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DARWINISM

AND OTHER ESSA YS.

DARWINISM

AND OTHER ESSAYS.

15 Y

JOHN FISKE, M.A., LL.B.,

PHILOSOPHY, INSTRUCTOR IN HISTORY, AND ASSISTANT-
IKARIAN, AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

" Qui itaque suos affectus et appetitus ex solo libertatis amore moderari
studet, is, quantum potest, nitetur, virtutes earumque causas noscere, et
animum gaudio, quod ex earum vera cognitione oritur, implexe. " SPINOZA*

Bonbon snb Ifrfo ork:

MACMILLAN AND CO.

1879.

The Right of Translation and Reproduction is Reserved.

THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY,

IN REMEMBRANCE OF

THREE HAPPY DAYS AT PETERSHAM,

AMONG THE BLUE HILLS OF MASSACHUSETTS,

AND OF MANY
PLEASANT FIRESIDE CHATS IN LONDON,

| frebkai*

THIS LITTLE BOOK.

LONDON, June 30, 1879

CONTENTS.

DARWINISM VERIFIED .

II.
MR. MIVART ON DARWINISM 32

III.
DR, BATEMAN ON DARWINISM 39

IV.
DR. BUCHNER ON DARWINISM 49

A CRUMB FOR THE " MODERN SYMPOSIUM " 55

VI.

CHAUNCEY WRIGHT 78

viii CONTENTS.

VII.

FAGJ'.

WHAT IS INSPIRATION? . IIO

VIII.

DR. HAMMOND AND THE TABLE-TIPPERS

IX.

MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES ............. 130

POSTSCRIPT ON MR. BUCKLE ...... ........ IQ2

THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. . . . , ....... 204

XII.

A LIBRARIAN'S WORK .............. 237

DARWINISM

AND OTHER ESSAYS.
I.

DARWINISM VERIFIED.

IT is- not often that the propounder of a new and
startling scientific theory has lived to see his daring
innovations accepted by the scientific world in general.
Harvey's great discovery of the circulation of the
blood was scoffed at for nearly a whole generation ;
and Newton's law of gravitation, though proved by
the strictest mathematical proof, received from many
eminent men but a slow and grudging acquiescence.
Even Leibnitz, who as a mathematician hardly inferior
to Newton himself might have been expected to be
convinced on simple inspection of the theory, was
prevented from accepting it by the theological
objection that it appeared to substitute the action of a

2 DARWINISM VERIFIED. [i.

physical force for the direct action of the Deity. In
France, where ideas not of French origin are very apt
to be but slowly apprehended, the opposition to the
Newtonian theory was not silenced till 1759, when
Clairaut and Lalande, by calculating the retardation
of Halley's comet, furnished such crucial proof as
could not possibly be overcome. At this time
Newton had been thirty-two years in his grave;
seventy-two years had elapsed since the publication
of the Principia, and ninety-four since the hypothesis
was first definitely conceived.

In the present age, when the number of scientific
inquirers has greatly increased and the interchange
of thoughts has become rapid and constant, it takes
much less time for a new generalisation to make its
way into people's minds. It is now barely eighteen
years since Mr. Darwin's views on the origin of species
were announced in a book which purported to be
only the rough preliminary sketch of a greater work
in course of preparation. But, though greeted at the
beginning with ridicule and opprobrium, the theory
of natural selection has already won a complete and
overwhelming victory. One could count on one's
fingers the number of eminent naturalists who still
decline to adopt it, and the hesitancy of these appears

i.] DARWINISM VERIFIED. 3

to be determined in the main by theological or meta-
physical, and therefore not strictly relevant, objec-
tions. But it is not simply that the great body of
naturalists have accepted the Darwinian theory : it
has become part and parcel of their daily thoughts,
an element in every investigation which cannot be got
rid of. With a tacit consent that is almost unanimous,
the classificatory relations among plants and animals
have come to be recognised as representing degrees of
genetic kinship. One needs but to read constantly
such scientific journals as Nature, or to peer into
the proceedings of scientific societies, to see how
thoroughly all contemporary inquiry is permeated by
the conception of natural selection. The record of
research, whether in embryology, in palaeontology, or
in the study of the classification and distribution of
organised beings, has come to be the registration of
testimony in support of Mr. Darwin's hypothesis.
So deeply, indeed, has this mighty thinker impressed
his thoughts on the mind of the age that in order
fully to unfold the connotations of the word " Darwin-
ism " one could hardly stop short of making an index
to the entire recent literature of the organic sciences.
The sway of natural selection in biology is hardly
less complete than that of gravitation in astronomy ;
and thus it is probably true that no other scientific

B 2

4 DARWINISM VERIFIED. [i.

discoverer has within his own lifetime obtained so
magnificent a triumph as Mr. Darwin.

The comparison of the doctrine of natural selection
with the Newtonian theory is made advisedly, as I
wish to call attention to some differences in the aspect
of the proofs by which two such different hypotheses
are established. First, however, as the point will not
hereafter come up for consideration in this paper, it
may be well to notice the theological objection which
has been urged against Mr. Darwin, as it was once
urged against Newton, and to show briefly why, as
above hinted, it cannot be regarded as properly rele-
vant to the discussion of the scientific hypothesis.
The theological objection to natural selection, which
has weight with many minds, is precisely the same
objection that Leibnitz made to gravitation, that
the action of physical forces appears to be substituted
for the direct action of the Deity. This has, indeed,
been a very common objection to theories which
enlarge and define what is called the action of
secondary causes, but it has been peculiarly unfortu-
nate in this respect, that with the progress of inquiry
it has invariably been overruled without practical
detriment to theism. It regularly happens that the
so-called atheistical theory becomes accepted as part
and parcel of science, and yet men remain as firm

i.] DARWINISM VERIFIED. 5

theists as ever. The objection is, therefore, evidently
fallacious, and the fallacy is not difficult to point out.
It lies in a metaphysical misconception of the words
" force " and " cause." " Force " is implicitly regarded
as a sort of entity or daemon which has a mode of
action distinguishable from that of universal Deity ;
otherwise it is meaningless to speak of substituting
the one for the other. But such a personification of
" force" is a remnant of barbaric thought, and is in
no wise sanctioned by physical science. When
astronomy speaks of two planets as attracting each
other with a " force " which varies directly as their
masses and inversely as the squares of their distances
apart, it simply uses the phrase as a convenient meta-
phor by which to describe the manner in which the
observed movements of the two bodies occur. It
explains that in presence of each other the two bodies
are observed to change their positions in a certain
specified way, and this is all that it means. This is
all that a strictly scientific hypothesis can possibly
allege, and this is all that observation can possibly
prove. Whatever goes beyond this and imagines or
asserts a kind of " pull " between the two bodies, is
not science, but metaphysics. An atheistic meta-
physics may imagine such a " pull " and may in-
terpret it as the " action " of something that is not

6 DARWINISM VERIFIED. [i.

Deity, but such a conclusion can find no support in
the scientific theorem, which is simply a generalised
description of phenomena. The general considera-
tions upon which the belief in the existence and
direct action of Deity are otherwise founded, are in
no wise disturbed by the establishment of any such
scientific theorem. The theological question is left just
where it was before. We are still at perfect liberty to
maintain that it is the direct action of Deity which is
manifested in the planetary movements ; having done
nothing more with our Newtonian hypothesis than to
construct a happy formula for expressing the mode
or order of the manifestation. We may have learned
something new concerning the manner of Divine ac-
tion ; we certainly have not " substituted " any other
kind of action for it. And what is thus obvious in
this simple astronomical example is equally true in
principle in every case whatever in which one set of
phenomena is interpreted by comparison with another
set. In no case whatever can science use the words
"force" or "cause" except as metaphorically de-
scriptive of some observed or observable sequence of
phenomena. And consequently at no imaginable
future time, so long as the essential conditions of
human thinking are maintained, can science even
attempt to substitute the action of any other power

i.] DARWINISM VERIFIED. 7

for the direct action of Deity. Darwinism may con-
vince us that the existence of highly complicated
organisms is the result of an infinitely diversified
aggregate of circumstances so minute as severally to
seem trivial or accidental ; yet the consistent theist
will always occupy an impregnable position in main-
taining that the entire series in each and every one
of its incidents is an immediate manifestation of the
creative action of God.

From an obverse point of view, it might be argued
that since a philosophical theism must regard Divine
power as the immediate source of all phenomena
alike, therefore science cannot properly explain any
particular group of phenomena by a direct reference
to the action of Deity. Such a reference is not an
explanation, since it adds nothing to our previous
knowledge either of the phenomena or of the manner
of Divine action. The business of science is simply
to ascertain in what manner phenomena co-exist with
each other or follow each other, and the only kind of
explanation with which it can properly deal is that
which refers one set of phenomena to another set. In
pursuing this its legitimate business science does not
trench on the province of theology in any way, and
there is no conceivable occasion for any conflict
between the two. From this and the previous

8 DARWINISM VERIFIED. [i.

considerations taken together it follows not only that
such explanations as are contained in the Newtonian
and Darwinian theories are entirely consistent with
theism, but also that they are the only kind of expla-
nations with which science can properly concern itself
at all. To say that complex organisms were directly
created by the Deity is to make an assertion which,
however true in a theistic sense, is utterly barren. It
is of no profit to theism, which must be taken for
granted before the assertion can be made ; and it is
of no profit to science, which must still ask its
question, " How ? "

Setting aside, then, the theological criticism as
irrelevant to the question really at stake, the Dar-
winian theory, like the Newtonian, remains to be
tested by strictly scientific considerations. In the
more recent instance, as in the earlier, the relevant
question is how far the course of events as sketched
by the hypothesis agrees with the observed pheno-
mena of nature. But in the directness with which
this question can be answered there is great differ-
ence between the two theories. The Newtonian
hypothesis asserted the existence of a general
physical property of matter, and could therefore be
tested by a single crucial instance, such as was
afforded by the simple case of the planetary motions.

i.] DARWINISM VERIFIED. 9

Kepler's three laws comprised in succinct form a very
complete description of the movements of the
planets, and when it was shown that these move-
ments were just such as must occur according to the
theory of gravitation, the theory was rightly regarded
as verified. Further confirmatory instances could but
repeat the same lesson, as when the irregularities of
movement, due to the attractions exercised by the
various planets upon each other, were likewise seen
to conform strictly to the hypothesis. Nor was any
alteration or enlargement of the original theory
required in order to obtain the supreme triumph of
verified prediction, as when Clairaut foretold the
precise amount of delay in the reappearance of
Halley's comet caused by the interfering attractions
of Jupiter and Saturn, or as when Leverrier and
Adams discovered the existence of Neptune through
its effects upon the motions of Uranus. In all these
cases the physical principle involved was simple, and
admitted of precise mathematical treatment ; and
it is owing to this that the law of gravitation has
become the most illustrious example which the
history of science can furnish of a completely verified
hypothesis.

To look for similar conciseness of verification in
the case of the Darwinian theory would be to

io DARWINISM VERIFIED. [i.

mistake entirely the conditions under which scientific
evidence can be procured. To estimate properly the
value of any hypothesis it is necessary that we should
know what kind and degree of proof to expect ; and
in the present case we must not look for a demon-
stration that shall be direct and simple. Instead of
a universal property of matter, so conspicuous as to
be recognised at once by the inspection of a few
striking instances, we have in the theory of natural
selection to deal with a very complex process, working
results of endless diversity throughout the organic
world, and often masked in its action by accompany-
ing processes, some of which we can detect without
being able to estimate their relative potency, while
others no doubt have thus far escaped our attention
altogether. Accordingly, while we may consider it
as certain that natural selection is capable of working
specific changes in organisms, we may at the same
time find it impossible to give a complete account of
the origin of any one particular species through natural
selection, because we can never be sure that we have
taken due notice of all the innumerable concrete cir-
cumstances involved in such an event. The theory,
therefore, cannot be adequately tested by any single
striking instance, but must depend for its sup-
port on the cumulative evidence afforded by its

i.] DARWINISM VERIFIED. n

general harmony with the processes of organic
nature.

If we consider the Danvinian theory as a whole, it
must be admitted that such cumulative evidence has
already been brought forward in sufficient quantity
to amount to a satisfactory demonstration. The con-
vergence of proofs is too persistent and unmistakable
to allow of any alternative hypothesis being put in
the field. But in exhibiting this, it is desirable that
there should be no confusion of thought as to the
full import of the Danvinian theory. Mr. Mivart's
way of describing that theory as an attempt to ac-
count for the origin of all the various forms of life
through the operation of natural selection alone, is
a gross misrepresentation. Mr. Darwin has never
urged his hypothesis in this limited shape. The
essential theorems of Darwinism are,jirst, that forms
of life now widely unlike have been produced from
a common original through the accumulated in-
heritance of minute individual modifications ; and,
secondly, that such modifications have been accumu-
lated mainly, or in great part, through the selection
of individuals best fitted to survive and transmit
their peculiarities to their offspring. But that this
survival of the fittest individuals has been the sole
agency concerned in bringing about the present

12 DARWINISM VERIFIED. [i.

wondrous variety of living beings, Mr. Darwin has
nowhere asserted or implied, having even in the
earliest edition of his great work explicitly pointed
out certain other agencies as involved in the complex
result. Yet other agencies, hitherto unsuspected, may
be discovered in the future ; but such discoveries, how-
ever far they may go in supplementing the Darwinian
theory, can only strengthen its central position as re-
gards the rise of specific differences through gradual
modifications.

That natural selection is a true cause, and one
capable of accumulating variations to an indefinite
extent, is now held to be beyond question. The
wonders wrought by artificial selection in the breed-
ing of domestic animals and cultivated plants are
such that one might well have attributed great re-
sults to the exercise of a similar selection by Nature
through countless ages, could any such process be
detected. Few, however, save those instructed natu-
ralists who have frequent occasion to ponder the
subject, are aware what a tremendous reality natural
selection is. As I have elsewhere observed " a single
codfish has been known to lay six million eggs within
a year. If these eggs were all to become adult cod-
fishes, and the multiplication were to continue at this
rate for three or four years, the ocean would not afford

i.] DARWINISM VERIFIED. 13

room for the species. Yet we have no reason to sup-
pose that the race of codfishes is actually increasing
in numbers to any notable extent. With the cod-
fish, as with animal species in general, the numbers
during many successive generations oscillate about a
point which is fixed, or moves but slowly forward or
backward. Instead of a geometrical increase with a
ratio of six millions, there is practically no marked
increase at all. Now this implies that out of the six
million embryo codfish a sufficient number will sur-
vive to replace their two parents, and to replace a
certain small proportion of those contemporary cod-
fishes who leave no progeny. Perhaps a dozen may
suffice for this, perhaps a hundred. The rest of the
six million must die." l The amount of destruction is
not so great as this in all parts of the animal king-
dom. Among the higher birds and mammals the
preservation of the individual bears a very much
higher ratio to the preservation of the race. But
with the immense classes of fishes, insects, and crus-
taceans, as well as the sub-kingdom of molluscs,
which taken together make up by far the greater
portion of the animal world, the destruction con-
tinually going on is probably not less than that which
is described in the example cited. Even if we were to

1 Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy ', vol. ii. p. 12.

14 DARWINISM VERIFIED. [i.

take account only of the individuals which survive
the embryo or larva state, but do not succeed in
leaving offspring behind them, the cases of destruc-
tion would still bear an enormous ratio to the cases
of preservation. But in maintaining the character-
istics of a race only those individuals can be counted
who produce offspring. It is obvious then that each
species of organisms, as we know it, consists only of
a few favoured individuals selected out of countless
multitudes who have been tried and rejected as un-
worthy to live. No selection that is exercised by
man compares in rigour with this. It is somewhat
as if a breeder of race-horses were to choose, with
infallible accuracy of judgment, the two or three
fleetest out of each hundred thousand, destroying all
the rest that the high standard of the breed might
run no possible risk of deterioration. In such a
rigorous competition as this, no individual peculiarity
can be so slight that we are entitled to regard it as
unimportant. No peculiarity is really slight that
enables its possessor to survive until he transmits it
to posterity.

In view of all this we see how misleading it is to
describe natural selection (as Mr. Mivart does) as a
process which operates only occasionally upon varia-
tions assumed to be fortuitous. We see that natural

i.] DARWINISM VERIFIED. 15

selection, like a power that slumbers not nor sleeps,
is ever preserving the stability of species by seizing
all individual peculiarities that oscillate within narrow
limits on either side of the mean that is most advan-
tageous to the species, while cutting off all such pecu-
liarities as transgress these limits. Domesticated
animals, protected from the exigencies of wild life,
often exhibit great varieties in colouring, while wild
animals of the same genus or species are monotonously
coloured, because only one kind of colouring will aid
them in catching prey or eluding enemies, and all the
variations are killed out. Who can doubt that ante-
lopes are so fleet, only because all but the fleetest
individuals are sure to be overtaken and eaten by
lions ? Protected from the lions, a thousand genera-
tions might well make them as lazy and clumsy as
sheep.

Operating in this stern way, natural selection secures
the general adaptation of each race of organisms to
the conditions of life which surround it. And so long
as a species continues surrounded by circumstances
that are tolerably persistent, natural selection main-
tains its stability of character. Thus what the older
naturalists called the "fixity of species" is fully
accounted for. But a " fixity of species " that is
maintained only under such conditions is really no

1 6 DARWINISM VERIFIED. [i.

fixity at all. Change the surrounding circumstances,
and the average character of the species must change.
Slight peculiarities that once insured survival will now
insure destruction, and tendencies to vary that once
would have been nipped short will now be encouraged
and exaggerated. In this way the strong tendency,
hereditary in all mammals, toward the growth of hair
on the surface, was greatly exaggerated in the Siberian
mammoth, while checked in his brethren, the elephants
of India and Africa. In this way a peculiar curve in
the contour of butterflies' wings, which is persistently
killed out in India and Java, is with equal persistency
selected for preservation in Celebes. How far such
alterations in the direction of natural selection may
work deep-seated changes in the structure of an
organism, one cannot accurately define ; but there is
no doubt that they go very far indeed, when taken in
connection with the facts of what is called " corre-
lation of growth." An organism is not a mere aggre-
gation of parts, of which one can be altered without
affecting the others. Increase in the size and weight
of a deer's horns entails an increase in the size of the
cervical vertebrae and muscles, and indirectly modifies
the shoulders and fore-limbs ; while all these changes,
by altering the animal's centre of gravity, cause com-
pensating changes in the rest of the body. Increased

i.] DARWINISM VERIFIED. 17

thickness of fur modifies the efficiency of the skin as
an excreting organ, and thus reacts upon the lungs,
liver, and kidneys. But it is not only in these clearly
traceable ways that correlation of growth is manifested.
Sometimes the correlations are inexplicable. Thus,
to lengthen the beak of a pigeon is to increase the
size of his feet, hairless dogs have their teeth imper-
fect, and white tomcats with blue eyes are almost
invariably deaf. In the present state of physiological
knowledge we cannot account for such facts ; but it is
enough for the purposes of the Darwinian theory to
know that they exist. For, taken all together, they
show that natural selection, operating on even the
most superficial variations, is quite competent to work
deep-seated changes of structure and function.

When we consider, then, that the circumstances
which determine what individuals shall survive are
not constant in the long run for any species, though
apparently constant for limited periods of time;
when we reflect that there is no one of the larger
groups of plants and animals such as orders, or
families, or even genera which have not been sub-
jected again and again to great and complicated
changes of environment, it becomes evident that
anything like " fixity of species " is utterly out of
the question. No such thing is possible or even

!8 DARWINISM VERIFIED. [i.

imaginable, when once the facts of the case have
been thoroughly conceived. Looking over the
earth's surface to-day, things may seem quiet and
stable enough. But if we contemplate the succession
of past events, as disclosed by the geologist, what
mainly strikes our attention is the secular turmoil.
Islands aggregating into continents ; continents break-
ing up into archipelagoes ; rivers shifting their beds ;
coast-lines changing their direction ; oceans now
separated by impassable isthmus-walls, now mingling
their floras and faunas through new-made channels ;
torrid zones becoming temperate, and temperate
zones growing frigid ; marshes transformed into
deserts, and glaciated valleys thawing into sunny
lakes ; high table-lands sinking into ocean-floors, and
submarine ledges rearing their heads as Alpine
ranges ; deep-sea molluscs and crustaceans seeking
refuge in shallow waters, while littoral organisms
migrate upland to find new food and contend with
new enemies ; plant-seeds carried by vagrant birds to
unwonted habitats ; peaceful tribes of ruminants
decimated by invading carnivores ; ceaseless conflict,
and redistribution of every possible sort, these are
the things we are called upon to contemplate. Re-
membering, then, how stability of species is maintained
only by the rigorous selection of a few individuals that

i.] DARWINISM VERIFIED. 19

are best adapted to a given set of exigencies, we see
that, as the combinations of exigencies are altered from
time to time, the stability of species can in general
be but temporary. Now and then we may expect to
find very long persistency of type where, in spite of
great terrestrial changes, some simple set of condi-
tions most important to the organism remains un-
altered ; but in the vast majority of cases such per-
sistence is impossible. It is seldom that the life of
any species extends over more than one geological
epoch ; often the duration is much shorter than
this.

Whether, therefore, it is practicable for us to-day
to explain every minute peculiarity of any one par-
ticular species by an appeal to natural selection
alone, is not the main point to be considered in esti-
mating the success of the Darwinian theory. The
question has a scientific interest of its own which is
very great, but it is not the main question. The
main point is that, admitting natural selection to be
a vera causa at all (and this no one denies), the
stability of species is proved to be but a contingent
and temporary affair. The old notion of an absolute
fixity of species is overthrown once for all, and with
it the only semblance of an argument that could
ever have been alleged in behalf of the hypothesis

C 2

20 DARWINISM VERIFIED. [i.

of special creations. For in considering nearly allied
forms, like the lion, tiger, and leopard, their actual
consanguinity would never have been doubted for a
moment but for the inability of naturalists to under-
stand how the type which appears so constant, when
viewed through a short period of time and amid un-
changing conditions, should after all be variable.
Unable to imagine any probable cause or method of
variation by which the descendants of a common
feline ancestor should have acquired the divergent
characters of lions and leopards, the naturalist either
gave up the problem as insoluble, or else retreated
upon the assumption that leopards and lions were
separately created. In either case science was equally
at fault ; for, as above argued, the hypothesis of
special creations, as referring a particular group of
phenomena to that Divine action which is the equal
source of all phenomena, is not entitled to be con-
sidered a scientific explanation. But when Mr.
Darwin called attention to the working of natural
selection, the difficulty was removed, and it at once
became highly probable that such allied forms had
diverged from a common stock through the accumu-
lations of minute modifications.

Such being the conclusion to which we are led
by considering the process of natural selection, it

i.] DARWINISM VERIFIED. 21

becomes desirable to inquire whether the conclusion is
confirmed by the most general phenomena of organic
life that have been observed and tabulated. There is
no hesitation or ambiguity in the answer. Whether
we consider the classificatory relationships of plants
and animals, their embryology, their morphology, their
geographical distribution, or their geological succes-
sion, there is not only abundance of evidence, but the
evidence points wholly in one direction. With entire
unanimity the phenomena in question testify that
species have arisen by descent with modifications and
not by disconnected acts of creation. The facts of
classification alone are sufficiently decisive. By the
older naturalists who sought to arrange animals and
plants in groups according to their resemblances,
attempts were often made to construct a linear series
in which each group should be intermediate between
those which preceded and those which followed it. All
such attempts proved futile, and after a half-century
of discussion and criticism it became evident that the
only possible classification which correctly represents
the facts is one in which organisms are arranged in
divergent groups and sub-groups, like the branches
and twigs of what is aptly termed a family tree.
Wherever different orders, families, or genera show
points of resemblance to each other, the resemblances

22 DARWINISM VERIFIED. [i.

occur always at the bottom, among their least highly
developed species. Apes, bats, and rabbits are suffi-
ciently distinct in type, but the lowest members of
the orders to which these animals respectively belong
are strikingly like one another. At the bottom of
the mammalian class, the echidna and duck-bill have
many points in common with birds and reptiles ;
while birds and reptiles not only draw together so
that it is hard to distinguish their most primitive
forms as clearly bird or clearly reptile, but these
primitive forms remind one in many ways of the
batrachians. A batrachian, in turn, is an animal
which ends its life as a kind of reptile after having
begun it as a kind of imperfectly specialised fish.
Again, the lowest known vertebrate, the amphioxus,
usually ranked with fishes, though hardly specialised
enough to be called a true fish, exhibits marks of
actual relationship with the ascidian, which is nothing
more than a worm of the order known as tunicata.
No two animals could be less like each other than a
bee and a nautilus, yet in their lowest members the
two sub-kingdoms of articulata and molluscs become
barely distinguishable from each other and from the
worms with which the vertebrate sub-kingdom also
becomes blended. It is on account of this conver-
gence of types as we descend in the scale that

i.] DARWINISM VERIFIED. 23

naturalists have found it so difficult to classify satis-
factorily those lower organisms which Cuvier roughly
grouped together as radiata. Parallel phenomena
recur as we reach the confines of the animal and
vegetal kingdoms and meet with numbers of organ-
isms which there is as much reason for assigning to
the one kingdom as to the other. All this com-
plicated arrangement of organisms in groups within
groups, resembling each other at the bottom of the
scale, and differing most widely at the top, is just
what is presupposed by the Darwinian theory of
" descent with modification," and on any other theory
it appears to be totally inexplicable.

Precisely similar testimony as to gradual diver-
gence is found in the facts of embryology and mor-
phology. It is a familiar fact that the germs of all
organisms are like each other, and are, moreover,
very like such lowest forms of life as the amoeba and
protococcus. But as a germ develops it becomes
specialized and defined, first as to its sub-kingdom,
then as to its class, order, family, genus, species, and
variety. The germ-cell of a mandril is at first indis-
tinguishable from that of a snail or lobster. The
foetal ape arising therefrom is at first definable as a
vertebrate, but not as a mammal ; on the other hand,
it circulates its blood through a system of gills, and

24 DARWINISM VERIFIED. [i.

its nascent heart is like the heart of a fish. Presently,
with the appearance of the allantoidal membrane, the
foetus seems to be on the point of becoming a reptile
or bird ; but after a while it declares itself a mammal.
Next it becomes apparent that it is not a rodent or
insectivore, but a primate ; next, it exhibits charac-
teristics which define it as a true ape, and not a
lemur ; still later, it is seen to be a catarrhine ape ;
and finally, it is born with the specific attributes of
a mandril, which are, however, further intensified as
it reaches maturity. Facts like these, which are in-
variably found in the embryonic development of
organisms, tell just the same story as the facts of
classification. If they do not mean that the various
forms of organic life have arisen by gradual diver-
gence from a common original, one might well be
excused for doubting whether the phenomena of
nature have any rational meaning whatever. Of like
import are many of the more special facts of em-
bryology, such as the useless rudiments of hind limbs
in many snakes, the presence of teeth in the beaks of
sundry embryonic birds and in the jaws of foetal
whales, and the gill-like glands in the human throat.
As if all this were not enough, the study of morpho-
logy discloses that all the diversified mechanical func-
tions performed by the various animals comprised in

i.] DARWINISM VERIFIED. 25

any sub-kingdom are achieved by more or less con-
siderable modifications of a framework that in its
typical features is common to all. In embryonic
development the fins of the fish correspond with the
legs of reptiles and mammals, and with the legs and
wings of birds. To enable the bat to fly, no new
mechanism is invented, but an embryonal hand de-
velops into a wing by the elongation of its fingers
and the growth of a web-like skin between them.

If we consider the most general features of the
geographical distribution and geological succession of
organisms, we find the evidence hardly less complete
and convincing. Generally speaking, the contem-
porary species found in any geographical area most
closely resemble the species that inhabited the same
area in former ages. Thus in the Miocene age
Australia abounded in marsupials, and marsupials
specifically different, though nearly allied to these,
make up to-day the greater part of the mammalian
fauna of Australia. There is no imaginable reason
why this should be so, unless the contemporary mar-
supials are descended from the earlier forms. It
cannot be urged that marsupials are better adapted
to the conditions of life in Australia than placental
mammals ; for the placental mammals lately intro-
duced there are already beginning to supplant and

26 DARWINISM VERIFIED. [i.

exterminate the marsupials. The only possible ex-
planation is that, whereas marsupials once covered the
terrestrial globe, and have been supplanted by better
adapted forms in the Old World and (with the ex-
ception of the opossum) in America, on the other
hand the isolation of Australia has allowed them there
to go on reproducing their kind until the present day.
In such an instance as this we have something very
nearly like crucial proof of the theory of " descent with
modifications." In like manner the extinct edentata
of South America are closely allied to the living ant-
eaters, sloths, and armadilloes. So, too, the indi-
genous floras and faunas of islands lying near conti-
nents always resemble the floras and faunas of the
continents near which they lie. The Galapagos archi-
pelago, distant some six hundred miles from the coast
of Chili, has a fauna which, though genetically distinct
from all others, is yet South-American in type, and
closely resembles the fauna of Chili. Again, among
the animals living on the different islands of this group>
we find specific diversity along with generic identity.
On the Darwinian theory this is just what might be
expected. The long isolation of the archipelago from
the continent has given opportunity for the rise of
generic divergences between their once homogeneous
faunas ; while the briefer isolation of the several

i.] DARWINISM VERIFIED. 27

islands from each other has been attended by slighter,
or specific, divergences ; and, as if to complete by
contrast the force of the example, we find that the
only animals on the archipelago which are not generi-
cally different from their allies on the continent are
birds, able to fly back and forth over the intervening
sea. Unless the Darwinian theory be true, these
striking relations not only become meaningless, but
it is difficult to see why any discernible relations at all
should exist between these neighbouring faunas. To
cite all the confirmatory facts of this sort would be
to write an exhaustive account of the distribution
of plants and animals.

In examining the geological record in general, we
are struck with its corroboration of the above-cited
testimony of classification and embryology. For
instance, as we go back in time, we find families and
orders drawing more and more closely together ; we
find earlier forms less specialised than their suc-
cessors ; and as we now have embryonic birds with
rudimentary teeth in their beaks, so we find that
formerly adult birds with such teeth existed. It is
one of the most significant truths of palaeontology
that extinct forms are generally intercalary between
forms now existing, so that not only genera and
families, but even orders, of contemporary animals

28 DARWINISM VERIFIED. [i.

are every now and then fused together by the
discovery of extinct intermediate forms. It is in
this way that the Cuvierian orders of pachyderms
and ruminants have come to be ranked as a single
order, the horse and pig being connected by numerous
fossil links with the camel and antelope. Until quite
lately there has been less success in the attempt to
find a perfect series of transitional forms connecting
some well-known animal with its generically different
ancestor. But the argument heretofore urged against
the Darwinian theory, on the ground of this imperfect
success, was at best a weak one, as resting merely
upon the absence of evidence which further discovery
might furnish at any moment. The Darwinian might
candidly urge that his failure was due partly to the
fragmentary character of the geological record, in
which there is no reason for supposing that more than
one form out of a hundred has been preserved, and
partly to the fact that only a small portion of the
earth's surface has been explored by the palaeonto-
logist, and that portion but superficially. The justice
of such a plea is rendered apparent, while the hostile
argument is completely silenced, by the recent dis-
coveries of Professor Marsh as to the palaeontological
history of the ancestors of the horse. As these dis-
coveries have just been well described in Professor

i.] DARWINISM VERIFIED. 29

Huxley's admirable lectures in New York, a brief
mention here will suffice to show their import.

One of the most striking peculiarities of the equine
genus including the horse, ass, zebra, and quagga
is the modification of the limbs, so that what appears
to be the horse's fore-knee is really his wrist, and
what in the hind-limb looks like a reversed knee is
really his heel, while the lower halves of the legs are
really feet terminating in the middle toe armed with
its nail, which we call the hoof. The two adjacent
toes are represented only by splint-bones on either
side of the middle metacarpal or metatarsal, and the
radius and ulna in the fore-limb, as well as the tibia
and fibula in the hind-limb, are almost completely
fused together. Now according to the Darwinian
theory such a highly specialised animal as the horse
must be descended from a less specialised mammal
in which the limbs were like ordinary mammalian
limbs, ending in ordinary feet with five separate toes
each. The embryology of the horse points to this
conclusion, and here, as usual, but with unwonted
emphasis, palaeontology confirms the inference. Al-
ready in Europe had been found the three-toed hip-
parion, in which the two side toes were like dew-claws,
and the older anchitherium, in which all three toes
were complete. But the discoveries of Professor

30 DARWINISM VERIFIED. [i.

Marsh have set before us a much more perfect series.
Going back in time, as we reach the upper Pliocene,
the horse disappears, and we find the pliohippus, very
much like him. In the lower Pliocene this creature
is replaced by the protohippus, with three toes like
the hipparion. In the upper Miocene we have the
miohippus, with three well-developed toes like the
anchitherium, and with the rudiment of a fore-toe on
the fore-foot. In the mesohippus of the lower Mio-
cene this rudiment is a splint-bone, like those which
represent the later-disappearing toes in the modern
horse. By this time we find the ulna and fibula well
developed and distinct from the radius and tibia.
Still further back, in the upper Eocene, comes the
orohippus, with four complete toes on the fore-foot.
And finally, in the lower Eocene, we get the eohippus,
which shows the rudiment of a fifth toe on the front
and a fourth toe on the hind foot. In the structure
of the teeth the other chief point in which the
modern horse is notably specialised we find a
similar gradation back to the ordinary mammalian
type.

The agreement of observed facts with the require-
ments of theory is here complete, minute, and
specific ; and Professor Huxley may well say that
the history of the descent of the horse from a five-

i.] DARWINISM VERIFIED. 31

toed mammal, as thus demonstrated, supplies all that
was required to complete the proof of the Darwinian
theory. The theory not only alleges a vera causa
and is not only confirmed by the unanimous import
of the facts of classification, embryology, morphology,
distribution, and succession ; but it has further suc-
ceeded in tracing the actual origination of one generic
type from another, through gradual " descent with
modifications." And thus, within a score of years
from its first announcement, the daring hypothesis
of Mr. Darwin may fairly claim to be regarded as
one of the established truths of science.

December, 1876.

II.

MR. MIVART ON DARWINISM.

IT can hardly be said that in this volume 1 Mr.
Mivart has brought any new contribution to the
discussion of evolution and its consequences, though
he has succeeded in marshalling together, in a goodly
phalanx, the various doubts, objections, and miscon-
ceptions with which the question has disturbed the
peace of his mind. The book is so polemic as quite
to belie its placid and decorous title. The Lessons
from Nature turn out to be a series of eager assaults
upon "Darwinians" and "Agnostics," mingled with
jeremiads over the tendency of the times when such
perverted thinkers can obtain such extensive follow-
ing. Though it would be unfair to say that there is
no trace of a disposition to interrogate nature calmly

1 Lessons from Nature, as manifested in Mind and Matter. By St.
George Mivart. New York : D. Appleton & Co. 1876.

"] MR. MIVART ON DARWINISM. 33

and accept the results, yet this disposition is well-
nigh paralysed by a strong mental bias towards
considering facts only in their supposed bearing on
certain assumed practical needs of theology. An
evident struggle between theological predispositions
and acquired scientific habits has interfered seriously
with the author's balance of mind ; and the net result
is a book by no means commendable for scientific,
spirit, though it exhibits praiseworthy industry, and
often considerable ingenuity and dialectical skill.

So far is Mr. Mivart from occupying the position
of a disinterested student of nature that his numerous
misrepresentations can be explained without neces-
sarily charging him with a conscious willingness to
be unfair. Sometimes, at least, he appears to misre-
present scientific thinkers through sheer incapacity
to comprehend the motives which guide them. Mr.
Darwin's candour, for example, in modifying or
retracting hasty inferences, implies an attitude of
mind which our author seems quite unable to appre-
ciate. The nature of Mr. Darwin's inquiries involves
him in the consideration of thousands of exceedingly
complex cases of causation, for the unravelling of
which a vast experience, the most delicate analytic
power, and a prodigious memory for details are
absolutely essential. The general sagacity of his

34 MR. MIVART ON DARWINISM. [n.

conclusions shows that Mr. Darwin possesses these
qualities in a degree rarely if ever surpassed by any
scientific inquirer ; yet once in a while he makes
a slip, forgets or overlooks some inconspicuous but
important fact, or sets down an inference without his
customary caution. Ordinary writers in such cases
too often prefer to stand by what they have written,
quietly ignoring criticisms that are hard to dispose of,
very much as Mr. Mivart, in reprinting his rejoinder
to Mr. Chauncey Wright, takes care not to inform the
reader of the surrejoinder which came from his
powerful antagonist. But Mr. Danvin finds it easy
to acknowledge himself mistaken. His interest in his
personal reputation for infallibility, and his zeal in
behalf of the doctrine he is defending, are held in
entire subordination to the main purpose of getting
the facts presented as fairly and completely as pos-
sible. This is the true scientific spirit the spirit in
which to acquire lessons from nature, whether in the
world of mind or in the world of matter ; and when a
writer manifests this spirit so consistently as Mr.
Danvin, he is sure to win the respect and confidence
of his readers in the highest degree. An occasional
error goes for little when weighed in the scales against
entire disinterestedness.

To a disinterested critic all this, one would think,

ii.] MR. MIVART ON DARWINISM. 35

should be self-evident. Yet so far is Mr. Mivart from
recognising anything of the sort that he cites Mr.
Darwin's scrupulous self-corrections as evidence of
his utter untrustworthiness ! What confidence can
we place, he asks, in a thinker who makes so many
hasty inferences ? overlooking the fact that, in daily
experience, those who are the most rash in forming
their opinions are apt to be likewise the most indis-
posed to reconsider them. If Mr. Mivart had any
genuine sympathy with the scientific temper of mind,
this particular kind of misrepresentation would never
have occurred to him.

Along with this inability to appreciate disinter-
ested thinking, Mr. Mivart has one or two other
peculiarities which, taken together, give him a real
genius for twisting things. He is characterised by a
sort of cantankerousness which prompts him to put
a controversial aspect on points which properly re-
quire only a judicial estimate of the bearings of cir-
cumstances. On the question as to just how much
effectiveness is to be allowed to the principle of
natural selection, he approaches Mr. Darwin with the
air of a lawyer browbeating a witness ; and when
Mr. Darwin admits that formerly his attention was
somewhat too exclusively directed toward this causa
of the modification of species, his belligerent critic

D 2

36 MR. MIVART ON DARWINISM. [n.

cries out that here is " a change of front in face of the
enemy " !

Further twisting is caused by unintelligent study
of the subject criticised. Mr. Mivart, for example,
attributes to the evolutionists the opinion that "virtue
and pleasure are synonymous, for in root and origin
they are identical. " This misrepresentation arises
from imperfect apprehension of the fact that, accord-
ing to the doctrine of evolution, differences in kind
result from the accumulation of differences in degree.
One might as well say that evolutionists consider the
workings of Newton's genius to be identical with
reflex action, since in its root and origin all mental
activity was a kind of reflex action. Nay, one might
as well say that evolutionists consider a man indis-
tinguishable from a cuttle-fish, since in their root and
origin the vertebrate and molluscan types have been
proved by Kovalevsky to be identical.

For the rest, Mr. Mivart evinces frequent want of
sagacity as to the really vital points of the case in
which he appears as an advocate. He takes great
pains to show that some savage races have degene-
rated in civilisation, and also that the intellectual
difference between the lowest men and the highest
apes far exceeds the structural difference. But this
is, after all, a misconception of the requirements of

ii.] MR. MIVART ON DARWINISM. 37

the argument ; for on the one hand the Darwinian
theory nowhere requires an uninterrupted progress,
but rather implies a complicated backward and for-
ward movement, of which an irregular progress is
the differential result. And as to the second point,
it is just one of the triumphs of Darwinism, as regards
speculative consistency with facts, that it does account
for the alteration in the series of effects which occurs
as we approach the origin of mankind. For when
intelligence has increased pari passu with physical
advantages up to a certain point, the variations in
intelligence begin to become more valuable than any
variations in physical constitution, and consequently
become predominantly subject to the operation of
natural selection, to the comparative neglect of purely
physical variations. A change of this sort, if pro-
longed for a sufficient length of time, would go far to
account for the greatness of the mental difference
between men and apes, as contrasted with the small-
ness of the structural difference.

That Mr. Mivart should fail to appreciate this
point, long since suggested by Mr. Wallace, is perhaps
not to be wondered at, since he reduces the inquiry
to a mere controversy in which he holds a brief
against the Darwinians. What his own views may
be as to the origin of man he nowhere explicitly

38 MR. MIVART ON DARWINISM. [

states. But, in spite of his hostility to Mr. Darwin
and his theories, he takes pains to proclaim himself
an evolutionist within such limits as a profound
study of Suarez and St. Thomas Aquinas may
determine.

December 1876.

III.

DR. BATEMAN ON DARWINISM. 1

DR. BATEMAN'S argument against Darwinism is
based upon a fallacy which is quite commonly
shared by those who have failed to comprehend the
doctrine of evolution. 2 This is the fallacy of sup-
posing that the Darwinian theory can be overthrown
simply by insisting upon the obvious fact that the
intelligence and acquirements of man are enormously
almost incommensurably greater than the intelli-
gence and acquirements of the highest apes. As
urged in the case of language, Dr. Bateman's argu-
ment is not original with him, as he seems to sup-
pose ; it has already been urged by Max Muller, a

1 Darwinism Tested by Language. By Frederic Bateman, M.D.
With a Preface by E. M. Goulburn, D.D., Dean of Norwich. London.
New York : Scribner and Welford. 1878.

2 On this point see my Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy, 1874, Part II.,
chaps, xxi., xxii.

40 DR. BATEMAN ON DARWINISM. [m.

writer far more distinguished for brilliancy of expres-
sion than for profundity of thought. In substance
it consists of three propositions :

" i. That articulate speech is a distinctive attribute
of man, and that the ape and lower animals do not
possess a trace of it.

" 2. That articulate speech is a universal attribute
of man, that all races have a language, or the
capacity of acquiring it.

" 3. The immateriality of the faculty of speech."

It is perhaps hardly correct to call this last point a
" proposition," nor is it easy to determine precisely
its purport or its relevance. We are told farther on
that although " a certain normal and healthy state
of cerebral tissue is necessary for the exterior mani-
festation of the faculty of speech," it by no means
follows that speech is located in a particular portion
of the brain, or is the " result of a certain definite
molecular condition of the cerebral organ." Of
course it does not follow; but the conclusion, how-
ever interesting to phrenologists and materialists, is
irrelevant to the discussion of the Darwinian theory,
or to that of the origin of language. In such in-
quiries all that any one needs to know is that the
faculty of speech implies, among other things, the
presence of a brain, and whether this " faculty " is

in.] DR. BATEMAN ON DARWINISM. 41

to be called "immaterial" or not is quite beside the
question.

Our author's argumentation, it will be rightly
inferred, is more or less rambling in character. Re-
turning to the two propositions which really make
up his argument, it is an obvious criticism that every
sensible Darwinian will concede them both without a
moment's hesitation. There is not the slightest evi-
dence of the existence of a race of men destitute
of articulate speech ; and if apes or any other
animals do possess the slightest trace of such an
acquisition, it may safely be neglected on the prin-
ciple of de minimis non curat lex}- It is only Dr.
Bateman's imaginary Danvinian who finds it difficult
to admit these plain facts. The actual supporters
of this " dangerous heresy " have never gone out of
their way to detect an historical substratum for
Reynard or ^Esop, or to hunt from its obscurity the
Leibnitzian story of the Latin-speaking dog; there
are some of them, we fear, who would even, on
general grounds, cast discredit on the story of
Balaam. But if this be really the Darwinian state
of mind, then Dr. Bateman's work is plainly a case

1 Neglected, or conceded, by the controversialist, I mean : to the
disinterested student of nature no fact, however small, is really
trivial.

42 DR. BATEMAN ON DARWINISM. [m.

of ignoratio elenchi, or what is otherwise called
" barking up the wrong tree."

As regards the process, psychological and physio-
logical, by which the faculty of articulate speech was
acquired by mankind, no thorough explanation has
yet been offered, either upon the Darwinian or upon
any other theory. The so-called " bow-wow " or
onomatopoetic theory is no doubt correct, so far as
it goes, as a description of facts which have attended
the acquisition of speech ; but it hardly goes to the
root of the matter. The power of enunciating sounds
so as to communicate ideas and feelings is certainly
an art, as much as the later acquired powers of writing
or drawing. For the original acquisition of such an
art two conditions were requisite the physiological
capacity of the vocal organs for producing articulate
sounds, and the psychological capacity of abstraction
implied in the conception of a sign or symbol. There
must also have been required as underlying the last-
named capacity the possession of a certain amount
of mental flexibility, or inventiveness, or capability
of framing new combinations of ideas. This sort
of mental flexibility is found among animals in man
alone, and in his case it is the accompaniment, and
probably the result, of an exceptionally long period
of infancy. The significance of infancy, psychologi-

in.] DR. BATEMAN ON DARWINISM. 43

cally, is that it is a period during which a great num-
ber of all-important nervous combinations are formed
after birth under the influence of outward circum-
stances which slightly vary from generation to
generation. Where there is no infancy, all the most
important nervous combinations are established before
birth, and under the unmodified influence of the power-
ful conservative tendency of heredity. Where there is
an infancy, many important nervous combinations are
not formed until after birth, and the strictly conserva-
tive tendency of heredity is liable to be modified by
the fact that the experience of the offspring amid en-
vironing circumstances is not likely to be precisely the
same as that of the parent. The prolongation of
infancy, therefore, increases the opportunities for the
production of a mental type more plastic than that
which is witnessed in the lower animals ; it paves the
way for inventiveness and for progress. It is, further-
more, the increased variety of experience resulting
from this increased mental plasticity that leads to the
power of abstraction and generalisation the power
of marking out and isolating in thought the element
that is common to different groups of phenomena.

Now, in the first employment of articulated words
by inchoate man, who had hitherto only grunted or
howled, the main point to be interpreted psychologi-

44 DR. BATEMAN ON DARWINISM. [m.

cally is the inventive turn of mind which could estab-
lish an association between a number of vocal sounds
and a corresponding number of objects, and which
could appreciate the utility of such an association in
facilitating concerted action with one's fellow-crea-
tures ; though, as to the last point, the utility would
be so enormous that the maintenance of the device,
when once conceived, could never be in doubt. In
the origination of language it is but the first costly
step that requires consideration ; but this step obvi-
ously involved no superhuman mystery. It was but an
instance though the greatest of all in its conse-
quences of that general psychical plasticity which
characterises the only animal which begins life with
a considerable proportion of its nervous combinations
undetermined.

It is not pretended that such considerations solve
the problem of the origin of speech. They never-
theless go far toward putting it into its proper
position, and indicating the class of inquiries with
which it must be grouped if it is to be treated in
that broad philosophical way which can alone
connect its solution with the fortunes of the Dar-
winian theory. The existence of language is not,
as Max Muller's dicta imply, a fact in the universe
that is isolated or sui generis in being incapable of

in.] DR. BATEMAN ON DARWINISM. 45

scientific explanation. Immense as the fabric of
human speech has grown to be, it is undoubtedly
based on sundry acts of discovery or invention not
necessarily very conspicuous at the outset among
primeval semi-human savages. The inventive acts
which led to the systematic use of vocal sounds for
the interchange of ideas, like the inventive acts which
resulted in bows and arrows and in cookery, are to be
regarded simply as instances of the general increase
in psychical plasticity which has been the funda-
mental fact in the genesis of man intellectually. In
other words, the existence of language is a fact no
more wonderful than the general superiority of human
over simian intelligence ; and when it shall have
been shown how the rigid mind of an ape might
acquire plasticity, the problem of the origin of lan-
guage, along with many other problems, will have
been, ipso facto, more than half solved.

A great step in this direction was taken by Mr.
Wallace, when he pointed out that when variations in
intelligence have become, on the whole, more useful
to a race of animals than variations in physical con-
stitution, then natural selection must seize upon the
former to the relative neglect of the latter. This con-
clusion follows inevitably from the theory of natural
selection as conceived by Mr. Darwin ; and it further

46 DR. BATEMAN ON DARWINISM. [m.

follows, with equal cogency, that when this point is
reached an entirely new chapter is opened in the his-
tory of the evolution of life. A race which maintains
itself by psychical variations can never, by natural
selection, give rise to a race specifically different
from itself in a zoological sense. It may go on adding
increments to its intelligence until it evolves Newtons
and Beethovens, while its physical structure will
undergo but slight and secondary modifications.
Obviously the first beginning of such a race of crea-
tures, though but a slight affair zoologically, was, in
the history of the world, an event quite incomparable
in importance with any other instance of specific
genesis that ever occurred. It constituted a new
departure, so to speak, not inferior in value to the
first beginning of organic life. From Mr. Spencer's
researches into the organisation of correspondences
in the nervous system it follows that the general in-
crease of intelligence cannot be carried much farther
than it has reached in the average higher mammalia
without necessitating the genesis of infancy. The
amount of work to be done by the developing
nervous system of the offspring, in reproducing the
various combinations achieved by the parental
nervous system, becomes so considerable that it
cannot all be performed before birth. A considerable

in.] DR. BATEMAN ox DARWINISM. 47

and increasing number of combinations have to be
adjusted after birth ; and thus arise the phenomena
of infancy. Among mammalia the point at which
this change becomes observable lies between the true
monkeys and the man-like apes. The orang-outang
is unable to walk until a month old, and its period
of babyhood lasts considerably longer.

The establishment of infancy is the most important
among the series of events which resulted in the gene-
sis of man. For, on the one hand, the prolongation
of this period of immaturity had for its direct effect
the liberation of intelligence from the shackles of
rigid conservatism by which the unchecked influence
of heredity had hitherto confined it. On the other
hand, as its indirect effect, the prolongation of the
period of helplessness served to inaugurate social life
by establishing the family, and thus prepared the way
for the development of the moral sense. It is by
following out this line of inquiry that we shall eluci-
date the question of the causes of man's enormous
intellectual superiority over his nearest zoological
congeners. Meanwhile, and until further light shall
have been thrown upon such incidental questions as
the inventiveness displayed in the origin of language,
the Darwinian is in nowise debarred, by any logical
necessity of his position, from fully recognising the

48 DR. BATEMAN ON DARWINISM. [m.

fact of this enormous superiority. Writers like Dr.
Bateman argue as if they supposed Darwinians to be
in the habit of depicting the human race as a parcel
of naked, howling troglodytes. They " point with
pride" to Parthenons and Iliads, and ask us to pro-
duce from his African forests some gorilla who can
perform the like. These worthy critics should first
try to grasp the meaning of the contrast, that while
zoologically man presents differences from the higher
catarrhine apes that are barely of generic value, on
the other hand the psychological difference is so great
as, in Mr. Mivart's emphatic language, to transcend
the difference between an ape and a blade of grass.
After duly reflecting on this, with the aid to be
derived from Mr. Wallace's suggestion above cited,
they will perhaps be able to comprehend how it is
that the Darwinian, without ignoring the immensity
of this difference, seeks, nevertheless, by working
hypotheses to bring it out of the region of barren
mystery into that of scientific interpretation. When
they have once got this through their heads such
trash as Dr. Bateman's will no longer get published.

November 1878.

IV.

DR. BUCHNER ON DARWINISM. 1

THE words " materialist " and " atheist " have
been so long employed as death-dealing epithets in
the hands of hard-hitting theological controversialists,
that it seems hardly kind in us to begin the notice
of a somewhat meritorious book by saying that it is
the work of a materialist and an atheist. We are
reassured, however, by the reflection that these are
just the titles which the author himself delights in
claiming. Dr. Buchner would regard it as a slur
upon his mental fitness for philosophising if we were
to refuse him the title of atheist ; and "materialism " is
the name of that which is as dear to him as " liberty "
was dear to the followers of Danton and Mirabeau.

1 Man in the Past, Present, and Future. A Popular Account of the
Results of Recent Scientific Research as regards the Origin, Position,
and Prospects of the Human Race. From the German of Dr. L.
Buchner, by W. S. Dallas, F.L.S. London, 1872.

50 DR. BUCHNER ON DARWINISM. [iv.

Accordingly, in applying these terms to Dr. Biichner,
they become divested of their old opprobriousness,
and are enabled to discharge the proper function of
descriptive epithets by serving as abstract symbols
for certain closely allied modes of thinking. Con-
sidered in this purely philosophical way, an " atheist "
is one to whom the time-honoured notion of Deity
has become a meaningless and empty notion ; and a
" materialist " is one who regards the story of the
universe as completely and satisfactorily told when
it is wholly told in terms of matter and motion, with-
out reference to any ultimate underlying Existence,
of which matter and motion are only the phenomenal
manifestations. To Dr. Buchner's mind the criticism
of the various historic conceptions of godhood has not
only stripped these conceptions of their anthropo-
morphic vestments, but has left them destitute of any
validity or solid content whatever; and in similar
wise he is satisfied with describing the operations of
nature, alike in the physical and psychical worlds, as
merely the redistributions of matter and motion, with-
out seeking to answer the inquiry as to what matter
and motion are, or how they can be supposed to exist
as such at all, save in reference to the mind by which
they are cognised.

Starting, then, upon this twofold basis, that the

iv.] DR. BUCHNER ON DARWINISM. 51

notion of God is a figment, and that matter in motion
is the only real existence, Dr. Biichner seeks in the
present work to interpret the facts disclosed by scien-
tific induction concerning the origin of man, his
psychical nature, his history, and his destiny as a
denizen of the earth. With reference to these topics
Dr. Biichner is a follower of Mr. Darwin, especially
of Mr. Darwin as amended by Professor Haeckel.
His book, considered on its scientific merits only, and
without regard to its philosophic bearings, is a popular
exposition of the Darwinian theory as applied to the
origin of the human race. Regarded simply as a
scientific exposition, conducted on these fundamental
principles, there is in the book little which calls for
criticism. Dr. Biichner has studied the Darwinian
theory very thoroughly, and his statements in illus-
tration of it are for the most part very accurate, show-
ing, so far as this portion of the work is concerned, the
evidences of a truly scientific spirit. He is as lucid,
moreover, as Taine or Haeckel, and nothing is want-
ing to one's entire enjoyment of his book, save that
modesty in the presence of the limitless workings of
nature in which Dr. Biichner is far more deficient
than even Taine or Haeckel.

But from the scientific point of view it is not neces-
sary for us to discuss Dr. Biichner's book, as it is not

E 2

52 DR. BtJCHNER ON DARWINISM. [iv.

an original scientific treatise, but only a lucid expo-
sition of the speculations and discoveries of other
students of nature. When we have described it as
in the main lucid and accurate, we have given it all
the praise which as a scientific exposition it can legiti-
mately claim to have earned. When we consider it
as a contribution to philosophy, when we ask the
question whether it can be of any use to us in solving
the great problem of our relations to the universe in
which we live and move and have our being, we must
set down quite another verdict. As an exposition of
Darwinism, the work, though by no means all that
could be desired, is still an admirable work. But as a
vindication of the atheistic and materialistic way of
explaining the universe, it is an utter failure. To
suppose that the establishment of the Darwinian
theory of man's origin is equivalent to the vindication
of materialism and atheism, is a mistake of Dr. Biich-
ner's which would be very absurd were it not so, very
serious. Mr. Darwin's theory only supposes that a
certain aggregate of phenomena now existing has had
for its antecedent a certain other and different aggre-
gate of phenomena. The entire victory of this theory
will only like the previous victory of Newton's theory
over the doctrine of guiding angels, espoused even by
Kepler assure us that in the entire series of pheno-

iv.] DR. BUCHNER ON DARWINISM. 53

menal manifestations of which the world is made up,
there is no miraculous break, no conjuring, no freak
of the magician. And to this conclusion all modern
scientific inquiry has long been leading us. It needed
no Dr. Biichner to tell us this.

All this, however, cannot stir us one inch toward
the philosophic doctrine of which Dr. Biichner is the
advocate. Dr. Biichner shares with the theologians
whom he combats the error of supposing that god-
hood cannot be manifested in a regular series of phe-
nomena, but only in fortuitous miraculous surprises.
When he has proved that mankind was originated
through the ordinary processes of paternity from
some lower form of life, he thinks he has overturned
the belief in God, whereas he has really only over-
turned a crude and barbarous conception of the way
in which God acts. And so when it is shown that all
the phenomena of the world can be explained in
conformity to a doctrine of evolution which origin-
ated in the study of material phenomena, our author
thinks that the ground-theorem of materialism is
for ever established ; quite forgetting that what we
call material phenomena are, after all said and
done, nothing but expressions for certain changes
occurring in a complicated series of psychical
states.

54 DR. BUCHNER ON DARWINISM. [iv.

In short, no matter how far the scientific inter-
pretation of nature may be carried, it can reveal to us
only the fact that the workings of the ultimate Ex-
istence of which Nature is the phenomenal expression
are different from what they were supposed to be by
uninstructed thinkers of former times. And no
matter how far we may carry the interpretation of
natural phenomena in terms of matter and motion,
we cannot escape the conclusion that matter and
motion, as phenomenal manifestations, can have no
genuine existence save as the correlatives of a cog-
nising mind. To treat of the universe of phenomena
without the noumenon God is nonsense ; and likewise
to treat of matter (a congeries of attributes) without
reference to the mind in whose cognisance alone can
attributes have any existence, is also nonsense. How-
ever praiseworthy, therefore, Dr. Biichner's book may
be as an exposition of a particular set of scientific
doctrines, we think it can have but small value as a
contribution to philosophy. Its author is one of
those men who see very distinctly what they really
see, but who in reality see but a very little way
before them.

November 1872.

A CRUMB FOR THE "MODERN SYMPOSIUM."

No one to whom the question of man's destiny is
a matter of grave speculative concern can have read,
without serious and solemn interest, the discussion
lately called forth in England by Mr. Frederic
Harrison's essay on " The Soul and Future Life." l
In no way, perhaps, could the darkness of incompre-
hensibility which enshrouds the problem be more
thoroughly demonstrated than by the candid pre-
sentation of so many diverse views by ten writers of
very different degrees of philosophic profundity, but
all of them able and fair-minded, and all of them
actuated each in his own way by a spirit of reli-
gious faith. This last clause will no doubt seem

1 "A Modern Symposium," The Nineteenth Century, 1877, i. 623,
832 ; ii. 329, 497. The articles are all reproduced in America, in The
Popular Science Monthly Supplement, Nos. I, 2, 6, and 7, and have
been published in book form at Toronto, Canada. 1878.

56 A CRUMB FOR THE [v.

startling, if not paradoxical, to many who have not
yet come to realise how true it is that there is often
more real faith in honest scepticism than in languid
or timorous assent to a half-understood creed. But
no paradox is intended. I believe that there is as
much of the true essence of religion the spirit of
trust in God that has ever borne men triumphantly
through the perplexities and woes of the world, and
the possession of which, in some degree, by most of
its members, is the chief differential attribute of the
human race I believe that there is as much of this
spirit exhibited in the remarks of Professor Huxley as
in those of Lord Blachford. In the serenity of mood
with which the great scientific sceptic awaits the
end, whatever it -may prove to be, in the unflinching
integrity with which his intellect refuses to entertain
theories that do not seem properly accredited, in the
glorious energy with which, accepting the world as it
is, he performs with all his might and main the good
work for which he is by nature fitted in all this I
can see the evidence of a trust in God no less real
than that which makes it possible for his noble
Christian friend to " believe because he is told." I
am sure that I understand Professor Huxley's atti-
tude ; I think I understand Lord Blachford's, also ;
and it seems to me that the difference between the

v.] "MODERN SYMPOSIUM." 57

two attitudes, wide as it is, is still a purely intellectual
difference. It has its root in differently blended
capacities of judgment and insight, and in no wise
fundamentally affects the religious character.

It will be well for the world when this lesson has
been thoroughly learned, so as to leave no further
room for misapprehension. That great progress has
already been made in learning it, we need no other
proof than the mere existence of this " Modern Sym-
posium " on the subject of a future life. Three cen-
turies ago it would have been in strict accordance
with propriety for the ten disputants to have ad-
journed their symposium to some ecclesiastical court,
preparatory to a final settlement at Smithfield. One
century ago there would have been wholesale vitupera-
tion, attended with more or less imputation of un-
worthy motives, and very likely there would have
been some Jesuitical paltering with truth. To-day,
however, the tremendous question is discussed on all
sides alike by Protestant and Catholic, by transcen-
dentalist, sceptic, and positivist with evident candour
and praiseworthy courtesy ; for, in spite of Professor
Huxley's keen-edged wit and Mr. Harrison's fervent
heat, there is no one so fortunate as to know these
gentlemen who does not know that manly tenderness
and good feeling are by no means incompatible with

58 A CRUMB FOR THE [v.

the ability to exchange good hard blows in a fair
English fight.

It is with some diffidence that I venture to add my
voice to a conversation carried on by such accom-
plished speakers, but the present seems to be a
proper occasion for calling attention to some of the
misconceptions which ordinarily cluster around the
treatment of questions relating to the soul and a
future life. In thus entering upon the discussion, I
do not feel called upon to defend any particular solu-
tion of the main question at issue. Going by the
" light of Nature " alone to use the old-fashioned
phrase it will be generally conceded that the pro-
blem of a future life is so abstruse and complicated
that one is quite excusable for refraining from a
dogmatic treatment of it. Nay, one is not only
excusable, one is morally bound not to dogmatise
unless one has a firmer basis to stand on than any
of us are likely to find for some time to come.
We may entertain hypotheses in private, but we are
hardly entitled to urge them upon our friends until
we feel assured, in the first place, that we have duly
fathomed the conditions requisite for a rational
treatment of the problem.

It would appear that some of the participators
in the " Modern Symposium " have not sufficiently

v.} " MODERN SYMPOSIUM." 59

heeded this obvious maxim of philosophic caution.
Loose talk about " materialism " is apt to imply
loose thinking as to the manner in which the meta-
physical relations of body and soul are to be appre-
hended. Perhaps Mr. Harrison, as a positivist, will
say that he has nothing to do with apprehending
the metaphysical relations between body and soul;
but, however that may be, there is some laxity of
thought exhibited in charging Professor Huxley
with " materialism " because he speaks of " build-
ing up a physical theory of moral phenomena."
To try to explain conscience, with metaphysical
strictness, as a result of the grouping of material
molecules, is something which I am sure Professor
Huxley would never think of doing ; but, unless I
am entirely mistaken on this point, there is no ground
for Mr. Harrison's charge of materialism.

To see Professor Huxley charged with materialism,
and in a reproachful tone withal, by a positivist who
does not acknowledge the existence of a soul, save in
some extremely Pickwickian sense, is a strange, not to
say comical, spectacle. " What next ? " one is inclined
to ask. Positivists are apt to have, indeed, an eccle-
siastical style of expression, and one would almost
think, from his manner, that Mr. Harrison was making

60 A CRUMB FOR THE [v.

common cause with theologians. Into the explana-
tion of this curious phenomenon I cannot here
profitably enter. The reasons for it are somewhat
recondite, and are subtly linked with the general
incapacity under which positivists seem to labour,
of understanding the real import of the doctrine of
evolution. However this may be, the impression that
the group of opinions represented by Mr. Spencer
and Professor Huxley are materialistic is so widely
spread, that it is worth our while to spend a few
moments in ascertaining what materialism is, and
how far it is involved in recent scientific speculations.
Is the present drift of scientific thought really setting
toward materialism, or is it not ?

No epithets are more familiarly used nowadays
than " materialism " and " materialist," but their
ordinary function is vituperative rather than logical.
As vague terms of abuse they are hurled about with
a zeal that may be praiseworthy, but with an indis-
creetness that is scarcely commendable, being aimed,
as often as not, at the heads of writers who doubt or
deny the substantial existence of matter altogether !
Such blunders show (among other things) how diffi-
cult metaphysical studies are, and indicate that a
little more care expended upon analysis and definition

v.] "MODERN SYMPOSIUM." 6r

would not be thrown away. It is true that something
has already been said upon this point enough, one
would think, to obviate the necessity of turning
back to slay the resuscitated ghosts of thrice-
slaughtered misconceptions. On the character of
materialism as a philosophical hypothesis, Mr. Spencer
has been tolerably explicit Professor Huxley has
summed up the case with his customary felicity, at
the close of that famous Edinburgh lecture which
everybody is supposed to have read. 1 In my work
on Cosmic Philosophy, I have devoted a very plain-
spoken chapter to the subject. Nevertheless, as Mr.
Freeman says, it is not a bad plan, when you have
once got hold of a truth, to keep hammering it into
people's heads on all occasions, even at the risk of
being voted a tedious bore or a victim of crotchets.
We live in a hurried and not over-intelligent world,
wherein the wariest of us do not always pay due heed
to what we are told, and the keenest do not always
divine its sense ; but, after we have heard it repeated
fifty times that Alfred was an Englishman, and
Charles the Great was not a Frenchman, we may
perhaps succeed in waking up to the historical
import of such statements. In this pithy though

1 " The Physical Basis of Life" Lay Sermons, p. 160.

62 A CRUMB FOR THE [v.

somewhat cynical suggestion I shall seek an excuse
for recurring here to what I have said more than
once already. 1

From one point of view materialism may be
characterised as a system of opinions based on the
assumption that matter is the only real existence.
On this view the phenomena of conscious intelligence
are supposed to be explicable, as momentary results
of fleeting collocations of material particles, as when
a discharge between two or more cells of grey cerebral
tissue is accompanied by what we call a thought. It
requires but little effort to see that materialism, as
thus defined, does not comport well with the most
advanced philosophy of our time. Materialism of
this sort has plenty of defenders, no doubt, but not
among those who are skilled in philosophy. The
untrained thinker, who believes that the group of
phenomena constituting the table on which he is
writing has an objective existence independent of
consciousness, will probably find no difficulty in
accepting this sort of materialism. If he is devoted
to the study of nervous physiology, he will be very
likely to adopt some such crude notion, and to pro-
claim it as zealously as if it were a very important

1 Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy, ii. 79, 432-451. The Unseen World,
41-53-

v.] " MODERN SYMPOSIUM." 63

truth, calculated to promote, in many ways, the
welfare of mankind. The science of such a writer is
very likely to be sound and valuable, and what he
tells us about woorara-poison and frogs' legs, and
acute mania, will probably be worthy of serious
attention. But with his philosophy it is quite other-
wise. When he has proceeded as far in subjective
analysis as he has in the study of nerves, our
materialist will find that it was demonstrated, a
century ago, that the group of phenomena consti-
tuting the table has no real existence whatever in a
philosophical sense. For by " reality " in philosophy
is meant "persistence irrespective of particular con-
ditions," and the group of phenomena constituting a
table persists only in so far as it is held together in
cognition. Take away the cognising mind, and the
colour, form, position, and hardness of the table all
the attributes, in short, that characterise it as matter
at once disappear. That something remains we
may grant, but this something is unknown and un-
knowable : it is certainly not the group of phenomena
constituting the table. Apart from consciousness
there are no such things as colour, form, position, or
hardness, and there is no such thing as matter.
This great truth, established by Berkeley, is the very
foundation of modern scientific philosophy ; and,

64 A CRUMB FOR THE [v.

though it has been misapprehended by many, no one
has ever refuted it, and it is not likely that any
one ever will. Concerning the value of Berkeley's
idealism, when taken with all its ontological impli-
cations, there is plenty of room for disagreement ;
but his psychological analysis of the relation of con-
sciousness to the external world is of such fundamental
importance that, until one has mastered it, one has
no right to speak on philosophical questions. It is
not unfair to say that materialists, as a rule, have not
mastered the Berkeleian psychology, or given much
attention to it. In general, their attention has been
too much occupied with filaments and ganglia, to the
neglect of that close subjective analysis which they
unwisely stigmatise as dreamy metaphysic. Hence,
on the whole, materialism does not represent any-
thing of primary importance in modern philosophy ;
it represents rather the crude speculation of that
large and increasing number of people who have
acquired some knowledge of the truths of physical
science, without possessing sufficient subtlety to
apprehend their metaphysical bearings. Biichnen
the favourite spokesman of this class of people,
occupies a position precisely similar to that of
Lamettrie in the last century, and will, no doubt, in
the days of our grandchildren be as thoroughly

v.] " MODERN SYMPOSIUM." 65

forgotten as his predecessor, while the same barren
platitudes will be echoed by some new writer in the
scientific phraseology then current.

But there is another way of looking at materialism
which makes it for a moment seem important, and
which serves to explain, though not to justify, the
alarm with which many excellent people contemplate
the progress of modern science. A conspicuous
characteristic of materialism is the endeavour to in-
terpret mind as a product as the transient result of
a certain specific aggregation of matter. To a person
familiar with post-Berkeleian psychology it seems
clear that such an endeavour is quite hopeless, and
that no such interpretation of mind can ever be made.
But a multitude of very respectable readers, who are
not so profoundly conversant with metaphysics as
Spencer and Huxley, have taken it into their heads
that the doctrine of evolution is advancing with
rapid strides towards just such an interpretation of
mind; and hence it is quite common to allude to
Spencer and Huxley as " materialists," which, to my
mind, is very much as if one were to allude to
Mr. Wendell Phillips as a distinguished pro-slavery
orator.

The mistake, however, is not unnatural when we
consider its causes. In point of fact the terminology

66 A CRUMB FOR THE [v.

of science is thoroughly materialistic, though pro-
bably not more so than the language of ordinary
discourse. It is intensely materialistic for us to
speak of the table as if it had some objective
existence, independent of a cognising mind ; and
yet, in common parlance, we invariably allude to
the table in terms which imply or suggest such an
independent existence. Just so in theoretical science.
In describing the development of life upon the
earth's surface, when we say that consciousness
appeared on the scene part passu with the appear-
ance of nervous systems, it is not strange if we
are supposed to mean that consciousness some-
how produced by a peculiar arrangement of nervous
tissue that "spirit" is in some 1 way or other
evolved from "matter."

In reality, however, nothing of the kind is in-
tended. Laxity of speech is mainly responsible for
the misapprehension. The evolutionist, in describing
the course of life upon the earth, is simply impart-
ing to us, so far as he is able, a piece of historical
information. Through various complex and indirect
processes of inference, he has become capable of
telling us, with some probability, how things would
have looked to us in the remote past if we had
been there to see. He tells us that if we had

v.] " MODERN SYMPOSIUM." 67

been on hand in palaeozoic ages we should not
have seen the phenomena of consciousness mani-
fested in connection with a fragment of porphyry
or a handful of sand or a tree-fern, any more than
we see such things to-day, but only in connection
with animals endowed with nerves. In thus extend-
ing the results of present experience to the past,
the element of sequence in time is introduced in
such a way as to suggest the causation of conscious-
ness by nerve-matter. Nevertheless the assertion
of the evolutionist is purely histbrical in its import,
and includes no hypothesis whatever as to the
ultimate origin of consciousness ; least of all is it
intended to imply that consciousness was evolved
from matter. It is not only inconceivable how
mind should have been produced from matter, but
it is inconceivable that it should have been produced
from matter, unless matter possessed already the
attributes of mind in embryo, an alternative which
it is difficult to invest with any real meaning. The
problem is altogether too abstruse to be solved with
our present resources. But it is curious to hear
honest theologians gravely urging against Mr. Spencer
that you cannot obtain mind from the "primordial
fire-mist " unless the germs of mind were somehow
present already. I hope I am not accrediting Mr.

F 2

68 A CRUMB FOR THE [v.

Spencer with any opinion he does not hold, and I
speak subject to correction ; but, if my memory
serves me, I have more than once heard him in
conversation urging this very objection to any ma-
terialistic interpretation of evolution. His wonder-
fully subtle chapter on " The Substance of Mind " l
contains, as I understand it, the same argument ; but
it is easy to rniss an author's meaning sometimes
when the point expounded is so formidably abstract
and general.

Be this as it may, we are not helped much by
supposing the germs of mind to have been somehow
latent in the primeval nebula. The notion is too
vague to be of any use. The only point on which
we can be clear is, that no mere collocation of
material atoms could ever have evolved the phe-
nomena of consciousness. Beyond this we cannot
go. We are confronted with an insoluble meta-
physical problem. Of the origin of mind we can
give no scientific account, but only an historical one.
We can say when (i.e., in connection with what
material circumstances) mind came upon the scene

1 Principles of Psychology, second edition, ii. 145-162. [On referring
this point to Mr. Spencer, he desires me to add that I am quite correct
in my recollection of his conversations and in my interpretation of his
position.]

v.] "MODERN SYMPOSIUM." 69

of evolution ; but we can neither say wJience nor how
nor why. In just the same way we see to-day that
mind appears in connection with certain material
circumstances, but we cannot see how or why it is
so. Least of all can we say that the material cir-
cumstances produce mind ; on the contrary, we
can assert most positively that they do not.

The proof of this rather dogmatic assertion is to
be found in the careful study of that very doctrine
of the " correlation of forces " which superficial
materialists have exultingly claimed as their own,
and which their superficial opponents have foolishly
conceded to them. We have been wont to hear
this doctrine the crowning achievement of modern
science decried as lending support to materialism.
If this were really so, we anti-materialists would
have a poor case, for the doctrine in question is
established beyond all possibility of refutation. But
it is not really so. On the contrary, the final and
irretrievable discomfiture of materialism follows as
a direct corollary from the discovery of the corre-
lation of forces.

By the loose phrase, " correlation of forces," what
is strictly meant is the transformation of one kind of
motion into another kind. What used to be called
the "physical forces" such as light, heat, magnetism,

7o A CRUMB FOR THE [v.

and electricity are now known to be peculiar kinds
of motion among the imperceptible molecules of which
perceptible bodies are composed. The discovery of
the " correlation of forces " was the discovery of the
fact that any one of these kinds of molecular motion
is constantly liable to be transformed into any one of
the other kinds, or, now and then, into the molar
motion of a perceptible body. Heat is all the time
being converted into light, or into electricity, or into
the peculiar kind of undulatory motion known as
" nerve-force " and vice versa. And the law of the
correlation is that, when any one of these species of
motion appears, an equivalent amount of some other
species disappears in producing it. Throughout the
world the sum-total of motion is ever the same, but
its distribution into heat-waves, light-waves, nerve-
waves, &c., varies from moment to moment.

Let us now apply these jprinciples to the case of
an organism, such as the human body. All of the
" force " i.e., capacity of motion present at any
moment in the human body is derived from the food
that we eat and the air that we breathe. As food is
turned into oxygenated blood and assimilated with
the various tissues of the body which themselves
represent previously-assimilated food the molecular
movements of the food-material become variously

v.] " MODERN SYMPOSIUM." 71

combined into molecular movements in tissue in
muscular tissue, in adipose, in cellular, and in nerve-
tissue, and so on. Every undulation that takes place
among the molecules of a nerve represents some simpler
form of molecular motion contained in food that has
been assimilated; and, for every given quantity of
the former kind of motion that appears, an equiva-
lent quantity of the latter kind disappears in produc-
ing it. And so we may go on, keeping the account
strictly balanced, until we reach the peculiar discharge
of undulatory motion between cerebral ganglia that
uniformly accompanies a feeling or state of conscious-
ness.

What now occurs ? Along with this peculiar form
of undulatory motion there occurs a feeling the pri-
mary element of a thought or of an emotion. But
does the motion produce the feeling, in the same sense
that heat produces light ? Does a given quantity of
motion disappear, to be replaced by an equivalent
quantity of feeling ? By no means. The nerve-mo-
tion, in disappearing, is simply distributed into other
nerve-motions in various parts of the body, and these
other nerve-motions, in their turn, become variously
metamorphosed into motions of contraction in muscles,
motions of secretion in glands, motions of assimila-
tion in tissues generally, or into yet other nerve-

72 A CRUMB FOR THE [v.

motions. Nowhere is there such a thing as the
metamorphosis of motion into feeling or of feeling
into motion.

Of course I do not mean that the circuit, as thus
described, has ever been experimentally traced,
or that it can be experimentally traced. What
I mean is, that, if the law of the "correlation
of forces " is to be applied at all to the physical pro-
cesses which go on within the living organism, we are
of necessity bound to render our whole account in
terms of motion that can be quantitatively measured.
Once admit into the circuit of metamorphosis some
element such as feeling that does not allow of
quantitative measurement, and the correlation can no
longer be established ; we are landed at once in ab-
surdity and contradiction. So far as the correlation
of forces has anything to do with it, the entire circle
of transmutation, from the lowest physico-chemical
motion all the way up to the highest nerve-motion
and all the way down again to the lowest physico-
chemical motion, must be described in physical terms,
and no account whatever can be taken of any such
thing as feeling or consciousness.

On such grounds as these I maintain that feeling is
not a product of nerve-motion in anything like the
sense that light is sometimes a product of heat, or

v.] " MODERN SYMPOSIUM.'* 73

that friction-electricity is a product of sensible motion.
Instead of entering into the dynamic circuit of corre-
lated physical motions, the phenomena of conscious-
ness stand outside as utterly alien and disparate
phenomena. They stand outside, but uniformly
parallel to that segment of the circuit which consists
of neural undulations. The relation between what
goes on in consciousness and what goes on simul-
taneously in the nervous system may best be de-
scribed as a relation of uniform concomitance. I agree
with Professor Huxley and Mr. Harrison that along
with every act of consciousness there goes a molecu-
lar change in the substance of the brain, involving a
waste of tissue. This is not materialism, nor does it
alter a whit the position in which we were left by
common-sense before nervous physiology was ever
heard of. Everybody knows that, so long as we live
on the earth, the activity of mind as a whole is ac-
companied by the activity of brain as a whole.
What nervous physiology teaches is simply that each
particular mental act is accompanied by a particular
cerebral act. In proving this, the two sets of pheno-
mena, mental and physical, are reduced each to its
lowest terms, but not a step is taken toward confound-
ing the one step with the other. On the contrary,
the keener our analysis, the more clearly does it

74 A CRUMB FOR THE [v.

appear that the two can never be confounded. The
relation of concomitance between them remains an
ultimate and insoluble mystery.

I believe, therefore, that modern scientific philo-
sophy, as represented by Spencer and Huxley, not
only affords no support to materialism, but condemns
it utterly, and drives it off the field altogether. I be-
lieve it is even clearer to-day than it was in the time
of Descartes, that no possible analytic legerdemain
can ever translate thought into extension, or ex-
tension into thought. The antithesis is of God's own
making, and no wit of man can undo it.

The bearing of these arguments upon the question
of a future life may be very briefly stated. So far
as I can judge, I should say that, among highly-
educated people, the belief in a continuance of con-
scious existence after death has visibly weakened
during the present century. I infer this as much
from the timorousness of conservative thinkers as
from the aggressiveness of their radical opponents.
In so far as this weakening of belief is due to an
imperfect apprehension of the scientific discoveries
which our age has witnessed in such bewildering
rapidity, a word of caution may not be out of place.
For all that physiological psychology has achieved
there is no more ground for doubt as to a future life

v.] " MODERN SYMPOSIUM." 75

to-day than there was in the time of Descartes : what-
ever grounds of belief were really valid then are
equally valid now. The belief has never been one
which could be maintained on scientific grounds. For
science is but the codification of experience, and it is
helpless without the data which experience furnishes.
Now, science may easily demolish materialism and
show that mind cannot be regarded as a product of
matter, but the belief in a future life requires some-
thing more than this for its support. It requires
evidence that the phenomena we class as mental
can subsist apart from the phenomena we class as
material ; and such evidence, of course, cannot be
furnished by science. It cannot be furnished until
we have had some actual experimental knowledge
of soul as dissociated from body, and under the con-
ditions of the present life no such knowledge can
possibly be obtained.

But this undoubted fact has a twofold import.
While on the one hand it shuts us off from all scien-
tific proof of immortality, on the other hand it shows
that the absence of scientific proof affords no valid
ground for a negative conclusion. If soul can exist
when dissociated from body, we have no means of
apprehending the fact ; and therefore our inability to
apprehend it does not entitle us to deny that soul

76 A CRUMB FOR THE [ V .

may have some such independent existence. We
cannot allow the materialist even this crumb of
consolation that, although he cannot prove that
consciousness ceases with death, nevertheless the
presumption is with him and the burden of proof
upon his antagonists. Scientifically speaking, there
is no presumption either way, and there is no burden
of proof on either side. The question is simply one
which science cannot touch. In the future, as in the
past, I have no doubt it will be provisionally answered
in different ways by different minds, on an estimate of
what is called "moral probability," just as we see it
diversely answered in the " Modern Symposium."

For my own part, I should be much better satisfied
with an affirmative answer, as affording perhaps some
unforeseen solution to the general mystery of life. But
there is one thing which every true philosopher ought
to dread even more than the prospect of annihilation ;
and that is, the unpardonable sin of letting prefer-
ence tamper with his judgment. I have no sympathy
with those who stigmatise the hope of immortal life as
selfish or degrading, and with Mr. Harrison's proffered
substitute I confess I have no patience whatever.
This travesty of Christianity by Positivism seems to
me, as it does to Professor Huxley, a very sorry
business. On the other hand, I cannot agree with

v.] " MODERN SYMPOSIUM." 77

those who consider a dogmatic belief in another life
essential to the proper discharge of our duty in this.
Though we may not know what is to come hereafter,
we have at any rate all the means of knowledge
requisite for making our present lives pure and beau-
tiful. It was Jehovah's cherished servant who de-
clared in Holy Writ that his faith was stronger than
death. There is something, overwhelming in the
thought that all our rich stores of spiritual ac-
quisition may at any moment perish with us. But
the wise man .will cheerfully order his life, undaunted
by the metaphysical snares that beset him ; learning
and learning afresh, as if all eternity lay before him
battling steadfastly for the right, as if this day
were his last. " Disce ut semper victurus, vive lit eras
moriturus."

December 1877.

VI.

CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. 1

THE sudden and untimely death of Mr. Chauncey
Wright, in September 1875, was an irreparable loss
not only to the friends whose privilege it had been
to know so wise and amiable a man, but to the
interests of sound philosophy in general. To some,
perhaps, there may seem to be extravagance in
speaking of any such loss to philosophy as irre-
parable ; for in the great work of the world we are
accustomed to see the ranks close up as heroes fall
by the way, and when we come to reckon up the
sum of actual achievement, in our thankfulness over
the calculable results obtained we seldom take heed
of those innumerable unrealised possibilities upon

1 Philosophical Discussions, By Chauncey Wright. With a Bio-
graphical Sketch of the Author by Charles Eliot Norton. New York :
Henry Holt and Co. 1876.

vi.] CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. 79

which in the nature of things we can place no just
estimate. Of course it is right, as it is inevitable,
that this should be so. There is, however, a point
of view from which it may be fairly urged that
the work which rare and original minds fall short
of doing because of straitened circumstances or
brevity of life does never really get done at all.
Something like it gets performed, no doubt, but it
gets performed in a different order of causation ; and
though there may be an appearance of equivalence,
the fact remains that, from the sum of human
striving, an indefinite amount of rich and fruitful
life has been lost. True as this is in the case of
exact science, it is still more obviously true in specu-
lative science or philosophy. For the work of a
philosopher, like the work of an artist, is the peculiar
product of endless complexities of individual cha-
racter. His mental tone, his shades of prejudice,
his method of thought, are often of as much interest
and value to mankind as any of the theories which
he may devise ; and thus it not seldom happens that
personal familiarity with the philosopher is itself a
most instructive lesson in philosophy.

In the case of Chauncey Wright, none save the
friends who knew the rich treasures of his mind as
shown in familiar conversation are likely to realise

8o CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. [vr.

how great is the loss which philosophy has sustained
in his death. For not only was he somewhat defi-
cient in the literary knack of expressing his thoughts
in language generally intelligible and interesting, but
he was also singularly devoid of the literary ambition
which leads one to seek to influence the public by
written exposition. Had he possessed more of this
kind of ambition, perhaps the requisite knack would
not have been wanting ; for Mr. Wright was by no
means deficient in clearness of thought or in com-
mand of language. The difficulty or, if we prefer
so to call it, the esoteric character of his writings
was due rather to the sheer extent of their richness
and originality. His essays and review-articles were
pregnant with valuable suggestions, which he was
wont to emphasise so slightly that their significance
might easily pass unheeded ; and such subtle sug-
gestions made so large a part of his philosophical
style that, if any of them chanced to be overlooked
by the reader, the point and bearing of the entire
argument was liable to be misapprehended. His
sentences often abounded in terse allusive clauses or
epithets which were unintelligible for want of a suffi-
cient clue to the subject-matter of the allusion : in
the absence of an exhaustive acquaintance with the
contents of the author's mind, the reader could only

vi.] CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. 81

wonder, and miss the point of the incidental remark.
Of such sort of obscure, though pregnant, allusions
we have an instance in the use made of the con-
ception of a " spherical intelligence " in the essay on
"The Evolution of Self-Consciousness," where the
brief reference to the Platonic Timaios is by no
means sufficient to relieve the strain upon the reader's
attention. It is this too compact suggestiveness
which makes this remarkable essay so hard to under-
stand, and the exuberance of which half tempted
Mr. Wright to give to the paper the very esoteric
title of " The Cognition of Cogito." A writer who
kept the public in his mind would not proceed in this
way, but would more often give pages luminous with
concrete illustrations where Mr. Wright only gave
sentences cumbrous with epigrammatic terseness. If
Mr. Wright did not keep the public in mind while
writing, it was not from the pride of knowledge, for
no feeling could have been more foreign to him ; and
there was something almost touching in the endless
patience with which he would strive in conversation
to make abstrnse matters clear to ordinary minds.
It was because, as a writer, he thought in soliloquy,
using his pen to note down the course of his reason-
ing, but failing to realize the difficulty which others
might find in apprehending the numerous and

82 CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. [vi.

far-reaching connotations of phrases to him entirely
familiar.

It was only some such circumstances as these,
joined to a kind of mental inertness which made some
unusually strong incentive needful to any prolonged
attempt at literary self-exposition, that prevented
Chauncey Wright from taking rank, in public estima-
tion, among the foremost philosophers of our time.
An intellect more powerful from its happy union of
acuteness with sobriety has probably not yet been
seen in America. In these respects he reminds one
of Mr. Mill, whom he so warmly admired. Though
immeasurably inferior to Mill in extent of literary
acquirement, he was hardly inferior to him in pene-
trating and fertile ingenuity, while in native soberness
or balance of mind it seems to me that Wright was,
on the whole, the superior. In reading Mr. Mill's
greater works, one is constantly impressed with the
admirable thoroughness with which the author's
faculties are disciplined. Inflexible intellectual
honesty is there accompanied by sleepless vigilance
against fallacy or prejudice ; and while generous emo-
tion often kindles a warmth of expression, yet the
jurisdiction of feeling is seldom allowed to encroach
upon that of reason. Nevertheless, there are
numerous little signs which give one the impression

vi.] CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. 83

that this wonderful equipoise of mind did not come
by nature altogether, but was in great part the result
of consummate training, of unremitting watchful-
ness over self. Some of his smaller political writings
and the " Autobiography " entirely confirm this im-
pression, and show that in Mr. Mill's mind there
were not only immense enthusiasms, but even a
slight tinge of mysticism. All the more praiseworthy
seems his remarkable self-discipline in view of such
circumstances.

Mr. Wright, though so nearly in harmony with
Mr. Mill in methods and conclusions, was very
different in native mental temperament. An illus-
tration of the difference is furnished by the striking
remarks in which Mr. Mill acknowledges in common
with his father a preference for the experience-
philosophy on utilitarian grounds : it obliges men to
try their beliefs by tests that are perpetually subject
to criticism, and thus affords no room for doctrines
which, by reason of some presumed sanctity, men
may find an excuse for trying to impose on one
another. That there is profound truth in this no
one can deny ; but prejudice and partisanship are
liable to grow out of any such practical preference
for a given form of philosophy, and one cannot
readily imagine Mr. Wright as influenced, even

G 2

84 CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. [vi.

slightly, in his philosophic attitude by such a con-
sideration of utility. His opinions were determined
only by direct evidence, and to this he always
accorded a hospitable reception. A mind more
placid in its working, more unalloyed by emotional
prejudice, or less solicited by the various temptations
of speculation, I have never known. Judicial candour
and rectitude of inference were with him inborn.
On many points his judgment might need further
enlightenment, but it stood in no need of a rectify-
ing impulse. No craving for speculative consistency,
or what Comte would have called " unity " of doc-
trine, ever hindered him from giving due weight to
opposing, or even seemingly incompatible, considera-
tions. For, in view of the largeness and complexity
of the universe, he realised how treacherous the most
plausible generalisations are liable to prove when a
vast area of facts is to be covered, and how great is
the value of seemingly incongruous facts in prompt-
ing us to revise or amend our first-formed theories.
With these mental characteristics Mr. Wright seems
to have been fitted for the work of sceptical criticism,
or for the discovery and illustration of specific truths,
rather than for the elaboration of a general system of
philosophy. As our very sources of mental strength
in one direction may become sources of mental weak-

vi.] CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. 85

ness in another, as we are very likely to have what
the French would call "the defects of our excellences,"
so we may perhaps count it as a weakness, or at least a
limitation, in Mr. Wright that he was somewhat over-
suspicious of all attempts at constructing ideally
coherent and comprehensive systems. That there is
coherency throughout the processes of Nature he
would certainly have admitted, in so far as belief in
the universality of causation is to be construed as
such an admission. But that there is any such dis-
cernible coherency in the results of causation as
would admit of description in a grand series of all-
embracing generalisations, I think he would have
doubted or denied. Such denial or doubt seems, at
least, to be implied in his frequent condemnation of
cosmic or synthetic systems of philosophy as meta-
physical " anticipations of Nature," incompatible with
the true spirit of Baconism. The denial or doubt
would have referred, perhaps, not so much to the
probable constitution of Nature as to the possibilities
of human knowledge. He would have argued that
the stupendous group of events which we call the
universe consists so largely of unexplored, or even
unsuspected, phenomena that the only safe general-
isations we can make concerning it must needs be
eminently fragmentary ; and if any one had asked

86 CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. [vi.

whether, after all, we have not great reason to believe
that throughout the length and breadth and duration
of the boundless and endless universe there is an
all-pervading coherency of action, such as would be
implied in the theorem that all Nature is the mani-
festation of one Infinite Power, to any such ques-
tion he would probably have held that no legitimate
answer can be given.

In this general way of looking at things we have
the explanation of Mr. Wright's persistent hostility
to the philosophy of Herbert Spencer. This hostility
is declared in his earliest essay, entitled A Physical
Theory of the Universe, and it is maintained in the
paper on German Darwinism, published only three
days before his death, wherein great pains are taken
to show that Mr. Spencer's philosophy is utterly un-
Baconian and unscientific, as resting, not upon in-
ductive inquiry, but upon " undemonstrated beliefs
assumed to be axiomatic and irresistible." In the
first and last of my many conversations with Mr.
Wright in July 1862, and in July 1875 I found
myself charged with the defence of Mr. Spencer's phi-
losophy against what then seemed, and still seems,
to me a profound misunderstanding of its true cha-
racter and purpose. As the point is one which goes
as far as any other toward illustrating Mr. Wright's

vi.] CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. 87

philosophic position, and as it has an immediate
bearing on the vexed question of science and religion,
I will crave the reader's indulgence while I illustrate
it briefly here.

Doctors are proverbially known to disagree, whether
they be doctors in philosophy or in medicine ; but I
have often thought that an interesting case might be
made out by any one who should endeavour to sig-
nalise the half-hidden aspects of agreement rather
than the conspicuous aspects of difference among
philosophic schools. Certainly, in the controversy
which has been waged of late years concerning the
sources of knowledge and the criterion of truth, one
is inclined to suspect that a greater amount of anta-
gonism has been brought to the surface than is alto-
gether required by the circumstances. In old times,
when you were asked why you believed that things
would happen in future after much the same general
fashion as in the past, there were two replies which
you could make. If you were a believer in Locke,
you would say that you trusted in the testimony of
experience ; but here the follower of Leibnitz would
declare that you were very unwise, since experience
can only testify to what has happened already, and,
so far as experience goes, you haven't an iota of
warrant for your belief that the sun will rise to-

88 CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. [vi.

morrow morning. Your trust in the constancy of
Nature must be derived, therefore, from some prin-
ciple inherent in the very constitution of your
mind, implanted there by the Creator for a wise
and beneficent purpose.

Once this trahscendentalist argument was thought
to have great weight, but of late years it has fallen
irredeemably into discredit. For to-day the empiri-
cist retorts with crushing effect that, precisely because
we are wholly dependent on experience, and have no
other quarter to go to for rules of belief and conduct,
we cannot apply to the future any other rules of pro-
bability than those with which our experience of the
past has furnished us. If we had any criterion of belief
independent of experience, then we might perhaps
be able to believe that on the earth a million years
hence, or on Mars to-day, a piece of red-hot iron
would not burn the hand. Were we not strictly ham-
pered by experience, we might doubt the universality
of causation. But being thus strictly hampered, we
must either imagine the future under the same rules
as those under which we remember the past, or else
subside in a kind of mental chaos and form no
expectations whatever. To this view of the case
transcendentalism has as yet made no satisfactory
rejoinder.

vi.] CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. 89

Our faith in the constancy of Nature results, there-
fore, from our inability to overcome or " go behind "
the certified testimony of experience. Such is the
primary psychological fact, about which there is no
reason to suppose that Mr. Wright and Mr. Spencer
would disagree. But this, like many other facts, has
two sides ; or at least, there are two possible ways
of interpreting it, and here arises the misunderstand-
ing. On the one hand, our belief in the constancy
of Nature may be the result of an immense induction
or counting up of the whole series of events which
show that Nature is not capricious ; or on the other
hand it may be the generalisation of a simple assump-
tion which we make in every act of experience, and
without which we could not carry on any thinking
whatever. The first alternative is the one defended
by Mr. Wright in common with Mr. Mill, while the
second is the one more prominently insisted upon by
Mr. Spencer. To me it seems that Mr. Spencer's
view is very much the more profound and satisfac-
tory ; but I fail to see that there is necessarily any
such practical antagonism between the two as is
implied in recent controversies on the subject. On
the other hand, it seems clear to me that the two
views are simply two complementary or obverse
aspects of the same fundamental truth.

90 CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. [vi.

At first sight it may seem very bold to assert that
in every act of our mental lives we make such a grand
assumption as that of the constancy of Nature ; but it
is very certain that, in some form or other, we do keep
making this assumption. Every time that the grocer
weighs a pound of sugar and exchanges it for a
piece of silver, the practical validity of the transac-
tion rests upon the assumption that the same lump
of iron will not counterbalance one quantity of sugar
to-day and a different quantity to-morrow ; and a
similar assumption of constancy in weight and ex-
changeability is made regarding the silver. The
indestructibility of matter and the continuity or
persistence of force are taken for granted, though
neither the grocer nor his customer may have received
enough mental training to understand these axioms
when stated in abstract form. Nay, more, though
they may be superstitious men, believing in a world
full of sprites and goblins ; though they may be so
ignorant as to suppose that, when wood is burned and
water dried up, some portions of matter are annihi-
lated, yet in each of these little practical transac-
tions of life, they go upon the same assumption that
the philosopher goes upon when, with his wider
knowledge and deeper insight, he rules out the
goblins and declares that no matter is ever destroyed.

vi.] CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. 91

Without this assumption in some form we could not
carry on the work of life for a single day. The
assumption, moreover, is absolutely unconditional ;
no occurrence ever shakes our reliance upon it. I
set my clock to-day, and depend on its testimony
to-morrow in starting on a journey : if I miss the
train, I may conclude that the clock was not well
regulated, or that it has begun to need cleaning ; but
it never occurs to me that my confidence in the
mechanical laws of cog-wheels and pendulums has
been at all misplaced.

This universal and unqualified assumption of the
constancy of Nature is, in a certain sense, a net result
of experience, inasmuch as we find it tested and veri-
fied in every act of our conscious lives. Acting on
the principle that "a pound is a pound, all the
world around," we find that our mental opera-
tions harmonize with outward facts. Doubt it, if
we could, and our mental operations would forth-
with tumble into chaos. Experience, ^therefore,
by which is meant our daily intercourse with out-
ward facts, continually forces upon us this assump-
tion. Along with whatever else we are taught
about ourselves and the world, there comes as
part and parcel the ever-repeated lesson that the
order of Nature may be relied on. In this sense

92 CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. [vr.

the belief may be said to be a net result of all our
experience.

But this is by no means an adequate account of
the matter. The case has another aspect, to which
neither Mr. Mill nor Mr. Wright has done justice.
How can the constancy of Nature be said to be
proved by experience, when we begin by assuming it
in each of the single acts of experience which, taken
together, are said to prove it ? Does not this look
like reasoning in a circle ? We are told that the con-
stancy of nature is proved for us by an unbroken
series of experiences, beginning with our birth and
ending with our death ; and yet not one of this series
of experiences can have any validity, or indeed any
existence, unless the constancy of Nature be tacitly
assumed to begin with. It is the balance, we are
told, which assures us that no particle of matter is
ever lost ; but in weighing things in a balance we
must take it for granted that the earth's gravitative
force is uniform, is not one thing to-day and another
to-morrow; nay, we must also assume that the pre-
sent testimony of our senses will continue to be
consistent in principle with their past testimony.
Whatever system of forces we estimate or measure
in support of our implicit belief in the constancy of
Nature, we must sooner or later appeal to some

vi.] CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. 93

fundamental unit of measurement which is invariable.
Without some such constant unit we cannot prove
that the order of Nature is uniform : but we cannot
prove the constancy of such a unit without referring
it to some other unit, and so on for ever ; while to
assume the constancy of such a unit is simply to
assume the whole case.

It would seem, therefore, that our belief in the
trustworthiness of Nature is not properly described
when it is treated simply as a vast induction. It
should rather be regarded as a postulate indispensable
to the carrying on of rational thought, a postulate
ratified in every act of experience, but without which
no act of experience can have any validity or mean-
ing. It is for taking this view of the case that Mr.
Spencer is charged with rearing a system of philo-
sophy upon " undemonstrable beliefs assumed to be
axiomatic and irresistible." Considering that the
undemonstrable belief in question is simply the belief
in the constancy of Nature, one would be at a loss to
see what there is so very heinous in Mr. Spencer's
proceeding, were it not obvious that we have here
struck upon a grave misconception on the part of Mr.
Wright. Misled, no doubt, by some ambiguity of
expression, Mr. Wright supposed Mr. Spencer to be
laying down some everlasting principle of universal

94 CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. [vi.

objective validity, and quite independent of expe-
rience. To do this would undoubtedly be to desert
science for metaphysics ; but Mr. Spencer has not
done anything of the kind. As I said before, there
has probably been an excess of controversy on this
point. For my own part, without retreating from
any position formerly taken, 1 I should be willing,
for all practical purposes, to waive the question alto-
gether. Whether our belief in the uniformity of
Nature be a primary datum for rational thinking, or
a net result of all induction, or whether, with the
authors of the Unseen Universe, we prefer to call it
an expression of trust that the Deity " will not put
us to permanent intellectual confusion," whichever
alternative we adopt, our theories of the universe
will be pretty much the same in the end, provided we
content ourselves with a simple scientific coordination
of the phenomena before us. And this is all that has
been aimed at in the attempt to construct a synthetic,
or cosmic, system of philosophy. There has been no
further transcending of experience than is implied in
the assumption that the order of Nature is the same
in the Pleiades and in the Solar System until we
learn to the contrary; and it would be difficult to

1 Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy, Part I. chap. iii. ; Part II. chaps.
i. xvi.

vi.] CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. 95

set aside Mr. Spencer's proceedings as un-Baconian
without so drawing the line as to exclude Newton's
comparison of the falling moon to the falling apple,
the grand achievement which first extended the
known dynamic order of Nature from the earth to
the heavens.

Our knowledge of the universe is no doubt well
nigh infinitely small, how small we cannot know.
The butterfly sailing on the summer breeze may be
no farther from comprehending the secular changes
in the earth's orbit than man is from fathoming
the real course and direction of cosmic events. Yet,
if throughout the tiny area which alone we have
partially explored we everywhere find coherency of
causation, then, just because we are incapable of
transcending experience, we cannot avoid attribut-
ing further coherency to the regions beyond our ken,
so far as such regions can afford occasion for thought
at all. The very limitations under which thinking
is conducted thus urge us to seek the One in the
Many ; yet, if our words are rightly weighed, this
does not imply a striving after "systematic om-
niscience," nor can any theistic conception which
confines itself within these limits of inference be
properly stigmatized as contrary to the spirit of

96 CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. [vi.

One of the most marked features of Mr. Wright's
style of thinking was his insuperable aversion to
all forms of teleology. As an able critic in The
Nation observes, to Mr. Wright "such ideas as
optimism or pessimism were alike irrelevant Where-
as most men's interest in a thought is proportional
to its possible relation to human destiny, with him
it was almost the reverse." But the antagonism
went even deeper than this. Not only did he con-
demn the shallow teleology of Paley and the Bridge-
water Treatises, but any theory which seemed to
imply a discernible direction or tendency in the
career of the universe became to him at once an
object of suspicion. As he was inclined to doubt
or deny any ultimate coherency among cosmical
events, he was of course indisposed to admit that
such events are working together toward any assign-
able result whatever. From his peculiar point of
view it seemed more appropriate to look upon
phenomena as drifting and eddying about in an
utterly blind and irrational manner, though now and
then evolving, as if by accident, temporary com-
binations which have to us a rational appearance.
" Cosmical weather" was the tersely allusive phrase
with which he was wont to describe this purposeless
play of events, as if to liken the formation and

vi.] CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. 97

dissipation of worlds to the capricious changes of
the wind. So strong a hold had this notion acquired
in his mind, that for once it warped his estimate of
scientific evidence, and led him to throw aside the
well-grounded nebular hypothesis in favour of the
ill- conceived and unsupported meteoric theory of
Mayer. In Mr. Wright's mind it was an insuperable
objection to the nebular hypothesis that it seems
to take the world from a definable beginning to a
definable end, and such dramatic consistency, he
argued, is not to be found amid the actual turmoil
of Nature's workings. It would be improbable, he
thought, that things should happen so prettily as
the hypothesis asserts : in point of fact Nature does
so many things to disconcert our ingenious formulas !
To the general doctrine of evolution, of which the
nebular hypothesis is a part, Mr. Wright urged the
same comprehensive objection. The dramatic interest
of 'the doctrine, which gives it its chief attraction
to many minds, was to Mr. Wright prima facie
evidence of its unscientific character. The events
of the universe have no orderly progression like the
scenes of a well-constructed plot, but in the manner
of their coming and going they constitute simply
a "cosmical weather."

Without pausing over the question whether drama-

98 CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. [vi.

tic completeness belongs properly to metaphysical
theories only, or may sometimes also be found in
doctrines that rightly lay claim to scientific com-
petence, we may call attention to the interesting
fact that Mr. Wright's objection reveals a grave mis-
understanding of the true import of the doctrine
of evolution in general, as well as of the nebular
hypothesis in particular. The objection if it be
admitted as an objection applies only to the crude
popular notion of the doctrine of evolution, that it
is all an affair of progress, wherein a better state of
things (that is, better from a human point of view)
keeps continually supplanting a less excellent state,
and so on for ever, or at least without definite limit.
That Mr. Wright understood the doctrine in this
crude way was evident from the manner in which
he was wont to urge his antiteleological objection
both in his writings and in conversation. In criticis-
ing the nebular hypothesis, for instance, he was sure
to let fall some expression which showed that in
his mind the hypothesis stood for a presumptuous
attempt to go back to the beginning of the universe
and give some account of its total past career in
terms of progress. But the nebular hypothesis, as
it is now held by evolutionists, does not make any
such attempt at all. The nebular hypothesis traces,

vi.] CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. 99

from indications in the present structure of the solar
system, the general history of the process by which
the system arose out of a mass of vaporous or
nebulous matter. That process has been a species
of evolution in so far as it has substituted a deter-
minate and complicated for an indeterminate and
simple arrangement ; and in so far as it has resulted
in the production of the earth or whatever other
planet may. be the abode of conscious intelligence,
it has been a kind of progress judged with reference
to human ends. But so far from this evolution or
progress being set down as a universal or eternal
affair, it is most explicitly regarded as local and
temporary. Throughout the starry groups analogous
changes are supposed to be going on, but at different
stages in different systems, just as the various mem-
bers of a human society coexist in all stages of
youth, maturity, or decline ; while here and there
are nebulae in which the first steps of development
have not yet become apparent, and circumstances
can be pointed out under which one of these masses
might now and then fail to produce a system of
worlds at all. Not only is there all this scope for
irregular variety, but the theory further supposes
that in every single instance, but at different times
in different systems, the process of evolution will

H 2

ioo CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. [vi.

come to an end, the determinate complexity be
destroyed, and the dead substance of extinct worlds
be scattered broadcast through space, to serve*
perhaps, as the raw material for further local and
temporary processes of aggregation and evolution.
This view is held as scientifically probable by many
who have not been helped to it by Mr. Spencer's
general arguments ; but whoever will duly study
the profound considerations on the rhythm of motion,
set forth in the rewritten edition of First Princi-
ples, will see that it is just this endlessly irregular
alternation of progress and retrogression, of epochs
of life with epochs of decay, which the doctrine of
evolution asserts as one of its leading theorems.
In this respect the accepted name of the doctrine,
though perhaps not unfortunate, is but imperfectly
descriptive, and is therefore liable to mislead. What
the doctrine really maintains is the universal rhythmic
alternation of evolution and dissolution, only that
our attention is pre-eminently attracted to the
former aspect of the twofold process, as that which
is at present uppermost in our own portion of the
universe. In no department of Nature, whether
in the heavens or on the earth, in the constitution
of organic life or in the career of human society,
does the doctrine of evolution assert progress as

vi. j CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. 101

necessary, universal, and perpetual, but always as
a contingent, local, and temporary phenomenon.

But what better phrase could we desire than " cos-
mical weather " whereby tersely to describe the end-
lessly diversified and apparently capricious course of
Nature as it is thus set forth in the doctrine of evolu-
tion ? As the wind bloweth where it listeth, but we
know not whence it came, nor whither it goes, so in
the local condensations and rarefactions of cosmical
matter which make up the giant careers of stellar
systems we can detect neither source nor direction.
Not only is there no reference to any end which
humanity can recognise as good or evil, but there
is not the slightest indication of dramatic pro-
gress toward any dfrwtiment whatever. There is
simply the never-ending onward rush of events,
as undiscriminating, as ruthless, as irresistible as
the current of Niagara or the blast of the tropical
hurricane.

This is a picture which ought to satisfy the most
inexorable opponent of teleology. For my own part,
I can see nothing very attractive in it, even from a
purely speculative point of view, though it is as
striking a statement as can well be made of the
meagreness of our knowledge when confronted with
the immensity of Nature. The phrase " cosmical

IO2 CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. [vi.

weather " happily comports with our enormous igno-
rance of the real tendency of events. But as terres-
trial weather is after all subject to discoverable laws,
so to an intelligence sufficiently vast the appearance
of fickleness in " cosmical weather" would no doubt
cease, and the sequence of events might begin to
disclose some dramatic tendency, though whether
toward any end appreciable by us or not it would
be idle to surmise.

In the discussion of such questions, called up
by Mr. Spencer's philosophy, Mr. Wright always
appeared in the light of a most consistent and
unqualified positivist. He hardly could be called a
follower of Comte, and I doubt if he even knew the
latter's works save by hearsay. But he needed no
lessons from Comte. He was born a positivist, and
a more complete specimen of the positive philosopher
has probably never existed. He went as far as it was
possible for a human thinker to go toward a philo-
sophy which should take no note of anything beyond
the content of observed facts. He always kept the
razor of Occam uncased and ready for use, and was
especially fond of applying it to such entities as
" substance " and " force," the very names of which,
he thought, might advantageously be excluded from
philosophical terminology. Sometimes he described

vi.] CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. 103

himself as a positivist, but more often called himself
a Lucretian, the difference between the two desig-
nations being, perhaps, not great. As a champion
of Lucretius, I remember his once making a sharp
attack upon Anaxagoras for introducing creative
design into the universe in order to bring coherence
out of chaos. What need, he argued, to imagine a
supernatural agency in order to get rid of primeval
chaos, when we have no reason to believe that the
primeval chaos ever had an existence save as a fig-
ment of the metaphysician ! To assume that the
present orderly system of relations among things
ever emerged from an antecedent state of disorder is,
as he justly maintained, a wholly arbitrary and un-
warrantable proceeding. No one could ask for a
simpler or more incisive criticism upon that crude
species of theism which represents the Deity as a
power outside the universe which coerces it into
orderly behaviour.

Although, like all consistent positivists, Mr. Wright
waged unceasing war against Mr. Spencer's system of
philosophy, there was yet one portion of the doctrine
of evolution which found in him a most eminent and
efficient defender. In spite of his objections to
evolution in general, Mr. Wright thoroughly appre-
ciated and warmly espoused the Darwinian theory of

iO4 CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. [vi.

the origin of species by " descent with modifications."
His most important literary work was done in eluci-
dation and defence of this theory. Of all his writings,
by far the clearest and most satisfactory to read is
the review of Mr. Mivart's Genesis of Species, which
Mr. Darwin thought it worth while to reprint and
circulate in England. Its acute and original illustra-
tions of the Darwinian theory give it very great
value. The essay on phyllotaxy, explaining the
origin and uses of the arrangements of leaves in
plants, is a contribution of very great importance to
the theory of natural selection. So, too, in a different
sense, is the paper on the evolution of self-conscious-
ness, which is the most elaborate of Mr. Wright's
productions, but so full of his worst faults of style
that, even after much cross-questioning of the author,
I never felt quite sure that I had grasped his central
meaning.

It wa* in such detached essays or monographs as
these that much was to have been expected from Mr.
Wright, especially in the application of Darwinian
conceptions to the study of psychology. Could he
have been induced to undertake an elaborate treatise,
we should have seen the philosophy of Mill and
Bain carried to its furthest development and illus-
trated with Darwinian suggestions by a writer not in

vi.j CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. 105

sympathy with the general doctrine of evolution, an
interesting and instructive spectacle. But I doubt
if Mr. Wright would ever 'have undertaken an ex-
tensive work. To sit down and map out a subject
for systematic exploration would have been a pro-
ceeding wholly foreign to his habits. His thinking
had that defect which we find in Schubert's music,
lack of artistic form, inability to bring up concisely
when once set going. Once launched out on a shore-
less sea of speculation, he would brood and ponder
for weeks, while bright determining thoughts would
occur to him at seeming haphazard, like the rational
combinations of phenomena in his theory of " cosmic
weather." To his suggestive and stimulating con-
versation this unsystematic habit gave additional
charm. An evening's talk with Mr. Wright always
seemed to me one of the richest of intellectual enter-
tainments, but there was no telling how or where it
would end. At two o'clock in the morning he would
perhaps take his hat and saunter homeward with me
by way of finishing the subject ; but on reaching my
gate a new suggestion would turn us back, and so
\ve would alternately escort each other home perhaps
a dozen times, until tired Nature asserted her rights
and the newly opening vistas of discussion were
regretfully left unexplored.

io6 CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. [vi.

I never knew an educated man who set so little
store by mere reading, except Mr. Herbert Spencer ;
but, like Mr. Spencer, whom he resembled in little
else, Mr. Wright had an incomprehensible way of
absorbing all sorts of knowledge, great and small,
until the number of diverse subjects on which he
could instruct even trained specialists was quite
surprising. There were but few topjcs on which
he had not some acute suggestion to offer ; and
with regard to matters of which he was absolutely
ignorant such as music his general good sense
and his lack of impulsiveness prevented his ever
talking foolishly.

This lack of impulsiveness, a kind of physical and
intellectual inertness, counted for a great deal both
in his excellences and in his shortcomings. His
movements were slow and ponderous, his mild blue
eye never lighted with any other expression than
placid good humour, and his voice never varied its
gentle monotony. His absolute freedom from egotism
made him slow to take offence, and among the many
accidents of controversy there was none which could
avail to ruffle him. The patient deference with which
he would answer the silly remarks of stupid or con-
ceited people was as extraordinary as the untiring
interest with which he would seek to make things

vi.] CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. 107

plain to the least cultivated intelligence. This kind
of patient interest, joined with his sweetness of dis-
position and winning simplicity of manner, made him
a great favourite with children. He would amuse and
instruct them by the hour together with games and
stories and conjuror's tricks, in which he had acquired
no mean proficiency.

Along with this absence of emotional excitability,
Mr. Wright was characterised by the absence of
aesthetic impulses or needs. He was utterly insen-
sible to music, and but slightly affected by artistic
beauty of any sort. Excepting his own Sokratic
presence, there never was anything attractive about
his room, or indeed anything to give it an individual
character. In romance, too, he was equally deficient :
after his first and only journey to Europe, I observed
that he recalled sundry historic streets of London and
Paris only as spots where some happy generalisation
had occurred to him.

But romantic sentiment, aesthetic sensitiveness, and
passionate emotion, these are among the things
which hinder most of us from resting content with
a philosophy which applies the law of parsimony so
rigorously as to cut away everything except the
actuality of observed phenomena. In his freedom

io8 CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. [vi.

from all such kinds of extra-rational solicitation Mr.
Wright most completely realised the ideal of the
positive philosopher. His positivism was an affair of
temperament as much as of conviction ; and he illus-
trates afresh the profound truth of Goethe's remark
that a man's philosophy is but the expression of his
personality. In his simplicity of life, serenity of
mood, and freedom from mental or material wants,
he well exemplified the principles and practice of
Epikuros ; and he died as peacefully as he had lived,
on a summer's night, sitting at his desk with his
papers before him.

It is a bitter thing to lose a thinker of this mould,
just in the prime vigour of life, and at a time when
the growing habit of writing seemed to be making
authorship easier and pleasanter, so that in years to
come we were likely to have had even richer and
brighter thoughts from the pen that must now for
ever lie idle. The general flavour of Mr. Wright's
philosophy unsystematic, but fruitful in hints may
be gathered well enough from the papers which
Mr. Norton has carefully collected in this memorial
volume. But the best that can now be done in
the way of editing will give but an inadequate im-
pression of Chauncey Wright to those who have not

vi.] CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. 109

listened to his wise and pleasant talk. To have
known such a man is an experience one can-
not forget or outlive. To have had him pass
away, leaving so scanty a record of what he
had it in him to utter, is nothing less than a public
calamity.

December 1876.

VII.

WHAT IS INSPIRATION ?

THE word " inspiration " furnishes an excellent
example of the way in which a whole theory of the
universe may be imbedded in an etymology. In its
origin the word means a " breathing in," or sugges-
tion from some external source, of thoughts not
natural to the writer or speaker. The non-natural-
ness of the thought is an essential part of the defini-
tion, since, if the thought be such as would naturally
arise, through ordinary logical or emotional sequence,
in the mind of the writer or speaker, there is no
reason for referring it to any external source. That
thoughts often do come into the mind unbidden, and
apparently without any assignable immediate ante-
cedent, is a matter of the commonest experience.
From the purposeless succession of phantasms in
idle reverie up to the orderly visions of Milton, the

vii.] WHAT is INSPIRATION? in

melodious themes of Beethoven, or even the wonder-
ful flashes of insight of Newton or Faraday, we have
instances of visual or auditory images, or apprehen-
sions of physical truths, entering and occupying the
foreground of consciousness suddenly and without
warning. The more valuable and striking instances
of this sort are, in modern parlance, described as cases
of inspiration, though by this phrase no more is now
meant than to designate some rare or admirable kind
of normal mental action. The modern student has
learned that consciousness has a background as well
as a foreground that a number of mental processes
go on within us, ,of which we cannot always render a
full and satisfactory account. Many a link of asso-
ciation is buried beneath the surface, and the coveted
flash of memory, of judgment, or of fancy, does not
always come at our bidding. To account for this
group of phenomena, modern psychologists have
propounded various theories of " latent mental ac-
tion " or " unconscious cerebration ; " but no one now
resorts to the hypothesis that such phenomena are
due to the operation of some outside spirit or intelli-
gence acting upon the mind. Hypotheses of this sort
do not harmonise with the accumulated experience of
modern times, and they have become utterly and
hopelessly discredited.

H2 WHAT is INSPIRATION? [vn.

In ancient times, however, the case was entirely
different. In one of the most enlightened and scepti-
cal communities of antiquity we find one of the most
enlightened and sceptical minds habitually explaining
the suggestions of its own supreme common-sense by
ascribing them to the dictation of an indescribable
external agency. The daimonion, or familiar warning
spirit, of Sokrates shows how consonant with the
general theories of the ancients was the conception of
inspiration in its full and literal sense. In the stage of
culture thus exemplified every bright stroke of genius
was interpreted as the result of inspiration, though it
was naturally in cases of supreme practical importance
that the interpretation was most forcibly felt and
most thoroughly believed. The poet's invocation to
the Muse was at first no doubt much more than a
faded metaphor ; but it is beyond question that
men like Isaiah and Mohammed believed themselves
to be mere mouth-pieces of the living word of God.

The belief in inspiration, as thus generally cherished
in ancient times, seems to have grown out of a more
primitive belief in possession, which is found every-
where current among savage and barbarous tribes,
and which, until within a few generations, has main-
tained itself even in the Christian world. The subject
has been treated in an elaborate and masterly manner

vii.] WHAT is INSPIRATION? 113

by Mr. Tylor in the second volume of his great work
on Primitive Culture. In the lower stages of culture,
the morbid phenomena of hysteria, epilepsy, and
mania, are explained by the hypothesis of a foreign
spirit, which is supposed to have taken temporary
possession of the body or earthly tabernacle of the
patient. In Christian cases of exorcism, this foreign
spirit was naturally supposed to be of diabolical
character ; but in the cruder theory of the bar-
barian no such uncanny suspicion is attached to
it. On the contrary, the possessed person is usually
regarded as an exceptionally valuable source of in-
formation concerning the supernatural world to which
the possessing spirit belongs, Alike in the medicine-
man of the American Indian, and in the Pythian
priestess of Delphi, may be seen the close theoretical
connection between disease-possession and oracle-
possession. The Zulu diviners ascribe their hysterical
symptoms to possession by " amatongo," or ancestral
spirits ; and the Siberian shamans select epileptic
children to be educated for the priesthood, which is
thus " apt to become hereditary along with the epi-
leptic tendencies it belongs to." In the primitive
theory, the diviner or prophet can give information
from the supernatural world because his own per-
sonality is for the time being supplanted by the

ii4 WHAT is INSPIRATION? [vn.

personality of the foreign spirit which has come to
dwell in his body. This is the theory of oracle-
possession, and from this to the theory of inspiration,
as generally current in antiquity, it is evidently but
a short step. Instead of supplanting the personality
of the prophet, the foreign spirit has but to be con-
ceived as swaying or influencing the prophet's mind
from without, and this step is taken ; instead of
possession we have inspiration.

Thus in its origin the word " inspiration " is im-
plicated with a whole theory of the universe or, to
speak more appropriately, with a general way of
looking at natural phenomena. In the lower stages
of culture men know nothing of a universe, but they
contemplate natural phenomena as under the capri-
cious direction of innumerable ghostly beings simi-
lar to men. In most cases, indeed, these demons
or deities are supposed to be the ghosts of ancestral
chieftains. The philosophy which interprets Nature
in this way is extremely crude, but it is quite in-
telligible and consistent with itself; and, when a
barbarian speaks of his prophet as "inspired" by the
tutelary deity of the tribe, we know exactly what
he means. He means that the words are whispered
or otherwise suggested to the prophet by the ghost
of some old chief of the tribe ; and, when he himself

vii.] WHAT is INSPIRATION? 115

has thoughts, waking or sleeping, which he cannot
readily account for, he thinks that these are similarly
suggested to him by some ghostly demon or deity.
The daimonion of Sokrates was a specimen of just
this sort of barbaric psychology.

Now, in modern times and among Christian peo-
ples, this primitive philosophy of Nature is pretty
thoroughly superseded. The tendency of modern
thought is strongly towards a very strict monotheism.
An imperfect monotheism had long ago driven out
the general notion of innumerable ghost-deities ; but
Christianity arose at a time when the primitive
philosophy was still very strong, and so Christianity
has always been more or less incrusted with heathen
conceptions. In recent times, however, the prolonged
study of physical science has begun to tell power-
fully upon all our habits of thought ;.and one effect
of this is, that we have at last really begun to
grasp the conception of the unity of God, in the
only sense in which such a conception can have
any validity. We have begun to conceive of Divine
action as uniform, incessant, and general, throughout
each and every region of the universe, however
vast or however tiny, so that the infinite whole is
animated for ever by one immutable principle of life ;
and this conception we call, in common parlance,

I 2

u6 WHAT is INSPIRATION? [vn.

the conception of a government of law and not of
caprice. So strong has this habit become that we
look with distrust upon any hypothesis which im-
plies a conception of Divine action as in any sense
local, or special, or transitory.

The hypothesis of inspiration has been retained by
modern Protestant Christianity, chierly as a means
of accounting for the assumed infallibility or super-
natural excellence of the literature gathered together
in the canonical Scriptures. It is supposed that the
writers of these works were in some way instructed
by Divine action, so that their works are either en-
tirely true in every statement, or at least may claim
to be examined in accordance with different canons
of criticism from those which we feel bound to apply
to all other works. Now, this hypothesis most cer-
tainly implies a conception of Divine action as local,
special, and transitory ; and, in so far as it does this,
it bears the marks of that heathen mode of philoso-
phising which was current when Christian monotheism
arose, and which has incrusted Christianity with many
of its conceptions. It is obviously not an hypothesis
in accord with the very strict monotheism towards
which modern thought is so manifestly tending, and
it is not likely long to survive unless upheld by very
weighty evidence. Such evidence might be forth-

vii.] WHAT is INSPIRATION ? 117

coming if the various books of the Bible had been
found able to withstand every test of scientific and
literary criticism that could be brought to bear upon
them, and come out unscathed in every statement.
Such a phenomenon would at least have been very
remarkable, but in point of fact the outcome of
Biblical criticism has been very different from this.
A century of intense study and searching controversy
has superabundantly proved that the Bible not only
contains much that conflicts both with modern know-
ledge and with modern morality, but that the various
parts of it often hopelessly contradict each other in
matters of fact, and sometimes present irreconcilable
divergences in matters of doctrine, while minor errors
of historical or philological interpretation abound in
it throughout. In view of such a conclusion there
would seem to be no need for any hypothesis of
special Divine action in the composition of the Bible.
On the contrary, the belief in the peculiar inspiration
of this collection of books should probably be re-
garded as one of the incumbrances with which
Christianity has been loaded by the old heathen
way of looking at things.

A sad incumbrance it certainly is to any one who
truly loves and reveres the Bible. To make a fetish
of the best of books does not, after all, seem to be

u8 WHAT is INSPIRATION? [vn.

the most reverent way of treating it. Take away
the discredited hypothesis of infallibility, and the
errors of statement and crudities of doctrine at once
become of no consequence, and cease to occupy our
attention. It no longer seems worth while to write
puerile essays to show that the Elohist was versed in
all the conclusions of modern geology, or that the
books of Kings and Chronicles tell the same story.
The spiritual import of this wonderful collection of
writings becomes its most prominent aspect ; and,
freed from the exigencies of a crude philosophy and
an inane criticism, the Bible becomes once more the
Book of mankind.

August 1878.

VIII.

DR. HAMMOND AND THE TABLE-TIPPERS. 1

ON this most dismal of subjects Dr. Hammond has
given us a book that is both sensible and entertaining.
His survey of so-called " spiritualistic " phenomena
is extensive, and with a large and important part of
them his intimate acquaintance with abnormal states
of the nervous system has enabled him to deal very
successfully. The results of a physician's experience
are, moreover, very happily supplemented by histo-
rical research. One of the excellent points about
Dr. Hammond's book is its frequent comparison of
contemporary delusions with those of earlier times.
He makes such wholesome use of the annals of
witchcraft and the biographies of mediaeval saints,
mystics, and charlatans, as fairly entitles his book to

1 Spiritualism and Allied Causes and Conditions of Nervous Derange-
ment. By W. A. Hammond, M.D. New York: G. B. Putman and
Sons. 1876.

120 DR. HAMMOND AND THE [vm.

a prominent place on the Index Expurgatorius. The
marvels countenanced from time to time by the
Roman Church fare no better in his hands than the
wonderful deeds of the Homes and the Davenports,
and of these it is left doubtful whether the most
marvellous part is the audacity of the performers
or the gullibility of the spectators.

According to Dr. Hammond, spiritualism is for
the most part barefaced imposture, the remainder
being innocent delusion. By many persons who
adopt this view on the whole, yet are unable to
realise how great is the capacity of the human mind
for being deceived, a reservation is made in behalf
of divers phenomena which are alleged to take place
in conformity to some undiscovered " natural law,"
or to require for their explanation some species of
" force " other than those with which scientific men
are familiar. Dr. Hammond is not inclined to admit
any such reservation as this, which, even if it were
allowed, would be of small use to the spiritualists.
Even if an event were admitted to be inexplicable
save by an appeal to some " force " other than those
that have hitherto been studied, we should still have
no sort of reason for assuming any connection
between this unknown " force " and the "spirits " of
deceased persons. Such an assumption could find

YIII.] TABLE-TIPPERS. 121

no warrant whatever, save in a general a priori hypo-
thesis, handed down to us from barbarous times,
which has been uniformly discredited wherever there
has been an opportunity for testing it. Even to
describe such a " force " as " psychic " is to beg the
whole question ; for until we have subjected it to a
long course of experimentation, like that which has
built up our scientific knowledge of heat and light,
we can have no means of knowing whether it is
" psychic " or not.

It is, however, very unphilosophical at the outset
to appeal to any new or unknown force until we
have thoroughly exhausted all^ means of explanation
furnishable by forces that have already been de-
fined ; and by the advocates of spiritualism no such
preliminary inquiry has ever been made or even
attempted. When, therefore, Mr. Crookes finds
himself unable to explain the way in which Mr.
Home causes the index of a spring-balance to de-
scend without exerting any apparent pressure on
the lever, it is a very violent stretch of inference to
call in an imaginary " psychic force " by way of
simplifying the matter. This is appealing from the
known to the unknown, and it is in no such way that
discoveries are made in those physical sciences which
Mr. Crookes has so carefully studied. Dr. Hammond

122 DR. HAMMOND AND THE [vm.

may well say that " there are so many ways in which
known forces manifest themselves, and so little is
known of the laws which govern them, that Mr.
Crookes might, for the present, with safety and
propriety, have held his opinion in abeyance." As
Mr. Crookes's experiment is the only one cited
in which the spiritualists seem to have been able to
work in broad daylight, and to dispense with the
grosser forms of jugglery, a brief description of it
may prove instructive.

In order to test Mr. Home's pretensions to a power
of altering the weights of bodies by " spiritual agency,"
Mr. Crookes constructed a simple and ingenious
apparatus " consisting of a mahogany board thirty-six
inches long by nine and a half inches wide and one
inch thick. At one end a strip of mahogany was
screwed on, forming a foot, the length of which
equalled the width of the board. This end of the
board rested on [the edge of] a table, while the other
end was supported by a spring-balance " pendent from
a tripod stand. Obviously, now, when Mr. Home
placed the tips of his fingers lightly on the end of
the board which was resting on the foot or fulcrum,
the pointer of the balance ought to have remained
perfectly stationary; even a heavy pressure directly
over the fulcrum could not alter the position of the

viii.] TABLE-TIPPERS. 123

lever. But, as a matter of fact, the pointer descended,
showing that the weight or downward pull at the end
of the lever supported by the balance had been
increased by from three to six pounds. In order
still further to guard against the possibility of
Mr. Home's exerting any muscular action on the
board, Mr. Crookes placed a glass vessel full of
water over the centre of the fulcrum, " and by means
of an iron stand, quite detached from all the rest of
the apparatus, a vessel of copper was held so that it
dipped into the water without touching the sides of
the glass vessel, the bottom of the copper vessel being
perforated with holes, in consequence of which it was
partially filled with water. . . . When Mr. Home
placed his hands inside the copper vessel, any force
passing through his hands had to traverse the water,
hence no muscular action of his could have any effect
upon the spring-balance. With the apparatus thus
arranged, the lever oscillated as in his previous ex-
periment, the average strain registered being three
or four pounds."

Such were the phenomena to explain which Mr.
Crookes invoked the assistance of an unknown some-
thing which it pleased his fancy to call " psychic
force," while his companion, Dr. Huggins, mor e
wisely declined to express any opinion. In con-

124 DR. HAMMOND AND THE [vm.

nection with these phenomena, Dr. Hammond calls
attention to an experiment of Professor Tyndall's,
in which an egg is placed in an egg-cup and a long
lath balanced upon the egg : if a dry stick of sealing-
wax, which has been well rubbed with a piece of
woollen cloth, be held over one end of the lath,
the latter, no matter how heavy, will rise to meet
it. In dry weather many persons can make the
ringer serve the same purpose as the sealing-wax,
by first shuffling their feet for a few moments over
the carpet. Taking these things into consideration,
Dr. Hammond arranged an apparatus like that of
Mr. Crookes, and, applying the stick of sealing-wax
just over the fulcrum, where Mr. Home's finger-tips
had rested, the pointer of the balance at once de-
scended. The same result was immediately after-
wards obtained when, after shuffling over a thick
rug, Dr. Hammond rested his finger on the same
place. So far, therefore, the strain on the balance
would seem to be due neither to ghosts of departed
men nor to " psychic force," but to some peculiar
manifestation of that commonplace agent, friction
electricity. How far Dr. Hammond's experiments
may be conclusive, it is not in our power to say.
What it concerns us to notice is that his method
of going to work, by searching for some analogous

TABLE-TIPPERS. 125

case within the region of experience, is the method
of science and common sense, whereas Mr. Crookes's
method, of deserting the region of experience in
quest of some " psychic force," is the method which
characterises alike the barbaric myth-maker and the
ill-trained thinker in a civilised community. So long
as scientific men are capable of doing such un-
scientific things, it is not to be wondered at that
primitive superstitions still survive. ^

Some of Mr. Home's other tricks are suggestive
in another way. The feat of making a small table
so heavy that the credulous bystander cannot stir
it from the floor shows what curious results may
be obtained from highly impressionable people by
riveting their attention. Dr. Hammond has himself
performed this trick with entire success. Taking a
small Japanese table, weighing less than two pounds,
he informed a young man that he was going to make
it too heavy to be raised from the floor. For a
quarter of an hour he held the tips of his fingers
on it, until the young man's attention became
riveted, when he removed his hands and challenged
the young man to lift the table. It proved im-
movable, and " I saw," says our author, " that so far
from endeavouring to lift it, as he supposed he was
doing, he was in reality pressing it with all his

126 DR. HAMMOND AND THE [vm.

might towards the floor." But as soon as Dr. Ham-
mond had waved his hand over the table and declared
that it might now be lifted, the young man lifted
it with ease. Scientifically viewed, such phenomena
are very interesting ; they seem closely akin to the
phenomena of hypnotism in men and animals, so
strikingly illustrated in the experiments of Kircher
and Czermak. Hens and pigeons can easily be put
into a cataleptic state by holding a cork or a bit of
chalk before their eyes so as to attract their atten-
tion ; and in a similar way a frog's attention may
be so absorbed that his belly may be cut open with-
out his seeming to notice it. Mr. Braid has similarly
hypnotised men ; and Dr. Hammond produced com-
plete anaesthesia in a lady by causing her to look
for a few moments at a cork fastened upon her fore-
head while her back was cauterised with a red-
hot iron.

As for Mr. Home's tricks of putting live coals into
his waistcoat pocket and on other people's bald
heads with impunity, such things have so long been
commonplaces with second-rate conjurors that it is
astonishing to find intelligent men like Mr. Wallace
quoting them as instances of ghostly agency.
Nothing could be easier for a clever juggler like Mr.
Home than to exchange real coals for false ones, or

vin.] TABLE-TIPPERS. 127

to protect his own pockets and the heads of his
dupes with asbestos cloth, without attracting notice.
Such a proceeding would require far less skill than
those of professional magicians, like Hermann or
Houdin, in comparison with whose truly wonderful
achievements the best performances of spiritualists
are not for a moment worthy to be named.

Still keeping to Mr. Home, his famous trick of
" levitation," or appearing to float through the air
out of one third-story window into another, seems
partly to illustrate the effects of intense expectation
in producing, hallucination, partly to show us for the
thousandth time how little unsifted human testimony
is worth ; for on one occasion, while two " respectable
witnesses " were sure that they saw the great " me-
dium " come sailing feet foremost through the
window, their less gullible companion was equally
positive that the levitating gentleman was sitting
quietly in his arm-chair all the while ! Nothing is
more common than for us to be told what people
of undoubted veracity have seen. For my own part,
if I were to answer frankly in such cases, I should
take my cue from a celebrated naturalist whose friend
was recounting to him a miraculous shower of frogs
from the sky. " It is fortunate," said he, " that you
have seen it, for now I can believe it. If I had seen

128 DR. HAMMOND AND THE

it myself, I should not have believed it ! " The com-
monest acts of perception are so liable to be warped
by hypothesis (a fact which conjurors like Houdin
consummately understand) that it is quite useless to
conjecture what our witnesses may really have seen,
unless we know much more than they are likely to
tell us of the physical and mental conditions under
which their seeing was done. At a meeting of spiri-
tualists in Boston, Mr. Robert Dale Owen once saw
what he took to be an " apparition in shining rai-
ment," being quite clear in his mind that no deception
or illusion was possible under the circumstances. But
Dr. Hammond, making a diagram of the rooms from
data contained in Mr. Owen's account, shows that,
with the greatest ease, a " woman in white " might
have been brought into the room and illuminated by
means of a dark lantern without awakening suspi-
cion. The case of Angelique Cottin, the famous
"electric girl," is equally instructive. After tipping
tables, repelling books, brushes, and other small
objects, and disturbing magnetic needles before nu-
merous " intelligent audiences," her alleged powers
were carefully investigated by a committee of the
Academy of Sciences, consisting of Arago, Becquerel,
Geoffrey St. Hilaire, and others. Tables, books,
brushes, and magnetic needles, all kept most

viii.] TABLE-TIPPERS* 129

provokingly quiet, and the " electric girl " subsided
into oblivion, So, numbers of people who watched
the " Welsh fasting-girl " were quite sure that she
subsisted without food ; but, when really competent
watchers were introduced, the poor creature died of
starvation, destroyed by her own obstinacy and the
criminal acquiescence of her parents.

We have touched upon but few of the topics
treated in Dr. Hammond's book. Into his elaborate
discussion of the painful and often disgusting pheno-
mena of hysteria, ecstasy, and stigmatisation, we
have not space to follow him. His subject is one
which leads the inquirer into some of the darkest
and most loathsome corners of the human mind ;
but the inquiry has, nevertheless, its uses.

July 1876,

IX.

MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 1

IT has always been a favourite illusion, that social
changes do not, like physical changes, conform to
fixed and ascertainable laws. Not only is it that
philosophers of a certain class have, from the earliest
times, explained historical events as instances of the
continued interposition of an arbitrary power, ex-
terior to and independent of the material universe ;
not only is it that thinkers of an opposite school have
referred the actions of men to a no less arbitrary
power, operative in each individual as an ultimate
inexplicable agent ; but it is that the mass of men

1 As this review of Mr. Buckle's History of Civilisation was written
and published when I was only nineteen years old, I must not now be
held responsible for all the opinions expressed in it. From the favour-
able estimate of Positivism which runs through it, I now of course
thoroughly dissent. I have reproduced the article without altering
a single word ; and have appended to it a " Postscript," written
fifteen years later, as an illustration of the change which Mr. Buckle's
reputation has undergone.

ix.] MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 131

have ever been accustomed to look upon the pheno-
mena of society as upon isolated facts, incapable
of any scientific explanation whatever. And this is
what might be expected from the great abstruseness
and complexity of the subject. Since the science of
human actions is the most difficult of all, and since
it depends on the simpler physical sciences, it was
not until these in the course of their development
had been purified from the dreamy obscurities of
metaphysics, that the conception of a universal and
undeviating regularity in the succession of historic
events was rendered possible. Accordingly, when
physical science was yet in its infancy, as in ancient
times, there could be no social science. The specula-
tions of Plato upon this subject were but profit-
less reveries ; and even the admirable Politics of
Aristotle disclosed " no sense of the progressive ten-
dencies of humanity, nor the slightest glimpse of the
natural laws of civilisation." * Coming down even to
modern times, we find in the seventeenth century
nothing better on the philosophy of history than
the puerile Discourse of Bossuet. The profound
remarks of Pascal and Leibnitz, in regard to the
progress of society, are to be deemed rather pre-
sentiments of the truth, than the results of deliberate
1 Comte, Philosophie Positive, tome iv. p. 240.

K 2

132 MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [.

investigation. Machiavelli was one of the first to
subject social phenomena to a careful study ; but he
arrived at no broad generalisations, and " he suffered,
moreover, from the serious deficiency of being too
much occupied with the practical utility of his
subject." l The Scienza Nuova of Vico contained
many new and startling views of history, and the
writings of Montesquieu presented a daring attempt
to constitute a social science ; but both these great
thinkers were crippled by a lack of materials, owing
to the imperfect condition of physical knowledge at
the time when they wrote. Condorcet, proceeding
from the suggestions of his friend Turgot, arrived at
the law that the whole human race is in a course of
evolution, from the less perfect to the more perfect ;
but his writings are encumbered with metaphysical
notions, and he had no idea of the true nature of
human development. Far above all his predecessors
stands Voltaire, whose Essai sur les Moeurs was an
immortal attempt to apply the principles of scientific
investigation to the entire history of our race. Nothing
more was done in this direction until the unprece-
dented development of physical knowledge which
ushered in the present century was followed by the
appearance of the Philosophie Positive of Auguste

1 Buckle, vol. i. p. 751, note 131.

ix.] MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 133

Comte. In this noble work, social as well as phy-
sical changes are shown to conform to invariable laws.
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 sub-
lime discovery that the Universe is in a continuous
process of evolution from the homogeneous to the
heterogeneous with which only Newton's discovery
of the law of gravitation is at all worthy to be com-
pared, underlies not only physics, but also history.
It reveals the law to which social changes conform.
This preliminary glance is necessary, in order to
comprehend the relation of Mr. Buckle's work to the
treatises on social science which have preceded it.
Mr. Buckle is one of that series of philosophers who,
from Plato downwards, have studied human affairs.
The Introduction to his History of Civilisation in
England is similar to the works we have just men-
tioned, in attempting to discover the laws which
regulate the progress of society; and in many respects
it surpasses them all. Mr. Buckle, it is true, gives us
no new method of research, like Comte ; nor does he

134 MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [ix.

as we shall see, discover any universal law, like
Spencer. Yet, in the boldness and comprehensive-
ness of his views, and in the fearless candour with
which they are stated in the wealth of his erudition,
and in the honesty with which he applies his facts
in the noble love of liberty which pervades his work,
and in the eloquence which invests all parts of it with
an undying charm, he has had few equals in any age.
Feeling that it is but just to pronounce our opinion at
the outset, we say this with the more readiness, both
because in the course of this criticism we shall be
compelled to differ from him on many points of vital
importance, and especially because Mr. Buckle's work
has been received with a bitter and contemptuous
hostility on the part of many reviewers, which can-
not have failed to excite much groundless prejudice
against the author and his doctrines. Not only is it
that the merits of the work have been lost sight of,
while its defects have been exaggerated to an enor-
mous extent ; J not only is it that its tendencies have
been perversely misrepresented, and that it has been
accused of aiming to subvert the principles of moral-
ity and religion ; but it is that some of the most
obvious facts upon which its arguments are based have

1 [I had reference to the absurd article in the Quarterly Review, July,
1857.]

ix.] MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 135

been disputed ; it is that the author has been charged
with inaccuracies and errors which would disgrace the
composition of a school-boy. Without repeating or
taking further notice of such accusations, which savour
no less of ignorance than of a spirit of unfair depre-
ciation, we propose to examine Mr. Buckle's leading
propositions, in the hope of ascertaining how far they
explain the phenomena of society.

Proceeding on the method of investigation pointed
out by Comte, Mr. Buckle claims to have established,
in the volumes now before us, four great laws, which
" are to be deemed the basis of the history of civili-
sation." x

The first of these fundamental laws is, " that the
progress of mankind depends on the success with
which the laws of phenomena are investigated, and
on the extent to which a knowledge of those laws is
diffused." In laying down this proposition, Mr.
Buckle can, of course, make no claims to originality.
It is simply a clear and precise statement of the
position taken by all the foremost thinkers of the
age. For example, Mr. Lewes says, "The evolu-
tions of Humanity correspond with the evolutions
of Thought." 2 Mr. Mill says, "We are justified in

1 Buckle, vol. ii. p. I.

8 Philosophy of the Sciences, p. 23.

136 MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [i*.

concluding that the order of human progression in
all respects will mainly depend on the order of pro-
gression in the intellectual convictions of mankind ;
that is, on the law of the successive transformations
of human opinions." x The same is implied in Mr.
Spencer's law of evolution, 2 and in the law of the
three stages of civilisation announced by Comte. 3
With respect to the proposition as it stands, we have
no criticisms to offer. It is substantiated, not only
by the numerous facts brought up in the course of
Mr. Buckle's work, but by all those furnished by the
history of mankind in all ages and countries. The
annals of our race are but an illustration of the law
that "the evolutions of Humanity correspond with
the evolutions of Thought."

Thus far Mr. Buckle proceeds on safe ground : but
when he attempts, in his second fundamental law, to
go still further, and to determine how much of our
civilisation is due to intellectual, and how much to
moral progress when he attempts * to prove that the
intellectual element in our nature is advancing, while
the moral element is not, and that knowledge is the

1 System of Logic, vol. ii. p. 517, 4th edition.

2 Social Status, p. 409 456. Essays, p. I 54. First Principles,
p. 146 218.

* Philosophic Positive, tome i. pp. 3 20. * Vol. i. chap. iv.

ix.] MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 137

cause of progress, while good intentions are not he
gets at once into complicated difficulties ; and his
argument, when stripped of its dazzling rhetoric, is
so vague, confused, and unsatisfactory, that we cannot
help suspecting that the author has but an imperfect
comprehension of what he is arguing for. At the
outset, he makes an assertion directly contradictory
to the proposition which he is to prove. He says,
" There can be no doubt that a people are not really
advancing, if, on the one hand, t/ieir increasing ability
is accompanied by increasing vice, or if, on the other
hand, while they are becoming more virtuous they
likewise become more ignorant. This double move-
ment y moral and intellectual, is essential to the very
idea of civilisation, and includes the entire theory of
mental progress." 1 Having thus unequivocally ex-
pressed what we shall presently perceive to be in all
probability the true state of the case, he proceeds to
contradict himself, by setting to work to show that a
people advance in civilisation according as they
advance in knowledge, leaving the moral element
entirely out of the question. As this is one of the
most important points in his whole work, and one
which has excited hot discussion, we shall proceed to

i Vol. i. p. 159.

138 MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [ix.

examine it at some length, taking up in succession
the several steps of the argument.

Amid much that is obscurely stated, and much
that is irrelevant to the subject, we trace the following
line of propositions :

I. The native faculties of men do not improve, so
that we must look for progress only in their acqui-
sitions.

II. They acquire but few " moral truths," which
" remain stationary ; " but they acquire many " intel-
lectual truths," which are "continually advancing."

III. Because civilisation cannot be regulated by the
"stationary agent," it must be regulated solely by
intellectual progress.

Let us see whether these statements will bear a
critical examination. 1

I. Mr. Buckle begins by denying that the natural
faculties of man are in a course of development.
" Here, then, lies the gist of the whole matter. The
progress is one, not of internal power, but of external
advantage. The child born in a civilised land is not
likely, as such, to be superior to one born among
barbarians, and the difference which ensues between

1 [This argument of "Intellect v. Morals" was regarded by Mr.
Buckle as the fundamental position of his book. See Stuart-Glennie's
Pilgrim Memories, p. 196.]

ix.] MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 139

the acts of the two children will be caused, so far as
we know, solely by the pressure of external circum-
stances ; by which I mean the surrounding opinions,
knowledge, associations in a word, the entire mental
atmosphere in which the two children are respectively
nurtured." 1

This is only bringing up again the old dispute
about " the innate " and " the acquired," which
has raged for centuries among metaphysical
thinkers, but which we thought had been satis-
factorily settled by the physiologists some time
before Mr. Buckle penned the -above passage. After
it had been proved that every organism is constantly
advancing in the vigour and complexity of its func-
tions in relation to the conditions which surround it,
nothing more was needed. But Mr. Buckle appears
to have forgotten this. He not only ignores some of
the late results of physiological investigation, but,
still worse, in the passage just quoted, he flatly con-
tradicts a theory which he elsewhere upholds. We
refer to the doctrine, held by many naturalists, which
supposes all the varieties of organic life, present and
past, to have arisen from one or two primitive forms,
by successive modifications of structure and function.
With the evidence which might be brought forward
1 Vol. i. p. 162.

140 MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [ix.

in favour of this theory, we have, at present, no
concern. It is enough to know that Mr. Buckle is
himself one of its supporters, as appears from several
passages in his work. 1

Now, this theory supposes that all organic beings
are continually advancing, not only in complexity of
structure and variety of function, but also in the
activity and vigour of their faculties. This may be
illustrated by comparing the extremes of the animal
kingdom. The hydra, or fresh-water polyp, is little
more than a mere bag. In common with all the
acrita, he possesses nervous substance, diffused in a
cellular state throughout his body. 2 Moreover, if
you turn him inside out, his skin will digest, and his
interior membrane will respire ; he will apparently
suffer no discomposure from this reversed state of
affairs. 3 Again, if you put him into a vessel of
water, he will invariably seek that part of it least
exposed to the light, thus manifesting a rudimentary
sensibility, which in its more developed state, in

1 Vol. i. p. 806, note 130, and p. 822. The same is implied on
p. 641. He also accepts the kindred doctrine of the unity of the organic
and inorganic worlds. < (See vol. ii. pp. 529 533.)

2 Or, more accurately speaking, he possesses a sensitive substance
which, in more elevated beings, is specialised into nervous tissue. (See
Lewes' Seaside Studies, p. 390.)

8 Draper's Human Physiology, p. 501.

ix.] MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 141

higher organisms, we call vision. 1 The lower polyps
exhibit also contractility over their whole body ; and
it has been supposed that they also possess, in a
diffused condition, the germs of smell, taste, and
even hearing. 8 When now we ascend to the verte-
brata, we find digestion specialised in the stomach,
respiration in the lungs, contractility in the muscles,
sensibility in the nerves ; taste, smell, hearing, and
vision, in the mouth, nose, ears, and eyes. This
difference co-exists with a great increase of power in
the several functions. The faculties of the mammal
are, as every one knows, far superior to those of the
polyp. No one would think of comparing the rudi-
mentary scent of the zoophyte with the developed
scent of the dog, or the rudimentary sight of the
acaleph with the developed sight of the Bosjesman.
Vast, indeed, is the difference between the hydra,
whose body is but one organ, feebly performing
several functions, and the elephant, whose body is a
community of organs, each powerfully performing its
own peculiar function : so vast, that many persons,
even after allowing for the accumulated influence of
causes which have been in operation for countless
ages, are unable to believe that the higher organism

1 Spencer's Psychology, p. 401.

2 Ibid. pp. 394408.

142 MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [ix.

could have come from the lower, through myriads of
intermediate forms. Yet, if we are to believe this,
if we are to accept it as true, that this continuous
perfecting of all the physical and mental faculties
has been going on among the lower tribes ever since
life first appeared on the earth, why are we to suppose
that it has not taken place in man ? Is it that, when
man came upon the stage, one of the most compre-
hensive laws of nature was, by some miracle, suspended
for ever in his case ? Is it that in the most perfect
of organised beings, exhibiting both in 'structure
and function the completest instance of the evolu-
tional process, that process could no longer be carried
on ? If we are to accept the development theory at
all, we must accept it without limitations. We might
as well say that the human race forms an exception
to the operation of the laws of gravitation or chemical
affinity, as to say that it forms an exception in the
case of the law of evolution, provided that law be
once established.

We shall find our conclusion inductively confirmed,
on observing that the development theory explains
the differences between the races of mankind, as well
as those between the animal tribes. Premising the
fact, well known to every anatomist, that change in
structure is invariably accompanied by change in

ix.] MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 143

function, we notice that the lower races, such as the
Alfurus, resemble the quadrumana in having very
small legs, protruding jaws, receding foreheads, thick
lips, eyes wide apart and curved upwards ; that as we
proceed in turn to the red Indians, the Turanians,
and the Semites, this resemblance becomes much
less marked, and at last scarcely perceptible; and
that, on reaching the Europeans, it can no longer be
traced, except in infants. The legs have become
much longer and more massive than the arms, which
have diminished in length ; the jaws have retired ;
the forehead has advanced ; the lips have become
comparatively thin : the eyes have approached each
other, and lost their upward curvature. These facts,
so familiar to every one that it is almost needless to
cite them, show that, in respect to structure, we find
a marked progress in the human species, no less than
in the animal tribes. Even though the European is
born with the structural peculiarities of the savage,
he loses them almost immediately after birth; and
his possessing them at birth no more proves that
his matured faculties are on the same level with
those of the savage, than his possessing the charac-
teristics of a fish some months before birth proves
that his matured faculties are on the same level
with those of a fish. Unless, therefore, Mr. Buckle

144 MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [ix.

is prepared to deny that development in structure
is necessarily attended by development in function,
he cannot logically avoid the conclusion that the
human species is in a course of evolution from the
less perfect to the more perfect, or, to use his
own expressions, that the progress of mankind is
one of "internal power," as well as of "external
advantage."

We have seen that Mr. Buckle accepts the law of
development ; that it is illogical to assert that man
forms an exception to such a universal law; that
this law, moreover, explains the facts of human
variation, as well as those of animal variation ; and
that, consequently, Mr. Buckle's assertion, that
human faculties do not develop, is totally incon-
. sistent with the very theory held by himself respect-
ing organic development in general. We have now
to show that his assertion is in itself unfounded.
But, preliminary to this, we must call attention to
another point.

How it is that Mr. Buckle, who holds fast to the
law of development, can reject the law of hereditary
transmission, we are unable to imagine. Never-
theless, reject it he does, in the following passage,
which, as Mr. Lewes remarks, must excite the
astonishment of the physiologist :

ix.j MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 145

" We often hear of hereditary talents, hereditary vices,
and hereditary virtues ; but whoever will critically examine
the evidence, will find that we have no proof of their exist-
ence. The way in which they are commonly proved is in
the highest degree illogical; the usual course being for
writers to collect instances of some mental peculiarity found
in a parent and in his child, and then to infer that the
peculiarity was bequeathed. By this mode of reasoning,
we might demonstrate any proposition ; since, in all large
fields of inquiry, there are a sufficient number of empirical
coincidences to make a plausible case in favour of whatever
view a man chooses to advocate. But this is not the way
in which truth is discovered ; and we ought to inquire, not
only how many instances there are of hereditary talents, &c.,
but how many instances there are of such qualities not
being hereditary. Until something of this sort is attempted,
we can know nothing about the matter inductively ; while,
until physiology and chemistry are much more advanced,
we can know nothing about it deductively. These con-
siderations ought to prevent us from receiving statements
which positively affirm the existence of hereditary madness
and hereditary suicide ; and the same remark applies to
hereditary disease ; and with still greater force does it apply
to hereditary vices and hereditary virtues; inasmuch as
ethical phenomena have not been registered as carefully as
physiological ones, and therefore our conclusions respecting
them are even more precarious." 1

1 Vol. i. p. 161, note 12.

146 MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [ix.

All this sounds very fine ; but we do not think that
our ignorance of this subject is so hopeless as Mr.
Buckle supposes. Although we are at present unable
to explain all the phenomena of the case, and account
for all the apparent exceptions that arise, we do,
nevertheless, all of us know that oaks always produce
oaks, oysters oysters, sharks sharks, dogs dogs, and
men men. We should probably deem it somewhat
out of the usual course of things, if a cow were to
give birth to a leopard. We are not accustomed to
think of a greyhound as having had for his sire an
Arabian steed. We do not expect, on planting a
nursery of acorns, to come back and find an orchard
of apple-trees. And even the most unexcitable of
us would open his eyes at the sight of a barn-door
hen strutting about as the mother of a brood of
eaglets. And yet, if there is no such thing as the
transmission of qualities from parent to offspring, we
see no reason l why these hypothetical cases should

1 Lest it should be thought that we do injustice to Mr. Buckle, in
giving such a broad significance to his rejection of the law of hereditary
transmission, we give a definition of that law, taken from one of the
greatest thinkers of our time : " Understood in its entirety, the law is,
that each plant or animal produces others of like kind with itself; the
likeness of kind consisting not so much in the repetition of individual
traits as in the assumption of the same generic structure." Spencer's
Essays, p. 263.

ix.] MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 147

not exist as realities. " Unless parents transmitted
to offspring their organisations, their peculiarities, and
excellences, there would be no such thing as a breed
or a race. The cur would run the same chance as
the best bred dog, of turning out valuable. The grey-
hound might point, and the cart-horse win the Derby.
Daily experience tells us that this is impossible.
Science tells us that there is no such thing as chance.
Physiology tells us that the offspring always, and
necessarily, inherits its organisation from its parents ;
and if the organisation is inherited, then with it
must be inherited its tendencies and aptitudes." 1
This, from one profoundly versed in physiology,
expresses what any one, not labouring to establish
some preconceived theory, will at once recognise as
the real state of the case. And, indeed, since struc-
ture and function are inseparably connected, since
diversity of structure necessarily supposes diversity
of function, and similarity of structure similarity of
function ; it follows that, as like produces like, in the
case of structural forms, so also must like produce
like in the case of functional peculiarities ; and as the
nervous system is but a part of the organism, and
must come under the same generalisation as the whole,
so also does the same hold true of the functions

1 Lewes' Physiology of Common Life, vol. ii. p. 377.

L 2

148 MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [ix.

of the nervous system, that is, of thought, feel-
ing, and the like. In other words, there must be
cases not only of hereditary madness and hereditary
disease, but also of hereditary vices and hereditary
virtues, so long as disease and madness, virtue and
vice, co-exist with peculiar structural states. And,
as before, unless Mr. Buckle is prepared to deny the
inseparable connection of structure and function, he
cannot escape this conclusion.

As we have already observed, it is passing strange
that Mr. Buckle, while embracing the law of develop-
ment, should spurn that of hereditary transmission, to
which it is so intimately related, and on which it, in
some degree, depends for its proofs. But Mr. Buckle
has a theory of his own to maintain. He wishes to
show that the faculties of men do not improve. It is
in order to do this that he rejects the law of trans-
mission. But it has been shown that his rejection of
it is illogical, and that the law of transmission is as
universal as any other, since, were it not so, there
could be no such thing as a species at all. With the
help of this law, it is easy to demonstrate that, in the
very nature of things, the faculties of men must
improve.

Among that "highest class of biological truths,"
which apply to all organisms whatever, is the law that,

ix.] MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 149

" other things equal, development varies as function," l
that is, the growth of any organ depends upon its
activity. We are everywhere met by instances
of this not only in the gymnast, who surprises us
by the great size and power of his muscles ; not only
in the sailor, who sees a ship in the distant offing,
where the passenger can descry but a speck ; not
only in the musician, who recognises as different two
sounds which, to unpractised ears, are alike ; but also
in the man of science, who unravels with ease pro-
blems which, to common apprehension, are insoluble.
" On this law are based all maxims and methods of
right education, intellectual, moral, and physical." 2
Expressed in the form, " Practice makes perfect,"
it is an axiom in every one's mouth. By exercising
an organ, we increase its size and power. By neglect-
ing to exercise it, we cause it to become diminutive,
weak, inefficient.

It is evident, then, that when an individual has
grown to maturity in the constant exercise of any
faculty, the organ answering to that faculty will be
correspondingly developed ; and that, in the natural
course of things, he will transmit to his offspring that
faculty in its state of increased power. Thus it is
that a Philip becomes the father of an Alexander ;

1 Spencer's Essays, p. 262. 2 Ibid. p. 263.

150 MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [ix.

that the son of a Bernardo Tasso 'gives to the world
a deathless poem ; and that a family of three hundred
musical geniuses at last counts among its members
a Jean Sebastian Bach. In individual cases, however,
the operation of this law is obscured and often
hindered by a concurrence of unfavourable circum-
stances. It is in the case of large collections of indi-
viduals, where the disturbing causes are averaged,
that we find it most strikingly exemplified. Thus we
see red Indians so swift of foot ; " telescopic-eyed
Bushmen;" and Peruvians with sense of smell so
acute that, according to Humboldt, they can distin-
guish by it, in the middle of the night, to what race
a man belongs. 1 Extending our view from separate
nations to the whole race, we perceive the law in still
greater generality. While some nations have been
developing in some faculties, others have been deve-
loping in others, and the total movement has been
ever onward. Each generation has inherited the
faculties of the preceding, still further improved by
constant employment. Phoenicians have thus spread
commerce through unknown seas ; Greeks have edu-
cated the world ; Romans have legislated for it ; Hin-
dus, Jews, and Arabs have given it religions ; Germans
have deluged it with systems of philosophy ; French-
1 Dunglison's Human Physiology, vol. i. p. 729.

ix.]- MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 151

men and Englishmen have given it positive know-
ledge ; Americans have, by inventive genius, furnished
material comforts ; Italians have added the glorious
embodiments of beauty, grace, and charm ; and the
consensus of the whole is civilisation. Retrogression
nowhere meets us ; progress meets us everywhere ;
and, from the considerations above adduced, we are
obliged to conclude that this advance has been one as
well of "internal power" as of "external advantage."
Mr. Buckle's assertion is, therefore, seen to be not
only inconsistent, but also unfounded.

II. Having now proved, as he thinks, that we must
look for progress in " external advantage " only,
and not in " internal power," our author goes on to
show the " superiority of intellectual acquisitions over
moral feelings ; " and first he asserts that all our ac-
quisitions are either "moral truths" or "intellectual
truths," and that the former are " stationary," while
the latter are continually advancing. It is noticeable
that he here deplores the difficulties which arise " from
the loose and careless manner in which ordinary lan-
guage is employed on subjects that require the greatest
nicety and precision. " l After giving us this caution,
one would naturally expect to find our author very
clear and accurate in the choice of terms, and in the
1 Vol. i. p. 159.

152 MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [ix.

statement of propositions ; but, on the contrary, the
loose and careless manner in which he himself em-
ploys ordinary language throughout the discussion is
quite amazing. In the first place, he makes a verbally
unintelligible distinction between " intellectual truths "
and " moral truths." Scientifically speaking, there
can be no such thing as a " moral truth ; " for every
truth is a proposition, consisting of subject, predicate,
and copula ; and is uttered and recognised by the
intellect, not by the " moral instinct," which belongs
to the emotional part of our nature. It is the pro-
vince of intellect to think, of emotion to feel. Mr.
Buckle falls into exactly the same error in a singular
passage in his second volume, where he says :

" The emotions are as much a part of us as the under-
standing : they are as truthful ; they are as likely to be right.
Though their view is different, it is not capricious. They
obey fixed laws ; they follow an orderly and uniform course ;
they run in sequences ; they have their logic and method of
inference? 1

All this is either strained metaphor or downright
nonsense. If it were true, what would be the use of
making any distinction at all between intellect and
feeling ? If to feel is to judge, and to experience an

1 Vol. ii. p. 502.

ix.] MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 153

emotion is to lay down a proposition, why not include
both under one name ? Mr. Buckle is misled by the
fact that, in all our mental operations, feeling and
thinking are closely united. Our wishes colour our
judgments. We are all led, in many cases, to believe
that to be true which we wish to be true. Thus emo-
tional states give rise to intellectual states. On the
other hand, Mr. Bain has shown that belief, when
active, always leads to volition ; 1 and as volition is
the final stage of emotion, we perceive that intel-
lectual states likewise occasion emotional states. But
this intimate connection of the two should not lead
us to confound the one with the other ; and we fall
into a grave error whenever we do so. Once more
we repeat, it is the province of emotion to feel, of the
intellect to think and form propositions. Scientifically
speaking, therefore, all truths are intellectual ; and
there can be no such thing as a " moral truth."

But there is another sense in which the expression
" moral truths " may be taken. It may mean " truths
relative to morality." Mr. Buckle generally uses it in
this sense, but he so often confounds " moral truths "
with "moral feelings," that the foregoing remarks
were rendered necessary to a right understanding of
his argument.

1 Bain, The Emotions and the Will, pp. 568598.

154 MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [ix.

Our author then declares that the truths which we
possess relating to morality have not changed for
thousands of years. No, they have not Neither
have "intellectual truths." A truth, once established,
never changes, cannot change, otherwise it would be
no truth, but a falsehood. Take, for example, the
law of gravitation : " All bodies in the universe
attract each other with forces directly proportional to
their masses, and inversely proportional to the squares
of their distances apart." We have had no occasion
to alter this statement since the time of Newton. It
is a demonstrated truth, and will never be susceptible
of the slightest change. The same is the case with
the truth, " It is wrong to kill." Once recognised,
this truth can experience no change, for the very
reason that it is a truth, and not a falsehood. In a
word, when a proposition has been once shown to be
true it will for ever remain so, whether it relates to
our moral obligations, or to anything else whatever.
There is no ground for Mr. Buckle's distinction.

Nor would our author be one whit the more justi-
fied in saying, as he might say, that the interpretation
put upon " moral truths" is unchanging as compared
with that put upon "intellectual truths." On the
contrary, it appears to us that the reverse is the case.
When a truth, relating to some of the simpler subjects

ix.] MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 155

of investigation, is once received, its interpretation
usually admits of little change. To employ the same
example as before, the law of gravitation is received
in the same acceptation now as when it was first
discovered. Advancing to the more abstruse sciences,
such as physiology, we find that the interpretation
put upon generally-received truths suffers marked
variations. The law of organic development has
been held by the most eminent scientific thinkers
since the beginning of the present century ; but,
since the embryological discoveries of the Germans,
it is held in a form different from that in which it was
held before. The followers of Spencer, Lewes, and
Darwin, do not put the same interpretation upon the
law of development that the followers of Lamarck
did, forty years ago. Coming now to the very com-
plex subject of morality, we find, unfortunately for
Mr. Buckle, that the acceptation in which its proposi-
tions are held varies with every phase of civilisation.
Among the American Indians, so noted for their
revengeful dispositions, the obligation not to take life,
if recognised, was not so construed as to include the
miserable object of the fell passion. Among the
ancient Jews, the command, " Thou shalt not kill,"
meant " Thou shalt not kill Jews ; " and, from the
story of Saul and Agag, we may suppose that the

156 MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [ix.

murder of Gentiles was considered rather a meritori-
ous act than otherwise. And in general, where the
same " moral truths " have been received, it has been
in as many different ways as there were different
kinds of people to receive them. This fact, that the
way in which generally-received truths are understood
varies as the complexity of the sciences to which
they belong, results from the obvious circumstance
that the more complex a science is, the less we know
about it. As we know less about moral science than
about any other, our opinions, even about those
"moral truths" which are universally admitted, are
more liable to change than our opinions about
similarly-received truths in other matters. Mr.
Buckle could have, therefore, no ground for asserting
that the interpretation put upon " moral truths " is
unchanging as compared with that put upon " intel-
lectual truths."

Our author says, somewhat inconsistently, that
" moral truths " receive no additions, and again that
they receive fewer additions than " intellectual truths."
We shall speedily show that the first of these state-
ments is at variance with fact, and that the second
has no logical value, and will not help his argument
in the least.

It is not true that " moral truths " have received no

ix.] MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 157

additions. It is not true, as Mr. Buckle says, that
" the sole essentials of morals have been known for
thousands of years, and not one jot or tittle has been
added to them by all the sermons, homilies, and text-
books which moralists have been able to produce."
It is not true, as Sir James Mackintosh says, that
" morality admits of no discoveries." It is not true,
as Condorcet says, that " la morale de toutes les nations
a tie" la mfme" It is not true, as Kant says, that "in
der Moralphilosophie sind wir nicht welter gekommen
als die Alien" For what is Moral Philosophy but the
science which is to determine the laws to which our
conduct should conform ? And if this is the case, we
need only to look into Mr. Buckle's work itself, to find
a system of morality containing truths which only
two centuries ago were not even dreamed of. Take,
for example, the moral law that governments shall
not interfere with trade. This is as much a moral
law as that which forbids stealing : but we find Mr.
Buckle reckoning it among the merits of Voltaire,
that he was one of the first to perceive the justice of
a free system of trade. * Its justice is even now
denied by opponents of reform. This, then, is a case
of a " moral truth " which has not been known for
thousands of years.

1 Vol. i. p. 741.

158 MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [ix.

Mr. Buckle may say, however, that he does not use
the term " morality " in so wide a sense that he
means by it merely a collection of general rules and
precepts, serving as rough guides for daily conduct.
Of course, if Mr. Buckle chooses to define his terms
to suit himself, he can prove anything. If he defines
morality so as to make it include nothing but the-
precepts known three thousand years ago, and then
says that all moral truths now known were known
then, he merely asserts that what was known then
was known then ; a statement which probably few
will be hardy enough to dispute, but which unfortu-
nately leaves the argument just where it was
before.

But supposing we accept this narrow definition of
morality, what will become of our author's statement,
even then ? He himself quotes, from several authors,
passages which show that there was a time when
some nations did not acknowledge the moral law for-
bidding murder. " Among some Macedonian tribes,
the man who had never slain an enemy was marked
by a degrading badge." l And at the present day,
among barbarous tribes, as the Dyaks of Borneo, " a
man cannot marry until he has procured a human

1 Grote's History of Greece, vol. xi. p. 397,1 quoted in Buckle,
vol. i. p. 176, note 29.

ix.] MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 159

head ; and he that has several may be distinguished
by his proud and lofty bearing, for it constitutes his
patent of nobility." x By calling up these facts, Mr.
Buckle destroys his own statement that " moral
truths " receive no additions.

As for his other assertion that " moral truths "
receive fewer additions than "intellectual truths" it
means simply that fewer discoveries are made in
moral science than in all the other sciences put toge-
ther. It is as if he should say that " optical truths "
receive fewer additions than "physical truths." As
we have shown, he is not justified in using the expres-
sion " intellectual truths," so as to exclude from it
truths relating to morality, which are recognised by
the intellect as much as any others. His statement,
therefore, merely compares a part with all the other
parts of the whole to which it belongs.

We are quite willing to admit that moral science
has not been enriched by as many discoveries as any
one of the other sciences. This results from the cir-
cumstance that it is far more difficult and complicated
than the rest. Our knowledge of morality is less
complete than our knowledge of chemistry, for the
same reason that our acquaintance with chemistry is
less perfect than our acquaintance with astronomy.
1 Journal of Asiatic Society, vol. iv. p. 181,

160 MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [ix.

The laws expressing the relations of men to one
another are the most recondite of all, and the most
liable to apparent exceptions. We are accordingly
longer in ascertaining them.

To sum up : we have seen that the distinction made
by Mr. Buckle between " intellectual " and "moral"
truths, is a vague and popular one, and will not bear
a critical analysis. We have throughout, however,
used the expression " moral truths " as equivalent to
" truths relating to moral subjects," and the expression
"intellectual truths" as equivalent to "truths relating
to all other subjects : " and this is admissible, because
it gives the meaning intended by the author. We
have then shown : first, that intellectual truths are as
fixed and unchangeable as moral truths ; secondly
that the interpretation put upon moral truths is even
less constant than that put upon intellectual truths ;
thirdly, that moral truths receive additions, no less
than intellectual truths ; fourthly, that the fact that
moral truths receive fewer additions than intellectual
truths is of no logical value, because it compares one
class of truths with several ; and fifthly, that the cir-
cumstance that moral science advances with a slower
pace than the other sciences shows only that it is
more complex than they are, but does not warrant us
in assuming that it is radically different from them.

ix.] MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 161

Reviewing our conclusions in this compact form, we
see that moral truths come under the same category
as intellectual truths, throughout. This confirms what
we said at the outset, that there is no such difference
between them as Mr. Buckle supposes, and that both
should be spoken of together as truths or judgments
in distinction from feelings. Mr. Buckle's argument,
then, when laid bare, is as follows : that some truths
are constant, while others are not which is false ;
and that one set of truths receives additions, while
another does not which is also false.

But this is not all. Our author's argument is not
only untenable, but it is irrelevant to the subject in
debate. Even if he could establish his point, he
would be none the more forward. Startling as this
assertion may seem, it is nevertheless indisputable.
For if his reasoning hitherto were valid, it would
prove merely this that our knowledge of some sub-
jects advances, while our knowledge of others does
not. But Mr. Buckle's professed object is to show
that feeling, as compared with knowledge, is of no
account as a civilising force. To what end, then,
does he go so far out of his way in giving us this
jumble of ill-digested argument to show the "supe-
riority" of some intellectual acquisitions over others?
This singular aberration results from his confounding

162 MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [ix.

truth with feeling, the intellectual with the emotional
part of our nature. He seems to forget the distinc-
tion between knowing in what duty consists, and
having the intention to perform it. But it is alto-
gether one thing to wish to do right, and another
thing to know what it is right to do, as many a luck-
less wight finds out to his cost. Farther on Mr.
Buckle recognises the distinction clearly enough.

It would, however, be rather unfortunate than
otherwise for Mr. Buckle's main argument, if he
could succeed in showing that " the sole essentials of
morality have been known for thousands of years."
For if it were true that men knew what was right
that they were acquainted with all the laws to
which our conduct ought to conform in ancient times
as well as at the present day ; and that they have
nevertheless advanced in the practice of morality ;
we should be obliged to conclude that as the know-
ledge has remained stationary it must have been the
development of moral feeling and the increase of
good intentions alone which could have occasioned
the progress. The contrast is really between moral
truths and moral feelings. So that, if Mr. Buckle
had succeeded in proving that "moral knowledge"
does not advance, and should at the same time suc-
ceed in his attempt to prove that " moral feeling "

ix.j MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 163

does not improve, he would, if consistent, arrive at
the singular result that there has been no improvement
at all in the actions of men.

It is quite a relief, on emerging from this labyrinth
of baseless assertion and ill-directed argument, to
find that our author at last seems to remember his
original object, as he sets himself to work really to
show the " superiority " of knowledge over feeling
as a civilising agent. His reasoning is here very
plausible, and his illustrations drawn from the history
of war and religious persecution are well chosen, and
appear at first quite convincing. He tells us that
good intentions were of no avail in stopping perse-
cution, because persecutors themselves have generally
had the best intentions. The heathen emperors of
Rome, who tortured Catholics, the Catholic Inquisi-
tors of Spain, who tortured Protestants, all meant
well enough, he argues they were very often men of
the purest character ; but tJiey did not know that it
was wrong for them to interfere with the religious
convictions of otJiers. So Mr. Buckle does perceive,
after all, that our knowledge of our moral obligations
has increased somewhat ! We are no better, he
says, than the Inquisitors of old but we know that
religious persecution is wrong, wicked, harmful ; while
they, in their mistaken zeal, thought it to be right,

M 2

164 MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [ix.

holy, beneficial. This point he argues admirably,
but he does not succeed in absolving religious perse-
cutors from all charge of selfish passion. Indeed, he
elsewhere expresses it as his own opinion, that the
clergy have been strongly influenced, in their vindic-
tive attempts to destroy or injure those dissenting
from their views, by motives of ambitious policy.
We have no doubt that such motives have always been
of immense power among this class of men, as well
as among other classes. But we will not urge this or
any similar objection against Mr. Buckle's grand
argument. We will merely call attention to the cir-
cumstance that a man's " moral feeling," his " moral in-
stinct," his " conscience," or whatever any one chooses
to call it, is a natural faculty. In other words, ethical
emotions, being functions of the nervous system, are
natural faculties. And we have already shown that
the natural faculties of mankind develop. The refu-
tation of Mr. Buckle's first grand argument carries
with it the refutation of the second.

III. It carries with it, likewise, the refutation of
the third. For the proposition that civilisation is
regulated, not by the " stationary agent," but by in-
tellectual acquirement, can have no value, unless it be
proved that moral feeling is the " stationary agent."
But this cannot be proved. On the contrary, it has

ix.] ~ MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 165

been shown that our powers, both moral and intellec-
tual, are continually developing, and that our acqui-
sitions, both moral and intellectual, are constantly
increasing. The moral element is, then, no more
stationary than the intellectual ; and thus Mr. Buckle's
third grand argument falls to the ground, and with it
falls his fundamental law, which is shown to be utterly
destitute of any truth whatever.

It may be well to remark, before proceeding further,
that rejection of Mr. Buckle's second law is perfectly
compatible with acceptance of his first. There is no
inconsistency in saying, on the one hand, that moral
feeling is a civilising agency, and on the other hand,
that the progress of civilisation conforms to the suc-
cessive transformations of opinion. For the ethical,
as well as all the other emotions, enter largely into
every opinion-forming process. Though our emotions
do not combine into propositions the ideas which are
constituent parts of our beliefs, they do none the less,
as Mr. Bain has clearly proved, 1 sway the intellect as
it performs this operation. The emotions accordingly
enter into every act of belief, and there can be no
complete theory of human opinion which leaves them
out of account. Thus our acceptance of Mr. Buckle's

1 See the whole of his admirable work on The Emotions and the
Will.

1 66 MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [ix.

first law confirms our rejection of his second, and
we see, more clearly than ever, that "the double
movement, moral and intellectual, is essential to the
very idea of civilisation," and that, without including
both elements, there can be no complete theory of
progress.

It may likewise be well to remark that a discussion
of this sort has no immediate bearing on the subject
of Christianity. It has been supposed by some
persons that Mr. Buckle's entire argument is nothing
but a sinister attack upon the Christian religion. We
see nothing of the kind in it. Christianity is a system
of belief, in which both intellectual and moral forces
must co-operate ; and a person, while denying the
civilising agency of the moral element, may with
perfect consistency maintain the civilising agency of
that set of opinions in the formation of which the
moral element has had but a partial share. Our
author's argument, therefore, is not to be construed
into an assault upon Christianity, nor is our own
argument to be construed into a defence of it. Con-
fusion necessarily results from mixing questions
which should be kept separate.

We come now to Mr. Buckle's third 1 law that

1 On the first page of his second volume, Mr. Buckle places this law
second in order, and the law just considered third. But as it is con-

ix.] MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 167

scepticism " has in every department of thought been
the invariable preliminary to all the intellectual revo-
lutions through which the human mind has passed,"
and that " without it there could be no progress, no
change, no civilisation." l In examining this propo-
sition, it la needful, at the outset, to have a clear idea
of the nature of scepticism, as understood by Mr.
Buckle. The word itself has been variously inter-
preted ; sometimes in a more general sense, as mean-
ing the absolute denial of all dogmas, theories, and
beliefs whatever ; sometimes in a more special sense,
as signifying disbelief in the peculiar doctrines of
Christianity. It is in neither of these senses that Mr.
Buckle uses the word. He defines scepticism as
suspension of judgment, or hesitation in forming or
receiving an opinion. A true sceptic, then, would
neither believe nor disbelieve anything at all. He
would doubt even his own doubts. History presents
but few instances of a consistent and thorough-going
sceptic. Pyrrho and Hume will, however, serve
sufficiently well as examples. Scepticism is not to
be confounded with that philosophy which, not con-
tent with doubting, absolutely denies. This might

venient to examine this law in connection with the fourth, we have
taken the liberty to alter Mr. Buckle's arrangement.
1 Vol. i. page 328.

1 68 MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [ix.

be called negative philosophy, or negativism, in broad
distinction from positive philosophy, which aims at
establishing from incontrovertible data a system of
results comprising all that it is in the power of the
human mind to know. Negativism and positivism, then,
constitute two opposite phases of human thought.
As examples of negative thinkers, we have Hobbes,
Voltaire, Lessing, and Rousseau ; while as instances of
positive thinkers we may cite Bacon, Leibnitz, Newton,
and Spencer. Scepticism is identical with neither of
these philosophies, though it has some points in
common with both. Scepticism, indeed, is not a philo-
sophy at all ; it is a no-philosophy a transition state
where, robbed of its belief, the mind rests not, but
stays unresting, in dreary incertitude and distressful
vacillation, until it finds refuge in belief again.

Bearing in mind this meaning of the word, we can
safely proceed to examine the proposition before us.
We do not think it altogether probable that Mr.
Buckle would, on mature reflection, lay down this
law about scepticism as a universal one, operative
alike in all stages of progress ; but, as he makes no
limitations to it in the course of his work, we must
discuss it here in relation to the three stages of
mental evolution, and see whether or not it is alike
applicable to all.

ix.] MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 169

We shall find, to begin with, that it is not appli-
cable to the theological state. When man first looked
upon the wonders of Nature, his untaught imagination
gave birth to weird, fantastic shapes innumerable,
peopling the air, the streams, the forest, and the
mountain-chasm. Just awakened, as it were, to self-
consciousness, and feeling his own life thrilling within
him, he ascribed that life to everything around him.
He looked upon the wide, dark surface of the " many-
sounding sea," and saw there a mighty, restless, earth-
upheaving Power, which refinement afterwards person-
ified, and called Poseidon. Gazing above him on the
blue expanse which seemed to encompass the " plain
of the earth," he came to recognise there a Divinity
of light and warmth, a Devas, a paternal Zeus. When
the bright clouds flitted along the sky, it was Hermes
driving the celestial cattle to the milking ; when the
north-wind arose, cold and blustering, it was Boreas
storming in his wrath ; when the stars came out
at night, there were countless deities to whom this
primitive man made sacred the days of the week.
The changes of the seasons, the ceaselessly recurring
death and resurrection of Nature, were typified in
wild legends of Jemshid and Zohak, of Osiris and
Thammuz, of Hylas and Orpheus. The whole uni-
verse was thinking, feeling, and willing. Nothing was

1 70 . MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [ix.

dead or inert ; all things were endowed with life and
activity. From this came sacrifices, shrines and tem-
ples, oracles, and sacerdotal orders. It would be
difficult to find any traces of scepticism in all this.
Belief then reigned alone in the human mind, and
doubt found no place there. As long as the pheno-
menal was as yet harder to comprehend and more
difficult to control than the unseen and unexplored
world that lay beyond it, scepticism was impossible.
Not only was it impossible, but it would have been
harmful. For the primitive man was barbarous, trea-
cherous, revengeful. 1 His selfish instincts were as yet
all in all. His sympathetic and social feelings were
as yet undeveloped. In such a rude condition it was
only the bond of a firmly-rooted and wide-spread
belief it was only the ascendency of a priestly and
governmental order, thus secured which could keep
society from being disorganised. Had scepticism
been once let in, religious and political organisation
would have been weakened, sects and parties would
have sprung up prematurely, and the strong check
needful to curb the undisciplined passions of men
would have been destroyed, civilisation would have
stopped, and society could no longer have existed. It
was only after centuries of theocratic and monarchic
1 Spencer's Social Statics, pp. 409413.

ix.] ' MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 171

rule after the primeval nomadic mode of life had
been long abandoned, and agriculture and commerce
had in course of time, by mingling men with each
other in peaceful relations, called forth social virtues
that scepticism could safely arise. And then it
did arise. We find it first showing itself in the states
of Greece, where popular despots arose and were
overthrown, as at Korinth, Sikyon, and Megara ; and
where philosophers began to speculate about the first
principles of things, as Thales, Xenophanes, and Hera-
kleitos. Thenceforward scepticism increased, until it
reached for a time its culmination in the universal
doubts of Pyrrho. But it is not in ancient times at
all that we are to look for any very prominent mani-
festation of scepticism. The spirit of doubting and
hesitating inquiry was of slow growth, and did not
attain to its maturity until monotheism had been
established in Europe for more than a thousand years.
Not only, therefore, has scepticism not always been
essential to progress ; not only have some important
changes in human opinion as the change from
fetishism to polytheism been accomplished without
it ; but also, in the first of the three great periods of
civilisation it did not arise at all until very late, and
was then but a secondary force in the minds of men.
It is in the metaphysical or revolutionary period of

172 .MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [ix.

modern society, extending from the twelfth century
to the present time, that we see the sceptical spirit in
full operation. To this stage of human evolution Mr.
Buckle's proposition is applicable without any limita-
tions. The application he has himself given us, with
great fulness and detail, in the case of England, France,
Spain, and Scotland. In the brief space to which we
are here restricted, it would be vain to attempt to add
to the profuse and happily chosen illustrations con-
tained in those instructive chapters which our author
has principally devoted to this portion of his subject.
Nowhere else has the revolutionary period of history
been so admirably portrayed. Nowhere else can we
find a truer, a juster, a profounder appreciation of the
workings of the sceptical spirit. Here we discover
no inconsistencies, no errors of statement, vitiating
the whole argument. Here Mr. Buckle reveals his
wonderful power. Here he draws sure conclusions
from well-ascertained data. For there can be no
shadow of doubt that in the twelfth century the
sceptical spirit had begun greatly to increase its power
and extend its influence ; that in the sixteenth it had
become a mighty civilising force ; and that in the
eighteenth it had penetrated all departments of
thought. It was this sceptical spirit which gave rise
to the conceptualism of Abelard, the infidelity of

ix.] MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 173

Vanini, and the heresy of Wyclif. It became, as
Mr. Buckle remarks, " in physics, the precursor of
science ; in politics, of liberty ; and in theology, of
toleration." But for the scepticism in his own mind,
Luther could not have become the founder of Protes-
tantism ; and but for the scepticism already rife in the
minds of others, he could have found no followers.
We find scepticism dictating the metaphysics of
Descartes and the diplomacy of Richelieu. We find
it inciting the English to rebellion against the despot-
ism of the Stuarts, and striving though vainly, in the
wars of the Fronde, to establish political liberty in
France. It lay at the foundation of the sensation-
alism of Locke and the idealism of Berkeley, and was
itself at last organised into an independent system
by Hume. It was the opening phase of that negative
philosophy which, first receiving definite shape in
the deism of Herbert and Bolingbroke, ended in the
atheism of Diderot and Helvetius. It was the parent
of the transcendentalism of Kant and Fichte, the
physio-philosophic vagaries of Schelling and Carus,
the absolutism of Hegel, and the pantheism of Feuer-
bach. Carried into science, it paved the way for the
immortal discoveries of Lavoisier and Bichat
Wielded by Voltaire, it broke down ecclesiastical
power in France ; and in the hands of Rousseau

174 MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [ix.

swept away the vilest of despotisms by the most
fearful of revolutions. It roused the Dutch to cast
off the yoke of Spain, sent the Puritans to Massa-
chusetts, inspired the Americans in their " Declara-
tion of Independence," and shaped the fabric of their
democratic government. What need of further ex-
amples ? It is the sceptical spirit, advocating liberty
in politics and toleration in religion, which has
been at the bottom of every change through which
humanity has passed in modern times. Mr. Buckle's
law is entirely applicable to the metaphysical period
of civilisation, and is the key to the explanation of
its phenomena.

But the metaphysical state is not a permanent one.
It constitutes a transition from that primitive belief
which was the offspring of man's early endeavours to
compass and explain the Infinite about him, to that
new belief which is founded on a long and thorough
investigation into the laws of the natural world.
Giving up as hopeless all search for the undiscover-
able, all striving to know the unknowable, science
contents itself with finding out that which lies within
our reach. But it was not in the power of man, on
first perceiving the inadequacy and incongruity of
his old belief, to pass at once to the new. No one
can reject an old system of opinions, which has

ix.] MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 175

shaped his thoughts and guided his actions in the
past, and then take up a new system, to shape his
thoughts and guide his actions in the future, without
going through an intermediate state of painful and
wearisome doubt. As with the individual, so with
the race. The sceptical period could not but inter-
vene. It was only after countless attempts to ex-
plore the dark and dangerous region of the Infinite
had all proved futile it was only after successive
theories had all been weighed in the balance, and
found wanting that man could come at last to repose
in the calm spirit and sure methods of scientific
inquiry. Before this must necessarily have come that
tumultuous season of doubt and denial, of discord
and revolution, in which the sceptical spirit reigned
supreme. The rottenness of old institutions, forms
and dogmas, had to be exposed before they could be
given up. Then the barrenness of doubt had to
make itself felt before it could be supplanted by
knowledge. It was not until Hume, by carrying
scepticism to its uttermost extent, had shown its
unsatisfactory character and vain results, that the
germs of scientific method, implanted by Bacon and
Descartes, could develop and bear fruit in the positive
philosophy of Comte.

As the metaphysical period is but a transition

176 MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [ix.

from the theological to the positive, it only remains
to show that scepticism is peculiar to it, being a
transition from belief to knowledge. We have here
very few facts to guide us in an inductive investiga-
tion, since the positive era is only now commencing.
But, if we consider the state of human thought at the
present day on the various subjects of scientific
research, we shall find that in the most advanced
departments scepticism no longer finds a place.
Astronomers long ago gave over doubting and asking
questions of each other about the fact of the earth's
motion. It was the scepticism of Copernicus and
Galileo that overthrew the old notion of its fixity ;
but that scepticism speedily issued in positive
certainty. Whether a man believes or disbelieves in
the motion of the earth, is now a mere matter of
knowledge or ignorance. There is no place for
doubt, no room for difference of opinion. So with
all demonstrated facts and laws. A truth once
established remains for ever a truth. We cannot
choose but accept it. And science, as a body of
established truths, cannot admit of scepticism.

The past history of science confirms, and its future
progress must also confirm, this conclusion, which
might be drawn at once from the very nature of
thought. When we know as much about the most

ix.: MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 177

complex subjects as we now know about the most
simple ones, there can be no such thing as doubt at
all. " The mystic drama will be sunny clear, and all
Nature's processes will be visible to man, as a divine
Effluence and Life." l

We have seen that in the theological stage of hu-
man development, scepticism did not exist ; that in
the metaphysical stage, it arose and extended its
sway over every department of thought ; but that,
in the positive stage, it is destined to decrease, until
it exercises no perceptible influence. Corresponding
to these three stages of evolution are the three pre-
dominant mental states, of belief, doubt, and know-
ledge. The three great periods into which Comte
has divided the history of civilisation might be named
with perfect accuracy, the period of credulity, the
period of scepticism, and the period of science.
Mr. Buckle's law has this much of truth in it, that
the sceptical age is the necessary forerunner of the
scientific ; that in the race, no less than in the
individual, doubt must intervene between belief and
knowledge.

We shall now briefly consider Mr. Buckle's fourth
fundamental law that "the great enemy of civili-
sation is the protective spirit," or in other words,

1 Lewes' Seaside Studies, p. 219.

1 78 MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [ix.

" the notion that society cannot prosper, unless the
affairs of life are watched over and protected, at
nearly every turn, by the state and the church ; the
state teaching men what they are to do, and the
church teaching them what they are to believe." i
Here, as in the foregoing case, Mr. Buckle errs only in
stating his law without any limitations, as if it were a
universal one. It cannot be questioned that for several
centuries the protective spirit has been extremely pre-
judicial to progress. The notion that government
ought to control the actions and beliefs of men has>
when carried into politics, furnished a plea for despot-
ism, and when carried into theology, it has been produc-
tive of intolerance and persecution. Mr. Buckle devotes
a large portion of his work to the establishment and
elucidation of this fact. He shows that government
and legislation are incompetent to direct the affairs of
men. He shows that politicians have injured trade
by interfering with it ; that legislators have caused
smuggling, with its attendant crimes ; that they have
also increased hypocrisy and perjury ; and that, by
their laws against usury, they have but heightened
the evil they sought to prevent. He shows that the
protection of literature by Augustus, by Leo X., and
by Louis XIV., caused literature to decline. In each

i VoL ii. p. I.

ix.] MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 179

case "there was much apparent splendour, imme-
diately succeeded by sudden ruin." l The system of
protecting literature was carried to its fullest extent
by Louis XIV., and nowhere can we see more clearly
the baneful effects of such a course. For the scien-
tific progress which had been so marked in the reign
of Louis XIII. stopped forthwith. Descartes and
Pascal, Fermat, Gassendi, Riolan, Joubert, and Pare
died, and left no successors. Nothing was done in
astronomy, in chemistry, in physiology, or in botany.
Of mechanical inventions there were none. Even .the
fine arts soon began to decline; and intellectual
decay, the natural consequence of patronage, was seen
in every department of thought. So in many other
cases we see the damage entailed by the interference
of government. Laws fixing a minimum of wages
have caused thousands of labourers to be turned out
of employment. 2 Laws regulating marriage have
ended in increasing the number of illegitimate births. 3
Laws for the establishment of sanitary supervision
have spread disease, and lengthened out the mortality
returns. 4 Laws for the support of colonial govern -

1 Vol. i., p. 647.

2 As in the case of the Spitalfields weavers in 1773.

3 As in Bavaria.

4 As in England, some years ago, during the cholera pestilence.

N 2

180 MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [ix.

ment have given rise to the most barbarous tyranny. 1
Trade-union projects, economic experiments, poor-
laws, education-laws, church-laws, currency-laws, have
all turned out to be failures, and in many cases have
inflicted upon society positive misery, instead of con-
ferring upon it positive benefit. Paradoxical as all
this may at first seem, it is but a statement of his-
toric facts. 2 Modern history is filled with similar
examples, all showing the utter incompetence of
government to regulate the affairs of men. The duty
of government is to insure the fulfilment of the first
principle of morality that no man shall infringe
upon another's sphere of action. If it but performs
its duty, it will do well. But when it goes to making
plans for securing the "greatest happiness to the
greatest number," it usually contrives to end up by
securing the least happiness to every one, having
failed in its projects, and neglected its proper
function meanwhile.

But on looking back and contemplating society in
its primitive state, we shall arrive at very different con-
clusions. We shall perceive that the protective spirit,

1 As in the case of the East India Company, and of the American
Colonies before the Revolution.

2 See the evidence in Spencer's Social Statics, p. 195 to 406, and in
Mr. Buckle's volumes.

ix.] MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 181

far from being prejudicial to progress, was one of its
most essential conditions. Indeed, on calling to mind
all those centuries of primeval history, when there
was nothing to counteract the workings of the pro-
tective spirit, and when all things conspired to
strengthen its power, one might reasonably ask at
the outset why it was that under such circumstances
the human race made such sure and unceasing pro-
gress ; why it was that it progressed at all ; why it
was that it did not even retrograde. If the protective
spirit is of necessity in every age the enemy of civili-
sation, how did it happen that we ever emerged from
a state of barbarism ? How comes it that we have
not remained uncivilised mere nomads, or at best
diggers of earth, living from hand to mouth, little
better, on the whole, than a race of chimpanzees ?
For Mr. Buckle's own facts show that the protective
spirit has never been so strong as in the early ages of
history. " In India, slavery, abject, eternal slavery was
the natural state of the great body of the people." l
The " vast social system " of Egypt was " based on
despotism" and "upheld by cruelty." 2 In Mexico
and Peru, " there was the same utter absence of any-
thing approaching to the democratic spirit : there was
the same despotic power on the part of the upper
1 Vol. i. p. 73. 2 Ibid. p. 83.

1 82 MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [rx.

classes, and the same contemptible subservience
on the part of the lower." l Again, in Babylonia,
Assyria, and Persia, despotism was the only form of
government ever experienced or thought of. 2 We
have evidence of the same in the case of China and
Japan. We find, moreover, that in barbarous coun-
tries, like Ashantee, despotism universally prevails.
Going still lower still farther back we see nomadic
tribes always in subjection to the will of the strong
man. Now, for many thousands of years, 3 civilisation
was advancing in Egypt ; Babylonia, Persia, and many
of the other nations above-mentioned made consider-
able progress ; India even arrived at a high state of
refinement, as is witnessed by her extensive and mag-
nificent literature. All this shows that in early times
progress did coexist with the strongest possible
manifestation of the protective spirit ; and when we
consider that there was nothing then to counter-
balance the workings of the protective spirit that
all physical causes contributed to favour its develop-

1 P. ioi. In Peru, according to Mr. Prescott, the people could not
even change their dress without a licence from their rulers !

a The passage in Herodotus, b. iii. c. 8083, is well known to
have no historical value ; see the remarks of Rawlinson, vol. ii.
P- 393-

3 Bunsen's Egypt, passim. Darwin, Origin of Species, p. 23.

ix.] MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 183'

ment, 1 and that scepticism, the only thing that could
have weakened it, did not exist, we may suspect that
the protective spirit could not have been so detri-
mental to the interests of civilisation as Mr. Buckle
supposes.

On looking at the matter deductively, it will even
appear that without the protective spirit there could
have been no civilisation. For what but the most abso-
lute despotism and the profoundest awe of the ruling'
power could ever have kept together the communi-
ties of the primitive men, with their cannibalism,
their bloodthirstiness, their dishonesty and treachery ?
As long as men could not live together peaceably as
long as they neither knew nor practised the first
principles of morality there must have been some
power sufficient to keep society from falling to pieces,
or there could have been no progress at all ; and the
only such power conceivable was that total subjection
of the many to the few which constitutes the protec-
tive system of government. As long as Persians
mutilated each other, and Carthaginians burned their
children, and Chinamen beat to death their wives as
long as Hindus practised thuggee, and Spartans
practised stealing, and lonians practised piracy
there must have been " Drakonian statutes written in
1 Buckle, vol. i. chap. 2.

184 MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [ix.

blood," there must have been absolute despotism.
Without this, society would have become a parcel of
units. Imagine a republic of Tatars, a constitu-
tional democracy of Vandals, and develop the con-
sequences !

Thus in the primitive stage of civilisation the
protective spirit played the same part as universal
credulity in preserving society from disintegration.
Thus it becomes more evident than before that
scepticism would have been harmful at that early
period. It would have weakened the protective
spirit and destroyed allegiance, besides causing
religious dissension. Nothing . of the kind was then
admissible. The selfish and brutal feelings of men
had to be restrained, and their social and humane
feelings called forth, before the sceptical spirit could
safely commence its inroads upon the spirit of
universal belief and universal submission. The pro-
tective spirit was therefore in early times the great
safeguard of civilisation and the all-essential con-
dition of progress ; and this very important restriction
must be placed upon Mr. Buckle's law.

On looking at the subject in its broadest and most
general aspect, we shall arrive at the conclusion that
all systems of belief and all great institutions are
beneficial when they first spring up. Each has its

ix.] MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 185

functions to perform, and the more carefully we study
history the more deeply shall we be convinced that
it performs it in the best possible manner. But after
these beliefs and institutions have done their work
and are no longer needed after they have been
stereotyped in lifeless forms then it is that they
become productive of evil and are prejudicial to the
interests of mankind.

With the help of these considerations, we can
more completely understand Mr. Buckle's two pro-
positions. With the restrictions here placed upon
them, they might be stated thus : in the revolutionary
period of modern society, scepticism has been uni-
formly essential to progress, and the protective spirit
has been uniformly detrimental to it. This is strictly
true, and needs no qualification.

In his second volume our author develops another
fundamental law, which we have not time to con-
sider here. It may be stated thus: in a country
where the deductive method of investigation prevails,
there will be a much greater difference in the intel-
lectual and social condition of the upper and lower
classes than in a country where the inductive method
is the prevalent one. This may be illustrated by
comparing Greece, Germany, and Scotland, on the
one hand, with England and the United States on

1 86 MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [ix.

the other. The application of this law in the case
of Germany and America is to be contained in the
third volume.

In conclusion, we must say a few words in regard
to Mr. Buckle's application of his four great laws.
The application of the first runs through the whole
work. In every chapter we are met by numberless
illustrations of the law that the progress of humanity
conforms to the progress of opinion. It is different,
however, in the case of the second law which we
have discussed. Mr. Buckle appears entirely to for-
get his theoretical neglect of the moral element in our
nature, and to take it practically into account as much
as any one else. In his delineations of wars, civil
revolutions, and especially of religious persecutions,
he seems to believe in spite of himself that " moral
feelings " do exercise as much power over men as
" intellectual acquisitions ; " and that the effects pro-
duced by the former are quite as lasting as those
produced by the latter. He repeatedly recognises
the fact that our desires and impulses influence us
strongly in the acceptance and defence of opinions.
In speaking of the Scotch clergy, he attributes their
tyrannical enforcement of superstitious notions to an
inordinate desire for power, not to a mistaken interest
in the welfare of others. After noticing the profound

ix.] MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 187

reverence of the Scotch people for their clergy, he
observes : " It is not surprising that the clergy, who
at no period, and in no nation, have been remarkable
for their meekness, or for a want of confidence in
themselves, should, under circumstances so eminently
favourable to their pretensions, have been somewhat
elated, and should have claimed an authority even
greater than that which was conceded to them. . .
It was generally believed that whoever gainsaid
the clergy would be visited, not only with temporal
penalties, but also with spiritual ones. For such
a crime, there was punishment here, and there
was punishment hereafter. The preachers willingly
fostered a delusion by which they benefited. . . .
They did not scruple to affirm that, by their censures,
they could open and shut the kingdom of heaven.
. . . . The clergy, intoxicated by the possession
of power, reached to such a pitch of arrogance, that
they did not scruple to declare, that whoever respected
Christ was bound, on that very account, to respect
them. . . . Such was their conceit, and so greedy
were they after applause, that they would not allow
even a stranger to remain in their parish, unless he,
too, came to listen to what they chose to say. . . .
How they laboured to corrupt the national intellect, and
how successful they were in that base vocation, has

1 88 MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [ix.

been hitherto known to no modern reader." 1 He
also tells us that the Scotch clergy used " means of
intimidation," because, being "perfect masters of their
own art," they well knew that " by increasing the ap-
prehensions to which the ignorance and timidity of
men make them too liable," they would also " increase
their eagerness to fly for support to their spiritual
advisers." 2

All this is very significant. It shows that Mr.
Buckle is unable to escape from recognising the
enormous influence of feeling in leading to belief
and action. After labouring to show that persecu-
tors are actuated only by mistaken benevolence, he
here declares that the tyrannical and intolerant acts
of the Scotch clergy were dictated by cunning selfish-
ness and longsighted craft. We think that he here
commits almost as great an error as before, though
in the opposite direction, by attributing too much to
the selfish desires of these men, and by taking too
little account of their good, but mistaken, intentions.
There is glaring inconsistency in this : but when a
man lays down a " law " so incredibly absurd as the
one in question, we must expect to find him incon-
sistent in its application.

1 Vol. ii. pp. 344, 347, 348, 357, 365.
3 2bid. pp. 366, 384.

ix.] MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 189

But Mr. Buckle devotes by far the largest portion
of his work, thus far, to the illustration of his third
and fourth laws. As he treats only of the revolu-
tionary period, his illustrations are all appropriate
and forcible. We lack words to express our admira-
tion of these profound and instructive chapters. The
inquiry into the history of the intellect in England,
France, Spain, and Scotland, shows an extent of
learning and a depth of thought unsurpassed, so far
as we know, in historical literature. Our author traces
the rise of scepticism and the decline of the royal
power in England, the workings of the protective
spirit in England and France, the causes, remote and
proximate, of the French Revolution, all with the
most consummate skill. In the case of Spain, he
sets before us in vivid colours the utter impotence of
government to direct social progress. He describes
in bold outlines the course of philosophic investigation
among the Scotch, and the influence of their habits of
thought upon their general condition. Everywhere,
in this part of the work, we see the touches of a
master ; everywhere we find something to instruct
and entertain. Had Mr. Buckle written nothing
more, these chapters alone would suffice to make
his name immortal. Considered merely as historic
pictures they rival anything in Gibbon or Grote.

190 MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. [ix.

We have not criticised at length Mr. Buckle's first
law, because we have no restrictions to place upon
it, and because it may be found demonstrated, as
completely as possible, in Mr. Buckle's own work.
As the result of our examination into his other laws,
we have found that the second contains no truth
whatever, being supported by a tangled chain of
sophisms, every link in which is unsound; but that
the third and fourth are strictly true, if limited to
the period of which Mr. Buckle treats. The first law
did not originate with him, and the second he has
failed to establish ; but the third and fourth may take
their places as important additions to our knowledge
of human history. This is the lasting service which
Mr. Buckle has already rendered to science.

With respect to the tendency of Mr. Buckle's work,
an unprejudiced mind can have but one opinion. It
is calculated to awaken independent thought, and to
diffuse a spirit of scientific inquiry. Written in an
easy and elegant style, it will be read with pleasure
by many who would not otherwise have the patience
to go through with the subjects of which it treats.
Thus, grand and startling in its views, impressive and
charming in its eloquence, it cannot fail to arouse
many a slumbering mind to intellectual effort. Such
has its tendency already been, and such it will con-

ix.] MR. BUCKLE'S FALLACIES. 191

tinue to be. Indeed, with Mr. Buckle's diligence, his
honesty, his freedom of thought, his bold outspoken-
ness, his hearty admiration for whatever is good and
great in man, the tendency of his work could not well
be otherwise. All these are qualities which will be
remembered when his inaccuracies and errors, how-
ever great, shall be forgotten. And whatever may
be thought about the correctness or incorrectness of
Mr. Buckle's opinions, the world cannot be long in
coming to the conclusion that his History of Civilisa-
tion in England is a great and noble book, written by
a great and noble man.

September 1861.

POSTSCRIPT ON MR. BUCKLE. 1

THE pilgrimage of an "infidel" to Mount Sinai
and the tomb of Christ affords a suggestive theme for
meditation. It is with no disparaging intent that we
use the vague epithet, "infidel "for Mr. Stuart-Glennie
is himself most explicit in assuring us that neither with
Christianity nor with what he calls " Christianism "
does he acknowledge any fellowship or alliance. By
Christianity he means " that great historical system
which culminated in the philosophy of Scholasticism,
the religion of Catholicism, and the polity of Feu-
dalism ; " and by Christianism he means " that his-
torical theory which represents Jesus of Nazareth as
a supernatural being who came on earth for the good

1 Pilgrim Memories ; or, Travel and Discussion in the Birth-
Countries of Christianity with the late Henry Thomas Buckle. By John
S. Stuart-Glennie, M. A. New York : D. Appleton and Co. 1875.

x.] POSTSCRIPT ON MR. BUCKLE. 193

of mankind, was put to death, and rose again to sit on
the right hand of God." The historical system Mr.
Stuart-Glennie perceives to have come to an end, and
the historical theory he has learned to regard as anti-
quated and unsound, and he therefore frankly declares
himself an opponent of Christianity, and stigmatises
as dishonest all description of the Christian religion
as a morality, or sentiment, or ethical impulse. With
the same frankness he expresses himself about beliefs
which " Christianism " has always held dear, in lan-
guage, and still more in a tone, calculated to exasperate
the Christian world to the last degree, so that a lead-
ing orthodox reviewer has been led to recognise in
him the " fool " described by the Psalmist who has
" said in his heart that there is no God." This is,
however, inaccurate, for Mr. Stuart-Glennie is cer-
tainly no atheist. It is the very purity and sensitive-
ness of his theistic instinct that leads him, like
Theodore Parker, to condemn as degrading much
that still finds a place in popular theology. One
might, indeed, even plausibly question the propriety
of Mr. Stuart-Glennie classifying himself as an anti-
Christian, were it not that he is so explicit in defining
what he rejects as Christianity. But, in truth, such
questions of nomenclature are idle, for " Christian "
is a word of such wide and vague connotations that,

194 POSTSCRIPT ON MR. BUCKLE. [x.

however well adapted it may be for various religious
uses, it possesses hardly more defining value than such
a word as " philosophical ; " and whether a given set
of opinions can be grouped under such rubric or not
has become a point hardly worth arguing.

While mainly a personal narrative, this book of
Pilgrim Memories keeps certain ulterior ends in view.
The author has projected, and in part executed, an
extensive series of works to be entitled The Modern
Revolution, in which nothing less is aimed at than the
establishment of a new law of history, a new specu-
lative basis for religion, and a new point of departure
for dramatic art. The new law of history, and the
new speculative basis for religion, we are to seek in
the conception of historic development as " a certain
Change, and Process of Change, in men's notions of
the Causes of Change." One object of the present
volume is to show how this conception took shape in
the author's mind in the course of his journeyings
and discussions with Mr. Buckle. By the Gulf of
Ezion-Gebir, "walking or riding along a shell- and
coral-covered strand, on our right the sea, red with
the coralline forests of its depths, and with a margin
so bright and clear that, as we rode, we saw all its
gem-like pavement ; on our left sandstone precipices
of the most magnificently-varied hues," amid this

x.] POSTSCRIPT ON MR. BUCKLE. 195

strangely beautiful scene we enter upon quite a Pla-
tonic dialogue, in which the author seeks to expound
his new conception of causation, while Mr. Buckle
occasionally interposes with " I do not follow you, I
confess," or " That seems philosophical enough," quite
after the manner of the ^aiverai or OVK e/io^e So/tee
of Sokrates and his interlocutors. This long conver-
sation, or series of conversations, is perhaps the most
interesting portion of the book. Yet Mr. Buckle
evidently does not get a thorough hold of what Mr.
Stuart-Glennie means by defining causation as in-
volving " not merely the conception of Uniformity of
Sequence," but also that of " Mutuality of Coexist-
ence, or Mutual Determination ; " and we must
confess that to us also his meaning seems by no
means distinctly set forth or adequately elucidated.
It is to be hoped that in future volumes this point
will be thoroughly cleared up, for we are told that
the " Change in our conceptions of the Causes of
Change," which the author has discovered to be the
" Ultimate Law of History," is neither more nor less
than " an advance from the conception of One-sided
Determination to that of Mutual Determination." That
this statement is fraught with meaning for Mr. Stuart-
Glennie there can be no doubt ; he recurs to it again
and again as if it were a sort of talismanic formula

O 2

196 POSTSCRIPT ON MR. BUCKLE. [x.

for the solution of all manner of problems, psycho-
logical and historical. But it is just one of those
formulas, like Mr. Spencer's famous law of the change
from incoherent homogeneity to coherent hetero-
geneity, that needs to be charged with significance by
means of copious preliminary explanation in order to
convey any sense at all to the mind of the reader.

To the many readers who, some twenty years
since, were interested in what then bid fair to be the
" Biggest of big books," the most attractive pages in
Mr. Stuart-Glennie's volume will be those which give
us glimpses of the personal peculiarities of Mr.
Buckle. The sad story of Mr. Buckle's fruitless
journey in quest of health, the rapid decay of his
strength, and his untimely death at Damascus, has
long been generally known, but it acquires fresh
interest from the fuller account now given 'by his
fellow-pilgrim. Few would now rate the value of Mr.
Buckle's work, or the loss to science from his prema-
ture end, so highly as they were commonly rated at
the time. Yet, as a fresh instance of how life is
short while art is long, of how the world passes away
from us while yet we are stammering over the alpha-
bet of its mysteries, there is something infinitely
pathetic in the cry which went up from the exhausted
and fever-stricken traveller " My book, my book ! I

x.] POSTSCRIPT ON MR. BUCKLE. 197

shall never finish my book!" The pathos is not
diminished, but perhaps rather deepened, by the
reflection that the book possessed no such trans-
cendent value as its author ascribed to it, and that
in all probability the strange irony of fate, had it
granted to Mr. Buckle the long life of a Carlyle or a
Humboldt, would only have permitted him to survive
his own reputation as a leader in the world of thought.
It is seldom that so brilliant a success as Mr. Buckle's
has been even temporarily achieved by such super-
ficial thinking and such slender scholarship. The
immense array of authors cited in his book bears
witness to the extent of his reading, but the loose,
indiscriminate way in which they are cited shows
equally how uncritical and desultory his reading was.
One may ascribe this looseness to the native impa-
tience of temperament illustrated in his disposing of
Gibbon and Hallam in ten days ; but certainly his
solitary education and solitary habits of study could
do little towards curing the fault. One reason why
the scholarship of university-bred men is in the main
so far superior to that of men who have been taught
at home is that the former are regularly forced, by
continual contact and rivalry with fellow-students,
into habits of self-restraint and self-criticism in
reaching conclusions which only the rarest innate

198 POSTSCRIPT ON MR. BUCKLE. [x.

virtues of intellect can enable the latter now and
then, in spite of their solitude, to acquire. It is but
once or twice in an age that the home-taught student
can receive the stimulus to patient sagacity that was
afforded in the cases of Grote and Mill. The kind of
unceasing criticism which university-life affords the
best means of securing, is in most cases indispens-
able. Less effective, because less direct and constant,
but still very valuable, is the discipline that is gained
by early and frequent authorship, where a writer is so
constituted as to be able to profit alike by fair and
unfair public criticism. That there may be men of
genius with such marked native qualities of caution
and vigilance as to enable them partially to dispense
\vith such educational aids we do not deny ; but Mr.
Buckle was not one of these. He began life with his
full share of the " original sin " of hasty generalisa-
tion; and nothing in his circumstances tended to
check or control this disposition until, at an age when
one's mental habits are usually pretty well engrained,
he appeared before the world with the first instalment
of his able and stimulating but crude and hastily-
wrought book.

Not only did Mr. Buckle's impatient and uncritical
habit prevent his vast reading from resulting in
sound scholarship, but his lack of subtlety and pre-

x.] POSTSCRIPT ON MR. BUCKLE. 199

cision were so marked as to stamp all his thinking
with the character of shallowness. He seized readily
upon the broader and vaguer distinctions among
things, the force of which the ordinary reader feels
most strongly and with least mental effort, and of
such raw material, without further analysis, and with-
out suspecting the need for further analysis, he con-
structed his historical theories. To this mode of
proceeding, aided by his warmth of temperament
and the lavish profusion of his illustrations, he un-
doubtedly owed the great though ephemeral success
which his book attained. The average reader is
much sooner stimulated by generalisations that are
broad and indistinct than by such as are subtle and
precise ; and if we stop to consider why Mr. Buckle's
name has been sometimes associated with those of
men so far beyond his calibre as Mill and Darwin, we
may see the reason in the fact that Mr. Buckle could
be entirely grasped by many of those very admirers of
the latter writers who least appreciate or fathom their
finest and deepest mental qualities. But this essen-
tially superficial character of Mr. Buckle's thought
is shown not only in his obtuseness to subtle distinc-
tions, but even more conspicuously in his utter failure
to seize upon any deeply-significant but previously
hidden relations among facts, in the work which

200 POSTSCRIPT ON MR. BUCKLE. [x.

he put forth as the Novum Organum of historical
science.

If we contrast his book with some of the really
great books which were contemporary with it, such
as Mr. Darwin's Origin of Species, Mr. Spencer's
Principles of Psychology, or Sir Henry Maine's
Ancient Law, the difference is striking enough. Each
of these works set forth old facts in new and hitherto
unsuspected connections, and in so doing enunciated
thoughts which have quite changed the aspect of the
questions with which they deal. There is not a
naturalist in either continent to-day whose most
specific inquiries do not bear some more or less con-
scious reference to what is known as " the Darwinian
theory." The time-honoured contest represented by
Locke and Leibnitz, or by Hume and Kant, is be-
ginning to take a new point of departure, owing to
Mr. Spencer's suggestion of the acquirement of
mental faculties through inheritance and slow varia-
tion ; and Sir Henry Maine's lucid exposition of
early ideas regarding contract, property, and family
relationship, obliges us to look at all the phenomena
of society from an altered standpoint. But, in
marked contrast with works of this kind, we find in
Mr. Buckle's book sundry commonplace reflections

x.] POSTSCRIPT ON MR. BUCKLE. 201

of quite limited value or applicability, such as the
statements that scepticism is favourable to progress,
or that over-legislation is detrimental to society. No
doubt such commonplaces might be so treated as to
acquire the practical value of new contributions to
history. But to treat them so requires subtle analysis
of the facts generalised, and all that Mr. Buckle did
was to collect miscellaneous evidences for the state-
ments in their rough, ready-made form. Of general-
isations that go below the surface of things, such as
Comte's suggestive though indefensible Law of the
Three Stages, we find none in Mr. Buckle. The only
attempt at such an analytic theory is the generalisa-
tion concerning the moral and intellectual factors in
social progress, wherein Mr. Buckle's looseness and
futile vagueness of thought is shown perhaps more
forcibly than anywhere else in his writings. It is not
of such stuff as this that a science of historic pheno-
mena can be wrought.

In Mr. Stuart-Glennie's reminiscences, which seem
to be most carefully and honestly reported, these
characteristics of Mr. Buckle his warm, impatient
temperament and his lack of mental subtlety or deep
penetration are continually brought to our notice ;
and all the more forcibly because of the absence of

2O2 POSTSCRIPT ON MR. BUCKLE. [x.

any such intent on the part of the fellow-pilgrim to
whom we owe these interesting notes of discussion.
To examine the details of these conversations would
carry us beyond our limits, and would hardly be
justified by their intrinsic importance. One little
point we must note as characteristic, with regard to
Mr. Buckle's temperament as a historian. While Mr.
Stuart-Glennie seems to have his whole soul stirred
within him by the historic associations clustering
about the places visited, and is moved to reflections
always interesting and often suggestive, Mr. Buckle,
on the other hand, though sufficiently alive to the
beauties of nature, seems quite oblivious to historic
memories. At the sepulchre of Christ his thoughts
were mainly on political economy, " the state of
society and the habits of the people." In such
trivial details some light is thrown, perhaps; on that
lack of intellectual sympathy with the past which
was one of Mr. Buckle's most notable defects as a
historian.

But with all this intellectual narrowness and loose-
ness of texture, the narrative gives one a very pleasant
impression of Mr. Buckle personally, and, furthermore,
enables one to comprehend how, with such slight
qualifications, he should have become so interesting

x.] POSTSCRIPT ON MR. BUCKLE. 203

to the world. One leaves Mr. Stuart-Glennie's book
with the regret experienced on parting with intelli-
gent and kindly companions. As we close it and lay
it aside, we feel that yet another charming moment of
our reading-life has gone to be numbered with the
things of the past.

March 1876.

XI.

THE RACES OF THE DANUBE.

IN the famous Eastern Question, which so long has
disturbed the peace of Europe, may be noted two
aspects of a process which, under great variety of
conditions, has been going on over European territory
ever since the dawn of authentic history. The forma-
tion of a nationality that is, of a community of
men sufficiently connected in interests and disciplined
in social habits to live together peacefully under laws
of their own making has been the leading aspect of
this process, in which the work of civilisation has
hitherto largely consisted. But along with this, as a
correlative aspect, has gone the pressure exerted
against the community by an external mass of un-
disciplined barbarism, ever on the alert to break
over the fluctuating barrier that has warded it off
from the growing civilisation, ever threatening to

XL] THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. 205

undo the costly work which this has accomplished.
Though the enemy has at times appeared in the
shape of unmitigated tribal barbarism as in the
invasion of Huns in the fifth century and of Mongols
in the thirteenth and at other times in the shape of
an inferior type of civilisation, as exemplified by the
Arabs and Turks, the principle involved has always
been the same. In every case the stake has been the
continuance of the higher civilisation, though the
amount of risk has greatly varied, and in recent
centuries has come to be very slight. At the present
day the military strength of mankind is almost
entirely monopolised by the higher civilisation, and
it is no longer in danger of being overwhelmed by
external violence. But when the Greeks confronted
a social organisation of inferior type at Marathon and
at Salamis, the danger was considerable ; and in pre-
historic times it may well have happened more than
once that some germ of a progressive polity has been
swept away in a torrent of conquering barbarism.

Until the rise of the Roman power the chief mili-
tary business of the cultivated community had been
to drive off the barbarian, to slaughter him, or reduce
him to slavery ; but the more profound policy of
Rome transformed him, whenever it was possible,
into a citizen, and enlisted his fighting power on the

206 THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. [xi.

side of progress. From the conquest of Spain by
Scipio to the subjugation of Central Germany by
Charles the Great, this is the most conspicuous
feature of Roman history. ' The area of stable nation-
ality in Europe was continually enlarged, and the
frontier to be defended against wild tribes was gra-
dually shortened and pushed eastward to the Lower
Danube. In the time of Marius, the Gaul and the
German were enemies who might possibly undo all
the good work that had been begun. But the Gaul
very quickly became a thorough Roman in his habits
and interests, forgetting even his native language ;
and the German tribes, as they acquired a foothold,
one after another, within the limits of the Empire,
became so far assimilated that the transformation of
the Roman structure effected by them was in no
respect, not even in a political sense, an overthrow.

In the turbulent period of the fifth century, when
the debatable frontier was still at the Rhine and
Upper Danube, a terrible foe appeared in Attila, with
his horde of savage Huns ; and it was then mainly
by the prowess of Gauls and Germans, in the memor-
able battle of Chalons, that the security of European
civilisation was decisively guaranteed. So formidable
a danger has perhaps never since menaced Christen-
dom, though Gibbon reckoned the teaching of the

XL] THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. 207

Koran in Oxford as one of the consequences that
might have ensued had Charles the Hammer been
overthrown at Tours by the Arabs. Under the
grandson of this doughty hero Charles the Great
the entire strength of Germany became enlisted in
the service of the Christianised Empire, and among
the results of this were the conversion of the newly-
arriving Magyars, Poles, and Bohemians, and the
conquest of Prussia by the Teutonic knights. By
the thirteenth century the fabric of European civilisa-
tion had become so solid that a barbaric power not
inferior to Attila's was hardly able to make any im-
pression upon it. Batu, with his fifteen hundred
thousand Mongols, gained a victory at Liegnitz in
1241, such as Attila had fought for in vain at Chalons;
but it came some centuries too late, for the contest
between stable nationality and nomadic barbarism
was by this time settled for ever. The most the
greasy Mongol could accomplish was to check for a
few generations the growth of a national life among
the Slavic tribes of Russia.

But though Chalons and Tours demonstrated that
Christian civilisation could hold its own, whether
against the barbarian or the infidel, the latter never-
theless twice succeeded in making serious encroach-
ments on Roman territory.

208 THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. [xi.

The first great wave of Mohammedan invasion not
only swept away the provinces south of the Mediter-
ranean, but overwhelmed the greater part of Spain,
and cut it away from the EmpireTor several centuries.
The disastrous effect of this long isolation upon the
future history of Spain has been often remarked, and
if thoroughly treated would make an interesting study.
Yet the contributions of the Mohammedan conquerors
to the work of human culture, which were by no
means insignificant, may perhaps be thought to have
afforded some compensation for the harm done.
Spain is the only instance of a country once
thoroughly infused with Roman civilisation which
has been actually severed from the Empire ; and even
here the severance, though of long duration, was but
partial and temporary. After a struggle of nearly
eight centuries, the higher form of social organisation
triumphed over the lower, and the usurping race was
expelled.

Contemporaneously with this final rescue of Spanish
territory, the second great wave of Mohammedan
invasion overflowed the remnants of the Byzantine
Empire, and seemed for a while to threaten the
security of Europe. In this second invasion, con-
ducted by Turks, there was much more of barbarism
than in the older invasion of the Arabs, and after

XL] THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. 209

allowing for all possible mitigating considerations, it
seems difficult to regard the conquest of Constanti-
nople and the territory south of the Danube as any-
thing but a great calamity. How much or how little
capacity for renovation, under the influence of modern
ideas, may have been latent in the Byzantine Empire,
we now shall never know. But, far as it had sunk,
politically and socially, toward the Asiatic type of
a community, its regeneration could hardly have
been as hopeless an affair as is that of its Ottoman
successor. In such a society as that of the Turks
there is, indeed, nothing to regenerate, but the work
of civilisation in the European sense, if it is to be
done at all, must be begun from the beginning. The
very germs of constitutionalism, of legality, of govern-
ment by discussion, are wanting there as they have
never been wanting in any European community in
the worst of times. This has been the essential vice
of all the Mussulman civilisations. Their theocratic
type of constitution crushes out all flexibility of
mind or individuality of character and quenches all
desire of change. For this reason they have invari-
ably failed, in the long run, when brought into com-
petition with the more mobile societies of Europe ;
and for this reason, in spite of the romantic splendour
and the scientific achievements which immortalise the

210 THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. [xi.

memory of Bagdad and Cordova, we must be glad
that they have failed.

There has been neither high romance nor useful
performance of any sort to reconcile one to the
unrighteous dominion which a tribe of Mussulman
Tatars has exercised for four centuries over some
of the fairest provinces of Europe. The history
of that dominion has been a monotonous display of
brute force without any noble ulterior purpose which
might redeem its vulgarity. It is the history of a
race politically unteachable and intellectually in-
curious, which has contributed absolutely nothing
to the common weal of mankind, while by its position
it has been able to check the normal development
of a more worthy community.

The provinces which Muhamad II. wrested from
the Empire had at no time been very thoroughly
Romanised, and such civilisation as they had acquired
in antiquity had fared but ill amid the everlasting
turmoil to which their frontier position had subjected
them. Invading swarms from the north-east, when
unable to penetrate farther into Europe, halted here
and wrangled for supremacy, and the ceaseless but
ineffectual warfare of Avars, Bulgarians, Croats,
Serbs, and Magyars makes a dreary and unprofit-
able history. On a superficial view this whole region

XL] THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. 211

seems politically a Bedlam, as it is linguistically a
Babel. But as was hinted at the beginning of this
paper the complication of disorder on the lower
Danube is perhaps no greater than has existed, at
one time or another, in those parts of Europe that
are now most thoroughly civilised. All over Spain,
Gaul, and Britain, and even Italy, the conflicts of
races have been fierce and their intermixtures ex-
tremely intricate. But under the organising impulse
of Rome, directed alike by Empire and Church,
the populations of these countries long ago became
so far consolidated in general interests and assimi-
lated in manners and speech that in each country
the old racial differences are but occasionally trace-
able in rural customs and patois, and even when
plainly traceable have little or no political import-
ance. It is a long time since the Iberian, the
Gaul, the Roman, the Visigoth, the Burgundian,
the Frank, the Walloon, and the Norman dis-
appeared politically in the Frenchman ; and the
Scot, whose slogan for ages was " Death to the
Sassenach ! " is to-day the most loyal of Britons.
Over three-fourths of Western Europe the adoption
of Roman speech has obliterated old lines of de-
marcation until it has even become possible to
talk about a " Latin race." In like manner the

P 2

212 THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. [xi.

Prussian of Konigsberg, his Lettic mother-tongue
forgotten for six generations, makes common cheer
with the Suevi of Stuttgart and the Alemanni of
Munich. In the border-land of the Danube, on the
other hand, whatever chance there might have been
for any such assimilation of races and dialects was
cut off by perpetual incursions of Tataric tribes
preventing the growth of anything like nationality.
Under some circumstances the pressure exerted by
a totally alien enemy might serve as a stimulus
to national consolidation. But here the various
races were too recently brought together, and the
pressure of barbaric attack was so great as to keep
society disorganised. The races of the Danube are
accordingly still so heterogeneous that it is worth
while to point out their various affinities and give
some brief account of their past career.

In order to get a comprehensive view of the
subject, it is desirable to go back to the beginning
and recall the principal features of the settlement
of Europe by the people who now possess it. Ac-
cording to the most probable opinion, the present
population of Europe is the result of the pre-historic
mixture, in varying degrees, of two very different
races. The first or Iberian race may be regarded
as aboriginal in Europe, in the sense that we cannot

XL] THE RACES OF THE DANUBE/ 213

tell how it got there. It was a black-haired and
dark-skinned race, if we may judge' from the
remnant of it which still preserves its primitive
language in the isolated corner of Spain between the
Pyrenees and the Bay of Biscay. The second or
Aryan race seems to have been fair-haired and blue-
eyed, and it overran Europe in successive swarms,
coming from the highlands of Central Asia, where
divers tribes of Tatars have since taken its place.
The Aryans crowded the Iberians westward, and
everywhere overcame them (save in the corner of
Spain just mentioned), and intermingled with them,
forcing upon them their own speech and customs.
Thus the language of Europe to-day is Aryan, and
its legal and social structure is Aryan, but its popula-
tion is a mixture of Aryan and Iberian. In the
extremities of Europe as looked at from Asia in
the three southern peninsulas, in Gaul, and in Western
and Northern Britain the dark aboriginal type pre-
dominates ; while in Scandinavia, Northern Germany,
and Northern Russia, the blonde type of the invaders
remains in the ascendant. It is owing to this mix-
ture of strongly contrasted races that the peoples
of Europe present such marked varieties of com-
plexion.

So much, at least, is probable, though more or

214 THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. [xi.

less hypothetical. In following the successive stages
of Aryan invasion, we gradually emerge from this
twilight of plausible hypothesis into the clearness
of authentic history. The Aryans came, as just
observed, in successive swarms. The first series
of swarms got naturally the most mixed up with
the Iberian aborigines, and the result of their gradual
settlement was the formation of the Keltic, Italic,
and Hellenic peoples. In Spain the aborigines held
their own most successfully, and hence the mixture
was recent enough to be recognised by Roman
historians, who called the Spaniards Kelt-Iberians;
but elsewhere it was accomplished so early as to
be forgotten before people began to write history.
It has been fashionable to sneer at zealous Irish
writers for their propensity to find traces of the
Kelts everywhere. But there is no doubt whatever
that the Kelts were once a very widely diffused
people. They have left names for rivers and moun-
tains in almost every part of Europe. The name
of the river Don in Russia, for example, is one of
the common Keltic names for water, and so we find
a river Don in Yorkshire, a Dean in Nottingham-
shire, a Dane in Cheshire, and a Dun in Lincoln-
shire. The same name appears in the Rho-tffo/z-us,
or Rhone, in Gaul ; the Eri-^-us, or Po, in Italy ;

xi.j THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. 215

as well as in the Du-ieper, Z)-iester, and Dan-ube ;
and even -in the Are-don in the Caucasus. This
is one example out of hundreds by which we trace
the former ubiquity of the Kelts, who as late as
the Christian era were present in large numbers as
far east as Bohemia.

The second "series of invading Aryan swarms
consisted of Germans, who began by pushing the
Kelts westward, and ended by overruning a great
part of their territory and mixing with them to a
considerable extent. There is some German blood
in Spain, and a good deal in France and Northern
Italy; and the modern English, while Keltic at
bottom, are probably half Teutonic in blood, as
they are predominantly Teutonic in language and
manners. The Vandals, Goths, Alemans, Suevi,
Burgundians, Lombards, Franks, Saxons, and Nor-
mans, who invaded and reconstructed the Roman
Empire between the fifth and eleventh centuries,
were all Germans, and there is no reason to suppose
that they differed except in their tribal names.
From the fifth century onward these Germans en-
croached upon the territory of the Empire, mainly
because they were pushed forward by Aryan Slavs
and Tataric Huns who attacked them from the
east. Throughout the classic period of antiquity,

216 THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. [xi.

and until the fifth century after Christ, the Teutonic
family appears far to the eastward of its present
position. In the time of Herodotos, and down to
the age of Constantine, the inhabitants of Thrace
now the centre of European Turkey were blue-
eyed Goths, called Getae by the classic historians.
Pretty much the whole of Turkey and Southern
Russia were German in those days ; and, as Donald-
son conjectured, it is every way probable that the
people known to the ancients as Skythians were no
other than Goths.

Thus, as if to illustrate how completely all Aryan
Europe is made up out of the same race-elements,
we find that the lower Danube, for at least a
thousand years, was German territory ; and, except
on the very improbable supposition that its old
population has been entirely exterminated or trans-
ferred westward, we have every reason to believe
that there is much German blood there at the
present day.

While this region was still in the hands of the
Germans, at the beginning of the second century
after Christ, the legions of the emperor Trajan
passed beyond the Danube, and, conquering the
country then known as Dacia, formed a permanent
settlement there. In 271 the emperor Aurelian,

XL] THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. 217

finding the province difficult to defend, surrendered
it to the Goths, in whose hands it remained for a long
time a bulwark against the incursions of wild tribes
from the north-east. The Latin language was firmly
established over this territory, and is spoken to-day,
in a modernised form, by six millions of " Rumans "
in Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania. Of this
population, the Transylvanian Rumans have long
formed part of the kingdom of Hungary ; the rest,
under the nominal suzerainty of the Porte, are ruled
by a German prince of the house of Hohenzollern ;
and the racial basis of the whole is, no doubt, mainly
Teutonic, with a considerable Roman and still greater
Slavic admixture.

The Slavs make up the third and last division of
the Aryan conquerors of Europe. Their speech has
in many respects departed less widely from the forms
of the common Aryan mother-tongue than the speech
of the earlier invaders. In physical characteristics
they resemble most closely the Northern Germans,
in whom, with the central Russians and Letts, we see
perhaps the purest specimens of the Aryan race ; but
in the south they have been more or less modified by
intermixture with various strains of Tataric blood.
Napoleon's witticism, however, that you need only
scratch a Russian to get at the Tatar underneath,

218 THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. [xi.

contained little more wisdom than is usually to be
found in such smart sayings based on hasty generali-
sation from inadequate and half-understood data.
On the whole, the principal intermixture of the Slavs
has been with their nearest congeners and neighbours,
the Teutons. Slavonic tribes, pushing their way far
into the centre of Europe, still hold Bohemia, Moravia,
and Silesia, while further south, in Carinthia and
Istria, the Slav country comes up close to the Tyrol
and to Venice.

In the Middle Ages, this border region, from the
head of the Adriatic to the mountains of Bohemia,
was the seat of everlasting war ; and such immense
numbers of the eastern invaders were captured from
time to time and sold into slavery in all parts of
Germany that their national name became the
common appellative for wretches doomed to involun-
tary servitude. Such seems to have been the origin
of our English word "slave." Until lately it was
supposed that the vernacular meaning of the national
name was " the glorious," as slava is a common word
for "glory" in most of the Slavonic languages; and
frequent comment was made on the curious fate
whereby the proud name of a noble race of warriors
became perverted into a common noun to describe
the most abject condition of humanity. It is very

XL] THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. 219

doubtful, however, whether the striking contrast
really exists to supply a fit subject for moralising.
It is far more probable that the name Slav is con-
nected with slovo, "a word," and means the "dis-
tinctly-speaking people " as contrasted with the
Njemetck, or " talkers of gibberish," by which polite
epithet the Slavic races have always distinguished
the Germans. This naive assumption, that it is our-
selves alone who talk intelligibly, while foreigners
babble a meaningless jargon, has been a very com-
mon one with uninstructed people, and " Njemetch "
is not the only national appellative that bears witness
to its prevalence. The epithet " Welsh," which the
Germans apply to the Italians, the Dutch to the
Belgians, and the English to the Kymry of Western
Britain, has precisely the same meaning ; and so had
the word " barbarian," by which the ancient inhabitant
of Hellas described indiscriminately all people who
did not speak Greek. 1

It was about the middle of the fifth century that
the Slavonic race began to play a part in European,
history. Advancing from what is now Southern
Russia, in the rear of the Tataric hordes of Attila,
various Slavic tribes overran the provinces of Mcesia,

1 The name "Wallach," by which the Germans designate the in-
habitants of Rumania, is the same word as " Welsh."

22O THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. [xi.

Thrace, Illyricum, and Macedonia. Overcoming, and,
to some extent, crowding out, the Gothic inhabitants,
they were within a century firmly established through-
out the area between the Black Sea and the Adriatic,
which they have ever since continued to occupy.
But, far from attempting to set themselves up as an
independent political power in this territory, they
were readily brought to acknowledge the sovereignty
of the Empire. They no more thought of overthrow-
ing the dominion of Rome than the Germans did :
what they were after was a good share of its material
advantages. To have set up a rival imperium would
have been quite beyond their slender political capa-
city, and their imagination did not reach so far as to
conceive the idea. So long as they were allowed to
retain their forcibly-acquired possessions of land and
cattle, they were quite ready to help to defend the
Empire against Tataric Avars and other marauders.
The relations thus knit between the Slavs and the
government at Constantinople were similar to those
established between the Germans and the imperial
authorities in the West. Slavonic troops came to
form a large and redoubtable element in the eastern
armies, and to the infusion of new life thus received
we may no doubt partly attribute the prolonged
maintenance of the Byzantine Empire. It is,

XL] THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. 221

perhaps, not generally remembered that the greatest
warrior and one of the most illustrious emperors of
this part of the Roman world were of Slavic origin.
The vernacular name of which Justinian is the Latin
translation was Upravda, or " the Upright ; " and his
invincible general Belisarius was a Dardanian Slav
named Beli-czar, or " the White Prince." Within less
than a century after this white prince had driven the
Goths from Itary, the able emperor Heraclius, con-
tending on the one hand against the Persians while
menaced on the other by the barbaric Avars, invited
two Slavic tribes from beyond the Danube to aid in
expelling the latter invaders. These tribes were the
Croats and Serbs, and they have remained ever since
in the lands which were then granted them in reward
of their military services.

One reason, and perhaps the chief one why the
invading Germans and Slavs so readily became sub-
jects of the Roman Empire is to be found in the fact
that they were settled agricultural races and not
wandering nomads. It may seem odd to speak of
races as " settled " who moved about so extensively
over the face of Europe within the short period of
two centuries. But if they wandered, it was only
because they were driven by enemies in the rear too
strong or too numerous for them to overcome, not

222 THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. [xi.

because their mode of life obliged them to roam over
vast areas in quest of the means of subsistence. The
profound philology of the present day has shown that
the Aryans, while still in their primitive Asiatic home,
and long before they had become distinguishable as
Kelts, Graeco-Italians, Teutons, Slavs, or Indo-Per-
sians, had advanced beyond the hunting and exclu-
sively pastoral stages of barbarism, and acquired a
subsistence partly by tilling the soil and partly by
the rearing of domestic cattle. They possessed even
houses and inclosed towns, and the rudiments of what
Mr. Bagehot calls " government by discussion " were
not wholly unknown to them. The picture of society
with which we are familiar in the Germania of Tacitus
and in the Homeric poems represents a condition
of things in many respects similar to that which
obtained among the primitive Aryans. In these
respects they differed widely from the savage Tataric
hordes which molested them on the east, and to
whose attacks, as well as to the unmanageable
increase in their own numbers, we must probably
ascribe their gradual and long-continued migrations
into Southern Asia and into Europe. When after
many centuries those less-civilised Aryans known as
Germans and Slavs were driven into collision with
their more-civilised brethren of the Roman Empire,

xi.] THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. 223

their invasion was in an all-important respect very
different from the invasions of Huns or Avars. The
followers of Alaric, Hengist, and Chlodwig came to
colonise, whereas the followers of Attila came but
to riot and destroy. The vandalism of the former
was incidental, while that of the latter was funda-
mental.

The Teutonic and Slavic invaders, once over the first
intoxication of victory, began, as by natural instinct,
to found rural estates and cultivate the soil ; and thus
becoming property-holders, although their title rested
on violence, it became their interest to assist in pre-
serving the political system so far as practicable. The
date 476, which the old historians made to mark the
political fall of the Roman Empire, in reality marked
nothing at all at the time except a paltry intrigue
by which the German Odoacer, having got rid of a
faineant emperor who was too near at hand, con-
tinued to administer the affairs of Italy under com-
mission from the government at Constantinople. In
reality the identity of interests between the Teutonic
settlers and the imperial system became more
and more manifest during the three following cen-
turies, until it was definitely declared in 800 in the
coronation of Charles the Great, whereby the head-
ship of the western world was restored to Rome,

224 THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. [xi.

while the connection with the East was finally
severed.

If we consider the eastern half of the empire at
this time or, at least, so" much of it as was com-
prised in Europe, the remainder having been mostly
torn away by the Saracens we find it undergoing a
gradual process of Slavonisation quite analogous to
the Teutonic reconstruction which was just culmi-
nating in the West. Pretty much the whole of what
is now European Turkey had become filled with a
Slavic population. For the most part this popula-
tion had been converted to the Greek or so-called
Orthodox form of Christianity, though in remote
parts of Serbia paganism lingered till the thirteenth
century. There was probably some sense, though
slight, of a community of race throughout the penin-
sula. The interests of the Slavs, on the whole, were
concerned in the protection of the imperial system
against external attack, although the various chiefs
made war on each other and mismanaged their own
affairs with as little sense of allegiance to the Byzan-
tine suzerain as the rulers of Brittany or Aquitaine
felt for their degenerate Carlovingian overlords. Thus
on a superficial view the conditions of order and tur-
bulence, so to speak, might have seemed very similar
here to what they were in the West ; and all that was

XL] THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. 225

needed for the growth of a new national life might
seem to be the rise of a dominant tribe after the
likeness of the Franks which in due course of time
should seize the falling Byzantine sceptre and assert
unquestioned sway over the whole peninsula. Could
something like this have happened, the Eastern Ques-
tion would probably never have come up to perturb
the politics of modern Europe, and the entire careers
of Russia and Austria must have been essentially
modified. But for the Hungarians, Crim Tatars, and
Turks, something of this sort might very likely have
happened. As it was, however, no sooner did one
Slavonic community begin to rise to pre-eminence
than some fatal combination of invaders proceeded
to cripple its power, and this state of things con-
tinued until the turbaned infidel made an easy prey
of the whole region.

In the ninth century the chronic agitation of
Eastern Europe was raised to terrible fever-heat by
the approach of the Hungarians, a non- Aryan race
from Central Asia which has had a very different
career from that of the other non-Aryan invaders of
Europe. Of all such invaders these alone have estab-
lished a securely permanent foot-hold, unless we
count the cognate Finns, who were established in the
far North in prehistoric times. To keep in his mind

226 THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. fxi.

a succinct view of these ethnological facts, the reader
will do well to remember that all the languages now
spoken in Europe are Aryan languages descended
from a common Aryan mother-tongue, with just four
exceptions. The first of these is the Bask of North-
western Spain, sole remnant of the aboriginal Iberian
speech. The second is the group of Finnic dialects
spoken by a Tataric people which has lived from
time immemorial on the eastern shores of the Baltic.
The third is the Hungarian, and the fourth is the
Turkish. These languages have absolutely nothing
in common with the Aryan, either in grammar or
vocabulary. The Bask, too, has nothing in common
with the three other alien tongues. But Finnish,
Hungarian, and Turkish are quite nearly related to
each other, and there is also blood-relationship be-
tween the peoples who speak these languages. Like
the Turks, the Hungarians are a Tatar race; and
there cannot be a more striking commentary on the
fallaciousness of explaining all national peculiarities
by a cheap reference to " blood " than is furnished by
these two peoples, the one being as highly endowed
with political good sense as the other is hopelessly
destitute of it. This is not the place to attempt to
explain the difference in detail as due to the different
circumstances amid which the two peoples have

XL] THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. 227

been placed ; but there is no doubt that their careers
have been sufficiently different. In the ninth century
the Hungarians were as great a terror to Christendom
as the Turks were in the fifteenth ; but the Magyars,
after failing to break through the bulwark of Chris-
tianised Germans, which the genius of Charles the
Great had prepared for such emergencies, settled
down quietly in Pannonia to which they have given
the name of Hungary and became converted to the
Roman form of Christianity. But in the course of
this settlement, the Magyars interfered seriously with
the integrity of the Slavonic communities on the
Danube. They tore away a considerable portion of
Croatia and Serbia, and subjected so many Slavic
tribes that at the present day the Slavs outnumber
the Magyars, even within the limits of Hungary
itself. 1

In calling the Magyars the only non-Aryan in-
vaders who have secured a permanent foot-hold in
European territory, I had forgotten, for the moment,
the Bulgars who conquered Lower Moesia in the
beginning of the sixth century. These Bulgars were
a Tatar race, known also as Ugrians, a name of which

1 In 1850 the population of Hungary was thus divided : Magyars,
5,000,000 ; Slavs, 6,000,000 ; Germans and Jews, 1,600,000 ; Rumans
in Transylvania, 3,000,000.

Q 2

228 THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. [xi.

the " ogre " of our nursery stones is supposed to be
a corruption. But the achievements of the Bulgars,
as a distinct race, were hardly of enough consequence
to keep them always in one's memory. Though they
gave the name Bulgaria to the Roman province of
Lower Mcesia, they were soon absorbed among the
Slavs, and quite lost their Tataric speech. And so,
while Bulgaria played a prominent part in medieval
history, it figures only as a portion of the Slavonic
world. Yet to this day, it is said, the inhabitants of
Bulgaria exhibit, in their high cheek-bones, flat face,
and sunken eyes, as well as in their curious attire,
the characteristics of the Tatar race. In the seventh
century Bulgaria was overrun by the Avars, but after
these nomads were expelled the Bulgarian power
developed rapidly, and was even extended back over
Bessarabia and all Southern Russia as far as the Sea
of Azof. These eastern conquests were not long
retained, but on the other hand the semi-independent
kingdom between the Danube and the Balkan Moun-
tains became more and more formidable in its rivalry
with the imperial government at Constantinople. In
long and obstinate warfare the Bulgarians overcame
the Serbs, and by the beginning of the tenth century
they controlled nearly the whole peninsula from the
Black Sea to the Adriatic. At this epoch their king-

XL] THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. 229

dom was perhaps as civilised as any in contemporary
Europe, if literary culture alone were to be taken as
a criterion. Their noble youth studied Aristotle and
Demosthenes in the schools of Constantinople, and
the subtleties of theological controversy occupied
their attention no less than the practice of military
arts. In a quarrel with the emperor, their Czar
Simeon laid siege to the capital and dictated terms of
peace at the Golden Horn. But in the next century
all this was changed. Such arrogant vassals were
not to be tolerated. In a masterly campaign, though
sullied by diabolical cruelty, the Emperor Basil II.
overthrew the power of the Bulgarians, and subduing
the Serbs likewise, re-established the immediate au-
thority of Constantinople as far as the Danube.

From this time forth the contest for supremacy was
carried on chiefly between the emperors and the Ser-
bian chiefs. The pre-eminence of Serbia began about
the end of the eleventh century, when Urosh was
crowned grand duke. By the middle of the four-
teenth century the whole country, with the excep-
tion of Rumelia or Thrace, was in the hands of the
Serbians, and it really seemed as if the degenerate
Greek empire were about to pass into the hands of
the Slav. Stephen Dushan, of the house of Urosh, a
profound statesman and consummate general, was

230 THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. [xi.

the hero who aspired to re-enact in the eastern world
the part of Charles the Great. In 1356 he was pro-
claimed Emperor of the East, and if his life had
been spared he might have made good the title. But
the firmness of his monarchical rule was irritating to
his turbulent vassals ; and like Caesar, William the
Silent, Henry IV., and Lincoln, he fell by the stupid
hand of the assassin, just at the time when a few
years more of life might have been of inestimable
value to his people and to mankind. With the death
of the " Emperor " Stephen, the formation of a Slavic
nationality under Serbian leadership was indefinitely
postponed. The feudal lords who had so stupidly
destroyed the only genius which could guide them to
victory were one by one overthrown by the imperial
armies ; and when the Turk arrived, in the next
century, there was no solid power in the peninsula
which could check his baleful progress.

To recount the vicissitudes of Serbia as principal
battle-ground between Christian Austrian and infidel
Turk would be a task as tedious as profitless. We
have seen how the Slavs of the Byzantine Empire
failed to become a nation, and this is the only point
which need concern us. There is neither interest nor
instruction in the record of incessant fighting without
definite issue ; and to the philosophic historian the

xi. j THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. 231

career of Slavonic Turkey becomes almost a blank
until the beginning of the present century, when the
uprising of the Serbs against the Janissaries, under
the leadership of the eccentric and infamous Kara
George, reopened the Eastern Question, and perhaps
heralded the rise of a new national life among the
southern Slavs.

This sketch of the Danubian peoples has of course
been but the merest outline. I have not attempted,
and should indeed feel quite incompetent, to do more
than define, by a few salient facts, the ethnological
relations of these peoples and their position in the
general history of Europe. Even so rudimentary an
outline as this, however, would be incomplete without
some allusion to the very important part played by
the Danubian Slavs in the origination of the Protes-
tant revolt against the ecclesiastical supremacy of
Rome. The circumstances under which the Bul-
garians were converted to Christianity were such that
during their brief political and literary eminence in
the tenth century they became the arch-heretics of
Europe. The Manichaean heresy, suggested by the
ancient theology of Persia, in which the Devil
appears as an independently existing Principle of
Evil, had always been rife in Armenia ; and it was
partly by Armenian missionaries, belonging to the

232 THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. [xi.

Manichaean sect of Paulicians, that Bulgaria was con-
verted from heathenism. In the middle of the eighth
century the Emperor Constantine Copronymus trans-
planted a large colony of Paulicians from Armenia
into Thrace, 1 and these immigrants were not long in
spreading their heresy beyond the Balkans. A cen-
tury later the persecuting zeal of the orthodox em-
perors drove Armenia into rebellion, and for a short
time an independent Paulician state maintained itself
on the upper Euphrates. Early in the tenth century
this little state was overthrown, and such a direful
persecution was inaugurated that the inhabitants in
great numbers sought the shelter which the Bulgarian
Czar Simeon was both able and willing to give.
" From this period onward," says Mr. Evans, " the
Paulician heresy may be said to change its nation-
ality, and to become Slavonic." It also acquired a
new name. In their Slavonic home these heretics
were called Bogomiles, from the Bulgarian Bogz'milui,
or " God have mercy," in allusion to their peculiar
devotion to prayer. The sect now became very power-
ful, as the czars, in their struggle for supremacy with
the Byzantine overlords, could not afford to incur the

1 See the " Historical Sketch of Bosnia," by Mr. A. J. Evans, pre-
fixed to his excellent work Through Bosnia and the Herzegovina on Foot.
London : 1876. 8vo.

XL] THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. 233

displeasure of such a considerable body of their sub-
jects. Bogomilian apostles, in keen rivalry with the
orthodox missionaries, carried their Manichsean doc-
trines westward all over Serbia. After another
hundred years the catastrophe which had driven this
heresy from Asia into Europe was curiously repeated
in its new home. After the power of the Bulgarian
czars had been finally broken down by Basil II., the
orthodox emperors began once more to roast the
obnoxious Paulicians. A fierce persecution under
Alexius Comnenus set up a current of Bogomilian
migration into Serbia, and as these immigrants found
no favour in the eyes of the orthodox Serbian princes,
their westward pilgrimage was continued into that
part of Illyricum now known as Bosnia, a hilly
region inhabited, then as now, mainly by fair-haired
Serbs. From the twelfth century onward Bosnia
became the head-quarters of Manichaean heresy, and
was a very uncomfortable thorn in the flesh of the
popes, who with the aid of pious Hungarian kings
kept up a perpetual crusade against the stubborn
little country, without ever achieving any considerable
success.

The Papacy had very good grounds for its anxiety,
for it was from Bosnia that the great Albigensian
heresy was propagated through Northern Italy and

234 THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. [xi.

Southern Gaul. This connection between eastern
and western Protestanism, though generally forgotten
now, was well understood at the time. Matthew Paris
states that the Albigensians possessed a pope of their
own, whose seat of government was in Bosnia, and
who kept a vicar residing in Carcassonne. By ortho-
dox writers the western heretics were quite frequently
termed " Bulgares," a designation which became in-
vested with the vilest opprobrium, and a glance at
the principal Bogomilian doctrines shows that the
relationship was asserted on valid grounds. Like the
Manichaeans generally, the Bogomiles held that the
Devil exists independent of the will of the good God,
and was the creator of this evil world, which it is the
work of Christ to redeem from his control. They
accepted as inspired the New Testament, with the
Psalms and Prophets, but set little store by the his-
torical books of the Old Testament, and rejected the
Mosaic writings as dictated by Satan. They denied
any mystical efficiency to baptism, and laughed at
the doctrine of transubstantiation, maintaining that
the consecrated wafer is in nowise different from
ordinary bread. Some of them are said to have neg-
lected baptism altogether. They regarded image-
worship as no better than heathen idolatry, and they
paid no repect to the symbol of the cross, asking,

XL] THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. ^ 235

" If any man slew the son of a king with a bit of
wood, how could this piece of wood be dear to the
king ? " l Their aversion to the worship of the Virgin
was equally pronounced, and they despised the inter-
cession of saints. They wore long faces, abstained from
the use of wine, and commended celibacy. Some
went so far as to refuse animal food, and in general
their belief in the vileness of matter led them to the
extremes of asceticism. Their ecclesiastical govern-
ment was in many respects presbyterian ; in politics
they were generally democratic, with a leaning toward
communism quite in keeping with their primitive
Slavonic customs as well as with their strictly literal
interpretation of the New Testament.

When we consider that these remarkable sectarians
not only set on foot the Albigensian revolt which
Innocent III. overcame with fire and sword, but were
also intimately associated with the later Slavonic out-
break of which John Huss and Jerome of Prague
were the leaders, it becomes evident that the part
played in European history by the southern Slavs is
far from insignificant. As Mr. Evans observes, it is
not too much to regard Bosnia as the religious Swit-
zerland of mediaeval Europe, in whose inaccessible
mountain strongholds was prolonged the defiant
1 Evans, op. cit. p. xxx.

236 A THE RACES OF THE DANUBE. [xi.

resistance to papal supremacy which in the West re-
peatedly succumbed to the overwhelming power of
the Inquisition. The sudden change which followed
on the invasion of the Turks is instructive as showing
the political danger attendant upon excessive perse-
cution. As the armies of Muhamad II. were making
their way toward Bosnia, King Stephen of Hungary
began cutting the throats of his Bogomile subjects,
some forty thousand of whom are said to have fled
into the Herzegovina, while others were sent in chains
to be burned at Rome. Bosnia was again threatened
with an orthodox crusade, but the people, preferring
to take their chances of religious immunity with the
Turk, threw themselves on him for protection, and
surrendered their inexpugnable country to Mu-
hamad without striking a blow. The surrender,
indeed, went further than this ; for though 'the Serbs
of Bosnia have several times asserted their political
independence, more than a third of the population
have become followers of the Prophet, and furnish
to-day the sole example of a native European race of
Mussulmans.

December 1876.

XII.
A LIBRARIAN'S WORK.

I AM very frequently asked what in the world a
librarian can find to do with his time, or am perhaps
congratulated on my connection with Harvard Col-
lege Library, on the ground that " being virtually
a sinecure office (!) it must leave so much leisure
for private study and work of a literary sort."
Those who put such questions, or offer such con-
gratulations, are naturally astonished when told that
the library affords enough work to employ all my
own time, as well as that of twenty assistants ; and
astonishment is apt to rise to bewilderment when
it is added that seventeen of these assistants are
occupied chiefly with " cataloguing ; " for generally,
I find, a library catalogue is assumed to be a thing
that is somehow " made " at a single stroke, as
Aladdin's palace was built, at intervals of ten or

238 A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. fxn.

a dozen years, or whenever a " new catalogue " is
thought to be needed. " How often do you make a
catalogue ? " or " When 'will your catalogue be com-
pleted?" are questions revealing such transcendent
misapprehension of the case that little but further
mystification can be got from the mere answer, " We
are always making a catalogue, and it will never
be finished." The " doctrine of special creations,"
indeed, does not work any better in the biblio-
graphical than in the zoological world. A catalogue,
in the modern sense of the term, is not something
that is " made " all at once, to last until the time has
come for it to be superseded by a new edition, but it
is something that " grows," by slow increments, and
supersedes itself only through gradual evolution from
a lower degree of fulness and definiteness into a
higher one. It is perhaps worth while to give some
general explanation of this process of catalogue-
making, thus answering once for all the question as to
what may be a librarian's work. There is no better
way to begin than to describe, in the case of our own
library, the career of a book from the time of its
delivery by the express-man to the time when it is
ready for public use.

New American books, whether bought or presented,
generally come along in driblets, two or three at a

xii.] A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. 239

time, throughout the year ; large boxes of pamphlets,
newspapers, broadsides, trade-catalogues, and all
manner of woful rubbish (the refuse of private libra-
ries and households) are sent in from time to time ;
and books from Europe arrive every few weeks in
lots of from fifty to three or four hundred. It is in
the case of foreign books that our process is most
thoroughly systematised, and here let us take up our
illustrative example.

When a box containing three or four hundred
foreign books has been unpacked, the volumes are
placed, backs uppermost, on large tables, and are
then looked over by the principal assistant, with two
or three subordinates, to ascertain if the books at
hand correspond with those charged in the invoice.
As the titles are read from the invoice, the volumes
are hunted out and arranged side by side in the order
in which their titles are read, while the entry on the
invoice is checked in the margin with a pencil.
These pencil-checks are afterwards copied into the
margins of the book in which our lists of foreign
orders are registered, so that we may always be able
to determine, by a reference to this book, whether
any particular work has been received or not. This
order-book, with its marginal checks, is the only im-
mediate specific register of accessions kept by us, as

240 A LIBRARIAN'S WORK.

[XII.

our peculiar system entails considerable delay in
bringing up the " accessions-catalogue. "

After this preliminary examination and registry,
the books are ready for me to look over, and I must
first decide to what " fund " each book entered on the
invoice must be charged. The university never buys
books with its general funds, but uses for this purpose
the income of a dozen or more small funds, given,
bequeathed, or subscribed, expressly for the purchase
of books. Sometimes the donors of such funds
allow us to get whatever books we like with the
money, but more often they show an inclination to
favour the growth of departments in which they feel
a personal interest. Thus the munificent bequest of
the late Mr. Charles Sumner is appropriated to the
purchase of works on politics and the fine arts, while
Dr. Walker's bequest provides more especially for
theology and philosophy, and the estate of Professor
Farrar still guards the interests of mathematics and
physics. Under such circumstances, it is of course
necessary to keep a separate account with each fund,
and the data for such an account are provided by
charging every new book as it arrives. On the mar-
gin of the invoice the names of the different funds
are written in pencil against the entries, while the
assistants separate the books into groups according

xii.] A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. 241

to the funds to which they are charged. Five or
six more assistants now arriving on the scene, the
work of " collating " begins.

Properly speaking, to " collate " is to compare two
things with each other, in order to estimate or judge
the one by a reference to the other taken as a stand-
ard. In our library usage the word has very nearly
this sense when duplicate copies of the same work
are collated, to see whether they coincide page for
page. But as we currently use the word, to collate a
book is simply to examine it carefully from beginning
to end, to see whether every page is in its proper
place and properly numbered, whether any maps or
plates are missing or misplaced, whether the back is
correctly lettered, or whether any leaves are so badly
torn or defaced as to need replacing. In English
cloth-bound books this scrutiny involves the cutting
of the leaves, a tedious job which in half-bound
books from the Continent is seldom required. En
revanc/te, however, the collating of an English book
hardly ever brings to light any serious defect, while in
the make-up of French and German books the
grossest blunders are only too common. Figures are
unaccountably skipped in numbering the pages ;
plates are either omitted or are so bunglingly num-
bered that it is hard to discover whether the quota is

242 A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. [xn.

complete or not ; title-pages are inserted in the wrong
places ; sheets are wrongly folded bringing the suc-
cession of pages into dire confusion ; sometimes two
or three sheets are left out, and sometimes where a
work in ten volumes is bound in five, you will find
that the first of these contains two duplicate copies
of Vol. I., while for any signs of a Vol. II. you may
seek in vain. In all bungling of this kind the
Germans are worse than the French ; but both are
bad enough when contrasted with the English, either
of the Old World or of the New.

This work of collating is in general of lower grade
than the work of cataloguing, and can be entrusted to
the less experienced or less accomplished assistants ;
but to some extent it is shared by all, and where
difficulties arise, or where some book with Arabic or
Sanskrit numbering turns up, an appeal to head-
quarters becomes necessary. When a book has been
collated, the date of its reception and the name of the
fund to which it has been charged are written in
pencil on the back of the title-page, and at the
bottom of the title-page, to the left of the imprint, is
written some modification of the letter C, C', C, C",
etc., which is equivalent to the signature of the assist-
ant who has done the collating and is responsible for
its accuracy.

xii.] A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. 243

After this is all over, the books, still remaining
grouped according to their " funds," are ready to have
the " seals " put in. The seal is the label of owner-
ship, bearing the seal of the university and the name
of the fund or other source from which the book has
been procured, and is pasted on the inside of the
front cover. Above it, in the left corner, is pasted a
little blank corner-piece, on which is to be marked in
pencil the number of the alcove and shelf where
the book is to be placed, or " set up."

To set up a book on a shelf is no doubt a very
simple matter, yet it involves something more than
the mere placing of the volume on the shelf. Each
alcove in the library has a " shelf-catalogue," or list
of all the books in the alcove, arranged by shelves.
Such a catalogue is indispensable in determining
whether each shelf has its proper complement of
volumes, and whether, at the end of the year, all the
books are in their proper places. When the book is
duly entered on this shelf-catalogue, and has its
corner-piece marked, it is at last ready to be " cata-
logued." After our lot of three or four hundred
books have been treated in this way, they are
delivered to the principal assistant, who parcels
them out among various subordinate assistants for
cataloguing.

R 2

244 A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. [xn.

Here we enter upon a very wide subject, and one
that is not altogether easy to expound to the un-
initiated. A brief historical note is needed, to begin
with. In 1830 Harvard University published a
printed catalogue (in two volumes, octavo) of all the
works contained in its library at that date. In 1833
a supplement was published, containing all the acces-
sions since 1830, and these made a moderate-sized
volume. Here is the essential vice of printed cata-
logues. Where the number of books is fixed once
for all, as in the case of a private library, the owner
of which has just died, and which is to be sold at
auction, nothing is easier than to make a perfect
catalogue, whether of authors or of subjects. It is
very different when your library is continually grow-
ing. By the time your printed catalogue is completed
and published, it is already somewhat antiquated.
Several hundred books have come in which are not
comprised in it, and among these new books is very
likely to be the one you wish to consult, concerning
which the printed catalogue can give you no informa-
tion. If you publish an annual supplement, as the
Library of Congress does, then your catalogue will
become desperately cumbrous within five or six
years. When you are in a hurry to consult a book,
i t is very disheartening to have to look through half a

xii. j A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. 245

dozen alphabets, besides depending after all on the
ready memory of some library official as to the books
which have come in since the last supplement was
published.

This inconvenience is so great that printed cata-
logues have gone into discredit in all the principal
libraries of Europe. Catalogues are indeed printed,
from time to time, by way of publishing the treasures
of the library, and as bibliographical helps to other
institutions ; but for the use of those who daily
consult the library, manuscript titles have quite super-
seded the printed catalogue. In European libraries
this is done in what seems to us a rather crude way.
Their catalogues are enormous brown paper blank-
books or scrap-books, on the leaves of which are
pasted thin paper slips bearing the titles of the books
in the library. Large spaces are left for the insertion
of subsequent titles in their alphabetical order ; and
as a result of this method, the admirable catalogue
of the library of the British Museum fills more than a
thousand elephant folios! An athletic man, who has
served his time at base-ball and rowing, may think
little of lifting these gigantic tomes, but for a lady who
wishes to look up some subject one would think it
desirable to employ a pair of oxen and a windlass.

All the libraries of Western Europe which I have

246 A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. [xn.

visited seem to have taken their cue from the British
Museum. But in America we have hit upon a less
ponderous method. To accomplish this end of keep-
ing our titles in their proper alphabetical order, we
write them on separate cards, of stiff paper, and
arrange these cards in little drawers, in such a way
that any one, by opening the drawer and tilting the
cards therein, can easily find the title for which he is
seeking. Our new catalogue at Cambridge is a
marvel of practical convenience in this respect. At
each end the row of stiff cards is supported by
bevelled blocks, in such a way that some title lies
always open to view ; and by simply tilting the cards
with the forefinger, any given title is quickly found,
without raising the card from its place in the drawer.
In September, 1833, our library began its second
supplement, consisting of two alphabetical manu-
script catalogues. Volumes received after that date
were catalogued upon stiff cards arranged in drawers,
while pamplilets were catalogued, after the European
fashion, on slips of paper pasted into great folio
scrap-books. This distinction between pamphlets
and volumes was a most unhappy one. To a
librarian the only practical difference between these
two kinds of book is that the latter can generally
be made to stand on a shelf, while the former

xii.] .A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. 247

generally tumbles down when unsupported. This
physical fact makes it necessary to keep pamphlets
in files by themselves until it is thought worth while
to bind them. But for the purposes of cataloguing
it makes no difference whether a book consists of
twenty pages between paper covers or of five hundred
pages bound in full calf. If you wish to find M. Leon
de Rosny's Aperqu ghrfral des Langues sJmitiques,
you do not care, and very likely do not know,
whether it is a "pamphlet" of fifty pages or a
" volume " of three hundred, and you naturally
grumble at a system which sends you to a second
alphabet in order to maintain a purely arbitrary
and useless distinction. In practice this double
catalogue was found to be so inconvenient that in
1850, after the pamphlet titles had come to fill eight
cumbrous volumes, it was abandoned, and hence-
forth pamphlets, as well as maps and engravings, were
placed on the same alphabet with bound volumes.

Before long, however, it began to be felt necessary
to reform this whole cumbrous system. TO ascertain
whether a given work was contained in the library,
one had now to consult four different alphabets,
the old printed catalogue, the first or printed supple-
ment, the second or card supplement, and the eight ugly
folios of pamphlet titles. These later supplements,

248 A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. [xn.

moreover, being accessible only to the librarian
and his assistants, were of no use to the general
public, who, for the 135,000 titles added since 1833,
were obliged to get their information from some of
the officials. To remedy this state of things, a new
card catalogue, freely accessible to the public, and
destined to embrace in a single alphabet all the titles
in the library without distinction, was begun in 1861
by my predecessor, Professor Ezra Abbot. This
catalogue was not intended to supersede the private
card supplement begun in 1833, which for many
reasons it is found desirable to keep up. But for the
use of the public it will, when finished, supersede
everything else and become the sole authoritative
catalogue of the library. Since 1861 all new acces-
sions have been put into this catalogue, while the
work of adding to it the older titles has gone on with
varying speed : in 1869 it came nearly to a stand-
still, but was resumed in 1874, and is now proceeding
with great rapidity. About fifty thousand titles of
volumes, and as many more of pamphlets, still
remain to be added before this new catalogue can
become the index to all the treasures of the library. *
Another great undertaking was begun simul-

1 About seventeen thousand of these old titles were added during
-the two years ending in July 1877.

xn.] A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. 249

taneously in 1861. The object of an alphabetical
catalogue like those above described is " to enable
a person to determine really whether any particular
work belongs to the library, and, if it does, where
it is placed." If you are in search of Lloyd's
Lectures on tJie Wave-Theory of Light, you will
look in the alphabetical catalogue under " LLOYD,
Humphrey." Now this alphabetical arrangement
is the only one practicable in a public library,
because it is the only one on which all catalogues
can be made to agree, and it is the only one suffi-
ciently simple to be generally understood. For the
purpose here required, of rinding a particular work,
an arrangement according to subject-matter would
be entirely chimerical. Nothing short of omniscience
could ever be sure of rinding a given title amid such
a heterogeneous multitude. Every man who can
read knows the order of the alphabet, but not one
in a thousand can be expected to master all the
points that determine the arrangement of a catalogue
of subjects, as, for example, why one of three
kindred treatises should be classed under the rubric
of Philosophy, another under Natural Religion, and
a third under Dogmatic Theology. 1 But while it

1 See the excellent remarks of Professor Jevons in his Principles
of Science, ii. 401.

250 A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. [xn.

would thus be impracticable to place our final re-
liance on any other arrangement than an alphabetical
one, it by no means follows that a subsidiary subject-
catalogue is not extremely useful. He who knows
that he wants Lloyd's book on the undulatory theory
is somewhat more learned in the literature of optics
than the majority of those who consult libraries.
For one who knows as much as this, there are
twenty who know only that they want to get some
book about the undulatory theory. Now a subject-
catalogue is pre-eminently useful in instructing such
people in the literature of the subject they are
studying. They have only to open a drawer that is
labelled "OPTICS," and run along the cards until
they come to a division marked " OPTICS Wave-
T/ieory" and there they will find perhaps a dozen
or fifty titles of books, pamphlets, review articles,
and memoirs of learned societies, all bearing on
their subject, and enabling them to look it up with
a minimum of bibliographical trouble. Such a
classified catalogue immeasurably increases the use-
fulness of a library to the general public. At the
same time, the skilful classification of books presents
so many difficulties and requires so much scientific
and literary training that it adds greatly to the
labour of catalogue-making. For this reason great

xii.] A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. 251

libraries rarely attempt to make subject-catalogues.
At every library which I have happened to visit
in England, France, Germany, and Italy, I have
received the same answer : " We do not keep any
subject-catalogue, for we shrink from so formidable
an undertaking." With a boldness justified by the
result, however, Professor Abbot began such a cata-
logue of the Harvard library in 1861, and carried out
the work with the success that might have been
expected from his truly stupendous erudition and
most consummate ingenuity.

It is sometimes urged that, in deference to the
feebleness of human memory, an ideal library should
have yet a third catalogue, arranged alphabetically,
not according to authors, but according to titles.
This is to accommodate the man who knows that
he wants Lectures on tlte Wave-Theory of Lightt
but has forgotten the author's name. In an " ideal "
library this might perhaps be well. But in a real
library, subject to the ordinary laws of nature, it is
to be remembered that any serious addition to the
amount of catalogue-room or to the labour of the
librarian and assistants is an expense which can be
justified only by the prospect of very decided
advantages. In most cases, the subject-catalogue
answers the purposes of those who remember the

252 A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. [xn.

title of a work but have forgotten the author.
In the very heterogeneous classes of Drama and
Fiction, where this is not so likely to be the case,
the exigency is provided for in Professor Abbot's
system by a full set of cross-references from titles
to authors.

From this account it will be seen that any new
book received to-day by our library must be entered
on three catalogues, first on the card supplement
which continues the old printed catalogue, secondly
on the new all-comprehensive alphabet of authors,
thirdly on the classified index of subjects. In our
technical slang the first of these catalogues is known
under the collective name of "the long cards," the
second as "the red cards," the third as "the blue
cards," names referring to the shape of the cards
and to certain peculiarities of the lines with which
they are ruled. When our lot of three or four
hundred books is portioned out among half a dozen
assistants to be catalogued, the first thing in order
is to write the " long cards." Each book must have
at least one long card ; but most books need more
than one, and some books need a great many.
Suppose you have to catalogue Mr. Stuart-Glennie's
newly-published Pilgrim Memories. This is an
exceedingly easy book for the cataloguer, but it

xii.] A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. 253

requires two cards, because of the author's compound
name. The book must be entered under " Stuart-
Glennie," because that is the form in which the name
appears on the title-page, and which the author is
therefore supposed to prefer. It is very important,
however, that a reference should be made from
" Glennie " to " Stuart-Glennie," else some one, re-
membering only the last half of the name, would
look in vain for " Glennie," and conclude that the
book was not in the library.

Suppose, again, that your book is Jevons on Money
and tlie Mechanism of Exchange. This belongs to the
International Scientific Series, and therefore needs to
be entered under " Jevons," and again on the general
card which bears the superscription " International
Scientific Series." Without such a general entry,
books are liable to be ordered and bought under
one heading when they are already in the library and
catalogued under the other heading. The risk of such
a mishap is small in the case of the new and well-
known series just mentioned, but it is considerable in
the case of the different series of British State Papers,
or the Scelta di Curiositd Italiam ; and of course one
rule must be followed for all such cases. Suppose,
again, that your book is Grimm's Deutsclies Woerter-
buc/i, begun by the illustrious Grimm, but continued

254 A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. [xn.

by several other hands. Here you must obviously
have a distinct entry for each collaborator, and each
of these entries requires a card.

In writing the long card, the first great point is to
ascertain every jot and tittle of the author's name ;
and, as a general rule, title-pages are very poor helps
toward settling this distressing question. For in-
stance, you see from the title-pages of Money and
Pilgrim Memories that the authors are " W. Stanley
Jevons," and " John 5. Stuart-Glennie ; " but your
duty as an accurate cataloguer is not fulfilled until
you have ascertained what names the W. and .S.
stand for in these cases. In the alphabetical cata-
logue of a great library, it is a matter of the first
practical importance that every name should be given
with the utmost completeness that the most extreme
pedantry could suggest. No one who has not had
experience in these matters can duly realise that the
number of published books is so enormous as to
occasion serious difficulty in keeping apart the titles
of works by authors of the same name. " Stanley
Jevons " and " Stuart-Glennie " are very uncommon
combinations of names ; yet the occurrence of two or
three different authors in an alphabetical catalogue,
bearing this uncommon combination of names, would
not be at all surprising.

xii.] A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. 255

Indeed to say nothing of the immense number of
accidental coincidences I think we may lay it down
as a large comprehensive sort of rule, that any man
who has published a volume or pamphlet is sure to
have relatives of the same name who have published
volumes or pamphlets. Such a fact may have some
value to people, like Mr. Galton, who are interested
in the subject of hereditary talent, and who have
besides a keen eye for statistics. I have never tabu-
lated the statistics of this matter, and am stating
only a general impression, gathered from miscel-
laneous experience, when I say that the occurrence
of almost any name in a list of authors affords a
considerable probability of its re-occurrence, asso-
ciated with some fact of blood-relationship. One
would not be likely to realise this fact in collecting
a large private library, because private libraries, how-
ever large, are apt to contain only the classical works
of quite exceptional men and the less important
works which happen to be specially interesting or
useful to the owner. But in a public library the
treasures and the rubbish of the literary world are
alike hoarded ; and the works of exceptional men
whom everybody remembers are lumped in with the
works of all their less distinguished cousins and

256 A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. [xn.

great-uncles, whose names the world of readers has
forgotten.

A librarian has the opportunity for observing many
curious facts of this sort, but he will seldom have
leisure to speculate about them. For while a great
library is an excellent place for study and reflection,
for everybody except the librarian, his position is
rather a tantalising one. In the midst of the great
ocean of books, it is " water, water everywhere, and
not a drop to drink."

To make up for the extreme vagueness with which
authors customarily designate themselves on their
title-pages is the work of the assistants who write the
long cards, and it is apt to be a very tedious and
troublesome undertaking. Biographical and biblio-
graphical dictionaries, the catalogues of our own
and other libraries, university-catalogues, army-lists,
clerical directories, genealogies of the British peerage,
almanacs, " conversations-lexicons," literary histories,
and volumes of memoirs, all these aids have to be
consulted, and too often are consulted in vain, or give
conflicting testimony which serves to raise the most
curious and perplexing questions. To the outside
world such anxious minuteness seems useless pe-
dantry ; but any sceptic who should serve six months

xii.] A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. 257

in a library would become convinced that without it
an alphabetical catalogue would soon prove unman-
ageable. " Imagine the heading ' SMITH, J.,' in such a
catalogue ! " says Professor Abbot. Where a name is
very common, we are fain to add whatever distinctive
epithet we can lay hold of; as in the case of six
entries of " WILSON, William," which are differenced
by the addition of " Scotch Covenanter," " poet, of
London," "M.A., of Musselburgh," "of Poughkeep-
sie," " Vicar of Walthamstow," " Pres. of the War-
rington Nat. Hist. Soc." l

New difficulties arise when the title-page leaves it
doubtful whether the name upon it is that of the
author, or that of an editor or compiler. The names
of editors and translators are often omitted and must
be sought in bibliographical dictionaries. Dedicatory
epistles, biographical sketches, or introductory notices
are often prefixed, signed with exasperating initials,
for a clue to which you may perhaps spend an hour or
two in fruitless inquiry. In accurate cataloguing, all
such adjuncts to a book must be noticed, and often re-
quire distinct reference-cards. Curious difficulties are
sometimes presented by the phenomena of compound

1 Sometimes these headings are very odd, as in the case of a host of
"John Jacksons," one of whom is neatly distinguished as "JACKSON,
John, murderer," the work thus catalogued being the "confession"
of one John Jackson who had murdered his wife.

258 A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. [xn.

or complex authorship, as in works like the Bollandist
Acta Sanctorum, conducted by a group of men, some
of whom are removed by death, while their places are
supplied by new collaborators. Some other immense
work, like Migne's Patrologicz Cursus Completes, will
give rise to nice questions owing to the indefiniteness
with which its various parts are demarcated from
each other. Many German books, on the other hand,
are troublesome from the excessive explicitness with
which they are divided, with sub-titles and sub-sub-
titles innumerable, in accordance with some subtle
principle not always to be detected at the first glance.
The proper mode of entry for reports of legal cases
and trials, periodicals, and publications of learned
societies, governments, and boards of commissioners,
is sure to call for more or less technical skill and
practical discrimination. Anonymous and pseudony-
mous works are very common, and even the best
bibliographical dictionaries cannot keep pace with
the issue of them. Where we can find, by hook or
by crook, the real name of the author of a pseudony-
mous work, it is entered under the real name, with a
cross-reference from the pseudonym. Otherwise it is
entered provisionally under the fictitious name, as, for
example, "VERITAS, pseudon" Anonymous works
are entered under the first word of the title, neglecting

xii.] A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. 259

particles ; and the head-line is left blank, so that if the
author is ever discovered, his name may be inserted
there, enclosed within brackets. In former times it
was customary for the cataloguer to enter such works
under what he deemed to be the most important word
of the title, or the word most likely to be remem-
bered ; but in practice this rule has been found to
cause great confusion, since people are by no means
sure to agree as to the most important word. To
some it may seem absurd to enter an anonymous
Treatise on the Best Method of preparing Adhesive
Mucilage under the word " Treatise " rather than
under " Mucilage " ; but it should be remembered that
he who consults an alphabetical catalogue is supposed
to know the title for which he is looking ; and, in our
own library at least, any one who remembers only
the subject of the work he is seeking can always refer
to the catalogue of subjects.

To treat more extensively of such points as these,
in which none but cataloguers are likely to feel a
strong interest, would not be consistent with the pur-
pose of this article. For those who wonder what a
librarian can find to do with his time, enough hints
have been given to show that the task of "just
cataloguing a book" is not, perhaps, quite so simple
as they may have supposed. These hints have

S 2

260 A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. [xn.

nevertheless been chosen with reference to the easier
portions of a librarian's work, for a description of the
more intricate problems of cataloguing could hardly
fail to be both tedious and unintelligible to the un-
initiated reader. Enough has been said to show that
a cataloguer's work requires at the outset consider-
able judgment and discrimination, and a great deal
of slow plodding research. The facts which we take
such pains to ascertain may seem petty when con-
trasted with the dazzling facts which are elicited by
scientific researches. But in reality the grandest
scientific truths are reached only after the minute
scrutiny of facts which often seem very trivial. And
though the little details which encumber a librarian's
mind do not minister to grand or striking generalisa-
tions, though their destiny is in the main an obscure
one, yet if they were not duly taken care of, the use-
fulness of libraries as aids to high culture and pro-
found investigation would be fatally impaired. To the
student's unaided faculties a great library is simply a
trackless wilderness ; the catalogue of such a library
is itself a kind of wilderness, albeit much more readily
penetrated and explored ; but unless a book be entered
with extreme accuracy and fulness on the catalogue,
it is practically lost to the investigator who needs it,
and might almost as well not be in the library at all.

xii.] A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. 261

In the task of entering a book properly on the
alphabetical catalogue, the needful researches are for
the most part made by the assistants ; but the ques-
tionable points are so numerous, and so unlike each
other, that none of them can be considered as finally
settled until approved at head-quarters. After the
proper entry has been decided on, the work of tran-
scribing the title is comparatively simple in most
cases. The general rule is to copy the whole of the
title with strict accuracy, in its own language and
without translation, including even abbreviations and
mistakes or oddities in spelling. Mottoes and other
really superfluous matters on the title-page are
usually omitted, the omission being scrupulously
indicated by points. As regards the use of capital
letters, title-pages do not afford any consistent guid-
ance, being usually printed in capitals throughout.
Our own practice is to follow in capitalising the usage
of the language in which the title is written ; but
many libraries adopt the much simpler rule of reject-
ing capitals altogether except in the case of proper
names, and this I believe to be practically the better
because the easier method, 1 though the result may
not seem quite so elegant.

1 Since this article was -written, I have adopted the simpler rule,
applying the French system of capitalisation to all languages, with the

262 A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. [xn.

After the transcription of the entire title, the
number of volumes, or other divisions of the book,
is set down ; and next in order follows the " imprint,"
or designation of the place and date of publication.
Finally, the size of the book (whether folio, or quarto,
octavo, etc.) is designated, after an examination of
the " signature marks " ; the number of pages (if less
than one hundred or more than six hundred) is
stated ; l plates, woodcuts, maps, plans, diagrams,
photographs, etc., are counted and described in
general terms. Any peculiarities relating not to
the edition, but to the particular copy catalogued, are
added below in a note ; such as the fact that the
book is one of fifty copies on large paper, or has the
author's autograph on the fly-leaf. In many cases it
is found desirable to add a list of the contents of the
work ; and if it be a book of miscellaneous essays,
each essay often has an additional entry on a card of
its own. 2

sole concession to our English prejudices of capitalising proper adjec-
tives in English titles. Much time is thereby saved, and much utterly
useless vexation avoided.

1 In order to point out books of an exceptionally large or small size,
I believe it would be better to state the number of pages in every case.

a Where the essays are by different authors, a separate entry for each
is of course always necessary, though this is not always made on the
long cards.

xii.] A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. 263

These details make up the sum of what is entered
on the body of the long card ; but in addition to all
this, the left-hand margin contains the date of recep-
tion of the book, the fund to which it is charged, or
the name of the donor, and the all-important " shelf-
mark," which shows where the book is to be found ;
while on the right-hand margin is written a concise
description of the appearance of the book (i.e. 5 vol.,
green cloth "), and a note of its price. When all this
is finished, the book is regarded as catalogued, and is
sent, with its card in it, to the principal assistant
for revision. From the principal assistant it is passed
on to me, and it is the business of both of us to see
that all the details of the work have been done cor-
rectly. A pencil-note on the margin of the card
shows the class and sub-class to which the book is
to be assigned in the catalogue of subjects ; and then
the card is separated from the book. The book goes on
to its shelf, to be used by the public ; the card goes
back to some one of the assistants, to be "indexed."
In our library-slang, " indexing " means the writing
of the " red " and " blue " cards which answer to the
" long " card ; in other words, the entry of the title l
on the new alphabetical and subject-catalogues begun

1 The marginal portions of the long card are not transcribed in
indexing.

264 A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. pen.

in 1861. For the most part this is merely a matter
of accurate transcription, requiring no research.
When these " red " and " blue " cards have been sub-
mitted to a special assistant for proof-reading, they
are returned to me, and after due inspection are ready
to be distributed into their catalogues. But for the
original " long card " one further preliminary is re-
quired before it can be put into its catalogue.

Besides the various catalogues above described,
our library keeps a " record-book " or catalogue of
accessions arranged according to dates of reception.
This accessions-catalogue was begun October i, 1827,
and records an accession for that year of one volume,
price ten shillings and sixpence! In 1828, accord-
ing to this record, the library received twenty-one
volumes, of which eighteen were gifts, while three
were bought at a total cost of $14.50! But either
these were exceptionally unfruitful years, or what
is more likely the record was not carefully kept, for
the ordinary rate of increase in those days was by no
means so small as this, though small enough when
compared with the present rate. The accessions-
catalogue has grown until it now fills twenty-one
large folio volumes. The entries in it are made
with considerable fulness by transcription from the
long cards. Usually a month's accessions are entered

xii.] A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. 265

at once, and when this has been done the long card
is ready to take its place in the catalogue.

In this account of the career of a book, from its
reception to the time when it is duly entered on all
the catalogues, we find some explanation of the way
in which a librarian employs his time. For while
the work of cataloguing is done almost entirely by
assistants, yet unless every detail of it passes under
the librarian's eye there is no adequate security for
systematic unity in the results. The librarian must
not indeed spend his time in proof-reading or in
verifying authors' names ; it is essential that there
should be some assistants who can be depended
upon for absolute accuracy in such matters. Never-
theless, the complexity of the questions involved
requires that appeal should often be made to him,
and that he should always review the work, for the
correctness of which he is ultimately responsible.
As for the designation of the proper entry on
the subject-catalogue, the cases are rare in which
this can be entrusted to any assistant. To classify
the subject-matter of a book is not always in
itself easy, even when the reference is only to
general principles of classifications ; but a subject-
catalogue, when once in existence, affords a vast
mass of precedents which, while they may lighten the

266 A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. [xn.

problem to one who has mastered the theory on which
the catalogue is constructed, at the same time make
it the more unmanageable to any one who has not
done so. To assign to any title its proper position,
you must not merely know what the book is about,
but you must understand the reasons, philosophical
and practical, which have determined the place to
which such titles have already been assigned. It is
a case in which no mere mechanical following of tradi-
tion is of any avail. No general rules can be laid
down which a corps of assistants can follow ; for in
general each case presents new features of its own, so
that to follow any rule securely would require a mental
training almost as great as that needed for making
the rule. Hence when different people work inde-
pendently at a classified catalogue, they are sure to
get into a muddle.

Suppose, for example, you have to classify a book
on the constitution of Massachusetts. I put such
books under the heading " LAW Mass. Const.,"
but another person would prefer " LAW Const.
Mass.," a third would rank them under "LAW U.S.
Const. Mass.," a fourth under "LAW U.S.
(Separate States) Mass. Const." a fifth under
" LAW Const. U.S. Mass.," and so on, through
all the permutations and combinations of which these

xii.] A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. 267

terms are susceptible. Yet each of these arrange-
ments would bring the title into a different part of
the catalogue, so that it would be quite impossible to
discover, by simple inspection, what the library con-
tained on the subject of constitutional law in Massa-
chusetts ; and to this extent the catalogue would
become useless. Many such defects are now to be
found in our subject-catalogue, greatly to the im-
pairment of its usefulness ; and they prove conclu-
sively that the work of classifying must always be
left to a single superintendent who knows well the
idiosyncrasies of the catalogue. This work consumes
no little time. The titles of books are by no means
a safe index to their subject-matter. To treat one
properly you must first peer into its contents ; and
then, no matter how excellent your memory, you
will often have to run to the catalogue for precedents.
As a rule, comparatively few cards are written by
the librarian or the principal assistant. Only the
most difficult books, which no one else can catalogue,
are brought to the superintendent's desk. Under this
class come old manuscripts, early printed books with-
out title-pages, books with Greek titles, and books in
Slavonic, or Oriental, or barbarous languages. Early
printed books require special and varying kinds of
treatment, and need to be carefully described with

268 A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. [xn.

the aid of such dictionaries as those of Hain, Panzer,
and Graesse. One such book may afford work for a
whole day. An old manuscript is likely to give even
more trouble. There is nothing especially difficult
in Greek titles, save for the fact that our assistants
are all women, who for the most part know little or
nothing of the language. 1 In general these assistants
are acquainted with French, and with practice can
make their way through titles in Latin and German.
There are some who can deal with any Romanic or
Teutonic language, though more or less advice is
usually needed for this. But all languages east of
the Roman-German boundary require the eye of a
practised linguist. To decipher a title, or part of a
preface, in a strange language, it is necessary that one
should understand the character in which it is printed,
and should be able to consult some dictionary either
of the language in question or of some closely related
dialect. One day I had to catalogue a book of
Croatian ballads, and, not finding any Croatian dic-
tionary in the library, set up a cross-fire on it with
the help of a Serbian and a Slovenian dictionary.
This served the purpose admirably, for where a cog-
nate word did not happen to occur in the one language

1 We have since, I am glad to say, found an exception to this rule,
and Greek titles are now disposed of in regular course.

xii.] A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. 269

it was pretty sure to turn up in the other. Sometimes
in the case, say, of a hundred Finnish pamphlets
the labour is greater than it is worth while to under-
take ; or somebody may give us a volume in Chinese
or Tamil, which is practically undecipherable. In
such cases we consider discretion the better part of
valour, and under the heading " FINNISH " or " CHI-
NESE " write "One hundred Finnish pamphlets," or
" A Chinese book," trusting to the future for better
information. Sometimes a polyglot visitor from Asia
happens in, and is kind enough to settle a dozen such
knotty questions at once.

Another part of a librarian's work is the ordering
of new books, and this is something which cannot be
done carelessly. Once a year a council of professors,
after learning the amount of money that can be ex-
pended during the year, decides upon the amounts
that may be severally appropriated to the various de-
partments of literature. Long lists of desiderata are
then prepared by different professors, and handed in
to the library. Besides this a considerable sum is
.placed under the control of the librarian, for miscella-
neous purchases, and any one who wishes a book
bought at any time is expected to leave a written re-
quest for it at my desk. As often as we get materials
for a list of two or three hundred titles, the list is

270 A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. [xn.

given, before it is sent off, to one of our most trust-
worthy assistants, to be compared with the various
catalogues as well as with the record of outstanding
orders. To ascertain whether a particular work is in
the library, or on its way thither, may seem to be a
very simple matter; but it requires careful and in-
telligent research, and on such a point no one's opinion
is worth a groat who is not versed in all the dark and
crooked ways of cataloguing. The fact that a card-
title is not to be found in the catalogue proves nothing
of itself, for very likely the card may be " out " in the
hands of some assistant. Nothing is more common
than for a professor to order some well-known work
in his own department of study which has been in the
library for several years, and so long as the art of
cataloguing is as complicated as it now is, such mis-
understandings cannot be altogether avoided. Very
often this is due to the variety of ways in which one
and the same book may be described, and cannot be
ascribed to any special cumbrousness or complexity
of our system. All this necessitates a thorough
scrutiny of every title that is ordered, for to waste
the library's money in buying duplicates is a blunder
of the first magnitude. Yet in spite of the utmost
vigilance, it is seldom that a case of two or three
hundred books arrives which does not contain two

xii.] A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. 271

or three duplicates. One per cent, is perhaps not an
extravagant allowance to make for human perversity,
in any of the affairs of life in which the ideal standard
is that of complete intelligence and efficiency.

The danger of buying a duplicate because a
card-title does not happen to be in its place is one
illustration of the practical inconvenience of card-
catalogues. The experience of the past fifty years
has shown that on the whole such catalogues are far
better than the old ones which they have superseded ;
but they have their shortcomings nevertheless, and
here we have incidentally hit upon one of them.
Besides this, a card-catalogue, even when constructed
with all the ingenuity that is displayed in our own,
is very much harder to consult than a catalogue
that is printed in a volume. On a printed page
you can glance at twenty titles at once, whereas in
a drawer of cards you must plod through the
titles one by one. Moreover, a card-catalogue
occupies an enormous space. Professor Abbot's twin
catalogue of authors and subjects, begun fourteen
years ago, is already fifty-one feet in length, and
contains three hundred and thirty-six drawers !
During the past six weeks some four thousand cards
have been added to it. What will its dimensions be
a century hence, when our books will probably have

272 A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. [xn.

begun to be numbered by millions instead of thou-
sands ? Gore Hall is to-day too small to contain our
books : will it then be large enough to hold the cata-
logue ? Suppose, again, that our library were to be
burned ; it is disheartening to think of the quantity
of bibliographical work that would in such an event
be for ever obliterated. For we should remember that
while a catalogue like ours is primarily useful in
enabling persons to consult our books, it would still be
of great value, as a bibliographical aid to other
libraries, even if all our own books were to be
destroyed. 1 This part of its function, moreover, it
cannot properly fulfil even now, so long as it can be
consulted only in Gore Hall. Our subject-catalogue,
if printed to-day, would afford a noble conspectus of
the literature of many great departments of human
knowledge, and would have no small value to many
special inquirers. Much of this usefulness is lost so
long as it remains in manuscript, confined to a single
locality.

For such reasons as these, I believe that the card-
system is but a temporary or transitional expedient,
upon which we cannot always continue to rely

1 Thus I often find valuable information in the printed catalogue of
the Bodleian Library, and wish that the splendid catalogue of the mil-
lion books in the British Museum were as readily accessible.

xii.] A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. 273

exclusively. By the time Professor Abbot's great
catalogue is finished (i.e. brought up to date) and
thoroughly revised, it will be on all accounts desirable
to print it. The huge mass of cards up to that date
will then be superseded, and might be destroyed
without detriment to any one. But the card-catalogue,
kept up in accordance with the present system, would
continue as a supplement to the printed catalogue.
The cumbrousness of consulting a number of alphabets
would be reduced to a minimum, for there would be
only two to consult : the printed catalogue and its
card supplement. Then, instead of issuing number-
less printed supplements, there might be published,
at stated intervals (say of ten years), a new edition of
the main catalogue, with all the added titles inserted
in their proper places. On this plan there would
never be more than two alphabets to consult ; and of
these'the more voluminous one would be contained in
easily manageable printed volumes, while the smaller
supplement only would remain in card-form.

It is an obvious objection that the frequent printing
of new editions of the catalogue, according to this
plan, would be attended with enormous expense.
This objection would at first sight seem to be
removed if we were to adopt Professor Jewett's

274 A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. [xir.

suggestion, and stereotype each title on a separate
plate. Let there be a separate stereotype-plate for
each card, so that in every new edition new plates
may be inserted for the added titles ; and then the
ruinous expense of fresh composition for every new
edition would seem to be Avoided. It is to be feared,
however, that this show of having solved the difficulty
is illusory. For to keep such a quantity of printer's
metal lying idle year after year would of itself entail
great trouble and expense. The plates would take up
a great deal of room and would need to be kept in a
fire-proof building ; and the interest lost each year on
the value of the metal would by and by amount to a
formidable sum. It is perhaps doubtful whether, in
the long run, anything would be saved by this cum-
brous method. Possibly unless some future helio-
graphic invention should turn to our profit the least
expensive way, after all, may be to print at long
intervals, without stereotyping, and to depend
throughout the intervals on card-supplements. But
this question, like many others suggested by the
formidable modern growth of literature, is easier to
ask than to answer.

In this hasty sketch many points connected with a
librarian's work remain unmentioned. But in a brief

xii.] A LIBRARIAN'S WORK. 275

paper like this, one cannot expect to give a complete
account of a subject embracing so many details.
As it is, I hope I have not wearied the reader in the
attempt to show what a librarian finds to do with his
time.

November 1875.

T 2

INDEX.

ABBOT, Ezra, 248-251
Albigensians, 233 -
Alexius Comnemi 1 -', 233
Amatongo, 113
Amoeba, 23
Amphioxus, 22
Anaxagoras, 103
Antelopes and lions, 15
Arabs in Spain, 208
Aristotle's "Politics," 131
Armenian heresies, 231
Aryan race, 213
Ascidian, 22
Atheism, 49
Attila, 206, 223
Aurelian, 216
Australian fauna, 25

BACH, J. S., 150

Basil II., 229, 233

Bask language, 226

Bateman, Dr. , his ignoratio ehnchi,

Batrachians, 22
Bat's wings, 25 '
Battle of life, 13
Batu, 207
Beaks and feet of pigeons, 17

Belisarius, 221

Berkeley's psychology, 63

Bibliolatry, 116

Birds and reptiles, 22

Blachford, Lord, 56

Blue-eyed tomcats, 17

Bogomiles, 232

Bosnia, 233

Bossuet, 131

Bow-wow theory, 42

Brain and mind, 69-73

British Museum catalogue, 245

Buckle, H. T., his History of
Civilisation, 130-191 ; his death
at Damascus, 196; his mental
impatience, 197; his lack of
subtlety, 199

Biichner, Louis, 49-54, 64

Bulgarian heresy, 231

Bulgars, 227

Butterflies in Java and Celebes, 1 6

CANDOUR of Mr. Darwin, 33
Cause, 5

Chalons, battle of, 206
Chaos and order, 103
Charles the Great, 206, 223
Charles the Hammer, 207
Christianity and " Christianism,"
193

280

INDEX.

Clairaut, 2, 9

Classification of organisms, 21

Codfish, multiplication of, t2

Collating, 241

Colours of animals, 15

Comte, A., 133, 136; his "law of

the three stages," 201
Condorcet, 132
Constantine Copronymus, 232
Correlation of forces, and the

materialistic hypothesis, 69
Correlation of growth, 1 6
" Cosmical weather," 96
Cottin, Angelique, 128
Crookes on "psychic force," 121

Epilepsy, 113

Ethnology of Europe, 212

Exorcism, 113

FASTING girls, 129

Fetishism, 114, 169

Finns, 225

Fixity of species, I 5

Force, illegitimate use of the term, 5

Freeman, E. A., on the advantages

of iteration, 61
Frogs, shower of, 127
Future life, 74-77

DACIA, 216

Daimonion of Sokrates, 1 12, 115

Darwinian theory compared with
Newtonian, l-io; theistic ob-
jection to it, 4; misrepresented
by Mivart, n, 32-38; does not
assert universal or continuous pro-
gress, 37

Deaf tomcats, 17

Deduction, 185

Delphic oracle, 113

Descartes, 74

Destruction of life, 13

Domestication, 12

Dramatic tendencies in nature, 97

Dyak morality, 158

EARLY authorship, 198
Echidna and duck-bill, 22
Edentata, 26
Electric girls, 128
Elephant and mammoth, 1 6
Embryology, 23
Emotion and reasDn, 153

GALAPAGOS Islands, 26
Gallon, F., 255
Genius, in

Geographical distribution and geo-
logical succession of organisms, 25
Getse and Goths, 216
Gills in human throat, 24
Goethe, 108
Gorillas and Parthenons, 48

HAECKEL, 51
Hair and teeth of dogs, 17
Halley's comet, 2, 9
Hammond, W. A., 119-129
Harrison, F., 55-76
Heraclius, 221

Heredity in book-making, 255 ; Mr.
Buckle's loose talk about heredity,

*45

Hermann, the magician, 127

Hermes, 169

Home, the charlatan, 121

Horse, pedigree of, 29

Houdin, R., 127

Huggins on "psychic force," 123

INDEX.

281

Hungarians, 225

Huns, 205

Huxley, T. H., 29, 30, 56, 57, 59,

60, 61, 65, 73, 76
Hypnotism, 126
Hysteria, 113

IBERIAN race, 213
Immortality of the soul, 74-77
Imperfections in geological record,

Induction, 185
Infancy and the origin of mankind,

42-48

Inspiration, 110-118
Intellectual and moral progress,

138-165
Isaiah, 112

J.
JUSTINIAN, 221

KARA GEORGE, 231
Keltiberians, 214
Keltic race, 214
Kepler, 9, 52
Kovalevsky, 36

MACHIAVELLI, 132

Mackintosh, Sir J., 157

Maine, Sir H., 200

Mammoth, 16

Mandril, foetal life of, 23

Mania, 113

Manichaeans, 231

Marathon, battle of, 205

Marius, 206

Marsh's discovery of pedigree of
the horse, 28-30

Marsupials in Australia, 25

Materialism, 49, 59-76

Mayer's meteoric theory, 97

Medicine-men, 113

Mill, J. S., compared with
Chauncey Wright, 82

Mind as a product of evolution,
65-67

Mivart, St. G., misrepresents Dar-
winism, n, 32-38; attacked by
Wright, 104 ; ignores Wright's
surrejoinder, 34

Mohammed, 112

Mongols, 205

Monotheism, 115

Montesquieu, 132

Morphology, 25

Miiller, Max, 39, 44

LALANDE, 2
Lamettrie, 64
Language, origin of, 42
Leibnitz. 2, 87, 131
"Levitation," 127
Lewes, G. H., 135, 144, 147, 177
Liegnitz, battle of, 207
Lions and antelopes, 1 5
Lions and leopards, 20
Locke, 87_

Louis XIV., his injurious influence
on science and literature, 179

NAMES of authors, 254

Napoleon I. on Russian ethnology,
217

Natural selection, II ; misunder-
stood by Mivart, 14, 35

Nature, constancy of, 88

Nebular hypothesis, 97

Neptune, discovery of, 9

Newtonian theory slowly received,

Njemetch, 219

282

INDEX.

ODOACER, 223
Ogre, 228
Onomatopoeia, 42
Opossum, 26

Orang-outang, infancy'of, 47
Owen, R. D., duped by spiritual-
ists, 128

PACHYDERMS and ruminants, 28
Pamphlets and volumes, 246
Pascal, 131

Paternal theory of government, 1 78
Paulicians, 232
Persecution, 163
Peruvian sense of smell, 150
Phillips, Wendell, 65
Poseidon, 169

Positivism and Lucretianism, 103
Positivists and their droll ecclesias-
tical tone, 59, 76
Possession by spirits, 112
Protective spirit, 178
Protococcus, 23
"Psychic force," 121

Schubert's music, 105

Science and theology, 7

Scotch clergy, 187

Serbia, 229

Shamans, 113

Sheep and antelopes, 15

Siberian mammoth, 16

Simeon of Bulgaria, 229, 232

Skythians, 216

Slave, etymology of the word, 218

Slavic race, 217

Smell, Peruvian sense of, 150

Snakes with hind limbs, 24

Sokrates, 112, 115

South American fauna, 26

Spanish civilisation, 208

Spanish ethnology, 214

Species, fixity of, 15

Spencer, H., 46, 60, 61,65, 6 7> 6S -

86, 89, 93, 94, 100, 102, 133, 136,

146, 1 68, 170, 196, 200
"Spherical intelligence," 8l
Spiritualism, 119-129
Stephen Dushan, 229
Struggle for existence, 13
Stuart-Glennie, J. S., 192-203
Subject-catalogues, 251
Survival of the fittest, 14

RADIATA, 23

Rhythm of motion, 100

River-names in Europe, 214

Roman policy toward barbarians,
205

Rudimentary organs, 24

Rumania, 217

Russia's growth checked by Mon-
gols, 207

SALAMIS, battle of, 205
Saul and Agag, 155
Scepticism, 167

TABLE-TIPPING, 119-129

Taine, H. A., 51

Tatars, 217

Teeth and hair of dogs, 17

Teeth in embryonic birds, 24, 27

Teleology, 96

Test of truth, 87

Teutonic knights, 207

Teutonic race, 215

Theistic objection to Darwinism, 4

Thrace, 216

Three stages, Comte's theory of, 201

Title-pages, slovenliness of, 254

Tours, battle of, 207

Trajan, 216

INDEX.

28;

Tunicata, 23
Turks, 208
Tylor, E. B., 113

UNCONSCIOUS cerebration, in
Universe, how little we know of it,

University education and its ad-
vantages, 197

Unseen Universe, 94

Urosh of Serbia, 229

Vico, 132

Virtue and pleasure, 36

Voltaire, 132

WALLACE, A. R., on causes of
man's intellectual supremacy, 37,
45 ; his surprising credulity as to
spiritualism, 126

Wallach, 219

Weather, cosmical, 96

Welsh, 219

Wright, Chauncey, 71-109; his
criticism of Mivart, 34, 104 ; his
difficult style, 80 ; compared with
J. S. Mill, 82 ; his distrust of broad
generalisations, 85; his hostility
to Spencer's philosophy, 86- ic
his* aversion to teleolc

teleology,
"cosmical weather," 96 ; his ob-
jections to nebular hypothesis,
97 ; his positivism, 102 ; his
attack on Anaxagoras, 103; his
personal qualities, 105-108

ZEUS, 169

Zulu diviners, 113

THE END

LONDON:

R CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR,
BREAD STREET HILL.

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Fourteen Discourses on the following subjects: (i) On the Advisable-
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PHYSICAL SCIENCE. u

Huxley (Professor) continued.

the Natural History Sciences: (6) On the Study of Zoology:
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II. Mr. Darwin's Critics. 12. The Genealogy of Animals.
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PHYSICAL SCIENCE.

. 13

Macmillan (Rev. Hugh) continued.
FIRST FORMS OF VEGETATION. Second Edition, corrected
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H SCIENTIFIC CATALOGUE.

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THE COMMON FROG. With Numerous Illustrations. Crown
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.LESSONS IN ELEMENTARY BOTANY. With nearly Two
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PHYSICAL SCIENCE.

Oliver continued.

Plants " and " How to Describe Plants. " A valuable Glossary is
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16 SCIENTIFIC CATALOGUE.

Rendu. THE THEORY OF THE GLACIERS OF SAVOY.
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PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 17

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1 8 SCIENTIFIC CATALOGUE.

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PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 19

Thomson continued.

happy in the choice of language, and throughout tfie -work there are
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Thudichum and Dupre A TREATISE ON THE

ORIGIN, NATURE, AND VARIETIES OF WINE.

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SCIENTIFIC CATALOGUE.

Wallace (A. R.) continued.

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MENTAL AND MORAL PHILOSOPHY, ETC. 21

WORKS ON MENTAL AND MORAL
PHILOSOPHY, AND ALLIED SUBJECTS.

Aristotle. AN INTRODUCTION TO ARISTOTLE'S
RHETORIC. With Analysis, Notes, and Appendices. By E.
M. COPE, Trinity College, Cambridge. 8vo. 14^.
ARISTOTLE ON FALLACIES; OR. THE SOPHISTICI
ELENCHI. With a Translation and Notes by EDWARD POSTE,
M.A., Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. Svo. Ss. 6d.

Birks. Works by the Rev. T. R. BTRKS, Professor of Moral Philo-
sophy, Cambridge :

FIRST PRINCIPLES OF MORAL SCIENCE; or, a Firs
Course of Lectures delivered in the University of Cambridge.
Crown Svo. Ss. 6d.

This work treats of three topics all preliminary to the direct exposi-
tion of Moral Philosophy. These are the Certainty and Dignity
of Moral Science, its Spiritual Geography, or relation to other
main subjects of human thought, and its Formative Principles, or
some elementary truths on which its -whole development must
depend.

MODERN UTILITARIANISM; or, The Systems of Paley,
Bentham, and Mill, Examined and Compared. Crown Svo. 6s. 6d.
MODERN PHYSICAL FATALISM, AND THE DOCTRINE
OF EVOLUTION ; including an Examination of Herbert Spen-
cer's First Principles. Crown Svo. 6s.

Boole. AN INVESTIGATION OF THE LAWS OF
THOUGHT, ON WHICH ARE FOUNDED THE
MATHEMATICAL THEORIES OF LOGIC AND PRO-
BABILITIES. By GEORGE BOOLE, LL.D., Professor of
Mathematics in the Queen's University, Ireland, &c. Svo. 14.!-.

Butler. LECTURES ON THE HISTORY OF ANCIENT
PHILOSOPHY. By W. ARCHER BUTLER, late Professor of
Moral Philosophy in the University of Dublin. Edited from the
Author's MSS., with Notes, by WILLIAM HEPWORTH THOMP-
SON, M.A., Master of Trinity College, and Regius Professor of
Greek in the University of Cambridge. New and Cheaper Edition,
revised by the Editor. Svo. 1 2s.

Caird A CRITICAL ACCOUNT OF THE PHILOSOPHY

OF KANT. With an Historical Introduction. By E. CAIRO,
M.A., Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Glasgow.
Svo. i8.r.

SCIENTIFIC CATALOGUE.

Calderwood. Works by the Rev. HENRY CALDERWOOD, M.A.,
LL.D., Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edin-
burgh :

PHILOSOPHY OF THE INFINITE : A Treatise on Man's
Knowledge of the Infinite Being, in answer to Sir W. Hamilton
and Dr. Mansel. Cheaper Edition. 8vo. Is. 6d.
"A book of great abilitv .... "written in a clear style, and may
be easily understood by even those who are not versed in such
discussions" British Quarterly Review.

A HANDBOOK OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY. New Edition.
Crown 8vo. 6s.

"It is, we feel convinced, the best handbook on the subject, intellectually
and morally, and does infinite credit to its author. " Standard.
"A compact and useful work, going over a great deal of ground
in a manner adapted to suggest and facilitate further study. , . .
His book will be an assistance to many students outside his own
University of Edinburgh. Guardian.
THE RELATIONS OF MIND AND BRAIN. [Nearly ready.

Fiske. OUTLINES OF COSMIC PHILOSOPHY, BASED
ON THE DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION, WITH CRITI-
CISMS ON THE POSITIVE PHILOSOPHY. By JOHN
FISKE, M.A., LL.B., formerly Lecturer on Philosophy at
Harvard University. 2 vols. 8vo. 25^.

" The work constitutes a very effective encyclopaedia of the evolution-
ary philosophy, and is well worth the study of all who wish to see
at once the entire scope and purport of the scientific dogmatism oj
the day" Saturday Review.

Herbert. THE REALISTIC ASSUMPTIONS OF MODERN

SCIENCE EXAMINED. By T. M. HERBERT, M,.A., late
Professor of Philosophy, &c., in the Lancashire Independent
College, Manchester. 8vo. 14^.

Jardine. THE ELEMENTS OF THE PSYCHOLOGY OF
COGNITION. By ROBERT JARDINE, B.D., D.Sc., Principal of
the General Assembly's College. Calcutta, and Fellow of the Uni-
versity of Calcutta. Crown 8vo. 6s. 6d.

Jevons. Works by W. STANLEY JEVONS, LL.D., M.A., F.R.S.,

Professor of Political Economy, University College, London.
THE PRINCIPLES OF SCIENCE. A Treatise on Logic and
Scientific Method. New and Cheaper Edition, revised. Crown
8vo. 12s. 6d.

" No one in future can be said to have any true" knowledge of what
has been done in the way of logical and scientific method in
England without ; having carefully studied | Professor y evens'
book. "Spectator.

MENTAL AND MORAL PHILOSOPHY, ETC. 23

JevonS continued.

THE SUBSTITUTION OF SIMILARS, the True Principle of

Reasoning. Derived from a Modification of Aristotle's Dictum.

Fcap. 8vo. zs. 6J.
ELEMENTARY LESSONS IN LOGIC, DEDUCTIVE AND

INDUCTIVE. With Questions, Examples, and Vocabulary of

Logical Terms. New Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 3.?. 6d.
PRIMER OF LOGIC. New Edition. iSmo. is.

Maccoll. THE GREEK SCEPTICS, from Pyrrho to Sextus.
An Essay which obtained the Hare Prize in the year 1868. By
NORMAN MACCOLL, B.A., Scholar of Downing College, Cam-
bridge. Crown 8vo. $s. 6d.

M'Cosh Works by JAMES M'Cosn, LL.D., President of Princeton
College, New Jersey, U.S.

He certainly shows himself skilful in that application of logic to

man mind w

psychology, in that inductive science of the human mind which is
the fine side of English philosophy. His philos
worthy of attention." Revue de Deux Mondes.

THE METHOD OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT, Physical
and Moral. Tenth Edition. 8vo. IO.T. 6d.

" This ivor k is distinguished from other similar ones by its being
based upon a thorough study of physical science, and an accurate
knowledge of its present condition, and by its entering in a
deeper and more unfettered manner than its predecessors upon the dis-
cussion of the appropriate psychological, ethical, and theological ques-
tions. The author keeps aloof at once from the a priori idealism and
dreaminess of German speculation since Schelling, and from the
onesidedness and narrowness of the empiricism and positivism
which have so prevailed in England." Dr. Ulrici, in "Zeitschrift
fiir Philosophic."

THE INTUITIONS OF THE MIND. A New Edition. 8vo.
cloth, los. 6d.

" The undertaking to adjust the claims of the sensational and in-
tuitional philosophies, and of the a posteriori and\ priori methods,
is accomplished in this work with a great amount of success."
Westminster Review. "I value it for its large acquaintance
with English Philosophy, which has not led him to neglect the
jreat German works. I admire the moderation and clearness, as
wdl as comprehensiveness, of the author's views." Dr. Dorner, of
Berlin.

AN EXAMINATION OF MR. J. S. MILL'S PHILOSOPHY :
Being a Defence ol Fundamental Truth. Second edition, with
additions. lOf. fid.

"Such a work greatly needed to be done, and the author was the man
to do it. This volume is important, not merely in reference to th

24. SCIENTIFIC CA TALOGUE.

M ' C O sh continued.

views of Mr. Mill, but of the whole school of writers, past and
' present, British and Continental, he so ably represents. " Princeton
Review.

THE LAWS OF DISCURSIVE THOUGHT : Being a Text-
book of Formal Logic. Crown 8vo. 5^.

" The. amount of summarized information which it contains is very
great ; and it is the only work on the very important subject with
which it deals. Never was such a work so much needed as in
the present </ay." London Quarterly Review.

CHRISTIANITY AND POSITIVISM : A Series of Lectures to
the Times on Natural Theology and Apologetics. Crown 8vo.
js. 6d.

THE SCOTTISH PHILOSOPHY FROM HUTCHESON TO
HAMILTON, Biographical, Critical, Expository. Royal 8vo. l6s.

Masson. RECENT BRITISH PHILOSOPHY: A Review
with Criticisms ; including some Comm-jnts on Mr. Mill's Answer
to Sir William Hamilton. By DAVID MASSON, M.A., Professor
of Rhetoric and English Literature in the University of Edinburgh.
Third Edition, with an Additional Chapter. Crown Svo. 6s.
" We can nowhere point to a work which gives so clear an exposi-
tion of the course of philosophical speculation in Britain during
the past century, or which indicates so instructively the mutual in-
fluences of philosophic and scientific thought.'' Fortnightly Review.

Maudsley. Works by H. MAUDSLEY, M.D., Professor of Medical

Jurisprudence in University College, London.

THE PHYSIOLOGY OF MIND ; being the First Part* of a Third
Edition, Revised, Enlarged, and in great part Rewritten, of "The
Physiology and Pathology of Mind." Crown Svo. lev. 6d.

THE PATHOLOGY OF MIND. [In the Press.

BODY AND MIND : an Inquiry into their Connexion and Mutual
Influence, specially with reference to Mental Disorders. An
Enlarged and Revised edition. To which are added, Psychological
Essays. Crown Svo. 6s. 6d.

Maurice. Works by the Rev. FREDERICK DENISON MAURICE,
M.A., Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Cam-
bridge. (For other Works by the same Author, see THEOLOGICAL
CATALOGUE.)

SOCIAL MORALITY. .Twenty-one Lectures delivered in the
University of Cambridge. New and Cheaper Edition. Crown Svo.
IOJ. 6d.

MENTAL AND MORAL PHILOSOPHY, ETC. 25

M aurice continued.

" Whilst reading it we are charmed by the freedom from exclusiveness
and prejudice, the large charity, the loftiness of thought, the eager-
ness to recognize and appreciate whatever there is of real worth
extant in the "world, which animates it from one end to the other.
We gain new thoughts and new ways of viewing things, even more,
perhaps, from being brought for a time under the influence of so
noble and spiritual a mind." Athenaeum.

THE CONSCIENCE : Lectures on Casuistry, delivered in the Uni-
versity of Cambridge. New and Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. 5^.

The Saturday Review says: "We rise from them with detestation
of all that is selfish and mean, and with a living impression that
there is such a thing as goodness after all."

MORAL AND METAPHYSICAL PHILOSOPHY. Vol. I.
Ancient Philosophy from the First to the Thirteenth Centuries ;
Vol. II. the Fourteenth Century and the French Revolution, with
a glimpse into the Nineteenth Century. New Edition and
Preface. 2 Vols. Svo. 25^.

Morgan. ANCIENT SOCIETY : or Researches in the Lines of
Human Progress, from Savagery, through Barbarism to Civilisation.
By LK\VIS II. MORGAN, Member of the National Academy of
Sciences. SVG. i6s.

Murphy. THE SCIENTIFIC BASES OF FAITH. By
JOSEPH JOHN MURPHY, Author of " Habit and Intelligence."
Svo. 14-r.

" The book is not without substantial value; the writer continues th*
work of the best apologists of the last century, it may be with less
force and clearness, but still with commendable persuasiveness and
tact ; and with an intelligent feeling for the changed conditions of
the pi-oblem." Academy.

Paradoxical Philosophy. A Sequel to "The Unseen Uni-
verse." Crown Svo. Js. 6d.

Picton. THE MYSTERY OF MATTER AND OTHER
ESSAYS. ByJ. ALLANSON PICTON, Author of " New TheorLs
and the Old Faith." Cheaper issue with New Preface. Crown
Svo. 6s.

CONTENTS : The Mystery of Matter The Philosophy of Igno-
rance The Antithesis of Faith and Sight The Essential Nature
of Religion Christian Pantheism.

26 SCIENTIFIC CATALOGUE.

Sidgwick. THE METHODS OF ETHICS. By HENRY
SIDGWICK, M.A., Pnelector in Moral and Political Philosophy in
Trinity College, Cambridge. Second Edition, revised throughout
with important additions. 8vo. 145-.

A SUPPLEMENT to the First Edition, containing all the important
additions and alterations in the Second. Svo. 2s.

" This excellent and very welcome volume. .... Leaving to meta-
physicians any further discussion thai may be needed respecting the
already over-discussed problem of the origin of the moral faculty, he
takes it for granted as readily as the geometrician takes space for
granted, or the physicist the existence of matter. But he takes little
else for granted, and defining ethics as ' the science of conduct,' be
carefully examines,' not the various ethical systems that have been
propounded by Aristotle and Aristotle's followers downwards, but
the principles upon which, so far as they confine themselves to the
strict province of ethics, they are based." 1 Athenaeum.

Thornton. OLD-FASHIONED ETHICS, AND COMMON-
SENSE METAPHYSICS, with some of their Applications. By
WILLIAM THOMAS THORNTON, Author of "A Treatise on Labour."
Svo. los. 6d.

The present volume aeals with problems which are agitating the
minds of all thoughtjul men. The following are the Contents :
/. Ante-Utilitarianism. II. History's Scientific Pretensions. III.
David Hume as a Metaphysician. IV. Huxleyism. V. Recent
Phase of Scientific Atheism. VI. Limits of Demonstrable Theism.

Thring (E., M. A.) THOUGHTS ON LIFE-SCIENCE.
By EDWARD THRING, M.A. (Benjamin Place), Head Master of
Uppingham School. New Edition, enlarged and revised. Crown
Svo. ^s. 6d.

Venn. THE LOGIC OF CHANCE : An Essay on the Founda-
tions and Province of the Theory of Probability, with especial
reference to its logical bearings, and its application to Moral and
Social Science. By JOHN VENN, M.A., Fellow and Lecturer of
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. Second Edition, re-
written and greatly enlarged. Crown Svo. lor. 6d.
" One of the most thoughtful and philosophical treatises on any sub-
ject connected with logic and evidence which has beeti produced in
this or any other country for many years." Mill's Logic, vol. ii.
p. 77. Seventh Edition.

SCIENCE PRIMERS. 27

SCIENCE PRIMERS FOR ELEMENTARY
SCHOOLS.

Under the joint Editorship of Professors HUXLEY, ROSCOE, and
BALFOUR STEWART.

Chemistry By H. E. ROSCOE, F.R.S., Professor of Chemistry
in Owens College, Manchester. With numerous Illustrations.
i8mo. is. New Edition. With Questions.

Physics By BALFOUR STEWART, F.R.S., Professor of
Natural Philosophy in Owens College, Manchester. With numer-
ous Illustrations. i8mo. is. New Edition. With Questions.

Physical Geography. _By ARCHIBALD GEIKIE, F.R.S.,
Murchison Professor of Geology and Mineralogy at Edinburgh.
With numerous Illustrations. New Edition with Questions.
i8mo. is.

Geology By Professor GEIKIE, F.R.S. With numerous Illus-
trations. New Edition. i8mo. cloth, is.

Physiology._By MICHAEL FOSTER, M.D., F.R.S. With
numerous Illustrations. New Edition. i8mo. is.

Astronomy By J. NORMAN LOCKYER, F.R.S. With numerous

Illustrations. New Edition. i8mo. is.
Botany By Sir J. D. HOOKER, K.C.S.I., C.B., F.R.S. With

numerous Illustrations. New Edition. i8mo. is.

Logic By Professor STANLEY JEVONS, F.R.S. New Edition.
i8mo. is.

Political Economy By Professor STANLEY JEVONS, F.R.S.
iSmo. u.

In preparation :
INTRODUCTORY. By Professor HUXLEY. &c. &c.

ELEMENTARY SCIENCE CLASS-BOOKS.

Astronomy.-By the ASTRONOMER ROYAL. POPULAR AS-
TRONOMY. With Illustrations. By Sir G. B. AIRY, K.C.B.,
Astronomer Royal. New Edition. i8mo. 4*. (>d.

Astronomy ELEMENTARY LESSONS IN ASTRONOMY.

With Coloured Diagram of the Spectra of the Sun, Stars, and
Nebuloe, and numerous Illustrations. By J. NORMAN LOCKYER,
F.R.S. New Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 5^.6^.

28 SCIENTIFIC CATALOGUE.

Elementary Science Class-books continued.

QUESTIONS ON LOCKYER'S ELEMENTARY LESSONS
IN ASTRONOMY. For the Use of Schools. By JOHN
FORBES ROBERTSON. i8mo, cloth limp. is. 6d.

Physiology LESSONS IN ELEMENTARY PHYSIOLOGY.
With numerous Illustrations. By T. H. HUXLEY, F.R.S., Pro-
fessor of Natural History in the Royal School of Mines. New
Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 4^. (>d.

QUESTIONS ON HUXLEY'S PHYSIOLOGY FOR
SCHOOLS. By T. ALCOCK, M.D. i8mo. is. 6d.

Botany LESSONS IN ELEMENTARY BOTANY. By D.
OLIVER, F.R.S., F.L.S., Professor of Botany in University
College. London. With nearly Two Hundred Illustrations. New
Edition. Fcap. 8vo. $s. 6d.

Chemistry LESSONS IN ELEMENTARY CHEMISTRY,
INORGANIC AND ORGANIC. By HENRY E. ROSCOE,
F.R.S., Professor of Chemistry in Owens College, Manchester.
- , ; ,,With numerous Illustrations and Chromo-Litho of the Solar
Spectrum, and of the Alkalies and Alkaline Earths. New EditioK.
Fcap. 8vo. 4j. 6d.

A SERIES OF CHEMICAL .PROBLEMS,' prepared with
Special Reference to the above, by T. E. THORPE, Ph.D.,
Professor of Chemistry in the Yorkshire College of Science, Leeds.
Adapted for the preparation of Students for the Government,
Science, and Society of Arts Examinations. With a Preface by
Professor ROSCOE. Fifth Edition, with Key. i8mo. 2s.

Political Economy POLITICAL ECONOMY FOR BE-
GINNERS. By MILLICENT G. FAWCETT. New. Edition.
i8mo. 2s. 6d.

Logic.ELEMENTARY LESSONS IN LOGIC ; Deductive and
Inductive, with copious Questions and Examples, and a Vocabulary
of Logical Terms. By W. STANLEY JEVONS, M.A., Professor of
Political Economy in University College, London. New Edition.
Fcap. 8vo. 3^. 6d.

Physics. LESSONS IN ELEMENTARY PHYSICS. By
BALFOUR STEWART, F.R.S., Professor of Natural Philosophy in
Owens College, Manchester. With numerous Illustrations and
Chromo-Litho of the Spectra of the Sun, Stars,>nd Nebulce. New
Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 4*. 6d.

Practical Chemistry THE OWENS COLLEGE JUNIOR
COURSE OF PRACTICAL CHEMISTRY. By FRANCIS
JONES, Chemical Master in the Grammar School, Manchester.
With Preface by Professor ROSCOK, and Illustrations. New
Edition. l8mo. 2s. 6d.

SCIENCE CLASS-BOOKS. 29

Elementary Science Class-books continued.

Anatomy LESSONS IN ELEMENTARY ANATOMY. By
ST. GEORGE MIVART, F.R.S., Lecturer in Comparative Anatomy
at St. Mary's Hospital. With upwards of 400 Illustrations. Fcap.
8vo. 6s. 6d.

Mechanics AN ELEMENTARY TREATISE. By A. B.

W. KENNEDY, C.E., Professor of Applied Mechanics in University
College, London. With Illustrations. [In preparation .

Steam. AN ELEMENTARY TREATISE. By JOHN PKRRY,
Professor of Engineering, Imperial College of Engineering, Yedo.
With numerous Woodcuts and Numerical Examples and Exercises.
i8mo. 4/. 6(/.

Physical Geography. _ ELEMENTARY LESSONS IN
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. By A. GEIKIE, F.R.S., Murchi-
son Professor of Geology, &c., Edinburgh. With numerous
Illustrations. Fcap. 8vo. 4.?. 6d.
QUESTIONS ON THE SAME. is. 6d.

Geography. CLASS-BOOK OF GEOGRAPHY. By C. B.
CLARKE, M.A.. F.R.G.S. Fcap. 8vo. 2s. 6J.

Natural Philosophy. -NATURAL PHILOSOPHY FOR
BEGINNERS. By I. TODHUNTER, M.A., F.R.S. Part I.
The Properties of Solid and Fluid Bodies. i8mo. 35. 6d. Part
II. Sound, Light, and Heat. i8mo. y. >d.

Sound AN ELEMENTARY TREATISE. By W. H. STONE,
M.D., F.R.S. With Illustrations. i8mo. [/ the Press.

Others in Preparation.

MANUALS FOR STUDENTS.

Crown 8vo.

Dyer and Vines THE STRUCTURE OF PLANTS. By

Professor THISELTON DYER, F.R.S., assisted by SYDNEY
VINES, B.Sc., Fellow and Lecturer of Christ's College, Cambridge.
With numerous Illustrations, \_In preparation.

Fawcett A MANUAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. By

Professor FAWCETT, M.P. New Edition, revised and enlarged.
Crown 8vo. 12s. 6ii.

Fleischer A SYSTEM OF VOLUMETRIC ANALYSIS.
Translated, with Notes and Additions, from the second German
Edition, by M. M. PATTISON MUIR, F.R.S.K. With Illustra-
tion?. Crown 8vo. 7*. 6</.

3 o SCIENTIFIC CATALOGUE.

Manuals for Students continued.

Flower (W. H.)_AN INTRODUCTION TO THE OSTE-
OLOGY OF TPIE MAMMALIA. Being the Substance of the
Course of Lectures delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons of
England in 1870. By Professor W. H. FLOWER, F.R.S.,
F.R.C.S. With numerous Illustrations. New Edition, enlarged.
Crown 8vo. los. 6d.

Foster and Balfour THE ELEMENTS OF EMBRY-
OLOGY. By MICHAEL. FOSTER, M.D., F.R.S., and F. M.
BALFOUR, M.A. Part I. crown 8vo. 7-r. 6d.

Foster and Langley A COURSE OF ELEMENTARY

PRACTICAL PHYSIOLOGY. By MICHAEL FOSTER, M.D.,
F.R.S., and J. N. LANGLEY, B.A. New Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s.

Hooker (Dr.) THE STUDENT'S FLORA OF THE BRITISH

ISLANDS. By Sir J. D. HOOKER, K.C.S.I., C.B., F.R.S.,
M.D., D.C.L. New Edition, revised. Globe 8vo. los. 6d.

Huxley.PHYSIOGRAPHY. An Introduction to the Study of
Nature. By Professor HUXLEY, F.R.S. With numerous
Illustrations, and Coloured Plates. New Edition. Crown 8vo.
7-r. 6d.

Huxley and Martin A COURSE OF PRACTICAL IN-
STRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY BIOLOGY. By Professor
HUXLEY, F.R.S. , assisted by H. N. MARTIN, M.B., D.Sc. New
Edition, revised. Crown 8vo. 6s.

Huxley and Parker.ELEMENTARY BIOLOGY. PART
II. By Professor HUXLEY, F.R.S., assisted by PARKER.
With Illustrations. [In preparation.

Jevons THE PRINCIPLES OF SCIENCE. A Treatise on
Logic and Scientific Method. By Professor W. STANLEY JEVONS,
LL.D., F.R.S., New and Revised Edition. Crown 8vo. 12s. 6d.

Oliver (Professor)._riRST BOOK OF INDIAN BOTANY.

By Professor DANIEL OLIVER, F.R.S., F.L.S., Keeper of the
Herbarium and Library of the Royal Gardens, Kew. With
numerous Illustrations. Extra fcap. 8vo. 6s. 6d.

Parker and Bettany THE MORPHOLOGY OF THE
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Tait AN ELEMENTARY TREATISE ON HEAT. By Pro-
fessor TAIT, F.R.S. E. Illustrated. [In the Press.

Thomson ZOOLOGY. By Sir C. WYVILLE THOMSON,
F. R . S . Illustrated . [In preparation .

Tylor and Lankester ANTHROPOLOGY. By E. B.
TYLOR, M.A., F.R.S., and Professor E. RAY LANKESTER, M.A.,
F.R.S. Illustrated. [In preparation.

Other volumes of these Manuals will follow.

NATURE SERIES.

THE SPECTROSCOPE AND ITS APPLICATIONS.

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THE ORIGIN AND METAMORPHOSES OF IN-
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THE TRANSIT OF VENUS. By G. FORBES, B.A.,

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THE COMMON FROG. By ST. GEORGE Mi YAK T,

F.R.S. Illustrated. Crown Svo. y. (xi.

POLARISATION OF LIGHT. By W. SPOTTISWOODE,

LL.D., President of the Royal Society. Illustrated. Second Edition. Crown
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ON BRITISH WILD FLOWERS CONSIDERED IN

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THE SCIENCE OF WEIGHING AND MEASURING.

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Linkages. By A. B. KEMPE, B.A. Illustrated. Crown Svo. i*. 6.A

LIGHT : A Series of Simple, Entertaining and Useful

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SOLTND : A Series of Simple, Entertaining and Inex-
pensive Experiments in the Phenomena of Srund. for the Use of Students of
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of Technology, &c. With numerous Illustrations. Crown Svo. 3*. 6d.

(Others to follow.)

MACMILLAN AND CO., LONDON.

Published every Thursday, price 6d. j Monthly Parts >2S. and
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NATURE:

AN ILLUSTRATED fOLRNAL OF SCIENCE.

> ?.' I :*(.)} i c r,''i 17: /> T ' ! Tl ' A ' 1 /". /. /- ' .-ftii*'- ' -' i'H T
NATURE expounds in a popular and yet authentic manner,
the GRAND RESULTS OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH, discussing
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Full text of "Darwinism, and other essays"

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