form is a +homogeneous aggregation of individuals having like powers and like +functions: the only marked difference of function being that which +accompanies difference of sex. Every man is warrior, hunter, fisherman, +tool-maker, builder; every woman performs the same drudgeries; every family +is self-sufficing, and save for purposes of aggression and defence, might +as well live apart from the rest. Very early, however, in the process of +social evolution, we find an incipient differentiation between the +governing and the governed. Some kind of chieftainship seems coeval with +the first advance from the state of separate wandering families to that of +a nomadic tribe. The authority of the strongest makes itself felt among a +body of savages as in a herd of animals, or a posse of schoolboys. At +first, however, it is indefinite, uncertain; is shared by others of +scarcely inferior power; and is unaccompanied by any difference in +occupation or style of living: the first ruler kills his own game, makes +his own weapons, builds his own hut, and economically considered, does not +differ from others of his tribe. Gradually, as the tribe progresses, the +contrast between the governing and the governed grows more decided. Supreme +power becomes hereditary in one family; the head of that family, ceasing to +provide for his own wants, is served by others; and he begins to assume the +sole office of ruling. + +At the same time there has been arising a co-ordinate species of +government--that of Religion. As all ancient records and traditions prove, +the earliest rulers are regarded as divine personages. The maxims and +commands they uttered during their lives are held sacred after their +deaths, and are enforced by their divinely-descended successors; who in +their turns are promoted to the pantheon of the race, there to be +worshipped and propitiated along with their predecessors: the most ancient +of whom is the supreme god, and the rest subordinate gods. For a long time +these connate forms of government--civil and religious--continue closely +associated. For many generations the king continues to be the chief priest, +and the priesthood to be members of the royal race. For many ages religious +law continues to contain more or less of civil regulation, and civil law to +possess more or less of religious sanction; and even among the most +advanced nations these two controlling agencies are by no means completely +differentiated from each other. + +Having a common root with these, and gradually diverging from them, we find +yet another controlling agency--that of Manners or ceremonial usages. All +titles of honour are originally the names of the god-king; afterwards of +God and the king; still later of persons of high rank; and finally come, +some of them, to be used between man and man. All forms of complimentary +address were at first the expressions of submission from prisoners to their +conqueror, or from subjects to their ruler, either human or +divine--expressions that were afterwards used to propitiate subordinate +authorities, and slowly descended into ordinary intercourse. All modes of +salutation were once obeisances made before the monarch and used in worship +of him after his death. Presently others of the god-descended race were +similarly saluted; and by degrees some of the salutations have become the +due of all.[A] Thus, no sooner does the originally homogeneous social mass +differentiate into the governed and the governing parts, than this last +exhibits an incipient differentiation into religious and secular--Church +and State; while at the same time there begins to be differentiated from +both, that less definite species of government which rules our daily +intercourse--a species of government which, as we may see in heralds' +colleges, in books of the peerage, in masters of ceremonies, is not without +a certain embodiment of its own. Each of these is itself subject to +successive differentiations. In the course of ages, there arises, as among +ourselves, a highly complex political organization of monarch, ministers, +lords and commons, with their subordinate administrative departments, +courts of justice, revenue offices, &c., supplemented in the provinces by +municipal governments, county governments, parish or union governments--all +of them more or less elaborated. By its side there grows up a highly +complex religious organization, with its various grades of officials, from +archbishops down to sextons, its colleges, convocations, ecclesiastical +courts, &c.; to all which must be added the ever multiplying independent +sects, each with its general and local authorities. And at the same time +there is developed a highly complex aggregation of customs, manners, and +temporary fashions, enforced by society at large, and serving to control +those minor transactions between man and man which are not regulated by +civil and religious law. Moreover it is to be observed that this ever +increasing heterogeneity in the governmental appliances of each nation, has +been accompanied by an increasing heterogeneity in the governmental +appliances of different nations; all of which are more or less unlike in +their political systems and legislation, in their creeds and religious +institutions, in their customs and ceremonial usages. + + [A] For detailed proof of these assertions see essay on _Manners and + Fashion_. + +Simultaneously there has been going on a second differentiation of a more +familiar kind; that, namely, by which the mass of the community has been +segregated into distinct classes and orders of workers. While the governing +part has undergone the complex development above detailed, the governed +part has undergone an equally complex development, which has resulted in +that minute division of labour characterizing advanced nations. It is +needless to trace out this progress from its first stages, up through the +caste divisions of the East and the incorporated guilds of Europe, to the +elaborate producing and distributing organization existing among ourselves. +Political economists have long since described the evolution which, +beginning with a tribe whose members severally perform the same actions +each for himself, ends with a civilized community whose members severally +perform different actions for each other; and they have further pointed out +the changes through which the solitary producer of any one commodity is +transformed into a combination of producers who, united under a master, +take separate parts in the manufacture of such commodity. But there are yet +other and higher phases of this advance from the homogeneous to the +heterogeneous in the industrial organization of society. + +Long after considerable progress has been made in the division of labour +among different classes of workers, there is still little or no division of +labour among the widely separated parts of the community; the nation +continues comparatively homogeneous in the respect that in each district +the same occupations are pursued. But when roads and other means of transit +become numerous and good, the different districts begin to assume different +functions, and to become mutually dependent. The calico manufacture locates +itself in this county, the woollen-cloth manufacture in that; silks are +produced here, lace there; stockings in one place, shoes in another; +pottery, hardware, cutlery, come to have their special towns; and +ultimately every locality becomes more or less distinguished from the rest +by the leading occupation carried on in it. Nay, more, this subdivision of +functions shows itself not only among the different parts of the same +nation, but among different nations. That exchange of commodities which +free-trade promises so greatly to increase, will ultimately have the effect +of specializing, in a greater or less degree, the industry of each people. +So that beginning with a barbarous tribe, almost if not quite homogeneous +in the functions of its members, the progress has been, and still is, +towards an economic aggregation of the whole human race; growing ever more +heterogeneous in respect of the separate functions assumed by separate +nations, the separate functions assumed by the local sections of each +nation, the separate functions assumed by the many kinds of makers and +traders in each town, and the separate functions assumed by the workers +united in producing each commodity. + +Not only is the law thus clearly exemplified in the evolution of the social +organism, but it is exemplified with equal clearness in the evolution of +all products of human thought and action, whether concrete or abstract, +real or ideal. Let us take Language as our first illustration. + +The lowest form of language is the exclamation, by which an entire idea is +vaguely conveyed through a single sound; as among the lower animals. That +human language ever consisted solely of exclamations, and so was strictly +homogeneous in respect of its parts of speech, we have no evidence. But +that language can be traced down to a form in which nouns and verbs are its +only elements, is an established fact. In the gradual multiplication of +parts of speech out of these primary ones--in the differentiation of verbs +into active and passive, of nouns into abstract and concrete--in the rise +of distinctions of mood, tense, person, of number and case--in the +formation of auxiliary verbs, of adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, +prepositions, articles--in the divergence of those orders, genera, species, +and varieties of parts of speech by which civilized races express minute +modifications of meaning--we see a change from the homogeneous to the +heterogeneous. And it may be remarked, in passing, that it is more +especially in virtue of having carried this subdivision of function to a +greater extent and completeness, that the English language is superior to +all others. + +Another aspect under which we may trace the development of language is the +differentiation of words of allied meanings. Philology early disclosed the +truth that in all languages words may be grouped into families having a +common ancestry. An aboriginal name applied indiscriminately to each of an +extensive and ill-defined class of things or actions, presently undergoes +modifications by which the chief divisions of the class are expressed. +These several names springing from the primitive root, themselves become +the parents of other names still further modified. And by the aid of those +systematic modes which presently arise, of making derivations and forming +compound terms expressing still smaller distinctions, there is finally +developed a tribe of words so heterogeneous in sound and meaning, that to +the uninitiated it seems incredible that they should have had a common +origin. Meanwhile from other roots there are being evolved other such +tribes, until there results a language of some sixty thousand or more +unlike words, signifying as many unlike objects, qualities, acts. + +Yet another way in which language in general advances from the homogeneous +to the heterogeneous, is in the multiplication of languages. Whether as Max +Müller and Bunsen think, all languages have grown from one stock, or +whether, as some philologists say, they have grown from two or more stocks, +it is clear that since large families of languages, as the Indo-European, +are of one parentage, they have become distinct through a process of +continuous divergence. The same diffusion over the Earth's surface which +has led to the differentiation of the race, has simultaneously led to a +differentiation of their speech: a truth which we see further illustrated +in each nation by the peculiarities of dialect found in several districts. +Thus the progress of Language conforms to the general law, alike in the +evolution of languages, in the evolution of families of words, and in the +evolution of parts of speech. + +On passing from spoken to written language, we come upon several classes of +facts, all having similar implications. Written language is connate with +Painting and Sculpture; and at first all three are appendages of +Architecture, and have a direct connection with the primary form of all +Government--the theocratic. Merely noting by the way the fact that sundry +wild races, as for example the Australians and the tribes of South Africa, +are given to depicting personages and events upon the walls of caves, which +are probably regarded as sacred places, let us pass to the case of the +Egyptians. Among them, as also among the Assyrians, we find mural paintings +used to decorate the temple of the god and the palace of the king (which +were, indeed, originally identical); and as such they were governmental +appliances in the same sense that state-pageants and religious feasts were. +Further, they were governmental appliances in virtue of representing the +worship of the god, the triumphs of the god-king, the submission of his +subjects, and the punishment of the rebellious. And yet again they were +governmental, as being the products of an art reverenced by the people as a +sacred mystery. From the habitual use of this pictorial representation +there naturally grew up the but slightly-modified practice of +picture-writing--a practice which was found still extant among the Mexicans +at the time they were discovered. By abbreviations analogous to those still +going on in our own written and spoken language, the most familiar of these +pictured figures were successively simplified; and ultimately there grew up +a system of symbols, most of which had but a distant resemblance to the +things for which they stood. The inference that the hieroglyphics of the +Egyptians were thus produced, is confirmed by the fact that the +picture-writing of the Mexicans was found to have given birth to a like +family of ideographic forms; and, among them, as among the Egyptians, these +had been partially differentiated into the _kuriological_ or imitative, and +the _tropical_ or symbolic: which were, however, used together in the same +record. In Egypt, written language underwent a further differentiation: +whence resulted the _hieratic_ and the _epistolographic_ or _enchorial_: +both of which are derived from the original hieroglyphic. At the same time +we find that for the expression of proper names which could not be +otherwise conveyed, phonetic symbols were employed; and though it is +alleged that the Egyptians never actually achieved complete alphabetic +writing, yet it can scarcely be doubted that these phonetic symbols +occasionally used in aid of their ideographic ones, were the germs out of +which alphabetic writing grew. Once having become separate from +hieroglyphics, alphabetic writing itself underwent numerous +differentiations--multiplied alphabets were produced; between most of +which, however, more or less connection can still be traced. And in each +civilized nation there has now grown up, for the representation of one set +of sounds, several sets of written signs used for distinct purposes. +Finally, through a yet more important differentiation came printing; which, +uniform in kind as it was at first, has since become multiform. + +While written language was passing through its earlier stages of +development, the mural decoration which formed its root was being +differentiated into Painting and Sculpture. The gods, kings, men, and +animals represented, were originally marked by indented outlines and +coloured. In most cases these outlines were of such depth, and the object +they circumscribed so far rounded and marked out in its leading parts, as +to form a species of work intermediate between intaglio and bas-relief. In +other cases we see an advance upon this: the raised spaces between the +figures being chiselled off, and the figures themselves appropriately +tinted, a painted bas-relief was produced. The restored Assyrian +architecture at Sydenham exhibits this style of art carried to greater +perfection--the persons and things represented, though still barbarously +coloured, are carved out with more truth and in greater detail: and in the +winged lions and bulls used for the angles of gateways, we may see a +considerable advance towards a completely sculptured figure; which, +nevertheless, is still coloured, and still forms part of the building. But +while in Assyria the production of a statue proper seems to have been +little, if at all, attempted, we may trace in Egyptian art the gradual +separation of the sculptured figure from the wall. A walk through the +collection in the British Museum will clearly show this; while it will at +the same time afford an opportunity of observing the evident traces which +the independent statues bear of their derivation from bas-relief: seeing +that nearly all of them not only display that union of the limbs with the +body which is the characteristic of bas-relief, but have the back of the +statue united from head to foot with a block which stands in place of the +original wall. Greece repeated the leading stages of this progress. As in +Egypt and Assyria, these twin arts were at first united with each other and +with their parent, Architecture, and were the aids of Religion and +Government. On the friezes of Greek temples, we see coloured bas-reliefs +representing sacrifices, battles, processions, games--all in some sort +religious. On the pediments we see painted sculptures more or less united +with the tympanum, and having for subjects the triumphs of gods or heroes. +Even when we come to statues that are definitely separated from the +buildings to which they pertain, we still find them coloured; and only in +the later periods of Greek civilization does the differentiation of +sculpture from painting appear to have become complete. + +In Christian art we may clearly trace a parallel re-genesis. All early +paintings and sculptures throughout Europe were religious in +subject--represented Christs, crucifixions, virgins, holy families, +apostles, saints. They formed integral parts of church architecture, and +were among the means of exciting worship; as in Roman Catholic countries +they still are. Moreover, the early sculptures of Christ on the cross, of +virgins, of saints, were coloured: and it needs but to call to mind the +painted madonnas and crucifixes still abundant in continental churches and +highways, to perceive the significant fact that painting and sculpture +continue in closest connection with each other where they continue in +closest connection with their parent. Even when Christian sculpture was +pretty clearly differentiated from painting, it was still religious and +governmental in its subjects--was used for tombs in churches and statues of +kings: while, at the same time, painting, where not purely ecclesiastical, +was applied to the decoration of palaces, and besides representing royal +personages, was almost wholly devoted to sacred legends. Only in quite +recent times have painting and sculpture become entirely secular arts. Only +within these few centuries has painting been divided into historical, +landscape, marine, architectural, genre, animal, still-life, &c., and +sculpture grown heterogeneous in respect of the variety of real and ideal +subjects with which it occupies itself. + +Strange as it seems then, we find it no less true, that all forms of +written language, of painting, and of sculpture, have a common root in the +politico-religious decorations of ancient temples and palaces. Little +resemblance as they now have, the bust that stands on the console, the +landscape that hangs against the wall, and the copy of the _Times_ lying +upon the table, are remotely akin; not only in nature, but by extraction. +The brazen face of the knocker which the postman has just lifted, is +related not only to the woodcuts of the _Illustrated London News_ which he +is delivering, but to the characters of the _billet-doux_ which accompanies +it. Between the painted window, the prayer-book on which its light falls, +and the adjacent monument, there is consanguinity. The effigies on our +coins, the signs over shops, the figures that fill every ledger, the coats +of arms outside the carriage panel, and the placards inside the omnibus, +are, in common with dolls, blue-books, paper-hangings, lineally descended +from the rude sculpture-paintings in which the Egyptians represented the +triumphs and worship of their god-kings. Perhaps no example can be given +which more vividly illustrates the multiplicity and heterogeneity of the +products that in course of time may arise by successive differentiations +from a common stock. + +Before passing to other classes of facts, it should be observed that the +evolution of the homogeneous into the heterogeneous is displayed not only +in the separation of Painting and Sculpture from Architecture and from each +other, and in the greater variety of subjects they embody, but it is +further shown in the structure of each work. A modern picture or statue is +of far more heterogeneous nature than an ancient one. An Egyptian +sculpture-fresco represents all its figures as on one plane--that is, at +the same distance from the eye; and so is less heterogeneous than a +painting that represents them as at various distances from the eye. It +exhibits all objects as exposed to the same degree of light; and so is less +heterogeneous than a painting which exhibits different objects and +different parts of each object as in different degrees of light. It uses +scarcely any but the primary colours, and these in their full intensity; +and so is less heterogeneous than a painting which, introducing the primary +colours but sparingly, employs an endless variety of intermediate tints, +each of heterogeneous composition, and differing from the rest not only in +quality but in intensity. Moreover, we see in these earliest works a great +uniformity of conception. The same arrangement of figures is perpetually +reproduced--the same actions, attitudes, faces, dresses. In Egypt the modes +of representation were so fixed that it was sacrilege to introduce a +novelty; and indeed it could have been only in consequence of a fixed mode +of representation that a system of hieroglyphics became possible. The +Assyrian bas-reliefs display parallel characters. Deities, kings, +attendants, winged figures and animals, are severally depicted in like +positions, holding like implements, doing like things, and with like +expression or non-expression of face. If a palm-grove is introduced, all +the trees are of the same height, have the same number of leaves, and are +equidistant. When water is imitated, each wave is a counterpart of the +rest; and the fish, almost always of one kind, are evenly distributed over +the surface. The beards of the kings, the gods, and the winged figures, are +everywhere similar: as are the manes of the lions, and equally so those of +the horses. Hair is represented throughout by one form of curl. The king's +beard is quite architecturally built up of compound tiers of uniform curls, +alternating with twisted tiers placed in a transverse direction, and +arranged with perfect regularity; and the terminal tufts of the bulls' +tails are represented in exactly the same manner. Without tracing out +analogous facts in early Christian art, in which, though less striking, +they are still visible, the advance in heterogeneity will be sufficiently +manifest on remembering that in the pictures of our own day the composition +is endlessly varied; the attitudes, faces, expressions, unlike; the +subordinate objects different in size, form, position, texture; and more or +less of contrast even in the smallest details. Or, if we compare an +Egyptian statue, seated bolt upright on a block, with hands on knees, +fingers outspread and parallel, eyes looking straight forward, and the two +sides perfectly symmetrical in every particular, with a statue of the +advanced Greek or the modern school, which is asymmetrical in respect of +the position of the head, the body, the limbs, the arrangement of the hair, +dress, appendages, and in its relations to neighbouring objects, we shall +see the change from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous clearly +manifested. + +In the co-ordinate origin and gradual differentiation of Poetry, Music and +Dancing, we have another series of illustrations. Rhythm in speech, rhythm +in sound, and rhythm in motion, were in the beginning parts of the same +thing, and have only in process of time become separate things. Among +various existing barbarous tribes we find them still united. The dances of +savages are accompanied by some kind of monotonous chant, the clapping of +hands, the striking of rude instruments: there are measured movements, +measured words, and measured tones; and the whole ceremony, usually having +reference to war or sacrifice, is of governmental character. In the early +records of the historic races we similarly find these three forms of +metrical action united in religious festivals. In the Hebrew writings we +read that the triumphal ode composed by Moses on the defeat of the +Egyptians, was sung to an accompaniment of dancing and timbrels. The +Israelites danced and sang "at the inauguration of the golden calf. And as +it is generally agreed that this representation of the Deity was borrowed +from the mysteries of Apis, it is probable that the dancing was copied from +that of the Egyptians on those occasions." There was an annual dance in +Shiloh on the sacred festival; and David danced before the ark. Again, in +Greece the like relation is everywhere seen: the original type being there, +as probably in other cases, a simultaneous chanting and mimetic +representation of the life and adventures of the god. The Spartan dances +were accompanied by hymns and songs; and in general the Greeks had "no +festivals or religious assemblies but what were accompanied with songs and +dances"--both of them being forms of worship used before altars. Among the +Romans, too, there were sacred dances: the Salian and Lupercalian being +named as of that kind. And even in Christian countries, as at Limoges, in +comparatively recent times, the people have danced in the choir in honour +of a saint. The incipient separation of these once united arts from each +other and from religion, was early visible in Greece. Probably diverging +from dances partly religious, partly warlike, as the Corybantian, came the +war dances proper, of which there were various kinds; and from these +resulted secular dances. Meanwhile Music and Poetry, though still united, +came to have an existence separate from dancing. The aboriginal Greek +poems, religious in subject, were not recited, but chanted; and though at +first the chant of the poet was accompanied by the dance of the chorus, it +ultimately grew into independence. Later still, when the poem had been +differentiated into epic and lyric--when it became the custom to sing the +lyric and recite the epic--poetry proper was born. As during the same +period musical instruments were being multiplied, we may presume that music +came to have an existence apart from words. And both of them were beginning +to assume other forms besides the religious. Facts, having like +implications might be cited from the histories of later times and peoples: +as the practices of our own early minstrels, who sang to the harp heroic +narratives versified by themselves to music of their own composition: thus +uniting the now separate offices of poet, composer, vocalist, and +instrumentalist. But, without further illustration, the common origin and +gradual differentiation of Dancing, Poetry, and Music will be sufficiently +manifest. + +The advance from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous is displayed not only +in the separation of these arts from each other and from religion, but also +in the multiplied differentiations which each of them afterwards undergoes. +Not to dwell upon the numberless kinds of dancing that have, in course of +time, come into use; and not to occupy space in detailing the progress of +poetry, as seen in the development of the various forms of metre, of rhyme, +and of general organization; let us confine our attention to music as a +type of the group. As argued by Dr. Burney, and as implied by the customs +of still extant barbarous races, the first musical instruments were, +without doubt, percussive--sticks, calabashes, tom-toms--and were used +simply to mark the time of the dance; and in this constant repetition of +the same sound, we see music in its most homogeneous form. + +The Egyptians had a lyre with three strings. The early lyre of the Greeks +had four, constituting their tetrachord. In course of some centuries lyres +of seven and eight strings were employed. And, by the expiration of a +thousand years, they had advanced to their "great system" of the double +octave. Through all which changes there of course arose a greater +heterogeneity of melody. Simultaneously there came into use the different +modes--Dorian, Ionian, Phrygian, Æolian, and Lydian--answering to our keys; +and of these there were ultimately fifteen. As yet, however, there was but +little heterogeneity in the time of their music. + +Instrumental music during this period being merely the accompaniment of +vocal music, and vocal music being completely subordinated to words, the +singer being also the poet, chanting his own compositions and making the +lengths of his notes agree with the feet of his verses,--there unavoidably +arose a tiresome uniformity of measure, which, as Dr. Burney says, "no +resources of melody could disguise." Lacking the complex rhythm obtained by +our equal bars and unequal notes the only rhythm was that produced by the +quantity of the syllables and was of necessity comparatively monotonous. +And further, it may be observed that the chant thus resulting, being like +recitative, was much less clearly differentiated from ordinary speech than +is our modern song. + +Nevertheless, in virtue of the extended range of notes in use, the variety +of modes, the occasional variations of time consequent on changes of metre, +and the multiplication of instruments, music had, towards the close of +Greek civilization, attained to considerable heterogeneity--not indeed as +compared with our music, but as compared with that which preceded it. As +yet, however, there existed nothing but melody: harmony was unknown. It was +not until Christian church-music had reached some development, that music +in parts was evolved; and then it came into existence through a very +unobtrusive differentiation. Difficult as it may be to conceive _à priori_ +how the advance from melody to harmony could take place without a sudden +leap, it is none the less true that it did so. The circumstance which +prepared the way for it was the employment of two choirs singing +alternately the same air. Afterwards it became the practice--very possibly +first suggested by a mistake--for the second choir to commence before the +first had ceased; thus producing a fugue. + +With the simple airs then in use, a partially harmonious fugue might not +improbably thus result: and a very partially harmonious fugue satisfied the +ears of that age, as we know from still preserved examples. The idea having +once been given, the composing of airs productive of fugal harmony would +naturally grow up; as in some way it _did_ grow up out of this alternate +choir-singing. And from the fugue to concerted music of two, three, four, +and more parts, the transition was easy. Without pointing out in detail the +increasing complexity that resulted from introducing notes of various +lengths, from the multiplication of keys, from the use of accidentals, from +varieties of time, and so forth, it needs but to contrast music as it is, +with music as it was, to see how immense is the increase of heterogeneity. +We see this if, looking at music in its _ensemble_, we enumerate its many +different genera and species--if we consider the divisions into vocal, +instrumental, and mixed; and their subdivisions into music for different +voices and different instruments--if we observe the many forms of sacred +music, from the simple hymn, the chant, the canon, motet, anthem, &c., up +to the oratorio; and the still more numerous forms of secular music, from +the ballad up to the serenata, from the instrumental solo up to the +symphony. + +Again, the same truth is seen on comparing any one sample of aboriginal +music with a sample of modern music--even an ordinary song for the piano; +which we find to be relatively highly heterogeneous, not only in respect of +the varieties in the pitch and in the length of the notes, the number of +different notes sounding at the same instant in company with the voice, and +the variations of strength with which they are sounded and sung, but in +respect of the changes of key, the changes of time, the changes of _timbre_ +of the voice, and the many other modifications of expression. While between +the old monotonous dance-chant and a grand opera of our own day, with its +endless orchestral complexities and vocal combinations, the contrast in +heterogeneity is so extreme that it seems scarcely credible that the one +should have been the ancestor of the other. + +Were they needed, many further illustrations might be cited. Going back to +the early time when the deeds of the god-king, chanted and mimetically +represented in dances round his altar, were further narrated in +picture-writings on the walls of temples and palaces, and so constituted a +rude literature, we might trace the development of Literature through +phases in which, as in the Hebrew Scriptures, it presents in one work +theology, cosmogony, history, biography, civil law, ethics, poetry; through +other phases in which, as in the Iliad, the religious, martial, historical, +the epic, dramatic, and lyric elements are similarly commingled; down to +its present heterogeneous development, in which its divisions and +subdivisions are so numerous and varied as to defy complete classification. +Or we might trace out the evolution of Science; beginning with the era in +which it was not yet differentiated from Art, and was, in union with Art, +the handmaid of Religion; passing through the era in which the sciences +were so few and rudimentary, as to be simultaneously cultivated by the same +philosophers; and ending with the era in which the genera and species are +so numerous that few can enumerate them, and no one can adequately grasp +even one genus. Or we might do the like with Architecture, with the Drama, +with Dress. + +But doubtless the reader is already weary of illustrations; and our promise +has been amply fulfilled. We believe we have shown beyond question, that +that which the German physiologists have found to be the law of organic +development, is the law of all development. The advance from the simple to +the complex, through a process of successive differentiations, is seen +alike in the earliest changes of the Universe to which we can reason our +way back; and in the earliest changes which we can inductively establish; +it is seen in the geologic and climatic evolution of the Earth, and of +every single organism on its surface; it is seen in the evolution of +Humanity, whether contemplated in the civilized individual, or in the +aggregation of races; it is seen in the evolution of Society in respect +alike of its political, its religious, and its economical organization; and +it is seen in the evolution of all those endless concrete and abstract +products of human activity which constitute the environment of our daily +life. From the remotest past which Science can fathom, up to the novelties +of yesterday, that in which Progress essentially consists, is the +transformation of the homogeneous into the heterogeneous. + + * * * * * + +And now, from this uniformity of procedure, may we not infer some +fundamental necessity whence it results? May we not rationally seek for +some all-pervading principle which determines this all-pervading process of +things? Does not the universality of the _law_ imply a universal _cause_? + +That we can fathom such cause, noumenally considered, is not to be +supposed. To do this would be to solve that ultimate mystery which must +ever transcend human intelligence. But it still may be possible for us to +reduce the law of all Progress, above established, from the condition of an +empirical generalization, to the condition of a rational generalization. +Just as it was possible to interpret Kepler's laws as necessary +consequences of the law of gravitation; so it may be possible to interpret +this law of Progress, in its multiform manifestations, as the necessary +consequence of some similarly universal principle. As gravitation was +assignable as the _cause_ of each of the groups of phenomena which Kepler +formulated; so may some equally simple attribute of things be assignable as +the cause of each of the groups of phenomena formulated in the foregoing +pages. We may be able to affiliate all these varied and complex evolutions +of the homogeneous into the heterogeneous, upon certain simple facts of +immediate experience, which, in virtue of endless repetition, we regard as +necessary. + +The probability of a common cause, and the possibility of formulating it, +being granted, it will be well, before going further, to consider what must +be the general characteristics of such cause, and in what direction we +ought to look for it. We can with certainty predict that it has a high +degree of generality; seeing that it is common to such infinitely varied +phenomena: just in proportion to the universality of its application must +be the abstractness of its character. We need not expect to see in it an +obvious solution of this or that form of Progress; because it equally +refers to forms of Progress bearing little apparent resemblance to them: +its association with multiform orders of facts, involves its dissociation +from any particular order of facts. Being that which determines Progress of +every kind--astronomic, geologic, organic, ethnologic, social, economic, +artistic, &c.--it must be concerned with some fundamental attribute +possessed in common by these; and must be expressible in terms of this +fundamental attribute. The only obvious respect in which all kinds of +Progress are alike, is, that they are modes of _change_; and hence, in some +characteristic of changes in general, the desired solution will probably be +found. We may suspect _à priori_ that in some law of change lies the +explanation of this universal transformation of the homogeneous into the +heterogeneous. + +Thus much premised, we pass at once to the statement of the law, which is +this:--_Every active force produces more than one change--every cause +produces more than one effect._ + +Before this law can be duly comprehended, a few examples must be looked at. +When one body is struck against another, that which we usually regard as +the effect, is a change of position or motion in one or both bodies. But a +moment's thought shows us that this is a careless and very incomplete view +of the matter. Besides the visible mechanical result, sound is produced; +or, to speak accurately, a vibration in one or both bodies, and in the +surrounding air: and under some circumstances we call this the effect. +Moreover, the air has not only been made to vibrate, but has had sundry +currents caused in it by the transit of the bodies. Further, there is a +disarrangement of the particles of the two bodies in the neighbourhood of +their point of collision; amounting in some cases to a visible +condensation. Yet more, this condensation is accompanied by the +disengagement of heat. In some cases a spark--that is, light--results, from +the incandescence of a portion struck off; and sometimes this incandescence +is associated with chemical combination. + +Thus, by the original mechanical force expended in the collision, at least +five, and often more, different kinds of changes have been produced. Take, +again, the lighting of a candle. Primarily this is a chemical change +consequent on a rise of temperature. The process of combination having once +been set going by extraneous heat, there is a continued formation of +carbonic acid, water, &c.--in itself a result more complex than the +extraneous heat that first caused it. But accompanying this process of +combination there is a production of heat; there is a production of light; +there is an ascending column of hot gases generated; there are currents +established in the surrounding air. Moreover, the decomposition of one +force into many forces does not end here: each of the several changes +produced becomes the parent of further changes. The carbonic acid given off +will by and by combine with some base; or under the influence of sunshine +give up its carbon to the leaf of a plant. The water will modify the +hygrometric state of the air around; or, if the current of hot gases +containing it come against a cold body, will be condensed: altering the +temperature, and perhaps the chemical state, of the surface it covers. The +heat given out melts the subjacent tallow, and expands whatever it warms. +The light, falling on various substances, calls forth from them reactions +by which it is modified; and so divers colours are produced. Similarly even +with these secondary actions, which may be traced out into ever-multiplying +ramifications, until they become too minute to be appreciated. And thus it +is with all changes whatever. No case can be named in which an active force +does not evolve forces of several kinds, and each of these, other groups of +forces. Universally the effect is more complex than the cause. + +Doubtless the reader already foresees the course of our argument. This +multiplication of results, which is displayed in every event of to-day, has +been going on from the beginning; and is true of the grandest phenomena of +the universe as of the most insignificant. From the law that every active +force produces more than one change, it is an inevitable corollary that +through all time there has been an ever-growing complication of things. +Starting with the ultimate fact that every cause produces more than one +effect, we may readily see that throughout creation there must have gone +on, and must still go on, a never-ceasing transformation of the homogeneous +into the heterogeneous. But let us trace out this truth in detail.[B] + + [B] A correlative truth which ought also to be taken into account + (that the state of homogeneity is one of unstable equilibrium), + but which it would greatly encumber the argument to exemplify in + connection with the above, will be found developed in the essay + on _Transcendental Physiology_. + +Without committing ourselves to it as more than a speculation, though a +highly probable one, let us again commence with the evolution of the solar +system out of a nebulous medium.[C] From the mutual attraction of the atoms +of a diffused mass whose form is unsymmetrical, there results not only +condensation but rotation: gravitation simultaneously generates both the +centripetal and the centrifugal forces. While the condensation and the rate +of rotation are progressively increasing, the approach of the atoms +necessarily generates a progressively increasing temperature. As this +temperature rises, light begins to be evolved; and ultimately there results +a revolving sphere of fluid matter radiating intense heat and light--a sun. + + [C] The idea that the Nebular Hypothesis has been disproved because + what were thought to be existing nebulæ have been resolved into + clusters of stars is almost beneath notice. _A priori_ it was + highly improbable, if not impossible, that nebulous masses should + still remain uncondensed, while others have been condensed + millions of years ago. + +There are good reasons for believing that, in consequence of the high +tangential velocity, and consequent centrifugal force, acquired by the +outer parts of the condensing nebulous mass, there must be a periodical +detachment of rotating rings; and that, from the breaking up of these +nebulous rings, there must arise masses which in the course of their +condensation repeat the actions of the parent mass, and so produce planets +and their satellites--an inference strongly supported by the still extant +rings of Saturn. + +Should it hereafter be satisfactorily shown that planets and satellites +were thus generated, a striking illustration will be afforded of the highly +heterogeneous effects produced by the primary homogeneous cause; but it +will serve our present purpose to point to the fact that from the mutual +attraction of the particles of an irregular nebulous mass there result +condensation, rotation, heat, and light. + +It follows as a corollary from the Nebular Hypothesis, that the Earth must +at first have been incandescent; and whether the Nebular Hypothesis be true +or not, this original incandescence of the Earth is now inductively +established--or, if not established, at least rendered so highly probable +that it is a generally admitted geological doctrine. Let us look first at +the astronomical attributes of this once molten globe. From its rotation +there result the oblateness of its form, the alternations of day and night, +and (under the influence of the moon) the tides, aqueous and atmospheric. +From the inclination of its axis, there result the precession of the +equinoxes and the many differences of the seasons, both simultaneous and +successive, that pervade its surface. Thus the multiplication of effects is +obvious. Several of the differentiations due to the gradual cooling of the +Earth have been already noticed--as the formation of a crust, the +solidification of sublimed elements, the precipitation of water, &c.,--and +we here again refer to them merely to point out that they are simultaneous +effects of the one cause, diminishing heat. + +Let us now, however, observe the multiplied changes afterwards arising from +the continuance of this one cause. The cooling of the Earth involves its +contraction. Hence the solid crust first formed is presently too large for +the shrinking nucleus; and as it cannot support itself, inevitably follows +the nucleus. But a spheroidal envelope cannot sink down into contact with a +smaller internal spheroid, without disruption; it must run into wrinkles as +the rind of an apple does when the bulk of its interior decreases from +evaporation. As the cooling progresses and the envelope thickens, the +ridges consequent on these contractions must become greater, rising +ultimately into hills and mountains; and the later systems of mountains +thus produced must not only be higher, as we find them to be, but they must +be longer, as we also find them to be. Thus, leaving out of view other +modifying forces, we see what immense heterogeneity of surface has arisen +from the one cause, loss of heat--a heterogeneity which the telescope shows +us to be paralleled on the face of the moon, where aqueous and atmospheric +agencies have been absent. + +But we have yet to notice another kind of heterogeneity of surface +similarly and simultaneously caused. While the Earth's crust was still +thin, the ridges produced by its contraction must not only have been small, +but the spaces between these ridges must have rested with great evenness +upon the subjacent liquid spheroid; and the water in those arctic and +antarctic regions in which it first condensed, must have been evenly +distributed. But as fast as the crust grew thicker and gained corresponding +strength, the lines of fracture from time to time caused in it, must have +occurred at greater distances apart; the intermediate surfaces must have +followed the contracting nucleus with less uniformity; and there must have +resulted larger areas of land and water. If any one, after wrapping up an +orange in wet tissue paper, and observing not only how small are the +wrinkles, but how evenly the intervening spaces lie upon the surface of the +orange, will then wrap it up in thick cartridge-paper, and note both the +greater height of the ridges and the much larger spaces throughout which +the paper does not touch the orange, he will realize the fact, that as the +Earth's solid envelope grew thicker, the areas of elevation and depression +must have become greater. In place of islands more or less homogeneously +scattered over an all-embracing sea, there must have gradually arisen +heterogeneous arrangements of continent and ocean, such as we now know. + +Once more, this double change in the extent and in the elevation of the +lands, involved yet another species of heterogeneity, that of coast-line. A +tolerably even surface raised out of the ocean, must have a simple, regular +sea-margin; but a surface varied by table-lands and intersected by +mountain-chains must, when raised out of the ocean, have an outline +extremely irregular both in its leading features and in its details. Thus +endless is the accumulation of geological and geographical results slowly +brought about by this one cause--the contraction of the Earth. + +When we pass from the agency which geologists term igneous, to aqueous and +atmospheric agencies, we see the like ever-growing complications of +effects. The denuding actions of air and water have, from the beginning, +been modifying every exposed surface; everywhere causing many different +changes. Oxidation, heat, wind, frost, rain, glaciers, rivers, tides, +waves, have been unceasingly producing disintegration; varying in kind and +amount according to local circumstances. Acting upon a tract of granite, +they here work scarcely an appreciable effect; there cause exfoliations of +the surface, and a resulting heap of _débris_ and boulders; and elsewhere, +after decomposing the feldspar into a white clay, carry away this and the +accompanying quartz and mica, and deposits them in separate beds, +fluviatile and marine. When the exposed land consists of several unlike +formations, sedimentary and igneous, the denudation produces changes +proportionably more heterogeneous. The formations being disintegrable in +different degrees, there follows an increased irregularity of surface. The +areas drained by different rivers being differently constituted, these +rivers carry down to the sea different combinations of ingredients; and so +sundry new strata of distinct composition are formed. + +And here indeed we may see very simply illustrated, the truth, which we +shall presently have to trace out in more involved cases, that in +proportion to the heterogeneity of the object or objects on which any force +expends itself, is the heterogeneity of the results. A continent of complex +structure, exposing many strata irregularly distributed, raised to various +levels, tilted up at all angles, must, under the same denuding agencies, +give origin to immensely multiplied results; each district must be +differently modified; each river must carry down a different kind of +detritus; each deposit must be differently distributed by the entangled +currents, tidal and other, which wash the contorted shores; and this +multiplication of results must manifestly be greatest where the complexity +of the surface is greatest. + +It is out of the question here to trace in detail the genesis of those +endless complications described by Geology and Physical Geography: else we +might show how the general truth, that every active force produces more +than one change, is exemplified in the highly involved flow of the tides, +in the ocean currents, in the winds, in the distribution of rain, in the +distribution of heat, and so forth. But not to dwell upon these, let us, +for the fuller elucidation of this truth in relation to the inorganic +world, consider what would be the consequences of some extensive cosmical +revolution--say the subsidence of Central America. + +The immediate results of the disturbance would themselves be sufficiently +complex. Besides the numberless dislocations of strata, the ejections of +igneous matter, the propagation of earthquake vibrations thousands of miles +around, the loud explosions, and the escape of gases; there would be the +rush of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to supply the vacant space, the +subsequent recoil of enormous waves, which would traverse both these oceans +and produce myriads of changes along their shores, the corresponding +atmospheric waves complicated by the currents surrounding each volcanic +vent, and the electrical discharges with which such disturbances are +accompanied. But these temporary effects would be insignificant compared +with the permanent ones. The complex currents of the Atlantic and Pacific +would be altered in direction and amount. The distribution of heat achieved +by these ocean currents would be different from what it is. The arrangement +of the isothermal lines, not even on the neighbouring continents, but even +throughout Europe, would be changed. The tides would flow differently from +what they do now. There would be more or less modification of the winds in +their periods, strengths, directions, qualities. Rain would fall scarcely +anywhere at the same times and in the same quantities as at present. In +short, the meteorological conditions thousands of miles off, on all sides, +would be more or less revolutionized. + +Thus, without taking into account the infinitude of modifications which +these changes of climate would produce upon the flora and fauna, both of +land and sea, the reader will see the immense heterogeneity of the results +wrought out by one force, when that force expends itself upon a previously +complicated area; and he will readily draw the corollary that from the +beginning the complication has advanced at an increasing rate. + +Before going on to show how organic progress also depends upon the +universal law that every force produces more than one change, we have to +notice the manifestation of this law in yet another species of inorganic +progress--namely, chemical. The same general causes that have wrought out +the heterogeneity of the Earth, physically considered, have simultaneously +wrought out its chemical heterogeneity. Without dwelling upon the general +fact that the forces which have been increasing the variety and complexity +of geological formations, have, at the same time, been bringing into +contact elements not previously exposed to each other under conditions +favourable to union, and so have been adding to the number of chemical +compounds, let us pass to the more important complications that have +resulted from the cooling of the Earth. + +There is every reason to believe that at an extreme heat the elements +cannot combine. Even under such heat as can be artificially produced, some +very strong affinities yield, as for instance, that of oxygen for hydrogen; +and the great majority of chemical compounds are decomposed at much lower +temperatures. But without insisting upon the highly probable inference, +that when the Earth was in its first state of incandescence there were no +chemical combinations at all, it will suffice our purpose to point to the +unquestionable fact that the compounds that can exist at the highest +temperatures, and which must, therefore, have been the first that were +formed as the Earth cooled, are those of the simplest constitutions. The +protoxides--including under that head the alkalies, earths, &c.--are, as a +class, the most stable compounds we know: most of them resisting +decomposition by any heat we can generate. These, consisting severally of +one atom of each component element, are combinations of the simplest +order--are but one degree less homogeneous than the elements themselves. +More heterogeneous than these, less stable, and therefore later in the +Earth's history, are the deutoxides, tritoxides, peroxides, &c.; in which +two, three, four, or more atoms of oxygen are united with one atom of metal +or other element. Higher than these in heterogeneity are the hydrates; in +which an oxide of hydrogen, united with an oxide of some other element, +forms a substance whose atoms severally contain at least four ultimate +atoms of three different kinds. Yet more heterogeneous and less stable +still are the salts; which present us with compound atoms each made up of +five, six, seven, eight, ten, twelve, or more atoms, of three, if not more, +kinds. Then there are the hydrated salts, of a yet greater heterogeneity, +which undergo partial decomposition at much lower temperatures. After them +come the further-complicated supersalts and double salts, having a +stability again decreased; and so throughout. Without entering into +qualifications for which we lack space, we believe no chemist will deny it +to be a general law of these inorganic combinations that, _other things +equal_, the stability decreases as the complexity increases. + +And then when we pass to the compounds of organic chemistry, we find this +general law still further exemplified: we find much greater complexity and +much less stability. An atom of albumen, for instance, consists of 482 +ultimate atoms of five different kinds. Fibrine, still more intricate in +constitution, contains in each atom, 298 atoms of carbon, 40 of nitrogen, 2 +of sulphur, 228 of hydrogen, and 92 of oxygen--in all, 660 atoms; or, more +strictly speaking--equivalents. And these two substances are so unstable as +to decompose at quite ordinary temperatures; as that to which the outside +of a joint of roast meat is exposed. Thus it is manifest that the present +chemical heterogeneity of the Earth's surface has arisen by degrees, as the +decrease of heat has permitted; and that it has shown itself in three +forms--first, in the multiplication of chemical compounds; second, in the +greater number of different elements contained in the more modern of these +compounds: and third, in the higher and more varied multiples in which +these more numerous elements combine. + +To say that this advance in chemical heterogeneity is due to the one cause, +diminution of the Earth's temperature, would be to say too much; for it is +clear that aqueous and atmospheric agencies have been concerned; and, +further, that the affinities of the elements themselves are implied. The +cause has all along been a composite one: the cooling of the Earth having +been simply the most general of the concurrent causes, or assemblage of +conditions. And here, indeed, it may be remarked that in the several +classes of facts already dealt with (excepting, perhaps, the first), and +still more in those with which we shall presently deal, the causes are more +or less compound; as indeed are nearly all causes with which we are +acquainted. Scarcely any change can with logical accuracy be wholly +ascribed to one agency, to the neglect of the permanent or temporary +conditions under which only this agency produces the change. But as it does +not materially affect our argument, we prefer, for simplicity's sake, to +use throughout the popular mode of expression. + +Perhaps it will be further objected, that to assign loss of heat as the +cause of any changes, is to attribute these changes not to a force, but to +the absence of a force. And this is true. Strictly speaking, the changes +should be attributed to those forces which come into action when the +antagonist force is withdrawn. But though there is an inaccuracy in saying +that the freezing of water is due to the loss of its heat, no practical +error arises from it; nor will a parallel laxity of expression vitiate our +statements respecting the multiplication of effects. Indeed, the objection +serves but to draw attention to the fact, that not only does the exertion +of a force produce more than one change, but the withdrawal of a force +produces more than one change. And this suggests that perhaps the most +correct statement of our general principle would be its most abstract +statement--every change is followed by more than one other change. + +Returning to the thread of our exposition, we have next to trace out, in +organic progress, this same all-pervading principle. And here, where the +evolution of the homogeneous into the heterogeneous was first observed, the +production of many changes by one cause is least easy to demonstrate. The +development of a seed into a plant, or an ovum into an animal, is so +gradual, while the forces which determine it are so involved, and at the +same time so unobtrusive, that it is difficult to detect the multiplication +of effects which is elsewhere so obvious. Nevertheless, guided by indirect +evidence, we may pretty safely reach the conclusion that here too the law +holds. + +Observe, first, how numerous are the effects which any marked change works +upon an adult organism--a human being, for instance. An alarming sound or +sight, besides the impressions on the organs of sense and the nerves, may +produce a start, a scream, a distortion of the face, a trembling consequent +upon a general muscular relaxation, a burst of perspiration, an excited +action of the heart, a rush of blood to the brain, followed possibly by +arrest of the heart's action and by syncope: and if the system be feeble, +an indisposition with its long train of complicated symptoms may set in. +Similarly in cases of disease. A minute portion of the small-pox virus +introduced into the system, will, in a severe case, cause, during the first +stage, rigors, heat of skin, accelerated pulse, furred tongue, loss of +appetite, thirst, epigastric uneasiness, vomiting, headache, pains in the +back and limbs, muscular weakness, convulsions, delirium, &c.; in the +second stage, cutaneous eruption, itching, tingling, sore throat, swelled +fauces, salivation, cough, hoarseness, dyspn[oe]a, &c.; and in the third +stage, [oe]dematous inflammations, pneumonia, pleurisy, diarrh[oe]a, +inflammation of the brain, ophthalmia, erysipelas, &c.: each of which +enumerated symptoms is itself more or less complex. Medicines, special +foods, better air, might in like manner be instanced as producing +multiplied results. + +Now it needs only to consider that the many changes thus wrought by one +force upon an adult organism, will be in part paralleled in an embryo +organism, to understand how here also, the evolution of the homogeneous +into the heterogeneous may be due to the production of many effects by one +cause. The external heat and other agencies which determine the first +complications of the germ, may, by acting upon these, superinduce further +complications; upon these still higher and more numerous ones; and so on +continually: each organ as it is developed serving, by its actions and +reactions upon the rest, to initiate new complexities. The first pulsations +of the f[oe]tal heart must simultaneously aid the unfolding of every part. +The growth of each tissue, by taking from the blood special proportions of +elements, must modify the constitution of the blood; and so must modify the +nutrition of all the other tissues. The heart's action, implying as it does +a certain waste, necessitates an addition to the blood of effete matters, +which must influence the rest of the system, and perhaps, as some think, +cause the formation of excretory organs. The nervous connections +established among the viscera must further multiply their mutual +influences: and so continually. + +Still stronger becomes the probability of this view when we call to mind +the fact, that the same germ may be evolved into different forms according +to circumstances. Thus, during its earlier stages, every embryo is +sexless--becomes either male or female as the balance of forces acting upon +it determines. Again, it is a well-established fact that the larva of a +working-bee will develop into a queen-bee, if, before it is too late, its +food be changed to that on which the larvæ of queen-bees are fed. Even more +remarkable is the case of certain entozoa. The ovum of a tape-worm, getting +into its natural habitat, the intestine, unfolds into the well-known form +of its parent; but if carried, as it frequently is, into other parts of the +system, it becomes a sac-like creature, called by naturalists the +_Echinococcus_--a creature so extremely different from the tape-worm in +aspect and structure, that only after careful investigations has it been +proved to have the same origin. All which instances imply that each advance +in embryonic complication results from the action of incident forces upon +the complication previously existing. + +Indeed, we may find _à priori_ reason to think that the evolution proceeds +after this manner. For since it is now known that no germ, animal or +vegetable, contains the slightest rudiment, trace, or indication of the +future organism--now that the microscope has shown us that the first +process set up in every fertilized germ, is a process of repeated +spontaneous fissions ending in the production of a mass of cells, not one +of which exhibits any special character: there seems no alternative but to +suppose that the partial organization at any moment subsisting in a growing +embryo, is transformed by the agencies acting upon it into the succeeding +phase of organization, and this into the next, until, through +ever-increasing complexities, the ultimate form is reached. Thus, though +the subtilty of the forces and the slowness of the results, prevent us from +_directly_ showing that the stages of increasing heterogeneity through +which every embryo passes, severally arise from the production of many +changes by one force, yet, _indirectly_, we have strong evidence that they +do so. + +We have marked how multitudinous are the effects which one cause may +generate in an adult organism; that a like multiplication of effects must +happen in the unfolding organism, we have observed in sundry illustrative +cases; further, it has been pointed out that the ability which like germs +have to originate unlike forms, implies that the successive transformations +result from the new changes superinduced on previous changes; and we have +seen that structureless as every germ originally is, the development of an +organism out of it is otherwise incomprehensible. Not indeed that we can +thus really explain the production of any plant or animal. We are still in +the dark respecting those mysterious properties in virtue of which the +germ, when subject to fit influences, undergoes the special changes that +begin the series of transformations. All we aim to show, is, that given a +germ possessing these mysterious properties, the evolution of an organism +from it, probably depends upon that multiplication of effects which we have +seen to be the cause of progress in general, so far as we have yet traced +it. + +When, leaving the development of single plants and animals, we pass to that +of the Earth's flora and fauna, the course of our argument again becomes +clear and simple. Though, as was admitted in the first part of this +article, the fragmentary facts Palæontology has accumulated, do not clearly +warrant us in saying that, in the lapse of geologic time, there have been +evolved more heterogeneous organisms, and more heterogeneous assemblages of +organisms, yet we shall now see that there _must_ ever have been a tendency +towards these results. We shall find that the production of many effects by +one cause, which, as already shown, has been all along increasing the +physical heterogeneity of the Earth, has further involved an increasing +heterogeneity in its flora and fauna, individually and collectively. An +illustration will make this clear. + +Suppose that by a series of upheavals, occurring, as they are now known to +do, at long intervals, the East Indian Archipelago were to be, step by +step, raised into a continent, and a chain of mountains formed along the +axis of elevation. By the first of these upheavals, the plants and animals +inhabiting Borneo, Sumatra, New Guinea, and the rest, would be subjected to +slightly modified sets of conditions. The climate in general would be +altered in temperature, in humidity, and in its periodical variations; +while the local differences would be multiplied. These modifications would +affect, perhaps inappreciably, the entire flora and fauna of the region. +The change of level would produce additional modifications: varying in +different species, and also in different members of the same species, +according to their distance from the axis of elevation. Plants, growing +only on the sea-shore in special localities, might become extinct. Others, +living only in swamps of a certain humidity, would, if they survived at +all, probably undergo visible changes of appearance. While still greater +alterations would occur in the plants gradually spreading over the lands +newly raised above the sea. The animals and insects living on these +modified plants, would themselves be in some degree modified by change of +food, as well as by change of climate; and the modification would be more +marked where, from the dwindling or disappearance of one kind of plant, an +allied kind was eaten. In the lapse of the many generations arising before +the next upheaval, the sensible or insensible alterations thus produced in +each species would become organized--there would be a more or less complete +adaptation to the new conditions. The next upheaval would superinduce +further organic changes, implying wider divergences from the primary forms; +and so repeatedly. + +But now let it be observed that the revolution thus resulting would not be +a substitution of a thousand more or less modified species for the thousand +original species; but in place of the thousand original species there would +arise several thousand species, or varieties, or changed forms. Each +species being distributed over an area of some extent, and tending +continually to colonize the new area exposed, its different members would +be subject to different sets of changes. Plants and animals spreading +towards the equator would not be affected in the same way with others +spreading from it. Those spreading towards the new shores would undergo +changes unlike the changes undergone by those spreading into the mountains. +Thus, each original race of organisms, would become the root from which +diverged several races differing more or less from it and from each other; +and while some of these might subsequently disappear, probably more than +one would survive in the next geologic period: the very dispersion itself +increasing the chances of survival. Not only would there be certain +modifications thus caused by change of physical conditions and food, but +also in some cases other modifications caused by change of habit. The fauna +of each island, peopling, step by step, the newly-raised tracts, would +eventually come in contact with the faunas of other islands; and some +members of these other faunas would be unlike any creatures before seen. +Herbivores meeting with new beasts of prey, would, in some cases, be led +into modes of defence or escape differing from those previously used; and +simultaneously the beasts of prey would modify their modes of pursuit and +attack. We know that when circumstances demand it, such changes of habit +_do_ take place in animals; and we know that if the new habits become the +dominant ones, they must eventually in some degree alter the organization. + +Observe, now, however, a further consequence. There must arise not simply a +tendency towards the differentiation of each race of organisms into several +races; but also a tendency to the occasional production of a somewhat +higher organism. Taken in the mass these divergent varieties which have +been caused by fresh physical conditions and habits of life, will exhibit +changes quite indefinite in kind and degree; and changes that do not +necessarily constitute an advance. Probably in most cases the modified type +will be neither more nor less heterogeneous than the original one. In some +cases the habits of life adopted being simpler than before, a less +heterogeneous structure will result: there will be a retrogradation. But it +_must_ now and then occur, that some division of a species, falling into +circumstances which give it rather more complex experiences, and demand +actions somewhat more involved, will have certain of its organs further +differentiated in proportionately small degrees,--will become slightly more +heterogeneous. + +Thus, in the natural course of things, there will from time to time arise +an increased heterogeneity both of the Earth's flora and fauna, and of +individual races included in them. Omitting detailed explanations, and +allowing for the qualifications which cannot here be specified, we think it +is clear that geological mutations have all along tended to complicate the +forms of life, whether regarded separately or collectively. The same causes +which have led to the evolution of the Earth's crust from the simple into +the complex, have simultaneously led to a parallel evolution of the Life +upon its surface. In this case, as in previous ones, we see that the +transformation of the homogeneous into the heterogeneous is consequent upon +the universal principle, that every active force produces more than one +change. + +The deduction here drawn from the established truths of geology and the +general laws of life, gains immensely in weight on finding it to be in +harmony with an induction drawn from direct experience. Just that +divergence of many races from one race, which we inferred must have been +continually occurring during geologic time, we know to have occurred during +the pre-historic and historic periods, in man and domestic animals. And +just that multiplication of effects which we concluded must have produced +the first, we see has produced the last. Single causes, as famine, pressure +of population, war, have periodically led to further dispersions of mankind +and of dependent creatures: each such dispersion initiating new +modifications, new varieties of type. Whether all the human races be or be +not derived from one stock, philology makes it clear that whole groups of +races now easily distinguishable from each other, were originally one +race,--that the diffusion of one race into different climates and +conditions of existence, has produced many modified forms of it. + +Similarly with domestic animals. Though in some cases--as that of +dogs--community of origin will perhaps be disputed, yet in other cases--as +that of the sheep or the cattle of our own country--it will not be +questioned that local differences of climate, food, and treatment, have +transformed one original breed into numerous breeds now become so far +distinct as to produce unstable hybrids. Moreover, through the +complications of effects flowing from single causes, we here find, what we +before inferred, not only an increase of general heterogeneity, but also of +special heterogeneity. While of the divergent divisions and subdivisions of +the human race, many have undergone changes not constituting an advance; +while in some the type may have degraded; in others it has become decidedly +more heterogeneous. The civilized European departs more widely from the +vertebrate archetype than does the savage. Thus, both the law and the cause +of progress, which, from lack of evidence, can be but hypothetically +substantiated in respect of the earlier forms of life on our globe, can be +actually substantiated in respect of the latest forms. + +If the advance of Man towards greater heterogeneity is traceable to the +production of many effects by one cause still more clearly may the advance +of Society towards greater heterogeneity be so explained. Consider the +growth of an industrial organization. When, as must occasionally happen, +some individual of a tribe displays unusual aptitude for making an article +of general use--a weapon, for instance--which was before made by each man +for himself, there arises a tendency towards the differentiation of that +individual into a maker of such weapon. His companions--warriors and +hunters all of them,--severally feel the importance of having the best +weapons that can be made; and are therefore certain to offer strong +inducements to this skilled individual to make weapons for them. He, on the +other hand, having not only an unusual faculty, but an unusual liking, for +making such weapons (the talent and the desire for any occupation being +commonly associated), is predisposed to fulfil these commissions on the +offer of an adequate reward: especially as his love of distinction is also +gratified. This first specialization of function, once commenced, tends +ever to become more decided. On the side of the weapon-maker continued +practice gives increased skill--increased superiority to his products: on +the side of his clients, cessation of practice entails decreased skill. +Thus the influences that determine this division of labour grow stronger in +both ways; and the incipient heterogeneity is, on the average of cases, +likely to become permanent for that generation, if no longer. + +Observe now, however, that this process not only differentiates the social +mass into two parts, the one monopolizing, or almost monopolizing, the +performance of a certain function, and the other having lost the habit, and +in some measure the power, of performing that function; but it tends to +imitate other differentiations. The advance we have described implies the +introduction of barter,--the maker of weapons has, on each occasion, to be +paid in such other articles as he agrees to take in exchange. But he will +not habitually take in exchange one kind of article, but many kinds. He +does not want mats only, or skins, or fishing gear, but he wants all these; +and on each occasion will bargain for the particular things he most needs. +What follows? If among the members of the tribe there exist any slight +differences of skill in the manufacture of these various things, as there +are almost sure to do, the weapon-maker will take from each one the thing +which that one excels in making: he will exchange for mats with him whose +mats are superior, and will bargain for the fishing gear of whoever has the +best. But he who has bartered away his mats or his fishing gear, must make +other mats or fishing gear for himself; and in so doing must, in some +degree, further develop his aptitude. Thus it results that the small +specialities of faculty possessed by various members of the tribe, will +tend to grow more decided. If such transactions are from time repeated, +these specializations may become appreciable. And whether or not there +ensue distinct differentiations of other individuals into makers of +particular articles, it is clear that incipient differentiations take place +throughout the tribe: the one original cause produces not only the first +dual effect, but a number of secondary dual effects, like in kind, but +minor in degree. This process, of which traces may be seen among groups of +schoolboys, cannot well produce any lasting effects in an unsettled tribe; +but where there grows up a fixed and multiplying community, these +differentiations become permanent, and increase with each generation. A +larger population, involving a greater demand for every commodity, +intensifies the functional activity of each specialized person or class; +and this renders the specialization more definite where it already exists, +and establishes it where it is nascent. By increasing the pressure on the +means of subsistence, a larger population again augments these results; +seeing that each person is forced more and more to confine himself to that +which he can do best, and by which he can gain most. This industrial +progress, by aiding future production, opens the way for a further growth +of population, which reacts as before: in all which the multiplication of +effects is manifest. Presently, under these same stimuli, new occupations +arise. Competing workers, ever aiming to produce improved articles, +occasionally discover better processes or raw materials. In weapons and +cutting tools, the substitution of bronze for stone entails upon him who +first makes it a great increase of demand--so great an increase that he +presently finds all his time occupied in making the bronze for the articles +he sells, and is obliged to depute the fashioning of these to others: and, +eventually, the making of bronze, thus gradually differentiated from a +pre-existing occupation, becomes an occupation by itself. + +But now mark the ramified changes which follow this change. Bronze soon +replaces stone, not only in the articles it was first used for, but in many +others--in arms, tools, and utensils of various kinds; and so affects the +manufacture of these things. Further, it affects the processes which these +utensils subserve, and the resulting products--modifies buildings, +carvings, dress, personal decorations. Yet again, it sets going sundry +manufactures which were before impossible, from lack of a material fit for +the requisite tools. And all these changes react on the people--increase +their manipulative skill, their intelligence, their comfort,--refine their +habits and tastes. Thus the evolution of a homogeneous society into a +heterogeneous one, is clearly consequent on the general principle, that +many effects are produced by one cause. + +Our limits will not allow us to follow out this process in its higher +complications: else might we show how the localization of special +industries in special parts of a kingdom, as well as the minute subdivision +of labour in the making of each commodity, are similarly determined. Or, +turning to a somewhat different order of illustrations, we might dwell on +the multitudinous changes--material, intellectual, moral,--caused by +printing; or the further extensive series of changes wrought by gunpowder. +But leaving the intermediate phases of social development, let us take a +few illustrations from its most recent and its passing phases. To trace the +effects of steam-power, in its manifold applications to mining, navigation, +and manufactures of all kinds, would carry us into unmanageable detail. Let +us confine ourselves to the latest embodiment of steam-power--the +locomotive engine. + +This, as the proximate cause of our railway system, has changed the face of +the country, the course of trade, and the habits of the people. Consider, +first, the complicated sets of changes that precede the making of every +railway--the provisional arrangements, the meetings, the registration, the +trial section, the parliamentary survey, the lithographed plans, the books +of reference, the local deposits and notices, the application to +Parliament, the passing Standing-Orders Committee, the first, second, and +third readings: each of which brief heads indicates a multiplicity of +transactions, and the development of sundry occupations--as those of +engineers, surveyors, lithographers, parliamentary agents, share-brokers; +and the creation of sundry others--as those of traffic-takers, +reference-takers. Consider, next, the yet more marked changes implied in +railway construction--the cuttings, embankings, tunnellings, diversions of +roads; the building of bridges and stations; the laying down of ballast, +sleepers, and rails; the making of engines, tenders, carriages and waggons: +which processes, acting upon numerous trades, increase the importation of +timber, the quarrying of stone, the manufacture of iron, the mining of +coal, the burning of bricks: institute a variety of special manufactures +weekly advertised in the _Railway Times_; and, finally, open the way to +sundry new occupations, as those of drivers, stokers, cleaners, +plate-layers, &c., &c. And then consider the changes, more numerous and +involved still, which railways in action produce on the community at large. +The organization of every business is more or less modified: ease of +communication makes it better to do directly what was before done by proxy; +agencies are established where previously they would not have paid; goods +are obtained from remote wholesale houses instead of near retail ones; and +commodities are used which distance once rendered inaccessible. Again, the +rapidity and small cost of carriage tend to specialize more than ever the +industries of different districts--to confine each manufacture to the parts +in which, from local advantages, it can be best carried on. Further, the +diminished cost of carriage, facilitating distribution, equalizes prices, +and also, on the average, lowers prices: thus bringing divers articles +within the means of those before unable to buy them, and so increasing +their comforts and improving their habits. At the same time the practice of +travelling is immensely extended. Classes who never before thought of it, +take annual trips to the sea; visit their distant relations; make tours; +and so we are benefited in body, feelings, and intellect. Moreover, the +more prompt transmission of letters and of news produces further +changes--makes the pulse of the nation faster. Yet more, there arises a +wide dissemination of cheap literature through railway book-stalls, and of +advertisements in railway carriages: both of them aiding ulterior progress. + +And all the innumerable changes here briefly indicated are consequent on +the invention of the locomotive engine. The social organism has been +rendered more heterogeneous in virtue of the many new occupations +introduced, and the many old ones further specialized; prices in every +place have been altered; each trader has, more or less, modified his way of +doing business; and almost every person has been affected in his actions, +thoughts, emotions. + +Illustrations to the same effect might be indefinitely accumulated. That +every influence brought to bear upon society works multiplied effects; and +that increase of heterogeneity is due to this multiplication of effects; +may be seen in the history of every trade, every custom, every belief. But +it is needless to give additional evidence of this. The only further fact +demanding notice, is, that we here see still more clearly than ever, the +truth before pointed out, that in proportion as the area on which any force +expends itself becomes heterogeneous, the results are in a yet higher +degree multiplied in number and kind. While among the primitive tribes to +whom it was first known, caoutchouc caused but a few changes, among +ourselves the changes have been so many and varied that the history of them +occupies a volume.[D] Upon the small, homogeneous community inhabiting one +of the Hebrides, the electric telegraph would produce, were it used, +scarcely any results; but in England the results it produces are +multitudinous. The comparatively simple organization under which our +ancestors lived five centuries ago, could have undergone but few +modifications from an event like the recent one at Canton; but now the +legislative decision respecting it sets up many hundreds of complex +modifications, each of which will be the parent of numerous future ones. + + [D] "Personal Narrative of the Origin of the Caoutchouc, or + India-Rubber Manufacture in England." By Thomas Hancock. + +Space permitting, we could willingly have pursued the argument in relation +to all the subtler results of civilization. As before, we showed that the +law of Progress to which the organic and inorganic worlds conform, is also +conformed to by Language, Sculpture, Music, &c.; so might we here show that +the cause which we have hitherto found to determine Progress holds in these +cases also. We might demonstrate in detail how, in Science, an advance of +one division presently advances other divisions--how Astronomy has been +immensely forwarded by discoveries in Optics, while other optical +discoveries have initiated Microscopic Anatomy, and greatly aided the +growth of Physiology--how Chemistry has indirectly increased our knowledge +of Electricity, Magnetism, Biology, Geology--how Electricity has reacted on +Chemistry and Magnetism, developed our views of Light and Heat, and +disclosed sundry laws of nervous action. + +In Literature the same truth might be exhibited in the manifold effects of +the primitive mystery-play, not only as originating the modern drama, but +as affecting through it other kinds of poetry and fiction; or in the still +multiplying forms of periodical literature that have descended from the +first newspaper, and which have severally acted and reacted on other forms +of literature and on each other. The influence which a new school of +Painting--as that of the pre-Raffaelites--exercises upon other schools; the +hints which all kinds of pictorial art are deriving from Photography; the +complex results of new critical doctrines, as those of Mr. Ruskin, might +severally be dwelt upon as displaying the like multiplication of effects. +But it would needlessly tax the reader's patience to pursue, in their many +ramifications, these various changes: here become so involved and subtle as +to be followed with some difficulty. + +Without further evidence, we venture to think our case is made out. The +imperfections of statement which brevity has necessitated, do not, we +believe, militate against the propositions laid down. The qualifications +here and there demanded would not, if made, affect the inferences. Though +in one instance, where sufficient evidence is not attainable, we have been +unable to show that the law of Progress applies; yet there is high +probability that the same generalization holds which holds throughout the +rest of creation. Though, in tracing the genesis of Progress, we have +frequently spoken of complex causes as if they were simple ones; it still +remains true that such causes are far less complex than their results. +Detailed criticisms cannot affect our main position. Endless facts go to +show that every kind of progress is from the homogeneous to the +heterogeneous; and that it is so because each change is followed by many +changes. And it is significant that where the facts are most accessible and +abundant, there are these truths most manifest. + +However, to avoid committing ourselves to more than is yet proved, we must +be content with saying that such are the law and the cause of all progress +that is known to us. Should the Nebular Hypothesis ever be established, +then it will become manifest that the Universe at large, like every +organism, was once homogeneous; that as a whole, and in every detail, it +has unceasingly advanced towards greater heterogeneity; and that its +heterogeneity is still increasing. It will be seen that as in each event of +to-day, so from the beginning, the decomposition of every expended force +into several forces has been perpetually producing a higher complication; +that the increase of heterogeneity so brought about is still going on, and +must continue to go on; and that thus Progress is not an accident, not a +thing within human control, but a beneficent necessity. + + * * * * * + +A few words must be added on the ontological bearings of our argument. +Probably not a few will conclude that here is an attempted solution of the +great questions with which Philosophy in all ages has perplexed itself. Let +none thus deceive themselves. Only such as know not the scope and the +limits of Science can fall into so grave an error. The foregoing +generalizations apply, not to the genesis of things in themselves, but to +their genesis as manifested to the human consciousness. After all that has +been said, the ultimate mystery remains just as it was. The explanation of +that which is explicable, does but bring out into greater clearness the +inexplicableness of that which remains behind. However we may succeed in +reducing the equation to its lowest terms, we are not thereby enabled to +determine the unknown quantity: on the contrary, it only becomes more +manifest that the unknown quantity can never be found. + +Little as it seems to do so, fearless inquiry tends continually to give a +firmer basis to all true Religion. The timid sectarian, alarmed at the +progress of knowledge, obliged to abandon one by one the superstitions of +his ancestors, and daily finding his cherished beliefs more and more +shaken, secretly fears that all things may some day be explained; and has a +corresponding dread of Science: thus evincing the profoundest of all +infidelity--the fear lest the truth be bad. On the other hand, the sincere +man of science, content to follow wherever the evidence leads him, becomes +by each new inquiry more profoundly convinced that the Universe is an +insoluble problem. Alike in the external and the internal worlds, he sees +himself in the midst of perpetual changes, of which he can discover neither +the beginning nor the end. If, tracing back the evolution of things, he +allows himself to entertain the hypothesis that all matter once existed in +a diffused form, he finds it utterly impossible to conceive how this came +to be so; and equally, if he speculates on the future, he can assign no +limit to the grand succession of phenomena ever unfolding themselves before +him. On the other hand, if he looks inward, he perceives that both +terminations of the thread of consciousness are beyond his grasp: he cannot +remember when or how consciousness commenced, and he cannot examine the +consciousness that at any moment exists; for only a state of consciousness +that is already past can become the object of thought, and never one which +is passing. + +When, again, he turns from the succession of phenomena, external or +internal, to their essential nature, he is equally at fault. Though he may +succeed in resolving all properties of objects into manifestations of +force, he is not thereby enabled to realize what force is; but finds, on +the contrary, that the more he thinks about it, the more he is baffled. +Similarly, though analysis of mental actions may finally bring him down to +sensations as the original materials out of which all thought is woven, he +is none the forwarder; for he cannot in the least comprehend +sensation--cannot even conceive how sensation is possible. Inward and +outward things he thus discovers to be alike inscrutable in their ultimate +genesis and nature. He sees that the Materialist and Spiritualist +controversy is a mere war of words; the disputants being equally +absurd--each believing he understands that which it is impossible for any +man to understand. In all directions his investigations eventually bring +him face to face with the unknowable; and he ever more clearly perceives it +to be the unknowable. He learns at once the greatness and the littleness of +human intellect--its power in dealing with all that comes within the range +of experience; its impotence in dealing with all that transcends +experience. He feels, with a vividness which no others can, the utter +incomprehensibleness of the simplest fact, considered in itself. He alone +truly _sees_ that absolute knowledge is impossible. He alone _knows_ that +under all things there lies an impenetrable mystery. + + + + +II. MANNERS AND FASHION. + + +Whoever has studied the physiognomy of political meetings, cannot fail to +have remarked a connection between democratic opinions and peculiarities of +costume. At a Chartist demonstration, a lecture on Socialism, or a _soirée_ +of the Friends of Italy, there will be seen many among the audience, and a +still larger ratio among the speakers, who get themselves up in a style +more or less unusual. One gentleman on the platform divides his hair down +the centre, instead of on one side; another brushes it back off the +forehead, in the fashion known as "bringing out the intellect;" a third has +so long forsworn the scissors, that his locks sweep his shoulders. A +considerable sprinkling of moustaches may be observed; here and there an +imperial; and occasionally some courageous breaker of conventions exhibits +a full-grown beard.[E] This nonconformity in hair is countenanced by +various nonconformities in dress, shown by others of the assemblage. Bare +necks, shirt-collars _à la_ Byron, waistcoats cut Quaker fashion, +wonderfully shaggy great coats, numerous oddities in form and colour, +destroy the monotony usual in crowds. Even those exhibiting no conspicuous +peculiarity, frequently indicate by something in the pattern or make-up of +their clothes, that they pay small regard to what their tailors tell them +about the prevailing taste. And when the gathering breaks up, the varieties +of head gear displayed--the number of caps, and the abundance of felt +hats--suffice to prove that were the world at large like-minded, the black +cylinders which tyrannize over us would soon be deposed. + + [E] This was written before moustaches and beards had become common. + +The foreign correspondence of our daily press shows that this relationship +between political discontent and the disregard of customs exists on the +Continent also. Red republicanism has always been distinguished by its +hirsuteness. The authorities of Prussia, Austria, and Italy, alike +recognize certain forms of hat as indicative of disaffection, and fulminate +against them accordingly. In some places the wearer of a blouse runs a risk +of being classed among the _suspects_; and in others, he who would avoid +the bureau of police, must beware how he goes out in any but the ordinary +colours. Thus, democracy abroad, as at home, tends towards personal +singularity. + +Nor is this association of characteristics peculiar to modern times, or to +reformers of the State. It has always existed; and it has been manifested +as much in religious agitations as in political ones. Along with dissent +from the chief established opinions and arrangements, there has ever been +some dissent from the customary social practices. The Puritans, +disapproving of the long curls of the Cavaliers, as of their principles, +cut their own hair short, and so gained the name of "Roundheads." The +marked religious nonconformity of the Quakers was accompanied by an +equally-marked nonconformity of manners--in attire, in speech, in +salutation. The early Moravians not only believed differently, but at the +same time dressed differently, and lived differently, from their fellow +Christians. + +That the association between political independence and independence of +personal conduct, is not a phenomenon of to-day only, we may see alike in +the appearance of Franklin at the French court in plain clothes, and in the +white hats worn by the last generation of radicals. Originality of nature +is sure to show itself in more ways than one. The mention of George Fox's +suit of leather, or Pestalozzi's school name, "Harry Oddity," will at once +suggest the remembrance that men who have in great things diverged from the +beaten track, have frequently done so in small things likewise. Minor +illustrations of this truth may be gathered in almost every circle. We +believe that whoever will number up his reforming and rationalist +acquaintances, will find among them more than the usual proportion of those +who in dress or behaviour exhibit some degree of what the world calls +eccentricity. + +If it be a fact that men of revolutionary aims in politics or religion, are +commonly revolutionists in custom also, it is not less a fact that those +whose office it is to uphold established arrangements in State and Church, +are also those who most adhere to the social forms and observances +bequeathed to us by past generations. Practices elsewhere extinct still +linger about the headquarters of government. The monarch still gives assent +to Acts of Parliament in the old French of the Normans; and Norman French +terms are still used in law. Wigs, such as those we see depicted in old +portraits, may yet be found on the heads of judges and barristers. The +Beefeaters at the Tower wear the costume of Henry VIIth's body-guard. The +University dress of the present year varies but little from that worn soon +after the Reformation. The claret-coloured coat, knee-breeches, lace shirt +frills, ruffles, white silk stockings, and buckled shoes, which once formed +the usual attire of a gentleman, still survive as the court-dress. And it +need scarcely be said that at _levées_ and drawing-rooms, the ceremonies +are prescribed with an exactness, and enforced with a rigour, not elsewhere +to be found. + +Can we consider these two series of coincidences as accidental and +unmeaning? Must we not rather conclude that some necessary relationship +obtains between them? Are there not such things as a constitutional +conservatism, and a constitutional tendency to change? Is there not a class +which clings to the old in all things; and another class so in love with +progress as often to mistake novelty for improvement? Do we not find some +men ready to bow to established authority of whatever kind; while others +demand of every such authority its reason, and reject it if it fails to +justify itself? And must not the minds thus contrasted tend to become +respectively conformist and nonconformist, not only in politics and +religion, but in other things? Submission, whether to a government, to the +dogmas of ecclesiastics, or to that code of behaviour which society at +large has set up, is essentially of the same nature; and the sentiment +which induces resistance to the despotism of rulers, civil or spiritual, +likewise induces resistance to the despotism of the world's opinion. Look +at them fundamentally, and all enactments, alike of the legislature, the +consistory, and the saloon--all regulations, formal or virtual, have a +common character: they are all limitations of men's freedom. "Do +this--Refrain from that," are the blank formulas into which they may all be +written: and in each case the understanding is that obedience will bring +approbation here and paradise hereafter; while disobedience will entail +imprisonment, or sending to Coventry, or eternal torments, as the case may +be. And if restraints, however named, and through whatever apparatus of +means exercised, are one in their action upon men, it must happen that +those who are patient under one kind of restraint, are likely to be patient +under another; and conversely, that those impatient of restraint in +general, will, on the average, tend to show their impatience in all +directions. + +That Law, Religion, and Manners are thus related--that their respective +kinds of operation come under one generalization--that they have in certain +contrasted characteristics of men a common support and a common +danger--will, however, be most clearly seen on discovering that they have a +common origin. Little as from present appearances we should suppose it, we +shall yet find that at first, the control of religion, the control of laws, +and the control of manners, were all one control. However incredible it may +now seem, we believe it to be demonstrable that the rules of etiquette, the +provisions of the statute-book, and the commands of the decalogue, have +grown from the same root. If we go far enough back into the ages of +primeval Fetishism, it becomes manifest that originally Deity, Chief, and +Master of the ceremonies were identical. To make good these positions, and +to show their bearing on what is to follow, it will be necessary here to +traverse ground that is in part somewhat beaten, and at first sight +irrelevant to our topic. We will pass over it as quickly as consists with +the exigencies of the argument. + + * * * * * + +That the earliest social aggregations were ruled solely by the will of the +strong man, few dispute. That from the strong man proceeded not only +Monarchy, but the conception of a God, few admit: much as Carlyle and +others have said in evidence of it. If, however, those who are unable to +believe this, will lay aside the ideas of God and man in which they have +been educated, and study the aboriginal ideas of them, they will at least +see some probability in the hypothesis. Let them remember that before +experience had yet taught men to distinguish between the possible and the +impossible; and while they were ready on the slightest suggestion to +ascribe unknown powers to any object and make a fetish of it; their +conceptions of humanity and its capacities were necessarily vague, and +without specific limits. The man who by unusual strength, or cunning, +achieved something that others had failed to achieve, or something which +they did not understand, was considered by them as differing from +themselves; and, as we see in the belief of some Polynesians that only +their chiefs have souls, or in that of the ancient Peruvians that their +nobles were divine by birth, the ascribed difference was apt to be not one +of degree only, but one of kind. + +Let them remember next, how gross were the notions of God, or rather of +gods, prevalent during the same era and afterwards--how concretely gods +were conceived as men of specific aspects dressed in specific ways--how +their names were literally "the strong," "the destroyer," "the powerful +one,"--how, according to the Scandinavian mythology, the "sacred duty of +blood-revenge" was acted on by the gods themselves,--and how they were not +only human in their vindictiveness, their cruelty, and their quarrels with +each other, but were supposed to have amours on earth, and to consume the +viands placed on their altars. Add to which, that in various mythologies, +Greek, Scandinavian, and others, the oldest beings are giants; that +according to a traditional genealogy the gods, demi-gods, and in some cases +men, are descended from these after the human fashion; and that while in +the East we hear of sons of God who saw the daughters of men that they were +fair, the Teutonic myths tell of unions between the sons of men and the +daughters of the gods. + +Let them remember, too, that at first the idea of death differed widely +from that which we have; that there are still tribes who, on the decease of +one of their number, attempt to make the corpse stand, and put food into +his mouth; that the Peruvians had feasts at which the mummies of their dead +Incas presided, when, as Prescott says, they paid attention "to these +insensible remains as if they were instinct with life;" that among the +Feejees it is believed that every enemy has to be killed twice; that the +Eastern Pagans give extension and figure to the soul, and attribute to it +all the same substances, both solid and liquid, of which our bodies are +composed; and that it is the custom among most barbarous races to bury +food, weapons, and trinkets along with the dead body, under the manifest +belief that it will presently need them. + +Lastly, let them remember that the other world, as originally conceived, is +simply some distant part of this world--some Elysian fields, some happy +hunting-ground, accessible even to the living, and to which, after death, +men travel in anticipation of a life analogous in general character to that +which they led before. Then, co-ordinating these general facts--the +ascription of unknown powers to chiefs and medicine men; the belief in +deities having human forms, passions, and behaviour; the imperfect +comprehension of death as distinguished from life; and the proximity of the +future abode to the present, both in position and character--let them +reflect whether they do not almost unavoidably suggest the conclusion that +the aboriginal god is the dead chief: the chief not dead in our sense, but +gone away carrying with him food and weapons to some rumoured region of +plenty, some promised land, whither he had long intended to lead his +followers, and whence he will presently return to fetch them. + +This hypothesis once entertained, is seen to harmonize with all primitive +ideas and practices. The sons of the deified chief reigning after him, it +necessarily happens that all early kings are held descendants of the gods; +and the fact that alike in Assyria, Egypt, among the Jews, Ph[oe]nicians, +and ancient Britons, kings' names were formed out of the names of the gods, +is fully explained. The genesis of Polytheism out of Fetishism, by the +successive migrations of the race of god-kings to the other world--a +genesis illustrated in the Greek mythology, alike by the precise genealogy +of the deities, and by the specifically asserted apotheosis of the later +ones--tends further to bear it out. It explains the fact that in the old +creeds, as in the still extant creed of the Otaheitans, every family has +its guardian spirit, who is supposed to be one of their departed relatives; +and that they sacrifice to these as minor gods--a practice still pursued by +the Chinese and even by the Russians. It is perfectly congruous with the +Grecian myths concerning the wars of the Gods with the Titans and their +final usurpation; and it similarly agrees with the fact that among the +Teutonic gods proper was one Freir who came among them by adoption, "but +was born among the _Vanes_, a somewhat mysterious _other_ dynasty of gods, +who had been conquered and superseded by the stronger and more warlike Odin +dynasty." It harmonizes, too, with the belief that there are different gods +to different territories and nations, as there were different chiefs; that +these gods contend for supremacy as chiefs do; and it gives meaning to the +boast of neighbouring tribes--"Our god is greater than your god." It is +confirmed by the notion universally current in early times, that the gods +come from this other abode, in which they commonly live, and appear among +men--speak to them, help them, punish them. And remembering this, it +becomes manifest that the prayers put up by primitive peoples to their gods +for aid in battle, are meant literally--that their gods are expected to +come back from the other kingdom they are reigning over, and once more +fight the old enemies they had before warred against so implacably; and it +needs but to name the Iliad, to remind every one how thoroughly they +believed the expectation fulfilled. + +All government, then, being originally that of the strong man who has +become a fetish by some manifestation of superiority, there arises, at his +death--his supposed departure on a long projected expedition, in which he +is accompanied by his slaves and concubines sacrificed at his tomb--there +arises, then, the incipient division of religious from political control, +of civil rule from spiritual. His son becomes deputed chief during his +absence; his authority is cited as that by which his son acts; his +vengeance is invoked on all who disobey his son; and his commands, as +previously known or as asserted by his son, become the germ of a moral +code: a fact we shall the more clearly perceive if we remember, that early +moral codes inculcate mainly the virtues of the warrior, and the duty of +exterminating some neighbouring tribe whose existence is an offence to the +deity. + +From this point onwards, these two kinds of authority, at first complicated +together as those of principal and agent, become slowly more and more +distinct. As experience accumulates, and ideas of causation grow more +precise, kings lose their supernatural attributes; and, instead of +God-king, become God-descended king, God-appointed king, the Lord's +anointed, the viceregent of heaven, ruler reigning by Divine right. The old +theory, however, long clings to men in feeling, after it has disappeared in +name; and "such divinity doth hedge a king," that even now, many, on first +seeing one, feel a secret surprise at finding him an ordinary sample of +humanity. The sacredness attaching to royalty attaches afterwards to its +appended institutions--to legislatures, to laws. Legal and illegal are +synonymous with right and wrong; the authority of Parliament is held +unlimited; and a lingering faith in governmental power continually +generates unfounded hopes from its enactments. Political scepticism, +however, having destroyed the divine _prestige_ of royalty, goes on ever +increasing, and promises ultimately to reduce the State to a purely secular +institution, whose regulations are limited in their sphere, and have no +other authority than the general will. Meanwhile, the religious control has +been little by little separating itself from the civil, both in its essence +and in its forms. While from the God-king of the savage have arisen in one +direction, secular rulers who, age by age, have been losing the sacred +attributes men ascribed to them; there has arisen in another direction, the +conception of a deity, who, at first human in all things, has been +gradually losing human materiality, human form, human passions, human modes +of action: until now, anthropomorphism has become a reproach. + +Along with this wide divergence in men's ideas of the divine and civil +ruler has been taking place a corresponding divergence in the codes of +conduct respectively proceeding from them. While the king was a +deputy-god--a governor such as the Jews looked for in the Messiah--a +governor considered, as the Czar still is, "our God upon Earth,"--it, of +course, followed that his commands were the supreme rules. But as men +ceased to believe in his supernatural origin and nature, his commands +ceased to be the highest; and there arose a distinction between the +regulations made by him, and the regulations handed down from the old +god-kings, who were rendered ever more sacred by time and the accumulation +of myths. Hence came respectively, Law and Morality: the one growing ever +more concrete, the other more abstract; the authority of the one ever on +the decrease, that of the other ever on the increase; originally the same, +but now placed daily in more marked antagonism. + +Simultaneously there has been going on a separation of the institutions +administering these two codes of conduct. While they were yet one, of +course Church and State were one: the king was arch-priest, not nominally, +but really--alike the giver of new commands and the chief interpreter of +the old commands; and the deputy-priests coming out of his family were thus +simply expounders of the dictates of their ancestry: at first as +recollected, and afterwards as ascertained by professed interviews with +them. This union--which still existed practically during the middle ages, +when the authority of kings was mixed up with the authority of the pope, +when there were bishop-rulers having all the powers of feudal lords, and +when priests punished by penances--has been, step by step, becoming less +close. Though monarchs are still "defenders of the faith," and +ecclesiastical chiefs, they are but nominally such. Though bishops still +have civil power, it is not what they once had. Protestantism shook loose +the bonds of union; Dissent has long been busy in organizing a mechanism +for the exercise of religious control, wholly independent of law; in +America, a separate organization for that purpose already exists; and if +anything is to be hoped from the Anti-State-Church Association--or, as it +has been newly named, "The Society for the Liberation of Religion from +State Patronage and Control"--we shall presently have a separate +organization here also. + +Thus alike in authority, in essence, and in form, political and spiritual +rule have been ever more widely diverging from the same root. That +increasing division of labour which marks the progress of society in other +things, marks it also in this separation of government into civil and +religious; and if we observe how the morality which forms the substance of +religions in general, is beginning to be purified from the associated +creeds, we may anticipate that this division will be ultimately carried +much further. + +Passing now to the third species of control--that of Manners--we shall find +that this, too, while it had a common genesis with the others, has +gradually come to have a distinct sphere and a special embodiment. Among +early aggregations of men before yet social observances existed, the sole +forms of courtesy known were the signs of submission to the strong man; as +the sole law was his will, and the sole religion the awe of his supposed +supernaturalness. Originally, ceremonies were modes of behaviour to the +god-king. Our commonest titles have been derived from his names. And all +salutations were primarily worship paid to him. Let us trace out these +truths in detail, beginning with titles. + +The fact already noticed, that the names of early kings among divers races +are formed by the addition of certain syllables to the names of their +gods--which certain syllables, like our _Mac_ and _Fitz_, probably mean +"son of," or "descended from"--at once gives meaning to the term _Father_ +as a divine title. And when we read, in Selden, that "the composition out +of these names of Deities was not only proper to Kings: their Grandes and +more honorable Subjects" (no doubt members of the royal race) "had +sometimes the like;" we see how the term _Father_, properly used by these +also, and by their multiplying descendants, came to be a title used by the +people in general. And it is significant as bearing on this point, that +among the most barbarous nation in Europe, where belief in the divine +nature of the ruler still lingers, _Father_ in this higher sense is still a +regal distinction. When, again, we remember how the divinity at first +ascribed to kings was not a complimentary fiction but a supposed fact; and +how, further, under the Fetish philosophy the celestial bodies are believed +to be personages who once lived among men; we see that the appellations of +oriental rulers, "Brother to the Sun," &c., were probably once expressive +of a genuine belief; and have simply, like many other things, continued in +use after all meaning has gone out of them. We may infer, too, that the +titles God, Lord, Divinity, were given to primitive rulers literally--that +the _nostra divinitas_ applied to the Roman emperors, and the various +sacred designations that have been borne by monarchs, down to the still +extant phrase, "Our Lord the King," are the dead and dying forms of what +were once living facts. From these names, God, Father, Lord, Divinity, +originally belonging to the God-king, and afterwards to God and the king, +the derivation of our commonest titles of respect is clearly traceable. + +There is reason to think that these titles were originally proper names. +Not only do we see among the Egyptians, where Pharaoh was synonymous with +king, and among the Romans, where to be Cæsar, meant to be Emperor, that +the proper names of the greatest men were transferred to their successors, +and so became class names; but in the Scandinavian mythology we may trace a +human title of honour up to the proper name of a divine personage. In +Anglo-Saxon _bealdor_, or _baldor_, means _Lord_; and Balder is the name of +the favourite of Odin's sons--the gods who with him constitute the Teutonic +Pantheon. How these names of honour became general is easily understood. +The relatives of the primitive kings--the grandees described by Selden as +having names formed on those of the gods, and shown by this to be members +of the divine race--necessarily shared in the epithets, such as _Lord_, +descriptive of superhuman relationships and nature. Their ever-multiplying +offspring inheriting these, gradually rendered them comparatively common. +And then they came to be applied to every man of power: partly from the +fact that, in these early days when men conceived divinity simply as a +stronger kind of humanity, great persons could be called by divine epithets +with but little exaggeration; partly from the fact that the unusually +potent were apt to be considered as unrecognized or illegitimate +descendants of "the strong, the destroyer, the powerful one;" and partly, +also, from compliment and the desire to propitiate. + +Progressively as superstition diminished, this last became the sole cause. +And if we remember that it is the nature of compliment, as we daily hear +it, to attribute more than is due--that in the constantly widening +application of "esquire," in the perpetual repetition of "your honour" by +the fawning Irishman, and in the use of the name "gentleman" to any +coalheaver or dustman by the lower classes of London, we have current +examples of the depreciation of titles consequent on compliment--and that +in barbarous times, when the wish to propitiate was stronger than now, this +effect must have been greater; we shall see that there naturally arose an +extensive misuse of all early distinctions. Hence the facts, that the Jews +called Herod a god; that _Father_, in its higher sense, was a term used +among them by servants to masters; that _Lord_ was applicable to any person +of worth and power. Hence, too, the fact that, in the later periods of the +Roman Empire, every _ man saluted his neighbour as _Dominus_ and _Rex_. + +But it is in the titles of the middle ages, and in the growth of our modern +ones out of them, that the process is most clearly seen. _Herr_, _Don_, +_Signior_, _Seigneur_, _Sennor_, were all originally names of rulers--of +feudal lords. By the complimentary use of these names to all who could, on +any pretence, be supposed to merit them, and by successive degradations of +them from each step in the descent to a still lower one, they have come to +be common forms of address. At first the phrase in which a serf accosted +his despotic chief, _mein herr_ is now familiarly applied in Germany to +ordinary people. The Spanish title _Don_, once proper to noblemen and +gentlemen only, is now accorded to all classes. So, too, is it with +_Signior_ in Italy. _Seigneur_, and _Monseigneur_, by contraction in +_Sieur_ and _Monsieur_, have produced the term of respect claimed by every +Frenchman. And whether _Sire_ be or be not a like contraction of _Signior_, +it is clear that, as it was borne by sundry of the ancient feudal lords of +France, who, as Selden says, "affected rather to bee stiled by the name of +_Sire_ than Baron, as _Le Sire de Montmorencie_, _Le Sire de Beaulieu_, and +the like," and as it has been commonly used to monarchs, our word _Sir_, +which is derived from it, originally meant lord or king. Thus, too, is it +with feminine titles. _Lady_, which, according to Horne Tooke, means +_exalted_, and was at first given only to the few, is now given to all +women of education. _Dame_, once an honourable name to which, in old books, +we find the epithets of "highborn" and "stately" affixed, has now, by +repeated widenings of its application, become relatively a term of +contempt. And if we trace the compound of this, _ma Dame_, through its +contractions--_Madam_, _ma'am_, _mam_, _mum_, we find that the "Yes'm" of +Sally to her mistress is originally equivalent to "Yes, my exalted," or +"Yes, your highness." Throughout, therefore, the genesis of words of honour +has been the same. Just as with the Jews and with the Romans, has it been +with the modern Europeans. Tracing these everyday names to their primitive +significations of _lord_ and _king_, and remembering that in aboriginal +societies these were applied only to the gods and their descendants, we +arrive at the conclusion that our familiar _Sir_ and _Monsieur_ are, in +their primary and expanded meanings, terms of adoration. + +Further to illustrate this gradual depreciation of titles, and to confirm +the inference drawn, it may be well to notice in passing, that the oldest +of them have, as might be expected, been depreciated to the greatest +extent. Thus, _Master_--a word proved by its derivation and by the +similarity of the connate words in other languages (Fr., _maître_ for +_master_; Russ., _master_; Dan., _meester_; Ger., _meister_) to have been +one of the earliest in use for expressing lordship--has now become +applicable to children only, and under the modification of "Mister," to +persons next above the labourer. Again, knighthood, the oldest kind of +dignity, is also the lowest; and Knight Bachelor, which is the lowest order +of knighthood, is more ancient than any other of the orders. Similarly, +too, with the peerage: Baron is alike the earliest and least elevated of +its divisions. This continual degradation of all names of honor has, from +time to time, made it requisite to introduce new ones having that +distinguishing effect which the originals had lost by generality of use; +just as our habit of misapplying superlatives has, by gradually destroying +their force, entailed the need for fresh ones. And if, within the last +thousand years, this process has produced effects thus marked, we may +readily conceive how, during previous thousands, the titles of gods and +demi-gods came to be used to all persons exercising power; as they have +since come to be used to persons of respectability. + +If from names of honour we turn to phrases of honour, we find similar +facts. The Oriental styles of address, applied to ordinary people--"I am +your slave," "All I have is yours," "I am your sacrifice"--attribute to the +individual spoken to the same greatness that _Monsieur_ and _My Lord_ do: +they ascribe to him the character of an all-powerful ruler, so immeasurably +superior to the speaker as to be his owner. So, likewise, with the Polish +expressions of respect--"I throw myself under your feet," "I kiss your +feet." In our now meaningless subscription to a formal letter--"Your most +obedient servant,"--the same thing is visible. Nay, even in the familiar +signature "Yours faithfully," the "yours," if interpreted as originally +meant, is the expression of a slave to his master. + +All these dead forms were once living embodiments of fact--were primarily +the genuine indications of that submission to authority which they verbally +assert; were afterwards naturally used by the weak and cowardly to +propitiate those above them; gradually grew to be considered the due of +such; and, by a continually wider misuse, have lost their meanings, as +_Sir_ and _Master_ have done. That, like titles, they were in the beginning +used only to the God-king, is indicated by the fact that, like titles, they +were subsequently used in common to God and the king. Religious worship has +ever largely consisted of professions of obedience, of being God's +servants, of belonging to him to do what he will with. Like titles, +therefore, these common phrases of honour had a devotional origin. + +Perhaps, however, it is in the use of the word _you_ as a singular pronoun +that the popularizing of what were once supreme distinctions is most +markedly illustrated. This speaking of a single individual in the plural, +was originally an honour given only to the highest--was the reciprocal of +the imperial "we" assumed by such. Yet now, by being applied to +successively lower and lower classes, it has become all but universal. Only +by one sect of Christians, and in a few secluded districts, is the +primitive _thou_ still used. And the _you_, in becoming common to all ranks +has simultaneously lost every vestige of the honour once attaching to it. + +But the genesis of Manners out of forms of allegiance and worship, is above +all shown in men's modes of salutation. Note first the significance of the +word. Among the Romans, the _salutatio_ was a daily homage paid by clients +and inferiors to superiors. This was alike the case with civilians and in +the army. The very derivation of our word, therefore, is suggestive of +submission. Passing to particular forms of obeisance (mark the word again), +let us begin with the Eastern one of baring the feet. This was, primarily, +a mark of reverence, alike to a god and a king. The act of Moses before the +burning bush, and the practice of Mahometans, who are sworn on the Koran +with their shoes off, exemplify the one employment of it; the custom of the +Persians, who remove their shoes on entering the presence of their monarch, +exemplifies the other. As usual, however, this homage, paid next to +inferior rulers, has descended from grade to grade. In India, it is a +common mark of respect; a polite man in Turkey always leaves his shoes at +the door, while the lower orders of Turks never enter the presence of their +superiors but in their stockings; and in Japan, this baring of the feet is +an ordinary salutation of man to man. + +Take another case. Selden, describing the ceremonies of the Romans, +says:--"For whereas it was usual either to kiss the Images of their Gods, +or adoring them, to stand somewhat off before them, solemnly moving the +right hand to the lips, and then, casting it as if they had cast kisses, to +turne the body on the same hand (which was the right forme of Adoration), +it grew also by custom, first that the emperors, being next to Deities, and +by some accounted as Deities, had the like done to them in acknowledgment +of their Greatness." If, now, we call to mind the awkward salute of a +village school-boy, made by putting his open hand up to his face and +describing a semicircle with his forearm; and if we remember that the +salute thus used as a form of reverence in country districts, is most +likely a remnant of the feudal times; we shall see reason for thinking that +our common wave of the hand to a friend across the street, represents what +was primarily a devotional act. + +Similarly have originated all forms of respect depending upon inclinations +of the body. Entire prostration is the aboriginal sign of submission. The +passage of Scripture, "Thou hast put all under his feet," and that other +one, so suggestive in its anthropomorphism, "The Lord said unto my Lord, +sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool," +imply, what the Assyrian sculptures fully bear out, that it was the +practice of the ancient god-kings of the East to trample upon the +conquered. And when we bear in mind that there are existing savages who +signify submission by placing the neck under the foot of the person +submitted to, it becomes obvious that all prostration, especially when +accompanied by kissing the foot, expressed a willingness to be trodden +upon--was an attempt to mitigate wrath by saying, in signs, "Tread on me if +you will." Remembering, further, that kissing the foot, as of the Pope and +of a saint's statue, still continues in Europe to be a mark of extreme +reverence; that prostration to feudal lords was once general; and that its +disappearance must have taken place, not abruptly, but by gradual +modification into something else; we have ground for deriving from these +deepest of humiliations all inclinations of respect; especially as the +transition is traceable. The reverence of a Russian serf, who bends his +head to the ground, and the salaam of the Hindoo, are abridged +prostrations; a bow is a short salaam; a nod is a short bow. + +Should any hesitate to admit this conclusion, then perhaps, on being +reminded that the lowest of these obeisances are common where the +submission is most abject; that among ourselves the profundity of the bow +marks the amount of respect; and lastly, that the bow is even now used +devotionally in our churches--by Catholics to their altars, and by +Protestants at the name of Christ--they will see sufficient evidence for +thinking that this salutation also was originally worship. + +The same may be said, too, of the curtsy, or courtesy, as it is otherwise +written. Its derivation from _courtoisie_, courteousness, that is, +behaviour like that at court, at once shows that it was primarily the +reverence paid to a monarch. And if we call to mind that falling upon the +knees, or upon one knee, has been a common obeisance of subjects to rulers; +that in ancient manuscripts and tapestries, servants are depicted as +assuming this attitude while offering the dishes to their masters at table; +and that this same attitude is assumed towards our own queen at every +presentation; we may infer, what the character of the curtsy itself +suggests, that it is an abridged act of kneeling. As the word has been +contracted from _courtoisie_ into curtsy; so the motion has been contracted +from a placing of the knee on the floor, to a lowering of the knee towards +the floor. Moreover, when we compare the curtsy of a lady with the awkward +one a peasant girl makes, which, if continued, would bring her down on both +knees, we may see in this last a remnant of that greater reverence required +of serfs. And when, from considering that simple kneeling of the West, +still represented by the curtsy, we pass Eastward, and note the attitude of +the Mahomedan worshipper, who not only kneels but bows his head to the +ground, we may infer that the curtsy also, is an evanescent form of the +aboriginal prostration. + +In further evidence of this it may be remarked, that there has but recently +disappeared from the salutations of men, an action having the same +proximate derivation with the curtsy. That backward sweep of the foot with +which the conventional stage-sailor accompanies his bow--a movement which +prevailed generally in past generations, when "a bow and a scrape" went +together, and which, within the memory of living persons, was made by boys +to their schoolmaster with the effect of wearing a hole in the floor--is +pretty clearly a preliminary to going on one knee. A motion so ungainly +could never have been intentionally introduced; even if the artificial +introduction of obeisances were possible. Hence we must regard it as the +remnant of something antecedent: and that this something antecedent was +humiliating maybe inferred from the phrase, "scraping an acquaintance;" +which, being used to denote the gaining of favour by obsequiousness, +implies that the scrape was considered a mark of servility--that is, of +_serf_-ility. + +Consider, again, the uncovering of the head. Almost everywhere this has +been a sign of reverence, alike in temples and before potentates; and it +yet preserves among us some of its original meaning. Whether it rains, +hails, or shines, you must keep your head bare while speaking to the +monarch; and on no plea may you remain covered in a place of worship. As +usual, however, this ceremony, at first a submission to gods and kings, has +become in process of time a common civility. Once an acknowledgment of +another's unlimited supremacy, the removal of the hat is now a salute +accorded to very ordinary persons, and that uncovering, originally reserved +for entrance into "the house of God," good manners now dictates on entrance +into the house of a common labourer. + +Standing, too, as a mark of respect, has undergone like extensions in its +application. Shown, by the practice in our churches, to be intermediate +between the humiliation signified by kneeling and the self-respect which +sitting implies, and used at courts as a form of homage when more active +demonstrations of it have been made, this posture is now employed in daily +life to show consideration; as seen alike in the attitude of a servant +before a master, and in that rising which politeness prescribes on the +entrance of a visitor. + +Many other threads of evidence might have been woven into our argument. As, +for example, the significant fact, that if we trace back our still existing +law of primogeniture--if we consider it as displayed by Scottish clans, in +which not only ownership but government devolved from the beginning on the +eldest son of the eldest--if we look further back, and observe that the old +titles of lordship, _Signor_, _Seigneur_, _Sennor_, _Sire_, _Sieur_, all +originally mean, senior, or elder--if we go Eastward, and find that +_Sheick_ has a like derivation, and that the Oriental names for priests, as +_Pir_, for instance, are literally interpreted _old man_--if we note in +Hebrew records how primeval is the ascribed superiority of the first-born, +how great the authority of elders, and how sacred the memory of +patriarchs--and if, then, we remember that among divine titles are "Ancient +of Days," and "Father of Gods and men;"--we see how completely these facts +harmonize with the hypothesis, that the aboriginal god is the first man +sufficiently great to become a tradition, the earliest whose power and +deeds made him remembered; that hence antiquity unavoidably became +associated with superiority, and age with nearness in blood to "the +powerful one;" that so there naturally arose that domination of the eldest +which characterizes all history, and that theory of human degeneracy which +even yet survives. + +We might further dwell on the facts, that _Lord_ signifies high-born, or, +as the same root gives a word meaning heaven, possibly heaven-born; that, +before it became common, _Sir_ or _Sire_, as well as _Father_, was the +distinction of a priest; that _worship_, originally worth-ship--a term of +respect that has been used commonly, as well as to magistrates--is also our +term for the act of attributing greatness or worth to the Deity; so that to +ascribe worth-ship to a man is to worship him. We might make much of the +evidence that all early governments are more or less distinctly theocratic; +and that among ancient Eastern nations even the commonest forms and customs +appear to have been influenced by religion. We might enforce our argument +respecting the derivation of ceremonies, by tracing out the aboriginal +obeisance made by putting dust on the head, which probably symbolizes +putting the head in the dust: by affiliating the practice prevailing among +certain tribes, of doing another honour by presenting him with a portion of +hair torn from the head--an act which seems tantamount to saying, "I am +your slave;" by investigating the Oriental custom of giving to a visitor +any object he speaks of admiringly, which is pretty clearly a carrying out +the compliment, "All I have is yours." + +Without enlarging, however, on these and many minor facts, we venture to +think that the evidence already assigned is sufficient to justify our +position. Had the proofs been few or of one kind, little faith could have +been placed in the inference. But numerous as they are, alike in the case +of titles, in that of complimentary phrases, and in that of +salutes--similar and simultaneous, too, as the process of depreciation has +been in all of these; the evidences become strong by mutual confirmation. +And when we recollect, also, that not only have the results of this process +been visible in various nations and in all times, but that they are +occurring among ourselves at the present moment, and that the causes +assigned for previous depreciations may be seen daily working out other +ones--when we recollect this, it becomes scarcely possible to doubt that +the process has been as alleged; and that our ordinary words, acts, and +phrases of civility were originally acknowledgments of submission to +another's omnipotence. + +Thus the general doctrine, that all kinds of government exercised over men +were at first one government--that the political, the religious, and the +ceremonial forms of control are divergent branches of a general and once +indivisible control--begins to look tenable. When, with the above facts +fresh in mind, we read primitive records, and find that "there were giants +in those days"--when we remember that in Eastern traditions Nimrod, among +others, figures in all the characters of giant, king, and divinity--when we +turn to the sculptures exhumed by Mr. Layard, and contemplating in them the +effigies of kings driving over enemies, trampling on prisoners, and adored +by prostrate slaves, then observe how their actions correspond to the +primitive names for the divinity, "the strong," "the destroyer," "the +powerful one"--when we find that the earliest temples were also the +residences of the kings--and when, lastly, we discover that among races of +men still living, there are current superstitions analogous to those which +old records and old buildings indicate; we begin to realize the probability +of the hypothesis that has been set forth. + +Going back, in imagination, to the remote era when men's theories of things +were yet unformed; and conceiving to ourselves the conquering chief as +dimly figured in ancient myths, and poems, and ruins; we may see that all +rules of conduct whatever spring from his will. Alike legislator and judge, +all quarrels among his subjects are decided by him; and his words become +the Law. Awe of him is the incipient Religion; and his maxims furnish its +first precepts. Submission is made to him in the forms he prescribes; and +these give birth to Manners. From the first, time develops political +allegiance and the administration of justice; from the second, the worship +of a being whose personality becomes ever more vague, and the inculcation +of precepts ever more abstract; from the third, forms of honour and the +rules of etiquette. + +In conformity with the law of evolution of all organized bodies, that +general functions are gradually separated into the special functions +constituting them, there have grown up in the social organism for the +better performance of the governmental office, an apparatus of law-courts, +judges, and barristers; a national church, with its bishops and priests; +and a system of caste, titles, and ceremonies, administered by society at +large. By the first, overt aggressions are cognized and punished; by the +second, the disposition to commit such aggressions is in some degree +checked; by the third, those minor breaches of good conduct, which the +others do not notice, are denounced and chastised. Law and Religion control +behaviour in its essentials: Manners control it in its details. For +regulating those daily actions which are too numerous and too unimportant +to be officially directed, there comes into play this subtler set of +restraints. And when we consider what these restraints are--when we analyze +the words, and phrases, and salutes employed, we see that in origin as in +effect, the system is a setting up of temporary governments between all men +who come in contact, for the purpose of better managing the intercourse +between them. + + * * * * * + +From the proposition, that these several kinds of government are +essentially one, both in genesis and function, may be deduced several +important corollaries, directly bearing on our special topic. + +Let us first notice, that there is not only a common origin and office for +all forms of rule, but a common necessity for them. The aboriginal man, +coming fresh from the killing of bears and from lying in ambush for his +enemy, has, by the necessities of his condition, a nature requiring to be +curbed in its every impulse. Alike in war and in the chase, his daily +discipline has been that of sacrificing other creatures to his own needs +and passions. His character, bequeathed to him by ancestors who led similar +lives, is moulded by this discipline--is fitted to this existence. The +unlimited selfishness, the love of inflicting pain, the bloodthirstiness, +thus kept active, he brings with him into the social state. These +dispositions put him in constant danger of conflict with his equally savage +neighbour. In small things as in great, in words as in deeds, he is +aggressive; and is hourly liable to the aggressions of others like natured. +Only, therefore, by the most rigorous control exercised over all actions, +can the primitive unions of men be maintained. There must be a ruler +strong, remorseless, and of indomitable will; there must be a creed +terrible in its threats to the disobedient; and there must be the most +servile submission of all inferiors to superiors. The law must be cruel; +the religion must be stern; the ceremonies must be strict. + +The co-ordinate necessity for these several kinds of restraint might be +largely illustrated from history were there space. Suffice it to point out, +that where the civil power has been weak, the multiplication of thieves, +assassins, and banditti, has indicated the approach of social dissolution; +that when, from the corruptness of its ministry, religion has lost its +influence, as it did just before the Flagellants appeared, the State has +been endangered; and that the disregard of established social observances +has ever been an accompaniment of political revolutions. Whoever doubts the +necessity for a government of manners proportionate in strength to the +co-existing political and religious governments, will be convinced on +calling to mind that until recently even elaborate codes of behaviour +failed to keep gentlemen from quarrelling in the streets and fighting duels +in taverns; and on remembering further, that even now people exhibit at the +doors of a theatre, where there is no ceremonial law to rule them, a degree +of aggressiveness which would produce confusion if carried into social +intercourse. + +As might be expected, we find that, having a common origin and like general +functions, these several controlling agencies act during each era with +similar degrees of vigour. Under the Chinese despotism, stringent and +multitudinous in its edicts and harsh in the enforcement of them, and +associated with which there is an equally stern domestic despotism +exercised by the eldest surviving male of the family, there exists a system +of observances alike complicated and rigid. There is a tribunal of +ceremonies. Previous to presentation at court, ambassadors pass many days +in practising the required forms. Social intercourse is cumbered by endless +compliments and obeisances. Class distinctions are strongly marked by +badges. The chief regret on losing an only son is, that there will be no +one to perform the sepulchral rites. And if there wants a definite measure +of the respect paid to social ordinances, we have it in the torture to +which ladies submit in having their feet crushed. In India, and indeed +throughout the East, there exists a like connection between the pitiless +tyranny of rulers, the dread terrors of immemorial creeds, and the rigid +restraint of unchangeable customs: the caste regulations continue still +unalterable; the fashions of clothes and furniture have remained the same +for ages; suttees are so ancient as to be mentioned by Strabo and Diodorus +Siculus; justice is still administered at the palace-gates as of old; in +short, "every usage is a precept of religion and a maxim of jurisprudence." + +A similar relationship of phenomena was exhibited in Europe during the +Middle Ages. While all its governments were autocratic, while feudalism +held sway, while the Church was unshorn of its power, while the criminal +code was full of horrors and the hell of the popular creed full of terrors, +the rules of behaviour were both more numerous and more carefully conformed +to than now. Differences of dress marked divisions of rank. Men were +limited by law to a certain width of shoe-toes; and no one below a +specified degree might wear a cloak less than so many inches long. The +symbols on banners and shields were carefully attended to. Heraldry was an +important branch of knowledge. Precedence was strictly insisted on. And +those various salutes of which we now use the abridgments were gone through +in full. Even during our own last century, with its corrupt House of +Commons and little-curbed monarchs, we may mark a correspondence of social +formalities. Gentlemen were still distinguished from lower classes by +dress; people sacrificed themselves to inconvenient requirements--as +powder, hooped petticoats, and towering head-dresses; and children +addressed their parents as _Sir_ and _Madam_. + +A further corollary naturally following this last, and almost, indeed, +forming part of it, is, that these several kinds of government +decrease in stringency at the same rate. Simultaneously with the +decline in the influence of priesthoods, and in the fear of eternal +torments--simultaneously with the mitigation of political tyranny, the +growth of popular power, and the amelioration of criminal codes; has taken +place that diminution of formalities and that fading of distinctive marks, +now so observable. Looking at home, we may note that there is less +attention to precedence than there used to be. No one in our day ends an +interview with the phrase "your humble servant." The employment of the word +_Sir_, once general in social intercourse, is at present considered bad +breeding; and on the occasions calling for them, it is held vulgar to use +the words "Your Majesty," or "Your Royal Highness," more than once in a +conversation. People no longer formally drink each other's healths; and +even the taking wine with each other at dinner has ceased to be +fashionable. The taking-off of hats between gentlemen has been gradually +falling into disuse. Even when the hat is removed, it is no longer swept +out at arm's length, but is simply lifted. Hence the remark made upon us by +foreigners, that we take off our hats less than any other nation in +Europe--a remark that should be coupled with the other, that we are the +freest nation in Europe. + +As already implied, this association of facts is not accidental. These +titles of address and modes of salutation, bearing about them, as they all +do, something of that servility which marks their origin, become +distasteful in proportion as men become more independent themselves, and +sympathise more with the independence of others. The feeling which makes +the modern gentleman tell the labourer standing bareheaded before him to +put on his hat--the feeling which gives us a dislike to those who cringe +and fawn--the feeling which makes us alike assert our own dignity and +respect that of others--the feeling which thus leads us more and more to +discountenance all forms and names which confess inferiority and +submission; is the same feeling which resists despotic power and +inaugurates popular government, denies the authority of the Church and +establishes the right of private judgment. + +A fourth fact, akin to the foregoing, is, that these several kinds of +government not only decline together, but corrupt together. By the same +process that a Court of Chancery becomes a place not for the administration +of justice, but for the withholding of it--by the same process that a +national church, from being an agency for moral control, comes to be merely +a thing of formulas and tithes and bishoprics--by this same process do +titles and ceremonies that once had a meaning and a power become empty +forms. + +Coats of arms which served to distinguish men in battle, now figure on the +carriage panels of retired grocers. Once a badge of high military rank, the +shoulder-knot has become, on the modern footman, a mark of servitude. The +name Banneret, which once marked a partially-created Baron--a Baron who had +passed his military "little go"--is now, under the modification of Baronet, +applicable to any one favoured by wealth or interest or party feeling. +Knighthood has so far ceased to be an honour, that men now honour +themselves by declining it. The military dignity _Escuyer_ has, in the +modern Esquire, become a wholly unmilitary affix. Not only do titles, and +phrases, and salutes cease to fulfil their original functions, but the +whole apparatus of social forms tends to become useless for its original +purpose--the facilitation of social intercourse. Those most learned in +ceremonies, and most precise in the observance of them, are not always the +best behaved; as those deepest read in creeds and scriptures are not +therefore the most religious; nor those who have the clearest notions of +legality and illegality, the most honest. Just as lawyers are of all men +the least noted for probity; as cathedral towns have a lower moral +character than most others; so, if Swift is to be believed, courtiers are +"the most insignificant race of people that the island can afford, and with +the smallest tincture of good manners." + +But perhaps it is in that class of social observances comprehended under +the term Fashion, which we must here discuss parenthetically, that this +process of corruption is seen with the greatest distinctness. As contrasted +with Manners, which dictate our minor acts in relation to other persons, +Fashion dictates our minor acts in relation to ourselves. While the one +prescribes that part of our deportment which directly affects our +neighbours; the other prescribes that part of our deportment which is +primarily personal, and in which our neighbours are concerned only as +spectators. Thus distinguished as they are, however, the two have a common +source. For while, as we have shown, Manners originate by imitation of the +behaviour pursued _towards_ the great; Fashion originates by imitation _of_ +the behaviour of the great. While the one has its derivation in the titles, +phrases, and salutes used _to_ those in power; the other is derived from +the habits and appearances exhibited _by_ those in power. + +The Carib mother who squeezes her child's head into a shape like that of +the chief; the young savage who makes marks on himself similar to the scars +carried by the warriors of his tribe (which is probably the origin of +tattooing); the Highlander who adopts the plaid worn by the head of his +clan; the courtiers who affect greyness, or limp, or cover their necks, in +imitation of their king; and the people who ape the courtiers; are alike +acting under a kind of government connate with that of Manners, and, like +it too, primarily beneficial. For notwithstanding the numberless +absurdities into which this copyism has led the people, from nose-rings to +ear-rings, from painted faces to beauty-spots, from shaven heads to +powdered wigs, from filed teeth and stained nails to bell-girdles, peaked +shoes, and breeches stuffed with bran,--it must yet be concluded, that as +the strong men, the successful men, the men of will, intelligence, and +originality, who have got to the top, are, on the average, more likely to +show judgment in their habits and tastes than the mass, the imitation of +such is advantageous. + +By and by, however, Fashion, corrupting like these other forms of rule, +almost wholly ceases to be an imitation of the best, and becomes an +imitation of quite other than the best. As those who take orders are not +those having a special fitness for the priestly office, but those who see +their way to a living by it; as legislators and public functionaries do not +become such by virtue of their political insight and power to rule, but by +virtue of birth, acreage, and class influence; so, the self-elected clique +who set the fashion, gain this prerogative, not by their force of nature, +their intellect, their higher worth or better taste, but gain it solely by +their unchecked assumption. Among the initiated are to be found neither the +noblest in rank, the chief in power, the best cultured, the most refined, +nor those of greatest genius, wit, or beauty; and their reunions, so far +from being superior to others, are noted for their inanity. Yet, by the +example of these sham great, and not by that of the truly great, does +society at large now regulate its goings and comings, its hours, its dress, +its small usages. As a natural consequence, these have generally little or +none of that suitableness which the theory of fashion implies they should +have. But instead of a continual progress towards greater elegance and +convenience, which might be expected to occur did people copy the ways of +the really best, or follow their own ideas of propriety, we have a reign of +mere whim, of unreason, of change for the sake of change, of wanton +oscillations from either extreme to the other--a reign of usages without +meaning, times without fitness, dress without taste. And thus life _à la +mode_, instead of being life conducted in the most rational manner, is life +regulated by spendthrifts and idlers, milliners and tailors, dandies and +silly women. + +To these several corollaries--that the various orders of control exercised +over men have a common origin and a common function, are called out by +co-ordinate necessities and co-exist in like stringency, decline together +and corrupt together--it now only remains to add that they become needless +together. Consequent as all kinds of government are upon the unfitness of +the aboriginal man for social life; and diminishing in coerciveness as they +all do in proportion as this unfitness diminishes; they must one and all +come to an end as humanity acquires complete adaptation to its new +conditions. That discipline of circumstances which has already wrought out +such great changes in us, must go on eventually to work out yet greater +ones. That daily curbing of the lower nature and culture of the higher, +which out of cannibals and devil worshippers has evolved philanthropists, +lovers of peace, and haters of superstition, cannot fail to evolve out of +these, men as much superior to them as they are to their progenitors. The +causes that have produced past modifications are still in action; must +continue in action as long as there exists any incongruity between man's +desires and the requirements of the social state; and must eventually make +him organically fit for the social state. As it is now needless to forbid +man-eating and Fetishism, so will it ultimately become needless to forbid +murder, theft, and the minor offences of our criminal code. When human +nature has grown into conformity with the moral law, there will need no +judges and statute-books; when it spontaneously takes the right course in +all things, as in some things it does already, prospects of future reward +or punishment will not be wanted as incentives; and when fit behaviour has +become instinctive, there will need no code of ceremonies to say how +behaviour shall be regulated. + +Thus, then, may be recognised the meaning, the naturalness, the necessity +of those various eccentricities of reformers which we set out by +describing. They are not accidental; they are not mere personal caprices, +as people are apt to suppose. On the contrary, they are inevitable results +of the law of relationship above illustrated. That community of genesis, +function, and decay which all forms of restraint exhibit, is simply the +obverse of the fact at first pointed out, that they have in two sentiments +of human nature a common preserver and a common destroyer. Awe of power +originates and cherishes them all: love of freedom undermines and +periodically weakens them all. The one defends despotism and asserts the +supremacy of laws, adheres to old creeds and supports ecclesiastical +authority, pays respect to titles and conserves forms; the other, putting +rectitude above legality, achieves periodical instalments of political +liberty, inaugurates Protestantism and works out its consequences, ignores +the senseless dictates of Fashion and emancipates men from dead customs. + +To the true reformer no institution is sacred, no belief above criticism. +Everything shall conform itself to equity and reason; nothing shall be +saved by its prestige. Conceding to each man liberty to pursue his own ends +and satisfy his own tastes, he demands for himself like liberty; and +consents to no restrictions on this, save those which other men's equal +claims involve. No matter whether it be an ordinance of one man, or an +ordinance of all men, if it trenches on his legitimate sphere of action, he +denies its validity. The tyranny that would impose on him a particular +style of dress and a set mode of behaviour, he resists equally with the +tyranny that would limit his buyings and sellings, or dictate his creed. +Whether the regulation be formally made by a legislature, or informally +made by society at large--whether the penalty for disobedience be +imprisonment, or frowns and social ostracism, he sees to be a question of +no moment. He will utter his belief notwithstanding the threatened +punishment; he will break conventions spite of the petty persecutions that +will be visited on him. Show him that his actions are inimical to his +fellow-men, and he will pause. Prove that he is disregarding their +legitimate claims--that he is doing what in the nature of things must +produce unhappiness; and he will alter his course. But until you do +this--until you demonstrate that his proceedings are essentially +inconvenient or inelegant, essentially irrational, unjust, or ungenerous, +he will persevere. + +Some, indeed, argue that his conduct _is_ unjust and ungenerous. They say +that he has no right to annoy other people by his whims; that the gentleman +to whom his letter comes with no "Esq." appended to the address, and the +lady whose evening party he enters with gloveless hands, are vexed at what +they consider his want of respect, or want of breeding; that thus his +eccentricities cannot be indulged save at the expense of his neighbours' +feelings; and that hence his nonconformity is in plain terms selfishness. + +He answers that this position, if logically developed, would deprive men of +all liberty whatever. Each must conform all his acts to the public taste, +and not his own. The public taste on every point having been once +ascertained, men's habits must thenceforth remain for ever fixed; seeing +that no man can adopt other habits without sinning against the public +taste, and giving people disagreeable feelings. Consequently, be it an era +of pig-tails or high-heeled shoes, of starched ruffs or trunk-hose, all +must continue to wear pig-tails, high-heeled shoes, starched ruffs, or +trunk-hose to the crack of doom. + +If it be still urged that he is not justified in breaking through others' +forms that he may establish his own, and so sacrificing the wishes of many +to the wishes of one, he replies that all religious and political changes +might be negatived on like grounds. He asks whether Luther's sayings and +doings were not extremely offensive to the mass of his contemporaries; +whether the resistance of Hampden was not disgusting to the time-servers +around him; whether every reformer has not shocked men's prejudices, and +given immense displeasure by the opinions he uttered. The affirmative +answer he follows up by demanding what right the reformer has, then, to +utter these opinions; whether he is not sacrificing the feelings of many to +the feelings of one: and so proves that, to be consistent, his antagonists +must condemn not only all nonconformity in actions, but all nonconformity +in thoughts. + +His antagonists rejoin that _his_ position, too, may be pushed to an +absurdity. They argue that if a man may offend by the disregard of some +forms, he may as legitimately do so by the disregard of all; and they +inquire--Why should he not go out to dinner in a dirty shirt, and with an +unshorn chin? Why should he not spit on the drawing-room carpet, and +stretch his heels up to the mantel-shelf? + +The convention-breaker answers, that to ask this, implies a confounding of +two widely-different classes of actions--the actions that are _essentially_ +displeasurable to those around, with the actions that are but +_incidentally_ displeasurable to them. He whose skin is so unclean as to +offend the nostrils of his neighbours, or he who talks so loudly as to +disturb a whole room, may be justly complained of, and rightly excluded by +society from its assemblies. But he who presents himself in a surtout in +place of a dress-coat, or in brown trousers instead of black, gives offence +not to men's senses, or their innate tastes, but merely to their +prejudices, their bigotry of convention. It cannot be said that his costume +is less elegant or less intrinsically appropriate than the one prescribed; +seeing that a few hours earlier in the day it is admired. It is the implied +rebellion, therefore, that annoys. How little the cause of quarrel has to +do with the dress itself, is seen in the fact that a century ago black +clothes would have been thought preposterous for hours of recreation, and +that a few years hence some now forbidden style may be nearer the +requirements of Fashion than the present one. Thus the reformer explains +that it is not against the natural restraints, but against the artificial +ones, that he protests; and that manifestly the fire of sneers and angry +glances which he has to bear, is poured upon him because he will not bow +down to the idol which society has set up. + +Should he be asked how we are to distinguish between conduct that is +_absolutely_ disagreeable to others, and conduct that is _relatively_ so, +he answers, that they will distinguish themselves, if men will let them. +Actions intrinsically repugnant will ever be frowned upon, and must ever +remain as exceptional as now. Actions not intrinsically repugnant will +establish themselves as proper. No relaxation of customs will introduce the +practice of going to a party in muddy boots, and with unwashed hands; for +the dislike of dirt would continue were Fashion abolished to-morrow. That +love of approbation which now makes people so solicitous to be _en règle_ +would still exist--would still make them careful of their personal +appearance--would still induce them to seek admiration by making themselves +ornamental--would still cause them to respect the natural laws of good +behaviour, as they now do the artificial ones. The change would simply be +from a repulsive monotony to a picturesque variety. And if there be any +regulations respecting which it is uncertain whether they are based on +reality or on convention, experiment will soon decide, if due scope be +allowed. + +When at length the controversy comes round, as controversies often do, to +the point whence it started, and the "party of order" repeat their charge +against the rebel, that he is sacrificing the feelings of others to the +gratification of his own wilfulness, he replies once for all that they +cheat themselves by mis-statements. He accuses them of being so despotic, +that, not content with being masters over their own ways and habits, they +would be masters over his also; and grumble because he will not let them. +He merely asks the same freedom which they exercise; they, however, propose +to regulate his course as well as their own--to cut and clip his mode of +life into agreement with their approved pattern; and then charge him with +wilfulness and selfishness, because he does not quietly submit! He warns +them that he shall resist, nevertheless; and that he shall do so, not only +for the assertion of his own independence, but for their good. He tells +them that they are slaves, and know it not; that they are shackled, and +kiss their chains; that they have lived all their days in prison, and +complain at the walls being broken down. He says he must persevere, +however, with a view to his own release; and in spite of their present +expostulations, he prophesies that when they have recovered from the fright +which the prospect of freedom produces, they will thank him for aiding in +their emancipation. + +Unamiable as seems this find-fault mood, offensive as is this defiant +attitude, we must beware of overlooking the truths enunciated, in dislike +of the advocacy. It is an unfortunate hindrance to all innovation, that in +virtue of their very function, the innovators stand in a position of +antagonism; and the disagreeable manners, and sayings, and doings, which +this antagonism generates, are commonly associated with the doctrines +promulgated. Quite forgetting that whether the thing attacked be good or +bad, the combative spirit is necessarily repulsive; and quite forgetting +that the toleration of abuses seems amiable merely from its passivity; the +mass of men contract a bias against advanced views, and in favour of +stationary ones, from intercourse with their respective adherents. +"Conservatism," as Emerson says, "is debonnair and social; reform is +individual and imperious." And this remains true, however vicious the +system conserved, however righteous the reform to be effected. Nay, the +indignation of the purists is usually extreme in proportion as the evils to +be got rid of are great. The more urgent the required change, the more +intemperate is the vehemence of its promoters. Let no one, then, confound +with the principles of this social nonconformity the acerbity and the +disagreeable self-assertion of those who first display it. + + * * * * * + +The most plausible objection raised against resistance to conventions, is +grounded on its impolicy, considered even from the progressist's point of +view. It is urged by many of the more liberal and intelligent--usually +those who have themselves shown some independence of behaviour in earlier +days--that to rebel in these small matters is to destroy your own power of +helping on reform in greater matters. "If you show yourself eccentric in +manners or dress, the world," they say, "will not listen to you. You will +be considered as crotchety, and impracticable. The opinions you express on +important subjects, which might have been treated with respect had you +conformed on minor points, will now inevitably be put down among your +singularities; and thus, by dissenting in trifles, you disable yourself +from spreading dissent in essentials." + +Only noting, as we pass, that this is one of those anticipations which +bring about their own fulfilment--that it is because most who disapprove +these conventions do not show their disapproval, that the few who do show +it look eccentric--and that did all act out their convictions, no such +inference as the above would be drawn, and no such evil would +result;---noting this as we pass, we go on to reply that these social +restraints, and forms, and requirements, are not small evils, but among the +greatest. Estimate their sum total, and we doubt whether they would not +exceed most others. Could we add up the trouble, the cost, the jealousies, +vexations, misunderstandings, the loss of time and the loss of pleasure, +which these conventions entail--could we clearly realize the extent to +which we are all daily hampered by them, daily enslaved by them; we should +perhaps come to the conclusion that the tyranny of Mrs. Grundy is worse +than any other tyranny we suffer under. Let us look at a few of its hurtful +results; beginning with those of minor importance. + +It produces extravagance. The desire to be _comme il faut_, which underlies +all conformities, whether of manners, dress, or styles of entertainment, is +the desire which makes many a spendthrift and many a bankrupt. To "keep up +appearances," to have a house in an approved quarter furnished in the +latest taste, to give expensive dinners and crowded _soirées_, is an +ambition forming the natural outcome of the conformist spirit. It is +needless to enlarge on these follies: they have been satirized by hosts of +writers, and in every drawing-room. All that here concerns us, is to point +out that the respect for social observances, which men think so +praiseworthy, has the same root with this effort to be fashionable in mode +of living; and that, other things equal, the last cannot be diminished +without the first being diminished also. If, now, we consider all that this +extravagance entails--if we count up the robbed tradesmen, the stinted +governesses, the ill-educated children, the fleeced relatives, who have to +suffer from it--if we mark the anxiety and the many moral delinquencies +which its perpetrators involve themselves in; we shall see that this regard +for conventions is not quite so innocent as it looks. + +Again, it decreases the amount of social intercourse. Passing over the +reckless, and those who make a great display on speculation with the +occasional result of getting on in the world to the exclusion of much +better men, we come to the far larger class who, being prudent and honest +enough not to exceed their means, and yet having a strong wish to be +"respectable," are obliged to limit their entertainments to the smallest +possible number; and that each of these may be turned to the greatest +advantage in meeting the claims upon their hospitality, are induced to +issue their invitations with little or no regard to the comfort or mutual +fitness of their guests. A few inconveniently-large assemblies, made up of +people mostly strange to each other or but distantly acquainted, and having +scarcely any tastes in common, are made to serve in place of many small +parties of friends intimate enough to have some bond of thought and +sympathy. Thus the quantity of intercourse is diminished, and the quality +deteriorated. Because it is the custom to make costly preparations and +provide costly refreshments; and because it entails both less expense and +less trouble to do this for many persons on a few occasions than for few +persons on many occasions; the reunions of our less wealthy classes are +rendered alike infrequent and tedious. + +Let it be further observed, that the existing formalities of social +intercourse drive away many who most need its refining influence: and drive +them into injurious habits and associations. Not a few men, and not the +least sensible men either, give up in disgust this going out to stately +dinners, and stiff evening-parties; and instead, seek society in clubs, and +cigar-divans, and taverns. "I'm sick of this standing about in +drawing-rooms, talking nonsense, and trying to look happy," will answer one +of them when taxed with his desertion. "Why should I any longer waste time +and money, and temper? Once I was ready enough to rush home from the office +to dress; I sported embroidered shirts, submitted to tight boots, and cared +nothing for tailors' and haberdashers' bills. I know better now. My +patience lasted a good while; for though I found each night pass stupidly, +I always hoped the next would make amends. But I'm undeceived. Cab-hire and +kid gloves cost more than any evening party pays for; or rather--it is +worth the cost of them to avoid the party. No, no; I'll no more of it. Why +should I pay five shillings a time for the privilege of being bored?" + +If, now, we consider that this very common mood tends towards +billiard-rooms, towards long sittings over cigars and brandy-and-water, +towards Evans's and the Coal Hole, towards every place where amusement may +be had; it becomes a question whether these precise observances which +hamper our set meetings, have not to answer for much of the prevalent +dissoluteness. Men must have excitements of some kind or other; and if +debarred from higher ones will fall back upon lower. It is not that those +who thus take to irregular habits are essentially those of low tastes. +Often it is quite the reverse. Among half a dozen intimate friends, +abandoning formalities and sitting at ease round the fire, none will enter +with greater enjoyment into the highest kind of social intercourse--the +genuine communion of thought and feeling; and if the circle includes women +of intelligence and refinement, so much the greater is their pleasure. It +is because they will no longer be choked with the mere dry husks of +conversation which society offers them, that they fly its assemblies, and +seek those with whom they may have discourse that is at least real, though +unpolished. The men who thus long for substantial mental sympathy, and will +go where they can get it, are often, indeed, much better at the core than +the men who are content with the inanities of gloved and scented +party-goers--men who feel no need to come morally nearer to their fellow +creatures than they can come while standing, tea-cup in hand, answering +trifles with trifles; and who, by feeling no such need, prove themselves +shallow-thoughted and cold-hearted. + +It is true, that some who shun drawing-rooms do so from inability to bear +the restraints prescribed by a genuine refinement, and that they would be +greatly improved by being kept under these restraints. But it is not less +true that, by adding to the legitimate restraints, which are based on +convenience and a regard for others, a host of factitious restraints based +only on convention, the refining discipline, which would else have been +borne with benefit, is rendered unbearable, and so misses its end. Excess +of government variably defeats itself by driving away those to be governed. +And if over all who desert its entertainments in disgust either at their +emptiness or their formality, society thus loses its salutary influence--if +such not only fail to receive that moral culture which the company of +ladies, when rationally regulated, would give them, but, in default of +other relaxation, are driven into habits and companionships which often end +in gambling and drunkenness; must we not say that here, too, is an evil not +to be passed over as insignificant? + +Then consider what a blighting effect these multitudinous preparations and +ceremonies have upon the pleasures they profess to subserve. Who, on +calling to mind the occasions of his highest social enjoyments, does not +find them to have been wholly informal, perhaps impromptu? How delightful a +picnic of friends, who forget all observances save those dictated by good +nature! How pleasant the little unpretended gatherings of book-societies, +and the like; or those purely accidental meetings of a few people well +known to each other! Then, indeed, we may see that "a man sharpeneth the +countenance of his friend." Cheeks flush, and eyes sparkle. The witty grow +brilliant, and even the dull are excited into saying good things. There is +an overflow of topics; and the right thought, and the right words to put it +in, spring up unsought. Grave alternates with gay: now serious converse, +and now jokes, anecdotes, and playful raillery. Everyone's best nature is +shown; everyone's best feelings are in pleasurable activity; and, for the +time, life seems well worth having. + +Go now and dress for some half-past eight dinner, or some ten o'clock "at +home;" and present yourself in spotless attire, with every hair arranged to +perfection. How great the difference! The enjoyment seems in the inverse +ratio of the preparation. These figures, got up with such finish and +precision, appear but half alive. They have frozen each other by their +primness; and your faculties feel the numbing effects of the atmosphere the +moment you enter it. All those thoughts, so nimble and so apt awhile since, +have disappeared--have suddenly acquired a preternatural power of eluding +you. If you venture a remark to your neighbour, there comes a trite +rejoinder, and there it ends. No subject you can hit upon outlives half a +dozen sentences. Nothing that is said excites any real interest in you; and +you feel that all you say is listened to with apathy. By some strange +magic, things that usually give pleasure seem to have lost all charm. + +You have a taste for art. Weary of frivolous talk, you turn to the table, +and find that the book of engravings and the portfolio of photographs are +as flat as the conversation. You are fond of music. Yet the singing, good +as it is, you hear with utter indifference; and say "Thank you" with a +sense of being a profound hypocrite. Wholly at ease though you could be, +for your own part, you find that your sympathies will not let you. You see +young gentlemen feeling whether their ties are properly adjusted, looking +vacantly round, and considering what they shall do next. You see ladies +sitting disconsolately, waiting for some one to speak to them, and wishing +they had the wherewith to occupy their fingers. You see the hostess +standing about the doorway, keeping a factitious smile on her face, and +racking her brain to find the requisite nothings with which to greet her +guests as they enter. You see numberless traits of weariness and +embarrassment; and, if you have any fellow feeling, these cannot fail to +produce a feeling of discomfort. The disorder is catching; and do what you +will you cannot resist the general infection. You struggle against it; you +make spasmodic efforts to be lively; but none of your sallies or your good +stories do more than raise a simper or a forced laugh: intellect and +feeling are alike asphyxiated. And when, at length, yielding to your +disgust, you rush away, how great is the relief when you get into the fresh +air, and see the stars! How you "Thank God, that's over!" and half resolve +to avoid all such boredom for the future! + +What, now, is the secret of this perpetual miscarriage and disappointment? +Does not the fault lie with all these needless adjuncts--these elaborate +dressings, these set forms, these expensive preparations, these many +devices and arrangements that imply trouble and raise expectation? Who that +has lived thirty years in the world has not discovered that Pleasure is +coy; and must not be too directly pursued, but must be caught unawares? An +air from a street-piano, heard while at work, will often gratify more than +the choicest music played at a concert by the most accomplished musicians. +A single good picture seen in a dealer's window, may give keener enjoyment +than a whole exhibition gone through with catalogue and pencil. By the time +we have got ready our elaborate apparatus by which to secure happiness, the +happiness is gone. It is too subtle to be contained in these receivers, +garnished with compliments, and fenced round with etiquette. The more we +multiply and complicate appliances, the more certain are we to drive it +away. + +The reason is patent enough. These higher emotions to which social +intercourse ministers, are of extremely complex nature; they consequently +depend for their production upon very numerous conditions; the more +numerous the conditions, the greater the liability that one or other of +them will be disturbed, and the emotions consequently prevented. It takes a +considerable misfortune to destroy appetite; but cordial sympathy with +those around may be extinguished by a look or a word. Hence it follows, +that the more multiplied the _unnecessary_ requirements with which social +intercourse is surrounded, the less likely are its pleasures to be +achieved. It is difficult enough to fulfil continuously all the +_essentials_ to a pleasurable communion with others: how much more +difficult, then, must it be continuously to fulfil a host of +_non-essentials_ also! It is, indeed, impossible. The attempt inevitably +ends in the sacrifice of the first to the last--the essentials to the +non-essentials. What chance is there of getting any genuine response from +the lady who is thinking of your stupidity in taking her in to dinner on +the wrong arm? How are you likely to have agreeable converse with the +gentleman who is fuming internally because he is not placed next to the +hostess? Formalities, familiar as they may become, necessarily occupy +attention--necessarily multiply the occasions for mistake, +misunderstanding, and jealousy, on the part of one or other--necessarily +distract all minds from the thoughts and feelings that should occupy +them--necessarily, therefore, subvert those conditions under which only any +sterling intercourse is to be had. + +And this indeed is the fatal mischief which these conventions entail--a +mischief to which every other is secondary. They destroy those highest of +our pleasures which they profess to subserve. All institutions are alike in +this, that however useful, and needful even, they originally were, they not +only in the end cease to be so, but become detrimental. While humanity is +growing, they continue fixed; daily get more mechanical and unvital; and by +and by tend to strangle what they before preserved. It is not simply that +they become corrupt and fail to act; they become obstructions. Old forms of +government finally grow so oppressive, that they must be thrown off even at +the risk of reigns of terror. Old creeds end in being dead formulas, which +no longer aid but distort and arrest the general mind; while the +State-churches administering them, come to be instruments for subsidizing +conservatism and repressing progress. Old schemes of education, incarnated +in public schools and colleges, continue filling the heads of new +generations with what has become relatively useless knowledge, and, by +consequence, excluding knowledge which is useful. Not an organization of +any kind--political, religious, literary, philanthropic--but what, by its +ever-multiplying regulations, its accumulating wealth, its yearly addition +of officers, and the creeping into it of patronage and party feeling, +eventually loses its original spirit, and sinks into a mere lifeless +mechanism, worked with a view to private ends--a mechanism which not merely +fails of its first purpose, but is a positive hindrance to it. + +Thus is it, too, with social usages. We read of the Chinese that they have +"ponderous ceremonies transmitted from time immemorial," which make social +intercourse a burden. The court forms prescribed by monarchs for their own +exaltation, have, in all times and places, ended in consuming the comfort +of their lives. And so the artificial observances of the dining-room and +saloon, in proportion as they are many and strict, extinguish that +agreeable communion which they were originally intended to secure. The +dislike with which people commonly speak of society that is "formal," and +"stiff," and "ceremonious," implies the general recognition of this fact; +and this recognition, logically developed, involves that all usages of +behaviour which are not based on natural requirements, are injurious. That +these conventions defeat their own ends is no new assertion. Swift, +criticising the manners of his day, says--"Wise men are often more uneasy +at the over-civility of these refiners than they could possibly be in the +conversation of peasants and mechanics." + +But it is not only in these details that the self-defeating action of our +arrangements is traceable: it is traceable in the very substance and nature +of them. Our social intercourse, as commonly managed, is a mere semblance +of the reality sought. What is it that we want? Some sympathetic converse +with our fellow-creatures: some converse that shall not be mere dead words, +but the vehicle of living thoughts and feelings--converse in which the eyes +and the face shall speak, and the tones of the voice be full of +meaning--converse which shall make us feel no longer alone, but shall draw +us closer to another, and double our own emotions by adding another's to +them. Who is there that has not, from time to time, felt how cold and flat +is all this talk about politics and science, and the new books and the new +men, and how a genuine utterance of fellow-feeling outweighs the whole of +it? Mark the words of Bacon:--"For a crowd is not a company, and faces are +but a gallery of pictures, and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is +no love." + +If this be true, then it is only after acquaintance has grown into +intimacy, and intimacy has ripened into friendship, that the real communion +which men need becomes possible. A rationally-formed circle must consist +almost wholly of those on terms of familiarity and regard, with but one or +two strangers. What folly, then, underlies the whole system of our grand +dinners, our "at homes," our evening parties--assemblages made up of many +who never met before, many others who just bow to each other, many others +who though familiar feel mutual indifference, with just a few real friends +lost in the general mass! You need but look round at the artificial +expressions of face, to see at once how it is. All have their disguises on; +and how can there be sympathy between masks? No wonder that in private +every one exclaims against the stupidity of these gatherings. No wonder +that hostesses get them up rather because they must than because they wish. +No wonder that the invited go less from the expectation of pleasure than +from fear of giving offence. The whole thing is a gigantic mistake--an +organized disappointment. + +And then note, lastly, that in this case, as in all others, when an +organization has become effete and inoperative for its legitimate purpose, +it is employed for quite other ones--quite opposite ones. What is the usual +plea put in for giving and attending these tedious assemblies? "I admit +that they are stupid and frivolous enough," replies every man to your +criticisms; "but then, you know, one must keep up one's connections." And +could you get from his wife a sincere answer, it would be--"Like you, I am +sick of these frivolities; but then, we must get our daughters married." +The one knows that there is a profession to push, a practice to gain, a +business to extend: or parliamentary influence, or county patronage, or +votes, or office, to be got: position, berths, favours, profit. The other's +thoughts runs upon husbands and settlements, wives and dowries. Worthless +for their ostensible purpose of daily bringing human beings into +pleasurable relations with each other, these cumbrous appliances of our +social intercourse are now perseveringly kept in action with a view to the +pecuniary and matrimonial results which they indirectly produce. + +Who then shall say that the reform of our system of observances is +unimportant? When we see how this system induces fashionable extravagance, +with its entailed bankruptcy and ruin--when we mark how greatly it limits +the amount of social intercourse among the less wealthy classes--when we +find that many who most need to be disciplined by mixing with the refined +are driven away by it, and led into dangerous and often fatal courses--when +we count up the many minor evils it inflicts, the extra work which its +costliness entails on all professional and mercantile men, the damage to +public taste in dress and decoration by the setting up of its absurdities +as standards for imitation, the injury to health indicated in the faces of +its devotees at the close of the London season, the mortality of milliners +and the like, which its sudden exigencies yearly involve;--and when to all +these we add its fatal sin; that it blights, withers up, and kills, that +high enjoyment it professedly ministers to--that enjoyment which is a chief +end of our hard struggling in life to obtain--shall we not conclude that to +reform our system of etiquette and fashion, is an aim yielding to few in +urgency? + + * * * * * + +There needs, then, a protestantism in social usages. Forms that have ceased +to facilitate and have become obstructive--whether political, religious, or +other--have ever to be swept away; and eventually are so swept away in all +cases. Signs are not wanting that some change is at hand. A host of +satirists, led on by Thackeray, have been for years engaged in bringing our +sham-festivities, and our fashionable follies, into contempt; and in their +candid moods, most men laugh at the frivolities with which they and the +world in general are deluded. Ridicule has always been a revolutionary +agent. That which is habitually assailed with sneers and sarcasms cannot +long survive. Institutions that have lost their roots in men's respect and +faith are doomed; and the day of their dissolution is not far off. The time +is approaching, then, when our system of social observances must pass +through some crisis, out of which it will come purified and comparatively +simple. + +How this crisis will be brought about, no one can with any certainty say. +Whether by the continuance and increase of individual protests, or whether +by the union of many persons for the practice and propagation of some +better system, the future alone can decide. The influence of dissentients +acting without co-operation, seems, under the present state of things, +inadequate. Standing severally alone, and having no well-defined views; +frowned on by conformists, and expostulated with even by those who secretly +sympathize with them; subject to petty persecutions, and unable to trace +any benefit produced by their example; they are apt, one by one, to give up +their attempts as hopeless. The young convention-breaker eventually finds +that he pays too heavily for his nonconformity. Hating, for example, +everything that bears about it any remnant of servility, he determines, in +the ardour of his independence, that he will uncover to no one. But what he +means simply as a general protest, he finds that ladies interpret into a +personal disrespect. Though he sees that, from the days of chivalry +downwards, these marks of supreme consideration paid to the other sex have +been but a hypocritical counterpart to the actual subjection in which men +have held them--a pretended submission to compensate for a real domination; +and though he sees that when the true dignity of women is recognised, the +mock dignities given to them will be abolished; yet he does not like to be +thus misunderstood, and so hesitates in his practice. + +In other cases, again, his courage fails him. Such of his +unconventionalities as can be attributed only to eccentricity, he has no +qualms about: for, on the whole, he feels rather complimented than +otherwise in being considered a disregarder of public opinion. But when +they are liable to be put down to ignorance, to ill-breeding, or to +poverty, he becomes a coward. However clearly the recent innovation of +eating some kinds of fish with knife and fork proves the fork-and-bread +practice to have had little but caprice for its basis, yet he dares not +wholly ignore that practice while fashion partially maintains it. Though he +thinks that a silk handkerchief is quite as appropriate for drawing-room +use as a white cambric one, he is not altogether at ease in acting out his +opinion. Then, too, he begins to perceive that his resistance to +prescription brings round disadvantageous results which he had not +calculated upon. He had expected that it would save him from a great deal +of social intercourse of a frivolous kind--that it would offend the fools, +but not the sensible people; and so would serve as a self-acting test by +which those worth knowing would be separated from those not worth knowing. +But the fools prove to be so greatly in the majority that, by offending +them, he closes against himself nearly all the avenues though which the +sensible people are to be reached. Thus he finds, that his nonconformity is +frequently misinterpreted; that there are but few directions in which he +dares to carry it consistently out; that the annoyances and disadvantages +which it brings upon him are greater than he anticipated; and that the +chances of his doing any good are very remote. Hence he gradually loses +resolution, and lapses, step by step, into the ordinary routine of +observances. + +Abortive as individual protests thus generally turn out, it may possibly be +that nothing effectual will be done until there arises some organized +resistance to this invisible despotism, by which our modes and habits are +dictated. It may happen, that the government of Manners and Fashion will be +rendered less tyrannical, as the political and religious governments have +been, by some antagonistic union. Alike in Church and State, men's first +emancipations from excess of restriction were achieved by numbers, bound +together by a common creed or a common political faith. What remained +undone while there were but individual schismatics or rebels, was effected +when there came to be many acting in concert. It is tolerably clear that +these earliest instalments of freedom could not have been obtained in any +other way; for so long as the feeling of personal independence was weak and +the rule strong, there could never have been a sufficient number of +separate dissentients to produce the desired results. Only in these later +times, during which the secular and spiritual controls have been growing +less coercive, and the tendency towards individual liberty greater, has it +become possible for smaller and smaller sects and parties to fight against +established creeds and laws; until now men may safely stand even alone in +their antagonism. + +The failure of individual nonconformity to customs, as above illustrated, +suggests that an analogous series of changes may have to be gone through in +this case also. It is true that the _lex non scripta_ differs from the _lex +scripta_ in this, that, being unwritten, it is more readily altered; and +that it has, from time to time, been quietly ameliorated. Nevertheless, we +shall find that the analogy holds substantially good. For in this case, as +in the others, the essential revolution is not the substituting of any one +set of restraints for any other, but the limiting or abolishing the +authority which prescribes restraints. Just as the fundamental change +inaugurated by the Reformation, was not a superseding of one creed by +another, but an ignoring of the arbiter who before dictated creeds--just as +the fundamental change which Democracy long ago commenced, was not from +this particular law to that, but from the despotism of one to the freedom +of all; so, the parallel change yet to be wrought out in this supplementary +government of which we are treating, is not the replacing of absurd usages +by sensible ones, but the dethronement of that secret, irresponsible power +which now imposes our usages, and the assertion of the right of all +individuals to choose their own usages. In rules of living, a West-end +clique is our Pope; and we are all papists, with but a mere sprinkling of +heretics. On all who decisively rebel, comes down the penalty of +excommunication, with its long catalogue of disagreeable and, indeed, +serious consequences. + +The liberty of the subject asserted in our constitution, and ever on the +increase, has yet to be wrested from this subtler tyranny. The right of +private judgment, which our ancestors wrung from the church, remains to be +claimed from this dictator of our habits. Or, as before said, to free us +from these idolatries and superstitious conformities, there has still to +come a protestantism in social usages. Parallel, therefore, as is the +change to be wrought out, it seems not improbable that it may be wrought +out in an analogous way. That influence which solitary dissentients fail to +gain, and that perseverance which they lack, may come into existence when +they unite. That persecution which the world now visits upon them from +mistaking their nonconformity for ignorance or disrespect, may diminish +when it is seen to result from principle. The penalty which exclusion now +entails may disappear when they become numerous enough to form visiting +circles of their own. And when a successful stand has been made, and the +brunt of the opposition has passed, that large amount of secret dislike to +our observances which now pervades society, may manifest itself with +sufficient power to effect the desired emancipation. + +Whether such will be the process, time alone can decide. That community of +origin, growth, supremacy, and decadence, which we have found among all +kinds of government, suggests a community in modes of change also. On the +other hand, Nature often performs substantially similar operations, in ways +apparently different. Hence these details can never be foretold. + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile, let us glance at the conclusions that have been reached. On the +one side, government, originally one, and afterwards subdivided for the +better fulfilment of its function, must be considered as having ever been, +in all its branches--political, religious, and ceremonial--beneficial; and, +indeed, absolutely necessary. On the other side, government, under all its +forms, must be regarded as subserving a temporary office, made needful by +the unfitness of aboriginal humanity for social life; and the successive +diminutions of its coerciveness in State, in Church, and in Custom, must be +looked upon as steps towards its final disappearance. To complete the +conception, there requires to be borne in mind the third fact, that the +genesis, the maintenance, and the decline of all governments, however +named, are alike brought about by the humanity to be controlled: from which +may be drawn the inference that, on the average, restrictions of every kind +cannot last much longer than they are wanted, and cannot be destroyed much +faster than they ought to be. + +Society, in all its developments, undergoes the process of exuviation. +These old forms which it successively throws off, have all been once +vitally united with it--have severally served as the protective envelopes +within which a higher humanity was being evolved. They are cast aside only +when they become hindrances--only when some inner and better envelope has +been formed; and they bequeath to us all that there was in them good. The +periodical abolitions of tyrannical laws have left the administration of +justice not only uninjured, but purified. Dead and buried creeds have not +carried with them the essential morality they contained, which still +exists, uncontaminated by the sloughs of superstition. And all that there +is of justice and kindness and beauty, embodied in our cumbrous forms of +etiquette, will live perennially when the forms themselves have been +forgotten. + + + + +III. THE GENESIS OF SCIENCE. + + +There has ever prevailed among men a vague notion that scientific knowledge +differs in nature from ordinary knowledge. By the Greeks, with whom +Mathematics--literally _things learnt_--was alone considered as knowledge +proper, the distinction must have been strongly felt; and it has ever since +maintained itself in the general mind. Though, considering the contrast +between the achievements of science and those of daily unmethodic thinking, +it is not surprising that such a distinction has been assumed; yet it needs +but to rise a little above the common point of view, to see that no such +distinction can really exist: or that at best, it is but a superficial +distinction. The same faculties are employed in both cases; and in both +cases their mode of operation is fundamentally the same. + +If we say that science is organized knowledge, we are met by the truth that +all knowledge is organized in a greater or less degree--that the commonest +actions of the household and the field presuppose facts colligated, +inferences drawn, results expected; and that the general success of these +actions proves the data by which they were guided to have been correctly +put together. If, again, we say that science is prevision--is a seeing +beforehand--is a knowing in what times, places, combinations, or sequences, +specified phenomena will be found; we are yet obliged to confess that the +definition includes much that is utterly foreign to science in its ordinary +acceptation. For example, a child's knowledge of an apple. This, as far as +it goes consists in previsions. When a child sees a certain form and +colours, it knows that if it puts out its hand it will have certain +impressions of resistance, and roundness, and smoothness; and if it bites, +a certain taste. And manifestly its general acquaintance with surrounding +objects is of like nature--is made up of facts concerning them, so grouped +as that any part of a group being perceived, the existence of the other +facts included in it is foreseen. + +If, once more, we say that science is _exact_ prevision, we still fail to +establish the supposed difference. Not only do we find that much of what we +call science is not exact, and that some of it, as physiology, can never +become exact; but we find further, that many of the previsions constituting +the common stock alike of wise and ignorant, _are_ exact. That an +unsupported body will fall; that a lighted candle will go out when immersed +in water; that ice will melt when thrown on the fire--these, and many like +predictions relating to the familiar properties of things have as high a +degree of accuracy as predictions are capable of. It is true that the +results predicated are of a very general character; but it is none the less +true that they are rigorously correct as far as they go: and this is all +that is requisite to fulfil the definition. There is perfect accordance +between the anticipated phenomena and the actual ones; and no more than +this can be said of the highest achievements of the sciences specially +characterised as exact. + +Seeing thus that the assumed distinction between scientific knowledge and +common knowledge is not logically justifiable; and yet feeling, as we must, +that however impossible it may be to draw a line between them, the two are +not practically identical; there arises the question--What is the +relationship that exists between them? A partial answer to this question +may be drawn from the illustrations just given. On reconsidering them, it +will be observed that those portions of ordinary knowledge which are +identical in character with scientific knowledge, comprehend only such +combinations of phenomena as are directly cognizable by the senses, and are +of simple, invariable nature. That the smoke from a fire which she is +lighting will ascend, and that the fire will presently boil water, are +previsions which the servant-girl makes equally well with the most learned +physicist; they are equally certain, equally exact with his; but they are +previsions concerning phenomena in constant and direct relation--phenomena +that follow visibly and immediately after their antecedents--phenomena of +which the causation is neither remote nor obscure--phenomena which may be +predicted by the simplest possible act of reasoning. + +If, now, we pass to the previsions constituting what is commonly known as +science--that an eclipse of the moon will happen at a specified time; and +when a barometer is taken to the top of a mountain of known height, the +mercurial column will descend a stated number of inches; that the poles of +a galvanic battery immersed in water will give off, the one an inflammable +and the other an inflaming gas, in definite ratio--we perceive that the +relations involved are not of a kind habitually presented to our senses; +that they depend, some of them, upon special combinations of causes; and +that in some of them the connection between antecedents and consequents is +established only by an elaborate series of inferences. The broad +distinction, therefore, between the two orders of knowledge, is not in +their nature, but in their remoteness from perception. + +If we regard the cases in their most general aspect, we see that the +labourer, who, on hearing certain notes in the adjacent hedge, can describe +the particular form and colours of the bird making them; and the +astronomer, who, having calculated a transit of Venus, can delineate the +black spot entering on the sun's disc, as it will appear through the +telescope, at a specified hour; do essentially the same thing. Each knows +that on fulfilling the requisite conditions, he shall have a preconceived +impression--that after a definite series of actions will come a group of +sensations of a foreknown kind. The difference, then, is not in the +fundamental character of the mental acts; or in the correctness of the +previsions accomplished by them; but in the complexity of the processes +required to achieve the previsions. Much of our commonest knowledge is, as +far as it goes, rigorously precise. Science does not increase this +precision; cannot transcend it. What then does it do? It reduces other +knowledge to the same degree of precision. That certainty which direct +perception gives us respecting coexistences and sequences of the simplest +and most accessible kind, science gives us respecting coexistences and +sequences, complex in their dependencies or inaccessible to immediate +observation. In brief, regarded from this point of view, science may be +called _an extension of the perceptions by means of reasoning_. + +On further considering the matter, however, it will perhaps be felt that +this definition does not express the whole fact--that inseparable as +science may be from common knowledge, and completely as we may fill up the +gap between the simplest previsions of the child and the most recondite +ones of the natural philosopher, by interposing a series of previsions in +which the complexity of reasoning involved is greater and greater, there is +yet a difference between the two beyond that which is here described. And +this is true. But the difference is still not such as enables us to draw +the assumed line of demarcation. It is a difference not between common +knowledge and scientific knowledge; but between the successive phases of +science itself, or knowledge itself--whichever we choose to call it. In its +earlier phases science attains only to _certainty_ of foreknowledge; in its +later phases it further attains to _completeness_. We begin by discovering +_a_ relation: we end by discovering _the_ relation. Our first achievement +is to foretell the _kind_ of phenomenon which will occur under specific +conditions: our last achievement is to foretell not only the kind but the +_amount_. Or, to reduce the proposition to its most definite +form--undeveloped science is _qualitative_ prevision: developed science is +_quantitative_ prevision. + +This will at once be perceived to express the remaining distinction between +the lower and the higher stages of positive knowledge. The prediction that +a piece of lead will take more force to lift it than a piece of wood of +equal size, exhibits certainty, but not completeness, of foresight. The +kind of effect in which the one body will exceed the other is foreseen; but +not the amount by which it will exceed. There is qualitative prevision +only. On the other hand, the prediction that at a stated time two +particular planets will be in conjunction; that by means of a lever having +arms in a given ratio, a known force will raise just so many pounds; that +to decompose a specified quantity of sulphate of iron by carbonate of soda +will require so many grains--these predictions exhibit foreknowledge, not +only of the nature of the effects to be produced, but of the magnitude, +either of the effects themselves, of the agencies producing them, or of the +distance in time or space at which they will be produced. There is not only +qualitative but quantitative prevision. + +And this is the unexpressed difference which leads us to consider certain +orders of knowledge as especially scientific when contrasted with knowledge +in general. Are the phenomena _measurable_? is the test which we +unconsciously employ. Space is measurable: hence Geometry. Force and space +are measurable: hence Statics. Time, force, and space are measurable: hence +Dynamics. The invention of the barometer enabled men to extend the +principles of mechanics to the atmosphere; and Aerostatics existed. When a +thermometer was devised there arose a science of heat, which was before +impossible. Such of our sensations as we have not yet found modes of +measuring do not originate sciences. We have no science of smells; nor have +we one of tastes. We have a science of the relations of sounds differing in +pitch, because we have discovered a way to measure them; but we have no +science of sounds in respect to their loudness or their _timbre_, because +we have got no measures of loudness and _timbre_. + +Obviously it is this reduction of the sensible phenomena it represents, to +relations of magnitude, which gives to any division of knowledge its +especially scientific character. Originally men's knowledge of weights and +forces was in the same condition as their knowledge of smells and tastes is +now--a knowledge not extending beyond that given by the unaided sensations; +and it remained so until weighing instruments and dynamometers were +invented. Before there were hour-glasses and clepsydras, most phenomena +could be estimated as to their durations and intervals, with no greater +precision than degrees of hardness can be estimated by the fingers. Until a +thermometric scale was contrived, men's judgments respecting relative +amounts of heat stood on the same footing with their present judgments +respecting relative amounts of sound. And as in these initial stages, with +no aids to observation, only the roughest comparisons of cases could be +made, and only the most marked differences perceived; it is obvious that +only the most simple laws of dependence could be ascertained--only those +laws which being uncomplicated with others, and not disturbed in their +manifestations, required no niceties of observation to disentangle them. +Whence it appears not only that in proportion as knowledge becomes +quantitative do its previsions become complete as well as certain, but that +until its assumption of a quantitative character it is necessarily confined +to the most elementary relations. + +Moreover it is to be remarked that while, on the one hand, we can discover +the laws of the greater proportion of phenomena only by investigating them +quantitatively; on the other hand we can extend the range of our +quantitative previsions only as fast as we detect the laws of the results +we predict. For clearly the ability to specify the magnitude of a result +inaccessible to direct measurement, implies knowledge of its mode of +dependence on something which can be measured--implies that we know the +particular fact dealt with to be an instance of some more general fact. +Thus the extent to which our quantitative previsions have been carried in +any direction, indicates the depth to which our knowledge reaches in that +direction. And here, as another aspect of the same fact, we may further +observe that as we pass from qualitative to quantitative prevision, we pass +from inductive science to deductive science. Science while purely inductive +is purely qualitative: when inaccurately quantitative it usually consists +of part induction, part deduction: and it becomes accurately quantitative +only when wholly deductive. We do not mean that the deductive and the +quantitative are coextensive; for there is manifestly much deduction that +is qualitative only. We mean that all quantitative prevision is reached +deductively; and that induction can achieve only qualitative prevision. + +Still, however, it must not be supposed that these distinctions enable us +to separate ordinary knowledge from science; much as they seem to do so. +While they show in what consists the broad contrast between the extreme +forms of the two, they yet lead us to recognise their essential identity; +and once more prove the difference to be one of degree only. For, on the +one hand, the commonest positive knowledge is to some extent quantitative; +seeing that the amount of the foreseen result is known within certain wide +limits. And, on the other hand, the highest quantitative prevision does not +reach the exact truth, but only a very near approximation to it. Without +clocks the savage knows that the day is longer in the summer than in the +winter; without scales he knows that stone is heavier than flesh: that is, +he can foresee respecting certain results that their amounts will exceed +these, and be less than those--he knows _about_ what they will be. And, +with his most delicate instruments and most elaborate calculations, all +that the man of science can do, is to reduce the difference between the +foreseen and the actual results to an unimportant quantity. + +Moreover, it must be borne in mind not only that all the sciences are +qualitative in their first stages,--not only that some of them, as +Chemistry, have but recently reached the quantitative stage--but that the +most advanced sciences have attained to their present power of determining +quantities not present to the senses, or not directly measurable, by a slow +process of improvement extending through thousands of years. So that +science and the knowledge of the uncultured are alike in the nature of +their previsions, widely as they differ in range; they possess a common +imperfection, though this is immensely greater in the last than in the +first; and the transition from the one to the other has been through a +series of steps by which the imperfection has been rendered continually +less, and the range continually wider. + +These facts, that science and the positive knowledge of the uncultured +cannot be separated in nature, and that the one is but a perfected and +extended form of the other, must necessarily underlie the whole theory of +science, its progress, and the relations of its parts to each other. There +must be serious incompleteness in any history of the sciences, which, +leaving out of view the first steps of their genesis, commences with them +only when they assume definite forms. There must be grave defects, if not a +general untruth, in a philosophy of the sciences considered in their +interdependence and development, which neglects the inquiry how they came +to be distinct sciences, and how they were severally evolved out of the +chaos of primitive ideas. + +Not only a direct consideration of the matter, but all analogy, goes to +show that in the earlier and simpler stages must be sought the key to all +subsequent intricacies. The time was when the anatomy and physiology of the +human being were studied by themselves--when the adult man was analyzed and +the relations of parts and of functions investigated, without reference +either to the relations exhibited in the embryo or to the homologous +relations existing in other creatures. Now, however, it has become manifest +that no true conceptions, no true generalizations, are possible under such +conditions. Anatomists and physiologists now find that the real natures of +organs and tissues can be ascertained only by tracing their early +evolution; and that the affinities between existing genera can be +satisfactorily made out only by examining the fossil genera to which they +are allied. Well, is it not clear that the like must be true concerning all +things that undergo development? Is not science a growth? Has not science, +too, its embryology? And must not the neglect of its embryology lead to a +misunderstanding of the principles of its evolution and of its existing +organization? + +There are _à priori_ reasons, therefore, for doubting the truth of all +philosophies of the sciences which tacitly proceed upon the common notion +that scientific knowledge and ordinary knowledge are separate; instead of +commencing, as they should, by affiliating the one upon the other, and +showing how it gradually came to be distinguishable from the other. We may +expect to find their generalizations essentially artificial; and we shall +not be deceived. Some illustrations of this may here be fitly introduced, +by way of preliminary to a brief sketch of the genesis of science from the +point of view indicated. And we cannot more readily find such illustrations +than by glancing at a few of the various _classifications_ of the sciences +that have from time to time been proposed. To consider all of them would +take too much space: we must content ourselves with some of the latest. + + * * * * * + +Commencing with those which may be soonest disposed of, let us notice first +the arrangement propounded by Oken. An abstract of it runs thus:-- + + Part I. MATHESIS.--_Pneumatogeny_: Primary Art, Primary + Consciousness, God, Primary Rest, Time, Polarity, Motion, Man, + Space, Point, Line, Surface, Globe, Rotation.--_Hylogeny_: + Gravity, Matter, Ether, Heavenly Bodies, Light, Heat, Fire. + + (He explains that MATHESIS is the doctrine of the whole; + _Pneumatogeny_ being the doctrine of immaterial totalities, + and _Hylogeny_ that of material totalities.) + + Part II. ONTOLOGY.--_Cosmogeny_: Rest, Centre, Motion, Line, Planets, + Form, Planetary System, Comets.--_Stöchiogeny_: Condensation, + Simple Matter, Elements, Air, Water, Earth.--_Stöchiology_: + Functions of the Elements, &c. &c.--_Kingdoms of Nature_: + Individuals. + + (He says in explanation that "ONTOLOGY teaches us the phenomena of + matter. The first of these are the heavenly bodies comprehended by + _Cosmogeny_. These divide into elements--_Stöchiogeny_. The earth + element divides into minerals--_Mineralogy_. These unite into one + collective body--_Geogeny_. The whole in singulars is the living, or + _Organic_, which again divides into plants and animals. _Biology_, + therefore, divides into _Organogeny_, _Phytosophy_, _Zoosophy_.") + + FIRST KINGDOM.--MINERALS. _Mineralogy_, _Geology_. + + Part III. BIOLOGY.--_Organosophy_, _Phytogeny_, _Phyto-physiology_, + _Phytology_, _Zoogeny_, _Physiology_, _Zoology_, _Psychology_. + +A glance over this confused scheme shows that it is an attempt to classify +knowledge, not after the order in which it has been, or may be, built up in +the human consciousness; but after an assumed order of creation. It is a +pseudo-scientific cosmogony, akin to those which men have enunciated from +the earliest times downwards; and only a little more respectable. As such +it will not be thought worthy of much consideration by those who, like +ourselves, hold that experience is the sole origin of knowledge. Otherwise, +it might have been needful to dwell on the incongruities of the +arrangements--to ask how motion can be treated of before space? how there +can be rotation without matter to rotate? how polarity can be dealt with +without involving points and lines? But it will serve our present purpose +just to point out a few of the extreme absurdities resulting from the +doctrine which Oken seems to hold in common with Hegel, that "to +philosophize on Nature is to re-think the great thought of Creation." Here +is a sample:-- + + "Mathematics is the universal science; so also is Physio-philosophy, + although it is only a part, or rather but a condition of the + universe; both are one, or mutually congruent. + + "Mathematics is, however, a science of mere forms without substance. + Physio-philosophy is, therefore, _mathematics endowed with + substance_." + +From the English point of view it is sufficiently amusing to find such a +dogma not only gravely stated, but stated as an unquestionable truth. Here +we see the experiences of quantitative relations which men have gathered +from surrounding bodies and generalized (experiences which had been +scarcely at all generalized at the beginning of the historic period)--we +find these generalized experiences, these intellectual abstractions, +elevated into concrete actualities, projected back into Nature, and +considered as the internal frame-work of things--the skeleton by which +matter is sustained. But this new form of the old realism, is by no means +the most startling of the physio-philosophic principles. We presently read +that, + + "The highest mathematical idea, or the fundamental principle of all + mathematics is the zero = 0."... + + "Zero is in itself nothing. Mathematics is based upon nothing, and, + _consequently_, arises out of nothing. + + "Out of nothing, _therefore_, it is possible for something to arise; + for mathematics, consisting of propositions, is something, in + relation to 0." + +By such "consequentlys" and "therefores" it is, that men philosophize when +they "re-think the great thought of creation." By dogmas that pretend to be +reasons, nothing is made to generate mathematics; and by clothing +mathematics with matter, we have the universe! If now we deny, as we _do_ +deny, that the highest mathematical idea is the zero;--if, on the other +hand, we assert, as we _do_ assert, that the fundamental idea underlying +all mathematics, is that of equality; the whole of Oken's cosmogony +disappears. And here, indeed, we may see illustrated, the distinctive +peculiarity of the German method of procedure in these matters--the bastard +_à priori_ method, as it may be termed. The legitimate _à priori_ method +sets out with propositions of which the negation is inconceivable; the _à +priori_ method as illegitimately applied, sets out either with propositions +of which the negation is _not_ inconceivable, or with propositions like +Oken's, of which the _affirmation_ is inconceivable. + +It is needless to proceed further with the analysis; else might we detail +the steps by which Oken arrives at the conclusions that "the planets are +coagulated colours, for they are coagulated light; that the sphere is the +expanded nothing;" that gravity is "a weighty nothing, a heavy essence, +striving towards a centre;" that "the earth is the identical, water the +indifferent, air the different; or the first the centre, the second the +radius, the last the periphery of the general globe or of fire." To comment +on them would be nearly as absurd as are the propositions themselves. Let +us pass on to another of the German systems of knowledge--that of Hegel. + +The simple fact that Hegel puts Jacob B[oe]hme on a par with Bacon, +suffices alone to show that his stand-point is far remote from the one +usually regarded as scientific: so far remote, indeed, that it is not easy +to find any common basis on which to found a criticism. Those who hold that +the mind is moulded into conformity with surrounding things by the agency +of surrounding things, are necessarily at a loss how to deal with those, +who, like Schelling and Hegel, assert that surrounding things are +solidified mind--that Nature is "petrified intelligence." However, let us +briefly glance at Hegel's classification. He divides philosophy into three +parts:-- + + 1. _Logic_, or the science of the idea in itself, the pure idea. + + 2. _The Philosophy of Nature_, or the science of the idea considered + under its other form--of the idea as Nature. + + 3. _The Philosophy of the Mind_, or the science of the idea in its + return to itself. + +Of these, the second is divided into the natural sciences, commonly so +called; so that in its more detailed form the series runs thus:--Logic, +Mechanics, Physics, Organic Physics, Psychology. + +Now, if we believe with Hegel, first, that thought is the true essence of +man; second, that thought is the essence of the world; and that, therefore, +there is nothing but thought; his classification, beginning with the +science of pure thought, may be acceptable. But otherwise, it is an obvious +objection to his arrangement, that thought implies things thought of--that +there can be no logical forms without the substance of experience--that the +science of ideas and the science of things must have a simultaneous origin. +Hegel, however, anticipates this objection, and, in his obstinate idealism, +replies, that the contrary is true; that all contained in the forms, to +become something, requires to be thought: and that logical forms are the +foundations of all things. + +It is not surprising that, starting from such premises, and reasoning after +this fashion, Hegel finds his way to strange conclusions. Out of _space_ +and _time_ he proceeds to build up _motion_, _matter_, _repulsion_, +_attraction_, _weight_, and _inertia_. He then goes on to logically evolve +the solar system. In doing this he widely diverges from the Newtonian +theory; reaches by syllogism the conviction that the planets are the most +perfect celestial bodies; and, not being able to bring the stars within his +theory, says that they are mere formal existences and not living matter, +and that as compared with the solar system they are as little admirable as +a cutaneous eruption or a swarm of flies.[F] + + [F] It is somewhat curious that the author of "The Plurality of + Worlds," with quite other aims, should have persuaded himself + into similar conclusions. + +Results so outrageous might be left as self-disproved, were it not that +speculators of this class are not alarmed by any amount of incongruity with +established beliefs. The only efficient mode of treating systems like this +of Hegel, is to show that they are self-destructive--that by their first +steps they ignore that authority on which all their subsequent steps +depend. If Hegel professes, as he manifestly does, to develop his scheme by +reasoning--if he presents successive inferences as _necessarily following_ +from certain premises; he implies the postulate that a belief which +necessarily follows after certain antecedents is a true belief: and, did an +opponent reply to one of his inferences, that, though it was impossible to +think the opposite, yet the opposite was true, he would consider the reply +irrational. The procedure, however, which he would thus condemn as +destructive of all thinking whatever, is just the procedure exhibited in +the enunciation of his own first principles. + +Mankind find themselves unable to conceive that there can be thought +without things thought of. Hegel, however, asserts that there _can_ be +thought without things thought of. That ultimate test of a true +proposition--the inability of the human mind to conceive the negation of +it--which in all other cases he considers valid, he considers invalid where +it suits his convenience to do so; and yet at the same time denies the +right of an opponent to follow his example. If it is competent for him to +posit dogmas, which are the direct negations of what human consciousness +recognises; then is it also competent for his antagonists to stop him at +every step in his argument by saying, that though the particular inference +he is drawing seems to his mind, and to all minds, necessarily to follow +from the premises, yet it is not true, but the contrary inference is true. +Or, to state the dilemma in another form:--If he sets out with +inconceivable propositions, then may he with equal propriety make all his +succeeding propositions inconceivable ones--may at every step throughout +his reasoning draw exactly the opposite conclusion to that which seems +involved. + +Hegel's mode of procedure being thus essentially suicidal, the Hegelian +classification which depends upon it, falls to the ground. Let us consider +next that of M. Comte. + +As all his readers must admit, M. Comte presents us with a scheme of the +sciences which, unlike the foregoing ones, demands respectful +consideration. Widely as we differ from him, we cheerfully bear witness to +the largeness of his views, the clearness of his reasoning, and the value +of his speculations as contributing to intellectual progress. Did we +believe a serial arrangement of the sciences to be possible, that of M. +Comte would certainly be the one we should adopt. His fundamental +propositions are thoroughly intelligible; and if not true, have a great +semblance of truth. His successive steps are logically co-ordinated; and he +supports his conclusions by a considerable amount of evidence--evidence +which, so long as it is not critically examined, or not met by counter +evidence, seems to substantiate his positions. But it only needs to assume +that antagonistic attitude which _ought_ to be assumed towards new +doctrines, in the belief that, if true, they will prosper by conquering +objectors--it needs but to test his leading doctrines either by other facts +than those he cites, or by his own facts differently applied, to at once +show that they will not stand. We will proceed thus to deal with the +general principle on which he bases his hierarchy of the sciences. + +In the second chapter of his _Cours de Philosophie Positive_, M. Comte +says:--"Our problem is, then, to find the one _rational_ order, amongst a +host of possible systems."... "This order is determined by the degree of +simplicity, or, what comes to the same thing, of generality of their +phenomena." And the arrangement he deduces runs thus: _Mathematics_, +_Astronomy_, _Physics_, _Chemistry_, _Physiology_, _Social Physics_. This +he asserts to be "the true _filiation_ of the sciences." He asserts +further, that the principle of progression from a greater to a less degree +of generality, "which gives this order to the whole body of science, +arranges the parts of each science." And, finally, he asserts that the +gradations thus established _à priori_ among the sciences, and the parts of +each science, "is in essential conformity with the order which has +spontaneously taken place among the branches of natural philosophy;" or, in +other words--corresponds with the order of historic development. + +Let us compare these assertions with the facts. That there may be perfect +fairness, let us make no choice, but take as the field for our comparison, +the succeeding section treating of the first science--Mathematics; and let +us use none but M. Comte's own facts, and his own admissions. Confining +ourselves to this one science, of course our comparisons must be between +its several parts. M. Comte says, that the parts of each science must be +arranged in the order of their decreasing generality; and that this order +of decreasing generality agrees with the order of historic development. Our +inquiry must be, then, whether the history of mathematics confirms this +statement. + +Carrying out his principle, M. Comte divides Mathematics into "Abstract +Mathematics, or the Calculus (taking the word in its most extended sense) +and Concrete Mathematics, which is composed of General Geometry and of +Rational Mechanics." The subject-matter of the first of these is _number_; +the subject-matter of the second includes _space_, _time_, _motion_, +_force_. The one possesses the highest possible degree of generality; for +all things whatever admit of enumeration. The others are less general; +seeing that there are endless phenomena that are not cognizable either by +general geometry or rational mechanics. In conformity with the alleged law, +therefore, the evolution of the calculus must throughout have preceded the +evolution of the concrete sub-sciences. Now somewhat awkwardly for him, the +first remark M. Comte makes bearing upon this point is, that "from an +historical point of view, mathematical analysis _appears to have risen out +of_ the contemplation of geometrical and mechanical facts." True, he goes +on to say that, "it is not the less independent of these sciences logically +speaking;" for that "analytical ideas are, above all others, universal, +abstract, and simple, and geometrical conceptions are necessarily founded +on them." + +We will not take advantage of this last passage to charge M. Comte with +teaching, after the fashion of Hegel, that there can be thought without +things thought of. We are content simply to compare the two assertions, +that analysis arose out of the contemplation of geometrical and mechanical +facts, and that geometrical conceptions are founded upon analytical ones. +Literally interpreted they exactly cancel each other. Interpreted, however, +in a liberal sense, they imply, what we believe to be demonstrable, that +the two had _a simultaneous origin_. The passage is either nonsense, or it +is an admission that abstract and concrete mathematics are coeval. Thus, at +the very first step, the alleged congruity between the order of generality +and the order of evolution, does not hold good. + +But may it not be that though abstract and concrete mathematics took their +rise at the same time, the one afterwards developed more rapidly than the +other; and has ever since remained in advance of it? No: and again we call +M. Comte himself as witness. Fortunately for his argument he has said +nothing respecting the early stages of the concrete and abstract divisions +after their divergence from a common root; otherwise the advent of Algebra +long after the Greek geometry had reached a high development, would have +been an inconvenient fact for him to deal with. But passing over this, and +limiting ourselves to his own statements, we find, at the opening of the +next chapter, the admission, that "the historical development of the +abstract portion of mathematical science has, since the time of Descartes, +been for the most part _determined_ by that of the concrete." Further on we +read respecting algebraic functions that "most functions were concrete in +their origin--even those which are at present the most purely abstract; and +the ancients discovered only through geometrical definitions elementary +algebraic properties of functions to which a numerical value was not +attached till long afterwards, rendering abstract to us what was concrete +to the old geometers." How do these statements tally with his doctrine? +Again, having divided the calculus into algebraic and arithmetical, M. +Comte admits, as perforce he must, that the algebraic is more general than +the arithmetical; yet he will not say that algebra preceded arithmetic in +point of time. And again, having divided the calculus of functions into the +calculus of direct functions (common algebra) and the calculus of indirect +functions (transcendental analysis), he is obliged to speak of this last as +possessing a higher generality than the first; yet it is far more modern. +Indeed, by implication, M. Comte himself confesses this incongruity; for he +says:--"It might seem that the transcendental analysis ought to be studied +before the ordinary, as it provides the equations which the other has to +resolve; but though the transcendental _is logically independent of the +ordinary_, it is best to follow the usual method of study, taking the +ordinary first." In all these cases, then, as well as at the close of the +section where he predicts that mathematicians will in time "create +procedures of _a wider generality_," M. Comte makes admissions that are +diametrically opposed to the alleged law. + +In the succeeding chapters treating of the concrete department of +mathematics, we find similar contradictions. M. Comte himself names the +geometry of the ancients _special_ geometry, and that of moderns the +_general_ geometry. He admits that while "the ancients studied geometry +with reference to the _bodies_ under notice, or specially; the moderns +study it with reference to the _phenomena_ to be considered, or generally." +He admits that while "the ancients extracted all they could out of one line +or surface before passing to another," "the moderns, since Descartes, +employ themselves on questions which relate to any figure whatever." These +facts are the reverse of what, according to his theory, they should be. So, +too, in mechanics. Before dividing it into statics and dynamics, M. Comte +treats of the three laws of _motion_, and is obliged to do so; for statics, +the more _general_ of the two divisions, though it does not involve motion, +is impossible as a science until the laws of motion are ascertained. Yet +the laws of motion pertain to dynamics, the more _special_ of the +divisions. Further on he points out that after Archimedes, who discovered +the law of equilibrium of the lever, statics made no progress until the +establishment of dynamics enabled us to seek "the conditions of equilibrium +through the laws of the composition of forces." And he adds--"At this day +_this is the method universally employed_. At the first glance it does not +appear the most rational--dynamics being more complicated than statics, and +precedence being natural to the simpler. It would, in fact, be more +philosophical to refer dynamics to statics, as has since been done." Sundry +discoveries are afterwards detailed, showing how completely the development +of statics has been achieved by considering its problems dynamically; and +before the close of the section M. Comte remarks that "before hydrostatics +could be comprehended under statics, it was necessary that the abstract +theory of equilibrium should be made so general as to apply directly to +fluids as well as solids. This was accomplished when Lagrange supplied, as +the basis of the whole of rational mechanics, the single principle of +virtual velocities." In which statement we have two facts directly at +variance with M. Comte's doctrine;--first, that the simpler science, +statics, reached its present development only by the aid of the principle +of virtual velocities, which belongs to the more complex science, dynamics; +and that this "single principle" underlying all rational mechanics--this +_most general form_ which includes alike the relations of statical, +hydrostatical, and dynamical forces--was reached so late as the time of +Lagrange. + +Thus it is _not_ true that the historical succession of the divisions of +mathematics has corresponded with the order of decreasing generality. It is +_not_ true that abstract mathematics was evolved antecedently to, and +independently of concrete mathematics. It is _not_ true that of the +subdivisions of abstract mathematics, the more general came before the more +special. And it is _not_ true that concrete mathematics, in either of its +two sections, began with the most abstract and advanced to the less +abstract truths. + +It may be well to mention, parenthetically, that in defending his alleged +law of progression from the general to the special, M. Comte somewhere +comments upon the two meanings of the word _general_, and the resulting +liability to confusion. Without now discussing whether the asserted +distinction can be maintained in other cases, it is manifest that it does +not exist here. In sundry of the instances above quoted, the endeavors made +by M. Comte himself to disguise, or to explain away, the precedence of the +special over the general, clearly indicate that the generality spoken of, +is of the kind meant by his formula. And it needs but a brief consideration +of the matter to show that, even did he attempt it, he could not +distinguish this generality, which, as above proved, frequently comes last, +from the generality which he says always comes first. For what is the +nature of that mental process by which objects, dimensions, weights, times, +and the rest, are found capable of having their relations expressed +numerically? It is the formation of certain abstract conceptions of unity, +duality and multiplicity, which are applicable to all things alike. It is +the invention of general symbols serving to express the numerical relations +of entities, whatever be their special characters. And what is the nature +of the mental process by which numbers are found capable of having their +relations expressed algebraically? It is just the same. It is the formation +of certain abstract conceptions of numerical functions which are the same +whatever be the magnitudes of the numbers. It is the invention of general +symbols serving to express the relations between numbers, as numbers +express the relations between things. And transcendental analysis stands to +algebra in the same position that algebra stands in to arithmetic. + +To briefly illustrate their respective powers;--arithmetic can express in +one formula the value of a _particular_ tangent to a _particular_ curve; +algebra can express in one formula the values of _all_ tangents to a +_particular_ curve; transcendental analysis can express in one formula the +values of _all_ tangents to _all_ curves. Just as arithmetic deals with the +common properties of lines, areas, bulks, forces, periods; so does algebra +deal with the common properties of the numbers which arithmetic presents; +so does transcendental analysis deal with the common properties of the +equations exhibited by algebra. Thus, the generality of the higher branches +of the calculus, when compared with the lower, is the same kind of +generality as that of the lower branches when compared with geometry or +mechanics. And on examination it will be found that the like relation +exists in the various other cases above given. + +Having shown that M. Comte's alleged law of progression does not hold among +the several parts of the same science, let us see how it agrees with the +facts when applied to separate sciences. "Astronomy," says M. Comte, at the +opening of Book III., "was a positive science, in its geometrical aspect, +from the earliest days of the school of Alexandria; but Physics, which we +are now to consider, had no positive character at all till Galileo made his +great discoveries on the fall of heavy bodies." On this, our comment is +simply that it is a misrepresentation based upon an arbitrary misuse of +words--a mere verbal artifice. By choosing to exclude from terrestrial +physics those laws of magnitude, motion, and position, which he includes in +celestial physics, M. Comte makes it appear that the one owes nothing to +the other. Not only is this altogether unwarrantable, but it is radically +inconsistent with his own scheme of divisions. At the outset he says--and +as the point is important we quote from the original--"Pour la _physique +inorganique_ nous voyons d'abord, en nous conformant toujours à l'ordre de +généralité et de dépendance des phénomènes, qu'elle doit être partagée en +deux sections distinctes, suivant qu'elle considère les phénomènes généraux +de l'univers, ou, en particulier, ceux que présentent les corps terrestres. +D'où la physique céleste, ou l'astronomie, soit géométrique, soit +mechanique; et la physique terrestre." + +Here then we have _inorganic physics_ clearly divided into _celestial +physics_ and _terrestrial physics_--the phenomena presented by the +universe, and the phenomena presented by earthly bodies. If now celestial +bodies and terrestrial bodies exhibit sundry leading phenomena in common, +as they do, how can the generalization of these common phenomena be +considered as pertaining to the one class rather than to the other? If +inorganic physics includes geometry (which M. Comte has made it do by +comprehending _geometrical_ astronomy in its sub-section--celestial +physics); and if its sub-section--terrestrial physics, treats of things +having geometrical properties; how can the laws of geometrical relations be +excluded from terrestrial physics? Clearly if celestial physics includes +the geometry of objects in the heavens, terrestrial physics includes the +geometry of objects on the earth. And if terrestrial physics includes +terrestrial geometry, while celestial physics includes celestial geometry, +then the geometrical part of terrestrial physics precedes the geometrical +part of celestial physics; seeing that geometry gained its first ideas from +surrounding objects. Until men had learnt geometrical relations from bodies +on the earth, it was impossible for them to understand the geometrical +relations of bodies in the heavens. + +So, too, with celestial mechanics, which had terrestrial mechanics for its +parent. The very conception of _force_, which underlies the whole of +mechanical astronomy, is borrowed from our earthly experiences; and the +leading laws of mechanical action as exhibited in scales, levers, +projectiles, &c., had to be ascertained before the dynamics of the solar +system could be entered upon. What were the laws made use of by Newton in +working out his grand discovery? The law of falling bodies disclosed by +Galileo; that of the composition of forces also disclosed by Galileo; and +that of centrifugal force found out by Huyghens--all of them +generalizations of terrestrial physics. Yet, with facts like these before +him, M. Comte places astronomy before physics in order of evolution! He +does not compare the geometrical parts of the two together, and the +mechanical parts of the two together; for this would by no means suit his +hypothesis. But he compares the geometrical part of the one with the +mechanical part of the other, and so gives a semblance of truth to his +position. He is led away by a verbal delusion. Had he confined his +attention to the things and disregarded the words, he would have seen that +before mankind scientifically co-ordinated _any one class of phenomena_ +displayed in the heavens, they had previously co-ordinated _a parallel +class of phenomena_ displayed upon the surface of the earth. + +Were it needful we could fill a score pages with the incongruities of M. +Comte's scheme. But the foregoing samples will suffice. So far is his law +of evolution of the sciences from being tenable, that, by following his +example, and arbitrarily ignoring one class of facts, it would be possible +to present, with great plausibility, just the opposite generalization to +that which he enunciates. While he asserts that the rational order of the +sciences, like the order of their historic development, "is determined by +the degree of simplicity, or, what comes to the same thing, of generality +of their phenomena;" it might contrariwise be asserted, that, commencing +with the complex and the special, mankind have progressed step by step to a +knowledge of greater simplicity and wider generality. So much evidence is +there of this as to have drawn from Whewell, in his _History of the +Inductive Sciences_, the general remark that "the reader has already seen +repeatedly in the course of this history, complex and derivative principles +presenting themselves to men's minds before simple and elementary ones." + +Even from M. Comte's own work, numerous facts, admissions, and arguments, +might be picked out, tending to show this. We have already quoted his words +in proof that both abstract and concrete mathematics have progressed +towards a higher degree of generality, and that he looks forward to a +higher generality still. Just to strengthen this adverse hypothesis, let us +take a further instance. From the _particular_ case of the scales, the law +of equilibrium of which was familiar to the earliest nations known, +Archimedes advanced to the more _general_ case of the unequal lever with +unequal weights; the law of equilibrium of which _includes_ that of the +scales. By the help of Galileo's discovery concerning the composition of +forces, D'Alembert "established, for the first time, the equations of +equilibrium of _any_ system of forces applied to the different points of a +solid body"--equations which include all cases of levers and an infinity of +cases besides. Clearly this is progress towards a higher +generality--towards a knowledge more independent of special +circumstances--towards a study of phenomena "the most disengaged from the +incidents of particular cases;" which is M. Comte's definition of "the most +simple phenomena." Does it not indeed follow from the familiarly admitted +fact, that mental advance is from the concrete to the abstract, from the +particular to the general, that the universal and therefore most simple +truths are the last to be discovered? Is not the government of the solar +system by a force varying inversely as the square of the distance, a +simpler conception than any that preceded it? Should we ever succeed in +reducing all orders of phenomena to some single law--say of atomic action, +as M. Comte suggests--must not that law answer to his test of being +_independent_ of all others, and therefore most simple? And would not such +a law generalize the phenomena of gravity, cohesion, atomic affinity, and +electric repulsion, just as the laws of number generalize the quantitative +phenomena of space, time and force? + +The possibility of saying so much in support of an hypothesis the very +reverse of M. Comte's, at once proves that his generalization is only a +half-truth. The fact is, that neither proposition is correct by itself; and +the actuality is expressed only by putting the two together. The progress +of science is duplex: it is at once from the special to the general, and +from the general to the special: it is analytical and synthetical at the +same time. + +M. Comte himself observes that the evolution of science has been +accomplished by the division of labour; but he quite misstates the mode in +which this division of labour has operated. As he describes it, it has +simply been an arrangement of phenomena into classes, and the study of each +class by itself. He does not recognise the constant effect of progress in +each class upon _all_ other classes; but only on the class succeeding it in +his hierarchical scale. Or if he occasionally admits collateral influences +and intercommunications, he does it so grudgingly, and so quickly puts the +admissions out of sight and forgets them, as to leave the impression that, +with but trifling exceptions, the sciences aid each other only in the order +of their alleged succession. The fact is, however, that the division of +labour in science, like the division of labour in society, and like the +"physiological division of labour" in individual organisms, has been not +only a specialization of functions, but a continuous helping of each +division by all the others, and of all by each. Every particular class of +inquirers has, as it were, secreted its own particular order of truths from +the general mass of material which observation accumulates; and all other +classes of inquirers have made use of these truths as fast as they were +elaborated, with the effect of enabling them the better to elaborate each +its own order of truths. + +It was thus in sundry of the cases we have quoted as at variance with M. +Comte's doctrine. It was thus with the application of Huyghens's optical +discovery to astronomical observation by Galileo. It was thus with the +application of the isochronism of the pendulum to the making of instruments +for measuring intervals, astronomical and other. It was thus when the +discovery that the refraction and dispersion of light did not follow the +same law of variation, affected both astronomy and physiology by giving us +achromatic telescopes and microscopes. It was thus when Bradley's discovery +of the aberration of light enabled him to make the first step towards +ascertaining the motions of the stars. It was thus when Cavendish's +torsion-balance experiment determined the specific gravity of the earth, +and so gave a datum for calculating the specific gravities of the sun and +planets. It was thus when tables of atmospheric refraction enabled +observers to write down the real places of the heavenly bodies instead of +their apparent places. It was thus when the discovery of the different +expansibilities of metals by heat, gave us the means of correcting our +chronometrical measurements of astronomical periods. It was thus when the +lines of the prismatic spectrum were used to distinguish the heavenly +bodies that are of like nature with the sun from those which are not. It +was thus when, as recently, an electro-telegraphic instrument was invented +for the more accurate registration of meridional transits. It was thus when +the difference in the rates of a clock at the equator, and nearer the +poles, gave data for calculating the oblateness of the earth, and +accounting for the precession of the equinoxes. It was thus--but it is +needless to continue. + +Here, within our own limited knowledge of its history, we have named ten +additional cases in which the single science of astronomy has owed its +advance to sciences coming _after_ it in M. Comte's series. Not only its +secondary steps, but its greatest revolutions have been thus determined. +Kepler could not have discovered his celebrated laws had it not been for +Tycho Brahe's accurate observations; and it was only after some progress in +physical and chemical science that the improved instruments with which +those observations were made, became possible. The heliocentric theory of +the solar system had to wait until the invention of the telescope before it +could be finally established. Nay, even the grand discovery of all--the law +of gravitation--depended for its proof upon an operation of physical +science, the measurement of a degree on the Earth's surface. So completely +indeed did it thus depend, that Newton _had actually abandoned his +hypothesis_ because the length of a degree, as then stated, brought out +wrong results; and it was only after Picard's more exact measurement was +published, that he returned to his calculations and proved his great +generalization. Now this constant intercommunion, which, for brevity's +sake, we have illustrated in the case of one science only, has been taking +place with all the sciences. Throughout the whole course of their evolution +there has been a continuous _consensus_ of the sciences--a _consensus_ +exhibiting a general correspondence with the _consensus_ of faculties in +each phase of mental development; the one being an objective registry of +the subjective state of the other. + + * * * * * + +From our present point of view, then, it becomes obvious that the +conception of a _serial_ arrangement of the sciences is a vicious one. It +is not simply that the schemes we have examined are untenable; but it is +that the sciences cannot be rightly placed in any linear order whatever. It +is not simply that, as M. Comte admits, a classification "will always +involve something, if not arbitrary, at least artificial;" it is not, as he +would have us believe, that, neglecting minor imperfections a +classification may be substantially true; but it is that any grouping of +the sciences in a succession gives a radically erroneous idea of their +genesis and their dependencies. There is no "one _rational_ order among a +host of possible systems." There is no "true _filiation_ of the sciences." +The whole hypothesis is fundamentally false. Indeed, it needs but a glance +at its origin to see at once how baseless it is. Why a _series_? What +reason have we to suppose that the sciences admit of a _linear_ +arrangement? Where is our warrant for assuming that there is some +_succession_ in which they can be placed? There is no reason; no warrant. +Whence then has arisen the supposition? To use M. Comte's own phraseology, +we should say, it is a metaphysical conception. It adds another to the +cases constantly occurring, of the human mind being made the measure of +Nature. We are obliged to think in sequence; it is the law of our minds +that we must consider subjects separately, one after another: _therefore_ +Nature must be serial--_therefore_ the sciences must be classifiable in a +succession. See here the birth of the notion, and the sole evidence of its +truth. Men have been obliged when arranging in books their schemes of +education and systems of knowledge, to choose _some_ order or other. And +from inquiring what is the best order, have naturally fallen into the +belief that there is an order which truly represents the facts--have +persevered in seeking such an order; quite overlooking the previous +question whether it is likely that Nature has consulted the convenience of +book-making. + +For German philosophers, who hold that Nature is "petrified intelligence," +and that logical forms are the foundations of all things, it is a +consistent hypothesis that as thought is serial, Nature is serial; but that +M. Comte, who is so bitter an opponent of all anthropomorphism, even in its +most evanescent shapes, should have committed the mistake of imposing upon +the external world an arrangement which so obviously springs from a +limitation of the human consciousness, is somewhat strange. And it is the +more strange when we call to mind how, at the outset, M. Comte remarks that +in the beginning "_toutes les sciences sont cultivées simultanément par les +mêmes esprits_;" that this is "_inevitable et même indispensable_;" and how +he further remarks that the different sciences are "_comme les diverses +branches d'un tronc unique_." Were it not accounted for by the distorting +influence of a cherished hypothesis, it would be scarcely possible to +understand how, after recognising truths like these, M. Comte should have +persisted in attempting to construct "_une échelle encyclopédique_." + +The metaphor which M. Comte has here so inconsistently used to express the +relations of the sciences--branches of one trunk--is an approximation to +the truth, though not the truth itself. It suggests the facts that the +sciences had a common origin; that they have been developing +simultaneously; and that they have been from time to time dividing and +sub-dividing. But it does not suggest the yet more important fact, that the +divisions and sub-divisions thus arising do not remain separate, but now +and again re-unite in direct and indirect ways. They inosculate; they +severally send off and receive connecting growths; and the intercommunion +has been ever becoming more frequent, more intricate, more widely ramified. +There has all along been higher specialization, that there might be a +larger generalization; and a deeper analysis, that there might be a better +synthesis. Each larger generalization has lifted sundry specializations +still higher; and each better synthesis has prepared the way for still +deeper analysis. + +And here we may fitly enter upon the task awhile since indicated--a sketch +of the Genesis of Science, regarded as a gradual outgrowth from common +knowledge--an extension of the perceptions by the aid of the reason. We +propose to treat it as a psychological process historically displayed; +tracing at the same time the advance from qualitative to quantitative +prevision; the progress from concrete facts to abstract facts, and the +application of such abstract facts to the analysis of new orders of +concrete facts; the simultaneous advance in generalization and +specialization; the continually increasing subdivision and reunion of the +sciences; and their constantly improving _consensus_. + + * * * * * + +To trace out scientific evolution from its deepest roots would, of course, +involve a complete analysis of the mind. For as science is a development of +that common knowledge acquired by the unaided senses and uncultured reason, +so is that common knowledge itself gradually built up out of the simplest +perceptions. We must, therefore, begin somewhere abruptly; and the most +appropriate stage to take for our point of departure will be the adult mind +of the savage. + +Commencing thus, without a proper preliminary analysis, we are naturally +somewhat at a loss how to present, in a satisfactory manner, those +fundamental processes of thought out of which science ultimately +originates. Perhaps our argument may be best initiated by the proposition, +that all intelligent action whatever depends upon the discerning of +distinctions among surrounding things. The condition under which only it is +possible for any creature to obtain food and avoid danger is, that it shall +be differently affected by different objects--that it shall be led to act +in one way by one object, and in another way by another. In the lower +orders of creatures this condition is fulfilled by means of an apparatus +which acts automatically. In the higher orders the actions are partly +automatic, partly conscious. And in man they are almost wholly conscious. + +Throughout, however, there must necessarily exist a certain classification +of things according to their properties--a classification which is either +organically registered in the system, as in the inferior creation, or is +formed by experience, as in ourselves. And it may be further remarked, that +the extent to which this classification is carried, roughly indicates the +height of intelligence--that, while the lowest organisms are able to do +little more than discriminate organic from inorganic matter; while the +generality of animals carry their classifications no further than to a +limited number of plants or creatures serving for food, a limited number of +beasts of prey, and a limited number of places and materials; the most +degraded of the human race possess a knowledge of the distinctive natures +of a great variety of substances, plants, animals, tools, persons, &c., not +only as classes but as individuals. + +What now is the mental process by which classification is effected? +Manifestly it is a recognition of the _likeness_ or _unlikeness_ of things, +either in respect of their sizes, colours, forms, weights, textures, +tastes, &c., or in respect of their modes of action. By some special mark, +sound, or motion, the savage identifies a certain four-legged creature he +sees, as one that is good for food, and to be caught in a particular way; +or as one that is dangerous; and acts accordingly. He has classed together +all the creatures that are _alike_ in this particular. And manifestly in +choosing the wood out of which to form his bow, the plant with which to +poison his arrows, the bone from which to make his fish-hooks, he +identifies them through their chief sensible properties as belonging to the +general classes, wood, plant, and bone, but distinguishes them as belonging +to sub-classes by virtue of certain properties in which they are _unlike_ +the rest of the general classes they belong to; and so forms genera and +species. + +And here it becomes manifest that not only is classification carried on by +grouping together in the mind things that are _like_; but that classes and +sub-classes are formed and arranged according to the _degrees of +unlikeness_. Things widely contrasted are alone distinguished in the lower +stages of mental evolution; as may be any day observed in an infant. And +gradually as the powers of discrimination increase, the widely contrasted +classes at first distinguished, come to be each divided into sub-classes, +differing from each other less than the classes differ; and these +sub-classes are again divided after the same manner. By the continuance of +which process, things are gradually arranged into groups, the members of +which are less and less _unlike_; ending, finally, in groups whose members +differ only as individuals, and not specifically. And thus there tends +ultimately to arise the notion of _complete likeness_. For manifestly, it +is impossible that groups should continue to be sub-divided in virtue of +smaller and smaller differences, without there being a simultaneous +approximation to the notion of _no difference_. + +Let us next notice that the recognition of likeness and unlikeness, which +underlies classification, and out of which continued classification evolves +the idea of complete likeness--let us next notice that it also underlies +the process of _naming_, and by consequence _language_. For all language +consists, at the beginning, of symbols which are as _like_ to the things +symbolized as it is practicable to make them. The language of signs is a +means of conveying ideas by mimicking the actions or peculiarities of the +things referred to. Verbal language is also, at the beginning, a mode of +suggesting objects or acts by imitating the sounds which the objects make, +or with which the acts are accompanied. Originally these two languages were +used simultaneously. It needs but to watch the gesticulations with which +the savage accompanies his speech--to see a Bushman or a Kaffir dramatizing +before an audience his mode of catching game--or to note the extreme +paucity of words in all primitive vocabularies; to infer that at first, +attitudes, gestures, and sounds, were all combined to produce as good a +_likeness_ as possible, of the things, animals, persons, or events +described; and that as the sounds came to be understood by themselves the +gestures fell into disuse: leaving traces, however, in the manners of the +more excitable civilized races. But be this as it may, it suffices simply +to observe, how many of the words current among barbarous peoples are like +the sounds appertaining to the things signified; how many of our own oldest +and simplest words have the same peculiarity; how children tend to invent +imitative words; and how the sign-language spontaneously formed by deaf +mutes is invariably based upon imitative actions--to at once see that the +notion of _likeness_ is that from which the nomenclature of objects takes +its rise. + +Were there space we might go on to point out how this law of life is +traceable, not only in the origin but in the development of language; how +in primitive tongues the plural is made by a duplication of the singular, +which is a multiplication of the word to make it _like_ the multiplicity of +the things; how the use of metaphor--that prolific source of new words--is +a suggesting of ideas that are _like_ the ideas to be conveyed in some +respect or other; and how, in the copious use of simile, fable, and +allegory among uncivilized races, we see that complex conceptions, which +there is yet no direct language for, are rendered, by presenting known +conceptions more or less _like_ them. + +This view is further confirmed, and the predominance of this notion of +likeness in primitive times further illustrated, by the fact that our +system of presenting ideas to the eye originated after the same fashion. +Writing and printing have descended from picture-language. The earliest +mode of permanently registering a fact was by depicting it on a wall; that +is--by exhibiting something as _like_ to the thing to be remembered as it +could be made. Gradually as the practice grew habitual and extensive, the +most frequently repeated forms became fixed, and presently abbreviated; +and, passing through the hieroglyphic and ideographic phases, the symbols +lost all apparent relations to the things signified: just as the majority +of our spoken words have done. + +Observe again, that the same thing is true respecting the genesis of +reasoning. The _likeness_ that is perceived to exist between cases, is the +essence of all early reasoning and of much of our present reasoning. The +savage, having by experience discovered a relation between a certain object +and a certain act, infers that the _like_ relation will be found in future +cases. And the expressions we constantly use in our arguments--"_analogy_ +implies," "the cases are not _parallel_," "by _parity_ of reasoning," +"there is no _similarity_,"--show how constantly the idea of likeness +underlies our ratiocinative processes. + +Still more clearly will this be seen on recognising the fact that there is +a certain parallelism between reasoning and classification; that the two +have a common root; and that neither can go on without the other. For on +the one hand, it is a familiar truth that the attributing to a body in +consequence of some of its properties, all those other properties in virtue +of which it is referred to a particular class, is an act of inference. And, +on the other hand, the forming of a generalization is the putting together +in one class, all those cases which present like relations; while the +drawing a deduction is essentially the perception that a particular case +belongs to a certain class of cases previously generalized. So that as +classification is a grouping together of _like things_; reasoning is a +grouping together of _like relations_ among things. Add to which, that +while the perfection gradually achieved in classification consists in the +formation of groups of _objects_ which are _completely alike_; the +perfection gradually achieved in reasoning consists in the formation of +groups of _cases_ which are _completely alike_. + +Once more we may contemplate this dominant idea of likeness as exhibited in +art. All art, civilized as well as savage, consists almost wholly in the +making of objects _like_ other objects; either as found in Nature, or as +produced by previous art. If we trace back the varied art-products now +existing, we find that at each stage the divergence from previous patterns +is but small when compared with the agreement; and in the earliest art the +persistency of imitation is yet more conspicuous. The old forms and +ornaments and symbols were held sacred, and perpetually copied. Indeed, the +strong imitative tendency notoriously displayed by the lowest human races, +ensures among them a constant reproducing of likenesses of things, forms, +signs, sounds, actions, and whatever else is imitable; and we may even +suspect that this aboriginal peculiarity is in some way connected with the +culture and development of this general conception, which we have found so +deep and widespread in its applications. + +And now let us go on to consider how, by a further unfolding of this same +fundamental notion, there is a gradual formation of the first germs of +science. This idea of likeness which underlies classification, +nomenclature, language spoken and written, reasoning, and art; and which +plays so important a part because all acts of intelligence are made +possible only by distinguishing among surrounding things, or grouping them +into like and unlike;--this idea we shall find to be the one of which +science is the especial product. Already during the stage we have been +describing, there has existed _qualitative_ prevision in respect to the +commoner phenomena with which savage life is familiar; and we have now to +inquire how the elements of _quantitative_ prevision are evolved. We shall +find that they originate by the perfecting of this same idea of likeness; +that they have their rise in that conception of _complete likeness_ which, +as we have seen, necessarily results from the continued process of +classification. + +For when the process of classification has been carried as far as it is +possible for the uncivilized to carry it--when the animal kingdom has been +grouped not merely into quadrupeds, birds, fishes, and insects, but each of +these divided into kinds--when there come to be sub-classes, in each of +which the members differ only as individuals, and not specifically; it is +clear that there must occur a frequent observation of objects which differ +so little as to be indistinguishable. Among several creatures which the +savage has killed and carried home, it must often happen that some one, +which he wished to identify, is so exactly like another that he cannot tell +which is which. Thus, then, there originates the notion of _equality_. The +things which among ourselves are called _equal_--whether lines, angles, +weights, temperatures, sounds or colours--are things which produce in us +sensations that cannot be distinguished from each other. It is true that we +now apply the word _equal_ chiefly to the separate phenomena which objects +exhibit, and not to groups of phenomena; but this limitation of the idea +has evidently arisen by subsequent analysis. And that the notion of +equality did thus originate, will, we think, become obvious on remembering +that as there were no artificial objects from which it could have been +abstracted, it must have been abstracted from natural objects; and that the +various families of the animal kingdom chiefly furnish those natural +objects which display the requisite exactitude of likeness. + +The same order of experiences out of which this general idea of equality is +evolved, gives birth at the same time to a more complex idea of equality; +or, rather, the process just described generates an idea of equality which +further experience separates into two ideas--_equality of things_ and +_equality of relations_. While organic, and more especially animal forms, +occasionally exhibit this perfection of likeness out of which the notion of +simple equality arises, they more frequently exhibit only that kind of +likeness which we call _similarity_; and which is really compound equality. +For the similarity of two creatures of the same species but of different +sizes, is of the same nature as the similarity of two geometrical figures. +In either case, any two parts of the one bear the same ratio to one +another, as the homologous parts of the other. Given in any species, the +proportions found to exist among the bones, and we may, and zoologists do, +predict from any one, the dimensions of the rest; just as, when knowing the +proportions subsisting among the parts of a geometrical figure, we may, +from the length of one, calculate the others. And if, in the case of +similar geometrical figures, the similarity can be established only by +proving exactness of proportion among the homologous parts; if we express +this relation between two parts in the one, and the corresponding parts in +the other, by the formula A is to B as _a_ is to _b_; if we otherwise write +this, A to B = _a_ to _b_; if, consequently, the fact we prove is that the +relation of A to B _equals_ the relation of _a_ to _b_; then it is manifest +that the fundamental conception of similarity is _equality of relations_. + +With this explanation we shall be understood when we say that the notion of +equality of relations is the basis of all exact reasoning. Already it has +been shown that reasoning in general is a recognition of _likeness_ of +relations; and here we further find that while the notion of likeness of +things ultimately evolves the idea of simple equality, the notion of +likeness of relations evolves the idea of equality of relations: of which +the one is the concrete germ of exact science, while the other is its +abstract germ. + +Those who cannot understand how the recognition of similarity in creatures +of the same kind, can have any alliance with reasoning, will get over the +difficulty on remembering that the phenomena among which equality of +relations is thus perceived, are phenomena of the same order and are +present to the senses at the same time; while those among which developed +reason perceives relations, are generally neither of the same order, nor +simultaneously present. And if further, they will call to mind how Cuvier +and Owen, from a single part of a creature, as a tooth, construct the rest +by a process of reasoning based on this equality of relations, they will +see that the two things are intimately connected, remote as they at first +seem. But we anticipate. What it concerns us here to observe is, that from +familiarity with organic forms there simultaneously arose the ideas of +_simple equality_, and _equality of relations_. + +At the same time, too, and out of the same mental processes, came the first +distinct ideas of _number_. In the earliest stages, the presentation of +several like objects produced merely an indefinite conception of +multiplicity; as it still does among Australians, and Bushmen, and Damaras, +when the number presented exceeds three or four. With such a fact before us +we may safely infer that the first clear numerical conception was that of +duality as contrasted with unity. And this notion of duality must +necessarily have grown up side by side with those of likeness and equality; +seeing that it is impossible to recognise the likeness of two things +without also perceiving that there are two. From the very beginning the +conception of number must have been, as it is still, associated with the +likeness or equality of the things numbered. If we analyze it, we find that +simple enumeration is a registration of repeated impressions of any kind. +That these may be capable of enumeration it is needful that they be more or +less alike; and before any _absolutely true_ numerical results can be +reached, it is requisite that the units be _absolutely equal_. The only way +in which we can establish a numerical relationship between things that do +not yield us like impressions, is to divide them into parts that _do_ yield +us like impressions. Two unlike magnitudes of extension, force, time, +weight, or what not, can have their relative amounts estimated, only by +means of some small unit that is contained many times in both; and even if +we finally write down the greater one as a unit and the other as a fraction +of it, we state, in the denominator of the fraction, the number of parts +into which the unit must be divided to be comparable with the fraction. + +It is, indeed, true, that by an evidently modern process of abstraction, we +occasionally apply numbers to unequal units, as the furniture at a sale or +the various animals on a farm, simply as so many separate entities; but no +true result can be brought out by calculation with units of this order. +And, indeed, it is the distinctive peculiarity of the calculus in general, +that it proceeds on the hypothesis of that absolute equality of its +abstract units, which no real units possess; and that the exactness of its +results holds only in virtue of this hypothesis. The first ideas of number +must necessarily then have been derived from like or equal magnitudes as +seen chiefly in organic objects; and as the like magnitudes most frequently +observed were magnitudes of extension, it follows that geometry and +arithmetic had a simultaneous origin. + +Not only are the first distinct ideas of number co-ordinate with ideas of +likeness and equality, but the first efforts at numeration displayed the +same relationship. On reading the accounts of various savage tribes, we +find that the method of counting by the fingers, still followed by many +children, is the aboriginal method. Neglecting the several cases in which +the ability to enumerate does not reach even to the number of fingers on +one hand, there are many cases in which it does not extend beyond ten--the +limit of the simple finger notation. The fact that in so many instances, +remote, and seemingly unrelated nations, have adopted _ten_ as their basic +number; together with the fact that in the remaining instances the basic +number is either _five_ (the fingers of one hand) or _twenty_ (the fingers +and toes); almost of themselves show that the fingers were the original +units of numeration. The still surviving use of the word _digit_, as the +general name for a figure in arithmetic, is significant; and it is even +said that our word _ten_ (Sax. tyn; Dutch, tien; German, zehn) means in its +primitive expanded form _two hands_. So that originally, to say there were +ten things, was to say there were two hands of them. + +From all which evidence it is tolerably clear that the earliest mode of +conveying the idea of any number of things, was by holding up as many +fingers as there were things; that is--using a symbol which was _equal_, in +respect of multiplicity, to the group symbolized. For which inference there +is, indeed, strong confirmation in the recent statement that our own +soldiers are even now spontaneously adopting this device in their dealings +with the Turks. And here it should be remarked that in this recombination +of the notion of equality with that of multiplicity, by which the first +steps in numeration are effected, we may see one of the earliest of those +inosculations between the diverging branches of science, which are +afterwards of perpetual occurrence. + +Indeed, as this observation suggests, it will be well, before tracing the +mode in which exact science finally emerges from the merely approximate +judgments of the senses, and showing the non-serial evolution of its +divisions, to note the non-serial character of those preliminary processes +of which all after development is a continuation. On re-considering them it +will be seen that not only are they divergent growths from a common +root,--not only are they simultaneous in their progress; but that they are +mutual aids; and that none can advance without the rest. That completeness +of classification for which the unfolding of the perceptions paves the way, +is impossible without a corresponding progress in language, by which +greater varieties of objects are thinkable and expressible. On the one hand +it is impossible to carry classification far without names by which to +designate the classes; and on the other hand it is impossible to make +language faster than things are classified. + +Again, the multiplication of classes and the consequent narrowing of each +class, itself involves a greater likeness among the things classed +together; and the consequent approach towards the notion of complete +likeness itself allows classification to be carried higher. Moreover, +classification necessarily advances _pari passu_ with rationality--the +classification of _things_ with the classification of _relations_. For +things that belong to the same class are, by implication, things of which +the properties and modes of behaviour--the co-existences and sequences--are +more or less the same; and the recognition of this sameness of +co-existences and sequences is reasoning. Whence it follows that the +advance of classification is necessarily proportionate to the advance of +generalizations. Yet further, the notion of _likeness_, both in things and +relations, simultaneously evolves by one process of culture the ideas of +_equality_ of things and _equality_ of relations; which are the respective +bases of exact concrete reasoning and exact abstract reasoning--Mathematics +and Logic. And once more, this idea of equality, in the very process of +being formed, necessarily gives origin to two series of relations--those of +magnitude and those of number: from which arise geometry and the calculus. +Thus the process throughout is one of perpetual subdivision and perpetual +intercommunication of the divisions. From the very first there has been +that _consensus_ of different kinds of knowledge, answering to the +_consensus_ of the intellectual faculties, which, as already said, must +exist among the sciences. + +Let us now go on to observe how, out of the notions of _equality_ and +_number_, as arrived at in the manner described, there gradually arose the +elements of quantitative prevision. + +Equality, once having come to be definitely conceived, was readily +applicable to other phenomena than those of magnitude. Being predicable of +all things producing indistinguishable impressions, there naturally grew up +ideas of equality in weights, sounds, colours, &c.; and indeed it can +scarcely be doubted that the occasional experience of equal weights, +sounds, and colours, had a share in developing the abstract conception of +equality--that the ideas of equality in size, relations, forces, +resistances, and sensible properties in general, were evolved during the +same period. But however this may be, it is clear that as fast as the +notion of equality gained definiteness, so fast did that lowest kind of +quantitative prevision which is achieved without any instrumental aid, +become possible. + +The ability to estimate, however roughly, the amount of a foreseen result, +implies the conception that it will be _equal to_ a certain imagined +quantity; and the correctness of the estimate will manifestly depend upon +the accuracy at which the perceptions of sensible equality have arrived. A +savage with a piece of stone in his hand, and another piece lying before +him of greater bulk but of the same kind (a fact which he infers from the +_equality_ of the two in colour and texture) knows about what effort he +must put forth to raise this other piece; and he judges accurately in +proportion to the accuracy with which he perceives that the one is twice, +three times, four times, &c. as large as the other; that is--in proportion +to the precision of his ideas of equality and number. And here let us not +omit to notice that even in these vaguest of quantitative previsions, the +conception of _equality of relations_ is also involved. For it is only in +virtue of an undefined perception that the relation between bulk and weight +in the one stone is _equal_ to the relation between bulk and weight in the +other, that even the roughest approximation can be made. + +But how came the transition from those uncertain perceptions of equality +which the unaided senses give, to the certain ones with which science +deals? It came by placing the things compared in juxtaposition. Equality +being predicated of things which give us indistinguishable impressions, and +no accurate comparison of impressions being possible unless they occur in +immediate succession, it results that exactness of equality is +ascertainable in proportion to the closeness of the compared things. Hence +the fact that when we wish to judge of two shades of colour whether they +are alike or not, we place them side by side; hence the fact that we +cannot, with any precision, say which of two allied sounds is the louder, +or the higher in pitch, unless we hear the one immediately after the other; +hence the fact that to estimate the ratio of weights, we take one in each +hand, that we may compare their pressures by rapidly alternating in thought +from the one to the other; hence the fact, that in a piece of music, we can +continue to make equal beats when the first beat has been given, but cannot +ensure commencing with the same length of beat on a future occasion; and +hence, lastly, the fact, that of all magnitudes, those of _linear +extension_ are those of which the equality is most accurately +ascertainable, and those to which by consequence all others have to be +reduced. For it is the peculiarity of linear extension that it alone allows +its magnitudes to be placed in _absolute_ juxtaposition, or, rather, in +coincident position; it alone can test the equality of two magnitudes by +observing whether they will coalesce, as two equal mathematical lines do, +when placed between the same points; it alone can test _equality_ by trying +whether it will become _identity_. Hence, then, the fact, that all exact +science is reducible, by an ultimate analysis, to results measured in equal +units of linear extension. + +Still it remains to be noticed in what manner this determination of +equality by comparison of linear magnitudes originated. Once more may we +perceive that surrounding natural objects supplied the needful lessons. +From the beginning there must have been a constant experience of like +things placed side by side--men standing and walking together; animals from +the same herd; fish from the same shoal. And the ceaseless repetition of +these experiences could not fail to suggest the observation, that the +nearer together any objects were, the more visible became any inequality +between them. Hence the obvious device of putting in apposition, things of +which it was desired to ascertain the relative magnitudes. Hence the idea +of _measure_. And here we suddenly come upon a group of facts which afford +a solid basis to the remainder of our argument; while they also furnish +strong evidence in support of the foregoing speculations. Those who look +sceptically on this attempted rehabilitation of the earliest epochs of +mental development, and who more especially think that the derivation of so +many primary notions from organic forms is somewhat strained, will perhaps +see more probability in the several hypotheses that have been ventured, on +discovering that all measures of _extension_ and _force_ originated from +the lengths and weights of organic bodies; and all measures of _time_ from +the periodic phenomena of either organic or inorganic bodies. + +Thus, among linear measures, the cubit of the Hebrews was the _length of +the forearm_ from the elbow to the end of the middle finger; and the +smaller scriptural dimensions are expressed in _hand-breadths_ and _spans_. +The Egyptian cubit, which was similarly derived, was divided into digits, +which were _finger-breadths_; and each finger-breadth was more definitely +expressed as being equal to four _grains of barley_ placed breadthwise. +Other ancient measures were the orgyia or _stretch of the arms_, the +_pace_, and the _palm_. So persistent has been the use of these natural +units of length in the East, that even now some of the Arabs mete out cloth +by the forearm. So, too, is it with European measures. The _foot_ prevails +as a dimension throughout Europe, and has done since the time of the +Romans, by whom, also, it was used: its lengths in different places varying +not much more than men's feet vary. The heights of horses are still +expressed in _hands_. The inch is the length of the terminal joint of _the +thumb_; as is clearly shown in France, where _pouce_ means both thumb and +inch. Then we have the inch divided into three _barley-corns_. + +So completely, indeed, have these organic dimensions served as the +substrata of all mensuration, that it is only by means of them that we can +form any estimate of some of the ancient distances. For example, the length +of a degree on the Earth's surface, as determined by the Arabian +astronomers shortly after the death of Haroun-al-Raschid, was fifty-six of +their miles. We know nothing of their mile further than that it was 4000 +cubits; and whether these were sacred cubits or common cubits, would remain +doubtful, but that the length of the cubit is given as twenty-seven inches, +and each inch defined as the thickness of six barley-grains. Thus one of +the earliest measurements of a degree comes down to us in barley-grains. +Not only did organic lengths furnish those approximate measures which +satisfied men's needs in ruder ages, but they furnished also the standard +measures required in later times. One instance occurs in our own history. +To remedy the irregularities then prevailing, Henry I. commanded that the +ulna, or ancient ell, which answers to the modern yard, should be made of +the exact length of _his own arm_. + +Measures of weight again had a like derivation. Seeds seem commonly to have +supplied the unit. The original of the carat used for weighing in India is +_a small bean_. Our own systems, both troy and avoirdupois, are derived, +primarily from wheat-corns. Our smallest weight, the grain, is _a grain of +wheat_. This is not a speculation; it is an historically registered fact. +Henry III. enacted that an ounce should be the weight of 640 dry grains of +wheat from the middle of the ear. And as all the other weights are +multiples or sub-multiples of this, it follows that the grain of wheat is +the basis of our scale. So natural is it to use organic bodies as weights, +before artificial weights have been established, or where they are not to +be had, that in some of the remoter parts of Ireland the people are said to +be in the habit, even now, of putting a man into the scales to serve as a +measure for heavy commodities. + +Similarly with time. Astronomical periodicity, and the periodicity of +animal and vegetable life, are simultaneously used in the first stages of +progress for estimating epochs. The simplest unit of time, the day, nature +supplies ready made. The next simplest period, the mooneth or month, is +also thrust upon men's notice by the conspicuous changes constituting a +lunation. For larger divisions than these, the phenomena of the seasons, +and the chief events from time to time occurring, have been used by early +and uncivilized races. Among the Egyptians the rising of the Nile served as +a mark. The New Zealanders were found to begin their year from the +reappearance of the Pleiades above the sea. One of the uses ascribed to +birds, by the Greeks, was to indicate the seasons by their migrations. +Barrow describes the aboriginal Hottentot as denoting periods by the number +of moons before or after the ripening of one of his chief articles of food. +He further states that the Kaffir chronology is kept by the moon, and is +registered by notches on sticks--the death of a favourite chief, or the +gaining of a victory, serving for a new era. By which last fact, we are at +once reminded that in early history, events are commonly recorded as +occurring in certain reigns, and in certain years of certain reigns: a +proceeding which practically made a king's reign a measure of duration. + +And, as further illustrating the tendency to divide time by natural +phenomena and natural events, it may be noticed that even by our own +peasantry the definite divisions of months and years are but little used; +and that they habitually refer to occurrences as "before sheep-shearing," +or "after harvest," or "about the time when the squire died." It is +manifest, therefore, that the more or less equal periods perceived in +Nature gave the first units of measure for time; as did Nature's more or +less equal lengths and weights give the first units of measure for space +and force. + +It remains only to observe, as further illustrating the evolution of +quantitative ideas after this manner, that measures of value were similarly +derived. Barter, in one form or other, is found among all but the very +lowest human races. It is obviously based upon the notion of _equality of +worth_. And as it gradually merges into trade by the introduction of some +kind of currency, we find that the _measures of worth_, constituting this +currency, are organic bodies; in some cases _cowries_, in others +_cocoa-nuts_, in others _cattle_, in others _pigs_; among the American +Indians peltry or _skins_, and in Iceland _dried fish_. + +Notions of exact equality and of measure having been reached, there came to +be definite ideas of relative magnitudes as being multiples one of another; +whence the practice of measurement by direct apposition of a measure. The +determination of linear extensions by this process can scarcely be called +science, though it is a step towards it; but the determination of lengths +of time by an analogous process may be considered as one of the earliest +samples of quantitative prevision. For when it is first ascertained that +the moon completes the cycle of her changes in about thirty days--a fact +known to most uncivilized tribes that can count beyond the number of their +fingers--it is manifest that it becomes possible to say in what number of +days any specified phase of the moon will recur; and it is also manifest +that this prevision is effected by an opposition of two times, after the +same manner that linear space is measured by the opposition of two lines. +For to express the moon's period in days, is to say how many of these units +of measure are contained in the period to be measured--is to ascertain the +distance between two points in time by means of a _scale of days_, just as +we ascertain the distance between two points in space by a scale of feet or +inches: and in each case the scale coincides with the thing +measured--mentally in the one; visibly in the other. So that in this +simplest, and perhaps earliest case of quantitative prevision, the +phenomena are not only thrust daily upon men's notice, but Nature is, as it +were, perpetually repeating that process of measurement by observing which +the prevision is effected. And thus there may be significance in the remark +which some have made, that alike in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, there is an +affinity between the word meaning moon, and that meaning measure. + +This fact, that in very early stages of social progress it is known that +the moon goes through her changes in about thirty days, and that in about +twelve moons the seasons return--this fact that chronological astronomy +assumes a certain scientific character even before geometry does; while it +is partly due to the circumstance that the astronomical divisions, day, +month, and year, are ready made for us, is partly due to the further +circumstances that agricultural and other operations were at first +regulated astronomically, and that from the supposed divine nature of the +heavenly bodies their motions determined the periodical religious +festivals. As instances of the one we have the observation of the +Egyptians, that the rising of the Nile corresponded with the heliacal +rising of Sirius; the directions given by Hesiod for reaping and ploughing, +according to the positions of the Pleiades; and his maxim that "fifty days +after the turning of the sun is a seasonable time for beginning a voyage." +As instances of the other, we have the naming of the days after the sun, +moon, and planets; the early attempts among Eastern nations to regulate the +calendar so that the gods might not be offended by the displacement of +their sacrifices; and the fixing of the great annual festival of the +Peruvians by the position of the sun. In all which facts we see that, at +first, science was simply an appliance of religion and industry. + +After the discoveries that a lunation occupies nearly thirty days, and that +some twelve lunations occupy a year--discoveries of which there is no +historical account, but which may be inferred as the earliest, from the +fact that existing uncivilized races have made them--we come to the first +known astronomical records, which are those of eclipses. The Chaldeans were +able to predict these. "This they did, probably," says Dr. Whewell in his +useful history, from which most of the materials we are about to use will +be drawn, "by means of their cycle of 223 months, or about eighteen years; +for at the end of this time, the eclipses of the moon begin to return, at +the same intervals and in the same order as at the beginning." Now this +method of calculating eclipses by means of a recurring cycle,--the _Saros_ +as they called it--is a more complex case of prevision by means of +coincidence of measures. For by what observations must the Chaldeans have +discovered this cycle? Obviously, as Delambre infers, by inspecting their +registers; by comparing the successive intervals; by finding that some of +the intervals were alike; by seeing that these equal intervals were +eighteen years apart; by discovering that _all_ the intervals that were +eighteen years apart were equal; by ascertaining that the intervals formed +a series which repeated itself, so that if one of the cycles of intervals +were superposed on another the divisions would fit. This once perceived, +and it manifestly became possible to use the cycle as a scale of time by +which to measure out future periods. Seeing thus that the process of so +predicting eclipses, is in essence the same as that of predicting the +moon's monthly changes by observing the number of days after which they +repeat--seeing that the two differ only in the extent and irregularity of +the intervals, it is not difficult to understand how such an amount of +knowledge should so early have been reached. And we shall be less +surprised, on remembering that the only things involved in these previsions +were _time_ and _number_; and that the time was in a manner self-numbered. + +Still, the ability to predict events recurring only after so long a period +as eighteen years, implies a considerable advance in civilization--a +considerable development of general knowledge; and we have now to inquire +what progress in other sciences accompanied, and was necessary to, these +astronomical previsions. In the first place, there must clearly have been a +tolerably efficient system of calculation. Mere finger-counting, mere +head-reckoning, even with the aid of a regular decimal notation, could not +have sufficed for numbering the days in a year; much less the years, +months, and days between eclipses. Consequently there must have been a mode +of registering numbers; probably even a system of numerals. The earliest +numerical records, if we may judge by the practices of the less civilized +races now existing, were probably kept by notches cut on sticks, or strokes +marked on walls; much as public-house scores are kept now. And there seems +reason to believe that the first numerals used were simply groups of +straight strokes, as some of the still-extant Roman ones are; leading us to +suspect that these groups of strokes were used to represent groups of +fingers, as the groups of fingers had been used to represent groups of +objects--a supposition quite in conformity with the aboriginal system of +picture writing and its subsequent modifications. Be this so or not, +however, it is manifest that before the Chaldeans discovered their _Saros_, +there must have been both a set of written symbols serving for an extensive +numeration, and a familiarity with the simpler rules of arithmetic. + +Not only must abstract mathematics have made some progress, but concrete +mathematics also. It is scarcely possible that the buildings belonging to +this era should have been laid out and erected without any knowledge of +geometry. At any rate, there must have existed that elementary geometry +which deals with direct measurement--with the apposition of lines; and it +seems that only after the discovery of those simple proceedings, by which +right angles are drawn, and relative positions fixed, could so regular an +architecture be executed. In the case of the other division of concrete +mathematics--mechanics, we have definite evidence of progress. We know that +the lever and the inclined plane were employed during this period: implying +that there was a qualitative prevision of their effects, though not a +quantitative one. But we know more. We read of weights in the earliest +records; and we find weights in ruins of the highest antiquity. Weights +imply scales, of which we have also mention; and scales involve the primary +theorem of mechanics in its least complicated form--involve not a +qualitative but a quantitative prevision of mechanical effects. And here we +may notice how mechanics, in common with the other exact sciences, took its +rise from the simplest application of the idea of _equality_. For the +mechanical proposition which the scales involve, is, that if a lever with +_equal_ arms, have _equal_ weights suspended from them, the weights will +remain at _equal_ altitudes. And we may further notice, how, in this first +step of rational mechanics, we see illustrated that truth awhile since +referred to, that as magnitudes of linear extension are the only ones of +which the equality is exactly ascertainable, the equalities of other +magnitudes have at the outset to be determined by means of them. For the +equality of the weights which balance each other in scales, wholly depends +upon the equality of the arms: we can know that the weights are equal only +by proving that the arms are equal. And when by this means we have obtained +a system of weights,--a set of equal units of force, then does a science of +mechanics become possible. Whence, indeed, it follows, that rational +mechanics could not possibly have any other starting-point than the scales. + +Let us further remember, that during this same period there was a limited +knowledge of chemistry. The many arts which we know to have been carried on +must have been impossible without a generalized experience of the modes in +which certain bodies affect each other under special conditions. In +metallurgy, which was extensively practised, this is abundantly +illustrated. And we even have evidence that in some cases the knowledge +possessed was, in a sense, quantitative. For, as we find by analysis that +the hard alloy of which the Egyptians made their cutting tools, was +composed of copper and tin in fixed proportions, there must have been an +established prevision that such an alloy was to be obtained only by mixing +them in these proportions. It is true, this was but a simple empirical +generalization; but so was the generalization respecting the recurrence of +eclipses; so are the first generalizations of every science. + +Respecting the simultaneous advance of the sciences during this early +epoch, it only remains to remark that even the most complex of them must +have made some progress--perhaps even a greater relative progress than any +of the rest. For under what conditions only were the foregoing developments +possible? There first required an established and organized social system. +A long continued registry of eclipses; the building of palaces; the use of +scales; the practice of metallurgy--alike imply a fixed and populous +nation. The existence of such a nation not only presupposes laws, and some +administration of justice, which we know existed, but it presupposes +successful laws--laws conforming in some degree to the conditions of social +stability--laws enacted because it was seen that the actions forbidden by +them were dangerous to the State. We do not by any means say that all, or +even the greater part, of the laws were of this nature; but we do say, that +the fundamental ones were. It cannot be denied that the laws affecting life +and property were such. It cannot be denied that, however little these were +enforced between class and class, they were to a considerable extent +enforced between members of the same class. It can scarcely be questioned, +that the administration of them between members of the same class was seen +by rulers to be necessary for keeping their subjects together. And knowing, +as we do, that, other things equal, nations prosper in proportion to the +justness of their arrangements, we may fairly infer that the very cause of +the advance of these earliest nations out of aboriginal barbarism, was the +greater recognition among them of the claims to life and property. + +But supposition aside, it is clear that the habitual recognition of these +claims in their laws, implied some prevision of social phenomena. Even thus +early there was a certain amount of social science. Nay, it may even be +shown that there was a vague recognition of that fundamental principle on +which all the true social science is based--the equal rights of all to the +free exercise of their faculties. That same idea of _equality_, which, as +we have seen, underlies all other science, underlies also morals and +sociology. The conception of justice, which is the primary one in morals; +and the administration of justice, which is the vital condition of social +existence; are impossible, without the recognition of a certain likeness in +men's claims, in virtue of their common humanity. _Equity_ literally means +_equalness_; and if it be admitted that there were even the vaguest ideas +of equity in these primitive eras, it must be admitted that there was some +appreciation of the equalness of men's liberties to pursue the objects of +life--some appreciation, therefore, of the essential principle of national +equilibrium. + +Thus in this initial stage of the positive sciences, before geometry had +yet done more than evolve a few empirical rules--before mechanics had +passed beyond its first theorem--before astronomy had advanced from its +merely chronological phase into the geometrical; the most involved of the +sciences had reached a certain degree of development--a development without +which no progress in other sciences was possible. + +Only noting as we pass, how, thus early, we may see that the progress of +exact science was not only towards an increasing number of previsions, but +towards previsions more accurately quantitative--how, in astronomy, the +recurring period of the moon's motions was by and by more correctly +ascertained to be nineteen years, or two hundred and thirty-five lunations; +how Callipus further corrected this Metonic cycle, by leaving out a day at +the end of every seventy-six years; and how these successive advances +implied a longer continued registry of observations, and the co-ordination +of a greater number of facts--let us go on to inquire how geometrical +astronomy took its rise. + +The first astronomical instrument was the gnomon. This was not only early +in use in the East, but it was found also among the Mexicans; the sole +astronomical observations of the Peruvians were made by it; and we read +that 1100 B.C., the Chinese found that, at a certain place, the length of +the sun's shadow, at the summer solstice, was to the height of the gnomon, +as one and a half to eight. Here again it is observable, not only that the +instrument is found ready made, but that Nature is perpetually performing +the process of measurement. Any fixed, erect object--a column, a dead palm, +a pole, the angle of a building--serves for a gnomon; and it needs but to +notice the changing position of the shadow it daily throws, to make the +first step in geometrical astronomy. How small this first step was, may be +seen in the fact that the only things ascertained at the outset were the +periods of the summer and winter solstices, which corresponded with the +least and greatest lengths of the mid-day shadow; and to fix which, it was +needful merely to mark the point to which each day's shadow reached. + +And now let it not be overlooked that in the observing at what time during +the next year this extreme limit of the shadow was again reached, and in +the inference that the sun had then arrived at the same turning point in +his annual course, we have one of the simplest instances of that combined +use of _equal magnitudes_ and _equal relations_, by which all exact +science, all quantitative prevision, is reached. For the relation observed +was between the length of the sun's shadow and his position in the heavens; +and the inference drawn was that when, next year, the extremity of his +shadow came to the same point, he occupied the same place. That is, the, +ideas involved were, the equality of the shadows, and the equality of the +relations between shadow and sun in successive years. As in the case of the +scales, the equality of relations here recognized is of the simplest order. +It is not as those habitually dealt with in the higher kinds of scientific +reasoning, which answer to the general type--the relation between two and +three equals the relation between six and nine; but it follows the +type--the relation between two and three, equals the relation between two +and three; it is a case of not simply _equal_ relations, but _coinciding_ +relations. And here, indeed, we may see beautifully illustrated how the +idea of equal relations takes its rise after the same manner that that of +equal magnitude does. As already shown, the idea of equal magnitudes arose +from the observed coincidence of two lengths placed together; and in this +case we have not only two coincident lengths of shadows, but two coincident +relations between sun and shadows. + +From the use of the gnomon there naturally grew up the conception of +angular measurements; and with the advance of geometrical conceptions there +came the hemisphere of Berosus, the equinoctial armil, the solstitial +armil, and the quadrant of Ptolemy--all of them employing shadows as +indices of the sun's position, but in combination with angular divisions. +It is obviously out of the question for us here to trace these details of +progress. It must suffice to remark that in all of them we may see that +notion of equality of relations of a more complex kind, which is best +illustrated in the astrolabe, an instrument which consisted "of circular +rims, moveable one within the other, or about poles, and contained circles +which were to be brought into the position of the ecliptic, and of a plane +passing through the sun and the poles of the ecliptic"--an instrument, +therefore, which represented, as by a model, the relative positions of +certain imaginary lines and planes in the heavens; which was adjusted by +putting these representative lines and planes into parallelism and +coincidence with the celestial ones; and which depended for its use upon +the perception that the relations between these representative lines and +planes were _equal_ to the relations between those represented. + +Were there space, we might go on to point out how the conception of the +heavens as a revolving hollow sphere, the discovery of the globular form of +the earth, the explanation of the moon's phases, and indeed all the +successive steps taken, involved this same mental process. But we must +content ourselves with referring to the theory of eccentrics and epicycles, +as a further marked illustration of it. As first suggested, and as proved +by Hipparchus to afford an explanation of the leading irregularities in the +celestial motions, this theory involved the perception that the +progressions, retrogressions, and variations of velocity seen in the +heavenly bodies, might be reconciled with their assumed uniform movement in +circles, by supposing that the earth was not in the centre of their orbits; +or by supposing that they revolved in circles whose centres revolved round +the earth; or by both. The discovery that this would account for the +appearances, was the discovery that in certain geometrical diagrams the +relations were such, that the uniform motion of a point would, when looked +at from a particular position, present analogous irregularities; and the +calculations of Hipparchus involved the belief that the relations +subsisting among these geometrical curves were _equal_ to the relations +subsisting among the celestial orbits. + +Leaving here these details of astronomical progress, and the philosophy of +it, let us observe how the relatively concrete science of geometrical +astronomy, having been thus far helped forward by the development of +geometry in general, reacted upon geometry, caused it also to advance, and +was again assisted by it. Hipparchus, before making his solar and lunar +tables, had to discover rules for calculating the relations between the +sides and angles of triangles--_trigonometry_, a subdivision of pure +mathematics. Further, the reduction of the doctrine of the sphere to the +quantitative form needed for astronomical purposes, required the formation +of a _spherical trigonometry_, which was also achieved by Hipparchus. Thus +both plane and spherical trigonometry, which are parts of the highly +abstract and simple science of extension, remained undeveloped until the +less abstract and more complex science of the celestial motions had need of +them. The fact admitted by M. Comte, that since Descartes the progress of +the abstract division of mathematics has been determined by that of the +concrete division, is paralleled by the still more significant fact that +even thus early the progress of mathematics was determined by that of +astronomy. + +And here, indeed, we may see exemplified the truth, which the subsequent +history of science frequently illustrates, that before any more abstract +division makes a further advance, some more concrete division must suggest +the necessity for that advance--must present the new order of questions to +be solved. Before astronomy presented Hipparchus with the problem of solar +tables, there was nothing to raise the question of the relations between +lines and angles; the subject-matter of trigonometry had not been +conceived. And as there must be subject-matter before there can be +investigation, it follows that the progress of the concrete divisions is as +necessary to that of the abstract, as the progress of the abstract to that +of the concrete. + +Just incidentally noticing the circumstance that the epoch we are +describing witnessed the evolution of algebra, a comparatively abstract +division of mathematics, by the union of its less abstract divisions, +geometry and arithmetic--a fact proved by the earliest extant samples of +algebra, which are half algebraic, half geometric--we go on to observe that +during the era in which mathematics and astronomy were thus advancing, +rational mechanics made its second step; and something was done towards +giving a quantitative form to hydrostatics, optics, and harmonics. In each +case we shall see as before, how the idea of equality underlies all +quantitative prevision; and in what simple forms this idea is first +applied. + +As already shown, the first theorem established in mechanics was, that +equal weights suspended from a lever with equal arms would remain in +equilibrium. Archimedes discovered that a lever with unequal arms was in +equilibrium when one weight was to its arm as the other arm to its weight; +that is--when the numerical relation between one weight and its arm was +_equal_ to the numerical relation between the other arm and its weight. + +The first advance made in hydrostatics, which we also owe to Archimedes, +was the discovery that fluids press _equally_ in all directions; and from +this followed the solution of the problem of floating bodies: namely, that +they are in equilibrium when the upward and downward pressures are _equal_. + +In optics, again, the Greeks found that the angle of incidence is _equal_ +to the angle of reflection; and their knowledge reached no further than to +such simple deductions from this as their geometry sufficed for. In +harmonics they ascertained the fact that three strings of _equal_ lengths +would yield the octave, fifth and fourth, when strained by weights having +certain definite ratios; and they did not progress much beyond this. In the +one of which cases we see geometry used in elucidation of the laws of +light; and in the other, geometry and arithmetic made to measure the +phenomena of sound. + +Did space permit, it would be desirable here to describe the state of the +less advanced sciences--to point out how, while a few had thus reached the +first stages of quantitative prevision, the rest were progressing in +qualitative prevision--how some small generalizations were made respecting +evaporation, and heat, and electricity, and magnetism, which, empirical as +they were, did not in that respect differ from the first generalizations of +every science--how the Greek physicians had made advances in physiology and +pathology, which, considering the great imperfection of our present +knowledge, are by no means to be despised--how zoology had been so far +systematized by Aristotle, as, to some extent, enabled him from the +presence of certain organs to predict the presence of others--how in +Aristotle's _Politics_, there is some progress towards a scientific +conception of social phenomena, and sundry previsions respecting them--and +how in the state of the Greek societies, as well as in the writings of +Greek philosophers, we may recognise not only an increasing clearness in +that conception of equity on which the social science is based, but also +some appreciation of the fact that social stability depends upon the +maintenance of equitable regulations. We might dwell at length upon the +causes which retarded the development of some of the sciences, as for +example, chemistry: showing that relative complexity had nothing to do with +it--that the oxidation of a piece of iron is a simpler phenomenon than the +recurrence of eclipses, and the discovery of carbonic acid less difficult +than that of the precession of the equinoxes--but that the relatively slow +advance of chemical knowledge was due, partly to the fact that its +phenomena were not daily thrust on men's notice as those of astronomy were; +partly to the fact that Nature does not habitually supply the means, and +suggest the modes of investigation, as in the sciences dealing with time, +extension, and force; and partly to the fact that the great majority of the +materials with which chemistry deals, instead of being ready to hand, are +made known only by the arts in their slow growth; and partly to the fact +that even when known, their chemical properties are not self-exhibited, but +have to be sought out by experiment. + +Merely indicating all these considerations, however, let us go on to +contemplate the progress and mutual influence of the sciences in modern +days; only parenthetically noticing how, on the revival of the scientific +spirit, the successive stages achieved exhibit the dominance of the same +law hitherto traced--how the primary idea in dynamics, a uniform force, was +defined by Galileo to be a force which generates _equal_ velocities in +_equal_ successive times--how the uniform action of gravity was first +experimentally determined by showing that the time elapsing before a body +thrown up, stopped, was _equal_ to the time it took to fall--how the first +fact in compound motion which Galileo ascertained was, that a body +projected horizontally will have a uniform motion onwards and a uniformly +accelerated motion downwards; that is, will describe _equal_ horizontal +spaces in _equal_ times, compounded with _equal_ vertical increments in +_equal_ times--how his discovery respecting the pendulum was, that its +oscillations occupy _equal_ intervals of time whatever their length--how +the principle of virtual velocities which he established is, that in any +machine the weights that balance each other, are reciprocally as their +virtual velocities; that is, the relation of one set of weights to their +velocities _equals_ the relation of the other set of velocities to their +weights;--and how thus his achievements consisted in showing the equalities +of certain magnitudes and relations, whose equalities had not been +previously recognised. + +When mechanics had reached the point to which Galileo brought it--when the +simple laws of force had been disentangled from the friction and +atmospheric resistance by which all their earthly manifestations are +disguised--when progressing knowledge of _physics_ had given a due insight +into these disturbing causes--when, by an effort of abstraction, it was +perceived that all motion would be uniform and rectilinear unless +interfered with by external forces--and when the various consequences of +this perception had been worked out; then it became possible, by the union +of geometry and mechanics, to initiate physical astronomy. Geometry and +mechanics having diverged from a common root in men's sensible experiences; +having, with occasional inosculations, been separately developed, the one +partly in connexion with astronomy, the other solely by analyzing +terrestrial movements; now join in the investigations of Newton to create a +true theory of the celestial motions. And here, also, we have to notice the +important fact that, in the very process of being brought jointly to bear +upon astronomical problems, they are themselves raised to a higher phase of +development. For it was in dealing with the questions raised by celestial +dynamics that the then incipient infinitesimal calculus was unfolded by +Newton and his continental successors; and it was from inquiries into the +mechanics of the solar system that the general theorems of mechanics +contained in the "Principia,"--many of them of purely terrestrial +application--took their rise. Thus, as in the case of Hipparchus, the +presentation of a new order of concrete facts to be analyzed, led to the +discovery of new abstract facts; and these abstract facts having been laid +hold of, gave means of access to endless groups of concrete facts before +incapable of quantitative treatment. + +Meanwhile, physics had been carrying further that progress without which, +as just shown, rational mechanics could not be disentangled. In +hydrostatics, Stevinus had extended and applied the discovery of +Archimedes. Torricelli had proved atmospheric pressure, "by showing that +this pressure sustained different liquids at heights inversely proportional +to their densities;" and Pascal "established the necessary diminution of +this pressure at increasing heights in the atmosphere:" discoveries which +in part reduced this branch of science to a quantitative form. Something +had been done by Daniel Bernoulli towards the dynamics of fluids. The +thermometer had been invented; and a number of small generalizations +reached by it. Huyghens and Newton had made considerable progress in +optics; Newton had approximately calculated the rate of transmission of +sound; and the continental mathematicians had succeeded in determining some +of the laws of sonorous vibrations. Magnetism and electricity had been +considerably advanced by Gilbert. Chemistry had got as far as the mutual +neutralization of acids and alkalies. And Leonardo da Vinci had advanced in +geology to the conception of the deposition of marine strata as the origin +of fossils. Our present purpose does not require that we should give +particulars. All that it here concerns us to do is to illustrate the +_consensus_ subsisting in this stage of growth, and afterwards. Let as look +at a few cases. + +The theoretic law of the velocity of sound enunciated by Newton on purely +mechanical considerations, was found wrong by one-sixth. The error remained +unaccounted for until the time of Laplace, who, suspecting that the heat +disengaged by the compression of the undulating strata of the air, gave +additional elasticity, and so produced the difference, made the needful +calculations and found he was right. Thus acoustics was arrested until +thermology overtook and aided it. When Boyle and Marriot had discovered the +relation between the density of gases and the pressures they are subject +to; and when it thus became possible to calculate the rate of decreasing +density in the upper parts of the atmosphere; it also became possible to +make approximate tables of the atmospheric refraction of light. Thus +optics, and with it astronomy, advanced with barology. After the discovery +of atmospheric pressure had led to the invention of the air-pump by Otto +Guericke; and after it had become known that evaporation increases in +rapidity as atmospheric pressure decreases; it became possible for Leslie, +by evaporation in a vacuum, to produce the greatest cold known; and so to +extend our knowledge of thermology by showing that there is no zero within +reach of our researches. When Fourier had determined the laws of conduction +of heat, and when the Earth's temperature had been found to increase below +the surface one degree in every forty yards, there were data for inferring +the past condition of our globe; the vast period it has taken to cool down +to its present state; and the immense age of the solar system--a purely +astronomical consideration. + +Chemistry having advanced sufficiently to supply the needful materials, and +a physiological experiment having furnished the requisite hint, there came +the discovery of galvanic electricity. Galvanism reacting on chemistry +disclosed the metallic bases of the alkalies, and inaugurated the +electro-chemical theory; in the hands of Oersted and Ampère it led to the +laws of magnetic action; and by its aid Faraday has detected significant +facts relative to the constitution of light. Brewster's discoveries +respecting double refraction and dipolarization proved the essential truth +of the classification of crystalline forms according to the number of axes, +by showing that the molecular constitution depends upon the axes. In these +and in numerous other cases, the mutual influence of the sciences has been +quite independent of any supposed hierarchical order. Often, too, their +inter-actions are more complex than as thus instanced--involve more +sciences than two. One illustration of this must suffice. We quote it in +full from the _History of the Inductive Sciences_. In Book XI., chap. II., +on "The Progress of the Electrical Theory," Dr. Whewell writes:-- + + "Thus at that period, mathematics was behind experiment, and a + problem was proposed, in which theoretical results were wanted for + comparison with observation, but could not be accurately obtained; as + was the case in astronomy also, till the time of the approximate + solution of the problem of three bodies, and the consequent formation + of the tables of the moon and planets, on the theory of universal + gravitation. After some time, electrical theory was relieved from + this reproach, mainly in consequence of the progress which astronomy + had occasioned in pure mathematics. About 1801 there appeared in the + _Bulletin des Sciences_, an exact solution of the problem of the + distribution of electric fluid on a spheroid, obtained by Biot, by + the application of the peculiar methods which Laplace had invented + for the problem of the figure of the planets. And, in 1811, M. + Poisson applied Laplace's artifices to the case of two spheres acting + upon one another in contact, a case to which many of Coulomb's + experiments were referrible; and the agreement of the results of + theory and observation, thus extricated from Coulomb's numbers + obtained above forty years previously, was very striking and + convincing." + +Not only do the sciences affect each other after this direct manner, but +they affect each other indirectly. Where there is no dependence, there is +yet analogy--_equality of relations_; and the discovery of the relations +subsisting among one set of phenomena, constantly suggests a search for the +same relations among another set. Thus the established fact that the force +of gravitation varies inversely as the square of the distance, being +recognized as a necessary characteristic of all influences proceeding from +a centre, raised the suspicion that heat and light follow the same law; +which proved to be the case--a suspicion and a confirmation which were +repeated in respect to the electric and magnetic forces. Thus again the +discovery of the polarization of light led to experiments which ended in +the discovery of the polarization of heat--a discovery that could never +have been made without the antecedent one. Thus, too, the known +refrangibility of light and heat lately produced the inquiry whether sound +also is not refrangible; which on trial it turns out to be. + +In some cases, indeed, it is only by the aid of conceptions derived from +one class of phenomena that hypotheses respecting other classes can be +formed. The theory, at one time favoured, that evaporation is a solution of +water in air, was an assumption that the relation between water and air is +_like_ the relation between salt and water; and could never have been +conceived if the relation between salt and water had not been previously +known. Similarly the received theory of evaporation--that it is a diffusion +of the particles of the evaporating fluid in virtue of their atomic +repulsion--could not have been entertained without a foregoing experience +of magnetic and electric repulsions. So complete in recent days has become +this _consensus_ among the sciences, caused either by the natural +entanglement of their phenomena, or by analogies in the relations of their +phenomena, that scarcely any considerable discovery concerning one order of +facts now takes place, without very shortly leading to discoveries +concerning other orders. + +To produce a tolerably complete conception of this process of scientific +evolution, it would be needful to go back to the beginning, and trace in +detail the growth of classifications and nomenclatures; and to show how, as +subsidiary to science, they have acted upon it, and it has reacted upon +them. We can only now remark that, on the one hand, classifications and +nomenclatures have aided science by continually subdividing the +subject-matter of research, and giving fixity and diffusion to the truths +disclosed; and that on the other hand, they have caught from it that +increasing quantitativeness, and that progress from considerations touching +single phenomena to considerations touching the relations among many +phenomena, which we have been describing. + +Of this last influence a few illustrations must be given. In chemistry it +is seen in the facts, that the dividing of matter into the four elements +was ostensibly based upon the single property of weight; that the first +truly chemical division into acid and alkaline bodies, grouped together +bodies which had not simply one property in common, but in which one +property was constantly related to many others; and that the classification +now current, places together in groups _supporters of combustion_, +_metallic and non-metallic bases_, _acids_, _salts_, &c., bodies which are +often quite unlike in sensible qualities, but which are like in the +majority of their _relations_ to other bodies. In mineralogy again, the +first classifications were based upon differences in aspect, texture, and +other physical attributes. Berzelius made two attempts at a classification +based solely on chemical constitution. That now current, recognises as far +as possible the _relations_ between physical and chemical characters. In +botany the earliest classes formed were _trees_, _shrubs_, and _herbs_: +magnitude being the basis of distinction. Dioscorides divided vegetables +into _aromatic_, _alimentary_, _medicinal_, and _vinous_: a division of +chemical character. Cæsalpinus classified them by the seeds, and +seed-vessels, which he preferred because of the _relations_ found to +subsist between the character of the fructification and the general +character of the other parts. + +While the "natural system" since developed, carrying out the doctrine of +Linnæus, that "natural orders must be formed by attention not to one or +two, but to _all_ the parts of plants," bases its divisions on like +peculiarities which are found to be _constantly related_ to the greatest +number of other like peculiarities. And similarly in zoology, the +successive classifications, from having been originally determined by +external and often subordinate characters not indicative of the essential +nature, have been gradually more and more determined by those internal and +fundamental differences, which have uniform _relations_ to the greatest +number of other differences. Nor shall we be surprised at this analogy +between the modes of progress of positive science and classification, when +we bear in mind that both proceed by making generalizations; that both +enable us to make previsions differing only in their precision; and that +while the one deals with equal properties and relations, the other deals +with properties and relations that approximate towards equality in variable +degrees. + +Without further argument, it will, we think, be sufficiently clear that the +sciences are none of them separately evolved--are none of them independent +either logically or historically; but that all of them have, in a greater +or less degree, required aid and reciprocated it. Indeed, it needs but to +throw aside theses, and contemplate the mixed character of surrounding +phenomena, to at once see that these notions of division and succession in +the kinds of knowledge are none of them actually true, but are simple +scientific fictions: good, if regarded merely as aids to study; bad, if +regarded as representing realities in Nature. Consider them critically, and +no facts whatever are presented to our senses uncombined with other +facts--no facts whatever but are in some degree disguised by accompanying +facts: disguised in such a manner that all must be partially understood +before any one can be understood. If it be said, as by M. Comte, that +gravitating force should be treated of before other forces, seeing that all +things are subject to it, it may on like grounds be said that heat should +be first dealt with; seeing that thermal forces are everywhere in action; +that the ability of any portion of matter to manifest visible gravitative +phenomena depends on its state of aggregation, which is determined by heat; +that only by the aid of thermology can we explain those apparent exceptions +to the gravitating tendency which are presented by steam and smoke, and so +establish its universality, and that, indeed, the very existence of the +solar system in a solid form is just as much a question of heat as it is +one of gravitation. + +Take other cases:--All phenomena recognised by the eyes, through which only +are the data of exact science ascertainable, are complicated with optical +phenomena; and cannot be exhaustively known until optical principles are +known. The burning of a candle cannot be explained without involving +chemistry, mechanics, thermology. Every wind that blows is determined by +influences partly solar, partly lunar, partly hygrometric; and implies +considerations of fluid equilibrium and physical geography. The direction, +dip, and variations of the magnetic needle, are facts half terrestrial, +half celestial--are caused by earthly forces which have cycles of change +corresponding with astronomical periods. The flowing of the gulf-stream and +the annual migration of icebergs towards the equator, depending as they do +on the balancing of the centripetal and centrifugal forces acting on the +ocean, involve in their explanation the Earth's rotation and spheroidal +form, the laws of hydrostatics, the relative densities of cold and warm +water, and the doctrines of evaporation. It is no doubt true, as M. Comte +says, that "our position in the solar system, and the motions, form, size, +equilibrium of the mass of our world among the planets, must be known +before we can understand the phenomena going on at its surface." But, +fatally for his hypothesis, it is also true that we must understand a great +part of the phenomena going on at its surface before we can know its +position, &c., in the solar system. It is not simply that, as we have +already shown, those geometrical and mechanical principles by which +celestial appearances are explained, were first generalized from +terrestrial experiences; but it is that the very obtainment of correct +data, on which to base astronomical generalizations, implies advanced +terrestrial physics. + +Until after optics had made considerable advance, the Copernican system +remained but a speculation. A single modern observation on a star has to +undergo a careful analysis by the combined aid of various sciences--has to +_be digested by the organism of the sciences_; which have severally to +assimilate their respective parts of the observation, before the essential +fact it contains is available for the further development of astronomy. It +has to be corrected not only for nutation of the earth's axis and for +precession of the equinoxes, but for aberration and for refraction; and the +formation of the tables by which refraction is calculated, presupposes +knowledge of the law of decreasing density in the upper atmospheric strata; +of the law of decreasing temperature, and the influence of this on the +density; and of hygrometric laws as also affecting density. So that, to get +materials for further advance, astronomy requires not only the indirect aid +of the sciences which have presided over the making of its improved +instruments, but the direct aid of an advanced optics, of barology, of +thermology, of hygrometry; and if we remember that these delicate +observations are in some cases registered electrically, and that they are +further corrected for the "personal equation"--the time elapsing between +seeing and registering, which varies with different observers--we may even +add electricity and psychology. If, then, so apparently simple a thing as +ascertaining the position of a star is complicated with so many phenomena, +it is clear that this notion of the independence of the sciences, or +certain of them, will not hold. + +Whether objectively independent or not, they cannot be subjectively +so--they cannot have independence as presented to our consciousness; and +this is the only kind of independence with which we are concerned. And +here, before leaving these illustrations, and especially this last one, let +us not omit to notice how clearly they exhibit that increasingly active +_consensus_ of the sciences which characterizes their advancing +development. Besides finding that in these later times a discovery in one +science commonly causes progress in others; besides finding that a great +part of the questions with which modern science deals are so mixed as to +require the co-operation of many sciences for their solution; we find in +this last case that, to make a single good observation in the purest of the +natural sciences, requires the combined assistance of half a dozen other +sciences. + +Perhaps the clearest comprehension of the interconnected growth of the +sciences may be obtained by contemplating that of the arts, to which it is +strictly analogous, and with which it is inseparably bound up. Most +intelligent persons must have been, at one time or other, struck with the +vast array of antecedents pre-supposed by one of our processes of +manufacture. Let him trace the production of a printed cotton, and consider +all that is implied by it. There are the many successive improvements +through which the power-looms reached their present perfection; there is +the steam-engine that drives them, having its long history from Papin +downwards; there are the lathes in which its cylinder was bored, and the +string of ancestral lathes from which those lathes proceeded; there is the +steam-hammer under which its crank shaft was welded; there are the +puddling-furnaces, the blast-furnaces, the coal-mines and the iron-mines +needful for producing the raw material; there are the slowly improved +appliances by which the factory was built, and lighted, and ventilated; +there are the printing engine, and the die house, and the colour laboratory +with its stock of materials from all parts of the world, implying +cochineal-culture, logwood-cutting, indigo-growing; there are the +implements used by the producers of cotton, the gins by which it is +cleaned, the elaborate machines by which it is spun: there are the vessels +in which cotton is imported, with the building-slips, the rope-yards, the +sail-cloth factories, the anchor-forges, needful for making them; and +besides all these directly necessary antecedents, each of them involving +many others, there are the institutions which have developed the requisite +intelligence, the printing and publishing arrangements which have spread +the necessary information, the social organization which has rendered +possible such a complex co-operation of agencies. + +Further analysis would show that the many arts thus concerned in the +economical production of a child's frock, have each of them been brought to +its present efficiency by slow steps which the other arts have aided; and +that from the beginning this reciprocity has been ever on the increase. It +needs but on the one hand to consider how utterly impossible it is for the +savage, even with ore and coal ready, to produce so simple a thing as an +iron hatchet; and then to consider, on the other hand, that it would have +been impracticable among ourselves, even a century ago, to raise the tubes +of the Britannia bridge from lack of the hydraulic press; to at once see +how mutually dependent are the arts, and how all must advance that each may +advance. Well, the sciences are involved with each other in just the same +manner. They are, in fact, inextricably woven into this same complex web of +the arts; and are only conventionally independent of it. Originally the two +were one. How to fix the religious festivals; when to sow; how to weigh +commodities; and in what manner to measure ground; were the purely +practical questions out of which arose astronomy, mechanics, geometry. +Since then there has been a perpetual inosculation of the sciences and the +arts. Science has been supplying art with truer generalizations and more +completely quantitative previsions. Art has been supplying science with +better materials, and more perfect instruments. And all along the +interdependence has been growing closer, not only between art and science, +but among the arts themselves, and among the sciences themselves. + +How completely the analogy holds throughout, becomes yet clearer when we +recognise the fact that _the sciences are arts to each other_. If, as +occurs in almost every case, the fact to be analyzed by any science, has +first to be prepared--to be disentangled from disturbing facts by the afore +discovered methods of other sciences; the other sciences so used, stand in +the position of arts. If, in solving a dynamical problem, a parallelogram +is drawn, of which the sides and diagonal represent forces, and by putting +magnitudes of extension for magnitudes of force a measurable relation is +established between quantities not else to be dealt with; it may be fairly +said that geometry plays towards mechanics much the same part that the fire +of the founder plays towards the metal he is going to cast. If, in +analyzing the phenomena of the coloured rings surrounding the point of +contact between two lenses, a Newton ascertains by calculation the amount +of certain interposed spaces, far too minute for actual measurement; he +employs the science of number for essentially the same purpose as that for +which the watchmaker employs tools. If, before writing down his observation +on a star, the astronomer has to separate from it all the errors resulting +from atmospheric and optical laws, it is manifest that the +refraction-tables, and logarithm-books, and formulæ, which he successively +uses, serve him much as retorts, and filters, and cupels serve the assayer +who wishes to separate the pure gold from all accompanying ingredients. + +So close, indeed, is the relationship, that it is impossible to say where +science begins and art ends. All the instruments of the natural philosopher +are the products of art; the adjusting one of them for use is an art; there +is art in making an observation with one of them; it requires art properly +to treat the facts ascertained; nay, even the employing established +generalizations to open the way to new generalizations, may be considered +as art. In each of these cases previously organized knowledge becomes the +implement by which new knowledge is got at: and whether that previously +organized knowledge is embodied in a tangible apparatus or in a formula, +matters not in so far as its essential relation to the new knowledge is +concerned. If, as no one will deny, art is applied knowledge, then such +portion of a scientific investigation as consists of applied knowledge is +art. So that we may even say that as soon as any prevision in science +passes out of its originally passive state, and is employed for reaching +other previsions, it passes from theory into practice--becomes science in +action--becomes art. And when we thus see how purely conventional is the +ordinary distinction, how impossible it is to make any real +separation--when we see not only that science and art were originally one; +that the arts have perpetually assisted each other; that there has been a +constant reciprocation of aid between the sciences and arts; but that the +sciences act as arts to each other, and that the established part of each +science becomes an art to the growing part--when we recognize the closeness +of these associations, we shall the more clearly perceive that as the +connexion of the arts with each other has been ever becoming more intimate; +as the help given by sciences to arts and by arts to sciences, has been age +by age increasing; so the interdependence of the sciences themselves has +been ever growing greater, their mutual relations more involved, their +_consensus_ more active. + + * * * * * + +In here ending our sketch of the Genesis of Science, we are conscious of +having done the subject but scant justice. Two difficulties have stood in +our way: one, the having to touch on so many points in such small space; +the other, the necessity of treating in serial arrangement a process which +is not serial--a difficulty which must ever attend all attempts to +delineate processes of development, whatever their special nature. Add to +which, that to present in anything like completeness and proportion, even +the outlines of so vast and complex a history, demands years of study. +Nevertheless, we believe that the evidence which has been assigned suffices +to substantiate the leading propositions with which we set out. Inquiry +into the first stages of science confirms the conclusion which we drew from +the analysis of science as now existing, that it is not distinct from +common knowledge, but an outgrowth from it--an extension of the perception +by means of the reason. + +That which we further found by analysis to form the more specific +characteristic of scientific previsions, as contrasted with the previsions +of uncultured intelligence--their quantitativeness--we also see to have +been the characteristic alike in the initial steps in science, and of all +the steps succeeding them. The facts and admissions cited in disproof of +the assertion that the sciences follow one another, both logically and +historically, in the order of their decreasing generality, have been +enforced by the sundry instances we have met with, in which the more +general or abstract sciences have been advanced only at the instigation of +the more special or concrete--instances serving to show that a more general +science as much owes its progress to the presentation of new problems by a +more special science, as the more special science owes its progress to the +solutions which the more general science is thus led to attempt--instances +therefore illustrating the position that scientific advance is as much from +the special to the general as from the general to the special. + +Quite in harmony with this position we find to be the admissions that the +sciences are as branches of one trunk, and that they were at first +cultivated simultaneously; and this harmony becomes the more marked on +finding, as we have done, not only that the sciences have a common root, +but that science in general has a common root with language, +classification, reasoning, art; that throughout civilization these have +advanced together, acting and reacting upon each other just as the separate +sciences have done; and that thus the development of intelligence in all +its divisions and subdivisions has conformed to this same law which we have +shown that the sciences conform to. From all which we may perceive that the +sciences can with no greater propriety be arranged in a succession, than +language, classification, reasoning, art, and science, can be arranged in a +succession; that, however needful a succession may be for the convenience +of books and catalogues, it must be recognized merely as a convention; and +that so far from its being the function of a philosophy of the sciences to +establish a hierarchy, it is its function to show that the linear +arrangements required for literary purposes, have none of them any basis +either in Nature or History. + +There is one further remark we must not omit--a remark touching the +importance of the question that has been discussed. Unfortunately it +commonly happens that topics of this abstract nature are slighted as of no +practical moment; and, we doubt not, that many will think it of very little +consequence what theory respecting the genesis of science may be +entertained. But the value of truths is often great, in proportion as their +generality is wide. Remote as they seem from practical application, the +highest generalizations are not unfrequently the most potent in their +effects, in virtue of their influence on all those subordinate +generalizations which regulate practice. And it must be so here. Whenever +established, a correct theory of the historical development of the sciences +must have an immense effect upon education; and, through education, upon +civilization. Greatly as we differ from him in other respects, we agree +with M. Comte in the belief that, rightly conducted, the education of the +individual must have a certain correspondence with the evolution of the +race. + +No one can contemplate the facts we have cited in illustration of the early +stages of science, without recognising the _necessity_ of the processes +through which those stages were reached--a necessity which, in respect to +the leading truths, may likewise be traced in all after stages. This +necessity, originating in the very nature of the phenomena to be analyzed +and the faculties to be employed, more or less fully applies to the mind of +the child as to that of the savage. We say more or less fully, because the +correspondence is not special but general only. Were the _environment_ the +same in both cases, the correspondence would be complete. But though the +surrounding material out of which science is to be organized, is, in many +cases, the same to the juvenile mind and the aboriginal mind, it is not so +throughout; as, for instance, in the case of chemistry, the phenomena of +which are accessible to the one, but were inaccessible to the other. Hence, +in proportion as the environment differs, the course of evolution must +differ. After admitting sundry exceptions, however, there remains a +substantial parallelism; and, if so, it becomes of great moment to +ascertain what really has been the process of scientific evolution. The +establishment of an erroneous theory must be disastrous in its educational +results; while the establishment of a true one must eventually be fertile +in school-reforms and consequent social benefits. + + + + +IV. THE PHYSIOLOGY OF LAUGHTER. + + +Why do we smile when a child puts on a man's hat? or what induces us to +laugh on reading that the corpulent Gibbon was unable to rise from his +knees after making a tender declaration? The usual reply to such questions +is, that laughter results from a perception of incongruity. Even were there +not on this reply the obvious criticism that laughter often occurs from +extreme pleasure or from mere vivacity, there would still remain the real +problem--How comes a sense of the incongruous to be followed by these +peculiar bodily actions? Some have alleged that laughter is due to the +pleasure of a relative self-elevation, which we feel on seeing the +humiliation of others. But this theory, whatever portion of truth it may +contain, is, in the first place, open to the fatal objection, that there +are various humiliations to others which produce in us anything but +laughter; and, in the second place, it does not apply to the many instances +in which no one's dignity is implicated: as when we laugh at a good pun. +Moreover, like the other, it is merely a generalization of certain +conditions to laughter; and not an explanation of the odd movements which +occur under these conditions. Why, when greatly delighted, or impressed +with certain unexpected contrasts of ideas, should there be a contraction +of particular facial muscles, and particular muscles of the chest and +abdomen? Such answer to this question as may be possible, can be rendered +only by physiology. + + * * * * * + +Every child has made the attempt to hold the foot still while it is +tickled, and has failed; and probably there is scarcely any one who has not +vainly tried to avoid winking, when a hand has been suddenly passed before +the eyes. These examples of muscular movements which occur independently of +the will, or in spite of it, illustrate what physiologists call +reflex-action; as likewise do sneezing and coughing. To this class of +cases, in which involuntary motions are accompanied by sensations, has to +be added another class of cases, in which involuntary motions are +unaccompanied by sensations:--instance the pulsations of the heart; the +contractions of the stomach during digestion. Further, the great mass of +seemingly-voluntary acts in such creatures as insects, worms, molluscs, are +considered by physiologists to be as purely automatic as is the dilatation +or closure of the iris under variations in quantity of light; and similarly +exemplify the law, that an impression on the end of an afferent nerve is +conveyed to some ganglionic centre, and is thence usually reflected along +an efferent nerve to one or more muscles which it causes to contract. + +In a modified form this principle holds with voluntary acts. Nervous +excitation always _tends_ to beget muscular motion; and when it rises to a +certain intensity, always does beget it. Not only in reflex actions, +whether with or without sensation, do we see that special nerves, when +raised to a state of tension, discharge themselves on special muscles with +which they are indirectly connected; but those external actions through +which we read the feelings of others, show us that under any considerable +tension, the nervous system in general discharges itself on the muscular +system in general: either with or without the guidance of the will. The +shivering produced by cold, implies irregular muscular contractions, which, +though at first only partly involuntary, become, when the cold is extreme, +almost wholly involuntary. When you have severely burnt your finger, it is +very difficult to preserve a dignified composure: contortion of face, or +movement of limb, is pretty sure to follow. If a man receives good news +with neither change of feature nor bodily motion, it is inferred that he is +not much pleased, or that he has extraordinary self-control--either +inference implying that joy almost universally produces contraction of the +muscles; and so, alters the expression, or attitude, or both. And when we +hear of the feats of strength which men have performed when their lives +were at stake--when we read how, in the energy of despair, even paralytic +patients have regained for a time the use of their limbs; we see still more +clearly the relations between nervous and muscular excitements. It becomes +manifest both that emotions and sensations tend to generate bodily +movements, and that the movements are vehement in proportion as the +emotions or sensations are intense.[G] + + [G] For numerous illustrations see essay on "The Origin and Function + of Music." + +This, however, is not the sole direction in which nervous excitement +expends itself. Viscera as well as muscles may receive the discharge. That +the heart and blood-vessels (which, indeed, being all contractile, may in a +restricted sense be classed with the muscular system) are quickly affected +by pleasures and pains, we have daily proved to us. Every sensation of any +acuteness accelerates the pulse; and how sensitive the heart is to +emotions, is testified by the familiar expressions which use heart and +feeling as convertible terms. Similarly with the digestive organs. Without +detailing the various ways in which these may be influenced by our mental +states, it suffices to mention the marked benefits derived by dyspeptics, +as well as other invalids, from cheerful society, welcome news, change of +scene, to show how pleasurable feeling stimulates the viscera in general +into greater activity. + +There is still another direction in which any excited portion of the +nervous system may discharge itself; and a direction in which it usually +does discharge itself when the excitement is not strong. It may pass on the +stimulus to some other portion of the nervous system. This is what occurs +in quiet thinking and feeling. The successive states which constitute +consciousness, result from this. Sensations excite ideas and emotions; +these in their turns arouse other ideas and emotions; and so, continuously. +That is to say, the tension existing in particular nerves, or groups of +nerves, when they yield us certain sensations, ideas, or emotions, +generates an equivalent tension in some other nerves, or groups of nerves, +with which there is a connexion: the flow of energy passing on, the one +idea or feeling dies in producing the next. + +Thus, then, while we are totally unable to comprehend how the excitement of +certain nerves should generate feeling--while, in the production of +consciousness by physical agents acting on physical structure, we come to +an absolute mystery never to be solved; it is yet quite possible for us to +know by observation what are the successive forms which this absolute +mystery may take. We see that there are three channels along which nerves +in a state of tension may discharge themselves; or rather, I should say, +three classes of channels. They may pass on the excitement to other nerves +that have no direct connexions with the bodily members, and may so cause +other feelings and ideas; or they may pass on the excitement to one or more +motor nerves, and so cause muscular contractions; or they may pass on the +excitement to nerves which supply the viscera, and may so stimulate one or +more of these. + +For simplicity's sake, I have described these as alternative routes, one or +other of which any current of nerve-force must take; thereby, as it may be +thought, implying that such current will be exclusively confined to some +one of them. But this is by no means the case. Rarely, if ever, does it +happen that a state of nervous tension, present to consciousness as a +feeling, expends itself in one direction only. Very generally it may be +observed to expend itself in two; and it is probable that the discharge is +never absolutely absent from any one of the three. There is, however, +variety in the _proportions_ in which the discharge is divided among these +different channels under different circumstances. In a man whose fear +impels him to run, the mental tension generated is only in part transformed +into a muscular stimulus: there is a surplus which causes a rapid current +of ideas. An agreeable state of feeling produced, say by praise, is not +wholly used up in arousing the succeeding phase of the feeling, and the new +ideas appropriate to it; but a certain portion overflows into the visceral +nervous system, increasing the action of the heart, and probably +facilitating digestion. And here we come upon a class of considerations and +facts which open the way to a solution of our special problem. + +For starting with the unquestionable truth, that at any moment the existing +quantity of liberated nerve-force, which in an inscrutable way produces in +us the state we call feeling, _must_ expend itself in some +direction--_must_ generate an equivalent manifestation of force +somewhere--it clearly follows that, if of the several channels it may take, +one is wholly or partially closed, more must be taken by the others; or +that if two are closed, the discharge along the remaining one must be more +intense; and that, conversely, should anything determine an unusual efflux +in one direction, there will be a diminished efflux in other directions. + +Daily experience illustrates these conclusions. It is commonly remarked, +that the suppression of external signs of feeling, makes feeling more +intense. The deepest grief is silent grief. Why? Because the nervous +excitement not discharged in muscular action, discharges itself in other +nervous excitements--arouses more numerous and more remote associations of +melancholy ideas, and so increases the mass of feelings. People who conceal +their anger are habitually found to be more revengeful than those who +explode in loud speech and vehement action. Why? Because, as before, the +emotion is reflected back, accumulates, and intensifies. Similarly, men +who, as proved by their powers of representation, have the keenest +appreciation of the comic, are usually able to do and say the most +ludicrous things with perfect gravity. + +On the other hand, all are familiar with the truth that bodily activity +deadens emotion. Under great irritation we get relief by walking about +rapidly. Extreme effort in the bootless attempt to achieve a desired end, +greatly diminishes the intensity of the desire. Those who are forced to +exert themselves after misfortunes, do not suffer nearly so much as those +who remain quiescent. If any one wishes to check intellectual excitement, +he cannot choose a more efficient method than running till he is exhausted. +Moreover, these cases, in which the production of feeling and thought is +hindered by determining the nervous energy towards bodily movements, have +their counterparts in the cases in which bodily movements are hindered by +extra absorption of nervous energy in sudden thoughts and feelings. If, +when walking along, there flashes on you an idea that creates great +surprise, hope, or alarm, you stop; or if sitting cross-legged, swinging +your pendent foot, the movement is at once arrested. From the viscera, too, +intense mental action abstracts energy. Joy, disappointment, anxiety, or +any moral perturbation rising to a great height, will destroy appetite; or +if food has been taken, will arrest digestion; and even a purely +intellectual activity, when extreme, will do the like. + +Facts, then, fully bear out these _à priori_ inferences, that the nervous +excitement at any moment present to consciousness as feeling, must expend +itself in some way or other; that of the three classes of channels open to +it, it must take one, two, or more, according to circumstances; that the +closure or obstruction of one, must increase the discharge through the +others; and conversely, that if to answer some demand, the efflux of +nervous energy in one direction is unusually great, there must be a +corresponding decrease of the efflux in other directions. Setting out from +these premises, let us now see what interpretation is to be put on the +phenomena of laughter. + + * * * * * + +That laughter is a display of muscular excitement, and so illustrates the +general law that feeling passing a certain pitch habitually vents itself in +bodily action, scarcely needs pointing out. It perhaps needs pointing out, +however, that strong feeling of almost any kind produces this result. It is +not a sense of the ludicrous, only, which does it; nor are the various +forms of joyous emotion the sole additional causes. We have, besides, the +sardonic laughter and the hysterical laughter, which result from mental +distress; to which must be added certain sensations, as tickling, and, +according to Mr. Bain, cold, and some kinds of acute pain. + +Strong feeling, mental or physical, being, then, the general cause of +laughter, we have to note that the muscular actions constituting it are +distinguished from most others by this, that they are purposeless. In +general, bodily motions that are prompted by feelings are directed to +special ends; as when we try to escape a danger, or struggle to secure a +gratification. But the movements of chest and limbs which we make when +laughing have no object. And now remark that these quasi-convulsive +contractions of the muscles, having no object, but being results of an +uncontrolled discharge of energy, we may see whence arise their special +characters--how it happens that certain classes of muscles are affected +first, and then certain other classes. For an overflow of nerve-force, +undirected by any motive, will manifestly take first the most habitual +routes; and if these do not suffice, will next overflow into the less +habitual ones. Well, it is through the organs of speech that feeling passes +into movement with the greatest frequency. The jaws, tongue, and lips are +used not only to express strong irritation or gratification; but that very +moderate flow of mental energy which accompanies ordinary conversation, +finds its chief vent through this channel. Hence it happens that certain +muscles round the mouth, small and easy to move, are the first to contract +under pleasurable emotion. The class of muscles which, next after those of +articulation, are most constantly set in action (or extra action, we should +say) by feelings of all kinds, are those of respiration. Under pleasurable +or painful sensations we breathe more rapidly: possibly as a consequence of +the increased demand for oxygenated blood. The sensations that accompany +exertion also bring on hard-breathing; which here more evidently responds +to the physiological needs. And emotions, too, agreeable and disagreeable, +both, at first, excite respiration; though the last subsequently depress +it. That is to say, of the bodily muscles, the respiratory are more +constantly implicated than any others in those various acts which our +feelings impel us to; and, hence, when there occurs an undirected discharge +of nervous energy into the muscular system, it happens that, if the +quantity be considerable, it convulses not only certain of the articulatory +and vocal muscles, but also those which expel air from the lungs. + +Should the feeling to be expended be still greater in amount--too great to +find vent in these classes of muscles--another class comes into play. The +upper limbs are set in motion. Children frequently clap their hands in +glee; by some adults the hands are rubbed together; and others, under still +greater intensity of delight, slap their knees and sway their bodies +backwards and forwards. Last of all, when the other channels for the escape +of the surplus nerve-force have been filled to overflowing, a yet further +and less-used group of muscles is spasmodically affected: the head is +thrown back and the spine bent inwards--there is a slight degree of what +medical men call opisthotonos. Thus, then, without contending that the +phenomena of laughter in all their details are to be so accounted for, we +see that in their _ensemble_ they conform to these general +principles:--that feeling excites to muscular action; that when the +muscular action is unguided by a purpose, the muscles first affected are +those which feeling most habitually stimulates; and that as the feeling to +be expended increases in quantity, it excites an increasing number of +muscles, in a succession determined by the relative frequency with which +they respond to the regulated dictates of feeling. + +There still, however, remains the question with which we set out. The +explanation here given applies only to the laughter produced by acute +pleasure or pain: it does not apply to the laughter that follows certain +perceptions of incongruity. It is an insufficient explanation that in these +cases, laughter is a result of the pleasure we take in escaping from the +restraint of grave feelings. That this is a part-cause is true. Doubtless +very often, as Mr. Bain says, "it is the coerced form of seriousness and +solemnity without the reality that gives us that stiff position from which +a contact with triviality or vulgarity relieves us, to our uproarious +delight." And in so far as mirth is caused by the gush of agreeable feeling +that follows the cessation of mental strain, it further illustrates the +general principle above set forth. But no explanation is thus afforded of +the mirth which ensues when the short silence between the _andante_ and +_allegro_ in one of Beethoven's symphonies, is broken by a loud sneeze. In +this, and hosts of like cases, the mental tension is not coerced but +spontaneous--not disagreeable but agreeable; and the coming impressions to +which the attention is directed, promise a gratification that few, if any, +desire to escape. Hence, when the unlucky sneeze occurs, it cannot be that +the laughter of the audience is due simply to the release from an irksome +attitude of mind: some other cause must be sought. + +This cause we shall arrive at by carrying our analysis a step further. We +have but to consider the quantity of feeling that exists under such +circumstances, and then to ask what are the conditions that determine the +direction of its discharge, to at once reach a solution. Take a case. You +are sitting in a theatre, absorbed in the progress of an interesting drama. +Some climax has been reached which has aroused your sympathies--say, a +reconciliation between the hero and heroine, after long and painful +misunderstanding. The feelings excited by this scene are not of a kind from +which you seek relief; but are, on the contrary, a grateful relief from the +painful feelings with which you have witnessed the previous estrangement. +Moreover, the sentiments these fictitious personages have for the moment +inspired you with, are not such as would lead you to rejoice in any +indignity offered to them; but rather, such as would make you resent the +indignity. And now, while you are contemplating the reconciliation with a +pleasurable sympathy, there appears from behind the scenes a tame kid, +which, having stared round at the audience, walks up to the lovers and +sniffs at them. You cannot help joining in the roar which greets this +_contretemps_. Inexplicable as is this irresistible burst on the hypothesis +of a pleasure in escaping from mental restraint; or on the hypothesis of a +pleasure from relative increase of self-importance, when witnessing the +humiliation of others; it is readily explicable if we consider what, in +such a case, must become of the feeling that existed at the moment the +incongruity arose. A large mass of emotion had been produced; or, to speak +in physiological language, a large portion of the nervous system was in a +state of tension. There was also great expectation with respect to the +further evolution of the scene--a quantity of vague, nascent thought and +emotion, into which the existing quantity of thought and emotion was about +to pass. + +Had there been no interruption, the body of new ideas and feelings next +excited, would have sufficed to absorb the whole of the liberated nervous +energy. But now, this large amount of nervous energy, instead of being +allowed to expend itself in producing an equivalent amount of the new +thoughts and emotions which were nascent, is suddenly checked in its flow. +The channels along which the discharge was about to take place, are closed. +The new channel opened--that afforded by the appearance and proceedings of +the kid--is a small one; the ideas and feelings suggested are not numerous +and massive enough to carry off the nervous energy to be expended. The +excess must therefore discharge itself in some other direction; and in the +way already explained, there results an efflux through the motor nerves to +various classes of the muscles, producing the half-convulsive actions we +term laughter. + +This explanation is in harmony with the fact, that when, among several +persons who witness the same ludicrous occurrence, there are some who do +not laugh; it is because there has arisen in them an emotion not +participated in by the rest, and which is sufficiently massive to absorb +all the nascent excitement. Among the spectators of an awkward tumble, +those who preserve their gravity are those in whom there is excited a +degree of sympathy with the sufferer, sufficiently great to serve as an +outlet for the feeling which the occurrence had turned out of its previous +course. Sometimes anger carries off the arrested current; and so prevents +laughter. An instance of this was lately furnished me by a friend who had +been witnessing the feats at Franconi's. A tremendous leap had just been +made by an acrobat over a number of horses. The clown, seemingly envious of +this success, made ostentatious preparation for doing the like; and then, +taking the preliminary run with immense energy, stopped short on reaching +the first horse, and pretended to wipe some dust from its haunches. In the +majority of the spectators, merriment was excited; but in my friend, wound +up by the expectation of the coming leap to a state of great nervous +tension, the effect of the baulk was to produce indignation. Experience +thus proves what the theory implies: namely, that the discharge of arrested +feelings into the muscular system, takes place only in the absence of other +adequate channels--does not take place if there arise other feelings equal +in amount to those arrested. + +Evidence still more conclusive is at hand. If we contrast the incongruities +which produce laughter with those which do not, we at once see that in the +non-ludicrous ones the unexpected state of feeling aroused, though wholly +different in kind, is not less in quantity or intensity. Among +incongruities that may excite anything but a laugh, Mr. Bain instances--"A +decrepit man under a heavy burden, five loaves and two fishes among a +multitude, and all unfitness and gross disproportion; an instrument out of +tune, a fly in ointment, snow in May, Archimedes studying geometry in a +siege, and all discordant things; a wolf in sheep's clothing, a breach of +bargain, and falsehood in general; the multitude taking the law in their +own hands, and everything of the nature of disorder; a corpse at a feast, +parental cruelty, filial ingratitude, and whatever is unnatural; the entire +catalogue of the vanities given by Solomon, are all incongruous, but they +cause feelings of pain, anger, sadness, loathing, rather than mirth." Now +in these cases, where the totally unlike state of consciousness suddenly +produced, is not inferior in mass to the preceding one, the conditions to +laughter are not fulfilled. As above shown, laughter naturally results only +when consciousness is unawares transferred from great things to small--only +when there is what we call a _descending_ incongruity. + +And now observe, finally, the fact, alike inferable _à priori_ and +illustrated in experience, that an _ascending_ incongruity not only fails +to cause laughter, but works on the muscular system an effect of exactly +the reverse kind. When after something very insignificant there arises +without anticipation something very great, the emotion we call wonder +results; and this emotion is accompanied not by an excitement of the +muscles, but by a relaxation of them. In children and country people, that +falling of the jaw which occurs on witnessing something that is imposing +and unexpected, exemplifies this effect. Persons who have been +wonder-struck at the production of very striking results by a seemingly +inadequate cause, are frequently described as unconsciously dropping the +things they held in their hands. Such are just the effects to be +anticipated. After an average state of consciousness, absorbing but a small +quantity of nervous energy, is aroused without the slightest notice, a +strong emotion of awe, terror, or admiration; joined with the astonishment +due to an apparent want of adequate causation. This new state of +consciousness demands far more nervous energy than that which it has +suddenly replaced; and this increased absorption of nervous energy in +mental changes, involves a temporary diminution of the outflow in other +directions: whence the pendent jaw and the relaxing grasp. + +One further observation is worth making. Among the several sets of channels +into which surplus feeling might be discharged, was named the nervous +system of the viscera. The sudden overflow of an arrested mental +excitement, which, as we have seen, results from a descending incongruity, +must doubtless stimulate not only the muscular system, as we see it does, +but also the internal organs; the heart and stomach must come in for a +share of the discharge. And thus there seems to be a good physiological +basis for the popular notion that mirth-creating excitement facilitates +digestion. + + * * * * * + +Though in doing so I go beyond the boundaries of the immediate topic, I may +fitly point out that the method of inquiry here followed, is one which +enables us to understand various phenomena besides those of laughter. To +show the importance of pursuing it, I will indicate the explanation it +furnishes of another familiar class of facts. + +All know how generally a large amount of emotion disturbs the action of the +intellect, and interferes with the power of expression. A speech delivered +with great facility to tables and chairs, is by no means so easily +delivered to an audience. Every schoolboy can testify that his trepidation, +when standing before a master, has often disabled him from repeating a +lesson which he had duly learnt. In explanation of this we commonly say +that the attention is distracted--that the proper train of ideas is broken +by the intrusion of ideas that are irrelevant. But the question is, in what +manner does unusual emotion produce this effect; and we are here supplied +with a tolerably obvious answer. The repetition of a lesson, or set speech +previously thought out, implies the flow of a very moderate amount of +nervous excitement through a comparatively narrow channel. The thing to be +done is simply to call up in succession certain previously-arranged +ideas--a process in which no great amount of mental energy is expended. +Hence, when there is a large quantity of emotion, which must be discharged +in some direction or other; and when, as usually happens, the restricted +series of intellectual actions to be gone through, does not suffice to +carry it off; there result discharges along other channels besides the one +prescribed: there are aroused various ideas foreign to the train of thought +to be pursued; and these tend to exclude from consciousness those which +should occupy it. + +And now observe the meaning of those bodily actions spontaneously set up +under these circumstances. The school-boy saying his lesson, commonly has +his fingers actively engaged--perhaps in twisting about a broken pen, or +perhaps squeezing the angle of his jacket; and if told to keep his hands +still, he soon again falls into the same or a similar trick. Many anecdotes +are current of public speakers having incurable automatic actions of this +class: barristers who perpetually wound and unwound pieces of tape; members +of parliament ever putting on and taking off their spectacles. So long as +such movements are unconscious, they facilitate the mental actions. At +least this seems a fair inference from the fact that confusion frequently +results from putting a stop to them: witness the case narrated by Sir +Walter Scott of his school-fellow, who became unable to say his lesson +after the removal of the waistcoat-button that he habitually fingered while +in class. But why do they facilitate the mental actions? Clearly because +they draw off a portion of the surplus nervous excitement. If, as above +explained, the quantity of mental energy generated is greater than can find +vent along the narrow channel of thought that is open to it; and if, in +consequence, it is apt to produce confusion by rushing into other channels +of thought; then by allowing it an exit through the motor nerves into the +muscular system, the pressure is diminished, and irrelevant ideas are less +likely to intrude on consciousness. + +This further illustration will, I think, justify the position that +something may be achieved by pursuing in other cases this method of +psychological inquiry. A complete explanation of the phenomena, requires us +to trace out _all_ the consequences of any given state of consciousness; +and we cannot do this without studying the effects, bodily and mental, as +varying in quantity at each other's expense. We should probably learn much +if we in every case asked--Where is all the nervous energy gone? + + + + +V. THE ORIGIN AND FUNCTION OF MUSIC + + +When Carlo, standing, chained to his kennel, sees his master in the +distance, a slight motion of the tail indicates his but faint hope that he +is about to be let out. A much more decided wagging of the tail, passing +by-and-by into lateral undulations of the body, follows his master's nearer +approach. When hands are laid on his collar, and he knows that he is really +to have an outing, his jumping and wriggling are such that it is by no +means easy to loose his fastenings. And when he finds himself actually +free, his joy expends itself in bounds, in pirouettes, and in scourings +hither and thither at the top of his speed. Puss, too, by erecting her +tail, and by every time raising her back to meet the caressing hand of her +mistress, similarly expresses her gratification by certain muscular +actions; as likewise do the parrot by awkward dancing on his perch, and the +canary by hopping and fluttering about his cage with unwonted rapidity. +Under emotions of an opposite kind, animals equally display muscular +excitement. The enraged lion lashes his sides with his tail, knits his +brows, protrudes his claws. The cat sets up her back; the dog retracts his +upper lip; the horse throws back his ears. And in the struggles of +creatures in pain, we see that the like relation holds between excitement +of the muscles and excitement of the nerves of sensation. + +In ourselves, distinguished from lower creatures as we are by feelings +alike more powerful and more varied, parallel facts are at once more +conspicuous and more numerous. We may conveniently look at them in groups. +We shall find that pleasurable sensations and painful sensations, +pleasurable emotions and painful emotions, all tend to produce active +demonstrations in proportion to their intensity. + +In children, and even in adults who are not restrained by regard for +appearances, a highly agreeable taste is followed by a smacking of the +lips. An infant will laugh and bound in its nurse's arms at the sight of a +brilliant colour or the hearing of a new sound. People are apt to beat time +with head or feet to music which particularly pleases them. In a sensitive +person an agreeable perfume will produce a smile; and smiles will be seen +on the faces of a crowd gazing at some splendid burst of fireworks. Even +the pleasant sensation of warmth felt on getting to the fireside out of a +winter's storm, will similarly express itself in the face. + +Painful sensations, being mostly far more intense than pleasurable ones, +cause muscular actions of a much more decided kind. A sudden twinge +produces a convulsive start of the whole body. A pain less violent, but +continuous, is accompanied by a knitting of the brows, a setting of the +teeth or biting of the lip, and a contraction of the features generally. +Under a persistent pain of a severer kind, other muscular actions are +added: the body is swayed to and fro; the hands clench anything they can +lay hold of; and should the agony rise still higher, the sufferer rolls +about on the floor almost convulsed. + +Though more varied, the natural language of the pleasurable emotions comes +within the same generalization. A smile, which is the commonest expression +of gratified feeling, is a contraction of certain facial muscles; and when +the smile broadens into a laugh, we see a more violent and more general +muscular excitement produced by an intenser gratification. Rubbing together +of the hands, and that other motion which Dickens somewhere describes as +"washing with impalpable soap in invisible water," have like implications. +Children may often be seen to "jump for joy." Even in adults of excitable +temperament, an action approaching to it is sometimes witnessed. And +dancing has all the world through been regarded as natural to an elevated +state of mind. Many of the special emotions show themselves in special +muscular actions. The gratification resulting from success, raises the head +and gives firmness to the gait. A hearty grasp of the hand is currently +taken as indicative of friendship. Under a gush of affection the mother +clasps her child to her breast, feeling as though she could squeeze it to +death. And so in sundry other cases. Even in that brightening of the eye +with which good news is received we may trace the same truth; for this +appearance of greater brilliancy is due to an extra contraction of the +muscle which raises the eyelid, and so allows more light to fall upon, and +be reflected from, the wet surface of the eyeball. + +The bodily indications of painful emotions are equally numerous, and still +more vehement. Discontent is shown by raised eyebrows and wrinkled +forehead; disgust by a curl of the lip; offence by a pout. The impatient +man beats a tattoo with his fingers on the table, swings his pendent leg +with increasing rapidity, gives needless pokings to the fire, and presently +paces with hasty strides about the room. In great grief there is wringing +of the hands, and even tearing of the hair. An angry child stamps, or rolls +on its back and kicks its heels in the air; and in manhood, anger, first +showing itself in frowns, in distended nostrils, in compressed lips, goes +on to produce grinding of the teeth, clenching of the fingers, blows of the +fist on the table, and perhaps ends in a violent attack on the offending +person, or in throwing about and breaking the furniture. From that pursing +of the mouth indicative of slight displeasure, up to the frantic struggles +of the maniac, we shall find that mental irritation tends to vent itself in +bodily activity. + +All feelings, then--sensations or emotions, pleasurable or painful--have +this common characteristic, that they are muscular stimuli. Not forgetting +the few apparently exceptional cases in which emotions exceeding a certain +intensity produce prostration, we may set it down as a general law that, +alike in man and animals, there is a direct connection between feeling and +motion; the last growing more vehement as the first grows more intense. +Were it allowable here to treat the matter scientifically, we might trace +this general law down to the principle known among physiologists as that of +_reflex action_.[H] Without doing this, however, the above numerous +instances justify the generalization, that mental excitement of all kinds +ends in excitement of the muscles; and that the two preserve a more or less +constant ratio to each other. + + [H] Those who seek information on this point may find it in an + interesting tract by Mr. Alexander Bain, on _Animal Instinct and + Intelligence_. + + * * * * * + +"But what has all this to do with _The Origin and Function of Music_?" asks +the reader. Very much, as we shall presently see. All music is originally +vocal. All vocal sounds are produced by the agency of certain muscles. +These muscles, in common with those of the body at large, are excited to +contraction by pleasurable and painful feelings. And therefore it is that +feelings demonstrate themselves in sounds as well as in movements. +Therefore it is that Carlo barks as well as leaps when he is let out--that +puss purrs as well as erects her tail--that the canary chirps as well as +flutters. Therefore it is that the angry lion roars while he lashes his +sides, and the dog growls while he retracts his lip. Therefore it is that +the maimed animal not only struggles, but howls. And it is from this cause +that in human beings bodily suffering expresses itself not only in +contortions, but in shrieks and groans--that in anger, and fear, and grief, +the gesticulations are accompanied by shouts and screams--that delightful +sensations are followed by exclamations--and that we hear screams of joy +and shouts of exultation. + +We have here, then, a principle underlying all vocal phenomena; including +those of vocal music, and by consequence those of music in general. The +muscles that move the chest, larynx, and vocal chords, contracting like +other muscles in proportion to the intensity of the feelings; every +different contraction of these muscles involving, as it does, a different +adjustment of the vocal organs; every different adjustment of the vocal +organs causing a change in the sound emitted;--it follows that variations +of voice are the physiological results of variations of feeling; it follows +that each inflection or modulation is the natural outcome of some passing +emotion or sensation; and it follows that the explanation of all kinds of +vocal expression, must be sought in this general relation between mental +and muscular excitements. Let us, then, see whether we cannot thus account +for the chief peculiarities in the utterance of the feelings: grouping +these peculiarities under the heads of _loudness_, _quality_, _or timbre_, +_pitch_, _intervals_, and _rate of variation_. + + * * * * * + +Between the lungs and the organs of voice, there is much the same relation +as between the bellows of an organ and its pipes. And as the loudness of +the sound given out by an organ-pipe increases with the strength of the +blast from the bellows; so, other things equal, the loudness of a vocal +sound increases with the strength of the blast from the lungs. But the +expulsion of air from the lungs is effected by certain muscles of the chest +and abdomen. The force with which these muscles contract, is proportionate +to the intensity of the feeling experienced. Hence, _à priori_, loud sounds +will be the habitual results of strong feelings. That they are so we have +daily proof. The pain which, if moderate, can be borne silently, causes +outcries if it becomes extreme. While a slight vexation makes a child +whimper, a fit of passion calls forth a howl that disturbs the +neighbourhood. When the voices in an adjacent room become unusually +audible, we infer anger, or surprise, or joy. Loudness of applause is +significant of great approbation; and with uproarious mirth we associate +the idea of high enjoyment. Commencing with the silence of apathy, we find +that the utterances grow louder as the sensations or emotions, whether +pleasurable or painful, grow stronger. + +That different _qualities_ of voice accompany different mental states, and +that under states of excitement the tones are more sonorous than usual, is +another general fact admitting of a parallel explanation. The sounds of +common conversation have but little resonance; those of strong feeling have +much more. Under rising ill temper the voice acquires a metallic ring. In +accordance with her constant mood, the ordinary speech of a virago has a +piercing quality quite opposite to that softness indicative of placidity. A +ringing laugh marks an especially joyous temperament. Grief unburdening +itself uses tones approaching in _timbre_ to those of chanting: and in his +most pathetic passages an eloquent speaker similarly falls into tones more +vibratory than those common to him. Now any one may readily convince +himself that resonant vocal sounds can be produced only by a certain +muscular effort additional to that ordinarily needed. If after uttering a +word in his speaking voice, the reader, without changing the pitch or the +loudness, will _sing_ this word, he will perceive that before he can sing +it, he has to alter the adjustment of the vocal organs; to do which a +certain force must be used; and by putting his fingers on that external +prominence marking the top of the larynx, he will have further evidence +that to produce a sonorous tone the organs must be drawn out of their usual +position. Thus, then, the fact that the tones of excited feeling are more +vibratory than those of common conversation, is another instance of the +connexion between mental excitement and muscular excitement. The speaking +voice, the recitative voice, and the singing voice, severally exemplify one +general principle. + +That the _pitch_ of the voice varies according to the action of the vocal +muscles, scarcely needs saying. All know that the middle notes, in which +they converse, are made without any appreciable effort; and all know that +to make either very high or very low notes requires a considerable effort. +In either ascending or descending from the pitch of ordinary speech, we are +conscious of an increasing muscular strain, which, at both extremes of the +register, becomes positively painful. Hence it follows from our general +principle, that while indifference or calmness will use the medium tones, +the tones used during excitement will be either above or below them; and +will rise higher and higher, or fall lower and lower, as the feelings grow +stronger. This physiological deduction we also find to be in harmony with +familiar facts. The habitual sufferer utters his complaints in a voice +raised considerably above the natural key; and agonizing pain vents itself +in either shrieks or groans--in very high or very low notes. Beginning at +his talking pitch, the cry of the disappointed urchin grows more shrill as +it grows louder. The "Oh!" of astonishment or delight, begins several notes +below the middle voice, and descends still lower. Anger expresses itself in +high tones, or else in "curses not loud but _deep_." Deep tones, too, are +always used in uttering strong reproaches. Such an exclamation as "Beware!" +if made dramatically--that is, if made with a show of feeling--must be many +notes lower than ordinary. Further, we have groans of disapprobation, +groans of horror, groans of remorse. And extreme joy and fear are alike +accompanied by shrill outcries. + +Nearly allied to the subject of pitch, is that of _intervals_; and the +explanation of them carries our argument a step further. While calm speech +is comparatively monotonous, emotion makes use of fifths, octaves, and even +wider intervals. Listen to any one narrating or repeating something in +which he has no interest, and his voice will not wander more than two or +three notes above or below his medium note, and that by small steps; but +when he comes to some exciting event he will be heard not only to use the +higher and lower notes of his register, but to go from one to the other by +larger leaps. Being unable in print to imitate these traits of feeling, we +feel some difficulty in fully realizing them to the reader. But we may +suggest a few remembrances which will perhaps call to mind a sufficiency of +others. If two men living in the same place, and frequently seeing one +another, meet, say at a public assembly, any phrase with which one may be +heard to accost the other--as "Hallo, are you here?"--will have an ordinary +intonation. But if one of them, after long absence, has unexpectedly +returned, the expression of surprise with which his friend may greet +him--"Hallo! how came you here?"--will be uttered in much more strongly +contrasted tones. The two syllables of the word "Hallo" will be, the one +much higher and the other much lower than before; and the rest of the +sentence will similarly ascend and descend by longer steps. + +Again, if, supposing her to be in an adjoining room, the mistress of the +house calls "Mary," the two syllables of the name will be spoken in an +ascending interval of a third. If Mary does not reply, the call will be +repeated probably in a descending fifth; implying the slightest shade of +annoyance at Mary's inattention. Should Mary still make no answer, the +increasing annoyance will show itself by the use of a descending octave on +the next repetition of the call. And supposing the silence to continue, the +lady, if not of a very even temper, will show her irritation at Mary's +seemingly intentional negligence by finally calling her in tones still more +widely contrasted--the first syllable being higher and the last lower than +before. + +Now, these and analogous facts, which the reader will readily accumulate, +clearly conform to the law laid down. For to make large intervals requires +more muscular action than to make small ones. But not only is the _extent_ +of vocal intervals thus explicable as due to the relation between nervous +and muscular excitement, but also in some degree their _direction_, as +ascending or descending. The middle notes being those which demand no +appreciable effort of muscular adjustment; and the effort becoming greater +as we either ascend or descend; it follows that a departure from the middle +notes in either direction will mark increasing emotion; while a return +towards the middle notes will mark decreasing emotion. Hence it happens +that an enthusiastic person uttering such a sentence as--"It was the most +splendid sight I ever saw!" will ascend to the first syllable of the word +"splendid," and thence will descend: the word "splendid" marking the climax +of the feeling produced by the recollection. Hence, again, it happens that, +under some extreme vexation produced by another's stupidity, an irascible +man, exclaiming--"What a confounded fool the fellow is!" will begin +somewhat below his middle voice, and descending to the word "fool," which +he will utter in one of his deepest notes, will then ascend again. And it +may be remarked, that the word "fool" will not only be deeper and louder +than the rest, but will also have more emphasis of articulation--another +mode in which muscular excitement is shown. + +There is some danger, however, in giving instances like this; seeing that +as the mode of rendering will vary according to the intensity of the +feeling which the reader feigns to himself, the right cadence may not be +hit upon. With single words there is less difficulty. Thus the "Indeed!" +with which a surprising fact is received, mostly begins on the middle note +of the voice, and rises with the second syllable; or, if disapprobation as +well as astonishment is felt, the first syllable will be below the middle +note, and the second lower still. Conversely, the word "Alas!" which marks +not the rise of a paroxysm of grief, but its decline, is uttered in a +cadence descending towards the middle note; or, if the first syllable is in +the lower part of the register, the second ascends towards the middle note. +In the "Heigh-ho!" expressive of mental and muscular prostration, we may +see the same truth; and if the cadence appropriate to it be inverted the +absurdity of the effect clearly shows how the meaning of intervals is +dependent on the principle we have been illustrating. + +The remaining characteristic of emotional speech which we have to notice is +that of _variability of pitch_. It is scarcely possible here to convey +adequate ideas of this more complex manifestation. We must be content with +simply indicating some occasions on which it may be observed. On a meeting +of friends, for instance--as when there arrives a party of much-wished-for +visitors--the voices of all will be heard to undergo changes of pitch not +only greater but much more numerous than usual. If a speaker at a public +meeting is interrupted by some squabble among those he is addressing, his +comparatively level tones will be in marked contrast with the rapidly +changing one of the disputants. And among children, whose feelings are less +under control than those of adults, this peculiarity is still more decided. +During a scene of complaint and recrimination between two excitable little +girls, the voices may be heard to run up and down the gamut several times +in each sentence. In such cases we once more recognise the same law: for +muscular excitement is shown not only in strength of contraction but also +in the rapidity with which different muscular adjustments succeed each +other. + +Thus we find all the leading vocal phenomena to have a physiological basis. +They are so many manifestations of the general law that feeling is a +stimulus to muscular action--a law conformed to throughout the whole +economy, not of man only, but of every sensitive creature--a law, +therefore, which lies deep in the nature of animal organization. The +expressiveness of these various modifications of voice is therefore innate. +Each of us, from babyhood upwards, has been spontaneously making them, when +under the various sensations and emotions by which they are produced. +Having been conscious of each feeling at the same time that we heard +ourselves make the consequent sound, we have acquired an established +association of ideas between such sound and the feeling which caused it. +When the like sound is made by another, we ascribe the like feeling to him; +and by a further consequence we not only ascribe to him that feeling, but +have a certain degree of it aroused in ourselves: for to become conscious +of the feeling which another is experiencing, is to have that feeling +awakened in our own consciousness, which is the same thing as experiencing +the feeling. Thus these various modifications of voice become not only a +language through which we understand the emotions of others, but also the +means of exciting our sympathy with such emotions. + +Have we not here, then, adequate data for a theory of music? These vocal +peculiarities which indicate excited feeling, _are those which especially +distinguish song from ordinary speech_. Every one of the alterations of +voice which we have found to be a physiological result of pain or pleasure, +_is carried to its greatest extreme in vocal music_. For instance, we saw +that, in virtue of the general relation between mental and muscular +excitement, one characteristic of passionate utterance is _loudness_. Well, +its comparative loudness is one of the distinctive marks of song as +contrasted with the speech of daily life; and further, the _forte_ passages +of an air are those intended to represent the climax of its emotion. We +next saw that the tones in which emotion expresses itself, are, in +conformity with this same law, of a more sonorous _timbre_ than those of +calm conversation. Here, too, song displays a still higher degree of the +peculiarity; for the singing tone is the most resonant we can make. Again, +it was shown that, from a like cause, mental excitement vents itself in the +higher and lower notes of the register; using the middle notes but seldom. +And it scarcely needs saying that vocal music is still more distinguished +by its comparative neglect of the notes in which we talk, and its habitual +use of those above or below them and, moreover, that its most passionate +effects are commonly produced at the two extremities of its scale, but +especially the upper one. + +A yet further trait of strong feeling, similarly accounted for, was the +employment of larger intervals than are employed in common converse. This +trait, also, every ballad and _aria_ carries to an extent beyond that heard +in the spontaneous utterances of emotion: add to which, that the direction +of these intervals, which, as diverging from or converging towards the +medium tones, we found to be physiologically expressive of increasing or +decreasing emotion, may be observed to have in music like meanings. Once +more, it was pointed out that not only extreme but also rapid variations of +pitch, are characteristic of mental excitement; and once more we see in the +quick changes of every melody, that song carries the characteristic as far, +if not farther. Thus, in respect alike of _loudness_, _timbre_, _pitch_, +_intervals_, and _rate of variation_, song employs and exaggerates the +natural language of the emotions;--it arises from a systematic combination +of those vocal peculiarities which are the physiological effects of acute +pleasure and pain. + +Besides these chief characteristics of song as distinguished from common +speech, there are sundry minor ones similarly explicable as due to the +relation between mental and muscular excitement; and before proceeding +further, these should be briefly noticed. Thus, certain passions, and +perhaps all passions when pushed to an extreme, produce (probably through +their influence over the action of the heart) an effect the reverse of that +which has been described: they cause a physical prostration, one symptom of +which is a general relaxation of the muscles, and a consequent trembling. +We have the trembling of anger, of fear, of hope, of joy; and the vocal +muscles being implicated with the rest, the voice too becomes tremulous. +Now, in singing, this tremulousness of voice is very effectively used by +some vocalists in highly pathetic passages; sometimes, indeed, because of +its effectiveness, too much used by them--as by Tamberlik, for instance. + +Again, there is a mode of musical execution known as the _staccato_, +appropriate to energetic passages--to passages expressive of exhilaration, +of resolution, of confidence. The action of the vocal muscles which +produces this staccato style, is analogous to the muscular action which +produces the sharp, decisive, energetic movements of body indicating these +states of mind; and therefore it is that the staccato style has the meaning +we ascribe to it. Conversely, slurred intervals are expressive of gentler +and less active feelings; and are so because they imply the smaller +muscular vivacity due to a lower mental energy. The difference of effect +resulting from difference of _time_ in music, is also attributable to the +same law. Already it has been pointed out that the more frequent changes of +pitch which ordinarily result from passion, are imitated and developed in +song; and here we have to add, that the various rates of such changes, +appropriate to the different styles of music, are further traits having the +same derivation. The slowest movements, _largo_ and _adagio_, are used +where such depressing emotions as grief, or such unexciting emotions as +reverence, are to be portrayed; while the more rapid movements, _andante_, +_allegro_, _presto_, represent successively increasing degrees of mental +vivacity; and do this because they imply that muscular activity which flows +from this mental vivacity. Even the _rhythm_, which forms a remaining +distinction between song and speech, may not improbably have a kindred +cause. Why the actions excited by strong feeling should tend to become +rhythmical, is not very obvious; but that they do so there are divers +evidences. There is the swaying of the body to and fro under pain or grief, +of the leg under impatience or agitation. Dancing, too, is a rhythmical +action natural to elevated emotion. That under excitement speech acquires a +certain rhythm, we may occasionally perceive in the highest efforts of an +orator. In poetry, which is a form of speech used for the better expression +of emotional ideas, we have this rhythmical tendency developed. And when we +bear in mind that dancing, poetry, and music are connate--are originally +constituent parts of the same thing, it becomes clear that the measured +movement common to them all implies a rhythmical action of the whole +system, the vocal apparatus included; and that so the rhythm of music is a +more subtle and complex result of this relation between mental and muscular +excitement. + +But it is time to end this analysis, which, possibly we have already +carried too far. It is not to be supposed that the more special +peculiarities of musical expression are to be definitely explained. Though +probably they may all in some way conform to the principle that has been +worked out, it is obviously impracticable to trace that principle in its +more ramified applications. Nor is it needful to our argument that it +should be so traced. The foregoing facts sufficiently prove that what we +regard as the distinctive traits of song, are simply the traits of +emotional speech intensified and systematized. In respect of its general +characteristics, we think it has been made clear that vocal music, and by +consequence all music, is an idealization of the natural language of +passion. + + * * * * * + +As far as it goes, the scanty evidence furnished by history confirms this +conclusion. Note first the fact (not properly an historical one, but fitly +grouped with such) that the dance-chants of savage tribes are very +monotonous; and in virtue of their monotony are much more nearly allied to +ordinary speech than are the songs of civilized races. Joining with this +the fact that there are still extant among boatmen and others in the East, +ancient chants of a like monotonous character, we may infer that vocal +music originally diverged from emotional speech in a gradual, unobtrusive +manner; and this is the inference to which our argument points. Further +evidence to the same effect is supplied by Greek history. The early poems +of the Greeks--which, be it remembered, were sacred legends embodied in +that rhythmical, metaphorical language which strong feeling excites--were +not recited, but chanted: the tones and the cadences were made musical by +the same influences which made the speech poetical. + +By those who have investigated the matter, this chanting is believed to +have been not what we call singing, but nearly allied to our recitative; +(far simpler indeed, if we may judge from the fact that the early Greek +lyre, which had but _four_ strings, was played in _unison_ with the voice, +which was therefore confined to four notes;) and as such, much less remote +from common speech than our own singing is. For recitative, or musical +recitation, is in all respects intermediate between speech and song. Its +average effects are not so _loud_ as those of song. Its tones are less +sonorous in _timbre_ than those of song. Commonly it diverges to a smaller +extent from the middle notes--uses notes neither so high nor so low in +_pitch_. The _intervals_ habitual to it are neither so wide nor so varied. +Its _rate of variation_ is not so rapid. And at the same time that its +primary _rhythm_ is less decided, it has none of that secondary rhythm +produced by recurrence of the same or parallel musical phrases, which is +one of the marked characteristics of song. Thus, then, we may not only +infer, from the evidence furnished by existing barbarous tribes, that the +vocal music of pre-historic times was emotional speech very slightly +exalted; but we see that the earliest vocal music of which we have any +account, differed much less from emotional speech than does the vocal music +of our days. + +That recitative--beyond which, by the way, the Chinese and Hindoos seem +never to have advanced--grew naturally out of the modulations and cadences +of strong feeling, we have indeed still current evidence. There are even +now to be met with occasions on which strong feeling vents itself in this +form. Whoever has been present when a meeting of Quakers was addressed by +one of their preachers (whose practice it is to speak only under the +influence of religious emotion), must have been struck by the quite unusual +tones, like those of a subdued chant, in which the address was made. It is +clear, too, that the intoning used in some churches, is representative of +this same mental state; and has been adopted on account of the +instinctively felt congruity between it and the contrition, supplication, +or reverence verbally expressed. + + * * * * * + +And if, as we have good reason to believe, recitative arose by degrees out +of emotional speech, it becomes manifest that by a continuance of the same +process song has arisen out of recitative. Just as, from the orations and +legends of savages, expressed in the metaphorical, allegorical style +natural to them, there sprung epic poetry, out of which lyric poetry was +afterwards developed; so, from the exalted tones and cadences in which such +orations and legends were delivered, came the chant or recitative music, +from whence lyrical music has since grown up. And there has not only thus +been a simultaneous and parallel genesis, but there is also a parallelism +of results. For lyrical poetry differs from epic poetry, just as lyrical +music differs from recitative: each still further intensifies the natural +language of the emotions. Lyrical poetry is more metaphorical, more +hyperbolic, more elliptical, and adds the rhythm of lines to the rhythm of +feet; just as lyrical music is louder, more sonorous, more extreme in its +intervals, and adds the rhythm of phrases to the rhythm of bars. And the +known fact that out of epic poetry the stronger passions developed lyrical +poetry as their appropriate vehicle, strengthens the inference that they +similarly developed lyrical music out of recitative. + +Nor indeed are we without evidences of the transition. It needs but to +listen to an opera to hear the leading gradations. Between the +comparatively level recitative of ordinary dialogue, the more varied +recitative with wider intervals and higher tones used in exciting scenes, +the still more musical recitative which preludes an air, and the air +itself, the successive steps are but small; and the fact that among airs +themselves gradations of like nature may be traced, further confirms the +conclusion that the highest form of vocal music was arrived at by degrees. + +Moreover, we have some clue to the influences which have induced this +development; and may roughly conceive the process of it. As the tones, +intervals, and cadences of strong emotion were the elements out of which +song was elaborated; so, we may expect to find that still stronger emotion +produced the elaboration: and we have evidence implying this. Instances in +abundance may be cited, showing that musical composers are men of extremely +acute sensibilities. The Life of Mozart depicts him as one of intensely +active affections and highly impressionable temperament. Various anecdotes +represent Beethoven as very susceptible and very passionate. Mendelssohn is +described by those who knew him to have been full of fine feeling. And the +almost incredible sensitiveness of Chopin has been illustrated in the +memoirs of George Sand. An unusually emotional nature being thus the +general characteristic of musical composers, we have in it just the agency +required for the development of recitative and song. Intenser feeling +producing intenser manifestations, any cause of excitement will call forth +from such a nature, tones and changes of voice more marked than those +called forth from an ordinary nature--will generate just those +exaggerations which we have found to distinguish the lower vocal music from +emotional speech, and the higher vocal music from the lower. Thus it +becomes credible that the four-toned recitative of the early Greek poets +(like all poets, nearly allied to composers in the comparative intensity of +their feelings), was really nothing more than the slightly exaggerated +emotional speech natural to them, which grew by frequent use into an +organized form. And it is readily conceivable that the accumulated agency +of subsequent poet-musicians, inheriting and adding to the products of +those who went before them, sufficed, in the course of the ten centuries +which we know it took, to develope this four-toned recitative into a vocal +music having a range of two octaves. + +Not only may we so understand how more sonorous tones, greater extremes of +pitch, and wider intervals, were gradually introduced; but also how there +arose a greater variety and complexity of musical expression. For this same +passionate, enthusiastic temperament, which naturally leads the musical +composer to express the feelings possessed by others as well as himself, in +extremer intervals and more marked cadences than they would use, also leads +him to give musical utterance to feelings which they either do not +experience, or experience in but slight degrees. In virtue of this general +susceptibility which distinguishes him, he regards with emotion, events, +scenes, conduct, character, which produce upon most men no appreciable +effect. The emotions so generated, compounded as they are of the simpler +emotions, are not expressible by intervals and cadences natural to these, +but by combinations of such intervals and cadences: whence arise more +involved musical phrases, conveying more complex, subtle, and unusual +feelings. And thus we may in some measure understand how it happens that +music not only so strongly excites our more familiar feelings, but also +produces feelings we never had before--arouses dormant sentiments of which +we had not conceived the possibility and do not know the meaning; or, as +Richter says--tells us of things we have not seen and shall not see. + + * * * * * + +Indirect evidences of several kinds remain to be briefly pointed out. One +of them is the difficulty, not to say impossibility, of otherwise +accounting for the expressiveness of music. Whence comes it that special +combinations of notes should have special effects upon our emotions?--that +one should give us a feeling of exhilaration, another of melancholy, +another of affection, another of reverence? Is it that these special +combinations have intrinsic meanings apart from the human +constitution?--that a certain number of aerial waves per second, followed +by a certain other number, in the nature of things signify grief, while in +the reverse order they signify joy; and similarly with all other intervals, +phrases, and cadences? Few will be so irrational as to think this. Is it, +then, that the meanings of these special combinations are conventional +only?--that we learn their implications, as we do those of words, by +observing how others understand them? This is an hypothesis not only devoid +of evidence, but directly opposed to the experience of every one. How, +then, are musical effects to be explained? If the theory above set forth be +accepted, the difficulty disappears. If music, taking for its raw material +the various modifications of voice which are the physiological results of +excited feeling, intensifies, combines, and complicates them--if it +exaggerates the loudness, the resonance, the pitch, the intervals, and the +variability, which, in virtue of an organic law, are the characteristics of +passionate speech--if, by carrying out these further, more consistently, +more unitedly, and more sustainedly, it produces an idealized language of +emotion; then its power over us becomes comprehensible. But in the absence +of this theory, the expressiveness of music appears to be inexplicable. + +Again, the preference we feel for certain qualities of sound presents a +like difficulty, admitting only of a like solution. It is generally agreed +that the tones of the human voice are more pleasing than any others. Grant +that music takes its rise from the modulations of the human voice under +emotion, and it becomes a natural consequence that the tones of that voice +should appeal to our feelings more than any others; and so should be +considered more beautiful than any others. But deny that music has this +origin, and the only alternative is the untenable position that the +vibrations proceeding from a vocalist's throat are, objectively considered, +of a higher order than those from a horn or a violin. Similarly with harsh +and soft sounds. If the conclusiveness of the foregoing reasonings be not +admitted, it must be supposed that the vibrations causing the last are +intrinsically better than those causing the first; and that, in virtue of +some pre-established harmony, the higher feelings and natures produce the +one, and the lower the other. But if the foregoing reasonings be valid, it +follows, as a matter of course, that we shall like the sounds that +habitually accompany agreeable feelings, and dislike those that habitually +accompany disagreeable feelings. + +Once more, the question--How is the expressiveness of music to be otherwise +accounted for? may be supplemented by the question--How is the genesis of +music to be otherwise accounted for? That music is a product of +civilization is manifest; for though savages have their dance-chants, these +are of a kind scarcely to be dignified by the title musical: at most, they +supply but the vaguest rudiment of music, properly so called. And if music +has been by slow steps developed in the course of civilization, it must +have been developed out of something. If, then, its origin is not that +above alleged, what is its origin? + +Thus we find that the negative evidence confirms the positive, and that, +taken together, they furnish strong proof. We have seen that there is a +physiological relation, common to man and all animals, between feeling and +muscular action; that as vocal sounds are produced by muscular action, +there is a consequent physiological relation between feeling and vocal +sounds; that all the modifications of voice expressive of feeling are the +direct results of this physiological relation; that music, adopting all +these modifications, intensifies them more and more as it ascends to its +higher and higher forms, and becomes music simply in virtue of thus +intensifying them; that, from the ancient epic poet chanting his verses, +down to the modern musical composer, men of unusually strong feelings prone +to express them in extreme forms, have been naturally the agents of these +successive intensifications; and that so there has little by little arisen +a wide divergence between this idealized language of emotion and its +natural language: to which direct evidence we have just added the +indirect--that on no other tenable hypothesis can either the expressiveness +or the genesis of music be explained. + + * * * * * + +And now, what is the _function_ of music? Has music any effect beyond the +immediate pleasure it produces? Analogy suggests that it has. The +enjoyments of a good dinner do not end with themselves, but minister to +bodily well-being. Though people do not marry with a view to maintain the +race, yet the passions which impel them to marry secure its maintenance. +Parental affection is a feeling which, while it conduces to parental +happiness, ensures the nurture of offspring. Men love to accumulate +property, often without thought of the benefits it produces; but in +pursuing the pleasure of acquisition they indirectly open the way to other +pleasures. The wish for public approval impels all of us to do many things +which we should otherwise not do,--to undertake great labours, face great +dangers, and habitually rule ourselves in a way that smooths social +intercourse: that is, in gratifying our love of approbation we subserve +divers ulterior purposes. And, generally, our nature is such that in +fulfilling each desire, we in some way facilitate the fulfilment of the +rest. But the love of music seems to exist for its own sake. The delights +of melody and harmony do not obviously minister to the welfare either of +the individual or of society. May we not suspect, however, that this +exception is apparent only? Is it not a rational inquiry--What are the +indirect benefits which accrue from music, in addition to the direct +pleasure it gives? + +But that it would take us too far out of our track, we should prelude this +inquiry by illustrating at some length a certain general law of +progress;--the law that alike in occupations, sciences, arts, the divisions +that had a common root, but by continual divergence have become distinct, +and are now being separately developed, are not truly independent, but +severally act and react on each other to their mutual advancement. Merely +hinting thus much, however, by way of showing that there are many analogies +to justify us, we go on to express the opinion that there exists a +relationship of this kind between music and speech. + +All speech is compounded of two elements, the words and the tones in which +they are uttered--the signs of ideas and the signs of feelings. While +certain articulations express the thought, certain vocal sounds express the +more or less of pain or pleasure which the thought gives. Using the word +_cadence_ in an unusually extended sense, as comprehending all +modifications of voice, we may say that _cadence is the commentary of the +emotions upon the propositions of the intellect_. This duality of spoken +language, though not formally recognised, is recognised in practice by +every one; and every one knows that very often more weight attaches to the +tones than to the words. Daily experience supplies cases in which the same +sentence of disapproval will be understood as meaning little or meaning +much, according to the inflections of voice which accompany it; and daily +experience supplies still more striking cases in which words and tones are +in direct contradiction--the first expressing consent, while the last +express reluctance; and the last being believed rather than the first. + +These two distinct but interwoven elements of speech have been undergoing a +simultaneous development. We know that in the course of civilization words +have been multiplied, new parts of speech have been introduced, sentences +have grown more varied and complex; and we may fairly infer that during the +same time new modifications of voice have come into use, fresh intervals +have been adopted, and cadences have become more elaborate. For while, on +the one hand, it is absurd to suppose that, along with the undeveloped +verbal forms of barbarism, there existed a developed system of vocal +inflections; it is, on the other hand, necessary to suppose that, along +with the higher and more numerous verbal forms needed to convey the +multiplied and complicated ideas of civilized life, there have grown up +those more involved changes of voice which express the feelings proper to +such ideas. If intellectual language is a growth, so also, without doubt, +is emotional language a growth. + +Now, the hypothesis which we have hinted above, is, that beyond the direct +pleasure which it gives, music has the indirect effect of developing this +language of the emotions. Having its root, as we have endeavoured to show, +in those tones, intervals, and cadences of speech which express +feeling--arising by the combination and intensifying of these, and coming +finally to have an embodiment of its own; music has all along been reacting +upon speech, and increasing its power of rendering emotion. The use in +recitative and song of inflections more expressive than ordinary ones, must +from the beginning have tended to develope the ordinary ones. Familiarity +with the more varied combinations of tones that occur in vocal music, can +scarcely have failed to give greater variety of combination to the tones in +which we utter our impressions and desires. The complex musical phrases by +which composers have conveyed complex emotions, may rationally be supposed +to have influenced us in making those involved cadences of conversation by +which we convey our subtler thoughts and feelings. + +That the cultivation of music has no effect on the mind, few will be absurd +enough to contend. And if it has an effect, what more natural effect is +there than this of developing our perception of the meanings of +inflections, qualities, and modulations of voice; and giving us a +correspondingly increased power of using them? Just as mathematics, taking +its start from the phenomena of physics and astronomy, and presently coming +to be a separate science, has since reacted on physics and astronomy to +their immense advancement--just as chemistry, first arising out of the +processes of metallurgy and the industrial arts, and gradually growing into +an independent study, has now become an aid to all kinds of +production--just as physiology, originating out of medicine and once +subordinate to it, but latterly pursued for its own sake, is in our day +coming to be the science on which the progress of medicine depends;--so, +music, having its root in emotional language, and gradually evolved from +it, has ever been reacting upon and further advancing it. Whoever will +examine the facts, will find this hypothesis to be in harmony with the +method of civilization everywhere displayed. + +It will scarcely be expected that much direct evidence in support of this +conclusion can be given. The facts are of a kind which it is difficult to +measure, and of which we have no records. Some suggestive traits, however, +may be noted. May we not say, for instance, that the Italians, among whom +modern music was earliest cultivated, and who have more especially +practised and excelled in melody (the division of music with which our +argument is chiefly concerned)--may we not say that these Italians speak in +more varied and expressive inflections and cadences than any other nation? +On the other hand, may we not say that, confined almost exclusively as they +have hitherto been to their national airs, which have a marked family +likeness, and therefore accustomed to but a limited range of musical +expression, the Scotch are unusually monotonous in the intervals and +modulations of their speech? And again, do we not find among different +classes of the same nation, differences that have like implications? The +gentleman and the clown stand in very decided contrast with respect to +variety of intonation. Listen to the conversation of a servant-girl, and +then to that of a refined, accomplished lady, and the more delicate and +complex changes of voice used by the latter will be conspicuous. Now, +without going so far as to say that out of all the differences of culture +to which the upper and lower classes are subjected, difference of musical +culture is that to which alone this difference of speech is ascribable; yet +we may fairly say that there seems a much more obvious connexion of cause +and effect between these than between any others. Thus, while the inductive +evidence to which we can appeal is but scanty and vague, yet what there is +favours our position. + + * * * * * + +Probably most will think that the function here assigned to music is one of +very little moment. But further reflection may lead them to a contrary +conviction. In its bearings upon human happiness, we believe that this +emotional language which musical culture developes and refines, is only +second in importance to the language of the intellect; perhaps not even +second to it. For these modifications of voice produced by feelings, are +the means of exciting like feelings in others. Joined with gestures and +expressions of face, they give life to the otherwise dead words in which +the intellect utters its ideas; and so enable the hearer not only to +_understand_ the state of mind they accompany, but to _partake_ of that +state. In short, they are the chief media of _sympathy_. And if we consider +how much both our general welfare and our immediate pleasures depend upon +sympathy, we shall recognise the importance of whatever makes this sympathy +greater. If we bear in mind that by their fellow-feeling men are led to +behave justly, kindly and considerately to each other--that the difference +between the cruelty of the barbarous and the humanity of the civilized, +results from the increase of fellow-feeling; if we bear in mind that this +faculty which makes us sharers in the joys and sorrows of others, is the +basis of all the higher affections--that in friendship, love, and all +domestic pleasures, it is an essential element; if we bear in mind how much +our direct gratifications are intensified by sympathy,--how, at the +theatre, the concert, the picture gallery, we lose half our enjoyment if we +have no one to enjoy with us; if, in short, we bear in mind that for all +happiness beyond what the unfriended recluse can have, we are indebted to +this same sympathy;--we shall see that the agencies which communicate it +can scarcely be overrated in value. + +The tendency of civilization is more and more to repress the antagonistic +elements of our characters and to develope the social ones--to curb our +purely selfish desires and exercise our unselfish ones--to replace private +gratifications by gratifications resulting from, or involving, the +happiness of others. And while, by this adaptation to the social state, the +sympathetic side of our nature is being unfolded, there is simultaneously +growing up a language of sympathetic intercourse--a language through which +we communicate to others the happiness we feel, and are made sharers in +their happiness. + +This double process, of which the effects are already sufficiently +appreciable, must go on to an extent of which we can as yet have no +adequate conception. The habitual concealment of our feelings diminishing, +as it must, in proportion as our feelings become such as do not demand +concealment, we may conclude that the exhibition of them will become much +more vivid than we now dare allow it to be; and this implies a more +expressive emotional language. At the same time, feelings of a higher and +more complex kind, as yet experienced only by the cultivated few, will +become general; and there will be a corresponding development of the +emotional language into more involved forms. Just as there has silently +grown up a language of ideas, which, rude as it at first was, now enables +us to convey with precision the most subtle and complicated thoughts; so, +there is still silently growing up a language of feelings, which +notwithstanding its present imperfection, we may expect will ultimately +enable men vividly and completely to impress on each other all the emotions +which they experience from moment to moment. + +Thus if, as we have endeavoured to show, it is the function of music to +facilitate the development of this emotional language, we may regard music +as an aid to the achievement of that higher happiness which it indistinctly +shadows forth. Those vague feelings of unexperienced felicity which music +arouses--those indefinite impressions of an unknown ideal life which it +calls up, may be considered as a prophecy, to the fulfilment of which music +is itself partly instrumental. The strange capacity which we have for being +so affected by melody and harmony, may be taken to imply both that it is +within the possibilities of our nature to realize those intenser delights +they dimly suggest, and that they are in some way concerned in the +realization of them. On this supposition the power and the meaning of music +become comprehensible; but otherwise they are a mystery. + +We will only add, that if the probability of these corollaries be admitted, +then music must take rank as the highest of the fine arts--as the one +which, more than any other, ministers to human welfare. And thus, even +leaving out of view the immediate gratifications it is hourly giving, we +cannot too much applaud that progress of musical culture which is becoming +one of the characteristics of our age. + + + + +VI. THE NEBULAR HYPOTHESIS. + + +Inquiring into the pedigree of an idea is not a bad means of roughly +estimating its value. To have come of respectable ancestry, is _primâ +facie_ evidence of worth in a belief as in a person; while to be descended +from a discreditable stock is, in the one case as in the other, an +unfavorable index. The analogy is not a mere fancy. Beliefs, together with +those who hold them, are modified little by little in successive +generations; and as the modifications which successive generations of the +holders undergo, do not destroy the original type, but only disguise and +refine it, so the accompanying alterations of belief, however much they +purify, leave behind the essence of the original belief. + +Considered genealogically, the received theory respecting the creation of +the Solar System is unmistakeably of low origin. You may clearly trace it +back to primitive mythologies. Its remotest ancestor is the doctrine that +the celestial bodies are personages who originally lived on the Earth--a +doctrine still held by some of the negroes Livingstone visited. Science +having divested the sun and planets of their divine personalities, this old +idea was succeeded by the idea which even Kepler entertained, that the +planets are guided in their courses by presiding spirits: no longer +themselves gods, they are still severally kept in their orbits by gods. And +when gravitation came to dispense with these celestial steersmen, there was +begotten a belief, less gross than its parent, but partaking of the same +essential nature, that the planets were originally launched into their +orbits from the Creator's hand. Evidently, though much refined, the +anthropomorphism of the current hypothesis is inherited from the aboriginal +anthropomorphism, which described gods as a stronger order of men. + +There is an antagonist hypothesis which does not propose to honour the +Unknown Power manifested in the Universe, by such titles as "The +Master-Builder," or "The Great Artificer;" but which regards this Unknown +Power as probably working after a method quite different from that of human +mechanics. And the genealogy of this hypothesis is as high as that of the +other is low. It is begotten by that ever-enlarging and ever-strengthening +belief in the presence of Law, which accumulated experiences have gradually +produced in the human mind. From generation to generation Science has been +proving uniformities of relation among phenomena which were before thought +either fortuitous or supernatural in their origin--has been showing an +established order and a constant causation where ignorance had assumed +irregularity and arbitrariness. Each further discovery of Law has increased +the presumption that Law is everywhere conformed to. And hence, among other +beliefs, has arisen the belief that the Solar System originated, not by +_manufacture_ but by _evolution_. Besides its abstract parentage in those +grand general conceptions which positive Science has generated, this +hypothesis has a concrete parentage of the highest character. Based as it +is on the law of universal gravitation, it may claim for its remote +progenitor the great thinker who established that law. The man who gave it +its general shape, by promulgating the doctrine that stars result from the +aggregation of diffused matter, was the most diligent, careful, and +original astronomical observer of modern times. And the world has not seen +a more learned mathematician than the man who, setting out with this +conception of diffused matter concentrating towards its centre of gravity, +pointed out the way in which there would arise, in the course of its +concentration, a balanced group of sun, planets, and satellites, like that +of which the Earth is a member. + +Thus, even were there but little direct evidence assignable for the Nebular +Hypothesis, the probability of its truth would still be strong. Its own +high derivation and the low derivation of the antagonist hypothesis, would +together form a weighty reason for accepting it--at any rate, +provisionally. But the direct evidence assignable for the Nebular +Hypothesis is by no means little. It is far greater in quantity, and more +varied in kind, than is commonly supposed. Much has been said here and +there on this or that class of evidences; but nowhere, as far as we know, +have all the evidences, even of one class, been fully stated; and still +less has there been an adequate statement of the several groups of +evidences in their _ensemble_. We propose here to do something towards +supplying the deficiency: believing that, joined with the _à priori_ +reasons given above, the array of _à posteriori_ reasons will leave little +doubt in the mind of any candid inquirer. + +And first, let us address ourselves to those recent discoveries in stellar +astronomy, which have been supposed to conflict with this celebrated +speculation. + + * * * * * + +When Sir William Herschel, directing his great reflector to various +nebulous spots, found them resolvable into clusters of stars, he inferred, +and for a time maintained, that all nebulous spots are clusters of stars +exceedingly remote from us. But after years of conscientious investigation, +he concluded that "there were nebulosities which are not of a starry +nature;" and on this conclusion was based his hypothesis of a diffused +luminous fluid, which by its eventual aggregation, produced stars. A +telescopic power much exceeding that used by Herschel, has enabled Lord +Rosse to resolve some of the nebulæ previously unresolved; and, returning +to the conclusion which Herschel first formed on similar grounds but +afterwards rejected, many astronomers have assumed that, under sufficiently +high powers, every nebula would be decomposed into stars--that the +resolvability is solely a question of distance. The hypothesis now commonly +entertained is, that all nebulæ are galaxies more or less like in nature to +that immediately surrounding us; but that they are so inconceivably remote, +as to look, through an ordinary telescope, like small faint spots. And not +a few have drawn the corollary, that by the discoveries of Lord Rosse the +Nebular Hypothesis has been disproved. + +Now, even supposing that these inferences respecting the distances and +natures of the nebulæ are valid, they leave the Nebular Hypothesis +substantially as it was. Admitting that each of those faint spots is a +sidereal system, so far removed that its countless stars give less light +than one small star of our own sidereal system; the admission is in no way +inconsistent with the belief, that stars and their attendant planets have +been formed by the aggregation of nebulous matter. Though, doubtless, if +the existence of nebulous matter now in course of concentration be +disproved, one of the evidences of the Nebular Hypothesis is destroyed; yet +the remaining evidences remain just as they were. It is a perfectly tenable +position, that though nebular condensation is now nowhere to be seen in +progress, yet it was once going on universally. And, indeed, it might be +argued that the still-continued existence of diffused nebulous matter is +scarcely to be expected; seeing that the causes which have resulted in the +aggregation of one mass, must have been acting on all masses, and that +hence the existence of masses not aggregated would be a fact calling for +explanation. Thus, granting the immediate conclusions suggested by these +recent disclosures of the six-feet reflector, the corollary which many have +drawn is inadmissible. + +But we do not grant these conclusions. Receiving them though we have, for +years past, as established truths, a critical examination of the facts has +convinced us that they are quite unwarrantable. They involve so many +manifest incongruities, that we have been astonished to find men of science +entertaining them even as probable hypotheses. Let us consider these +incongruities. + +In the first place, mark what is inferable from the distribution of nebulæ. + + "The spaces which precede or which follow simple nebulæ," says + Arago, "and, _à fortiori_, groups of nebulæ, contain generally few + stars. Herschel found this rule to be invariable. Thus, every time + that, during a short interval, no star approached, in virtue of the + diurnal motion, to place itself in the field of his motionless + telescope, he was accustomed to say to the secretary who assisted + him, 'Prepare to write; nebulæ are about to arrive.'" + +How does this fact consist with the hypothesis that nebulæ are remote +galaxies? If there were but one nebula, it would be a curious coincidence +were this one nebula so placed in the distant regions of space, as to agree +in direction with a starless spot in our own sidereal system. If there were +but two nebulæ, and both were so placed, the coincidence would be +excessively strange. What, then, shall we say on finding that there are +thousands of nebulæ so placed? Shall we believe that in thousands of cases +these far-removed galaxies happen to agree in their visible positions with +the thin places in our own galaxy? Such a belief is next to impossible. +Still more manifest does the impossibility of it become when we consider +the general distribution of nebulæ. Besides again showing itself in the +fact that "the poorest regions in stars are near the richest in nebulæ," +the law above specified applies to the heavens as a whole. In that zone of +celestial space where stars are excessively abundant, nebulæ are rare; +while in the two opposite celestial spaces that are furthest removed from +this zone, nebulæ are abundant. Scarcely any nebulæ lie near the galactic +circle (or plane of the Milky Way); and the great mass of them lie round +the galactic poles. Can this also be mere coincidence? When to the fact +that the general mass of nebulæ are antithetical in position to the general +mass of stars, we add the fact that local regions of nebulæ are regions +where stars are scarce, and the further fact that single nebulæ are +habitually found in comparatively starless spots; does not the proof of a +physical connexion become overwhelming? Should it not require an infinity +of evidence to show that nebulæ are not parts of our sidereal system? Let +us see whether any such infinity of evidence is assignable. Let us see +whether there is even a single alleged proof which will bear examination. + + "As seen through colossal telescopes," says Humboldt, "the + contemplation of these nebulous masses leads us into regions from + whence a ray of light, according to an assumption not wholly + improbable, requires millions of years to reach our earth--to + distances for whose measurement the dimensions (the distance of + Sirius, or the calculated distances of the binary stars in Cygnus and + the Centaur) of our nearest stratum of fixed stars scarcely suffice." + +Now, in this somewhat confused sentence there is expressed a more or less +decided belief, that the distances of the nebulæ from our galaxy of stars +as much transcend the distances of our stars from each other, as these +interstellar distances transcend the dimensions of our planetary system. +Just as the diameter of the Earth's orbit, is an inappreciable point when +compared with the distance of our Sun from Sirius; so is the distance of +our Sun from Sirius, an inappreciable point when compared with the distance +of our galaxy from those far removed galaxies constituting nebulæ. Observe +the consequences of this assumption. + +If one of these supposed galaxies is so remote that its distance dwarfs our +interstellar spaces into points, and therefore makes the dimensions of our +whole sidereal system relatively insignificant; does it not inevitably +follow that the telescopic power required to resolve this remote galaxy +into stars, must be incomparably greater than the telescopic power required +to resolve the whole of our own galaxy into stars? Is it not certain that +an instrument which can just exhibit with clearness the most distant stars +of our own cluster, must be utterly unable to separate one of these remote +clusters into stars? What, then, are we to think when we find that the same +instrument which decomposes hosts of nebulæ into stars, _fails_ to resolve +completely our own Milky Way? Take a homely comparison. Suppose a man +surrounded by a swarm of bees, extending, as they sometimes do, so high in +the air as to be individually almost invisible, were to declare that a +certain spot on the horizon was a swarm of bees; and that he knew it +because he could see the bees as separate specks. Astounding as the +assertion would be, it would not exceed in incredibility this which we are +criticising. Reduce the dimensions to figures, and the absurdity becomes +still more palpable. In round numbers, the distance of Sirius from the +Earth is a million times the distance of the Earth from the Sun; and, +according to the hypothesis, the distance of a nebula is something like a +million times the distance of Sirius. + +Now, our own "starry island, or nebula," as Humboldt calls it, "forms a +lens-shaped, flattened, and everywhere detached stratum, whose major axis +is estimated at seven or eight hundred, and its minor axis at a hundred and +fifty times the distance of Sirius from the Earth."[I] And since it is +concluded that our Solar System is near the centre of this aggregation, it +follows that our distance from the remotest parts of it is about four +hundred distances of Sirius. But the stars forming these remotest parts are +not individually visible, even through telescopes of the highest power. +How, then, can such telescopes make individually visible the stars of a +nebula which is a million times the distance of Sirius? The implication is, +that a star rendered invisible by distance becomes visible if taken two +thousand five hundred times further off! Shall we accept this implication? +or shall we not rather conclude that the nebulæ are _not_ remote galaxies? +Shall we not infer that, be their nature what it may, they must be at least +as near to us as the extremities of our own sidereal system? + + [I] Cosmos. (Seventh Edition.) Vol. i. pp. 79, 80. + +Throughout the above argument, it is tacitly assumed that differences of +apparent magnitude among the stars, result mainly from differences of +distance. On this assumption the current doctrines respecting the nebulæ +are founded; and this assumption is, for the nonce, admitted in each of the +foregoing criticisms. From the time, however, when it was first made by Sir +W. Herschel, this assumption has been purely gratuitous; and it now proves +to be totally inadmissible. But, awkwardly enough, its truth and its +untruth are alike fatal to the conclusions of those who argue after the +manner of Humboldt. Note the alternative. + +On the one hand, what follows from the untruth of the assumption? If +apparent largeness of stars is not due to comparative nearness, and their +successively smaller sizes to their greater and greater degrees of +remoteness, what becomes of the inferences respecting the dimensions of our +sidereal system and the distances of nebulæ? If, as has lately been shown, +the almost invisible star 61 Cygni has a greater parallax than [alpha] +Cygni, though, according to an estimate based on Sir W. Herschel's +assumption, it should be about twelve times more distant--if, as it turns +out, there exist telescopic stars which are nearer to us than Sirius; of +what worth is the conclusion that the nebulæ are very remote, because their +component luminous masses are made visible only by high telescopic powers? +Clearly, if the most brilliant star in the heavens and a star that cannot +be seen by the naked eye, prove to be equidistant, relative distances +cannot be in the least inferred from relative visibilities. And if so, +nebulæ may be comparatively near, though the starlets of which they are +made up appear extremely minute. + +On the other hand, what follows if the truth of the assumption be granted? +The arguments used to justify this assumption in the case of the stars, +equally justify it in the case of the nebulæ. It cannot be contended that, +on the average, the _apparent_ sizes of the stars indicate their distances, +without its being admitted that, on the average, the _apparent_ sizes of +the nebulæ indicate their distances--that, generally speaking, the larger +are the nearer, and the smaller are the more distant. Mark, now, the +necessary inference respecting their resolvability. The largest or nearest +nebulæ will be most easily resolved into stars; the successively smaller +will be successively more difficult of resolution; and the irresolvable +ones will be the smallest ones. This, however, is exactly the reverse of +the fact. The largest nebulæ are either wholly irresolvable, or but +partially resolvable under the highest telescopic powers; while a great +proportion of quite small nebulæ, are easily resolved by far less powerful +telescopes. An instrument through which the great nebula in Andromeda, two +and a half degrees long and one degree broad, appears merely as a diffused +light, decomposes a nebula of fifteen minutes diameter into twenty thousand +starry points. At the same time that the individual stars of a nebula eight +minutes in diameter are so clearly seen as to allow of their number being +estimated, a nebula covering an area five hundred times as great shows no +stars at all. What possible explanation can be given of this on the current +hypothesis? + +Yet a further difficulty remains--one which is, perhaps, still more +obviously fatal than the foregoing. This difficulty is presented by the +phenomena of the Magellanic clouds. Describing the larger of these, Sir +John Herschel says:-- + + "The nubecula major, like the minor, consists partly of large + tracts and ill-defined patches of irresolvable nebula, and of + nebulosity in every stage of resolution, up to perfectly resolved + stars like the Milky Way; as also of regular and irregular nebulæ + properly so called, of globular clusters in every stage of + resolvability, and of clustering groups sufficiently insulated and + condensed to come under the designation of 'cluster of + stars.'"--"Cape Observations," p. 146. + +In his "Outlines of Astronomy," Sir John Herschel, after repeating this +description in other words, goes on to remark that-- + + "This combination of characters, rightly considered, is in a high + degree instructive, affording an insight into the probable + comparative distance of _stars_ and _nebulæ_, and the real brightness + of individual stars as compared with one another. Taking the apparent + semi-diameter of the nubecula major at three degrees, and regarding + its solid form as, roughly speaking, spherical, its nearest and most + remote parts differ in their distance from us by a little more than a + tenth part of our distance from its centre. The brightness of objects + situated in its nearer portions, therefore, cannot be _much_ + exaggerated, nor that of its remoter _much_ enfeebled, by their + difference of distance. Yet within this globular space we have + collected upwards of six hundred stars of the seventh, eighth, ninth, + and tenth magnitude, nearly three hundred nebulæ, and globular and + other clusters _of all degrees of resolvability_, and smaller + scattered stars of every inferior magnitude, from the tenth to such + as by their magnitude and minuteness constitute irresolvable + nebulosity, extending over tracts of many square degrees. Were there + but one such object, it might be maintained without utter + improbability that its apparent sphericity is only an effect of + foreshortening, and that in reality a much greater proportional + difference of distance between its nearer and more remote parts + exists. But such an adjustment, improbable enough in one case, must + be rejected as too much so for fair argument in two. It must, + therefore, be taken as a demonstrated fact, that stars of the seventh + or eighth magnitude, and irresolvable nebula, may co-exist within + limits of distance not differing in proportion more than as nine to + ten."--"Outlines of Astronomy," pp. 614, 615. + +Now, we think this supplies a _reductio ad absurdum_ of the doctrine we are +combating. It gives us the choice of two incredibilities. If we are to +believe that one of these nebulæ is so remote that its hundred thousand +stars look like a milky spot, invisible to the naked eye; we must also +believe that there are single stars so enormous that though removed to this +same distance they remain visible. If we accept the other alternative, and +say that many nebulæ are no further off than our own stars of the eighth +magnitude; then it is requisite to say that at a distance not greater than +that at which a single star is still faintly visible to the naked eye, +there may exist a group of a hundred thousand stars which is invisible to +the naked eye. Neither of these positions can be entertained. What, then, +is the conclusion that remains? This, only:--that the nebulæ are not +further off from us than parts of our own sidereal system, of which they +must be considered members; and that when they are resolvable into discrete +masses, these masses cannot be considered as stars in anything like the +ordinary sense of that word. + +And now, having seen the untenability of this idea, rashly espoused by +sundry astronomers, that the nebulæ are extremely remote galaxies; let us +consider whether the various appearances they present are not reconcileable +with the Nebular Hypothesis. + +Given a rare and widely-diffused mass of nebulous matter, having a +diameter, say as great as the distance from the Sun to Sirius,[J] what are +the successive changes that will take place in it? Mutual gravitation will +approximate its atoms; but their approximation will be opposed by atomic +repulsion, the overcoming of which implies the evolution of heat. As fast +as this heat partially escapes by radiation, further approximation will +take place, attended by further evolution of heat, and so on continuously: +the processes not occurring separately as here described, but +simultaneously, uninterruptedly, and with increasing activity. Eventually, +this slow movement of the atoms towards their common centre of gravity, +will bring about phenomena of another order. + + [J] Any objection made to the extreme tenuity this involves, is met + by the calculation of Newton, who proved that were a spherical + inch of air removed four thousand miles from the Earth, it would + expand into a sphere more than filling the orbit of Saturn. + +Arguing from the known laws of atomic combination, it will happen that when +the nebulous mass has reached a particular stage of condensation--when its +internally-situated atoms have approached to within certain distances, have +generated a certain amount of heat, and are subject to a certain mutual +pressure (the heat and pressure both increasing as the aggregation +progresses); some of them will suddenly enter into chemical union. Whether +the binary atoms so produced be of kinds such as we know, which is +possible; or whether they be of kinds simpler than any we know, which is +more probable; matters not to the argument. It suffices that molecular +combination of some species will finally take place. When it does take +place, it will be accompanied by a great and sudden disengagement of heat; +and until this excess of heat has escaped, the newly-formed binary atoms +will remain uniformly diffused, or, as it were, dissolved in the +pre-existing nebulous medium. + +But now mark what must by-and-by happen. When radiation has adequately +lowered the temperature, these binary atoms will precipitate; and having +precipitated, they will not remain uniformly diffused, but will aggregate +into _flocculi_: just as water, when precipitated from air, collects into +clouds. This _à priori_ conclusion is confirmed by the observation of those +still extant portions of nebulous matter which constitute comets; for, +"that the luminous part of a comet is something in the nature of a smoke, +fog, or cloud, suspended in a transparent atmosphere, is evident," says Sir +John Herschel. + +Concluding, then, that a nebulous mass will, in course of time, resolve +itself into flocculi of precipitated denser matter, floating in the rarer +medium from which they were precipitated, let us inquire what will be the +mechanical results. We shall find that they will be quite different from +those occurring in the original homogeneous mass; and also quite different +from those which would occur among discrete masses dispersed through empty +space. Bodies dispersed through empty space, would move in straight lines +towards their common centre of gravity. So, too, would bodies dispersed +through a resisting medium, provided they were spherical, or of forms +presenting symmetrical faces to their lines of movement. But _irregular_ +bodies dispersed through a resisting medium, will _not_ move in straight +lines towards their common centre of gravity. A mass which presents an +irregular face to its line of movement through a resisting medium, must +necessarily be deflected from its original course, by the unequal reactions +of the medium on its different sides. Hence each _flocculus_, as by analogy +we term one of these precipitated masses of gas or vapour, will acquire a +movement, not towards the common centre of gravity, but towards one or +other side of it; and this oblique movement, accelerated as well as changed +in direction by the increasing centripetal force, but retarded by the +resisting medium, will result in a spiral, ending in the common centre of +gravity. Observe, however, that this conclusion, valid as far as it goes, +by no means proves a common spiral movement of all the flocculi; for as +they must not only be varied in their forms, but disposed in all varieties +of position, their respective movements will be deflected, not towards one +side of the common centre of gravity, but towards various sides. How then +can there result a spiral movement common to them all? Very simply. Each +flocculus, in describing its spiral course, must give motion to the rarer +medium through which it is moving. + +Now, the probabilities are infinity to one against all the respective +motions thus impressed on this rarer medium, exactly balancing each other. +And if they do not balance each other, the inevitable result must be a +rotation of the whole mass of the rarer medium in one direction. But +preponderating momentum in one direction, having caused rotation of the +medium in that direction, the rotating medium must in its turn gradually +arrest such flocculi as are moving in opposition, and impress its own +motion upon them; and thus there will ultimately be formed a rotating +medium with suspended flocculi partaking of its motion, while they move in +converging spirals towards the common centre of gravity. + +Before comparing these conclusions with the facts, let us pursue the +reasoning a little further, and observe the subordinate actions, and the +endless modifications which will result from them. The respective flocculi +must not only be drawn towards their common centre of gravity, but also +towards neighbouring flocculi. Hence the whole assemblage of flocculi will +break up into subordinate groups: each group concentrating towards its +local centre of gravity, and in so doing acquiring a vortical movement, +like that subsequently acquired by the whole nebula. Now, according to +circumstances, and chiefly according to the size of the original nebulous +mass, this process of local aggregation will produce various results. If +the whole nebula is but small, the local groups of flocculi may be drawn +into the common centre of gravity before their constituent masses have +coalesced with each other. In a larger nebula, these local aggregations may +have concentrated into rotating spheroids of vapour, while yet they have +made but little approach towards the general focus of the system. In a +still larger nebula, where the local aggregations are both greater and more +remote from the common centre of gravity, they may have condensed into +masses of molten matter before the general distribution of them has greatly +altered. In short, as the conditions in each case determine, the discrete +masses produced may vary indefinitely in number, in size, in density, in +motion, in distribution. + +And now let us return to the visible characters of the nebulæ, as observed +through modern telescopes. Take first the description of those nebulæ +which, by the hypothesis, must be in an early stage of evolution. + + "Among the _irregular nebulæ_," says Sir John Herschel, "may be + comprehended all which, to _a want of complete, and in most + instances, even of partial resolvability_ by the power of the 20-feet + reflector, unite such a deviation from the circular or elliptic form, + or such a want of symmetry (with that form) as preclude their being + placed in Class 1, or that of regular nebulæ. This second class + comprises many of the most remarkable and interesting objects in the + heavens, _as well as the most extensive in respect of the area they + occupy_." + +And, referring to this same order of objects, M. Arago says:--"The forms of +very large diffuse nebulæ do not appear to admit of definition; they have +no regular outline." + +Now this coexistence of largeness, irresolvability, irregularity, and +indefiniteness of outline, is extremely significant. The fact that the +largest nebulæ are either irresolvable or very difficult to resolve, might +have been inferred _à priori_; seeing that irresolvability, implying that +the aggregation of precipitated matter has gone on to but a small extent, +will be found in nebulæ of wide diffusion. Again, the irregularity of these +large, irresolvable nebulæ, might also have been expected; seeing that +their outlines, compared by Arago to "the fantastic figures which +characterize clouds carried away and tossed about by violent and often +contrary winds," are similarly characteristic of a mass not yet gathered +together by the mutual attraction of its parts. And once more, the fact +that these large, irregular, irresolvable nebulæ have indefinite +outlines--outlines that fade off insensibly into surrounding darkness--is +one of like meaning. + +Speaking generally (and of course differences of distance negative anything +beyond an average statement), the spiral nebulæ are smaller than the +irregular nebulæ, and more resolvable; at the same time that they are not +so small as the regular nebulæ, and not so resolvable. This is as, +according to the hypothesis, it should be. The degree of condensation +causing spiral movement, is a degree of condensation also implying masses +of flocculi that are larger, and therefore more visible, than those +existing in an earlier stage. Moreover, the forms of these spiral nebulæ +are quite in harmony with the explanation given. The curves of luminous +matter which they exhibit, are _not_ such as would be described by more or +less discrete masses starting from a state of rest, and moving through a +resisting medium to a common centre of gravity; but they _are_ such as +would be described by masses having their movements modified by the +rotation of the medium. + +In the centre of a spiral nebula is seen a mass both more luminous and more +resolvable than the rest. Assume that, in process of time, all the spiral +streaks of luminous matter which converge to this centre are drawn into it, +as they must be; assume further, that the flocculi or other discrete bodies +constituting these luminous streaks aggregate into larger masses at the +same time that they approach the central group, and that the masses forming +this central group also aggregate into larger masses (both which are +necessary assumptions); and there will finally result a more or less +globular group of such larger masses, which will be resolvable with +comparative ease. And, as the coalescence and concentration go on, the +constituent masses will gradually become fewer, larger, brighter, and more +densely collected around the common centre of gravity. See now how +completely this inference agrees with observation. "The circular form is +that which most commonly characterizes resolvable nebulæ," writes Arago. +"Resolvable nebulæ," says Sir John Herschel, "are almost universally round +or oval." Moreover, the centre of each group habitually displays a closer +clustering of the constituent masses than elsewhere; and it is shown that, +under the law of gravitation, which we know extends to the stars, this +distribution is _not_ one of equilibrium, but implies progressing +concentration. While, just as we inferred that, according to circumstances, +the extent to which aggregation has been carried must vary; so we find +that, in fact, there are regular nebulæ of all degrees of resolvability, +from those consisting of innumerable minute discrete masses, to those in +which there are a few large bodies worthy to be called stars. + +On the one hand, then, we see that the notion, of late years uncritically +received, that the nebulæ are extremely remote galaxies of stars like those +which make up our own Milky Way, is totally irreconcileable with the +facts--involves us in sundry absurdities. On the other hand, we see that +the hypothesis of nebular condensation harmonizes with the most recent +results of stellar astronomy: nay more--that it supplies us with an +explanation of various appearances which in its absence would be +incomprehensible. + + * * * * * + +Descending now to the Solar System, let us consider first a class of +phenomena in some sort transitional--those offered by comets. In comets we +have now existing a kind of matter like that out of which, according to the +Nebular Hypothesis, the Solar System was evolved. For the explanation of +them, we must hence go back to the time when the substances forming the sun +and planets were yet unconcentrated. + +When diffused matter, precipitated from a rarer medium, is aggregating, +there are certain to be here and there produced small flocculi, which, +either in consequence of local currents or the conflicting attractions of +adjacent masses, remain detached; as do, for instance, minute shreds of +cloud in a summer sky. In a concentrating nebula these will, in the great +majority of cases, eventually coalesce with the larger flocculi near to +them. But it is tolerably evident that some of the remotest of these small +flocculi, formed at the outermost parts of the nebula, will _not_ coalesce +with the larger internal masses, but will slowly follow without overtaking +them. The relatively greater resistance of the medium necessitates this. As +a single feather falling to the ground will be rapidly left behind by a +pillow-full of feathers; so, in their progress to the common centre of +gravity, will the outermost shreds of vapour be left behind by the great +masses of vapour internally situated. But we are not dependent merely on +reasoning for this belief. Observation shows us that the less concentrated +external parts of nebulæ, _are_ left behind by the more concentrated, +internal parts. Examined through high powers, all nebulæ, even when they +have assumed regular forms, are seen to be surrounded by luminous streaks, +of which the directions show that they are being drawn into the general +mass. Still higher powers bring into view still smaller, fainter, and more +widely-dispersed streaks. And it cannot be doubted that the minute +fragments which no telescopic aid makes visible, are yet more numerous and +widely dispersed. Thus far, then, inference and observation are at one. + +Granting that the great majority of these outlying portions of nebulous +matter will be drawn into the central mass long before it reaches a +definite form, the presumption is that some of the very small, far-removed +portions will not be so; but that before they arrive near it, the central +mass will have contracted into a comparatively moderate bulk. What now will +be the characters of these late-arriving portions? + +In the first place, they will have extremely eccentric orbits. Left behind +at a time when they were moving towards the centre of gravity in +slightly-deflected lines, and therefore having but very small angular +velocities, they will approach the central mass in greatly elongated +ellipses; and rushing round it will go off again into space. That is, they +will behave just as we see comets do; whose orbits are usually so eccentric +as to be indistinguishable from parabolas. + +In the second place, they will come from all parts of the heavens. Our +supposition implies that they were left behind at a time when the nebulous +mass was of irregular shape, and had not acquired a definite rotary motion; +and as the separation of them would not be from any one surface of the +nebulous mass more than another, the conclusion must be that they will come +to the central body from various directions in space. This, too, is exactly +what happens. Unlike planets, whose orbits approximate to one plane, comets +have orbits that show no relation to each other; but cut the plane of the +ecliptic at all angles. + +In the third place, applying the reasoning already used, these remotest +flocculi of nebulous matter will, at the outset, be deflected from their +straight courses to the common centre of gravity, not all on one side, but +each on such side as its form determines. And being left behind before the +rotation of the nebula is set up, they will severally retain their +different individual motions. Hence, following the concentrating mass, they +will eventually go round it on all sides; and as often from right to left +as from left to right. Here again the inference perfectly corresponds with +the facts. While all the planets go round the sun from west to east, comets +as often go round the sun from east to west as from west to east. Out of +210 comets known in 1855, 104 are direct, and 106 are retrograde. This +equality is what the law of probabilities would indicate. + +Then, in the fourth place, the physical constitution of comets completely +accords with the hypothesis. The ability of nebulous matter to concentrate +into a concrete form, depends on its mass. To bring its ultimate atoms into +that proximity requisite for chemical union--requisite, that is, for the +production of denser matter--their repulsion must be overcome. The only +force antagonistic to their repulsion, is their mutual gravitation. That +their mutual gravitation may generate a pressure and temperature of +sufficient intensity, there must be an enormous accumulation of them; and +even then the approximation can slowly go on only as fast as the evolved +heat escapes. But where the quantity of atoms is small, and therefore the +force of mutual gravitation small, there will be nothing to coerce the +atoms into union. Whence we infer that these detached fragments of nebulous +matter will continue in their original state. We find that they do so. +Comets consist of an extremely rare medium, which, as shown by the +description already quoted from Sir John Herschel, has characters like +those we concluded would belong to partially-condensed nebulous matter. + +Yet another very significant fact is seen in the distribution of comets. +Though they come from all parts of the heavens, they by no means come in +equal abundance from all parts of the heavens; but are far more numerous +about the poles of the ecliptic than about its plane. Speaking generally, +comets having orbit-planes that are highly inclined to the ecliptic, are +comets having orbits of which the major axes are highly inclined to the +ecliptic--comets that come from high latitudes. This is not a necessary +connexion; for the planes of the orbits _might_ be highly inclined to the +ecliptic while the major axes were inclined to it very little. But in the +absence of any habitually-observed relation of this kind, it may safely be +concluded that, _on the average_, highly-inclined cometary orbits are +cometary orbits with highly-inclined major axes; and that thus, a +predominance of cometary orbits cutting the plane of the ecliptic at great +angles, implies a predominance of cometary orbits having major axes that +cut the ecliptic at great angles. Now the predominance of highly inclined +cometary orbits, may be gathered from the following table, compiled by M. +Arago, to which we have added a column giving the results up to a date two +years later. + + ------------------------------------------------------------------------- + | Inclinations. |Number of Comets |Number of Comets |Number of Comets | + | |in 1831. |in 1853. |in 1855. | + ------------------------------------------------------------------------- + | Deg. to Deg. | | | | + | From 0 to 10 | 9 | 19 | 19 | + | " 10 " 20 | 13 | 18 | 19 | + | " 20 " 30 | 10 | 13 | 14 | + | " 30 " 40 | 17 | 22 | 22 | + | " 40 " 50 | 14 | 35 | 36 | + | " 50 " 60 | 23 | 27 | 29 | + | " 60 " 70 | 17 | 23 | 25 | + | " 70 " 80 | 19 | 26 | 27 | + | " 80 " 90 | 15 | 18 | 19 | + ------------------------------------------------------------------------- + | Total | 137 | 201 | 210 | + ------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +At first sight this table seems not to warrant our statement. Assuming the +alleged general relation between the inclinations of cometary orbits, and +the directions in space from which the comets come, the table may be +thought to show that the frequency of comets increases as we progress from +the plane of the ecliptic up to 45°, and then decreases up to 90°. But this +apparent diminution arises from the fact that the successive zones of space +rapidly diminish in their areas on approaching the poles. If we allow for +this, we shall find that the excess of comets continues to increase up to +the highest angles of inclination. In the table below, which, for +convenience, is arranged in inverted order, we have taken as standards of +comparison the area of the zone round the pole, and the number of comets it +contains; and having ascertained the areas of the other zones, and the +numbers of comets they should contain were comets equally distributed, we +have shown how great becomes the deficiency in descending from the poles of +the ecliptic to its plane. + + ------------------------------------------------------------------------- + | | | Number of | Actual | | Relative | + | Between | Area of | Comets, if | Number of |Deficiency.|Abundance. | + | | Zone. | equally | Comets. | | | + | | |distributed.| | | | + ------------------------------------------------------------------------- + | Deg. Deg. | | | | | | + | 90 and 80 | 1 | 19 | 19| 0 | 11.5 | + | 80 " 70 | 2.98| 56.6| 27| 29.6| 5.5 | + | 70 " 60 | 4.85| 92 | 25| 67 | 3.12| + | 60 " 50 | 6.6 | 125 | 29| 96 | 2.66| + | 50 " 40 | 8.13| 154 | 36| 118 | 2.68| + | 40 " 30 | 9.42| 179 | 22| 157 | 1.4 | + | 30 " 20 | 10.42| 198 | 14| 184 | 0.8 | + | 20 " 10 | 11.1 | 210 | 19| 191 | 1.04| + | 10 " 0 | 11.5 | 218 | 19| 199 | 1 | + ------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +In strictness, the calculation should be made with reference, not to the +plane of the ecliptic, but to the plane of the sun's equator; and this +might or might not render the progression more regular. Probably, too, the +progression would be made somewhat different were the calculation based, as +it should be, not on the inclinations of orbit-planes, but on the +inclinations of major axes. But even as it is, the result is sufficiently +significant: since, though the conclusion that comets are 11·5 times more +abundant about the poles of the ecliptic than about its plane, can be but a +rough approximation to the truth, yet no correction of it is likely very +much to change this strong contrast. + +What, then, is the meaning of this fact? It has several meanings. It +negatives the supposition, favoured by Laplace among others, that comets +are bodies that were wandering in space, or have come from other systems; +for the probabilities are infinity to one against the orbits of such +wandering bodies showing any definite relation to the plane of the Solar +System. For the like reason, it negatives the hypothesis of Lagrange, +otherwise objectionable, that comets have resulted from planetary +catastrophes analogous to that which is supposed to have produced the +asteroids. It clearly shows that, instead of comets being _accidental_ +members of the Solar System, they are _necessary_ members of it--have as +distinct a structural relation to it as the planets themselves. That comets +are abundant round the axis of the Solar System, and grow rarer as we +approach its plane, implies that the genesis of comets has followed some +_law_--a law in some way concerned with the genesis of the Solar System. + +If we ask for any so-called final cause of this arrangement, none can be +assigned: until a probable use for comets has been shown, no reason can be +given why they should be thus distributed. But when we consider the +question as one of physical science, we see that comets are antithetical to +planets, not only in their great rarity, in their motions as indifferently +direct or retrograde, in their eccentric orbits, and in the varied +directions of those orbits; but we see the antithesis further marked in +this, that while planets have some relation to the plane of nebular +rotation, comets have some relation to the axis of nebular rotation.[K] And +without attempting to explain the nature of this relation, the mere fact +that such a relation exists, indicates that comets have resulted from a +process of evolution--points to a past time when the matter now forming the +Solar System extended to those distant regions of space which comets visit. + + [K] It is alike remarkable and suggestive, that a parallel relation + exists between the distribution of nebulæ and the axis of our + galaxy. Just as comets are abundant around the poles of our Solar + System, and rare in the neighbourhood of its plane: so are nebulæ + abundant around the poles of our sidereal system, and rare in the + neighbourhood of its plane. + +See, then, how differently this class of phenomena bears on the +antagonistic hypotheses. To the hypothesis commonly received, comets are +stumbling-blocks: why there should be hundreds (or probably thousands) of +extremely rare aeriform masses rushing to and fro round the sun, it cannot +say; any more than it can explain their physical constitutions, their +various and eccentric movements, or their distribution. The hypothesis of +evolution, on the other hand, not only allows of the general answer, that +they are minor results of the genetic process; but also furnishes us with +something like explanations of their several peculiarities. + + * * * * * + +And now, leaving these erratic bodies, let us turn to the more familiar and +important members of the Solar System. It was the remarkable harmony +subsisting among their movements, which first made Laplace conceive that +the sun, planets, and satellites had resulted from a common genetic +process. As Sir William Herschel, by his observations on the nebulæ, was +led to the conclusion that stars resulted from the aggregation of diffused +matter; so Laplace, by his observations on the structure of the Solar +System, was led to the conclusion that only by the rotation of aggregating +matter were its peculiarities to be explained. In his "Exposition du +Système du Monde," he enumerates as the leading evidences of evolution:--1. +The movements of the planets in the same direction and almost in the same +plane; 2. The movements of the satellites in the same direction as those of +the planets; 3. The movement of rotation of these various bodies and of the +sun in the same direction as the orbitual motions, and in planes little +different; 4. The small eccentricity of the orbits of the planets and +satellites, as contrasted with the great eccentricity of the cometary +orbits. And the probability that these harmonious movements had a common +cause, he calculates as two hundred thousand billions to one. + +Observe that this immense preponderance of probability does not point to a +common cause under the form ordinarily conceived--an Invisible Power +working after the method of "a Great Artificer;" but to an Invisible Power +working after the method of evolution. For though the supporters of the +common hypothesis may argue that it was necessary for the sake of stability +that the planets should go round the sun in the same direction and nearly +in one plane, they cannot thus account for the direction of the axial +motions. The mechanical equilibrium would not have been at all interfered +with, had the sun been without any rotatory movement; or had he revolved on +his axis in a direction opposite to that in which the planets go round him; +or in a direction at right angles to the plane of their orbits. With equal +safety the motion of the Moon round the Earth might have been the reverse +of the Earth's motion round its axis; or the motion of Jupiter's satellites +might similarly have been at variance with his axial motion; or that of +Saturn's satellites with his. As, however, none of these alternatives have +been followed, the uniformity must be considered, in this case as in all +others, evidence of subordination to some general law--implies what we call +natural causation, as distinguished from arbitrary arrangement. + +Hence the hypothesis of evolution would be the only probable one, even in +the absence of any clue to the particular mode of evolution. But when we +have, propounded by a mathematician whose authority is second to none, a +definite theory of this evolution based on established mechanical laws, +which accounts for these various peculiarities, as well as for many minor +ones, the conclusion that the Solar System _was_ evolved becomes almost +irresistible. + +The general nature of Laplace's theory scarcely needs stating. Books of +popular astronomy have familiarized most readers with his +conceptions;--namely, that the matter now condensed into the Solar System, +once formed a vast rotating spheroid of extreme rarity extending beyond the +orbit of Neptune; that as this spheroid contracted, its rate of rotation +necessarily increased; that by augmenting centrifugal force its equatorial +zone was from time to time prevented from following any further the +concentrating mass, and so remained behind as a revolving ring; that each +of the revolving rings thus periodically detached, eventually became +ruptured at its weakest point, and contracting on itself, gradually +aggregated into a rotating mass; that this, like the parent mass, increased +in rapidity of rotation as it decreased in size, and, where the centrifugal +force was sufficient, similarly threw off rings, which finally collapsed +into rotating spheroids; and that thus out of these primary and secondary +rings there arose planets and their satellites, while from the central mass +there resulted the sun. Moreover, it is tolerably well known that this _à +priori_ reasoning harmonizes with the results of experiment. Dr. Plateau +has shown that when a mass of fluid is, as far may be, protected from the +action of external forces, it will, if made to rotate with adequate +velocity, form detached rings; and that these rings will break up into +spheroids which turn on their axes in the same direction with the central +mass. Thus, given the original nebula, which, acquiring a vortical motion +in the way we have explained, has at length concentrated into a vast +spheroid of aeriform matter moving round its axis--given this, and +mechanical principles explain the rest. The genesis of a solar system +displaying movements like those observed, may be predicted; and the +reasoning on which the prediction is based is countenanced by +experiment.[L] + + [L] It is true that, as expressed by him, these propositions of + Laplace are not all beyond dispute. An astronomer of the highest + authority, who has favoured me with some criticisms on this + essay, alleges that instead of a nebulous ring rupturing at one + point, and collapsing into a single mass, "all probability would + be in favour of its breaking up into many masses." This + alternative result certainly seems to be more likely. But + granting that a nebulous ring would break up into many masses, it + may still be contended that, since the chances are infinity to + one against these being of equal sizes and equidistant, they + could not remain evenly distributed round their orbit: this + annular chain of gaseous masses would break up into groups of + masses; these groups would eventually aggregate into larger + groups; and the final result would be the formation of a single + mass. I have put the question to an astronomer scarcely second in + authority to the one above referred to, and he agrees that this + would probably be the process. + +But now let us inquire whether, besides these most conspicuous +peculiarities of the Solar System, sundry minor ones are not similarly +explicable. Take first the relation between the planes of the planetary +orbits and the plane of the sun's equator. If, when the nebulous spheroid +extended beyond the orbit of Neptune, all parts of it had been revolving +exactly in the same plane or rather in parallel planes--if all its parts +had had one axis; then the planes of the successive rings would have been +coincident with each other and with that of the sun's rotation. But it +needs only to go back to the earlier stages of concentration, to see that +there could exist no such complete uniformity of motion. The flocculi, +already described as precipitated from an irregular and widely-diffused +nebula, and as starting from all points to their common centre of gravity, +must move not in one plane but in innumerable planes, cutting each other at +all angles. + +The gradual establishment of a vortical motion such as we saw must +eventually arise, and such as we at present see indicated in the spiral +nebulæ, is the gradual approach toward motion in one plane--the plane of +greatest momentum. But this plane can only slowly become decided. Flocculi +not moving in this plane, but entering into the aggregation at various +inclinations, will tend to perform their revolutions round its centre in +their own planes; and only in course of time will their motions be partly +destroyed by conflicting ones, and partly resolved into the general motion. +Especially will the outermost portions of the rotating mass retain for long +time their more or less independent directions; seeing that neither by +friction nor by the central forces will they be so much restrained. Hence +the probabilities are, that the planes of the rings first detached will +differ considerably from the average plane of the mass; while the planes of +those detached latest will differ from it less. Here, again, inference to a +considerable extent agrees with observation. Though the progression is +irregular, yet on the average the inclinations decrease on approaching the +sun. + +Consider next the movements of the planets on their axes. Laplace alleged +as one among other evidences of a common genetic cause, that the planets +rotate in a direction the same as that in which they go round the sun, and +on axes approximately perpendicular to their orbits. Since he wrote, an +exception to this general rule has been discovered in the case of Uranus, +and another still more recently in the case of Neptune--judging, at least, +from the motions of their respective satellites. This anomaly has been +thought to throw considerable doubt on his speculation; and at first sight +it does so. But a little reflection will, we believe, show that the anomaly +is by no means an insoluble one; and that Laplace simply went too far in +putting down as a certain result of nebular genesis, what is, in some +instances, only a probable result. The cause he pointed out as determining +the direction of rotation, is the greater absolute velocity of the outer +part of the detached ring. But there are conditions under which this +difference of velocity may be relatively insignificant, even if it exists: +and others in which, though existing to a considerable extent, it will not +suffice to determine the direction of rotation. + +Note, in the first place, that in virtue of their origin, the different +strata of a concentrating nebulous spheroid, will be very unlikely to move +with equal angular velocities: only by friction continued for an indefinite +time will their angular velocities be made uniform; and especially will the +outermost strata, for reasons just now assigned, maintain for the longest +time their differences of movement. Hence, it is possible that in the rings +first detached the outer rims may not have greater absolute velocities; and +thus the resulting planets may have retrograde rotations. Again, the +sectional form of the ring is a circumstance of moment; and this form must +have differed more or less in every case. To make this clear, some +illustration will be necessary. Suppose we take an orange, and assuming the +marks of the stalk and the calyx to represent the poles, cut off round the +line of the equator a strip of peel. This strip of peel, if placed on the +table with its ends meeting, will make a ring shaped like the hoop of a +barrel--a ring whose thickness in the line of its diameter is very small, +but whose width in a direction perpendicular to its diameter is +considerable. Suppose, now, that in place of an orange, which is a spheroid +of very slight oblateness, we take a spheroid of very great oblateness, +shaped somewhat like a lens of small convexity. If from the edge or equator +of this lens-shaped spheroid, a ring of moderate size were cut off, it +would be unlike the previous ring in this respect, that its greatest +thickness would be in the line of its diameter, and not in a line at right +angles to its diameter: it would be a ring shaped somewhat like a quoit, +only far more slender. That is to say, according to the oblateness of a +rotating spheroid, the detached ring may be either a hoop-shaped ring or a +quoit-shaped ring. + +One further fact must be noted. In a much-flattened or lens-shaped +spheroid, the form of the ring will vary with its bulk. A very slender +ring, taking off just the equatorial surface, will be hoop-shaped; while a +tolerably massive ring, trenching appreciably on the diameter of the +spheroid, will be quoit-shaped. Thus, then, according to the oblateness of +the spheroid and the bulkiness of the detached ring, will the greatest +thickness of that ring be in the direction of its plane, or in a direction +perpendicular to its plane. But this circumstance must greatly affect the +rotation of the resulting planet. In a decidedly hoop-shaped nebulous ring, +the differences of velocity between the inner and outer surfaces will be +very small; and such a ring, aggregating into a mass whose greatest +diameter is at right angles to the plane of the orbit, will almost +certainly give to this mass a predominant tendency to rotate in a direction +at right angles to the plane of the orbit. Where the ring is but little +hoop-shaped, and the difference of the inner and outer velocities also +greater, as it must be, the opposing tendencies--one to produce rotation in +the plane of the orbit, and the other rotation perpendicular to it--will +both be influential; and an intermediate plane of rotation will be taken +up. While, if the nebulous ring is decidedly quoit-shaped, and therefore +aggregates into a mass whose greatest dimension lies in the plane of the +orbit, both tendencies will conspire to produce rotation in that plane. + +On referring to the facts, we find them, as far as can be judged, in +harmony with this view. Considering the enormous circumference of Uranus's +orbit, and his comparatively small mass, we may conclude that the ring from +which he resulted was a comparatively slender, and therefore a hoop-shaped +one: especially if the nebulous mass was at that time less oblate than +afterwards, which it must have been. Hence, a plane of rotation nearly +perpendicular to his orbit, and a direction of rotation having no reference +to his orbitual movement. Saturn has a mass seven times as great, and an +orbit of less than half the diameter; whence it follows that his genetic +ring, having less than half the circumference, and less than half the +vertical thickness (the spheroid being then certainly _as_ oblate, and +indeed _more_ oblate), must have had considerably greater width--must have +been less hoop-shaped, and more approaching to the quoit-shaped: +notwithstanding difference of density, it must have been at least two or +three times as broad in the line of its plane. Consequently, Saturn has a +rotatory movement in the same direction as the movement of translation, and +in a plane differing from it by thirty degrees only. + +In the case of Jupiter, again, whose mass is three and a half times that of +Saturn, and whose orbit is little more than half the size, the genetic ring +must, for the like reasons, have been still broader--decidedly +quoit-shaped, we may say; and there hence resulted a planet whose plane of +rotation differs from that of his orbit by scarcely more than three +degrees. Once more, considering the comparative insignificance of Mars, +Earth, Venus, and Mercury, it follows that the diminishing circumferences +of the rings not sufficing to account for the smallness of the resulting +masses, the rings must have been slender ones--must have again approximated +to the hoop-shaped; and thus it happens that the planes of rotation again +diverge more or less widely from those of the orbits. Taking into account +the increasing oblateness of the original spheroid in the successive stages +of its concentration, and the different proportions of the detached rings, +it seems to us that the respective rotatory motions are not at variance +with the hypothesis. + +Not only the directions, but also the velocities of rotation are thus +explicable. It might naturally be supposed that the large planets would +revolve on their axes more slowly than the small ones: our terrestrial +experiences incline us to expect this. It is a corollary from the Nebular +Hypothesis, however, more especially when interpreted as above, that while +large planets will rotate rapidly, small ones will rotate slowly; and we +find that in fact they do so. Other things equal, a concentrating nebulous +mass that is diffused through a wide space, and whose outer parts have, +therefore, to travel from great distances to the common centre of gravity, +will acquire a high axial velocity in course of its aggregation: and +conversely with a small mass. Still more marked will be the difference +where the form of the genetic ring conspires to increase the rate of +rotation. Other things equal, a genetic ring that is broadest in the +direction of its plane will produce a mass rotating faster than one that is +broadest at right angles to its plane; and if the ring is absolutely as +well as relatively broad, the rotation will be very rapid. These conditions +were, as we saw, fulfilled in the case of Jupiter; and Jupiter goes round +his axis in less than ten hours. Saturn, in whose case, as above explained, +the conditions were less favourable to rapid rotation, takes ten hours and +a half. While Mars, Earth, Venus, and Mercury, whose rings must have been +slender, take more than double the time: the smallest taking the longest. + +From the planets, let us now pass to the satellites. Here, beyond the +conspicuous facts commonly adverted to, that they go round their primaries +in the same directions that these turn on their axes, in planes diverging +but little from their equators, and in orbits nearly circular, there are +several significant traits which must not be passed over. + +One of them is, that each set of satellites repeats in miniature the +relations of the planets to the sun, both in the respects just named, and +in the order of the sizes. On progressing from the outside of the Solar +System to its centre, we see that there are four large external planets, +and four internal ones which are comparatively small. A like contrast holds +between the outer and inner satellites in every case. Among the four +satellites of Jupiter, the parallel is maintained as well as the +comparative smallness of the number allows: the two outer ones are the +largest, and the two inner ones the smallest. According to the most recent +observations made by Mr. Lassell, the like is true of the four satellites +of Uranus. In the case of Saturn, who has eight secondary planets revolving +round him, the likeness is still more close in arrangement as in number: +the three outer satellites are large, the inner ones small; and the +contrasts of size are here much greater between the largest, which is +nearly as big as Mars, and the smallest, which is with difficulty +discovered even by the best telescopes. + +Moreover, the analogy does not end here. Just as with the planets, there is +at first a general increase of size on travelling inwards from Neptune and +Uranus, which do not differ very widely, to Saturn, which is much larger, +and to Jupiter, which is the largest; so of the eight satellites of Saturn, +the largest is not the outermost, but the outermost save two; so of +Jupiter's four secondaries, the largest is the most remote but one. Now +these analogies are inexplicable by the theory of final causes. For +purposes of lighting, if this be the presumed object of these attendant +bodies, it would have been far better had the larger been the nearer: at +present, their remoteness renders them of less service than the smallest. +To the Nebular Hypothesis, however, these analogies give further support. +They show the action of a common physical cause. They imply a _law_ of +genesis, holding in the secondary systems as in the primary system. + +Still more instructive shall we find the distribution of the +satellites--their absence in some instances, and their presence in other +instances, in smaller or greater numbers. The argument from design fails to +account for this distribution. Supposing it be granted that planets nearer +the Sun than ourselves, have no need of moons (though, considering that +their nights are as dark, and, relatively to their brilliant days, even +darker than ours, the need seems quite as great)--supposing this to be +granted; what is to be said of Mars, which, placed half as far again from +the Sun as we are, has yet no moon? Or again, how are we to explain the +fact that Uranus has but half as many moons as Saturn, though he is at +double the distance? While, however, the current presumption is untenable, +the Nebular Hypothesis furnishes us with an explanation. It actually +enables us to predict, by a not very complex calculation, where satellites +will be abundant and where they will be absent. The reasoning is as +follows. + +In a rotating nebulous spheroid that is concentrating into a planet, there +are at work two antagonist mechanical tendencies--the centripetal and the +centrifugal. While the force of gravitation draws all the atoms of the +spheroid together, their tangential momentum is resolvable into two parts, +of which one resists gravitation. The ratio which this centrifugal force +bears to gravitation, varies, other things equal, as the square of the +velocity. Hence, the aggregation of a rotating nebulous spheroid will be +more or less strongly opposed by this outward impetus of its particles, +according as its rate of rotation is high or low: the opposition, in equal +spheroids, being four times as great when the rotation is twice as rapid; +nine times as great when it is three times as rapid; and so on. Now, the +detachment of a ring from a planet-forming body of nebulous matter, implies +that at its equatorial zone the centrifugal force produced by concentration +has become so great as to balance gravity. Whence it is tolerably obvious +that the detachment of rings will be most frequent from those masses in +which the centrifugal tendency bears the greatest ratio to the gravitative +tendency. Though it is not possible to calculate what proportions these two +tendencies had to each other in the genetic spheroid which produced each +planet; it is possible to calculate where each was the greatest and where +the least. While it is true that the ratio which centrifugal force now +bears to gravity at the equator of each planet, differs widely from that +which it bore during the earlier stages of concentration; and while it is +true that this change in the ratio, depending on the degree of contraction +each planet has undergone, has in no two cases been the same; yet we may +fairly conclude that where the ratio is still the greatest, it has been the +greatest from the beginning. The satellite-forming tendency which each +planet had, will be approximately indicated by the proportion now existing +in it between the aggregating power, and the power that has opposed +aggregation. On making the requisite calculations, a remarkable harmony +with this inference comes out. The following table shows what fraction the +centrifugal force is of the centripetal force in every case; and the +relation which that fraction bears to the number of satellites. + + Mercury. Venus. Earth. Mars. Jupiter. Saturn. Uranus. + + 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 + --- --- --- --- --- --- --- + 362 282 289 326 14 6.2 9 + + 1 4 8 4 (or 6 + Satellite. Satellites. Satellites according + and three to + rings. Herschel.) + +Thus, taking as our standard of comparison the Earth with its one moon, we +see that Mercury and Mars, in which the centrifugal force is relatively +less, have no moons. Jupiter, in which it is far greater, has four moons. +Uranus, in which it is greater still, has certainly four, and probably more +than four. Saturn, in which it is the greatest, being nearly one-sixth of +gravity, has, including his rings, eleven attendants. The only instance in +which there is imperfect conformity with observation is that of Venus. Here +it appears that the centrifugal force is relatively a very little greater +than in the Earth; and according to the hypothesis, Venus ought, therefore, +to have a satellite. Of this seeming anomaly there are two explanations. +Not a few astronomers have asserted that Venus _has_ a satellite. Cassini, +Short, Montaigne of Limoges, Roedkier, and Montbarron, professed to have +seen it; and Lambert calculated its elements. Granting, however, that they +were mistaken, there is still the fact that the diameter of Venus is +variously estimated; and that a very small change in the data would make +the fraction less instead of greater than that of the Earth. But admitting +the discrepancy, we think that this correspondence, even as it now stands, +is one of the strongest confirmations of the Nebular Hypothesis.[M] + + [M] Since this essay was published, the data of the above + calculations have been changed by the discovery that the Sun's + distance is three millions of miles less than was supposed. Hence + results a diminution in his estimated mass, and in the masses of + the planets (except the Earth and Moon). No revised estimate of + the masses having yet been published, the table is re-printed in + its original form. The diminution of the masses to the alleged + extent of about one-tenth, does not essentially alter the + relations above pointed out. + +Certain more special peculiarities of the satellites must be mentioned as +suggestive. One of them is the relation between the period of revolution +and that of rotation. No discoverable purpose is served by making the Moon +go round its axis in the same time that it goes round the Earth: for our +convenience, a more rapid axial motion would have been equally good; and +for any possible inhabitants of the Moon, much better. Against the +alternative supposition, that the equality occurred by accident, the +probabilities are, as Laplace says, infinity to one. But to this +arrangement, which is explicable neither as the result of design nor of +chance, the Nebular Hypothesis furnishes a clue. In his "Exposition du +Système du Monde," Laplace shows, by reasoning too detailed to be here +repeated, that under the circumstances such a relation of movements would +be likely to establish itself. + +Among Jupiter's satellites, which severally display these same synchronous +movements, there also exists a still more remarkable relation. "If the mean +angular velocity of the first satellite be added to twice that of the +third, the sum will be equal to three times that of the second;" and "from +this it results that the situations of any two of them being given, that of +the third can be found." Now here, as before, no conceivable advantage +results. Neither in this case can the connexion have been accidental: the +probabilities are infinity to one to the contrary. But again, according to +Laplace, the Nebular Hypothesis supplies a solution. Are not these +significant facts? + +Most significant fact of all, however, is that presented by the rings of +Saturn. As Laplace remarks, they are, as it were, still extant witnesses of +the genetic process he propounded. Here we have, continuing permanently, +forms of matter like those through which each planet and satellite once +passed; and their movements are just what, in conformity with the +hypothesis, they should be. "La durée de la rotation d'une planete doit +donc être, d'apres cette hypothèse, plus petite que la durée de la +révolution du corps le plus voisin qui circule autour d'elle," says +Laplace.[N] And he then points out that the time of Saturn's rotation is to +that of his rings as 427 to 438--an amount of difference such as was to be +expected. + + [N] "Mécanique Céleste," p. 346. + +But besides the existence of these rings, and their movements in the +required manner, there is a highly suggestive circumstance which Laplace +has not remarked--namely, the place of their occurrence. If the Solar +System was produced after the manner popularly supposed, then there is no +reason why the rings of Saturn should not have encircled him at a +comparatively great distance. Or, instead of being given to Saturn, who in +their absence would still have had eight satellites, such rings might have +been given to Mars, by way of compensation for a moon. Or they might have +been given to Uranus, who, for purposes of illumination, has far greater +need of them. On the common hypothesis, we repeat, no reason can be +assigned for their existence in the place where we find them. But on the +hypothesis of evolution, the arrangement, so far from offering a +difficulty, offers another confirmation. These rings are found where alone +they could have been produced--close to the body of a planet whose +centrifugal force bears a great proportion to his gravitative force. That +permanent rings should exist at any great distance from a planet's body, +is, on the Nebular Hypothesis, manifestly impossible. Rings detached early +in the process of concentration, and therefore consisting of gaseous matter +having extremely little power of cohesion, can have no ability to resist +the disrupting forces due to imperfect balance; and must, therefore, +collapse into satellites. A liquid ring is the only one admitting of +permanence. But a liquid ring can be produced only when the aggregation is +approaching its extreme--only when gaseous matter is passing into liquid, +and the mass is about to assume the planetary form. And even then it cannot +be produced save under special conditions. Gaining a rapidly-increasing +preponderance, as the gravitative force does during the closing stages of +concentration, the centrifugal force cannot in ordinary cases cause the +detachment of rings when the mass has become dense. Only where the +centrifugal force has all along been very great, and remains powerful to +the last, as in Saturn, can liquid rings be formed. Thus the Nebular +Hypothesis shows us why such appendages surround Saturn, but exist nowhere +else. + +And then, let us not forget the fact, discovered within these few years, +that Saturn possesses a _nebulous_ ring, through which his body is seen as +through a thick veil. In a position where alone such a thing seems +preservable--suspended, as it were, between the denser rings and the +planet--there still continues one of these annular masses of diffused +matter from which satellites and planets are believed to have originated. + +We find, then, that besides those most conspicuous peculiarities of the +Solar System, which first suggested the theory of its evolution, there are +many minor ones pointing in the same direction. Were there no other +evidence, these mechanical arrangements would, considered in their +totality, go far to establish the Nebular Hypothesis. + + * * * * * + +From the mechanical arrangements of the Solar System, turn we now to its +physical characters; and, first, let us consider the inferences deducible +from relative specific gravities. + +The fact that, speaking generally, the denser planets are the nearer to the +Sun, is by some considered as adding another to the many indications of +nebular origin. Legitimately assuming that the outermost parts of a +rotating nebulous spheroid, in its earlier stages of concentration, will be +comparatively rare; and that the increasing density which the whole mass +acquires as it contracts, must hold of the outermost parts as well as the +rest; it is argued that the rings successively detached will be more and +more dense, and will form planets of higher and higher specific gravities. +But passing over other objections, this explanation is quite inadequate to +account for the facts. Using the Earth as a standard of comparison, the +relative densities run thus:-- + + Neptune. Uranus. Saturn. Jupiter. Mars. Earth. Venus. Mercury. Sun. + 0.14 0.24 0.14 0.24 0.95 1.00 0.92 1.12 0.25 + +Two seemingly insurmountable objections are presented by this series. The +first is, that the progression is but a broken one. Neptune is as dense as +Saturn, which, by the hypothesis, it ought not to be. Uranus is as dense as +Jupiter, which it ought not to be. Uranus is denser than Saturn, and the +Earth is denser than Venus--facts which not only give no countenance to, +but directly contradict, the alleged explanation. The second objection, +still more manifestly fatal, is the low specific gravity of the Sun. If, +when the matter of the Sun filled the orbit of Mercury, its state of +aggregation was such that the detached ring formed a planet having a +specific gravity equal to that of iron; then the Sun itself, now that it +has concentrated, should have a specific gravity much greater than that of +iron; whereas its specific gravity is not much above that of water. Instead +of being far denser than the nearest planet, it is not one-fourth as dense. +And a parallel relation holds between Jupiter and his smallest +satellite.[O] + + [O] The impending revision of the estimated masses of the planets, + entailed by the discovery that the Sun's distance is less than + was supposed, will alter these specific gravities. It will make + most of the contrasts still stronger. + +While these anomalies render untenable the position that the relative +specific gravities of the planets are direct indications of nebular +condensation; it by no means follows that they negative it. On the +contrary, we believe that the facts admit of an interpretation quite +consistent with the hypothesis of Laplace. + +There are three possible causes of unlike specific gravities in the members +of our Solar System:--1. Differences between the kinds of matter or matters +composing them. 2. Differences between the quantities of matter; for, other +things equal, the mutual gravitation of atoms will make a large mass denser +than a small one. 3. Differences between the structures: the masses being +either solid or liquid throughout, or having central cavities filled with +elastic aeriform substance. Of these three conceivable causes, that +commonly assigned is the first, more or less modified by the second. The +extremely low specific gravity of Saturn, which but little exceeds that of +cork (and, on this hypothesis, must at his surface be considerably less +than that of cork) is supposed to arise from the intrinsic lightness of his +substance. That the Sun weighs not much more than an equal bulk of water, +is taken as evidence that the matter he consists of is but little heavier +than water; although, considering his enormous gravitative force, which at +his surface is twenty-eight times the gravitative force at the surface of +the Earth, and considering his enormous mass, which is 390,000 times that +of the Earth, the matter he is made of can, in such case, have no analogy +to the liquids or solids we know. However, spite of these difficulties, the +current hypothesis is, that the Sun and planets, inclusive of the Earth, +are either solid or liquid, or have solid crusts with liquid nuclei: their +unlike specific gravities resulting from unlikenesses of substance. And +indeed, at first sight, this would seem to be the only tenable supposition; +seeing that, unless prevented by some immense resisting force, gravitation +must obliterate any internal cavity by collapsing the surrounding liquid or +solid matter. + +Nevertheless, that the Earth, in common with other members of the Solar +System, is solid, or else consists of a solid shell having a cavity +entirely filled with molten matter, is not an established fact: it is +nothing but a supposition. We must not let its familiarity and apparent +feasibility delude us into an uncritical acceptance of it. If we find an +alternative supposition which, physically considered, is equally possible, +we are bound to consider it. And if it not only avoids the difficulties +above pointed out, but many others hereafter to be mentioned, we must give +it the preference. + +Before proceeding to consider what the Nebular Hypothesis indicates +respecting the internal structures of the Sun and planets, we may state +that our reasonings, though of a kind not admitting of direct verification, +are nothing more than deductions from the established principles of +physics. We have submitted them to an authority not inferior to any that +can be named; and while unprepared to commit himself to them, he yet sees +nothing to object. + +Starting, then, with a rotating spheroid of aeriform matter, in the later +stages of its concentration, but before it has begun to take a liquid or +solid form, let us inquire what must be the actions going on in it. Mutual +gravitation continually aggregates its atoms into a smaller and denser +mass; and the aggregating force goes on increasing, as the common centre of +gravity is approached. An obstacle to concentration, however, exists in the +centrifugal force, which at this stage bears a far higher ratio to gravity +than afterwards, and in a gaseous spheroid must produce a very oblate form. +At the same time, the approximation of the atoms is resisted by a force +which, in being overcome, is evolved as heat. This heat must be greatest +where the atoms are subject to the highest pressure--namely, about the +central parts. And as fast as it escapes into space, further approximation +and further generation of heat must take place. But in a gaseous spheroid, +having internal parts hotter than its external parts, there must be some +circulation. The currents must set from the hottest region to the coolest +by some particular route; and from the coolest to the hottest by some other +route. In a very oblate spheroid, the coolest region must be that about the +equator: the surface there bearing so large a ratio to the mass. Hence +there will be currents from the centre to the equator, and others from the +equator to the centre. What will be the special courses of these currents? +Supposing an original state of rest, about to pass into motion in obedience +to the disturbing forces, the currents commencing at the centre will follow +the lines of most rapidly-decreasing density; seeing that the inertia will +be least in those lines. That is to say, there will be a current from the +centre towards each pole, along the axis of rotation; and the space thus +continually left vacant will be filled by the collapse of matter coming in +at right angles to the axis. The process cannot end here, however. If there +are constant currents from the centre towards the poles, there must be a +constant accumulation at the poles; the spheroid will be ever becoming more +protuberant about the poles than the conditions of mechanical equilibrium +permit. If, however, the mass at the poles is thus ever in excess, it must, +by the forces acting on it, be constantly moved over the outer surface of +the spheroid from the poles towards the equator: thus only can that form +which rotation necessitates be maintained. And a further result of this +transfer of matter from the centre, by way of the poles, to the equator, +must be the establishment of counter-currents from the equator in +diametrical lines, to the centre. + +Mark now the changes of temperature that must occur in these currents. An +aeriform mass ascending from the centre towards either pole, will expand as +it approaches the surface, in consequence of the diminution of pressure. +But expansion, involving an absorption of heat, will entail a diminished +temperature; and the temperature will be further lowered by the greater +freedom of radiation into space. This rarefied and cooled mass must be +still more rarefied and cooled in its progress over the surface of the +spheroid to the equator. Continually thrust further from the pole by the +ceaseless accumulation there, it must acquire an ever-increasing rotatory +motion and an ever-increasing centrifugal force: whence must follow +expansion and absorption of heat. To the refrigeration thus caused must be +added that resulting from radiation, which, at each advance towards the +equator, will be less hindered. And when the mass we have thus followed +arrives at the equator, it will have reached its maximum rarity and maximum +coolness. Conversely, every portion of a current proceeding in a +diametrical direction from the equator to the centre, must progressively +rise in temperature; in virtue alike of the increasing pressure, the +gradual arrest of motion, and the diminished rate of radiation. Note, +lastly, that this circulation will go on, but slowly. As the matter +proceeding from the equator towards the centre must have its rotatory +motion destroyed, while that proceeding from the poles to the equator must +have rotatory motion given to it, it follows that an enormous amount of +inertia has to be overcome; and this must make the currents so slow as to +prevent them from producing anything like an equality of temperature. + +Such being the constitution of a concentrating spheroid of gaseous matter, +where will the gaseous matter begin to condense into liquid? The usual +assumption has been, that in a nebulous mass approaching towards the +planetary form, the liquefaction will first occur at the centre. We believe +this assumption is inconsistent with established physical principles. + +Observe first that it is contrary to analogy. That the matter of the Earth +was liquid before any of it became solid, is generally admitted. Where has +it first solidified? Not at the centre, but at the surface. Now the general +principles which apply to the condensation of liquid matter into solid, +apply also to the condensation of gaseous matter into liquid. Hence if the +once liquid substance of the Earth first solidified at the surface, the +implication is that its once aeriform substance first liquified at the +surface. + +But we have no need to rest in analogy. On considering what must happen in +a rotating gaseous spheroid having currents moving as above described, we +shall see that external condensation is a corollary. A nebulous mass, when +it has arrived at this stage, will consist of an aeriform mixture of +various matters; the heavier and more condensible matters being contained +in the rarer or less condensible, in the same way that water is contained +in air. And the inference must be, that at a certain stage, some of these +denser matters will be precipitated in the shape of a cloud.[P] + + [P] The reader will perhaps say that this process is the one + described as having taken place early in the history of nebular + evolution; and this is true. But the same actions will be + repeated in media of different densities. + +Now, what are the laws of precipitation from gases? If a gas through which +some other substance is diffused in a gaseous state, expands in consequence +of the removal of pressure, it will, when the rarefaction and consequent +cooling reach a certain point, begin to let fall the suspended substance. +Conversely, if, a gas, saturated even with some substance, is subject to +increased pressure, and is allowed to retain the additional heat which that +pressure generates; so far from letting fall what it contains, it will gain +the power to take up more. See then, the inference respecting condensation +in a nebulous spheroid. The currents proceeding from the equator to the +centre, subject to increasing pressure, and acquiring the heat due both to +this increasing pressure and to arrested motion, will have no tendency to +deposit their suspended substances, but rather the reverse: a formation of +liquid matter at the centre of the mass will be impossible. Contrariwise, +the gaseous currents moving from the centre to the poles and thence to the +equator, expanding as they go, first from diminished pressure and +afterwards from increased centrifugal force; and losing heat, not only by +expansion, but by more rapid radiation; will have less and less power to +retain the matter diffused through them. The earliest precipitation will +take place in the region of extremest rarefaction; namely, about the +equator. An equatorial belt of cloud will be first formed, and widened into +a zone, will by-and-by begin to condense into liquid.[Q] Gradually this +liquid film will extend itself on each side the equator, and encroaching on +the two hemispheres, will eventually close over at the poles: thus +producing a thin hollow globe, or rather spheroid, filled with gaseous +matter. We do not mean that this condensation will take place at the very +outermost surface; for probably, round the denser gases forming the +principal mass, there will extend strata of gases too rare and too cool to +be entangled in these processes. It is the surface of this inner spheroid +of denser gases to which our reasoning points as the place of earliest +condensation. + + [Q] The formation of Saturn's rings is thus rendered comprehensible. + +The internal circulation we have described, continuing, as it must, after +the formation of this liquid film, there will still go on the radiation of +heat, and the progressive aggregation. The film will thicken at the expense +of the internal gaseous substances precipitated on it. As it thickens, as +the globe contracts, and as the gravitative force augments, the pressure +will increase; and the evolution and radiation of heat will go on more +rapidly. Eventually, however, when the liquid shell becomes very thick, and +the internal cavity relatively small, the obstacle put to the escape of +heat by this thick liquid shell, with its slowly-circulating currents, will +turn the scale: the temperature of the outer surface will begin to +diminish, and a solid crust will form while the internal cavity is yet +unobliterated. + +"But what," it may be asked, "will become of this gaseous nucleus when +exposed to the enormous gravitative pressure of a shell some thousands of +miles thick? How can aeriform matter withstand such a pressure?" Very +readily. It has been proved that even when the heat generated by +compression is allowed to escape, some gases remain uncondensible by any +force we can produce. An unsuccessful attempt lately made at Vienna to +liquify oxygen, clearly shows this enormous resistance. The steel piston +employed was literally shortened by the pressure used: and yet the gas +remained unliquified! If, then, the expansive force is thus immense when +the heat evolved is dissipated, what must it be when that heat is in great +measure detained; as in the case we are considering? Indeed, the +experiments of M. Cagniard de Latour have shown that gases may, under +pressure, acquire the density of liquids while retaining the aeriform +state; provided the temperature continues extremely high. In such a case, +every addition to the heat is an addition to the repulsive power of the +atoms: the increased pressure itself generates an increased ability to +resist; and this remains true to whatever extent the compression is +carried. Indeed, it is a corollary from the persistence of force, that if, +under increasing pressure, a gas retains all the heat evolved, its +resisting force is _absolutely unlimited_. Hence, the internal planetary +structure we have described, is as physically stable a one as that commonly +assumed. + +And now let us see how this hypothesis tallies with the facts. One +inference from it must be, that large masses will progress towards final +consolidation more slowly than small masses. Though a large concentrating +spheroid will, from its superior aggregative force, generate heat more +rapidly than a small one; yet, having, relatively to its surface, a much +greater quantity of heat to get rid of, it will be longer than a small one +in going through the changes we have described. Consequently, at a time +when the smaller members of our Solar System have arrived at so advanced a +stage of aggregation as almost to have obliterated their central cavities, +and so reached high specific gravities; the larger members will still be at +that stage in which the central cavities bear great ratios to the +surrounding shells, and will therefore have low specific gravities. This +contrast is just what we find. The small planets Mercury, Venus, the Earth, +and Mars, differing from each other comparatively little in density as in +size, are about four times as dense as Jupiter and Uranus, and seven times +as dense as Saturn and Neptune--planets exceeding them in size as oranges +exceed peas; and they are four times as dense as the Sun, which in mass is +nearly 5,000,000 times greater than the smallest of them. + +The obvious objection that this hypothesis does not explain the minor +differences, serves but to introduce a further confirmation. It may be +urged that Jupiter is of greater specific gravity than Saturn, though, +considering his superior mass, his specific gravity should be less; and +that still more anomalous is the case of the Sun, which, though containing +a thousand times the matter that Jupiter does, is nearly of the same +specific gravity. The solution of these difficulties lies in the modifying +effects of centrifugal force. Had the various masses to be compared been +all along in a state of rest, then the larger should have been uniformly +the less dense. But during the concentrating process they have been +rotating with various velocities. The consequent centrifugal force has in +each case been in antagonism with gravitation; and, according to its +amount, has hindered the concentration to a greater or less degree. The +efficient aggregative force has in each case been the excess of the +centripetal tendency over the centrifugal. Whence we may infer that +wherever this excess has been the least, the consolidation must have been +the most hindered, and the specific gravity will be the smallest. This, +too, we find to be the fact. Saturn, at whose equator the centrifugal force +is even now almost one-sixth of gravity, and who, by his numerous +satellites, shows us how strong an antagonist to concentration it was in +earlier stages of his evolution, is little more than half as dense as +Jupiter, whose concentration has been hindered by a centrifugal force +bearing a much smaller ratio to the centripetal. + +On the other hand, the Sun, whose latter stages of aggregation have met +with comparatively little of this opposition, and whose atoms tend towards +their common centre with a force ten times as great as that which Jupiter's +atoms are subject to, has, notwithstanding his immense bulk, reached a +specific gravity as great as that of Jupiter; and he has done this partly +for the reason assigned, and partly because the process of consolidation +has been, and still is, actively going on, while that of Jupiter has long +since almost ceased. + +Before pointing out further harmonies let us meet an objection. Laplace, +taking for data Jupiter's mass, diameter, and rate of rotation, calculated +the degrees of compression at the poles which his centrifugal force should +produce, supposing his substance to be homogeneous; and finding that the +calculated amount of oblateness was greater than the actual amount, +inferred that his substance must be denser towards the centre. The +inference seems unavoidable; is diametrically opposed to the hypothesis of +a shell of denser matter with a gaseous nucleus; and we confess that on +first meeting with this fact we were inclined to think it fatal. But there +is a consideration, apt to be overlooked, which completely disposes of it. +A compressed elastic medium tends ever with great energy to give a +spherical figure to the chamber in which it is confined. This truth is +alike mathematically demonstrable, and recognized in practice by every +engineer. In the case before us, the expansive power of the gaseous nucleus +is such as to balance the gravitation of the shell of the planet; and this +power perpetually strives to make the planet a perfect sphere. Thus the +tendency of the centrifugal force to produce oblateness, is opposed not +only by the force of gravity but by another force of great intensity; and +hence the degree of oblateness produced is relatively small. + +This difficulty being as we think, satisfactorily met, we go on to name +some highly significant facts giving indirect support to our hypothesis. +And first with respect to the asteroids, or planetoids, as they are +otherwise called. Now that these have proved to be so numerous--now that it +has become probable that beyond some sixty already discovered there are +many more--the supposition of Olbers, that they are the fragments of an +exploded planet which once occupied the vacant region they fill, has gained +increased probability. The alternative supposition of Laplace, that they +are the products of a nebulous ring which separated into many fragments +instead of collapsing into a single mass, seems inconsistent with the +extremely various, and in some cases extremely great, inclinations of their +orbits; as well as with their similarly various and great eccentricities. +For these the theory of Olbers completely accounts--indeed, it necessarily +involves them; while at the same time it affords us a feasible explanation +of meteors, and especially the periodic swarms of them, which would else be +inexplicable. The fact, inferred from the present derangement of their +orbits, that if the planetoids once formed parts of one mass, it must have +exploded myriads of years ago, is no difficulty, but rather the reverse. + +Taking Olbers' supposition, then, as the most tenable one, let us ask how +such an explosion could have occurred. If planets are internally +constituted as is commonly assumed, no conceivable cause of it can be +named. A solid mass may crack and fall to pieces, but it cannot violently +explode. So, too, with a liquid mass covered by a crust. Though, if +contained in an unyielding shell and artificially raised to a very high +temperature, a liquid might so expand as to burst the shell and +simultaneously flash into vapour; yet, if contained in a yielding crust, +like that of a planet, it would not do so: it would crack the crust and +give off its expansive force gradually. But the planetary structure above +supposed, supplies us with all the requisite conditions to an explosion, +and an adequate cause for it. We have in the interior of the mass, a cavity +serving as a sufficient reservoir of force. We have this cavity filled with +gaseous matters of high tension. We have in the chemical affinities of +these matters a source of enormous expansive power--power capable of being +quite suddenly liberated. And we have in the increasing heat of the shell, +consequent on progressing concentration, a cause of such instantaneous +chemical change and the resulting explosion. The explanation thus supplied, +of an event which there can be little doubt has occurred, and which is not +otherwise accounted for, adds to the probability of the hypothesis. + +One further evidence, and that not the least important, is deducible from +geology. From the known rate at which the temperature rises as we pierce +deeper into the substance of the Earth, it has been inferred that its solid +crust is some forty miles thick. And if this be its thickness, we have a +feasible explanation of volcanic phenomena, as well as of elevations and +subsidences. But proceeding on the current supposition that the Earth's +interior is wholly filled with molten matter, Prof. Hopkins has calculated +that to cause the observed amount of precession of the equinoxes, the +Earth's crust must be at least eight hundred miles thick. Here is an +immense discrepancy. However imperfect may be the data from which it is +calculated that the Earth is molten at forty miles deep, it seems very +unlikely that this conclusion differs from the truth so widely as forty +miles does from eight hundred. It seems scarcely conceivable that if the +crust is thus thick, it should by its contraction and corrugation, produce +mountain chains, as it has done during quite modern geologic epochs. It is +not easy on this supposition to explain elevations and subsidences of small +area. Neither do the phenomena of volcanoes appear comprehensible. Indeed +to account for these, Prof. Hopkins has been obliged to make the gratuitous +and extremely improbable assumption, that there are isolated lakes of +molten matter enclosed in this thick crust, and situated, as they must be, +not far from its outer surface. + +But irreconcileable as appear the astronomical with the geological facts, +if we take for granted that the Earth consists wholly of solid and liquid +substances, they become at once reconcileable if we adopt the conclusion +that the Earth has a gaseous nucleus. If there is an internal cavity of +considerable diameter occupied only by aeriform matter--if the density of +the surrounding shell is, as it must in that case be, greater than the +current supposition implies; then there will be a larger quantity of matter +contained in the equatorial protuberance, and an adequate cause for the +precession. Manifestly there may be found some proportion between the +central space and its envelope, which will satisfy the mechanical +requirements, without involving a thicker crust than geological phenomena +indicate.[R] + + [R] Since this was written, M. Poinsot has shown that the precession + would be the same whether the Earth were solid or hollow. + +We conceive, then, that the hypothesis we have set forth, is in many +respects preferable to that ordinarily received. We can know nothing by +direct observation concerning the central parts either of our own planet or +any other: indirect methods are alone possible. The idea which has been +tacitly adopted, is just as speculative as that we have opposed to it; and +the only question is, which harmonizes best with established facts. Thus +compared, the advantage is greatly on the side of the new one. It disposes +of sundry anomalies, and explains things that seem else incomprehensible. +We are no longer obliged to assume such wide differences between the +substances of the various planets: we need not think of any of them as like +cork or water. We are shown how it happens that the larger planets have so +much lower specific gravities than the smaller, instead of having higher +ones, as might have been expected; and we are further shown why Saturn is +the lightest of all. That Mercury is relatively so much heavier than the +Sun; that Jupiter is specifically lighter than his smallest satellite; that +Saturn's rings have a density one and a half times as great as Saturn; are +no longer mysteries. A feasible cause is assigned for the catastrophe which +produced the asteroids. And some apparently incongruous peculiarities in +the Earth's structure are brought to an agreement. May we not say, then, +that being deducible from the Nebular Hypothesis, this alleged planetary +structure gives further indirect support to that hypothesis? + + * * * * * + +In considering the specific gravities of the heavenly bodies, we have been +obliged to speak of the heat evolved by them. But we have yet to point out +the fact that in their present conditions with respect to temperature, we +find additional materials for building up our argument; and these too of +the most substantial character. + +Heat must inevitably be generated by the aggregation of diffused matter +into a concrete form; and throughout our reasonings we have assumed that +such generation of heat has been an accompaniment of nebular condensation. +If, then, the Nebular Hypothesis be true, we ought to find in all the +heavenly bodies, either present high temperature or marks of past high +temperature. + +As far as observation can reach, the facts prove to be what theory +requires. Various evidences conspire to show that, below a certain depth, +the Earth is still molten. And that it was once wholly molten, is implied +by the circumstance that the rate at which the temperature increases on +descending below its surface, is such as would be found in a mass that had +been cooling for an indefinite period. The Moon, too, shows us, by its +corrugations and its conspicuous volcanoes, that in it there has been a +process of refrigeration and contraction, like that which had gone on in +the Earth. And in Venus, the existence of mountains similarly indicates an +igneous reaction of the interior upon a solidifying crust. + +On the common theory of creation, these phenomena are inexplicable. To what +end the Earth should once have existed in a molten state, incapable of +supporting life, it cannot say. To satisfy this supposition, the Earth +should have been originally created in a state fit for the assumed purposes +of creation; and similarly with the other planets. While, therefore, to the +Nebular Hypothesis the evidence of original incandescence and still +continued internal heat, furnish strong confirmation, they are, to the +antagonist hypothesis, insurmountable difficulties. + +But the argument from temperature does not end here. There remains to be +noticed a more conspicuous and still more significant fact. If the Solar +System was formed by the concentration of diffused matter, which evolved +heat while gravitating into its present dense form; then there are certain +obvious corollaries respecting the relative temperatures of the resulting +bodies. Other things equal, the latest-formed mass will be the latest in +cooling--will, for an almost infinite time, possess a greater heat than the +earlier-formed ones. Other things equal, the largest mass will, because of +its superior aggregative force, become hotter than the others, and radiate +more intensely. Other things equal, the largest mass, notwithstanding the +higher temperature it reaches, will, in consequence of its relatively small +surface, be the slowest in losing its evolved heat. And hence, if there is +one mass which was not only formed after the rest, but exceeds them +enormously in size, it follows that this one will reach an intensity of +incandescence much beyond that reached by the rest; and will continue in a +state of intense incandescence long after the rest have cooled. + +Such a mass we have in the Sun. It is a corollary from the Nebular +Hypothesis, that the matter forming the Sun assumed its present concrete +form, at a period much more recent than that at which the planets became +definite bodies. The quantity of matter contained in the Sun is nearly five +million times that contained in the smallest planet, and above a thousand +times that contained in the largest. And while, from the enormous +gravitative force of the atoms, the evolution of heat has been intense, the +facilities of radiation have been relatively small. Hence the +still-continued high temperature. Just that condition of the central body +which is a necessary inference from the Nebular Hypothesis, we find +actually existing in the Sun. + +It may be well to consider a little more closely, what is the probable +condition of the Sun's surface. Round the globe of incandescent molten +substances, thus conceived to form the visible body of the Sun, there is +known to exist a voluminous atmosphere: the inferior brilliancy of the +Sun's border, and the appearances during a total eclipse, alike show +this.[S] What now must be the constitution of this atmosphere? At a +temperature approaching a thousand times that of molten iron, which is the +calculated temperature of the solar surface, very many, if not all, of the +substances we know as solid, would become gaseous; and though the Sun's +enormous attractive force must be a powerful check on this tendency to +assume the form of vapour, yet it cannot be questioned that if the body of +the Sun consists of molten substances, some of them must be constantly +undergoing evaporation. That the dense gases thus continually being +generated will form the entire mass of the solar atmosphere, is not +probable. If anything is to be inferred, either from the Nebular +Hypothesis, or from the analogies supplied by the planets, it must be +concluded that the outermost part of the solar atmosphere consists of what +are called permanent gases--gases that are not condensible into fluid even +at low temperatures. If we consider what must have been the state of things +here, when the surface of the Earth was molten, we shall see that round the +still molten surface of the Sun, there probably exists a stratum of dense +aeriform matter, made up of sublimed metals and metallic compounds, and +above this a stratum of comparatively rare medium analogous to air. What +now will happen with these two strata? Did they both consist of permanent +gases, they could not remain separate: according to a well-known law, they +would eventually form a homogeneous mixture. But this will by no means +happen when the lower stratum consists of matters that are gaseous only at +excessively high temperatures. Given off from a molten surface, ascending, +expanding, and cooling, these will presently reach a limit of elevation +above which they cannot exist as vapour, but must condense and precipitate. +Meanwhile the upper stratum, habitually charged with its quantum of these +denser matters, as our air with its quantum of water, and ready to deposit +them on any depression of temperature, must be habitually unable to take up +any more of the lower stratum; and therefore this lower stratum will remain +quite distinct from it. + + [S] See Herschel's "Outlines of Astronomy." + +Since the foregoing paragraph was originally published, in 1858, the +proposition it enunciates as a corollary from the Nebular Hypothesis, has +been in great part verified. The marvellous disclosures made by +spectrum-analysis, have proved beyond the possibility of doubt, that the +solar atmosphere contains, in a gaseous state, the metals, iron, calcium, +magnesium, sodium, chromium, and nickel, along with small quantities of +barium, copper, and zinc. That there exist in the solar atmosphere other +metals like those which we have on the Earth, is probable; and that it +contains elements which are unknown to us, is very possible. + +Be this as it may, however, the proposition that the Sun's atmosphere +consists largely of metallic vapours, must take rank as an established +truth; and that the incandescent body of the Sun consists of molten metals, +follows almost of necessity. That an _à priori_ inference which probably +seemed to many readers wildly speculative, should be thus conclusively +justified by observations, made without reference to any theory, is a +striking fact; and it gives yet further support to the hypothesis from +which this _à priori_ conclusion was drawn. It may be well to add that +Kirchhoff, to whom we owe this discovery respecting the constitution of the +solar atmosphere, himself remarks in his memoir of 1861, that the facts +disclosed are in harmony with the Nebular Hypothesis. + +And here let us not omit to note also, the significant bearing which +Kirchhoff's results have on the doctrine contended for in a foregoing +section. Leaving out the barium, copper, and zinc, of which the quantities +are inferred to be small, the metals existing as vapours in the Sun's +atmosphere, and by consequence as molten in his incandescent body, have an +average specific gravity of 4·25. But the average specific gravity of the +Sun is about 1. How is this discrepancy to be explained? To say that the +Sun consists almost wholly of the three lighter metals named, would be +quite unwarranted by the evidence: the results of spectrum-analysis would +just as much warrant the assertion that the Sun consists almost wholly of +the three heavier. Three metals (two of them heavy) having been already +left out of the estimate because their quantities appear to be small, the +only legitimate assumption on which to base an estimate of specific +gravity, is that the rest are present in something like equal amounts. Is +it then that the lighter metals exist in larger proportions in the molten +mass, though not in the atmosphere? This is very unlikely: the known +habitudes of matter rather imply that the reverse is the case. Is it then +that under the conditions of temperature and gravitation existing in the +Sun, the state of liquid aggregation is wholly unlike that existing here? +This is a very strong assumption: it is one for which our terrestrial +experiences afford no adequate warrant; and if such unlikeness exists, it +is very improbable that it should produce so immense a contrast in specific +gravity as that of 4 to 1. The more legitimate conclusion is that the Sun's +body is not made up of molten matter all through; but that it consists of a +molten shell with a gaseous nucleus. And this we have seen to be a +corollary from the Nebular Hypothesis. + + * * * * * + +Considered in their _ensemble_, the several groups of evidences assigned +amount almost to proof. We have seen that, when critically examined, the +speculations of late years current respecting the nature of the nebulæ, +commit their promulgators to sundry absurdities; while, on the other hand, +we see that the various appearances these nebulæ present, are explicable as +different stages in the precipitation and aggregation of diffused matter. +We find that comets, alike by their physical constitution, their +immensely-elongated and variously-directed orbits, the distribution of +those orbits, and their manifest structural relation to the Solar System, +bear testimony to the past existence of that system in a nebulous form. Not +only do those obvious peculiarities in the motions of the planets which +first suggested the Nebular Hypothesis, supply proofs of it, but on closer +examination we discover, in the slightly-diverging inclinations of their +orbits, in their various rates of rotation, and their differently-directed +axes of rotation, that the planets yield us yet further testimony; while +the satellites, by sundry traits, and especially by their occurrence in +greater or less abundance where the hypothesis implies greater or less +abundance, confirm this testimony. By tracing out the process of planetary +condensation, we are led to conclusions respecting the internal structure +of planets which at once explain their anomalous specific gravities, and at +the same time reconcile various seemingly contradictory facts. Once more, +it turns out that what is _à priori_ inferable from the Nebular Hypothesis +respecting the temperatures of the resulting bodies, is just what +observation establishes; and that both the absolute and the relative +temperatures of the Sun and planets are thus accounted for. When we +contemplate these various evidences in their totality--when we observe +that, by the Nebular Hypothesis, the leading phenomena of the Solar System, +and the heavens in general, are explicable; and when, on the other hand, we +consider that the current cosmogony is not only without a single fact to +stand on, but is at variance with all our positive knowledge of Nature; we +see that the proof becomes overwhelming. + +It remains only to point out that while the genesis of the Solar System, +and of countless other systems like it, is thus rendered comprehensible, +the ultimate mystery continues as great as ever. The problem of existence +is not solved: it is simply removed further back. The Nebular Hypothesis +throws no light on the origin of diffused matter; and diffused matter as +much needs accounting for as concrete matter. The genesis of an atom is not +easier to conceive than the genesis of a planet. Nay, indeed, so far from +making the Universe a less mystery than before, it makes it a greater +mystery. Creation by manufacture is a much lower thing than creation by +evolution. A man can put together a machine; but he cannot make a machine +develop itself. The ingenious artizan, able as some have been, so far to +imitate vitality as to produce a mechanical pianoforte-player, may in some +sort conceive how, by greater skill, a complete man might be artificially +produced; but he is unable to conceive how such a complex organism +gradually arises out of a minute structureless germ. That our harmonious +universe once existed potentially as formless diffused matter, and has +slowly grown into its present organized state, is a far more astonishing +fact than would have been its formation after the artificial method +vulgarly supposed. Those who hold it legitimate to argue from phenomena to +noumena, may rightly contend that the Nebular Hypothesis implies a First +Cause as much transcending "the mechanical God of Paley," as this does the +fetish of the savage. + + + + +VII. BAIN ON THE EMOTIONS AND THE WILL. + + +After the controversy between the Neptunists and the Vulcanists had been +long carried on without definite results, there came a reaction against all +speculative geology. Reasoning without adequate data having led to nothing, +inquirers went into the opposite extreme, and confining themselves wholly +to collecting data, relinquished reasoning. The Geological Society of +London was formed with the express object of accumulating evidence; for +many years hypotheses were forbidden at its meetings; and only of late have +attempts to organize the mass of observations into consistent theory been +tolerated. + +This reaction and subsequent re-reaction, well illustrate the recent +history of English thought in general. The time was when our countrymen +speculated, certainly to as great an extent as any other people, on all +those high questions which present themselves to the human intellect; and, +indeed, a glance at the systems of philosophy that are or have been current +on the Continent, suffices to show how much other nations owe to the +discoveries of our ancestors. For a generation or two, however, these more +abstract subjects have fallen into neglect; and, among those who plume +themselves on being "practical," even into contempt. Partly, perhaps, a +natural accompaniment of our rapid material growth, this intellectual phase +has been in great measure due to the exhaustion of argument, and the +necessity for better data. Not so much with a conscious recognition of the +end to be subserved, as from an unconscious subordination to that rhythm +traceable in social changes as in other things, an era of theorizing +without observing, has been followed by an era of observing without +theorizing. During the long-continued devotion to concrete science, an +immense quantity of raw material for abstract science has been accumulated; +and now there is obviously commencing a period in which this accumulated +raw material will be organized into consistent theory. On all +sides--equally in the inorganic sciences, in the science of life, and in +the science of society--may we note the tendency to pass from the +superficial and empirical to the more profound and rational. + +In Psychology this change is conspicuous. The facts brought to light by +anatomists and physiologists during the last fifty years, are at length +being used towards the interpretation of this highest class of biological +phenomena; and already there is promise of a great advance. The work of Mr. +Alexander Bain, of which the second volume has been recently issued, may be +regarded as especially characteristic of the transition. It gives us in +orderly arrangement, the great mass of evidence supplied by modern science +towards the building-up of a coherent system of mental philosophy. It is +not in itself a system of mental philosophy, properly so called; but a +classified collection of materials for such a system, presented with that +method and insight which scientific discipline generates, and accompanied +with occasional passages of an analytical character. It is indeed that +which it in the main professes to be--a natural history of the mind. + +Were we to say that the researches of the naturalist who collects and +dissects and describes species, bear the same relation to the researches of +the comparative anatomist tracing out the laws of organization, which Mr. +Bain's labours bear to the labours of the abstract psychologist, we should +be going somewhat too far; for Mr. Bain's work is not wholly descriptive. +Still, however, such an analogy conveys the best general conception of what +he has done; and serves most clearly to indicate its needfulness. For as, +before there can be made anything like true generalizations respecting the +classification of organisms and the laws of organization, there must be an +extensive accumulation of the facts presented in numerous organic bodies; +so, without a tolerably-complete delineation of mental phenomena of all +orders, there can scarcely arise any adequate theory of the mind. Until +recently, mental science has been pursued much as physical science was +pursued by the ancients: not by drawing conclusions from observations and +experiments, but by drawing them from arbitrary à priori assumptions. This +course, long since abandoned in the one case with immense advantage, is +gradually being abandoned in the other; and the treatment of Psychology as +a division of natural history, shows that the abandonment will soon be +complete. + +Estimated as a means to higher results, Mr. Bain's work is of great value. +Of its kind it is the most scientific in conception, the most catholic in +spirit, and the most complete in execution. Besides delineating the various +classes of mental phenomena as seen under that stronger light thrown on +them by modern science, it includes in the picture much which previous +writers had omitted--partly from prejudice, partly from ignorance. We refer +more especially to the participation of bodily organs in mental changes; +and the addition to the primary mental changes, of those many secondary +ones which the actions of the bodily organs generate. Mr. Bain has, we +believe, been the first to appreciate the importance of this element in our +states of consciousness; and it is one of his merits that he shows how +constant and large an element it is. Further, the relations of voluntary +and involuntary movements are elucidated in a way that was not possible to +writers unacquainted with the modern doctrine of reflex action. And beyond +this, some of the analytical passages that here and there occur, contain +important ideas. + +Valuable, however, as is Mr. Bain's work, we regard it as essentially +transitional. It presents in a digested form the results of a period of +observation; adds to these results many well-delineated facts collected by +himself; arranges new and old materials with that more scientific method +which the discipline of our times has fostered; and so prepare the way for +better generalizations. But almost of necessity its classifications and +conclusions are provisional. In the growth of each science, not only is +correct observation needful for the formation of true theory; but true +theory is needful as a preliminary to correct observation. Of course we do +not intend this assertion to be taken literally; but as a strong expression +of the fact that the two must advance hand in hand. The first crude theory +or rough classification, based on very slight knowledge of the phenomena, +is requisite as a means of reducing the phenomena to some kind of order; +and as supplying a conception with which fresh phenomena may be compared, +and their agreement or disagreement noted. Incongruities being by and by +made manifest by wider examination of cases, there comes such modification +of the theory as brings it into a nearer correspondence with the evidence. +This reacts to the further advance of observation. More extensive and +complete observation brings additional corrections of theory. And so on +till the truth is reached. In mental science, the systematic collection of +facts having but recently commenced, it is not to be expected that the +results can be at once rightly formulated. All that may be looked for are +approximate generalizations which will presently serve for the better +directing of inquiry. Hence, even were it not now possible to say in what +way it does so, we might be tolerably certain that Mr. Bain's work bears +the stamp of the inchoate state of Psychology. + +We think, however, that it will not be difficult to find in what respects +its organization is provisional; and at the same time to show what must be +the nature of a more complete organization. We propose here to attempt +this: illustrating our positions from his recently-issued second volume. + + * * * * * + +Is it possible to make a true classification without the aid of analysis? +or must there not be an analytical basis to every true classification? Can +the real relations of things be determined by the obvious characteristics +of the things? or does it not commonly happen that certain hidden +characteristics, on which the obvious ones depend, are the truly +significant ones? This is the preliminary question which a glance at Mr. +Bain's scheme of the emotions suggests. + +Though not avowedly, yet by implication, Mr. Bain assumes that a right +conception of the nature, the order, and the relations of the emotions, may +be arrived at by contemplating their conspicuous objective and subjective +characters, as displayed in the adult. After pointing out that we lack +those means of classification which serve in the case of the sensations, he +says-- + + "In these circumstances we must turn our attention to _the manner + of diffusion_ of the different passions and emotions, in order to + obtain a basis of classification analogous to the arrangement of the + sensations. If what we have already advanced on that subject be at + all well founded, this is the genuine turning point of the method to + be chosen, for the same mode of diffusion will always be accompanied + by the same mental experience, and each of the two aspects would + identify, and would be evidence of, the other. There is, therefore, + nothing so thoroughly characteristic of any state of feeling as the + nature of the diffusive wave that embodies it, or the various organs + specially roused into action by it, together with the manner of the + action. The only drawback is our comparative ignorance, and our + inability to discern the precise character of the diffusive currents + in every case; a radical imperfection in the science of mind as + constituted at present. + + "Our own consciousness, formerly reckoned the only medium of + knowledge to the mental philosopher, must therefore be still referred + to as a principal means of discriminating the varieties of human + feeling. We have the power of noting agreement and difference among + our conscious states, and on this we can raise a structure of + classification. We recognise such generalities as pleasure, pain, + love, anger, through the property of mental or intellectual + discrimination that accompanies in our mind the fact of an emotion. A + certain degree of precision is attainable by this mode of mental + comparison and analysis; the farther we can carry such precision the + better; but that is no reason why it should stand alone to the + neglect of the corporeal embodiments through which one mind reveals + itself to others. The companionship of inward feeling with bodily + manifestation is a fact of the human constitution, and deserves to be + studied as such; and it would be difficult to find a place more + appropriate than a treatise on the mind for setting forth the + conjunctions and sequences traceable in this department of nature. I + shall make no scruple in conjoining with the description of the + mental phenomena the physical appearances, in so far as I am able to + ascertain them. + + "There is still one other quarter to be referred to in settling a + complete arrangement of the emotions, namely, the varieties of human + conduct, and the machinery created in subservience to our common + susceptibilities. For example, the vast superstructure of fine art + has its foundations in human feeling, and in rendering an account of + this we are led to recognise the interesting group of artistic or + æsthetic emotions. The same outward reference to conduct and + creations brings to light the so-called moral sense in man, whose + foundations in the mental system have accordingly to be examined. + + "Combining together these various indications, or sources of + discrimination,--outward objects, diffusive mode or expression, + inward consciousness, resulting conduct and institutions--I adopt the + following arrangement of the families or natural orders of emotion." + +Here, then, are confessedly adopted, as bases of classification, the most +manifest characters of the emotions; as discerned subjectively, and +objectively. The mode of diffusion of an emotion is one of its outside +aspects; the institutions it generates form another of its outside aspects; +and though the peculiarities of the emotion as a state of consciousness, +seem to express its intrinsic and ultimate nature, yet such peculiarities +as are perceptible by simple introspection, must also be classed as +superficial peculiarities. It is a familiar fact that various intellectual +states of consciousness turn out, when analyzed, to have natures widely +unlike those which at first appear; and we believe the like will prove true +of emotional states of consciousness. Just as our concept of space, which +is apt to be thought a simple, undecomposable concept, is yet resolvable +into experiences quite different from that state of consciousness which we +call space; so, probably, the sentiment of affection or reverence is +compounded of elements that are severally distinct from the whole which +they make up. And much as a classification of our ideas which dealt with +the idea of space as though it were ultimate, would be a classification of +ideas by their externals; so, a classification of our emotions, which, +regarding them as simple, describes their aspects in ordinary +consciousness, is a classification of emotions by their externals. + +Thus, then, Mr. Bain's grouping is throughout determined by the most +manifest attributes--those objectively displayed in the natural language of +the emotions, and in the social phenomena that result from them, and those +subjectively displayed in the aspects the emotions assume in an analytical +consciousness. And the question is--Can they be correctly grouped after +this method? + +We think not; and had Mr. Bain carried farther an idea with which he has +set out, he would probably have seen that they cannot. As already said, he +avowedly adopts "the natural-history-method:" not only referring to it in +his preface, but in his first chapter giving examples of botanical and +zoological classifications, as illustrating the mode in which he proposes +to deal with the emotions. This we conceive to be a philosophical +conception; and we have only to regret that Mr. Bain has overlooked some of +its most important implications. For in what has essentially consisted the +progress of natural-history-classification? In the abandonment of grouping +by external, conspicuous characters; and in the making of certain internal, +but all-essential characters, the bases of groups. Whales are not now +ranged along with fish, because in their general forms and habits of life +they resemble fish; but they are ranged with mammals, because the type of +their organization, as ascertained by dissection, corresponds with that of +the mammals. No longer considered as sea-weeds in virtue of their forms and +modes of growth, zoophytes are now shown, by examination of their economy, +to belong to the animal kingdom. + +It is found, then, that the discovery of real relationships involves +analysis. It has turned out that the earlier classifications, guided by +general resemblances, though containing much truth, and though very useful +provisionally, were yet in many cases radically wrong; and that the true +affinities of organisms, and the true homologies of their parts, are to be +made out only by examining their hidden structures. Another fact of great +significance in the history of classification is also to be noted. Very +frequently the kinship of an organism cannot be made out even by exhaustive +analysis, if that analysis is confined to the adult structure. In many +cases it is needful to examine the structure in its earlier stages; and +even in its embryonic stage. So difficult was it, for instance, to +determine the true position of the Cirrhipedia among animals, by examining +mature individuals only, that Cuvier erroneously classed them with +Mollusca, even after dissecting them; and not until their early forms were +discovered, were they clearly proved to belong to the Crustacea. So +important, indeed, is the study of development as a means to +classification, that the first zoologists now hold it to be the only +absolute criterion. + +Here, then, in the advance of natural-history-classification, are two +fundamental facts, which should be borne in mind when classifying the +emotions. If, as Mr. Bain rightly assumes, the emotions are to be grouped +after the natural-history-method; then it should be the +natural-history-method in its complete form, and not in its rude form. Mr. +Bain will doubtless agree in the position, that a correct account of the +emotions in their natures and relations, must correspond with a correct +account of the nervous system--must form another side of the same ultimate +facts. Structure and function must necessarily harmonize. Structures which +have with each other certain ultimate connexions, must have functions that +have answering connexions. Structures that have arisen in certain ways, +must have functions that have arisen in parallel ways. And hence if +analysis and development are needful for the right interpretation of +structures, they must be needful for the right interpretation of functions. +Just as a scientific description of the digestive organs, must include not +only their obvious forms and connexions, but their microscopic characters, +and also the ways in which they severally result by differentiation from +the primitive mucous membrane; so must a scientific account of the nervous +system, include its general arrangements, its minute structure, and its +mode of evolution; and so must a scientific account of nervous actions, +include the answering three elements. Alike in classing separate organisms, +and in classing the parts of the same organism, the complete +natural-history-method involves ultimate analysis, aided by development; +and Mr. Bain, in not basing his classification of the emotions on +characters reached through these aids, has fallen short of the conception +with which he set out. + +"But," it will perhaps be asked, "how are the emotions to be analyzed, and +their modes of evolution to be ascertained? Different animals, and +different organs of the same animal, may readily be compared in their +internal and microscopic structures, as also in their developments; but +functions, and especially such functions as the emotions, do not admit of +like comparisons." + +It must be admitted that the application of these methods is here by no +means so easy. Though we can note differences and similarities between the +internal formations of two animals; it is difficult to contrast the mental +states of two animals. Though the true morphological relations of organs +may be made out by the observations of embryos; yet, where such organs are +inactive before birth, we cannot completely trace the history of their +actions. Obviously, too, the pursuance of inquiries of the kind indicated, +raises questions which science is not yet prepared to answer; as, for +instance--Whether all nervous functions, in common with all other +functions, arise by gradual differentiations, as their organs do? Whether +the emotions are, therefore, to be regarded as divergent modes of action, +that have become unlike by successive modifications? Whether, as two organs +which originally budded out of the same membrane, have not only become +different as they developed, but have also severally become compound +internally, though externally simple: so two emotions, simple and near akin +in their roots, may not only have grown unlike, but may also have grown +involved in their natures, though seeming homogeneous to consciousness. And +here, indeed, in the inability of existing science to answer these +questions which underlie a true psychological classification, we see how +purely provisional any present classification is likely to be. + +Nevertheless, even now, classification may be aided by development and +ultimate analysis to a considerable extent; and the defect in Mr. Bain's +work is, that he has not systematically availed himself of them as far as +possible. Thus we may, in the first place, study the evolution of the +emotions up through the various grades of the animal kingdom: observing +which of them are earliest and exist with the lowest organization and +intelligence; in what order the others accompany higher endowments; and how +they are severally related to the conditions of life. In the second place, +we may note the emotional differences between the lower and the higher +human races--may regard as earlier and simpler those feelings which are +common to both, and as later and more compound those which are +characteristic of the most civilized. In the third place, we may observe +the order in which the emotions unfold during the progress from infancy to +maturity. And lastly, comparing these three kinds of emotional development, +displayed in the ascending grades of the animal kingdom, in the advance of +the civilized races, and in individual history, we may see in what respects +they harmonize, and what are the implied general truths. + +Having gathered together and generalized these several classes of facts, +analysis of the emotions would be made easier. Setting out with the +unquestionable assumption, that every new form of emotion making its +appearance in the individual or the race, is a modification of some +pre-existing emotion, or a compounding of several pre-existing emotions; we +should be greatly aided by knowing what always are the pre-existing +emotions. When, for example, we find that very few if any of the lower +animals show any love of accumulation, and that this feeling is absent in +infancy--when we see that an infant in arms exhibits anger, fear, wonder, +while yet it manifests no desire of permanent possession, and that a brute +which has no acquisitive emotion can nevertheless feel attachment, +jealousy, love of approbation; we may suspect that the feeling which +property satisfies, is compounded out of simpler and deeper feelings. We +may conclude that as, when a dog hides a bone, there must exist in him a +prospective gratification of hunger; so there must similarly at first, in +all cases where anything is secured or taken possession of, exist an ideal +excitement of the feeling which that thing will gratify. We may further +conclude that when the intelligence is such that a variety of objects come +to be utilized for different purposes--when, as among savages, divers wants +are satisfied through the articles appropriated for weapons, shelter, +clothing, ornament; the act of appropriating comes to be one constantly +involving agreeable associations, and one which is therefore pleasurable, +irrespective of the end subserved. And when, as in civilized life, the +property acquired is of a kind not conducing to one order of +gratifications, but is capable of administering to all gratifications, the +pleasure of acquiring property grows more distinct from each of the various +pleasures subserved--is more completely differentiated into a separate +emotion. + +This illustration, roughly as it is sketched, will show what we mean by the +use of comparative psychology in aid of classification. Ascertaining by +induction the actual order of evolution of the emotions, we are led to +suspect this to be their order of successive dependence; and are so led to +recognize their order of ascending complexity; and by consequence their +true groupings. + +Thus, in the very process of arranging the emotions into grades, beginning +with those involved in the lowest forms of conscious activity and end with +those peculiar to the adult civilized man, the way is opened for that +ultimate analysis which alone can lead us to the true science of the +matter. For when we find both that there exist in a man feelings which do +not exist in a child, and that the European is characterized by some +sentiments which are wholly or in a great part absent from the savage--when +we see that, besides the new emotions that arise spontaneously as the +individual becomes completely organized, there are new emotions making +their appearance in the more advanced divisions of our race; we are led to +ask--How are new emotions generated? The lowest savages have not even the +ideas of justice or mercy: they have neither words for them nor can they be +made to conceive them; and the manifestation of them by Europeans they +ascribe to fear or cunning. There are æsthetic emotions common among +ourselves, that are scarcely in any degree experienced by some inferior +races; as, for instance, those produced by music. To which instances may be +added the less marked but more numerous contrasts that exist between +civilized races in the degrees of their several emotions. And if it is +manifest, both that all the emotions are capable of being permanently +modified in the course of successive generations, and that what must be +classed as new emotions may be brought into existence; then it follows that +nothing like a true conception of the emotions is to be obtained, until we +understand how they are evolved. + +Comparative psychology, while it raises this inquiry, prepares the way for +answering it. When observing the differences between races, we can scarcely +fail to observe also how these differences correspond with differences in +their conditions of existence, and therefore in their daily experiences. +Note the contrast between the circumstances and between the emotional +natures of savage and civilized. Among the lowest races of men, love of +property stimulates to the obtainment only of such things as satisfy +immediate desires or desires of the immediate future. Improvidence is the +rule: there is little effort to meet remote contingencies. But the growth +of established societies, having gradually given security of possession, +there has been an increasing tendency to provide for coming years: there +has been a constant exercise of the feeling which is satisfied by a +provision for the future; and there has been a growth of this feeling so +great that it now prompts accumulation to an extent beyond what is needful. +Note, again, that under the discipline of social life--under a comparative +abstinence from aggressive actions, and a performance of those +mutually-serviceable actions implied by the division of labour--there has +been a development of those gentle emotions of which inferior races exhibit +but the rudiments. Savages delight in giving pain rather than pleasure--are +almost devoid of sympathy. While among ourselves philanthropy organizes +itself in laws, establishes numerous institutions, and dictates countless +private benefactions. + +From which and other like facts, does it not seem an unavoidable inference +that new emotions are developed by new experiences--new habits of life? All +are familiar with the truth, that in the individual, each feeling may be +strengthened by performing those actions which it prompts; and to say that +the feeling is _strengthened_, is to say that it is in part _made_ by these +actions. We know further, that not unfrequently, individuals, by +persistence in special courses of conduct, acquire special likings for such +courses disagreeable as these may be to others; and these whims, or morbid +tastes, imply incipient emotions corresponding to these special activities. +We know that emotional characteristics, in common with all others, are +hereditary; and the differences between civilized nations descended from +the same stock, show us the cumulative results of small modifications +hereditarily transmitted. And when we see that between savage and civilized +races, which diverged from each other in the remote past, and have for a +hundred generations followed modes of life becoming ever more unlike, there +exist still greater emotional contrasts; may we not infer that the more or +less distinct emotions which characterize civilized races, are the +organized results of certain daily-repeated combinations of mental states +which social life involves? Must we not say that habits not only modify +emotions in the individual, and not only beget tendencies to like habits +and accompanying emotions in descendants, but that when the conditions of +the race make the habits persistent, this progressive modification may go +on to the extent of producing emotions so far distinct as to seem new? And +if so, we may suspect that such new emotions, and by implication all +emotions analytically considered, consist of aggregated and consolidated +groups of those simpler feelings which habitually occur together in +experience: that they result from combined experiences, and are constituted +of them. + +When, in the circumstances of any race, some one kind of action or set of +actions, sensation or set of sensations, is usually followed, or +accompanied by, various other sets of actions or sensations, and so entails +a large mass of pleasurable or painful states of consciousness; these, by +frequent repetition, become so connected together that the initial action +or sensation brings the ideas of all the rest crowding into consciousness: +producing, in a degree, the pleasures or pains that have before been felt +in reality. And when this relation, besides being frequently repeated in +the individual, occurs in successive generations, all the many nervous +actions involved tend to grow organically connected. They become +incipiently reflex; and on the occurrence of the appropriate stimulus, the +whole nervous apparatus which in past generations was brought into activity +by this stimulus, becomes nascently excited. Even while yet there have been +no individual experiences, a vague feeling of pleasure or pain is produced; +constituting what we may call the body of the emotion. And when the +experiences of past generations come to be repeated in the individual, the +emotion gains both strength and definiteness; and is accompanied by the +appropriate specific ideas. + +This view of the matter, which we believe the established truths of +Physiology and Psychology unite in indicating, and which is the view that +generalizes the phenomena of habit, of national characteristics, of +civilization in its moral aspects, at the same time that it gives us a +conception of emotion in its origin and ultimate nature, may be illustrated +from the mental modifications undergone by animals. + +It is well-known that on newly-discovered lands not inhabited by man, birds +are so devoid of fear as to allow themselves to be knocked over with +sticks; but that in the course of generations, they acquire such a dread of +man as to fly on his approach; and that this dread is manifested by young +as well as old. Now unless this change be ascribed to the killing-off of +the least fearful, and the preservation and multiplication of the more +fearful, which, considering the comparatively small number killed by man, +is an inadequate cause; it must be ascribed to accumulated experiences; and +each experience must be held to have a share in producing it. We must +conclude that in each bird that escapes with injuries inflicted by man, or +is alarmed by the outcries of other members of the flock (gregarious +creatures of any intelligence being necessarily more or less sympathetic), +there is established an association of ideas between the human aspect and +the pains, direct and indirect, suffered from human agency. And we must +further conclude, that the state of consciousness which impels the bird to +take flight, is at first nothing more than an ideal reproduction of those +painful impressions which before followed man's approach; that such ideal +reproduction becomes more vivid and more massive as the painful +experiences, direct or sympathetic, increase; and that thus the emotion in +its incipient state, is nothing else than an aggregation of the revived +pains before experienced. + +As, in the course of generations, the young birds of this race begin to +display a fear of man before yet they have been injured by him; it is an +unavoidable inference that the nervous system of the race has been +organically modified by these experiences: we have no choice but to +conclude that when a young bird is thus led to fly, it is because the +impression produced on its senses by the approaching man, entails, through +an incipiently-reflex action, a partial excitement of all those nerves +which in its ancestors had been excited under the like conditions; that +this partial excitement has its accompanying painful consciousness; and +that the vague painful consciousness thus arising, constitutes emotion +proper--_emotion undecomposable into specific experiences, and therefore +seemingly homogeneous_. + +If such be the explanation of the fact in this case, then it is in all +cases. If emotion is so generated here, then it is so generated throughout. +We must perforce conclude that the emotional modifications displayed by +different nations, and those higher emotions by which civilized are +distinguished from savage, are to be accounted for on the same principle. +And concluding this, we are led strongly to suspect that the emotions in +general have severally thus originated. + +Perhaps we have now made sufficiently clear what we mean by the study of +the emotions through analysis and development. We have aimed to justify the +positions that, without analysis aided by development, there cannot be a +true natural history of the emotions; and that a natural history of the +emotions based on external characters, can be but provisional. We think +that Mr. Bain, in confining himself to an account of the emotions as they +exist in the adult civilized man, has neglected those classes of facts out +of which the science of the matter must chiefly be built. It is true that +he has treated of habits as modifying emotions in the individual; but he +has not recognized the fact, that where conditions render habits persistent +in successive generations, such modifications are cumulative: he has not +hinted that the modifications produced by habit are emotions in the making. +It is true, also, that he occasionally refers to the characteristics of +children; but he does not systematically trace the changes through which +childhood passes into manhood, as throwing light on the order and genesis +of the emotions. It is further true that he here and there refers to +national traits in illustration of his subject; but these stand as isolated +facts, having no general significance: there is no hint of any relation +between them and the national circumstances; while all those many moral +contrasts between lower and higher races which throw great light on +classification, are passed over. And once more, it is true that many +passages of his work, and sometimes, indeed, whole sections of it, are +analytical; but his analyses are incidental--they do not underlie his +entire scheme, but are here and there added to it. In brief, he has written +a Descriptive Psychology, which does not appeal to Comparative Psychology +and Analytical Psychology for its leading ideas. And in doing this, he has +omitted much that should be included in a natural history of the mind; +while to that part of the subject with which he has dealt, he has given a +necessarily-imperfect organization. + + * * * * * + +Even leaving out of view the absence of those methods and criteria on which +we have been insisting, it appears to us that meritorious as is Mr. Bain's +book in its details, it is defective in some of its leading ideas. The +first paragraphs of his first chapter, quite startled us by the strangeness +of their definitions--a strangeness which can scarcely be ascribed to +laxity of expression. The paragraphs run thus:-- + + "Mind is comprised under three heads--Emotion, Volition, and + Intellect. + + "EMOTION is the name here used to comprehend all that is understood + by feelings, states of feeling, pleasures, pains, passions, + sentiments, affections. Consciousness, and conscious states also for + the most part denote modes of emotion, although there is such a thing + as the Intellectual consciousness. + + "VOLITION, on the other hand, indicates the great fact that our + Pleasures and Pains, which are not the whole of our emotions, prompt + us to action, or stimulate the active machinery of the living + framework to perform such operations as procure the first and abate + the last. To withdraw from a scalding heat and cling to a gentle + warmth, are exercises of volition." + +The last of these definitions, which we may most conveniently take first, +seems to us very faulty. We cannot but feel astonished that Mr. Bain, +familiar as he is with the phenomena of reflex action, should have so +expressed himself as to include a great part of them along with the +phenomena of volition. He seems to be ignoring the discriminations of +modern science, and returning to the vague conceptions of the past--nay +more, he is comprehending under volition what even the popular speech would +hardly bring under it. If you were to blame any one for snatching his foot +from the scalding water into which he had inadvertently put it, he would +tell you that he could not help it; and his reply would be indorsed by the +general experience, that the withdrawal of a limb from contact with +something extremely hot, is quite involuntary--that it takes place not only +without volition, but in defiance of an effort of will to maintain the +contact. How, then, can that be instanced as an example of volition, which +occurs even when volition is antagonistic? We are quite aware that it is +impossible to draw any absolute line of demarcation between automatic +actions and actions which are not automatic. Doubtless we may pass +gradually from the purely reflex, through the consensual, to the voluntary. +Taking the case Mr. Bain cites, it is manifest that from a heat of such +moderate degree that the withdrawal from it is wholly voluntary, we may +advance by infinitesimal steps to a heat which compels involuntary +withdrawal; and that there is a stage at which the voluntary and +involuntary actions are mixed. But the difficulty of absolute +discrimination is no reason for neglecting the broad general contrast; any +more than it is for confounding light with darkness. If we are to include +as examples of volition, all cases in which pleasures and pains "stimulate +the active machinery of the living framework to perform such operations as +procure the first and abate the last," then we must consider sneezing and +coughing, as examples of volition; and Mr. Bain surely cannot mean this. +Indeed, we must confess ourselves at a loss. On the one hand if he does not +mean it, his expression is lax to a degree that surprises us in so careful +a writer. On the other hand, if he does mean it, we cannot understand his +point of view. + +A parallel criticism applies to his definition of Emotion. Here, too, he +has departed from the ordinary acceptation of the word; and, as we think, +in the wrong direction. Whatever may be the interpretation that is +justified by its derivation, the word Emotion has come generally to mean +that kind of feeling which is not a direct result of any action on the +organism; but is either an indirect result of such action, or arises quite +apart from such action. It is used to indicate those sentient states which +are independently generated in consciousness; as distinguished from those +generated in our corporeal framework, and known as sensations. Now this +distinction, tacitly made in common speech, is one which Psychology cannot +well reject; but one which it must adopt, and to which it must give +scientific precision. Mr. Bain, however, appears to ignore any such +distinction. Under the term "emotion," he includes not only passions, +sentiments, affections, but all "feelings, states of feeling, pleasures, +pains,"--that is, all sensations. This does not appear to be a mere lapse +of expression; for when, in the opening sentence, he asserts that "mind is +comprised under the three heads--Emotion, Volition, and Intellect," he of +necessity implies that sensation is included under one of these heads; and +as it cannot be included under Volition or Intellect, it must be classed +with Emotion: as it clearly is in the next sentence. + +We cannot but think this is a retrograde step. Though distinctions which +have been established in popular thought and language, are not unfrequently +merged in the higher generalizations of science (as, for instance, when +crabs and worms are grouped together in the sub-kingdom _Annulosa_;) yet +science very generally recognizes the validity of these distinctions, as +real though not fundamental. And so in the present case. Such community as +analysis discloses between sensation and emotion, must not shut out the +broad contrast that exists between them. If there needs a wider word, as +there does, to signify any sentient state whatever; then we may fitly adopt +for this purpose the word currently so used, namely, "Feeling." And +considering as Feelings all that great division of mental states which we +do not class as Cognitions, may then separate this great division into the +two orders, Sensations and Emotions. + + * * * * * + +And here we may, before concluding, briefly indicate the leading outlines +of a classification which reduces this distinction to a scientific form, +and developes it somewhat further--a classification which, while suggested +by certain fundamental traits reached without a very lengthened inquiry, is +yet, we believe, in harmony with that disclosed by detailed analysis. + +Leaving out of view the Will, which is a simple homogeneous mental state, +forming the link between feeling and action, and not admitting of +subdivisions; our states of consciousness fall into two great +classes--COGNITIONS and FEELINGS. + +COGNITIONS, or those modes of mind in which we are occupied with the +_relations_ that subsist among our feelings, are divisible into four great +sub-classes. + +_Presentative cognitions_; or those in which consciousness is occupied in +localizing a sensation impressed on the organism--occupied, that is, with +the relation between this presented mental state and those other presented +mental states which make up our consciousness of the part affected: as when +we cut ourselves. + +_Presentative-representative cognitions_; or those in which consciousness +is occupied with the relation between a sensation or group of sensations +and the representations of those various other sensations that accompany it +in experience. This is what we commonly call perception--an act in which, +along with certain impressions presented to consciousness, there arise in +consciousness the ideas of certain other impressions ordinarily connected +with the presented ones: as when its visible form and colour, lead us to +mentally endow an orange with all its other attributes. + +_Representative cognitions_; or those in which consciousness is occupied +with the relations among ideas or represented sensations: as in all acts of +recollection. + +_Re-representative cognitions_; or those in which the occupation of +consciousness is not by representation of special relations, that have +before been presented to consciousness; but those in which such represented +special relations are thought of merely as comprehended in a general +relation--those in which the concrete relations once experienced, in so far +as they become objects of consciousness at all, are incidentally +represented, along with the abstract relation which formulates them. The +ideas resulting from this abstraction, do not themselves represent actual +experiences; but are symbols which stand for groups of such actual +experiences--represent aggregates of representations. And thus they may be +called re-representative cognitions. It is clear that the process of +re-representation is carried to higher stages, as the thought becomes more +abstract. + +FEELINGS, or those modes of mind in which we are occupied, not with the +relations subsisting between our sentient states, but with the sentient +states themselves, are divisible into four parallel sub-classes. + +_Presentative feelings_, ordinarily called sensations, are those mental +states in which, instead of regarding a corporeal impression as of this or +that kind, or as located here or there, we contemplate it in itself as +pleasure or pain: as when eating. + +_Presentative-representative feelings_, embracing a great part of what we +commonly call emotions, are those in which a sensation, or group of +sensations or group of sensations and ideas, arouses a vast aggregation of +represented sensations; partly of individual experience, but chiefly deeper +than individual experience, and, consequently, indefinite. The emotion of +terror may serve as an example. Along with certain impressions made on the +eyes or ears, or both, are recalled in consciousness many of the pains to +which such impressions have before been the antecedents; and when the +relation between such impressions and such pains has been habitual in the +race, the definite ideas of such pains which individual experience has +given, are accompanied by the indefinite pains that result from inherited +experience--vague feelings which we may call organic representations. In an +infant, crying at a strange sight or sound while yet in the nurse's arms, +we see these organic representations called into existence in the shape of +dim discomfort, to which individual experience has yet given no specific +outlines. + +_Representative feelings_, comprehending the ideas of the feelings above +classed, when they are called up apart from the appropriate external +excitements. As instances of these may be named the feelings with which the +descriptive poet writes, and which are aroused in the minds of his readers. + +_Re-representative feelings_, under which head are included those more +complex sentient states that are less the direct results of external +excitements than the indirect or reflex results of them. The love of +property is a feeling of this kind. It is awakened not by the presence of +any special object, but by ownable objects at large; and it is not from the +mere presence of such object, but from a certain ideal relation to them, +that it arises. As before shown (p. 311) it consists, not of the +represented advantages of possessing this or that, but of the represented +advantages of possession in general--is not made up of certain concrete +representations, but of the abstracts of many concrete representations; and +so is re-representative. The higher sentiments, as that of justice, are +still more completely of this nature. Here the sentient state is compounded +out of sentient states that are themselves wholly, or almost wholly, +re-representative: it involves representations of those lower emotions +which are produced by the possession of property, by freedom of action, +etc.; and thus is re-representative in a higher degree. + +This classification, here roughly indicated and capable of further +expansion, will be found in harmony with the results of detailed analysis +aided by development. Whether we trace mental progression through the +grades of the animal kingdom, through the grades of mankind, or through the +stages of individual growth; it is obvious that the advance, alike in +cognitions and feelings, is, and must be, from the presentative to the more +and more remotely representative. It is undeniable that intelligence +ascends from those simple perceptions in which consciousness is occupied in +localizing and classifying sensations, to perceptions more and more +compound, to simple reasoning, to reasoning more and more complex and +abstract--more and more remote from sensation. And in the evolution of +feelings, there is a parallel series of steps. Simple sensations; +sensations combined together; sensations combined with represented +sensations; represented sensations organized into groups, in which their +separate characters are very much merged; representations of these +representative groups, in which the original components have become still +more vague. In both cases, the progress has necessarily been from the +simple and concrete to the complex and abstract: and as with the +cognitions, so with the feelings, this must be the basis of classification. + +The space here occupied with criticisms on Mr. Bain's work, we might have +filled with exposition and eulogy, had we thought this the more important. +Though we have freely pointed out what we conceive to be its defects, let +it not be inferred that we question its great merits. We repeat that, as a +natural history of the mind, we believe it to be the best yet produced. It +is a most valuable collection of carefully-elaborated materials. Perhaps we +cannot better express our sense of its worth, than by saying that, to those +who hereafter give to this branch of Psychology a thoroughly scientific +organization, Mr. Bain's book will be indispensable. + + + + +VIII. ILLOGICAL GEOLOGY. + + +That proclivity to generalization which is possessed in greater or less +degree by all minds, and without which, indeed, intelligence cannot exist, +has unavoidable inconveniences. Through it alone can truth be reached; and +yet it almost inevitably betrays into error. But for the tendency to +predicate of every other case, that which has been found in the observed +cases, there could be no rational thinking; and yet by this indispensable +tendency, men are perpetually led to found, on limited experience, +propositions which they wrongly assume to be universal or absolute. In one +sense, however, this can scarcely be regarded as an evil; for without +premature generalizations the true generalization would never be arrived +at. If we waited till all the facts were accumulated before trying to +formulate them, the vast unorganized mass would be unmanageable. Only by +provisional grouping can they be brought into such order as to be dealt +with; and this provisional grouping is but another name for premature +generalization. + +How uniformly men follow this course, and how needful the errors are as +steps to truth, is well illustrated in the history of Astronomy. The +heavenly bodies move round the Earth in circles, said the earliest +observers: led partly by the appearances, and partly by their experiences +of central motions in terrestrial objects, with which, as all circular, +they classed the celestial motions from lack of any alternative conception. +Without this provisional belief, wrong as it was, there could not have been +that comparison of positions which showed that the motions are not +representable by circles; and which led to the hypothesis of epicycles and +eccentrics. Only by the aid of this hypothesis, equally untrue, but capable +of accounting more nearly for the appearances, and so of inducing more +accurate observations--only thus did it become possible for Copernicus to +show that the heliocentric theory is more feasible than the geocentric +theory; or for Kepler to show that the planets move round the sun in +ellipses. Yet again, without the aid of this approximate truth discovered +by Kepler, Newton could not have established that general law from which it +follows, that the motion of a heavenly body round its centre of gravity is +not necessarily in an ellipse, but may be in any conic section. And lastly, +it was only after the law of gravitation had been verified, that it became +possible to determine the actual courses of planets, satellites, and +comets; and to prove that, in consequence of perturbations, their orbits +always deviate, more or less, from regular curves. Thus, there followed one +another five provisional theories of the Solar System, before the sixth and +absolutely true theory was reached. In which five provisional theories, +each for a time held as final, we may trace both the tendency men have to +leap from scanty data to wide generalizations, that are either untrue or +but partially true; and the necessity there is for these transitional +generalizations as steps to the final one. + +In the progress of geological speculation the same laws of thought are +clearly displayed. We have dogmas that were more than half false, passing +current for a time as universal truths. We have evidence collected in proof +of these dogmas; by and by a colligation of facts in antagonism with them; +and eventually a consequent modification. In conformity with this somewhat +improved hypothesis, we have a better classification of facts; a greater +power of arranging and interpreting the new facts now rapidly gathered +together; and further resulting corrections of hypothesis. Being, as we are +at present, in the midst of this process, it is not possible to give an +adequate account of the development of geological science as thus regarded: +the earlier stages are alone known to us. Not only, however, is it +interesting to observe how the more advanced views now received respecting +the Earth's history, have been evolved out of the crude views which +preceded them; but we shall find it extremely instructive to observe this. +We shall see how greatly the old ideas still sway, both the general mind, +and the minds of geologists themselves. We shall see how the kind of +evidence that has in part abolished these old ideas, is still daily +accumulating, and threatens to make other like revolutions. In brief, we +shall see whereabouts we are in the elaboration of a true theory of the +Earth; and, seeing our whereabouts, shall be the better able to judge, +among various conflicting opinions, which best conform to the ascertained +direction of geological discovery. + +It is alike needless and impracticable here to enumerate the many +speculations which were in earlier ages propounded by acute +men--speculations some of which contained portions of truth. Falling in +unfit times, these speculations did not germinate; and hence do not concern +us. We have nothing to do with ideas, however good, out of which no science +grew; but only with those which gave origin to the system of Geology that +now exists. We therefore begin with Werner. + +Taking for data the appearances of the Earth's crust in a narrow district +of Germany; observing the constant order of superposition of strata, and +their respective physical characters; Werner drew the inference that strata +of like characters succeeded each other in like order over the entire +surface of the Earth. And seeing, from the laminated structure of many +formations and the organic remains contained in others, that they were +sedimentary; he further inferred that these universal strata had been in +succession precipitated from a chaotic menstruum which once covered our +planet. Thus, on a very incomplete acquaintance with a thousandth part of +the Earth's crust, he based a sweeping generalization applying to the whole +of it. This Neptunist hypothesis, mark, borne out though it seemed to be by +the most conspicuous surrounding facts, was quite untenable if analyzed. +That a universal chaotic menstruum should deposit, one after another, +numerous sharply-defined strata, differing from each other in composition, +is incomprehensible. That the strata so deposited should contain the +remains of plants and animals, which could not have lived under the +supposed conditions, is still more incomprehensible. Physically absurd, +however, as was this hypothesis, it recognized, though under a distorted +form, one of the great agencies of geological change--that of water. It +served also to express the fact that the formations of the Earth's crust +stand in some kind of order. Further, it did a little towards supplying a +nomenclature, without which much progress was impossible. Lastly, it +furnished a standard with which successions of strata in various regions +could be compared, the differences noted, and the actual sections +tabulated. It was the first provisional generalization; and was useful, if +not indispensable, as a step to truer ones. + +Following this rude conception, which ascribed geological phenomena to one +agency, acting during one primeval epoch, there came a greatly-improved +conception, which ascribed them to two agencies, acting alternately during +successive epochs. Hutton, perceiving that sedimentary deposits were still +being formed at the bottom of the sea from the detritus carried down by +rivers; perceiving, further, that the strata of which the visible surface +chiefly consists, bore marks of having been similarly formed out of +pre-existing land; and inferring that these strata could have become land +only by upheaval after their deposit; concluded that throughout an +indefinite past, there had been periodic convulsions, by which continents +were raised, with intervening eras of repose, during which such continents +were worn down and transformed into new marine strata, fated to be in their +turns elevated above the surface of the ocean. And finding that igneous +action, to which sundry earlier geologists had ascribed basaltic rocks, was +in countless places a source of disturbance, he taught that from it +resulted these periodic convulsions. In this theory we see:--first, that +the previously-recognized agency of water was conceived to act, not as by +Werner, after a manner of which we have no experience, but after a manner +daily displayed to us; and second, that the igneous agency, before +considered only as a cause of special formations, was recognized as a +universal agency, but assumed to act in an unproved way. Werner's sole +process, Hutton developed from the catastrophic and inexplicable into the +uniform and explicable; while that antagonistic second process, of which he +first adequately estimated the importance, was regarded by him as a +catastrophic one, and was not assimilated to known processes--not +explained. We have here to note, however, that the facts collected and +provisionally arranged in conformity with Werner's theory, served, after a +time, to establish Hutton's more rational theory--in so far, at least, as +aqueous formations are concerned; while the doctrine of periodic +subterranean convulsions, crudely as it was conceived by Hutton, was a +temporary generalization needful as a step towards the theory of igneous +action. + +Since Hutton's time, the development of geological thought has gone still +further in the same direction. These early sweeping doctrines have received +additional qualifications. It has been discovered that more numerous and +more heterogeneous agencies have been at work, than was at first believed. +The igneous hypothesis has been rationalized, as the aqueous one had +previously been: the gratuitous assumption of vast elevations suddenly +occurring after long intervals of quiescence, has grown into the consistent +theory, that islands and continents are the accumulated results of +successive small upheavals, like those experienced in ordinary earthquakes. + +To speak more specifically, we find, in the first place, that instead of +assuming the denudation produced by rain and rivers to be the sole means of +wearing down lands and producing their irregularities of surface, +geologists now see that denudation is only a part-cause of such +irregularities; and further, that the new strata deposited at the bottom of +the sea, are not the products of river-sediment solely, but are in part due +to the action of waves and tidal currents on the coasts. In the second +place, we find that Hutton's conception of upheaval by subterranean forces, +has not only been modified by assimilating these subterranean forces to +ordinary earthquake-forces; but modern inquiries have shown that, besides +elevations of surface, subsidences are thus produced; that local upheavals, +as well as the general upheavals, which raise continents, come within the +same category; and that all these changes are probably consequent on the +progressive collapse of the Earth's crust upon its cooling and contracting +nucleus--the only adequate cause. In the third place, we find that beyond +these two great antagonist agencies, modern Geology recognises sundry minor +ones: as those of glaciers and icebergs; those of coral-polypes; those of +_Protozoa_ having siliceous or calcareous shells--each of which agencies, +insignificant as it seems, is found capable of slowly working terrestrial +changes of considerable magnitude. Thus, then, the recent progress of +Geology has been a still further departure from primitive conceptions. +Instead of one catastrophic cause, once in universal action, as supposed by +Werner--instead of one general continuous cause, antagonized at long +intervals by a catastrophic cause, as taught by Hutton; we now recognize +several causes, all more or less general and continuous. We no longer +resort to hypothetical agencies to explain the phenomena displayed by the +Earth's crust; but we are day by day more clearly perceiving that these +phenomena have arisen from forces like those now at work, which have acted +in all varieties of combination, through immeasurable periods of time. + + * * * * * + +Having thus briefly traced the evolution of geologic science, and noted its +present form, let us go on to observe the way in which it is still swayed +by the crude hypotheses it set out with; so that even now, old doctrines +that are abandoned as untenable in theory, continue in practice to mould +the ideas of geologists, and to foster sundry beliefs that are logically +indefensible. We shall see, both how those simple sweeping conceptions with +which the science commenced, are those which every student is apt at first +to seize hold of, and how several influences conspire to maintain the twist +thus resulting--how the original nomenclature of periods and formations +necessarily keeps alive the original implications; and how the need for +arranging new data in some order, naturally results in their being thrust +into the old classification, unless their incongruity with it is very +glaring. A few facts will best prepare the way for criticism. + +Up to 1839 it was inferred, from their crystalline character, that the +metamorphic rocks of Anglesea are more ancient than any rocks of the +adjacent main land; but it has since been shown that they are of the same +age with the slates and grits of Carnarvon and Merioneth. Again, slaty +cleavage having been first found only in the lowest rocks, was taken as an +indication of the highest antiquity: whence resulted serious mistakes; for +this mineral characteristic is now known to occur in the Carboniferous +system. Once more, certain red conglomerates and grits on the north-west +coast of Scotland, long supposed from their lithological aspect to belong +to the Old Red Sandstone, are now identified with the Lower Silurians. + +These are a few instances of the small trust to be placed in mineral +qualities, as evidence of the ages or relative positions of strata. From +the recently-published third edition of _Siluria_, may be culled numerous +facts of like implication. Sir R. Murchison considers it ascertained, that +the siliceous Stiper stones of Shropshire are the equivalents of the +Tremadock slates of North Wales. Judged by their fossils, Bala slate and +limestone are of the same age as the Caradoc sandstone, lying forty miles +off. In Radnorshire, the formation classed as upper Llandovery rock, is +described at different spots, as "sandstone or conglomerate," "impure +limestone," "hard coarse grits," "siliceous grit"--a considerable variation +for so small an area as that of a county. Certain sandy beds on the left +bank of the Towy, which Sir R. Murchison had, in his _Silurian System_, +classed as Caradoc sandstone (evidently from their mineral characters), he +now finds, from their fossils, belong to the Llandeilo formation. +Nevertheless, inferences from mineral characters are still habitually drawn +and received. Though _Siluria_, in common with other geological works, +supplies numerous proofs that rocks of the same age are often of +widely-different composition a few miles off, while rocks of widely +different ages are often of similar composition; and though Sir. R. +Murchison shows us, as in the case just cited, that he has himself in past +times been misled by trusting to lithological evidence; yet his reasoning, +all through _Siluria_, shows that he still thinks it natural to expect +formations of the same age to be chemically similar, even in remote +regions. For example, in treating of the Silurian rocks of South Scotland, +he says:--"When traversing the tract between Dumfries and Moffat in 1850, +it occurred to me that the dull reddish or purple sandstone and schist to +the north of the former town, which so resembled the bottom rocks of the +Longmynd, Llanberis, and St. David's, would prove to be of the same age;" +and further on he again insists upon the fact that these strata "are +absolutely of the same composition as the bottom rocks of the Silurian +region." + +On this unity of mineral character it is, that this Scottish formation is +concluded to be contemporaneous with the lowest formations in Wales; for +the scanty palæontological evidence suffices neither for proof nor +disproof. Now, had there been a continuity of like strata in like order +between Wales and Scotland, there might have been little to criticise in +this conclusion. But since Sir R. Murchison himself admits, that in +Westmoreland and Cumberland, some members of the system "assume a +lithological aspect different from what they maintain in the Silurian and +Welsh region," there seems no reason to expect mineralogical continuity in +Scotland. Obviously therefore, the assumption that these Scottish +formations are of the same age with the Longmynd of Shropshire, implies the +latent belief that certain mineral characters indicate certain eras. + +Far more striking instances, however, of the influence of this latent +belief remain to be given. Not in such comparatively near districts as the +Scottish lowlands only, does Sir R. Murchison expect a repetition of the +Longmynd strata; but in the Rhenish provinces, certain "quartzose +flagstones and grits, like those of the Longmynd," are seemingly concluded +to be of contemporaneous origin, because of their likeness. "Quartzites in +roofing-slates with a greenish tinge that reminded us of the lower slates +of Cumberland and Westmoreland," are evidently suspected to be of the same +age. In Russia, he remarks that the carboniferous limestones "are overlaid +along the western edge of the Ural chain by sandstones and grits, which +occupy much the same place in the general series as the millstone grit of +England;" and in calling this group, as he does, the "representative of the +millstone grit," Sir R. Murchison clearly shows that he thinks likeness of +mineral composition some evidence of equivalence in time, even at that +great distance. Nay, on the flanks of the Andes and in the United States, +such similarities are looked for, and considered as significant of certain +ages. Not that Sir R. Murchison contends theoretically for this relation +between lithological character and date. For on the page from which we have +just quoted (_Siluria_, p. 387), he says, that "whilst the soft Lower +Silurian clays and sands of St. Petersburg have their equivalents in the +hard schists and quartz rocks with gold veins in the heart of the Ural +mountains, the equally soft red and green Devonian marls of the Valdai +Hills are represented on the western flank of that chain, by hard, +contorted, and fractured limestones." But these, and other such admissions, +seem to go for little. Whilst himself asserting that the Potsdam-sandstone +of North America, the Lingula-flags of England, and the alum-slates of +Scandinavia are of the same period--while fully aware that among the +Silurian formations of Wales, there are oolitic strata like those of +secondary age; yet is his reasoning more or less coloured by the +assumption, that formations of like qualities probably belong to the same +era. Is it not manifest, then, that the exploded hypothesis of Werner +continues to influence geological speculation? + +"But," it will perhaps be said, "though individual strata are not +continuous over large areas, yet systems of strata are. Though within a few +miles the same bed gradually passes from clay into sand, or thins out and +disappears, yet the group of strata to which it belongs does not do so; but +maintains in remote regions the same relations to other groups." + +This is the generally-current belief. On this assumption the received +geological classifications appear to be framed. The Silurian system, the +Devonian system, the Carboniferous system, etc., are set down in our books +as groups of formations which everywhere succeed each other in a given +order; and are severally everywhere of the same age. Though it may not be +asserted that these successive systems are universal; yet it seems to be +tacitly assumed that they are so. In North and South America, in Asia, in +Australia, sets of strata are assimilated to one or other of these groups; +and their possession of certain mineral characters and a certain order of +superposition are among the reasons assigned for so assimilating them. +Though, probably, no competent geologist would contend that the European +classification of strata is applicable to the globe as a whole; yet most, +if not all geologists, write as though it were so. Among readers of works +on Geology, nine out of ten carry away the impression that the divisions, +Primary, Secondary and Tertiary, are of absolute and uniform application; +that these great divisions are separable into subdivisions, each of which +is definitely distinguishable from the rest, and is everywhere recognizable +by its characters as such or such; and that in all parts of the Earth, +these minor systems severally began and ended at the same time. When they +meet with the term "carboniferous era," they take for granted that it was +an era universally carboniferous--that it was, what Hugh Miller indeed +actually describes it, an era when the Earth bore a vegetation far more +luxuriant than it has since done; and were they in any of our colonies to +meet with a coal-bed, they would conclude that, as a matter of course, it +was of the same age as the English coal-beds. + +Now this belief that geologic "systems" are universal, is quite as +untenable as the other. It is just as absurd when considered _à priori_; +and it is equally inconsistent with the facts. Though some series of strata +classed together as Oolite, may range over a wider district than any one +stratum of the series; yet we have but to ask what were the circumstances +of its deposit, to see that the Oolitic series, like one of its individual +strata, must be of local origin; and that there is not likely to be +anywhere else, a series that exactly corresponds, either in its characters +or in its commencement and termination. For the formation of such a series +implies an area of subsidence, in which its component beds were thrown +down. Every area of subsidence is necessarily limited; and to suppose that +there exist elsewhere groups of beds completely answering to those known as +Oolite, is to suppose that, in contemporaneous areas of subsidence, like +processes were going on. There is no reason to suppose this; but every +reason to suppose the reverse. That in contemporaneous areas of subsidence +throughout the globe, the conditions would cause the formation of Oolite, +or anything like it, is an assumption which no modern geologist would +openly make: he would say that the equivalent series of beds found +elsewhere, would very likely be of dissimilar mineral character. + +Moreover, in these contemporaneous areas of subsidence, the phenomena going +on would not only be more or less different in kind; but in no two cases +would they be likely to agree in their commencements and terminations. The +probabilities are greatly against separate portions of the Earth's surface +beginning to subside at the same time, and ceasing to subside at the same +time--a coincidence which alone could produce equivalent groups of strata. +Subsidences in different places begin and end with utter irregularity; and +hence the groups of strata thrown down in them can but rarely correspond. +Measured against each other in time, their limits will disagree. They will +refuse to fit into any scheme of definite divisions. On turning to the +evidence, we find that it daily tends more and more to justify these _à +priori_ positions. Take, as an example, the Old Red Sandstone system. In +the north of England this is represented by a single stratum of +conglomerate. In Herefordshire, Worcestershire, and Shropshire, it expands +into a series of strata from eight to ten thousand feet thick, made up of +conglomerates, red, green, and white sandstones, red, green, and spotted +marls, and concretionary limestones. To the south-west, as between +Caermarthen and Pembroke, these Old Red Sandstone strata exhibit +considerable lithological changes; and there is an absence of fossil +fishes. On the other side of the Bristol Channel, they display further +changes in mineral characters and remains. While in South Devon and +Cornwall, the equivalent strata, consisting chiefly of slates, schists, and +limestones, are so wholly different, that they were for a long time classed +as Silurian. When we thus see that in certain directions the whole group of +deposits thins out, and that its mineral characters as well as its fossils +change within moderate distances; does it not become clear that the whole +group of deposits was a local one? And when we find, in other regions, +formations analogous to these Old Red Sandstone or Devonian formations; is +it certain--is it even probable--that they severally began and ended at the +same time with them? Should it not require overwhelming evidence to make us +believe as much? + +Yet so strongly is geological speculation swayed by the tendency to regard +the phenomena as general instead of local, that even those most on their +guard against it seem unable to escape its influence. At page 158 of his +_Principles of Geology_, Sir Charles Lyell says:-- + + "A group of red marl and red sandstone, containing salt and gypsum, + being interposed in England between the Lias and the Coal, all other + red marls and sandstones, associated some of them with salt, and + others with gypsum, and occurring not only in different parts of + Europe, but in North America, Peru, India, the salt deserts of Asia, + those of Africa--in a word, in every quarter of the globe, were + referred to one and the same period.... It was in vain to urge as an + objection the improbability of the hypothesis which implies that all + the moving waters on the globe were once simultaneously charged with + sediment of a red colour. But the rashness of pretending to identify, + in age, all the red sandstones and marls in question, has at length + been sufficiently exposed, by the discovery that, even in Europe, + they belong decidedly to many different epochs." + +Nevertheless, while in this and numerous passages of like implication, Sir +C. Lyell protests against the bias here illustrated, he seems himself not +completely free from it. Though he utterly rejects the old hypothesis that +all over the Earth the same continuous strata lie upon each other in +regular order, like the coats of an onion, he still writes as though +geologic "systems" do thus succeed each other. A reader of his _Manual_ +would certainly suppose him to believe, that the Primary epoch ended, and +the Secondary epoch commenced, all over the world at the same time--that +these terms really correspond to distinct universal eras in Nature. When he +assumes, as he does, that the division between Cambrian and Lower Silurian +in America, answers chronologically to the division between Cambrian and +Lower Silurian in Wales--when he takes for granted that the partings of +Lower from Middle Silurian, and of Middle Silurian from Upper, in the one +region, are of the same dates as the like partings in the other region; +does it not seem that he believes geologic "systems" to be universal, in +the sense that their separations were in all places contemporaneous? Though +he would, doubtless, disown this as an article of faith, is not his +thinking unconsciously influenced by it? Must we not say that though the +onion-coat hypothesis is dead, its spirit is traceable, under a +transcendental form, even in the conclusions of its antagonists? + + * * * * * + +Let us now consider another leading geological doctrine, introduced to us +by the cases just mentioned. We mean the doctrine that strata of the same +age contain like fossils; and that, therefore, the age and relative +position of any stratum may be known by its fossils. While the theory that +strata of like mineral characters were everywhere deposited simultaneously, +has been ostensibly abandoned, there has been accepted the theory that in +each geologic epoch similar plants and animals existed everywhere; and +that, therefore, the epoch to which any formation belongs may be known by +the organic remains contained in the formation. Though, perhaps, no leading +geologist would openly commit himself to an unqualified assertion of this +theory, yet it is tacitly assumed in current geological reasoning. + +This theory, however, is scarcely more tenable than the other. It cannot be +concluded with any certainty, that formations in which similar organic +remains are found, were of contemporaneous origin; nor can it be safely +concluded that strata containing different organic remains are of different +ages. To most readers these will be startling propositions; but they are +fully admitted by the highest authorities. Sir Charles Lyell confesses that +the test of organic remains must be used "under very much the same +restrictions as the test of mineral composition." Sir Henry de la Beche, +who variously illustrates this truth, gives, as one instance, the great +incongruity there must be between the fossils of our carboniferous rocks +and those of the marine strata deposited at the same period. But though, in +the abstract, the danger of basing positive conclusions on evidence derived +from fossils, is clearly recognized; yet, in the concrete, this danger is +generally disregarded. The established conclusions respecting the ages of +strata, take but little note of it; and by some geologists it seems +altogether ignored. Throughout his _Siluria_, Sir R. Murchison habitually +assumes that the same, or kindred, species, lived in all parts of the Earth +at the same time. In Russia, in Bohemia, in the United States, in South +America, strata are classed as belonging to this or that part of the +Silurian system, because of the similar fossils contained in them--are +concluded to be everywhere contemporaneous if they enclose a proportion of +identical or allied forms. In Russia the relative position of a stratum is +inferred from the fact that, along with some Wenlock forms, it yields the +_Pentamerus oblongus_. Certain crustaceans called Eurypteri, being +characteristic of the Upper Ludlow rock, it is remarked that "large +Eurypteri occur in a so-called black grey-wacke slate in Westmoreland, in +Oneida County, New York, which will probably be found to be on the parallel +of the Upper Ludlow rock:" in which word "probably," we see both how +dominant is this belief of universal distribution of similar creatures at +the same period, and how apt this belief is to make its own proof, by +raising the expectation that the ages are identical when the forms are +alike. Besides thus interpreting the formations of Russia, England, and +America, Sir R. Murchison thus interprets those of the antipodes. Fossils +from Victoria Colony, he agrees with the Government-surveyor in classing as +of Lower Silurian or Llandovery age: that is, he takes for granted that +when certain crustaceans and mollusks were living in Wales, certain similar +crustaceans and mollusks were living in Australia. + +Yet the improbability of this assumption may be readily shown from Sir R. +Murchison's own facts. If, as he points out, the crustacean fossils of the +uppermost Silurian rocks in Lanarkshire are, "with one doubtful exception," +"all distinct from any of the forms on the same horizon in England;" how +can it be fairly presumed that the forms existing on the other side of the +Earth during the Silurian period, were nearly allied to those existing +here? Not only, indeed, do Sir R. Murchison's conclusions tacitly assume +this doctrine of universal distribution, but he distinctly enunciates it. +"The mere presence of a graptolite," he says, "will at once decide that the +enclosing rock is Silurian;" and he says this, notwithstanding repeated +warnings against such generalizations. During the progress of Geology, it +has over and over again happened that a particular fossil, long considered +characteristic of a particular formation, has been afterwards discovered in +other formations. Until some twelve years ago, Goniatites had not been +found lower than the Devonian rocks; but now, in Bohemia, they have been +found in rocks classed as Silurian. Quite recently, the Orthoceras, +previously supposed to be a type exclusively Palæozoic, has been detected +along with mesozoic Ammonites and Belemnites. Yet hosts of such experiences +fail to extinguish the assumption, that the age of a stratum may be +determined by the occurrence in it of a single fossil form. + +Nay, this assumption survives evidence of even a still more destructive +kind. Referring to the Silurian system in Western Ireland, Sir R. Murchison +says, "in the beds near Maam, Professor Nicol and myself collected remains, +some of which would be considered Lower, and others Upper, Silurian;" and +he then names sundry fossils which, in England, belong to the summit of the +Ludlow rocks, or highest Silurian strata; "some, which elsewhere are known +only in rocks of Llandovery age," that is, of middle Silurian age; and +some, only before known in Lower Silurian strata, not far above the most +ancient fossiliferous beds. Now what do these facts prove? Clearly, they +prove that species which in Wales are separated by strata more than twenty +thousand feet deep, and therefore seem to belong to periods far more remote +from each other, were really coexistent. They prove that the mollusks and +crinoids held characteristic of early Silurian strata, and supposed to have +become extinct long before the mollusks and crinoids of the later Silurian +strata came into existence, were really flourishing at the same time with +these last; and that these last possibly date back to as early a period as +the first. They prove that not only the mineral characters of sedimentary +formations, but also the collections of organic forms they contain, depend, +to a great extent, on local circumstances. They prove that the fossils met +with in any series of strata, cannot be taken as representing anything like +the whole Flora and Fauna of the period they belong to. In brief, they +throw great doubt upon numerous geological generalizations. + +Notwithstanding facts like these, and notwithstanding his avowed opinion +that the test of organic remains must be used "under very much the same +restrictions as the test of mineral composition," Sir Charles Lyell, too, +bases positive conclusions on this test: even where the community of +fossils is slight and the distance great. Having decided that in various +places in Europe, middle Eocene strata are distinguished by nummulites; he +infers, without any other assigned evidence, that wherever nummulites are +found--in Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, in Persia, Scinde, Cutch, Eastern +Bengal, and the frontiers of China--the containing formation is middle +Eocene. And from this inference he draws the following important +corollary:-- + + "When we have once arrived at the conviction that the nummulitic + formation occupies a middle place in the Eocene series, we are struck + with the comparatively modern date to which some of the greatest + revolutions in the physical geography of Europe, Asia, and northern + Africa must be referred. All the mountain chains, such as the Alps, + Pyrenees, Carpathians, and Himalayas, into the composition of whose + central and loftiest parts the nummulitic strata enter bodily, could + have had no existence till after the middle Eocene + period."--_Manual_, p. 232. + +A still more marked case follows on the next page. Because a certain bed at +Claiborne in Alabama, which contains "_four hundred_ species of marine +shells," includes among them the _Cardita planicosta_, "and _some others_ +identical with European species, or very nearly allied to them," Sir C. +Lyell says it is "highly probable the Claiborne beds agree in age with the +central or Bracklesham group of England." When we find contemporaneity +supposed on the strength of a community no greater than that which +sometimes exists between strata of widely-different ages in the same +country, it seems very much as though the above-quoted caution had been +forgotten. It appears to be assumed for the occasion, that species which +had a wide range in space had a narrow range in time; which is the reverse +of the fact. The tendency to systematize overrides the evidence, and +thrusts Nature into a formula too rigid to fit her endless variety. + +"But," it may be urged, "surely, when in different places the order of +superposition, the mineral characters, and the fossils, agree, it may be +safely concluded that the formations thus corresponding are equivalents in +time. If, for example, the United States display the same succession of +Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous systems, lithologically similar, and +characterized by like fossils, it is a fair inference that these groups of +strata were severally deposited in America at the same periods that they +were deposited here." + +On this position, which seems a strong one, we have, in the first place, to +remark, that the evidence of correspondence is always more or less +suspicious. We have already adverted to the several "idols"--if we may use +Bacon's metaphor--to which geologists unconsciously sacrifice, when +interpreting the structures of unexplored regions. Carrying with them the +classification of strata existing in Europe, and assuming that groups of +strata in other parts of the world must answer to some of the groups of +strata known here, they are necessarily prone to assert parallelism on +insufficient evidence. They scarcely entertain the previous question, +whether the formations they are examining have or have not any European +equivalents; but the question is--with which of the European series shall +they be classed?--with which do they most agree?--from which do they differ +least? And this being the mode of enquiry, there is apt to result great +laxity of interpretation. How lax the interpretation really is, may be +readily shown. When strata are discontinuous, as between Europe and +America, no evidence can be derived from the order of superposition, apart +from mineral characters and organic remains; for, unless strata can be +continuously traced, mineral characters and organic remains are the only +means of classing them as such or such. + +As to the test of mineral characters, we have seen that it is almost +worthless; and no modern geologist would dare to say it should be relied +on. If the Old Red Sandstone series in mid-England, differs wholly in +lithological aspect from the equivalent series in South Devon, it is clear +that similarities of texture and composition can have no weight in +assimilating a system of strata in another quarter of the globe to some +European system. The test of fossils, therefore, is the only one that +remains; and with how little strictness this test is applied, one case will +show. Of forty-six species of British Devonian corals, only six occur in +America; and this, notwithstanding the wide range which the Anthozoa are +known to have. Similarly of the Mollusca and Crinoidea, it appears that, +while there are sundry genera found in America that are found here, there +are scarcely any of the same species. And Sir Charles Lyell admits that +"the difficulty of deciding on the exact parallelism of the New York +subdivisions, as above enumerated, with the members of the European +Devonian, is very great, so few are the species in common." Yet it is on +the strength of community of fossils, that the whole Devonian series of the +United States is assumed to be contemporaneous with the whole Devonian +series of England. And it is partly on the ground that the Devonian of the +United States corresponds in time with our Devonian, that Sir Charles Lyell +concludes the superjacent coal-measures of the two countries to be of the +same age. Is it not, then, as we said, that the evidence in these cases is +very suspicious? + +Should it be replied, as it may fairly be, that this correspondence from +which the synchronism of distant formations is inferred, is not a +correspondence between particular species or particular genera, but between +the general characters of the contained assemblages of fossils--between the +_facies_ of the two Faunas; the rejoinder is, that though such +correspondence is a stronger evidence of synchronism it is still an +insufficient one. To infer synchronism from such correspondence, involves +the postulate that throughout each geologic era there has habitually +existed a recognizable similarity between the groups of organic forms +inhabiting all the different parts of the Earth; and that the causes which +have in one part of the Earth changed the organic forms into those which +characterize the next era, have simultaneously acted in all other parts of +the Earth, in such ways as to produce parallel changes of their organic +forms. Now this is not only a large assumption to make; but it is an +assumption contrary to probability. The probability is, that the causes +which have changed Faunas have been local rather than universal; that hence +while the Faunas of some regions have been rapidly changing, those of +others have been almost quiescent; and that when such others have been +changed, it has been, not in such ways as to maintain parallelism, but in +such ways as to produce divergence. + +Even supposing, however, that districts some hundreds of miles apart, +furnished groups of strata that completely agreed in their order of +superposition, their mineral characters, and their fossils, we should still +have inadequate proof of contemporaneity. For there are conditions, very +likely to occur, under which such groups might differ widely in age. If +there be a continent of which the strata crop out on the surface obliquely +to the line of coast--running, say, west-northwest, while the coast runs +east and west--it is clear that each group of strata will crop out on the +beach at a particular part of the coast; that further west the next group +of strata will crop out on the beach; and so continuously. As the +localization of marine plants and animals is in a considerable degree +determined by the nature of the rocks and their detritus, it follows that +each part of this coast will have its more or less distinct Flora and +Fauna. What now must result from the action of the waves in the course of a +geologic epoch? As the sea makes slow inroads on the land, the place at +which each group of strata crops out on the beach will gradually move +towards the west: its distinctive fish, mollusks, crustaceans, and +sea-weeds, migrating with it. Further, the detritus of each of these groups +of strata will, as the point of outcrop moves westwards, be deposited over +the detritus of the group in advance of it. And the consequence of these +actions, carried on for one of those enormous periods required for geologic +changes, will be that, corresponding to each eastern stratum, there will +arise a stratum far to the west which, though occupying the same position +relatively to other beds, formed of like materials, and containing like +fossils, will yet be perhaps a million years later in date. + + * * * * * + +But the illegitimacy, or at any rate the great doubtfulness, of many +current geological inferences, is best seen when we contemplate terrestrial +changes now going on: and ask how far such inferences are countenanced by +them. If we carry out rigorously the modern method of interpreting +geological phenomena, which Sir Charles Lyell has done so much to +establish--that of referring them to causes like those at present in +action--we cannot fail to see how improbable are sundry of the received +conclusions. + +Along each line of shore that is being worn away by the waves, there are +being formed mud, sand, and pebbles. This detritus, spread over the +neighbouring sea-bottom, has, in each locality, a more or less special +character; determined by the nature of the strata destroyed. In the English +Channel it is not the same as in the Irish Channel; on the east coast of +Ireland it is not the same as on the west coast; and so throughout. At the +mouth of each great river, there is being deposited sediment differing more +or less from that of other rivers in colour and quality; forming strata +that are here red, there yellow, and elsewhere brown, grey, or dirty white. +Besides which various formations, going on in deltas and along shores, +there are some much wider and still more contrasted formations. At the +bottom of the Ægæan Sea, there is accumulating a bed of Pteropod shells, +which will eventually, no doubt, become a calcareous rock. For some +hundreds of thousands of square miles, the ocean-bed between Great Britain +and North America, is being covered with a stratum of chalk; and over large +areas in the Pacific, there are going on deposits of coralline limestone. +Thus, throughout the Earth, there are at this moment being produced an +immense number of strata differing from each other in lithological +characters. Name at random any one part of the sea-bottom, and ask whether +the deposit there taking place is like the deposit taking place at some +distant part of the sea-bottom, and the almost-certainly correct answer +will be--No. The chances are not in favour of similarity, but very greatly +against it. + +In the order of superposition of strata there is occurring a like variety. +Each region of the Earth's surface has its special history of elevations, +subsidences, periods of rest; and this history in no case fits +chronologically with the history of any other portion. River deltas are now +being thrown down on formations of quite different ages. While here there +has been deposited a series of beds many hundreds of feet thick, there has +elsewhere been deposited but a single bed of fine mud. While one region of +the Earth's crust, continuing for a vast epoch above the surface of the +ocean, bears record of no changes save those resulting from denudation; +another region of the Earth's crust gives proof of various changes of +level, with their several resulting masses of stratified detritus. If +anything is to be judged from current processes, we must infer, not only +that everywhere the succession of sedimentary formations differs more or +less from the succession elsewhere; but also that in each place, there +exist groups of strata to which many other places have no equivalents. + +With respect to the organic bodies imbedded in formations now in progress, +the like truth is equally manifest, if not more manifest. Even along the +same coast, within moderate distances, the forms of life differ very +considerably; much more on coasts that are remote from each other. Again, +dissimilar creatures that are living together near the same shore, do not +leave their remains in the same beds of sediment. For instance, at the +bottom of the Adriatic, where the prevailing currents cause the deposits to +be here of mud, and there of calcareous matter, it is proved that different +species of co-existing shells are being buried in these respective +formations. On our own coasts, the marine remains found a few miles from +shore, in banks where fish congregate, are different from those found close +to the shore, where only littoral species flourish. A large proportion of +aquatic creatures have structures that do not admit of fossilization; while +of the rest, the great majority are destroyed, when dead, by the various +kinds of scavengers that creep among the rocks and weeds. So that no one +deposit near our shores can contain anything like a true representation of +the Fauna of the surrounding sea; much less of the co-existing Faunas of +other seas in the same latitude; and still less of the Faunas of seas in +distant latitudes. Were it not that the assertion seems needful, it would +be almost absurd to say, that the organic remains now being buried in the +Dogger Bank, can tell us next to nothing about the fish, crustaceans, +mollusks, and corals that are being buried in the Bay of Bengal. + +Still stronger is the argument in the case of terrestrial life. With more +numerous and greater contrasts between the plants and animals of remote +places, there is a far more imperfect registry of them. Schouw marks out on +the Earth more than twenty botanical regions, occupied by groups of forms +so far distinct from each other, that, if fossilized, geologists would +scarcely be disposed to refer them all to the same period. Of Faunas, the +Arctic differs from the Temperate; the Temperate from the Tropical; and the +South Temperate from the North Temperate. Nay, in the South Temperate Zone +itself, the two regions of South Africa and South America are unlike in +their mammals, birds, reptiles, fishes, mollusks, insects. The shells and +bones now lying at the bottoms of lakes and estuaries in these several +regions, have certainly not that similarity which is usually looked for in +those of contemporaneous strata; and the recent forms exhumed in any one of +these regions would very untruly represent the present Flora and Fauna of +the Earth. In conformity with the current style of geological reasoning, an +exhaustive examination of deposits in the Arctic circle, might be held to +prove that though at this period there were sundry mammals existing, there +were no reptiles; while the absence of mammals in the deposits of the +Galapagos Archipelago, where there are plenty of reptiles, might be held to +prove the reverse. And at the same time, from the formations extending for +two thousand miles along the great barrier-reef of Australia--formations in +which are imbedded nothing but corals, echinoderms, mollusks, crustaceans, +and fish, along with an occasional turtle, or bird, or cetacean, it might +be inferred that there lived in our epoch neither terrestrial reptiles nor +terrestrial mammals. + +The mention of Australia, indeed, suggests an illustration which, even +alone, would amply prove our case. The Fauna of this region differs widely +from any that is found elsewhere. On land all the indigenous mammals, +except bats, belong to the lowest, or implacental division; and the insects +are singularly different from those found elsewhere. The surrounding seas +contain numerous forms that are more or less strange; and among the fish +there exists a species of shark, which is the only living representative of +a genus that flourished in early geologic epochs. If, now, the modern +fossiliferous deposits of Australia were to be examined by one ignorant of +the existing Australian Fauna; and if he were to reason in the usual +manner; he would be very unlikely to class these deposits with those of the +present time. How, then, can we place confidence in the tacit assumption +that certain formations in remote parts of the Earth are referable to the +same period, because the organic remains contained in them display a +certain community of character? or that certain others are referable to +different periods, because the _facies_ of their Faunas are different? + +"But," it will be replied, "in past eras the same, or similar, organic +forms were more widely distributed than now." It may be so; but the +evidence adduced by no means proves it. The argument by which this +conclusion is reached, runs a risk of being quoted as an example of +reasoning in a circle. As already pointed out, between formations in remote +regions there is no means of ascertaining equivalence but by fossils. If, +then, the contemporaneity of remote formations is concluded from the +likeness of their fossils; how can it be said that similar plants and +animals were once more widely distributed, because they are found in +contemporaneous strata in remote regions? Is not the fallacy manifest? Even +supposing there were no such fatal objection as this, the evidence commonly +assigned would still be insufficient. For we must bear in mind that the +community of organic remains commonly thought sufficient for inferring +correspondence in time, is a very imperfect community. When the compared +sedimentary beds are far apart, it is scarcely expected that there will be +many species common to the two: it is enough if there be discovered a +considerable number of common genera. Now had it been proved that, +throughout geologic time, each genus lived but for a short period--a period +measured by a single group of strata--something might be inferred. But what +if we learn that many of the same genera continued to exist throughout +enormous epochs, measured by several vast systems of strata? "Among +molluscs, the genera _Avicula_, _Modiola_, _Terebratula_, _Lingula_, and +_Orbicula_, are found from the Silurian rocks upwards to the present day." +If, then, between the lowest fossiliferous formations and the most recent, +there exists this degree of community; must we not infer that there will +probably often exist a degree of community between strata that are far from +contemporaneous? + +Thus the reasoning from which it is concluded that similar organic forms +were once more widely spread, is doubly fallacious; and, consequently, the +classifications of foreign strata based on this conclusion are +untrustworthy. Judging from the present distribution of life, we can +scarcely expect to find similar remains in geographically remote strata of +the same age; and where, between the fossils of geographically remote +strata, we do find much similarity, it is probably often due rather to +likeness of conditions than to contemporaneity. If from causes and effects +such as we now witness, we reason back to the causes and effects of past +epochs, we discover inadequate warrant for sundry of the received +doctrines. Seeing, as we do, that in large areas of the Pacific this is a +period characterized by abundance of corals; that in the North Atlantic it +is a period in which a great chalk-deposit is being formed; and that in the +valley of the Mississippi it is a period of new coal-basins--seeing also, +as we do, that in one extensive continent this is peculiarly an era of +implacental mammals, and that in another extensive continent it is +peculiarly an era of placental mammals; we have good reason to hesitate +before accepting these sweeping generalizations which are based on a +cursory examination of strata occupying but a tenth part of the Earth's +surface. + + * * * * * + +At the outset, this article was to have been a review of the works of Hugh +Miller; but it has grown into something much more general. Nevertheless, +the remaining two doctrines which we propose to criticise, may be +conveniently treated in connection with his name, as that of one who fully +committed himself to them. And first, a few words with regard to his +position. + +That he was a man whose life was one of meritorious achievement, every one +knows. That he was a diligent and successful working geologist, scarcely +needs saying. That with indomitable perseverance he struggled up from +obscurity to a place in the world of literature and science, shows him to +have been highly endowed in character and intelligence. And that he had a +remarkable power of presenting his facts and arguments in an attractive +form, a glance at any of his books will quickly prove. By all means, let us +respect him as a man of activity and sagacity, joined with a large amount +of poetry. But while saying this we must add, that his reputation stands by +no means so high in the scientific world as in the world at large. Partly +from the fact that our Scotch neighbours are in the habit of blowing the +trumpet rather loudly before their notabilities--partly because the +charming style in which his books are written has gained him a large circle +of readers--partly, perhaps, through a praiseworthy sympathy with him as a +self-made man; Hugh Miller has met with an amount of applause which, little +as we wish to diminish it, must not be allowed to blind the public to his +defects as a man of science. + +The truth is, he was so far committed to a foregone conclusion, that he +could not become a philosophical geologist. He might be aptly described as +a theologian studying geology. The dominant idea with which he wrote, may +be seen in the titles of his books--_Law versus Miracle_,--_Footprints of +the Creator_,--_The Testimony of the Rocks_. Regarding geological facts as +evidence for or against certain religious conclusions, it was scarcely +possible for him to deal with geological facts impartially. His ruling aim +was to disprove the Development Hypothesis, the assumed implications of +which were repugnant to him; and in proportion to the strength of his +feeling, was the one-sidedness of his reasoning. He admitted that "God +might as certainly have _originated_ the species by a law of development, +as he _maintains_ it by a law of development; the existence of a First +Great Cause is as perfectly compatible with the one scheme as with the +other." Nevertheless, he considered the hypothesis at variance with +Christianity; and therefore combated with it. He apparently overlooked the +fact that the doctrines of geology in general, as held by himself, had been +rejected by many on similar grounds; and that he had himself been +repeatedly attacked for his anti-Christian teachings. He seems not to have +perceived that, just as his antagonists were wrong in condemning as +irreligious, theories which he saw were not irreligious; so might he be +wrong in condemning, on like grounds, the Theory of Evolution. In brief, he +fell short of that highest faith, which knows that all truths must +harmonize; and which is, therefore, content trustfully to follow the +evidence whithersoever it leads. + +Of course it is impossible to criticize his works without entering on this +great question to which he chiefly devoted himself. The two remaining +doctrines to be here discussed, bear directly on this question; and, as +above said, we propose to treat them in connection with Hugh Miller's name, +because, throughout his reasonings, he assumes their truth. Let it not be +supposed, however, that we shall aim to prove what he has aimed to +disprove. While we purpose showing that his arguments against the +Development Hypothesis are based on invalid assumptions; we do not purpose +showing that the opposing arguments are based on valid assumptions. We hope +to make it apparent that the geological evidence at present obtained, is +insufficient for either side; further, that there seems little probability +of sufficient evidence ever being obtained; and that if the question is +eventually decided, it must be decided on other than geological data. + + * * * * * + +The first of the current doctrines to which we have just referred, is, that +there occur in the records of former life on our planet, certain great +blanks--that though, generally, the succession of fossil forms is tolerably +continuous, yet that at two places there occur wide gaps in the series +whence it is inferred that, on at least two occasions, the previously +existing inhabitants of the Earth were almost wholly destroyed, and a +different class of inhabitants created. Comparing the general life on the +Earth to a thread, Hugh Miller says:-- + + "It is continuous from the present time up to the commencement of + the Tertiary period; and then so abrupt a break occurs, that, with + the exception of the microscopic diatomaceæ to which I last evening + referred, and of one shell and one coral, not a single species + crossed the gap. On its further or remoter side, however, where the + Secondary division closes, the intermingling of species again begins, + and runs on till the commencement of this great Secondary division; + and then, just where the Palæozoic division closes, we find another + abrupt break, crossed, if crossed at all,--for there still exists + some doubt on the subject,--by but two species of plant." + +These breaks are considered to imply actual new creations on the surface of +our planet; not only by Hugh Miller, but by the majority of geologists. And +the terms Palæozoic, Mesozoic, and Cainozoic, are used to indicate these +three successive systems of life. It is true that some accept this belief +with caution: knowing how geologic research has been all along tending to +fill up what were once thought wide breaks. Sir Charles Lyell points out +that "the hiatus which exists in Great Britain between the fossils of the +Lias and those of the Magnesian Limestone, is supplied in Germany by the +rich fauna and flora of the Muschelkalk, Keuper, and Bunter Sandstein, +which we know to be of a date precisely intermediate." Again he remarks +that "until lately the fossils of the coal-measures were separated from +those of the antecedent Silurian group by a very abrupt and decided line of +demarcation; but recent discoveries have brought to light in Devonshire, +Belgium, the Eifel, and Westphalia, the remains of a fauna of an +intervening period." And once more, "we have also in like manner had some +success of late years in diminishing the hiatus which still separates the +Cretaceous and Eocene periods in Europe." To which let us add that since +Hugh Miller penned the passage above quoted, the second of the great gaps +he refers to has been very considerably narrowed by the discovery of strata +containing Palæozoic genera and Mesozoic genera intermingled. Nevertheless, +the occurrence of two great revolutions in the Earth's Flora and Fauna +appears still to be held by many; and geologic nomenclature habitually +assumes it. + +Before seeking a solution of these phenomena, let us glance at the several +minor causes that produce breaks in the geological succession of organic +forms: taking first, the more general ones which modify climate, and, +therefore, the distribution of life. Among these may be noted one which has +not, we believe, been named by writers on the subject. We mean that +resulting from a certain slow astronomic rhythm, by which the northern and +southern hemispheres are alternately subject to greater extremes of +temperature. In consequence of the slight ellipticity of its orbit, the +Earth's distance from the sun varies to the extent of some 3,000,000 of +miles. At present, the aphelion occurs at the time of our northern summer; +and the perihelion during the summer of the southern hemisphere. In +consequence, however, of that slow movement of the Earth's axis which +produces the precession of the equinoxes, this state of things will in time +be reversed: the Earth will be nearest to the sun during the summer of the +northern hemisphere, and furthest from it during the southern summer or +northern winter. The period required to complete the slow movement +producing these changes, is nearly 26,000 years; and were there no +modifying process, the two hemispheres would alternately experience this +coincidence of summer with the least distance from the sun, during a period +of 13,000 years. But there is also a still slower change in the direction +of the axis major of the Earth's orbit; from which it results that the +alternation we have described is completed in about 21,000 years. That is +to say, if at a given time the Earth is nearest to the sun at our +mid-summer, and furthest from the sun at our mid-winter: then, in 10,500 +years afterwards, it will be furthest from the sun at our mid-summer, and +nearest at our mid-winter. + +Now the difference between the distances from the sun at the two extremes +of this alternation, amounts to one-thirtieth; and hence, the difference +between the quantities of heat received from the sun on a summer's day +under these opposite conditions amounts to one-fifteenth. Estimating this, +not with reference to the zero of our thermometers, but with reference to +the temperature of the celestial spaces, Sir John Herschel calculates "23° +Fahrenheit as the least variation of temperature under such circumstances +which can reasonably be attributed to the actual variation of the sun's +distance." Thus, then, each hemisphere has at a certain epoch, a short +summer of extreme heat, followed by a long and very cold winter. Through +the slow change in the direction of the Earth's axis, these extremes are +gradually mitigated. And at the end of 10,500 years, there is reached the +opposite state--a long and moderate summer, with a short and mild winter. +At present, in consequence of the predominance of sea in the southern +hemisphere, the extremes to which its astronomical conditions subject it, +are much ameliorated; while the great proportion of land in the northern +hemisphere, tends to exaggerate such contrast as now exists in it between +winter and summer: whence it results that the climates of the two +hemispheres are not widely unlike. But 10,000 years hence, the northern +hemisphere will undergo annual variations of temperature far more marked +than now. + +In the last edition of his _Outlines of Astronomy_, Sir John Herschel +recognizes this as an element in geological processes: regarding it as +possibly a part-cause of those climatic changes indicated by the records of +the Earth's past. That it has had much to do with the larger changes of +climate of which we have evidence, seems unlikely, since there is reason to +think that these have been far slower and more lasting; but that it must +have entailed a rhythmical exaggeration and mitigation of the climates +otherwise produced, seems beyond question. And it seems also beyond +question that there must have been a consequent rhythmical change in the +distribution of organisms--a rhythmical change to which we here wish to +draw attention, as one cause of minor breaks in the succession of fossil +remains. Each species of plant and animal, has certain limits of heat and +cold within which only it can exist; and these limits in a great degree +determine its geographical position. It will not spread north of a certain +latitude, because it cannot bear a more northern winter, nor south of a +certain latitude, because the summer heat is too great; or else it is +indirectly restrained from spreading further by the effect of temperature +on the humidity of the air, or on the distribution of the organisms it +lives upon. + +But now, what will result from a slow alteration of climate, produced as +above described? Supposing the period we set out from is that in which the +contrast of seasons is least marked, it is manifest that during the +progress towards the period of the most violent contrast, each species of +plant and animal will gradually change its limits of distribution--will be +driven back, here by the winter's increasing cold, and there by the +summer's increasing heat--will retire into those localities that are still +fit for it. Thus during 10,000 years, each species will ebb away from +certain regions it was inhabiting; and during the succeeding 10,000 years +will flow back into those regions. From the strata there forming, its +remains will disappear; they will be absent from some of the supposed +strata; and will be found in strata higher up. But in what shapes will they +re-appear? Exposed during the 21,000 years of their slow recession and +their slow return, to changing conditions of life, they are likely to have +undergone modifications; and will probably re-appear with slight +differences of constitution and perhaps of form--will be new varieties or +perhaps new sub-species. + +To this cause of minor breaks in the succession of organic forms--a cause +on which we have dwelt because it has not been taken into account--we must +add sundry others. Besides these periodically-recurring alterations of +climate, there are the irregular ones produced by re-distributions of land +and sea; and these, sometimes less, sometimes greater, in degree, than the +rhythmical changes, must, like them, cause in each region the ebb and flow +of species; and consequent breaks, small or large as the case may be, in +the palæontological series. Other and more special geological changes must +produce other and more local blanks in the succession of fossils. By some +inland elevation the natural drainage of a continent is modified; and +instead of the sediment it previously brought down to the sea, a great +river begins to bring down sediment unfavourable to various plants and +animals living in its delta: wherefore these disappear from the locality, +perhaps to re-appear in a changed form after a long epoch. Upheavals or +subsidences of shores or sea-bottoms, involving deviations of marine +currents, must remove the habitats of many species to which such currents +are salutary or injurious; and further, this re-distribution of currents +must alter the places of sedimentary deposits, and so stop the burying of +organic remains in some localities, and commence it in others. Had we +space, many more such causes of blanks in our palæontological records might +be added. But it is needless here to enumerate them. They are admirably +explained and illustrated in Sir Charles Lyell's _Principles of Geology_. + +Now, if these minor revolutions of the Earth's surface produce minor breaks +in the series of fossilized remains; must not great revolutions produce +great breaks? If a local upheaval or subsidence causes throughout its small +area the absence of some links in the chain of fossil forms; does it not +follow that an upheaval or subsidence extending over a large part of the +Earth's surface, must cause the absence of a great number of such links +throughout a very wide area? + +When during a long epoch a continent, slowly subsiding, gives place to a +far-spreading ocean some miles in depth, at the bottom of which no deposits +from rivers or abraded shores can be thrown down; and when, after some +enormous period, this ocean-bottom is gradually elevated and becomes the +site of new strata; it is clear that the fossils contained in these new +strata are likely to have but little in common with the fossils of the +strata below them. Take, in illustration, the case of the North Atlantic. +We have already named the fact that between this country and the United +States, the ocean-bottom is being covered with a deposit of chalk--a +deposit that has been forming, probably, ever since there occurred that +great depression of the Earth's crust from which the Atlantic resulted in +remote geologic times. This chalk consists of the minute shells of +Foraminifera, sprinkled with remains of small Entomostraca, and probably a +few Pteropod-shells: though the sounding lines have not yet brought up any +of these last. Thus, in so far as all high forms of life are concerned, +this new chalk-formation must be a blank. At rare intervals, perhaps, a +polar bear drifted on an iceberg, may have its bones scattered over the +bed; or a dead, decaying whale may similarly leave traces. But such remains +must be so rare, that this new chalk-formation, if visible, might be +examined for a century before any of them were disclosed. If now, some +millions of years hence, the Atlantic-bed should be raised, and estuary or +shore deposits laid upon it, these deposits would contain remains of a +Flora and Fauna so distinct from everything below them, as to appear like a +new creation. + +Thus, along with continuity of life on the Earth's surface, there not only +_may_ be, but there _must_ be, great gaps, in the series of fossils; and +hence these gaps are no evidence against the doctrine of Evolution. + + * * * * * + +One other current assumption remains to be criticized; and it is the one on +which, more than on any other, depends the view taken respecting the +question of development. + +From the beginning of the controversy, the arguments for and against have +turned upon the evidence of progression in organic forms, found in the +ascending series of our sedimentary formations. On the one hand, those who +contend that higher organisms have been evolved out of lower, joined with +those who contend that successively higher organisms have been created at +successively later periods, appeal for proof to the facts of Palæontology; +which, they say, countenance their views. On the other hand, the +Uniformitarians, who not only reject the hypothesis of development, but +deny that the modern forms of life are higher than the ancient ones, reply +that the Palæontological evidence is at present very incomplete; that +though we have not yet found remains of highly-organized creatures in +strata of the greatest antiquity, we must not assume that no such creatures +existed when those strata were deposited; and that, probably, geological +research will eventually disclose them. + +It must be admitted that thus far, the evidence has gone in favour of the +latter party. Geological discovery has year after year shown the small +value of negative facts. The conviction that there are no traces of higher +organisms in earlier strata, has resulted not from the absence of such +remains, but from incomplete examination. At p. 460 of his _Manual of +Elementary Geology_, Sir Charles Lyell gives a list in illustration of +this. It appears that in 1709, fishes were not known lower than the Permian +system. In 1793 they were found in the subjacent Carboniferous system; in +1828 in the Devonian; in 1840 in the Upper Silurian. Of reptiles, we read +that in 1710 the lowest known were in the Permian; in 1844 they were +detected in the Carboniferous; and in 1852 in the Upper Devonian. While of +the Mammalia the list shows that in 1798 none had been discovered below the +middle Eocene; but that in 1818 they were discovered in the Lower Oolite; +and in 1847 in the Upper Trias. + +The fact is, however, that both parties set out with an inadmissible +postulate. Of the Uniformitarians, not only such writers as Hugh Miller, +but also such as Sir Charles Lyell,[T] reason as though we had found the +earliest, or something like the earliest, strata. Their antagonists, +whether defenders of the Development Hypothesis or simply Progressionists, +almost uniformly do the like. Sir R. Murchison, who is a Progressionist, +calls the lowest fossiliferous strata, "Protozoic." Prof. Ansted uses the +same term. Whether avowedly or not, all the disputants stand on this +assumption as their common ground. + + [T] Sir Charles Lyell is no longer to be classed among + Uniformitarians. With rare and admirable candour he has, since + this was written, yielded to the arguments of Mr. Darwin. + +Yet is this assumption indefensible, as some who make it very well know. +Facts may be cited against it which show that it is a more than +questionable one--that it is a highly improbable one; while the evidence +assigned in its favour will not bear criticism. + + +Because in Bohemia, Great Britain, and portions of North America, the +lowest unmetamorphosed strata yet discovered, contain but slight traces of +life, Sir R. Murchison conceives that they were formed while yet few, if +any, plants or animals had been created; and, therefore, classes them as +"Azoic." His own pages, however, show the illegitimacy of the conclusion +that there existed at that period no considerable amount of life. Such +traces of life as have been found in the Longmynd rocks, for many years +considered unfossiliferous, have been found in some of the lowest beds; and +the twenty thousand feet of superposed beds, still yield no organic +remains. If now these superposed strata throughout a depth of four miles, +are without fossils, though the strata over which they lie prove that life +had commenced; what becomes of Sir R. Murchison's inference? At page 189 of +_Siluria_, a still more conclusive fact will be found. The "Glengariff +grits," and other accompanying strata there described as 13,500 feet thick, +contain no signs of contemporaneous life. Yet Sir R. Murchison refers them +to the Devonian period--a period that had a large and varied marine Fauna. +How then, from the absence of fossils in the Longmynd beds and their +equivalents, can we conclude that the Earth was "azoic" when they were +formed? + +"But," it may be asked, "if living creatures then existed, why do we not +find fossiliferous strata of that age, or an earlier age?" One reply is, +that the non-existence of such strata is but a negative fact--we have not +found them. And considering how little we know even of the two-fifths of +the Earth's surface now above the sea, and how absolutely ignorant we are +of the three-fifths below the sea, it is rash to say that no such strata +exist. But the chief reply is, that these records of the Earth's earlier +history have been in great part destroyed, by agencies that are ever +tending to destroy such records. + +It is an established geological doctrine, that sedimentary strata are +liable to be changed, more or less completely, by igneous action. The rocks +originally classed as "transition," because they were intermediate in +character between the igneous rocks found below them, and the sedimentary +strata found above them, are now known to be nothing else than sedimentary +strata altered in texture and appearance by the intense heat of adjacent +molten matter; and hence are renamed "metamorphic rocks." Modern researches +have shown, too, that these metamorphic rocks are not, as was once +supposed, all of the same age. Besides primary and secondary strata that +have been transformed by igneous action, there are similarly-changed +deposits of tertiary origin; and that, even for a quarter of a mile from +the point of contact with neighbouring granite. By this process fossils are +of course destroyed. "In some cases," says Sir Charles Lyell, "dark +limestones, replete with shells and corals, have been turned into white +statuary marble, and hard clays, containing vegetable or other remains, +into slates called mica-schist or hornblende-schist; every vestige of the +organic bodies having been obliterated." + +Again, it is fast becoming an acknowledged truth, that igneous rock, of +whatever kind, is the product of sedimentary strata that have been +completely melted. Granite and gneiss, which are of like chemical +composition, have been shown, in various cases, to pass one into the other: +as at Valorsine, near Mont Blanc, where the two, in contact, are observed +to "both undergo a modification of mineral character. The granite still +remaining unstratified, becomes charged with green particles; and the +talcose gneiss assumes a granitiform structure without losing its +stratification." In the Aberdeen-granite, lumps of unmelted gneiss are +frequently found; and we can ourselves bear witness that on the banks of +Loch Sunart, there is ample proof that the granite of that region, when it +was molten, contained incompletely-fused clots of sedimentary strata. Nor +is this all. Fifty years ago, it was thought that all granitic rocks were +primitive, or existed before any sedimentary strata; but it is now "no easy +task to point out a single mass of granite demonstrably more ancient than +all the known fossiliferous deposits." + +In brief, accumulated evidence clearly shows, that by contact with, or +proximity to, the molten matter of the Earth's nucleus, all beds of +sediment are liable to be actually melted, or partially fused, or so heated +as to agglutinate their particles; and that according to the temperature +they have been raised to, and the circumstances under which they cool, they +assume the forms of granite, porphyry, trap, gneiss, or rock otherwise +altered. Further, it is manifest that though strata of various ages have +been thus changed, yet that the most ancient strata have been so changed to +the greatest extent: both because they have habitually lain nearer to the +centre of igneous agency; and because they have been for a longer period +liable to the effects of this agency. Whence it follows, that sedimentary +strata passing a certain antiquity, are unlikely to be found in an +unmetamorphosed state; and that strata much earlier than those are certain +to have been melted up. Thus if, throughout a past of indefinite duration, +there had been at work those aqueous and igneous agencies which we see +still at work, the state of the Earth's crust might be just what we find +it. We have no evidence which puts a limit to the period throughout which +this formation and destruction of strata has been going on. For aught the +facts prove, it may have been going on for ten times the period measured by +our whole series of sedimentary deposits. + +Besides having, in the present appearances of the Earth's crust, no data +for fixing a commencement to these processes--besides finding that the +evidence permits us to assume such commencement to have been inconceivably +remote, as compared even with the vast eras of geology; we are not without +positive grounds for inferring the inconceivable remoteness of such +commencement. Modern geology has established truths which are +irreconcilable with the belief that the formation and destruction of strata +began when the Cambrian rocks were formed; or at anything like so recent a +time. One fact from _Siluria_ will suffice. Sir R. Murchison estimates the +vertical thickness of Silurian strata in Wales, at from 26,000 to 27,000 +feet, or about five miles; and if to this we add the vertical depth of the +Cambrian strata, on which the Silurians lie conformably, there results, on +the lowest computation, a total depth of seven miles. + +Now it is held by geologists, that this vast accumulation of strata must +have been deposited in an area of gradual subsidence. These strata could +not have been thus laid on each other in regular order, unless the Earth's +crust had been at that place sinking, either continuously or by very small +steps. Such an immense subsidence, however, must have been impossible +without a crust of great thickness. The Earth's molten nucleus tends ever, +with enormous force, to assume the form of a regular oblate spheroid. Any +depression of its crust below the surface of equilibrium, and any elevation +of its crust above that surface, have to withstand immense resistance. It +follows inevitably that, with a thin crust, nothing but small elevations +and subsidences would be possible; and that, conversely, a subsidence of +seven miles implies a crust of comparatively great strength, or, in other +words, of great thickness. Indeed, if we compare this inferred subsidence +in the Silurian period, with such elevations and depressions as our +existing continents and oceans display, we see no evidence that the Earth's +crust was appreciably thinner then than now. What are the implications? If, +as geologists generally admit, the Earth's crust has resulted from that +slow cooling which is even still going on--if we see no sign that at the +time when the earliest Cambrian strata were formed, this crust was +appreciably thinner than now; we are forced to conclude that the era during +which it acquired that great thickness possessed in the Cambrian period, +was enormous as compared with the interval between the Cambrian period and +our own. But during the incalculable series of epochs thus inferred, there +existed an ocean, tides, winds, waves, rain, rivers. The agencies by which +the denudation of continents and filling up of seas have all along been +carried on, were as active then as now. Endless successions of strata must +have been formed. And when we ask--Where are they? Nature's obvious reply +is--They have been destroyed by that igneous action to which so great a +part of our oldest-known strata owe their fusion or metamorphosis. + +Only the last chapter of the Earth's history has come down to us. The many +previous chapters, stretching back to a time immeasurably remote, have been +burnt; and with them all the records of life we may presume they contained. +The greater part of the evidence which might have served to settle the +Development-controversy, is for ever lost; and on neither side can the +arguments derived from Geology be conclusive. + +"But how happen there to be such evidences of progression as exist?" it may +be asked. "How happens it that, in ascending from the most ancient strata +to the most recent strata, we do find a succession of organic forms, which, +however irregularly, carries us from lower to higher?" This question seems +difficult to answer. Nevertheless, there is reason for thinking that +nothing can be safely inferred from the apparent progression here cited. +And the illustration which shows as much, will, we believe, also show how +little trust is to be placed in certain geological generalizations that +appear to be well established. With this somewhat elaborate illustration, +to which we now pass, our criticisms may fitly conclude. + +Let us suppose that in a region now covered by wide ocean, there begins one +of those great and gradual upheavals by which new continents are formed. To +be precise, let us say that in the South Pacific, midway between New +Zealand and Patagonia, the sea-bottom has been little by little thrust up +towards the surface, and is about to emerge. What will be the successive +phenomena, geological and biological, which are likely to occur before this +emerging sea-bottom has become another Europe or Asia? + +In the first place, such portions of the incipient land as are raised to +the level of the waves, will be rapidly denuded by them: their soft +substance will be torn up by the breakers, carried away by the local +currents, and deposited in neighbouring deeper water. Successive small +upheavals will bring new and larger areas within reach of the waves; fresh +portions will each time be removed from the surfaces previously denuded; +and further, some of the newly-formed strata, being elevated nearly to the +level of the water, will be washed away and re-deposited. In course of +time, the harder formations of the upraised sea-bottom will be uncovered. +These being less easily destroyed, will remain permanently above the +surface; and at their margins will arise the usual breaking down of rocks +into beach-sand and pebbles. While in the slow process of this elevation, +going on at the rate of perhaps two or three feet in a century, most of the +sedimentary deposits produced will be again and again destroyed and +reformed; there will, in those adjacent areas of subsidence which accompany +areas of elevation, be more or less continuous successions of sedimentary +deposits. + +And now what will be the character of these new strata? They will +necessarily contain scarcely any traces of life. The deposits that had +previously been slowly formed at the bottom of this wide ocean, would be +sprinkled with fossils of but few species. The oceanic Fauna is not a rich +one; its hydrozoa do not admit of preservation; and the hard parts of its +few kinds of molluscs and crustaceans and insects are mostly fragile. +Hence, when the ocean-bed was here and there raised to the surface--when +its strata of sediment with their contained organic fragments were torn up +and long washed about by the breakers before being re-deposited--when the +re-deposits were again and again subject to this violent abrading action by +subsequent small elevations, as they would mostly be; what few fragile +organic remains they contained, would be in nearly all cases destroyed. +Thus such of the first-formed strata as survived the repeated changes of +level, would be practically "azoic;" like the Cambrian of our geologists. +When by the washing away of the soft deposits, the hard sub-strata had been +exposed in the shape of rocky islets, and a footing had thus been +furnished, the pioneers of a new life might be expected to make their +appearance. What would they be? Not any of the surrounding oceanic species, +for these are not fitted for a littoral life; but species flourishing on +some of the far-distant shores of the Pacific. Of such the first to +establish themselves would be sea-weeds and zoophytes; both because their +swarming spores and gemmules would be the most readily conveyed with +safety, and because when conveyed they would find fit food. It is true that +Cirrhipeds and Lamellibranchs, subsisting on the minute creatures which +everywhere people the sea, would also find fit food. + +But passing over the fact that the germs of such higher forms are neither +so abundant nor so well fitted to bear long voyages, there is the more +important fact that the individuals arising from these germs can reproduce +only sexually, and that this vastly increases the obstacles to the +establishment of their races. The chances of early colonization are +immensely in favour of species which, multiplying by agamogenesis, can +people a whole shore from a single germ; and immensely against species +which, multiplying only by gamogenesis, must be introduced in considerable +numbers that some may survive, meet, and propagate. Thus we infer that the +earliest traces of life left in the sedimentary deposits near these new +shores, will be traces of life as humble as that indicated in the most +ancient rocks of Great Britain and Ireland. Imagine now that the processes +we have briefly indicated, continue--that the emerging lands become wider +in extent, and fringed by higher and more varied shores; and that there +still go on those ocean-currents which, at long intervals, convey from far +distant shores immigrant forms of life. What will result? Lapse of time +will of course favour the introduction of such new forms: admitting, as it +must, of those combinations of fit conditions, which, under the law of +probabilities, can occur only at very distant intervals. Moreover, the +increasing area of the islands, individually and as a group, implies +increasing length of coast; from which there follows a longer line of +contact with the streams and waves that bring drifting masses; and, +therefore, a greater chance that germs of fresh life will be stranded. + +And once more, the comparatively-varied shores, presenting physical +conditions that change from mile to mile, will furnish suitable habitats +for more numerous species. So that as the elevation proceeds, three causes +conspire to introduce additional marine plants and animals. To what classes +will the increasing Fauna be for a long period confined? Of course, to +classes of which individuals, or their germs, are most liable to be carried +far away from their native shores by floating sea-weed or drift-wood; to +classes which are also least likely to perish in transit, or from change of +climate; and to those which can best subsist around coasts comparatively +bare of life. Evidently, then, corals, annelids, inferior molluscs, and +crustaceans of low grade, will chiefly constitute the early Fauna. The +large predatory members of these classes, will be later in establishing +themselves; both because the new shores must first become well peopled by +the creatures they prey on, and because, being more complex, they or their +ova must be less likely to survive the journey, and the change of +conditions. + +We may infer, then, that the strata deposited next after the almost "azoic" +strata, would contain the remains of invertebrata, allied to those found +near the shores of Australia and South America. Of such invertebrate +remains, the lower beds would furnish comparatively few genera, and those +of relatively low types; while in the upper beds the number of genera would +be greater, and the types higher: just as among the fossils of our Silurian +system. As this great geologic change slowly progressed through its long +history of earthquakes, volcanic disturbances, minor upheavals and +subsidences--as the extent of the archipelago became greater and its +smaller islands coalesced into larger ones, while its coast line grew still +longer and more varied, and the neighbouring sea more thickly inhabited by +inferior forms of life; the lowest division of the vertebrata would begin +to be represented. In order of time, fish would naturally come after the +lower invertebrata: both as being less likely to have their ova transported +across the waste of waters, and as requiring for their subsistence a +pre-existing Fauna of some development. They might be expected to make +their appearance along with the predaceous crustaceans; as they do in the +uppermost Silurian rocks. + +And here, too, let us remark, that as, during this long epoch we have been +describing, the sea would have made great inroads on some of the newly +raised lands that had remained stationary; and would probably in some +places have reached masses of igneous or metamorphic rocks; there might, in +course of time, arise by the decomposition and denudation of such rocks, +local deposits coloured with oxide of iron, like our Old Red Sandstone. And +in these deposits might be buried the remains of the fish then peopling the +neighbouring sea. + +Meanwhile, how would the surfaces of the upheaved masses be occupied? At +first their deserts of naked rocks and pebbles would bear only the humblest +forms of vegetal life, such as we find in grey and orange patches on our +own rugged mountain sides; for these alone could flourish on such surfaces, +and their spores would be the most readily transported. When, by the decay +of such protophytes, and that decomposition of rock effected by them, there +had resulted a fit habitat for mosses; these, of which the germs might be +conveyed in drifted trees, would begin to spread. A soil having been +eventually thus produced, it would become possible for plants of higher +organization to find roothold; and as in the way we have described the +archipelago and its constituent islands grew larger, and had more +multiplied relations with winds and waters, such higher plants might be +expected ultimately to have their seeds transferred from the nearest lands. +After something like a Flora had thus colonized the surface, it would +become possible for insects to exist; and of air-breathing creatures, +insects would manifestly be among the first to find their way from +elsewhere. + +As, however, terrestrial organisms, both vegetal and animal, are much less +likely than marine organisms to survive the accidents of transport from +distant shores; it is clear that long after the sea surrounding these new +lands had acquired a varied Flora and Fauna, the lands themselves would +still be comparatively bare; and thus that the early strata, like our +Silurians, would afford no traces of terrestrial life. By the time that +large areas had been raised above the ocean, we may fairly suppose a +luxuriant vegetation to have been acquired. Under what circumstances are we +likely to find this vegetation fossilized? Large surfaces of land imply +large rivers with their accompanying deltas; and are liable to have lakes +and swamps. These, as we know from extant cases, are favourable to rank +vegetation; and afford the conditions needful for preserving it in the +shape of coal-beds. Observe, then, that while in the early history of such +a continent a carboniferous period could not occur, the occurrence of a +carboniferous period would become probable after long-continued upheavals +had uncovered large areas. As in our own sedimentary series, coal-beds +would make their appearance only after there had been enormous +accumulations of earlier strata charged with marine fossils. + +Let us ask next, in what order the higher forms of animal life would make +their appearance. We have seen how, in the succession of marine forms, +there would be something like a progress from the lower to the higher: +bringing us in the end to predaceous molluscs, crustaceans, and fish. What +are likely to succeed fish? After marine creatures, those which would have +the greatest chance of surviving the voyage would be amphibious reptiles: +both because they are more tenacious of life than higher animals, and +because they would be less completely out of their element. Such reptiles +as can live in both fresh and salt water, like alligators; and such as are +drifted out of the mouths of great rivers on floating trees, as Humboldt +says the Orinoco alligators are; might be early colonists. + +It is manifest, too, that reptiles of other kinds would be among the first +vertebrata to people the new continent. If we consider what will occur on +one of those natural rafts of trees, soil, and matted vegetable matter, +sometimes swept out to sea by such currents as the Mississippi, with a +miscellaneous living cargo; we shall see that while the active, +hot-blooded, highly-organized creatures will soon die of starvation and +exposure, the inert, cold-blooded ones, which can go long without food, +will live perhaps for weeks; and so, out of the chances from time to time +occurring during long periods, reptiles will be the first to get safely +landed on foreign shores: as indeed they are even now known sometimes to +be. The transport of mammalia being comparatively precarious, must, in the +order of probability, be longer postponed; and would, indeed, be unlikely +to occur until by the enlargement of the new continent, the distances of +its shores from adjacent lands had been greatly diminished, or the +formation of intervening islands had increased the chances of survival. + +Assuming, however, that the facilities of immigration had become adequate; +which would be the first mammals to arrive and live? Not large herbivores; +for they would be soon drowned if by any accident carried out to sea. Not +the carnivora; for these would lack appropriate food, even if they outlived +the voyage. Small quadrupeds frequenting trees, and feeding on insects, +would be those most likely both to be drifted away from their native lands +and to find fit food in a new one. Insectivorous mammals, like in size to +those found in the Trias and the Stonesfield slate, might naturally be +looked for as the pioneers of the higher vertebrata. And if we suppose the +facilities of communication to be again increased, either by a further +shallowing of the intervening sea and a consequent multiplication of +islands, or by an actual junction of the new continent with an old one, +through continued upheavals; we should finally have an influx of the larger +and more perfect mammals. + +Now rude as is this sketch of a process that would be extremely elaborate +and involved, and open as some of its propositions are to criticisms which +there is no space here to meet; no one will deny that it represents +something like the biologic history of the supposed new continent. Details +apart, it is manifest that simple organisms, able to flourish under simple +conditions of life, would be the first successful immigrants; and that more +complex organisms, needing for their existence the fulfilment of more +complex conditions, would afterwards establish themselves in something like +an ascending succession. At the one extreme we see every facility. The new +individuals can be conveyed in the shape of minute germs; these are +infinite in their numbers; they are diffused in the sea; they are +perpetually being carried in all directions to great distances by +ocean-currents; they can survive such long journeys unharmed; they can find +nutriment wherever they arrive; and the resulting organisms can multiply +asexually with great rapidity. + +At the other extreme, we see every difficulty. The new individuals must be +conveyed in their adult forms; their numbers are, in comparison, utterly +insignificant; they live on land, and are very unlikely to be carried out +to sea; when so carried, the chances are immense against their escape from +drowning, starvation, or death by cold; if they survive the transit, they +must have a pre-existing Flora or Fauna to supply their special food; they +require, also, the fulfilment of various other physical conditions; and +unless at least two individuals of different sexes are safely landed, the +race cannot be established. Manifestly, then, the immigration of each +successively higher order of organisms, having, from one or other +additional condition to be fulfilled, an enormously-increased probability +against it, would naturally be separated from the immigration of a lower +order by some period like a geologic epoch. + +And thus the successive sedimentary deposits formed while this new +continent was undergoing gradual elevation, would seem to furnish clear +evidence of a general progress in the forms of life. That lands thus raised +up in the midst of a wide ocean, would first give origin to unfossiliferous +strata; next, to strata containing only the lowest marine forms; next, to +strata containing higher marine forms, ascending finally to fish; and that +the strata above these would contain reptiles, then small mammals, then +great mammals; seems to us to be demonstrable from the known laws of +organic life. + +And if the succession of fossils presented by the strata of this supposed +new continent, would thus simulate the succession presented by our own +sedimentary series; must we not say that our own sedimentary series very +possibly records nothing more than the phenomena accompanying one of these +great upheavals? We think this must be considered not only possible, but +highly probable: harmonizing as it does with the unavoidable conclusion +before pointed out, that geological changes must have been going on for a +period immeasurably greater than that of which we have records. And if the +probability of this conclusion be admitted, it must be admitted that the +facts of Palæontology can never suffice either to prove or disprove the +Development Hypothesis; but that the most they can do is, to show whether +the last few pages of the Earth's biologic history are or are not in +harmony with this hypothesis--whether the existing Flora and Fauna can or +can not be affiliated upon the Flora and Fauna of the most recent geologic +times. + + + + +IX. THE DEVELOPMENT HYPOTHESIS. + + +In a debate upon the development hypothesis, lately narrated to me by a +friend, one of the disputants was described as arguing, that as, in all our +experience, we know no such phenomenon as transmutation of species, it is +unphilosophical to assume that transmutation of species ever takes place. +Had I been present, I think that, passing over his assertion, which is open +to criticism, I should have replied that, as in all our experience we have +never known a species _created_, it was, by his own showing, +unphilosophical to assume that any species ever had been created. + +Those who cavalierly reject the Theory of Evolution, as not adequately +supported by facts, seem quite to forget that their own theory is supported +by no facts at all. Like the majority of men who are born to a given +belief, they demand the most rigorous proof of any adverse belief, but +assume that their own needs none. Here we find, scattered over the globe, +vegetable and animal organisms numbering, of the one kind (according to +Humboldt), some 320,000 species, and of the other, some 2,000,000 species +(see Carpenter); and if to these we add the numbers of animal and vegetable +species that have become extinct, we may safely estimate the number of +species that have existed, and are existing, on the Earth, at not less than +_ten millions_. Well, which is the most rational theory about these ten +millions of species? Is it most likely that there have been ten millions of +special creations? or is it most likely that by continual modifications, +due to change of circumstances, ten millions of varieties have been +produced, as varieties are being produced still? + +Doubtless many will reply that they can more easily conceive ten millions +of special creations to have taken place, than they can conceive that ten +millions of varieties have arisen by successive modifications. All such, +however, will find, on inquiry, that they are under an illusion. This is +one of the many cases in which men do not really believe, but rather +_believe they believe_. It is not that they can truly conceive ten millions +of special creations to have taken place, but that they _think they can do +so_. Careful introspection will show them that they have never yet realized +to themselves the creation of even _one_ species. If they have formed a +definite conception of the process, let them tell us how a new species is +constructed, and how it makes its appearance. Is it thrown down from the +clouds? or must we hold to the notion that it struggles up out of the +ground? Do its limbs and viscera rush together from all the points of the +compass? or must we receive the old Hebrew idea, that God takes clay and +moulds a new creature? If they say that a new creature is produced in none +of these modes, which are too absurd to be believed; then they are required +to describe the mode in which a new creature _may_ be produced--a mode +which does _not_ seem absurd: and such a mode they will find that they +neither have conceived nor can conceive. + +Should the believers in special creations consider it unfair thus to call +upon them to describe how special creations take place, I reply, that this +is far less than they demand from the supporters of the Development +Hypothesis. They are merely asked to point out a _conceivable_ mode. On the +other hand, they ask, not simply for a _conceivable_ mode, but for the +_actual_ mode. They do not say--Show us how this _may_ take place; but they +say--Show us how this _does_ take place. So far from its being unreasonable +to put the above question, it would be reasonable to ask not only for a +_possible_ mode of special creation, but for an _ascertained_ mode; seeing +that this is no greater a demand than they make upon their opponents. + +And here we may perceive how much more defensible the new doctrine is than +the old one. Even could the supporters of the Development Hypothesis merely +show that the origination of species by the process of modification is +conceivable, they would be in a better position than their opponents. But +they can do much more than this. They can show that the process of +modification has effected, and is effecting, decided changes in all +organisms subject to modifying influences. Though, from the impossibility +of getting at a sufficiency of facts, they are unable to trace the many +phases through which any existing species has passed in arriving at its +present form, or to identify the influences which caused the successive +modifications; yet, they can show that any existing species--animal or +vegetable--when placed under conditions different from its previous ones, +_immediately begins to undergo certain changes of structure fitting it for +the new conditions_. They can show that in successive generations these +changes continue, until ultimately the new conditions become the natural +ones. They can show that in cultivated plants, in domesticated animals, and +in the several races of men, such alterations have taken place. They can +show that the degrees of difference so produced are often, as in dogs, +greater than those on which distinctions of species are in other cases +founded. They can show that it is a matter of dispute whether some of these +modified forms _are_ varieties or separate species. They can show, too, +that the changes daily taking place in ourselves--the facility that attends +long practice, and the loss of aptitude that begins when practice +ceases--the strengthening of passions habitually gratified, and the +weakening of those habitually curbed--the development of every faculty, +bodily, moral, or intellectual, according to the use made of it--are all +explicable on this same principle. And thus they can show that throughout +all organic nature there _is_ at work a modifying influence of the kind +they assign as the cause of these specific differences: an influence which, +though slow in its action, does, in time, if the circumstances demand it, +produce marked changes--an influence which, to all appearance, would +produce in the millions of years, and under the great varieties of +condition which geological records imply, any amount of change. + +Which, then, is the most rational hypothesis?--that of special creations +which has neither a fact to support it nor is even definitely conceivable; +or that of modification, which is not only definitely conceivable, but is +countenanced by the habitudes of every existing organism? + +That by any series of changes a protozoon should ever become a mammal, +seems to those who are not familiar with zoology, and who have not seen how +clear becomes the relationship between the simplest and the most complex +forms when intermediate forms are examined, a very grotesque notion. +Habitually looking at things rather in their statical than in their +dynamical aspect, they never realize the fact that, by small increments of +modification, any amount of modification may in time be generated. That +surprise which they feel on finding one whom they last saw as a boy, grown +into a man, becomes incredulity when the degree of change is greater. +Nevertheless, abundant instances are at hand of the mode in which we may +pass to the most diverse forms, by insensible gradations. Arguing the +matter some time since with a learned professor, I illustrated my position +thus:--You admit that there is no apparent relationship between a circle +and an hyperbola. The one is a finite curve; the other is an infinite one. +All parts of the one are alike; of the other no two parts are alike. The +one incloses a space; the other will not inclose a space though produced +for ever. Yet opposite as are these curves in all their properties, they +may be connected together by a series of intermediate curves, no one of +which differs from the adjacent ones in any appreciable degree. Thus, if a +cone be cut by a plane at right angles to its axis we get a circle. If, +instead of being perfectly at right angles, the plane subtends with the +axis an angle of 89° 59', we have an ellipse, which no human eye, even when +aided by an accurate pair of compasses, can distinguish from a circle. +Decreasing the angle minute by minute, the ellipse becomes first +perceptibly eccentric, then manifestly so, and by and by acquires so +immensely elongated a form, as to bear no recognisable resemblance to a +circle. By continuing this process, the ellipse passes insensibly into a +parabola; and ultimately, by still further diminishing the angle, into an +hyperbola. Now here we have four different species of curve--circle, +ellipse, parabola, and hyperbola--each having its peculiar properties and +its separate equation, and the first and last of which are quite opposite +in nature, connected together as members of one series, all producible by a +single process of insensible modification. + +But the blindness of those who think it absurd to suppose that complex +organic forms may have arisen by successive modifications out of simple +ones, becomes astonishing when we remember that complex organic forms are +daily being thus produced. A tree differs from a seed immeasurably in every +respect--in bulk, in structure, in colour, in form, in specific gravity, in +chemical composition: differs so greatly that no visible resemblance of any +kind can be pointed out between them. Yet is the one changed in the course +of a few years into the other: changed so gradually, that at no moment can +it be said--Now the seed ceases to be, and the tree exists. What can be +more widely contrasted than a newly-born child and the small, +semi-transparent, gelatinous spherule constituting the human ovum? The +infant is so complex in structure that a cyclopædia is needed to describe +its constituent parts. The germinal vesicle is so simple that it may be +defined in a line. Nevertheless, a few months suffice to develop the one +out of the other; and that, too, by a series of modifications so small, +that were the embryo examined at successive minutes, even a microscope +would with difficulty disclose any sensible changes. That the uneducated +and the ill-educated should think the hypothesis that all races of beings, +man inclusive, may in process of time have been evolved from the simplest +monad, a ludicrous one, is not to be wondered at. But for the physiologist, +who knows that every individual being is so evolved--who knows further, +that in their earliest condition the germs of all plants and animals +whatever are so similar, "that there is no appreciable distinction amongst +them which would enable it to be determined whether a particular molecule +is the germ of a conferva or of an oak, of a zoophyte or of a man;"[U]--for +him to make a difficulty of the matter is inexcusable. Surely if a single +cell may, when subjected to certain influences, become a man in the space +of twenty years; there is nothing absurd in the hypothesis that under +certain other influences, a cell may in the course of millions of years +give origin to the human race. The two processes are generically the same; +and differ only in length and complexity. + + [U] Carpenter. + +We have, indeed, in the part taken by many scientific men in this +controversy of "Law _versus_ Miracle," a good illustration of the tenacious +vitality of superstitions. Ask one of our leading geologists or +physiologists whether he believes in the Mosaic account of the creation, +and he will take the question as next to an insult. Either he rejects the +narrative entirely, or understands it in some vague non-natural sense. Yet +one part of it he unconsciously adopts; and that, too, literally. For +whence has he got this notion of "special creations," which he thinks so +reasonable, and fights for so vigorously? Evidently he can trace it back to +no other source than this myth which he repudiates. He has not a single +fact in nature to quote in proof of it; nor is he prepared with any chain +of abstract reasoning by which it may be established. Catechise him, and he +will be forced to confess that the notion was put into his mind in +childhood as part of a story which he now thinks absurd. And why, after +rejecting all the rest of this story, he should strenuously defend this +last remnant of it as though he had received it on valid authority, he +would be puzzled to say. + + + + +X. THE SOCIAL ORGANISM. + + +Sir James Macintosh got great credit for the saying, that "constitutions +are not made, but grow." In our day, the most significant thing about this +saying is, that it was ever thought so significant. As from the surprise +displayed by a man at some familiar fact, you may judge of his general +culture; so from the admiration which an age accords to a new thought, its +average degree of enlightenment may be inferred. That this apophthegm of +Macintosh should have been quoted and re-quoted as it has, shows how +profound has been the ignorance of social science. A small ray of truth has +seemed brilliant, as a distant rushlight looks like a star in the +surrounding darkness. + +Such a conception could not, indeed, fail to be startling when let fall in +the midst of a system of thought to which it was utterly alien. Universally +in Macintosh's day, things were explained on the hypothesis of manufacture, +rather than that of growth: as indeed they are, by the majority, in our own +day. It was held that the planets were severally projected round the sun +from the Creator's hand; with exactly the velocity required to balance the +sun's attraction. The formation of the Earth, the separation of sea from +land, the production of animals, were mechanical works from which God +rested as a labourer rests. Man was supposed to be moulded after a manner +somewhat akin to that in which a modeller makes a clay-figure. And of +course, in harmony with such ideas, societies were tacitly assumed to be +arranged thus or thus by direct interposition of Providence; or by the +regulations of law-makers; or by both. + +Yet that societies are not artificially put together, is a truth so +manifest, that it seems wonderful men should have ever overlooked it. +Perhaps nothing more clearly shows the small value of historical studies, +as they have been commonly pursued. You need but to look at the changes +going on around, or observe social organization in its leading +peculiarities, to see that these are neither supernatural, nor are +determined by the wills of individual men, as by implication historians +commonly teach; but are consequent on general natural causes. The one case +of the division of labour suffices to show this. It has not been by command +of any ruler that some men have become manufacturers, while others have +remained cultivators of the soil. In Lancashire, millions have devoted +themselves to the making of cotton-fabrics; in Yorkshire, another million +lives by producing woollens; and the pottery of Staffordshire, the cutlery +of Sheffield, the hardware of Birmingham, severally occupy their hundreds +of thousands. These are large facts in the structure of English society; +but we can ascribe them neither to miracle, nor to legislation. It is not +by "the hero as king," any more than by "collective wisdom," that men have +been segregated into producers, wholesale distributors, and retail +distributors. + +The whole of our industrial organization, from its main outlines down to +its minutest details, has become what it is, not simply without legislative +guidance, but, to a considerable extent, in spite of legislative +hindrances. It has arisen under the pressure of human wants and activities. +While each citizen has been pursuing his individual welfare, and none +taking thought about division of labour, or, indeed, conscious of the need +for it, division of labour has yet been ever becoming more complete. It has +been doing this slowly and silently: scarcely any having observed it until +quite modern times. By steps so small, that year after year the industrial +arrangements have seemed to men just what they were before--by changes as +insensible as those through which a seed passes into a tree; society has +become the complex body of mutually-dependent workers which we now see. And +this economic organization, mark, is the all-essential organization. +Through the combination thus spontaneously evolved, every citizen is +supplied with daily necessaries; while he yields some product or aid to +others. That we are severally alive to-day, we owe to the regular working +of this combination during the past week; and could it be suddenly +abolished, a great proportion of us would be dead before another week +ended. If these most conspicuous and vital arrangements of our social +structure, have arisen without the devising of any one, but through the +individual efforts of citizens to satisfy their own wants; we may be +tolerably certain that the less important arrangements have similarly +arisen. + +"But surely," it will be said, "the social changes directly produced by +law, cannot be classed as spontaneous growths. When parliaments or kings +order this or that thing to be done, and appoint officials to do it, the +process is clearly artificial; and society to this extent becomes a +manufacture rather than a growth." No, not even these changes are +exceptions, if they be real and permanent changes. The true sources of such +changes lie deeper than the acts of legislators. To take first the simplest +instance. We all know that the enactments of representative governments +ultimately depend on the national will: they may for a time be out of +harmony with it, but eventually they must conform to it. And to say that +the national will finally determines them, is to say that they result from +the average of individual desires; or, in other words--from the average of +individual natures. A law so initiated, therefore, really grows out of the +popular character. + +In the case of a Government representing a dominant class, the same things +holds, though not so manifestly. For the very existence of a class +monopolizing all power, is due to certain sentiments in the commonalty. But +for the feeling of loyalty on the part of retainers, a feudal system could +not exist. We see in the protest of the Highlanders against the abolition +of heritable jurisdictions, that they preferred that kind of local rule. +And if to the popular nature, must thus be ascribed the growth of an +irresponsible ruling class; then to the popular nature must be ascribed the +social arrangements which that class creates in the pursuit of its own +ends. Even where the Government is despotic, the doctrine still holds. The +character of the people is, as before, the original source of this +political form; and, as we have abundant proof, other forms suddenly +created will not act, but rapidly retrograde to the old form. Moreover, +such regulations as a despot makes, if really operative, are so because of +their fitness to the social state. His acts being very much swayed by +general opinion--by precedent, by the feeling of his nobles, his +priesthood, his army--are in part immediate results of the national +character; and when they are out of harmony with the national character, +they are soon practically abrogated. + +The failure of Cromwell permanently to establish a new social condition, +and the rapid revival of suppressed institutions and practices after his +death, show how powerless is a monarch to change the type of the society he +governs. He may disturb, he may retard, or he may aid the natural process +of organization; but the general course of this process is beyond his +control. Nay, more than this is true. Those who regard the histories of +societies as the histories of their great men, and think that these great +men shape the fates of their societies, overlook the truth that such great +men are the products of their societies. Without certain +antecedents--without a certain average national character, they could +neither have been generated nor could have had the culture which formed +them. If their society is to some extent re-moulded by them, they were, +both before and after birth, moulded by their society--were the results of +all those influences which fostered the ancestral character they inherited, +and gave their own early bias, their creed, morals, knowledge, aspirations. +So that such social changes as are immediately traceable to individuals of +unusual power, are still remotely traceable to the social causes which +produced these individuals, and hence, from the highest point of view, such +social changes also, are parts of the general developmental process. + +Thus that which is so obviously true of the industrial structure of +society, is true of its whole structure. The fact that "constitutions are +not made, but grow," is simply a fragment of the much larger fact, that +under all its aspects and through all its ramifications, society is a +growth and not a manufacture. + + * * * * * + +A perception that there exists some analogy between the body politic and a +living individual body, was early reached; and from time to time +re-appeared in literature. But this perception was necessarily vague and +more or less fanciful. In the absence of physiological science, and +especially of those comprehensive generalizations which it has but recently +reached, it was impossible to discern the real parallelisms. + +The central idea of Plato's model Republic, is the correspondence between +the parts of a society and the faculties of the human mind. Classifying +these faculties under the heads of Reason, Will, and Passion, he classifies +the members of his ideal society under what he regards as three analogous +heads:--councillors, who are to exercise government; military or executive, +who are to fulfil their behests; and the commonalty, bent on gain and +selfish gratification. In other words, the ruler, the warrior, and the +craftsman, are, according to him, the analogues of our reflective, +volitional, and emotional powers. Now even were there truth in the implied +assumption of a parallelism between the structure of a society and that of +a man, this classification would be indefensible. It might more truly be +contended that, as the military power obeys the commands of the Government, +it is the Government which answers to the Will; while the military power is +simply an agency set in motion by it. Or, again, it might be contended that +whereas the Will is a product of predominant desires, to which the Reason +serves merely as an eye, it is the craftsmen, who, according to the alleged +analogy, ought to be the moving power of the warriors. + +Hobbes sought to establish a still more definite parallelism: not, however +between a society and the human mind, but between a society and the human +body. In the introduction to the work in which he developes this +conception, he says-- + + "For by art is created that great LEVIATHAN called a COMMONWEALTH, + or STATE, in Latin CIVITAS, which is but an artificial man; though of + greater stature and strength than the natural, for whose protection + and defence it was intended, and in which the _sovereignty_ is an + artificial _soul_, as giving life and motion to the whole body; the + _magistrates_ and other _officers_ of judicature and execution, + artificial _joints_; _reward_ and _punishment_, by which, fastened to + the seat of the sovereignty, every joint and member is moved to + perform his duty, are the _nerves_, that do the same in the body + natural; the _wealth_ and _riches_ of all the particular members are + the _strength_; _salus populi_, the _people's safety_, its + _business_; _counsellors_, by whom all things needful for it to know + are suggested unto it, are the _memory_; _equity_ and _laws_ an + artificial _reason_ and _will_; _concord_, _health_; _sedition_, + _sickness_; _civil war_, _death_," + +And Hobbes carries this comparison so far as actually to give a drawing of +the Leviathan--a vast human-shaped figure, whose body and limbs are made up +of multitudes of men. Just noting that these different analogies asserted +by Plato and Hobbes, serve to cancel each other (being, as they are, so +completely at variance), we may say that on the whole those of Hobbes are +the more plausible. But they are full of inconsistencies. If the +sovereignty is the _soul_ of the body politic, how can it be that +magistrates, who are a kind of deputy-sovereigns, should be comparable to +_joints_? Or, again, how can the three mental functions, memory, reason, +and will, be severally analogous, the first to counsellors, who are a class +of public officers, and the other two to equity and laws, which are not +classes of officers, but abstractions? Or, once more, if magistrates are +the artificial joints of society, how can reward and punishment be its +nerves? Its nerves must surely be some class of persons. Reward and +punishment must in societies, as in individuals, be _conditions_ of the +nerves, and not the nerves themselves. + +But the chief errors of these comparisons made by Plato and Hobbes, lie +much deeper. Both thinkers assume that the organization of a society is +comparable, not simply to the organization of a living body in general, but +to the organization of the human body in particular. There is no warrant +whatever for assuming this. It is in no way implied by the evidence; and is +simply one of those fancies which we commonly find mixed up with the truths +of early speculation. Still more erroneous are the two conceptions in this, +that they construe a society as an artificial structure. Plato's model +republic--his ideal of a healthful body politic--is to be consciously put +together by men; just as a watch might be: and Plato manifestly thinks of +societies in general as thus originated. Quite specifically does Hobbes +express this view. "For by _art_," he says, "is created that great +LEVIATHAN called a COMMONWEALTH." And he even goes so far as to compare the +supposed social contract, from which a society suddenly originates, to the +creation of a man by the divine fiat. Thus they both fall into the extreme +inconsistency of considering a community as similar in structure to a human +being, and yet as produced in the same way as an artificial mechanism--in +in nature, an organism; in history, a machine. + +Notwithstanding errors, however, these speculations have considerable +significance. That such analogies, crudely as they are thought out, should +have been alleged by Plato and Hobbes and many others, is a reason for +suspecting that _some_ analogy exists. The untenableness of the particular +comparisons above instanced, is no ground for denying an essential +parallelism; for early ideas are usually but vague adumbrations of the +truth. Lacking the great generalizations of biology, it was, as we have +said, impossible to trace out the real relations of social organizations to +organizations of another order. We propose here to show what are the +analogies which modern science discloses to us. + +Let us set out by succinctly stating the points of similarity and the +points of difference. Societies agree with individual organisms in four +conspicuous peculiarities:-- + + 1. That commencing as small aggregations, they insensibly augment in + mass: some of them eventually reaching ten thousand times what + they originally were. + + 2. That while at first so simple in structure as to be considered + structureless, they assume, in the course of their growth, a + continually-increasing complexity of structure. + + 3. That though in their early, undeveloped states, there exists in + them scarcely any mutual dependence of parts, their parts + gradually acquire a mutual dependence; which becomes at last so + great, that the activity and life of each part is made possible + only by the activity and life of the rest. + + 4. That the life and development of a society is independent of, and + far more prolonged than, the life and development of any of its + component units; who are severally born, grow, work, reproduce, + and die, while the body politic composed of them survives + generation after generation, increasing in mass, completeness of + structure, and functional activity. + +These four parallelisms will appear the more significant the more we +contemplate them. While the points specified, are points in which societies +agree with individual organisms, they are points in which individual +organisms agree with each other, and disagree with all things else. In the +course of its existence, every plant and animal increases in mass, in a way +not parallelled by inorganic objects: even such inorganic objects as +crystals, which arise by growth, show us no such definite relation between +growth and existence as organisms do. The orderly progress from simplicity +to complexity, displayed by bodies politic in common with all living +bodies, is a characteristic which distinguishes living bodies from the +inanimate bodies amid which they move. That functional dependence of parts, +which is scarcely more manifest in animals or plants than nations, has no +counterpart elsewhere. And in no aggregate except an organic, or a social +one, is there a perpetual removal and replacement of parts, joined with a +continued integrity of the whole. + +Moreover, societies and organisms are not only alike in these +peculiarities, in which they are unlike all other things; but the highest +societies, like the highest organisms, exhibit them in the greatest degree. +We see that the lowest animals do not increase to anything like the sizes +of the higher ones; and, similarly, we see that aboriginal societies are +comparatively limited in their growths. In complexity, our large civilized +nations as much exceed primitive savage tribes, as a vertebrate animal does +a zoophyte. Simple communities, like simple creatures, have so little +mutual dependence of parts, that subdivision or mutilation causes but +little inconvenience; but from complex communities, as from complex +creatures, you cannot remove any considerable organ without producing great +disturbance or death of the rest. And in societies of low type, as in +inferior animals, the life of the aggregate, often cut short by division or +dissolution, exceeds in length the lives of the component units, very far +less than in civilized communities and superior animals; which outlive many +generations of their component units. + +On the other hand, the leading differences between societies and individual +organisms are these:-- + +1. That societies have no specific external forms. This, however, is a +point of contrast which loses much of its importance, when we remember that +throughout the vegetal kingdom, as well as in some lower divisions of the +animal kingdom, the forms are often very indefinite--definiteness being +rather the exception than the rule; and that they are manifestly in part +determined by surrounding physical circumstances, as the forms of societies +are. If, too, it should eventually be shown, as we believe it will, that +the form of every species of organism has resulted from the average play of +the external forces to which it has been subject during its evolution as a +species; then, that the external forms of societies should depend, as they +do, on surrounding conditions, will be a further point of community. + +2. That though the living tissue whereof an individual organism consists, +forms a continuous mass, the living elements of a society do not form a +continuous mass; but are more or less widely dispersed over some portion of +the Earth's surface. This, which at first sight appears to be a fundamental +distinction, is one which yet to a great extent disappears when we +contemplate all the facts. For, in the lower divisions of the animal and +vegetal kingdoms, there are types of organization much more nearly allied, +in this respect, to the organization of a society, than might be +supposed--types in which the living units essentially composing the mass, +are dispersed through an inert substance, that can scarcely be called +living in the full sense of the word. It is thus with some of the +_Protococci_ and with the _Nostoceæ_, which exist as cells imbedded in a +viscid matter. It is so, too, with the _Thalassicollæ_--bodies that are +made up of differentiated parts, dispersed through an undifferentiated +jelly. And throughout considerable portions of their bodies, some of the +_Acalephæ_ exhibit more or less distinctly this type of structure. + +Indeed, it may be contended that this is the primitive form of all +organization; seeing that, even in the highest creatures, as in ourselves, +every tissue developes out of what physiologists call a blastema--an +unorganized though organizable substance, through which organic points are +distributed. Now this is very much the case with a society. For we must +remember that though the men who make up a society, are physically separate +and even scattered; yet that the surface over which they are scattered is +not one devoid of life, but is covered by life of a lower order which +ministers to their life. The vegetation which clothes a country, makes +possible the animal life in that country; and only through its animal and +vegetal products can such a country support a human society. Hence the +members of the body politic are not to be regarded as separated by +intervals of dead space; but as diffused through a space occupied by life +of a lower order. In our conception of a social organism, we must include +all that lower organic existence on which human existence, and therefore +social existence, depends. And when we do this, we see that the citizens +who make up a community, may be considered as highly vitalized units +surrounded by substances of lower vitality, from which they draw their +nutriment: much as in the cases above instanced. Thus, when examined, this +apparent distinction in great part disappears. + +3. That while the ultimate living elements of an individual organism, are +mostly fixed in their relative positions, those of the social organism are +capable of moving from place to place, seems a marked disagreement. But +here, too, the disagreement is much less than would be supposed. For while +citizens are locomotive in their private capacities, they are fixed in +their public capacities. As farmers, manufacturers, or traders, men carry +on their business at the same spots, often throughout their whole lives; +and if they go away occasionally, they leave behind others to discharge +their functions in their absence. Each great centre of production, each +manufacturing town or district, continues always in the same place; and +many of the firms in such town or district, are for generations carried on +either by the descendants or successors of those who founded them. Just as +in a living body, the cells that make up some important organ, severally +perform their functions for a time and then disappear, leaving others to +supply their places; so, in each part of a society, the organ remains, +though the persons who compose it change. Thus, in social life, as in the +life of an animal, the units as well as the larger agencies formed of them, +are in the main stationary as respects the places where they discharge +their duties and obtain their sustenance. And hence the power of individual +locomotion does not practically affect the analogy. + +4. The last and perhaps the most important distinction, is, that while in +the body of an animal, only a special tissue is endowed with feeling; in a +society, all the members are endowed with feeling. Even this distinction, +however, is by no means a complete one. For in some of the lowest animals, +characterized by the absence of a nervous system, such sensitiveness as +exists is possessed by all parts. It is only in the more organized forms +that feeling is monopolized by one class of the vital elements. Moreover, +we must remember that societies, too, are not without a certain +differentiation of this kind. Though the units of a community are all +sensitive, yet they are so in unequal degrees. The classes engaged in +agriculture and laborious occupations in general, are much less +susceptible, intellectually and emotionally, than the rest; and especially +less so than the classes of highest mental culture. Still, we have here a +tolerably decided contrast between bodies politic and individual bodies. +And it is one which we should keep constantly in view. For it reminds us +that while in individual bodies, the welfare of all other parts is rightly +subservient to the welfare of the nervous system, whose pleasurable or +painful activities make up the good or evil of life; in bodies politic, the +same thing does not hold, or holds to but a very slight extent. It is well +that the lives of all parts of an animal should be merged in the life of +the whole; because the whole has a corporate consciousness capable of +happiness or misery. But it is not so with a society; since its living +units do not and cannot lose individual consciousness; and since the +community as a whole has no corporate consciousness. And this is an +everlasting reason why the welfare of citizens cannot rightly be sacrificed +to some supposed benefit of the State; but why, on the other hand, the +State is to be maintained solely for the benefit of citizens. The corporate +life must here be subservient to the lives of the parts; instead of the +lives of the parts being subservient to the corporate life. + +Such, then, are the points of analogy and the points of difference. May we +not say that the points of difference serve but to bring into clearer light +the points of analogy. While comparison makes definite the obvious +contrasts between organisms commonly so called, and the social organism; it +shows that even these contrasts are not so decided as was to be expected. +The indefiniteness of form, the discontinuity of the parts, the mobility of +the parts, and the universal sensitiveness, are not only peculiarities of +the social organism which have to be stated with considerable +qualifications; but they are peculiarities to which the inferior classes of +animals present approximations. Thus we find but little to conflict with +the all-important analogies. That societies slowly augment in mass; that +they progress in complexity of structure; that at the same time their parts +become more mutually dependent; that their living units are removed and +replaced without destroying their integrity; and further, that the extents +to which they display these peculiarities are proportionate to their vital +activities; are traits that societies have in common with organic bodies. +And these traits in which they agree with organic bodies and disagree with +all other things--these traits which in truth specially characterize +organic bodies, entirely subordinate the minor distinctions: such +distinctions being scarcely greater than those which separate one half of +the organic kingdom from the other. The _principles_ of organization are +the same; and the differences are simply differences of application. + +Here ending this general survey of the facts which justify the comparison +of a society to a living body; let us look at them in detail. We shall find +that the parallelism becomes the more marked the more closely it is traced. + + * * * * * + +The lowest animal and vegetal forms--_Protozoa_ and _Protophyta_--are +chiefly inhabitants of the water. They are minute bodies, most of which are +made individually visible only by the microscope. All of them are extremely +simple in structure; and some of them, as the _Rhizopods_, almost +structureless. Multiplying, as they ordinarily do, by the spontaneous +division of their bodies, they produce halves, which may either become +quite separate and move away in different directions, or may continue +attached. By the repetition of this process of fission, aggregations of +various sizes and kinds are formed. Among the _Protophyta_ we have some +classes, as the _Diatomaceæ_ and the Yeast-plant, in which the individuals +may be either separate, or attached in groups of two, three, four, or more; +other classes in which a considerable number of individual cells are united +into a thread (_Conferva_, _Monilia_); others in which they form a net work +(_Hydrodictyon_); others in which they form plates (_Ulva_); and others in +which they form masses (_Laminaria_, _Agaricus_): all which vegetal forms, +having no distinction of root, stem, or leaf, are called _Thallogens_. +Among the _Protozoa_ we find parallel facts. Immense numbers of +_Am[oe]ba_-like creatures, massed together in a framework of horny fibres, +constitute Sponge. In the _Foraminifera_, we see smaller groups of such +creatures arranged into more definite shapes. Not only do these almost +structureless _Protozoa_ unite into regular or irregular aggregations of +various sizes; but among some of the more organized ones, as the +_Vorticellæ_, there are also produced clusters of individuals, proceeding +from a common stock. But these little societies of monads, or cells, or +whatever else we may call them, are societies only in the lowest sense: +there is no subordination of parts among them--no organization. Each of the +component units lives by and for itself; neither giving nor receiving aid. +There is no mutual dependence, save that consequent on mere mechanical +union. + +Now do we not here discern analogies to the first stages of human +societies? Among the lowest races, as the Bushmen, we find but incipient +aggregation: sometimes single families; sometimes two or three families +wandering about together. The number of associated units is small and +variable; and their union inconstant. No division of labour exists except +between the sexes; and the only kind of mutual aid is that of joint attack +or defence. We see nothing beyond an undifferentiated group of individuals, +forming the germ of a society; just as in the homogeneous groups of cells +above described, we see only the initial stage of animal and vegetal +organization. + +The comparison may now be carried a step higher. In the vegetal kingdom we +pass from the _Thallogens_, consisting of mere masses of similar cells, to +the _Acrogens_, in which the cells are not similar throughout the whole +mass; but are here aggregated into a structure serving as leaf, and there +into a structure serving as root: thus forming a whole in which there is a +certain subdivision of functions among the units; and therefore a certain +mutual dependence. In the animal kingdom we find analogous progress. From +mere unorganized groups of cells, or cell-like bodies, we ascend to groups +of such cells arranged into parts that have different duties. The common +Polype, from whose substance may be separated individual cells which +exhibit, when detached, appearances and movements like those of the +solitary _Am[oe]ba_, illustrates this stage. The component units, though +still showing great community of character, assume somewhat diverse +functions in the skin, in the internal surface, and in the tentacles. There +is a certain amount of "physiological division of labour." + +Turning to societies, we find these stages paralleled in the majority of +aboriginal tribes. When, instead of such small variable groups as are +formed by Bushmen, we come to the larger and more permanent groups formed +by savages not quite so low, we begin to find traces of social structure. +Though industrial organization scarcely shows itself, except in the +different occupations of the sexes; yet there is always more or less of +governmental organization. While all the men are warriors and hunters, only +a part of them are included in the council of chiefs; and in this council +of chiefs some one has commonly supreme authority. There is thus a certain +distinction of classes and powers; and through this slight specialization +of functions, is effected a rude co-operation among the increasing mass of +individuals, whenever the society has to act in its corporate capacity. +Beyond this analogy in the slight extent to which organization is carried, +there is analogy in the indefiniteness of the organization. In the _Hydra_, +the respective parts of the creature's substance have many functions in +common. They are all contractile; omitting the tentacles, the whole of the +external surface can give origin to young _hydræ_; and when turned inside +out, stomach performs the duties of skin, and skin the duties of stomach. +In aboriginal societies such differentiations as exist are similarly +imperfect. Notwithstanding distinctions of rank, all persons maintain +themselves by their own exertions. Not only do the head men of the tribe, +in common with the rest, build their own huts, make their own weapons, kill +their own food; but the chief does the like. Moreover, in the rudest of +these tribes, such governmental organization as exists is very inconstant. +It is frequently changed by violence or treachery, and the function of +ruling assumed by other members of the community. Thus between the rudest +societies and some of the lowest forms of animal life there is analogy +alike in the slight extent to which organization is carried, in the +indefiniteness of this organization, and in its want of fixity. + +A further complication of the analogy is at hand. From the aggregation of +units into organized groups, we pass to the multiplication of such groups, +and their coalescence into compound groups. The _Hydra_, when it has +reached a certain bulk, puts forth from its surface a bud, which, growing +and gradually assuming the form of the parent, finally becomes detached; +and by this process of gemmation, the creature peoples the adjacent water +with others like itself. A parallel process is seen in the multiplication +of those lowly-organized tribes above described. One of them having +increased to a size that is either too great for co-ordination under so +rude a structure, or else that is greater than the surrounding country can +supply with game and other wild food, there arises a tendency to divide; +and as in such communities there are ever occurring quarrels, jealousies, +and other causes of division, there soon comes an occasion on which a part +of the tribe separates under the leadership of some subordinate chief, and +migrates. This process being from time to time repeated, an extensive +region is at length occupied with numerous separate tribes descended from a +common ancestry. The analogy by no means ends here. Though in the common +_Hydra_, the young ones that bud out from the parent soon become detached +and independent; yet throughout the rest of the class _Hydrozoa_, to which +this creature belongs, the like does not generally happen. The successive +individuals thus developed continue attached; give origin to other such +individuals which also continue attached; and so there results a compound +animal. As in the _Hydra_ itself, we find an aggregation of units which, +considered separately, are akin to the lowest _Protozoa_; so here, in a +_Zoophyte_, we find an aggregation of such aggregations. The like is also +seen throughout the extensive family of _Polyzoa_ or _Molluscoida_. The +Ascidian Mollusks, too, in their many varied forms, show us the same thing: +exhibiting, at the same time, various degrees of union subsisting among the +component individuals. For while in the _Salpæ_ the component individuals +adhere so slightly that a blow on the vessel of water in which they are +floating will separate them; in the _Botryllidæ_ there exists a vascular +connexion between them, and a common circulation. + +Now in these various forms and degrees of aggregation, may we not see +paralleled the union of groups of connate tribes into nations? Though in +regions where circumstances permit, the separate tribes descended from some +original tribe, migrate in all directions, and become far removed and quite +separate; yet, in other cases, where the territory presents barriers to +distant migration, this does not happen: the small kindred communities are +held in closer contact, and eventually become more or less united into a +nation. The contrast between the tribes of American Indians and the +Scottish clans, illustrates this. And a glance at our own early history, or +the early histories of continental nations, shows this fusion of small +simple communities taking place in various ways and to various extents. As +says M. Guizot, in his history of "The Origin of Representative +Government,"-- + + "By degrees, in the midst of the chaos of the rising society, small + aggregations are formed which feel the want of alliance and union + with each other.... Soon inequality of strength is displayed among + neighbouring aggregations. The strong tend to subjugate the weak, and + usurp at first the rights of taxation and military service. Thus + political authority leaves the aggregations which first instituted + it, to take a wider range." + +That is to say, the small tribes, clans, or feudal unions, sprung mostly +from a common stock, and long held in contact as occupants of adjacent +lands, gradually get united in other ways than by mere adhesion of race and +proximity. + +A further series of changes begins now to take place; to which, as before, +we shall find analogies in individual organisms. Returning again to the +_Hydrozoa_, we observe that in the simplest of the compound forms, the +connected individuals developed from a common stock, are alike in +structure, and perform like functions: with the exception, indeed, that +here and there a bud, instead of developing into a stomach, mouth, and +tentacles, becomes an egg-sac. But with the oceanic _Hydrozoa_, this is by +no means the case. In the _Calycophoridæ_, some of the polypes growing from +the common germ, become developed and modified into large, long, sack-like +bodies, which by their rhythmical contractions move through the water, +dragging the community of polypes after them. In the _Physophoridæ_, a +variety of organs similarly arise by transformation of the budding polypes; +so that in creatures like the _Physalia_, commonly known as the "Portuguese +Man-of-war," instead of that tree-like group of similar individuals forming +the original type of the class, we have a complex mass of unlike parts +fulfilling unlike duties. As an individual _Hydra_ may be regarded as a +group of _Protozoa_, which have become partially metamorphosed into +different organs; so a _Physalia_ is, morphologically considered, a group +of _Hydræ_ of which the individuals have been variously transformed to fit +them for various functions. + +This differentiation upon differentiation, is just what takes place in the +evolution of a civilized society. We observed how, in the small communities +first formed, there arises a certain simple political organization--there +is a partial separation of classes having different duties. And now we have +to observe how, in a nation formed by the fusion of such small communities, +the several sections, at first alike in structures and modes of activity, +gradually become unlike in both--gradually become mutually-dependent parts, +diverse in their natures and functions. + +The doctrine of the progressive division of labour, to which we are here +introduced, is familiar to all readers. And further, the analogy between +the economical division of labour and the "physiological division of +labour," is so striking, as long since to have drawn the attention of +scientific naturalists: so striking, indeed, that the expression +"physiological division of labour," has been suggested by it. It is not +needful, therefore, that we should treat this part of our subject in great +detail. We shall content ourselves with noting a few general and +significant facts, not manifest on a first inspection. + +Throughout the whole animal kingdom, from the _C[oe]lenterata_ upwards, the +first stage of evolution is the same. Equally in the germ of a polype and +in the human ovum, the aggregated mass of cells out of which the creature +is to arise, gives origin to a peripheral layer of cells, slightly +differing from the rest which they include; and this layer subsequently +divides into two--the inner, lying in contact with the included yelk, being +called the mucous layer, and the outer, exposed to surrounding agencies, +being called the serous layer: or, in the terms used by Prof. Huxley, in +describing the development of the _Hydrozoa_--the endoderm and ectoderm. +This primary division marks out a fundamental contrast of parts in the +future organism. From the mucous layer, or endoderm, is developed the +apparatus of nutrition; while from the serous layer, or ectoderm, is +developed the apparatus of external action. Out of the one arise the organs +by which food is prepared and absorbed, oxygen imbibed, and blood purified; +while out of the other arise the nervous, muscular, and osseous systems, by +whose combined actions the movements of the body as a whole are effected. +Though this is not a rigorously-correct distinction, seeing that some +organs involve both of these primitive membranes, yet high authorities +agree in stating it as a broad general distinction. + +Well, in the evolution of a society, we see a primary differentiation of +analogous kind; which similarly underlies the whole future structure. As +already pointed out, the only manifest contrast of parts in primitive +societies, is that between the governing and the governed. In the least +organized tribes, the council of chiefs may be a body of men distinguished +simply by greater courage or experience. In more organized tribes, the +chief-class is definitely separated from the lower class, and often +regarded as different in nature--sometimes as god-descended. And later, we +find these two becoming respectively freemen and slaves, or nobles and +serfs. A glance at their respective functions, makes it obvious that the +great divisions thus early formed, stand to each other in a relation +similar to that in which the primary divisions of the embryo stand to each +other. For, from its first appearance, the class of chiefs is that by which +the external acts of the society are controlled: alike in war, in +negotiation, and in migration. Afterwards, while the upper class grows +distinct from the lower, and at the same time becomes more and more +exclusively regulative and defensive in its functions, alike in the persons +of kings and subordinate rulers, priests, and military leaders; the +inferior class becomes more and more exclusively occupied in providing the +necessaries of life for the community at large. From the soil, with which +it comes in most direct contact, the mass of the people takes up and +prepares for use, the food and such rude articles of manufacture as are +known; while the overlying mass of superior men, maintained by the working +population, deals with circumstances external to the +community--circumstances with which, by position, it is more immediately +concerned. Ceasing by-and-by to have any knowledge of, or power over, the +concerns of the society as a whole, the serf-class becomes devoted to the +processes of alimentation; while the noble class, ceasing to take any part +in the processes of alimentation, becomes devoted to the co-ordinated +movements of the entire body politic. + +Equally remarkable is a further analogy of like kind. After the mucous and +serous layers of the embryo have separated, there presently arises between +the two, a third, known to physiologists as the vascular layer--a layer out +of which are developed the chief blood-vessels. The mucous layer absorbs +nutriment from the mass of yelk it encloses; this nutriment has to be +transferred to the overlying serous layer, out of which the nervo-muscular +system is being developed; and between the two arises a vascular system by +which the transfer is effected--a system of vessels which continues ever +after to be the transferrer of nutriment from the places where it is +absorbed and prepared, to the places where it is needed for growth and +repair. Well, may we not trace a parallel step in social progress? + +Between the governing and the governed, there at first exists no +intermediate class; and even in some societies that have reached +considerable sizes, there are scarcely any but the nobles and their kindred +on the one hand, and the serfs on the other: the social structure being +such, that the transfer of commodities takes place directly from slaves to +their masters. But in societies of a higher type, there grows up between +these two primitive classes, another--the trading or middle class. Equally, +at first as now, we may see that, speaking generally, this middle class is +the analogue of the middle layer in the embryo. For all traders are +essentially distributors. Whether they be wholesale dealers, who collect +into large masses the commodities of various producers; or whether they be +retailers, who divide out to those who want them, the masses of commodities +thus collected together; all mercantile men are agents of transfer from the +places where things are produced to the places where they are consumed. +Thus the distributing apparatus of a society, answers to the distributing +apparatus of a living body; not only in its functions, but in its +intermediate origin and subsequent position, and in the time of its +appearance. + +Without enumerating the minor differentiations which these three great +classes afterwards undergo, we will merely note that throughout, they +follow the same general law with the differentiations of an individual +organism. In a society, as in a rudimentary animal, we have seen that the +most general and broadly contrasted divisions are the first to make their +appearance; and of the subdivisions it continues true in both cases, that +they arise in the order of decreasing generality. + +Let us observe next, that in the one case as in the other, the +specializations are at first very incomplete; and become more complete as +organization progresses. We saw that in primitive tribes, as in the +simplest animals, there remains much community of function between the +parts that are nominally different--that, for instance, the class of chiefs +long remain industrially the same as the inferior class; just as in a +_Hydra_, the property of contractility is possessed by the units of the +endoderm as well as by those of the ectoderm. We noted also how, as the +society advanced, the two great primitive classes partook less and less of +each other's functions. And we have here to remark, that all subsequent +specializations are at first vague, and gradually become distinct. "In the +infancy of society," says M. Guizot, "everything is confused and uncertain; +there is as yet no fixed and precise line of demarcation between the +different powers in a state." "Originally kings lived like other +landowners, on the incomes derived from their own private estates." Nobles +were petty kings; and kings only the most powerful nobles. Bishops were +feudal lords and military leaders. The right of coining money was possessed +by powerful subjects, and by the Church, as well as by the king. Every +leading man exercised alike the functions of landowner, farmer, soldier, +statesman, judge. Retainers were now soldiers, and now labourers, as the +day required. But by degrees the Church has lost all civil jurisdiction; +the State has exercised less and less control over religious teaching; the +military class has grown a distinct one; handicrafts have concentrated in +towns; and the spinning-wheels of scattered farmhouses have disappeared +before the machinery of manufacturing districts. Not only is all progress +from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous; but at the same time it is from +the indefinite to the definite. + +Another fact which should not be passed over, is that in the evolution of a +large society out of an aggregation of small ones, there is a gradual +obliteration of the original lines of separation--a change to which, also, +we may see analogies in living bodies. Throughout the sub-kingdom +_Annulosa_, this is clearly and variously illustrated. Among the lower +types of this sub-kingdom, the body consists of numerous segments that are +alike in nearly every particular. Each has its external ring; its pair of +legs, if the creature has legs; its equal portion of intestines, or else +its separate stomach; its equal portion of the great blood-vessel, or, in +some cases, its separate heart; its equal portion of the nervous cord, and, +perhaps, its separate pair of ganglia. But in the highest types, as in the +large _Crustacea_, many of the segments are completely fused together; and +the internal organs are no longer uniformly repeated in all the segments. +Now the segments of which nations at first consist, lose their separate +external and internal structures in a similar manner. In feudal times, the +minor communities governed by feudal lords, were severally organized in the +same rude way; and were held together only by the fealty of their +respective rulers to some suzerain. But along with the growth of a central +power, the demarcations of these local communities disappeared; and their +separate organizations merged into the general organization. The like is +seen on a larger scale in the fusion of England, Wales, Scotland, and +Ireland; and, on the Continent, in the coalescence of provinces into +kingdoms. Even in the disappearance of law-made divisions, the process is +analogous. Among the Anglo-Saxons, England was divided into tithings, +hundreds, and counties: there were county courts, courts of hundred, and +courts of tithing. The courts of tithing disappeared first; then the courts +of hundred, which have, however, left traces; while the county-jurisdiction +still exists. + +But chiefly it is to be noted, that there eventually grows up an +organization which has no reference to these original divisions, but +traverses them in various directions, as is the case in creatures belonging +to the sub-kingdom just named; and, further, that in both cases it is the +sustaining organization which thus traverses old boundaries, while in both +cases it is the governmental, or co-ordinating organization in which the +original boundaries continue traceable. Thus, in the highest _Annulosa_, +the exo-skeleton and the muscular system, never lose all traces of their +primitive segmentation; but throughout a great part of the body, the +contained viscera do not in the least conform to the external divisions. +Similarly, with a nation, we see that while, for governmental purposes, +such divisions as counties and parishes still exist, the structure +developed for carrying on the nutrition of society, wholly ignores these +boundaries: our great cotton-manufacture spreads out of Lancashire into +North Derbyshire; Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire have long divided the +stocking-trade between them; one great centre for the production of iron +and iron-goods, includes parts of Warwickshire, Staffordshire, +Worcestershire; and those various specializations of agriculture which have +made different parts of England noted for different products, show no more +respect to county-boundaries than do our growing towns to the boundaries of +parishes. + +If, after contemplating these analogies of structure, we inquire whether +there are any such analogies between the processes of organic change, the +answer is--yes. The causes which lead to increase of bulk in any part of +the body politic, are of like nature with those which lead to increase of +bulk in any part of an individual body. In both cases the antecedent is +greater functional activity, consequent on greater demand. Each limb, +viscus, gland, or other member of an animal, is developed by exercise--by +actively discharging the duties which the body at large requires of it; and +similarly, any class of labourers or artisans, any manufacturing centre, or +any official agency, begins to enlarge when the community devolves on it an +increase of work. In each case, too, growth has its conditions and its +limits. That any organ in a living being may grow by exercise, there needs +a due supply of blood: all action implies waste; blood brings the materials +for repair; and before there can be growth, the quantity of blood supplied +must be more than that requisite for repair. + +So is it in a society. If to some district which elaborates for the +community particular commodities--say the woollens of Yorkshire--there +comes an augmented demand; and if, in fulfilment of this demand, a certain +expenditure and wear of the manufacturing organization are incurred; and +if, in payment for the extra supply of woollens sent away, there comes back +only such quantity of commodities as replaces the expenditure, and makes +good the waste of life and machinery; there can clearly be no growth. That +there may be growth, the commodities obtained in return must be more than +sufficient for these ends; and just in proportion as the surplus is great +will the growth be rapid. Whence it is manifest that what in commercial +affairs we call _profit_, answers to the excess of nutrition over waste in +a living body. Moreover, in both cases, when the functional activity is +high and the nutrition defective, there results not growth but decay. If in +an animal, any organ is worked so hard that the channels which bring blood +cannot furnish enough for repair, the organ dwindles; and if in the body +politic, some part has been stimulated into great productivity, and cannot +afterwards get paid for all its produce, certain of its members become +bankrupt, and it decreases in size. + +One more parallelism to be here noted, is, that the different parts of the +social organism, like the different parts of an individual organism, +compete for nutriment; and severally obtain more or less of it according as +they are discharging more or less duty. If a man's brain be overexcited, it +will abstract blood from his viscera and stop digestion; or digestion +actively going on, will so affect the circulation through the brain as to +cause drowsiness; or great muscular exertion will determine such a quantity +of blood to the limbs, as to arrest digestion or cerebral action, as the +case may be. So, likewise, in a society, it frequently happens that great +activity in some one direction, causes partial arrests of activity +elsewhere, by abstracting capital, that is commodities: as instance the way +in which the sudden development of our railway-system hampered commercial +operations; or the way in which the raising of a large military force +temporarily stops the growth of leading industries. + + * * * * * + +The last few paragraphs introduce the next division of our subject. Almost +unawares we have come upon the analogy which exists between the blood of a +living body, and the circulating mass of commodities in the body politic. +We have now to trace out this analogy from its simplest to its most complex +manifestations. + +In the lowest animals there exists no blood properly so called. Through the +small aggregation of cells which make up a _Hydra_, permeate the juices +absorbed from the food. There is no apparatus for elaborating a +concentrated and purified nutriment, and distributing it among the +component units; but these component units directly imbibe the unprepared +nutriment, either from the digestive cavity or from each other. May we not +say that this is what takes place in an aboriginal tribe? All its members +severally obtain for themselves the necessaries of life in their crude +states; and severally prepare them for their own uses as well as they can. +When there arises a decided differentiation between the governing and the +governed, some amount of transfer begins between those inferior +individuals, who, as workers, come directly in contact with the products of +the earth, and those superior ones who exercise the higher functions--a +transfer parallel to that which accompanies the differentiation of the +ectoderm from the endoderm. In the one case, as in the other, however, it +is a transfer of products that are little if at all prepared; and takes +place directly from the unit which obtains to the unit which consumes, +without entering into any general current. + +Passing to larger organisms--individual and social--we find the first +advance upon this arrangement. Where, as among the compound _Hydrozoa_, +there is an aggregation of many such primitive groups as form _Hydræ_; or +where, as in a _Medusa_, one of these groups has become of great size; +there exist rude channels running throughout the substance of the body: not +however, channels for the conveyance of prepared nutriment, but mere +prolongations of the digestive cavity, through which the crude +chyle-aqueous fluid reaches the remoter parts, and is moved backwards and +forwards by the creature's contractions. Do we not find in some of the more +advanced primitive communities, an analogous condition? When the men, +partially or fully united into one society, become numerous--when, as +usually happens, they cover a surface of country not everywhere alike in +its products--when, more especially, there arise considerable classes that +are not industrial; some process of exchange and distribution inevitably +arises. Traversing here and there the earth's surface, covered by that +vegetation on which human life depends, and in which, as we say, the units +of a society are imbedded, there are formed indefinite paths, along which +some of the necessaries of life occasionally pass, to be bartered for +others which presently come back along the same channels. Note, however, +that at first little else but crude commodities are thus +transferred--fruits, fish, pigs or cattle, skins, etc.: there are few, if +any, manufactured products or articles prepared for consumption. And note +further, that such distribution of these unprepared necessaries of life as +takes place, is but occasional--goes on with a certain slow, irregular +rhythm. + +Further progress in the elaboration and distribution of nutriment, or of +commodities, is a necessary accompaniment of further differentiation of +functions in the individual body or in the body politic. As fast as each +organ of a living animal becomes confined to a special action, it must +become dependent on the rest for all those materials which its position and +duty do not permit it to obtain for itself; in the same way that, as fast +as each particular class of a community becomes exclusively occupied in +producing its own commodity, it must become dependent on the rest for the +other commodities it needs. And, simultaneously, a more +perfectly-elaborated blood will result from a highly-specialized group of +nutritive organs, severally adapted to prepare its different elements; in +the same way that the stream of commodities circulating throughout a +society, will be of superior quality in proportion to the greater division +of labour among the workers. Observe, also, that in either case the +circulating mass of nutritive materials, besides coming gradually to +consist of better ingredients, also grows more complex. An increase in the +number of the unlike organs which add to the blood their waste matters, and +demand from it the different materials they severally need, implies a blood +more heterogeneous in composition--an _à priori_ conclusion which, +according to Dr. Williams, is inductively confirmed by examination of the +blood throughout the various grades of the animal kingdom. And similarly, +it is manifest that as fast as the division of labour among the classes of +a community, becomes greater, there must be an increasing heterogeneity in +the currents of merchandise flowing throughout that community. + +The circulating mass of nutritive materials in individual organisms and in +social organisms, becoming alike better in the quality of its ingredients +and more heterogeneous in composition, as the type of structure becomes +higher; eventually has added to it in both cases another element, which is +not itself nutritive, but facilitates the process of nutrition. We refer, +in the case of the individual organism, to the blood-discs; and in the case +of the social organism, to money. This analogy has been observed by Liebig, +who in his "Familiar Letters on Chemistry," says: + + "Silver and gold have to perform in the organization of the State, + the same function as the blood corpuscles in the human organization. + As these round discs, without themselves taking an immediate share in + the nutritive process, are the medium, the essential condition of the + change of matter, of the production of the heat, and of the force by + which the temperature of the body is kept up and the motions of the + blood and all the juices are determined, so has gold become the + medium of all activity in the life of the State." + +And blood-corpuscles being like money in their functions, and in the fact +that they are not consumed in nutrition, he further points out, that the +number of them which in a considerable interval flows through the great +centres, is enormous when compared with their absolute number; just as the +quantity of money which annually passes through the great mercantile +centres, is enormous when compared with the total quantity of money in the +kingdom. Nor is this all. Liebig has omitted the significant circumstance, +that only at a certain stage of organization does this element of the +circulation make its appearance. Throughout extensive divisions of the +lower animals, the blood contains no corpuscles; and in societies of low +civilization, there is no money. + +Thus far, we have considered the analogy between the blood in a living body +and the consumable and circulating commodities in the body politic. Let us +now compare the appliances by which they are respectively distributed. We +shall find in the development of these appliances, parallelisms not less +remarkable than those above set forth. Already we have shown that, as +classes, wholesale and retail distributors discharge in a society, the +office which the vascular system discharges in an individual creature; that +they come into existence later than the other two great classes, as the +vascular layer appears later than the mucous and serous layers; and that +they occupy a like intermediate position. Here, however, it remains to be +pointed out that a complete conception of the circulating system in a +society, includes not only the active human agents who propel the currents +of commodities, and regulate their distribution; but includes, also, the +channels of communication. It is the formation and arrangement of these, to +which we now direct attention. + +Going back once more to those lower animals in which there is found nothing +but a partial diffusion, not of blood, but only of crude nutritive fluids, +it is to be remarked that the channels through which the diffusion takes +place, are mere excavations through the half-organized substance of the +body: they have no lining membranes, but are mere _lacunæ_ traversing a +rude tissue. Now countries in which civilization is but commencing, display +a like condition: there are no roads properly so called; but the wilderness +of vegetal life covering the earth's surface, is pierced by tracks, through +which the distribution of crude commodities takes place. And while in both +cases, the acts of distribution occur only at long intervals (the currents, +after a pause, now setting towards a general centre, and now away from it), +the transfer is in both cases slow and difficult. But among other +accompaniments of progress, common to animals and societies, comes the +formation of more definite and complete channels of communication. +Blood-vessels acquire distinct walls; roads are fenced and gravelled. This +advance is first seen in those roads or vessels that are nearest to the +chief centres of distribution; while the peripheral roads and peripheral +vessels, long continue in their primitive states. At a yet later stage of +development, where comparative finish of structure is found throughout the +system as well as near the chief centres, there remains in both cases the +difference, that the main channels are comparatively broad and straight, +while the subordinate ones are narrow and tortuous in proportion to their +remoteness. + +Lastly, it is to be remarked that there ultimately arise in the higher +social organisms, as in the higher individual organisms, main channels of +distribution still more distinguished by their perfect structures, their +comparative straightness, and the absence of those small branches which the +minor channels perpetually give off. And in railways we also see, for the +first time in the social organism, a specialization with respect to the +directions of the currents--a system of double channels conveying currents +in opposite directions, as do the arteries and veins of a well-developed +animal. + +These parallelisms in the evolutions and structures of the circulating +systems, introduce us to others in the kinds and rates of the movements +going on through them. In the lowest societies, as in the lowest creatures, +the distribution of crude nutriment is by slow gurgitations and +regurgitations. In creatures that have rude vascular systems, as in +societies that are beginning to have roads and some transfer of commodities +along them, there is no regular circulation in definite courses; but +instead, periodical changes of the currents--now towards this point, and +now towards that. Through each part of an inferior mollusk's body, the +blood flows for a while in one direction, then stops, and flows in the +opposite direction; just as through a rudely-organized society, the +distribution of merchandise is slowly carried on by great fairs, occurring +in different localities, to and from which the currents periodically set. +Only animals of tolerably complete organizations, like advanced +communities, are permeated by constant currents that are definitely +directed. In living bodies, the local and variable currents disappear when +there grow up great centres of circulation, generating more powerful +currents, by a rhythm which ends in a quick, regular pulsation. And when in +social bodies, there arise great centres of commercial activity, producing +and exchanging large quantities of commodities, the rapid and continuous +streams drawn in and emitted by these centres, subdue all minor and local +circulations: the slow rhythm of fairs merges into the faster one of weekly +markets, and in the chief centres of distribution, weekly markets merge +into daily markets; while in place of the languid transfer from place to +place, taking place at first weekly, then twice or thrice a week, we +by-and-by get daily transfer, and finally transfer many times a day--the +original sluggish, irregular rhythm, becomes a rapid, equable pulse. + +Mark, too, that in both cases the increased activity, like the greater +perfection of structure, is much less conspicuous at the periphery of the +vascular system. On main lines of railway, we have, perhaps, a score trains +in each direction daily, going at from thirty to fifty miles an hour; as, +through the great arteries, the blood rushes rapidly in successive gushes. +Along high roads, there move vehicles conveying men and commodities with +much less, though still considerable, speed, and with a much less decided +rhythm; as, in the smaller arteries, the speed of the blood is greatly +diminished, and the pulse less conspicuous. In parish-roads, narrow, less +complete, and more tortuous, the rate of movement is further decreased and +the rhythm scarcely traceable; as in the ultimate arteries. In those still +more imperfect by-roads which lead from these parish-roads to scattered +farmhouses and cottages, the motion is yet slower and very irregular; just +as we find it in the capillaries. While along the field-roads, which, in +their unformed, unfenced state, are typical of _lacunæ_, the movement is +the slowest, the most irregular, and the most infrequent; as it is, not +only in the primitive _lacunæ_ of animals, and societies, but as it is also +in those _lacunæ_ in which the vascular system ends among extensive +families of inferior creatures. + +Thus, then, we find between the distributing systems of living bodies and +the distributing systems of bodies politic, wonderfully close parallelisms. +In the lowest forms of individual and social organisms, there exist neither +prepared nutritive matters nor distributing appliances; and in both, these, +arising as necessary accompaniments of the differentiation of parts, +approach perfection as this differentiation approaches completeness. In +animals, as in societies, the distributing agencies begin to show +themselves at the same relative periods, and in the same relative +positions. In the one, as in the other, the nutritive materials circulated, +are at first crude and simple, gradually become better elaborated and more +heterogeneous, and have eventually added to them a new element facilitating +the nutritive processes. The channels of communication pass through similar +phases of development, which bring them to analogous forms. And the +directions, rhythms, and rates of circulation, progress by like steps to +like final conditions. + + * * * * * + +We come at length to the nervous system. Having noticed the primary +differentiation of societies into the governing and governed classes, and +observed its analogy to the differentiation of the two primary tissues +which respectively develope into organs of external action and organs of +alimentation; having noticed some of the leading analogies between the +development of industrial arrangements and that of the alimentary +apparatus; and having, above, more fully traced the analogies between the +distributing systems, social and individual; we have now to compare the +appliances by which a society, as a whole, is regulated, with those by +which the movements of an individual creature are regulated. We shall find +here, parallelisms equally striking with those already detailed. + +The class out of which governmental organization originates, is, as we have +said, analogous in its relations to the ectoderm of the lowest animals and +of embryonic forms. And as this primitive membrane, out of which the +nervo-muscular system is evolved, must, even in the first stage of its +differentiation, be slightly distinguished from the rest by that greater +impressibility and contractility characterizing the organs to which it +gives rise; so, in that superior class which is eventually transformed into +the directo-executive system of a society (its legislative and defensive +appliances), does there exist in the beginning, a larger endowment of the +capacities required for these higher social functions. Always, in rude +assemblages of men, the strongest, most courageous, and most sagacious, +become rulers and leaders; and, in a tribe of some standing, this results +in the establishment of a dominant class, characterized on the average by +those mental and bodily qualities which fit them for deliberation and +vigorous combined action. Thus that greater impressibility and +contractility, which in the rudest animal types characterize the units of +the ectoderm, characterize also the units of the primitive social ectoderm; +since impressibility and contractility are the respective roots of +intelligence and strength. + +Again, in the unmodified ectoderm, as we see it in the _Hydra_, the units +are all endowed both with impressibility and contractility; but as we +ascend to higher types of organization, the ectoderm differentiates into +classes of units which divide those two functions between them: some, +becoming exclusively impressible, cease to be contractile; while some, +becoming exclusively contractile, cease to be impressible. Similarly with +societies. In an aboriginal tribe, the directive and executive functions +are diffused in a mingled form throughout the whole governing class. Each +minor chief commands those under him, and if need be, himself coerces them +into obedience. The council of chiefs itself carries out on the +battle-field its own decisions. The head chief not only makes laws, but +administers justice with his own hands. In larger and more settled +communities, however, the directive and executive agencies begin to grow +distinct from each other. As fast as his duties accumulate, the head chief +or king confines himself more and more to directing public affairs, and +leaves the execution of his will to others: he deputes others to enforce +submission, to inflict punishments, or to carry out minor acts of offence +and defence; and only on occasions when, perhaps, the safety of the society +and his own supremacy are at stake, does he begin to act as well as direct. +As this differentiation establishes itself, the characteristics of the +ruler begin to change. No longer, as in an aboriginal tribe, the strongest +and most daring man, the tendency is for him to become the man of greatest +cunning, foresight, and skill in the management of others; for in societies +that have advanced beyond the first stage, it is chiefly such qualities +that insure success in gaining supreme power, and holding it against +internal and external enemies. Thus that member of the governing class who +comes to be the chief directing agent, and so plays the same part that a +rudimentary nervous centre does in an unfolding organism, is usually one +endowed with some superiorities of nervous organization. + +In those somewhat larger and more complex communities possessing, perhaps, +a separate military class, a priesthood, and dispersed masses of population +requiring local control, there necessarily grow up subordinate governing +agents; who as their duties accumulate, severally become more directive and +less executive in their characters. And when, as commonly happens, the king +begins to collect round himself advisers who aid him by communicating +information, preparing subjects for his judgment, and issuing his orders; +we may say that the form of organization is comparable to one very general +among inferior types of animals, in which there exists a chief ganglion +with a few dispersed minor ganglia under its control. + +The analogies between the evolution of governmental structures in +societies, and the evolution of governmental structures in living bodies, +are, however, more strikingly displayed during the formation of nations by +the coalescence of small communities--a process already shown to be, in +several respects, parallel to the development of those creatures that +primarily consist of many like segments. Among other points of community +between the successive rings which make up the body in the lower +_Articulata_, is the possession of similar pairs of ganglia. These pairs of +ganglia, though united together by nerves, are very incompletely dependent +on any general controlling power. Hence it results that when the body is +cut in two, the hinder part continues to move forward under the propulsion +of its numerous legs; and that when the chain of ganglia has been divided +without severing the body, the hind limbs may be seen trying to propel the +body in one direction, while the fore limbs are trying to propel it in +another. Among the higher _Articulata_, however, a number of the anterior +pairs of ganglia, besides growing larger, unite in one mass; and this great +cephalic ganglion, becoming the co-ordinator of all the creature's +movements, there no longer exists much local independence. + +Now may we not in the growth of a consolidated kingdom out of petty +sovereignties or baronies, observe analogous changes? Like the chiefs and +primitive rulers above described, feudal lords, exercising supreme power +over their respective groups of retainers, discharge functions analogous to +those of rudimentary nervous centres; and we know that at first they, like +their analogues, are distinguished by superiorities of directive and +executive organization. Among these local governing centres, there is, in +early feudal times, very little subordination. They are in frequent +antagonism; they are individually restrained chiefly by the influence of +large parties in their own class; and are but imperfectly and irregularly +subject to that most powerful member of their order who has gained the +position of head suzerain or king. As the growth and organization of the +society progresses, these local directive centres fall more and more under +the control of a chief directive centre. Closer commercial union between +the several segments, is accompanied by closer governmental union; and +these minor rulers end in being little more than agents who administer, in +their several localities, the laws made by the supreme ruler: just as the +local ganglia above described, eventually become agents which enforce, in +their respective segments, the orders of the cephalic ganglion. + +The parallelism holds still further. We remarked above, when speaking of +the rise of aboriginal kings, that in proportion as their territories and +duties increase, they are obliged not only to perform their executive +functions by deputy, but also to gather round themselves advisers to aid +them in their directive functions; and that thus, in place of a solitary +governing unit, there grows up a group of governing units, comparable to a +ganglion consisting of many cells. Let us here add, that the advisers, and +chief officers who thus form the rudiment of a ministry, tend from the +beginning to exercise a certain control over the ruler. By the information +they give and the opinions they express, they sway his judgment and affect +his commands. To this extent he therefore becomes a channel through which +are communicated the directions originating with them; and in course of +time, when the advice of ministers becomes the acknowledged source of his +actions, the king assumes very much the character of an automatic centre, +reflecting the impressions made on him from without. + +Beyond this complication of governmental structure, many societies do not +progress; but in some, a further development takes place. Our own case best +illustrates this further development, and its further analogies. To kings +and their ministries have been added, in England, other great directive +centres, exercising a control which, at first small, has been gradually +becoming predominant: as with the great governing ganglia that especially +distinguish the highest classes of living beings. Strange as the assertion +will be thought, our Houses of Parliament discharge in the social economy, +functions that are in sundry respects comparable to those discharged by the +cerebral masses in a vertebrate animal. As it is in the nature of a single +ganglion to be affected only by special stimuli from particular parts of +the body; so it is in the nature of a single ruler to be swayed in his acts +by exclusive personal or class interests. As it is in the nature of an +aggregation of ganglia, connected with the primary one, to convey to it a +greater variety of influences from more numerous organs, and thus to make +its acts conform to more numerous requirements; so it is in the nature of a +king surrounded by subsidiary controlling powers, to adapt his rule to a +greater number of public exigencies. And as it is in the nature of those +great and latest-developed ganglia which distinguish the higher animals, to +interpret and combine the multiplied and varied impressions conveyed to +them from all parts of the system, and to regulate the actions in such way +as duly to regard them all; so it is in the nature of those great and +latest-developed legislative bodies which distinguish the most advanced +societies, to interpret and combine the wishes and complaints of all +classes and localities, and to regulate public affairs as much as possible +in harmony with the general wants. + +The cerebrum co-ordinates the countless heterogeneous considerations which +affect the present and future welfare of the individual as a whole; and the +legislature co-ordinates the countless heterogeneous considerations which +affect the immediate and remote welfare of the whole community. We may +describe the office of the brain as that of _averaging_ the interests of +life, physical, intellectual, moral, social; and a good brain is one in +which the desires answering to these respective interests are so balanced, +that the conduct they jointly dictate, sacrifices none of them. Similarly, +we may describe the office of a Parliament as that of _averaging_ the +interests of the various classes in a community; and a good Parliament is +one in which the parties answering to these respective interests are so +balanced, that their united legislation concedes to each class as much as +consists with the claims of the rest. Besides being comparable in their +duties, these great directive centres, social and individual, are +comparable in the processes by which their duties are discharged. + +It is now an acknowledged truth in psychology, that the cerebrum is not +occupied with direct impressions from without, but with the ideas of such +impressions: instead of the actual sensations produced in the body, and +directly appreciated by the sensory ganglia or primitive nervous centres, +the cerebrum receives only the representations of these sensations; and its +consciousness is called _representative_ consciousness, to distinguish it +from the original or _presentative_ consciousness. Is it not significant +that we have hit on the same word to distinguish the function of our House +of Commons? We call it a _representative_ body, because the interests with +which it deals--the pains and pleasures about which it consults--are not +directly presented to it, but represented to it by its various members; and +a debate is a conflict of representations of the evils or benefits likely +to follow from a proposed course--a description which applies with equal +truth to a debate in the individual consciousness. In both cases, too, +these great governing masses take no part in the executive functions. As, +after a conflict in the cerebrum, those desires which finally predominate, +act on the subjacent ganglia, and through their instrumentality determine +the bodily actions; so the parties which, after a parliamentary struggle, +gain the victory, do not themselves carry out their wishes, but get them +carried out by the executive divisions of the Government. The fulfilment of +all legislative decisions still devolves on the original directive +centres--the impulse passing from the Parliament to the Ministers, and from +the Ministers to the King, in whose name everything is done; just as those +smaller, first-developed ganglia, which in the lowest vertebrata are the +chief controlling agents, are still, in the brains of the higher +vertebrata, the agents through which the dictates of the cerebrum are +worked out. + +Moreover, in both cases these original centres become increasingly +automatic. In the developed vertebrate animal, they have little function +beyond that of conveying impressions to, and executing the determinations +of, the larger centres. In our highly organized government, the monarch has +long been lapsing into a passive agent of Parliament; and now, ministers +are rapidly falling into the same position. + +Nay, between the two cases there is a parallelism, even in respect of the +exceptions to this automatic action. For in the individual creature, it +happens that under circumstances of sudden alarm, as from a loud sound +close at hand, an unexpected object starting up in front, or a slip from +insecure footing, the danger is guarded against by some quick involuntary +jump, or adjustment of the limbs, that takes place before there is time to +consider the impending evil, and take deliberate measures to avoid it: the +rationale of which is, that these violent impressions produced on the +senses, are reflected from the sensory ganglia to the spinal cord and +muscles, without, as in ordinary cases, first passing through the cerebrum. +In like manner, on national emergencies, calling for prompt action, the +King and Ministry, not having time to lay the matter before the great +deliberative bodies, themselves issue commands for the requisite movements +or precautions: the primitive, and now almost automatic, directive centres, +resume for a moment their original uncontrolled power. And then, strangest +of all, observe that in either case there is an afterprocess of approval or +disapproval. The individual on recovering from his automatic start, at once +contemplates the cause of his fright; and, according to the case, concludes +that it was well he moved as he did, or condemns himself for his groundless +alarm. In like manner, the deliberative powers of the State, discuss, as +soon as may be, the unauthorized acts of the executive powers; and, +deciding that the reasons were or were not sufficient, grant or withhold a +bill of indemnity.[V] + + [V] It may be well to warn the reader against an error fallen into by + one who criticised this essay on its first publication--the error + of supposing that the analogy here intended to be drawn, is a + specific analogy between the organization of society in England, + and the human organization. As said at the outset, no such + specific analogy exists. The above parallel, is one between the + most-developed systems of governmental organization, individual + and social; and the vertebrate type is instanced, merely as + exhibiting this most-developed system. If any specific comparison + were made, which it cannot rationally be, it would be to some + much lower vertebrate form than the human. + +Thus far in comparing the governmental organization of the body politic +with that of an individual body, we have considered only the respective +co-ordinating centres. We have yet to consider the channels through which +these co-ordinating centres receive information and convey commands. In the +simplest societies, as in the simplest organisms, there is no "internuncial +apparatus," as Hunter styled the nervous system. Consequently, impressions +can be but slowly propagated from unit to unit throughout the whole mass. +The same progress, however, which, in animal-organization, shows itself in +the establishment of ganglia or directive centres, shows itself also in the +establishment of nerve-threads, through which the ganglia receive and +convey impressions, and so control remote organs. And in societies the like +eventually takes place. + +After a long period during which the directive centres communicate with +various parts of the society through other means, there at last comes into +existence an "internuncial apparatus," analogous to that found in +individual bodies. The comparison of telegraph-wires to nerves, is familiar +to all. It applies, however, to an extent not commonly supposed. We do not +refer to the near alliance between the subtle forces employed in the two +cases; though it is now held that the nerve-force, if not literally +electric, is still a special form of electric action, related to the +ordinary form much as magnetism is. But we refer to the structural +arrangements of our telegraph-system. Thus, throughout the vertebrate +sub-kingdom, the great nerve-bundles diverge from the vertebrate axis, side +by side with the great arteries; and similarly, our groups of +telegraph-wires are carried along the sides of our railways. The most +striking parallelism, however, remains. Into each great bundle of nerves, +as it leaves the axis of the body along with an artery, there enters a +branch of the sympathetic nerve; which branch, accompanying the artery +throughout its ramifications, has the function of regulating its diameter +and otherwise controlling the flow of blood through it according to the +local requirements. Analogously, in the group of telegraph-wires running +alongside each railway, there is one for the purpose of regulating the +traffic--for retarding or expediting the flow of passengers and +commodities, as the local conditions demand. Probably, when our now +rudimentary telegraph-system is fully developed, other analogies will be +traceable. + +Such, then, is a general outline of the evidence which justifies, in +detail, the comparison of societies to living organisms. That they +gradually increase in mass; that they become little by little more complex; +that at the same time their parts grow more mutually dependent; and that +they continue to live and grow as wholes, while successive generations of +their units appear and disappear; are broad peculiarities which bodies +politic display, in common with all living bodies; and in which they and +living bodies differ from everything else. And on carrying out the +comparison in detail, we find that these major analogies involve many minor +analogies, far closer than might have been expected. To these we would +gladly have added others. We had hoped to say something respecting the +different types of social organization, and something also on social +metamorphoses; but we have reached our assigned limits. + + + + +XI. USE AND BEAUTY + + +In one of his essays, Emerson remarks, that what Nature at one time +provides for use, she afterwards turns to ornament; and he cites in +illustration the structure of a sea-shell, in which the parts that have for +a while formed the mouth are at the next season of growth left behind, and +become decorative nodes and spines. + +It has often occurred to me that this same remark might be extended to the +progress of Humanity. Here, too, the appliances of one era serve as +embellishments to the next. Equally in institutions, creeds, customs, and +superstitions, we may trace this evolution of beauty out of what was once +purely utilitarian. + +The contrast between the feeling with which we regard portions of the +Earth's surface still left in their original state, and the feeling with +which the savage regarded them, is an instance that naturally comes first +in order of time. If any one walking over Hampstead Heath, will note how +strongly its picturesqueness is brought out by contrast with the +surrounding cultivated fields and the masses of houses lying in the +distance; and will further reflect that, had this irregular gorse-covered +surface extended on all sides to the horizon, it would have looked dreary +and prosaic rather than pleasing; he will see that to the primitive man a +country so clothed presented no beauty at all. To him it was merely a haunt +of wild animals, and a ground out of which roots might be dug. What have +become for us places of relaxation and enjoyment--places for afternoon +strolls and for gathering flowers--were his places for labour and food, +probably arousing in his mind none but utilitarian associations. + +Ruined castles afford an obvious instance of this metamorphosis of the +useful into the beautiful. To feudal barons and their retainers, security +was the chief, if not the only end, sought in choosing the sites and styles +of their strongholds. Probably they aimed as little at the picturesque as +do the builders of cheap brick houses in our modern towns. Yet what where +erected for shelter and safety, and what in those early days fulfilled an +important function in the social economy, have now assumed a purely +ornamental character. They serve as scenes for picnics; pictures of them +decorate our drawing-rooms; and each supplies its surrounding districts +with legends for Christmas Eve. + +Following out the train of thought suggested by this last illustration, we +may see that not only do the material exuviæ of past social states become +the ornaments of our landscapes; but that past habits, manners, and +arrangements, serve as ornamental elements in our literature. The tyrannies +that, to the serfs who bore them, were harsh and dreary facts; the feuds +which, to those who took part in them, were very practical life-and-death +affairs; the mailed, moated, sentinelled security that was irksome to the +nobles who needed it; the imprisonments, and tortures, and escapes, which +were stern and quite prosaic realities to all concerned in them; have +become to us material for romantic tales--material which when woven into +Ivanhoes and Marmions, serves for amusement in leisure hours, and become +poetical by contrast with our daily lives. + +Thus, also, is it with extinct creeds. Stonehenge, which in the hands of +the Druids had a governmental influence over men, is in our day a place for +antiquarian excursions; and its attendant priests are worked up into an +opera. Greek sculptures, preserved for their beauty in our galleries of +art, and copied for the decoration of pleasure grounds and entrance halls, +once lived in men's minds as gods demanding obedience; as did also the +grotesque idols that now amuse the visitors to our museums. + +Equally marked is this change of function in the case of minor +superstitions. The fairy lore, which in past times was matter of grave +belief, and held sway over people's conduct, has since been transformed +into ornament for _A Midsummer Night's Dream_, _The Tempest_, _The Fairy +Queen_, and endless small tales and poems; and still affords subjects for +children's story-books, themes for ballets, and plots for Planché's +burlesques. Gnomes, and genii, and afrits, losing all their terrors, give +piquancy to the woodcuts in our illustrated edition of the _Arabian +Nights_. While ghost-stories, and tales of magic and witchcraft, after +serving to amuse boys and girls in their leisure hours, become matter for +jocose allusions that enliven tea-table conversation. + +Even our serious literature and our speeches are very generally relieved by +ornaments drawn from such sources. A Greek myth is often used as a parallel +by which to vary the monotony of some grave argument. The lecturer breaks +the dead level of his practical discourse by illustrations drawn from +bygone customs, events, or beliefs. And metaphors, similarly derived, give +brilliancy to political orations, and to _Times_ leading articles. + +Indeed, on careful inquiry, I think it will be found that we turn to +purposes of beauty most bygone phenomena that are at all conspicuous. The +busts of great men in our libraries, and their tombs in our churches; the +once useful but now purely ornamental heraldic symbols; the monks, nuns, +and convents, that give interest to a certain class of novels; the bronze +mediæval soldiers used for embellishing drawing-rooms; the gilt Apollos +that recline on time-pieces; the narratives that serve as plots for our +great dramas; and the events that afford subjects for historical +pictures;--these and such like illustrations of the metamorphosis of the +useful into the beautiful, are so numerous as to suggest that, did we +search diligently enough, we should find that in some place, or under some +circumstances, nearly every notable product of the past has assumed a +decorative character. + +And here the mention of historical pictures reminds me that an inference +may be drawn from all this, bearing directly on the practice of art. It has +of late years been a frequent criticism upon our historical painters, that +they err in choosing their subjects from the past; and that, would they +found a genuine and vital school, they must render on canvas the life and +deeds and aims of our own time. If, however, there be any significance in +the foregoing facts, it seems doubtful whether this criticism is a just +one. For if it be the process of things, that what has performed some +practical function in society during one era, becomes available for +ornament in a subsequent one; it almost follows that, conversely, whatever +is performing some practical function now, or has very recently performed +one, does not possess the ornamental character; and is, consequently, +inapplicable to any purpose of which beauty is the aim, or of which it is a +needful ingredient. + +Still more reasonable will this conclusion appear, when we consider the +nature of this process by which the useful is changed into the ornamental. +An essential pre-requisite to all beauty is _contrast_. To obtain artistic +effect, light must be put in juxtaposition with shade, bright colours with +dull colours, a fretted surface with a plain one. _Forte_ passages in music +must have _piano_ passages to relieve them; concerted pieces need +interspersing with solos; and rich chords must not be continuously +repeated. In the drama we demand contrast of characters, of scenes, of +sentiment, of style. In prose composition an eloquent passage should have a +comparatively plain setting; and in poems great effect is obtained by +occasional change of versification. This general principle will, I think, +explain the transformation of the bygone useful into the present beautiful. +It is by virtue of their contrast with our present modes of life, that past +modes of life look interesting and romantic. Just as a picnic, which is a +temporary return to an aboriginal condition, derives, from its +unfamiliarity, a certain poetry which it would not have were it habitual; +so, everything ancient gains, from its relative novelty to us, an element +of interest. Gradually as, by the growth of society, we leave behind the +customs, manners, arrangements, and all the products, material and mental, +of a bygone age--gradually as we recede from these so far that there arises +a conspicuous difference between them and those we are familiar with; so +gradually do they begin to assume to us a poetical aspect, and become +applicable for ornament. And hence it follows that things and events which +are close to us, and which are accompanied by associations of ideas not +markedly contrasted with our ordinary associations are relatively +inappropriate for purposes of art. + + + + +XII. THE SOURCES OF ARCHITECTURAL TYPES. + + +When lately looking through the gallery of the Old Water-Colour Society, I +was struck with the incongruity produced by putting regular architecture +into irregular scenery. In one case, where the artist had introduced a +perfectly symmetrical Grecian edifice into a mountainous and somewhat wild +landscape, the discordant effect was particularly marked. "How very +unpicturesque," said a lady to her friend, as they passed; showing that I +was not alone in my opinion. Her phrase, however, set me speculating. Why +unpicturesque? Picturesque means, like a picture--like what men choose for +pictures. Why then should this be not fit for a picture? + +Thinking the matter over, it seemed to me that the artist had sinned +against that unity which is essential to a good picture. When the other +constituents of a landscape have irregular forms, any artificial structure +introduced must have an irregular form, that it may seem _part_ of the +landscape. The same general character must pervade it and surrounding +objects; otherwise it, and the scene amid which it stands, become not _one_ +thing but _two_ things; and we say it looks out of place. Or, speaking +psychologically, the associated ideas called up by a building with its +wings, windows, and all its parts symmetrically disposed, differ widely +from the ideas associated with an entirely irregular landscape; and the one +set of ideas tends to banish the other. + +Pursuing the train of thought, sundry illustrative facts came to my mind. I +remembered that a castle, which is more irregular in outline than any other +kind of building, pleases us most when seated amid crags and precipices; +while a castle on a plain seems an incongruity. The partly-regular and +partly-irregular forms of our old farm-houses, and our gabled gothic manors +and abbeys, appear quite in harmony with an undulating, wooded country. In +towns we prefer symmetrical architecture; and in towns it produces in us no +feeling of incongruity, because all surrounding things--men, horses, +vehicles--are symmetrical also. + +And here I was reminded of a notion that has frequently recurred to me; +namely, that there is some relationship between the several kinds of +architecture and the several classes of natural objects. Buildings in the +Greek and Roman styles seem, in virtue of their symmetry, to take their +type from animal life. In the partly-irregular Gothic, ideas derived from +the vegetable world appear to predominate. And wholly irregular buildings, +such as castles, may be considered as having inorganic forms for their +basis. + +Whimsical as this speculation looks at first sight, it is countenanced by +numerous facts. The connexion between symmetrical architecture and animal +forms, may be inferred from the _kind_ of symmetry we expect, and are +satisfied with, in regular buildings. Thus in a Greek temple we require +that the front shall be symmetrical in itself, and that the two flanks +shall be alike; but we do not look for uniformity between the flanks and +the front, nor between the front and the back. The identity of this +symmetry with that found in animals is obvious. Again, why is it that a +building making any pretension to symmetry displeases us if not quite +symmetrical? Probably the reply will be--Because we see that the designer's +idea is not fully carried out; and that hence our love of completeness is +offended. But then there come the further questions--How do we know that +the architect's conception was symmetrical? Whence comes this notion of +symmetry which we have, and which we attribute to him? Unless we fall back +upon the old doctrine of innate ideas, we must admit that the idea of +bilateral symmetry is derived from without; and to admit this is to admit +that it is derived from the higher animals. + +That there is some relationship between Gothic architecture and vegetable +forms is a position generally admitted. The often-remarked analogy between +a groined nave and an avenue of trees with interlacing branches, shows that +the fact has forced itself on men's observation. It is not only in this +analogy, however, that the kinship is seen. It is seen still better in the +essential characteristic of Gothic; namely, what is termed its _aspiring_ +tendency. That predominance of vertical lines which so strongly +distinguishes Gothic from other styles, is the most marked peculiarity of +trees, when compared with animals or rocks. To persons of active +imagination, a tall Gothic tower, with its elongated apertures and clusters +of thin projections running from bottom to top, suggests a vague notion of +growth. + +Of the alleged connexion between inorganic forms and the wholly irregular +and the castellated styles of building, we have, I think, some proof in the +fact that when an edifice is irregular, the _more_ irregular it is the more +it pleases us. I see no way of accounting for this fact, save by supposing +that the greater the irregularity the more strongly are we reminded of the +inorganic forms typified, and the more vividly are aroused the agreeable +ideas of rugged and romantic scenery associated with those forms. + +Further evidence of these several relationships of styles of architecture +to classes of natural objects, is supplied by the kinds of decoration they +respectively represent. The public buildings of Greece, while characterized +in their outlines by the bilateral symmetry seen in the higher animals, +have their pediments and entablatures covered with sculptured men and +beasts. Egyptian temples and Assyrian palaces, while similarly symmetrical +in their general plan, are similarly ornamented on their walls and at their +doors. In Gothic, again, with its grove-like ranges of clustered columns, +we find rich foliated ornaments abundantly employed. And accompanying the +totally irregular, inorganic outlines of old castles, we see neither +vegetable nor animal decorations. The bare, rock-like walls are surmounted +by battlements, consisting of almost plain blocks, which remind us of the +projections on the edge of a rugged cliff. + +But perhaps the most significant fact is the harmony that may be observed +between each type of architecture and the scenes in which it is indigenous. +For what is the explanation of this harmony, unless it be that the +predominant character of surrounding things has, in some way, determined +the mode of building adopted? + +That the harmony exists is clear. Equally in the cases of Egypt, Assyria, +Greece, and Rome, town life preceded the construction of the symmetrical +buildings that have come down to us. And town life is one in which, as +already observed, the majority of familiar objects are symmetrical. We +instinctively feel the naturalness of this association. Out amid the +fields, a formal house, with a central door flanked by an equal number of +windows to right and left, strikes us as unrural--looks as though +transplanted from a street; and we cannot look at one of those stuccoed +villas, with mock windows carefully arranged to balance the real ones, +without being reminded of the suburban residence of a retired tradesman. + +In styles indigenous in the country, we not only find the general +irregularity characteristic of surrounding things, but we may trace some +kinship between each kind of irregularity and the local circumstances. We +see the broken rocky masses amid which castles are commonly placed, +mirrored in their stern, inorganic forms. In abbeys, and such-like +buildings, which are commonly found in comparatively sheltered districts, +we find no such violent dislocations of masses and outlines; and the +nakedness appropriate to the fortress is replaced by decorations reflecting +the neighbouring woods. Between a Swiss cottage and a Swiss view there is +an evident relationship. The angular roof, so bold and so +disproportionately large when compared to other roofs, reminds one of the +adjacent mountain peaks; and the broad overhanging eaves have a sweep and +inclination like those of the lower branches of a pine tree. Consider, too, +the apparent kinship between the flat roofs that prevail in Eastern cities, +interspersed with occasional minarets, and the plains that commonly +surround them, dotted here and there by palm trees. You cannot contemplate +a picture of one of these places, without being struck by the predominance +of horizontal lines, and their harmony with the wide stretch of the +landscape. + +That the congruity here pointed out should hold in every case must not be +expected. The Pyramids, for example, do not seem to come under this +generalization. Their repeated horizontal lines do indeed conform to the +flatness of the neighbouring desert; but their general contour seems to +have no adjacent analogue. Considering, however, that migrating races, +carrying their architectural systems with them, would naturally produce +buildings having no relationship to their new localities; and that it is +not always possible to distinguish styles which are indigenous, from those +which are naturalized; numerous anomalies must be looked for. + +The general idea above illustrated will perhaps be somewhat misinterpreted. +Possibly some will take the proposition to be that men _intentionally_ gave +to their buildings the leading characteristics of neighbouring objects. But +this is not what is meant. I do not suppose that they did so in times past, +any more than they do so now. The hypothesis is, that in their choice of +forms men are unconsciously influenced by the forms encircling them. That +flat-roofed, symmetrical architecture should have originated in the East, +among pastoral tribes surrounded by their herds and by wide plains, seems +to imply that the builders were swayed by the horizontality and symmetry to +which they were habituated. And the harmony which we have found to exist in +other cases between indigenous styles and their localities, implies the +general action of like influences. Indeed, on considering the matter +psychologically, I do not see how it could well be otherwise. For as all +conceptions must be made up of images, and parts of images, received +through the senses--as it is impossible for a man to conceive any design +save one of which the elements have come into his mind from without; and as +his imagination will most readily run in the direction of his habitual +perceptions; it follows, almost necessarily, that the characteristic which +predominates in these habitual perceptions must impress itself on his +design. + + + + +XIII. THE USE OF ANTHROPOMORPHISM. + + +That long fit of indignation which seizes all generous natures when in +youth they begin contemplating human affairs, having fairly spent itself, +there slowly grows up a perception that the institutions, beliefs, and +forms so vehemently condemned are not wholly bad. This reaction runs to +various lengths. In some, merely to a comparative contentment with the +arrangements under which they live. In others to a recognition of the +fitness that exists between each people and its government, tyrannical as +that may be. In some, again, to the conviction, that hateful though it is +to us, and injurious as it would be now, slavery was once beneficial--was +one of the necessary phases of human progress. Again, in others, to the +suspicion that great benefit has indirectly arisen from the perpetual +warfare of past times; insuring as this did the spread of the strongest +races, and so providing good raw material for civilization. And in a few +this reaction ends in the generalization that all modes of human thought +and action subserve, in the times and places in which they occur, some +useful function: that though bad in the abstract, they are relatively +good--are the best which the then existing conditions admit of. + +A startling conclusion to which this faith in the essential beneficence of +things commits us, is that the religious creeds through which mankind +successively pass, are, during the eras in which they are severally held, +the best that could be held; and that this is true, not only of the latest +and most refined creeds, but of all, even to the earliest and most gross. +Those who regard men's faiths as given to them from without--as having +origins either directly divine or diabolical, and who, considering their +own as the sole example of the one, class all the rest under the other, +will think this a very shocking opinion. I can imagine, too, that many of +those who have abandoned current theologies, and now regard religions as so +many natural products of human nature--men who, having lost that antagonism +towards their old creed which they felt while shaking themselves free from +it, can now see that it was highly beneficial to past generations, and is +beneficial still to a large part of mankind;--I can imagine even these +hardly prepared to admit that all religions, down to the lowest Fetichism, +have, in their places, fulfilled useful functions. If such, however, will +consistently develop their ideas, they will find this inference involved. + +For if it be true that humanity in its corporate as well as in its +individual aspect, is a growth and not a manufacture, it is obvious that +during each phase men's theologies, as well as their political and social +arrangements, must be determined into such forms as the conditions require. +In the one case as in the other, by a tentative process, things from time +to time re-settle themselves in a way that best consists with national +equilibrium. As out of plots and the struggles of chieftains, it +continually results that the strongest gets to the top, and by virtue of +his proved superiority ensures a period of quiet, and gives society time to +grow; as out of incidental expedients there periodically arise new +divisions of labour, which get permanently established only by serving +men's wants better than the previous arrangements did; so, the creed which +each period evolves is one more in conformity with the needs of the time +than the creed which preceded it. Not to rest in general statements, +however, let us consider why this must be so. Let us see whether, in the +genesis of men's ideas of deity, there is not involved a necessity to +conceive of deity under the aspect most influential with them. + +It is now generally admitted that a more or less idealized humanity is the +form which every conception of a personal God must take. Anthropomorphism +is an inevitable result of the laws of thought. We cannot take a step +towards constructing an idea of God without the ascription of human +attributes. We cannot even speak of a divine will without assimilating the +divine nature to our own; for we know nothing of volition save as a +property of our own minds. + +While this anthropomorphic tendency, or rather necessity, is manifested by +themselves with sufficient grossness--a grossness that is offensive to +those more advanced--Christians are indignant at the still grosser +manifestations of it seen among uncivilized men. Certainly, such +conceptions as those of some Polynesians, who believe that their gods feed +on the souls of the dead, or as those of the Greeks, who ascribed to the +personages of their Pantheon every vice, from domestic cannibalism +downward, are repulsive enough. But if, ceasing to regard these notions +from the outside, we more philosophically regard them from the inside--if +we consider how they looked to believers, and observe the relationships +they bore to the natures and needs of such; we shall begin to think of them +with some tolerance. The question to be answered is, whether these beliefs +were beneficent in their effects on those who held them; not whether they +would be beneficent for us, or for perfect men; and to this question the +answer must be that while absolutely bad, they were relatively good. + +For is it not obvious that the savage man will be most effectually +controlled by his fears of a savage deity? Must it not happen, that if his +nature requires great restraint, the supposed consequences of +transgression, to be a check upon him, must be proportionately terrible; +and for these to be proportionately terrible, must not his god be conceived +as proportionately cruel and revengeful? Is it not well that the +treacherous, thievish, lying Hindoo should believe in a hell where the +wicked are boiled in cauldrons, rolled down mountains bristling with +knives, and sawn asunder between flaming iron posts? And that there may be +provided such a hell, is it not needful that he should believe in a +divinity delighting in human immolations and the self-torture of fakirs? +Does it not seem clear that during the earlier ages in Christendom, when +men's feelings were so hard that a holy father could describe one of the +delights of heaven to be the contemplation of the torments of the +damned--does it not seem clear that while the general nature was so +unsympathetic, there needed, to keep men in order, all the prospective +tortures described by Dante, and a deity implacable enough to inflict them? + +And if, as we thus see, it is well for the savage man to believe in a +savage god, then we may also see the great usefulness of this +anthropomorphic tendency; or, as before said, necessity. We have in it +another illustration of that essential beneficence of things visible +everywhere throughout nature. From this inability under which we labour to +conceive of a deity save as some idealization of ourselves, it inevitably +results that in each age, among each people, and to a great extent in each +individual, there must arise just that conception of deity best adapted to +the needs of the case. If, being violent and bloodthirsty, the nature be +one calling for stringent control, it evolves the idea of a ruler still +more violent and bloodthirsty, and fitted to afford this control. When, by +ages of social discipline, the nature has been partially humanized, and the +degree of restraint required has become less, the diabolical +characteristics before ascribed to the deity cease to be so predominant in +the conception of him. And gradually, as all need for restraint disappears, +this conception approximates towards that of a purely beneficent necessity. +Thus, man's constitution is in this, as in other respects, self-adjusting, +self-balancing. The mind itself evolves a compensating check to its own +movements; varying always in proportion to the requirement. Its centrifugal +and its centripetal forces are necessarily in correspondence, because the +one generates the other. And so we find that the forms of both religious +and secular rule follow the same law. As an ill-controlled national +character produces a despotic terrestrial government, so also does it +produce a despotic celestial government--the one acting through the senses, +the other through the imagination; and in the converse case the same +relationship holds good. + +Organic as this relationship is in its origin, no artificial interference +can permanently affect it. Whatever perturbations an external agency may +seem to produce, they are soon neutralized in fact, if not in appearance. I +was recently struck with this in reading a missionary account of the +"gracious visitations of the Holy Spirit at Vewa," one of the Feejee +islands. Describing a "penitent meeting," the account says:-- + + "Certainly the feelings of the Vewa people were not ordinary. They + literally roared for hours together for the disquietude of their + souls. This frequently terminated in fainting from exhaustion, which + was the only respite some of them had till they found peace. They no + sooner recovered their consciousness than they prayed themselves + first into an agony, then again into a state of entire + insensibility." + +Now these Feejee islanders are the most savage of all the uncivilized +races. They are given to cannibalism, infanticide, and human sacrifices; +they are so bloodthirsty and so treacherous, that members of the same +family dare not trust each other; and, in harmony with these +characteristics, they have for their aboriginal god, a serpent. Is it not +clear then, that these violent emotions which the missionaries describe, +these terrors and agonies of despair which they rejoiced over, were nothing +but the worship of the old god under a new name? Is it not clear that these +Feejees had simply understood those parts of the Christian creed which +agree in spirit with their own--the vengeance, the perpetual torments, the +diabolism of it; that these, harmonizing with their natural conceptions of +divine rule, were realized by them with extreme vividness; and that the +extremity of the fear which made them "literally roar for hours together," +arose from the fact that while they could fully take in and believe the +punitive element, the merciful one was beyond their comprehension? This is +the obvious inference. And it carries with it the further one, that in +essence their new belief was merely their old one under a new form--the +same substantial conception with a different history and different names. + +However great, therefore, may be the seeming change adventitiously produced +in a people's religion, the anthropomorphic tendency prevents it from being +other than a superficial change--insures such modifications of the new +religion as to give it all the potency of the old one--obscures whatever +higher elements there may be in it until the people have reached the +capability of being acted upon by them: and so, re-establishes the +equilibrium between the impulses and the control they need. If any one +requires detailed illustrations of this, he will find them in abundance in +the history of the modifications of Christianity throughout Europe. + +Ceasing then to regard heathen theologies from the personal point of view, +and considering them solely with reference to the function they fulfil +where they are indigenous, we must recognise them in common with all +theologies, as good for their time and places; and this mental necessity +which disables us from conceiving a deity save as some idealization of +ourselves, we must recognise as the agency by which harmony is produced and +maintained between every phase of human character and its religious creed. + + + + +INDEX. + + +A + + Abstract and concrete, relations of, 174. + + Actions, voluntary and involuntary, 319. + + Analogies of the rudest societies to the lowest forms of life, 398, + 402. + + Analogies of function between living beings and societies, 410. + + Annulosa, structure of compared to that of nations, 408, 422. + + Anthropomorphism, necessity of, 422. + + Architectural ideas, origin of, 439. + + Architecture, relationship to natural objects, 435; illustrations of, + 435-437; town, why symmetrical, 435; country, why irregular, 437. + + Arts, interconnexion of, 187. + + Astronomic influences upon climate produce breaks in geological + succession, 356. + + Automatic actions of men and governments, 426. + + Australia, fauna of, 350. + + +B + + Bain "On the Emotions and Will," estimate of, 302. + + Beauty, its evolution from utility, 429, 433. + + Beliefs, how to judge of them, 442. + + Bow, derivation of the, 78. + + Breaks in the geological record, Hugh Miller upon, 355; produced by + astronomic causes, 356; by re-distributions of land and sea, 359. + + Buildings related to landscape, 438; cause of incongruities in, 438; + relation unintentional, 439. + + +C + + Cambrian rocks, inference from their thickness, 366. + + Calculus, origin of, 158. + + Castles, built with no reference to art, 430. + + Cause, single, produces more than one effect, 32; illustrated in + geological phenomena, 35; in chemical, 40; in organic evolution, + 42; in social progress, 50; in use of locomotive engine, 53. + + Central America, effects of subsidence of, 38. + + Centrifugal force and condensation, 287. + + Cerebrum, analogy of to houses of parliament, 423, 426. + + Circulation in animal bodies and bodies politic, 410, 411; rates of + movement in, 417; of money and blood-discs, 414. + + Classifications of science, progress of, 183; what they indicate, + 125; Oken's, 125; Hegel's, 128; Comte's, 131; serial arrangement + vicious, 144. + + Classification, the mental process in, 147; advances with + rationality, 157; how it has aided science, 182; of the cognitions, + 321; of the feelings, 323; in Psychology, for the present must be + provisional, 300, 301. + + Climate, changes in, produced by astronomic rhythm, 356; by + re-distributions of land and sea, 359. + + Comets, formation of, 256; orbits of, 258; distribution of, 259, 261. + + Common knowledge, nature of, 117; relation of, to science, 118, 122. + + Comte's hierarchy of the sciences, 131. + + Consciousness, mystery of, 197. + + Condensation of nebula, 250. + + Contrast, its relation to beauty, 432. + + Creeds suited to the age that holds them, 441, 443. + + Curtsy, origin of, 79. + + +D + + Densities of the planets, 278-280. + + Development hypothesis, neither proved nor disproved by Paleontology, + 367, 376; defense of, 379. + + Direct creation inconceivable, 378; no examples of, 377; origin of + the notion, 383. + + +E + + Earth, internal constitution of, 290. + + Earth's crust, 5; contraction of, 35. + + Ectoderm social and embryonic, 419. + + Education, bearing of evolution of science upon, 193. + + Emotions in animals, genesis of, 315. + + Emotional language, 232; importance of, 235, 238. + + Engine, locomotive, results of invention of, 53. + + Equality, origin of notion of, 152,158; of things and relations, 153. + + Evolution of the emotions, 311. + + Evolution of governmental and nervous structures, 420. + + +F + + Fashion, origin of, 90; corruption of, 91. + + Feeling and action, relation of, 199, 208. + + Feeling, mystery of, 197; effects of surplus in producing laughter, + 201; why it disturbs the intellect, 207. + + Feeling a stimulus to muscular action, 211, 220; shown in loudness of + voice, 215; in quality or timbre, 215; in pitch, 216; in intervals, + 217; in variability of pitch, 219; relation of, to vocal sounds in + ourselves, 220; in others, 220; causes prostration, 222; + classification of the feelings, 323. + + Feejee islanders, penitent meeting among, 444. + + Final cause, 262, 272, 275, 293. + + Fossils as tests of age and position, 339, 347. + + Function of music, 231-235. + + +G + + Generalizations, premature, use of, 323; as seen in history of + Astronomy, 326; in Geology, 327. + + Genesis of new emotions in civilization, 313; in animals, 315. + + Geological evidence, value of, 8. + + Geologic "systems," are they universal? 335-339. + + Geometry, origin of, 158, 167. + + God, origin of the conception of, 65. + + Gothic architecture, source of, 435, 436. + + Government, rise of, 12, 69, 92; three-fold nature of, 13, 65, 83; + separation of civil from religious, 69; early need of severe, 85; + progressive amelioration of, 88; course of all, 114; results from + national character, 387. + + Great men, relation of to social changes, 388. + + Greek and Roman architecture, derivation of, 435. + + +H + + Heathen theologies, estimate of, 44. + + Heat of heavenly bodies, source of, 292. + + Hegel's classification of philosophy, 128. + + History as commonly studied, small, value of, 385. + + Hobb's parallelism of society and the human body, 389. + + Homogeneous, change of to heterogeneous, 3; seen in genesis of solar + system, 3; in phenomena of earth's crust, 5; in the advance of life + in general, 7; in the progress of man, 10; in growth of + civilization, 12; in government, 13; in language, 17; in painting + and sculpture, 20; in poetry, music, and dancing, 24; cause of this + universal change, 32. + + Hutton's geological system, 327; contrast of the modern with, 330. + + Hydra compared with primitive tribes, 401, 407, 412, 420. + + Hydrozoa, analogies of, 401, 403, 412. + + +I + + Industrial organization, 385. + + Industrial arrangements, development of compared with that of the + alimentary organs, 410. + + Insensible modifications effect great changes, 379; illustrated by + geometrical curves, 318; by physiological development, 382. + + Internal structure of sun and planets, 281-286. + + +K + + King's councils compared to ganglia, 421, 423. + + Knowledge, experience the source of all, 126; relations of various + kinds of, 167. + + +L + + Language, differentiation of, 17; origin of written, 18; origin of + verbal, 149; origin of emotional, 220. + + La Place's theory of planetary evolution, 263-265. + + Laughter, common explanations of, 194; movements in, 200; groups of + muscles successively affected in, 201; caused by incongruities, + 203; facilitates digestion, 207. + + Law, origin of, 70. + + Likeness and unlikeness, recognition of, the basis of classification, + 147; the basis of language, 149; of reasoning, 150; of art, 151; + leads to science, 152. + + Logic, how evolved, 158. + + Lyell, Sir Charles, criticism upon, 338, 342. + + +M + + Man, progress of, 10. + + Manners, genesis of, 77; decline of the influence of, 89; conformity + in manners leads to extravagance, 99; conformity in, decreases + social intercourse, 100; defeats the true end of social life, 102, + 107. + + Mathematics, how evolved, 158. + + Mechanics, rise of science of, 168. + + Mineral qualities of rocks untrustworthy tests of age or position, + 332. + + Miller Hugh, estimate of, 352. + + Motion of nebulous matter, 251-253. + + Morality, origin of, 70. + + Muscular movements, cause of, 195; arrested by feeling, 199; in + laughter purposeless, 201; of animals when excited, 211; variations + of, produce changes of voice, 214. + + Music, increasing heterogeneity of, 26; relation of mental to + muscular excitement, the source of, 214; theory of, 221-224; its + history confirms the theory, 224-228; negative proof of theory of, + 228-231. + + Murchison Sir R. I., criticism upon his "Siluria," 332, 340, 363, + 366. + + +N + + Nebula, are they parts of our siderial system? 243, 249; condensation + of, 250; motion in, 251; significance of forms of, 254; structure + of spiral, 254. + + Nebular hypothesis, 3, 34; its high derivation, 239; it explains + cometary phenomena, 262. + + Negative facts in geology, small value of, 362-365. + + Nervous system, effects of excitement in, 195; directions of + discharge of excitement in, 197; course of discharge unguided by + purpose, 201. + + Number, origin of conception of, 154. + + +O + + Oken's classification of knowledge, 125. + + +P + + Painting and sculpture, origin of, 20. + + Paleontology neither proves nor disproves development, 367, 376. + + Picturesque, meaning of, 433. + + Planetoids, origin of 289. + + Plato's model republic, central idea of, 388. + + Previsions and ordinary knowledge, 117; previsions known as science, + 118; common and scientific, 123; when quantitative arose, 158; + increase in precision, 171. + + Primary divisions of a germ and of a society, 404-407. + + Progress, current meaning of, 1; present inquiry concerning, 2; law + of progress exemplified in the genesis of solar system, 3; in the + phenomena of the earth's crust, 5; in the advance of life in + general, 7; in the history of man, 10; in the growth of + civilization, 12; in government, 13; in language, 17; in painting + and sculpture, 20; in poetry, music, and dancing, 24; statement of + the principle which determines progress of every kind, 32; the + principle of progress illustrated in geological phenomena, 35; in + chemical, 40; in organic evolution, 42; in social advancement, 50; + in use of locomotive engine, 54; this principle does not explain + things in themselves, 58; progress of science, 141; of astronomical + discovery, 165, 171. + + Progress of animals and societies in forming channels of + communication, 416. + + Psychology, relation of English thought to, 301; classification in, + for the present, must be provisional, 300, 301. + + +R + + Reasoning, nature of, 150; basis of, 154; advances with + classification, 157. + + Reformers, eccentricities of, 61; why necessary, 93; not selfish, 95, + 97; difficulties of social, 110. + + Reform, how is it to be effected? 111. + + Religion aided by inquiry, 58. + + Religious ideas, account of primitive, 66. + + +S + + Saturn, rings of, 276. + + Satellites, distribution of, 272-276. + + Savage men need a savage deity, 443. + + Science, limits of, 58; definition of, 119; when complete, 120; test + of the depth of, 122; slow growth of, 123; duplex progress of, 141; + ultimate analysis of exact, 160. + + Sciences, early simultaneous advance of, 165; not independent of each + other, 186; aid each other by analogies, 181; mutual influence of + modern, 178. + + Sculpture and painting, origin of, 20. + + Solar System, movements of planets on their axes in, 267-271. + + Strata now forming, lithological differences in, 347; differences in + the order of superposition of, 348; differences in the organic + remains of, 349. + + Societies and individual organisms, points of agreement between, + 391-393; differences of, examined, 393-397. + + Social intercourse, philosophy of, 105. + + Social changes, true source of, 386. + + Spectrum analysis, 295. + + Spiral nebula, 255. + + Steam-engine, multiplied effects of, 53. + + Sun, constitution of, 294, 296; relation of plane of its equator to + plane of planetary orbits, 266. + + +T + + Telegraph wires, comparison of to nerves, 427. + + Titles, derivation of, 72; depreciation of, 74. + + Truth, ultimate test of, 130. + + +U + + Useful passes into the beautiful, 430, 433. + + +V + + Voice, cause of loudness of, 215; cause of quality of, 215; of pitch + of, 216; intervals in, 217; variability of the pitch of, 219. + + Voluntary and involuntary actions, 319. + + +W + + Werner's system of Geology, 328; contrast of, with the modern system, + 330. + + + THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Illustrations of Universal Progress, by +Herbert Spencer + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ILLUSTRATIONS OF UNIVERSAL PROGRESS *** + +***** This file should be named 39977-8.txt or 39977-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/9/7/39977/ + +Produced by Adrian Mastronardi, tallforasmurf and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +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. 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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: Illustrations of Universal Progress + A Series of Discussions + +Author: Herbert Spencer + +Release Date: June 12, 2012 [EBook #39977] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ILLUSTRATIONS OF UNIVERSAL PROGRESS *** + + + + +Produced by Adrian Mastronardi, tallforasmurf and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div style='width:85%; border: 1px solid black; padding:0 10px 10px 10px; margin-top:16px; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;margin-bottom:16px;'> +<h2 style='margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:12px;'>Transcriber's Note</h2> +<p>While proofing and formatting this document the Project Gutenberg team noted and corrected +23 typographical errors, none of which affected the sense of the text. +In this HTML edition, corrections are shown by a light dotted underscore, +for example <ins class='correction' title='Original: Beauieu'>Beaulieu</ins>. +When the mouse is held over such a word, the text of the original pops up.</p> +</div> + + +<div id='titlepage' style='text-align:center;border: 1px solid black;padding:2em 1em;'> + +<h1> +ILLUSTRATIONS<br /> + +<span style='font-size:smaller;'>OF</span><br /> + +<span style='font-size:larger;'>UNIVERSAL PROGRESS;</span><br /> + +A Series of Discussions. +</h1> + +<h2><span style='font-size:smaller;'>BY</span><br /> +HERBERT SPENCER, +</h2> + +<h4 style='font-size:75%;line-height:1.5em;'> +AUTHOR OF<br /> +"THE PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOLOGY," "SOCIAL STATICS,"<br /> +"ESSAYS, MORAL, POLITICAL AND ÆSTHETIC," "EDUCATION,"<br /> +"FIRST PRINCIPLES," ETC., ETC., ETC. +</h4> + +<h4 style='font-size:75%;line-height:1.5em;'> +WITH<br /> +<i>A NOTICE OF SPENCER'S "NEW SYSTEM OF PHILOSOPHY."</i> +</h4> + +<h4 style='font-size:110%;line-height:1.5em;'>NEW YORK:<br /> +<span style='letter-spacing:5px;'>D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,</span><br /> +<span style='font-size:smaller;'>443 & 445 BROADWAY.<br /> +1865.</span> +</h4> +</div> + +<div style='border:1px solid black;padding:1em;margin: 2em;'> +<h2>WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR.<br /> +<span style='font-size:66%;'> +PUBLISHED BY D. APPLETON & CO. +</span></h2> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +<i>EDUCATION—INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL.</i> +1 vol., 12mo. Cloth, $1.25. +</p> + +<p> +<i>A NEW SYSTEM OF PHILOSOPHY.</i> Vol. I. <i>FIRST +PRINCIPLES.</i> Large 12mo. 503 pages. Cloth $2.00. +</p> + +<p> +<i>PRINCIPLES OF BIOLOGY.</i> In Quarterly Parts, by +Subscription. $2.00 per year. +</p> +</div> + + +<p style='text-align:center;font-size:smaller;'> +NOW IN PRESS: +</p> + + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +<i>ESSAYS—MORAL, POLITICAL, AND ÆSTHETIC.</i> +1 vol., large 12mo. Cloth. +</p> +</div> + +<p style='text-align:center;'> +<i>Copies sent by mail, postpaid, on receipt of price.</i> +</p> +</div> + +<div id='copyright' style='text-align:center;'> +<p> +<span style='font-size:smaller;'> +<span class='smcap'>Entered</span>, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by<br /> +</span> +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,<br /> +<span style='font-size:smaller;'> +In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the +Southern District of New York.</span> +</p> +</div> + +<hr class='major' /> +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_v' id='Page_v' name='Page_v'>v</a></span> +</p> + + +<h2> +<span style='font-size:75%;'>AMERICAN NOTICE</span><br /> +<span style='font-size:50%;'>OF A</span><br /> + +NEW SYSTEM OF PHILOSOPHY.<br /> + +<span style='font-size:50%;'>BY</span><br /> + +<span style='font-size:75%;'>HERBERT SPENCER.</span> +</h2> + +<p> +The author of the following work, Mr. Herbert Spencer, of +England, has entered upon the publication of a new philosophical +system, so original and comprehensive as to deserve the attention +of all earnest inquirers. He proposes nothing less than to unfold +such a complete philosophy of Nature, physical, organic, mental +and social, as Science has now for the first time made possible, +and which, if successfully executed, will constitute a momentous +step in the progress of thought. +</p> + +<p> +His system is designed to embrace five works; each a distinct +treatise, but all closely connected in plan, and treating of the following +subjects in the order presented: 1st, First Principles; +2d, Principles of Biology; 3d, Principles of Psychology; 4th, +Principles of Sociology; 5th, Principles of Morality. The +opening work of the series—<i>First Principles</i>—though somewhat +of an introductory character, is an independent and completed +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_vi' id='Page_vi' name='Page_vi'>vi</a></span> +argument. It consists of two parts: first, "The Unknowable," and +second, "The Laws of the Knowable." Unattractive as these titles +may seem, they indicate a discussion of great originality and +transcendent interest. +</p> + +<p> +When public consideration is invited to a system of philosophy +so extended as to comprehend the entire scheme of nature and +humanity, and so bold as to deal with them in the ripest spirit +of science, it is natural that many should ask at the outset how +the author stands related to the problem of Religion. Mr. +Spencer finds this the preliminary question of his philosophy, +and engages with it at the threshold of his undertaking. Before +attempting to work out a philosophical scheme, he sees that it is +at first necessary to find how far Philosophy can go and where +she must stop—the necessary limits of human knowledge, or the +circle which bounds all rational and legitimate investigation; and +this opens at once the profound and imminent question of the +spheres and relation of Religion and Science. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Spencer is a leading representative of that school of thinkers +which holds that, as man is finite, he can grasp and know +only the finite;—that by the inexorable conditions of thought all +real knowledge is relative and phenomenal, and hence that we +cannot go behind phenomena to find the ultimate causes and solve +the ultimate mystery of being. In such assertions as that "God +cannot by any searching be found out;" that "a God understood +would be no God at all;" and that "to think God <i>is</i> as we think +Him to be is blasphemy," we see the recognition of this idea of +the inscrutableness of the Absolute Cause. The doctrine itself is +neither new nor limited to a few exceptional thinkers. It is +widely affirmed by enlightened science, and pervades nearly all +the cultivated theology of the present day. Sir William +Hamilton and Dr. Mansel are among its recent and ablest expounders. +"With the exception," says Sir William Hamilton, +"of a few late absolutist theorizers in Germany, this is perhaps +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_vii' id='Page_vii' name='Page_vii'>vii</a></span> +the truth of all others most harmoniously reëchoed by every +philosopher of every school;" and among these he names Protagoras, +Aristotle, St. Augustine, Melanchthon, Scaliger, Bacon, +Spinoza, Newton, and Kant. +</p> + +<p> +But though Mr. Spencer accepts this doctrine, he has not left +it where he found it. The world is indebted to him for having +advanced the argument to a higher and grander conclusion—a +conclusion which changes the philosophical aspect of the whole +question, and involves the profoundest consequences. Hamilton +and Mansel bring us, by their inexorable logic, to the result that +we can neither know nor conceive the Infinite, and that every +attempt to do so involves us in contradiction and absurdity; but +having reached this vast negation, their logic and philosophy +break down. Accepting their conclusions as far as they go, Mr. +Spencer maintains the utter incompleteness of their reasoning, +and, pushing the inquiry still farther, he demonstrates that +though we cannot grasp the Infinite in <i>thought</i>, we can realize it +in <i>consciousness</i>. He shows that though by the laws of thinking +we are rigorously prevented from forming a <i>conception</i> of that +Incomprehensible, Omnipotent Power by which we are acted +upon in all phenomena, yet we are, by the laws of thought, equally +prevented from ridding ourselves of the <i>consciousness</i> of this +Power. He proves that this consciousness of a Supreme Cause is +not <i>negative</i>, but <i>positive</i>—that it is indestructible, and has a +higher certainty than any other belief whatever. The Unknowable, +then, in the view of Mr. Spencer, is not a mere term of negation, +nor a word employed only to express our ignorance, but it +means that Infinite Reality, that Supreme but Inscrutable Cause, +of which the universe is but a manifestation, and which has an +ever-present disclosure in human consciousness. +</p> + +<p> +Having thus found an indestructible basis in human nature +for the religious sentiment, Mr. Spencer next shows that all religions +rest upon this foundation, and contain a fundamental +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_viii' id='Page_viii' name='Page_viii'>viii</a></span> +verity—a soul of truth, which remains when their conflicting doctrines +and discordant peculiarities are mutually cancelled. In the lower +and grosser forms of religion this truth is but dimly discerned, +but becomes ever clearer the more highly the religion is developed, +surviving every change, and remaining untouched by the +severest criticism. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Spencer then proceeds to demonstrate that all science +tends to precisely the same great conclusion;—in all directions +investigation leads to insoluble mystery. Alike in the external and +the internal worlds, the man of science sees himself in the midst +of perpetual changes of which he can discover neither the beginning +nor the end. If he looks inward, he perceives that both +ends of the thread of consciousness are beyond his grasp. If he +resolve the appearances, properties, and movements of surrounding +things into manifestations of Force in Space and Time, he still +finds that Force, Space, and Time pass all understanding. Thus +do all lines of argument converge to the same conclusion. +Whether we scrutinize internal consciousness or external phenomena, +or trace to their root the faiths of mankind, we reach that +common ground where all antagonisms disappear—that highest +and most abstract of all truths, which is affirmed with equal +certainty by both religion and science, and in which may be +found their full and final reconciliation. +</p> + +<p> +It is perhaps hardly just to Mr. Spencer to state his position +upon this grave subject without giving also the accompanying +reasoning; but so compressed and symmetrical is his argument +that it cannot be put into narrower compass without mutilation. +To those interested in the advance of thought in this direction, +we may say that the discussion will be found unsurpassed in +nobleness of aim, eloquence of statement, philosophic breadth, +and depth and power of reasoning. +</p> + +<p> +This portion of the work embraces five chapters, as follows: +I. Religion and Science; II. Ultimate Religious Ideas; III. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_ix' id='Page_ix' name='Page_ix'>ix</a></span> +Ultimate Scientific Ideas; IV. The Relativity of all Knowledge; +V. The Reconciliation. +</p> + +<p> +The second and larger portion of <i>First Principles</i> Mr. +Spencer designates "The Laws of the Knowable." By these he +understands those fundamental and universal principles reached +by scientific investigation, which underlie all phenomena, and +are necessary to their explanation. Certain great laws have been +established which are found equally true in all departments of +nature, and these are made the foundation of his philosophy. +The sublime idea of the Unity of the Universe, to which science +has long been tending, Mr. Spencer has made peculiarly his own. +Through the vast diversities of nature he discerns a oneness of +order and method, which necessitates but one philosophy of being; +the same principles being found to regulate the course of celestial +movement, terrestrial changes, and the phenomena of life, +mind, and society. These may all be comprehended in a single +philosophical scheme, so that each shall throw light upon the +other, and the mastery of one help to the comprehension of all. +</p> + +<p> +To Mr. Spencer the one conception which spans the universe +and solves the widest range of its problems—which reaches outward +through boundless space and back through illimitable time, +resolving the deepest questions of life, mind, society, history, and +civilization, which predicts the glorious possibilities of the future, +and reveals the august method by which the Divine Power works +evermore,—this one, all-elucidating conception, is expressed by +the term <span class='smcap'>Evolution</span>. To this great subject he has devoted his +remarkable powers of thought for many years, and stands toward +it not only in the relation of an expositor, but also in that of a +discoverer. +</p> + +<p> +The fact that all living beings are developed from a minute +structureless germ has long been known, while the law which +governs their evolution—that the change is ever from the homogeneous +to the heterogeneous—has been arrived at within a +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_x' id='Page_x' name='Page_x'>x</a></span> +generation. But this fact of growth is by no means limited to the +physical history of plants and animals—it is exemplified upon a +far more extended scale. Astronomers hold that the solar system +has gone through such a process, and Geologists teach that the +earth has had its career of evolution. Animals have a mental +as well as a physical development, and there is also a progress of +knowledge, of religion, of the arts and sciences, of institutions, +manners, governments, and civilization itself. Mr. Spencer has +the honour of having first established the universality of the principle +by which all these changes are governed. The law of evolution, +which has been hitherto limited to plants and animals, he +demonstrates to be the law of <i>all</i> evolution. This doctrine is +unfolded in the first Essay of the present volume, and is more or +less fully illustrated in the others; but it will be found elaborately +worked out in the second part of <i>First Principles</i>. +</p> + +<p> +The course of the discussion in this part of the work will be +best shown by enumerating the titles to the chapters, which are +as follows: I. Laws in General; II. The Law of Evolution; III. +The Same continued; IV. The Causes of Evolution; V. Space, +Time, Matter, Motion, and Force; VI. The Indestructibility of +Matter; VII. The Continuity of Motion; VIII. The Persistence +of Force; IX. The Correlation and Equivalence of Forces; X. +The Direction of Motion; XI. The Rhythm of Motion; XII. +The Conditions Essential to Evolution; XIII. The Instability of +the Homogeneous; XIV. The Multiplication of Effects; XV. +Differentiation and Integration; XVI. Equilibration; XVII. +Summary and Conclusion. +</p> + +<p> +A most interesting and fruitful field of thought, it will be +seen, is here traversed 7by our author, and the latest and highest +questions of science are discussed under novel aspects and in new +relations. Not only do the pages abound with acute suggestions +and fresh views, but the entire argument, in its leading +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_xi' id='Page_xi' name='Page_xi'>xi</a></span> +demonstrations, and the full breadth of its philosophic scope, is stamped +with a high originality. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +Having thus determined the sphere of philosophy and ascertained +those fundamental principles governing all orders of phenomena +which are to be subsequently used for guidance and verification, +the author proceeds to the second work of the series, +which is devoted to Biology, or the Science of Life. He regards +life not as a foreign and unintelligible something, thrust into the +scheme of nature, of which we can know nothing save its mystery, +but as an essential part of the universal plan. The harmonies +of life are regarded as but phases of the universal harmony, +and Biology is studied by the same methods as other departments +of science. The great truths of Physics and Chemistry +are applied to its elucidation; its facts are collected, its inductions +established, and constantly verified by the first principles +laid down at the outset. Apart from its connections with the +philosophical system, of which it forms a part, this work will +have great intrinsic interest. Nothing was more needed than a +compact and well-digested statement of those general principles +of life to which science has arrived, and Mr. Spencer's presentation +is proving to be just what is required. Some idea of his +mode of treating the subject may be formed by glancing over a +few of his first chapter-headings. <span class='smcap'>Part First</span>: I. Organic Matter; +II. The Actions of Forces on Organic Matter; III. The Reactions +of Organic Matter on Forces; IV. Proximate Definition of Life; +V. The Correspondence between Life and its Circumstances; +VI. The Degree of Life Varies with the Degree of Correspondence; +VII. Inductions of Biology. <span class='smcap'>Part Second</span>: I. Growth; +II. Development; III. Function; IV. Waste and Repair; V. +Adaptation; VI. Individuality; VII. Genesis; VIII. Heredity; +IX. Variation; X. Genesis, Heredity and Variation; XI. Classification; +XII. Distribution. +</p> + +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_xii' id='Page_xii' name='Page_xii'>xii</a></span> +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +In the scheme of nature Mind is ever associated with Life. +The third division of this philosophical system will therefore be +Psychology, or the Science of Mind. This great subject will be +considered, not by the narrow methods usual with metaphysicians, +but in its broadest aspects as a phase of nature's order—to +be studied by observation and induction through the whole +range of psychical manifestation in animated beings. The subject +of mind will be regarded in the light of the great truths of +Biology previously established; the connections of mind and life +will be traced; the progress of mentality as exhibited in the animal +grades, and the evolution of the intellectual faculties in man +will be delineated and the coöperation of mind and nature in the +production of ideas and intelligence unfolded. We have no work +upon mind of this comprehensive and thoroughly scientific character: +the materials are abundant, and the necessity of their +organization is widely recognized. That Mr. Spencer is eminently +the man to perform this great task is proved by the fact that he +is already the author of the most profound and able contribution +to the advancement of psychological science that has appeared +for many years. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +In the true philosophic order, Biology and Psychology prepare +the way for the study of social science, and hence the fourth part +of Mr. Spencer's system will treat of Sociology, or the natural laws +of society. As a knowledge of individuals must precede an understanding +of their mutual relations, so an exposition of the laws of +life and mind, which constitute the science of human nature, must +precede the successful study of social phenomena. In this part +will be considered the development of society, or that intellectual +and moral progress which depends upon the growth of human +ideas and feelings in their necessary order. The evolution of +political, ecclesiastical, and industrial organizations will be +traced, and a statement made of those principles underlying all +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_xiii' id='Page_xiii' name='Page_xiii'>xiii</a></span> +social progress, without which there can be no successful regulation +of the affairs of society. Mr. Spencer's mind has long been +occupied with these important questions, as the reader will find +by referring to his able work upon "Social Statics," published +several years ago. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +Lastly, in Part Fifth, Mr. Spencer proposes to consider the +<i>Principles of Morality</i>, bringing to bear the truths furnished by +Biology, Psychology, and Sociology, to determine the true theory +of right living. He will show that the true moral ideal and limit +of progress is the attainment of an equilibrium between constitution +and conditions of existence, and trace those principles of +private conduct, physical, intellectual, moral, and religious that +follow from the conditions to complete individual life. Those +rules of human action which all civilized nations have registered +as essential laws—the inductions of morality—will be delineated, +and also those mutual limitations of men's actions necessitated by +their coexistence as units of society, which constitute the foundation +of justice. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +It cannot be doubted that the order here indicated, as it corresponds +to the method of nature, is the one which Philosophy +must pursue in the future. It combines the precision of science +with the harmony and unity of universal truth. The time is past +when Biology can be considered with no reference to the laws of +Physics; Mind with no reference to the science of Life, and Sociology, +without having previously mastered the foregoing subjects. +The progress of knowledge is now toward more definite, +systematic, and comprehensive views, while it is the highest function +of intellect to coördinate and bind together its isolated and +fragmentary parts. In carrying out his great plan, therefore, +Mr. Spencer is but embodying the large philosophical tendencies +of the age. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_xiv' id='Page_xiv' name='Page_xiv'>xiv</a></span> +If it is urged that his scheme is too vast for any one man to +accomplish, it may be replied: 1st. That it is not intended to +treat the various subjects exhaustively, but only to state general +principles with just sufficient details for their clear illustration. +2d. A considerable portion of the work is already issued, and +much more is ready for publication, while the author is still in +the prime of life. 3d. It must be remembered that intellects occasionally +appear, endowed with that comprehensive grasp and +high organizing power which fits them for vast undertakings. +The reader will find at the close of the volume Mr. Spencer's +Prospectus of his system. That he who has so clearly mapped +out his work is the proper one to execute it, we think will be +fully apparent to all who peruse the present volume. +</p> + +<p> +An impression prevails with many that Mr. Spencer belongs +to the positive school of M. Auguste Comte. This is an entire +misapprehension; but the position having been assumed by several +of his reviewers, he repels the charge in the following letter, +which appeared in the <i>New Englander</i> for January, 1864. +</p> + + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +<i>To the Editor of the New Englander</i>: +</p> + +<p> +<span class='smcap'>Sir</span>:—While recognizing the appreciative tone and general +candour of the article in your last number, entitled "Herbert Spencer +on Ultimate Religious Ideas," allow me to point out one error +which pervades it. The writer correctly represents the leading +positions of my argument, but he inadvertently conveys a wrong +impression respecting my tendencies and sympathies. He says +of me, "the spirit of his philosophy is evidently that of the so-called +positive method which has now many partial disciples, +as well as many zealous adherents among the thinkers of England." +Further on I am tacitly classed with "the English admirers +and disciples of the great Positivist;" and it is presently +added that "in Mr. Spencer we have an example of a positivist, +who does not treat the subject of religion with supercilious neglect." +Here and throughout, the implication is that I am a follower +of Comte. This is a mistake. That M. Comte has given a +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_xv' id='Page_xv' name='Page_xv'>xv</a></span> +general exposition of the doctrine and method elaborated by +science, and has applied to it a name which has obtained a certain +currency, is true. But it is not true that the holders of this doctrine +and followers of this method are disciples of M. Comte. +Neither their modes of inquiry nor their views concerning human +knowledge in its nature and limits are appreciably different from +what they were before. If they are Positivists it is in the sense +that all men of science have been more or less consistently Positivists; +and the applicability of M. Comte's title to them no more +makes them his disciples than does its applicability to the men of +science who lived and died before M. Comte wrote, make them +his disciples. +</p> + +<p> +My own attitude toward M. Comte and his partial adherents +has been all along that of antagonism. In an essay on the +"Genesis of Science," published in 1854, and republished with +other essays in 1857, I have endeavoured to show that his theory +of the logical dependence and historical development of the +sciences is untrue. I have still among my papers the memoranda +of a second review (for which I failed to obtain a place), the purpose +of which was to show the untenableness of his theory of intellectual +progress. The only doctrine of importance in which I +agree with him—the relativity of all knowledge—is one common to +him and sundry other thinkers of earlier date; and even this I hold +in a different sense from that in which he held it. But on all +points that are distinctive of his philosophy, I differ from him. I +deny his Hierarchy of the Sciences. I regard his division of intellectual +progress into the three phases, theological, metaphysical, +and positive, as superficial. I reject utterly his Religion of +Humanity. And his ideal of society I hold in detestation. Some +of his minor views I accept; some of his incidental remarks seem +to me to be profound, but from everything which distinguishes +Comteism as a system, I dissent entirely. The only influence on +my own course of thought which I can trace to M. Comte's writings, +is the influence that results from meeting with antagonistic opinions +definitely expressed. +</p> + +<p> +Such being my position, you will, I think, see that by classing +me as a Positivist, and tacitly including me among the English +admirers and disciples of Comte, your reviewer unintentionally +misrepresents me. I am quite ready to bear the odium attaching +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_xvi' id='Page_xvi' name='Page_xvi'>xvi</a></span> +to opinions which I do hold; but I object to have added the +odium attaching to opinions which I <i>do not</i> hold. If, by publishing +this letter in your forthcoming number, you will allow me to +set myself right with the American public on this matter, you will +greatly oblige me. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, +</p> +<p class='ralign'> +<span class='smcap'>Herbert Spencer</span>. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +We take the liberty of making an extract from a private letter +of Mr. Spencer, which contains some further observations in the +same connection: +</p> + + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +"There appears to have got abroad in the United States, a +very erroneous impression respecting the influence of Comte's +writings in England. I suppose that the currency obtained by +the words 'Positivism' and 'Positivist,' is to blame for this. +Comte having designated by the term Positive Philosophy all +that body of definitely-established knowledge which men of +science have been gradually organizing into a coherent body of +doctrine, and having habitually placed this in opposition to the +incoherent body of doctrine defended by theologians, it has become +the habit of the theological party to think of the antagonist +scientific party under this title of Positivists applied to them by +Comte. And thus, from the habit of calling them Positivists +there has grown up the assumption that they call themselves Positivists, +and that they are the disciples of Comte. The truth is +that Comte and his doctrines receive here scarcely any attention. +I know something of the scientific world in England, and I cannot +name a single man of science who acknowledges himself a follower +of Comte, or accepts the title of Positivist. Lest, however, +there should be some such who were unknown to me, I have recently +made inquiries into the matter. To Professor Tyndall I +put the question whether Comte had exerted any appreciable influence +on his own course of thought: and he replied, 'So far as +I know, my own course of thought would have been exactly the +same had Comte never existed.' I then asked, 'Do you know +any men of science whose views have been affected by Comte's +writings?' and his answer was: 'His influence on scientific +thought in England is absolutely <i>nil</i>.' To the same questions +Prof. Huxley returned, in other words, the same answers. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_xvii' id='Page_xvii' name='Page_xvii'>xvii</a></span> +Professors Huxley and Tyndall, being leaders in their respective departments, +and being also men of general culture and philosophic +insight, I think that, joining their impressions with my own, I am +justified in saying that the scientific world of England is wholly +uninfluenced by Comte. Such small influence as he has had here +has been on some literary men and historians—men who were attracted +by the grand achievements of science, who were charmed +by the plausible system of scientific generalizations put forth by +Comte, with the usual French regard for symmetry and disregard +for fact, and who were, from their want of scientific training, +unable to detect the essential fallaciousness of his system. Of +these the most notable example was the late Mr. Buckle. Besides +him, I can name but seven men who have been in any appreciable +degree influenced by Comte; and of these, four, if not five, are +scarcely known to the public." +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Mr. Spencer's philosophical series is published by D. Appleton +& Co., New York, in quarterly parts (80 to 100 pages each), by +subscription, at two dollars a year. "<i>First Principles</i>" is issued +in one volume, and four parts of Biology have appeared. We +subjoin some notices of his philosophy from American and English +reviews. +</p> + + +<div class="blockquote"> + + +<h4> +<i>From the National Quarterly Review</i> (American.) +</h4> + +<p> +Comte thus founded social science, and opened a path for +future discoverers; but he did not perceive, any more than previous +inquirers, the fundamental law of human evolution. It was +reserved for Herbert Spencer to discover this all-comprehensive +law which is found to explain alike all the phenomena of man's +history and all those of external nature. This sublime discovery, +that the universe is in a continuous process of evolution from the +homogeneous to the heterogeneous, with which only Newton's +law of gravitation is at all worthy to be compared, underlies not +only physics, but also history. It reveals the law to which social +changes conform. +</p> +</div> + + +<div class="blockquote"> + + +<h4> +<i>From the Christian Examiner.</i> +</h4> + +<p> +Reverent and bold—reverent for truth, though not for the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_xviii' id='Page_xviii' name='Page_xviii'>xviii</a></span> +forms of truth, and not for much that we hold true—bold in the +destruction of error, though without that joy in destruction which +often claims the name of boldness;—these works are interesting +in themselves and in their relation to the current thought of the +time. They seem at first sight to form the turning point in the +positive philosophy, but closer examination shows us that it is +only a new and marked stage in a regular growth. It is the +positive philosophy reaching the higher relations of our being, +and establishing what before it ignored because it had not +reached, and by ignoring seemed to deny. This system formerly +excluded theology and psychology. In the works of Herbert Spencer +we have the rudiments of a positive theology and an immense +step toward the perfection of the science of psychology.... +Such is a brief and meagre sketch of a discussion which we +would commend to be followed in detail by every mind interested +in theological studies. Herbert Spencer comes in good faith from +what has been so long a hostile camp, bringing a flag of truce +and presenting terms of agreement meant to be honourable to +both parties: let us give him a candid hearing.... In +conclusion, we would remark that the work of Herbert Spencer +referred to (First Principles) is not mainly theological, but will +present the latest and broadest generalizations of science, and we +would commend to our readers this author, too little known +among us, as at once one of the clearest of teachers and one of the +wisest and most honourable of opponents. +</p> +</div> + + +<div class="blockquote"> + + +<h4> +<i>From the New Englander.</i> +</h4> + +<p> +Though we find here some unwarranted assumptions, as well +as some grave omissions, yet this part (Laws of the Knowable) +may be considered, upon the whole, as a fine specimen of scientific +reasoning. Considerable space is devoted to the "Law of +Evolution" the discovery of which is the author's chief claim to +originality, and certainly evinces great power of generalization. +To quote the abstract definition without a full statement of the +inductions from which it is derived would convey no fair impression +of the breadth and strength of the thought which it +epitomizes. Of Mr. Spencer's general characteristics as a writer, +we may observe that his style is marked by great purity, clearness, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_xix' id='Page_xix' name='Page_xix'>xix</a></span> +and force; though it is somewhat diffuse, and the abstract +nature of some of his topics occasionally renders his thought difficult +of apprehension. His treatment of his subjects is generally +thorough and sometimes exhaustive; his arguments are always +ingenious if not always convincing; his illustrations are drawn +from almost every accessible field of human knowledge, and his +method of "putting things" is such as to make the most of his +materials. He is undoubtedly entitled to a high rank among the +speculative and philosophic writers of the present day.... +</p> + +<p> +In Mr. Spencer we have the example of a positivist, who does +not treat the subject of religion with supercilious neglect, and +who illustrates by his own method of reasoning upon the highest +objects of human thought, the value of those metaphysical studies +which it is so much the fashion of his school to decry. For both +these reasons the volume, which we now propose to examine, +deserves the careful attention of the theologian who desires to +know what one of the strongest thinkers of his school, commonly +thought atheistic in its tendencies, can say in behalf of our ultimate +religious ideas. For if we mistake not, in spite of the very +negative character of his own results, he has furnished some +strong arguments for the doctrine of a positive Christian theology. +We shall be mistaken if we expect to find him carelessly +passing these matters by (religious faith and theological science) +as in all respects beyond knowledge and of no practical concern. +On the contrary, he gives them profound attention, and arrives +at conclusions in regard to them which even the Christian theologian +must allow to contain a large measure of truth. While +showing the <i>unsearchable nature</i> of the ultimate facts on which +religion depends, he demonstrates their <i>real existence</i> and their +great importance.... In answering these questions Mr. +Spencer has, we think, arrived nearer to a true philosophy than +either Hamilton or Mansel. At least he has indicated in a more +satisfactory manner than they have done, the positive datum of +consciousness that the unconditioned, though inscrutable, <i>exists</i>. +It may be said that Mr. Spencer is not chargeable with excluding +God from the universe, or denying all revelation of Him in His +works, since he earnestly defends the truth that an inscrutable +power is shown to <i>exist</i>. We certainly would not charge him +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_xx' id='Page_xx' name='Page_xx'>xx</a></span> +with theoretical atheism, holding as he does this ultimate religious idea. +</p> +</div> + + +<div class="blockquote"> + + +<h4> +<i>From the North American Review.</i> +</h4> + +<p> +The law of organic development announced in the early part +of the present century, by Goethe, Schelling, and Von Baer, and +vaguely expressed in the formula, that "evolution is always from +the homogenous to the heterogeneous, and from the simple to the +complex," has recently been extended by Herbert Spencer so as +to include all phenomena whatsoever. He has shown that this +law of evolution is the law of <i>all</i> evolution. Whether it be in the +development of the earth or of life upon its surface, in the development +of Society, of government, of manufactures, of commerce, +of language, literature, science and art, this same advance from +the simple to the complex, through successive differentiations, +holds uniformly. The stupendous induction from all classes of +phenomena by which Mr. Spencer proceeds to establish and illustrate +his theorem cannot be given here. +</p> +</div> + + +<div class="blockquote"> + + +<h4> +<i>From the Christian Spectator</i> (<i>English</i>). +</h4> + +<p> +Mr. Spencer claims for his view that it is not only a religious +position, but preëminently <i>the</i> religious position; and we are most +thoroughly disposed to agree with him, though we think he does +not appreciate the force of his own argument, nor fully understand +his own words. For let us now attempt to realize the +meaning of this fact, of which Mr. Spencer and his compeers have +put us in possession; let us endeavour to see whether its bearings +are really favorable or adverse to religion. They are put forward +indeed avowedly as adverse to any other religion than a mere +reverential acquiescence in ignorance concerning all that truly +exists; but it appears to us that this supposed opposition to religion +arises from the fact that the doctrine itself is so profoundly, +so intensely, so overwhelmingly religious, nay, so utterly and entirely +<span class='smcap'>Christian</span>, that its true meaning could not be seen for very +glory. Like Moses, when he came down from the Mount, this +positive philosophy comes with a veil over its face, that its too +divine radiance may be hidden for a time. This is Science that +has been conversing with <span class='smcap'>God</span>, and brings in her hand His law +written on tables of stone. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_xxi' id='Page_xxi' name='Page_xxi'>xxi</a></span> +</p> + + +<div class="blockquote"> + + +<h4> +<i>From the Reader.</i> +</h4> + +<p> +To answer the question of the likelihood of the permanence +of Mr. Mill's philosophic reign, ... we should have to take +account, among other things, of the differences from Mr. Mill +already shown by the extraordinarily able and peculiarly original +thinker whose name we have associated with Mr. Mill's at the +head of this article. We may take occasion, at another time, to +call attention to these speculations of Mr. Herbert Spencer, whose +works in the meantime, and especially that new one whose title +we have cited, we recommend to all those select readers whose +appreciation of masterly exposition, and great reach and boldness +of generalization, does not depend on their mere disposition to +agree with the doctrines propounded. +</p> +</div> + + +<div class="blockquote"> + + +<h4> +<i>From the British Quarterly Review.</i> +</h4> + +<p> +Complete in itself, it is at the same time but a part of a whole, +which, if it should be constructed in proportion, will be ten times +as great. For these First Principles are merely the foundation +of a system of philosophy, bolder, more elaborate and comprehensive, +perhaps, than any other which has been hitherto designed +in England.... Widely as it will be seen we differ from +the author on some points, we very sincerely hope he may succeed +in accomplishing the bold and magnificent project he has +mapped out. +</p> +</div> + + +<div class="blockquote"> + + +<h4> +<i>From the Cornhill Magazine.</i> +</h4> + +<p> +Our "Survey," superficial as it is, must include at least the +mention of a work so lofty in aim, and so remarkable in execution +as the system of Philosophy which Mr. Herbert Spencer is +issuing to subscribers.... In spite of all dissidence respecting +the conclusions, the serious reader will applaud the profound +earnestness and thoroughness with which these conclusions are +advocated; the universal scientific knowledge brought to bear on +them by way of illustration, and the acute and subtle thinking +displayed in every chapter. +</p> +</div> + + +<div class="blockquote"> + + +<h4> +<i>From the Parthenon.</i> +</h4> + +<p> +By these books he has wedged his way into fame in a manner +distinctly original, and curiously marked.... There is a +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_xxii' id='Page_xxii' name='Page_xxii'>xxii</a></span> +peculiar charm in this author's style, in that it sacrifices to no +common taste, while at the same time it makes the most abstruse +questions intelligible.... The book, if it is to be noticed +with the slightest degree of fairness, requires to be read and re-read, +to be studied apart from itself and with itself. For whatever +may be its ultimate fate—although as the ages go on it shall +become but as the lispings of a little child, a little more educated +than other lisping children of the same time—this is certain, that, +as a book addressed to the present, it lifts the mind far above the +ordinary range of thought, suggests new associations, arranges +chaotic pictures, strikes often a broad harmony, and even moves +the heart by an intellectual struggle as passionless as fate, but as +irresistible as time. +</p> +</div> + + +<div class="blockquote"> + + +<h4> +<i>From the Critic.</i> +</h4> + +<p> +Mr. Spencer is the foremost mind of the only philosophical +school in England which has arrived at a consistent scheme... Beyond +this school we encounter an indolent chaotic +<ins class='correction' title='Original: electicism'>eclecticism</ins>. Mr. Spencer claims the respect due to distinct and +daring individuality; others are echoes or slaves. Mr. Spencer +may be a usurper, but he has the voice and gesture of a king. +</p> +</div> + + +<div class="blockquote"> + + +<h4> +<i>From the Medico-Chirurgical Review.</i> +</h4> + +<p> +Mr. Spencer is equally remarkable for his search after first +principles; for his acute attempts to decompose mental phenomena +into their primary elements; and for his broad generalizations of +mental activity, viewed in connection with nature, instinct, and +all the analogies presented by <i>life</i> in its universal aspects. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_xxiii' id='Page_xxiii' name='Page_xxiii'>xxiii</a></span> +</p> + + + + +<h2> +EDITOR'S PREFACE. +</h2> + + +<p> +The essays contained in the present volume were +first published in the English periodicals—chiefly the +Quarterly Reviews. They contain ideas of permanent +interest, and display an amount of thought and +labor evidently much greater than is usually bestowed +on review articles. They were written with a view to +ultimate republication in an enduring form, and were +issued in London with several other papers, under the +title of "Essays; Scientific, Political, and Speculative," +first and second series;—the former appearing in 1857, +and the latter in 1863. +</p> + +<p> +The interest created in Mr. Spencer's writings by +the publication in this country of his valuable work on +"Education," and by criticisms of his other works, has +created a demand for these discussions which can only +be supplied by their republication. They are now, +however, issued in a new form, and are more suited to +develop the author's purpose in their preparation; for +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_xxiv' id='Page_xxiv' name='Page_xxiv'>xxiv</a></span> +while each of these essays has its intrinsic and independent +claims upon the reader's attention, they are all +at the same time but parts of a connected and comprehensive +argument. Nearly all of Mr. Spencer's essays +have relations more or less direct to the general doctrine +of Evolution—a doctrine which he has probably +done more to unfold and illustrate than any other +thinker. The papers comprised in the present volume +are those which deal with the subject in its most obvious +and prominent aspects. +</p> + +<p> +Although the argument contained in the first essay +on "Progress; its Law and Cause," has been published +in an amplified form in the author's "First Principles," +it has been thought best to prefix it to the present collection +as a key to the full interpretation of the other +essays. +</p> + +<p> +To those who read this volume its commendation +will be superfluous; we will only say that those who +become interested in his course of thought will find it +completely elaborated in his new System of Philosophy, +now in course of publication. +</p> + +<p> +The remaining articles of Mr. Spencer's first and +second series will be shortly published, in a volume entitled +"Essays; Moral, Political, and Æsthetic." +</p> + + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +<span class='smcap'>New York</span>, <i>March</i>, 1864. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_xxv' id='Page_xxv' name='Page_xxv'>xxv</a></span> +</p> + + + + +<h2> +CONTENTS. +</h2> + + +<table style="width:80%;margin:1em auto;"> + <tr> <td class="TR" style="width:10%;"> </td> + <td> </td> + <td class="TR" style="width:10%;">PAGE</td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TR">I.</td> + <td><span style='font-variant: small-caps;'>Progress: Its Law and Cause</span>,</td> + <td class="TR"><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TR">II.</td> + <td><span class='smcap'>Manners and Fashion</span>,</td> + <td class="TR"><a href='#Page_61'>61</a></td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TR">III.</td> + <td><span class='smcap'>The Genesis of Science</span>,</td> + <td class="TR"><a href='#Page_116'>116</a></td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TR">IV.</td> + <td><span class='smcap'>The Physiology of Laughter</span>,</td> + <td class="TR"><a href='#Page_194'>194</a></td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TR">V.</td> + <td><span class='smcap'>The Origin and Function of Music</span>,</td> + <td class="TR"><a href='#Page_210'>210</a></td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TR">VI.</td> + <td><span class='smcap'>The Nebular Hypothesis</span>,</td> + <td class="TR"><a href='#Page_239'>239</a></td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TR">VII.</td> + <td><span class='smcap'>Bain on the Emotions and the Will</span>,</td> + <td class="TR"><a href='#Page_300'>300</a></td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TR">VIII.</td> + <td><span class='smcap'>Illogical Geology</span>,</td> + <td class="TR"><a href='#Page_325'>325</a></td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TR">IX.</td> + <td><span class='smcap'>The Development Hypothesis</span>,</td> + <td class="TR"><a href='#Page_377'>377</a></td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TR">X.</td> + <td><span class='smcap'>The Social Organism</span>,</td> + <td class="TR"><a href='#Page_384'>384</a></td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TR">XI.</td> + <td><span class='smcap'>Use and Beauty</span>,</td> + <td class="TR"><a href='#Page_429'>429</a></td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TR">XII.</td> + <td><span class='smcap'>The Sources of Architectural Types</span>,</td> + <td class="TR"><a href='#Page_434'>434</a></td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TR">XIII.</td> + <td><span class='smcap'>The Use of Anthropomorphism</span>,</td> + <td class="TR"><a href='#Page_440'>440</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_1' id='Page_1' name='Page_1'>1</a></span> +</p> + + + + +<h2> +I.<br />PROGRESS: ITS LAW AND CAUSE. +</h2> + + +<p> +The current conception of Progress is somewhat shifting +and indefinite. Sometimes it comprehends little +more than simple growth—as of a nation in the number of +its members and the extent of territory over which it has +spread. Sometimes it has reference to quantity of material +products—as when the advance of agriculture and manufactures +is the topic. Sometimes the superior quality of +these products is contemplated: and sometimes the new or +improved appliances by which they are produced. When, +again, we speak of moral or intellectual progress, we refer +to the state of the individual or people exhibiting it; while, +when the progress of Knowledge, of Science, of Art, is +commented upon, we have in view certain abstract results +of human thought and action. Not only, however, is the +current conception of Progress more or less vague, but it +is in great measure erroneous. It takes in not so much the +reality of Progress as its accompaniments—not so much +the substance as the shadow. That progress in intelligence +seen during the growth of the child into the man, or the +savage into the philosopher, is commonly regarded as consisting +in the greater number of facts known and laws +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_2' id='Page_2' name='Page_2'>2</a></span> +understood: whereas the actual progress consists in those +internal modifications of which this increased knowledge +is the expression. Social progress is supposed to consist in +the produce of a greater quantity and variety of the articles +required for satisfying men's wants; in the increasing +security of person and property; in widening freedom of +action: whereas, rightly understood, social progress consists +in those changes of structure in the social organism +which have entailed these consequences. The current conception +is a teleological one. The phenomena are contemplated +solely as bearing on human happiness. Only those +changes are held to constitute progress which directly or +indirectly tend to heighten human happiness. And they +are thought to constitute progress simply <i>because</i> they tend +to heighten human happiness. But rightly to understand +progress, we must inquire what is the nature of these +changes, considered apart from our interests. Ceasing, for +example, to regard the successive geological modifications +that have taken place in the Earth, as modifications that +have gradually fitted it for the habitation of Man, and as +<i>therefore</i> a geological progress, we must seek to determine +the character common to these modifications—the law to +which they all conform. And similarly in every other case. +Leaving out of sight concomitants and beneficial consequences, +let us ask what Progress is in itself. +</p> + +<p> +In respect to that progress which individual organisms +display in the course of their evolution, this question has +been answered by the Germans. The investigations of +Wolff, Goethe, and Von Baer, have established the truth +that the series of changes gone through during the development +of a seed into a tree, or an ovum into an animal, +constitute an advance from homogeneity of structure to +heterogeneity of structure. In its primary stage, every +germ consists of a substance that is uniform throughout, +both in texture and chemical composition. The first step +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_3' id='Page_3' name='Page_3'>3</a></span> +is the appearance of a difference between two parts of this +substance; or, as the phenomenon is called in physiological +language, a differentiation. Each of these differentiated +divisions presently begins itself to exhibit some contrast of +parts; and by and by these secondary differentiations become +as definite as the original one. This process is continuously +repeated—is simultaneously going on in all parts +of the growing embryo; and by endless such differentiations +there is finally produced that complex combination of +tissues and organs constituting the adult animal or plant. +This is the history of all organisms whatever. It is settled +beyond dispute that organic progress consists in a change +from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous. +</p> + +<p> +Now, we propose in the first place to show, that this +law of organic progress is the law of all progress. Whether +it be in the development of the Earth, in the development +of Life upon its surface, in the development of Society, of +Government, of Manufactures, of Commerce, of Language, +Literature, Science, Art, this same evolution of the simple +into the complex, through successive differentiations, holds +throughout. From the earliest traceable cosmical changes +down to the latest results of civilization, we shall find that +the transformation of the homogeneous into the heterogeneous, +is that in which Progress essentially consists. +</p> + +<p> +With the view of showing that <i>if</i> the Nebular Hypothesis +be true, the genesis of the solar system supplies one +illustration of this law, let us assume that the matter of +which the sun and planets consist was once in a diffused +form; and that from the gravitation of its atoms there +resulted a gradual concentration. By the hypothesis, the +solar system in its nascent state existed as an indefinitely +extended and nearly homogeneous medium—a medium +almost homogeneous in density, in temperature, and in +other physical attributes. The first advance towards consolidation +resulted in a differentiation between the occupied +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_4' id='Page_4' name='Page_4'>4</a></span> +space which the nebulous mass still filled, and the unoccupied +space which it previously filled. There simultaneously +resulted a contrast in density and a contrast in temperature, +between the interior and the exterior of this mass. +And at the same time there arose throughout it rotatory +movements, whose velocities varied according to their distances +from its centre. These differentiations increased in +number and degree until there was evolved the organized +group of sun, planets, and satellites, which we now know—a +group which presents numerous contrasts of structure +and action among its members. There are the immense +contrasts between the sun and planets, in bulk and in +weight; as well as the subordinate contrasts between one +planet and another, and between the planets and their satellites. +There is the similarly marked contrast between +the sun as almost stationary, and the planets as moving +round him with great velocity; while there are the secondary +contrasts between the velocities and periods of the +several planets, and between their simple revolutions and +the double ones of their satellites, which have to move +round their primaries while moving round the sun. There +is the yet further strong contrast between the sun and the +planets in respect of temperature; and there is reason to +suppose that the planets and satellites differ from each +other in their proper heat, as well as in the heat they receive +from the sun. +</p> + +<p> +When we bear in mind that, in addition to these various +contrasts, the planets and satellites also differ in respect to +their distances from each other and their primary; in respect +to the inclinations of their orbits, the inclinations of their +axes, their times of rotation on their axes, their specific gravities, +and their physical constitutions; we see what a high +degree of heterogeneity the solar system exhibits, when +compared with the almost complete homogeneity of the +nebulous mass out of which it is supposed to have originated. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_5' id='Page_5' name='Page_5'>5</a></span> +Passing from this hypothetical illustration, which must +be taken for what it is worth, without prejudice to the +general argument, let us descend to a more certain order +of evidence. It is now generally agreed among geologists +that the Earth was at first a mass of molten matter; and +that it is still fluid and incandescent at the distance of a few +miles beneath its surface. Originally, then, it was homogeneous +in consistence, and, in virtue of the circulation +that takes place in heated fluids, must have been comparatively +homogeneous in temperature; and it must have been +surrounded by an atmosphere consisting partly of the elements +of air and water, and partly of those various other +elements which assume a gaseous form at high temperatures. +That slow cooling by radiation which is still going +on at an inappreciable rate, and which, though originally +far more rapid than now, necessarily required an immense +time to produce any decided change, must ultimately have +resulted in the solidification of the portion most able to +part with its heat—namely, the surface. In the thin crust +thus formed we have the first marked differentiation. A still +further cooling, a consequent thickening of this crust, and an +accompanying deposition of all solidifiable elements contained +in the atmosphere, must finally have been followed +by the condensation of the water previously existing as +vapour. A second marked differentiation must thus have +arisen: and as the condensation must have taken place on +the coolest parts of the surface—namely, about the poles—there +must thus have resulted the first geographical distinction +of parts. To these illustrations of growing heterogeneity, +which, though deduced from the known laws of +matter, may be regarded as more or less hypothetical, +Geology adds an extensive series that have been inductively +established. Its investigations show that the Earth has +been continually becoming more heterogeneous in virtue +of the multiplication of the strata which form its crust; +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_6' id='Page_6' name='Page_6'>6</a></span> +further, that it has been becoming more heterogeneous in +respect of the composition of these strata, the latter of +which, being made from the detritus of the older ones, are +many of them rendered highly complex by the mixture of +materials they contain; and that this heterogeneity has +been vastly increased by the action of the Earth's still +molten nucleus upon its envelope, whence have resulted +not only a great variety of igneous rocks, but the tilting +up of sedimentary strata at all angles, the formation of +faults and metallic veins, the production of endless dislocations +and irregularities. Yet again, geologists teach us +that the Earth's surface has been growing more varied in +elevation—that the most ancient mountain systems are the +smallest, and the Andes and Himalayas the most modern; +while in all probability there have been corresponding +changes in the bed of the ocean. As a consequence of +these ceaseless differentiations, we now find that no considerable +portion of the Earth's exposed surface is like any +other portion, either in contour, in geologic structure, or +in chemical composition; and that in most parts it changes +from mile to mile in all these characteristics. +</p> + +<p> +Moreover, it must not be forgotten that there has been +simultaneously going on a gradual differentiation of climates. +As fast as the Earth cooled and its crust solidified, there arose +appreciable differences in temperature between those parts +of its surface most exposed to the sun and those less exposed. +Gradually, as the cooling progressed, these differences became +more pronounced; until there finally resulted those +marked contrasts between regions of perpetual ice and +snow, regions where winter and summer alternately reign +for periods varying according to the latitude, and regions +where summer follows summer with scarcely an appreciable +variation. At the same time the successive elevations and +subsidences of different portions of the Earth's crust, tending +as they have done to the present irregular distribution +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_7' id='Page_7' name='Page_7'>7</a></span> +of land and sea, have entailed various modifications of climate +beyond those dependent on latitude; while a yet further +series of such modifications have been produced by +increasing differences of elevation in the land, which have +in sundry places brought arctic, temperate, and tropical +climates to within a few miles of each other. And the +general result of these changes is, that not only has every +extensive region its own meteorologic conditions, but that +every locality in each region differs more or less from others +in those conditions, as in its structure, its contour, its +soil. Thus, between our existing Earth, the phenomena of +whose varied crust neither geographers, geologists, mineralogists, +nor meteorologists have yet enumerated, and the +molten globe out of which it was evolved, the contrast in +heterogeneity is sufficiently striking. +</p> + +<p> +When from the Earth itself we turn to the plants and +animals that have lived, or still live, upon its surface, we +find ourselves in some difficulty from lack of facts. That +every existing organism has been developed out of the +simple into the complex, is indeed the first established +truth of all; and that every organism that has existed was +similarly developed, is an inference which no physiologist +will hesitate to draw. But when we pass from individual +forms of life to Life in general, and inquire whether the +same law is seen in the <i>ensemble</i> of its manifestations,—whether +modern plants and animals are of more heterogeneous +structure than ancient ones, and whether the +Earth's present Flora and Fauna are more heterogeneous +than the Flora and Fauna of the past,—we find the evidence +so fragmentary, that every conclusion is open to +dispute. Two-thirds of the Earth's surface being covered +by water; a great part of the exposed land being inaccessible +to, or untravelled by, the geologist; the greater part +of the remainder having been scarcely more than glanced +at; and even the most familiar portions, as England, having +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_8' id='Page_8' name='Page_8'>8</a></span> +been so imperfectly explored that a new series of strata +has been added within these four years,—it is manifestly +impossible for us to say with any certainty what creatures +have, and what have not, existed at any particular period. +Considering the perishable nature of many of the lower +organic forms, the metamorphosis of many sedimentary +strata, and the gaps that occur among the rest, we shall +see further reason for distrusting our deductions. On the +one hand, the repeated discovery of vertebrate remains in +strata previously supposed to contain none,—of reptiles +where only fish were thought to exist,—of mammals where +it was believed there were no creatures higher than reptiles,—renders +it daily more manifest how small is the +value of negative evidence. +</p> + +<p> +On the other hand, the worthlessness of the assumption +that we have discovered the earliest, or anything like the +earliest, organic remains, is becoming equally clear. That +the oldest known sedimentary rocks have been greatly +changed by igneous action, and that still older ones have +been totally transformed by it, is becoming undeniable. +And the fact that sedimentary strata earlier than any we +know, have been melted up, being admitted, it must also +be admitted that we cannot say how far back in time this +destruction of sedimentary strata has been going on. Thus +it is manifest that the title, <i>Palæozoic</i>, as applied to the +earliest known fossiliferous strata, involves a <i>petitio principii</i>; +and that, for aught we know to the contrary, only the +last few chapters of the Earth's biological history may have +come down to us. On neither side, therefore, is the evidence +conclusive. Nevertheless we cannot but think that, +scanty as they are, the facts, taken altogether, tend to show +both that the more heterogeneous organisms have been +evolved in the later geologic periods, and that Life in +general has been more heterogeneously manifested as time +has advanced. Let us cite, in illustration, the one case of +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_9' id='Page_9' name='Page_9'>9</a></span> +the <i>vertebrata</i>. The earliest known vertebrate remains are +those of Fishes; and Fishes are the most homogeneous of +the vertebrata. Later and more heterogeneous are Reptiles. +Later still, and more heterogeneous still, are Mammals +and Birds. If it be said, as it may fairly be said, that +the Palæozoic deposits, not being estuary deposits, are not +likely to contain the remains of terrestrial vertebrata, which +may nevertheless have existed at that era, we reply that we +are merely pointing to the leading facts, <i>such as they are</i>. +</p> + +<p> +But to avoid any such criticism, let us take the mammalian +subdivision only. The earliest known remains of +mammals are those of small marsupials, which are the lowest +of the mammalian type; while, conversely, the highest +of the mammalian type—Man—is the most recent. The +evidence that the vertebrate fauna, as a whole, has become +more heterogeneous, is considerably stronger. To the +argument that the vertebrate fauna of the Palæozoic period, +consisting, so far as we know, entirely of Fishes, was less +heterogeneous than the modern vertebrate fauna, which +includes Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals, of multitudinous +genera, it may be replied, as before, that estuary deposits +of the Palæozoic period, could we find them, might contain +other orders of vertebrata. But no such reply can be made +to the argument that whereas the marine vertebrata of the +Palæozoic period consisted entirely of cartilaginous fishes, +the marine vertebrata of later periods include numerous +genera of osseous fishes; and that, therefore, the later +marine vertebrate faunas are more heterogeneous than the +oldest known one. Nor, again, can any such reply be made +to the fact that there are far more numerous orders and +genera of mammalian remains in the tertiary formations than +in the secondary formations. Did we wish merely to make +out the best case, we might dwell upon the opinion of Dr. +Carpenter, who says that "the general facts of Palæontology +appear to sanction the belief, that <i>the same plan</i> may +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_10' id='Page_10' name='Page_10'>10</a></span> +be traced out in what may be called <i>the general life of the +globe</i>, as in <i>the individual life</i> of every one of the forms of +organized being which now people it." Or we might quote, +as decisive, the judgment of Professor Owen, who holds +that the earlier examples of each group of creatures severally +departed less widely from archetypal generality than +the later ones—were severally less unlike the fundamental +form common to the group as a whole; that is to say—constituted +a less heterogeneous group of creatures; and +who further upholds the doctrine of a biological progression. +But in deference to an authority for whom we have +the highest respect, who considers that the evidence at +present obtained does not justify a verdict either way, we +are content to leave the question open. +</p> + +<p> +Whether an advance from the homogeneous to the +heterogeneous is or is not displayed in the biological history +of the globe, it is clearly enough displayed in the +progress of the latest and most heterogeneous creature—Man. +It is alike true that, during the period in which the +Earth has been peopled, the human organism has grown +more heterogeneous among the civilized divisions of the +species; and that the species, as a whole, has been growing +more heterogeneous in virtue of the multiplication of +races and the differentiation of these races from each other. +</p> + +<p> +In proof of the first of these positions, we may cite +the fact that, in the relative development of the limbs, the +civilized man departs more widely from the general type +of the placental mammalia than do the lower human races. +While often possessing well-developed body and arms, the +Papuan has extremely small legs: thus reminding us of +the quadrumana, in which there is no great contrast in +size between the hind and fore limbs. But in the European, +the greater length and massiveness of the legs has +become very marked—the fore and hind limbs are +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_11' id='Page_11' name='Page_11'>11</a></span> +relatively more heterogeneous. Again, the greater ratio +which the cranial bones bear to the facial bones illustrates +the same truth. Among the vertebrata in general, progress +is marked by an increasing heterogeneity in the vertebral +column, and more especially in the vertebræ constituting +the skull: the higher forms being distinguished by the +relatively larger size of the bones which cover the brain, +and the relatively smaller size of those which form the +jaw, &c. Now, this characteristic, which is stronger in +Man than in any other creature, is stronger in the European +than in the savage. Moreover, judging from the greater +extent and variety of faculty he exhibits, we may infer that +the civilized man has also a more complex or heterogeneous +nervous system than the uncivilized man: and +indeed the fact is in part visible in the increased ratio +which his cerebrum bears to the subjacent ganglia. +</p> + +<p> +If further elucidation be needed, we may find it in every +nursery. The infant European has sundry marked points +of resemblance to the lower human races; as in the flatness +of the alæ of the nose, the depression of its bridge, +the divergence and forward opening of the nostrils, the +form of the lips, the absence of a frontal sinus, the width +between the eyes, the smallness of the legs. Now, as the +developmental process by which these traits are turned into +those of the adult European, is a continuation of that +change from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous displayed +during the previous evolution of the embryo, which +every physiologist will admit; it follows that the parallel +developmental process by which the like traits of the barbarous +races have been turned into those of the civilized +races, has also been a continuation of the change from +the homogeneous to the heterogeneous. The truth of the +second position—that Mankind, as a whole, have become +more heterogeneous—is so obvious as scarcely to need +illustration. Every work on Ethnology, by its divisions +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_12' id='Page_12' name='Page_12'>12</a></span> +and subdivisions of races, bears testimony to it. Even +were we to admit the hypothesis that Mankind originated +from several separate stocks, it would still remain true, +that as, from each of these stocks, there have sprung many +now widely different tribes, which are proved by philological +evidence to have had a common origin, the race as a +whole is far less homogeneous than it once was. Add to +which, that we have, in the Anglo-Americans, an example +of a new variety arising within these few generations; +and that, if we may trust to the description of observers, +we are likely soon to have another such example in Australia. +</p> + +<p> +On passing from Humanity under its individual form, to +Humanity as socially embodied, we find the general law still +more variously exemplified. The change from the homogeneous +to the heterogeneous is displayed equally in the +progress of civilization as a whole, and in the progress of +every tribe or nation; and is still going on with increasing +rapidity. As we see in existing barbarous tribes, society +in its first and lowest form is a homogeneous aggregation +of individuals having like powers and like functions: the +only marked difference of function being that which accompanies +difference of sex. Every man is warrior, hunter, +fisherman, tool-maker, builder; every woman performs +the same drudgeries; every family is self-sufficing, and save +for purposes of aggression and defence, might as well live +apart from the rest. Very early, however, in the process +of social evolution, we find an incipient differentiation between +the governing and the governed. Some kind of +chieftainship seems coeval with the first advance from the +state of separate wandering families to that of a nomadic +tribe. The authority of the strongest makes itself felt +among a body of savages as in a herd of animals, or a +posse of schoolboys. At first, however, it is indefinite, uncertain; +is shared by others of scarcely inferior power; +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_13' id='Page_13' name='Page_13'>13</a></span> +and is unaccompanied by any difference in occupation or +style of living: the first ruler kills his own game, makes +his own weapons, builds his own hut, and economically considered, +does not differ from others of his tribe. Gradually, +as the tribe progresses, the contrast between the governing +and the governed grows more decided. Supreme +power becomes hereditary in one family; the head of that +family, ceasing to provide for his own wants, is served by +others; and he begins to assume the sole office of ruling. +</p> + +<p> +At the same time there has been arising a co-ordinate +species of government—that of Religion. As all ancient records +and traditions prove, the earliest rulers are regarded as +divine personages. The maxims and commands they uttered +during their lives are held sacred after their deaths, and are +enforced by their divinely-descended successors; who in +their turns are promoted to the pantheon of the race, there +to be worshipped and propitiated along with their predecessors: +the most ancient of whom is the supreme god, and +the rest subordinate gods. For a long time these connate +forms of government—civil and religious—continue closely +associated. For many generations the king continues to +be the chief priest, and the priesthood to be members of +the royal race. For many ages religious law continues to +contain more or less of civil regulation, and civil law to +possess more or less of religious sanction; and even among +the most advanced nations these two controlling agencies +are by no means completely differentiated from each other. +</p> + +<p> +Having a common root with these, and gradually diverging +from them, we find yet another controlling agency—that of +Manners or ceremonial usages. All titles of honour are +originally the names of the god-king; afterwards of God +and the king; still later of persons of high rank; and finally +come, some of them, to be used between man and man. +All forms of complimentary address were at first the expressions +of submission from prisoners to their conqueror, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_14' id='Page_14' name='Page_14'>14</a></span> +or from subjects to their ruler, either human or divine—expressions +that were afterwards used to propitiate subordinate +authorities, and slowly descended into ordinary intercourse. +All modes of salutation were once obeisances made +before the monarch and used in worship of him after his +death. Presently others of the god-descended race were similarly +saluted; and by degrees some of the salutations have +become the due of all.<a class='fnanchor' id='FA_A' name='FA_A' href='#FN_A'>[A]</a> Thus, no sooner does the originally +homogeneous social mass differentiate into the governed and +the governing parts, than this last exhibits an incipient differentiation +into religious and secular—Church and State; +while at the same time there begins to be differentiated +from both, that less definite species of government which +rules our daily intercourse—a species of government which, +as we may see in heralds' colleges, in books of the peerage, +in masters of ceremonies, is not without a certain embodiment +of its own. Each of these is itself subject to successive +differentiations. In the course of ages, there arises, as +among ourselves, a highly complex political organization of +monarch, ministers, lords and commons, with their subordinate +administrative departments, courts of justice, revenue +offices, &c., supplemented in the provinces by municipal +governments, county governments, parish or union governments—all +of them more or less elaborated. By its side +there grows up a highly complex religious organization, +with its various grades of officials, from archbishops down +to sextons, its colleges, convocations, ecclesiastical courts, +&c.; to all which must be added the ever multiplying independent +sects, each with its general and local authorities. +And at the same time there is developed a highly complex +aggregation of customs, manners, and temporary fashions, +enforced by society at large, and serving to control those +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_15' id='Page_15' name='Page_15'>15</a></span> +minor transactions between man and man which are not regulated +by civil and religious law. Moreover it is to be observed +that this ever increasing heterogeneity in the governmental +appliances of each nation, has been accompanied +by an increasing heterogeneity in the governmental appliances +of different nations; all of which are more or less +unlike in their political systems and legislation, in their +creeds and religious institutions, in their customs and ceremonial +usages. +</p> + +<p> +Simultaneously there has been going on a second differentiation +of a more familiar kind; that, namely, by +which the mass of the community has been segregated into +distinct classes and orders of workers. While the governing +part has undergone the complex development above +detailed, the governed part has undergone an equally complex +development, which has resulted in that minute division +of labour characterizing advanced nations. It is needless +to trace out this progress from its first stages, up +through the caste divisions of the East and the incorporated +guilds of Europe, to the elaborate producing and distributing +organization existing among ourselves. Political +economists have long since described the evolution which, +beginning with a tribe whose members severally perform +the same actions each for himself, ends with a civilized community +whose members severally perform different actions +for each other; and they have further pointed out the +changes through which the solitary producer of any one +commodity is transformed into a combination of producers +who, united under a master, take separate parts in the manufacture +of such commodity. But there are yet other and +higher phases of this advance from the homogeneous to the +heterogeneous in the industrial organization of society. +</p> + +<p> +Long after considerable progress has been made in the division +of labour among different classes of workers, there +is still little or no division of labour among the widely +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_16' id='Page_16' name='Page_16'>16</a></span> +separated parts of the community; the nation continues comparatively +homogeneous in the respect that in each district +the same occupations are pursued. But when roads and +other means of transit become numerous and good, the different +districts begin to assume different functions, and to +become mutually dependent. The calico manufacture locates +itself in this county, the woollen-cloth manufacture in +that; silks are produced here, lace there; stockings in one +place, shoes in another; pottery, hardware, cutlery, come +to have their special towns; and ultimately every locality +becomes more or less distinguished from the rest by the +leading occupation carried on in it. Nay, more, this subdivision +of functions shows itself not only among the different +parts of the same nation, but among different nations. +That exchange of commodities which free-trade promises +so greatly to increase, will ultimately have the effect of +specializing, in a greater or less degree, the industry of +each people. So that beginning with a barbarous tribe, +almost if not quite homogeneous in the functions of its +members, the progress has been, and still is, towards an +economic aggregation of the whole human race; growing +ever more heterogeneous in respect of the separate functions +assumed by separate nations, the separate functions +assumed by the local sections of each nation, the separate +functions assumed by the many kinds of makers and traders +in each town, and the separate functions assumed by the +workers united in producing each commodity. +</p> + +<p> +Not only is the law thus clearly exemplified in the evolution +of the social organism, but it is exemplified with equal +clearness in the evolution of all products of human thought +and action, whether concrete or abstract, real or ideal. Let +us take Language as our first illustration. +</p> + +<p> +The lowest form of language is the exclamation, by +which an entire idea is vaguely conveyed through a single +sound; as among the lower animals. That human language +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_17' id='Page_17' name='Page_17'>17</a></span> +ever consisted solely of exclamations, and so was strictly homogeneous +in respect of its parts of speech, we have no evidence. +But that language can be traced down to a form +in which nouns and verbs are its only elements, is an established +fact. In the gradual multiplication of parts of speech +out of these primary ones—in the differentiation of verbs +into active and passive, of nouns into abstract and concrete—in +the rise of distinctions of mood, tense, person, of number +and case—in the formation of auxiliary verbs, of adjectives, +adverbs, pronouns, prepositions, articles—in the divergence +of those orders, genera, species, and varieties of +parts of speech by which civilized races express minute +modifications of meaning—we see a change from the homogeneous +to the heterogeneous. And it may be remarked, +in passing, that it is more especially in virtue of having +carried this subdivision of function to a greater extent and +completeness, that the English language is superior to all +others. +</p> + +<p> +Another aspect under which we may trace the development +of language is the differentiation of words of +allied meanings. Philology early disclosed the truth that +in all languages words may be grouped into families having +a common ancestry. An aboriginal name applied indiscriminately +to each of an extensive and ill-defined class of things +or actions, presently undergoes modifications by which the +chief divisions of the class are expressed. These several +names springing from the primitive root, themselves become +the parents of other names still further modified. And by +the aid of those systematic modes which presently arise, +of making derivations and forming compound terms expressing +still smaller distinctions, there is finally developed +a tribe of words so heterogeneous in sound and meaning, +that to the uninitiated it seems incredible that they should +have had a common origin. Meanwhile from other roots +there are being evolved other such tribes, until there +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_18' id='Page_18' name='Page_18'>18</a></span> +results a language of some sixty thousand or more unlike +words, signifying as many unlike objects, qualities, acts. +</p> + +<p> +Yet another way in which language in general advances +from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous, is in the multiplication +of languages. Whether as Max Müller and Bunsen +think, all languages have grown from one stock, or +whether, as some philologists say, they have grown from +two or more stocks, it is clear that since large families of +languages, as the Indo-European, are of one parentage, +they have become distinct through a process of continuous +divergence. The same diffusion over the Earth's surface +which has led to the differentiation of the race, has simultaneously +led to a differentiation of their speech: a truth +which we see further illustrated in each nation by the peculiarities +of dialect found in several districts. Thus the progress +of Language conforms to the general law, alike in the +evolution of languages, in the evolution of families of words, +and in the evolution of parts of speech. +</p> + +<p> +On passing from spoken to written language, we come +upon several classes of facts, all having similar implications. +Written language is connate with Painting and Sculpture; +and at first all three are appendages of Architecture, and +have a direct connection with the primary form of all Government—the +theocratic. Merely noting by the way the +fact that sundry wild races, as for example the Australians +and the tribes of South Africa, are given to depicting personages +and events upon the walls of caves, which are probably +regarded as sacred places, let us pass to the case of +the Egyptians. Among them, as also among the Assyrians, +we find mural paintings used to decorate the temple of the +god and the palace of the king (which were, indeed, originally +identical); and as such they were governmental appliances +in the same sense that state-pageants and religious +feasts were. Further, they were governmental appliances +in virtue of representing the worship of the god, the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_19' id='Page_19' name='Page_19'>19</a></span> +triumphs of the god-king, the submission of his subjects, and +the punishment of the rebellious. And yet again they were +governmental, as being the products of an art reverenced +by the people as a sacred mystery. From the habitual use +of this pictorial representation there naturally grew up the +but slightly-modified practice of picture-writing—a practice +which was found still extant among the Mexicans at the time +they were discovered. By abbreviations analogous to those +still going on in our own written and spoken language, the +most familiar of these pictured figures were successively simplified; +and ultimately there grew up a system of symbols, +most of which had but a distant resemblance to the things +for which they stood. The inference that the hieroglyphics +of the Egyptians were thus produced, is confirmed by the +fact that the picture-writing of the Mexicans was found to +have given birth to a like family of ideographic forms; and, +among them, as among the Egyptians, these had been partially +differentiated into the <i>kuriological</i> or imitative, and +the <i>tropical</i> or symbolic: which were, however, used together +in the same record. In Egypt, written language +underwent a further differentiation: whence resulted the +<i>hieratic</i> and the <i>epistolographic</i> or <i>enchorial</i>: both of which +are derived from the original hieroglyphic. At the same +time we find that for the expression of proper names which +could not be otherwise conveyed, phonetic symbols were +employed; and though it is alleged that the Egyptians +never actually achieved complete alphabetic writing, yet it +can scarcely be doubted that these phonetic symbols occasionally +used in aid of their ideographic ones, were the +germs out of which alphabetic writing grew. Once having +become separate from hieroglyphics, alphabetic writing itself +underwent numerous differentiations—multiplied alphabets +were produced; between most of which, however, more +or less connection can still be traced. And in each civilized +nation there has now grown up, for the representation +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_20' id='Page_20' name='Page_20'>20</a></span> +of one set of sounds, several sets of written signs used for +distinct purposes. Finally, through a yet more important +differentiation came printing; which, uniform in kind as it +was at first, has since become multiform. +</p> + +<p> +While written language was passing through its earlier +stages of development, the mural decoration which formed +its root was being differentiated into Painting and Sculpture. +The gods, kings, men, and animals represented, were +originally marked by indented outlines and coloured. In +most cases these outlines were of such depth, and the object +they circumscribed so far rounded and marked out in +its leading parts, as to form a species of work intermediate +between intaglio and bas-relief. In other cases we see an +advance upon this: the raised spaces between the figures +being chiselled off, and the figures themselves appropriately +tinted, a painted bas-relief was produced. The restored +Assyrian architecture at Sydenham exhibits this style of +art carried to greater perfection—the persons and things +represented, though still barbarously coloured, are carved +out with more truth and in greater detail: and in the +winged lions and bulls used for the angles of gateways, we +may see a considerable advance towards a completely +sculptured figure; which, nevertheless, is still coloured, +and still forms part of the building. But while in Assyria +the production of a statue proper seems to have been little, +if at all, attempted, we may trace in Egyptian art the +gradual separation of the sculptured figure from the wall. +A walk through the collection in the British Museum will +clearly show this; while it will at the same time afford an +opportunity of observing the evident traces which the independent +statues bear of their derivation from bas-relief: +seeing that nearly all of them not only display that union +of the limbs with the body which is the characteristic of +bas-relief, but have the back of the statue united from +head to foot with a block which stands in place of the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_21' id='Page_21' name='Page_21'>21</a></span> +original wall. Greece repeated the leading stages of this +progress. As in Egypt and Assyria, these twin arts were +at first united with each other and with their parent, Architecture, +and were the aids of Religion and Government. +On the friezes of Greek temples, we see coloured bas-reliefs +representing sacrifices, battles, processions, games—all in +some sort religious. On the pediments we see painted +sculptures more or less united with the tympanum, and +having for subjects the triumphs of gods or heroes. Even +when we come to statues that are definitely separated from +the buildings to which they pertain, we still find them +coloured; and only in the later periods of Greek civilization +does the differentiation of sculpture from painting +appear to have become complete. +</p> + +<p> +In Christian art we may clearly trace a parallel re-genesis. +All early paintings and sculptures throughout Europe +were religious in subject—represented Christs, crucifixions, +virgins, holy families, apostles, saints. They formed integral +parts of church architecture, and were among the +means of exciting worship; as in Roman Catholic countries +they still are. Moreover, the early sculptures of Christ on +the cross, of virgins, of saints, were coloured: and it needs +but to call to mind the painted madonnas and crucifixes +still abundant in continental churches and highways, to +perceive the significant fact that painting and sculpture +continue in closest connection with each other where they +continue in closest connection with their parent. Even +when Christian sculpture was pretty clearly differentiated +from painting, it was still religious and governmental in its +subjects—was used for tombs in churches and statues of +kings: while, at the same time, painting, where not purely +ecclesiastical, was applied to the decoration of palaces, and +besides representing royal personages, was almost wholly +devoted to sacred legends. Only in quite recent times +have painting and sculpture become entirely secular arts. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_22' id='Page_22' name='Page_22'>22</a></span> +Only within these few centuries has painting been divided +into historical, landscape, marine, architectural, genre, animal, +still-life, &c., and sculpture grown heterogeneous in +respect of the variety of real and ideal subjects with which +it occupies itself. +</p> + +<p> +Strange as it seems then, we find it no less true, that +all forms of written language, of painting, and of sculpture, +have a common root in the politico-religious decorations +of ancient temples and palaces. Little resemblance +as they now have, the bust that stands on the console, the +landscape that hangs against the wall, and the copy of the +<i>Times</i> lying upon the table, are remotely akin; not only +in nature, but by extraction. The brazen face of the +knocker which the postman has just lifted, is related not +only to the woodcuts of the <i>Illustrated London News</i> +which he is delivering, but to the characters of the <i>billet-doux</i> +which accompanies it. Between the painted window, +the prayer-book on which its light falls, and the adjacent +monument, there is consanguinity. The effigies on our +coins, the signs over shops, the figures that fill every ledger, +the coats of arms outside the carriage panel, and the placards +inside the omnibus, are, in common with dolls, blue-books, +paper-hangings, lineally descended from the rude +sculpture-paintings in which the Egyptians represented the +triumphs and worship of their god-kings. Perhaps no +example can be given which more vividly illustrates the +multiplicity and heterogeneity of the products that in +course of time may arise by successive differentiations from +a common stock. +</p> + +<p> +Before passing to other classes of facts, it should be +observed that the evolution of the homogeneous into the +heterogeneous is displayed not only in the separation of +Painting and Sculpture from Architecture and from each +other, and in the greater variety of subjects they embody, +but it is further shown in the structure of each work. A +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_23' id='Page_23' name='Page_23'>23</a></span> +modern picture or statue is of far more heterogeneous +nature than an ancient one. An Egyptian sculpture-fresco +represents all its figures as on one plane—that is, at the +same distance from the eye; and so is less heterogeneous +than a painting that represents them as at various distances +from the eye. It exhibits all objects as exposed to the +same degree of light; and so is less heterogeneous than a +painting which exhibits different objects and different parts +of each object as in different degrees of light. It uses +scarcely any but the primary colours, and these in their +full intensity; and so is less heterogeneous than a painting +which, introducing the primary colours but sparingly, employs +an endless variety of intermediate tints, each of heterogeneous +composition, and differing from the rest not only +in quality but in intensity. Moreover, we see in these earliest +works a great uniformity of conception. The same +arrangement of figures is perpetually reproduced—the +same actions, attitudes, faces, dresses. In Egypt the modes +of representation were so fixed that it was sacrilege to +introduce a novelty; and indeed it could have been only +in consequence of a fixed mode of representation that a +system of hieroglyphics became possible. The Assyrian +bas-reliefs display parallel characters. Deities, kings, attendants, +winged figures and animals, are severally depicted +in like positions, holding like implements, doing like things, +and with like expression or non-expression of face. If a +palm-grove is introduced, all the trees are of the same +height, have the same number of leaves, and are equidistant. +When water is imitated, each wave is a counterpart +of the rest; and the fish, almost always of one kind, are +evenly distributed over the surface. The beards of the +kings, the gods, and the winged figures, are everywhere +similar: as are the manes of the lions, and equally so those +of the horses. Hair is represented throughout by one form +of curl. The king's beard is quite architecturally built +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_24' id='Page_24' name='Page_24'>24</a></span> +up of compound tiers of uniform curls, alternating with +twisted tiers placed in a transverse direction, and arranged +with perfect regularity; and the terminal tufts of the bulls' +tails are represented in exactly the same manner. Without +tracing out analogous facts in early Christian art, in +which, though less striking, they are still visible, the advance +in heterogeneity will be sufficiently manifest on +remembering that in the pictures of our own day the composition +is endlessly varied; the attitudes, faces, expressions, +unlike; the subordinate objects different in size, form, +position, texture; and more or less of contrast even in the +smallest details. Or, if we compare an Egyptian statue, +seated bolt upright on a block, with hands on knees, fingers +outspread and parallel, eyes looking straight forward, +and the two sides perfectly symmetrical in every particular, +with a statue of the advanced Greek or the modern +school, which is asymmetrical in respect of the position of +the head, the body, the limbs, the arrangement of the hair, +dress, appendages, and in its relations to neighbouring +objects, we shall see the change from the homogeneous to +the heterogeneous clearly manifested. +</p> + +<p> +In the co-ordinate origin and gradual differentiation of +Poetry, Music and Dancing, we have another series of illustrations. +Rhythm in speech, rhythm in sound, and rhythm +in motion, were in the beginning parts of the same thing, +and have only in process of time become separate things. +Among various existing barbarous tribes we find them still +united. The dances of savages are accompanied by some +kind of monotonous chant, the clapping of hands, the striking +of rude instruments: there are measured movements, +measured words, and measured tones; and the whole ceremony, +usually having reference to war or sacrifice, is of +governmental character. In the early records of the historic +races we similarly find these three forms of metrical +action united in religious festivals. In the Hebrew writings +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_25' id='Page_25' name='Page_25'>25</a></span> +we read that the triumphal ode composed by Moses on the +defeat of the Egyptians, was sung to an accompaniment of +dancing and timbrels. The Israelites danced and <ins class='correction' title='Original: sung'>sang</ins> "at +the <ins class='correction' title='Original: inauguratiou'>inauguration</ins> of the golden calf. And as it is generally +agreed that this representation of the Deity was borrowed +from the mysteries of Apis, it is probable that the dancing +was copied from that of the Egyptians on those occasions." +There was an annual dance in Shiloh on the sacred festival; +and David danced before the ark. Again, in Greece the +like relation is everywhere seen: the original type being +there, as probably in other cases, a simultaneous chanting +and mimetic representation of the life and adventures of +the god. The Spartan dances were accompanied by hymns +and songs; and in general the Greeks had "no festivals or +religious assemblies but what were accompanied with songs +and dances"—both of them being forms of worship used +before altars. Among the Romans, too, there were sacred +dances: the Salian and Lupercalian being named as of +that kind. And even in Christian countries, as at Limoges, +in comparatively recent times, the people have danced in +the choir in honour of a saint. The incipient separation +of these once united arts from each other and from religion, +was early visible in Greece. Probably diverging from +dances partly religious, partly warlike, as the Corybantian, +came the war dances proper, of which there were various +kinds; and from these resulted secular dances. Meanwhile +Music and Poetry, though still united, came to have +an existence separate from dancing. The aboriginal Greek +poems, religious in subject, were not recited, but chanted; +and though at first the chant of the poet was accompanied +by the dance of the chorus, it ultimately grew into independence. +Later still, when the poem had been differentiated +into epic and lyric—when it became the custom to +sing the lyric and recite the epic—poetry proper was born. +As during the same period musical instruments were being +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_26' id='Page_26' name='Page_26'>26</a></span> +multiplied, we may presume that music came to have an +existence apart from words. And both of them were beginning +to assume other forms besides the religious. Facts, +having like implications might be cited from the histories +of later times and peoples: as the practices of our own +early minstrels, who sang to the harp heroic narratives versified +by themselves to music of their own composition: +thus uniting the now separate offices of poet, composer, vocalist, +and instrumentalist. But, without further illustration, +the common origin and gradual differentiation of +Dancing, Poetry, and Music will be sufficiently manifest. +</p> + +<p> +The advance from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous +is displayed not only in the separation of these arts from +each other and from religion, but also in the multiplied differentiations +which each of them afterwards undergoes. +Not to dwell upon the numberless kinds of dancing that +have, in course of time, come into use; and not to occupy +space in detailing the progress of poetry, as seen in the development +of the various forms of metre, of rhyme, and +of general organization; let us confine our attention to +music as a type of the group. As argued by Dr. Burney, +and as implied by the customs of still extant barbarous +races, the first musical instruments were, without doubt, +percussive—sticks, calabashes, tom-toms—and were used +simply to mark the time of the dance; and in this constant +repetition of the same sound, we see music in its most +homogeneous form. +</p> + +<p> +The Egyptians had a lyre with three strings. The +early lyre of the Greeks had four, constituting their tetrachord. +In course of some centuries lyres of seven and +eight strings were employed. And, by the expiration of +a thousand years, they had advanced to their "great system" +of the double octave. Through all which changes there of +course arose a greater heterogeneity of melody. Simultaneously +there came into use the different modes—Dorian, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_27' id='Page_27' name='Page_27'>27</a></span> +Ionian, Phrygian, Æolian, and Lydian—answering to our +keys; and of these there were ultimately fifteen. As yet, +however, there was but little heterogeneity in the time of +their music. +</p> + +<p> +Instrumental music during this period being merely the +accompaniment of vocal music, and vocal music being completely +subordinated to words, the singer being also the poet, +chanting his own compositions and making the lengths of his +notes agree with the feet of his verses,—there unavoidably +arose a tiresome uniformity of measure, which, as Dr. Burney +says, "no resources of melody could disguise." Lacking +the complex rhythm obtained by our equal bars and unequal +notes the only rhythm was that produced by the quantity of +the syllables and was of necessity comparatively monotonous. +And further, it may be observed that the chant thus resulting, +being like recitative, was much less clearly differentiated +from ordinary speech than is our modern song. +</p> + +<p> +Nevertheless, in virtue of the extended range of notes +in use, the variety of modes, the occasional variations of +time consequent on changes of metre, and the multiplication +of instruments, music had, towards the close of Greek +civilization, attained to considerable heterogeneity—not +indeed as compared with our music, but as compared with +that which preceded it. As yet, however, there existed +nothing but melody: harmony was unknown. It was not +until Christian church-music had reached some development, +that music in parts was evolved; and then it came into +existence through a very unobtrusive differentiation. Difficult +as it may be to conceive <i>à priori</i> how the advance +from melody to harmony could take place without a sudden +leap, it is none the less true that it did so. The +circumstance which prepared the way for it was the employment +of two choirs singing alternately the same air. +Afterwards it became the practice—very possibly first +suggested by a mistake—for the second choir to +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_28' id='Page_28' name='Page_28'>28</a></span> +commence before the first had ceased; thus producing a fugue. +</p> + +<p> +With the simple airs then in use, a partially harmonious +fugue might not improbably thus result: and a very +partially harmonious fugue satisfied the ears of that age, +as we know from still preserved examples. The idea having +once been given, the composing of airs productive of +fugal harmony would naturally grow up; as in some way +it <i>did</i> grow up out of this alternate choir-singing. And +from the fugue to concerted music of two, three, four, and +more parts, the transition was easy. Without pointing +out in detail the increasing complexity that resulted from +introducing notes of various lengths, from the multiplication +of keys, from the use of accidentals, from varieties of +time, and so forth, it needs but to contrast music as it is, +with music as it was, to see how immense is the increase +of heterogeneity. We see this if, looking at music in its +<i>ensemble</i>, we enumerate its many different genera and +species—if we consider the divisions into vocal, instrumental, +and mixed; and their subdivisions into music for different +voices and different instruments—if we observe the +many forms of sacred music, from the simple hymn, the +chant, the canon, motet, anthem, &c., up to the oratorio; +and the still more numerous forms of secular music, from +the ballad up to the serenata, from the instrumental solo up +to the symphony. +</p> + +<p> +Again, the same truth is seen on comparing any one +sample of aboriginal music with a sample of modern music—even +an ordinary song for the piano; which we find to +be relatively highly heterogeneous, not only in respect of +the varieties in the pitch and in the length of the notes, +the number of different notes sounding at the same instant +in company with the voice, and the variations of strength +with which they are sounded and sung, but in respect of +the changes of key, the changes of time, the changes of +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_29' id='Page_29' name='Page_29'>29</a></span> +<i>timbre</i> of the voice, and the many other modifications of +expression. While between the old monotonous dance-chant +and a grand opera of our own day, with its endless +orchestral complexities and vocal combinations, the contrast +in heterogeneity is so extreme that it seems scarcely +credible that the one should have been the ancestor of the other. +</p> + +<p> +Were they needed, many further illustrations might be +cited. Going back to the early time when the deeds of +the god-king, chanted and mimetically represented in +dances round his altar, were further narrated in picture-writings +on the walls of temples and palaces, and so constituted +a rude literature, we might trace the development +of Literature through phases in which, as in the Hebrew +Scriptures, it presents in one work theology, cosmogony, +history, biography, civil law, ethics, poetry; through other +phases in which, as in the Iliad, the religious, martial, historical, +the epic, dramatic, and lyric elements are similarly +commingled; down to its present heterogeneous development, +in which its divisions and subdivisions are so numerous +and varied as to defy complete classification. Or we +might trace out the evolution of Science; beginning with +the era in which it was not yet differentiated from Art, +and was, in union with Art, the handmaid of Religion; passing +through the era in which the sciences were so few and +rudimentary, as to be simultaneously cultivated by the same +philosophers; and ending with the era in which the genera +and species are so numerous that few can enumerate them, +and no one can adequately grasp even one genus. Or we +might do the like with Architecture, with the Drama, with +Dress. +</p> + +<p> +But doubtless the reader is already weary of illustrations; +and our promise has been amply fulfilled. We +believe we have shown beyond question, that that which +the German physiologists have found to be the law of +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_30' id='Page_30' name='Page_30'>30</a></span> +organic development, is the law of all development. The +advance from the simple to the complex, through a process +of successive differentiations, is seen alike in the earliest +changes of the Universe to which we can reason our way +back; and in the earliest changes which we can inductively +establish; it is seen in the geologic and climatic +evolution of the Earth, and of every single organism on its +surface; it is seen in the evolution of Humanity, whether +contemplated in the civilized individual, or in the aggregation +of races; it is seen in the evolution of Society in +respect alike of its political, its religious, and its economical +organization; and it is seen in the evolution of all +those endless concrete and abstract products of human +activity which constitute the environment of our daily life. +From the remotest past which Science can fathom, up to +the novelties of yesterday, that in which Progress essentially +consists, is the transformation of the homogeneous +into the heterogeneous. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +And now, from this uniformity of procedure, may we +not infer some fundamental necessity whence it results? +May we not rationally seek for some all-pervading principle +which determines this all-pervading process of things? +Does not the universality of the <i>law</i> imply a universal +<i>cause</i>? +</p> + +<p> +That we can fathom such cause, noumenally considered, +is not to be supposed. To do this would be to solve that +ultimate mystery which must ever transcend human intelligence. +But it still may be possible for us to reduce the +law of all Progress, above established, from the condition +of an empirical generalization, to the condition of a rational +generalization. Just as it was possible to interpret +Kepler's laws as necessary consequences of the law of gravitation; +so it may be possible to interpret this law of Progress, +in its multiform manifestations, as the necessary +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_31' id='Page_31' name='Page_31'>31</a></span> +consequence of some similarly universal principle. As gravitation +was assignable as the <i>cause</i> of each of the groups of +phenomena which Kepler formulated; so may some equally +simple attribute of things be assignable as the cause of each +of the groups of phenomena formulated in the foregoing +pages. We may be able to affiliate all these varied and +complex evolutions of the homogeneous into the heterogeneous, +upon certain simple facts of immediate experience, +which, in virtue of endless repetition, we regard as +necessary. +</p> + +<p> +The probability of a common cause, and the possibility +of formulating it, being granted, it will be well, before +going further, to consider what must be the general +characteristics of such cause, and in what direction we +ought to look for it. We can with certainty predict that +it has a high degree of generality; seeing that it is common +to such infinitely varied phenomena: just in proportion +to the universality of its application must be the +abstractness of its character. We need not expect to see +in it an obvious solution of this or that form of Progress; +because it equally refers to forms of Progress bearing little +apparent resemblance to them: its association with multiform +orders of facts, involves its dissociation from any particular +order of facts. Being that which determines Progress +of every kind—astronomic, geologic, organic, ethnologic, +social, economic, artistic, &c.—it must be concerned +with some fundamental attribute possessed in common by +these; and must be expressible in terms of this fundamental +attribute. The only obvious respect in which all kinds +of Progress are alike, is, that they are modes of <i>change</i>; and +hence, in some characteristic of changes in general, the desired +solution will probably be found. We may suspect +<i>à priori</i> that in some law of change lies the explanation of +this universal transformation of the homogeneous into the +heterogeneous. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_32' id='Page_32' name='Page_32'>32</a></span> +Thus much premised, we pass at once to the statement +of the law, which is this:—<i>Every active force produces +more than one change—every cause produces more than one +effect.</i> +</p> + +<p> +Before this law can be duly comprehended, a few examples +must be looked at. When one body is struck against +another, that which we usually regard as the effect, is a +change of position or motion in one or both bodies. But +a moment's thought shows us that this is a careless and +very incomplete view of the matter. Besides the visible +mechanical result, sound is produced; or, to speak accurately, +a vibration in one or both bodies, and in the surrounding +air: and under some circumstances we call this the effect. +Moreover, the air has not only been made to vibrate, +but has had sundry currents caused in it by the transit of +the bodies. Further, there is a disarrangement of the particles +of the two bodies in the neighbourhood of their point +of collision; amounting in some cases to a visible condensation. +Yet more, this condensation is accompanied by the +disengagement of heat. In some cases a spark—that is, +light—results, from the incandescence of a portion struck +off; and sometimes this incandescence is associated with +chemical combination. +</p> + +<p> +Thus, by the original mechanical force expended in the +collision, at least five, and often more, different kinds of +changes have been produced. Take, again, the lighting of +a candle. Primarily this is a chemical change consequent +on a rise of temperature. The process of combination +having once been set going by extraneous heat, there is a +continued formation of carbonic acid, water, &c.—in itself +a result more complex than the extraneous heat that first +caused it. But accompanying this process of combination +there is a production of heat; there is a production of light; +there is an ascending column of hot gases generated; there +are currents established in the surrounding air. Moreover, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_33' id='Page_33' name='Page_33'>33</a></span> +the decomposition of one force into many forces does not +end here: each of the several changes produced becomes +the parent of further changes. The carbonic acid given +off will by and by combine with some base; or under the +influence of sunshine give up its carbon to the leaf of a +plant. The water will modify the hygrometric state of the +air around; or, if the current of hot gases containing it +come against a cold body, will be condensed: altering the +temperature, and perhaps the chemical state, of the surface +it covers. The heat given out melts the subjacent tallow, +and expands whatever it warms. The light, falling on various +substances, calls forth from them reactions by which +it is modified; and so divers colours are produced. Similarly +even with these secondary actions, which may be traced out +into ever-multiplying ramifications, until they become too +minute to be appreciated. And thus it is with all changes +whatever. No case can be named in which an active force +does not evolve forces of several kinds, and each of these, +other groups of forces. Universally the effect is more complex +than the cause. +</p> + +<p> +Doubtless the reader already foresees the course of our +argument. This multiplication of results, which is displayed +in every event of to-day, has been going on from the beginning; +and is true of the grandest phenomena of the universe +as of the most insignificant. From the law that every +active force produces more than one change, it is an inevitable +corollary that through all time there has been an ever-growing +complication of things. Starting with the ultimate +fact that every cause produces more than one effect, we may +readily see that throughout creation there must have gone +on, and must still go on, a never-ceasing transformation of +the homogeneous into the heterogeneous. But let us trace +out this truth in detail.<a class='fnanchor' id='FA_B' name='FA_B' href='#FN_B'>[B]</a> +</p> + +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_34' id='Page_34' name='Page_34'>34</a></span> +Without committing ourselves to it as more than a speculation, +though a highly probable one, let us again commence +with the evolution of the solar system out of a nebulous +medium.<a class='fnanchor' id='FA_C' name='FA_C' href='#FN_C'>[C]</a> From the mutual attraction of the atoms +of a diffused mass whose form is unsymmetrical, there results +not only condensation but rotation: gravitation simultaneously +generates both the centripetal and the centrifugal +forces. While the condensation and the rate of rotation +are progressively increasing, the approach of the atoms necessarily +generates a progressively increasing temperature. +As this temperature rises, light begins to be evolved; and +ultimately there results a revolving sphere of fluid matter +radiating intense heat and light—a sun. +</p> + +<p> +There are good reasons for believing that, in consequence +of the high tangential velocity, and consequent centrifugal +force, acquired by the outer parts of the condensing nebulous +mass, there must be a periodical detachment of rotating +rings; and that, from the breaking up of these nebulous +rings, there must arise masses which in the course of +their condensation repeat the actions of the parent mass, +and so produce planets and their satellites—an inference +strongly supported by the still extant rings of Saturn. +</p> + +<p> +Should it hereafter be satisfactorily shown that planets +and satellites were thus generated, a striking illustration +will be afforded of the highly heterogeneous effects produced +by the primary homogeneous cause; but it will +serve our present purpose to point to the fact that from the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_35' id='Page_35' name='Page_35'>35</a></span> +mutual attraction of the particles of an irregular nebulous +mass there result condensation, rotation, heat, and light. +</p> + +<p> +It follows as a corollary from the Nebular Hypothesis, +that the Earth must at first have been incandescent; and +whether the Nebular Hypothesis be true or not, this original +incandescence of the Earth is now inductively established—or, +if not established, at least rendered so highly probable +that it is a generally admitted geological doctrine. +Let us look first at the astronomical attributes of this once +molten globe. From its rotation there result the oblateness +of its form, the alternations of day and night, and (under +the influence of the moon) the tides, aqueous and atmospheric. +From the inclination of its axis, there result +the precession of the equinoxes and the many differences of +the seasons, both simultaneous and successive, that pervade +its surface. Thus the multiplication of effects is obvious. +Several of the differentiations due to the gradual cooling +of the Earth have been already noticed—as the formation +of a crust, the solidification of sublimed elements, the precipitation +of water, &c.,—and we here again refer to them +merely to point out that they are simultaneous effects of +the one cause, diminishing heat. +</p> + +<p> +Let us now, however, observe the multiplied changes +afterwards arising from the continuance of this one cause. +The cooling of the Earth involves its contraction. Hence the +solid crust first formed is presently too large for the shrinking +nucleus; and as it cannot support itself, inevitably follows +the nucleus. But a spheroidal envelope cannot sink down +into contact with a smaller internal spheroid, without disruption; +it must run into wrinkles as the rind of an apple does +when the bulk of its interior decreases from evaporation. +As the cooling progresses and the envelope thickens, the +ridges consequent on these contractions must become +greater, rising ultimately into hills and mountains; and the +later systems of mountains thus produced must not only be +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_36' id='Page_36' name='Page_36'>36</a></span> +higher, as we find them to be, but they must be longer, as +we also find them to be. Thus, leaving out of view other +modifying forces, we see what immense heterogeneity of +surface has arisen from the one cause, loss of heat—a <ins class='correction' title='Original: hetorogeneity'>heterogeneity</ins> +which the telescope shows us to be paralleled on +the face of the moon, where aqueous and atmospheric +agencies have been absent. +</p> + +<p> +But we have yet to notice another kind of heterogeneity +of surface similarly and simultaneously caused. While the +Earth's crust was still thin, the ridges produced by its contraction +must not only have been small, but the spaces between +these ridges must have rested with great evenness +upon the subjacent liquid spheroid; and the water in those +arctic and antarctic regions in which it first condensed, must +have been evenly distributed. But as fast as the crust grew +thicker and gained corresponding strength, the lines of +fracture from time to time caused in it, must have occurred +at greater distances apart; the intermediate surfaces must +have followed the contracting nucleus with less uniformity; +and there must have resulted larger areas of land and water. +If any one, after wrapping up an orange in wet tissue +paper, and observing not only how small are the wrinkles, +but how evenly the intervening spaces lie upon the surface +of the orange, will then wrap it up in thick cartridge-paper, +and note both the greater height of the ridges and the +much larger spaces throughout which the paper does not +touch the orange, he will realize the fact, that as the Earth's +solid envelope grew thicker, the areas of elevation and depression +must have become greater. In place of islands +more or less homogeneously scattered over an all-embracing +sea, there must have gradually arisen heterogeneous +arrangements of continent and ocean, such as we now know. +</p> + +<p> +Once more, this double change in the extent and in the +elevation of the lands, involved yet another species of heterogeneity, +that of coast-line. A tolerably even surface +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_37' id='Page_37' name='Page_37'>37</a></span> +raised out of the ocean, must have a simple, regular sea-margin; +but a surface varied by table-lands and intersected +by mountain-chains must, when raised out of the ocean, +have an outline extremely irregular both in its leading +features and in its details. Thus endless is the accumulation +of geological and geographical results slowly brought +about by this one cause—the contraction of the Earth. +</p> + +<p> +When we pass from the agency which geologists term +igneous, to aqueous and atmospheric agencies, we see the +like ever-growing complications of effects. The denuding +actions of air and water have, from the beginning, been +modifying every exposed surface; everywhere causing +many different changes. Oxidation, heat, wind, frost, +rain, glaciers, rivers, tides, waves, have been unceasingly +producing disintegration; varying in kind and amount according +to local circumstances. Acting upon a tract of +granite, they here work scarcely an appreciable effect; +there cause exfoliations of the surface, and a resulting heap +of <i>débris</i> and boulders; and elsewhere, after decomposing +the feldspar into a white clay, carry away this and the accompanying +quartz and mica, and <ins class='correction' title='Original: deposite'>deposits</ins> them in separate +beds, fluviatile and marine. When the exposed land consists +of several unlike formations, sedimentary and igneous, +the denudation produces changes proportionably more heterogeneous. +The formations being disintegrable in different +degrees, there follows an increased irregularity of surface. +The areas drained by different rivers being differently constituted, +these rivers carry down to the sea different combinations +of ingredients; and so sundry new strata of +distinct composition are formed. +</p> + +<p> +And here indeed we may see very simply illustrated, +the truth, which we shall presently have to trace out in +more involved cases, that in proportion to the heterogeneity +of the object or objects on which any force expends itself, +is the heterogeneity of the results. A continent of +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_38' id='Page_38' name='Page_38'>38</a></span> +complex structure, exposing many strata irregularly distributed, +raised to various levels, tilted up at all angles, must, under +the same denuding agencies, give origin to immensely multiplied +results; each district must be differently modified; +each river must carry down a different kind of detritus; +each deposit must be differently distributed by the entangled +currents, tidal and other, which wash the contorted +shores; and this multiplication of results must +manifestly be greatest where the complexity of the surface +is greatest. +</p> + +<p> +It is out of the question here to trace in detail the genesis +of those endless complications described by Geology and +Physical Geography: else we might show how the general +truth, that every active force produces more than one +change, is exemplified in the highly involved flow of the +tides, in the ocean currents, in the winds, in the distribution +of rain, in the distribution of heat, and so forth. But +not to dwell upon these, let us, for the fuller elucidation +of this truth in relation to the inorganic world, consider +what would be the consequences of some extensive cosmical +revolution—say the subsidence of Central America. +</p> + +<p> +The immediate results of the disturbance would themselves +be sufficiently complex. Besides the numberless +dislocations of strata, the ejections of igneous matter, the +propagation of earthquake vibrations thousands of miles +around, the loud explosions, and the escape of gases; there +would be the rush of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to +supply the vacant space, the subsequent recoil of enormous +waves, which would traverse both these oceans and produce +myriads of changes along their shores, the corresponding +atmospheric waves complicated by the currents surrounding +each volcanic vent, and the electrical discharges with which +such disturbances are accompanied. But these temporary +effects would be insignificant compared with the permanent +ones. The complex currents of the Atlantic and Pacific +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_39' id='Page_39' name='Page_39'>39</a></span> +would be altered in direction and amount. The distribution +of heat achieved by these ocean currents would be +different from what it is. The arrangement of the isothermal +lines, not even on the neighbouring continents, but +even throughout Europe, would be changed. The tides +would flow differently from what they do now. There +would be more or less modification of the winds in their +periods, strengths, directions, qualities. Rain would fall +scarcely anywhere at the same times and in the same quantities +as at present. In short, the meteorological conditions +thousands of miles off, on all sides, would be more or less +revolutionized. +</p> + +<p> +Thus, without taking into account the infinitude of +modifications which these changes of climate would produce +upon the flora and fauna, both of land and sea, the +reader will see the immense heterogeneity of the results +wrought out by one force, when that force expends itself +upon a previously complicated area; and he will readily +draw the corollary that from the beginning the complication +has advanced at an increasing rate. +</p> + +<p> +Before going on to show how organic progress also +depends upon the universal law that every force produces +more than one change, we have to notice the manifestation +of this law in yet another species of inorganic progress—namely, +chemical. The same general causes that have +wrought out the heterogeneity of the Earth, physically +considered, have simultaneously wrought out its chemical +heterogeneity. Without dwelling upon the general fact +that the forces which have been increasing the variety and +complexity of geological formations, have, at the same +time, been bringing into contact elements not previously +exposed to each other under conditions favourable to union, +and so have been adding to the number of chemical compounds, +let us pass to the more important complications +that have resulted from the cooling of the Earth. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_40' id='Page_40' name='Page_40'>40</a></span> +There is every reason to believe that at an extreme heat +the elements cannot combine. Even under such heat as +can be artificially produced, some very strong affinities +yield, as for instance, that of oxygen for hydrogen; and +the great majority of chemical compounds are decomposed +at much lower temperatures. But without insisting upon +the highly probable inference, that when the Earth was in +its first state of incandescence there were no chemical combinations +at all, it will suffice our purpose to point to the +unquestionable fact that the compounds that can exist at +the highest temperatures, and which must, therefore, have +been the first that were formed as the Earth cooled, are +those of the simplest constitutions. The protoxides—including +under that head the alkalies, earths, &c.—are, as a +class, the most stable compounds we know: most of them +resisting decomposition by any heat we can generate. +These, consisting severally of one atom of each component +element, are combinations of the simplest order—are but +one degree less homogeneous than the elements themselves. +More heterogeneous than these, less stable, and therefore +later in the Earth's history, are the deutoxides, tritoxides, +peroxides, &c.; in which two, three, four, or more atoms +of oxygen are united with one atom of metal or other element. +Higher than these in heterogeneity are the hydrates; +in which an oxide of hydrogen, united with an oxide of +some other element, forms a substance whose atoms severally +contain at least four ultimate atoms of three different +kinds. Yet more heterogeneous and less stable still are +the salts; which present us with compound atoms each +made up of five, six, seven, eight, ten, twelve, or more +atoms, of three, if not more, kinds. Then there are the +hydrated salts, of a yet greater heterogeneity, which undergo +partial decomposition at much lower temperatures. +After them come the further-complicated supersalts and +double salts, having a stability again decreased; and so +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_41' id='Page_41' name='Page_41'>41</a></span> +throughout. Without entering into qualifications for +which we lack space, we believe no chemist will deny it to +be a general law of these inorganic combinations that, +<i>other things equal</i>, the stability decreases as the complexity +increases. +</p> + +<p> +And then when we pass to the compounds of organic +chemistry, we find this general law still further exemplified: +we find much greater complexity and much less stability. +An atom of albumen, for instance, consists of 482 ultimate +atoms of five different kinds. Fibrine, still more intricate +in constitution, contains in each atom, 298 atoms of carbon, +40 of nitrogen, 2 of sulphur, 228 of hydrogen, and 92 of +oxygen—in all, 660 atoms; or, more strictly speaking—equivalents. +And these two substances are so unstable as +to decompose at quite ordinary temperatures; as that to +which the outside of a joint of roast meat is exposed. +Thus it is manifest that the present chemical heterogeneity +of the Earth's surface has arisen by degrees, as the decrease +of heat has permitted; and that it has shown itself +in three forms—first, in the multiplication of chemical compounds; +second, in the greater number of different elements +contained in the more modern of these compounds: +and third, in the higher and more varied multiples in which +these more numerous elements combine. +</p> + +<p> +To say that this advance in chemical heterogeneity is +due to the one cause, diminution of the Earth's temperature, +would be to say too much; for it is clear that aqueous +and atmospheric agencies have been concerned; and, +further, that the affinities of the elements themselves are +implied. The cause has all along been a composite one: +the cooling of the Earth having been simply the most general +of the concurrent causes, or assemblage of conditions. +And here, indeed, it may be remarked that in the several +classes of facts already dealt with (excepting, perhaps, the +first), and still more in those with which we shall presently +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_42' id='Page_42' name='Page_42'>42</a></span> +deal, the causes are more or less compound; as indeed are +nearly all causes with which we are acquainted. Scarcely +any change can with logical accuracy be wholly ascribed to +one agency, to the neglect of the permanent or temporary +conditions under which only this agency produces the +change. But as it does not materially affect our argument, +we prefer, for simplicity's sake, to use throughout the popular +mode of expression. +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps it will be further objected, that to assign loss +of heat as the cause of any changes, is to attribute these +changes not to a force, but to the absence of a force. And +this is true. Strictly speaking, the changes should be attributed +to those forces which come into action when the +antagonist force is withdrawn. But though there is an inaccuracy +in saying that the freezing of water is due to the +loss of its heat, no practical error arises from it; nor will +a parallel laxity of expression vitiate our statements respecting +the multiplication of effects. Indeed, the objection +serves but to draw attention to the fact, that not only does +the exertion of a force produce more than one change, but +the withdrawal of a force produces more than one change. +And this suggests that perhaps the most correct statement +of our general principle would be its most abstract statement—every +change is followed by more than one other change. +</p> + +<p> +Returning to the thread of our exposition, we have next +to trace out, in organic progress, this same all-pervading +principle. And here, where the evolution of the homogeneous +into the heterogeneous was first observed, the production +of many changes by one cause is least easy to demonstrate. +The development of a seed into a plant, or an +ovum into an animal, is so gradual, while the forces which +determine it are so involved, and at the same time so unobtrusive, +that it is difficult to detect the multiplication of effects +which is elsewhere so obvious. Nevertheless, guided by +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_43' id='Page_43' name='Page_43'>43</a></span> +indirect evidence, we may pretty safely reach the conclusion +that here too the law holds. +</p> + +<p> +Observe, first, how numerous are the effects which any +marked change works upon an adult organism—a human +being, for instance. An alarming sound or sight, besides +the impressions on the organs of sense and the nerves, may +produce a start, a scream, a distortion of the face, a trembling +consequent upon a general muscular relaxation, a +burst of perspiration, an excited action of the heart, a +rush of blood to the brain, followed possibly by arrest of +the heart's action and by syncope: and if the system be +feeble, an indisposition with its long train of complicated +symptoms may set in. Similarly in cases of disease. A +minute portion of the small-pox virus introduced into +the system, will, in a severe case, cause, during the first +stage, rigors, heat of skin, accelerated pulse, furred +tongue, loss of appetite, thirst, epigastric uneasiness, +vomiting, headache, pains in the back and limbs, muscular +weakness, convulsions, delirium, &c.; in the second stage, +cutaneous eruption, itching, tingling, sore throat, swelled +fauces, salivation, cough, hoarseness, dyspnœa, &c.; and in +the third stage, œdematous inflammations, pneumonia, pleurisy, +diarrhœa, inflammation of the brain, ophthalmia, erysipelas, +&c.: each of which enumerated symptoms is itself more +or less complex. Medicines, special foods, better air, might +in like manner be instanced as producing multiplied results. +</p> + +<p> +Now it needs only to consider that the many changes +thus wrought by one force upon an adult organism, will be +in part paralleled in an embryo organism, to understand +how here also, the evolution of the homogeneous into the +heterogeneous may be due to the production of many +effects by one cause. The external heat and other agencies +which determine the first complications of the germ, +may, by acting upon these, superinduce further complications; +upon these still higher and more numerous ones; +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_44' id='Page_44' name='Page_44'>44</a></span> +and so on continually: each organ as it is developed serving, +by its actions and reactions upon the rest, to initiate +new complexities. The first pulsations of the fœtal heart +must simultaneously aid the unfolding of every part. The +growth of each tissue, by taking from the blood special +proportions of elements, must modify the constitution of +the blood; and so must modify the nutrition of all the +other tissues. The heart's action, implying as it does a certain +waste, necessitates an addition to the blood of effete +matters, which must influence the rest of the system, and +perhaps, as some think, cause the formation of excretory +organs. The nervous connections established among the +viscera must further multiply their mutual influences: and +so continually. +</p> + +<p> +Still stronger becomes the probability of this view when +we call to mind the fact, that the same germ may be +evolved into different forms according to circumstances. +Thus, during its earlier stages, every embryo is sexless—becomes +either male or female as the balance of forces acting +upon it determines. Again, it is a well-established fact +that the larva of a working-bee will develop into a queen-bee, +if, before it is too late, its food be changed to that on +which the larvæ of queen-bees are fed. Even more remarkable +is the case of certain entozoa. The ovum of a tape-worm, +getting into its natural habitat, the intestine, unfolds +into the well-known form of its parent; but if carried, as +it frequently is, into other parts of the system, it becomes +a sac-like creature, called by naturalists the <i>Echinococcus</i>—a +creature so extremely different from the tape-worm in +aspect and structure, that only after careful investigations +has it been proved to have the same origin. All which +instances imply that each advance in embryonic complication +results from the action of incident forces upon the +complication previously existing. +</p> + +<p> +Indeed, we may find <i>à priori</i> reason to think that the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_45' id='Page_45' name='Page_45'>45</a></span> +evolution proceeds after this manner. For since it is now +known that no germ, animal or vegetable, contains the +slightest rudiment, trace, or indication of the future organism—now +that the microscope has shown us that the first +process set up in every fertilized germ, is a process of repeated +<ins class='correction' title='Original: spontaneons'>spontaneous</ins> fissions ending in the production of a +mass of cells, not one of which exhibits any special character: +there seems no alternative but to suppose that the +partial organization at any moment subsisting in a growing +embryo, is transformed by the agencies acting upon it into +the succeeding phase of organization, and this into the +next, until, through ever-increasing complexities, the ultimate +form is reached. Thus, though the subtilty of the +forces and the slowness of the results, prevent us from +<i>directly</i> showing that the stages of increasing heterogeneity +through which every embryo passes, severally arise from +the production of many changes by one force, yet, <i>indirectly</i>, +we have strong evidence that they do so. +</p> + +<p> +We have marked how multitudinous are the effects +which one cause may generate in an adult organism; that +a like multiplication of effects must happen in the unfolding +organism, we have observed in sundry illustrative +cases; further, it has been pointed out that the ability +which like germs have to originate unlike forms, implies that +the successive transformations result from the new changes +superinduced on previous changes; and we have seen that +structureless as every germ originally is, the development +of an organism out of it is otherwise incomprehensible. +Not indeed that we can thus really explain the production +of any plant or animal. We are still in the dark respecting +those mysterious properties in virtue of which the +germ, when subject to fit influences, undergoes the special +changes that begin the series of transformations. All we +aim to show, is, that given a germ possessing these mysterious +properties, the evolution of an organism from it, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_46' id='Page_46' name='Page_46'>46</a></span> +probably depends upon that multiplication of effects which +we have seen to be the cause of progress in general, so far +as we have yet traced it. +</p> + +<p> +When, leaving the development of single plants and +animals, we pass to that of the Earth's flora and fauna, the +course of our argument again becomes clear and simple. +Though, as was admitted in the first part of this article, +the fragmentary facts Palæontology has accumulated, do +not clearly warrant us in saying that, in the lapse of geologic +time, there have been evolved more heterogeneous +organisms, and more heterogeneous assemblages of organisms, +yet we shall now see that there <i>must</i> ever have been +a tendency towards these results. We shall find that the +production of many effects by one cause, which, as already +shown, has been all along increasing the physical heterogeneity +of the Earth, has further involved an increasing +heterogeneity in its flora and fauna, individually and collectively. +An illustration will make this clear. +</p> + +<p> +Suppose that by a series of upheavals, occurring, as +they are now known to do, at long intervals, the East Indian +Archipelago were to be, step by step, raised into a +continent, and a chain of mountains formed along the axis +of elevation. By the first of these upheavals, the plants +and animals inhabiting Borneo, Sumatra, New Guinea, and +the rest, would be subjected to slightly modified sets of +conditions. The climate in general would be altered in +temperature, in humidity, and in its periodical variations; +while the local differences would be multiplied. These +modifications would affect, perhaps inappreciably, the entire +flora and fauna of the region. The change of level would +produce additional modifications: varying in different species, +and also in different members of the same species, +according to their distance from the axis of elevation. +Plants, growing only on the sea-shore in special localities, +might become extinct. Others, living only in swamps of a +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_47' id='Page_47' name='Page_47'>47</a></span> +certain humidity, would, if they survived at all, probably +undergo visible changes of appearance. While still greater +alterations would occur in the plants gradually spreading +over the lands newly raised above the sea. The animals +and insects living on these modified plants, would themselves +be in some degree modified by change of food, as +well as by change of climate; and the modification would +be more marked where, from the dwindling or disappearance +of one kind of plant, an allied kind was eaten. In the +lapse of the many generations arising before the next upheaval, +the sensible or insensible alterations thus produced +in each species would become organized—there would be +a more or less complete adaptation to the new conditions. +The next upheaval would superinduce further organic +changes, implying wider divergences from the primary +forms; and so repeatedly. +</p> + +<p> +But now let it be observed that the revolution thus +resulting would not be a substitution of a thousand more +or less modified species for the thousand original species; +but in place of the thousand original species there would +arise several thousand species, or varieties, or changed +forms. Each species being distributed over an area of +some extent, and tending continually to colonize the new +area exposed, its different members would be subject to +different sets of changes. Plants and animals spreading +towards the equator would not be affected in the same way +with others spreading from it. Those spreading towards +the new shores would undergo changes unlike the changes +undergone by those spreading into the mountains. Thus, +each original race of organisms, would become the root +from which diverged several races differing more or less +from it and from each other; and while some of these +might subsequently disappear, probably more than one +would survive in the next geologic period: the very dispersion +itself increasing the chances of survival. Not only +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_48' id='Page_48' name='Page_48'>48</a></span> +would there be certain modifications thus caused by change +of physical conditions and food, but also in some cases +other modifications caused by change of habit. The fauna +of each island, peopling, step by step, the newly-raised +tracts, would eventually come in contact with the faunas +of other islands; and some members of these other faunas +would be unlike any creatures before seen. Herbivores +meeting with new beasts of prey, would, in some cases, be +led into modes of defence or escape differing from those +previously used; and simultaneously the beasts of prey +would modify their modes of pursuit and attack. We +know that when circumstances demand it, such changes of +habit <i>do</i> take place in animals; and we know that if the +new habits become the dominant ones, they must eventually +in some degree alter the organization. +</p> + +<p> +Observe, now, however, a further consequence. There +must arise not simply a tendency towards the differentiation +of each race of organisms into several races; but also +a tendency to the occasional production of a somewhat +higher organism. Taken in the mass these divergent varieties +which have been caused by fresh physical conditions +and habits of life, will exhibit changes quite indefinite in +kind and degree; and changes that do not necessarily constitute +an advance. Probably in most cases the modified +type will be neither more nor less heterogeneous than the +original one. In some cases the habits of life adopted +being simpler than before, a less heterogeneous structure +will result: there will be a retrogradation. But it <i>must</i> +now and then occur, that some division of a species, falling +into circumstances which give it rather more complex experiences, +and demand actions somewhat more involved, will +have certain of its organs further differentiated in proportionately +small degrees,—will become slightly more heterogeneous. +</p> + +<p> +Thus, in the natural course of things, there will from +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_49' id='Page_49' name='Page_49'>49</a></span> +time to time arise an increased heterogeneity both of the +Earth's flora and fauna, and of individual races included in +them. Omitting detailed explanations, and allowing for +the qualifications which cannot here be specified, we think +it is clear that geological mutations have all along tended +to complicate the forms of life, whether regarded separately +or collectively. The same causes which have led to +the evolution of the Earth's crust from the simple into the +complex, have simultaneously led to a parallel evolution of +the Life upon its surface. In this case, as in previous ones, +we see that the transformation of the homogeneous into +the heterogeneous is consequent upon the universal principle, +that every active force produces more than one change. +</p> + +<p> +The deduction here drawn from the established truths +of geology and the general laws of life, gains immensely +in weight on finding it to be in harmony with an induction +drawn from direct experience. Just that divergence of +many races from one race, which we inferred must have +been continually occurring during geologic time, we know +to have occurred during the pre-historic and historic periods, +in man and domestic animals. And just that multiplication +of effects which we concluded must have produced +the first, we see has produced the last. Single +causes, as famine, pressure of population, war, have periodically +led to further dispersions of mankind and of dependent +creatures: each such dispersion initiating new modifications, +new varieties of type. Whether all the human +races be or be not derived from one stock, philology makes +it clear that whole groups of races now easily distinguishable +from each other, were originally one race,—that the +diffusion of one race into different climates and conditions +of existence, has produced many modified forms of it. +</p> + +<p> +Similarly with domestic animals. Though in some cases—as +that of dogs—community of origin will perhaps be +disputed, yet in other cases—as that of the sheep or the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_50' id='Page_50' name='Page_50'>50</a></span> +cattle of our own country—it will not be questioned that +local differences of climate, food, and treatment, have transformed +one original breed into numerous breeds now become +so far distinct as to produce unstable hybrids. Moreover, +through the complications of effects flowing from +single causes, we here find, what we before inferred, not +only an increase of general heterogeneity, but also of special +heterogeneity. While of the divergent divisions and +subdivisions of the human race, many have undergone +changes not constituting an advance; while in some the +type may have degraded; in others it has become decidedly +more heterogeneous. The civilized European departs more +widely from the vertebrate archetype than does the savage. +Thus, both the law and the cause of progress, which, from +lack of evidence, can be but hypothetically substantiated +in respect of the earlier forms of life on our globe, can be +actually substantiated in respect of the latest forms. +</p> + +<p> +If the advance of Man towards greater heterogeneity +is traceable to the production of many effects by one <ins class='correction' title='Original: canse'>cause</ins> +still more clearly may the advance of Society towards +greater heterogeneity be so explained. Consider the +growth of an industrial organization. When, as must occasionally +happen, some individual of a tribe displays unusual +aptitude for making an article of general use—a +weapon, for instance—which was before made by each man +for himself, there arises a tendency towards the differentiation +of that individual into a maker of such weapon. His +companions—warriors and hunters all of them,—severally +feel the importance of having the best weapons that can +be made; and are therefore certain to offer strong inducements +to this skilled individual to make weapons for them. +He, on the other hand, having not only an unusual faculty, +but an unusual liking, for making such weapons (the talent +and the desire for any occupation being commonly associated), +is predisposed to fulfil these commissions on the offer +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_51' id='Page_51' name='Page_51'>51</a></span> +of an adequate reward: especially as his love of distinction +is also gratified. This first specialization of function, once +commenced, tends ever to become more decided. On the +side of the weapon-maker continued practice gives increased +skill—increased superiority to his products: on the side of +his clients, cessation of practice entails decreased skill. +Thus the influences that determine this division of labour +grow stronger in both ways; and the incipient heterogeneity +is, on the average of cases, likely to become permanent +for that generation, if no longer. +</p> + +<p> +Observe now, however, that this process not only differentiates +the social mass into two parts, the one monopolizing, +or almost monopolizing, the performance of a certain +function, and the other having lost the habit, and in some +measure the power, of performing that function; but it +tends to imitate other differentiations. The advance we +have described implies the introduction of barter,—the +maker of weapons has, on each occasion, to be paid in such +other articles as he agrees to take in exchange. But he +will not habitually take in exchange one kind of article, +but many kinds. He does not want mats only, or skins, or +fishing gear, but he wants all these; and on each occasion +will bargain for the particular things he most needs. What +follows? If among the members of the tribe there exist +any slight differences of skill in the manufacture of these +various things, as there are almost sure to do, the weapon-maker +will take from each one the thing which that one excels +in making: he will exchange for mats with him whose +mats are superior, and will bargain for the fishing gear of +whoever has the best. But he who has bartered away his +mats or his fishing gear, must make other mats or fishing +gear for himself; and in so doing must, in some degree, +further develop his aptitude. Thus it results that the +small specialities of faculty possessed by various members +of the tribe, will tend to grow more decided. If such +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_52' id='Page_52' name='Page_52'>52</a></span> +transactions are from time repeated, these specializations +may become appreciable. And whether or not there ensue +distinct differentiations of other individuals into makers +of particular articles, it is clear that incipient differentiations +take place throughout the tribe: the one original cause +produces not only the first dual effect, but a number of +secondary dual effects, like in kind, but minor in degree. +This process, of which traces may be seen among groups +of schoolboys, cannot well produce any lasting effects in +an unsettled tribe; but where there grows up a fixed and +multiplying community, these differentiations become permanent, +and increase with each generation. A larger population, +involving a greater demand for every commodity, +intensifies the functional activity of each specialized person +or class; and this renders the specialization more definite +where it already exists, and establishes it where it is nascent. +By increasing the pressure on the means of subsistence, +a larger population again augments these results; seeing +that each person is forced more and more to confine himself +to that which he can do best, and by which he can gain +most. This industrial progress, by aiding future production, +opens the way for a further growth of population, +which reacts as before: in all which the multiplication of +effects is manifest. Presently, under these same stimuli, +new occupations arise. Competing workers, ever aiming +to produce improved articles, occasionally discover better +processes or raw materials. In weapons and cutting tools, +the substitution of bronze for stone entails upon him who +first makes it a great increase of demand—so great an increase +that he presently finds all his time occupied in making +the bronze for the articles he sells, and is obliged to depute +the fashioning of these to others: and, eventually, the +making of bronze, thus gradually differentiated from a pre-existing +occupation, becomes an occupation by itself. +</p> + +<p> +But now mark the ramified changes which follow this +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_53' id='Page_53' name='Page_53'>53</a></span> +change. Bronze soon replaces stone, not only in the articles +it was first used for, but in many others—in arms, tools, +and utensils of various kinds; and so affects the manufacture +of these things. Further, it affects the processes +which these utensils subserve, and the resulting products—modifies +buildings, carvings, dress, personal decorations. +Yet again, it sets going sundry manufactures which were +before impossible, from lack of a material fit for the requisite +tools. And all these changes react on the people—increase +their manipulative skill, their intelligence, their comfort,—refine +their habits and tastes. Thus the evolution of +a homogeneous society into a heterogeneous one, is clearly +consequent on the general principle, that many effects are +produced by one cause. +</p> + +<p> +Our limits will not allow us to follow out this process in +its higher complications: else might we show how the localization +of special industries in special parts of a kingdom, +as well as the minute subdivision of labour in the +making of each commodity, are similarly determined. Or, +turning to a somewhat different order of illustrations, we +might dwell on the multitudinous changes—material, intellectual, +moral,—caused by printing; or the further extensive +series of changes wrought by gunpowder. But leaving +the intermediate phases of social development, let us take +a few illustrations from its most recent and its passing phases. +To trace the effects of steam-power, in its manifold +applications to mining, navigation, and manufactures of all +kinds, would carry us into unmanageable detail. Let us +confine ourselves to the latest embodiment of steam-power—the +locomotive engine. +</p> + +<p> +This, as the proximate cause of our railway system, has +changed the face of the country, the course of trade, and +the habits of the people. Consider, first, the complicated +sets of changes that precede the making of every railway—the +provisional arrangements, the meetings, the registration, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_54' id='Page_54' name='Page_54'>54</a></span> +the trial section, the parliamentary survey, the lithographed +plans, the books of reference, the local deposits and +notices, the application to Parliament, the passing Standing-Orders +Committee, the first, second, and third readings: +each of which brief heads indicates a multiplicity of transactions, +and the development of sundry occupations—as those +of engineers, surveyors, lithographers, parliamentary agents, +share-brokers; and the creation of sundry others—as those +of traffic-takers, reference-takers. Consider, next, the yet +more marked changes implied in railway construction—the +cuttings, embankings, tunnellings, diversions of roads; the +building of bridges and stations; the laying down of ballast, +sleepers, and rails; the making of engines, tenders, +carriages and waggons: which processes, acting upon numerous +trades, increase the importation of timber, the +quarrying of stone, the manufacture of iron, the mining of +coal, the burning of bricks: institute a variety of special +manufactures weekly advertised in the <i>Railway Times</i>; +and, finally, open the way to sundry new occupations, as +those of drivers, stokers, cleaners, plate-layers, &c., &c. +And then consider the changes, more numerous and involved +still, which railways in action produce on the community +at large. The organization of every business is +more or less modified: ease of communication makes it better +to do directly what was before done by proxy; agencies +are established where previously they would not have paid; +goods are obtained from remote wholesale houses instead +of near retail ones; and commodities are used which distance +once rendered inaccessible. Again, the rapidity and +small cost of carriage tend to specialize more than ever the +industries of different districts—to confine each manufacture +to the parts in which, from local advantages, it can be +best carried on. Further, the diminished cost of carriage, +facilitating distribution, equalizes prices, and also, on the +average, lowers prices: thus bringing divers articles within +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_55' id='Page_55' name='Page_55'>55</a></span> +the means of those before unable to buy them, and so increasing +their comforts and improving their habits. At the +same time the practice of travelling is immensely extended. +Classes who never before thought of it, take annual trips +to the sea; visit their distant relations; make tours; and +so we are benefited in body, feelings, and intellect. Moreover, +the more prompt transmission of letters and of news +produces further changes—makes the pulse of the nation +faster. Yet more, there arises a wide dissemination of cheap +literature through railway book-stalls, and of advertisements +in railway carriages: both of them aiding ulterior +progress. +</p> + +<p> +And all the innumerable changes here briefly indicated +are consequent on the invention of the locomotive engine. +The social organism has been rendered more heterogeneous +in virtue of the many new occupations introduced, and the +many old ones further specialized; prices in every place +have been altered; each trader has, more or less, modified +his way of doing business; and almost every person has +been affected in his actions, thoughts, emotions. +</p> + +<p> +Illustrations to the same effect might be indefinitely accumulated. +That every influence brought to bear upon society +works multiplied effects; and that increase of heterogeneity +is due to this multiplication of effects; may be seen +in the history of every trade, every custom, every belief. +But it is needless to give additional evidence of this. The +only further fact demanding notice, is, that we here see still +more clearly than ever, the truth before pointed out, that +in proportion as the area on which any force expends itself +becomes heterogeneous, the results are in a yet higher degree +multiplied in number and kind. While among the +primitive tribes to whom it was first known, caoutchouc +caused but a few changes, among ourselves the changes +have been so many and varied that the history of them +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_56' id='Page_56' name='Page_56'>56</a></span> +occupies a volume.<a class='fnanchor' id='FA_D' name='FA_D' href='#FN_D'>[D]</a> Upon the small, homogeneous community +inhabiting one of the Hebrides, the electric telegraph +would produce, were it used, scarcely any results; but in +England the results it produces are multitudinous. The +comparatively simple organization under which our ancestors +lived five centuries ago, could have undergone but few +modifications from an event like the recent one at Canton; +but now the legislative decision respecting it sets up many +hundreds of complex modifications, each of which will be +the parent of numerous future ones. +</p> + +<p> +Space permitting, we could willingly have pursued the +argument in relation to all the subtler results of civilization. +As before, we showed that the law of Progress to which +the organic and inorganic worlds conform, is also conformed +to by Language, Sculpture, Music, &c.; so might we here +show that the cause which we have hitherto found to determine +Progress holds in these cases also. We might +demonstrate in detail how, in Science, an advance of one +division presently advances other divisions—how Astronomy +has been immensely forwarded by discoveries in Optics, +while other optical discoveries have initiated Microscopic +Anatomy, and greatly aided the growth of Physiology—how +Chemistry has indirectly increased our knowledge +of Electricity, Magnetism, Biology, Geology—how +Electricity has reacted on Chemistry and Magnetism, developed +our views of Light and Heat, and disclosed sundry +laws of nervous action. +</p> + +<p> +In Literature the same truth might be exhibited in the +manifold effects of the primitive mystery-play, not only as +originating the modern drama, but as affecting through it +other kinds of poetry and fiction; or in the still multiplying +forms of periodical literature that have descended from +the first newspaper, and which have severally acted and +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_57' id='Page_57' name='Page_57'>57</a></span> +reacted on other forms of literature and on each other. +The influence which a new school of Painting—as that of +the pre-Raffaelites—exercises upon other schools; the hints +which all kinds of pictorial art are deriving from Photography; +the complex results of new critical doctrines, as +those of Mr. Ruskin, might severally be dwelt upon as +displaying the like multiplication of effects. But it would +needlessly tax the reader's patience to pursue, in their +many ramifications, these various changes: here become +so involved and subtle as to be followed with some difficulty. +</p> + +<p> +Without further evidence, we venture to think our case +is made out. The imperfections of statement which brevity +has necessitated, do not, we believe, militate against the +propositions laid down. The qualifications here and there +demanded would not, if made, affect the inferences. +Though in one instance, where sufficient evidence is not +attainable, we have been unable to show that the law of +Progress applies; yet there is high probability that the same +generalization holds which holds throughout the rest of +creation. Though, in tracing the genesis of Progress, we +have frequently spoken of complex causes as if they were +simple ones; it still remains true that such causes are far +less complex than their results. Detailed criticisms cannot +affect our main position. Endless facts go to show +that every kind of progress is from the homogeneous to +the heterogeneous; and that it is so because each change +is followed by many changes. And it is significant that +where the facts are most accessible and abundant, there +are these truths most manifest. +</p> + +<p> +However, to avoid committing ourselves to more than +is yet proved, we must be content with saying that such +are the law and the cause of all progress that is known to +us. Should the Nebular Hypothesis ever be established, +then it will become manifest that the Universe at large, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_58' id='Page_58' name='Page_58'>58</a></span> +like every organism, was once homogeneous; that as a +whole, and in every detail, it has unceasingly advanced +towards greater heterogeneity; and that its heterogeneity +is still increasing. It will be seen that as in each event of +to-day, so from the beginning, the decomposition of every +expended force into several forces has been perpetually +producing a higher complication; that the increase of +heterogeneity so brought about is still going on, and must +continue to go on; and that thus Progress is not an accident, +not a thing within human control, but a beneficent +necessity. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +A few words must be added on the ontological bearings +of our argument. Probably not a few will conclude +that here is an attempted solution of the great questions +with which Philosophy in all ages has perplexed itself. +Let none thus deceive themselves. Only such as know not +the scope and the limits of Science can fall into so grave +an error. The foregoing generalizations apply, not to the +genesis of things in themselves, but to their genesis as +manifested to the human consciousness. After all that has +been said, the ultimate mystery remains just as it was. +The explanation of that which is explicable, does but bring +out into greater clearness the inexplicableness of that +which remains behind. However we may succeed in reducing +the equation to its lowest terms, we are not thereby +enabled to determine the unknown quantity: on the contrary, +it only becomes more manifest that the unknown +quantity can never be found. +</p> + +<p> +Little as it seems to do so, fearless inquiry tends continually +to give a firmer basis to all true Religion. The +timid sectarian, alarmed at the progress of knowledge, +obliged to abandon one by one the superstitions of his +ancestors, and daily finding his cherished beliefs more and +more shaken, secretly fears that all things may some day +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_59' id='Page_59' name='Page_59'>59</a></span> +be explained; and has a corresponding dread of Science: +thus evincing the profoundest of all infidelity—the fear lest +the truth be bad. On the other hand, the sincere man of +science, content to follow wherever the evidence leads him, +becomes by each new inquiry more profoundly convinced +that the Universe is an insoluble problem. Alike in the +external and the internal worlds, he sees himself in the +midst of perpetual changes, of which he can discover +neither the beginning nor the end. If, tracing back the +evolution of things, he allows himself to entertain the +hypothesis that all matter once existed in a diffused form, +he finds it utterly impossible to conceive how this came to +be so; and equally, if he speculates on the future, he can +assign no limit to the grand succession of phenomena ever +unfolding themselves before him. On the other hand, if +he looks inward, he perceives that both terminations of +the thread of consciousness are beyond his grasp: he cannot +remember when or how consciousness commenced, +and he cannot examine the consciousness that at any moment +exists; for only a state of consciousness that is +already past can become the object of thought, and never +one which is passing. +</p> + +<p> +When, again, he turns from the succession of phenomena, +external or internal, to their essential nature, he is +equally at fault. Though he may succeed in resolving all +properties of objects into manifestations of force, he is not +thereby enabled to realize what force is; but finds, on the +contrary, that the more he thinks about it, the more he is +baffled. Similarly, though analysis of mental actions may +finally bring him down to sensations as the original materials +out of which all thought is woven, he is none the +forwarder; for he cannot in the least comprehend sensation—cannot +even conceive how sensation is possible. Inward +and outward things he thus discovers to be alike +inscrutable in their ultimate genesis and nature. He sees +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_60' id='Page_60' name='Page_60'>60</a></span> +that the Materialist and Spiritualist controversy is a mere +war of words; the disputants being equally absurd—each +believing he understands that which it is impossible for +any man to understand. In all directions his investigations +eventually bring him face to face with the unknowable; +and he ever more clearly perceives it to be the unknowable. +He learns at once the greatness and the littleness of human +intellect—its power in dealing with all that comes within +the range of experience; its impotence in dealing with all +that transcends experience. He feels, with a vividness +which no others can, the utter incomprehensibleness of +the simplest fact, considered in itself. He alone truly +<i>sees</i> that absolute knowledge is impossible. He alone +<i>knows</i> that under all things there lies an impenetrable +mystery. +</p> + +<div class='footnotes'> + +<div class='footnote'> +<p><a id='FN_A' name='FN_A' href='#FA_A'><span class='fnlabel'>[A]</span></a> + For detailed proof of these assertions see essay on <i>Manners and +Fashion</i>. +</p></div> + +<div class='footnote'> +<p><a id='FN_B' name='FN_B' href='#FA_B'><span class='fnlabel'>[B]</span></a> + A correlative truth which ought also to be taken into account (that +the state of homogeneity is one of unstable equilibrium), but which it +would greatly encumber the argument to exemplify in connection with +the above, will be found developed in the essay on <i>Transcendental Physiology</i>. +</p></div> + +<div class='footnote'> +<p><a id='FN_C' name='FN_C' href='#FA_C'><span class='fnlabel'>[C]</span></a> + The idea that the Nebular Hypothesis has been disproved because +what were thought to be existing nebulæ have been resolved into clusters +of stars is almost beneath notice. <i>A priori</i> it was highly improbable, if +not impossible, that nebulous masses should still remain uncondensed, +while others have been condensed millions of years ago. +</p></div> + +<div class='footnote'> +<p><a id='FN_D' name='FN_D' href='#FA_D'><span class='fnlabel'>[D]</span></a> + "Personal Narrative of the Origin of the Caoutchouc, or India-Rubber +Manufacture in England." By Thomas Hancock. +</p></div> + +</div> + +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_61' id='Page_61' name='Page_61'>61</a></span> +</p> + + + + +<h2> +II. <br />MANNERS AND FASHION. +</h2> + + +<p> +Whoever has studied the physiognomy of political +meetings, cannot fail to have remarked a connection +between democratic opinions and peculiarities of costume. +At a Chartist demonstration, a lecture on Socialism, or a +<i>soirée</i> of the Friends of Italy, there will be seen many +among the audience, and a still larger ratio among the +speakers, who get themselves up in a style more or less +unusual. One gentleman on the platform divides his hair +down the centre, instead of on one side; another brushes +it back off the forehead, in the fashion known as "bringing +out the intellect;" a third has so long forsworn the scissors, +that his locks sweep his shoulders. A considerable +sprinkling of moustaches may be observed; here and there +an imperial; and occasionally some courageous breaker of +conventions exhibits a full-grown beard.<a class='fnanchor' id='FA_E' name='FA_E' href='#FN_E'>[E]</a> This nonconformity +in hair is countenanced by various nonconformities +in dress, shown by others of the assemblage. Bare necks, +shirt-collars <i>à la</i> Byron, waistcoats cut Quaker fashion, +wonderfully shaggy great coats, numerous oddities in form +and colour, destroy the monotony usual in crowds. Even +those exhibiting no conspicuous peculiarity, frequently +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_62' id='Page_62' name='Page_62'>62</a></span> +indicate by something in the pattern or make-up of their +clothes, that they pay small regard to what their tailors +tell them about the prevailing taste. And when the +gathering breaks up, the varieties of head gear displayed—the +number of caps, and the abundance of felt hats—suffice +to prove that were the world at large like-minded, +the black cylinders which tyrannize over us would soon be +deposed. +</p> + +<p> +The foreign correspondence of our daily press shows +that this relationship between political discontent and the +disregard of customs exists on the Continent also. Red +republicanism has always been distinguished by its hirsuteness. +The authorities of Prussia, Austria, and Italy, alike +recognize certain forms of hat as indicative of disaffection, +and fulminate against them accordingly. In some places +the wearer of a blouse runs a risk of being classed among +the <i>suspects</i>; and in others, he who would avoid the bureau +of police, must beware how he goes out in any but the +ordinary colours. Thus, democracy abroad, as at home, +tends towards personal singularity. +</p> + +<p> +Nor is this association of characteristics peculiar to +modern times, or to reformers of the State. It has always +existed; and it has been manifested as much in religious +agitations as in political ones. Along with dissent from +the chief established opinions and arrangements, there has +ever been some dissent from the customary social practices. +The Puritans, disapproving of the long curls of the Cavaliers, +as of their principles, cut their own hair short, and so +gained the name of "Roundheads." The marked religious +nonconformity of the Quakers was accompanied by an +equally-marked nonconformity of manners—in attire, in +speech, in salutation. The early Moravians not only +believed differently, but at the same time dressed differently, +and lived differently, from their fellow Christians. +</p> + +<p> +That the association between political independence +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_63' id='Page_63' name='Page_63'>63</a></span> +and independence of personal conduct, is not a phenomenon +of to-day only, we may see alike in the appearance of +Franklin at the French court in plain clothes, and in the +white hats worn by the last generation of radicals. Originality +of nature is sure to show itself in more ways than +one. The mention of George Fox's suit of leather, or +Pestalozzi's school name, "Harry Oddity," will at once +suggest the remembrance that men who have in great +things diverged from the beaten track, have frequently +done so in small things likewise. Minor illustrations of +this truth may be gathered in almost every circle. We +believe that whoever will number up his reforming and +rationalist acquaintances, will find among them more than +the usual proportion of those who in dress or behaviour +exhibit some degree of what the world calls eccentricity. +</p> + +<p> +If it be a fact that men of revolutionary aims in politics +or religion, are commonly revolutionists in custom also, +it is not less a fact that those whose office it is to uphold +established arrangements in State and Church, are also +those who most adhere to the social forms and observances +bequeathed to us by past generations. Practices +elsewhere extinct still linger about the headquarters of +government. The monarch still gives assent to Acts of +Parliament in the old French of the Normans; and Norman +French terms are still used in law. Wigs, such as +those we see depicted in old portraits, may yet be found +on the heads of judges and barristers. The Beefeaters +at the Tower wear the costume of Henry VIIth's body-guard. +The University dress of the present year varies +but little from that worn soon after the Reformation. +The claret-coloured coat, knee-breeches, lace shirt frills, +ruffles, white silk stockings, and buckled shoes, which +once formed the usual attire of a gentleman, still survive +as the court-dress. And it need scarcely be said that at +<i>levées</i> and drawing-rooms, the ceremonies are prescribed +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_64' id='Page_64' name='Page_64'>64</a></span> +with an exactness, and enforced with a rigour, not elsewhere +to be found. +</p> + +<p> +Can we consider these two series of coincidences as +accidental and unmeaning? Must we not rather conclude +that some necessary relationship obtains between them? +Are there not such things as a constitutional conservatism, +and a constitutional tendency to change? Is there not a +class which clings to the old in all things; and another +class so in love with progress as often to mistake novelty +for improvement? Do we not find some men ready to +bow to established authority of whatever kind; while +others demand of every such authority its reason, and +reject it if it fails to justify itself? And must not the +minds thus contrasted tend to become respectively conformist +and nonconformist, not only in politics and religion, +but in other things? Submission, whether to a government, +to the dogmas of ecclesiastics, or to that code of +behaviour which society at large has set up, is essentially +of the same nature; and the sentiment which induces +resistance to the despotism of rulers, civil or spiritual, likewise +induces resistance to the despotism of the world's +opinion. Look at them fundamentally, and all enactments, +alike of the legislature, the consistory, and the saloon—all +regulations, formal or virtual, have a common character: +they are all limitations of men's freedom. "Do this—Refrain +from that," are the blank formulas into which they +may all be written: and in each case the understanding is +that obedience will bring approbation here and paradise +hereafter; while disobedience will entail imprisonment, or +sending to Coventry, or eternal torments, as the case may +be. And if restraints, however named, and through whatever +apparatus of means exercised, are one in their action +upon men, it must happen that those who are patient under +one kind of restraint, are likely to be patient under another; +and conversely, that those impatient of restraint in general, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_65' id='Page_65' name='Page_65'>65</a></span> +will, on the average, tend to show their impatience in all +directions. +</p> + +<p> +That Law, Religion, and Manners are thus related—that +their respective kinds of operation come under one +generalization—that they have in certain contrasted characteristics +of men a common support and a common danger—will, +however, be most clearly seen on discovering that +they have a common origin. Little as from present appearances +we should suppose it, we shall yet find that at +first, the control of religion, the control of laws, and the +control of manners, were all one control. However incredible +it may now seem, we believe it to be demonstrable +that the rules of etiquette, the provisions of the statute-book, +and the commands of the decalogue, have grown +from the same root. If we go far enough back into the +ages of primeval Fetishism, it becomes manifest that +originally Deity, Chief, and Master of the ceremonies were +identical. To make good these positions, and to show +their bearing on what is to follow, it will be necessary +here to traverse ground that is in part somewhat beaten, +and at first sight irrelevant to our topic. We will pass +over it as quickly as consists with the exigencies of the +argument. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +That the earliest social aggregations were ruled solely +by the will of the strong man, few dispute. That from the +strong man proceeded not only Monarchy, but the conception +of a God, few admit: much as Carlyle and others have +said in evidence of it. If, however, those who are unable +to believe this, will lay aside the ideas of God and man in +which they have been educated, and study the aboriginal +ideas of them, they will at least see some probability in +the hypothesis. Let them remember that before experience +had yet taught men to distinguish between the possible +and the impossible; and while they were ready on the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_66' id='Page_66' name='Page_66'>66</a></span> +slightest suggestion to ascribe unknown powers to any object +and make a fetish of it; their conceptions of humanity +and its capacities were necessarily vague, and without +specific limits. The man who by unusual strength, or cunning, +achieved something that others had failed to achieve, +or something which they did not understand, was considered +by them as differing from themselves; and, as we see in the +belief of some Polynesians that only their chiefs have souls, +or in that of the ancient Peruvians that their nobles were divine +by birth, the ascribed difference was apt to be not one of +degree only, but one of kind. +</p> + +<p> +Let them remember next, how gross were the notions +of God, or rather of gods, prevalent during the same era +and afterwards—how concretely gods were conceived as +men of specific aspects dressed in specific ways—how their +names were literally "the strong," "the destroyer," "the +powerful one,"—how, according to the Scandinavian mythology, +the "sacred duty of blood-revenge" was acted +on by the gods themselves,—and how they were not only +human in their vindictiveness, their cruelty, and their +quarrels with each other, but were supposed to have amours +on earth, and to consume the viands placed on their altars. +Add to which, that in various mythologies, Greek, Scandinavian, +and others, the oldest beings are giants; that according +to a traditional genealogy the gods, demi-gods, +and in some cases men, are descended from these after the +human fashion; and that while in the East we hear of sons of +God who saw the daughters of men that they were fair, +the Teutonic myths tell of unions between the sons of men +and the daughters of the gods. +</p> + +<p> +Let them remember, too, that at first the idea of death +differed widely from that which we have; that there are +still tribes who, on the decease of one of their number, attempt +to make the corpse stand, and put food into his mouth; +that the Peruvians had feasts at which the mummies of their +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_67' id='Page_67' name='Page_67'>67</a></span> +dead Incas presided, when, as Prescott says, they paid attention +"to these insensible remains as if they were instinct with +life;" that among the Feejees it is believed that every enemy +has to be killed twice; that the Eastern Pagans give extension +and figure to the soul, and attribute to it all the same substances, +both solid and liquid, of which our bodies are composed; +and that it is the custom among most barbarous races to +bury food, weapons, and trinkets along with the dead body, +under the manifest belief that it will presently need them. +</p> + +<p> +Lastly, let them remember that the other world, as originally +conceived, is simply some distant part of this world—some +Elysian fields, some happy hunting-ground, accessible +even to the living, and to which, after death, men +travel in anticipation of a life analogous in general character +to that which they led before. Then, co-ordinating these +general facts—the ascription of unknown powers to chiefs +and medicine men; the belief in deities having human +forms, passions, and behaviour; the imperfect comprehension +of death as distinguished from life; and the proximity +of the future abode to the present, both in position and +character—let them reflect whether they do not almost unavoidably +suggest the conclusion that the aboriginal god +is the dead chief: the chief not dead in our sense, but +gone away carrying with him food and weapons to some +rumoured region of plenty, some promised land, whither he +had long intended to lead his followers, and whence he will +presently return to fetch them. +</p> + +<p> +This hypothesis once entertained, is seen to harmonize +with all primitive ideas and practices. The sons of the deified +chief reigning after him, it necessarily happens that all +early kings are held descendants of the gods; and the fact +that alike in Assyria, Egypt, among the Jews, Phœnicians, +and ancient Britons, kings' names were formed out of the +names of the gods, is fully explained. The genesis of Polytheism +out of Fetishism, by the successive migrations of +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_68' id='Page_68' name='Page_68'>68</a></span> +the race of god-kings to the other world—a genesis illustrated +in the Greek mythology, alike by the precise genealogy +of the deities, and by the specifically asserted apotheosis +of the later ones—tends further to bear it out. It explains +the fact that in the old creeds, as in the still extant +creed of the Otaheitans, every family has its guardian +spirit, who is supposed to be one of their departed relatives; +and that they sacrifice to these as minor gods—a +practice still pursued by the Chinese and even by the Russians. +It is perfectly congruous with the Grecian myths +concerning the wars of the Gods with the Titans and their +final usurpation; and it similarly agrees with the fact that +among the Teutonic gods proper was one Freir who came +among them by adoption, "but was born among the <i>Vanes</i>, a +somewhat mysterious <i>other</i> dynasty of gods, who had been +conquered and superseded by the stronger and more warlike +Odin dynasty." It harmonizes, too, with the belief that there +are different gods to different territories and nations, as there +were different chiefs; that these gods contend for supremacy +as chiefs do; and it gives meaning to the boast of neighbouring +tribes—"Our god is greater than your god." It is confirmed +by the notion universally current in early times, that +the gods come from this other abode, in which they commonly live, +and appear among men—speak to them, help them, +punish them. And remembering this, it becomes manifest +that the prayers put up by primitive peoples to their gods for +aid in battle, are meant literally—that their gods are expected +to come back from the other kingdom they are reigning +over, and once more fight the old enemies they had before +warred against so implacably; and it needs but to name the +Iliad, to remind every one how thoroughly they believed the +expectation fulfilled. +</p> + +<p> +All government, then, being originally that of the +strong man who has become a fetish by some manifestation of +superiority, there arises, at his death—his supposed departure +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_69' id='Page_69' name='Page_69'>69</a></span> +on a long projected expedition, in which he is accompanied +by his slaves and concubines sacrificed at his tomb—there +arises, then, the incipient division of religious from +political control, of civil rule from spiritual. His son becomes +deputed chief during his absence; his authority is +cited as that by which his son acts; his vengeance is invoked +on all who disobey his son; and his commands, as previously +known or as asserted by his son, become the germ +of a moral code: a fact we shall the more clearly perceive +if we remember, that early moral codes inculcate mainly +the virtues of the warrior, and the duty of exterminating +some neighbouring tribe whose existence is an offence to +the deity. +</p> + +<p> +From this point onwards, these two kinds of authority, +at first complicated together as those of principal and agent, +become slowly more and more distinct. As experience accumulates, +and ideas of causation grow more precise, kings +lose their supernatural attributes; and, instead of God-king, +become God-descended king, God-appointed king, +the Lord's anointed, the <ins class='correction' title='Original: vicegerent'>viceregent</ins> of heaven, ruler reigning +by Divine right. The old theory, however, long clings +to men in feeling, after it has disappeared in name; and +"such divinity doth hedge a king," that even now, many, +on first <ins class='correction' title='Original: seing'>seeing</ins> one, feel a secret surprise at finding him an +ordinary sample of humanity. The sacredness attaching +to royalty attaches afterwards to its appended institutions—to +legislatures, to laws. Legal and illegal are synonymous +with right and wrong; the authority of Parliament +is held unlimited; and a lingering faith in governmental +power continually generates unfounded hopes from its enactments. +Political scepticism, however, having destroyed +the divine <i>prestige</i> of royalty, goes on ever increasing, +and promises ultimately to reduce the State to a purely +secular institution, whose regulations are limited in their +sphere, and have no other authority than the general will. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_70' id='Page_70' name='Page_70'>70</a></span> +Meanwhile, the religious control has been little by little +separating itself from the civil, both in its essence and in +its forms. While from the God-king of the savage have +arisen in one direction, secular rulers who, age by age, +have been losing the sacred attributes men ascribed to +them; there has arisen in another direction, the conception +of a deity, who, at first human in all things, has been gradually +losing human materiality, human form, human passions, +human modes of action: until now, anthropomorphism has +become a reproach. +</p> + +<p> +Along with this wide divergence in men's ideas of the +divine and civil ruler has been taking place a corresponding +divergence in the codes of conduct respectively proceeding +from them. While the king was a deputy-god—a governor +such as the Jews looked for in the Messiah—a governor +considered, as the Czar still is, "our God upon Earth,"—it, +of course, followed that his commands were the supreme +rules. But as men ceased to believe in his supernatural +origin and nature, his commands ceased to be the highest; +and there arose a distinction between the regulations made +by him, and the regulations handed down from the old +god-kings, who were rendered ever more sacred by time +and the accumulation of myths. Hence came respectively, +Law and Morality: the one growing ever more concrete, +the other more abstract; the authority of the one ever on +the decrease, that of the other ever on the increase; originally +the same, but now placed daily in more marked antagonism. +</p> + +<p> +Simultaneously there has been going on a separation of +the institutions administering these two codes of conduct. +While they were yet one, of course Church and State were +one: the king was arch-priest, not nominally, but really—alike +the giver of new commands and the chief interpreter +of the old commands; and the deputy-priests coming out +of his family were thus simply expounders of the dictates +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_71' id='Page_71' name='Page_71'>71</a></span> +of their ancestry: at first as recollected, and afterwards as +ascertained by professed interviews with them. This union—which +still existed practically during the middle ages, +when the authority of kings was mixed up with the authority +of the pope, when there were bishop-rulers having all +the powers of feudal lords, and when priests punished by +penances—has been, step by step, becoming less close. +Though monarchs are still "defenders of the faith," +and ecclesiastical chiefs, they are but nominally such. +Though bishops still have civil power, it is not what they +once had. Protestantism shook loose the bonds of union; +Dissent has long been busy in organizing a mechanism for +the exercise of religious control, wholly independent of +law; in America, a separate organization for that purpose +already exists; and if anything is to be hoped from the +Anti-State-Church Association—or, as it has been newly +named, "The Society for the Liberation of Religion from +State Patronage and Control"—we shall presently have a +separate organization here also. +</p> + +<p> +Thus alike in authority, in essence, and in form, political +and spiritual rule have been ever more widely diverging +from the same root. That increasing division of labour +which marks the progress of society in other things, marks +it also in this separation of government into civil and religious; +and if we observe how the morality which forms the +substance of religions in general, is beginning to be purified +from the associated creeds, we may anticipate that this +division will be ultimately carried much further. +</p> + +<p> +Passing now to the third species of control—that of +Manners—we shall find that this, too, while it had a common +genesis with the others, has gradually come to have a +distinct sphere and a special embodiment. Among early +aggregations of men before yet social observances existed, +the sole forms of courtesy known were the signs of submission +to the strong man; as the sole law was his will, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_72' id='Page_72' name='Page_72'>72</a></span> +and the sole religion the awe of his supposed supernaturalness. +Originally, ceremonies were modes of behaviour to +the god-king. Our commonest titles have been derived +from his names. And all salutations were primarily worship +paid to him. Let us trace out these truths in detail, +beginning with titles. +</p> + +<p> +The fact already noticed, that the names of early kings +among divers races are formed by the addition of certain +syllables to the names of their gods—which certain syllables, +like our <i>Mac</i> and <i>Fitz</i>, probably mean "son of," or +"descended from"—at once gives meaning to the term +<i>Father</i> as a divine title. And when we read, in Selden, +that "the composition out of these names of Deities was +not only proper to Kings: their Grandes and more honorable +Subjects" (no doubt members of the royal race) "had +sometimes the like;" we see how the term <i>Father</i>, properly +used by these also, and by their multiplying descendants, +came to be a title used by the people in general. And +it is significant as bearing on this point, that among the +most barbarous nation in Europe, where belief in the divine +nature of the ruler still lingers, <i>Father</i> in this higher +sense is still a regal distinction. When, again, we remember +how the divinity at first ascribed to kings was not a +complimentary fiction but a supposed fact; and how, further, +under the Fetish philosophy the celestial bodies are +believed to be personages who once lived among men; we +see that the appellations of oriental rulers, "Brother to the +Sun," &c., were probably once expressive of a genuine belief; +and have simply, like many other things, continued in +use after all meaning has gone out of them. We may +infer, too, that the titles God, Lord, Divinity, were given +to primitive rulers literally—that the <i>nostra divinitas</i> applied +to the Roman emperors, and the various sacred designations +that have been borne by monarchs, down to the +still extant phrase, "Our Lord the King," are the dead and +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_73' id='Page_73' name='Page_73'>73</a></span> +dying forms of what were once living facts. From these +names, God, Father, Lord, Divinity, originally belonging +to the God-king, and afterwards to God and the king, the +derivation of our commonest titles of respect is clearly +traceable. +</p> + +<p> +There is reason to think that these titles were originally +proper names. Not only do we see among the Egyptians, +where Pharaoh was synonymous with king, and among the +Romans, where to be Cæsar, meant to be Emperor, that +the proper names of the greatest men were transferred to +their successors, and so became class names; but in the +Scandinavian mythology we may trace a human title of +honour up to the proper name of a divine personage. In +Anglo-Saxon <i>bealdor</i>, or <i>baldor</i>, means <i>Lord</i>; and Balder +is the name of the favourite of Odin's sons—the gods who +with him constitute the Teutonic Pantheon. How these +names of honour became general is easily understood. +The relatives of the primitive kings—the grandees described +by Selden as having names formed on those of the +gods, and shown by this to be members of the divine race—necessarily +shared in the epithets, such as <i>Lord</i>, descriptive +of superhuman relationships and nature. Their ever-multiplying +offspring inheriting these, gradually rendered +them comparatively common. And then they came to be +applied to every man of power: partly from the fact that, +in these early days when men conceived divinity simply as +a stronger kind of humanity, great persons could be called +by divine epithets with but little exaggeration; partly from +the fact that the unusually potent were apt to be considered +as unrecognized or illegitimate descendants of "the +strong, the destroyer, the powerful one;" and partly, also, +from compliment and the desire to propitiate. +</p> + +<p> +Progressively as superstition diminished, this last became +the sole cause. And if we remember that it is the +nature of compliment, as we daily hear it, to attribute +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_74' id='Page_74' name='Page_74'>74</a></span> +more than is due—that in the constantly widening application +of "esquire," in the perpetual repetition of "your +honour" by the fawning Irishman, and in the use of the +name "gentleman" to any coalheaver or dustman by the +lower classes of London, we have current examples of the +depreciation of titles consequent on compliment—and that +in barbarous times, when the wish to propitiate was stronger +than now, this effect must have been greater; we shall see +that there naturally arose an extensive misuse of all early +distinctions. Hence the facts, that the Jews called Herod +a god; that <i>Father</i>, in its higher sense, was a term used +among them by servants to masters; that <i>Lord</i> was applicable +to any person of worth and power. Hence, too, the +fact that, in the later periods of the Roman Empire, every _ +man saluted his neighbour as <i>Dominus</i> and <i>Rex</i>. +</p> + +<p> +But it is in the titles of the middle ages, and in the +growth of our modern ones out of them, that the process +is most clearly seen. <i>Herr</i>, <i>Don</i>, <i>Signior</i>, <i>Seigneur</i>, <i>Sennor</i>, +were all originally names of rulers—of feudal lords. +By the complimentary use of these names to all who could, +on any pretence, be supposed to merit them, and by successive +degradations of them from each step in the descent +to a still lower one, they have come to be common forms +of address. At first the phrase in which a serf <ins class='correction' title='Original: acosted'>accosted</ins> his +despotic chief, <i>mein herr</i> is now familiarly applied in Germany +to ordinary people. The Spanish title <i>Don</i>, once +proper to noblemen and gentlemen only, is now accorded +to all classes. So, too, is it with <i>Signior</i> in Italy. <i>Seigneur</i>, +and <i>Monseigneur</i>, by contraction in <i>Sieur</i> and <i>Monsieur</i>, +have produced the term of respect claimed by every +Frenchman. And whether <i>Sire</i> be or be not a like contraction +of <i>Signior</i>, it is clear that, as it was borne by sundry +of the ancient feudal lords of France, who, as Selden +says, "affected rather to bee stiled by the name of <i>Sire</i> +than Baron, as <i>Le Sire de Montmorencie</i>, <i>Le Sire de +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_75' id='Page_75' name='Page_75'>75</a></span> +<ins class='correction' title='Original: Beauieu'>Beaulieu</ins></i>, and the like," and as it has been commonly used +to monarchs, our word <i>Sir</i>, which is derived from it, originally +meant lord or king. Thus, too, is it with feminine +titles. <i>Lady</i>, which, according to Horne Tooke, means <i>exalted</i>, +and was at first given only to the few, is now given +to all women of education. <i>Dame</i>, once an honourable +name to which, in old books, we find the epithets of "highborn" +and "stately" affixed, has now, by repeated widenings +of its application, become relatively a term of contempt. +And if we trace the compound of this, <i>ma Dame</i>, through +its contractions—<i>Madam</i>, <i>ma'am</i>, <i>mam</i>, <i>mum</i>, we find that +the "Yes'm" of Sally to her mistress is originally equivalent +to "Yes, my exalted," or "Yes, your highness." +Throughout, therefore, the genesis of words of honour has +been the same. Just as with the Jews and with the Romans, +has it been with the modern Europeans. Tracing +these everyday names to their primitive significations of +<i>lord</i> and <i>king</i>, and remembering that in aboriginal societies +these were applied only to the gods and their descendants, +we arrive at the conclusion that our familiar <i>Sir</i> and <i>Monsieur</i> +are, in their primary and expanded meanings, terms +of adoration. +</p> + +<p> +Further to illustrate this gradual depreciation of titles, +and to confirm the inference drawn, it may be well to notice +in passing, that the oldest of them have, as might be +expected, been depreciated to the greatest extent. Thus, +<i>Master</i>—a word proved by its derivation and by the similarity +of the connate words in other languages (Fr., <i>maître</i> +for <i>master</i>; Russ., <i>master</i>; Dan., <i>meester</i>; Ger., <i>meister</i>) +to have been one of the earliest in use for expressing +lordship—has now become applicable to children only, +and under the modification of "Mister," to persons next +above the labourer. Again, knighthood, the oldest kind +of dignity, is also the lowest; and Knight Bachelor, which +is the lowest order of knighthood, is more ancient than +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_76' id='Page_76' name='Page_76'>76</a></span> +any other of the orders. Similarly, too, with the peerage: +Baron is alike the earliest and least elevated of its divisions. +This continual degradation of all names of honor has, +from time to time, made it requisite to introduce new ones +having that distinguishing effect which the originals had +lost by generality of use; just as our habit of misapplying +superlatives has, by gradually destroying their force, entailed +the need for fresh ones. And if, within the last thousand +years, this process has produced effects thus marked, we +may readily conceive how, during previous thousands, the +titles of gods and demi-gods came to be used to all persons +exercising power; as they have since come to be used to +persons of respectability. +</p> + +<p> +If from names of honour we turn to phrases of honour, +we find similar facts. The Oriental styles of address, applied +to ordinary people—"I am your slave," "All I have is +yours," "I am your sacrifice"—attribute to the individual +spoken to the same greatness that <i>Monsieur</i> and <i>My Lord</i> +do: they ascribe to him the character of an all-powerful +ruler, so immeasurably superior to the speaker as to be his +owner. So, likewise, with the Polish expressions of respect—"I +throw myself under your feet," "I kiss your feet." +In our now meaningless subscription to a formal letter—"Your +most obedient servant,"—the same thing is visible. +Nay, even in the familiar signature "Yours faithfully," the +"yours," if interpreted as originally meant, is the expression +of a slave to his master. +</p> + +<p> +All these dead forms were once living embodiments of +fact—were primarily the genuine indications of that submission +to authority which they verbally assert; were afterwards +naturally used by the weak and cowardly to propitiate +those above them; gradually grew to be considered +the due of such; and, by a continually wider misuse, have +lost their meanings, as <i>Sir</i> and <i>Master</i> have done. That, +like titles, they were in the beginning used only to the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_77' id='Page_77' name='Page_77'>77</a></span> +God-king, is indicated by the fact that, like titles, they were +subsequently used in common to God and the king. Religious +worship has ever largely consisted of professions of +obedience, of being God's servants, of belonging to him to +do what he will with. Like titles, therefore, these common +phrases of honour had a devotional origin. +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps, however, it is in the use of the word <i>you</i> as a +singular pronoun that the popularizing of what were once +supreme distinctions is most markedly illustrated. This +speaking of a single individual in the plural, was originally +an honour given only to the highest—was the reciprocal +of the imperial "we" assumed by such. Yet now, by +being applied to successively lower and lower classes, it +has become all but universal. Only by one sect of Christians, +and in a few secluded districts, is the primitive <i>thou</i> +still used. And the <i>you</i>, in becoming common to all ranks +has simultaneously lost every vestige of the honour once +attaching to it. +</p> + +<p> +But the genesis of Manners out of forms of allegiance +and worship, is above all shown in men's modes of salutation. +Note first the significance of the word. Among the Romans, +the <i>salutatio</i> was a daily homage paid by clients and inferiors +to superiors. This was alike the case with civilians +and in the army. The very derivation of our word, therefore, +is suggestive of submission. Passing to particular +forms of obeisance (mark the word again), let us begin with +the Eastern one of baring the feet. This was, primarily, a +mark of reverence, alike to a god and a king. The act of +Moses before the burning bush, and the practice of Mahometans, +who are sworn on the Koran with their shoes off, exemplify +the one employment of it; the custom of the Persians, +who remove their shoes on entering the presence of +their monarch, exemplifies the other. As usual, however, +this homage, paid next to inferior rulers, has descended +from grade to grade. In India, it is a common mark of +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_78' id='Page_78' name='Page_78'>78</a></span> +respect; a polite man in Turkey always leaves his shoes at +the door, while the lower orders of Turks never enter the +presence of their superiors but in their stockings; and in +Japan, this baring of the feet is an ordinary salutation of +man to man. +</p> + +<p> +Take another case. Selden, describing the ceremonies +of the Romans, says:—"For whereas it was usual either to +kiss the Images of their Gods, or adoring them, to stand +somewhat off before them, solemnly moving the right hand +to the lips, and then, casting it as if they had cast kisses, to +turne the body on the same hand (which was the right forme +of Adoration), it grew also by custom, first that the emperors, +being next to Deities, and by some accounted as Deities, +had the like done to them in acknowledgment of their +Greatness." If, now, we call to mind the awkward salute +of a village school-boy, made by putting his open hand up +to his face and describing a semicircle with his forearm; +and if we remember that the salute thus used as a form of +reverence in country districts, is most likely a remnant of +the feudal times; we shall see reason for thinking that our +common wave of the hand to a friend across the street, represents +what was primarily a devotional act. +</p> + +<p> +Similarly have originated all forms of respect depending +upon inclinations of the body. Entire prostration is +the aboriginal sign of submission. The passage of Scripture, +"Thou hast put all under his feet," and that other one, +so suggestive in its anthropomorphism, "The Lord said +unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine +enemies thy footstool," imply, what the Assyrian sculptures +fully bear out, that it was the practice of the ancient god-kings +of the East to trample upon the conquered. And +when we bear in mind that there are existing savages +who signify submission by placing the neck under the foot +of the person submitted to, it becomes obvious that all +prostration, especially when accompanied by kissing the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_79' id='Page_79' name='Page_79'>79</a></span> +foot, expressed a willingness to be trodden upon—was an attempt +to mitigate wrath by saying, in signs, "Tread on me +if you will." Remembering, further, that kissing the foot, +as of the Pope and of a saint's statue, still continues in +Europe to be a mark of extreme reverence; that prostration +to feudal lords was once general; and that its disappearance +must have taken place, not abruptly, but by +gradual modification into something else; we have ground +for deriving from these deepest of humiliations all inclinations +of respect; especially as the transition is traceable. +The reverence of a Russian serf, who bends his head to +the ground, and the salaam of the Hindoo, are abridged +prostrations; a bow is a short salaam; a nod is a short bow. +</p> + +<p> +Should any hesitate to admit this conclusion, then perhaps, +on being reminded that the lowest of these obeisances +are common where the submission is most abject; that +among ourselves the profundity of the bow marks the +amount of respect; and lastly, that the bow is even now +used devotionally in our churches—by Catholics to their +altars, and by Protestants at the name of Christ—they will +see sufficient evidence for thinking that this salutation also +was originally worship. +</p> + +<p> +The same may be said, too, of the curtsy, or courtesy, +as it is otherwise written. Its derivation from <i>courtoisie</i>, +courteousness, that is, behaviour like that at court, at once +shows that it was primarily the reverence paid to a monarch. +And if we call to mind that falling upon the knees, +or upon one knee, has been a common obeisance of subjects +to rulers; that in ancient manuscripts and tapestries, servants +are depicted as assuming this attitude while offering +the dishes to their masters at table; and that this same attitude +is assumed towards our own queen at every presentation; +we may infer, what the character of the curtsy +itself suggests, that it is an abridged act of kneeling. As +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_80' id='Page_80' name='Page_80'>80</a></span> +the word has been contracted from <i>courtoisie</i> into curtsy; +so the motion has been contracted from a placing of the +knee on the floor, to a lowering of the knee towards the +floor. Moreover, when we compare the curtsy of a lady +with the awkward one a peasant girl makes, which, if continued, +would bring her down on both knees, we may +see in this last a remnant of that greater reverence required +of serfs. And when, from considering that simple +kneeling of the West, still represented by the curtsy, we +pass Eastward, and note the attitude of the Mahomedan +worshipper, who not only kneels but bows his head to the +ground, we may infer that the curtsy also, is an evanescent +form of the aboriginal prostration. +</p> + +<p> +In further evidence of this it may be remarked, that +there has but recently disappeared from the salutations of +men, an action having the same proximate derivation with +the curtsy. That backward sweep of the foot with which +the conventional stage-sailor accompanies his bow—a movement +which prevailed generally in past generations, when +"a bow and a scrape" went together, and which, within +the memory of living persons, was made by boys to their +schoolmaster with the effect of wearing a hole in the floor—is +pretty clearly a preliminary to going on one knee. A +motion so ungainly could never have been intentionally introduced; +even if the artificial introduction of obeisances +were possible. Hence we must regard it as the remnant of +something antecedent: and that this something antecedent +was humiliating maybe inferred from the phrase, "scraping +an acquaintance;" which, being used to denote the gaining +of favour by obsequiousness, implies that the scrape was +considered a mark of servility—that is, of <i>serf</i>-ility. +</p> + +<p> +Consider, again, the uncovering of the head. Almost +everywhere this has been a sign of reverence, alike in temples +and before potentates; and it yet preserves among us +some of its original meaning. Whether it rains, hails, or +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_81' id='Page_81' name='Page_81'>81</a></span> +shines, you must keep your head bare while speaking to the +monarch; and on no plea may you remain covered in a +place of worship. As usual, however, this ceremony, at +first a submission to gods and kings, has become in process +of time a common civility. Once an acknowledgment of +another's unlimited supremacy, the removal of the hat is +now a salute accorded to very ordinary persons, and that +uncovering, originally reserved for entrance into "the house +of God," good manners now dictates on entrance into the +house of a common labourer. +</p> + +<p> +Standing, too, as a mark of respect, has undergone like +extensions in its application. Shown, by the practice in +our churches, to be intermediate between the humiliation +signified by kneeling and the self-respect which sitting implies, +and used at courts as a form of homage when more active +demonstrations of it have been made, this posture is now employed +in daily life to show consideration; as seen alike in +the attitude of a servant before a master, and in that rising +which politeness prescribes on the entrance of a visitor. +</p> + +<p> +Many other threads of evidence might have been woven +into our argument. As, for example, the significant fact, +that if we trace back our still existing law of primogeniture—if +we consider it as displayed by Scottish clans, in +which not only ownership but government devolved from +the beginning on the eldest son of the eldest—if we look +further back, and observe that the old titles of lordship, +<i>Signor</i>, <i>Seigneur</i>, <i>Sennor</i>, <i>Sire</i>, <i>Sieur</i>, all originally mean, +senior, or elder—if we go Eastward, and find that <i>Sheick</i> +has a like derivation, and that the Oriental names for priests, +as <i>Pir</i>, for instance, are literally interpreted <i>old man</i>—if +we note in Hebrew records how primeval is the ascribed +superiority of the first-born, how great the authority of +elders, and how sacred the memory of patriarchs—and if, +then, we remember that among divine titles are "Ancient +of Days," and "Father of Gods and men;"—we see how +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_82' id='Page_82' name='Page_82'>82</a></span> +completely these facts harmonize with the hypothesis, that +the aboriginal god is the first man sufficiently great to become +a tradition, the earliest whose power and deeds made +him remembered; that hence antiquity unavoidably became +associated with superiority, and age with nearness in blood +to "the powerful one;" that so there naturally arose that +domination of the eldest which characterizes all history, +and that theory of human degeneracy which even yet survives. +</p> + +<p> +We might further dwell on the facts, that <i>Lord</i> signifies +high-born, or, as the same root gives a word meaning +heaven, possibly heaven-born; that, before it became common, +<i>Sir</i> or <i>Sire</i>, as well as <i>Father</i>, was the distinction of +a priest; that <i>worship</i>, originally worth-ship—a term of +respect that has been used commonly, as well as to magistrates—is +also our term for the act of attributing greatness +or worth to the Deity; so that to ascribe worth-ship to a +man is to worship him. We might make much of the evidence +that all early governments are more or less distinctly +theocratic; and that among ancient Eastern nations even +the commonest forms and customs appear to have been influenced +by religion. We might enforce our argument respecting +the derivation of ceremonies, by tracing out the +aboriginal obeisance made by putting dust on the head, +which probably symbolizes putting the head in the dust: +by affiliating the practice prevailing among certain tribes, +of doing another honour by presenting him with a portion +of hair torn from the head—an act which seems tantamount +to saying, "I am your slave;" by investigating the Oriental +custom of giving to a visitor any object he speaks of admiringly, +which is pretty clearly a carrying out the compliment, +"All I have is yours." +</p> + +<p> +Without enlarging, however, on these and many minor +facts, we venture to think that the evidence already assigned +is sufficient to justify our position. Had the proofs been +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_83' id='Page_83' name='Page_83'>83</a></span> +few or of one kind, little faith could have been placed in +the inference. But numerous as they are, alike in the case +of titles, in that of complimentary phrases, and in that of +salutes—similar and simultaneous, too, as the process of depreciation +has been in all of these; the evidences become +strong by mutual confirmation. And when we recollect, +also, that not only have the results of this process been visible +in various nations and in all times, but that they are +occurring among ourselves at the present moment, and that +the causes assigned for previous depreciations may be seen +daily working out other ones—when we recollect this, it +becomes scarcely possible to doubt that the process has +been as alleged; and that our ordinary words, acts, and +phrases of civility were originally acknowledgments of submission +to another's omnipotence. +</p> + +<p> +Thus the general doctrine, that all kinds of government +exercised over men were at first one government—that the +political, the religious, and the ceremonial forms of control +are divergent branches of a general and once indivisible +control—begins to look tenable. When, with the above +facts fresh in mind, we read primitive records, and find that +"there were giants in those days"—when we remember +that in Eastern traditions Nimrod, among others, figures +in all the characters of giant, king, and divinity—when we +turn to the sculptures exhumed by Mr. Layard, and contemplating +in them the effigies of kings driving over +enemies, trampling on prisoners, and adored by prostrate +slaves, then observe how their actions correspond to the +primitive names for the divinity, "the strong," "the +destroyer," "the powerful one"—when we find that the +earliest temples were also the residences of the kings—and +when, lastly, we discover that among races of men still living, +there are current superstitions analogous to those which +old records and old buildings indicate; we begin to realize +the probability of the hypothesis that has been set forth. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_84' id='Page_84' name='Page_84'>84</a></span> +Going back, in imagination, to the remote era when +men's theories of things were yet unformed; and conceiving +to ourselves the conquering chief as dimly figured in +ancient myths, and poems, and ruins; we may see that all +rules of conduct whatever spring from his will. Alike +legislator and judge, all quarrels among his subjects are +decided by him; and his words become the Law. Awe of +him is the incipient Religion; and his maxims furnish its +first precepts. Submission is made to him in the forms +he prescribes; and these give birth to Manners. From +the first, time <ins class='correction' title='Original: developes'>develops</ins> political allegiance and the administration +of justice; from the second, the worship +of a being whose personality becomes ever more vague, +and the inculcation of precepts ever more abstract; +from the third, forms of honour and the rules of etiquette. +</p> + +<p> +In conformity with the law of evolution of all organized +bodies, that general functions are gradually separated +into the special functions constituting them, there have +grown up in the social organism for the better performance +of the governmental office, an apparatus of law-courts, +judges, and barristers; a national church, with its bishops +and priests; and a system of caste, titles, and ceremonies, +administered by society at large. By the first, overt +aggressions are cognized and punished; by the second, +the disposition to commit such aggressions is in some +degree checked; by the third, those minor breaches of +good conduct, which the others do not notice, are denounced +and chastised. Law and Religion control behaviour +in its essentials: Manners control it in its details. +For regulating those daily actions which are too numerous +and too unimportant to be officially directed, +there comes into play this subtler set of restraints. And +when we consider what these restraints are—when we +analyze the words, and phrases, and salutes employed, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_85' id='Page_85' name='Page_85'>85</a></span> +we see that in origin as in effect, the system is a setting +up of temporary governments between all men who come +in contact, for the purpose of better managing the intercourse +between them. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +From the proposition, that these several kinds of government +are essentially one, both in genesis and function, +may be deduced several important corollaries, directly +bearing on our special topic. +</p> + +<p> +Let us first notice, that there is not only a common +origin and office for all forms of rule, but a common necessity +for them. The aboriginal man, coming fresh +from the killing of bears and from lying in ambush for +his enemy, has, by the necessities of his condition, a nature +requiring to be curbed in its every impulse. Alike in war +and in the chase, his daily discipline has been that of +sacrificing other creatures to his own needs and passions. +His character, bequeathed to him by ancestors who led +similar lives, is moulded by this discipline—is fitted to this +existence. The unlimited selfishness, the love of inflicting +pain, the bloodthirstiness, thus kept active, he brings with +him into the social state. These dispositions put him in +constant danger of conflict with his equally savage neighbour. +In small things as in great, in words as in deeds, +he is aggressive; and is hourly liable to the aggressions +of others like natured. Only, therefore, by the most +rigorous control exercised over all actions, can the primitive +unions of men be maintained. There must be a +ruler strong, remorseless, and of indomitable will; there +must be a creed terrible in its threats to the disobedient; +and there must be the most servile submission of +all inferiors to superiors. The law must be cruel; the +religion must be stern; the ceremonies must be strict. +</p> + +<p> +The co-ordinate necessity for these several kinds of restraint +might be largely illustrated from history were there +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_86' id='Page_86' name='Page_86'>86</a></span> +space. Suffice it to point out, that where the civil power +has been weak, the multiplication of thieves, assassins, and +banditti, has indicated the approach of social dissolution; +that when, from the corruptness of its ministry, religion +has lost its influence, as it did just before the Flagellants +appeared, the State has been endangered; and that the +disregard of established social observances has ever been +an accompaniment of political revolutions. Whoever +doubts the necessity for a government of manners proportionate +in strength to the co-existing political and religious +governments, will be convinced on calling to mind that +until recently even elaborate codes of behaviour failed to +keep gentlemen from quarrelling in the streets and fighting +duels in taverns; and on remembering further, that even now +people exhibit at the doors of a theatre, where there is no +ceremonial law to rule them, a degree of aggressiveness +which would produce confusion if carried into social intercourse. +</p> + +<p> +As might be expected, we find that, having a common +origin and like general functions, these several controlling +agencies act during each era with similar degrees of vigour. +Under the Chinese despotism, stringent and multitudinous +in its edicts and harsh in the enforcement of them, and +associated with which there is an equally stern domestic +despotism exercised by the eldest surviving male of the +family, there exists a system of observances alike complicated +and rigid. There is a tribunal of ceremonies. Previous +to presentation at court, ambassadors pass many days +in practising the required forms. Social intercourse is +cumbered by endless compliments and obeisances. Class +distinctions are strongly marked by badges. The chief +regret on losing an only son is, that there will be no one to +perform the sepulchral rites. And if there wants a definite +measure of the respect paid to social ordinances, we have +it in the torture to which ladies submit in having their feet +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_87' id='Page_87' name='Page_87'>87</a></span> +crushed. In India, and indeed throughout the East, there +exists a like connection between the pitiless tyranny of +rulers, the dread terrors of immemorial creeds, and the +rigid restraint of unchangeable customs: the caste regulations +continue still unalterable; the fashions of clothes and +furniture have remained the same for ages; suttees are so +ancient as to be mentioned by Strabo and Diodorus Siculus; +justice is still administered at the palace-gates as of old; +in short, "every usage is a precept of religion and a maxim +of jurisprudence." +</p> + +<p> +A similar relationship of phenomena was exhibited in +Europe during the Middle Ages. While all its governments +were autocratic, while feudalism held sway, while +the Church was unshorn of its power, while the criminal +code was full of horrors and the hell of the popular creed +full of terrors, the rules of behaviour were both more +numerous and more carefully conformed to than now. Differences +of dress marked divisions of rank. Men were +limited by law to a certain width of shoe-toes; and no one +below a specified degree might wear a cloak less than so +many inches long. The symbols on banners and shields +were carefully attended to. Heraldry was an important +branch of knowledge. Precedence was strictly insisted on. +And those various salutes of which we now use the abridgments +were gone through in full. Even during our own +last century, with its corrupt House of Commons and little-curbed +monarchs, we may mark a correspondence of social +formalities. Gentlemen were still distinguished from lower +classes by dress; people sacrificed themselves to inconvenient +requirements—as powder, hooped petticoats, and towering +head-dresses; and children addressed their parents +as <i>Sir</i> and <i>Madam</i>. +</p> + +<p> +A further corollary naturally following this last, and +almost, indeed, forming part of it, is, that these several +kinds of government decrease in stringency at the same +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_88' id='Page_88' name='Page_88'>88</a></span> +rate. Simultaneously with the decline in the influence of +priesthoods, and in the fear of eternal torments—simultaneously +with the mitigation of political tyranny, the growth +of popular power, and the amelioration of criminal codes; +has taken place that diminution of formalities and that +fading of distinctive marks, now so observable. Looking +at home, we may note that there is less attention to precedence +than there used to be. No one in our day ends an +interview with the phrase "your humble servant." The +employment of the word <i>Sir</i>, once general in social intercourse, +is at present considered bad breeding; and on the +occasions calling for them, it is held vulgar to use the +words "Your Majesty," or "Your Royal Highness," more +than once in a conversation. People no longer formally drink +each other's healths; and even the taking wine with each +other at dinner has ceased to be fashionable. The taking-off +of hats between gentlemen has been gradually falling +into disuse. Even when the hat is removed, it is no longer +swept out at arm's length, but is simply lifted. Hence the +remark made upon us by foreigners, that we take off our +hats less than any other nation in Europe—a remark that +should be coupled with the other, that we are the freest +nation in Europe. +</p> + +<p> +As already implied, this association of facts is not accidental. +These titles of address and modes of salutation, +bearing about them, as they all do, something of that servility +which marks their origin, become distasteful in proportion +as men become more independent themselves, and +sympathise more with the independence of others. The +feeling which makes the modern gentleman tell the labourer +standing bareheaded before him to put on his hat—the +feeling which gives us a dislike to those who cringe and +fawn—the feeling which makes us alike assert our own dignity +and respect that of others—the feeling which thus +leads us more and more to discountenance all forms and +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_89' id='Page_89' name='Page_89'>89</a></span> +names which confess inferiority and submission; is the same +feeling which resists despotic power and inaugurates popular +government, denies the authority of the Church and +establishes the right of private judgment. +</p> + +<p> +A fourth fact, akin to the foregoing, is, that these several +kinds of government not only decline together, but +corrupt together. By the same process that a Court of +Chancery becomes a place not for the administration of +justice, but for the withholding of it—by the same process +that a national church, from being an agency for moral control, +comes to be merely a thing of formulas and tithes and +bishoprics—by this same process do titles and ceremonies +that once had a meaning and a power become empty forms. +</p> + +<p> +Coats of arms which served to distinguish men in battle, +now figure on the carriage panels of retired grocers. +Once a badge of high military rank, the shoulder-knot has +become, on the modern footman, a mark of servitude. +The name Banneret, which once marked a partially-created +Baron—a Baron who had passed his military "little go"—is +now, under the modification of Baronet, applicable to +any one favoured by wealth or interest or party feeling. +Knighthood has so far ceased to be an honour, that men +now honour themselves by declining it. The military dignity +<i>Escuyer</i> has, in the modern Esquire, become a wholly +unmilitary affix. Not only do titles, and phrases, and salutes +cease to fulfil their original functions, but the whole +apparatus of social forms tends to become useless for its +original purpose—the facilitation of social intercourse. +Those most learned in ceremonies, and most precise in the +observance of them, are not always the best behaved; as +those deepest read in creeds and scriptures are not therefore +the most religious; nor those who have the clearest +notions of legality and illegality, the most honest. Just +as lawyers are of all men the least noted for probity; as +cathedral towns have a lower moral character than most +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_90' id='Page_90' name='Page_90'>90</a></span> +others; so, if Swift is to be believed, courtiers are "the +most insignificant race of people that the island can afford, +and with the smallest tincture of good manners." +</p> + +<p> +But perhaps it is in that class of social observances +comprehended under the term Fashion, which we must +here discuss parenthetically, that this process of corruption +is seen with the greatest distinctness. As contrasted with +Manners, which dictate our minor acts in relation to other +persons, Fashion dictates our minor acts in relation to ourselves. +While the one prescribes that part of our deportment +which directly affects our neighbours; the other prescribes +that part of our deportment which is primarily personal, +and in which our neighbours are concerned only as +spectators. Thus distinguished as they are, however, the +two have a common source. For while, as we have shown, +Manners originate by imitation of the behaviour pursued +<i>towards</i> the great; Fashion originates by imitation <i>of</i> the +behaviour of the great. While the one has its derivation +in the titles, phrases, and salutes used <i>to</i> those in power; +the other is derived from the habits and appearances exhibited +<i>by</i> those in power. +</p> + +<p> +The <ins class='correction' title='Original: Carrib'>Carib</ins> mother who squeezes her child's head into +a shape like that of the chief; the young savage who makes +marks on himself similar to the scars carried by the warriors +of his tribe (which is probably the origin of tattooing); +the Highlander who adopts the plaid worn by the +head of his clan; the courtiers who affect greyness, or limp, +or cover their necks, in imitation of their king; and the +people who ape the courtiers; are alike acting under a kind +of government connate with that of Manners, and, like it +too, primarily beneficial. For notwithstanding the numberless +absurdities into which this copyism has led the people, +from nose-rings to ear-rings, from painted faces to +beauty-spots, from shaven heads to powdered wigs, from +filed teeth and stained nails to bell-girdles, peaked shoes, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_91' id='Page_91' name='Page_91'>91</a></span> +and breeches stuffed with bran,—it must yet be concluded, +that as the strong men, the successful men, the men of will, +intelligence, and originality, who have got to the top, are, +on the average, more likely to show judgment in their habits +and tastes than the mass, the imitation of such is advantageous. +</p> + +<p> +By and by, however, Fashion, corrupting like these +other forms of rule, almost wholly ceases to be an imitation +of the best, and becomes an imitation of quite other than +the best. As those who take orders are not those having +a special fitness for the priestly office, but those who see +their way to a living by it; as legislators and public functionaries +do not become such by virtue of their political +insight and power to rule, but by virtue of birth, acreage, +and class influence; so, the self-elected clique who set the +fashion, gain this prerogative, not by their force of nature, +their intellect, their higher worth or better taste, but gain +it solely by their unchecked assumption. Among the initiated +are to be found neither the noblest in rank, the +chief in power, the best cultured, the most refined, nor +those of greatest genius, wit, or beauty; and their reunions, +so far from being superior to others, are noted +for their inanity. Yet, by the example of these sham +great, and not by that of the truly great, does society at +large now regulate its goings and comings, its hours, its +dress, its small usages. As a natural consequence, these +have generally little or none of that suitableness which the +theory of fashion implies they should have. But instead +of a continual progress towards greater elegance and convenience, +which might be expected to occur did people +copy the ways of the really best, or follow their own ideas +of propriety, we have a reign of mere whim, of unreason, +of change for the sake of change, of wanton oscillations +from either extreme to the other—a reign of usages without +meaning, times without fitness, dress without taste. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_92' id='Page_92' name='Page_92'>92</a></span> +And thus life <i>à la mode</i>, instead of being life conducted in +the most rational manner, is life regulated by spendthrifts +and idlers, milliners and tailors, dandies and silly women. +</p> + +<p> +To these several corollaries—that the various orders of +control exercised over men have a common origin and a +common function, are called out by co-ordinate necessities +and co-exist in like stringency, decline together and corrupt +together—it now only remains to add that they become needless +together. Consequent as all kinds of government are +upon the unfitness of the aboriginal man for social life; and +diminishing in coerciveness as they all do in proportion as this +unfitness diminishes; they must one and all come to an end as +humanity acquires complete adaptation to its new conditions. +That discipline of circumstances which has already wrought +out such great changes in us, must go on eventually to +work out yet greater ones. That daily curbing of the lower +nature and culture of the higher, which out of cannibals +and devil worshippers has evolved philanthropists, lovers +of peace, and haters of superstition, cannot fail to evolve out +of these, men as much superior to them as they are to their +progenitors. The causes that have produced past modifications +are still in action; must continue in action as long as +there exists any incongruity between man's desires and the +requirements of the social state; and must eventually make +him organically fit for the social state. As it is now needless +to forbid man-eating and Fetishism, so will it ultimately +become needless to forbid murder, theft, and the minor +offences of our criminal code. When human nature has +grown into conformity with the moral law, there will need +no judges and statute-books; when it spontaneously takes +the right course in all things, as in some things it does already, +prospects of future reward or punishment will not +be wanted as incentives; and when fit behaviour has become +instinctive, there will need no code of ceremonies to say +how behaviour shall be regulated. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_93' id='Page_93' name='Page_93'>93</a></span> +Thus, then, may be recognised the meaning, the naturalness, +the necessity of those various eccentricities of reformers +which we set out by describing. They are not accidental; +they are not mere personal caprices, as people are +apt to suppose. On the contrary, they are inevitable results +of the law of relationship above illustrated. That +community of genesis, function, and decay which all forms +of restraint exhibit, is simply the obverse of the fact at +first pointed out, that they have in two sentiments of human +nature a common preserver and a common destroyer. +Awe of power originates and cherishes them all: love of +freedom undermines and periodically weakens them all. +The one defends despotism and asserts the supremacy of +laws, adheres to old creeds and supports ecclesiastical authority, +pays respect to titles and conserves forms; the +other, putting rectitude above legality, achieves periodical +instalments of political liberty, inaugurates Protestantism +and works out its consequences, ignores the senseless dictates +of Fashion and emancipates men from dead customs. +</p> + +<p> +To the true reformer no institution is sacred, no belief +above criticism. Everything shall conform itself to equity +and reason; nothing shall be saved by its prestige. Conceding +to each man liberty to pursue his own ends and satisfy +his own tastes, he demands for himself like liberty; and +consents to no restrictions on this, save those which other +men's equal claims involve. No matter whether it be an +ordinance of one man, or an ordinance of all men, if it +trenches on his legitimate sphere of action, he denies its +validity. The tyranny that would impose on him a particular +style of dress and a set mode of behaviour, he resists +equally with the tyranny that would limit his buyings and +sellings, or dictate his creed. Whether the regulation be +formally made by a legislature, or informally made by society +at large—whether the penalty for disobedience be imprisonment, +or frowns and social ostracism, he sees to be a +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_94' id='Page_94' name='Page_94'>94</a></span> +question of no moment. He will utter his belief notwithstanding +the threatened punishment; he will break conventions +spite of the petty persecutions that will be visited on +him. Show him that his actions are inimical to his fellow-men, +and he will pause. Prove that he is disregarding +their legitimate claims—that he is doing what in the nature +of things must produce unhappiness; and he will alter his +course. But until you do this—until you demonstrate that +his proceedings are essentially inconvenient or inelegant, +essentially irrational, unjust, or ungenerous, he will persevere. +</p> + +<p> +Some, indeed, argue that his conduct <i>is</i> unjust and ungenerous. +They say that he has no right to annoy other +people by his whims; that the gentleman to whom his letter +comes with no "Esq." appended to the address, and the +lady whose evening party he enters with gloveless hands, +are vexed at what they consider his want of respect, or want +of breeding; that thus his eccentricities cannot be indulged +save at the expense of his neighbours' feelings; and that +hence his nonconformity is in plain terms selfishness. +</p> + +<p> +He answers that this position, if logically developed, +would deprive men of all liberty whatever. Each must +conform all his acts to the public taste, and not his own. +The public taste on every point having been once ascertained, +men's habits must thenceforth remain for ever +fixed; seeing that no man can adopt other habits without +sinning against the public taste, and giving people disagreeable +feelings. Consequently, be it an era of pig-tails or high-heeled +shoes, of starched ruffs or trunk-hose, all must continue +to wear pig-tails, high-heeled shoes, starched ruffs, or +trunk-hose to the crack of doom. +</p> + +<p> +If it be still urged that he is not justified in breaking +through others' forms that he may establish his own, and +so sacrificing the wishes of many to the wishes of one, he +replies that all religious and political changes might be +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_95' id='Page_95' name='Page_95'>95</a></span> +negatived on like grounds. He asks whether Luther's +sayings and doings were not extremely offensive to the +mass of his contemporaries; whether the resistance of +Hampden was not disgusting to the time-servers around +him; whether every reformer has not shocked men's +prejudices, and given immense displeasure by the opinions +he uttered. The affirmative answer he follows up by +demanding what right the reformer has, then, to utter +these opinions; whether he is not sacrificing the feelings +of many to the feelings of one: and so proves that, to +be consistent, his antagonists must condemn not only +all nonconformity in actions, but all nonconformity in +thoughts. +</p> + +<p> +His antagonists rejoin that <i>his</i> position, too, may be +pushed to an absurdity. They argue that if a man may +offend by the disregard of some forms, he may as legitimately +do so by the disregard of all; and they inquire—Why +should he not go out to dinner in a dirty shirt, and +with an unshorn chin? Why should he not spit on the +drawing-room carpet, and stretch his heels up to the mantel-shelf? +</p> + +<p> +The convention-breaker answers, that to ask this, implies +a confounding of two widely-different classes of +actions—the actions that are <i>essentially</i> displeasurable to +those around, with the actions that are but <i>incidentally</i> +displeasurable to them. He whose skin is so unclean as to +offend the nostrils of his neighbours, or he who talks so +loudly as to disturb a whole room, may be justly complained +of, and rightly excluded by society from its assemblies. +But he who presents himself in a surtout in place +of a dress-coat, or in brown trousers instead of black, gives +offence not to men's senses, or their innate tastes, but +merely to their prejudices, their bigotry of convention. It +cannot be said that his costume is less elegant or less +intrinsically appropriate than the one prescribed; seeing +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_96' id='Page_96' name='Page_96'>96</a></span> +that a few hours earlier in the day it is admired. It is the +implied rebellion, therefore, that annoys. How little the +cause of quarrel has to do with the dress itself, is seen in +the fact that a century ago black clothes would have been +thought preposterous for hours of recreation, and that +a few years hence some now forbidden style may be nearer +the requirements of Fashion than the present one. Thus +the reformer explains that it is not against the natural +restraints, but against the artificial ones, that he protests; +and that manifestly the fire of sneers and angry +glances which he has to bear, is poured upon him because +he will not bow down to the idol which society has +set up. +</p> + +<p> +Should he be asked how we are to distinguish between +conduct that is <i>absolutely</i> disagreeable to others, and conduct +that is <i>relatively</i> so, he answers, that they will distinguish +themselves, if men will let them. Actions intrinsically +repugnant will ever be frowned upon, and must +ever remain as exceptional as now. Actions not intrinsically +repugnant will establish themselves as proper. No +relaxation of customs will introduce the practice of going +to a party in muddy boots, and with unwashed hands; for +the dislike of dirt would continue were Fashion abolished +to-morrow. That love of approbation which now makes +people so solicitous to be <i>en règle</i> would still exist—would +still make them careful of their personal appearance—would +still induce them to seek admiration by making +themselves ornamental—would still cause them to respect +the natural laws of good behaviour, as they now do the +artificial ones. The change would simply be from a repulsive +monotony to a picturesque variety. And if there be +any regulations respecting which it is uncertain whether +they are based on reality or on convention, experiment +will soon decide, if due scope be allowed. +</p> + +<p> +When at length the controversy comes round, as +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_97' id='Page_97' name='Page_97'>97</a></span> +controversies often do, to the point whence it started, and the +"party of order" repeat their charge against the rebel, +that he is sacrificing the feelings of others to the gratification +of his own wilfulness, he replies once for all that they +cheat themselves by mis-statements. He accuses them of +being so despotic, that, not content with being masters +over their own ways and habits, they would be masters +over his also; and grumble because he will not let them. +He merely asks the same freedom which they exercise; +they, however, propose to regulate his course as well as +their own—to cut and clip his mode of life into agreement +with their approved pattern; and then charge him with +wilfulness and selfishness, because he does not quietly +submit! He warns them that he shall resist, nevertheless; +and that he shall do so, not only for the assertion +of his own independence, but for their good. He tells +them that they are slaves, and know it not; that they +are shackled, and kiss their chains; that they have lived +all their days in prison, and complain at the walls being +broken down. He says he must persevere, however, +with a view to his own release; and in spite of their +present expostulations, he prophesies that when they have +recovered from the fright which the prospect of freedom +produces, they will thank him for aiding in their +emancipation. +</p> + +<p> +Unamiable as seems this find-fault mood, offensive as is +this defiant attitude, we must beware of overlooking the +truths enunciated, in dislike of the advocacy. It is an unfortunate +hindrance to all innovation, that in virtue of +their very function, the innovators stand in a position of +antagonism; and the disagreeable manners, and sayings, +and doings, which this antagonism generates, are commonly +associated with the doctrines promulgated. Quite +forgetting that whether the thing attacked be good or +bad, the combative spirit is necessarily repulsive; and quite +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_98' id='Page_98' name='Page_98'>98</a></span> +forgetting that the toleration of abuses seems amiable +merely from its passivity; the mass of men contract a bias +against advanced views, and in favour of stationary ones, +from intercourse with their respective adherents. "Conservatism," +as Emerson says, "is debonnair and social; +reform is individual and imperious." And this remains +true, however vicious the system conserved, however +righteous the reform to be effected. Nay, the indignation +of the purists is usually extreme in proportion as +the evils to be got rid of are great. The more urgent +the required change, the more intemperate is the vehemence +of its promoters. Let no one, then, confound with +the principles of this social nonconformity the acerbity +and the disagreeable self-assertion of those who first display +it. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +The most plausible objection raised against resistance +to conventions, is grounded on its impolicy, considered +even from the progressist's point of view. It is urged by +many of the more liberal and intelligent—usually those +who have themselves shown some independence of behaviour +in earlier days—that to rebel in these small +matters is to destroy your own power of helping on +reform in greater matters. "If you show yourself eccentric +in manners or dress, the world," they say, "will not +listen to you. You will be considered as crotchety, and +impracticable. The opinions you express on important +subjects, which might have been treated with respect had +you conformed on minor points, will now inevitably be +put down among your singularities; and thus, by dissenting +in trifles, you disable yourself from spreading dissent +in essentials." +</p> + +<p> +Only noting, as we pass, that this is one of those anticipations +which bring about their own fulfilment—that it is +because most who disapprove these conventions do not show +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_99' id='Page_99' name='Page_99'>99</a></span> +their disapproval, that the few who do show it look eccentric—and +that did all act out their convictions, no such inference +as the above would be drawn, and no such evil +would result;—-noting this as we pass, we go on to reply +that these social restraints, and forms, and requirements, +are not small evils, but among the greatest. Estimate their +sum total, and we doubt whether they would not exceed +most others. Could we add up the trouble, the cost, the +jealousies, vexations, misunderstandings, the loss of time +and the loss of pleasure, which these conventions entail—could +we clearly realize the extent to which we are all daily +hampered by them, daily enslaved by them; we should +perhaps come to the conclusion that the tyranny of Mrs. +Grundy is worse than any other tyranny we suffer under. +Let us look at a few of its hurtful results; beginning with +those of minor importance. +</p> + +<p> +It produces extravagance. The desire to be <i>comme il +faut</i>, which underlies all conformities, whether of manners, +dress, or styles of entertainment, is the desire which makes +many a spendthrift and many a bankrupt. To "keep up +appearances," to have a house in an approved quarter furnished +in the latest taste, to give expensive dinners and +crowded <i>soirées</i>, is an ambition forming the natural outcome +of the conformist spirit. It is needless to enlarge on these +follies: they have been satirized by hosts of writers, and in +every drawing-room. All that here concerns us, is to point +out that the respect for social observances, which men think +so praiseworthy, has the same root with this effort to be +fashionable in mode of living; and that, other things equal, +the last cannot be diminished without the first being diminished +also. If, now, we consider all that this extravagance +entails—if we count up the robbed tradesmen, the stinted +governesses, the ill-educated children, the fleeced relatives, +who have to suffer from it—if we mark the anxiety and the +many moral delinquencies which its perpetrators involve +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_100' id='Page_100' name='Page_100'>100</a></span> +themselves in; we shall see that this regard for conventions +is not quite so innocent as it looks. +</p> + +<p> +Again, it decreases the amount of social intercourse. +Passing over the reckless, and those who make a great display +on speculation with the occasional result of getting on +in the world to the exclusion of much better men, we come +to the far larger class who, being prudent and honest +enough not to exceed their means, and yet having a strong +wish to be "respectable," are obliged to limit their entertainments +to the smallest possible number; and that each +of these may be turned to the greatest advantage in meeting +the claims upon their hospitality, are induced to issue +their invitations with little or no regard to the comfort or +mutual fitness of their guests. A few inconveniently-large +assemblies, made up of people mostly strange to each other +or but distantly acquainted, and having scarcely any tastes +in common, are made to serve in place of many small parties +of friends intimate enough to have some bond of +thought and sympathy. Thus the quantity of intercourse +is diminished, and the quality deteriorated. Because it is +the custom to make costly preparations and provide costly +refreshments; and because it entails both less expense and +less trouble to do this for many persons on a few occasions +than for few persons on many occasions; the reunions of +our less wealthy classes are rendered alike infrequent and +tedious. +</p> + +<p> +Let it be further observed, that the existing formalities +of social intercourse drive away many who most need its +refining influence: and drive them into injurious habits and +associations. Not a few men, and not the least sensible men +either, give up in disgust this going out to stately dinners, +and stiff evening-parties; and instead, seek society in clubs, +and cigar-divans, and taverns. "I'm sick of this standing +about in drawing-rooms, talking nonsense, and trying to +look happy," will answer one of them when taxed with his +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_101' id='Page_101' name='Page_101'>101</a></span> +desertion. "Why should I any longer waste time and +money, and temper? Once I was ready enough to rush +home from the office to dress; I sported embroidered shirts, +submitted to tight boots, and cared nothing for tailors' and +haberdashers' bills. I know better now. My patience lasted +a good while; for though I found each night pass stupidly, +I always hoped the next would make amends. But +I'm undeceived. Cab-hire and kid gloves cost more than +any evening party pays for; or rather—it is worth the cost +of them to avoid the party. No, no; I'll no more of it. +Why should I pay five shillings a time for the privilege of +being bored?" +</p> + +<p> +If, now, we consider that this very common mood tends +towards billiard-rooms, towards long sittings over cigars +and brandy-and-water, towards Evans's and the Coal Hole, +towards every place where amusement may be had; it becomes +a question whether these precise observances which +hamper our set meetings, have not to answer for much of +the prevalent dissoluteness. Men must have excitements +of some kind or other; and if debarred from higher ones +will fall back upon lower. It is not that those who thus +take to irregular habits are essentially those of low tastes. +Often it is quite the reverse. Among half a dozen intimate +friends, abandoning formalities and sitting at ease round +the fire, none will enter with greater enjoyment into the +highest kind of social intercourse—the genuine communion +of thought and feeling; and if the circle includes women of +intelligence and refinement, so much the greater is their +pleasure. It is because they will no longer be choked with +the mere dry husks of conversation which society offers +them, that they fly its assemblies, and seek those with whom +they may have discourse that is at least real, though unpolished. +The men who thus long for substantial mental sympathy, +and will go where they can get it, are often, indeed, +much better at the core than the men who are content with +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_102' id='Page_102' name='Page_102'>102</a></span> +the inanities of gloved and scented party-goers—men who +feel no need to come morally nearer to their fellow creatures +than they can come while standing, tea-cup in hand, +answering trifles with trifles; and who, by feeling no such +need, prove themselves shallow-thoughted and cold-hearted. +</p> + +<p> +It is true, that some who shun drawing-rooms do so from +inability to bear the restraints prescribed by a genuine refinement, +and that they would be greatly improved by being +kept under these restraints. But it is not less true that, by +adding to the legitimate restraints, which are based on convenience +and a regard for others, a host of factitious restraints +based only on convention, the refining discipline, +which would else have been borne with benefit, is rendered +unbearable, and so misses its end. Excess of government +variably defeats itself by driving away those to be governed. +And if over all who desert its entertainments in +disgust either at their emptiness or their formality, society +thus loses its salutary influence—if such not only fail to receive +that moral culture which the company of ladies, when +rationally regulated, would give them, but, in default of +other relaxation, are driven into habits and companionships +which often end in gambling and drunkenness; must we +not say that here, too, is an evil not to be passed over as +insignificant? +</p> + +<p> +Then consider what a blighting effect these multitudinous +preparations and ceremonies have upon the pleasures +they profess to subserve. Who, on calling to mind the occasions +of his highest social enjoyments, does not find them +to have been wholly informal, perhaps impromptu? How +delightful a picnic of friends, who forget all observances +save those dictated by good nature! How pleasant the +little unpretended gatherings of book-societies, and the +like; or those purely accidental meetings of a few people +well known to each other! Then, indeed, we may see that +"a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." Cheeks +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_103' id='Page_103' name='Page_103'>103</a></span> +flush, and eyes sparkle. The witty grow brilliant, and even +the dull are excited into saying good things. There is an +overflow of topics; and the right thought, and the right +words to put it in, spring up unsought. Grave alternates +with gay: now serious converse, and now jokes, anecdotes, +and playful raillery. Everyone's best nature is shown; +everyone's best feelings are in pleasurable activity; and, +for the time, life seems well worth having. +</p> + +<p> +Go now and dress for some half-past eight dinner, or +some ten o'clock "at home;" and present yourself in spotless +attire, with every hair arranged to perfection. How +great the difference! The enjoyment seems in the inverse +ratio of the preparation. These figures, got up with such +finish and precision, appear but half alive. They have frozen +each other by their primness; and your faculties feel +the numbing effects of the atmosphere the moment you +enter it. All those thoughts, so nimble and so apt awhile +since, have disappeared—have suddenly acquired a preternatural +power of eluding you. If you venture a remark to +your neighbour, there comes a trite rejoinder, and there it +ends. No subject you can hit upon outlives half a dozen +sentences. Nothing that is said excites any real interest in +you; and you feel that all you say is listened to with apathy. +By some strange magic, things that usually give pleasure +seem to have lost all charm. +</p> + +<p> +You have a taste for art. Weary of frivolous talk, you +turn to the table, and find that the book of engravings and +the portfolio of photographs are as flat as the conversation. +You are fond of music. Yet the singing, good as it is, you +hear with utter indifference; and say "Thank you" with a +sense of being a profound hypocrite. Wholly at ease +though you could be, for your own part, you find that your +sympathies will not let you. You see young gentlemen +feeling whether their ties are properly adjusted, looking +vacantly round, and considering what they shall do next. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_104' id='Page_104' name='Page_104'>104</a></span> +You see ladies sitting disconsolately, waiting for some one +to speak to them, and wishing they had the wherewith to +occupy their fingers. You see the hostess standing about +the doorway, keeping a factitious smile on her face, and +racking her brain to find the requisite nothings with which +to greet her guests as they enter. You see numberless +traits of weariness and embarrassment; and, if you have any +fellow feeling, these cannot fail to produce a feeling of discomfort. +The disorder is catching; and do what you will +you cannot resist the general infection. You struggle +against it; you make spasmodic efforts to be lively; but +none of your sallies or your good stories do more than +raise a simper or a forced laugh: intellect and feeling are +alike asphyxiated. And when, at length, yielding to your +disgust, you rush away, how great is the relief when you +get into the fresh air, and see the stars! How you "Thank +God, that's over!" and half resolve to avoid all such boredom +for the future! +</p> + +<p> +What, now, is the secret of this perpetual miscarriage +and disappointment? Does not the fault lie with all these +needless adjuncts—these elaborate dressings, these set +forms, these expensive preparations, these many devices +and arrangements that imply trouble and raise expectation? +Who that has lived thirty years in the world has not discovered +that Pleasure is coy; and must not be too directly +pursued, but must be caught unawares? An air from a +street-piano, heard while at work, will often gratify more +than the choicest music played at a concert by the most +accomplished musicians. A single good picture seen in a +dealer's window, may give keener enjoyment than a whole +exhibition gone through with catalogue and pencil. By +the time we have got ready our elaborate apparatus by +which to secure happiness, the happiness is gone. It is too +subtle to be contained in these receivers, garnished with +compliments, and fenced round with etiquette. The more +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_105' id='Page_105' name='Page_105'>105</a></span> +we multiply and complicate appliances, the more certain +are we to drive it away. +</p> + +<p> +The reason is patent enough. These higher emotions +to which social intercourse ministers, are of extremely complex +nature; they consequently depend for their production +upon very numerous conditions; the more numerous the +conditions, the greater the liability that one or other of +them will be disturbed, and the emotions consequently prevented. +It takes a considerable misfortune to destroy appetite; +but cordial sympathy with those around may be extinguished +by a look or a word. Hence it follows, that the +more multiplied the <i>unnecessary</i> requirements with which +social intercourse is surrounded, the less likely are its +pleasures to be achieved. It is difficult enough to fulfil +continuously all the <i>essentials</i> to a pleasurable communion +with others: how much more difficult, then, must it be +continuously to fulfil a host of <i>non-essentials</i> also! It is, +indeed, impossible. The attempt inevitably ends in the +sacrifice of the first to the last—the essentials to the non-essentials. +What chance is there of getting any genuine +response from the lady who is thinking of your stupidity in +taking her in to dinner on the wrong arm? How are you +likely to have agreeable converse with the gentleman who +is fuming internally because he is not placed next to the +hostess? Formalities, familiar as they may become, necessarily +occupy attention—necessarily multiply the occasions +for mistake, misunderstanding, and jealousy, on the part of +one or other—necessarily distract all minds from the +thoughts and feelings that should occupy them—necessarily, +therefore, subvert those conditions under which only +any sterling intercourse is to be had. +</p> + +<p> +And this indeed is the fatal mischief which these conventions +entail—a mischief to which every other is secondary. +They destroy those highest of our pleasures +which they profess to subserve. All institutions are alike +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_106' id='Page_106' name='Page_106'>106</a></span> +in this, that however useful, and needful even, they originally +were, they not only in the end cease to be so, but become +detrimental. While humanity is growing, they continue +fixed; daily get more mechanical and unvital; and +by and by tend to strangle what they before preserved. +It is not simply that they become corrupt and fail to act; +they become obstructions. Old forms of government finally +grow so oppressive, that they must be thrown off even at +the risk of reigns of terror. Old creeds end in being dead +formulas, which no longer aid but distort and arrest the +general mind; while the State-churches administering them, +come to be instruments for subsidizing conservatism and +repressing progress. Old schemes of education, incarnated +in public schools and colleges, continue filling the heads of +new generations with what has become relatively useless +knowledge, and, by consequence, excluding knowledge +which is useful. Not an organization of any kind—political, +religious, literary, philanthropic—but what, by its ever-multiplying +regulations, its accumulating wealth, its yearly +addition of officers, and the creeping into it of patronage +and party feeling, eventually loses its original spirit, and +sinks into a mere lifeless mechanism, worked with a view +to private ends—a mechanism which not merely fails of its +first purpose, but is a positive hindrance to it. +</p> + +<p> +Thus is it, too, with social usages. We read of the Chinese +that they have "ponderous ceremonies transmitted +from time immemorial," which make social intercourse a +burden. The court forms prescribed by monarchs for their +own exaltation, have, in all times and places, ended in consuming +the comfort of their lives. And so the artificial +observances of the dining-room and saloon, in proportion +as they are many and strict, extinguish that agreeable communion +which they were originally intended to secure. +The dislike with which people commonly speak of society +that is "formal," and "stiff," and "ceremonious," implies +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_107' id='Page_107' name='Page_107'>107</a></span> +the general recognition of this fact; and this recognition, +logically developed, involves that all usages of behaviour +which are not based on natural requirements, are injurious. +That these conventions defeat their own ends is no new +assertion. Swift, criticising the manners of his day, says—"Wise +men are often more uneasy at the over-civility of +these refiners than they could possibly be in the conversation +of peasants and mechanics." +</p> + +<p> +But it is not only in these details that the self-defeating +action of our arrangements is traceable: it is traceable in +the very substance and nature of them. Our social intercourse, +as commonly managed, is a mere semblance of the +reality sought. What is it that we want? Some sympathetic +converse with our fellow-creatures: some converse +that shall not be mere dead words, but the vehicle of living +thoughts and feelings—converse in which the eyes and the +face shall speak, and the tones of the voice be full of meaning—converse +which shall make us feel no longer alone, +but shall draw us closer to another, and double our own +emotions by adding another's to them. Who is there that +has not, from time to time, felt how cold and flat is all this +talk about politics and science, and the new books and the +new men, and how a genuine utterance of fellow-feeling +outweighs the whole of it? Mark the words of Bacon:—"For +a crowd is not a company, and faces are but a gallery +of pictures, and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is +no love." +</p> + +<p> +If this be true, then it is only after acquaintance has +grown into intimacy, and intimacy has ripened into friendship, +that the real communion which men need becomes +possible. A rationally-formed circle must consist almost +wholly of those on terms of familiarity and regard, with +but one or two strangers. What folly, then, underlies the +whole system of our grand dinners, our "at homes," our +evening parties—assemblages made up of many who never +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_108' id='Page_108' name='Page_108'>108</a></span> +met before, many others who just bow to each other, many +others who though familiar feel mutual indifference, with +just a few real friends lost in the general mass! You need +but look round at the artificial expressions of face, to see +at once how it is. All have their disguises on; and how +can there be sympathy between masks? No wonder that +in private every one exclaims against the stupidity of these +gatherings. No wonder that hostesses get them up rather +because they must than because they wish. No wonder +that the invited go less from the expectation of pleasure +than from fear of giving offence. The whole thing is a gigantic +mistake—an organized disappointment. +</p> + +<p> +And then note, lastly, that in this case, as in all others, +when an organization has become effete and inoperative for +its legitimate purpose, it is employed for quite other ones—quite +opposite ones. What is the usual plea put in for +giving and attending these tedious assemblies? "I admit +that they are stupid and frivolous enough," replies every +man to your criticisms; "but then, you know, one must +keep up one's connections." And could you get from his +wife a sincere answer, it would be—"Like you, I am sick +of these frivolities; but then, we must get our daughters +married." The one knows that there is a profession to +push, a practice to gain, a business to extend: or parliamentary +influence, or county patronage, or votes, or office, +to be got: position, berths, favours, profit. The other's +thoughts runs upon husbands and settlements, wives and +dowries. Worthless for their ostensible purpose of daily +bringing human beings into pleasurable relations with each +other, these cumbrous appliances of our social intercourse +are now perseveringly kept in action with a view to the +pecuniary and matrimonial results which they indirectly +produce. +</p> + +<p> +Who then shall say that the reform of our system of +observances is unimportant? When we see how this system +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_109' id='Page_109' name='Page_109'>109</a></span> +induces fashionable extravagance, with its entailed +bankruptcy and ruin—when we mark how greatly it limits +the amount of social intercourse among the less wealthy +classes—when we find that many who most need to be disciplined +by mixing with the refined are driven away by it, +and led into dangerous and often fatal courses—when we +count up the many minor evils it inflicts, the extra work +which its costliness entails on all professional and mercantile +men, the damage to public taste in dress and decoration +by the setting up of its absurdities as standards for +imitation, the injury to health indicated in the faces of its +devotees at the close of the London season, the mortality +of milliners and the like, which its sudden exigencies yearly +involve;—and when to all these we add its fatal sin; that it +blights, withers up, and kills, that high enjoyment it professedly +ministers to—that enjoyment which is a chief end +of our hard struggling in life to obtain—shall we not conclude +that to reform our system of etiquette and fashion, is +an aim yielding to few in urgency? +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +There needs, then, a protestantism in social usages. +Forms that have ceased to facilitate and have become obstructive—whether +political, religious, or other—have ever +to be swept away; and eventually are so swept away in all +cases. Signs are not wanting that some change is at hand. +A host of satirists, led on by Thackeray, have been for years +engaged in bringing our sham-festivities, and our fashionable +follies, into contempt; and in their candid moods, most +men laugh at the frivolities with which they and the world +in general are deluded. Ridicule has always been a revolutionary +agent. That which is habitually assailed with +sneers and sarcasms cannot long survive. Institutions that +have lost their roots in men's respect and faith are doomed; +and the day of their dissolution is not far off. The time is +approaching, then, when our system of social observances +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_110' id='Page_110' name='Page_110'>110</a></span> +must pass through some crisis, out of which it will come +purified and comparatively simple. +</p> + +<p> +How this crisis will be brought about, no one can with +any certainty say. Whether by the continuance and increase +of individual protests, or whether by the union of +many persons for the practice and propagation of some +better system, the future alone can decide. The influence +of dissentients acting without co-operation, seems, under +the present state of things, inadequate. Standing severally +alone, and having no well-defined views; frowned on by +conformists, and expostulated with even by those who +secretly sympathize with them; subject to petty persecutions, +and unable to trace any benefit produced by their +example; they are apt, one by one, to give up their attempts +as hopeless. The young convention-breaker eventually +finds that he pays too heavily for his nonconformity. Hating, +for example, everything that bears about it any remnant +of servility, he determines, in the ardour of his independence, +that he will uncover to no one. But what he +means simply as a general protest, he finds that ladies interpret +into a personal disrespect. Though he sees that, +from the days of chivalry downwards, these marks of supreme +consideration paid to the other sex have been but +a hypocritical counterpart to the actual subjection in which +men have held them—a pretended submission to compensate +for a real domination; and though he sees that +when the true dignity of women is recognised, the mock +dignities given to them will be abolished; yet he does +not like to be thus misunderstood, and so hesitates in his +practice. +</p> + +<p> +In other cases, again, his courage fails him. Such of +his unconventionalities as can be attributed only to eccentricity, +he has no qualms about: for, on the whole, he feels +rather complimented than otherwise in being considered a +disregarder of public opinion. But when they are liable to +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_111' id='Page_111' name='Page_111'>111</a></span> +be put down to ignorance, to ill-breeding, or to poverty, +he becomes a coward. However clearly the recent innovation +of eating some kinds of fish with knife and fork proves +the fork-and-bread practice to have had little but caprice +for its basis, yet he dares not wholly ignore that practice +while fashion partially maintains it. Though he thinks +that a silk handkerchief is quite as appropriate for drawing-room +use as a white cambric one, he is not altogether at +ease in acting out his opinion. Then, too, he begins to +perceive that his resistance to prescription brings round +disadvantageous results which he had not calculated upon. +He had expected that it would save him from a great deal +of social intercourse of a frivolous kind—that it would +offend the fools, but not the sensible people; and so would +serve as a self-acting test by which those worth knowing +would be separated from those not worth knowing. But +the fools prove to be so greatly in the majority that, by +offending them, he closes against himself nearly all the +avenues though which the sensible people are to be +reached. Thus he finds, that his nonconformity is frequently +misinterpreted; that there are but few directions +in which he dares to carry it consistently out; that the +annoyances and disadvantages which it brings upon him +are greater than he anticipated; and that the chances of +his doing any good are very remote. Hence he gradually +loses resolution, and lapses, step by step, into the ordinary +routine of observances. +</p> + +<p> +Abortive as individual protests thus generally turn out, +it may possibly be that nothing effectual will be done until +there arises some organized resistance to this invisible +despotism, by which our modes and habits are dictated. +It may happen, that the government of Manners and Fashion +will be rendered less tyrannical, as the political and +religious governments have been, by some antagonistic +union. Alike in Church and State, men's first emancipations +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_112' id='Page_112' name='Page_112'>112</a></span> +from excess of restriction were achieved by numbers, +bound together by a common creed or a common political +faith. What remained undone while there were but individual +schismatics or rebels, was effected when there came +to be many acting in concert. It is tolerably clear that +these earliest instalments of freedom could not have been +obtained in any other way; for so long as the feeling of +personal independence was weak and the rule strong, there +could never have been a sufficient number of separate dissentients +to produce the desired results. Only in these +later times, during which the secular and spiritual controls +have been growing less coercive, and the tendency towards +individual liberty greater, has it become possible for smaller +and smaller sects and parties to fight against established +creeds and laws; until now men may safely stand even +alone in their antagonism. +</p> + +<p> +The failure of individual nonconformity to customs, as +above illustrated, suggests that an analogous series of +changes may have to be gone through in this case also. It +is true that the <i>lex non scripta</i> differs from the <i>lex scripta</i> +in this, that, being unwritten, it is more readily altered; +and that it has, from time to time, been quietly ameliorated. +Nevertheless, we shall find that the analogy holds substantially +good. For in this case, as in the others, the essential +revolution is not the substituting of any one set of +restraints for any other, but the limiting or abolishing the +authority which prescribes restraints. Just as the fundamental +change inaugurated by the Reformation, was not a +superseding of one creed by another, but an ignoring of +the arbiter who before dictated creeds—just as the fundamental +change which Democracy long ago commenced, +was not from this particular law to that, but from the +despotism of one to the freedom of all; so, the <ins class='correction' title='Original: paralled'>parallel</ins> +change yet to be wrought out in this supplementary government +of which we are treating, is not the replacing of +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_113' id='Page_113' name='Page_113'>113</a></span> +absurd usages by sensible ones, but the dethronement of +that secret, irresponsible power which now imposes our +usages, and the assertion of the right of all individuals to +choose their own usages. In rules of living, a West-end +clique is our Pope; and we are all papists, with but a mere +sprinkling of heretics. On all who decisively rebel, comes +down the penalty of excommunication, with its long +catalogue of disagreeable and, indeed, serious consequences. +</p> + +<p> +The liberty of the subject asserted in our constitution, +and ever on the increase, has yet to be wrested from this +subtler tyranny. The right of private judgment, which +our ancestors wrung from the church, remains to be +claimed from this dictator of our habits. Or, as before +said, to free us from these idolatries and superstitious conformities, +there has still to come a protestantism in social +usages. Parallel, therefore, as is the change to be +wrought out, it seems not improbable that it may be +wrought out in an analogous way. That influence which +solitary dissentients fail to gain, and that perseverance +which they lack, may come into existence when they unite. +That persecution which the world now visits upon them +from mistaking their nonconformity for ignorance or disrespect, +may diminish when it is seen to result from +principle. The penalty which exclusion now entails may +disappear when they become numerous enough to form +visiting circles of their own. And when a successful +stand has been made, and the brunt of the opposition +has passed, that large amount of secret dislike to our +observances which now pervades society, may manifest +itself with sufficient power to effect the desired emancipation. +</p> + +<p> +Whether such will be the process, time alone can decide. +That community of origin, growth, supremacy, and +decadence, which we have found among all kinds of +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_114' id='Page_114' name='Page_114'>114</a></span> +government, suggests a community in modes of change also. +On the other hand, Nature often performs substantially +similar operations, in ways apparently different. Hence +these details can never be foretold. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +Meanwhile, let us glance at the conclusions that have +been reached. On the one side, government, originally +one, and afterwards subdivided for the better fulfilment of +its function, must be considered as having ever been, in all +its branches—political, religious, and ceremonial—beneficial; +and, indeed, absolutely necessary. On the other +side, government, under all its forms, must be regarded as +subserving a temporary office, made needful by the unfitness +of aboriginal humanity for social life; and the successive +diminutions of its coerciveness in State, in Church, and +in Custom, must be looked upon as steps towards its final +disappearance. To complete the conception, there requires +to be borne in mind the third fact, that the genesis, the +maintenance, and the decline of all governments, however +named, are alike brought about by the humanity to be controlled: +from which may be drawn the inference that, on +the average, restrictions of every kind cannot last much +longer than they are wanted, and cannot be destroyed +much faster than they ought to be. +</p> + +<p> +Society, in all its developments, undergoes the process +of exuviation. These old forms which it successively +throws off, have all been once vitally united with it—have +severally served as the protective envelopes within which +a higher humanity was being evolved. They are cast +aside only when they become hindrances—only when some +inner and better envelope has been formed; and they bequeath +to us all that there was in them good. The periodical +abolitions of tyrannical laws have left the administration +of justice not only uninjured, but purified. Dead and +buried creeds have not carried with them the essential +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_115' id='Page_115' name='Page_115'>115</a></span> +morality they contained, which still exists, uncontaminated +by the sloughs of superstition. And all that there is of +justice and kindness and beauty, embodied in our cumbrous +forms of etiquette, will live perennially when the +forms themselves have been forgotten. +</p> + +<div class='footnotes'> +<div class='footnote'> +<p><a id='FN_E' name='FN_E' href='#FA_E'><span class='fnlabel'>[E]</span></a> + This was written before moustaches and beards had become common. +</p></div> + +</div> + +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_116' id='Page_116' name='Page_116'>116</a></span> +</p> + + + + +<h2> +III. <br />THE GENESIS OF SCIENCE. +</h2> + + +<p> +There has ever prevailed among men a vague notion +that scientific knowledge differs in nature from ordinary +knowledge. By the Greeks, with whom Mathematics—literally +<i>things learnt</i>—was alone considered as knowledge +proper, the distinction must have been strongly felt; and +it has ever since maintained itself in the general mind. +Though, considering the contrast between the achievements +of science and those of daily unmethodic thinking, it is not +surprising that such a distinction has been assumed; yet it +needs but to rise a little above the common point of view, +to see that no such distinction can really exist: or that at +best, it is but a superficial distinction. The same faculties +are employed in both cases; and in both cases their mode +of operation is fundamentally the same. +</p> + +<p> +If we say that science is organized knowledge, we are +met by the truth that all knowledge is organized in a greater +or less degree—that the commonest actions of the household +and the field presuppose facts colligated, inferences +drawn, results expected; and that the general success of +these actions proves the data by which they were guided +to have been correctly put together. If, again, we say +that science is prevision—is a seeing beforehand—is a knowing +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_117' id='Page_117' name='Page_117'>117</a></span> +in what times, places, combinations, or sequences, specified +phenomena will be found; we are yet obliged to confess +that the definition includes much that is utterly foreign +to science in its ordinary acceptation. For example, a child's +knowledge of an apple. This, as far as it goes consists in +previsions. When a child sees a certain form and colours, +it knows that if it puts out its hand it will have certain impressions +of resistance, and roundness, and smoothness; +and if it bites, a certain taste. And manifestly its general +acquaintance with surrounding objects is of like nature—is +made up of facts concerning them, so grouped as that any +part of a group being perceived, the existence of the other +facts included in it is foreseen. +</p> + +<p> +If, once more, we say that science is <i>exact</i> prevision, we +still fail to establish the supposed difference. Not only do +we find that much of what we call science is not exact, +and that some of it, as physiology, can never become exact; +but we find further, that many of the previsions constituting +the common stock alike of wise and ignorant, <i>are</i> exact. +That an unsupported body will fall; that a lighted candle +will go out when immersed in water; that ice will melt +when thrown on the fire—these, and many like predictions +relating to the familiar properties of things have as high a +degree of accuracy as predictions are capable of. It is true +that the results predicated are of a very general character; +but it is none the less true that they are rigorously correct +as far as they go: and this is all that is requisite to fulfil +the definition. There is perfect accordance between the +anticipated phenomena and the actual ones; and no more +than this can be said of the highest achievements of the +sciences specially characterised as exact. +</p> + +<p> +Seeing thus that the assumed distinction between scientific +knowledge and common knowledge is not logically +justifiable; and yet feeling, as we must, that however impossible +it may be to draw a line between them, the two +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_118' id='Page_118' name='Page_118'>118</a></span> +are not practically identical; there arises the question—What +is the relationship that exists between them? A +partial answer to this question may be drawn from the illustrations +just given. On reconsidering them, it will be +observed that those portions of ordinary knowledge which +are identical in character with scientific knowledge, comprehend +only such combinations of phenomena as are directly +cognizable by the senses, and are of simple, invariable +nature. That the smoke from a fire which she is lighting +will ascend, and that the fire will presently boil water, are +previsions which the servant-girl makes equally well with +the most learned physicist; they are equally certain, +equally exact with his; but they are previsions concerning +phenomena in constant and direct relation—phenomena +that follow visibly and immediately after their antecedents—phenomena +of which the causation is neither remote nor +obscure—phenomena which may be predicted by the simplest +possible act of reasoning. +</p> + +<p> +If, now, we pass to the previsions constituting what is +commonly known as science—that an eclipse of the moon +will happen at a specified time; and when a barometer is +taken to the top of a mountain of known height, the mercurial +column will descend a stated number of inches; that +the poles of a galvanic battery immersed in water will give +off, the one an inflammable and the other an inflaming gas, +in definite ratio—we perceive that the relations involved +are not of a kind habitually presented to our senses; that +they depend, some of them, upon special combinations of +causes; and that in some of them the connection between +antecedents and consequents is established only by an elaborate +series of inferences. The broad distinction, therefore, +between the two orders of knowledge, is not in their +nature, but in their remoteness from perception. +</p> + +<p> +If we regard the cases in their most general aspect, we +see that the labourer, who, on hearing certain notes in the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_119' id='Page_119' name='Page_119'>119</a></span> +adjacent hedge, can describe the particular form and colours +of the bird making them; and the astronomer, who, +having calculated a transit of Venus, can delineate the black +spot entering on the sun's disc, as it will appear through +the telescope, at a specified hour; do essentially the same +thing. Each knows that on fulfilling the requisite conditions, +he shall have a preconceived impression—that after a +definite series of actions will come a group of sensations of +a foreknown kind. The difference, then, is not in the fundamental +character of the mental acts; or in the correctness +of the previsions accomplished by them; but in the complexity +of the processes required to achieve the previsions. +Much of our commonest knowledge is, as far as it goes, rigorously +precise. Science does not increase this precision; +cannot transcend it. What then does it do? It reduces +other knowledge to the same degree of precision. That +certainty which direct perception gives us respecting coexistences +and sequences of the simplest and most accessible +kind, science gives us respecting coexistences and sequences, +complex in their dependencies or inaccessible to +immediate observation. In brief, regarded from this point +of view, science may be called <i>an extension of the perceptions +by means of reasoning</i>. +</p> + +<p> +On further considering the matter, however, it will perhaps +be felt that this definition does not express the whole +fact—that inseparable as science may be from common +knowledge, and completely as we may fill up the gap between +the simplest previsions of the child and the most recondite +ones of the natural philosopher, by interposing a +series of previsions in which the complexity of reasoning +involved is greater and greater, there is yet a difference +between the two beyond that which is here described. And +this is true. But the difference is still not such as enables +us to draw the assumed line of demarcation. It is a difference +not between common knowledge and scientific knowledge; +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_120' id='Page_120' name='Page_120'>120</a></span> +but between the successive phases of science itself, +or knowledge itself—whichever we choose to call it. In +its earlier phases science attains only to <i>certainty</i> of foreknowledge; +in its later phases it further attains to <i>completeness</i>. +We begin by discovering <i>a</i> relation: we end +by discovering <i>the</i> relation. Our first achievement is to +foretell the <i>kind</i> of phenomenon which will occur under +specific conditions: our last achievement is to foretell not +only the kind but the <i>amount</i>. Or, to reduce the proposition +to its most definite form—undeveloped science is <i>qualitative</i> +prevision: developed science is <i>quantitative</i> prevision. +</p> + +<p> +This will at once be perceived to express the remaining +distinction between the lower and the higher stages of positive +knowledge. The prediction that a piece of lead will +take more force to lift it than a piece of wood of equal size, +exhibits certainty, but not completeness, of foresight. The +kind of effect in which the one body will exceed the other +is foreseen; but not the amount by which it will exceed. +There is qualitative prevision only. On the other hand, the +prediction that at a stated time two particular planets will +be in conjunction; that by means of a lever having arms in +a given ratio, a known force will raise just so many pounds; +that to decompose a specified quantity of sulphate of iron +by carbonate of soda will require so many grains—these +predictions exhibit foreknowledge, not only of the nature +of the effects to be produced, but of the magnitude, either +of the effects themselves, of the agencies producing them, +or of the distance in time or space at which they will be +produced. There is not only qualitative but quantitative +prevision. +</p> + +<p> +And this is the unexpressed difference which leads us +to consider certain orders of knowledge as especially scientific +when contrasted with knowledge in general. Are the +phenomena <i>measurable</i>? is the test which we unconsciously +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_121' id='Page_121' name='Page_121'>121</a></span> +employ. Space is measurable: hence Geometry. Force and +space are measurable: hence Statics. Time, force, and +space are measurable: hence Dynamics. The invention of +the barometer enabled men to extend the principles of mechanics +to the atmosphere; and Aerostatics existed. When +a thermometer was devised there arose a science of heat, +which was before impossible. Such of our sensations as we +have not yet found modes of measuring do not originate +sciences. We have no science of smells; nor have we one +of tastes. We have a science of the relations of sounds +differing in pitch, because we have discovered a way to +measure them; but we have no science of sounds in respect +to their loudness or their <i>timbre</i>, because we have got no +measures of loudness and <i>timbre</i>. +</p> + +<p> +Obviously it is this reduction of the sensible phenomena +it represents, to relations of magnitude, which gives to any +division of knowledge its especially scientific character. +Originally men's knowledge of weights and forces was in +the same condition as their knowledge of smells and tastes +is now—a knowledge not extending beyond that given by +the unaided sensations; and it remained so until weighing +instruments and dynamometers were invented. Before +there were hour-glasses and clepsydras, most phenomena +could be estimated as to their durations and intervals, with +no greater precision than degrees of hardness can be estimated +by the fingers. Until a thermometric scale was contrived, +men's judgments respecting relative amounts of +heat stood on the same footing with their present judgments +respecting relative amounts of sound. And as in +these initial stages, with no aids to observation, only the +roughest comparisons of cases could be made, and only the +most marked differences perceived; it is obvious that only +the most simple laws of dependence could be ascertained—only +those laws which being uncomplicated with others, +and not disturbed in their manifestations, required no niceties +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_122' id='Page_122' name='Page_122'>122</a></span> +of observation to disentangle them. Whence it appears +not only that in proportion as knowledge becomes +quantitative do its previsions become complete as well as +certain, but that until its assumption of a quantitative character +it is necessarily confined to the most elementary relations. +</p> + +<p> +Moreover it is to be remarked that while, on the one +hand, we can discover the laws of the greater proportion +of phenomena only by investigating them quantitatively; +on the other hand we can extend the range of our quantitative +previsions only as fast as we detect the laws of the +results we predict. For clearly the ability to specify the +magnitude of a result inaccessible to direct measurement, +implies knowledge of its mode of dependence on something +which can be measured—implies that we know the particular +fact dealt with to be an instance of some more general +fact. Thus the extent to which our quantitative previsions +have been carried in any direction, indicates the depth to +which our knowledge reaches in that direction. And here, +as another aspect of the same fact, we may further observe +that as we pass from qualitative to quantitative prevision, +we pass from inductive science to deductive science. Science +while purely inductive is purely qualitative: when inaccurately +quantitative it usually consists of part induction, +part deduction: and it becomes accurately quantitative only +when wholly deductive. We do not mean that the deductive +and the quantitative are coextensive; for there is manifestly +much deduction that is qualitative only. We mean +that all quantitative prevision is reached deductively; and +that induction can achieve only qualitative prevision. +</p> + +<p> +Still, however, it must not be supposed that these distinctions +enable us to separate ordinary knowledge from +science; much as they seem to do so. While they show in +what consists the broad contrast between the extreme forms +of the two, they yet lead us to recognise their essential identity; +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_123' id='Page_123' name='Page_123'>123</a></span> +and once more prove the difference to be one of degree +only. For, on the one hand, the commonest positive +knowledge is to some extent quantitative; seeing that the +amount of the foreseen result is known within certain wide +limits. And, on the other hand, the highest quantitative +prevision does not reach the exact truth, but only a very +near approximation to it. Without clocks the savage +knows that the day is longer in the summer than in the +winter; without scales he knows that stone is heavier than +flesh: that is, he can foresee respecting certain results that +their amounts will exceed these, and be less than those—he +knows <i>about</i> what they will be. And, with his most delicate +instruments and most elaborate calculations, all that +the man of science can do, is to reduce the difference between +the foreseen and the actual results to an unimportant +quantity. +</p> + +<p> +Moreover, it must be borne in mind not only that all +the sciences are qualitative in their first stages,—not only +that some of them, as Chemistry, have but recently reached +the quantitative stage—but that the most advanced sciences +have attained to their present power of determining quantities +not present to the senses, or not directly measurable, +by a slow process of improvement extending through thousands +of years. So that science and the knowledge of the +uncultured are alike in the nature of their previsions, widely +as they differ in range; they possess a common imperfection, +though this is immensely greater in the last than in +the first; and the transition from the one to the other has +been through a series of steps by which the imperfection +has been rendered continually less, and the range continually +wider. +</p> + +<p> +These facts, that science and the positive knowledge of +the uncultured cannot be separated in nature, and that the +one is but a perfected and extended form of the other, +must necessarily underlie the whole theory of science, its +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_124' id='Page_124' name='Page_124'>124</a></span> +progress, and the relations of its parts to each other. +There must be serious incompleteness in any history of the +sciences, which, leaving out of view the first steps of their +genesis, commences with them only when they assume definite +forms. There must be grave defects, if not a general +untruth, in a philosophy of the sciences considered in their +interdependence and development, which neglects the inquiry +how they came to be distinct sciences, and how they +were severally evolved out of the chaos of primitive ideas. +</p> + +<p> +Not only a direct consideration of the matter, but all +analogy, goes to show that in the earlier and simpler stages +must be sought the key to all subsequent intricacies. The +time was when the anatomy and physiology of the human +being were studied by themselves—when the adult man +was analyzed and the relations of parts and of functions +investigated, without reference either to the relations exhibited +in the embryo or to the homologous relations existing +in other creatures. Now, however, it has become +manifest that no true conceptions, no true generalizations, +are possible under such conditions. Anatomists and physiologists +now find that the real natures of organs and tissues +can be ascertained only by tracing their early evolution; +and that the affinities between existing genera can +be satisfactorily made out only by examining the fossil genera +to which they are allied. Well, is it not clear that the +like must be true concerning all things that undergo development? +Is not science a growth? Has not science, too, +its embryology? And must not the neglect of its embryology +lead to a misunderstanding of the principles of its +evolution and of its existing organization? +</p> + +<p> +There are <i>à priori</i> reasons, therefore, for doubting the +truth of all philosophies of the sciences which tacitly proceed +upon the common notion that scientific knowledge +and ordinary knowledge are separate; instead of commencing, +as they should, by affiliating the one upon the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_125' id='Page_125' name='Page_125'>125</a></span> +other, and showing how it gradually came to be distinguishable +from the other. We may expect to find their +generalizations essentially artificial; and we shall not be +deceived. Some illustrations of this may here be fitly introduced, +by way of preliminary to a brief sketch of the +genesis of science from the point of view indicated. And +we cannot more readily find such illustrations than by +glancing at a few of the various <i>classifications</i> of the sciences +that have from time to time been proposed. To consider +all of them would take too much space: we must +content ourselves with some of the latest. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +Commencing with those which may be soonest disposed +of, let us notice first the arrangement propounded by Oken. +An abstract of it runs thus:— +</p> + + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +Part I. <span class='smcap'>Mathesis</span>.—<i>Pneumatogeny</i>: Primary Art, Primary +Consciousness, God, Primary Rest, Time, Polarity, Motion, +Man, Space, Point, Line, Surface, Globe, Rotation.—<i>Hylogeny</i>: +Gravity, Matter, Ether, Heavenly Bodies, +Light, Heat, Fire. +</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +(He explains that <span class='smcap'>Mathesis</span> is the doctrine of the whole; +<i>Pneumatogeny</i> being the doctrine of immaterial totalities, and +<i>Hylogeny</i> that of material totalities.) +</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +Part II. <span class='smcap'>Ontology</span>.—<i>Cosmogeny</i>: Rest, Centre, Motion, Line, +Planets, Form, Planetary System, Comets.—<i>Stöchiogeny</i>: +Condensation, Simple Matter, Elements, Air, +Water, Earth.—<i>Stöchiology</i>: Functions of the Elements, +&c. &c.—<i>Kingdoms of Nature</i>: Individuals. +</p> +</div> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +(He says in explanation that "<span class='smcap'>Ontology</span> teaches us the +phenomena of matter. The first of these are the heavenly +bodies comprehended by <i>Cosmogeny</i>. These divide into elements—<i>Stöchiogeny</i>. +The earth element divides into minerals—<i>Mineralogy</i>. +These unite into one collective body—<i>Geogeny</i>. +The whole in singulars is the living, or <i>Organic</i>, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_126' id='Page_126' name='Page_126'>126</a></span> +which again divides into plants and animals. <i>Biology</i>, therefore, +divides into <i>Organogeny</i>, <i>Phytosophy</i>, <i>Zoosophy</i>.") +</p> + + +<pre> +<span class='smcap'>First Kingdom.—Minerals.</span> <i>Mineralogy</i>, <i>Geology</i>. +</pre> + +<p> +Part III. <span class='smcap'>Biology.</span>—<i>Organosophy</i>, <i>Phytogeny</i>, <i>Phyto-physiology</i>, +<i>Phytology</i>, <i>Zoogeny</i>, <i>Physiology</i>, <i>Zoology</i>, <i>Psychology</i>. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +A glance over this confused scheme shows that it is an +attempt to classify knowledge, not after the order in which +it has been, or may be, built up in the human consciousness; +but after an assumed order of creation. It is a +pseudo-scientific cosmogony, akin to those which men have +enunciated from the earliest times downwards; and only a +little more respectable. As such it will not be thought +worthy of much consideration by those who, like ourselves, +hold that experience is the sole origin of knowledge. Otherwise, +it might have been needful to dwell on the incongruities +of the arrangements—to ask how motion can be +treated of before space? how there can be rotation without +matter to rotate? how polarity can be dealt with without +involving points and lines? But it will serve our present +purpose just to point out a few of the extreme absurdities +resulting from the doctrine which Oken seems to hold +in common with Hegel, that "to philosophize on Nature is +to re-think the great thought of Creation." Here is a sample:— +</p> + + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +"Mathematics is the universal science; so also is Physio-philosophy, +although it is only a part, or rather but a +condition of the universe; both are one, or mutually congruent. +</p> + +<p> +"Mathematics is, however, a science of mere forms +without substance. Physio-philosophy is, therefore, <i>mathematics +endowed with substance</i>." +</p> +</div> + +<p> +From the English point of view it is sufficiently amusing +to find such a dogma not only gravely stated, but +stated as an unquestionable truth. Here we see the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_127' id='Page_127' name='Page_127'>127</a></span> +experiences of quantitative relations which men have gathered +from surrounding bodies and generalized (experiences +which had been scarcely at all generalized at the beginning +of the historic period)—we find these generalized experiences, +these intellectual abstractions, elevated into concrete +actualities, projected back into Nature, and considered +as the internal frame-work of things—the skeleton by +which matter is sustained. But this new form of the old +realism, is by no means the most startling of the physio-philosophic +principles. We presently read that, +</p> + + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +"The highest mathematical idea, or the fundamental +principle of all mathematics is the zero = 0."... +</p> + +<p> +"Zero is in itself nothing. Mathematics is based upon +nothing, and, <i>consequently</i>, arises out of nothing. +</p> + +<p> +"Out of nothing, <i>therefore</i>, it is possible for something +to arise; for mathematics, consisting of propositions, is +something, in relation to 0." +</p> +</div> + +<p> +By such "consequentlys" and "therefores" it is, that +men philosophize when they "re-think the great thought +of creation." By dogmas that pretend to be reasons, nothing +is made to generate mathematics; and by clothing +mathematics with matter, we have the universe! If now +we deny, as we <i>do</i> deny, that the highest mathematical idea +is the zero;—if, on the other hand, we assert, as we <i>do</i> +assert, that the fundamental idea underlying all mathematics, +is that of equality; the whole of Oken's cosmogony +disappears. And here, indeed, we may see illustrated, the +distinctive peculiarity of the German method of procedure +in these matters—the bastard <i>à priori</i> method, as it may +be termed. The legitimate <i>à priori</i> method sets out with +propositions of which the negation is inconceivable; the <i>à +priori</i> method as illegitimately applied, sets out either with +propositions of which the negation is <i>not</i> inconceivable, or +with propositions like Oken's, of which the <i>affirmation</i> is +inconceivable. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_128' id='Page_128' name='Page_128'>128</a></span> +It is needless to proceed further with the analysis; else +might we detail the steps by which Oken arrives at the +conclusions that "the planets are coagulated colours, for +they are coagulated light; that the sphere is the expanded +nothing;" that gravity is "a weighty nothing, a heavy essence, +striving towards a centre;" that "the earth is the +identical, water the indifferent, air the different; or the +first the centre, the second the radius, the last the periphery +of the general globe or of fire." To comment on +them would be nearly as absurd as are the propositions +themselves. Let us pass on to another of the German systems +of knowledge—that of Hegel. +</p> + +<p> +The simple fact that Hegel puts Jacob Bœhme on a par +with Bacon, suffices alone to show that his stand-point is +far remote from the one usually regarded as scientific: so +far remote, indeed, that it is not easy to find any common +basis on which to found a criticism. Those who hold that +the mind is moulded into conformity with surrounding +things by the agency of surrounding things, are necessarily +at a loss how to deal with those, who, like Schelling and +Hegel, assert that surrounding things are solidified mind—that +Nature is "petrified intelligence." However, let us +briefly glance at Hegel's classification. He divides philosophy +into three parts:— +</p> + + +<ul> +<li> +1. <i>Logic</i>, or the science of the idea in itself, the pure +idea. +</li> + +<li> +2. <i>The Philosophy of Nature</i>, or the science of the idea +considered under its other form—of the idea as Nature. +</li> + +<li> +3. <i>The Philosophy of the Mind</i>, or the science of the +idea in its return to itself. +</li> +</ul> + +<p> +Of these, the second is divided into the natural sciences, +commonly so called; so that in its more detailed form the +series runs thus:—Logic, Mechanics, Physics, Organic Physics, +Psychology. +</p> + +<p> +Now, if we believe with Hegel, first, that thought is the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_129' id='Page_129' name='Page_129'>129</a></span> +true essence of man; second, that thought is the essence of +the world; and that, therefore, there is nothing but thought; +his classification, beginning with the science of pure thought, +may be acceptable. But otherwise, it is an obvious objection +to his arrangement, that thought implies things thought +of—that there can be no logical forms without the substance +of experience—that the science of ideas and the science of +things must have a simultaneous origin. Hegel, however, +anticipates this objection, and, in his obstinate idealism, replies, +that the contrary is true; that all contained in the +forms, to become something, requires to be thought: and +that logical forms are the foundations of all things. +</p> + +<p> +It is not surprising that, starting from such premises, and +reasoning after this fashion, Hegel finds his way to strange +conclusions. Out of <i>space</i> and <i>time</i> he proceeds to build up +<i>motion</i>, <i>matter</i>, <i>repulsion</i>, <i>attraction</i>, <i>weight</i>, and <i>inertia</i>. +He then goes on to logically evolve the solar system. In +doing this he widely diverges from the Newtonian theory; +reaches by syllogism the conviction that the planets are the +most perfect celestial bodies; and, not being able to bring +the stars within his theory, says that they are mere formal +existences and not living matter, and that as compared with +the solar system they are as little admirable as a cutaneous +eruption or a swarm of flies.<a class='fnanchor' id='FA_F' name='FA_F' href='#FN_F'>[F]</a> +</p> + +<p> +Results so outrageous might be left as self-disproved, +were it not that speculators of this class are not alarmed by +any amount of incongruity with established beliefs. The +only efficient mode of treating systems like this of Hegel, is +to show that they are self-destructive—that by their first +steps they ignore that authority on which all their subsequent +steps depend. If Hegel professes, as he manifestly +does, to develop his scheme by reasoning—if he presents +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_130' id='Page_130' name='Page_130'>130</a></span> +successive inferences as <i>necessarily following</i> from certain +premises; he implies the postulate that a belief which necessarily +follows after certain antecedents is a true belief: +and, did an opponent reply to one of his inferences, that, +though it was impossible to think the opposite, yet the +opposite was true, he would consider the reply irrational. +The procedure, however, which he would thus condemn as +destructive of all thinking whatever, is just the procedure +exhibited in the enunciation of his own first principles. +</p> + +<p> +Mankind find themselves unable to conceive that there +can be thought without things thought of. Hegel, however, +asserts that there <i>can</i> be thought without things +thought of. That ultimate test of a true proposition—the +inability of the human mind to conceive the negation of it—which +in all other cases he considers valid, he considers +invalid where it suits his convenience to do so; and yet at +the same time denies the right of an opponent to follow his +example. If it is competent for him to posit dogmas, which +are the direct negations of what human consciousness recognises; +then is it also competent for his antagonists to stop +him at every step in his argument by saying, that though +the particular inference he is drawing seems to his mind, +and to all minds, necessarily to follow from the premises, +yet it is not true, but the contrary inference is true. Or, +to state the dilemma in another form:—If he sets out with +inconceivable propositions, then may he with equal propriety +make all his succeeding propositions inconceivable ones—may +at every step throughout his reasoning draw exactly +the opposite conclusion to that which seems involved. +</p> + +<p> +Hegel's mode of procedure being thus essentially suicidal, +the Hegelian classification which depends upon +it, falls to the ground. Let us consider next that of +M. Comte. +</p> + +<p> +As all his readers must admit, M. Comte presents us +with a scheme of the sciences which, unlike the foregoing +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_131' id='Page_131' name='Page_131'>131</a></span> +ones, demands respectful consideration. Widely as we +differ from him, we cheerfully bear witness to the largeness +of his views, the clearness of his reasoning, and the value +of his speculations as contributing to intellectual progress. +Did we believe a serial arrangement of the sciences to be +possible, that of M. Comte would certainly be the one we +should adopt. His fundamental propositions are thoroughly +intelligible; and if not true, have a great semblance +of truth. His successive steps are logically co-ordinated; +and he supports his conclusions by a considerable amount of +evidence—evidence which, so long as it is not critically examined, +or not met by counter evidence, seems to substantiate +his positions. But it only needs to assume that antagonistic +attitude which <i>ought</i> to be assumed towards new +doctrines, in the belief that, if true, they will prosper by +conquering objectors—it needs but to test his leading +doctrines either by other facts than those he cites, or by +his own facts differently applied, to at once show that they +will not stand. We will proceed thus to deal with the +general principle on which he bases his hierarchy of the sciences. +</p> + +<p> +In the second chapter of his <i>Cours de Philosophie Positive</i>, +M. Comte says:—"Our problem is, then, to find +the one <i>rational</i> order, amongst a host of possible systems."... +"This order is determined by the degree +of simplicity, or, what comes to the same thing, of generality +of their phenomena." And the arrangement he deduces +runs thus: <i>Mathematics</i>, <i>Astronomy</i>, <i>Physics</i>, <i>Chemistry</i>, +<i>Physiology</i>, <i>Social Physics</i>. This he asserts to be +"the true <i>filiation</i> of the sciences." He asserts further, +that the principle of progression from a greater to a less +degree of generality, "which gives this order to the whole +body of science, arranges the parts of each science." And, +finally, he asserts that the gradations thus established <i>à +priori</i> among the sciences, and the parts of each science, "is +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_132' id='Page_132' name='Page_132'>132</a></span> +in essential conformity with the order which has spontaneously +taken place among the branches of natural philosophy;" +or, in other words—corresponds with the order of +historic development. +</p> + +<p> +Let us compare these assertions with the facts. That +there may be perfect fairness, let us make no choice, but +take as the field for our comparison, the succeeding section +treating of the first science—Mathematics; and let us use +none but M. Comte's own facts, and his own admissions. +Confining ourselves to this one science, of course our comparisons +must be between its several parts. M. Comte says, +that the parts of each science must be arranged in the +order of their decreasing generality; and that this order +of decreasing generality agrees with the order of historic +development. Our inquiry must be, then, whether the history +of mathematics confirms this statement. +</p> + +<p> +Carrying out his principle, M. Comte divides Mathematics +into "Abstract Mathematics, or the Calculus (taking +the word in its most extended sense) and Concrete +Mathematics, which is composed of General Geometry and +of Rational Mechanics." The subject-matter of the first of +these is <i>number</i>; the subject-matter of the second includes +<i>space</i>, <i>time</i>, <i>motion</i>, <i>force</i>. The one possesses the highest +possible degree of generality; for all things whatever +admit of enumeration. The others are less general; seeing +that there are endless phenomena that are not cognizable +either by general geometry or rational mechanics. In +conformity with the alleged law, therefore, the evolution +of the calculus must throughout have preceded the evolution +of the concrete sub-sciences. Now somewhat awkwardly +for him, the first remark M. Comte makes bearing +upon this point is, that "from an historical point of view, +mathematical analysis <i>appears to have risen out of</i> the contemplation +of geometrical and mechanical facts." True, +he goes on to say that, "it is not the less independent of +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_133' id='Page_133' name='Page_133'>133</a></span> +these sciences logically speaking;" for that "analytical +ideas are, above all others, universal, abstract, and simple, +and geometrical conceptions are necessarily founded on them." +</p> + +<p> +We will not take advantage of this last passage to +charge M. Comte with teaching, after the fashion of Hegel, +that there can be thought without things thought of. We +are content simply to compare the two assertions, that +analysis arose out of the contemplation of geometrical and +mechanical facts, and that geometrical conceptions are +founded upon analytical ones. Literally interpreted they +exactly cancel each other. Interpreted, however, in a +liberal sense, they imply, what we believe to be demonstrable, +that the two had <i>a simultaneous origin</i>. The +passage is either nonsense, or it is an admission that +abstract and concrete mathematics are coeval. Thus, +at the very first step, the alleged congruity between the +order of generality and the order of evolution, does not +hold good. +</p> + +<p> +But may it not be that though abstract and concrete +mathematics took their rise at the same time, the one +afterwards developed more rapidly than the other; and +has ever since remained in advance of it? No: and again +we call M. Comte himself as witness. Fortunately for his +argument he has said nothing respecting the early stages +of the concrete and abstract divisions after their divergence +from a common root; otherwise the advent of +Algebra long after the Greek geometry had reached a high +development, would have been an inconvenient fact for +him to deal with. But passing over this, and limiting +ourselves to his own statements, we find, at the opening of +the next chapter, the admission, that "the historical development +of the abstract portion of mathematical science +has, since the time of Descartes, been for the most part +<i>determined</i> by that of the concrete." Further on we read +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_134' id='Page_134' name='Page_134'>134</a></span> +respecting algebraic functions that "most functions were +concrete in their origin—even those which are at present +the most purely abstract; and the ancients discovered +only through geometrical definitions elementary algebraic +properties of functions to which a numerical value was not +attached till long afterwards, rendering abstract to us +what was concrete to the old geometers." How do these +statements tally with his doctrine? Again, having divided +the calculus into algebraic and arithmetical, M. Comte +admits, as perforce he must, that the algebraic is more +general than the arithmetical; yet he will not say that +algebra preceded arithmetic in point of time. And again, +having divided the calculus of functions into the calculus +of direct functions (common algebra) and the calculus of +indirect functions (transcendental analysis), he is obliged +to speak of this last as possessing a higher generality than +the first; yet it is far more modern. Indeed, by implication, +M. Comte himself confesses this incongruity; for he +says:—"It might seem that the transcendental analysis +ought to be studied before the ordinary, as it provides the +equations which the other has to resolve; but though the +transcendental <i>is logically independent of the ordinary</i>, it +is best to follow the usual method of study, taking the +ordinary first." In all these cases, then, as well as at the +close of the section where he predicts that mathematicians +will in time "create procedures of <i>a wider generality</i>," M. +Comte makes admissions that are diametrically opposed to +the alleged law. +</p> + +<p> +In the succeeding chapters treating of the concrete department +of mathematics, we find similar contradictions. +M. Comte himself names the geometry of the ancients <i>special</i> +geometry, and that of moderns the <i>general</i> geometry. +He admits that while "the ancients studied geometry with +reference to the <i>bodies</i> under notice, or specially; the +moderns study it with reference to the <i>phenomena</i> to be +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_135' id='Page_135' name='Page_135'>135</a></span> +considered, or generally." He admits that while "the ancients +extracted all they could out of one line or surface +before passing to another," "the moderns, since Descartes, +employ themselves on questions which relate to any figure +whatever." These facts are the reverse of what, according +to his theory, they should be. So, too, in mechanics. Before +dividing it into statics and dynamics, M. Comte treats +of the three laws of <i>motion</i>, and is obliged to do so; for +statics, the more <i>general</i> of the two divisions, though it +does not involve motion, is impossible as a science until the +laws of motion are ascertained. Yet the laws of motion +pertain to dynamics, the more <i>special</i> of the divisions. +Further on he points out that after Archimedes, who discovered +the law of equilibrium of the lever, statics made +no progress until the establishment of dynamics enabled us +to seek "the conditions of equilibrium through the laws of +the composition of forces." And he adds—"At this day +<i>this is the method universally employed</i>. At the first glance +it does not appear the most rational—dynamics being more +complicated than statics, and precedence being natural to the +simpler. It would, in fact, be more philosophical to refer +dynamics to statics, as has since been done." Sundry discoveries +are afterwards detailed, showing how completely +the development of statics has been achieved by considering +its problems dynamically; and before the close of the +section M. Comte remarks that "before hydrostatics could +be comprehended under statics, it was necessary that the +abstract theory of equilibrium should be made so general +as to apply directly to fluids as well as solids. This was accomplished +when Lagrange supplied, as the basis of the +whole of rational mechanics, the single principle of virtual +velocities." In which statement we have two facts directly +at variance with M. Comte's doctrine;—first, that the simpler +science, statics, reached its present development only +by the aid of the principle of virtual velocities, which +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_136' id='Page_136' name='Page_136'>136</a></span> +belongs to the more complex science, dynamics; and that this +"single principle" underlying all rational mechanics—this +<i>most general form</i> which includes alike the relations of statical, +hydrostatical, and dynamical forces—was reached so +late as the time of Lagrange. +</p> + +<p> +Thus it is <i>not</i> true that the historical succession of the +divisions of mathematics has corresponded with the order +of decreasing generality. It is <i>not</i> true that abstract mathematics +was evolved antecedently to, and independently +of concrete mathematics. It is <i>not</i> true that of the subdivisions +of abstract mathematics, the more general came +before the more special. And it is <i>not</i> true that concrete +mathematics, in either of its two sections, began with the +most abstract and advanced to the less abstract truths. +</p> + +<p> +It may be well to mention, parenthetically, that in defending +his alleged law of progression from the general to +the special, M. Comte somewhere comments upon the two +meanings of the word <i>general</i>, and the resulting liability to +confusion. Without now discussing whether the asserted +distinction can be maintained in other cases, it is manifest +that it does not exist here. In sundry of the instances +above quoted, the endeavors made by M. Comte himself to +disguise, or to explain away, the precedence of the special +over the general, clearly indicate that the generality spoken +of, is of the kind meant by his formula. And it needs but +a brief consideration of the matter to show that, even did +he attempt it, he could not distinguish this generality, which, +as above proved, frequently comes last, from the generality +which he says always comes first. For what is the nature +of that mental process by which objects, dimensions, +weights, times, and the rest, are found capable of having +their relations expressed numerically? It is the formation +of certain abstract conceptions of unity, duality and multiplicity, +which are applicable to all things alike. It is the +invention of general symbols serving to express the numerical +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_137' id='Page_137' name='Page_137'>137</a></span> +relations of entities, whatever be their special characters. +And what is the nature of the mental process by +which numbers are found capable of having their relations +expressed algebraically? It is just the same. It is the formation +of certain abstract conceptions of numerical functions +which are the same whatever be the magnitudes of +the numbers. It is the invention of general symbols serving +to express the relations between numbers, as numbers +express the relations between things. And transcendental +analysis stands to algebra in the same position that algebra +stands in to arithmetic. +</p> + +<p> +To briefly illustrate their respective powers;—arithmetic +can express in one formula the value of a <i>particular</i> +tangent to a <i>particular</i> curve; algebra can express in one +formula the values of <i>all</i> tangents to a <i>particular</i> curve; +transcendental analysis can express in one formula the values +of <i>all</i> tangents to <i>all</i> curves. Just as arithmetic deals +with the common properties of lines, areas, bulks, forces, +periods; so does algebra deal with the common properties +of the numbers which arithmetic presents; so does transcendental +analysis deal with the common properties of the +equations exhibited by algebra. Thus, the generality of +the higher branches of the calculus, when compared with +the lower, is the same kind of generality as that of the lower +branches when compared with geometry or mechanics. +And on examination it will be found that the like relation +exists in the various other cases above given. +</p> + +<p> +Having shown that M. Comte's alleged law of progression +does not hold among the several parts of the same +science, let us see how it agrees with the facts when applied +to separate sciences. "Astronomy," says M. Comte, at the +opening of Book III., "was a positive science, in its geometrical +aspect, from the earliest days of the school of Alexandria; +but Physics, which we are now to consider, had no +positive character at all till Galileo made his great discoveries +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_138' id='Page_138' name='Page_138'>138</a></span> +on the fall of heavy bodies." On this, our comment is +simply that it is a misrepresentation based upon an arbitrary +misuse of words—a mere verbal artifice. By choosing +to exclude from terrestrial physics those laws of magnitude, +motion, and position, which he includes in celestial physics, +M. Comte makes it appear that the one owes nothing to +the other. Not only is this altogether unwarrantable, but +it is radically inconsistent with his own scheme of divisions. +At the outset he says—and as the point is important we +quote from the original—"Pour la <i>physique inorganique</i> +nous voyons d'abord, en nous conformant toujours à l'ordre +de généralité et de dépendance des phénomènes, qu'elle doit +être partagée en deux sections distinctes, suivant qu'elle +considère les phénomènes généraux de l'univers, ou, en particulier, +ceux que présentent les corps terrestres. D'où la +physique céleste, ou l'astronomie, soit géométrique, soit +mechanique; et la physique terrestre." +</p> + +<p> +Here then we have <i>inorganic physics</i> clearly divided +into <i>celestial physics</i> and <i>terrestrial physics</i>—the phenomena +presented by the universe, and the phenomena presented +by earthly bodies. If now celestial bodies and terrestrial +bodies exhibit sundry leading phenomena in common, +as they do, how can the generalization of these common +phenomena be considered as pertaining to the one class +rather than to the other? If inorganic physics includes +geometry (which M. Comte has made it do by comprehending +<i>geometrical</i> astronomy in its sub-section—celestial physics); +and if its sub-section—terrestrial physics, treats of +things having geometrical properties; how can the laws of +geometrical relations be excluded from terrestrial physics? +Clearly if celestial physics includes the geometry of objects +in the heavens, terrestrial physics includes the geometry +of objects on the earth. And if terrestrial physics includes +terrestrial geometry, while celestial physics includes celestial +geometry, then the geometrical part of terrestrial physics +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_139' id='Page_139' name='Page_139'>139</a></span> +precedes the geometrical part of celestial physics; seeing +that geometry gained its first ideas from surrounding +objects. Until men had learnt geometrical relations from +bodies on the earth, it was impossible for them to understand +the geometrical relations of bodies in the heavens. +</p> + +<p> +So, too, with celestial mechanics, which had terrestrial +mechanics for its parent. The very conception of <i>force</i>, +which underlies the whole of mechanical astronomy, is borrowed +from our earthly experiences; and the leading laws +of mechanical action as exhibited in scales, levers, projectiles, +&c., had to be ascertained before the dynamics of the +solar system could be entered upon. What were the laws +made use of by Newton in working out his grand discovery? +The law of falling bodies disclosed by Galileo; that of the +composition of forces also disclosed by Galileo; and that +of centrifugal force found out by Huyghens—all of them +generalizations of terrestrial physics. Yet, with facts like +these before him, M. Comte places astronomy before physics +in order of evolution! He does not compare the geometrical +parts of the two together, and the mechanical +parts of the two together; for this would by no means +suit his hypothesis. But he compares the geometrical part +of the one with the mechanical part of the other, and so +gives a semblance of truth to his position. He is led away +by a verbal delusion. Had he confined his attention to the +things and disregarded the words, he would have seen that +before mankind scientifically co-ordinated <i>any one class of +phenomena</i> displayed in the heavens, they had previously +co-ordinated <i>a parallel class of phenomena</i> displayed upon +the surface of the earth. +</p> + +<p> +Were it needful we could fill a score pages with the incongruities +of M. Comte's scheme. But the foregoing samples +will suffice. So far is his law of evolution of the +sciences from being tenable, that, by following his example, +and arbitrarily ignoring one class of facts, it would be +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_140' id='Page_140' name='Page_140'>140</a></span> +possible to present, with great plausibility, just the opposite +generalization to that which he enunciates. While he asserts +that the rational order of the sciences, like the order +of their historic development, "is determined by the degree +of simplicity, or, what comes to the same thing, of +generality of their phenomena;" it might contrariwise be +asserted, that, commencing with the complex and the special, +mankind have progressed step by step to a knowledge +of greater simplicity and wider generality. So much evidence +is there of this as to have drawn from Whewell, in +his <i>History of the Inductive Sciences</i>, the general remark +that "the reader has already seen repeatedly in the course +of this history, complex and derivative principles presenting +themselves to men's minds before simple and elementary +ones." +</p> + +<p> +Even from M. Comte's own work, numerous facts, admissions, +and arguments, might be picked out, tending to +show this. We have already quoted his words in proof +that both abstract and concrete mathematics have progressed +towards a higher degree of generality, and that he +looks forward to a higher generality still. Just to strengthen +this adverse hypothesis, let us take a further instance. +From the <i>particular</i> case of the scales, the law of equilibrium +of which was familiar to the earliest nations known, Archimedes +advanced to the more <i>general</i> case of the unequal +lever with unequal weights; the law of equilibrium of +which <i>includes</i> that of the scales. By the help of Galileo's +discovery concerning the composition of forces, D'Alembert +"established, for the first time, the equations of equilibrium +of <i>any</i> system of forces applied to the different points of a +solid body"—equations which include all cases of levers +and an infinity of cases besides. Clearly this is progress +towards a higher generality—towards a knowledge more +independent of special circumstances—towards a study of +phenomena "the most disengaged from the incidents of +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_141' id='Page_141' name='Page_141'>141</a></span> +particular cases;" which is M. Comte's definition of "the +most simple phenomena." Does it not indeed follow from +the familiarly admitted fact, that mental advance is from +the concrete to the abstract, from the particular to the general, +that the universal and therefore most simple truths are +the last to be discovered? Is not the government of the +solar system by a force varying inversely as the square of +the distance, a simpler conception than any that preceded +it? Should we ever succeed in reducing all orders of phenomena +to some single law—say of atomic action, as M. +Comte suggests—must not that law answer to his test of +being <i>independent</i> of all others, and therefore most simple? +And would not such a law generalize the phenomena of +gravity, cohesion, atomic affinity, and electric repulsion, just +as the laws of number generalize the quantitative phenomena +of space, time and force? +</p> + +<p> +The possibility of saying so much in support of an hypothesis +the very reverse of M. Comte's, at once proves that +his generalization is only a half-truth. The fact is, that +neither proposition is correct by itself; and the actuality is +expressed only by putting the two together. The progress +of science is duplex: it is at once from the special to the +general, and from the general to the special: it is analytical +and synthetical at the same time. +</p> + +<p> +M. Comte himself observes that the evolution of science +has been accomplished by the division of labour; but he +quite misstates the mode in which this division of labour +has operated. As he describes it, it has simply been an arrangement +of phenomena into classes, and the study of each +class by itself. He does not recognise the constant effect +of progress in each class upon <i>all</i> other classes; but only on +the class succeeding it in his hierarchical scale. Or if he +occasionally admits collateral influences and intercommunications, +he does it so grudgingly, and so quickly puts the +admissions out of sight and forgets them, as to leave the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_142' id='Page_142' name='Page_142'>142</a></span> +impression that, with but trifling exceptions, the sciences +aid each other only in the order of their alleged succession. +The fact is, however, that the division of labour in science, +like the division of labour in society, and like the "physiological +division of labour" in individual organisms, has been +not only a specialization of functions, but a continuous helping +of each division by all the others, and of all by each. +Every particular class of inquirers has, as it were, secreted +its own particular order of truths from the general mass of +material which observation accumulates; and all other +classes of inquirers have made use of these truths as fast +as they were elaborated, with the effect of enabling them +the better to elaborate each its own order of truths. +</p> + +<p> +It was thus in sundry of the cases we have quoted as at +variance with M. Comte's doctrine. It was thus with the +application of Huyghens's optical discovery to astronomical +observation by Galileo. It was thus with the application +of the isochronism of the pendulum to the making of instruments +for measuring intervals, astronomical and other. +It was thus when the discovery that the refraction and dispersion +of light did not follow the same law of variation, +affected both astronomy and physiology by giving us achromatic +telescopes and microscopes. It was thus when Bradley's +discovery of the aberration of light enabled him to +make the first step towards ascertaining the motions of the +stars. It was thus when Cavendish's torsion-balance experiment +determined the specific gravity of the earth, and +so gave a datum for calculating the specific gravities of the +sun and planets. It was thus when tables of atmospheric +refraction enabled observers to write down the real places +of the heavenly bodies instead of their apparent places. It +was thus when the discovery of the different expansibilities +of metals by heat, gave us the means of correcting our +chronometrical measurements of astronomical periods. It +was thus when the lines of the prismatic spectrum were +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_143' id='Page_143' name='Page_143'>143</a></span> +used to distinguish the heavenly bodies that are of like nature +with the sun from those which are not. It was thus +when, as recently, an electro-telegraphic instrument was invented +for the more accurate registration of meridional +transits. It was thus when the difference in the rates of a +clock at the equator, and nearer the poles, gave data for +calculating the oblateness of the earth, and accounting for +the precession of the equinoxes. It was thus—but it is +needless to continue. +</p> + +<p> +Here, within our own limited knowledge of its history, we +have named ten additional cases in which the single science +of astronomy has owed its advance to sciences coming <i>after</i> +it in M. Comte's series. Not only its secondary steps, but +its greatest revolutions have been thus determined. Kepler +could not have discovered his celebrated laws had it not +been for Tycho Brahe's accurate observations; and it was +only after some progress in physical and chemical science +that the improved instruments with which those observations +were made, became possible. The heliocentric theory +of the solar system had to wait until the invention of the +telescope before it could be finally established. Nay, even +the grand discovery of all—the law of gravitation—depended +for its proof upon an operation of physical science, the +measurement of a degree on the Earth's surface. So completely +indeed did it thus depend, that Newton <i>had actually +abandoned his hypothesis</i> because the length of a degree, +as then stated, brought out wrong results; and it was only +after <ins class='correction' title="Original: Picart's">Picard's</ins> more exact measurement was published, that +he returned to his calculations and proved his great generalization. +Now this constant intercommunion, which, for +brevity's sake, we have illustrated in the case of one science +only, has been taking place with all the sciences. Throughout +the whole course of their evolution there has been a +continuous <i>consensus</i> of the sciences—a <i>consensus</i> exhibiting +a general correspondence with the <i>consensus</i> of faculties +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_144' id='Page_144' name='Page_144'>144</a></span> +in each phase of mental development; the one being +an objective registry of the subjective state of the other. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +From our present point of view, then, it becomes obvious +that the conception of a <i>serial</i> arrangement of the sciences +is a vicious one. It is not simply that the schemes +we have examined are untenable; but it is that the sciences +cannot be rightly placed in any linear order whatever. It +is not simply that, as M. Comte admits, a classification +"will always involve something, if not arbitrary, at least +artificial;" it is not, as he would have us believe, that, +neglecting minor imperfections a classification may be substantially +true; but it is that any grouping of the sciences +in a succession gives a radically erroneous idea of their +genesis and their dependencies. There is no "one <i>rational</i> +order among a host of possible systems." There is no +"true <i>filiation</i> of the sciences." The whole hypothesis is +fundamentally false. Indeed, it needs but a glance at its +origin to see at once how baseless it is. Why a <i>series</i>? +What reason have we to suppose that the sciences admit +of a <i>linear</i> arrangement? Where is our warrant for +assuming that there is some <i>succession</i> in which they can +be placed? There is no reason; no warrant. Whence +then has arisen the supposition? To use M. Comte's own +phraseology, we should say, it is a metaphysical conception. +It adds another to the cases constantly occurring, of the +human mind being made the measure of Nature. We are +obliged to think in sequence; it is the law of our minds +that we must consider subjects separately, one after +another: <i>therefore</i> Nature must be serial—<i>therefore</i> the +sciences must be classifiable in a succession. See here the +birth of the notion, and the sole evidence of its truth. +Men have been obliged when arranging in books their +schemes of education and systems of knowledge, to choose +<i>some</i> order or other. And from inquiring what is the best +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_145' id='Page_145' name='Page_145'>145</a></span> +order, have naturally fallen into the belief that there is an +order which truly represents the facts—have persevered in +seeking such an order; quite overlooking the previous +question whether it is likely that Nature has consulted the +convenience of book-making. +</p> + +<p> +For German philosophers, who hold that Nature is +"petrified intelligence," and that logical forms are the +foundations of all things, it is a consistent hypothesis that +as thought is serial, Nature is serial; but that M. Comte, +who is so bitter an opponent of all anthropomorphism, +even in its most evanescent shapes, should have committed +the mistake of imposing upon the external world an arrangement +which so obviously springs from a limitation of +the human consciousness, is somewhat strange. And it is +the more strange when we call to mind how, at the outset, +M. Comte remarks that in the beginning "<i>toutes les sciences +sont cultivées simultanément par les mêmes esprits</i>;" that +this is "<i>inevitable et même indispensable</i>;" and how he +further remarks that the different sciences are "<i>comme +les diverses branches d'un tronc unique</i>." Were it not +accounted for by the distorting influence of a cherished +hypothesis, it would be scarcely possible to understand +how, after recognising truths like these, M. Comte should +have persisted in attempting to construct "<i>une échelle +encyclopédique</i>." +</p> + +<p> +The metaphor which M. Comte has here so inconsistently +used to express the relations of the sciences—branches +of one trunk—is an approximation to the truth, +though not the truth itself. It suggests the facts that the +sciences had a common origin; that they have been developing +simultaneously; and that they have been from +time to time dividing and sub-dividing. But it does not +suggest the yet more important fact, that the divisions and +sub-divisions thus arising do not remain separate, but now +and again re-unite in direct and indirect ways. They +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_146' id='Page_146' name='Page_146'>146</a></span> +inosculate; they severally send off and receive connecting +growths; and the intercommunion has been ever becoming +more frequent, more intricate, more widely ramified. +There has all along been higher specialization, that there +might be a larger generalization; and a deeper analysis, +that there might be a better synthesis. Each larger generalization +has lifted sundry specializations still higher; and +each better synthesis has prepared the way for still deeper analysis. +</p> + +<p> +And here we may fitly enter upon the task awhile since +indicated—a sketch of the Genesis of Science, regarded as +a gradual outgrowth from common knowledge—an extension +of the perceptions by the aid of the reason. We propose +to treat it as a psychological process historically displayed; +tracing at the same time the advance from qualitative +to quantitative prevision; the progress from concrete +facts to abstract facts, and the application of such abstract +facts to the analysis of new orders of concrete facts; the +simultaneous advance in <ins class='correction' title='Original: gereralization'>generalization</ins> and specialization; +the continually increasing subdivision and reunion of the +sciences; and their constantly improving <i>consensus</i>. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +To trace out scientific evolution from its deepest roots +would, of course, involve a complete analysis of the mind. +For as science is a development of that common knowledge +acquired by the unaided senses and uncultured reason, so +is that common knowledge itself gradually built up out of +the simplest perceptions. We must, therefore, begin +somewhere abruptly; and the most appropriate stage +to take for our point of departure will be the adult mind +of the savage. +</p> + +<p> +Commencing thus, without a proper preliminary analysis, +we are naturally somewhat at a loss how to present, in +a satisfactory manner, those fundamental processes of +thought out of which science ultimately originates. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_147' id='Page_147' name='Page_147'>147</a></span> +Perhaps our argument may be best initiated by the proposition, +that all intelligent action whatever depends upon the +discerning of distinctions among surrounding things. The +condition under which only it is possible for any creature +to obtain food and avoid danger is, that it shall be differently +affected by different objects—that it shall be led to +act in one way by one object, and in another way by +another. In the lower orders of creatures this condition is +fulfilled by means of an apparatus which acts automatically. +In the higher orders the actions are partly automatic, +partly conscious. And in man they are almost wholly conscious. +</p> + +<p> +Throughout, however, there must necessarily exist a +certain classification of things according to their properties—a +classification which is either organically registered in +the system, as in the inferior creation, or is formed by +experience, as in ourselves. And it may be further remarked, +that the extent to which this classification is +carried, roughly indicates the height of intelligence—that, +while the lowest organisms are able to do little more than +discriminate organic from inorganic matter; while the +generality of animals carry their classifications no further +than to a limited number of plants or creatures serving +for food, a limited number of beasts of prey, and a limited +number of places and materials; the most degraded of the +human race possess a knowledge of the distinctive natures +of a great variety of substances, plants, animals, tools, persons, +&c., not only as classes but as individuals. +</p> + +<p> +What now is the mental process by which classification +is effected? Manifestly it is a recognition of the <i>likeness</i> +or <i>unlikeness</i> of things, either in respect of their sizes, +colours, forms, weights, textures, tastes, &c., or in respect +of their modes of action. By some special mark, sound, or +motion, the savage identifies a certain four-legged creature +he sees, as one that is good for food, and to be caught +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_148' id='Page_148' name='Page_148'>148</a></span> +in a particular way; or as one that is dangerous; and acts +accordingly. He has classed together all the creatures +that are <i>alike</i> in this particular. And manifestly in choosing +the wood out of which to form his bow, the plant with +which to poison his arrows, the bone from which to make +his fish-hooks, he identifies them through their chief sensible +properties as belonging to the general classes, wood, +plant, and bone, but distinguishes them as belonging to +sub-classes by virtue of certain properties in which they are +<i>unlike</i> the rest of the general classes they belong to; and so +forms genera and species. +</p> + +<p> +And here it becomes manifest that not only is classification +carried on by grouping together in the mind things +that are <i>like</i>; but that classes and sub-classes are formed +and arranged according to the <i>degrees of unlikeness</i>. Things +widely contrasted are alone distinguished in the lower +stages of mental evolution; as may be any day observed in +an infant. And gradually as the powers of discrimination +increase, the widely contrasted classes at first distinguished, +come to be each divided into sub-classes, differing from +each other less than the classes differ; and these sub-classes +are again divided after the same manner. By the continuance +of which process, things are gradually arranged into +groups, the members of which are less and less <i>unlike</i>; +ending, finally, in groups whose members differ only as +individuals, and not specifically. And thus there tends +ultimately to arise the notion of <i>complete likeness</i>. For +manifestly, it is impossible that groups should continue to +be sub-divided in virtue of smaller and smaller differences, +without there being a simultaneous approximation to the +notion of <i>no difference</i>. +</p> + +<p> +Let us next notice that the recognition of likeness and +unlikeness, which underlies classification, and out of which +continued classification evolves the idea of complete likeness—let +us next notice that it also underlies the process +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_149' id='Page_149' name='Page_149'>149</a></span> +of <i>naming</i>, and by consequence <i>language</i>. For all language +consists, at the beginning, of symbols which are as +<i>like</i> to the things symbolized as it is practicable to make +them. The language of signs is a means of conveying ideas +by mimicking the actions or peculiarities of the things referred +to. Verbal language is also, at the beginning, a +mode of suggesting objects or acts by imitating the sounds +which the objects make, or with which the acts are accompanied. +Originally these two languages were used simultaneously. +It needs but to watch the gesticulations with +which the savage accompanies his speech—to see a Bushman +or a Kaffir dramatizing before an audience his mode +of catching game—or to note the extreme paucity of +words in all primitive vocabularies; to infer that at first, +attitudes, gestures, and sounds, were all combined to produce +as good a <i>likeness</i> as possible, of the things, animals, +persons, or events described; and that as the sounds came +to be understood by themselves the gestures fell into disuse: +leaving traces, however, in the manners of the more +excitable civilized races. But be this as it may, it suffices +simply to observe, how many of the words current among +barbarous peoples are like the sounds appertaining to the +things signified; how many of our own oldest and simplest +words have the same peculiarity; how children tend to invent +imitative words; and how the sign-language spontaneously +formed by deaf mutes is invariably based upon +imitative actions—to at once see that the notion of <i>likeness</i> +is that from which the nomenclature of objects takes its rise. +</p> + +<p> +Were there space we might go on to point out how this +law of life is traceable, not only in the origin but in the development +of language; how in primitive tongues the plural +is made by a duplication of the singular, which is a +multiplication of the word to make it <i>like</i> the multiplicity +of the things; how the use of metaphor—that prolific +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_150' id='Page_150' name='Page_150'>150</a></span> +source of new words—is a suggesting of ideas that are <i>like</i> +the ideas to be conveyed in some respect or other; and +how, in the copious use of simile, fable, and allegory among +uncivilized races, we see that complex conceptions, which +there is yet no direct language for, are rendered, by presenting +known conceptions more or less <i>like</i> them. +</p> + +<p> +This view is further confirmed, and the predominance +of this notion of likeness in primitive times further illustrated, +by the fact that our system of presenting ideas to +the eye originated after the same fashion. Writing and +printing have descended from picture-language. The earliest +mode of permanently registering a fact was by depicting +it on a wall; that is—by exhibiting something as <i>like</i> to +the thing to be remembered as it could be made. Gradually +as the practice grew habitual and extensive, the most +frequently repeated forms became fixed, and presently abbreviated; +and, passing through the hieroglyphic and ideographic +phases, the symbols lost all apparent relations to +the things signified: just as the majority of our spoken +words have done. +</p> + +<p> +Observe again, that the same thing is true respecting +the genesis of reasoning. The <i>likeness</i> that is perceived to +exist between cases, is the essence of all early reasoning +and of much of our present reasoning. The savage, having +by experience discovered a relation between a certain +object and a certain act, infers that the <i>like</i> relation will be +found in future cases. And the expressions we constantly +use in our arguments—"<i>analogy</i> implies," "the cases are +not <i>parallel</i>," "by <i>parity</i> of reasoning," "there is no +<i>similarity</i>,"—show how constantly the idea of likeness underlies +our ratiocinative processes. +</p> + +<p> +Still more clearly will this be seen on recognising the +fact that there is a certain parallelism between reasoning +and classification; that the two have a common root; and +that neither can go on without the other. For on the one +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_151' id='Page_151' name='Page_151'>151</a></span> +hand, it is a familiar truth that the attributing to a body in +consequence of some of its properties, all those other properties +in virtue of which it is referred to a particular class, +is an act of inference. And, on the other hand, the forming +of a generalization is the putting together in one class, +all those cases which present like relations; while the drawing +a deduction is essentially the perception that a particular +case belongs to a certain class of cases previously generalized. +So that as classification is a grouping together of +<i>like things</i>; reasoning is a grouping together of <i>like relations</i> +among things. Add to which, that while the perfection +gradually achieved in classification consists in the formation +of groups of <i>objects</i> which are <i>completely alike</i>; the +perfection gradually achieved in reasoning consists in the +formation of groups of <i>cases</i> which are <i>completely alike</i>. +</p> + +<p> +Once more we may contemplate this dominant idea of +likeness as exhibited in art. All art, civilized as well as +savage, consists almost wholly in the making of objects <i>like</i> +other objects; either as found in Nature, or as produced +by previous art. If we trace back the varied art-products +now existing, we find that at each stage the divergence +from previous patterns is but small when compared with +the agreement; and in the earliest art the persistency of +imitation is yet more conspicuous. The old forms and +ornaments and symbols were held sacred, and perpetually +copied. Indeed, the strong imitative tendency notoriously +displayed by the lowest human races, ensures among them +a constant reproducing of likenesses of things, forms, signs, +sounds, actions, and whatever else is imitable; and we may +even suspect that this aboriginal peculiarity is in some way +connected with the culture and development of this general +conception, which we have found so deep and widespread +in its applications. +</p> + +<p> +And now let us go on to consider how, by a further +unfolding of this same fundamental notion, there is a gradual +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_152' id='Page_152' name='Page_152'>152</a></span> +formation of the first germs of science. This idea of +likeness which underlies classification, nomenclature, language +spoken and written, reasoning, and art; and which +plays so important a part because all acts of intelligence +are made possible only by distinguishing among surrounding +things, or grouping them into like and unlike;—this +idea we shall find to be the one of which science is the especial +product. Already during the stage we have been +describing, there has existed <i>qualitative</i> prevision in respect +to the commoner phenomena with which savage life +is familiar; and we have now to inquire how the elements +of <i>quantitative</i> prevision are evolved. We shall find that +they originate by the perfecting of this same idea of likeness; +that they have their rise in that conception of <i>complete +likeness</i> which, as we have seen, necessarily results +from the continued process of classification. +</p> + +<p> +For when the process of classification has been carried +as far as it is possible for the uncivilized to carry it—when +the animal kingdom has been grouped not merely into +quadrupeds, birds, fishes, and insects, but each of these divided +into kinds—when there come to be sub-classes, in +each of which the members differ only as individuals, and +not specifically; it is clear that there must occur a frequent +observation of objects which differ so little as to be indistinguishable. +Among several creatures which the savage +has killed and carried home, it must often happen that +some one, which he wished to identify, is so exactly like +another that he cannot tell which is which. Thus, then, +there originates the notion of <i>equality</i>. The things which +among ourselves are called <i>equal</i>—whether lines, angles, +weights, temperatures, sounds or colours—are things which +produce in us sensations that cannot be distinguished from +each other. It is true that we now apply the word <i>equal</i> +chiefly to the separate phenomena which objects exhibit, +and not to groups of phenomena; but this limitation of the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_153' id='Page_153' name='Page_153'>153</a></span> +idea has evidently arisen by subsequent analysis. And that +the notion of equality did thus originate, will, we think, +become obvious on remembering that as there were no artificial +objects from which it could have been abstracted, it +must have been abstracted from natural objects; and that +the various families of the animal kingdom chiefly furnish +those natural objects which display the requisite exactitude +of likeness. +</p> + +<p> +The same order of experiences out of which this general +idea of equality is evolved, gives birth at the same time +to a more complex idea of equality; or, rather, the process +just described generates an idea of equality which further +experience separates into two ideas—<i>equality of things</i> and +<i>equality of relations</i>. While organic, and more especially +animal forms, occasionally exhibit this perfection of likeness +out of which the notion of simple equality arises, they more +frequently exhibit only that kind of likeness which we call +<i>similarity</i>; and which is really compound equality. For +the similarity of two creatures of the same species but of +different sizes, is of the same nature as the similarity of two +geometrical figures. In either case, any two parts of the +one bear the same ratio to one another, as the homologous +parts of the other. Given in any species, the proportions +found to exist among the bones, and we may, and zoologists +do, predict from any one, the dimensions of the rest; just as, +when knowing the proportions subsisting among the parts +of a geometrical figure, we may, from the length of one, +calculate the others. And if, in the case of similar geometrical +figures, the similarity can be established only by +proving exactness of proportion among the homologous +parts; if we express this relation between two parts in the +one, and the corresponding parts in the other, by the formula +A is to B as <i>a</i> is to <i>b</i>; if we otherwise write this, A +to B = <i>a</i> to <i>b</i>; if, consequently, the fact we prove is that +the relation of A to B <i>equals</i> the relation of <i>a</i> to <i>b</i>; then +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_154' id='Page_154' name='Page_154'>154</a></span> +it is manifest that the fundamental conception of similarity +is <i>equality of relations</i>. +</p> + +<p> +With this explanation we shall be understood when we +say that the notion of equality of relations is the basis of +all exact reasoning. Already it has been shown that reasoning +in general is a recognition of <i>likeness</i> of relations; and +here we further find that while the notion of likeness of +things ultimately evolves the idea of simple equality, the +notion of likeness of relations evolves the idea of equality +of relations: of which the one is the concrete germ of exact +science, while the other is its abstract germ. +</p> + +<p> +Those who cannot understand how the recognition of +similarity in creatures of the same kind, can have any alliance +with reasoning, will get over the difficulty on remembering +that the phenomena among which equality of relations +is thus perceived, are phenomena of the same order +and are present to the senses at the same time; while those +among which developed reason perceives relations, are generally +neither of the same order, nor simultaneously present. +And if further, they will call to mind how Cuvier and Owen, +from a single part of a creature, as a tooth, construct the +rest by a process of reasoning based on this equality of relations, +they will see that the two things are intimately +connected, remote as they at first seem. But we anticipate. +What it concerns us here to observe is, that from familiarity +with organic forms there simultaneously arose the ideas +of <i>simple equality</i>, and <i>equality of relations</i>. +</p> + +<p> +At the same time, too, and out of the same mental processes, +came the first distinct ideas of <i>number</i>. In the earliest +stages, the presentation of several like objects produced +merely an indefinite conception of multiplicity; as it still +does among Australians, and Bushmen, and Damaras, when +the number presented exceeds three or four. With such a +fact before us we may safely infer that the first clear numerical +conception was that of duality as contrasted with unity. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_155' id='Page_155' name='Page_155'>155</a></span> +And this notion of duality must necessarily have grown +up side by side with those of likeness and equality; seeing +that it is impossible to recognise the likeness of two things +without also perceiving that there are two. From the +very beginning the conception of number must have been, +as it is still, associated with the likeness or equality of +the things numbered. If we analyze it, we find that simple +enumeration is a registration of repeated impressions +of any kind. That these may be capable of enumeration +it is needful that they be more or less alike; and +before any <i>absolutely true</i> numerical results can be reached, +it is requisite that the units be <i>absolutely equal</i>. The +only way in which we can establish a numerical relationship +between things that do not yield us like impressions, +is to divide them into parts that <i>do</i> yield us like impressions. +Two unlike magnitudes of extension, force, time, +weight, or what not, can have their relative amounts estimated, +only by means of some small unit that is contained +many times in both; and even if we finally write down the +greater one as a unit and the other as a fraction of it, we +state, in the denominator of the fraction, the number of +parts into which the unit must be divided to be comparable +with the fraction. +</p> + +<p> +It is, indeed, true, that by an evidently modern process of +abstraction, we occasionally apply numbers to unequal units, +as the furniture at a sale or the various animals on a farm, +simply as so many separate entities; but no true result can +be brought out by calculation with units of this order. +And, indeed, it is the distinctive peculiarity of the calculus +in general, that it proceeds on the hypothesis of that absolute +equality of its abstract units, which no real units possess; +and that the exactness of its results holds only in +virtue of this hypothesis. The first ideas of number must +necessarily then have been derived from like or equal magnitudes +as seen chiefly in organic objects; and as the like +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_156' id='Page_156' name='Page_156'>156</a></span> +magnitudes most frequently observed were magnitudes of +extension, it follows that geometry and arithmetic had a +simultaneous origin. +</p> + +<p> +Not only are the first distinct ideas of number co-ordinate +with ideas of likeness and equality, but the first efforts +at numeration displayed the same relationship. On reading +the accounts of various savage tribes, we find that the +method of counting by the fingers, still followed by many +children, is the aboriginal method. Neglecting the several +cases in which the ability to enumerate does not reach even +to the number of fingers on one hand, there are many cases +in which it does not extend beyond ten—the limit of the +simple finger notation. The fact that in so many instances, +remote, and seemingly unrelated nations, have adopted <i>ten</i> +as their basic number; together with the fact that in the remaining +instances the basic number is either <i>five</i> (the fingers +of one hand) or <i>twenty</i> (the fingers and toes); almost of +themselves show that the fingers were the original units of +numeration. The still surviving use of the word <i>digit</i>, as +the general name for a figure in arithmetic, is significant; +and it is even said that our word <i>ten</i> (Sax. tyn; Dutch, +tien; German, zehn) means in its primitive expanded form +<i>two hands</i>. So that originally, to say there were ten things, +was to say there were two hands of them. +</p> + +<p> +From all which evidence it is tolerably clear that the +earliest mode of conveying the idea of any number of +things, was by holding up as many fingers as there were +things; that is—using a symbol which was <i>equal</i>, in respect +of multiplicity, to the group symbolized. For which inference +there is, indeed, strong confirmation in the recent +statement that our own soldiers are even now spontaneously +adopting this device in their dealings with the Turks. +And here it should be remarked that in this recombination +of the notion of equality with that of multiplicity, by which +the first steps in numeration are effected, we may see one +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_157' id='Page_157' name='Page_157'>157</a></span> +of the earliest of those inosculations between the diverging +branches of science, which are afterwards of perpetual occurrence. +</p> + +<p> +Indeed, as this observation suggests, it will be well, before +tracing the mode in which exact science finally emerges +from the merely approximate judgments of the senses, and +showing the non-serial evolution of its divisions, to note +the non-serial character of those preliminary processes of +which all after development is a continuation. On re-considering +them it will be seen that not only are they divergent +growths from a common root,—not only are they simultaneous +in their progress; but that they are mutual aids; +and that none can advance without the rest. That completeness +of classification for which the unfolding of the +perceptions paves the way, is impossible without a corresponding +progress in language, by which greater varieties +of objects are thinkable and expressible. On the one hand +it is impossible to carry classification far without names by +which to designate the classes; and on the other hand it +is impossible to make language faster than things are classified. +</p> + +<p> +Again, the multiplication of classes and the consequent +narrowing of each class, itself involves a greater likeness +among the things classed together; and the consequent approach +towards the notion of complete likeness itself allows +classification to be carried higher. Moreover, classification +necessarily advances <i>pari passu</i> with rationality—the classification +of <i>things</i> with the classification of <i>relations</i>. For +things that belong to the same class are, by implication, +things of which the properties and modes of behaviour—the +co-existences and sequences—are more or less the same; +and the recognition of this sameness of co-existences and +sequences is reasoning. Whence it follows that the advance +of classification is necessarily proportionate to the advance +of generalizations. Yet further, the notion of <i>likeness</i>, both +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_158' id='Page_158' name='Page_158'>158</a></span> +in things and relations, simultaneously evolves by one process +of culture the ideas of <i>equality</i> of things and <i>equality</i> +of relations; which are the respective bases of exact concrete +reasoning and exact abstract reasoning—Mathematics +and Logic. And once more, this idea of equality, in the +very process of being formed, necessarily gives origin to +two series of relations—those of magnitude and those of +number: from which arise geometry and the calculus. Thus +the process throughout is one of perpetual subdivision and +perpetual intercommunication of the divisions. From the +very first there has been that <i>consensus</i> of different kinds of +knowledge, answering to the <i>consensus</i> of the intellectual +faculties, which, as already said, must exist among the sciences. +</p> + +<p> +Let us now go on to observe how, out of the notions of +<i>equality</i> and <i>number</i>, as arrived at in the manner described, +there gradually arose the elements of quantitative prevision. +</p> + +<p> +Equality, once having come to be definitely conceived, +was readily applicable to other phenomena than those of +magnitude. Being predicable of all things producing indistinguishable +impressions, there naturally grew up ideas of +equality in weights, sounds, colours, &c.; and indeed it can +scarcely be doubted that the occasional experience of equal +weights, sounds, and colours, had a share in developing the +abstract conception of equality—that the ideas of equality +in size, relations, forces, resistances, and sensible properties +in general, were evolved during the same period. +But however this may be, it is clear that as fast as the notion +of equality gained definiteness, so fast did that lowest +kind of quantitative prevision which is achieved without +any instrumental aid, become possible. +</p> + +<p> +The ability to estimate, however roughly, the amount +of a foreseen result, implies the conception that it will be +<i>equal to</i> a certain imagined quantity; and the correctness +of the estimate will manifestly depend upon the accuracy at +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_159' id='Page_159' name='Page_159'>159</a></span> +which the perceptions of sensible equality have arrived. A +savage with a piece of stone in his hand, and another piece +lying before him of greater bulk but of the same kind (a +fact which he infers from the <i>equality</i> of the two in colour +and texture) knows about what effort he must put forth to +raise this other piece; and he judges accurately in proportion +to the accuracy with which he perceives that the one +is twice, three times, four times, &c. as large as the other; +that is—in proportion to the precision of his ideas of equality +and number. And here let us not omit to notice that +even in these vaguest of quantitative previsions, the conception +of <i>equality of relations</i> is also involved. For it is only +in virtue of an undefined perception that the relation between +bulk and weight in the one stone is <i>equal</i> to the relation +between bulk and weight in the other, that even the +roughest approximation can be made. +</p> + +<p> +But how came the transition from those uncertain perceptions +of equality which the unaided senses give, to the +certain ones with which science deals? It came by placing +the things compared in juxtaposition. Equality being predicated +of things which give us indistinguishable impressions, +and no accurate comparison of impressions being +possible unless they occur in immediate succession, it results +that exactness of equality is ascertainable in proportion +to the closeness of the compared things. Hence the +fact that when we wish to judge of two shades of colour +whether they are alike or not, we place them side by side; +hence the fact that we cannot, with any precision, say which +of two allied sounds is the louder, or the higher in pitch, +unless we hear the one immediately after the other; hence +the fact that to estimate the ratio of weights, we take one +in each hand, that we may compare their pressures by rapidly +alternating in thought from the one to the other; hence +the fact, that in a piece of music, we can continue to make +equal beats when the first beat has been given, but cannot +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_160' id='Page_160' name='Page_160'>160</a></span> +ensure commencing with the same length of beat on a future +occasion; and hence, lastly, the fact, that of all magnitudes, +those of <i>linear extension</i> are those of which the +equality is most accurately ascertainable, and those to +which by consequence all others have to be reduced. For +it is the peculiarity of linear extension that it alone allows +its magnitudes to be placed in <i>absolute</i> juxtaposition, or, +rather, in coincident position; it alone can test the equality +of two magnitudes by observing whether they will coalesce, +as two equal mathematical lines do, when placed between +the same points; it alone can test <i>equality</i> by trying whether +it will become <i>identity</i>. Hence, then, the fact, that all +exact science is reducible, by an ultimate analysis, to results +measured in equal units of linear extension. +</p> + +<p> +Still it remains to be noticed in what manner this determination +of equality by comparison of linear magnitudes +originated. Once more may we perceive that surrounding +natural objects supplied the needful lessons. From the beginning +there must have been a constant experience of like +things placed side by side—men standing and walking together; +animals from the same herd; fish from the same +shoal. And the ceaseless repetition of these experiences +could not fail to suggest the observation, that the nearer +together any objects were, the more visible became any inequality +between them. Hence the obvious device of putting +in apposition, things of which it was desired to ascertain +the relative magnitudes. Hence the idea of <i>measure</i>. +And here we suddenly come upon a group of facts which +afford a solid basis to the remainder of our argument; while +they also furnish strong evidence in support of the foregoing +speculations. Those who look sceptically on this attempted +rehabilitation of the earliest epochs of mental development, +and who more especially think that the derivation +of so many primary notions from organic forms is somewhat +strained, will perhaps see more probability in the several +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_161' id='Page_161' name='Page_161'>161</a></span> +hypotheses that have been ventured, on discovering that all +measures of <i>extension</i> and <i>force</i> originated from the lengths +and weights of organic bodies; and all measures of <i>time</i> +from the periodic phenomena of either organic or inorganic +bodies. +</p> + +<p> +Thus, among linear measures, the cubit of the Hebrews +was the <i>length of the forearm</i> from the elbow to the end +of the middle finger; and the smaller scriptural dimensions +are expressed in <i>hand-breadths</i> and <i>spans</i>. The Egyptian +cubit, which was similarly derived, was divided into digits, +which were <i>finger-breadths</i>; and each finger-breadth was +more definitely expressed as being equal to four <i>grains of +barley</i> placed breadthwise. Other ancient measures were +the orgyia or <i>stretch of the arms</i>, the <i>pace</i>, and the <i>palm</i>. +So persistent has been the use of these natural units of +length in the East, that even now some of the Arabs mete +out cloth by the forearm. So, too, is it with European +measures. The <i>foot</i> prevails as a dimension throughout +Europe, and has done since the time of the Romans, by +whom, also, it was used: its lengths in different places varying +not much more than men's feet vary. The heights +of horses are still expressed in <i>hands</i>. The inch is the +length of the terminal joint of <i>the thumb</i>; as is clearly +shown in France, where <i>pouce</i> means both thumb and inch. +Then we have the inch divided into three <i>barley-corns</i>. +</p> + +<p> +So completely, indeed, have these organic dimensions +served as the substrata of all mensuration, that it is only +by means of them that we can form any estimate of some +of the ancient distances. For example, the length of a +degree on the Earth's surface, as determined by the Arabian +astronomers shortly after the death of Haroun-al-Raschid, +was fifty-six of their miles. We know nothing of +their mile further than that it was 4000 cubits; and whether +these were sacred cubits or common cubits, would remain +doubtful, but that the length of the cubit is given as +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_162' id='Page_162' name='Page_162'>162</a></span> +twenty-seven inches, and each inch defined as the thickness of +six barley-grains. Thus one of the earliest measurements +of a degree comes down to us in barley-grains. Not only +did organic lengths furnish those approximate measures +which satisfied men's needs in ruder ages, but they furnished +also the standard measures required in later +times. One instance occurs in our own history. To +remedy the irregularities then prevailing, Henry I. commanded +that the ulna, or ancient ell, which answers to +the modern yard, should be made of the exact length of +<i>his own arm</i>. +</p> + +<p> +Measures of weight again had a like derivation. Seeds +seem commonly to have supplied the unit. The original +of the carat used for weighing in India is <i>a small bean</i>. +Our own systems, both troy and avoirdupois, are derived, +primarily from wheat-corns. Our smallest weight, the +grain, is <i>a grain of wheat</i>. This is not a speculation; it is +an historically registered fact. Henry III. enacted that an +ounce should be the weight of 640 dry grains of wheat +from the middle of the ear. And as all the other weights +are multiples or sub-multiples of this, it follows that the +grain of wheat is the basis of our scale. So natural is it to +use organic bodies as weights, before artificial weights +have been established, or where they are not to be had, +that in some of the remoter parts of Ireland the people +are said to be in the habit, even now, of putting a man +into the scales to serve as a measure for heavy commodities. +</p> + +<p> +Similarly with time. Astronomical periodicity, and the +periodicity of animal and vegetable life, are simultaneously +used in the first stages of progress for estimating epochs. +The simplest unit of time, the day, nature supplies ready +made. The next simplest period, the mooneth or month, +is also thrust upon men's notice by the conspicuous changes +constituting a lunation. For larger divisions than these, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_163' id='Page_163' name='Page_163'>163</a></span> +the phenomena of the seasons, and the chief events from +time to time occurring, have been used by early and uncivilized +races. Among the Egyptians the rising of the +Nile served as a mark. The New Zealanders were found +to begin their year from the reappearance of the Pleiades +above the sea. One of the uses ascribed to birds, by the +Greeks, was to indicate the seasons by their migrations. +Barrow describes the aboriginal Hottentot as denoting +periods by the number of moons before or after the ripening +of one of his chief articles of food. He further states +that the Kaffir chronology is kept by the moon, and is +registered by notches on sticks—the death of a favourite +chief, or the gaining of a victory, serving for a new era. +By which last fact, we are at once reminded that in early +history, events are commonly recorded as occurring in certain +reigns, and in certain years of certain reigns: a proceeding +which practically made a king's reign a measure of +duration. +</p> + +<p> +And, as further illustrating the tendency to divide time +by natural phenomena and natural events, it may be noticed +that even by our own peasantry the definite divisions +of months and years are but little used; and that they +habitually refer to occurrences as "before sheep-shearing," +or "after harvest," or "about the time when the squire +died." It is manifest, therefore, that the more or less +equal periods perceived in Nature gave the first units of +measure for time; as did Nature's more or less equal +lengths and weights give the first units of measure for space +and force. +</p> + +<p> +It remains only to observe, as further illustrating the +evolution of quantitative ideas after this manner, that +measures of value were similarly derived. Barter, in one +form or other, is found among all but the very lowest human +races. It is obviously based upon the notion of +<i>equality of worth</i>. And as it gradually merges into trade +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_164' id='Page_164' name='Page_164'>164</a></span> +by the introduction of some kind of currency, we find +that the <i>measures of worth</i>, constituting this currency, +are organic bodies; in some cases <i>cowries</i>, in others +<i>cocoa-nuts</i>, in others <i>cattle</i>, in others <i>pigs</i>; among the +American Indians peltry or <i>skins</i>, and in Iceland <i>dried fish</i>. +</p> + +<p> +Notions of exact equality and of measure having been +reached, there came to be definite ideas of relative magnitudes +as being multiples one of another; whence the practice +of measurement by direct apposition of a measure. +The determination of linear extensions by this process can +scarcely be called science, though it is a step towards it; +but the determination of lengths of time by an analogous +process may be considered as one of the earliest samples of +quantitative prevision. For when it is first ascertained +that the moon completes the cycle of her changes in about +thirty days—a fact known to most uncivilized tribes that +can count beyond the number of their fingers—it is manifest +that it becomes possible to say in what number of days +any specified phase of the moon will recur; and it is also +manifest that this prevision is effected by an opposition of +two times, after the same manner that linear space is measured +by the opposition of two lines. For to express the +moon's period in days, is to say how many of these units +of measure are contained in the period to be measured—is +to ascertain the distance between two points in time by +means of a <i>scale of days</i>, just as we ascertain the distance +between two points in space by a scale of feet or inches: +and in each case the scale coincides with the thing measured—mentally +in the one; visibly in the other. So that +in this simplest, and perhaps earliest case of quantitative +prevision, the phenomena are not only thrust daily upon +men's notice, but Nature is, as it were, perpetually repeating +that process of measurement by observing which +the prevision is effected. And thus there may be +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_165' id='Page_165' name='Page_165'>165</a></span> +significance in the remark which some have made, that alike +in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, there is an affinity between +the word meaning moon, and that meaning measure. +</p> + +<p> +This fact, that in very early stages of social progress it +is known that the moon goes through her changes in about +thirty days, and that in about twelve moons the seasons +return—this fact that chronological astronomy assumes a +certain scientific character even before geometry does; +while it is partly due to the circumstance that the astronomical +divisions, day, month, and year, are ready made +for us, is partly due to the further circumstances that +agricultural and other operations were at first regulated +astronomically, and that from the supposed divine nature +of the heavenly bodies their motions determined the +periodical religious festivals. As instances of the one we +have the observation of the Egyptians, that the rising of +the Nile corresponded with the heliacal rising of Sirius; +the directions given by Hesiod for reaping and ploughing, +according to the positions of the Pleiades; and his maxim +that "fifty days after the turning of the sun is a seasonable +time for beginning a voyage." As instances of the other, +we have the naming of the days after the sun, moon, and +planets; the early attempts among Eastern nations to +regulate the calendar so that the gods might not be offended +by the displacement of their sacrifices; and the fixing +of the great annual festival of the Peruvians by the +position of the sun. In all which facts we see that, +at first, science was simply an appliance of religion and industry. +</p> + +<p> +After the discoveries that a lunation occupies nearly +thirty days, and that some twelve lunations occupy a year—discoveries +of which there is no historical account, but +which may be inferred as the earliest, from the fact that +existing uncivilized races have made them—we come to +the first known astronomical records, which are those of +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_166' id='Page_166' name='Page_166'>166</a></span> +eclipses. The Chaldeans were able to predict these. +"This they did, probably," says Dr. Whewell in his useful +history, from which most of the materials we are about to +use will be drawn, "by means of their cycle of 223 months, +or about eighteen years; for at the end of this time, the +eclipses of the moon begin to return, at the same intervals +and in the same order as at the beginning." Now this method +of calculating eclipses by means of a recurring cycle,—the +<i>Saros</i> as they called it—is a more complex case of prevision +by means of coincidence of measures. For by what +observations must the Chaldeans have discovered this +cycle? Obviously, as Delambre infers, by inspecting their +registers; by comparing the successive intervals; by finding +that some of the intervals were alike; by seeing that +these equal intervals were eighteen years apart; by discovering +that <i>all</i> the intervals that were eighteen years apart +were equal; by ascertaining that the intervals formed a +series which repeated itself, so that if one of the cycles of +intervals were superposed on another the divisions would +fit. This once perceived, and it manifestly became possible +to use the cycle as a scale of time by which to measure +out future periods. Seeing thus that the process of so predicting +eclipses, is in essence the same as that of predicting +the moon's monthly changes by observing the number of +days after which they repeat—seeing that the two differ +only in the extent and irregularity of the intervals, it is not +difficult to understand how such an amount of knowledge +should so early have been reached. And we shall be less +surprised, on remembering that the only things involved +in these previsions were <i>time</i> and <i>number</i>; and that the +time was in a manner self-numbered. +</p> + +<p> +Still, the ability to predict events recurring only after +so long a period as eighteen years, implies a considerable +advance in civilization—a considerable development of general +knowledge; and we have now to inquire what progress +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_167' id='Page_167' name='Page_167'>167</a></span> +in other sciences accompanied, and was necessary to, these +astronomical previsions. In the first place, there must +clearly have been a tolerably efficient system of calculation. +Mere finger-counting, mere head-reckoning, even with the +aid of a regular decimal notation, could not have sufficed +for numbering the days in a year; much less the years, +months, and days between eclipses. Consequently there +must have been a mode of registering numbers; probably +even a system of numerals. The earliest numerical records, +if we may judge by the practices of the less civilized +races now existing, were probably kept by notches cut on +sticks, or strokes marked on walls; much as public-house +scores are kept now. And there seems reason to believe +that the first numerals used were simply groups of straight +strokes, as some of the still-extant Roman ones are; leading +us to suspect that these groups of strokes were used to +represent groups of fingers, as the groups of fingers had +been used to represent groups of objects—a supposition +quite in conformity with the aboriginal system of picture +writing and its subsequent modifications. Be this so or +not, however, it is manifest that before the Chaldeans discovered +their <i>Saros</i>, there must have been both a set of +written symbols serving for an extensive numeration, and +a familiarity with the simpler rules of arithmetic. +</p> + +<p> +Not only must abstract mathematics have made some +progress, but concrete mathematics also. It is scarcely +possible that the buildings belonging to this era should +have been laid out and erected without any knowledge of +geometry. At any rate, there must have existed that elementary +geometry which deals with direct measurement—with +the apposition of lines; and it seems that only after +the discovery of those simple proceedings, by which right +angles are drawn, and relative positions fixed, could so regular +an architecture be executed. In the case of the other +division of concrete mathematics—mechanics, we have definite +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_168' id='Page_168' name='Page_168'>168</a></span> +evidence of progress. We know that the lever and +the inclined plane were employed during this period: implying +that there was a qualitative prevision of their effects, +though not a quantitative one. But we know more. We +read of weights in the earliest records; and we find weights +in ruins of the highest antiquity. Weights imply scales, +of which we have also mention; and scales involve the +primary theorem of mechanics in its least complicated form—involve +not a qualitative but a quantitative prevision of +mechanical effects. And here we may notice how mechanics, +in common with the other exact sciences, took its rise +from the simplest application of the idea of <i>equality</i>. For +the mechanical proposition which the scales involve, is, that +if a lever with <i>equal</i> arms, have <i>equal</i> weights suspended +from them, the weights will remain at <i>equal</i> altitudes. +And we may further notice, how, in this first step of rational +mechanics, we see illustrated that truth awhile since +referred to, that as magnitudes of linear extension are the +only ones of which the equality is exactly ascertainable, the +equalities of other magnitudes have at the outset to be determined +by means of them. For the equality of the +weights which balance each other in scales, wholly depends +upon the equality of the arms: we can know that the +weights are equal only by proving that the arms are equal. +And when by this means we have obtained a system of +weights,—a set of equal units of force, then does a science +of mechanics become possible. Whence, indeed, it follows, +that rational mechanics could not possibly have any other +starting-point than the scales. +</p> + +<p> +Let us further remember, that during this same period +there was a limited knowledge of chemistry. The many +arts which we know to have been carried on must have +been impossible without a generalized experience of the +modes in which certain bodies affect each other under special +conditions. In metallurgy, which was extensively +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_169' id='Page_169' name='Page_169'>169</a></span> +practised, this is abundantly illustrated. And we even +have evidence that in some cases the knowledge possessed +was, in a sense, quantitative. For, as we find by analysis +that the hard alloy of which the Egyptians made their cutting +tools, was composed of copper and tin in fixed proportions, +there must have been an established prevision that +such an alloy was to be obtained only by mixing them in +these proportions. It is true, this was but a simple empirical +generalization; but so was the generalization respecting +the recurrence of eclipses; so are the first generalizations +of every science. +</p> + +<p> +Respecting the simultaneous advance of the sciences +during this early epoch, it only remains to remark that +even the most complex of them must have made some +progress—perhaps even a greater relative progress than +any of the rest. For under what conditions only were the +foregoing developments possible? There first required an +established and organized social system. A long continued +registry of eclipses; the building of palaces; the use of +scales; the practice of metallurgy—alike imply a fixed and +populous nation. The existence of such a nation not only +presupposes laws, and some administration of justice, which +we know existed, but it presupposes successful laws—laws +conforming in some degree to the conditions of social stability—laws +enacted because it was seen that the actions +forbidden by them were dangerous to the State. We do +not by any means say that all, or even the greater part, of +the laws were of this nature; but we do say, that the fundamental +ones were. It cannot be denied that the laws +affecting life and property were such. It cannot be denied +that, however little these were enforced between class and +class, they were to a considerable extent enforced between +members of the same class. It can scarcely be questioned, +that the administration of them between members of the +same class was seen by rulers to be necessary for keeping +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_170' id='Page_170' name='Page_170'>170</a></span> +their subjects together. And knowing, as we do, that, +other things equal, nations prosper in proportion to the +justness of their arrangements, we may fairly infer that +the very cause of the advance of these earliest nations out +of aboriginal barbarism, was the greater recognition among +them of the claims to life and property. +</p> + +<p> +But supposition aside, it is clear that the habitual recognition +of these claims in their laws, implied some prevision +of social phenomena. Even thus early there was a certain +amount of social science. Nay, it may even be shown that +there was a vague recognition of that fundamental principle +on which all the true social science is based—the equal +rights of all to the free exercise of their faculties. That +same idea of <i>equality</i>, which, as we have seen, underlies +all other science, underlies also morals and sociology. The +conception of justice, which is the primary one in morals; +and the administration of justice, which is the vital condition +of social existence; are impossible, without the recognition +of a certain likeness in men's claims, in virtue of their +common humanity. <i>Equity</i> literally means <i>equalness</i>; and +if it be admitted that there were even the vaguest ideas of +equity in these primitive eras, it must be admitted that +there was some appreciation of the equalness of men's liberties +to pursue the objects of life—some appreciation, +therefore, of the essential principle of national equilibrium. +</p> + +<p> +Thus in this initial stage of the positive sciences, before +geometry had yet done more than evolve a few empirical +rules—before mechanics had passed beyond its first theorem—before +astronomy had advanced from its merely chronological +phase into the geometrical; the most involved of +the sciences had reached a certain degree of development—a +development without which no progress in other sciences +was possible. +</p> + +<p> +Only noting as we pass, how, thus early, we may see +that the progress of exact science was not only towards an +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_171' id='Page_171' name='Page_171'>171</a></span> +increasing number of previsions, but towards previsions +more accurately quantitative—how, in astronomy, the recurring +period of the moon's motions was by and by more +correctly ascertained to be nineteen years, or two hundred +and thirty-five lunations; how Callipus further corrected +this Metonic cycle, by leaving out a day at the end of every +seventy-six years; and how these successive advances implied +a longer continued registry of observations, and the +co-ordination of a greater number of facts—let us go on to +inquire how geometrical astronomy took its rise. +</p> + +<p> +The first astronomical instrument was the gnomon. +This was not only early in use in the East, but it was found +also among the Mexicans; the sole astronomical observations +of the Peruvians were made by it; and we read that +1100 <span class='smcap'>B.C.</span>, the Chinese found that, at a certain place, the +length of the sun's shadow, at the summer solstice, was to +the height of the gnomon, as one and a half to eight. +Here again it is observable, not only that the instrument is +found ready made, but that Nature is perpetually performing +the process of measurement. Any fixed, erect object—a +column, a dead palm, a pole, the angle of a building—serves +for a gnomon; and it needs but to notice the changing +position of the shadow it daily throws, to make the +first step in geometrical astronomy. How small this first +step was, may be seen in the fact that the only things ascertained +at the outset were the periods of the summer +and winter solstices, which corresponded with the least and +greatest lengths of the mid-day shadow; and to fix which, +it was needful merely to mark the point to which each +day's shadow reached. +</p> + +<p> +And now let it not be overlooked that in the observing +at what time during the next year this extreme limit of the +shadow was again reached, and in the inference that the +sun had then arrived at the same turning point in his annual +course, we have one of the simplest instances of that +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_172' id='Page_172' name='Page_172'>172</a></span> +combined use of <i>equal magnitudes</i> and <i>equal relations</i>, by +which all exact science, all quantitative prevision, is reached. +For the relation observed was between the length of the +sun's shadow and his position in the heavens; and the inference +drawn was that when, next year, the extremity of +his shadow came to the same point, he occupied the same +place. That is, the, ideas involved were, the equality of the +shadows, and the equality of the relations between shadow +and sun in successive years. As in the case of the scales, +the equality of relations here recognized is of the simplest +order. It is not as those habitually dealt with in the higher +kinds of scientific reasoning, which answer to the general +type—the relation between two and three equals the relation +between six and nine; but it follows the type—the relation +between two and three, equals the relation between +two and three; it is a case of not simply <i>equal</i> relations, +but <i>coinciding</i> relations. And here, indeed, we may see +beautifully illustrated how the idea of equal relations takes +its rise after the same manner that that of equal magnitude +does. As already shown, the idea of equal magnitudes +arose from the observed coincidence of two lengths placed +together; and in this case we have not only two coincident +lengths of shadows, but two coincident relations between +sun and shadows. +</p> + +<p> +From the use of the gnomon there naturally grew up +the conception of angular measurements; and with the +advance of geometrical conceptions there came the hemisphere +of Berosus, the equinoctial armil, the solstitial armil, +and the quadrant of Ptolemy—all of them employing shadows +as indices of the sun's position, but in combination +with angular divisions. It is obviously out of the question +for us here to trace these details of progress. It must suffice +to remark that in all of them we may see that notion +of equality of relations of a more complex kind, which is +best illustrated in the astrolabe, an instrument which +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_173' id='Page_173' name='Page_173'>173</a></span> +consisted "of circular rims, moveable one within the other, or +about poles, and contained circles which were to be brought +into the position of the ecliptic, and of a plane passing +through the sun and the poles of the ecliptic"—an instrument, +therefore, which represented, as by a model, the relative +positions of certain imaginary lines and planes in the +heavens; which was adjusted by putting these representative +lines and planes into parallelism and coincidence with +the celestial ones; and which depended for its use upon the +perception that the relations between these representative +lines and planes were <i>equal</i> to the relations between those +represented. +</p> + +<p> +Were there space, we might go on to point out how the +conception of the heavens as a revolving hollow sphere, +the discovery of the globular form of the earth, the explanation +of the moon's phases, and indeed all the successive +steps taken, involved this same mental process. But we +must content ourselves with referring to the theory of eccentrics +and epicycles, as a further marked illustration of +it. As first suggested, and as proved by Hipparchus to afford +an explanation of the leading irregularities in the celestial +motions, this theory involved the perception that +the progressions, retrogressions, and variations of velocity +seen in the heavenly bodies, might be reconciled with their +assumed uniform movement in circles, by supposing that +the earth was not in the centre of their orbits; or by supposing +that they revolved in circles whose centres revolved +round the earth; or by both. The discovery that this +would account for the appearances, was the discovery that +in certain geometrical diagrams the relations were such, +that the uniform motion of a point would, when looked at +from a particular position, present analogous irregularities; +and the calculations of Hipparchus involved the belief that the +relations subsisting among these geometrical curves were +<i>equal</i> to the relations subsisting among the celestial orbits. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_174' id='Page_174' name='Page_174'>174</a></span> +Leaving here these details of astronomical progress, and +the philosophy of it, let us observe how the relatively concrete +science of geometrical astronomy, having been thus +far helped forward by the development of geometry in general, +reacted upon geometry, caused it also to advance, and +was again assisted by it. Hipparchus, before making his +solar and lunar tables, had to discover rules for calculating +the relations between the sides and angles of triangles—<i>trigonometry</i>, +a subdivision of pure mathematics. Further, +the reduction of the doctrine of the sphere to the quantitative +form needed for astronomical purposes, required the +formation of a <i>spherical trigonometry</i>, which was also +achieved by Hipparchus. Thus both plane and spherical +trigonometry, which are parts of the highly abstract and +simple science of extension, remained undeveloped until +the less abstract and more complex science of the celestial +motions had need of them. The fact admitted by M. +Comte, that since Descartes the progress of the abstract +division of mathematics has been determined by that of +the concrete division, is paralleled by the still more significant +fact that even thus early the progress of mathematics +was determined by that of astronomy. +</p> + +<p> +And here, indeed, we may see exemplified the truth, +which the subsequent history of science frequently illustrates, +that before any more abstract division makes a further +advance, some more concrete division must suggest +the necessity for that advance—must present the new order +of questions to be solved. Before astronomy presented +Hipparchus with the problem of solar tables, there was +nothing to raise the question of the relations between lines +and angles; the subject-matter of trigonometry had not +been conceived. And as there must be subject-matter before +there can be investigation, it follows that the progress +of the concrete divisions is as necessary to that of the abstract, +as the progress of the abstract to that of the concrete. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_175' id='Page_175' name='Page_175'>175</a></span> +Just incidentally noticing the circumstance that the +epoch we are describing witnessed the evolution of algebra, +a comparatively abstract division of mathematics, by the +union of its less abstract divisions, geometry and arithmetic—a +fact proved by the earliest extant samples of algebra, +which are half algebraic, half geometric—we go on to +observe that during the era in which mathematics and +astronomy were thus advancing, rational mechanics made +its second step; and something was done towards giving a +quantitative form to hydrostatics, optics, and harmonics. +In each case we shall see as before, how the idea of equality +underlies all quantitative prevision; and in what simple +forms this idea is first applied. +</p> + +<p> +As already shown, the first theorem established in mechanics +was, that equal weights suspended from a lever with +equal arms would remain in equilibrium. Archimedes discovered +that a lever with unequal arms was in equilibrium +when one weight was to its arm as the other arm to its +weight; that is—when the numerical relation between one +weight and its arm was <i>equal</i> to the numerical relation between +the other arm and its weight. +</p> + +<p> +The first advance made in hydrostatics, which we also +owe to Archimedes, was the discovery that fluids press +<i>equally</i> in all directions; and from this followed the solution +of the problem of floating bodies: namely, that they +are in equilibrium when the upward and downward pressures +are <i>equal</i>. +</p> + +<p> +In optics, again, the Greeks found that the angle of incidence +is <i>equal</i> to the angle of reflection; and their knowledge +reached no further than to such simple deductions +from this as their geometry sufficed for. In harmonics +they ascertained the fact that three strings of <i>equal</i> lengths +would yield the octave, fifth and fourth, when strained by +weights having certain definite ratios; and they did not +progress much beyond this. In the one of which cases we +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_176' id='Page_176' name='Page_176'>176</a></span> +see geometry used in elucidation of the laws of light; and +in the other, geometry and arithmetic made to measure the +phenomena of sound. +</p> + +<p> +Did space permit, it would be desirable here to describe +the state of the less advanced sciences—to point out +how, while a few had thus reached the first stages of quantitative +prevision, the rest were progressing in qualitative +prevision—how some small generalizations were made respecting +evaporation, and heat, and electricity, and magnetism, +which, empirical as they were, did not in that respect +differ from the first generalizations of every science—how +the Greek physicians had made advances in physiology +and pathology, which, considering the great imperfection +of our present knowledge, are by no means to be despised—how +zoology had been so far systematized by Aristotle, +as, to some extent, enabled him from the presence of certain +organs to predict the presence of others—how in Aristotle's +<i>Politics</i>, there is some progress towards a scientific +conception of social phenomena, and sundry previsions respecting +them—and how in the state of the Greek societies, +as well as in the writings of Greek philosophers, we +may recognise not only an increasing clearness in that conception +of equity on which the social science is based, but +also some appreciation of the fact that social stability depends +upon the maintenance of equitable regulations. We +might dwell at length upon the causes which retarded the +development of some of the sciences, as for example, chemistry: +showing that relative complexity had nothing to do +with it—that the oxidation of a piece of iron is a simpler +phenomenon than the recurrence of eclipses, and the discovery +of carbonic acid less difficult than that of the precession +of the equinoxes—but that the relatively slow advance +of chemical knowledge was due, partly to the fact +that its phenomena were not daily thrust on men's notice +as those of astronomy were; partly to the fact that Nature +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_177' id='Page_177' name='Page_177'>177</a></span> +does not habitually supply the means, and suggest the +modes of investigation, as in the sciences dealing with time, +extension, and force; and partly to the fact that the great +majority of the materials with which chemistry deals, instead +of being ready to hand, are made known only by the +arts in their slow growth; and partly to the fact that even +when known, their chemical properties are not self-exhibited, +but have to be sought out by experiment. +</p> + +<p> +Merely indicating all these considerations, however, let +us go on to contemplate the progress and mutual influence +of the sciences in modern days; only parenthetically noticing +how, on the revival of the scientific spirit, the successive +stages achieved exhibit the dominance of the same +law hitherto traced—how the primary idea in dynamics, a +uniform force, was defined by Galileo to be a force which +generates <i>equal</i> velocities in <i>equal</i> successive times—how +the uniform action of gravity was first experimentally determined +by showing that the time elapsing before a body +thrown up, stopped, was <i>equal</i> to the time it took to fall—how +the first fact in compound motion which Galileo ascertained +was, that a body projected horizontally will have a +uniform motion onwards and a uniformly accelerated motion +downwards; that is, will describe <i>equal</i> horizontal +spaces in <i>equal</i> times, compounded with <i>equal</i> vertical increments +in <i>equal</i> times—how his discovery respecting the +pendulum was, that its oscillations occupy <i>equal</i> intervals +of time whatever their length—how the principle of virtual +velocities which he established is, that in any machine the +weights that balance each other, are reciprocally as their +virtual velocities; that is, the relation of one set of weights +to their velocities <i>equals</i> the relation of the other set of +velocities to their weights;—and how thus his achievements +consisted in showing the equalities of certain magnitudes +and relations, whose equalities had not been previously +recognised. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_178' id='Page_178' name='Page_178'>178</a></span> +When mechanics had reached the point to which Galileo +brought it—when the simple laws of force had been disentangled +from the friction and atmospheric resistance by +which all their earthly manifestations are disguised—when +progressing knowledge of <i>physics</i> had given a due insight +into these disturbing causes—when, by an effort of abstraction, +it was perceived that all motion would be uniform +and rectilinear unless interfered with by external forces—and +when the various consequences of this perception had +been worked out; then it became possible, by the union of +geometry and mechanics, to initiate physical astronomy. +Geometry and mechanics having diverged from a common +root in men's sensible experiences; having, with occasional +inosculations, been separately developed, the one partly in +connexion with astronomy, the other solely by analyzing +terrestrial movements; now join in the investigations of +Newton to create a true theory of the celestial motions. +And here, also, we have to notice the important fact that, +in the very process of being brought jointly to bear upon +astronomical problems, they are themselves raised to a +higher phase of development. For it was in dealing with +the questions raised by celestial dynamics that the then +incipient infinitesimal calculus was unfolded by Newton and +his continental successors; and it was from inquiries into +the mechanics of the solar system that the general theorems +of mechanics contained in the "Principia,"—many of them +of purely terrestrial application—took their rise. Thus, as +in the case of Hipparchus, the presentation of a new order +of concrete facts to be analyzed, led to the discovery of +new abstract facts; and these abstract facts having been +laid hold of, gave means of access to endless groups +of concrete facts before incapable of quantitative treatment. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, physics had been carrying further that progress +without which, as just shown, rational mechanics +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_179' id='Page_179' name='Page_179'>179</a></span> +could not be disentangled. In hydrostatics, Stevinus had +extended and applied the discovery of Archimedes. Torricelli +had proved atmospheric pressure, "by showing that +this pressure sustained different liquids at heights inversely +proportional to their densities;" and Pascal "established +the necessary diminution of this pressure at increasing +heights in the atmosphere:" discoveries which in part +reduced this branch of science to a quantitative form. +Something had been done by Daniel <ins class='correction' title='Original: Bernouilli'>Bernoulli</ins> towards +the dynamics of fluids. The thermometer had been invented; +and a number of small generalizations reached by it. +Huyghens and Newton had made considerable progress in +optics; Newton had approximately calculated the rate of +transmission of sound; and the continental mathematicians +had succeeded in determining some of the laws of sonorous +vibrations. Magnetism and electricity had been considerably +advanced by Gilbert. Chemistry had got as far as +the mutual neutralization of acids and alkalies. And +Leonardo da Vinci had advanced in geology to the conception +of the deposition of marine strata as the origin +of fossils. Our present purpose does not require that +we should give particulars. All that it here concerns us +to do is to illustrate the <i>consensus</i> subsisting in this stage +of growth, and afterwards. Let as look at a few cases. +</p> + +<p> +The theoretic law of the velocity of sound enunciated +by Newton on purely mechanical considerations, was found +wrong by one-sixth. The error remained unaccounted for +until the time of Laplace, who, suspecting that the heat +disengaged by the compression of the undulating strata of +the air, gave additional elasticity, and so produced the +difference, made the needful calculations and found he was +right. Thus acoustics was arrested until thermology overtook +and aided it. When Boyle and Marriot had discovered +the relation between the density of gases and the +pressures they are subject to; and when it thus became +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_180' id='Page_180' name='Page_180'>180</a></span> +possible to calculate the rate of decreasing density in the +upper parts of the atmosphere; it also became possible to +make approximate tables of the atmospheric refraction of +light. Thus optics, and with it astronomy, advanced with +barology. After the discovery of atmospheric pressure +had led to the invention of the air-pump by Otto Guericke; +and after it had become known that evaporation increases +in rapidity as atmospheric pressure decreases; it became +possible for Leslie, by evaporation in a vacuum, to produce +the greatest cold known; and so to extend our knowledge +of thermology by showing that there is no zero within +reach of our researches. When Fourier had determined +the laws of conduction of heat, and when the Earth's temperature +had been found to increase below the surface +one degree in every forty yards, there were data for inferring +the past condition of our globe; the vast period +it has taken to cool down to its present state; and the +immense age of the solar system—a purely astronomical +consideration. +</p> + +<p> +Chemistry having advanced sufficiently to supply the +needful materials, and a physiological experiment having +furnished the requisite hint, there came the discovery of +galvanic electricity. Galvanism reacting on chemistry disclosed +the metallic bases of the alkalies, and inaugurated +the electro-chemical theory; in the hands of Oersted and +Ampère it led to the laws of magnetic action; and by its +aid Faraday has detected significant facts relative to the +constitution of light. Brewster's discoveries respecting +double refraction and dipolarization proved the essential +truth of the classification of crystalline forms according to +the number of axes, by showing that the molecular constitution +depends upon the axes. In these and in numerous +other cases, the mutual influence of the sciences has +been quite independent of any supposed hierarchical order. +Often, too, their inter-actions are more complex than as +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_181' id='Page_181' name='Page_181'>181</a></span> +thus instanced—involve more sciences than two. One +illustration of this must suffice. We quote it in full from +the <i>History of the Inductive Sciences</i>. In Book XI., chap. +II., on "The Progress of the Electrical Theory," Dr. +Whewell writes:— +</p> + + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +"Thus at that period, mathematics was behind experiment, +and a problem was proposed, in which theoretical results were +wanted for comparison with observation, but could not be accurately +obtained; as was the case in astronomy also, till the time +of the approximate solution of the problem of three bodies, and +the consequent formation of the tables of the moon and planets, +on the theory of universal gravitation. After some time, electrical +theory was relieved from this reproach, mainly in consequence +of the progress which astronomy had occasioned in pure +mathematics. About 1801 there appeared in the <i>Bulletin des +Sciences</i>, an exact solution of the problem of the distribution of +electric fluid on a spheroid, obtained by Biot, by the application +of the peculiar methods which Laplace had invented for the problem +of the figure of the planets. And, in 1811, M. Poisson applied +Laplace's artifices to the case of two spheres acting upon one +another in contact, a case to which many of Coulomb's experiments +were referrible; and the agreement of the results of +theory and observation, thus extricated from Coulomb's numbers +obtained above forty years previously, was very striking and +convincing." +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Not only do the sciences affect each other after this +direct manner, but they affect each other indirectly. +Where there is no dependence, there is yet analogy—<i>equality +of relations</i>; and the discovery of the relations +subsisting among one set of phenomena, constantly suggests +a search for the same relations among another set. +Thus the established fact that the force of gravitation varies +inversely as the square of the distance, being recognized as +a necessary characteristic of all influences proceeding from +a centre, raised the suspicion that heat and light follow the +same law; which proved to be the case—a suspicion and a +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_182' id='Page_182' name='Page_182'>182</a></span> +confirmation which were repeated in respect to the electric +and magnetic forces. Thus again the discovery of the +polarization of light led to experiments which ended in the +discovery of the polarization of heat—a discovery that +could never have been made without the antecedent +one. Thus, too, the known refrangibility of light and +heat lately produced the inquiry whether sound also is not +refrangible; which on trial it turns out to be. +</p> + +<p> +In some cases, indeed, it is only by the aid of conceptions +derived from one class of phenomena that hypotheses +respecting other classes can be formed. The theory, +at one time favoured, that evaporation is a solution of +water in air, was an assumption that the relation between +water and air is <i>like</i> the relation between salt and water; +and could never have been conceived if the relation between +salt and water had not been previously known. +Similarly the received theory of evaporation—that it is a +diffusion of the particles of the evaporating fluid in virtue +of their atomic repulsion—could not have been entertained +without a foregoing experience of magnetic and electric +repulsions. So complete in recent days has become this +<i>consensus</i> among the sciences, caused either by the natural +entanglement of their phenomena, or by analogies in the +relations of their phenomena, that scarcely any considerable +discovery concerning one order of facts now takes +place, without very shortly leading to discoveries concerning +other orders. +</p> + +<p> +To produce a tolerably complete conception of this process +of scientific evolution, it would be needful to go back +to the beginning, and trace in detail the growth of classifications +and nomenclatures; and to show how, as subsidiary +to science, they have acted upon it, and it has reacted upon +them. We can only now remark that, on the one hand, +classifications and nomenclatures have aided science by continually +subdividing the subject-matter of research, and giving +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_183' id='Page_183' name='Page_183'>183</a></span> +fixity and diffusion to the truths disclosed; and that on +the other hand, they have caught from it that increasing +quantitativeness, and that progress from considerations +touching single phenomena to considerations touching the +relations among many phenomena, which we have been describing. +</p> + +<p> +Of this last influence a few illustrations must be given. +In chemistry it is seen in the facts, that the dividing of matter +into the four elements was ostensibly based upon the +single property of weight; that the first truly chemical division +into acid and alkaline bodies, grouped together bodies +which had not simply one property in common, but in +which one property was constantly related to many others; +and that the classification now current, places together in +groups <i>supporters of combustion</i>, <i>metallic and non-metallic +bases</i>, <i>acids</i>, <i>salts</i>, &c., bodies which are often quite unlike +in sensible qualities, but which are like in the majority of +their <i>relations</i> to other bodies. In mineralogy again, +the first classifications were based upon differences in aspect, +texture, and other physical attributes. Berzelius +made two attempts at a classification based solely on chemical +constitution. That now current, recognises as far as +possible the <i>relations</i> between physical and chemical characters. +In botany the earliest classes formed were <i>trees</i>, +<i>shrubs</i>, and <i>herbs</i>: magnitude being the basis of distinction. +Dioscorides divided vegetables into <i>aromatic</i>, <i>alimentary</i>, +<i>medicinal</i>, and <i>vinous</i>: a division of chemical character. +Cæsalpinus classified them by the seeds, and seed-vessels, +which he preferred because of the <i>relations</i> found to subsist +between the character of the fructification and the +general character of the other parts. +</p> + +<p> +While the "natural system" since developed, carrying out +the doctrine of Linnæus, that "natural orders must be formed +by attention not to one or two, but to <i>all</i> the parts of plants," +bases its divisions on like peculiarities which are found +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_184' id='Page_184' name='Page_184'>184</a></span> +to be <i>constantly related</i> to the greatest number of other +like peculiarities. And similarly in zoology, the successive +classifications, from having been originally determined by +external and often subordinate characters not indicative of +the essential nature, have been gradually more and more +determined by those internal and fundamental differences, +which have uniform <i>relations</i> to the greatest number of other +differences. Nor shall we be surprised at this analogy between +the modes of progress of positive science and classification, +when we bear in mind that both proceed by making generalizations; +that both enable us to make previsions differing +only in their precision; and that while the one deals with +equal properties and relations, the other deals with properties +and relations that approximate towards equality in variable +degrees. +</p> + +<p> +Without further argument, it will, we think, be sufficiently +clear that the sciences are none of them separately +evolved—are none of them independent either logically or +historically; but that all of them have, in a greater or less +degree, required aid and reciprocated it. Indeed, it needs +but to throw aside theses, and contemplate the mixed character +of surrounding phenomena, to at once see that these +notions of division and succession in the kinds of knowledge +are none of them actually true, but are simple scientific +fictions: good, if regarded merely as aids to study; bad, +if regarded as representing realities in Nature. Consider +them critically, and no facts whatever are presented to our +senses uncombined with other facts—no facts whatever but +are in some degree disguised by accompanying facts: +disguised in such a manner that all must be partially understood +before any one can be understood. If it be said, as +by M. Comte, that gravitating force should be treated of +before other forces, seeing that all things are subject to it, +it may on like grounds be said that heat should be first +dealt with; seeing that thermal forces are everywhere in +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_185' id='Page_185' name='Page_185'>185</a></span> +action; that the ability of any portion of matter to manifest +visible gravitative phenomena depends on its state of +aggregation, which is determined by heat; that only by +the aid of thermology can we explain those apparent exceptions +to the gravitating tendency which are presented +by steam and smoke, and so establish its universality, and +that, indeed, the very existence of the solar system in a solid +form is just as much a question of heat as it is one of +gravitation. +</p> + +<p> +Take other cases:—All phenomena recognised by the +eyes, through which only are the data of exact science ascertainable, +are complicated with optical phenomena; and +cannot be exhaustively known until optical principles are +known. The burning of a candle cannot be explained +without involving chemistry, mechanics, thermology. +Every wind that blows is determined by influences partly +solar, partly lunar, partly hygrometric; and implies considerations +of fluid equilibrium and physical geography. +The direction, dip, and variations of the magnetic needle, +are facts half terrestrial, half celestial—are caused by earthly +forces which have cycles of change corresponding with +astronomical periods. The flowing of the gulf-stream and the +annual migration of icebergs towards the equator, depending +as they do on the balancing of the centripetal and centrifugal +forces acting on the ocean, involve in their explanation +the Earth's rotation and spheroidal form, the laws of +hydrostatics, the relative densities of cold and warm water, +and the doctrines of evaporation. It is no doubt true, as +M. Comte says, that "our position in the solar system, and +the motions, form, size, equilibrium of the mass of our +world among the planets, must be known before we can understand +the phenomena going on at its surface." But, fatally +for his hypothesis, it is also true that we must understand +a great part of the phenomena going on at its surface +before we can know its position, &c., in the solar system. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_186' id='Page_186' name='Page_186'>186</a></span> +It is not simply that, as we have already shown, those geometrical +and mechanical principles by which celestial appearances +are explained, were first generalized from terrestrial +experiences; but it is that the very obtainment of correct +data, on which to base astronomical generalizations, +implies advanced terrestrial physics. +</p> + +<p> +Until after optics had made considerable advance, the +Copernican system remained but a speculation. A single +modern observation on a star has to undergo a careful analysis +by the combined aid of various sciences—has to <i>be digested +by the organism of the sciences</i>; which have severally +to assimilate their respective parts of the observation, before +the essential fact it contains is available for the further +development of astronomy. It has to be corrected not +only for nutation of the earth's axis and for precession of +the equinoxes, but for aberration and for refraction; and +the formation of the tables by which refraction is calculated, +presupposes knowledge of the law of decreasing density +in the upper atmospheric strata; of the law of decreasing +temperature, and the influence of this on the density; and of +hygrometric laws as also affecting density. So that, to get +materials for further advance, astronomy requires not only +the indirect aid of the sciences which have presided over +the making of its improved instruments, but the direct aid +of an advanced optics, of barology, of thermology, of hygrometry; +and if we remember that these delicate observations +are in some cases registered electrically, and that +they are further corrected for the "personal equation"—the +time elapsing between seeing and registering, which varies +with different observers—we may even add electricity and +psychology. If, then, so apparently simple a thing as ascertaining +the position of a star is complicated with so +many phenomena, it is clear that this notion of the independence +of the sciences, or certain of them, will not hold. +</p> + +<p> +Whether objectively independent or not, they cannot +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_187' id='Page_187' name='Page_187'>187</a></span> +be subjectively so—they cannot have independence as presented +to our consciousness; and this is the only kind of +independence with which we are concerned. And here, +before leaving these illustrations, and especially this last +one, let us not omit to notice how clearly they exhibit that +increasingly active <i>consensus</i> of the sciences which characterizes +their advancing development. Besides finding that +in these later times a discovery in one science commonly +causes progress in others; besides finding that a great part +of the questions with which modern science deals are so mixed +as to require the co-operation of many sciences for their +solution; we find in this last case that, to make a single good +observation in the purest of the natural sciences, requires +the combined assistance of half a dozen other sciences. +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps the clearest comprehension of the interconnected +growth of the sciences may be obtained by contemplating +that of the arts, to which it is strictly analogous, and +with which it is inseparably bound up. Most intelligent +persons must have been, at one time or other, struck with +the vast array of antecedents pre-supposed by one of our +processes of manufacture. Let him trace the production +of a printed cotton, and consider all that is implied by it. +There are the many successive improvements through +which the power-looms reached their present perfection; +there is the steam-engine that drives them, having its long +history from Papin downwards; there are the lathes in +which its cylinder was bored, and the string of ancestral +lathes from which those lathes proceeded; there is the +steam-hammer under which its crank shaft was welded; +there are the puddling-furnaces, the blast-furnaces, the coal-mines +and the iron-mines needful for producing the raw +material; there are the slowly improved appliances by +which the factory was built, and lighted, and ventilated; +there are the printing engine, and the die house, and the colour +laboratory with its stock of materials from all parts of +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_188' id='Page_188' name='Page_188'>188</a></span> +the world, implying cochineal-culture, logwood-cutting, indigo-growing; +there are the implements used by the producers +of cotton, the gins by which it is cleaned, the elaborate +machines by which it is spun: there are the vessels +in which cotton is imported, with the building-slips, the +rope-yards, the sail-cloth factories, the anchor-forges, needful +for making them; and besides all these directly necessary +antecedents, each of them involving many others, +there are the institutions which have developed the requisite +intelligence, the printing and publishing arrangements +which have spread the necessary information, the social organization +which has rendered possible such a complex co-operation +of agencies. +</p> + +<p> +Further analysis would show that the many arts thus +concerned in the economical production of a child's frock, +have each of them been brought to its present efficiency +by slow steps which the other arts have aided; and that +from the beginning this reciprocity has been ever on the +increase. It needs but on the one hand to consider how +utterly impossible it is for the savage, even with ore and +coal ready, to produce so simple a thing as an iron hatchet; +and then to consider, on the other hand, that it would have +been impracticable among ourselves, even a century ago, +to raise the tubes of the Britannia bridge from lack of the +hydraulic press; to at once see how mutually dependent +are the arts, and how all must advance that each may advance. +Well, the sciences are involved with each other +in just the same manner. They are, in fact, inextricably +woven into this same complex web of the arts; and are +only conventionally independent of it. Originally the two +were one. How to fix the religious festivals; when to sow; +how to weigh commodities; and in what manner to measure +ground; were the purely practical questions out of +which arose astronomy, mechanics, geometry. Since then +there has been a perpetual inosculation of the sciences and +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_189' id='Page_189' name='Page_189'>189</a></span> +the arts. Science has been supplying art with truer generalizations +and more completely quantitative previsions. Art has +been supplying science with better materials, and more perfect +instruments. And all along the interdependence has been +growing closer, not only between art and science, but among +the arts themselves, and among the sciences themselves. +</p> + +<p> +How completely the analogy holds throughout, becomes +yet clearer when we recognise the fact that <i>the sciences are +arts to each other</i>. If, as occurs in almost every case, the +fact to be analyzed by any science, has first to be prepared—to +be disentangled from disturbing facts by the afore +discovered methods of other sciences; the other sciences +so used, stand in the position of arts. If, in solving a dynamical +problem, a parallelogram is drawn, of which the sides +and diagonal represent forces, and by putting magnitudes +of extension for magnitudes of force a measurable relation +is established between quantities not else to be dealt with; +it may be fairly said that geometry plays towards mechanics +much the same part that the fire of the founder plays +towards the metal he is going to cast. If, in analyzing the +phenomena of the coloured rings surrounding the point of +contact between two lenses, a Newton ascertains by calculation +the amount of certain interposed spaces, far too minute +for actual measurement; he employs the science of +number for essentially the same purpose as that for which +the watchmaker employs tools. If, before writing down +his observation on a star, the astronomer has to separate +from it all the errors resulting from atmospheric and optical +laws, it is manifest that the refraction-tables, and logarithm-books, +and formulæ, which he successively uses, serve him +much as retorts, and filters, and cupels serve the assayer +who wishes to separate the pure gold from all accompanying +ingredients. +</p> + +<p> +So close, indeed, is the relationship, that it is impossible +to say where science begins and art ends. All the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_190' id='Page_190' name='Page_190'>190</a></span> +instruments of the natural philosopher are the products of +art; the adjusting one of them for use is an art; there is +art in making an observation with one of them; it requires +art properly to treat the facts ascertained; nay, even the +employing established generalizations to open the way to +new generalizations, may be considered as art. In each of +these cases previously organized knowledge becomes the +implement by which new knowledge is got at: and whether +that previously organized knowledge is embodied in a tangible +apparatus or in a formula, matters not in so far as its +essential relation to the new knowledge is concerned. If, +as no one will deny, art is applied knowledge, then such +portion of a scientific investigation as consists of applied +knowledge is art. So that we may even say that as soon +as any prevision in science passes out of its originally passive +state, and is employed for reaching other previsions, +it passes from theory into practice—becomes science in +action—becomes art. And when we thus see how purely +conventional is the ordinary distinction, how impossible it +is to make any real separation—when we see not only that +science and art were originally one; that the arts have +perpetually assisted each other; that there has been a constant +reciprocation of aid between the sciences and arts; +but that the sciences act as arts to each other, and that the +established part of each science becomes an art to the +growing part—when we recognize the closeness of these +associations, we shall the more clearly perceive that as the +connexion of the arts with each other has been ever becoming +more intimate; as the help given by sciences to +arts and by arts to sciences, has been age by age increasing; +so the interdependence of the sciences themselves has +been ever growing greater, their mutual relations more involved, +their <i>consensus</i> more active. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +In here ending our sketch of the Genesis of Science, we +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_191' id='Page_191' name='Page_191'>191</a></span> +are conscious of having done the subject but scant justice. +Two difficulties have stood in our way: one, the having to +touch on so many points in such small space; the other, +the necessity of treating in serial arrangement a process +which is not serial—a difficulty which must ever attend all +attempts to delineate processes of development, whatever +their special nature. Add to which, that to present in anything +like completeness and proportion, even the outlines +of so vast and complex a history, demands years of study. +Nevertheless, we believe that the evidence which has been +assigned suffices to substantiate the leading propositions +with which we set out. Inquiry into the first stages of +science confirms the conclusion which we drew from the +analysis of science as now existing, that it is not distinct +from common knowledge, but an outgrowth from it—an +extension of the perception by means of the reason. +</p> + +<p> +That which we further found by analysis to form the +more specific characteristic of scientific previsions, as contrasted +with the previsions of uncultured intelligence—their +quantitativeness—we also see to have been the characteristic +alike in the initial steps in science, and of all the steps +succeeding them. The facts and admissions cited in disproof +of the assertion that the sciences follow one another, +both logically and historically, in the order of their decreasing +generality, have been enforced by the sundry instances +we have met with, in which the more general or +abstract sciences have been advanced only at the instigation +of the more special or concrete—instances serving to +show that a more general science as much owes its progress +to the presentation of new problems by a more special +science, as the more special science owes its progress to +the solutions which the more general science is thus led to +attempt—instances therefore illustrating the position that +scientific advance is as much from the special to the general +as from the general to the special. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_192' id='Page_192' name='Page_192'>192</a></span> +Quite in harmony with this position we find to be the +admissions that the sciences are as branches of one trunk, +and that they were at first cultivated simultaneously; and +this harmony becomes the more marked on finding, as we +have done, not only that the sciences have a common root, +but that science in general has a common root with language, +classification, reasoning, art; that throughout civilization +these have advanced together, acting and reacting +upon each other just as the separate sciences have done; +and that thus the development of intelligence in all its divisions +and subdivisions has conformed to this same law +which we have shown that the sciences conform to. From +all which we may perceive that the sciences can with no +greater propriety be arranged in a succession, than language, +classification, reasoning, art, and science, can be arranged +in a succession; that, however needful a succession may be +for the convenience of books and catalogues, it must be +recognized merely as a convention; and that so far from its +being the function of a philosophy of the sciences to establish +a hierarchy, it is its function to show that the linear +arrangements required for literary purposes, have none of +them any basis either in Nature or History. +</p> + +<p> +There is one further remark we must not omit—a remark +touching the importance of the question that has been +discussed. Unfortunately it commonly happens that topics +of this abstract nature are slighted as of no practical moment; +and, we doubt not, that many will think it of very +little consequence what theory respecting the genesis of +science may be entertained. But the value of truths is often +great, in proportion as their generality is wide. Remote +as they seem from practical application, the highest +generalizations are not unfrequently the most potent in +their effects, in virtue of their influence on all those subordinate +generalizations which regulate practice. And it must +be so here. Whenever established, a correct theory of the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_193' id='Page_193' name='Page_193'>193</a></span> +historical development of the sciences must have an immense +effect upon education; and, through education, upon civilization. +Greatly as we differ from him in other respects, +we agree with M. Comte in the belief that, rightly conducted, +the education of the individual must have a certain correspondence +with the evolution of the race. +</p> + +<p> +No one can contemplate the facts we have cited in illustration +of the early stages of science, without recognising +the <i>necessity</i> of the processes through which those stages +were reached—a necessity which, in respect to the leading +truths, may likewise be traced in all after stages. This necessity, +originating in the very nature of the phenomena to +be analyzed and the faculties to be employed, more or less +fully applies to the mind of the child as to that of the savage. +We say more or less fully, because the correspondence +is not special but general only. Were the <i>environment</i> the +same in both cases, the correspondence would be complete. +But though the surrounding material out of which science is +to be organized, is, in many cases, the same to the juvenile +mind and the aboriginal mind, it is not so throughout; as, +for instance, in the case of chemistry, the phenomena of +which are accessible to the one, but were inaccessible to +the other. Hence, in proportion as the environment differs, +the course of evolution must differ. After admitting sundry +exceptions, however, there remains a substantial parallelism; +and, if so, it becomes of great moment to ascertain +what really has been the process of scientific evolution. +The establishment of an erroneous theory must be disastrous +in its educational results; while the establishment of +a true one must eventually be fertile in school-reforms and +consequent social benefits. +</p> + +<div class='footnotes'> +<div class='footnote'> +<p><a id='FN_F' name='FN_F' href='#FA_F'><span class='fnlabel'>[F]</span></a> + It is somewhat curious that the author of "The Plurality of Worlds," +with quite other aims, should have persuaded himself into similar conclusions. +</p></div> + +</div> +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_194' id='Page_194' name='Page_194'>194</a></span> +</p> + + + + +<h2> +IV. <br />THE PHYSIOLOGY OF LAUGHTER. +</h2> + + +<p> +Why do we smile when a child puts on a man's hat? +or what induces us to laugh on reading that the +corpulent Gibbon was unable to rise from his knees after +making a tender declaration? The usual reply to such +questions is, that laughter results from a perception of incongruity. +Even were there not on this reply the obvious +criticism that laughter often occurs from extreme pleasure +or from mere vivacity, there would still remain the real +problem—How comes a sense of the incongruous to be +followed by these peculiar bodily actions? Some have alleged +that laughter is due to the pleasure of a relative self-elevation, +which we feel on seeing the humiliation of others. +But this theory, whatever portion of truth it may contain, +is, in the first place, open to the fatal objection, that there +are various humiliations to others which produce in us anything +but laughter; and, in the second place, it does not +apply to the many instances in which no one's dignity is +implicated: as when we laugh at a good pun. Moreover, +like the other, it is merely a generalization of certain conditions +to laughter; and not an explanation of the odd +movements which occur under these conditions. Why, +when greatly delighted, or impressed with certain +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_195' id='Page_195' name='Page_195'>195</a></span> +unexpected contrasts of ideas, should there be a contraction of +particular facial muscles, and particular muscles of the +chest and abdomen? Such answer to this question as may +be possible, can be rendered only by physiology. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +Every child has made the attempt to hold the foot still +while it is tickled, and has failed; and probably there is +scarcely any one who has not vainly tried to avoid winking, +when a hand has been suddenly passed before the eyes. +These examples of muscular movements which occur independently +of the will, or in spite of it, illustrate what physiologists +call reflex-action; as likewise do sneezing and +coughing. To this class of cases, in which involuntary +motions are accompanied by sensations, has to be added +another class of cases, in which involuntary motions are +unaccompanied by sensations:—instance the pulsations of +the heart; the contractions of the stomach during digestion. +Further, the great mass of seemingly-voluntary acts +in such creatures as insects, worms, molluscs, are considered +by physiologists to be as purely automatic as is the +dilatation or closure of the iris under variations in quantity +of light; and similarly exemplify the law, that an impression +on the end of an afferent nerve is conveyed to some +ganglionic centre, and is thence usually reflected along an +efferent nerve to one or more muscles which it causes to +contract. +</p> + +<p> +In a modified form this principle holds with voluntary +acts. Nervous excitation always <i>tends</i> to beget muscular +motion; and when it rises to a certain intensity, always +does beget it. Not only in reflex actions, whether with or +without sensation, do we see that special nerves, when +raised to a state of tension, discharge themselves on special +muscles with which they are indirectly connected; but +those external actions through which we read the feelings +of others, show us that under any considerable tension, the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_196' id='Page_196' name='Page_196'>196</a></span> +nervous system in general discharges itself on the muscular +system in general: either with or without the guidance of +the will. The shivering produced by cold, implies irregular +muscular contractions, which, though at first only partly +involuntary, become, when the cold is extreme, almost +wholly involuntary. When you have severely burnt your +finger, it is very difficult to preserve a dignified composure: +contortion of face, or movement of limb, is pretty sure to +follow. If a man receives good news with neither change +of feature nor bodily motion, it is inferred that he is not +much pleased, or that he has extraordinary self-control—either +inference implying that joy almost universally produces +contraction of the muscles; and so, alters the expression, +or attitude, or both. And when we hear of the +feats of strength which men have performed when their +lives were at stake—when we read how, in the energy of +despair, even paralytic patients have regained for a time +the use of their limbs; we see still more clearly the relations +between nervous and muscular excitements. It becomes +manifest both that emotions and sensations tend to +generate bodily movements, and that the movements are +vehement in proportion as the emotions or sensations are +intense.<a class='fnanchor' id='FA_G' name='FA_G' href='#FN_G'>[G]</a> +</p> + +<p> +This, however, is not the sole direction in which nervous +excitement expends itself. Viscera as well as muscles +may receive the discharge. That the heart and blood-vessels +(which, indeed, being all contractile, may in a restricted +sense be classed with the muscular system) are +quickly affected by pleasures and pains, we have daily +proved to us. Every sensation of any acuteness accelerates +the pulse; and how sensitive the heart is to emotions, +is testified by the familiar expressions which use heart and +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_197' id='Page_197' name='Page_197'>197</a></span> +feeling as convertible terms. Similarly with the digestive +organs. Without detailing the various ways in which these +may be influenced by our mental states, it suffices to mention +the marked benefits derived by dyspeptics, as well as +other invalids, from cheerful society, welcome news, change +of scene, to show how pleasurable feeling stimulates the +viscera in general into greater activity. +</p> + +<p> +There is still another direction in which any excited +portion of the nervous system may discharge itself; and a +direction in which it usually does discharge itself when the +excitement is not strong. It may pass on the stimulus to +some other portion of the nervous system. This is what +occurs in quiet thinking and feeling. The successive states +which constitute consciousness, result from this. Sensations +excite ideas and emotions; these in their turns arouse +other ideas and emotions; and so, continuously. That is +to say, the tension existing in particular nerves, or groups +of nerves, when they yield us certain sensations, ideas, or +emotions, generates an equivalent tension in some other +nerves, or groups of nerves, with which there is a connexion: +the flow of energy passing on, the one idea or feeling +dies in producing the next. +</p> + +<p> +Thus, then, while we are totally unable to comprehend +how the excitement of certain nerves should generate +feeling—while, in the production of consciousness by physical +agents acting on physical structure, we come to an absolute +mystery never to be solved; it is yet quite possible +for us to know by observation what are the successive +forms which this absolute mystery may take. We see that +there are three channels along which nerves in a state of +tension may discharge themselves; or rather, I should say, +three classes of channels. They may pass on the excitement +to other nerves that have no direct connexions with +the bodily members, and may so cause other feelings and +ideas; or they may pass on the excitement to one or more +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_198' id='Page_198' name='Page_198'>198</a></span> +motor nerves, and so cause muscular contractions; or they +may pass on the excitement to nerves which supply the viscera, +and may so stimulate one or more of these. +</p> + +<p> +For simplicity's sake, I have described these as alternative +routes, one or other of which any current of nerve-force +must take; thereby, as it may be thought, implying +that such current will be exclusively confined to some one +of them. But this is by no means the case. Rarely, if +ever, does it happen that a state of nervous tension, present +to consciousness as a feeling, expends itself in one direction +only. Very generally it may be observed to expend itself +in two; and it is probable that the discharge is never absolutely +absent from any one of the three. There is, however, +variety in the <i>proportions</i> in which the discharge is +divided among these different channels under different circumstances. +In a man whose fear impels him to run, the +mental tension generated is only in part transformed into a +muscular stimulus: there is a surplus which causes a rapid +current of ideas. An agreeable state of feeling produced, +say by praise, is not wholly used up in arousing the succeeding +phase of the feeling, and the new ideas appropriate +to it; but a certain portion overflows into the visceral nervous +system, increasing the action of the heart, and probably +facilitating digestion. And here we come upon a class +of considerations and facts which open the way to a solution +of our special problem. +</p> + +<p> +For starting with the unquestionable truth, that at any +moment the existing quantity of liberated nerve-force, +which in an inscrutable way produces in us the state we +call feeling, <i>must</i> expend itself in some direction—<i>must</i> +generate an equivalent manifestation of force somewhere—it +clearly follows that, if of the several channels it may +take, one is wholly or partially closed, more must be taken +by the others; or that if two are closed, the discharge +along the remaining one must be more intense; and that, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_199' id='Page_199' name='Page_199'>199</a></span> +conversely, should anything determine an unusual efflux in +one direction, there will be a diminished efflux in other directions. +</p> + +<p> +Daily experience illustrates these conclusions. It is +commonly remarked, that the suppression of external signs +of feeling, makes feeling more intense. The deepest grief +is silent grief. Why? Because the nervous excitement +not discharged in muscular action, discharges itself in other +nervous excitements—arouses more numerous and more +remote associations of melancholy ideas, and so increases +the mass of feelings. People who conceal their anger are +habitually found to be more revengeful than those who explode +in loud speech and vehement action. Why? Because, +as before, the emotion is reflected back, accumulates, +and intensifies. Similarly, men who, as proved by their +powers of representation, have the keenest appreciation of +the comic, are usually able to do and say the most ludicrous +things with perfect gravity. +</p> + +<p> +On the other hand, all are familiar with the truth that +bodily activity deadens emotion. Under great irritation +we get relief by walking about rapidly. Extreme effort in +the bootless attempt to achieve a desired end, greatly diminishes +the intensity of the desire. Those who are forced +to exert themselves after misfortunes, do not suffer nearly +so much as those who remain quiescent. If any one wishes +to check intellectual excitement, he cannot choose a more +efficient method than running till he is exhausted. Moreover, +these cases, in which the production of feeling and +thought is hindered by determining the nervous energy +towards bodily movements, have their counterparts in the +cases in which bodily movements are hindered by extra +absorption of nervous energy in sudden thoughts and feelings. +If, when walking along, there flashes on you an idea +that creates great surprise, hope, or alarm, you stop; or if +sitting cross-legged, swinging your pendent foot, the movement +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_200' id='Page_200' name='Page_200'>200</a></span> +is at once arrested. From the viscera, too, intense +mental action abstracts energy. Joy, disappointment, anxiety, +or any moral perturbation rising to a great height, +will destroy appetite; or if food has been taken, will arrest +digestion; and even a purely intellectual activity, when +extreme, will do the like. +</p> + +<p> +Facts, then, fully bear out these <i>à priori</i> inferences, +that the nervous excitement at any moment present to +consciousness as feeling, must expend itself in some way or +other; that of the three classes of channels open to it, it +must take one, two, or more, according to circumstances; +that the closure or obstruction of one, must increase the +discharge through the others; and conversely, that if to +answer some demand, the efflux of nervous energy in one +direction is unusually great, there must be a corresponding +decrease of the efflux in other directions. Setting out +from these premises, let us now see what interpretation is +to be put on the phenomena of laughter. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +That laughter is a display of muscular excitement, and +so illustrates the general law that feeling passing a certain +pitch habitually vents itself in bodily action, scarcely needs +pointing out. It perhaps needs pointing out, however, +that strong feeling of almost any kind produces this result. +It is not a sense of the ludicrous, only, which does it; nor +are the various forms of joyous emotion the sole additional +causes. We have, besides, the sardonic laughter and the +hysterical laughter, which result from mental distress; to +which must be added certain sensations, as tickling, and, +according to Mr. Bain, cold, and some kinds of acute pain. +</p> + +<p> +Strong feeling, mental or physical, being, then, the general +cause of laughter, we have to note that the muscular +actions constituting it are distinguished from most others +by this, that they are purposeless. In general, bodily motions +that are prompted by feelings are directed to special +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_201' id='Page_201' name='Page_201'>201</a></span> +ends; as when we try to escape a danger, or struggle to +secure a gratification. But the movements of chest and +limbs which we make when laughing have no object. And +now remark that these quasi-convulsive contractions of the +muscles, having no object, but being results of an uncontrolled +discharge of energy, we may see whence arise their +special characters—how it happens that certain classes of +muscles are affected first, and then certain other classes. +For an overflow of nerve-force, undirected by any motive, +will manifestly take first the most habitual routes; and if +these do not suffice, will next overflow into the less habitual +ones. Well, it is through the organs of speech that +feeling passes into movement with the greatest frequency. +The jaws, tongue, and lips are used not only to express +strong irritation or gratification; but that very moderate +flow of mental energy which accompanies ordinary conversation, +finds its chief vent through this channel. Hence it +happens that certain muscles round the mouth, small and +easy to move, are the first to contract under pleasurable +emotion. The class of muscles which, next after those of +articulation, are most constantly set in action (or extra +action, we should say) by feelings of all kinds, are those of +respiration. Under pleasurable or painful sensations we +breathe more rapidly: possibly as a consequence of the increased +demand for oxygenated blood. The sensations +that accompany exertion also bring on hard-breathing; +which here more evidently responds to the physiological +needs. And emotions, too, agreeable and disagreeable, +both, at first, excite respiration; though the last subsequently +depress it. That is to say, of the bodily muscles, +the respiratory are more constantly implicated than any +others in those various acts which our feelings impel us to; +and, hence, when there occurs an undirected discharge of +nervous energy into the muscular system, it happens that, +if the quantity be considerable, it convulses not only +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_202' id='Page_202' name='Page_202'>202</a></span> +certain of the articulatory and vocal muscles, but also those +which expel air from the lungs. +</p> + +<p> +Should the feeling to be expended be still greater in +amount—too great to find vent in these classes of muscles—another +class comes into play. The upper limbs are set +in motion. Children frequently clap their hands in glee; +by some adults the hands are rubbed together; and others, +under still greater intensity of delight, slap their knees and +sway their bodies backwards and forwards. Last of all, +when the other channels for the escape of the surplus nerve-force +have been filled to overflowing, a yet further and less-used +group of muscles is spasmodically affected: the head +is thrown back and the spine bent inwards—there is a slight +degree of what medical men call opisthotonos. Thus, then, +without contending that the phenomena of laughter in all +their details are to be so accounted for, we see that in their +<i>ensemble</i> they conform to these general principles:—that +feeling excites to muscular action; that when the muscular +action is unguided by a purpose, the muscles first affected +are those which feeling most habitually stimulates; and +that as the feeling to be expended increases in quantity, it +excites an increasing number of muscles, in a succession +determined by the relative frequency with which they respond +to the regulated dictates of feeling. +</p> + +<p> +There still, however, remains the question with which +we set out. The explanation here given applies only to the +laughter produced by acute pleasure or pain: it does not +apply to the laughter that follows certain perceptions of +incongruity. It is an insufficient explanation that in these +cases, laughter is a result of the pleasure we take in escaping +from the restraint of grave feelings. That this is a +part-cause is true. Doubtless very often, as Mr. Bain says, +"it is the coerced form of seriousness and solemnity without +the reality that gives us that stiff position from which +a contact with triviality or vulgarity relieves us, to our +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_203' id='Page_203' name='Page_203'>203</a></span> +uproarious delight." And in so far as mirth is caused by the +gush of agreeable feeling that follows the cessation of mental +strain, it further illustrates the general principle above +set forth. But no explanation is thus afforded of the mirth +which ensues when the short silence between the <i>andante</i> +and <i>allegro</i> in one of Beethoven's symphonies, is broken by +a loud sneeze. In this, and hosts of like cases, the mental +tension is not coerced but spontaneous—not disagreeable +but agreeable; and the coming impressions to which the +attention is directed, promise a gratification that few, if +any, desire to escape. Hence, when the unlucky sneeze +occurs, it cannot be that the laughter of the audience is +due simply to the release from an irksome attitude of +mind: some other cause must be sought. +</p> + +<p> +This cause we shall arrive at by carrying our analysis a +step further. We have but to consider the quantity of feeling +that exists under such circumstances, and then to ask +what are the conditions that determine the direction of its +discharge, to at once reach a solution. Take a case. You +are sitting in a theatre, absorbed in the progress of an interesting +drama. Some climax has been reached which +has aroused your sympathies—say, a reconciliation between +the hero and heroine, after long and painful misunderstanding. +The feelings excited by this scene are not of a kind +from which you seek relief; but are, on the contrary, a +grateful relief from the painful feelings with which you +have witnessed the previous estrangement. Moreover, the +sentiments these fictitious personages have for the moment +inspired you with, are not such as would lead you to rejoice +in any indignity offered to them; but rather, such as +would make you resent the indignity. And now, while +you are contemplating the reconciliation with a pleasurable +sympathy, there appears from behind the scenes a tame +kid, which, having stared round at the audience, walks up +to the lovers and sniffs at them. You cannot help joining +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_204' id='Page_204' name='Page_204'>204</a></span> +in the roar which greets this <i>contretemps</i>. Inexplicable as +is this irresistible burst on the hypothesis of a pleasure in +escaping from mental restraint; or on the hypothesis of a +pleasure from relative increase of self-importance, when +witnessing the humiliation of others; it is readily explicable +if we consider what, in such a case, must become of the +feeling that existed at the moment the incongruity arose. +A large mass of emotion had been produced; or, to speak +in physiological language, a large portion of the nervous +system was in a state of tension. There was also great +expectation with respect to the further evolution of the +scene—a quantity of vague, nascent thought and emotion, +into which the existing quantity of thought and emotion +was about to pass. +</p> + +<p> +Had there been no interruption, the body of new ideas +and feelings next excited, would have sufficed to absorb +the whole of the liberated nervous energy. But now, this +large amount of nervous energy, instead of being allowed +to expend itself in producing an equivalent amount of the +new thoughts and emotions which were nascent, is suddenly +checked in its flow. The channels along which the discharge +was about to take place, are closed. The new channel +opened—that afforded by the appearance and proceedings +of the kid—is a small one; the ideas and feelings +suggested are not numerous and massive enough to carry +off the nervous energy to be expended. The excess must +therefore discharge itself in some other direction; and +in the way already explained, there results an efflux +through the motor nerves to various classes of the muscles, +producing the half-convulsive actions we term laughter. +</p> + +<p> +This explanation is in harmony with the fact, that when, +among several persons who witness the same ludicrous +occurrence, there are some who do not laugh; it is because +there has arisen in them an emotion not participated in by +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_205' id='Page_205' name='Page_205'>205</a></span> +the rest, and which is sufficiently massive to absorb all the +nascent excitement. Among the spectators of an awkward +tumble, those who preserve their gravity are those in whom +there is excited a degree of sympathy with the sufferer, +sufficiently great to serve as an outlet for the feeling which +the occurrence had turned out of its previous course. +Sometimes anger carries off the arrested current; and so +prevents laughter. An instance of this was lately furnished +me by a friend who had been witnessing the feats at +Franconi's. A tremendous leap had just been made by an +acrobat over a number of horses. The clown, seemingly +envious of this success, made ostentatious preparation for +doing the like; and then, taking the preliminary run with +immense energy, stopped short on reaching the first horse, +and pretended to wipe some dust from its haunches. In the +majority of the spectators, merriment was excited; but in +my friend, wound up by the expectation of the coming leap +to a state of great nervous tension, the effect of the baulk +was to produce indignation. Experience thus proves +what the theory implies: namely, that the discharge of +arrested feelings into the muscular system, takes place +only in the absence of other adequate channels—does not +take place if there arise other feelings equal in amount to +those arrested. +</p> + +<p> +Evidence still more conclusive is at hand. If we contrast +the incongruities which produce laughter with those +which do not, we at once see that in the non-ludicrous ones +the unexpected state of feeling aroused, though wholly +different in kind, is not less in quantity or intensity. +Among incongruities that may excite anything but a laugh, +Mr. Bain instances—"A decrepit man under a heavy burden, +five loaves and two fishes among a multitude, and all +unfitness and gross disproportion; an instrument out of +tune, a fly in ointment, snow in May, Archimedes studying +geometry in a siege, and all discordant things; a wolf in +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_206' id='Page_206' name='Page_206'>206</a></span> +sheep's clothing, a breach of bargain, and falsehood in general; +the multitude taking the law in their own hands, +and everything of the nature of disorder; a corpse at a +feast, parental cruelty, filial ingratitude, and whatever is +unnatural; the entire catalogue of the vanities given by +Solomon, are all incongruous, but they cause feelings of +pain, anger, sadness, loathing, rather than mirth." Now +in these cases, where the totally unlike state of consciousness +suddenly produced, is not inferior in mass to the +preceding one, the conditions to laughter are not fulfilled. +As above shown, laughter naturally results only +when consciousness is unawares transferred from great +things to small—only when there is what we call a <i>descending</i> +incongruity. +</p> + +<p> +And now observe, finally, the fact, alike inferable <i>à +priori</i> and illustrated in experience, that an <i>ascending</i> +incongruity not only fails to cause laughter, but works on +the muscular system an effect of exactly the reverse kind. +When after something very insignificant there arises without +anticipation something very great, the emotion we call +wonder results; and this emotion is accompanied not by +an excitement of the muscles, but by a relaxation of them. +In children and country people, that falling of the jaw +which occurs on witnessing something that is imposing and +unexpected, exemplifies this effect. Persons who have +been wonder-struck at the production of very striking +results by a seemingly inadequate cause, are frequently +described as unconsciously dropping the things they held +in their hands. Such are just the effects to be anticipated. +After an average state of consciousness, absorbing but a +small quantity of nervous energy, is aroused without the +slightest notice, a strong emotion of awe, terror, or admiration; +joined with the astonishment due to an apparent +want of adequate causation. This new state of consciousness +demands far more nervous energy than that which it +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_207' id='Page_207' name='Page_207'>207</a></span> +has suddenly replaced; and this increased absorption of +nervous energy in mental changes, involves a temporary +diminution of the outflow in other directions: whence the +pendent jaw and the relaxing grasp. +</p> + +<p> +One further observation is worth making. Among the +several sets of channels into which surplus feeling might be +discharged, was named the nervous system of the viscera. +The sudden overflow of an arrested mental excitement, +which, as we have seen, results from a descending incongruity, +must doubtless stimulate not only the muscular system, +as we see it does, but also the internal organs; the +heart and stomach must come in for a share of the discharge. +And thus there seems to be a good physiological +basis for the popular notion that mirth-creating excitement +facilitates digestion. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +Though in doing so I go beyond the boundaries of +the immediate topic, I may fitly point out that the method +of inquiry here followed, is one which enables us to +understand various phenomena besides those of laughter. +To show the importance of pursuing it, I will indicate +the explanation it furnishes of another familiar class +of facts. +</p> + +<p> +All know how generally a large amount of emotion disturbs +the action of the intellect, and interferes with the +power of expression. A speech delivered with great +facility to tables and chairs, is by no means so easily delivered +to an audience. Every schoolboy can testify that his +trepidation, when standing before a master, has often disabled +him from repeating a lesson which he had duly +learnt. In explanation of this we commonly say that the +attention is distracted—that the proper train of ideas is +broken by the intrusion of ideas that are irrelevant. But +the question is, in what manner does unusual emotion +produce this effect; and we are here supplied with a +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_208' id='Page_208' name='Page_208'>208</a></span> +tolerably obvious answer. The repetition of a lesson, or +set speech previously thought out, implies the flow of a +very moderate amount of nervous excitement through a +comparatively narrow channel. The thing to be done is +simply to call up in succession certain previously-arranged +ideas—a process in which no great amount of mental +energy is expended. Hence, when there is a large quantity +of emotion, which must be discharged in some direction or +other; and when, as usually happens, the restricted series +of intellectual actions to be gone through, does not suffice +to carry it off; there result discharges along other channels +besides the one prescribed: there are aroused various +ideas foreign to the train of thought to be pursued; and +these tend to exclude from consciousness those which +should occupy it. +</p> + +<p> +And now observe the meaning of those bodily actions +spontaneously set up under these circumstances. The +school-boy saying his lesson, commonly has his fingers +actively engaged—perhaps in twisting about a broken pen, +or perhaps squeezing the angle of his jacket; and if told to +keep his hands still, he soon again falls into the same or a +similar trick. Many anecdotes are current of public speakers +having incurable automatic actions of this class: barristers +who perpetually wound and unwound pieces of tape; +members of parliament ever putting on and taking off their +spectacles. So long as such movements are unconscious, +they facilitate the mental actions. At least this seems a +fair inference from the fact that confusion frequently results +from putting a stop to them: witness the case narrated +by Sir Walter Scott of his school-fellow, who became +unable to say his lesson after the removal of the waistcoat-button +that he habitually fingered while in class. But +why do they facilitate the mental actions? Clearly because +they draw off a portion of the surplus nervous +excitement. If, as above explained, the quantity of mental +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_209' id='Page_209' name='Page_209'>209</a></span> +energy generated is greater than can find vent along +the narrow channel of thought that is open to it; and if, +in consequence, it is apt to produce confusion by rushing +into other channels of thought; then by allowing it an +exit through the motor nerves into the muscular system, +the pressure is diminished, and irrelevant ideas are less +likely to intrude on consciousness. +</p> + +<p> +This further illustration will, I think, justify the position +that something may be achieved by pursuing in other +cases this method of psychological inquiry. A complete +explanation of the phenomena, requires us to trace out +<i>all</i> the consequences of any given state of consciousness; +and we cannot do this without studying the effects, +bodily and mental, as varying in quantity at each other's +expense. We should probably learn much if we in +every case asked—Where is all the nervous energy gone? +</p> + +<div class='footnotes'> +<div class='footnote'> +<p><a id='FN_G' name='FN_G' href='#FA_G'><span class='fnlabel'>[G]</span></a> + For numerous illustrations see essay on "The Origin and Function +of Music." +</p></div> +</div> + +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_210' id='Page_210' name='Page_210'>210</a></span> +</p> + + + + +<h2> +V. <br />THE ORIGIN AND FUNCTION OF MUSIC +</h2> + + +<p> +When Carlo, standing, chained to his kennel, sees +his master in the distance, a slight motion of the +tail indicates his but faint hope that he is about to be let +out. A much more decided wagging of the tail, passing +by-and-by into lateral undulations of the body, follows his +master's nearer approach. When hands are laid on his +collar, and he knows that he is really to have an outing, +his jumping and wriggling are such that it is by no means +easy to loose his fastenings. And when he finds himself +actually free, his joy expends itself in bounds, in pirouettes, +and in scourings hither and thither at the top of his speed. +Puss, too, by erecting her tail, and by every time raising +her back to meet the caressing hand of her mistress, +similarly expresses her gratification by certain muscular +actions; as likewise do the parrot by awkward dancing +on his perch, and the canary by hopping and fluttering +about his cage with unwonted rapidity. Under emotions +of an opposite kind, animals equally display muscular +excitement. The enraged lion lashes his sides with his +tail, knits his brows, protrudes his claws. The cat sets +up her back; the dog retracts his upper lip; the horse +throws back his ears. And in the struggles of creatures +in pain, we see that the like relation holds between +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_211' id='Page_211' name='Page_211'>211</a></span> +excitement of the muscles and excitement of the nerves of sensation. +</p> + +<p> +In ourselves, distinguished from lower creatures as we +are by feelings alike more powerful and more varied, +parallel facts are at once more conspicuous and more numerous. +We may conveniently look at them in groups. +We shall find that pleasurable sensations and painful sensations, +pleasurable emotions and painful emotions, all +tend to produce active demonstrations in proportion to +their intensity. +</p> + +<p> +In children, and even in adults who are not restrained +by regard for appearances, a highly agreeable taste is +followed by a smacking of the lips. An infant will laugh +and bound in its nurse's arms at the sight of a brilliant +colour or the hearing of a new sound. People are apt to +beat time with head or feet to music which particularly +pleases them. In a sensitive person an agreeable perfume +will produce a smile; and smiles will be seen on the faces +of a crowd gazing at some splendid burst of fireworks. +Even the pleasant sensation of warmth felt on getting to +the fireside out of a winter's storm, will similarly express +itself in the face. +</p> + +<p> +Painful sensations, being mostly far more intense than +pleasurable ones, cause muscular actions of a much more +decided kind. A sudden twinge produces a convulsive +start of the whole body. A pain less violent, but continuous, +is accompanied by a knitting of the brows, a setting +of the teeth or biting of the lip, and a contraction +of the features generally. Under a persistent pain +of a severer kind, other muscular actions are added: +the body is swayed to and fro; the hands clench anything +they can lay hold of; and should the agony rise +still higher, the sufferer rolls about on the floor almost convulsed. +</p> + +<p> +Though more varied, the natural language of the pleasurable +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_212' id='Page_212' name='Page_212'>212</a></span> +emotions comes within the same generalization. A +smile, which is the commonest expression of gratified feeling, +is a contraction of certain facial muscles; and when +the smile broadens into a laugh, we see a more violent and +more general muscular excitement produced by an intenser +gratification. Rubbing together of the hands, and that +other motion which Dickens somewhere describes as +"washing with impalpable soap in invisible water," have +like implications. Children may often be seen to "jump +for joy." Even in adults of excitable temperament, an +action approaching to it is sometimes witnessed. And +dancing has all the world through been regarded as natural +to an elevated state of mind. Many of the special emotions +show themselves in special muscular actions. The +gratification resulting from success, raises the head and +gives firmness to the gait. A hearty grasp of the hand is +currently taken as indicative of friendship. Under a gush +of affection the mother clasps her child to her breast, feeling +as though she could squeeze it to death. And so in +sundry other cases. Even in that brightening of the eye +with which good news is received we may trace the same +truth; for this appearance of greater brilliancy is due to +an extra contraction of the muscle which raises the eyelid, +and so allows more light to fall upon, and be reflected from, +the wet surface of the eyeball. +</p> + +<p> +The bodily indications of painful emotions are equally +numerous, and still more vehement. Discontent is shown +by raised eyebrows and wrinkled forehead; disgust by a +curl of the lip; offence by a pout. The impatient man +beats a tattoo with his fingers on the table, swings his pendent +leg with increasing rapidity, gives needless pokings to +the fire, and presently paces with hasty strides about the +room. In great grief there is wringing of the hands, and +even tearing of the hair. An angry child stamps, or rolls +on its back and kicks its heels in the air; and in manhood, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_213' id='Page_213' name='Page_213'>213</a></span> +anger, first showing itself in frowns, in distended nostrils, +in compressed lips, goes on to produce grinding of the +teeth, clenching of the fingers, blows of the fist on the table, +and perhaps ends in a violent attack on the offending +person, or in throwing about and breaking the furniture. +From that pursing of the mouth indicative of slight displeasure, +up to the frantic struggles of the maniac, we shall +find that mental irritation tends to vent itself in bodily activity. +</p> + +<p> +All feelings, then—sensations or emotions, pleasurable +or painful—have this common characteristic, that they are +muscular stimuli. Not forgetting the few apparently exceptional +cases in which emotions exceeding a certain intensity +produce prostration, we may set it down as a general +law that, alike in man and animals, there is a direct connection +between feeling and motion; the last growing more +vehement as the first grows more intense. Were it allowable +here to treat the matter scientifically, we might trace +this general law down to the principle known among physiologists +as that of <i>reflex action</i>.<a class='fnanchor' id='FA_H' name='FA_H' href='#FN_H'>[H]</a> Without doing this, +however, the above numerous instances justify the generalization, +that mental excitement of all kinds ends in excitement +of the muscles; and that the two preserve a more or +less constant ratio to each other. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +"But what has all this to do with <i>The Origin and +Function of Music</i>?" asks the reader. Very much, as +we shall presently see. All music is originally vocal. All +vocal sounds are produced by the agency of certain muscles. +These muscles, in common with those of the body at +large, are excited to contraction by pleasurable and painful +feelings. And therefore it is that feelings demonstrate +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_214' id='Page_214' name='Page_214'>214</a></span> +themselves in sounds as well as in movements. Therefore +it is that Carlo barks as well as leaps when he is let out—that +puss purrs as well as erects her tail—that the canary +chirps as well as flutters. Therefore it is that the angry +lion roars while he lashes his sides, and the dog growls +while he retracts his lip. Therefore it is that the maimed +animal not only struggles, but howls. And it is from this +cause that in human beings bodily suffering expresses itself +not only in contortions, but in shrieks and groans—that in +anger, and fear, and grief, the gesticulations are accompanied +by shouts and screams—that delightful sensations are +followed by exclamations—and that we hear screams of joy +and shouts of exultation. +</p> + +<p> +We have here, then, a principle underlying all vocal +phenomena; including those of vocal music, and by consequence +those of music in general. The muscles that move +the chest, larynx, and vocal chords, contracting like other +muscles in proportion to the intensity of the feelings; every +different contraction of these muscles involving, as it +does, a different adjustment of the vocal organs; every different +adjustment of the vocal organs causing a change in +the sound emitted;—it follows that variations of voice are +the physiological results of variations of feeling; it follows +that each inflection or modulation is the natural outcome +of some passing emotion or sensation; and it follows that +the explanation of all kinds of vocal expression, must be +sought in this general relation between mental and muscular +excitements. Let us, then, see whether we cannot thus +account for the chief peculiarities in the utterance of the +feelings: grouping these peculiarities under the heads of +<i>loudness</i>, <i>quality</i>, <i>or timbre</i>, <i>pitch</i>, <i>intervals</i>, and <i>rate of +variation</i>. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +Between the lungs and the organs of voice, there is +much the same relation as between the bellows of an organ +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_215' id='Page_215' name='Page_215'>215</a></span> +and its pipes. And as the loudness of the sound given out +by an organ-pipe increases with the strength of the blast +from the bellows; so, other things equal, the loudness of a +vocal sound increases with the strength of the blast from +the lungs. But the expulsion of air from the lungs is effected +by certain muscles of the chest and abdomen. The +force with which these muscles contract, is proportionate +to the intensity of the feeling experienced. Hence, <i>à priori</i>, +loud sounds will be the habitual results of strong feelings. +That they are so we have daily proof. The pain which, if +moderate, can be borne silently, causes outcries if it becomes +extreme. While a slight vexation makes a child +whimper, a fit of passion calls forth a howl that disturbs +the neighbourhood. When the voices in an adjacent room +become unusually audible, we infer anger, or surprise, or +joy. Loudness of applause is significant of great approbation; +and with uproarious mirth we associate the idea of +high enjoyment. Commencing with the silence of apathy, +we find that the utterances grow louder as the sensations +or emotions, whether pleasurable or painful, grow stronger. +</p> + +<p> +That different <i>qualities</i> of voice accompany different +mental states, and that under states of excitement the tones +are more sonorous than usual, is another general fact admitting +of a parallel explanation. The sounds of common +conversation have but little resonance; those of strong +feeling have much more. Under rising ill temper the voice +acquires a metallic ring. In accordance with her constant +mood, the ordinary speech of a virago has a piercing quality +quite opposite to that softness indicative of placidity. +A ringing laugh marks an especially joyous temperament. +Grief unburdening itself uses tones approaching in <i>timbre</i> +to those of chanting: and in his most pathetic passages an +eloquent speaker similarly falls into tones more vibratory +than those common to him. Now any one may readily +convince himself that resonant vocal sounds can be +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_216' id='Page_216' name='Page_216'>216</a></span> +produced only by a certain muscular effort additional to that +ordinarily needed. If after uttering a word in his speaking +voice, the reader, without changing the pitch or the +loudness, will <i>sing</i> this word, he will perceive that before +he can sing it, he has to alter the adjustment of the vocal +organs; to do which a certain force must be used; and by +putting his fingers on that external prominence marking +the top of the larynx, he will have further evidence that to +produce a sonorous tone the organs must be drawn out of +their usual position. Thus, then, the fact that the tones of +excited feeling are more vibratory than those of common +conversation, is another instance of the connexion between +mental excitement and muscular excitement. The speaking +voice, the recitative voice, and the singing voice, severally +exemplify one general principle. +</p> + +<p> +That the <i>pitch</i> of the voice varies according to the action +of the vocal muscles, scarcely needs saying. All know +that the middle notes, in which they converse, are made +without any appreciable effort; and all know that to make +either very high or very low notes requires a considerable +effort. In either ascending or descending from the pitch +of ordinary speech, we are conscious of an increasing muscular +strain, which, at both extremes of the register, becomes +positively painful. Hence it follows from our general +principle, that while indifference or calmness will use +the medium tones, the tones used during excitement will +be either above or below them; and will rise higher and +higher, or fall lower and lower, as the feelings grow +stronger. This physiological deduction we also find to be +in harmony with familiar facts. The habitual sufferer utters +his complaints in a voice raised considerably above the +natural key; and agonizing pain vents itself in either +shrieks or groans—in very high or very low notes. Beginning +at his talking pitch, the cry of the disappointed urchin +grows more shrill as it grows louder. The "Oh!" of +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_217' id='Page_217' name='Page_217'>217</a></span> +astonishment or delight, begins several notes below the middle +voice, and descends still lower. Anger expresses itself +in high tones, or else in "curses not loud but <i>deep</i>." +Deep tones, too, are always used in uttering strong reproaches. +Such an exclamation as "Beware!" if made +dramatically—that is, if made with a show of feeling—must +be many notes lower than ordinary. Further, we +have groans of disapprobation, groans of horror, groans +of remorse. And extreme joy and fear are alike accompanied +by shrill outcries. +</p> + +<p> +Nearly allied to the subject of pitch, is that of <i>intervals</i>; +and the explanation of them carries our argument a +step further. While calm speech is comparatively monotonous, +emotion makes use of fifths, octaves, and even wider +intervals. Listen to any one narrating or repeating something +in which he has no interest, and his voice will not +wander more than two or three notes above or below his +medium note, and that by small steps; but when he comes +to some exciting event he will be heard not only to use the +higher and lower notes of his register, but to go from one to +the other by larger leaps. Being unable in print to imitate +these traits of feeling, we feel some difficulty in fully realizing +them to the reader. But we may suggest a few remembrances +which will perhaps call to mind a sufficiency +of others. If two men living in the same place, and frequently +seeing one another, meet, say at a public assembly, +any phrase with which one may be heard to accost the +other—as "Hallo, are you here?"—will have an ordinary +intonation. But if one of them, after long absence, has +unexpectedly returned, the expression of surprise with +which his friend may greet him—"Hallo! how came you +here?"—will be uttered in much more strongly contrasted +tones. The two syllables of the word "Hallo" will be, +the one much higher and the other much lower than +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_218' id='Page_218' name='Page_218'>218</a></span> +before; and the rest of the sentence will similarly ascend and +descend by longer steps. +</p> + +<p> +Again, if, supposing her to be in an adjoining room, the +mistress of the house calls "Mary," the two syllables of +the name will be spoken in an ascending interval of a third. +If Mary does not reply, the call will be repeated probably +in a descending fifth; implying the slightest shade of annoyance +at Mary's inattention. Should Mary still make +no answer, the increasing annoyance will show itself by the +use of a descending octave on the next repetition of the +call. And supposing the silence to continue, the lady, if +not of a very even temper, will show her irritation at +Mary's seemingly intentional negligence by finally calling +her in tones still more widely contrasted—the first syllable +being higher and the last lower than before. +</p> + +<p> +Now, these and analogous facts, which the reader will +readily accumulate, clearly conform to the law laid down. +For to make large intervals requires more muscular action +than to make small ones. But not only is the <i>extent</i> of vocal +intervals thus explicable as due to the relation between +nervous and muscular excitement, but also in some degree +their <i>direction</i>, as ascending or descending. The middle +notes being those which demand no appreciable effort of +muscular adjustment; and the effort becoming greater as +we either ascend or descend; it follows that a departure +from the middle notes in either direction will mark increasing +emotion; while a return towards the middle notes will +mark decreasing emotion. Hence it happens that an enthusiastic +person uttering such a sentence as—"It was the +most splendid sight I ever saw!" will ascend to the first +syllable of the word "splendid," and thence will descend: +the word "splendid" marking the climax of the feeling +produced by the recollection. Hence, again, it happens +that, under some extreme vexation produced by another's +stupidity, an irascible man, exclaiming—"What a +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_219' id='Page_219' name='Page_219'>219</a></span> +confounded fool the fellow is!" will begin somewhat below his +middle voice, and descending to the word "fool," which +he will utter in one of his deepest notes, will then ascend +again. And it may be remarked, that the word "fool" +will not only be deeper and louder than the rest, but will +also have more emphasis of articulation—another mode in +which muscular excitement is shown. +</p> + +<p> +There is some danger, however, in giving instances like +this; seeing that as the mode of rendering will vary according +to the intensity of the feeling which the reader feigns +to himself, the right cadence may not be hit upon. With +single words there is less difficulty. Thus the "Indeed!" +with which a surprising fact is received, mostly begins on +the middle note of the voice, and rises with the second syllable; +or, if disapprobation as well as astonishment is felt, +the first syllable will be below the middle note, and the +second lower still. Conversely, the word "Alas!" which +marks not the rise of a paroxysm of grief, but its decline, +is uttered in a cadence descending towards the middle +note; or, if the first syllable is in the lower part of the +register, the second ascends towards the middle note. In +the "Heigh-ho!" expressive of mental and muscular prostration, +we may see the same truth; and if the cadence appropriate +to it be inverted the absurdity of the effect clearly +shows how the meaning of intervals is dependent on the +principle we have been illustrating. +</p> + +<p> +The remaining characteristic of emotional speech which +we have to notice is that of <i>variability of pitch</i>. It is +scarcely possible here to convey adequate ideas of this +more complex manifestation. We must be content with +simply indicating some occasions on which it may be observed. +On a meeting of friends, for instance—as when +there arrives a party of much-wished-for visitors—the voices +of all will be heard to undergo changes of pitch not only +greater but much more numerous than usual. If a speaker +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_220' id='Page_220' name='Page_220'>220</a></span> +at a public meeting is interrupted by some squabble among +those he is addressing, his comparatively level tones will +be in marked contrast with the rapidly changing one of the +disputants. And among children, whose feelings are less +under control than those of adults, this peculiarity is still +more decided. During a scene of complaint and recrimination +between two excitable little girls, the voices may be +heard to run up and down the gamut several times in each +sentence. In such cases we once more recognise the same +law: for muscular excitement is shown not only in strength +of contraction but also in the rapidity with which different +muscular adjustments succeed each other. +</p> + +<p> +Thus we find all the leading vocal phenomena to have a +physiological basis. They are so many manifestations of +the general law that feeling is a stimulus to muscular action—a +law conformed to throughout the whole economy, not +of man only, but of every sensitive creature—a law, therefore, +which lies deep in the nature of animal organization. +The expressiveness of these various modifications of voice +is therefore innate. Each of us, from babyhood upwards, +has been spontaneously making them, when under the various +sensations and emotions by which they are produced. +Having been conscious of each feeling at the same time +that we heard ourselves make the consequent sound, we +have acquired an established association of ideas between +such sound and the feeling which caused it. When the +like sound is made by another, we ascribe the like feeling +to him; and by a further consequence we not only ascribe +to him that feeling, but have a certain degree of it aroused +in ourselves: for to become conscious of the feeling which +another is experiencing, is to have that feeling awakened +in our own consciousness, which is the same thing as experiencing +the feeling. Thus these various modifications of +voice become not only a language through which we understand +the emotions of others, but also the means of exciting +our sympathy with such emotions. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_221' id='Page_221' name='Page_221'>221</a></span> +Have we not here, then, adequate data for a theory of +music? These vocal peculiarities which indicate excited +feeling, <i>are those which especially distinguish song from ordinary +speech</i>. Every one of the alterations of voice which +we have found to be a physiological result of pain or pleasure, +<i>is carried to its greatest extreme in vocal music</i>. For +instance, we saw that, in virtue of the general relation between +mental and muscular excitement, one characteristic +of passionate utterance is <i>loudness</i>. Well, its comparative +loudness is one of the distinctive marks of song as contrasted +with the speech of daily life; and further, the <i>forte</i> +passages of an air are those intended to represent the climax +of its emotion. We next saw that the tones in which emotion +expresses itself, are, in conformity with this same law, of a +more sonorous <i>timbre</i> than those of calm conversation. +Here, too, song displays a still higher degree of the peculiarity; +for the singing tone is the most resonant we can +make. Again, it was shown that, from a like cause, mental +excitement vents itself in the higher and lower notes +of the register; using the middle notes but seldom. And +it scarcely needs saying that vocal music is still more distinguished +by its comparative neglect of the notes in which +we talk, and its habitual use of those above or below them +and, moreover, that its most passionate effects are commonly +produced at the two extremities of its scale, but especially +the upper one. +</p> + +<p> +A yet further trait of strong feeling, similarly accounted +for, was the employment of larger intervals than are employed +in common converse. This trait, also, every ballad +and <i>aria</i> carries to an extent beyond that heard in the +spontaneous utterances of emotion: add to which, that the +direction of these intervals, which, as diverging from or +converging towards the medium tones, we found to be +physiologically expressive of increasing or decreasing emotion, +may be observed to have in music like meanings. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_222' id='Page_222' name='Page_222'>222</a></span> +Once more, it was pointed out that not only extreme but also +rapid variations of pitch, are characteristic of mental excitement; +and once more we see in the quick changes of +every melody, that song carries the characteristic as far, if +not farther. Thus, in respect alike of <i>loudness</i>, <i>timbre</i>, +<i>pitch</i>, <i>intervals</i>, and <i>rate of variation</i>, song employs and +exaggerates the natural language of the emotions;—it arises +from a systematic combination of those vocal peculiarities +which are the physiological effects of acute pleasure and pain. +</p> + +<p> +Besides these chief characteristics of song as distinguished +from common speech, there are sundry minor ones +similarly explicable as due to the relation between mental +and muscular excitement; and before proceeding further, +these should be briefly noticed. Thus, certain passions, +and perhaps all passions when pushed to an extreme, produce +(probably through their influence over the action of +the heart) an effect the reverse of that which has been described: +they cause a physical prostration, one symptom of +which is a general relaxation of the muscles, and a consequent +trembling. We have the trembling of anger, of +fear, of hope, of joy; and the vocal muscles being implicated +with the rest, the voice too becomes tremulous. Now, +in singing, this tremulousness of voice is very effectively +used by some vocalists in highly pathetic passages; sometimes, +indeed, because of its effectiveness, too much used +by them—as by Tamberlik, for instance. +</p> + +<p> +Again, there is a mode of musical execution known as +the <i>staccato</i>, appropriate to energetic passages—to passages +expressive of exhilaration, of resolution, of confidence. +The action of the vocal muscles which produces this staccato +style, is analogous to the muscular action which produces +the sharp, decisive, energetic movements of body indicating +these states of mind; and therefore it is that the +staccato style has the meaning we ascribe to it. Conversely, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_223' id='Page_223' name='Page_223'>223</a></span> +slurred intervals are expressive of gentler and less active +feelings; and are so because they imply the smaller muscular +vivacity due to a lower mental energy. The difference +of effect resulting from difference of <i>time</i> in music, is also +attributable to the same law. Already it has been pointed +out that the more frequent changes of pitch which ordinarily +result from passion, are imitated and developed in song; +and here we have to add, that the various rates of such +changes, appropriate to the different styles of music, are +further traits having the same derivation. The slowest +movements, <i>largo</i> and <i>adagio</i>, are used where such depressing +emotions as grief, or such unexciting emotions as reverence, +are to be portrayed; while the more rapid movements, +<i>andante</i>, <i>allegro</i>, <i>presto</i>, represent successively increasing +degrees of mental vivacity; and do this because +they imply that muscular activity which flows from this +mental vivacity. Even the <i>rhythm</i>, which forms a remaining +distinction between song and speech, may not improbably +have a kindred cause. Why the actions excited by +strong feeling should tend to become rhythmical, is not +very obvious; but that they do so there are divers evidences. +There is the swaying of the body to and fro under +pain or grief, of the leg under impatience or agitation. +Dancing, too, is a rhythmical action natural to elevated emotion. +That under excitement speech acquires a certain +rhythm, we may occasionally perceive in the highest efforts +of an orator. In poetry, which is a form of speech used +for the better expression of emotional ideas, we have this +rhythmical tendency developed. And when we bear in +mind that dancing, poetry, and music are connate—are originally +constituent parts of the same thing, it becomes +clear that the measured movement common to them all implies +a rhythmical action of the whole system, the vocal apparatus +included; and that so the rhythm of music is a more +subtle and complex result of this relation between mental +and muscular excitement. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_224' id='Page_224' name='Page_224'>224</a></span> +But it is time to end this analysis, which, possibly we +have already carried too far. It is not to be supposed that +the more special peculiarities of musical expression are to +be definitely explained. Though probably they may all in +some way conform to the principle that has been worked +out, it is obviously impracticable to trace that principle in its +more ramified applications. Nor is it needful to our argument +that it should be so traced. The foregoing facts +sufficiently prove that what we regard as the distinctive +traits of song, are simply the traits of emotional speech intensified +and systematized. In respect of its general characteristics, +we think it has been made clear that vocal music, +and by consequence all music, is an idealization of the +natural language of passion. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +As far as it goes, the scanty evidence furnished by history +confirms this conclusion. Note first the fact (not +properly an historical one, but fitly grouped with such) +that the dance-chants of savage tribes are very monotonous; +and in virtue of their monotony are much more nearly +allied to ordinary speech than are the songs of civilized +races. Joining with this the fact that there are still extant +among boatmen and others in the East, ancient chants of a +like monotonous character, we may infer that vocal music +originally diverged from emotional speech in a gradual, +unobtrusive manner; and this is the inference to which +our argument points. Further evidence to the same +effect is supplied by Greek history. The early poems of +the Greeks—which, be it remembered, were sacred legends +embodied in that rhythmical, metaphorical language +which strong feeling excites—were not recited, but chanted: +the tones and the cadences were made musical by the +same influences which made the speech poetical. +</p> + +<p> +By those who have investigated the matter, this chanting +is believed to have been not what we call singing, but +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_225' id='Page_225' name='Page_225'>225</a></span> +nearly allied to our recitative; (far simpler indeed, if we +may judge from the fact that the early Greek lyre, which +had but <i>four</i> strings, was played in <i>unison</i> with the voice, +which was therefore confined to four notes;) and as such, +much less remote from common speech than our own singing +is. For recitative, or musical recitation, is in all <ins class='correction' title='Original: repects'>respects</ins> +intermediate between speech and song. Its average +effects are not so <i>loud</i> as those of song. Its tones are less +sonorous in <i>timbre</i> than those of song. Commonly it diverges +to a smaller extent from the middle notes—uses +notes neither so high nor so low in <i>pitch</i>. The <i>intervals</i> +habitual to it are neither so wide nor so varied. Its <i>rate +of variation</i> is not so rapid. And at the same time that its +primary <i>rhythm</i> is less decided, it has none of that secondary +rhythm produced by recurrence of the same or parallel +musical phrases, which is one of the marked characteristics +of song. Thus, then, we may not only infer, from +the evidence furnished by existing barbarous tribes, that +the vocal music of pre-historic times was emotional speech +very slightly exalted; but we see that the earliest vocal +music of which we have any account, differed much less +from emotional speech than does the vocal music of our +days. +</p> + +<p> +That recitative—beyond which, by the way, the Chinese +and Hindoos seem never to have advanced—grew naturally +out of the modulations and cadences of strong feeling, we +have indeed still current evidence. There are even now +to be met with occasions on which strong feeling vents +itself in this form. Whoever has been present when a +meeting of Quakers was addressed by one of their preachers +(whose practice it is to speak only under the influence +of religious emotion), must have been struck by the quite +unusual tones, like those of a subdued chant, in which the +address was made. It is clear, too, that the intoning used +in some churches, is representative of this same mental +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_226' id='Page_226' name='Page_226'>226</a></span> +state; and has been adopted on account of the instinctively +felt congruity between it and the contrition, supplication, +or reverence verbally expressed. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +And if, as we have good reason to believe, recitative +arose by degrees out of emotional speech, it becomes manifest +that by a continuance of the same process song has +arisen out of recitative. Just as, from the orations and +legends of savages, expressed in the metaphorical, allegorical +style natural to them, there sprung epic poetry, out of +which lyric poetry was afterwards developed; so, from the +exalted tones and cadences in which such orations and legends +were delivered, came the chant or recitative music, +from whence lyrical music has since grown up. And there +has not only thus been a simultaneous and parallel genesis, +but there is also a parallelism of results. For lyrical poetry +differs from epic poetry, just as lyrical music differs from +recitative: each still further intensifies the natural language +of the emotions. Lyrical poetry is more metaphorical, +more hyperbolic, more elliptical, and adds the rhythm of +lines to the rhythm of feet; just as lyrical music is louder, +more sonorous, more extreme in its intervals, and adds the +rhythm of phrases to the rhythm of bars. And the known +fact that out of epic poetry the stronger passions developed +lyrical poetry as their appropriate vehicle, strengthens the +inference that they similarly developed lyrical music out of +recitative. +</p> + +<p> +Nor indeed are we without evidences of the transition. +It needs but to listen to an opera to hear the leading gradations. +Between the comparatively level recitative of +ordinary dialogue, the more varied recitative with wider +intervals and higher tones used in exciting scenes, the +still more musical recitative which preludes an air, and +the air itself, the successive steps are but small; and +the fact that among airs themselves gradations of like +nature may be traced, further confirms the conclusion +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_227' id='Page_227' name='Page_227'>227</a></span> +that the highest form of vocal music was arrived at by +degrees. +</p> + +<p> +Moreover, we have some clue to the influences which +have induced this development; and may roughly conceive +the process of it. As the tones, intervals, and cadences of +strong emotion were the elements out of which song was +elaborated; so, we may expect to find that still stronger +emotion produced the elaboration: and we have evidence +implying this. Instances in abundance may be cited, showing +that musical composers are men of extremely acute +sensibilities. The Life of Mozart depicts him as one of +intensely active affections and highly impressionable temperament. +Various anecdotes represent Beethoven as +very susceptible and very passionate. Mendelssohn is described +by those who knew him to have been full of fine +feeling. And the almost incredible sensitiveness of Chopin +has been illustrated in the memoirs of George Sand. An +unusually emotional nature being thus the general characteristic +of musical composers, we have in it just the agency +required for the development of recitative and song. Intenser +feeling producing intenser manifestations, any cause +of excitement will call forth from such a nature, tones and +changes of voice more marked than those called forth from +an ordinary nature—will generate just those exaggerations +which we have found to distinguish the lower vocal music +from emotional speech, and the higher vocal music from +the lower. Thus it becomes credible that the four-toned +recitative of the early Greek poets (like all poets, nearly +allied to composers in the comparative intensity of their +feelings), was really nothing more than the slightly exaggerated +emotional speech natural to them, which grew +by frequent use into an organized form. And it is readily +conceivable that the accumulated agency of subsequent +poet-musicians, inheriting and adding to the products +of those who went before them, sufficed, in the course of +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_228' id='Page_228' name='Page_228'>228</a></span> +the ten centuries which we know it took, to develope this +four-toned recitative into a vocal music having a range of +two octaves. +</p> + +<p> +Not only may we so understand how more sonorous +tones, greater extremes of pitch, and wider intervals, were +gradually introduced; but also how there arose a greater +variety and complexity of musical expression. For this +same passionate, enthusiastic temperament, which naturally +leads the musical composer to express the feelings possessed +by others as well as himself, in extremer intervals and more +marked cadences than they would use, also leads him to +give musical utterance to feelings which they either do not +experience, or experience in but slight degrees. In virtue +of this general susceptibility which distinguishes him, he +regards with emotion, events, scenes, conduct, character, +which produce upon most men no appreciable effect. The +emotions so generated, compounded as they are of the simpler +emotions, are not expressible by intervals and cadences +natural to these, but by combinations of such intervals and +cadences: whence arise more involved musical phrases, +conveying more complex, subtle, and unusual feelings. +And thus we may in some measure understand how it happens +that music not only so strongly excites our more +familiar feelings, but also produces feelings we never had +before—arouses dormant sentiments of which we had not +conceived the possibility and do not know the meaning; +or, as Richter says—tells us of things we have not seen and +shall not see. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +Indirect evidences of several kinds remain to be briefly +pointed out. One of them is the difficulty, not to say impossibility, +of otherwise accounting for the expressiveness +of music. Whence comes it that special combinations of +notes should have special effects upon our emotions?—that +one should give us a feeling of exhilaration, another of +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_229' id='Page_229' name='Page_229'>229</a></span> +melancholy, another of affection, another of reverence? +Is it that these special combinations have intrinsic meanings +apart from the human constitution?—that a certain +number of aerial waves per second, followed by a certain +other number, in the nature of things signify grief, while +in the reverse order they signify joy; and similarly with +all other intervals, phrases, and cadences? Few will be so +irrational as to think this. Is it, then, that the meanings +of these special combinations are conventional only?—that +we learn their implications, as we do those of words, by +observing how others understand them? This is an hypothesis +not only devoid of evidence, but directly opposed +to the experience of every one. How, then, are musical +effects to be explained? If the theory above set forth be +accepted, the difficulty disappears. If music, taking for its +raw material the various modifications of voice which are +the physiological results of excited feeling, intensifies, combines, +and complicates them—if it exaggerates the loudness, +the resonance, the pitch, the intervals, and the variability, +which, in virtue of an organic law, are the characteristics +of passionate speech—if, by carrying out these further, +more consistently, more unitedly, and more sustainedly, +it produces an idealized language of emotion; +then its power over us becomes comprehensible. But in +the absence of this theory, the expressiveness of music appears +to be inexplicable. +</p> + +<p> +Again, the preference we feel for certain qualities of +sound presents a like difficulty, admitting only of a like +solution. It is generally agreed that the tones of the human +voice are more pleasing than any others. Grant that +music takes its rise from the modulations of the human +voice under emotion, and it becomes a natural consequence +that the tones of that voice should appeal to our feelings +more than any others; and so should be considered more +beautiful than any others. But deny that music has this +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_230' id='Page_230' name='Page_230'>230</a></span> +origin, and the only alternative is the untenable position +that the vibrations proceeding from a vocalist's throat are, +objectively considered, of a higher order than those from a +horn or a violin. Similarly with harsh and soft sounds. +If the conclusiveness of the foregoing reasonings be not +admitted, it must be supposed that the vibrations causing +the last are intrinsically better than those causing the first; +and that, in virtue of some pre-established harmony, the +higher feelings and natures produce the one, and the lower +the other. But if the foregoing reasonings be valid, it +follows, as a matter of course, that we shall like the +sounds that habitually accompany agreeable feelings, and +dislike those that habitually accompany disagreeable feelings. +</p> + +<p> +Once more, the question—How is the expressiveness of +music to be otherwise accounted for? may be supplemented +by the question—How is the genesis of music to be +otherwise accounted for? That music is a product of civilization +is manifest; for though savages have their dance-chants, +these are of a kind scarcely to be dignified by +the title musical: at most, they supply but the vaguest +rudiment of music, properly so called. And if music +has been by slow steps developed in the course of civilization, +it must have been developed out of something. +If, then, its origin is not that above alleged, what is its origin? +</p> + +<p> +Thus we find that the negative evidence confirms the +positive, and that, taken together, they furnish strong +proof. We have seen that there is a physiological relation, +common to man and all animals, between feeling and muscular +action; that as vocal sounds are produced by muscular +action, there is a consequent physiological relation between +feeling and vocal sounds; that all the modifications +of voice expressive of feeling are the direct results of this +physiological relation; that music, adopting all these +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_231' id='Page_231' name='Page_231'>231</a></span> +modifications, intensifies them more and more as it ascends to +its higher and higher forms, and becomes music simply in +virtue of thus intensifying them; that, from the ancient +epic poet chanting his verses, down to the modern musical +composer, men of unusually strong feelings prone to express +them in extreme forms, have been naturally the agents of +these successive intensifications; and that so there has +little by little arisen a wide divergence between this idealized +language of emotion and its natural language: to +which direct evidence we have just added the indirect—that +on no other tenable hypothesis can either the +expressiveness or the genesis of music be explained. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +And now, what is the <i>function</i> of music? Has music +any effect beyond the immediate pleasure it produces? +Analogy suggests that it has. The enjoyments of a good +dinner do not end with themselves, but minister to bodily +well-being. Though people do not marry with a view to +maintain the race, yet the passions which impel them to +marry secure its maintenance. Parental affection is a feeling +which, while it conduces to parental happiness, ensures +the nurture of offspring. Men love to accumulate property, +often without thought of the benefits it produces; but in +pursuing the pleasure of acquisition they indirectly open the +way to other pleasures. The wish for public approval impels +all of us to do many things which we should otherwise +not do,—to undertake great labours, face great dangers, +and habitually rule ourselves in a way that smooths social +intercourse: that is, in gratifying our love of approbation +we subserve divers ulterior purposes. And, generally, our +nature is such that in fulfilling each desire, we in some way +facilitate the fulfilment of the rest. But the love of music +seems to exist for its own sake. The delights of melody +and harmony do not obviously minister to the welfare +either of the individual or of society. May we not suspect, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_232' id='Page_232' name='Page_232'>232</a></span> +however, that this exception is apparent only? Is it not +a rational inquiry—What are the indirect benefits which +accrue from music, in addition to the direct pleasure it gives? +</p> + +<p> +But that it would take us too far out of our track, we +should prelude this inquiry by illustrating at some length a +certain general law of progress;—the law that alike in occupations, +sciences, arts, the divisions that had a common +root, but by continual divergence have become distinct, +and are now being separately developed, are not truly independent, +but severally act and react on each other to +their mutual advancement. Merely hinting thus much, +however, by way of showing that there are many analogies +to justify us, we go on to express the opinion that there +exists a relationship of this kind between music and speech. +</p> + +<p> +All speech is compounded of two elements, the words +and the tones in which they are uttered—the signs of ideas +and the signs of feelings. While certain articulations express +the thought, certain vocal sounds express the more +or less of pain or pleasure which the thought gives. Using +the word <i>cadence</i> in an unusually extended sense, as comprehending +all modifications of voice, we may say that +<i>cadence is the commentary of the emotions upon the propositions +of the intellect</i>. This duality of spoken language, +though not formally recognised, is recognised in practice +by every one; and every one knows that very often more +weight attaches to the tones than to the words. Daily experience +supplies cases in which the same sentence of disapproval +will be understood as meaning little or meaning +much, according to the inflections of voice which accompany +it; and daily experience supplies still more striking +cases in which words and tones are in direct contradiction—the +first expressing consent, while the last express reluctance; +and the last being believed rather than the first. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_233' id='Page_233' name='Page_233'>233</a></span> +These two distinct but interwoven elements of speech +have been undergoing a simultaneous development. We +know that in the course of civilization words have been +multiplied, new parts of speech have been introduced, sentences +have grown more varied and complex; and we may +fairly infer that during the same time new modifications of +voice have come into use, fresh intervals have been adopted, +and cadences have become more elaborate. For while, +on the one hand, it is absurd to suppose that, along with +the undeveloped verbal forms of barbarism, there existed +a developed system of vocal inflections; it is, on the other +hand, necessary to suppose that, along with the higher and +more numerous verbal forms needed to convey the multiplied +and complicated ideas of civilized life, there have +grown up those more involved changes of voice which express +the feelings proper to such ideas. If intellectual language +is a growth, so also, without doubt, is emotional language +a growth. +</p> + +<p> +Now, the hypothesis which we have hinted above, is, +that beyond the direct pleasure which it gives, music has +the indirect effect of developing this language of the emotions. +Having its root, as we have endeavoured to show, +in those tones, intervals, and cadences of speech which express +feeling—arising by the combination and intensifying +of these, and coming finally to have an embodiment of its +own; music has all along been reacting upon speech, and +increasing its power of rendering emotion. The use in recitative +and song of inflections more expressive than ordinary +ones, must from the beginning have tended to develope +the ordinary ones. Familiarity with the more varied +combinations of tones that occur in vocal music, can +scarcely have failed to give greater variety of combination +to the tones in which we utter our impressions and desires. +The complex musical phrases by which composers have +conveyed complex emotions, may rationally be supposed to +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_234' id='Page_234' name='Page_234'>234</a></span> +have influenced us in making those involved cadences of +conversation by which we convey our subtler thoughts and feelings. +</p> + +<p> +That the cultivation of music has no effect on the mind, +few will be absurd enough to contend. And if it has an +effect, what more natural effect is there than this of developing +our perception of the meanings of inflections, qualities, +and modulations of voice; and giving us a correspondingly +increased power of using them? Just as mathematics, +taking its start from the phenomena of physics +and astronomy, and presently coming to be a separate science, +has since reacted on physics and astronomy to their +immense advancement—just as chemistry, first arising out +of the processes of metallurgy and the industrial arts, and +gradually growing into an independent study, has now become +an aid to all kinds of production—just as physiology, +originating out of medicine and once subordinate to it, but +latterly pursued for its own sake, is in our day coming to +be the science on which the progress of medicine depends;—so, +music, having its root in emotional language, and +gradually evolved from it, has ever been reacting upon and +further advancing it. Whoever will examine the facts, will +find this hypothesis to be in harmony with the method of +civilization everywhere displayed. +</p> + +<p> +It will scarcely be expected that much direct evidence +in support of this conclusion can be given. The facts are +of a kind which it is difficult to measure, and of which we +have no records. Some suggestive traits, however, may +be noted. May we not say, for instance, that the Italians, +among whom modern music was earliest cultivated, and +who have more especially practised and excelled in melody +(the division of music with which our argument is chiefly +concerned)—may we not say that these Italians speak in +more varied and expressive inflections and cadences than +any other nation? On the other hand, may we not say +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_235' id='Page_235' name='Page_235'>235</a></span> +that, confined almost exclusively as they have hitherto +been to their national airs, which have a marked family +likeness, and therefore accustomed to but a limited range +of musical expression, the Scotch are unusually monotonous +in the intervals and modulations of their speech? And +again, do we not find among different classes of the same +nation, differences that have like implications? The gentleman +and the clown stand in very decided contrast with +respect to variety of intonation. Listen to the conversation +of a servant-girl, and then to that of a refined, accomplished +lady, and the more delicate and complex changes +of voice used by the latter will be conspicuous. Now, +without going so far as to say that out of all the differences +of culture to which the upper and lower classes are subjected, +difference of musical culture is that to which alone +this difference of speech is ascribable; yet we may fairly +say that there seems a much more obvious connexion of +cause and effect between these than between any others. +Thus, while the inductive evidence to which we can appeal +is but scanty and vague, yet what there is favours our position. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +Probably most will think that the function here assigned +to music is one of very little moment. But further reflection +may lead them to a contrary conviction. In its bearings +upon human happiness, we believe that this emotional +language which musical culture developes and refines, is +only second in importance to the language of the intellect; +perhaps not even second to it. For these modifications +of voice produced by feelings, are the means of exciting +like feelings in others. Joined with gestures and expressions +of face, they give life to the otherwise dead words in +which the intellect utters its ideas; and so enable the +hearer not only to <i>understand</i> the state of mind they accompany, +but to <i>partake</i> of that state. In short, they are +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_236' id='Page_236' name='Page_236'>236</a></span> +the chief media of <i>sympathy</i>. And if we consider how +much both our general welfare and our immediate pleasures +depend upon sympathy, we shall recognise the importance +of whatever makes this sympathy greater. If we +bear in mind that by their fellow-feeling men are led to behave +justly, kindly and considerately to each other—that +the difference between the cruelty of the barbarous and +the humanity of the civilized, results from the increase of +fellow-feeling; if we bear in mind that this faculty which +makes us sharers in the joys and sorrows of others, is the +basis of all the higher affections—that in friendship, love, +and all domestic pleasures, it is an essential element; if we +bear in mind how much our direct gratifications are intensified +by sympathy,—how, at the theatre, the concert, the +picture gallery, we lose half our enjoyment if we have no +one to enjoy with us; if, in short, we bear in mind that for +all happiness beyond what the unfriended recluse can have, +we are indebted to this same sympathy;—we shall see that +the agencies which communicate it can scarcely be overrated +in value. +</p> + +<p> +The tendency of civilization is more and more to repress +the antagonistic elements of our characters and to +develope the social ones—to curb our purely selfish desires +and exercise our unselfish ones—to replace private gratifications +by gratifications resulting from, or involving, the +happiness of others. And while, by this adaptation to the +social state, the sympathetic side of our nature is being unfolded, +there is simultaneously growing up a language of +sympathetic intercourse—a language through which we +communicate to others the happiness we feel, and are made +sharers in their happiness. +</p> + +<p> +This double process, of which the effects are already +sufficiently appreciable, must go on to an extent of which +we can as yet have no adequate conception. The habitual +concealment of our feelings diminishing, as it must, in +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_237' id='Page_237' name='Page_237'>237</a></span> +proportion as our feelings become such as do not demand concealment, +we may conclude that the exhibition of them will +become much more vivid than we now dare allow it to be; +and this implies a more expressive emotional language. +At the same time, feelings of a higher and more complex +kind, as yet experienced only by the cultivated few, will +become general; and there will be a corresponding development +of the emotional language into more involved +forms. Just as there has silently grown up a language of +ideas, which, rude as it at first was, now enables us to convey +with precision the most subtle and complicated +thoughts; so, there is still silently growing up a language +of feelings, which notwithstanding its present imperfection, +we may expect will ultimately enable men vividly and completely +to impress on each other all the emotions which +they experience from moment to moment. +</p> + +<p> +Thus if, as we have endeavoured to show, it is the function +of music to facilitate the development of this emotional +language, we may regard music as an aid to the +achievement of that higher happiness which it indistinctly +shadows forth. Those vague feelings of unexperienced felicity +which music arouses—those indefinite impressions of +an unknown ideal life which it calls up, may be considered +as a prophecy, to the fulfilment of which music is itself +partly instrumental. The strange capacity which we have +for being so affected by melody and harmony, may be taken +to imply both that it is within the possibilities of our nature +to realize those intenser delights they dimly suggest, +and that they are in some way concerned in the realization +of them. On this supposition the power and the meaning +of music become comprehensible; but otherwise they are +a mystery. +</p> + +<p> +We will only add, that if the probability of these corollaries +be admitted, then music must take rank as the highest +of the fine arts—as the one which, more than any other, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_238' id='Page_238' name='Page_238'>238</a></span> +ministers to human welfare. And thus, even leaving out +of view the immediate gratifications it is hourly giving, +we cannot too much applaud that progress of musical culture +which is becoming one of the characteristics of our age. +</p> + +<div class='footnotes'> +<div class='footnote'> +<p><a id='FN_H' name='FN_H' href='#FA_H'><span class='fnlabel'>[H]</span></a> + Those who seek information on this point may find it in an interesting +tract by Mr. Alexander Bain, on <i>Animal Instinct and Intelligence</i>. +</p></div> +</div> + +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_239' id='Page_239' name='Page_239'>239</a></span> +</p> + + + + +<h2> +VI. <br />THE NEBULAR HYPOTHESIS. +</h2> + + +<p> +Inquiring into the pedigree of an idea is not a bad +means of roughly estimating its value. To have come of +respectable ancestry, is <i>primâ facie</i> evidence of worth in a +belief as in a person; while to be descended from a discreditable +stock is, in the one case as in the other, an unfavorable +index. The analogy is not a mere fancy. Beliefs, together +with those who hold them, are modified little by little +in successive generations; and as the modifications +which successive generations of the holders undergo, do +not destroy the original type, but only disguise and refine +it, so the accompanying alterations of belief, however much +they purify, leave behind the essence of the original belief. +</p> + +<p> +Considered genealogically, the received theory respecting +the creation of the Solar System is unmistakeably of low +origin. You may clearly trace it back to primitive mythologies. +Its remotest ancestor is the doctrine that the celestial +bodies are personages who originally lived on the Earth—a +doctrine still held by some of the negroes Livingstone +visited. Science having divested the sun and planets of +their divine personalities, this old idea was succeeded by +the idea which even Kepler entertained, that the planets +are guided in their courses by presiding spirits: no longer +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_240' id='Page_240' name='Page_240'>240</a></span> +themselves gods, they are still severally kept in their orbits by +gods. And when gravitation came to dispense with these celestial +steersmen, there was begotten a belief, less gross than +its parent, but partaking of the same essential nature, that +the planets were originally launched into their orbits from +the Creator's hand. Evidently, though much refined, the anthropomorphism +of the current hypothesis is inherited from +the aboriginal anthropomorphism, which described gods as +a stronger order of men. +</p> + +<p> +There is an antagonist hypothesis which does not propose +to honour the Unknown Power manifested in the Universe, +by such titles as "The Master-Builder," or "The +Great Artificer;" but which regards this Unknown Power +as probably working after a method quite different from +that of human mechanics. And the genealogy of this hypothesis +is as high as that of the other is low. It is begotten +by that ever-enlarging and ever-strengthening belief in +the presence of Law, which accumulated experiences have +gradually produced in the human mind. From generation +to generation Science has been proving uniformities of relation +among phenomena which were before thought either +fortuitous or supernatural in their origin—has been showing +an established order and a constant causation where ignorance +had assumed irregularity and arbitrariness. Each further +discovery of Law has increased the presumption that +Law is everywhere conformed to. And hence, among +other beliefs, has arisen the belief that the Solar System +originated, not by <i>manufacture</i> but by <i>evolution</i>. Besides +its abstract parentage in those grand general conceptions +which positive Science has generated, this hypothesis has a +concrete parentage of the highest character. Based as it +is on the law of universal gravitation, it may claim for its +remote progenitor the great thinker who established that +law. The man who gave it its general shape, by promulgating +the doctrine that stars result from the aggregation of +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_241' id='Page_241' name='Page_241'>241</a></span> +diffused matter, was the most diligent, careful, and original +astronomical observer of modern times. And the world +has not seen a more learned mathematician than the man +who, setting out with this conception of diffused matter +concentrating towards its centre of gravity, pointed out +the way in which there would arise, in the course of +its concentration, a balanced group of sun, planets, and +satellites, like that of which the Earth is a member. +</p> + +<p> +Thus, even were there but little direct evidence assignable +for the Nebular Hypothesis, the probability of its +truth would still be strong. Its own high derivation and +the low derivation of the antagonist hypothesis, would together +form a weighty reason for accepting it—at any rate, +provisionally. But the direct evidence assignable for the +Nebular Hypothesis is by no means little. It is far greater +in quantity, and more varied in kind, than is commonly +supposed. Much has been said here and there on this or that +class of evidences; but nowhere, as far as we know, have +all the evidences, even of one class, been fully stated; and +still less has there been an adequate statement of the several +groups of evidences in their <i>ensemble</i>. We propose +here to do something towards supplying the deficiency: +believing that, joined with the <i>à priori</i> reasons given above, +the array of <i>à posteriori</i> reasons will leave little doubt in +the mind of any candid inquirer. +</p> + +<p> +And first, let us address ourselves to those recent discoveries +in stellar astronomy, which have been supposed to +conflict with this celebrated speculation. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +When Sir William Herschel, directing his great reflector +to various nebulous spots, found them resolvable into +clusters of stars, he inferred, and for a time maintained, +that all nebulous spots are clusters of stars exceedingly remote +from us. But after years of conscientious investigation, +he concluded that "there were nebulosities which are +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_242' id='Page_242' name='Page_242'>242</a></span> +not of a starry nature;" and on this conclusion was based +his hypothesis of a diffused luminous fluid, which by its +eventual aggregation, produced stars. A telescopic power +much exceeding that used by Herschel, has enabled +Lord Rosse to resolve some of the nebulæ previously unresolved; +and, returning to the conclusion which Herschel +first formed on similar grounds but afterwards rejected, +many astronomers have assumed that, under sufficiently +high powers, every nebula would be decomposed into stars—that +the resolvability is solely a question of distance. The +hypothesis now commonly entertained is, that all nebulæ +are galaxies more or less like in nature to that immediately +surrounding us; but that they are so inconceivably remote, +as to look, through an ordinary telescope, like small +faint spots. And not a few have drawn the corollary, that +by the discoveries of Lord Rosse the Nebular Hypothesis +has been disproved. +</p> + +<p> +Now, even supposing that these inferences respecting +the distances and natures of the nebulæ are valid, they leave +the Nebular Hypothesis substantially as it was. Admitting +that each of those faint spots is a sidereal system, so +far removed that its countless stars give less light than +one small star of our own sidereal system; the admission +is in no way inconsistent with the belief, that stars and their +attendant planets have been formed by the aggregation of +nebulous matter. Though, doubtless, if the existence of +nebulous matter now in course of concentration be disproved, +one of the evidences of the Nebular Hypothesis is +destroyed; yet the remaining evidences remain just as they +were. It is a perfectly tenable position, that though nebular +condensation is now nowhere to be seen in progress, yet +it was once going on universally. And, indeed, it might +be argued that the still-continued existence of diffused +nebulous matter is scarcely to be expected; seeing that +the causes which have resulted in the aggregation of one +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_243' id='Page_243' name='Page_243'>243</a></span> +mass, must have been acting on all masses, and that hence +the existence of masses not aggregated would be a fact +calling for explanation. Thus, granting the immediate +conclusions suggested by these recent disclosures of the +six-feet reflector, the corollary which many have drawn is +inadmissible. +</p> + +<p> +But we do not grant these conclusions. Receiving them +though we have, for years past, as established truths, a +critical examination of the facts has convinced us that they +are quite unwarrantable. They involve so many manifest +incongruities, that we have been astonished to find men of +science entertaining them even as probable hypotheses. +Let us consider these incongruities. +</p> + +<p> +In the first place, mark what is inferable from the distribution +of nebulæ. +</p> + + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +"The spaces which precede or which follow simple nebulæ," +says Arago, "and, <i>à fortiori</i>, groups of nebulæ, contain generally +few stars. Herschel found this rule to be invariable. Thus, +every time that, during a short interval, no star approached, in +virtue of the diurnal motion, to place itself in the field of his motionless +telescope, he was accustomed to say to the secretary who +assisted him, 'Prepare to write; nebulæ are about to arrive.'" +</p> +</div> + +<p> +How does this fact consist with the hypothesis that nebulæ +are remote galaxies? If there were but one nebula, +it would be a curious coincidence were this one nebula so +placed in the distant regions of space, as to agree in direction +with a starless spot in our own sidereal system. If +there were but two nebulæ, and both were so placed, the +coincidence would be excessively strange. What, then, +shall we say on finding that there are thousands of nebulæ +so placed? Shall we believe that in thousands of cases +these far-removed galaxies happen to agree in their visible +positions with the thin places in our own galaxy? Such a +belief is next to impossible. Still more manifest does the +impossibility of it become when we consider the general +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_244' id='Page_244' name='Page_244'>244</a></span> +distribution of nebulæ. Besides again showing itself in +the fact that "the poorest regions in stars are near the richest +in nebulæ," the law above specified applies to the heavens +as a whole. In that zone of celestial space where stars +are excessively abundant, nebulæ are rare; while in the two +opposite celestial spaces that are furthest removed from this +zone, nebulæ are abundant. Scarcely any nebulæ lie near +the galactic circle (or plane of the Milky Way); and the +great mass of them lie round the galactic poles. Can this +also be mere coincidence? When to the fact that the general +mass of nebulæ are antithetical in position to the general +mass of stars, we add the fact that local regions of nebulæ +are regions where stars are scarce, and the further +fact that single nebulæ are habitually found in comparatively +starless spots; does not the proof of a physical connexion +become overwhelming? Should it not require an infinity +of evidence to show that nebulæ are not parts of our +sidereal system? Let us see whether any such infinity of +evidence is assignable. Let us see whether there is even a +single alleged proof which will bear examination. +</p> + + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +"As seen through colossal telescopes," says Humboldt, "the +contemplation of these nebulous masses leads us into regions from +whence a ray of light, according to an assumption not wholly improbable, +requires millions of years to reach our earth—to distances +for whose measurement the dimensions (the distance of +Sirius, or the calculated distances of the binary stars in Cygnus +and the Centaur) of our nearest stratum of fixed stars scarcely +suffice." +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Now, in this somewhat confused sentence there is expressed +a more or less decided belief, that the distances of +the nebulæ from our galaxy of stars as much transcend the +distances of our stars from each other, as these interstellar +distances transcend the dimensions of our planetary system. +Just as the diameter of the Earth's orbit, is an inappreciable +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_245' id='Page_245' name='Page_245'>245</a></span> +point when compared with the distance of our Sun from +Sirius; so is the distance of our Sun from Sirius, an inappreciable +point when compared with the distance of our +galaxy from those far removed galaxies constituting nebulæ. +Observe the consequences of this assumption. +</p> + +<p> +If one of these supposed galaxies is so remote that its +distance dwarfs our interstellar spaces into points, and therefore +makes the dimensions of our whole sidereal system relatively +insignificant; does it not inevitably follow that the +telescopic power required to resolve this remote galaxy into +stars, must be incomparably greater than the telescopic +power required to resolve the whole of our own galaxy +into stars? Is it not certain that an instrument which can +just exhibit with clearness the most distant stars of our own +cluster, must be utterly unable to separate one of these remote +clusters into stars? What, then, are we to think +when we find that the same instrument which decomposes +hosts of nebulæ into stars, <i>fails</i> to resolve completely our +own Milky Way? Take a homely comparison. Suppose +a man surrounded by a swarm of bees, extending, as they +sometimes do, so high in the air as to be individually almost +invisible, were to declare that a certain spot on the horizon +was a swarm of bees; and that he knew it because he could +see the bees as separate specks. Astounding as the assertion +would be, it would not exceed in incredibility this which +we are criticising. Reduce the dimensions to figures, and +the absurdity becomes still more palpable. In round numbers, +the distance of Sirius from the Earth is a million times +the distance of the Earth from the Sun; and, according to +the hypothesis, the distance of a nebula is something like a +million times the distance of Sirius. +</p> + +<p> +Now, our own "starry island, or nebula," as Humboldt +calls it, "forms a lens-shaped, flattened, and everywhere +detached stratum, whose major axis is estimated at seven +or eight hundred, and its minor axis at a hundred and fifty +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_246' id='Page_246' name='Page_246'>246</a></span> +times the distance of Sirius from the Earth."<a class='fnanchor' id='FA_I' name='FA_I' href='#FN_I'>[I]</a> And since +it is concluded that our Solar System is near the centre of +this aggregation, it follows that our distance from the remotest +parts of it is about four hundred distances of Sirius. +But the stars forming these remotest parts are not individually +visible, even through telescopes of the highest power. +How, then, can such telescopes make individually visible +the stars of a nebula which is a million times the distance +of Sirius? The implication is, that a star rendered invisible +by distance becomes visible if taken two thousand five +hundred times further off! Shall we accept this implication? +or shall we not rather conclude that the nebulæ are +<i>not</i> remote galaxies? Shall we not infer that, be their nature +what it may, they must be at least as near to us as the +extremities of our own sidereal system? +</p> + +<p> +Throughout the above argument, it is tacitly assumed +that differences of apparent magnitude among the stars, +result mainly from differences of distance. On this assumption +the current doctrines respecting the nebulæ are +founded; and this assumption is, for the nonce, admitted +in each of the foregoing criticisms. From the time, however, +when it was first made by Sir W. Herschel, this assumption +has been purely gratuitous; and it now proves +to be totally inadmissible. But, awkwardly enough, its +truth and its untruth are alike fatal to the conclusions of +those who argue after the manner of Humboldt. Note the alternative. +</p> + +<p> +On the one hand, what follows from the untruth of the +assumption? If apparent largeness of stars is not due to +comparative nearness, and their successively smaller sizes +to their greater and greater degrees of remoteness, what +becomes of the inferences respecting the dimensions of our +sidereal system and the distances of nebulæ? If, as has +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_247' id='Page_247' name='Page_247'>247</a></span> +lately been shown, the almost invisible star 61 Cygni has a +greater parallax than α Cygni, though, according to an estimate +based on Sir W. Herschel's assumption, it should be +about twelve times more distant—if, as it turns out, there +exist telescopic stars which are nearer to us than Sirius; of +what worth is the conclusion that the nebulæ are very remote, +because their component luminous masses are made +visible only by high telescopic powers? Clearly, if the +most brilliant star in the heavens and a star that cannot be +seen by the naked eye, prove to be equidistant, relative +distances cannot be in the least inferred from relative visibilities. +And if so, nebulæ may be comparatively near, +though the starlets of which they are made up appear extremely minute. +</p> + +<p> +On the other hand, what follows if the truth of the assumption +be granted? The arguments used to justify this +assumption in the case of the stars, equally justify it in the +case of the nebulæ. It cannot be contended that, on the +average, the <i>apparent</i> sizes of the stars indicate their distances, +without its being admitted that, on the average, the +<i>apparent</i> sizes of the nebulæ indicate their distances—that, +generally speaking, the larger are the nearer, and the +smaller are the more distant. Mark, now, the necessary +inference respecting their resolvability. The largest or +nearest nebulæ will be most easily resolved into stars; the +successively smaller will be successively more difficult of +resolution; and the irresolvable ones will be the smallest +ones. This, however, is exactly the reverse of the fact. +The largest nebulæ are either wholly irresolvable, or but +partially resolvable under the highest telescopic powers; +while a great proportion of quite small nebulæ, are easily +resolved by far less powerful telescopes. An instrument +through which the great nebula in Andromeda, two and a +half degrees long and one degree broad, appears merely as +a diffused light, decomposes a nebula of fifteen minutes +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_248' id='Page_248' name='Page_248'>248</a></span> +diameter into twenty thousand starry points. At the same +time that the individual stars of a nebula eight minutes in +diameter are so clearly seen as to allow of their number +being estimated, a nebula covering an area five hundred +times as great shows no stars at all. What possible explanation +can be given of this on the current hypothesis? +</p> + +<p> +Yet a further difficulty remains—one which is, perhaps, +still more obviously fatal than the foregoing. This difficulty +is presented by the phenomena of the Magellanic +clouds. Describing the larger of these, Sir John Herschel says:— +</p> + + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +"The nubecula major, like the minor, consists partly of large +tracts and ill-defined patches of irresolvable nebula, and of nebulosity +in every stage of resolution, up to perfectly resolved stars +like the Milky Way; as also of regular and irregular nebulæ properly +so called, of globular clusters in every stage of resolvability, +and of clustering groups sufficiently insulated and condensed to +come under the designation of 'cluster of stars.'"—"Cape Observations," +p. 146. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +In his "Outlines of Astronomy," Sir John Herschel, after +repeating this description in other words, goes on to +remark that— +</p> + + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +"This combination of characters, rightly considered, is in a +high degree instructive, affording an insight into the probable +comparative distance of <i>stars</i> and <i>nebulæ</i>, and the real brightness +of individual stars as compared with one another. Taking the +apparent semi-diameter of the nubecula major at three degrees, +and regarding its solid form as, roughly speaking, spherical, its +nearest and most remote parts differ in their distance from us by +a little more than a tenth part of our distance from its centre. +The brightness of objects situated in its nearer portions, therefore, +cannot be <i>much</i> exaggerated, nor that of its remoter <i>much</i> +enfeebled, by their difference of distance. Yet within this globular +space we have collected upwards of six hundred stars of the +seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth magnitude, nearly three hundred +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_249' id='Page_249' name='Page_249'>249</a></span> +nebulæ, and globular and other clusters <i>of all degrees of resolvability</i>, +and smaller scattered stars of every inferior magnitude, +from the tenth to such as by their magnitude and minuteness constitute +irresolvable nebulosity, extending over tracts of many +square degrees. Were there but one such object, it might be +maintained without utter improbability that its apparent sphericity +is only an effect of foreshortening, and that in reality a much +greater proportional difference of distance between its nearer and +more remote parts exists. But such an adjustment, improbable +enough in one case, must be rejected as too much so for fair argument +in two. It must, therefore, be taken as a demonstrated fact, +that stars of the seventh or eighth magnitude, and irresolvable +nebula, may co-exist within limits of distance not differing in proportion +more than as nine to ten."—"Outlines of Astronomy," +pp. 614, 615. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Now, we think this supplies a <i>reductio ad absurdum</i> +of the doctrine we are combating. It gives us the choice +of two incredibilities. If we are to believe that one of +these nebulæ is so remote that its hundred thousand stars +look like a milky spot, invisible to the naked eye; we must +also believe that there are single stars so enormous that +though removed to this same distance they remain visible. +If we accept the other alternative, and say that many nebulæ +are no further off than our own stars of the eighth +magnitude; then it is requisite to say that at a distance not +greater than that at which a single star is still faintly visible +to the naked eye, there may exist a group of a hundred +thousand stars which is invisible to the naked eye. Neither +of these positions can be entertained. What, then, is the +conclusion that remains? This, only:—that the nebulæ +are not further off from us than parts of our own sidereal +system, of which they must be considered members; and +that when they are resolvable into discrete masses, these +masses cannot be considered as stars in anything like the +ordinary sense of that word. +</p> + +<p> +And now, having seen the untenability of this idea, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_250' id='Page_250' name='Page_250'>250</a></span> +rashly espoused by sundry astronomers, that the nebulæ +are extremely remote galaxies; let us consider whether +the various appearances they present are not reconcileable +with the Nebular Hypothesis. +</p> + +<p> +Given a rare and widely-diffused mass of nebulous matter, +having a diameter, say as great as the distance from +the Sun to Sirius,<a class='fnanchor' id='FA_J' name='FA_J' href='#FN_J'>[J]</a> what are the successive changes that +will take place in it? Mutual gravitation will approximate +its atoms; but their approximation will be opposed +by atomic repulsion, the overcoming of which implies the +evolution of heat. As fast as this heat partially escapes by +radiation, further approximation will take place, attended +by further evolution of heat, and so on continuously: the +processes not occurring separately as here described, but +simultaneously, uninterruptedly, and with increasing activity. +Eventually, this slow movement of the atoms towards +their common centre of gravity, will bring about +phenomena of another order. +</p> + +<p> +Arguing from the known laws of atomic combination, +it will happen that when the nebulous mass has reached a +particular stage of condensation—when its internally-situated +atoms have approached to within certain distances, +have generated a certain amount of heat, and are subject +to a certain mutual pressure (the heat and pressure both +increasing as the aggregation progresses); some of them +will suddenly enter into chemical union. Whether the +binary atoms so produced be of kinds such as we know, +which is possible; or whether they be of kinds simpler +than any we know, which is more probable; matters not +to the argument. It suffices that molecular combination +of some species will finally take place. When it does take +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_251' id='Page_251' name='Page_251'>251</a></span> +place, it will be accompanied by a great and sudden disengagement +of heat; and until this excess of heat has +escaped, the newly-formed binary atoms will remain uniformly +diffused, or, as it were, dissolved in the pre-existing +nebulous medium. +</p> + +<p> +But now mark what must by-and-by happen. When +radiation has adequately lowered the temperature, these +binary atoms will precipitate; and having precipitated, +they will not remain uniformly diffused, but will aggregate +into <i>flocculi</i>: just as water, when precipitated from air, +collects into clouds. This <i>à priori</i> conclusion is confirmed +by the observation of those still extant portions of nebulous +matter which constitute comets; for, "that the luminous +part of a comet is something in the nature of a smoke, fog, +or cloud, suspended in a transparent atmosphere, is evident," +says Sir John Herschel. +</p> + +<p> +Concluding, then, that a nebulous mass will, in course +of time, resolve itself into flocculi of precipitated denser +matter, floating in the rarer medium from which they were +precipitated, let us inquire what will be the mechanical +results. We shall find that they will be quite different +from those occurring in the original homogeneous mass; +and also quite different from those which would occur +among discrete masses dispersed through empty space. +Bodies dispersed through empty space, would move in +straight lines towards their common centre of gravity. So, +too, would bodies dispersed through a resisting medium, +provided they were spherical, or of forms presenting symmetrical +faces to their lines of movement. But <i>irregular</i> +bodies dispersed through a resisting medium, will <i>not</i> move +in straight lines towards their common centre of gravity. +A mass which presents an irregular face to its line of movement +through a resisting medium, must necessarily be +deflected from its original course, by the unequal reactions +of the medium on its different sides. Hence each <i>flocculus</i>, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_252' id='Page_252' name='Page_252'>252</a></span> +as by analogy we term one of these precipitated masses of +gas or vapour, will acquire a movement, not towards the +common centre of gravity, but towards one or other side +of it; and this oblique movement, accelerated as well as +changed in direction by the increasing centripetal force, +but retarded by the resisting medium, will result in a +spiral, ending in the common centre of gravity. Observe, +however, that this conclusion, valid as far as it goes, by no +means proves a common spiral movement of all the flocculi; +for as they must not only be varied in their forms, but disposed +in all varieties of position, their respective movements +will be deflected, not towards one side of the common +centre of gravity, but towards various sides. How +then can there result a spiral movement common to them +all? Very simply. Each flocculus, in describing its spiral +course, must give motion to the rarer medium through +which it is moving. +</p> + +<p> +Now, the probabilities are infinity to one against all the +respective motions thus impressed on this rarer medium, +exactly balancing each other. And if they do not balance +each other, the inevitable result must be a rotation +of the whole mass of the rarer medium in one direction. +But preponderating momentum in one direction, having +caused rotation of the medium in that direction, +the rotating medium must in its turn gradually arrest +such flocculi as are moving in opposition, and impress +its own motion upon them; and thus there will ultimately +be formed a rotating medium with suspended +flocculi partaking of its motion, while they move in converging +spirals towards the common centre of gravity. +</p> + +<p> +Before comparing these conclusions with the facts, let +us pursue the reasoning a little further, and observe the +subordinate actions, and the endless modifications which +will result from them. The respective flocculi must not +only be drawn towards their common centre of gravity, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_253' id='Page_253' name='Page_253'>253</a></span> +but also towards neighbouring flocculi. Hence the whole +assemblage of flocculi will break up into subordinate +groups: each group concentrating towards its local centre +of gravity, and in so doing acquiring a vortical movement, +like that subsequently acquired by the whole nebula. +Now, according to circumstances, and chiefly according to +the size of the original nebulous mass, this process of local +aggregation will produce various results. If the whole +nebula is but small, the local groups of flocculi may be +drawn into the common centre of gravity before their constituent +masses have coalesced with each other. In a +larger nebula, these local aggregations may have concentrated +into rotating spheroids of vapour, while yet they +have made but little approach towards the general focus of +the system. In a still larger nebula, where the local aggregations +are both greater and more remote from the common +centre of gravity, they may have condensed into +masses of molten matter before the general distribution of +them has greatly altered. In short, as the conditions in +each case determine, the discrete masses produced may +vary indefinitely in number, in size, in density, in motion, +in distribution. +</p> + +<p> +And now let us return to the visible characters +of the nebulæ, as observed through modern telescopes. +Take first the description of those nebulæ which, by the +hypothesis, must be in an early stage of evolution. +</p> + + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +"Among the <i>irregular nebulæ</i>," says Sir John Herschel, "may +be comprehended all which, to <i>a want of complete, and in most +instances, even of partial resolvability</i> by the power of the 20-feet +reflector, unite such a deviation from the circular or elliptic form, +or such a want of symmetry (with that form) as preclude their +being placed in Class 1, or that of regular nebulæ. This second +class comprises many of the most remarkable and interesting objects +in the heavens, <i>as well as the most extensive in respect of the +area they occupy</i>." +</p> +</div> + +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_254' id='Page_254' name='Page_254'>254</a></span> +And, referring to this same order of objects, M. Arago +says:—"The forms of very large diffuse nebulæ do +not appear to admit of definition; they have no regular outline." +</p> + +<p> +Now this coexistence of largeness, irresolvability, +irregularity, and indefiniteness of outline, is extremely +significant. The fact that the largest nebulæ are either +irresolvable or very difficult to resolve, might have been +inferred <i>à priori</i>; seeing that irresolvability, implying that +the aggregation of precipitated matter has gone on to but +a small extent, will be found in nebulæ of wide diffusion. +Again, the irregularity of these large, irresolvable nebulæ, +might also have been expected; seeing that their outlines, +compared by Arago to "the fantastic figures which +characterize clouds carried away and tossed about by +violent and often contrary winds," are similarly characteristic +of a mass not yet gathered together by the +mutual attraction of its parts. And once more, the fact +that these large, irregular, irresolvable nebulæ have +indefinite outlines—outlines that fade off insensibly into +surrounding darkness—is one of like meaning. +</p> + +<p> +Speaking generally (and of course differences of distance +negative anything beyond an average statement), the +spiral nebulæ are smaller than the irregular nebulæ, and +more resolvable; at the same time that they are not so +small as the regular nebulæ, and not so resolvable. This is +as, according to the hypothesis, it should be. The degree of +condensation causing spiral movement, is a degree of condensation +also implying masses of flocculi that are larger, +and therefore more visible, than those existing in an earlier +stage. Moreover, the forms of these spiral nebulæ are +quite in harmony with the explanation given. The curves +of luminous matter which they exhibit, are <i>not</i> such as +would be described by more or less discrete masses starting +from a state of rest, and moving through a resisting +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_255' id='Page_255' name='Page_255'>255</a></span> +medium to a common centre of gravity; but they <i>are</i> such +as would be described by masses having their movements +modified by the rotation of the medium. +</p> + +<p> +In the centre of a spiral nebula is seen a mass both +more luminous and more resolvable than the rest. Assume +that, in process of time, all the spiral streaks of +luminous matter which converge to this centre are drawn +into it, as they must be; assume further, that the flocculi +or other discrete bodies constituting these luminous streaks +aggregate into larger masses at the same time that they +approach the central group, and that the masses forming +this central group also aggregate into larger masses (both +which are necessary assumptions); and there will finally +result a more or less globular group of such larger masses, +which will be resolvable with comparative ease. And, as +the coalescence and concentration go on, the constituent +masses will gradually become fewer, larger, brighter, and +more densely collected around the common centre of gravity. +See now how completely this inference agrees with +observation. "The circular form is that which most commonly +characterizes resolvable nebulæ," writes Arago. +"Resolvable nebulæ," says Sir John Herschel, "are almost +universally round or oval." Moreover, the centre of each +group habitually displays a closer clustering of the constituent +masses than elsewhere; and it is shown that, under +the law of gravitation, which we know extends to the stars, +this distribution is <i>not</i> one of equilibrium, but implies progressing +concentration. While, just as we inferred that, +according to circumstances, the extent to which aggregation +has been carried must vary; so we find that, in fact, +there are regular nebulæ of all degrees of resolvability, +from those consisting of innumerable minute discrete +masses, to those in which there are a few large bodies +worthy to be called stars. +</p> + +<p> +On the one hand, then, we see that the notion, of +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_256' id='Page_256' name='Page_256'>256</a></span> +late years uncritically received, that the nebulæ are extremely +remote galaxies of stars like those which make up +our own Milky Way, is totally irreconcileable with the +facts—involves us in sundry absurdities. On the other +hand, we see that the hypothesis of nebular condensation +harmonizes with the most recent results of stellar astronomy: +nay more—that it supplies us with an explanation +of various appearances which in its absence would be incomprehensible. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +Descending now to the Solar System, let us consider +first a class of phenomena in some sort transitional—those +offered by comets. In comets we have now existing a +kind of matter like that out of which, according to the +Nebular Hypothesis, the Solar System was evolved. For +the explanation of them, we must hence go back to the time +when the substances forming the sun and planets were yet +unconcentrated. +</p> + +<p> +When diffused matter, precipitated from a rarer +medium, is aggregating, there are certain to be here and +there produced small flocculi, which, either in consequence +of local currents or the conflicting attractions of adjacent +masses, remain detached; as do, for instance, minute +shreds of cloud in a summer sky. In a concentrating +nebula these will, in the great majority of cases, eventually +coalesce with the larger flocculi near to them. But it is +tolerably evident that some of the remotest of these small +flocculi, formed at the outermost parts of the nebula, will +<i>not</i> coalesce with the larger internal masses, but will slowly +follow without overtaking them. The relatively greater +resistance of the medium necessitates this. As a single +feather falling to the ground will be rapidly left behind by +a pillow-full of feathers; so, in their progress to the common +centre of gravity, will the outermost shreds of vapour +be left behind by the great masses of vapour internally +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_257' id='Page_257' name='Page_257'>257</a></span> +situated. But we are not dependent merely on reasoning +for this belief. Observation shows us that the less concentrated +external parts of nebulæ, <i>are</i> left behind by the +more concentrated, internal parts. Examined through high +powers, all nebulæ, even when they have assumed regular +forms, are seen to be surrounded by luminous streaks, of +which the directions show that they are being drawn into +the general mass. Still higher powers bring into view still +smaller, fainter, and more widely-dispersed streaks. And +it cannot be doubted that the minute fragments which no +telescopic aid makes visible, are yet more numerous and +widely dispersed. Thus far, then, inference and observation +are at one. +</p> + +<p> +Granting that the great majority of these outlying portions +of nebulous matter will be drawn into the central +mass long before it reaches a definite form, the presumption +is that some of the very small, far-removed portions +will not be so; but that before they arrive near it, the central +mass will have contracted into a comparatively moderate +bulk. What now will be the characters of these late-arriving +portions? +</p> + +<p> +In the first place, they will have extremely eccentric +orbits. Left behind at a time when they were moving towards +the centre of gravity in slightly-deflected lines, and +therefore having but very small angular velocities, they +will approach the central mass in greatly elongated ellipses; +and rushing round it will go off again into space. That is, +they will behave just as we see comets do; whose orbits +are usually so eccentric as to be indistinguishable from +parabolas. +</p> + +<p> +In the second place, they will come from all parts of +the heavens. Our supposition implies that they were left +behind at a time when the nebulous mass was of irregular +shape, and had not acquired a definite rotary motion; +and as the separation of them would not be from any +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_258' id='Page_258' name='Page_258'>258</a></span> +one surface of the nebulous mass more than another, +the conclusion must be that they will come to the central +body from various directions in space. This, too, +is exactly what happens. Unlike planets, whose orbits +approximate to one plane, comets have orbits that show no +relation to each other; but cut the plane of the ecliptic at +all angles. +</p> + +<p> +In the third place, applying the reasoning already +used, these remotest flocculi of nebulous matter will, at +the outset, be deflected from their straight courses to the +common centre of gravity, not all on one side, but each +on such side as its form determines. And being left behind +before the rotation of the nebula is set up, they +will severally retain their different individual motions. +Hence, following the concentrating mass, they will eventually +go round it on all sides; and as often from right to +left as from left to right. Here again the inference perfectly +corresponds with the facts. While all the planets +go round the sun from west to east, comets as often go +round the sun from east to west as from west to east. Out +of 210 comets known in 1855, 104 are direct, and 106 are +retrograde. This equality is what the law of probabilities +would indicate. +</p> + +<p> +Then, in the fourth place, the physical constitution of +comets completely accords with the hypothesis. The ability +of nebulous matter to concentrate into a concrete form, +depends on its mass. To bring its ultimate atoms into that +proximity requisite for chemical union—requisite, that is, +for the production of denser matter—their repulsion must +be overcome. The only force antagonistic to their repulsion, +is their mutual gravitation. That their mutual gravitation +may generate a pressure and temperature of sufficient +intensity, there must be an enormous accumulation of +them; and even then the approximation can slowly go on +only as fast as the evolved heat escapes. But where the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_259' id='Page_259' name='Page_259'>259</a></span> +quantity of atoms is small, and therefore the force of mutual +gravitation small, there will be nothing to coerce the +atoms into union. Whence we infer that these detached +fragments of nebulous matter will continue in their original +state. We find that they do so. Comets consist of an +extremely rare medium, which, as shown by the description +already quoted from Sir John Herschel, has characters +like those we concluded would belong to partially-condensed +nebulous matter. +</p> + +<p> +Yet another very significant fact is seen in the distribution +of comets. Though they come from all parts of the +heavens, they by no means come in equal abundance from +all parts of the heavens; but are far more numerous about +the poles of the ecliptic than about its plane. Speaking +generally, comets having orbit-planes that are highly inclined +to the ecliptic, are comets having orbits of which the +major axes are highly inclined to the ecliptic—comets that +come from high latitudes. This is not a necessary connexion; +for the planes of the orbits <i>might</i> be highly inclined +to the ecliptic while the major axes were inclined to it very +little. But in the absence of any habitually-observed relation +of this kind, it may safely be concluded that, <i>on the +average</i>, highly-inclined cometary orbits are cometary orbits +with highly-inclined major axes; and that thus, a predominance +of cometary orbits cutting the plane of the +ecliptic at great angles, implies a predominance of cometary +orbits having major axes that cut the ecliptic at great +angles. Now the predominance of highly inclined cometary +orbits, may be gathered from the following table, +compiled by M. Arago, to which we have added a column +giving the results up to a date two years later. +</p> + +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_260' id='Page_260' name='Page_260'>260</a></span> +</p> + +<table border="1" width="60%" rules="groups"> +<colgroup style="width:25%;"></colgroup> +<colgroup style="width:25%;"></colgroup> +<colgroup style="width:25%;"></colgroup> +<colgroup style="width:25%;"></colgroup> +<thead> <tr> + <td>Inclinations.</td> + <td style='width:25%'>Number of<br />Comets<br />in 1831.</td> + <td style='width:25%'>Number of<br />Comets<br />in 1853.</td> + <td style='width:25%'>Number of<br />Comets<br />in 1855.</td> +</tr> </thead> +<tfoot> + <tr> <td class="TC">Total</td> + <td class="TC">137</td> + <td class="TC">201</td> + <td class="TC">210</td> +</tr> +</tfoot> +<tbody> + <tr> <td class="TC"> Deg. Deg.</td> + <td class="TC"> </td> + <td class="TC"> </td> + <td class="TC"> </td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TC">From 0 to 10</td> + <td class="TC">9</td> + <td class="TC">19</td> + <td class="TC">19</td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TC"> " 10 " 20</td> + <td class="TC">13</td> + <td class="TC">18</td> + <td class="TC">19</td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TC"> " 20 " 30</td> + <td class="TC">10</td> + <td class="TC">13</td> + <td class="TC">14</td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TC"> " 30 " 40</td> + <td class="TC">17</td> + <td class="TC">22</td> + <td class="TC">22</td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TC"> " 40 " 50</td> + <td class="TC">14</td> + <td class="TC">35</td> + <td class="TC">36</td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TC"> " 50 " 60</td> + <td class="TC">23</td> + <td class="TC">27</td> + <td class="TC">29</td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TC"> " 60 " 70</td> + <td class="TC">17</td> + <td class="TC">23</td> + <td class="TC">25</td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TC"> " 70 " 80</td> + <td class="TC">19</td> + <td class="TC">26</td> + <td class="TC">27</td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TC"> " 80 " 90</td> + <td class="TC">15</td> + <td class="TC">18</td> + <td class="TC">19</td> +</tr> +</tbody> +</table> + +<p> +At first sight this table seems not to warrant our statement. +Assuming the alleged general relation between the +inclinations of cometary orbits, and the directions in space +from which the comets come, the table may be thought to +show that the frequency of comets increases as we progress +from the plane of the ecliptic up to 45°, and then decreases +up to 90°. But this apparent diminution arises from the +fact that the successive zones of space rapidly diminish in +their areas on approaching the poles. If we allow for +this, we shall find that the excess of comets continues to +increase up to the highest angles of inclination. In the +table below, which, for convenience, is arranged in inverted +order, we have taken as standards of comparison the area +of the zone round the pole, and the number of comets it +contains; and having ascertained the areas of the other +zones, and the numbers of comets they should contain were +comets equally distributed, we have shown how great becomes +the deficiency in descending from the poles of the +ecliptic to its plane. +</p> + +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_261' id='Page_261' name='Page_261'>261</a></span> +</p> + + +<table border="1" width="80%" rules="groups"> +<colgroup style="width:9%;"></colgroup> +<colgroup style="width:9%;"></colgroup> +<colgroup style="width:9%;"></colgroup> +<colgroup style="width:9%;"></colgroup> +<colgroup style="width:9%;"></colgroup> +<colgroup style="width:9%;"></colgroup> +<thead><tr> + <td class="TC" style='vertical-align:bottom;'>Between</td> + <td class="TC" style='vertical-align:bottom;'>Area of Zone.</td> + <td class="TC" style='vertical-align:bottom;'>Number of Comets, if equally distributed.</td> + <td class="TC" style='vertical-align:bottom;'>Actual Number of Comets. </td> + <td class="TC" style='vertical-align:bottom;'>Deficiency.</td> + <td class="TC" style='vertical-align:bottom;'>Relative<br />Abundance.</td> +</tr></thead> +<tbody> + <tr> <td class="TC" style="width:9%;">Deg. Deg.</td> + <td class="TR" style="width:9%;"> </td> + <td class="TR" style="width:9%;"> </td> + <td class="TR" style="width:9%;"> </td> + <td class="TR" style="width:9%;"> </td> + <td class="TR" style="width:9%;"></td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TC">90 and 80</td> + <td class="TR">1</td> + <td class="TR">19</td> + <td class="TR">19</td> + <td class="TR">0</td> + <td class="TR">11.5</td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TC">80 " 70</td> + <td class="TR">2.98</td> + <td class="TR">56.6</td> + <td class="TR">27</td> + <td class="TR">29.6</td> + <td class="TR">5.5</td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TC">70 " 60</td> + <td class="TR">4.85</td> + <td class="TR">92</td> + <td class="TR">25</td> + <td class="TR">67</td> + <td class="TR">3.12</td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TC">60 " 50</td> + <td class="TR">6.6</td> + <td class="TR">125</td> + <td class="TR">29</td> + <td class="TR">96</td> + <td class="TR">2.66</td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TC">50 " 40</td> + <td class="TR">8.13</td> + <td class="TR">154</td> + <td class="TR">36</td> + <td class="TR">118</td> + <td class="TR">2.68</td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TC">40 " 30</td> + <td class="TR">9.42</td> + <td class="TR">179</td> + <td class="TR">22</td> + <td class="TR">157</td> + <td class="TR">1.4</td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TC">30 " 20</td> + <td class="TR">10.42</td> + <td class="TR">198</td> + <td class="TR">14</td> + <td class="TR">184</td> + <td class="TR">0.8</td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TC">20 " 10</td> + <td class="TR">11.1</td> + <td class="TR">210</td> + <td class="TR">19</td> + <td class="TR">191</td> + <td class="TR">1.04</td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TC">10 " 0</td> + <td class="TR">11.5</td> + <td class="TR">218</td> + <td class="TR">19</td> + <td class="TR">199</td> + <td class="TR">1</td> +</tr> +</tbody> +</table> + +<p> +In strictness, the calculation should be made with reference, +not to the plane of the ecliptic, but to the plane of +the sun's equator; and this might or might not render the +progression more regular. Probably, too, the progression +would be made somewhat different were the calculation +based, as it should be, not on the inclinations of orbit-planes, +but on the inclinations of major axes. But even as +it is, the result is sufficiently significant: since, though the +conclusion that comets are 11·5 times more abundant about +the poles of the ecliptic than about its plane, can be but a +rough approximation to the truth, yet no correction of it is +likely very much to change this strong contrast. +</p> + +<p> +What, then, is the meaning of this fact? It has several +meanings. It negatives the supposition, favoured by +Laplace among others, that comets are bodies that were +wandering in space, or have come from other systems; for +the probabilities are infinity to one against the orbits of +such wandering bodies showing any definite relation to the +plane of the Solar System. For the like reason, it negatives +the hypothesis of Lagrange, otherwise objectionable, +that comets have resulted from planetary catastrophes +analogous to that which is supposed to have produced the +asteroids. It clearly shows that, instead of comets being +<i>accidental</i> members of the Solar System, they are <i>necessary</i> +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_262' id='Page_262' name='Page_262'>262</a></span> +members of it—have as distinct a structural relation to it +as the planets themselves. That comets are abundant +round the axis of the Solar System, and grow rarer as we +approach its plane, implies that the genesis of comets has +followed some <i>law</i>—a law in some way concerned with the +genesis of the Solar System. +</p> + +<p> +If we ask for any so-called final cause of this arrangement, +none can be assigned: until a probable use for comets +has been shown, no reason can be given why they +should be thus distributed. But when we consider the +question as one of physical science, we see that comets are +antithetical to planets, not only in their great rarity, in +their motions as indifferently direct or retrograde, in their +eccentric orbits, and in the varied directions of those orbits; +but we see the antithesis further marked in this, that +while planets have some relation to the plane of nebular +rotation, comets have some relation to the axis of nebular +rotation.<a class='fnanchor' id='FA_K' name='FA_K' href='#FN_K'>[K]</a> And without attempting to explain the nature +of this relation, the mere fact that such a relation exists, +indicates that comets have resulted from a process of evolution—points +to a past time when the matter now forming +the Solar System extended to those distant regions of space +which comets visit. +</p> + +<p> +See, then, how differently this class of phenomena bears +on the antagonistic hypotheses. To the hypothesis commonly +received, comets are stumbling-blocks: why there +should be hundreds (or probably thousands) of extremely +rare aeriform masses rushing to and fro round the sun, it +cannot say; any more than it can explain their physical +constitutions, their various and eccentric movements, or +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_263' id='Page_263' name='Page_263'>263</a></span> +their distribution. The hypothesis of evolution, on the +other hand, not only allows of the general answer, that +they are minor results of the genetic process; but also furnishes +us with something like explanations of their several +peculiarities. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +And now, leaving these erratic bodies, let us turn to +the more familiar and important members of the Solar System. +It was the remarkable harmony subsisting among +their movements, which first made Laplace conceive that +the sun, planets, and satellites had resulted from a common +genetic process. As Sir William Herschel, by his observations +on the nebulæ, was led to the conclusion that stars resulted +from the aggregation of diffused matter; so Laplace, +by his observations on the structure of the Solar System, +was led to the conclusion that only by the rotation of aggregating +matter were its peculiarities to be explained. In +his "Exposition du Système du Monde," he enumerates as +the leading evidences of evolution:—1. The movements of +the planets in the same direction and almost in the same +plane; 2. The movements of the satellites in the same direction +as those of the planets; 3. The movement of rotation +of these various bodies and of the sun in the same direction +as the orbitual motions, and in planes little different; +4. The small eccentricity of the orbits of the planets and +satellites, as contrasted with the great eccentricity of the +cometary orbits. And the probability that these harmonious +movements had a common cause, he calculates as two +hundred thousand billions to one. +</p> + +<p> +Observe that this immense preponderance of probability +does not point to a common cause under the form ordinarily +conceived—an Invisible Power working after the method +of "a Great Artificer;" but to an Invisible Power +working after the method of evolution. For though the +supporters of the common hypothesis may argue that it +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_264' id='Page_264' name='Page_264'>264</a></span> +was necessary for the sake of stability that the planets +should go round the sun in the same direction and nearly +in one plane, they cannot thus account for the direction of +the axial motions. The mechanical equilibrium would not +have been at all interfered with, had the sun been without +any rotatory movement; or had he revolved on his axis in +a direction opposite to that in which the planets go round +him; or in a direction at right angles to the plane of their +orbits. With equal safety the motion of the Moon round +the Earth might have been the reverse of the Earth's motion +round its axis; or the motion of Jupiter's satellites +might similarly have been at variance with his axial motion; +or that of Saturn's satellites with his. As, however, none of +these alternatives have been followed, the uniformity must be +considered, in this case as in all others, evidence of subordination +to some general law—implies what we call natural +causation, as distinguished from arbitrary arrangement. +</p> + +<p> +Hence the hypothesis of evolution would be the only +probable one, even in the absence of any clue to the particular +mode of evolution. But when we have, propounded +by a mathematician whose authority is second to none, a +definite theory of this evolution based on established mechanical +laws, which accounts for these various peculiarities, +as well as for many minor ones, the conclusion that the Solar +System <i>was</i> evolved becomes almost irresistible. +</p> + +<p> +The general nature of Laplace's theory scarcely needs +stating. Books of popular astronomy have familiarized +most readers with his conceptions;—namely, that the matter +now condensed into the Solar System, once formed a +vast rotating spheroid of extreme rarity extending beyond +the orbit of Neptune; that as this spheroid contracted, its +rate of rotation necessarily increased; that by augmenting +centrifugal force its equatorial zone was from time to time +prevented from following any further the concentrating +mass, and so remained behind as a revolving ring; that +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_265' id='Page_265' name='Page_265'>265</a></span> +each of the revolving rings thus periodically detached, +eventually became ruptured at its weakest point, and contracting +on itself, gradually aggregated into a rotating +mass; that this, like the parent mass, increased in rapidity +of rotation as it decreased in size, and, where the centrifugal +force was sufficient, similarly threw off rings, which finally +collapsed into rotating spheroids; and that thus out of +these primary and secondary rings there arose planets and +their satellites, while from the central mass there resulted the +sun. Moreover, it is tolerably well known that this <i>à priori</i> +reasoning harmonizes with the results of experiment. +Dr. Plateau has shown that when a mass of fluid is, as far +may be, protected from the action of external forces, it +will, if made to rotate with adequate velocity, form detached +rings; and that these rings will break up into spheroids +which turn on their axes in the same direction with the +central mass. Thus, given the original nebula, which, acquiring +a vortical motion in the way we have explained, +has at length concentrated into a vast spheroid of aeriform +matter moving round its axis—given this, and mechanical +principles explain the rest. The genesis of a solar system +displaying movements like those observed, may be predicted; +and the reasoning on which the prediction is based is countenanced +by experiment.<a class='fnanchor' id='FA_L' name='FA_L' href='#FN_L'>[L]</a> +</p> + +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_266' id='Page_266' name='Page_266'>266</a></span> +But now let us inquire whether, besides these most conspicuous +peculiarities of the Solar System, sundry minor ones +are not similarly explicable. Take first the relation between +the planes of the planetary orbits and the plane of +the sun's equator. If, when the nebulous spheroid extended +beyond the orbit of Neptune, all parts of it had been +revolving exactly in the same plane or rather in parallel +planes—if all its parts had had one axis; then the planes +of the successive rings would have been coincident with +each other and with that of the sun's rotation. But it +needs only to go back to the earlier stages of concentration, +to see that there could exist no such complete uniformity +of motion. The flocculi, already described as precipitated +from an irregular and widely-diffused nebula, and as starting +from all points to their common centre of gravity, must +move not in one plane but in innumerable planes, cutting +each other at all angles. +</p> + +<p> +The gradual establishment of a vortical motion such as +we saw must eventually arise, and such as we at present +see indicated in the spiral nebulæ, is the gradual approach +toward motion in one plane—the plane of greatest momentum. +But this plane can only slowly become decided. +Flocculi not moving in this plane, but entering into the +aggregation at various inclinations, will tend to perform +their revolutions round its centre in their own planes; and +only in course of time will their motions be partly destroyed +by conflicting ones, and partly resolved into the general +motion. Especially will the outermost portions of the rotating +mass retain for long time their more or less independent +directions; seeing that neither by friction nor by the +central forces will they be so much restrained. Hence the +probabilities are, that the planes of the rings first detached +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_267' id='Page_267' name='Page_267'>267</a></span> +will differ considerably from the average plane of the mass; +while the planes of those detached latest will differ from it +less. Here, again, inference to a considerable extent agrees +with observation. Though the progression is irregular, yet +on the average the inclinations decrease on approaching the +sun. +</p> + +<p> +Consider next the movements of the planets on their +axes. Laplace alleged as one among other evidences of +a common genetic cause, that the planets rotate in a direction +the same as that in which they go round the sun, and +on axes approximately perpendicular to their orbits. Since +he wrote, an exception to this general rule has been discovered +in the case of Uranus, and another still more recently +in the case of Neptune—judging, at least, from the motions +of their respective satellites. This anomaly has been +thought to throw considerable doubt on his speculation; +and at first sight it does so. But a little reflection will, +we believe, show that the anomaly is by no means an insoluble +one; and that Laplace simply went too far in putting +down as a certain result of nebular genesis, what is, in some +instances, only a probable result. The cause he pointed +out as determining the direction of rotation, is the greater +absolute velocity of the outer part of the detached ring. +But there are conditions under which this difference of velocity +may be relatively insignificant, even if it exists: and +others in which, though existing to a considerable extent, it +will not suffice to determine the direction of rotation. +</p> + +<p> +Note, in the first place, that in virtue of their origin, +the different strata of a concentrating nebulous spheroid, +will be very unlikely to move with equal angular velocities: +only by friction continued for an indefinite time will +their angular velocities be made uniform; and especially +will the outermost strata, for reasons just now assigned, +maintain for the longest time their differences of movement. +Hence, it is possible that in the rings first detached +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_268' id='Page_268' name='Page_268'>268</a></span> +the outer rims may not have greater absolute velocities; +and thus the resulting planets may have retrograde rotations. +Again, the sectional form of the ring is a circumstance +of moment; and this form must have differed more +or less in every case. To make this clear, some illustration +will be necessary. Suppose we take an orange, and +assuming the marks of the stalk and the calyx to represent +the poles, cut off round the line of the equator a strip of +peel. This strip of peel, if placed on the table with its +ends meeting, will make a ring shaped like the hoop of a +barrel—a ring whose thickness in the line of its diameter +is very small, but whose width in a direction perpendicular +to its diameter is considerable. Suppose, now, that in +place of an orange, which is a spheroid of very slight +oblateness, we take a spheroid of very great oblateness, +shaped somewhat like a lens of small convexity. If from +the edge or equator of this lens-shaped spheroid, a ring of +moderate size were cut off, it would be unlike the previous +ring in this respect, that its greatest thickness would be in +the line of its diameter, and not in a line at right angles +to its diameter: it would be a ring shaped somewhat +like a quoit, only far more slender. That is to say, according +to the oblateness of a rotating spheroid, the detached +ring may be either a hoop-shaped ring or a quoit-shaped ring. +</p> + +<p> +One further fact must be noted. In a much-flattened +or lens-shaped spheroid, the form of the ring will vary with +its bulk. A very slender ring, taking off just the equatorial +surface, will be hoop-shaped; while a tolerably massive +ring, trenching appreciably on the diameter of the spheroid, +will be quoit-shaped. Thus, then, according to the oblateness +of the spheroid and the bulkiness of the detached ring, +will the greatest thickness of that ring be in the direction +of its plane, or in a direction perpendicular to its plane. +But this circumstance must greatly affect the rotation of +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_269' id='Page_269' name='Page_269'>269</a></span> +the resulting planet. In a decidedly hoop-shaped nebulous +ring, the differences of velocity between the inner and outer +surfaces will be very small; and such a ring, aggregating +into a mass whose greatest diameter is at right angles +to the plane of the orbit, will almost certainly give to this +mass a predominant tendency to rotate in a direction at +right angles to the plane of the orbit. Where the ring is +but little hoop-shaped, and the difference of the inner and +outer velocities also greater, as it must be, the opposing +tendencies—one to produce rotation in the plane of the +orbit, and the other rotation perpendicular to it—will +both be influential; and an intermediate plane of rotation +will be taken up. While, if the nebulous ring is decidedly +quoit-shaped, and therefore aggregates into a mass +whose greatest dimension lies in the plane of the orbit, +both tendencies will conspire to produce rotation in that plane. +</p> + +<p> +On referring to the facts, we find them, as far as can be +judged, in harmony with this view. Considering the enormous +circumference of Uranus's orbit, and his comparatively +small mass, we may conclude that the ring from +which he resulted was a comparatively slender, and therefore +a hoop-shaped one: especially if the nebulous mass +was at that time less oblate than afterwards, which it must +have been. Hence, a plane of rotation nearly perpendicular +to his orbit, and a direction of rotation having no reference +to his orbitual movement. Saturn has a mass seven +times as great, and an orbit of less than half the diameter; +whence it follows that his genetic ring, having less than +half the circumference, and less than half the vertical thickness +(the spheroid being then certainly <i>as</i> oblate, and indeed +<i>more</i> oblate), must have had considerably greater +width—must have been less hoop-shaped, and more approaching +to the quoit-shaped: notwithstanding difference +of density, it must have been at least two or three times as +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_270' id='Page_270' name='Page_270'>270</a></span> +broad in the line of its plane. Consequently, Saturn has a +rotatory movement in the same direction as the movement +of translation, and in a plane differing from it by thirty +degrees only. +</p> + +<p> +In the case of Jupiter, again, whose mass is three and a +half times that of Saturn, and whose orbit is little more +than half the size, the genetic ring must, for the like reasons, +have been still broader—decidedly quoit-shaped, we +may say; and there hence resulted a planet whose plane of +rotation differs from that of his orbit by scarcely more than +three degrees. Once more, considering the comparative +insignificance of Mars, Earth, Venus, and Mercury, it follows +that the diminishing circumferences of the rings not +sufficing to account for the smallness of the resulting +masses, the rings must have been slender ones—must have +again approximated to the hoop-shaped; and thus it happens +that the planes of rotation again diverge more or +less widely from those of the orbits. Taking into account +the increasing oblateness of the original spheroid in the +successive stages of its concentration, and the different +proportions of the detached rings, it seems to us that the +respective rotatory motions are not at variance with the +hypothesis. +</p> + +<p> +Not only the directions, but also the velocities of rotation +are thus explicable. It might naturally be supposed +that the large planets would revolve on their axes more +slowly than the small ones: our terrestrial experiences incline +us to expect this. It is a corollary from the Nebular +Hypothesis, however, more especially when interpreted as +above, that while large planets will rotate rapidly, small +ones will rotate slowly; and we find that in fact they do +so. Other things equal, a concentrating nebulous mass +that is diffused through a wide space, and whose outer parts +have, therefore, to travel from great distances to the common +centre of gravity, will acquire a high axial velocity in +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_271' id='Page_271' name='Page_271'>271</a></span> +course of its aggregation: and conversely with a small +mass. Still more marked will be the difference where the +form of the genetic ring conspires to increase the rate of +rotation. Other things equal, a genetic ring that is +broadest in the direction of its plane will produce a mass +rotating faster than one that is broadest at right angles +to its plane; and if the ring is absolutely as well as relatively +broad, the rotation will be very rapid. These conditions +were, as we saw, fulfilled in the case of Jupiter; +and Jupiter goes round his axis in less than ten hours. +Saturn, in whose case, as above explained, the conditions +were less favourable to rapid rotation, takes ten hours and +a half. While Mars, Earth, Venus, and Mercury, whose +rings must have been slender, take more than double the +time: the smallest taking the longest. +</p> + +<p> +From the planets, let us now pass to the satellites. +Here, beyond the conspicuous facts commonly adverted to, +that they go round their primaries in the same directions +that these turn on their axes, in planes diverging but +little from their equators, and in orbits nearly circular, +there are several significant traits which must not be passed over. +</p> + +<p> +One of them is, that each set of satellites repeats in +miniature the relations of the planets to the sun, both in the +respects just named, and in the order of the sizes. On progressing +from the outside of the Solar System to its centre, +we see that there are four large external planets, and four +internal ones which are comparatively small. A like contrast +holds between the outer and inner satellites in every +case. Among the four satellites of Jupiter, the parallel is +maintained as well as the comparative smallness of the number +allows: the two outer ones are the largest, and the +two inner ones the smallest. According to the most recent +observations made by Mr. Lassell, the like is true of the +four satellites of Uranus. In the case of Saturn, who has +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_272' id='Page_272' name='Page_272'>272</a></span> +eight secondary planets revolving round him, the likeness +is still more close in arrangement as in number: +the three outer satellites are large, the inner ones small; +and the contrasts of size are here much greater between +the largest, which is nearly as big as Mars, and the +smallest, which is with difficulty discovered even by the +best telescopes. +</p> + +<p> +Moreover, the analogy does not end here. Just as with +the planets, there is at first a general increase of size on +travelling inwards from Neptune and Uranus, which do +not differ very widely, to Saturn, which is much larger, +and to Jupiter, which is the largest; so of the eight satellites +of Saturn, the largest is not the outermost, but the +outermost save two; so of Jupiter's four secondaries, the +largest is the most remote but one. Now these analogies +are inexplicable by the theory of final causes. For purposes +of lighting, if this be the presumed object of these +attendant bodies, it would have been far better had the +larger been the nearer: at present, their remoteness renders +them of less service than the smallest. To the Nebular +Hypothesis, however, these analogies give further support. +They show the action of a common physical cause. +They imply a <i>law</i> of genesis, holding in the secondary systems +as in the primary system. +</p> + +<p> +Still more instructive shall we find the distribution of +the satellites—their absence in some instances, and their +presence in other instances, in smaller or greater numbers. +The argument from design fails to account for this distribution. +Supposing it be granted that planets nearer the +Sun than ourselves, have no need of moons (though, considering +that their nights are as dark, and, relatively to +their brilliant days, even darker than ours, the need seems +quite as great)—supposing this to be granted; what is to +be said of Mars, which, placed half as far again from the +Sun as we are, has yet no moon? Or again, how are we +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_273' id='Page_273' name='Page_273'>273</a></span> +to explain the fact that Uranus has but half as many moons +as Saturn, though he is at double the distance? While, +however, the current presumption is untenable, the Nebular +Hypothesis furnishes us with an explanation. It actually +enables us to predict, by a not very complex calculation, +where satellites will be abundant and where they will be +absent. The reasoning is as follows. +</p> + +<p> +In a rotating nebulous spheroid that is concentrating +into a planet, there are at work two antagonist mechanical +tendencies—the centripetal and the centrifugal. While +the force of gravitation draws all the atoms of the spheroid +together, their tangential momentum is resolvable into two +parts, of which one resists gravitation. The ratio which +this centrifugal force bears to gravitation, varies, other +things equal, as the square of the velocity. Hence, the +aggregation of a rotating nebulous spheroid will be more +or less strongly opposed by this outward impetus of its +particles, according as its rate of rotation is high or low: +the opposition, in equal spheroids, being four times as great +when the rotation is twice as rapid; nine times as great +when it is three times as rapid; and so on. Now, the detachment +of a ring from a planet-forming body of nebulous +matter, implies that at its equatorial zone the centrifugal +force produced by concentration has become so great as to +balance gravity. Whence it is tolerably obvious that the +detachment of rings will be most frequent from those +masses in which the centrifugal tendency bears the greatest +ratio to the gravitative tendency. Though it is not possible +to calculate what proportions these two tendencies had +to each other in the genetic spheroid which produced each +planet; it is possible to calculate where each was the greatest +and where the least. While it is true that the ratio +which centrifugal force now bears to gravity at the equator +of each planet, differs widely from that which it bore +during the earlier stages of concentration; and while it is +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_274' id='Page_274' name='Page_274'>274</a></span> +true that this change in the ratio, depending on the degree +of contraction each planet has undergone, has in no two +cases been the same; yet we may fairly conclude that +where the ratio is still the greatest, it has been the greatest +from the beginning. The satellite-forming tendency which +each planet had, will be approximately indicated by the +proportion now existing in it between the aggregating +power, and the power that has opposed aggregation. On +making the requisite calculations, a remarkable harmony +with this inference comes out. The following table shows +what fraction the centrifugal force is of the centripetal force +in every case; and the relation which that fraction bears +to the number of satellites. +</p> + +<table> +<thead> <tr> + <td class="TC" style='width:14%'>Mercury.</td> + <td class="TC" style='width:14%'>Venus.</td> + <td class="TC" style='width:14%'>Earth.</td> + <td class="TC" style='width:14%'>Mars.</td> + <td class="TC" style='width:14%'>Jupiter.</td> + <td class="TC" style='width:14%'>Saturn.</td> + <td class="TC" style='width:14%'>Uranus.</td> +</tr></thead> + <tr> <td class="TC">1</td> + <td class="TC">1</td> + <td class="TC">1</td> + <td class="TC">1</td> + <td class="TC">1</td> + <td class="TC">1</td> + <td class="TC">1</td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TC">——</td> + <td class="TC">——</td> + <td class="TC">——</td> + <td class="TC">——</td> + <td class="TC">——</td> + <td class="TC">——</td> + <td class="TC">——</td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TC">362</td> + <td class="TC">282</td> + <td class="TC">289</td> + <td class="TC">326</td> + <td class="TC">14</td> + <td class="TC">6.2</td> + <td class="TC">9</td> +</tr> +<tr><td> </td></tr> + <tr> <td class="TC"> </td> + <td class="TC"> </td> + <td class="TC">1 Satellite. </td> + <td class="TC"> </td> + <td class="TC">4 Satellites. </td> + <td class="TC">8 Satellites and<br />three rings.</td> + <td class="TC">4 (or 6 according<br />to Herschel.)</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p> +Thus, taking as our standard of comparison the Earth +with its one moon, we see that Mercury and Mars, in which +the centrifugal force is relatively less, have no moons. Jupiter, +in which it is far greater, has four moons. Uranus, +in which it is greater still, has certainly four, and probably +more than four. Saturn, in which it is the greatest, being +nearly one-sixth of gravity, has, including his rings, eleven +attendants. The only instance in which there is imperfect +conformity with observation is that of Venus. Here it appears +that the centrifugal force is relatively a very little +greater than in the Earth; and according to the hypothesis, +Venus ought, therefore, to have a satellite. Of this seeming +anomaly there are two explanations. Not a few astronomers +have asserted that Venus <i>has</i> a satellite. Cassini, +Short, Montaigne of Limoges, Roedkier, and Montbarron, +professed to have seen it; and Lambert calculated its +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_275' id='Page_275' name='Page_275'>275</a></span> +elements. Granting, however, that they were mistaken, there +is still the fact that the diameter of Venus is variously estimated; +and that a very small change in the data would +make the fraction less instead of greater than that of the +Earth. But admitting the discrepancy, we think that this +correspondence, even as it now stands, is one of the strongest +confirmations of the Nebular Hypothesis.<a class='fnanchor' id='FA_M' name='FA_M' href='#FN_M'>[M]</a> +</p> + +<p> +Certain more special peculiarities of the satellites must +be mentioned as suggestive. One of them is the relation +between the period of revolution and that of rotation. +No discoverable purpose is served by making the Moon go +round its axis in the same time that it goes round the +Earth: for our convenience, a more rapid axial motion +would have been equally good; and for any possible inhabitants +of the Moon, much better. Against the alternative +supposition, that the equality occurred by accident, the +probabilities are, as Laplace says, infinity to one. But to +this arrangement, which is explicable neither as the result +of design nor of chance, the Nebular Hypothesis furnishes +a clue. In his "Exposition du Système du Monde," Laplace +shows, by reasoning too detailed to be here repeated, +that under the circumstances such a relation of movements +would be likely to establish itself. +</p> + +<p> +Among Jupiter's satellites, which severally display these +same synchronous movements, there also exists a still more +remarkable relation. "If the mean angular velocity of the +first satellite be added to twice that of the third, the sum +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_276' id='Page_276' name='Page_276'>276</a></span> +will be equal to three times that of the second;" and +"from this it results that the situations of any two of them +being given, that of the third can be found." Now here, as +before, no conceivable advantage results. Neither in this +case can the connexion have been accidental: the probabilities +are infinity to one to the contrary. But again, according +to Laplace, the Nebular Hypothesis supplies a solution. +Are not these significant facts? +</p> + +<p> +Most significant fact of all, however, is that presented +by the rings of Saturn. As Laplace remarks, they are, as +it were, still extant witnesses of the genetic process he +propounded. Here we have, continuing permanently, +forms of matter like those through which each planet and +satellite once passed; and their movements are just what, +in conformity with the hypothesis, they should be. "La +durée de la rotation d'une planete doit donc être, d'apres +cette hypothèse, plus petite que la durée de la révolution +du corps le plus voisin qui circule autour d'elle," says Laplace.<a class='fnanchor' id='FA_N' name='FA_N' href='#FN_N'>[N]</a> +And he then points out that the time of Saturn's +rotation is to that of his rings as 427 to 438—an amount +of difference such as was to be expected. +</p> + +<p> +But besides the existence of these rings, and their +movements in the required manner, there is a highly suggestive +circumstance which Laplace has not remarked—namely, +the place of their occurrence. If the Solar System +was produced after the manner popularly supposed, +then there is no reason why the rings of Saturn should not +have encircled him at a comparatively great distance. Or, +instead of being given to Saturn, who in their absence +would still have had eight satellites, such rings might have +been given to Mars, by way of compensation for a moon. +Or they might have been given to Uranus, who, for purposes +of illumination, has far greater need of them. On +the common hypothesis, we repeat, no reason can be +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_277' id='Page_277' name='Page_277'>277</a></span> +assigned for their existence in the place where we find them. +But on the hypothesis of evolution, the arrangement, so far +from offering a difficulty, offers another confirmation. +These rings are found where alone they could have been +produced—close to the body of a planet whose centrifugal +force bears a great proportion to his gravitative force. +That permanent rings should exist at any great distance +from a planet's body, is, on the Nebular Hypothesis, manifestly +impossible. Rings detached early in the process of +concentration, and therefore consisting of gaseous matter +having extremely little power of cohesion, can have no +ability to resist the disrupting forces due to imperfect balance; +and must, therefore, collapse into satellites. A liquid +ring is the only one admitting of permanence. But a liquid +ring can be produced only when the aggregation is approaching +its extreme—only when gaseous matter is passing +into liquid, and the mass is about to assume the planetary +form. And even then it cannot be produced save under +special conditions. Gaining a rapidly-increasing preponderance, +as the gravitative force does during the closing +stages of concentration, the centrifugal force cannot in ordinary +cases cause the detachment of rings when the mass +has become dense. Only where the centrifugal force has +all along been very great, and remains powerful to the last, +as in Saturn, can liquid rings be formed. Thus the Nebular +Hypothesis shows us why such appendages surround +Saturn, but exist nowhere else. +</p> + +<p> +And then, let us not forget the fact, discovered within +these few years, that Saturn possesses a <i>nebulous</i> ring, +through which his body is seen as through a thick veil. In +a position where alone such a thing seems preservable—suspended, +as it were, between the denser rings and the +planet—there still continues one of these annular masses of +diffused matter from which satellites and planets are believed +to have originated. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_278' id='Page_278' name='Page_278'>278</a></span> +We find, then, that besides those most conspicuous peculiarities +of the Solar System, which first suggested the +theory of its evolution, there are many minor ones pointing +in the same direction. Were there no other evidence, +these mechanical arrangements would, considered in their +totality, go far to establish the Nebular Hypothesis. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +From the mechanical arrangements of the Solar System, +turn we now to its physical characters; and, first, let +us consider the inferences deducible from relative specific +gravities. +</p> + +<p> +The fact that, speaking generally, the denser planets are +the nearer to the Sun, is by some considered as adding +another to the many indications of nebular origin. Legitimately +assuming that the outermost parts of a rotating +nebulous spheroid, in its earlier stages of concentration, +will be comparatively rare; and that the increasing density +which the whole mass acquires as it contracts, must hold +of the outermost parts as well as the rest; it is argued +that the rings successively detached will be more and more +dense, and will form planets of higher and higher specific +gravities. But passing over other objections, this explanation +is quite inadequate to account for the facts. Using +the Earth as a standard of comparison, the relative densities +run thus:— +</p> + +<table> + <tr> <td class="TC">Neptune.</td> + <td class="TC">Uranus.</td> + <td class="TC">Saturn.</td> + <td class="TC">Jupiter.</td> + <td class="TC">Mars.</td> + <td class="TC">Earth.</td> + <td class="TC">Venus.</td> + <td class="TC">Mercury.</td> + <td class="TC">Sun.</td> +</tr> + <tr> <td class="TC">0.14</td> + <td class="TC">0.24</td> + <td class="TC">0.14</td> + <td class="TC">0.24</td> + <td class="TC">0.95</td> + <td class="TC">1.00</td> + <td class="TC">0.92</td> + <td class="TC">1.12</td> + <td class="TC">0.25</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p> +Two seemingly insurmountable objections are presented +by this series. The first is, that the progression is but a +broken one. Neptune is as dense as Saturn, which, by the +hypothesis, it ought not to be. Uranus is as dense as Jupiter, +which it ought not to be. Uranus is denser than +Saturn, and the Earth is denser than Venus—facts which +not only give no countenance to, but directly contradict, +the alleged explanation. The second objection, still more +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_279' id='Page_279' name='Page_279'>279</a></span> +manifestly fatal, is the low specific gravity of the Sun. If, +when the matter of the Sun filled the orbit of Mercury, its +state of aggregation was such that the detached ring +formed a planet having a specific gravity equal to that of +iron; then the Sun itself, now that it has concentrated, +should have a specific gravity much greater than that of +iron; whereas its specific gravity is not much above that +of water. Instead of being far denser than the nearest +planet, it is not one-fourth as dense. And a parallel relation +holds between Jupiter and his smallest satellite.<a class='fnanchor' id='FA_O' name='FA_O' href='#FN_O'>[O]</a> +</p> + +<p> +While these anomalies render untenable the position +that the relative specific gravities of the planets are direct +indications of nebular condensation; it by no means follows +that they negative it. On the contrary, we believe +that the facts admit of an interpretation quite consistent +with the hypothesis of Laplace. +</p> + +<p> +There are three possible causes of unlike specific gravities +in the members of our Solar System:—1. Differences +between the kinds of matter or matters composing them. +2. Differences between the quantities of matter; for, other +things equal, the mutual gravitation of atoms will make a +large mass denser than a small one. 3. Differences between +the structures: the masses being either solid or liquid +throughout, or having central cavities filled with elastic +aeriform substance. Of these three conceivable causes, +that commonly assigned is the first, more or less modified +by the second. The extremely low specific gravity of Saturn, +which but little exceeds that of cork (and, on this hypothesis, +must at his surface be considerably less than that +of cork) is supposed to arise from the intrinsic lightness of +his substance. That the Sun weighs not much more than +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_280' id='Page_280' name='Page_280'>280</a></span> +an equal bulk of water, is taken as evidence that the matter +he consists of is but little heavier than water; although, +considering his enormous gravitative force, which at his +surface is twenty-eight times the gravitative force at the +surface of the Earth, and considering his enormous mass, +which is 390,000 times that of the Earth, the matter he is +made of can, in such case, have no analogy to the liquids +or solids we know. However, spite of these difficulties, +the current hypothesis is, that the Sun and planets, inclusive +of the Earth, are either solid or liquid, or have solid +crusts with liquid nuclei: their unlike specific gravities resulting +from unlikenesses of substance. And indeed, at +first sight, this would seem to be the only tenable supposition; +seeing that, unless prevented by some immense resisting +force, gravitation must obliterate any internal cavity by +collapsing the surrounding liquid or solid matter. +</p> + +<p> +Nevertheless, that the Earth, in common with other +members of the Solar System, is solid, or else consists of a +solid shell having a cavity entirely filled with molten matter, +is not an established fact: it is nothing but a supposition. +We must not let its familiarity and apparent feasibility +delude us into an uncritical acceptance of it. If we +find an alternative supposition which, physically considered, +is equally possible, we are bound to consider it. And if it +not only avoids the difficulties above pointed out, but many +others hereafter to be mentioned, we must give it the preference. +</p> + +<p> +Before proceeding to consider what the Nebular Hypothesis +indicates respecting the internal structures of the +Sun and planets, we may state that our reasonings, though +of a kind not admitting of direct verification, are nothing +more than deductions from the established principles of +physics. We have submitted them to an authority not inferior +to any that can be named; and while unprepared to +commit himself to them, he yet sees nothing to object. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_281' id='Page_281' name='Page_281'>281</a></span> +Starting, then, with a rotating spheroid of aeriform matter, +in the later stages of its concentration, but before it +has begun to take a liquid or solid form, let us inquire what +must be the actions going on in it. Mutual gravitation +continually aggregates its atoms into a smaller and denser +mass; and the aggregating force goes on increasing, as the +common centre of gravity is approached. An obstacle to +concentration, however, exists in the centrifugal force, +which at this stage bears a far higher ratio to gravity than +afterwards, and in a gaseous spheroid must produce a very +oblate form. At the same time, the approximation of the +atoms is resisted by a force which, in being overcome, +is evolved as heat. This heat must be greatest where +the atoms are subject to the highest pressure—namely, +about the central parts. And as fast as it escapes into +space, further approximation and further generation of +heat must take place. But in a gaseous spheroid, having +internal parts hotter than its external parts, there must be +some circulation. The currents must set from the hottest +region to the coolest by some particular route; and from +the coolest to the hottest by some other route. In a very +oblate spheroid, the coolest region must be that about the +equator: the surface there bearing so large a ratio to the +mass. Hence there will be currents from the centre to the +equator, and others from the equator to the centre. What +will be the special courses of these currents? Supposing +an original state of rest, about to pass into motion in obedience +to the disturbing forces, the currents commencing at +the centre will follow the lines of most rapidly-decreasing +density; seeing that the inertia will be least in those lines. +That is to say, there will be a current from the centre towards +each pole, along the axis of rotation; and the space +thus continually left vacant will be filled by the collapse of +matter coming in at right angles to the axis. The process +cannot end here, however. If there are constant currents +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_282' id='Page_282' name='Page_282'>282</a></span> +from the centre towards the poles, there must be a constant +accumulation at the poles; the spheroid will be ever becoming +more protuberant about the poles than the conditions +of mechanical equilibrium permit. If, however, the +mass at the poles is thus ever in excess, it must, by the +forces acting on it, be constantly moved over the outer surface +of the spheroid from the poles towards the equator: +thus only can that form which rotation necessitates be maintained. +And a further result of this transfer of matter +from the centre, by way of the poles, to the equator, must +be the establishment of counter-currents from the equator +in diametrical lines, to the centre. +</p> + +<p> +Mark now the changes of temperature that must occur +in these currents. An aeriform mass ascending from the +centre towards either pole, will expand as it approaches the +surface, in consequence of the diminution of pressure. +But expansion, involving an absorption of heat, will entail +a diminished temperature; and the temperature will be +further lowered by the greater freedom of radiation into +space. This rarefied and cooled mass must be still more +rarefied and cooled in its progress over the surface of the +spheroid to the equator. Continually thrust further from +the pole by the ceaseless accumulation there, it must acquire +an ever-increasing rotatory motion and an ever-increasing +centrifugal force: whence must follow expansion +and absorption of heat. To the refrigeration thus caused +must be added that resulting from radiation, which, at each +advance towards the equator, will be less hindered. And +when the mass we have thus followed arrives at the equator, +it will have reached its maximum rarity and maximum +coolness. Conversely, every portion of a current proceeding +in a diametrical direction from the equator to the centre, +must progressively rise in temperature; in virtue alike of the +increasing pressure, the gradual arrest of motion, and the diminished +rate of radiation. Note, lastly, that this circulation +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_283' id='Page_283' name='Page_283'>283</a></span> +will go on, but slowly. As the matter proceeding from the +equator towards the centre must have its rotatory motion destroyed, +while that proceeding from the poles to the equator +must have rotatory motion given to it, it follows that an enormous +amount of inertia has to be overcome; and this must +make the currents so slow as to prevent them from producing +anything like an equality of temperature. +</p> + +<p> +Such being the constitution of a concentrating spheroid +of gaseous matter, where will the gaseous matter begin to +condense into liquid? The usual assumption has been, +that in a nebulous mass approaching towards the planetary +form, the liquefaction will first occur at the centre. We believe +this assumption is inconsistent with established physical +principles. +</p> + +<p> +Observe first that it is contrary to analogy. That the +matter of the Earth was liquid before any of it became solid, +is generally admitted. Where has it first solidified? +Not at the centre, but at the surface. Now the general +principles which apply to the condensation of liquid matter +into solid, apply also to the condensation of gaseous matter +into liquid. Hence if the once liquid substance of the +Earth first solidified at the surface, the implication is that +its once aeriform substance first liquified at the surface. +</p> + +<p> +But we have no need to rest in analogy. On considering +what must happen in a rotating gaseous spheroid having +currents moving as above described, we shall see that +external condensation is a corollary. A nebulous mass, +when it has arrived at this stage, will consist of an aeriform +mixture of various matters; the heavier and more condensible +matters being contained in the rarer or less condensible, +in the same way that water is contained in air. And +the inference must be, that at a certain stage, some of +these denser matters will be precipitated in the shape of a +cloud.<a class='fnanchor' id='FA_P' name='FA_P' href='#FN_P'>[P]</a> +</p> + +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_284' id='Page_284' name='Page_284'>284</a></span> +Now, what are the laws of precipitation from gases? +If a gas through which some other substance is diffused in +a gaseous state, expands in consequence of the removal of +pressure, it will, when the rarefaction and consequent cooling +reach a certain point, begin to let fall the suspended +substance. Conversely, if, a gas, saturated even with some +substance, is subject to increased pressure, and is allowed +to retain the additional heat which that pressure generates; +so far from letting fall what it contains, it will gain the +power to take up more. See then, the inference respecting +condensation in a nebulous spheroid. The currents +proceeding from the equator to the centre, subject to increasing +pressure, and acquiring the heat due both to this +increasing pressure and to arrested motion, will have no +tendency to deposit their suspended substances, but rather +the reverse: a formation of liquid matter at the centre of +the mass will be impossible. Contrariwise, the gaseous +currents moving from the centre to the poles and thence +to the equator, expanding as they go, first from diminished +pressure and afterwards from increased centrifugal force; +and losing heat, not only by expansion, but by more rapid +radiation; will have less and less power to retain the matter +diffused through them. The earliest precipitation will +take place in the region of extremest rarefaction; namely, +about the equator. An equatorial belt of cloud will be +first formed, and widened into a zone, will by-and-by begin +to condense into liquid.<a class='fnanchor' id='FA_Q' name='FA_Q' href='#FN_Q'>[Q]</a> Gradually this liquid film will extend +itself on each side the equator, and encroaching on +the two hemispheres, will eventually close over at the poles: +thus producing a thin hollow globe, or rather spheroid, filled +with gaseous matter. We do not mean that this +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_285' id='Page_285' name='Page_285'>285</a></span> +condensation will take place at the very outermost surface; for +probably, round the denser gases forming the principal mass, +there will extend strata of gases too rare and too cool to +be entangled in these processes. It is the surface of this +inner spheroid of denser gases to which our reasoning +points as the place of earliest condensation. +</p> + +<p> +The internal circulation we have described, continuing, +as it must, after the formation of this liquid film, there will +still go on the radiation of heat, and the progressive aggregation. +The film will thicken at the expense of the internal +gaseous substances precipitated on it. As it thickens, +as the globe contracts, and as the gravitative force augments, +the pressure will increase; and the evolution and +radiation of heat will go on more rapidly. Eventually, +however, when the liquid shell becomes very thick, and the +internal cavity relatively small, the obstacle put to the escape +of heat by this thick liquid shell, with its slowly-circulating +currents, will turn the scale: the temperature of the +outer surface will begin to diminish, and a solid crust will +form while the internal cavity is yet unobliterated. +</p> + +<p> +"But what," it may be asked, "will become of this +gaseous nucleus when exposed to the enormous gravitative +pressure of a shell some thousands of miles thick? How +can aeriform matter withstand such a pressure?" Very +readily. It has been proved that even when the heat generated +by compression is allowed to escape, some gases remain +uncondensible by any force we can produce. An unsuccessful +attempt lately made at Vienna to liquify oxygen, +clearly shows this enormous resistance. The steel piston +employed was literally shortened by the pressure used: and +yet the gas remained unliquified! If, then, the expansive +force is thus immense when the heat evolved is dissipated, +what must it be when that heat is in great measure detained; +as in the case we are considering? Indeed, the experiments +of M. Cagniard de Latour have shown that gases +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_286' id='Page_286' name='Page_286'>286</a></span> +may, under pressure, acquire the density of liquids while +retaining the aeriform state; provided the temperature +continues extremely high. In such a case, every addition +to the heat is an addition to the repulsive power of the +atoms: the increased pressure itself generates an increased +ability to resist; and this remains true to whatever extent +the compression is carried. Indeed, it is a corollary from +the persistence of force, that if, under increasing pressure, +a gas retains all the heat evolved, its resisting force is <i>absolutely +unlimited</i>. Hence, the internal planetary structure +we have described, is as physically stable a one as that +commonly assumed. +</p> + +<p> +And now let us see how this hypothesis tallies with the +facts. One inference from it must be, that large masses +will progress towards final consolidation more slowly than +small masses. Though a large concentrating spheroid will, +from its superior aggregative force, generate heat more +rapidly than a small one; yet, having, relatively to its surface, +a much greater quantity of heat to get rid of, it will +be longer than a small one in going through the changes +we have described. Consequently, at a time when the +smaller members of our Solar System have arrived at so +advanced a stage of aggregation as almost to have obliterated +their central cavities, and so reached high specific gravities; +the larger members will still be at that stage in which +the central cavities bear great ratios to the surrounding +shells, and will therefore have low specific gravities. This +contrast is just what we find. The small planets Mercury, +Venus, the Earth, and Mars, differing from each other comparatively +little in density as in size, are about four times +as dense as Jupiter and Uranus, and seven times as dense +as Saturn and Neptune—planets exceeding them in size as +oranges exceed peas; and they are four times as dense as +the Sun, which in mass is nearly 5,000,000 times greater +than the smallest of them. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_287' id='Page_287' name='Page_287'>287</a></span> +The obvious objection that this hypothesis does not explain +the minor differences, serves but to introduce a further +confirmation. It may be urged that Jupiter is of +greater specific gravity than Saturn, though, considering +his superior mass, his specific gravity should be less; and +that still more anomalous is the case of the Sun, which, +though containing a thousand times the matter that Jupiter +does, is nearly of the same specific gravity. The solution +of these difficulties lies in the modifying effects of centrifugal +force. Had the various masses to be compared +been all along in a state of rest, then the larger should have +been uniformly the less dense. But during the concentrating +process they have been rotating with various +velocities. The consequent centrifugal force has in each +case been in antagonism with gravitation; and, according +to its amount, has hindered the concentration to a greater +or less degree. The efficient aggregative force has in each +case been the excess of the centripetal tendency over the +centrifugal. Whence we may infer that wherever this +excess has been the least, the consolidation must have been +the most hindered, and the specific gravity will be the +smallest. This, too, we find to be the fact. Saturn, at +whose equator the centrifugal force is even now almost one-sixth +of gravity, and who, by his numerous satellites, shows +us how strong an antagonist to concentration it was in +earlier stages of his evolution, is little more than half as +dense as Jupiter, whose concentration has been hindered +by a centrifugal force bearing a much smaller ratio to the +centripetal. +</p> + +<p> +On the other hand, the Sun, whose latter stages of +aggregation have met with comparatively little of this opposition, +and whose atoms tend towards their common +centre with a force ten times as great as that which Jupiter's +atoms are subject to, has, notwithstanding his immense +bulk, reached a specific gravity as great as that of Jupiter; +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_288' id='Page_288' name='Page_288'>288</a></span> +and he has done this partly for the reason assigned, and +partly because the process of consolidation has been, and +still is, actively going on, while that of Jupiter has long +since almost ceased. +</p> + +<p> +Before pointing out further harmonies let us meet an +objection. Laplace, taking for data Jupiter's mass, diameter, +and rate of rotation, calculated the degrees of compression +at the poles which his centrifugal force should +produce, supposing his substance to be homogeneous; and +finding that the calculated amount of oblateness was greater +than the actual amount, inferred that his substance must +be denser towards the centre. The inference seems +unavoidable; is diametrically opposed to the hypothesis of +a shell of denser matter with a gaseous nucleus; and we +confess that on first meeting with this fact we were inclined +to think it fatal. But there is a consideration, apt to be +overlooked, which completely disposes of it. A compressed +elastic medium tends ever with great energy to give a +spherical figure to the chamber in which it is confined. +This truth is alike mathematically demonstrable, and +recognized in practice by every engineer. In the case +before us, the expansive power of the gaseous nucleus is +such as to balance the gravitation of the shell of the planet; +and this power perpetually strives to make the planet a +perfect sphere. Thus the tendency of the centrifugal +force to produce oblateness, is opposed not only by the +force of gravity but by another force of great intensity; +and hence the degree of oblateness produced is relatively small. +</p> + +<p> +This difficulty being as we think, satisfactorily met, we +go on to name some highly significant facts giving indirect +support to our hypothesis. And first with respect to the +asteroids, or planetoids, as they are otherwise called. Now +that these have proved to be so numerous—now that it has +become probable that beyond some sixty already discovered +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_289' id='Page_289' name='Page_289'>289</a></span> +there are many more—the supposition of Olbers, that +they are the fragments of an exploded planet which once +occupied the vacant region they fill, has gained increased +probability. The alternative supposition of Laplace, that +they are the products of a nebulous ring which separated +into many fragments instead of collapsing into a single +mass, seems inconsistent with the extremely various, and in +some cases extremely great, inclinations of their orbits; as +well as with their similarly various and great eccentricities. +For these the theory of Olbers completely accounts—indeed, +it necessarily involves them; while at the same +time it affords us a feasible explanation of meteors, and +especially the periodic swarms of them, which would else +be inexplicable. The fact, inferred from the present +derangement of their orbits, that if the planetoids once +formed parts of one mass, it must have exploded myriads +of years ago, is no difficulty, but rather the reverse. +</p> + +<p> +Taking Olbers' supposition, then, as the most tenable +one, let us ask how such an explosion could have occurred. +If planets are internally constituted as is commonly assumed, +no conceivable cause of it can be named. A solid +mass may crack and fall to pieces, but it cannot violently +explode. So, too, with a liquid mass covered by a crust. +Though, if contained in an unyielding shell and artificially +raised to a very high temperature, a liquid might so expand +as to burst the shell and simultaneously flash into vapour; +yet, if contained in a yielding crust, like that of a planet, it +would not do so: it would crack the crust and give off its +expansive force gradually. But the planetary structure +above supposed, supplies us with all the requisite conditions +to an explosion, and an adequate cause for it. We have in +the interior of the mass, a cavity serving as a sufficient +reservoir of force. We have this cavity filled with gaseous +matters of high tension. We have in the chemical affinities +of these matters a source of enormous expansive +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_290' id='Page_290' name='Page_290'>290</a></span> +power—power capable of being quite suddenly liberated. And +we have in the increasing heat of the shell, consequent on +progressing concentration, a cause of such instantaneous +chemical change and the resulting explosion. The explanation +thus supplied, of an event which there can be little +doubt has occurred, and which is not otherwise accounted +for, adds to the probability of the hypothesis. +</p> + +<p> +One further evidence, and that not the least important, +is deducible from geology. From the known rate at +which the temperature rises as we pierce deeper into the +substance of the Earth, it has been inferred that its solid +crust is some forty miles thick. And if this be its thickness, +we have a feasible explanation of volcanic phenomena, +as well as of elevations and subsidences. But proceeding +on the current supposition that the Earth's interior is +wholly filled with molten matter, Prof. Hopkins has calculated +that to cause the observed amount of precession of +the equinoxes, the Earth's crust must be at least eight hundred +miles thick. Here is an immense discrepancy. However +imperfect may be the data from which it is calculated +that the Earth is molten at forty miles deep, it seems very +unlikely that this conclusion differs from the truth so widely +as forty miles does from eight hundred. It seems scarcely +conceivable that if the crust is thus thick, it should by its +contraction and corrugation, produce mountain chains, as +it has done during quite modern geologic epochs. It is not +easy on this supposition to explain elevations and subsidences +of small area. Neither do the phenomena of volcanoes +appear comprehensible. Indeed to account for +these, Prof. Hopkins has been obliged to make the gratuitous +and extremely improbable assumption, that there +are isolated lakes of molten matter enclosed in this thick +crust, and situated, as they must be, not far from its outer surface. +</p> + +<p> +But irreconcileable as appear the astronomical with the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_291' id='Page_291' name='Page_291'>291</a></span> +geological facts, if we take for granted that the Earth consists +wholly of solid and liquid substances, they become at +once reconcileable if we adopt the conclusion that the Earth +has a gaseous nucleus. If there is an internal cavity of considerable +diameter occupied only by aeriform matter—if +the density of the surrounding shell is, as it must in that +case be, greater than the current supposition implies; then +there will be a larger quantity of matter contained in +the equatorial protuberance, and an adequate cause for +the precession. Manifestly there may be found some proportion +between the central space and its envelope, which +will satisfy the mechanical requirements, without involving +a thicker crust than geological phenomena indicate.<a class='fnanchor' id='FA_R' name='FA_R' href='#FN_R'>[R]</a> +</p> + +<p> +We conceive, then, that the hypothesis we have set +forth, is in many respects preferable to that ordinarily +received. We can know nothing by direct observation +concerning the central parts either of our own planet or +any other: indirect methods are alone possible. The idea +which has been tacitly adopted, is just as speculative as +that we have opposed to it; and the only question is, +which harmonizes best with established facts. Thus compared, +the advantage is greatly on the side of the new one. +It disposes of sundry anomalies, and explains things that +seem else incomprehensible. We are no longer obliged to +assume such wide differences between the substances of +the various planets: we need not think of any of them as +like cork or water. We are shown how it happens that +the larger planets have so much lower specific gravities +than the smaller, instead of having higher ones, as might +have been expected; and we are further shown why Saturn +is the lightest of all. That Mercury is relatively so much +heavier than the Sun; that Jupiter is specifically lighter +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_292' id='Page_292' name='Page_292'>292</a></span> +than his smallest satellite; that Saturn's rings have a density +one and a half times as great as Saturn; are no +longer mysteries. A feasible cause is assigned for the +catastrophe which produced the asteroids. And some +apparently incongruous peculiarities in the Earth's structure +are brought to an agreement. May we not say, then, +that being deducible from the Nebular Hypothesis, this +alleged planetary structure gives further indirect support +to that hypothesis? +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +In considering the specific gravities of the heavenly +bodies, we have been obliged to speak of the heat evolved +by them. But we have yet to point out the fact that in +their present conditions with respect to temperature, we +find additional materials for building up our argument; +and these too of the most substantial character. +</p> + +<p> +Heat must inevitably be generated by the aggregation +of diffused matter into a concrete form; and throughout +our reasonings we have assumed that such generation of +heat has been an accompaniment of nebular condensation. +If, then, the Nebular Hypothesis be true, we ought to find +in all the heavenly bodies, either present high temperature +or marks of past high temperature. +</p> + +<p> +As far as observation can reach, the facts prove to be +what theory requires. Various evidences conspire to show +that, below a certain depth, the Earth is still molten. And +that it was once wholly molten, is implied by the circumstance +that the rate at which the temperature increases on +descending below its surface, is such as would be found in +a mass that had been cooling for an indefinite period. The +Moon, too, shows us, by its corrugations and its conspicuous +volcanoes, that in it there has been a process of refrigeration +and contraction, like that which had gone on in the +Earth. And in Venus, the existence of mountains similarly +indicates an igneous reaction of the interior upon a +solidifying crust. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_293' id='Page_293' name='Page_293'>293</a></span> +On the common theory of creation, these phenomena +are inexplicable. To what end the Earth should once have +existed in a molten state, incapable of supporting life, it +cannot say. To satisfy this supposition, the Earth should +have been originally created in a state fit for the assumed +purposes of creation; and similarly with the other planets. +While, therefore, to the Nebular Hypothesis the evidence +of original incandescence and still continued internal heat, +furnish strong confirmation, they are, to the antagonist hypothesis, +insurmountable difficulties. +</p> + +<p> +But the argument from temperature does not end here. +There remains to be noticed a more conspicuous and still +more significant fact. If the Solar System was formed by +the concentration of diffused matter, which evolved heat +while gravitating into its present dense form; then there +are certain obvious corollaries respecting the relative temperatures +of the resulting bodies. Other things equal, the +latest-formed mass will be the latest in cooling—will, for an +almost infinite time, possess a greater heat than the earlier-formed +ones. Other things equal, the largest mass will, because +of its superior aggregative force, become hotter than +the others, and radiate more intensely. Other things +equal, the largest mass, notwithstanding the higher temperature +it reaches, will, in consequence of its relatively small +surface, be the slowest in losing its evolved heat. And +hence, if there is one mass which was not only formed after +the rest, but exceeds them enormously in size, it follows +that this one will reach an intensity of incandescence much +beyond that reached by the rest; and will continue in a +state of intense incandescence long after the rest have cooled. +</p> + +<p> +Such a mass we have in the Sun. It is a corollary from +the Nebular Hypothesis, that the matter forming the Sun +assumed its present concrete form, at a period much more +recent than that at which the planets became definite bodies. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_294' id='Page_294' name='Page_294'>294</a></span> +The quantity of matter contained in the Sun is nearly +five million times that contained in the smallest planet, and +above a thousand times that contained in the largest. And +while, from the enormous gravitative force of the atoms, +the evolution of heat has been intense, the facilities of radiation +have been relatively small. Hence the still-continued +high temperature. Just that condition of the central +body which is a necessary inference from the Nebular Hypothesis, +we find actually existing in the Sun. +</p> + +<p> +It may be well to consider a little more closely, what is +the probable condition of the Sun's surface. Round the +globe of incandescent molten substances, thus conceived to +form the visible body of the Sun, there is known to exist a +voluminous atmosphere: the inferior brilliancy of the Sun's +border, and the appearances during a total eclipse, alike +show this.<a class='fnanchor' id='FA_S' name='FA_S' href='#FN_S'>[S]</a> What now must be the constitution of this atmosphere? +At a temperature approaching a thousand +times that of molten iron, which is the calculated temperature +of the solar surface, very many, if not all, of the substances +we know as solid, would become gaseous; and +though the Sun's enormous attractive force must be a powerful +check on this tendency to assume the form of vapour, +yet it cannot be questioned that if the body of the Sun +consists of molten substances, some of them must be constantly +undergoing evaporation. That the dense gases +thus continually being generated will form the entire mass of +the solar atmosphere, is not probable. If anything is to be +inferred, either from the Nebular Hypothesis, or from the +analogies supplied by the planets, it must be concluded +that the outermost part of the solar atmosphere consists of +what are called permanent gases—gases that are not condensible +into fluid even at low temperatures. If we consider +what must have been the state of things here, when +the surface of the Earth was molten, we shall see that +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_295' id='Page_295' name='Page_295'>295</a></span> +round the still molten surface of the Sun, there probably +exists a stratum of dense aeriform matter, made up of sublimed +metals and metallic compounds, and above this a +stratum of comparatively rare medium analogous to air. +What now will happen with these two strata? Did they +both consist of permanent gases, they could not remain +separate: according to a well-known law, they would +eventually form a homogeneous mixture. But this will by +no means happen when the lower stratum consists of matters +that are gaseous only at excessively high temperatures. +Given off from a molten surface, ascending, expanding, and +cooling, these will presently reach a limit of elevation +above which they cannot exist as vapour, but must condense +and precipitate. Meanwhile the upper stratum, habitually +charged with its quantum of these denser matters, +as our air with its quantum of water, and ready to deposit +them on any depression of temperature, must be habitually +unable to take up any more of the lower stratum; and +therefore this lower stratum will remain quite distinct from it. +</p> + +<p> +Since the foregoing paragraph was originally published, +in 1858, the proposition it enunciates as a corollary from +the Nebular Hypothesis, has been in great part verified. +The marvellous disclosures made by spectrum-analysis, +have proved beyond the possibility of doubt, that the solar +atmosphere contains, in a gaseous state, the metals, iron, +calcium, magnesium, sodium, chromium, and nickel, along +with small quantities of barium, copper, and zinc. That +there exist in the solar atmosphere other metals like those +which we have on the Earth, is probable; and that it contains +elements which are unknown to us, is very possible. +</p> + +<p> +Be this as it may, however, the proposition that the +Sun's atmosphere consists largely of metallic vapours, must +take rank as an established truth; and that the incandescent +body of the Sun consists of molten metals, follows +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_296' id='Page_296' name='Page_296'>296</a></span> +almost of necessity. That an <i>à priori</i> inference which probably +seemed to many readers wildly speculative, should be +thus conclusively justified by observations, made without +reference to any theory, is a striking fact; and it gives yet +further support to the hypothesis from which this <i>à priori</i> +conclusion was drawn. It may be well to add that Kirchhoff, +to whom we owe this discovery respecting the constitution +of the solar atmosphere, himself remarks in his memoir +of 1861, that the facts disclosed are in harmony with +the Nebular Hypothesis. +</p> + +<p> +And here let us not omit to note also, the significant +bearing which Kirchhoff's results have on the doctrine contended +for in a foregoing section. Leaving out the barium, +copper, and zinc, of which the quantities are inferred to be +small, the metals existing as vapours in the Sun's atmosphere, +and by consequence as molten in his incandescent +body, have an average specific gravity of 4·25. But the +average specific gravity of the Sun is about 1. How is +this discrepancy to be explained? To say that the Sun +consists almost wholly of the three lighter metals named, +would be quite unwarranted by the evidence: the results +of spectrum-analysis would just as much warrant the assertion +that the Sun consists almost wholly of the three heavier. +Three metals (two of them heavy) having been already +left out of the estimate because their quantities appear +to be small, the only legitimate assumption on which +to base an estimate of specific gravity, is that the rest are +present in something like equal amounts. Is it then that +the lighter metals exist in larger proportions in the molten +mass, though not in the atmosphere? This is very unlikely: +the known habitudes of matter rather imply that +the reverse is the case. Is it then that under the conditions +of temperature and gravitation existing in the Sun, +the state of liquid aggregation is wholly unlike that existing +here? This is a very strong assumption: it is one for +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_297' id='Page_297' name='Page_297'>297</a></span> +which our terrestrial experiences afford no adequate warrant; +and if such unlikeness exists, it is very improbable +that it should produce so immense a contrast in specific +gravity as that of 4 to 1. The more legitimate conclusion +is that the Sun's body is not made up of molten matter all +through; but that it consists of a molten shell with a +gaseous nucleus. And this we have seen to be a corollary +from the Nebular Hypothesis. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +Considered in their <i>ensemble</i>, the several groups of evidences +assigned amount almost to proof. We have seen +that, when critically examined, the speculations of late +years current respecting the nature of the nebulæ, commit +their promulgators to sundry absurdities; while, on the +other hand, we see that the various appearances these nebulæ +present, are explicable as different stages in the precipitation +and aggregation of diffused matter. We find that +comets, alike by their physical constitution, their immensely-elongated +and variously-directed orbits, the distribution +of those orbits, and their manifest structural relation to +the Solar System, bear testimony to the past existence of +that system in a nebulous form. Not only do those obvious +peculiarities in the motions of the planets which first suggested +the Nebular Hypothesis, supply proofs of it, but on +closer examination we discover, in the slightly-diverging +inclinations of their orbits, in their various rates of rotation, +and their differently-directed axes of rotation, that the +planets yield us yet further testimony; while the satellites, +by sundry traits, and especially by their occurrence in +greater or less abundance where the hypothesis implies +greater or less abundance, confirm this testimony. By +tracing out the process of planetary condensation, we are +led to conclusions respecting the internal structure of planets +which at once explain their anomalous specific gravities, +and at the same time reconcile various seemingly +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_298' id='Page_298' name='Page_298'>298</a></span> +contradictory facts. Once more, it turns out that what is <i>à priori</i> +inferable from the Nebular Hypothesis respecting the temperatures +of the resulting bodies, is just what observation +establishes; and that both the absolute and the relative +temperatures of the Sun and planets are thus accounted +for. When we contemplate these various evidences in +their totality—when we observe that, by the Nebular Hypothesis, +the leading phenomena of the Solar System, and +the heavens in general, are explicable; and when, on the +other hand, we consider that the current cosmogony is not +only without a single fact to stand on, but is at variance +with all our positive knowledge of Nature; we see that the +proof becomes overwhelming. +</p> + +<p> +It remains only to point out that while the genesis of +the Solar System, and of countless other systems like it, is +thus rendered comprehensible, the ultimate mystery continues +as great as ever. The problem of existence is not +solved: it is simply removed further back. The Nebular +Hypothesis throws no light on the origin of diffused matter; +and diffused matter as much needs accounting for as +concrete matter. The genesis of an atom is not easier to +conceive than the genesis of a planet. Nay, indeed, so far +from making the Universe a less mystery than before, it +makes it a greater mystery. Creation by manufacture is a +much lower thing than creation by evolution. A man can +put together a machine; but he cannot make a machine +develop itself. The ingenious artizan, able as some have +been, so far to imitate vitality as to produce a mechanical +pianoforte-player, may in some sort conceive how, by +greater skill, a complete man might be artificially produced; +but he is unable to conceive how such a complex +organism gradually arises out of a minute structureless +germ. That our harmonious universe once existed potentially +as formless diffused matter, and has slowly grown +into its present organized state, is a far more astonishing +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_299' id='Page_299' name='Page_299'>299</a></span> +fact than would have been its formation after the artificial +method vulgarly supposed. Those who hold it legitimate +to argue from phenomena to noumena, may rightly contend +that the Nebular Hypothesis implies a First Cause as much +transcending "the mechanical God of Paley," as this does +the fetish of the savage. +</p> + +<div class='footnotes'> + +<div class='footnote'> +<p><a id='FN_I' name='FN_I' href='#FA_I'><span class='fnlabel'>[I]</span></a> + Cosmos. (Seventh Edition.) Vol. i. pp. 79, 80. +</p></div> + +<div class='footnote'> +<p><a id='FN_J' name='FN_J' href='#FA_J'><span class='fnlabel'>[J]</span></a> + Any objection made to the extreme tenuity this involves, is met by +the calculation of Newton, who proved that were a spherical inch of air +removed four thousand miles from the Earth, it would expand into a +sphere more than filling the orbit of Saturn. +</p></div> + +<div class='footnote'> +<p><a id='FN_K' name='FN_K' href='#FA_K'><span class='fnlabel'>[K]</span></a> + It is alike remarkable and suggestive, that a parallel relation exists +between the distribution of nebulæ and the axis of our galaxy. Just as +comets are abundant around the poles of our Solar System, and rare in the +neighbourhood of its plane: so are nebulæ abundant around the poles of +our sidereal system, and rare in the neighbourhood of its plane. +</p></div> + +<div class='footnote'> +<p><a id='FN_L' name='FN_L' href='#FA_L'><span class='fnlabel'>[L]</span></a> + It is true that, as expressed by him, these propositions of Laplace +are not all beyond dispute. An astronomer of the highest authority, who +has favoured me with some criticisms on this essay, alleges that instead of +a nebulous ring rupturing at one point, and collapsing into a single mass, +"all probability would be in favour of its breaking up into many masses." +This alternative result certainly seems to be more likely. But granting +that a nebulous ring would break up into many masses, it may still be contended +that, since the chances are infinity to one against these being of +equal sizes and equidistant, they could not remain evenly distributed round +their orbit: this annular chain of gaseous masses would break up into +groups of masses; these groups would eventually aggregate into larger +groups; and the final result would be the formation of a single mass. I +have put the question to an astronomer scarcely second in authority to the +one above referred to, and he agrees that this would probably be the process. +</p></div> + +<div class='footnote'> +<p><a id='FN_M' name='FN_M' href='#FA_M'><span class='fnlabel'>[M]</span></a> + Since this essay was published, the data of the above calculations +have been changed by the discovery that the Sun's distance is three millions +of miles less than was supposed. Hence results a diminution in his +estimated mass, and in the masses of the planets (except the Earth and +Moon). No revised estimate of the masses having yet been published, the +table is re-printed in its original form. The diminution of the masses to +the alleged extent of about one-tenth, does not essentially alter the relations +above pointed out. +</p></div> + +<div class='footnote'> +<p><a id='FN_N' name='FN_N' href='#FA_N'><span class='fnlabel'>[N]</span></a> + "Mécanique Céleste," p. 346. +</p></div> + +<div class='footnote'> +<p><a id='FN_O' name='FN_O' href='#FA_O'><span class='fnlabel'>[O]</span></a> + The impending revision of the estimated masses of the planets, entailed +by the discovery that the Sun's distance is less than was supposed, +will alter these specific gravities. It will make most of the contrasts still +stronger. +</p></div> + +<div class='footnote'> +<p><a id='FN_P' name='FN_P' href='#FA_P'><span class='fnlabel'>[P]</span></a> + The reader will perhaps say that this process is the one described as +having taken place early in the history of nebular evolution; and this is +true. But the same actions will be repeated in media of different densities. +</p></div> + +<div class='footnote'> +<p><a id='FN_Q' name='FN_Q' href='#FA_Q'><span class='fnlabel'>[Q]</span></a> + The formation of Saturn's rings is thus rendered comprehensible. +</p></div> + +<div class='footnote'> +<p><a id='FN_R' name='FN_R' href='#FA_R'><span class='fnlabel'>[R]</span></a> + Since this was written, M. Poinsot has shown that the precession +would be the same whether the Earth were solid or hollow. +</p></div> + +<div class='footnote'> +<p><a id='FN_S' name='FN_S' href='#FA_S'><span class='fnlabel'>[S]</span></a> + See Herschel's "Outlines of Astronomy." +</p></div> +</div> + +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_300' id='Page_300' name='Page_300'>300</a></span> +</p> + + + + +<h2> +VII. <br />BAIN ON THE EMOTIONS AND THE WILL. +</h2> + + +<p> +After the controversy between the Neptunists and +the Vulcanists had been long carried on without definite +results, there came a reaction against all speculative +geology. Reasoning without adequate data having led to +nothing, inquirers went into the opposite extreme, and confining +themselves wholly to collecting data, relinquished +reasoning. The Geological Society of London was formed +with the express object of accumulating evidence; for many +years hypotheses were forbidden at its meetings; and only +of late have attempts to organize the mass of observations +into consistent theory been tolerated. +</p> + +<p> +This reaction and subsequent re-reaction, well illustrate +the recent history of English thought in general. The +time was when our countrymen speculated, certainly to as +great an extent as any other people, on all those high questions +which present themselves to the human intellect; +and, indeed, a glance at the systems of philosophy that are +or have been current on the Continent, suffices to show how +much other nations owe to the discoveries of our ancestors. +For a generation or two, however, these more abstract +subjects have fallen into neglect; and, among those +who plume themselves on being "practical," even into +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_301' id='Page_301' name='Page_301'>301</a></span> +contempt. Partly, perhaps, a natural accompaniment of our +rapid material growth, this intellectual phase has been in +great measure due to the exhaustion of argument, and the +necessity for better data. Not so much with a conscious +recognition of the end to be subserved, as from an unconscious +subordination to that rhythm traceable in social +changes as in other things, an era of theorizing without +observing, has been followed by an era of observing without +theorizing. During the long-continued devotion to +concrete science, an immense quantity of raw material for +abstract science has been accumulated; and now there is +obviously commencing a period in which this accumulated +raw material will be organized into consistent theory. On +all sides—equally in the inorganic sciences, in the science +of life, and in the science of society—may we note the tendency +to pass from the superficial and empirical to the more +profound and rational. +</p> + +<p> +In Psychology this change is conspicuous. The facts +brought to light by anatomists and physiologists during the +last fifty years, are at length being used towards the interpretation +of this highest class of biological phenomena; and +already there is promise of a great advance. The work of +Mr. Alexander Bain, of which the second volume has been +recently issued, may be regarded as especially characteristic +of the transition. It gives us in orderly arrangement, +the great mass of evidence supplied by modern science +towards the building-up of a coherent system of mental +philosophy. It is not in itself a system of mental philosophy, +properly so called; but a classified collection of materials +for such a system, presented with that method and insight +which scientific discipline generates, and accompanied +with occasional passages of an analytical character. It is +indeed that which it in the main professes to be—a natural +history of the mind. +</p> + +<p> +Were we to say that the researches of the naturalist +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_302' id='Page_302' name='Page_302'>302</a></span> +who collects and dissects and describes species, bear the +same relation to the researches of the comparative anatomist +tracing out the laws of organization, which Mr. Bain's +labours bear to the labours of the abstract psychologist, +we should be going somewhat too far; for Mr. Bain's work +is not wholly descriptive. Still, however, such an analogy +conveys the best general conception of what he has done; +and serves most clearly to indicate its needfulness. For +as, before there can be made anything like true generalizations +respecting the classification of organisms and the laws +of organization, there must be an extensive accumulation +of the facts presented in numerous organic bodies; so, +without a tolerably-complete delineation of mental phenomena +of all orders, there can scarcely arise any adequate theory +of the mind. Until recently, mental science has been +pursued much as physical science was pursued by the ancients: +not by drawing conclusions from observations and +experiments, but by drawing them from arbitrary à priori +assumptions. This course, long since abandoned in the one +case with immense advantage, is gradually being abandoned +in the other; and the treatment of Psychology as a division +of natural history, shows that the abandonment will soon be complete. +</p> + +<p> +Estimated as a means to higher results, Mr. Bain's work +is of great value. Of its kind it is the most scientific in +conception, the most catholic in spirit, and the most complete +in execution. Besides delineating the various classes +of mental phenomena as seen under that stronger light +thrown on them by modern science, it includes in the picture +much which previous writers had omitted—partly +from prejudice, partly from ignorance. We refer more +especially to the participation of bodily organs in mental +changes; and the addition to the primary mental changes, +of those many secondary ones which the actions of the +bodily organs generate. Mr. Bain has, we believe, been +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_303' id='Page_303' name='Page_303'>303</a></span> +the first to appreciate the importance of this element in our +states of consciousness; and it is one of his merits that he +shows how constant and large an element it is. Further, +the relations of voluntary and involuntary movements are +elucidated in a way that was not possible to writers unacquainted +with the modern doctrine of reflex action. And +beyond this, some of the analytical passages that here and +there occur, contain important ideas. +</p> + +<p> +Valuable, however, as is Mr. Bain's work, we regard +it as essentially transitional. It presents in a digested +form the results of a period of observation; adds to these +results many well-delineated facts collected by himself; +arranges new and old materials with that more scientific +method which the discipline of our times has fostered; +and so prepare the way for better generalizations. But +almost of necessity its classifications and conclusions are +provisional. In the growth of each science, not only is +correct observation needful for the formation of true theory; +but true theory is needful as a preliminary to correct +observation. Of course we do not intend this assertion +to be taken literally; but as a strong expression of +the fact that the two must advance hand in hand. The +first crude theory or rough classification, based on very +slight knowledge of the phenomena, is requisite as a means +of reducing the phenomena to some kind of order; and as +supplying a conception with which fresh phenomena may +be compared, and their agreement or disagreement noted. +Incongruities being by and by made manifest by wider examination +of cases, there comes such modification of the +theory as brings it into a nearer correspondence with the +evidence. This reacts to the further advance of observation. +More extensive and complete observation brings additional +corrections of theory. And so on till the truth is +reached. In mental science, the systematic collection of +facts having but recently commenced, it is not to be +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_304' id='Page_304' name='Page_304'>304</a></span> +expected that the results can be at once rightly formulated. +All that may be looked for are approximate generalizations +which will presently serve for the better directing of inquiry. +Hence, even were it not now possible to say in what +way it does so, we might be tolerably certain that Mr. +Bain's work bears the stamp of the inchoate state of Psychology. +</p> + +<p> +We think, however, that it will not be difficult to find +in what respects its organization is provisional; and at the +same time to show what must be the nature of a more +complete organization. We propose here to attempt this: +illustrating our positions from his recently-issued second volume. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +Is it possible to make a true classification without the +aid of analysis? or must there not be an analytical basis to +every true classification? Can the real relations of things +be determined by the obvious characteristics of the things? +or does it not commonly happen that certain hidden +characteristics, on which the obvious ones depend, are +the truly significant ones? This is the preliminary question +which a glance at Mr. Bain's scheme of the emotions suggests. +</p> + +<p> +Though not avowedly, yet by implication, Mr. Bain +assumes that a right conception of the nature, the order, +and the relations of the emotions, may be arrived at by +contemplating their conspicuous objective and subjective +characters, as displayed in the adult. After pointing out +that we lack those means of classification which serve in +the case of the sensations, he says— +</p> + + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +"In these circumstances we must turn our attention to <i>the +manner of diffusion</i> of the different passions and emotions, in +order to obtain a basis of classification analogous to the arrangement +of the sensations. If what we have already advanced on +that subject be at all well founded, this is the genuine turning +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_305' id='Page_305' name='Page_305'>305</a></span> +point of the method to be chosen, for the same mode of diffusion +will always be accompanied by the same mental experience, and +each of the two aspects would identify, and would be evidence +of, the other. There is, therefore, nothing so thoroughly characteristic +of any state of feeling as the nature of the diffusive +wave that embodies it, or the various organs specially roused +into action by it, together with the manner of the action. The +only drawback is our comparative ignorance, and our inability +to discern the precise character of the diffusive currents in every +case; a radical imperfection in the science of mind as constituted +at present. +</p> + +<p> +"Our own consciousness, formerly reckoned the only medium +of knowledge to the mental philosopher, must therefore be still +referred to as a principal means of discriminating the varieties of +human feeling. We have the power of noting agreement and +difference among our conscious states, and on this we can raise a +structure of classification. We recognise such generalities as +pleasure, pain, love, anger, through the property of mental or +intellectual discrimination that accompanies in our mind the fact +of an emotion. A certain degree of precision is attainable by +this mode of mental comparison and analysis; the farther we +can carry such precision the better; but that is no reason why it +should stand alone to the neglect of the corporeal embodiments +through which one mind reveals itself to others. The companionship +of inward feeling with bodily manifestation is a fact of +the human constitution, and deserves to be studied as such; and +it would be difficult to find a place more appropriate than a +treatise on the mind for setting forth the conjunctions and +sequences traceable in this department of nature. I shall make +no scruple in conjoining with the description of the mental +phenomena the physical appearances, in so far as I am able to +ascertain them. +</p> + +<p> +"There is still one other quarter to be referred to in settling a +complete arrangement of the emotions, namely, the varieties of +human conduct, and the machinery created in subservience to our +common susceptibilities. For example, the vast superstructure of +fine art has its foundations in human feeling, and in rendering an +account of this we are led to recognise the interesting group of +artistic or æsthetic emotions. The same outward reference to +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_306' id='Page_306' name='Page_306'>306</a></span> +conduct and creations brings to light the so-called moral sense in +man, whose foundations in the mental system have accordingly to +be examined. +</p> + +<p> +"Combining together these various indications, or sources +of discrimination,—outward objects, diffusive mode or expression, +inward consciousness, resulting conduct and institutions—I adopt +the following arrangement of the families or natural orders of +emotion." +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Here, then, are confessedly adopted, as bases of classification, +the most manifest characters of the emotions; as +discerned subjectively, and objectively. The mode of diffusion +of an emotion is one of its outside aspects; the institutions +it generates form another of its outside aspects; +and though the peculiarities of the emotion as a state of +consciousness, seem to express its intrinsic and ultimate +nature, yet such peculiarities as are perceptible by simple +introspection, must also be classed as superficial peculiarities. +It is a familiar fact that various intellectual states of +consciousness turn out, when analyzed, to have natures +widely unlike those which at first appear; and we believe +the like will prove true of emotional states of consciousness. +Just as our concept of space, which is apt to be +thought a simple, undecomposable concept, is yet resolvable +into experiences quite different from that state of consciousness +which we call space; so, probably, the sentiment +of affection or reverence is compounded of elements that +are severally distinct from the whole which they make up. +And much as a classification of our ideas which dealt with +the idea of space as though it were ultimate, would be a +classification of ideas by their externals; so, a classification +of our emotions, which, regarding them as simple, describes +their aspects in ordinary consciousness, is a classification of +emotions by their externals. +</p> + +<p> +Thus, then, Mr. Bain's grouping is throughout determined +by the most manifest attributes—those objectively +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_307' id='Page_307' name='Page_307'>307</a></span> +displayed in the natural language of the emotions, and +in the social phenomena that result from them, and those +subjectively displayed in the aspects the emotions assume +in an analytical consciousness. And the question is—Can +they be correctly grouped after this method? +</p> + +<p> +We think not; and had Mr. Bain carried farther an idea +with which he has set out, he would probably have seen +that they cannot. As already said, he avowedly adopts +"the natural-history-method:" not only referring to it in +his preface, but in his first chapter giving examples of +botanical and zoological classifications, as illustrating the +mode in which he proposes to deal with the emotions. +This we conceive to be a philosophical conception; and we +have only to regret that Mr. Bain has overlooked some of +its most important implications. For in what has essentially +consisted the progress of natural-history-classification? In +the abandonment of grouping by external, conspicuous +characters; and in the making of certain internal, but all-essential +characters, the bases of groups. Whales are not +now ranged along with fish, because in their general forms +and habits of life they resemble fish; but they are ranged +with mammals, because the type of their organization, as +ascertained by dissection, corresponds with that of the mammals. +No longer considered as sea-weeds in virtue of their +forms and modes of growth, zoophytes are now shown, by +examination of their economy, to belong to the animal +kingdom. +</p> + +<p> +It is found, then, that the discovery of real relationships +involves analysis. It has turned out that the earlier +classifications, guided by general resemblances, though +containing much truth, and though very useful provisionally, +were yet in many cases radically wrong; and that the +true affinities of organisms, and the true homologies of +their parts, are to be made out only by examining their +hidden structures. Another fact of great significance in +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_308' id='Page_308' name='Page_308'>308</a></span> +the history of classification is also to be noted. Very frequently +the kinship of an organism cannot be made out +even by exhaustive analysis, if that analysis is confined to +the adult structure. In many cases it is needful to examine +the structure in its earlier stages; and even in its +embryonic stage. So difficult was it, for instance, to determine +the true position of the Cirrhipedia among animals, +by examining mature individuals only, that Cuvier erroneously +classed them with Mollusca, even after dissecting +them; and not until their early forms were discovered, +were they clearly proved to belong to the Crustacea. So +important, indeed, is the study of development as a means +to classification, that the first zoologists now hold it to be +the only absolute criterion. +</p> + +<p> +Here, then, in the advance of natural-history-classification, +are two fundamental facts, which should be borne in +mind when classifying the emotions. If, as Mr. Bain rightly +assumes, the emotions are to be grouped after the natural-history-method; +then it should be the natural-history-method +in its complete form, and not in its rude form. +Mr. Bain will doubtless agree in the position, that a correct +account of the emotions in their natures and relations, +must correspond with a correct account of the nervous +system—must form another side of the same ultimate facts. +Structure and function must necessarily harmonize. Structures +which have with each other certain ultimate connexions, +must have functions that have answering connexions. +Structures that have arisen in certain ways, must have functions +that have arisen in parallel ways. And hence if analysis +and development are needful for the right interpretation +of structures, they must be needful for the right interpretation +of functions. Just as a scientific description of +the digestive organs, must include not only their obvious +forms and connexions, but their microscopic characters, +and also the ways in which they severally result by +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_309' id='Page_309' name='Page_309'>309</a></span> +differentiation from the primitive mucous membrane; so must +a scientific account of the nervous system, include its general +arrangements, its minute structure, and its mode of +evolution; and so must a scientific account of nervous actions, +include the answering three elements. Alike in classing +separate organisms, and in classing the parts of the same +organism, the complete natural-history-method involves +ultimate analysis, aided by development; and Mr. Bain, in +not basing his classification of the emotions on characters +reached through these aids, has fallen short of the conception +with which he set out. +</p> + +<p> +"But," it will perhaps be asked, "how are the emotions +to be analyzed, and their modes of evolution to be ascertained? +Different animals, and different organs of the +same animal, may readily be compared in their internal and +microscopic structures, as also in their developments; but +functions, and especially such functions as the emotions, do +not admit of like comparisons." +</p> + +<p> +It must be admitted that the application of these methods +is here by no means so easy. Though we can note differences +and similarities between the internal formations of +two animals; it is difficult to contrast the mental states of +two animals. Though the true morphological relations of +organs may be made out by the observations of embryos; +yet, where such organs are inactive before birth, we cannot +completely trace the history of their actions. Obviously, +too, the pursuance of inquiries of the kind indicated, raises +questions which science is not yet prepared to answer; as, +for instance—Whether all nervous functions, in common +with all other functions, arise by gradual differentiations, +as their organs do? Whether the emotions are, therefore, +to be regarded as divergent modes of action, that have become +unlike by successive modifications? Whether, as +two organs which originally budded out of the same membrane, +have not only become different as they developed, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_310' id='Page_310' name='Page_310'>310</a></span> +but have also severally become compound internally, though +externally simple: so two emotions, simple and near akin +in their roots, may not only have grown unlike, but may +also have grown involved in their natures, though seeming +homogeneous to consciousness. And here, indeed, in the +inability of existing science to answer these questions which +underlie a true psychological classification, we see how +purely provisional any present classification is likely to be. +</p> + +<p> +Nevertheless, even now, classification may be aided by +development and ultimate analysis to a considerable extent; +and the defect in Mr. Bain's work is, that he has not systematically +availed himself of them as far as possible. Thus +we may, in the first place, study the evolution of the emotions +up through the various grades of the animal kingdom: +observing which of them are earliest and exist with the +lowest organization and intelligence; in what order the +others accompany higher endowments; and how they are +severally related to the conditions of life. In the second +place, we may note the emotional differences between +the lower and the higher human races—may regard as +earlier and simpler those feelings which are common to +both, and as later and more compound those which are +characteristic of the most civilized. In the third place, we +may observe the order in which the emotions unfold during +the progress from infancy to maturity. And lastly, comparing +these three kinds of emotional development, displayed +in the ascending grades of the animal kingdom, in the advance +of the civilized races, and in individual history, we +may see in what respects they harmonize, and what are the +implied general truths. +</p> + +<p> +Having gathered together and generalized these several +classes of facts, analysis of the emotions would be made +easier. Setting out with the unquestionable assumption, +that every new form of emotion making its appearance in +the individual or the race, is a modification of some pre-existing +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_311' id='Page_311' name='Page_311'>311</a></span> +emotion, or a compounding of several pre-existing +emotions; we should be greatly aided by knowing what +always are the pre-existing emotions. When, for example, +we find that very few if any of the lower animals show any +love of accumulation, and that this feeling is absent in infancy—when +we see that an infant in arms exhibits anger, +fear, wonder, while yet it manifests no desire of permanent +possession, and that a brute which has no acquisitive emotion +can nevertheless feel attachment, jealousy, love of approbation; +we may suspect that the feeling which property satisfies, +is compounded out of simpler and deeper feelings. +We may conclude that as, when a dog hides a bone, there +must exist in him a prospective gratification of hunger; so +there must similarly at first, in all cases where anything is +secured or taken possession of, exist an ideal excitement of +the feeling which that thing will gratify. We may further +conclude that when the intelligence is such that a variety +of objects come to be utilized for different purposes—when, +as among savages, divers wants are satisfied through the articles +appropriated for weapons, shelter, clothing, ornament; +the act of appropriating comes to be one constantly involving +agreeable associations, and one which is therefore pleasurable, +irrespective of the end subserved. And when, as +in civilized life, the property acquired is of a kind not conducing +to one order of gratifications, but is capable of administering +to all gratifications, the pleasure of acquiring +property grows more distinct from each of the various +pleasures subserved—is more completely differentiated into +a separate emotion. +</p> + +<p> +This illustration, roughly as it is sketched, will show +what we mean by the use of comparative psychology in +aid of classification. Ascertaining by induction the actual +order of evolution of the emotions, we are led to suspect +this to be their order of successive dependence; and are so +led to recognize their order of ascending complexity; and +by consequence their true groupings. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_312' id='Page_312' name='Page_312'>312</a></span> +Thus, in the very process of arranging the emotions +into grades, beginning with those involved in the lowest +forms of conscious activity and end with those peculiar to +the adult civilized man, the way is opened for that ultimate +analysis which alone can lead us to the true science of the +matter. For when we find both that there exist in a man +feelings which do not exist in a child, and that the European +is characterized by some sentiments which are wholly +or in a great part absent from the savage—when we see +that, besides the new emotions that arise spontaneously as +the individual becomes completely organized, there are new +emotions making their appearance in the more advanced +divisions of our race; we are led to ask—How are new +emotions generated? The lowest savages have not even +the ideas of justice or mercy: they have neither words for +them nor can they be made to conceive them; and the manifestation +of them by Europeans they ascribe to fear or +cunning. There are æsthetic emotions common among +ourselves, that are scarcely in any degree experienced by +some inferior races; as, for instance, those produced by +music. To which instances may be added the less marked +but more numerous contrasts that exist between civilized +races in the degrees of their several emotions. And if it +is manifest, both that all the emotions are capable of being +permanently modified in the course of successive generations, +and that what must be classed as new emotions may +be brought into existence; then it follows that nothing like +a true conception of the emotions is to be obtained, until we +understand how they are evolved. +</p> + +<p> +Comparative psychology, while it raises this inquiry, +prepares the way for answering it. When observing the +differences between races, we can scarcely fail to observe +also how these differences correspond with differences in their +conditions of existence, and therefore in their daily experiences. +Note the contrast between the circumstances and +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_313' id='Page_313' name='Page_313'>313</a></span> +between the emotional natures of savage and civilized. Among +<ins class='correction' title='Original:he'>the</ins> +lowest races of men, love of property stimulates to the +obtainment only of such things as satisfy immediate desires +or desires of the immediate future. Improvidence is the +rule: there is little effort to meet remote contingencies. But +the growth of established societies, having gradually given +security of possession, there has been an increasing tendency +to provide for coming years: there has been a constant +exercise of the feeling which is satisfied by a provision for +the future; and there has been a growth of this feeling so +great that it now prompts accumulation to an extent beyond +what is needful. Note, again, that under the discipline +of social life—under a comparative abstinence from +aggressive actions, and a performance of those mutually-serviceable +actions implied by the division of labour—there +has been a development of those gentle emotions of +which inferior races exhibit but the rudiments. Savages +delight in giving pain rather than pleasure—are almost devoid +of sympathy. While among ourselves philanthropy +organizes itself in laws, establishes numerous institutions, +and dictates countless private benefactions. +</p> + +<p> +From which and other like facts, does it not seem an +unavoidable inference that new emotions are developed by +new experiences—new habits of life? All are familiar with +the truth, that in the individual, each feeling may be strengthened +by performing those actions which it prompts; and to +say that the feeling is <i>strengthened</i>, is to say that it is in +part <i>made</i> by these actions. We know further, that not +unfrequently, individuals, by persistence in special courses +of conduct, acquire special likings for such courses disagreeable +as these may be to others; and these whims, or morbid +tastes, imply incipient emotions corresponding to these +special activities. We know that emotional characteristics, +in common with all others, are hereditary; and the differences +between civilized nations descended from the same +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_314' id='Page_314' name='Page_314'>314</a></span> +stock, show us the cumulative results of small modifications +hereditarily transmitted. And when we see that between +savage and civilized races, which diverged from each other +in the remote past, and have for a hundred generations followed +modes of life becoming ever more unlike, there exist +still greater emotional contrasts; may we not infer that +the more or less distinct emotions which characterize civilized +races, are the organized results of certain daily-repeated +combinations of mental states which social life involves? +Must we not say that habits not only modify emotions in +the individual, and not only beget tendencies to like +habits and accompanying emotions in descendants, but that +when the conditions of the race make the habits persistent, +this progressive modification may go on to the extent +of producing emotions so far distinct as to seem new? +And if so, we may suspect that such new emotions, and +by implication all emotions analytically considered, consist +of aggregated and consolidated groups of those simpler +feelings which habitually occur together in experience: +that they result from combined experiences, and are constituted +of them. +</p> + +<p> +When, in the circumstances of any race, some one kind of +action or set of actions, sensation or set of sensations, is usually +followed, or accompanied by, various other sets of actions +or sensations, and so entails a large mass of pleasurable or +painful states of consciousness; these, by frequent repetition, +become so connected together that the initial action or sensation +brings the ideas of all the rest crowding into consciousness: +producing, in a degree, the pleasures or pains that +have before been felt in reality. And when this relation, +besides being frequently repeated in the individual, occurs +in successive generations, all the many nervous actions involved +tend to grow organically connected. They become +incipiently reflex; and on the occurrence of the appropriate +stimulus, the whole nervous apparatus which in past generations +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_315' id='Page_315' name='Page_315'>315</a></span> +was brought into activity by this stimulus, becomes +nascently excited. Even while yet there have been no individual +experiences, a vague feeling of pleasure or pain is +produced; constituting what we may call the body of the +emotion. And when the experiences of past generations +come to be repeated in the individual, the emotion gains +both strength and definiteness; and is accompanied by the +appropriate specific ideas. +</p> + +<p> +This view of the matter, which we believe the established +truths of Physiology and Psychology unite in indicating, +and which is the view that generalizes the phenomena +of habit, of national characteristics, of civilization in +its moral aspects, at the same time that it gives us a conception +of emotion in its origin and ultimate nature, may +be illustrated from the mental modifications undergone by +animals. +</p> + +<p> +It is well-known that on newly-discovered lands not inhabited +by man, birds are so devoid of fear as to allow +themselves to be knocked over with sticks; but that in the +course of generations, they acquire such a dread of man as +to fly on his approach; and that this dread is manifested by +young as well as old. Now unless this change be ascribed +to the killing-off of the least fearful, and the preservation +and multiplication of the more fearful, which, considering +the comparatively small number killed by man, is an inadequate +cause; it must be ascribed to accumulated experiences; +and each experience must be held to have a share +in producing it. We must conclude that in each bird that +escapes with injuries inflicted by man, or is alarmed by the +outcries of other members of the flock (gregarious creatures +of any intelligence being necessarily more or less +sympathetic), there is established an association of ideas +between the human aspect and the pains, direct and indirect, +suffered from human agency. And we must further +conclude, that the state of consciousness which impels the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_316' id='Page_316' name='Page_316'>316</a></span> +bird to take flight, is at first nothing more than an ideal +reproduction of those painful impressions which before followed +man's approach; that such ideal reproduction becomes +more vivid and more massive as the painful experiences, +direct or sympathetic, increase; and that thus the +emotion in its incipient state, is nothing else than an aggregation +of the revived pains before experienced. +</p> + +<p> +As, in the course of generations, the young birds of this +race begin to display a fear of man before yet they have +been injured by him; it is an unavoidable inference that +the nervous system of the race has been organically modified +by these experiences: we have no choice but to conclude +that when a young bird is thus led to fly, it is because +the impression produced on its senses by the approaching +man, entails, through an incipiently-reflex action, +a partial excitement of all those nerves which in its ancestors +had been excited under the like conditions; that this +partial excitement has its accompanying painful consciousness; +and that the vague painful consciousness thus arising, +constitutes emotion proper—<i>emotion undecomposable into +specific experiences, and therefore seemingly homogeneous</i>. +</p> + +<p> +If such be the explanation of the fact in this case, then +it is in all cases. If emotion is so generated here, then it +is so generated throughout. We must perforce conclude +that the emotional modifications displayed by different nations, +and those higher emotions by which civilized are distinguished +from savage, are to be accounted for on the +same principle. And concluding this, we are led strongly +to suspect that the emotions in general have severally thus originated. +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps we have now made sufficiently clear what we +mean by the study of the emotions through analysis and +development. We have aimed to justify the positions that, +without analysis aided by development, there cannot be a +true natural history of the emotions; and that a natural +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_317' id='Page_317' name='Page_317'>317</a></span> +history of the emotions based on external characters, can +be but provisional. We think that Mr. Bain, in confining +himself to an account of the emotions as they exist in the +adult civilized man, has neglected those classes of facts out +of which the science of the matter must chiefly be built. +It is true that he has treated of habits as modifying emotions +in the individual; but he has not recognized the fact, +that where conditions render habits persistent in successive +generations, such modifications are cumulative: he has not +hinted that the modifications produced by habit are emotions +in the making. It is true, also, that he occasionally +refers to the characteristics of children; but he does not +systematically trace the changes through which childhood +passes into manhood, as throwing light on the order and +genesis of the emotions. It is further true that he here +and there refers to national traits in illustration of his subject; +but these stand as isolated facts, having no general +significance: there is no hint of any relation between them +and the national circumstances; while all those many moral +contrasts between lower and higher races which throw +great light on classification, are passed over. And once +more, it is true that many passages of his work, and sometimes, +indeed, whole sections of it, are analytical; but his +analyses are incidental—they do not underlie his entire +scheme, but are here and there added to it. In brief, he +has written a Descriptive Psychology, which does not appeal +to Comparative Psychology and Analytical Psychology +for its leading ideas. And in doing this, he has omitted +much that should be included in a natural history of +the mind; while to that part of the subject with which he +has dealt, he has given a necessarily-imperfect organization. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +Even leaving out of view the absence of those methods +and criteria on which we have been insisting, it appears to +us that meritorious as is Mr. Bain's book in its details, it is +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_318' id='Page_318' name='Page_318'>318</a></span> +defective in some of its leading ideas. The first paragraphs +of his first chapter, quite startled us by the strangeness +of their definitions—a strangeness which can scarcely +be ascribed to laxity of expression. The paragraphs run thus:— +</p> + + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +"Mind is comprised under three heads—Emotion, Volition, +and Intellect. +</p> + +<p> +"<span class='smcap'>Emotion</span> is the name here used to comprehend all that is understood +by feelings, states of feeling, pleasures, pains, passions, +sentiments, affections. Consciousness, and conscious states also +for the most part denote modes of emotion, although there is such +a thing as the Intellectual consciousness. +</p> + +<p> +"<span class='smcap'>Volition</span>, on the other hand, indicates the great fact that our +Pleasures and Pains, which are not the whole of our emotions, +prompt us to action, or stimulate the active machinery of the living +framework to perform such operations as procure the first and +abate the last. To withdraw from a scalding heat and cling to a +gentle warmth, are exercises of volition." +</p> +</div> + +<p> +The last of these definitions, which we may most conveniently +take first, seems to us very faulty. We cannot +but feel astonished that Mr. Bain, familiar as he is with the +phenomena of reflex action, should have so expressed himself +as to include a great part of them along with the phenomena +of volition. He seems to be ignoring the discriminations +of modern science, and returning to the vague conceptions +of the past—nay more, he is comprehending under +volition what even the popular speech would hardly bring +under it. If you were to blame any one for snatching his +foot from the scalding water into which he had inadvertently +put it, he would tell you that he could not help it; +and his reply would be indorsed by the general experience, +that the withdrawal of a limb from contact with something +extremely hot, is quite involuntary—that it takes place not +only without volition, but in defiance of an effort of will to +maintain the contact. How, then, can that be instanced as +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_319' id='Page_319' name='Page_319'>319</a></span> +an example of volition, which occurs even when volition is +antagonistic? We are quite aware that it is impossible to +draw any absolute line of demarcation between automatic +actions and actions which are not automatic. Doubtless +we may pass gradually from the purely reflex, through the +consensual, to the voluntary. Taking the case Mr. Bain +cites, it is manifest that from a heat of such moderate degree +that the withdrawal from it is wholly voluntary, we +may advance by infinitesimal steps to a heat which compels +involuntary withdrawal; and that there is a stage at which +the voluntary and involuntary actions are mixed. But the +difficulty of absolute discrimination is no reason for neglecting +the broad general contrast; any more than it is for +confounding light with darkness. If we are to include as +examples of volition, all cases in which pleasures and pains +"stimulate the active machinery of the living framework +to perform such operations as procure the first and abate +the last," then we must consider sneezing and coughing, as +examples of volition; and Mr. Bain surely cannot mean +this. Indeed, we must confess ourselves at a loss. On the +one hand if he does not mean it, his expression is lax to a +degree that surprises us in so careful a writer. On the +other hand, if he does mean it, we cannot understand his +point of view. +</p> + +<p> +A parallel criticism applies to his definition of Emotion. +Here, too, he has departed from the ordinary acceptation +of the word; and, as we think, in the wrong direction. +Whatever may be the interpretation that is justified by its +derivation, the word Emotion has come generally to mean +that kind of feeling which is not a direct result of any action +on the organism; but is either an indirect result of +such action, or arises quite apart from such action. It is +used to indicate those sentient states which are independently +generated in consciousness; as distinguished from +those generated in our corporeal framework, and known as +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_320' id='Page_320' name='Page_320'>320</a></span> +sensations. Now this distinction, tacitly made in common +speech, is one which Psychology cannot well reject; but one +which it must adopt, and to which it must give scientific +precision. Mr. Bain, however, appears to ignore any such +distinction. Under the term "emotion," he includes not +only passions, sentiments, affections, but all "feelings, states +of feeling, pleasures, pains,"—that is, all sensations. This +does not appear to be a mere lapse of expression; for when, +in the opening sentence, he asserts that "mind is comprised +under the three heads—Emotion, Volition, and Intellect," +he of necessity implies that sensation is included under one +of these heads; and as it cannot be included under Volition +or Intellect, it must be classed with Emotion: as it clearly +is in the next sentence. +</p> + +<p> +We cannot but think this is a retrograde step. Though +distinctions which have been established in popular thought +and language, are not unfrequently merged in the higher +generalizations of science (as, for instance, when crabs and +worms are grouped together in the sub-kingdom <i>Annulosa</i>;) +yet science very generally recognizes the validity of +these distinctions, as real though not fundamental. And so +in the present case. Such community as analysis discloses +between sensation and emotion, must not shut out the +broad contrast that exists between them. If there needs a +wider word, as there does, to signify any sentient state +whatever; then we may fitly adopt for this purpose the +word currently so used, namely, "Feeling." And considering +as Feelings all that great division of mental states +which we do not class as Cognitions, may then separate +this great division into the two orders, Sensations and Emotions. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +And here we may, before concluding, briefly indicate +the leading outlines of a classification which reduces this +distinction to a scientific form, and developes it somewhat +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_321' id='Page_321' name='Page_321'>321</a></span> +further—a classification which, while suggested by certain +fundamental traits reached without a very lengthened inquiry, +is yet, we believe, in harmony with that disclosed by +detailed analysis. +</p> + +<p> +Leaving out of view the Will, which is a simple homogeneous +mental state, forming the link between feeling +and action, and not admitting of subdivisions; our states of +consciousness fall into two great classes—<span class='smcap'>Cognitions</span> and +<span class='smcap'>Feelings</span>. +</p> + +<p> +<span class='smcap'>Cognitions</span>, or those modes of mind in which we are +occupied with the <i>relations</i> that subsist among our feelings, +are divisible into four great sub-classes. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Presentative cognitions</i>; or those in which consciousness +is occupied in localizing a sensation impressed on the +organism—occupied, that is, with the relation between this +presented mental state and those other presented mental +states which make up our consciousness of the part affected: +as when we cut ourselves. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Presentative-representative cognitions</i>; or those in +which consciousness is occupied with the relation between +a sensation or group of sensations and the representations +of those various other sensations that accompany it +in experience. This is what we commonly call perception—an +act in which, along with certain impressions presented +to consciousness, there arise in consciousness the ideas of +certain other impressions ordinarily connected with the +presented ones: as when its visible form and colour, +lead us to mentally endow an orange with all its other +attributes. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Representative cognitions</i>; or those in which consciousness +is occupied with the relations among ideas or represented +sensations: as in all acts of recollection. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Re-representative cognitions</i>; or those in which the +occupation of consciousness is not by representation of +special relations, that have before been presented to +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_322' id='Page_322' name='Page_322'>322</a></span> +consciousness; but those in which such represented special +relations are thought of merely as comprehended in a general +relation—those in which the concrete relations once +experienced, in so far as they become objects of consciousness +at all, are incidentally represented, along with the +abstract relation which formulates them. The ideas resulting +from this abstraction, do not themselves represent actual +experiences; but are symbols which stand for groups +of such actual experiences—represent aggregates of representations. +And thus they may be called re-representative +cognitions. It is clear that the process of re-representation +is carried to higher stages, as the thought becomes +more abstract. +</p> + +<p> +<span class='smcap'>Feelings</span>, or those modes of mind in which we are +occupied, not with the relations subsisting between our sentient +states, but with the sentient states themselves, are divisible +into four parallel sub-classes. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Presentative feelings</i>, ordinarily called sensations, are +those mental states in which, instead of regarding a corporeal +impression as of this or that kind, or as located here or +there, we contemplate it in itself as pleasure or pain: as +when eating. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Presentative-representative feelings</i>, embracing a great +part of what we commonly call emotions, are those in +which a sensation, or group of sensations or group of sensations +and ideas, arouses a vast aggregation of represented +sensations; partly of individual experience, but chiefly +deeper than individual experience, and, consequently, indefinite. +The emotion of terror may serve as an example. +Along with certain impressions made on the eyes or ears, +or both, are recalled in consciousness many of the pains to +which such impressions have before been the antecedents; +and when the relation between such impressions and such +pains has been habitual in the race, the definite ideas of +such pains which individual experience has given, are +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_323' id='Page_323' name='Page_323'>323</a></span> +accompanied by the indefinite pains that result from inherited +experience—vague feelings which we may call organic +representations. In an infant, crying at a strange sight or +sound while yet in the nurse's arms, we see these organic +representations called into existence in the shape of dim +discomfort, to which individual experience has yet given +no specific outlines. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Representative feelings</i>, comprehending the ideas of +the feelings above classed, when they are called up apart +from the appropriate external excitements. As +<ins class='correction' title='Original: iustances'>instances</ins> +of these may be named the feelings with which the descriptive +poet writes, and which are aroused in the minds of his +readers. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Re-representative feelings</i>, under which head are included +those more complex sentient states that are less the direct +results of external excitements than the indirect or reflex +results of them. The love of property is a feeling of this +kind. It is awakened not by the presence of any special +object, but by ownable objects at large; and it is not from +the mere presence of such object, but from a certain ideal +relation to them, that it arises. As before shown (<a href='#Page_311'>p. 311</a>) +it consists, not of the represented advantages of possessing +this or that, but of the represented advantages of possession +in general—is not made up of certain concrete representations, +but of the abstracts of many concrete representations; +and so is re-representative. The higher sentiments, +as that of justice, are still more completely of this +nature. Here the sentient state is compounded out of +sentient states that are themselves wholly, or almost wholly, +re-representative: it involves representations of those lower +emotions which are produced by the possession of property, +by freedom of action, etc.; and thus is re-representative +in a higher degree. +</p> + +<p> +This classification, here roughly indicated and capable +of further expansion, will be found in harmony with the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_324' id='Page_324' name='Page_324'>324</a></span> +results of detailed analysis aided by development. Whether +we trace mental progression through the grades of the animal +kingdom, through the grades of mankind, or through +the stages of individual growth; it is obvious that the advance, +alike in cognitions and feelings, is, and must be, +from the presentative to the more and more remotely representative. +It is undeniable that intelligence ascends +from those simple perceptions in which consciousness is +occupied in localizing and classifying sensations, to perceptions +more and more compound, to simple reasoning, to +reasoning more and more complex and abstract—more +and more remote from sensation. And in the evolution of +feelings, there is a parallel series of steps. Simple sensations; +sensations combined together; sensations combined +with represented sensations; represented sensations organized +into groups, in which their separate characters are +very much merged; representations of these representative +groups, in which the original components have become +still more vague. In both cases, the progress +has necessarily been from the simple and concrete to +the complex and abstract: and as with the cognitions, +so with the feelings, this must be the basis of classification. +</p> + +<p> +The space here occupied with criticisms on Mr. Bain's +work, we might have filled with exposition and eulogy, had +we thought this the more important. Though we have +freely pointed out what we conceive to be its defects, let it +not be inferred that we question its great merits. We repeat +that, as a natural history of the mind, we believe it to +be the best yet produced. It is a most valuable collection +of carefully-elaborated materials. Perhaps we cannot better +express our sense of its worth, than by saying that, to +those who hereafter give to this branch of Psychology a +thoroughly scientific organization, Mr. Bain's book will be +indispensable. +</p> + +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_325' id='Page_325' name='Page_325'>325</a></span> +</p> + + + + +<h2> +VIII. <br />ILLOGICAL GEOLOGY. +</h2> + + +<p> +That proclivity to generalization which is possessed in +greater or less degree by all minds, and without which, +indeed, intelligence cannot exist, has unavoidable inconveniences. +Through it alone can truth be reached; and +yet it almost inevitably betrays into error. But for the +tendency to predicate of every other case, that which has +been found in the observed cases, there could be no rational +thinking; and yet by this indispensable tendency, +men are perpetually led to found, on limited experience, +propositions which they wrongly assume to be universal or +absolute. In one sense, however, this can scarcely be regarded +as an evil; for without premature generalizations +the true generalization would never be arrived at. If we +waited till all the facts were accumulated before trying to +formulate them, the vast unorganized mass would be unmanageable. +Only by provisional grouping can they be +brought into such order as to be dealt with; and this provisional +grouping is but another name for premature generalization. +</p> + +<p> +How uniformly men follow this course, and how needful +the errors are as steps to truth, is well illustrated in the +history of Astronomy. The heavenly bodies move round +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_326' id='Page_326' name='Page_326'>326</a></span> +the Earth in circles, said the earliest observers: led partly +by the appearances, and partly by their experiences of central +motions in terrestrial objects, with which, as all circular, +they classed the celestial motions from lack of any +alternative conception. Without this provisional belief, +wrong as it was, there could not have been that comparison +of positions which showed that the motions are not +representable by circles; and which led to the hypothesis +of epicycles and eccentrics. Only by the aid of this hypothesis, +equally untrue, but capable of accounting more +nearly for the appearances, and so of inducing more accurate +observations—only thus did it become possible for +Copernicus to show that the heliocentric theory is more +feasible than the geocentric theory; or for Kepler to show +that the planets move round the sun in ellipses. Yet +again, without the aid of this approximate truth discovered +by Kepler, Newton could not have established that general +law from which it follows, that the motion of a heavenly +body round its centre of gravity is not necessarily in an +ellipse, but may be in any conic section. And lastly, it +was only after the law of gravitation had been verified, +that it became possible to determine the actual courses of +planets, satellites, and comets; and to prove that, in consequence +of perturbations, their orbits always deviate, more +or less, from regular curves. Thus, there followed one +another five provisional theories of the Solar System, +before the sixth and absolutely true theory was reached. +In which five provisional theories, each for a time held +as final, we may trace both the tendency men have to +leap from scanty data to wide generalizations, that are +either untrue or but partially true; and the necessity +there is for these transitional generalizations as steps to the +final one. +</p> + +<p> +In the progress of geological speculation the same laws +of thought are clearly displayed. We have dogmas that +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_327' id='Page_327' name='Page_327'>327</a></span> +were more than half false, passing current for a time as +universal truths. We have evidence collected in proof of +these dogmas; by and by a colligation of facts in antagonism +with them; and eventually a consequent modification. +In conformity with this somewhat improved hypothesis, we +have a better classification of facts; a greater power of +arranging and interpreting the new facts now rapidly +gathered together; and further resulting corrections of +hypothesis. Being, as we are at present, in the midst of +this process, it is not possible to give an adequate account +of the development of geological science as thus regarded: +the earlier stages are alone known to us. Not only, however, +is it interesting to observe how the more advanced +views now received respecting the Earth's history, have +been evolved out of the crude views which preceded them; +but we shall find it extremely instructive to observe this. +We shall see how greatly the old ideas still sway, both the +general mind, and the minds of geologists themselves. +We shall see how the kind of evidence that has in part +abolished these old ideas, is still daily accumulating, and +threatens to make other like revolutions. In brief, we +shall see whereabouts we are in the elaboration of a true +theory of the Earth; and, seeing our whereabouts, shall be +the better able to judge, among various conflicting opinions, +which best conform to the ascertained direction of geological +discovery. +</p> + +<p> +It is alike needless and impracticable here to enumerate +the many speculations which were in earlier ages propounded +by acute men—speculations some of which contained +portions of truth. Falling in unfit times, these speculations +did not germinate; and hence do not concern us. We +have nothing to do with ideas, however good, out of which +no science grew; but only with those which gave origin to +the system of Geology that now exists. We therefore begin +with Werner. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_328' id='Page_328' name='Page_328'>328</a></span> +Taking for data the appearances of the Earth's crust in +a narrow district of Germany; observing the constant order +of superposition of strata, and their respective physical +characters; Werner drew the inference that strata of like +characters succeeded each other in like order over the entire +surface of the Earth. And seeing, from the laminated +structure of many formations and the organic remains contained +in others, that they were sedimentary; he further +inferred that these universal strata had been in succession +precipitated from a chaotic menstruum which once covered +our planet. Thus, on a very incomplete acquaintance +with a thousandth part of the Earth's crust, he based a +sweeping generalization applying to the whole of it. This +Neptunist hypothesis, mark, borne out though it seemed to +be by the most conspicuous surrounding facts, was quite +untenable if analyzed. That a universal chaotic menstruum +should deposit, one after another, numerous sharply-defined +strata, differing from each other in composition, is incomprehensible. +That the strata so deposited should contain +the remains of plants and animals, which could not have +lived under the supposed conditions, is still more incomprehensible. +Physically absurd, however, as was this hypothesis, +it recognized, though under a distorted form, one +of the great agencies of geological change—that of water. +It served also to express the fact that the formations of the +Earth's crust stand in some kind of order. Further, it did +a little towards supplying a nomenclature, without which +much progress was impossible. Lastly, it furnished a standard +with which successions of strata in various regions +could be compared, the differences noted, and the actual +sections tabulated. It was the first provisional generalization; +and was useful, if not indispensable, as a step to truer +ones. +</p> + +<p> +Following this rude conception, which ascribed geological +phenomena to one agency, acting during one primeval +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_329' id='Page_329' name='Page_329'>329</a></span> +epoch, there came a greatly-improved conception, which +ascribed them to two agencies, acting alternately during +successive epochs. Hutton, perceiving that sedimentary +deposits were still being formed at the bottom of the sea +from the detritus carried down by rivers; perceiving, further, +that the strata of which the visible surface chiefly consists, +bore marks of having been similarly formed out of +pre-existing land; and inferring that these strata could +have become land only by upheaval after their deposit; +concluded that throughout an indefinite past, there had +been periodic convulsions, by which continents were raised, +with intervening eras of repose, during which such continents +were worn down and transformed into new marine strata, +fated to be in their turns elevated above the surface of the +ocean. And finding that igneous action, to which sundry +earlier geologists had ascribed basaltic rocks, was in countless +places a source of disturbance, he taught that from it +resulted these periodic convulsions. In this theory we see:—first, +that the previously-recognized agency of water was +conceived to act, not as by Werner, after a manner of +which we have no experience, but after a manner daily displayed +to us; and second, that the igneous agency, before +considered only as a cause of special formations, was recognized +as a universal agency, but assumed to act in an +unproved way. Werner's sole process, Hutton developed +from the catastrophic and inexplicable into the uniform and +explicable; while that antagonistic second process, of +which he first adequately estimated the importance, was +regarded by him as a catastrophic one, and was not assimilated +to known processes—not explained. We have here +to note, however, that the facts collected and provisionally +arranged in conformity with Werner's theory, served, +after a time, to establish Hutton's more rational theory—in +so far, at least, as aqueous formations are concerned; +while the doctrine of periodic subterranean convulsions, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_330' id='Page_330' name='Page_330'>330</a></span> +crudely as it was conceived by Hutton, was a temporary +generalization needful as a step towards the theory of igneous +action. +</p> + +<p> +Since Hutton's time, the development of geological +thought has gone still further in the same direction. These +early sweeping doctrines have received additional qualifications. +It has been discovered that more numerous and +more heterogeneous agencies have been at work, than was +at first believed. The igneous hypothesis has been rationalized, +as the aqueous one had previously been: the gratuitous +assumption of vast elevations suddenly occurring after +long intervals of quiescence, has grown into the consistent +theory, that islands and continents are the accumulated results +of successive small upheavals, like those experienced +in ordinary earthquakes. +</p> + +<p> +To speak more specifically, we find, in the first place, +that instead of assuming the denudation produced by rain +and rivers to be the sole means of wearing down lands and +producing their irregularities of surface, geologists now +see that denudation is only a part-cause of such irregularities; +and further, that the new strata deposited at the bottom +of the sea, are not the products of river-sediment solely, +but are in part due to the action of waves and tidal currents +on the coasts. In the second place, we find that Hutton's +conception of upheaval by subterranean forces, has not +only been modified by assimilating these subterranean forces +to ordinary earthquake-forces; but modern inquiries have +shown that, besides elevations of surface, subsidences are thus +produced; that local upheavals, as well as the general upheavals, +which raise continents, come within the same +category; and that all these changes are probably consequent +on the progressive collapse of the Earth's crust +upon its cooling and contracting nucleus—the only adequate +cause. In the third place, we find that beyond +these two great antagonist agencies, modern Geology +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_331' id='Page_331' name='Page_331'>331</a></span> +recognises sundry minor ones: as those of glaciers and icebergs; +those of coral-polypes; those of <i>Protozoa</i> having +siliceous or calcareous shells—each of which agencies, insignificant +as it seems, is found capable of slowly working +terrestrial changes of considerable magnitude. Thus, then, +the recent progress of Geology has been a still further departure +from primitive conceptions. Instead of one catastrophic +cause, once in universal action, as supposed by +Werner—instead of one general continuous cause, antagonized +at long intervals by a catastrophic cause, as taught +by Hutton; we now recognize several causes, all more or +less general and continuous. We no longer resort to hypothetical +agencies to explain the phenomena displayed by +the Earth's crust; but we are day by day more clearly perceiving +that these phenomena have arisen from forces like +those now at work, which have acted in all varieties of +combination, through immeasurable periods of time. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +Having thus briefly traced the evolution of geologic +science, and noted its present form, let us go on to observe +the way in which it is still swayed by the crude hypotheses +it set out with; so that even now, old doctrines that are +abandoned as untenable in theory, continue in practice to +mould the ideas of geologists, and to foster sundry beliefs +that are logically indefensible. We shall see, both how +those simple sweeping conceptions with which the science +commenced, are those which every student is apt at first to +seize hold of, and how several influences conspire to maintain +the twist thus resulting—how the original nomenclature +of periods and formations necessarily keeps alive the +original implications; and how the need for arranging new +data in some order, naturally results in their being thrust +into the old classification, unless their incongruity with it is +very glaring. A few facts will best prepare the way for criticism. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_332' id='Page_332' name='Page_332'>332</a></span> +Up to 1839 it was inferred, from their crystalline character, +that the metamorphic rocks of Anglesea are more +ancient than any rocks of the adjacent main land; but it +has since been shown that they are of the same age with the +slates and grits of Carnarvon and Merioneth. Again, slaty +cleavage having been first found only in the lowest rocks, +was taken as an indication of the highest antiquity: whence +resulted serious mistakes; for this mineral characteristic +is now known to occur in the Carboniferous system. Once +more, certain red conglomerates and grits on the north-west +coast of Scotland, long supposed from their lithological aspect +to belong to the Old Red Sandstone, are now identified +with the Lower Silurians. +</p> + +<p> +These are a few instances of the small trust to be placed in +mineral qualities, as evidence of the ages or relative positions +of strata. From the recently-published third edition +of <i>Siluria</i>, may be culled numerous facts of like implication. +Sir R. Murchison considers it ascertained, that the siliceous +Stiper stones of Shropshire are the equivalents of the Tremadock +slates of North Wales. Judged by their fossils, +Bala slate and limestone are of the same age as the Caradoc +sandstone, lying forty miles off. In Radnorshire, the +formation classed as upper Llandovery rock, is described +at different spots, as "sandstone or conglomerate," "impure +limestone," "hard coarse grits," "siliceous grit"—a considerable +variation for so small an area as that of a county. +Certain sandy beds on the left bank of the Towy, which +Sir R. Murchison had, in his <i>Silurian System</i>, classed as +Caradoc sandstone (evidently from their mineral characters), +he now finds, from their fossils, belong to the Llandeilo formation. +Nevertheless, inferences from mineral characters +are still habitually drawn and received. Though <i>Siluria</i>, +in common with other geological works, supplies numerous +proofs that rocks of the same age are often of widely-different +composition a few miles off, while rocks of widely +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_333' id='Page_333' name='Page_333'>333</a></span> +different ages are often of similar composition; and though +Sir. R. Murchison shows us, as in the case just cited, that +he has himself in past times been misled by trusting to lithological +evidence; yet his reasoning, all through <i>Siluria</i>, +shows that he still thinks it natural to expect formations of +the same age to be chemically similar, even in remote regions. +For example, in treating of the Silurian rocks of +South Scotland, he says:—"When traversing the tract between +Dumfries and Moffat in 1850, it occurred to me that +the dull reddish or purple sandstone and schist to the north +of the former town, which so resembled the bottom rocks +of the Longmynd, Llanberis, and St. David's, would +prove to be of the same age;" and further on he again +insists upon the fact that these strata "are absolutely of +the same composition as the bottom rocks of the Silurian region." +</p> + +<p> +On this unity of mineral character it is, that this Scottish +formation is concluded to be contemporaneous with +the lowest formations in Wales; for the scanty palæontological +evidence suffices neither for proof nor disproof. Now, +had there been a continuity of like strata in like order between +Wales and Scotland, there might have been little to +criticise in this conclusion. But since Sir R. Murchison +himself admits, that in Westmoreland and Cumberland, +some members of the system "assume a lithological aspect +different from what they maintain in the Silurian and +Welsh region," there seems no reason to expect mineralogical +continuity in Scotland. Obviously therefore, the assumption +that these Scottish formations are of the same age +with the Longmynd of Shropshire, implies the latent belief +that certain mineral characters indicate certain eras. +</p> + +<p> +Far more striking instances, however, of the influence +of this latent belief remain to be given. Not in such comparatively +near districts as the Scottish lowlands only, does +Sir R. Murchison expect a repetition of the Longmynd +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_334' id='Page_334' name='Page_334'>334</a></span> +strata; but in the Rhenish provinces, certain "quartzose +flagstones and grits, like those of the Longmynd," are +seemingly concluded to be of contemporaneous origin, because +of their likeness. "Quartzites in roofing-slates with +a greenish tinge that reminded us of the lower slates of +Cumberland and Westmoreland," are evidently suspected +to be of the same age. In Russia, he remarks that the carboniferous +limestones "are overlaid along the western edge +of the Ural chain by sandstones and grits, which occupy +much the same place in the general series as the millstone +grit of England;" and in calling this group, as he does, +the "representative of the millstone grit," Sir R. Murchison +clearly shows that he thinks likeness of mineral composition +some evidence of equivalence in time, even at that +great distance. Nay, on the flanks of the Andes and in +the United States, such similarities are looked for, and considered +as significant of certain ages. Not that Sir R. Murchison +contends theoretically for this relation between lithological +character and date. For on the page from which +we have just quoted (<i>Siluria</i>, p. 387), he says, that "whilst +the soft Lower Silurian clays and sands of St. Petersburg +have their equivalents in the hard schists and quartz rocks +with gold veins in the heart of the Ural mountains, the +equally soft red and green Devonian marls of the Valdai +Hills are represented on the western flank of that chain, by +hard, contorted, and fractured limestones." But these, +and other such admissions, seem to go for little. Whilst +himself asserting that the Potsdam-sandstone of North +America, the Lingula-flags of England, and the alum-slates +of Scandinavia are of the same period—while fully aware +that among the Silurian formations of Wales, there are +oolitic strata like those of secondary age; yet is his reasoning +more or less coloured by the assumption, that formations +of like qualities probably belong to the same era. Is +it not manifest, then, that the exploded hypothesis of Werner +continues to influence geological speculation? +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_335' id='Page_335' name='Page_335'>335</a></span> +"But," it will perhaps be said, "though individual +strata are not continuous over large areas, yet systems of +strata are. Though within a few miles the same bed gradually +passes from clay into sand, or thins out and disappears, +yet the group of strata to which it belongs does not +do so; but maintains in remote regions the same relations +to other groups." +</p> + +<p> +This is the generally-current belief. On this assumption +the received geological classifications appear to be +framed. The Silurian system, the Devonian system, the +Carboniferous system, etc., are set down in our books as +groups of formations which everywhere succeed each other +in a given order; and are severally everywhere of the same +age. Though it may not be asserted that these successive +systems are universal; yet it seems to be tacitly assumed +that they are so. In North and South America, in Asia, +in Australia, sets of strata are assimilated to one or other +of these groups; and their possession of certain mineral +characters and a certain order of superposition are among +the reasons assigned for so assimilating them. Though, +probably, no competent geologist would contend that the +European classification of strata is applicable to the globe +as a whole; yet most, if not all geologists, write as though +it were so. Among readers of works on Geology, nine out of +ten carry away the impression that the divisions, Primary, +Secondary and Tertiary, are of absolute and uniform application; +that these great divisions are separable into subdivisions, +each of which is definitely distinguishable from the +rest, and is everywhere recognizable by its characters as +such or such; and that in all parts of the Earth, these +minor systems severally began and ended at the same time. +When they meet with the term "carboniferous era," they +take for granted that it was an era universally carboniferous—that +it was, what Hugh Miller indeed actually describes +it, an era when the Earth bore a vegetation far +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_336' id='Page_336' name='Page_336'>336</a></span> +more luxuriant than it has since done; and were they in +any of our colonies to meet with a coal-bed, they would +conclude that, as a matter of course, it was of the same +age as the English coal-beds. +</p> + +<p> +Now this belief that geologic "systems" are universal, +is quite as untenable as the other. It is just as absurd +when considered <i>à priori</i>; and it is equally inconsistent +with the facts. Though some series of strata classed together +as Oolite, may range over a wider district than any +one stratum of the series; yet we have but to ask what +were the circumstances of its deposit, to see that the Oolitic +series, like one of its individual strata, must be of local +origin; and that there is not likely to be anywhere else, a +series that exactly corresponds, either in its characters or +in its commencement and termination. For the formation +of such a series implies an area of subsidence, in which its +component beds were thrown down. Every area of subsidence +is necessarily limited; and to suppose that there +exist elsewhere groups of beds completely answering to +those known as Oolite, is to suppose that, in contemporaneous +areas of subsidence, like processes were going on. +There is no reason to suppose this; but every reason to +suppose the reverse. That in contemporaneous areas of +subsidence throughout the globe, the conditions would +cause the formation of Oolite, or anything like it, is an assumption +which no modern geologist would openly make: +he would say that the equivalent series of beds found elsewhere, +would very likely be of dissimilar mineral character. +</p> + +<p> +Moreover, in these contemporaneous areas of subsidence, +the phenomena going on would not only be more or +less different in kind; but in no two cases would they be +likely to agree in their commencements and terminations. +The probabilities are greatly against separate portions of +the Earth's surface beginning to subside at the same time, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_337' id='Page_337' name='Page_337'>337</a></span> +and ceasing to subside at the same time—a coincidence +which alone could produce equivalent groups of strata. +Subsidences in different places begin and end with utter +irregularity; and hence the groups of strata thrown down +in them can but rarely correspond. Measured against each +other in time, their limits will disagree. They will refuse +to fit into any scheme of definite divisions. On turning to +the evidence, we find that it daily tends more and more to +justify these <i>à priori</i> positions. Take, as an example, the +Old Red Sandstone system. In the north of England this +is represented by a single stratum of conglomerate. In +Herefordshire, Worcestershire, and Shropshire, it expands +into a series of strata from eight to ten thousand feet thick, +made up of conglomerates, red, green, and white sandstones, +red, green, and spotted marls, and concretionary +limestones. To the south-west, as between Caermarthen +and Pembroke, these Old Red Sandstone strata exhibit +considerable lithological changes; and there is an absence +of fossil fishes. On the other side of the Bristol Channel, +they display further changes in mineral characters and remains. +While in South Devon and Cornwall, the equivalent +strata, consisting chiefly of slates, schists, and limestones, +are so wholly different, that they were for a long +time classed as Silurian. When we thus see that in certain +directions the whole group of deposits thins out, and that +its mineral characters as well as its fossils change within +moderate distances; does it not become clear that the +whole group of deposits was a local one? And when we +find, in other regions, formations analogous to these Old +Red Sandstone or Devonian formations; is it certain—is it +even probable—that they severally began and ended at the +same time with them? Should it not require overwhelming +evidence to make us believe as much? +</p> + +<p> +Yet so strongly is geological speculation swayed by the +tendency to regard the phenomena as general instead of +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_338' id='Page_338' name='Page_338'>338</a></span> +local, that even those most on their guard against it seem +unable to escape its influence. At page 158 of his <i>Principles +of Geology</i>, Sir Charles Lyell says:— +</p> + + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +"A group of red marl and red sandstone, containing salt and +gypsum, being interposed in England between the Lias and the +Coal, all other red marls and sandstones, associated some of them +with salt, and others with gypsum, and occurring not only in different +parts of Europe, but in North America, Peru, India, the +salt deserts of Asia, those of Africa—in a word, in every quarter +of the globe, were referred to one and the same period.... +It was in vain to urge as an objection the improbability of +the hypothesis which implies that all the moving waters on the +globe were once simultaneously charged with sediment of a red +colour. But the rashness of pretending to identify, in age, all the +red sandstones and marls in question, has at length been sufficiently +exposed, by the discovery that, even in Europe, they belong +decidedly to many different epochs." +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Nevertheless, while in this and numerous passages of +like implication, Sir C. Lyell protests against the bias here +illustrated, he seems himself not completely free from it. +Though he utterly rejects the old hypothesis that all over +the Earth the same continuous strata lie upon each other +in regular order, like the coats of an onion, he still writes +as though geologic "systems" do thus succeed each other. +A reader of his <i>Manual</i> would certainly suppose him to +believe, that the Primary epoch ended, and the Secondary +epoch commenced, all over the world at the same time—that +these terms really correspond to distinct universal eras +in Nature. When he assumes, as he does, that the division +between Cambrian and Lower Silurian in America, answers +chronologically to the division between Cambrian +and Lower Silurian in Wales—when he takes for granted +that the partings of Lower from Middle Silurian, and of +Middle Silurian from Upper, in the one region, are of the +same dates as the like partings in the other region; does it +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_339' id='Page_339' name='Page_339'>339</a></span> +not seem that he believes geologic "systems" to be universal, +in the sense that their separations were in all places +contemporaneous? Though he would, doubtless, disown +this as an article of faith, is not his thinking unconsciously +influenced by it? Must we not say that though the onion-coat +hypothesis is dead, its spirit is traceable, under a transcendental +form, even in the conclusions of its antagonists? +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +Let us now consider another leading geological doctrine, +introduced to us by the cases just mentioned. We +mean the doctrine that strata of the same age contain like +fossils; and that, therefore, the age and relative position of +any stratum may be known by its fossils. While the theory +that strata of like mineral characters were everywhere +deposited simultaneously, has been ostensibly abandoned, +there has been accepted the theory that in each geologic +epoch similar plants and animals existed everywhere; and +that, therefore, the epoch to which any formation belongs +may be known by the organic remains contained in the +formation. Though, perhaps, no leading geologist would +openly commit himself to an unqualified assertion of this +theory, yet it is tacitly assumed in current geological reasoning. +</p> + +<p> +This theory, however, is scarcely more tenable than the +other. It cannot be concluded with any certainty, that +formations in which similar organic remains are found, were +of contemporaneous origin; nor can it be safely concluded +that strata containing different organic remains are of different +ages. To most readers these will be startling propositions; +but they are fully admitted by the highest authorities. +Sir Charles Lyell confesses that the test of organic +remains must be used "under very much the same restrictions +as the test of mineral composition." Sir Henry de la +Beche, who variously illustrates this truth, gives, as one +instance, the great incongruity there must be between the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_340' id='Page_340' name='Page_340'>340</a></span> +fossils of our carboniferous rocks and those of the marine +strata deposited at the same period. But though, in the +abstract, the danger of basing positive conclusions on evidence +derived from fossils, is clearly recognized; yet, in the +concrete, this danger is generally disregarded. The established +conclusions respecting the ages of strata, take but +little note of it; and by some geologists it seems altogether +ignored. Throughout his <i>Siluria</i>, Sir R. Murchison habitually +assumes that the same, or kindred, species, lived in +all parts of the Earth at the same time. In Russia, in Bohemia, +in the United States, in South America, strata are +classed as belonging to this or that part of the Silurian system, +because of the similar fossils contained in them—are +concluded to be everywhere contemporaneous if they enclose +a proportion of identical or allied forms. In Russia +the relative position of a stratum is inferred from the fact +that, along with some Wenlock forms, it yields the <i>Pentamerus +oblongus</i>. Certain crustaceans called Eurypteri, being +characteristic of the Upper Ludlow rock, it is remarked +that "large Eurypteri occur in a so-called black grey-wacke +slate in Westmoreland, in Oneida County, New York, +which will probably be found to be on the parallel of the +Upper Ludlow rock:" in which word "probably," we see +both how dominant is this belief of universal distribution +of similar creatures at the same period, and how apt this +belief is to make its own proof, by raising the expectation +that the ages are identical when the forms are alike. Besides +thus interpreting the formations of Russia, England, +and America, Sir R. Murchison thus interprets those of the +antipodes. Fossils from Victoria Colony, he agrees with +the Government-surveyor in classing as of Lower Silurian +or Llandovery age: that is, he takes for granted that when +certain crustaceans and mollusks were living in Wales, certain +similar crustaceans and mollusks were living in Australia. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_341' id='Page_341' name='Page_341'>341</a></span> +Yet the improbability of this assumption may be readily +shown from Sir R. Murchison's own facts. If, as he points +out, the crustacean fossils of the uppermost Silurian rocks +in Lanarkshire are, "with one doubtful exception," "all +distinct from any of the forms on the same horizon in England;" +how can it be fairly presumed that the forms existing +on the other side of the Earth during the Silurian +period, were nearly allied to those existing here? Not +only, indeed, do Sir R. Murchison's conclusions tacitly assume +this doctrine of universal distribution, but he distinctly +enunciates it. "The mere presence of a graptolite," he +says, "will at once decide that the enclosing rock is Silurian;" +and he says this, notwithstanding repeated warnings +against such generalizations. During the progress of Geology, +it has over and over again happened that a particular +fossil, long considered characteristic of a particular formation, +has been afterwards discovered in other formations. +Until some twelve years ago, Goniatites had not been found +lower than the Devonian rocks; but now, in Bohemia, they +have been found in rocks classed as Silurian. Quite recently, +the Orthoceras, previously supposed to be a type +exclusively Palæozoic, has been detected along with mesozoic +Ammonites and Belemnites. Yet hosts of such experiences +fail to extinguish the assumption, that the age of a +stratum may be determined by the occurrence in it of a +single fossil form. +</p> + +<p> +Nay, this assumption survives evidence of even a still +more destructive kind. Referring to the Silurian system +in Western Ireland, Sir R. Murchison says, "in the beds +near Maam, Professor Nicol and myself collected remains, +some of which would be considered Lower, and others +Upper, Silurian;" and he then names sundry fossils which, +in England, belong to the summit of the Ludlow rocks, or +highest Silurian strata; "some, which elsewhere are known +only in rocks of Llandovery age," that is, of middle Silurian +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_342' id='Page_342' name='Page_342'>342</a></span> +age; and some, only before known in Lower Silurian +strata, not far above the most ancient fossiliferous beds. +Now what do these facts prove? Clearly, they prove that +species which in Wales are separated by strata more than +twenty thousand feet deep, and therefore seem to belong +to periods far more remote from each other, were really +coexistent. They prove that the mollusks and crinoids +held characteristic of early Silurian strata, and supposed to +have become extinct long before the mollusks and crinoids +of the later Silurian strata came into existence, were really +flourishing at the same time with these last; and that these +last possibly date back to as early a period as the first. +They prove that not only the mineral characters of sedimentary +formations, but also the collections of organic +forms they contain, depend, to a great extent, on local circumstances. +They prove that the fossils met with in any +series of strata, cannot be taken as representing anything +like the whole Flora and Fauna of the period they belong +to. In brief, they throw great doubt upon numerous geological +generalizations. +</p> + +<p> +Notwithstanding facts like these, and notwithstanding +his avowed opinion that the test of organic remains must be +used "under very much the same restrictions as the test of +mineral composition," Sir Charles Lyell, too, bases positive +conclusions on this test: even where the community of +fossils is slight and the distance great. Having decided +that in various places in Europe, middle Eocene strata are +distinguished by nummulites; he infers, without any other +assigned evidence, that wherever nummulites are found—in +Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, in Persia, Scinde, Cutch, Eastern +Bengal, and the frontiers of China—the containing formation +is middle Eocene. And from this inference he +draws the following important corollary:— +</p> + + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +"When we have once arrived at the conviction that the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_343' id='Page_343' name='Page_343'>343</a></span> +nummulitic formation occupies a middle place in the Eocene +series, we are struck with the comparatively modern date to +which some of the greatest revolutions in the physical geography +of Europe, Asia, and northern Africa must be referred. All +the mountain chains, such as the Alps, Pyrenees, Carpathians, +and Himalayas, into the composition of whose central and loftiest +parts the nummulitic strata enter bodily, could have had no +existence till after the middle Eocene period."—<i>Manual</i>, p. 232. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +A still more marked case follows on the next page. +Because a certain bed at Claiborne in Alabama, which contains +"<i>four hundred</i> species of marine shells," includes +among them the <i>Cardita planicosta</i>, "and <i>some others</i> +identical with European species, or very nearly allied to +them," Sir C. Lyell says it is "highly probable the Claiborne +beds agree in age with the central or Bracklesham +group of England." When we find contemporaneity supposed +on the strength of a community no greater than that +which sometimes exists between strata of widely-different +ages in the same country, it seems very much as though +the above-quoted caution had been forgotten. It appears +to be assumed for the occasion, that species which had a +wide range in space had a narrow range in time; which is +the reverse of the fact. The tendency to systematize overrides +the evidence, and thrusts Nature into a formula too +rigid to fit her endless variety. +</p> + +<p> +"But," it may be urged, "surely, when in different +places the order of superposition, the mineral characters, +and the fossils, agree, it may be safely concluded that the +formations thus corresponding are equivalents in time. If, +for example, the United States display the same succession +of Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous systems, lithologically +similar, and characterized by like fossils, it is a +fair inference that these groups of strata were severally +deposited in America at the same periods that they were +deposited here." +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_344' id='Page_344' name='Page_344'>344</a></span> +On this position, which seems a strong one, we have, in +the first place, to remark, that the evidence of correspondence +is always more or less suspicious. We have already +adverted to the several "idols"—if we may use Bacon's +metaphor—to which geologists unconsciously sacrifice, +when interpreting the structures of unexplored regions. +Carrying with them the classification of strata existing in +Europe, and assuming that groups of strata in other parts +of the world must answer to some of the groups of strata +known here, they are necessarily prone to assert parallelism +on insufficient evidence. They scarcely entertain the +previous question, whether the formations they are examining +have or have not any European equivalents; but the +question is—with which of the European series shall they +be classed?—with which do they most agree?—from which +do they differ least? And this being the mode of enquiry, +there is apt to result great laxity of interpretation. How +lax the interpretation really is, may be readily shown. +When strata are discontinuous, as between Europe and +America, no evidence can be derived from the order of +superposition, apart from mineral characters and organic +remains; for, unless strata can be continuously traced, mineral +characters and organic remains are the only means of +classing them as such or such. +</p> + +<p> +As to the test of mineral characters, we have seen that +it is almost worthless; and no modern geologist would +dare to say it should be relied on. If the Old Red Sandstone +series in mid-England, differs wholly in lithological +aspect from the equivalent series in South Devon, it is clear +that similarities of texture and composition can have no +weight in assimilating a system of strata in another quarter +of the globe to some European system. The test of +fossils, therefore, is the only one that remains; and with +how little strictness this test is applied, one case will show. +Of forty-six species of British Devonian corals, only six +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_345' id='Page_345' name='Page_345'>345</a></span> +occur in America; and this, notwithstanding the wide +range which the Anthozoa are known to have. Similarly +of the Mollusca and Crinoidea, it appears that, while there +are sundry genera found in America that are found here, +there are scarcely any of the same species. And Sir +Charles Lyell admits that "the difficulty of deciding on +the exact parallelism of the New York subdivisions, as +above enumerated, with the members of the European +Devonian, is very great, so few are the species in common." +Yet it is on the strength of community of fossils, that the +whole Devonian series of the United States is assumed to +be contemporaneous with the whole Devonian series of +England. And it is partly on the ground that the Devonian +of the United States corresponds in time with our Devonian, +that Sir Charles Lyell concludes the superjacent +coal-measures of the two countries to be of the same age. +Is it not, then, as we said, that the evidence in these cases +is very suspicious? +</p> + +<p> +Should it be replied, as it may fairly be, that this correspondence +from which the synchronism of distant formations +is inferred, is not a correspondence between particular +species or particular genera, but between the general +characters of the contained assemblages of fossils—between +the <i>facies</i> of the two Faunas; the rejoinder is, that though +such correspondence is a stronger evidence of synchronism +it is still an insufficient one. To infer synchronism from +such correspondence, involves the postulate that throughout +each geologic era there has habitually existed a recognizable +similarity between the groups of organic forms inhabiting +all the different parts of the Earth; and that the +causes which have in one part of the Earth changed the organic +forms into those which characterize the next era, have +simultaneously acted in all other parts of the Earth, in such +ways as to produce parallel changes of their organic forms. +Now this is not only a large assumption to make; but it is +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_346' id='Page_346' name='Page_346'>346</a></span> +an assumption contrary to probability. The probability is, +that the causes which have changed Faunas have been local +rather than universal; that hence while the Faunas of +some regions have been rapidly changing, those of others +have been almost quiescent; and that when such others +have been changed, it has been, not in such ways as to +maintain parallelism, but in such ways as to produce divergence. +</p> + +<p> +Even supposing, however, that districts some hundreds +of miles apart, furnished groups of strata that completely +agreed in their order of superposition, their mineral characters, +and their fossils, we should still have inadequate proof +of contemporaneity. For there are conditions, very likely +to occur, under which such groups might differ widely in +age. If there be a continent of which the strata crop out +on the surface obliquely to the line of coast—running, say, +west-northwest, while the coast runs east and west—it is +clear that each group of strata will crop out on the beach +at a particular part of the coast; that further west the next +group of strata will crop out on the beach; and so continuously. +As the localization of marine plants and animals is +in a considerable degree determined by the nature of the +rocks and their detritus, it follows that each part of this +coast will have its more or less distinct Flora and Fauna. +What now must result from the action of the waves in the +course of a geologic epoch? As the sea makes slow inroads +on the land, the place at which each group of strata crops +out on the beach will gradually move towards the west: +its distinctive fish, mollusks, crustaceans, and sea-weeds, +migrating with it. Further, the detritus of each of these +groups of strata will, as the point of outcrop moves westwards, +be deposited over the detritus of the group in advance +of it. And the consequence of these actions, carried +on for one of those enormous periods required for geologic +changes, will be that, corresponding to each eastern stratum, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_347' id='Page_347' name='Page_347'>347</a></span> +there will arise a stratum far to the west which, though occupying +the same position relatively to other beds, formed +of like materials, and containing like fossils, will yet be perhaps +a million years later in date. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +But the illegitimacy, or at any rate the great doubtfulness, +of many current geological inferences, is best seen +when we contemplate terrestrial changes now going on: +and ask how far such inferences are countenanced by them. +If we carry out rigorously the modern method of interpreting +geological phenomena, which Sir Charles Lyell has done +so much to establish—that of referring them to causes like +those at present in action—we cannot fail to see how improbable +are sundry of the received conclusions. +</p> + +<p> +Along each line of shore that is being worn away by +the waves, there are being formed mud, sand, and pebbles. +This detritus, spread over the neighbouring sea-bottom, +has, in each locality, a more or less special character; determined +by the nature of the strata destroyed. In the +English Channel it is not the same as in the Irish Channel; +on the east coast of Ireland it is not the same as on the +west coast; and so throughout. At the mouth of each +great river, there is being deposited sediment differing +more or less from that of other rivers in colour and quality; +forming strata that are here red, there yellow, and +elsewhere brown, grey, or dirty white. Besides which various +formations, going on in deltas and along shores, there +are some much wider and still more contrasted formations. +At the bottom of the Ægæan Sea, there is accumulating +a bed of Pteropod shells, which will eventually, no doubt, +become a calcareous rock. For some hundreds of thousands +of square miles, the ocean-bed between Great Britain +and North America, is being covered with a stratum of +chalk; and over large areas in the Pacific, there are going +on deposits of coralline limestone. Thus, throughout the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_348' id='Page_348' name='Page_348'>348</a></span> +Earth, there are at this moment being produced an immense +number of strata differing from each other in lithological +characters. Name at random any one part of the +sea-bottom, and ask whether the deposit there taking place +is like the deposit taking place at some distant part of the +sea-bottom, and the almost-certainly correct answer will be—No. +The chances are not in favour of similarity, but +very greatly against it. +</p> + +<p> +In the order of superposition of strata there is <ins class='correction' title='Original: occuring'>occurring</ins> +a like variety. Each region of the Earth's surface has +its special history of elevations, subsidences, periods of +rest; and this history in no case fits chronologically with +the history of any other portion. River deltas are now being +thrown down on formations of quite different ages. +While here there has been deposited a series of beds many +hundreds of feet thick, there has elsewhere been deposited +but a single bed of fine mud. While one region of the +Earth's crust, continuing for a vast epoch above the surface +of the ocean, bears record of no changes save those resulting +from denudation; another region of the Earth's crust +gives proof of various changes of level, with their several +resulting masses of stratified detritus. If anything is to +be judged from current processes, we must infer, not only +that everywhere the succession of sedimentary formations +differs more or less from the succession elsewhere; but also +that in each place, there exist groups of strata to which +many other places have no equivalents. +</p> + +<p> +With respect to the organic bodies imbedded in formations +now in progress, the like truth is equally manifest, if +not more manifest. Even along the same coast, within +moderate distances, the forms of life differ very considerably; +much more on coasts that are remote from each other. +Again, dissimilar creatures that are living together near the +same shore, do not leave their remains in the same beds of +sediment. For instance, at the bottom of the Adriatic, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_349' id='Page_349' name='Page_349'>349</a></span> +where the prevailing currents cause the deposits to be here +of mud, and there of calcareous matter, it is proved that +different species of co-existing shells are being buried in +these respective formations. On our own coasts, the marine +remains found a few miles from shore, in banks where +fish congregate, are different from those found close to the +shore, where only littoral species flourish. A large proportion +of aquatic creatures have structures that do not admit +of fossilization; while of the rest, the great majority are +destroyed, when dead, by the various kinds of scavengers +that creep among the rocks and weeds. So that no one +deposit near our shores can contain anything like a true +representation of the Fauna of the surrounding sea; much +less of the co-existing Faunas of other seas in the same latitude; +and still less of the Faunas of seas in distant latitudes. +Were it not that the assertion seems needful, it +would be almost absurd to say, that the organic remains +now being buried in the Dogger Bank, can tell us next +to nothing about the fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and corals +that are being buried in the Bay of Bengal. +</p> + +<p> +Still stronger is the argument in the case of terrestrial +life. With more numerous and greater contrasts between +the plants and animals of remote places, there is a far more +imperfect registry of them. Schouw marks out on the Earth +more than twenty botanical regions, occupied by groups of +forms so far distinct from each other, that, if fossilized, geologists +would scarcely be disposed to refer them all to the +same period. Of Faunas, the Arctic differs from the Temperate; +the Temperate from the Tropical; and the South +Temperate from the North Temperate. Nay, in the South +Temperate Zone itself, the two regions of South Africa and +South America are unlike in their mammals, birds, reptiles, +fishes, mollusks, insects. The shells and bones now lying at +the bottoms of lakes and estuaries in these several regions, +have certainly not that similarity which is usually looked +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_350' id='Page_350' name='Page_350'>350</a></span> +for in those of contemporaneous strata; and the recent +forms exhumed in any one of these regions would very untruly +represent the present Flora and Fauna of the Earth. +In conformity with the current style of geological reasoning, +an exhaustive examination of deposits in the Arctic circle, +might be held to prove that though at this period +there were sundry mammals existing, there were no reptiles; +while the absence of mammals in the deposits of the Galapagos +Archipelago, where there are plenty of reptiles, might +be held to prove the reverse. And at the same time, from +the formations extending for two thousand miles along the +great barrier-reef of Australia—formations in which are +imbedded nothing but corals, echinoderms, mollusks, crustaceans, +and fish, along with an occasional turtle, or bird, +or cetacean, it might be inferred that there lived in our +epoch neither terrestrial reptiles nor terrestrial mammals. +</p> + +<p> +The mention of Australia, indeed, suggests an illustration +which, even alone, would amply prove our case. The +Fauna of this region differs widely from any that is found +elsewhere. On land all the indigenous mammals, except +bats, belong to the lowest, or implacental division; and the +insects are singularly different from those found elsewhere. +The surrounding seas contain numerous forms that are more +or less strange; and among the fish there exists a species +of shark, which is the only living representative of a genus +that flourished in early geologic epochs. If, now, the modern +fossiliferous deposits of Australia were to be examined +by one ignorant of the existing Australian Fauna; and if he +were to reason in the usual manner; he would be very unlikely +to class these deposits with those of the present time. +How, then, can we place confidence in the tacit assumption +that certain formations in remote parts of the Earth are +referable to the same period, because the organic remains +contained in them display a certain community of character? +or that certain others are referable to different periods, +because the <i>facies</i> of their Faunas are different? +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_351' id='Page_351' name='Page_351'>351</a></span> +"But," it will be replied, "in past eras the same, or +similar, organic forms were more widely distributed than +now." It may be so; but the evidence adduced by no +means proves it. The argument by which this conclusion +is reached, runs a risk of being quoted as an example of +reasoning in a circle. As already pointed out, between +formations in remote regions there is no means of ascertaining +equivalence but by fossils. If, then, the contemporaneity +of remote formations is concluded from the likeness +of their fossils; how can it be said that similar plants and +animals were once more widely distributed, because they +are found in contemporaneous strata in remote regions? +Is not the fallacy manifest? Even supposing there were +no such fatal objection as this, the evidence commonly assigned +would still be insufficient. For we must bear in +mind that the community of organic remains commonly +thought sufficient for inferring correspondence in time, is a +very imperfect community. When the compared sedimentary +beds are far apart, it is scarcely expected that there +will be many species common to the two: it is enough if +there be discovered a considerable number of common genera. +Now had it been proved that, throughout geologic +time, each genus lived but for a short period—a period +measured by a single group of strata—something might be +inferred. But what if we learn that many of the same +genera continued to exist throughout enormous epochs, +measured by several vast systems of strata? "Among +molluscs, the genera <i>Avicula</i>, <i>Modiola</i>, <i>Terebratula</i>, <i>Lingula</i>, +and <i>Orbicula</i>, are found from the Silurian rocks upwards +to the present day." If, then, between the lowest +fossiliferous formations and the most recent, there exists +this degree of community; must we not infer that there +will probably often exist a degree of community between +strata that are far from contemporaneous? +</p> + +<p> +Thus the reasoning from which it is concluded that +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_352' id='Page_352' name='Page_352'>352</a></span> +similar organic forms were once more widely spread, is +doubly fallacious; and, consequently, the classifications of +foreign strata based on this conclusion are untrustworthy. +Judging from the present distribution of life, we can +scarcely expect to find similar remains in geographically +remote strata of the same age; and where, between the +fossils of geographically remote strata, we do find much +similarity, it is probably often due rather to likeness of conditions +than to contemporaneity. If from causes and effects +such as we now witness, we reason back to the causes +and effects of past epochs, we discover inadequate warrant +for sundry of the received doctrines. Seeing, as we do, +that in large areas of the Pacific this is a period characterized +by abundance of corals; that in the North Atlantic it +is a period in which a great chalk-deposit is being formed; +and that in the valley of the Mississippi it is a period of +new coal-basins—seeing also, as we do, that in one extensive +continent this is peculiarly an era of implacental mammals, +and that in another extensive continent it is peculiarly +an era of placental mammals; we have good reason to hesitate +before accepting these sweeping generalizations which +are based on a cursory examination of strata occupying but +a tenth part of the Earth's surface. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +At the outset, this article was to have been a review of +the works of Hugh Miller; but it has grown into something +much more general. Nevertheless, the remaining +two doctrines which we propose to criticise, may be conveniently +treated in connection with his name, as that of +one who fully committed himself to them. And first, a few +words with regard to his position. +</p> + +<p> +That he was a man whose life was one of meritorious +achievement, every one knows. That he was a diligent and +successful working geologist, scarcely needs saying. That +with indomitable perseverance he struggled up from +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_353' id='Page_353' name='Page_353'>353</a></span> +obscurity to a place in the world of literature and science, +shows him to have been highly endowed in character and +intelligence. And that he had a remarkable power of presenting +his facts and arguments in an attractive form, a +glance at any of his books will quickly prove. By all +means, let us respect him as a man of activity and sagacity, +joined with a large amount of poetry. But while saying +this we must add, that his reputation stands by no means +so high in the scientific world as in the world at large. +Partly from the fact that our Scotch neighbours are in the +habit of blowing the trumpet rather loudly before their +notabilities—partly because the charming style in which his +books are written has gained him a large circle of readers—partly, +perhaps, through a praiseworthy sympathy with +him as a self-made man; Hugh Miller has met with an +amount of applause which, little as we wish to diminish it, +must not be allowed to blind the public to his defects as a +man of science. +</p> + +<p> +The truth is, he was so far committed to a foregone +conclusion, that he could not become a philosophical geologist. +He might be aptly described as a theologian studying +geology. The dominant idea with which he wrote, +may be seen in the titles of his books—<i>Law versus Miracle</i>,—<i>Footprints +of the Creator</i>,—<i>The Testimony of the +Rocks</i>. Regarding geological facts as evidence for or +against certain religious conclusions, it was scarcely possible +for him to deal with geological facts impartially. His +ruling aim was to disprove the Development Hypothesis, +the assumed implications of which were repugnant to him; +and in proportion to the strength of his feeling, was the +one-sidedness of his reasoning. He admitted that "God +might as certainly have <i>originated</i> the species by a law of +development, as he <i>maintains</i> it by a law of development; +the existence of a First Great Cause is as perfectly compatible +with the one scheme as with the other." Nevertheless, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_354' id='Page_354' name='Page_354'>354</a></span> +he considered the hypothesis at variance with Christianity; +and therefore combated with it. He apparently +overlooked the fact that the doctrines of geology in general, +as held by himself, had been rejected by many on similar +grounds; and that he had himself been repeatedly attacked +for his anti-Christian teachings. He seems not to +have perceived that, just as his antagonists were wrong in +condemning as irreligious, theories which he saw were not +irreligious; so might he be wrong in condemning, on like +grounds, the Theory of Evolution. In brief, he fell short +of that highest faith, which knows that all truths must harmonize; +and which is, therefore, content trustfully to follow +the evidence whithersoever it leads. +</p> + +<p> +Of course it is impossible to criticize his works without +entering on this great question to which he chiefly devoted +himself. The two remaining doctrines to be here discussed, +bear directly on this question; and, as above said, we propose +to treat them in connection with Hugh Miller's name, +because, throughout his reasonings, he assumes their truth. +Let it not be supposed, however, that we shall aim to prove +what he has aimed to disprove. While we purpose showing +that his arguments against the Development Hypothesis +are based on invalid assumptions; we do not purpose +showing that the opposing arguments are based on valid +assumptions. We hope to make it apparent that the geological +evidence at present obtained, is insufficient for either +side; further, that there seems little probability of sufficient +evidence ever being obtained; and that if the question is +eventually decided, it must be decided on other than geological +data. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +The first of the current doctrines to which we have just +referred, is, that there occur in the records of former life +on our planet, certain great blanks—that though, generally, +the succession of fossil forms is tolerably continuous, yet +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_355' id='Page_355' name='Page_355'>355</a></span> +that at two places there occur wide gaps in the series +whence it is inferred that, on at least two occasions, the +previously existing inhabitants of the Earth were almost +wholly destroyed, and a different class of inhabitants created. +Comparing the general life on the Earth to a thread, +Hugh Miller says:— +</p> + + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +"It is continuous from the present time up to the commencement +of the Tertiary period; and then so abrupt a break occurs, +that, with the exception of the microscopic diatomaceæ to which +I last evening referred, and of one shell and one coral, not a single +species crossed the gap. On its further or remoter side, however, +where the Secondary division closes, the intermingling of +species again begins, and runs on till the commencement of this +great Secondary division; and then, just where the Palæozoic division +closes, we find another abrupt break, crossed, if crossed at +all,—for there still exists some doubt on the subject,—by but two +species of plant." +</p> +</div> + +<p> +These breaks are considered to imply actual new creations +on the surface of our planet; not only by Hugh Miller, +but by the majority of geologists. And the terms +Palæozoic, Mesozoic, and Cainozoic, are used to indicate +these three successive systems of life. It is true that some +accept this belief with caution: knowing how geologic +research has been all along tending to fill up what were +once thought wide breaks. Sir Charles Lyell points out +that "the hiatus which exists in Great Britain between the +fossils of the Lias and those of the Magnesian Limestone, +is supplied in Germany by the rich fauna and flora of the +Muschelkalk, Keuper, and Bunter Sandstein, which we +know to be of a date precisely intermediate." Again he +remarks that "until lately the fossils of the coal-measures +were separated from those of the antecedent Silurian group +by a very abrupt and decided line of demarcation; but +recent discoveries have brought to light in Devonshire, +Belgium, the Eifel, and Westphalia, the remains of a fauna +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_356' id='Page_356' name='Page_356'>356</a></span> +of an intervening period." And once more, "we have also +in like manner had some success of late years in diminishing +the hiatus which still separates the Cretaceous and +Eocene periods in Europe." To which let us add that +since Hugh Miller penned the passage above quoted, the +second of the great gaps he refers to has been very considerably +narrowed by the discovery of strata containing Palæozoic +genera and Mesozoic genera intermingled. Nevertheless, +the occurrence of two great revolutions in the +Earth's Flora and Fauna appears still to be held by many; +and geologic nomenclature habitually assumes it. +</p> + +<p> +Before seeking a solution of these phenomena, let us +glance at the several minor causes that produce breaks in +the geological succession of organic forms: taking first, +the more general ones which modify climate, and, therefore, +the distribution of life. Among these may be noted +one which has not, we believe, been named by writers on +the subject. We mean that resulting from a certain slow +astronomic rhythm, by which the northern and southern +hemispheres are alternately subject to greater extremes of +temperature. In consequence of the slight ellipticity of its +orbit, the Earth's distance from the sun varies to the extent +of some 3,000,000 of miles. At present, the aphelion occurs +at the time of our northern summer; and the perihelion +during the summer of the southern hemisphere. In +consequence, however, of that slow movement of the +Earth's axis which produces the precession of the equinoxes, +this state of things will in time be reversed: the Earth +will be nearest to the sun during the summer of the northern +hemisphere, and furthest from it during the southern +summer or northern winter. The period required to complete +the slow movement producing these changes, is nearly +26,000 years; and were there no modifying process, the +two hemispheres would alternately experience this coincidence +of summer with the least distance from the sun, during +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_357' id='Page_357' name='Page_357'>357</a></span> +a period of 13,000 years. But there is also a still +slower change in the direction of the axis major of the +Earth's orbit; from which it results that the alternation we +have described is completed in about 21,000 years. That +is to say, if at a given time the Earth is nearest to the sun +at our mid-summer, and furthest from the sun at our mid-winter: +then, in 10,500 years afterwards, it will be furthest +from the sun at our mid-summer, and nearest at our mid-winter. +</p> + +<p> +Now the difference between the distances from the sun +at the two extremes of this alternation, amounts to one-thirtieth; +and hence, the difference between the quantities +of heat received from the sun on a summer's day under +these opposite conditions amounts to one-fifteenth. Estimating +this, not with reference to the zero of our thermometers, +but with reference to the temperature of the celestial +spaces, Sir John Herschel calculates "23° Fahrenheit as +the least variation of temperature under such circumstances +which can reasonably be attributed to the actual variation +of the sun's distance." Thus, then, each hemisphere has +at a certain epoch, a short summer of extreme heat, followed +by a long and very cold winter. Through the slow +change in the direction of the Earth's axis, these extremes +are gradually mitigated. And at the end of 10,500 years, +there is reached the opposite state—a long and moderate +summer, with a short and mild winter. At present, in consequence +of the predominance of sea in the southern hemisphere, +the extremes to which its astronomical conditions +subject it, are much ameliorated; while the great proportion +of land in the northern hemisphere, tends to exaggerate +such contrast as now exists in it between winter and +summer: whence it results that the climates of the two +hemispheres are not widely unlike. But 10,000 years hence, +the northern hemisphere will undergo annual variations of +temperature far more marked than now. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_358' id='Page_358' name='Page_358'>358</a></span> +In the last edition of his <i>Outlines of Astronomy</i>, Sir +John Herschel recognizes this as an element in geological +processes: regarding it as possibly a part-cause of those +climatic changes indicated by the records of the Earth's +past. That it has had much to do with the larger changes +of climate of which we have evidence, seems unlikely, since +there is reason to think that these have been far slower and +more lasting; but that it must have entailed a rhythmical +exaggeration and mitigation of the climates otherwise produced, +seems beyond question. And it seems also beyond +question that there must have been a consequent rhythmical +change in the distribution of organisms—a rhythmical +change to which we here wish to draw attention, as one +cause of minor breaks in the succession of fossil remains. +Each species of plant and animal, has certain limits of heat +and cold within which only it can exist; and these limits +in a great degree determine its geographical position. It +will not spread north of a certain latitude, because it cannot +bear a more northern winter, nor south of a certain +latitude, because the summer heat is too great; or else it +is indirectly restrained from spreading further by the effect +of temperature on the humidity of the air, or on the distribution +of the organisms it lives upon. +</p> + +<p> +But now, what will result from a slow alteration of climate, +produced as above described? Supposing the period +we set out from is that in which the contrast of seasons +is least marked, it is manifest that during the progress towards +the period of the most violent contrast, each species +of plant and animal will gradually change its limits of +distribution—will be driven back, here by the winter's increasing +cold, and there by the summer's increasing heat—will +retire into those localities that are still fit for it. Thus during +10,000 years, each species will ebb away from certain +regions it was inhabiting; and during the succeeding +10,000 years will flow back into those regions. From the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_359' id='Page_359' name='Page_359'>359</a></span> +strata there forming, its remains will disappear; they will +be absent from some of the supposed strata; and will be +found in strata higher up. But in what shapes will they +re-appear? Exposed during the 21,000 years of their slow +recession and their slow return, to changing conditions of +life, they are likely to have undergone modifications; and +will probably re-appear with slight differences of constitution +and perhaps of form—will be new varieties or perhaps +new sub-species. +</p> + +<p> +To this cause of minor breaks in the succession of organic +forms—a cause on which we have dwelt because it +has not been taken into account—we must add sundry others. +Besides these periodically-recurring alterations of +climate, there are the irregular ones produced by re-distributions +of land and sea; and these, sometimes less, sometimes +greater, in degree, than the rhythmical changes, must, +like them, cause in each region the ebb and flow of species; +and consequent breaks, small or large as the case may be, +in the palæontological series. Other and more special geological +changes must produce other and more local blanks +in the succession of fossils. By some inland elevation the +natural drainage of a continent is modified; and instead +of the sediment it previously brought down to the sea, a +great river begins to bring down sediment unfavourable to +various plants and animals living in its delta: wherefore +these disappear from the locality, perhaps to re-appear in a +changed form after a long epoch. Upheavals or subsidences +of shores or sea-bottoms, involving deviations of marine +currents, must remove the habitats of many species to +which such currents are salutary or injurious; and further, +this re-distribution of currents must alter the places of sedimentary +deposits, and so stop the burying of organic remains +in some localities, and commence it in others. Had +we space, many more such causes of blanks in our palæontological +records might be added. But it is needless here +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_360' id='Page_360' name='Page_360'>360</a></span> +to enumerate them. They are admirably explained and illustrated +in Sir Charles Lyell's <i>Principles of Geology</i>. +</p> + +<p> +Now, if these minor revolutions of the Earth's surface +produce minor breaks in the series of fossilized remains; +must not great revolutions produce great breaks? If a local +upheaval or subsidence causes throughout its small area +the absence of some links in the chain of fossil forms; does +it not follow that an upheaval or subsidence extending over +a large part of the Earth's surface, must cause the absence +of a great number of such links throughout a very wide +area? +</p> + +<p> +When during a long epoch a continent, slowly subsiding, +gives place to a far-spreading ocean some miles in depth, at +the bottom of which no deposits from rivers or abraded +shores can be thrown down; and when, after some enormous +period, this ocean-bottom is gradually elevated and +becomes the site of new strata; it is clear that the fossils +contained in these new strata are likely to have but little +in common with the fossils of the strata below them. Take, +in illustration, the case of the North Atlantic. We have +already named the fact that between this country and the +United States, the ocean-bottom is being covered with a +deposit of chalk—a deposit that has been forming, probably, +ever since there occurred that great depression of the +Earth's crust from which the Atlantic resulted in remote +geologic times. This chalk consists of the minute shells of +Foraminifera, sprinkled with remains of small Entomostraca, +and probably a few Pteropod-shells: though the sounding +lines have not yet brought up any of these last. Thus, +in so far as all high forms of life are concerned, this new +chalk-formation must be a blank. At rare intervals, perhaps, +a polar bear drifted on an iceberg, may have its bones +scattered over the bed; or a dead, decaying whale may +similarly leave traces. But such remains must be so rare, +that this new chalk-formation, if visible, might be examined +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_361' id='Page_361' name='Page_361'>361</a></span> +for a century before any of them were disclosed. If now, +some millions of years hence, the Atlantic-bed should be +raised, and estuary or shore deposits laid upon it, these deposits +would contain remains of a Flora and Fauna so distinct +from everything below them, as to appear like a new +creation. +</p> + +<p> +Thus, along with continuity of life on the Earth's surface, +there not only <i>may</i> be, but there <i>must</i> be, great gaps, +in the series of fossils; and hence these gaps are no evidence +against the doctrine of Evolution. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +One other current assumption remains to be criticized; +and it is the one on which, more than on any other, depends +the view taken respecting the question of development. +</p> + +<p> +From the beginning of the controversy, the arguments +for and against have turned upon the evidence of progression +in organic forms, found in the ascending series of our +sedimentary formations. On the one hand, those who contend +that higher organisms have been evolved out of lower, +joined with those who contend that successively higher +organisms have been created at successively later periods, +appeal for proof to the facts of Palæontology; which, they +say, countenance their views. On the other hand, the Uniformitarians, +who not only reject the hypothesis of development, +but deny that the modern forms of life are higher +than the ancient ones, reply that the Palæontological evidence +is at present very incomplete; that though we have +not yet found remains of highly-organized creatures in +strata of the greatest antiquity, we must not assume that +no such creatures existed when those strata were deposited; +and that, probably, geological research will eventually disclose +them. +</p> + +<p> +It must be admitted that thus far, the evidence has +gone in favour of the latter party. Geological discovery +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_362' id='Page_362' name='Page_362'>362</a></span> +has year after year shown the small value of negative facts. +The conviction that there are no traces of higher organisms +in earlier strata, has resulted not from the absence of such +remains, but from incomplete examination. At p. 460 of +his <i>Manual of Elementary Geology</i>, Sir Charles Lyell +gives a list in illustration of this. It appears that in 1709, +fishes were not known lower than the Permian system. In +1793 they were found in the subjacent Carboniferous system; +in 1828 in the Devonian; in 1840 in the Upper Silurian. +Of reptiles, we read that in 1710 the lowest known +were in the Permian; in 1844 they were detected in the +Carboniferous; and in 1852 in the Upper Devonian. +While of the Mammalia the list shows that in 1798 none +had been discovered below the middle Eocene; but that in +1818 they were discovered in the Lower Oolite; and in +1847 in the Upper Trias. +</p> + +<p> +The fact is, however, that both parties set out with an +inadmissible postulate. Of the Uniformitarians, not only +such writers as Hugh Miller, but also such as Sir Charles +Lyell,<a class='fnanchor' id='FA_T' name='FA_T' href='#FN_T'>[T]</a> reason as though we had found the earliest, or something +like the earliest, strata. Their antagonists, whether +defenders of the Development Hypothesis or simply Progressionists, +almost uniformly do the like. Sir R. Murchison, +who is a Progressionist, calls the lowest fossiliferous +strata, "Protozoic." Prof. Ansted uses the same term. +Whether avowedly or not, all the disputants stand on this +assumption as their common ground. +</p> + +<p> +Yet is this assumption indefensible, as some who make +it very well know. Facts may be cited against it which +show that it is a more than questionable one—that it is a +highly improbable one; while the evidence assigned in its +favour will not bear criticism. +</p> + +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_363' id='Page_363' name='Page_363'>363</a></span> +Because in Bohemia, Great Britain, and portions of +North America, the lowest unmetamorphosed strata yet +discovered, contain but slight traces of life, Sir R. Murchison +conceives that they were formed while yet few, if any, +plants or animals had been created; and, therefore, classes +them as "Azoic." His own pages, however, show the +illegitimacy of the conclusion that there existed at that +period no considerable amount of life. Such traces of life +as have been found in the Longmynd rocks, for many years +considered unfossiliferous, have been found in some of the +lowest beds; and the twenty thousand feet of superposed +beds, still yield no organic remains. If now these superposed +strata throughout a depth of four miles, are without +fossils, though the strata over which they lie prove that +life had commenced; what becomes of Sir R. Murchison's +inference? At page 189 of <i>Siluria</i>, a still more conclusive +fact will be found. The "Glengariff grits," and other +accompanying strata there described as 13,500 feet thick, +contain no signs of contemporaneous life. Yet Sir R. Murchison +refers them to the Devonian period—a period that +had a large and varied marine Fauna. How then, from +the absence of fossils in the Longmynd beds and their +equivalents, can we conclude that the Earth was "azoic" +when they were formed? +</p> + +<p> +"But," it may be asked, "if living creatures then existed, +why do we not find fossiliferous strata of that age, or +an earlier age?" One reply is, that the non-existence of +such strata is but a negative fact—we have not found them. +And considering how little we know even of the two-fifths +of the Earth's surface now above the sea, and how absolutely +ignorant we are of the three-fifths below the sea, it is +rash to say that no such strata exist. But the chief reply +is, that these records of the Earth's earlier history have +been in great part destroyed, by agencies that are ever +tending to destroy such records. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_364' id='Page_364' name='Page_364'>364</a></span> +It is an established geological doctrine, that sedimentary +strata are liable to be changed, more or less completely, +by igneous action. The rocks originally classed as "transition," +because they were intermediate in character between +the igneous rocks found below them, and the sedimentary +strata found above them, are now known to be nothing else +than sedimentary strata altered in texture and appearance +by the intense heat of adjacent molten matter; and hence +are renamed "metamorphic rocks." Modern researches +have shown, too, that these metamorphic rocks are not, as +was once supposed, all of the same age. Besides primary +and secondary strata that have been transformed by igneous +action, there are similarly-changed deposits of tertiary origin; +and that, even for a quarter of a mile from the point +of contact with neighbouring granite. By this process +fossils are of course destroyed. "In some cases," says Sir +Charles Lyell, "dark limestones, replete with shells and +corals, have been turned into white statuary marble, and +hard clays, containing vegetable or other remains, into +slates called mica-schist or hornblende-schist; every vestige +of the organic bodies having been obliterated." +</p> + +<p> +Again, it is fast becoming an acknowledged truth, that +igneous rock, of whatever kind, is the product of sedimentary +strata that have been completely melted. Granite +and gneiss, which are of like chemical composition, have +been shown, in various cases, to pass one into the other: as +at Valorsine, near Mont Blanc, where the two, in contact, +are observed to "both undergo a modification of mineral +character. The granite still remaining unstratified, becomes +charged with green particles; and the talcose gneiss +assumes a granitiform structure without losing its stratification." +In the Aberdeen-granite, lumps of unmelted +gneiss are frequently found; and we can ourselves bear +witness that on the banks of Loch Sunart, there is ample +proof that the granite of that region, when it was +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_365' id='Page_365' name='Page_365'>365</a></span> +molten, contained incompletely-fused clots of sedimentary +strata. Nor is this all. Fifty years ago, it was thought +that all granitic rocks were primitive, or existed before +any sedimentary strata; but it is now "no easy task to +point out a single mass of granite demonstrably more ancient +than all the known fossiliferous deposits." +</p> + +<p> +In brief, accumulated evidence clearly shows, that by +contact with, or proximity to, the molten matter of the +Earth's nucleus, all beds of sediment are liable to be +actually melted, or partially fused, or so heated as to +agglutinate their particles; and that according to the temperature +they have been raised to, and the circumstances +under which they cool, they assume the forms of granite, +porphyry, trap, gneiss, or rock otherwise altered. Further, +it is manifest that though strata of various ages have been +thus changed, yet that the most ancient strata have been +so changed to the greatest extent: both because they +have habitually lain nearer to the centre of igneous agency; +and because they have been for a longer period liable to +the effects of this agency. Whence it follows, that sedimentary +strata passing a certain antiquity, are unlikely to +be found in an unmetamorphosed state; and that strata +much earlier than those are certain to have been melted +up. Thus if, throughout a past of indefinite duration, +there had been at work those aqueous and igneous agencies +which we see still at work, the state of the Earth's +crust might be just what we find it. We have no evidence +which puts a limit to the period throughout which this formation +and destruction of strata has been going on. For +aught the facts prove, it may have been going on for ten +times the period measured by our whole series of sedimentary +deposits. +</p> + +<p> +Besides having, in the present appearances of the +Earth's crust, no data for fixing a commencement to these +processes—besides finding that the evidence permits us to +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_366' id='Page_366' name='Page_366'>366</a></span> +assume such commencement to have been inconceivably +remote, as compared even with the vast eras of geology; +we are not without positive grounds for inferring the inconceivable +remoteness of such commencement. Modern +geology has established truths which are irreconcilable +with the belief that the formation and destruction of strata +began when the Cambrian rocks were formed; or at anything +like so recent a time. One fact from <i>Siluria</i> will +suffice. Sir R. Murchison estimates the vertical thickness +of Silurian strata in Wales, at from 26,000 to 27,000 feet, +or about five miles; and if to this we add the vertical +depth of the Cambrian strata, on which the Silurians lie +conformably, there results, on the lowest computation, a +total depth of seven miles. +</p> + +<p> +Now it is held by geologists, that this vast accumulation +of strata must have been deposited in an area of gradual +subsidence. These strata could not have been thus +laid on each other in regular order, unless the Earth's crust +had been at that place sinking, either continuously or by +very small steps. Such an immense subsidence, however, +must have been impossible without a crust of great thickness. +The Earth's molten nucleus tends ever, with enormous +force, to assume the form of a regular oblate spheroid. +Any depression of its crust below the surface of +equilibrium, and any elevation of its crust above that surface, +have to withstand immense resistance. It follows +inevitably that, with a thin crust, nothing but small elevations +and subsidences would be possible; and that, conversely, +a subsidence of seven miles implies a crust of comparatively +great strength, or, in other words, of great +thickness. Indeed, if we compare this inferred subsidence +in the Silurian period, with such elevations and depressions +as our existing continents and oceans display, we see no +evidence that the Earth's crust was appreciably thinner +then than now. What are the implications? If, as geologists +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_367' id='Page_367' name='Page_367'>367</a></span> +generally admit, the Earth's crust has resulted from +that slow cooling which is even still going on—if we see no +sign that at the time when the earliest Cambrian strata +were formed, this crust was appreciably thinner than now; +we are forced to conclude that the era during which it +acquired that great thickness possessed in the Cambrian +period, was enormous as compared with the interval between +the Cambrian period and our own. But during the +incalculable series of epochs thus inferred, there existed an +ocean, tides, winds, waves, rain, rivers. The agencies by +which the denudation of continents and filling up of seas +have all along been carried on, were as active then as now. +Endless successions of strata must have been formed. And +when we ask—Where are they? Nature's obvious reply +is—They have been destroyed by that igneous action to +which so great a part of our oldest-known strata owe their +fusion or metamorphosis. +</p> + +<p> +Only the last chapter of the Earth's history has come +down to us. The many previous chapters, stretching back +to a time immeasurably remote, have been burnt; and +with them all the records of life we may presume they contained. +The greater part of the evidence which might +have served to settle the Development-controversy, is for +ever lost; and on neither side can the arguments derived +from Geology be conclusive. +</p> + +<p> +"But how happen there to be such evidences of progression +as exist?" it may be asked. "How happens it +that, in ascending from the most ancient strata to the most +recent strata, we do find a succession of organic forms, +which, however irregularly, carries us from lower to higher?" +This question seems difficult to answer. Nevertheless, +there is reason for thinking that nothing can be safely +inferred from the apparent progression here cited. And +the illustration which shows as much, will, we believe, also +show how little trust is to be placed in certain geological +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_368' id='Page_368' name='Page_368'>368</a></span> +generalizations that appear to be well established. With +this somewhat elaborate illustration, to which we now pass, +our criticisms may fitly conclude. +</p> + +<p> +Let us suppose that in a region now covered by wide +ocean, there begins one of those great and gradual upheavals +by which new continents are formed. To be precise, +let us say that in the South Pacific, midway between +New Zealand and Patagonia, the sea-bottom has been +little by little thrust up towards the surface, and is about +to emerge. What will be the successive phenomena, +geological and biological, which are likely to occur before this +emerging sea-bottom has become another Europe or Asia? +</p> + +<p> +In the first place, such portions of the incipient land as +are raised to the level of the waves, will be rapidly denuded +by them: their soft substance will be torn up by the +breakers, carried away by the local currents, and deposited +in neighbouring deeper water. Successive small upheavals +will bring new and larger areas within reach of the waves; +fresh portions will each time be removed from the surfaces +previously denuded; and further, some of the newly-formed +strata, being elevated nearly to the level of the water, +will be washed away and re-deposited. In course of time, +the harder formations of the upraised sea-bottom will be +uncovered. These being less easily destroyed, will remain +permanently above the surface; and at their margins will +arise the usual breaking down of rocks into beach-sand and +pebbles. While in the slow process of this elevation, going +on at the rate of perhaps two or three feet in a century, +most of the sedimentary deposits produced will be again +and again destroyed and reformed; there will, in those adjacent +areas of subsidence which accompany areas of elevation, +be more or less continuous successions of sedimentary +deposits. +</p> + +<p> +And now what will be the character of these new strata? +They will necessarily contain scarcely any traces of life. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_369' id='Page_369' name='Page_369'>369</a></span> +The deposits that had previously been slowly formed at the +bottom of this wide ocean, would be sprinkled with fossils +of but few species. The oceanic Fauna is not a rich one; +its hydrozoa do not admit of preservation; and the hard +parts of its few kinds of molluscs and crustaceans and insects +are mostly fragile. Hence, when the ocean-bed was +here and there raised to the surface—when its strata of +sediment with their contained organic fragments were torn +up and long washed about by the breakers before being re-deposited—when +the re-deposits were again and again subject +to this violent abrading action by subsequent small elevations, +as they would mostly be; what few fragile organic +remains they contained, would be in nearly all cases destroyed. +Thus such of the first-formed strata as survived the +repeated changes of level, would be practically "azoic;" +like the Cambrian of our geologists. When by the washing +away of the soft deposits, the hard sub-strata had been +exposed in the shape of rocky islets, and a footing had thus +been furnished, the pioneers of a new life might be expected +to make their appearance. What would they be? +Not any of the surrounding oceanic species, for these are +not fitted for a littoral life; but species flourishing on some +of the far-distant shores of the Pacific. Of such the first +to establish themselves would be sea-weeds and zoophytes; +both because their swarming spores and gemmules would +be the most readily conveyed with safety, and because when +conveyed they would find fit food. It is true that Cirrhipeds +and Lamellibranchs, subsisting on the minute creatures +which everywhere people the sea, would also find fit +food. +</p> + +<p> +But passing over the fact that the germs of such higher +forms are neither so abundant nor so well fitted to bear +long voyages, there is the more important fact that the individuals +arising from these germs can reproduce only sexually, +and that this vastly increases the obstacles to the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_370' id='Page_370' name='Page_370'>370</a></span> +establishment of their races. The chances of early colonization +are immensely in favour of species which, multiplying by +agamogenesis, can people a whole shore from a single germ; +and immensely against species which, multiplying only by +gamogenesis, must be introduced in considerable numbers +that some may survive, meet, and propagate. Thus we infer +that the earliest traces of life left in the sedimentary deposits +near these new shores, will be traces of life as humble +as that indicated in the most ancient rocks of Great Britain +and Ireland. Imagine now that the processes we have +briefly indicated, continue—that the emerging lands become +wider in extent, and fringed by higher and more varied +shores; and that there still go on those ocean-currents +which, at long intervals, convey from far distant shores +immigrant forms of life. What will result? Lapse of +time will of course favour the introduction of such new +forms: admitting, as it must, of those combinations of fit +conditions, which, under the law of probabilities, can occur +only at very distant intervals. Moreover, the increasing +area of the islands, individually and as a group, implies increasing +length of coast; from which there follows a longer +line of contact with the streams and waves that bring drifting +masses; and, therefore, a greater chance that germs of +fresh life will be stranded. +</p> + +<p> +And once more, the comparatively-varied shores, presenting +physical conditions that change from mile to mile, +will furnish suitable habitats for more numerous species. +So that as the elevation proceeds, three causes conspire to +introduce additional marine plants and animals. To what +classes will the increasing Fauna be for a long period confined? +Of course, to classes of which individuals, or their +germs, are most liable to be carried far away from their native +shores by floating sea-weed or drift-wood; to classes which +are also least likely to perish in transit, or from change of climate; +and to those which can best subsist around coasts +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_371' id='Page_371' name='Page_371'>371</a></span> +comparatively bare of life. Evidently, then, corals, annelids, +inferior molluscs, and crustaceans of low grade, will chiefly +constitute the early Fauna. The large predatory members +of these classes, will be later in establishing themselves; +both because the new shores must first become well peopled +by the creatures they prey on, and because, being +more complex, they or their ova must be less likely to +survive the journey, and the change of conditions. +</p> + +<p> +We may infer, then, that the strata deposited next after +the almost "azoic" strata, would contain the remains of +invertebrata, allied to those found near the shores of Australia +and South America. Of such invertebrate remains, the lower +beds would furnish comparatively few genera, and those +of relatively low types; while in the upper beds the number +of genera would be greater, and the types higher: just as +among the fossils of our Silurian system. As this great geologic +change slowly progressed through its long history of +earthquakes, volcanic disturbances, minor upheavals and subsidences—as +the extent of the archipelago became greater +and its smaller islands coalesced into larger ones, while its coast +line grew still longer and more varied, and the neighbouring +sea more thickly inhabited by inferior forms of life; the lowest +division of the vertebrata would begin to be represented. +In order of time, fish would naturally come after the lower +invertebrata: both as being less likely to have their ova +transported across the waste of waters, and as requiring +for their subsistence a pre-existing Fauna of some development. +They might be expected to make their appearance +along with the predaceous crustaceans; as they do in the +uppermost Silurian rocks. +</p> + +<p> +And here, too, let us remark, that as, during this long +epoch we have been describing, the sea would have made +great inroads on some of the newly raised lands that had +remained stationary; and would probably in some places +have reached masses of igneous or metamorphic rocks; +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_372' id='Page_372' name='Page_372'>372</a></span> +there might, in course of time, arise by the decomposition +and denudation of such rocks, local deposits coloured with +oxide of iron, like our Old Red Sandstone. And in these +deposits might be buried the remains of the fish then peopling +the neighbouring sea. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, how would the surfaces of the upheaved +masses be occupied? At first their deserts of naked rocks +and pebbles would bear only the humblest forms of vegetal +life, such as we find in grey and orange patches on our +own rugged mountain sides; for these alone could flourish +on such surfaces, and their spores would be the most readily +transported. When, by the decay of such protophytes, +and that decomposition of rock effected by them, there +had resulted a fit habitat for mosses; these, of which the +germs might be conveyed in drifted trees, would begin to +spread. A soil having been eventually thus produced, it +would become possible for plants of higher organization to +find roothold; and as in the way we have described the +archipelago and its constituent islands grew larger, and +had more multiplied relations with winds and waters, such +higher plants might be expected ultimately to have their +seeds transferred from the nearest lands. After something +like a Flora had thus colonized the surface, it would become +possible for insects to exist; and of air-breathing +creatures, insects would manifestly be among the first to +find their way from elsewhere. +</p> + +<p> +As, however, terrestrial organisms, both vegetal and +animal, are much less likely than marine organisms to survive +the accidents of transport from distant shores; it is +clear that long after the sea surrounding these new lands +had acquired a varied Flora and Fauna, the lands themselves +would still be comparatively bare; and thus that the +early strata, like our Silurians, would afford no traces of +terrestrial life. By the time that large areas had been +raised above the ocean, we may fairly suppose a luxuriant +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_373' id='Page_373' name='Page_373'>373</a></span> +vegetation to have been acquired. Under what circumstances +are we likely to find this vegetation fossilized? +Large surfaces of land imply large rivers with their accompanying +deltas; and are liable to have lakes and swamps. +These, as we know from extant cases, are favourable to +rank vegetation; and afford the conditions needful for preserving +it in the shape of coal-beds. Observe, then, that +while in the early history of such a continent a carboniferous +period could not occur, the occurrence of a carboniferous +period would become probable after long-continued +upheavals had uncovered large areas. As in our own sedimentary +series, coal-beds would make their appearance only +after there had been enormous accumulations of earlier +strata charged with marine fossils. +</p> + +<p> +Let us ask next, in what order the higher forms of animal +life would make their appearance. We have seen how, +in the succession of marine forms, there would be something +like a progress from the lower to the higher: bringing +us in the end to predaceous molluscs, crustaceans, and +fish. What are likely to succeed fish? After marine creatures, +those which would have the greatest chance of surviving +the voyage would be amphibious reptiles: both because +they are more tenacious of life than higher animals, +and because they would be less completely out of their +element. Such reptiles as can live in both fresh and salt +water, like alligators; and such as are drifted out of the +mouths of great rivers on floating trees, as Humboldt says +the Orinoco alligators are; might be early colonists. +</p> + +<p> +It is manifest, too, that reptiles of other kinds would +be among the first vertebrata to people the new continent. +If we consider what will occur on one of those natural +rafts of trees, soil, and matted vegetable matter, sometimes +swept out to sea by such currents as the Mississippi, with a +miscellaneous living cargo; we shall see that while the +active, hot-blooded, highly-organized creatures will soon +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_374' id='Page_374' name='Page_374'>374</a></span> +die of starvation and exposure, the inert, cold-blooded +ones, which can go long without food, will live perhaps for +weeks; and so, out of the chances from time to time occurring +during long periods, reptiles will be the first to get +safely landed on foreign shores: as indeed they are even +now known sometimes to be. The transport of mammalia +being comparatively precarious, must, in the order of probability, +be longer postponed; and would, indeed, be unlikely +to occur until by the enlargement of the new continent, +the distances of its shores from adjacent lands had +been greatly diminished, or the formation of intervening +islands had increased the chances of survival. +</p> + +<p> +Assuming, however, that the facilities of immigration +had become adequate; which would be the first mammals +to arrive and live? Not large herbivores; for they would +be soon drowned if by any accident carried out to sea. +Not the carnivora; for these would lack appropriate food, +even if they outlived the voyage. Small quadrupeds frequenting +trees, and feeding on insects, would be those most +likely both to be drifted away from their native lands and +to find fit food in a new one. Insectivorous mammals, like +in size to those found in the Trias and the Stonesfield slate, +might naturally be looked for as the pioneers of the higher +vertebrata. And if we suppose the facilities of communication +to be again increased, either by a further shallowing +of the intervening sea and a consequent multiplication of +islands, or by an actual junction of the new continent with +an old one, through continued upheavals; we should finally +have an influx of the larger and more perfect mammals. +</p> + +<p> +Now rude as is this sketch of a process that would be +extremely elaborate and involved, and open as some of its +propositions are to criticisms which there is no space here +to meet; no one will deny that it represents something like +the biologic history of the supposed new continent. Details +apart, it is manifest that simple organisms, able to +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_375' id='Page_375' name='Page_375'>375</a></span> +flourish under simple conditions of life, would be the first +successful immigrants; and that more complex organisms, +needing for their existence the fulfilment of more complex +conditions, would afterwards establish themselves in something +like an ascending succession. At the one extreme +we see every facility. The new individuals can be conveyed +in the shape of minute germs; these are infinite in +their numbers; they are diffused in the sea; they are perpetually +being carried in all directions to great distances +by ocean-currents; they can survive such long journeys +unharmed; they can find nutriment wherever they arrive; +and the resulting organisms can multiply asexually with +great rapidity. +</p> + +<p> +At the other extreme, we see every difficulty. The +new individuals must be conveyed in their adult forms; +their numbers are, in comparison, utterly insignificant; +they live on land, and are very unlikely to be carried out +to sea; when so carried, the chances are immense against +their escape from drowning, starvation, or death by cold; +if they survive the transit, they must have a pre-existing +Flora or Fauna to supply their special food; they require, +also, the fulfilment of various other physical conditions; +and unless at least two individuals of different sexes are +safely landed, the race cannot be established. Manifestly, +then, the immigration of each successively higher order of +organisms, having, from one or other additional condition +to be fulfilled, an enormously-increased probability against +it, would naturally be separated from the immigration of a +lower order by some period like a geologic epoch. +</p> + +<p> +And thus the successive sedimentary deposits formed +while this new continent was undergoing gradual elevation, +would seem to furnish clear evidence of a general progress +in the forms of life. That lands thus raised up in the midst +of a wide ocean, would first give origin to unfossiliferous +strata; next, to strata containing only the lowest marine +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_376' id='Page_376' name='Page_376'>376</a></span> +forms; next, to strata containing higher marine forms, ascending +finally to fish; and that the strata above these +would contain reptiles, then small mammals, then great +mammals; seems to us to be demonstrable from the known +laws of organic life. +</p> + +<p> +And if the succession of fossils presented by the strata +of this supposed new continent, would thus simulate the +succession presented by our own sedimentary series; must +we not say that our own sedimentary series very possibly +records nothing more than the phenomena accompanying +one of these great upheavals? We think this must be +considered not only possible, but highly probable: harmonizing +as it does with the unavoidable conclusion before +pointed out, that geological changes must have been going +on for a period immeasurably greater than that of which +we have records. And if the probability of this conclusion +be admitted, it must be admitted that the facts of +Palæontology can never suffice either to prove or disprove +the Development Hypothesis; but that the most they can +do is, to show whether the last few pages of the Earth's +biologic history are or are not in harmony with this hypothesis—whether +the existing Flora and Fauna can or can +not be affiliated upon the Flora and Fauna of the most recent +geologic times. +</p> + +<div class='footnotes'> + +<div class='footnote'> +<p><a id='FN_T' name='FN_T' href='#FA_T'><span class='fnlabel'>[T]</span></a> + Sir Charles Lyell is no longer to be classed among Uniformitarians. +With rare and admirable candour he has, since this was written, yielded +to the arguments of Mr. Darwin. +</p></div> +</div> + +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_377' id='Page_377' name='Page_377'>377</a></span> +</p> + + + + +<h2> +IX. <br />THE DEVELOPMENT HYPOTHESIS. +</h2> + + +<p> +In a debate upon the development hypothesis, lately narrated +to me by a friend, one of the disputants was described +as arguing, that as, in all our experience, we know +no such phenomenon as transmutation of species, it is unphilosophical +to assume that transmutation of species ever +takes place. Had I been present, I think that, passing over +his assertion, which is open to criticism, I should have replied +that, as in all our experience we have never known a +species <i>created</i>, it was, by his own showing, unphilosophical +to assume that any species ever had been created. +</p> + +<p> +Those who cavalierly reject the Theory of Evolution, as +not adequately supported by facts, seem quite to forget +that their own theory is supported by no facts at all. Like +the majority of men who are born to a given belief, they +demand the most rigorous proof of any adverse belief, but +assume that their own needs none. Here we find, scattered +over the globe, vegetable and animal organisms numbering, +of the one kind (according to Humboldt), some 320,000 +species, and of the other, some 2,000,000 species (see Carpenter); +and if to these we add the numbers of animal and +vegetable species that have become extinct, we may safely +estimate the number of species that have existed, and are +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_378' id='Page_378' name='Page_378'>378</a></span> +existing, on the Earth, at not less than <i>ten millions</i>. Well, +which is the most rational theory about these ten millions +of species? Is it most likely that there have been ten millions +of special creations? or is it most likely that by continual +modifications, due to change of circumstances, ten +millions of varieties have been produced, as varieties are +being produced still? +</p> + +<p> +Doubtless many will reply that they can more easily +conceive ten millions of special creations to have taken +place, than they can conceive that ten millions of varieties +have arisen by successive modifications. All such, however, +will find, on inquiry, that they are under an illusion. +This is one of the many cases in which men do not really +believe, but rather <i>believe they believe</i>. It is not that they +can truly conceive ten millions of special creations to have +taken place, but that they <i>think they can do so</i>. Careful +introspection will show them that they have never yet realized +to themselves the creation of even <i>one</i> species. If +they have formed a definite conception of the process, let +them tell us how a new species is constructed, and how it +makes its appearance. Is it thrown down from the clouds? +or must we hold to the notion that it struggles up out of +the ground? Do its limbs and viscera rush together from +all the points of the compass? or must we receive the old +Hebrew idea, that God takes clay and moulds a new creature? +If they say that a new creature is produced in none +of these modes, which are too absurd to be believed; then +they are required to describe the mode in which a new +creature <i>may</i> be produced—a mode which does <i>not</i> seem +absurd: and such a mode they will find that they neither +have conceived nor can conceive. +</p> + +<p> +Should the believers in special creations consider it unfair +thus to call upon them to describe how special creations +take place, I reply, that this is far less than they demand +from the supporters of the Development Hypothesis. They +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_379' id='Page_379' name='Page_379'>379</a></span> +are merely asked to point out a <i>conceivable</i> mode. On the +other hand, they ask, not simply for a <i>conceivable</i> mode, +but for the <i>actual</i> mode. They do not say—Show us how +this <i>may</i> take place; but they say—Show us how this <i>does</i> +take place. So far from its being unreasonable to put the +above question, it would be reasonable to ask not only for +a <i>possible</i> mode of special creation, but for an <i>ascertained</i> +mode; seeing that this is no greater a demand than they +make upon their opponents. +</p> + +<p> +And here we may perceive how much more defensible +the new doctrine is than the old one. Even could the supporters +of the Development Hypothesis merely show that +the origination of species by the process of modification is +conceivable, they would be in a better position than their +opponents. But they can do much more than this. They +can show that the process of modification has effected, and +is effecting, decided changes in all organisms subject to +modifying influences. Though, from the impossibility of +getting at a sufficiency of facts, they are unable to trace +the many phases through which any existing species has +passed in arriving at its present form, or to identify the influences +which caused the successive modifications; yet, +they can show that any existing species—animal or vegetable—when +placed under conditions different from its previous +ones, <i>immediately begins to undergo certain changes +of structure fitting it for the new conditions</i>. They can +show that in successive generations these changes continue, +until ultimately the new conditions become the natural +ones. They can show that in cultivated plants, in domesticated +animals, and in the several races of men, such alterations +have taken place. They can show that the degrees +of difference so produced are often, as in dogs, greater than +those on which distinctions of species are in other cases +founded. They can show that it is a matter of dispute +whether some of these modified forms <i>are</i> varieties or separate +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_380' id='Page_380' name='Page_380'>380</a></span> +species. They can show, too, that the changes daily +taking place in ourselves—the facility that attends long +practice, and the loss of aptitude that begins when practice +ceases—the strengthening of passions habitually gratified, +and the weakening of those habitually curbed—the development +of every faculty, bodily, moral, or intellectual, according +to the use made of it—are all explicable on this +same principle. And thus they can show that throughout +all organic nature there <i>is</i> at work a modifying influence +of the kind they assign as the cause of these specific differences: +an influence which, though slow in its action, does, +in time, if the circumstances demand it, produce marked +changes—an influence which, to all appearance, would produce +in the millions of years, and under the great varieties +of condition which geological records imply, any amount +of change. +</p> + +<p> +Which, then, is the most rational hypothesis?—that of +special creations which has neither a fact to support it nor +is even definitely conceivable; or that of modification, +which is not only definitely conceivable, but is countenanced +by the habitudes of every existing organism? +</p> + +<p> +That by any series of changes a protozoon should ever +become a mammal, seems to those who are not familiar +with zoology, and who have not seen how clear becomes +the relationship between the simplest and the most complex +forms when intermediate forms are examined, a very +grotesque notion. Habitually looking at things rather in +their statical than in their dynamical aspect, they never +realize the fact that, by small increments of modification, +any amount of modification may in time be generated. +That surprise which they feel on finding one whom they +last saw as a boy, grown into a man, becomes incredulity +when the degree of change is greater. Nevertheless, abundant +instances are at hand of the mode in which we may +pass to the most diverse forms, by insensible gradations. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_381' id='Page_381' name='Page_381'>381</a></span> +Arguing the matter some time since with a learned professor, +I illustrated my position thus:—You admit that +there is no apparent relationship between a circle and an +hyperbola. The one is a finite curve; the other is an infinite +one. All parts of the one are alike; of the other no +two parts are alike. The one incloses a space; the other +will not inclose a space though produced for ever. Yet +opposite as are these curves in all their properties, they +may be connected together by a series of intermediate +curves, no one of which differs from the adjacent ones in +any appreciable degree. Thus, if a cone be cut by a plane +at right angles to its axis we get a circle. If, instead of +being perfectly at right angles, the plane subtends with the +axis an angle of 89° 59', we have an ellipse, which no human +eye, even when aided by an accurate pair of compasses, +can distinguish from a circle. Decreasing the angle minute +by minute, the ellipse becomes first perceptibly eccentric, +then manifestly so, and by and by acquires so immensely +elongated a form, as to bear no recognisable resemblance +to a circle. By continuing this process, the +ellipse passes insensibly into a parabola; and ultimately, by +still further diminishing the angle, into an hyperbola. Now +here we have four different species of curve—circle, ellipse, +parabola, and hyperbola—each having its peculiar properties +and its separate equation, and the first and last of which +are quite opposite in nature, connected together as members +of one series, all producible by a single process of insensible +modification. +</p> + +<p> +But the blindness of those who think it absurd to suppose +that complex organic forms may have arisen by successive +modifications out of simple ones, becomes astonishing +when we remember that complex organic forms are +daily being thus produced. A tree differs from a seed +immeasurably in every respect—in bulk, in structure, in +colour, in form, in specific gravity, in chemical composition: +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_382' id='Page_382' name='Page_382'>382</a></span> +differs so greatly that no visible resemblance of any kind +can be pointed out between them. Yet is the one changed +in the course of a few years into the other: changed so +gradually, that at no moment can it be said—Now the +seed ceases to be, and the tree exists. What can be more +widely contrasted than a newly-born child and the small, +semi-transparent, gelatinous spherule constituting the human +ovum? The infant is so complex in structure that a +cyclopædia is needed to describe its constituent parts. +The germinal vesicle is so simple that it may be defined in +a line. Nevertheless, a few months suffice to develop the +one out of the other; and that, too, by a series of modifications +so small, that were the embryo examined at successive +minutes, even a microscope would with difficulty disclose +any sensible changes. That the uneducated and the +ill-educated should think the hypothesis that all races of +beings, man inclusive, may in process of time have been +evolved from the simplest monad, a ludicrous one, is not to +be wondered at. But for the physiologist, who knows that +every individual being is so evolved—who knows further, +that in their earliest condition the germs of all plants and +animals whatever are so similar, "that there is no appreciable +distinction amongst them which would enable it to be +determined whether a particular molecule is the germ of a +conferva or of an oak, of a zoophyte or of a man;"<a class='fnanchor' id='FA_U' name='FA_U' href='#FN_U'>[U]</a>—for +him to make a difficulty of the matter is inexcusable. Surely +if a single cell may, when subjected to certain influences, +become a man in the space of twenty years; there is +nothing absurd in the hypothesis that under certain other +influences, a cell may in the course of millions of years +give origin to the human race. The two processes are +generically the same; and differ only in length and complexity. +</p> + +<p> +We have, indeed, in the part taken by many scientific +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_383' id='Page_383' name='Page_383'>383</a></span> +men in this controversy of "Law <i>versus</i> Miracle," a good +illustration of the tenacious vitality of superstitions. Ask +one of our leading geologists or physiologists whether he +believes in the Mosaic account of the creation, and he will +take the question as next to an insult. Either he rejects +the narrative entirely, or understands it in some vague +non-natural sense. Yet one part of it he unconsciously +adopts; and that, too, literally. For whence has he got +this notion of "special creations," which he thinks so +reasonable, and fights for so vigorously? Evidently he +can trace it back to no other source than this myth which +he repudiates. He has not a single fact in nature to quote +in proof of it; nor is he prepared with any chain of abstract +reasoning by which it may be established. Catechise him, +and he will be forced to confess that the notion was put into +his mind in childhood as part of a story which he now +thinks absurd. And why, after rejecting all the rest of this +story, he should strenuously defend this last remnant of it +as though he had received it on valid authority, he would +be puzzled to say. +</p> + +<div class='footnotes'> + +<div class='footnote'> +<p><a id='FN_U' name='FN_U' href='#FA_U'><span class='fnlabel'>[U]</span></a> + Carpenter. +</p></div> +</div> +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_384' id='Page_384' name='Page_384'>384</a></span> +</p> + + + + +<h2> +X. <br />THE SOCIAL ORGANISM. +</h2> + + +<p> +Sir James Macintosh got great credit for the +saying, that "constitutions are not made, but grow." +In our day, the most significant thing about this saying is, +that it was ever thought so significant. As from the surprise +displayed by a man at some familiar fact, you may +judge of his general culture; so from the admiration +which an age accords to a new thought, its average degree +of enlightenment may be inferred. That this apophthegm +of Macintosh should have been quoted and re-quoted as it +has, shows how profound has been the ignorance of social +science. A small ray of truth has seemed brilliant, as a +distant rushlight looks like a star in the surrounding darkness. +</p> + +<p> +Such a conception could not, indeed, fail to be startling +when let fall in the midst of a system of thought to which +it was utterly alien. Universally in Macintosh's day, things +were explained on the hypothesis of manufacture, rather +than that of growth: as indeed they are, by the majority, +in our own day. It was held that the planets were severally +projected round the sun from the Creator's hand; with +exactly the velocity required to balance the sun's attraction. +The formation of the Earth, the separation of sea +from land, the production of animals, were mechanical +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_385' id='Page_385' name='Page_385'>385</a></span> +works from which God rested as a labourer rests. Man +was supposed to be moulded after a manner somewhat akin +to that in which a modeller makes a clay-figure. And of +course, in harmony with such ideas, societies were tacitly +assumed to be arranged thus or thus by direct interposition +of Providence; or by the regulations of law-makers; or by +both. +</p> + +<p> +Yet that societies are not artificially put together, is a +truth so manifest, that it seems wonderful men should have +ever overlooked it. Perhaps nothing more clearly shows +the small value of historical studies, as they have been +commonly pursued. You need but to look at the changes +going on around, or observe social organization in its leading +peculiarities, to see that these are neither supernatural, +nor are determined by the wills of individual men, as by +implication historians commonly teach; but are consequent +on general natural causes. The one case of the division of +labour suffices to show this. It has not been by command +of any ruler that some men have become manufacturers, +while others have remained cultivators of the soil. In +Lancashire, millions have devoted themselves to the making +of cotton-fabrics; in Yorkshire, another million lives by +producing woollens; and the pottery of Staffordshire, the +cutlery of Sheffield, the hardware of Birmingham, severally +occupy their hundreds of thousands. These are large +facts in the structure of English society; but we can ascribe +them neither to miracle, nor to legislation. It is not +by "the hero as king," any more than by "collective wisdom," +that men have been segregated into producers, +wholesale distributors, and retail distributors. +</p> + +<p> +The whole of our industrial organization, from its main +outlines down to its minutest details, has become what it +is, not simply without legislative guidance, but, to a considerable +extent, in spite of legislative hindrances. It has +arisen under the pressure of human wants and activities. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_386' id='Page_386' name='Page_386'>386</a></span> +While each citizen has been pursuing his individual welfare, +and none taking thought about division of labour, or, +indeed, conscious of the need for it, division of labour has +yet been ever becoming more complete. It has been doing +this slowly and silently: scarcely any having observed it +until quite modern times. By steps so small, that year +after year the industrial arrangements have seemed to men +just what they were before—by changes as insensible as +those through which a seed passes into a tree; society has +become the complex body of mutually-dependent workers +which we now see. And this economic organization, mark, +is the all-essential organization. Through the combination +thus spontaneously evolved, every citizen is supplied with +daily necessaries; while he yields some product or aid to +others. That we are severally alive to-day, we owe to the +regular working of this combination during the past week; +and could it be suddenly abolished, a great proportion of +us would be dead before another week ended. If these +most conspicuous and vital arrangements of our social +structure, have arisen without the devising of any one, but +through the individual efforts of citizens to satisfy their +own wants; we may be tolerably certain that the less important +arrangements have similarly arisen. +</p> + +<p> +"But surely," it will be said, "the social changes directly +produced by law, cannot be classed as spontaneous +growths. When parliaments or kings order this or that +thing to be done, and appoint officials to do it, the process +is clearly artificial; and society to this extent becomes a +manufacture rather than a growth." No, not even these +changes are exceptions, if they be real and permanent +changes. The true sources of such changes lie deeper +than the acts of legislators. To take first the simplest +instance. We all know that the enactments of representative +governments ultimately depend on the national +will: they may for a time be out of harmony with it, but +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_387' id='Page_387' name='Page_387'>387</a></span> +eventually they must conform to it. And to say that the +national will finally determines them, is to say that they +result from the average of individual desires; or, in +other words—from the average of individual natures. A +law so initiated, therefore, really grows out of the popular character. +</p> + +<p> +In the case of a Government representing a dominant +class, the same things holds, though not so manifestly. +For the very existence of a class monopolizing all power, is +due to certain sentiments in the commonalty. But for the +feeling of loyalty on the part of retainers, a feudal system +could not exist. We see in the protest of the Highlanders +against the abolition of heritable jurisdictions, that they +preferred that kind of local rule. And if to the popular +nature, must thus be ascribed the growth of an irresponsible +ruling class; then to the popular nature must be ascribed +the social arrangements which that class creates in +the pursuit of its own ends. Even where the Government +is despotic, the doctrine still holds. The character of the +people is, as before, the original source of this political +form; and, as we have abundant proof, other forms suddenly +created will not act, but rapidly retrograde to the +old form. Moreover, such regulations as a despot makes, +if really operative, are so because of their fitness to the +social state. His acts being very much swayed by general +opinion—by precedent, by the feeling of his nobles, +his priesthood, his army—are in part immediate results +of the national character; and when they are out of harmony +with the national character, they are soon practically abrogated. +</p> + +<p> +The failure of Cromwell permanently to establish a new +social condition, and the rapid revival of suppressed institutions +and practices after his death, show how powerless is +a monarch to change the type of the society he governs. +He may disturb, he may retard, or he may aid the natural +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_388' id='Page_388' name='Page_388'>388</a></span> +process of organization; but the general course of this +process is beyond his control. Nay, more than this is true. +Those who regard the histories of societies as the histories +of their great men, and think that these great men shape +the fates of their societies, overlook the truth that such +great men are the products of their societies. Without certain +antecedents—without a certain average national character, +they could neither have been generated nor could +have had the culture which formed them. If their society +is to some extent re-moulded by them, they were, both +before and after birth, moulded by their society—were the +results of all those influences which fostered the ancestral +character they inherited, and gave their own early bias, their +creed, morals, knowledge, aspirations. So that such social +changes as are immediately traceable to individuals of unusual +power, are still remotely traceable to the social causes +which produced these individuals, and hence, from the +highest point of view, such social changes also, are parts +of the general developmental process. +</p> + +<p> +Thus that which is so obviously true of the industrial +structure of society, is true of its whole structure. The fact +that "constitutions are not made, but grow," is simply a +fragment of the much larger fact, that under all its aspects +and <ins class='correction' title='Original: though'>through</ins> all its ramifications, society is a growth and not +a manufacture. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +A perception that there exists some analogy between +the body politic and a living individual body, was early +reached; and from time to time re-appeared in literature. +But this perception was necessarily vague and more or +less fanciful. In the absence of physiological science, and +especially of those comprehensive generalizations which it +has but recently reached, it was impossible to discern the +real parallelisms. +</p> + +<p> +The central idea of Plato's model Republic, is the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_389' id='Page_389' name='Page_389'>389</a></span> +correspondence between the parts of a society and the faculties +of the human mind. Classifying these faculties under the +heads of Reason, Will, and Passion, he classifies the members +of his ideal society under what he regards as three +analogous heads:—councillors, who are to exercise government; +military or executive, who are to fulfil their behests; +and the commonalty, bent on gain and selfish gratification. +In other words, the ruler, the warrior, and the craftsman, +are, according to him, the analogues of our reflective, volitional, +and emotional powers. Now even were there truth +in the implied assumption of a parallelism between the +structure of a society and that of a man, this classification +would be indefensible. It might more truly be contended +that, as the military power obeys the commands of the +Government, it is the Government which answers to the +Will; while the military power is simply an agency set in +motion by it. Or, again, it might be contended that +whereas the Will is a product of predominant desires, to +which the Reason serves merely as an eye, it is the craftsmen, +who, according to the alleged analogy, ought to be +the moving power of the warriors. +</p> + +<p> +Hobbes sought to establish a still more definite parallelism: +not, however between a society and the human mind, +but between a society and the human body. In the introduction +to the work in which he developes this conception, +he says— +</p> + + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +"For by art is created that great <span class='smcap'>Leviathan</span> called a <span class='smcap'>Commonwealth</span>, +or <span class='smcap'>State</span>, in Latin <span class='smcap'>Civitas</span>, which is but an artificial +man; though of greater stature and strength than the natural, +for whose protection and defence it was intended, and in which +the <i>sovereignty</i> is an artificial <i>soul</i>, as giving life and motion to +the whole body; the <i>magistrates</i> and other <i>officers</i> of judicature +and execution, artificial <i>joints</i>; <i>reward</i> and <i>punishment</i>, by +which, fastened to the seat of the sovereignty, every joint and +member is moved to perform his duty, are the <i>nerves</i>, that do +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_390' id='Page_390' name='Page_390'>390</a></span> +the same in the body natural; the <i>wealth</i> and <i>riches</i> of all the +particular members are the <i>strength</i>; <i>salus populi</i>, the <i>people's +safety</i>, its <i>business</i>; <i>counsellors</i>, by whom all things needful for it +to know are suggested unto it, are the <i>memory</i>; <i>equity</i> and <i>laws</i> +an artificial <i>reason</i> and <i>will</i>; <i>concord</i>, <i>health</i>; <i>sedition</i>, <i>sickness</i>; +<i>civil war</i>, <i>death</i>," +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And Hobbes carries this comparison so far as actually +to give a drawing of the Leviathan—a vast human-shaped +figure, whose body and limbs are made up of multitudes of +men. Just noting that these different analogies asserted +by Plato and Hobbes, serve to cancel each other (being, as +they are, so completely at variance), we may say that on +the whole those of Hobbes are the more plausible. But +they are full of inconsistencies. If the sovereignty is the +<i>soul</i> of the body politic, how can it be that magistrates, +who are a kind of deputy-sovereigns, should be comparable +to <i>joints</i>? Or, again, how can the three mental functions, +memory, reason, and will, be severally analogous, the first to +counsellors, who are a class of public officers, and the other +two to equity and laws, which are not classes of officers, +but abstractions? Or, once more, if magistrates are the +artificial joints of society, how can reward and punishment +be its nerves? Its nerves must surely be some class of +persons. Reward and punishment must in societies, as in +individuals, be <i>conditions</i> of the nerves, and not the nerves +themselves. +</p> + +<p> +But the chief errors of these comparisons made by Plato +and Hobbes, lie much deeper. Both thinkers assume that +the organization of a society is comparable, not simply to +the organization of a living body in general, but to the organization +of the human body in particular. There is no +warrant whatever for assuming this. It is in no way implied +by the evidence; and is simply one of those fancies +which we commonly find mixed up with the truths of early +speculation. Still more erroneous are the two conceptions +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_391' id='Page_391' name='Page_391'>391</a></span> +in this, that they construe a society as an artificial structure. +Plato's model republic—his ideal of a healthful body +politic—is to be consciously put together by men; just as +a watch might be: and Plato manifestly thinks of societies +in general as thus originated. Quite specifically does +Hobbes express this view. "For by <i>art</i>," he says, "is +created that great <span class='smcap'>Leviathan</span> called a <span class='smcap'>Commonwealth</span>." +And he even goes so far as to compare the supposed +social contract, from which a society suddenly originates, +to the creation of a man by the divine fiat. Thus they +both fall into the extreme inconsistency of considering a +community as similar in structure to a human being, and +yet as produced in the same way as an artificial mechanism—in +in nature, an organism; in history, a machine. +</p> + +<p> +Notwithstanding errors, however, these speculations +have considerable significance. That such analogies, crudely +as they are thought out, should have been alleged by +Plato and Hobbes and many others, is a reason for suspecting +that <i>some</i> analogy exists. The untenableness of the +particular comparisons above instanced, is no ground for +denying an essential parallelism; for early ideas are usually +but vague adumbrations of the truth. Lacking the great +generalizations of biology, it was, as we have said, impossible +to trace out the real relations of social organizations +to organizations of another order. We propose here +to show what are the analogies which modern science discloses +to us. +</p> + +<p> +Let us set out by succinctly stating the points of +similarity and the points of difference. Societies agree +with individual organisms in four conspicuous peculiarities:— +</p> + +<p> +1. That commencing as small aggregations, they insensibly +augment in mass: some of them eventually reaching +ten thousand times what they originally were. +</p> + +<p> +2. That while at first so simple in structure as to be +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_392' id='Page_392' name='Page_392'>392</a></span> +considered structureless, they assume, in the course of +their growth, a continually-increasing complexity of +structure. +</p> + +<p> +3. That though in their early, undeveloped states, +there exists in them scarcely any mutual dependence of +parts, their parts gradually acquire a mutual dependence; +which becomes at last so great, that the activity and life +of each part is made possible only by the activity and life +of the rest. +</p> + +<p> +4. That the life and development of a society is independent +of, and far more prolonged than, the life and development +of any of its component units; who are severally +born, grow, work, reproduce, and die, while the body politic +composed of them survives generation after generation, +increasing in mass, completeness of structure, and functional +activity. +</p> + +<p> +These four parallelisms will appear the more significant +the more we contemplate them. While the points specified, +are points in which societies agree with individual organisms, +they are points in which individual organisms +agree with each other, and disagree with all things else. +In the course of its existence, every plant and animal increases +in mass, in a way not parallelled by inorganic objects: +even such inorganic objects as crystals, which arise +by growth, show us no such definite relation between +growth and existence as organisms do. The orderly progress +from simplicity to complexity, displayed by bodies +politic in common with all living bodies, is a characteristic +which distinguishes living bodies from the inanimate bodies +amid which they move. That functional dependence of +parts, which is scarcely more manifest in animals or plants +than nations, has no counterpart elsewhere. And in no +aggregate except an organic, or a social one, is there a +perpetual removal and replacement of parts, joined with a +continued integrity of the whole. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_393' id='Page_393' name='Page_393'>393</a></span> +Moreover, societies and organisms are not only alike in +these peculiarities, in which they are unlike all other +things; but the highest societies, like the highest organisms, +exhibit them in the greatest degree. We see that +the lowest animals do not increase to anything like the +sizes of the higher ones; and, similarly, we see that aboriginal +societies are comparatively limited in their growths. +In complexity, our large civilized nations as much exceed +primitive savage tribes, as a vertebrate animal does a +zoophyte. Simple communities, like simple creatures, +have so little mutual dependence of parts, that subdivision +or mutilation causes but little inconvenience; but from +complex communities, as from complex creatures, you cannot +remove any considerable organ without producing +great disturbance or death of the rest. And in societies +of low type, as in inferior animals, the life of the aggregate, +often cut short by division or dissolution, exceeds in length +the lives of the component units, very far less than in civilized +communities and superior animals; which outlive +many generations of their component units. +</p> + +<p> +On the other hand, the leading differences between +societies and individual organisms are these:— +</p> + +<p> +1. That societies have no specific external forms. This, +however, is a point of contrast which loses much of its importance, +when we remember that throughout the vegetal +kingdom, as well as in some lower divisions of the animal +kingdom, the forms are often very indefinite—definiteness +being rather the exception than the rule; and that they +are manifestly in part determined by surrounding physical +circumstances, as the forms of societies are. If, too, it +should eventually be shown, as we believe it will, that the +form of every species of organism has resulted from the +average play of the external forces to which it has been +subject during its evolution as a species; then, that the +external forms of societies should depend, as they do, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_394' id='Page_394' name='Page_394'>394</a></span> +on surrounding conditions, will be a further point of community. +</p> + +<p> +2. That though the living tissue whereof an individual +organism consists, forms a continuous mass, the living elements +of a society do not form a continuous mass; but are +more or less widely dispersed over some portion of the +Earth's surface. This, which at first sight appears to be a +fundamental distinction, is one which yet to a great extent +disappears when we contemplate all the facts. For, in the +lower divisions of the animal and vegetal kingdoms, there +are types of organization much more nearly allied, in this +respect, to the organization of a society, than might be supposed—types +in which the living units essentially composing +the mass, are dispersed through an inert substance, +that can scarcely be called living in the full sense of the +word. It is thus with some of the <i>Protococci</i> and with the +<i>Nostoceæ</i>, which exist as cells imbedded in a viscid matter. +It is so, too, with the <i>Thalassicollæ</i>—bodies that are made +up of differentiated parts, dispersed through an undifferentiated +jelly. And throughout considerable portions of their +bodies, some of the <i>Acalephæ</i> exhibit more or less distinctly +this type of structure. +</p> + +<p> +Indeed, it may be contended that this is the primitive +form of all organization; seeing that, even in the highest +creatures, as in ourselves, every tissue developes out of +what physiologists call a blastema—an unorganized though +organizable substance, through which organic points are +distributed. Now this is very much the case with a +society. For we must remember that though the men +who make up a society, are physically separate and even +scattered; yet that the surface over which they are scattered +is not one devoid of life, but is covered by life of a lower +order which ministers to their life. The vegetation which +clothes a country, makes possible the animal life in that +country; and only through its animal and vegetal products +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_395' id='Page_395' name='Page_395'>395</a></span> +can such a country support a human society. Hence the +members of the body politic are not to be regarded as +separated by intervals of dead space; but as diffused +through a space occupied by life of a lower order. In our +conception of a social organism, we must include all that +lower organic existence on which human existence, and +therefore social existence, depends. And when we do +this, we see that the citizens who make up a community, +may be considered as highly vitalized units surrounded +by substances of lower vitality, from which they draw +their nutriment: much as in the cases above instanced. +Thus, when examined, this apparent distinction in great +part disappears. +</p> + +<p> +3. That while the ultimate living elements of an individual +organism, are mostly fixed in their relative positions, +those of the social organism are capable of moving from +place to place, seems a marked disagreement. But here, +too, the disagreement is much less than would be supposed. +For while citizens are locomotive in their private capacities, +they are fixed in their public capacities. As farmers, manufacturers, +or traders, men carry on their business at the +same spots, often throughout their whole lives; and if they +go away occasionally, they leave behind others to discharge +their functions in their absence. Each great centre of production, +each manufacturing town or district, continues +always in the same place; and many of the firms in such +town or district, are for generations carried on either by +the descendants or successors of those who founded them. +Just as in a living body, the cells that make up some important +organ, severally perform their functions for a time +and then disappear, leaving others to supply their places; +so, in each part of a society, the organ remains, though the +persons who compose it change. Thus, in social life, as +in the life of an animal, the units as well as the larger +agencies formed of them, are in the main stationary as +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_396' id='Page_396' name='Page_396'>396</a></span> +respects the places where they discharge their duties and +obtain their sustenance. And hence the power of individual +locomotion does not practically affect the analogy. +</p> + +<p> +4. The last and perhaps the most important distinction, +is, that while in the body of an animal, only a special tissue +is endowed with feeling; in a society, all the members are +endowed with feeling. Even this distinction, however, is +by no means a complete one. For in some of the lowest +animals, characterized by the absence of a nervous system, +such sensitiveness as exists is possessed by all parts. It is +only in the more organized forms that feeling is monopolized +by one class of the vital elements. Moreover, we +must remember that societies, too, are not without a certain +differentiation of this kind. Though the units of a +community are all sensitive, yet they are so in unequal degrees. +The classes engaged in agriculture and laborious +occupations in general, are much less susceptible, intellectually +and emotionally, than the rest; and especially less so +than the classes of highest mental culture. Still, we have +here a tolerably decided contrast between bodies politic +and individual bodies. And it is one which we should +keep constantly in view. For it reminds us that while in +individual bodies, the welfare of all other parts is rightly +subservient to the welfare of the nervous system, whose +pleasurable or painful activities make up the good or evil +of life; in bodies politic, the same thing does not hold, or +holds to but a very slight extent. It is well that the lives +of all parts of an animal should be merged in the life of the +whole; because the whole has a corporate consciousness +capable of happiness or misery. But it is not so with a +society; since its living units do not and cannot lose individual +consciousness; and since the community as a whole +has no corporate consciousness. And this is an everlasting +reason why the welfare of citizens cannot rightly be +sacrificed to some supposed benefit of the State; but +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_397' id='Page_397' name='Page_397'>397</a></span> +why, on the other hand, the State is to be maintained +solely for the benefit of citizens. The corporate life must +here be subservient to the lives of the parts; instead +of the lives of the parts being subservient to the corporate life. +</p> + +<p> +Such, then, are the points of analogy and the points of +difference. May we not say that the points of difference +serve but to bring into clearer light the points of analogy. +While comparison makes definite the obvious contrasts between +organisms commonly so called, and the social organism; +it shows that even these contrasts are not so decided +as was to be expected. The indefiniteness of form, the +discontinuity of the parts, the mobility of the parts, and +the universal sensitiveness, are not only peculiarities of the +social organism which have to be stated with considerable +qualifications; but they are peculiarities to which the inferior +classes of animals present approximations. Thus we +find but little to conflict with the all-important analogies. +That societies slowly augment in mass; that they progress +in complexity of structure; that at the same time their parts +become more mutually dependent; that their living units +are removed and replaced without destroying their integrity; +and further, that the extents to which they display +these peculiarities are proportionate to their vital activities; +are traits that societies have in common with +organic bodies. And these traits in which they agree with +organic bodies and disagree with all other things—these +traits which in truth specially characterize organic bodies, +entirely subordinate the minor distinctions: such distinctions +being scarcely greater than those which separate one +half of the organic kingdom from the other. The <i>principles</i> +of organization are the same; and the differences are +simply differences of application. +</p> + +<p> +Here ending this general survey of the facts which +justify the comparison of a society to a living body; +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_398' id='Page_398' name='Page_398'>398</a></span> +let us look at them in detail. We shall find that the +parallelism becomes the more marked the more closely +it is traced. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +The lowest animal and vegetal forms—<i>Protozoa</i> and +<i>Protophyta</i>—are chiefly inhabitants of the water. They +are minute bodies, most of which are made individually +visible only by the microscope. All of them are extremely +simple in structure; and some of them, as the <i>Rhizopods</i>, +almost structureless. Multiplying, as they ordinarily do, +by the spontaneous division of their bodies, they produce +halves, which may either become quite separate and move +away in different directions, or may continue attached. +By the repetition of this process of fission, aggregations of +various sizes and kinds are formed. Among the <i>Protophyta</i> +we have some classes, as the <i>Diatomaceæ</i> and the +Yeast-plant, in which the individuals may be either separate, +or attached in groups of two, three, four, or more; +other classes in which a considerable number of individual +cells are united into a thread (<i>Conferva</i>, <i>Monilia</i>); others +in which they form a net work (<i>Hydrodictyon</i>); others in +which they form plates (<i>Ulva</i>); and others in which they +form masses (<i>Laminaria</i>, <i>Agaricus</i>): all which vegetal +forms, having no distinction of root, stem, or leaf, are called +<i>Thallogens</i>. Among the <i>Protozoa</i> we find parallel facts. +Immense numbers of <i>Amœba</i>-like creatures, massed together +in a framework of horny fibres, constitute Sponge. In +the <i>Foraminifera</i>, we see smaller groups of such creatures +arranged into more definite shapes. Not only do these +almost structureless <i>Protozoa</i> unite into regular or irregular +aggregations of various sizes; but among some of the +more organized ones, as the <i>Vorticellæ</i>, there are also produced +clusters of individuals, proceeding from a common +stock. But these little societies of monads, or cells, or +whatever else we may call them, are societies only in the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_399' id='Page_399' name='Page_399'>399</a></span> +lowest sense: there is no subordination of parts among +them—no organization. Each of the component units +lives by and for itself; neither giving nor receiving aid. +There is no mutual dependence, save that consequent on +mere mechanical union. +</p> + +<p> +Now do we not here discern analogies to the first +stages of human societies? Among the lowest races, as the +Bushmen, we find but incipient aggregation: sometimes +single families; sometimes two or three families wandering +about together. The number of associated units is small +and variable; and their union inconstant. No division of +labour exists except between the sexes; and the only kind +of mutual aid is that of joint attack or defence. We see +nothing beyond an undifferentiated group of individuals, +forming the germ of a society; just as in the homogeneous +groups of cells above described, we see only the initial stage +of animal and vegetal organization. +</p> + +<p> +The comparison may now be carried a step higher. In +the vegetal kingdom we pass from the <i>Thallogens</i>, consisting +of mere masses of similar cells, to the <i>Acrogens</i>, in +which the cells are not similar throughout the whole mass; +but are here aggregated into a structure serving as leaf, +and there into a structure serving as root: thus forming a +whole in which there is a certain subdivision of functions +among the units; and therefore a certain mutual dependence. +In the animal kingdom we find analogous progress. From +mere unorganized groups of cells, or cell-like bodies, we +ascend to groups of such cells arranged into parts that +have different duties. The common Polype, from whose +substance may be separated individual cells which exhibit, +when detached, appearances and movements like those of +the solitary <i>Amœba</i>, illustrates this stage. The component +units, though still showing great community of character, +assume somewhat diverse functions in the skin, in +the internal surface, and in the tentacles. There is a certain +amount of "physiological division of labour." +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_400' id='Page_400' name='Page_400'>400</a></span> +Turning to societies, we find these stages paralleled in the +majority of aboriginal tribes. When, instead of such small +variable groups as are formed by Bushmen, we come to +the larger and more permanent groups formed by savages +not quite so low, we begin to find traces of social structure. +Though industrial organization scarcely shows itself, except +in the different occupations of the sexes; yet there is always +more or less of governmental organization. While all the +men are warriors and hunters, only a part of them are included +in the council of chiefs; and in this council of chiefs +some one has commonly supreme authority. There is thus +a certain distinction of classes and powers; and through +this slight specialization of functions, is effected a rude co-operation +among the increasing mass of individuals, whenever +the society has to act in its corporate capacity. Beyond +this analogy in the slight extent to which organization +is carried, there is analogy in the indefiniteness of the +organization. In the <i>Hydra</i>, the respective parts of the +creature's substance have many functions in common. +They are all contractile; omitting the tentacles, the whole +of the external surface can give origin to young <i>hydræ</i>; +and when turned inside out, stomach performs the duties +of skin, and skin the duties of stomach. In aboriginal societies +such differentiations as exist are similarly imperfect. +Notwithstanding distinctions of rank, all persons maintain +themselves by their own exertions. Not only do the head +men of the tribe, in common with the rest, build their own +huts, make their own weapons, kill their own food; but +the chief does the like. Moreover, in the rudest of these +tribes, such governmental organization as exists is very inconstant. +It is frequently changed by violence or treachery, +and the function of ruling assumed by other members +of the community. Thus between the rudest societies and +some of the lowest forms of animal life there is analogy +alike in the slight extent to which organization is carried, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_401' id='Page_401' name='Page_401'>401</a></span> +in the indefiniteness of this organization, and in its want of fixity. +</p> + +<p> +A further complication of the analogy is at hand. +From the aggregation of units into organized groups, we +pass to the multiplication of such groups, and their coalescence +into compound groups. The <i>Hydra</i>, when it has +reached a certain bulk, puts forth from its surface a bud, +which, growing and gradually assuming the form of the +parent, finally becomes detached; and by this process of +gemmation, the creature peoples the adjacent water with +others like itself. A parallel process is seen in the multiplication +of those lowly-organized tribes above described. +One of them having increased to a size that is either too +great for co-ordination under so rude a structure, or else +that is greater than the surrounding country can supply +with game and other wild food, there arises a tendency to +divide; and as in such communities there are ever occurring +quarrels, jealousies, and other causes of division, there +soon comes an occasion on which a part of the tribe separates +under the leadership of some subordinate chief, and +migrates. This process being from time to time repeated, +an extensive region is at length occupied with numerous +separate tribes descended from a common ancestry. The +analogy by no means ends here. Though in the common +<i>Hydra</i>, the young ones that bud out from the parent soon +become detached and independent; yet throughout the +rest of the class <i>Hydrozoa</i>, to which this creature belongs, +the like does not generally happen. The successive individuals +thus developed continue attached; give origin to +other such individuals which also continue attached; and +so there results a compound animal. As in the <i>Hydra</i> +itself, we find an aggregation of units which, considered +separately, are akin to the lowest <i>Protozoa</i>; so here, in a +<i>Zoophyte</i>, we find an aggregation of such aggregations. +The like is also seen throughout the extensive family of +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_402' id='Page_402' name='Page_402'>402</a></span><i>Polyzoa</i> or <i>Molluscoida</i>. The Ascidian Mollusks, too, in +their many varied forms, show us the same thing: exhibiting, +at the same time, various degrees of union subsisting +among the component individuals. For while in the <i>Salpæ</i> +the component individuals adhere so slightly that a blow on +the vessel of water in which they are floating will separate +them; in the <i>Botryllidæ</i> there exists a vascular connexion +between them, and a common circulation. +</p> + +<p> +Now in these various forms and degrees of aggregation, +may we not see paralleled the union of groups of connate +tribes into nations? Though in regions where circumstances +permit, the separate tribes descended from some +original tribe, migrate in all directions, and become far removed +and quite separate; yet, in other cases, where the +territory presents barriers to distant migration, this does +not happen: the small kindred communities are held in +closer contact, and eventually become more or less united +into a nation. The contrast between the tribes of American +Indians and the Scottish clans, illustrates this. And a +glance at our own early history, or the early histories of +continental nations, shows this fusion of small simple communities +taking place in various ways and to various extents. +As says M. Guizot, in his history of "The Origin of Representative +Government,"— +</p> + + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +"By degrees, in the midst of the chaos of the rising society, +small aggregations are formed which feel the want of alliance and +union with each other.... Soon inequality of strength is +displayed among neighbouring aggregations. The strong tend to +subjugate the weak, and usurp at first the rights of taxation and +military service. Thus political authority leaves the aggregations +which first instituted it, to take a wider range." +</p> +</div> + +<p> +That is to say, the small tribes, clans, or feudal unions, +sprung mostly from a common stock, and long held in contact +as occupants of adjacent lands, gradually get united in +other ways than by mere adhesion of race and proximity. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_403' id='Page_403' name='Page_403'>403</a></span> +A further series of changes begins now to take place; to +which, as before, we shall find analogies in individual organisms. +Returning again to the <i>Hydrozoa</i>, we observe +that in the simplest of the compound forms, the connected +individuals developed from a common stock, are alike in +structure, and perform like functions: with the exception, +indeed, that here and there a bud, instead of developing +into a stomach, mouth, and tentacles, becomes an egg-sac. +But with the oceanic <i>Hydrozoa</i>, this is by no means the +case. In the <i>Calycophoridæ</i>, some of the polypes growing +from the common germ, become developed and modified +into large, long, sack-like bodies, which by their rhythmical +contractions move through the water, dragging the +community of polypes after them. In the <i>Physophoridæ</i>, +a variety of organs similarly arise by transformation of the +budding polypes; so that in creatures like the <i>Physalia</i>, +commonly known as the "Portuguese Man-of-war," instead +of that tree-like group of similar individuals forming the +original type of the class, we have a complex mass of unlike +parts fulfilling unlike duties. As an individual <i>Hydra</i> may +be regarded as a group of <i>Protozoa</i>, which have become +partially metamorphosed into different organs; so a <i>Physalia</i> +is, morphologically considered, a group of <i>Hydræ</i> of +which the individuals have been variously transformed to +fit them for various functions. +</p> + +<p> +This differentiation upon differentiation, is just what +takes place in the evolution of a civilized society. We observed +how, in the small communities first formed, there +arises a certain simple political organization—there is a +partial separation of classes having different duties. And +now we have to observe how, in a nation formed by the +fusion of such small communities, the several sections, at +first alike in structures and modes of activity, gradually +become unlike in both—gradually become mutually-dependent +parts, diverse in their natures and functions. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_404' id='Page_404' name='Page_404'>404</a></span> +The doctrine of the progressive division of labour, to +which we are here introduced, is familiar to all readers. +And further, the analogy between the economical division +of labour and the "physiological division of labour," is so +striking, as long since to have drawn the attention of scientific +naturalists: so striking, indeed, that the expression +"physiological division of labour," has been suggested by +it. It is not needful, therefore, that we should treat this +part of our subject in great detail. We shall content ourselves +with noting a few general and significant facts, not +manifest on a first inspection. +</p> + +<p> +Throughout the whole animal kingdom, from the <i>Cœlenterata</i> +upwards, the first stage of evolution is the same. +Equally in the germ of a polype and in the human ovum, +the aggregated mass of cells out of which the creature is +to arise, gives origin to a peripheral layer of cells, slightly +differing from the rest which they include; and this layer +subsequently divides into two—the inner, lying in contact +with the included yelk, being called the mucous layer, and +the outer, exposed to surrounding agencies, being called +the serous layer: or, in the terms used by Prof. Huxley, in +describing the development of the <i>Hydrozoa</i>—the endoderm +and ectoderm. This primary division marks out a +fundamental contrast of parts in the future organism. +From the mucous layer, or endoderm, is developed the +apparatus of nutrition; while from the serous layer, or ectoderm, +is developed the apparatus of external action. +Out of the one arise the organs by which food is prepared +and absorbed, oxygen imbibed, and blood purified; while +out of the other arise the nervous, muscular, and osseous +systems, by whose combined actions the movements of the +body as a whole are effected. Though this is not a rigorously-correct +distinction, seeing that some organs involve +both of these primitive membranes, yet high authorities +agree in stating it as a broad general distinction. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_405' id='Page_405' name='Page_405'>405</a></span> +Well, in the evolution of a society, we see a primary +differentiation of analogous kind; which similarly underlies +the whole future structure. As already pointed out, the +only manifest contrast of parts in primitive societies, is that +between the governing and the governed. In the least organized +tribes, the council of chiefs may be a body of men +distinguished simply by greater courage or experience. In +more organized tribes, the chief-class is definitely separated +from the lower class, and often regarded as different in nature—sometimes +as god-descended. And later, we find +these two becoming respectively freemen and slaves, or +nobles and serfs. A glance at their respective functions, +makes it obvious that the great divisions thus early formed, +stand to each other in a relation similar to that in which +the primary divisions of the embryo stand to each other. +For, from its first appearance, the class of chiefs is that by +which the external acts of the society are controlled: alike +in war, in negotiation, and in migration. Afterwards, +while the upper class grows distinct from the lower, and at +the same time becomes more and more exclusively regulative +and defensive in its functions, alike in the persons of +kings and subordinate rulers, priests, and military leaders; +the inferior class becomes more and more exclusively occupied +in providing the necessaries of life for the community +at large. From the soil, with which it comes in most direct +contact, the mass of the people takes up and prepares +for use, the food and such rude articles of manufacture as +are known; while the overlying mass of superior men, +maintained by the working population, deals with circumstances +external to the community—circumstances with +which, by position, it is more immediately concerned. +Ceasing by-and-by to have any knowledge of, or power +over, the concerns of the society as a whole, the serf-class +becomes devoted to the processes of alimentation; while +the noble class, ceasing to take any part in the processes of +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_406' id='Page_406' name='Page_406'>406</a></span> +alimentation, becomes devoted to the co-ordinated movements +of the entire body politic. +</p> + +<p> +Equally remarkable is a further analogy of like kind. +After the mucous and serous layers of the embryo have +separated, there presently arises between the two, a third, +known to physiologists as the vascular layer—a layer out +of which are developed the chief blood-vessels. The mucous +layer absorbs nutriment from the mass of yelk it encloses; +this nutriment has to be transferred to the overlying +serous layer, out of which the nervo-muscular system +is being developed; and between the two arises a vascular +system by which the transfer is effected—a system of vessels +which continues ever after to be the transferrer of nutriment +from the places where it is absorbed and prepared, +to the places where it is needed for growth and repair. +Well, may we not trace a parallel step in social progress? +</p> + +<p> +Between the governing and the governed, there at first +exists no intermediate class; and even in some societies +that have reached considerable sizes, there are scarcely any +but the nobles and their kindred on the one hand, and the +serfs on the other: the social structure being such, that the +transfer of commodities takes place directly from slaves to +their masters. But in societies of a higher type, there +grows up between these two primitive classes, another—the +trading or middle class. Equally, at first as now, we +may see that, speaking generally, this middle class is the +analogue of the middle layer in the embryo. For all traders +are essentially distributors. Whether they be wholesale +dealers, who collect into large masses the commodities +of various producers; or whether they be retailers, who +divide out to those who want them, the masses of commodities +thus collected together; all mercantile men are +agents of transfer from the places where things are produced +to the places where they are consumed. Thus the +distributing apparatus of a society, answers to the distributing +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_407' id='Page_407' name='Page_407'>407</a></span> +apparatus of a living body; not only in its functions, +but in its intermediate origin and subsequent position, and +in the time of its appearance. +</p> + +<p> +Without enumerating the minor differentiations which +these three great classes afterwards undergo, we will +merely note that throughout, they follow the same general +law with the differentiations of an individual organism. In +a society, as in a rudimentary animal, we have seen that the +most general and broadly contrasted divisions are the first +to make their appearance; and of the subdivisions it continues +true in both cases, that they arise in the order of decreasing +generality. +</p> + +<p> +Let us observe next, that in the one case as in the other, +the specializations are at first very incomplete; and become +more complete as organization progresses. We saw +that in primitive tribes, as in the simplest animals, there +remains much community of function between the parts +that are nominally different—that, for instance, the class of +chiefs long remain industrially the same as the inferior +class; just as in a <i>Hydra</i>, the property of contractility is +possessed by the units of the endoderm as well as by those +of the ectoderm. We noted also how, as the society advanced, +the two great primitive classes partook less and +less of each other's functions. And we have here to remark, +that all subsequent specializations are at first vague, +and gradually become distinct. "In the infancy of society," +says M. Guizot, "everything is confused and uncertain; +there is as yet no fixed and precise line of demarcation +between the different powers in a state." "Originally +kings lived like other landowners, on the incomes derived +from their own private estates." Nobles were petty +kings; and kings only the most powerful nobles. Bishops +were feudal lords and military leaders. The right of coining +money was possessed by powerful subjects, and by the +Church, as well as by the king. Every leading man +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_408' id='Page_408' name='Page_408'>408</a></span> +exercised alike the functions of landowner, farmer, soldier, +statesman, judge. Retainers were now soldiers, and now +labourers, as the day required. But by degrees the +Church has lost all civil jurisdiction; the State has exercised +less and less control over religious teaching; the military +class has grown a distinct one; handicrafts have concentrated +in towns; and the spinning-wheels of scattered +farmhouses have disappeared before the machinery of manufacturing +districts. Not only is all progress from the homogeneous +to the heterogeneous; but at the same time it +is from the indefinite to the definite. +</p> + +<p> +Another fact which should not be passed over, is that in +the evolution of a large society out of an aggregation of small +ones, there is a gradual obliteration of the original lines of +separation—a change to which, also, we may see analogies +in living bodies. Throughout the sub-kingdom <i>Annulosa</i>, +this is clearly and variously illustrated. Among the lower +types of this sub-kingdom, the body consists of numerous +segments that are alike in nearly every particular. Each +has its external ring; its pair of legs, if the creature has +legs; its equal portion of intestines, or else its separate +stomach; its equal portion of the great blood-vessel, or, in +some cases, its separate heart; its equal portion of the nervous +cord, and, perhaps, its separate pair of ganglia. But +in the highest types, as in the large <i>Crustacea</i>, many of +the segments are completely fused together; and the internal +organs are no longer uniformly repeated in all the segments. +Now the segments of which nations at first consist, lose their +separate external and internal structures in a similar manner. +In feudal times, the minor communities governed by feudal +lords, were severally organized in the same rude way; and +were held together only by the fealty of their respective +rulers to some suzerain. But along with the growth of a +central power, the demarcations of these local communities +disappeared; and their separate organizations merged into +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_409' id='Page_409' name='Page_409'>409</a></span> +the general organization. The like is seen on a larger scale +in the fusion of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland; and, +on the Continent, in the coalescence of provinces into kingdoms. +Even in the disappearance of law-made divisions, +the process is analogous. Among the Anglo-Saxons, England +was divided into tithings, hundreds, and counties: +there were county courts, courts of hundred, and courts of +tithing. The courts of tithing disappeared first; then the +courts of hundred, which have, however, left traces; while +the county-jurisdiction still exists. +</p> + +<p> +But chiefly it is to be noted, that there eventually grows +up an organization which has no reference to these original +divisions, but traverses them in various directions, as is the +case in creatures belonging to the sub-kingdom just named; +and, further, that in both cases it is the sustaining organization +which thus traverses old boundaries, while in both +cases it is the governmental, or co-ordinating organization +in which the original boundaries continue traceable. Thus, +in the highest <i>Annulosa</i>, the exo-skeleton and the muscular +system, never lose all traces of their primitive segmentation; +but throughout a great part of the body, the contained +viscera do not in the least conform to the external +divisions. Similarly, with a nation, we see that while, for +governmental purposes, such divisions as counties and parishes +still exist, the structure developed for carrying on the +nutrition of society, wholly ignores these boundaries: our +great cotton-manufacture spreads out of Lancashire into +North Derbyshire; Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire +have long divided the stocking-trade between them; one +great centre for the production of iron and iron-goods, includes +parts of Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire; +and those various specializations of agriculture which have +made different parts of England noted for different products, +show no more respect to county-boundaries than +do our growing towns to the boundaries of parishes. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_410' id='Page_410' name='Page_410'>410</a></span> +If, after contemplating these analogies of structure, we +inquire whether there are any such analogies between the +processes of organic change, the answer is—yes. The +causes which lead to increase of bulk in any part of the +body politic, are of like nature with those which lead to +increase of bulk in any part of an individual body. In +both cases the antecedent is greater functional activity, consequent +on greater demand. Each limb, viscus, gland, or +other member of an animal, is developed by exercise—by +actively discharging the duties which the body at large requires +of it; and similarly, any class of labourers or artisans, +any manufacturing centre, or any official agency, begins +to enlarge when the community devolves on it an increase +of work. In each case, too, growth has its conditions and +its limits. That any organ in a living being may grow +by exercise, there needs a due supply of blood: all action +implies waste; blood brings the materials for repair; +and before there can be growth, the quantity of +blood supplied must be more than that requisite for repair. +</p> + +<p> +So is it in a society. If to some district which elaborates +for the community particular commodities—say the +woollens of Yorkshire—there comes an augmented demand; +and if, in fulfilment of this demand, a certain expenditure +and wear of the manufacturing organization are incurred; +and if, in payment for the extra supply of woollens sent +away, there comes back only such quantity of commodities +as replaces the expenditure, and makes good the waste of +life and machinery; there can clearly be no growth. That +there may be growth, the commodities obtained in return +must be more than sufficient for these ends; and just in +proportion as the surplus is great will the growth be rapid. +Whence it is manifest that what in commercial affairs we +call <i>profit</i>, answers to the excess of nutrition over waste in +a living body. Moreover, in both cases, when the +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_411' id='Page_411' name='Page_411'>411</a></span> +functional activity is high and the nutrition defective, there results +not growth but decay. If in an animal, any organ is +worked so hard that the channels which bring blood cannot +furnish enough for repair, the organ dwindles; and if in the +body politic, some part has been stimulated into great productivity, +and cannot afterwards get paid for all its produce, +certain of its members become bankrupt, and it decreases +in size. +</p> + +<p> +One more parallelism to be here noted, is, that the different +parts of the social organism, like the different parts +of an individual organism, compete for nutriment; and +severally obtain more or less of it according as they are +discharging more or less duty. If a man's brain be overexcited, +it will abstract blood from his viscera and stop +digestion; or digestion actively going on, will so affect the +circulation through the brain as to cause drowsiness; or +great muscular exertion will determine such a quantity of +blood to the limbs, as to arrest digestion or cerebral action, +as the case may be. So, likewise, in a society, it frequently +happens that great activity in some one direction, causes +partial arrests of activity elsewhere, by abstracting capital, +that is commodities: as instance the way in which the sudden +development of our railway-system hampered commercial +operations; or the way in which the raising of a large +military force temporarily stops the growth of leading industries. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +The last few paragraphs introduce the next division of +our subject. Almost unawares we have come upon the +analogy which exists between the blood of a living body, +and the circulating mass of commodities in the body politic. +We have now to trace out this analogy from its simplest to +its most complex manifestations. +</p> + +<p> +In the lowest animals there exists no blood properly so +called. Through the small aggregation of cells which make +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_412' id='Page_412' name='Page_412'>412</a></span> +up a <i>Hydra</i>, permeate the juices absorbed from the food. +There is no apparatus for elaborating a concentrated and +purified nutriment, and distributing it among the component +units; but these component units directly imbibe the +unprepared nutriment, either from the digestive cavity or +from each other. May we not say that this is what takes +place in an aboriginal tribe? All its members severally +obtain for themselves the necessaries of life in their crude +states; and severally prepare them for their own uses as +well as they can. When there arises a decided differentiation +between the governing and the governed, some +amount of transfer begins between those inferior individuals, +who, as workers, come directly in contact with the +products of the earth, and those superior ones who exercise +the higher functions—a transfer parallel to that which +accompanies the differentiation of the ectoderm from the +endoderm. In the one case, as in the other, however, it +is a transfer of products that are little if at all prepared; +and takes place directly from the unit which obtains to +the unit which consumes, without entering into any general +current. +</p> + +<p> +Passing to larger organisms—individual and social—we +find the first advance upon this arrangement. Where, as +among the compound <i>Hydrozoa</i>, there is an aggregation +of many such primitive groups as form <i>Hydræ</i>; or where, +as in a <i>Medusa</i>, one of these groups has become of great +size; there exist rude channels running throughout the +substance of the body: not however, channels for the conveyance +of prepared nutriment, but mere prolongations of +the digestive cavity, through which the crude chyle-aqueous +fluid reaches the remoter parts, and is moved backwards +and forwards by the creature's contractions. Do we +not find in some of the more advanced primitive communities, +an analogous condition? When the men, partially or +fully united into one society, become numerous—when, as +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_413' id='Page_413' name='Page_413'>413</a></span> +usually happens, they cover a surface of country not everywhere +alike in its products—when, more especially, there +arise considerable classes that are not industrial; some process +of exchange and distribution inevitably arises. Traversing +here and there the earth's surface, covered by that +vegetation on which human life depends, and in which, as +we say, the units of a society are imbedded, there are +formed indefinite paths, along which some of the necessaries +of life occasionally pass, to be bartered for others +which presently come back along the same channels. Note, +however, that at first little else but crude commodities are +thus transferred—fruits, fish, pigs or cattle, skins, etc.: +there are few, if any, manufactured products or articles +prepared for consumption. And note further, that such +distribution of these unprepared necessaries of life as takes +place, is but occasional—goes on with a certain slow, irregular rhythm. +</p> + +<p> +Further progress in the elaboration and distribution of +nutriment, or of commodities, is a necessary accompaniment +of further differentiation of functions in the individual +body or in the body politic. As fast as each organ of +a living animal becomes confined to a special action, it must +become dependent on the rest for all those materials which +its position and duty do not permit it to obtain for itself; +in the same way that, as fast as each particular class of a +community becomes exclusively occupied in producing its +own commodity, it must become dependent on the rest for +the other commodities it needs. And, simultaneously, a +more perfectly-elaborated blood will result from a highly-specialized +group of nutritive organs, severally adapted to +prepare its different elements; in the same way that the +stream of commodities circulating throughout a society, +will be of superior quality in proportion to the greater division +of labour among the workers. Observe, also, that +in either case the circulating mass of nutritive materials, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_414' id='Page_414' name='Page_414'>414</a></span> +besides coming gradually to consist of better ingredients, +also grows more complex. An increase in the number of +the unlike organs which add to the blood their waste matters, +and demand from it the different materials they severally +need, implies a blood more heterogeneous in composition—an +<i>à priori</i> conclusion which, according to Dr. +Williams, is inductively confirmed by examination of the +blood throughout the various grades of the animal kingdom. +And similarly, it is manifest that as fast as the +division of labour among the classes of a community, +becomes greater, there must be an increasing heterogeneity +in the currents of merchandise flowing throughout +that community. +</p> + +<p> +The circulating mass of nutritive materials in individual +organisms and in social organisms, becoming alike better in +the quality of its ingredients and more heterogeneous in +composition, as the type of structure becomes higher; +eventually has added to it in both cases another element, +which is not itself nutritive, but facilitates the process of +nutrition. We refer, in the case of the individual organism, +to the blood-discs; and in the case of the social organism, +to money. This analogy has been observed by +Liebig, who in his "Familiar Letters on Chemistry," +says: +</p> + + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +"Silver and gold have to perform in the organization of the +State, the same function as the blood corpuscles in the human +organization. As these round discs, without themselves taking an +immediate share in the nutritive process, are the medium, the +essential condition of the change of matter, of the production of +the heat, and of the force by which the temperature of the body +is kept up and the motions of the blood and all the juices are determined, +so has gold become the medium of all activity in the life +of the State." +</p> +</div> + +<p> +And blood-corpuscles being like money in their functions, +and in the fact that they are not consumed in nutrition, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_415' id='Page_415' name='Page_415'>415</a></span> +he further points out, that the number of them which +in a considerable interval flows through the great centres, +is enormous when compared with their absolute number; +just as the quantity of money which annually passes +through the great mercantile centres, is enormous when +compared with the total quantity of money in the kingdom. +Nor is this all. Liebig has omitted the significant circumstance, +that only at a certain stage of organization does this +element of the circulation make its appearance. Throughout +extensive divisions of the lower animals, the blood contains +no corpuscles; and in societies of low civilization, +there is no money. +</p> + +<p> +Thus far, we have considered the analogy between the +blood in a living body and the consumable and circulating +commodities in the body politic. Let us now compare the +appliances by which they are respectively distributed. We +shall find in the development of these appliances, parallelisms +not less remarkable than those above set forth. Already +we have shown that, as classes, wholesale and retail +distributors discharge in a society, the office which the +vascular system discharges in an individual creature; that +they come into existence later than the other two great +classes, as the vascular layer appears later than the mucous +and serous layers; and that they occupy a like intermediate +position. Here, however, it remains to be pointed out +that a complete conception of the circulating system in a +society, includes not only the active human agents who +propel the currents of commodities, and regulate their distribution; +but includes, also, the channels of communication. +It is the formation and arrangement of these, to which we +now direct attention. +</p> + +<p> +Going back once more to those lower animals in which +there is found nothing but a partial diffusion, not of blood, +but only of crude nutritive fluids, it is to be remarked that +the channels through which the diffusion takes place, are +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_416' id='Page_416' name='Page_416'>416</a></span> +mere excavations through the half-organized substance of +the body: they have no lining membranes, but are mere +<i>lacunæ</i> traversing a rude tissue. Now countries in which +civilization is but commencing, display a like condition: +there are no roads properly so called; but the wilderness +of vegetal life covering the earth's surface, is pierced by +tracks, through which the distribution of crude commodities +takes place. And while in both cases, the acts of distribution +occur only at long intervals (the currents, after a +pause, now setting towards a general centre, and now +away from it), the transfer is in both cases slow and difficult. +But among other accompaniments of progress, common to +animals and societies, comes the formation of more definite +and complete channels of communication. Blood-vessels +acquire distinct walls; roads are fenced and gravelled. +This advance is first seen in those roads or vessels that are +nearest to the chief centres of distribution; while the peripheral +roads and peripheral vessels, long continue in their +primitive states. At a yet later stage of development, +where comparative finish of structure is found throughout +the system as well as near the chief centres, there remains +in both cases the difference, that the main channels are +comparatively broad and straight, while the subordinate +ones are narrow and tortuous in proportion to their remoteness. +</p> + +<p> +Lastly, it is to be remarked that there ultimately arise +in the higher social organisms, as in the higher individual +organisms, main channels of distribution still more distinguished +by their perfect structures, their comparative +straightness, and the absence of those small branches which +the minor channels perpetually give off. And in railways +we also see, for the first time in the social organism, a +specialization with respect to the directions of the currents—a +system of double channels conveying currents in opposite +directions, as do the arteries and veins of a well-developed animal. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_417' id='Page_417' name='Page_417'>417</a></span> +These parallelisms in the evolutions and structures of +the circulating systems, introduce us to others in the kinds +and rates of the movements going on through them. In +the lowest societies, as in the lowest creatures, the distribution +of crude nutriment is by slow gurgitations and regurgitations. +In creatures that have rude vascular systems, +as in societies that are beginning to have roads and +some transfer of commodities along them, there is no regular +circulation in definite courses; but instead, periodical +changes of the currents—now towards this point, and now +towards that. Through each part of an inferior mollusk's +body, the blood flows for a while in one direction, then +stops, and flows in the opposite direction; just as through a +rudely-organized society, the distribution of merchandise +is slowly carried on by great fairs, occurring in different +localities, to and from which the currents periodically set. +Only animals of tolerably complete organizations, like advanced +communities, are permeated by constant currents +that are definitely directed. In living bodies, the local and +variable currents disappear when there grow up great +centres of circulation, generating more powerful currents, +by a rhythm which ends in a quick, regular pulsation. +And when in social bodies, there arise great centres of +commercial activity, producing and exchanging large quantities +of commodities, the rapid and continuous streams +drawn in and emitted by these centres, subdue all minor +and local circulations: the slow rhythm of fairs merges +into the faster one of weekly markets, and in the chief centres +of distribution, weekly markets merge into daily markets; +while in place of the languid transfer from place to +place, taking place at first weekly, then twice or thrice a +week, we by-and-by get daily transfer, and finally transfer +many times a day—the original sluggish, irregular rhythm, +becomes a rapid, equable pulse. +</p> + +<p> +Mark, too, that in both cases the increased activity, like +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_418' id='Page_418' name='Page_418'>418</a></span> +the greater perfection of structure, is much less conspicuous +at the periphery of the vascular system. On main +lines of railway, we have, perhaps, a score trains in each +direction daily, going at from thirty to fifty miles an hour; +as, through the great arteries, the blood rushes rapidly in +successive gushes. Along high roads, there move vehicles +conveying men and commodities with much less, though +still considerable, speed, and with a much less decided +rhythm; as, in the smaller arteries, the speed of the blood +is greatly diminished, and the pulse less conspicuous. In +parish-roads, narrow, less complete, and more tortuous, the +rate of movement is further decreased and the rhythm +scarcely traceable; as in the ultimate arteries. In those +still more imperfect by-roads which lead from these parish-roads +to scattered farmhouses and cottages, the motion is +yet slower and very irregular; just as we find it in the +capillaries. While along the field-roads, which, in their +unformed, unfenced state, are typical of <i>lacunæ</i>, the movement +is the slowest, the most irregular, and the most infrequent; +as it is, not only in the primitive <i>lacunæ</i> of animals, +and societies, but as it is also in those <i>lacunæ</i> in which the +vascular system ends among extensive families of inferior creatures. +</p> + +<p> +Thus, then, we find between the distributing systems +of living bodies and the distributing systems of bodies politic, +wonderfully close parallelisms. In the lowest forms of +individual and social organisms, there exist neither prepared +nutritive matters nor distributing appliances; and in +both, these, arising as necessary accompaniments of the +differentiation of parts, approach perfection as this differentiation +approaches completeness. In animals, as in societies, +the distributing agencies begin to show themselves at +the same relative periods, and in the same relative positions. +In the one, as in the other, the nutritive materials circulated, +are at first crude and simple, gradually become better +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_419' id='Page_419' name='Page_419'>419</a></span> +elaborated and more heterogeneous, and have eventually +added to them a new element facilitating the nutritive processes. +The channels of communication pass through similar +phases of development, which bring them to analogous +forms. And the directions, rhythms, and rates of circulation, +progress by like steps to like final conditions. +</p> + +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p> +We come at length to the nervous system. Having noticed +the primary differentiation of societies into the governing +and governed classes, and observed its analogy to +the differentiation of the two primary tissues which respectively +develope into organs of external action and organs +of alimentation; having noticed some of the leading analogies +between the development of industrial arrangements +and that of the alimentary apparatus; and having, above, +more fully traced the analogies between the distributing +systems, social and individual; we have now to compare +the appliances by which a society, as a whole, is regulated, +with those by which the movements of an individual creature +are regulated. We shall find here, parallelisms equally +striking with those already detailed. +</p> + +<p> +The class out of which governmental organization originates, +is, as we have said, analogous in its relations to the +ectoderm of the lowest animals and of embryonic forms. +And as this primitive membrane, out of which the nervo-muscular +system is evolved, must, even in the first stage of +its differentiation, be slightly distinguished from the rest +by that greater impressibility and contractility characterizing +the organs to which it gives rise; so, in that superior +class which is eventually transformed into the directo-executive +system of a society (its legislative and defensive appliances), +does there exist in the beginning, a larger endowment +of the capacities required for these higher social +functions. Always, in rude assemblages of men, the strongest, +most courageous, and most sagacious, become rulers +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_420' id='Page_420' name='Page_420'>420</a></span> +and leaders; and, in a tribe of some standing, this results +in the establishment of a dominant class, characterized on +the average by those mental and bodily qualities which fit +them for deliberation and vigorous combined action. Thus +that greater impressibility and contractility, which in the +rudest animal types characterize the units of the ectoderm, +characterize also the units of the primitive social ectoderm; +since impressibility and contractility are the respective roots +of intelligence and strength. +</p> + +<p> +Again, in the unmodified ectoderm, as we see it in the +<i>Hydra</i>, the units are all endowed both with impressibility +and contractility; but as we ascend to higher types of organization, +the ectoderm differentiates into classes of units +which divide those two functions between them: some, becoming +exclusively impressible, cease to be contractile; +while some, becoming exclusively contractile, cease to be +impressible. Similarly with societies. In an aboriginal +tribe, the directive and executive functions are diffused in +a mingled form throughout the whole governing class. +Each minor chief commands those under him, and if need +be, himself coerces them into obedience. The council of +chiefs itself carries out on the battle-field its own decisions. +The head chief not only makes laws, but administers justice +with his own hands. In larger and more settled communities, +however, the directive and executive agencies begin +to grow distinct from each other. As fast as his duties +accumulate, the head chief or king confines himself more +and more to directing public affairs, and leaves the execution +of his will to others: he deputes others to enforce +submission, to inflict punishments, or to carry out minor +acts of offence and defence; and only on occasions when, +perhaps, the safety of the society and his own supremacy +are at stake, does he begin to act as well as direct. As +this differentiation establishes itself, the characteristics of +the ruler begin to change. No longer, as in an aboriginal +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_421' id='Page_421' name='Page_421'>421</a></span> +tribe, the strongest and most daring man, the tendency is +for him to become the man of greatest cunning, foresight, +and skill in the management of others; for in societies that +have advanced beyond the first stage, it is chiefly such +qualities that insure success in gaining supreme power, and +holding it against internal and external enemies. Thus that +member of the governing class who comes to be the chief +directing agent, and so plays the same part that a rudimentary +nervous centre does in an unfolding organism, is usually +one endowed with some superiorities of nervous organization. +</p> + +<p> +In those somewhat larger and more complex communities +possessing, perhaps, a separate military class, a priesthood, +and dispersed masses of population requiring local +control, there necessarily grow up subordinate governing +agents; who as their duties accumulate, severally become +more directive and less executive in their characters. +And when, as commonly happens, the king begins to +collect round himself advisers who aid him by communicating +information, preparing subjects for his judgment, +and issuing his orders; we may say that the form of +organization is comparable to one very general among +inferior types of animals, in which there exists a chief +ganglion with a few dispersed minor ganglia under its control. +</p> + +<p> +The analogies between the evolution of governmental +structures in societies, and the evolution of governmental +structures in living bodies, are, however, more strikingly +displayed during the formation of nations by the coalescence +of small communities—a process already shown to +be, in several respects, parallel to the development of those +creatures that primarily consist of many like segments. +Among other points of community between the successive +rings which make up the body in the lower <i>Articulata</i>, is +the possession of similar pairs of ganglia. These pairs of +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_422' id='Page_422' name='Page_422'>422</a></span> +ganglia, though united together by nerves, are very incompletely +dependent on any general controlling power. Hence +it results that when the body is cut in two, the hinder part +continues to move forward under the propulsion of its numerous +legs; and that when the chain of ganglia has been +divided without severing the body, the hind limbs may be +seen trying to propel the body in one direction, while the +fore limbs are trying to propel it in another. Among the +higher <i>Articulata</i>, however, a number of the anterior pairs +of ganglia, besides growing larger, unite in one mass; and this +great cephalic ganglion, becoming the co-ordinator of all the +creature's movements, there no longer exists much local independence. +</p> + +<p> +Now may we not in the growth of a consolidated kingdom +out of petty sovereignties or baronies, observe analogous +changes? Like the chiefs and primitive rulers above +described, feudal lords, exercising supreme power over their +respective groups of retainers, discharge functions analogous +to those of rudimentary nervous centres; and we +know that at first they, like their analogues, are distinguished +by superiorities of directive and executive organization. +Among these local governing centres, there is, in +early feudal times, very little subordination. They are in +frequent antagonism; they are individually restrained chiefly +by the influence of large parties in their own class; and +are but imperfectly and irregularly subject to that most +powerful member of their order who has gained the position +of head suzerain or king. As the growth and organization +of the society progresses, these local directive centres +fall more and more under the control of a chief directive +centre. Closer commercial union between the several +segments, is accompanied by closer governmental union; +and these minor rulers end in being little more than agents +who administer, in their several localities, the laws made by +the supreme ruler: just as the local ganglia above described, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_423' id='Page_423' name='Page_423'>423</a></span> +eventually become agents which enforce, in their respective +segments, the orders of the cephalic ganglion. +</p> + +<p> +The parallelism holds still further. We remarked above, +when speaking of the rise of aboriginal kings, that in proportion +as their territories and duties increase, they are +obliged not only to perform their executive functions by +deputy, but also to gather round themselves advisers to aid +them in their directive functions; and that thus, in place +of a solitary governing unit, there grows up a group of +governing units, comparable to a ganglion consisting of +many cells. Let us here add, that the advisers, and chief +officers who thus form the rudiment of a ministry, tend +from the beginning to exercise a certain control over the +ruler. By the information they give and the opinions they +express, they sway his judgment and affect his commands. +To this extent he therefore becomes a channel through +which are communicated the directions originating with +them; and in course of time, when the advice of ministers +becomes the acknowledged source of his actions, the king +assumes very much the character of an automatic centre, +reflecting the impressions made on him from without. +</p> + +<p> +Beyond this complication of governmental structure, +many societies do not progress; but in some, a further development +takes place. Our own case best illustrates this +further development, and its further analogies. To kings +and their ministries have been added, in England, other +great directive centres, exercising a control which, at first +small, has been gradually becoming predominant: as with +the great governing ganglia that especially distinguish the +highest classes of living beings. Strange as the assertion +will be thought, our Houses of Parliament discharge in the +social economy, functions that are in sundry respects comparable +to those discharged by the cerebral masses in a +vertebrate animal. As it is in the nature of a single ganglion +to be affected only by special stimuli from particular +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_424' id='Page_424' name='Page_424'>424</a></span> +parts of the body; so it is in the nature of a single ruler +to be swayed in his acts by exclusive personal or class interests. +As it is in the nature of an aggregation of ganglia, +connected with the primary one, to convey to it a greater +variety of influences from more numerous organs, and thus +to make its acts conform to more numerous requirements; +so it is in the nature of a king surrounded by subsidiary +controlling powers, to adapt his rule to a greater number +of public exigencies. And as it is in the nature of those +great and latest-developed ganglia which distinguish the +higher animals, to interpret and combine the multiplied +and varied impressions conveyed to them from all parts of +the system, and to regulate the actions in such way as duly +to regard them all; so it is in the nature of those great +and latest-developed legislative bodies which distinguish +the most advanced societies, to interpret and combine the +wishes and complaints of all classes and localities, and to +regulate public affairs as much as possible in harmony with +the general wants. +</p> + +<p> +The cerebrum co-ordinates the countless heterogeneous +considerations which affect the present and future welfare +of the individual as a whole; and the legislature co-ordinates +the countless heterogeneous considerations which affect +the immediate and remote welfare of the whole community. +We may describe the office of the brain as that +of <i>averaging</i> the interests of life, physical, intellectual, +moral, social; and a good brain is one in which the desires +answering to these respective interests are so balanced, +that the conduct they jointly dictate, sacrifices none of +them. Similarly, we may describe the office of a Parliament +as that of <i>averaging</i> the interests of the various +classes in a community; and a good Parliament is one in +which the parties answering to these respective interests +are so balanced, that their united legislation concedes to +each class as much as consists with the claims of the rest. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_425' id='Page_425' name='Page_425'>425</a></span> +Besides being comparable in their duties, these great directive +centres, social and individual, are comparable in the +processes by which their duties are discharged. +</p> + +<p> +It is now an acknowledged truth in psychology, that +the cerebrum is not occupied with direct impressions from +without, but with the ideas of such impressions: instead of +the actual sensations produced in the body, and directly +appreciated by the sensory ganglia or primitive nervous +centres, the cerebrum receives only the representations of +these sensations; and its consciousness is called <i>representative</i> +consciousness, to distinguish it from the original or +<i>presentative</i> consciousness. Is it not significant that we +have hit on the same word to distinguish the function of +our House of Commons? We call it a <i>representative</i> body, +because the interests with which it deals—the pains and +pleasures about which it consults—are not directly presented +to it, but represented to it by its various members; +and a debate is a conflict of representations of the evils or +benefits likely to follow from a proposed course—a description +which applies with equal truth to a debate in the individual +consciousness. In both cases, too, these great governing +masses take no part in the executive functions. As, +after a conflict in the cerebrum, those desires which finally +predominate, act on the subjacent ganglia, and through +their instrumentality determine the bodily actions; so the +parties which, after a parliamentary struggle, gain the victory, +do not themselves carry out their wishes, but get +them carried out by the executive divisions of the Government. +The fulfilment of all legislative decisions still devolves +on the original directive centres—the impulse passing +from the Parliament to the Ministers, and from the +Ministers to the King, in whose name everything is done; +just as those smaller, first-developed ganglia, which in the +lowest vertebrata are the chief controlling agents, are still, +in the brains of the higher vertebrata, the agents through +which the dictates of the cerebrum are worked out. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_426' id='Page_426' name='Page_426'>426</a></span> +Moreover, in both cases these original centres become +increasingly automatic. In the developed vertebrate animal, +they have little function beyond that of conveying +impressions to, and executing the determinations of, the +larger centres. In our highly organized government, the +monarch has long been lapsing into a passive agent of Parliament; +and now, ministers are rapidly falling into the +same position. +</p> + +<p> +Nay, between the two cases there is a parallelism, even +in respect of the exceptions to this automatic action. For +in the individual creature, it happens that under circumstances +of sudden alarm, as from a loud sound close at +hand, an unexpected object starting up in front, or a slip +from insecure footing, the danger is guarded against by +some quick involuntary jump, or adjustment of the limbs, +that takes place before there is time to consider the impending +evil, and take deliberate measures to avoid it: the +rationale of which is, that these violent impressions produced +on the senses, are reflected from the sensory ganglia +to the spinal cord and muscles, without, as in ordinary +cases, first passing through the cerebrum. In like manner, +on national emergencies, calling for prompt action, the +King and Ministry, not having time to lay the matter before +the great deliberative bodies, themselves issue commands +for the requisite movements or precautions: the +primitive, and now almost automatic, directive centres, resume +for a moment their original uncontrolled power. +And then, strangest of all, observe that in either case there +is an afterprocess of approval or disapproval. The individual +on recovering from his automatic start, at once contemplates +the cause of his fright; and, according to the case, +concludes that it was well he moved as he did, or condemns +himself for his groundless alarm. In like manner, +the deliberative powers of the State, discuss, as soon as +may be, the unauthorized acts of the executive powers; +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_427' id='Page_427' name='Page_427'>427</a></span> +and, deciding that the reasons were or were not sufficient, +grant or withhold a bill of indemnity.<a class='fnanchor' id='FA_V' name='FA_V' href='#FN_V'>[V]</a> +</p> + +<p> +Thus far in comparing the governmental organization +of the body politic with that of an individual body, we +have considered only the respective co-ordinating centres. +We have yet to consider the channels through which these +co-ordinating centres receive information and convey commands. +In the simplest societies, as in the simplest organisms, +there is no "internuncial apparatus," as Hunter styled +the nervous system. Consequently, impressions can be but +slowly propagated from unit to unit throughout the whole +mass. The same progress, however, which, in animal-organization, +shows itself in the establishment of ganglia or +directive centres, shows itself also in the establishment of +nerve-threads, through which the ganglia receive and convey +impressions, and so control remote organs. And in societies +the like eventually takes place. +</p> + +<p> +After a long period during which the directive centres +communicate with various parts of the society through +other means, there at last comes into existence an "internuncial +apparatus," analogous to that found in individual +bodies. The comparison of telegraph-wires to nerves, is +familiar to all. It applies, however, to an extent not commonly +supposed. We do not refer to the near alliance between +the subtle forces employed in the two cases; though +it is now held that the nerve-force, if not literally electric, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_428' id='Page_428' name='Page_428'>428</a></span> +is still a special form of electric action, related to the ordinary +form much as magnetism is. But we refer to the +structural arrangements of our telegraph-system. Thus, +throughout the vertebrate sub-kingdom, the great nerve-bundles +diverge from the vertebrate axis, side by side with +the great arteries; and similarly, our groups of telegraph-wires +are carried along the sides of our railways. The +most striking parallelism, however, remains. Into each +great bundle of nerves, as it leaves the axis of the body +along with an artery, there enters a branch of the sympathetic +nerve; which branch, accompanying the artery +throughout its ramifications, has the function of regulating +its diameter and otherwise controlling the flow of blood +through it according to the local requirements. Analogously, +in the group of telegraph-wires running alongside +each railway, there is one for the purpose of regulating the +traffic—for retarding or expediting the flow of passengers +and commodities, as the local conditions demand. Probably, +when our now rudimentary telegraph-system is fully +developed, other analogies will be traceable. +</p> + +<p> +Such, then, is a general outline of the evidence which +justifies, in detail, the comparison of societies to living organisms. +That they gradually increase in mass; that they +become little by little more complex; that at the same +time their parts grow more mutually dependent; and that +they continue to live and grow as wholes, while successive +generations of their units appear and disappear; are broad +peculiarities which bodies politic display, in common with +all living bodies; and in which they and living bodies differ +from everything else. And on carrying out the comparison +in detail, we find that these major analogies involve +many minor analogies, far closer than might have been expected. +To these we would gladly have added others. We +had hoped to say something respecting the different types +of social organization, and something also on social metamorphoses; +but we have reached our assigned limits. +</p> + +<div class='footnotes'> + +<div class='footnote'> +<p><a id='FN_V' name='FN_V' href='#FA_V'><span class='fnlabel'>[V]</span></a> + It may be well to warn the reader against an error fallen into by one +who criticised this essay on its first publication—the error of supposing that +the analogy here intended to be drawn, is a specific analogy between the +organization of society in England, and the human organization. As said +at the outset, no such specific analogy exists. The above parallel, is one +between the most-developed systems of governmental organization, individual +and social; and the vertebrate type is instanced, merely as exhibiting +this most-developed system. If any specific comparison were made, +which it cannot rationally be, it would be to some much lower vertebrate +form than the human. +</p></div> +</div> +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_429' id='Page_429' name='Page_429'>429</a></span> +</p> + + + + +<h2> +XI. <br />USE AND BEAUTY +</h2> + + +<p> +In one of his essays, Emerson remarks, that what Nature +at one time provides for use, she afterwards turns to +ornament; and he cites in illustration the structure of a +sea-shell, in which the parts that have for a while formed +the mouth are at the next season of growth left behind, +and become decorative nodes and spines. +</p> + +<p> +It has often occurred to me that this same remark might +be extended to the progress of Humanity. Here, too, the +appliances of one era serve as embellishments to the next. +Equally in institutions, creeds, customs, and superstitions, +we may trace this evolution of beauty out of what was once +purely utilitarian. +</p> + +<p> +The contrast between the feeling with which we regard +portions of the Earth's surface still left in their original +state, and the feeling with which the savage regarded them, +is an instance that naturally comes first in order of time. +If any one walking over Hampstead Heath, will note how +strongly its picturesqueness is brought out by contrast +with the surrounding cultivated fields and the masses of +houses lying in the distance; and will further reflect that, +had this irregular gorse-covered surface extended on all +sides to the horizon, it would have looked dreary and +prosaic rather than pleasing; he will see that to the primitive +man a country so clothed presented no beauty at all. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_430' id='Page_430' name='Page_430'>430</a></span> +To him it was merely a haunt of wild animals, and a ground +out of which roots might be dug. What have become for +us places of relaxation and enjoyment—places for afternoon +strolls and for gathering flowers—were his places for labour +and food, probably arousing in his mind none but utilitarian +associations. +</p> + +<p> +Ruined castles afford an obvious instance of this metamorphosis +of the useful into the beautiful. To feudal +barons and their retainers, security was the chief, if not the +only end, sought in choosing the sites and styles of their +strongholds. Probably they aimed as little at the picturesque +as do the builders of cheap brick houses in our +modern towns. Yet what where erected for shelter and +safety, and what in those early days fulfilled an important +function in the social economy, have now assumed a purely +ornamental character. They serve as scenes for picnics; +pictures of them decorate our drawing-rooms; and each +supplies its surrounding districts with legends for Christmas +Eve. +</p> + +<p> +Following out the train of thought suggested by this +last illustration, we may see that not only do the material +exuviæ of past social states become the ornaments of our +landscapes; but that past habits, manners, and arrangements, +serve as ornamental elements in our literature. +The tyrannies that, to the serfs who bore them, were harsh +and dreary facts; the feuds which, to those who took part +in them, were very practical life-and-death affairs; the +mailed, moated, sentinelled security that was irksome to +the nobles who needed it; the imprisonments, and tortures, +and escapes, which were stern and quite prosaic +realities to all concerned in them; have become to us +material for romantic tales—material which when woven +into Ivanhoes and Marmions, serves for amusement in leisure +hours, and become poetical by contrast with our daily lives. +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_431' id='Page_431' name='Page_431'>431</a></span> +Thus, also, is it with extinct creeds. Stonehenge, which +in the hands of the Druids had a governmental influence +over men, is in our day a place for antiquarian excursions; +and its attendant priests are worked up into an opera. +Greek sculptures, preserved for their beauty in our galleries +of art, and copied for the decoration of pleasure grounds +and entrance halls, once lived in men's minds as gods demanding +obedience; as did also the grotesque idols that +now amuse the visitors to our museums. +</p> + +<p> +Equally marked is this change of function in the case of +minor superstitions. The fairy lore, which in past times +was matter of grave belief, and held sway over people's +conduct, has since been transformed into ornament for +<i>A Midsummer Night's Dream</i>, <i>The Tempest</i>, <i>The Fairy +Queen</i>, and endless small tales and poems; and still affords +subjects for children's story-books, themes for ballets, and +plots for Planché's burlesques. Gnomes, and genii, and +afrits, losing all their terrors, give piquancy to the woodcuts +in our illustrated edition of the <i>Arabian Nights</i>. +While ghost-stories, and tales of magic and witchcraft, after +serving to amuse boys and girls in their leisure hours, +become matter for jocose allusions that enliven tea-table +conversation. +</p> + +<p> +Even our serious literature and our speeches are very +generally relieved by ornaments drawn from such sources. +A Greek myth is often used as a parallel by which to vary +the monotony of some grave argument. The lecturer +breaks the dead level of his practical discourse by illustrations +drawn from bygone customs, events, or beliefs. And +metaphors, similarly derived, give brilliancy to political +orations, and to <i>Times</i> leading articles. +</p> + +<p> +Indeed, on careful inquiry, I think it will be found that +we turn to purposes of beauty most bygone phenomena +that are at all <ins class='correction' title='Original: conspiucous'>conspicuous</ins>. The busts of great men in our +libraries, and their tombs in our churches; the once useful +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_432' id='Page_432' name='Page_432'>432</a></span> +but now purely ornamental heraldic symbols; the monks, +nuns, and convents, that give interest to a certain class of +novels; the bronze mediæval soldiers used for embellishing +drawing-rooms; the gilt Apollos that recline on time-pieces; +the narratives that serve as plots for our great +dramas; and the events that afford subjects for historical +pictures;—these and such like illustrations of the metamorphosis +of the useful into the beautiful, are so numerous as +to suggest that, did we search diligently enough, we should +find that in some place, or under some circumstances, +nearly every notable product of the past has assumed a decorative +character. +</p> + +<p> +And here the mention of historical pictures reminds me +that an inference may be drawn from all this, bearing +directly on the practice of art. It has of late years been a +frequent criticism upon our historical painters, that they +err in choosing their subjects from the past; and that, +would they found a genuine and vital school, they must +render on canvas the life and deeds and aims of our own +time. If, however, there be any significance in the foregoing +facts, it seems doubtful whether this criticism is a +just one. For if it be the process of things, that what has +performed some practical function in society during one +era, becomes available for ornament in a subsequent one; +it almost follows that, conversely, whatever is performing +some practical function now, or has very recently +performed one, does not possess the ornamental character; +and is, consequently, inapplicable to any purpose of +which beauty is the aim, or of which it is a needful ingredient. +</p> + +<p> +Still more reasonable will this conclusion appear, when +we consider the nature of this process by which the useful +is changed into the ornamental. An essential pre-requisite +to all beauty is <i>contrast</i>. To obtain artistic effect, light +must be put in juxtaposition with shade, bright colours +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_433' id='Page_433' name='Page_433'>433</a></span> +with dull colours, a fretted surface with a plain one. <i>Forte</i> +passages in music must have <i>piano</i> passages to relieve +them; concerted pieces need interspersing with solos; and +rich chords must not be continuously repeated. In the +drama we demand contrast of characters, of scenes, of sentiment, +of style. In prose composition an eloquent passage +should have a comparatively plain setting; and in poems +great effect is obtained by occasional change of versification. +This general principle will, I think, explain the transformation +of the bygone useful into the present beautiful. +It is by virtue of their contrast with our present modes of +life, that past modes of life look interesting and romantic. +Just as a picnic, which is a temporary return to an aboriginal +condition, derives, from its unfamiliarity, a certain poetry +which it would not have were it habitual; so, everything +ancient gains, from its relative novelty to us, an +element of interest. Gradually as, by the growth of society, +we leave behind the customs, manners, arrangements, +and all the products, material and mental, of a bygone age—gradually +as we recede from these so far that there +arises a conspicuous difference between them and those we +are familiar with; so gradually do they begin to assume to +us a poetical aspect, and become applicable for ornament. +And hence it follows that things and events which are close +to us, and which are accompanied by associations of ideas +not markedly contrasted with our ordinary associations +are relatively inappropriate for purposes of art. +</p> + +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_434' id='Page_434' name='Page_434'>434</a></span> +</p> + + + + +<h2> +XII. <br />THE SOURCES OF ARCHITECTURAL TYPES. +</h2> + + +<p> +When lately looking through the gallery of the Old +Water-Colour Society, I was struck with the incongruity +produced by putting regular architecture into irregular +scenery. In one case, where the artist had introduced a +perfectly symmetrical Grecian edifice into a mountainous +and somewhat wild landscape, the discordant effect was +particularly marked. "How very unpicturesque," said a +lady to her friend, as they passed; showing that I was not +alone in my opinion. Her phrase, however, set me speculating. +Why unpicturesque? Picturesque means, like a +picture—like what men choose for pictures. Why then +should this be not fit for a picture? +</p> + +<p> +Thinking the matter over, it seemed to me that the +artist had sinned against that unity which is essential to a +good picture. When the other constituents of a landscape +have irregular forms, any artificial structure introduced +must have an irregular form, that it may seem <i>part</i> of the +landscape. The same general character must pervade it +and surrounding objects; otherwise it, and the scene amid +which it stands, become not <i>one</i> thing but <i>two</i> things; and +we say it looks out of place. Or, speaking psychologically, +the associated ideas called up by a building with its wings, +windows, and all its parts symmetrically disposed, differ +widely from the ideas associated with an entirely irregular +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_435' id='Page_435' name='Page_435'>435</a></span> +landscape; and the one set of ideas tends to banish the other. +</p> + +<p> +Pursuing the train of thought, sundry illustrative facts +came to my mind. I remembered that a castle, which is +more irregular in outline than any other kind of building, +pleases us most when seated amid crags and precipices; +while a castle on a plain seems an incongruity. The partly-regular +and partly-irregular forms of our old farm-houses, +and our gabled gothic manors and abbeys, appear quite in +harmony with an undulating, wooded country. In towns +we prefer symmetrical architecture; and in towns it produces +in us no feeling of incongruity, because all surrounding +things—men, horses, vehicles—are symmetrical also. +</p> + +<p> +And here I was reminded of a notion that has frequently +recurred to me; namely, that there is some relationship +between the several kinds of architecture and the several +classes of natural objects. Buildings in the Greek and +Roman styles seem, in virtue of their symmetry, to take +their type from animal life. In the partly-irregular Gothic, +ideas derived from the vegetable world appear to predominate. +And wholly irregular buildings, such as castles, may +be considered as having inorganic forms for their basis. +</p> + +<p> +Whimsical as this speculation looks at first sight, it is +countenanced by numerous facts. The connexion between +symmetrical architecture and animal forms, may be inferred +from the <i>kind</i> of symmetry we expect, and are satisfied +with, in regular buildings. Thus in a Greek temple we require +that the front shall be symmetrical in itself, and that +the two flanks shall be alike; but we do not look for uniformity +between the flanks and the front, nor between the +front and the back. The identity of this symmetry with +that found in animals is obvious. Again, why is it that a +building making any pretension to symmetry displeases us +if not quite symmetrical? Probably the reply will be—Because +we see that the designer's idea is not fully carried +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_436' id='Page_436' name='Page_436'>436</a></span> +out; and that hence our love of completeness is offended. +But then there come the further questions—How do we +know that the architect's conception was symmetrical? +Whence comes this notion of symmetry which we have, +and which we attribute to him? Unless we fall back upon +the old doctrine of innate ideas, we must admit that the +idea of bilateral symmetry is derived from without; and +to admit this is to admit that it is derived from the higher +animals. +</p> + +<p> +That there is some relationship between Gothic architecture +and vegetable forms is a position generally admitted. +The often-remarked analogy between a groined nave +and an avenue of trees with interlacing branches, shows +that the fact has forced itself on men's observation. It is +not only in this analogy, however, that the kinship is seen. +It is seen still better in the essential characteristic of Gothic; +namely, what is termed its <i>aspiring</i> tendency. That +predominance of vertical lines which so strongly distinguishes +Gothic from other styles, is the most marked peculiarity +of trees, when compared with animals or rocks. To +persons of active imagination, a tall Gothic tower, with its +elongated apertures and clusters of thin projections running +from bottom to top, suggests a vague notion of growth. +</p> + +<p> +Of the alleged connexion between inorganic forms and +the wholly irregular and the castellated styles of building, +we have, I think, some proof in the fact that when an edifice +is irregular, the <i>more</i> irregular it is the more it pleases +us. I see no way of accounting for this fact, save by supposing +that the greater the irregularity the more strongly +are we reminded of the inorganic forms typified, and the +more vividly are aroused the agreeable ideas of rugged +and romantic scenery associated with those forms. +</p> + +<p> +Further evidence of these several relationships of styles +of architecture to classes of natural objects, is supplied by +the kinds of decoration they respectively represent. The +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_437' id='Page_437' name='Page_437'>437</a></span> +public buildings of Greece, while characterized in their +outlines by the bilateral symmetry seen in the higher animals, +have their pediments and entablatures covered with +sculptured men and beasts. Egyptian temples and Assyrian +palaces, while similarly symmetrical in their general +plan, are similarly ornamented on their walls and at their +doors. In Gothic, again, with its grove-like ranges of clustered +columns, we find rich foliated ornaments abundantly +employed. And accompanying the totally irregular, inorganic +outlines of old castles, we see neither vegetable nor +animal decorations. The bare, rock-like walls are surmounted +by battlements, consisting of almost plain blocks, +which remind us of the projections on the edge of a rugged +cliff. +</p> + +<p> +But perhaps the most significant fact is the harmony +that may be observed between each type of architecture +and the scenes in which it is indigenous. For what is the +explanation of this harmony, unless it be that the predominant +character of surrounding things has, in some way, determined +the mode of building adopted? +</p> + +<p> +That the harmony exists is clear. Equally in the cases +of Egypt, Assyria, Greece, and Rome, town life preceded +the construction of the symmetrical buildings that have +come down to us. And town life is one in which, as already +observed, the majority of familiar objects are symmetrical. +We instinctively feel the naturalness of this association. +Out amid the fields, a formal house, with a central +door flanked by an equal number of windows to right +and left, strikes us as unrural—looks as though transplanted +from a street; and we cannot look at one of those stuccoed +villas, with mock windows carefully arranged to balance +the real ones, without being reminded of the suburban residence +of a retired tradesman. +</p> + +<p> +In styles indigenous in the country, we not only find the +general irregularity characteristic of surrounding things, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_438' id='Page_438' name='Page_438'>438</a></span> +but we may trace some kinship between each kind of irregularity +and the local circumstances. We see the broken +rocky masses amid which castles are commonly placed, mirrored +in their stern, inorganic forms. In abbeys, and such-like +buildings, which are commonly found in comparatively +sheltered districts, we find no such violent dislocations of +masses and outlines; and the nakedness appropriate to the +fortress is replaced by decorations reflecting the neighbouring +woods. Between a Swiss cottage and a Swiss view +there is an evident relationship. The angular roof, so bold +and so disproportionately large when compared to other +roofs, reminds one of the adjacent mountain peaks; and +the broad overhanging eaves have a sweep and inclination +like those of the lower branches of a pine tree. Consider, +too, the apparent kinship between the flat roofs that prevail +in Eastern cities, interspersed with occasional minarets, and +the plains that commonly surround them, dotted here and +there by palm trees. You cannot contemplate a picture of +one of these places, without being struck by the predominance +of horizontal lines, and their harmony with the wide +stretch of the landscape. +</p> + +<p> +That the congruity here pointed out should hold in +every case must not be expected. The Pyramids, for example, +do not seem to come under this generalization. +Their repeated horizontal lines do indeed conform to the +flatness of the neighbouring desert; but their general contour +seems to have no adjacent analogue. Considering, +however, that migrating races, carrying their architectural +systems with them, would naturally produce buildings having +no relationship to their new localities; and that it is +not always possible to distinguish styles which are indigenous, +from those which are naturalized; numerous anomalies +must be looked for. +</p> + +<p> +The general idea above illustrated will perhaps be somewhat +misinterpreted. Possibly some will take the proposition +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_439' id='Page_439' name='Page_439'>439</a></span> +to be that men <i>intentionally</i> gave to their buildings +the leading characteristics of neighbouring objects. But +this is not what is meant. I do not suppose that they did +so in times past, any more than they do so now. The hypothesis +is, that in their choice of forms men are unconsciously +influenced by the forms encircling them. That +flat-roofed, symmetrical architecture should have originated +in the East, among pastoral tribes surrounded by their +herds and by wide plains, seems to imply that the builders +were swayed by the horizontality and symmetry to which +they were habituated. And the harmony which we have +found to exist in other cases between indigenous styles and +their localities, implies the general action of like influences. +Indeed, on considering the matter psychologically, I do not +see how it could well be otherwise. For as all conceptions +must be made up of images, and parts of images, received +through the senses—as it is impossible for a man to conceive +any design save one of which the elements have come +into his mind from without; and as his imagination will +most readily run in the direction of his habitual perceptions; +it follows, almost necessarily, that the characteristic +which predominates in these habitual perceptions must impress +itself on his design. +</p> + +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_440' id='Page_440' name='Page_440'>440</a></span> +</p> + + + + +<h2> +XIII. <br />THE USE OF ANTHROPOMORPHISM. +</h2> + + +<p> +That long fit of indignation which seizes all generous +natures when in youth they begin contemplating human +affairs, having fairly spent itself, there slowly grows +up a perception that the institutions, beliefs, and forms so +vehemently condemned are not wholly bad. This reaction +runs to various lengths. In some, merely to a comparative +contentment with the arrangements under which they live. +In others to a recognition of the fitness that exists between +each people and its government, tyrannical as that may be. +In some, again, to the conviction, that hateful though it is +to us, and injurious as it would be now, slavery was once +beneficial—was one of the necessary phases of human progress. +Again, in others, to the suspicion that great benefit +has indirectly arisen from the perpetual warfare of past +times; insuring as this did the spread of the strongest races, +and so providing good raw material for civilization. And +in a few this reaction ends in the generalization that all +modes of human thought and action subserve, in the times +and places in which they occur, some useful function: that +though bad in the abstract, they are relatively good—are +the best which the then existing conditions admit of. +</p> + +<p> +A startling conclusion to which this faith in the essential +beneficence of things commits us, is that the religious +creeds through which mankind successively pass, are, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_441' id='Page_441' name='Page_441'>441</a></span> +during the eras in which they are severally held, the best +that could be held; and that this is true, not only of the +latest and most refined creeds, but of all, even to the earliest +and most gross. Those who regard men's faiths as +given to them from without—as having origins either directly +divine or diabolical, and who, considering their own +as the sole example of the one, class all the rest under the +other, will think this a very shocking opinion. I can imagine, +too, that many of those who have abandoned current +theologies, and now regard religions as so many +natural products of human nature—men who, having lost +that antagonism towards their old creed which they felt +while shaking themselves free from it, can now see that it +was highly beneficial to past generations, and is beneficial +still to a large part of mankind;—I can imagine even these +hardly prepared to admit that all religions, down to the +lowest Fetichism, have, in their places, fulfilled useful functions. +If such, however, will consistently develop their +ideas, they will find this inference involved. +</p> + +<p> +For if it be true that humanity in its corporate as well +as in its individual aspect, is a growth and not a manufacture, +it is obvious that during each phase men's theologies, +as well as their political and social arrangements, must be +determined into such forms as the conditions require. In the +one case as in the other, by a tentative process, things from +time to time re-settle themselves in a way that best consists +with national equilibrium. As out of plots and the struggles +of chieftains, it continually results that the strongest +gets to the top, and by virtue of his proved superiority +ensures a period of quiet, and gives society time to grow; +as out of incidental expedients there periodically arise new +divisions of labour, which get permanently established +only by serving men's wants better than the previous arrangements +did; so, the creed which each period evolves is +one more in conformity with the needs of the time than +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_442' id='Page_442' name='Page_442'>442</a></span> +the creed which preceded it. Not to rest in general statements, +however, let us consider why this must be so. Let +us see whether, in the genesis of men's ideas of deity, there +is not involved a necessity to conceive of deity under the +aspect most influential with them. +</p> + +<p> +It is now generally admitted that a more or less idealized +humanity is the form which every conception of a personal +God must take. Anthropomorphism is an inevitable +result of the laws of thought. We cannot take a step towards +constructing an idea of God without the ascription +of human attributes. We cannot even speak of a divine +will without assimilating the divine nature to our own; +for we know nothing of volition save as a property of our +own minds. +</p> + +<p> +While this anthropomorphic tendency, or rather necessity, +is manifested by themselves with sufficient grossness—a +grossness that is offensive to those more advanced—Christians +are indignant at the still grosser manifestations +of it seen among uncivilized men. Certainly, such conceptions +as those of some Polynesians, who believe that their +gods feed on the souls of the dead, or as those of the +Greeks, who ascribed to the personages of their Pantheon +every vice, from domestic cannibalism downward, are repulsive +enough. But if, ceasing to regard these notions +from the outside, we more philosophically regard them +from the inside—if we consider how they looked to believers, +and observe the relationships they bore to the natures and +needs of such; we shall begin to think of them with some +tolerance. The question to be answered is, whether these +beliefs were beneficent in their effects on those who held +them; not whether they would be beneficent for us, or +for perfect men; and to this question the answer must be +that while absolutely bad, they were relatively good. +</p> + +<p> +For is it not obvious that the savage man will be most +effectually controlled by his fears of a savage deity? +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_443' id='Page_443' name='Page_443'>443</a></span> +Must it not happen, that if his nature requires great restraint, +the supposed consequences of transgression, to be +a check upon him, must be proportionately terrible; and +for these to be proportionately terrible, must not his god +be conceived as proportionately cruel and revengeful? Is it +not well that the treacherous, thievish, lying Hindoo should +believe in a hell where the wicked are boiled in cauldrons, rolled +down mountains bristling with knives, and sawn asunder +between flaming iron posts? And that there may be provided +such a hell, is it not needful that he should believe in a +divinity delighting in human immolations and the self-torture +of fakirs? Does it not seem clear that during the +earlier ages in Christendom, when men's feelings were so +hard that a holy father could describe one of the delights +of heaven to be the contemplation of the torments of the +damned—does it not seem clear that while the general nature +was so unsympathetic, there needed, to keep men in +order, all the prospective tortures described by Dante, and +a deity implacable enough to inflict them? +</p> + +<p> +And if, as we thus see, it is well for the savage man to +believe in a savage god, then we may also see the great +usefulness of this anthropomorphic tendency; or, as before +said, necessity. We have in it another illustration of that +essential beneficence of things visible everywhere throughout +nature. From this inability under which we labour to +conceive of a deity save as some idealization of ourselves, +it inevitably results that in each age, among each people, +and to a great extent in each individual, there must arise +just that conception of deity best adapted to the needs of +the case. If, being violent and bloodthirsty, the nature be +one calling for stringent control, it evolves the idea of a +ruler still more violent and bloodthirsty, and fitted to afford +this control. When, by ages of social discipline, the nature +has been partially humanized, and the degree of restraint required +has become less, the diabolical characteristics before +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_444' id='Page_444' name='Page_444'>444</a></span> +ascribed to the deity cease to be so predominant in the +conception of him. And gradually, as all need for restraint +disappears, this conception approximates towards that of +a purely beneficent necessity. Thus, man's constitution is +in this, as in other respects, self-adjusting, self-balancing. +The mind itself evolves a compensating check to its own +movements; varying always in proportion to the requirement. +Its centrifugal and its centripetal forces are necessarily +in correspondence, because the one generates the +other. And so we find that the forms of both religious +and secular rule follow the same law. As an ill-controlled +national character produces a despotic terrestrial government, +so also does it produce a despotic celestial government—the +one acting through the senses, the other +through the imagination; and in the converse case the +same relationship holds good. +</p> + +<p> +Organic as this relationship is in its origin, no artificial +interference can permanently affect it. Whatever perturbations +an external agency may seem to produce, they are +soon neutralized in fact, if not in appearance. I was recently +struck with this in reading a missionary account of +the "gracious visitations of the Holy Spirit at Vewa," one +of the Feejee islands. Describing a "penitent meeting," +the account says:— +</p> + + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> +"Certainly the feelings of the Vewa people were not ordinary. +They literally roared for hours together for the disquietude +of their souls. This frequently terminated in fainting from exhaustion, +which was the only respite some of them had till they +found peace. They no sooner recovered their consciousness than +they prayed themselves first into an agony, then again into a state +of entire insensibility." +</p> +</div> + +<p> +Now these Feejee islanders are the most savage of all +the uncivilized races. They are given to cannibalism, infanticide, +and human sacrifices; they are so bloodthirsty +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_445' id='Page_445' name='Page_445'>445</a></span> +and so treacherous, that members of the same family dare +not trust each other; and, in harmony with these characteristics, +they have for their aboriginal god, a serpent. Is +it not clear then, that these violent emotions which the +missionaries describe, these terrors and agonies of despair +which they rejoiced over, were nothing but the worship of +the old god under a new name? Is it not clear that these +Feejees had simply understood those parts of the Christian +creed which agree in spirit with their own—the vengeance, +the perpetual torments, the diabolism of it; that these, +harmonizing with their natural conceptions of divine rule, +were realized by them with extreme vividness; and that +the extremity of the fear which made them "literally roar +for hours together," arose from the fact that while they +could fully take in and believe the punitive element, the +merciful one was beyond their comprehension? This is +the obvious inference. And it carries with it the further +one, that in essence their new belief was merely their old +one under a new form—the same substantial conception +with a different history and different names. +</p> + +<p> +However great, therefore, may be the seeming change +adventitiously produced in a people's religion, the anthropomorphic +tendency prevents it from being other than a +superficial change—insures such modifications of the new +religion as to give it all the potency of the old one—obscures +whatever higher elements there may be in it until +the people have reached the capability of being acted upon +by them: and so, re-establishes the equilibrium between +the impulses and the control they need. If any one requires +detailed illustrations of this, he will find them in +abundance in the history of the modifications of Christianity +throughout Europe. +</p> + +<p> +Ceasing then to regard heathen theologies from the +personal point of view, and considering them solely with +reference to the function they fulfil where they are indigenous, +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_446' id='Page_446' name='Page_446'>446</a></span> +we must recognise them in common with all theologies, +as good for their time and places; and this mental +necessity which disables us from conceiving a deity save as +some idealization of ourselves, we must recognise as the +agency by which harmony is produced and maintained +between every phase of human character and its religious +creed. +</p> + +<p> +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_447' id='Page_447' name='Page_447'>447</a></span> +</p> + + + + +<h2> +INDEX. +</h2> + +<div class='index'> +<h3> +A +</h3> + + +<ul> +<li> +Abstract and concrete, relations of, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Actions, voluntary and involuntary, <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Analogies of the rudest societies to the lowest forms of life, <a href='#Page_398'>398</a>, <a href='#Page_402'>402</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Analogies of function between living beings and societies, <a href='#Page_410'>410</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Annulosa, structure of compared to that of nations, <a href='#Page_408'>408</a>, <a href='#Page_422'>422</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Anthropomorphism, necessity of, <a href='#Page_422'>422</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Architectural ideas, origin of, <a href='#Page_439'>439</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Architecture, relationship to natural objects, <a href='#Page_435'>435</a>; + illustrations of, <a href='#Page_435'>435</a>-<a href='#Page_437'>437</a>; + town, why symmetrical, <a href='#Page_435'>435</a>; + country, why irregular, <a href='#Page_437'>437</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Arts, interconnexion of, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Astronomic influences upon climate produce breaks in geological succession, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Automatic actions of men and governments, <a href='#Page_426'>426</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Australia, fauna of, <a href='#Page_350'>350</a>. +</li> +</ul> + + +<h3> +B +</h3> + + +<ul> +<li> +Bain "On the Emotions and Will," estimate of, <a href='#Page_302'>302</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Beauty, its evolution from utility, <a href='#Page_429'>429</a>, <a href='#Page_433'>433</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Beliefs, how to judge of them, <a href='#Page_442'>442</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Bow, derivation of the, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Breaks in the geological record, Hugh Miller upon, <a href='#Page_355'>355</a>; + produced by astronomic causes, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a>; + by re-distributions of land and sea, <a href='#Page_359'>359</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Buildings related to landscape, <a href='#Page_438'>438</a>; + cause of incongruities in, <a href='#Page_438'>438</a>; + relation unintentional, <a href='#Page_439'>439</a>. +</li> +</ul> + + +<h3> +C +</h3> + + +<ul> +<li> +Cambrian rocks, inference from their thickness, <a href='#Page_366'>366</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Calculus, origin of, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Castles, built with no reference to art, <a href='#Page_430'>430</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Cause, single, produces more than one effect, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>; + illustrated in geological phenomena, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a>; + in chemical, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>; + in organic evolution, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a>; + in social progress, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a>; + in use of locomotive engine, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Central America, effects of subsidence of, <a href='#Page_38'>38</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Centrifugal force and condensation, <a href='#Page_287'>287</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Cerebrum, analogy of to houses of parliament, <a href='#Page_423'>423</a>, <a href='#Page_426'>426</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Circulation in animal bodies and bodies politic, <a href='#Page_410'>410</a>, <a href='#Page_411'>411</a>; + rates of movement in, <a href='#Page_417'>417</a>; + of money and blood-discs, <a href='#Page_414'>414</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Classifications of science, progress of, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a>; + what they indicate, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a>; + Oken's, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a>; + Hegel's, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>; + Comte's, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a>; + serial arrangement vicious, <a href='#Page_144'>144</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Classification, the mental process in, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a>; + advances with rationality, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a>; + how it has aided science, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a>; +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_448' id='Page_448' name='Page_448'>448</a></span> + of the cognitions, <a href='#Page_321'>321</a>; + of the feelings, <a href='#Page_323'>323</a>; + in Psychology, for the present must be provisional, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>, <a href='#Page_301'>301</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Climate, changes in, produced by astronomic rhythm, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a>; + by re-distributions of land and sea, <a href='#Page_359'>359</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Comets, formation of, <a href='#Page_256'>256</a>; + orbits of, <a href='#Page_258'>258</a>; + distribution of, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Common knowledge, nature of, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a>; + relation of, to science, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Comte's hierarchy of the sciences, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Consciousness, mystery of, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Condensation of nebula, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Contrast, its relation to beauty, <a href='#Page_432'>432</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Creeds suited to the age that holds them, <a href='#Page_441'>441</a>, <a href='#Page_443'>443</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Curtsy, origin of, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>. +</li> +</ul> + + +<h3> +D +</h3> + + +<ul> +<li> +Densities of the planets, <a href='#Page_278'>278</a>-<a href='#Page_280'>280</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Development hypothesis, neither proved nor disproved by Paleontology, <a href='#Page_367'>367</a>, <a href='#Page_376'>376</a>; + defense of, <a href='#Page_379'>379</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Direct creation <ins class='correction' title='Original: inconcievable'>inconceivable</ins>, <a href='#Page_378'>378</a>; + no examples of, <a href='#Page_377'>377</a>; + origin of the notion, <a href='#Page_383'>383</a>. +</li> +</ul> + + +<h3> +E +</h3> + + +<ul> +<li> +Earth, internal constitution of, <a href='#Page_290'>290</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Earth's crust, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>; + contraction of, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Ectoderm social and embryonic, <a href='#Page_419'>419</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Education, bearing of evolution of science upon, <a href='#Page_193'>193</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Emotions in animals, genesis of, <a href='#Page_315'>315</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Emotional language, <a href='#Page_232'>232</a>; + importance of, <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>, <a href='#Page_238'>238</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Engine, locomotive, results of invention of, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Equality, origin of notion of, <a href='#Page_152'>152</a>,158; + of things and relations, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Evolution of the emotions, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Evolution of governmental and nervous structures, <a href='#Page_420'>420</a>. +</li> +</ul> + + +<h3> +F +</h3> + + +<ul> +<li> +Fashion, origin of, <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>; + corruption of, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Feeling and action, relation of, <a href='#Page_199'>199</a>, <a href='#Page_208'>208</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Feeling, mystery of, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>; + effects of surplus in producing laughter, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>; + why it disturbs the intellect, <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Feeling a stimulus to muscular action, <a href='#Page_211'>211</a>, <a href='#Page_220'>220</a>; + shown in loudness of voice, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>; + in quality or timbre, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>; + in pitch, <a href='#Page_216'>216</a>; + in intervals, <a href='#Page_217'>217</a>; + in variability of pitch, <a href='#Page_219'>219</a>; + relation of, to vocal sounds in ourselves, <a href='#Page_220'>220</a>; + in others, <a href='#Page_220'>220</a>; + causes prostration, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a>; + classification of the feelings, <a href='#Page_323'>323</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Feejee islanders, penitent meeting among, <a href='#Page_444'>444</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Final cause, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>, <a href='#Page_272'>272</a>, <a href='#Page_275'>275</a>, <a href='#Page_293'>293</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Fossils as tests of age and position, <a href='#Page_339'>339</a>, <a href='#Page_347'>347</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Function of music, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>-<a href='#Page_235'>235</a>. +</li> +</ul> + + +<h3> +G +</h3> + + +<ul> +<li> +Generalizations, premature, use of, <a href='#Page_323'>323</a>; + as seen in history of Astronomy, <a href='#Page_326'>326</a>; + in Geology, <a href='#Page_327'>327</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Genesis of new emotions in civilization, <a href='#Page_313'>313</a>; + in animals, <a href='#Page_315'>315</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Geological evidence, value of, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Geologic "systems," are they universal? <a href='#Page_335'>335</a>-<a href='#Page_339'>339</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Geometry, origin of, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a>, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>. +</li> + +<li> +God, origin of the conception of, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Gothic architecture, source of, <a href='#Page_435'>435</a>, <a href='#Page_436'>436</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Government, rise of, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a>; + three-fold nature of, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a>; + separation of civil from religious, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>; + early need of severe, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>; + progressive amelioration of, <a href='#Page_88'>88</a>; + course of all, <a href='#Page_114'>114</a>; + results from national character, <a href='#Page_387'>387</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Great men, relation of to social changes, <a href='#Page_388'>388</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Greek and Roman architecture, derivation of, <a href='#Page_435'>435</a>. +</li> +</ul> + + +<h3> +H +</h3> + + +<ul> +<li> +Heathen theologies, estimate of, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Heat of heavenly bodies, source of, <a href='#Page_292'>292</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Hegel's classification of philosophy, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>. +</li> + +<li> +History as commonly studied, small, value of, <a href='#Page_385'>385</a>. +</li> + +<li> +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_449' id='Page_449' name='Page_449'>449</a></span> +Hobb's parallelism of society and the human body, <a href='#Page_389'>389</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Homogeneous, change of to heterogeneous, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a>; + seen in genesis of solar system, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a>; + in phenomena of earth's crust, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>; + in the advance of life in general, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>; + in the progress of man, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>; + in growth of civilization, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>; + in government, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>; + in language, <a href='#Page_17'>17</a>; + in painting and sculpture, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>; + in poetry, music, and dancing, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>; + cause of this universal change, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Hutton's geological system, <a href='#Page_327'>327</a>; + contrast of the modern with, <a href='#Page_330'>330</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Hydra compared with primitive tribes, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a>, <a href='#Page_407'>407</a>, <a href='#Page_412'>412</a>, <a href='#Page_420'>420</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Hydrozoa, analogies of, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a>, <a href='#Page_403'>403</a>, <a href='#Page_412'>412</a>. +</li> +</ul> + + +<h3> +I +</h3> + + +<ul> +<li> +Industrial organization, <a href='#Page_385'>385</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Industrial arrangements, development of compared with that of the alimentary organs, <a href='#Page_410'>410</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Insensible modifications effect great changes, <a href='#Page_379'>379</a>; + illustrated by geometrical curves, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a>; + by physiological development, <a href='#Page_382'>382</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Internal structure of sun and planets, <a href='#Page_281'>281</a>-286. +</li> +</ul> + + +<h3> +K +</h3> + + +<ul> +<li> +King's councils compared to ganglia, <a href='#Page_421'>421</a>, <a href='#Page_423'>423</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Knowledge, experience the source of all, <a href='#Page_126'>126</a>; + relations of various kinds of, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>. +</li> +</ul> + + +<h3> +L +</h3> + + +<ul> +<li> +Language, differentiation of, <a href='#Page_17'>17</a>; + origin of written, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a>; + origin of verbal, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>; + origin of emotional, <a href='#Page_220'>220</a>. +</li> + +<li> +La Place's theory of planetary evolution, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>-<a href='#Page_265'>265</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Laughter, common explanations of, <a href='#Page_194'>194</a>; + movements in, <a href='#Page_200'>200</a>; + groups of muscles successively affected in, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>; + caused by incongruities, <a href='#Page_203'>203</a>; + facilitates digestion, <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Law, origin of, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Likeness and unlikeness, recognition of, the basis of classification, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a>; + the basis of language, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>; + of reasoning, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a>; + of art, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>; + leads to science, <a href='#Page_152'>152</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Logic, how evolved, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Lyell, Sir Charles, criticism upon, <a href='#Page_338'>338</a>, <a href='#Page_342'>342</a>. +</li> +</ul> + + +<h3> +M +</h3> + + +<ul> +<li> +Man, progress of, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Manners, genesis of, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a>; + decline of the influence of, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>; + conformity in manners leads to extravagance, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>; + conformity in, decreases social intercourse, <a href='#Page_100'>100</a>; + defeats the true end of social life, <a href='#Page_102'>102</a>, <a href='#Page_107'>107</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Mathematics, how evolved, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Mechanics, rise of science of, <a href='#Page_168'>168</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Mineral qualities of rocks untrustworthy tests of age or position, <a href='#Page_332'>332</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Miller Hugh, estimate of, <a href='#Page_352'>352</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Motion of nebulous matter, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a>-<a href='#Page_253'>253</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Morality, origin of, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Muscular movements, cause of, <a href='#Page_195'>195</a>; + arrested by feeling, <a href='#Page_199'>199</a>; + in laughter purposeless, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>; + of animals when excited, <a href='#Page_211'>211</a>; + variations of, produce changes of voice, <a href='#Page_214'>214</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Music, increasing heterogeneity of, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>; + relation of mental to muscular excitement, the source of, <a href='#Page_214'>214</a>; + theory of, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>-<a href='#Page_224'>224</a>; + its history confirms the theory, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>-<a href='#Page_228'>228</a>; + negative proof of theory of, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a>-<a href='#Page_231'>231</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Murchison Sir R. I., criticism upon his "Siluria," <a href='#Page_332'>332</a>, +<a href='#Page_340'>340</a>, <a href='#Page_363'>363</a>, <a href='#Page_366'>366</a>. +</li> +</ul> + + +<h3> +N +</h3> + + +<ul> +<li> +Nebula, are they parts of our siderial system? <a href='#Page_243'>243</a>, +<a href='#Page_249'>249</a>; + condensation of, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a>; + motion in, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a>; + significance of forms of, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a>; + structure of spiral, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Nebular hypothesis, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a>, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a>; + its high derivation, <a href='#Page_239'>239</a>; + it explains cometary phenomena, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Negative facts in geology, small value of, <a href='#Page_362'>362</a>-365. +</li> + +<li> +Nervous system, effects of excitement in, <a href='#Page_195'>195</a>; + directions of discharge of excitement in, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>; +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_450' id='Page_450' name='Page_450'>450</a></span> + course of discharge unguided by purpose, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Number, origin of conception of, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>. +</li> +</ul> + + +<h3> +O +</h3> + + +<ul> +<li> +Oken's classification of knowledge, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a>. +</li> +</ul> + + +<h3> +P +</h3> + + +<ul> +<li> +Painting and sculpture, origin of, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Paleontology neither proves nor disproves development, <a href='#Page_367'>367</a>, <a href='#Page_376'>376</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Picturesque, meaning of, <a href='#Page_433'>433</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Planetoids, origin of, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Plato's model republic, central idea of, <a href='#Page_388'>388</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Previsions and ordinary knowledge, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a>; + previsions known as science, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>; + common and scientific, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>; + when quantitative arose, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a>; + increase in precision, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Primary divisions of a germ and of a society, <a href='#Page_404'>404</a>-<a href='#Page_407'>407</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Progress, current meaning of, <a href='#Page_1'>1</a>; + present inquiry concerning, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a>; + law of progress exemplified in the genesis of solar system, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a>; + in the phenomena of the earth's crust, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>; + in the advance of life in general, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>; + in the history of man, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>; + in the growth of civilization, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>; + in government, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>; + in language, <a href='#Page_17'>17</a>; + in painting and sculpture, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>; + in poetry, music, and dancing, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>; + statement of the principle which determines progress of every kind, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>; + the principle of progress illustrated in geological phenomena, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a>; + in chemical, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>; + in organic evolution, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a>; + in social advancement, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a>; + in use of locomotive engine, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a>; + this principle does not explain things in themselves, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>; + progress of science, <a href='#Page_141'>141</a>; + of astronomical discovery, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Progress of animals and societies in forming channels of communication, <a href='#Page_416'>416</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Psychology, relation of English thought to, <a href='#Page_301'>301</a>; + classification in, for the present, must be provisional, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>, <a href='#Page_301'>301</a>. +</li> +</ul> + + +<h3> +R +</h3> + + +<ul> +<li> +Reasoning, nature of, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a>; + basis of, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>; + advances with classification, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Reformers, eccentricities of, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a>; + why necessary, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>; + not selfish, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a>, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a>; + difficulties of social, <a href='#Page_110'>110</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Reform, how is it to be effected? <a href='#Page_111'>111</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Religion aided by inquiry, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Religious ideas, account of primitive, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a>. +</li> +</ul> + + +<h3> +S +</h3> + + +<ul> +<li> +Saturn, rings of, <a href='#Page_276'>276</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Satellites, distribution of, <a href='#Page_272'>272</a>-<a href='#Page_276'>276</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Savage men need a savage deity, <a href='#Page_443'>443</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Science, limits of, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>; + definition of, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>; + when complete, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>; + test of the depth of, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>; + slow growth of, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>; + duplex progress of, <a href='#Page_141'>141</a>; + ultimate analysis of exact, <a href='#Page_160'>160</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Sciences, early simultaneous advance of, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>; + not independent of each other, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a>; + aid each other by analogies, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>; + mutual influence of modern, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Sculpture and painting, origin of, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Solar System, movements of planets on their axes in, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a>-<a href='#Page_271'>271</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Strata now forming, lithological differences in, <a href='#Page_347'>347</a>; + differences in the order of superposition of, <a href='#Page_348'>348</a>; + differences in the organic remains of, <a href='#Page_349'>349</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Societies and individual organisms, points of agreement between, <a href='#Page_391'>391</a>-393; + differences of, examined, <a href='#Page_393'>393</a>-397. +</li> + +<li> +Social intercourse, philosophy of, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Social changes, true source of, <a href='#Page_386'>386</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Spectrum analysis, <a href='#Page_295'>295</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Spiral nebula, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Steam-engine, multiplied effects of, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Sun, constitution of, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>, <a href='#Page_296'>296</a>; + relation of plane of its equator to plane of planetary orbits, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>. +</li> +</ul> + + +<h3> +T +</h3> + + +<ul> +<li> +Telegraph wires, comparison of to nerves, <a href='#Page_427'>427</a>. +</li> + +<li> +<span class='pagenum'><a href='#Page_451' id='Page_451' name='Page_451'>451</a></span> +</li> + +<li> +Titles, derivation of, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a>; + depreciation of, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Truth, ultimate test of, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>. +</li> +</ul> + + +<h3> +U +</h3> + + +<ul> +<li> +Useful passes into the beautiful, <a href='#Page_430'>430</a>, <a href='#Page_433'>433</a>. +</li> +</ul> + + +<h3> +V +</h3> + + +<ul> +<li> +Voice, cause of loudness of, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>; + cause of quality of, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>; + of pitch of, <a href='#Page_216'>216</a>; + intervals in, <a href='#Page_217'>217</a>; + variability of the pitch of, <a href='#Page_219'>219</a>. +</li> + +<li> +Voluntary and involuntary actions, <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>. +</li> +</ul> + + +<h3> +W +</h3> + + +<ul> +<li> +Werner's system of Geology, <a href='#Page_328'>328</a>; + contrast of, with the modern system, <a href='#Page_330'>330</a>. +</li> +</ul> +</div> + +<p style='font-size:150%;letter-spacing:2px;font-weight:bold;text-align:center;border-top:1px solid black;border-bottom:1px solid black; padding:1em 0;'> +THE END. +</p> +<p> </p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Illustrations of Universal Progress, by +Herbert Spencer + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ILLUSTRATIONS OF UNIVERSAL PROGRESS *** + +***** This file should be named 39977-h.htm or 39977-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/9/7/39977/ + +Produced by Adrian Mastronardi, tallforasmurf and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +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. 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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: Illustrations of Universal Progress + A Series of Discussions + +Author: Herbert Spencer + +Release Date: June 12, 2012 [EBook #39977] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ILLUSTRATIONS OF UNIVERSAL PROGRESS *** + + + + +Produced by Adrian Mastronardi, tallforasmurf and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE + + +In this etext, the oe ligature is shown as [oe]. + +While proofing and formatting this document the Project Gutenberg team +noted and corrected 23 typographical errors, for example "Beauieu" for +"Beaulieu". All were deemed trivial and their correction had no effect +on the sense of the text. + + + + + + ILLUSTRATIONS + + OF + + UNIVERSAL PROGRESS; + + A Series of Discussions. + + + BY + HERBERT SPENCER, + + AUTHOR OF + "THE PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOLOGY," "SOCIAL STATICS," + "ESSAYS, MORAL, POLITICAL AND AESTHETIC," "EDUCATION," + "FIRST PRINCIPLES," ETC., ETC., ETC. + + + WITH + + _A NOTICE OF SPENCER'S "NEW SYSTEM OF PHILOSOPHY."_ + + + NEW YORK: + D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, + 443 & 445 BROADWAY. + 1865. + + + + + WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR. + + PUBLISHED BY D. APPLETON & CO. + + _EDUCATION--INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL._ 1 vol., 12mo. Cloth, + $1.25. + + _A NEW SYSTEM OF PHILOSOPHY._ Vol. I. _FIRST PRINCIPLES._ Large 12mo. + 503 pages. Cloth $2.00. + + _PRINCIPLES OF BIOLOGY._ In Quarterly Parts, by Subscription. $2.00 + per year. + + NOW IN PRESS: + + _ESSAYS--MORAL, POLITICAL, AND AESTHETIC._ 1 vol., large 12mo. Cloth. + + _Copies sent by mail, postpaid, on receipt of price._ + + ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by + D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, + In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the + Southern District of New York. + + + + + AMERICAN NOTICE + + OF A + + NEW SYSTEM OF PHILOSOPHY. + + BY + + HERBERT SPENCER. + + +The author of the following work, Mr. Herbert Spencer, of England, has +entered upon the publication of a new philosophical system, so original and +comprehensive as to deserve the attention of all earnest inquirers. He +proposes nothing less than to unfold such a complete philosophy of Nature, +physical, organic, mental and social, as Science has now for the first time +made possible, and which, if successfully executed, will constitute a +momentous step in the progress of thought. + +His system is designed to embrace five works; each a distinct treatise, but +all closely connected in plan, and treating of the following subjects in +the order presented: 1st, First Principles; 2d, Principles of Biology; 3d, +Principles of Psychology; 4th, Principles of Sociology; 5th, Principles of +Morality. The opening work of the series--_First Principles_--though +somewhat of an introductory character, is an independent and completed +argument. It consists of two parts: first, "The Unknowable," and second, +"The Laws of the Knowable." Unattractive as these titles may seem, they +indicate a discussion of great originality and transcendent interest. + +When public consideration is invited to a system of philosophy so extended +as to comprehend the entire scheme of nature and humanity, and so bold as +to deal with them in the ripest spirit of science, it is natural that many +should ask at the outset how the author stands related to the problem of +Religion. Mr. Spencer finds this the preliminary question of his +philosophy, and engages with it at the threshold of his undertaking. Before +attempting to work out a philosophical scheme, he sees that it is at first +necessary to find how far Philosophy can go and where she must stop--the +necessary limits of human knowledge, or the circle which bounds all +rational and legitimate investigation; and this opens at once the profound +and imminent question of the spheres and relation of Religion and Science. + +Mr. Spencer is a leading representative of that school of thinkers which +holds that, as man is finite, he can grasp and know only the finite;--that +by the inexorable conditions of thought all real knowledge is relative and +phenomenal, and hence that we cannot go behind phenomena to find the +ultimate causes and solve the ultimate mystery of being. In such assertions +as that "God cannot by any searching be found out;" that "a God understood +would be no God at all;" and that "to think God _is_ as we think Him to be +is blasphemy," we see the recognition of this idea of the inscrutableness +of the Absolute Cause. The doctrine itself is neither new nor limited to a +few exceptional thinkers. It is widely affirmed by enlightened science, and +pervades nearly all the cultivated theology of the present day. Sir William +Hamilton and Dr. Mansel are among its recent and ablest expounders. "With +the exception," says Sir William Hamilton, "of a few late absolutist +theorizers in Germany, this is perhaps the truth of all others most +harmoniously reechoed by every philosopher of every school;" and among +these he names Protagoras, Aristotle, St. Augustine, Melanchthon, Scaliger, +Bacon, Spinoza, Newton, and Kant. + +But though Mr. Spencer accepts this doctrine, he has not left it where he +found it. The world is indebted to him for having advanced the argument to +a higher and grander conclusion--a conclusion which changes the +philosophical aspect of the whole question, and involves the profoundest +consequences. Hamilton and Mansel bring us, by their inexorable logic, to +the result that we can neither know nor conceive the Infinite, and that +every attempt to do so involves us in contradiction and absurdity; but +having reached this vast negation, their logic and philosophy break down. +Accepting their conclusions as far as they go, Mr. Spencer maintains the +utter incompleteness of their reasoning, and, pushing the inquiry still +farther, he demonstrates that though we cannot grasp the Infinite in +_thought_, we can realize it in _consciousness_. He shows that though by +the laws of thinking we are rigorously prevented from forming a +_conception_ of that Incomprehensible, Omnipotent Power by which we are +acted upon in all phenomena, yet we are, by the laws of thought, equally +prevented from ridding ourselves of the _consciousness_ of this Power. He +proves that this consciousness of a Supreme Cause is not _negative_, but +_positive_--that it is indestructible, and has a higher certainty than any +other belief whatever. The Unknowable, then, in the view of Mr. Spencer, is +not a mere term of negation, nor a word employed only to express our +ignorance, but it means that Infinite Reality, that Supreme but Inscrutable +Cause, of which the universe is but a manifestation, and which has an +ever-present disclosure in human consciousness. + +Having thus found an indestructible basis in human nature for the religious +sentiment, Mr. Spencer next shows that all religions rest upon this +foundation, and contain a fundamental verity--a soul of truth, which +remains when their conflicting doctrines and discordant peculiarities are +mutually cancelled. In the lower and grosser forms of religion this truth +is but dimly discerned, but becomes ever clearer the more highly the +religion is developed, surviving every change, and remaining untouched by +the severest criticism. + +Mr. Spencer then proceeds to demonstrate that all science tends to +precisely the same great conclusion;--in all directions investigation leads +to insoluble mystery. Alike in the external and the internal worlds, the +man of science sees himself in the midst of perpetual changes of which he +can discover neither the beginning nor the end. If he looks inward, he +perceives that both ends of the thread of consciousness are beyond his +grasp. If he resolve the appearances, properties, and movements of +surrounding things into manifestations of Force in Space and Time, he still +finds that Force, Space, and Time pass all understanding. Thus do all lines +of argument converge to the same conclusion. Whether we scrutinize internal +consciousness or external phenomena, or trace to their root the faiths of +mankind, we reach that common ground where all antagonisms disappear--that +highest and most abstract of all truths, which is affirmed with equal +certainty by both religion and science, and in which may be found their +full and final reconciliation. + +It is perhaps hardly just to Mr. Spencer to state his position upon this +grave subject without giving also the accompanying reasoning; but so +compressed and symmetrical is his argument that it cannot be put into +narrower compass without mutilation. To those interested in the advance of +thought in this direction, we may say that the discussion will be found +unsurpassed in nobleness of aim, eloquence of statement, philosophic +breadth, and depth and power of reasoning. + +This portion of the work embraces five chapters, as follows: I. Religion +and Science; II. Ultimate Religious Ideas; III. Ultimate Scientific Ideas; +IV. The Relativity of all Knowledge; V. The Reconciliation. + +The second and larger portion of _First Principles_ Mr. Spencer designates +"The Laws of the Knowable." By these he understands those fundamental and +universal principles reached by scientific investigation, which underlie +all phenomena, and are necessary to their explanation. Certain great laws +have been established which are found equally true in all departments of +nature, and these are made the foundation of his philosophy. The sublime +idea of the Unity of the Universe, to which science has long been tending, +Mr. Spencer has made peculiarly his own. Through the vast diversities of +nature he discerns a oneness of order and method, which necessitates but +one philosophy of being; the same principles being found to regulate the +course of celestial movement, terrestrial changes, and the phenomena of +life, mind, and society. These may all be comprehended in a single +philosophical scheme, so that each shall throw light upon the other, and +the mastery of one help to the comprehension of all. + +To Mr. Spencer the one conception which spans the universe and solves the +widest range of its problems--which reaches outward through boundless space +and back through illimitable time, resolving the deepest questions of life, +mind, society, history, and civilization, which predicts the glorious +possibilities of the future, and reveals the august method by which the +Divine Power works evermore,--this one, all-elucidating conception, is +expressed by the term EVOLUTION. To this great subject he has devoted his +remarkable powers of thought for many years, and stands toward it not only +in the relation of an expositor, but also in that of a discoverer. + +The fact that all living beings are developed from a minute structureless +germ has long been known, while the law which governs their evolution--that +the change is ever from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous--has been +arrived at within a generation. But this fact of growth is by no means +limited to the physical history of plants and animals--it is exemplified +upon a far more extended scale. Astronomers hold that the solar system has +gone through such a process, and Geologists teach that the earth has had +its career of evolution. Animals have a mental as well as a physical +development, and there is also a progress of knowledge, of religion, of the +arts and sciences, of institutions, manners, governments, and civilization +itself. Mr. Spencer has the honour of having first established the +universality of the principle by which all these changes are governed. The +law of evolution, which has been hitherto limited to plants and animals, he +demonstrates to be the law of _all_ evolution. This doctrine is unfolded in +the first Essay of the present volume, and is more or less fully +illustrated in the others; but it will be found elaborately worked out in +the second part of _First Principles_. + +The course of the discussion in this part of the work will be best shown by +enumerating the titles to the chapters, which are as follows: I. Laws in +General; II. The Law of Evolution; III. The Same continued; IV. The Causes +of Evolution; V. Space, Time, Matter, Motion, and Force; VI. The +Indestructibility of Matter; VII. The Continuity of Motion; VIII. The +Persistence of Force; IX. The Correlation and Equivalence of Forces; X. The +Direction of Motion; XI. The Rhythm of Motion; XII. The Conditions +Essential to Evolution; XIII. The Instability of the Homogeneous; XIV. The +Multiplication of Effects; XV. Differentiation and Integration; XVI. +Equilibration; XVII. Summary and Conclusion. + +A most interesting and fruitful field of thought, it will be seen, is here +traversed by our author, and the latest and highest questions of science +are discussed under novel aspects and in new relations. Not only do the +pages abound with acute suggestions and fresh views, but the entire +argument, in its leading demonstrations, and the full breadth of its +philosophic scope, is stamped with a high originality. + + * * * * * + +Having thus determined the sphere of philosophy and ascertained those +fundamental principles governing all orders of phenomena which are to be +subsequently used for guidance and verification, the author proceeds to the +second work of the series, which is devoted to Biology, or the Science of +Life. He regards life not as a foreign and unintelligible something, thrust +into the scheme of nature, of which we can know nothing save its mystery, +but as an essential part of the universal plan. The harmonies of life are +regarded as but phases of the universal harmony, and Biology is studied by +the same methods as other departments of science. The great truths of +Physics and Chemistry are applied to its elucidation; its facts are +collected, its inductions established, and constantly verified by the first +principles laid down at the outset. Apart from its connections with the +philosophical system, of which it forms a part, this work will have great +intrinsic interest. Nothing was more needed than a compact and +well-digested statement of those general principles of life to which +science has arrived, and Mr. Spencer's presentation is proving to be just +what is required. Some idea of his mode of treating the subject may be +formed by glancing over a few of his first chapter-headings. PART FIRST: I. +Organic Matter; II. The Actions of Forces on Organic Matter; III. The +Reactions of Organic Matter on Forces; IV. Proximate Definition of Life; V. +The Correspondence between Life and its Circumstances; VI. The Degree of +Life Varies with the Degree of Correspondence; VII. Inductions of Biology. +PART SECOND: I. Growth; II. Development; III. Function; IV. Waste and +Repair; V. Adaptation; VI. Individuality; VII. Genesis; VIII. Heredity; IX. +Variation; X. Genesis, Heredity and Variation; XI. Classification; XII. +Distribution. + + * * * * * + +In the scheme of nature Mind is ever associated with Life. The third +division of this philosophical system will therefore be Psychology, or the +Science of Mind. This great subject will be considered, not by the narrow +methods usual with metaphysicians, but in its broadest aspects as a phase +of nature's order--to be studied by observation and induction through the +whole range of psychical manifestation in animated beings. The subject of +mind will be regarded in the light of the great truths of Biology +previously established; the connections of mind and life will be traced; +the progress of mentality as exhibited in the animal grades, and the +evolution of the intellectual faculties in man will be delineated and the +cooperation of mind and nature in the production of ideas and intelligence +unfolded. We have no work upon mind of this comprehensive and thoroughly +scientific character: the materials are abundant, and the necessity of +their organization is widely recognized. That Mr. Spencer is eminently the +man to perform this great task is proved by the fact that he is already the +author of the most profound and able contribution to the advancement of +psychological science that has appeared for many years. + + * * * * * + +In the true philosophic order, Biology and Psychology prepare the way for +the study of social science, and hence the fourth part of Mr. Spencer's +system will treat of Sociology, or the natural laws of society. As a +knowledge of individuals must precede an understanding of their mutual +relations, so an exposition of the laws of life and mind, which constitute +the science of human nature, must precede the successful study of social +phenomena. In this part will be considered the development of society, or +that intellectual and moral progress which depends upon the growth of human +ideas and feelings in their necessary order. The evolution of political, +ecclesiastical, and industrial organizations will be traced, and a +statement made of those principles underlying all social progress, without +which there can be no successful regulation of the affairs of society. Mr. +Spencer's mind has long been occupied with these important questions, as +the reader will find by referring to his able work upon "Social Statics," +published several years ago. + + * * * * * + +Lastly, in Part Fifth, Mr. Spencer proposes to consider the _Principles of +Morality_, bringing to bear the truths furnished by Biology, Psychology, +and Sociology, to determine the true theory of right living. He will show +that the true moral ideal and limit of progress is the attainment of an +equilibrium between constitution and conditions of existence, and trace +those principles of private conduct, physical, intellectual, moral, and +religious that follow from the conditions to complete individual life. +Those rules of human action which all civilized nations have registered as +essential laws--the inductions of morality--will be delineated, and also +those mutual limitations of men's actions necessitated by their coexistence +as units of society, which constitute the foundation of justice. + + * * * * * + +It cannot be doubted that the order here indicated, as it corresponds to +the method of nature, is the one which Philosophy must pursue in the +future. It combines the precision of science with the harmony and unity of +universal truth. The time is past when Biology can be considered with no +reference to the laws of Physics; Mind with no reference to the science of +Life, and Sociology, without having previously mastered the foregoing +subjects. The progress of knowledge is now toward more definite, +systematic, and comprehensive views, while it is the highest function of +intellect to coordinate and bind together its isolated and fragmentary +parts. In carrying out his great plan, therefore, Mr. Spencer is but +embodying the large philosophical tendencies of the age. + +If it is urged that his scheme is too vast for any one man to accomplish, +it may be replied: 1st. That it is not intended to treat the various +subjects exhaustively, but only to state general principles with just +sufficient details for their clear illustration. 2d. A considerable portion +of the work is already issued, and much more is ready for publication, +while the author is still in the prime of life. 3d. It must be remembered +that intellects occasionally appear, endowed with that comprehensive grasp +and high organizing power which fits them for vast undertakings. The reader +will find at the close of the volume Mr. Spencer's Prospectus of his +system. That he who has so clearly mapped out his work is the proper one to +execute it, we think will be fully apparent to all who peruse the present +volume. + +An impression prevails with many that Mr. Spencer belongs to the positive +school of M. Auguste Comte. This is an entire misapprehension; but the +position having been assumed by several of his reviewers, he repels the +charge in the following letter, which appeared in the _New Englander_ for +January, 1864. + +_To the Editor of the New Englander_: + +SIR:--While recognizing the appreciative tone and general candour of +the article in your last number, entitled "Herbert Spencer on Ultimate +Religious Ideas," allow me to point out one error which pervades it. +The writer correctly represents the leading positions of my argument, +but he inadvertently conveys a wrong impression respecting my +tendencies and sympathies. He says of me, "the spirit of his philosophy +is evidently that of the so-called positive method which has now many +partial disciples, as well as many zealous adherents among the thinkers +of England." Further on I am tacitly classed with "the English admirers +and disciples of the great Positivist;" and it is presently added that +"in Mr. Spencer we have an example of a positivist, who does not treat +the subject of religion with supercilious neglect." Here and +throughout, the implication is that I am a follower of Comte. This is a +mistake. That M. Comte has given a general exposition of the doctrine +and method elaborated by science, and has applied to it a name which +has obtained a certain currency, is true. But it is not true that the +holders of this doctrine and followers of this method are disciples of +M. Comte. Neither their modes of inquiry nor their views concerning +human knowledge in its nature and limits are appreciably different from +what they were before. If they are Positivists it is in the sense that +all men of science have been more or less consistently Positivists; and +the applicability of M. Comte's title to them no more makes them his +disciples than does its applicability to the men of science who lived +and died before M. Comte wrote, make them his disciples. + +My own attitude toward M. Comte and his partial adherents has been all +along that of antagonism. In an essay on the "Genesis of Science," +published in 1854, and republished with other essays in 1857, I have +endeavoured to show that his theory of the logical dependence and +historical development of the sciences is untrue. I have still among my +papers the memoranda of a second review (for which I failed to obtain a +place), the purpose of which was to show the untenableness of his +theory of intellectual progress. The only doctrine of importance in +which I agree with him--the relativity of all knowledge--is one common +to him and sundry other thinkers of earlier date; and even this I hold +in a different sense from that in which he held it. But on all points +that are distinctive of his philosophy, I differ from him. I deny his +Hierarchy of the Sciences. I regard his division of intellectual +progress into the three phases, theological, metaphysical, and +positive, as superficial. I reject utterly his Religion of Humanity. +And his ideal of society I hold in detestation. Some of his minor views +I accept; some of his incidental remarks seem to me to be profound, but +from everything which distinguishes Comteism as a system, I dissent +entirely. The only influence on my own course of thought which I can +trace to M. Comte's writings, is the influence that results from +meeting with antagonistic opinions definitely expressed. + +Such being my position, you will, I think, see that by classing me as a +Positivist, and tacitly including me among the English admirers and +disciples of Comte, your reviewer unintentionally misrepresents me. I +am quite ready to bear the odium attaching to opinions which I do hold; +but I object to have added the odium attaching to opinions which I _do +not_ hold. If, by publishing this letter in your forthcoming number, +you will allow me to set myself right with the American public on this +matter, you will greatly oblige me. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, + + HERBERT SPENCER. + +We take the liberty of making an extract from a private letter of Mr. +Spencer, which contains some further observations in the same connection: + +"There appears to have got abroad in the United States, a very +erroneous impression respecting the influence of Comte's writings in +England. I suppose that the currency obtained by the words 'Positivism' +and 'Positivist,' is to blame for this. Comte having designated by the +term Positive Philosophy all that body of definitely-established +knowledge which men of science have been gradually organizing into a +coherent body of doctrine, and having habitually placed this in +opposition to the incoherent body of doctrine defended by theologians, +it has become the habit of the theological party to think of the +antagonist scientific party under this title of Positivists applied to +them by Comte. And thus, from the habit of calling them Positivists +there has grown up the assumption that they call themselves +Positivists, and that they are the disciples of Comte. The truth is +that Comte and his doctrines receive here scarcely any attention. I +know something of the scientific world in England, and I cannot name a +single man of science who acknowledges himself a follower of Comte, or +accepts the title of Positivist. Lest, however, there should be some +such who were unknown to me, I have recently made inquiries into the +matter. To Professor Tyndall I put the question whether Comte had +exerted any appreciable influence on his own course of thought: and he +replied, 'So far as I know, my own course of thought would have been +exactly the same had Comte never existed.' I then asked, 'Do you know +any men of science whose views have been affected by Comte's writings?' +and his answer was: 'His influence on scientific thought in England is +absolutely _nil_.' To the same questions Prof. Huxley returned, in +other words, the same answers. Professors Huxley and Tyndall, being +leaders in their respective departments, and being also men of general +culture and philosophic insight, I think that, joining their +impressions with my own, I am justified in saying that the scientific +world of England is wholly uninfluenced by Comte. Such small influence +as he has had here has been on some literary men and historians--men +who were attracted by the grand achievements of science, who were +charmed by the plausible system of scientific generalizations put forth +by Comte, with the usual French regard for symmetry and disregard for +fact, and who were, from their want of scientific training, unable to +detect the essential fallaciousness of his system. Of these the most +notable example was the late Mr. Buckle. Besides him, I can name but +seven men who have been in any appreciable degree influenced by Comte; +and of these, four, if not five, are scarcely known to the public." + +Mr. Spencer's philosophical series is published by D. Appleton & Co., New +York, in quarterly parts (80 to 100 pages each), by subscription, at two +dollars a year. "_First Principles_" is issued in one volume, and four +parts of Biology have appeared. We subjoin some notices of his philosophy +from American and English reviews. + + + _From the National Quarterly Review_ (American.) + +Comte thus founded social science, and opened a path for future +discoverers; but he did not perceive, any more than previous inquirers, +the fundamental law of human evolution. It was reserved for Herbert +Spencer to discover this all-comprehensive law which is found to +explain alike all the phenomena of man's history and all those of +external nature. This sublime discovery, that the universe is in a +continuous process of evolution from the homogeneous to the +heterogeneous, with which only Newton's law of gravitation is at all +worthy to be compared, underlies not only physics, but also history. It +reveals the law to which social changes conform. + + + _From the Christian Examiner._ + +Reverent and bold--reverent for truth, though not for the forms of +truth, and not for much that we hold true--bold in the destruction of +error, though without that joy in destruction which often claims the +name of boldness;--these works are interesting in themselves and in +their relation to the current thought of the time. They seem at first +sight to form the turning point in the positive philosophy, but closer +examination shows us that it is only a new and marked stage in a +regular growth. It is the positive philosophy reaching the higher +relations of our being, and establishing what before it ignored because +it had not reached, and by ignoring seemed to deny. This system +formerly excluded theology and psychology. In the works of Herbert +Spencer we have the rudiments of a positive theology and an immense +step toward the perfection of the science of psychology.... Such is a +brief and meagre sketch of a discussion which we would commend to be +followed in detail by every mind interested in theological studies. +Herbert Spencer comes in good faith from what has been so long a +hostile camp, bringing a flag of truce and presenting terms of +agreement meant to be honourable to both parties: let us give him a +candid hearing.... In conclusion, we would remark that the work of +Herbert Spencer referred to (First Principles) is not mainly +theological, but will present the latest and broadest generalizations +of science, and we would commend to our readers this author, too little +known among us, as at once one of the clearest of teachers and one of +the wisest and most honourable of opponents. + + + _From the New Englander._ + +Though we find here some unwarranted assumptions, as well as some grave +omissions, yet this part (Laws of the Knowable) may be considered, upon +the whole, as a fine specimen of scientific reasoning. Considerable +space is devoted to the "Law of Evolution" the discovery of which is +the author's chief claim to originality, and certainly evinces great +power of generalization. To quote the abstract definition without a +full statement of the inductions from which it is derived would convey +no fair impression of the breadth and strength of the thought which it +epitomizes. Of Mr. Spencer's general characteristics as a writer, we +may observe that his style is marked by great purity, clearness, and +force; though it is somewhat diffuse, and the abstract nature of some +of his topics occasionally renders his thought difficult of +apprehension. His treatment of his subjects is generally thorough and +sometimes exhaustive; his arguments are always ingenious if not always +convincing; his illustrations are drawn from almost every accessible +field of human knowledge, and his method of "putting things" is such as +to make the most of his materials. He is undoubtedly entitled to a high +rank among the speculative and philosophic writers of the present +day.... + +In Mr. Spencer we have the example of a positivist, who does not treat +the subject of religion with supercilious neglect, and who illustrates +by his own method of reasoning upon the highest objects of human +thought, the value of those metaphysical studies which it is so much +the fashion of his school to decry. For both these reasons the volume, +which we now propose to examine, deserves the careful attention of the +theologian who desires to know what one of the strongest thinkers of +his school, commonly thought atheistic in its tendencies, can say in +behalf of our ultimate religious ideas. For if we mistake not, in spite +of the very negative character of his own results, he has furnished +some strong arguments for the doctrine of a positive Christian +theology. We shall be mistaken if we expect to find him carelessly +passing these matters by (religious faith and theological science) as +in all respects beyond knowledge and of no practical concern. On the +contrary, he gives them profound attention, and arrives at conclusions +in regard to them which even the Christian theologian must allow to +contain a large measure of truth. While showing the _unsearchable +nature_ of the ultimate facts on which religion depends, he +demonstrates their _real existence_ and their great importance.... In +answering these questions Mr. Spencer has, we think, arrived nearer to +a true philosophy than either Hamilton or Mansel. At least he has +indicated in a more satisfactory manner than they have done, the +positive datum of consciousness that the unconditioned, though +inscrutable, _exists_. It may be said that Mr. Spencer is not +chargeable with excluding God from the universe, or denying all +revelation of Him in His works, since he earnestly defends the truth +that an inscrutable power is shown to _exist_. We certainly would not +charge him with theoretical atheism, holding as he does this ultimate +religious idea. + + + _From the North American Review._ + +The law of organic development announced in the early part of the +present century, by Goethe, Schelling, and Von Baer, and vaguely +expressed in the formula, that "evolution is always from the homogenous +to the heterogeneous, and from the simple to the complex," has recently +been extended by Herbert Spencer so as to include all phenomena +whatsoever. He has shown that this law of evolution is the law of _all_ +evolution. Whether it be in the development of the earth or of life +upon its surface, in the development of Society, of government, of +manufactures, of commerce, of language, literature, science and art, +this same advance from the simple to the complex, through successive +differentiations, holds uniformly. The stupendous induction from all +classes of phenomena by which Mr. Spencer proceeds to establish and +illustrate his theorem cannot be given here. + + + _From the Christian Spectator_ (_English_). + +Mr. Spencer claims for his view that it is not only a religious +position, but preeminently _the_ religious position; and we are most +thoroughly disposed to agree with him, though we think he does not +appreciate the force of his own argument, nor fully understand his own +words. For let us now attempt to realize the meaning of this fact, of +which Mr. Spencer and his compeers have put us in possession; let us +endeavour to see whether its bearings are really favorable or adverse +to religion. They are put forward indeed avowedly as adverse to any +other religion than a mere reverential acquiescence in ignorance +concerning all that truly exists; but it appears to us that this +supposed opposition to religion arises from the fact that the doctrine +itself is so profoundly, so intensely, so overwhelmingly religious, +nay, so utterly and entirely CHRISTIAN, that its true meaning could not +be seen for very glory. Like Moses, when he came down from the Mount, +this positive philosophy comes with a veil over its face, that its too +divine radiance may be hidden for a time. This is Science that has been +conversing with GOD, and brings in her hand His law written on tables +of stone. + + + _From the Reader._ + +To answer the question of the likelihood of the permanence of Mr. +Mill's philosophic reign, ... we should have to take account, among +other things, of the differences from Mr. Mill already shown by the +extraordinarily able and peculiarly original thinker whose name we have +associated with Mr. Mill's at the head of this article. We may take +occasion, at another time, to call attention to these speculations of +Mr. Herbert Spencer, whose works in the meantime, and especially that +new one whose title we have cited, we recommend to all those select +readers whose appreciation of masterly exposition, and great reach and +boldness of generalization, does not depend on their mere disposition +to agree with the doctrines propounded. + + + _From the British Quarterly Review._ + +Complete in itself, it is at the same time but a part of a whole, +which, if it should be constructed in proportion, will be ten times as +great. For these First Principles are merely the foundation of a system +of philosophy, bolder, more elaborate and comprehensive, perhaps, than +any other which has been hitherto designed in England.... Widely as it +will be seen we differ from the author on some points, we very +sincerely hope he may succeed in accomplishing the bold and magnificent +project he has mapped out. + + + _From the Cornhill Magazine._ + +Our "Survey," superficial as it is, must include at least the mention +of a work so lofty in aim, and so remarkable in execution as the system +of Philosophy which Mr. Herbert Spencer is issuing to subscribers.... +In spite of all dissidence respecting the conclusions, the serious +reader will applaud the profound earnestness and thoroughness with +which these conclusions are advocated; the universal scientific +knowledge brought to bear on them by way of illustration, and the acute +and subtle thinking displayed in every chapter. + + + _From the Parthenon._ + +By these books he has wedged his way into fame in a manner distinctly +original, and curiously marked.... There is a peculiar charm in this +author's style, in that it sacrifices to no common taste, while at the +same time it makes the most abstruse questions intelligible.... The +book, if it is to be noticed with the slightest degree of fairness, +requires to be read and re-read, to be studied apart from itself and +with itself. For whatever may be its ultimate fate--although as the +ages go on it shall become but as the lispings of a little child, a +little more educated than other lisping children of the same time--this +is certain, that, as a book addressed to the present, it lifts the mind +far above the ordinary range of thought, suggests new associations, +arranges chaotic pictures, strikes often a broad harmony, and even +moves the heart by an intellectual struggle as passionless as fate, but +as irresistible as time. + + + _From the Critic._ + +Mr. Spencer is the foremost mind of the only philosophical school in +England which has arrived at a consistent scheme... Beyond this school +we encounter an indolent chaotic eclecticism. Mr. Spencer claims the +respect due to distinct and daring individuality; others are echoes or +slaves. Mr. Spencer may be a usurper, but he has the voice and gesture +of a king. + + + _From the Medico-Chirurgical Review._ + +Mr. Spencer is equally remarkable for his search after first +principles; for his acute attempts to decompose mental phenomena into +their primary elements; and for his broad generalizations of mental +activity, viewed in connection with nature, instinct, and all the +analogies presented by _life_ in its universal aspects. + + + + +EDITOR'S PREFACE. + + +The essays contained in the present volume were first published in the +English periodicals--chiefly the Quarterly Reviews. They contain ideas of +permanent interest, and display an amount of thought and labor evidently +much greater than is usually bestowed on review articles. They were written +with a view to ultimate republication in an enduring form, and were issued +in London with several other papers, under the title of "Essays; +Scientific, Political, and Speculative," first and second series;--the +former appearing in 1857, and the latter in 1863. + +The interest created in Mr. Spencer's writings by the publication in this +country of his valuable work on "Education," and by criticisms of his other +works, has created a demand for these discussions which can only be +supplied by their republication. They are now, however, issued in a new +form, and are more suited to develop the author's purpose in their +preparation; for while each of these essays has its intrinsic and +independent claims upon the reader's attention, they are all at the same +time but parts of a connected and comprehensive argument. Nearly all of Mr. +Spencer's essays have relations more or less direct to the general doctrine +of Evolution--a doctrine which he has probably done more to unfold and +illustrate than any other thinker. The papers comprised in the present +volume are those which deal with the subject in its most obvious and +prominent aspects. + +Although the argument contained in the first essay on "Progress; its Law +and Cause," has been published in an amplified form in the author's "First +Principles," it has been thought best to prefix it to the present +collection as a key to the full interpretation of the other essays. + +To those who read this volume its commendation will be superfluous; we will +only say that those who become interested in his course of thought will +find it completely elaborated in his new System of Philosophy, now in +course of publication. + +The remaining articles of Mr. Spencer's first and second series will be +shortly published, in a volume entitled "Essays; Moral, Political, and +AEsthetic." + + NEW YORK, _March_, 1864. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + I. Progress: Its Law and Cause, 1 + II. Manners and Fashion, 61 + III. The Genesis of Science, 116 + IV. The Physiology of Laughter, 194 + V. The Origin and Function of Music, 210 + VI. The Nebular Hypothesis, 239 + VII. Bain on the Emotions and the Will, 300 + VIII. Illogical Geology, 325 + IX. The Development Hypothesis, 377 + X. The Social Organism, 384 + XI. Use and Beauty, 429 + XII. The Sources of Architectural Types, 434 + XIII. The Use of Anthropomorphism, 440 + + + + +I. PROGRESS: ITS LAW AND CAUSE. + + +The current conception of Progress is somewhat shifting and indefinite. +Sometimes it comprehends little more than simple growth--as of a nation in +the number of its members and the extent of territory over which it has +spread. Sometimes it has reference to quantity of material products--as +when the advance of agriculture and manufactures is the topic. Sometimes +the superior quality of these products is contemplated: and sometimes the +new or improved appliances by which they are produced. When, again, we +speak of moral or intellectual progress, we refer to the state of the +individual or people exhibiting it; while, when the progress of Knowledge, +of Science, of Art, is commented upon, we have in view certain abstract +results of human thought and action. Not only, however, is the current +conception of Progress more or less vague, but it is in great measure +erroneous. It takes in not so much the reality of Progress as its +accompaniments--not so much the substance as the shadow. That progress in +intelligence seen during the growth of the child into the man, or the +savage into the philosopher, is commonly regarded as consisting in the +greater number of facts known and laws understood: whereas the actual +progress consists in those internal modifications of which this increased +knowledge is the expression. Social progress is supposed to consist in the +produce of a greater quantity and variety of the articles required for +satisfying men's wants; in the increasing security of person and property; +in widening freedom of action: whereas, rightly understood, social progress +consists in those changes of structure in the social organism which have +entailed these consequences. The current conception is a teleological one. +The phenomena are contemplated solely as bearing on human happiness. Only +those changes are held to constitute progress which directly or indirectly +tend to heighten human happiness. And they are thought to constitute +progress simply _because_ they tend to heighten human happiness. But +rightly to understand progress, we must inquire what is the nature of these +changes, considered apart from our interests. Ceasing, for example, to +regard the successive geological modifications that have taken place in the +Earth, as modifications that have gradually fitted it for the habitation of +Man, and as _therefore_ a geological progress, we must seek to determine +the character common to these modifications--the law to which they all +conform. And similarly in every other case. Leaving out of sight +concomitants and beneficial consequences, let us ask what Progress is in +itself. + +In respect to that progress which individual organisms display in the +course of their evolution, this question has been answered by the Germans. +The investigations of Wolff, Goethe, and Von Baer, have established the +truth that the series of changes gone through during the development of a +seed into a tree, or an ovum into an animal, constitute an advance from +homogeneity of structure to heterogeneity of structure. In its primary +stage, every germ consists of a substance that is uniform throughout, both +in texture and chemical composition. The first step is the appearance of a +difference between two parts of this substance; or, as the phenomenon is +called in physiological language, a differentiation. Each of these +differentiated divisions presently begins itself to exhibit some contrast +of parts; and by and by these secondary differentiations become as definite +as the original one. This process is continuously repeated--is +simultaneously going on in all parts of the growing embryo; and by endless +such differentiations there is finally produced that complex combination of +tissues and organs constituting the adult animal or plant. This is the +history of all organisms whatever. It is settled beyond dispute that +organic progress consists in a change from the homogeneous to the +heterogeneous. + +Now, we propose in the first place to show, that this law of organic +progress is the law of all progress. Whether it be in the development of +the Earth, in the development of Life upon its surface, in the development +of Society, of Government, of Manufactures, of Commerce, of Language, +Literature, Science, Art, this same evolution of the simple into the +complex, through successive differentiations, holds throughout. From the +earliest traceable cosmical changes down to the latest results of +civilization, we shall find that the transformation of the homogeneous into +the heterogeneous, is that in which Progress essentially consists. + +With the view of showing that _if_ the Nebular Hypothesis be true, the +genesis of the solar system supplies one illustration of this law, let us +assume that the matter of which the sun and planets consist was once in a +diffused form; and that from the gravitation of its atoms there resulted a +gradual concentration. By the hypothesis, the solar system in its nascent +state existed as an indefinitely extended and nearly homogeneous medium--a +medium almost homogeneous in density, in temperature, and in other physical +attributes. The first advance towards consolidation resulted in a +differentiation between the occupied space which the nebulous mass still +filled, and the unoccupied space which it previously filled. There +simultaneously resulted a contrast in density and a contrast in +temperature, between the interior and the exterior of this mass. And at the +same time there arose throughout it rotatory movements, whose velocities +varied according to their distances from its centre. These differentiations +increased in number and degree until there was evolved the organized group +of sun, planets, and satellites, which we now know--a group which presents +numerous contrasts of structure and action among its members. There are the +immense contrasts between the sun and planets, in bulk and in weight; as +well as the subordinate contrasts between one planet and another, and +between the planets and their satellites. There is the similarly marked +contrast between the sun as almost stationary, and the planets as moving +round him with great velocity; while there are the secondary contrasts +between the velocities and periods of the several planets, and between +their simple revolutions and the double ones of their satellites, which +have to move round their primaries while moving round the sun. There is the +yet further strong contrast between the sun and the planets in respect of +temperature; and there is reason to suppose that the planets and satellites +differ from each other in their proper heat, as well as in the heat they +receive from the sun. + +When we bear in mind that, in addition to these various contrasts, the +planets and satellites also differ in respect to their distances from each +other and their primary; in respect to the inclinations of their orbits, +the inclinations of their axes, their times of rotation on their axes, +their specific gravities, and their physical constitutions; we see what a +high degree of heterogeneity the solar system exhibits, when compared with +the almost complete homogeneity of the nebulous mass out of which it is +supposed to have originated. + +Passing from this hypothetical illustration, which must be taken for what +it is worth, without prejudice to the general argument, let us descend to a +more certain order of evidence. It is now generally agreed among geologists +that the Earth was at first a mass of molten matter; and that it is still +fluid and incandescent at the distance of a few miles beneath its surface. +Originally, then, it was homogeneous in consistence, and, in virtue of the +circulation that takes place in heated fluids, must have been comparatively +homogeneous in temperature; and it must have been surrounded by an +atmosphere consisting partly of the elements of air and water, and partly +of those various other elements which assume a gaseous form at high +temperatures. That slow cooling by radiation which is still going on at an +inappreciable rate, and which, though originally far more rapid than now, +necessarily required an immense time to produce any decided change, must +ultimately have resulted in the solidification of the portion most able to +part with its heat--namely, the surface. In the thin crust thus formed we +have the first marked differentiation. A still further cooling, a +consequent thickening of this crust, and an accompanying deposition of all +solidifiable elements contained in the atmosphere, must finally have been +followed by the condensation of the water previously existing as vapour. A +second marked differentiation must thus have arisen: and as the +condensation must have taken place on the coolest parts of the +surface--namely, about the poles--there must thus have resulted the first +geographical distinction of parts. To these illustrations of growing +heterogeneity, which, though deduced from the known laws of matter, may be +regarded as more or less hypothetical, Geology adds an extensive series +that have been inductively established. Its investigations show that the +Earth has been continually becoming more heterogeneous in virtue of the +multiplication of the strata which form its crust; further, that it has +been becoming more heterogeneous in respect of the composition of these +strata, the latter of which, being made from the detritus of the older +ones, are many of them rendered highly complex by the mixture of materials +they contain; and that this heterogeneity has been vastly increased by the +action of the Earth's still molten nucleus upon its envelope, whence have +resulted not only a great variety of igneous rocks, but the tilting up of +sedimentary strata at all angles, the formation of faults and metallic +veins, the production of endless dislocations and irregularities. Yet +again, geologists teach us that the Earth's surface has been growing more +varied in elevation--that the most ancient mountain systems are the +smallest, and the Andes and Himalayas the most modern; while in all +probability there have been corresponding changes in the bed of the ocean. +As a consequence of these ceaseless differentiations, we now find that no +considerable portion of the Earth's exposed surface is like any other +portion, either in contour, in geologic structure, or in chemical +composition; and that in most parts it changes from mile to mile in all +these characteristics. + +Moreover, it must not be forgotten that there has been simultaneously going +on a gradual differentiation of climates. As fast as the Earth cooled and +its crust solidified, there arose appreciable differences in temperature +between those parts of its surface most exposed to the sun and those less +exposed. Gradually, as the cooling progressed, these differences became +more pronounced; until there finally resulted those marked contrasts +between regions of perpetual ice and snow, regions where winter and summer +alternately reign for periods varying according to the latitude, and +regions where summer follows summer with scarcely an appreciable variation. +At the same time the successive elevations and subsidences of different +portions of the Earth's crust, tending as they have done to the present +irregular distribution of land and sea, have entailed various modifications +of climate beyond those dependent on latitude; while a yet further series +of such modifications have been produced by increasing differences of +elevation in the land, which have in sundry places brought arctic, +temperate, and tropical climates to within a few miles of each other. And +the general result of these changes is, that not only has every extensive +region its own meteorologic conditions, but that every locality in each +region differs more or less from others in those conditions, as in its +structure, its contour, its soil. Thus, between our existing Earth, the +phenomena of whose varied crust neither geographers, geologists, +mineralogists, nor meteorologists have yet enumerated, and the molten globe +out of which it was evolved, the contrast in heterogeneity is sufficiently +striking. + +When from the Earth itself we turn to the plants and animals that have +lived, or still live, upon its surface, we find ourselves in some +difficulty from lack of facts. That every existing organism has been +developed out of the simple into the complex, is indeed the first +established truth of all; and that every organism that has existed was +similarly developed, is an inference which no physiologist will hesitate to +draw. But when we pass from individual forms of life to Life in general, +and inquire whether the same law is seen in the _ensemble_ of its +manifestations,--whether modern plants and animals are of more +heterogeneous structure than ancient ones, and whether the Earth's present +Flora and Fauna are more heterogeneous than the Flora and Fauna of the +past,--we find the evidence so fragmentary, that every conclusion is open +to dispute. Two-thirds of the Earth's surface being covered by water; a +great part of the exposed land being inaccessible to, or untravelled by, +the geologist; the greater part of the remainder having been scarcely more +than glanced at; and even the most familiar portions, as England, having +been so imperfectly explored that a new series of strata has been added +within these four years,--it is manifestly impossible for us to say with +any certainty what creatures have, and what have not, existed at any +particular period. Considering the perishable nature of many of the lower +organic forms, the metamorphosis of many sedimentary strata, and the gaps +that occur among the rest, we shall see further reason for distrusting our +deductions. On the one hand, the repeated discovery of vertebrate remains +in strata previously supposed to contain none,--of reptiles where only fish +were thought to exist,--of mammals where it was believed there were no +creatures higher than reptiles,--renders it daily more manifest how small +is the value of negative evidence. + +On the other hand, the worthlessness of the assumption that we have +discovered the earliest, or anything like the earliest, organic remains, is +becoming equally clear. That the oldest known sedimentary rocks have been +greatly changed by igneous action, and that still older ones have been +totally transformed by it, is becoming undeniable. And the fact that +sedimentary strata earlier than any we know, have been melted up, being +admitted, it must also be admitted that we cannot say how far back in time +this destruction of sedimentary strata has been going on. Thus it is +manifest that the title, _Palaeozoic_, as applied to the earliest known +fossiliferous strata, involves a _petitio principii_; and that, for aught +we know to the contrary, only the last few chapters of the Earth's +biological history may have come down to us. On neither side, therefore, is +the evidence conclusive. Nevertheless we cannot but think that, scanty as +they are, the facts, taken altogether, tend to show both that the more +heterogeneous organisms have been evolved in the later geologic periods, +and that Life in general has been more heterogeneously manifested as time +has advanced. Let us cite, in illustration, the one case of the +_vertebrata_. The earliest known vertebrate remains are those of Fishes; +and Fishes are the most homogeneous of the vertebrata. Later and more +heterogeneous are Reptiles. Later still, and more heterogeneous still, are +Mammals and Birds. If it be said, as it may fairly be said, that the +Palaeozoic deposits, not being estuary deposits, are not likely to contain +the remains of terrestrial vertebrata, which may nevertheless have existed +at that era, we reply that we are merely pointing to the leading facts, +_such as they are_. + +But to avoid any such criticism, let us take the mammalian subdivision +only. The earliest known remains of mammals are those of small marsupials, +which are the lowest of the mammalian type; while, conversely, the highest +of the mammalian type--Man--is the most recent. The evidence that the +vertebrate fauna, as a whole, has become more heterogeneous, is +considerably stronger. To the argument that the vertebrate fauna of the +Palaeozoic period, consisting, so far as we know, entirely of Fishes, was +less heterogeneous than the modern vertebrate fauna, which includes +Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals, of multitudinous genera, it may be replied, +as before, that estuary deposits of the Palaeozoic period, could we find +them, might contain other orders of vertebrata. But no such reply can be +made to the argument that whereas the marine vertebrata of the Palaeozoic +period consisted entirely of cartilaginous fishes, the marine vertebrata of +later periods include numerous genera of osseous fishes; and that, +therefore, the later marine vertebrate faunas are more heterogeneous than +the oldest known one. Nor, again, can any such reply be made to the fact +that there are far more numerous orders and genera of mammalian remains in +the tertiary formations than in the secondary formations. Did we wish +merely to make out the best case, we might dwell upon the opinion of Dr. +Carpenter, who says that "the general facts of Palaeontology appear to +sanction the belief, that _the same plan_ may be traced out in what may be +called _the general life of the globe_, as in _the individual life_ of +every one of the forms of organized being which now people it." Or we might +quote, as decisive, the judgment of Professor Owen, who holds that the +earlier examples of each group of creatures severally departed less widely +from archetypal generality than the later ones--were severally less unlike +the fundamental form common to the group as a whole; that is to +say--constituted a less heterogeneous group of creatures; and who further +upholds the doctrine of a biological progression. But in deference to an +authority for whom we have the highest respect, who considers that the +evidence at present obtained does not justify a verdict either way, we are +content to leave the question open. + +Whether an advance from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous is or is not +displayed in the biological history of the globe, it is clearly enough +displayed in the progress of the latest and most heterogeneous +creature--Man. It is alike true that, during the period in which the Earth +has been peopled, the human organism has grown more heterogeneous among the +civilized divisions of the species; and that the species, as a whole, has +been growing more heterogeneous in virtue of the multiplication of races +and the differentiation of these races from each other. + +In proof of the first of these positions, we may cite the fact that, in the +relative development of the limbs, the civilized man departs more widely +from the general type of the placental mammalia than do the lower human +races. While often possessing well-developed body and arms, the Papuan has +extremely small legs: thus reminding us of the quadrumana, in which there +is no great contrast in size between the hind and fore limbs. But in the +European, the greater length and massiveness of the legs has become very +marked--the fore and hind limbs are relatively more heterogeneous. Again, +the greater ratio which the cranial bones bear to the facial bones +illustrates the same truth. Among the vertebrata in general, progress is +marked by an increasing heterogeneity in the vertebral column, and more +especially in the vertebrae constituting the skull: the higher forms being +distinguished by the relatively larger size of the bones which cover the +brain, and the relatively smaller size of those which form the jaw, &c. +Now, this characteristic, which is stronger in Man than in any other +creature, is stronger in the European than in the savage. Moreover, judging +from the greater extent and variety of faculty he exhibits, we may infer +that the civilized man has also a more complex or heterogeneous nervous +system than the uncivilized man: and indeed the fact is in part visible in +the increased ratio which his cerebrum bears to the subjacent ganglia. + +If further elucidation be needed, we may find it in every nursery. The +infant European has sundry marked points of resemblance to the lower human +races; as in the flatness of the alae of the nose, the depression of its +bridge, the divergence and forward opening of the nostrils, the form of the +lips, the absence of a frontal sinus, the width between the eyes, the +smallness of the legs. Now, as the developmental process by which these +traits are turned into those of the adult European, is a continuation of +that change from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous displayed during the +previous evolution of the embryo, which every physiologist will admit; it +follows that the parallel developmental process by which the like traits of +the barbarous races have been turned into those of the civilized races, has +also been a continuation of the change from the homogeneous to the +heterogeneous. The truth of the second position--that Mankind, as a whole, +have become more heterogeneous--is so obvious as scarcely to need +illustration. Every work on Ethnology, by its divisions and subdivisions of +races, bears testimony to it. Even were we to admit the hypothesis that +Mankind originated from several separate stocks, it would still remain +true, that as, from each of these stocks, there have sprung many now widely +different tribes, which are proved by philological evidence to have had a +common origin, the race as a whole is far less homogeneous than it once +was. Add to which, that we have, in the Anglo-Americans, an example of a +new variety arising within these few generations; and that, if we may trust +to the description of observers, we are likely soon to have another such +example in Australia. + +On passing from Humanity under its individual form, to Humanity as socially +embodied, we find the general law still more variously exemplified. The +change from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous is displayed equally in +the progress of civilization as a whole, and in the progress of every tribe +or nation; and is still going on with increasing rapidity. As we see in +existing barbarous tribes, society in its first and lowest form is a +homogeneous aggregation of individuals having like powers and like +functions: the only marked difference of function being that which +accompanies difference of sex. Every man is warrior, hunter, fisherman, +tool-maker, builder; every woman performs the same drudgeries; every family +is self-sufficing, and save for purposes of aggression and defence, might +as well live apart from the rest. Very early, however, in the process of +social evolution, we find an incipient differentiation between the +governing and the governed. Some kind of chieftainship seems coeval with +the first advance from the state of separate wandering families to that of +a nomadic tribe. The authority of the strongest makes itself felt among a +body of savages as in a herd of animals, or a posse of schoolboys. At +first, however, it is indefinite, uncertain; is shared by others of +scarcely inferior power; and is unaccompanied by any difference in +occupation or style of living: the first ruler kills his own game, makes +his own weapons, builds his own hut, and economically considered, does not +differ from others of his tribe. Gradually, as the tribe progresses, the +contrast between the governing and the governed grows more decided. Supreme +power becomes hereditary in one family; the head of that family, ceasing to +provide for his own wants, is served by others; and he begins to assume the +sole office of ruling. + +At the same time there has been arising a co-ordinate species of +government--that of Religion. As all ancient records and traditions prove, +the earliest rulers are regarded as divine personages. The maxims and +commands they uttered during their lives are held sacred after their +deaths, and are enforced by their divinely-descended successors; who in +their turns are promoted to the pantheon of the race, there to be +worshipped and propitiated along with their predecessors: the most ancient +of whom is the supreme god, and the rest subordinate gods. For a long time +these connate forms of government--civil and religious--continue closely +associated. For many generations the king continues to be the chief priest, +and the priesthood to be members of the royal race. For many ages religious +law continues to contain more or less of civil regulation, and civil law to +possess more or less of religious sanction; and even among the most +advanced nations these two controlling agencies are by no means completely +differentiated from each other. + +Having a common root with these, and gradually diverging from them, we find +yet another controlling agency--that of Manners or ceremonial usages. All +titles of honour are originally the names of the god-king; afterwards of +God and the king; still later of persons of high rank; and finally come, +some of them, to be used between man and man. All forms of complimentary +address were at first the expressions of submission from prisoners to their +conqueror, or from subjects to their ruler, either human or +divine--expressions that were afterwards used to propitiate subordinate +authorities, and slowly descended into ordinary intercourse. All modes of +salutation were once obeisances made before the monarch and used in worship +of him after his death. Presently others of the god-descended race were +similarly saluted; and by degrees some of the salutations have become the +due of all.[A] Thus, no sooner does the originally homogeneous social mass +differentiate into the governed and the governing parts, than this last +exhibits an incipient differentiation into religious and secular--Church +and State; while at the same time there begins to be differentiated from +both, that less definite species of government which rules our daily +intercourse--a species of government which, as we may see in heralds' +colleges, in books of the peerage, in masters of ceremonies, is not without +a certain embodiment of its own. Each of these is itself subject to +successive differentiations. In the course of ages, there arises, as among +ourselves, a highly complex political organization of monarch, ministers, +lords and commons, with their subordinate administrative departments, +courts of justice, revenue offices, &c., supplemented in the provinces by +municipal governments, county governments, parish or union governments--all +of them more or less elaborated. By its side there grows up a highly +complex religious organization, with its various grades of officials, from +archbishops down to sextons, its colleges, convocations, ecclesiastical +courts, &c.; to all which must be added the ever multiplying independent +sects, each with its general and local authorities. And at the same time +there is developed a highly complex aggregation of customs, manners, and +temporary fashions, enforced by society at large, and serving to control +those minor transactions between man and man which are not regulated by +civil and religious law. Moreover it is to be observed that this ever +increasing heterogeneity in the governmental appliances of each nation, has +been accompanied by an increasing heterogeneity in the governmental +appliances of different nations; all of which are more or less unlike in +their political systems and legislation, in their creeds and religious +institutions, in their customs and ceremonial usages. + + [A] For detailed proof of these assertions see essay on _Manners and + Fashion_. + +Simultaneously there has been going on a second differentiation of a more +familiar kind; that, namely, by which the mass of the community has been +segregated into distinct classes and orders of workers. While the governing +part has undergone the complex development above detailed, the governed +part has undergone an equally complex development, which has resulted in +that minute division of labour characterizing advanced nations. It is +needless to trace out this progress from its first stages, up through the +caste divisions of the East and the incorporated guilds of Europe, to the +elaborate producing and distributing organization existing among ourselves. +Political economists have long since described the evolution which, +beginning with a tribe whose members severally perform the same actions +each for himself, ends with a civilized community whose members severally +perform different actions for each other; and they have further pointed out +the changes through which the solitary producer of any one commodity is +transformed into a combination of producers who, united under a master, +take separate parts in the manufacture of such commodity. But there are yet +other and higher phases of this advance from the homogeneous to the +heterogeneous in the industrial organization of society. + +Long after considerable progress has been made in the division of labour +among different classes of workers, there is still little or no division of +labour among the widely separated parts of the community; the nation +continues comparatively homogeneous in the respect that in each district +the same occupations are pursued. But when roads and other means of transit +become numerous and good, the different districts begin to assume different +functions, and to become mutually dependent. The calico manufacture locates +itself in this county, the woollen-cloth manufacture in that; silks are +produced here, lace there; stockings in one place, shoes in another; +pottery, hardware, cutlery, come to have their special towns; and +ultimately every locality becomes more or less distinguished from the rest +by the leading occupation carried on in it. Nay, more, this subdivision of +functions shows itself not only among the different parts of the same +nation, but among different nations. That exchange of commodities which +free-trade promises so greatly to increase, will ultimately have the effect +of specializing, in a greater or less degree, the industry of each people. +So that beginning with a barbarous tribe, almost if not quite homogeneous +in the functions of its members, the progress has been, and still is, +towards an economic aggregation of the whole human race; growing ever more +heterogeneous in respect of the separate functions assumed by separate +nations, the separate functions assumed by the local sections of each +nation, the separate functions assumed by the many kinds of makers and +traders in each town, and the separate functions assumed by the workers +united in producing each commodity. + +Not only is the law thus clearly exemplified in the evolution of the social +organism, but it is exemplified with equal clearness in the evolution of +all products of human thought and action, whether concrete or abstract, +real or ideal. Let us take Language as our first illustration. + +The lowest form of language is the exclamation, by which an entire idea is +vaguely conveyed through a single sound; as among the lower animals. That +human language ever consisted solely of exclamations, and so was strictly +homogeneous in respect of its parts of speech, we have no evidence. But +that language can be traced down to a form in which nouns and verbs are its +only elements, is an established fact. In the gradual multiplication of +parts of speech out of these primary ones--in the differentiation of verbs +into active and passive, of nouns into abstract and concrete--in the rise +of distinctions of mood, tense, person, of number and case--in the +formation of auxiliary verbs, of adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, +prepositions, articles--in the divergence of those orders, genera, species, +and varieties of parts of speech by which civilized races express minute +modifications of meaning--we see a change from the homogeneous to the +heterogeneous. And it may be remarked, in passing, that it is more +especially in virtue of having carried this subdivision of function to a +greater extent and completeness, that the English language is superior to +all others. + +Another aspect under which we may trace the development of language is the +differentiation of words of allied meanings. Philology early disclosed the +truth that in all languages words may be grouped into families having a +common ancestry. An aboriginal name applied indiscriminately to each of an +extensive and ill-defined class of things or actions, presently undergoes +modifications by which the chief divisions of the class are expressed. +These several names springing from the primitive root, themselves become +the parents of other names still further modified. And by the aid of those +systematic modes which presently arise, of making derivations and forming +compound terms expressing still smaller distinctions, there is finally +developed a tribe of words so heterogeneous in sound and meaning, that to +the uninitiated it seems incredible that they should have had a common +origin. Meanwhile from other roots there are being evolved other such +tribes, until there results a language of some sixty thousand or more +unlike words, signifying as many unlike objects, qualities, acts. + +Yet another way in which language in general advances from the homogeneous +to the heterogeneous, is in the multiplication of languages. Whether as Max +Mueller and Bunsen think, all languages have grown from one stock, or +whether, as some philologists say, they have grown from two or more stocks, +it is clear that since large families of languages, as the Indo-European, +are of one parentage, they have become distinct through a process of +continuous divergence. The same diffusion over the Earth's surface which +has led to the differentiation of the race, has simultaneously led to a +differentiation of their speech: a truth which we see further illustrated +in each nation by the peculiarities of dialect found in several districts. +Thus the progress of Language conforms to the general law, alike in the +evolution of languages, in the evolution of families of words, and in the +evolution of parts of speech. + +On passing from spoken to written language, we come upon several classes of +facts, all having similar implications. Written language is connate with +Painting and Sculpture; and at first all three are appendages of +Architecture, and have a direct connection with the primary form of all +Government--the theocratic. Merely noting by the way the fact that sundry +wild races, as for example the Australians and the tribes of South Africa, +are given to depicting personages and events upon the walls of caves, which +are probably regarded as sacred places, let us pass to the case of the +Egyptians. Among them, as also among the Assyrians, we find mural paintings +used to decorate the temple of the god and the palace of the king (which +were, indeed, originally identical); and as such they were governmental +appliances in the same sense that state-pageants and religious feasts were. +Further, they were governmental appliances in virtue of representing the +worship of the god, the triumphs of the god-king, the submission of his +subjects, and the punishment of the rebellious. And yet again they were +governmental, as being the products of an art reverenced by the people as a +sacred mystery. From the habitual use of this pictorial representation +there naturally grew up the but slightly-modified practice of +picture-writing--a practice which was found still extant among the Mexicans +at the time they were discovered. By abbreviations analogous to those still +going on in our own written and spoken language, the most familiar of these +pictured figures were successively simplified; and ultimately there grew up +a system of symbols, most of which had but a distant resemblance to the +things for which they stood. The inference that the hieroglyphics of the +Egyptians were thus produced, is confirmed by the fact that the +picture-writing of the Mexicans was found to have given birth to a like +family of ideographic forms; and, among them, as among the Egyptians, these +had been partially differentiated into the _kuriological_ or imitative, and +the _tropical_ or symbolic: which were, however, used together in the same +record. In Egypt, written language underwent a further differentiation: +whence resulted the _hieratic_ and the _epistolographic_ or _enchorial_: +both of which are derived from the original hieroglyphic. At the same time +we find that for the expression of proper names which could not be +otherwise conveyed, phonetic symbols were employed; and though it is +alleged that the Egyptians never actually achieved complete alphabetic +writing, yet it can scarcely be doubted that these phonetic symbols +occasionally used in aid of their ideographic ones, were the germs out of +which alphabetic writing grew. Once having become separate from +hieroglyphics, alphabetic writing itself underwent numerous +differentiations--multiplied alphabets were produced; between most of +which, however, more or less connection can still be traced. And in each +civilized nation there has now grown up, for the representation of one set +of sounds, several sets of written signs used for distinct purposes. +Finally, through a yet more important differentiation came printing; which, +uniform in kind as it was at first, has since become multiform. + +While written language was passing through its earlier stages of +development, the mural decoration which formed its root was being +differentiated into Painting and Sculpture. The gods, kings, men, and +animals represented, were originally marked by indented outlines and +coloured. In most cases these outlines were of such depth, and the object +they circumscribed so far rounded and marked out in its leading parts, as +to form a species of work intermediate between intaglio and bas-relief. In +other cases we see an advance upon this: the raised spaces between the +figures being chiselled off, and the figures themselves appropriately +tinted, a painted bas-relief was produced. The restored Assyrian +architecture at Sydenham exhibits this style of art carried to greater +perfection--the persons and things represented, though still barbarously +coloured, are carved out with more truth and in greater detail: and in the +winged lions and bulls used for the angles of gateways, we may see a +considerable advance towards a completely sculptured figure; which, +nevertheless, is still coloured, and still forms part of the building. But +while in Assyria the production of a statue proper seems to have been +little, if at all, attempted, we may trace in Egyptian art the gradual +separation of the sculptured figure from the wall. A walk through the +collection in the British Museum will clearly show this; while it will at +the same time afford an opportunity of observing the evident traces which +the independent statues bear of their derivation from bas-relief: seeing +that nearly all of them not only display that union of the limbs with the +body which is the characteristic of bas-relief, but have the back of the +statue united from head to foot with a block which stands in place of the +original wall. Greece repeated the leading stages of this progress. As in +Egypt and Assyria, these twin arts were at first united with each other and +with their parent, Architecture, and were the aids of Religion and +Government. On the friezes of Greek temples, we see coloured bas-reliefs +representing sacrifices, battles, processions, games--all in some sort +religious. On the pediments we see painted sculptures more or less united +with the tympanum, and having for subjects the triumphs of gods or heroes. +Even when we come to statues that are definitely separated from the +buildings to which they pertain, we still find them coloured; and only in +the later periods of Greek civilization does the differentiation of +sculpture from painting appear to have become complete. + +In Christian art we may clearly trace a parallel re-genesis. All early +paintings and sculptures throughout Europe were religious in +subject--represented Christs, crucifixions, virgins, holy families, +apostles, saints. They formed integral parts of church architecture, and +were among the means of exciting worship; as in Roman Catholic countries +they still are. Moreover, the early sculptures of Christ on the cross, of +virgins, of saints, were coloured: and it needs but to call to mind the +painted madonnas and crucifixes still abundant in continental churches and +highways, to perceive the significant fact that painting and sculpture +continue in closest connection with each other where they continue in +closest connection with their parent. Even when Christian sculpture was +pretty clearly differentiated from painting, it was still religious and +governmental in its subjects--was used for tombs in churches and statues of +kings: while, at the same time, painting, where not purely ecclesiastical, +was applied to the decoration of palaces, and besides representing royal +personages, was almost wholly devoted to sacred legends. Only in quite +recent times have painting and sculpture become entirely secular arts. Only +within these few centuries has painting been divided into historical, +landscape, marine, architectural, genre, animal, still-life, &c., and +sculpture grown heterogeneous in respect of the variety of real and ideal +subjects with which it occupies itself. + +Strange as it seems then, we find it no less true, that all forms of +written language, of painting, and of sculpture, have a common root in the +politico-religious decorations of ancient temples and palaces. Little +resemblance as they now have, the bust that stands on the console, the +landscape that hangs against the wall, and the copy of the _Times_ lying +upon the table, are remotely akin; not only in nature, but by extraction. +The brazen face of the knocker which the postman has just lifted, is +related not only to the woodcuts of the _Illustrated London News_ which he +is delivering, but to the characters of the _billet-doux_ which accompanies +it. Between the painted window, the prayer-book on which its light falls, +and the adjacent monument, there is consanguinity. The effigies on our +coins, the signs over shops, the figures that fill every ledger, the coats +of arms outside the carriage panel, and the placards inside the omnibus, +are, in common with dolls, blue-books, paper-hangings, lineally descended +from the rude sculpture-paintings in which the Egyptians represented the +triumphs and worship of their god-kings. Perhaps no example can be given +which more vividly illustrates the multiplicity and heterogeneity of the +products that in course of time may arise by successive differentiations +from a common stock. + +Before passing to other classes of facts, it should be observed that the +evolution of the homogeneous into the heterogeneous is displayed not only +in the separation of Painting and Sculpture from Architecture and from each +other, and in the greater variety of subjects they embody, but it is +further shown in the structure of each work. A modern picture or statue is +of far more heterogeneous nature than an ancient one. An Egyptian +sculpture-fresco represents all its figures as on one plane--that is, at +the same distance from the eye; and so is less heterogeneous than a +painting that represents them as at various distances from the eye. It +exhibits all objects as exposed to the same degree of light; and so is less +heterogeneous than a painting which exhibits different objects and +different parts of each object as in different degrees of light. It uses +scarcely any but the primary colours, and these in their full intensity; +and so is less heterogeneous than a painting which, introducing the primary +colours but sparingly, employs an endless variety of intermediate tints, +each of heterogeneous composition, and differing from the rest not only in +quality but in intensity. Moreover, we see in these earliest works a great +uniformity of conception. The same arrangement of figures is perpetually +reproduced--the same actions, attitudes, faces, dresses. In Egypt the modes +of representation were so fixed that it was sacrilege to introduce a +novelty; and indeed it could have been only in consequence of a fixed mode +of representation that a system of hieroglyphics became possible. The +Assyrian bas-reliefs display parallel characters. Deities, kings, +attendants, winged figures and animals, are severally depicted in like +positions, holding like implements, doing like things, and with like +expression or non-expression of face. If a palm-grove is introduced, all +the trees are of the same height, have the same number of leaves, and are +equidistant. When water is imitated, each wave is a counterpart of the +rest; and the fish, almost always of one kind, are evenly distributed over +the surface. The beards of the kings, the gods, and the winged figures, are +everywhere similar: as are the manes of the lions, and equally so those of +the horses. Hair is represented throughout by one form of curl. The king's +beard is quite architecturally built up of compound tiers of uniform curls, +alternating with twisted tiers placed in a transverse direction, and +arranged with perfect regularity; and the terminal tufts of the bulls' +tails are represented in exactly the same manner. Without tracing out +analogous facts in early Christian art, in which, though less striking, +they are still visible, the advance in heterogeneity will be sufficiently +manifest on remembering that in the pictures of our own day the composition +is endlessly varied; the attitudes, faces, expressions, unlike; the +subordinate objects different in size, form, position, texture; and more or +less of contrast even in the smallest details. Or, if we compare an +Egyptian statue, seated bolt upright on a block, with hands on knees, +fingers outspread and parallel, eyes looking straight forward, and the two +sides perfectly symmetrical in every particular, with a statue of the +advanced Greek or the modern school, which is asymmetrical in respect of +the position of the head, the body, the limbs, the arrangement of the hair, +dress, appendages, and in its relations to neighbouring objects, we shall +see the change from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous clearly +manifested. + +In the co-ordinate origin and gradual differentiation of Poetry, Music and +Dancing, we have another series of illustrations. Rhythm in speech, rhythm +in sound, and rhythm in motion, were in the beginning parts of the same +thing, and have only in process of time become separate things. Among +various existing barbarous tribes we find them still united. The dances of +savages are accompanied by some kind of monotonous chant, the clapping of +hands, the striking of rude instruments: there are measured movements, +measured words, and measured tones; and the whole ceremony, usually having +reference to war or sacrifice, is of governmental character. In the early +records of the historic races we similarly find these three forms of +metrical action united in religious festivals. In the Hebrew writings we +read that the triumphal ode composed by Moses on the defeat of the +Egyptians, was sung to an accompaniment of dancing and timbrels. The +Israelites danced and sang "at the inauguration of the golden calf. And as +it is generally agreed that this representation of the Deity was borrowed +from the mysteries of Apis, it is probable that the dancing was copied from +that of the Egyptians on those occasions." There was an annual dance in +Shiloh on the sacred festival; and David danced before the ark. Again, in +Greece the like relation is everywhere seen: the original type being there, +as probably in other cases, a simultaneous chanting and mimetic +representation of the life and adventures of the god. The Spartan dances +were accompanied by hymns and songs; and in general the Greeks had "no +festivals or religious assemblies but what were accompanied with songs and +dances"--both of them being forms of worship used before altars. Among the +Romans, too, there were sacred dances: the Salian and Lupercalian being +named as of that kind. And even in Christian countries, as at Limoges, in +comparatively recent times, the people have danced in the choir in honour +of a saint. The incipient separation of these once united arts from each +other and from religion, was early visible in Greece. Probably diverging +from dances partly religious, partly warlike, as the Corybantian, came the +war dances proper, of which there were various kinds; and from these +resulted secular dances. Meanwhile Music and Poetry, though still united, +came to have an existence separate from dancing. The aboriginal Greek +poems, religious in subject, were not recited, but chanted; and though at +first the chant of the poet was accompanied by the dance of the chorus, it +ultimately grew into independence. Later still, when the poem had been +differentiated into epic and lyric--when it became the custom to sing the +lyric and recite the epic--poetry proper was born. As during the same +period musical instruments were being multiplied, we may presume that music +came to have an existence apart from words. And both of them were beginning +to assume other forms besides the religious. Facts, having like +implications might be cited from the histories of later times and peoples: +as the practices of our own early minstrels, who sang to the harp heroic +narratives versified by themselves to music of their own composition: thus +uniting the now separate offices of poet, composer, vocalist, and +instrumentalist. But, without further illustration, the common origin and +gradual differentiation of Dancing, Poetry, and Music will be sufficiently +manifest. + +The advance from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous is displayed not only +in the separation of these arts from each other and from religion, but also +in the multiplied differentiations which each of them afterwards undergoes. +Not to dwell upon the numberless kinds of dancing that have, in course of +time, come into use; and not to occupy space in detailing the progress of +poetry, as seen in the development of the various forms of metre, of rhyme, +and of general organization; let us confine our attention to music as a +type of the group. As argued by Dr. Burney, and as implied by the customs +of still extant barbarous races, the first musical instruments were, +without doubt, percussive--sticks, calabashes, tom-toms--and were used +simply to mark the time of the dance; and in this constant repetition of +the same sound, we see music in its most homogeneous form. + +The Egyptians had a lyre with three strings. The early lyre of the Greeks +had four, constituting their tetrachord. In course of some centuries lyres +of seven and eight strings were employed. And, by the expiration of a +thousand years, they had advanced to their "great system" of the double +octave. Through all which changes there of course arose a greater +heterogeneity of melody. Simultaneously there came into use the different +modes--Dorian, Ionian, Phrygian, AEolian, and Lydian--answering to our keys; +and of these there were ultimately fifteen. As yet, however, there was but +little heterogeneity in the time of their music. + +Instrumental music during this period being merely the accompaniment of +vocal music, and vocal music being completely subordinated to words, the +singer being also the poet, chanting his own compositions and making the +lengths of his notes agree with the feet of his verses,--there unavoidably +arose a tiresome uniformity of measure, which, as Dr. Burney says, "no +resources of melody could disguise." Lacking the complex rhythm obtained by +our equal bars and unequal notes the only rhythm was that produced by the +quantity of the syllables and was of necessity comparatively monotonous. +And further, it may be observed that the chant thus resulting, being like +recitative, was much less clearly differentiated from ordinary speech than +is our modern song. + +Nevertheless, in virtue of the extended range of notes in use, the variety +of modes, the occasional variations of time consequent on changes of metre, +and the multiplication of instruments, music had, towards the close of +Greek civilization, attained to considerable heterogeneity--not indeed as +compared with our music, but as compared with that which preceded it. As +yet, however, there existed nothing but melody: harmony was unknown. It was +not until Christian church-music had reached some development, that music +in parts was evolved; and then it came into existence through a very +unobtrusive differentiation. Difficult as it may be to conceive _a priori_ +how the advance from melody to harmony could take place without a sudden +leap, it is none the less true that it did so. The circumstance which +prepared the way for it was the employment of two choirs singing +alternately the same air. Afterwards it became the practice--very possibly +first suggested by a mistake--for the second choir to commence before the +first had ceased; thus producing a fugue. + +With the simple airs then in use, a partially harmonious fugue might not +improbably thus result: and a very partially harmonious fugue satisfied the +ears of that age, as we know from still preserved examples. The idea having +once been given, the composing of airs productive of fugal harmony would +naturally grow up; as in some way it _did_ grow up out of this alternate +choir-singing. And from the fugue to concerted music of two, three, four, +and more parts, the transition was easy. Without pointing out in detail the +increasing complexity that resulted from introducing notes of various +lengths, from the multiplication of keys, from the use of accidentals, from +varieties of time, and so forth, it needs but to contrast music as it is, +with music as it was, to see how immense is the increase of heterogeneity. +We see this if, looking at music in its _ensemble_, we enumerate its many +different genera and species--if we consider the divisions into vocal, +instrumental, and mixed; and their subdivisions into music for different +voices and different instruments--if we observe the many forms of sacred +music, from the simple hymn, the chant, the canon, motet, anthem, &c., up +to the oratorio; and the still more numerous forms of secular music, from +the ballad up to the serenata, from the instrumental solo up to the +symphony. + +Again, the same truth is seen on comparing any one sample of aboriginal +music with a sample of modern music--even an ordinary song for the piano; +which we find to be relatively highly heterogeneous, not only in respect of +the varieties in the pitch and in the length of the notes, the number of +different notes sounding at the same instant in company with the voice, and +the variations of strength with which they are sounded and sung, but in +respect of the changes of key, the changes of time, the changes of _timbre_ +of the voice, and the many other modifications of expression. While between +the old monotonous dance-chant and a grand opera of our own day, with its +endless orchestral complexities and vocal combinations, the contrast in +heterogeneity is so extreme that it seems scarcely credible that the one +should have been the ancestor of the other. + +Were they needed, many further illustrations might be cited. Going back to +the early time when the deeds of the god-king, chanted and mimetically +represented in dances round his altar, were further narrated in +picture-writings on the walls of temples and palaces, and so constituted a +rude literature, we might trace the development of Literature through +phases in which, as in the Hebrew Scriptures, it presents in one work +theology, cosmogony, history, biography, civil law, ethics, poetry; through +other phases in which, as in the Iliad, the religious, martial, historical, +the epic, dramatic, and lyric elements are similarly commingled; down to +its present heterogeneous development, in which its divisions and +subdivisions are so numerous and varied as to defy complete classification. +Or we might trace out the evolution of Science; beginning with the era in +which it was not yet differentiated from Art, and was, in union with Art, +the handmaid of Religion; passing through the era in which the sciences +were so few and rudimentary, as to be simultaneously cultivated by the same +philosophers; and ending with the era in which the genera and species are +so numerous that few can enumerate them, and no one can adequately grasp +even one genus. Or we might do the like with Architecture, with the Drama, +with Dress. + +But doubtless the reader is already weary of illustrations; and our promise +has been amply fulfilled. We believe we have shown beyond question, that +that which the German physiologists have found to be the law of organic +development, is the law of all development. The advance from the simple to +the complex, through a process of successive differentiations, is seen +alike in the earliest changes of the Universe to which we can reason our +way back; and in the earliest changes which we can inductively establish; +it is seen in the geologic and climatic evolution of the Earth, and of +every single organism on its surface; it is seen in the evolution of +Humanity, whether contemplated in the civilized individual, or in the +aggregation of races; it is seen in the evolution of Society in respect +alike of its political, its religious, and its economical organization; and +it is seen in the evolution of all those endless concrete and abstract +products of human activity which constitute the environment of our daily +life. From the remotest past which Science can fathom, up to the novelties +of yesterday, that in which Progress essentially consists, is the +transformation of the homogeneous into the heterogeneous. + + * * * * * + +And now, from this uniformity of procedure, may we not infer some +fundamental necessity whence it results? May we not rationally seek for +some all-pervading principle which determines this all-pervading process of +things? Does not the universality of the _law_ imply a universal _cause_? + +That we can fathom such cause, noumenally considered, is not to be +supposed. To do this would be to solve that ultimate mystery which must +ever transcend human intelligence. But it still may be possible for us to +reduce the law of all Progress, above established, from the condition of an +empirical generalization, to the condition of a rational generalization. +Just as it was possible to interpret Kepler's laws as necessary +consequences of the law of gravitation; so it may be possible to interpret +this law of Progress, in its multiform manifestations, as the necessary +consequence of some similarly universal principle. As gravitation was +assignable as the _cause_ of each of the groups of phenomena which Kepler +formulated; so may some equally simple attribute of things be assignable as +the cause of each of the groups of phenomena formulated in the foregoing +pages. We may be able to affiliate all these varied and complex evolutions +of the homogeneous into the heterogeneous, upon certain simple facts of +immediate experience, which, in virtue of endless repetition, we regard as +necessary. + +The probability of a common cause, and the possibility of formulating it, +being granted, it will be well, before going further, to consider what must +be the general characteristics of such cause, and in what direction we +ought to look for it. We can with certainty predict that it has a high +degree of generality; seeing that it is common to such infinitely varied +phenomena: just in proportion to the universality of its application must +be the abstractness of its character. We need not expect to see in it an +obvious solution of this or that form of Progress; because it equally +refers to forms of Progress bearing little apparent resemblance to them: +its association with multiform orders of facts, involves its dissociation +from any particular order of facts. Being that which determines Progress of +every kind--astronomic, geologic, organic, ethnologic, social, economic, +artistic, &c.--it must be concerned with some fundamental attribute +possessed in common by these; and must be expressible in terms of this +fundamental attribute. The only obvious respect in which all kinds of +Progress are alike, is, that they are modes of _change_; and hence, in some +characteristic of changes in general, the desired solution will probably be +found. We may suspect _a priori_ that in some law of change lies the +explanation of this universal transformation of the homogeneous into the +heterogeneous. + +Thus much premised, we pass at once to the statement of the law, which is +this:--_Every active force produces more than one change--every cause +produces more than one effect._ + +Before this law can be duly comprehended, a few examples must be looked at. +When one body is struck against another, that which we usually regard as +the effect, is a change of position or motion in one or both bodies. But a +moment's thought shows us that this is a careless and very incomplete view +of the matter. Besides the visible mechanical result, sound is produced; +or, to speak accurately, a vibration in one or both bodies, and in the +surrounding air: and under some circumstances we call this the effect. +Moreover, the air has not only been made to vibrate, but has had sundry +currents caused in it by the transit of the bodies. Further, there is a +disarrangement of the particles of the two bodies in the neighbourhood of +their point of collision; amounting in some cases to a visible +condensation. Yet more, this condensation is accompanied by the +disengagement of heat. In some cases a spark--that is, light--results, from +the incandescence of a portion struck off; and sometimes this incandescence +is associated with chemical combination. + +Thus, by the original mechanical force expended in the collision, at least +five, and often more, different kinds of changes have been produced. Take, +again, the lighting of a candle. Primarily this is a chemical change +consequent on a rise of temperature. The process of combination having once +been set going by extraneous heat, there is a continued formation of +carbonic acid, water, &c.--in itself a result more complex than the +extraneous heat that first caused it. But accompanying this process of +combination there is a production of heat; there is a production of light; +there is an ascending column of hot gases generated; there are currents +established in the surrounding air. Moreover, the decomposition of one +force into many forces does not end here: each of the several changes +produced becomes the parent of further changes. The carbonic acid given off +will by and by combine with some base; or under the influence of sunshine +give up its carbon to the leaf of a plant. The water will modify the +hygrometric state of the air around; or, if the current of hot gases +containing it come against a cold body, will be condensed: altering the +temperature, and perhaps the chemical state, of the surface it covers. The +heat given out melts the subjacent tallow, and expands whatever it warms. +The light, falling on various substances, calls forth from them reactions +by which it is modified; and so divers colours are produced. Similarly even +with these secondary actions, which may be traced out into ever-multiplying +ramifications, until they become too minute to be appreciated. And thus it +is with all changes whatever. No case can be named in which an active force +does not evolve forces of several kinds, and each of these, other groups of +forces. Universally the effect is more complex than the cause. + +Doubtless the reader already foresees the course of our argument. This +multiplication of results, which is displayed in every event of to-day, has +been going on from the beginning; and is true of the grandest phenomena of +the universe as of the most insignificant. From the law that every active +force produces more than one change, it is an inevitable corollary that +through all time there has been an ever-growing complication of things. +Starting with the ultimate fact that every cause produces more than one +effect, we may readily see that throughout creation there must have gone +on, and must still go on, a never-ceasing transformation of the homogeneous +into the heterogeneous. But let us trace out this truth in detail.[B] + + [B] A correlative truth which ought also to be taken into account + (that the state of homogeneity is one of unstable equilibrium), + but which it would greatly encumber the argument to exemplify in + connection with the above, will be found developed in the essay + on _Transcendental Physiology_. + +Without committing ourselves to it as more than a speculation, though a +highly probable one, let us again commence with the evolution of the solar +system out of a nebulous medium.[C] From the mutual attraction of the atoms +of a diffused mass whose form is unsymmetrical, there results not only +condensation but rotation: gravitation simultaneously generates both the +centripetal and the centrifugal forces. While the condensation and the rate +of rotation are progressively increasing, the approach of the atoms +necessarily generates a progressively increasing temperature. As this +temperature rises, light begins to be evolved; and ultimately there results +a revolving sphere of fluid matter radiating intense heat and light--a sun. + + [C] The idea that the Nebular Hypothesis has been disproved because + what were thought to be existing nebulae have been resolved into + clusters of stars is almost beneath notice. _A priori_ it was + highly improbable, if not impossible, that nebulous masses should + still remain uncondensed, while others have been condensed + millions of years ago. + +There are good reasons for believing that, in consequence of the high +tangential velocity, and consequent centrifugal force, acquired by the +outer parts of the condensing nebulous mass, there must be a periodical +detachment of rotating rings; and that, from the breaking up of these +nebulous rings, there must arise masses which in the course of their +condensation repeat the actions of the parent mass, and so produce planets +and their satellites--an inference strongly supported by the still extant +rings of Saturn. + +Should it hereafter be satisfactorily shown that planets and satellites +were thus generated, a striking illustration will be afforded of the highly +heterogeneous effects produced by the primary homogeneous cause; but it +will serve our present purpose to point to the fact that from the mutual +attraction of the particles of an irregular nebulous mass there result +condensation, rotation, heat, and light. + +It follows as a corollary from the Nebular Hypothesis, that the Earth must +at first have been incandescent; and whether the Nebular Hypothesis be true +or not, this original incandescence of the Earth is now inductively +established--or, if not established, at least rendered so highly probable +that it is a generally admitted geological doctrine. Let us look first at +the astronomical attributes of this once molten globe. From its rotation +there result the oblateness of its form, the alternations of day and night, +and (under the influence of the moon) the tides, aqueous and atmospheric. +From the inclination of its axis, there result the precession of the +equinoxes and the many differences of the seasons, both simultaneous and +successive, that pervade its surface. Thus the multiplication of effects is +obvious. Several of the differentiations due to the gradual cooling of the +Earth have been already noticed--as the formation of a crust, the +solidification of sublimed elements, the precipitation of water, &c.,--and +we here again refer to them merely to point out that they are simultaneous +effects of the one cause, diminishing heat. + +Let us now, however, observe the multiplied changes afterwards arising from +the continuance of this one cause. The cooling of the Earth involves its +contraction. Hence the solid crust first formed is presently too large for +the shrinking nucleus; and as it cannot support itself, inevitably follows +the nucleus. But a spheroidal envelope cannot sink down into contact with a +smaller internal spheroid, without disruption; it must run into wrinkles as +the rind of an apple does when the bulk of its interior decreases from +evaporation. As the cooling progresses and the envelope thickens, the +ridges consequent on these contractions must become greater, rising +ultimately into hills and mountains; and the later systems of mountains +thus produced must not only be higher, as we find them to be, but they must +be longer, as we also find them to be. Thus, leaving out of view other +modifying forces, we see what immense heterogeneity of surface has arisen +from the one cause, loss of heat--a heterogeneity which the telescope shows +us to be paralleled on the face of the moon, where aqueous and atmospheric +agencies have been absent. + +But we have yet to notice another kind of heterogeneity of surface +similarly and simultaneously caused. While the Earth's crust was still +thin, the ridges produced by its contraction must not only have been small, +but the spaces between these ridges must have rested with great evenness +upon the subjacent liquid spheroid; and the water in those arctic and +antarctic regions in which it first condensed, must have been evenly +distributed. But as fast as the crust grew thicker and gained corresponding +strength, the lines of fracture from time to time caused in it, must have +occurred at greater distances apart; the intermediate surfaces must have +followed the contracting nucleus with less uniformity; and there must have +resulted larger areas of land and water. If any one, after wrapping up an +orange in wet tissue paper, and observing not only how small are the +wrinkles, but how evenly the intervening spaces lie upon the surface of the +orange, will then wrap it up in thick cartridge-paper, and note both the +greater height of the ridges and the much larger spaces throughout which +the paper does not touch the orange, he will realize the fact, that as the +Earth's solid envelope grew thicker, the areas of elevation and depression +must have become greater. In place of islands more or less homogeneously +scattered over an all-embracing sea, there must have gradually arisen +heterogeneous arrangements of continent and ocean, such as we now know. + +Once more, this double change in the extent and in the elevation of the +lands, involved yet another species of heterogeneity, that of coast-line. A +tolerably even surface raised out of the ocean, must have a simple, regular +sea-margin; but a surface varied by table-lands and intersected by +mountain-chains must, when raised out of the ocean, have an outline +extremely irregular both in its leading features and in its details. Thus +endless is the accumulation of geological and geographical results slowly +brought about by this one cause--the contraction of the Earth. + +When we pass from the agency which geologists term igneous, to aqueous and +atmospheric agencies, we see the like ever-growing complications of +effects. The denuding actions of air and water have, from the beginning, +been modifying every exposed surface; everywhere causing many different +changes. Oxidation, heat, wind, frost, rain, glaciers, rivers, tides, +waves, have been unceasingly producing disintegration; varying in kind and +amount according to local circumstances. Acting upon a tract of granite, +they here work scarcely an appreciable effect; there cause exfoliations of +the surface, and a resulting heap of _debris_ and boulders; and elsewhere, +after decomposing the feldspar into a white clay, carry away this and the +accompanying quartz and mica, and deposits them in separate beds, +fluviatile and marine. When the exposed land consists of several unlike +formations, sedimentary and igneous, the denudation produces changes +proportionably more heterogeneous. The formations being disintegrable in +different degrees, there follows an increased irregularity of surface. The +areas drained by different rivers being differently constituted, these +rivers carry down to the sea different combinations of ingredients; and so +sundry new strata of distinct composition are formed. + +And here indeed we may see very simply illustrated, the truth, which we +shall presently have to trace out in more involved cases, that in +proportion to the heterogeneity of the object or objects on which any force +expends itself, is the heterogeneity of the results. A continent of complex +structure, exposing many strata irregularly distributed, raised to various +levels, tilted up at all angles, must, under the same denuding agencies, +give origin to immensely multiplied results; each district must be +differently modified; each river must carry down a different kind of +detritus; each deposit must be differently distributed by the entangled +currents, tidal and other, which wash the contorted shores; and this +multiplication of results must manifestly be greatest where the complexity +of the surface is greatest. + +It is out of the question here to trace in detail the genesis of those +endless complications described by Geology and Physical Geography: else we +might show how the general truth, that every active force produces more +than one change, is exemplified in the highly involved flow of the tides, +in the ocean currents, in the winds, in the distribution of rain, in the +distribution of heat, and so forth. But not to dwell upon these, let us, +for the fuller elucidation of this truth in relation to the inorganic +world, consider what would be the consequences of some extensive cosmical +revolution--say the subsidence of Central America. + +The immediate results of the disturbance would themselves be sufficiently +complex. Besides the numberless dislocations of strata, the ejections of +igneous matter, the propagation of earthquake vibrations thousands of miles +around, the loud explosions, and the escape of gases; there would be the +rush of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to supply the vacant space, the +subsequent recoil of enormous waves, which would traverse both these oceans +and produce myriads of changes along their shores, the corresponding +atmospheric waves complicated by the currents surrounding each volcanic +vent, and the electrical discharges with which such disturbances are +accompanied. But these temporary effects would be insignificant compared +with the permanent ones. The complex currents of the Atlantic and Pacific +would be altered in direction and amount. The distribution of heat achieved +by these ocean currents would be different from what it is. The arrangement +of the isothermal lines, not even on the neighbouring continents, but even +throughout Europe, would be changed. The tides would flow differently from +what they do now. There would be more or less modification of the winds in +their periods, strengths, directions, qualities. Rain would fall scarcely +anywhere at the same times and in the same quantities as at present. In +short, the meteorological conditions thousands of miles off, on all sides, +would be more or less revolutionized. + +Thus, without taking into account the infinitude of modifications which +these changes of climate would produce upon the flora and fauna, both of +land and sea, the reader will see the immense heterogeneity of the results +wrought out by one force, when that force expends itself upon a previously +complicated area; and he will readily draw the corollary that from the +beginning the complication has advanced at an increasing rate. + +Before going on to show how organic progress also depends upon the +universal law that every force produces more than one change, we have to +notice the manifestation of this law in yet another species of inorganic +progress--namely, chemical. The same general causes that have wrought out +the heterogeneity of the Earth, physically considered, have simultaneously +wrought out its chemical heterogeneity. Without dwelling upon the general +fact that the forces which have been increasing the variety and complexity +of geological formations, have, at the same time, been bringing into +contact elements not previously exposed to each other under conditions +favourable to union, and so have been adding to the number of chemical +compounds, let us pass to the more important complications that have +resulted from the cooling of the Earth. + +There is every reason to believe that at an extreme heat the elements +cannot combine. Even under such heat as can be artificially produced, some +very strong affinities yield, as for instance, that of oxygen for hydrogen; +and the great majority of chemical compounds are decomposed at much lower +temperatures. But without insisting upon the highly probable inference, +that when the Earth was in its first state of incandescence there were no +chemical combinations at all, it will suffice our purpose to point to the +unquestionable fact that the compounds that can exist at the highest +temperatures, and which must, therefore, have been the first that were +formed as the Earth cooled, are those of the simplest constitutions. The +protoxides--including under that head the alkalies, earths, &c.--are, as a +class, the most stable compounds we know: most of them resisting +decomposition by any heat we can generate. These, consisting severally of +one atom of each component element, are combinations of the simplest +order--are but one degree less homogeneous than the elements themselves. +More heterogeneous than these, less stable, and therefore later in the +Earth's history, are the deutoxides, tritoxides, peroxides, &c.; in which +two, three, four, or more atoms of oxygen are united with one atom of metal +or other element. Higher than these in heterogeneity are the hydrates; in +which an oxide of hydrogen, united with an oxide of some other element, +forms a substance whose atoms severally contain at least four ultimate +atoms of three different kinds. Yet more heterogeneous and less stable +still are the salts; which present us with compound atoms each made up of +five, six, seven, eight, ten, twelve, or more atoms, of three, if not more, +kinds. Then there are the hydrated salts, of a yet greater heterogeneity, +which undergo partial decomposition at much lower temperatures. After them +come the further-complicated supersalts and double salts, having a +stability again decreased; and so throughout. Without entering into +qualifications for which we lack space, we believe no chemist will deny it +to be a general law of these inorganic combinations that, _other things +equal_, the stability decreases as the complexity increases. + +And then when we pass to the compounds of organic chemistry, we find this +general law still further exemplified: we find much greater complexity and +much less stability. An atom of albumen, for instance, consists of 482 +ultimate atoms of five different kinds. Fibrine, still more intricate in +constitution, contains in each atom, 298 atoms of carbon, 40 of nitrogen, 2 +of sulphur, 228 of hydrogen, and 92 of oxygen--in all, 660 atoms; or, more +strictly speaking--equivalents. And these two substances are so unstable as +to decompose at quite ordinary temperatures; as that to which the outside +of a joint of roast meat is exposed. Thus it is manifest that the present +chemical heterogeneity of the Earth's surface has arisen by degrees, as the +decrease of heat has permitted; and that it has shown itself in three +forms--first, in the multiplication of chemical compounds; second, in the +greater number of different elements contained in the more modern of these +compounds: and third, in the higher and more varied multiples in which +these more numerous elements combine. + +To say that this advance in chemical heterogeneity is due to the one cause, +diminution of the Earth's temperature, would be to say too much; for it is +clear that aqueous and atmospheric agencies have been concerned; and, +further, that the affinities of the elements themselves are implied. The +cause has all along been a composite one: the cooling of the Earth having +been simply the most general of the concurrent causes, or assemblage of +conditions. And here, indeed, it may be remarked that in the several +classes of facts already dealt with (excepting, perhaps, the first), and +still more in those with which we shall presently deal, the causes are more +or less compound; as indeed are nearly all causes with which we are +acquainted. Scarcely any change can with logical accuracy be wholly +ascribed to one agency, to the neglect of the permanent or temporary +conditions under which only this agency produces the change. But as it does +not materially affect our argument, we prefer, for simplicity's sake, to +use throughout the popular mode of expression. + +Perhaps it will be further objected, that to assign loss of heat as the +cause of any changes, is to attribute these changes not to a force, but to +the absence of a force. And this is true. Strictly speaking, the changes +should be attributed to those forces which come into action when the +antagonist force is withdrawn. But though there is an inaccuracy in saying +that the freezing of water is due to the loss of its heat, no practical +error arises from it; nor will a parallel laxity of expression vitiate our +statements respecting the multiplication of effects. Indeed, the objection +serves but to draw attention to the fact, that not only does the exertion +of a force produce more than one change, but the withdrawal of a force +produces more than one change. And this suggests that perhaps the most +correct statement of our general principle would be its most abstract +statement--every change is followed by more than one other change. + +Returning to the thread of our exposition, we have next to trace out, in +organic progress, this same all-pervading principle. And here, where the +evolution of the homogeneous into the heterogeneous was first observed, the +production of many changes by one cause is least easy to demonstrate. The +development of a seed into a plant, or an ovum into an animal, is so +gradual, while the forces which determine it are so involved, and at the +same time so unobtrusive, that it is difficult to detect the multiplication +of effects which is elsewhere so obvious. Nevertheless, guided by indirect +evidence, we may pretty safely reach the conclusion that here too the law +holds. + +Observe, first, how numerous are the effects which any marked change works +upon an adult organism--a human being, for instance. An alarming sound or +sight, besides the impressions on the organs of sense and the nerves, may +produce a start, a scream, a distortion of the face, a trembling consequent +upon a general muscular relaxation, a burst of perspiration, an excited +action of the heart, a rush of blood to the brain, followed possibly by +arrest of the heart's action and by syncope: and if the system be feeble, +an indisposition with its long train of complicated symptoms may set in. +Similarly in cases of disease. A minute portion of the small-pox virus +introduced into the system, will, in a severe case, cause, during the first +stage, rigors, heat of skin, accelerated pulse, furred tongue, loss of +appetite, thirst, epigastric uneasiness, vomiting, headache, pains in the +back and limbs, muscular weakness, convulsions, delirium, &c.; in the +second stage, cutaneous eruption, itching, tingling, sore throat, swelled +fauces, salivation, cough, hoarseness, dyspn[oe]a, &c.; and in the third +stage, [oe]dematous inflammations, pneumonia, pleurisy, diarrh[oe]a, +inflammation of the brain, ophthalmia, erysipelas, &c.: each of which +enumerated symptoms is itself more or less complex. Medicines, special +foods, better air, might in like manner be instanced as producing +multiplied results. + +Now it needs only to consider that the many changes thus wrought by one +force upon an adult organism, will be in part paralleled in an embryo +organism, to understand how here also, the evolution of the homogeneous +into the heterogeneous may be due to the production of many effects by one +cause. The external heat and other agencies which determine the first +complications of the germ, may, by acting upon these, superinduce further +complications; upon these still higher and more numerous ones; and so on +continually: each organ as it is developed serving, by its actions and +reactions upon the rest, to initiate new complexities. The first pulsations +of the f[oe]tal heart must simultaneously aid the unfolding of every part. +The growth of each tissue, by taking from the blood special proportions of +elements, must modify the constitution of the blood; and so must modify the +nutrition of all the other tissues. The heart's action, implying as it does +a certain waste, necessitates an addition to the blood of effete matters, +which must influence the rest of the system, and perhaps, as some think, +cause the formation of excretory organs. The nervous connections +established among the viscera must further multiply their mutual +influences: and so continually. + +Still stronger becomes the probability of this view when we call to mind +the fact, that the same germ may be evolved into different forms according +to circumstances. Thus, during its earlier stages, every embryo is +sexless--becomes either male or female as the balance of forces acting upon +it determines. Again, it is a well-established fact that the larva of a +working-bee will develop into a queen-bee, if, before it is too late, its +food be changed to that on which the larvae of queen-bees are fed. Even more +remarkable is the case of certain entozoa. The ovum of a tape-worm, getting +into its natural habitat, the intestine, unfolds into the well-known form +of its parent; but if carried, as it frequently is, into other parts of the +system, it becomes a sac-like creature, called by naturalists the +_Echinococcus_--a creature so extremely different from the tape-worm in +aspect and structure, that only after careful investigations has it been +proved to have the same origin. All which instances imply that each advance +in embryonic complication results from the action of incident forces upon +the complication previously existing. + +Indeed, we may find _a priori_ reason to think that the evolution proceeds +after this manner. For since it is now known that no germ, animal or +vegetable, contains the slightest rudiment, trace, or indication of the +future organism--now that the microscope has shown us that the first +process set up in every fertilized germ, is a process of repeated +spontaneous fissions ending in the production of a mass of cells, not one +of which exhibits any special character: there seems no alternative but to +suppose that the partial organization at any moment subsisting in a growing +embryo, is transformed by the agencies acting upon it into the succeeding +phase of organization, and this into the next, until, through +ever-increasing complexities, the ultimate form is reached. Thus, though +the subtilty of the forces and the slowness of the results, prevent us from +_directly_ showing that the stages of increasing heterogeneity through +which every embryo passes, severally arise from the production of many +changes by one force, yet, _indirectly_, we have strong evidence that they +do so. + +We have marked how multitudinous are the effects which one cause may +generate in an adult organism; that a like multiplication of effects must +happen in the unfolding organism, we have observed in sundry illustrative +cases; further, it has been pointed out that the ability which like germs +have to originate unlike forms, implies that the successive transformations +result from the new changes superinduced on previous changes; and we have +seen that structureless as every germ originally is, the development of an +organism out of it is otherwise incomprehensible. Not indeed that we can +thus really explain the production of any plant or animal. We are still in +the dark respecting those mysterious properties in virtue of which the +germ, when subject to fit influences, undergoes the special changes that +begin the series of transformations. All we aim to show, is, that given a +germ possessing these mysterious properties, the evolution of an organism +from it, probably depends upon that multiplication of effects which we have +seen to be the cause of progress in general, so far as we have yet traced +it. + +When, leaving the development of single plants and animals, we pass to that +of the Earth's flora and fauna, the course of our argument again becomes +clear and simple. Though, as was admitted in the first part of this +article, the fragmentary facts Palaeontology has accumulated, do not clearly +warrant us in saying that, in the lapse of geologic time, there have been +evolved more heterogeneous organisms, and more heterogeneous assemblages of +organisms, yet we shall now see that there _must_ ever have been a tendency +towards these results. We shall find that the production of many effects by +one cause, which, as already shown, has been all along increasing the +physical heterogeneity of the Earth, has further involved an increasing +heterogeneity in its flora and fauna, individually and collectively. An +illustration will make this clear. + +Suppose that by a series of upheavals, occurring, as they are now known to +do, at long intervals, the East Indian Archipelago were to be, step by +step, raised into a continent, and a chain of mountains formed along the +axis of elevation. By the first of these upheavals, the plants and animals +inhabiting Borneo, Sumatra, New Guinea, and the rest, would be subjected to +slightly modified sets of conditions. The climate in general would be +altered in temperature, in humidity, and in its periodical variations; +while the local differences would be multiplied. These modifications would +affect, perhaps inappreciably, the entire flora and fauna of the region. +The change of level would produce additional modifications: varying in +different species, and also in different members of the same species, +according to their distance from the axis of elevation. Plants, growing +only on the sea-shore in special localities, might become extinct. Others, +living only in swamps of a certain humidity, would, if they survived at +all, probably undergo visible changes of appearance. While still greater +alterations would occur in the plants gradually spreading over the lands +newly raised above the sea. The animals and insects living on these +modified plants, would themselves be in some degree modified by change of +food, as well as by change of climate; and the modification would be more +marked where, from the dwindling or disappearance of one kind of plant, an +allied kind was eaten. In the lapse of the many generations arising before +the next upheaval, the sensible or insensible alterations thus produced in +each species would become organized--there would be a more or less complete +adaptation to the new conditions. The next upheaval would superinduce +further organic changes, implying wider divergences from the primary forms; +and so repeatedly. + +But now let it be observed that the revolution thus resulting would not be +a substitution of a thousand more or less modified species for the thousand +original species; but in place of the thousand original species there would +arise several thousand species, or varieties, or changed forms. Each +species being distributed over an area of some extent, and tending +continually to colonize the new area exposed, its different members would +be subject to different sets of changes. Plants and animals spreading +towards the equator would not be affected in the same way with others +spreading from it. Those spreading towards the new shores would undergo +changes unlike the changes undergone by those spreading into the mountains. +Thus, each original race of organisms, would become the root from which +diverged several races differing more or less from it and from each other; +and while some of these might subsequently disappear, probably more than +one would survive in the next geologic period: the very dispersion itself +increasing the chances of survival. Not only would there be certain +modifications thus caused by change of physical conditions and food, but +also in some cases other modifications caused by change of habit. The fauna +of each island, peopling, step by step, the newly-raised tracts, would +eventually come in contact with the faunas of other islands; and some +members of these other faunas would be unlike any creatures before seen. +Herbivores meeting with new beasts of prey, would, in some cases, be led +into modes of defence or escape differing from those previously used; and +simultaneously the beasts of prey would modify their modes of pursuit and +attack. We know that when circumstances demand it, such changes of habit +_do_ take place in animals; and we know that if the new habits become the +dominant ones, they must eventually in some degree alter the organization. + +Observe, now, however, a further consequence. There must arise not simply a +tendency towards the differentiation of each race of organisms into several +races; but also a tendency to the occasional production of a somewhat +higher organism. Taken in the mass these divergent varieties which have +been caused by fresh physical conditions and habits of life, will exhibit +changes quite indefinite in kind and degree; and changes that do not +necessarily constitute an advance. Probably in most cases the modified type +will be neither more nor less heterogeneous than the original one. In some +cases the habits of life adopted being simpler than before, a less +heterogeneous structure will result: there will be a retrogradation. But it +_must_ now and then occur, that some division of a species, falling into +circumstances which give it rather more complex experiences, and demand +actions somewhat more involved, will have certain of its organs further +differentiated in proportionately small degrees,--will become slightly more +heterogeneous. + +Thus, in the natural course of things, there will from time to time arise +an increased heterogeneity both of the Earth's flora and fauna, and of +individual races included in them. Omitting detailed explanations, and +allowing for the qualifications which cannot here be specified, we think it +is clear that geological mutations have all along tended to complicate the +forms of life, whether regarded separately or collectively. The same causes +which have led to the evolution of the Earth's crust from the simple into +the complex, have simultaneously led to a parallel evolution of the Life +upon its surface. In this case, as in previous ones, we see that the +transformation of the homogeneous into the heterogeneous is consequent upon +the universal principle, that every active force produces more than one +change. + +The deduction here drawn from the established truths of geology and the +general laws of life, gains immensely in weight on finding it to be in +harmony with an induction drawn from direct experience. Just that +divergence of many races from one race, which we inferred must have been +continually occurring during geologic time, we know to have occurred during +the pre-historic and historic periods, in man and domestic animals. And +just that multiplication of effects which we concluded must have produced +the first, we see has produced the last. Single causes, as famine, pressure +of population, war, have periodically led to further dispersions of mankind +and of dependent creatures: each such dispersion initiating new +modifications, new varieties of type. Whether all the human races be or be +not derived from one stock, philology makes it clear that whole groups of +races now easily distinguishable from each other, were originally one +race,--that the diffusion of one race into different climates and +conditions of existence, has produced many modified forms of it. + +Similarly with domestic animals. Though in some cases--as that of +dogs--community of origin will perhaps be disputed, yet in other cases--as +that of the sheep or the cattle of our own country--it will not be +questioned that local differences of climate, food, and treatment, have +transformed one original breed into numerous breeds now become so far +distinct as to produce unstable hybrids. Moreover, through the +complications of effects flowing from single causes, we here find, what we +before inferred, not only an increase of general heterogeneity, but also of +special heterogeneity. While of the divergent divisions and subdivisions of +the human race, many have undergone changes not constituting an advance; +while in some the type may have degraded; in others it has become decidedly +more heterogeneous. The civilized European departs more widely from the +vertebrate archetype than does the savage. Thus, both the law and the cause +of progress, which, from lack of evidence, can be but hypothetically +substantiated in respect of the earlier forms of life on our globe, can be +actually substantiated in respect of the latest forms. + +If the advance of Man towards greater heterogeneity is traceable to the +production of many effects by one cause still more clearly may the advance +of Society towards greater heterogeneity be so explained. Consider the +growth of an industrial organization. When, as must occasionally happen, +some individual of a tribe displays unusual aptitude for making an article +of general use--a weapon, for instance--which was before made by each man +for himself, there arises a tendency towards the differentiation of that +individual into a maker of such weapon. His companions--warriors and +hunters all of them,--severally feel the importance of having the best +weapons that can be made; and are therefore certain to offer strong +inducements to this skilled individual to make weapons for them. He, on the +other hand, having not only an unusual faculty, but an unusual liking, for +making such weapons (the talent and the desire for any occupation being +commonly associated), is predisposed to fulfil these commissions on the +offer of an adequate reward: especially as his love of distinction is also +gratified. This first specialization of function, once commenced, tends +ever to become more decided. On the side of the weapon-maker continued +practice gives increased skill--increased superiority to his products: on +the side of his clients, cessation of practice entails decreased skill. +Thus the influences that determine this division of labour grow stronger in +both ways; and the incipient heterogeneity is, on the average of cases, +likely to become permanent for that generation, if no longer. + +Observe now, however, that this process not only differentiates the social +mass into two parts, the one monopolizing, or almost monopolizing, the +performance of a certain function, and the other having lost the habit, and +in some measure the power, of performing that function; but it tends to +imitate other differentiations. The advance we have described implies the +introduction of barter,--the maker of weapons has, on each occasion, to be +paid in such other articles as he agrees to take in exchange. But he will +not habitually take in exchange one kind of article, but many kinds. He +does not want mats only, or skins, or fishing gear, but he wants all these; +and on each occasion will bargain for the particular things he most needs. +What follows? If among the members of the tribe there exist any slight +differences of skill in the manufacture of these various things, as there +are almost sure to do, the weapon-maker will take from each one the thing +which that one excels in making: he will exchange for mats with him whose +mats are superior, and will bargain for the fishing gear of whoever has the +best. But he who has bartered away his mats or his fishing gear, must make +other mats or fishing gear for himself; and in so doing must, in some +degree, further develop his aptitude. Thus it results that the small +specialities of faculty possessed by various members of the tribe, will +tend to grow more decided. If such transactions are from time repeated, +these specializations may become appreciable. And whether or not there +ensue distinct differentiations of other individuals into makers of +particular articles, it is clear that incipient differentiations take place +throughout the tribe: the one original cause produces not only the first +dual effect, but a number of secondary dual effects, like in kind, but +minor in degree. This process, of which traces may be seen among groups of +schoolboys, cannot well produce any lasting effects in an unsettled tribe; +but where there grows up a fixed and multiplying community, these +differentiations become permanent, and increase with each generation. A +larger population, involving a greater demand for every commodity, +intensifies the functional activity of each specialized person or class; +and this renders the specialization more definite where it already exists, +and establishes it where it is nascent. By increasing the pressure on the +means of subsistence, a larger population again augments these results; +seeing that each person is forced more and more to confine himself to that +which he can do best, and by which he can gain most. This industrial +progress, by aiding future production, opens the way for a further growth +of population, which reacts as before: in all which the multiplication of +effects is manifest. Presently, under these same stimuli, new occupations +arise. Competing workers, ever aiming to produce improved articles, +occasionally discover better processes or raw materials. In weapons and +cutting tools, the substitution of bronze for stone entails upon him who +first makes it a great increase of demand--so great an increase that he +presently finds all his time occupied in making the bronze for the articles +he sells, and is obliged to depute the fashioning of these to others: and, +eventually, the making of bronze, thus gradually differentiated from a +pre-existing occupation, becomes an occupation by itself. + +But now mark the ramified changes which follow this change. Bronze soon +replaces stone, not only in the articles it was first used for, but in many +others--in arms, tools, and utensils of various kinds; and so affects the +manufacture of these things. Further, it affects the processes which these +utensils subserve, and the resulting products--modifies buildings, +carvings, dress, personal decorations. Yet again, it sets going sundry +manufactures which were before impossible, from lack of a material fit for +the requisite tools. And all these changes react on the people--increase +their manipulative skill, their intelligence, their comfort,--refine their +habits and tastes. Thus the evolution of a homogeneous society into a +heterogeneous one, is clearly consequent on the general principle, that +many effects are produced by one cause. + +Our limits will not allow us to follow out this process in its higher +complications: else might we show how the localization of special +industries in special parts of a kingdom, as well as the minute subdivision +of labour in the making of each commodity, are similarly determined. Or, +turning to a somewhat different order of illustrations, we might dwell on +the multitudinous changes--material, intellectual, moral,--caused by +printing; or the further extensive series of changes wrought by gunpowder. +But leaving the intermediate phases of social development, let us take a +few illustrations from its most recent and its passing phases. To trace the +effects of steam-power, in its manifold applications to mining, navigation, +and manufactures of all kinds, would carry us into unmanageable detail. Let +us confine ourselves to the latest embodiment of steam-power--the +locomotive engine. + +This, as the proximate cause of our railway system, has changed the face of +the country, the course of trade, and the habits of the people. Consider, +first, the complicated sets of changes that precede the making of every +railway--the provisional arrangements, the meetings, the registration, the +trial section, the parliamentary survey, the lithographed plans, the books +of reference, the local deposits and notices, the application to +Parliament, the passing Standing-Orders Committee, the first, second, and +third readings: each of which brief heads indicates a multiplicity of +transactions, and the development of sundry occupations--as those of +engineers, surveyors, lithographers, parliamentary agents, share-brokers; +and the creation of sundry others--as those of traffic-takers, +reference-takers. Consider, next, the yet more marked changes implied in +railway construction--the cuttings, embankings, tunnellings, diversions of +roads; the building of bridges and stations; the laying down of ballast, +sleepers, and rails; the making of engines, tenders, carriages and waggons: +which processes, acting upon numerous trades, increase the importation of +timber, the quarrying of stone, the manufacture of iron, the mining of +coal, the burning of bricks: institute a variety of special manufactures +weekly advertised in the _Railway Times_; and, finally, open the way to +sundry new occupations, as those of drivers, stokers, cleaners, +plate-layers, &c., &c. And then consider the changes, more numerous and +involved still, which railways in action produce on the community at large. +The organization of every business is more or less modified: ease of +communication makes it better to do directly what was before done by proxy; +agencies are established where previously they would not have paid; goods +are obtained from remote wholesale houses instead of near retail ones; and +commodities are used which distance once rendered inaccessible. Again, the +rapidity and small cost of carriage tend to specialize more than ever the +industries of different districts--to confine each manufacture to the parts +in which, from local advantages, it can be best carried on. Further, the +diminished cost of carriage, facilitating distribution, equalizes prices, +and also, on the average, lowers prices: thus bringing divers articles +within the means of those before unable to buy them, and so increasing +their comforts and improving their habits. At the same time the practice of +travelling is immensely extended. Classes who never before thought of it, +take annual trips to the sea; visit their distant relations; make tours; +and so we are benefited in body, feelings, and intellect. Moreover, the +more prompt transmission of letters and of news produces further +changes--makes the pulse of the nation faster. Yet more, there arises a +wide dissemination of cheap literature through railway book-stalls, and of +advertisements in railway carriages: both of them aiding ulterior progress. + +And all the innumerable changes here briefly indicated are consequent on +the invention of the locomotive engine. The social organism has been +rendered more heterogeneous in virtue of the many new occupations +introduced, and the many old ones further specialized; prices in every +place have been altered; each trader has, more or less, modified his way of +doing business; and almost every person has been affected in his actions, +thoughts, emotions. + +Illustrations to the same effect might be indefinitely accumulated. That +every influence brought to bear upon society works multiplied effects; and +that increase of heterogeneity is due to this multiplication of effects; +may be seen in the history of every trade, every custom, every belief. But +it is needless to give additional evidence of this. The only further fact +demanding notice, is, that we here see still more clearly than ever, the +truth before pointed out, that in proportion as the area on which any force +expends itself becomes heterogeneous, the results are in a yet higher +degree multiplied in number and kind. While among the primitive tribes to +whom it was first known, caoutchouc caused but a few changes, among +ourselves the changes have been so many and varied that the history of them +occupies a volume.[D] Upon the small, homogeneous community inhabiting one +of the Hebrides, the electric telegraph would produce, were it used, +scarcely any results; but in England the results it produces are +multitudinous. The comparatively simple organization under which our +ancestors lived five centuries ago, could have undergone but few +modifications from an event like the recent one at Canton; but now the +legislative decision respecting it sets up many hundreds of complex +modifications, each of which will be the parent of numerous future ones. + + [D] "Personal Narrative of the Origin of the Caoutchouc, or + India-Rubber Manufacture in England." By Thomas Hancock. + +Space permitting, we could willingly have pursued the argument in relation +to all the subtler results of civilization. As before, we showed that the +law of Progress to which the organic and inorganic worlds conform, is also +conformed to by Language, Sculpture, Music, &c.; so might we here show that +the cause which we have hitherto found to determine Progress holds in these +cases also. We might demonstrate in detail how, in Science, an advance of +one division presently advances other divisions--how Astronomy has been +immensely forwarded by discoveries in Optics, while other optical +discoveries have initiated Microscopic Anatomy, and greatly aided the +growth of Physiology--how Chemistry has indirectly increased our knowledge +of Electricity, Magnetism, Biology, Geology--how Electricity has reacted on +Chemistry and Magnetism, developed our views of Light and Heat, and +disclosed sundry laws of nervous action. + +In Literature the same truth might be exhibited in the manifold effects of +the primitive mystery-play, not only as originating the modern drama, but +as affecting through it other kinds of poetry and fiction; or in the still +multiplying forms of periodical literature that have descended from the +first newspaper, and which have severally acted and reacted on other forms +of literature and on each other. The influence which a new school of +Painting--as that of the pre-Raffaelites--exercises upon other schools; the +hints which all kinds of pictorial art are deriving from Photography; the +complex results of new critical doctrines, as those of Mr. Ruskin, might +severally be dwelt upon as displaying the like multiplication of effects. +But it would needlessly tax the reader's patience to pursue, in their many +ramifications, these various changes: here become so involved and subtle as +to be followed with some difficulty. + +Without further evidence, we venture to think our case is made out. The +imperfections of statement which brevity has necessitated, do not, we +believe, militate against the propositions laid down. The qualifications +here and there demanded would not, if made, affect the inferences. Though +in one instance, where sufficient evidence is not attainable, we have been +unable to show that the law of Progress applies; yet there is high +probability that the same generalization holds which holds throughout the +rest of creation. Though, in tracing the genesis of Progress, we have +frequently spoken of complex causes as if they were simple ones; it still +remains true that such causes are far less complex than their results. +Detailed criticisms cannot affect our main position. Endless facts go to +show that every kind of progress is from the homogeneous to the +heterogeneous; and that it is so because each change is followed by many +changes. And it is significant that where the facts are most accessible and +abundant, there are these truths most manifest. + +However, to avoid committing ourselves to more than is yet proved, we must +be content with saying that such are the law and the cause of all progress +that is known to us. Should the Nebular Hypothesis ever be established, +then it will become manifest that the Universe at large, like every +organism, was once homogeneous; that as a whole, and in every detail, it +has unceasingly advanced towards greater heterogeneity; and that its +heterogeneity is still increasing. It will be seen that as in each event of +to-day, so from the beginning, the decomposition of every expended force +into several forces has been perpetually producing a higher complication; +that the increase of heterogeneity so brought about is still going on, and +must continue to go on; and that thus Progress is not an accident, not a +thing within human control, but a beneficent necessity. + + * * * * * + +A few words must be added on the ontological bearings of our argument. +Probably not a few will conclude that here is an attempted solution of the +great questions with which Philosophy in all ages has perplexed itself. Let +none thus deceive themselves. Only such as know not the scope and the +limits of Science can fall into so grave an error. The foregoing +generalizations apply, not to the genesis of things in themselves, but to +their genesis as manifested to the human consciousness. After all that has +been said, the ultimate mystery remains just as it was. The explanation of +that which is explicable, does but bring out into greater clearness the +inexplicableness of that which remains behind. However we may succeed in +reducing the equation to its lowest terms, we are not thereby enabled to +determine the unknown quantity: on the contrary, it only becomes more +manifest that the unknown quantity can never be found. + +Little as it seems to do so, fearless inquiry tends continually to give a +firmer basis to all true Religion. The timid sectarian, alarmed at the +progress of knowledge, obliged to abandon one by one the superstitions of +his ancestors, and daily finding his cherished beliefs more and more +shaken, secretly fears that all things may some day be explained; and has a +corresponding dread of Science: thus evincing the profoundest of all +infidelity--the fear lest the truth be bad. On the other hand, the sincere +man of science, content to follow wherever the evidence leads him, becomes +by each new inquiry more profoundly convinced that the Universe is an +insoluble problem. Alike in the external and the internal worlds, he sees +himself in the midst of perpetual changes, of which he can discover neither +the beginning nor the end. If, tracing back the evolution of things, he +allows himself to entertain the hypothesis that all matter once existed in +a diffused form, he finds it utterly impossible to conceive how this came +to be so; and equally, if he speculates on the future, he can assign no +limit to the grand succession of phenomena ever unfolding themselves before +him. On the other hand, if he looks inward, he perceives that both +terminations of the thread of consciousness are beyond his grasp: he cannot +remember when or how consciousness commenced, and he cannot examine the +consciousness that at any moment exists; for only a state of consciousness +that is already past can become the object of thought, and never one which +is passing. + +When, again, he turns from the succession of phenomena, external or +internal, to their essential nature, he is equally at fault. Though he may +succeed in resolving all properties of objects into manifestations of +force, he is not thereby enabled to realize what force is; but finds, on +the contrary, that the more he thinks about it, the more he is baffled. +Similarly, though analysis of mental actions may finally bring him down to +sensations as the original materials out of which all thought is woven, he +is none the forwarder; for he cannot in the least comprehend +sensation--cannot even conceive how sensation is possible. Inward and +outward things he thus discovers to be alike inscrutable in their ultimate +genesis and nature. He sees that the Materialist and Spiritualist +controversy is a mere war of words; the disputants being equally +absurd--each believing he understands that which it is impossible for any +man to understand. In all directions his investigations eventually bring +him face to face with the unknowable; and he ever more clearly perceives it +to be the unknowable. He learns at once the greatness and the littleness of +human intellect--its power in dealing with all that comes within the range +of experience; its impotence in dealing with all that transcends +experience. He feels, with a vividness which no others can, the utter +incomprehensibleness of the simplest fact, considered in itself. He alone +truly _sees_ that absolute knowledge is impossible. He alone _knows_ that +under all things there lies an impenetrable mystery. + + + + +II. MANNERS AND FASHION. + + +Whoever has studied the physiognomy of political meetings, cannot fail to +have remarked a connection between democratic opinions and peculiarities of +costume. At a Chartist demonstration, a lecture on Socialism, or a _soiree_ +of the Friends of Italy, there will be seen many among the audience, and a +still larger ratio among the speakers, who get themselves up in a style +more or less unusual. One gentleman on the platform divides his hair down +the centre, instead of on one side; another brushes it back off the +forehead, in the fashion known as "bringing out the intellect;" a third has +so long forsworn the scissors, that his locks sweep his shoulders. A +considerable sprinkling of moustaches may be observed; here and there an +imperial; and occasionally some courageous breaker of conventions exhibits +a full-grown beard.[E] This nonconformity in hair is countenanced by +various nonconformities in dress, shown by others of the assemblage. Bare +necks, shirt-collars _a la_ Byron, waistcoats cut Quaker fashion, +wonderfully shaggy great coats, numerous oddities in form and colour, +destroy the monotony usual in crowds. Even those exhibiting no conspicuous +peculiarity, frequently indicate by something in the pattern or make-up of +their clothes, that they pay small regard to what their tailors tell them +about the prevailing taste. And when the gathering breaks up, the varieties +of head gear displayed--the number of caps, and the abundance of felt +hats--suffice to prove that were the world at large like-minded, the black +cylinders which tyrannize over us would soon be deposed. + + [E] This was written before moustaches and beards had become common. + +The foreign correspondence of our daily press shows that this relationship +between political discontent and the disregard of customs exists on the +Continent also. Red republicanism has always been distinguished by its +hirsuteness. The authorities of Prussia, Austria, and Italy, alike +recognize certain forms of hat as indicative of disaffection, and fulminate +against them accordingly. In some places the wearer of a blouse runs a risk +of being classed among the _suspects_; and in others, he who would avoid +the bureau of police, must beware how he goes out in any but the ordinary +colours. Thus, democracy abroad, as at home, tends towards personal +singularity. + +Nor is this association of characteristics peculiar to modern times, or to +reformers of the State. It has always existed; and it has been manifested +as much in religious agitations as in political ones. Along with dissent +from the chief established opinions and arrangements, there has ever been +some dissent from the customary social practices. The Puritans, +disapproving of the long curls of the Cavaliers, as of their principles, +cut their own hair short, and so gained the name of "Roundheads." The +marked religious nonconformity of the Quakers was accompanied by an +equally-marked nonconformity of manners--in attire, in speech, in +salutation. The early Moravians not only believed differently, but at the +same time dressed differently, and lived differently, from their fellow +Christians. + +That the association between political independence and independence of +personal conduct, is not a phenomenon of to-day only, we may see alike in +the appearance of Franklin at the French court in plain clothes, and in the +white hats worn by the last generation of radicals. Originality of nature +is sure to show itself in more ways than one. The mention of George Fox's +suit of leather, or Pestalozzi's school name, "Harry Oddity," will at once +suggest the remembrance that men who have in great things diverged from the +beaten track, have frequently done so in small things likewise. Minor +illustrations of this truth may be gathered in almost every circle. We +believe that whoever will number up his reforming and rationalist +acquaintances, will find among them more than the usual proportion of those +who in dress or behaviour exhibit some degree of what the world calls +eccentricity. + +If it be a fact that men of revolutionary aims in politics or religion, are +commonly revolutionists in custom also, it is not less a fact that those +whose office it is to uphold established arrangements in State and Church, +are also those who most adhere to the social forms and observances +bequeathed to us by past generations. Practices elsewhere extinct still +linger about the headquarters of government. The monarch still gives assent +to Acts of Parliament in the old French of the Normans; and Norman French +terms are still used in law. Wigs, such as those we see depicted in old +portraits, may yet be found on the heads of judges and barristers. The +Beefeaters at the Tower wear the costume of Henry VIIth's body-guard. The +University dress of the present year varies but little from that worn soon +after the Reformation. The claret-coloured coat, knee-breeches, lace shirt +frills, ruffles, white silk stockings, and buckled shoes, which once formed +the usual attire of a gentleman, still survive as the court-dress. And it +need scarcely be said that at _levees_ and drawing-rooms, the ceremonies +are prescribed with an exactness, and enforced with a rigour, not elsewhere +to be found. + +Can we consider these two series of coincidences as accidental and +unmeaning? Must we not rather conclude that some necessary relationship +obtains between them? Are there not such things as a constitutional +conservatism, and a constitutional tendency to change? Is there not a class +which clings to the old in all things; and another class so in love with +progress as often to mistake novelty for improvement? Do we not find some +men ready to bow to established authority of whatever kind; while others +demand of every such authority its reason, and reject it if it fails to +justify itself? And must not the minds thus contrasted tend to become +respectively conformist and nonconformist, not only in politics and +religion, but in other things? Submission, whether to a government, to the +dogmas of ecclesiastics, or to that code of behaviour which society at +large has set up, is essentially of the same nature; and the sentiment +which induces resistance to the despotism of rulers, civil or spiritual, +likewise induces resistance to the despotism of the world's opinion. Look +at them fundamentally, and all enactments, alike of the legislature, the +consistory, and the saloon--all regulations, formal or virtual, have a +common character: they are all limitations of men's freedom. "Do +this--Refrain from that," are the blank formulas into which they may all be +written: and in each case the understanding is that obedience will bring +approbation here and paradise hereafter; while disobedience will entail +imprisonment, or sending to Coventry, or eternal torments, as the case may +be. And if restraints, however named, and through whatever apparatus of +means exercised, are one in their action upon men, it must happen that +those who are patient under one kind of restraint, are likely to be patient +under another; and conversely, that those impatient of restraint in +general, will, on the average, tend to show their impatience in all +directions. + +That Law, Religion, and Manners are thus related--that their respective +kinds of operation come under one generalization--that they have in certain +contrasted characteristics of men a common support and a common +danger--will, however, be most clearly seen on discovering that they have a +common origin. Little as from present appearances we should suppose it, we +shall yet find that at first, the control of religion, the control of laws, +and the control of manners, were all one control. However incredible it may +now seem, we believe it to be demonstrable that the rules of etiquette, the +provisions of the statute-book, and the commands of the decalogue, have +grown from the same root. If we go far enough back into the ages of +primeval Fetishism, it becomes manifest that originally Deity, Chief, and +Master of the ceremonies were identical. To make good these positions, and +to show their bearing on what is to follow, it will be necessary here to +traverse ground that is in part somewhat beaten, and at first sight +irrelevant to our topic. We will pass over it as quickly as consists with +the exigencies of the argument. + + * * * * * + +That the earliest social aggregations were ruled solely by the will of the +strong man, few dispute. That from the strong man proceeded not only +Monarchy, but the conception of a God, few admit: much as Carlyle and +others have said in evidence of it. If, however, those who are unable to +believe this, will lay aside the ideas of God and man in which they have +been educated, and study the aboriginal ideas of them, they will at least +see some probability in the hypothesis. Let them remember that before +experience had yet taught men to distinguish between the possible and the +impossible; and while they were ready on the slightest suggestion to +ascribe unknown powers to any object and make a fetish of it; their +conceptions of humanity and its capacities were necessarily vague, and +without specific limits. The man who by unusual strength, or cunning, +achieved something that others had failed to achieve, or something which +they did not understand, was considered by them as differing from +themselves; and, as we see in the belief of some Polynesians that only +their chiefs have souls, or in that of the ancient Peruvians that their +nobles were divine by birth, the ascribed difference was apt to be not one +of degree only, but one of kind. + +Let them remember next, how gross were the notions of God, or rather of +gods, prevalent during the same era and afterwards--how concretely gods +were conceived as men of specific aspects dressed in specific ways--how +their names were literally "the strong," "the destroyer," "the powerful +one,"--how, according to the Scandinavian mythology, the "sacred duty of +blood-revenge" was acted on by the gods themselves,--and how they were not +only human in their vindictiveness, their cruelty, and their quarrels with +each other, but were supposed to have amours on earth, and to consume the +viands placed on their altars. Add to which, that in various mythologies, +Greek, Scandinavian, and others, the oldest beings are giants; that +according to a traditional genealogy the gods, demi-gods, and in some cases +men, are descended from these after the human fashion; and that while in +the East we hear of sons of God who saw the daughters of men that they were +fair, the Teutonic myths tell of unions between the sons of men and the +daughters of the gods. + +Let them remember, too, that at first the idea of death differed widely +from that which we have; that there are still tribes who, on the decease of +one of their number, attempt to make the corpse stand, and put food into +his mouth; that the Peruvians had feasts at which the mummies of their dead +Incas presided, when, as Prescott says, they paid attention "to these +insensible remains as if they were instinct with life;" that among the +Feejees it is believed that every enemy has to be killed twice; that the +Eastern Pagans give extension and figure to the soul, and attribute to it +all the same substances, both solid and liquid, of which our bodies are +composed; and that it is the custom among most barbarous races to bury +food, weapons, and trinkets along with the dead body, under the manifest +belief that it will presently need them. + +Lastly, let them remember that the other world, as originally conceived, is +simply some distant part of this world--some Elysian fields, some happy +hunting-ground, accessible even to the living, and to which, after death, +men travel in anticipation of a life analogous in general character to that +which they led before. Then, co-ordinating these general facts--the +ascription of unknown powers to chiefs and medicine men; the belief in +deities having human forms, passions, and behaviour; the imperfect +comprehension of death as distinguished from life; and the proximity of the +future abode to the present, both in position and character--let them +reflect whether they do not almost unavoidably suggest the conclusion that +the aboriginal god is the dead chief: the chief not dead in our sense, but +gone away carrying with him food and weapons to some rumoured region of +plenty, some promised land, whither he had long intended to lead his +followers, and whence he will presently return to fetch them. + +This hypothesis once entertained, is seen to harmonize with all primitive +ideas and practices. The sons of the deified chief reigning after him, it +necessarily happens that all early kings are held descendants of the gods; +and the fact that alike in Assyria, Egypt, among the Jews, Ph[oe]nicians, +and ancient Britons, kings' names were formed out of the names of the gods, +is fully explained. The genesis of Polytheism out of Fetishism, by the +successive migrations of the race of god-kings to the other world--a +genesis illustrated in the Greek mythology, alike by the precise genealogy +of the deities, and by the specifically asserted apotheosis of the later +ones--tends further to bear it out. It explains the fact that in the old +creeds, as in the still extant creed of the Otaheitans, every family has +its guardian spirit, who is supposed to be one of their departed relatives; +and that they sacrifice to these as minor gods--a practice still pursued by +the Chinese and even by the Russians. It is perfectly congruous with the +Grecian myths concerning the wars of the Gods with the Titans and their +final usurpation; and it similarly agrees with the fact that among the +Teutonic gods proper was one Freir who came among them by adoption, "but +was born among the _Vanes_, a somewhat mysterious _other_ dynasty of gods, +who had been conquered and superseded by the stronger and more warlike Odin +dynasty." It harmonizes, too, with the belief that there are different gods +to different territories and nations, as there were different chiefs; that +these gods contend for supremacy as chiefs do; and it gives meaning to the +boast of neighbouring tribes--"Our god is greater than your god." It is +confirmed by the notion universally current in early times, that the gods +come from this other abode, in which they commonly live, and appear among +men--speak to them, help them, punish them. And remembering this, it +becomes manifest that the prayers put up by primitive peoples to their gods +for aid in battle, are meant literally--that their gods are expected to +come back from the other kingdom they are reigning over, and once more +fight the old enemies they had before warred against so implacably; and it +needs but to name the Iliad, to remind every one how thoroughly they +believed the expectation fulfilled. + +All government, then, being originally that of the strong man who has +become a fetish by some manifestation of superiority, there arises, at his +death--his supposed departure on a long projected expedition, in which he +is accompanied by his slaves and concubines sacrificed at his tomb--there +arises, then, the incipient division of religious from political control, +of civil rule from spiritual. His son becomes deputed chief during his +absence; his authority is cited as that by which his son acts; his +vengeance is invoked on all who disobey his son; and his commands, as +previously known or as asserted by his son, become the germ of a moral +code: a fact we shall the more clearly perceive if we remember, that early +moral codes inculcate mainly the virtues of the warrior, and the duty of +exterminating some neighbouring tribe whose existence is an offence to the +deity. + +From this point onwards, these two kinds of authority, at first complicated +together as those of principal and agent, become slowly more and more +distinct. As experience accumulates, and ideas of causation grow more +precise, kings lose their supernatural attributes; and, instead of +God-king, become God-descended king, God-appointed king, the Lord's +anointed, the viceregent of heaven, ruler reigning by Divine right. The old +theory, however, long clings to men in feeling, after it has disappeared in +name; and "such divinity doth hedge a king," that even now, many, on first +seeing one, feel a secret surprise at finding him an ordinary sample of +humanity. The sacredness attaching to royalty attaches afterwards to its +appended institutions--to legislatures, to laws. Legal and illegal are +synonymous with right and wrong; the authority of Parliament is held +unlimited; and a lingering faith in governmental power continually +generates unfounded hopes from its enactments. Political scepticism, +however, having destroyed the divine _prestige_ of royalty, goes on ever +increasing, and promises ultimately to reduce the State to a purely secular +institution, whose regulations are limited in their sphere, and have no +other authority than the general will. Meanwhile, the religious control has +been little by little separating itself from the civil, both in its essence +and in its forms. While from the God-king of the savage have arisen in one +direction, secular rulers who, age by age, have been losing the sacred +attributes men ascribed to them; there has arisen in another direction, the +conception of a deity, who, at first human in all things, has been +gradually losing human materiality, human form, human passions, human modes +of action: until now, anthropomorphism has become a reproach. + +Along with this wide divergence in men's ideas of the divine and civil +ruler has been taking place a corresponding divergence in the codes of +conduct respectively proceeding from them. While the king was a +deputy-god--a governor such as the Jews looked for in the Messiah--a +governor considered, as the Czar still is, "our God upon Earth,"--it, of +course, followed that his commands were the supreme rules. But as men +ceased to believe in his supernatural origin and nature, his commands +ceased to be the highest; and there arose a distinction between the +regulations made by him, and the regulations handed down from the old +god-kings, who were rendered ever more sacred by time and the accumulation +of myths. Hence came respectively, Law and Morality: the one growing ever +more concrete, the other more abstract; the authority of the one ever on +the decrease, that of the other ever on the increase; originally the same, +but now placed daily in more marked antagonism. + +Simultaneously there has been going on a separation of the institutions +administering these two codes of conduct. While they were yet one, of +course Church and State were one: the king was arch-priest, not nominally, +but really--alike the giver of new commands and the chief interpreter of +the old commands; and the deputy-priests coming out of his family were thus +simply expounders of the dictates of their ancestry: at first as +recollected, and afterwards as ascertained by professed interviews with +them. This union--which still existed practically during the middle ages, +when the authority of kings was mixed up with the authority of the pope, +when there were bishop-rulers having all the powers of feudal lords, and +when priests punished by penances--has been, step by step, becoming less +close. Though monarchs are still "defenders of the faith," and +ecclesiastical chiefs, they are but nominally such. Though bishops still +have civil power, it is not what they once had. Protestantism shook loose +the bonds of union; Dissent has long been busy in organizing a mechanism +for the exercise of religious control, wholly independent of law; in +America, a separate organization for that purpose already exists; and if +anything is to be hoped from the Anti-State-Church Association--or, as it +has been newly named, "The Society for the Liberation of Religion from +State Patronage and Control"--we shall presently have a separate +organization here also. + +Thus alike in authority, in essence, and in form, political and spiritual +rule have been ever more widely diverging from the same root. That +increasing division of labour which marks the progress of society in other +things, marks it also in this separation of government into civil and +religious; and if we observe how the morality which forms the substance of +religions in general, is beginning to be purified from the associated +creeds, we may anticipate that this division will be ultimately carried +much further. + +Passing now to the third species of control--that of Manners--we shall find +that this, too, while it had a common genesis with the others, has +gradually come to have a distinct sphere and a special embodiment. Among +early aggregations of men before yet social observances existed, the sole +forms of courtesy known were the signs of submission to the strong man; as +the sole law was his will, and the sole religion the awe of his supposed +supernaturalness. Originally, ceremonies were modes of behaviour to the +god-king. Our commonest titles have been derived from his names. And all +salutations were primarily worship paid to him. Let us trace out these +truths in detail, beginning with titles. + +The fact already noticed, that the names of early kings among divers races +are formed by the addition of certain syllables to the names of their +gods--which certain syllables, like our _Mac_ and _Fitz_, probably mean +"son of," or "descended from"--at once gives meaning to the term _Father_ +as a divine title. And when we read, in Selden, that "the composition out +of these names of Deities was not only proper to Kings: their Grandes and +more honorable Subjects" (no doubt members of the royal race) "had +sometimes the like;" we see how the term _Father_, properly used by these +also, and by their multiplying descendants, came to be a title used by the +people in general. And it is significant as bearing on this point, that +among the most barbarous nation in Europe, where belief in the divine +nature of the ruler still lingers, _Father_ in this higher sense is still a +regal distinction. When, again, we remember how the divinity at first +ascribed to kings was not a complimentary fiction but a supposed fact; and +how, further, under the Fetish philosophy the celestial bodies are believed +to be personages who once lived among men; we see that the appellations of +oriental rulers, "Brother to the Sun," &c., were probably once expressive +of a genuine belief; and have simply, like many other things, continued in +use after all meaning has gone out of them. We may infer, too, that the +titles God, Lord, Divinity, were given to primitive rulers literally--that +the _nostra divinitas_ applied to the Roman emperors, and the various +sacred designations that have been borne by monarchs, down to the still +extant phrase, "Our Lord the King," are the dead and dying forms of what +were once living facts. From these names, God, Father, Lord, Divinity, +originally belonging to the God-king, and afterwards to God and the king, +the derivation of our commonest titles of respect is clearly traceable. + +There is reason to think that these titles were originally proper names. +Not only do we see among the Egyptians, where Pharaoh was synonymous with +king, and among the Romans, where to be Caesar, meant to be Emperor, that +the proper names of the greatest men were transferred to their successors, +and so became class names; but in the Scandinavian mythology we may trace a +human title of honour up to the proper name of a divine personage. In +Anglo-Saxon _bealdor_, or _baldor_, means _Lord_; and Balder is the name of +the favourite of Odin's sons--the gods who with him constitute the Teutonic +Pantheon. How these names of honour became general is easily understood. +The relatives of the primitive kings--the grandees described by Selden as +having names formed on those of the gods, and shown by this to be members +of the divine race--necessarily shared in the epithets, such as _Lord_, +descriptive of superhuman relationships and nature. Their ever-multiplying +offspring inheriting these, gradually rendered them comparatively common. +And then they came to be applied to every man of power: partly from the +fact that, in these early days when men conceived divinity simply as a +stronger kind of humanity, great persons could be called by divine epithets +with but little exaggeration; partly from the fact that the unusually +potent were apt to be considered as unrecognized or illegitimate +descendants of "the strong, the destroyer, the powerful one;" and partly, +also, from compliment and the desire to propitiate. + +Progressively as superstition diminished, this last became the sole cause. +And if we remember that it is the nature of compliment, as we daily hear +it, to attribute more than is due--that in the constantly widening +application of "esquire," in the perpetual repetition of "your honour" by +the fawning Irishman, and in the use of the name "gentleman" to any +coalheaver or dustman by the lower classes of London, we have current +examples of the depreciation of titles consequent on compliment--and that +in barbarous times, when the wish to propitiate was stronger than now, this +effect must have been greater; we shall see that there naturally arose an +extensive misuse of all early distinctions. Hence the facts, that the Jews +called Herod a god; that _Father_, in its higher sense, was a term used +among them by servants to masters; that _Lord_ was applicable to any person +of worth and power. Hence, too, the fact that, in the later periods of the +Roman Empire, every _ man saluted his neighbour as _Dominus_ and _Rex_. + +But it is in the titles of the middle ages, and in the growth of our modern +ones out of them, that the process is most clearly seen. _Herr_, _Don_, +_Signior_, _Seigneur_, _Sennor_, were all originally names of rulers--of +feudal lords. By the complimentary use of these names to all who could, on +any pretence, be supposed to merit them, and by successive degradations of +them from each step in the descent to a still lower one, they have come to +be common forms of address. At first the phrase in which a serf accosted +his despotic chief, _mein herr_ is now familiarly applied in Germany to +ordinary people. The Spanish title _Don_, once proper to noblemen and +gentlemen only, is now accorded to all classes. So, too, is it with +_Signior_ in Italy. _Seigneur_, and _Monseigneur_, by contraction in +_Sieur_ and _Monsieur_, have produced the term of respect claimed by every +Frenchman. And whether _Sire_ be or be not a like contraction of _Signior_, +it is clear that, as it was borne by sundry of the ancient feudal lords of +France, who, as Selden says, "affected rather to bee stiled by the name of +_Sire_ than Baron, as _Le Sire de Montmorencie_, _Le Sire de Beaulieu_, and +the like," and as it has been commonly used to monarchs, our word _Sir_, +which is derived from it, originally meant lord or king. Thus, too, is it +with feminine titles. _Lady_, which, according to Horne Tooke, means +_exalted_, and was at first given only to the few, is now given to all +women of education. _Dame_, once an honourable name to which, in old books, +we find the epithets of "highborn" and "stately" affixed, has now, by +repeated widenings of its application, become relatively a term of +contempt. And if we trace the compound of this, _ma Dame_, through its +contractions--_Madam_, _ma'am_, _mam_, _mum_, we find that the "Yes'm" of +Sally to her mistress is originally equivalent to "Yes, my exalted," or +"Yes, your highness." Throughout, therefore, the genesis of words of honour +has been the same. Just as with the Jews and with the Romans, has it been +with the modern Europeans. Tracing these everyday names to their primitive +significations of _lord_ and _king_, and remembering that in aboriginal +societies these were applied only to the gods and their descendants, we +arrive at the conclusion that our familiar _Sir_ and _Monsieur_ are, in +their primary and expanded meanings, terms of adoration. + +Further to illustrate this gradual depreciation of titles, and to confirm +the inference drawn, it may be well to notice in passing, that the oldest +of them have, as might be expected, been depreciated to the greatest +extent. Thus, _Master_--a word proved by its derivation and by the +similarity of the connate words in other languages (Fr., _maitre_ for +_master_; Russ., _master_; Dan., _meester_; Ger., _meister_) to have been +one of the earliest in use for expressing lordship--has now become +applicable to children only, and under the modification of "Mister," to +persons next above the labourer. Again, knighthood, the oldest kind of +dignity, is also the lowest; and Knight Bachelor, which is the lowest order +of knighthood, is more ancient than any other of the orders. Similarly, +too, with the peerage: Baron is alike the earliest and least elevated of +its divisions. This continual degradation of all names of honor has, from +time to time, made it requisite to introduce new ones having that +distinguishing effect which the originals had lost by generality of use; +just as our habit of misapplying superlatives has, by gradually destroying +their force, entailed the need for fresh ones. And if, within the last +thousand years, this process has produced effects thus marked, we may +readily conceive how, during previous thousands, the titles of gods and +demi-gods came to be used to all persons exercising power; as they have +since come to be used to persons of respectability. + +If from names of honour we turn to phrases of honour, we find similar +facts. The Oriental styles of address, applied to ordinary people--"I am +your slave," "All I have is yours," "I am your sacrifice"--attribute to the +individual spoken to the same greatness that _Monsieur_ and _My Lord_ do: +they ascribe to him the character of an all-powerful ruler, so immeasurably +superior to the speaker as to be his owner. So, likewise, with the Polish +expressions of respect--"I throw myself under your feet," "I kiss your +feet." In our now meaningless subscription to a formal letter--"Your most +obedient servant,"--the same thing is visible. Nay, even in the familiar +signature "Yours faithfully," the "yours," if interpreted as originally +meant, is the expression of a slave to his master. + +All these dead forms were once living embodiments of fact--were primarily +the genuine indications of that submission to authority which they verbally +assert; were afterwards naturally used by the weak and cowardly to +propitiate those above them; gradually grew to be considered the due of +such; and, by a continually wider misuse, have lost their meanings, as +_Sir_ and _Master_ have done. That, like titles, they were in the beginning +used only to the God-king, is indicated by the fact that, like titles, they +were subsequently used in common to God and the king. Religious worship has +ever largely consisted of professions of obedience, of being God's +servants, of belonging to him to do what he will with. Like titles, +therefore, these common phrases of honour had a devotional origin. + +Perhaps, however, it is in the use of the word _you_ as a singular pronoun +that the popularizing of what were once supreme distinctions is most +markedly illustrated. This speaking of a single individual in the plural, +was originally an honour given only to the highest--was the reciprocal of +the imperial "we" assumed by such. Yet now, by being applied to +successively lower and lower classes, it has become all but universal. Only +by one sect of Christians, and in a few secluded districts, is the +primitive _thou_ still used. And the _you_, in becoming common to all ranks +has simultaneously lost every vestige of the honour once attaching to it. + +But the genesis of Manners out of forms of allegiance and worship, is above +all shown in men's modes of salutation. Note first the significance of the +word. Among the Romans, the _salutatio_ was a daily homage paid by clients +and inferiors to superiors. This was alike the case with civilians and in +the army. The very derivation of our word, therefore, is suggestive of +submission. Passing to particular forms of obeisance (mark the word again), +let us begin with the Eastern one of baring the feet. This was, primarily, +a mark of reverence, alike to a god and a king. The act of Moses before the +burning bush, and the practice of Mahometans, who are sworn on the Koran +with their shoes off, exemplify the one employment of it; the custom of the +Persians, who remove their shoes on entering the presence of their monarch, +exemplifies the other. As usual, however, this homage, paid next to +inferior rulers, has descended from grade to grade. In India, it is a +common mark of respect; a polite man in Turkey always leaves his shoes at +the door, while the lower orders of Turks never enter the presence of their +superiors but in their stockings; and in Japan, this baring of the feet is +an ordinary salutation of man to man. + +Take another case. Selden, describing the ceremonies of the Romans, +says:--"For whereas it was usual either to kiss the Images of their Gods, +or adoring them, to stand somewhat off before them, solemnly moving the +right hand to the lips, and then, casting it as if they had cast kisses, to +turne the body on the same hand (which was the right forme of Adoration), +it grew also by custom, first that the emperors, being next to Deities, and +by some accounted as Deities, had the like done to them in acknowledgment +of their Greatness." If, now, we call to mind the awkward salute of a +village school-boy, made by putting his open hand up to his face and +describing a semicircle with his forearm; and if we remember that the +salute thus used as a form of reverence in country districts, is most +likely a remnant of the feudal times; we shall see reason for thinking that +our common wave of the hand to a friend across the street, represents what +was primarily a devotional act. + +Similarly have originated all forms of respect depending upon inclinations +of the body. Entire prostration is the aboriginal sign of submission. The +passage of Scripture, "Thou hast put all under his feet," and that other +one, so suggestive in its anthropomorphism, "The Lord said unto my Lord, +sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool," +imply, what the Assyrian sculptures fully bear out, that it was the +practice of the ancient god-kings of the East to trample upon the +conquered. And when we bear in mind that there are existing savages who +signify submission by placing the neck under the foot of the person +submitted to, it becomes obvious that all prostration, especially when +accompanied by kissing the foot, expressed a willingness to be trodden +upon--was an attempt to mitigate wrath by saying, in signs, "Tread on me if +you will." Remembering, further, that kissing the foot, as of the Pope and +of a saint's statue, still continues in Europe to be a mark of extreme +reverence; that prostration to feudal lords was once general; and that its +disappearance must have taken place, not abruptly, but by gradual +modification into something else; we have ground for deriving from these +deepest of humiliations all inclinations of respect; especially as the +transition is traceable. The reverence of a Russian serf, who bends his +head to the ground, and the salaam of the Hindoo, are abridged +prostrations; a bow is a short salaam; a nod is a short bow. + +Should any hesitate to admit this conclusion, then perhaps, on being +reminded that the lowest of these obeisances are common where the +submission is most abject; that among ourselves the profundity of the bow +marks the amount of respect; and lastly, that the bow is even now used +devotionally in our churches--by Catholics to their altars, and by +Protestants at the name of Christ--they will see sufficient evidence for +thinking that this salutation also was originally worship. + +The same may be said, too, of the curtsy, or courtesy, as it is otherwise +written. Its derivation from _courtoisie_, courteousness, that is, +behaviour like that at court, at once shows that it was primarily the +reverence paid to a monarch. And if we call to mind that falling upon the +knees, or upon one knee, has been a common obeisance of subjects to rulers; +that in ancient manuscripts and tapestries, servants are depicted as +assuming this attitude while offering the dishes to their masters at table; +and that this same attitude is assumed towards our own queen at every +presentation; we may infer, what the character of the curtsy itself +suggests, that it is an abridged act of kneeling. As the word has been +contracted from _courtoisie_ into curtsy; so the motion has been contracted +from a placing of the knee on the floor, to a lowering of the knee towards +the floor. Moreover, when we compare the curtsy of a lady with the awkward +one a peasant girl makes, which, if continued, would bring her down on both +knees, we may see in this last a remnant of that greater reverence required +of serfs. And when, from considering that simple kneeling of the West, +still represented by the curtsy, we pass Eastward, and note the attitude of +the Mahomedan worshipper, who not only kneels but bows his head to the +ground, we may infer that the curtsy also, is an evanescent form of the +aboriginal prostration. + +In further evidence of this it may be remarked, that there has but recently +disappeared from the salutations of men, an action having the same +proximate derivation with the curtsy. That backward sweep of the foot with +which the conventional stage-sailor accompanies his bow--a movement which +prevailed generally in past generations, when "a bow and a scrape" went +together, and which, within the memory of living persons, was made by boys +to their schoolmaster with the effect of wearing a hole in the floor--is +pretty clearly a preliminary to going on one knee. A motion so ungainly +could never have been intentionally introduced; even if the artificial +introduction of obeisances were possible. Hence we must regard it as the +remnant of something antecedent: and that this something antecedent was +humiliating maybe inferred from the phrase, "scraping an acquaintance;" +which, being used to denote the gaining of favour by obsequiousness, +implies that the scrape was considered a mark of servility--that is, of +_serf_-ility. + +Consider, again, the uncovering of the head. Almost everywhere this has +been a sign of reverence, alike in temples and before potentates; and it +yet preserves among us some of its original meaning. Whether it rains, +hails, or shines, you must keep your head bare while speaking to the +monarch; and on no plea may you remain covered in a place of worship. As +usual, however, this ceremony, at first a submission to gods and kings, has +become in process of time a common civility. Once an acknowledgment of +another's unlimited supremacy, the removal of the hat is now a salute +accorded to very ordinary persons, and that uncovering, originally reserved +for entrance into "the house of God," good manners now dictates on entrance +into the house of a common labourer. + +Standing, too, as a mark of respect, has undergone like extensions in its +application. Shown, by the practice in our churches, to be intermediate +between the humiliation signified by kneeling and the self-respect which +sitting implies, and used at courts as a form of homage when more active +demonstrations of it have been made, this posture is now employed in daily +life to show consideration; as seen alike in the attitude of a servant +before a master, and in that rising which politeness prescribes on the +entrance of a visitor. + +Many other threads of evidence might have been woven into our argument. As, +for example, the significant fact, that if we trace back our still existing +law of primogeniture--if we consider it as displayed by Scottish clans, in +which not only ownership but government devolved from the beginning on the +eldest son of the eldest--if we look further back, and observe that the old +titles of lordship, _Signor_, _Seigneur_, _Sennor_, _Sire_, _Sieur_, all +originally mean, senior, or elder--if we go Eastward, and find that +_Sheick_ has a like derivation, and that the Oriental names for priests, as +_Pir_, for instance, are literally interpreted _old man_--if we note in +Hebrew records how primeval is the ascribed superiority of the first-born, +how great the authority of elders, and how sacred the memory of +patriarchs--and if, then, we remember that among divine titles are "Ancient +of Days," and "Father of Gods and men;"--we see how completely these facts +harmonize with the hypothesis, that the aboriginal god is the first man +sufficiently great to become a tradition, the earliest whose power and +deeds made him remembered; that hence antiquity unavoidably became +associated with superiority, and age with nearness in blood to "the +powerful one;" that so there naturally arose that domination of the eldest +which characterizes all history, and that theory of human degeneracy which +even yet survives. + +We might further dwell on the facts, that _Lord_ signifies high-born, or, +as the same root gives a word meaning heaven, possibly heaven-born; that, +before it became common, _Sir_ or _Sire_, as well as _Father_, was the +distinction of a priest; that _worship_, originally worth-ship--a term of +respect that has been used commonly, as well as to magistrates--is also our +term for the act of attributing greatness or worth to the Deity; so that to +ascribe worth-ship to a man is to worship him. We might make much of the +evidence that all early governments are more or less distinctly theocratic; +and that among ancient Eastern nations even the commonest forms and customs +appear to have been influenced by religion. We might enforce our argument +respecting the derivation of ceremonies, by tracing out the aboriginal +obeisance made by putting dust on the head, which probably symbolizes +putting the head in the dust: by affiliating the practice prevailing among +certain tribes, of doing another honour by presenting him with a portion of +hair torn from the head--an act which seems tantamount to saying, "I am +your slave;" by investigating the Oriental custom of giving to a visitor +any object he speaks of admiringly, which is pretty clearly a carrying out +the compliment, "All I have is yours." + +Without enlarging, however, on these and many minor facts, we venture to +think that the evidence already assigned is sufficient to justify our +position. Had the proofs been few or of one kind, little faith could have +been placed in the inference. But numerous as they are, alike in the case +of titles, in that of complimentary phrases, and in that of +salutes--similar and simultaneous, too, as the process of depreciation has +been in all of these; the evidences become strong by mutual confirmation. +And when we recollect, also, that not only have the results of this process +been visible in various nations and in all times, but that they are +occurring among ourselves at the present moment, and that the causes +assigned for previous depreciations may be seen daily working out other +ones--when we recollect this, it becomes scarcely possible to doubt that +the process has been as alleged; and that our ordinary words, acts, and +phrases of civility were originally acknowledgments of submission to +another's omnipotence. + +Thus the general doctrine, that all kinds of government exercised over men +were at first one government--that the political, the religious, and the +ceremonial forms of control are divergent branches of a general and once +indivisible control--begins to look tenable. When, with the above facts +fresh in mind, we read primitive records, and find that "there were giants +in those days"--when we remember that in Eastern traditions Nimrod, among +others, figures in all the characters of giant, king, and divinity--when we +turn to the sculptures exhumed by Mr. Layard, and contemplating in them the +effigies of kings driving over enemies, trampling on prisoners, and adored +by prostrate slaves, then observe how their actions correspond to the +primitive names for the divinity, "the strong," "the destroyer," "the +powerful one"--when we find that the earliest temples were also the +residences of the kings--and when, lastly, we discover that among races of +men still living, there are current superstitions analogous to those which +old records and old buildings indicate; we begin to realize the probability +of the hypothesis that has been set forth. + +Going back, in imagination, to the remote era when men's theories of things +were yet unformed; and conceiving to ourselves the conquering chief as +dimly figured in ancient myths, and poems, and ruins; we may see that all +rules of conduct whatever spring from his will. Alike legislator and judge, +all quarrels among his subjects are decided by him; and his words become +the Law. Awe of him is the incipient Religion; and his maxims furnish its +first precepts. Submission is made to him in the forms he prescribes; and +these give birth to Manners. From the first, time develops political +allegiance and the administration of justice; from the second, the worship +of a being whose personality becomes ever more vague, and the inculcation +of precepts ever more abstract; from the third, forms of honour and the +rules of etiquette. + +In conformity with the law of evolution of all organized bodies, that +general functions are gradually separated into the special functions +constituting them, there have grown up in the social organism for the +better performance of the governmental office, an apparatus of law-courts, +judges, and barristers; a national church, with its bishops and priests; +and a system of caste, titles, and ceremonies, administered by society at +large. By the first, overt aggressions are cognized and punished; by the +second, the disposition to commit such aggressions is in some degree +checked; by the third, those minor breaches of good conduct, which the +others do not notice, are denounced and chastised. Law and Religion control +behaviour in its essentials: Manners control it in its details. For +regulating those daily actions which are too numerous and too unimportant +to be officially directed, there comes into play this subtler set of +restraints. And when we consider what these restraints are--when we analyze +the words, and phrases, and salutes employed, we see that in origin as in +effect, the system is a setting up of temporary governments between all men +who come in contact, for the purpose of better managing the intercourse +between them. + + * * * * * + +From the proposition, that these several kinds of government are +essentially one, both in genesis and function, may be deduced several +important corollaries, directly bearing on our special topic. + +Let us first notice, that there is not only a common origin and office for +all forms of rule, but a common necessity for them. The aboriginal man, +coming fresh from the killing of bears and from lying in ambush for his +enemy, has, by the necessities of his condition, a nature requiring to be +curbed in its every impulse. Alike in war and in the chase, his daily +discipline has been that of sacrificing other creatures to his own needs +and passions. His character, bequeathed to him by ancestors who led similar +lives, is moulded by this discipline--is fitted to this existence. The +unlimited selfishness, the love of inflicting pain, the bloodthirstiness, +thus kept active, he brings with him into the social state. These +dispositions put him in constant danger of conflict with his equally savage +neighbour. In small things as in great, in words as in deeds, he is +aggressive; and is hourly liable to the aggressions of others like natured. +Only, therefore, by the most rigorous control exercised over all actions, +can the primitive unions of men be maintained. There must be a ruler +strong, remorseless, and of indomitable will; there must be a creed +terrible in its threats to the disobedient; and there must be the most +servile submission of all inferiors to superiors. The law must be cruel; +the religion must be stern; the ceremonies must be strict. + +The co-ordinate necessity for these several kinds of restraint might be +largely illustrated from history were there space. Suffice it to point out, +that where the civil power has been weak, the multiplication of thieves, +assassins, and banditti, has indicated the approach of social dissolution; +that when, from the corruptness of its ministry, religion has lost its +influence, as it did just before the Flagellants appeared, the State has +been endangered; and that the disregard of established social observances +has ever been an accompaniment of political revolutions. Whoever doubts the +necessity for a government of manners proportionate in strength to the +co-existing political and religious governments, will be convinced on +calling to mind that until recently even elaborate codes of behaviour +failed to keep gentlemen from quarrelling in the streets and fighting duels +in taverns; and on remembering further, that even now people exhibit at the +doors of a theatre, where there is no ceremonial law to rule them, a degree +of aggressiveness which would produce confusion if carried into social +intercourse. + +As might be expected, we find that, having a common origin and like general +functions, these several controlling agencies act during each era with +similar degrees of vigour. Under the Chinese despotism, stringent and +multitudinous in its edicts and harsh in the enforcement of them, and +associated with which there is an equally stern domestic despotism +exercised by the eldest surviving male of the family, there exists a system +of observances alike complicated and rigid. There is a tribunal of +ceremonies. Previous to presentation at court, ambassadors pass many days +in practising the required forms. Social intercourse is cumbered by endless +compliments and obeisances. Class distinctions are strongly marked by +badges. The chief regret on losing an only son is, that there will be no +one to perform the sepulchral rites. And if there wants a definite measure +of the respect paid to social ordinances, we have it in the torture to +which ladies submit in having their feet crushed. In India, and indeed +throughout the East, there exists a like connection between the pitiless +tyranny of rulers, the dread terrors of immemorial creeds, and the rigid +restraint of unchangeable customs: the caste regulations continue still +unalterable; the fashions of clothes and furniture have remained the same +for ages; suttees are so ancient as to be mentioned by Strabo and Diodorus +Siculus; justice is still administered at the palace-gates as of old; in +short, "every usage is a precept of religion and a maxim of jurisprudence." + +A similar relationship of phenomena was exhibited in Europe during the +Middle Ages. While all its governments were autocratic, while feudalism +held sway, while the Church was unshorn of its power, while the criminal +code was full of horrors and the hell of the popular creed full of terrors, +the rules of behaviour were both more numerous and more carefully conformed +to than now. Differences of dress marked divisions of rank. Men were +limited by law to a certain width of shoe-toes; and no one below a +specified degree might wear a cloak less than so many inches long. The +symbols on banners and shields were carefully attended to. Heraldry was an +important branch of knowledge. Precedence was strictly insisted on. And +those various salutes of which we now use the abridgments were gone through +in full. Even during our own last century, with its corrupt House of +Commons and little-curbed monarchs, we may mark a correspondence of social +formalities. Gentlemen were still distinguished from lower classes by +dress; people sacrificed themselves to inconvenient requirements--as +powder, hooped petticoats, and towering head-dresses; and children +addressed their parents as _Sir_ and _Madam_. + +A further corollary naturally following this last, and almost, indeed, +forming part of it, is, that these several kinds of government +decrease in stringency at the same rate. Simultaneously with the +decline in the influence of priesthoods, and in the fear of eternal +torments--simultaneously with the mitigation of political tyranny, the +growth of popular power, and the amelioration of criminal codes; has taken +place that diminution of formalities and that fading of distinctive marks, +now so observable. Looking at home, we may note that there is less +attention to precedence than there used to be. No one in our day ends an +interview with the phrase "your humble servant." The employment of the word +_Sir_, once general in social intercourse, is at present considered bad +breeding; and on the occasions calling for them, it is held vulgar to use +the words "Your Majesty," or "Your Royal Highness," more than once in a +conversation. People no longer formally drink each other's healths; and +even the taking wine with each other at dinner has ceased to be +fashionable. The taking-off of hats between gentlemen has been gradually +falling into disuse. Even when the hat is removed, it is no longer swept +out at arm's length, but is simply lifted. Hence the remark made upon us by +foreigners, that we take off our hats less than any other nation in +Europe--a remark that should be coupled with the other, that we are the +freest nation in Europe. + +As already implied, this association of facts is not accidental. These +titles of address and modes of salutation, bearing about them, as they all +do, something of that servility which marks their origin, become +distasteful in proportion as men become more independent themselves, and +sympathise more with the independence of others. The feeling which makes +the modern gentleman tell the labourer standing bareheaded before him to +put on his hat--the feeling which gives us a dislike to those who cringe +and fawn--the feeling which makes us alike assert our own dignity and +respect that of others--the feeling which thus leads us more and more to +discountenance all forms and names which confess inferiority and +submission; is the same feeling which resists despotic power and +inaugurates popular government, denies the authority of the Church and +establishes the right of private judgment. + +A fourth fact, akin to the foregoing, is, that these several kinds of +government not only decline together, but corrupt together. By the same +process that a Court of Chancery becomes a place not for the administration +of justice, but for the withholding of it--by the same process that a +national church, from being an agency for moral control, comes to be merely +a thing of formulas and tithes and bishoprics--by this same process do +titles and ceremonies that once had a meaning and a power become empty +forms. + +Coats of arms which served to distinguish men in battle, now figure on the +carriage panels of retired grocers. Once a badge of high military rank, the +shoulder-knot has become, on the modern footman, a mark of servitude. The +name Banneret, which once marked a partially-created Baron--a Baron who had +passed his military "little go"--is now, under the modification of Baronet, +applicable to any one favoured by wealth or interest or party feeling. +Knighthood has so far ceased to be an honour, that men now honour +themselves by declining it. The military dignity _Escuyer_ has, in the +modern Esquire, become a wholly unmilitary affix. Not only do titles, and +phrases, and salutes cease to fulfil their original functions, but the +whole apparatus of social forms tends to become useless for its original +purpose--the facilitation of social intercourse. Those most learned in +ceremonies, and most precise in the observance of them, are not always the +best behaved; as those deepest read in creeds and scriptures are not +therefore the most religious; nor those who have the clearest notions of +legality and illegality, the most honest. Just as lawyers are of all men +the least noted for probity; as cathedral towns have a lower moral +character than most others; so, if Swift is to be believed, courtiers are +"the most insignificant race of people that the island can afford, and with +the smallest tincture of good manners." + +But perhaps it is in that class of social observances comprehended under +the term Fashion, which we must here discuss parenthetically, that this +process of corruption is seen with the greatest distinctness. As contrasted +with Manners, which dictate our minor acts in relation to other persons, +Fashion dictates our minor acts in relation to ourselves. While the one +prescribes that part of our deportment which directly affects our +neighbours; the other prescribes that part of our deportment which is +primarily personal, and in which our neighbours are concerned only as +spectators. Thus distinguished as they are, however, the two have a common +source. For while, as we have shown, Manners originate by imitation of the +behaviour pursued _towards_ the great; Fashion originates by imitation _of_ +the behaviour of the great. While the one has its derivation in the titles, +phrases, and salutes used _to_ those in power; the other is derived from +the habits and appearances exhibited _by_ those in power. + +The Carib mother who squeezes her child's head into a shape like that of +the chief; the young savage who makes marks on himself similar to the scars +carried by the warriors of his tribe (which is probably the origin of +tattooing); the Highlander who adopts the plaid worn by the head of his +clan; the courtiers who affect greyness, or limp, or cover their necks, in +imitation of their king; and the people who ape the courtiers; are alike +acting under a kind of government connate with that of Manners, and, like +it too, primarily beneficial. For notwithstanding the numberless +absurdities into which this copyism has led the people, from nose-rings to +ear-rings, from painted faces to beauty-spots, from shaven heads to +powdered wigs, from filed teeth and stained nails to bell-girdles, peaked +shoes, and breeches stuffed with bran,--it must yet be concluded, that as +the strong men, the successful men, the men of will, intelligence, and +originality, who have got to the top, are, on the average, more likely to +show judgment in their habits and tastes than the mass, the imitation of +such is advantageous. + +By and by, however, Fashion, corrupting like these other forms of rule, +almost wholly ceases to be an imitation of the best, and becomes an +imitation of quite other than the best. As those who take orders are not +those having a special fitness for the priestly office, but those who see +their way to a living by it; as legislators and public functionaries do not +become such by virtue of their political insight and power to rule, but by +virtue of birth, acreage, and class influence; so, the self-elected clique +who set the fashion, gain this prerogative, not by their force of nature, +their intellect, their higher worth or better taste, but gain it solely by +their unchecked assumption. Among the initiated are to be found neither the +noblest in rank, the chief in power, the best cultured, the most refined, +nor those of greatest genius, wit, or beauty; and their reunions, so far +from being superior to others, are noted for their inanity. Yet, by the +example of these sham great, and not by that of the truly great, does +society at large now regulate its goings and comings, its hours, its dress, +its small usages. As a natural consequence, these have generally little or +none of that suitableness which the theory of fashion implies they should +have. But instead of a continual progress towards greater elegance and +convenience, which might be expected to occur did people copy the ways of +the really best, or follow their own ideas of propriety, we have a reign of +mere whim, of unreason, of change for the sake of change, of wanton +oscillations from either extreme to the other--a reign of usages without +meaning, times without fitness, dress without taste. And thus life _a la +mode_, instead of being life conducted in the most rational manner, is life +regulated by spendthrifts and idlers, milliners and tailors, dandies and +silly women. + +To these several corollaries--that the various orders of control exercised +over men have a common origin and a common function, are called out by +co-ordinate necessities and co-exist in like stringency, decline together +and corrupt together--it now only remains to add that they become needless +together. Consequent as all kinds of government are upon the unfitness of +the aboriginal man for social life; and diminishing in coerciveness as they +all do in proportion as this unfitness diminishes; they must one and all +come to an end as humanity acquires complete adaptation to its new +conditions. That discipline of circumstances which has already wrought out +such great changes in us, must go on eventually to work out yet greater +ones. That daily curbing of the lower nature and culture of the higher, +which out of cannibals and devil worshippers has evolved philanthropists, +lovers of peace, and haters of superstition, cannot fail to evolve out of +these, men as much superior to them as they are to their progenitors. The +causes that have produced past modifications are still in action; must +continue in action as long as there exists any incongruity between man's +desires and the requirements of the social state; and must eventually make +him organically fit for the social state. As it is now needless to forbid +man-eating and Fetishism, so will it ultimately become needless to forbid +murder, theft, and the minor offences of our criminal code. When human +nature has grown into conformity with the moral law, there will need no +judges and statute-books; when it spontaneously takes the right course in +all things, as in some things it does already, prospects of future reward +or punishment will not be wanted as incentives; and when fit behaviour has +become instinctive, there will need no code of ceremonies to say how +behaviour shall be regulated. + +Thus, then, may be recognised the meaning, the naturalness, the necessity +of those various eccentricities of reformers which we set out by +describing. They are not accidental; they are not mere personal caprices, +as people are apt to suppose. On the contrary, they are inevitable results +of the law of relationship above illustrated. That community of genesis, +function, and decay which all forms of restraint exhibit, is simply the +obverse of the fact at first pointed out, that they have in two sentiments +of human nature a common preserver and a common destroyer. Awe of power +originates and cherishes them all: love of freedom undermines and +periodically weakens them all. The one defends despotism and asserts the +supremacy of laws, adheres to old creeds and supports ecclesiastical +authority, pays respect to titles and conserves forms; the other, putting +rectitude above legality, achieves periodical instalments of political +liberty, inaugurates Protestantism and works out its consequences, ignores +the senseless dictates of Fashion and emancipates men from dead customs. + +To the true reformer no institution is sacred, no belief above criticism. +Everything shall conform itself to equity and reason; nothing shall be +saved by its prestige. Conceding to each man liberty to pursue his own ends +and satisfy his own tastes, he demands for himself like liberty; and +consents to no restrictions on this, save those which other men's equal +claims involve. No matter whether it be an ordinance of one man, or an +ordinance of all men, if it trenches on his legitimate sphere of action, he +denies its validity. The tyranny that would impose on him a particular +style of dress and a set mode of behaviour, he resists equally with the +tyranny that would limit his buyings and sellings, or dictate his creed. +Whether the regulation be formally made by a legislature, or informally +made by society at large--whether the penalty for disobedience be +imprisonment, or frowns and social ostracism, he sees to be a question of +no moment. He will utter his belief notwithstanding the threatened +punishment; he will break conventions spite of the petty persecutions that +will be visited on him. Show him that his actions are inimical to his +fellow-men, and he will pause. Prove that he is disregarding their +legitimate claims--that he is doing what in the nature of things must +produce unhappiness; and he will alter his course. But until you do +this--until you demonstrate that his proceedings are essentially +inconvenient or inelegant, essentially irrational, unjust, or ungenerous, +he will persevere. + +Some, indeed, argue that his conduct _is_ unjust and ungenerous. They say +that he has no right to annoy other people by his whims; that the gentleman +to whom his letter comes with no "Esq." appended to the address, and the +lady whose evening party he enters with gloveless hands, are vexed at what +they consider his want of respect, or want of breeding; that thus his +eccentricities cannot be indulged save at the expense of his neighbours' +feelings; and that hence his nonconformity is in plain terms selfishness. + +He answers that this position, if logically developed, would deprive men of +all liberty whatever. Each must conform all his acts to the public taste, +and not his own. The public taste on every point having been once +ascertained, men's habits must thenceforth remain for ever fixed; seeing +that no man can adopt other habits without sinning against the public +taste, and giving people disagreeable feelings. Consequently, be it an era +of pig-tails or high-heeled shoes, of starched ruffs or trunk-hose, all +must continue to wear pig-tails, high-heeled shoes, starched ruffs, or +trunk-hose to the crack of doom. + +If it be still urged that he is not justified in breaking through others' +forms that he may establish his own, and so sacrificing the wishes of many +to the wishes of one, he replies that all religious and political changes +might be negatived on like grounds. He asks whether Luther's sayings and +doings were not extremely offensive to the mass of his contemporaries; +whether the resistance of Hampden was not disgusting to the time-servers +around him; whether every reformer has not shocked men's prejudices, and +given immense displeasure by the opinions he uttered. The affirmative +answer he follows up by demanding what right the reformer has, then, to +utter these opinions; whether he is not sacrificing the feelings of many to +the feelings of one: and so proves that, to be consistent, his antagonists +must condemn not only all nonconformity in actions, but all nonconformity +in thoughts. + +His antagonists rejoin that _his_ position, too, may be pushed to an +absurdity. They argue that if a man may offend by the disregard of some +forms, he may as legitimately do so by the disregard of all; and they +inquire--Why should he not go out to dinner in a dirty shirt, and with an +unshorn chin? Why should he not spit on the drawing-room carpet, and +stretch his heels up to the mantel-shelf? + +The convention-breaker answers, that to ask this, implies a confounding of +two widely-different classes of actions--the actions that are _essentially_ +displeasurable to those around, with the actions that are but +_incidentally_ displeasurable to them. He whose skin is so unclean as to +offend the nostrils of his neighbours, or he who talks so loudly as to +disturb a whole room, may be justly complained of, and rightly excluded by +society from its assemblies. But he who presents himself in a surtout in +place of a dress-coat, or in brown trousers instead of black, gives offence +not to men's senses, or their innate tastes, but merely to their +prejudices, their bigotry of convention. It cannot be said that his costume +is less elegant or less intrinsically appropriate than the one prescribed; +seeing that a few hours earlier in the day it is admired. It is the implied +rebellion, therefore, that annoys. How little the cause of quarrel has to +do with the dress itself, is seen in the fact that a century ago black +clothes would have been thought preposterous for hours of recreation, and +that a few years hence some now forbidden style may be nearer the +requirements of Fashion than the present one. Thus the reformer explains +that it is not against the natural restraints, but against the artificial +ones, that he protests; and that manifestly the fire of sneers and angry +glances which he has to bear, is poured upon him because he will not bow +down to the idol which society has set up. + +Should he be asked how we are to distinguish between conduct that is +_absolutely_ disagreeable to others, and conduct that is _relatively_ so, +he answers, that they will distinguish themselves, if men will let them. +Actions intrinsically repugnant will ever be frowned upon, and must ever +remain as exceptional as now. Actions not intrinsically repugnant will +establish themselves as proper. No relaxation of customs will introduce the +practice of going to a party in muddy boots, and with unwashed hands; for +the dislike of dirt would continue were Fashion abolished to-morrow. That +love of approbation which now makes people so solicitous to be _en regle_ +would still exist--would still make them careful of their personal +appearance--would still induce them to seek admiration by making themselves +ornamental--would still cause them to respect the natural laws of good +behaviour, as they now do the artificial ones. The change would simply be +from a repulsive monotony to a picturesque variety. And if there be any +regulations respecting which it is uncertain whether they are based on +reality or on convention, experiment will soon decide, if due scope be +allowed. + +When at length the controversy comes round, as controversies often do, to +the point whence it started, and the "party of order" repeat their charge +against the rebel, that he is sacrificing the feelings of others to the +gratification of his own wilfulness, he replies once for all that they +cheat themselves by mis-statements. He accuses them of being so despotic, +that, not content with being masters over their own ways and habits, they +would be masters over his also; and grumble because he will not let them. +He merely asks the same freedom which they exercise; they, however, propose +to regulate his course as well as their own--to cut and clip his mode of +life into agreement with their approved pattern; and then charge him with +wilfulness and selfishness, because he does not quietly submit! He warns +them that he shall resist, nevertheless; and that he shall do so, not only +for the assertion of his own independence, but for their good. He tells +them that they are slaves, and know it not; that they are shackled, and +kiss their chains; that they have lived all their days in prison, and +complain at the walls being broken down. He says he must persevere, +however, with a view to his own release; and in spite of their present +expostulations, he prophesies that when they have recovered from the fright +which the prospect of freedom produces, they will thank him for aiding in +their emancipation. + +Unamiable as seems this find-fault mood, offensive as is this defiant +attitude, we must beware of overlooking the truths enunciated, in dislike +of the advocacy. It is an unfortunate hindrance to all innovation, that in +virtue of their very function, the innovators stand in a position of +antagonism; and the disagreeable manners, and sayings, and doings, which +this antagonism generates, are commonly associated with the doctrines +promulgated. Quite forgetting that whether the thing attacked be good or +bad, the combative spirit is necessarily repulsive; and quite forgetting +that the toleration of abuses seems amiable merely from its passivity; the +mass of men contract a bias against advanced views, and in favour of +stationary ones, from intercourse with their respective adherents. +"Conservatism," as Emerson says, "is debonnair and social; reform is +individual and imperious." And this remains true, however vicious the +system conserved, however righteous the reform to be effected. Nay, the +indignation of the purists is usually extreme in proportion as the evils to +be got rid of are great. The more urgent the required change, the more +intemperate is the vehemence of its promoters. Let no one, then, confound +with the principles of this social nonconformity the acerbity and the +disagreeable self-assertion of those who first display it. + + * * * * * + +The most plausible objection raised against resistance to conventions, is +grounded on its impolicy, considered even from the progressist's point of +view. It is urged by many of the more liberal and intelligent--usually +those who have themselves shown some independence of behaviour in earlier +days--that to rebel in these small matters is to destroy your own power of +helping on reform in greater matters. "If you show yourself eccentric in +manners or dress, the world," they say, "will not listen to you. You will +be considered as crotchety, and impracticable. The opinions you express on +important subjects, which might have been treated with respect had you +conformed on minor points, will now inevitably be put down among your +singularities; and thus, by dissenting in trifles, you disable yourself +from spreading dissent in essentials." + +Only noting, as we pass, that this is one of those anticipations which +bring about their own fulfilment--that it is because most who disapprove +these conventions do not show their disapproval, that the few who do show +it look eccentric--and that did all act out their convictions, no such +inference as the above would be drawn, and no such evil would +result;---noting this as we pass, we go on to reply that these social +restraints, and forms, and requirements, are not small evils, but among the +greatest. Estimate their sum total, and we doubt whether they would not +exceed most others. Could we add up the trouble, the cost, the jealousies, +vexations, misunderstandings, the loss of time and the loss of pleasure, +which these conventions entail--could we clearly realize the extent to +which we are all daily hampered by them, daily enslaved by them; we should +perhaps come to the conclusion that the tyranny of Mrs. Grundy is worse +than any other tyranny we suffer under. Let us look at a few of its hurtful +results; beginning with those of minor importance. + +It produces extravagance. The desire to be _comme il faut_, which underlies +all conformities, whether of manners, dress, or styles of entertainment, is +the desire which makes many a spendthrift and many a bankrupt. To "keep up +appearances," to have a house in an approved quarter furnished in the +latest taste, to give expensive dinners and crowded _soirees_, is an +ambition forming the natural outcome of the conformist spirit. It is +needless to enlarge on these follies: they have been satirized by hosts of +writers, and in every drawing-room. All that here concerns us, is to point +out that the respect for social observances, which men think so +praiseworthy, has the same root with this effort to be fashionable in mode +of living; and that, other things equal, the last cannot be diminished +without the first being diminished also. If, now, we consider all that this +extravagance entails--if we count up the robbed tradesmen, the stinted +governesses, the ill-educated children, the fleeced relatives, who have to +suffer from it--if we mark the anxiety and the many moral delinquencies +which its perpetrators involve themselves in; we shall see that this regard +for conventions is not quite so innocent as it looks. + +Again, it decreases the amount of social intercourse. Passing over the +reckless, and those who make a great display on speculation with the +occasional result of getting on in the world to the exclusion of much +better men, we come to the far larger class who, being prudent and honest +enough not to exceed their means, and yet having a strong wish to be +"respectable," are obliged to limit their entertainments to the smallest +possible number; and that each of these may be turned to the greatest +advantage in meeting the claims upon their hospitality, are induced to +issue their invitations with little or no regard to the comfort or mutual +fitness of their guests. A few inconveniently-large assemblies, made up of +people mostly strange to each other or but distantly acquainted, and having +scarcely any tastes in common, are made to serve in place of many small +parties of friends intimate enough to have some bond of thought and +sympathy. Thus the quantity of intercourse is diminished, and the quality +deteriorated. Because it is the custom to make costly preparations and +provide costly refreshments; and because it entails both less expense and +less trouble to do this for many persons on a few occasions than for few +persons on many occasions; the reunions of our less wealthy classes are +rendered alike infrequent and tedious. + +Let it be further observed, that the existing formalities of social +intercourse drive away many who most need its refining influence: and drive +them into injurious habits and associations. Not a few men, and not the +least sensible men either, give up in disgust this going out to stately +dinners, and stiff evening-parties; and instead, seek society in clubs, and +cigar-divans, and taverns. "I'm sick of this standing about in +drawing-rooms, talking nonsense, and trying to look happy," will answer one +of them when taxed with his desertion. "Why should I any longer waste time +and money, and temper? Once I was ready enough to rush home from the office +to dress; I sported embroidered shirts, submitted to tight boots, and cared +nothing for tailors' and haberdashers' bills. I know better now. My +patience lasted a good while; for though I found each night pass stupidly, +I always hoped the next would make amends. But I'm undeceived. Cab-hire and +kid gloves cost more than any evening party pays for; or rather--it is +worth the cost of them to avoid the party. No, no; I'll no more of it. Why +should I pay five shillings a time for the privilege of being bored?" + +If, now, we consider that this very common mood tends towards +billiard-rooms, towards long sittings over cigars and brandy-and-water, +towards Evans's and the Coal Hole, towards every place where amusement may +be had; it becomes a question whether these precise observances which +hamper our set meetings, have not to answer for much of the prevalent +dissoluteness. Men must have excitements of some kind or other; and if +debarred from higher ones will fall back upon lower. It is not that those +who thus take to irregular habits are essentially those of low tastes. +Often it is quite the reverse. Among half a dozen intimate friends, +abandoning formalities and sitting at ease round the fire, none will enter +with greater enjoyment into the highest kind of social intercourse--the +genuine communion of thought and feeling; and if the circle includes women +of intelligence and refinement, so much the greater is their pleasure. It +is because they will no longer be choked with the mere dry husks of +conversation which society offers them, that they fly its assemblies, and +seek those with whom they may have discourse that is at least real, though +unpolished. The men who thus long for substantial mental sympathy, and will +go where they can get it, are often, indeed, much better at the core than +the men who are content with the inanities of gloved and scented +party-goers--men who feel no need to come morally nearer to their fellow +creatures than they can come while standing, tea-cup in hand, answering +trifles with trifles; and who, by feeling no such need, prove themselves +shallow-thoughted and cold-hearted. + +It is true, that some who shun drawing-rooms do so from inability to bear +the restraints prescribed by a genuine refinement, and that they would be +greatly improved by being kept under these restraints. But it is not less +true that, by adding to the legitimate restraints, which are based on +convenience and a regard for others, a host of factitious restraints based +only on convention, the refining discipline, which would else have been +borne with benefit, is rendered unbearable, and so misses its end. Excess +of government variably defeats itself by driving away those to be governed. +And if over all who desert its entertainments in disgust either at their +emptiness or their formality, society thus loses its salutary influence--if +such not only fail to receive that moral culture which the company of +ladies, when rationally regulated, would give them, but, in default of +other relaxation, are driven into habits and companionships which often end +in gambling and drunkenness; must we not say that here, too, is an evil not +to be passed over as insignificant? + +Then consider what a blighting effect these multitudinous preparations and +ceremonies have upon the pleasures they profess to subserve. Who, on +calling to mind the occasions of his highest social enjoyments, does not +find them to have been wholly informal, perhaps impromptu? How delightful a +picnic of friends, who forget all observances save those dictated by good +nature! How pleasant the little unpretended gatherings of book-societies, +and the like; or those purely accidental meetings of a few people well +known to each other! Then, indeed, we may see that "a man sharpeneth the +countenance of his friend." Cheeks flush, and eyes sparkle. The witty grow +brilliant, and even the dull are excited into saying good things. There is +an overflow of topics; and the right thought, and the right words to put it +in, spring up unsought. Grave alternates with gay: now serious converse, +and now jokes, anecdotes, and playful raillery. Everyone's best nature is +shown; everyone's best feelings are in pleasurable activity; and, for the +time, life seems well worth having. + +Go now and dress for some half-past eight dinner, or some ten o'clock "at +home;" and present yourself in spotless attire, with every hair arranged to +perfection. How great the difference! The enjoyment seems in the inverse +ratio of the preparation. These figures, got up with such finish and +precision, appear but half alive. They have frozen each other by their +primness; and your faculties feel the numbing effects of the atmosphere the +moment you enter it. All those thoughts, so nimble and so apt awhile since, +have disappeared--have suddenly acquired a preternatural power of eluding +you. If you venture a remark to your neighbour, there comes a trite +rejoinder, and there it ends. No subject you can hit upon outlives half a +dozen sentences. Nothing that is said excites any real interest in you; and +you feel that all you say is listened to with apathy. By some strange +magic, things that usually give pleasure seem to have lost all charm. + +You have a taste for art. Weary of frivolous talk, you turn to the table, +and find that the book of engravings and the portfolio of photographs are +as flat as the conversation. You are fond of music. Yet the singing, good +as it is, you hear with utter indifference; and say "Thank you" with a +sense of being a profound hypocrite. Wholly at ease though you could be, +for your own part, you find that your sympathies will not let you. You see +young gentlemen feeling whether their ties are properly adjusted, looking +vacantly round, and considering what they shall do next. You see ladies +sitting disconsolately, waiting for some one to speak to them, and wishing +they had the wherewith to occupy their fingers. You see the hostess +standing about the doorway, keeping a factitious smile on her face, and +racking her brain to find the requisite nothings with which to greet her +guests as they enter. You see numberless traits of weariness and +embarrassment; and, if you have any fellow feeling, these cannot fail to +produce a feeling of discomfort. The disorder is catching; and do what you +will you cannot resist the general infection. You struggle against it; you +make spasmodic efforts to be lively; but none of your sallies or your good +stories do more than raise a simper or a forced laugh: intellect and +feeling are alike asphyxiated. And when, at length, yielding to your +disgust, you rush away, how great is the relief when you get into the fresh +air, and see the stars! How you "Thank God, that's over!" and half resolve +to avoid all such boredom for the future! + +What, now, is the secret of this perpetual miscarriage and disappointment? +Does not the fault lie with all these needless adjuncts--these elaborate +dressings, these set forms, these expensive preparations, these many +devices and arrangements that imply trouble and raise expectation? Who that +has lived thirty years in the world has not discovered that Pleasure is +coy; and must not be too directly pursued, but must be caught unawares? An +air from a street-piano, heard while at work, will often gratify more than +the choicest music played at a concert by the most accomplished musicians. +A single good picture seen in a dealer's window, may give keener enjoyment +than a whole exhibition gone through with catalogue and pencil. By the time +we have got ready our elaborate apparatus by which to secure happiness, the +happiness is gone. It is too subtle to be contained in these receivers, +garnished with compliments, and fenced round with etiquette. The more we +multiply and complicate appliances, the more certain are we to drive it +away. + +The reason is patent enough. These higher emotions to which social +intercourse ministers, are of extremely complex nature; they consequently +depend for their production upon very numerous conditions; the more +numerous the conditions, the greater the liability that one or other of +them will be disturbed, and the emotions consequently prevented. It takes a +considerable misfortune to destroy appetite; but cordial sympathy with +those around may be extinguished by a look or a word. Hence it follows, +that the more multiplied the _unnecessary_ requirements with which social +intercourse is surrounded, the less likely are its pleasures to be +achieved. It is difficult enough to fulfil continuously all the +_essentials_ to a pleasurable communion with others: how much more +difficult, then, must it be continuously to fulfil a host of +_non-essentials_ also! It is, indeed, impossible. The attempt inevitably +ends in the sacrifice of the first to the last--the essentials to the +non-essentials. What chance is there of getting any genuine response from +the lady who is thinking of your stupidity in taking her in to dinner on +the wrong arm? How are you likely to have agreeable converse with the +gentleman who is fuming internally because he is not placed next to the +hostess? Formalities, familiar as they may become, necessarily occupy +attention--necessarily multiply the occasions for mistake, +misunderstanding, and jealousy, on the part of one or other--necessarily +distract all minds from the thoughts and feelings that should occupy +them--necessarily, therefore, subvert those conditions under which only any +sterling intercourse is to be had. + +And this indeed is the fatal mischief which these conventions entail--a +mischief to which every other is secondary. They destroy those highest of +our pleasures which they profess to subserve. All institutions are alike in +this, that however useful, and needful even, they originally were, they not +only in the end cease to be so, but become detrimental. While humanity is +growing, they continue fixed; daily get more mechanical and unvital; and by +and by tend to strangle what they before preserved. It is not simply that +they become corrupt and fail to act; they become obstructions. Old forms of +government finally grow so oppressive, that they must be thrown off even at +the risk of reigns of terror. Old creeds end in being dead formulas, which +no longer aid but distort and arrest the general mind; while the +State-churches administering them, come to be instruments for subsidizing +conservatism and repressing progress. Old schemes of education, incarnated +in public schools and colleges, continue filling the heads of new +generations with what has become relatively useless knowledge, and, by +consequence, excluding knowledge which is useful. Not an organization of +any kind--political, religious, literary, philanthropic--but what, by its +ever-multiplying regulations, its accumulating wealth, its yearly addition +of officers, and the creeping into it of patronage and party feeling, +eventually loses its original spirit, and sinks into a mere lifeless +mechanism, worked with a view to private ends--a mechanism which not merely +fails of its first purpose, but is a positive hindrance to it. + +Thus is it, too, with social usages. We read of the Chinese that they have +"ponderous ceremonies transmitted from time immemorial," which make social +intercourse a burden. The court forms prescribed by monarchs for their own +exaltation, have, in all times and places, ended in consuming the comfort +of their lives. And so the artificial observances of the dining-room and +saloon, in proportion as they are many and strict, extinguish that +agreeable communion which they were originally intended to secure. The +dislike with which people commonly speak of society that is "formal," and +"stiff," and "ceremonious," implies the general recognition of this fact; +and this recognition, logically developed, involves that all usages of +behaviour which are not based on natural requirements, are injurious. That +these conventions defeat their own ends is no new assertion. Swift, +criticising the manners of his day, says--"Wise men are often more uneasy +at the over-civility of these refiners than they could possibly be in the +conversation of peasants and mechanics." + +But it is not only in these details that the self-defeating action of our +arrangements is traceable: it is traceable in the very substance and nature +of them. Our social intercourse, as commonly managed, is a mere semblance +of the reality sought. What is it that we want? Some sympathetic converse +with our fellow-creatures: some converse that shall not be mere dead words, +but the vehicle of living thoughts and feelings--converse in which the eyes +and the face shall speak, and the tones of the voice be full of +meaning--converse which shall make us feel no longer alone, but shall draw +us closer to another, and double our own emotions by adding another's to +them. Who is there that has not, from time to time, felt how cold and flat +is all this talk about politics and science, and the new books and the new +men, and how a genuine utterance of fellow-feeling outweighs the whole of +it? Mark the words of Bacon:--"For a crowd is not a company, and faces are +but a gallery of pictures, and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is +no love." + +If this be true, then it is only after acquaintance has grown into +intimacy, and intimacy has ripened into friendship, that the real communion +which men need becomes possible. A rationally-formed circle must consist +almost wholly of those on terms of familiarity and regard, with but one or +two strangers. What folly, then, underlies the whole system of our grand +dinners, our "at homes," our evening parties--assemblages made up of many +who never met before, many others who just bow to each other, many others +who though familiar feel mutual indifference, with just a few real friends +lost in the general mass! You need but look round at the artificial +expressions of face, to see at once how it is. All have their disguises on; +and how can there be sympathy between masks? No wonder that in private +every one exclaims against the stupidity of these gatherings. No wonder +that hostesses get them up rather because they must than because they wish. +No wonder that the invited go less from the expectation of pleasure than +from fear of giving offence. The whole thing is a gigantic mistake--an +organized disappointment. + +And then note, lastly, that in this case, as in all others, when an +organization has become effete and inoperative for its legitimate purpose, +it is employed for quite other ones--quite opposite ones. What is the usual +plea put in for giving and attending these tedious assemblies? "I admit +that they are stupid and frivolous enough," replies every man to your +criticisms; "but then, you know, one must keep up one's connections." And +could you get from his wife a sincere answer, it would be--"Like you, I am +sick of these frivolities; but then, we must get our daughters married." +The one knows that there is a profession to push, a practice to gain, a +business to extend: or parliamentary influence, or county patronage, or +votes, or office, to be got: position, berths, favours, profit. The other's +thoughts runs upon husbands and settlements, wives and dowries. Worthless +for their ostensible purpose of daily bringing human beings into +pleasurable relations with each other, these cumbrous appliances of our +social intercourse are now perseveringly kept in action with a view to the +pecuniary and matrimonial results which they indirectly produce. + +Who then shall say that the reform of our system of observances is +unimportant? When we see how this system induces fashionable extravagance, +with its entailed bankruptcy and ruin--when we mark how greatly it limits +the amount of social intercourse among the less wealthy classes--when we +find that many who most need to be disciplined by mixing with the refined +are driven away by it, and led into dangerous and often fatal courses--when +we count up the many minor evils it inflicts, the extra work which its +costliness entails on all professional and mercantile men, the damage to +public taste in dress and decoration by the setting up of its absurdities +as standards for imitation, the injury to health indicated in the faces of +its devotees at the close of the London season, the mortality of milliners +and the like, which its sudden exigencies yearly involve;--and when to all +these we add its fatal sin; that it blights, withers up, and kills, that +high enjoyment it professedly ministers to--that enjoyment which is a chief +end of our hard struggling in life to obtain--shall we not conclude that to +reform our system of etiquette and fashion, is an aim yielding to few in +urgency? + + * * * * * + +There needs, then, a protestantism in social usages. Forms that have ceased +to facilitate and have become obstructive--whether political, religious, or +other--have ever to be swept away; and eventually are so swept away in all +cases. Signs are not wanting that some change is at hand. A host of +satirists, led on by Thackeray, have been for years engaged in bringing our +sham-festivities, and our fashionable follies, into contempt; and in their +candid moods, most men laugh at the frivolities with which they and the +world in general are deluded. Ridicule has always been a revolutionary +agent. That which is habitually assailed with sneers and sarcasms cannot +long survive. Institutions that have lost their roots in men's respect and +faith are doomed; and the day of their dissolution is not far off. The time +is approaching, then, when our system of social observances must pass +through some crisis, out of which it will come purified and comparatively +simple. + +How this crisis will be brought about, no one can with any certainty say. +Whether by the continuance and increase of individual protests, or whether +by the union of many persons for the practice and propagation of some +better system, the future alone can decide. The influence of dissentients +acting without co-operation, seems, under the present state of things, +inadequate. Standing severally alone, and having no well-defined views; +frowned on by conformists, and expostulated with even by those who secretly +sympathize with them; subject to petty persecutions, and unable to trace +any benefit produced by their example; they are apt, one by one, to give up +their attempts as hopeless. The young convention-breaker eventually finds +that he pays too heavily for his nonconformity. Hating, for example, +everything that bears about it any remnant of servility, he determines, in +the ardour of his independence, that he will uncover to no one. But what he +means simply as a general protest, he finds that ladies interpret into a +personal disrespect. Though he sees that, from the days of chivalry +downwards, these marks of supreme consideration paid to the other sex have +been but a hypocritical counterpart to the actual subjection in which men +have held them--a pretended submission to compensate for a real domination; +and though he sees that when the true dignity of women is recognised, the +mock dignities given to them will be abolished; yet he does not like to be +thus misunderstood, and so hesitates in his practice. + +In other cases, again, his courage fails him. Such of his +unconventionalities as can be attributed only to eccentricity, he has no +qualms about: for, on the whole, he feels rather complimented than +otherwise in being considered a disregarder of public opinion. But when +they are liable to be put down to ignorance, to ill-breeding, or to +poverty, he becomes a coward. However clearly the recent innovation of +eating some kinds of fish with knife and fork proves the fork-and-bread +practice to have had little but caprice for its basis, yet he dares not +wholly ignore that practice while fashion partially maintains it. Though he +thinks that a silk handkerchief is quite as appropriate for drawing-room +use as a white cambric one, he is not altogether at ease in acting out his +opinion. Then, too, he begins to perceive that his resistance to +prescription brings round disadvantageous results which he had not +calculated upon. He had expected that it would save him from a great deal +of social intercourse of a frivolous kind--that it would offend the fools, +but not the sensible people; and so would serve as a self-acting test by +which those worth knowing would be separated from those not worth knowing. +But the fools prove to be so greatly in the majority that, by offending +them, he closes against himself nearly all the avenues though which the +sensible people are to be reached. Thus he finds, that his nonconformity is +frequently misinterpreted; that there are but few directions in which he +dares to carry it consistently out; that the annoyances and disadvantages +which it brings upon him are greater than he anticipated; and that the +chances of his doing any good are very remote. Hence he gradually loses +resolution, and lapses, step by step, into the ordinary routine of +observances. + +Abortive as individual protests thus generally turn out, it may possibly be +that nothing effectual will be done until there arises some organized +resistance to this invisible despotism, by which our modes and habits are +dictated. It may happen, that the government of Manners and Fashion will be +rendered less tyrannical, as the political and religious governments have +been, by some antagonistic union. Alike in Church and State, men's first +emancipations from excess of restriction were achieved by numbers, bound +together by a common creed or a common political faith. What remained +undone while there were but individual schismatics or rebels, was effected +when there came to be many acting in concert. It is tolerably clear that +these earliest instalments of freedom could not have been obtained in any +other way; for so long as the feeling of personal independence was weak and +the rule strong, there could never have been a sufficient number of +separate dissentients to produce the desired results. Only in these later +times, during which the secular and spiritual controls have been growing +less coercive, and the tendency towards individual liberty greater, has it +become possible for smaller and smaller sects and parties to fight against +established creeds and laws; until now men may safely stand even alone in +their antagonism. + +The failure of individual nonconformity to customs, as above illustrated, +suggests that an analogous series of changes may have to be gone through in +this case also. It is true that the _lex non scripta_ differs from the _lex +scripta_ in this, that, being unwritten, it is more readily altered; and +that it has, from time to time, been quietly ameliorated. Nevertheless, we +shall find that the analogy holds substantially good. For in this case, as +in the others, the essential revolution is not the substituting of any one +set of restraints for any other, but the limiting or abolishing the +authority which prescribes restraints. Just as the fundamental change +inaugurated by the Reformation, was not a superseding of one creed by +another, but an ignoring of the arbiter who before dictated creeds--just as +the fundamental change which Democracy long ago commenced, was not from +this particular law to that, but from the despotism of one to the freedom +of all; so, the parallel change yet to be wrought out in this supplementary +government of which we are treating, is not the replacing of absurd usages +by sensible ones, but the dethronement of that secret, irresponsible power +which now imposes our usages, and the assertion of the right of all +individuals to choose their own usages. In rules of living, a West-end +clique is our Pope; and we are all papists, with but a mere sprinkling of +heretics. On all who decisively rebel, comes down the penalty of +excommunication, with its long catalogue of disagreeable and, indeed, +serious consequences. + +The liberty of the subject asserted in our constitution, and ever on the +increase, has yet to be wrested from this subtler tyranny. The right of +private judgment, which our ancestors wrung from the church, remains to be +claimed from this dictator of our habits. Or, as before said, to free us +from these idolatries and superstitious conformities, there has still to +come a protestantism in social usages. Parallel, therefore, as is the +change to be wrought out, it seems not improbable that it may be wrought +out in an analogous way. That influence which solitary dissentients fail to +gain, and that perseverance which they lack, may come into existence when +they unite. That persecution which the world now visits upon them from +mistaking their nonconformity for ignorance or disrespect, may diminish +when it is seen to result from principle. The penalty which exclusion now +entails may disappear when they become numerous enough to form visiting +circles of their own. And when a successful stand has been made, and the +brunt of the opposition has passed, that large amount of secret dislike to +our observances which now pervades society, may manifest itself with +sufficient power to effect the desired emancipation. + +Whether such will be the process, time alone can decide. That community of +origin, growth, supremacy, and decadence, which we have found among all +kinds of government, suggests a community in modes of change also. On the +other hand, Nature often performs substantially similar operations, in ways +apparently different. Hence these details can never be foretold. + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile, let us glance at the conclusions that have been reached. On the +one side, government, originally one, and afterwards subdivided for the +better fulfilment of its function, must be considered as having ever been, +in all its branches--political, religious, and ceremonial--beneficial; and, +indeed, absolutely necessary. On the other side, government, under all its +forms, must be regarded as subserving a temporary office, made needful by +the unfitness of aboriginal humanity for social life; and the successive +diminutions of its coerciveness in State, in Church, and in Custom, must be +looked upon as steps towards its final disappearance. To complete the +conception, there requires to be borne in mind the third fact, that the +genesis, the maintenance, and the decline of all governments, however +named, are alike brought about by the humanity to be controlled: from which +may be drawn the inference that, on the average, restrictions of every kind +cannot last much longer than they are wanted, and cannot be destroyed much +faster than they ought to be. + +Society, in all its developments, undergoes the process of exuviation. +These old forms which it successively throws off, have all been once +vitally united with it--have severally served as the protective envelopes +within which a higher humanity was being evolved. They are cast aside only +when they become hindrances--only when some inner and better envelope has +been formed; and they bequeath to us all that there was in them good. The +periodical abolitions of tyrannical laws have left the administration of +justice not only uninjured, but purified. Dead and buried creeds have not +carried with them the essential morality they contained, which still +exists, uncontaminated by the sloughs of superstition. And all that there +is of justice and kindness and beauty, embodied in our cumbrous forms of +etiquette, will live perennially when the forms themselves have been +forgotten. + + + + +III. THE GENESIS OF SCIENCE. + + +There has ever prevailed among men a vague notion that scientific knowledge +differs in nature from ordinary knowledge. By the Greeks, with whom +Mathematics--literally _things learnt_--was alone considered as knowledge +proper, the distinction must have been strongly felt; and it has ever since +maintained itself in the general mind. Though, considering the contrast +between the achievements of science and those of daily unmethodic thinking, +it is not surprising that such a distinction has been assumed; yet it needs +but to rise a little above the common point of view, to see that no such +distinction can really exist: or that at best, it is but a superficial +distinction. The same faculties are employed in both cases; and in both +cases their mode of operation is fundamentally the same. + +If we say that science is organized knowledge, we are met by the truth that +all knowledge is organized in a greater or less degree--that the commonest +actions of the household and the field presuppose facts colligated, +inferences drawn, results expected; and that the general success of these +actions proves the data by which they were guided to have been correctly +put together. If, again, we say that science is prevision--is a seeing +beforehand--is a knowing in what times, places, combinations, or sequences, +specified phenomena will be found; we are yet obliged to confess that the +definition includes much that is utterly foreign to science in its ordinary +acceptation. For example, a child's knowledge of an apple. This, as far as +it goes consists in previsions. When a child sees a certain form and +colours, it knows that if it puts out its hand it will have certain +impressions of resistance, and roundness, and smoothness; and if it bites, +a certain taste. And manifestly its general acquaintance with surrounding +objects is of like nature--is made up of facts concerning them, so grouped +as that any part of a group being perceived, the existence of the other +facts included in it is foreseen. + +If, once more, we say that science is _exact_ prevision, we still fail to +establish the supposed difference. Not only do we find that much of what we +call science is not exact, and that some of it, as physiology, can never +become exact; but we find further, that many of the previsions constituting +the common stock alike of wise and ignorant, _are_ exact. That an +unsupported body will fall; that a lighted candle will go out when immersed +in water; that ice will melt when thrown on the fire--these, and many like +predictions relating to the familiar properties of things have as high a +degree of accuracy as predictions are capable of. It is true that the +results predicated are of a very general character; but it is none the less +true that they are rigorously correct as far as they go: and this is all +that is requisite to fulfil the definition. There is perfect accordance +between the anticipated phenomena and the actual ones; and no more than +this can be said of the highest achievements of the sciences specially +characterised as exact. + +Seeing thus that the assumed distinction between scientific knowledge and +common knowledge is not logically justifiable; and yet feeling, as we must, +that however impossible it may be to draw a line between them, the two are +not practically identical; there arises the question--What is the +relationship that exists between them? A partial answer to this question +may be drawn from the illustrations just given. On reconsidering them, it +will be observed that those portions of ordinary knowledge which are +identical in character with scientific knowledge, comprehend only such +combinations of phenomena as are directly cognizable by the senses, and are +of simple, invariable nature. That the smoke from a fire which she is +lighting will ascend, and that the fire will presently boil water, are +previsions which the servant-girl makes equally well with the most learned +physicist; they are equally certain, equally exact with his; but they are +previsions concerning phenomena in constant and direct relation--phenomena +that follow visibly and immediately after their antecedents--phenomena of +which the causation is neither remote nor obscure--phenomena which may be +predicted by the simplest possible act of reasoning. + +If, now, we pass to the previsions constituting what is commonly known as +science--that an eclipse of the moon will happen at a specified time; and +when a barometer is taken to the top of a mountain of known height, the +mercurial column will descend a stated number of inches; that the poles of +a galvanic battery immersed in water will give off, the one an inflammable +and the other an inflaming gas, in definite ratio--we perceive that the +relations involved are not of a kind habitually presented to our senses; +that they depend, some of them, upon special combinations of causes; and +that in some of them the connection between antecedents and consequents is +established only by an elaborate series of inferences. The broad +distinction, therefore, between the two orders of knowledge, is not in +their nature, but in their remoteness from perception. + +If we regard the cases in their most general aspect, we see that the +labourer, who, on hearing certain notes in the adjacent hedge, can describe +the particular form and colours of the bird making them; and the +astronomer, who, having calculated a transit of Venus, can delineate the +black spot entering on the sun's disc, as it will appear through the +telescope, at a specified hour; do essentially the same thing. Each knows +that on fulfilling the requisite conditions, he shall have a preconceived +impression--that after a definite series of actions will come a group of +sensations of a foreknown kind. The difference, then, is not in the +fundamental character of the mental acts; or in the correctness of the +previsions accomplished by them; but in the complexity of the processes +required to achieve the previsions. Much of our commonest knowledge is, as +far as it goes, rigorously precise. Science does not increase this +precision; cannot transcend it. What then does it do? It reduces other +knowledge to the same degree of precision. That certainty which direct +perception gives us respecting coexistences and sequences of the simplest +and most accessible kind, science gives us respecting coexistences and +sequences, complex in their dependencies or inaccessible to immediate +observation. In brief, regarded from this point of view, science may be +called _an extension of the perceptions by means of reasoning_. + +On further considering the matter, however, it will perhaps be felt that +this definition does not express the whole fact--that inseparable as +science may be from common knowledge, and completely as we may fill up the +gap between the simplest previsions of the child and the most recondite +ones of the natural philosopher, by interposing a series of previsions in +which the complexity of reasoning involved is greater and greater, there is +yet a difference between the two beyond that which is here described. And +this is true. But the difference is still not such as enables us to draw +the assumed line of demarcation. It is a difference not between common +knowledge and scientific knowledge; but between the successive phases of +science itself, or knowledge itself--whichever we choose to call it. In its +earlier phases science attains only to _certainty_ of foreknowledge; in its +later phases it further attains to _completeness_. We begin by discovering +_a_ relation: we end by discovering _the_ relation. Our first achievement +is to foretell the _kind_ of phenomenon which will occur under specific +conditions: our last achievement is to foretell not only the kind but the +_amount_. Or, to reduce the proposition to its most definite +form--undeveloped science is _qualitative_ prevision: developed science is +_quantitative_ prevision. + +This will at once be perceived to express the remaining distinction between +the lower and the higher stages of positive knowledge. The prediction that +a piece of lead will take more force to lift it than a piece of wood of +equal size, exhibits certainty, but not completeness, of foresight. The +kind of effect in which the one body will exceed the other is foreseen; but +not the amount by which it will exceed. There is qualitative prevision +only. On the other hand, the prediction that at a stated time two +particular planets will be in conjunction; that by means of a lever having +arms in a given ratio, a known force will raise just so many pounds; that +to decompose a specified quantity of sulphate of iron by carbonate of soda +will require so many grains--these predictions exhibit foreknowledge, not +only of the nature of the effects to be produced, but of the magnitude, +either of the effects themselves, of the agencies producing them, or of the +distance in time or space at which they will be produced. There is not only +qualitative but quantitative prevision. + +And this is the unexpressed difference which leads us to consider certain +orders of knowledge as especially scientific when contrasted with knowledge +in general. Are the phenomena _measurable_? is the test which we +unconsciously employ. Space is measurable: hence Geometry. Force and space +are measurable: hence Statics. Time, force, and space are measurable: hence +Dynamics. The invention of the barometer enabled men to extend the +principles of mechanics to the atmosphere; and Aerostatics existed. When a +thermometer was devised there arose a science of heat, which was before +impossible. Such of our sensations as we have not yet found modes of +measuring do not originate sciences. We have no science of smells; nor have +we one of tastes. We have a science of the relations of sounds differing in +pitch, because we have discovered a way to measure them; but we have no +science of sounds in respect to their loudness or their _timbre_, because +we have got no measures of loudness and _timbre_. + +Obviously it is this reduction of the sensible phenomena it represents, to +relations of magnitude, which gives to any division of knowledge its +especially scientific character. Originally men's knowledge of weights and +forces was in the same condition as their knowledge of smells and tastes is +now--a knowledge not extending beyond that given by the unaided sensations; +and it remained so until weighing instruments and dynamometers were +invented. Before there were hour-glasses and clepsydras, most phenomena +could be estimated as to their durations and intervals, with no greater +precision than degrees of hardness can be estimated by the fingers. Until a +thermometric scale was contrived, men's judgments respecting relative +amounts of heat stood on the same footing with their present judgments +respecting relative amounts of sound. And as in these initial stages, with +no aids to observation, only the roughest comparisons of cases could be +made, and only the most marked differences perceived; it is obvious that +only the most simple laws of dependence could be ascertained--only those +laws which being uncomplicated with others, and not disturbed in their +manifestations, required no niceties of observation to disentangle them. +Whence it appears not only that in proportion as knowledge becomes +quantitative do its previsions become complete as well as certain, but that +until its assumption of a quantitative character it is necessarily confined +to the most elementary relations. + +Moreover it is to be remarked that while, on the one hand, we can discover +the laws of the greater proportion of phenomena only by investigating them +quantitatively; on the other hand we can extend the range of our +quantitative previsions only as fast as we detect the laws of the results +we predict. For clearly the ability to specify the magnitude of a result +inaccessible to direct measurement, implies knowledge of its mode of +dependence on something which can be measured--implies that we know the +particular fact dealt with to be an instance of some more general fact. +Thus the extent to which our quantitative previsions have been carried in +any direction, indicates the depth to which our knowledge reaches in that +direction. And here, as another aspect of the same fact, we may further +observe that as we pass from qualitative to quantitative prevision, we pass +from inductive science to deductive science. Science while purely inductive +is purely qualitative: when inaccurately quantitative it usually consists +of part induction, part deduction: and it becomes accurately quantitative +only when wholly deductive. We do not mean that the deductive and the +quantitative are coextensive; for there is manifestly much deduction that +is qualitative only. We mean that all quantitative prevision is reached +deductively; and that induction can achieve only qualitative prevision. + +Still, however, it must not be supposed that these distinctions enable us +to separate ordinary knowledge from science; much as they seem to do so. +While they show in what consists the broad contrast between the extreme +forms of the two, they yet lead us to recognise their essential identity; +and once more prove the difference to be one of degree only. For, on the +one hand, the commonest positive knowledge is to some extent quantitative; +seeing that the amount of the foreseen result is known within certain wide +limits. And, on the other hand, the highest quantitative prevision does not +reach the exact truth, but only a very near approximation to it. Without +clocks the savage knows that the day is longer in the summer than in the +winter; without scales he knows that stone is heavier than flesh: that is, +he can foresee respecting certain results that their amounts will exceed +these, and be less than those--he knows _about_ what they will be. And, +with his most delicate instruments and most elaborate calculations, all +that the man of science can do, is to reduce the difference between the +foreseen and the actual results to an unimportant quantity. + +Moreover, it must be borne in mind not only that all the sciences are +qualitative in their first stages,--not only that some of them, as +Chemistry, have but recently reached the quantitative stage--but that the +most advanced sciences have attained to their present power of determining +quantities not present to the senses, or not directly measurable, by a slow +process of improvement extending through thousands of years. So that +science and the knowledge of the uncultured are alike in the nature of +their previsions, widely as they differ in range; they possess a common +imperfection, though this is immensely greater in the last than in the +first; and the transition from the one to the other has been through a +series of steps by which the imperfection has been rendered continually +less, and the range continually wider. + +These facts, that science and the positive knowledge of the uncultured +cannot be separated in nature, and that the one is but a perfected and +extended form of the other, must necessarily underlie the whole theory of +science, its progress, and the relations of its parts to each other. There +must be serious incompleteness in any history of the sciences, which, +leaving out of view the first steps of their genesis, commences with them +only when they assume definite forms. There must be grave defects, if not a +general untruth, in a philosophy of the sciences considered in their +interdependence and development, which neglects the inquiry how they came +to be distinct sciences, and how they were severally evolved out of the +chaos of primitive ideas. + +Not only a direct consideration of the matter, but all analogy, goes to +show that in the earlier and simpler stages must be sought the key to all +subsequent intricacies. The time was when the anatomy and physiology of the +human being were studied by themselves--when the adult man was analyzed and +the relations of parts and of functions investigated, without reference +either to the relations exhibited in the embryo or to the homologous +relations existing in other creatures. Now, however, it has become manifest +that no true conceptions, no true generalizations, are possible under such +conditions. Anatomists and physiologists now find that the real natures of +organs and tissues can be ascertained only by tracing their early +evolution; and that the affinities between existing genera can be +satisfactorily made out only by examining the fossil genera to which they +are allied. Well, is it not clear that the like must be true concerning all +things that undergo development? Is not science a growth? Has not science, +too, its embryology? And must not the neglect of its embryology lead to a +misunderstanding of the principles of its evolution and of its existing +organization? + +There are _a priori_ reasons, therefore, for doubting the truth of all +philosophies of the sciences which tacitly proceed upon the common notion +that scientific knowledge and ordinary knowledge are separate; instead of +commencing, as they should, by affiliating the one upon the other, and +showing how it gradually came to be distinguishable from the other. We may +expect to find their generalizations essentially artificial; and we shall +not be deceived. Some illustrations of this may here be fitly introduced, +by way of preliminary to a brief sketch of the genesis of science from the +point of view indicated. And we cannot more readily find such illustrations +than by glancing at a few of the various _classifications_ of the sciences +that have from time to time been proposed. To consider all of them would +take too much space: we must content ourselves with some of the latest. + + * * * * * + +Commencing with those which may be soonest disposed of, let us notice first +the arrangement propounded by Oken. An abstract of it runs thus:-- + + Part I. MATHESIS.--_Pneumatogeny_: Primary Art, Primary + Consciousness, God, Primary Rest, Time, Polarity, Motion, Man, + Space, Point, Line, Surface, Globe, Rotation.--_Hylogeny_: + Gravity, Matter, Ether, Heavenly Bodies, Light, Heat, Fire. + + (He explains that MATHESIS is the doctrine of the whole; + _Pneumatogeny_ being the doctrine of immaterial totalities, + and _Hylogeny_ that of material totalities.) + + Part II. ONTOLOGY.--_Cosmogeny_: Rest, Centre, Motion, Line, Planets, + Form, Planetary System, Comets.--_Stoechiogeny_: Condensation, + Simple Matter, Elements, Air, Water, Earth.--_Stoechiology_: + Functions of the Elements, &c. &c.--_Kingdoms of Nature_: + Individuals. + + (He says in explanation that "ONTOLOGY teaches us the phenomena of + matter. The first of these are the heavenly bodies comprehended by + _Cosmogeny_. These divide into elements--_Stoechiogeny_. The earth + element divides into minerals--_Mineralogy_. These unite into one + collective body--_Geogeny_. The whole in singulars is the living, or + _Organic_, which again divides into plants and animals. _Biology_, + therefore, divides into _Organogeny_, _Phytosophy_, _Zoosophy_.") + + FIRST KINGDOM.--MINERALS. _Mineralogy_, _Geology_. + + Part III. BIOLOGY.--_Organosophy_, _Phytogeny_, _Phyto-physiology_, + _Phytology_, _Zoogeny_, _Physiology_, _Zoology_, _Psychology_. + +A glance over this confused scheme shows that it is an attempt to classify +knowledge, not after the order in which it has been, or may be, built up in +the human consciousness; but after an assumed order of creation. It is a +pseudo-scientific cosmogony, akin to those which men have enunciated from +the earliest times downwards; and only a little more respectable. As such +it will not be thought worthy of much consideration by those who, like +ourselves, hold that experience is the sole origin of knowledge. Otherwise, +it might have been needful to dwell on the incongruities of the +arrangements--to ask how motion can be treated of before space? how there +can be rotation without matter to rotate? how polarity can be dealt with +without involving points and lines? But it will serve our present purpose +just to point out a few of the extreme absurdities resulting from the +doctrine which Oken seems to hold in common with Hegel, that "to +philosophize on Nature is to re-think the great thought of Creation." Here +is a sample:-- + + "Mathematics is the universal science; so also is Physio-philosophy, + although it is only a part, or rather but a condition of the + universe; both are one, or mutually congruent. + + "Mathematics is, however, a science of mere forms without substance. + Physio-philosophy is, therefore, _mathematics endowed with + substance_." + +From the English point of view it is sufficiently amusing to find such a +dogma not only gravely stated, but stated as an unquestionable truth. Here +we see the experiences of quantitative relations which men have gathered +from surrounding bodies and generalized (experiences which had been +scarcely at all generalized at the beginning of the historic period)--we +find these generalized experiences, these intellectual abstractions, +elevated into concrete actualities, projected back into Nature, and +considered as the internal frame-work of things--the skeleton by which +matter is sustained. But this new form of the old realism, is by no means +the most startling of the physio-philosophic principles. We presently read +that, + + "The highest mathematical idea, or the fundamental principle of all + mathematics is the zero = 0."... + + "Zero is in itself nothing. Mathematics is based upon nothing, and, + _consequently_, arises out of nothing. + + "Out of nothing, _therefore_, it is possible for something to arise; + for mathematics, consisting of propositions, is something, in + relation to 0." + +By such "consequentlys" and "therefores" it is, that men philosophize when +they "re-think the great thought of creation." By dogmas that pretend to be +reasons, nothing is made to generate mathematics; and by clothing +mathematics with matter, we have the universe! If now we deny, as we _do_ +deny, that the highest mathematical idea is the zero;--if, on the other +hand, we assert, as we _do_ assert, that the fundamental idea underlying +all mathematics, is that of equality; the whole of Oken's cosmogony +disappears. And here, indeed, we may see illustrated, the distinctive +peculiarity of the German method of procedure in these matters--the bastard +_a priori_ method, as it may be termed. The legitimate _a priori_ method +sets out with propositions of which the negation is inconceivable; the _a +priori_ method as illegitimately applied, sets out either with propositions +of which the negation is _not_ inconceivable, or with propositions like +Oken's, of which the _affirmation_ is inconceivable. + +It is needless to proceed further with the analysis; else might we detail +the steps by which Oken arrives at the conclusions that "the planets are +coagulated colours, for they are coagulated light; that the sphere is the +expanded nothing;" that gravity is "a weighty nothing, a heavy essence, +striving towards a centre;" that "the earth is the identical, water the +indifferent, air the different; or the first the centre, the second the +radius, the last the periphery of the general globe or of fire." To comment +on them would be nearly as absurd as are the propositions themselves. Let +us pass on to another of the German systems of knowledge--that of Hegel. + +The simple fact that Hegel puts Jacob B[oe]hme on a par with Bacon, +suffices alone to show that his stand-point is far remote from the one +usually regarded as scientific: so far remote, indeed, that it is not easy +to find any common basis on which to found a criticism. Those who hold that +the mind is moulded into conformity with surrounding things by the agency +of surrounding things, are necessarily at a loss how to deal with those, +who, like Schelling and Hegel, assert that surrounding things are +solidified mind--that Nature is "petrified intelligence." However, let us +briefly glance at Hegel's classification. He divides philosophy into three +parts:-- + + 1. _Logic_, or the science of the idea in itself, the pure idea. + + 2. _The Philosophy of Nature_, or the science of the idea considered + under its other form--of the idea as Nature. + + 3. _The Philosophy of the Mind_, or the science of the idea in its + return to itself. + +Of these, the second is divided into the natural sciences, commonly so +called; so that in its more detailed form the series runs thus:--Logic, +Mechanics, Physics, Organic Physics, Psychology. + +Now, if we believe with Hegel, first, that thought is the true essence of +man; second, that thought is the essence of the world; and that, therefore, +there is nothing but thought; his classification, beginning with the +science of pure thought, may be acceptable. But otherwise, it is an obvious +objection to his arrangement, that thought implies things thought of--that +there can be no logical forms without the substance of experience--that the +science of ideas and the science of things must have a simultaneous origin. +Hegel, however, anticipates this objection, and, in his obstinate idealism, +replies, that the contrary is true; that all contained in the forms, to +become something, requires to be thought: and that logical forms are the +foundations of all things. + +It is not surprising that, starting from such premises, and reasoning after +this fashion, Hegel finds his way to strange conclusions. Out of _space_ +and _time_ he proceeds to build up _motion_, _matter_, _repulsion_, +_attraction_, _weight_, and _inertia_. He then goes on to logically evolve +the solar system. In doing this he widely diverges from the Newtonian +theory; reaches by syllogism the conviction that the planets are the most +perfect celestial bodies; and, not being able to bring the stars within his +theory, says that they are mere formal existences and not living matter, +and that as compared with the solar system they are as little admirable as +a cutaneous eruption or a swarm of flies.[F] + + [F] It is somewhat curious that the author of "The Plurality of + Worlds," with quite other aims, should have persuaded himself + into similar conclusions. + +Results so outrageous might be left as self-disproved, were it not that +speculators of this class are not alarmed by any amount of incongruity with +established beliefs. The only efficient mode of treating systems like this +of Hegel, is to show that they are self-destructive--that by their first +steps they ignore that authority on which all their subsequent steps +depend. If Hegel professes, as he manifestly does, to develop his scheme by +reasoning--if he presents successive inferences as _necessarily following_ +from certain premises; he implies the postulate that a belief which +necessarily follows after certain antecedents is a true belief: and, did an +opponent reply to one of his inferences, that, though it was impossible to +think the opposite, yet the opposite was true, he would consider the reply +irrational. The procedure, however, which he would thus condemn as +destructive of all thinking whatever, is just the procedure exhibited in +the enunciation of his own first principles. + +Mankind find themselves unable to conceive that there can be thought +without things thought of. Hegel, however, asserts that there _can_ be +thought without things thought of. That ultimate test of a true +proposition--the inability of the human mind to conceive the negation of +it--which in all other cases he considers valid, he considers invalid where +it suits his convenience to do so; and yet at the same time denies the +right of an opponent to follow his example. If it is competent for him to +posit dogmas, which are the direct negations of what human consciousness +recognises; then is it also competent for his antagonists to stop him at +every step in his argument by saying, that though the particular inference +he is drawing seems to his mind, and to all minds, necessarily to follow +from the premises, yet it is not true, but the contrary inference is true. +Or, to state the dilemma in another form:--If he sets out with +inconceivable propositions, then may he with equal propriety make all his +succeeding propositions inconceivable ones--may at every step throughout +his reasoning draw exactly the opposite conclusion to that which seems +involved. + +Hegel's mode of procedure being thus essentially suicidal, the Hegelian +classification which depends upon it, falls to the ground. Let us consider +next that of M. Comte. + +As all his readers must admit, M. Comte presents us with a scheme of the +sciences which, unlike the foregoing ones, demands respectful +consideration. Widely as we differ from him, we cheerfully bear witness to +the largeness of his views, the clearness of his reasoning, and the value +of his speculations as contributing to intellectual progress. Did we +believe a serial arrangement of the sciences to be possible, that of M. +Comte would certainly be the one we should adopt. His fundamental +propositions are thoroughly intelligible; and if not true, have a great +semblance of truth. His successive steps are logically co-ordinated; and he +supports his conclusions by a considerable amount of evidence--evidence +which, so long as it is not critically examined, or not met by counter +evidence, seems to substantiate his positions. But it only needs to assume +that antagonistic attitude which _ought_ to be assumed towards new +doctrines, in the belief that, if true, they will prosper by conquering +objectors--it needs but to test his leading doctrines either by other facts +than those he cites, or by his own facts differently applied, to at once +show that they will not stand. We will proceed thus to deal with the +general principle on which he bases his hierarchy of the sciences. + +In the second chapter of his _Cours de Philosophie Positive_, M. Comte +says:--"Our problem is, then, to find the one _rational_ order, amongst a +host of possible systems."... "This order is determined by the degree of +simplicity, or, what comes to the same thing, of generality of their +phenomena." And the arrangement he deduces runs thus: _Mathematics_, +_Astronomy_, _Physics_, _Chemistry_, _Physiology_, _Social Physics_. This +he asserts to be "the true _filiation_ of the sciences." He asserts +further, that the principle of progression from a greater to a less degree +of generality, "which gives this order to the whole body of science, +arranges the parts of each science." And, finally, he asserts that the +gradations thus established _a priori_ among the sciences, and the parts of +each science, "is in essential conformity with the order which has +spontaneously taken place among the branches of natural philosophy;" or, in +other words--corresponds with the order of historic development. + +Let us compare these assertions with the facts. That there may be perfect +fairness, let us make no choice, but take as the field for our comparison, +the succeeding section treating of the first science--Mathematics; and let +us use none but M. Comte's own facts, and his own admissions. Confining +ourselves to this one science, of course our comparisons must be between +its several parts. M. Comte says, that the parts of each science must be +arranged in the order of their decreasing generality; and that this order +of decreasing generality agrees with the order of historic development. Our +inquiry must be, then, whether the history of mathematics confirms this +statement. + +Carrying out his principle, M. Comte divides Mathematics into "Abstract +Mathematics, or the Calculus (taking the word in its most extended sense) +and Concrete Mathematics, which is composed of General Geometry and of +Rational Mechanics." The subject-matter of the first of these is _number_; +the subject-matter of the second includes _space_, _time_, _motion_, +_force_. The one possesses the highest possible degree of generality; for +all things whatever admit of enumeration. The others are less general; +seeing that there are endless phenomena that are not cognizable either by +general geometry or rational mechanics. In conformity with the alleged law, +therefore, the evolution of the calculus must throughout have preceded the +evolution of the concrete sub-sciences. Now somewhat awkwardly for him, the +first remark M. Comte makes bearing upon this point is, that "from an +historical point of view, mathematical analysis _appears to have risen out +of_ the contemplation of geometrical and mechanical facts." True, he goes +on to say that, "it is not the less independent of these sciences logically +speaking;" for that "analytical ideas are, above all others, universal, +abstract, and simple, and geometrical conceptions are necessarily founded +on them." + +We will not take advantage of this last passage to charge M. Comte with +teaching, after the fashion of Hegel, that there can be thought without +things thought of. We are content simply to compare the two assertions, +that analysis arose out of the contemplation of geometrical and mechanical +facts, and that geometrical conceptions are founded upon analytical ones. +Literally interpreted they exactly cancel each other. Interpreted, however, +in a liberal sense, they imply, what we believe to be demonstrable, that +the two had _a simultaneous origin_. The passage is either nonsense, or it +is an admission that abstract and concrete mathematics are coeval. Thus, at +the very first step, the alleged congruity between the order of generality +and the order of evolution, does not hold good. + +But may it not be that though abstract and concrete mathematics took their +rise at the same time, the one afterwards developed more rapidly than the +other; and has ever since remained in advance of it? No: and again we call +M. Comte himself as witness. Fortunately for his argument he has said +nothing respecting the early stages of the concrete and abstract divisions +after their divergence from a common root; otherwise the advent of Algebra +long after the Greek geometry had reached a high development, would have +been an inconvenient fact for him to deal with. But passing over this, and +limiting ourselves to his own statements, we find, at the opening of the +next chapter, the admission, that "the historical development of the +abstract portion of mathematical science has, since the time of Descartes, +been for the most part _determined_ by that of the concrete." Further on we +read respecting algebraic functions that "most functions were concrete in +their origin--even those which are at present the most purely abstract; and +the ancients discovered only through geometrical definitions elementary +algebraic properties of functions to which a numerical value was not +attached till long afterwards, rendering abstract to us what was concrete +to the old geometers." How do these statements tally with his doctrine? +Again, having divided the calculus into algebraic and arithmetical, M. +Comte admits, as perforce he must, that the algebraic is more general than +the arithmetical; yet he will not say that algebra preceded arithmetic in +point of time. And again, having divided the calculus of functions into the +calculus of direct functions (common algebra) and the calculus of indirect +functions (transcendental analysis), he is obliged to speak of this last as +possessing a higher generality than the first; yet it is far more modern. +Indeed, by implication, M. Comte himself confesses this incongruity; for he +says:--"It might seem that the transcendental analysis ought to be studied +before the ordinary, as it provides the equations which the other has to +resolve; but though the transcendental _is logically independent of the +ordinary_, it is best to follow the usual method of study, taking the +ordinary first." In all these cases, then, as well as at the close of the +section where he predicts that mathematicians will in time "create +procedures of _a wider generality_," M. Comte makes admissions that are +diametrically opposed to the alleged law. + +In the succeeding chapters treating of the concrete department of +mathematics, we find similar contradictions. M. Comte himself names the +geometry of the ancients _special_ geometry, and that of moderns the +_general_ geometry. He admits that while "the ancients studied geometry +with reference to the _bodies_ under notice, or specially; the moderns +study it with reference to the _phenomena_ to be considered, or generally." +He admits that while "the ancients extracted all they could out of one line +or surface before passing to another," "the moderns, since Descartes, +employ themselves on questions which relate to any figure whatever." These +facts are the reverse of what, according to his theory, they should be. So, +too, in mechanics. Before dividing it into statics and dynamics, M. Comte +treats of the three laws of _motion_, and is obliged to do so; for statics, +the more _general_ of the two divisions, though it does not involve motion, +is impossible as a science until the laws of motion are ascertained. Yet +the laws of motion pertain to dynamics, the more _special_ of the +divisions. Further on he points out that after Archimedes, who discovered +the law of equilibrium of the lever, statics made no progress until the +establishment of dynamics enabled us to seek "the conditions of equilibrium +through the laws of the composition of forces." And he adds--"At this day +_this is the method universally employed_. At the first glance it does not +appear the most rational--dynamics being more complicated than statics, and +precedence being natural to the simpler. It would, in fact, be more +philosophical to refer dynamics to statics, as has since been done." Sundry +discoveries are afterwards detailed, showing how completely the development +of statics has been achieved by considering its problems dynamically; and +before the close of the section M. Comte remarks that "before hydrostatics +could be comprehended under statics, it was necessary that the abstract +theory of equilibrium should be made so general as to apply directly to +fluids as well as solids. This was accomplished when Lagrange supplied, as +the basis of the whole of rational mechanics, the single principle of +virtual velocities." In which statement we have two facts directly at +variance with M. Comte's doctrine;--first, that the simpler science, +statics, reached its present development only by the aid of the principle +of virtual velocities, which belongs to the more complex science, dynamics; +and that this "single principle" underlying all rational mechanics--this +_most general form_ which includes alike the relations of statical, +hydrostatical, and dynamical forces--was reached so late as the time of +Lagrange. + +Thus it is _not_ true that the historical succession of the divisions of +mathematics has corresponded with the order of decreasing generality. It is +_not_ true that abstract mathematics was evolved antecedently to, and +independently of concrete mathematics. It is _not_ true that of the +subdivisions of abstract mathematics, the more general came before the more +special. And it is _not_ true that concrete mathematics, in either of its +two sections, began with the most abstract and advanced to the less +abstract truths. + +It may be well to mention, parenthetically, that in defending his alleged +law of progression from the general to the special, M. Comte somewhere +comments upon the two meanings of the word _general_, and the resulting +liability to confusion. Without now discussing whether the asserted +distinction can be maintained in other cases, it is manifest that it does +not exist here. In sundry of the instances above quoted, the endeavors made +by M. Comte himself to disguise, or to explain away, the precedence of the +special over the general, clearly indicate that the generality spoken of, +is of the kind meant by his formula. And it needs but a brief consideration +of the matter to show that, even did he attempt it, he could not +distinguish this generality, which, as above proved, frequently comes last, +from the generality which he says always comes first. For what is the +nature of that mental process by which objects, dimensions, weights, times, +and the rest, are found capable of having their relations expressed +numerically? It is the formation of certain abstract conceptions of unity, +duality and multiplicity, which are applicable to all things alike. It is +the invention of general symbols serving to express the numerical relations +of entities, whatever be their special characters. And what is the nature +of the mental process by which numbers are found capable of having their +relations expressed algebraically? It is just the same. It is the formation +of certain abstract conceptions of numerical functions which are the same +whatever be the magnitudes of the numbers. It is the invention of general +symbols serving to express the relations between numbers, as numbers +express the relations between things. And transcendental analysis stands to +algebra in the same position that algebra stands in to arithmetic. + +To briefly illustrate their respective powers;--arithmetic can express in +one formula the value of a _particular_ tangent to a _particular_ curve; +algebra can express in one formula the values of _all_ tangents to a +_particular_ curve; transcendental analysis can express in one formula the +values of _all_ tangents to _all_ curves. Just as arithmetic deals with the +common properties of lines, areas, bulks, forces, periods; so does algebra +deal with the common properties of the numbers which arithmetic presents; +so does transcendental analysis deal with the common properties of the +equations exhibited by algebra. Thus, the generality of the higher branches +of the calculus, when compared with the lower, is the same kind of +generality as that of the lower branches when compared with geometry or +mechanics. And on examination it will be found that the like relation +exists in the various other cases above given. + +Having shown that M. Comte's alleged law of progression does not hold among +the several parts of the same science, let us see how it agrees with the +facts when applied to separate sciences. "Astronomy," says M. Comte, at the +opening of Book III., "was a positive science, in its geometrical aspect, +from the earliest days of the school of Alexandria; but Physics, which we +are now to consider, had no positive character at all till Galileo made his +great discoveries on the fall of heavy bodies." On this, our comment is +simply that it is a misrepresentation based upon an arbitrary misuse of +words--a mere verbal artifice. By choosing to exclude from terrestrial +physics those laws of magnitude, motion, and position, which he includes in +celestial physics, M. Comte makes it appear that the one owes nothing to +the other. Not only is this altogether unwarrantable, but it is radically +inconsistent with his own scheme of divisions. At the outset he says--and +as the point is important we quote from the original--"Pour la _physique +inorganique_ nous voyons d'abord, en nous conformant toujours a l'ordre de +generalite et de dependance des phenomenes, qu'elle doit etre partagee en +deux sections distinctes, suivant qu'elle considere les phenomenes generaux +de l'univers, ou, en particulier, ceux que presentent les corps terrestres. +D'ou la physique celeste, ou l'astronomie, soit geometrique, soit +mechanique; et la physique terrestre." + +Here then we have _inorganic physics_ clearly divided into _celestial +physics_ and _terrestrial physics_--the phenomena presented by the +universe, and the phenomena presented by earthly bodies. If now celestial +bodies and terrestrial bodies exhibit sundry leading phenomena in common, +as they do, how can the generalization of these common phenomena be +considered as pertaining to the one class rather than to the other? If +inorganic physics includes geometry (which M. Comte has made it do by +comprehending _geometrical_ astronomy in its sub-section--celestial +physics); and if its sub-section--terrestrial physics, treats of things +having geometrical properties; how can the laws of geometrical relations be +excluded from terrestrial physics? Clearly if celestial physics includes +the geometry of objects in the heavens, terrestrial physics includes the +geometry of objects on the earth. And if terrestrial physics includes +terrestrial geometry, while celestial physics includes celestial geometry, +then the geometrical part of terrestrial physics precedes the geometrical +part of celestial physics; seeing that geometry gained its first ideas from +surrounding objects. Until men had learnt geometrical relations from bodies +on the earth, it was impossible for them to understand the geometrical +relations of bodies in the heavens. + +So, too, with celestial mechanics, which had terrestrial mechanics for its +parent. The very conception of _force_, which underlies the whole of +mechanical astronomy, is borrowed from our earthly experiences; and the +leading laws of mechanical action as exhibited in scales, levers, +projectiles, &c., had to be ascertained before the dynamics of the solar +system could be entered upon. What were the laws made use of by Newton in +working out his grand discovery? The law of falling bodies disclosed by +Galileo; that of the composition of forces also disclosed by Galileo; and +that of centrifugal force found out by Huyghens--all of them +generalizations of terrestrial physics. Yet, with facts like these before +him, M. Comte places astronomy before physics in order of evolution! He +does not compare the geometrical parts of the two together, and the +mechanical parts of the two together; for this would by no means suit his +hypothesis. But he compares the geometrical part of the one with the +mechanical part of the other, and so gives a semblance of truth to his +position. He is led away by a verbal delusion. Had he confined his +attention to the things and disregarded the words, he would have seen that +before mankind scientifically co-ordinated _any one class of phenomena_ +displayed in the heavens, they had previously co-ordinated _a parallel +class of phenomena_ displayed upon the surface of the earth. + +Were it needful we could fill a score pages with the incongruities of M. +Comte's scheme. But the foregoing samples will suffice. So far is his law +of evolution of the sciences from being tenable, that, by following his +example, and arbitrarily ignoring one class of facts, it would be possible +to present, with great plausibility, just the opposite generalization to +that which he enunciates. While he asserts that the rational order of the +sciences, like the order of their historic development, "is determined by +the degree of simplicity, or, what comes to the same thing, of generality +of their phenomena;" it might contrariwise be asserted, that, commencing +with the complex and the special, mankind have progressed step by step to a +knowledge of greater simplicity and wider generality. So much evidence is +there of this as to have drawn from Whewell, in his _History of the +Inductive Sciences_, the general remark that "the reader has already seen +repeatedly in the course of this history, complex and derivative principles +presenting themselves to men's minds before simple and elementary ones." + +Even from M. Comte's own work, numerous facts, admissions, and arguments, +might be picked out, tending to show this. We have already quoted his words +in proof that both abstract and concrete mathematics have progressed +towards a higher degree of generality, and that he looks forward to a +higher generality still. Just to strengthen this adverse hypothesis, let us +take a further instance. From the _particular_ case of the scales, the law +of equilibrium of which was familiar to the earliest nations known, +Archimedes advanced to the more _general_ case of the unequal lever with +unequal weights; the law of equilibrium of which _includes_ that of the +scales. By the help of Galileo's discovery concerning the composition of +forces, D'Alembert "established, for the first time, the equations of +equilibrium of _any_ system of forces applied to the different points of a +solid body"--equations which include all cases of levers and an infinity of +cases besides. Clearly this is progress towards a higher +generality--towards a knowledge more independent of special +circumstances--towards a study of phenomena "the most disengaged from the +incidents of particular cases;" which is M. Comte's definition of "the most +simple phenomena." Does it not indeed follow from the familiarly admitted +fact, that mental advance is from the concrete to the abstract, from the +particular to the general, that the universal and therefore most simple +truths are the last to be discovered? Is not the government of the solar +system by a force varying inversely as the square of the distance, a +simpler conception than any that preceded it? Should we ever succeed in +reducing all orders of phenomena to some single law--say of atomic action, +as M. Comte suggests--must not that law answer to his test of being +_independent_ of all others, and therefore most simple? And would not such +a law generalize the phenomena of gravity, cohesion, atomic affinity, and +electric repulsion, just as the laws of number generalize the quantitative +phenomena of space, time and force? + +The possibility of saying so much in support of an hypothesis the very +reverse of M. Comte's, at once proves that his generalization is only a +half-truth. The fact is, that neither proposition is correct by itself; and +the actuality is expressed only by putting the two together. The progress +of science is duplex: it is at once from the special to the general, and +from the general to the special: it is analytical and synthetical at the +same time. + +M. Comte himself observes that the evolution of science has been +accomplished by the division of labour; but he quite misstates the mode in +which this division of labour has operated. As he describes it, it has +simply been an arrangement of phenomena into classes, and the study of each +class by itself. He does not recognise the constant effect of progress in +each class upon _all_ other classes; but only on the class succeeding it in +his hierarchical scale. Or if he occasionally admits collateral influences +and intercommunications, he does it so grudgingly, and so quickly puts the +admissions out of sight and forgets them, as to leave the impression that, +with but trifling exceptions, the sciences aid each other only in the order +of their alleged succession. The fact is, however, that the division of +labour in science, like the division of labour in society, and like the +"physiological division of labour" in individual organisms, has been not +only a specialization of functions, but a continuous helping of each +division by all the others, and of all by each. Every particular class of +inquirers has, as it were, secreted its own particular order of truths from +the general mass of material which observation accumulates; and all other +classes of inquirers have made use of these truths as fast as they were +elaborated, with the effect of enabling them the better to elaborate each +its own order of truths. + +It was thus in sundry of the cases we have quoted as at variance with M. +Comte's doctrine. It was thus with the application of Huyghens's optical +discovery to astronomical observation by Galileo. It was thus with the +application of the isochronism of the pendulum to the making of instruments +for measuring intervals, astronomical and other. It was thus when the +discovery that the refraction and dispersion of light did not follow the +same law of variation, affected both astronomy and physiology by giving us +achromatic telescopes and microscopes. It was thus when Bradley's discovery +of the aberration of light enabled him to make the first step towards +ascertaining the motions of the stars. It was thus when Cavendish's +torsion-balance experiment determined the specific gravity of the earth, +and so gave a datum for calculating the specific gravities of the sun and +planets. It was thus when tables of atmospheric refraction enabled +observers to write down the real places of the heavenly bodies instead of +their apparent places. It was thus when the discovery of the different +expansibilities of metals by heat, gave us the means of correcting our +chronometrical measurements of astronomical periods. It was thus when the +lines of the prismatic spectrum were used to distinguish the heavenly +bodies that are of like nature with the sun from those which are not. It +was thus when, as recently, an electro-telegraphic instrument was invented +for the more accurate registration of meridional transits. It was thus when +the difference in the rates of a clock at the equator, and nearer the +poles, gave data for calculating the oblateness of the earth, and +accounting for the precession of the equinoxes. It was thus--but it is +needless to continue. + +Here, within our own limited knowledge of its history, we have named ten +additional cases in which the single science of astronomy has owed its +advance to sciences coming _after_ it in M. Comte's series. Not only its +secondary steps, but its greatest revolutions have been thus determined. +Kepler could not have discovered his celebrated laws had it not been for +Tycho Brahe's accurate observations; and it was only after some progress in +physical and chemical science that the improved instruments with which +those observations were made, became possible. The heliocentric theory of +the solar system had to wait until the invention of the telescope before it +could be finally established. Nay, even the grand discovery of all--the law +of gravitation--depended for its proof upon an operation of physical +science, the measurement of a degree on the Earth's surface. So completely +indeed did it thus depend, that Newton _had actually abandoned his +hypothesis_ because the length of a degree, as then stated, brought out +wrong results; and it was only after Picard's more exact measurement was +published, that he returned to his calculations and proved his great +generalization. Now this constant intercommunion, which, for brevity's +sake, we have illustrated in the case of one science only, has been taking +place with all the sciences. Throughout the whole course of their evolution +there has been a continuous _consensus_ of the sciences--a _consensus_ +exhibiting a general correspondence with the _consensus_ of faculties in +each phase of mental development; the one being an objective registry of +the subjective state of the other. + + * * * * * + +From our present point of view, then, it becomes obvious that the +conception of a _serial_ arrangement of the sciences is a vicious one. It +is not simply that the schemes we have examined are untenable; but it is +that the sciences cannot be rightly placed in any linear order whatever. It +is not simply that, as M. Comte admits, a classification "will always +involve something, if not arbitrary, at least artificial;" it is not, as he +would have us believe, that, neglecting minor imperfections a +classification may be substantially true; but it is that any grouping of +the sciences in a succession gives a radically erroneous idea of their +genesis and their dependencies. There is no "one _rational_ order among a +host of possible systems." There is no "true _filiation_ of the sciences." +The whole hypothesis is fundamentally false. Indeed, it needs but a glance +at its origin to see at once how baseless it is. Why a _series_? What +reason have we to suppose that the sciences admit of a _linear_ +arrangement? Where is our warrant for assuming that there is some +_succession_ in which they can be placed? There is no reason; no warrant. +Whence then has arisen the supposition? To use M. Comte's own phraseology, +we should say, it is a metaphysical conception. It adds another to the +cases constantly occurring, of the human mind being made the measure of +Nature. We are obliged to think in sequence; it is the law of our minds +that we must consider subjects separately, one after another: _therefore_ +Nature must be serial--_therefore_ the sciences must be classifiable in a +succession. See here the birth of the notion, and the sole evidence of its +truth. Men have been obliged when arranging in books their schemes of +education and systems of knowledge, to choose _some_ order or other. And +from inquiring what is the best order, have naturally fallen into the +belief that there is an order which truly represents the facts--have +persevered in seeking such an order; quite overlooking the previous +question whether it is likely that Nature has consulted the convenience of +book-making. + +For German philosophers, who hold that Nature is "petrified intelligence," +and that logical forms are the foundations of all things, it is a +consistent hypothesis that as thought is serial, Nature is serial; but that +M. Comte, who is so bitter an opponent of all anthropomorphism, even in its +most evanescent shapes, should have committed the mistake of imposing upon +the external world an arrangement which so obviously springs from a +limitation of the human consciousness, is somewhat strange. And it is the +more strange when we call to mind how, at the outset, M. Comte remarks that +in the beginning "_toutes les sciences sont cultivees simultanement par les +memes esprits_;" that this is "_inevitable et meme indispensable_;" and how +he further remarks that the different sciences are "_comme les diverses +branches d'un tronc unique_." Were it not accounted for by the distorting +influence of a cherished hypothesis, it would be scarcely possible to +understand how, after recognising truths like these, M. Comte should have +persisted in attempting to construct "_une echelle encyclopedique_." + +The metaphor which M. Comte has here so inconsistently used to express the +relations of the sciences--branches of one trunk--is an approximation to +the truth, though not the truth itself. It suggests the facts that the +sciences had a common origin; that they have been developing +simultaneously; and that they have been from time to time dividing and +sub-dividing. But it does not suggest the yet more important fact, that the +divisions and sub-divisions thus arising do not remain separate, but now +and again re-unite in direct and indirect ways. They inosculate; they +severally send off and receive connecting growths; and the intercommunion +has been ever becoming more frequent, more intricate, more widely ramified. +There has all along been higher specialization, that there might be a +larger generalization; and a deeper analysis, that there might be a better +synthesis. Each larger generalization has lifted sundry specializations +still higher; and each better synthesis has prepared the way for still +deeper analysis. + +And here we may fitly enter upon the task awhile since indicated--a sketch +of the Genesis of Science, regarded as a gradual outgrowth from common +knowledge--an extension of the perceptions by the aid of the reason. We +propose to treat it as a psychological process historically displayed; +tracing at the same time the advance from qualitative to quantitative +prevision; the progress from concrete facts to abstract facts, and the +application of such abstract facts to the analysis of new orders of +concrete facts; the simultaneous advance in generalization and +specialization; the continually increasing subdivision and reunion of the +sciences; and their constantly improving _consensus_. + + * * * * * + +To trace out scientific evolution from its deepest roots would, of course, +involve a complete analysis of the mind. For as science is a development of +that common knowledge acquired by the unaided senses and uncultured reason, +so is that common knowledge itself gradually built up out of the simplest +perceptions. We must, therefore, begin somewhere abruptly; and the most +appropriate stage to take for our point of departure will be the adult mind +of the savage. + +Commencing thus, without a proper preliminary analysis, we are naturally +somewhat at a loss how to present, in a satisfactory manner, those +fundamental processes of thought out of which science ultimately +originates. Perhaps our argument may be best initiated by the proposition, +that all intelligent action whatever depends upon the discerning of +distinctions among surrounding things. The condition under which only it is +possible for any creature to obtain food and avoid danger is, that it shall +be differently affected by different objects--that it shall be led to act +in one way by one object, and in another way by another. In the lower +orders of creatures this condition is fulfilled by means of an apparatus +which acts automatically. In the higher orders the actions are partly +automatic, partly conscious. And in man they are almost wholly conscious. + +Throughout, however, there must necessarily exist a certain classification +of things according to their properties--a classification which is either +organically registered in the system, as in the inferior creation, or is +formed by experience, as in ourselves. And it may be further remarked, that +the extent to which this classification is carried, roughly indicates the +height of intelligence--that, while the lowest organisms are able to do +little more than discriminate organic from inorganic matter; while the +generality of animals carry their classifications no further than to a +limited number of plants or creatures serving for food, a limited number of +beasts of prey, and a limited number of places and materials; the most +degraded of the human race possess a knowledge of the distinctive natures +of a great variety of substances, plants, animals, tools, persons, &c., not +only as classes but as individuals. + +What now is the mental process by which classification is effected? +Manifestly it is a recognition of the _likeness_ or _unlikeness_ of things, +either in respect of their sizes, colours, forms, weights, textures, +tastes, &c., or in respect of their modes of action. By some special mark, +sound, or motion, the savage identifies a certain four-legged creature he +sees, as one that is good for food, and to be caught in a particular way; +or as one that is dangerous; and acts accordingly. He has classed together +all the creatures that are _alike_ in this particular. And manifestly in +choosing the wood out of which to form his bow, the plant with which to +poison his arrows, the bone from which to make his fish-hooks, he +identifies them through their chief sensible properties as belonging to the +general classes, wood, plant, and bone, but distinguishes them as belonging +to sub-classes by virtue of certain properties in which they are _unlike_ +the rest of the general classes they belong to; and so forms genera and +species. + +And here it becomes manifest that not only is classification carried on by +grouping together in the mind things that are _like_; but that classes and +sub-classes are formed and arranged according to the _degrees of +unlikeness_. Things widely contrasted are alone distinguished in the lower +stages of mental evolution; as may be any day observed in an infant. And +gradually as the powers of discrimination increase, the widely contrasted +classes at first distinguished, come to be each divided into sub-classes, +differing from each other less than the classes differ; and these +sub-classes are again divided after the same manner. By the continuance of +which process, things are gradually arranged into groups, the members of +which are less and less _unlike_; ending, finally, in groups whose members +differ only as individuals, and not specifically. And thus there tends +ultimately to arise the notion of _complete likeness_. For manifestly, it +is impossible that groups should continue to be sub-divided in virtue of +smaller and smaller differences, without there being a simultaneous +approximation to the notion of _no difference_. + +Let us next notice that the recognition of likeness and unlikeness, which +underlies classification, and out of which continued classification evolves +the idea of complete likeness--let us next notice that it also underlies +the process of _naming_, and by consequence _language_. For all language +consists, at the beginning, of symbols which are as _like_ to the things +symbolized as it is practicable to make them. The language of signs is a +means of conveying ideas by mimicking the actions or peculiarities of the +things referred to. Verbal language is also, at the beginning, a mode of +suggesting objects or acts by imitating the sounds which the objects make, +or with which the acts are accompanied. Originally these two languages were +used simultaneously. It needs but to watch the gesticulations with which +the savage accompanies his speech--to see a Bushman or a Kaffir dramatizing +before an audience his mode of catching game--or to note the extreme +paucity of words in all primitive vocabularies; to infer that at first, +attitudes, gestures, and sounds, were all combined to produce as good a +_likeness_ as possible, of the things, animals, persons, or events +described; and that as the sounds came to be understood by themselves the +gestures fell into disuse: leaving traces, however, in the manners of the +more excitable civilized races. But be this as it may, it suffices simply +to observe, how many of the words current among barbarous peoples are like +the sounds appertaining to the things signified; how many of our own oldest +and simplest words have the same peculiarity; how children tend to invent +imitative words; and how the sign-language spontaneously formed by deaf +mutes is invariably based upon imitative actions--to at once see that the +notion of _likeness_ is that from which the nomenclature of objects takes +its rise. + +Were there space we might go on to point out how this law of life is +traceable, not only in the origin but in the development of language; how +in primitive tongues the plural is made by a duplication of the singular, +which is a multiplication of the word to make it _like_ the multiplicity of +the things; how the use of metaphor--that prolific source of new words--is +a suggesting of ideas that are _like_ the ideas to be conveyed in some +respect or other; and how, in the copious use of simile, fable, and +allegory among uncivilized races, we see that complex conceptions, which +there is yet no direct language for, are rendered, by presenting known +conceptions more or less _like_ them. + +This view is further confirmed, and the predominance of this notion of +likeness in primitive times further illustrated, by the fact that our +system of presenting ideas to the eye originated after the same fashion. +Writing and printing have descended from picture-language. The earliest +mode of permanently registering a fact was by depicting it on a wall; that +is--by exhibiting something as _like_ to the thing to be remembered as it +could be made. Gradually as the practice grew habitual and extensive, the +most frequently repeated forms became fixed, and presently abbreviated; +and, passing through the hieroglyphic and ideographic phases, the symbols +lost all apparent relations to the things signified: just as the majority +of our spoken words have done. + +Observe again, that the same thing is true respecting the genesis of +reasoning. The _likeness_ that is perceived to exist between cases, is the +essence of all early reasoning and of much of our present reasoning. The +savage, having by experience discovered a relation between a certain object +and a certain act, infers that the _like_ relation will be found in future +cases. And the expressions we constantly use in our arguments--"_analogy_ +implies," "the cases are not _parallel_," "by _parity_ of reasoning," +"there is no _similarity_,"--show how constantly the idea of likeness +underlies our ratiocinative processes. + +Still more clearly will this be seen on recognising the fact that there is +a certain parallelism between reasoning and classification; that the two +have a common root; and that neither can go on without the other. For on +the one hand, it is a familiar truth that the attributing to a body in +consequence of some of its properties, all those other properties in virtue +of which it is referred to a particular class, is an act of inference. And, +on the other hand, the forming of a generalization is the putting together +in one class, all those cases which present like relations; while the +drawing a deduction is essentially the perception that a particular case +belongs to a certain class of cases previously generalized. So that as +classification is a grouping together of _like things_; reasoning is a +grouping together of _like relations_ among things. Add to which, that +while the perfection gradually achieved in classification consists in the +formation of groups of _objects_ which are _completely alike_; the +perfection gradually achieved in reasoning consists in the formation of +groups of _cases_ which are _completely alike_. + +Once more we may contemplate this dominant idea of likeness as exhibited in +art. All art, civilized as well as savage, consists almost wholly in the +making of objects _like_ other objects; either as found in Nature, or as +produced by previous art. If we trace back the varied art-products now +existing, we find that at each stage the divergence from previous patterns +is but small when compared with the agreement; and in the earliest art the +persistency of imitation is yet more conspicuous. The old forms and +ornaments and symbols were held sacred, and perpetually copied. Indeed, the +strong imitative tendency notoriously displayed by the lowest human races, +ensures among them a constant reproducing of likenesses of things, forms, +signs, sounds, actions, and whatever else is imitable; and we may even +suspect that this aboriginal peculiarity is in some way connected with the +culture and development of this general conception, which we have found so +deep and widespread in its applications. + +And now let us go on to consider how, by a further unfolding of this same +fundamental notion, there is a gradual formation of the first germs of +science. This idea of likeness which underlies classification, +nomenclature, language spoken and written, reasoning, and art; and which +plays so important a part because all acts of intelligence are made +possible only by distinguishing among surrounding things, or grouping them +into like and unlike;--this idea we shall find to be the one of which +science is the especial product. Already during the stage we have been +describing, there has existed _qualitative_ prevision in respect to the +commoner phenomena with which savage life is familiar; and we have now to +inquire how the elements of _quantitative_ prevision are evolved. We shall +find that they originate by the perfecting of this same idea of likeness; +that they have their rise in that conception of _complete likeness_ which, +as we have seen, necessarily results from the continued process of +classification. + +For when the process of classification has been carried as far as it is +possible for the uncivilized to carry it--when the animal kingdom has been +grouped not merely into quadrupeds, birds, fishes, and insects, but each of +these divided into kinds--when there come to be sub-classes, in each of +which the members differ only as individuals, and not specifically; it is +clear that there must occur a frequent observation of objects which differ +so little as to be indistinguishable. Among several creatures which the +savage has killed and carried home, it must often happen that some one, +which he wished to identify, is so exactly like another that he cannot tell +which is which. Thus, then, there originates the notion of _equality_. The +things which among ourselves are called _equal_--whether lines, angles, +weights, temperatures, sounds or colours--are things which produce in us +sensations that cannot be distinguished from each other. It is true that we +now apply the word _equal_ chiefly to the separate phenomena which objects +exhibit, and not to groups of phenomena; but this limitation of the idea +has evidently arisen by subsequent analysis. And that the notion of +equality did thus originate, will, we think, become obvious on remembering +that as there were no artificial objects from which it could have been +abstracted, it must have been abstracted from natural objects; and that the +various families of the animal kingdom chiefly furnish those natural +objects which display the requisite exactitude of likeness. + +The same order of experiences out of which this general idea of equality is +evolved, gives birth at the same time to a more complex idea of equality; +or, rather, the process just described generates an idea of equality which +further experience separates into two ideas--_equality of things_ and +_equality of relations_. While organic, and more especially animal forms, +occasionally exhibit this perfection of likeness out of which the notion of +simple equality arises, they more frequently exhibit only that kind of +likeness which we call _similarity_; and which is really compound equality. +For the similarity of two creatures of the same species but of different +sizes, is of the same nature as the similarity of two geometrical figures. +In either case, any two parts of the one bear the same ratio to one +another, as the homologous parts of the other. Given in any species, the +proportions found to exist among the bones, and we may, and zoologists do, +predict from any one, the dimensions of the rest; just as, when knowing the +proportions subsisting among the parts of a geometrical figure, we may, +from the length of one, calculate the others. And if, in the case of +similar geometrical figures, the similarity can be established only by +proving exactness of proportion among the homologous parts; if we express +this relation between two parts in the one, and the corresponding parts in +the other, by the formula A is to B as _a_ is to _b_; if we otherwise write +this, A to B = _a_ to _b_; if, consequently, the fact we prove is that the +relation of A to B _equals_ the relation of _a_ to _b_; then it is manifest +that the fundamental conception of similarity is _equality of relations_. + +With this explanation we shall be understood when we say that the notion of +equality of relations is the basis of all exact reasoning. Already it has +been shown that reasoning in general is a recognition of _likeness_ of +relations; and here we further find that while the notion of likeness of +things ultimately evolves the idea of simple equality, the notion of +likeness of relations evolves the idea of equality of relations: of which +the one is the concrete germ of exact science, while the other is its +abstract germ. + +Those who cannot understand how the recognition of similarity in creatures +of the same kind, can have any alliance with reasoning, will get over the +difficulty on remembering that the phenomena among which equality of +relations is thus perceived, are phenomena of the same order and are +present to the senses at the same time; while those among which developed +reason perceives relations, are generally neither of the same order, nor +simultaneously present. And if further, they will call to mind how Cuvier +and Owen, from a single part of a creature, as a tooth, construct the rest +by a process of reasoning based on this equality of relations, they will +see that the two things are intimately connected, remote as they at first +seem. But we anticipate. What it concerns us here to observe is, that from +familiarity with organic forms there simultaneously arose the ideas of +_simple equality_, and _equality of relations_. + +At the same time, too, and out of the same mental processes, came the first +distinct ideas of _number_. In the earliest stages, the presentation of +several like objects produced merely an indefinite conception of +multiplicity; as it still does among Australians, and Bushmen, and Damaras, +when the number presented exceeds three or four. With such a fact before us +we may safely infer that the first clear numerical conception was that of +duality as contrasted with unity. And this notion of duality must +necessarily have grown up side by side with those of likeness and equality; +seeing that it is impossible to recognise the likeness of two things +without also perceiving that there are two. From the very beginning the +conception of number must have been, as it is still, associated with the +likeness or equality of the things numbered. If we analyze it, we find that +simple enumeration is a registration of repeated impressions of any kind. +That these may be capable of enumeration it is needful that they be more or +less alike; and before any _absolutely true_ numerical results can be +reached, it is requisite that the units be _absolutely equal_. The only way +in which we can establish a numerical relationship between things that do +not yield us like impressions, is to divide them into parts that _do_ yield +us like impressions. Two unlike magnitudes of extension, force, time, +weight, or what not, can have their relative amounts estimated, only by +means of some small unit that is contained many times in both; and even if +we finally write down the greater one as a unit and the other as a fraction +of it, we state, in the denominator of the fraction, the number of parts +into which the unit must be divided to be comparable with the fraction. + +It is, indeed, true, that by an evidently modern process of abstraction, we +occasionally apply numbers to unequal units, as the furniture at a sale or +the various animals on a farm, simply as so many separate entities; but no +true result can be brought out by calculation with units of this order. +And, indeed, it is the distinctive peculiarity of the calculus in general, +that it proceeds on the hypothesis of that absolute equality of its +abstract units, which no real units possess; and that the exactness of its +results holds only in virtue of this hypothesis. The first ideas of number +must necessarily then have been derived from like or equal magnitudes as +seen chiefly in organic objects; and as the like magnitudes most frequently +observed were magnitudes of extension, it follows that geometry and +arithmetic had a simultaneous origin. + +Not only are the first distinct ideas of number co-ordinate with ideas of +likeness and equality, but the first efforts at numeration displayed the +same relationship. On reading the accounts of various savage tribes, we +find that the method of counting by the fingers, still followed by many +children, is the aboriginal method. Neglecting the several cases in which +the ability to enumerate does not reach even to the number of fingers on +one hand, there are many cases in which it does not extend beyond ten--the +limit of the simple finger notation. The fact that in so many instances, +remote, and seemingly unrelated nations, have adopted _ten_ as their basic +number; together with the fact that in the remaining instances the basic +number is either _five_ (the fingers of one hand) or _twenty_ (the fingers +and toes); almost of themselves show that the fingers were the original +units of numeration. The still surviving use of the word _digit_, as the +general name for a figure in arithmetic, is significant; and it is even +said that our word _ten_ (Sax. tyn; Dutch, tien; German, zehn) means in its +primitive expanded form _two hands_. So that originally, to say there were +ten things, was to say there were two hands of them. + +From all which evidence it is tolerably clear that the earliest mode of +conveying the idea of any number of things, was by holding up as many +fingers as there were things; that is--using a symbol which was _equal_, in +respect of multiplicity, to the group symbolized. For which inference there +is, indeed, strong confirmation in the recent statement that our own +soldiers are even now spontaneously adopting this device in their dealings +with the Turks. And here it should be remarked that in this recombination +of the notion of equality with that of multiplicity, by which the first +steps in numeration are effected, we may see one of the earliest of those +inosculations between the diverging branches of science, which are +afterwards of perpetual occurrence. + +Indeed, as this observation suggests, it will be well, before tracing the +mode in which exact science finally emerges from the merely approximate +judgments of the senses, and showing the non-serial evolution of its +divisions, to note the non-serial character of those preliminary processes +of which all after development is a continuation. On re-considering them it +will be seen that not only are they divergent growths from a common +root,--not only are they simultaneous in their progress; but that they are +mutual aids; and that none can advance without the rest. That completeness +of classification for which the unfolding of the perceptions paves the way, +is impossible without a corresponding progress in language, by which +greater varieties of objects are thinkable and expressible. On the one hand +it is impossible to carry classification far without names by which to +designate the classes; and on the other hand it is impossible to make +language faster than things are classified. + +Again, the multiplication of classes and the consequent narrowing of each +class, itself involves a greater likeness among the things classed +together; and the consequent approach towards the notion of complete +likeness itself allows classification to be carried higher. Moreover, +classification necessarily advances _pari passu_ with rationality--the +classification of _things_ with the classification of _relations_. For +things that belong to the same class are, by implication, things of which +the properties and modes of behaviour--the co-existences and sequences--are +more or less the same; and the recognition of this sameness of +co-existences and sequences is reasoning. Whence it follows that the +advance of classification is necessarily proportionate to the advance of +generalizations. Yet further, the notion of _likeness_, both in things and +relations, simultaneously evolves by one process of culture the ideas of +_equality_ of things and _equality_ of relations; which are the respective +bases of exact concrete reasoning and exact abstract reasoning--Mathematics +and Logic. And once more, this idea of equality, in the very process of +being formed, necessarily gives origin to two series of relations--those of +magnitude and those of number: from which arise geometry and the calculus. +Thus the process throughout is one of perpetual subdivision and perpetual +intercommunication of the divisions. From the very first there has been +that _consensus_ of different kinds of knowledge, answering to the +_consensus_ of the intellectual faculties, which, as already said, must +exist among the sciences. + +Let us now go on to observe how, out of the notions of _equality_ and +_number_, as arrived at in the manner described, there gradually arose the +elements of quantitative prevision. + +Equality, once having come to be definitely conceived, was readily +applicable to other phenomena than those of magnitude. Being predicable of +all things producing indistinguishable impressions, there naturally grew up +ideas of equality in weights, sounds, colours, &c.; and indeed it can +scarcely be doubted that the occasional experience of equal weights, +sounds, and colours, had a share in developing the abstract conception of +equality--that the ideas of equality in size, relations, forces, +resistances, and sensible properties in general, were evolved during the +same period. But however this may be, it is clear that as fast as the +notion of equality gained definiteness, so fast did that lowest kind of +quantitative prevision which is achieved without any instrumental aid, +become possible. + +The ability to estimate, however roughly, the amount of a foreseen result, +implies the conception that it will be _equal to_ a certain imagined +quantity; and the correctness of the estimate will manifestly depend upon +the accuracy at which the perceptions of sensible equality have arrived. A +savage with a piece of stone in his hand, and another piece lying before +him of greater bulk but of the same kind (a fact which he infers from the +_equality_ of the two in colour and texture) knows about what effort he +must put forth to raise this other piece; and he judges accurately in +proportion to the accuracy with which he perceives that the one is twice, +three times, four times, &c. as large as the other; that is--in proportion +to the precision of his ideas of equality and number. And here let us not +omit to notice that even in these vaguest of quantitative previsions, the +conception of _equality of relations_ is also involved. For it is only in +virtue of an undefined perception that the relation between bulk and weight +in the one stone is _equal_ to the relation between bulk and weight in the +other, that even the roughest approximation can be made. + +But how came the transition from those uncertain perceptions of equality +which the unaided senses give, to the certain ones with which science +deals? It came by placing the things compared in juxtaposition. Equality +being predicated of things which give us indistinguishable impressions, and +no accurate comparison of impressions being possible unless they occur in +immediate succession, it results that exactness of equality is +ascertainable in proportion to the closeness of the compared things. Hence +the fact that when we wish to judge of two shades of colour whether they +are alike or not, we place them side by side; hence the fact that we +cannot, with any precision, say which of two allied sounds is the louder, +or the higher in pitch, unless we hear the one immediately after the other; +hence the fact that to estimate the ratio of weights, we take one in each +hand, that we may compare their pressures by rapidly alternating in thought +from the one to the other; hence the fact, that in a piece of music, we can +continue to make equal beats when the first beat has been given, but cannot +ensure commencing with the same length of beat on a future occasion; and +hence, lastly, the fact, that of all magnitudes, those of _linear +extension_ are those of which the equality is most accurately +ascertainable, and those to which by consequence all others have to be +reduced. For it is the peculiarity of linear extension that it alone allows +its magnitudes to be placed in _absolute_ juxtaposition, or, rather, in +coincident position; it alone can test the equality of two magnitudes by +observing whether they will coalesce, as two equal mathematical lines do, +when placed between the same points; it alone can test _equality_ by trying +whether it will become _identity_. Hence, then, the fact, that all exact +science is reducible, by an ultimate analysis, to results measured in equal +units of linear extension. + +Still it remains to be noticed in what manner this determination of +equality by comparison of linear magnitudes originated. Once more may we +perceive that surrounding natural objects supplied the needful lessons. +From the beginning there must have been a constant experience of like +things placed side by side--men standing and walking together; animals from +the same herd; fish from the same shoal. And the ceaseless repetition of +these experiences could not fail to suggest the observation, that the +nearer together any objects were, the more visible became any inequality +between them. Hence the obvious device of putting in apposition, things of +which it was desired to ascertain the relative magnitudes. Hence the idea +of _measure_. And here we suddenly come upon a group of facts which afford +a solid basis to the remainder of our argument; while they also furnish +strong evidence in support of the foregoing speculations. Those who look +sceptically on this attempted rehabilitation of the earliest epochs of +mental development, and who more especially think that the derivation of so +many primary notions from organic forms is somewhat strained, will perhaps +see more probability in the several hypotheses that have been ventured, on +discovering that all measures of _extension_ and _force_ originated from +the lengths and weights of organic bodies; and all measures of _time_ from +the periodic phenomena of either organic or inorganic bodies. + +Thus, among linear measures, the cubit of the Hebrews was the _length of +the forearm_ from the elbow to the end of the middle finger; and the +smaller scriptural dimensions are expressed in _hand-breadths_ and _spans_. +The Egyptian cubit, which was similarly derived, was divided into digits, +which were _finger-breadths_; and each finger-breadth was more definitely +expressed as being equal to four _grains of barley_ placed breadthwise. +Other ancient measures were the orgyia or _stretch of the arms_, the +_pace_, and the _palm_. So persistent has been the use of these natural +units of length in the East, that even now some of the Arabs mete out cloth +by the forearm. So, too, is it with European measures. The _foot_ prevails +as a dimension throughout Europe, and has done since the time of the +Romans, by whom, also, it was used: its lengths in different places varying +not much more than men's feet vary. The heights of horses are still +expressed in _hands_. The inch is the length of the terminal joint of _the +thumb_; as is clearly shown in France, where _pouce_ means both thumb and +inch. Then we have the inch divided into three _barley-corns_. + +So completely, indeed, have these organic dimensions served as the +substrata of all mensuration, that it is only by means of them that we can +form any estimate of some of the ancient distances. For example, the length +of a degree on the Earth's surface, as determined by the Arabian +astronomers shortly after the death of Haroun-al-Raschid, was fifty-six of +their miles. We know nothing of their mile further than that it was 4000 +cubits; and whether these were sacred cubits or common cubits, would remain +doubtful, but that the length of the cubit is given as twenty-seven inches, +and each inch defined as the thickness of six barley-grains. Thus one of +the earliest measurements of a degree comes down to us in barley-grains. +Not only did organic lengths furnish those approximate measures which +satisfied men's needs in ruder ages, but they furnished also the standard +measures required in later times. One instance occurs in our own history. +To remedy the irregularities then prevailing, Henry I. commanded that the +ulna, or ancient ell, which answers to the modern yard, should be made of +the exact length of _his own arm_. + +Measures of weight again had a like derivation. Seeds seem commonly to have +supplied the unit. The original of the carat used for weighing in India is +_a small bean_. Our own systems, both troy and avoirdupois, are derived, +primarily from wheat-corns. Our smallest weight, the grain, is _a grain of +wheat_. This is not a speculation; it is an historically registered fact. +Henry III. enacted that an ounce should be the weight of 640 dry grains of +wheat from the middle of the ear. And as all the other weights are +multiples or sub-multiples of this, it follows that the grain of wheat is +the basis of our scale. So natural is it to use organic bodies as weights, +before artificial weights have been established, or where they are not to +be had, that in some of the remoter parts of Ireland the people are said to +be in the habit, even now, of putting a man into the scales to serve as a +measure for heavy commodities. + +Similarly with time. Astronomical periodicity, and the periodicity of +animal and vegetable life, are simultaneously used in the first stages of +progress for estimating epochs. The simplest unit of time, the day, nature +supplies ready made. The next simplest period, the mooneth or month, is +also thrust upon men's notice by the conspicuous changes constituting a +lunation. For larger divisions than these, the phenomena of the seasons, +and the chief events from time to time occurring, have been used by early +and uncivilized races. Among the Egyptians the rising of the Nile served as +a mark. The New Zealanders were found to begin their year from the +reappearance of the Pleiades above the sea. One of the uses ascribed to +birds, by the Greeks, was to indicate the seasons by their migrations. +Barrow describes the aboriginal Hottentot as denoting periods by the number +of moons before or after the ripening of one of his chief articles of food. +He further states that the Kaffir chronology is kept by the moon, and is +registered by notches on sticks--the death of a favourite chief, or the +gaining of a victory, serving for a new era. By which last fact, we are at +once reminded that in early history, events are commonly recorded as +occurring in certain reigns, and in certain years of certain reigns: a +proceeding which practically made a king's reign a measure of duration. + +And, as further illustrating the tendency to divide time by natural +phenomena and natural events, it may be noticed that even by our own +peasantry the definite divisions of months and years are but little used; +and that they habitually refer to occurrences as "before sheep-shearing," +or "after harvest," or "about the time when the squire died." It is +manifest, therefore, that the more or less equal periods perceived in +Nature gave the first units of measure for time; as did Nature's more or +less equal lengths and weights give the first units of measure for space +and force. + +It remains only to observe, as further illustrating the evolution of +quantitative ideas after this manner, that measures of value were similarly +derived. Barter, in one form or other, is found among all but the very +lowest human races. It is obviously based upon the notion of _equality of +worth_. And as it gradually merges into trade by the introduction of some +kind of currency, we find that the _measures of worth_, constituting this +currency, are organic bodies; in some cases _cowries_, in others +_cocoa-nuts_, in others _cattle_, in others _pigs_; among the American +Indians peltry or _skins_, and in Iceland _dried fish_. + +Notions of exact equality and of measure having been reached, there came to +be definite ideas of relative magnitudes as being multiples one of another; +whence the practice of measurement by direct apposition of a measure. The +determination of linear extensions by this process can scarcely be called +science, though it is a step towards it; but the determination of lengths +of time by an analogous process may be considered as one of the earliest +samples of quantitative prevision. For when it is first ascertained that +the moon completes the cycle of her changes in about thirty days--a fact +known to most uncivilized tribes that can count beyond the number of their +fingers--it is manifest that it becomes possible to say in what number of +days any specified phase of the moon will recur; and it is also manifest +that this prevision is effected by an opposition of two times, after the +same manner that linear space is measured by the opposition of two lines. +For to express the moon's period in days, is to say how many of these units +of measure are contained in the period to be measured--is to ascertain the +distance between two points in time by means of a _scale of days_, just as +we ascertain the distance between two points in space by a scale of feet or +inches: and in each case the scale coincides with the thing +measured--mentally in the one; visibly in the other. So that in this +simplest, and perhaps earliest case of quantitative prevision, the +phenomena are not only thrust daily upon men's notice, but Nature is, as it +were, perpetually repeating that process of measurement by observing which +the prevision is effected. And thus there may be significance in the remark +which some have made, that alike in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, there is an +affinity between the word meaning moon, and that meaning measure. + +This fact, that in very early stages of social progress it is known that +the moon goes through her changes in about thirty days, and that in about +twelve moons the seasons return--this fact that chronological astronomy +assumes a certain scientific character even before geometry does; while it +is partly due to the circumstance that the astronomical divisions, day, +month, and year, are ready made for us, is partly due to the further +circumstances that agricultural and other operations were at first +regulated astronomically, and that from the supposed divine nature of the +heavenly bodies their motions determined the periodical religious +festivals. As instances of the one we have the observation of the +Egyptians, that the rising of the Nile corresponded with the heliacal +rising of Sirius; the directions given by Hesiod for reaping and ploughing, +according to the positions of the Pleiades; and his maxim that "fifty days +after the turning of the sun is a seasonable time for beginning a voyage." +As instances of the other, we have the naming of the days after the sun, +moon, and planets; the early attempts among Eastern nations to regulate the +calendar so that the gods might not be offended by the displacement of +their sacrifices; and the fixing of the great annual festival of the +Peruvians by the position of the sun. In all which facts we see that, at +first, science was simply an appliance of religion and industry. + +After the discoveries that a lunation occupies nearly thirty days, and that +some twelve lunations occupy a year--discoveries of which there is no +historical account, but which may be inferred as the earliest, from the +fact that existing uncivilized races have made them--we come to the first +known astronomical records, which are those of eclipses. The Chaldeans were +able to predict these. "This they did, probably," says Dr. Whewell in his +useful history, from which most of the materials we are about to use will +be drawn, "by means of their cycle of 223 months, or about eighteen years; +for at the end of this time, the eclipses of the moon begin to return, at +the same intervals and in the same order as at the beginning." Now this +method of calculating eclipses by means of a recurring cycle,--the _Saros_ +as they called it--is a more complex case of prevision by means of +coincidence of measures. For by what observations must the Chaldeans have +discovered this cycle? Obviously, as Delambre infers, by inspecting their +registers; by comparing the successive intervals; by finding that some of +the intervals were alike; by seeing that these equal intervals were +eighteen years apart; by discovering that _all_ the intervals that were +eighteen years apart were equal; by ascertaining that the intervals formed +a series which repeated itself, so that if one of the cycles of intervals +were superposed on another the divisions would fit. This once perceived, +and it manifestly became possible to use the cycle as a scale of time by +which to measure out future periods. Seeing thus that the process of so +predicting eclipses, is in essence the same as that of predicting the +moon's monthly changes by observing the number of days after which they +repeat--seeing that the two differ only in the extent and irregularity of +the intervals, it is not difficult to understand how such an amount of +knowledge should so early have been reached. And we shall be less +surprised, on remembering that the only things involved in these previsions +were _time_ and _number_; and that the time was in a manner self-numbered. + +Still, the ability to predict events recurring only after so long a period +as eighteen years, implies a considerable advance in civilization--a +considerable development of general knowledge; and we have now to inquire +what progress in other sciences accompanied, and was necessary to, these +astronomical previsions. In the first place, there must clearly have been a +tolerably efficient system of calculation. Mere finger-counting, mere +head-reckoning, even with the aid of a regular decimal notation, could not +have sufficed for numbering the days in a year; much less the years, +months, and days between eclipses. Consequently there must have been a mode +of registering numbers; probably even a system of numerals. The earliest +numerical records, if we may judge by the practices of the less civilized +races now existing, were probably kept by notches cut on sticks, or strokes +marked on walls; much as public-house scores are kept now. And there seems +reason to believe that the first numerals used were simply groups of +straight strokes, as some of the still-extant Roman ones are; leading us to +suspect that these groups of strokes were used to represent groups of +fingers, as the groups of fingers had been used to represent groups of +objects--a supposition quite in conformity with the aboriginal system of +picture writing and its subsequent modifications. Be this so or not, +however, it is manifest that before the Chaldeans discovered their _Saros_, +there must have been both a set of written symbols serving for an extensive +numeration, and a familiarity with the simpler rules of arithmetic. + +Not only must abstract mathematics have made some progress, but concrete +mathematics also. It is scarcely possible that the buildings belonging to +this era should have been laid out and erected without any knowledge of +geometry. At any rate, there must have existed that elementary geometry +which deals with direct measurement--with the apposition of lines; and it +seems that only after the discovery of those simple proceedings, by which +right angles are drawn, and relative positions fixed, could so regular an +architecture be executed. In the case of the other division of concrete +mathematics--mechanics, we have definite evidence of progress. We know that +the lever and the inclined plane were employed during this period: implying +that there was a qualitative prevision of their effects, though not a +quantitative one. But we know more. We read of weights in the earliest +records; and we find weights in ruins of the highest antiquity. Weights +imply scales, of which we have also mention; and scales involve the primary +theorem of mechanics in its least complicated form--involve not a +qualitative but a quantitative prevision of mechanical effects. And here we +may notice how mechanics, in common with the other exact sciences, took its +rise from the simplest application of the idea of _equality_. For the +mechanical proposition which the scales involve, is, that if a lever with +_equal_ arms, have _equal_ weights suspended from them, the weights will +remain at _equal_ altitudes. And we may further notice, how, in this first +step of rational mechanics, we see illustrated that truth awhile since +referred to, that as magnitudes of linear extension are the only ones of +which the equality is exactly ascertainable, the equalities of other +magnitudes have at the outset to be determined by means of them. For the +equality of the weights which balance each other in scales, wholly depends +upon the equality of the arms: we can know that the weights are equal only +by proving that the arms are equal. And when by this means we have obtained +a system of weights,--a set of equal units of force, then does a science of +mechanics become possible. Whence, indeed, it follows, that rational +mechanics could not possibly have any other starting-point than the scales. + +Let us further remember, that during this same period there was a limited +knowledge of chemistry. The many arts which we know to have been carried on +must have been impossible without a generalized experience of the modes in +which certain bodies affect each other under special conditions. In +metallurgy, which was extensively practised, this is abundantly +illustrated. And we even have evidence that in some cases the knowledge +possessed was, in a sense, quantitative. For, as we find by analysis that +the hard alloy of which the Egyptians made their cutting tools, was +composed of copper and tin in fixed proportions, there must have been an +established prevision that such an alloy was to be obtained only by mixing +them in these proportions. It is true, this was but a simple empirical +generalization; but so was the generalization respecting the recurrence of +eclipses; so are the first generalizations of every science. + +Respecting the simultaneous advance of the sciences during this early +epoch, it only remains to remark that even the most complex of them must +have made some progress--perhaps even a greater relative progress than any +of the rest. For under what conditions only were the foregoing developments +possible? There first required an established and organized social system. +A long continued registry of eclipses; the building of palaces; the use of +scales; the practice of metallurgy--alike imply a fixed and populous +nation. The existence of such a nation not only presupposes laws, and some +administration of justice, which we know existed, but it presupposes +successful laws--laws conforming in some degree to the conditions of social +stability--laws enacted because it was seen that the actions forbidden by +them were dangerous to the State. We do not by any means say that all, or +even the greater part, of the laws were of this nature; but we do say, that +the fundamental ones were. It cannot be denied that the laws affecting life +and property were such. It cannot be denied that, however little these were +enforced between class and class, they were to a considerable extent +enforced between members of the same class. It can scarcely be questioned, +that the administration of them between members of the same class was seen +by rulers to be necessary for keeping their subjects together. And knowing, +as we do, that, other things equal, nations prosper in proportion to the +justness of their arrangements, we may fairly infer that the very cause of +the advance of these earliest nations out of aboriginal barbarism, was the +greater recognition among them of the claims to life and property. + +But supposition aside, it is clear that the habitual recognition of these +claims in their laws, implied some prevision of social phenomena. Even thus +early there was a certain amount of social science. Nay, it may even be +shown that there was a vague recognition of that fundamental principle on +which all the true social science is based--the equal rights of all to the +free exercise of their faculties. That same idea of _equality_, which, as +we have seen, underlies all other science, underlies also morals and +sociology. The conception of justice, which is the primary one in morals; +and the administration of justice, which is the vital condition of social +existence; are impossible, without the recognition of a certain likeness in +men's claims, in virtue of their common humanity. _Equity_ literally means +_equalness_; and if it be admitted that there were even the vaguest ideas +of equity in these primitive eras, it must be admitted that there was some +appreciation of the equalness of men's liberties to pursue the objects of +life--some appreciation, therefore, of the essential principle of national +equilibrium. + +Thus in this initial stage of the positive sciences, before geometry had +yet done more than evolve a few empirical rules--before mechanics had +passed beyond its first theorem--before astronomy had advanced from its +merely chronological phase into the geometrical; the most involved of the +sciences had reached a certain degree of development--a development without +which no progress in other sciences was possible. + +Only noting as we pass, how, thus early, we may see that the progress of +exact science was not only towards an increasing number of previsions, but +towards previsions more accurately quantitative--how, in astronomy, the +recurring period of the moon's motions was by and by more correctly +ascertained to be nineteen years, or two hundred and thirty-five lunations; +how Callipus further corrected this Metonic cycle, by leaving out a day at +the end of every seventy-six years; and how these successive advances +implied a longer continued registry of observations, and the co-ordination +of a greater number of facts--let us go on to inquire how geometrical +astronomy took its rise. + +The first astronomical instrument was the gnomon. This was not only early +in use in the East, but it was found also among the Mexicans; the sole +astronomical observations of the Peruvians were made by it; and we read +that 1100 B.C., the Chinese found that, at a certain place, the length of +the sun's shadow, at the summer solstice, was to the height of the gnomon, +as one and a half to eight. Here again it is observable, not only that the +instrument is found ready made, but that Nature is perpetually performing +the process of measurement. Any fixed, erect object--a column, a dead palm, +a pole, the angle of a building--serves for a gnomon; and it needs but to +notice the changing position of the shadow it daily throws, to make the +first step in geometrical astronomy. How small this first step was, may be +seen in the fact that the only things ascertained at the outset were the +periods of the summer and winter solstices, which corresponded with the +least and greatest lengths of the mid-day shadow; and to fix which, it was +needful merely to mark the point to which each day's shadow reached. + +And now let it not be overlooked that in the observing at what time during +the next year this extreme limit of the shadow was again reached, and in +the inference that the sun had then arrived at the same turning point in +his annual course, we have one of the simplest instances of that combined +use of _equal magnitudes_ and _equal relations_, by which all exact +science, all quantitative prevision, is reached. For the relation observed +was between the length of the sun's shadow and his position in the heavens; +and the inference drawn was that when, next year, the extremity of his +shadow came to the same point, he occupied the same place. That is, the, +ideas involved were, the equality of the shadows, and the equality of the +relations between shadow and sun in successive years. As in the case of the +scales, the equality of relations here recognized is of the simplest order. +It is not as those habitually dealt with in the higher kinds of scientific +reasoning, which answer to the general type--the relation between two and +three equals the relation between six and nine; but it follows the +type--the relation between two and three, equals the relation between two +and three; it is a case of not simply _equal_ relations, but _coinciding_ +relations. And here, indeed, we may see beautifully illustrated how the +idea of equal relations takes its rise after the same manner that that of +equal magnitude does. As already shown, the idea of equal magnitudes arose +from the observed coincidence of two lengths placed together; and in this +case we have not only two coincident lengths of shadows, but two coincident +relations between sun and shadows. + +From the use of the gnomon there naturally grew up the conception of +angular measurements; and with the advance of geometrical conceptions there +came the hemisphere of Berosus, the equinoctial armil, the solstitial +armil, and the quadrant of Ptolemy--all of them employing shadows as +indices of the sun's position, but in combination with angular divisions. +It is obviously out of the question for us here to trace these details of +progress. It must suffice to remark that in all of them we may see that +notion of equality of relations of a more complex kind, which is best +illustrated in the astrolabe, an instrument which consisted "of circular +rims, moveable one within the other, or about poles, and contained circles +which were to be brought into the position of the ecliptic, and of a plane +passing through the sun and the poles of the ecliptic"--an instrument, +therefore, which represented, as by a model, the relative positions of +certain imaginary lines and planes in the heavens; which was adjusted by +putting these representative lines and planes into parallelism and +coincidence with the celestial ones; and which depended for its use upon +the perception that the relations between these representative lines and +planes were _equal_ to the relations between those represented. + +Were there space, we might go on to point out how the conception of the +heavens as a revolving hollow sphere, the discovery of the globular form of +the earth, the explanation of the moon's phases, and indeed all the +successive steps taken, involved this same mental process. But we must +content ourselves with referring to the theory of eccentrics and epicycles, +as a further marked illustration of it. As first suggested, and as proved +by Hipparchus to afford an explanation of the leading irregularities in the +celestial motions, this theory involved the perception that the +progressions, retrogressions, and variations of velocity seen in the +heavenly bodies, might be reconciled with their assumed uniform movement in +circles, by supposing that the earth was not in the centre of their orbits; +or by supposing that they revolved in circles whose centres revolved round +the earth; or by both. The discovery that this would account for the +appearances, was the discovery that in certain geometrical diagrams the +relations were such, that the uniform motion of a point would, when looked +at from a particular position, present analogous irregularities; and the +calculations of Hipparchus involved the belief that the relations +subsisting among these geometrical curves were _equal_ to the relations +subsisting among the celestial orbits. + +Leaving here these details of astronomical progress, and the philosophy of +it, let us observe how the relatively concrete science of geometrical +astronomy, having been thus far helped forward by the development of +geometry in general, reacted upon geometry, caused it also to advance, and +was again assisted by it. Hipparchus, before making his solar and lunar +tables, had to discover rules for calculating the relations between the +sides and angles of triangles--_trigonometry_, a subdivision of pure +mathematics. Further, the reduction of the doctrine of the sphere to the +quantitative form needed for astronomical purposes, required the formation +of a _spherical trigonometry_, which was also achieved by Hipparchus. Thus +both plane and spherical trigonometry, which are parts of the highly +abstract and simple science of extension, remained undeveloped until the +less abstract and more complex science of the celestial motions had need of +them. The fact admitted by M. Comte, that since Descartes the progress of +the abstract division of mathematics has been determined by that of the +concrete division, is paralleled by the still more significant fact that +even thus early the progress of mathematics was determined by that of +astronomy. + +And here, indeed, we may see exemplified the truth, which the subsequent +history of science frequently illustrates, that before any more abstract +division makes a further advance, some more concrete division must suggest +the necessity for that advance--must present the new order of questions to +be solved. Before astronomy presented Hipparchus with the problem of solar +tables, there was nothing to raise the question of the relations between +lines and angles; the subject-matter of trigonometry had not been +conceived. And as there must be subject-matter before there can be +investigation, it follows that the progress of the concrete divisions is as +necessary to that of the abstract, as the progress of the abstract to that +of the concrete. + +Just incidentally noticing the circumstance that the epoch we are +describing witnessed the evolution of algebra, a comparatively abstract +division of mathematics, by the union of its less abstract divisions, +geometry and arithmetic--a fact proved by the earliest extant samples of +algebra, which are half algebraic, half geometric--we go on to observe that +during the era in which mathematics and astronomy were thus advancing, +rational mechanics made its second step; and something was done towards +giving a quantitative form to hydrostatics, optics, and harmonics. In each +case we shall see as before, how the idea of equality underlies all +quantitative prevision; and in what simple forms this idea is first +applied. + +As already shown, the first theorem established in mechanics was, that +equal weights suspended from a lever with equal arms would remain in +equilibrium. Archimedes discovered that a lever with unequal arms was in +equilibrium when one weight was to its arm as the other arm to its weight; +that is--when the numerical relation between one weight and its arm was +_equal_ to the numerical relation between the other arm and its weight. + +The first advance made in hydrostatics, which we also owe to Archimedes, +was the discovery that fluids press _equally_ in all directions; and from +this followed the solution of the problem of floating bodies: namely, that +they are in equilibrium when the upward and downward pressures are _equal_. + +In optics, again, the Greeks found that the angle of incidence is _equal_ +to the angle of reflection; and their knowledge reached no further than to +such simple deductions from this as their geometry sufficed for. In +harmonics they ascertained the fact that three strings of _equal_ lengths +would yield the octave, fifth and fourth, when strained by weights having +certain definite ratios; and they did not progress much beyond this. In the +one of which cases we see geometry used in elucidation of the laws of +light; and in the other, geometry and arithmetic made to measure the +phenomena of sound. + +Did space permit, it would be desirable here to describe the state of the +less advanced sciences--to point out how, while a few had thus reached the +first stages of quantitative prevision, the rest were progressing in +qualitative prevision--how some small generalizations were made respecting +evaporation, and heat, and electricity, and magnetism, which, empirical as +they were, did not in that respect differ from the first generalizations of +every science--how the Greek physicians had made advances in physiology and +pathology, which, considering the great imperfection of our present +knowledge, are by no means to be despised--how zoology had been so far +systematized by Aristotle, as, to some extent, enabled him from the +presence of certain organs to predict the presence of others--how in +Aristotle's _Politics_, there is some progress towards a scientific +conception of social phenomena, and sundry previsions respecting them--and +how in the state of the Greek societies, as well as in the writings of +Greek philosophers, we may recognise not only an increasing clearness in +that conception of equity on which the social science is based, but also +some appreciation of the fact that social stability depends upon the +maintenance of equitable regulations. We might dwell at length upon the +causes which retarded the development of some of the sciences, as for +example, chemistry: showing that relative complexity had nothing to do with +it--that the oxidation of a piece of iron is a simpler phenomenon than the +recurrence of eclipses, and the discovery of carbonic acid less difficult +than that of the precession of the equinoxes--but that the relatively slow +advance of chemical knowledge was due, partly to the fact that its +phenomena were not daily thrust on men's notice as those of astronomy were; +partly to the fact that Nature does not habitually supply the means, and +suggest the modes of investigation, as in the sciences dealing with time, +extension, and force; and partly to the fact that the great majority of the +materials with which chemistry deals, instead of being ready to hand, are +made known only by the arts in their slow growth; and partly to the fact +that even when known, their chemical properties are not self-exhibited, but +have to be sought out by experiment. + +Merely indicating all these considerations, however, let us go on to +contemplate the progress and mutual influence of the sciences in modern +days; only parenthetically noticing how, on the revival of the scientific +spirit, the successive stages achieved exhibit the dominance of the same +law hitherto traced--how the primary idea in dynamics, a uniform force, was +defined by Galileo to be a force which generates _equal_ velocities in +_equal_ successive times--how the uniform action of gravity was first +experimentally determined by showing that the time elapsing before a body +thrown up, stopped, was _equal_ to the time it took to fall--how the first +fact in compound motion which Galileo ascertained was, that a body +projected horizontally will have a uniform motion onwards and a uniformly +accelerated motion downwards; that is, will describe _equal_ horizontal +spaces in _equal_ times, compounded with _equal_ vertical increments in +_equal_ times--how his discovery respecting the pendulum was, that its +oscillations occupy _equal_ intervals of time whatever their length--how +the principle of virtual velocities which he established is, that in any +machine the weights that balance each other, are reciprocally as their +virtual velocities; that is, the relation of one set of weights to their +velocities _equals_ the relation of the other set of velocities to their +weights;--and how thus his achievements consisted in showing the equalities +of certain magnitudes and relations, whose equalities had not been +previously recognised. + +When mechanics had reached the point to which Galileo brought it--when the +simple laws of force had been disentangled from the friction and +atmospheric resistance by which all their earthly manifestations are +disguised--when progressing knowledge of _physics_ had given a due insight +into these disturbing causes--when, by an effort of abstraction, it was +perceived that all motion would be uniform and rectilinear unless +interfered with by external forces--and when the various consequences of +this perception had been worked out; then it became possible, by the union +of geometry and mechanics, to initiate physical astronomy. Geometry and +mechanics having diverged from a common root in men's sensible experiences; +having, with occasional inosculations, been separately developed, the one +partly in connexion with astronomy, the other solely by analyzing +terrestrial movements; now join in the investigations of Newton to create a +true theory of the celestial motions. And here, also, we have to notice the +important fact that, in the very process of being brought jointly to bear +upon astronomical problems, they are themselves raised to a higher phase of +development. For it was in dealing with the questions raised by celestial +dynamics that the then incipient infinitesimal calculus was unfolded by +Newton and his continental successors; and it was from inquiries into the +mechanics of the solar system that the general theorems of mechanics +contained in the "Principia,"--many of them of purely terrestrial +application--took their rise. Thus, as in the case of Hipparchus, the +presentation of a new order of concrete facts to be analyzed, led to the +discovery of new abstract facts; and these abstract facts having been laid +hold of, gave means of access to endless groups of concrete facts before +incapable of quantitative treatment. + +Meanwhile, physics had been carrying further that progress without which, +as just shown, rational mechanics could not be disentangled. In +hydrostatics, Stevinus had extended and applied the discovery of +Archimedes. Torricelli had proved atmospheric pressure, "by showing that +this pressure sustained different liquids at heights inversely proportional +to their densities;" and Pascal "established the necessary diminution of +this pressure at increasing heights in the atmosphere:" discoveries which +in part reduced this branch of science to a quantitative form. Something +had been done by Daniel Bernoulli towards the dynamics of fluids. The +thermometer had been invented; and a number of small generalizations +reached by it. Huyghens and Newton had made considerable progress in +optics; Newton had approximately calculated the rate of transmission of +sound; and the continental mathematicians had succeeded in determining some +of the laws of sonorous vibrations. Magnetism and electricity had been +considerably advanced by Gilbert. Chemistry had got as far as the mutual +neutralization of acids and alkalies. And Leonardo da Vinci had advanced in +geology to the conception of the deposition of marine strata as the origin +of fossils. Our present purpose does not require that we should give +particulars. All that it here concerns us to do is to illustrate the +_consensus_ subsisting in this stage of growth, and afterwards. Let as look +at a few cases. + +The theoretic law of the velocity of sound enunciated by Newton on purely +mechanical considerations, was found wrong by one-sixth. The error remained +unaccounted for until the time of Laplace, who, suspecting that the heat +disengaged by the compression of the undulating strata of the air, gave +additional elasticity, and so produced the difference, made the needful +calculations and found he was right. Thus acoustics was arrested until +thermology overtook and aided it. When Boyle and Marriot had discovered the +relation between the density of gases and the pressures they are subject +to; and when it thus became possible to calculate the rate of decreasing +density in the upper parts of the atmosphere; it also became possible to +make approximate tables of the atmospheric refraction of light. Thus +optics, and with it astronomy, advanced with barology. After the discovery +of atmospheric pressure had led to the invention of the air-pump by Otto +Guericke; and after it had become known that evaporation increases in +rapidity as atmospheric pressure decreases; it became possible for Leslie, +by evaporation in a vacuum, to produce the greatest cold known; and so to +extend our knowledge of thermology by showing that there is no zero within +reach of our researches. When Fourier had determined the laws of conduction +of heat, and when the Earth's temperature had been found to increase below +the surface one degree in every forty yards, there were data for inferring +the past condition of our globe; the vast period it has taken to cool down +to its present state; and the immense age of the solar system--a purely +astronomical consideration. + +Chemistry having advanced sufficiently to supply the needful materials, and +a physiological experiment having furnished the requisite hint, there came +the discovery of galvanic electricity. Galvanism reacting on chemistry +disclosed the metallic bases of the alkalies, and inaugurated the +electro-chemical theory; in the hands of Oersted and Ampere it led to the +laws of magnetic action; and by its aid Faraday has detected significant +facts relative to the constitution of light. Brewster's discoveries +respecting double refraction and dipolarization proved the essential truth +of the classification of crystalline forms according to the number of axes, +by showing that the molecular constitution depends upon the axes. In these +and in numerous other cases, the mutual influence of the sciences has been +quite independent of any supposed hierarchical order. Often, too, their +inter-actions are more complex than as thus instanced--involve more +sciences than two. One illustration of this must suffice. We quote it in +full from the _History of the Inductive Sciences_. In Book XI., chap. II., +on "The Progress of the Electrical Theory," Dr. Whewell writes:-- + + "Thus at that period, mathematics was behind experiment, and a + problem was proposed, in which theoretical results were wanted for + comparison with observation, but could not be accurately obtained; as + was the case in astronomy also, till the time of the approximate + solution of the problem of three bodies, and the consequent formation + of the tables of the moon and planets, on the theory of universal + gravitation. After some time, electrical theory was relieved from + this reproach, mainly in consequence of the progress which astronomy + had occasioned in pure mathematics. About 1801 there appeared in the + _Bulletin des Sciences_, an exact solution of the problem of the + distribution of electric fluid on a spheroid, obtained by Biot, by + the application of the peculiar methods which Laplace had invented + for the problem of the figure of the planets. And, in 1811, M. + Poisson applied Laplace's artifices to the case of two spheres acting + upon one another in contact, a case to which many of Coulomb's + experiments were referrible; and the agreement of the results of + theory and observation, thus extricated from Coulomb's numbers + obtained above forty years previously, was very striking and + convincing." + +Not only do the sciences affect each other after this direct manner, but +they affect each other indirectly. Where there is no dependence, there is +yet analogy--_equality of relations_; and the discovery of the relations +subsisting among one set of phenomena, constantly suggests a search for the +same relations among another set. Thus the established fact that the force +of gravitation varies inversely as the square of the distance, being +recognized as a necessary characteristic of all influences proceeding from +a centre, raised the suspicion that heat and light follow the same law; +which proved to be the case--a suspicion and a confirmation which were +repeated in respect to the electric and magnetic forces. Thus again the +discovery of the polarization of light led to experiments which ended in +the discovery of the polarization of heat--a discovery that could never +have been made without the antecedent one. Thus, too, the known +refrangibility of light and heat lately produced the inquiry whether sound +also is not refrangible; which on trial it turns out to be. + +In some cases, indeed, it is only by the aid of conceptions derived from +one class of phenomena that hypotheses respecting other classes can be +formed. The theory, at one time favoured, that evaporation is a solution of +water in air, was an assumption that the relation between water and air is +_like_ the relation between salt and water; and could never have been +conceived if the relation between salt and water had not been previously +known. Similarly the received theory of evaporation--that it is a diffusion +of the particles of the evaporating fluid in virtue of their atomic +repulsion--could not have been entertained without a foregoing experience +of magnetic and electric repulsions. So complete in recent days has become +this _consensus_ among the sciences, caused either by the natural +entanglement of their phenomena, or by analogies in the relations of their +phenomena, that scarcely any considerable discovery concerning one order of +facts now takes place, without very shortly leading to discoveries +concerning other orders. + +To produce a tolerably complete conception of this process of scientific +evolution, it would be needful to go back to the beginning, and trace in +detail the growth of classifications and nomenclatures; and to show how, as +subsidiary to science, they have acted upon it, and it has reacted upon +them. We can only now remark that, on the one hand, classifications and +nomenclatures have aided science by continually subdividing the +subject-matter of research, and giving fixity and diffusion to the truths +disclosed; and that on the other hand, they have caught from it that +increasing quantitativeness, and that progress from considerations touching +single phenomena to considerations touching the relations among many +phenomena, which we have been describing. + +Of this last influence a few illustrations must be given. In chemistry it +is seen in the facts, that the dividing of matter into the four elements +was ostensibly based upon the single property of weight; that the first +truly chemical division into acid and alkaline bodies, grouped together +bodies which had not simply one property in common, but in which one +property was constantly related to many others; and that the classification +now current, places together in groups _supporters of combustion_, +_metallic and non-metallic bases_, _acids_, _salts_, &c., bodies which are +often quite unlike in sensible qualities, but which are like in the +majority of their _relations_ to other bodies. In mineralogy again, the +first classifications were based upon differences in aspect, texture, and +other physical attributes. Berzelius made two attempts at a classification +based solely on chemical constitution. That now current, recognises as far +as possible the _relations_ between physical and chemical characters. In +botany the earliest classes formed were _trees_, _shrubs_, and _herbs_: +magnitude being the basis of distinction. Dioscorides divided vegetables +into _aromatic_, _alimentary_, _medicinal_, and _vinous_: a division of +chemical character. Caesalpinus classified them by the seeds, and +seed-vessels, which he preferred because of the _relations_ found to +subsist between the character of the fructification and the general +character of the other parts. + +While the "natural system" since developed, carrying out the doctrine of +Linnaeus, that "natural orders must be formed by attention not to one or +two, but to _all_ the parts of plants," bases its divisions on like +peculiarities which are found to be _constantly related_ to the greatest +number of other like peculiarities. And similarly in zoology, the +successive classifications, from having been originally determined by +external and often subordinate characters not indicative of the essential +nature, have been gradually more and more determined by those internal and +fundamental differences, which have uniform _relations_ to the greatest +number of other differences. Nor shall we be surprised at this analogy +between the modes of progress of positive science and classification, when +we bear in mind that both proceed by making generalizations; that both +enable us to make previsions differing only in their precision; and that +while the one deals with equal properties and relations, the other deals +with properties and relations that approximate towards equality in variable +degrees. + +Without further argument, it will, we think, be sufficiently clear that the +sciences are none of them separately evolved--are none of them independent +either logically or historically; but that all of them have, in a greater +or less degree, required aid and reciprocated it. Indeed, it needs but to +throw aside theses, and contemplate the mixed character of surrounding +phenomena, to at once see that these notions of division and succession in +the kinds of knowledge are none of them actually true, but are simple +scientific fictions: good, if regarded merely as aids to study; bad, if +regarded as representing realities in Nature. Consider them critically, and +no facts whatever are presented to our senses uncombined with other +facts--no facts whatever but are in some degree disguised by accompanying +facts: disguised in such a manner that all must be partially understood +before any one can be understood. If it be said, as by M. Comte, that +gravitating force should be treated of before other forces, seeing that all +things are subject to it, it may on like grounds be said that heat should +be first dealt with; seeing that thermal forces are everywhere in action; +that the ability of any portion of matter to manifest visible gravitative +phenomena depends on its state of aggregation, which is determined by heat; +that only by the aid of thermology can we explain those apparent exceptions +to the gravitating tendency which are presented by steam and smoke, and so +establish its universality, and that, indeed, the very existence of the +solar system in a solid form is just as much a question of heat as it is +one of gravitation. + +Take other cases:--All phenomena recognised by the eyes, through which only +are the data of exact science ascertainable, are complicated with optical +phenomena; and cannot be exhaustively known until optical principles are +known. The burning of a candle cannot be explained without involving +chemistry, mechanics, thermology. Every wind that blows is determined by +influences partly solar, partly lunar, partly hygrometric; and implies +considerations of fluid equilibrium and physical geography. The direction, +dip, and variations of the magnetic needle, are facts half terrestrial, +half celestial--are caused by earthly forces which have cycles of change +corresponding with astronomical periods. The flowing of the gulf-stream and +the annual migration of icebergs towards the equator, depending as they do +on the balancing of the centripetal and centrifugal forces acting on the +ocean, involve in their explanation the Earth's rotation and spheroidal +form, the laws of hydrostatics, the relative densities of cold and warm +water, and the doctrines of evaporation. It is no doubt true, as M. Comte +says, that "our position in the solar system, and the motions, form, size, +equilibrium of the mass of our world among the planets, must be known +before we can understand the phenomena going on at its surface." But, +fatally for his hypothesis, it is also true that we must understand a great +part of the phenomena going on at its surface before we can know its +position, &c., in the solar system. It is not simply that, as we have +already shown, those geometrical and mechanical principles by which +celestial appearances are explained, were first generalized from +terrestrial experiences; but it is that the very obtainment of correct +data, on which to base astronomical generalizations, implies advanced +terrestrial physics. + +Until after optics had made considerable advance, the Copernican system +remained but a speculation. A single modern observation on a star has to +undergo a careful analysis by the combined aid of various sciences--has to +_be digested by the organism of the sciences_; which have severally to +assimilate their respective parts of the observation, before the essential +fact it contains is available for the further development of astronomy. It +has to be corrected not only for nutation of the earth's axis and for +precession of the equinoxes, but for aberration and for refraction; and the +formation of the tables by which refraction is calculated, presupposes +knowledge of the law of decreasing density in the upper atmospheric strata; +of the law of decreasing temperature, and the influence of this on the +density; and of hygrometric laws as also affecting density. So that, to get +materials for further advance, astronomy requires not only the indirect aid +of the sciences which have presided over the making of its improved +instruments, but the direct aid of an advanced optics, of barology, of +thermology, of hygrometry; and if we remember that these delicate +observations are in some cases registered electrically, and that they are +further corrected for the "personal equation"--the time elapsing between +seeing and registering, which varies with different observers--we may even +add electricity and psychology. If, then, so apparently simple a thing as +ascertaining the position of a star is complicated with so many phenomena, +it is clear that this notion of the independence of the sciences, or +certain of them, will not hold. + +Whether objectively independent or not, they cannot be subjectively +so--they cannot have independence as presented to our consciousness; and +this is the only kind of independence with which we are concerned. And +here, before leaving these illustrations, and especially this last one, let +us not omit to notice how clearly they exhibit that increasingly active +_consensus_ of the sciences which characterizes their advancing +development. Besides finding that in these later times a discovery in one +science commonly causes progress in others; besides finding that a great +part of the questions with which modern science deals are so mixed as to +require the co-operation of many sciences for their solution; we find in +this last case that, to make a single good observation in the purest of the +natural sciences, requires the combined assistance of half a dozen other +sciences. + +Perhaps the clearest comprehension of the interconnected growth of the +sciences may be obtained by contemplating that of the arts, to which it is +strictly analogous, and with which it is inseparably bound up. Most +intelligent persons must have been, at one time or other, struck with the +vast array of antecedents pre-supposed by one of our processes of +manufacture. Let him trace the production of a printed cotton, and consider +all that is implied by it. There are the many successive improvements +through which the power-looms reached their present perfection; there is +the steam-engine that drives them, having its long history from Papin +downwards; there are the lathes in which its cylinder was bored, and the +string of ancestral lathes from which those lathes proceeded; there is the +steam-hammer under which its crank shaft was welded; there are the +puddling-furnaces, the blast-furnaces, the coal-mines and the iron-mines +needful for producing the raw material; there are the slowly improved +appliances by which the factory was built, and lighted, and ventilated; +there are the printing engine, and the die house, and the colour laboratory +with its stock of materials from all parts of the world, implying +cochineal-culture, logwood-cutting, indigo-growing; there are the +implements used by the producers of cotton, the gins by which it is +cleaned, the elaborate machines by which it is spun: there are the vessels +in which cotton is imported, with the building-slips, the rope-yards, the +sail-cloth factories, the anchor-forges, needful for making them; and +besides all these directly necessary antecedents, each of them involving +many others, there are the institutions which have developed the requisite +intelligence, the printing and publishing arrangements which have spread +the necessary information, the social organization which has rendered +possible such a complex co-operation of agencies. + +Further analysis would show that the many arts thus concerned in the +economical production of a child's frock, have each of them been brought to +its present efficiency by slow steps which the other arts have aided; and +that from the beginning this reciprocity has been ever on the increase. It +needs but on the one hand to consider how utterly impossible it is for the +savage, even with ore and coal ready, to produce so simple a thing as an +iron hatchet; and then to consider, on the other hand, that it would have +been impracticable among ourselves, even a century ago, to raise the tubes +of the Britannia bridge from lack of the hydraulic press; to at once see +how mutually dependent are the arts, and how all must advance that each may +advance. Well, the sciences are involved with each other in just the same +manner. They are, in fact, inextricably woven into this same complex web of +the arts; and are only conventionally independent of it. Originally the two +were one. How to fix the religious festivals; when to sow; how to weigh +commodities; and in what manner to measure ground; were the purely +practical questions out of which arose astronomy, mechanics, geometry. +Since then there has been a perpetual inosculation of the sciences and the +arts. Science has been supplying art with truer generalizations and more +completely quantitative previsions. Art has been supplying science with +better materials, and more perfect instruments. And all along the +interdependence has been growing closer, not only between art and science, +but among the arts themselves, and among the sciences themselves. + +How completely the analogy holds throughout, becomes yet clearer when we +recognise the fact that _the sciences are arts to each other_. If, as +occurs in almost every case, the fact to be analyzed by any science, has +first to be prepared--to be disentangled from disturbing facts by the afore +discovered methods of other sciences; the other sciences so used, stand in +the position of arts. If, in solving a dynamical problem, a parallelogram +is drawn, of which the sides and diagonal represent forces, and by putting +magnitudes of extension for magnitudes of force a measurable relation is +established between quantities not else to be dealt with; it may be fairly +said that geometry plays towards mechanics much the same part that the fire +of the founder plays towards the metal he is going to cast. If, in +analyzing the phenomena of the coloured rings surrounding the point of +contact between two lenses, a Newton ascertains by calculation the amount +of certain interposed spaces, far too minute for actual measurement; he +employs the science of number for essentially the same purpose as that for +which the watchmaker employs tools. If, before writing down his observation +on a star, the astronomer has to separate from it all the errors resulting +from atmospheric and optical laws, it is manifest that the +refraction-tables, and logarithm-books, and formulae, which he successively +uses, serve him much as retorts, and filters, and cupels serve the assayer +who wishes to separate the pure gold from all accompanying ingredients. + +So close, indeed, is the relationship, that it is impossible to say where +science begins and art ends. All the instruments of the natural philosopher +are the products of art; the adjusting one of them for use is an art; there +is art in making an observation with one of them; it requires art properly +to treat the facts ascertained; nay, even the employing established +generalizations to open the way to new generalizations, may be considered +as art. In each of these cases previously organized knowledge becomes the +implement by which new knowledge is got at: and whether that previously +organized knowledge is embodied in a tangible apparatus or in a formula, +matters not in so far as its essential relation to the new knowledge is +concerned. If, as no one will deny, art is applied knowledge, then such +portion of a scientific investigation as consists of applied knowledge is +art. So that we may even say that as soon as any prevision in science +passes out of its originally passive state, and is employed for reaching +other previsions, it passes from theory into practice--becomes science in +action--becomes art. And when we thus see how purely conventional is the +ordinary distinction, how impossible it is to make any real +separation--when we see not only that science and art were originally one; +that the arts have perpetually assisted each other; that there has been a +constant reciprocation of aid between the sciences and arts; but that the +sciences act as arts to each other, and that the established part of each +science becomes an art to the growing part--when we recognize the closeness +of these associations, we shall the more clearly perceive that as the +connexion of the arts with each other has been ever becoming more intimate; +as the help given by sciences to arts and by arts to sciences, has been age +by age increasing; so the interdependence of the sciences themselves has +been ever growing greater, their mutual relations more involved, their +_consensus_ more active. + + * * * * * + +In here ending our sketch of the Genesis of Science, we are conscious of +having done the subject but scant justice. Two difficulties have stood in +our way: one, the having to touch on so many points in such small space; +the other, the necessity of treating in serial arrangement a process which +is not serial--a difficulty which must ever attend all attempts to +delineate processes of development, whatever their special nature. Add to +which, that to present in anything like completeness and proportion, even +the outlines of so vast and complex a history, demands years of study. +Nevertheless, we believe that the evidence which has been assigned suffices +to substantiate the leading propositions with which we set out. Inquiry +into the first stages of science confirms the conclusion which we drew from +the analysis of science as now existing, that it is not distinct from +common knowledge, but an outgrowth from it--an extension of the perception +by means of the reason. + +That which we further found by analysis to form the more specific +characteristic of scientific previsions, as contrasted with the previsions +of uncultured intelligence--their quantitativeness--we also see to have +been the characteristic alike in the initial steps in science, and of all +the steps succeeding them. The facts and admissions cited in disproof of +the assertion that the sciences follow one another, both logically and +historically, in the order of their decreasing generality, have been +enforced by the sundry instances we have met with, in which the more +general or abstract sciences have been advanced only at the instigation of +the more special or concrete--instances serving to show that a more general +science as much owes its progress to the presentation of new problems by a +more special science, as the more special science owes its progress to the +solutions which the more general science is thus led to attempt--instances +therefore illustrating the position that scientific advance is as much from +the special to the general as from the general to the special. + +Quite in harmony with this position we find to be the admissions that the +sciences are as branches of one trunk, and that they were at first +cultivated simultaneously; and this harmony becomes the more marked on +finding, as we have done, not only that the sciences have a common root, +but that science in general has a common root with language, +classification, reasoning, art; that throughout civilization these have +advanced together, acting and reacting upon each other just as the separate +sciences have done; and that thus the development of intelligence in all +its divisions and subdivisions has conformed to this same law which we have +shown that the sciences conform to. From all which we may perceive that the +sciences can with no greater propriety be arranged in a succession, than +language, classification, reasoning, art, and science, can be arranged in a +succession; that, however needful a succession may be for the convenience +of books and catalogues, it must be recognized merely as a convention; and +that so far from its being the function of a philosophy of the sciences to +establish a hierarchy, it is its function to show that the linear +arrangements required for literary purposes, have none of them any basis +either in Nature or History. + +There is one further remark we must not omit--a remark touching the +importance of the question that has been discussed. Unfortunately it +commonly happens that topics of this abstract nature are slighted as of no +practical moment; and, we doubt not, that many will think it of very little +consequence what theory respecting the genesis of science may be +entertained. But the value of truths is often great, in proportion as their +generality is wide. Remote as they seem from practical application, the +highest generalizations are not unfrequently the most potent in their +effects, in virtue of their influence on all those subordinate +generalizations which regulate practice. And it must be so here. Whenever +established, a correct theory of the historical development of the sciences +must have an immense effect upon education; and, through education, upon +civilization. Greatly as we differ from him in other respects, we agree +with M. Comte in the belief that, rightly conducted, the education of the +individual must have a certain correspondence with the evolution of the +race. + +No one can contemplate the facts we have cited in illustration of the early +stages of science, without recognising the _necessity_ of the processes +through which those stages were reached--a necessity which, in respect to +the leading truths, may likewise be traced in all after stages. This +necessity, originating in the very nature of the phenomena to be analyzed +and the faculties to be employed, more or less fully applies to the mind of +the child as to that of the savage. We say more or less fully, because the +correspondence is not special but general only. Were the _environment_ the +same in both cases, the correspondence would be complete. But though the +surrounding material out of which science is to be organized, is, in many +cases, the same to the juvenile mind and the aboriginal mind, it is not so +throughout; as, for instance, in the case of chemistry, the phenomena of +which are accessible to the one, but were inaccessible to the other. Hence, +in proportion as the environment differs, the course of evolution must +differ. After admitting sundry exceptions, however, there remains a +substantial parallelism; and, if so, it becomes of great moment to +ascertain what really has been the process of scientific evolution. The +establishment of an erroneous theory must be disastrous in its educational +results; while the establishment of a true one must eventually be fertile +in school-reforms and consequent social benefits. + + + + +IV. THE PHYSIOLOGY OF LAUGHTER. + + +Why do we smile when a child puts on a man's hat? or what induces us to +laugh on reading that the corpulent Gibbon was unable to rise from his +knees after making a tender declaration? The usual reply to such questions +is, that laughter results from a perception of incongruity. Even were there +not on this reply the obvious criticism that laughter often occurs from +extreme pleasure or from mere vivacity, there would still remain the real +problem--How comes a sense of the incongruous to be followed by these +peculiar bodily actions? Some have alleged that laughter is due to the +pleasure of a relative self-elevation, which we feel on seeing the +humiliation of others. But this theory, whatever portion of truth it may +contain, is, in the first place, open to the fatal objection, that there +are various humiliations to others which produce in us anything but +laughter; and, in the second place, it does not apply to the many instances +in which no one's dignity is implicated: as when we laugh at a good pun. +Moreover, like the other, it is merely a generalization of certain +conditions to laughter; and not an explanation of the odd movements which +occur under these conditions. Why, when greatly delighted, or impressed +with certain unexpected contrasts of ideas, should there be a contraction +of particular facial muscles, and particular muscles of the chest and +abdomen? Such answer to this question as may be possible, can be rendered +only by physiology. + + * * * * * + +Every child has made the attempt to hold the foot still while it is +tickled, and has failed; and probably there is scarcely any one who has not +vainly tried to avoid winking, when a hand has been suddenly passed before +the eyes. These examples of muscular movements which occur independently of +the will, or in spite of it, illustrate what physiologists call +reflex-action; as likewise do sneezing and coughing. To this class of +cases, in which involuntary motions are accompanied by sensations, has to +be added another class of cases, in which involuntary motions are +unaccompanied by sensations:--instance the pulsations of the heart; the +contractions of the stomach during digestion. Further, the great mass of +seemingly-voluntary acts in such creatures as insects, worms, molluscs, are +considered by physiologists to be as purely automatic as is the dilatation +or closure of the iris under variations in quantity of light; and similarly +exemplify the law, that an impression on the end of an afferent nerve is +conveyed to some ganglionic centre, and is thence usually reflected along +an efferent nerve to one or more muscles which it causes to contract. + +In a modified form this principle holds with voluntary acts. Nervous +excitation always _tends_ to beget muscular motion; and when it rises to a +certain intensity, always does beget it. Not only in reflex actions, +whether with or without sensation, do we see that special nerves, when +raised to a state of tension, discharge themselves on special muscles with +which they are indirectly connected; but those external actions through +which we read the feelings of others, show us that under any considerable +tension, the nervous system in general discharges itself on the muscular +system in general: either with or without the guidance of the will. The +shivering produced by cold, implies irregular muscular contractions, which, +though at first only partly involuntary, become, when the cold is extreme, +almost wholly involuntary. When you have severely burnt your finger, it is +very difficult to preserve a dignified composure: contortion of face, or +movement of limb, is pretty sure to follow. If a man receives good news +with neither change of feature nor bodily motion, it is inferred that he is +not much pleased, or that he has extraordinary self-control--either +inference implying that joy almost universally produces contraction of the +muscles; and so, alters the expression, or attitude, or both. And when we +hear of the feats of strength which men have performed when their lives +were at stake--when we read how, in the energy of despair, even paralytic +patients have regained for a time the use of their limbs; we see still more +clearly the relations between nervous and muscular excitements. It becomes +manifest both that emotions and sensations tend to generate bodily +movements, and that the movements are vehement in proportion as the +emotions or sensations are intense.[G] + + [G] For numerous illustrations see essay on "The Origin and Function + of Music." + +This, however, is not the sole direction in which nervous excitement +expends itself. Viscera as well as muscles may receive the discharge. That +the heart and blood-vessels (which, indeed, being all contractile, may in a +restricted sense be classed with the muscular system) are quickly affected +by pleasures and pains, we have daily proved to us. Every sensation of any +acuteness accelerates the pulse; and how sensitive the heart is to +emotions, is testified by the familiar expressions which use heart and +feeling as convertible terms. Similarly with the digestive organs. Without +detailing the various ways in which these may be influenced by our mental +states, it suffices to mention the marked benefits derived by dyspeptics, +as well as other invalids, from cheerful society, welcome news, change of +scene, to show how pleasurable feeling stimulates the viscera in general +into greater activity. + +There is still another direction in which any excited portion of the +nervous system may discharge itself; and a direction in which it usually +does discharge itself when the excitement is not strong. It may pass on the +stimulus to some other portion of the nervous system. This is what occurs +in quiet thinking and feeling. The successive states which constitute +consciousness, result from this. Sensations excite ideas and emotions; +these in their turns arouse other ideas and emotions; and so, continuously. +That is to say, the tension existing in particular nerves, or groups of +nerves, when they yield us certain sensations, ideas, or emotions, +generates an equivalent tension in some other nerves, or groups of nerves, +with which there is a connexion: the flow of energy passing on, the one +idea or feeling dies in producing the next. + +Thus, then, while we are totally unable to comprehend how the excitement of +certain nerves should generate feeling--while, in the production of +consciousness by physical agents acting on physical structure, we come to +an absolute mystery never to be solved; it is yet quite possible for us to +know by observation what are the successive forms which this absolute +mystery may take. We see that there are three channels along which nerves +in a state of tension may discharge themselves; or rather, I should say, +three classes of channels. They may pass on the excitement to other nerves +that have no direct connexions with the bodily members, and may so cause +other feelings and ideas; or they may pass on the excitement to one or more +motor nerves, and so cause muscular contractions; or they may pass on the +excitement to nerves which supply the viscera, and may so stimulate one or +more of these. + +For simplicity's sake, I have described these as alternative routes, one or +other of which any current of nerve-force must take; thereby, as it may be +thought, implying that such current will be exclusively confined to some +one of them. But this is by no means the case. Rarely, if ever, does it +happen that a state of nervous tension, present to consciousness as a +feeling, expends itself in one direction only. Very generally it may be +observed to expend itself in two; and it is probable that the discharge is +never absolutely absent from any one of the three. There is, however, +variety in the _proportions_ in which the discharge is divided among these +different channels under different circumstances. In a man whose fear +impels him to run, the mental tension generated is only in part transformed +into a muscular stimulus: there is a surplus which causes a rapid current +of ideas. An agreeable state of feeling produced, say by praise, is not +wholly used up in arousing the succeeding phase of the feeling, and the new +ideas appropriate to it; but a certain portion overflows into the visceral +nervous system, increasing the action of the heart, and probably +facilitating digestion. And here we come upon a class of considerations and +facts which open the way to a solution of our special problem. + +For starting with the unquestionable truth, that at any moment the existing +quantity of liberated nerve-force, which in an inscrutable way produces in +us the state we call feeling, _must_ expend itself in some +direction--_must_ generate an equivalent manifestation of force +somewhere--it clearly follows that, if of the several channels it may take, +one is wholly or partially closed, more must be taken by the others; or +that if two are closed, the discharge along the remaining one must be more +intense; and that, conversely, should anything determine an unusual efflux +in one direction, there will be a diminished efflux in other directions. + +Daily experience illustrates these conclusions. It is commonly remarked, +that the suppression of external signs of feeling, makes feeling more +intense. The deepest grief is silent grief. Why? Because the nervous +excitement not discharged in muscular action, discharges itself in other +nervous excitements--arouses more numerous and more remote associations of +melancholy ideas, and so increases the mass of feelings. People who conceal +their anger are habitually found to be more revengeful than those who +explode in loud speech and vehement action. Why? Because, as before, the +emotion is reflected back, accumulates, and intensifies. Similarly, men +who, as proved by their powers of representation, have the keenest +appreciation of the comic, are usually able to do and say the most +ludicrous things with perfect gravity. + +On the other hand, all are familiar with the truth that bodily activity +deadens emotion. Under great irritation we get relief by walking about +rapidly. Extreme effort in the bootless attempt to achieve a desired end, +greatly diminishes the intensity of the desire. Those who are forced to +exert themselves after misfortunes, do not suffer nearly so much as those +who remain quiescent. If any one wishes to check intellectual excitement, +he cannot choose a more efficient method than running till he is exhausted. +Moreover, these cases, in which the production of feeling and thought is +hindered by determining the nervous energy towards bodily movements, have +their counterparts in the cases in which bodily movements are hindered by +extra absorption of nervous energy in sudden thoughts and feelings. If, +when walking along, there flashes on you an idea that creates great +surprise, hope, or alarm, you stop; or if sitting cross-legged, swinging +your pendent foot, the movement is at once arrested. From the viscera, too, +intense mental action abstracts energy. Joy, disappointment, anxiety, or +any moral perturbation rising to a great height, will destroy appetite; or +if food has been taken, will arrest digestion; and even a purely +intellectual activity, when extreme, will do the like. + +Facts, then, fully bear out these _a priori_ inferences, that the nervous +excitement at any moment present to consciousness as feeling, must expend +itself in some way or other; that of the three classes of channels open to +it, it must take one, two, or more, according to circumstances; that the +closure or obstruction of one, must increase the discharge through the +others; and conversely, that if to answer some demand, the efflux of +nervous energy in one direction is unusually great, there must be a +corresponding decrease of the efflux in other directions. Setting out from +these premises, let us now see what interpretation is to be put on the +phenomena of laughter. + + * * * * * + +That laughter is a display of muscular excitement, and so illustrates the +general law that feeling passing a certain pitch habitually vents itself in +bodily action, scarcely needs pointing out. It perhaps needs pointing out, +however, that strong feeling of almost any kind produces this result. It is +not a sense of the ludicrous, only, which does it; nor are the various +forms of joyous emotion the sole additional causes. We have, besides, the +sardonic laughter and the hysterical laughter, which result from mental +distress; to which must be added certain sensations, as tickling, and, +according to Mr. Bain, cold, and some kinds of acute pain. + +Strong feeling, mental or physical, being, then, the general cause of +laughter, we have to note that the muscular actions constituting it are +distinguished from most others by this, that they are purposeless. In +general, bodily motions that are prompted by feelings are directed to +special ends; as when we try to escape a danger, or struggle to secure a +gratification. But the movements of chest and limbs which we make when +laughing have no object. And now remark that these quasi-convulsive +contractions of the muscles, having no object, but being results of an +uncontrolled discharge of energy, we may see whence arise their special +characters--how it happens that certain classes of muscles are affected +first, and then certain other classes. For an overflow of nerve-force, +undirected by any motive, will manifestly take first the most habitual +routes; and if these do not suffice, will next overflow into the less +habitual ones. Well, it is through the organs of speech that feeling passes +into movement with the greatest frequency. The jaws, tongue, and lips are +used not only to express strong irritation or gratification; but that very +moderate flow of mental energy which accompanies ordinary conversation, +finds its chief vent through this channel. Hence it happens that certain +muscles round the mouth, small and easy to move, are the first to contract +under pleasurable emotion. The class of muscles which, next after those of +articulation, are most constantly set in action (or extra action, we should +say) by feelings of all kinds, are those of respiration. Under pleasurable +or painful sensations we breathe more rapidly: possibly as a consequence of +the increased demand for oxygenated blood. The sensations that accompany +exertion also bring on hard-breathing; which here more evidently responds +to the physiological needs. And emotions, too, agreeable and disagreeable, +both, at first, excite respiration; though the last subsequently depress +it. That is to say, of the bodily muscles, the respiratory are more +constantly implicated than any others in those various acts which our +feelings impel us to; and, hence, when there occurs an undirected discharge +of nervous energy into the muscular system, it happens that, if the +quantity be considerable, it convulses not only certain of the articulatory +and vocal muscles, but also those which expel air from the lungs. + +Should the feeling to be expended be still greater in amount--too great to +find vent in these classes of muscles--another class comes into play. The +upper limbs are set in motion. Children frequently clap their hands in +glee; by some adults the hands are rubbed together; and others, under still +greater intensity of delight, slap their knees and sway their bodies +backwards and forwards. Last of all, when the other channels for the escape +of the surplus nerve-force have been filled to overflowing, a yet further +and less-used group of muscles is spasmodically affected: the head is +thrown back and the spine bent inwards--there is a slight degree of what +medical men call opisthotonos. Thus, then, without contending that the +phenomena of laughter in all their details are to be so accounted for, we +see that in their _ensemble_ they conform to these general +principles:--that feeling excites to muscular action; that when the +muscular action is unguided by a purpose, the muscles first affected are +those which feeling most habitually stimulates; and that as the feeling to +be expended increases in quantity, it excites an increasing number of +muscles, in a succession determined by the relative frequency with which +they respond to the regulated dictates of feeling. + +There still, however, remains the question with which we set out. The +explanation here given applies only to the laughter produced by acute +pleasure or pain: it does not apply to the laughter that follows certain +perceptions of incongruity. It is an insufficient explanation that in these +cases, laughter is a result of the pleasure we take in escaping from the +restraint of grave feelings. That this is a part-cause is true. Doubtless +very often, as Mr. Bain says, "it is the coerced form of seriousness and +solemnity without the reality that gives us that stiff position from which +a contact with triviality or vulgarity relieves us, to our uproarious +delight." And in so far as mirth is caused by the gush of agreeable feeling +that follows the cessation of mental strain, it further illustrates the +general principle above set forth. But no explanation is thus afforded of +the mirth which ensues when the short silence between the _andante_ and +_allegro_ in one of Beethoven's symphonies, is broken by a loud sneeze. In +this, and hosts of like cases, the mental tension is not coerced but +spontaneous--not disagreeable but agreeable; and the coming impressions to +which the attention is directed, promise a gratification that few, if any, +desire to escape. Hence, when the unlucky sneeze occurs, it cannot be that +the laughter of the audience is due simply to the release from an irksome +attitude of mind: some other cause must be sought. + +This cause we shall arrive at by carrying our analysis a step further. We +have but to consider the quantity of feeling that exists under such +circumstances, and then to ask what are the conditions that determine the +direction of its discharge, to at once reach a solution. Take a case. You +are sitting in a theatre, absorbed in the progress of an interesting drama. +Some climax has been reached which has aroused your sympathies--say, a +reconciliation between the hero and heroine, after long and painful +misunderstanding. The feelings excited by this scene are not of a kind from +which you seek relief; but are, on the contrary, a grateful relief from the +painful feelings with which you have witnessed the previous estrangement. +Moreover, the sentiments these fictitious personages have for the moment +inspired you with, are not such as would lead you to rejoice in any +indignity offered to them; but rather, such as would make you resent the +indignity. And now, while you are contemplating the reconciliation with a +pleasurable sympathy, there appears from behind the scenes a tame kid, +which, having stared round at the audience, walks up to the lovers and +sniffs at them. You cannot help joining in the roar which greets this +_contretemps_. Inexplicable as is this irresistible burst on the hypothesis +of a pleasure in escaping from mental restraint; or on the hypothesis of a +pleasure from relative increase of self-importance, when witnessing the +humiliation of others; it is readily explicable if we consider what, in +such a case, must become of the feeling that existed at the moment the +incongruity arose. A large mass of emotion had been produced; or, to speak +in physiological language, a large portion of the nervous system was in a +state of tension. There was also great expectation with respect to the +further evolution of the scene--a quantity of vague, nascent thought and +emotion, into which the existing quantity of thought and emotion was about +to pass. + +Had there been no interruption, the body of new ideas and feelings next +excited, would have sufficed to absorb the whole of the liberated nervous +energy. But now, this large amount of nervous energy, instead of being +allowed to expend itself in producing an equivalent amount of the new +thoughts and emotions which were nascent, is suddenly checked in its flow. +The channels along which the discharge was about to take place, are closed. +The new channel opened--that afforded by the appearance and proceedings of +the kid--is a small one; the ideas and feelings suggested are not numerous +and massive enough to carry off the nervous energy to be expended. The +excess must therefore discharge itself in some other direction; and in the +way already explained, there results an efflux through the motor nerves to +various classes of the muscles, producing the half-convulsive actions we +term laughter. + +This explanation is in harmony with the fact, that when, among several +persons who witness the same ludicrous occurrence, there are some who do +not laugh; it is because there has arisen in them an emotion not +participated in by the rest, and which is sufficiently massive to absorb +all the nascent excitement. Among the spectators of an awkward tumble, +those who preserve their gravity are those in whom there is excited a +degree of sympathy with the sufferer, sufficiently great to serve as an +outlet for the feeling which the occurrence had turned out of its previous +course. Sometimes anger carries off the arrested current; and so prevents +laughter. An instance of this was lately furnished me by a friend who had +been witnessing the feats at Franconi's. A tremendous leap had just been +made by an acrobat over a number of horses. The clown, seemingly envious of +this success, made ostentatious preparation for doing the like; and then, +taking the preliminary run with immense energy, stopped short on reaching +the first horse, and pretended to wipe some dust from its haunches. In the +majority of the spectators, merriment was excited; but in my friend, wound +up by the expectation of the coming leap to a state of great nervous +tension, the effect of the baulk was to produce indignation. Experience +thus proves what the theory implies: namely, that the discharge of arrested +feelings into the muscular system, takes place only in the absence of other +adequate channels--does not take place if there arise other feelings equal +in amount to those arrested. + +Evidence still more conclusive is at hand. If we contrast the incongruities +which produce laughter with those which do not, we at once see that in the +non-ludicrous ones the unexpected state of feeling aroused, though wholly +different in kind, is not less in quantity or intensity. Among +incongruities that may excite anything but a laugh, Mr. Bain instances--"A +decrepit man under a heavy burden, five loaves and two fishes among a +multitude, and all unfitness and gross disproportion; an instrument out of +tune, a fly in ointment, snow in May, Archimedes studying geometry in a +siege, and all discordant things; a wolf in sheep's clothing, a breach of +bargain, and falsehood in general; the multitude taking the law in their +own hands, and everything of the nature of disorder; a corpse at a feast, +parental cruelty, filial ingratitude, and whatever is unnatural; the entire +catalogue of the vanities given by Solomon, are all incongruous, but they +cause feelings of pain, anger, sadness, loathing, rather than mirth." Now +in these cases, where the totally unlike state of consciousness suddenly +produced, is not inferior in mass to the preceding one, the conditions to +laughter are not fulfilled. As above shown, laughter naturally results only +when consciousness is unawares transferred from great things to small--only +when there is what we call a _descending_ incongruity. + +And now observe, finally, the fact, alike inferable _a priori_ and +illustrated in experience, that an _ascending_ incongruity not only fails +to cause laughter, but works on the muscular system an effect of exactly +the reverse kind. When after something very insignificant there arises +without anticipation something very great, the emotion we call wonder +results; and this emotion is accompanied not by an excitement of the +muscles, but by a relaxation of them. In children and country people, that +falling of the jaw which occurs on witnessing something that is imposing +and unexpected, exemplifies this effect. Persons who have been +wonder-struck at the production of very striking results by a seemingly +inadequate cause, are frequently described as unconsciously dropping the +things they held in their hands. Such are just the effects to be +anticipated. After an average state of consciousness, absorbing but a small +quantity of nervous energy, is aroused without the slightest notice, a +strong emotion of awe, terror, or admiration; joined with the astonishment +due to an apparent want of adequate causation. This new state of +consciousness demands far more nervous energy than that which it has +suddenly replaced; and this increased absorption of nervous energy in +mental changes, involves a temporary diminution of the outflow in other +directions: whence the pendent jaw and the relaxing grasp. + +One further observation is worth making. Among the several sets of channels +into which surplus feeling might be discharged, was named the nervous +system of the viscera. The sudden overflow of an arrested mental +excitement, which, as we have seen, results from a descending incongruity, +must doubtless stimulate not only the muscular system, as we see it does, +but also the internal organs; the heart and stomach must come in for a +share of the discharge. And thus there seems to be a good physiological +basis for the popular notion that mirth-creating excitement facilitates +digestion. + + * * * * * + +Though in doing so I go beyond the boundaries of the immediate topic, I may +fitly point out that the method of inquiry here followed, is one which +enables us to understand various phenomena besides those of laughter. To +show the importance of pursuing it, I will indicate the explanation it +furnishes of another familiar class of facts. + +All know how generally a large amount of emotion disturbs the action of the +intellect, and interferes with the power of expression. A speech delivered +with great facility to tables and chairs, is by no means so easily +delivered to an audience. Every schoolboy can testify that his trepidation, +when standing before a master, has often disabled him from repeating a +lesson which he had duly learnt. In explanation of this we commonly say +that the attention is distracted--that the proper train of ideas is broken +by the intrusion of ideas that are irrelevant. But the question is, in what +manner does unusual emotion produce this effect; and we are here supplied +with a tolerably obvious answer. The repetition of a lesson, or set speech +previously thought out, implies the flow of a very moderate amount of +nervous excitement through a comparatively narrow channel. The thing to be +done is simply to call up in succession certain previously-arranged +ideas--a process in which no great amount of mental energy is expended. +Hence, when there is a large quantity of emotion, which must be discharged +in some direction or other; and when, as usually happens, the restricted +series of intellectual actions to be gone through, does not suffice to +carry it off; there result discharges along other channels besides the one +prescribed: there are aroused various ideas foreign to the train of thought +to be pursued; and these tend to exclude from consciousness those which +should occupy it. + +And now observe the meaning of those bodily actions spontaneously set up +under these circumstances. The school-boy saying his lesson, commonly has +his fingers actively engaged--perhaps in twisting about a broken pen, or +perhaps squeezing the angle of his jacket; and if told to keep his hands +still, he soon again falls into the same or a similar trick. Many anecdotes +are current of public speakers having incurable automatic actions of this +class: barristers who perpetually wound and unwound pieces of tape; members +of parliament ever putting on and taking off their spectacles. So long as +such movements are unconscious, they facilitate the mental actions. At +least this seems a fair inference from the fact that confusion frequently +results from putting a stop to them: witness the case narrated by Sir +Walter Scott of his school-fellow, who became unable to say his lesson +after the removal of the waistcoat-button that he habitually fingered while +in class. But why do they facilitate the mental actions? Clearly because +they draw off a portion of the surplus nervous excitement. If, as above +explained, the quantity of mental energy generated is greater than can find +vent along the narrow channel of thought that is open to it; and if, in +consequence, it is apt to produce confusion by rushing into other channels +of thought; then by allowing it an exit through the motor nerves into the +muscular system, the pressure is diminished, and irrelevant ideas are less +likely to intrude on consciousness. + +This further illustration will, I think, justify the position that +something may be achieved by pursuing in other cases this method of +psychological inquiry. A complete explanation of the phenomena, requires us +to trace out _all_ the consequences of any given state of consciousness; +and we cannot do this without studying the effects, bodily and mental, as +varying in quantity at each other's expense. We should probably learn much +if we in every case asked--Where is all the nervous energy gone? + + + + +V. THE ORIGIN AND FUNCTION OF MUSIC + + +When Carlo, standing, chained to his kennel, sees his master in the +distance, a slight motion of the tail indicates his but faint hope that he +is about to be let out. A much more decided wagging of the tail, passing +by-and-by into lateral undulations of the body, follows his master's nearer +approach. When hands are laid on his collar, and he knows that he is really +to have an outing, his jumping and wriggling are such that it is by no +means easy to loose his fastenings. And when he finds himself actually +free, his joy expends itself in bounds, in pirouettes, and in scourings +hither and thither at the top of his speed. Puss, too, by erecting her +tail, and by every time raising her back to meet the caressing hand of her +mistress, similarly expresses her gratification by certain muscular +actions; as likewise do the parrot by awkward dancing on his perch, and the +canary by hopping and fluttering about his cage with unwonted rapidity. +Under emotions of an opposite kind, animals equally display muscular +excitement. The enraged lion lashes his sides with his tail, knits his +brows, protrudes his claws. The cat sets up her back; the dog retracts his +upper lip; the horse throws back his ears. And in the struggles of +creatures in pain, we see that the like relation holds between excitement +of the muscles and excitement of the nerves of sensation. + +In ourselves, distinguished from lower creatures as we are by feelings +alike more powerful and more varied, parallel facts are at once more +conspicuous and more numerous. We may conveniently look at them in groups. +We shall find that pleasurable sensations and painful sensations, +pleasurable emotions and painful emotions, all tend to produce active +demonstrations in proportion to their intensity. + +In children, and even in adults who are not restrained by regard for +appearances, a highly agreeable taste is followed by a smacking of the +lips. An infant will laugh and bound in its nurse's arms at the sight of a +brilliant colour or the hearing of a new sound. People are apt to beat time +with head or feet to music which particularly pleases them. In a sensitive +person an agreeable perfume will produce a smile; and smiles will be seen +on the faces of a crowd gazing at some splendid burst of fireworks. Even +the pleasant sensation of warmth felt on getting to the fireside out of a +winter's storm, will similarly express itself in the face. + +Painful sensations, being mostly far more intense than pleasurable ones, +cause muscular actions of a much more decided kind. A sudden twinge +produces a convulsive start of the whole body. A pain less violent, but +continuous, is accompanied by a knitting of the brows, a setting of the +teeth or biting of the lip, and a contraction of the features generally. +Under a persistent pain of a severer kind, other muscular actions are +added: the body is swayed to and fro; the hands clench anything they can +lay hold of; and should the agony rise still higher, the sufferer rolls +about on the floor almost convulsed. + +Though more varied, the natural language of the pleasurable emotions comes +within the same generalization. A smile, which is the commonest expression +of gratified feeling, is a contraction of certain facial muscles; and when +the smile broadens into a laugh, we see a more violent and more general +muscular excitement produced by an intenser gratification. Rubbing together +of the hands, and that other motion which Dickens somewhere describes as +"washing with impalpable soap in invisible water," have like implications. +Children may often be seen to "jump for joy." Even in adults of excitable +temperament, an action approaching to it is sometimes witnessed. And +dancing has all the world through been regarded as natural to an elevated +state of mind. Many of the special emotions show themselves in special +muscular actions. The gratification resulting from success, raises the head +and gives firmness to the gait. A hearty grasp of the hand is currently +taken as indicative of friendship. Under a gush of affection the mother +clasps her child to her breast, feeling as though she could squeeze it to +death. And so in sundry other cases. Even in that brightening of the eye +with which good news is received we may trace the same truth; for this +appearance of greater brilliancy is due to an extra contraction of the +muscle which raises the eyelid, and so allows more light to fall upon, and +be reflected from, the wet surface of the eyeball. + +The bodily indications of painful emotions are equally numerous, and still +more vehement. Discontent is shown by raised eyebrows and wrinkled +forehead; disgust by a curl of the lip; offence by a pout. The impatient +man beats a tattoo with his fingers on the table, swings his pendent leg +with increasing rapidity, gives needless pokings to the fire, and presently +paces with hasty strides about the room. In great grief there is wringing +of the hands, and even tearing of the hair. An angry child stamps, or rolls +on its back and kicks its heels in the air; and in manhood, anger, first +showing itself in frowns, in distended nostrils, in compressed lips, goes +on to produce grinding of the teeth, clenching of the fingers, blows of the +fist on the table, and perhaps ends in a violent attack on the offending +person, or in throwing about and breaking the furniture. From that pursing +of the mouth indicative of slight displeasure, up to the frantic struggles +of the maniac, we shall find that mental irritation tends to vent itself in +bodily activity. + +All feelings, then--sensations or emotions, pleasurable or painful--have +this common characteristic, that they are muscular stimuli. Not forgetting +the few apparently exceptional cases in which emotions exceeding a certain +intensity produce prostration, we may set it down as a general law that, +alike in man and animals, there is a direct connection between feeling and +motion; the last growing more vehement as the first grows more intense. +Were it allowable here to treat the matter scientifically, we might trace +this general law down to the principle known among physiologists as that of +_reflex action_.[H] Without doing this, however, the above numerous +instances justify the generalization, that mental excitement of all kinds +ends in excitement of the muscles; and that the two preserve a more or less +constant ratio to each other. + + [H] Those who seek information on this point may find it in an + interesting tract by Mr. Alexander Bain, on _Animal Instinct and + Intelligence_. + + * * * * * + +"But what has all this to do with _The Origin and Function of Music_?" asks +the reader. Very much, as we shall presently see. All music is originally +vocal. All vocal sounds are produced by the agency of certain muscles. +These muscles, in common with those of the body at large, are excited to +contraction by pleasurable and painful feelings. And therefore it is that +feelings demonstrate themselves in sounds as well as in movements. +Therefore it is that Carlo barks as well as leaps when he is let out--that +puss purrs as well as erects her tail--that the canary chirps as well as +flutters. Therefore it is that the angry lion roars while he lashes his +sides, and the dog growls while he retracts his lip. Therefore it is that +the maimed animal not only struggles, but howls. And it is from this cause +that in human beings bodily suffering expresses itself not only in +contortions, but in shrieks and groans--that in anger, and fear, and grief, +the gesticulations are accompanied by shouts and screams--that delightful +sensations are followed by exclamations--and that we hear screams of joy +and shouts of exultation. + +We have here, then, a principle underlying all vocal phenomena; including +those of vocal music, and by consequence those of music in general. The +muscles that move the chest, larynx, and vocal chords, contracting like +other muscles in proportion to the intensity of the feelings; every +different contraction of these muscles involving, as it does, a different +adjustment of the vocal organs; every different adjustment of the vocal +organs causing a change in the sound emitted;--it follows that variations +of voice are the physiological results of variations of feeling; it follows +that each inflection or modulation is the natural outcome of some passing +emotion or sensation; and it follows that the explanation of all kinds of +vocal expression, must be sought in this general relation between mental +and muscular excitements. Let us, then, see whether we cannot thus account +for the chief peculiarities in the utterance of the feelings: grouping +these peculiarities under the heads of _loudness_, _quality_, _or timbre_, +_pitch_, _intervals_, and _rate of variation_. + + * * * * * + +Between the lungs and the organs of voice, there is much the same relation +as between the bellows of an organ and its pipes. And as the loudness of +the sound given out by an organ-pipe increases with the strength of the +blast from the bellows; so, other things equal, the loudness of a vocal +sound increases with the strength of the blast from the lungs. But the +expulsion of air from the lungs is effected by certain muscles of the chest +and abdomen. The force with which these muscles contract, is proportionate +to the intensity of the feeling experienced. Hence, _a priori_, loud sounds +will be the habitual results of strong feelings. That they are so we have +daily proof. The pain which, if moderate, can be borne silently, causes +outcries if it becomes extreme. While a slight vexation makes a child +whimper, a fit of passion calls forth a howl that disturbs the +neighbourhood. When the voices in an adjacent room become unusually +audible, we infer anger, or surprise, or joy. Loudness of applause is +significant of great approbation; and with uproarious mirth we associate +the idea of high enjoyment. Commencing with the silence of apathy, we find +that the utterances grow louder as the sensations or emotions, whether +pleasurable or painful, grow stronger. + +That different _qualities_ of voice accompany different mental states, and +that under states of excitement the tones are more sonorous than usual, is +another general fact admitting of a parallel explanation. The sounds of +common conversation have but little resonance; those of strong feeling have +much more. Under rising ill temper the voice acquires a metallic ring. In +accordance with her constant mood, the ordinary speech of a virago has a +piercing quality quite opposite to that softness indicative of placidity. A +ringing laugh marks an especially joyous temperament. Grief unburdening +itself uses tones approaching in _timbre_ to those of chanting: and in his +most pathetic passages an eloquent speaker similarly falls into tones more +vibratory than those common to him. Now any one may readily convince +himself that resonant vocal sounds can be produced only by a certain +muscular effort additional to that ordinarily needed. If after uttering a +word in his speaking voice, the reader, without changing the pitch or the +loudness, will _sing_ this word, he will perceive that before he can sing +it, he has to alter the adjustment of the vocal organs; to do which a +certain force must be used; and by putting his fingers on that external +prominence marking the top of the larynx, he will have further evidence +that to produce a sonorous tone the organs must be drawn out of their usual +position. Thus, then, the fact that the tones of excited feeling are more +vibratory than those of common conversation, is another instance of the +connexion between mental excitement and muscular excitement. The speaking +voice, the recitative voice, and the singing voice, severally exemplify one +general principle. + +That the _pitch_ of the voice varies according to the action of the vocal +muscles, scarcely needs saying. All know that the middle notes, in which +they converse, are made without any appreciable effort; and all know that +to make either very high or very low notes requires a considerable effort. +In either ascending or descending from the pitch of ordinary speech, we are +conscious of an increasing muscular strain, which, at both extremes of the +register, becomes positively painful. Hence it follows from our general +principle, that while indifference or calmness will use the medium tones, +the tones used during excitement will be either above or below them; and +will rise higher and higher, or fall lower and lower, as the feelings grow +stronger. This physiological deduction we also find to be in harmony with +familiar facts. The habitual sufferer utters his complaints in a voice +raised considerably above the natural key; and agonizing pain vents itself +in either shrieks or groans--in very high or very low notes. Beginning at +his talking pitch, the cry of the disappointed urchin grows more shrill as +it grows louder. The "Oh!" of astonishment or delight, begins several notes +below the middle voice, and descends still lower. Anger expresses itself in +high tones, or else in "curses not loud but _deep_." Deep tones, too, are +always used in uttering strong reproaches. Such an exclamation as "Beware!" +if made dramatically--that is, if made with a show of feeling--must be many +notes lower than ordinary. Further, we have groans of disapprobation, +groans of horror, groans of remorse. And extreme joy and fear are alike +accompanied by shrill outcries. + +Nearly allied to the subject of pitch, is that of _intervals_; and the +explanation of them carries our argument a step further. While calm speech +is comparatively monotonous, emotion makes use of fifths, octaves, and even +wider intervals. Listen to any one narrating or repeating something in +which he has no interest, and his voice will not wander more than two or +three notes above or below his medium note, and that by small steps; but +when he comes to some exciting event he will be heard not only to use the +higher and lower notes of his register, but to go from one to the other by +larger leaps. Being unable in print to imitate these traits of feeling, we +feel some difficulty in fully realizing them to the reader. But we may +suggest a few remembrances which will perhaps call to mind a sufficiency of +others. If two men living in the same place, and frequently seeing one +another, meet, say at a public assembly, any phrase with which one may be +heard to accost the other--as "Hallo, are you here?"--will have an ordinary +intonation. But if one of them, after long absence, has unexpectedly +returned, the expression of surprise with which his friend may greet +him--"Hallo! how came you here?"--will be uttered in much more strongly +contrasted tones. The two syllables of the word "Hallo" will be, the one +much higher and the other much lower than before; and the rest of the +sentence will similarly ascend and descend by longer steps. + +Again, if, supposing her to be in an adjoining room, the mistress of the +house calls "Mary," the two syllables of the name will be spoken in an +ascending interval of a third. If Mary does not reply, the call will be +repeated probably in a descending fifth; implying the slightest shade of +annoyance at Mary's inattention. Should Mary still make no answer, the +increasing annoyance will show itself by the use of a descending octave on +the next repetition of the call. And supposing the silence to continue, the +lady, if not of a very even temper, will show her irritation at Mary's +seemingly intentional negligence by finally calling her in tones still more +widely contrasted--the first syllable being higher and the last lower than +before. + +Now, these and analogous facts, which the reader will readily accumulate, +clearly conform to the law laid down. For to make large intervals requires +more muscular action than to make small ones. But not only is the _extent_ +of vocal intervals thus explicable as due to the relation between nervous +and muscular excitement, but also in some degree their _direction_, as +ascending or descending. The middle notes being those which demand no +appreciable effort of muscular adjustment; and the effort becoming greater +as we either ascend or descend; it follows that a departure from the middle +notes in either direction will mark increasing emotion; while a return +towards the middle notes will mark decreasing emotion. Hence it happens +that an enthusiastic person uttering such a sentence as--"It was the most +splendid sight I ever saw!" will ascend to the first syllable of the word +"splendid," and thence will descend: the word "splendid" marking the climax +of the feeling produced by the recollection. Hence, again, it happens that, +under some extreme vexation produced by another's stupidity, an irascible +man, exclaiming--"What a confounded fool the fellow is!" will begin +somewhat below his middle voice, and descending to the word "fool," which +he will utter in one of his deepest notes, will then ascend again. And it +may be remarked, that the word "fool" will not only be deeper and louder +than the rest, but will also have more emphasis of articulation--another +mode in which muscular excitement is shown. + +There is some danger, however, in giving instances like this; seeing that +as the mode of rendering will vary according to the intensity of the +feeling which the reader feigns to himself, the right cadence may not be +hit upon. With single words there is less difficulty. Thus the "Indeed!" +with which a surprising fact is received, mostly begins on the middle note +of the voice, and rises with the second syllable; or, if disapprobation as +well as astonishment is felt, the first syllable will be below the middle +note, and the second lower still. Conversely, the word "Alas!" which marks +not the rise of a paroxysm of grief, but its decline, is uttered in a +cadence descending towards the middle note; or, if the first syllable is in +the lower part of the register, the second ascends towards the middle note. +In the "Heigh-ho!" expressive of mental and muscular prostration, we may +see the same truth; and if the cadence appropriate to it be inverted the +absurdity of the effect clearly shows how the meaning of intervals is +dependent on the principle we have been illustrating. + +The remaining characteristic of emotional speech which we have to notice is +that of _variability of pitch_. It is scarcely possible here to convey +adequate ideas of this more complex manifestation. We must be content with +simply indicating some occasions on which it may be observed. On a meeting +of friends, for instance--as when there arrives a party of much-wished-for +visitors--the voices of all will be heard to undergo changes of pitch not +only greater but much more numerous than usual. If a speaker at a public +meeting is interrupted by some squabble among those he is addressing, his +comparatively level tones will be in marked contrast with the rapidly +changing one of the disputants. And among children, whose feelings are less +under control than those of adults, this peculiarity is still more decided. +During a scene of complaint and recrimination between two excitable little +girls, the voices may be heard to run up and down the gamut several times +in each sentence. In such cases we once more recognise the same law: for +muscular excitement is shown not only in strength of contraction but also +in the rapidity with which different muscular adjustments succeed each +other. + +Thus we find all the leading vocal phenomena to have a physiological basis. +They are so many manifestations of the general law that feeling is a +stimulus to muscular action--a law conformed to throughout the whole +economy, not of man only, but of every sensitive creature--a law, +therefore, which lies deep in the nature of animal organization. The +expressiveness of these various modifications of voice is therefore innate. +Each of us, from babyhood upwards, has been spontaneously making them, when +under the various sensations and emotions by which they are produced. +Having been conscious of each feeling at the same time that we heard +ourselves make the consequent sound, we have acquired an established +association of ideas between such sound and the feeling which caused it. +When the like sound is made by another, we ascribe the like feeling to him; +and by a further consequence we not only ascribe to him that feeling, but +have a certain degree of it aroused in ourselves: for to become conscious +of the feeling which another is experiencing, is to have that feeling +awakened in our own consciousness, which is the same thing as experiencing +the feeling. Thus these various modifications of voice become not only a +language through which we understand the emotions of others, but also the +means of exciting our sympathy with such emotions. + +Have we not here, then, adequate data for a theory of music? These vocal +peculiarities which indicate excited feeling, _are those which especially +distinguish song from ordinary speech_. Every one of the alterations of +voice which we have found to be a physiological result of pain or pleasure, +_is carried to its greatest extreme in vocal music_. For instance, we saw +that, in virtue of the general relation between mental and muscular +excitement, one characteristic of passionate utterance is _loudness_. Well, +its comparative loudness is one of the distinctive marks of song as +contrasted with the speech of daily life; and further, the _forte_ passages +of an air are those intended to represent the climax of its emotion. We +next saw that the tones in which emotion expresses itself, are, in +conformity with this same law, of a more sonorous _timbre_ than those of +calm conversation. Here, too, song displays a still higher degree of the +peculiarity; for the singing tone is the most resonant we can make. Again, +it was shown that, from a like cause, mental excitement vents itself in the +higher and lower notes of the register; using the middle notes but seldom. +And it scarcely needs saying that vocal music is still more distinguished +by its comparative neglect of the notes in which we talk, and its habitual +use of those above or below them and, moreover, that its most passionate +effects are commonly produced at the two extremities of its scale, but +especially the upper one. + +A yet further trait of strong feeling, similarly accounted for, was the +employment of larger intervals than are employed in common converse. This +trait, also, every ballad and _aria_ carries to an extent beyond that heard +in the spontaneous utterances of emotion: add to which, that the direction +of these intervals, which, as diverging from or converging towards the +medium tones, we found to be physiologically expressive of increasing or +decreasing emotion, may be observed to have in music like meanings. Once +more, it was pointed out that not only extreme but also rapid variations of +pitch, are characteristic of mental excitement; and once more we see in the +quick changes of every melody, that song carries the characteristic as far, +if not farther. Thus, in respect alike of _loudness_, _timbre_, _pitch_, +_intervals_, and _rate of variation_, song employs and exaggerates the +natural language of the emotions;--it arises from a systematic combination +of those vocal peculiarities which are the physiological effects of acute +pleasure and pain. + +Besides these chief characteristics of song as distinguished from common +speech, there are sundry minor ones similarly explicable as due to the +relation between mental and muscular excitement; and before proceeding +further, these should be briefly noticed. Thus, certain passions, and +perhaps all passions when pushed to an extreme, produce (probably through +their influence over the action of the heart) an effect the reverse of that +which has been described: they cause a physical prostration, one symptom of +which is a general relaxation of the muscles, and a consequent trembling. +We have the trembling of anger, of fear, of hope, of joy; and the vocal +muscles being implicated with the rest, the voice too becomes tremulous. +Now, in singing, this tremulousness of voice is very effectively used by +some vocalists in highly pathetic passages; sometimes, indeed, because of +its effectiveness, too much used by them--as by Tamberlik, for instance. + +Again, there is a mode of musical execution known as the _staccato_, +appropriate to energetic passages--to passages expressive of exhilaration, +of resolution, of confidence. The action of the vocal muscles which +produces this staccato style, is analogous to the muscular action which +produces the sharp, decisive, energetic movements of body indicating these +states of mind; and therefore it is that the staccato style has the meaning +we ascribe to it. Conversely, slurred intervals are expressive of gentler +and less active feelings; and are so because they imply the smaller +muscular vivacity due to a lower mental energy. The difference of effect +resulting from difference of _time_ in music, is also attributable to the +same law. Already it has been pointed out that the more frequent changes of +pitch which ordinarily result from passion, are imitated and developed in +song; and here we have to add, that the various rates of such changes, +appropriate to the different styles of music, are further traits having the +same derivation. The slowest movements, _largo_ and _adagio_, are used +where such depressing emotions as grief, or such unexciting emotions as +reverence, are to be portrayed; while the more rapid movements, _andante_, +_allegro_, _presto_, represent successively increasing degrees of mental +vivacity; and do this because they imply that muscular activity which flows +from this mental vivacity. Even the _rhythm_, which forms a remaining +distinction between song and speech, may not improbably have a kindred +cause. Why the actions excited by strong feeling should tend to become +rhythmical, is not very obvious; but that they do so there are divers +evidences. There is the swaying of the body to and fro under pain or grief, +of the leg under impatience or agitation. Dancing, too, is a rhythmical +action natural to elevated emotion. That under excitement speech acquires a +certain rhythm, we may occasionally perceive in the highest efforts of an +orator. In poetry, which is a form of speech used for the better expression +of emotional ideas, we have this rhythmical tendency developed. And when we +bear in mind that dancing, poetry, and music are connate--are originally +constituent parts of the same thing, it becomes clear that the measured +movement common to them all implies a rhythmical action of the whole +system, the vocal apparatus included; and that so the rhythm of music is a +more subtle and complex result of this relation between mental and muscular +excitement. + +But it is time to end this analysis, which, possibly we have already +carried too far. It is not to be supposed that the more special +peculiarities of musical expression are to be definitely explained. Though +probably they may all in some way conform to the principle that has been +worked out, it is obviously impracticable to trace that principle in its +more ramified applications. Nor is it needful to our argument that it +should be so traced. The foregoing facts sufficiently prove that what we +regard as the distinctive traits of song, are simply the traits of +emotional speech intensified and systematized. In respect of its general +characteristics, we think it has been made clear that vocal music, and by +consequence all music, is an idealization of the natural language of +passion. + + * * * * * + +As far as it goes, the scanty evidence furnished by history confirms this +conclusion. Note first the fact (not properly an historical one, but fitly +grouped with such) that the dance-chants of savage tribes are very +monotonous; and in virtue of their monotony are much more nearly allied to +ordinary speech than are the songs of civilized races. Joining with this +the fact that there are still extant among boatmen and others in the East, +ancient chants of a like monotonous character, we may infer that vocal +music originally diverged from emotional speech in a gradual, unobtrusive +manner; and this is the inference to which our argument points. Further +evidence to the same effect is supplied by Greek history. The early poems +of the Greeks--which, be it remembered, were sacred legends embodied in +that rhythmical, metaphorical language which strong feeling excites--were +not recited, but chanted: the tones and the cadences were made musical by +the same influences which made the speech poetical. + +By those who have investigated the matter, this chanting is believed to +have been not what we call singing, but nearly allied to our recitative; +(far simpler indeed, if we may judge from the fact that the early Greek +lyre, which had but _four_ strings, was played in _unison_ with the voice, +which was therefore confined to four notes;) and as such, much less remote +from common speech than our own singing is. For recitative, or musical +recitation, is in all respects intermediate between speech and song. Its +average effects are not so _loud_ as those of song. Its tones are less +sonorous in _timbre_ than those of song. Commonly it diverges to a smaller +extent from the middle notes--uses notes neither so high nor so low in +_pitch_. The _intervals_ habitual to it are neither so wide nor so varied. +Its _rate of variation_ is not so rapid. And at the same time that its +primary _rhythm_ is less decided, it has none of that secondary rhythm +produced by recurrence of the same or parallel musical phrases, which is +one of the marked characteristics of song. Thus, then, we may not only +infer, from the evidence furnished by existing barbarous tribes, that the +vocal music of pre-historic times was emotional speech very slightly +exalted; but we see that the earliest vocal music of which we have any +account, differed much less from emotional speech than does the vocal music +of our days. + +That recitative--beyond which, by the way, the Chinese and Hindoos seem +never to have advanced--grew naturally out of the modulations and cadences +of strong feeling, we have indeed still current evidence. There are even +now to be met with occasions on which strong feeling vents itself in this +form. Whoever has been present when a meeting of Quakers was addressed by +one of their preachers (whose practice it is to speak only under the +influence of religious emotion), must have been struck by the quite unusual +tones, like those of a subdued chant, in which the address was made. It is +clear, too, that the intoning used in some churches, is representative of +this same mental state; and has been adopted on account of the +instinctively felt congruity between it and the contrition, supplication, +or reverence verbally expressed. + + * * * * * + +And if, as we have good reason to believe, recitative arose by degrees out +of emotional speech, it becomes manifest that by a continuance of the same +process song has arisen out of recitative. Just as, from the orations and +legends of savages, expressed in the metaphorical, allegorical style +natural to them, there sprung epic poetry, out of which lyric poetry was +afterwards developed; so, from the exalted tones and cadences in which such +orations and legends were delivered, came the chant or recitative music, +from whence lyrical music has since grown up. And there has not only thus +been a simultaneous and parallel genesis, but there is also a parallelism +of results. For lyrical poetry differs from epic poetry, just as lyrical +music differs from recitative: each still further intensifies the natural +language of the emotions. Lyrical poetry is more metaphorical, more +hyperbolic, more elliptical, and adds the rhythm of lines to the rhythm of +feet; just as lyrical music is louder, more sonorous, more extreme in its +intervals, and adds the rhythm of phrases to the rhythm of bars. And the +known fact that out of epic poetry the stronger passions developed lyrical +poetry as their appropriate vehicle, strengthens the inference that they +similarly developed lyrical music out of recitative. + +Nor indeed are we without evidences of the transition. It needs but to +listen to an opera to hear the leading gradations. Between the +comparatively level recitative of ordinary dialogue, the more varied +recitative with wider intervals and higher tones used in exciting scenes, +the still more musical recitative which preludes an air, and the air +itself, the successive steps are but small; and the fact that among airs +themselves gradations of like nature may be traced, further confirms the +conclusion that the highest form of vocal music was arrived at by degrees. + +Moreover, we have some clue to the influences which have induced this +development; and may roughly conceive the process of it. As the tones, +intervals, and cadences of strong emotion were the elements out of which +song was elaborated; so, we may expect to find that still stronger emotion +produced the elaboration: and we have evidence implying this. Instances in +abundance may be cited, showing that musical composers are men of extremely +acute sensibilities. The Life of Mozart depicts him as one of intensely +active affections and highly impressionable temperament. Various anecdotes +represent Beethoven as very susceptible and very passionate. Mendelssohn is +described by those who knew him to have been full of fine feeling. And the +almost incredible sensitiveness of Chopin has been illustrated in the +memoirs of George Sand. An unusually emotional nature being thus the +general characteristic of musical composers, we have in it just the agency +required for the development of recitative and song. Intenser feeling +producing intenser manifestations, any cause of excitement will call forth +from such a nature, tones and changes of voice more marked than those +called forth from an ordinary nature--will generate just those +exaggerations which we have found to distinguish the lower vocal music from +emotional speech, and the higher vocal music from the lower. Thus it +becomes credible that the four-toned recitative of the early Greek poets +(like all poets, nearly allied to composers in the comparative intensity of +their feelings), was really nothing more than the slightly exaggerated +emotional speech natural to them, which grew by frequent use into an +organized form. And it is readily conceivable that the accumulated agency +of subsequent poet-musicians, inheriting and adding to the products of +those who went before them, sufficed, in the course of the ten centuries +which we know it took, to develope this four-toned recitative into a vocal +music having a range of two octaves. + +Not only may we so understand how more sonorous tones, greater extremes of +pitch, and wider intervals, were gradually introduced; but also how there +arose a greater variety and complexity of musical expression. For this same +passionate, enthusiastic temperament, which naturally leads the musical +composer to express the feelings possessed by others as well as himself, in +extremer intervals and more marked cadences than they would use, also leads +him to give musical utterance to feelings which they either do not +experience, or experience in but slight degrees. In virtue of this general +susceptibility which distinguishes him, he regards with emotion, events, +scenes, conduct, character, which produce upon most men no appreciable +effect. The emotions so generated, compounded as they are of the simpler +emotions, are not expressible by intervals and cadences natural to these, +but by combinations of such intervals and cadences: whence arise more +involved musical phrases, conveying more complex, subtle, and unusual +feelings. And thus we may in some measure understand how it happens that +music not only so strongly excites our more familiar feelings, but also +produces feelings we never had before--arouses dormant sentiments of which +we had not conceived the possibility and do not know the meaning; or, as +Richter says--tells us of things we have not seen and shall not see. + + * * * * * + +Indirect evidences of several kinds remain to be briefly pointed out. One +of them is the difficulty, not to say impossibility, of otherwise +accounting for the expressiveness of music. Whence comes it that special +combinations of notes should have special effects upon our emotions?--that +one should give us a feeling of exhilaration, another of melancholy, +another of affection, another of reverence? Is it that these special +combinations have intrinsic meanings apart from the human +constitution?--that a certain number of aerial waves per second, followed +by a certain other number, in the nature of things signify grief, while in +the reverse order they signify joy; and similarly with all other intervals, +phrases, and cadences? Few will be so irrational as to think this. Is it, +then, that the meanings of these special combinations are conventional +only?--that we learn their implications, as we do those of words, by +observing how others understand them? This is an hypothesis not only devoid +of evidence, but directly opposed to the experience of every one. How, +then, are musical effects to be explained? If the theory above set forth be +accepted, the difficulty disappears. If music, taking for its raw material +the various modifications of voice which are the physiological results of +excited feeling, intensifies, combines, and complicates them--if it +exaggerates the loudness, the resonance, the pitch, the intervals, and the +variability, which, in virtue of an organic law, are the characteristics of +passionate speech--if, by carrying out these further, more consistently, +more unitedly, and more sustainedly, it produces an idealized language of +emotion; then its power over us becomes comprehensible. But in the absence +of this theory, the expressiveness of music appears to be inexplicable. + +Again, the preference we feel for certain qualities of sound presents a +like difficulty, admitting only of a like solution. It is generally agreed +that the tones of the human voice are more pleasing than any others. Grant +that music takes its rise from the modulations of the human voice under +emotion, and it becomes a natural consequence that the tones of that voice +should appeal to our feelings more than any others; and so should be +considered more beautiful than any others. But deny that music has this +origin, and the only alternative is the untenable position that the +vibrations proceeding from a vocalist's throat are, objectively considered, +of a higher order than those from a horn or a violin. Similarly with harsh +and soft sounds. If the conclusiveness of the foregoing reasonings be not +admitted, it must be supposed that the vibrations causing the last are +intrinsically better than those causing the first; and that, in virtue of +some pre-established harmony, the higher feelings and natures produce the +one, and the lower the other. But if the foregoing reasonings be valid, it +follows, as a matter of course, that we shall like the sounds that +habitually accompany agreeable feelings, and dislike those that habitually +accompany disagreeable feelings. + +Once more, the question--How is the expressiveness of music to be otherwise +accounted for? may be supplemented by the question--How is the genesis of +music to be otherwise accounted for? That music is a product of +civilization is manifest; for though savages have their dance-chants, these +are of a kind scarcely to be dignified by the title musical: at most, they +supply but the vaguest rudiment of music, properly so called. And if music +has been by slow steps developed in the course of civilization, it must +have been developed out of something. If, then, its origin is not that +above alleged, what is its origin? + +Thus we find that the negative evidence confirms the positive, and that, +taken together, they furnish strong proof. We have seen that there is a +physiological relation, common to man and all animals, between feeling and +muscular action; that as vocal sounds are produced by muscular action, +there is a consequent physiological relation between feeling and vocal +sounds; that all the modifications of voice expressive of feeling are the +direct results of this physiological relation; that music, adopting all +these modifications, intensifies them more and more as it ascends to its +higher and higher forms, and becomes music simply in virtue of thus +intensifying them; that, from the ancient epic poet chanting his verses, +down to the modern musical composer, men of unusually strong feelings prone +to express them in extreme forms, have been naturally the agents of these +successive intensifications; and that so there has little by little arisen +a wide divergence between this idealized language of emotion and its +natural language: to which direct evidence we have just added the +indirect--that on no other tenable hypothesis can either the expressiveness +or the genesis of music be explained. + + * * * * * + +And now, what is the _function_ of music? Has music any effect beyond the +immediate pleasure it produces? Analogy suggests that it has. The +enjoyments of a good dinner do not end with themselves, but minister to +bodily well-being. Though people do not marry with a view to maintain the +race, yet the passions which impel them to marry secure its maintenance. +Parental affection is a feeling which, while it conduces to parental +happiness, ensures the nurture of offspring. Men love to accumulate +property, often without thought of the benefits it produces; but in +pursuing the pleasure of acquisition they indirectly open the way to other +pleasures. The wish for public approval impels all of us to do many things +which we should otherwise not do,--to undertake great labours, face great +dangers, and habitually rule ourselves in a way that smooths social +intercourse: that is, in gratifying our love of approbation we subserve +divers ulterior purposes. And, generally, our nature is such that in +fulfilling each desire, we in some way facilitate the fulfilment of the +rest. But the love of music seems to exist for its own sake. The delights +of melody and harmony do not obviously minister to the welfare either of +the individual or of society. May we not suspect, however, that this +exception is apparent only? Is it not a rational inquiry--What are the +indirect benefits which accrue from music, in addition to the direct +pleasure it gives? + +But that it would take us too far out of our track, we should prelude this +inquiry by illustrating at some length a certain general law of +progress;--the law that alike in occupations, sciences, arts, the divisions +that had a common root, but by continual divergence have become distinct, +and are now being separately developed, are not truly independent, but +severally act and react on each other to their mutual advancement. Merely +hinting thus much, however, by way of showing that there are many analogies +to justify us, we go on to express the opinion that there exists a +relationship of this kind between music and speech. + +All speech is compounded of two elements, the words and the tones in which +they are uttered--the signs of ideas and the signs of feelings. While +certain articulations express the thought, certain vocal sounds express the +more or less of pain or pleasure which the thought gives. Using the word +_cadence_ in an unusually extended sense, as comprehending all +modifications of voice, we may say that _cadence is the commentary of the +emotions upon the propositions of the intellect_. This duality of spoken +language, though not formally recognised, is recognised in practice by +every one; and every one knows that very often more weight attaches to the +tones than to the words. Daily experience supplies cases in which the same +sentence of disapproval will be understood as meaning little or meaning +much, according to the inflections of voice which accompany it; and daily +experience supplies still more striking cases in which words and tones are +in direct contradiction--the first expressing consent, while the last +express reluctance; and the last being believed rather than the first. + +These two distinct but interwoven elements of speech have been undergoing a +simultaneous development. We know that in the course of civilization words +have been multiplied, new parts of speech have been introduced, sentences +have grown more varied and complex; and we may fairly infer that during the +same time new modifications of voice have come into use, fresh intervals +have been adopted, and cadences have become more elaborate. For while, on +the one hand, it is absurd to suppose that, along with the undeveloped +verbal forms of barbarism, there existed a developed system of vocal +inflections; it is, on the other hand, necessary to suppose that, along +with the higher and more numerous verbal forms needed to convey the +multiplied and complicated ideas of civilized life, there have grown up +those more involved changes of voice which express the feelings proper to +such ideas. If intellectual language is a growth, so also, without doubt, +is emotional language a growth. + +Now, the hypothesis which we have hinted above, is, that beyond the direct +pleasure which it gives, music has the indirect effect of developing this +language of the emotions. Having its root, as we have endeavoured to show, +in those tones, intervals, and cadences of speech which express +feeling--arising by the combination and intensifying of these, and coming +finally to have an embodiment of its own; music has all along been reacting +upon speech, and increasing its power of rendering emotion. The use in +recitative and song of inflections more expressive than ordinary ones, must +from the beginning have tended to develope the ordinary ones. Familiarity +with the more varied combinations of tones that occur in vocal music, can +scarcely have failed to give greater variety of combination to the tones in +which we utter our impressions and desires. The complex musical phrases by +which composers have conveyed complex emotions, may rationally be supposed +to have influenced us in making those involved cadences of conversation by +which we convey our subtler thoughts and feelings. + +That the cultivation of music has no effect on the mind, few will be absurd +enough to contend. And if it has an effect, what more natural effect is +there than this of developing our perception of the meanings of +inflections, qualities, and modulations of voice; and giving us a +correspondingly increased power of using them? Just as mathematics, taking +its start from the phenomena of physics and astronomy, and presently coming +to be a separate science, has since reacted on physics and astronomy to +their immense advancement--just as chemistry, first arising out of the +processes of metallurgy and the industrial arts, and gradually growing into +an independent study, has now become an aid to all kinds of +production--just as physiology, originating out of medicine and once +subordinate to it, but latterly pursued for its own sake, is in our day +coming to be the science on which the progress of medicine depends;--so, +music, having its root in emotional language, and gradually evolved from +it, has ever been reacting upon and further advancing it. Whoever will +examine the facts, will find this hypothesis to be in harmony with the +method of civilization everywhere displayed. + +It will scarcely be expected that much direct evidence in support of this +conclusion can be given. The facts are of a kind which it is difficult to +measure, and of which we have no records. Some suggestive traits, however, +may be noted. May we not say, for instance, that the Italians, among whom +modern music was earliest cultivated, and who have more especially +practised and excelled in melody (the division of music with which our +argument is chiefly concerned)--may we not say that these Italians speak in +more varied and expressive inflections and cadences than any other nation? +On the other hand, may we not say that, confined almost exclusively as they +have hitherto been to their national airs, which have a marked family +likeness, and therefore accustomed to but a limited range of musical +expression, the Scotch are unusually monotonous in the intervals and +modulations of their speech? And again, do we not find among different +classes of the same nation, differences that have like implications? The +gentleman and the clown stand in very decided contrast with respect to +variety of intonation. Listen to the conversation of a servant-girl, and +then to that of a refined, accomplished lady, and the more delicate and +complex changes of voice used by the latter will be conspicuous. Now, +without going so far as to say that out of all the differences of culture +to which the upper and lower classes are subjected, difference of musical +culture is that to which alone this difference of speech is ascribable; yet +we may fairly say that there seems a much more obvious connexion of cause +and effect between these than between any others. Thus, while the inductive +evidence to which we can appeal is but scanty and vague, yet what there is +favours our position. + + * * * * * + +Probably most will think that the function here assigned to music is one of +very little moment. But further reflection may lead them to a contrary +conviction. In its bearings upon human happiness, we believe that this +emotional language which musical culture developes and refines, is only +second in importance to the language of the intellect; perhaps not even +second to it. For these modifications of voice produced by feelings, are +the means of exciting like feelings in others. Joined with gestures and +expressions of face, they give life to the otherwise dead words in which +the intellect utters its ideas; and so enable the hearer not only to +_understand_ the state of mind they accompany, but to _partake_ of that +state. In short, they are the chief media of _sympathy_. And if we consider +how much both our general welfare and our immediate pleasures depend upon +sympathy, we shall recognise the importance of whatever makes this sympathy +greater. If we bear in mind that by their fellow-feeling men are led to +behave justly, kindly and considerately to each other--that the difference +between the cruelty of the barbarous and the humanity of the civilized, +results from the increase of fellow-feeling; if we bear in mind that this +faculty which makes us sharers in the joys and sorrows of others, is the +basis of all the higher affections--that in friendship, love, and all +domestic pleasures, it is an essential element; if we bear in mind how much +our direct gratifications are intensified by sympathy,--how, at the +theatre, the concert, the picture gallery, we lose half our enjoyment if we +have no one to enjoy with us; if, in short, we bear in mind that for all +happiness beyond what the unfriended recluse can have, we are indebted to +this same sympathy;--we shall see that the agencies which communicate it +can scarcely be overrated in value. + +The tendency of civilization is more and more to repress the antagonistic +elements of our characters and to develope the social ones--to curb our +purely selfish desires and exercise our unselfish ones--to replace private +gratifications by gratifications resulting from, or involving, the +happiness of others. And while, by this adaptation to the social state, the +sympathetic side of our nature is being unfolded, there is simultaneously +growing up a language of sympathetic intercourse--a language through which +we communicate to others the happiness we feel, and are made sharers in +their happiness. + +This double process, of which the effects are already sufficiently +appreciable, must go on to an extent of which we can as yet have no +adequate conception. The habitual concealment of our feelings diminishing, +as it must, in proportion as our feelings become such as do not demand +concealment, we may conclude that the exhibition of them will become much +more vivid than we now dare allow it to be; and this implies a more +expressive emotional language. At the same time, feelings of a higher and +more complex kind, as yet experienced only by the cultivated few, will +become general; and there will be a corresponding development of the +emotional language into more involved forms. Just as there has silently +grown up a language of ideas, which, rude as it at first was, now enables +us to convey with precision the most subtle and complicated thoughts; so, +there is still silently growing up a language of feelings, which +notwithstanding its present imperfection, we may expect will ultimately +enable men vividly and completely to impress on each other all the emotions +which they experience from moment to moment. + +Thus if, as we have endeavoured to show, it is the function of music to +facilitate the development of this emotional language, we may regard music +as an aid to the achievement of that higher happiness which it indistinctly +shadows forth. Those vague feelings of unexperienced felicity which music +arouses--those indefinite impressions of an unknown ideal life which it +calls up, may be considered as a prophecy, to the fulfilment of which music +is itself partly instrumental. The strange capacity which we have for being +so affected by melody and harmony, may be taken to imply both that it is +within the possibilities of our nature to realize those intenser delights +they dimly suggest, and that they are in some way concerned in the +realization of them. On this supposition the power and the meaning of music +become comprehensible; but otherwise they are a mystery. + +We will only add, that if the probability of these corollaries be admitted, +then music must take rank as the highest of the fine arts--as the one +which, more than any other, ministers to human welfare. And thus, even +leaving out of view the immediate gratifications it is hourly giving, we +cannot too much applaud that progress of musical culture which is becoming +one of the characteristics of our age. + + + + +VI. THE NEBULAR HYPOTHESIS. + + +Inquiring into the pedigree of an idea is not a bad means of roughly +estimating its value. To have come of respectable ancestry, is _prima +facie_ evidence of worth in a belief as in a person; while to be descended +from a discreditable stock is, in the one case as in the other, an +unfavorable index. The analogy is not a mere fancy. Beliefs, together with +those who hold them, are modified little by little in successive +generations; and as the modifications which successive generations of the +holders undergo, do not destroy the original type, but only disguise and +refine it, so the accompanying alterations of belief, however much they +purify, leave behind the essence of the original belief. + +Considered genealogically, the received theory respecting the creation of +the Solar System is unmistakeably of low origin. You may clearly trace it +back to primitive mythologies. Its remotest ancestor is the doctrine that +the celestial bodies are personages who originally lived on the Earth--a +doctrine still held by some of the negroes Livingstone visited. Science +having divested the sun and planets of their divine personalities, this old +idea was succeeded by the idea which even Kepler entertained, that the +planets are guided in their courses by presiding spirits: no longer +themselves gods, they are still severally kept in their orbits by gods. And +when gravitation came to dispense with these celestial steersmen, there was +begotten a belief, less gross than its parent, but partaking of the same +essential nature, that the planets were originally launched into their +orbits from the Creator's hand. Evidently, though much refined, the +anthropomorphism of the current hypothesis is inherited from the aboriginal +anthropomorphism, which described gods as a stronger order of men. + +There is an antagonist hypothesis which does not propose to honour the +Unknown Power manifested in the Universe, by such titles as "The +Master-Builder," or "The Great Artificer;" but which regards this Unknown +Power as probably working after a method quite different from that of human +mechanics. And the genealogy of this hypothesis is as high as that of the +other is low. It is begotten by that ever-enlarging and ever-strengthening +belief in the presence of Law, which accumulated experiences have gradually +produced in the human mind. From generation to generation Science has been +proving uniformities of relation among phenomena which were before thought +either fortuitous or supernatural in their origin--has been showing an +established order and a constant causation where ignorance had assumed +irregularity and arbitrariness. Each further discovery of Law has increased +the presumption that Law is everywhere conformed to. And hence, among other +beliefs, has arisen the belief that the Solar System originated, not by +_manufacture_ but by _evolution_. Besides its abstract parentage in those +grand general conceptions which positive Science has generated, this +hypothesis has a concrete parentage of the highest character. Based as it +is on the law of universal gravitation, it may claim for its remote +progenitor the great thinker who established that law. The man who gave it +its general shape, by promulgating the doctrine that stars result from the +aggregation of diffused matter, was the most diligent, careful, and +original astronomical observer of modern times. And the world has not seen +a more learned mathematician than the man who, setting out with this +conception of diffused matter concentrating towards its centre of gravity, +pointed out the way in which there would arise, in the course of its +concentration, a balanced group of sun, planets, and satellites, like that +of which the Earth is a member. + +Thus, even were there but little direct evidence assignable for the Nebular +Hypothesis, the probability of its truth would still be strong. Its own +high derivation and the low derivation of the antagonist hypothesis, would +together form a weighty reason for accepting it--at any rate, +provisionally. But the direct evidence assignable for the Nebular +Hypothesis is by no means little. It is far greater in quantity, and more +varied in kind, than is commonly supposed. Much has been said here and +there on this or that class of evidences; but nowhere, as far as we know, +have all the evidences, even of one class, been fully stated; and still +less has there been an adequate statement of the several groups of +evidences in their _ensemble_. We propose here to do something towards +supplying the deficiency: believing that, joined with the _a priori_ +reasons given above, the array of _a posteriori_ reasons will leave little +doubt in the mind of any candid inquirer. + +And first, let us address ourselves to those recent discoveries in stellar +astronomy, which have been supposed to conflict with this celebrated +speculation. + + * * * * * + +When Sir William Herschel, directing his great reflector to various +nebulous spots, found them resolvable into clusters of stars, he inferred, +and for a time maintained, that all nebulous spots are clusters of stars +exceedingly remote from us. But after years of conscientious investigation, +he concluded that "there were nebulosities which are not of a starry +nature;" and on this conclusion was based his hypothesis of a diffused +luminous fluid, which by its eventual aggregation, produced stars. A +telescopic power much exceeding that used by Herschel, has enabled Lord +Rosse to resolve some of the nebulae previously unresolved; and, returning +to the conclusion which Herschel first formed on similar grounds but +afterwards rejected, many astronomers have assumed that, under sufficiently +high powers, every nebula would be decomposed into stars--that the +resolvability is solely a question of distance. The hypothesis now commonly +entertained is, that all nebulae are galaxies more or less like in nature to +that immediately surrounding us; but that they are so inconceivably remote, +as to look, through an ordinary telescope, like small faint spots. And not +a few have drawn the corollary, that by the discoveries of Lord Rosse the +Nebular Hypothesis has been disproved. + +Now, even supposing that these inferences respecting the distances and +natures of the nebulae are valid, they leave the Nebular Hypothesis +substantially as it was. Admitting that each of those faint spots is a +sidereal system, so far removed that its countless stars give less light +than one small star of our own sidereal system; the admission is in no way +inconsistent with the belief, that stars and their attendant planets have +been formed by the aggregation of nebulous matter. Though, doubtless, if +the existence of nebulous matter now in course of concentration be +disproved, one of the evidences of the Nebular Hypothesis is destroyed; yet +the remaining evidences remain just as they were. It is a perfectly tenable +position, that though nebular condensation is now nowhere to be seen in +progress, yet it was once going on universally. And, indeed, it might be +argued that the still-continued existence of diffused nebulous matter is +scarcely to be expected; seeing that the causes which have resulted in the +aggregation of one mass, must have been acting on all masses, and that +hence the existence of masses not aggregated would be a fact calling for +explanation. Thus, granting the immediate conclusions suggested by these +recent disclosures of the six-feet reflector, the corollary which many have +drawn is inadmissible. + +But we do not grant these conclusions. Receiving them though we have, for +years past, as established truths, a critical examination of the facts has +convinced us that they are quite unwarrantable. They involve so many +manifest incongruities, that we have been astonished to find men of science +entertaining them even as probable hypotheses. Let us consider these +incongruities. + +In the first place, mark what is inferable from the distribution of nebulae. + + "The spaces which precede or which follow simple nebulae," says + Arago, "and, _a fortiori_, groups of nebulae, contain generally few + stars. Herschel found this rule to be invariable. Thus, every time + that, during a short interval, no star approached, in virtue of the + diurnal motion, to place itself in the field of his motionless + telescope, he was accustomed to say to the secretary who assisted + him, 'Prepare to write; nebulae are about to arrive.'" + +How does this fact consist with the hypothesis that nebulae are remote +galaxies? If there were but one nebula, it would be a curious coincidence +were this one nebula so placed in the distant regions of space, as to agree +in direction with a starless spot in our own sidereal system. If there were +but two nebulae, and both were so placed, the coincidence would be +excessively strange. What, then, shall we say on finding that there are +thousands of nebulae so placed? Shall we believe that in thousands of cases +these far-removed galaxies happen to agree in their visible positions with +the thin places in our own galaxy? Such a belief is next to impossible. +Still more manifest does the impossibility of it become when we consider +the general distribution of nebulae. Besides again showing itself in the +fact that "the poorest regions in stars are near the richest in nebulae," +the law above specified applies to the heavens as a whole. In that zone of +celestial space where stars are excessively abundant, nebulae are rare; +while in the two opposite celestial spaces that are furthest removed from +this zone, nebulae are abundant. Scarcely any nebulae lie near the galactic +circle (or plane of the Milky Way); and the great mass of them lie round +the galactic poles. Can this also be mere coincidence? When to the fact +that the general mass of nebulae are antithetical in position to the general +mass of stars, we add the fact that local regions of nebulae are regions +where stars are scarce, and the further fact that single nebulae are +habitually found in comparatively starless spots; does not the proof of a +physical connexion become overwhelming? Should it not require an infinity +of evidence to show that nebulae are not parts of our sidereal system? Let +us see whether any such infinity of evidence is assignable. Let us see +whether there is even a single alleged proof which will bear examination. + + "As seen through colossal telescopes," says Humboldt, "the + contemplation of these nebulous masses leads us into regions from + whence a ray of light, according to an assumption not wholly + improbable, requires millions of years to reach our earth--to + distances for whose measurement the dimensions (the distance of + Sirius, or the calculated distances of the binary stars in Cygnus and + the Centaur) of our nearest stratum of fixed stars scarcely suffice." + +Now, in this somewhat confused sentence there is expressed a more or less +decided belief, that the distances of the nebulae from our galaxy of stars +as much transcend the distances of our stars from each other, as these +interstellar distances transcend the dimensions of our planetary system. +Just as the diameter of the Earth's orbit, is an inappreciable point when +compared with the distance of our Sun from Sirius; so is the distance of +our Sun from Sirius, an inappreciable point when compared with the distance +of our galaxy from those far removed galaxies constituting nebulae. Observe +the consequences of this assumption. + +If one of these supposed galaxies is so remote that its distance dwarfs our +interstellar spaces into points, and therefore makes the dimensions of our +whole sidereal system relatively insignificant; does it not inevitably +follow that the telescopic power required to resolve this remote galaxy +into stars, must be incomparably greater than the telescopic power required +to resolve the whole of our own galaxy into stars? Is it not certain that +an instrument which can just exhibit with clearness the most distant stars +of our own cluster, must be utterly unable to separate one of these remote +clusters into stars? What, then, are we to think when we find that the same +instrument which decomposes hosts of nebulae into stars, _fails_ to resolve +completely our own Milky Way? Take a homely comparison. Suppose a man +surrounded by a swarm of bees, extending, as they sometimes do, so high in +the air as to be individually almost invisible, were to declare that a +certain spot on the horizon was a swarm of bees; and that he knew it +because he could see the bees as separate specks. Astounding as the +assertion would be, it would not exceed in incredibility this which we are +criticising. Reduce the dimensions to figures, and the absurdity becomes +still more palpable. In round numbers, the distance of Sirius from the +Earth is a million times the distance of the Earth from the Sun; and, +according to the hypothesis, the distance of a nebula is something like a +million times the distance of Sirius. + +Now, our own "starry island, or nebula," as Humboldt calls it, "forms a +lens-shaped, flattened, and everywhere detached stratum, whose major axis +is estimated at seven or eight hundred, and its minor axis at a hundred and +fifty times the distance of Sirius from the Earth."[I] And since it is +concluded that our Solar System is near the centre of this aggregation, it +follows that our distance from the remotest parts of it is about four +hundred distances of Sirius. But the stars forming these remotest parts are +not individually visible, even through telescopes of the highest power. +How, then, can such telescopes make individually visible the stars of a +nebula which is a million times the distance of Sirius? The implication is, +that a star rendered invisible by distance becomes visible if taken two +thousand five hundred times further off! Shall we accept this implication? +or shall we not rather conclude that the nebulae are _not_ remote galaxies? +Shall we not infer that, be their nature what it may, they must be at least +as near to us as the extremities of our own sidereal system? + + [I] Cosmos. (Seventh Edition.) Vol. i. pp. 79, 80. + +Throughout the above argument, it is tacitly assumed that differences of +apparent magnitude among the stars, result mainly from differences of +distance. On this assumption the current doctrines respecting the nebulae +are founded; and this assumption is, for the nonce, admitted in each of the +foregoing criticisms. From the time, however, when it was first made by Sir +W. Herschel, this assumption has been purely gratuitous; and it now proves +to be totally inadmissible. But, awkwardly enough, its truth and its +untruth are alike fatal to the conclusions of those who argue after the +manner of Humboldt. Note the alternative. + +On the one hand, what follows from the untruth of the assumption? If +apparent largeness of stars is not due to comparative nearness, and their +successively smaller sizes to their greater and greater degrees of +remoteness, what becomes of the inferences respecting the dimensions of our +sidereal system and the distances of nebulae? If, as has lately been shown, +the almost invisible star 61 Cygni has a greater parallax than [alpha] +Cygni, though, according to an estimate based on Sir W. Herschel's +assumption, it should be about twelve times more distant--if, as it turns +out, there exist telescopic stars which are nearer to us than Sirius; of +what worth is the conclusion that the nebulae are very remote, because their +component luminous masses are made visible only by high telescopic powers? +Clearly, if the most brilliant star in the heavens and a star that cannot +be seen by the naked eye, prove to be equidistant, relative distances +cannot be in the least inferred from relative visibilities. And if so, +nebulae may be comparatively near, though the starlets of which they are +made up appear extremely minute. + +On the other hand, what follows if the truth of the assumption be granted? +The arguments used to justify this assumption in the case of the stars, +equally justify it in the case of the nebulae. It cannot be contended that, +on the average, the _apparent_ sizes of the stars indicate their distances, +without its being admitted that, on the average, the _apparent_ sizes of +the nebulae indicate their distances--that, generally speaking, the larger +are the nearer, and the smaller are the more distant. Mark, now, the +necessary inference respecting their resolvability. The largest or nearest +nebulae will be most easily resolved into stars; the successively smaller +will be successively more difficult of resolution; and the irresolvable +ones will be the smallest ones. This, however, is exactly the reverse of +the fact. The largest nebulae are either wholly irresolvable, or but +partially resolvable under the highest telescopic powers; while a great +proportion of quite small nebulae, are easily resolved by far less powerful +telescopes. An instrument through which the great nebula in Andromeda, two +and a half degrees long and one degree broad, appears merely as a diffused +light, decomposes a nebula of fifteen minutes diameter into twenty thousand +starry points. At the same time that the individual stars of a nebula eight +minutes in diameter are so clearly seen as to allow of their number being +estimated, a nebula covering an area five hundred times as great shows no +stars at all. What possible explanation can be given of this on the current +hypothesis? + +Yet a further difficulty remains--one which is, perhaps, still more +obviously fatal than the foregoing. This difficulty is presented by the +phenomena of the Magellanic clouds. Describing the larger of these, Sir +John Herschel says:-- + + "The nubecula major, like the minor, consists partly of large + tracts and ill-defined patches of irresolvable nebula, and of + nebulosity in every stage of resolution, up to perfectly resolved + stars like the Milky Way; as also of regular and irregular nebulae + properly so called, of globular clusters in every stage of + resolvability, and of clustering groups sufficiently insulated and + condensed to come under the designation of 'cluster of + stars.'"--"Cape Observations," p. 146. + +In his "Outlines of Astronomy," Sir John Herschel, after repeating this +description in other words, goes on to remark that-- + + "This combination of characters, rightly considered, is in a high + degree instructive, affording an insight into the probable + comparative distance of _stars_ and _nebulae_, and the real brightness + of individual stars as compared with one another. Taking the apparent + semi-diameter of the nubecula major at three degrees, and regarding + its solid form as, roughly speaking, spherical, its nearest and most + remote parts differ in their distance from us by a little more than a + tenth part of our distance from its centre. The brightness of objects + situated in its nearer portions, therefore, cannot be _much_ + exaggerated, nor that of its remoter _much_ enfeebled, by their + difference of distance. Yet within this globular space we have + collected upwards of six hundred stars of the seventh, eighth, ninth, + and tenth magnitude, nearly three hundred nebulae, and globular and + other clusters _of all degrees of resolvability_, and smaller + scattered stars of every inferior magnitude, from the tenth to such + as by their magnitude and minuteness constitute irresolvable + nebulosity, extending over tracts of many square degrees. Were there + but one such object, it might be maintained without utter + improbability that its apparent sphericity is only an effect of + foreshortening, and that in reality a much greater proportional + difference of distance between its nearer and more remote parts + exists. But such an adjustment, improbable enough in one case, must + be rejected as too much so for fair argument in two. It must, + therefore, be taken as a demonstrated fact, that stars of the seventh + or eighth magnitude, and irresolvable nebula, may co-exist within + limits of distance not differing in proportion more than as nine to + ten."--"Outlines of Astronomy," pp. 614, 615. + +Now, we think this supplies a _reductio ad absurdum_ of the doctrine we are +combating. It gives us the choice of two incredibilities. If we are to +believe that one of these nebulae is so remote that its hundred thousand +stars look like a milky spot, invisible to the naked eye; we must also +believe that there are single stars so enormous that though removed to this +same distance they remain visible. If we accept the other alternative, and +say that many nebulae are no further off than our own stars of the eighth +magnitude; then it is requisite to say that at a distance not greater than +that at which a single star is still faintly visible to the naked eye, +there may exist a group of a hundred thousand stars which is invisible to +the naked eye. Neither of these positions can be entertained. What, then, +is the conclusion that remains? This, only:--that the nebulae are not +further off from us than parts of our own sidereal system, of which they +must be considered members; and that when they are resolvable into discrete +masses, these masses cannot be considered as stars in anything like the +ordinary sense of that word. + +And now, having seen the untenability of this idea, rashly espoused by +sundry astronomers, that the nebulae are extremely remote galaxies; let us +consider whether the various appearances they present are not reconcileable +with the Nebular Hypothesis. + +Given a rare and widely-diffused mass of nebulous matter, having a +diameter, say as great as the distance from the Sun to Sirius,[J] what are +the successive changes that will take place in it? Mutual gravitation will +approximate its atoms; but their approximation will be opposed by atomic +repulsion, the overcoming of which implies the evolution of heat. As fast +as this heat partially escapes by radiation, further approximation will +take place, attended by further evolution of heat, and so on continuously: +the processes not occurring separately as here described, but +simultaneously, uninterruptedly, and with increasing activity. Eventually, +this slow movement of the atoms towards their common centre of gravity, +will bring about phenomena of another order. + + [J] Any objection made to the extreme tenuity this involves, is met + by the calculation of Newton, who proved that were a spherical + inch of air removed four thousand miles from the Earth, it would + expand into a sphere more than filling the orbit of Saturn. + +Arguing from the known laws of atomic combination, it will happen that when +the nebulous mass has reached a particular stage of condensation--when its +internally-situated atoms have approached to within certain distances, have +generated a certain amount of heat, and are subject to a certain mutual +pressure (the heat and pressure both increasing as the aggregation +progresses); some of them will suddenly enter into chemical union. Whether +the binary atoms so produced be of kinds such as we know, which is +possible; or whether they be of kinds simpler than any we know, which is +more probable; matters not to the argument. It suffices that molecular +combination of some species will finally take place. When it does take +place, it will be accompanied by a great and sudden disengagement of heat; +and until this excess of heat has escaped, the newly-formed binary atoms +will remain uniformly diffused, or, as it were, dissolved in the +pre-existing nebulous medium. + +But now mark what must by-and-by happen. When radiation has adequately +lowered the temperature, these binary atoms will precipitate; and having +precipitated, they will not remain uniformly diffused, but will aggregate +into _flocculi_: just as water, when precipitated from air, collects into +clouds. This _a priori_ conclusion is confirmed by the observation of those +still extant portions of nebulous matter which constitute comets; for, +"that the luminous part of a comet is something in the nature of a smoke, +fog, or cloud, suspended in a transparent atmosphere, is evident," says Sir +John Herschel. + +Concluding, then, that a nebulous mass will, in course of time, resolve +itself into flocculi of precipitated denser matter, floating in the rarer +medium from which they were precipitated, let us inquire what will be the +mechanical results. We shall find that they will be quite different from +those occurring in the original homogeneous mass; and also quite different +from those which would occur among discrete masses dispersed through empty +space. Bodies dispersed through empty space, would move in straight lines +towards their common centre of gravity. So, too, would bodies dispersed +through a resisting medium, provided they were spherical, or of forms +presenting symmetrical faces to their lines of movement. But _irregular_ +bodies dispersed through a resisting medium, will _not_ move in straight +lines towards their common centre of gravity. A mass which presents an +irregular face to its line of movement through a resisting medium, must +necessarily be deflected from its original course, by the unequal reactions +of the medium on its different sides. Hence each _flocculus_, as by analogy +we term one of these precipitated masses of gas or vapour, will acquire a +movement, not towards the common centre of gravity, but towards one or +other side of it; and this oblique movement, accelerated as well as changed +in direction by the increasing centripetal force, but retarded by the +resisting medium, will result in a spiral, ending in the common centre of +gravity. Observe, however, that this conclusion, valid as far as it goes, +by no means proves a common spiral movement of all the flocculi; for as +they must not only be varied in their forms, but disposed in all varieties +of position, their respective movements will be deflected, not towards one +side of the common centre of gravity, but towards various sides. How then +can there result a spiral movement common to them all? Very simply. Each +flocculus, in describing its spiral course, must give motion to the rarer +medium through which it is moving. + +Now, the probabilities are infinity to one against all the respective +motions thus impressed on this rarer medium, exactly balancing each other. +And if they do not balance each other, the inevitable result must be a +rotation of the whole mass of the rarer medium in one direction. But +preponderating momentum in one direction, having caused rotation of the +medium in that direction, the rotating medium must in its turn gradually +arrest such flocculi as are moving in opposition, and impress its own +motion upon them; and thus there will ultimately be formed a rotating +medium with suspended flocculi partaking of its motion, while they move in +converging spirals towards the common centre of gravity. + +Before comparing these conclusions with the facts, let us pursue the +reasoning a little further, and observe the subordinate actions, and the +endless modifications which will result from them. The respective flocculi +must not only be drawn towards their common centre of gravity, but also +towards neighbouring flocculi. Hence the whole assemblage of flocculi will +break up into subordinate groups: each group concentrating towards its +local centre of gravity, and in so doing acquiring a vortical movement, +like that subsequently acquired by the whole nebula. Now, according to +circumstances, and chiefly according to the size of the original nebulous +mass, this process of local aggregation will produce various results. If +the whole nebula is but small, the local groups of flocculi may be drawn +into the common centre of gravity before their constituent masses have +coalesced with each other. In a larger nebula, these local aggregations may +have concentrated into rotating spheroids of vapour, while yet they have +made but little approach towards the general focus of the system. In a +still larger nebula, where the local aggregations are both greater and more +remote from the common centre of gravity, they may have condensed into +masses of molten matter before the general distribution of them has greatly +altered. In short, as the conditions in each case determine, the discrete +masses produced may vary indefinitely in number, in size, in density, in +motion, in distribution. + +And now let us return to the visible characters of the nebulae, as observed +through modern telescopes. Take first the description of those nebulae +which, by the hypothesis, must be in an early stage of evolution. + + "Among the _irregular nebulae_," says Sir John Herschel, "may be + comprehended all which, to _a want of complete, and in most + instances, even of partial resolvability_ by the power of the 20-feet + reflector, unite such a deviation from the circular or elliptic form, + or such a want of symmetry (with that form) as preclude their being + placed in Class 1, or that of regular nebulae. This second class + comprises many of the most remarkable and interesting objects in the + heavens, _as well as the most extensive in respect of the area they + occupy_." + +And, referring to this same order of objects, M. Arago says:--"The forms of +very large diffuse nebulae do not appear to admit of definition; they have +no regular outline." + +Now this coexistence of largeness, irresolvability, irregularity, and +indefiniteness of outline, is extremely significant. The fact that the +largest nebulae are either irresolvable or very difficult to resolve, might +have been inferred _a priori_; seeing that irresolvability, implying that +the aggregation of precipitated matter has gone on to but a small extent, +will be found in nebulae of wide diffusion. Again, the irregularity of these +large, irresolvable nebulae, might also have been expected; seeing that +their outlines, compared by Arago to "the fantastic figures which +characterize clouds carried away and tossed about by violent and often +contrary winds," are similarly characteristic of a mass not yet gathered +together by the mutual attraction of its parts. And once more, the fact +that these large, irregular, irresolvable nebulae have indefinite +outlines--outlines that fade off insensibly into surrounding darkness--is +one of like meaning. + +Speaking generally (and of course differences of distance negative anything +beyond an average statement), the spiral nebulae are smaller than the +irregular nebulae, and more resolvable; at the same time that they are not +so small as the regular nebulae, and not so resolvable. This is as, +according to the hypothesis, it should be. The degree of condensation +causing spiral movement, is a degree of condensation also implying masses +of flocculi that are larger, and therefore more visible, than those +existing in an earlier stage. Moreover, the forms of these spiral nebulae +are quite in harmony with the explanation given. The curves of luminous +matter which they exhibit, are _not_ such as would be described by more or +less discrete masses starting from a state of rest, and moving through a +resisting medium to a common centre of gravity; but they _are_ such as +would be described by masses having their movements modified by the +rotation of the medium. + +In the centre of a spiral nebula is seen a mass both more luminous and more +resolvable than the rest. Assume that, in process of time, all the spiral +streaks of luminous matter which converge to this centre are drawn into it, +as they must be; assume further, that the flocculi or other discrete bodies +constituting these luminous streaks aggregate into larger masses at the +same time that they approach the central group, and that the masses forming +this central group also aggregate into larger masses (both which are +necessary assumptions); and there will finally result a more or less +globular group of such larger masses, which will be resolvable with +comparative ease. And, as the coalescence and concentration go on, the +constituent masses will gradually become fewer, larger, brighter, and more +densely collected around the common centre of gravity. See now how +completely this inference agrees with observation. "The circular form is +that which most commonly characterizes resolvable nebulae," writes Arago. +"Resolvable nebulae," says Sir John Herschel, "are almost universally round +or oval." Moreover, the centre of each group habitually displays a closer +clustering of the constituent masses than elsewhere; and it is shown that, +under the law of gravitation, which we know extends to the stars, this +distribution is _not_ one of equilibrium, but implies progressing +concentration. While, just as we inferred that, according to circumstances, +the extent to which aggregation has been carried must vary; so we find +that, in fact, there are regular nebulae of all degrees of resolvability, +from those consisting of innumerable minute discrete masses, to those in +which there are a few large bodies worthy to be called stars. + +On the one hand, then, we see that the notion, of late years uncritically +received, that the nebulae are extremely remote galaxies of stars like those +which make up our own Milky Way, is totally irreconcileable with the +facts--involves us in sundry absurdities. On the other hand, we see that +the hypothesis of nebular condensation harmonizes with the most recent +results of stellar astronomy: nay more--that it supplies us with an +explanation of various appearances which in its absence would be +incomprehensible. + + * * * * * + +Descending now to the Solar System, let us consider first a class of +phenomena in some sort transitional--those offered by comets. In comets we +have now existing a kind of matter like that out of which, according to the +Nebular Hypothesis, the Solar System was evolved. For the explanation of +them, we must hence go back to the time when the substances forming the sun +and planets were yet unconcentrated. + +When diffused matter, precipitated from a rarer medium, is aggregating, +there are certain to be here and there produced small flocculi, which, +either in consequence of local currents or the conflicting attractions of +adjacent masses, remain detached; as do, for instance, minute shreds of +cloud in a summer sky. In a concentrating nebula these will, in the great +majority of cases, eventually coalesce with the larger flocculi near to +them. But it is tolerably evident that some of the remotest of these small +flocculi, formed at the outermost parts of the nebula, will _not_ coalesce +with the larger internal masses, but will slowly follow without overtaking +them. The relatively greater resistance of the medium necessitates this. As +a single feather falling to the ground will be rapidly left behind by a +pillow-full of feathers; so, in their progress to the common centre of +gravity, will the outermost shreds of vapour be left behind by the great +masses of vapour internally situated. But we are not dependent merely on +reasoning for this belief. Observation shows us that the less concentrated +external parts of nebulae, _are_ left behind by the more concentrated, +internal parts. Examined through high powers, all nebulae, even when they +have assumed regular forms, are seen to be surrounded by luminous streaks, +of which the directions show that they are being drawn into the general +mass. Still higher powers bring into view still smaller, fainter, and more +widely-dispersed streaks. And it cannot be doubted that the minute +fragments which no telescopic aid makes visible, are yet more numerous and +widely dispersed. Thus far, then, inference and observation are at one. + +Granting that the great majority of these outlying portions of nebulous +matter will be drawn into the central mass long before it reaches a +definite form, the presumption is that some of the very small, far-removed +portions will not be so; but that before they arrive near it, the central +mass will have contracted into a comparatively moderate bulk. What now will +be the characters of these late-arriving portions? + +In the first place, they will have extremely eccentric orbits. Left behind +at a time when they were moving towards the centre of gravity in +slightly-deflected lines, and therefore having but very small angular +velocities, they will approach the central mass in greatly elongated +ellipses; and rushing round it will go off again into space. That is, they +will behave just as we see comets do; whose orbits are usually so eccentric +as to be indistinguishable from parabolas. + +In the second place, they will come from all parts of the heavens. Our +supposition implies that they were left behind at a time when the nebulous +mass was of irregular shape, and had not acquired a definite rotary motion; +and as the separation of them would not be from any one surface of the +nebulous mass more than another, the conclusion must be that they will come +to the central body from various directions in space. This, too, is exactly +what happens. Unlike planets, whose orbits approximate to one plane, comets +have orbits that show no relation to each other; but cut the plane of the +ecliptic at all angles. + +In the third place, applying the reasoning already used, these remotest +flocculi of nebulous matter will, at the outset, be deflected from their +straight courses to the common centre of gravity, not all on one side, but +each on such side as its form determines. And being left behind before the +rotation of the nebula is set up, they will severally retain their +different individual motions. Hence, following the concentrating mass, they +will eventually go round it on all sides; and as often from right to left +as from left to right. Here again the inference perfectly corresponds with +the facts. While all the planets go round the sun from west to east, comets +as often go round the sun from east to west as from west to east. Out of +210 comets known in 1855, 104 are direct, and 106 are retrograde. This +equality is what the law of probabilities would indicate. + +Then, in the fourth place, the physical constitution of comets completely +accords with the hypothesis. The ability of nebulous matter to concentrate +into a concrete form, depends on its mass. To bring its ultimate atoms into +that proximity requisite for chemical union--requisite, that is, for the +production of denser matter--their repulsion must be overcome. The only +force antagonistic to their repulsion, is their mutual gravitation. That +their mutual gravitation may generate a pressure and temperature of +sufficient intensity, there must be an enormous accumulation of them; and +even then the approximation can slowly go on only as fast as the evolved +heat escapes. But where the quantity of atoms is small, and therefore the +force of mutual gravitation small, there will be nothing to coerce the +atoms into union. Whence we infer that these detached fragments of nebulous +matter will continue in their original state. We find that they do so. +Comets consist of an extremely rare medium, which, as shown by the +description already quoted from Sir John Herschel, has characters like +those we concluded would belong to partially-condensed nebulous matter. + +Yet another very significant fact is seen in the distribution of comets. +Though they come from all parts of the heavens, they by no means come in +equal abundance from all parts of the heavens; but are far more numerous +about the poles of the ecliptic than about its plane. Speaking generally, +comets having orbit-planes that are highly inclined to the ecliptic, are +comets having orbits of which the major axes are highly inclined to the +ecliptic--comets that come from high latitudes. This is not a necessary +connexion; for the planes of the orbits _might_ be highly inclined to the +ecliptic while the major axes were inclined to it very little. But in the +absence of any habitually-observed relation of this kind, it may safely be +concluded that, _on the average_, highly-inclined cometary orbits are +cometary orbits with highly-inclined major axes; and that thus, a +predominance of cometary orbits cutting the plane of the ecliptic at great +angles, implies a predominance of cometary orbits having major axes that +cut the ecliptic at great angles. Now the predominance of highly inclined +cometary orbits, may be gathered from the following table, compiled by M. +Arago, to which we have added a column giving the results up to a date two +years later. + + ------------------------------------------------------------------------- + | Inclinations. |Number of Comets |Number of Comets |Number of Comets | + | |in 1831. |in 1853. |in 1855. | + ------------------------------------------------------------------------- + | Deg. to Deg. | | | | + | From 0 to 10 | 9 | 19 | 19 | + | " 10 " 20 | 13 | 18 | 19 | + | " 20 " 30 | 10 | 13 | 14 | + | " 30 " 40 | 17 | 22 | 22 | + | " 40 " 50 | 14 | 35 | 36 | + | " 50 " 60 | 23 | 27 | 29 | + | " 60 " 70 | 17 | 23 | 25 | + | " 70 " 80 | 19 | 26 | 27 | + | " 80 " 90 | 15 | 18 | 19 | + ------------------------------------------------------------------------- + | Total | 137 | 201 | 210 | + ------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +At first sight this table seems not to warrant our statement. Assuming the +alleged general relation between the inclinations of cometary orbits, and +the directions in space from which the comets come, the table may be +thought to show that the frequency of comets increases as we progress from +the plane of the ecliptic up to 45 deg., and then decreases up to 90 deg. But this +apparent diminution arises from the fact that the successive zones of space +rapidly diminish in their areas on approaching the poles. If we allow for +this, we shall find that the excess of comets continues to increase up to +the highest angles of inclination. In the table below, which, for +convenience, is arranged in inverted order, we have taken as standards of +comparison the area of the zone round the pole, and the number of comets it +contains; and having ascertained the areas of the other zones, and the +numbers of comets they should contain were comets equally distributed, we +have shown how great becomes the deficiency in descending from the poles of +the ecliptic to its plane. + + ------------------------------------------------------------------------- + | | | Number of | Actual | | Relative | + | Between | Area of | Comets, if | Number of |Deficiency.|Abundance. | + | | Zone. | equally | Comets. | | | + | | |distributed.| | | | + ------------------------------------------------------------------------- + | Deg. Deg. | | | | | | + | 90 and 80 | 1 | 19 | 19| 0 | 11.5 | + | 80 " 70 | 2.98| 56.6| 27| 29.6| 5.5 | + | 70 " 60 | 4.85| 92 | 25| 67 | 3.12| + | 60 " 50 | 6.6 | 125 | 29| 96 | 2.66| + | 50 " 40 | 8.13| 154 | 36| 118 | 2.68| + | 40 " 30 | 9.42| 179 | 22| 157 | 1.4 | + | 30 " 20 | 10.42| 198 | 14| 184 | 0.8 | + | 20 " 10 | 11.1 | 210 | 19| 191 | 1.04| + | 10 " 0 | 11.5 | 218 | 19| 199 | 1 | + ------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +In strictness, the calculation should be made with reference, not to the +plane of the ecliptic, but to the plane of the sun's equator; and this +might or might not render the progression more regular. Probably, too, the +progression would be made somewhat different were the calculation based, as +it should be, not on the inclinations of orbit-planes, but on the +inclinations of major axes. But even as it is, the result is sufficiently +significant: since, though the conclusion that comets are 11.5 times more +abundant about the poles of the ecliptic than about its plane, can be but a +rough approximation to the truth, yet no correction of it is likely very +much to change this strong contrast. + +What, then, is the meaning of this fact? It has several meanings. It +negatives the supposition, favoured by Laplace among others, that comets +are bodies that were wandering in space, or have come from other systems; +for the probabilities are infinity to one against the orbits of such +wandering bodies showing any definite relation to the plane of the Solar +System. For the like reason, it negatives the hypothesis of Lagrange, +otherwise objectionable, that comets have resulted from planetary +catastrophes analogous to that which is supposed to have produced the +asteroids. It clearly shows that, instead of comets being _accidental_ +members of the Solar System, they are _necessary_ members of it--have as +distinct a structural relation to it as the planets themselves. That comets +are abundant round the axis of the Solar System, and grow rarer as we +approach its plane, implies that the genesis of comets has followed some +_law_--a law in some way concerned with the genesis of the Solar System. + +If we ask for any so-called final cause of this arrangement, none can be +assigned: until a probable use for comets has been shown, no reason can be +given why they should be thus distributed. But when we consider the +question as one of physical science, we see that comets are antithetical to +planets, not only in their great rarity, in their motions as indifferently +direct or retrograde, in their eccentric orbits, and in the varied +directions of those orbits; but we see the antithesis further marked in +this, that while planets have some relation to the plane of nebular +rotation, comets have some relation to the axis of nebular rotation.[K] And +without attempting to explain the nature of this relation, the mere fact +that such a relation exists, indicates that comets have resulted from a +process of evolution--points to a past time when the matter now forming the +Solar System extended to those distant regions of space which comets visit. + + [K] It is alike remarkable and suggestive, that a parallel relation + exists between the distribution of nebulae and the axis of our + galaxy. Just as comets are abundant around the poles of our Solar + System, and rare in the neighbourhood of its plane: so are nebulae + abundant around the poles of our sidereal system, and rare in the + neighbourhood of its plane. + +See, then, how differently this class of phenomena bears on the +antagonistic hypotheses. To the hypothesis commonly received, comets are +stumbling-blocks: why there should be hundreds (or probably thousands) of +extremely rare aeriform masses rushing to and fro round the sun, it cannot +say; any more than it can explain their physical constitutions, their +various and eccentric movements, or their distribution. The hypothesis of +evolution, on the other hand, not only allows of the general answer, that +they are minor results of the genetic process; but also furnishes us with +something like explanations of their several peculiarities. + + * * * * * + +And now, leaving these erratic bodies, let us turn to the more familiar and +important members of the Solar System. It was the remarkable harmony +subsisting among their movements, which first made Laplace conceive that +the sun, planets, and satellites had resulted from a common genetic +process. As Sir William Herschel, by his observations on the nebulae, was +led to the conclusion that stars resulted from the aggregation of diffused +matter; so Laplace, by his observations on the structure of the Solar +System, was led to the conclusion that only by the rotation of aggregating +matter were its peculiarities to be explained. In his "Exposition du +Systeme du Monde," he enumerates as the leading evidences of evolution:--1. +The movements of the planets in the same direction and almost in the same +plane; 2. The movements of the satellites in the same direction as those of +the planets; 3. The movement of rotation of these various bodies and of the +sun in the same direction as the orbitual motions, and in planes little +different; 4. The small eccentricity of the orbits of the planets and +satellites, as contrasted with the great eccentricity of the cometary +orbits. And the probability that these harmonious movements had a common +cause, he calculates as two hundred thousand billions to one. + +Observe that this immense preponderance of probability does not point to a +common cause under the form ordinarily conceived--an Invisible Power +working after the method of "a Great Artificer;" but to an Invisible Power +working after the method of evolution. For though the supporters of the +common hypothesis may argue that it was necessary for the sake of stability +that the planets should go round the sun in the same direction and nearly +in one plane, they cannot thus account for the direction of the axial +motions. The mechanical equilibrium would not have been at all interfered +with, had the sun been without any rotatory movement; or had he revolved on +his axis in a direction opposite to that in which the planets go round him; +or in a direction at right angles to the plane of their orbits. With equal +safety the motion of the Moon round the Earth might have been the reverse +of the Earth's motion round its axis; or the motion of Jupiter's satellites +might similarly have been at variance with his axial motion; or that of +Saturn's satellites with his. As, however, none of these alternatives have +been followed, the uniformity must be considered, in this case as in all +others, evidence of subordination to some general law--implies what we call +natural causation, as distinguished from arbitrary arrangement. + +Hence the hypothesis of evolution would be the only probable one, even in +the absence of any clue to the particular mode of evolution. But when we +have, propounded by a mathematician whose authority is second to none, a +definite theory of this evolution based on established mechanical laws, +which accounts for these various peculiarities, as well as for many minor +ones, the conclusion that the Solar System _was_ evolved becomes almost +irresistible. + +The general nature of Laplace's theory scarcely needs stating. Books of +popular astronomy have familiarized most readers with his +conceptions;--namely, that the matter now condensed into the Solar System, +once formed a vast rotating spheroid of extreme rarity extending beyond the +orbit of Neptune; that as this spheroid contracted, its rate of rotation +necessarily increased; that by augmenting centrifugal force its equatorial +zone was from time to time prevented from following any further the +concentrating mass, and so remained behind as a revolving ring; that each +of the revolving rings thus periodically detached, eventually became +ruptured at its weakest point, and contracting on itself, gradually +aggregated into a rotating mass; that this, like the parent mass, increased +in rapidity of rotation as it decreased in size, and, where the centrifugal +force was sufficient, similarly threw off rings, which finally collapsed +into rotating spheroids; and that thus out of these primary and secondary +rings there arose planets and their satellites, while from the central mass +there resulted the sun. Moreover, it is tolerably well known that this _a +priori_ reasoning harmonizes with the results of experiment. Dr. Plateau +has shown that when a mass of fluid is, as far may be, protected from the +action of external forces, it will, if made to rotate with adequate +velocity, form detached rings; and that these rings will break up into +spheroids which turn on their axes in the same direction with the central +mass. Thus, given the original nebula, which, acquiring a vortical motion +in the way we have explained, has at length concentrated into a vast +spheroid of aeriform matter moving round its axis--given this, and +mechanical principles explain the rest. The genesis of a solar system +displaying movements like those observed, may be predicted; and the +reasoning on which the prediction is based is countenanced by +experiment.[L] + + [L] It is true that, as expressed by him, these propositions of + Laplace are not all beyond dispute. An astronomer of the highest + authority, who has favoured me with some criticisms on this + essay, alleges that instead of a nebulous ring rupturing at one + point, and collapsing into a single mass, "all probability would + be in favour of its breaking up into many masses." This + alternative result certainly seems to be more likely. But + granting that a nebulous ring would break up into many masses, it + may still be contended that, since the chances are infinity to + one against these being of equal sizes and equidistant, they + could not remain evenly distributed round their orbit: this + annular chain of gaseous masses would break up into groups of + masses; these groups would eventually aggregate into larger + groups; and the final result would be the formation of a single + mass. I have put the question to an astronomer scarcely second in + authority to the one above referred to, and he agrees that this + would probably be the process. + +But now let us inquire whether, besides these most conspicuous +peculiarities of the Solar System, sundry minor ones are not similarly +explicable. Take first the relation between the planes of the planetary +orbits and the plane of the sun's equator. If, when the nebulous spheroid +extended beyond the orbit of Neptune, all parts of it had been revolving +exactly in the same plane or rather in parallel planes--if all its parts +had had one axis; then the planes of the successive rings would have been +coincident with each other and with that of the sun's rotation. But it +needs only to go back to the earlier stages of concentration, to see that +there could exist no such complete uniformity of motion. The flocculi, +already described as precipitated from an irregular and widely-diffused +nebula, and as starting from all points to their common centre of gravity, +must move not in one plane but in innumerable planes, cutting each other at +all angles. + +The gradual establishment of a vortical motion such as we saw must +eventually arise, and such as we at present see indicated in the spiral +nebulae, is the gradual approach toward motion in one plane--the plane of +greatest momentum. But this plane can only slowly become decided. Flocculi +not moving in this plane, but entering into the aggregation at various +inclinations, will tend to perform their revolutions round its centre in +their own planes; and only in course of time will their motions be partly +destroyed by conflicting ones, and partly resolved into the general motion. +Especially will the outermost portions of the rotating mass retain for long +time their more or less independent directions; seeing that neither by +friction nor by the central forces will they be so much restrained. Hence +the probabilities are, that the planes of the rings first detached will +differ considerably from the average plane of the mass; while the planes of +those detached latest will differ from it less. Here, again, inference to a +considerable extent agrees with observation. Though the progression is +irregular, yet on the average the inclinations decrease on approaching the +sun. + +Consider next the movements of the planets on their axes. Laplace alleged +as one among other evidences of a common genetic cause, that the planets +rotate in a direction the same as that in which they go round the sun, and +on axes approximately perpendicular to their orbits. Since he wrote, an +exception to this general rule has been discovered in the case of Uranus, +and another still more recently in the case of Neptune--judging, at least, +from the motions of their respective satellites. This anomaly has been +thought to throw considerable doubt on his speculation; and at first sight +it does so. But a little reflection will, we believe, show that the anomaly +is by no means an insoluble one; and that Laplace simply went too far in +putting down as a certain result of nebular genesis, what is, in some +instances, only a probable result. The cause he pointed out as determining +the direction of rotation, is the greater absolute velocity of the outer +part of the detached ring. But there are conditions under which this +difference of velocity may be relatively insignificant, even if it exists: +and others in which, though existing to a considerable extent, it will not +suffice to determine the direction of rotation. + +Note, in the first place, that in virtue of their origin, the different +strata of a concentrating nebulous spheroid, will be very unlikely to move +with equal angular velocities: only by friction continued for an indefinite +time will their angular velocities be made uniform; and especially will the +outermost strata, for reasons just now assigned, maintain for the longest +time their differences of movement. Hence, it is possible that in the rings +first detached the outer rims may not have greater absolute velocities; and +thus the resulting planets may have retrograde rotations. Again, the +sectional form of the ring is a circumstance of moment; and this form must +have differed more or less in every case. To make this clear, some +illustration will be necessary. Suppose we take an orange, and assuming the +marks of the stalk and the calyx to represent the poles, cut off round the +line of the equator a strip of peel. This strip of peel, if placed on the +table with its ends meeting, will make a ring shaped like the hoop of a +barrel--a ring whose thickness in the line of its diameter is very small, +but whose width in a direction perpendicular to its diameter is +considerable. Suppose, now, that in place of an orange, which is a spheroid +of very slight oblateness, we take a spheroid of very great oblateness, +shaped somewhat like a lens of small convexity. If from the edge or equator +of this lens-shaped spheroid, a ring of moderate size were cut off, it +would be unlike the previous ring in this respect, that its greatest +thickness would be in the line of its diameter, and not in a line at right +angles to its diameter: it would be a ring shaped somewhat like a quoit, +only far more slender. That is to say, according to the oblateness of a +rotating spheroid, the detached ring may be either a hoop-shaped ring or a +quoit-shaped ring. + +One further fact must be noted. In a much-flattened or lens-shaped +spheroid, the form of the ring will vary with its bulk. A very slender +ring, taking off just the equatorial surface, will be hoop-shaped; while a +tolerably massive ring, trenching appreciably on the diameter of the +spheroid, will be quoit-shaped. Thus, then, according to the oblateness of +the spheroid and the bulkiness of the detached ring, will the greatest +thickness of that ring be in the direction of its plane, or in a direction +perpendicular to its plane. But this circumstance must greatly affect the +rotation of the resulting planet. In a decidedly hoop-shaped nebulous ring, +the differences of velocity between the inner and outer surfaces will be +very small; and such a ring, aggregating into a mass whose greatest +diameter is at right angles to the plane of the orbit, will almost +certainly give to this mass a predominant tendency to rotate in a direction +at right angles to the plane of the orbit. Where the ring is but little +hoop-shaped, and the difference of the inner and outer velocities also +greater, as it must be, the opposing tendencies--one to produce rotation in +the plane of the orbit, and the other rotation perpendicular to it--will +both be influential; and an intermediate plane of rotation will be taken +up. While, if the nebulous ring is decidedly quoit-shaped, and therefore +aggregates into a mass whose greatest dimension lies in the plane of the +orbit, both tendencies will conspire to produce rotation in that plane. + +On referring to the facts, we find them, as far as can be judged, in +harmony with this view. Considering the enormous circumference of Uranus's +orbit, and his comparatively small mass, we may conclude that the ring from +which he resulted was a comparatively slender, and therefore a hoop-shaped +one: especially if the nebulous mass was at that time less oblate than +afterwards, which it must have been. Hence, a plane of rotation nearly +perpendicular to his orbit, and a direction of rotation having no reference +to his orbitual movement. Saturn has a mass seven times as great, and an +orbit of less than half the diameter; whence it follows that his genetic +ring, having less than half the circumference, and less than half the +vertical thickness (the spheroid being then certainly _as_ oblate, and +indeed _more_ oblate), must have had considerably greater width--must have +been less hoop-shaped, and more approaching to the quoit-shaped: +notwithstanding difference of density, it must have been at least two or +three times as broad in the line of its plane. Consequently, Saturn has a +rotatory movement in the same direction as the movement of translation, and +in a plane differing from it by thirty degrees only. + +In the case of Jupiter, again, whose mass is three and a half times that of +Saturn, and whose orbit is little more than half the size, the genetic ring +must, for the like reasons, have been still broader--decidedly +quoit-shaped, we may say; and there hence resulted a planet whose plane of +rotation differs from that of his orbit by scarcely more than three +degrees. Once more, considering the comparative insignificance of Mars, +Earth, Venus, and Mercury, it follows that the diminishing circumferences +of the rings not sufficing to account for the smallness of the resulting +masses, the rings must have been slender ones--must have again approximated +to the hoop-shaped; and thus it happens that the planes of rotation again +diverge more or less widely from those of the orbits. Taking into account +the increasing oblateness of the original spheroid in the successive stages +of its concentration, and the different proportions of the detached rings, +it seems to us that the respective rotatory motions are not at variance +with the hypothesis. + +Not only the directions, but also the velocities of rotation are thus +explicable. It might naturally be supposed that the large planets would +revolve on their axes more slowly than the small ones: our terrestrial +experiences incline us to expect this. It is a corollary from the Nebular +Hypothesis, however, more especially when interpreted as above, that while +large planets will rotate rapidly, small ones will rotate slowly; and we +find that in fact they do so. Other things equal, a concentrating nebulous +mass that is diffused through a wide space, and whose outer parts have, +therefore, to travel from great distances to the common centre of gravity, +will acquire a high axial velocity in course of its aggregation: and +conversely with a small mass. Still more marked will be the difference +where the form of the genetic ring conspires to increase the rate of +rotation. Other things equal, a genetic ring that is broadest in the +direction of its plane will produce a mass rotating faster than one that is +broadest at right angles to its plane; and if the ring is absolutely as +well as relatively broad, the rotation will be very rapid. These conditions +were, as we saw, fulfilled in the case of Jupiter; and Jupiter goes round +his axis in less than ten hours. Saturn, in whose case, as above explained, +the conditions were less favourable to rapid rotation, takes ten hours and +a half. While Mars, Earth, Venus, and Mercury, whose rings must have been +slender, take more than double the time: the smallest taking the longest. + +From the planets, let us now pass to the satellites. Here, beyond the +conspicuous facts commonly adverted to, that they go round their primaries +in the same directions that these turn on their axes, in planes diverging +but little from their equators, and in orbits nearly circular, there are +several significant traits which must not be passed over. + +One of them is, that each set of satellites repeats in miniature the +relations of the planets to the sun, both in the respects just named, and +in the order of the sizes. On progressing from the outside of the Solar +System to its centre, we see that there are four large external planets, +and four internal ones which are comparatively small. A like contrast holds +between the outer and inner satellites in every case. Among the four +satellites of Jupiter, the parallel is maintained as well as the +comparative smallness of the number allows: the two outer ones are the +largest, and the two inner ones the smallest. According to the most recent +observations made by Mr. Lassell, the like is true of the four satellites +of Uranus. In the case of Saturn, who has eight secondary planets revolving +round him, the likeness is still more close in arrangement as in number: +the three outer satellites are large, the inner ones small; and the +contrasts of size are here much greater between the largest, which is +nearly as big as Mars, and the smallest, which is with difficulty +discovered even by the best telescopes. + +Moreover, the analogy does not end here. Just as with the planets, there is +at first a general increase of size on travelling inwards from Neptune and +Uranus, which do not differ very widely, to Saturn, which is much larger, +and to Jupiter, which is the largest; so of the eight satellites of Saturn, +the largest is not the outermost, but the outermost save two; so of +Jupiter's four secondaries, the largest is the most remote but one. Now +these analogies are inexplicable by the theory of final causes. For +purposes of lighting, if this be the presumed object of these attendant +bodies, it would have been far better had the larger been the nearer: at +present, their remoteness renders them of less service than the smallest. +To the Nebular Hypothesis, however, these analogies give further support. +They show the action of a common physical cause. They imply a _law_ of +genesis, holding in the secondary systems as in the primary system. + +Still more instructive shall we find the distribution of the +satellites--their absence in some instances, and their presence in other +instances, in smaller or greater numbers. The argument from design fails to +account for this distribution. Supposing it be granted that planets nearer +the Sun than ourselves, have no need of moons (though, considering that +their nights are as dark, and, relatively to their brilliant days, even +darker than ours, the need seems quite as great)--supposing this to be +granted; what is to be said of Mars, which, placed half as far again from +the Sun as we are, has yet no moon? Or again, how are we to explain the +fact that Uranus has but half as many moons as Saturn, though he is at +double the distance? While, however, the current presumption is untenable, +the Nebular Hypothesis furnishes us with an explanation. It actually +enables us to predict, by a not very complex calculation, where satellites +will be abundant and where they will be absent. The reasoning is as +follows. + +In a rotating nebulous spheroid that is concentrating into a planet, there +are at work two antagonist mechanical tendencies--the centripetal and the +centrifugal. While the force of gravitation draws all the atoms of the +spheroid together, their tangential momentum is resolvable into two parts, +of which one resists gravitation. The ratio which this centrifugal force +bears to gravitation, varies, other things equal, as the square of the +velocity. Hence, the aggregation of a rotating nebulous spheroid will be +more or less strongly opposed by this outward impetus of its particles, +according as its rate of rotation is high or low: the opposition, in equal +spheroids, being four times as great when the rotation is twice as rapid; +nine times as great when it is three times as rapid; and so on. Now, the +detachment of a ring from a planet-forming body of nebulous matter, implies +that at its equatorial zone the centrifugal force produced by concentration +has become so great as to balance gravity. Whence it is tolerably obvious +that the detachment of rings will be most frequent from those masses in +which the centrifugal tendency bears the greatest ratio to the gravitative +tendency. Though it is not possible to calculate what proportions these two +tendencies had to each other in the genetic spheroid which produced each +planet; it is possible to calculate where each was the greatest and where +the least. While it is true that the ratio which centrifugal force now +bears to gravity at the equator of each planet, differs widely from that +which it bore during the earlier stages of concentration; and while it is +true that this change in the ratio, depending on the degree of contraction +each planet has undergone, has in no two cases been the same; yet we may +fairly conclude that where the ratio is still the greatest, it has been the +greatest from the beginning. The satellite-forming tendency which each +planet had, will be approximately indicated by the proportion now existing +in it between the aggregating power, and the power that has opposed +aggregation. On making the requisite calculations, a remarkable harmony +with this inference comes out. The following table shows what fraction the +centrifugal force is of the centripetal force in every case; and the +relation which that fraction bears to the number of satellites. + + Mercury. Venus. Earth. Mars. Jupiter. Saturn. Uranus. + + 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 + --- --- --- --- --- --- --- + 362 282 289 326 14 6.2 9 + + 1 4 8 4 (or 6 + Satellite. Satellites. Satellites according + and three to + rings. Herschel.) + +Thus, taking as our standard of comparison the Earth with its one moon, we +see that Mercury and Mars, in which the centrifugal force is relatively +less, have no moons. Jupiter, in which it is far greater, has four moons. +Uranus, in which it is greater still, has certainly four, and probably more +than four. Saturn, in which it is the greatest, being nearly one-sixth of +gravity, has, including his rings, eleven attendants. The only instance in +which there is imperfect conformity with observation is that of Venus. Here +it appears that the centrifugal force is relatively a very little greater +than in the Earth; and according to the hypothesis, Venus ought, therefore, +to have a satellite. Of this seeming anomaly there are two explanations. +Not a few astronomers have asserted that Venus _has_ a satellite. Cassini, +Short, Montaigne of Limoges, Roedkier, and Montbarron, professed to have +seen it; and Lambert calculated its elements. Granting, however, that they +were mistaken, there is still the fact that the diameter of Venus is +variously estimated; and that a very small change in the data would make +the fraction less instead of greater than that of the Earth. But admitting +the discrepancy, we think that this correspondence, even as it now stands, +is one of the strongest confirmations of the Nebular Hypothesis.[M] + + [M] Since this essay was published, the data of the above + calculations have been changed by the discovery that the Sun's + distance is three millions of miles less than was supposed. Hence + results a diminution in his estimated mass, and in the masses of + the planets (except the Earth and Moon). No revised estimate of + the masses having yet been published, the table is re-printed in + its original form. The diminution of the masses to the alleged + extent of about one-tenth, does not essentially alter the + relations above pointed out. + +Certain more special peculiarities of the satellites must be mentioned as +suggestive. One of them is the relation between the period of revolution +and that of rotation. No discoverable purpose is served by making the Moon +go round its axis in the same time that it goes round the Earth: for our +convenience, a more rapid axial motion would have been equally good; and +for any possible inhabitants of the Moon, much better. Against the +alternative supposition, that the equality occurred by accident, the +probabilities are, as Laplace says, infinity to one. But to this +arrangement, which is explicable neither as the result of design nor of +chance, the Nebular Hypothesis furnishes a clue. In his "Exposition du +Systeme du Monde," Laplace shows, by reasoning too detailed to be here +repeated, that under the circumstances such a relation of movements would +be likely to establish itself. + +Among Jupiter's satellites, which severally display these same synchronous +movements, there also exists a still more remarkable relation. "If the mean +angular velocity of the first satellite be added to twice that of the +third, the sum will be equal to three times that of the second;" and "from +this it results that the situations of any two of them being given, that of +the third can be found." Now here, as before, no conceivable advantage +results. Neither in this case can the connexion have been accidental: the +probabilities are infinity to one to the contrary. But again, according to +Laplace, the Nebular Hypothesis supplies a solution. Are not these +significant facts? + +Most significant fact of all, however, is that presented by the rings of +Saturn. As Laplace remarks, they are, as it were, still extant witnesses of +the genetic process he propounded. Here we have, continuing permanently, +forms of matter like those through which each planet and satellite once +passed; and their movements are just what, in conformity with the +hypothesis, they should be. "La duree de la rotation d'une planete doit +donc etre, d'apres cette hypothese, plus petite que la duree de la +revolution du corps le plus voisin qui circule autour d'elle," says +Laplace.[N] And he then points out that the time of Saturn's rotation is to +that of his rings as 427 to 438--an amount of difference such as was to be +expected. + + [N] "Mecanique Celeste," p. 346. + +But besides the existence of these rings, and their movements in the +required manner, there is a highly suggestive circumstance which Laplace +has not remarked--namely, the place of their occurrence. If the Solar +System was produced after the manner popularly supposed, then there is no +reason why the rings of Saturn should not have encircled him at a +comparatively great distance. Or, instead of being given to Saturn, who in +their absence would still have had eight satellites, such rings might have +been given to Mars, by way of compensation for a moon. Or they might have +been given to Uranus, who, for purposes of illumination, has far greater +need of them. On the common hypothesis, we repeat, no reason can be +assigned for their existence in the place where we find them. But on the +hypothesis of evolution, the arrangement, so far from offering a +difficulty, offers another confirmation. These rings are found where alone +they could have been produced--close to the body of a planet whose +centrifugal force bears a great proportion to his gravitative force. That +permanent rings should exist at any great distance from a planet's body, +is, on the Nebular Hypothesis, manifestly impossible. Rings detached early +in the process of concentration, and therefore consisting of gaseous matter +having extremely little power of cohesion, can have no ability to resist +the disrupting forces due to imperfect balance; and must, therefore, +collapse into satellites. A liquid ring is the only one admitting of +permanence. But a liquid ring can be produced only when the aggregation is +approaching its extreme--only when gaseous matter is passing into liquid, +and the mass is about to assume the planetary form. And even then it cannot +be produced save under special conditions. Gaining a rapidly-increasing +preponderance, as the gravitative force does during the closing stages of +concentration, the centrifugal force cannot in ordinary cases cause the +detachment of rings when the mass has become dense. Only where the +centrifugal force has all along been very great, and remains powerful to +the last, as in Saturn, can liquid rings be formed. Thus the Nebular +Hypothesis shows us why such appendages surround Saturn, but exist nowhere +else. + +And then, let us not forget the fact, discovered within these few years, +that Saturn possesses a _nebulous_ ring, through which his body is seen as +through a thick veil. In a position where alone such a thing seems +preservable--suspended, as it were, between the denser rings and the +planet--there still continues one of these annular masses of diffused +matter from which satellites and planets are believed to have originated. + +We find, then, that besides those most conspicuous peculiarities of the +Solar System, which first suggested the theory of its evolution, there are +many minor ones pointing in the same direction. Were there no other +evidence, these mechanical arrangements would, considered in their +totality, go far to establish the Nebular Hypothesis. + + * * * * * + +From the mechanical arrangements of the Solar System, turn we now to its +physical characters; and, first, let us consider the inferences deducible +from relative specific gravities. + +The fact that, speaking generally, the denser planets are the nearer to the +Sun, is by some considered as adding another to the many indications of +nebular origin. Legitimately assuming that the outermost parts of a +rotating nebulous spheroid, in its earlier stages of concentration, will be +comparatively rare; and that the increasing density which the whole mass +acquires as it contracts, must hold of the outermost parts as well as the +rest; it is argued that the rings successively detached will be more and +more dense, and will form planets of higher and higher specific gravities. +But passing over other objections, this explanation is quite inadequate to +account for the facts. Using the Earth as a standard of comparison, the +relative densities run thus:-- + + Neptune. Uranus. Saturn. Jupiter. Mars. Earth. Venus. Mercury. Sun. + 0.14 0.24 0.14 0.24 0.95 1.00 0.92 1.12 0.25 + +Two seemingly insurmountable objections are presented by this series. The +first is, that the progression is but a broken one. Neptune is as dense as +Saturn, which, by the hypothesis, it ought not to be. Uranus is as dense as +Jupiter, which it ought not to be. Uranus is denser than Saturn, and the +Earth is denser than Venus--facts which not only give no countenance to, +but directly contradict, the alleged explanation. The second objection, +still more manifestly fatal, is the low specific gravity of the Sun. If, +when the matter of the Sun filled the orbit of Mercury, its state of +aggregation was such that the detached ring formed a planet having a +specific gravity equal to that of iron; then the Sun itself, now that it +has concentrated, should have a specific gravity much greater than that of +iron; whereas its specific gravity is not much above that of water. Instead +of being far denser than the nearest planet, it is not one-fourth as dense. +And a parallel relation holds between Jupiter and his smallest +satellite.[O] + + [O] The impending revision of the estimated masses of the planets, + entailed by the discovery that the Sun's distance is less than + was supposed, will alter these specific gravities. It will make + most of the contrasts still stronger. + +While these anomalies render untenable the position that the relative +specific gravities of the planets are direct indications of nebular +condensation; it by no means follows that they negative it. On the +contrary, we believe that the facts admit of an interpretation quite +consistent with the hypothesis of Laplace. + +There are three possible causes of unlike specific gravities in the members +of our Solar System:--1. Differences between the kinds of matter or matters +composing them. 2. Differences between the quantities of matter; for, other +things equal, the mutual gravitation of atoms will make a large mass denser +than a small one. 3. Differences between the structures: the masses being +either solid or liquid throughout, or having central cavities filled with +elastic aeriform substance. Of these three conceivable causes, that +commonly assigned is the first, more or less modified by the second. The +extremely low specific gravity of Saturn, which but little exceeds that of +cork (and, on this hypothesis, must at his surface be considerably less +than that of cork) is supposed to arise from the intrinsic lightness of his +substance. That the Sun weighs not much more than an equal bulk of water, +is taken as evidence that the matter he consists of is but little heavier +than water; although, considering his enormous gravitative force, which at +his surface is twenty-eight times the gravitative force at the surface of +the Earth, and considering his enormous mass, which is 390,000 times that +of the Earth, the matter he is made of can, in such case, have no analogy +to the liquids or solids we know. However, spite of these difficulties, the +current hypothesis is, that the Sun and planets, inclusive of the Earth, +are either solid or liquid, or have solid crusts with liquid nuclei: their +unlike specific gravities resulting from unlikenesses of substance. And +indeed, at first sight, this would seem to be the only tenable supposition; +seeing that, unless prevented by some immense resisting force, gravitation +must obliterate any internal cavity by collapsing the surrounding liquid or +solid matter. + +Nevertheless, that the Earth, in common with other members of the Solar +System, is solid, or else consists of a solid shell having a cavity +entirely filled with molten matter, is not an established fact: it is +nothing but a supposition. We must not let its familiarity and apparent +feasibility delude us into an uncritical acceptance of it. If we find an +alternative supposition which, physically considered, is equally possible, +we are bound to consider it. And if it not only avoids the difficulties +above pointed out, but many others hereafter to be mentioned, we must give +it the preference. + +Before proceeding to consider what the Nebular Hypothesis indicates +respecting the internal structures of the Sun and planets, we may state +that our reasonings, though of a kind not admitting of direct verification, +are nothing more than deductions from the established principles of +physics. We have submitted them to an authority not inferior to any that +can be named; and while unprepared to commit himself to them, he yet sees +nothing to object. + +Starting, then, with a rotating spheroid of aeriform matter, in the later +stages of its concentration, but before it has begun to take a liquid or +solid form, let us inquire what must be the actions going on in it. Mutual +gravitation continually aggregates its atoms into a smaller and denser +mass; and the aggregating force goes on increasing, as the common centre of +gravity is approached. An obstacle to concentration, however, exists in the +centrifugal force, which at this stage bears a far higher ratio to gravity +than afterwards, and in a gaseous spheroid must produce a very oblate form. +At the same time, the approximation of the atoms is resisted by a force +which, in being overcome, is evolved as heat. This heat must be greatest +where the atoms are subject to the highest pressure--namely, about the +central parts. And as fast as it escapes into space, further approximation +and further generation of heat must take place. But in a gaseous spheroid, +having internal parts hotter than its external parts, there must be some +circulation. The currents must set from the hottest region to the coolest +by some particular route; and from the coolest to the hottest by some other +route. In a very oblate spheroid, the coolest region must be that about the +equator: the surface there bearing so large a ratio to the mass. Hence +there will be currents from the centre to the equator, and others from the +equator to the centre. What will be the special courses of these currents? +Supposing an original state of rest, about to pass into motion in obedience +to the disturbing forces, the currents commencing at the centre will follow +the lines of most rapidly-decreasing density; seeing that the inertia will +be least in those lines. That is to say, there will be a current from the +centre towards each pole, along the axis of rotation; and the space thus +continually left vacant will be filled by the collapse of matter coming in +at right angles to the axis. The process cannot end here, however. If there +are constant currents from the centre towards the poles, there must be a +constant accumulation at the poles; the spheroid will be ever becoming more +protuberant about the poles than the conditions of mechanical equilibrium +permit. If, however, the mass at the poles is thus ever in excess, it must, +by the forces acting on it, be constantly moved over the outer surface of +the spheroid from the poles towards the equator: thus only can that form +which rotation necessitates be maintained. And a further result of this +transfer of matter from the centre, by way of the poles, to the equator, +must be the establishment of counter-currents from the equator in +diametrical lines, to the centre. + +Mark now the changes of temperature that must occur in these currents. An +aeriform mass ascending from the centre towards either pole, will expand as +it approaches the surface, in consequence of the diminution of pressure. +But expansion, involving an absorption of heat, will entail a diminished +temperature; and the temperature will be further lowered by the greater +freedom of radiation into space. This rarefied and cooled mass must be +still more rarefied and cooled in its progress over the surface of the +spheroid to the equator. Continually thrust further from the pole by the +ceaseless accumulation there, it must acquire an ever-increasing rotatory +motion and an ever-increasing centrifugal force: whence must follow +expansion and absorption of heat. To the refrigeration thus caused must be +added that resulting from radiation, which, at each advance towards the +equator, will be less hindered. And when the mass we have thus followed +arrives at the equator, it will have reached its maximum rarity and maximum +coolness. Conversely, every portion of a current proceeding in a +diametrical direction from the equator to the centre, must progressively +rise in temperature; in virtue alike of the increasing pressure, the +gradual arrest of motion, and the diminished rate of radiation. Note, +lastly, that this circulation will go on, but slowly. As the matter +proceeding from the equator towards the centre must have its rotatory +motion destroyed, while that proceeding from the poles to the equator must +have rotatory motion given to it, it follows that an enormous amount of +inertia has to be overcome; and this must make the currents so slow as to +prevent them from producing anything like an equality of temperature. + +Such being the constitution of a concentrating spheroid of gaseous matter, +where will the gaseous matter begin to condense into liquid? The usual +assumption has been, that in a nebulous mass approaching towards the +planetary form, the liquefaction will first occur at the centre. We believe +this assumption is inconsistent with established physical principles. + +Observe first that it is contrary to analogy. That the matter of the Earth +was liquid before any of it became solid, is generally admitted. Where has +it first solidified? Not at the centre, but at the surface. Now the general +principles which apply to the condensation of liquid matter into solid, +apply also to the condensation of gaseous matter into liquid. Hence if the +once liquid substance of the Earth first solidified at the surface, the +implication is that its once aeriform substance first liquified at the +surface. + +But we have no need to rest in analogy. On considering what must happen in +a rotating gaseous spheroid having currents moving as above described, we +shall see that external condensation is a corollary. A nebulous mass, when +it has arrived at this stage, will consist of an aeriform mixture of +various matters; the heavier and more condensible matters being contained +in the rarer or less condensible, in the same way that water is contained +in air. And the inference must be, that at a certain stage, some of these +denser matters will be precipitated in the shape of a cloud.[P] + + [P] The reader will perhaps say that this process is the one + described as having taken place early in the history of nebular + evolution; and this is true. But the same actions will be + repeated in media of different densities. + +Now, what are the laws of precipitation from gases? If a gas through which +some other substance is diffused in a gaseous state, expands in consequence +of the removal of pressure, it will, when the rarefaction and consequent +cooling reach a certain point, begin to let fall the suspended substance. +Conversely, if, a gas, saturated even with some substance, is subject to +increased pressure, and is allowed to retain the additional heat which that +pressure generates; so far from letting fall what it contains, it will gain +the power to take up more. See then, the inference respecting condensation +in a nebulous spheroid. The currents proceeding from the equator to the +centre, subject to increasing pressure, and acquiring the heat due both to +this increasing pressure and to arrested motion, will have no tendency to +deposit their suspended substances, but rather the reverse: a formation of +liquid matter at the centre of the mass will be impossible. Contrariwise, +the gaseous currents moving from the centre to the poles and thence to the +equator, expanding as they go, first from diminished pressure and +afterwards from increased centrifugal force; and losing heat, not only by +expansion, but by more rapid radiation; will have less and less power to +retain the matter diffused through them. The earliest precipitation will +take place in the region of extremest rarefaction; namely, about the +equator. An equatorial belt of cloud will be first formed, and widened into +a zone, will by-and-by begin to condense into liquid.[Q] Gradually this +liquid film will extend itself on each side the equator, and encroaching on +the two hemispheres, will eventually close over at the poles: thus +producing a thin hollow globe, or rather spheroid, filled with gaseous +matter. We do not mean that this condensation will take place at the very +outermost surface; for probably, round the denser gases forming the +principal mass, there will extend strata of gases too rare and too cool to +be entangled in these processes. It is the surface of this inner spheroid +of denser gases to which our reasoning points as the place of earliest +condensation. + + [Q] The formation of Saturn's rings is thus rendered comprehensible. + +The internal circulation we have described, continuing, as it must, after +the formation of this liquid film, there will still go on the radiation of +heat, and the progressive aggregation. The film will thicken at the expense +of the internal gaseous substances precipitated on it. As it thickens, as +the globe contracts, and as the gravitative force augments, the pressure +will increase; and the evolution and radiation of heat will go on more +rapidly. Eventually, however, when the liquid shell becomes very thick, and +the internal cavity relatively small, the obstacle put to the escape of +heat by this thick liquid shell, with its slowly-circulating currents, will +turn the scale: the temperature of the outer surface will begin to +diminish, and a solid crust will form while the internal cavity is yet +unobliterated. + +"But what," it may be asked, "will become of this gaseous nucleus when +exposed to the enormous gravitative pressure of a shell some thousands of +miles thick? How can aeriform matter withstand such a pressure?" Very +readily. It has been proved that even when the heat generated by +compression is allowed to escape, some gases remain uncondensible by any +force we can produce. An unsuccessful attempt lately made at Vienna to +liquify oxygen, clearly shows this enormous resistance. The steel piston +employed was literally shortened by the pressure used: and yet the gas +remained unliquified! If, then, the expansive force is thus immense when +the heat evolved is dissipated, what must it be when that heat is in great +measure detained; as in the case we are considering? Indeed, the +experiments of M. Cagniard de Latour have shown that gases may, under +pressure, acquire the density of liquids while retaining the aeriform +state; provided the temperature continues extremely high. In such a case, +every addition to the heat is an addition to the repulsive power of the +atoms: the increased pressure itself generates an increased ability to +resist; and this remains true to whatever extent the compression is +carried. Indeed, it is a corollary from the persistence of force, that if, +under increasing pressure, a gas retains all the heat evolved, its +resisting force is _absolutely unlimited_. Hence, the internal planetary +structure we have described, is as physically stable a one as that commonly +assumed. + +And now let us see how this hypothesis tallies with the facts. One +inference from it must be, that large masses will progress towards final +consolidation more slowly than small masses. Though a large concentrating +spheroid will, from its superior aggregative force, generate heat more +rapidly than a small one; yet, having, relatively to its surface, a much +greater quantity of heat to get rid of, it will be longer than a small one +in going through the changes we have described. Consequently, at a time +when the smaller members of our Solar System have arrived at so advanced a +stage of aggregation as almost to have obliterated their central cavities, +and so reached high specific gravities; the larger members will still be at +that stage in which the central cavities bear great ratios to the +surrounding shells, and will therefore have low specific gravities. This +contrast is just what we find. The small planets Mercury, Venus, the Earth, +and Mars, differing from each other comparatively little in density as in +size, are about four times as dense as Jupiter and Uranus, and seven times +as dense as Saturn and Neptune--planets exceeding them in size as oranges +exceed peas; and they are four times as dense as the Sun, which in mass is +nearly 5,000,000 times greater than the smallest of them. + +The obvious objection that this hypothesis does not explain the minor +differences, serves but to introduce a further confirmation. It may be +urged that Jupiter is of greater specific gravity than Saturn, though, +considering his superior mass, his specific gravity should be less; and +that still more anomalous is the case of the Sun, which, though containing +a thousand times the matter that Jupiter does, is nearly of the same +specific gravity. The solution of these difficulties lies in the modifying +effects of centrifugal force. Had the various masses to be compared been +all along in a state of rest, then the larger should have been uniformly +the less dense. But during the concentrating process they have been +rotating with various velocities. The consequent centrifugal force has in +each case been in antagonism with gravitation; and, according to its +amount, has hindered the concentration to a greater or less degree. The +efficient aggregative force has in each case been the excess of the +centripetal tendency over the centrifugal. Whence we may infer that +wherever this excess has been the least, the consolidation must have been +the most hindered, and the specific gravity will be the smallest. This, +too, we find to be the fact. Saturn, at whose equator the centrifugal force +is even now almost one-sixth of gravity, and who, by his numerous +satellites, shows us how strong an antagonist to concentration it was in +earlier stages of his evolution, is little more than half as dense as +Jupiter, whose concentration has been hindered by a centrifugal force +bearing a much smaller ratio to the centripetal. + +On the other hand, the Sun, whose latter stages of aggregation have met +with comparatively little of this opposition, and whose atoms tend towards +their common centre with a force ten times as great as that which Jupiter's +atoms are subject to, has, notwithstanding his immense bulk, reached a +specific gravity as great as that of Jupiter; and he has done this partly +for the reason assigned, and partly because the process of consolidation +has been, and still is, actively going on, while that of Jupiter has long +since almost ceased. + +Before pointing out further harmonies let us meet an objection. Laplace, +taking for data Jupiter's mass, diameter, and rate of rotation, calculated +the degrees of compression at the poles which his centrifugal force should +produce, supposing his substance to be homogeneous; and finding that the +calculated amount of oblateness was greater than the actual amount, +inferred that his substance must be denser towards the centre. The +inference seems unavoidable; is diametrically opposed to the hypothesis of +a shell of denser matter with a gaseous nucleus; and we confess that on +first meeting with this fact we were inclined to think it fatal. But there +is a consideration, apt to be overlooked, which completely disposes of it. +A compressed elastic medium tends ever with great energy to give a +spherical figure to the chamber in which it is confined. This truth is +alike mathematically demonstrable, and recognized in practice by every +engineer. In the case before us, the expansive power of the gaseous nucleus +is such as to balance the gravitation of the shell of the planet; and this +power perpetually strives to make the planet a perfect sphere. Thus the +tendency of the centrifugal force to produce oblateness, is opposed not +only by the force of gravity but by another force of great intensity; and +hence the degree of oblateness produced is relatively small. + +This difficulty being as we think, satisfactorily met, we go on to name +some highly significant facts giving indirect support to our hypothesis. +And first with respect to the asteroids, or planetoids, as they are +otherwise called. Now that these have proved to be so numerous--now that it +has become probable that beyond some sixty already discovered there are +many more--the supposition of Olbers, that they are the fragments of an +exploded planet which once occupied the vacant region they fill, has gained +increased probability. The alternative supposition of Laplace, that they +are the products of a nebulous ring which separated into many fragments +instead of collapsing into a single mass, seems inconsistent with the +extremely various, and in some cases extremely great, inclinations of their +orbits; as well as with their similarly various and great eccentricities. +For these the theory of Olbers completely accounts--indeed, it necessarily +involves them; while at the same time it affords us a feasible explanation +of meteors, and especially the periodic swarms of them, which would else be +inexplicable. The fact, inferred from the present derangement of their +orbits, that if the planetoids once formed parts of one mass, it must have +exploded myriads of years ago, is no difficulty, but rather the reverse. + +Taking Olbers' supposition, then, as the most tenable one, let us ask how +such an explosion could have occurred. If planets are internally +constituted as is commonly assumed, no conceivable cause of it can be +named. A solid mass may crack and fall to pieces, but it cannot violently +explode. So, too, with a liquid mass covered by a crust. Though, if +contained in an unyielding shell and artificially raised to a very high +temperature, a liquid might so expand as to burst the shell and +simultaneously flash into vapour; yet, if contained in a yielding crust, +like that of a planet, it would not do so: it would crack the crust and +give off its expansive force gradually. But the planetary structure above +supposed, supplies us with all the requisite conditions to an explosion, +and an adequate cause for it. We have in the interior of the mass, a cavity +serving as a sufficient reservoir of force. We have this cavity filled with +gaseous matters of high tension. We have in the chemical affinities of +these matters a source of enormous expansive power--power capable of being +quite suddenly liberated. And we have in the increasing heat of the shell, +consequent on progressing concentration, a cause of such instantaneous +chemical change and the resulting explosion. The explanation thus supplied, +of an event which there can be little doubt has occurred, and which is not +otherwise accounted for, adds to the probability of the hypothesis. + +One further evidence, and that not the least important, is deducible from +geology. From the known rate at which the temperature rises as we pierce +deeper into the substance of the Earth, it has been inferred that its solid +crust is some forty miles thick. And if this be its thickness, we have a +feasible explanation of volcanic phenomena, as well as of elevations and +subsidences. But proceeding on the current supposition that the Earth's +interior is wholly filled with molten matter, Prof. Hopkins has calculated +that to cause the observed amount of precession of the equinoxes, the +Earth's crust must be at least eight hundred miles thick. Here is an +immense discrepancy. However imperfect may be the data from which it is +calculated that the Earth is molten at forty miles deep, it seems very +unlikely that this conclusion differs from the truth so widely as forty +miles does from eight hundred. It seems scarcely conceivable that if the +crust is thus thick, it should by its contraction and corrugation, produce +mountain chains, as it has done during quite modern geologic epochs. It is +not easy on this supposition to explain elevations and subsidences of small +area. Neither do the phenomena of volcanoes appear comprehensible. Indeed +to account for these, Prof. Hopkins has been obliged to make the gratuitous +and extremely improbable assumption, that there are isolated lakes of +molten matter enclosed in this thick crust, and situated, as they must be, +not far from its outer surface. + +But irreconcileable as appear the astronomical with the geological facts, +if we take for granted that the Earth consists wholly of solid and liquid +substances, they become at once reconcileable if we adopt the conclusion +that the Earth has a gaseous nucleus. If there is an internal cavity of +considerable diameter occupied only by aeriform matter--if the density of +the surrounding shell is, as it must in that case be, greater than the +current supposition implies; then there will be a larger quantity of matter +contained in the equatorial protuberance, and an adequate cause for the +precession. Manifestly there may be found some proportion between the +central space and its envelope, which will satisfy the mechanical +requirements, without involving a thicker crust than geological phenomena +indicate.[R] + + [R] Since this was written, M. Poinsot has shown that the precession + would be the same whether the Earth were solid or hollow. + +We conceive, then, that the hypothesis we have set forth, is in many +respects preferable to that ordinarily received. We can know nothing by +direct observation concerning the central parts either of our own planet or +any other: indirect methods are alone possible. The idea which has been +tacitly adopted, is just as speculative as that we have opposed to it; and +the only question is, which harmonizes best with established facts. Thus +compared, the advantage is greatly on the side of the new one. It disposes +of sundry anomalies, and explains things that seem else incomprehensible. +We are no longer obliged to assume such wide differences between the +substances of the various planets: we need not think of any of them as like +cork or water. We are shown how it happens that the larger planets have so +much lower specific gravities than the smaller, instead of having higher +ones, as might have been expected; and we are further shown why Saturn is +the lightest of all. That Mercury is relatively so much heavier than the +Sun; that Jupiter is specifically lighter than his smallest satellite; that +Saturn's rings have a density one and a half times as great as Saturn; are +no longer mysteries. A feasible cause is assigned for the catastrophe which +produced the asteroids. And some apparently incongruous peculiarities in +the Earth's structure are brought to an agreement. May we not say, then, +that being deducible from the Nebular Hypothesis, this alleged planetary +structure gives further indirect support to that hypothesis? + + * * * * * + +In considering the specific gravities of the heavenly bodies, we have been +obliged to speak of the heat evolved by them. But we have yet to point out +the fact that in their present conditions with respect to temperature, we +find additional materials for building up our argument; and these too of +the most substantial character. + +Heat must inevitably be generated by the aggregation of diffused matter +into a concrete form; and throughout our reasonings we have assumed that +such generation of heat has been an accompaniment of nebular condensation. +If, then, the Nebular Hypothesis be true, we ought to find in all the +heavenly bodies, either present high temperature or marks of past high +temperature. + +As far as observation can reach, the facts prove to be what theory +requires. Various evidences conspire to show that, below a certain depth, +the Earth is still molten. And that it was once wholly molten, is implied +by the circumstance that the rate at which the temperature increases on +descending below its surface, is such as would be found in a mass that had +been cooling for an indefinite period. The Moon, too, shows us, by its +corrugations and its conspicuous volcanoes, that in it there has been a +process of refrigeration and contraction, like that which had gone on in +the Earth. And in Venus, the existence of mountains similarly indicates an +igneous reaction of the interior upon a solidifying crust. + +On the common theory of creation, these phenomena are inexplicable. To what +end the Earth should once have existed in a molten state, incapable of +supporting life, it cannot say. To satisfy this supposition, the Earth +should have been originally created in a state fit for the assumed purposes +of creation; and similarly with the other planets. While, therefore, to the +Nebular Hypothesis the evidence of original incandescence and still +continued internal heat, furnish strong confirmation, they are, to the +antagonist hypothesis, insurmountable difficulties. + +But the argument from temperature does not end here. There remains to be +noticed a more conspicuous and still more significant fact. If the Solar +System was formed by the concentration of diffused matter, which evolved +heat while gravitating into its present dense form; then there are certain +obvious corollaries respecting the relative temperatures of the resulting +bodies. Other things equal, the latest-formed mass will be the latest in +cooling--will, for an almost infinite time, possess a greater heat than the +earlier-formed ones. Other things equal, the largest mass will, because of +its superior aggregative force, become hotter than the others, and radiate +more intensely. Other things equal, the largest mass, notwithstanding the +higher temperature it reaches, will, in consequence of its relatively small +surface, be the slowest in losing its evolved heat. And hence, if there is +one mass which was not only formed after the rest, but exceeds them +enormously in size, it follows that this one will reach an intensity of +incandescence much beyond that reached by the rest; and will continue in a +state of intense incandescence long after the rest have cooled. + +Such a mass we have in the Sun. It is a corollary from the Nebular +Hypothesis, that the matter forming the Sun assumed its present concrete +form, at a period much more recent than that at which the planets became +definite bodies. The quantity of matter contained in the Sun is nearly five +million times that contained in the smallest planet, and above a thousand +times that contained in the largest. And while, from the enormous +gravitative force of the atoms, the evolution of heat has been intense, the +facilities of radiation have been relatively small. Hence the +still-continued high temperature. Just that condition of the central body +which is a necessary inference from the Nebular Hypothesis, we find +actually existing in the Sun. + +It may be well to consider a little more closely, what is the probable +condition of the Sun's surface. Round the globe of incandescent molten +substances, thus conceived to form the visible body of the Sun, there is +known to exist a voluminous atmosphere: the inferior brilliancy of the +Sun's border, and the appearances during a total eclipse, alike show +this.[S] What now must be the constitution of this atmosphere? At a +temperature approaching a thousand times that of molten iron, which is the +calculated temperature of the solar surface, very many, if not all, of the +substances we know as solid, would become gaseous; and though the Sun's +enormous attractive force must be a powerful check on this tendency to +assume the form of vapour, yet it cannot be questioned that if the body of +the Sun consists of molten substances, some of them must be constantly +undergoing evaporation. That the dense gases thus continually being +generated will form the entire mass of the solar atmosphere, is not +probable. If anything is to be inferred, either from the Nebular +Hypothesis, or from the analogies supplied by the planets, it must be +concluded that the outermost part of the solar atmosphere consists of what +are called permanent gases--gases that are not condensible into fluid even +at low temperatures. If we consider what must have been the state of things +here, when the surface of the Earth was molten, we shall see that round the +still molten surface of the Sun, there probably exists a stratum of dense +aeriform matter, made up of sublimed metals and metallic compounds, and +above this a stratum of comparatively rare medium analogous to air. What +now will happen with these two strata? Did they both consist of permanent +gases, they could not remain separate: according to a well-known law, they +would eventually form a homogeneous mixture. But this will by no means +happen when the lower stratum consists of matters that are gaseous only at +excessively high temperatures. Given off from a molten surface, ascending, +expanding, and cooling, these will presently reach a limit of elevation +above which they cannot exist as vapour, but must condense and precipitate. +Meanwhile the upper stratum, habitually charged with its quantum of these +denser matters, as our air with its quantum of water, and ready to deposit +them on any depression of temperature, must be habitually unable to take up +any more of the lower stratum; and therefore this lower stratum will remain +quite distinct from it. + + [S] See Herschel's "Outlines of Astronomy." + +Since the foregoing paragraph was originally published, in 1858, the +proposition it enunciates as a corollary from the Nebular Hypothesis, has +been in great part verified. The marvellous disclosures made by +spectrum-analysis, have proved beyond the possibility of doubt, that the +solar atmosphere contains, in a gaseous state, the metals, iron, calcium, +magnesium, sodium, chromium, and nickel, along with small quantities of +barium, copper, and zinc. That there exist in the solar atmosphere other +metals like those which we have on the Earth, is probable; and that it +contains elements which are unknown to us, is very possible. + +Be this as it may, however, the proposition that the Sun's atmosphere +consists largely of metallic vapours, must take rank as an established +truth; and that the incandescent body of the Sun consists of molten metals, +follows almost of necessity. That an _a priori_ inference which probably +seemed to many readers wildly speculative, should be thus conclusively +justified by observations, made without reference to any theory, is a +striking fact; and it gives yet further support to the hypothesis from +which this _a priori_ conclusion was drawn. It may be well to add that +Kirchhoff, to whom we owe this discovery respecting the constitution of the +solar atmosphere, himself remarks in his memoir of 1861, that the facts +disclosed are in harmony with the Nebular Hypothesis. + +And here let us not omit to note also, the significant bearing which +Kirchhoff's results have on the doctrine contended for in a foregoing +section. Leaving out the barium, copper, and zinc, of which the quantities +are inferred to be small, the metals existing as vapours in the Sun's +atmosphere, and by consequence as molten in his incandescent body, have an +average specific gravity of 4.25. But the average specific gravity of the +Sun is about 1. How is this discrepancy to be explained? To say that the +Sun consists almost wholly of the three lighter metals named, would be +quite unwarranted by the evidence: the results of spectrum-analysis would +just as much warrant the assertion that the Sun consists almost wholly of +the three heavier. Three metals (two of them heavy) having been already +left out of the estimate because their quantities appear to be small, the +only legitimate assumption on which to base an estimate of specific +gravity, is that the rest are present in something like equal amounts. Is +it then that the lighter metals exist in larger proportions in the molten +mass, though not in the atmosphere? This is very unlikely: the known +habitudes of matter rather imply that the reverse is the case. Is it then +that under the conditions of temperature and gravitation existing in the +Sun, the state of liquid aggregation is wholly unlike that existing here? +This is a very strong assumption: it is one for which our terrestrial +experiences afford no adequate warrant; and if such unlikeness exists, it +is very improbable that it should produce so immense a contrast in specific +gravity as that of 4 to 1. The more legitimate conclusion is that the Sun's +body is not made up of molten matter all through; but that it consists of a +molten shell with a gaseous nucleus. And this we have seen to be a +corollary from the Nebular Hypothesis. + + * * * * * + +Considered in their _ensemble_, the several groups of evidences assigned +amount almost to proof. We have seen that, when critically examined, the +speculations of late years current respecting the nature of the nebulae, +commit their promulgators to sundry absurdities; while, on the other hand, +we see that the various appearances these nebulae present, are explicable as +different stages in the precipitation and aggregation of diffused matter. +We find that comets, alike by their physical constitution, their +immensely-elongated and variously-directed orbits, the distribution of +those orbits, and their manifest structural relation to the Solar System, +bear testimony to the past existence of that system in a nebulous form. Not +only do those obvious peculiarities in the motions of the planets which +first suggested the Nebular Hypothesis, supply proofs of it, but on closer +examination we discover, in the slightly-diverging inclinations of their +orbits, in their various rates of rotation, and their differently-directed +axes of rotation, that the planets yield us yet further testimony; while +the satellites, by sundry traits, and especially by their occurrence in +greater or less abundance where the hypothesis implies greater or less +abundance, confirm this testimony. By tracing out the process of planetary +condensation, we are led to conclusions respecting the internal structure +of planets which at once explain their anomalous specific gravities, and at +the same time reconcile various seemingly contradictory facts. Once more, +it turns out that what is _a priori_ inferable from the Nebular Hypothesis +respecting the temperatures of the resulting bodies, is just what +observation establishes; and that both the absolute and the relative +temperatures of the Sun and planets are thus accounted for. When we +contemplate these various evidences in their totality--when we observe +that, by the Nebular Hypothesis, the leading phenomena of the Solar System, +and the heavens in general, are explicable; and when, on the other hand, we +consider that the current cosmogony is not only without a single fact to +stand on, but is at variance with all our positive knowledge of Nature; we +see that the proof becomes overwhelming. + +It remains only to point out that while the genesis of the Solar System, +and of countless other systems like it, is thus rendered comprehensible, +the ultimate mystery continues as great as ever. The problem of existence +is not solved: it is simply removed further back. The Nebular Hypothesis +throws no light on the origin of diffused matter; and diffused matter as +much needs accounting for as concrete matter. The genesis of an atom is not +easier to conceive than the genesis of a planet. Nay, indeed, so far from +making the Universe a less mystery than before, it makes it a greater +mystery. Creation by manufacture is a much lower thing than creation by +evolution. A man can put together a machine; but he cannot make a machine +develop itself. The ingenious artizan, able as some have been, so far to +imitate vitality as to produce a mechanical pianoforte-player, may in some +sort conceive how, by greater skill, a complete man might be artificially +produced; but he is unable to conceive how such a complex organism +gradually arises out of a minute structureless germ. That our harmonious +universe once existed potentially as formless diffused matter, and has +slowly grown into its present organized state, is a far more astonishing +fact than would have been its formation after the artificial method +vulgarly supposed. Those who hold it legitimate to argue from phenomena to +noumena, may rightly contend that the Nebular Hypothesis implies a First +Cause as much transcending "the mechanical God of Paley," as this does the +fetish of the savage. + + + + +VII. BAIN ON THE EMOTIONS AND THE WILL. + + +After the controversy between the Neptunists and the Vulcanists had been +long carried on without definite results, there came a reaction against all +speculative geology. Reasoning without adequate data having led to nothing, +inquirers went into the opposite extreme, and confining themselves wholly +to collecting data, relinquished reasoning. The Geological Society of +London was formed with the express object of accumulating evidence; for +many years hypotheses were forbidden at its meetings; and only of late have +attempts to organize the mass of observations into consistent theory been +tolerated. + +This reaction and subsequent re-reaction, well illustrate the recent +history of English thought in general. The time was when our countrymen +speculated, certainly to as great an extent as any other people, on all +those high questions which present themselves to the human intellect; and, +indeed, a glance at the systems of philosophy that are or have been current +on the Continent, suffices to show how much other nations owe to the +discoveries of our ancestors. For a generation or two, however, these more +abstract subjects have fallen into neglect; and, among those who plume +themselves on being "practical," even into contempt. Partly, perhaps, a +natural accompaniment of our rapid material growth, this intellectual phase +has been in great measure due to the exhaustion of argument, and the +necessity for better data. Not so much with a conscious recognition of the +end to be subserved, as from an unconscious subordination to that rhythm +traceable in social changes as in other things, an era of theorizing +without observing, has been followed by an era of observing without +theorizing. During the long-continued devotion to concrete science, an +immense quantity of raw material for abstract science has been accumulated; +and now there is obviously commencing a period in which this accumulated +raw material will be organized into consistent theory. On all +sides--equally in the inorganic sciences, in the science of life, and in +the science of society--may we note the tendency to pass from the +superficial and empirical to the more profound and rational. + +In Psychology this change is conspicuous. The facts brought to light by +anatomists and physiologists during the last fifty years, are at length +being used towards the interpretation of this highest class of biological +phenomena; and already there is promise of a great advance. The work of Mr. +Alexander Bain, of which the second volume has been recently issued, may be +regarded as especially characteristic of the transition. It gives us in +orderly arrangement, the great mass of evidence supplied by modern science +towards the building-up of a coherent system of mental philosophy. It is +not in itself a system of mental philosophy, properly so called; but a +classified collection of materials for such a system, presented with that +method and insight which scientific discipline generates, and accompanied +with occasional passages of an analytical character. It is indeed that +which it in the main professes to be--a natural history of the mind. + +Were we to say that the researches of the naturalist who collects and +dissects and describes species, bear the same relation to the researches of +the comparative anatomist tracing out the laws of organization, which Mr. +Bain's labours bear to the labours of the abstract psychologist, we should +be going somewhat too far; for Mr. Bain's work is not wholly descriptive. +Still, however, such an analogy conveys the best general conception of what +he has done; and serves most clearly to indicate its needfulness. For as, +before there can be made anything like true generalizations respecting the +classification of organisms and the laws of organization, there must be an +extensive accumulation of the facts presented in numerous organic bodies; +so, without a tolerably-complete delineation of mental phenomena of all +orders, there can scarcely arise any adequate theory of the mind. Until +recently, mental science has been pursued much as physical science was +pursued by the ancients: not by drawing conclusions from observations and +experiments, but by drawing them from arbitrary a priori assumptions. This +course, long since abandoned in the one case with immense advantage, is +gradually being abandoned in the other; and the treatment of Psychology as +a division of natural history, shows that the abandonment will soon be +complete. + +Estimated as a means to higher results, Mr. Bain's work is of great value. +Of its kind it is the most scientific in conception, the most catholic in +spirit, and the most complete in execution. Besides delineating the various +classes of mental phenomena as seen under that stronger light thrown on +them by modern science, it includes in the picture much which previous +writers had omitted--partly from prejudice, partly from ignorance. We refer +more especially to the participation of bodily organs in mental changes; +and the addition to the primary mental changes, of those many secondary +ones which the actions of the bodily organs generate. Mr. Bain has, we +believe, been the first to appreciate the importance of this element in our +states of consciousness; and it is one of his merits that he shows how +constant and large an element it is. Further, the relations of voluntary +and involuntary movements are elucidated in a way that was not possible to +writers unacquainted with the modern doctrine of reflex action. And beyond +this, some of the analytical passages that here and there occur, contain +important ideas. + +Valuable, however, as is Mr. Bain's work, we regard it as essentially +transitional. It presents in a digested form the results of a period of +observation; adds to these results many well-delineated facts collected by +himself; arranges new and old materials with that more scientific method +which the discipline of our times has fostered; and so prepare the way for +better generalizations. But almost of necessity its classifications and +conclusions are provisional. In the growth of each science, not only is +correct observation needful for the formation of true theory; but true +theory is needful as a preliminary to correct observation. Of course we do +not intend this assertion to be taken literally; but as a strong expression +of the fact that the two must advance hand in hand. The first crude theory +or rough classification, based on very slight knowledge of the phenomena, +is requisite as a means of reducing the phenomena to some kind of order; +and as supplying a conception with which fresh phenomena may be compared, +and their agreement or disagreement noted. Incongruities being by and by +made manifest by wider examination of cases, there comes such modification +of the theory as brings it into a nearer correspondence with the evidence. +This reacts to the further advance of observation. More extensive and +complete observation brings additional corrections of theory. And so on +till the truth is reached. In mental science, the systematic collection of +facts having but recently commenced, it is not to be expected that the +results can be at once rightly formulated. All that may be looked for are +approximate generalizations which will presently serve for the better +directing of inquiry. Hence, even were it not now possible to say in what +way it does so, we might be tolerably certain that Mr. Bain's work bears +the stamp of the inchoate state of Psychology. + +We think, however, that it will not be difficult to find in what respects +its organization is provisional; and at the same time to show what must be +the nature of a more complete organization. We propose here to attempt +this: illustrating our positions from his recently-issued second volume. + + * * * * * + +Is it possible to make a true classification without the aid of analysis? +or must there not be an analytical basis to every true classification? Can +the real relations of things be determined by the obvious characteristics +of the things? or does it not commonly happen that certain hidden +characteristics, on which the obvious ones depend, are the truly +significant ones? This is the preliminary question which a glance at Mr. +Bain's scheme of the emotions suggests. + +Though not avowedly, yet by implication, Mr. Bain assumes that a right +conception of the nature, the order, and the relations of the emotions, may +be arrived at by contemplating their conspicuous objective and subjective +characters, as displayed in the adult. After pointing out that we lack +those means of classification which serve in the case of the sensations, he +says-- + + "In these circumstances we must turn our attention to _the manner + of diffusion_ of the different passions and emotions, in order to + obtain a basis of classification analogous to the arrangement of the + sensations. If what we have already advanced on that subject be at + all well founded, this is the genuine turning point of the method to + be chosen, for the same mode of diffusion will always be accompanied + by the same mental experience, and each of the two aspects would + identify, and would be evidence of, the other. There is, therefore, + nothing so thoroughly characteristic of any state of feeling as the + nature of the diffusive wave that embodies it, or the various organs + specially roused into action by it, together with the manner of the + action. The only drawback is our comparative ignorance, and our + inability to discern the precise character of the diffusive currents + in every case; a radical imperfection in the science of mind as + constituted at present. + + "Our own consciousness, formerly reckoned the only medium of + knowledge to the mental philosopher, must therefore be still referred + to as a principal means of discriminating the varieties of human + feeling. We have the power of noting agreement and difference among + our conscious states, and on this we can raise a structure of + classification. We recognise such generalities as pleasure, pain, + love, anger, through the property of mental or intellectual + discrimination that accompanies in our mind the fact of an emotion. A + certain degree of precision is attainable by this mode of mental + comparison and analysis; the farther we can carry such precision the + better; but that is no reason why it should stand alone to the + neglect of the corporeal embodiments through which one mind reveals + itself to others. The companionship of inward feeling with bodily + manifestation is a fact of the human constitution, and deserves to be + studied as such; and it would be difficult to find a place more + appropriate than a treatise on the mind for setting forth the + conjunctions and sequences traceable in this department of nature. I + shall make no scruple in conjoining with the description of the + mental phenomena the physical appearances, in so far as I am able to + ascertain them. + + "There is still one other quarter to be referred to in settling a + complete arrangement of the emotions, namely, the varieties of human + conduct, and the machinery created in subservience to our common + susceptibilities. For example, the vast superstructure of fine art + has its foundations in human feeling, and in rendering an account of + this we are led to recognise the interesting group of artistic or + aesthetic emotions. The same outward reference to conduct and + creations brings to light the so-called moral sense in man, whose + foundations in the mental system have accordingly to be examined. + + "Combining together these various indications, or sources of + discrimination,--outward objects, diffusive mode or expression, + inward consciousness, resulting conduct and institutions--I adopt the + following arrangement of the families or natural orders of emotion." + +Here, then, are confessedly adopted, as bases of classification, the most +manifest characters of the emotions; as discerned subjectively, and +objectively. The mode of diffusion of an emotion is one of its outside +aspects; the institutions it generates form another of its outside aspects; +and though the peculiarities of the emotion as a state of consciousness, +seem to express its intrinsic and ultimate nature, yet such peculiarities +as are perceptible by simple introspection, must also be classed as +superficial peculiarities. It is a familiar fact that various intellectual +states of consciousness turn out, when analyzed, to have natures widely +unlike those which at first appear; and we believe the like will prove true +of emotional states of consciousness. Just as our concept of space, which +is apt to be thought a simple, undecomposable concept, is yet resolvable +into experiences quite different from that state of consciousness which we +call space; so, probably, the sentiment of affection or reverence is +compounded of elements that are severally distinct from the whole which +they make up. And much as a classification of our ideas which dealt with +the idea of space as though it were ultimate, would be a classification of +ideas by their externals; so, a classification of our emotions, which, +regarding them as simple, describes their aspects in ordinary +consciousness, is a classification of emotions by their externals. + +Thus, then, Mr. Bain's grouping is throughout determined by the most +manifest attributes--those objectively displayed in the natural language of +the emotions, and in the social phenomena that result from them, and those +subjectively displayed in the aspects the emotions assume in an analytical +consciousness. And the question is--Can they be correctly grouped after +this method? + +We think not; and had Mr. Bain carried farther an idea with which he has +set out, he would probably have seen that they cannot. As already said, he +avowedly adopts "the natural-history-method:" not only referring to it in +his preface, but in his first chapter giving examples of botanical and +zoological classifications, as illustrating the mode in which he proposes +to deal with the emotions. This we conceive to be a philosophical +conception; and we have only to regret that Mr. Bain has overlooked some of +its most important implications. For in what has essentially consisted the +progress of natural-history-classification? In the abandonment of grouping +by external, conspicuous characters; and in the making of certain internal, +but all-essential characters, the bases of groups. Whales are not now +ranged along with fish, because in their general forms and habits of life +they resemble fish; but they are ranged with mammals, because the type of +their organization, as ascertained by dissection, corresponds with that of +the mammals. No longer considered as sea-weeds in virtue of their forms and +modes of growth, zoophytes are now shown, by examination of their economy, +to belong to the animal kingdom. + +It is found, then, that the discovery of real relationships involves +analysis. It has turned out that the earlier classifications, guided by +general resemblances, though containing much truth, and though very useful +provisionally, were yet in many cases radically wrong; and that the true +affinities of organisms, and the true homologies of their parts, are to be +made out only by examining their hidden structures. Another fact of great +significance in the history of classification is also to be noted. Very +frequently the kinship of an organism cannot be made out even by exhaustive +analysis, if that analysis is confined to the adult structure. In many +cases it is needful to examine the structure in its earlier stages; and +even in its embryonic stage. So difficult was it, for instance, to +determine the true position of the Cirrhipedia among animals, by examining +mature individuals only, that Cuvier erroneously classed them with +Mollusca, even after dissecting them; and not until their early forms were +discovered, were they clearly proved to belong to the Crustacea. So +important, indeed, is the study of development as a means to +classification, that the first zoologists now hold it to be the only +absolute criterion. + +Here, then, in the advance of natural-history-classification, are two +fundamental facts, which should be borne in mind when classifying the +emotions. If, as Mr. Bain rightly assumes, the emotions are to be grouped +after the natural-history-method; then it should be the +natural-history-method in its complete form, and not in its rude form. Mr. +Bain will doubtless agree in the position, that a correct account of the +emotions in their natures and relations, must correspond with a correct +account of the nervous system--must form another side of the same ultimate +facts. Structure and function must necessarily harmonize. Structures which +have with each other certain ultimate connexions, must have functions that +have answering connexions. Structures that have arisen in certain ways, +must have functions that have arisen in parallel ways. And hence if +analysis and development are needful for the right interpretation of +structures, they must be needful for the right interpretation of functions. +Just as a scientific description of the digestive organs, must include not +only their obvious forms and connexions, but their microscopic characters, +and also the ways in which they severally result by differentiation from +the primitive mucous membrane; so must a scientific account of the nervous +system, include its general arrangements, its minute structure, and its +mode of evolution; and so must a scientific account of nervous actions, +include the answering three elements. Alike in classing separate organisms, +and in classing the parts of the same organism, the complete +natural-history-method involves ultimate analysis, aided by development; +and Mr. Bain, in not basing his classification of the emotions on +characters reached through these aids, has fallen short of the conception +with which he set out. + +"But," it will perhaps be asked, "how are the emotions to be analyzed, and +their modes of evolution to be ascertained? Different animals, and +different organs of the same animal, may readily be compared in their +internal and microscopic structures, as also in their developments; but +functions, and especially such functions as the emotions, do not admit of +like comparisons." + +It must be admitted that the application of these methods is here by no +means so easy. Though we can note differences and similarities between the +internal formations of two animals; it is difficult to contrast the mental +states of two animals. Though the true morphological relations of organs +may be made out by the observations of embryos; yet, where such organs are +inactive before birth, we cannot completely trace the history of their +actions. Obviously, too, the pursuance of inquiries of the kind indicated, +raises questions which science is not yet prepared to answer; as, for +instance--Whether all nervous functions, in common with all other +functions, arise by gradual differentiations, as their organs do? Whether +the emotions are, therefore, to be regarded as divergent modes of action, +that have become unlike by successive modifications? Whether, as two organs +which originally budded out of the same membrane, have not only become +different as they developed, but have also severally become compound +internally, though externally simple: so two emotions, simple and near akin +in their roots, may not only have grown unlike, but may also have grown +involved in their natures, though seeming homogeneous to consciousness. And +here, indeed, in the inability of existing science to answer these +questions which underlie a true psychological classification, we see how +purely provisional any present classification is likely to be. + +Nevertheless, even now, classification may be aided by development and +ultimate analysis to a considerable extent; and the defect in Mr. Bain's +work is, that he has not systematically availed himself of them as far as +possible. Thus we may, in the first place, study the evolution of the +emotions up through the various grades of the animal kingdom: observing +which of them are earliest and exist with the lowest organization and +intelligence; in what order the others accompany higher endowments; and how +they are severally related to the conditions of life. In the second place, +we may note the emotional differences between the lower and the higher +human races--may regard as earlier and simpler those feelings which are +common to both, and as later and more compound those which are +characteristic of the most civilized. In the third place, we may observe +the order in which the emotions unfold during the progress from infancy to +maturity. And lastly, comparing these three kinds of emotional development, +displayed in the ascending grades of the animal kingdom, in the advance of +the civilized races, and in individual history, we may see in what respects +they harmonize, and what are the implied general truths. + +Having gathered together and generalized these several classes of facts, +analysis of the emotions would be made easier. Setting out with the +unquestionable assumption, that every new form of emotion making its +appearance in the individual or the race, is a modification of some +pre-existing emotion, or a compounding of several pre-existing emotions; we +should be greatly aided by knowing what always are the pre-existing +emotions. When, for example, we find that very few if any of the lower +animals show any love of accumulation, and that this feeling is absent in +infancy--when we see that an infant in arms exhibits anger, fear, wonder, +while yet it manifests no desire of permanent possession, and that a brute +which has no acquisitive emotion can nevertheless feel attachment, +jealousy, love of approbation; we may suspect that the feeling which +property satisfies, is compounded out of simpler and deeper feelings. We +may conclude that as, when a dog hides a bone, there must exist in him a +prospective gratification of hunger; so there must similarly at first, in +all cases where anything is secured or taken possession of, exist an ideal +excitement of the feeling which that thing will gratify. We may further +conclude that when the intelligence is such that a variety of objects come +to be utilized for different purposes--when, as among savages, divers wants +are satisfied through the articles appropriated for weapons, shelter, +clothing, ornament; the act of appropriating comes to be one constantly +involving agreeable associations, and one which is therefore pleasurable, +irrespective of the end subserved. And when, as in civilized life, the +property acquired is of a kind not conducing to one order of +gratifications, but is capable of administering to all gratifications, the +pleasure of acquiring property grows more distinct from each of the various +pleasures subserved--is more completely differentiated into a separate +emotion. + +This illustration, roughly as it is sketched, will show what we mean by the +use of comparative psychology in aid of classification. Ascertaining by +induction the actual order of evolution of the emotions, we are led to +suspect this to be their order of successive dependence; and are so led to +recognize their order of ascending complexity; and by consequence their +true groupings. + +Thus, in the very process of arranging the emotions into grades, beginning +with those involved in the lowest forms of conscious activity and end with +those peculiar to the adult civilized man, the way is opened for that +ultimate analysis which alone can lead us to the true science of the +matter. For when we find both that there exist in a man feelings which do +not exist in a child, and that the European is characterized by some +sentiments which are wholly or in a great part absent from the savage--when +we see that, besides the new emotions that arise spontaneously as the +individual becomes completely organized, there are new emotions making +their appearance in the more advanced divisions of our race; we are led to +ask--How are new emotions generated? The lowest savages have not even the +ideas of justice or mercy: they have neither words for them nor can they be +made to conceive them; and the manifestation of them by Europeans they +ascribe to fear or cunning. There are aesthetic emotions common among +ourselves, that are scarcely in any degree experienced by some inferior +races; as, for instance, those produced by music. To which instances may be +added the less marked but more numerous contrasts that exist between +civilized races in the degrees of their several emotions. And if it is +manifest, both that all the emotions are capable of being permanently +modified in the course of successive generations, and that what must be +classed as new emotions may be brought into existence; then it follows that +nothing like a true conception of the emotions is to be obtained, until we +understand how they are evolved. + +Comparative psychology, while it raises this inquiry, prepares the way for +answering it. When observing the differences between races, we can scarcely +fail to observe also how these differences correspond with differences in +their conditions of existence, and therefore in their daily experiences. +Note the contrast between the circumstances and between the emotional +natures of savage and civilized. Among the lowest races of men, love of +property stimulates to the obtainment only of such things as satisfy +immediate desires or desires of the immediate future. Improvidence is the +rule: there is little effort to meet remote contingencies. But the growth +of established societies, having gradually given security of possession, +there has been an increasing tendency to provide for coming years: there +has been a constant exercise of the feeling which is satisfied by a +provision for the future; and there has been a growth of this feeling so +great that it now prompts accumulation to an extent beyond what is needful. +Note, again, that under the discipline of social life--under a comparative +abstinence from aggressive actions, and a performance of those +mutually-serviceable actions implied by the division of labour--there has +been a development of those gentle emotions of which inferior races exhibit +but the rudiments. Savages delight in giving pain rather than pleasure--are +almost devoid of sympathy. While among ourselves philanthropy organizes +itself in laws, establishes numerous institutions, and dictates countless +private benefactions. + +From which and other like facts, does it not seem an unavoidable inference +that new emotions are developed by new experiences--new habits of life? All +are familiar with the truth, that in the individual, each feeling may be +strengthened by performing those actions which it prompts; and to say that +the feeling is _strengthened_, is to say that it is in part _made_ by these +actions. We know further, that not unfrequently, individuals, by +persistence in special courses of conduct, acquire special likings for such +courses disagreeable as these may be to others; and these whims, or morbid +tastes, imply incipient emotions corresponding to these special activities. +We know that emotional characteristics, in common with all others, are +hereditary; and the differences between civilized nations descended from +the same stock, show us the cumulative results of small modifications +hereditarily transmitted. And when we see that between savage and civilized +races, which diverged from each other in the remote past, and have for a +hundred generations followed modes of life becoming ever more unlike, there +exist still greater emotional contrasts; may we not infer that the more or +less distinct emotions which characterize civilized races, are the +organized results of certain daily-repeated combinations of mental states +which social life involves? Must we not say that habits not only modify +emotions in the individual, and not only beget tendencies to like habits +and accompanying emotions in descendants, but that when the conditions of +the race make the habits persistent, this progressive modification may go +on to the extent of producing emotions so far distinct as to seem new? And +if so, we may suspect that such new emotions, and by implication all +emotions analytically considered, consist of aggregated and consolidated +groups of those simpler feelings which habitually occur together in +experience: that they result from combined experiences, and are constituted +of them. + +When, in the circumstances of any race, some one kind of action or set of +actions, sensation or set of sensations, is usually followed, or +accompanied by, various other sets of actions or sensations, and so entails +a large mass of pleasurable or painful states of consciousness; these, by +frequent repetition, become so connected together that the initial action +or sensation brings the ideas of all the rest crowding into consciousness: +producing, in a degree, the pleasures or pains that have before been felt +in reality. And when this relation, besides being frequently repeated in +the individual, occurs in successive generations, all the many nervous +actions involved tend to grow organically connected. They become +incipiently reflex; and on the occurrence of the appropriate stimulus, the +whole nervous apparatus which in past generations was brought into activity +by this stimulus, becomes nascently excited. Even while yet there have been +no individual experiences, a vague feeling of pleasure or pain is produced; +constituting what we may call the body of the emotion. And when the +experiences of past generations come to be repeated in the individual, the +emotion gains both strength and definiteness; and is accompanied by the +appropriate specific ideas. + +This view of the matter, which we believe the established truths of +Physiology and Psychology unite in indicating, and which is the view that +generalizes the phenomena of habit, of national characteristics, of +civilization in its moral aspects, at the same time that it gives us a +conception of emotion in its origin and ultimate nature, may be illustrated +from the mental modifications undergone by animals. + +It is well-known that on newly-discovered lands not inhabited by man, birds +are so devoid of fear as to allow themselves to be knocked over with +sticks; but that in the course of generations, they acquire such a dread of +man as to fly on his approach; and that this dread is manifested by young +as well as old. Now unless this change be ascribed to the killing-off of +the least fearful, and the preservation and multiplication of the more +fearful, which, considering the comparatively small number killed by man, +is an inadequate cause; it must be ascribed to accumulated experiences; and +each experience must be held to have a share in producing it. We must +conclude that in each bird that escapes with injuries inflicted by man, or +is alarmed by the outcries of other members of the flock (gregarious +creatures of any intelligence being necessarily more or less sympathetic), +there is established an association of ideas between the human aspect and +the pains, direct and indirect, suffered from human agency. And we must +further conclude, that the state of consciousness which impels the bird to +take flight, is at first nothing more than an ideal reproduction of those +painful impressions which before followed man's approach; that such ideal +reproduction becomes more vivid and more massive as the painful +experiences, direct or sympathetic, increase; and that thus the emotion in +its incipient state, is nothing else than an aggregation of the revived +pains before experienced. + +As, in the course of generations, the young birds of this race begin to +display a fear of man before yet they have been injured by him; it is an +unavoidable inference that the nervous system of the race has been +organically modified by these experiences: we have no choice but to +conclude that when a young bird is thus led to fly, it is because the +impression produced on its senses by the approaching man, entails, through +an incipiently-reflex action, a partial excitement of all those nerves +which in its ancestors had been excited under the like conditions; that +this partial excitement has its accompanying painful consciousness; and +that the vague painful consciousness thus arising, constitutes emotion +proper--_emotion undecomposable into specific experiences, and therefore +seemingly homogeneous_. + +If such be the explanation of the fact in this case, then it is in all +cases. If emotion is so generated here, then it is so generated throughout. +We must perforce conclude that the emotional modifications displayed by +different nations, and those higher emotions by which civilized are +distinguished from savage, are to be accounted for on the same principle. +And concluding this, we are led strongly to suspect that the emotions in +general have severally thus originated. + +Perhaps we have now made sufficiently clear what we mean by the study of +the emotions through analysis and development. We have aimed to justify the +positions that, without analysis aided by development, there cannot be a +true natural history of the emotions; and that a natural history of the +emotions based on external characters, can be but provisional. We think +that Mr. Bain, in confining himself to an account of the emotions as they +exist in the adult civilized man, has neglected those classes of facts out +of which the science of the matter must chiefly be built. It is true that +he has treated of habits as modifying emotions in the individual; but he +has not recognized the fact, that where conditions render habits persistent +in successive generations, such modifications are cumulative: he has not +hinted that the modifications produced by habit are emotions in the making. +It is true, also, that he occasionally refers to the characteristics of +children; but he does not systematically trace the changes through which +childhood passes into manhood, as throwing light on the order and genesis +of the emotions. It is further true that he here and there refers to +national traits in illustration of his subject; but these stand as isolated +facts, having no general significance: there is no hint of any relation +between them and the national circumstances; while all those many moral +contrasts between lower and higher races which throw great light on +classification, are passed over. And once more, it is true that many +passages of his work, and sometimes, indeed, whole sections of it, are +analytical; but his analyses are incidental--they do not underlie his +entire scheme, but are here and there added to it. In brief, he has written +a Descriptive Psychology, which does not appeal to Comparative Psychology +and Analytical Psychology for its leading ideas. And in doing this, he has +omitted much that should be included in a natural history of the mind; +while to that part of the subject with which he has dealt, he has given a +necessarily-imperfect organization. + + * * * * * + +Even leaving out of view the absence of those methods and criteria on which +we have been insisting, it appears to us that meritorious as is Mr. Bain's +book in its details, it is defective in some of its leading ideas. The +first paragraphs of his first chapter, quite startled us by the strangeness +of their definitions--a strangeness which can scarcely be ascribed to +laxity of expression. The paragraphs run thus:-- + + "Mind is comprised under three heads--Emotion, Volition, and + Intellect. + + "EMOTION is the name here used to comprehend all that is understood + by feelings, states of feeling, pleasures, pains, passions, + sentiments, affections. Consciousness, and conscious states also for + the most part denote modes of emotion, although there is such a thing + as the Intellectual consciousness. + + "VOLITION, on the other hand, indicates the great fact that our + Pleasures and Pains, which are not the whole of our emotions, prompt + us to action, or stimulate the active machinery of the living + framework to perform such operations as procure the first and abate + the last. To withdraw from a scalding heat and cling to a gentle + warmth, are exercises of volition." + +The last of these definitions, which we may most conveniently take first, +seems to us very faulty. We cannot but feel astonished that Mr. Bain, +familiar as he is with the phenomena of reflex action, should have so +expressed himself as to include a great part of them along with the +phenomena of volition. He seems to be ignoring the discriminations of +modern science, and returning to the vague conceptions of the past--nay +more, he is comprehending under volition what even the popular speech would +hardly bring under it. If you were to blame any one for snatching his foot +from the scalding water into which he had inadvertently put it, he would +tell you that he could not help it; and his reply would be indorsed by the +general experience, that the withdrawal of a limb from contact with +something extremely hot, is quite involuntary--that it takes place not only +without volition, but in defiance of an effort of will to maintain the +contact. How, then, can that be instanced as an example of volition, which +occurs even when volition is antagonistic? We are quite aware that it is +impossible to draw any absolute line of demarcation between automatic +actions and actions which are not automatic. Doubtless we may pass +gradually from the purely reflex, through the consensual, to the voluntary. +Taking the case Mr. Bain cites, it is manifest that from a heat of such +moderate degree that the withdrawal from it is wholly voluntary, we may +advance by infinitesimal steps to a heat which compels involuntary +withdrawal; and that there is a stage at which the voluntary and +involuntary actions are mixed. But the difficulty of absolute +discrimination is no reason for neglecting the broad general contrast; any +more than it is for confounding light with darkness. If we are to include +as examples of volition, all cases in which pleasures and pains "stimulate +the active machinery of the living framework to perform such operations as +procure the first and abate the last," then we must consider sneezing and +coughing, as examples of volition; and Mr. Bain surely cannot mean this. +Indeed, we must confess ourselves at a loss. On the one hand if he does not +mean it, his expression is lax to a degree that surprises us in so careful +a writer. On the other hand, if he does mean it, we cannot understand his +point of view. + +A parallel criticism applies to his definition of Emotion. Here, too, he +has departed from the ordinary acceptation of the word; and, as we think, +in the wrong direction. Whatever may be the interpretation that is +justified by its derivation, the word Emotion has come generally to mean +that kind of feeling which is not a direct result of any action on the +organism; but is either an indirect result of such action, or arises quite +apart from such action. It is used to indicate those sentient states which +are independently generated in consciousness; as distinguished from those +generated in our corporeal framework, and known as sensations. Now this +distinction, tacitly made in common speech, is one which Psychology cannot +well reject; but one which it must adopt, and to which it must give +scientific precision. Mr. Bain, however, appears to ignore any such +distinction. Under the term "emotion," he includes not only passions, +sentiments, affections, but all "feelings, states of feeling, pleasures, +pains,"--that is, all sensations. This does not appear to be a mere lapse +of expression; for when, in the opening sentence, he asserts that "mind is +comprised under the three heads--Emotion, Volition, and Intellect," he of +necessity implies that sensation is included under one of these heads; and +as it cannot be included under Volition or Intellect, it must be classed +with Emotion: as it clearly is in the next sentence. + +We cannot but think this is a retrograde step. Though distinctions which +have been established in popular thought and language, are not unfrequently +merged in the higher generalizations of science (as, for instance, when +crabs and worms are grouped together in the sub-kingdom _Annulosa_;) yet +science very generally recognizes the validity of these distinctions, as +real though not fundamental. And so in the present case. Such community as +analysis discloses between sensation and emotion, must not shut out the +broad contrast that exists between them. If there needs a wider word, as +there does, to signify any sentient state whatever; then we may fitly adopt +for this purpose the word currently so used, namely, "Feeling." And +considering as Feelings all that great division of mental states which we +do not class as Cognitions, may then separate this great division into the +two orders, Sensations and Emotions. + + * * * * * + +And here we may, before concluding, briefly indicate the leading outlines +of a classification which reduces this distinction to a scientific form, +and developes it somewhat further--a classification which, while suggested +by certain fundamental traits reached without a very lengthened inquiry, is +yet, we believe, in harmony with that disclosed by detailed analysis. + +Leaving out of view the Will, which is a simple homogeneous mental state, +forming the link between feeling and action, and not admitting of +subdivisions; our states of consciousness fall into two great +classes--COGNITIONS and FEELINGS. + +COGNITIONS, or those modes of mind in which we are occupied with the +_relations_ that subsist among our feelings, are divisible into four great +sub-classes. + +_Presentative cognitions_; or those in which consciousness is occupied in +localizing a sensation impressed on the organism--occupied, that is, with +the relation between this presented mental state and those other presented +mental states which make up our consciousness of the part affected: as when +we cut ourselves. + +_Presentative-representative cognitions_; or those in which consciousness +is occupied with the relation between a sensation or group of sensations +and the representations of those various other sensations that accompany it +in experience. This is what we commonly call perception--an act in which, +along with certain impressions presented to consciousness, there arise in +consciousness the ideas of certain other impressions ordinarily connected +with the presented ones: as when its visible form and colour, lead us to +mentally endow an orange with all its other attributes. + +_Representative cognitions_; or those in which consciousness is occupied +with the relations among ideas or represented sensations: as in all acts of +recollection. + +_Re-representative cognitions_; or those in which the occupation of +consciousness is not by representation of special relations, that have +before been presented to consciousness; but those in which such represented +special relations are thought of merely as comprehended in a general +relation--those in which the concrete relations once experienced, in so far +as they become objects of consciousness at all, are incidentally +represented, along with the abstract relation which formulates them. The +ideas resulting from this abstraction, do not themselves represent actual +experiences; but are symbols which stand for groups of such actual +experiences--represent aggregates of representations. And thus they may be +called re-representative cognitions. It is clear that the process of +re-representation is carried to higher stages, as the thought becomes more +abstract. + +FEELINGS, or those modes of mind in which we are occupied, not with the +relations subsisting between our sentient states, but with the sentient +states themselves, are divisible into four parallel sub-classes. + +_Presentative feelings_, ordinarily called sensations, are those mental +states in which, instead of regarding a corporeal impression as of this or +that kind, or as located here or there, we contemplate it in itself as +pleasure or pain: as when eating. + +_Presentative-representative feelings_, embracing a great part of what we +commonly call emotions, are those in which a sensation, or group of +sensations or group of sensations and ideas, arouses a vast aggregation of +represented sensations; partly of individual experience, but chiefly deeper +than individual experience, and, consequently, indefinite. The emotion of +terror may serve as an example. Along with certain impressions made on the +eyes or ears, or both, are recalled in consciousness many of the pains to +which such impressions have before been the antecedents; and when the +relation between such impressions and such pains has been habitual in the +race, the definite ideas of such pains which individual experience has +given, are accompanied by the indefinite pains that result from inherited +experience--vague feelings which we may call organic representations. In an +infant, crying at a strange sight or sound while yet in the nurse's arms, +we see these organic representations called into existence in the shape of +dim discomfort, to which individual experience has yet given no specific +outlines. + +_Representative feelings_, comprehending the ideas of the feelings above +classed, when they are called up apart from the appropriate external +excitements. As instances of these may be named the feelings with which the +descriptive poet writes, and which are aroused in the minds of his readers. + +_Re-representative feelings_, under which head are included those more +complex sentient states that are less the direct results of external +excitements than the indirect or reflex results of them. The love of +property is a feeling of this kind. It is awakened not by the presence of +any special object, but by ownable objects at large; and it is not from the +mere presence of such object, but from a certain ideal relation to them, +that it arises. As before shown (p. 311) it consists, not of the +represented advantages of possessing this or that, but of the represented +advantages of possession in general--is not made up of certain concrete +representations, but of the abstracts of many concrete representations; and +so is re-representative. The higher sentiments, as that of justice, are +still more completely of this nature. Here the sentient state is compounded +out of sentient states that are themselves wholly, or almost wholly, +re-representative: it involves representations of those lower emotions +which are produced by the possession of property, by freedom of action, +etc.; and thus is re-representative in a higher degree. + +This classification, here roughly indicated and capable of further +expansion, will be found in harmony with the results of detailed analysis +aided by development. Whether we trace mental progression through the +grades of the animal kingdom, through the grades of mankind, or through the +stages of individual growth; it is obvious that the advance, alike in +cognitions and feelings, is, and must be, from the presentative to the more +and more remotely representative. It is undeniable that intelligence +ascends from those simple perceptions in which consciousness is occupied in +localizing and classifying sensations, to perceptions more and more +compound, to simple reasoning, to reasoning more and more complex and +abstract--more and more remote from sensation. And in the evolution of +feelings, there is a parallel series of steps. Simple sensations; +sensations combined together; sensations combined with represented +sensations; represented sensations organized into groups, in which their +separate characters are very much merged; representations of these +representative groups, in which the original components have become still +more vague. In both cases, the progress has necessarily been from the +simple and concrete to the complex and abstract: and as with the +cognitions, so with the feelings, this must be the basis of classification. + +The space here occupied with criticisms on Mr. Bain's work, we might have +filled with exposition and eulogy, had we thought this the more important. +Though we have freely pointed out what we conceive to be its defects, let +it not be inferred that we question its great merits. We repeat that, as a +natural history of the mind, we believe it to be the best yet produced. It +is a most valuable collection of carefully-elaborated materials. Perhaps we +cannot better express our sense of its worth, than by saying that, to those +who hereafter give to this branch of Psychology a thoroughly scientific +organization, Mr. Bain's book will be indispensable. + + + + +VIII. ILLOGICAL GEOLOGY. + + +That proclivity to generalization which is possessed in greater or less +degree by all minds, and without which, indeed, intelligence cannot exist, +has unavoidable inconveniences. Through it alone can truth be reached; and +yet it almost inevitably betrays into error. But for the tendency to +predicate of every other case, that which has been found in the observed +cases, there could be no rational thinking; and yet by this indispensable +tendency, men are perpetually led to found, on limited experience, +propositions which they wrongly assume to be universal or absolute. In one +sense, however, this can scarcely be regarded as an evil; for without +premature generalizations the true generalization would never be arrived +at. If we waited till all the facts were accumulated before trying to +formulate them, the vast unorganized mass would be unmanageable. Only by +provisional grouping can they be brought into such order as to be dealt +with; and this provisional grouping is but another name for premature +generalization. + +How uniformly men follow this course, and how needful the errors are as +steps to truth, is well illustrated in the history of Astronomy. The +heavenly bodies move round the Earth in circles, said the earliest +observers: led partly by the appearances, and partly by their experiences +of central motions in terrestrial objects, with which, as all circular, +they classed the celestial motions from lack of any alternative conception. +Without this provisional belief, wrong as it was, there could not have been +that comparison of positions which showed that the motions are not +representable by circles; and which led to the hypothesis of epicycles and +eccentrics. Only by the aid of this hypothesis, equally untrue, but capable +of accounting more nearly for the appearances, and so of inducing more +accurate observations--only thus did it become possible for Copernicus to +show that the heliocentric theory is more feasible than the geocentric +theory; or for Kepler to show that the planets move round the sun in +ellipses. Yet again, without the aid of this approximate truth discovered +by Kepler, Newton could not have established that general law from which it +follows, that the motion of a heavenly body round its centre of gravity is +not necessarily in an ellipse, but may be in any conic section. And lastly, +it was only after the law of gravitation had been verified, that it became +possible to determine the actual courses of planets, satellites, and +comets; and to prove that, in consequence of perturbations, their orbits +always deviate, more or less, from regular curves. Thus, there followed one +another five provisional theories of the Solar System, before the sixth and +absolutely true theory was reached. In which five provisional theories, +each for a time held as final, we may trace both the tendency men have to +leap from scanty data to wide generalizations, that are either untrue or +but partially true; and the necessity there is for these transitional +generalizations as steps to the final one. + +In the progress of geological speculation the same laws of thought are +clearly displayed. We have dogmas that were more than half false, passing +current for a time as universal truths. We have evidence collected in proof +of these dogmas; by and by a colligation of facts in antagonism with them; +and eventually a consequent modification. In conformity with this somewhat +improved hypothesis, we have a better classification of facts; a greater +power of arranging and interpreting the new facts now rapidly gathered +together; and further resulting corrections of hypothesis. Being, as we are +at present, in the midst of this process, it is not possible to give an +adequate account of the development of geological science as thus regarded: +the earlier stages are alone known to us. Not only, however, is it +interesting to observe how the more advanced views now received respecting +the Earth's history, have been evolved out of the crude views which +preceded them; but we shall find it extremely instructive to observe this. +We shall see how greatly the old ideas still sway, both the general mind, +and the minds of geologists themselves. We shall see how the kind of +evidence that has in part abolished these old ideas, is still daily +accumulating, and threatens to make other like revolutions. In brief, we +shall see whereabouts we are in the elaboration of a true theory of the +Earth; and, seeing our whereabouts, shall be the better able to judge, +among various conflicting opinions, which best conform to the ascertained +direction of geological discovery. + +It is alike needless and impracticable here to enumerate the many +speculations which were in earlier ages propounded by acute +men--speculations some of which contained portions of truth. Falling in +unfit times, these speculations did not germinate; and hence do not concern +us. We have nothing to do with ideas, however good, out of which no science +grew; but only with those which gave origin to the system of Geology that +now exists. We therefore begin with Werner. + +Taking for data the appearances of the Earth's crust in a narrow district +of Germany; observing the constant order of superposition of strata, and +their respective physical characters; Werner drew the inference that strata +of like characters succeeded each other in like order over the entire +surface of the Earth. And seeing, from the laminated structure of many +formations and the organic remains contained in others, that they were +sedimentary; he further inferred that these universal strata had been in +succession precipitated from a chaotic menstruum which once covered our +planet. Thus, on a very incomplete acquaintance with a thousandth part of +the Earth's crust, he based a sweeping generalization applying to the whole +of it. This Neptunist hypothesis, mark, borne out though it seemed to be by +the most conspicuous surrounding facts, was quite untenable if analyzed. +That a universal chaotic menstruum should deposit, one after another, +numerous sharply-defined strata, differing from each other in composition, +is incomprehensible. That the strata so deposited should contain the +remains of plants and animals, which could not have lived under the +supposed conditions, is still more incomprehensible. Physically absurd, +however, as was this hypothesis, it recognized, though under a distorted +form, one of the great agencies of geological change--that of water. It +served also to express the fact that the formations of the Earth's crust +stand in some kind of order. Further, it did a little towards supplying a +nomenclature, without which much progress was impossible. Lastly, it +furnished a standard with which successions of strata in various regions +could be compared, the differences noted, and the actual sections +tabulated. It was the first provisional generalization; and was useful, if +not indispensable, as a step to truer ones. + +Following this rude conception, which ascribed geological phenomena to one +agency, acting during one primeval epoch, there came a greatly-improved +conception, which ascribed them to two agencies, acting alternately during +successive epochs. Hutton, perceiving that sedimentary deposits were still +being formed at the bottom of the sea from the detritus carried down by +rivers; perceiving, further, that the strata of which the visible surface +chiefly consists, bore marks of having been similarly formed out of +pre-existing land; and inferring that these strata could have become land +only by upheaval after their deposit; concluded that throughout an +indefinite past, there had been periodic convulsions, by which continents +were raised, with intervening eras of repose, during which such continents +were worn down and transformed into new marine strata, fated to be in their +turns elevated above the surface of the ocean. And finding that igneous +action, to which sundry earlier geologists had ascribed basaltic rocks, was +in countless places a source of disturbance, he taught that from it +resulted these periodic convulsions. In this theory we see:--first, that +the previously-recognized agency of water was conceived to act, not as by +Werner, after a manner of which we have no experience, but after a manner +daily displayed to us; and second, that the igneous agency, before +considered only as a cause of special formations, was recognized as a +universal agency, but assumed to act in an unproved way. Werner's sole +process, Hutton developed from the catastrophic and inexplicable into the +uniform and explicable; while that antagonistic second process, of which he +first adequately estimated the importance, was regarded by him as a +catastrophic one, and was not assimilated to known processes--not +explained. We have here to note, however, that the facts collected and +provisionally arranged in conformity with Werner's theory, served, after a +time, to establish Hutton's more rational theory--in so far, at least, as +aqueous formations are concerned; while the doctrine of periodic +subterranean convulsions, crudely as it was conceived by Hutton, was a +temporary generalization needful as a step towards the theory of igneous +action. + +Since Hutton's time, the development of geological thought has gone still +further in the same direction. These early sweeping doctrines have received +additional qualifications. It has been discovered that more numerous and +more heterogeneous agencies have been at work, than was at first believed. +The igneous hypothesis has been rationalized, as the aqueous one had +previously been: the gratuitous assumption of vast elevations suddenly +occurring after long intervals of quiescence, has grown into the consistent +theory, that islands and continents are the accumulated results of +successive small upheavals, like those experienced in ordinary earthquakes. + +To speak more specifically, we find, in the first place, that instead of +assuming the denudation produced by rain and rivers to be the sole means of +wearing down lands and producing their irregularities of surface, +geologists now see that denudation is only a part-cause of such +irregularities; and further, that the new strata deposited at the bottom of +the sea, are not the products of river-sediment solely, but are in part due +to the action of waves and tidal currents on the coasts. In the second +place, we find that Hutton's conception of upheaval by subterranean forces, +has not only been modified by assimilating these subterranean forces to +ordinary earthquake-forces; but modern inquiries have shown that, besides +elevations of surface, subsidences are thus produced; that local upheavals, +as well as the general upheavals, which raise continents, come within the +same category; and that all these changes are probably consequent on the +progressive collapse of the Earth's crust upon its cooling and contracting +nucleus--the only adequate cause. In the third place, we find that beyond +these two great antagonist agencies, modern Geology recognises sundry minor +ones: as those of glaciers and icebergs; those of coral-polypes; those of +_Protozoa_ having siliceous or calcareous shells--each of which agencies, +insignificant as it seems, is found capable of slowly working terrestrial +changes of considerable magnitude. Thus, then, the recent progress of +Geology has been a still further departure from primitive conceptions. +Instead of one catastrophic cause, once in universal action, as supposed by +Werner--instead of one general continuous cause, antagonized at long +intervals by a catastrophic cause, as taught by Hutton; we now recognize +several causes, all more or less general and continuous. We no longer +resort to hypothetical agencies to explain the phenomena displayed by the +Earth's crust; but we are day by day more clearly perceiving that these +phenomena have arisen from forces like those now at work, which have acted +in all varieties of combination, through immeasurable periods of time. + + * * * * * + +Having thus briefly traced the evolution of geologic science, and noted its +present form, let us go on to observe the way in which it is still swayed +by the crude hypotheses it set out with; so that even now, old doctrines +that are abandoned as untenable in theory, continue in practice to mould +the ideas of geologists, and to foster sundry beliefs that are logically +indefensible. We shall see, both how those simple sweeping conceptions with +which the science commenced, are those which every student is apt at first +to seize hold of, and how several influences conspire to maintain the twist +thus resulting--how the original nomenclature of periods and formations +necessarily keeps alive the original implications; and how the need for +arranging new data in some order, naturally results in their being thrust +into the old classification, unless their incongruity with it is very +glaring. A few facts will best prepare the way for criticism. + +Up to 1839 it was inferred, from their crystalline character, that the +metamorphic rocks of Anglesea are more ancient than any rocks of the +adjacent main land; but it has since been shown that they are of the same +age with the slates and grits of Carnarvon and Merioneth. Again, slaty +cleavage having been first found only in the lowest rocks, was taken as an +indication of the highest antiquity: whence resulted serious mistakes; for +this mineral characteristic is now known to occur in the Carboniferous +system. Once more, certain red conglomerates and grits on the north-west +coast of Scotland, long supposed from their lithological aspect to belong +to the Old Red Sandstone, are now identified with the Lower Silurians. + +These are a few instances of the small trust to be placed in mineral +qualities, as evidence of the ages or relative positions of strata. From +the recently-published third edition of _Siluria_, may be culled numerous +facts of like implication. Sir R. Murchison considers it ascertained, that +the siliceous Stiper stones of Shropshire are the equivalents of the +Tremadock slates of North Wales. Judged by their fossils, Bala slate and +limestone are of the same age as the Caradoc sandstone, lying forty miles +off. In Radnorshire, the formation classed as upper Llandovery rock, is +described at different spots, as "sandstone or conglomerate," "impure +limestone," "hard coarse grits," "siliceous grit"--a considerable variation +for so small an area as that of a county. Certain sandy beds on the left +bank of the Towy, which Sir R. Murchison had, in his _Silurian System_, +classed as Caradoc sandstone (evidently from their mineral characters), he +now finds, from their fossils, belong to the Llandeilo formation. +Nevertheless, inferences from mineral characters are still habitually drawn +and received. Though _Siluria_, in common with other geological works, +supplies numerous proofs that rocks of the same age are often of +widely-different composition a few miles off, while rocks of widely +different ages are often of similar composition; and though Sir. R. +Murchison shows us, as in the case just cited, that he has himself in past +times been misled by trusting to lithological evidence; yet his reasoning, +all through _Siluria_, shows that he still thinks it natural to expect +formations of the same age to be chemically similar, even in remote +regions. For example, in treating of the Silurian rocks of South Scotland, +he says:--"When traversing the tract between Dumfries and Moffat in 1850, +it occurred to me that the dull reddish or purple sandstone and schist to +the north of the former town, which so resembled the bottom rocks of the +Longmynd, Llanberis, and St. David's, would prove to be of the same age;" +and further on he again insists upon the fact that these strata "are +absolutely of the same composition as the bottom rocks of the Silurian +region." + +On this unity of mineral character it is, that this Scottish formation is +concluded to be contemporaneous with the lowest formations in Wales; for +the scanty palaeontological evidence suffices neither for proof nor +disproof. Now, had there been a continuity of like strata in like order +between Wales and Scotland, there might have been little to criticise in +this conclusion. But since Sir R. Murchison himself admits, that in +Westmoreland and Cumberland, some members of the system "assume a +lithological aspect different from what they maintain in the Silurian and +Welsh region," there seems no reason to expect mineralogical continuity in +Scotland. Obviously therefore, the assumption that these Scottish +formations are of the same age with the Longmynd of Shropshire, implies the +latent belief that certain mineral characters indicate certain eras. + +Far more striking instances, however, of the influence of this latent +belief remain to be given. Not in such comparatively near districts as the +Scottish lowlands only, does Sir R. Murchison expect a repetition of the +Longmynd strata; but in the Rhenish provinces, certain "quartzose +flagstones and grits, like those of the Longmynd," are seemingly concluded +to be of contemporaneous origin, because of their likeness. "Quartzites in +roofing-slates with a greenish tinge that reminded us of the lower slates +of Cumberland and Westmoreland," are evidently suspected to be of the same +age. In Russia, he remarks that the carboniferous limestones "are overlaid +along the western edge of the Ural chain by sandstones and grits, which +occupy much the same place in the general series as the millstone grit of +England;" and in calling this group, as he does, the "representative of the +millstone grit," Sir R. Murchison clearly shows that he thinks likeness of +mineral composition some evidence of equivalence in time, even at that +great distance. Nay, on the flanks of the Andes and in the United States, +such similarities are looked for, and considered as significant of certain +ages. Not that Sir R. Murchison contends theoretically for this relation +between lithological character and date. For on the page from which we have +just quoted (_Siluria_, p. 387), he says, that "whilst the soft Lower +Silurian clays and sands of St. Petersburg have their equivalents in the +hard schists and quartz rocks with gold veins in the heart of the Ural +mountains, the equally soft red and green Devonian marls of the Valdai +Hills are represented on the western flank of that chain, by hard, +contorted, and fractured limestones." But these, and other such admissions, +seem to go for little. Whilst himself asserting that the Potsdam-sandstone +of North America, the Lingula-flags of England, and the alum-slates of +Scandinavia are of the same period--while fully aware that among the +Silurian formations of Wales, there are oolitic strata like those of +secondary age; yet is his reasoning more or less coloured by the +assumption, that formations of like qualities probably belong to the same +era. Is it not manifest, then, that the exploded hypothesis of Werner +continues to influence geological speculation? + +"But," it will perhaps be said, "though individual strata are not +continuous over large areas, yet systems of strata are. Though within a few +miles the same bed gradually passes from clay into sand, or thins out and +disappears, yet the group of strata to which it belongs does not do so; but +maintains in remote regions the same relations to other groups." + +This is the generally-current belief. On this assumption the received +geological classifications appear to be framed. The Silurian system, the +Devonian system, the Carboniferous system, etc., are set down in our books +as groups of formations which everywhere succeed each other in a given +order; and are severally everywhere of the same age. Though it may not be +asserted that these successive systems are universal; yet it seems to be +tacitly assumed that they are so. In North and South America, in Asia, in +Australia, sets of strata are assimilated to one or other of these groups; +and their possession of certain mineral characters and a certain order of +superposition are among the reasons assigned for so assimilating them. +Though, probably, no competent geologist would contend that the European +classification of strata is applicable to the globe as a whole; yet most, +if not all geologists, write as though it were so. Among readers of works +on Geology, nine out of ten carry away the impression that the divisions, +Primary, Secondary and Tertiary, are of absolute and uniform application; +that these great divisions are separable into subdivisions, each of which +is definitely distinguishable from the rest, and is everywhere recognizable +by its characters as such or such; and that in all parts of the Earth, +these minor systems severally began and ended at the same time. When they +meet with the term "carboniferous era," they take for granted that it was +an era universally carboniferous--that it was, what Hugh Miller indeed +actually describes it, an era when the Earth bore a vegetation far more +luxuriant than it has since done; and were they in any of our colonies to +meet with a coal-bed, they would conclude that, as a matter of course, it +was of the same age as the English coal-beds. + +Now this belief that geologic "systems" are universal, is quite as +untenable as the other. It is just as absurd when considered _a priori_; +and it is equally inconsistent with the facts. Though some series of strata +classed together as Oolite, may range over a wider district than any one +stratum of the series; yet we have but to ask what were the circumstances +of its deposit, to see that the Oolitic series, like one of its individual +strata, must be of local origin; and that there is not likely to be +anywhere else, a series that exactly corresponds, either in its characters +or in its commencement and termination. For the formation of such a series +implies an area of subsidence, in which its component beds were thrown +down. Every area of subsidence is necessarily limited; and to suppose that +there exist elsewhere groups of beds completely answering to those known as +Oolite, is to suppose that, in contemporaneous areas of subsidence, like +processes were going on. There is no reason to suppose this; but every +reason to suppose the reverse. That in contemporaneous areas of subsidence +throughout the globe, the conditions would cause the formation of Oolite, +or anything like it, is an assumption which no modern geologist would +openly make: he would say that the equivalent series of beds found +elsewhere, would very likely be of dissimilar mineral character. + +Moreover, in these contemporaneous areas of subsidence, the phenomena going +on would not only be more or less different in kind; but in no two cases +would they be likely to agree in their commencements and terminations. The +probabilities are greatly against separate portions of the Earth's surface +beginning to subside at the same time, and ceasing to subside at the same +time--a coincidence which alone could produce equivalent groups of strata. +Subsidences in different places begin and end with utter irregularity; and +hence the groups of strata thrown down in them can but rarely correspond. +Measured against each other in time, their limits will disagree. They will +refuse to fit into any scheme of definite divisions. On turning to the +evidence, we find that it daily tends more and more to justify these _a +priori_ positions. Take, as an example, the Old Red Sandstone system. In +the north of England this is represented by a single stratum of +conglomerate. In Herefordshire, Worcestershire, and Shropshire, it expands +into a series of strata from eight to ten thousand feet thick, made up of +conglomerates, red, green, and white sandstones, red, green, and spotted +marls, and concretionary limestones. To the south-west, as between +Caermarthen and Pembroke, these Old Red Sandstone strata exhibit +considerable lithological changes; and there is an absence of fossil +fishes. On the other side of the Bristol Channel, they display further +changes in mineral characters and remains. While in South Devon and +Cornwall, the equivalent strata, consisting chiefly of slates, schists, and +limestones, are so wholly different, that they were for a long time classed +as Silurian. When we thus see that in certain directions the whole group of +deposits thins out, and that its mineral characters as well as its fossils +change within moderate distances; does it not become clear that the whole +group of deposits was a local one? And when we find, in other regions, +formations analogous to these Old Red Sandstone or Devonian formations; is +it certain--is it even probable--that they severally began and ended at the +same time with them? Should it not require overwhelming evidence to make us +believe as much? + +Yet so strongly is geological speculation swayed by the tendency to regard +the phenomena as general instead of local, that even those most on their +guard against it seem unable to escape its influence. At page 158 of his +_Principles of Geology_, Sir Charles Lyell says:-- + + "A group of red marl and red sandstone, containing salt and gypsum, + being interposed in England between the Lias and the Coal, all other + red marls and sandstones, associated some of them with salt, and + others with gypsum, and occurring not only in different parts of + Europe, but in North America, Peru, India, the salt deserts of Asia, + those of Africa--in a word, in every quarter of the globe, were + referred to one and the same period.... It was in vain to urge as an + objection the improbability of the hypothesis which implies that all + the moving waters on the globe were once simultaneously charged with + sediment of a red colour. But the rashness of pretending to identify, + in age, all the red sandstones and marls in question, has at length + been sufficiently exposed, by the discovery that, even in Europe, + they belong decidedly to many different epochs." + +Nevertheless, while in this and numerous passages of like implication, Sir +C. Lyell protests against the bias here illustrated, he seems himself not +completely free from it. Though he utterly rejects the old hypothesis that +all over the Earth the same continuous strata lie upon each other in +regular order, like the coats of an onion, he still writes as though +geologic "systems" do thus succeed each other. A reader of his _Manual_ +would certainly suppose him to believe, that the Primary epoch ended, and +the Secondary epoch commenced, all over the world at the same time--that +these terms really correspond to distinct universal eras in Nature. When he +assumes, as he does, that the division between Cambrian and Lower Silurian +in America, answers chronologically to the division between Cambrian and +Lower Silurian in Wales--when he takes for granted that the partings of +Lower from Middle Silurian, and of Middle Silurian from Upper, in the one +region, are of the same dates as the like partings in the other region; +does it not seem that he believes geologic "systems" to be universal, in +the sense that their separations were in all places contemporaneous? Though +he would, doubtless, disown this as an article of faith, is not his +thinking unconsciously influenced by it? Must we not say that though the +onion-coat hypothesis is dead, its spirit is traceable, under a +transcendental form, even in the conclusions of its antagonists? + + * * * * * + +Let us now consider another leading geological doctrine, introduced to us +by the cases just mentioned. We mean the doctrine that strata of the same +age contain like fossils; and that, therefore, the age and relative +position of any stratum may be known by its fossils. While the theory that +strata of like mineral characters were everywhere deposited simultaneously, +has been ostensibly abandoned, there has been accepted the theory that in +each geologic epoch similar plants and animals existed everywhere; and +that, therefore, the epoch to which any formation belongs may be known by +the organic remains contained in the formation. Though, perhaps, no leading +geologist would openly commit himself to an unqualified assertion of this +theory, yet it is tacitly assumed in current geological reasoning. + +This theory, however, is scarcely more tenable than the other. It cannot be +concluded with any certainty, that formations in which similar organic +remains are found, were of contemporaneous origin; nor can it be safely +concluded that strata containing different organic remains are of different +ages. To most readers these will be startling propositions; but they are +fully admitted by the highest authorities. Sir Charles Lyell confesses that +the test of organic remains must be used "under very much the same +restrictions as the test of mineral composition." Sir Henry de la Beche, +who variously illustrates this truth, gives, as one instance, the great +incongruity there must be between the fossils of our carboniferous rocks +and those of the marine strata deposited at the same period. But though, in +the abstract, the danger of basing positive conclusions on evidence derived +from fossils, is clearly recognized; yet, in the concrete, this danger is +generally disregarded. The established conclusions respecting the ages of +strata, take but little note of it; and by some geologists it seems +altogether ignored. Throughout his _Siluria_, Sir R. Murchison habitually +assumes that the same, or kindred, species, lived in all parts of the Earth +at the same time. In Russia, in Bohemia, in the United States, in South +America, strata are classed as belonging to this or that part of the +Silurian system, because of the similar fossils contained in them--are +concluded to be everywhere contemporaneous if they enclose a proportion of +identical or allied forms. In Russia the relative position of a stratum is +inferred from the fact that, along with some Wenlock forms, it yields the +_Pentamerus oblongus_. Certain crustaceans called Eurypteri, being +characteristic of the Upper Ludlow rock, it is remarked that "large +Eurypteri occur in a so-called black grey-wacke slate in Westmoreland, in +Oneida County, New York, which will probably be found to be on the parallel +of the Upper Ludlow rock:" in which word "probably," we see both how +dominant is this belief of universal distribution of similar creatures at +the same period, and how apt this belief is to make its own proof, by +raising the expectation that the ages are identical when the forms are +alike. Besides thus interpreting the formations of Russia, England, and +America, Sir R. Murchison thus interprets those of the antipodes. Fossils +from Victoria Colony, he agrees with the Government-surveyor in classing as +of Lower Silurian or Llandovery age: that is, he takes for granted that +when certain crustaceans and mollusks were living in Wales, certain similar +crustaceans and mollusks were living in Australia. + +Yet the improbability of this assumption may be readily shown from Sir R. +Murchison's own facts. If, as he points out, the crustacean fossils of the +uppermost Silurian rocks in Lanarkshire are, "with one doubtful exception," +"all distinct from any of the forms on the same horizon in England;" how +can it be fairly presumed that the forms existing on the other side of the +Earth during the Silurian period, were nearly allied to those existing +here? Not only, indeed, do Sir R. Murchison's conclusions tacitly assume +this doctrine of universal distribution, but he distinctly enunciates it. +"The mere presence of a graptolite," he says, "will at once decide that the +enclosing rock is Silurian;" and he says this, notwithstanding repeated +warnings against such generalizations. During the progress of Geology, it +has over and over again happened that a particular fossil, long considered +characteristic of a particular formation, has been afterwards discovered in +other formations. Until some twelve years ago, Goniatites had not been +found lower than the Devonian rocks; but now, in Bohemia, they have been +found in rocks classed as Silurian. Quite recently, the Orthoceras, +previously supposed to be a type exclusively Palaeozoic, has been detected +along with mesozoic Ammonites and Belemnites. Yet hosts of such experiences +fail to extinguish the assumption, that the age of a stratum may be +determined by the occurrence in it of a single fossil form. + +Nay, this assumption survives evidence of even a still more destructive +kind. Referring to the Silurian system in Western Ireland, Sir R. Murchison +says, "in the beds near Maam, Professor Nicol and myself collected remains, +some of which would be considered Lower, and others Upper, Silurian;" and +he then names sundry fossils which, in England, belong to the summit of the +Ludlow rocks, or highest Silurian strata; "some, which elsewhere are known +only in rocks of Llandovery age," that is, of middle Silurian age; and +some, only before known in Lower Silurian strata, not far above the most +ancient fossiliferous beds. Now what do these facts prove? Clearly, they +prove that species which in Wales are separated by strata more than twenty +thousand feet deep, and therefore seem to belong to periods far more remote +from each other, were really coexistent. They prove that the mollusks and +crinoids held characteristic of early Silurian strata, and supposed to have +become extinct long before the mollusks and crinoids of the later Silurian +strata came into existence, were really flourishing at the same time with +these last; and that these last possibly date back to as early a period as +the first. They prove that not only the mineral characters of sedimentary +formations, but also the collections of organic forms they contain, depend, +to a great extent, on local circumstances. They prove that the fossils met +with in any series of strata, cannot be taken as representing anything like +the whole Flora and Fauna of the period they belong to. In brief, they +throw great doubt upon numerous geological generalizations. + +Notwithstanding facts like these, and notwithstanding his avowed opinion +that the test of organic remains must be used "under very much the same +restrictions as the test of mineral composition," Sir Charles Lyell, too, +bases positive conclusions on this test: even where the community of +fossils is slight and the distance great. Having decided that in various +places in Europe, middle Eocene strata are distinguished by nummulites; he +infers, without any other assigned evidence, that wherever nummulites are +found--in Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, in Persia, Scinde, Cutch, Eastern +Bengal, and the frontiers of China--the containing formation is middle +Eocene. And from this inference he draws the following important +corollary:-- + + "When we have once arrived at the conviction that the nummulitic + formation occupies a middle place in the Eocene series, we are struck + with the comparatively modern date to which some of the greatest + revolutions in the physical geography of Europe, Asia, and northern + Africa must be referred. All the mountain chains, such as the Alps, + Pyrenees, Carpathians, and Himalayas, into the composition of whose + central and loftiest parts the nummulitic strata enter bodily, could + have had no existence till after the middle Eocene + period."--_Manual_, p. 232. + +A still more marked case follows on the next page. Because a certain bed at +Claiborne in Alabama, which contains "_four hundred_ species of marine +shells," includes among them the _Cardita planicosta_, "and _some others_ +identical with European species, or very nearly allied to them," Sir C. +Lyell says it is "highly probable the Claiborne beds agree in age with the +central or Bracklesham group of England." When we find contemporaneity +supposed on the strength of a community no greater than that which +sometimes exists between strata of widely-different ages in the same +country, it seems very much as though the above-quoted caution had been +forgotten. It appears to be assumed for the occasion, that species which +had a wide range in space had a narrow range in time; which is the reverse +of the fact. The tendency to systematize overrides the evidence, and +thrusts Nature into a formula too rigid to fit her endless variety. + +"But," it may be urged, "surely, when in different places the order of +superposition, the mineral characters, and the fossils, agree, it may be +safely concluded that the formations thus corresponding are equivalents in +time. If, for example, the United States display the same succession of +Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous systems, lithologically similar, and +characterized by like fossils, it is a fair inference that these groups of +strata were severally deposited in America at the same periods that they +were deposited here." + +On this position, which seems a strong one, we have, in the first place, to +remark, that the evidence of correspondence is always more or less +suspicious. We have already adverted to the several "idols"--if we may use +Bacon's metaphor--to which geologists unconsciously sacrifice, when +interpreting the structures of unexplored regions. Carrying with them the +classification of strata existing in Europe, and assuming that groups of +strata in other parts of the world must answer to some of the groups of +strata known here, they are necessarily prone to assert parallelism on +insufficient evidence. They scarcely entertain the previous question, +whether the formations they are examining have or have not any European +equivalents; but the question is--with which of the European series shall +they be classed?--with which do they most agree?--from which do they differ +least? And this being the mode of enquiry, there is apt to result great +laxity of interpretation. How lax the interpretation really is, may be +readily shown. When strata are discontinuous, as between Europe and +America, no evidence can be derived from the order of superposition, apart +from mineral characters and organic remains; for, unless strata can be +continuously traced, mineral characters and organic remains are the only +means of classing them as such or such. + +As to the test of mineral characters, we have seen that it is almost +worthless; and no modern geologist would dare to say it should be relied +on. If the Old Red Sandstone series in mid-England, differs wholly in +lithological aspect from the equivalent series in South Devon, it is clear +that similarities of texture and composition can have no weight in +assimilating a system of strata in another quarter of the globe to some +European system. The test of fossils, therefore, is the only one that +remains; and with how little strictness this test is applied, one case will +show. Of forty-six species of British Devonian corals, only six occur in +America; and this, notwithstanding the wide range which the Anthozoa are +known to have. Similarly of the Mollusca and Crinoidea, it appears that, +while there are sundry genera found in America that are found here, there +are scarcely any of the same species. And Sir Charles Lyell admits that +"the difficulty of deciding on the exact parallelism of the New York +subdivisions, as above enumerated, with the members of the European +Devonian, is very great, so few are the species in common." Yet it is on +the strength of community of fossils, that the whole Devonian series of the +United States is assumed to be contemporaneous with the whole Devonian +series of England. And it is partly on the ground that the Devonian of the +United States corresponds in time with our Devonian, that Sir Charles Lyell +concludes the superjacent coal-measures of the two countries to be of the +same age. Is it not, then, as we said, that the evidence in these cases is +very suspicious? + +Should it be replied, as it may fairly be, that this correspondence from +which the synchronism of distant formations is inferred, is not a +correspondence between particular species or particular genera, but between +the general characters of the contained assemblages of fossils--between the +_facies_ of the two Faunas; the rejoinder is, that though such +correspondence is a stronger evidence of synchronism it is still an +insufficient one. To infer synchronism from such correspondence, involves +the postulate that throughout each geologic era there has habitually +existed a recognizable similarity between the groups of organic forms +inhabiting all the different parts of the Earth; and that the causes which +have in one part of the Earth changed the organic forms into those which +characterize the next era, have simultaneously acted in all other parts of +the Earth, in such ways as to produce parallel changes of their organic +forms. Now this is not only a large assumption to make; but it is an +assumption contrary to probability. The probability is, that the causes +which have changed Faunas have been local rather than universal; that hence +while the Faunas of some regions have been rapidly changing, those of +others have been almost quiescent; and that when such others have been +changed, it has been, not in such ways as to maintain parallelism, but in +such ways as to produce divergence. + +Even supposing, however, that districts some hundreds of miles apart, +furnished groups of strata that completely agreed in their order of +superposition, their mineral characters, and their fossils, we should still +have inadequate proof of contemporaneity. For there are conditions, very +likely to occur, under which such groups might differ widely in age. If +there be a continent of which the strata crop out on the surface obliquely +to the line of coast--running, say, west-northwest, while the coast runs +east and west--it is clear that each group of strata will crop out on the +beach at a particular part of the coast; that further west the next group +of strata will crop out on the beach; and so continuously. As the +localization of marine plants and animals is in a considerable degree +determined by the nature of the rocks and their detritus, it follows that +each part of this coast will have its more or less distinct Flora and +Fauna. What now must result from the action of the waves in the course of a +geologic epoch? As the sea makes slow inroads on the land, the place at +which each group of strata crops out on the beach will gradually move +towards the west: its distinctive fish, mollusks, crustaceans, and +sea-weeds, migrating with it. Further, the detritus of each of these groups +of strata will, as the point of outcrop moves westwards, be deposited over +the detritus of the group in advance of it. And the consequence of these +actions, carried on for one of those enormous periods required for geologic +changes, will be that, corresponding to each eastern stratum, there will +arise a stratum far to the west which, though occupying the same position +relatively to other beds, formed of like materials, and containing like +fossils, will yet be perhaps a million years later in date. + + * * * * * + +But the illegitimacy, or at any rate the great doubtfulness, of many +current geological inferences, is best seen when we contemplate terrestrial +changes now going on: and ask how far such inferences are countenanced by +them. If we carry out rigorously the modern method of interpreting +geological phenomena, which Sir Charles Lyell has done so much to +establish--that of referring them to causes like those at present in +action--we cannot fail to see how improbable are sundry of the received +conclusions. + +Along each line of shore that is being worn away by the waves, there are +being formed mud, sand, and pebbles. This detritus, spread over the +neighbouring sea-bottom, has, in each locality, a more or less special +character; determined by the nature of the strata destroyed. In the English +Channel it is not the same as in the Irish Channel; on the east coast of +Ireland it is not the same as on the west coast; and so throughout. At the +mouth of each great river, there is being deposited sediment differing more +or less from that of other rivers in colour and quality; forming strata +that are here red, there yellow, and elsewhere brown, grey, or dirty white. +Besides which various formations, going on in deltas and along shores, +there are some much wider and still more contrasted formations. At the +bottom of the AEgaean Sea, there is accumulating a bed of Pteropod shells, +which will eventually, no doubt, become a calcareous rock. For some +hundreds of thousands of square miles, the ocean-bed between Great Britain +and North America, is being covered with a stratum of chalk; and over large +areas in the Pacific, there are going on deposits of coralline limestone. +Thus, throughout the Earth, there are at this moment being produced an +immense number of strata differing from each other in lithological +characters. Name at random any one part of the sea-bottom, and ask whether +the deposit there taking place is like the deposit taking place at some +distant part of the sea-bottom, and the almost-certainly correct answer +will be--No. The chances are not in favour of similarity, but very greatly +against it. + +In the order of superposition of strata there is occurring a like variety. +Each region of the Earth's surface has its special history of elevations, +subsidences, periods of rest; and this history in no case fits +chronologically with the history of any other portion. River deltas are now +being thrown down on formations of quite different ages. While here there +has been deposited a series of beds many hundreds of feet thick, there has +elsewhere been deposited but a single bed of fine mud. While one region of +the Earth's crust, continuing for a vast epoch above the surface of the +ocean, bears record of no changes save those resulting from denudation; +another region of the Earth's crust gives proof of various changes of +level, with their several resulting masses of stratified detritus. If +anything is to be judged from current processes, we must infer, not only +that everywhere the succession of sedimentary formations differs more or +less from the succession elsewhere; but also that in each place, there +exist groups of strata to which many other places have no equivalents. + +With respect to the organic bodies imbedded in formations now in progress, +the like truth is equally manifest, if not more manifest. Even along the +same coast, within moderate distances, the forms of life differ very +considerably; much more on coasts that are remote from each other. Again, +dissimilar creatures that are living together near the same shore, do not +leave their remains in the same beds of sediment. For instance, at the +bottom of the Adriatic, where the prevailing currents cause the deposits to +be here of mud, and there of calcareous matter, it is proved that different +species of co-existing shells are being buried in these respective +formations. On our own coasts, the marine remains found a few miles from +shore, in banks where fish congregate, are different from those found close +to the shore, where only littoral species flourish. A large proportion of +aquatic creatures have structures that do not admit of fossilization; while +of the rest, the great majority are destroyed, when dead, by the various +kinds of scavengers that creep among the rocks and weeds. So that no one +deposit near our shores can contain anything like a true representation of +the Fauna of the surrounding sea; much less of the co-existing Faunas of +other seas in the same latitude; and still less of the Faunas of seas in +distant latitudes. Were it not that the assertion seems needful, it would +be almost absurd to say, that the organic remains now being buried in the +Dogger Bank, can tell us next to nothing about the fish, crustaceans, +mollusks, and corals that are being buried in the Bay of Bengal. + +Still stronger is the argument in the case of terrestrial life. With more +numerous and greater contrasts between the plants and animals of remote +places, there is a far more imperfect registry of them. Schouw marks out on +the Earth more than twenty botanical regions, occupied by groups of forms +so far distinct from each other, that, if fossilized, geologists would +scarcely be disposed to refer them all to the same period. Of Faunas, the +Arctic differs from the Temperate; the Temperate from the Tropical; and the +South Temperate from the North Temperate. Nay, in the South Temperate Zone +itself, the two regions of South Africa and South America are unlike in +their mammals, birds, reptiles, fishes, mollusks, insects. The shells and +bones now lying at the bottoms of lakes and estuaries in these several +regions, have certainly not that similarity which is usually looked for in +those of contemporaneous strata; and the recent forms exhumed in any one of +these regions would very untruly represent the present Flora and Fauna of +the Earth. In conformity with the current style of geological reasoning, an +exhaustive examination of deposits in the Arctic circle, might be held to +prove that though at this period there were sundry mammals existing, there +were no reptiles; while the absence of mammals in the deposits of the +Galapagos Archipelago, where there are plenty of reptiles, might be held to +prove the reverse. And at the same time, from the formations extending for +two thousand miles along the great barrier-reef of Australia--formations in +which are imbedded nothing but corals, echinoderms, mollusks, crustaceans, +and fish, along with an occasional turtle, or bird, or cetacean, it might +be inferred that there lived in our epoch neither terrestrial reptiles nor +terrestrial mammals. + +The mention of Australia, indeed, suggests an illustration which, even +alone, would amply prove our case. The Fauna of this region differs widely +from any that is found elsewhere. On land all the indigenous mammals, +except bats, belong to the lowest, or implacental division; and the insects +are singularly different from those found elsewhere. The surrounding seas +contain numerous forms that are more or less strange; and among the fish +there exists a species of shark, which is the only living representative of +a genus that flourished in early geologic epochs. If, now, the modern +fossiliferous deposits of Australia were to be examined by one ignorant of +the existing Australian Fauna; and if he were to reason in the usual +manner; he would be very unlikely to class these deposits with those of the +present time. How, then, can we place confidence in the tacit assumption +that certain formations in remote parts of the Earth are referable to the +same period, because the organic remains contained in them display a +certain community of character? or that certain others are referable to +different periods, because the _facies_ of their Faunas are different? + +"But," it will be replied, "in past eras the same, or similar, organic +forms were more widely distributed than now." It may be so; but the +evidence adduced by no means proves it. The argument by which this +conclusion is reached, runs a risk of being quoted as an example of +reasoning in a circle. As already pointed out, between formations in remote +regions there is no means of ascertaining equivalence but by fossils. If, +then, the contemporaneity of remote formations is concluded from the +likeness of their fossils; how can it be said that similar plants and +animals were once more widely distributed, because they are found in +contemporaneous strata in remote regions? Is not the fallacy manifest? Even +supposing there were no such fatal objection as this, the evidence commonly +assigned would still be insufficient. For we must bear in mind that the +community of organic remains commonly thought sufficient for inferring +correspondence in time, is a very imperfect community. When the compared +sedimentary beds are far apart, it is scarcely expected that there will be +many species common to the two: it is enough if there be discovered a +considerable number of common genera. Now had it been proved that, +throughout geologic time, each genus lived but for a short period--a period +measured by a single group of strata--something might be inferred. But what +if we learn that many of the same genera continued to exist throughout +enormous epochs, measured by several vast systems of strata? "Among +molluscs, the genera _Avicula_, _Modiola_, _Terebratula_, _Lingula_, and +_Orbicula_, are found from the Silurian rocks upwards to the present day." +If, then, between the lowest fossiliferous formations and the most recent, +there exists this degree of community; must we not infer that there will +probably often exist a degree of community between strata that are far from +contemporaneous? + +Thus the reasoning from which it is concluded that similar organic forms +were once more widely spread, is doubly fallacious; and, consequently, the +classifications of foreign strata based on this conclusion are +untrustworthy. Judging from the present distribution of life, we can +scarcely expect to find similar remains in geographically remote strata of +the same age; and where, between the fossils of geographically remote +strata, we do find much similarity, it is probably often due rather to +likeness of conditions than to contemporaneity. If from causes and effects +such as we now witness, we reason back to the causes and effects of past +epochs, we discover inadequate warrant for sundry of the received +doctrines. Seeing, as we do, that in large areas of the Pacific this is a +period characterized by abundance of corals; that in the North Atlantic it +is a period in which a great chalk-deposit is being formed; and that in the +valley of the Mississippi it is a period of new coal-basins--seeing also, +as we do, that in one extensive continent this is peculiarly an era of +implacental mammals, and that in another extensive continent it is +peculiarly an era of placental mammals; we have good reason to hesitate +before accepting these sweeping generalizations which are based on a +cursory examination of strata occupying but a tenth part of the Earth's +surface. + + * * * * * + +At the outset, this article was to have been a review of the works of Hugh +Miller; but it has grown into something much more general. Nevertheless, +the remaining two doctrines which we propose to criticise, may be +conveniently treated in connection with his name, as that of one who fully +committed himself to them. And first, a few words with regard to his +position. + +That he was a man whose life was one of meritorious achievement, every one +knows. That he was a diligent and successful working geologist, scarcely +needs saying. That with indomitable perseverance he struggled up from +obscurity to a place in the world of literature and science, shows him to +have been highly endowed in character and intelligence. And that he had a +remarkable power of presenting his facts and arguments in an attractive +form, a glance at any of his books will quickly prove. By all means, let us +respect him as a man of activity and sagacity, joined with a large amount +of poetry. But while saying this we must add, that his reputation stands by +no means so high in the scientific world as in the world at large. Partly +from the fact that our Scotch neighbours are in the habit of blowing the +trumpet rather loudly before their notabilities--partly because the +charming style in which his books are written has gained him a large circle +of readers--partly, perhaps, through a praiseworthy sympathy with him as a +self-made man; Hugh Miller has met with an amount of applause which, little +as we wish to diminish it, must not be allowed to blind the public to his +defects as a man of science. + +The truth is, he was so far committed to a foregone conclusion, that he +could not become a philosophical geologist. He might be aptly described as +a theologian studying geology. The dominant idea with which he wrote, may +be seen in the titles of his books--_Law versus Miracle_,--_Footprints of +the Creator_,--_The Testimony of the Rocks_. Regarding geological facts as +evidence for or against certain religious conclusions, it was scarcely +possible for him to deal with geological facts impartially. His ruling aim +was to disprove the Development Hypothesis, the assumed implications of +which were repugnant to him; and in proportion to the strength of his +feeling, was the one-sidedness of his reasoning. He admitted that "God +might as certainly have _originated_ the species by a law of development, +as he _maintains_ it by a law of development; the existence of a First +Great Cause is as perfectly compatible with the one scheme as with the +other." Nevertheless, he considered the hypothesis at variance with +Christianity; and therefore combated with it. He apparently overlooked the +fact that the doctrines of geology in general, as held by himself, had been +rejected by many on similar grounds; and that he had himself been +repeatedly attacked for his anti-Christian teachings. He seems not to have +perceived that, just as his antagonists were wrong in condemning as +irreligious, theories which he saw were not irreligious; so might he be +wrong in condemning, on like grounds, the Theory of Evolution. In brief, he +fell short of that highest faith, which knows that all truths must +harmonize; and which is, therefore, content trustfully to follow the +evidence whithersoever it leads. + +Of course it is impossible to criticize his works without entering on this +great question to which he chiefly devoted himself. The two remaining +doctrines to be here discussed, bear directly on this question; and, as +above said, we propose to treat them in connection with Hugh Miller's name, +because, throughout his reasonings, he assumes their truth. Let it not be +supposed, however, that we shall aim to prove what he has aimed to +disprove. While we purpose showing that his arguments against the +Development Hypothesis are based on invalid assumptions; we do not purpose +showing that the opposing arguments are based on valid assumptions. We hope +to make it apparent that the geological evidence at present obtained, is +insufficient for either side; further, that there seems little probability +of sufficient evidence ever being obtained; and that if the question is +eventually decided, it must be decided on other than geological data. + + * * * * * + +The first of the current doctrines to which we have just referred, is, that +there occur in the records of former life on our planet, certain great +blanks--that though, generally, the succession of fossil forms is tolerably +continuous, yet that at two places there occur wide gaps in the series +whence it is inferred that, on at least two occasions, the previously +existing inhabitants of the Earth were almost wholly destroyed, and a +different class of inhabitants created. Comparing the general life on the +Earth to a thread, Hugh Miller says:-- + + "It is continuous from the present time up to the commencement of + the Tertiary period; and then so abrupt a break occurs, that, with + the exception of the microscopic diatomaceae to which I last evening + referred, and of one shell and one coral, not a single species + crossed the gap. On its further or remoter side, however, where the + Secondary division closes, the intermingling of species again begins, + and runs on till the commencement of this great Secondary division; + and then, just where the Palaeozoic division closes, we find another + abrupt break, crossed, if crossed at all,--for there still exists + some doubt on the subject,--by but two species of plant." + +These breaks are considered to imply actual new creations on the surface of +our planet; not only by Hugh Miller, but by the majority of geologists. And +the terms Palaeozoic, Mesozoic, and Cainozoic, are used to indicate these +three successive systems of life. It is true that some accept this belief +with caution: knowing how geologic research has been all along tending to +fill up what were once thought wide breaks. Sir Charles Lyell points out +that "the hiatus which exists in Great Britain between the fossils of the +Lias and those of the Magnesian Limestone, is supplied in Germany by the +rich fauna and flora of the Muschelkalk, Keuper, and Bunter Sandstein, +which we know to be of a date precisely intermediate." Again he remarks +that "until lately the fossils of the coal-measures were separated from +those of the antecedent Silurian group by a very abrupt and decided line of +demarcation; but recent discoveries have brought to light in Devonshire, +Belgium, the Eifel, and Westphalia, the remains of a fauna of an +intervening period." And once more, "we have also in like manner had some +success of late years in diminishing the hiatus which still separates the +Cretaceous and Eocene periods in Europe." To which let us add that since +Hugh Miller penned the passage above quoted, the second of the great gaps +he refers to has been very considerably narrowed by the discovery of strata +containing Palaeozoic genera and Mesozoic genera intermingled. Nevertheless, +the occurrence of two great revolutions in the Earth's Flora and Fauna +appears still to be held by many; and geologic nomenclature habitually +assumes it. + +Before seeking a solution of these phenomena, let us glance at the several +minor causes that produce breaks in the geological succession of organic +forms: taking first, the more general ones which modify climate, and, +therefore, the distribution of life. Among these may be noted one which has +not, we believe, been named by writers on the subject. We mean that +resulting from a certain slow astronomic rhythm, by which the northern and +southern hemispheres are alternately subject to greater extremes of +temperature. In consequence of the slight ellipticity of its orbit, the +Earth's distance from the sun varies to the extent of some 3,000,000 of +miles. At present, the aphelion occurs at the time of our northern summer; +and the perihelion during the summer of the southern hemisphere. In +consequence, however, of that slow movement of the Earth's axis which +produces the precession of the equinoxes, this state of things will in time +be reversed: the Earth will be nearest to the sun during the summer of the +northern hemisphere, and furthest from it during the southern summer or +northern winter. The period required to complete the slow movement +producing these changes, is nearly 26,000 years; and were there no +modifying process, the two hemispheres would alternately experience this +coincidence of summer with the least distance from the sun, during a period +of 13,000 years. But there is also a still slower change in the direction +of the axis major of the Earth's orbit; from which it results that the +alternation we have described is completed in about 21,000 years. That is +to say, if at a given time the Earth is nearest to the sun at our +mid-summer, and furthest from the sun at our mid-winter: then, in 10,500 +years afterwards, it will be furthest from the sun at our mid-summer, and +nearest at our mid-winter. + +Now the difference between the distances from the sun at the two extremes +of this alternation, amounts to one-thirtieth; and hence, the difference +between the quantities of heat received from the sun on a summer's day +under these opposite conditions amounts to one-fifteenth. Estimating this, +not with reference to the zero of our thermometers, but with reference to +the temperature of the celestial spaces, Sir John Herschel calculates "23 deg. +Fahrenheit as the least variation of temperature under such circumstances +which can reasonably be attributed to the actual variation of the sun's +distance." Thus, then, each hemisphere has at a certain epoch, a short +summer of extreme heat, followed by a long and very cold winter. Through +the slow change in the direction of the Earth's axis, these extremes are +gradually mitigated. And at the end of 10,500 years, there is reached the +opposite state--a long and moderate summer, with a short and mild winter. +At present, in consequence of the predominance of sea in the southern +hemisphere, the extremes to which its astronomical conditions subject it, +are much ameliorated; while the great proportion of land in the northern +hemisphere, tends to exaggerate such contrast as now exists in it between +winter and summer: whence it results that the climates of the two +hemispheres are not widely unlike. But 10,000 years hence, the northern +hemisphere will undergo annual variations of temperature far more marked +than now. + +In the last edition of his _Outlines of Astronomy_, Sir John Herschel +recognizes this as an element in geological processes: regarding it as +possibly a part-cause of those climatic changes indicated by the records of +the Earth's past. That it has had much to do with the larger changes of +climate of which we have evidence, seems unlikely, since there is reason to +think that these have been far slower and more lasting; but that it must +have entailed a rhythmical exaggeration and mitigation of the climates +otherwise produced, seems beyond question. And it seems also beyond +question that there must have been a consequent rhythmical change in the +distribution of organisms--a rhythmical change to which we here wish to +draw attention, as one cause of minor breaks in the succession of fossil +remains. Each species of plant and animal, has certain limits of heat and +cold within which only it can exist; and these limits in a great degree +determine its geographical position. It will not spread north of a certain +latitude, because it cannot bear a more northern winter, nor south of a +certain latitude, because the summer heat is too great; or else it is +indirectly restrained from spreading further by the effect of temperature +on the humidity of the air, or on the distribution of the organisms it +lives upon. + +But now, what will result from a slow alteration of climate, produced as +above described? Supposing the period we set out from is that in which the +contrast of seasons is least marked, it is manifest that during the +progress towards the period of the most violent contrast, each species of +plant and animal will gradually change its limits of distribution--will be +driven back, here by the winter's increasing cold, and there by the +summer's increasing heat--will retire into those localities that are still +fit for it. Thus during 10,000 years, each species will ebb away from +certain regions it was inhabiting; and during the succeeding 10,000 years +will flow back into those regions. From the strata there forming, its +remains will disappear; they will be absent from some of the supposed +strata; and will be found in strata higher up. But in what shapes will they +re-appear? Exposed during the 21,000 years of their slow recession and +their slow return, to changing conditions of life, they are likely to have +undergone modifications; and will probably re-appear with slight +differences of constitution and perhaps of form--will be new varieties or +perhaps new sub-species. + +To this cause of minor breaks in the succession of organic forms--a cause +on which we have dwelt because it has not been taken into account--we must +add sundry others. Besides these periodically-recurring alterations of +climate, there are the irregular ones produced by re-distributions of land +and sea; and these, sometimes less, sometimes greater, in degree, than the +rhythmical changes, must, like them, cause in each region the ebb and flow +of species; and consequent breaks, small or large as the case may be, in +the palaeontological series. Other and more special geological changes must +produce other and more local blanks in the succession of fossils. By some +inland elevation the natural drainage of a continent is modified; and +instead of the sediment it previously brought down to the sea, a great +river begins to bring down sediment unfavourable to various plants and +animals living in its delta: wherefore these disappear from the locality, +perhaps to re-appear in a changed form after a long epoch. Upheavals or +subsidences of shores or sea-bottoms, involving deviations of marine +currents, must remove the habitats of many species to which such currents +are salutary or injurious; and further, this re-distribution of currents +must alter the places of sedimentary deposits, and so stop the burying of +organic remains in some localities, and commence it in others. Had we +space, many more such causes of blanks in our palaeontological records might +be added. But it is needless here to enumerate them. They are admirably +explained and illustrated in Sir Charles Lyell's _Principles of Geology_. + +Now, if these minor revolutions of the Earth's surface produce minor breaks +in the series of fossilized remains; must not great revolutions produce +great breaks? If a local upheaval or subsidence causes throughout its small +area the absence of some links in the chain of fossil forms; does it not +follow that an upheaval or subsidence extending over a large part of the +Earth's surface, must cause the absence of a great number of such links +throughout a very wide area? + +When during a long epoch a continent, slowly subsiding, gives place to a +far-spreading ocean some miles in depth, at the bottom of which no deposits +from rivers or abraded shores can be thrown down; and when, after some +enormous period, this ocean-bottom is gradually elevated and becomes the +site of new strata; it is clear that the fossils contained in these new +strata are likely to have but little in common with the fossils of the +strata below them. Take, in illustration, the case of the North Atlantic. +We have already named the fact that between this country and the United +States, the ocean-bottom is being covered with a deposit of chalk--a +deposit that has been forming, probably, ever since there occurred that +great depression of the Earth's crust from which the Atlantic resulted in +remote geologic times. This chalk consists of the minute shells of +Foraminifera, sprinkled with remains of small Entomostraca, and probably a +few Pteropod-shells: though the sounding lines have not yet brought up any +of these last. Thus, in so far as all high forms of life are concerned, +this new chalk-formation must be a blank. At rare intervals, perhaps, a +polar bear drifted on an iceberg, may have its bones scattered over the +bed; or a dead, decaying whale may similarly leave traces. But such remains +must be so rare, that this new chalk-formation, if visible, might be +examined for a century before any of them were disclosed. If now, some +millions of years hence, the Atlantic-bed should be raised, and estuary or +shore deposits laid upon it, these deposits would contain remains of a +Flora and Fauna so distinct from everything below them, as to appear like a +new creation. + +Thus, along with continuity of life on the Earth's surface, there not only +_may_ be, but there _must_ be, great gaps, in the series of fossils; and +hence these gaps are no evidence against the doctrine of Evolution. + + * * * * * + +One other current assumption remains to be criticized; and it is the one on +which, more than on any other, depends the view taken respecting the +question of development. + +From the beginning of the controversy, the arguments for and against have +turned upon the evidence of progression in organic forms, found in the +ascending series of our sedimentary formations. On the one hand, those who +contend that higher organisms have been evolved out of lower, joined with +those who contend that successively higher organisms have been created at +successively later periods, appeal for proof to the facts of Palaeontology; +which, they say, countenance their views. On the other hand, the +Uniformitarians, who not only reject the hypothesis of development, but +deny that the modern forms of life are higher than the ancient ones, reply +that the Palaeontological evidence is at present very incomplete; that +though we have not yet found remains of highly-organized creatures in +strata of the greatest antiquity, we must not assume that no such creatures +existed when those strata were deposited; and that, probably, geological +research will eventually disclose them. + +It must be admitted that thus far, the evidence has gone in favour of the +latter party. Geological discovery has year after year shown the small +value of negative facts. The conviction that there are no traces of higher +organisms in earlier strata, has resulted not from the absence of such +remains, but from incomplete examination. At p. 460 of his _Manual of +Elementary Geology_, Sir Charles Lyell gives a list in illustration of +this. It appears that in 1709, fishes were not known lower than the Permian +system. In 1793 they were found in the subjacent Carboniferous system; in +1828 in the Devonian; in 1840 in the Upper Silurian. Of reptiles, we read +that in 1710 the lowest known were in the Permian; in 1844 they were +detected in the Carboniferous; and in 1852 in the Upper Devonian. While of +the Mammalia the list shows that in 1798 none had been discovered below the +middle Eocene; but that in 1818 they were discovered in the Lower Oolite; +and in 1847 in the Upper Trias. + +The fact is, however, that both parties set out with an inadmissible +postulate. Of the Uniformitarians, not only such writers as Hugh Miller, +but also such as Sir Charles Lyell,[T] reason as though we had found the +earliest, or something like the earliest, strata. Their antagonists, +whether defenders of the Development Hypothesis or simply Progressionists, +almost uniformly do the like. Sir R. Murchison, who is a Progressionist, +calls the lowest fossiliferous strata, "Protozoic." Prof. Ansted uses the +same term. Whether avowedly or not, all the disputants stand on this +assumption as their common ground. + + [T] Sir Charles Lyell is no longer to be classed among + Uniformitarians. With rare and admirable candour he has, since + this was written, yielded to the arguments of Mr. Darwin. + +Yet is this assumption indefensible, as some who make it very well know. +Facts may be cited against it which show that it is a more than +questionable one--that it is a highly improbable one; while the evidence +assigned in its favour will not bear criticism. + + +Because in Bohemia, Great Britain, and portions of North America, the +lowest unmetamorphosed strata yet discovered, contain but slight traces of +life, Sir R. Murchison conceives that they were formed while yet few, if +any, plants or animals had been created; and, therefore, classes them as +"Azoic." His own pages, however, show the illegitimacy of the conclusion +that there existed at that period no considerable amount of life. Such +traces of life as have been found in the Longmynd rocks, for many years +considered unfossiliferous, have been found in some of the lowest beds; and +the twenty thousand feet of superposed beds, still yield no organic +remains. If now these superposed strata throughout a depth of four miles, +are without fossils, though the strata over which they lie prove that life +had commenced; what becomes of Sir R. Murchison's inference? At page 189 of +_Siluria_, a still more conclusive fact will be found. The "Glengariff +grits," and other accompanying strata there described as 13,500 feet thick, +contain no signs of contemporaneous life. Yet Sir R. Murchison refers them +to the Devonian period--a period that had a large and varied marine Fauna. +How then, from the absence of fossils in the Longmynd beds and their +equivalents, can we conclude that the Earth was "azoic" when they were +formed? + +"But," it may be asked, "if living creatures then existed, why do we not +find fossiliferous strata of that age, or an earlier age?" One reply is, +that the non-existence of such strata is but a negative fact--we have not +found them. And considering how little we know even of the two-fifths of +the Earth's surface now above the sea, and how absolutely ignorant we are +of the three-fifths below the sea, it is rash to say that no such strata +exist. But the chief reply is, that these records of the Earth's earlier +history have been in great part destroyed, by agencies that are ever +tending to destroy such records. + +It is an established geological doctrine, that sedimentary strata are +liable to be changed, more or less completely, by igneous action. The rocks +originally classed as "transition," because they were intermediate in +character between the igneous rocks found below them, and the sedimentary +strata found above them, are now known to be nothing else than sedimentary +strata altered in texture and appearance by the intense heat of adjacent +molten matter; and hence are renamed "metamorphic rocks." Modern researches +have shown, too, that these metamorphic rocks are not, as was once +supposed, all of the same age. Besides primary and secondary strata that +have been transformed by igneous action, there are similarly-changed +deposits of tertiary origin; and that, even for a quarter of a mile from +the point of contact with neighbouring granite. By this process fossils are +of course destroyed. "In some cases," says Sir Charles Lyell, "dark +limestones, replete with shells and corals, have been turned into white +statuary marble, and hard clays, containing vegetable or other remains, +into slates called mica-schist or hornblende-schist; every vestige of the +organic bodies having been obliterated." + +Again, it is fast becoming an acknowledged truth, that igneous rock, of +whatever kind, is the product of sedimentary strata that have been +completely melted. Granite and gneiss, which are of like chemical +composition, have been shown, in various cases, to pass one into the other: +as at Valorsine, near Mont Blanc, where the two, in contact, are observed +to "both undergo a modification of mineral character. The granite still +remaining unstratified, becomes charged with green particles; and the +talcose gneiss assumes a granitiform structure without losing its +stratification." In the Aberdeen-granite, lumps of unmelted gneiss are +frequently found; and we can ourselves bear witness that on the banks of +Loch Sunart, there is ample proof that the granite of that region, when it +was molten, contained incompletely-fused clots of sedimentary strata. Nor +is this all. Fifty years ago, it was thought that all granitic rocks were +primitive, or existed before any sedimentary strata; but it is now "no easy +task to point out a single mass of granite demonstrably more ancient than +all the known fossiliferous deposits." + +In brief, accumulated evidence clearly shows, that by contact with, or +proximity to, the molten matter of the Earth's nucleus, all beds of +sediment are liable to be actually melted, or partially fused, or so heated +as to agglutinate their particles; and that according to the temperature +they have been raised to, and the circumstances under which they cool, they +assume the forms of granite, porphyry, trap, gneiss, or rock otherwise +altered. Further, it is manifest that though strata of various ages have +been thus changed, yet that the most ancient strata have been so changed to +the greatest extent: both because they have habitually lain nearer to the +centre of igneous agency; and because they have been for a longer period +liable to the effects of this agency. Whence it follows, that sedimentary +strata passing a certain antiquity, are unlikely to be found in an +unmetamorphosed state; and that strata much earlier than those are certain +to have been melted up. Thus if, throughout a past of indefinite duration, +there had been at work those aqueous and igneous agencies which we see +still at work, the state of the Earth's crust might be just what we find +it. We have no evidence which puts a limit to the period throughout which +this formation and destruction of strata has been going on. For aught the +facts prove, it may have been going on for ten times the period measured by +our whole series of sedimentary deposits. + +Besides having, in the present appearances of the Earth's crust, no data +for fixing a commencement to these processes--besides finding that the +evidence permits us to assume such commencement to have been inconceivably +remote, as compared even with the vast eras of geology; we are not without +positive grounds for inferring the inconceivable remoteness of such +commencement. Modern geology has established truths which are +irreconcilable with the belief that the formation and destruction of strata +began when the Cambrian rocks were formed; or at anything like so recent a +time. One fact from _Siluria_ will suffice. Sir R. Murchison estimates the +vertical thickness of Silurian strata in Wales, at from 26,000 to 27,000 +feet, or about five miles; and if to this we add the vertical depth of the +Cambrian strata, on which the Silurians lie conformably, there results, on +the lowest computation, a total depth of seven miles. + +Now it is held by geologists, that this vast accumulation of strata must +have been deposited in an area of gradual subsidence. These strata could +not have been thus laid on each other in regular order, unless the Earth's +crust had been at that place sinking, either continuously or by very small +steps. Such an immense subsidence, however, must have been impossible +without a crust of great thickness. The Earth's molten nucleus tends ever, +with enormous force, to assume the form of a regular oblate spheroid. Any +depression of its crust below the surface of equilibrium, and any elevation +of its crust above that surface, have to withstand immense resistance. It +follows inevitably that, with a thin crust, nothing but small elevations +and subsidences would be possible; and that, conversely, a subsidence of +seven miles implies a crust of comparatively great strength, or, in other +words, of great thickness. Indeed, if we compare this inferred subsidence +in the Silurian period, with such elevations and depressions as our +existing continents and oceans display, we see no evidence that the Earth's +crust was appreciably thinner then than now. What are the implications? If, +as geologists generally admit, the Earth's crust has resulted from that +slow cooling which is even still going on--if we see no sign that at the +time when the earliest Cambrian strata were formed, this crust was +appreciably thinner than now; we are forced to conclude that the era during +which it acquired that great thickness possessed in the Cambrian period, +was enormous as compared with the interval between the Cambrian period and +our own. But during the incalculable series of epochs thus inferred, there +existed an ocean, tides, winds, waves, rain, rivers. The agencies by which +the denudation of continents and filling up of seas have all along been +carried on, were as active then as now. Endless successions of strata must +have been formed. And when we ask--Where are they? Nature's obvious reply +is--They have been destroyed by that igneous action to which so great a +part of our oldest-known strata owe their fusion or metamorphosis. + +Only the last chapter of the Earth's history has come down to us. The many +previous chapters, stretching back to a time immeasurably remote, have been +burnt; and with them all the records of life we may presume they contained. +The greater part of the evidence which might have served to settle the +Development-controversy, is for ever lost; and on neither side can the +arguments derived from Geology be conclusive. + +"But how happen there to be such evidences of progression as exist?" it may +be asked. "How happens it that, in ascending from the most ancient strata +to the most recent strata, we do find a succession of organic forms, which, +however irregularly, carries us from lower to higher?" This question seems +difficult to answer. Nevertheless, there is reason for thinking that +nothing can be safely inferred from the apparent progression here cited. +And the illustration which shows as much, will, we believe, also show how +little trust is to be placed in certain geological generalizations that +appear to be well established. With this somewhat elaborate illustration, +to which we now pass, our criticisms may fitly conclude. + +Let us suppose that in a region now covered by wide ocean, there begins one +of those great and gradual upheavals by which new continents are formed. To +be precise, let us say that in the South Pacific, midway between New +Zealand and Patagonia, the sea-bottom has been little by little thrust up +towards the surface, and is about to emerge. What will be the successive +phenomena, geological and biological, which are likely to occur before this +emerging sea-bottom has become another Europe or Asia? + +In the first place, such portions of the incipient land as are raised to +the level of the waves, will be rapidly denuded by them: their soft +substance will be torn up by the breakers, carried away by the local +currents, and deposited in neighbouring deeper water. Successive small +upheavals will bring new and larger areas within reach of the waves; fresh +portions will each time be removed from the surfaces previously denuded; +and further, some of the newly-formed strata, being elevated nearly to the +level of the water, will be washed away and re-deposited. In course of +time, the harder formations of the upraised sea-bottom will be uncovered. +These being less easily destroyed, will remain permanently above the +surface; and at their margins will arise the usual breaking down of rocks +into beach-sand and pebbles. While in the slow process of this elevation, +going on at the rate of perhaps two or three feet in a century, most of the +sedimentary deposits produced will be again and again destroyed and +reformed; there will, in those adjacent areas of subsidence which accompany +areas of elevation, be more or less continuous successions of sedimentary +deposits. + +And now what will be the character of these new strata? They will +necessarily contain scarcely any traces of life. The deposits that had +previously been slowly formed at the bottom of this wide ocean, would be +sprinkled with fossils of but few species. The oceanic Fauna is not a rich +one; its hydrozoa do not admit of preservation; and the hard parts of its +few kinds of molluscs and crustaceans and insects are mostly fragile. +Hence, when the ocean-bed was here and there raised to the surface--when +its strata of sediment with their contained organic fragments were torn up +and long washed about by the breakers before being re-deposited--when the +re-deposits were again and again subject to this violent abrading action by +subsequent small elevations, as they would mostly be; what few fragile +organic remains they contained, would be in nearly all cases destroyed. +Thus such of the first-formed strata as survived the repeated changes of +level, would be practically "azoic;" like the Cambrian of our geologists. +When by the washing away of the soft deposits, the hard sub-strata had been +exposed in the shape of rocky islets, and a footing had thus been +furnished, the pioneers of a new life might be expected to make their +appearance. What would they be? Not any of the surrounding oceanic species, +for these are not fitted for a littoral life; but species flourishing on +some of the far-distant shores of the Pacific. Of such the first to +establish themselves would be sea-weeds and zoophytes; both because their +swarming spores and gemmules would be the most readily conveyed with +safety, and because when conveyed they would find fit food. It is true that +Cirrhipeds and Lamellibranchs, subsisting on the minute creatures which +everywhere people the sea, would also find fit food. + +But passing over the fact that the germs of such higher forms are neither +so abundant nor so well fitted to bear long voyages, there is the more +important fact that the individuals arising from these germs can reproduce +only sexually, and that this vastly increases the obstacles to the +establishment of their races. The chances of early colonization are +immensely in favour of species which, multiplying by agamogenesis, can +people a whole shore from a single germ; and immensely against species +which, multiplying only by gamogenesis, must be introduced in considerable +numbers that some may survive, meet, and propagate. Thus we infer that the +earliest traces of life left in the sedimentary deposits near these new +shores, will be traces of life as humble as that indicated in the most +ancient rocks of Great Britain and Ireland. Imagine now that the processes +we have briefly indicated, continue--that the emerging lands become wider +in extent, and fringed by higher and more varied shores; and that there +still go on those ocean-currents which, at long intervals, convey from far +distant shores immigrant forms of life. What will result? Lapse of time +will of course favour the introduction of such new forms: admitting, as it +must, of those combinations of fit conditions, which, under the law of +probabilities, can occur only at very distant intervals. Moreover, the +increasing area of the islands, individually and as a group, implies +increasing length of coast; from which there follows a longer line of +contact with the streams and waves that bring drifting masses; and, +therefore, a greater chance that germs of fresh life will be stranded. + +And once more, the comparatively-varied shores, presenting physical +conditions that change from mile to mile, will furnish suitable habitats +for more numerous species. So that as the elevation proceeds, three causes +conspire to introduce additional marine plants and animals. To what classes +will the increasing Fauna be for a long period confined? Of course, to +classes of which individuals, or their germs, are most liable to be carried +far away from their native shores by floating sea-weed or drift-wood; to +classes which are also least likely to perish in transit, or from change of +climate; and to those which can best subsist around coasts comparatively +bare of life. Evidently, then, corals, annelids, inferior molluscs, and +crustaceans of low grade, will chiefly constitute the early Fauna. The +large predatory members of these classes, will be later in establishing +themselves; both because the new shores must first become well peopled by +the creatures they prey on, and because, being more complex, they or their +ova must be less likely to survive the journey, and the change of +conditions. + +We may infer, then, that the strata deposited next after the almost "azoic" +strata, would contain the remains of invertebrata, allied to those found +near the shores of Australia and South America. Of such invertebrate +remains, the lower beds would furnish comparatively few genera, and those +of relatively low types; while in the upper beds the number of genera would +be greater, and the types higher: just as among the fossils of our Silurian +system. As this great geologic change slowly progressed through its long +history of earthquakes, volcanic disturbances, minor upheavals and +subsidences--as the extent of the archipelago became greater and its +smaller islands coalesced into larger ones, while its coast line grew still +longer and more varied, and the neighbouring sea more thickly inhabited by +inferior forms of life; the lowest division of the vertebrata would begin +to be represented. In order of time, fish would naturally come after the +lower invertebrata: both as being less likely to have their ova transported +across the waste of waters, and as requiring for their subsistence a +pre-existing Fauna of some development. They might be expected to make +their appearance along with the predaceous crustaceans; as they do in the +uppermost Silurian rocks. + +And here, too, let us remark, that as, during this long epoch we have been +describing, the sea would have made great inroads on some of the newly +raised lands that had remained stationary; and would probably in some +places have reached masses of igneous or metamorphic rocks; there might, in +course of time, arise by the decomposition and denudation of such rocks, +local deposits coloured with oxide of iron, like our Old Red Sandstone. And +in these deposits might be buried the remains of the fish then peopling the +neighbouring sea. + +Meanwhile, how would the surfaces of the upheaved masses be occupied? At +first their deserts of naked rocks and pebbles would bear only the humblest +forms of vegetal life, such as we find in grey and orange patches on our +own rugged mountain sides; for these alone could flourish on such surfaces, +and their spores would be the most readily transported. When, by the decay +of such protophytes, and that decomposition of rock effected by them, there +had resulted a fit habitat for mosses; these, of which the germs might be +conveyed in drifted trees, would begin to spread. A soil having been +eventually thus produced, it would become possible for plants of higher +organization to find roothold; and as in the way we have described the +archipelago and its constituent islands grew larger, and had more +multiplied relations with winds and waters, such higher plants might be +expected ultimately to have their seeds transferred from the nearest lands. +After something like a Flora had thus colonized the surface, it would +become possible for insects to exist; and of air-breathing creatures, +insects would manifestly be among the first to find their way from +elsewhere. + +As, however, terrestrial organisms, both vegetal and animal, are much less +likely than marine organisms to survive the accidents of transport from +distant shores; it is clear that long after the sea surrounding these new +lands had acquired a varied Flora and Fauna, the lands themselves would +still be comparatively bare; and thus that the early strata, like our +Silurians, would afford no traces of terrestrial life. By the time that +large areas had been raised above the ocean, we may fairly suppose a +luxuriant vegetation to have been acquired. Under what circumstances are we +likely to find this vegetation fossilized? Large surfaces of land imply +large rivers with their accompanying deltas; and are liable to have lakes +and swamps. These, as we know from extant cases, are favourable to rank +vegetation; and afford the conditions needful for preserving it in the +shape of coal-beds. Observe, then, that while in the early history of such +a continent a carboniferous period could not occur, the occurrence of a +carboniferous period would become probable after long-continued upheavals +had uncovered large areas. As in our own sedimentary series, coal-beds +would make their appearance only after there had been enormous +accumulations of earlier strata charged with marine fossils. + +Let us ask next, in what order the higher forms of animal life would make +their appearance. We have seen how, in the succession of marine forms, +there would be something like a progress from the lower to the higher: +bringing us in the end to predaceous molluscs, crustaceans, and fish. What +are likely to succeed fish? After marine creatures, those which would have +the greatest chance of surviving the voyage would be amphibious reptiles: +both because they are more tenacious of life than higher animals, and +because they would be less completely out of their element. Such reptiles +as can live in both fresh and salt water, like alligators; and such as are +drifted out of the mouths of great rivers on floating trees, as Humboldt +says the Orinoco alligators are; might be early colonists. + +It is manifest, too, that reptiles of other kinds would be among the first +vertebrata to people the new continent. If we consider what will occur on +one of those natural rafts of trees, soil, and matted vegetable matter, +sometimes swept out to sea by such currents as the Mississippi, with a +miscellaneous living cargo; we shall see that while the active, +hot-blooded, highly-organized creatures will soon die of starvation and +exposure, the inert, cold-blooded ones, which can go long without food, +will live perhaps for weeks; and so, out of the chances from time to time +occurring during long periods, reptiles will be the first to get safely +landed on foreign shores: as indeed they are even now known sometimes to +be. The transport of mammalia being comparatively precarious, must, in the +order of probability, be longer postponed; and would, indeed, be unlikely +to occur until by the enlargement of the new continent, the distances of +its shores from adjacent lands had been greatly diminished, or the +formation of intervening islands had increased the chances of survival. + +Assuming, however, that the facilities of immigration had become adequate; +which would be the first mammals to arrive and live? Not large herbivores; +for they would be soon drowned if by any accident carried out to sea. Not +the carnivora; for these would lack appropriate food, even if they outlived +the voyage. Small quadrupeds frequenting trees, and feeding on insects, +would be those most likely both to be drifted away from their native lands +and to find fit food in a new one. Insectivorous mammals, like in size to +those found in the Trias and the Stonesfield slate, might naturally be +looked for as the pioneers of the higher vertebrata. And if we suppose the +facilities of communication to be again increased, either by a further +shallowing of the intervening sea and a consequent multiplication of +islands, or by an actual junction of the new continent with an old one, +through continued upheavals; we should finally have an influx of the larger +and more perfect mammals. + +Now rude as is this sketch of a process that would be extremely elaborate +and involved, and open as some of its propositions are to criticisms which +there is no space here to meet; no one will deny that it represents +something like the biologic history of the supposed new continent. Details +apart, it is manifest that simple organisms, able to flourish under simple +conditions of life, would be the first successful immigrants; and that more +complex organisms, needing for their existence the fulfilment of more +complex conditions, would afterwards establish themselves in something like +an ascending succession. At the one extreme we see every facility. The new +individuals can be conveyed in the shape of minute germs; these are +infinite in their numbers; they are diffused in the sea; they are +perpetually being carried in all directions to great distances by +ocean-currents; they can survive such long journeys unharmed; they can find +nutriment wherever they arrive; and the resulting organisms can multiply +asexually with great rapidity. + +At the other extreme, we see every difficulty. The new individuals must be +conveyed in their adult forms; their numbers are, in comparison, utterly +insignificant; they live on land, and are very unlikely to be carried out +to sea; when so carried, the chances are immense against their escape from +drowning, starvation, or death by cold; if they survive the transit, they +must have a pre-existing Flora or Fauna to supply their special food; they +require, also, the fulfilment of various other physical conditions; and +unless at least two individuals of different sexes are safely landed, the +race cannot be established. Manifestly, then, the immigration of each +successively higher order of organisms, having, from one or other +additional condition to be fulfilled, an enormously-increased probability +against it, would naturally be separated from the immigration of a lower +order by some period like a geologic epoch. + +And thus the successive sedimentary deposits formed while this new +continent was undergoing gradual elevation, would seem to furnish clear +evidence of a general progress in the forms of life. That lands thus raised +up in the midst of a wide ocean, would first give origin to unfossiliferous +strata; next, to strata containing only the lowest marine forms; next, to +strata containing higher marine forms, ascending finally to fish; and that +the strata above these would contain reptiles, then small mammals, then +great mammals; seems to us to be demonstrable from the known laws of +organic life. + +And if the succession of fossils presented by the strata of this supposed +new continent, would thus simulate the succession presented by our own +sedimentary series; must we not say that our own sedimentary series very +possibly records nothing more than the phenomena accompanying one of these +great upheavals? We think this must be considered not only possible, but +highly probable: harmonizing as it does with the unavoidable conclusion +before pointed out, that geological changes must have been going on for a +period immeasurably greater than that of which we have records. And if the +probability of this conclusion be admitted, it must be admitted that the +facts of Palaeontology can never suffice either to prove or disprove the +Development Hypothesis; but that the most they can do is, to show whether +the last few pages of the Earth's biologic history are or are not in +harmony with this hypothesis--whether the existing Flora and Fauna can or +can not be affiliated upon the Flora and Fauna of the most recent geologic +times. + + + + +IX. THE DEVELOPMENT HYPOTHESIS. + + +In a debate upon the development hypothesis, lately narrated to me by a +friend, one of the disputants was described as arguing, that as, in all our +experience, we know no such phenomenon as transmutation of species, it is +unphilosophical to assume that transmutation of species ever takes place. +Had I been present, I think that, passing over his assertion, which is open +to criticism, I should have replied that, as in all our experience we have +never known a species _created_, it was, by his own showing, +unphilosophical to assume that any species ever had been created. + +Those who cavalierly reject the Theory of Evolution, as not adequately +supported by facts, seem quite to forget that their own theory is supported +by no facts at all. Like the majority of men who are born to a given +belief, they demand the most rigorous proof of any adverse belief, but +assume that their own needs none. Here we find, scattered over the globe, +vegetable and animal organisms numbering, of the one kind (according to +Humboldt), some 320,000 species, and of the other, some 2,000,000 species +(see Carpenter); and if to these we add the numbers of animal and vegetable +species that have become extinct, we may safely estimate the number of +species that have existed, and are existing, on the Earth, at not less than +_ten millions_. Well, which is the most rational theory about these ten +millions of species? Is it most likely that there have been ten millions of +special creations? or is it most likely that by continual modifications, +due to change of circumstances, ten millions of varieties have been +produced, as varieties are being produced still? + +Doubtless many will reply that they can more easily conceive ten millions +of special creations to have taken place, than they can conceive that ten +millions of varieties have arisen by successive modifications. All such, +however, will find, on inquiry, that they are under an illusion. This is +one of the many cases in which men do not really believe, but rather +_believe they believe_. It is not that they can truly conceive ten millions +of special creations to have taken place, but that they _think they can do +so_. Careful introspection will show them that they have never yet realized +to themselves the creation of even _one_ species. If they have formed a +definite conception of the process, let them tell us how a new species is +constructed, and how it makes its appearance. Is it thrown down from the +clouds? or must we hold to the notion that it struggles up out of the +ground? Do its limbs and viscera rush together from all the points of the +compass? or must we receive the old Hebrew idea, that God takes clay and +moulds a new creature? If they say that a new creature is produced in none +of these modes, which are too absurd to be believed; then they are required +to describe the mode in which a new creature _may_ be produced--a mode +which does _not_ seem absurd: and such a mode they will find that they +neither have conceived nor can conceive. + +Should the believers in special creations consider it unfair thus to call +upon them to describe how special creations take place, I reply, that this +is far less than they demand from the supporters of the Development +Hypothesis. They are merely asked to point out a _conceivable_ mode. On the +other hand, they ask, not simply for a _conceivable_ mode, but for the +_actual_ mode. They do not say--Show us how this _may_ take place; but they +say--Show us how this _does_ take place. So far from its being unreasonable +to put the above question, it would be reasonable to ask not only for a +_possible_ mode of special creation, but for an _ascertained_ mode; seeing +that this is no greater a demand than they make upon their opponents. + +And here we may perceive how much more defensible the new doctrine is than +the old one. Even could the supporters of the Development Hypothesis merely +show that the origination of species by the process of modification is +conceivable, they would be in a better position than their opponents. But +they can do much more than this. They can show that the process of +modification has effected, and is effecting, decided changes in all +organisms subject to modifying influences. Though, from the impossibility +of getting at a sufficiency of facts, they are unable to trace the many +phases through which any existing species has passed in arriving at its +present form, or to identify the influences which caused the successive +modifications; yet, they can show that any existing species--animal or +vegetable--when placed under conditions different from its previous ones, +_immediately begins to undergo certain changes of structure fitting it for +the new conditions_. They can show that in successive generations these +changes continue, until ultimately the new conditions become the natural +ones. They can show that in cultivated plants, in domesticated animals, and +in the several races of men, such alterations have taken place. They can +show that the degrees of difference so produced are often, as in dogs, +greater than those on which distinctions of species are in other cases +founded. They can show that it is a matter of dispute whether some of these +modified forms _are_ varieties or separate species. They can show, too, +that the changes daily taking place in ourselves--the facility that attends +long practice, and the loss of aptitude that begins when practice +ceases--the strengthening of passions habitually gratified, and the +weakening of those habitually curbed--the development of every faculty, +bodily, moral, or intellectual, according to the use made of it--are all +explicable on this same principle. And thus they can show that throughout +all organic nature there _is_ at work a modifying influence of the kind +they assign as the cause of these specific differences: an influence which, +though slow in its action, does, in time, if the circumstances demand it, +produce marked changes--an influence which, to all appearance, would +produce in the millions of years, and under the great varieties of +condition which geological records imply, any amount of change. + +Which, then, is the most rational hypothesis?--that of special creations +which has neither a fact to support it nor is even definitely conceivable; +or that of modification, which is not only definitely conceivable, but is +countenanced by the habitudes of every existing organism? + +That by any series of changes a protozoon should ever become a mammal, +seems to those who are not familiar with zoology, and who have not seen how +clear becomes the relationship between the simplest and the most complex +forms when intermediate forms are examined, a very grotesque notion. +Habitually looking at things rather in their statical than in their +dynamical aspect, they never realize the fact that, by small increments of +modification, any amount of modification may in time be generated. That +surprise which they feel on finding one whom they last saw as a boy, grown +into a man, becomes incredulity when the degree of change is greater. +Nevertheless, abundant instances are at hand of the mode in which we may +pass to the most diverse forms, by insensible gradations. Arguing the +matter some time since with a learned professor, I illustrated my position +thus:--You admit that there is no apparent relationship between a circle +and an hyperbola. The one is a finite curve; the other is an infinite one. +All parts of the one are alike; of the other no two parts are alike. The +one incloses a space; the other will not inclose a space though produced +for ever. Yet opposite as are these curves in all their properties, they +may be connected together by a series of intermediate curves, no one of +which differs from the adjacent ones in any appreciable degree. Thus, if a +cone be cut by a plane at right angles to its axis we get a circle. If, +instead of being perfectly at right angles, the plane subtends with the +axis an angle of 89 deg. 59', we have an ellipse, which no human eye, even when +aided by an accurate pair of compasses, can distinguish from a circle. +Decreasing the angle minute by minute, the ellipse becomes first +perceptibly eccentric, then manifestly so, and by and by acquires so +immensely elongated a form, as to bear no recognisable resemblance to a +circle. By continuing this process, the ellipse passes insensibly into a +parabola; and ultimately, by still further diminishing the angle, into an +hyperbola. Now here we have four different species of curve--circle, +ellipse, parabola, and hyperbola--each having its peculiar properties and +its separate equation, and the first and last of which are quite opposite +in nature, connected together as members of one series, all producible by a +single process of insensible modification. + +But the blindness of those who think it absurd to suppose that complex +organic forms may have arisen by successive modifications out of simple +ones, becomes astonishing when we remember that complex organic forms are +daily being thus produced. A tree differs from a seed immeasurably in every +respect--in bulk, in structure, in colour, in form, in specific gravity, in +chemical composition: differs so greatly that no visible resemblance of any +kind can be pointed out between them. Yet is the one changed in the course +of a few years into the other: changed so gradually, that at no moment can +it be said--Now the seed ceases to be, and the tree exists. What can be +more widely contrasted than a newly-born child and the small, +semi-transparent, gelatinous spherule constituting the human ovum? The +infant is so complex in structure that a cyclopaedia is needed to describe +its constituent parts. The germinal vesicle is so simple that it may be +defined in a line. Nevertheless, a few months suffice to develop the one +out of the other; and that, too, by a series of modifications so small, +that were the embryo examined at successive minutes, even a microscope +would with difficulty disclose any sensible changes. That the uneducated +and the ill-educated should think the hypothesis that all races of beings, +man inclusive, may in process of time have been evolved from the simplest +monad, a ludicrous one, is not to be wondered at. But for the physiologist, +who knows that every individual being is so evolved--who knows further, +that in their earliest condition the germs of all plants and animals +whatever are so similar, "that there is no appreciable distinction amongst +them which would enable it to be determined whether a particular molecule +is the germ of a conferva or of an oak, of a zoophyte or of a man;"[U]--for +him to make a difficulty of the matter is inexcusable. Surely if a single +cell may, when subjected to certain influences, become a man in the space +of twenty years; there is nothing absurd in the hypothesis that under +certain other influences, a cell may in the course of millions of years +give origin to the human race. The two processes are generically the same; +and differ only in length and complexity. + + [U] Carpenter. + +We have, indeed, in the part taken by many scientific men in this +controversy of "Law _versus_ Miracle," a good illustration of the tenacious +vitality of superstitions. Ask one of our leading geologists or +physiologists whether he believes in the Mosaic account of the creation, +and he will take the question as next to an insult. Either he rejects the +narrative entirely, or understands it in some vague non-natural sense. Yet +one part of it he unconsciously adopts; and that, too, literally. For +whence has he got this notion of "special creations," which he thinks so +reasonable, and fights for so vigorously? Evidently he can trace it back to +no other source than this myth which he repudiates. He has not a single +fact in nature to quote in proof of it; nor is he prepared with any chain +of abstract reasoning by which it may be established. Catechise him, and he +will be forced to confess that the notion was put into his mind in +childhood as part of a story which he now thinks absurd. And why, after +rejecting all the rest of this story, he should strenuously defend this +last remnant of it as though he had received it on valid authority, he +would be puzzled to say. + + + + +X. THE SOCIAL ORGANISM. + + +Sir James Macintosh got great credit for the saying, that "constitutions +are not made, but grow." In our day, the most significant thing about this +saying is, that it was ever thought so significant. As from the surprise +displayed by a man at some familiar fact, you may judge of his general +culture; so from the admiration which an age accords to a new thought, its +average degree of enlightenment may be inferred. That this apophthegm of +Macintosh should have been quoted and re-quoted as it has, shows how +profound has been the ignorance of social science. A small ray of truth has +seemed brilliant, as a distant rushlight looks like a star in the +surrounding darkness. + +Such a conception could not, indeed, fail to be startling when let fall in +the midst of a system of thought to which it was utterly alien. Universally +in Macintosh's day, things were explained on the hypothesis of manufacture, +rather than that of growth: as indeed they are, by the majority, in our own +day. It was held that the planets were severally projected round the sun +from the Creator's hand; with exactly the velocity required to balance the +sun's attraction. The formation of the Earth, the separation of sea from +land, the production of animals, were mechanical works from which God +rested as a labourer rests. Man was supposed to be moulded after a manner +somewhat akin to that in which a modeller makes a clay-figure. And of +course, in harmony with such ideas, societies were tacitly assumed to be +arranged thus or thus by direct interposition of Providence; or by the +regulations of law-makers; or by both. + +Yet that societies are not artificially put together, is a truth so +manifest, that it seems wonderful men should have ever overlooked it. +Perhaps nothing more clearly shows the small value of historical studies, +as they have been commonly pursued. You need but to look at the changes +going on around, or observe social organization in its leading +peculiarities, to see that these are neither supernatural, nor are +determined by the wills of individual men, as by implication historians +commonly teach; but are consequent on general natural causes. The one case +of the division of labour suffices to show this. It has not been by command +of any ruler that some men have become manufacturers, while others have +remained cultivators of the soil. In Lancashire, millions have devoted +themselves to the making of cotton-fabrics; in Yorkshire, another million +lives by producing woollens; and the pottery of Staffordshire, the cutlery +of Sheffield, the hardware of Birmingham, severally occupy their hundreds +of thousands. These are large facts in the structure of English society; +but we can ascribe them neither to miracle, nor to legislation. It is not +by "the hero as king," any more than by "collective wisdom," that men have +been segregated into producers, wholesale distributors, and retail +distributors. + +The whole of our industrial organization, from its main outlines down to +its minutest details, has become what it is, not simply without legislative +guidance, but, to a considerable extent, in spite of legislative +hindrances. It has arisen under the pressure of human wants and activities. +While each citizen has been pursuing his individual welfare, and none +taking thought about division of labour, or, indeed, conscious of the need +for it, division of labour has yet been ever becoming more complete. It has +been doing this slowly and silently: scarcely any having observed it until +quite modern times. By steps so small, that year after year the industrial +arrangements have seemed to men just what they were before--by changes as +insensible as those through which a seed passes into a tree; society has +become the complex body of mutually-dependent workers which we now see. And +this economic organization, mark, is the all-essential organization. +Through the combination thus spontaneously evolved, every citizen is +supplied with daily necessaries; while he yields some product or aid to +others. That we are severally alive to-day, we owe to the regular working +of this combination during the past week; and could it be suddenly +abolished, a great proportion of us would be dead before another week +ended. If these most conspicuous and vital arrangements of our social +structure, have arisen without the devising of any one, but through the +individual efforts of citizens to satisfy their own wants; we may be +tolerably certain that the less important arrangements have similarly +arisen. + +"But surely," it will be said, "the social changes directly produced by +law, cannot be classed as spontaneous growths. When parliaments or kings +order this or that thing to be done, and appoint officials to do it, the +process is clearly artificial; and society to this extent becomes a +manufacture rather than a growth." No, not even these changes are +exceptions, if they be real and permanent changes. The true sources of such +changes lie deeper than the acts of legislators. To take first the simplest +instance. We all know that the enactments of representative governments +ultimately depend on the national will: they may for a time be out of +harmony with it, but eventually they must conform to it. And to say that +the national will finally determines them, is to say that they result from +the average of individual desires; or, in other words--from the average of +individual natures. A law so initiated, therefore, really grows out of the +popular character. + +In the case of a Government representing a dominant class, the same things +holds, though not so manifestly. For the very existence of a class +monopolizing all power, is due to certain sentiments in the commonalty. But +for the feeling of loyalty on the part of retainers, a feudal system could +not exist. We see in the protest of the Highlanders against the abolition +of heritable jurisdictions, that they preferred that kind of local rule. +And if to the popular nature, must thus be ascribed the growth of an +irresponsible ruling class; then to the popular nature must be ascribed the +social arrangements which that class creates in the pursuit of its own +ends. Even where the Government is despotic, the doctrine still holds. The +character of the people is, as before, the original source of this +political form; and, as we have abundant proof, other forms suddenly +created will not act, but rapidly retrograde to the old form. Moreover, +such regulations as a despot makes, if really operative, are so because of +their fitness to the social state. His acts being very much swayed by +general opinion--by precedent, by the feeling of his nobles, his +priesthood, his army--are in part immediate results of the national +character; and when they are out of harmony with the national character, +they are soon practically abrogated. + +The failure of Cromwell permanently to establish a new social condition, +and the rapid revival of suppressed institutions and practices after his +death, show how powerless is a monarch to change the type of the society he +governs. He may disturb, he may retard, or he may aid the natural process +of organization; but the general course of this process is beyond his +control. Nay, more than this is true. Those who regard the histories of +societies as the histories of their great men, and think that these great +men shape the fates of their societies, overlook the truth that such great +men are the products of their societies. Without certain +antecedents--without a certain average national character, they could +neither have been generated nor could have had the culture which formed +them. If their society is to some extent re-moulded by them, they were, +both before and after birth, moulded by their society--were the results of +all those influences which fostered the ancestral character they inherited, +and gave their own early bias, their creed, morals, knowledge, aspirations. +So that such social changes as are immediately traceable to individuals of +unusual power, are still remotely traceable to the social causes which +produced these individuals, and hence, from the highest point of view, such +social changes also, are parts of the general developmental process. + +Thus that which is so obviously true of the industrial structure of +society, is true of its whole structure. The fact that "constitutions are +not made, but grow," is simply a fragment of the much larger fact, that +under all its aspects and through all its ramifications, society is a +growth and not a manufacture. + + * * * * * + +A perception that there exists some analogy between the body politic and a +living individual body, was early reached; and from time to time +re-appeared in literature. But this perception was necessarily vague and +more or less fanciful. In the absence of physiological science, and +especially of those comprehensive generalizations which it has but recently +reached, it was impossible to discern the real parallelisms. + +The central idea of Plato's model Republic, is the correspondence between +the parts of a society and the faculties of the human mind. Classifying +these faculties under the heads of Reason, Will, and Passion, he classifies +the members of his ideal society under what he regards as three analogous +heads:--councillors, who are to exercise government; military or executive, +who are to fulfil their behests; and the commonalty, bent on gain and +selfish gratification. In other words, the ruler, the warrior, and the +craftsman, are, according to him, the analogues of our reflective, +volitional, and emotional powers. Now even were there truth in the implied +assumption of a parallelism between the structure of a society and that of +a man, this classification would be indefensible. It might more truly be +contended that, as the military power obeys the commands of the Government, +it is the Government which answers to the Will; while the military power is +simply an agency set in motion by it. Or, again, it might be contended that +whereas the Will is a product of predominant desires, to which the Reason +serves merely as an eye, it is the craftsmen, who, according to the alleged +analogy, ought to be the moving power of the warriors. + +Hobbes sought to establish a still more definite parallelism: not, however +between a society and the human mind, but between a society and the human +body. In the introduction to the work in which he developes this +conception, he says-- + + "For by art is created that great LEVIATHAN called a COMMONWEALTH, + or STATE, in Latin CIVITAS, which is but an artificial man; though of + greater stature and strength than the natural, for whose protection + and defence it was intended, and in which the _sovereignty_ is an + artificial _soul_, as giving life and motion to the whole body; the + _magistrates_ and other _officers_ of judicature and execution, + artificial _joints_; _reward_ and _punishment_, by which, fastened to + the seat of the sovereignty, every joint and member is moved to + perform his duty, are the _nerves_, that do the same in the body + natural; the _wealth_ and _riches_ of all the particular members are + the _strength_; _salus populi_, the _people's safety_, its + _business_; _counsellors_, by whom all things needful for it to know + are suggested unto it, are the _memory_; _equity_ and _laws_ an + artificial _reason_ and _will_; _concord_, _health_; _sedition_, + _sickness_; _civil war_, _death_," + +And Hobbes carries this comparison so far as actually to give a drawing of +the Leviathan--a vast human-shaped figure, whose body and limbs are made up +of multitudes of men. Just noting that these different analogies asserted +by Plato and Hobbes, serve to cancel each other (being, as they are, so +completely at variance), we may say that on the whole those of Hobbes are +the more plausible. But they are full of inconsistencies. If the +sovereignty is the _soul_ of the body politic, how can it be that +magistrates, who are a kind of deputy-sovereigns, should be comparable to +_joints_? Or, again, how can the three mental functions, memory, reason, +and will, be severally analogous, the first to counsellors, who are a class +of public officers, and the other two to equity and laws, which are not +classes of officers, but abstractions? Or, once more, if magistrates are +the artificial joints of society, how can reward and punishment be its +nerves? Its nerves must surely be some class of persons. Reward and +punishment must in societies, as in individuals, be _conditions_ of the +nerves, and not the nerves themselves. + +But the chief errors of these comparisons made by Plato and Hobbes, lie +much deeper. Both thinkers assume that the organization of a society is +comparable, not simply to the organization of a living body in general, but +to the organization of the human body in particular. There is no warrant +whatever for assuming this. It is in no way implied by the evidence; and is +simply one of those fancies which we commonly find mixed up with the truths +of early speculation. Still more erroneous are the two conceptions in this, +that they construe a society as an artificial structure. Plato's model +republic--his ideal of a healthful body politic--is to be consciously put +together by men; just as a watch might be: and Plato manifestly thinks of +societies in general as thus originated. Quite specifically does Hobbes +express this view. "For by _art_," he says, "is created that great +LEVIATHAN called a COMMONWEALTH." And he even goes so far as to compare the +supposed social contract, from which a society suddenly originates, to the +creation of a man by the divine fiat. Thus they both fall into the extreme +inconsistency of considering a community as similar in structure to a human +being, and yet as produced in the same way as an artificial mechanism--in +in nature, an organism; in history, a machine. + +Notwithstanding errors, however, these speculations have considerable +significance. That such analogies, crudely as they are thought out, should +have been alleged by Plato and Hobbes and many others, is a reason for +suspecting that _some_ analogy exists. The untenableness of the particular +comparisons above instanced, is no ground for denying an essential +parallelism; for early ideas are usually but vague adumbrations of the +truth. Lacking the great generalizations of biology, it was, as we have +said, impossible to trace out the real relations of social organizations to +organizations of another order. We propose here to show what are the +analogies which modern science discloses to us. + +Let us set out by succinctly stating the points of similarity and the +points of difference. Societies agree with individual organisms in four +conspicuous peculiarities:-- + + 1. That commencing as small aggregations, they insensibly augment in + mass: some of them eventually reaching ten thousand times what + they originally were. + + 2. That while at first so simple in structure as to be considered + structureless, they assume, in the course of their growth, a + continually-increasing complexity of structure. + + 3. That though in their early, undeveloped states, there exists in + them scarcely any mutual dependence of parts, their parts + gradually acquire a mutual dependence; which becomes at last so + great, that the activity and life of each part is made possible + only by the activity and life of the rest. + + 4. That the life and development of a society is independent of, and + far more prolonged than, the life and development of any of its + component units; who are severally born, grow, work, reproduce, + and die, while the body politic composed of them survives + generation after generation, increasing in mass, completeness of + structure, and functional activity. + +These four parallelisms will appear the more significant the more we +contemplate them. While the points specified, are points in which societies +agree with individual organisms, they are points in which individual +organisms agree with each other, and disagree with all things else. In the +course of its existence, every plant and animal increases in mass, in a way +not parallelled by inorganic objects: even such inorganic objects as +crystals, which arise by growth, show us no such definite relation between +growth and existence as organisms do. The orderly progress from simplicity +to complexity, displayed by bodies politic in common with all living +bodies, is a characteristic which distinguishes living bodies from the +inanimate bodies amid which they move. That functional dependence of parts, +which is scarcely more manifest in animals or plants than nations, has no +counterpart elsewhere. And in no aggregate except an organic, or a social +one, is there a perpetual removal and replacement of parts, joined with a +continued integrity of the whole. + +Moreover, societies and organisms are not only alike in these +peculiarities, in which they are unlike all other things; but the highest +societies, like the highest organisms, exhibit them in the greatest degree. +We see that the lowest animals do not increase to anything like the sizes +of the higher ones; and, similarly, we see that aboriginal societies are +comparatively limited in their growths. In complexity, our large civilized +nations as much exceed primitive savage tribes, as a vertebrate animal does +a zoophyte. Simple communities, like simple creatures, have so little +mutual dependence of parts, that subdivision or mutilation causes but +little inconvenience; but from complex communities, as from complex +creatures, you cannot remove any considerable organ without producing great +disturbance or death of the rest. And in societies of low type, as in +inferior animals, the life of the aggregate, often cut short by division or +dissolution, exceeds in length the lives of the component units, very far +less than in civilized communities and superior animals; which outlive many +generations of their component units. + +On the other hand, the leading differences between societies and individual +organisms are these:-- + +1. That societies have no specific external forms. This, however, is a +point of contrast which loses much of its importance, when we remember that +throughout the vegetal kingdom, as well as in some lower divisions of the +animal kingdom, the forms are often very indefinite--definiteness being +rather the exception than the rule; and that they are manifestly in part +determined by surrounding physical circumstances, as the forms of societies +are. If, too, it should eventually be shown, as we believe it will, that +the form of every species of organism has resulted from the average play of +the external forces to which it has been subject during its evolution as a +species; then, that the external forms of societies should depend, as they +do, on surrounding conditions, will be a further point of community. + +2. That though the living tissue whereof an individual organism consists, +forms a continuous mass, the living elements of a society do not form a +continuous mass; but are more or less widely dispersed over some portion of +the Earth's surface. This, which at first sight appears to be a fundamental +distinction, is one which yet to a great extent disappears when we +contemplate all the facts. For, in the lower divisions of the animal and +vegetal kingdoms, there are types of organization much more nearly allied, +in this respect, to the organization of a society, than might be +supposed--types in which the living units essentially composing the mass, +are dispersed through an inert substance, that can scarcely be called +living in the full sense of the word. It is thus with some of the +_Protococci_ and with the _Nostoceae_, which exist as cells imbedded in a +viscid matter. It is so, too, with the _Thalassicollae_--bodies that are +made up of differentiated parts, dispersed through an undifferentiated +jelly. And throughout considerable portions of their bodies, some of the +_Acalephae_ exhibit more or less distinctly this type of structure. + +Indeed, it may be contended that this is the primitive form of all +organization; seeing that, even in the highest creatures, as in ourselves, +every tissue developes out of what physiologists call a blastema--an +unorganized though organizable substance, through which organic points are +distributed. Now this is very much the case with a society. For we must +remember that though the men who make up a society, are physically separate +and even scattered; yet that the surface over which they are scattered is +not one devoid of life, but is covered by life of a lower order which +ministers to their life. The vegetation which clothes a country, makes +possible the animal life in that country; and only through its animal and +vegetal products can such a country support a human society. Hence the +members of the body politic are not to be regarded as separated by +intervals of dead space; but as diffused through a space occupied by life +of a lower order. In our conception of a social organism, we must include +all that lower organic existence on which human existence, and therefore +social existence, depends. And when we do this, we see that the citizens +who make up a community, may be considered as highly vitalized units +surrounded by substances of lower vitality, from which they draw their +nutriment: much as in the cases above instanced. Thus, when examined, this +apparent distinction in great part disappears. + +3. That while the ultimate living elements of an individual organism, are +mostly fixed in their relative positions, those of the social organism are +capable of moving from place to place, seems a marked disagreement. But +here, too, the disagreement is much less than would be supposed. For while +citizens are locomotive in their private capacities, they are fixed in +their public capacities. As farmers, manufacturers, or traders, men carry +on their business at the same spots, often throughout their whole lives; +and if they go away occasionally, they leave behind others to discharge +their functions in their absence. Each great centre of production, each +manufacturing town or district, continues always in the same place; and +many of the firms in such town or district, are for generations carried on +either by the descendants or successors of those who founded them. Just as +in a living body, the cells that make up some important organ, severally +perform their functions for a time and then disappear, leaving others to +supply their places; so, in each part of a society, the organ remains, +though the persons who compose it change. Thus, in social life, as in the +life of an animal, the units as well as the larger agencies formed of them, +are in the main stationary as respects the places where they discharge +their duties and obtain their sustenance. And hence the power of individual +locomotion does not practically affect the analogy. + +4. The last and perhaps the most important distinction, is, that while in +the body of an animal, only a special tissue is endowed with feeling; in a +society, all the members are endowed with feeling. Even this distinction, +however, is by no means a complete one. For in some of the lowest animals, +characterized by the absence of a nervous system, such sensitiveness as +exists is possessed by all parts. It is only in the more organized forms +that feeling is monopolized by one class of the vital elements. Moreover, +we must remember that societies, too, are not without a certain +differentiation of this kind. Though the units of a community are all +sensitive, yet they are so in unequal degrees. The classes engaged in +agriculture and laborious occupations in general, are much less +susceptible, intellectually and emotionally, than the rest; and especially +less so than the classes of highest mental culture. Still, we have here a +tolerably decided contrast between bodies politic and individual bodies. +And it is one which we should keep constantly in view. For it reminds us +that while in individual bodies, the welfare of all other parts is rightly +subservient to the welfare of the nervous system, whose pleasurable or +painful activities make up the good or evil of life; in bodies politic, the +same thing does not hold, or holds to but a very slight extent. It is well +that the lives of all parts of an animal should be merged in the life of +the whole; because the whole has a corporate consciousness capable of +happiness or misery. But it is not so with a society; since its living +units do not and cannot lose individual consciousness; and since the +community as a whole has no corporate consciousness. And this is an +everlasting reason why the welfare of citizens cannot rightly be sacrificed +to some supposed benefit of the State; but why, on the other hand, the +State is to be maintained solely for the benefit of citizens. The corporate +life must here be subservient to the lives of the parts; instead of the +lives of the parts being subservient to the corporate life. + +Such, then, are the points of analogy and the points of difference. May we +not say that the points of difference serve but to bring into clearer light +the points of analogy. While comparison makes definite the obvious +contrasts between organisms commonly so called, and the social organism; it +shows that even these contrasts are not so decided as was to be expected. +The indefiniteness of form, the discontinuity of the parts, the mobility of +the parts, and the universal sensitiveness, are not only peculiarities of +the social organism which have to be stated with considerable +qualifications; but they are peculiarities to which the inferior classes of +animals present approximations. Thus we find but little to conflict with +the all-important analogies. That societies slowly augment in mass; that +they progress in complexity of structure; that at the same time their parts +become more mutually dependent; that their living units are removed and +replaced without destroying their integrity; and further, that the extents +to which they display these peculiarities are proportionate to their vital +activities; are traits that societies have in common with organic bodies. +And these traits in which they agree with organic bodies and disagree with +all other things--these traits which in truth specially characterize +organic bodies, entirely subordinate the minor distinctions: such +distinctions being scarcely greater than those which separate one half of +the organic kingdom from the other. The _principles_ of organization are +the same; and the differences are simply differences of application. + +Here ending this general survey of the facts which justify the comparison +of a society to a living body; let us look at them in detail. We shall find +that the parallelism becomes the more marked the more closely it is traced. + + * * * * * + +The lowest animal and vegetal forms--_Protozoa_ and _Protophyta_--are +chiefly inhabitants of the water. They are minute bodies, most of which are +made individually visible only by the microscope. All of them are extremely +simple in structure; and some of them, as the _Rhizopods_, almost +structureless. Multiplying, as they ordinarily do, by the spontaneous +division of their bodies, they produce halves, which may either become +quite separate and move away in different directions, or may continue +attached. By the repetition of this process of fission, aggregations of +various sizes and kinds are formed. Among the _Protophyta_ we have some +classes, as the _Diatomaceae_ and the Yeast-plant, in which the individuals +may be either separate, or attached in groups of two, three, four, or more; +other classes in which a considerable number of individual cells are united +into a thread (_Conferva_, _Monilia_); others in which they form a net work +(_Hydrodictyon_); others in which they form plates (_Ulva_); and others in +which they form masses (_Laminaria_, _Agaricus_): all which vegetal forms, +having no distinction of root, stem, or leaf, are called _Thallogens_. +Among the _Protozoa_ we find parallel facts. Immense numbers of +_Am[oe]ba_-like creatures, massed together in a framework of horny fibres, +constitute Sponge. In the _Foraminifera_, we see smaller groups of such +creatures arranged into more definite shapes. Not only do these almost +structureless _Protozoa_ unite into regular or irregular aggregations of +various sizes; but among some of the more organized ones, as the +_Vorticellae_, there are also produced clusters of individuals, proceeding +from a common stock. But these little societies of monads, or cells, or +whatever else we may call them, are societies only in the lowest sense: +there is no subordination of parts among them--no organization. Each of the +component units lives by and for itself; neither giving nor receiving aid. +There is no mutual dependence, save that consequent on mere mechanical +union. + +Now do we not here discern analogies to the first stages of human +societies? Among the lowest races, as the Bushmen, we find but incipient +aggregation: sometimes single families; sometimes two or three families +wandering about together. The number of associated units is small and +variable; and their union inconstant. No division of labour exists except +between the sexes; and the only kind of mutual aid is that of joint attack +or defence. We see nothing beyond an undifferentiated group of individuals, +forming the germ of a society; just as in the homogeneous groups of cells +above described, we see only the initial stage of animal and vegetal +organization. + +The comparison may now be carried a step higher. In the vegetal kingdom we +pass from the _Thallogens_, consisting of mere masses of similar cells, to +the _Acrogens_, in which the cells are not similar throughout the whole +mass; but are here aggregated into a structure serving as leaf, and there +into a structure serving as root: thus forming a whole in which there is a +certain subdivision of functions among the units; and therefore a certain +mutual dependence. In the animal kingdom we find analogous progress. From +mere unorganized groups of cells, or cell-like bodies, we ascend to groups +of such cells arranged into parts that have different duties. The common +Polype, from whose substance may be separated individual cells which +exhibit, when detached, appearances and movements like those of the +solitary _Am[oe]ba_, illustrates this stage. The component units, though +still showing great community of character, assume somewhat diverse +functions in the skin, in the internal surface, and in the tentacles. There +is a certain amount of "physiological division of labour." + +Turning to societies, we find these stages paralleled in the majority of +aboriginal tribes. When, instead of such small variable groups as are +formed by Bushmen, we come to the larger and more permanent groups formed +by savages not quite so low, we begin to find traces of social structure. +Though industrial organization scarcely shows itself, except in the +different occupations of the sexes; yet there is always more or less of +governmental organization. While all the men are warriors and hunters, only +a part of them are included in the council of chiefs; and in this council +of chiefs some one has commonly supreme authority. There is thus a certain +distinction of classes and powers; and through this slight specialization +of functions, is effected a rude co-operation among the increasing mass of +individuals, whenever the society has to act in its corporate capacity. +Beyond this analogy in the slight extent to which organization is carried, +there is analogy in the indefiniteness of the organization. In the _Hydra_, +the respective parts of the creature's substance have many functions in +common. They are all contractile; omitting the tentacles, the whole of the +external surface can give origin to young _hydrae_; and when turned inside +out, stomach performs the duties of skin, and skin the duties of stomach. +In aboriginal societies such differentiations as exist are similarly +imperfect. Notwithstanding distinctions of rank, all persons maintain +themselves by their own exertions. Not only do the head men of the tribe, +in common with the rest, build their own huts, make their own weapons, kill +their own food; but the chief does the like. Moreover, in the rudest of +these tribes, such governmental organization as exists is very inconstant. +It is frequently changed by violence or treachery, and the function of +ruling assumed by other members of the community. Thus between the rudest +societies and some of the lowest forms of animal life there is analogy +alike in the slight extent to which organization is carried, in the +indefiniteness of this organization, and in its want of fixity. + +A further complication of the analogy is at hand. From the aggregation of +units into organized groups, we pass to the multiplication of such groups, +and their coalescence into compound groups. The _Hydra_, when it has +reached a certain bulk, puts forth from its surface a bud, which, growing +and gradually assuming the form of the parent, finally becomes detached; +and by this process of gemmation, the creature peoples the adjacent water +with others like itself. A parallel process is seen in the multiplication +of those lowly-organized tribes above described. One of them having +increased to a size that is either too great for co-ordination under so +rude a structure, or else that is greater than the surrounding country can +supply with game and other wild food, there arises a tendency to divide; +and as in such communities there are ever occurring quarrels, jealousies, +and other causes of division, there soon comes an occasion on which a part +of the tribe separates under the leadership of some subordinate chief, and +migrates. This process being from time to time repeated, an extensive +region is at length occupied with numerous separate tribes descended from a +common ancestry. The analogy by no means ends here. Though in the common +_Hydra_, the young ones that bud out from the parent soon become detached +and independent; yet throughout the rest of the class _Hydrozoa_, to which +this creature belongs, the like does not generally happen. The successive +individuals thus developed continue attached; give origin to other such +individuals which also continue attached; and so there results a compound +animal. As in the _Hydra_ itself, we find an aggregation of units which, +considered separately, are akin to the lowest _Protozoa_; so here, in a +_Zoophyte_, we find an aggregation of such aggregations. The like is also +seen throughout the extensive family of _Polyzoa_ or _Molluscoida_. The +Ascidian Mollusks, too, in their many varied forms, show us the same thing: +exhibiting, at the same time, various degrees of union subsisting among the +component individuals. For while in the _Salpae_ the component individuals +adhere so slightly that a blow on the vessel of water in which they are +floating will separate them; in the _Botryllidae_ there exists a vascular +connexion between them, and a common circulation. + +Now in these various forms and degrees of aggregation, may we not see +paralleled the union of groups of connate tribes into nations? Though in +regions where circumstances permit, the separate tribes descended from some +original tribe, migrate in all directions, and become far removed and quite +separate; yet, in other cases, where the territory presents barriers to +distant migration, this does not happen: the small kindred communities are +held in closer contact, and eventually become more or less united into a +nation. The contrast between the tribes of American Indians and the +Scottish clans, illustrates this. And a glance at our own early history, or +the early histories of continental nations, shows this fusion of small +simple communities taking place in various ways and to various extents. As +says M. Guizot, in his history of "The Origin of Representative +Government,"-- + + "By degrees, in the midst of the chaos of the rising society, small + aggregations are formed which feel the want of alliance and union + with each other.... Soon inequality of strength is displayed among + neighbouring aggregations. The strong tend to subjugate the weak, and + usurp at first the rights of taxation and military service. Thus + political authority leaves the aggregations which first instituted + it, to take a wider range." + +That is to say, the small tribes, clans, or feudal unions, sprung mostly +from a common stock, and long held in contact as occupants of adjacent +lands, gradually get united in other ways than by mere adhesion of race and +proximity. + +A further series of changes begins now to take place; to which, as before, +we shall find analogies in individual organisms. Returning again to the +_Hydrozoa_, we observe that in the simplest of the compound forms, the +connected individuals developed from a common stock, are alike in +structure, and perform like functions: with the exception, indeed, that +here and there a bud, instead of developing into a stomach, mouth, and +tentacles, becomes an egg-sac. But with the oceanic _Hydrozoa_, this is by +no means the case. In the _Calycophoridae_, some of the polypes growing from +the common germ, become developed and modified into large, long, sack-like +bodies, which by their rhythmical contractions move through the water, +dragging the community of polypes after them. In the _Physophoridae_, a +variety of organs similarly arise by transformation of the budding polypes; +so that in creatures like the _Physalia_, commonly known as the "Portuguese +Man-of-war," instead of that tree-like group of similar individuals forming +the original type of the class, we have a complex mass of unlike parts +fulfilling unlike duties. As an individual _Hydra_ may be regarded as a +group of _Protozoa_, which have become partially metamorphosed into +different organs; so a _Physalia_ is, morphologically considered, a group +of _Hydrae_ of which the individuals have been variously transformed to fit +them for various functions. + +This differentiation upon differentiation, is just what takes place in the +evolution of a civilized society. We observed how, in the small communities +first formed, there arises a certain simple political organization--there +is a partial separation of classes having different duties. And now we have +to observe how, in a nation formed by the fusion of such small communities, +the several sections, at first alike in structures and modes of activity, +gradually become unlike in both--gradually become mutually-dependent parts, +diverse in their natures and functions. + +The doctrine of the progressive division of labour, to which we are here +introduced, is familiar to all readers. And further, the analogy between +the economical division of labour and the "physiological division of +labour," is so striking, as long since to have drawn the attention of +scientific naturalists: so striking, indeed, that the expression +"physiological division of labour," has been suggested by it. It is not +needful, therefore, that we should treat this part of our subject in great +detail. We shall content ourselves with noting a few general and +significant facts, not manifest on a first inspection. + +Throughout the whole animal kingdom, from the _C[oe]lenterata_ upwards, the +first stage of evolution is the same. Equally in the germ of a polype and +in the human ovum, the aggregated mass of cells out of which the creature +is to arise, gives origin to a peripheral layer of cells, slightly +differing from the rest which they include; and this layer subsequently +divides into two--the inner, lying in contact with the included yelk, being +called the mucous layer, and the outer, exposed to surrounding agencies, +being called the serous layer: or, in the terms used by Prof. Huxley, in +describing the development of the _Hydrozoa_--the endoderm and ectoderm. +This primary division marks out a fundamental contrast of parts in the +future organism. From the mucous layer, or endoderm, is developed the +apparatus of nutrition; while from the serous layer, or ectoderm, is +developed the apparatus of external action. Out of the one arise the organs +by which food is prepared and absorbed, oxygen imbibed, and blood purified; +while out of the other arise the nervous, muscular, and osseous systems, by +whose combined actions the movements of the body as a whole are effected. +Though this is not a rigorously-correct distinction, seeing that some +organs involve both of these primitive membranes, yet high authorities +agree in stating it as a broad general distinction. + +Well, in the evolution of a society, we see a primary differentiation of +analogous kind; which similarly underlies the whole future structure. As +already pointed out, the only manifest contrast of parts in primitive +societies, is that between the governing and the governed. In the least +organized tribes, the council of chiefs may be a body of men distinguished +simply by greater courage or experience. In more organized tribes, the +chief-class is definitely separated from the lower class, and often +regarded as different in nature--sometimes as god-descended. And later, we +find these two becoming respectively freemen and slaves, or nobles and +serfs. A glance at their respective functions, makes it obvious that the +great divisions thus early formed, stand to each other in a relation +similar to that in which the primary divisions of the embryo stand to each +other. For, from its first appearance, the class of chiefs is that by which +the external acts of the society are controlled: alike in war, in +negotiation, and in migration. Afterwards, while the upper class grows +distinct from the lower, and at the same time becomes more and more +exclusively regulative and defensive in its functions, alike in the persons +of kings and subordinate rulers, priests, and military leaders; the +inferior class becomes more and more exclusively occupied in providing the +necessaries of life for the community at large. From the soil, with which +it comes in most direct contact, the mass of the people takes up and +prepares for use, the food and such rude articles of manufacture as are +known; while the overlying mass of superior men, maintained by the working +population, deals with circumstances external to the +community--circumstances with which, by position, it is more immediately +concerned. Ceasing by-and-by to have any knowledge of, or power over, the +concerns of the society as a whole, the serf-class becomes devoted to the +processes of alimentation; while the noble class, ceasing to take any part +in the processes of alimentation, becomes devoted to the co-ordinated +movements of the entire body politic. + +Equally remarkable is a further analogy of like kind. After the mucous and +serous layers of the embryo have separated, there presently arises between +the two, a third, known to physiologists as the vascular layer--a layer out +of which are developed the chief blood-vessels. The mucous layer absorbs +nutriment from the mass of yelk it encloses; this nutriment has to be +transferred to the overlying serous layer, out of which the nervo-muscular +system is being developed; and between the two arises a vascular system by +which the transfer is effected--a system of vessels which continues ever +after to be the transferrer of nutriment from the places where it is +absorbed and prepared, to the places where it is needed for growth and +repair. Well, may we not trace a parallel step in social progress? + +Between the governing and the governed, there at first exists no +intermediate class; and even in some societies that have reached +considerable sizes, there are scarcely any but the nobles and their kindred +on the one hand, and the serfs on the other: the social structure being +such, that the transfer of commodities takes place directly from slaves to +their masters. But in societies of a higher type, there grows up between +these two primitive classes, another--the trading or middle class. Equally, +at first as now, we may see that, speaking generally, this middle class is +the analogue of the middle layer in the embryo. For all traders are +essentially distributors. Whether they be wholesale dealers, who collect +into large masses the commodities of various producers; or whether they be +retailers, who divide out to those who want them, the masses of commodities +thus collected together; all mercantile men are agents of transfer from the +places where things are produced to the places where they are consumed. +Thus the distributing apparatus of a society, answers to the distributing +apparatus of a living body; not only in its functions, but in its +intermediate origin and subsequent position, and in the time of its +appearance. + +Without enumerating the minor differentiations which these three great +classes afterwards undergo, we will merely note that throughout, they +follow the same general law with the differentiations of an individual +organism. In a society, as in a rudimentary animal, we have seen that the +most general and broadly contrasted divisions are the first to make their +appearance; and of the subdivisions it continues true in both cases, that +they arise in the order of decreasing generality. + +Let us observe next, that in the one case as in the other, the +specializations are at first very incomplete; and become more complete as +organization progresses. We saw that in primitive tribes, as in the +simplest animals, there remains much community of function between the +parts that are nominally different--that, for instance, the class of chiefs +long remain industrially the same as the inferior class; just as in a +_Hydra_, the property of contractility is possessed by the units of the +endoderm as well as by those of the ectoderm. We noted also how, as the +society advanced, the two great primitive classes partook less and less of +each other's functions. And we have here to remark, that all subsequent +specializations are at first vague, and gradually become distinct. "In the +infancy of society," says M. Guizot, "everything is confused and uncertain; +there is as yet no fixed and precise line of demarcation between the +different powers in a state." "Originally kings lived like other +landowners, on the incomes derived from their own private estates." Nobles +were petty kings; and kings only the most powerful nobles. Bishops were +feudal lords and military leaders. The right of coining money was possessed +by powerful subjects, and by the Church, as well as by the king. Every +leading man exercised alike the functions of landowner, farmer, soldier, +statesman, judge. Retainers were now soldiers, and now labourers, as the +day required. But by degrees the Church has lost all civil jurisdiction; +the State has exercised less and less control over religious teaching; the +military class has grown a distinct one; handicrafts have concentrated in +towns; and the spinning-wheels of scattered farmhouses have disappeared +before the machinery of manufacturing districts. Not only is all progress +from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous; but at the same time it is from +the indefinite to the definite. + +Another fact which should not be passed over, is that in the evolution of a +large society out of an aggregation of small ones, there is a gradual +obliteration of the original lines of separation--a change to which, also, +we may see analogies in living bodies. Throughout the sub-kingdom +_Annulosa_, this is clearly and variously illustrated. Among the lower +types of this sub-kingdom, the body consists of numerous segments that are +alike in nearly every particular. Each has its external ring; its pair of +legs, if the creature has legs; its equal portion of intestines, or else +its separate stomach; its equal portion of the great blood-vessel, or, in +some cases, its separate heart; its equal portion of the nervous cord, and, +perhaps, its separate pair of ganglia. But in the highest types, as in the +large _Crustacea_, many of the segments are completely fused together; and +the internal organs are no longer uniformly repeated in all the segments. +Now the segments of which nations at first consist, lose their separate +external and internal structures in a similar manner. In feudal times, the +minor communities governed by feudal lords, were severally organized in the +same rude way; and were held together only by the fealty of their +respective rulers to some suzerain. But along with the growth of a central +power, the demarcations of these local communities disappeared; and their +separate organizations merged into the general organization. The like is +seen on a larger scale in the fusion of England, Wales, Scotland, and +Ireland; and, on the Continent, in the coalescence of provinces into +kingdoms. Even in the disappearance of law-made divisions, the process is +analogous. Among the Anglo-Saxons, England was divided into tithings, +hundreds, and counties: there were county courts, courts of hundred, and +courts of tithing. The courts of tithing disappeared first; then the courts +of hundred, which have, however, left traces; while the county-jurisdiction +still exists. + +But chiefly it is to be noted, that there eventually grows up an +organization which has no reference to these original divisions, but +traverses them in various directions, as is the case in creatures belonging +to the sub-kingdom just named; and, further, that in both cases it is the +sustaining organization which thus traverses old boundaries, while in both +cases it is the governmental, or co-ordinating organization in which the +original boundaries continue traceable. Thus, in the highest _Annulosa_, +the exo-skeleton and the muscular system, never lose all traces of their +primitive segmentation; but throughout a great part of the body, the +contained viscera do not in the least conform to the external divisions. +Similarly, with a nation, we see that while, for governmental purposes, +such divisions as counties and parishes still exist, the structure +developed for carrying on the nutrition of society, wholly ignores these +boundaries: our great cotton-manufacture spreads out of Lancashire into +North Derbyshire; Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire have long divided the +stocking-trade between them; one great centre for the production of iron +and iron-goods, includes parts of Warwickshire, Staffordshire, +Worcestershire; and those various specializations of agriculture which have +made different parts of England noted for different products, show no more +respect to county-boundaries than do our growing towns to the boundaries of +parishes. + +If, after contemplating these analogies of structure, we inquire whether +there are any such analogies between the processes of organic change, the +answer is--yes. The causes which lead to increase of bulk in any part of +the body politic, are of like nature with those which lead to increase of +bulk in any part of an individual body. In both cases the antecedent is +greater functional activity, consequent on greater demand. Each limb, +viscus, gland, or other member of an animal, is developed by exercise--by +actively discharging the duties which the body at large requires of it; and +similarly, any class of labourers or artisans, any manufacturing centre, or +any official agency, begins to enlarge when the community devolves on it an +increase of work. In each case, too, growth has its conditions and its +limits. That any organ in a living being may grow by exercise, there needs +a due supply of blood: all action implies waste; blood brings the materials +for repair; and before there can be growth, the quantity of blood supplied +must be more than that requisite for repair. + +So is it in a society. If to some district which elaborates for the +community particular commodities--say the woollens of Yorkshire--there +comes an augmented demand; and if, in fulfilment of this demand, a certain +expenditure and wear of the manufacturing organization are incurred; and +if, in payment for the extra supply of woollens sent away, there comes back +only such quantity of commodities as replaces the expenditure, and makes +good the waste of life and machinery; there can clearly be no growth. That +there may be growth, the commodities obtained in return must be more than +sufficient for these ends; and just in proportion as the surplus is great +will the growth be rapid. Whence it is manifest that what in commercial +affairs we call _profit_, answers to the excess of nutrition over waste in +a living body. Moreover, in both cases, when the functional activity is +high and the nutrition defective, there results not growth but decay. If in +an animal, any organ is worked so hard that the channels which bring blood +cannot furnish enough for repair, the organ dwindles; and if in the body +politic, some part has been stimulated into great productivity, and cannot +afterwards get paid for all its produce, certain of its members become +bankrupt, and it decreases in size. + +One more parallelism to be here noted, is, that the different parts of the +social organism, like the different parts of an individual organism, +compete for nutriment; and severally obtain more or less of it according as +they are discharging more or less duty. If a man's brain be overexcited, it +will abstract blood from his viscera and stop digestion; or digestion +actively going on, will so affect the circulation through the brain as to +cause drowsiness; or great muscular exertion will determine such a quantity +of blood to the limbs, as to arrest digestion or cerebral action, as the +case may be. So, likewise, in a society, it frequently happens that great +activity in some one direction, causes partial arrests of activity +elsewhere, by abstracting capital, that is commodities: as instance the way +in which the sudden development of our railway-system hampered commercial +operations; or the way in which the raising of a large military force +temporarily stops the growth of leading industries. + + * * * * * + +The last few paragraphs introduce the next division of our subject. Almost +unawares we have come upon the analogy which exists between the blood of a +living body, and the circulating mass of commodities in the body politic. +We have now to trace out this analogy from its simplest to its most complex +manifestations. + +In the lowest animals there exists no blood properly so called. Through the +small aggregation of cells which make up a _Hydra_, permeate the juices +absorbed from the food. There is no apparatus for elaborating a +concentrated and purified nutriment, and distributing it among the +component units; but these component units directly imbibe the unprepared +nutriment, either from the digestive cavity or from each other. May we not +say that this is what takes place in an aboriginal tribe? All its members +severally obtain for themselves the necessaries of life in their crude +states; and severally prepare them for their own uses as well as they can. +When there arises a decided differentiation between the governing and the +governed, some amount of transfer begins between those inferior +individuals, who, as workers, come directly in contact with the products of +the earth, and those superior ones who exercise the higher functions--a +transfer parallel to that which accompanies the differentiation of the +ectoderm from the endoderm. In the one case, as in the other, however, it +is a transfer of products that are little if at all prepared; and takes +place directly from the unit which obtains to the unit which consumes, +without entering into any general current. + +Passing to larger organisms--individual and social--we find the first +advance upon this arrangement. Where, as among the compound _Hydrozoa_, +there is an aggregation of many such primitive groups as form _Hydrae_; or +where, as in a _Medusa_, one of these groups has become of great size; +there exist rude channels running throughout the substance of the body: not +however, channels for the conveyance of prepared nutriment, but mere +prolongations of the digestive cavity, through which the crude +chyle-aqueous fluid reaches the remoter parts, and is moved backwards and +forwards by the creature's contractions. Do we not find in some of the more +advanced primitive communities, an analogous condition? When the men, +partially or fully united into one society, become numerous--when, as +usually happens, they cover a surface of country not everywhere alike in +its products--when, more especially, there arise considerable classes that +are not industrial; some process of exchange and distribution inevitably +arises. Traversing here and there the earth's surface, covered by that +vegetation on which human life depends, and in which, as we say, the units +of a society are imbedded, there are formed indefinite paths, along which +some of the necessaries of life occasionally pass, to be bartered for +others which presently come back along the same channels. Note, however, +that at first little else but crude commodities are thus +transferred--fruits, fish, pigs or cattle, skins, etc.: there are few, if +any, manufactured products or articles prepared for consumption. And note +further, that such distribution of these unprepared necessaries of life as +takes place, is but occasional--goes on with a certain slow, irregular +rhythm. + +Further progress in the elaboration and distribution of nutriment, or of +commodities, is a necessary accompaniment of further differentiation of +functions in the individual body or in the body politic. As fast as each +organ of a living animal becomes confined to a special action, it must +become dependent on the rest for all those materials which its position and +duty do not permit it to obtain for itself; in the same way that, as fast +as each particular class of a community becomes exclusively occupied in +producing its own commodity, it must become dependent on the rest for the +other commodities it needs. And, simultaneously, a more +perfectly-elaborated blood will result from a highly-specialized group of +nutritive organs, severally adapted to prepare its different elements; in +the same way that the stream of commodities circulating throughout a +society, will be of superior quality in proportion to the greater division +of labour among the workers. Observe, also, that in either case the +circulating mass of nutritive materials, besides coming gradually to +consist of better ingredients, also grows more complex. An increase in the +number of the unlike organs which add to the blood their waste matters, and +demand from it the different materials they severally need, implies a blood +more heterogeneous in composition--an _a priori_ conclusion which, +according to Dr. Williams, is inductively confirmed by examination of the +blood throughout the various grades of the animal kingdom. And similarly, +it is manifest that as fast as the division of labour among the classes of +a community, becomes greater, there must be an increasing heterogeneity in +the currents of merchandise flowing throughout that community. + +The circulating mass of nutritive materials in individual organisms and in +social organisms, becoming alike better in the quality of its ingredients +and more heterogeneous in composition, as the type of structure becomes +higher; eventually has added to it in both cases another element, which is +not itself nutritive, but facilitates the process of nutrition. We refer, +in the case of the individual organism, to the blood-discs; and in the case +of the social organism, to money. This analogy has been observed by Liebig, +who in his "Familiar Letters on Chemistry," says: + + "Silver and gold have to perform in the organization of the State, + the same function as the blood corpuscles in the human organization. + As these round discs, without themselves taking an immediate share in + the nutritive process, are the medium, the essential condition of the + change of matter, of the production of the heat, and of the force by + which the temperature of the body is kept up and the motions of the + blood and all the juices are determined, so has gold become the + medium of all activity in the life of the State." + +And blood-corpuscles being like money in their functions, and in the fact +that they are not consumed in nutrition, he further points out, that the +number of them which in a considerable interval flows through the great +centres, is enormous when compared with their absolute number; just as the +quantity of money which annually passes through the great mercantile +centres, is enormous when compared with the total quantity of money in the +kingdom. Nor is this all. Liebig has omitted the significant circumstance, +that only at a certain stage of organization does this element of the +circulation make its appearance. Throughout extensive divisions of the +lower animals, the blood contains no corpuscles; and in societies of low +civilization, there is no money. + +Thus far, we have considered the analogy between the blood in a living body +and the consumable and circulating commodities in the body politic. Let us +now compare the appliances by which they are respectively distributed. We +shall find in the development of these appliances, parallelisms not less +remarkable than those above set forth. Already we have shown that, as +classes, wholesale and retail distributors discharge in a society, the +office which the vascular system discharges in an individual creature; that +they come into existence later than the other two great classes, as the +vascular layer appears later than the mucous and serous layers; and that +they occupy a like intermediate position. Here, however, it remains to be +pointed out that a complete conception of the circulating system in a +society, includes not only the active human agents who propel the currents +of commodities, and regulate their distribution; but includes, also, the +channels of communication. It is the formation and arrangement of these, to +which we now direct attention. + +Going back once more to those lower animals in which there is found nothing +but a partial diffusion, not of blood, but only of crude nutritive fluids, +it is to be remarked that the channels through which the diffusion takes +place, are mere excavations through the half-organized substance of the +body: they have no lining membranes, but are mere _lacunae_ traversing a +rude tissue. Now countries in which civilization is but commencing, display +a like condition: there are no roads properly so called; but the wilderness +of vegetal life covering the earth's surface, is pierced by tracks, through +which the distribution of crude commodities takes place. And while in both +cases, the acts of distribution occur only at long intervals (the currents, +after a pause, now setting towards a general centre, and now away from it), +the transfer is in both cases slow and difficult. But among other +accompaniments of progress, common to animals and societies, comes the +formation of more definite and complete channels of communication. +Blood-vessels acquire distinct walls; roads are fenced and gravelled. This +advance is first seen in those roads or vessels that are nearest to the +chief centres of distribution; while the peripheral roads and peripheral +vessels, long continue in their primitive states. At a yet later stage of +development, where comparative finish of structure is found throughout the +system as well as near the chief centres, there remains in both cases the +difference, that the main channels are comparatively broad and straight, +while the subordinate ones are narrow and tortuous in proportion to their +remoteness. + +Lastly, it is to be remarked that there ultimately arise in the higher +social organisms, as in the higher individual organisms, main channels of +distribution still more distinguished by their perfect structures, their +comparative straightness, and the absence of those small branches which the +minor channels perpetually give off. And in railways we also see, for the +first time in the social organism, a specialization with respect to the +directions of the currents--a system of double channels conveying currents +in opposite directions, as do the arteries and veins of a well-developed +animal. + +These parallelisms in the evolutions and structures of the circulating +systems, introduce us to others in the kinds and rates of the movements +going on through them. In the lowest societies, as in the lowest creatures, +the distribution of crude nutriment is by slow gurgitations and +regurgitations. In creatures that have rude vascular systems, as in +societies that are beginning to have roads and some transfer of commodities +along them, there is no regular circulation in definite courses; but +instead, periodical changes of the currents--now towards this point, and +now towards that. Through each part of an inferior mollusk's body, the +blood flows for a while in one direction, then stops, and flows in the +opposite direction; just as through a rudely-organized society, the +distribution of merchandise is slowly carried on by great fairs, occurring +in different localities, to and from which the currents periodically set. +Only animals of tolerably complete organizations, like advanced +communities, are permeated by constant currents that are definitely +directed. In living bodies, the local and variable currents disappear when +there grow up great centres of circulation, generating more powerful +currents, by a rhythm which ends in a quick, regular pulsation. And when in +social bodies, there arise great centres of commercial activity, producing +and exchanging large quantities of commodities, the rapid and continuous +streams drawn in and emitted by these centres, subdue all minor and local +circulations: the slow rhythm of fairs merges into the faster one of weekly +markets, and in the chief centres of distribution, weekly markets merge +into daily markets; while in place of the languid transfer from place to +place, taking place at first weekly, then twice or thrice a week, we +by-and-by get daily transfer, and finally transfer many times a day--the +original sluggish, irregular rhythm, becomes a rapid, equable pulse. + +Mark, too, that in both cases the increased activity, like the greater +perfection of structure, is much less conspicuous at the periphery of the +vascular system. On main lines of railway, we have, perhaps, a score trains +in each direction daily, going at from thirty to fifty miles an hour; as, +through the great arteries, the blood rushes rapidly in successive gushes. +Along high roads, there move vehicles conveying men and commodities with +much less, though still considerable, speed, and with a much less decided +rhythm; as, in the smaller arteries, the speed of the blood is greatly +diminished, and the pulse less conspicuous. In parish-roads, narrow, less +complete, and more tortuous, the rate of movement is further decreased and +the rhythm scarcely traceable; as in the ultimate arteries. In those still +more imperfect by-roads which lead from these parish-roads to scattered +farmhouses and cottages, the motion is yet slower and very irregular; just +as we find it in the capillaries. While along the field-roads, which, in +their unformed, unfenced state, are typical of _lacunae_, the movement is +the slowest, the most irregular, and the most infrequent; as it is, not +only in the primitive _lacunae_ of animals, and societies, but as it is also +in those _lacunae_ in which the vascular system ends among extensive +families of inferior creatures. + +Thus, then, we find between the distributing systems of living bodies and +the distributing systems of bodies politic, wonderfully close parallelisms. +In the lowest forms of individual and social organisms, there exist neither +prepared nutritive matters nor distributing appliances; and in both, these, +arising as necessary accompaniments of the differentiation of parts, +approach perfection as this differentiation approaches completeness. In +animals, as in societies, the distributing agencies begin to show +themselves at the same relative periods, and in the same relative +positions. In the one, as in the other, the nutritive materials circulated, +are at first crude and simple, gradually become better elaborated and more +heterogeneous, and have eventually added to them a new element facilitating +the nutritive processes. The channels of communication pass through similar +phases of development, which bring them to analogous forms. And the +directions, rhythms, and rates of circulation, progress by like steps to +like final conditions. + + * * * * * + +We come at length to the nervous system. Having noticed the primary +differentiation of societies into the governing and governed classes, and +observed its analogy to the differentiation of the two primary tissues +which respectively develope into organs of external action and organs of +alimentation; having noticed some of the leading analogies between the +development of industrial arrangements and that of the alimentary +apparatus; and having, above, more fully traced the analogies between the +distributing systems, social and individual; we have now to compare the +appliances by which a society, as a whole, is regulated, with those by +which the movements of an individual creature are regulated. We shall find +here, parallelisms equally striking with those already detailed. + +The class out of which governmental organization originates, is, as we have +said, analogous in its relations to the ectoderm of the lowest animals and +of embryonic forms. And as this primitive membrane, out of which the +nervo-muscular system is evolved, must, even in the first stage of its +differentiation, be slightly distinguished from the rest by that greater +impressibility and contractility characterizing the organs to which it +gives rise; so, in that superior class which is eventually transformed into +the directo-executive system of a society (its legislative and defensive +appliances), does there exist in the beginning, a larger endowment of the +capacities required for these higher social functions. Always, in rude +assemblages of men, the strongest, most courageous, and most sagacious, +become rulers and leaders; and, in a tribe of some standing, this results +in the establishment of a dominant class, characterized on the average by +those mental and bodily qualities which fit them for deliberation and +vigorous combined action. Thus that greater impressibility and +contractility, which in the rudest animal types characterize the units of +the ectoderm, characterize also the units of the primitive social ectoderm; +since impressibility and contractility are the respective roots of +intelligence and strength. + +Again, in the unmodified ectoderm, as we see it in the _Hydra_, the units +are all endowed both with impressibility and contractility; but as we +ascend to higher types of organization, the ectoderm differentiates into +classes of units which divide those two functions between them: some, +becoming exclusively impressible, cease to be contractile; while some, +becoming exclusively contractile, cease to be impressible. Similarly with +societies. In an aboriginal tribe, the directive and executive functions +are diffused in a mingled form throughout the whole governing class. Each +minor chief commands those under him, and if need be, himself coerces them +into obedience. The council of chiefs itself carries out on the +battle-field its own decisions. The head chief not only makes laws, but +administers justice with his own hands. In larger and more settled +communities, however, the directive and executive agencies begin to grow +distinct from each other. As fast as his duties accumulate, the head chief +or king confines himself more and more to directing public affairs, and +leaves the execution of his will to others: he deputes others to enforce +submission, to inflict punishments, or to carry out minor acts of offence +and defence; and only on occasions when, perhaps, the safety of the society +and his own supremacy are at stake, does he begin to act as well as direct. +As this differentiation establishes itself, the characteristics of the +ruler begin to change. No longer, as in an aboriginal tribe, the strongest +and most daring man, the tendency is for him to become the man of greatest +cunning, foresight, and skill in the management of others; for in societies +that have advanced beyond the first stage, it is chiefly such qualities +that insure success in gaining supreme power, and holding it against +internal and external enemies. Thus that member of the governing class who +comes to be the chief directing agent, and so plays the same part that a +rudimentary nervous centre does in an unfolding organism, is usually one +endowed with some superiorities of nervous organization. + +In those somewhat larger and more complex communities possessing, perhaps, +a separate military class, a priesthood, and dispersed masses of population +requiring local control, there necessarily grow up subordinate governing +agents; who as their duties accumulate, severally become more directive and +less executive in their characters. And when, as commonly happens, the king +begins to collect round himself advisers who aid him by communicating +information, preparing subjects for his judgment, and issuing his orders; +we may say that the form of organization is comparable to one very general +among inferior types of animals, in which there exists a chief ganglion +with a few dispersed minor ganglia under its control. + +The analogies between the evolution of governmental structures in +societies, and the evolution of governmental structures in living bodies, +are, however, more strikingly displayed during the formation of nations by +the coalescence of small communities--a process already shown to be, in +several respects, parallel to the development of those creatures that +primarily consist of many like segments. Among other points of community +between the successive rings which make up the body in the lower +_Articulata_, is the possession of similar pairs of ganglia. These pairs of +ganglia, though united together by nerves, are very incompletely dependent +on any general controlling power. Hence it results that when the body is +cut in two, the hinder part continues to move forward under the propulsion +of its numerous legs; and that when the chain of ganglia has been divided +without severing the body, the hind limbs may be seen trying to propel the +body in one direction, while the fore limbs are trying to propel it in +another. Among the higher _Articulata_, however, a number of the anterior +pairs of ganglia, besides growing larger, unite in one mass; and this great +cephalic ganglion, becoming the co-ordinator of all the creature's +movements, there no longer exists much local independence. + +Now may we not in the growth of a consolidated kingdom out of petty +sovereignties or baronies, observe analogous changes? Like the chiefs and +primitive rulers above described, feudal lords, exercising supreme power +over their respective groups of retainers, discharge functions analogous to +those of rudimentary nervous centres; and we know that at first they, like +their analogues, are distinguished by superiorities of directive and +executive organization. Among these local governing centres, there is, in +early feudal times, very little subordination. They are in frequent +antagonism; they are individually restrained chiefly by the influence of +large parties in their own class; and are but imperfectly and irregularly +subject to that most powerful member of their order who has gained the +position of head suzerain or king. As the growth and organization of the +society progresses, these local directive centres fall more and more under +the control of a chief directive centre. Closer commercial union between +the several segments, is accompanied by closer governmental union; and +these minor rulers end in being little more than agents who administer, in +their several localities, the laws made by the supreme ruler: just as the +local ganglia above described, eventually become agents which enforce, in +their respective segments, the orders of the cephalic ganglion. + +The parallelism holds still further. We remarked above, when speaking of +the rise of aboriginal kings, that in proportion as their territories and +duties increase, they are obliged not only to perform their executive +functions by deputy, but also to gather round themselves advisers to aid +them in their directive functions; and that thus, in place of a solitary +governing unit, there grows up a group of governing units, comparable to a +ganglion consisting of many cells. Let us here add, that the advisers, and +chief officers who thus form the rudiment of a ministry, tend from the +beginning to exercise a certain control over the ruler. By the information +they give and the opinions they express, they sway his judgment and affect +his commands. To this extent he therefore becomes a channel through which +are communicated the directions originating with them; and in course of +time, when the advice of ministers becomes the acknowledged source of his +actions, the king assumes very much the character of an automatic centre, +reflecting the impressions made on him from without. + +Beyond this complication of governmental structure, many societies do not +progress; but in some, a further development takes place. Our own case best +illustrates this further development, and its further analogies. To kings +and their ministries have been added, in England, other great directive +centres, exercising a control which, at first small, has been gradually +becoming predominant: as with the great governing ganglia that especially +distinguish the highest classes of living beings. Strange as the assertion +will be thought, our Houses of Parliament discharge in the social economy, +functions that are in sundry respects comparable to those discharged by the +cerebral masses in a vertebrate animal. As it is in the nature of a single +ganglion to be affected only by special stimuli from particular parts of +the body; so it is in the nature of a single ruler to be swayed in his acts +by exclusive personal or class interests. As it is in the nature of an +aggregation of ganglia, connected with the primary one, to convey to it a +greater variety of influences from more numerous organs, and thus to make +its acts conform to more numerous requirements; so it is in the nature of a +king surrounded by subsidiary controlling powers, to adapt his rule to a +greater number of public exigencies. And as it is in the nature of those +great and latest-developed ganglia which distinguish the higher animals, to +interpret and combine the multiplied and varied impressions conveyed to +them from all parts of the system, and to regulate the actions in such way +as duly to regard them all; so it is in the nature of those great and +latest-developed legislative bodies which distinguish the most advanced +societies, to interpret and combine the wishes and complaints of all +classes and localities, and to regulate public affairs as much as possible +in harmony with the general wants. + +The cerebrum co-ordinates the countless heterogeneous considerations which +affect the present and future welfare of the individual as a whole; and the +legislature co-ordinates the countless heterogeneous considerations which +affect the immediate and remote welfare of the whole community. We may +describe the office of the brain as that of _averaging_ the interests of +life, physical, intellectual, moral, social; and a good brain is one in +which the desires answering to these respective interests are so balanced, +that the conduct they jointly dictate, sacrifices none of them. Similarly, +we may describe the office of a Parliament as that of _averaging_ the +interests of the various classes in a community; and a good Parliament is +one in which the parties answering to these respective interests are so +balanced, that their united legislation concedes to each class as much as +consists with the claims of the rest. Besides being comparable in their +duties, these great directive centres, social and individual, are +comparable in the processes by which their duties are discharged. + +It is now an acknowledged truth in psychology, that the cerebrum is not +occupied with direct impressions from without, but with the ideas of such +impressions: instead of the actual sensations produced in the body, and +directly appreciated by the sensory ganglia or primitive nervous centres, +the cerebrum receives only the representations of these sensations; and its +consciousness is called _representative_ consciousness, to distinguish it +from the original or _presentative_ consciousness. Is it not significant +that we have hit on the same word to distinguish the function of our House +of Commons? We call it a _representative_ body, because the interests with +which it deals--the pains and pleasures about which it consults--are not +directly presented to it, but represented to it by its various members; and +a debate is a conflict of representations of the evils or benefits likely +to follow from a proposed course--a description which applies with equal +truth to a debate in the individual consciousness. In both cases, too, +these great governing masses take no part in the executive functions. As, +after a conflict in the cerebrum, those desires which finally predominate, +act on the subjacent ganglia, and through their instrumentality determine +the bodily actions; so the parties which, after a parliamentary struggle, +gain the victory, do not themselves carry out their wishes, but get them +carried out by the executive divisions of the Government. The fulfilment of +all legislative decisions still devolves on the original directive +centres--the impulse passing from the Parliament to the Ministers, and from +the Ministers to the King, in whose name everything is done; just as those +smaller, first-developed ganglia, which in the lowest vertebrata are the +chief controlling agents, are still, in the brains of the higher +vertebrata, the agents through which the dictates of the cerebrum are +worked out. + +Moreover, in both cases these original centres become increasingly +automatic. In the developed vertebrate animal, they have little function +beyond that of conveying impressions to, and executing the determinations +of, the larger centres. In our highly organized government, the monarch has +long been lapsing into a passive agent of Parliament; and now, ministers +are rapidly falling into the same position. + +Nay, between the two cases there is a parallelism, even in respect of the +exceptions to this automatic action. For in the individual creature, it +happens that under circumstances of sudden alarm, as from a loud sound +close at hand, an unexpected object starting up in front, or a slip from +insecure footing, the danger is guarded against by some quick involuntary +jump, or adjustment of the limbs, that takes place before there is time to +consider the impending evil, and take deliberate measures to avoid it: the +rationale of which is, that these violent impressions produced on the +senses, are reflected from the sensory ganglia to the spinal cord and +muscles, without, as in ordinary cases, first passing through the cerebrum. +In like manner, on national emergencies, calling for prompt action, the +King and Ministry, not having time to lay the matter before the great +deliberative bodies, themselves issue commands for the requisite movements +or precautions: the primitive, and now almost automatic, directive centres, +resume for a moment their original uncontrolled power. And then, strangest +of all, observe that in either case there is an afterprocess of approval or +disapproval. The individual on recovering from his automatic start, at once +contemplates the cause of his fright; and, according to the case, concludes +that it was well he moved as he did, or condemns himself for his groundless +alarm. In like manner, the deliberative powers of the State, discuss, as +soon as may be, the unauthorized acts of the executive powers; and, +deciding that the reasons were or were not sufficient, grant or withhold a +bill of indemnity.[V] + + [V] It may be well to warn the reader against an error fallen into by + one who criticised this essay on its first publication--the error + of supposing that the analogy here intended to be drawn, is a + specific analogy between the organization of society in England, + and the human organization. As said at the outset, no such + specific analogy exists. The above parallel, is one between the + most-developed systems of governmental organization, individual + and social; and the vertebrate type is instanced, merely as + exhibiting this most-developed system. If any specific comparison + were made, which it cannot rationally be, it would be to some + much lower vertebrate form than the human. + +Thus far in comparing the governmental organization of the body politic +with that of an individual body, we have considered only the respective +co-ordinating centres. We have yet to consider the channels through which +these co-ordinating centres receive information and convey commands. In the +simplest societies, as in the simplest organisms, there is no "internuncial +apparatus," as Hunter styled the nervous system. Consequently, impressions +can be but slowly propagated from unit to unit throughout the whole mass. +The same progress, however, which, in animal-organization, shows itself in +the establishment of ganglia or directive centres, shows itself also in the +establishment of nerve-threads, through which the ganglia receive and +convey impressions, and so control remote organs. And in societies the like +eventually takes place. + +After a long period during which the directive centres communicate with +various parts of the society through other means, there at last comes into +existence an "internuncial apparatus," analogous to that found in +individual bodies. The comparison of telegraph-wires to nerves, is familiar +to all. It applies, however, to an extent not commonly supposed. We do not +refer to the near alliance between the subtle forces employed in the two +cases; though it is now held that the nerve-force, if not literally +electric, is still a special form of electric action, related to the +ordinary form much as magnetism is. But we refer to the structural +arrangements of our telegraph-system. Thus, throughout the vertebrate +sub-kingdom, the great nerve-bundles diverge from the vertebrate axis, side +by side with the great arteries; and similarly, our groups of +telegraph-wires are carried along the sides of our railways. The most +striking parallelism, however, remains. Into each great bundle of nerves, +as it leaves the axis of the body along with an artery, there enters a +branch of the sympathetic nerve; which branch, accompanying the artery +throughout its ramifications, has the function of regulating its diameter +and otherwise controlling the flow of blood through it according to the +local requirements. Analogously, in the group of telegraph-wires running +alongside each railway, there is one for the purpose of regulating the +traffic--for retarding or expediting the flow of passengers and +commodities, as the local conditions demand. Probably, when our now +rudimentary telegraph-system is fully developed, other analogies will be +traceable. + +Such, then, is a general outline of the evidence which justifies, in +detail, the comparison of societies to living organisms. That they +gradually increase in mass; that they become little by little more complex; +that at the same time their parts grow more mutually dependent; and that +they continue to live and grow as wholes, while successive generations of +their units appear and disappear; are broad peculiarities which bodies +politic display, in common with all living bodies; and in which they and +living bodies differ from everything else. And on carrying out the +comparison in detail, we find that these major analogies involve many minor +analogies, far closer than might have been expected. To these we would +gladly have added others. We had hoped to say something respecting the +different types of social organization, and something also on social +metamorphoses; but we have reached our assigned limits. + + + + +XI. USE AND BEAUTY + + +In one of his essays, Emerson remarks, that what Nature at one time +provides for use, she afterwards turns to ornament; and he cites in +illustration the structure of a sea-shell, in which the parts that have for +a while formed the mouth are at the next season of growth left behind, and +become decorative nodes and spines. + +It has often occurred to me that this same remark might be extended to the +progress of Humanity. Here, too, the appliances of one era serve as +embellishments to the next. Equally in institutions, creeds, customs, and +superstitions, we may trace this evolution of beauty out of what was once +purely utilitarian. + +The contrast between the feeling with which we regard portions of the +Earth's surface still left in their original state, and the feeling with +which the savage regarded them, is an instance that naturally comes first +in order of time. If any one walking over Hampstead Heath, will note how +strongly its picturesqueness is brought out by contrast with the +surrounding cultivated fields and the masses of houses lying in the +distance; and will further reflect that, had this irregular gorse-covered +surface extended on all sides to the horizon, it would have looked dreary +and prosaic rather than pleasing; he will see that to the primitive man a +country so clothed presented no beauty at all. To him it was merely a haunt +of wild animals, and a ground out of which roots might be dug. What have +become for us places of relaxation and enjoyment--places for afternoon +strolls and for gathering flowers--were his places for labour and food, +probably arousing in his mind none but utilitarian associations. + +Ruined castles afford an obvious instance of this metamorphosis of the +useful into the beautiful. To feudal barons and their retainers, security +was the chief, if not the only end, sought in choosing the sites and styles +of their strongholds. Probably they aimed as little at the picturesque as +do the builders of cheap brick houses in our modern towns. Yet what where +erected for shelter and safety, and what in those early days fulfilled an +important function in the social economy, have now assumed a purely +ornamental character. They serve as scenes for picnics; pictures of them +decorate our drawing-rooms; and each supplies its surrounding districts +with legends for Christmas Eve. + +Following out the train of thought suggested by this last illustration, we +may see that not only do the material exuviae of past social states become +the ornaments of our landscapes; but that past habits, manners, and +arrangements, serve as ornamental elements in our literature. The tyrannies +that, to the serfs who bore them, were harsh and dreary facts; the feuds +which, to those who took part in them, were very practical life-and-death +affairs; the mailed, moated, sentinelled security that was irksome to the +nobles who needed it; the imprisonments, and tortures, and escapes, which +were stern and quite prosaic realities to all concerned in them; have +become to us material for romantic tales--material which when woven into +Ivanhoes and Marmions, serves for amusement in leisure hours, and become +poetical by contrast with our daily lives. + +Thus, also, is it with extinct creeds. Stonehenge, which in the hands of +the Druids had a governmental influence over men, is in our day a place for +antiquarian excursions; and its attendant priests are worked up into an +opera. Greek sculptures, preserved for their beauty in our galleries of +art, and copied for the decoration of pleasure grounds and entrance halls, +once lived in men's minds as gods demanding obedience; as did also the +grotesque idols that now amuse the visitors to our museums. + +Equally marked is this change of function in the case of minor +superstitions. The fairy lore, which in past times was matter of grave +belief, and held sway over people's conduct, has since been transformed +into ornament for _A Midsummer Night's Dream_, _The Tempest_, _The Fairy +Queen_, and endless small tales and poems; and still affords subjects for +children's story-books, themes for ballets, and plots for Planche's +burlesques. Gnomes, and genii, and afrits, losing all their terrors, give +piquancy to the woodcuts in our illustrated edition of the _Arabian +Nights_. While ghost-stories, and tales of magic and witchcraft, after +serving to amuse boys and girls in their leisure hours, become matter for +jocose allusions that enliven tea-table conversation. + +Even our serious literature and our speeches are very generally relieved by +ornaments drawn from such sources. A Greek myth is often used as a parallel +by which to vary the monotony of some grave argument. The lecturer breaks +the dead level of his practical discourse by illustrations drawn from +bygone customs, events, or beliefs. And metaphors, similarly derived, give +brilliancy to political orations, and to _Times_ leading articles. + +Indeed, on careful inquiry, I think it will be found that we turn to +purposes of beauty most bygone phenomena that are at all conspicuous. The +busts of great men in our libraries, and their tombs in our churches; the +once useful but now purely ornamental heraldic symbols; the monks, nuns, +and convents, that give interest to a certain class of novels; the bronze +mediaeval soldiers used for embellishing drawing-rooms; the gilt Apollos +that recline on time-pieces; the narratives that serve as plots for our +great dramas; and the events that afford subjects for historical +pictures;--these and such like illustrations of the metamorphosis of the +useful into the beautiful, are so numerous as to suggest that, did we +search diligently enough, we should find that in some place, or under some +circumstances, nearly every notable product of the past has assumed a +decorative character. + +And here the mention of historical pictures reminds me that an inference +may be drawn from all this, bearing directly on the practice of art. It has +of late years been a frequent criticism upon our historical painters, that +they err in choosing their subjects from the past; and that, would they +found a genuine and vital school, they must render on canvas the life and +deeds and aims of our own time. If, however, there be any significance in +the foregoing facts, it seems doubtful whether this criticism is a just +one. For if it be the process of things, that what has performed some +practical function in society during one era, becomes available for +ornament in a subsequent one; it almost follows that, conversely, whatever +is performing some practical function now, or has very recently performed +one, does not possess the ornamental character; and is, consequently, +inapplicable to any purpose of which beauty is the aim, or of which it is a +needful ingredient. + +Still more reasonable will this conclusion appear, when we consider the +nature of this process by which the useful is changed into the ornamental. +An essential pre-requisite to all beauty is _contrast_. To obtain artistic +effect, light must be put in juxtaposition with shade, bright colours with +dull colours, a fretted surface with a plain one. _Forte_ passages in music +must have _piano_ passages to relieve them; concerted pieces need +interspersing with solos; and rich chords must not be continuously +repeated. In the drama we demand contrast of characters, of scenes, of +sentiment, of style. In prose composition an eloquent passage should have a +comparatively plain setting; and in poems great effect is obtained by +occasional change of versification. This general principle will, I think, +explain the transformation of the bygone useful into the present beautiful. +It is by virtue of their contrast with our present modes of life, that past +modes of life look interesting and romantic. Just as a picnic, which is a +temporary return to an aboriginal condition, derives, from its +unfamiliarity, a certain poetry which it would not have were it habitual; +so, everything ancient gains, from its relative novelty to us, an element +of interest. Gradually as, by the growth of society, we leave behind the +customs, manners, arrangements, and all the products, material and mental, +of a bygone age--gradually as we recede from these so far that there arises +a conspicuous difference between them and those we are familiar with; so +gradually do they begin to assume to us a poetical aspect, and become +applicable for ornament. And hence it follows that things and events which +are close to us, and which are accompanied by associations of ideas not +markedly contrasted with our ordinary associations are relatively +inappropriate for purposes of art. + + + + +XII. THE SOURCES OF ARCHITECTURAL TYPES. + + +When lately looking through the gallery of the Old Water-Colour Society, I +was struck with the incongruity produced by putting regular architecture +into irregular scenery. In one case, where the artist had introduced a +perfectly symmetrical Grecian edifice into a mountainous and somewhat wild +landscape, the discordant effect was particularly marked. "How very +unpicturesque," said a lady to her friend, as they passed; showing that I +was not alone in my opinion. Her phrase, however, set me speculating. Why +unpicturesque? Picturesque means, like a picture--like what men choose for +pictures. Why then should this be not fit for a picture? + +Thinking the matter over, it seemed to me that the artist had sinned +against that unity which is essential to a good picture. When the other +constituents of a landscape have irregular forms, any artificial structure +introduced must have an irregular form, that it may seem _part_ of the +landscape. The same general character must pervade it and surrounding +objects; otherwise it, and the scene amid which it stands, become not _one_ +thing but _two_ things; and we say it looks out of place. Or, speaking +psychologically, the associated ideas called up by a building with its +wings, windows, and all its parts symmetrically disposed, differ widely +from the ideas associated with an entirely irregular landscape; and the one +set of ideas tends to banish the other. + +Pursuing the train of thought, sundry illustrative facts came to my mind. I +remembered that a castle, which is more irregular in outline than any other +kind of building, pleases us most when seated amid crags and precipices; +while a castle on a plain seems an incongruity. The partly-regular and +partly-irregular forms of our old farm-houses, and our gabled gothic manors +and abbeys, appear quite in harmony with an undulating, wooded country. In +towns we prefer symmetrical architecture; and in towns it produces in us no +feeling of incongruity, because all surrounding things--men, horses, +vehicles--are symmetrical also. + +And here I was reminded of a notion that has frequently recurred to me; +namely, that there is some relationship between the several kinds of +architecture and the several classes of natural objects. Buildings in the +Greek and Roman styles seem, in virtue of their symmetry, to take their +type from animal life. In the partly-irregular Gothic, ideas derived from +the vegetable world appear to predominate. And wholly irregular buildings, +such as castles, may be considered as having inorganic forms for their +basis. + +Whimsical as this speculation looks at first sight, it is countenanced by +numerous facts. The connexion between symmetrical architecture and animal +forms, may be inferred from the _kind_ of symmetry we expect, and are +satisfied with, in regular buildings. Thus in a Greek temple we require +that the front shall be symmetrical in itself, and that the two flanks +shall be alike; but we do not look for uniformity between the flanks and +the front, nor between the front and the back. The identity of this +symmetry with that found in animals is obvious. Again, why is it that a +building making any pretension to symmetry displeases us if not quite +symmetrical? Probably the reply will be--Because we see that the designer's +idea is not fully carried out; and that hence our love of completeness is +offended. But then there come the further questions--How do we know that +the architect's conception was symmetrical? Whence comes this notion of +symmetry which we have, and which we attribute to him? Unless we fall back +upon the old doctrine of innate ideas, we must admit that the idea of +bilateral symmetry is derived from without; and to admit this is to admit +that it is derived from the higher animals. + +That there is some relationship between Gothic architecture and vegetable +forms is a position generally admitted. The often-remarked analogy between +a groined nave and an avenue of trees with interlacing branches, shows that +the fact has forced itself on men's observation. It is not only in this +analogy, however, that the kinship is seen. It is seen still better in the +essential characteristic of Gothic; namely, what is termed its _aspiring_ +tendency. That predominance of vertical lines which so strongly +distinguishes Gothic from other styles, is the most marked peculiarity of +trees, when compared with animals or rocks. To persons of active +imagination, a tall Gothic tower, with its elongated apertures and clusters +of thin projections running from bottom to top, suggests a vague notion of +growth. + +Of the alleged connexion between inorganic forms and the wholly irregular +and the castellated styles of building, we have, I think, some proof in the +fact that when an edifice is irregular, the _more_ irregular it is the more +it pleases us. I see no way of accounting for this fact, save by supposing +that the greater the irregularity the more strongly are we reminded of the +inorganic forms typified, and the more vividly are aroused the agreeable +ideas of rugged and romantic scenery associated with those forms. + +Further evidence of these several relationships of styles of architecture +to classes of natural objects, is supplied by the kinds of decoration they +respectively represent. The public buildings of Greece, while characterized +in their outlines by the bilateral symmetry seen in the higher animals, +have their pediments and entablatures covered with sculptured men and +beasts. Egyptian temples and Assyrian palaces, while similarly symmetrical +in their general plan, are similarly ornamented on their walls and at their +doors. In Gothic, again, with its grove-like ranges of clustered columns, +we find rich foliated ornaments abundantly employed. And accompanying the +totally irregular, inorganic outlines of old castles, we see neither +vegetable nor animal decorations. The bare, rock-like walls are surmounted +by battlements, consisting of almost plain blocks, which remind us of the +projections on the edge of a rugged cliff. + +But perhaps the most significant fact is the harmony that may be observed +between each type of architecture and the scenes in which it is indigenous. +For what is the explanation of this harmony, unless it be that the +predominant character of surrounding things has, in some way, determined +the mode of building adopted? + +That the harmony exists is clear. Equally in the cases of Egypt, Assyria, +Greece, and Rome, town life preceded the construction of the symmetrical +buildings that have come down to us. And town life is one in which, as +already observed, the majority of familiar objects are symmetrical. We +instinctively feel the naturalness of this association. Out amid the +fields, a formal house, with a central door flanked by an equal number of +windows to right and left, strikes us as unrural--looks as though +transplanted from a street; and we cannot look at one of those stuccoed +villas, with mock windows carefully arranged to balance the real ones, +without being reminded of the suburban residence of a retired tradesman. + +In styles indigenous in the country, we not only find the general +irregularity characteristic of surrounding things, but we may trace some +kinship between each kind of irregularity and the local circumstances. We +see the broken rocky masses amid which castles are commonly placed, +mirrored in their stern, inorganic forms. In abbeys, and such-like +buildings, which are commonly found in comparatively sheltered districts, +we find no such violent dislocations of masses and outlines; and the +nakedness appropriate to the fortress is replaced by decorations reflecting +the neighbouring woods. Between a Swiss cottage and a Swiss view there is +an evident relationship. The angular roof, so bold and so +disproportionately large when compared to other roofs, reminds one of the +adjacent mountain peaks; and the broad overhanging eaves have a sweep and +inclination like those of the lower branches of a pine tree. Consider, too, +the apparent kinship between the flat roofs that prevail in Eastern cities, +interspersed with occasional minarets, and the plains that commonly +surround them, dotted here and there by palm trees. You cannot contemplate +a picture of one of these places, without being struck by the predominance +of horizontal lines, and their harmony with the wide stretch of the +landscape. + +That the congruity here pointed out should hold in every case must not be +expected. The Pyramids, for example, do not seem to come under this +generalization. Their repeated horizontal lines do indeed conform to the +flatness of the neighbouring desert; but their general contour seems to +have no adjacent analogue. Considering, however, that migrating races, +carrying their architectural systems with them, would naturally produce +buildings having no relationship to their new localities; and that it is +not always possible to distinguish styles which are indigenous, from those +which are naturalized; numerous anomalies must be looked for. + +The general idea above illustrated will perhaps be somewhat misinterpreted. +Possibly some will take the proposition to be that men _intentionally_ gave +to their buildings the leading characteristics of neighbouring objects. But +this is not what is meant. I do not suppose that they did so in times past, +any more than they do so now. The hypothesis is, that in their choice of +forms men are unconsciously influenced by the forms encircling them. That +flat-roofed, symmetrical architecture should have originated in the East, +among pastoral tribes surrounded by their herds and by wide plains, seems +to imply that the builders were swayed by the horizontality and symmetry to +which they were habituated. And the harmony which we have found to exist in +other cases between indigenous styles and their localities, implies the +general action of like influences. Indeed, on considering the matter +psychologically, I do not see how it could well be otherwise. For as all +conceptions must be made up of images, and parts of images, received +through the senses--as it is impossible for a man to conceive any design +save one of which the elements have come into his mind from without; and as +his imagination will most readily run in the direction of his habitual +perceptions; it follows, almost necessarily, that the characteristic which +predominates in these habitual perceptions must impress itself on his +design. + + + + +XIII. THE USE OF ANTHROPOMORPHISM. + + +That long fit of indignation which seizes all generous natures when in +youth they begin contemplating human affairs, having fairly spent itself, +there slowly grows up a perception that the institutions, beliefs, and +forms so vehemently condemned are not wholly bad. This reaction runs to +various lengths. In some, merely to a comparative contentment with the +arrangements under which they live. In others to a recognition of the +fitness that exists between each people and its government, tyrannical as +that may be. In some, again, to the conviction, that hateful though it is +to us, and injurious as it would be now, slavery was once beneficial--was +one of the necessary phases of human progress. Again, in others, to the +suspicion that great benefit has indirectly arisen from the perpetual +warfare of past times; insuring as this did the spread of the strongest +races, and so providing good raw material for civilization. And in a few +this reaction ends in the generalization that all modes of human thought +and action subserve, in the times and places in which they occur, some +useful function: that though bad in the abstract, they are relatively +good--are the best which the then existing conditions admit of. + +A startling conclusion to which this faith in the essential beneficence of +things commits us, is that the religious creeds through which mankind +successively pass, are, during the eras in which they are severally held, +the best that could be held; and that this is true, not only of the latest +and most refined creeds, but of all, even to the earliest and most gross. +Those who regard men's faiths as given to them from without--as having +origins either directly divine or diabolical, and who, considering their +own as the sole example of the one, class all the rest under the other, +will think this a very shocking opinion. I can imagine, too, that many of +those who have abandoned current theologies, and now regard religions as so +many natural products of human nature--men who, having lost that antagonism +towards their old creed which they felt while shaking themselves free from +it, can now see that it was highly beneficial to past generations, and is +beneficial still to a large part of mankind;--I can imagine even these +hardly prepared to admit that all religions, down to the lowest Fetichism, +have, in their places, fulfilled useful functions. If such, however, will +consistently develop their ideas, they will find this inference involved. + +For if it be true that humanity in its corporate as well as in its +individual aspect, is a growth and not a manufacture, it is obvious that +during each phase men's theologies, as well as their political and social +arrangements, must be determined into such forms as the conditions require. +In the one case as in the other, by a tentative process, things from time +to time re-settle themselves in a way that best consists with national +equilibrium. As out of plots and the struggles of chieftains, it +continually results that the strongest gets to the top, and by virtue of +his proved superiority ensures a period of quiet, and gives society time to +grow; as out of incidental expedients there periodically arise new +divisions of labour, which get permanently established only by serving +men's wants better than the previous arrangements did; so, the creed which +each period evolves is one more in conformity with the needs of the time +than the creed which preceded it. Not to rest in general statements, +however, let us consider why this must be so. Let us see whether, in the +genesis of men's ideas of deity, there is not involved a necessity to +conceive of deity under the aspect most influential with them. + +It is now generally admitted that a more or less idealized humanity is the +form which every conception of a personal God must take. Anthropomorphism +is an inevitable result of the laws of thought. We cannot take a step +towards constructing an idea of God without the ascription of human +attributes. We cannot even speak of a divine will without assimilating the +divine nature to our own; for we know nothing of volition save as a +property of our own minds. + +While this anthropomorphic tendency, or rather necessity, is manifested by +themselves with sufficient grossness--a grossness that is offensive to +those more advanced--Christians are indignant at the still grosser +manifestations of it seen among uncivilized men. Certainly, such +conceptions as those of some Polynesians, who believe that their gods feed +on the souls of the dead, or as those of the Greeks, who ascribed to the +personages of their Pantheon every vice, from domestic cannibalism +downward, are repulsive enough. But if, ceasing to regard these notions +from the outside, we more philosophically regard them from the inside--if +we consider how they looked to believers, and observe the relationships +they bore to the natures and needs of such; we shall begin to think of them +with some tolerance. The question to be answered is, whether these beliefs +were beneficent in their effects on those who held them; not whether they +would be beneficent for us, or for perfect men; and to this question the +answer must be that while absolutely bad, they were relatively good. + +For is it not obvious that the savage man will be most effectually +controlled by his fears of a savage deity? Must it not happen, that if his +nature requires great restraint, the supposed consequences of +transgression, to be a check upon him, must be proportionately terrible; +and for these to be proportionately terrible, must not his god be conceived +as proportionately cruel and revengeful? Is it not well that the +treacherous, thievish, lying Hindoo should believe in a hell where the +wicked are boiled in cauldrons, rolled down mountains bristling with +knives, and sawn asunder between flaming iron posts? And that there may be +provided such a hell, is it not needful that he should believe in a +divinity delighting in human immolations and the self-torture of fakirs? +Does it not seem clear that during the earlier ages in Christendom, when +men's feelings were so hard that a holy father could describe one of the +delights of heaven to be the contemplation of the torments of the +damned--does it not seem clear that while the general nature was so +unsympathetic, there needed, to keep men in order, all the prospective +tortures described by Dante, and a deity implacable enough to inflict them? + +And if, as we thus see, it is well for the savage man to believe in a +savage god, then we may also see the great usefulness of this +anthropomorphic tendency; or, as before said, necessity. We have in it +another illustration of that essential beneficence of things visible +everywhere throughout nature. From this inability under which we labour to +conceive of a deity save as some idealization of ourselves, it inevitably +results that in each age, among each people, and to a great extent in each +individual, there must arise just that conception of deity best adapted to +the needs of the case. If, being violent and bloodthirsty, the nature be +one calling for stringent control, it evolves the idea of a ruler still +more violent and bloodthirsty, and fitted to afford this control. When, by +ages of social discipline, the nature has been partially humanized, and the +degree of restraint required has become less, the diabolical +characteristics before ascribed to the deity cease to be so predominant in +the conception of him. And gradually, as all need for restraint disappears, +this conception approximates towards that of a purely beneficent necessity. +Thus, man's constitution is in this, as in other respects, self-adjusting, +self-balancing. The mind itself evolves a compensating check to its own +movements; varying always in proportion to the requirement. Its centrifugal +and its centripetal forces are necessarily in correspondence, because the +one generates the other. And so we find that the forms of both religious +and secular rule follow the same law. As an ill-controlled national +character produces a despotic terrestrial government, so also does it +produce a despotic celestial government--the one acting through the senses, +the other through the imagination; and in the converse case the same +relationship holds good. + +Organic as this relationship is in its origin, no artificial interference +can permanently affect it. Whatever perturbations an external agency may +seem to produce, they are soon neutralized in fact, if not in appearance. I +was recently struck with this in reading a missionary account of the +"gracious visitations of the Holy Spirit at Vewa," one of the Feejee +islands. Describing a "penitent meeting," the account says:-- + + "Certainly the feelings of the Vewa people were not ordinary. They + literally roared for hours together for the disquietude of their + souls. This frequently terminated in fainting from exhaustion, which + was the only respite some of them had till they found peace. They no + sooner recovered their consciousness than they prayed themselves + first into an agony, then again into a state of entire + insensibility." + +Now these Feejee islanders are the most savage of all the uncivilized +races. They are given to cannibalism, infanticide, and human sacrifices; +they are so bloodthirsty and so treacherous, that members of the same +family dare not trust each other; and, in harmony with these +characteristics, they have for their aboriginal god, a serpent. Is it not +clear then, that these violent emotions which the missionaries describe, +these terrors and agonies of despair which they rejoiced over, were nothing +but the worship of the old god under a new name? Is it not clear that these +Feejees had simply understood those parts of the Christian creed which +agree in spirit with their own--the vengeance, the perpetual torments, the +diabolism of it; that these, harmonizing with their natural conceptions of +divine rule, were realized by them with extreme vividness; and that the +extremity of the fear which made them "literally roar for hours together," +arose from the fact that while they could fully take in and believe the +punitive element, the merciful one was beyond their comprehension? This is +the obvious inference. And it carries with it the further one, that in +essence their new belief was merely their old one under a new form--the +same substantial conception with a different history and different names. + +However great, therefore, may be the seeming change adventitiously produced +in a people's religion, the anthropomorphic tendency prevents it from being +other than a superficial change--insures such modifications of the new +religion as to give it all the potency of the old one--obscures whatever +higher elements there may be in it until the people have reached the +capability of being acted upon by them: and so, re-establishes the +equilibrium between the impulses and the control they need. If any one +requires detailed illustrations of this, he will find them in abundance in +the history of the modifications of Christianity throughout Europe. + +Ceasing then to regard heathen theologies from the personal point of view, +and considering them solely with reference to the function they fulfil +where they are indigenous, we must recognise them in common with all +theologies, as good for their time and places; and this mental necessity +which disables us from conceiving a deity save as some idealization of +ourselves, we must recognise as the agency by which harmony is produced and +maintained between every phase of human character and its religious creed. + + + + +INDEX. + + +A + + Abstract and concrete, relations of, 174. + + Actions, voluntary and involuntary, 319. + + Analogies of the rudest societies to the lowest forms of life, 398, + 402. + + Analogies of function between living beings and societies, 410. + + Annulosa, structure of compared to that of nations, 408, 422. + + Anthropomorphism, necessity of, 422. + + Architectural ideas, origin of, 439. + + Architecture, relationship to natural objects, 435; illustrations of, + 435-437; town, why symmetrical, 435; country, why irregular, 437. + + Arts, interconnexion of, 187. + + Astronomic influences upon climate produce breaks in geological + succession, 356. + + Automatic actions of men and governments, 426. + + Australia, fauna of, 350. + + +B + + Bain "On the Emotions and Will," estimate of, 302. + + Beauty, its evolution from utility, 429, 433. + + Beliefs, how to judge of them, 442. + + Bow, derivation of the, 78. + + Breaks in the geological record, Hugh Miller upon, 355; produced by + astronomic causes, 356; by re-distributions of land and sea, 359. + + Buildings related to landscape, 438; cause of incongruities in, 438; + relation unintentional, 439. + + +C + + Cambrian rocks, inference from their thickness, 366. + + Calculus, origin of, 158. + + Castles, built with no reference to art, 430. + + Cause, single, produces more than one effect, 32; illustrated in + geological phenomena, 35; in chemical, 40; in organic evolution, + 42; in social progress, 50; in use of locomotive engine, 53. + + Central America, effects of subsidence of, 38. + + Centrifugal force and condensation, 287. + + Cerebrum, analogy of to houses of parliament, 423, 426. + + Circulation in animal bodies and bodies politic, 410, 411; rates of + movement in, 417; of money and blood-discs, 414. + + Classifications of science, progress of, 183; what they indicate, + 125; Oken's, 125; Hegel's, 128; Comte's, 131; serial arrangement + vicious, 144. + + Classification, the mental process in, 147; advances with + rationality, 157; how it has aided science, 182; of the cognitions, + 321; of the feelings, 323; in Psychology, for the present must be + provisional, 300, 301. + + Climate, changes in, produced by astronomic rhythm, 356; by + re-distributions of land and sea, 359. + + Comets, formation of, 256; orbits of, 258; distribution of, 259, 261. + + Common knowledge, nature of, 117; relation of, to science, 118, 122. + + Comte's hierarchy of the sciences, 131. + + Consciousness, mystery of, 197. + + Condensation of nebula, 250. + + Contrast, its relation to beauty, 432. + + Creeds suited to the age that holds them, 441, 443. + + Curtsy, origin of, 79. + + +D + + Densities of the planets, 278-280. + + Development hypothesis, neither proved nor disproved by Paleontology, + 367, 376; defense of, 379. + + Direct creation inconceivable, 378; no examples of, 377; origin of + the notion, 383. + + +E + + Earth, internal constitution of, 290. + + Earth's crust, 5; contraction of, 35. + + Ectoderm social and embryonic, 419. + + Education, bearing of evolution of science upon, 193. + + Emotions in animals, genesis of, 315. + + Emotional language, 232; importance of, 235, 238. + + Engine, locomotive, results of invention of, 53. + + Equality, origin of notion of, 152,158; of things and relations, 153. + + Evolution of the emotions, 311. + + Evolution of governmental and nervous structures, 420. + + +F + + Fashion, origin of, 90; corruption of, 91. + + Feeling and action, relation of, 199, 208. + + Feeling, mystery of, 197; effects of surplus in producing laughter, + 201; why it disturbs the intellect, 207. + + Feeling a stimulus to muscular action, 211, 220; shown in loudness of + voice, 215; in quality or timbre, 215; in pitch, 216; in intervals, + 217; in variability of pitch, 219; relation of, to vocal sounds in + ourselves, 220; in others, 220; causes prostration, 222; + classification of the feelings, 323. + + Feejee islanders, penitent meeting among, 444. + + Final cause, 262, 272, 275, 293. + + Fossils as tests of age and position, 339, 347. + + Function of music, 231-235. + + +G + + Generalizations, premature, use of, 323; as seen in history of + Astronomy, 326; in Geology, 327. + + Genesis of new emotions in civilization, 313; in animals, 315. + + Geological evidence, value of, 8. + + Geologic "systems," are they universal? 335-339. + + Geometry, origin of, 158, 167. + + God, origin of the conception of, 65. + + Gothic architecture, source of, 435, 436. + + Government, rise of, 12, 69, 92; three-fold nature of, 13, 65, 83; + separation of civil from religious, 69; early need of severe, 85; + progressive amelioration of, 88; course of all, 114; results from + national character, 387. + + Great men, relation of to social changes, 388. + + Greek and Roman architecture, derivation of, 435. + + +H + + Heathen theologies, estimate of, 44. + + Heat of heavenly bodies, source of, 292. + + Hegel's classification of philosophy, 128. + + History as commonly studied, small, value of, 385. + + Hobb's parallelism of society and the human body, 389. + + Homogeneous, change of to heterogeneous, 3; seen in genesis of solar + system, 3; in phenomena of earth's crust, 5; in the advance of life + in general, 7; in the progress of man, 10; in growth of + civilization, 12; in government, 13; in language, 17; in painting + and sculpture, 20; in poetry, music, and dancing, 24; cause of this + universal change, 32. + + Hutton's geological system, 327; contrast of the modern with, 330. + + Hydra compared with primitive tribes, 401, 407, 412, 420. + + Hydrozoa, analogies of, 401, 403, 412. + + +I + + Industrial organization, 385. + + Industrial arrangements, development of compared with that of the + alimentary organs, 410. + + Insensible modifications effect great changes, 379; illustrated by + geometrical curves, 318; by physiological development, 382. + + Internal structure of sun and planets, 281-286. + + +K + + King's councils compared to ganglia, 421, 423. + + Knowledge, experience the source of all, 126; relations of various + kinds of, 167. + + +L + + Language, differentiation of, 17; origin of written, 18; origin of + verbal, 149; origin of emotional, 220. + + La Place's theory of planetary evolution, 263-265. + + Laughter, common explanations of, 194; movements in, 200; groups of + muscles successively affected in, 201; caused by incongruities, + 203; facilitates digestion, 207. + + Law, origin of, 70. + + Likeness and unlikeness, recognition of, the basis of classification, + 147; the basis of language, 149; of reasoning, 150; of art, 151; + leads to science, 152. + + Logic, how evolved, 158. + + Lyell, Sir Charles, criticism upon, 338, 342. + + +M + + Man, progress of, 10. + + Manners, genesis of, 77; decline of the influence of, 89; conformity + in manners leads to extravagance, 99; conformity in, decreases + social intercourse, 100; defeats the true end of social life, 102, + 107. + + Mathematics, how evolved, 158. + + Mechanics, rise of science of, 168. + + Mineral qualities of rocks untrustworthy tests of age or position, + 332. + + Miller Hugh, estimate of, 352. + + Motion of nebulous matter, 251-253. + + Morality, origin of, 70. + + Muscular movements, cause of, 195; arrested by feeling, 199; in + laughter purposeless, 201; of animals when excited, 211; variations + of, produce changes of voice, 214. + + Music, increasing heterogeneity of, 26; relation of mental to + muscular excitement, the source of, 214; theory of, 221-224; its + history confirms the theory, 224-228; negative proof of theory of, + 228-231. + + Murchison Sir R. I., criticism upon his "Siluria," 332, 340, 363, + 366. + + +N + + Nebula, are they parts of our siderial system? 243, 249; condensation + of, 250; motion in, 251; significance of forms of, 254; structure + of spiral, 254. + + Nebular hypothesis, 3, 34; its high derivation, 239; it explains + cometary phenomena, 262. + + Negative facts in geology, small value of, 362-365. + + Nervous system, effects of excitement in, 195; directions of + discharge of excitement in, 197; course of discharge unguided by + purpose, 201. + + Number, origin of conception of, 154. + + +O + + Oken's classification of knowledge, 125. + + +P + + Painting and sculpture, origin of, 20. + + Paleontology neither proves nor disproves development, 367, 376. + + Picturesque, meaning of, 433. + + Planetoids, origin of 289. + + Plato's model republic, central idea of, 388. + + Previsions and ordinary knowledge, 117; previsions known as science, + 118; common and scientific, 123; when quantitative arose, 158; + increase in precision, 171. + + Primary divisions of a germ and of a society, 404-407. + + Progress, current meaning of, 1; present inquiry concerning, 2; law + of progress exemplified in the genesis of solar system, 3; in the + phenomena of the earth's crust, 5; in the advance of life in + general, 7; in the history of man, 10; in the growth of + civilization, 12; in government, 13; in language, 17; in painting + and sculpture, 20; in poetry, music, and dancing, 24; statement of + the principle which determines progress of every kind, 32; the + principle of progress illustrated in geological phenomena, 35; in + chemical, 40; in organic evolution, 42; in social advancement, 50; + in use of locomotive engine, 54; this principle does not explain + things in themselves, 58; progress of science, 141; of astronomical + discovery, 165, 171. + + Progress of animals and societies in forming channels of + communication, 416. + + Psychology, relation of English thought to, 301; classification in, + for the present, must be provisional, 300, 301. + + +R + + Reasoning, nature of, 150; basis of, 154; advances with + classification, 157. + + Reformers, eccentricities of, 61; why necessary, 93; not selfish, 95, + 97; difficulties of social, 110. + + Reform, how is it to be effected? 111. + + Religion aided by inquiry, 58. + + Religious ideas, account of primitive, 66. + + +S + + Saturn, rings of, 276. + + Satellites, distribution of, 272-276. + + Savage men need a savage deity, 443. + + Science, limits of, 58; definition of, 119; when complete, 120; test + of the depth of, 122; slow growth of, 123; duplex progress of, 141; + ultimate analysis of exact, 160. + + Sciences, early simultaneous advance of, 165; not independent of each + other, 186; aid each other by analogies, 181; mutual influence of + modern, 178. + + Sculpture and painting, origin of, 20. + + Solar System, movements of planets on their axes in, 267-271. + + Strata now forming, lithological differences in, 347; differences in + the order of superposition of, 348; differences in the organic + remains of, 349. + + Societies and individual organisms, points of agreement between, + 391-393; differences of, examined, 393-397. + + Social intercourse, philosophy of, 105. + + Social changes, true source of, 386. + + Spectrum analysis, 295. + + Spiral nebula, 255. + + Steam-engine, multiplied effects of, 53. + + Sun, constitution of, 294, 296; relation of plane of its equator to + plane of planetary orbits, 266. + + +T + + Telegraph wires, comparison of to nerves, 427. + + Titles, derivation of, 72; depreciation of, 74. + + Truth, ultimate test of, 130. + + +U + + Useful passes into the beautiful, 430, 433. + + +V + + Voice, cause of loudness of, 215; cause of quality of, 215; of pitch + of, 216; intervals in, 217; variability of the pitch of, 219. + + Voluntary and involuntary actions, 319. + + +W + + Werner's system of Geology, 328; contrast of, with the modern system, + 330. + + + THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Illustrations of Universal Progress, by +Herbert Spencer + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ILLUSTRATIONS OF UNIVERSAL PROGRESS *** + +***** This file should be named 39977.txt or 39977.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/9/7/39977/ + +Produced by Adrian Mastronardi, tallforasmurf and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +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. 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