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London MACMILLAN AND CO. AND NEW YORK 1892
London MACMILLAN AND CO. AND NEW YORK 1892
All rights reserved I am indebted to the Editors of the Nineteenth Century and of the Fortnightly Review for permission to reprint such of the following Essays as have appeared in the pages of those periodicals: and so large a proportion of the papers has been published in the Nineteenth Century that my acknowledgments are especially due to Mr. Knowles. T. H. H. May 4, 1892....
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PROLOGUE
PROLOGUE
Le plus grand service qu'on puisse rendre à la science est d'y faire place nette avant d'y rien construire.— Cuvier. Most of the Essays comprised in the present volume have been written during the last six or seven years, without premeditated purpose or intentional connection, in reply to attacks upon doctrines which I hold to be well founded; or in refutation of allegations respecting matters lying within the province of natural knowledge, which I believe to be erroneous; and they bear the mark
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I THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF PALÆONTOLOGY
I THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF PALÆONTOLOGY
That application of the sciences of biology and geology, which is commonly known as palæontology, took its origin in the mind of the first person who, finding something like a shell, or a bone, naturally embedded in gravel or rock, indulged in speculations upon the nature of this thing which he had dug out—this "fossil"—and upon the causes which had brought it into such a position. In this rudimentary form, a high antiquity may safely be ascribed to palæontology, inasmuch as we know that, 500 ye
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II THE INTERPRETERS OF GENESIS AND THE INTERPRETERS OF NATURE
II THE INTERPRETERS OF GENESIS AND THE INTERPRETERS OF NATURE
Our fabulist warns "those who in quarrels interpose" of the fate which is probably in store for them; and, in venturing to place myself between so powerful a controversialist as Mr. Gladstone and the eminent divine whom he assaults with such vigour in the last number of this Review, [11] I am fully aware that I run great danger of verifying Gay's prediction. Moreover, it is quite possible that my zeal in offering aid to a combatant so extremely well able to take care of himself as M. Réville may
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III MR. GLADSTONE AND GENESIS
III MR. GLADSTONE AND GENESIS
In controversy, as in courtship, the good old rule to be off with the old before one is on with the new, greatly commends itself to my sense of expediency. And, therefore, it appears to me desirable that I should preface such observations as I may have to offer upon the cloud of arguments (the relevancy of which to the issue which I had ventured to raise is not always obvious) put forth by Mr. Gladstone in the January number of this Review, [14] by an endeavour to make clear to such of our reade
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IV THE EVOLUTION OF THEOLOGY: AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDY
IV THE EVOLUTION OF THEOLOGY: AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDY
I conceive that the origin, the growth, the decline, and the fall of those speculations respecting the existence, the powers, and the dispositions of beings analogous to men, but more or less devoid of corporeal qualities, which may be broadly included under the head of theology, are phenomena the study of which legitimately falls within the province of the anthropologist. And it is purely as a question of anthropology (a department of biology to which I have at various times given a good deal o
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V SCIENCE AND MORALS
V SCIENCE AND MORALS
In spite of long and, perhaps, not unjustifiable hesitation, I begin to think that there must be something in telepathy. For evidence, which I may not disregard, is furnished by the last number of the Fortnightly Review that, among the hitherto undiscovered endowments of the human species, there may be a power even more wonderful than the mystic faculty by which the esoterically Buddhistic sage "upon the farthest mountain in Cathay" reads the inmost thoughts of a dweller within the homely circui
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VI SCIENTIFIC AND PSEUDO-SCIENTIFIC REALISM
VI SCIENTIFIC AND PSEUDO-SCIENTIFIC REALISM
Next to undue precipitation in anticipating the results of pending investigations, the intellectual sin which is commonest and most hurtful to those who devote themselves to the increase of knowledge is the omission to profit by the experience of their predecessors recorded in the history of science and philosophy. It is true that, at the present day, there is more excuse than at any former time for such neglect. No small labour is needed to raise oneself to the level of the acquisitions already
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VII SCIENCE AND PSEUDO-SCIENCE
VII SCIENCE AND PSEUDO-SCIENCE
In the opening sentences of a contribution to the last number of this Review, [68] the Duke of Argyll has favoured me with a lecture on the proprieties of controversy, to which I should be disposed to listen with more docility if his Grace's precepts appeared to me to be based upon rational principles, or if his example were more exemplary. With respect to the latter point, the Duke has thought fit to entitle his article "Professor Huxley on Canon Liddon," and thus forces into prominence an elem
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VIII AN EPISCOPAL TRILOGY
VIII AN EPISCOPAL TRILOGY
If there is any truth in the old adage that a burnt child dreads the fire, I ought to be very loath to touch a sermon, while the memory of what befell me on a recent occasion, possibly not yet forgotten by the readers of this Review, is uneffaced. But I suppose that even the distinguished censor of that unheard-of audacity to which not even the newspaper report of a sermon is sacred, can hardly regard a man of science as either indelicate or presumptuous, if he ventures to offer some comments up
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IX AGNOSTICISM
IX AGNOSTICISM
Within the last few months the public has received much and varied information on the subject of agnostics, their tenets, and even their future. Agnosticism exercised the orators of the Church Congress at Manchester. [80] It has been furnished with a set of "articles" fewer, but not less rigid, and certainly not less consistent than the thirty-nine; its nature has been analysed, and its future severely predicted by the most eloquent of that prophetical school whose Samuel is Auguste Comte. It ma
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X THE VALUE OF WITNESS TO THE MIRACULOUS
X THE VALUE OF WITNESS TO THE MIRACULOUS
Charles, or, more properly, Karl, King of the Franks, consecrated Roman Emperor in St. Peter's on Christmas Day, A.D. 800, and known to posterity as the Great (chiefly by his agglutinative Gallicised denomination of Charlemagne), was a man great in all ways, physically and mentally. Within a couple of centuries after his death Charlemagne became the centre of innumerable legends; and the myth-making process does not seem to have been sensibly interfered with by the existence of sober and truthfu
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XI AGNOSTICISM: A REJOINDER
XI AGNOSTICISM: A REJOINDER
Those who passed from Dr. Wace's article in the last number of this Review to the anticipatory confutation of it which followed in "The New Reformation," must have enjoyed the pleasure of a dramatic surprise—just as when the fifth act of a new play proves unexpectedly bright and interesting. Mrs. Ward will, I hope, pardon the comparison, if I say that her effective clearing away of antiquated incumbrances from the lists of the controversy, reminds me of nothing so much as of the action of some n
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XII AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY
XII AGNOSTICISM AND CHRISTIANITY
Nemo ergo ex me scire quærat, quod me nescire scio, nisi forte ut nescire discat.— Augustinus , De Civ. Dei , xii. 7. [123] The present discussion has arisen out of the use, which has become general in the last few years, of the terms "Agnostic" and "Agnosticism." The people who call themselves "Agnostics" have been charged with doing so because they have not the courage to declare themselves "Infidels." It has been insinuated that they have adopted a new name in order to escape the unpleasantne
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XIII THE LIGHTS OF THE CHURCH AND THE LIGHT OF SCIENCE
XIII THE LIGHTS OF THE CHURCH AND THE LIGHT OF SCIENCE
There are three ways of regarding any account of past occurrences, whether delivered to us orally or recorded in writing. The narrative may be exactly true. That is to say, the words, taken in their natural sense, and interpreted according to the rules of grammar, may convey to the mind of the hearer, or of the reader, an idea precisely correspondent with one which would have remained in the mind of a witness. For example, the statement that King Charles the First was beheaded at Whitehall on th
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XIV THE KEEPERS OF THE HERD OF SWINE
XIV THE KEEPERS OF THE HERD OF SWINE
I had fondly hoped that Mr. Gladstone and I had come to an end of disputation, and that the hatchet of war was finally superseded by the calumet, which, as Mr. Gladstone, I believe, objects to tobacco, I was quite willing to smoke for both. But I have had, once again, to discover that the adage that whoso seeks peace will ensue it, is a somewhat hasty generalisation. The renowned warrior with whom it is my misfortune to be opposed in most things has dug up the axe and is on the war-path once mor
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XVI HASISADRA'S ADVENTURE
XVI HASISADRA'S ADVENTURE
Some thousands of years ago, there was a city in Mesopotamia called Surippak. One night a strange dream came to a dweller therein, whose name, if rightly reported, was Hasisadra. The dream foretold the speedy coming of a great flood; and it warned Hasisadra to lose no time in building a ship, in which, when notice was given, he, his family and friends, with their domestic animals and a collection of the wild creatures and seed of plants of the land, might take refuge and be rescued from destruct
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MESSRS. MACMILLAN AND CO.'S PUBLICATIONS.
MESSRS. MACMILLAN AND CO.'S PUBLICATIONS.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR. LAY SERMONS, ADDRESSES, AND REVIEWS. 9th Edition. 8vo. 7s. 6d. CRITIQUES AND ADDRESSES. 8vo. 10s. 6d. STANDARD —"The whole book is well worthy of the reputation of a writer whom all, whether they agree or not with his views upon education and Darwinism, will admit is one of our foremost thinkers." SCOTSMAN —"There is so much that is suggestive in the volume, so much that is valuable in the way of scientific information, and so much that is good in point of literary style, tha
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MESSRS. MACMILLAN AND CO.'S PUBLICATIONS.
MESSRS. MACMILLAN AND CO.'S PUBLICATIONS.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR. LESSONS IN ELEMENTARY PHYSIOLOGY. With Numerous Illustrations. New Edition. Foolscap 8vo. 4s. 6d. SPECTATOR —"A very useful little manual which should be received with acclamation." MEDICAL PRESS —"It is an admirable illustration of how the greatest masters of a science may teach its elements in the most simple manner." LANCET —"To intending medical students this work will prove of great value.... We welcome this book then as a valuable addition to elementary education." PHYS
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MESSRS. MACMILLAN AND CO.'S PUBLICATIONS.
MESSRS. MACMILLAN AND CO.'S PUBLICATIONS.
By the BISHOP OF LONDON. THE RELATIONS BETWEEN RELIGION AND SCIENCE. Bampton Lectures, 1884. 7th and Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. By Rev. Professor SALMON . NON-MIRACULOUS CHRISTIANITY, and other Sermons. 2nd Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. GNOSTICISM AND AGNOSTICISM, and other Sermons. Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d. By the AUTHOR OF "ECCE HOMO." NATURAL RELIGION. By the author of "Ecce Homo." 3rd Edition. Globe 8vo. 6s. By Professors TAIT and BALFOUR STEWART. PARADOXICAL PHILOSOPHY: A Sequel to "The Unseen Univ
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MESSRS. MACMILLAN & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS.
MESSRS. MACMILLAN & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS.
WORKS BY Dr. A. R. WALLACE. New and Cheaper Edition. Extra Crown 8vo. 6s. THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO: THE LAND OF THE ORANG UTAN AND THE BIRD OF PARADISE. A Narrative of Travel. With Studies of Man and Nature. By Alfred Russell Wallace , LL.D., F.L.S., Author of "Darwinism," etc. With Maps and Illustrations. GLASGOW HERALD —"There is probably no more interesting book of travel in the language.... For one-and-twenty years it has held its place as a monograph in a region of the East which is full of fa
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SOME VOLUMES OF "NATURE" SERIES.
SOME VOLUMES OF "NATURE" SERIES.
Crown 8vo. Cloth. SEEING AND THINKING. By Prof. W. K. Clifford , F.R.S. Diagrams. 3s. 6d. CHARLES DARWIN. Memorial Notices reprinted from "Nature." By Thomas H. Huxley , F.R.S.; G. J. Romanes , F.R.S.; Archibald Geikie , F.R.S.; and W. T. Dyer , F.R.S. 2s. 6d. ON THE COLOURS OF FLOWERS. By Grant Allen . Illustrated. 3s. 6d. THE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCES OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. By George J. Romanes , M.A., LL.D. 2s. 6d. POPULAR LECTURES AND ADDRESSES. By Lord Kelvin , P.R.S. In 3 vols. Vol. I. Constitut
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ON BIOLOGY, ANATOMY, AND PHYSIOLOGY.
ON BIOLOGY, ANATOMY, AND PHYSIOLOGY.
ELEMENTARY BIOLOGY. By T. H. Huxley , F.R.S., and H. N. Martin , F.R.S. New Edition. Revised and extended by G. B. Howes and D. H. Scott . Cr. 8vo. 10s. 6d. AN ATLAS OF PRACTICAL ELEMENTARY BIOLOGY. By G. B. Howes . With a Preface by T. H. Huxley , F.R.S. 4to. 14s. COMPARATIVE EMBRYOLOGY (A Treatise on). By F. M. Balfour , M.A., F.R.S. Illustrated. In 2 Vols. Vol. I., 18s.; Vol. II., 21s. THE ELEMENTS OF EMBRYOLOGY. By Professor M. Foster , M.D., F.R.S., and the late Francis M. Balfour , F.R.S.
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Notes
Notes
[1] With a few exceptions, which are duly noted when they amount to more than verbal corrections. [2] Declaration on the Truth of Holy Scripture . The Times , 18th December 1891. [3] Declaration , Article 10. [4] Ego vero evangelio non crederem, nisi ecclesiæ Catholicæ me commoveret auctoritas.— Contra Epistolam Manichæi , cap. v. [5] I employ the words "Supernature" and "Supernatural" in their popular senses. For myself, I am bound to say that the term "Nature" covers the totality of that which
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