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Vicarious Suffering.
OUR
SANCTIONS
FOR
CRUELTY.
BY
SALADIN.
(Reprinted from the “Agnostic Journal.")
May 31st, 1902.
LONDON:
W. STEWART & CO., 4b FARRINGDON ST,
E.C.
�Every Thursday.
Price Twopence.
Journal
AND ECLECTIC REVIEW.
EDITED
BY
SALADIN.
V Under name and pen-name, some of the most
scholarly and able writers of the age contribute regularly
to The Agnostic Journal ; and, although the Editorial
policy is opposed to the popular and dominant faith,
the columns of the journal are ever open to articles in
defence of Christianity from clergymen or lay Christians
of recognized ability, while considerable space is devoted
to the investigation of Theosophy, Spiritualism,
Mysticism, etc.
The Agnostic Journal can be had free by post on
the following terms :—Quarterly, 2s. 8|d.; half-yearly,
5s. 5d. ; yearly, 10s. iod. Orders should be given to
local newsagents ; but where this is impracticable they
should be sent direct to the Publishing Office.
London : W. Stewart & Co., 41, Farringdon Street, E.C.
�VICARIOUS SUFFERING.
“ Man’s inhumanity to man ” is the blight and canker
and bane of human life. In recent decades human
ingenuity has been, in part, directed to such benignant
inventions as the steam-engine and the electric telegraph
and telephone. But, anterior to those decades, for
century upon century, man’s mechanical ingenuity was
principally directed to the production of instruments of
torture, to contrivances which applied to those mystic
harp-strings, the human nerves, could evoke every note in
the gamut of agony.
In the Ages of Faith, in the ages in which the Church
which claimed, and still claims, to be of Christ was
supreme, we had no telescope, no gas-light, no railway, no
printing-press ; but we had the rack, the wheel, the boots,
the thumb-screw, the witch’s bridle, the Iron Virgin, and
other torture-engines too numerous and devilish to be
catalogued here. In our museums you can still behold
preserved specimens of these mechanical horrors. The
sight of them makes me shudder : then, what effect must
their hellish spectacle of rust and horror have upon you,
O Orthodoxist, when you remember that it was almost
exclusively in the service of the Church that that rack tore
human joints out of their sockets, that the boots there
�4
VICARIOUS
SUFFERING.
held the leg of a human being till blood from the ruptured
veins and marrow from the shattered bone splashed in
the face of him who, with swinging hammer, drove home
the merciless wedges ? Here is heresy, some incom
prehensibly subtle doctrinal distinction contemned : then,
tighten the wedges, apply the hammer ; as weighed against
the crime of heresy how trifling are blood and marrow
and anguish and agony !
Were grimly fanatical believers culpably inconsistent
with their creed in thus mangling their fellow human
beings ? Did not the Lord, at the very outset of his
career with man, shew that he preferred the red blood of
the veins to the red flush of the rose ? Did he not prefer
the fat of Abel’s veal to the fragrance of Cain’s violets ?
Cain : Poor Abel ! he was but a shepherd boy,
Who offered up the firstlings of his flocks
In order to appease Jehovah’s wrath,
Who revelled in the pangs and dying groans
Of the poor beasts who never did him wrong.
My heart revolted at the cruel sport. ’Twas I
Refused to torture gentle innocents,
But, taking fruit, I offered it to Him,
Altho’ ’twas mock’ry, seeing all was His.
Spirit : Fruit would not do. The Lord has ordered blood.
Cain : My brother, as a shepherd, offered lambs,
And I, as husbandman, did offer fruit.
Methought the offering of one’s toil is best acceptable.
Spirit : Blood, dying pangs, the torture of the innocent,
Alone appeases the Almighty’s wrath.
Cain : Ay ! to the shame of all created things,
Thou speakest true—He loveth blood I *
Did not the entire wheel of the Christians’ faith turn upon
the pivot of blood and suffering ? Was not the man-god
in whom they believed nailed, hand and foot, to the bitter
cross ? Painters, poets, theologians and historians, have
testified to the pain and ignomy of crucifixion. It was not
* Lady Florence Dixie, in “ Abel Avenged,” in Part II. of
“ The Songs of a Child.”
�VICARIOUS
SUFFERING.
5
mere execution, as we now understand the word; it was
studied torture. In being nailed, or lashed, to the cross, no
vital organ of the victim was affected. Crucifixion was, with
hellish ingenuity, designed to elicit and stimulate all the
suffering of which the nerves of the culprit were capable,
even to the last spasm and writhe of anguish and agony.
A strong culprit has been known to hang on the cross
for several days, before exposure to the sun, hunger, slow
haemorrhage and fiery thirst brought death in merciful
relief.
And this is the revolting and horrible torture to which
the Church deliberately and dogmatically subjected her
man-deity. Lest the horror upon which her very existence
rested should be overlooked or forgotten, crucifixes with
a tortured and nude human figure nailed thereto were
exhibited everywhere, in wood, in stone, on canvas.
And, as if this were not enough of the cruel and the
horrible, the twelve “ Stations of the Cross,” each more
shudderingly revolting than the other, were invented and
forced, in all their repellant gruesomness, upon the wild
and sanguinary imagination of an unlettered public.
Blood! Blood ! Blood everywhere ! “ Without the
shedding of blood there is no remission.” “ Except
ye eat my flesh and drink my blood, there is no life in
you.”
This horrible dithyramb with the refrain of “ Blood ”
only too truculently commended itself to the fierce races
in the fields of Christian mission. Blood, not brain.
Brain was crude, credulous and inchoate, and applied its
raw rapacity to blood and the merciless shedding
thereof. Zealots, bigots, their god had been tortured, and
.they, not incoherently, took to inventing instruments “ for
His name’s sake.” Habituation to the idea of crucifixion—
“ and, being in agony, He prayed more earnestly, and
the sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling
�6
VICARIOUS
SUFFERING.
down to the ground”—hardened all the more gentle
and tender humanitarian instincts, as daily contemplation
of cruel and morbid topics inevitably will. And, here, in
London, only a few years ago, we had, on exhibition, a
collection of torture-engines by which, through dark and
bloody ages, on the scaffold and in the dungeon, the Gospel
had been protected in its purity against the taint of
heresy.
Perdition to the church that required such engines to pro
tect her against heresy ! Now, on every side, she is assailed
by heresy—nay, by blank unbelief; and this contumacious
journal is, every week, hurled in her teeth in defiant
scorn. Yet who will say that, in spite of this, the world
is not better than it was at the time when this serial would
have been in the flames and its editor on the rack ?
Blood! Blood ! “ There is a fountain filled with
blood.” Well, disinfect the abhorrent nuisance and fill
it up with rubble: scatter over it a layer of rich and
generous mould ; there let the wholesome green grass wave
round the rathe roses of Reason and the white lilies of
Peace. Can it be wondered at that this habituation to the
conception of the sanguinary and horrible has rendered
Christianity the bloodiest agency that has ever cursed the
earth with its presence ? I fearlessly appeal to history in
corroboration of my averment. “ I come not to bring
peace, but a sword,” is a dictum put into the mouth of
the clumsily-invented myth from whom the faith of the
vulgar takes its name. Yes, and, by Heaven, the sword
came, and came to stay; and with it came ignorance and
superstition and bigotry, and cruelty and rancour and hate.
“ The Lamb of the Great Sacrifice” was hoisted on the back
of The Ass of the Great Credulity, and the Dark Ages was
the result, and the darkness of the Dark Ages flings its
penumbra upon the vaunted illumination of to-day to a
degree that he who looks upon Society conventionally
little suspects.
�VICARIOUS
SUFFERING.
7
Not only did the “glad tidings of great joy”—O
mordant irony !—tend to the reckless and merciless waste
of life; but, by a far hotter and more real hell than any
previous faith had known, it lent new terrors to death.
Never, before Christianity was devised, was it dis
covered that there was any sting in death worth speaking
of. Ask the death-bed memories of certain sincere
Christians of the type of John Bunyan and William
Cowper, in their raving terror, how Christianity takes
away the sting from death; and, if I, like them, were a
Christian, I feel certain that my death-bed would be as
shudderingly terrible as was theirs. There are, I know,
many Christians who feel quite sure that they will “ fall
asleep in Jesus,” and who console themselves by repeating
maudlin, nauseous, and meaningless Gospel tags. They
know that the vast majority of human kind go to perdition,
but they have the despicable self-conceit to believe
that they have been selected from that overwhelming
majority, that they are members of that select few, that
mere handful, the elect, that they have “ found Jesus,’’
that they have been “ washed in the blood of the Lamb,”
and much else of canting commonplace. And, in their
selfish meanness, they feel idiotically happy—although,
practically, the whole of the rest of the world is to be lost.
And only by this intensely selfish and self-conceited
imbecility does Christianity 11 take away the sting from
death.” Plato knew how to die, ignorant of this
sting-extracting process; and so did Socrates, so did
Cato, so did Epaminondas, so did Codes, so did Caesar,
so did Julian.
He who mercilessly drowned a multitude of swine,
after, in his superstitious ignorance, he deemed he had
put devils into them, cannot be cited as a zoophilist.
Buddha and Mahomet alike insisted upon kindness to the
“lower” animals; but where did Jesus utter one word
that can be quoted enjoining upon us kindly treatment
�VICARIOUS
SUFFERING.
of our poor non-human fellow-mortals ? We find attri
buted to him a number of fatuous utterances like,
“ I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven ”; “I and
my father are one ” ; and “ The father is greater than I.”
But he never once said : “ Be merciful to the ass ”; “ Be
kind to the dog ”; or “ Liberate the slave.” And,
consistently enough, till this hour, the countries professing
the faith that bears his name are by far the cruellest and
zoomistic in the world.
Even while I write, in Spain, the most Christian
country in Europe, a bull-fight on a more than ordinarily
*
colossal scale is being arranged, and which will involve
reeking slaughters and horrors in which the Mahometan
could never participate, and which the Buddhist would
rather die than sanction. By far the best organized and
numerically strongest section of the Church that bears
Christ’s name formulates thus, in brutal candour, in
“ The Catholic Dictionary,” published under the
imprimatur of Cardinal Vaughan: “ The brutes are
made for man, who has the same right over them that he
has over plants and stones. He may, according to the
express permission of God, given to Noe, kill them for his
food, and this without strict necessity; it must also be
lawful to put them to death or to inflict pain on them for
any good or reasonable end, such as the promotion
of man’s knowledge, health, etc., or even for the purposes
of recreation.”
There are, however, humanitarians among the Papists,
as among the Protestants, men and women nobler than,
and unconsciously in revolt against, their creed. For
instance, the Christian pietist, Frances Power Cobbe,
denounces Vivisection as “ to the last degree un-Christian ”;
and then, by a tour de force of the glaring inconsistency
to which Christian apologists are driven, she admits:
* See p. 13.
�VICARIOUS
SUFFERING.
9
“ This abominable sentiment, and all the cruelty to man
and brute of which it has been the promoter, remains
after twenty centuries of Christianity almost unnoticed
by the churches of Christ. No moralist—so far as my
small knowledge extends, whether Catholic or Protestant
—no father, no schoolman, no casuist of later times, no
Protestant preachers, have denounced Cruelty and the
Pleasure in Pain with anything approaching to the nature
of its moral delinquency.”
Again : “ If we really accepted the precept of Love to
all and under all conditions as the supreme Divine Law,
should we not regard the sin of positively torturing and
taking pleasure in the sight of torture as the very last and
worst of offences ? Should not the early Christian
teachers, when they mapped out the Seven Deadly Sins,
have placed Cruelty the very first on the list ? What
were they doing, and what has the Church of Rome been
doing ever since, to tell us that Sloth, Covetousness, Lust,
Anger, Envy, Pride, and even Gluttony are mortal sins,
and say not one word about Cruelty to man or beast ?
Again : 11 Even our own English minds (through whole
regions of which the old Roman theology and morals still
unconsciously dribble) rarely take in the idea that the
supreme Vice is Cruelty, that while all other vices degrade
man to the level of the beast, Cruelty sinks him to that
of the fiend. When we speak of Vice commonly, we
think of sexual vice or intemperance. We do not think
of that Vice of which—so it seems to me—we must, if
guilty, repent through all the cycles of our immortality.”*
Yes, Miss Cobbe, and to this Vice of all the vices that
“ most holy religion ” of yours is not appreciably opposed,
in either theory or practice !
That truculent Romish dictum I have quoted gives
full warranty, not only to hunting our fellow-mortals to
Contemporary Review, May, 1902.
�IO
VICARIOUS
SUFFERING.
death for “ sport,” but gives sanction to the hideous
horrors exposed in a brochure * which I have glanced
at and closed with a shudder. Jesus was crucified to
secure our spiritual, and now, consistently enough with
that immoral and revolting proposition, dogs and cats and
rabbits and guinea-pigs are being vivisected to secure our
physical well-being. In the name of Mercy, who and
what are we that both god and dog should suffer and die
for us ? I who, till recently, was endowed with far above
the normal strength and agility, and could leap a five-bar
gate, was wont to feel more proud of the feat than that
of writing an “ At Random ” ; but I have now, through a
nerve-malady, to move cautiously, and not over steadily,
along by the aid of a staff. Yet, even were the torture
of the mouse, exhibited in figure 447, to disclose the
neurotic secret that would again make me a swift-footed
Achilles, I should, unscathed, set the “ wee bit creepin’,
timorous beastie ” free. What right have I to make his
impotency my potency, to make his woe my weal ?
In Figure 503^, these Christian vivisectionists have
actually stuck up a rabbit with a nail through each foot
and in an attitude grimly suggestive of their man-god
upon the cross. The brutal burlesque is theirs, not
mine. But in the figures on page 158, the cat, my
favourite among all the animals, is exposed in three
attitudes of vivisectional agony. I finish this at “ the
wee short hour ayont the twal,” and go to bed to pass a
sleepless night. Visions of my lost friend, the “ Prodigal
’Catalogue of apparatus and appliances for experiments with
animals, issued by F. and M. Lautenschlager, Berlin. Translated
into English by Paul Griinfeld, who was nominated at the request
of the National Anti-Vivisection Society, by the librarian of the British
Museum. The illustrations, which have been reproduced by
photographic zinco-etching, are fac-similes of the originals, and have
been placed beside the letterpress as they appear in the original
catalogue. Second Edition.—Twentieth Thousand. Printed for
The National Anti-Vivisection Society, 92, Victoria Street, London.
j
�VICARIOUS
SUFFERING.
II
Son,” will pass before me, between my closed but
sleepless eyes and heaven’s dome filled with the awful
stars. His remains lie affectionately interred in the small
plot of garden behind my home in London, and a giant
Scots thistle from Galloway keeps vigil over his grave.
My ever tenderly remembered “ Prodigal Son,”
who was young and happy, and to whom life was
dear, yet died like a philosopher. I feel convinced that
he knew he was dying; but he died like a hero. He
knew he was dying; but he knew nothing about the sting
having been taken from death by the reputed sacrifice
of an old-time carpenter; he did not know that death had
ever had any special sting. As I nursed him, he only
looked up with a deep and tender mournfulness into my
tearful eyes. I have among “ my puir earth-born
companions and fellow mortals,” had pet pigs, pet
bullocks, pet horses, pet rats, pet sheep, pet. crows and
pet owls. I never had the self-conceit to feel myself so
superior to any of them that I presumed to regard them
as subordinates; I regarded them as friends, and (I wish
I could say the same of the human animal) not one
of them ever betrayed me.
I read inexpressible volumes of pathos in the counten
ance of my expiring feline friend. His teeth, which he had
often used upon me playfully, were visible between his
parted lips, as he panted for laborious breath. And, as
he cast upon me his last look, there was an eloquence
therein which can never be expressed in any weak words of
mine. It meant: “ Dearest friend, Saladin, my poor green
eyes, of which you were the delight, are closing. I am in
pain. It is growing dark. My one regret is, I shall see
you no more.”
I am aware that what I here express is only the
emotionalism of an intense zoophilist who sometimes feels
inclined to doubt that “ the lower animals ” are the lower
animals at all, it being difficult to get lower than the
�12
VICARIOUS
SUFFERING.
average J. Smith, and impossible to get lower than the
lowest J. Smith.
If, in the awful arcanum of inexorable Fate, I cannot
have my soul saved without a tortured Christ, or my body
cured without a vivisected Cat, let soul and body perish.
I am not without egoistic self-esteem; but I have
also moral self-respect, and this latter revolts at my
accepting of weal at the cost of another’s woe. Barbaric
conception of pristine savages ! If my soul cannot be
saved without another’s blood and agony—Let it be lost.
Doom, I face thee and whatever thou mayest have in
reserve for me j and I decline to escape my weird through
the anguish of a Christ on the Cross, or, through its
natural, sequence, the agony of a Cat on the “ Operation
Board.” God, whom I cannot formulate in thought, but
whom I meet in ecstatic vision, Thou wilt not permit r
me to be lost because I decline to accept of a cruel
coward’s method of being saved.
�A CHRISTIAN HOLIDAY.
*
The hold the ring has on Spain is enormous. There
are four weekly journals in Madrid devoted solely to the
interests and literature of the bull-ring. There are dozensof books written on the subject, and on every day of a
fight Madrid is simply painted green with copies of the
“Programa de Espectaculos,” a four-page sheet sold fora,
penny by hundreds, perhaps thousands, of hawkers.
This gives pictures of the bulls to be slaughtered on theday in question, their pedigrees and owners and short
histories of the animals, together with the names of all
the performers in the day’s spectacle. About an hour
before the time for the show to begin the picadores,
dressed in their clumsy but picturesque costume, set out
from their hotel in the Puerta del Sol for the Plaza de
Toros, about a mile away.
These gentry are mounted on fine horses, not the sorry
hacks they use in the-ring, and are followed by immense
crowds of admiring men, women, and children, who con
sider it an honour to be near the heroes.
At this time of the year the spectacle begins at about
four, earlier or later, according to the number of animals
to be killed. The scene for a couple of hours before this
time beggars description. A sense of furious struggle,
wild desire, fierce eagerness hangs over the city—comes
pouring down with the rays of the hot sun, rises with the
dust from the suffocating streets, gets into the blood of
every Madrileno, and compels him or her—for women go
to bull-fights in their thousands—to make a mad rush for
the place of slaughter.
Even if he cannot afford to enter the show—and it is
an old saying that a Spaniard will sell his shirt to go
Daily Express, May 21st, 1902.
�14
A CHRISTIAN HOLIDAY.
to a bull-fight—to be near the ring is something. Per
haps he may hear a wounded bull bellow with rage or
a dying horse scream in his agony, and he is certain
to see the chief actors come or go.
Private carriages, with well-dressed men and daintilyclad women, electric trams succeeding each other with
amazing rapidity, each laden to the full with sweltering
humanity (or inhumanity), horse and mule trams that
use no rails, but clatter madly over the cobbles, extra
omnibuses, and open cars drawn by five, six, or eight
red-tasselled mules, all dash at full gallop for the Plaza
de Toros to turn out their loads and tear back for
more.
As the time grows short they come only part of the
way back and turn at the half-way mark to hurry on
belated stragglers. It is not gay, it is feverish, exciting,
bewildering. Men’s faces are set and keen. There is
no badinage or merriment, even if it were possible,
while thundering over the ill-paved streets. The one
idea is to get to the fight quickly. Anger is swift to the
surface, drivers are urged and sworn at, and woe be to the
wretched horse or mule that stumbles. He is greeted
with a shower of curses from roof and window of the
vehicle and flogged unmercifully by his driver.
If anyone is of opinion that bull-fighting does not
brutalize these people, let him watch the crowd that goes
to the Plaza de Toros any Sunday in Madrid. He need
not go inside the amphitheatre—he will see enough out
side to change his mind.
We are having fights nearly every day just at present.
I went to Thursday’s contest, and saw six bulls and
fifteen horses slaughtered. I was disgusted and bored,
and came away simply worn out, not with excitement,
but with a sinking stomach and fluttering heart. My
first feeling was that of anger at the men in the ring
for brutally sacrificing the poor horse, who, with his
bandaged eye on to the side towards the bull, was made
to receive broadside the cruel horns of the maddened
and worried brute. The result was sickening. The
horse was ripped open, and amidst screams of pain he
was forced to stand again with his entrails dragging on
the sand of the arena. Every step he took he trod on
�A CHRISTIAN HOLIDAY.
15
his entrails, but was not allowed to lie down and die until
he could no longer bear the burden of the picador, who
urged him forward as long as possible with spurs while his
servant slashed the dying brute over the head with a
*
stick
I do not intend to describe the fight; you would
probably not publish the revolting details if I did. I
merely give one instance which was multiplied over a
dozen time with variations more loathing and gory as the
insistent crowd’s lust for blood grew with what it fed upon.
Finally, the bull, his fore part a crimson flood, spirit
exhausted, an easy victim for the cowards who were
torturing him, was put out of his misery by the matador.
For three hours this went on until the six bulls had been
dragged out dead by mules.
Bull-fighting is a cruel, soul-debasing sight. Men,
women, and children must become brutalised made
callous to suffering and pain. It must and does stamp
the character of the people who love it, and degrade
them. Many Spaniards will tell you that they do not
care for it, and never go. They wish to have the “ sport ”
stopped, but they are few compared to the millions here
who would cause civil war rather than their favourite
pastime should be abolished. In some parts of the United
States the law does not permit a butcher to sit on a jury
trying a prisoner for capital crime, because he is sup
posed to be accustomed to the sight of blood. If such a
law were in force here it would be hard to obtain a jury
in Madrid, where nearly everyone is a butcher, by proxy
s>t least
After witnessing a. bull-fight it is easy to understand
Spanish cruelty in Cuba and elsewhere, and to realise that
it was in this Spain that the Inquisition originated- You
may see to-day in Madrid the square, Plaza Mayor, where
thousands of persons were tortured and burned to death
to the great delight of the spectators crowding the bal
conies about the four sides of the square. It has changed
but little in appearance, except that the instruments of
torture have been removed a little further away to the Plaza
de Toros.
,, c u •
There are many laws in Spain regulating bull-fighting,
mostly in favour of the institution. As an example of its
�A CHRISTIAN HOLIDAY.
legality, I may merely point out that should all the horses
available be killed at a corrida the law allows the managers
of the rings to go into the public streets and commandeer
the first horses at hand, paying for them, of course. There
are more than two hundred and fifty bull-rings in Spain,
About five hundred fights are held every year, in which
one thousand five hundred bulls and six thousand horses
are killed. These are average figures. It is impossible
to get any reliable figures of the expense of this national
institution, but it must be very large. Matadors of first
rank make sometimes from ^£10,000 to_^'i£)ooo a year,
and everybody finds money for the bull-fight, though
schools suffer in this country, where about fifty per cent,
of the people are illiterate.
London: W. Stewart & Co., 41, Farrin^don Street, E.C.
�
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Vicarious suffering : our sanctions for cruelty
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Ross, William Stewart [1844-1906]
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Place of publication: London
Collation: 16 p. ; 18 cm.
Notes: Includes A Christian holiday, article reprinted from the Daily Express, 21 May 1902. Reprinted from the Agnostic Journal, 31 May 1902. Includes bibliographical references. Annotations in ink and pencil. "by Saladin" [title page]. Saladin is the pseudonym of William Stewart Ross. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
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W. Stewart & Co.
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[1902]
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N600
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Ethics
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Vicarious suffering : our sanctions for cruelty), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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English
Bullfighting
Cruelty
NSS
Suffering
Torture
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KJ 4^
MODERN SCIENCE
AND MODERN THOUGHT
BY
S. LAING
AUTHOR OF “PROBLEMS OF THE FUTURE," »A MODERN ZOROASTRIAN,” “HUMAN ORIGINS,’’ ETC.
WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE ON THE AUTHOR BY
EDWARD CLODD
*
■
*
(ISSUED FOR THE RATIONALIST PRESS ASSOCIATION, Ltd.)
LONDON
WATTS AND CO., 17, JOHNSON’S COURT, FLEET STREET, E.C.
��INTRODUCTORY NOTE
The career of the author of this book was long, varied, and distinguished.
His father, Samuel Laing, after service in the Peninsular War, became, on the
death of an elder brother, Malcolm Laing, who was author of a meritorious
“ History of Scotland,” owner of the family estates in Orkney, where, for a time,
he developed the kelp industry with success. He is remembered as the author of
“Travels in Sweden and Norway,” which may still be read with advantage for its
trustworthy sketches of the general conditions of life in Scandinavia sixty years
ago. But, from the standpoint of scholarship, he did more valuable work in
translating the “ Heimskringla,” or chronicles of the kings of Norway, compiled in.
the twelfth century by an Icelandic poet-historian, Snorri Sturleson. The lyrical
portions of this old saga were translated by the subject of this brief notice.
After some vicissitudes of fortune, the father settled in Edinburgh, where
Samuel Laing was bom on 17th December, 1811. That is the date given by his
friend Mr. C. C. Macrae, in a privately-printed memoir issued in 1899, and may
be accepted as against the date 12th December, 1812, which is given in the
“ Dictionary of National Biography.”1 His education.was begun at Houghton-leSpring Grammar School, whence he passed as a “ pensioner” (the term means one
who pays for his commons out of his own income) to St. John’s College, Cambridge.
He graduated as second wrangler and second Smith’s prizeman, and in 1834 was
elected a Fellow of his College. For three years he was a mathematical “ coach,” and
in June, 1837, was called to the bar, where his acumen seized an opening as counsel
in connection with the many railway schemes then agitating the community. The
place and prominence which he thus secured led to his start in political life as
secretary to Mr. Henry Labouchere (afterwards Lord Taunton) who was then
(1839) President of the Board of Trade, and in the following year he was appointed
Counsel to the newly created Railway Department of that Board. Insistence on
the detail of the enormous volume of work which this involved is needless here,
but an example of its onerous nature may be cited from Mr. Macrae. “ In one
session, 1845, the Board reported on 331 separate Bills for various railways, and
on these no less than 240 separate reports were presented, each of which, supplying
’In the ninth edition of “ Men of the Time” (1875) the date 1810 is given.
�vi
INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
exhaustive analyses and criticisms, was entirely drafted by Mrs Laing.” His
reputation as a great railway administrator was yet to be made, but his influence
was manifest in many ways, notably in securing the daily running of the
“ Parliamentary ” or penny a mile trains, and it is admitted that had his counsels
been heeded, the results of the crisis which followed the wild railway speculation!
of that time would have been less disastrous.
In 1848, he accepted the Chairmanship and Managing Directorship of the
London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway, a position which, in the first instance,
he held till 1855. Three years before his retirement therefrom he entered Parliament
as Liberal member for Wick, but in 1857 his farsighted and creditable opposition
to the war against China cost him his seat. Two years afterwards he regained it,
becoming in June, 1860, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, a position which was
exchanged for the important post of Finance Minister of India, in succession to
the eminent economist James Wilson, father-in-law of Walter Bagehot, a man
never to be named without words of regret for the grievous loss to literature and
economics which his early death involved. Wilson had been carried-off by
dysentery in August, 1860, and Samuel Laing’s reputation marked him as the
fittest man to continue the task of reform rendered necessary by the financial
disorganisation into which the Mutiny and other serious causes had thrown the
revenue and expenditure of India. By prudent economies and readjustment of
taxes, Laing converted a deficit into a surplus, but the laborious work so told upon
his health that his return to England was compulsory. In 1865 he re-entered
Parliament, and in 1867 resumed his old position as Chairman of the Brighton
Railway, from which he retired only three years before his death, which occurred on
the 6th August, 1897. He lost his seat in 1868, and four years passed before he
was back at St. Stephen’s; this time as representative of Orkney and Shetland, for
which constituency he sat until his final retirement from political life in 1885.
It was then, when most men have warrant for margin of rest as fringe to
an active career, that Samuel Laing began the writing of a series of volumes
popularising the discoveries of modern science and the conclusions based on
those discoveries. Of these, “ Modern Science and Modern Thought ” was the
earliest, and remains the most acceptable. The veteran author wrote with no
prentice hand. .From time to time he had published pamphlets on political and
social questions ; his long training in the drafting of reports, and in the clear and
compendious presentment of abstruse matters, was enviable qualification for the
self-imposed task of his old age. Hence his skilful disentanglement of essentials
from accidentals, and of the general from the particular, rendered his books as
useful as they were opportune. Some twenty years before this he had done good
and original work in science. Under the title of “ Prehistoric Remains in
Caithness,” he published, in 1866, an account of stone implements, rude pottery,
human and other bones found in “kists ” in burial mounds, and in “middens ” or
shell-refuse heaps, in the neighbourhood of Keiss Castle. To this Professor Huxley
�INTRODUCTORY NOTE
vii
added a supplement of fifty pages, describing and illustrating the human skulls,
nine in all, and other portions of skeletons, some of which were grouped as
Thaymn or pre-Celtic. Mr. Laing expressed an opinion, warranted by the split
bones discovered among miscellaneous witnesses of feasting, that “ these aboriginal
savages were occasionally cannibals.
His interest in science was, therefore, no new-born thing, and the prominence
given to the human theme in all his books was the sequence (interrupted by
the claims of important commercial undertakings on his time) of years of
observation, of reading, and of reflection.
The main part of the book now
reprinted deals with man physically and psychically, and the titles of three out of
its four successors—namely, “A Modern Zoroastrian ” (1887), Antiquity of
Man” (1891), and “Human Origins” (1892)—evidence what a foremost place
the large question of man’s evolution and destiny filled in his mind.
The first part of “ Modern Science and Modern Thought ” is now sub
jected only to such revision as is required by the advance of knowledge during
the last seventeen years. The portions thus affected are those dealing with the
continuity of Palaeolithic and Neolithic man in Continental Europe; with the
recent discovery of remains, probably of an intermediate form between man and
ape, in Java ; and with the remarkable discoveries in Babylonia, which appear to
accord to that empire an earlier civilisation than that of Egypt. But the general
conclusions, as stated by the venerable author, are strengthened by the newer
evidence. In the second part, only a few verbal corrections have been made,'
since the arguments which are therein advanced against the theory of the
supernatural origin of the several documents making-up the New Testament, and,
consequently, against the claims as to revelation advanced on its behalf, need
neither addition or revision. And for the rest, we have the author’s confession of j
faith, and sage remarks on motives to right conduct, making appeal to minds of
the most opposite beliefs in a spirit which must ensure sympathy, if it does not
win assent.
The writer of this note had not the advantage of Samuel Laing’s personal
acquaintance, and it is, therefore, permissible to draw upon Mr. Macrae’s memoir
for some presentment of the man.
“He had the healthy body as well as the healthy mind; from youth till
advanced age he delighted in all field sports. He was fond of good art and music ;
his tastes in both were classical and old-fashioned.
Beethoven and the Italian
Operatic composers were his favourites; ‘ but he could not tolerate the formless
ness of the modern school led by Wagner.’ His conversation had distinction; he
detested gossip and idle talk. He had a retentive memory, and- ‘his accuracy,
even to historical details, was astonishing.’ His favourite authors were Scott and
Tennyson; in latter life, however, his reading was mainly restricted to scientific
books. His charities, always unostentatious, ‘ were, in proportion to his means,
liberal,’ and their variety manifested his toleration. Open-minded, he harboured
�INTRODUCTORY NOTE
viii
never a prejudice : nor was his equanimity ever ruffled, ‘ so that the idea of a Stoic
sage had become with him a habit of daily life and conduct.’ ... ‘He believed
in the people—in the masses—in their broad common-sense and honest judgment on
large questions which they understood, and it was mainly to their instruction
that he looked in the books that he wrote. His ideals were a plain, simple manner
of life, manly conduct and honest- work. His own long life was throughout an
example of these things, and as he had lived, so he continued to the end.’ ”
Edward Clodd.
June 21 st, 1902.
�AUTHOR’S PREFACE
The object of this book is to give a clear and concise view of the principal
Jesuits of Modern Science, and of the revolution which they have effected in
Modern Thought. I do not pretend to discover fresh facts or to propound new
theories, but simply to discharge the humbler though still useful task of present
ing what has become the common property of thinking minds, in a popular shape,
which may interest those who lack time and opportunity for studying special
subjects in more complete and technical treatises.
I have endeavoured also to give unity to the subjects treated of, by connecting
them with leading ideas; in the case of Science, that of the gradual progress
from human standards to those of almost infinite space and duration, and the
prevalence of law throughout the universe to the exclusion of supernatural inter
ference; in the case of Thought, the bearings of these discoveries on old creeds
and philosophies, and on the practical conduct of life. The endeavour to show
how much of religion can be saved from the shipwreck of theology has been the
main object of the second part. Those who are acquainted with the scientific
literature of the day will at once see how much I have been indebted to Darwin,
Lyell, Lubbock, Huxley, Proctor, and other well-known writers. In fact, the
first part of this book does not pretend to be more than a compendious popular
abridgment of their works. I prefer, therefore, acknowledging my obligations to
them once for all, rather than encumbering each page by detailed references.
The second part contains more of my own reflections on the important sub.
jects discussed, and must stand or fall on its own merits rather than on authority.
I can only say that I have endeavoured to treat these subjects in a reverential
spirit* and that the conclusions arrived at are the result of a conscientious and
dispassionate endeavour to arrive' at the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but
the truth.”
��CONTENTS
PART I
MODERN
SCIENCE
CHAPTER I
PAGE
1
Comets, and Meteors—Has acted through all Time.
CHAPTER II
8
Modern Thought.
CHAPTER III
19
Sd Motion-Conservation of Energy-Electricity, Magnetism, and Chemical Action
_ Dissipation of Heat—Birth and Death of Worlds.
CHAPTER IV
29
L
-n
f
t
<51Tnr>lpqt Form Protoplasm—Monera and Protista—Animal and
VeZabh°f ?'ri“
'T’f or
Supernatural Theory-Zoological Provinces-Separate Creations-Law ’::
OpHs
MSde-DarwSn Theory-Struggle for Life-Survival of the Fittest-Development
and Design—The Hand—Proof required to establish Darwin s Theory as a Law
Species—Hybrids—Man subject to Law.
CHAPTER V
39
ANTIQUITY OF MAN..........................................................................................................
.
„
„
a
,
■Rplipf in Man’s Recent Origin—Boucher de Perthes’ Discoveries—Confirmed by
moth, etc.—Human Types—Neanderthal, SPY’^^^^Dwdfings^lacia^
—Bronze Age—Neolithic—Danish Kitchen-middens—Swiss Lake-Dwellings Glacial
Period—Traces of Ice—Causes of Glaciers-Croll’s Theory-Gulf Stream-Dates of
Glacial Period-Rise and Submergence of Land-Tertiary Man-Eocene PenodMiocene—Evidence for Pliocene and Miocene Man—Conclusions as to Antiquity.
�xii
CONTENTS
CHAPTER VI
man’s place in nature...............................................
Origin of Man from an Egg—Like other Mammals—Development of the EmbryoBackbone—Eye and other Organs*of Sense—Fish, Reptile, and Mammalian Stages—
Comparison with Apes and Monkeys—Germs of Human Faculties in Animals—The
Dog-Insects—Helplessness of Human Infant-Instinct-Heredity and EvolutionThe Missing Link—Races of Men—Leading Types and Varieties—Common Origin
Distant-Language-How formed-Grammar-Chinese, Aryan, Semitic, etc.-Con
clusions from Language-Evolution and Antiquity-Religions of Savage RacesGhosts and Spirits—Anthropomorphic Deities—Traces in Neolithic and Palaeolithic
limes—Development by Evolution—Primitive Arts—Tools and Weapons-Fire—
Hint Impiements—Progress from Paleolithic to Neolithic Times—Domestic Animals
—Clothing—Ornaments—Conclusion, Man a Product of Evolution
PASS
65
<
PART II
MODERN
THOUGHT
CHAPTER VII
MODERN THOUGHT
....................................................................
83
Lines from Tennyson-The Gospel of Modern Thought—Change exemplified by
Carlyle, Renan, and George Eliot—Science becoming Universal—Attitude of
Orthodox Writers—Origin of Evil—First Cause unknowable—New Philosophies and
Religions—Herbert Spencer and Agnosticism—Comte and Positivism—PessimismMormonism—Spiritualism—Dreams and Visions—Somnambulism—Mesmerism.
CHAPTER VIII
Q2
MIRACLES..............................................
Origin of Belief in the Supernatural—Thunder—Belief in Miracles formerly Universal
—St. Pauls Testimony—Now Incredible—Christian Miracles—Apparent Miracles—
Beal Miracles—Absurd Miracles—-Worthy Miracles—The Resurrection and Ascension
mK tU/^e °* ®v’^ence required—Inspiration—Prophecy—Direct Evidence—St Paul
—The Gospels—What is Known of Them—The Synoptic Gospels—Resemblances and
Differences—Their Origin—Papias—Gospel of St. John—Evidence rests on Matthew,
Mark, and Luke—What each states—Compared with one another and with St John
—Hopelessly Contradictory—Miracle of the Ascension—Silence of Mark—Probable
Early Date of Gospels—But not in their Present Form.
CHAPTER IX
CHRISTIANITY WITHOUT MIRACLES........................................................................................................................
Practical and Theoretical Christianity—Example and Teaching of Christ—Christian
Dogma—Moral Objections—Inconsistent with Facts—Must be accepted as Parables—
Fall and Redemption—Old Creeds must be Transformed or Die—Mahometanism_
Decay of Faith—Balance of Advantages—Religious Wars and Persecutions_ In
tolerance—Sacrifice—Prayer—Absence of Theology in Synoptic Gospels—Opposite
Pole to Christianity—Courage and Self-reliance—Belief in God and a Future LifeBased mainly on Christianity—Science gives no Answer—Nor Metaphysics—So-called
Intuitions—Development of Idea of God—Best Proof afforded by Christianity—
Evolution is Transforming it—Reconciliation of Religion and Science.
CHAPTER X
PRACTICAL LIEB........................................................................................................................................................................
Conscience—Right is Right—Self-reverence—Courage—Respectability—Influence of
Press—Respect for Women—Self-respect of Nations—Democracy and Imperialism—•
Self-knowledge—Conceit—Luck—Speculation—Money-making—Practical Aims of
Life—Self-control—Conflict of Reason and Instinct—Temper—Manners—Good Habits
in Youth—Success in Practical Life—Education—Stoicism—Conclusion.
113
�MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
PART I.—MODERN SCIENCE
CHAPTER I
SPACE
Ideas—Natural Standards—Dimensions of the Earth— Of Sun and Solar
System—Distance of Fixed Stars—Their
Order and Size—Nebulae and other Universes—The Telescope and the Infinitely
Great—The Microscope and the Infinitely
Small—Uniformity of Law—Law of Gravity
-«-Acts through all Space—Double Stars,
Comets, and Meteors—Has acted through
all Time.
The first ideas of space were naturally
taken from the standard of man’s own
impressions. The inch, the foot, the cubit,
the fathom, were the lengths of portions
of his own body, obviously adapted for
measuring objects with which he came in
direct contact. The mile was the dis
tance traversed in 1,000 double paces; the
league the distance walked in an hour.
The visible horizon suggested the idea
that the earth was a flat, circular surface
like a round table; and as experience
shewed that it extended beyond the
limits of a single horizon, the conception
was enlarged and the size of the table
increased so as to take in all the countries
known to the geography of successive
periods.
In like manner the sun, moon, and
stars were taken to be at the distance at
which they appeared ; that is, first of the
•visible horizon, and then of the larger
circle to which it had been found neces:sary to expand it. It was never doubted
that they really revolved, as they seemed
to do, round this flat earth circle, dipping
under it in the west at night, and re,appealing in the east with the day. The
conception of the universe, therefore,
was of a flat, circular earth, surrounded
by an ocean stream, in the centre of a
crystal sphere which revolved in twenty*
four hours round the earth, and in which
the heavenly bodies were fixed as lights
for man’s use to distinguish days and
seasons. The maximum idea of space was
therefore determined by the size of th#
earth circle which was necessary to takein all the regions known at the time, with
a little margin beyond for the ocean
stream, and the space between it and the
crystal vault, required to enable the latter
to revolve freely. In the time of Homer,
and the early Greek philosophers, this
would probably require a maximum of
space of from 5,000 to 10,000 miles. This
dimension has been expanded by modern
science into one of as many millions, or
rather hundreds of millions, as there were
formerly single miles, and there is no sign
that the limit has been reached.
How has this wonderful result been
attained, and how do we feel certain that
it is true ? Those who wish thoroughly
to understand it must study standard
works on Astronomy, but it may be
possible to give some clear idea of the
processes by which it has been arrived
at, and of the cogency of the reasoning
by which we are compelled to accept
facts so contrary to the first impressions
of our natural senses.
The fundamental principle upon which
all measurements of space, which are
beyond the actual application of human
standards, depend, is this : that distant
objects change their bearings for a given
change of base, more or less in propor
tion as they are less or more distant.
�2
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
Suppose I am on. board a steamer’ sailing
down the Thames, and I see two churches
on the Essex coast directly opposite to
me, or bearing due north, the first of
which is one mile, and the other ten miles,
distant. I sail one mile due east and
again take the bearings. It is evident
that the first church will now bear north
west, or have apparently moved through
45 , i.e., one-eighth part of the circumfer
ence of a complete circle, assuming this
circumference to be divided into 360 equal
parts or degrees ; while the more distant
church will only have altered its bearing
by a much less amount, easily determined
by calculation, but which may be taken
roughly at 5° instead of 45°.
The branch of mathematics known as
Trigonometry enables us in all cases,
without exception, where we know the
apparent displacement or change of bear
ing of a distant object produced by taking
it from the opposite ends of a known base,
to calculate the distance of that object
with as much ease and certainty as if we
were working a simple sum of rule of
three. The first step is to know our base,
and for this purpose it is essential to
know the size and form of the earth on
which we live. These are determined by
very simple considerations.
If I walk a mile in a straight line, an
object at a vast distance like a star will
not change its apparent place perceptibly.
But if I walk the same distance in a semi
circle, what was originally on my left
hand will now be on my right, or will
have changed its apparent place by 180°.
If I walk my mile on the circumference
of a circle of twice the size, I shall have
traversed a quadrant or one-fourth part
of it, and changed the bearing of the
distant object exactly half as much, or
90°, and so on, according to the size of
the circle, which may therefore be readily
calculated from the length that must be
travelled along it to shift the bearing of
the remote object by a given amount,
say of 1°.
’
If, for instance, by travelling 65 miles
from north to south we lower the ap
parent height of the Pole star 1°, it is
mathematically certain that we have
travelled this 65 miles, not along a flat
surface, but along a circle which is 360
times 65, or, in round numbers, 24,000
miles in circumference and 8,000 miles in
diameter. And if, whenever we travel
the same distance on a meridian or line
drawn on the circumference from north
to south, we find the same displacement
of 1°, we may be sure that our journey
has been in a true circle, and that the
form of the earth is a perfect sphere of
these dimensions.
�SPACE
Now, this is very nearly what actually
occurs when we apply methods of scientific accuracy to measure the earth. The
true form of the earth is not exactly
spherical, but slightly oval or flatter at the
poles, being almost precisely the form it
would have assumed if it had been a fluid
XftMS rotating about a north and south
axis. But it is very nearly spherical, the
true polar diameter being 7,899 miles,
and the true equatorial diameter 7,926
miles, so that for practical purposes we
may say roughly that the earth is a
spherical body, 24,000 miles round and
8,000 miles across.
This gives us a fresh standard from
which to start in measuring greater
distances. Precisely as we inferred the
distance of the church from the steamer
in our first illustration, we can infer the
distance of the sun from its displacement
caused by observing it from two opposite
ends of a base of known length on the
garth’s surface. This is the essential
principle of all the calculations, though
when great accuracy is sought for, very
refined methods of applying the principle
are required, turning mainly on the
extent to which the apparent occurrence
of the same event—such as the transit of
Venus over the sun’s disc—is altered by
observing it from different points at
known distances from one another on
the earth’s surface. The result is to show
that the sun’s distance from the earth is,
in round numbers, 93,000,000 miles. This
is not an exact statement, for the earth’s
orbit is not an exact circle, but the sun
and earth really revolve in ellipses about
the common centre of gravity. The sun,
however, is so much larger than the earth
that this centre of gravity falls within
the sun’s surface, and, practically, the
earth describes an ellipse about the sun,
the 93,000,000 miles being the mean distance, and the eccentricity or deviation
irom the exact circular orbit, being about
one-sixtieth part of that mean distance.
This distance, again, gives us the size of
the sun, for it is easily calculated how
large the sun must be to look as large as it
does at a distance of 93,000,000 miles.
The result is, that it is a sphere of about
865,000 miles in diameter. Its bulk, there
fore, exceeds that of the earth in the pro
portion of 1,300,000 to 1. Its density, or
the quantity of matter in it, may be
calculated from the effect of its action on
the earth under the law of gravity at the
3
distance of 93,000,000 miles. It weighs
as much as 332,000 earths.
The same method gives us the distance,
size, and weight of the moon and planets;
and it gives us a fresh standard or base
from which to measure still greater dis
tances. The distance of the earth from the
sun being 93,000,000 miles, and its orbit
an ellipse nearly circular, it follows that
it is in mid-winter, in round numbers,
186,000,000 miles distant from the spot
where it was at midsummer. What
difference in the bearings of the fixed
stars is caused by traversing this enor
mous base ?
The answer is, in the immense majority
of cases, no difference at all; i.e., their dis
tance is so vastly greater than 186,000,000
miles that a change of base to this extent
makes no change perceptible to the most
refined instruments in their bearings as
seen from the earth. But the perfection
of modern instruments is such, that a
change of even one second, or g/g^th part
of one degree, in the annual parallax, as
it is called, of any fixed star, would
certainly be detected.
This corresponds to a distance of 206,265
times the length of the base of 186,000,000
miles, or of 20,000,000,000,000 miles,
a distance which it would take light)
moving at the rate of 186,000 miles per
second, three years and eighty-three days
to traverse. There is only one star in
the whole heavens, a bright star called
Alpha, in the constellation of the Centaur,
which is known to be as near as this. Its
annual parallax is 0'976", or very nearly
1", and therefore its distance very nearly
20 millions of millions of miles. All the
other stars, of which many millions are
visible through powerful telescopes, are
further off than this.
There are about eight other stars which
have been estimated by astronomers to
give indications of an annual parallax of
less than half a second, and therefore
whose distances may be somewhere from
twice to ten times as great as that of
Alpha Centauri. From the quantity of
light sent to us from these distances,
some approximation has been made to
their intrinsic splendour as compared
with our sun. That of Alpha Centauri
is computed to be nearly 2| times ; that
of Sirius, the brightest star in the
heavens, 393 times ; greater than that of
the sun. These figures may or may not
represent greater size or greater intensity
B 2
�4
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
of light, and they are quoted only to give
some idea of the vastness of the scale of
the universe of which our solar system
forms a minute part.
Nor does even this nearly fathom the
depth of the abysses of space. Telescopes
enable us to see a vast multitude of stars
of varying size and brilliancy. It is com
puted by astronomers that'there are at
least one hundred millions of stars within
the range of the telescopes used by
Herschel for gauging the depth of space,
and a thousand millions within the range
of the great reflecting telescope of Lord
Bosse. As many as eighteen different
orders of magnitude have been counted,
and the more the power of telescopes is
increased the more stars are seen. Now,
as there is no reason to suppose that this
extreme variety of brilliancy arises from
extreme difference of size of one star
from another, it must be principally
owing to difference of distance, so that a
star of the eighteenth magnitude is pre
sumably many times further off than any
of the first magnitude, the distance of
the nearest of which has been proved to
be something certainly not less than
20,000,000,000,000 miles. In fact, these
stellar distances are so great that in
order to bring them at all within the
range of human imagination we are
obliged to apply another standard, that
of the velocity of light. Light can be
shown to travel at the rate of about 178
millions of miles in 16 minutes, for this
is the difference of the time at which we
see the same periodical occurrence, as for
instance the eclipses of Jupiter’s satel
lites, according as the earth happens to
be at the point of its orbit nearest to
Jupiter, or at that farthest away. The
velocity of light is therefore about
186,000 miles per second, a velocity which
has been fully confirmed by direct ex
periments made on the earth’s surface.
These enormous distances are reckoned,
therefore, by the number of years which
it would take light to come from them,
travelling as it does at the rate of
186,000 miles a second. The nearest fixed
star, Alpha Centauri, is seen by a ray
which left it three years and eighty-three
days ago, and has been travelling ever
since at the rate of 186,000 miles per
second. Sirius, the brightest of the fixed
stars, if the determination of its annual
parallax, is correct, is six times further
off, and is seen, not as it exists to-day,
but as it existed nearly twenty years
ago ; and the light we now see from some
of the stars of the eighteenth magnitude
can hardly have left them less than 2,000
years ago.
Even this, however, is far from ex
hausting our conception of the magnitude
of space. Beyond the stars which are
near enough to be seen separately, power
ful. telescopes show a galaxy in which the
united lustre of myriads of stars is only
perceptible as a faint nebulous gleam.
And in addition to stars the telescope
shows us a number of nebulae, or faint
patches of. light, sometimes globular,
sometimes in wreaths, spiral wisps, and
other fantastic shapes, scattered about
the heavens. Some of these are resolved
by powerful telescopes into clusters of
stars inconceivably numerous and re
mote, which appear to be separate
universes, like that of which our sun and
fixed stars form one. Others again
cannot be so resolved, and are shown by
the spectroscope to be enormous masses
of glowing gas, or cosmic matter, out of
which other universes are in process of
formation.
We are thus led, step by step, to enlarge
our ideas of space from the primitive
conception of miles and leagues, until
the imagination fails to grasp the infinite
vastness of the scale upon which the
material universe is really constructed.
If the telescope takes us thus far
beyond the standards of unaided sense in
the direction of the infinitely great,
the microscope, aided by calculations as
to the nature of light, heat, electricity,
and chemical action, takes us as far in
the opposite direction of the infinitely
small. The microscope enables us actu
ally to see magnitudes of the order of
Too&ooJh of an inch as clearly as the
naked eye can see those of Wth. This
introduces us into a new world, where we
can see a whole universe of things both
dead and alive of whose existence our
forefathers had no suspicion. A glass of
water is seen to swarm with life, and be
the abode of bacteria, amoebae, rotifers,
and other minute creatures, which dart
about, feed, digest, and propagate their
species in this small world of their own,
very much as jelly-fish and other humble
organisms do in the larger seas. The air
also is shown to be full of innumerable
germs and spores floating in it, and ready
to be deposited and spring into life,
�SPACE
5
wherever they find a seed-bed fitted to periods, in obedience to the same law.
receive them. Given a favourable soil in Clouds of meteoric dust revolve in fixed
the human frame, and the invisible seeds orbits, determined by the law of gravity
of scarlet fever, cholera, and small-pox as surely as the moon revolves round the
ripen into full crops, just as the germs of earth, and the earth round the sun.
This is a conclusion of such funda
a fungus invade the potato crops of a
whole district, and lead to Irish famines mental importance that it is desirable to
fejMt the extermination of more than a give the uninitiated reader some clear
idea of what it means, and how it is
yaillion of human beings.
The microscope also enables us to see arrived at. Newton’s great discovery,
the very beginnings of life and watch its the law of gravity, is this—that all
primitive element, protoplasm, in the matter acting in the mass attracts other
form of a minute speck of jelly-like matter directly as the amount of attract
matter, through which pulsations are ing matter, and inversely as the square
constantly passing, and we can watch the of the distance. That is, 2 or 2,000,000
transformations by which an elementary tons attract with twice the force of 1 OF
cell of this substance splits up, multi- 1,000,000 tons at the same distance, but
plies, and by a continued process of with only one-fourth, of the same force
development builds up with these cells at double, and one-ninth at triple _thfe
all the diversified forms of vegetable and distance.
How is this law proved 1 This will be
animal life.
But far as the microscope carries us best answered by explaining how. it was
Sown to dimensions vastly smaller than discovered. The force of gravity^ or
those of which the ordinary senses can attraction of the earth on bodies at the
take cognizance, the modern sciences of earth’s surface, is a known quantity^
light, heat, and chemistry carry us as The whole matter in a spherical body
much farther downwards, as the telescope attracts exactly as if it were all collected
parries us upwards beyond the boundaries at the centre. The force of gravity at the
of our solar system into the expanses of earth’s surface is, therefore, that of the
stars and nebulae. We are transported earth’s mass exerted at a distance of
Into a world of atoms, molecules, and about 4,000 miles, and this can be easily
iight-waves, where the standard of measured by observing the space fallen
Measurement is no longer in feet or through, and the velocity acquired,
Inches, oreven in one-hundred-thousandth by a falling body in a given tim^ such
part of an inch, but in millionths of as 1".
Does the same force act at the distance
Millimetres, i.e., in
of an
inch. The dimensions are such that, as of the moon, or 238,850 miles 1 This was
we shall see when we come to deal with the question Newton asked himself, and
matter, if the drop of water in which the the answer was got at in the following
Microscope shows us living animalcula way. If we swing a stone in a sling round
were magnified to the size of the earth, our head, it describes a circle as long.aS
the atoms of which it is composed would we keep the string tight, and its pull in
appear of a size intermediate between wards just balances the pull of the stone
to fly outwards, i.e., to use scientific
that of a rifle-bullet and a cricket-ball.
This, then, is Nature’s scale of space, language, as long as the centripetal just
from millionths of a millimetre up to balances the centrifugal force. But if
millions of millions of miles. Through we let go the string the stone darts off in
out the whole of this enormous range of the direction in which, and with the vel®^
city with which, it was moving when the
space the laws of Nature prevail.
Mattei’ attracts matter by the same law centripetal force ceased to act.
The moon is such a sling-stone re
of gravity in the case of double stars revolving about each other at a distance at volving about the earth. At each instant
which a base of 186,000,000 miles has it is moving in the direction of a tangent
long since become a vanishing point, and to its orbit, and would move on m a
in the case of atoms which form the sub- straight line along this tangent if it were
stance of a gas, as in that of an apple not deflected from it by some other force.
falling from a tree at the earth’s surface. That is, if the moon were now at Mt, it
Comets, darting off into the remote would, after a given interval of time, be
regions of space, return after long at M2 if no force had acted on it. But
�6
modern science and modern thought
in point of fact it is not at M2 but at M3.
Therefore it has been pulled down from
M2 to M3, or, if you like, fallen through
the space M2 M3 in the
time in which it would
have travelled over Mx
M2 with its velocity at
Mj. How does this space
correspond with the
space through which a
heavy body would have
fallen in the same time
at the earth’s surface ?
It corresponds exactly,
assuming the law of
gravity to be that it
. decreases with
the
square of the distance.
This may be taken as the first appro
ximation, but the more accurate and
universal proofs of the law are derived
from mathematical calculations of what
the nature of the attractions must be, in
the case of the sun, earth, moon, and
planets, to. make them describe such
elliptic orbits and observe such laws, as
from Kepler s observations we know
actually to be the case. The answer here
again is the law of gravity, and no other
possible law, and this is confirmed in
piactice. by tlie fact that we are able, by
calculations based on it, to satisfy the
requisite of safe prophecy—that of know
ing beforehand, and to predict eclipses,
comets, transits, and occultations, and
generally to.compile Hautical Almanacs,
by which ships know their whereabouts
in pathless oceans.
. This, then, affords us a first firm stand
ing-point in any speculations as to the
nature of the universe. One great law,
at any rate, is universal throughout all
space, and, as we shall see later, suns,
stars, and nebulae are composed of the
same matter as the earth and its in
habitants.
In like manner comets and meteors,
though presenting in other respects
phenomena not yet fully understood, are
proved to obey the same laws and to
consist . of the same matter. Comets
are bodies which revolve round the sun,
and are attracted by it and by the
planets, in obedience to the ordinary law
of gravity, though their density is so
slight, that although often of enormous
volume, they produce no perceptible
effect on the planets, even when en
tangled amidst the satellites of a planet,
as Lexell’s comet was amongst those of
Jupiter.
Their dimensions may be judged of
when it is stated that the comet of 1811
had a tail 120 millions of miles in length
and 15 millions of miles in diameter at
the widest part, while the diameter of the
nucleus was about 127,000 miles, or more
than 15 times that of the earth. In order
that bodies of this magnitude, passing
near the earth, should not affect its
motion or change the length of the year
by even a single second, their actual
substance must be inconceivably rare.
If the tail, for instance, of the comet of
1843 had consisted of the lightest sub
stance known to us, hydrogen gas, its
mass would have exceeded that of the
sun, and every planet would have been
dragged from its. orbit. As Proctor says :
“A jar-full of air would probably have
outweighed hundreds of cubic miles of
that vast appendage which blazed across
the skies to the terror of the ignorant
and superstitious.”
. The extreme tenuity of a comet’s mass
is also proved by the phenomenon of the
tail, which, as the comet approaches the
sun, is thrown out sometimes to a length
of 90 millions of miles in a few hours.
And what is remarkable, this tail is
thrown out against the force of gravity
by some repulsive force, probably elec
trical, so that it always points away from
the sun. Thus a comet which approaches
the sun with a tail behind it, will, after
passing its perihelion, recede from the
sun with its tail before it, and this
although the tail may be of the length of
200 millions of miles, as in the comet of
1843. In the course of a few hours,
therefore, this enormous tail has been
absorbed and a new one started out in an
opposite direction. And yet, thin as the
matter of comets must be, it obeys the
common law of gravity, and whether the
comet revolves in an orbit within that of
the outer planets, or shoots off into the
abysses of space and returns only after
hundreds of years, its path is, at each
instant, regulated by the same force as
that which causes an apple to fall to the
ground; and its matter, however atten
uated, is ordinary matter, and does not
consist of any unknown elements. The
spectroscope shows that comets shine
partly by reflected sunlight and partly
by light of their own, the latter part
being gaseous, and this gas, in most
�SPACE
comets, contains carbon and hydrogen,
■possibly also oxygen, in the form of
Kydrocarbons or marsh gas, cyanogen
and possibly oxygen compounds of carbon. One comet has recently given the
line of sodium, and the presence of iron
is strongly suspected.
As regards meteors, which include
shooting stars and aerolites, it has been
long known, from actual masses which
have fallen on the earth, that they are
composed of terrestrial matter, princi
pally of iron, which has been partially
fused by the heat engendered by the
friction of the rapid passage through the
air. The recurrence of brilliant displays
at regular intervals, as for instance those
of August and November, when the whole
sk'y often seems alive with shooting stars,
had also been noticed ; but it was re
served for recent times to prove that
these«meteor streams are really composed
of small planetary bodies revolving round
the sun in fixed orbits by the force of
gravity, and that their display, as seen
by us, arises from the earth in its revolu
tion round the sun happening to intersect
some of these meteoric orbits, and the
friction of our atmosphere setting fire to
and consuming the smaller meteors which
appear as shooting stars. This shows
the enormous number of meteors by
which space must be tenanted. It is
proved that the earth encounters more
than a hundred meteor systems, but the
chance of any one ring or system being
intersected by the earth is extremely
small, as the earth is such a minute speck
in the whole sun-surrounding space of
the solar system. On a scale on which
the earth’s orbit was represented by a
circle of 10 feet diameter, the earth itself
would be only about T|oth of an inch in
diameter, so that if, as astronomers say,
the earth encounters about a hundred
meteor systems in the course of its
annual revolution, space must swarm
with an innumerable number of these
minute bodies all revolving round the
sun by the force of gravity.
Has this law of gravity been uniform
through all time as it undoubtedly is
through all space ? We have every
reason to believe so. The law of gravity,
which is the foundation of most of what
we call the natural laws of geological
action, has certainly prevailed, as will be
shown later, through tin enormous periods
of geological time, and far beyond this
we can discern it operating in those
astronomical changes by which cosmic
matter has been condensed into nebulae,
nebulae into suns throwing off planets,
and planets throwing off satellites, as
they cooled and contracted. Double stars
at a distance exceeding 20 millions of
millions of miles revolve round their
common centre of gravity by this Jaw.
Atoms and molecules almost infinitely
smaller than millionths of millimetres
derive from it their specific weights with
as much certainty as if they were pounds
or hundredweights.
We cannot speak with quite the same
certainty of infinite time as we can
of infinite space, for we have.no tele
scopes to gauge the abysses of time, and
no certain standards, like those of th©
known dimensions of our solar system,
to apply to periods too vast for the
imagination.
But we can say this with certainty,
that the present law of gravity must
have prevailed when the outermost
planet of our system, Neptune, was con
densed into a separate body and began
revolving in its present orbit, and that it
has continued to act ever since; while,
as a matter of probability, it is as nearly
certain as anything can be, that the law
by which the apple falls to the ground is
an original condition of matter.
What space and matter really may be,
we do not know, and if we attempt to
reason about the limits of the one and th©
origin of the other, if origin it had, we
get into the misty realms of metaphysics,
where, like Milton’s fallen angels, we
Find no end in wandering mazes lost.
�&
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
boulders and coarse gravel, sometime!
shingle, sand, or fine mud, and, carrying
CHAPTER II
this material sometimes to a greater and
* TIME
sometimes to a less distance, according
to the velocity of the stream.
Evidence of Geology—Stratification—Denu
Ages hence, when the lake has been
dation—Strata identified by Superposition
converted into dry land, it will be as
—By Fossils—Geological Record shown by ceitain, whenever a pit is dug or a well
Upturned Strata—General Result—Palaeosunk in it, that it was the work of a
ane and Primary Periods—Secondary—
river flowing into a lake, as it is to-day,
lertmry—Plme required-Coal Formation
—Chalk-Elevations and Depressions of when we can see them at work.
Band—Internal Heat of Earth—Earth T 1 nd 7r!at is tr^e of the Rhone and the
quakes and Volcanoes-Changes of Fauna if+ k of Geneva, is true on a larger scale
®md P lora—Astronomical Time—Tides and of the Ganges, the Mississippi, and of
every sea or ocean, with every river or
the Moon—Sun’s Radiation—Earth’s Cooltorrent pouring into it.
\nrSrGem?Sy and Astronomy-BearingS on
Modern Thought.
Again, the sea is perpetually wearing
the
of
Geology has done for time what as- awaycliff's coasts soft all lands, and, where
the
are
and the tides and
ti onomy has for space—it has expanded currents strong, at a very rapid rate,
the limited ideas derived from natural
lhe materials swallowed-up are rolled as
impression and early tradition into those shingle, ground into sand, or floated as
of an almost infinite duration. This 1
Jnud, an
result is so important that it is desirable laid down at d all finallyofassorted and
the bottom
the sea, not
that all educated persons, without being in a confused heap, but in regular sucprofessed geologists, should have some
clear idea of the nature of the con ^^n- Gn some of them generations
of shell-fish and other marine creatures
clusions and of the evidences on which live and die, and their remains are
they rest.
covered over by fresh sands or clays, and
This I will endeavour to give.
preserved for future geologists. All this
When we come to examine the struc is
examine
ture of the earth-or rather of the outer thegoing on now, and when we the same
find that precisely
erust of the earth which we inhabit— sort rocks we has been going on from the
of
with the care and precision of scientific newest thing
to
methods, we find that it is not of uniform exception the oldest strata. With the
Composition, but consists mainly of dis amount of of a comparatively small
igneous rock, which has
tinct layers, or strata, lying one over the
other. This is true not only of the boiled-up from deep sources of molten
larger beds, or distinct formations, but matter, and been poured-out in sheets of
lava, or
porphyry,
°! ,. details of each formation, many granite, masses of trap,the amountand
according to
of
of which are built up as regularly as the pressure it has undergone and the time
layers of the Great Pyramid, while others it has taken to cool and crystallise, all the
are made up of layers no thicker than e&rth s surface may be said to consist of
the leaves of a book.
Now consider what this fact of strati stratified matter, showing clear signs of
fication implies. In the first place it having been deposited from water. Some
implies deposit from water, for there is of the oldest rocks, such as gneiss, may
no other agency by which materials can be a little doubtful, as they have clearly
be sorted out and thrown down in hori been subjected to great heat under great
zontal layers, while this agency is now pressure, until they became plastic
doing the same thing every day and all enough to crystallise as they cooled, and
over the world. The Rhone flows into thus destroy any fossils embedded in them
the Bake of Geneva a turbid stream, and and obliterate most of the ordinary signs
tiows out of it as clear as crystal. AU of stratification. But the opinion of the
the matter it brings in is deposited at best geologists is that they were originthe bottom of the lake, and in course of a iT stratified, and have become what is
time will fill it up. This deposit varies called metamorphic,” or changed by
with every alternation of flood and heat and pressure into the semblance of
igneous rocks. But even
drought; the river depositing sometimes included, enough remains if these are not
to justify the
�TIME
general assertion that th® outer crust of
the earth, as known to us, is made up
mainly of stratified materials which have
been deposited from water.
Now this implies another most im
portant fact, viz., that there must, have
been waste or denudation of existing
land corresponding to the deposit of
Stratified materials under water. Water
cannot generate these materials, and
every square mile of such strata, say 10
feet thick, implies the removal of 10 feet
from a square mile of land surface by
rains and rivers, or of an equivalent
amount of cubical content in some other
way, as by the erosion of a coast line.
This is a very important consideration
wThen we come to estimate the time re
quired for the formation of such a thick
ness of stratified beds as we find existing.
There must have been a fundamental
crystalline rock as the earth cooled-down
from a fluid state and acquired a solid
©rust, and this rock must have been worn
down by primeval seas and rivers as the
progressive cooling admitted of the con
densation of aqueous vapour into water.
The waste of this primitive crust must
have been deposited in strata at the
bottom of those seas in thick masses,
covering the original rock, and these
again must have been partly crystallised
by heat and pressure, and over and over
again upheaved and submerged, and
themselves worn down by fresh erosion,
forming fresh deposits which underwent
a repetition of the same process.
A third important inference from the
fact of stratification is that all strata
must have been originally deposited
horizontally, or very nearly so, and in
such order that the lowest is the oldest.
Suppose we fill a jar with water, and
put some white sand into it, and when
that has subsided to the bottom and the
water is clear, some yellow sand, and
again some red sand, it is clear that we
shall have at the bottom of the jar three
horizontal deposits or strata, one white,
one yellow, and one red, and that by no
conceivable means can the order in which
they were deposited have been other
than first white, secondly yellow, and
lastly red. This law, therefore, is invari
able, that wherever it is possible to trace
a series of strata lying one above the
Other, the lowest is the oldest, and the
highest the youngest in point of time.
If, therefore, all the great formations,
9
from the old Lauren tian up to the newest
Tertiary, had been deposited uniformly
all over the world, and had remained
undisturbed, and we could have seen
them in one vertical section in a dift
twenty-five miles high—for that is about
their total known thickness—we should
have been able without further difficulty
to determine their order of succession
and respective magnitudes.
But this is plainly impossible, for the
deposits going on at any one time are of
very different character. For instancy
we have at present the Globigerina ooze
gradually filling the depths of the
Atlantic with a deposit resembling chalk;
the Gulfs of Bengal and Mexico silting
up with fine clay from river deposits;
vast tracts in the Pacific, Indian Ocean,
and Red Sea, covered with coral and tire
debris of coral-reefs. How could these, if
upheaved into dry land and explored.by
future geologists, be identified as having
been formed contemporaneously 1.
Suppose that coins of Victoria had
been dropped in each of them, the geo
logist who discovered these coins would
have no difficulty in concluding that th®
strata in which they, were found were
all formed in the nineteenth century,
The petrified shells and other remains
found in geological strata are such coins.
Every great formation has had its own
characteristic fauna and flora, or aggre
gate of animal and vegetable life, vary
ing slowly from one geological age to
another, and linked to the past and
future by some persistent types and,
forms, but still with such a preponder
ance of characteristic fossils as to enable
us to assign the rocks in which they
occur to their proper place in the volume
of the geological record. Innumerable
observations have shown that we can
rely, with absolute confidence, on the
fossils embedded in the different strata
of the earth’s crust as tests of the period
to which they belong, however different
the strata may be in mineral composi
tion.
The next question is how we can ascer
tain the thickness and order of succes
sion of these strata. We have seen that
all stratified rocks are due to the action
of water, and therefore were originally
deposited horizontally. Had they remained so, in the first place, the process
of forming stratified rocks must long ago
have come to an end, for all the land
�modern science and modern thought
surface must have been worn down to
the sea level, and, with no more land to
be denuded, deposition must have ceased
at an early period of the earth’s history.
In the second place, we could have known
nothing more of the earth’s crust than
we saw on the surface, and in the shallow
pits and borings which we could sink
below it. But earthquakes and volcanoes
and the various fractures and pressures
due to subterranean heat and secular
contraction and cooling, have been at
work counteracting the effects of denu
dation, and causing elevations and de
pressions by which the inequalities of
s
have been renewed
thp balance between sea and land maintained, and strata, originally horizontal
at the bottom of the ocean, upheaved
until sea-shells are found at the top of
high mountains, so that we can walk for
miles over their upturned edges.
Any one who wishes to understand
how geologists have been able to measure
such a thickness of the earth’s crust has
only to take a book open at page 1 and
lay it flat before him. He can see
nothing but that one page; but if he
turns up the pages on the right-hand side
of the book until their edges become
horizontal, he can pass over them and
count perhaps 500 pages in the space of
a couple of inches.
This is precisely what geologists have
been able to do at various points of the
earth s surface where the upturned edges
°* j n PaSes
history are exposed,
and they come out, one behind the other
in the due succession in which they were
written by Nature. For instance, in
travelling from east to west in England
we pass continually from newer to older
formations—Chalk comes in from below
tertiary ; Oolite and Lias from below
Chalk; then Permian or New Red
Sandstone ; Carboniferous, including the
Coal Measures; Devonian or Old Red
bandstone ; Silurian, Cambrian, and in
xv ®^Ireme north-west of Scotland and
the Hebrides, oldest of all, the Laurentian.
There are some omissions and inter
polations, but, in a general way, it may
be said that within the bounds' of the
British Empire we have such a view of
Nature’s volume as would be got, in the
case I have supposed, by travelling over
its upturned edges from page 1 to page
500. And if each of the great formations
be taken as a separate chapter, each
chapter will be found to be made-up of
a number of pages, each with its own
letterpress and illustrations, though con
nected with the pages before and after
it by the thread of the continuous com
mon subject of their proper chapter; as
the chapters again are connected by the
continuous common subject-matter of the
complete volume. It must not be sup
posed that the volume is anything like
perfect. We have to piece it together
irom the fragments found in the limited
number of countries which have thus far
been scientifically explored, and which
do not constitute more than a small part
of the earth’s surface. We know nothing
of what is below the oceans which cover
m°re
three-fourths of that surface,
and there are great gaps in the record
during the times when portions of the
surface were dry land, and when, con
sequently, no deposit of strata or
preservation of fossils was possible. Still
a great deal lias been accomplished, and
the general result, as given by common
consent of the best geologists, is as
follows :
The total thickness of known strata is
about 130,000 feet or twenty-five miles,
or the iJoth part of the distance from the
earth’s surface to its centre. Of this,
about 30,000 feet belong to the Laurentian, which is the oldest known stratified
deposit; 18,000 to the Cambrian, and
22,000 to the Silurian. These earliest
formations, which are grouped as the
Primary or Palaeozoic Epoch, have been
so changed by slow crystallisation under
great heat and pressure that all fossils
and nearly all traces of stratification
have been well-nigh obliterated.
In the Cambrian and Lower Silurian
traces of life become more frequent,
especially of low forms of seaweeds, and
in the Upper Silurian we find an abun
dance of fossils, consisting of Crustacea,
shell-fish, and a few true fish in the
upper strata. Some of the shells, as the
Lingula, have continued without much
change up to the present time ; and on
the whole we find ourselves in the Silu
rian period, if not earlier, in presence of
a state of things in which substantially
present causes operated and present con
ditions were in force. Rains fell, winds
blew, rivers ran, waves eroded cliffs,
shell-fish lived and died, and crabs and
sand-worms crawled about on shores left
�TIME
dry by each tide, very much as is the
case at present.
. .
.
.
The next great division, to which the
nam® of Primary, was given before the
existence of fossils was known m the
older or Palaeozoic division, comprises
the Devonian or Old Red Sandstone ;
the Carboniferous, which includes the
coal; and the Permian or New Red Sand
stone. The average thickness of these
three systems, taken together, is about
42 000 feet. It may be called the era of
Fern Forests and of Fish, the former
being the principal source of our supplies
of coal, and the latter being extremely
abundant within the Devonian and Per
mian formations.
The third great division is formed by
the Secondary group, which includes the
Triassic, the Jura, and the Cretaceous or
Chalk systems, and has an average thick
ness of about 15,000 feet. This epoch is
emphatically the age of Reptiles as the
preceding one was that of Fish, and the
prevailing vegetation is no longer one of
ferns and mosses, but of Gymnosperms,
or plants having naked seeds, the most
important class of which is that of the
Coniferae or Pine tribe. During this pe
riod the Plesiosauri, Ichthyosauri, and
other gigantic sea-dragons abounded in
the oceans ; colossal land-dragons, such
as the Dinosauri, occupied the continents,
and Pterodactyls, a remarkable form of
carnivorous flying lizards, ruled the air.
Swarms of other reptiles, nearly related
to the present lizards, crocodiles, and
turtles, abounded both in the sea and
land. A few traces of mammals and birds
show that these orders had then come
into existence, just as a few traces of
reptiles are found in the Primary, and of
fish in the Palaeozoic, strata, but the few
mammalian remains found are of small
animals of the marsupial or lowest type,
and the birds are of a transition type
between reptiles and true birds. This
epoch concludes with the Chalk forma
tion, which is one of relatively deep-sea
deposit, where no trace of terrestrial life
can be expected.
Above this comes the Tertiary epoch,
when the present order, both of veget
able and animal life, is fairly inaugur
ated ; mammals predominate over other
forms of vertebrate animals; existing
orders and species begin to appear and
increase rapidly ; and vegetation consists
mainly of Angiosperms, or plants with
n
covered seeds, as in our present forests.
The total thickness of these strata, from
the lowest, or Eocene, to the end of the
uppermost, or Pliocene, is about 3,000 feet.
Above this comes the Quaternary, or re
cent period, which comprises the super
ficial strata of modern formation,.and is
characterised by the undoubted existence
of man, and of animals which either now
exist, or which have become extinct m
quite recent geological times.
The details of this and of the Tertiary
Epoch will be more fully considered when,
we come to treat of the antiquity of man,
with which they are closely connected^!
But for the present object, which is that
of ascertaining some standard of time for
the immense series of ages proved by geol
logy to have elapsed since the earth as
sumed its present condition, became sub
ject to existing laws and fitted to be the
abode of life, it will be sufficient to refefif
to the older strata.
.
The best idea of the enormous intervals
of time required for geological changes
will be derived from the coal measures.
These consist of part only of one geo
logical formation known as the Carbon
iferous. They are made up of sheets, or
seams, of condensed vegetable matter,
varying in thickness from less than.an
inch to as much as thirty feet, and lying
one above another, separated by beds of
rock of various composition. As a rule,
every seam of coal rests upon a bed of
clay, known as the “under-clay, and is
covered by a bed of sandstone or shale.1
These alternations of clay, coal, and rockJ
are often repeated a. great ma,ny times,
and in some sections in South Wales and
Nova Scotia there are as many as eighty
or a hundred seams of coal, each with its
own under-clay below and sandstone or
shale above. Some of the coal seams are
as much as thirty feet thick, and the
total thickness of the coal measures is,
in some cases, as much as 14,000 feet.
Now consider what these facts mean.
Every under-clay was clearly once a sur
face soil on which the forest vegetation
grew, whose accumulated dsbi is forms the
overlying seam of coal. The under-clays
are full of the fibres of roots, and the
stools of trees which once grew on them
are constantly found in situ, with their
roots attached just as they stood when
the tree fell, and added to the accumula
tion of vegetable matter, which in modern
times forms peat, and in more ancient
�12
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
days, under different conditions of heat
and pressure, took the more consolidated
form of coal.
When these vegetable remains are ex
amined with the aid of the microscope it
is found that these ancient forests con
sisted mainly of trees like gigantic club
mosses, mares’-tails, and tree ferns, with
a few resembling yews and firs. But in
many cases the bulk of the coal is com
posed of the spores and seeds of these
ferns and club-mosses, which were ripened
and shed every year, and gradually ac
cumulated into a vegetable mould, just
M fallen leaves, beech-mast, and other
Mbris, gradually form a soil in our exist
ing forests.
The time required must have been
very great. to accumulate vegetable mat
ter, principally composed of fine spore
dust, to a, depth sufficient under great
compression to give even a foot of solid
coal. Sir J. W. Dawson, who has devoted
great attention to the coal-fields of
America, says : “ We may safely assert
that every foot, of thickness of pure
bituminous coal implies the quiet growth
least fifty generations of
Sigillaria, and therefore an undisturbed
condition of forest growth, enduring
through many centuries.” But this is
only the first step in the measure of the
time required for the formation of the
coal measures. Each seam of coal is as
we have seen, covered by a bed of sand
or shale, t.e., of water-borne materials.
Dow can this be accounted for? Evi
dently m one way only—that the land
8uDace in which the forest grew sub®ded gradually until it became first a
marsh, and. then a lagoon or shallow
estuary, which silted up by degrees with
deposits of sand or mud, and, finally was
upraised until its surface became dry
land, in which a second forest grew
whose debris formed a second coal seam.’
And so on, over and over again, until
the whole series of coal measures had
been, accumulated, when this alternation
of slight submergences and slight rises
Came to an end, and some more decided
movement of the earth’s surface in the
locality brought, on a different state of
things. . This is in fact exactly what we
see taking place on a smaller scale in
recent times in such deposits as those of
the delta of the Mississippi, where a well
sunk at New Orleans passes through a
succession of cypress swamps and forest
growths, exactly like those now growing
on the surface, which are piled one above
the other, and separated by deposits of
river silt, showing a long alternation of
periods of rest when forests grew, fol
lowed by periods of subsidence when they
were flooded and their remains were
embedded in silt.
Starting on the foregoing assumption
tnat one root of coal represents fifty
generations of coal plants, and that each
generation of coal plants took ten years
p^me to maturity, an assumption
which is certainly very moderate; and
taking the actually measured thickness
or the coal measures in some localities at
\2’°P2 Jeet’. Professor Huxley calculates
that the time represented by the Coal
formation alone would be six millions
of years. Such a figure is, of course
only a rough approximation, but it is
sufficient to show that when we come to
deal with geological time, the standard
by which we must measure is one of
which the unit is a million of years.
This standard is confirmed by a variety
N °™er1 considerations. Take the case of
the Chalk formation.
Chalk is almost entirely composed of
the microscopic shells of minute organ
isms, such as now float in the upper strata
of our great oceans, and by their subsld®llc1e> in Die form of an impalpable
shell-dust, accumulate what is called the
Globigerina ooze,” which is brought up
by soundings in the Atlantic and Pacific
from great depths. . In fact, we may say
that a chalk formation is now going on in
the depths of existing oceans, and con
versely that the old chalk, which now
forms hills and elevated downs, was
certainly deposited at the bottom of
Cretaceous seas. The rate of deposit
must have been extremely slow, certainly
much slower than that of the deposit of
the much grosser matter brought down
by the Nile in. its annual inundations, the
growth of which has been estimated from
actual measurement at about three inches
per century. If one inch per century
were the rate of accumulation of this
microscopic shell-dust, subsiding slowly
to depths of two or three miles over
areas as large as Europe, it would take
1,200 years to form a foot of chalk, and
1,200,000 years to form 1,000 feet. Now
there are places where the thickness of
the Cretaceous formation, exposed by
the edges of its upturned strata, exceeds
�TIME
5,000 feet, so that this gives an approxima
tion very similar to that furnished by the
coal measures.
We have thus, on a rough approximation, a
period of about 6,000,000
year’s for ^©accumulation of a singlememtoar ofone of the separate formations into
'vrilidh the total 130,000 feet of. measured
strata are subdivided. But this takes.no
of the long periods during which
no accumulation took place at the
legalities in question, and of the long
pauses which must have ensued between
each movement of elevation and sub
mergence, and especially between the dis
appearance of an old, and the appearance
of an almost entirely new, epoch, with
different forms of animal and vegetable
life. We may be certain also that. we
ar® far from knowing the total thick
ness of strata which will be disclosed
when the whole surface of the earth
comes to be explored. All we can say
is that we have fragmentary pages
left in the geological record, speaking
broadly, for 100 millions of years, and
that probably the lost pages are quite as
numerous as those of which we have an
imperfect knowledge.
Sir Charles Lyell, the highest authority
on the subject, is inclined to estimate
the minimum of geological time at 200
millions of years, and few geologists , will
say that his estimate appears excessive.
Another test of the vast duration of
geological time is afforded by the oscil
lations of the earth’s surface. At first
sight we are apt to consider the earth
as the stable and the sea as the un
stable element. But in reality it is
exactly the reverse. Land has. been
perpetually rising and falling while the
level of the sea has remained the same.
This is easily proved by the presence
of sea-shells and other marine remains
in strata which now form high moun
tains. In the case of chalk, for instance,
there must have been in England a
change of relative level of sea and land
of more than two miles of vertical
height, between the original formation
of the chalk at the bottom of a deep ocean
and its present position in the North
and South Downs. In other cases the
change of level is even more conspicuous.
The Num mul ite lim eston e, which is formed
like, chalk from an accumulation of the
minute shells of low organisms floating
in the oceans of the early Tertiary
n
period, is found in mountain masses, and b
has been elevated to a height of 10,000
feet and more in the Alps »d Hima
layas.
,
On a smaller scale, and in mor® went
times, raised beaches with existing shells I
and lines of cliffs and caves, are found I
at various heights above the existing 1
sea-level of many of the coasts of Britain, 1
Scandinavia, Italy, South America
I
other countries.
Now the first question is, were these
changes caused by the land rising or by
the sea falling? The answer is, by toe
land rising. Had they been caused by
the sea standing at a higher level it must
have stood everywhere at this level, at
any rate in the same hemisphere and
anywhere near the same latitude. But
there are large tracts of land which have
never been submerged since remote geo
logical periods ; and in recent times thgya
is conclusive evidence that the changes
of level of sea and land.have been parUal
and not general. Thus in the well-known,
instance of the columns of the ruined
temple of Serapis at Pozzuoli in the Bay
of Naples, which forms the illustration
on the title-page of Lyell’s “ Principle# of
Geology,” there can be no doubt that
since the temple was built, either the
sea must have risen and since fallen, OF
the land sunk and since risen, at least
twenty feet since the temple was built
less than 2,000 years ago, for up to this
height the marble columns are riddled by
borings of marine shells, whose valyw
are still to be seen in the holes they
excavated. But an elevation of the level
of the Mediterranean of twenty feet
would have submerged, a great part of
Egypt, and other low-lying lands on the
borders of that sea, where we klWW
that no such irruptions of . salt, water
have taken place within historical, Or
even within recent geological, times.
The conclusion is therefore certain, that
the land at this particular spot must have
sunk twenty feet, and again risen as
much, so as to bring back.the floor of the
temple to its present position, which stood,
one hundred years ago just above the
sea-level, and that so gradually as not
to throw down the three columns which
are still standing. A slow subside®®®
has since set in and is now going on, so
that the floor is now two or three feet
below the sea-level.
Similar proofs may be multiplied to
�14
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
any extent. Along the coasts of the
British.Islands we find, in some places
submarine forests showing subsidence, in
others raised beaches showing elevation,
but they are not continuous at the same
level. Along the east coast of Scotland
there is a remarkable raised beach at
a level of about twenty-four feet above
the present one, showing in many places
lines of cliff, sea-worn caves, and outlying
stacks and skerries, exactly like those of
the present coast, though with green
fields or sandy links at their base, instead
of the waves of the German Ocean. But
as we go north this inland cliff gets lower
and gradually dies out, and when we get
into the extreme north, among the Orkney
and Shetland Islands, there are no signs
of raised beaches, and everything points
towards the recent period having been
one of subsidence.
Again, in Sweden, where marks were
cut in rocks in sheltered situations on the
well-nigh tideless Baltic more than a
century ago, so as to test the question of
an alleged elevation of the land, it has
been clearly shown that in the extreme
north of Sweden, the marks have risen
nearly seven feet, while in the central
portion of the country they have neither
risen nor fallen, and in the southern
province of Scania they have fallen.
This would be clearly impossible if the
sea and not the land had been the un
stable element, and apparent elevations
and depressions had been due to a gene
ral fall or rise in the level of all the seas
of the northern hemisphere.
In fact, the more we study geology the
more we are impressed with the fact that
the normal state of the earth is, and has
always been, one of incessant changes.
Water, raised by evaporation from the
seas, falls as rain or snow on land, wastes
it away and carries it down from higher
to lower levels, to be ultimately deposited
at the bottom of the sea. This goes on
constantly, and if there were no compen
sating action, as the seas cover a much
larger area than the lands, all land would
ultimately disappear, and one universal
ocean cover the globe. But inward heat
supplies the compensating action, and
new lands rise and new mountain chains
are upheaved to supply the place of those
which disappear.
This inward heat of the earth is an
ascertained fact; for as we descend from
the surface in deep mines or borings, we
find that the temperature actually does
increase at a rate which varies somewhat
in different localities, but which averages
about 1° Fahrenheit for every 60 feet of
depth. At this rate of increase water
would boil at a depth of 10,000 feet, and
iron and all other metals be melted before
we reached 100,000 feet. What actually
occurs at great depths we do not know
with any certainty, for we are not suffi
ciently acquainted with the laws under
which matter may behave when under
enormous heat combined with enormous
pressure. But we do know from volca
noes and earthquakes, that masses of
molten rocks and of imprisoned gases
exist in certain localities, at depths below
the surface which, although large com
pared with our deepest pits, are almost
infinitesimally small compared with the
total depth of 4,000 miles from that sur
face to the earth’s centre.
This much is clear, that, in order to
account for observed facts, we must con
sider the extreme outer crust, or surface
of the earth as known to us, as resting on
something which is liable to expand and
contract slowly with variations of heat,
and occasionally, when the tension be
comes great, to give violent shocks to the
outer crust, sending earthquake waves
through it, and to send up gases and
molten lava through volcanoes, along
lines of fissure, and at points of least
resistance. It is clear, also that these
movements are not uniform, but that
one part of the earth’s surface may be
rising while another is sinking, and
portions of it may be slowly tilting over,
so that as one end sinks the other rises.
The best comparison that can be made
is to a sheet of ice which has been much
skated over and cracked in numerous
directions, so as to have become a sort
of mosaic of ice fragments, which, when
a thaw sets in and the ice gets sloppy,
rise and fall with slightly different mo
tions as a skater, gliding over them,
varies the pressure, and occasionally
give a crack and let water rise through
from below in the line of fissure. The
difficulty will not seem so great if we
consider that the rocks which form the
earth’s crust are for the most part elastic,
and that an amount of elevation which
seems large in itself does not necessarily
imply a very steep gradient. Thus, if
the elevation which towards the close of
the Glacial period carried a bed of exist-
�TIMB
jpgaaMhells of Arctic type to the top or
the hill, Moel Tryfon, in North Wales,
which is 1,200 feet high, were, say, one
of 1,500 feet, this would be given by a
gradient of 15 feet a mile, or 1 m 333
for 100 miles. Such a gradient would not
be perceptible to the eye, and would certainly not be sufficient to cause any ten
sion likely to rupture rocks or disturb
Such movements are as a. rule ex
tremely slow. In volcanic regions thei e
a» occasionally shocks which raise ex
tensive regions a few feet at a blow, and
partial elevations and subsidences which
throw up cones of lava and cinders, or
let mountains down into chasms, in a
single explosion. The most noted of
these are the instances of Monte Nuovo,
near Naples, 800 feet high, and Jorullo,
in Mexico, thrown up in one eruption,
and the disappearance of a mountain
2,000 feet high in the Straits of Sunda
during an earthquake. The largest rise
recorded of an extensive area from the
shock of an earthquake, is that wdiich
occurred in South America in 1835, when
a range of coast of 500 miles from
Copiapo to Chiloe was permanently raised
five or six feet by a single shock, as was
shown by the beds of dead mussels and
other shells which had been hoisted, up in
some places as much as ten feet. It is pro
bable that the great chain of the Andes,
whose highest summits reach 27,000
feet, has been raised in a great measure
by a succession of similar shocks.
But for the most part these move
ments, whether of elevation or depression,
go on so slowly and quietly that they
escape observation. Scandinavia is ap
parently now rising and Greenland
sinking, but most countries have re
mained appreciably steady, or nearly
so, during the historical period. St.
Michael’s Mount, in Cornwall, is still
connected with the mainland by a spit,
dry at ebb tide and covered at flood, as
it was more than 2,000 years ago when
the old Britons carted their tin across to
Phoenician traders. Egypt, during a
period of 7,000 years, has preserved the
same level, or at the most has sunk as
slowly as the Nile mud has accumulated.
Parts of the English and Scotch coast
have risen perhaps twenty feet since the
prehistoric period, when canoes were
wrecked under what are now the streets
of Glasgow, and whales were stranded in
15
the Carse of Stirling. There is even
some evidence that the latest rise may
have occurred since the Roman wall was
built from the Forth to the Clyde. In
any case, however, the movements have
been extremely slow, and there have
been frequent oscillations, and long
pauses when the level of land and sea
remained stationary. The evidence,
therefore, from the great changes which
have occurred during each geological
period, points to the same conclusion as
that drawn from the thickness of forma
tions, such as the coal measures and
chalk, which must have been accumulated
very slowly, viz., that geological, time
must be measured by a scale of millions
of years.
Another test of the vast duration of
geological time is afforded by the change^
which have taken place in animal life as
we pass from one formation to another,
and even within the limits of the same
formation. The fauna, or form of exist
ing life at a given period, changes with
extreme slowness. During the historical
period there has been no perceptible
change, and even since the Pliocene
period, which cannot be placed at a less
distance from us than 200,000 years, and
probably at much more, the change has
been very small. In the limited class of
large land animals it has been con
siderable ; but if we take the far more
numerous forms of shell-fish and other
marine life, the old species which have
become extinct and the new ones which
have appeared, do not exceed five per
cent, of the whole. This is the more re
markable as great vicissitudes of climatri
and variations of sea-level have occurred,
during tlie interval. The whole of the
Glacial period has come and gone, and
Britain has been by turns an archipelago
of frozen islands, and part of a continent
extending over what is now the German
Ocean, and pushing out into the Atlantic
up to the one hundred fathom line.
Reasoning from these facts, assuming
the rate of change in the forms of life to
have been the same formerly, and sum
ming up the many complete changes of
fauna which have occurred during the
separate geological formations, Lyell has
arrived at the conclusion that geology
requires a period of , not less than 200
millions of years to account for the
phenomena which it discloses.
Long as the record is of geological
�16
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
time, it is only that of one short chapter three hours. In this state of things the
in , the volume of the history of the moon is supposed to, have been thrown
universe. Geology only begins when the ofi from the earth, either by one great
earth had cooled down into a state re convulsion, or, more probably, by small
sembling the present; when winds blew, masses at a time forming a ring like that
rains fell, rivers and seas eroded rocks of featurn, which ended by coalescing
and formed deposits, and when the con
single satellite. With
ditions were such that life became into a is the principal cause of the moon ’
which
the tides
possible by the remains of which those so much nearer the earth, their rise and
deposits can be identified.
enormous
But before this period began, which tall must have been somethingbore
may be called that of the maturity or and huge tidal waves like the500 orof the
Bay of Fundy, but perhaps
1,000
middle age of our planet, a much vaster feet high, must have swept twice during
time must be allowed for the contraction each revolution of the earth on its axis
and cooling of the vaporous matter of i.e., twice every, three or four hours, along
which it is formed, into the state in all the narrower seas and channels and
which the phenomena of geology became over all except the mountainous lands
possible. And if vast in the case of the adjoining.
earth, how much vaster must be the life
Now these conclusions
be true or
periods of the larger planets, such as not as regards phases of mayearth’s life
the
Jupiter, which from their much greater prior to the Silurian period, from which
size cool and contract much more slowly, downwards geology
unmistakably
and are not yet advanced beyond the that nothing of the showsor in the least
sort,
stage of intense youthful heat and
to it, has occurred
glowing luminosity which was left behind degree approaching point out is that ali
But
by our earth a great many tens of this, what I wish to of theory rests on a
millions of years ago ! And how vastly basissuperstructure
which, really does admit of definite
vaster must be that of the sun, whose
mass and volume exceed those of Jupiter demonstration and calculation.
Halley found
when
in a far higher ratio than Jupiter sur sun, recorded thatancienteclipses of the
in
annals, are
passes the earth !
compared
a
And beyond all this in a third degree discrepancywith recent observations of
is discovered in the rate
of vastness come the life-periods of those the moon’s motion, which must have been
stars or distant suns, which we know to slightly slower then than it is now
be in some cases as much as three Laplace apparently solved the difficulty
hundred times larger than oui*sun, and by showing
was an inevitable
not nearly so far advanced as it in the result of thethat this gravity, when the
law of
process of emergence from the fiery varying eccentricity of the earth’s orbit
nebulous into the solar stage.
To give some idea of the vast intervals was properly taken into account; and
of time required for these changes, a few the calculated amount of the variation
cause was shown to be exactly
facts and figures may be given.
what was
obser
One of, the latest speculations of vations. required to reconcile themathe
great
mathematical science is that the rotation matician, But our havingEnglish gone
Adams,
recently
or the earth is becoming slower, or, in over Laplace s calculations anew, dis
other words, that the day is becomin°' covered that some factors in the problem
longer, owingtotheretardingaction of the had been omitted, which reduced Laplace’s
tides, which act as a brake on a revolving acceleration of the moon’s motion by
wheel. If so, the effect of the reaction
to
on the moon of this action of the moon about one-half, leaving the other halfthe
be explained by a real
on the earth, must be that as the length of the sidereal day,increase in one
or time
earth rotates more slowly, the moon complete revolution of the earth of
about
recedes to a greater distance. And its axis.
required
viceversd, when the earth rotated more sufficient The retardation the total is one
to account for
accu
rapidly the moon was nearer to it
of an hour and a
until at length, when the process is mulated loss or, in other words, quarter in
the length
carried back far enough, we arrive at a 2 000 years,; now
time when the moon was at the earth’s of the day is than more by about Arth part
a
it was 2,000 years ago.
surface and the length of the day about of At second
this rate it would require 168,000
�TIME
years to wake a difference of 1 second in
lhelength of the day; 10,080,000 years for
a tlifferencs of 1 minute: and 604,800,000
years for a difference of 1 hour. The
r&towould not be uniform for the past,
for as the moon got nearer it would cause
higher tides and more retardationstill,
the abyss of time seems almost incon
ceivable to get back to the state in which
the earth could have rotated in three
hours and thrown off the moon.
It is right, however, to state that all
mathematical calculations of time, based
on the assumed rate at which cosmic
matter cools into suns and planets, and
these into solid and habitable globes, are
in the highest degree uncertain. If the
original data are right, mathematical
calculation inevitably gives right conclu
sions. But if the data are wrong, or,
what is the same thing, partial and im
perfect, the conclusions will, with equal
certainty, be wrong also. Now in this
■case we certainly do not know “the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but
the truth” respecting these processes.
Take what is perhaps the most difficult
problem presented by science—how the
sun keeps up so uniformly the enormous
amount of heat which it is constantly
radiating into space. This radiation is
going on in every direction, and the solar
heat received by the earth is only that
minute portion of it which is intercepted
by our little speck of a planet. All the
planets together receive less than one
230,000,000th part of the total heat ra
diated away by the sun and apparently
lost in space. Knowing the amount of
heat from the sun’s rays received at the
earth’s surface in a given time, we can
calculate the total amount of heat ra
diated from the sun in that time. It
amounts to this, that the sun in each
second of time parts with as much heat
as would be given out by the burning of
16,436 millions of millions of tons of the
best anthracite coal. And radiation cer
tainly at this rate, if not a higher one,
has been going on ever since the com
mencement of the geological record, which
must certainly be reckoned by a great
many tens of millions of years.
What an illustration does this afford of
that apparent “ waste of Nature ” which
made Tennyson “ falter where he firmly
trod” when he came to consider “her
secret meaning in her deeds ” 1
Yet there can be no doubt that vast as
17
these figures are, they are all the result of
natural laws, just as we find the law of
gravity prevailing throughout space at
distances expressed by figures equally
vast. The question is, what laws ? The
only one we know of at present at all
adequate to account for such a generation
of heat, is the transformation into heat
of the enormous amount of mechanical
force or energy, resulting from the con
densation of the mass of nebulous matter
from which the sun was formed, into a
mass of its present dimensions. This is
no doubt a true cause as far as it goes.
It is true that as the mass contracts, heat
would be, so to speak, squeezed out of it,
very much as water is squeezed out of _a
wet sponge by compressing it. But it is
a question whether it is the sole and
sufficient cause. Mathematicians have
calculated that even if we suppose the
original cosmic matter to have had an
infinite extension, its condensation into
the present sun would only have been
sufficient to keep up the actual supply of
solar heat for about 15 millions of year®;
Of this a large portion must have been
exhausted before the earth was formed
as a separate planet,and had cooled down
into a habitable globe. But even if we
took the whole it would be altogether in
sufficient. All competent geologists are
agreed in requiring at least 100 millions
of years to account for the changes which
have taken place in the earth’s surface
since the first dawn of life recorded in
the older rocks.
Various attempts have been made to
reconcile the discrepancy. For instance,
it has been said that the constantly re
peated impact of masses of meteoric and
cometic matter falling into the sun must
have caused the destruction of a . vast
amount of mechanical energy whhA
would be converted into heat. This is
true as far as it goes, but it is impossible
to conceive of the sun as a target kept at
a perpetual and uniform white heat for
millions of years by a rain of meteoric
bullets constantly fired upon it. More
plausibly it is said that we know nothing
of the interior constitution of the sun,
and that its solid nucleus may be vastly
more compressed than is inferred from
the dimensions of its visible disc, which
is composed of glowing flames and
vapours. This also may be a true cause,
but, after making every allowance, we
must fall back on the statement that the
c
�18
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THONGUT
continuance for such enormous periods of
such an enormous waste of energy as is
given out by the sun, though certainly
explainable by laws of Nature, depends
on laws not yet thoroughly understood
and explained.
Even in the case, comparatively small
and near to us, of the earth, the condition
of the interior and the rate of secular
cooling afford problems which as yet wait
for solution. The result of a number of
careful experiments in mines and deep
sinkings shows that the temperature, as
we descend below the shallow superficial
crust which is affected by the seasons, i.e.,
by the solar radiation, increases at the
average rate of 1° Fahrenheit for every
60 feet of depth. That is the average
rate, though it varies a good deal in dif
ferent localities. Now, at this rate we
should soon reach a depth at which all
known substances would be melted.
But astronomical considerations, de
rived from the Precession of the Equi
noxes, favour the idea that the earth is a
solid and not a fluid body, and require
us in any case to assume a rigid crust of
not less than ninety miles in thickness.
And if the whole earth below a thin
superficial crust were in an ordinary
state of fluidity from heat, it is difficult
to see how it could do otherwise than
boil, that is, establish circulating cur
rents throughout its mass with disen
gagement of vapour, in which case the
surface crust must be very soon broken
up and melted down, just as the super
ficial crust of a red-hot stream of lava is,
if an infusion of fresh lava raises the
stream below to white heat, or as a thin
film of ice would be if boiling water were
poured in below it.
All we can say is, that the laws under
which matter behaves under conditions
of heat pressure, chemical action, and
electricity so totally different. as must
prevail in the interior of the earth, and
a fortiori in that of the sun, are as yet
very partially known to us. In the
meantime the safest course is to hold by
tliose conclusions of geology which, as far
as they go, depend on laws really known
to us. For instance, the quantity of mud
carried, down in a year by the Ganges or
Mississippi, is a quantity which can be
calculated within certain approximate
limits. We can tell with certainty how
much the deposit cf this amount of mud
would raise an area, say of 100 square
miles, and how long it would take, at this
rate, to lower the area of India drained
by the Ganges a sufficient number of feet
to give matter enough to fill up the Gulf
of Bengal. And if among the older for
mations we find one, like the Wealden
for instance, similar in character to that
now forming by the Ganges, we can ap
proximate from its thickness to the time
that may have been required to form it.
In calculations of this sort there is no
theory, they are based on positive facts,
limited only by a certain possible amount
of error either way In short, the con
clusions of geology, at any rate up to the
Silurian period, when the present order
of things was fairly inaugurated, are
approximate facts and not theories, while
the astronomical conclusions are theories
based on data so uncertain, that while in
some cases they give results incredibly
short, like that of 15 millions of years for
the whole past process of the formation
of the solar system, in others they give
results almost incredibly long, as in that
which supposes the moon to have been
thrown off when the earth was rotating
in three hours, while the utmost actual
retardation claimed from observation
would require 600 millions of years to
make it rotate in twenty-three hours in
stead of twenty-four.
To one who looks at these discussions
between geologists and astronomers not
from the point of view of a specialist in
either science, but from that of a dis
passionate spectator, the safest course, in
the present state of our knowledge, seems
to be to assume that geology really proves
the duration of the present order of
things to have been somewhere over 100
millions of years, and that astronomy
gives an enormous though unknown time
beyond in the past, and to come in the
future, for the birth, growth, maturity,
decline, and death of the solar system of
which our earth is a small planet now
passing through the habitable phase.
So far, however, as the immediate
object of this work is concerned, viz., the
bearings of modern scientific discovery
on modem thought, it is not very
material whether the shortest or longest
possible standards of time are adopted.
The conclusions as to man’s position in
the universe, and the historical truth or
falsehood of old beliefs, are the same
whether man has existed in a state of
constant though slow progression for the.
�MATTER
last 50,000 years of a period of 15 millions,
or for the last 500,000 years of a period of
millions. It is a matter of the deepest scientific interest to arrive at the
truth, both as to the age of the solar
system, the age of the earth as a body
capable of supporting life, the successive
orders and dates at which life actually
appeared, and the manner and date of
the appearance of the most highly organ
ised form of life endowed with new capa
cities for developing reason and con
science in the form of Man. Those who
wish to prove themselves worthy of their
great good luck in having been born in
a civilised country of the nineteenth
century, and not in Palaeolithic periods,
will do well to show that curiosity, or
appetite for knowledge, which mainly
distinguishes the clever from the stupid
and the civilised from the savage man,
by studying the works of such writers as
Lyell, Huxley, Tyndall, and Proctor,
where they will find the questions which
here are only briefly stated, developed at
fuller length with the most accurate
Science and in the clearest and most
attractive style. But for the moral,
philosophical, and religious bearings of
these discoveries on the current _ of
modern thought, there is such a wide
margin that it becomes almost immaterial
whether the shortest possible or longest
possible periods should be ultimately
established.
CHAPTER III
MATTER
Matter and Motion—Light, Colour, and Heat
—Matter and its Elements—Molecules and
Atoms—Spectroscope—Uniformity of Mat
ter throughout the Universe—Force and
Motion—Conservation of Energy—Elec
tricity, Magnetism, and Chemical Action—Dissipation of Heat—Birth and Death of
Worlds.
The contents of the material universe
may be expressed in terms of Matter and
of Motion. Matter exists in the three
fold and interrelated states known as
solid, liquid, and gaseous, and it is con
venient to include with these the appa
rently fourth state called the ethereal.
The existence of this last-named is an
If)
hypothesis by which alone can we
account for the phenomena of light and
heat, and, as the marvellous researches of
Hertz have shown, of the electro-magnetic
waves which confirm the theory of con
nection between electricity, magnetism,
light, and radiant heat. More than this
we cannot assume regarding ether, for all
ponderable matter,—solids, liquids, gases
-—consists of ultimate molecules, and w®
do not know whether ether is nonmolecular or imponderable.
Dealing with Motion, it has been shown
that light radiates in all directions from
a luminous centre, travelling at the rate
of 186,000 miles per second. Now what
is light ? It is a sensation produced on
the brain by something which has been
concentrated by the lens of the eye on
the retina, and thence transmitted along
the optic nerve to the brain, where it sets
certain molecules vibrating. What is the
something which produces this effect ? Is
it a succession of minute particles, shot
like rifle-bullets from the luminous body
and impinging on the retina as on a tar
get ? Or is it a succession of tiny waves
breaking on the retina as the waves of
the sea break on a shore 1 Analogy sug
gests the latter, for in the case of the
sister sense, sound, we know as a fact
that the sensation is produced on the
brain by waves of air concentrated by
the ear, and striking on the auditory
nerve. But we have a more conclusive
proof. If one of a series of particles shot
out like bullets overtakes another, the
force of impact of the two is increased ;
but if one wave overtakes another when
the crest of the pursuing wave just coin
cides with the hollow of the wave before
it the effect is neutralised, and if the two
are of equal size it will be exactly
neutralised and both waves . will be
effaced. In other words, two lights will
make darkness. This, therefore, affords
an infallible test. If two lights can
make darkness, light is propagated, like
sound, by waves. Now two lights do
constantly make darkness, as is proved,
every day by numerous experiments.
Therefore light is caused by waves.
But to have waves there must be a
medium through which the waves are
propagated. Without water you could
not have ocean waves ; without air you
could not have sound-waves. Waves are
in fact nothing but the successive forms
assumed by a set of particles whichf
c 2
�20
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
when forced from a position of rest, tend
to return to that position, and oscillate
about it. Place a cork on the surface of
a still pond, and then throw in a stone ;
what follows 1 Waves are propagated,
which seem to travel outwards in circles,
but if you watch the cork, you will see
that it does not really travel outwards, but
simply rises and falls in the same place.
This is equally true of waves of sound and
waves of light. But the velocity with
which the waves travel depends on the
nature of the medium. In a dense
medium of imperfect elasticity they
travel slowly, in a rare and elastic
medium quickly. Now the velocity of a
sound-wave in air is about 1,100 feet a
second, that of the light-wave about
186,000 miles a second or about one
million times greater. It is proved by
mathematical calculation that, if the
density of two media are the same, their
elasticities are in proportion to the
squares of the velocities with which a
wave travels. The elasticity of ether,
therefore, would be a million million
times greater than that of air, which, as
we know, is measured by its power of
resisting a pressure of about 15 lbs. to
the square inch. But the ether must in
fact be almost infinitely rare, as well as
almost infinitely elastic, for it causes no
perceptible retardation in the motions of
the earth and planets. It must be almost
infinitely rare also because it permeates
freely the interior of substances like
glass and crystals, through which light
waves pass, showing that the atoms or
ultimate particles of which these sub
stances are composed, minute as they
are, must be floating in ether like
buoys floating on water or balloons in
the air.
The dimensions of the light-waves
which travel through this ether at the
rate of 186,000 miles a second can be
accurately measured by strict mathe
matical calculations, depending mainly
on the phenomena of interferences, i.e.,
of the intervals required between suc
cessive waves for the crest of one to
overtake the depression of another
and thus make two lights produce
darkness.
These calculations are much too intri
cate to admit of popular explanation,
but they are as certain as those of the
"Nautical Almanac, based on the law of
gravity, which enable ships to find their
way across the pathless ocean, and they
give the following results :
Dimensions
of
Light-Waves,
Colours.
Number of
Waves in One
Inch.
Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Indigo
Violet
39,000
42 000
44,000
47,000
51,000
54,000
57,000
Number of
cillations in
Second.
Os
One
477,000,000,000,000
506,000,000,000,000
535,000,000,000,000
575,000,000,000.000
622,000,000,000,000
658,000.000,000,000
699,000,000,000,010
These are the colours whose vibrations
affect the brain through the eye with the
sensation of light, and which cause the
sensation of white light when their
different vibrations reach the eye simul
taneously. But there are waves and
vibrations on each side of these limits,
which produce different effects, the longer
waves with slower oscillations beyond
the red, though no longer causing light
causing heat, while the shorter and
quicker waves beyond the violet cause
chemical action, and are the most effec
tive agents in photography.
We must refer our readers to works
treating specially of light for further
details, and for an account of the vast
variety of beautiful and interesting ex
periments with polarised light, coloured
rings, and otherwise, to which the theory
of waves propagated through ethsf
affords the key. For the present purpose
it is sufficient to say that modern science
compels us to assume such an ether ex
tending everywhere, from the faintest
star seen at a distance which requires
thousands of years for its rays, travelling
at the rate of 186,000 miles a second, to
reach the earth, down to the infini
tesimally small interspace between the
atoms of the minutest matter. And
throughout the whole of this enormous
range law prevails, ether vibrates and has
always vibrated in the same definite
manner, just as air vibrates by definite
laws when the strings of a piano are
struck by the hammers.
I now return to the consideration of
matter.
What is matter 1 In the most general
sense it is that which has weight, or is
subject to the law of gravity, and, as
shown above, it exists, as ponderable
stuff, in the three forms of solid, liquid,
�MATTER
Or gas, according to the amount of heat.
Diminish heat, and the particles approach
closer and are linked together.by mutual
attraction, so as not to be readily parted ;
this is a solid. Increase the heat up to a
certain point, and the particles recede.
until their mutual attractions m the
interior of the mass neutralise one an
other, SO that the particles can move
fredy, though still held together as a
mass by the sum of all these attractions
acting as if concentrated at the centre of
gravity ; this is the liquid state. Increase
the heat still more, and the particles
Separate until they get beyond the sphere
of their mutual attraction and tend to
dart off into space, unless confined by
some surface on which they exert pres
sure ; this is a gas.
. .
The most familiar instance of this is
afforded by water, which, as we all know,
SKists in the three forms of ice, water,
and vapour or steam, according to the
dose of heat which has been incorporated
with it.
Pursuing our inquiry further, the next
great fact in regard to matter fs that it
is not all uniform. While most of the
jfommon forms with which we are con
versant are made up of mixed materials,
^vhich can be taken to pieces and shown
separately, there are, as at present ascer
tained, some seventy-six substances which
defy chemical analysis to decompose
them, and must therefore be taken as
elementary substances. A great majority
of these consist of substances existing
in minute quantities, and hardly known
Outside the laboratories of chemists
The world of matter, as known to the
senses, is mainly composed of combina
tions, more or less complex, of a few
elements. Thus, water is a compound of
two simple gases, oxygen and hydrogen ;
air, speaking broadly, of oxygen and
nitrogen; the solid framework of the
Mrtli, mainly of combinations of oxygen
With carbon, calcium, aluminium, silicon,
and a few other bases ; salt, of chlorine
^nd sodium ; the vegetable world directly
and the animal world indirectly, mainly
of complex combinations of oxygen,
hydrogen, and nitrogen with carbon, and
With smaller quantities of silicon, sulphur,
(potassium, sodium, and phosphorus. . The
ordinary metals, such as iron, gold, silver,
stopper, tin, lead, mercury, zinc, nearly
complete the list of what may be called
Ordinary elements.
21
Now let us push our analysis a step
further. How is matter made up of
these elements ; Up to and beyond the
furthest point visible by aid of the microscope, matter is divisible. We can break
a crystal into fragments, or divide a drop
into drops, until they cease to be visibly
though still retaining all the properties
of the original substance. Can we carry
on this process indefinitely, and is matter
composed of something, that can b®
divided and subdivided into fractional
parts ad infinitum? The answer is, No,
it consists of ultimate but still definite
particles which cannot be further sub*
divided. How is this kno wn ? Becaus®
we find by experience that substances 1
will only combine in certain definite pro I
portions either of weight or measure,*
For instance, in forming water exactly
eight grains by weight of oxygen combine with exactly one grain of hydrogen,
and if there is any excess or fractional
part of either gas, it remains over , in
its original form uncombined. In like
manner, matter in. the form of gag
always combines with other matter in
the same form by volumes which, bear
a definite and very simple proportion to
each other, and the compound formed
bears a definite and very simple ratio to
the sum of the volumes of the combining
gases. Thus two volumes of hydrogen
combine with one of oxygen to form two
volumes of water in the state of vapour.
From these facts certain inferences can
be drawn. In the first place it is clear
that matter really does consist of minute
particles, which do not touch and form a
continuous solid, but are. separated by
intervals which increase with increase of
temperature. This is evident from the
fact that we can pour a second or third
gas into a space already occupied by a
first one. Each gas occu pies the enclosed
space just as if there were no other gas
present, and exerts its own proper pres
sure on the containing vessel, so that the
total pressure on it is exactly the sum of
the partial pressures. It is easy to see
what this means. If a second regiment
can be marched into a limited.space of
ground on which a first regiment is
already drawn up, it is evident that the
first regiment must be drawn up in loose
order, i.e., the soldier-units of which it is
composed must stand so far apart that
other soldier-units can find room be
tween them without disturbing the for-
�22
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
mation. But the effect will be that the
fire from the front will be increased, as
for instance if a soldier of the second
regiment, armed with a six-shooter re
peating rifle, takes his stand between two
soldiers of the first regiment armed with
single-barrelled rifles, the effective fire
will be increased in the ratio of 8 to 2.
And this is precisely what is meant by
the statement that the pressure of two
gases in the same space is the sum of the
separate pressures of each. It is clearly
established that the pressure of a gas on
a containing surface is caused by the
bombarding to which it is subjected from
the impacts of an almost infinite number
of these almost infinitely small atoms,
which, when let loose from the mutual
attractions which hold them together in
the solid and fluid state, dart about in all
directions, colliding with one another
and rebounding, like a set of little
billiard-balls gone mad, and producing a
certain average resultant of momentum
outwards which is called pressure.
Another simile may help us to conceive
how the indivisibility of atoms is inferred
from the fact that they only combine in
definite proportions. Suppose a number
of gentlemen and ladies promenading
promiscuously in a room. The band
strikes up a waltz, and they at once pro
ceed to group themselves in couples
rotating with rhythmical motion in defi
nite orbits. Clearly, if there are more
ladies than gentlemen, some of them will
be left without partners. So, if instead
of a waltz it were a threesome reel, in
which each gentleman led out two ladies,
there must be exactly twice as many
ladies as gentlemen for all to join in the
dance. But if a gentleman could be cut
up into fractional parts, and each frac
tion developed into a dancing gentleman,
as primitive cells split up and produce
fresh cells, it would not matter how many
ladies there were, as each could be pro
vided with a partner.. Now this is
strictly analogous to what occurs in
chemical combination. Water is formed
by each gentleman atom of oxygen
taking out a lady atom of hydrogen in
each hand, and the sets thus formed com
mence to dance threesome reels in defi
nite time and measure, any surplus
oxygen or hydrogen atoms being left
out in the cold. Wonderful as it may
appear, science enables us not only to
say of these inconceivably minute atoms
that they have a real existence, but to
count and weigh them. This fact has
been accomplished by mathematical cal
culations based on laws which have been
ascertained by a long series of experi
ments on the constitution of gases.
It is found that all substances, when in
the form of gas, conform to three laws :
1. Their volume is inversely propor
tional to the pressure to which
they are subjected.
2. Their volume is directly proportional
to the temperature.
3. At the same pressure and tempera
ture all gases have the same num
ber of molecules in the same
volume.
From the last law it is obvious that if
equal volumes of two gases are of different
weight, the cause must be that the mole
cules of the one are heavier than those of
the other. This enables us to express the
weight of the molecule of any other gas
in some multiple of the unit afforded by
the weight of the molecule of the lightest
gas, whiqfi is hydrogen. Thus, the density
of watery vapour being nine times that of
hydrogen, we infer that the molecule of
water weighs nine times as much as the
molecule of hydrogen, and that of oxygen
being eight times greater, we infer that
the oxygen molecule is eight times heavier
than that of hydrogen.
These weights are checked by the other
law which has been stated, that chemical
combination between different substances
always takes place in certain definite pro
portions. Thus, whenever in a chemical
process the original substances or the pro
duct are or might exist in the state of gas,
it is always found that the definite pro
portions observed in the chemical process
are either the proportions of the densities
of the respective gases or some simple
multiple of these proportions. Thus, the
weight of hydrogen being 2, which com
bines with a weight of oxygen equal to 16
to form a weight of watery vapour equal
to 18, the density of the latter is to that
of hydrogen as 9 to 1, i.e., as 18 to 2.
But to get to the bottom of the matter
we must go a step further, and as we have
decomposed substances into molecules,
we must take the molecules themselves
to pieces and see what they are made of.
The molecule is the ultimate particle into
which any substance can be divided re
taining its own peculiar qualities. A mole
cule of water is as truly water as a drop
�MATTER
or a tumblerful. But when chemical de
composition takes place, instead of the
molecule of water we have molecules of
two entirely different substances, oxygen
and hydrogen. Nothing can well be more
unlike than the product water and the
component parts of which it is made up.
Water is a fluid, oxygen a gas ; water ex
tinguishes fire, oxygen creates it. Water
is a harmless drink, oxygen the base of
the most corrosive acids. It is evident
that the water-molecule is a composite,
and that its qualities depend, not on the
essential qualities of the atoms which
have combined to make it, but on the
manner of the combination, and the new
modes of action into which these atoms
have been forced. In his native war-paint
oxygen is a furious savage ; with a hydro
gen atom in each hand he is a polished
gentleman.
Our theory, therefore, leads beyond
molecules to atoms, and we have to con
sider these particles of a still smaller
order than molecules, as the ultimate
indivisible units of matter of which we
have been in search. And even these we
must conceive of as corks, as it were,
.floating in an ocean of ether, causing
waves in it by their own proper move
ments, and agitated by all the successive
waves which vibrate through this etherocean in the form of light and heat.
Working on these data, a variety of
refined mathematical calculations made
by Clausius, Clerk Maxwell, Sir W. Thom
son (now Lord Kelvin), and other eminent
mathematicians, have given us approxi
mate figures for the actual size, weight,
and velocities of atoms and molecules.
The results are truly marvellous. A mil
limetre is the one-thousandth part of a
metre, or roughly one twenty-fifth of an
inch. The magnitudes with which we
have to deal are all of an order where the
standard of measurement is expressed by
the millionth part of a millimetre. The
volume of a molecule of air is only a small
fraction of that of a cube whose side would
be the millionth of a millimetre. A cubic
centimetre, or say a cube whose side is
between one-third and one-half of an inch,
contains 21,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
molecules. The number of impacts re
ceived by each molecule of air during
one second will be 4,700 millions. The
distance traversed between each impact
averages 95 millionths of a millimetre.
It may assist in forming some concep
23
tion of these almost infinitely small mag
nitudes, to quote an illustration given by
Sir W. Thomson as the result of mathe
matical calculation. Suppose a drop of
water were magnified so as to appear of
the size of the earth or with a diameter
of 8,000 miles, the atoms of which it is
composed, magnified on the same scale,
would appear of a size intermediate
between that of a rifle-bullet and of a
cricket-ball.
These figures show that space and mag
nitude extend beyond the standards of
ordinary human sense, such as miles, feet,
and inches, as far downwards into the
region of the infinitely small as they do
upwards into that of the infinitely great.
And throughout the whole of this enor
mous range law prevails. The same law
of gravity gives weight to molecules and
atoms, makesan apple fall to the ground,
and causes double stars to revolve round
their centre of gravity in elliptic orbits.
The law of polarity which converts ironfilings into small magnets under the in
fluence of a permanent magnet or electric
current, animates the smallest atom.
Atoms arrange themselves into molecules,
and molecules into crystals, very much
as magnetised iron-filings arrange them
selves into regular curves. And the great
law seems to prevail universally through
out the material, as it does also through
out the moral world, that you cannot
have a North without a South Pole, a
positive without a negative, a right with
out a wrong; and that error consists
mainly in what the poet calls, “the false
hood of extremes ”—that is, in allowing
the attraction of one pole, oi* of one
opinion,- so to absorb us as to take no
account of its opposite.
The universality of law has received
wonderful confirmation of late years from
the discovery made by the spectroscope
that the sun, the planets, and the re
motest stars are all composed of matter
identical with that into which chemical
analysis has resolved the constituent
matter of the earth. This has been proved
in the following way :
If a beam of light is admitted into a
darkened room through a small hole or
narrow slit, and a triangular piece of
glass, called a prism, is interposed in its
path, the image, thrown on a screen is
a rainbow tinted streak, intersected by
numerous fine dark lines, whieh is called
a spectrum. If, instead of solar light, light
�24
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
from other luminous sources is similarly
treated, it is found that all elementary
substances have their peculiar spectra.
Light from solid or liquid substances
gives a continuous spectrum, light from
gases or glowing vapours gives a spect
rum of bright lines separated from each
other, but always in definite positions
according to the nature of the substance.
The next great step in the discovery was
that these bright lines become dark lines
when a light of greater intensity, coming
from a solid nucleu s, is transmitted through
an atmosphere of such gases or vapours.
We can thus photograph the spectrum of
glowing hydrogen, sodium, iron, or other
substances, and placing it below a photo
graph of a solar or stellar spectrum, see
if any of the dark lines of the latter are
coincident in position with the bright
lines of the former. If they are, we may
be.certain that these substances actually
exist in the sun or star. It is, in fact,
just the same thing as if we had been able
to bring down a jar-full of the solar or
stellar matter and analyse it in our labo
ratories.
It is difficult to convey any adequate
description of these grand discoveries
made by the new science of spectroscopy
without referring to special works on the
subject; but it may be possible to give
some general idea of the principles on
which they are based.
As has been shown, light consists of
waves propagated through ether. These
waves are started by the vibrations of
the ultimate particles of matter, which,
whether in the simplest form of atoms,
in the more complex form of molecules,
or in the still more complex form of com
pound molecules, have their own peculiar
and ciistinct vibrations. These vibrations
are increased, diminished, or otherwise
modified by variations of heat and by the
collisions which occur between the par
ticles from their own proper motions. If
we take the simplest case, that of matter
in the form of a gas or vapour composed
of single atoms, at a temperature just
sufficient to become luminous and at a
pressure small enough to keep the atoms
widely apart, the vibrations are all of one
sort, viz., that peculiar to the elementary
substance to which they belong, and one
set of waves only is propagated by them
f hrough the ether. The spectrum, there
fore. of such a gas is a single line of light,
in the definite position which is due to its
refrangibility, i.e., to the velocity of the
particular wave of light which the par
ticular vibration of those particular atoms
is able to propagate.
When pressure is increased so that the
particles are brought closer together,
their vibrations made more energetic
and their collisions more frequent, more
waves, and waves of different qualities
are started, and more lines appear in the
spectrum and the lines widen out, until
at length when the gas becomes very
dense, some of the lines overlap and an
approach is made towards a continuous
spectrum. Finally, when the particles
are brought so near together that the
substance assumes a fluid or solid state,
the number of wave-producing vibrations
becomes so great that a complete system
of different light-waves is propagated,
and the lines of the spectrum are multi
plied until they coalesce and form a con
tinuous band of rainbow-tinted light. If
the particles of the gas, instead of being
single atoms, are more complex, as mole
cules or compound molecules, the vibra
tions are more complex and the different
resulting light-waves more numerous, so
that the lines in the spectrum are more
numerous, and in some cases they coalesce
so as to form, shaded bands, or what are
called fluted lines, instead of simple lines.
Moreover, whatever light-waves are
originated by the vibrations of the par
ticles of gas are absorbed into those
vibrations and extinguished, if they
originate from the vibrations of some
more energetic particles of another sub
stance outside of it, whose light-waves,
travelling along the ether, pass through
the gas, and are thus shown as dark lines
in the spectrum of the other source of
light.
. We can now understand how the asser
tion is justified that we can analyse the
composition of the sun and stars as cer
tainly as if we had a jar full of their
substance to analyse in our laboratory.
The first glance at a spectrum tells us
whether the luminous source is solid,
fluid, or gaseous. If its spectrum is con
tinuous it is solid or fluid ; we know this
for certain, but can tell nothing more.
But if it consists of bright lines, we know
that it comes direct from matter in the
form of luminous gas, and knowing from
experiments in the laboratory the exact
colours and situations of the lines formed
by the different elements of which earthly
�MATTER
matter is composed, we can see whether
the lines in the spectra of heavenly matter
do or do not correspond with any of them.
if bright lines correspond we are sure
that the substances correspond, both as
to their elementary atoms and their con
dition as glowing gas. If dark lines in
the spectrum of the heavenly body corre
spond with bright lines in that of . a
known earthly substance, we are certain
that the substances are the same and in
the same state of gas, but that the solar
or stellar spectrum proceeds from an
Intensely heated interior solid or fluid
nucleus, whose waves have passed through
an outer envelope or atmosphere of this
gas.
Applying these principles, although the
science is still in its infancy and many
interesting discoveries remain to be made,
this grand discovery has become an
axiomatic fact—Matter is alike every
where. The light of stars up to the ex
treme boundary of the visible universe
is composed mainly of glowing hydrogen,
the same identical hydrogen as we get by
decomposing water by a voltaic battery.
Of the 76 elementary substances enu
merated by chemists, 36 are known cer
tainly to exist in the sun’s atmosphere.
The elements whose presence is proved
comprise many of those which are most
common in the composition of the earth,
as hydrogen, carbon, iron (represented
by about 2,000 lines in the. solar spec
trum), lead, calcium, aluminium, magne
sium, sodium, potassium, etc.; and if
others, such as oxygen, nitrogen, and
chlorine have not yet been found, the
explanation is that when a mixture of
the incandescent vapours of the metals
and metalloids (or non-metallic elemen
tary substances, to which class both oxy
gen and nitrogen belong), or their com
pounds, is examined with the spectroscope,
the spectra of the metalloids always yield
before that of the metals. Hence the
absence of the lines of oxygen and other
metalloids, carbon and silicon excepted,
among the vast crowd of lines in the solar
spectrum. Then, too, in extreme states
of rarefaction of the sun’s absorbing layer,
the absorption of the oxygen is too small
to be sensible to us. The main fact is
firmly established that matter is the same
throughout all space, from the minutest
atom to the remotest star.
Thus far we have been treating of
matter only, and of force and motion but
25
incidentally. These, however, are equally
essential components of the phenomena
of the universe. What is force ? In the
last analysis it is the unknown causa
which we assume for motion, or the term
in which we sum up whatever produces
or tends to produce it. The idea of foreej
like so many other of our ideas, is take©
from our own sensations. If we lift a
weight or bend a bow, we are conscious
of doing so by an effort. Something
which we call will produces a motion in
the molecules of the brain, which is trans
mitted by the nerves to. the muscles
where it liberates a certain amount of
energy stored up by the chemical com
position and decomposition of. the atoms
of food which we consume. This contracts
the muscle, and the force of its contrac
tion, transmitted by a system of pulleys
and levers to the hand, lifts the weighty
If we let go the weight it falls, and th®
force which lifted it reappears in th®
force with which it strikes the ground.
If we do not let go the weight but. plac®
it on a support at the height to which we
have raised it, it does not fall, no motion!
ensues, but the lifting force remain
stored-up in a tendency to motion, and
can be made to reappear as motion at
any time by withdrawing the support^
when the weight will fall. It is evident
therefore, that force may exist in two
forms, either as actually causing motion^
or as causing a tendency to motion.
In this generalised form it has been
agreed to call it energy, as less liable to
be obscured by the ordinary impressions
attached to the word force, which are
mainly derived from experiences of actual
motion cognizable by the senses.
speak, therefore, of energy as of some
thing which is the basis or primum mobiii
of all motion or tendency to motion,
whether it be in the grosser forms of
gravity and mechanical work, or in the
subtler forms of molecular and atonii®
motions causing the phenomena of heat,
light, electricity, magnetism, and chemi
cal action. This energy may exist either
in the form of actual motion, when it is
called energy of motion, or in that of
tendency to motion, when it is called
energy of position. Thus the bent bow
has energy of position which, when , the
string is let go, is at once converted into
energy of motion in the flight of the arrow.
Respecting this energy modern science
has arrived at this grand generalisation^
�26
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
that it is one and the same in all its
different manifestations, and can neither
be created nor destroyed, so that all these
varied manifestations are mere transfor
mations of the same primitive energy
from one form to another. This is what
is meant by the principle of the “Con
servation of Energy.”
It was arrived at in this 'way. Speak
ing roughly, it has long been known that
heat could generate mechanical power, as
seen in the steam-engine ; and conversely
that mechanical power could generate
heat, as is seen when a sailor, in a chill
north-easter, claps his arms together on
his breast to warm himself. But it was
reserved for Dr. Joule to give this fact
the scientific precision of a natural law,
by actually measuring the amount of heat
that was added to a given weight of water
by a given expenditure of mechanical
power, and conversely the amount of
mechanical work that could be got from
a given expenditure of heat.
A vast number of carefully-conducted
experiments have led to the conclusion
that if a kilogramme be allowed to fall
through 424 metres and its motion be
then suddenly stopped, sufficient heat
will be generated to raise the tempera
ture of one kilogramme of water by 1°
Centigrade ; and conversely this amount
of heat would be sufficient to raise one
kilogramme to a height of 424 metres.
If, therefore, we take as our unit of
work that of raising one kilogramme
one metre, and as our unit of heat that
necessary to raise one kilogramme of
water 1° Centigrade, we may express
the proportion of heat to work by saying
that one unit of beat is equal to 424 units
of work ; or, as it is sometimes expressed,
that the number 424 is the mechanical
equivalent of heat.
But the question may be asked, what
does this mean, how c^n mechanical work
be really transformed into heat or viceversa 1 The answer is, the energy which
was supplied by chemical action to the
muscles of the man or horse, or to the
water converted into steam by combus
tion of coal, which originated the me
chanical work, was first transformed into
its equivalent amount of mechanical
energy of motion, and then, when that
motion was arrested, was transformed
into heat, which is simply the same
energy transformed into increased mole
cular motion.
we wish to carry our inquiry a step
further back and ask where the original
energy came from which has undergone
these transformations, the answer must
be, .mainly from the sun. The sun’s rays,
acting on the chlorophyl or green matter
of the plants of the coal era, rore asunder
the atoms of carbon and oxygen which
formed the carbonic acid in the atmosphere, and locked up a store of energy
in the form of carbon in the coal which
is burned to produce the steam. In
like manner it stored-up the energy in
the form .of carbon in the vegetable pro
ducts winch, either directly, or indirectly
after having passed through the body of
some animal, supplied the food, whose
slow combustion in the man or horse
supplied the energy which did the work.
But where did the energy come from
which the sun has been pouring forth for
countless ages in the form of light and
heat, and of which our earth only inter
cepts the minutest portion 1 This is a
mystery not yet completely solved, but
one real cause we can see, which has
certainly operated and perhaps been the
only one, viz., the mechanical energy of
the. condensation by gravity of the atoms
which originally , formed the nebulous
matter out of which the sun was made.
If . we ask, how came the atoms into
existence endowed with this marvellous
energy, we have reached the furthest
bounds of human knowledge, and can
only reply in the words of the poet:
“Behind the veil, behind the veil.”
We can only form metaphysical con
ceptions, or I might rather call them the
vaguest guesses. One is, that they were
created and endowed with their ele
mentary properties by an all-wise and
all-powerful Creator. This is Theism.
Another, that thought is the only
reality, and that all the phenomena of
the universe are thoughts or ideas of one
universal, all-pervading Mind. This is
Pantheism.
Or again, we may frankly acknow
ledge that the real essence and origin of
things are “ behind the. veil,” and not
knowable or even conceivable by any
faculties with which the human mind is
endowed in its present state of existence.
This is Agnosticism.
There is another conception, of which
we may certainly say that it is not ten
able.—that is Atheism. For it is the
spirit that denies without warrant for
�MATTER
denial, and pronounces a verdict which
fen arrived at without evidence*
But these speculations lead us into the
misty regions where, like Milton’s fallen
angels, “we find no end in wandering
mazes lost.” Let us return to the solid
ground of fact, on which alone the
human mind can stand firmly, and, like
Ant-mu s, gather fresh vigour every time
it touches it for further efforts to enlarge
the boundaries of knowledge and extend
the domain of Cosmos over Chaos.
The transformation of energy which
we have seen to exist in the case of
mechanical work and heat, is not con
fined to those two cases only, but is a
universal law applicable to all actions
<nd arrangements of matter which in
volve motions of atoms, molecules, or
masses, and therefore imply the existence
of energy. In heat we have had an
Example of energy exerted in molecular
Biotion and molecular separation. In
chemical action we have energy exerted
in the separation of atoms, severing
them from old combinations and mutual
attractions, and bringing them within
the sphere of new ones.. In electricity,
and magnetism, which is another form
of electricity, we have energy of position
which manifests itself in electrical
separation, by which matter becomes
charged with two opposite energies,
positive and negative, which accumulate
at separate poles, or on separate surfaces,
with an amount of tension which may be
reconverted into the original amount of
energy of motion when the spark, passing
between them, restores their electrical
equilibrium. Of this we have an ex
ample in the ordinary electrical machine,
where the original energy comes from the
mechanical force which turns the.handle,
and is given back when the electric spark
brings things back to their original
state.
We have also energy of motion, when
Instead of electrical separation and
tension we have a flow or current of
electricity producing the effect of the
electric spark in a slow, quiet, and con
tinuous manner. Thus, in the voltaic
battery, the free energy created by the
difference of chemical action of an acid
on plates of different metals, is trans
formed into a current which charges two
poles with opposite electricities, and
when the poles are brought together and
the circuit is closed, flows through it in
a continuous current. This current is
an energetic agent which produces
various effects. It deflects the magnetic
needle, as is seen in the electric telegraph.
It creates magnetism, as is seen whoa the]
poles of the battery are connected by a
wire wrapped round and round a cylinder
of soft iron, so as to make the current
circulate at right angles to the axis
formed by the cylinder. In fact, all
magnetism may be considered as the
summing up at the two opposite ex
tremities or poles of an axis, of the
effects of electric currents circulating!
round it; as, for instance, the earth is a
great magnet because currents caused by
the action of the sun circulate round it
nearly parallel to the equator. Electric
currents further show their energy by
attracting and repelling one another,]
those flowing in the same direction at
tracting, and those in opposite di
rections repelling, the same effect show
ing itself in magnets, which are in sub
stance collections of circular currents
flowing from right to left or left to right
according as they are positive or negative.
Again, currents produce an effect by
inducing currents in other bodies placed
near them, very much as the vibrations!
of a tuning-fork- induce vibrations and
bring out a corresponding note from the
strings of a piano or violin ready to
sound it. When a coil of wire W con
nected with a battery and a current
passes through it, if it is brought near toj
another isolated coil it induces a CfUmnil
in an opposite direction, which, when it
recedes from it, is changed into a cur
rent in the same direction.
These principles are illustrated by the
ordinary dynamo, by which the energy
of mechanical work exerted in making
magnets revolve in presence of currents,
and by various devices accumulating!
electric energy, is made available either ’
for doing other mechanical work, such as
driving a wheel, or for doing molecular
or atomic work by producing heat and
light.
Another transformation of the energy
of electric currents is into heat, light, or
chemical action. If the two poles.of a
battery are connected by a thin platinum
wire it will be heated to redness in ft few
seconds, the friction or resistance to the
current in passing through the limited;
section of the thin wire producing;
great heat. If the wire is thicker heat
�28
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
will equally be produced, but more
slowly.
If the poles of the battery are made of
carbon, or some substance the particles
of which remain solid during intense
heat, when they are brought nearly to
gether the current will be completed by
an arc of intensely brilliant light, and
the carbon will slowly burn away. This
is the electric light so commonly used when
great illuminating power is wanted.
Again, the electric current may employ
its energy in effecting chemical action.
If the poles of a battery, instead of being
brought together, are plunged into a
vessel of water, decomposition will begin.
Oxygen will rise in small bubbles at the
positive pole, and hydrogen at the
negative. If these two gases are col
lected together in the same vessel, and
an electric current, in the intense and
momentary form of a spark, passed
through them, they will combine with
explosion into the exact amount of
water which was decomposed in their
formation.
Everywhere, therefore, we find the
same law of universal application.
Energy, like matter, cannot be created
or destroyed,. but only transformed. It
is therefore, in one sense, eternal. But
there is another point of view from which
this has to be regarded.
Mechanical work, as we have seen,
can always be converted into heat, and
heat can, under certain conditions, be
reconverted into mechanical work ; but
not under all conditions. The heat
must pass from something at a higher
temperature into something at a lower.
If the condenser of a steam-engine were
always at the same temperature as
the boiler, we should get no work out of
it. It is.easy to understand how this is
the case if we figure to ourselves a river
running down into a lake. If the stream
is dammed up at two different levels,
each dam, as long as there is water in it,
will turn a mill-wheel. But if all the
water runs down into the lake and,
owing to a dry season, there is no fresh
supply, the wheels will stop and we can
get no more work done. So with heat,
if it all runs down to one uniform tem
perature it can no longer be made
available to do work. In the case of
the river, fresh water is supplied at the
higher levels, by the sun’s energy rais
ing it by evaporation from the seas to
the clouds, from which it is deposited
as rain or snow. But in the case of
heat there is no such self-restoring process,
and. the. tendency is always towards its
dissipation;. or in other words, towards
a more uniform distribution of heat
throughout all existing matter. The
process is very slow ; the original fund
of high-temperature heat is enormous,
and as long as matter goes on condens
ing fresh supplies of heat are, so to
speak, squeezed out of it.
Still there is a limit to condensation,
while there is no limit to the tendency
of heat to diffuse itself from hotter to
colder matter until all temperatures are
equalized. The energy is not destroyed ;
it is still there in the same average
amount of total heat, though no longer
differentiated into greater and lesser
heats, and
therefore
no
longer
available for life, motion, or any other
form of transformation. This seems to
be the case with the moon, which, being
so much smaller, has sooner equalised its
heat with surrounding space, and is ap
parently a burnt-out and dried-up cinder
without air or water. And this, as far as
we can see, must be the ultimate fate of
all planets, suns, and solar systems.
Fortunately the process is extremely
slow, for even our small earth has en
joyed air, water, sunshine, and all the
present conditions necessary for life for
the whole geological period, certainly
from the Silurian epoch downwards, if
not earlier, which cannot well be less
than 100 millions of years, and may be
much more. Still time, even if reckoned
by hundreds of millions of years, is not
eternity; and as, looking through the
telescope at nebulae which appear to be
condensing about central nuclei, we
perchance dimly discern a beginning, so,
looking at the moon and reasoning from
established principles as to the dissipa
tion of heat, we can dimly discern an
end. What we really can see is that
throughout the whole of this enormous
range of space and time law prevails •,
that, given the original atoms and
energies with their original qualities,
everything else follows in a regular and
and inevitable succession; and that the
whole material universe is a clock, so
perfectly constructed from the beginning
as to require no outside interference
during the time it has to run to keep
it going with absolute correctness.
�LIFE
CHAPTER IV
LIFE.
Essence of Life—Simplest Form, Protoplasm
—Monera and Protista—Animal and Vege
table Life—Spontaneous Generation—De
velopment of Species from Primitive Cells
-—Supernatural Theory—Zoological . Pro
vinces-—Separate Creations—Law or Miracle
—Darwinian Theory—Struggle for LifeSurvival of the Fittest—Development and
Design—The Hand—Proof required to es
tablish Darwin’s Theory as a Law—Species
—Hybrids—Man subject to Law.
The universe is divided into two worlds
—the inorganic, or world of dead matter;
and the organic, or world of life. What
is life 1 In its essence it is a state of
matter in which the particles are in a
continued state of flux, and the indi
vidual existence depends, not on the same
particles remaining in the same definite
shape, but on the permanence of a definite
mould or form through which fresh par
ticles are continually entering, forming
new combinations and passing away. It
may assist in forming a conception of this
if we imagine ourselves to be looking at
a mountain the top of which is enveloped
in a driving mist. The mountain is dead
matter, the particles of which continue
fixed in the rocks. But the cloud-form
which envelops it is a mould into which
fresh particles of vapour are continually
entering and becoming visible on the
windward side, and passing away and
disappearing to leeward. If we add to
this the conception that the particles do
not, as in the case of the cloud, simply
enter in and pass away without change,
but are digested, that is, undergo chemical
changes by which they- are partly assimi
lated and worked-up into component
parts of the mould, and partly thrown off
in new combinations, we shall arrive at
something which is not far off the.ulti
mate idea of what constitutes living
matter, in its simplest form of the pro
toplasm, or speck of jelly-like substance,
which is shown to be the primitive basis
or raw material of all the more, complex
forms both of vegetable and animal life.
Digestion, therefore, is the primary attri
bute. A crystal grows from without, by
taking on fresh particles and building
them up in regular layers according to
fixed laws, just as the pyramids of Egypt
were built up by layer upon layer of
squared stones upon surfaces formed of I
regular figures, and inclined to each other
at determinate angles.
The living plant or animal grows from U
within by taking supplies of fresh matter
into its inner laboratory, where it is
worked up into a variety of comptoj^l
products needed for the existence and
reproduction of life. After supplying •]
these, the residue is given back in various
forms to the inorganic world, and the
final residue of all is given back by death,
which is the ultimate end of all life.
The simplest form of life, in which it I
first emerges from the inorganic into the J
organic world, consists of protoplasm, or,
as it has been called, the physical basis Of I
life. Protoplasm is a colourless semi-fluid!
or jelly-like substance, which consists of I
albuminoid matter, or in other words, of
a heterogeneous carbon-compound of very
complex chemical composition. It exist^J
in every living cell, and performs the
functions of nutrition and reproductlcy.^
as well as of sensation and motion. In^|
its simplest form, that of the microscopic
monera or protista, the lowest of living
beings, we find an apparently homo
geneous structureless piece of protoplasm,
without any differentiation of parts. The
monera are simple living globules of
jelly, without even a nucleus or any sort
of organ, and yet they perform all the
essential functions of life without any
different parts being told off for par
ticular functions. Every particle or mole
cule is of the same chemical composition.
and a facsimile of the whole body, as in
the case of a crystal. They are, there
fore, the first step from the inorganic
into the organic world, and if spontaneow
generation takes place anywhere, it is
in the passage of the chemical elements!
from the simple and stable combinations
of the former into the complex and plastic
combinations of the latter.
The next step upwards is to the cell in
which the protoplasm is enclosed in a
skin or membrane of modified protoplasm,
and a nucleus, or denser spot, is developed
in the enclosed mass. This is the primary
element from which all the more coni’
plicated forms of life are built-up. Each
cell seems to have an independent life of
its own, and a faculty of reproduction by
splitting into fresh cells similar to itself,
which multiply in geometrical progres
sion, assimilating the elements of their
�30
MODERN SCIENCE’ AND MODERN THOUGHT
substance from the inorganic world so
rapidly as to provide the requisite raw
material for higher structures.
The first organised living forms are
extremely minute, and can only be re
cognised by powerful microscopes. A
filtered infusion of hay, allowed to stand
r for two days, will swarm with living
r tilings, a number of which do not exceed
of an inch in diameter. Minute
as these animalcula are, they are tho
roughly alive. They dart about and
digest; the smallest speck of jelly-like
subalance shoots out branches or processes
to.seize food, and if these come in collision
with other substances they withdraw
them. They exist in countless myriads,
and perform a very important part in the
£ economy of nature. They are the scav
engers of the universe, and remove the
remains of living matter after death,
which would otherwise accumulate until
they choked-up the earth. This they do
by the process of putrefaction, which is
due mainly to the multiplication of little
rod-like creatures known as bacteria,
which work up the once living, now dead,
matter into, fresh elements, again fitted
to play their part in the inorganic and
organic worlds.
One of the simplest of these forms is
the amoeba, which is nothing but a naked
little , lump of cell-matter, or plasma,
containing a nucleus ; and yet this little
Jfcpeck of jelly moves freely, it shoots out
tongues or processes and gradually draws
itself up. to them with a sort of wave
like motion; it eats and grows, and in
I growing reproduces itself by contracting
in the middle and splitting up into two
Bndependent amoebae.
Th© germs of these various animalcula
swarm in the air, and carry seeds of
infection wherever they find a soil fitted
to receive them; and thus assist the
survival of the fittest in the struggle of
life, by eliminating weak and unhealthy
individuals and species. Thus when the
potato, the vine, or the silkworm has had
its constitution enfeebled by prolonged
artificial culture, there are germs always
ready to revenge the violation of natural
laws, and bring the survivors back to a
more heathy condition. In like manner
the germs of cholera, typhoid, and scarlet
fever, enforce the observance of sanitary
principles.
In this simple form the lowest forms of
life are not yet sufficiently differentiated
to enable us to distinguish clearly between
animal and vegetable, and they have been
called by some naturalists Protista, while
Amceba.
Amceba dividing into two.
others designate them as Protozoa or
Protophyta, according as they show more
resemblance to one or the other form of
life.. But it is often so doubtful that in
looking at the same organism through a
microscope, Huxley was inclined to
consider it as a plant, while Tyndall
exclaimed that he could as soon believe
that a sheep was a vegetable.
In the next stage upwards, however, life
subdivides itself into two great kingdoms,
that of the vegetable and of the animal
world. Alike in their general definition
as contrasted with inorganic matter, and
in their common origin from an embryo
cell, which divides and subdivides until
cell-aggregates are formed, from which
the living form is built up by a process
of evolution, the plant differs from the
animal in this : that the former feeds
directly on inorganic matter, while the
latter can only feed on it indirectly, after
it has been manufactured by the plant
into vegetable substance.
This is universally true, for if we dine
on beef, we dine practically on the grass
which the ox ate ; that is, on the carbon,
oxygen, hydrogen, and other simple ele
ments which the grass, under the stimulus
of light and sunshine, manufactured into
complex compounds ; and which the ox
again, by a second process, manufactured
from these compounds into others still
more complex, and more easily assimilated
by us in the process of digestion. But in
no case can we dine, as the plant does,
on the simple elements, and thrive on a
diet, of air and water, with a small
admixture of nitrate of ammonia, and of
phosphates, sulphates and chlorides, of
a few primitive metals. Vegetable life,
�LIFE
f-herefora, is the producer, and animal
life the consumer, of the organic world.
Practically the plant derives most of
its substance from the carbonic acid gas
in the atmosphere, which green leaves
under the stimulus of light and heat have
the faculty of decomposing, and abstract
the carbon giving out the oxygen ; while
the animal, by a reverse process, burns
up the compounds manufactured by the
plant, principally out of this carbon, by
the oxygen obtained from the air by the
process of respiration, exhaling the sur
plus carbon in the form of carbonic
acid gas.
The balancing effect of these two pro
cesses may be seen in any aquarium,
where animals and vegetables live to
gether in water which is kept pure, while
it would become stagnant and poisonous
in a few hours, if one of the two forms of
life were removed. All that the animal
requires therefore for its existence—ma
terials with which to build up its frame
and supply waste ; heat with which to
maintain its circulating fluids and other
substances at a proper temperature;
motive power or energy to enable it to
move, feel, and, in the case of the higher
animals, to think—are all proceeds of
the slow combustion of materials derived
from the vegetable world in the oxygen
breathed from the air, just as the work
done by a steam-engine is the product of
a similar combustion, or chemical com
bination of the oxygen of the air with
the coal shovelled into the fire-box. These
distinctions, however, between animals
and vegetables are not quite absolute,
for, even in the more highly-organised
forms of life, there is a border-land where
some plants seem to perform the functions
of animals, as in those which catch, and
consume flies and eat and digest pieces
of raw meat.
Those who wish to pursue this interest
ing subject further will do well to read
the Chapter on Living Matter in Huxley’s
“ Physiography,” where they will find it
toore fully explained, with the inimit
able clearness which characterises all the
writings of an author who was at the same
tirna one of the first scientific authorities
and one of the greatest masters, of
English prose. But my present, object
is not to write a scientific treatise, but
shortly to sum up the ascertained results
of modern science, with a view to their
bearings on modern thought; and from
3f
this point of view the immediate question,
is, how far unbroken sequence, which
has been shown to prevail universally
throughout space, time, and inorganic J
matter, can be shown to prevail equally
throughout the world of life..
Up to a certain point this admits of
positive proof. It is as certain that all
individual life, from the most elementary
protoplasm up to the highest organism,
Man, originates in a minute or embryo
cell, as it is that oxygen and. hydrogen,
combined in certain proportions make
water. But if we try to go back one step
further, behind the cell, we are stopped.
In the inorganic world we can reason OUT
way beyond the microscopic matter to the
molecule, and from the molecule to the
atom, and are only arrested when we
come to the ultimate form of matter, and
of energy, out of which the universe is
built up. But, in the case of life, we are
stopped two steps short of this, and can*
not tell how the cell containing the germ d
of life is built up out of the simpler 1
elements.
Many attempts have been made to
bridge over this gulf, and to show how life
may originate in chemical compound#,
but hitherto without success. Experi
ments have been made which, for a time,
seemed to show that spontaneous genera
tion was a scientific fact, i.e., that the
lowest forms of life, such as bacteria arid
amoebae, really did originate in infusion#
containing no germs of life; but they
have been met by counter experiments
confirmingHarvey’s dictum, “Omnevivttm
ex ovo,” or, all life comes from an egg,
i.e., from antecedent germs of life, and the
verdict of the best authorities, sueh as
Pasteur, Tyndall, and Huxley is, thatspontaneous generation has been “defeated
along the whole line.” This verdict is
perhaps too unqualified, for it appear®
that, on the assumption with which both
sides started, all organic life wag de
stroyed by exposure to a heat of 212'’, or
the boiling-point of water, the advocate®
of spontaneous generation had the best
of it, as low forms of life did appear in
infusions which had been exposed to this
heat, and then hermetically sealed, So as
to prevent any germs from entering.
But it was replied that, as a hard pea
takes more boiling than a soft one, it
might very well be that heat sufficient to
destroy life in any moist organism of
sufficient size to be seen by the microscope,
�32
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
• might not destroy the germinating power
of ultra-microscopic germs in a very dry
state. And this position seems to have
been confirmed by various experiments,
showing that such ultra - microscopic
germs really do exist, and are given forth
in the last life stage of the bacteria which
cause putrefaction ; and that if they are
absent or destroyed by repeated applica
tions of heat, infusions will keep sweet
for ever in optically pure air.
Above all, the germ theory has re
ceived confirmation from the brilliant
practical results to which it has led in
the hands of Pasteur, enabling him to
detect, and to a great extent eradicate,
the causes which had led to the oidium
of the vine and the pebrine of the silk
worm, thereby saving millions to the
industries of France. The germ theory
has also led to important results in
medical science, and is pointing towards
the possibility of combating the most
fatal diseases by processes analogous to
that by which vaccination has almost
freed the human race from the scourge of'
small-pox.
On the whole, therefore, we must be
content to accept a verdict of “Not
proven ” in the case of spontaneous
generation, and admit that as regards
the first origin of life, science fails us,
and that there is at present no known
law that will account for it.
Should spontaneous generation ever be
proved to be a fact, it will doubtless be in
creating living protoplasm from inorganic
elements at its earliest stage, before it
has been differentiated even into the
primitive form of a nucleated cell or that
of an amoeba. This is what the doctrine
of evolution would lead us to expect, for
it would be in contradiction to it to
suppose that the starting-point could be
interpolated at any stage subsequent to
the lowest. It may be also that this step
could only be made under conditions of
heat, pressure, and otherwise, which
existed in the earlier stage of the earth’s
existence, but have longed since passed
away.
This, however, is only a small part of
the difficulty we have to encounter in
reducing life to law.
These primeval embryo cells, like as
they are in appearance, contain within
them the germs of an almost infinite
diversity of evolutions, each running its
separate course distinct from the others.
The world of life is not one and uniform,
but consists of a vast variety of different
species, from the speck of protoplasm up
to the forest tree, and from the humble
amoeba up to man, each one, at any rate
within long intervals of time, breeding
true and keeping to its own separate
and peculiar path along the line of
evolution.
The first germ, or nucleated cell, of a
bacterium develops into other bacteria
and nothing else, thatof a coral into corals,
of an oak into oaks, of an elephant into
elephants, of a man into man. In the
latter case we can trace the embryo in
its various stages of growth th rough forms
having a certain analogy to those of the
fish, the reptile, and the lower mammals,
until it finally takes that of the human
infant. But we have no experience of a
fish, a frog, or a dog, born of human
parents, or of any of the lower animals
ever producing anything resembling a
man.
How can this be explained ? Naturally
the first attempt at explanation was by
miracle. At a time when everything
was explained by miracle, when all
unusual occurrences were attributed to
supernatural agency, and men lived in
an atmosphere of providential inter
ferences, witchcraft, magic, and all sorts
of divine and diabolic agencies, nothing
seemed easier than to say that the beasts of
the field, the birds of the air, and the fishes
of the sea, are all distinct after their
kind, because God created them so.
But as the supernatural faded away
and disappeared in other departments
where it had so long reigned supreme,
and science began to classify, arrange,
and accumulate facts as they really are,
it became more and more difficult, or
rather impossible, to accept this simple
explanation. The very first step de
stroyed the validity of all the traditional
myths which described the origin of life
from one simultaneous act of creation at
a single centre. The earth is divided
into separate zoological provinces, each
with its own peculiar animal and vege
table world. The kangaroo, for instance,
is found in Australia and there only. By
no possibility could the aboriginal kan
garoo have jumped at one bound from
Mount Ararat to Australia, leaving no
trace of his passage in any intermediate
district. This isolation of life in separate
provinces applies so rigidly, that we may
�83
sum it up by saying generally that there
art no forms of life common to two
provinces unless where migration is
possible, or has been possible in past
geological periods.
In islands at a distance from conEnents, we find common forms of marine
life, for the sea affords a means of com
munication ; and often common forms of
bird, insect, and vegetable life, where
they may have been wafted by the winds ;
(but forms which neither in the adult nor
germ state could swim, or fly, or be
transported by something which did
Swim or fly, are invariably wanting.
&ew Zealand affords a most conspicuous
Instance of this. Here is a large country
with a soil and climate exceptionally well
Adapted to support a large amount of
animal life of the higher orders, and yet,
with the exception of two species of bats,
it had absolutely no mammal before they
were introduced by man, the dog being
probably introduced by the Maoris. If
special creations took place to replenish
the earth as soon as any portion of its
surface becomes fit to. sustain it, why
were there no animals in New Zealand ?
Or, in the Andaman Islands, in the Gulf
of Bengal, which are as large as Ireland,
covered with luxuriant vegetation, and
within 300 miles of the coast of Asia, where
similar jungles swarm with elephants,
tigers, deer, and all the varied forms of
mammalian life, there are no mammalia
except a pigmy black savage and a pigmy
©lack pig, the latter probably introduced
by man.
The sharpness of the division between
Zoological provinces is well illustrated by
that drawn by the Straits of Lombok,
Kvhere a channel, not twenty miles wide,
separates the fauna of Asia and Australia
so completely that there are no species of
land animals, and only a few of birds and
insects, common to the two sides, of a
channel not so wide as the Straits of
Dover.
There is no possibility of accounting
for this, except by supposing that the
deep water fissure of the Straits of
Eombok has existed from remote geo
logical periods, and barred the migration
southwards of those Asiatic animals,
which, as long as they found dry land,
migrated northwards and westwards till
they were stopped by the Polar and
Atlantic Oceans. This difficulty of re
quiring special creations for separate
provinces is enormously enhanced if we
look beyond the existing condition of
things, and trace back the geological
record. We must suppose separate crea
tions for all the separate provinces of
the separate successive formations from
the Silurian upwards. And the more w«
investigate the conditions of life either
under existing circumstances or in tliOSO
of past geological epochs, the mor®
are we driven to enormously multiply
the number of separate creations wliida
would be necessary to account for the
diversity of species. We find life shading
off into an infinite variety of almost im
perceptible gradations from the highest
organism, man, to the lowest, or speck of
protoplasm, and we can draw no hard
and fast line and say, up to this point
life originated by natural processes, and
beyond it we must have recourse
miracle. Either all life or none is a
product of evolution acting by defined
law, and the affirmation of law is the
negation of miracle.
Every day brings us an account of
some new discovery linking forms of life
nearer together and bridging over
tervals thought to be impassable. Tho
discovery of insectivorous plants, which
also devour and digest pieces of raw
meat, has added to the difficulty which
has been long felt, particularly, in the
humbler forms of life, of drawing any
clear line of demarcation between th®
animal and vegetable worlds.
Microscopic research brings to light
fresh facts confounding our fixed ideas
as to the permanence of particular modes
of reproducing life, and showing that
the same organism may run through
various metamorphoses in the course of
its life-cycle, during some of which it
may be sexual and in others asexual,
i.e., it may reproduce itself alternately
by the co-operation of two beings, of
opposite sex, and by fissure or budding
from one being only which is of no sex.
These, and a multitude of other similar
facts, complicate enormously the pro
blems of life and its developments,
whether we attempt to solve.it by calling
in aid a perpetual series of innumerable
miraculous interpositions, or by ap
pealing to ordinary known laws of
Nature.
Is the latter solution possible, and can
the organic world be reduced, as the
inorganic world has been with all its
�S4
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
mysteries and the infinities of space, time,
and matter, from chaos into cosmos, and
shown to depend on permanent and
harmonious laws 1 Is the world of life,
like that of matter, a clock, so perfectly
constructed from the first that it goes
without winding up or regulating ? or is
it a clock which would never have started
going, or having started would soon
cease to go, if the hand of the watch
maker were not constantly interfering
with it ? This is the question which the
celebrated Darwinian theory attempts to
answer, of which I now proceed to give a
short general outline.
The varieties among domestic animals
are obvious to every one. The race-horse
is a very different creature from the
dray-horse; the short-horned ox from
the Guernsey cow; the greyhound from
ths Skye terrier. How has this come to
pass ? Evidently by man’s intervention,
causing long-continued selection in breed
ing for certain objects. The English
race-horse is the product of mating
animals distinguished for speed for some
fifteen or twenty generations. The grey
hound is a similar dog-product by breed
ing for a longer period with the same
object: as the Skye terrier is of selection
in order to _ get a dog which can
follow a fox into a cairn of rocks and
fight him w’hen he gets there. In all
these cases it is evident that the final
result was not attained at once, but by
taking advantage of small accidental
variations and accumulating them from
one generation to another by the princi
ple of heredity, which makes offspring
reproduce the qualities of their parents.
The most precise and scientific experi
ments on this power of integrating, or
summing up, a progressive series of
differentials, or minute differences, be
tween successive generations, are those
conducted by Darwin on pigeons. He
has shown conclusively that all the races
of domestic pigeons, of which there are
two or three hundred, are derived from
one common ancestor, the wild or blue
rock pigeon, and that the pigeon-fancier
can always obtain fresh varieties in a few
generations by careful interbreeding. Of
the existing varieties many now differ
widely from one another, both in size,
appearance, and even in anatomical
structure, so that if they were now
discovered for the first time in a fossil
state or in a new country, they would
assuredly be classed by naturalists as
separate species.
This is the work of man ; is there any
thing similar to it going on in Nature 1
Yes, says Darwin, there is a tendency in
all life, and especially in the lower forms
of life, to reproduce itself vastly quicker
than the supply of food and the existence
of other life can allow, and the balance
of existence is only preserved by the
wholesale waste of individuals in what
may be called the “ struggle for life.” In
this struggle, which goes on incessantly
and on the largest scale, the slightest
advantage must tell in the long run, and
on the average, in selecting the few who
are to survive, and such slight advantages
must tend to accumulate from one gener
ation to another under the law of heredity.
The cumulative power of selection exer
cised by man in the breeding of races is
therefore necessarily exercised in Nature
by the struggle for life, and in the course
of time, by the cumulation of advantages
originally slight, small and fluctuating
variations are hardened into large and
permanent ones, and new species are
formed.
Darwin illustrates this principle of the
“struggle for life” with a vast variety
of instances, showing how the balance of
animal and vegetable life may be pre
served or destroyed in the most un
expected manner. For instance, the
fertilisation of red clover is effected by
humble-bees, and depends on their
number ; the number of bees in a given
district depends mainly on the number
of field-mice which destroy their combs
and nests ; the number of mice depends
on the number of cats; and thus the
presence or absence of a carnivorous
animal may decide the question whether
a particular sort of flora shall prevail
over others or be extirpated.
The countless profusion with which any
one species, unchecked by its natural foes,
may multiply in a given district, is
illustrated by the potato disease, which
in a few days invades whole countries ;
and by the rabbit plague in Australia and
New Zealand, where, in less than twenty
years, the descendants of a few imported
pairs have rendered whole provinces
useless for sheep pasture, and stoats are
now being imported to restore the balance
of life. The tendency in species to pro
duce varieties which by selection may
become exaggerated .and fixed, is illus-
�SB
LIEF
trated by the case of the Ancon herd of
sheep A ram lamb was born in Massa
chusetts in 1791, which had short crooked
legs and a long back like a turnspit dog.
Being unable to jump over fences like the
ordinary sheep, it was thought to possess
certain advantages to the farmer, and the
breed was established by artificial
selection in pairing this ram with its
descendants who possessed the. same
peculiarities. The introduction of the
Merino superseded the Ancon by giving
a tame sheep not given to jump fences,
with a better fleece, and so the breed was
not continued, but it is certain that it
might have been established as a per
manent variety differing from the
ordinary sheep as much as the turnspit
or Skye terrier differs from the ordinary
dog. The tendency of Nature to variation
is apparent in the fact that of the many
hundred millions of human beings living
on the earth, no two are precisely alike,
and varieties often appear, as in giants
and dwarfs, six-fingered or toed children,
hairy and other families, which might
doubtless be fixed and perpetuated by
artificial or natural selection, until they
became strongly marked and permanent.
It is evident that if the theory of
development is true it excludes the old
theory of design, or rather, it thrusts it
back in the organic, as it has been thrust
back in the inorganic, world, to the first
atoms or origins which were made so
perfect as to carry within them all
subsequent phenomena by necessary
evolution. Design and development lead
to the same result, that of producing
organs adapted for the work they have
to do, but they lead to it in totally
different ways. Development works from
the less to the more perfect, and from
the simpler to the more complicated, by
incessant changes, small in themselves,
but constantly accumulating in the re
quired direction. Design supposes that
organisms were created specially on a
predetermined plan, very much as the
sewing-machine or self-binding reaper
were constructed by their inventors.
Until quite recently all adaptations of
m eans to ends were considered as evidences
of design. A series of treatises, for which
prizes were left by a late Duke of Bridge
water, was published some thirty years
ago, to illustrate this theme. Among these
one by Sir Charles Bell on the Hand at
tracted a good deal of attention. It was
shown what an admirable machine the
human hand is for the various purposesfor
which it is used, and the inference was
drawn that it must have been created so
by a designer who adapted means to ends
in much the same way as is done by a
human inventor. But more complete
knowledge has dispelled this idea, and
shown that the design, if there be any,
must be placed very much farther back,
and is in fact involved in the primitive
germ from which all vertebrate life
certainly, and probably all life, animal or
vegetable, has been slowly developed.
The human hand is in effect the last
stage of a development of the vertebrate
type, or type of life in which a series of
jointed vertebrse form a backbone, which
protects a spinal cord containing the
nervous centres, gives points of attach
ment for the muscles, and forms an axis
of support for the looser tissues. Certain
of these vertebrse throw out bony spines
or rays ; at first, by a sort of simple
process of vegetable growth, which
formed the fins of fishes; then some of
these rays dropped off and others coalesced
into more complex forms, which made
the rudimentary limbs of reptiles ; and
finally, the continued process of develop
ment fashioned them into the more
perfect limbs of birds and mammals. In
this last stage a vast variety of combin
ations was developed. Sometimes the
bones of the extremities spread out, so as
to form long fingers supporting the
feathered wings of birds and the mem
braneous wings of bats ; sometimes they
coalesced into the solid limbs supporting
the bodies of large animals, as in the
case of the horse ; and finally, at the end
of the series, they formed that marvellous
instrument, the hand, as it appears in
the allied genera of monkeys, apes, and
man.
Any theory of secondary design and
special miraculous creation must evi
dently account for all the intermediate
forms as well as for the final result. We
must suppose not one but many thous
ands of special creations, at a vast
variety of places and over a vast extent
of time ; we must take into acount not
the successes only, but the failures, where
organs appear in a rudimentary form
which are perfectly useless, or in some
cases even injurious, to the creature in
which they are found. For instance, in
the case of the so-called wingless birds,
D 2
�36
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
like the dodo of the Mauritius, and the
apteryxof New Zealand, which werefound
in oceanic islands, evolution accounts
readily for the atrophy or want of develop
ment of organs which were not wanted
where the birds had no natural enemies
and found their food on the ground ; but
why should they have been created with
rudimentary wings, useless while they
remained isolated, and insufficient to
prevent their extermination as soon
as man, or any other natural enemy,
reached the islands where they had lived
secure ?
If we are apt to adopt the theory of
design and special creation, we must be
prepared to take Burns’s poetical fancy as
a scientific truth, and believe that Nature
had to try its “prentice hand,” and grope
its way through repeated trials , and fail
ures from the less to the more perfect.
Again, the theory of special creation
must account not only for the higher
organs and forms of life, but for the lower
forms also. Are the bacteria, amoebae,
and other forms of life which the micro
scope shows in a drop of water all in
stances of a miraculous creation ? And
still more hard to believe, is this the
origin of the whole parasitic world of life
which is attached to and infests each its
own peculiar form of higher life ? Is the
human tape-worm a product of design, or
that wonderful parasite the trichina,
which oscillates between man and the pig,
being capable of being born only in the
muscles of the one, and of living only in
the intestines of the other ?
These are the sort of difficulties which
have led the scientific world, I may say
universally, to abandon the idea of separ
ate special creations, and to substitute
for it that which has been proved to be
true of the whole inorganic world of
stars, suns, planets, and all forms of
matter ; the idea of an original -creation
(whatever creation may mean and behind
which we cannot go) of ultimate atoms or
germs, so perfect that they carried within
them all the phenomena of the universe
by a necessary process of evolution.
This is the idea to which the Darwinian
theory _ leads up, by showing natural
causes in operation which must inevit
ably tend to originate and to accumulate
slight varieties, until they become large
in amount and permanent, thus develop
ing new races within old species, new
species within old families, new families
within old types, and new and complex
types from old and simple ones.
The theory is up to a certain point
undoubtedly true, and beyond that point
in the highest degree probable, but scien
tific caution obliges us to add that it is
still to a considerable extent a “ theory,”
and not a “law.” That is, it is not like
the law of gravity, a demonstrated cer
tainty throughout the whole universe,
but a provisional law which accounts for
a great number of undoubted facts, and
supplies a framework into which all other
similar facts, as at present ascertained,
appear to fit with a probability not ap
proached by any other theory, and which
is enhanced by every fresh discovery
made, and by the analogy of what we
know to be the laws which regulate the
whole inorganic world.
To enable us to talk of the “ Darwinian
law,” and not of the “ Darwinian theory,”
we require two demonstrations :
1. That living matter really can origi
nate from inorganic matter.
2. That new species really can be formed
from previously existing species.
As regards the first, we have seen that
the efforts of science have hitherto failed
to produce an instance of spontaneous
generation, and all we can say is that it
is probable that such instances have oc
curred in earlier ages of our planet, under
conditions of light, heat, chemical action,
and electricity, different from anything
we can now reproduce in our laboratories.
This, however, falls short of demonstra
tion and for the present we must be con
tent to leave the origin of life as one of
the mysteries not yet brought within the
domain of law.
As regards the second point, we are
farther advanced towards the possibility
of proof. But here also we are met by
two difficulties. If we appeal to historical
evidence, we are met by the fact that a
much greater time than is embraced by
any historical record is almost necessarily
required for the dying out of any old
species and introduction of any new one,
by natural selection. And if we appeal
to fossil remains we are met by the im
perfection of the geological record. As
to this, it must be remembered that only
a very small portion of the earth’s surface
has been explored, and of this a very
small portion consists of ancient land
surfaces or fresh water formations, where
alone we can expect to meet with traces
�hips
R the higher forms of animal life. And
even these have been so imperfectly exthat where we now meet with
thousands and tens of thousands of undoubted human remains in the shape of
rudely-fashioned stone tools and weapons
lying almost under our feet, it is only
Kithin the last thirty years that their
(existence has even been suspected. Cuvier,
the greatest authority of the last genera
tion, laid it down as an incontrovertible
fact that neither men nor monkeys had
existed in the fossil state, or in anything
more ancient than the most superficial
and recent deposits. We have now at least
twenty specimens of fossil monkeys, from
bne locality alone of the Miocene period,
that of Pikermi, near Athens, and many
thousands of human remains, contem
porary with extinct animals of the Qua
ternary period, if not earlier. We must be
Content, therefore, with approximate
solutions pointing up to but not abso
lutely demonstrating the truth.
What is a species ? Speaking generally
it is an assemblage of individuals who
maintain a separate family type by
breeding freely among themselves, and
refusing to breed with other species.
There can be no doubt that this repre
sents what, at the first view and for a
limited range of time, is in accordance
with actual facts. The animal and vege
table worlds are practically mapped-out
into distinct species, and do not present
the mass of confusion which would result
from indiscriminate cross-breeding. It
is clear also that this state of things has
lasted for a considerable time, for the
paintings on Egyptian tombs and monu
ments carry us back more than 4,000
years, and show us the most strongly
marked varieties of the human race,
such as the Semitic, the Egyptian, and
the Negro, existing just as they do at
the present day. They show us also such
extreme varieties of the dog species as
the greyhound and the turnspit, then in
Existence ; and the skeletons of animals
SUch as the ox, cat, and crocodile, which
have been preserved as mummies, show
no appreciable difference from those of
their modern descendants.
When we come to look closely, however,
into the matter, our faith in this absolute
rule of the entire independence of species
is greatly modified. In the lower grades
of life we see everywhere species shading
off into one another by insensible grada
$7
tions, and every extension of our know
ledge, both of the existing animal, v®g<e»
table, and microscopic worlds, and of
those of past geological periods, multiplies instances of intermediate forms,
differing from one another far less than
do many of the individual varieties of
recognised species. In the case of sponges,
for instance, the latest conclusion of
scientific research is this: that if you
rely on minute distinctions as consti
tuting distinct species, there are at least
300 species of one family of. sponges,
while if you disregard slight differences,
which graduate into one another, and ana
found partly in one and partly in another
variety, you must designate them all as
forming only one species. Even in higher
grades, as species are multipled, it be
comes more and more difficult to say
where one ends and the other begins,
Take the familiar instance of the grouse
and ptarmigan. The red grouse is believed
to be peculiar to the British Island^
while the ptarmigan is a very wid^W
spread inhabitant of. Arctic regions and
high mountains. Which is more probable
—that the grouse was specially created
in the British Islands, apparently for
the final cause of bringing sessions of
Parliament to wind-up business in August,
or that, as the rigour of the Glacial period
abated, and heather began to grow, cer
tain ptarmigan by degrees modified their
habits and took to feeding on heather
tops instead of lichens, and by so doing
gradually became larger birds and as
sumed the colour best adapted for pro
tection in their new habitation ? In point
of fact, grouse showing traces of this
descent in smaller size and much whiter
plumage are still to be met with. It would
be easy to multiply instances, but this
consideration seems conclusive.
If we reject the Darwinian theory aim
adopt that of independent species de
scended from a specially created ancestor
or pair of ancestors, we are driven by
each discovery of intermediate or slightly
modified forms, into the assumption of
more and more special acts of creation,
until the number breaks down under its
own weight, and belief becomes impos*
sible.
For instance, in the Madeira Islands
alone, 134 species of air-breathing land
snails have been discovered by naturalists,
of which twrenty-one only are found in
Africa or Europe, and 113 are peculiar to
�38
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
this small group of islands, where they
are mostly confined to narrow districts
and single valleys. Are we to suppose
that each of these 113 species was sepa
rately created ? Is it not almost certain
that they are the modified descendants
of the twenty-one species which had
found their way there in a former geolo
gical period, when Madeira was united
to Africa and Spain ?
There remains only the argument from
the fertility of species inter se and their
refusal to breed with other species.
This also, when closely examined, ap
pears to be a prima facie deduction, rather
than an absolute law. Different species
do, in fact, often breed together, as is
seen in the familiar instance of the horse
and ass. It is true that in this case the
mule is sterile and no new race is estab
lished. . But this rule is not universal,
and quite recently one new hybrid race,
that of the leporine, or hare-rabbit, has
been created, which is perfectly fertile.
The progeny of dog and wolf has also
been proved to be perfectly fertile during
the four generations for which the expe
riment was continued. In the case of
cultivated plants and domestic animals,
thore can be little doubt that new races,
which breed true and are perfectly fertile’
have been created within recent times
from distinct wild species. The Esquimaux dog is so like the Arctic wolf
that there can be little doubt he is either
a direct descendant, or that both are
descendants from a common stock. The
same is true of the jackal and some
breeds of dogs in the East and Africa,
and other races of dogs are closely akin
to foxes. But all dogs breed freely to
gether, and can with difficulty be mated
with the wild species which they so
closely resemble. The modern Swiss
cattle are pronounced by Rutimeyer to
show undoubted marks of descent from
three distinct species of fossil oxen, the
Bos primigenius, Bos longifrons and Bos
frontosus.
. There is n°w1 in the Zoological Gardens,
in Regent s Park, a hybrid cow, whose
sire was an American bison and its
mother a hybrid between a zebu and a
gayal. This animal is perfectly fertile,
and has bred again to the bison; but
what is singular is, that this hybrid
resembles much more an ordinary domes? 1888.
tic English cow than it does any of its pro
genitors. It is totally unlike the bison,
both in appearance and disposition, and
except in having a projecting ridge
over the withers, it might be mistaken
for a coarse, bony, common cow. If a
hybrid bull had been born of the same
type, and mated with this hybrid cow,
there is little doubt that a new race
have been established, extremely
different from its ancestors.
In fact, nearly all the domesticated
animals have the essential characters of
new races. We cannot point to wild pro
genitors existing in any part of the world
which they are descended, and when
they run wild they do not revert to any
common ancestral form.
In the vegetable world instances of
fertile hybrids are still more abundant,
and the introduction and establishment
of new varieties is a matter of very-day
occurrence.
Now, whatever artificial selection can
do in a short time, natural selection can
certainly do in a longer time, and noth
ing short of absolute proof of the im
possibility of species coming into ex
istence by natural laws should induce us
to fall back on the supernatural theory
with all its enormous difficulties of an
innumerable multitude of special
creations, most of them obviously im
perfect and tentative—or rather, useless
and senseless on any supposition except
that of a necessary and progressive
evolution. In fact, if it were not for its
bearing on the nature and origin of man,
few would be found to maintain the
theory of miraculous creations, or to
doubt that the world of life is regulated
by fixed laws as well as the world of
matter. But whatever touches man
touches us closely, and brings into play a
host of cherished aspirations and beliefs,
which are too powerful to be displaced
£eacW by calm, scientific reasoning,
phall man, who, we are told, was created
in God’s image and only “ a little lower
than the angels,” be degraded into relationship with the brutes, and shown to
be. only the last development of an
animal type which, in the case of apes
and .monkeys, approaches singularly near
to him in physical structure ? Are the
saints and heroes whom we revere,
and. the beautiful women whom we
admire, descended, not from an allglorioiis Adam and all-lovely Eve, ag
�ANTIQUITY OF MAN
portrayed in Milton’s u Paradise Lost,
but ftoin Palaeolithic gavages, more rude
and bestial than the lowest tribe of
Bushmen or Australians ? Is the ac
count of man’s creation and fall in the
Hebrew Scriptures as pure a myth as
that of Noah’s ark, or of Deucalion and
Pyrrha ?
The only answer to these questions is
that truth is truth, and fact is fact, and
tW it is always better to act and to
believe in conformity with truth and
fact, than to indulge in illusions. There
are many things in Nature which jar on
our feelings and seem harsh and dis
agretable, but yet are hard facts, which
we have to recognise and make the best
of. Childhood does not pass into man
hood without exchanging much that is
innocent and attractive for much that is
stern and prosaic. Death, with its pro
digal waste of immature life, its sudden
extinction of mature life in the pleni
tude of its powers, its . heart-rendinr
separations from loved objects, is a most
disagreeable fact. But it would not im
provematters to keep grown-up lads in
nurseries for fear of their meeting with
accidents, or of becoming hardened by
contact with the world. Progress, not
happiness, is the law of the world ; and to
improve himself and others by constant
struggles upwards is the true destiny of
man.
.
e
.
In working out this destiny the tear
less recognition of truth is essential.
Facts are the spokes of the ladder by
which we climb from earth to heaven,
and any individual, nation, or religion,
which, from laziness or prejudice, re
fuses to recognise fresh facts, has ceased
to climb and will end by falling asleep
and dropping to a lower level.
“ Prove everything, hold fast that
which is true,” is the maxim which has
raised mankind from savagery to civi
lisation, and which we must be prepared
to act upon at all hazards and at all
sacrifices, if we wish to retain that civi
lisation unimpaired and to extend it
further.
3f
CHAPTER V
ANTIQUITY OF MAN
Belief in Man’s Recent Origin—Boucher de
Perthes’ Discoveries—Confirmed by Prestwich—Nature of Implements—Celts, Scra
pers, and Flakes—Human Remains in River
Drifts—Great Antiquity—Implements from ||
Drift at Bournemouth—Bone Caves—Kent’s
Cavern—Victoria, Creswell, and other j
Caves—Caves of France and Belgium— J
Ages of Cave Bear, Mammoth, and Rata*
deer—Artistic Race—Drawings of Ma®.moth, etc.—Human Types—Neanderthal—- 1
—Attempts to fix Dates—History—-Spy,
Trinil — Bronze Age — Neolithic — Danish
Kitchen-middens—Swiss La ke- Dwellings-—- J
Glacial Period—Traces of Ice—Causes of
Glaciers—Croll’s Theory—Gulf StreamDates of Glacial Period—Rise and Sub
mergence of Land—Tertiary Man—Eooeo®
Period—Miocene—Evidence for Pliocene 1
and Miocene Man—Conclusions as to
Antiquity.
Great as the effect has been of the
wonderful discoveries of modern science of
which I have attempted to give a general
view in the preceding chapters, there ]
remains one which has had the greatest !
effect of all in changing the . whole cur
rent of modern thought, viz., the dis
covery of the enormous antiquity of man!
upon earth, and his slow progress Op
wards from the rudest savagery to in»j
telligence, morality, and civilisation. It
is needless to point out in what flagrant
and direct opposition this stands to the
theory that man is of recent miraculous
creation, and that he was originally en
dowed with a glorious nature and high
faculties, which were partially forfeited
by an act of disobedience. It is im
portant, therefore, to understand clearly
the evidence upon which rests a con
clusion so startling and unexpected as
that which traces the origin of man back
into the remote periods of geological
time.
It had been long known that a stona
period preceded the use of metals. Flints
arrow-heads, stone axes, knives, and
chisels, rude pottery, and other human
remains lie scattered almost everywhere,
on or near the existing surface, and are
found in the. sepulchral mounds and
monuments which abound in all countries
I until they are destroyed by the pro-
�40
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
gress of agriculture. These are certainly
fuel, and afford many remains of the
ancient, for their origin was so com
pletely forgotten that the stone hatchets■ wallo-Koman and pre-Boman or Celtic
or celts (from the Latin celtis, or chisel)‘ Peri<ld-n Hipher UP> on the slopes of the
were universally believed to be thunderi low hills which bound the wide vallev
bolts which had fallen from heaven. are numerous beds of gravel, sand, and
brick-earth, winch
But there was no proof that they were worked for road andare also extensively
building materials,
very ancient, they were always found at
or. near the present surface, and if in these pits remains of the mammoth,
animal remains were associated with rhinoceros, and other extinct animals are
frequently found, and the workmen had
them, they were those of the dog ox
occasionally . certain
sheep, red deer, and other wild ’ and noticed flints, to which they curiouslygave the
domestic species, now found in the same shaped
district. Historical record was not sup name of langues du chat,” or cats’
posed to extend beyond the 4,000 or 5 000 tongues. Some of these were taken to
Monsieur Boucher de Perthes as curiJ
years assigned to it by Bible chronology
and it was thought that this might be osities for his museum, and he at once
sufficient to account for all the changes recognised them as showing marks of
which had occurred since man first be human workmanship. This put him on
came an inhabitant of the earth. Above the track, and in the year 1841 he him
all, the negative evidence was relied self discovered, in situ, in a seam of sand
on, that geologists had explored far and containing remains of the mammoth, a
wideband although they had found fossil flint rudeiy but unmistakably fashioned
remains which enabled them to restore by human hands into a cutting instru
ment. During the next few years a
the characteristic fauna of so many dif large quantity of gravel was removed
ferent formations, they had found no trace
of man or his works anywhere below the to form the Champ de Mars at Abbeville
and
these
or hatchets
present surface. This seemed so con were many ofIn 1847,celts Boucher de
found.
M.
clusive that Cuvier, the greatest Perthes published his “Antiquites
authority of the day, pronounced an emphatic verdict that man had not existed Celtiques et Antediluviennes,” giving an
contemporaneously with any of the ex account of these discoveries, but no one
tinct animals, and probably not for more would, listen to him. The united
than 5,000 or 6,000 years. Here, then, authority of theologians and geologists
opposed
infallible
appeared to be an edifice based on ception ansuch ideas, veto on the re
and
scientific fact, in which geologists and admittedofthat M. Boucher it must be
de Perthes
theologians could dwell together com himself did his best to discredit his own
fortably, and the weight of their united discoveries by associating them with
authority was sufficient to silence all
objections, and ignore or explain away visionary speculations about successive
the instances which occasionally cropped deluges and creations of pre-Adamite
up, of human remains found in situations men. At length Dr. Falconer, the wellknown paleontologist, who had brought
implying greater antiquity.
Suddenly, I may almost say in a single to light so many wonderful fossil remains
dajq this edifice collapsed like a house of from the Sewalik hills in India, happened
through Abbeville and
cards, and the fact became apparent that ™
visited
the duration of human life on the earth He was M. Boucher de Perthes’ collection.
he saw
must be measured by periods of tens, if that on so much struck by whatspoke to
arriving in London he
not of hundreds of thousands of years
It happened thus: A retired French Mr- f re^twl<?h, the first living authority
On > i?
physician, Monsieur Boucher de Perthes and Mr.Tertiary and Quaternary strata,
whose
residing at Abbeville, in the valley of authority(now Sir John) Evans, every
was equally great on
tfie. Somme, had a hobby for antiquar thing relating to the stone implements
ian ism as decided as that of Monkbarns found m such numbers in the more
mm.self. Abbeville afforded him a
recent
He urged
capita.! collecting-ground ror the indul them toor Neolithic period. examine for
go to Abbeville and
gence of his tastes, as the sluggish themselves whether there was anything
feomme flows through a series of peat m these alleged discoveries. They did
mosses, which are extensively worked jso, and the result was that on their
�ANTIQUITY OF NAN
return to England Air. Prestwick read a
paper to the Royal Society on the 19th
Aiay, 1859, which conclusively and for
fever established the fact that flint imple
ments of unmistakable human workman
ship had been found, associated with the
remains of extinct species, in beds of the
Quaternary period deposited at a time
when the Somme ran at a level more
than 100 feet higher than at present, and
Flint HAche,
41
have been found from Western Europe to
Tibet; in Africa, and Central Australia j
in fact wherever they have been lookedfor, except in northern countries which
were buried under ice during the Glacial
period. The ea rliest known authentic wit
ness to man’s presence in Britain are som<
rudely-worked flints which were founds
mingled with bones of huge extinct anti*
mals, at a great depth in brick-earth at
Flint IIAchk,
From St. Aclieul, Valley of the Somme.
From Moulin Quignon, Abbeville.
(Half the actual size.)
(Half the actual size.)
(From Lubbock's ‘ Prehistoric Times.”)
was only beginning to excavate its
valley.
The spell once broken, evidence poured
in from all quarters, and although twentyfive years1 only have elapsed since Mr.
Prestwich’s paper was read, the number
of stone and other implements worked
by man, deposited in museums, is already
counted by tens of thousands, and they
Written in 1884.
Hoxne, in Suffolk. Some idea of the im
mense number of these rude implements
may be formed from the fact that the
valley system of one small river, the
Little Ouse, which rises near Thetford
and flows into the Wash after a course of
twenty-five miles, has within little more
than ten years yielded about 7,000 speci
mens.
They have been found in great abun
dance also in the valley gravels of the
�42
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
Thames, Ouse, Wiltshire Avon, and in
fact in all the river-gravels and brick
earths of the south and south-east of
England; and in those of the Somme,
Flint HAchb,
From Hoxne.
(Half the actual size.)
From Lubbock’s “ Prehistoric Times.”)
Oise, Seine, Loire, and all the principal
river systems of France ; and only in less
numbers, probably because they have
been less looked-for, in similar .situations
over an area extending from Central and
Southern Europe to the Far East. It is
a remarkable fact about these river-drift
implements that they are all nearly of the
same type and found under similar cir
cumstances, that is to say, in the gravels,
sands, brick-earths, and fine silt or loess
deposited by rivers which have either
ceased to run, or which ran at levels
higher than their present ones and were
only beginning to excavate their present
valleys. . Also they are always found in
association with remains of what is known
as the Quaternary (as distinguished from
recent or existing fauna) represented by
the mammoth or woolly-haired elephant,
thethick-nosed rhinoceros, and other wellknown types of extinct animals. The
general character of these implements is
very rude, implying a social condition
at least as low as that of the Australian
savages of the present day. They consist
mainly of the flake ; the chopper, or peb
ble roughly chipped to an edge on one
side ; the scraper, used probably for pre
paring skins ; pointed flints used for bor
ing ■ and by far the most abundant and
characteristic, of all, the hdche or celt, a
sharp or oval implement, roughly chipped
from flint or, in its absence, from any of
the hard stones of the district, such as
chert or quartzite, and intended to be
held in the hand and used without any
haft or handle.
These ketches are evidently the first rude
type of human tools from which the later
forms of the axe, adze, chisel, wedge, etc.,
have been derived by a very slow and
lengthened process of evolution. They
differ, however, in many essential re
spects, from the more perfect stone celts
of later periods and of modern savages.
The chipping is very rude, they are never
ground or polished, the pointed end is
that intended for use, the butt end being
left blunt, showing
that the hdche was
not hafted but held
in the hand; while
the converse is al
ways the case with
the finely-chipped or
polished stone celts
and hatchets of the
Neolithic period,
which, in its later
stages, are to all in
tents and purposes
similar to modern im
plements, only made
of stone instead of
metal.
But these
Palaeolithic laches are Polished Stone Axe.
only one step in ad
Neolithic.
vance of the rude (Half the actual size.)
(From Lubbock’s
natural stone which
an intelligent orang “ Prehistoric Times.”)
or chimpanzee might
pick up to crack a cocoa-nut with, or to
grub up a root from the earth, or an
insect from a rotten tree.
At the same time there is not the r§-
�43
ANTIQUITY OF MAN
mo test doubt as to their being the work
of human hands. When placed side by
side with the rudest forms of stone batchets actually used by the Australian and
otiler savages, it is difficult to detect any
difference. If placed in an ascending
series, from the oldest and rudest, to the
finely-finished axes and arrow-heads of
the period immediately preceding the use
of metal, the progress may be clearly traced
by insensible gradations. The blows given
to bring the block to the desired shape by
intentional chipping have left distinct
marks; and archaeologists have succeeded,
ferith a little practice, in fashioning sim
ilar implements from modern flints In
Flint Adze,
From Danish Kitchen-middens.
(From Lubbock’s
fact, forgeries have been made by work
men in localities where collectors were
eager and credulous, though fortunately
such forgeries are easily distinguished
from genuine antiquities by the different
appearance of the old and recent frac
tures, and other signs which make it
almost impossible to deceive an experienced eye. The conclusion, therefore,
of one of our best archaeologists may be
safely accepted, that it is as impossible
to doubt that these rude stone flakes and
hatchets are works of human art, as it
would be if we had found clasp-knives
and carpenters’ adzes.
The remains of human skeletons are,
as might be expected, very rare in these
river drifts, since they have been formed
under conditions where the preservation
of such remains would be very unlikely.
In fact, as Sir John Lubbock (now Lord
Avebury) points out, the bones found, in
the river-gravels are almost invariaoly
those of animals larger than man, such
as the mammoth and rhinoceros. Still a
few human bones have been found, suffi
cient to show that these river-drift iuen
were probably a dolichocephalic or long
and narrow-headed race, with prominent
jaws, massive bones, and great muscular
strength, but still, although rude ana
savage, of an essentially human type,
and going a very little way towards bridg-
Modern Stone Adze,
New Zealand.
Prehistoric Times.”)
ing over the gap between the savage and
the ape.
A more complete view, however, of the
conditions of human life at these remoto
periods is afforded by the evidence given
by caves, where naturally the remains of
man are more abundant and much better
preserved. Before entering, however, on
the examination of this class of evidence,
it may be well to give an instance which
may help to familiarise the imagination
with the vast periods of time which must
have elapsed since Palaeolithic man left
these rude implements within reach of
river floods.
Among the gravels in which Palaeolithic
hdches have been found, are some which
��ANTIQUITY OF MAN
the cliff at Bournemouth at a height
of about 130 feet above the sea. This
gravel can be traced in a gradual fall
from west to east, along the Hampshire
coast and the shores of the. Solent to
beyond Spithead, and was evidently de
posited by a river which carried the
drainage of the Dorsetshire and Hamp
shire downs into the sea to the eastward,
and of which the present Avon, Test, and
Itchen were tributaries. But for such a
river to run in such a course the whole of
Poole and Christchurch bays must have
been dry land, and the range of chalk
downs now broken through at the Needles
must have been continuous. To borrow
the words of Evans in his “Ancient Stone
Implements,” “Who, standing on the
edge of the lofty cliff at Bournemouth,
and gazing over the wide expanse of
waters between the present shore and a
line connecting the Needles on the one
hand and the Ballard Down Foreland on
the other, can fully comprehend how
immensely remote was the epoch when
what is now that vast bay was high and
dry land, and a long range of chalk
downs, 600 feet above the sea, bounded
the horizon on the south ? And yet this
must have been the sight that met the
eyes of those primeval men who fre
quented the banks of that ancient river
which buried their handiworks in gravels
that now cap the cliffs, and of the course
of which so strange but indubitable a
memorial subsists in what has now be
come the Solent Sea.”.
Any attempt to assign a more precise
date than the vague one of immense
antiquity to these early traces of primeval
man, had better be postponed until we
have examined the more detailed and
extensive body of evidence which has
been afforded by the exploration of caves,
to which the great discovery at Abbeville
at once gave an immense impulse, and
which has since been prosecuted in
England, France, Belgium, and Germany,
with the greatest ardour and success.
The caves in which fossil remains are
found occur principally in limestone
districts. They are due to the property
which water possesses, when. charged
with a small quantity of carbonic acid, of
dissolving lime. Rain falling on the
earth’s surface takes up carbonic acid
from contact with vegetable matter, and
a portion of it finds its way through
cracks and crevices in the subjacent rock
48
to lower levels, where it comes out in
springs of hard water charged with carb
onate of lime from the rock which it has
dissolved. It has been calculated that
the average rainfall on a square mile of
chalk thus carries away about 140 tons
of solid matter in a year. In this way
underground channels are formed, some
of which become large enough to admit
of streams flowing through them, and
even rivers, as is seen in the limestone
district of Carinthia, where considerable
rivers are swallowed up and run for miles
beneath the surface. In this way caverns
are formed, or sometimes a series of
caverns, which represent the pools of the
rivers which formerly flowed through
them. Accumulations of whatever may
have been brought down by the stream
were formed at the bottom of these pools,
and when, owing to changes in level or
denudation of the gathering grounds, the
rivers ceased to flow in the old channel,
the pools became dry and were converted
into caves, in which wild beasts and man
found shelter and left their remains. . The
debris thus formed accumulated with a
mixture of blocks which fell from the
roof, and of red loamy earth consisting
of the residue of the limestone rock in
soluble in water, and of dust and mud
brought in by winds and floods, and
occasionally interstratified by beds of
stalagmite, composed of thin films of
crystalline carbonate of lime, deposited
drop by drop by drippings through the
rock forming the roof of the cave. These
drippings form what are called stalactites,
which hang like pendent icicles from the
roof of caves, and as the drip falls from
these it forms a corresponding deposit,
known as stalagmite, on the floor below.
The formation of this deposit is neces
sarily extremely slow, and it only goes
on when the drops of water charged with
a minute excess of carbonate of lime
come in contact with the air; so that
whenever the floor of the cave was under
water no stalagmite could be formed.
The alternations, therefore, of deposits of
stalagmite represent alternations of long
periods during which the cave was
generally dry or. generally flooded.
During the dry periods, when the cave
happened to be inhabited, the treadings
on the floor would prevent the accumula
tion of an unbroken deposit of pure
stalagmite, and the crystalline matter
would be employed in forming a solid
�46
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
cement of the various dtbris into what is
known as a breccia.
Another class of caves, or rock-shelters,
has been formed along the sides of
valleys bounded by cliffs, where the
stratification is horizontal or nearly so
but the different beds vary much in
hardness and permeability to water.
The softer strata weather away more
rapidly than the others, and thus form
shallow caves or deep recesses in the face
of the cliffs, with a floor of hard rock
below and a roof of hard rock above,
which afford dry and commodious shelters
tor any sort of animal, including man.
In other respects they resemble the first
cmss of caves in having their contents
cemented into a breccia by the dripping
of water charged with carbonate of lime
from the roof, and, if the cave happened
to be deserted, for a long period, this
deposit would in the same way form a
bed of stalagmite and seal up securely
everything below it. In some cases, also,
the roof would fall in, and thus preserve
everything previously existing in the
ca"ve for the investigation of future
geologists.
^iese general remarks readers
will be able to understand the evidence
afforded by the remains of man found in
caverns. I will begin by taking as a
typical case that of Kent’s Cavern, near
lorquay, because it is one of the earliest
and best known, and all the facts con
cerning it have been verified by explora
tions, carefully conducted by a committee
appointed by the British Association in
1864, which comprised, the names of the
most eminent authorities in geology and
paleontology, including those of Sir
Charles Lyell, Sir John Lubbock, Mr.
Evans, Mr. Boyd Dawkins, Mr. Pengellv
and others.
65
Hie cave is about a mile east from
lorquay harbour, and runs into a hill of
Devonian limestone in a winding course,
expanding into large chambers connected
by narrow passages. The following is a
series of deposits in descending order in
the large chamber near the entrance :
1. Large blocks of limestone which
have fallen from the roof.
2- A layer of black, muddy mould,
three inches to twelve inches thick.
3. Stalagmite one foot to three feet
thick.
4. Red cave-earth with angular frag
ments of limestone of variable
thickness, but in places five to six
feet thick.
In the black earth above the stalagmite
were found a number of relics of the
Neolithic or polished stone period, with
a few articles of bronze and pottery,
some of which appear to be of a date as
late as that of the Roman occupation of
Britain. Associated with these are bones
of ox, sheep, goat, pig, and other ordinary
forms of existing species, and there is an
entire absence of any older fauna, or of
any of the ruder forms of Paleolithic
implements.. When we get below the
stalagmite into the underlying cave
earth, the case is entirely reversed. Not
a single specimen of polished or finelywrought stone, or of pottery, is to be
found j a vast number of celts or haches,
scrapers, knives, hammer stones, and
other stone implements, are met with
which are all of the rude Palaeolithic type
found in river drifts, with a few bone
implements such as harpoon-heads, a pin,
an awl, and a needle, like those frequently
met with in the caves of France and
Belgium. Associated with these are a
vast number of bones and teeth, all of
which belong to the old Quaternary fauna,
of which many species have become
extinct and others have migrated to
distant latitudes.
The following is a list of the mam
malian remains which have been found
in this cave-earth below the stalagmite : •
Abundant.
The Cave Lion, a large extinct species of
lion.
Cave Hyaena, a large extinct species of
hyaena.
Cave Bear, a large extinct species of bear.
Grizzly Bear.
Mammoth (Elephas primigenius}.
Rhinoceros (Tichorinus), woolly or thicknosed extinct species.
Horse.
Bison.
Irish Elk.
Red Deer.
Reindeer.
Scarce.
Wolf.
Fox.
Glutton.
Brown Bear.
Urus.
Hare.
Lagomys, tailless Arctic hare.
Water Vole.
«
Field Vole.
�ANTIQUITY OF MAN
Bank Vole.
Beaver.
And one specimen of the Machairodus, or
Great Sabre-toothed Tiger, which is one
of the characteristic species of the upper
Miocene and Pliocene formations.
These constitute a fauna which is char
acteristic of the Pleistocene, Quaternary,
or Palaeolithic period, and essentially
different from that of the prehistoric or
Neolithic period, which is practically the
same as that now existing, Wherever
remains of the mammoth, woolly rhino
ceros, and cave bear are found, Paleo
lithic implements may be expected, and
conversely. In fact Paleolithic man is
as essentially part of the characteristic
fauna of the Quaternary period, as the
Paleotherium is of the Eocene, or the
Deinotherium and Hipparion of the
Miocene.
A large number of other caves have
been explored in England, notably the
Victoria Cave near Settle, in Yorkshire,
the Cresswell Caves in Derbyshire, the
Gower Caves in South Wales, the~ Brixham Cave in Devonshire, the Woking
Cave in Somersetshire, and King Arthur’s
Cave in Herefordshire, and the results
have been everywhere practically the
same as those at Kent’s Cavern. The
same class of implements have been
found and the same fauna, with the oc
casional addition of a few species, among
which the hippopotamus and Eleplias
antiquus are the most remarkable.
So far as the river drifts and British
caves are concerned, all that we could, say
of the Palaeolithic period is that it is of
vast antiquity, and must have lasted for
an immense time, as it was in force for
the whole time requisite for rivers like
the Somme or Avon, which drain small
areas, to cut down their present valleys,
often two or three miles wide, from the
level of their upper gravels, which are in
many places 100 to 150 feet above the
level of the highest floods of the present
rivers.
But the caves of France and Belgium
supply us with more evidence, and enable
us to trace the history of long periods of
Palaeolithic time, and study in detail the
succession of changes that have occurred,
and the habits, arts, and industries of the
various tribes of primitive men who
occupied these caves and rock-shelters at
these remote periods. In fact, it may be
said with truth that we know more about
47
the men who chased the mammoth and
reindeer in the South of France perhaps
50,000 years ago, than we do about those
who lived there immediately before the'
classical era, or less than 5,000 years ago.
In certain provinces of France and
Belgium it happens fortunately that
there are extensive districts of limestone,
in which caverns and rock-shelters are
extremely abundant and full of Palaeo
lithic remains in an excellent state of
preservation. The abundance of such
caves may be estimated from the fact
that the cliffs, bounding one small river,
the Vezere, in the department of Dor
dogne in the South of France, contain
in a distance of eight or ten miles no
fewer than nine different stations, each
of which has given a vast variety of
remains embedded in the breccias and
cave-earths of their respective. floors ;
and the small river Lesse in Belgium has
been scarcely less prolific. Of the abun
dance of the human and animal remains
found in such caverns it may be sufficient
to say that one alone, that of Chaleux in
the valley of the Lesse, is computed by
Dumont to have yielded not less than
40,000 distinct objects.
The great abundance of remains thus
collected, both of human bones and im
plements, and of animals contempora
neous with them, have made it possible
to classify and arrange, in relative order
of time, a good many of the subdivisions
of the Palaeolithic period. This has been
done partly by the order of superposition
and partly by the greater or less rude
ness of the implements of stone and
bone, and by the greater or less abund
ance of those animals of the Quaternary
fauna which appeared first and disap
peared soonest. The result has been to
show that the period when vast herds
of reindeer roamed over the plains of
Southern France up to the Pyrenees was
not the earliest, but was preceded by a
long period when the reindeer was scarce,
and the remains of the mammoth, cave
bear, and cave hysena were more abun
dant than in the following ages. The
implements of this period are of the
earlier river-drift type and extremely
rude, and there is an almost entire
absence of instruments of bone.
Gradually as we pass upwards, the
more Southern forms of elephant, rhino
ceros, antelopes, and great carnivora dis
appear, and the mammoth and cave bear
�48
MODERN SCIENGE AND MODERN THOUGHT
become scarcer, while the reindeer be be added rock-carvings in Denmark, and
comes more and more abundant until at ngures on limestone cliffs in the Maritime
length it furnishes the chief source of Alps, while if, as some authorities, among
food, and its horns one of the principal them Arthur Evans and Sergi, think,
materials for the manufacture of imple
ments. Concurrently with this change they point to a primitive script, still
we find a progressive improvement in the more important are the characters
arts of life, as shown by stone imple painted m peroxide of iron on pebbles
ments more carefully chipped into a discovered by Piette in the Mas-d’Azil
greater variety of forms, and arrow and cave, in the South East of France. these
We do not, however, depend on
lance-heads, barbed harpoons, awls, and
needles for sewing skins, made chiefly drawings for evidence of the sort of men
who inhabited these caves in Paleolithic
from the antlers of the reindeer.
large number
. At length we arrive at one of the most days A skeletons have of skulls and
complete
interesting facts disclosed by these re dinerent caves, some ofbeen found in
which have
searches, that during one of the later or
served as sepulchral vaults for families
reindeer periods of the Paleolithic era
many of the caves in the South of France’ and tribes, while in others -individuals
and also in Switzerland and Southern have been crushed by falls of rock, or
otherwise
and in a
Germany were occupied by a race who, skulls and interred,have been few cases
bones
found at
like the Esquimaux of the present day
great depths in river drifts, and in
had a strong artistic tendency, and were loess, or fine glacial mud which fills the
up
constantly drawing with the point of a
flint on stone or bone, or modelling with the valley of the Rhine and other areas
over which the
flint knives from . horns and bones, melting poured great Swiss glaciers when
their turbid streams.
sketches of the animals they hunted
From
more
scenes of the chase, or other objects coveries among the of manimportant dis
of remains
himself, there
which struck their fancy. These are ex
]VaX_, e c^osen as typical: 1. those from
ceedingly well done, so that there is no
difficulty in recognising the animals in the Spy cavern ; 2. from the Neanderthal
tended to be represented, among which c^VmV-a .’,a3. from the pliocene deposits
of Trinil, Java.
are the mammoth, cave bear, reindeer,
t. The Betche . aux Roches cavern at
wild horse, and wild ox. The sketch of
b>py,
two nearly com
the mammoth which is engraved on a • plete. Belgium, yieldedmale and female
skeletons of a
piece of ivory, from the cave of La
number
Madeleine m the valley of the Vezere, is associated with a large somewhatof im
plements
particularly interesting, as it corresponds those of of a character The skullsabove
the Drift.
had
exactly with the mammoth whose body
enormous superciliary (eyebrows) ridges,
was found entire in frozen mud on the receding foreheads, massive jaws, and
ba x
a rV,er *n Liberia, and it sets at other
to which the
rest all possible question of man having generalapelike featuresthe rest of the
been really contemporary with this ex skeletonscharacter of
approximated. These remains
tinct animal m the South of France.
The drawings and carvings of other were discovered in 1886.
•
years earlier there
animals, especially of the reindeer, are m a Quaternary deposit in the was found
often extremely spirited, and. one es- cave of the Neander Valley,Feldhofen
Rhenish
P®c*a-*-V of a reindeer engraved on a bit Prussia, a calvaria, or brain-cap, in
Q 1
^rom a Cr,ve. at Thayngen, near dicating similar features to those of the
Schaffhausen m Switzerland, would do
credit to any modern animal painter. A opy skulls, and pronounced by Huxley
as
very few.human figures are found amono1 that the most apelikeyet discovered to
time,
these primeval drawings, but strangely, the. assumedalthough not approaching
special features of the
while the animals are so well drawn,
missing link.”
those of men are very inferior and
3. More, remarkable than either of
almost infantine in execution. They are
sufficient, however, to show that the naked these specimens are the brain-cap, thigh
in
savage of. Perigord, armed with a stone bone, and two molar teeth, found the
1891-92 by Dr. Eugene Dubois in
lance or javelin, pursued and slew the upper pliocene , beds at Trinil, on the
formidable aurochs. To these may banks of the river Bengavan, in Java,
�Portrait of Mammoth.
Drawn with a flint on a piece of Mammoth’s ivory ; from Cave of La Madeleine, Dordogne, France.
Earliest Portrait
of a
Mast, with Serpent
From Grotto of Les Eyzies.
and
Horses’ Heads.
Reindeer Period.
Reindeer Feeding.
From Grotto of Tliayngen, near Schaffhausen, Switzerland.
�50
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
which he holds to be the fragments of an
animal named by him Pithecanthropus
Erectus, or “upright ape-man.” The
several portions were found adjacent, but
at different times, so that their identity
as parts of the same individual has been
questioned. But although anthropolo
gists are not in agreement as to the
remains being positively human, the
majority hold that opinion, and it is not
without significance to note that the
bones were found in that part of the
globe where it is highly probable that
man and ape became differentiated. A
comparison of the cranium with that of
Neanderthal shows that it is of decidedly
lower type, and that it may be classified
as between the Neanderthal man and the
gorilla.
In trying to fix anything like definite
dates for man’s existence upon earth, we
must reverse the process by which we
have proved the enormous antiquity of
his earliest remains, and ascend step by
step from the known to the unknown.
The first step is that supplied by
history.
Until very recently, the palm of an
tiquity, limiting that term to the historic
period, rested with Egypt. Its chron
ology started with Menes, its reputed ear
liest king, whose date Professor Flinders
Petrie fixes at 4777 B.c. “ with a possible
error of a century.” The old scepticism
as to the actual personality of the ancient
Pharaohs is dispelled by modern research,
Professor Petrie having found traces of
kings before Menes, while there appears
good reason for accepting Dr. Borchardt’s
claims to have discovered the actual
tomb and personal relics of that king at
Nagada, a little north of Thebes.
.But it would seem that Egypt must
yield priority to Babylonia. For in
recent excavations at Nuffar or N ippur,
in Northern Babylonia, Dr. -Hilprecht
has unearthed from the deepest human
deposits in the ruins of the temple of
Bel a number of tablets which he
contends justify him in dating the
founding of that temple, and the first
settlement of the city, “somewhere be
tween 7,000 and 6,000 B.c. and possibly
earlier.” .And as the tablets are in
scribed with cuneiform characters, which
are the slow outcome of picture-writing,
as are. all other alphabetic and syllabic
signs, it may yet be proved that Babylonia
possessed a script at least 1,300 years
before the earliest known Egyptian
hieroglyphs. It is true that their love of
the decorative and their veneration for
what is old may explain the persistence
of the use of primitive modes of writing
among the Egyptians, but this cannot
weigh against the argument that the
more central position of Mesopotamia
gave her advantages which quickened
culture within her borders.
Nor do these two great empires mono
polise the story of antiquity. Explor
ations in Greece and the surrounding
archipelago have brought to light a third
venerable centre, perchance an indigenous
centre of civilisation, whose relics show
that “ we have probably to deal with a
total period of civilisation in the Aegean
not much shorter than that in the Nile
Valley.” So that centuries before the
Phcenicians launched their craft upon
the Midland Sea, or sailed beyond the
Pillars of Hercules, and at a period when
the Iliad and Odyssey were not in
existence, there was active intercourse
between East and West, intercourse, as
evidenced by the discovery of a com
mercial script, even between Arabia and
Iberia. Thus does the epigraphic and
other material which the spade of the
antiquarian has upturned and the skill
of the philologist deciphered, push ever
farthei’ back the horizon of history.
But beyond that receding marge lie the
vast domains of man’s past which it is
the province of the prehistoric archae
ologist, the palaeontologist, and the geol
ogist to explore.
Here, then, we. take leave of the one
and follow the guidance of the other.
The earliest historical civilisations were
all acquainted with metals, chiefly in the
form of bronze, which is an alloy of
copper and tin, very hard, easily cast,
and well adapted for every description of
tool and weapon. Indeed, it has only
been superseded by iron within recent
historical times. But the Bronze Age
was preceded by a long Neolithic period,
when stone, finely wrought and often
ground or polished, was used for the
purposes to which metal was afterwards
applied: The men of this Neolithic
period, who reached Europe from the
east or south, probably from both regions,
were comparatively civilised; they had
all the common domestic animals, the
dog, horse, ox, sheep, goat, and pig; also
some of the cultivated cereals and fruits ;
�51
ANTIQUITY OF MAN
they knew the arts of cooking, spinning,
weaving, and pottery, they were grouped
into clans and tribes, and lived in villages.
Some think the Iberian or Basque people
may be a remnant of this Neolithic race,
who were driven westward by the later
wave of Celtic migration just as the
Celts were driven by the still later waves
of Teutonic and Slavonic immigrants. Be
this as it may, it is certain that a
Neolithic people were spread very widely
over the globe, as -their remains of very
' similar character are found almost every
where in Europe, Asia, and America, and
always in association with the existing
or most recent fauna and configuration
of the earth’s surface.
The difficulty in assigning any precise
date for these remains arises very much
from the fact that the Neolithic passed
into the Bronze or historical civilisation,
at different times in different countries.
The Australians, the Polynesians, and the
Esquimaux were or are still in the. Stone
period, while steam-engines are spinning
cotton at Manchester, and the most
famous cities of Egypt and the East have
been for centuries buried under shapeless
mounds of their own ruins. It is probable
that all Europe remained in the Neolithic
stage for many centuries after the his
torical date of the commencement of the
Egyptian empire.
Still there are some remains which may
enable us to form an approximate con
jecture of the time during which this
Neolithic period may have lasted.
The two principal clues are furnished :
1. By the Danish mosses and kitchen
middens.
2. By the Swiss lake-dwellings.
In Denmark there are a number of peat
mosses varying in depth from ten to thirty
feet, which have been formed by the
filling-up of small lakes or ponds in
hollows of the Glacial drift. Around
the borders of these mosses, and at vari
ous depths in them, lie trunks of trees
which have grown on their margin. At
the present surface are found beech-trees,
which are now, and have been throughout
the whole historical period of 2,000 years,
the prevalent form of forest vegetation
in Denmark. Lower down is found a
zone of oaks, a tree which is now rare
and almost superseded by the beech. And
still lower, towards the bottom of the
mosses, the fallen trees are almost en
tirely Scotch firs, which have been long
unknown in Denmark and when intro
duced will not thrive there. It is evident
therefore, that there have been three
changes of climate, causing three entire
changes in the forest vegetation in Den
mark, since these mosses began to be
formed. The latest has lasted certainly
for 2,000 years, and we cannot tell how
much longer, so that some period of more
than 6,000 years must be assumed for the
three changes.
Now, it is invariably found that remains
of the Iron Age are confined to the pre
sent or beech era, while bronze is found
only in that of oak, and the Age of Stone
coincides with that of the Scotch fir.
The kitchen-middens afford another
memorial of the prehistoric age in Den
mark. There are mounds found all along
the sheltered sea-coasts of the mainland
and islands, consisting chiefly of shells of
the oyster, cockle, limpet, and other shell
fish, which have been eaten by the ancient
dwellers on these coasts. Mixed-up with
these are the bones of various land ani
mals, birds, and fish, and flint flakes,
axes, worked bones and horns, and other
implements, including rude hand-made
pottery. The relics are very much the
same as those found in the fir zone of the
peat mosses, and although old as com
pared with the Iron or historical age,
they do not denote any extreme antiquity.
The shells are all of existing species,
though the larger size of some of those
found on the shores of the Baltic shows
that the salt water of the North Sea had
then a freer access to it than at present.
The bones of animals, birds, and fish are
also all of existing species, and no re
mains of extinct animals, such as the
mammoth, or even of reindeer, have been
found. By far the most common are the
red deer, roe-deer, and wild boar. The
dog was known, and appears to have
been the only domestic animal among the
earliest Neolithic peoples.
Most of the stone implements are rude,
but a few carefully-worked weapons have
been found, and a few specimens of
polished axes, which, with the presence
of pottery and the nature of the fauna,
show conclusively that these Danish re
mains are all of the Neolithic age’ and
subsequent to the close of the Glacial
period. In fact, similar shell mounds are
found in almost all quarters of the globe
where savage tribes have lived on the
sea-coast, subsisting mainly on shell-fish,
£ 2
�52
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
and they are probably still being formed
on the shores of the Greenland and Arctic
Seas, and in Australia, and remote islands
of the Pacific.
Human remains are scarce in these
Danish deposits, but numerous skulls
and skeletons have been found in tumuli
which, from their situation and from
stone implements being buried with the
dead, may be reasonably inferred to be
those of the people of the peat mosses
and shell mounds. They denote a short
race with small and very round heads, in
many respects resembling the present
Lapps, but with a more projecting ridge
over the eye.
On the whole, all we can conclude from
these Danish remains is that at some
period, not less than 6,000 or 7,000 years
ago, when civilisation had already been
long established in the valley of the Nile,
rude races resembling the Lapps or Es
quimaux lived on the shores of the Baltic,
who, although so. much more recent,
and acquainted with the domestic dog,
pottery, and the art of polishing stone,
had not advanced much beyond the con
dition of the later cave-men of the South
of France ; and that this race was suc
ceeded by one which brought in the much
higher civilisation of the Bronze Age.
The lake-dwellings of Switzerland give
still, more detailed and interesting infor
mation as to Neolithic times.
During a very dry summer in 1854, the
Lake of Zurich fell below its usual level
and disclosed the remains of ancient piles
driven into the mud, from which a numof deer-horns and other implements were
dredged up. This led to farther researches,
and the result lias been that a large
number of villages built on these piles
has. been discovered in almost all the
Swiss lakes, as well as in those of Italy
and other countries. On the whole, more
than 200 have been discovered in Swit
zerland, and fresh ones are being con
stantly brought to light. They range
over a long period, a few belonging to
the. Iron Age and even to Boman times ■
while the. greater number are almost
equally divided between the Age of
Bionze and that of Stone. Some of them
are of large size, and must have been
long inhabited and supported a numerous
population, from the immense number of
implements found, which at one station
alone, that of Concise on the Lake of
Neufchatel, amounted to 25,000. These
implements consist mainly of axes, knives
anow-heads, saws, chisels, hammers, awls
and needles, with a quantity of broken
pottery, spindle-whorls, sinkers for nets
and other objects.
’
In the oldest stations, where no trace
of metal is found, and the decay of
the piles to a low’er level shows the
greatest antiquity, the implements are
all of. the Neolithic type, and the animal
remains associated with them are all of
the recent fauna. There are no mam
moths, rhinoceroses, or reindeer; the
wild animals are the red deer and roe, the
urus, bison, elk, bear, wolf, wild cat, fox,
badger, wild boar, ibex, and other exist
ing species ; and of domestic animals, the
uogf, pig, horse, goat, sheep, and at least
two varieties or oxen. Birds, reptiles,
and . fish were all of common existing
species. Carbonised ears of wheat and
barley have been found, as also pears and
apples, and the seeds, stones, and shells
of raspberry, blackberry, wild plum,
hazel-nut, and beech-nut. Twine, and
bits of matting made of flax, as well as
the occurrence of spindle-whorls, show
that the pile dwellers were acquainted
with the art of weaving.
On the whole, these pile-villages show
i
r ^arSe population lived in Switzer
land for a long time before the dawn of
history, and that they had already attained
a considerable amount of civilisation at
their , first appearance, which went on
steadily increasing down to the time of the
Boman conquest. Various attempts have
been made to fix an approximate date for
the earliest of these pile-villages, but they
have not been very successful. They
have been based. mainly on the amount
of silting up which has taken place in
some of the smaller lakes since the piles
were driven in, as compared with that
which has occurred since the Roman
period. The best calculations appear to
show that 6,000 or 7,000 years ago
Switzerland was already inhabited by
men who used polished stone implements,
but how long they had been there we
have no distinct evidence to show
Perhaps 10,000 years may betaken as the
outside limit of time that can be allowed
for the Neolithic period in Switzerland,
Denmark, or any known part of Europe.
In Egypt, however, there is evidence of
a much greater antiquity. Fragments
of pottery, which was entirely unknown
in the Palaeolithic age, have been brought,
�ANTIQUITY OF MAN
53
up by borings in the Nile Valley from it is possible to fix any approximate dates
forthe commencement and durationot the
depths ■which, at the average rate ot ac
cumulation there during the las^ 3,000 Glacial period. place, how do we know
In the
years of three inches and a halt in a that therefirst been any such period ?
has
century, would denote an age of
In England we are more familiar with
13,000 to 18,000 years.. Looking at the water than with ice; we therefore recog
dense population and high civilisation ot nise at once the signs of the action ot
Egypt at the commencement of bistory, water. If we come across a dry channel,
7,000 years ago, it is highly probable that
in alternating curves between
this time at least must have .elapsed windingbanks, and showing deposits, ot
since the country was first occupied by a eroded and silt, we say without hesitation,
settled agricultural population as tar gravel a river formerly ran.’ But it we
“ Here
advanced in the arts of life as the lake had lived in Switzerland, we should
dwellers of Switzerland.
Any calculation, however, of N eolith.ic recognise with equal certainty the signs
Suppose any one
time takes us back a very short step in of glacial action. walks up the valley
visiting Chamouni
the history of the human race, I he to .the foot of the Mer de Glace where
Paleolithic period must evidently have the Arve issues from the glacier, let us
been of vastly longer duration.
Here it is convenient to note that the say in autumn, when the front, of the
back some
theory of an absolute break, through geo glacier has shrunkRounded and distance,
polished
logical changes and subordinate causes, what does he see 1 as. if they had been
between the Palaeolithic and Neolithic rocks, whicha seem
gigantic plane
Ages which long held the field, has dis planed by over them, and on working
downwards
these a
appeared (except in Great Britain) before mass of miscellaneous rubbish shot down
the evidence against tenantless intervals as if from a dust-cart, consisting ot
in prehistoric times. The tools and
weapons found in certain caves, as at stones of all sizes, some of them boulders
house, scattered
Solutr6, in the Ma^on district, and at as big as a of clay and sand. irregulaily
When he
Mentone, show an overlapping of earlier on a mass closely he will see that these
and later specimens, which witness to looks morenot rounded as they would be
fusion in more or less degree between stones are water, but blunted. at then
prehistoric peoples. Doubtless in the by runninga slow grinding action ; and
more northerly parts of the Continent angles bycases, both the stones and the
there were local migrations and retreats, in many which they rest are. scratched
on
but there was no wholesale withdrawal rocksstriated in a direction which is that
or extermination of the . ruder races, andthe glacier’s motion. At the bottom
leaving vacant areas fortheir conquerors. of this rubbish-heap he will find the clay
Europe has been continuously inhabited of which the rock has been ground by
by man since he first set his foot in it, and into full weight of the glacier, very stifi
the proofs of this, ever increasing, come the compact; while if he looks down the
in the shape of the rude specimens of and he will see, on a hot day, a swollen,
art which link Northern with Southern valley,
turbid
Europe, and, what is of the deepest and ice andriver issuing from the melt
flooding the.
interest, both regions with the Eastern ing it will leave a depositmeadows, on
of fine mud.
Mediterranean. For these and other which are effects actually produced by
These
materials, more advanced in character, ice; and wherever he sees them he can
are revolutionising the old theories of infer the former presence of a glacier, as
European civilisation, which held it to certainly as when he sees a bed ot
be a wholly imported product, and are
pebbles, he infers
showing how indigenous that culture rounded of running water. the former
was, originating, mayhap, as shown presence commonly knownIhe planed
as rochet
already, in the islands of the JEgean, and rocks are om a fancied resemblance ot
mo utonnees,fr
diffusing itself, not without Oriental their smooth, rounded hummocks to the
influences upon it, in westerly directions. backs of a flock of sheep lying down;
In carrying our. researches further
back, the possibility of assigning any the rubbish heaps are called moraines ;
clay with
thing like a definite date for the existence and the stiff bottom called theboulders
g^wdof man depends on the question whether embedded in it is
�MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
moraine, till, or boulder clay ; while the
blunted and scratched stones are said to
be glaciated.
These tests, therefore, roches moutonnees,
moraines, boulders, and glaciated stones,
are infallible proofs that wherever we
find them there has been ice-action,
either in the form of glaciers, or of ice
bergs, which are only detached portions
of glaciers floated-off when the glacier
ends in the sea. blow, if our inquirer
extends his view., he will find that these
signs, the meaning of which he has
learned at the head of the valley of
Chamouni, are to be found equally in
every valley and over the whole plain of
Switzerland, up to a height of more than
3,000 feet on the slope of the opposite
Jura range, while on the Italian side the
Glacial drift extends far into the plains
of Piedmont.
Extending our view still more widely,
we find that every high mountain range
m the Northern hemisphere has had its
system . of glaciers; and one great
mountain mass, that of Scandinavia, has
been the nucleus of an enormous ice-cap,
radiating to a distance of not less than
1,000 miles, and thick enough to block up
with solid ice the North Sea, the German
Ocean, the Baltic, and even the Atlantic
up to the 100 fathom line. This ice-cap,
coalescing with local glaciers from the
higher lands of England, Scotland, and
Ireland, swept over their surface, regard
less of minor inequalities of hill and valley,
as far south as to the present Thames
Valley, grinding-down rocks, scattering
drift and boulders, and, in fact, doing
the first rough sub-soil ploughing which
prepared most of our present arable
fields for cultivation. The same ice-sheet
spread masses of similar drift over
Northern Germany, Sweden, Denmark,
and the northern half of European
Russia, and left behind it numerous
boulders which must have travelled all
the way from Norway or Lapland.
If we cross the Atlantic we find the
same thing repeated on a still larger
scale in North America. A still more
gigantic, ice-cap, radiating from the
Laurentian ranges, which extend to
wards the Pole, from Canada, has
glaciated all the minor mountain ranges
to the. south up to heights sometimes
exceeding. 3,000 feet, and coalescing with
vast glaciers thrown off by the Rocky
Mountains from their eastern flanks, has
swept over the whole Continent, leaving
its record in the form of drift and
boulders, down to the 40th parallel of
, latitude. It is difficult to realise the
existence of such gigantic glaciers, but
the proofs they have left are incontro
vertible, and we have only to look to
Greenland to see similar effects actually
in operation. The whole of that vast
country, where at former periods of the
earth’s history, fruit-trees grew and a
genial climate prevailed, is now buried
deep under one solid ice-cap, from
which only a few of the highest
peaks protrude, and which discharges
its surplus accumulation of winter
snow by huge glaciers filling all the
fiords and pushing out into the sea
with a,n ice-wall sometimes forty or fifty
miles in length, from which icebergs are
continually breaking off and floating
away. A still more gigantic ice-wall
surrounds the Southern Pole, and in a
comparatively low latitude presented
an insuperable barrier to the further
progress of the ships of Sir J. Ross’s
expedition.
A. still closer examination of the
Glacial period shows that it was not one
single period of intense cold, but a pro
longed period, during which there were
several alternations, the glaciers having
retreated and advanced several times with
comparatively mild inter-glacial periods,
but finally with a tendency on each suc
cessive advance to contract its area, until
the ice shrank into the recesses of high
mountains, where alone we now find it.
Another noteworthy point is that during
this long Glacial period there were
several great oscillations in the level of
sea and land.
Such, was the Glacial period, and to
assign its date is to fix the date when we
know with certainty that man already
existed, and had for some long though
unknown time previously been an in
habitant of earth. Is this possible ? To
answer this question we must begin by
considering what are the causes, or com
bination of causes, which may have given
rise to such a Glacial period. When we
look at. the causes which actually pro
duce existing glaciers, we find that ex
treme cold alone is not sufficient. In the
coldest known region of the earth, in
Eastern Siberia, there are no glaciers, for
the land is low and level and the air dry.
On the other hand, in New Zealand, in
�AifTIQUITt OF maf
sistent with the general laws of Nature j
and with the leading facts of the actual
generation of glaciers at the present day.
Astronomers believe that they have
discovered such a cause in the theory
first started by Mr. Groll, that the glacia
tion of the Northern hemisphere was due
to a secular change in the shape of th® I
earth’s orbit, combined with the shorter
changes produced by the precession of the
equinoxes. The latter cause is due to the
fact that the earth is not an exact sphere,
but slightly protuberant at the equator,
and that the attraction of the sun on this I
protuberant matter prevents the axis
round which the earth rotates, from re
maining exactly parallel with itself, and
makes it move slowly , round its mean I
position just as we see in the case of a I
schoolboy’s top, which reels round an
imaginary upright axis while spinning
rapidly. This revolution in the* case ot
the earth completes its circle in about
21,000 years, so that if summer, when th|
pole is turned towards the sun, occurred
in the Northern hemisphere when the
earth was in perihelion., or nearest the
S6When the two conditions of high land
sun, and consequently winter when it was
and moist winds are combined, low
in aphelion, or furthest away from the
temperature increases their effect, and
sun, after 10,500 years the position would
the snow-fall consolidates into a great
be exactly reversed, and winter would
ice-cap, from which only, the tops of tne
occur in perihelion and summer in
highest mountains project, and which
aphelion ; the Southern, hemisphere then
pushes out gigantic glaciers far. over
enjoying the same conditions as those, oi
surrounding countries and into adjacent
the Northern one 10,500 years earlier
seas. Such is now the case in Green
And in another 10,500 years things would
land, and was formerly the case in
come back to their original position.
Scandinavia, where a huge sheet of ice
Now if the earth’s orbit were an exact
radiated from it over Northern Germany
circle this would make no difference, all
as far as Dresden, filled up the North
Sea, and, coalescing with smaller ice the four seasons would, be of the same
duration and would receive the same solar
caps from the highlands of Scotland,
heat in both hemispheres, and if the
England, and Wales, buried the British
orbit were nearly circular, so that the
Islands up to the Thames under massive
difference between the perihelion and
ice. At the same period glaciers from
the Alps filled the whole plain of aphelion distances was small, the effect
would be small also. But if the orbit
Switzerland, and in North America the
flattened out or became more eccentric,
icecap extended from Labrador to
the effect would be increased. The fiM
Philadelphia.
of traversing the aphelion portion oi the
The first remark to be made is . that,
annual orbit would become longer and
as these phenomena depend primarily on
that of traversing the perihelion portion
moist winds, and only secondarily on
shorter, as the orbit departed from the
cold, and as moist winds imply great
form of a circle and became more elliptic.
evaporation and therefore great solar
Whenever, therefore, the North Pole was
heat over extensive surfaces of water, all
explanations are worthless which suppose turned away from the sun in aphelion,
the winters would be longer than the
a general prevalence of cold, either from
summers in the Northern hemisphere,
less solar radiation, passage through a
and conversely, the summers would be
colder region of space, or otherwise.
longer than the winters when, after an
We must seek for a cause which is con
the latitude of England and with a
mean annual temperature very similar
to that of the West of Scotland, enormous
glaciers descend to within 700 feet ot the
sea-level. The reason is obvious ; the
Alps of the South Island rise to the height
of 11,000 feet above the sea, and the pre
valent westerly winds strike, on them
laden with moisture from their passage
over a wide expanse of ocean. In like
manner, in the case of the Swiss Alps,
the Himalayas, and other great mountain
ranges, high land and moist winds
everywhere make glaciers. Given the
moist wind, any great depression of
temperature, whether
arising H'om
elevation of land or other causes, wbl
make it deposit its moisture in the form
of snow, and the accumulation of snow
on a large surface of elevated land must
inevitably relieve itself by pushing down
rivers of ice to the point where it melts,
just as the rain-fall relieves itself by
pouring down rivers to the point .where
the surplus water finds its level in the
�56
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
interval of 10,500 years, precession in their operation and given us a constant
brought about the opposite condition of succession of
things, in which winter occurred in commencementGlacial periods since the
of geological time, when
perihelion.
ever the
. At present the earth’s orbit is nearly occurs at eccentricity became great, which
irregular periods, but
circular, and the Northern hemisphere is about three times in everypractically
3,000 000
nearest the sun in winter and furthest years. The answer is
from it in summer, but the difference is would only occur whenthat the effects
the other con
only . about 3,000,000 miles, or a small
fraction of the total mean distance of ditions were present, viz., high land, moist
an absence
93,000,000 miles, which makes the winter winds, andwater like of oceanic currents
of warm
the Gulf Stream,
i
year shorter than the summer lne latter is one of the main causes which
half by nearly eight days.
But mathematical calculations show affect temperature. The difference of
1 un(^er ^ie complicated attractions temperature between the equatorial and
of the sun, moon, and larger planets, the polar regions causes a constant overflow
of heated
eccentricity of the earth’s orbit slowly is replacedair from south to north, which
an indraught of colder air
changes at long.and irregular intervals ri om north by south, which, owing to the
to
but always w.ithin^xed limits, increasing greater velocity of the earth’s rotation
up to a certain point and then diminish towards the equator, takes the form of
ing till it approaches the circular form
trade-winds blowing constantly from a
when it again increases. The maximum more
These
limit of eccentricity makes the difference winds, or less easterly direction. Ocean,
sweeping
the Atlantic
between the greatest and least distances raise its level at overwestern barrier, and
its
of the earth from the sun range between
the
12,000,000 and 14,000,000 miles, which is flowsaccumulation deflected by America
off in
which
tour or five times as great as at present • the western a currentEurope extends to
and with this eccentricity, and winter in mildwintersshores of extreme and carries
into the
North In
aphelion in the Northern hemisphere, the the Orkney and Shetland Islands, which
winter half of the year in Northern are nearly m the same latitude as Cape
latitudes would be twenty-six days longer
than the summer half, instead of eight farewell m Greenland, there is so little
ice
accomplishment
days shorter as at present. In this state of andthat skating is a rare game which is
curling, the roaring
things the quantity of heat received daily popular some degrees further south, so
is
from the sun in winter would be such as quite unknown.
to lower the temperature of the whole diverted, and the Ii the Gulf Stream were
highlands of
Northern hemisphere by 35° Fahrenheit, upheaved to the height of the Scotland
Alps of
and reduce the average January tem New
perature of England from 39 to 4°, while I againZealand, the whole conntry would
be buried under glaciers pushing
the mean summer temperature would be
t into
ar*d German Ocean.
about 60° higher than at present. But oathese ^ie
considerations may show
this summer heat, derived from solar every period of great eccentricity why
was
radiation, would not counteract the cold not necessarily a Glacial period,
of .winter, for all moisture during winter under certain conditions it must though
inevit
1I?3 accumulated in ice and snow, most ably have been so, and geologists are
ot the solar heat of summer would be generally agreed that the last period of the
expended in supplying latent heat to melt
have been one of the main
a portion of this frozen accumulation, sort mustthe great refrigeration which
causes
and dense fogs would intercept a large set m of
over the whole Northern hemiamount of the solar radiation.
sphere
the Pliocene
jer lb,500 years this state of things period, towards the close of recent times.
and continued until
would be entirely reversed, and with But in this case we can fix the date with
twenty-six days more of summer, and
calculation shows that
the earth 12,000,000 miles nearer the sun +k"ea^ accuracy> f°r of great eccentricity
the last period
m winter, the Northern hemisphere would began 240,000 years ago, and lasted
enjoy something like perpetual spring, 160,000 years. For the last 50,000 years
v here can be no doubt that these are real the departure of the earth’s orbit from
causes, and the only difficulty is to account the circular form has been exceptionally
tor their not having been more invariable ;small. We may suppose the Glacial
�ANTIQUITY OF MAN
period, therefore, to have commenced
240,000 years ago, come to its height
160,000 years ago, and finally passed
away 80,000 years before the present
time.
These dates receive much confirmation
from conclusions drawn from a totally
different class of facts. A bed of existing
marine shells of Arctic type, apparently
belonging to one of the latest phases of
the Glacial period, has been found on the
top of a hill in North Wales which is now
1,100 feet above the sea-level, and the
same marine drift seems to extend to a
height of upwards of 2,000 feet. There
must, therefore, have been a depression
of the land sufficient to carry it many
fathoms below the sea, and a subsequent
elevation sufficient to carry the sea
bottom up to a height of certainly 1,100
and probably over 2,000 feet. In all pro
bability, these movements were very
slow and gradual, like those now. going
on in Greenland and Scandinavia, for
there are no signs of earthquakes or
volcanic eruptions in the district; and it
is probable that pauses occurred in the
movements, and a long pause when sub
sidence had ceased before elevation
began. Without taking these pauses
into account, and assuming the elevation
only just completed, and that Sir C.
Lyell’s average of two and a half feet a
century is a fair rate for these slow
movements, it would have required 50,000
years of continued elevation to bring
these shells, and 80,000 years to bring the
marine drifts, up to their present height
above the sea; and a similar period
previously must be allowed for their
submergence. We may fairly conclude,
therefore, that upwards of 100,000 years
have elapsed since these shells lived and
died at the bottom of the sea towards the
close of the Glacial period, which corre
sponds very well with the date assigned
by astronomical calculations.
Again, another attempt to fix a date
for the close of the Glacial period has
been made by Monsieur Forel, a Swiss
geologist, from actual measurements of
the quantity of suspended matter
poured into the Lake of Geneva by the
Rhone, and the area of the lake which
has been silted up since it was filled by
ice. It is evident that this silting up
at the head of the lake could only begin
when the great Rhone glacier, which
once extended to the Jura Mountains,
had shrunk back into its valley far
enough to pour its river into the lake.
M. Forel’s calculations give . 100,000
years as the probable time required for
the river to silt up so much of the lake
as is now converted into dry land. The
data are somewhat vague, as on the one
hand the rate of deposition may have!
been greater when a large mass of
ice and snow was being melted, while
on the other hand it may have been
less, while the glacier still occupied the
valley almost to the head of the lake,
and the Rhone had only a course of a
few miles. All that can be said, there
fore, is that it gives an approximate
date for the close of the Glacial period
which, like that derived from rates
of depression and elevation, corresponds
wonderfully well with the date required
by Croll’s theory.
Now, whether the date be a little
more or a little less, it is clear that man
existed on earth throughout a great
part, if not the whole, of the Glacial
period. He had existed a long while
in conjunction with a fauna of morel
Southern and African aspect, before
the reindeer migrated in vast herds into
Southern France. His remains are found
in caves and river drifts associated with
those of the hippopotamus, an animal
which could by no possibility have lived
in rivers which for half the year were
bound hard in ice. Such remains must
therefore of necessity date either from a
period before the great cold had set. in, or
from some inter-glacial period prior to
the great cold which drove the reindeer,
musk ox, glutton, and Arctic hare as
far south as the slopes of the Pyrenees.
In England we can trace distinctly
at least four successions of boulder clays,
that is of the ground moraines of land
ice, separated by deposits of drifts, sands,
and brick-earths, formed while . the
glaciers were retreating and melting;
and a number of the Palaeolithic imple
ments have been found in what was
undoubtedly part of the period of the
second or great chalky boulder clay,
which overspreads the southern and
eastern counties of England up to the
Thames Valley.
The discovery * of
Palaeolithic remains in the deposit oi St,
Prest, near Chartres, makes it probable
that some at least of the ruder instru
ments date back to the very beginning
of the Glacial period, and a good body
�58
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
of evidence points to the conclusion that
man was living during the many alter
nations of climate of that period, and
whenever the glaciers retreated, followed
them up closely.
In seeking to trace back human origin
to more remote periods, we must begin
by describing shortly the geological
periods during which the existence of
man may have been possible. It is use
less to go back beyond the Chalk, which
was deposited in a deep sea and forms
a great break between the modern and
the Secondary period, in which latter
reptiles predominated, and mammalia
are only known by a few remains of
small insectivorous and
marsupial
animals.
The inauguration of the present state
of things commences with the Tertiary
period. This has been divided into three
stages : the Eocene, in which the first
dawn appears of animal life similar in
type to that now existing ; the Miocene,
in which there is a still greater approxi
mation to existing forms of life; and
the Pliocene, in which existing types and
species become preponderant.
Then
comes the Pleistocene or Quaternary,
including the great Glacial period,
during which the whole marine and
nearly the whole terrestrial fauna are of
existing or recently extinct species,
though very different in their geographi
cal distribution from that of the present
day. And finally we arrive at the recent
period, when the present climate and the
present configuration of lands, seas,
and . rivers prevail with very slight
modifications, and no changes have
taken place either in the specific
character or geographical distribution
of life, except such as can be clearly
traced to existing causes such as the
agency of man.
This is the geological frame-work into
which we have to fit the history of man’s
appearance upon earth. We have traced
him through the recent and Quaternary ;
can we trace him further into the
Tertiary ? Speaking generally, we may
say that the Eocene period was that in
which Europe began to assume some
thing like its present configuration, and
in which mammalian life, of the higher
or placental type, began to supplant the
lower forms of marsupial life which had
preceded. But these higher types were
for the most part of a more primitive
or generalised character than the more
specialised types of later periods, and
u* highest order, that of the primates,
which includes man, ape, and lemur, was,
as far as is yet known, represented only
by two or three extinct lemurian forms.
_ The plan on which Nature has worked
in the evolution of life seems always to
have been this: she begins by laying
down a sort of ground plan, or general
ised sketch of a particular form of life,
say, first of vertebrata, then of fish, then
of reptiles, and finally of mammalian life.
I his sketch resembles the simple theme
of a few notes on which a musician pro
ceeds to work out a series of variations,
each surpassing the other in complication
and . specialised development in some
particular direction. No w, in the Eocene
period we are in the stage of the theme and
first simple variations of the mammalian
melody. It hardly seems likely, there
fore, that a creature so highly specialised
as man, even in his most rudimentary
form, should have existed, and in the
absence of any direct evidence to the
contrary, it is safe to assume that his
first appearance must have been of later
date.
But when we come to the Miocene and
Pliocene periods, the case is different. It
is true that in the Miocene the speciali
sation of certain families, as for instance
that of the horse, had not been carried
out to the full extent, and that all the
species of Miocene land-mammals and
several of the genera are now extinct.
But there were already true apes and
baboons, and even two species of anthro
poid ape, one of which, the Dryopithecus,
whose fossil remains were found in the
South of France, was as large as a man.
Now, wherever anthropoid apes lived
it is clear that, whether as a question of
anatomical structure or of climate and
surroundings, man, or some creature which
was the ancestor of man, might have lived
also. Anatomically speaking, apes and
monkeys are as. much special variations
of the mammalian type as man, whom
they resemble bone for bone and muscle
for. muscle, and the physical animal man
is simply an instance of the quadrumanous
type specialised for erect posture and a
larger brain. The larger brain, implying
greater intelligence, must also have given
him advantages in contending with out
ward circumstances, as for instance, by
fire and clothing against cold, which might
�AMNffllUt OP MAN
enable him to survive when other species
succumbed and became extinct.
If he could survive, as we know he did,
|3ie adverse conditions and. extreme vicissitudes of the Glacial period, there is no
reason why he might not have lived in
the semi-tropical climate of the Miocene
period, when a genial climate extended
even to Greenland and Spitsbergen, and
when ample forests supplied an abundance
of game and edible fruits. The same rea
sons apply, with still greater force, to the
Pliocene period, when existing types and
species had become more common and
feen a mild climate still prevailed. The
JEstence of Tertiary man must antecedently be pronounced highly probable;
but probabilities are not proofs, and the
near Chartres, which were always con
sidered to be Pliocene. Since the dis
covery, however, some geologists have
contended that these strata are not Plio
cene, but of the earliest Quaternary, or
perhaps a transition period between Plio
cene and Quaternary. This evidence canl
not, therefore, be accepted as conclusive for
anything more than proof that man’s ex
istence extends at any rate over the whole
Quaternary period, comprising the vast
glacial and inter-glacial ages which have
effected such changes in the earth’s surface*
Less disputable evidence is supplied by
the Pliocene of Monte Aperto, near Siena,
Italy, where bones of the Bakenotus, a
sort of Pliocene whale, which bear marks
of incisions which to all appearance must
Incised Bones of Bal^notus. Pliocene. From Monte Aperto.
Figured by Quatrefages, <( Homines Fossiles et Homines Sauvages, p. 93.
fact of such existence must be determined
by the evidence. All that can be said is
that while there ought to be great caution
in admitting as established a fact of such
gnportance, there ought to be no.deter
mined predisposition to disbelieve it, like
ghii.t which for so many years retarded
the acceptance of the evidence for Palaeo
lithic man. On the contrary, the fact that
man existed in such numbers and. under
such conditions as have been, described in
theQuaternary period, establishes a strong
foresumption that his first appearance must
date from a much earlier period.
Let us see how the evidence stands.
Undoubted stone implements, and bones
faring traces of cuttings by flint knives,
UKie been found in strata at St. Prest,
have been made by flint knives emplojw
in hacking off the flesh. Doubts
thrown at first on this, as it was thought
that possibly fish, or somegnawing anim^
like the beaver, might have cut the groovw
with their teeth. But later specimens have
been found on which the cuts have a regtt^
lar curvature which could not have been
made by any teeth, and present precisely
the same appearance as the cuts winch
are so commonly found on the bon® of
reindeer and other animals in hundreds
of Palaeolithic caves.
M. Quatrefages, who is a very eminent
and at the same time very cautious autho
rity, says, in his last work on the subject
published in 1884, “Homines Fossiles st
Hommes Sauvages,” that 11 the most in*
�60
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
credulous must be convinced. Had they who appointed a commission of fifteen
been found in Quaternary beds no one
European authori
would have hesitated to regard them as of the most eminent to report upon it
such matters
intentionally caused. The hand of man ties mreported that some of the flints
Nine
armed with a cutting instrument could showed undoubted
alone have left marks of this sort on a traces of human
plain surface. It is evident that some workmanship, five
horde of savages of these remote times were of an opposite
had found the carcase of this great ceta opinion, and one
cean stranded on the shore, and cut the was neutral. Since
flesh off with stone knives just as the sav then fresh obj ects
ages of Australia do at the present day.” have been found,
If these bones of the Baleenotus really and M. Quatrefages,
bear marks of human tools, the spectacle who had formerly
which might have been witnessed on the been doubtful, says
shore of the Pliocene sea perhaps 500,000 in his recent work :
years ago, must, have closely resembled “These new objects,
Flint Scraper.
that given by Sir John Lubbock from a and especially a
description by Captain Grey of a recent scraper which is one From Thenay. Miocene
whale feast in Australia. “ When a whale of the most dis Figured by Quatrefages,
“ Hommes Fossiles et
is washed on shore it is a real godsend to tinctly character Hommes Sauvages," p. 92.
them. Fires are immediately lit, to give ised of that class of
notice of the joyful event. Then they implements, have removed my last
rub themselves all over with blubber, doubts.” And certainly, if the figures
and anoint their favourite wives in the given at Paoe 92 of his “Hommes
same way; after which they cut down I ossiles et Hommes Sauvages ” correctly
through the blubber to the beef, which represent the original implements, and
they sometimes eat raw and sometimes they really came from Miocene strata,
broil on pointed sticks. As other natives doubt.is no longer possible. The evidence
arrive they ‘ fairly eat their way into the of design in chipping into a determinate
whale, and you see them climbing in and shape is quite as clear as in the similar
about the stinking carcase, choosing tit class of implements from Kent’s Cavern
bits.’ For days ‘ they remain by the car or the Cave of La Madeleine. They must
case, rubbed from head to foot with stink either have been chipped by man, or as
ing blubber, gorged to repletion with Mr. Boyd Dawkins supposes, by the
putrid meat—out of temper from indi Dryopithecus or some other anthropoid
gestion, and therefore engaged in con ape which had a dose of intelligence so
stant frays suffering from a cutaneous much superior to the gorilla or chim
disorder by high feeding—and altogether panzee as. to be able to fabricate tools.
a disgusting spectacle. There is no sight But in this case the problem would be
m the.world, Captain Grey adds, ‘ more solved and the missing link discovered,
revolting than to see a young and grace for such an ape might well have been
fully-formed native girl stepping out of the ancestor, of Palaeolithic man.
the carcase of a putrid whale.’ ”
The next instance is from Otta, in the
The evidence for Miocene man is much valley of the Tagus, where flint imple
of the same character: very strong and ments were alleged to have been dis
conclusive as far as it goes, but resting covered by an eminent Portuguese geolo
on too few instances to be universally gist, Senor Kibeiro, in Miocene strata. The
accepted. In 1868 the Abb£ Bourgeois subject was fully discussed on the spot,
laid before the Anthropological Congress at a meeting of the Anthropological Con
at Paris certain flints which he had gress at Lisbon in 1880. The general
found in situ in undoubted Miocene strata opinion seemed to be that some of the
at Thenay, in the Beauce, near Blois, implements showed undoubted traces of
they were received with general incre human design, but some good authorities
dulity, and the traces of human design remained sceptical ; and although there
were denied. The Abbe, however, per was no doubt that they were found in
sisted, and having made fresh discoveries Miocene strata, it was thought possible
the subject was referred to the next that flints of Quaternary age might have
meeting of the Congress at Brussels, fallen into fissures, or been mixed up with
�f™QUATE0^^^^
Miocene.
Borer, of. Awl.
Thenay. Miocene.
Congrfes Prihistorique,
Bruxelles, 1872.
J'C
Quaternary. Chaleux,
Belgium. Reindeer Period.
Congres Prehistorique,
Bruxelles, 1872.
Scraper, or Rude
Knife. Thenay. Mio
cene. Quatrefages,
p. 92.
Scraper. Thenay. Miocene
Quatrefages, p. 92.
Quaternary. Slammoth Period.
River Drift, Mesvin, Belgium.
Congres Prehistorique, Bruxelles, 18.2.
�62
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
Miocene sands by floods at some very
remote period, and thus become encrusted
in a Miocene matrix.
The verdict as to Miocene man in
Europe remains “Not proven.” Leaving
with bones of the extinct Mastodon and
Megalonyx. But, although undoubtedly
of great antiquity, there is no proof that
it does not belong to the Quaternary
period, especially as the mastodon seems
to have lived until comparatively recent
times in America, its remains being often
found in recent bogs and peat mosses.
The same remark will apply to the
skull which was found, in digging a well
at New Orleans, under six distinct layers
of cypress forests such as are now grow
ing on the surface, showing as many
periods of successive subsidences, subse
quent elevations, and stationary periods
long enough to allow of a forest growth
of many generations of large trees. Here
again the antiquity must be very great,
but we have no reason to carry it back
into Tertiary periods, or beyond the
recent periods when the Mississippi began
to flow in its present course and form its
present delta.
Human remains have also been dis
covered in caves in Brazil and Mexico
associated with bones of extinct animals,
but we have no clear information as to
the^ time when these animals became
extinct, or as to the exact order of super
position in which the human skulls and
implements were found, and the occur
rence of a polished stone celt in the same
cave throws still more doubt on their
extreme antiquity.
Although the instances cited might be
multiplied, it must be remembered that
remains of Tertiary man are not likely
to be abundant. . If man was then living,
it was probably in fewer numbers and in
Tertiary Hachb.
more limited areas. The pressure of
From Miocene Strata of TagU3 Valley.
(Half the actual size.)
population had not yet driven wandering
Quatrefages, “ Hommes Fossiles et Homines
hordes to follow sea-coasts and cross rivers
Sauvages. ”
and mountains in pursuit of food. Pro
bably at this early period man lived
the Old World for the Nev/, the same will more on fruits, and therefore required
aPply to the alleged discovery of a human fewer implements, and his intelligence
skull in Calaveras County, California was less, so tnat he had less power of
buried under six distinct layers of har fashioning them. For the purposes for
dened volcanic ashes, and, presumably which his Palaeolithic descendants chipped
of Pliocene date, if not earlier. Whitney stones into shape, he may have used nat
the Director of the Geological Survey of ural stones which would often answer the
the United States, and other American purpose, but which, when thrown away,
geologists, believe this skull to be Plio would leave nothing by which they could
cene, but doubts have been thrown on be recognised.
its authenticity, and European geologists
If the forests now inhabited by the
do not generally accept it.
gorilla and chimpanzee were submerged
A human bone is described by Lyell and again elevated, no trace would be
which was found near Vicksburg in a found of the existence of animals which
side valley of the Mississippi, associated had built rude nests, used broken branches
�ANTIQUITY OF MAN
of trees as clubs, and cracked cocoa-nuts
with hammer stones.
But above all, the surface of these older
strata has been so much denuded, that
the situations in which alone we might
expect to find remains of man have almost
entirely disappeared. Ninety-nine hun
dredths of our Quaternary implements
come from river drifts or caves. Where
are the Pliocene or Miocene rivers or
caves? They have disappeared amidst
the revolutions of the earth’s surface and
the constant denudation which wastes
continents away. The negative evidence
would be strong if we could point to
caves filled with bone-breccias of a Plio
cene or Miocene fauna, in which no
trace was found of human remains. . But
it is weak as against even, a single
well-ascertained instance, if it . merely
amounts to such remains not being fre
quently found where we could hardly
expect to find them. And it . is weak
against the strong presumption that
when Quaternary man is found in such
numbers and under such. conditions,
spread over wide areas in inhospitable
climates, he must have had his first origin
in earlier times. The cradle of that origin
remains undiscovered, perhaps undis
co verable. For in seeking for evidence
about Tertiary man in Europe, we are
off the scent. He must be searched for in
the region or zone where Dr. Dubois found
the fragments already described, and the
search may, nevertheless, be in.vain. For
perchance the area of the parting of the
ways between the ape-like man and the
man-like ape, as lateral descendants of
a pithecoid ancestor, is in some Indo
African land which has long been covered
by the sea, and from which, in the warm
climates of inter-glacial periods, when a
temperate flora grew in northern lati
tudes, the earliest human beings spread
themselves over the then habitable globe,
migrating by way of Africa into Europe,
and by way of both Europe and Asia into
America, while the ancient land-extensions
led him dry-footed, to Australia.
With these high probabilities, is it
possible to assign any approximate date
to man’s appearance ?
Reckoning by the thickness, of the
different stratified deposits which make
up the earth’s crust, and assuming the
average rate of their deposition, or what
is the same thing, the average rate of
waste of land surface, to have been the
63
same throughout, the whole Tertiary
period carries us back barely onetwentieth part of the way towards the
first beginnings of fossil-bearing strata.
That is, if 100,000,000 years have elapsed
since the earth became sufficiently
solidified to support vegetable and
animal life, the Tertiary period may have
lasted for 5,000,000 years;
or for
10,000,000 years, if the life-sustaining
order of things has lasted, as Lyell sup
poses, for U least 200,000,000. years.
Even if we take the shorter period, the
time is ample for the enormous changes
which have taken place since the com
mencement of the Eocene period. The
average rate of denudation over the
globe has been taken at about one foot
in 3,000 years, from actual calculations
of the average amount of solid matter
carried down by the Mississippi and
other great rivers. Now at this rate it
would take only 2,000,000 years to wear
the whole of Europe down to the sea
level, and, in the absence of any com
pensating movements of elevation, the
whole of North America would be washed
away and deposited in strata at the
bottom of the Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans in less than 3,000,000 years.
If, therefore, the origin of man. could
be traced down to the middle Miocene,
or even to the date of the great anthro
poid Dryopithecus of Southern France
(an ape approximating nearest to the
chimpanzee), we should have to assume a
period for his existence of probably
between one and two millions of years, a
mere fraction of the time since the earth
became the abode of life amd existing
causes operated to bring about geological
formations.
As regards the habits and manners of
Quaternary man we know very little
that is positive., and can only gather
some vague indications from the relics
in caves and river drifts. These, how
ever, are sufficient to establish with
certainty that the law of his existence
has been one of continued progress.
The older the remains, the ruder are
the implements and the fewer.the traces
of anything approaching to civilisation.
As already shown, Neolithic man is
comparatively civilised. He has domestic
animals and cultivated plants ; he. has
clothing and ornaments, well-fashioned
tools and pottery,. and. permanent
dwellings. He lives in societies, builds
�64
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
villages, buries his dead, and shows his
faith in a future life by placing with
them food and weapons. As we ascend
the stream of time these indications of
an incipient civilisation disappear.
The first vestige of the domestic animals
is found in the dog which gnawed the
bones of the Danish kitchen-middens,
and of the earliest Swiss lake-dwellings.
When fairly in Palaeolithic times, even
the dog disappears, and man has to
trust to his own unaided efforts in
hunting wild animals for food.
Weapons and implements become
more and more rude until, in the oldest
deposits, wo find nothing but roughlychipped hatchets, arrow-heads, flakes,
and scrapers. Implements of bone,
such as barbed harpoons, borers, and
needles, which are abundant in the
middle Paleolithic or reindeer period, be
come ruder and then disappear. Pottery
which is extremely abundant in the
Neolithic period, either disappears alto
gether or becomes so scarce that it is
a moot question whether a few of the
rudest fragments found in caves are
really Palaeolithic. If so, they clearly
date from the later Palaeolithic, and
pottery was unknown in the earlier
Palaeolithic times.
Judging from the portraits engraved
on bone . during the reindeer period,
Palaeolithic man pursued the chase in
a state of nature, though from the pre
sence of bone needles it is probable
that the skins of animals may have
been occasionally sewed together by
split sinews to provide clothing. There
can be no doubt that his habitual
dwelling was in caves or rock-shelters.
Here was his home, here he took his
meals and allowed the remains of his
food, to accumulate. His staple diet
consisted of the contemporary wild
animals, the mammoth, the rhinoceros,
the caA e bear, the horse, the aurochs, and
the reindeer. Even the great cave lion
was occasionally killed and eaten, and
the fox and other smaller animals were
not despised ; while among tribes skilled
m the use of the bow and arrow, birds
were a common article of food, and fish
were harpooned by those who lived near
rivers. Wild fruit and roots were also
doubtless consumed, and from the forma
tion of their teeth and intestines it is pro
bable that if we could trace the diet of the
earliest races of men we should find them
to have been frugivorous, like their con
geners the anthropoid apes.
The abundance of wild animals and the
•
for which hunting savages
inhabited the same spots may be inferred
fkat at one station alone
that of Solutr6 in Burgundy, it is com
puted that the remains of no less than
40,000 horses have been found. All the
long bones of the larger animals have
been split to extract the marrow, which
was, as with the modern Eskimos and
other savages, a great delicacy, and seems
also to have been used for softening skins
tor the purpose of clothing.
Among the split bones a sufficient
number of human bones have been found
to make it certain that Palaeolithic man
was, occasionally at least, a cannibal;
and m several caves, notably that of
Chaleux, in Belgium, these bones, in
cluding those of women and children
have been found charred by fire, and in
such numbers as to indicate that they
had been the scene of cannibal feasts.
It is a remarkable fact that cannibalism
seems to have become more frequent as
man advanced in civilisation, and that
whne its traces are frequent in Neolithic
times, they become very scarce or alto
gether disappear in the age of the mam
moth and the reindeer.
As regards religious ideas they can
only be inferred from the relics buried
with the dead, and these are scarce and
uncertain for the earlier periods. The
caves in which Palaeolithic man lived on
the flesh of the Quaternary animals,
have been so often used as buryingplaces in long-subsequent ages, that it is
extremely difficult to ascertain whether
the skeletons found in them are those of
the original inhabitants.
Thus the
famous cave of Aurignac, in which Lartet
thought he had discovered the tomb of
men at whose funeral feast mammoths
and rhinoceroses were consumed, is now
generally considered to be a Neolithic
burying-place superimposed on an
abandoned Palaeolithic habitation.
There are not more than five or six
well authenticated instances in which
entire Palaeolithic skeletons have been
found . under, circumstances in which
there is a fair, presumption that they
may have been interred after death, and
these afford no clear proof of articles
intended for use in a future life having
been deposited with them. All we can
�MAN’S PLACE IN NATURE
say, therefore, is that from the commence
ment of the Neolithic period downwards,
there is abundant proof that man had
ideas of a future state of existence very
similar to those of most of the savage
tribes of the present day ; such proof is
wanting for the immensely longer Palaeo
lithic period, and we are left to con
jecture. The only arts which can with
certainty be assigned to our earliest
known ancestors are those of fire and
of fashioning rude implements from stone
by chipping. Everything beyond this is
the product of gradual evolution.
CHAPTER VI.
man’s place in nature
Origin of Man from an Egg—Like other
Mammals—Development of the EmbryoBackbone—Eye and other Organs of Sense
—Fish, Reptile, and Mammalian Stages—
Comparison with Apes and Monkeys—
Germs of Human Faculties in Animals—The
Dog—Insects—Helplessness of Human In
fant—Instinct—Heredity and Evolution—
The Missing Link—Races of Men—Leading
Types and Varieties—Common Origin Dis
tant—Language—How Formed—Grammar
—Chinese, Aryan, Semitic,etc.—Conclusions
from Language—Evolution and Antiquity
—Religions of Savage Races—Ghosts and
Spirits—Anthropomorphic Deities—Traces
in Neolithic and Palaeolithic Times—De
velopment by Evolution—Primitive Arts—
Tools and Weapons—Fire—Flint Imple
ments—Progress from Palaeolithic to Neo
lithic Times—Domestic Animals—Clothing
—Ornaments—Conclusion, Man a Product
of Evolution.
Although the establishment of the
great antiquity of the human race has
attracted more immediate attention,
being a fact at once intelligible to the
general public, the researches of ana
tomists and physiologists, aided by the
microscope, have brought to light results
quite as remarkable as regards the
individual man and his place in Nature.
Until recently it was taken for granted
that man was a special miraculous
creation, altogether superior to and
distinct from the rest of the. animal
world. This assumption, gratifying alike
to our vanity, and our laziness in the
laborious search for truth, has been to a
65
great extent disproved and replaced ny
the Law of Evolution.
The most striking proof of this is found
when we trace scientifically the growth
of each individual man from his first
origin to his final development. Man,
like all other animals, is born of an egg.
The primitive egg, or ovum, which was
the first germ of our existence, is a small
cell about the one-hundred-and-twentyfifth of an inch in diameter, consisting of
a mass of semi-fluid protoplasm enclosed
in a membrane, and containing a small
speck or nucleus
of more con
densed
proto
plasm. This nu
cleated cell is it
self the first form
into which a
mass of simple
jelly-like proto
plasm is differen
tiated in the
course of its evo
Human Egg.
lution from its
Magnified 100 times.
original uniform
composition. The
nucleated cell is the starting-point of
all higher life, and.by splitting up and
multiplying repetitions of itself in geo
metrical progression, provides the cell*
material out of which all the complicated
structures of living things are built up.
In sexual generation, which prevails in
all the higher forms of life, this process
requires, in order to start it, the co*
operation of two such cells or germs of
life, one male, the other female.
The first remarkable fact is that the
human egg is, at its commencement, undistinguishable from that of any other
mammal, and remains so for a long period
of its growth, going through its earlier
stages of development in precisely the
same way. At first the egg behaves
exactly as any. other single-celled
organism, as for instance that of the
amoeba, which is considered the simplest
form of organised life. It contracts in
the middle and divides into two cells,
each with its nucleus and each an exact
counterpart of the original cell. These
two subdivide into four, the four into
eight, and so on, until at last a cluster of
cells is formed which is called a morula
from its resemblance to the fruit of the
mulberry-tree. Development goes on,
a.n4 the globular lump of cells changes
i
F
�66
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
into a globular bladder whose outside
skin is built up of flattened cells. Then
condensation takes place, from the more
rapid growth of cells at particular points,
and the foundation is laid of the actual
body of the germ or embryo, the other
cells of the germ-bladder serving only for
its nutrition. Up to this point the germs
not only of all mammals, including man,
but _ of all vertebrate animals, birds,
reptiles, and fishes, are scarcely dis
tinguishable.
In the next stage the outer surface of
the embryo develops three distinct layers,
the outer one of which, or epidermis, is
modified into the skin, sense-organs, and
nervous system; the inner one, of
epithelium, into the mucous membrane
or lining of all the intestinal organs ;
while the intermediate layer is the raw
material of muscles, bones, and blood
pression in the outer skin extends until
the edges close and form a hollow space
in which the eye is formed- At first it is
a mere black pigment mark on the in
terior surface of the enclosed space,
which develops into the retina, with a
wonderful apparatus of optic nerves for
conveying impressions photographed on
it to the brain. The enclosed space itself
is filled with a fluid, or vitreous humour,
from which a lens is condensed for
collecting the rays of light and con
centrating them on the retina, and by
degrees all the beautiful and complicated
organs are evolved for perfecting the
work of the eye and protecting’it from
injury. But this fact must* be kept
clearly in view : the process is identically
the same as that by which the eyes of
other animals are formed, and its various
stages represent those by which the
Mammalian Egg.
First Stage.
Second Stage.
vessels. The embryo is now contracted
in the middle and assumes the form of a
violin-shaped disc, and a slight longi
tudinal furrow appears, dividing it into
two equal right and left parts, which is
gradually converted into a tube con
taining the spinal marrow, to protect
which a chain of bones or vertebrae is
developed, forming the back-bone.
And now comes what is the most
marvellous part of the process, viz., the
development of the brain, eye, ear, and
other organs of sense, from these simple
elements. The brain begins as a
swelling of the foremost end of the
cylindrical marrow-tube. This divides
itself into five bladders, lying one behind
the other, from which the whole com
plicated structure of the brain and skull
is subsequently developed.
The eye, ear, and other sense-organs,
begin in the same way. A slight de- |
Third Stage.
organs of vision have gradually risen to
the development of a complete eye, in
advancing from the lowest to the higher
forms of life. Thus in the lowest, or
Protista, the eye remains a simple pig
ment spot, which probably perceives
light by being more sensitive to variations
of temperature than the surrounding
white cells. The next higher family
develop a lens, and so on in ascending
order, different families developing dif
ferent contrivances for attaining the same
object, but all starting from the same
origin, development of the cells of the
epidermis, and leading up to the same
result, organs of vision adapted for the
ordinary conditions of life of the creature
which uses them. I say the ordinary
conditions, for there are curious instances
of the eye persisting, dwindling from
disuse, and finally disappearing, in
animals which live underground like the
�MAN’S PLACE IN NATURE
mole, or in subterranean waters like
some fish in the Mammoth Cave of
Kentucky and underground lakes of
Carinthia, where the stimulus of light is
no longer felt for many generations.
The history of the ear and other organs
of sense is the same as that of the eye.
They are all developments of the cell
system of the outer skin, and all pass
through stages of development identical
with those at which it has been arrested
in the progression from lower to higher
forms of life. The same principles apply
to the development of the inner organs,
such as the heart, lungs, liver, etc., a
striking illustration of which is found in
67
of development remains the same as that
of other mammalia. The rudimentary
limbs are exactly similar, the five fingers
and toes develop in the same way, and
the resemblance after the first four
weeks’ growth between the embryo of a
man and a dog is such that it is scarcely
possible to distinguish them. Even at
the age of eight weeks the embryo man is
an animal with a tail, hardly to be
distinguished from an embryo puppy.
As evolution proceeds, the embryo
emerges from the general mammalian
type into the special order of Primates
to which man belongs. This order, be
ginning with the lemur, rises through
Dog (six weeks).
Man (eight weeks).
From Haeckel’s “ Schdpfungsgeschichte.”
the fact that the gill arches, or bones
which support the gills by which fishes
breathe, exist originally in man and all
other vertebrate animals above the ranks
of fish, but, in the development of the
embryo, they are superseded by the air.breathing apparatus of lungs, and con
verted to other purposes in the formation
of the jaws and organ of hearing. In
fact, we may say that every human being
passes through the stage of fish and
reptile before arriving at that of mammal,
and finally of man.
If we take him up at the more ad
vanced stage, where the embryo has
already passed the reptilian form, we
find that for a considerable time the line
the monkey, the baboon, and tailed ape,
up to the anthropoid apes, the chim
panzee, gorilla, orang, and gibbon, which
approach nearest to the human type.
The succession is gradual from the lower
to the higher forms up to the anthropoid
apes, but a considerable gap occurs be
tween these and man. It is true that in
his physical structure man resembles
these apes closely, every bone and muscle
of the one having its counterpart in those
of the other. But even at its birth the
human infant is already specialised by
considerable differences. The brain is
larger, its convolutions more complex, the
spine has a double curvature, adapting it
for an erect posture, and the legs, with a
F 2
�68
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
corresponding object, are longer and
stronger, while the arms are shorter and
less adapted for climbing. The thumb
also is longer, making the hand a better
instrument for all purposes, except that
of clasping the branches of trees, for
which the long, slender fingers of the ape
are more available. The great toe also is
less flexible, and the foot more adapted
for giving the body a firm support and
less for being used as a hand.
As growth proceeds after birth these
differences become more and more ac
centuated. The infant chimpanzee is
not so very unlike the infant negro, but
after a certain age the sutures of the
skull close in the former, making the
skull a solid box, which prevents further
expansion of the brain, and the growth
of the bone is directed towards the lower
part of the face, giving the animal a
projecting muzzle, massive jaws, and a
generally bestial appearance, while at
the same time its intelligence is arrested
and its ferocious instincts become more
prominent. Still these higher apes re
main creatures of very considerable in
telligence and warm affections, as may
be seen in the behaviour of those which
have been caught young and brought up
under the influence of kind treatment.
There is a chimpanzee now1 in the Zoo
logical Gardens at Regent’s Park, which
can do all but speak, which understands
almost every word the keeper says to it,
and when told to sing will purse out its
lips and make an attempt to utter con
nected notes. In the native state they
form societies, obey a chief, and often
show great sagacity in their manner of
foraging for food and escaping from
danger.
Even in lower grades of life than the
anthropoid apes we can see plainly many
of the germs of human faculties in an
undeveloped state. Those who are fond
of dogs, and have lived much with them
and understood their ways, must have
been struck by the many liuman-like
qualities they possess, and especially by
the very great resemblance between
young dogs and young children. They
both like and dislike very much the same
people and the same mode of treatment.
They like those who take notice of them,
caress them, talk to them, and, above all,
those whom they can approach with per1 1888.
feet confidence of receiving uniform kind
treatment. They dislike those who have
no sympathy with them, or whose treat
ment of them is either cold or capricious.
Their great delight is to play with one
another, and often to tease and make a
pretence of quarrelling and fighting.
Both have an instinct for mischief, and
are constantly trying it on how far
they can go without getting into serious
difficulties.
Later in life, and in more serious
matters, the dog has certainly the germs
of higher intelligence, and does a number
or things which require a certain exercise
of reasoning power. He has a good
memory, and imagination enough to
be excited at the prospect of a walk
where there is a chance of finding a rat
or a rabbit, and to dream of chasing
imaginary rabbits when he is lying curledup on the hearthrug. Every dog has
an individual character of his own as
clearly defined as that of an individual
man, nor can the rudiments of reason
ing be denied to the hound who, in a
kennel of twenty others, knows perfectly
well that he is Rover, and not Rattler or
Ranger, and waits till his name is called
to come forward for a biscuit. When he
has got it, his sense of property makes
him appropriate it as his own, and respect
the biscuits appropriated to other dogs,
at any rate to the extent of knowing per
fectly well that he is doing wrong if he
takes them by force or steals them.
In moral qualities the dog approaches
even more closely to man. His fidelity,
affection, and devotion even to death,
are proverbial. He feels shame and re
morse when he has departed from the
canine sense of right and wrong or from
the canine standard of honour, and is
happy when he feels that he has done his
duty. What is this but the working of
an elementary conscience ? Even in the
higher’ sphere of religious feeling, the
dog feels unbounded love and reverence
for the master who is the highest being
conceivable to him, or in other words,
his God ; and he shudders as that master
does in the presence of anything weird
and supernatural. Every good ghost
story begins by describing how the
dogs howled and cringed at their master’s
feet when the first shadow of super
natural presence was cast on the haunted
castle.
Capacity for progressive improvement
�MAN’S PLACE IN NATURE
09
ER hardly be denied to a race which young of other animals, viz., in. the
for which
a
has developed such qualities from ances long period of utter it remains m In
condition
helplessness.
tors who, like the wild and half-wild dogs many of the lower forms of lite the
of Asia and America, had not even learned young creature emerges into the world
to bark, and were as unlike the civilised with many of its necessary faculties com*
and affectionate collie as Palaeolithic
man to his modern successor. In fact, the plete, and has to learn comparatively
The chicken runs
progress of the dog seems only to be little from education.food on the day it
about and picks up
limited by the want of organs of speech,
egg, and the
and of an instrument like the hand by escapes from thefragments of 'the shell
which to place himself in closer relation flycatcher, while
still adhere to it, will peck at flies.
with the outer world.
The same remarks apply to the elephant, As we rise in the scale of creation,
these instinctive aptitudes become fewer*
whose great sagacity seems clearly at and more time is required before, the
tributable to the possession, of such an
instrument in the trunk, inferior .no young animal can shift for itself ; till, at
doubt to the hand, but still very superior length, in the human infant, we arrive
at a stage where for some time it can do
to the paw of the dog or to the hoot- little to preserve its existence except to
enclosed fore-foot of the horse. In all
breathe and suck.
animals the greater or less perfection of
The reason of this is doubtless to be
the instruments by which they act upon found in the higher development which
and are acted upon by the outer world, it is destined to attain. The facul
seems to be the principal factor in deter ties of every animal depend on two
mining the quality of the brain as an causes—first, heredity, or those which have
organ of intelligence.
been evolved from the type, and become
In the insect world we find still more
wonderful exemplifications of the 1 esem fixed by succession through a long series
of ancestors; secondly, adaptation,, or
blance between animal and human in
those which are acquired by education,
telligence.
Ants . live in organised including in the term everything that is
societies, build cities, store-up food for
winter, keep aphides as milk-cows, cariy requisite to place the animal m harmony
on slave-hunting raids, and push the with its surrounding environment, IhB
first are what are called instincts, which
division of labour to such an extent that exist from the birth, and are preserved
some tribes are all workers, others all unconsciously and without an effort.
warriors
and
slave-owners.
These
and reference
actions are not all merely mechanical The last involve an effort, of the senses
from the outer stations
and instinctive, for ants can to a con along the telegraph wires called nerves,
siderable extent adapt themselves to cir to the central office of the brain, wherg
cumstances, and alter their habits and
mode of life when it becomes neces the message is recorded and the reply
considered and transmitted along another
sary in the “struggle for existence.
The same is true of bees, beetles, and set of nerves to the muscles, where it
other insects, but it. is useless to dwell on translates itself into action. In eithfit
case the fundamental fact seems to re
these, for the organisation of the insect
solve itself into a tendency of molecular
world is so different from that of the
follow beaten rather,
mammalian, to which man belongs, that motion to paths. What the brainthan
unknown
has
no safe analogy can be drawn from one once thought or perceived, it will think
to the other. It is from the higher
mammalian types that we can fairly or perceive more readily a second
draw the inference that, if like effects and in like manner, a message which has
transmitted
read
are produced by like causes, the more once beenfrom muscle andbrain off along
a nerve,
to
or from
perfect intelligence and morality of man
brain to muscle, will be transmitted and
must be the same in kind though higher
in degree than the less perfect manifest read off more readily by practice, until
ations of the same qualities in animals at length it ceases to require conscious
of similar though less perfect physical effort and becomes instinctive. We may
see an illustration of this in the facility
organisation.
.
.
with which a piano player, who began
There is one respect m which trie
human infant differs greatly from the by learning the notes with difficulty,
�70
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
acquires such aptitude that the execution
of rapid passages becomes mechanical,
and can be carried on without a mistake,
even when the performer is thinking of
something else or talking to a bystander.
The outer world with which every
animal has to deal from its birth upwards
may be compared to a dense forest or
jungle through which it has to find its
way. A certain number of paths have
been cut by its ancestors, and it finds
them ready made by heredity ; others it
constructs for itself by repeated efforts
until they become as broad and easy as
those which. it inherited ; and finally,
if the forest is thick and its area exten
sive, it can only be. explored by leaving
the beaten paths of inherited or acquired
instinct, and groping the way painfully
by conscious effort and attention.
We can now see why the lower the
animal, or in other words the less exten
sive the forest, the whole vital energy
may be concentrated on the few beaten
paths opened by heredity, and a few
necessary actions may be performed from
the first, instinctively and with great
perfection, while in higher organisms the
vital energy is employed in developing a
great mass of future possibilities rather
than a small number of inferior present
realities. The baby cannot run about the
room and feed itself like the chicken,
because the baby has to growinto a man or
woman, while the chicken has only to
grow into a fowl which can do very little
more in its adult than in its infant state.
w^en we come to analyse the
sum of faculties of the adult man, we find
that they are derived to a surprisingly
small extent from heredity as compared
with education. In saying this, however,
it must be understood that the term
heredity” is limited to that direct
heredity which transmits characters by
instinctive necessity, and not to the far
larger sphere of indirect heredity by
which faculties, arts, modes of thought,
and rules of conduct, are accumulated
m. civilised societies, and become the
principal instrument of education in its
larger sense. If it were possible to
suppose a human infant, born of civilised
parents, left entirely to itself, what would
®?*OY into'? It would have the
physical characters and advantages of
its human ancestry which heredity transP11*8,’ bipedal movement, large, convo
luted brain with potential capacities;
aptness of hand and opposable thumb •
but its solitariness would be fatal to its
progress. It would not learn to speak,
in the sense of using any articulate
language; its arts might not extend
beyond recognising a few articles of food,
and perhaps using stones to crack nuts
and constructing some rude shelter
from branches of trees. It would know
nothing of fire, and on the whole it would
not be so far advanced as its oldest
1 alagolithic ancestor.
As regards a moral sense, and all that
we are accustomed to think the highest
attributes of humanity, it is clear that
its mind would be a blank. Even at a
much more advanced stage, such ideas
evidently come .from education, and are
not the results either of inherited instinct
or of supernatural gift. An English child
kidnapped at an early age by Apache
Indians or head-hunting Dyaks, would,
to a certainty, consider murder one of
• ie«.n® ar^s> and the slaughter of an
inoffensive stranger, especially if accom
plished with a treachery that made the
°n1e
^le risk, an achievement
ot the highest manhood. If brought up
among Mahometans he would consider
polygamy, if among the Todas polyandry,
as the natural and proper relation of the
sexes. All that can be said is, that if
recaptured and brought back to civilised
society, he would perhaps be assisted by
heredity in adopting its ideas more
readily than would be the case if he had
been.born a savage.
It is clear, therefore, that the history
of the individual man tells the same
story of evolution from low beginnings
as is told by that of the human race as
traced from Palaeolithic, through Neo
lithic, into modern times. His law is
progress, worked out by conscious effort
called forth by the environment of out
ward circumstances, and accelerated from
time to time, by the successful efforts of
a few superior men, whose greater sum
of energy or happier organisation for
development, enables them to pioneer
new paths through the vast unexplored
forests of science, art, and morality.
The difficulty of accounting for the
development of intellect and morality by
evolution is not so great as that presented
by the difference in physical structure
between man and the highest animal.
Given a being with man’s brain and man’s
hand and erect stature, it is easy to see
�MANS PLAOE IN NATURE
71
the time is insufficient, and if man and
how intelligence must have been gradually the ape had a common ancestor that
evolved, and rules of conduct best adapted 1 as a highly developed anthropoid ape
for his own good and that of the society certainly, and man probably, already
in which he lived must have been formed <existed in the Miocene period such an
and fixed by successive generations
<cestor must be sought still further back,
according to the Darwinian laws of the at a distance compared with which the
“ struggle for life ” and the survival of ■ whole Quaternary period sinks into in
^ButMt is not so easy to see how this significance. It is said also that the is
covery of man’s antiquity is ot quite
difference of physical structure arose, recent date, and that fifty years ago
and how a being who had such a biam the same negative evidence was quoted
and hand, and such undeveloped capa as conclusive against his existence in
bilities for an almost ^limited pro timesand places which now afford his
gress, came into existence. The difficulty remains by tens of thousands. Ail this
is this: the difference in structure be is true, and it may well make us hesi
tween the lowest existing race of man and tate before we admit that man, whose
the highest existing ape is too great to structure is so analogous to that ot the
admit of the possibility of one being the animal creation, whose embryonic growth
direct descendant of the other. The negro is so strictly accordant with that ot
in some respects makes a slight approxi other mammals, and whose higher
mation towards the Simian type. His skull faculties of intelligence and morality
is narrower, his brain less capacious, his are so clearly not miraculous instincts
muzzle more projecting, his arm longer but the products of evolution and
than those of the average European man. education, is alone an exception to the
Still he is essentially a man, and separated general law of the universe, and is the
bv a wide gulf from the chimpanzee or creature of a special creation.
gorilla Even the idiot or cretin, whose
This is the more difficult to believe,
brain is no larger and intelligence no as the ape family, which man so closely
greater than that of the chimpanzee, is resembles in physical structure, con
an arrested man and not an ape.
tains numerous branches which graduate
If, therefore, the Darwinian theory into one another, but the extremes ot
holds good in the case of man and ape, which differ more widely than man does
we must go back to some common from the highest of the ape series. If a
ancestor from whom both may have special creation is required for man,
originated by pursuing different lines ot must there not have been special
development. But to establish this as a creations for the chimpanzee, the gon a,
fact and not a theory we require to find the orang, and for at least 100 different
that ancestral form, or, at any rate, some species of apes and monkeys which are
intermediate forms tending towards it. all built on the same lines 1
We require to find fossil remains proving
What are the facts really known to us
for the genus man what the Hipparion as to man, his nature, and his origin
and Anchitherium have proved for the
Man is one of a species of which there
genus horse, that is, gradual progressive are in round numbers, according to the
specialisation from a simple, ancestral computations of Wagner and bupan, some
type to more complex existing forms. 1,480 millions of individuals living at the
In other words, we require to discover present time on the earth. Taking thir y
the “ missing link.” Now it must be years as the average duration of each
admitted that hitherto, not only have generation there are thus over 3,600
no such missing links been discovered, millions who are born and die per cen
but the oldest known human skulls and tury, and this has gone on more or less
skeletons show no very decided ap during the period embraced by history,
proximation towards any such pre which extends for a great part of the Old
human type. On the contrary, one oi World over thirty centuries, m the case
the oldest types, that of the men oi of Babylonia perhaps over ninety, and in
the sepulchral cave of Cro-Magnon, Egypt, certainly over seventy centuries.
is that of a fine race, tall in stature,. At the commencement of these historical
large in brain, and on the whole! periods population was dense, probably in
superior to many of the existing races■ Eo-ypt and Western Asia denser than at
of mankind. The reply of course is that
�72
modern science and modern thought
present, and civilisation far advanced. predict with much confidence that they
Ine 1 yramids, which are among the oldest would either not cross, or, if they did,
and the largest buildings in the world
a hybrid ~
prove this conclusively, both from the
mechanical skill and astronomical science
But here he would be wrong, for, in
shown in their construction, and from
tact the
opposite
the great accumulation of capital and together,most produce araces breed freely
and
fertile progeny.
highly artificial arrangements of society
Moreover, when we extend our view
which could alone have rendered such beyond the clearly distinguished types of
works possible. The great mass of the
population in these times lived in what the white, yellow, and black, as seen in
Caucasian
is known as the Old World, and was ac we find Mongoloid, and Negro races
types
into
cumulated mainly in the great valley sub-typesthese shadingbreaking off each
and
off towards
systems of the Nile, and of the various
riversand irrigated plains of the southern other, while a large proportion of the
halt ot the continent of Asia. Northern human race consists of brown, red olive
Asia and Europe were thinly inhabited and copper-coloured people, who may
• by ruder tribes. Of America and the either be original varieties, or descended
interior of Africa we know little until a from crosses between the primitive
much later date, but the population was races. Small _ isolated groups differing
in all probability sparse and savage : in from the mam races also crop un of
Australia, it was still scantier and more whom it is hard to say from whom they
savage-while in New Zealand and are descended or how they got there • as
most of the Pacific Islands it has been tor. instance the Hottentots, in South
introduced by migration only within Africa ; the pigmy b'ack Negritos of the
Andamans and other South Asiatic
comparatively recent times.
The next leading fact we have to islands ; the Papuans and Australians ;
observe is that the human race is not the so-called hairy Ainos of Japan, and
everywhere the same, but is divided some of the aboriginal races of India.
io a certain extent climate seems to
into several well-marked varieties. The
most obvious distinction is that of have had an influence in creating or de
colour In the Old World there are veloping the main typical differences.
hus
line of black races lies
three distinct and clearly characterised . along the mamtropical belt of the earth
the hot
groups-the white the yellow, and the from Old to New Guinea. But the rule
black, these are found mainly in three
separate zoological provinces : the white is not universal, there is no similar type
America, where a
m the temperate and north-temperate m tropical of type and colour singular
prevails
zones of Europe and Western Asia, the uniformity
yellow in those of Eastern Asia, and the throughout the whole continent. Even
black in the tropical zone, principally of m Africa we find the Negro type, while
Central Africa. Where they are pure and retaining its black colour, shading off
unmixed, these race-types differ from one towards higher types and losing its more
another not in coiour only but in many animal-like characteristics. Again, colour,
other important and permanent charac the origin of which remains a perplexing
ters. lhe average size of the brain, the problem to the physiologist, becomes
complexity of its convolutions, tlie shape generally lighter as we pass from tropical
of the skull, the bones of the face and to south-temperate and from south to
jaws, the comparative length of the north-temperate regions, probably be
cause the skin needs less protection from
imbs, the structure of the hair and skin
the characteristic odour, the suscepti the suns rays which the pigmentation
bilities to various diseases, are all es affords. The exceptions supplied bv the
sentially different, so that no observant Esquimaux may be due to their having
naturalist, or even observant child or six months unbroken sunlight, and by
dog, could ever mistake a Chinaman for the now extinct Tasmanians to their
migration from tropical regions.
a £egro, or a Negro for an Englishman.
Even within great and well-defined races
ouch a naturalist, seeing for the first
time typical specimens of the three races, themsel ves there are clearly marked varie
would pronounce them without hesita ties. thus the white race consists of
tion to be distinct species, and would the two distinct types of the fair-whites
and dark-whites, the former prevailing in
�MAN’S PLAGE IN NATURE
Northern Europe and the latter in South
ern Europe, Western Asia, and North
Africa; the contrast between a fair Swede
with flaxen hair and blue eyes, and a
swarthy Spaniard with black hair and
eyes, being almost as marked as between
the latter and some of the higher black
or brown races. Throughout a great part
of Europe, including specially England,
it is evident that the existing population
is derived mainly from repeated crosses
of these two races with one another and
probably with earlier races.
In the existing state of things also it is
evident that if the different races of man
kind ever really did pass into one another
under influences like those of climate, the
time of their doing so is long past. A
colony of English families transported to
tropical Africa would to acertainty dieout
long before they had taken even the first
step towards acquiring the black velvety
skin, the woolly hair, the proj ecting muzzle,
and the long narrow skull of the typical
Negro, while a Negro colony transported
to Scotland or Scandinavia would as cer
tainly disappear from diseases of the chest
and lungs, long before they began to vary
towards the European type. The yellow
race seems to be on the whole the best
fitted to withstand climate and other ex
ternal influences, and it certainly shows
no signs anywhere of passing over either
into the Caucasian or the Negro type.
On the whole, therefore, if the fact of
fertile inter-crossing is to be • taken as
proving the unity of the human race and
their probable descent from a common
ancestor, and we are to assume that all
the great varieties which we find existing
are the result of modifications gradually
introduced by climate and surrounding
circumstances, it is evident that the point
of divergence must be put at an immense
distance.
This is the more certain, as when we
look back for a period of more than 4,000
years, we find from the Egyptian monu
ments that some of the best-marked ex
isting types have undergone no sensible
change. The portraits of negroes and of
Semitic dark-whites painted on the walls
of temples and tombs of the 12th dynasty,
about 2,000 B.C., might be taken as charac
teristic portraits of the negro and Jew of
the present day, and the modern Egyp
tian fellah reproduces with little or no
change the features of the ancient Egyp
tians of the days of Raineses and Ameno-
73
phis. It is evident, therefore, that where
no great change has taken place from
crossing of races, they will maintain their
special characters unaltered for more than
100 generations. Indeed we might say
for 200 generations, for the statues and
wooden statuettes from the tombs, of Sakkara, the ancient Memphis, which cer
tainly date back for more than .5,0.00
years, show us the Egyptian type in its
highest perfection, and with a more intel
lectual and I might say modern expression
than is found 1,000 or 2,000 years later,
when the type of the higher classes had
evidently deteriorated somewhat from a
slight infusion of African elements.
The same conclusion of the great dis
tance at which any common point of
divergence of the various races of man
kind must be placed, is confirmed by a
totally different line of inquiry, that into
the origin of language.
Philologists have clearly proved that
languages did not spring into existence
ready made, like Minerva from the brain
of Jupiter, but have followed the general
law of Nature, and have had their pe
riods of birth, growth, and evolution from
simple into complex organism. Now there
is a vast variety of languages, some say
more than a thousand. A large propor
tion of these are, of course, only what may
be called dialects of the same original lan
guage, as in the case of the whole IndoEuropean family, includingSanscrit, Zend,
Greek, Latin, Teutonic, Celtic, and Sla
vonic, with all their offshoots and derived
branches, as well as many others. . Any
one who wants to be convinced of this has
only to refer to Max Muller’s works and
trace the history of one verb, viz., that
used to denote individual existence.
Asmi in Sanscrit has become eimi in
Greek, sum in Latin (whence sono, suis,
and all the modern derivatives of . Latin
races), and “ am ” in English ; while the
Latin est, the Greek esti, and the German
1st, are clearly akin to the . original asti.
It may help in understanding how lan
guage has been formed if we point out that
“ I am ” originally meant “ I breathe,” and
“ he is ” is the more general and abstract
form of “ he stands.”
But there are a number of languages
between which no such relationship can
be traced, which are constructed on radi
cally different principles, and have no
resemblance with one another in their
roots, or primitive sounds used to express
�74
modern science and modern thought
objects and simple ideas, except in the few
cases where it can be traced to importation
from abroad, or to imitation of naturallysuggested sounds, such as those which
have led so many nations to express the
idea of “mother” by a sound resembling
the bleating of a lamb. Obviously, simi
larity of sound in such words as are used
for the ideas of father, mother, cow, crow,
thunder, crack, splash, and so on, sug
gests no common origin, and as most, or
at any rate a great many roots, were prob
ably derived originally in this manner,
though long since, diverted to express
other ideas by associations which it is im
possible to trace, the wonder rather is
that we should find so many languages
with so few roots in common. The best
authorities tell us that a list of fifty to
one hundred languages could be made
of which no one has been satisfactorily
shown to be related to any other.
The main distinction between lan
guages, however, is. to be found in
their inner .mechanism, or grammar,
rather than in the mere difference of
root-sounds. The result of years of
mechanical training in barbarous Latin
and Greek grammars in our English
public schools has been to leave the
average Englishman completely ignor
ant of the real meaning of the word
“grammar,” and almost incapable of
comprehending that it can mean any
thing else than a string of arbitrary
rules to be learned by heart for the
vexation of small boys.
And yet grammar is really most
interesting, as showing the modes by
which the dawning human intellect has
proceeded, at remote periods and among
different races, in working out the great
problem of articulate speech, by which
man rises into the higher regions of
thought and is mainly distinguished from
the brute creation. Consider first what
the problem is, and then some of the
principal modes which have been in
vented to solve it.
Suppose some primitive race to have
accumulated a certain stock of root
words, or simple sounds to signify definite
objects and simple ideas, they must soon
find that these alone are not sufficient to
convey briefly and clearly to other minds
the ideas which they wish to express.
For instance, suppose a tribe had got
root-words to express the ideas of “man,”
bear,’ and “ kul.” What one of the I
tribe wants to convey from his own mind
to that of his neighbour may be, “ The
man has killed the bear,” or “The bear
has killed the man,” or “The” (or “A)
man has killed a bear,” or “bears,” or
will ” or “ may have ” killed, and so on
through, a vast number of variations on
the original three-note theme. Up to a
certain point, a man might succeed in
making himself understood by using his
three root-sounds in a certain order, aided
by the pantomime of accent and gesture ;
and the Chinese, though one of the oldest
civilised peoples of the world, have
scarcely got beyond this stage. But the
process would be difficult and uncertain,
and. at length it would occur to some
genius that such modifications as those of
definite and indefinite, past and present,
singular, and plural, etc., were of general
application, not to the particular three or
four roots which he wished to connect,
but to all roots. The next step would be
to invent a set of sounds which, attached
in some way to the root-sounds, should
convey, to the hearer the sense in which
it was intended that he should take them.
This is the. fundamental idea of
grammar, but it has been worked out
by different races in the most different
manner. The Chinese and other allied
races in the South-east of Asia, such as
the Burmese and Siamese, have solved it
in the simplest manner. Their languages
are what is called monosyllabic—that is,
each, word consists of a single syllable,
and is a. root expressing the fundamental
idea, without distinction of noun from
verb, active from passive, or other modi
fications. They have to trust, therefore,
to express their meaning, mainly to
syntax, or the order in which words
succeed one another, which, up to a
certain point, is the simplest method,
and is largely adopted in modern English.
Thus, “ Man kill bear,” “ Bear kill man,”
convey the meaning just as clearly as the
classical languages do by cases, when they
distinguish whether, the man is the killer
or the killed by saying homo or hominem.
But. the monosyllabic system limits the
nations who use it to an inconveniently
small number of words, and fails in
expressing their more complex relations,
so that we find the same word in Chinese
or Siamese often expressing the most
different ideas, and the meaning can only
be conveyed by supplementing the root
words and syntax by accent and other
�MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE
conventional signs which are akin to the
primitive devices of gesture language.
Thus, in Siamese, the syllable ha, according to the note in which it is intoned,
may mean a pestilence, the number five,
or the verb “ to seek.”
This very primitive and almost in
fantine form of language is confined to
one family, that of the Chinese and IndoChinese, who, it may be observed, are by
no means simple or primitive in other
respects, but stand and have stood for
centuries at a comparatively high level
of civilisation. All other races, including •
the most savage, have adopted some form
or other of grammar, i.e., of modifying
original root-sounds by additional generic
sounds of definite determination ; but
the devices on which they have hit for
this purpose are most various. Thus, the
grammar of the Aryan family of languages
has been formed by reasoning out such
general categories of thought as articles,
pronouns, and prepositions, coining
sounds for them and prefixing these
sounds to the root-sounds as separate
determinating signs.
More complex
shades of meaning are conveyed prin
cipally by inflections, i.e., by adding
certain generic new sounds to the original
root-word, and incorporating them with
it so as to form modifications which area
sort of secondary words. Thus the ideas
of present, past, and future love, loving,
and being loved, lovely, and so on, are
formed by transforming the root amo into
such modifications as amor, amavi, amabo,
amans, amabilis, etc. We can see this
process in the course of formation in the
change which converted the old English
form “Caesar his” into the modern
genitive “ Caesar’s.”
Other families again obtain the same
results by very different processes. The
Semitic languages, for instance, including
Hebrew, Arabic, Assyrian, and Phcenician,
are what is called “triliteral,” i.e., they
consist of roots mostly of three con
sonants, and express different shades of
grammatical meaning by altering the
internal vowels. Thus, from the root
m-l-k are derived melek, a king ; malak,
he reigned, and so on.
The so-called Turanian family, com
prising Huns, Turks, Finns, Lapps, and
other Mongolian races of Northern Asia,
all speak agglutinative languages, i.e.,
languages in which the root is put first
and is followed by suffixes strung on to
7b
it, but not incorporated, with it and
remaining distinct. Thus in Turkish,, the
root sev, to love, is. expanded into
sevishdirilmedeler, meaning “ incapable of
being brought to love one another.
These are only given as specimens of
some of the most marked of the vast
varieties of language which have been
examined and classified by philologists.
They suggest a great many interesting
reflections, but I confine myself to those
which bear more immediately on the
subject of man’s origin and development.
It is evident that . they imply great
antiquity for the existence, not of man
only, but of separate races of men speak
ing separate languages.
Babylonian inscriptions, estimated by
Dr. Hilprecht to be 9,000 years old, show
that the characteristic features of the
Semitic languages were as clearly estab
lished then as they are now; and the hiero
glyphics of Egyptian monuments, 7,000
years old, show the Coptic language essen
tially the same as modern Coptic, and al
though presenting some points of analogy
with Semitic, too different to be classed
with it. If these are descended from a com
mon ancestor, clearly their origin must be
extremely remote. And even with un
limited time it is difficult to conceive how
such radical differences in the structure of
languages could have arisen unless the dif
ferent races had branched off before any
clear form of articulate speech had be
come fixed. Could a race accustomed
for generations to the free-flowing inflec
tional Aryan, have deserted it for the
cramped forms of the Semitic, or, vice
versa, could the Semite have adopted the
modes of thought and expression of
Sanscrit ? And the same difficulty would
apply in at least twenty or thirty cases
of other families of language.
It must be recollected that language is
not merely the conventional instrument
of thought, but to a great extent, its
creator, and the mould in which it is
cast. The mould may be broken, and
races abandon old and adopt new lan
guages by force of external circumstances,
such as conquest or contact with and
absorption by superior races, but there
is no instance of its being so transformed
from within as to pass into a totally
different type. Nor can we very well
see how root-words once attached to
fundamental ideas, such for instance as
the simpler numerals, should come to be
�76
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
forgotten and new and totally diCerent
words invented.
Of course, the explanation was easy in
the olden days, when everything was
referred to miracle. Languages were
different because God, to baffle the at
tempt of united mankind to build a tower
high enough to reach to heaven, had made
them so. But the theory of special
miraculous creation for each language
cannot stand a moment’s investigation.
As in the. case of the animal world,
special creations, if admitted at all, must
be multiplied to an extent which becomes
absurd. Is every petty tribe of savages
who speak a language unintelligible to
others to be supposed to have had it
conferred upon it as a miraculous gift ?
Was the language of the extinct Brazilian
tribe, of which Humboldt tells us that a
very old parrot spoke the last surviving
words, one of the languages used to
scatter the builders of the Tower of
Babel ? Or, still more conclusively, where
we know and can prove that one part of
a language is the product of natural
laws, can we assume that another part of
the same language is the result of miracle ?
Did it require Divine inspiration to
make the old Egyptians call a cat miaou,
or to teach so many nations to ex
press the idea of mother by imitating
the bleating of a lamb? If not, why
should half the words in a dictionary be
miraculous and half natural ?
And if Caesar is correctly reported to
have been more proud of discovering a
new case than of conquering Gaul, ought
we not to “render unto Caesar the
things that are Caesar’s,” and assign
grammar as well as words to human
invention ? In short, no reasonable man
who studies the subject can doubt that
language is just as much a machine of
human invention for communicating
thought, as the spinning jenny is for
spinning cotton.
8eneral conclusion, then, to be
a'rawn from the study of language points
m the same direction as that of all other
branches of science, viz., that their true
history is that of evolution from simple
origins by the operation of natural laws
over long periods of time into forms of
greater complexity and higher develop
ment. What language really does for us
is to take up the thread where the oldest
history fails us, and show that even at
this date it is impossible to doubt that
the human race must have been already
in existence for a very long period, and
in existence as at the present day in
several sharply distinguished varieties,
so that the common origin, if there be
one, must be placed still further back.
As history verified by the Babylonian
monuments extends over a period of, say
nearly 9,000 years, this, is equivalent to
saying that such a period can only be a
very small part of the total time which
has. elapsed since man became an in
habitant of the earth.
The origin and development of re
ligions have been much discussed, but
too often with a. desire to make theories
square with .wishes. The subject also
does not admit of such precise determina
tion as in treating of arts and languages,
which have left traces of themselves in
the form of primitive implements and
primitive roots.
The history of religions really begins
with written records, or, at the earliest,
. with the older myths which are embodied
in these records. But these are all com
paratively modern, and imply a con
siderable progress in civilisation before
they could have existed. If we wish to
form some idea of what may have been
the primitive elements from which re
ligion was evolved during the long
Neolithic and still longer Palaeolithic
periods which preceded history, we must
look at what are actually the religious
ideas of contemporary savage and semibarbarous races.
As we rise above the level of the lowest
savagery we find ideas of religion be
ginning to grow from two main tap-roots.
One is the idea of ghosts or spirits,
which arises naturally from dreams and
visions and develops itself into ancestor
and hero-worship, and belief in a world
of spirits, good and evil, influencing men’s
lives and fortunes, and in many forms of
sickness taking possession of their bodies.
This spirit-worship also necessarily leads
to some dim perception of a future life.
The. other tap-root is the inevitable
disposition to account for the phenomena
of nature, when men first began to reflect
on. them, by the agency of invisible
beings like themselves ; in other words, of
anthropomorphic gods. Perhaps this is a
higher and later stage of religious belief
than the former, for it implies a certain
disposition to inquire into the causes of
things and a certain amount of reasoning
�MAN'S PLAGE IN NATURE
power to infer like causes from like
results.
But the two often blend together, as m
the religions of the Aryan-speaking
peoples, in which we see deified heroes
and ancestors crowding the courts of
Olympus, with a multitude of anthropoSnorphic gods, who are often merely
obvious personifications of natural pheno
mena or astronomical myths. Thus,
Varuna, Ouranos, or Uranus, are said to
be personifications of the vault of heaven ;
Phoebus, the shining one, of the sun;
Aurora, of the dawn; while Hercules is
half deified hero and half solar myth.
Sometimes, however, of the two stems of
religion one only has flourished, and the
other has either never existed, or been
overshadowed by the first and relegated
to a lower sphere. Thus the great
Chinese civilisation, comprising such a
large portion of the human race, has
apparently developed its popular religion
from the idea of spirits and spirit
worship. The worship of ancestois is its
main feature, and its sacred books are, in
effect, treatises on ethics and political
economy, with rules for rites and cere
monies to enforce decent and decorous
behaviour, rather than what we should
call works of religion.
With other races again, and specially
the Hebrew, the idea of a tribal anthropo
morphic God has gradually swallowed
up that of other gods, developed into
that of one Almighty Being, and dwarfed
that of ghosts and spirits. Their primi
tive God was anthropomorphic,. and
modelled on the idea of an Oriental
sultan—sometimes good and beneficent,
but sometimes cruel and capricious, and
above all jealous of any disrespect and
enraged by any disobedience. Morality
seems at first to have had little or nothing
to do with these conceptions, and there
is not the remotest trace in. the early
history of any religion, of its having
been bom ready-made from the necessary
intuition of one Almighty God of love,
mercy, and justice, which is so. con
fidently assumed by many metaphysicians
and theologians. On the contrary, con
science had to be first evolved, and the
process may be followed step by step by
which, as manners became milder and
ideas purer, the grosser attributes of
Deity gradually yielded to the idea of a
just and merciful God.
These considerations, however, lead us
far from the question of the first dawn
of religion among primitive man. Judg
ing from the earliest facts of history, and
the analogy of modern savage races,
we might look for the first traces of
religious ideas from the contents . of
tombs and from idols. When a tribe
had attained to some definite idea of a
future life it would almost certainly bury
weapons and implements with its dead,
as is the case with modern savages. When
it had reached the stage of worshipping
anthropomorphic deities, it would prob
ably frame images of them, some of which
would be found in their tombs and dwell
ingsThe latter test soon fails us. In the
early Egyptian tombs, and in the remains
of the prehistoric cities excavated by
Dr. Schliemann, images of owl and ox
headed goddesses, and other symbolical
figures or idols, are found in abundance.
But when we ascend into Neolithic times,
such idols are no longer found, or,, if
• found, it is so rarely that archaeologists
still dispute as to their existence. Cer«
tain crescents found in the Swiss lake
dwellings were at one time thought to
indicate a worship of the moon, but the
better opinion seems to be that they were
used as rests for the head during sleep, as
we find similar objects now used in many
parts of the world. Among the many
thousand objects recovered from these
Swiss lake-dwellings and other Neolithic
abodes, there are only a very few which
may possibly have been rude idols or
amulets, and the only ones which may be
said with some certainty to have been
idols, are one or two discovered by Mons,
de Braye in some artificial caves of the
Neolithic period, excavated in the chalk
of Champagne, which appear to be in
tended for female figures of life size with
heads somewhat resembling that of the
owl-headed Minerva.
When we pass to Palaeolithic times the
evidence of idols becomes more faint, and
rests solely on the slender conjecture that
some of the figures carved by the Reindeer
men of La Madeleine.and other caves, may
probably have been intended for amulets.
As they were skilful carvers, and fond of
drawing whatever impressed itself on their
imagination, the presumption is strong
that they had not advanced to the stage
when the worship of gods symbolised by
idols had come into existence, as other
wise more undoubted idols must have
�78
MODERN SGIENGE AND MODERN THOUGHT
been found in the caves which were so viduals, and it may be doubted whether
long their habitations, and which have they were buried there, or merely died in
yielded such a number of remains of works the caves in which they lived, in which
of art.
case any implements found with them
The evidence for a belief in a future ex do not necessarily imply that they were
istence and in spirits is more conclusive. placed there for use in a future life. On
Throughout the whole Neolithic period we the whole it seems doubtful whether any
find objects which were evidently intended certain proofs of burials denoting know
for use in a future life buried with the ledge of a future life can be found in
dead. Wefind alsoinmany Neolithic tombs Palaeolithic times, and if there are, they
a singular fact which points to the exist are certainly few and far between, and
ence of a very long belief in evil spirits. C0^.ned
ie W'er stages of that period.
Many of the skulls, especially of young
All we can say is, that religion certainly
people, have been trepanned, that is, a did not descend ready-made among these
piece of the skull has been cut out, making aboriginal savages, butthat, like language,
a hole, apparently, to let out the evil spirit it was slowly developed from beginnings
which was supposed to be causing epilepsy as rude as those we now find among the
or convulsions ; and where the patient had lowest races of savages.
recovered and the wound healed, when he
It may be well, however, to say here,
died long afterwards, a piece of the skull, once for all, what is applicable to many
including this trepanned portion, was other. passages in this book, that the
sometimes cut out and used apparently question of the origin of any religion is
as an amulet. The objects deposited in entirely different from that of its truth
graves show that the idea of a future life, or falsehood. To explain a thing is not
as with most savages of the present day’ to disprove it; on the contrary, a thing
was that of a continuation of the same only really becomes true to us when we
life as he had led here, though perhaps in understand it. A stately oak, with widehappier hunting-grounds. In some cases spreading branches, that give shade and
a great chief seems to have had wives shelter to the cattle of the fields, is not
and slaves slaughtered and buried with the less a fact because we know that it
him, though the proofs of this are did not drop ready-made from heaven,
more clear and abundant in later times but grew from, an acorn. The intrinsic
than during the Neolithic period. Can truth of a religion must be tested by the
nibalism, however, seems to have occasion conformity which, in a given stage of its
ally prevailed both in Palaeolithic, Neo evolution, it bears to the facts of the
lithic, and prehistoric times, as it did so universe as disclosed by science, and to
extensively among modern savage races the feelings and moral perceptions which
before they came under civilising influ have been equally developed by evolution
ences. This is clearly proved by the num in the contemporary world.
ber of human bones, chiefly of women and
All I contend for is, that all religions
young persons, which have been found have grown and been developed from
charred by fire and split open for extrac humble origins, and that their history,
tion of the marrow.
impartially considered, does not contra
The evidence of belief in a future life dict, but on the contrary greatly confirms
becomes more rare and uncertain in Palaeo the law of natural evolution.
lithic times. Perhaps it may be because
Of the two faculties by which man is
we have so few authentic discoveries of commonly distinguished from the brute
Palaeolithic burying-places, and so many creation, viz., that, of being the speaking
instances of caves, once inhabited by and, the tool-making animal, the former
Palaeolithic races, being used long after attribute has been shown to be the pro
wards as Neolithic sepulchres. After the duct of evolution from origins long
famous cave of Aurignac it is difficult to since lost in the far-off distance of remote
trust any evidence as to the discovery of a ages.
real Palaeolithic sepulchre which has not
The same remark is even more certainly
been subsequently disturbed.
true.as regards the other attribute of tool
In the few cases also where Palaeolithic making, or, in its widest sense, adapting
skeletons have been found, as in that of natural laws and. natural objects to the
the men of Neanderthal and Mentone, arts of life by intelligent application.
they have often been those of single indi The primitive roots, so to speak, of this
�MAN’S PLACE IN NATURE
industrial language, which in the case of
spoken language for the most part elude
our search, are here furnished by the
Palaeolithic remains found so abundantly
in river drifts and caves. There can be no
doubt whatever that the modern wood
cutter’s axe and carpenter’s adze are the
lineal descendants of the rudely-chipped
haches, or celts, which are dug out of the
gravels of St, Acheul, or from below the
stalagmite of Kent’s Cavern. The regu
lar progression can be traced from the
mass of flint rudely chipped to a point,
with a butt-end left rough to grasp in
the hand, up to more symmetrical and
carefully-chipped forms ; to implements
intended to be hafted or fastened to
a handle; to implements ground and
polished to a sharp edge and pierced for
the handle; and finally to the finished
specimens of the later Neolithic period,
which exactly represent the adze and
battle-axe, and are almost identical with
those used quite recently by the Polyne
sians and other semi-civilised races who
had no access to metals. From these the
transition to metals is easily traced, the
first bronze implements and weapons be
ing facsimiles of those of polished stone
which they superseded, and the gradual
development of bronze, and from bronze
to the cheaper and more generally use
ful metal, iron, being a matter of quite
modern history.
In like manner, the development of
the knife, sword, and all cutting instru
ments, from the primitive flint-flake,
can be traced step by step, and is
beyond doubt; and equally so the
development of all missiles, from the
primitive chipped flint, used as a javelin
or arrow-head, up to the modern rifle.
When we catch the first glimpse of the
beginnings of human art or industry, the
furniture or stock-in-trade of Palaeolithic
man appears to have been as follows :
He was acquainted with fire. This
seems to be clearly established by the
charred bones, charcoal, and other traces
of fire which are found in the oldest
Palaeolithic caves, and even in the. far
distant Miocene period, if we can believe
in the flints discovered by the Abbe Bour
geois in the strata of Thenay, some of
which appear to have been split by the
action of fire.
This is a remarkable
fact, for a knowledge of the means of
kindling fire is by no means a very
simple or obvious attainment. Apes
79
and monkeys will sit before a fire and
enjoy its warmth, but no monkey has yet
developed intelligence enough even to
put fresh sticks on to keep up the fire,
much less to rekindle it when extinct.
Primaeval man must often have had
experience of fire from natural causes,
as from forests and prairies scorched by
a tropical sun being set on fire by light
ning, or from volcanic eruptions ; but
how he learned from these to kindle
fire for himself is not so obvious. Savage
races, as a rule, do so by converting
mechanical energy into heat, by. the
friction of a stick twirled round in a
hole, or rubbed backwards, and forwards
in a groove in another piece of wood ;
and there are old observances among
civilised nations which show that this
was the mode practised by their an
cestors, as when the sacred fire, in the
Temple of Vesta was relighted in this
manner by the old Romans if. it had
chanced to be extinguished. It is prob
able, therefore, that . this was the
original mode of obtaining fire, but if so,
it must have required a good deal of
intelligence and observation, for. the dis
covery is by no means an obvious one,
nor is it easy to see any natural process
that might suggest it.
Neither ancient history nor the
accounts of existing savage races throw
much light on the question.
The
narratives of the discovery of fire con
tained in the oldest records are obviously
mythical, like the fable of Prometheus,
which is itself a version of the older
Vedic myth of the god Agni (cognate
with Latin ignis or fire) having been
taken from a casket and given to the
first man, Manou, by Pramantha, which
in the old Vedic language means taking
forcibly by means of friction. Of the
same character are the mythical legends
of savage races of fire having been first
brought by some wonderful bird or
animal; and there is nowhere anything
like an authentic tradition of the fact
of its first introduction. There have
been reports of savages who were unac
quainted with'"fire., but they have never
been well authenticated, and the nearest
approach to such a state of things was
probably furnished by the aborigines
of Van Diemen’s Land, of whom it is said
that in all their wanderings they were
particularly careful to bear in their hands
the materials for kindling a fire, in the
�80
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
shape of a firebrand, which it was the
duty of the women to carry, and to keep
carefully refreshed from time to time
as it became dull.
On the whole, traditions all point to fire
having been first obtained from friction,
and it is possible that the first idea may
have been derived from the boughs of
trees, or silicious stalks of bamboos, having
been set on fire when rubbed together by
the action of the wind, or by the rubbing
of the hands together.
It is easier to see the origin of the
remaining equipment of primitive man,
viz., chipped stones, for flints splintered
by frost or fire often take naturally the
forms of sharp-edged flakes and rude
hatchets or hammers, and very little
invention was required to improve these
specimens, or endeavour to imitate them
by artificial chippings. It is rather
surprising that this art did not improve
more rapidly, for it is evident that the
old Palaeolithic period must have lasted
a long time before any decided progress
began to show itself. And during this
long period a singular uniformity
appears to have prevailed throughout
the Palaeolithic world. The rude form of
the celt or hache, with a blunt butt and
chipped roughly to a point, is found in
the oldest river gravels and caves wher
ever they have been investigated, and
the forms of the Somme and the Thames
specimens are repeated in the quartzite
implements of the Madras laterite.
In the very oldest caves and river
deposits the tool-equipment of man seems
to have been very much limited to these
rude celts, used probably for smashing
skulls in war and the chase, and splitting
bones to get at the marrow; sharpedged flakes for cutting ; rude javelin
heads ; and stones chipped to a rounded
edge, very like those used by the Esqui
maux for scraping bones and skins. As
we ascend in time we find arrow-heads
of stone and bone, at first unbarbed and
gradually becoming barbed, showing that
the bow had been discovered ; harpoons
of bone and fish-hooks; bone pins and
needles; and a much greater variety
and more carefully-chipped forms of
flint tools and weapons ; until we finally
reach the upper reindeer stage of caves
like that of La Madeleine, where artistic
drawings and carvings are found, and
the equipment generally is superior to
that of many existing savage tribes, and |
not much inferior to that of the Esqui
maux and other Arctic races.
We then pass into Neolithic times,
when many of the chief elements of
civilisation are already in full force.
Man has emerged in many localities
from the hunter into the pastoral stage,
the principal domestic animals are
known, and in some of the later lake
dwellings he has advanced a stage
further, and has become an agriculturist
living in villages.. From this to the
Bronze and early historical periods, there
is no great break, and the ruder tribes of
barbarians described by Caesar and
Tacitus may well have. been the lineal
descendants of the Neolithic men whose
polished axes and finely-shaped arrow
heads lie scattered over the surface of
Europe and are found in innumerable
burial-mounds and dolmens.
But in Palaeolithic times, though we
can see constant progress, mankind is
still.in a state of unmitigated barbarism.
Agriculture was clearly unknown, for
the. hand mills, pestles, and mortars,
which are among the most enduring and
abundant relics where grain was used for
food, are never met with. Pottery was
unknown in. all the earlier periods, and
it is questionable whether even the
rudest forms of baked clay, moulded by
hand, are found where there is no inter
mixture of a subsequent Neolithic habi
tation. The dog was clearly not a
companion of man prior to the era of
the Danish kitchen-middens, for the
spongy parts of bones which are always
gnawed by dogs when dogs are present,
are invariably preserved in the debris
of Palaeolithic caves, and the few bones
of dogs, wolves, and foxes found with
human remains in these caves almost
always show that the animals had formed
part of the food of the inhabitants.
Other. domestic animals were, in all
probability, equally unknown, although
it has been thought possible that some of
the tribes of the reindeer period may
have had herds of the half-tame deer,
like the modern Laplanders. This con
jecture, however, appears to rest solely
on the large number of bones and horns
found at certain stations, which may
have arisen from their having been occu
pied for a very long period, and as the
dog was unknown, it seems probable that
no other animals had been domesticated.
As regards clothing, the first certain
�DEVELOPMENT OE THE ARROW.
Flint Arrow
in
Vertebra
of
Reindeer.
Palaeolithic. La Madeleine.
Mammoth Period. Le Moustier.
Palaeolithic.
Reindeer Period.
Palaeolithic.
Reindeer Period.
First vestige of barb.
Palaeolithic
Reindeer Period.
Neolithic.
Recent.
Denmark.
Esquimaux.
a
�82
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
proofs of its use are afforded by the bone
pins and needles, which were evidently
employed for fastening the skins of
animals together, while the scrapers
were used for scraping these skins
and fashioning the bone implements. It
is probable, therefore, that the use of
skins as a protection against the cold of
the Glacial period, was known at a very
early period.
Ornaments, also, are of very early date.
Perforated shells, sometimes fossil, and
pierced teeth of the bear and other ani
mals are frequently found under circum
stances which show that they must have
been strung together as necklaces. The
skeleton found in a cave at Mentone had
a number of perforated shells of Nassa,
and a few stags’ teeth also perforated,
dispersed about the skull, evidencing
that they had formed some sort of head
ornament. Lumps of red hematite, also,
probably used for paint, have been found
in some of the caves of the reindeer
period.
Captain Cook’s description of the sav
ages of Tierra del Fuego would have ap
plied to the men of that period, “although
content to be naked, they were very am
bitious to be tine; ” and probably like
these poor Fuegians, they adorned them
selves with streaks of red, black, and
white, and wore bracelets and anklets of
shell and bone.
If we wish to form some ideas of the
manners and customs of our Palaeolithic
ancestors, we must look for them among
existing savage races whose mode of
life, and equipment of tools and weapons,
most nearly resemble those of the earliest
cave-dwellers. The Australians, the Bush
men of South Africa, the Mincopies of
the Andaman Islands, and the Fuegians
are probably the lowest specimens of the
human race known in modern times ; but
even these are in some respects further
advanced in the arts than Palaeolithic
man. The Bushmen are skilled in the
use of the bow, and have discovered
the art of poisoning their arrows. The
Australians, Mincopies, and Fuegians
have canoes, harpoons, and fish-hooks.
The latter approach more nearly to the
conditions of life of the savages who ac
cumulated the kitchen-middens on the
coasts of Denmark at a much later
period, and the Bushmen probably re
present _ those of the cave-men who
lived principally on the produce of the
chase of large animals, such as the mam
moth, rhinoceros, cave bear, horse, and
deer. The pigmy Bushman will attack
the elephant, the rhinoceros, and even
the lion, and often succeed in killing
them by pitfalls or poisoned arrows.
The inferences, therefore, to be drawn,
alike from the physical development of
the individual man, and from the origin
and growth of all the faculties which
specially distinguish him from the brute
creation—language, religion, arts, and
science—point to the conclusion that he
is a product of laws of evolution, and
not of special or miraculous creation.
Still, granting this, we must admit on
the other hand, that until more of the
“ missing links ” are discovered, and the
origin of man thus placed on a basis of
scientific certainty, there is an opening
left for the belief that here, if nowhere
else, there was some supernatural inter
ference with the laws of Nature, and
that the finger of the clock-maker did
here alter the hands of the clock from
the position which they would have occu
pied under the original law of its con
struction. But if this were so, it must
equally in candour be admitted that the
miracle did not consist in placing man
and woman upon earth, at any recent
period, or with faculties in any way de
veloped, but could only have consisted in
causing a germ or germs to come into
existence, different from any that could
have been formed by natural evolution,
and containing within them the possi
bilities of conscious and civilised man, to
be developed from the rudest origins by
slow and painful progress over countless
ages.
�PART II.—MODERN THOUGHT
That I, considering everywhere
Her secret meaning in her deedsj
And finding that of fifty seeds
She often brings but one to bear,
I falter where I firmly trod,
And falling with my weight of cares,
Upon the great world’s altar-stairs
That slope thro’ darkness up to God,
I stretch lame hands of faith, and grope,
And gather dust and chaff, and call
To what I feel is Lord of all,
And faintly trust the larger hope.
CHAPTER VII
MODERN THOUGHT
Lines from Tennyson—The Gospel of Modern
Thought—Change exemplified by Carlyle,
Renan, and George Eliot—Science becom
ing Universal—Attitude of Orthodox Writ
ers—Origin of Evil—First Cause unknow
able—New Philosophies and Religions—
Herbert Spencer and Agnosticism—Comte
and Positivism—Pessimism—Mormonism—
Spiritualism—Dreams and Visions Som
nambulism-Mesmerism.
LVI.
“ So careful of the type ? ” but no.
From scarped cliff and quarried stone
She cries, “ A thousand types are gone :
I care for nothing, all shall gof
“ Thou makest thine appeal to me :
I bring to life, I bring to death :
The spirit does but mean the breath :
I know no more.” And he, shall he,
LIV.
Oh yet we trust that somehow good
Will be the final goal of ill,
To pangs of nature, sins of will,
Defects of doubt, and taints of blood ;
That nothing walks with aimless feet;
That not one life shall be destroy'd,
Or cast as rubbish to the void,
When God hath made the pile complete ;
Man, her last work, who seem’d so fair,
Such splendid purpose in his eyes,
Who roll’d the psalm to wintry skies,
Who built him fanes of fruitless prayer,
That not a worm is cloven in vain ;
That not a moth with vain desire
Is shrivel’d in a fruitless fire,
Or but subserves another’s gain.
Who trusted God was love indeed,
And love Creation’s final law—
Tho’ Nature, red in tooth and claw
With ravine, shriek’d against his creed—
Behold, we know not anything.
I can but trust that good shall fall
At last—far off—at last, to all,
And every winter change to spring.
Who loved, who suffer’d countless ills,
Who battled for the True, the Just,
Be blown about the desert dust,
Or seal’d within the iron hills ?
So runs my dream : but what am I ?
An infant crying in the night:
An infant crying for the light:
And with no language but a cry.
No more ? A monster then, a dream,
A discord. Dragons of the prime,
That tare each other in their slime,
Were mellow music match’d with him.
LV.
The wish, that of the living whole
No life may fail beyond the grave,
Derives it not from what we have
The likest God within the soul ?
Are God and Nature then at strife,
That Nature lends such evil dreams ?
So careful of the type she seems,
So careless of the single life;
0 life as futile, then, as frail !
0 for thy voice to soothe and bless 1
What hope of answer, or redress ?
Behind the veil, behind the veil.
Tennyson, Tn Jifemoriam.
I
(By kind permission of Lord Tennyson.
G 2
�Si
modern science and modern thought
These noble and solemn lines of a great
poet sum up in a few words what may be
called “ the Gospel of Modern Thought.”
They describe what is the real attitude
of most of the thinking and earnest
minds of the present generation. On
the one hand, the discoveries of science
have so far established the universality
of law, as to make it impossible for sin
cere men to retain the faith of their an
cestors in dogmas and miracles. On the
other, larger views of man and of history
have shown that religious sentiment is
an essential element of human nature,
and that many of our best feelings, such
as love, hope, conscience, and reverence,
will always seek to find reflections of
themselves in the unseen world. Hence
faith in dogma has diminished and charity
increased. Fewer believe old creeds, and
those who do, believe more faintly ; while
fewer denounce them, or are insensible to
the good they have done in the past and
to the truth and beauty of the essential
ideas that underlie them.
On the Continent, and especially in
Catholic countries, where religion inter
feres more, with politics and social life,
there is still a large amount of active
hostility to it, as shown by the massacre
of priests by the French Communists;
but, in this country, the old Voltairean
infidelity has died out, and no one of
ordinary culture thinks of denouncing
Christianity as an invention of priest
craft. On the contrary, many of our lead
ing minds are at the same time sceptical
and religious, and exemplify the truth
of another profound saying of Tennyson:
There lives more faith in honest doubt,
Believe me, than in half the creeds.
The change which has come over modern
thought cannot be better exemplified
than by. taking the instance of three
great writers whose workshave produced
a powerful influence—Carlyle, Eenan,
and George Eliot. They were all three
born and brought up in the very heart
of different phases of the old beliefs—
Carlyle, in a family which might be taken
as a type of the best qualities of Scottish
Presbyterianism, bred in a Lowland farm
house, under the eye of a father and
mother whom he loved and revered, w*ho
might have been the originals of Burns’
“Cotter’s Saturday Night,” or the de
scendants of the martyrs of Claverhouse.
His own temperament strongly inclined to
a stern Puritanical piety; his favourite
heroe? were Cromwell and John Knox;
his whole nature was antipathetic to
science. As his biographer, Froude, re
ports. of him, “He liked ill men like
Humboldt, Laplace, and the author of
the ‘Vestiges.’ He refused Darwin’s
transmutation of species as unproved;
he fought against it, though I could see
he dreaded that it might turn out true.”
And yet the deliberate conclusion at
which he arrived was that “He did not
think it possible that educated honest
men could even profess much longer to
believe in historical Christianity.”
The case of Eenan was equally remark
able. He was born in the cottage of
Breton peasants of the purest type of
simple, pious, Catholic faith. Their one
idea of rising above the life of a peasant
was to become a priest, and their great
ambition for their boy was that he might
be so far honoured as one day to become
a country curd. Young Eenan, accord
ingly, from the first day he showed
cleverness, and got to the top of his class
in the village school, was destined for the
priesthood. He was taken in hand' by
priests, and found in them his kindest
friends ; they sent him to college, and in
due time to the Central Seminary where
young men were trained for orders.' All
his traditions,, all his affections, all his
interests, led in that direction, and yet
he gave up everything rather than sub
scribe to what he no longer believed to
be true. His conversion was brought
about in this way. Having been ap
pointed assistant to a professor of Heb
rew he became a profound scholar in
Oriental languages; this led to his
studying the Scriptures carefully in the
original, and the conclusion forced itself
upon him that the miraculous part of the
narrative had no historical foundation.
Like Carlyle, the turn of his mind was
not scientific, and while denying miracles
he remained keenly appreciative of all
that was beautiful and poetical in the
life and teaching of Jesus, which he has
brought more vividly before the ’world in
his writings than had ever been done by
orthodox commentators.
George Eliot, again, was brought up
in yet another phase of orthodox Chris
tianity—that of middle-class nonconform
ist Evangelicalism. She embraced this
creed fervently, and, as we see in her
“Dinah,” retained a keen appreciation
�MODERN TH OUGHT
of all its best elements. But as her
intellect expanded and her knowledge
widened, she too found it impossible to
rest in the old belief, and, with a painful
wrench from a revered father and loving
friends, she also passed over from the
ranks of orthodoxy. She also, after a life
of profound and earnest thought, came
.to the conclusion recorded of her by an
intimate friend and admirer, M”. Myers :
“I remember how at Cambridge, I
walked with her once in the Fellows’
Garden of Trinity, on an evening of
rainy May; and she, stirred somewhat
beyond her wont, and taking as her text
the three words which have been used so
often as the inspiring trumpet-calls of
men—the words God, Immortality, Duty—pronounced, with terrible earnestness,
how inconceivable was the first, how un
believable the second, and yet how per
emptory and absolute the third. Never,
perhaps, had sterner accents affirmed the
sovereignty of impersonal and unrecom
pensing law. I listened, and night fell;
her grave, majestic countenance turned
toward me like a Sibyl’s in the gloom ; it
was as though she withdrew from my
grasp, one by one, the two scrolls of pro
mise, and left me the third scroll only,
awTful. with inevitable fates.”
Such instances as these cannot be the
result of mere accident. As long as scep
ticism was confined to a limited number
of scientific men it might be possible to
think that it was merely the exaggera
tion of a particular train of thought pur
sued too exclusively. But when science
has become the prevailing mode of
thought, and has been brought home to
the minds of all educated persons, it is
no longer possible to represent it as an
exceptional aberration. And where the
bell-wethers of thought lead the way, the
flock will follow. What the greatest
thinkers think to-day, the company of
thinkers will think to-morrow, and the
great army of non-thinkers will treat as
self-evident the day after. This is very
nearly the case at the present day ; the
great thinkers have gone before, the mass
of thinkers have followed, and the still
greater mass of non-thinkers are waver
ing and about to follow. It is no longer,
with those who think at all. a question
of absolute faith against absolute dis
belief, but of the more or less shade of
“ faintness ” with which they cling to the
“ larger hope,”
85
This is nowhere more apparent than
in the writings of those who attempt to
stem the tide which sets so strongly
against orthodoxy. They resolve them
selves mainly into one long wail of “oh
the pity of it, the pity of it 1 ” if th®
simple faith of olden times should dis
appear from the world. They show
eloquently and conclusively that science
and philosophy cannot satisfy the as
pirations or afford the consolations of
religion. They expose the hollowness of
the substitutes which have been pro
posed, such as the worship of the un
knowable, or the cult of humanity.
They win an easy triumph over the ex
aggerations of those who resolve all the
historical records of Christianity into
myths or fabulous fulfilment of pro
phecies, and they wage fierce battles over
minor points, as, for example, whether
the first quotations from the Gospels are
met with in the first or second half of the
second century. But they nowhere at
tempt to grapple with the real diffi
culties, or to show that the facts and
arguments which converted men like
Carlyle and Kenan are mistaken facts
and unsound arguments. Attempts to
harmonise the Gospels and to prove the
inspiration of writings which contain
manifest errors and contradictions, have
gone the way of Buckland’s proof of a
universal deluge, and of Hugh Miller’s
attempt to reconcile Noah’s ark and the
Genesis account of creation with the
facts of geology and astronomy. Not a®
inch of ground that has been conquered
by science has ever been reconquered in
fair fight by theology
This great scientific movement _ is
of comparatively recent date. Darwin’s
“ Origin of Species ” was published only
in 1859, and his views as to evolution,
development, natural selection, and the
prevalence of universal law, have already
annexed nearly the whole world of
modern thought and become the founda
tion of all philosophical speculation and
scientific inquiry.
Not only has faith been shaken in the
supernatural as a direct and immediate
agent in the phenomena of the worlds of
matter and of life, but the demonstration
of the “ struggle for life ’’ and “ survival
of the fittest ” has raised anew, and with
vastly augmented force, those questions
as to the moral constitution of the uni
verse and the origin of evil, which have
�MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
so long exercised the highest minds. Is
it true that “ love ” is “ Creation’s final
law,” when we find this enormous and
apparently prodigal waste of life going
on; these cruel internecine battles be
tween individuals and species in the
struggle for existence; this cynical in
difference of Nature to suffering ? There
are, approximately, 3,600 millions of
deaths of human beings in every century,
of whom at least 20 per cent., or 720
millions, die before they have attained
to clear self-consciousness. What be
comes of them ? Why were they born ?
Are they Nature’s failures, and “cast as
rubbish to the void ” ?
To such questions there is no adequate
answer. We are obliged to admit that
as the material universe is not, as we once
fancied, measured by our standards and
regulated at every turn by an intelligence
resembling ours ; so neither is the moral
universe to be explained by simply mag
nifying our own moral ideas, and explain
ing everything by the action of a Being
who does what we should have done in
his place. If we insist on this anthropo
morphic conception we are driven to this
dilemma. Carlyle bases his belief in a
God, “the infinite Good One,” on this
argument: “All that is good, generous,
wise, right—whatever I deliberately and
for ever love in others and myself, who
or what could by any possibility have
given it to me but One who first had
it to give 1 This is not logic; this is
axiom.”
But how of the evil 1 No sincere man
looking into the depths of his own soul,
or at the facts of the world around, can
doubt that along with much that is good,
generous, wise, and right, there is much
that is bad, base, foolish, and wrong. If
logic compels us to receive as an axiom a
good author for the former, does not the
same logic equally compel us to accept
the axiom that the author of the latter
must have been one who “ first had it in
himself to give ” ? That is, we must ac
cept the theory of a God who is half
good, half evil; or adopt the Zoroastrian
conception of a universe contested by an
Ormuzd and Ahriman—a good and evil
principle, whose power is, for the present
at any ratoj equally balanced.
From this dilemma there is no escape,
unless we give up altogether the idea
of an anthropomorphic God, and adopt
frankly the scientific idea of an “ Infinite |
and Eternal Energy,” inscrutable and
past finding out; and of a universe whose
processes we can trace, but of whose ulti
mate essence we know nothing, only
suspecting, or faintly discerning, a funda
mental law which may make the polarity
of good and evil a necessary condition of
existence. This is a more sublime as well
as more rational belief than the old
orthodox conception ; but there is no
doubt that it requires more strength of
mind to embrace it, and that it appears
cold and cheerless to those who have
been accustomed to see special provi
dences in every ordinary occurrence, and
to fancy themselves the special objects
of supernatural. supervision in all the
details of daily life. Hopes and fancies,
however, are powerless against facts; and
the world is as surely passing from the
phase of orthodox into that of scientific
belief as youth is passing into manhood ;
and as the planet which we inhabit is
passing from the more fiery state into
that of temperate heat, progressive cool
ing, and final extinction as the abode of
life. In the meantime, what can we do
but possess our souls in patience, follow
truth wherever it leads us, and trust, as
Tennyson advises, that in the long run
everything will be for the best, and
“every winter turn to spring ” ?
The decay of old religious beliefs, and
the introduction of new conceptions
based on scientific discovery, have given
rise to many attempts to found new
philosophies, and in some cases hew sects
and religions, of some of the principal of
which a short account may be given.
, One of the greatest thinkers of modern
times, Herbert Spencer, has expanded
the theories of modern science, especially
those of the conservation of energy and
of Darwinian evolution, into a general
ised philosophy, embracing not only
the phenomena of the material and liv
ing universe, but also history, religion,
politics, and all the complex relations of
social life. He starts from the principle
that throughout the universe, in general
apd in detail, there is an unceasing re
distribution of matter and motion. This
shows itself as evolution where there
is a predominant aggregation of matter
and diminution of motion, and as dissolu
tion where matter is disintegrated and
motion increased. Thus, in the formation
of coal, the motion of the sun’s rays is
fixed in the condensed matter of the
�MODERN THOUGHT
chemical products of vegetation, and is
dissipated when, after, countless ages,
the coal is burned and its substance dis
solved into its elements. . These changes
constitute a transformation of the uni
form or homogeneous into the differenti
ated or heterogeneous, as seen in rhe con
densation of nebulous or cosmic matter
into suns and planets; in the varied
elements of the inorganic world ; in
each organism, vegetable or animal , in
the aggregate of organisms, thought and
geologic time ; in the mind ; in society ;
in all products of social activity.” These
changes are all in the direction of
passage from an indefinite whole to de
finite parts, and they are inevitable, un
less the original substance were so absolutely uniform as to Bo absolutely stable.
Once started, this process of differen
tiation tends necessarily to go on, the sur
rounding conditions being ever at work,
whether by aggregation or dissolution,
by joining like to like, or separating un
like from unlike, to sharpen and make
more definite existing differences.
This is in effect a generalised conception
of Darwin’s laws of the “ struggle for life
and “survival of the fittest.” J inally, however, the result of all these changes is that
an ultimate equilibrium will be reached,
which is rest in the inorganic and death
in the organic world ; as when the sun
with all its planets shall have parted
with all its heat, and all its energy shall
have run down to one uniform level.
From this state it can only be roused by
some fresh shock from without, dissipat
ing it again into a mass of diffused matter
and unbalanced motions.
Hence we come to the final statements
of the Spencerian philosophy, as given in
the words of its author
11 This rhythm of evolution and dissolu
tion, completing itself duringshortperiods
in small aggregates, and in the vast aggre
gates distributed through space com
pleting itself in periods which are im
measurable by human thought, is, so far
as W0 can. sec, universal and eternal, each
alternating phase of the process predo
minating, now in this region of space and
now in that, as local conditions determine.
All these phenomena, from their great
features even to their minutest details,
are necessary results of the persistence
of force under its forms of matter and
motion.
Given these as distributed
through space, and their quantities being
8?
unchangeable either by increase or de
crease, there inevitably result the con
tinuous redistributions distinguishable as
evolution and dissolution, as well as those
special traits above enumerated. That
which persists, unchanging in quantity,
but ever changing in form, under these
sensible appearances which the universe
presents to us, transcends human know
ledge and conception, is an unknown
and unknowable power,. which we are
obliged to recognise as without limit in
space and without beginning or end in
time.”
This is, in its highest form, the philo
sophy of Agnosticism. A very different
thing, be it observed, from Atheism, for
it distinctly recognises an underlying
power which, although “ unknown and
unknowable,” may be anything harmon
ising with the feelings and aspirations
in which all religious sentiment has its
origin, so long as it fulfils tne condition
of not, by too precise definition, coming
into collision with something which is
not “ unknown ” but “ known ” and irre
concilable with it.
For instance, there is nothing in Agnos
ticism to negative the possibility of a
future state of existence. Behind tae
veil there may be a-nything, and no
one can say that individual conscious
ness may not remain or be restored
after death, and that our condition may
not be in some way better or worse, ac
cording to the use we have made of the
opportunities of life. But if any one at
tempts to define this future state and say
we shall have spiritual bodies, live in
the skies, sing psalms, and wave palm
branches, we say at once, “This is partly
unknowable and partly known to be im
possible.”
.
That which has given the philosophy
of Spencer a wide influence is the manner
in which he applies it to the subjects
which more immediately concern the
mass of thinking minds, such as history,
politics, and the problems of social life.
What Darwin shows in animal life and
the origin of species, Spencer traces in
the rise and fall of empires, the growth
and decline of religions, the increasing
complexity of social relations, the con
flicting forces of evolution and dissolution
at work around us in our every-day life
in the relations of science and theology,
capital and. labour, state socialism and
lai&s.sz-faire. For instance, the decline of
�8»
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
the Roman Empire and its overthrow by homely proverb that “ charity begins at
the barbarians is analogous to the de home, and as we widen the sphere of
cay of a planet from loss of internal heat patriotism or philanthropy we are very
and its dissipation into matter capable of apt to diminish their intensity and find
fresh evolution, by the shock of a comet. them evaporate in a mist of high-sound
The ever-increasing gulf between wealth ing phrases. The “ friend of man ” is
and poverty, science and superstition, very apt to be the friend of no one man
resembles the process by which the one in particular, and to make universal
toed ho rsebecame gradually differentiated philanthropy an excuse for neglecting
more and more from the common five-toed individual charity.
type of its remote ancestor.
Apart, however, from this objection
These speculations of Spencer, pursued and granting that with increased inter
with vast acuteness and research through course and increased culture “Humanity”
all branches of social science, though they might become a more practical idea, we
have not founded a new religion or es
be.
tablished a new sect, have undoubtedly it the .basis of a a l°ng waY from making
new religion. It is here
exercised a great influence on modern that Comte has laid himself open to such
thought, especially among the rising criticism as that of Huxley, who defined
generation.
Positivism as “Catholicism without Chris
Another “ism” which, although it has tianity.” With the narrow systematising
exercised a much narrower influence than logic so characteristic of the French inthe philosophy of Spencer, has founded a tellect Comte has worked out a complete
sect.and put forward more definite claims scheme of ritual, hierarchy, and all the
to give the world a new religion is that apparatus of an old religion. A supreme
which is known as “Positivism,” or pontiff at its head, associated with a
“ Comtism,” from the.name of its founder, supreme priestess to represent the female
Auguste Comte. It is not easy to under element; for saints, the distinguished
stand, but its essence seems to be this :— men of philosophy, theology, art and
Admitting that science has killed theo science ; for days of worship, fete days of
logy, and that the old forms of super these saints, and meetings to commemo
natural religion, inevitable in the child rate their merits, and to observe certain
hood of the world, have become incredible,
sacraments.”
Comte cast about for some idea which
All this savours too much of the “ God
should be at the same time “ positive,” dess of Liberty,” and of the theo-philanor based on ascertained fact, and fervid thropy of the French Revolution, when
enough to satisfy the cravings of re the disciples of Rousseau cut off heads
ligious sentiment. He thought he found in the name of universal benevolence, to
it in “ Humanity ; ” that is, in love and find much acceptance in a sceptical age
veneration for the abstract idea of the and among, a practical people. Robuster
human race, taken collectively, and con intellects,, like George Eliot, even where
sidered in its past, present, and future they incline to accept Humanity as an
relations. As patriotism, a very ardent ennobling idea, and to recognise Comte
feeling, is the love of a limited section as an original thinker, reject all the con
of the human race; and as it has been structive and ceremonial part of his new
gradually enlarged from the limits of a religion as unworthy of notice; while
tribe to those of a city, and from those to the mass of thoughtful persons the
of a city to those of a country or nation whole thing appears unreal and para
ality, he conceived that it might be still doxical.
further enlarged so as to embrace all
One more “ ism ”—Pessimism, the
mankind. . So far it may be admitted gospel of feebleness and failure—has had
that there is a germ of truth in Comte’s a considerable effect on the Continent,
idea, and. that elevated minds may en though little in this country. It is based
large their view beyond the narrow on.the fact that, in accordance with the
bounds of a particular country at a par universal law of polarity, progress is not
ticular period, and may derive fresh an unmixed good, but develops a corre
incentives to action, and fresh sub sponding negative of failure. In simple
jects for ennobling thought, from a con forms of society the distinctions between
templation of the past progress, present wealth and poverty, capital and labour,
condition, and future possibilities of the culture and ignorance, are not so sharply
collective human race. But there is a defined, and the lot of those who fail in
�MODERN THOUGHT
the battle of life is not so hard as when
men are congregated in crowded cities,
exposed to temptations, and tantalised
by the sight of wealth and luxury before
their eyes and yet beyond their reach.
A mass of misery and discontent is thus
created, which in lower natures.translates
itself into anarchism and fanatical hatred
of all above them, while in higher ones it
takes the form of theories for the re
generation of the world by levelling
everything that exists, and .building
anew on fresh foundations. Still higher
minds see the futility of these theories,
and take refuge in a philosophy which
pronounces the world a mistake, life an
evil, and universal suicide the only possible
solution of what is radically bad. This
is, in substance, the philosophy of Scho
penhauer and the school of Continental
Pessimists. It has something in common
with Buddhism, which regards all personal
existence as a painful dream or illusion,
and places supreme happiness in escape
from it by annihilation of individuality.
To understand how such a doctrine can
have found acceptance, we must remem
ber that the tendency of modem civil
isation is to throw more and more work
on the brain and nervous system and less
on other organs. This of itself tends, to
produce more ill-health both of mind
and body, especially of those digestive
organs upon which the sensation of
health and well-being so mainly depends.
A dyspeptic man is of necessity an un
happy and desponding man. Moreover,
in ruder states of society such weaklings
were got rid of by the summary process
of being killed off, while with the more
humane and refined arrangements of
modern times they live on and “ weary
deaf heaven with their fruitless cries.”
It is among such men, with cultivated
intellects, sensitive nerves, and bad
digestion, that we find the prophets and
disciples of the gospel of Pessimism.
They feel, and feel truly,. that as far as
they are concerned life is an evil, the
pains of which far outweigh its pleasures,
and, having lost faith in a future life
where the balance will be redressed, they
see no remedy for the miseries of the
world but that of ceasing to be, or
annihilation.
This affords another illustration of the
extent to which religions and philoso
phies are, like the spectre of the Brocken,
reflections of our own selves on dissolving
mists, clothed with our own clothes and
89
repeating our own gestures.
To a
healthy man or to a strong man the
pessimist view of the universe is simply
impossible. If he has experienced, a fair
average of happiness and success in life,
he instinctively rejects a creed which
tells him that there are no lights as well
as shadows. If he has a mind of average
strength, he feels that suffering is a thing
to be avoided prudently, borne stoically,
or grappled with courageously, and not
to be run away from by moral or physical
suicide.
Accordingly Pessimism is not a creed
which is ever likely to exert much in
fluence on the strong, practical AngloSaxon race, and we can discern some
faint traces of it only in the tendency of
certain very limited cliques of so-called
fiEstheticism to admire morbid and selfconscious ideals, both in poetry and
painting.
.
It is a very curious and remarkable
fact, that while so many highly intellec
tual attempts have been made in vain in
modern times to found new sects and
religions, the only one which has had any
real success is that which is based on the
most gross and vulgar imposture—Mor
monism. Mormonism is a fact which,
without the vestige of a reasonable argu
ment to show for itself, originating in
the vulgar ravings and forgeries of a
vulgar Yankee, and violating the first
instincts of the family and of. society
by polygamy, still flourishes, in spite
of persecutions and prohibitions, llie
reason seems to be that, instead of being
a theory in the air or over the heads of
the masses, it is, with all its faults, a prac
tical system in contact with the actual
realities of life. Its success is mainly
owing to its being an organised system
of emigration, and a faith which places
its Paradise here on earth and not in the
skies. A poor ignorant labourer in Wales
or Norway, who becomes a convert to
Mormonism, is taken in hand at once,
forwarded to his destination, and when
he arrives there looked after and put in
a way of earning an honest livelihood and
probably becoming a landed proprietor.
The ideal set before him is not a very
high one, that of becoming a sober,
industrious, respectable, narrow-minded
citizen of the State of Utah, and a cre
ditable member of the community of
Latter Day Saints. But to a poor
labourer from the slums of Liverpool, to
lead such a life, in the pure mountain air
�90
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
in the valley of the Salt Lake, and see
his flocks and herds increasing and his
family growing up, without care for the
future, is indeed the realisation of an
earthly Paradise. The moral to draw
from this is, that the success of a religion,
under the conditions of modern society,
does not depend so much on its theory as
on the way in which it takes hold of the
practical problems of life and shows an
aptitude for grappling with them.
Another wide-spread modern delusion,
that of Spiritualism, is akin to Mormonism, as showing how little reason has to
do with the beliefs which are most readily
propagated among large classes of the
community.
Nothing but the most
morbid appetite for the supernatural,
combined with the most absolute ignor
ance of the laws of evidence, could induce
sane people to believe that, if a corner
of that mysterious and awful veil were
lifted which separates the living from
the dead, we shall discover what? —
spirits whose vocation it is to turn tables
and talk twaddle.
In vain, medium after medium is de
tected, and the machinery by which
ghosts are manufactured exposed in
police-courts ; in vain, the manifestations
of the so-called spirits are repeated by
professional conjurors like Maskelyne
and Cooke, who disclaim any assistance
from the unseen world. People are still
found to believe the unbelievable because
it gratifies their taste for the marvellous,
and enables them to fancy themselves
the favoured recipients of supernatural
communications.
The explanation that Spiritualism has
received a certain amount of acceptance
from men of a very different order, like
Crookes and Wallace, may be found in
the phenomena associated with it, such
as mesmerism and clairvoyance, which
have a certain basis of fact, and open up
interesting fields for scientific investi
gation. The working of the nervous
apparatus in certainabnormal conditions,
and the physical effects of imagination,
are subjects imperfectly understood, but
well deserving accurate inquiry.
Take, for instance, dreams, which
afford the first certain starting-point
towards a theory of visions and appari
tions. It is as certain that we dream as
that we sleep, and that in our sleeping
state we often live a sort of second life,
which is different from our ordinary
waking life. Dreams are made up of im
pressions which have been recorded by
the brain in its waking state, and which
are revived in new combinations and
imaginary scenes, when consciousness is
suspended. These impressions are thus
0-ten worked, up into a succession of
dreams so vivid as to be scarcely distin
guishable from reality. It happened to
mo, about th© middle period of my life,
to be sent, almost at a day’s notice, to
India, where for more than two years I
had a period of intensely hard work and
great responsibility, as Finance Minister,
this naturally leit a number of strong
impressions on my brain, which for
years afterwards kept reviving in a
series of connected dreams, in which I
fancied myself back in India. I had
thus a dream life as well as a real life of
Indian experiences, and the former was
so vivid that, if I were writing remini
scences, I should sometimes find it difficult to distinguish between the two.
This enables me to realise how dreams
may reaclily pass into visions. If I had
dozed oft" in an arm-chair after dinner,
and fallen into one of my Indian dreams,
I might have seen Lord Canning, who
had been dead for years, walk into the
room as distinctly as if he had been
present in person. In a less critical age,
and with a less sceptical turn of mind, I
might readily have been convinced that
I had seen his ghost.
There can be no doubt that, in this way,
dreams must often, in pre-scientific ages,
have originated a bona fide belief in
spirits. Herbert Spencer traces to this
cause the origin of all religious belief.
Perhaps this may be carrying it too far,
but doubtless it was one of the main
causes, especially of that portion of
religion which took the form of offerings
to the dead, and ancestor-worship.
But a still further step may be taken
from the ordinary dream to the waking
dream or vision. It is a well-established
fact that under peculiar and rare circum
stances. the brain may dream, that is,
revive impressions where there is no
corresponding reality, without losing its
consciousness. There was a celebrated
case of a Berlin bookseller in the last
century, who, having fallen into bad
health, lived formore than a year in the
company of ghosts—that is, he constantly
saw men and women, with every
appearance of being alive, enter the
�MODERN THOUGHT
room and come and go as. if they had
been ordinary visitors. Being a man of
a scientific turn of mind he never sup
posed that these were really ghosts, but
reasoned on them and recorded his ex
periences.
Instead of sending for a
priest and resorting to exorcisms, he
called in a physician and took a course of
medicine, with the result that after a
considerable time the ghostly visitors
gradually became dim and finally disappeared.
.
Numerous other cases are recorded m
which there is no doubt that visions have
been seen, especially under the influence
of religious excitement, and a large
number of so-called miraculous appear
ances and ghost stories are probably
owing to this cause rather than to con
scious imposture.
When we consider the enormous num
ber of dreams, and probably considerable
number of visions, which occur, instead
of being surprised at occasional coinci
dences, the wonder rather is that they
are not more frequent. If only one per
cent, of the 30,000,000 inhabitants of the
British Isles dream every night, that
would give 109,500,000 dreams per
annum, a large proportion of which are
made up of vivid impressions of actual
persons and events. It is impossible that
some of the combinations of these im
pressions should not form pictures which
are subsequently realised, and we. may
be sure that the successes only will be
noted, and the failures forgotten. It is
strange, therefore, that the researches of
the Psychical Society should not have
brought to light more instances of death
warnings and other remarkable coinci
dences. To take the vulgar instance of
horse-racing. A number of minds are
greatly exercised over the problem of
picking out winners, and doubtless a vast
number of dreams show colours flashing
past winning-posts, and numbers hoisted
on the telegraph board. And yet I re
member only two tolerably well-authenti
cated instances in the last half-century,
in which any one is said to have backed
a winner on the faith of a dream. . .The
only positive result of dreams and visions
is that they frequently occur under cir
cumstances where they are almost certain
to be mistaken, by unscientific persons
in unscientific ages, for actual super
natural appearances.
Another field of inquiry is opened out
91
by the effects which are undoubtedly
produced under certain abnormal con
ditions of the brain and nervous system,
as in epilepsy, somnambulism, and mes
merism.
In the simplest case, that of epilepsy,
the effect is mainly shown by a more
intense action of nerve-currents, causing
convulsive motions and an unnatural
increase of muscular strength and
rigidity, so that two strong men may be
scarcely able to hold one weak woman.
In somnambulism, the effects are more
complex. The reception of outward im
pressions seems to be limited, so that the
whole consciousness and vital energy are
concentrated on particular actions, which
are thus performed safely, while in the
ordinary waking state they would be im
possible. Thus a somnambulist walks
securely along a plank spanning an abyss,
because the impressions of surrounding
space do not reach the brain and confuse
it with a sense of danger. In this state
also past impressions photographed on
the brain, which in the ordinary waking
state are obscured by other impressions,
seem to come out occasionally .as in
dreams, enabling the somnambulist to
do and remember things which would
otherwise be beyond his faculties.
Mesmerism is closely akin to somnam
bulism. Apart from delusion and char
latanism the fact seems to be established
that it is possible, by artificial means,, to
induce a state resembling somnambulism
in persons of a peculiar nervous tempera
ment. As regards the means, the essen
tial point seems to be to throw the brain
into this abnormal state partly by keep
ing an unnatural strain on the attention,
and partly by acting on it through the
imagination. The experiments of Dr.
Braid showed that the mesmeric sleep
could be induced just as well by keeping
the eye strained on a black wafer stuck
on a white wall, as by the manipulations
of an operator. This experiment dis
poses of a great deal of mysterious non
sense about magnetic fluids, overpower
ing wills, and other supposed attributes
of professional mesmerisers, and reduces
the question to the plain matter-of-fact
level of the relations between the brain,
will, imagination, and nervous system,
which exist in natural and in artificial
somnambulism. These are undoubtedly
very curious, and open up a wide field for
physiological and mental research. As
�92
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
far as I have seen or read, they seem to
turn mainly on the reflex effects of an
excited imagination on other organs and
faculties. I do not believe that any one
could be mesmerised who was absolutely
ignorant of the subject and unconscious
that any one was operating. On the
other hand, any one who had frequently
been mesmerised would fall into the sleep1
if led to believe that an operator was1
at work when there was really not one.
And the peculiar effects shown in the
mesmeric state are attributable mainly,
to the imagination acting
with, morbid activity on the slightest
hint or suggestion of what is expected,
ihus the will disappears in the more
powerful suggestion of the imagination
that the patient has to obey the will of
the operator, or do certain things which
are. m the programme. I can readily
believe also that in this state the imagination can perform feats which would be
impossible to it in a natural state when
it is kept in check by other faculties, and
that a good deal of what is called clair
voyance may be explained by the way
in which the slightest hint from expresSi.?n’ involuntary muscular motion, or
otherwise, is taken advantage of as a
substitute for the ordinary modes of com
munication. Such a faculty may also
doubtless be cultivated by practice, and
thus explain many of the phenomena of
what are called spiritual communications
and thought-reading. But that imp ressions can be made on the brain, or that
one mind can communicate with another
without some physical medium between
object and subject, is unproved and
remains incredible.
CHAPTER VIII
MIRACLES
Origin of Belief in the Supernatural—Thunef in Miracles formerly Universal
—bt. Paul s Testimony—Now Incredible—
Christian Miracles—Apparent Miracles—
Real Miracles—Absurd Miracles—Worthy
Miracles—The Resurrection and Ascension
—.Nature of Evidence required—Inspiration
—Prophecy—Direct Evidence—St. Paul—
lhe Gospels—What is Known of Them—
® Synoptic Gospels—Resemblances and
th Terences—Their Origin—Papias—Gospel
of St. John—Evidence rests on Matthew,
Mark, and Luke—What each states—Com*
pared with one another and with St. John
— Hopelessly Contradictory—Miracle of
the Ascension-Silence of Mark-Probable
i» their
When men began to reason on the phenoplena of the world around them, it was
inevitable that they should begin bv
referring all striking occurrences to
supernatural causes. Just as they mea
sured space by feet and inches, and time
by days and years, they referred unusual
events to. personal agencies. They knew
by experience that certain effects were
produced by their own wills, muscular
energies, and .passions ; and when they
saw effects which seemed to be of a like
nature, they inferred that they must
have been produced by like causes.
lo take the familiar instance of
thunder. The first savage who thought
about it must have said : “The sound is
very like the roar with which I spring on
a wild beast or an enemy ; the flash of
lightning, is very like the flash of the
arrow or javelin with which I strike him :
the effect is often the same, that he is
killed. Surely there must be some one
m the clouds, very strong, very angry,
very able to do me harm, unless I can
propitiate him by prayers or offerings.”
But aiter long centuries, science steps in
An elderly gentleman at Philadelphia,
.Benjamin Franklin by name, sends up a
silk kite during a thunder-storm, and
behold . the lightning is drawn down
tiom the skies, tamed, and made to emit
harmless sparks, or to follow the course
of a conducting wire, at our will and
pleasure. There is no more room left for
the supernatural in. the fiercest tropical
-storm than there is in turning
the handle of an electrical machine, or
sending-in a tender to light the streets of
London by electricity. And the result
is absolutely certain. In the contest
between the natural and the super
natural, the latter has not only been re
pulsed but annihilated. The most ortho
dox believer in miracles, if his faith
were, brought to. the practical test of
.backing his opinions by his money,
would, rather insure a gin-palace or
gambling saloon protected by a light
ning-conductor than a chapel protected
by the prayers of a pious preacher.
�MIRACLES
This instance of thunder is a type of
the revolution of thought which has been
brought about by modern science in the
whole manner of viewing the phenomena
of the surrounding universe. Former
ages saw miracles everywhere, the age
in which we live sees them nowhere,
except possibly in the single instance of
the miracles recorded in the. Bible. In
the annals of grave Roman historians,
In every page locutus bos.
Not a Caesar or a Consul died, without
an ox speaking, or a flaming sword in the
skies predicting portents. If the moon
happened to pass between the sun and
the earth the dim eclipse
With fear of change perplexes monarchs.
If the winds blow it is because tEoIus
releases them from the cave ; if the rains
fall it is because Jupiter opens the win
dows of heaven, or Indra causes the
cloud-cows to drop their milk on the
parched earth. Perhaps no better proof
can be afforded of the universal belief
that miracles were considered matters of
every-day occurrence than is given by
the passage in St. Paul’s Epistle to the
Corinthians, in which he enumerates the
principal Christian gifts, and assigns, as
it were, their comparative order and the
number of marks that should be given
to each in a competitive examination.
The power of “ working miracles ”
comes low in the list. “.First apostles,
secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers,
after that miracles, then gifts of healings,
helps,
governments, ' diversities of
tongues.” And he goes on to say, in
words that come home to every heart in
all centuries, that all those things are
worthless as compared with that true
Christian charity which “suffereth long,
and is kind ; envieth not; vaunteth not
itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave
itself unseemly, seeketh not her own,, is
not easily provoked, thinketh.no evil;
rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in
the truth ; beareth all things, believeth
all things, hopeth all things, endureth all
things.”
This is in the true spirit of modern
thought, which, when the externals of
religion fail, strives to look below them
at its essence, and to retain wha,t is
eternally true and beautiful as the ideal
of a spiritual and the guide of a practi
cal life, while rejecting all the outward
apparatus of metaphysical creeds and
93
incredible miracles, which had only a
temporary value, and can no longer be
believed without shutting one’s eyes to
facts and becoming guilty of conscious
or unconscious insincerity.
But to return to miracles. Almost the
entire world of the supernatural fades
away of itself with an extension of our
knowledge of the laws of Nature, as surely
as the mists melt from the valley before the
rays of the morning sun. We have seen
how, throughout the wide domains of space,
time, and matter, law, uniform, universal,
and inexorable, reigns supreme; and there
is absolutely, no room for the interference
of any outside personal agency to sus
pend its operations. The last remnant
of supernaturalism, therefore, apart from
the Christian miracles which we shall
presently consider, has shrunk into that
doubtful and shady border-land of ghosts,
spiritualism and mesmerism, where vision
and fact, and partly real, partly imagin
ary, effects of abnormal nervous condi
tions, are mixed up in a nebulous haze
with a large dose of imposture and
credulity.
Even this region is being contracted
every day by every fresh revelation in a
police-court; in every fresh discovery, of
the laws which regulate the transmission
of nervous energy to and from the brain ;
and in the abnormal state which con
stitutes epilepsy and somnambulism, and
which enables an excited imagination to
produce physical effects, such as those
of drastic drugs on a patient who has
actually taken nothing but pills of harm
less paste.
.
.
The question of Christian miracles,
however, rests on a different and more
serious ground. They have been accepted
for ages as the foundation and proof of
a religion which has been for. nineteen
centuries that of the highest civilisation
and purest morality, and for this reason
alone they deserve the most reverent
treatment and the most careful con
sideration.
Of a large class of these miracles it
may be said that there is no reason to
doubt them, but none to consider them as
violations of law, or anything but . the
expression, in the language of the time,
qf natural effects and natural causes.
When a large class of maladies were
universally attributed to the agency of
evil spirits which had taken possession of
the patient’s body, it was inevitable that
�04
Modern science and modern thought
many cures would be effected, and that
these cures would be set down as the
casting-out of devils. In many cases also
a strong impulse communicated to the
brain may send a current along a nerve
which may temporarily, or even per
manently, restore motion to a paralysed
limb, or give fresh vitality to a paralysed
nerve. Thus, the lame may walk, the
dumb speak, and the blind see, with no
more occasion to invoke supernatural
agency than if the same effects had been
produced by a current of electricity from
a voltaic battery. There is no reason to
doubt that miracles of this sort have been
frequentlj wrought by saints and relics,
and that even at the present day they
may possibly be wrought at Lourdes and
other shrines of Catholic faith. Only at
the present day we scrutinise the evi
dence and count the failures, and admit
nothing to be supernatural which can be
explained as within a fair average result
of exceptional cases under the operation
of natural laws. In like manner we set
down all visions or apparitions as having
. no objective reality if they can be ex
plained by the known laws of dreams or
other vivid revivals of impressions, on the
brain of the person who perceives them.
There remains the class of really super
natural miracles, or miracles which could
by no possibility have occurred as they
are described, unless some outward agency
had suspended or reversed the laws of
Nature. As regards such miracles, a
knowledge of these laws enormously in
creases the difficulty in believing in them
as actual facts. Take for instance the
conversion of water into wine. When
nothing was known of the constitution
of water or of wine, except that they
were both fluids, it was comparatively
easy to accept the statement that such a
conversion really took place. But now
we know that water consists of oxygen
and hydrogen combined in a certain
simple proportion, and of these and
nothing else; while wine contains in
addition nitrogen, carbon, and other ele
ments combined in very complicated
proportions. If the water was not really
changed into wine, but only seemed to
be so, it was a mere juggling trick, such
as the Wizard of the North can show us
any day for a shilling. But if it was
really changed, something must have
been created out of nothing to supply
the elements which were not in the
original water and were not put into it
from without.
Again, those who have followed the
question of spontaneous generation, and
witnessed the failure of the ablest
chemists to produce the lowest forms of
protoplasmic life from inorganic ele
ments, will hardly believe that such a
highly organised form of life as a serpeilt
could have been really produced from a
wooden rod. And this, be it observed,
not only by Moses the prophet of God,
but by the jugglers who amused the
court of Pharaoh by their conjuring
tricks ; and for an object of no greater
moment than to persuade a king to allow
some of his subjects to emigrate, which
object, moreover, notwithstanding the
miracle, entirely failed, as the king
simply “hardened his heart” and per
sisted in his refusal.
But passing from this class of grotesque
and incredible miracles, let us examine
those which may be called worthy
miracles; that is, miracles disfigured by
no absurd details, and wrought for ob
jects of sufficient importance to justify
supernatural interference, if ever such
interference were to take place. At the
head of such miracles must undoubtedly
be placed those of the Kesurrection of
Jesus. The appearances to the Apostles,
and above all the bodily Ascension to
heaven in the presence of more than 500
witnesses, were a fitting termination to
the drama of his life and sufferings, and
afforded a conclusive test of the fact
which was the foundation-stone of the
new religion.
“If Christ be not risen, then is our
preaching vain,” says St. Paul; and he
proceeds to argue that the whole ques
tion of the reality of a future life hinges
on the fact that Christ really rose from
the dead. His theory is that death came
into the world by the sin of the first
man, Adam, and has been destroyed and
swallowed up in immortality by the
victory of the second man, Christ. This
theory has, from that day to this, been
the key-stone of Christian theology.
There can be no doubt, therefore, that
if any miracle is true this must be the
one, and, on the other hand, if this
miracle cannot be established by suffi
cient proof, it is idle to discuss the evi
dence for other miracles. In order to go
to the root of the matter therefore, it
is necessary to consider, in a calm and
�MIRACLES
judicial spirit, the evidence upon which
this-miracle of the Resurrection really
In the first place we must consider
what sort of evidence is required to prove
a miracle. Clearly it must be evidence
of the most cogent and unimpeachable
character, far more conclusive than would
be sufficient to establish, an ordinary
occurrence. The discoveries of modern
science have shown beyond the possi
bility of doubt that the miracles which
former ages fancied they saw around
them every day had no real existence,
and that, except possibly in the solitary
instance of the Christian miracles, there
has been no supernatural interference
with the laws of Nature throughout the
enormous ranges of space, time, and
matter. It may be going too far to say
with Hume that no amount of evidence
can prove a miracle, since it must always
remain more probable that human testi
mony should be false than that the laws
of Nature should have been violated.
But it is not going too far to say that
the evidence to establish such a viola
tion must be altogether overwhelming
and open to no other possible construc
tion.
Consider, now, the significance of the
statement that a dead man rose in the
body from the grave, ate, drank, and
held intercourse with . living persons.
There are some 1,500 millions of human
beings living in the world, and somewhat
more than three generations in each
century, that is, there are some 3,600
millions of deaths per century, and this
has been going on for some forty or fifty
centuries, or longer. It is certain, there
fore, that at least 150,000 millions of
deaths must have taken place, and a
large proportion of these under circum
stances involving the most heart-rending
separations, and the most intense longing
on the part of the dying to give, and of the
living to receive, some token of affection
from beyond the grave. And yet no such
. token has ever been given, and the veil
which separates the dead from the.living
has never been lifted, except possibly in
one case out of this 150,000,000,000. Surely
it must require very different evidence
to establish the reality of such an excep
tion, from that which would be sufficient
to prove the signature to a will or the
date of a battle.
But just when the new views opened
95
up by modem science made it more diffi
cult "to believe in miracles, and more
exacting in the demand for stronger evi
dence to support them, the old evidence
became greatly weakened. The main evi
dence which satisfied our forefathers was
that the Bible was inspired, and that it
asserted the reality of the miracles. This,
when critically examined, was really no
evidence at all, for how did we know that
the Bible was inspired ? Because it was
proved to be so by miracles. The argu
ment was therefore in a circle, and re
sembled that of the Hindoo mythology,
which rested the earth on an elephant
and the elephant on a tortoise. But what
did the tortoise rest on ?
To examine the matter more closely,
what is the meaning of inspiration ? It
means that a certain book was not
written, as all other books in the world
have been written, by writers who were
fallible, and whose statements and opi
nions, however admirable in the main
and made in perfect good faith, inevit
ably reflected the views of. the age in
which they lived and contained matters
which subsequent ages found to be
obsolete or erroneous, but that this
particular book was miraculously dic
tated by an infallible God, and there
fore absolutely and for all time true.
But, as a chain cannot be stronger than
its weakest link, if any one of these
statements was proved not to be true, the
theory of inspiration failed, and human
reason was called on to decide by the
ordinary methods, whether any, and if
any, what parts of the volume were
inspired and what uninspired.
Now it is absolutely certain that
portions of the Bible, and those import
ant portions relating to the creation of
the world and of man, are not true, and
therefore not inspired. It is certain that
the sun, moon, stars, and earth, were not
created as the author of Genesis supposed
them to have been created, and that the
first man, whose Paleolithic implements
are found in caves and river gravels of
immense antiquity, was a very different
being from the Adam who was created in
God’s likeness and placed in the Garden
of Eden. It is certain that no universal
deluge ever took place since man existed,
and that the animal life existing in the
world, and shown by fossil remains to
have existed for untold ages, could by no
possibility have originated from pairs of
�96
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
animals living together for forty days in
the ark.
Another test of inspiration is afforded
by the presence of contradictions. If
one writer says that certain events
occurred in Galilee, while another says
that they took place at Jerusalem, they
cannot both be inspired. They may be
both reminiscences of real events, but
they are obviously imperfect and not in
spired reminiscences, and require to be
tested by the same process of reasoning
as we should apply in endeavouring to
unravel the truth from the confused
and contradictory evidence of conflicting
historians.
Inspiration is clearly as much a miracle
as any of the miracles which it relates,
and there is only one way conceivable by
which it could be proved, so as to afford
a solid basis for faith and give addi
tional evidence in support of the super
natural occurrences said to have taken
place ; that would be if it carried with
it internal evidence of its truth. Such
evidence might be afforded in one
way, and in one only—by prophecy. If
any volume written many centuries ago
contained a clear, definite, and distinct
prophecy of future events, which the
writer could by no possibility have known
or conjectured, such a prophecy must
have been dictated, by some agency
different from anything known in the
ordinary course of nature; and future
ages, seeing the fulfilment of the pro
phecy, could scarcely doubt that the
volume which contained it was inspired.
But such a prophecy must be quite de
finite, so that there could be no doubt as
to whether it had been fulfilled or not,
and must not consist of vague and mystic
utterances, in which future believers
might find meanings, probably never
thought of by the /prophets themselves,
confirming the faith which, from other
considerations, they thought it a sin to
disbelieve. Nor must it consist of pas
sionate aspirations for deliverance, and
predictions of the downfall of cruel con
querors, wrung from the hearts of an
oppressed people in times of imminent
danger and crushing despair; because
such predictions have been partly veri
fied and partly transformed in future
ages, so as to receive a new and spiritual
significance.
There is one prophecy which affords a
test by which to judge of the value of all
others as a proof of inspiration, for it is
perfectly distinct and definite, and comes
from the highest authority—that of the
approaching end of the world contained
in the New Testament.
St. Matthew reports Jesus to have said :
“ For the Son of man shall come in the
glory of his Father with his angels ; and
then he shall reward every man according
to his works.
“Verily I say unto you, There be some
standing here, which shall not taste of
death, till they seethe Son of man coming
in his kingdom.”
It is certain that all standing there did
taste death without seeing the Son of
Man coming with his angels. The con
clusion is irresistible, that either Jesus
was mistaken in speaking these words,
or else Matthew was mistaken in sup
posing that he spoke them.
St. Paul predicts the same event in
still more definite terms. He says :
“For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are
alive and remain unto the coming of the
Lord shall not prevent them which are
asleep.
“For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice
of the archangel, and with the trump of
God : and the dead in Christ shall rise
first:
“Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them
in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the
air.”
Here is the most distinct prediction
possible, both of the event which was to
happen, and of the limit of time within
which it. was to take place; and, to give
it additional force, it is specially de
clared to be an inspired prophecy uttered
as “ the word of God.”
The time is distinctly stated to be in
the lifetime, of some of the existing
generation, including Paul himself, who
is to be one of the “ we which are alive,”
who are not to “ prevent,” or gain any
precedence over, those who have “ fallen
asleep,” or died, in the interval before
Christ’s coming. By no possibility can
this be construed to mean a coming at
some indefinite future time, long after all
those had died who were to remain and
be caught up alive into the clouds. St.
Paul doubtless meant what he said, and
firmly believed that he was uttering an
inspired prophecy which would certainly
�MIRACLES
be fulfilled. But it is certain that it was
not fulfilled. Paul and all Paul’s con
temporaries have been dead. for 1,800
years, and the shout, the voice of the
archangel, and the trump .of God, have
never been heard. What is this but an
absolutely irresistible demonstration that
prophecy not only fails to prove inspira
tion, but, on the contrary, by its failure
disproves it, and shows that St. Matthew
and St. Paul were as liable to make mis
takes as any of the hundreds of religious
writers who, in later times, have prophe
sied the approaching end of the world or
advent of the millennium.
Turning to the evidence for miracles,
this must be taken on its own merits,
without aid from any preconceived theory
that it is sinful to scrutinise it because
the books in which it is contained are
inspired. Applying to it impartially the
ordinary rules of evidence, let us see
what it amounts to for that which is
really the test case of all other miracles,
that of the Resurrection.
The witnesses are St. Paul and the
authors of the four Gospels according to
St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, and St.
John. Of these, St. Paul is in some
respects the best. When a witness is
called into court to give evidence, the
first question asked is, “Who are you?
Give your name and description.’' St.
Paul alone gives a clear answer to this
question. There is no doubt that he was
an historical personage, who lived at
the time and in the manner described in
the Acts of the Apostles, and that the
Epistle to the Corinthians is a genuine
letter written by him. In this Epistle
he says :
“For I delivered unto you first of all
that which I also received, how that
Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures ;
“ And that he was buried, and that he
rose again the third day according to the
scriptures :
“ And that he was seen of Cephas, then
of the twelve :
“ After that, he was seen of above five
hundred brethren at once ; of whom the
greater part remain unto this present, but
some are fallen asleep.
“After that, he was seen of James ;
then of all the apostles.
“ And last of all he was seen of me also,
as of one born out of due time.”
This is undoubtedly very distinct
97
evidence that the appearances described
by St. Paul were currently believed in
the circle of early Christians at Jerusalem
within twenty years of their alleged
occurrence.
This is strong testimony, but it is
weakened by several considerations. In
the first place, we know that Paul’s
frame of mind in regard to miracles was
such as to make it certain that he would
take them for granted, and not attempt
to examine critically the evidence on
which they were founded, and this was
doubtless the frame of mind of those
from whom he received the accounts.
Again, he places all the appearances on
the same footing as that to himself,
which was clearly of the nature of a
vision, or strong internal impression,
rather than of an objective reality.
Upon this vital point, whether the
appearances which led to the belief in
Christ’s resurrection were subjective or
objective—-that is, were visions or phy
sical realities—Paul’s testimony therefore
favours the former view, which is quite
consistent with the laws of Nature and
with experience in other cases.
And finally, St. Paul’s account of the
appearances is altogether different from
those of the other witnesses, viz., the four
Evangelists.
When we come to consider the testi
mony of the four Gospels we are con
fronted by a first difficulty : Who and
what are the witnesses ? What is really
known of them is this : Until the middle
of the second century they are never
quoted, and were apparently unknown.
Somewhere about 150 A.D., for the exact
date is hotly disputed, we find the first
quotations from them, and from that
time forwards the quotations become
more frequent and their authority in*
creases, until finally they superseded all
the other narratives current in the early
Church, such as the “Gospel of the
Hebrews,” and the “ Pastor ” of Hermas,
and are embodied in the New Testament
canon. From the earliest time where
there is any distinct recognition of them,
they appear to have been attributed to
the Evangelists whose names they bear,
viz., Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
When we look to internal evidence to
give us some further clue as to their
authorshipand date, we at oncemeet with
a great difficulty. The three Gospels of
SS. Matthew, Mark, and Luke, are called
H
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MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN INOUGHT
“Synoptic,” because they give what is
substantially the same narrative of the
same facts arranged in the same order,
and the same sayings and parables giving
the same view of the character and teach
ing of Jesus. In whole passages this
resemblance is not merely substantial
but literal, so that w’e cannot suppose it
to arise merely from following the same
oral tradition, and cannot doubt that the
authors must have copied verbatim either
from one another or from some common
manuscript. But then comes-in this per
plexing circumstance.. After passages
of almost literal identity we have state
ments which are inconsistent with those
of the other Gospels, and narratives
of important events which are either
altogether wanting or quite differently
described in them.
Thus, in the vital matter of the Resur
rection, Matthew says that the disciples
were especially commanded to “ go into
Galilee ; there shall you see him,” and
that they did go accordingly, and there
saw Jesus on a mountain where he had
appointed them to meet him ; while Luke
distinctly says that “he commanded
them that they should not depart from
Jerusalem,” and describes them as remain
ing there and witnessing a number of
appearances, including the crowning
miracle of the Ascension (the same,
doubtless, as that which St. Paul describes
as having taken place in the presence of
more than 500 witnesses), of which Mat
thew, Mark, and John apparently know
nothing. And yet the final injunction
of Jesus to preach the gospel in his name
to all nations is given in almost the same
words in Matthew, Mark, and Luke,
showing that they must have had before
them some common tradition describing
the course of events after the Crucifixion.
So in minor matters, Mark mentions
the cure of one blind man, Bartimseus,
who sat by the roadside begging; in
Matthew there are two blind men, and
yet the dialogue that passed—“ What will
ye that I shall do unto you?” “Lord,
that our eyes may be opened ”—is almost
word for word the same. It would seem
that if they did copy from an original
manuscript, they felt themselves free to
take any liberties with it they liked, in
the way of omission and alteration.
The only light thrown on this per
plexing question of the origin of the
Gospels Is that afforded by the celebrated
passage from Papias quoted by Eusebius.
Papias was Bishop of Hieropolis, in Asia
Minor, and suffered martyrdom, when an
aged man, about the year 164. He was
therefore brought-up in personal con
tact, not with the Apostles themselves,
but with those who, like Polycarp and
others, had been their immediate dis
ciples, and had known and conversed
with them. In the passage quoted he
states his preference for oral tradition
over written documents, and his reasons
for it. He says : “ If I found some one
who had followed the first presbyters, I
asked him what he had heard from them :
what said Andrew or Peter, or Philip,
Thomas, James, John, or Matthew ; and
what said Andrew and John the Presbyter,
who were also disciples of the Lord; for
I thought I could not derive as much
advantage from books as from the living
and abiding oral tradition.” And he goes
on to give his reasons for not attaching
more weight to the two written sources
of information which were evidently best
known and looked upon as of most
authority in his time, viz., the Gospels
according to St. Matthew and St, Mark.
He says that Matthew wrote down in
Hebrew the Logia, or principal sayings
and discourses of the Lord, “ which every
one translated as he best could,” evidently
implying that these numerous trans
lations were, in his opinion, loose, in
accurate, and unreliable. As regards
Mark, he says that “ Mark, who had not
known the Lord personally, and had
never heard Him, followed Peter later as
his interpreter ; and when Peter, in the
course of his teaching, mentioned any of
the doings or sayings of Christ, took care
to note them down exactly, but without
any order, and without making a con
tinuous narrative of the discourses of the
Lord, which did not enter into the inten
tion of the Apostle. Thus Mark let
nothing pass, jotting down a certain
number of facts as Peter mentioned them,
but having no other care than to omit
nothing of what he heard, and to change
nothing in it.”
This testimony of Papias is very valu
able and very instructive. In the first
place, it seems conclusive that the Gospel
of St. John was not known to him, and
not received in the early Christian
Churches of Asia Minor as a work of
authority. Had it been so received,
Papias must have known of it, brought
�MIRACLES
up as he was at the feet of men who had
been John’s disciples, and bishop of a
Church closely connected with those of
which, if there is any faith in tradition,
John had been the patriarch and principal
founder. And if he had known of such
a written Gospel as that of St. John, and
believed it to have been really written
by the “ beloved disciple ; ” the Apostle
second only, if second, to St. Peter; it is
inconceivable that he should nave ex
pressed such an unqualified preference
for oral tradition, and made such an
almost contemptuous reference to written
documents. He must have said: “lor,
with the exception of the Gospel of the
blessed John, I found that little was to be
got from books?'
It seems clear, therefore, that although
the Gospel of St. John may contain
genuine reminiscences of an early date,
and possibly some which really came
from the Apostle himself, the work in its
present form could not have been written
by him, and must have been compiled at
such a late date as to have been unknown
in the Christian Churches of the East in
the time of Papias.
The same remark applies to the
Gospel of St. Luke, of which Papias has
equally no knowledge, and which, from
internal evidence, appears to be a later
edition of the two earlier Gospels, or of
the original manuscripts from which they
were taken, altered in places to meet
objections of a later date, as where the
injunction to “go into Galilee; there
shall ye see him,” is changed into “as he
spake unto you when he was yet in
Galilee,” obviously to reconcile the state
ment with the subsequent belief that the
Ascension took place at Jerusalem.
There remain the two original Gospels
according to St. Matthew and St. Mark.
Volumes of erudition have been written
to try and reconcile them with one
another, and with the other two Gospels,
and to explain the extraordinary resem
blances and no less extraordinary differ
ences. Translations have been heaped on
translations, and successive editions and
revisions piled on one another until the
edifice toppled over by its own weight, but
after all, we have nothing better to rely on
than the statement of Papias, which there
is no reason to mistrust. The basis of the
three Synoptic Gospels was probably a
collection of facts and anecdotes written
down in Greek by Mark, and of discourses
99
wi-itten in Hebrew by Matthew. These
have been worked up subsequently, at
unknown dates, and by unknown authors,
aided possibly by oral traditions, into
connected narratives or biographies of
the life and teachings of the Founder of
the religion.
Possibly, though by no means certainly,
we have in the present Gospel according
to St. Matthew the nearest approach to
the original Logia or doctrinal discourses,
and in the present Mark the nearest
approach to the original notes recorded
by Mark from the dictation of St. Peter.
As regards the Gospel according to St.
John, it appears perfectly clear, both
from the silence of Papias, the absence
of any reference to it by other early
Christian Fathers until the end of the
second century, and still more from
internal evidence, that it could not
possibly have been, written by the
Apostle whose name it bears. John, as
we know from St. Paul’s Epistles, was
one of the pillars of the Christian Church
of Jerusalem, whose doctrine was in all
respects Hebraic, and who opposed the
larger idea that a man could be a
Christian without first becoming a Jew.
The writer of the Gospel is not only
ignorant of matters which must have
been well known to every Jew, but he is
positively prejudiced against Judaism,
and represents it in an unfavourable
light. His narrative of the events of the
life of Jesus, including the miracles, is
totally different from that of the Synop
tics, and his view of his character and
report of his speeches wide as the poles
asunder. To the Synoptics Jesus is the
man-Messiah foretold by the prophets ; to
the author of John he is the “Logos,”
the incarnation of a metaphysical attri
bute of the Deity.
The terse and simple clearness of his
sayings recorded by the first, is exchanged
in the latter for an involved and cumbrous
phraseology reminding one of a Papal
Encyclical. The amiablity and “sweet
reasonableness” of the Jesus of the
Synoptics, have become acrimonious un
reasonableness and egotistical self-glori
fication in many of the long harangues
which are introduced on the most
unlikely occasions in the fourth Gospel.
It is evident, therefore, that this
Gospel can afford no aid towards a
critical examination of contemporary
I evidence, and that for this we must look
1
H 2
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MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
almost entirely to such remains of early
records as are preserved in the Gospels of
St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke.
With these data, how does the evidence
stand as regards the miracle of the
Resurrection which is the test case of all
alleged miracles ?
It is important to observe that the
oldest manuscripts of the Gospel of St.
Mark stop at the Sth verse of the last
chapter, and that the subsequent verses,
9—20, have every appearance of being
a later addition made to reconcile this
Gospel better with the prevailing belief
and with the other Gospels. Comment
ators discover a difference in the style
and language, and the appearances of
Jesus after his resurrection are described
in vague and general language, very
different from the distinct details given
of them in the other Gospels, and in
consistent with the formal statement
twice repeated in the genuine Mark
that they were to take place in Galilee.
Moreover, if these verses were really in
the original Gospel, it is inconceivable
how they should have dropped-out in
the oldest manuscripts, while it is per
fectly conceivable how they should have
been added at a later period, when the
Fathers of the Church began to occupy
themselves with the task of harmonising
the different Gospels.
But if the genuine Mark really termin
ated with the Sth verse, not only is there
no confirmation of the four miraculous
appearances, including the Ascension,
recorded by St. Paul as being currently
believed by the early Christians within
twenty years, of their occurrence, but
there is positively no mention of any ap
pearance at all. A young man, clothed
in white, tells three women who went
to the tomb that Jesus is risen, and that
they were to tell his disciples and Peter
that they would see him in Galilee; an
injunction which was not carried out, for
the women “were afraid, neither said they
anything to any man.”
in St. Matthew the young man has be
come an angel, and as the women return
from the tomb Jesus met them and said,
“All hail,” repeating the injunction to
tell the disciples to go into Galilee, where
the eleven accordingly went into a moun
tain where Jesus had appointed them,
and “when they saw him they worshipped
him : but some doubted.” This is the
whole of Matthew's testimony.
St. Luke, again, in his Gospel and Acts,
amplifies the miraculous appearances
almost up to the extent described by
St. Paul, though with considerable dif
ferences both of addition and omission.
The three women become a number of
women ; the one angel or young man
in shining clothes, two; the appearance
to the women disappears; Peter is
mentioned as running to the sepulchre
but departing without seeing anything
special except that the body had been
removed; the first appearance recorded
is that to the two disciples walking
from Emmaus, who knew him not until
their eyes were opened by the breaking
of bread, when he vanished; the next
appearance is to the eleven sitting at
meat with closed doors; and finally
there is the crowning miracle of the
Ascension, stated somewhat vaguely in
the Gospel, but with more detail in the
Acts, describing how he was taken up
to heaven and received in a cloud, in
the sight of numerous witnesses. This
is probably the same miracle as that
mentioned by St. Paul as having occurred
in the presence of “ more than five hun
dred brethren at once, of whom the
greater part remain alive unto this
present; ” though he mentions two sub
sequent appearances—one to James and
a second to all the Apostles—of which
no trace is found in any other canonical
narative. . It is to be noted that all St.
Luke’s miracles are expressly stated to
have occurred at Jerusalem, where Jesus
had commanded his disciples to remain,
and are, therefore, in direct contradic
tion with the statements of Matthew
and Mark, that whatever occurred was
in Galilee, where the disciples were ex
pressly enjoined to go.
When we come to St. John, we find
the first part of the narrative of the
other . Gospels repeated with several
variations and a great many additional
details. Mary Magdalene is alone, and
finds the stone removed from the sepul
chre. She tells Peter and John, who
run together to the tomb • John outruns
Peter, but Peter first enters and sees the
napkin and linen grave-clothes, but
nothing miraculous, and they return to
their homes. Mary remains weeping and
sees, first two angels, and then Jesus him
self, whom she at first does not recognise,
and mistakes for the gardener. The walk
to Emmaus is not mentioned, and the
�MIRACLES
next appearance is to the disciples sitting
with closed doors. Another takes place
after eight days, for the purpose of con
vincing Thomas of the reality of the
resurrection in the actual body, and here
apparently the narrative closes with the
appropriate ending, “That these things
are written that ye may believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of. God ; and
that believing ye might have life through
his name.” But a supplementary chapter
is added, describing a miraculous draught
of fishes and appearance to Peter, John,
and five other disciples at the Sea of
Tiberias in Galilee, in which the com
mand is given to Peter to “Feed my
sheep,” and an explanation is introduced
of what was doubtless a sore perplexity
to the early Christian world, the death
of St. John before the coming of the
Messiah.
These are the depositions of the five
witnesses, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John,
and Paul, in which the verdict “ proven”
or “ not proven ” must rest in regard to
the issue “miracle” or “no miracle.”
The mere statement of them is enough
to show how insufficient they are . to
establish any ordinary fact, to say nothing
of a fact so entirely opposed to all ex
perience as the return to life of one who
had really died. Suppose it were a
question of proving the signature of a
will, what chance would a plaintiff have
of obtaining a verdict who produced
five witnesses, four of whom could give
no certain account of themselves, while
the fifth spoke only from hearsay, and
the details to which they deposed were
hopelessly inconsistent with one another
as regards time, place, and other par
ticulars ? The account of the Ascension
brings this contradiction into the most
glaring light. According to St. Luke and
St. Paul this miracle took place at Jeru
salem, in the presence of a large number,
St. Paul says over 500 persons, before
whose eyes Jesus was lifted-up in the
body into the clouds, and more than half,
or over 250 of these witnesses, remained
alive for at least twenty years afterwards
to testify to the fact. Consider what this
implies. Such an event occurring
publicly in the presence of 500 wit
nesses is not like an appearance to a
few chosen disciples in a room with
closed doors : m
have been the talk
of all Jerusalem.
The prophet who had shortly before
101
entered the city in triumphal procession
amidst the acclamations of the multi
tude, and who, a few days afterwards,
by some sudden revolution of popular
feeling, had become the object of mob
hatred ; who had been solemnly tried,
condemned, and executed; that this
prophet had been restored to life and
visibly translated in the body to
heaven in the presence of more than 500
witnesses, must inevitably have caused
an immense sensation. However prone
the age might be to believe in miracles,
such a miracle as this must have startled
every one. The most incredulous must
have been converted ; the High Priest
and Pharisees must, in self-defence, have
instituted a rigid inquiry ; the Proconsul
must have reported to Rome ; Josephus,
who, not many years afterwards, wrote
the annals of the Jews during this
period with considerable detail, must
have known of the occurrence and men
tioned it.
And above all, Matthew, Mark, and
John must have been aware of the oc
currence ; and in all probability, Mat
thew, John, and Peter, from whom Mark
derived his information, must have been
among the 500 eye-witnesses. How then
is it possible that, if the event really
occurred, they not only should not have'
mentioned it, but partly by their silence,
and partly by their statement that they
went into Galilee, have virtually contra
dicted it. The Ascension, if true, was a
capital fact, not only crowning and com
pleting the drama of Christ’s life which
they were narrating with its most tri
umphant and appropriate ending, but
confirming, in the strongest possible
manner, the doctrine for which they were
contending, that he was not an ordin
ary man or ordinary prophet, but th®
Messiah, the Son of God, who. had
redeemed the world from its original
curse and conquered sin and death,
One might as well suppose that any
one writing the life of Wellington
would omit the Battle of Waterloo as
that any one writing the life of Christ
would knowingly and wilfully omit all
mention of the Ascension. It must be
evident that whoever wrote the original
manuscripts from which the Gospels of
Matthew, Mark, and John were compiled,
must either never have heard of the
Ascension, or having heard of it did not
believe it to be true. This must algo
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MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
apply to the other miraculous appear
ances said to have occurred at Jerusalem.
How was it possible for writers who knew
of them to make no mention of them,
and virtually contradict them by assert
ing that they did not remain at Jeru
salem, but went to Galilee in obedience
to a command to that effect, and that
the final parting of Jesus from his dis
ciples took place there ?
The. most unaccountable fact is the
total silence of Mark, who was nearest
the fountain-head if he derived his infor
mation from St. Peter, as to these mira
culous appearances. If his Gospel ended
with verse 8 of chapter, xvi., as the oldest
manuscripts and the internal evidence
of the postscripts afterwards added
appear to prove, there is absolutely no
statement of a,ny such appearance at all.
Nothing is said but that three women
found the tomb empty and saw a young
man clothed in white, who told them
that Jesus had risen and gone into
Galilee. Now, if there is one fact more
certain than another about miraculous
legends, it is that as long as they have
any vitality at all, they increase and
multiply and do not dwindle and dimi
nish.. We have an excellent example of
this in the way in which a whole cycle of
miracles grew up in a short time about
the central fact of the martyrdom of St.
Thomas a Becket.
If, therefore, Matthew and Mark knew
nothing of the series of miracles, which
from St. Paul’s statement we must assume
to have been currently believed by the
early Christians twenty years after the
death of Christ, the only possible ex
planation is that their Gospels were com
piled from narratives which had been
written at a still earlier date, before these
miracles had been heard of.
We must suppose that Mark really
wrote down what he heard from Peter,
and that Peter, being a truthful man,
though he probably had a sincere general
belief that Christ had risen, declined to
state facts which he knew had never
occurred. This is in entire accordance
with what we find in the whole history
of ecclesiastical miracles, from those
recorded in Scripture down to those
of St. Francis of Assisi in the thirteenth
century, and of St. Francis Xavier in the
sixteenth. Innumerable as are the ac
counts of miracles said to have been
wrought by relics or by other holy per
sons, there is no instance of any state
ment by any credible person that he
had himself worked a real miracle. St.
Augustine describes in detail many won
derful miracles, including resurrections
from the dead, which he said had been
wrought to his own knowledge, within
his own diocese of Hippo, by the relics
of the martyr Stephen. In fact, he says
that the number of miracles thus wrought
within the last two years since these
relics had been at Hippo, was at least
seventy. This testimony is far more
precise than any for the Gospel miracles,
for it comes from a well-known man of
high , character, who was on the spot at
the time,, and speaks of these and many
other miracles having occurred to his
own knowledge. But he never asserts that
he himself had ever wrought a miracle.
In like manner Paulinus relates many
miracles of his master, St. Ambrose, in
cluding one of raising the dead ; but
Ambrose himself never asserts that he
performed a miracle. Neither does St.
Francis of Assisi, or any of the 25,000
saints of the Roman calendar to whom
miracles are attributed.
Even Jesus himself seems, on several
occasions, to have disclaimed the power
of working miracles, as when he refused
to comply with the perfectly reasonable
request of the Jews to attest his Messiahship by a sign, if he wished them to
believe in it.
There is every reason, therefore, to
believe that when we find narratives
making no mention of important miracles
which were afterwards commonly re
ceived, they must be taken from records
of an earlier date, and proceeding directly
from those who, if the miracles were true,
would have been the principal eye-wit
nesses to vouch for them. But, if this be
so, how near to the fountain head do
these narratives carry us 1 We lose the
miracles, but in compensation we get
what may be considered fresh and lively
narratives of the life and conversation
of . Jesus, and confirmation both of his
being an historical personage, and of the
many anecdotes and sayings which de
pict his character, and bring him before
us as he really lived, the mythical
theory cannot stand which found in every
saying and action an ex post facto attempt
to show that. he. fulfilled prophecies and
realised Messianic expectations. We can
see him walking through the fields on a
�MIRACLES
Sabbath afternoon with his disciples,
plucking ears of corn, and rebuking the
Pharisees for their puritanical adherence
to the letter of the observance of that
day : we can see him taking little
children in his arms, and talking fami
liarly at the well with the woman of
Samaria ; we can hear him preaching the
Sermon on the Mount, and dropping
parables from his mouth, like precious
pearls of instruction in love, charity, and
all Christian virtues. We can sympathise
with the agony in the garden as with a
real scene, and hear the despairing cry,
My God, my God, why hast thou for
saken me?”
...
...
It seems to me that faith m the reality
of scenes like these is worth a good deal
of faith in the metaphysical conundrums
of the Athanasian Creed, or in the actual
occurrence of incredible miracles.
Another argument in favour of the
early date and genuine character of the
primitive records which have been worked
up in the Synoptic Gospels, is afforded by
the sayings attributed to Jesus. It is
impossible to imagine that these could be
the invention of a later age, when theo
logical questions of faith and doctrine
had absorbed almost the entire attention
of the Christian world. We have already
seen how wide is the difference, both as
regards style and phase of thought, be
tween the discourses reported in the
fourth Gospel and those of the Synoptics.
No one writing in the second or towards
the end of the. first century, or even
earlier in the religious atmosphere of St.
Paul’s Epistles, could have composed the
Sermon on the Mount or the Lord s
Prayer. The parables and maxims, in
stead of teaching nothing but a pure and
sublime morality in simple language,
must have contained references to the
doctrine of the Logos, and the disputes
between the Jewish and the Gentile
Christians. Even if these discourses had
passed long through the fluctuating
medium of oral tradition, they must,
when finally reduced to writing, have
shown many traces of the theological
questions which agitated the Christian
world. The only explanation is that
Apostles like St. Matthew, and St. Peter
through Mark, really recorded these say
ings in writing while they were fresh in
memory, and that their authority secured
them from adulteration.
At the same time it must be borne m
103
mind that while portions of the original
narrative appear to carry us back very
near to the fountain-head, a large part
of the Gospels in their present form is
evidently of much later date and of un
certain origin. It is clear that Papias,
writing about the year 150, knew nothing
of the Gospels of Luke and John^ and
nothing of those of Matthew and Mark
in their present form. The discourses of
Matthew and the disconnected notes, of
Mark, to which he refers, were something
very different from the complete histories
of the life and teaching of Jesus con
tained in the present Gospels. It is
equally clear that Justin Martyr , and
Hegesippus, who wrote about the middle
of tiie second century, and made frequent
quotations of the sayings and doings of
the Lord, made them, not from the pre
sent canonical Gospels, but from. other
sources relating the same thing’s in dif
ferent order and different language. ‘ A
Gospel according to the Hebrews ” and
“ Memoirs of the Apostles ” seem to have
been the principal sources from which
they quoted.
.
It is evident however, that during the
first two centuries there were a great
number of so-called Gospels and Apos
tolic writings floating about in the
Christian world along with oral tradi
tions. The author of Luke tells us this
expressly, and later writers refer to a
number of works now unknown or classed
as apocrypha], and complain of forged
Gospels circulated by heretics. None of
these writings, however, seem to have
had any peculiar authority or been con
sidered as inspired Scripture, winch term
is exclusively confined to the Old Testa
ment, until the middle of the second
century.
At length, by a sort of law of the
survival of the fittest, the present.Gospels
acquired an increasing authority and
superseded the other works which had
competed, with them; but the selection
was determined to a great extent, not by
those principles of criticism which would
now be applied to historical records, but
by doctrinal considerations of the sup
port they gave to prevalent opinions. In
other words, orthodoxy and not authen
ticity was the test applied, and it is pro
bable that no Christian Father of the
second or third century would have hesi
tated to reject an early manuscript trace
able very clearly to an Apostle, in favour
�104
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
of a later compilation of doubtful origin,
if the former contained passages which
seemed to favour heretical views, while the
latter omitted those passages, or altered
them in a sense favourable to orthodoxy.
To sum up the matter, it appears that
apart from the fact that the antecedent
improbability of miracles has been enor
mously increased by the constant and
concurrent proofs of the permanence of
the laws of Nature, the evidence for
tnose recorded in the New Testament,
with which alone we are concerned is
rendered null and void by the discordant
reports of hearsay witnesses.
CHAPTER IX.
CHRISTIANITY WITHOUT MIRACLES
Practical and Theoretical Christianity—Ex
ample and Teaching of Christ—Christian
.
Moral Objections — Inconsistent
with Tacts—Must be accepted as Parables
- t ail and Redemption—Old Creeds must
be Transformed or Die—Mahometanism—
Decay of Faith—Balance of Advantages—
Religious Wars and Persecutions—Intoler
ance—Sacrifice—Prayer—Absence of Theo
logy hi Synoptic Gospels—Opposite Pole to
Christianity—Courage and Self-relianceBelief in God and a Future Life—Based
mainly on Christianity—Science gives no
Answer—Nor Metaphysics—So-called In
tuitions—Development of Idea of GodBest Proof afforded by Christianity—Evo
lution is Transforming it—Reconciliation
of Religion and Science.
their own proof with them, and such
parables as that of the Good Samaritan
require no support, either from historical
evidence or from supernatural signs to
come home to every heart whether in the
hrst or m the nineteenth century. The
tact that the son of a Jewish mechanic
Loin in a small town of an obscure pro
vince, without any special aid from posi
tion, education, or other outward circum
stance, succeeded, by the sheer force of
the purity and loveliness of his life and
teaching, m captivating all hearts and
founding a religion which for nineteen
centuries has been the main civilising
influence of the world and the faith of
its noblest men and noblest races : this
tact I say, is of itself so admirable and
wonderful as not to require the aid of
vulgar miracles and metaphysical puzzles
in order to be recognised as worthy of
the highest reverence. And when such a
lite was crowned by a death which re
mains the highest type of what is noblest
m man, self-sacrifice in the cause of truth
and for the good of others, we may well
call it divine, and not quarrel with any
language or any forms of worship which
tend to keep it in view and hold it up to
life W°rld aS an inducement to a higher
Miracles are not only unnecessary for
a faith of this description, but are a
positive hindrance to it. To put it at
the lowest, miracles, in an age which has
learned the laws of Nature, must always
be open to grave doubts, and thus throw
doubt on the reliability of the narratives
which are supposed to depend on them.
Can Christianity continue to exist with Moreover, the touching beauty and force
of example of the life of Jesus are almost
out miracles ?
. Io answer this question we must dis lost it he is evaporated into a sort of
supernatural being, totally unlike any
tinguish between practical and theoreti conceivable member of the human family
cal Christianity. The essence of practical
W e may strive to model our conduct at
Christianity consists in such a genuine
a humble distance on that of the man
acceptance of its moral teaching, and
love and reverence for the life and char Jesus, the carpenter’s son, whose father
and mother, brothers and
acter of its Founder, as may influence familiar figures in the streetssisters, were
of Nazareth
conduct, and be a guide and support
put hardly on that of a “Logos,” the
m life. Theoretical Christianity is that
metaphysical conception
which professes to teach a complete incarnation of aof the Deity, who existed
o. an attribute
theory of the creation of the world and
before all worlds and by whom all things
P.an’ °* khe relations between man and
were made.
his Creator, and of his position and
But, on the other hand, miracles are in
^e^-ny.la a future state of existence.
dispensable for the dogma, or theoretical
The former needs no miracles. The
side of Christian theology. Let us con
bermon on the Mount, and St. Paul’s
sider frankly what this dogma is, and
description of Christian charity? parry
now tar it is trite—that is, consistent or
�CHRISTIANITY WITHOUT MIRACLES
inconsistent with known and indisput
able facts.
The Christian dogma cannot be better
stated than in the words of St. Paul, who
was its first inventor, or, at any rate, the
first by whom it was elaborated into a
complete theory.
“For as in Adam all die, even so in
Christ shall all be made alive.”
This may be expanded into the follow
ing propositions :
1. That the Old Testament is miracu
lously inspired, and contains a literally
true account of the creation of the world
and of man.
2. That, in accordance with this ac
count, the material universe, earth, sun,
moon, and stars, and all living things on
the earth and in the seas, were created in
six days, after which God rested on the
seventh day.
3. That the first man, Adam, was
created in the image of God and after
His own likeness, and placed, with the
first woman, Eve, in the Garden of Eden,
where they lived for a time in a state of
innocence, and holding familiar converse
with God.
4. That by an act of disobedience they
fell from this high state, were banished
from the Garden, and sin and death were
inflicted as a penalty on them and their
descendants.
5. That after long ages, during which
mankind remained under this curse, God
sent His Son, who assumed human form,
and by His sacrifice on the cross appeased
God’s anger, removed the curse, and de
stroyed the last enemy, death, giving a
glorious resurrection and immortal life
to those who believed on Him.
This theory is a complete one, which
hangs together in all its parts, and of
which no link can be displaced without
affecting the others. It is the theory
which has been accepted by the Christian
world since its first promulgation ; and,
although expounded with metaphysical
refinements in the Athanasian Creed,
and set forth with all the gorgeous sur
roundings of poetical imagination in
Milton’s “ Paradise Lost,” it remains in
substance St. Paul’s theory, that “as in
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all
be made alive.’’
It is obvious that this theory is open to
grave objections on moral grounds. It
is more in the character of a jealous
Oriental despot than of a loving and
105
merciful Father, to inflict such a punish
ment on hundreds of millions of un
offending creatures for an act of dis
obedience on the part of a remote
ancestor. And it is still more incon
sistent with our modern ideas of justice
and humanity to require the vicarious
sacrifice of an only Son as the condition
of forgiving the offence and removing the
curse.
Nevertheless it must be admitted that,
notwithstanding these objections, and
harsh as the theory is, it has had a
wonderful attraction for many of the
highest intellects and noblest nations.
It was the creed of Luther, Cromwell,
and Milton; and the inspiring spirit, of
Scotch Presbyterianism and English
Puritanism. It has inspired great men
and great deeds, and although responsible
for a good deal of persecution and
fanaticism, it must always be spoken
of with respect, as a creed which has had
a powerful effect in raising men’s minds
from lower to higher things, and has on
the whole done good work in its time.
But the question of its continuance as
a creed which it is possible for sincere
men to believe, as literally and his
torically true, depends not on wishes and
feelings, nor on reverence for the past,
but on hard facts. Is it or is it not con
sistent with what are now known to be
the real truths respecting the constitu
tion of the universe and the origin of
life and of man ?
To state this question is to answer it.
There is hardly one of the facts shown in
the preceding chapters to be the un
doubted results of modern science which
does not shatter to pieces the whole
fabric. It is as certain as that two and
two make four that the world was not
created in the manner described in
Genesis ; that the sun, moon, and stars
are not lights placed in the firmament
or solid crystal vault of heaven to give
light upon the earth ; that animals were
not all created in one or two days, and
spread over the earth from a. common
centre in Armenia, after having been
shut up in pairs for forty days in an ark,
during a universal deluge. And finally,
that man is not descended from an. Adam
created quite recently in God’s image,
and who fell from a high state by an act
of disobedience, but from a long series of
Palaeolithic ancestors, extending back
certainly into the Glacial and probably
�106
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
into the Tertiary period, who have not
fallen but progressed, and by a slow and
painful process of evolution have gradu
ally developed intelligence, language,
arts, and civilisation, from the very
rudest and most animal-like beginnings.
Belief in inspiration, the very key
stone of the system, becomes impossible
when it is shown that the accounts given
of such important matters in the writings
professing to be inspired are manifestly
untrue ; and when the ordinary rules of
criticism are brought to bear upon these
writings it is at once seen that they
are compilations of different ages from
various and uncertain sources.
The improbability of miracles is enor
mously increased by the proof of
the uniform operation of natural law
throughout the vast domains of space,
time, matter, and life; and where the
supernatural was formerly considered to
be a matter of every-day occurrence, it
has vanished step by step, until only the
last vestige of it is left in a possible
belief in some of the more important
and impressive miracles of the Christian
dispensation. Even this faint belief is
manifestly founded more on reverence
for^ tradition, and love of the religion
which the miracles are supposed to sup
port, than on any dispassionate view of
the evidence on which they rest. Tried
by the ordinary rules of evidence, it is
apparent that it is contradictory and
uncertain, and not such as would be
sufficient to establish in a court of law
any ordinary fact, such as the execution
of a deed. It is apparent also that the
evidence for the most crucial and import
ant of all miracles, that of the Ascension,
is not nearly so precise and cogent as
that for. a number of early Christian
and mediaeval miracles which we reject
without hesitation.
What follows? Must we reject these
venerable traditions as old wives’ fables ?
I answer, No; but we can accept them
as parables.
A great deal of the best teaching of the
New Testament is conveyed in the form
of parables. Take for instance that of
Lazarus and Dives. No one supposes
that this.is an historical narrative ; that
this particular Jew, out of the millions
poor and good Jews who have lived
and died, was actually taken up into
Abraham’s bosom j and that the remark
able dialogue across the gulf is a literal
transcript of an actual conversation.
But the moral is taught for all time,
that it is bad for the rich to indulge in
selfish luxury and take no thought of the
mass of poverty and misery weltering
around them ; and that the condition of
the poorest of the poor, borne with piety
and resignation, may really be better
and higher than that of the selfish rich.
Apply the same principle to the dogma of
the.fall and redemption, and we may see
in it a parable of the highest meaning.
Every one of us must be conscious of
having fallen by yielding to temptation
and giving way to animal passions. We
may have fallen so low that without
some redemption, or friendly influence
from without, we cannot raise ourselves
from the lower level and regain our lost
place. We can see that there are thous
ands round us, who, from poverty or
other adverse circumstances, have got
immersed in evil conditions from which
it is hopeless to extricate themselves
without friendly aid. We can see also
that there is nothing more noble and
divine than to make sacrifices in order to
be the redeemer who saves as many souls
as. possible from this entanglement of
pvil, and gives them a chance of rising
into a happier and better life. We may
feel this, and use as an incentive to
attempt some- humble imitation of it,
the parable which presents it to us in its
highest aspect, and has been the efficient
means of stimulating so many good men
to do good works. This is surely better
than paltering with. the truth, and
enervating our conscience and intel
ligence by professing to believe in the
literal historical accuracy of things which
Note.—Since writing this chapter, I have
seen with much pleasure an article entitled
“ Christmas,” by Matthew Arnold, in a recent
number of the Contemporary Review, which
takes exactly the same view of the allegorical
or parabolic sense of miraculous narratives.
He takes the instance of the Immaculate
Conception and Birth of Jesus, and shows
that it was a myth which grew up, almost
inevitably, from the strong impression made
on the minds of early Christians by the idea
of purity set forth by the life and teaching of
Jesus, which stood in such striking contrast
with the corruption of the heathen world.
The same idea led to ,a similar myth in the
case of Gautama, the pure and self-sacrificing
founder of the Buddhist religion, and it
teaches an eternal truth to all who can look
below the letter to the spirit of the parable,
�CHRISTIANITY WITHOUT MIRACLES
have become incredible to all thinking
and educated minds. Of course, I do not
mean that these dogmas and miraculous
narratives were intended by the original
writers to be parables, but only that they
have become so to us .; and the alternative lies between rejecting them altogether or accepting them as having an
allegorical meaning or latent truth, or,
it may be added, as recording the state
of intelligence and knowledge of the age
which produced the stories.
.
At any rate, whether we like it or not,
this is what we shall have to do, for the
conclusions of science are irresistible,
and old forms of faith, however venerable
and however endeared by a thousand
associations, have no more chance m
a collision with science than George
Stephenson’s cow had if it stood on the
rails and tried to stop the progress of a
locomotive. It is not enough to say that
a thing is lovely and amiable, and that
its loss will leave a blank, to ensure its
continuance. The law of Nature is progress and not happiness. Stars, suns,
planets, human individuals, and human
races have their periods of youth,
maturity, and decay, and are continually
being transformed into new phases.
The old order changes, giving place to new,
And God fulfils Himself in many ways.
Childhood, with its innocence and
engaging ways, passes into the sterner
and more prosaic attributes of the grown
up man ; fancy decays as reason ripens ;
simple faith is replaced by larger know
ledge ; and the smooth brow of infancy
becomes often marred by wrinkles of
strife and suffering, impressed during the
more or less successful struggle in the
battle of life ; and yet we could not if we
would, and would not if we could, arrest
the progress of Nature, and say that the
child shall never grow into a man.
Such also is the fate of creeds. They
must be transformed or die ; and the
best test of the vitality and intrinsic
truth of a religion is just that capacity
for transformation against which theo
logians exclaim as sacrilege. In this
respect Christianity has a great ad
vantage over other religions. The pious
souls who are shocked at any denial of
the inspiration of Scripture may console
themselves by considering what has been
the fate of other religions which have been
107
imprisoned too closely within the limits
iof a sacred book. Mahometanism, the
<religion of one God and a succession of
iprophets or great men who have taught
]
his doctrines, is not in theory . incon
Jsistent with progress and civilisation.
►But Mahomet unfortunately, wrote a
book, the Koran, which, while, it con
I
tained much that to the Arab mind was
sublime and beautiful, was of necessity
f
}impregnated with the ideas of the age
he
of much
1in which and lived; an age imperfect
ignorance
superstition, of
isocial arrangements, and of barbarous
s
and ferocious manners. This book came
<
to be accepted as the inspired word of
1Allah, which it was impious to question,
to which nothing could be added, and
•from which nothing could be taken
away. Hence Mahometanism has be
come what we see it—a narrow and
1
fanatical creed, incompatible with pro
:gress and free thought, and stereotyping
•
institutions, such as polygamy and
slavery, which are fatal to any advance
>
towards a higher civilisation. From this
fate Christianity has been saved by the
fortunate circumstance that its. sacred
books are collections of a variety of
writings of different authors and dif
ferent ages, reflecting such various and
often conflicting phases of thought and
belief that of necessity their interpreta
tion was very elastic, and lent itself
readily to the changes required by the
spirit of successive periods and of dif
ferent nationalities. Wherever for a
time a system of infallibility was en
forced, as in Spain by the Inquisition,
Christianity became cruel, barbarous,
unprogressive, and really very little
better than the religion of Islam, to
which it closely approximated. Decay
of faith, therefore, in dogmatic Christi
anity is, like other great revolutions of
thought, a question, not of absolute gain
nor absolute loss, but of a balance between
conflicting advantagesand disadvantages.
The loss is evident enough, and is set
forth with much eloquence and force by
the few remaining champions, of ortho
doxy. The simple, undoubting faith,
which has been for ages the support and
consolation of a large portion ot mankind,
especially of the wTeak, the humble, and
the unlearned, who form an immense
majority, cannot disappear without a
painful wrench, and leaving, for a time,
a great blank behind. But, on the other
�108
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
hand, there are a great many real and
important advantages which have to be
set on the credit side of the account.
Intolerance is the shadow which dogs
the footsteps of faith, and in many cases
more than obscures its benefits. When
we. consider the mass of human misery
which has been occasioned by religious
wars and persecutions ; as in the ruth
less extirpation of the Albigenses ; the
slaughter of the saints
whose bones
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold ;
the Thirty Years’ War, which desolated
Germany and threw civilisation back for
a century ; the civil wars of France ; the
Spanish Inquisition; and a thousand
other instances of the baleful effects of
religious hatreds, we can almost sympa
thise with those who pronounce religion
an invention of priests for the promotion
of evil, and exclaim with the Roman
poet:
Religio tantum potuit suadere malorum.
Athanasian Creed less, but we practise
Christian charity more, in the present
than in any former age.
Another great advantage is that as
freer thought has been brought to bear on
the mysteries of religion, we have purged
off the grosser ideas, and arrived at much
more enlarged and spiritual conceptions,
lake, for instance, prayer and sacrifice.
In its crude form, sacrifice was a sort of
bargain struck with an unseen Power, by
which we noped to obtain some favour
which we greatly desired, in exchange
for giving up something which we
greatly valued. ■ This is the form in
which sacrifice appears in the Old
Testament, in Abraham’s offer to kill
his son Isaac, and in the record of the
Moabitish stone, how the king, when
besieged in his capital, sacrificed his son,
and by so doing obtained the favour of his
God and defeated his enemies. In an
other form, sacrifice was considered as a
propitiation to appease the anger of an
offended Deity, pictured as a sort of
Oriental despot, who must have some
one for a victim, and was not particular
who. it might be; and even in the
Christian dogma the merit of the sacrifice
is very closely analogous to that of the
Mayor of Calais who went out to King
Edward with a halter round his neck,
ready to be hanged, so that he might save
the lives of his fellow-citizens.
Nowadays, 'no one thinks of sacrifice
as anything but the sacrifice of lower
instincts, and passing temptations to a
higher ideal, and the voluntary re
nunciation of selfish ease and pleasure
for the good of others.
In like manner, the original idea of
! prayer was that, of obtaining a request
by flattery or importunity, just as a
courtier might do at the court of some
earthly king of kings or sultan. It is
now spiritualised into the conception
that its effect is entirely subjective ; that
it never really obtains any reversal of the
laws of Nature, but that it often exalts the
mind to a frame in which things otherwise
impossible become possible. A German
regiment marches to battle singing
Luther’s grand old hymn—
To this must be added the misery
caused by the belief in demonology and
witchcraft, and the tortures inflicted on
innumerable innocent victims by pre
judices inspired by a literal construction
of passages of the Old Testament. Nor
is it a small matter to have escaped from
the nightmare dreams which must have
oppressed so many minds, especially of
the young and imaginative, in an age
when such a book as Dante’s “Inferno”
could be written, and accepted as a gleam
of prophetic insight into the horrors of
the invisible world.
. Even in more recent and humane
times, intolerance remained as a general
mode of thought, inspiring hatred of
those whose form of belief differed from
that which was generally adopted. It is
only within the present generation that
true tolerance has come to be established
as the law of modern thought, and that
men have learned to live together and
love one another, without reference to
intellectual differences of creed and doc
trine. Surely this is a great advantage,
and.we are nearer to the true spirit of
Christianity than in the days when a
Em feste Burg ist unser Gott.
Birmingham mob sacked Priestley’s house
because he professed his belief in the Half the regiment may be freethinkers,
saying of Jesus, that “my Father is but it is nevertheless true that they are
greater than I.” We may read the more likely to stand firm and win the
�CHRISTIANITY WITHOUT MIRACLES
victory if they chant the hymn, than if
they march in silence.
taking all these things into account,
there is no reason to despair because the
irresistible progress of science has made us
Falter where we firmly trod,
and changed a great deal of what was
once fixed and certain faith into vague
aspirations and less definite, though
larger and more spiritual, conceptions.
There is next to no theology in the
Christianity of the Synoptic Gospels,
which give us by far the nearest and
most authentic record of what its
founder actually taught; and it may be
that in sloughing-off the mythical legends
®nd metaphysical dogmas which have
grown up around it, we shall be, . in
reality, not banishing the Christian
religion from the world, but making it
revert to its more simple and spiritual
ancestral type, in which form all that is
really valuable in its pure and elevated
morality may be incorporated more
readily with practical life, and assimi
lated without difficulty with the pro
gressive evolution of modern thought
and science.
At the same time we must bear in
mind that even Christianity in its purest
form does not escape from the universal
law of polarity, and presents, not the
whole truth, but only one very important
side of truth. It is the religion of love,
purity, gentleness, and charity ; im
portant virtues, but not all that con
stitute the perfection of men or nations.
In fact, if carried to the “falsehood of
Extremes,” its very virtues become vices.
It would not work in practice, if smitten
on one cheek to turn the other ; and any
one who attempted to follow literally the
precept of “taking no thought for the
morrow,” and trusting to be fed like the
sparrows, would, in modern society, come
dangerously near being what we call in
Scotland a “ne’er-do-weel,” that is to
say, a soft, molluscous sort of creature,
who is a burden on his friends, and ends
his days as a pensioner on charity or a
writer of begging letters. The foremost
men and foremost races of modern society
are precisely those who act on the opposite
principle, and do look ahead and steer
wisely and boldly amidst dangers and
difficulties for distant and definite ends.
In one of the old Norse sagas there is a
109
saying which has always impressed me
greatly. An aged warrior, when asked
what he thought of the new religion,
replied: “ I have heard a great deal of talk
of the old Odin and of the new Christ,
but whenever things have come to a real
pinch, I have always found that my
surest trust was in my own right arm
and good sword.”
This strong self-reliance and hardy
courage to do or to endure is, beyond all
doubt, the solid rock foundation upon
which the manly character of individuals
and of nations must be built up. The
softer virtues and graces which are to
refine and adorn, and convert the man
into the gentle man, or one of Nature’s
true gentlemen, come afterwards. But
without the harder gifts of courage and
self-help, a man is not a man, and the
raw material is not there out of which to
fashion a Gordon or Christian hero.
This may be called the Norse pole
as contrasted with the pole of Chris
tianity, and the perfect man is he who
can stand firmly between the two oppo
sites, controlling both while controlled
by neither.
While I have thought it right, however,
to call attention to this counter-pole to
Christianity, I should add that with the
strong, practical Teutonic races there is
not much danger of erring on the side of
too much weakness, humility, or asceti
cism, and therefore the influence of the
Christian religion makes mainly for good.
Modern civilisation has been formed, to
a great extent, by grafting the gentler
virtues of the Gospel on the robust
primitive stock of the barbarians who
overthrew Rome. It is the example and
teaching of Jesus, the son of the car
penter of Nazareth, which have been
mainly instrumental in diffusing ideas of
divine love, charity, and purity through
out the world, and humanising the iron
clad and iron-souled warriors, whose
trust was in their stout hearts and strong
right arms, and who knew no law but
The simple plan,
That he should take who has the power,
And he should keep who can.
In another respect it is most important
that the world should, as far and as long
as possible, hold on to Christianity and
struggle to save its essential spirit from
the shipwreck of its theology, and from
�110
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
the sheer impossibility of believing in been dissolved by death and no longer
the literal and historical truth of many exist. We know as little in the way of
of its dogmas.
accurate and demonstrable knowledge of
The highest and most consoling beliefs our condition after death as we do of our
of the human mind are to a great extent existence—if we had an existence—before
bound up with the Christian religion. birth.
If we ask ourselves frankly how much,
If we turn for an answer to these
apart from this religion, would remain of questions from science to metaphysics,
faith in a God and in a future state of we find ourselves in cloud-land. Mists
existence, the answer must be, very of fine phrases and plausible conjectures
little. Science traces everything back condense into philosophies, and dissolve?
to primeval atoms and germs, and there away again without leaving a vestige
it leaves us. How came these atoms and of positive knowledge. Take Descartes’
energies there, from which this wonderful famous fundamental axiom, “ Cogito,
universe of worlds has been evolved by ergo sum,”—I think, therefore I am. Is
inevitable laws ? What are they in their it really an axiom 1 Does it take us any
essence, and what do they mean ? The nearer to what thought really is, and
only answer is, it is unknowable. It is what is the true meaning of existence ?
“ behind the veil,” and may be anything. If the fact that I am conscious of think
Spirit may be matter, matter may be ing proves the fact that I exist, is the
spirit. We have no faculties by which converse true, that whatever does not
we can even form a conception, from any think does not exist ? Am I existent
discoveries of the telescope or microscope, or non-existent during the seven or
from any experiments in the laboratory, eight hours of dreamless sleep out of
or from any facts susceptible of real every twenty-four, when to a certainty
human knowledge, of what may be the I am not thinking? Does a child only
first cause underlying all these phe begin to exist when it begins to think ?
nomena.
If “Cogito, ergo sum,” is an intuition
In like manner we can already to a to which we can trust, why is not
great extent, and probably in a short “ Non cogito, ergo non sum,” an equally
time shall be able to the fullest extent, good foundation on which to build a
to trace the whole development of life system of philosophy, and spin out of
from the lowest to the highest; from the brain an ideal system of God, man,
protoplasm, through monera, infusoria, and the universe 1
mollusca, fish, reptile, and mammal, up i The so-called intuitions of metaphysics
to man—and the individual man from I seem really to amount to little more than
the microscopic egg, through the various translations into philosophical language
stages of its evolution up to birth, of our own earnest wishes and aspirachildhood, maturity, decline, and death. I tions. We shudder at the notion of anWe can trace also the development of the ! nihilation ; we revolt at the idea that all
human race through enormous periods of the high faculties of the mature and cultime, from the rudest beginnings up to tivated mind are to be extinguished by
its present level of civilisation, and show death ; we long for a future life, in. which
how arts, languages, morals, and religions we may again see beloved faces, and,
have been evolved gradually by natural pondering on these things, we have a
laws from primitive elements, many of strong impression that it must not and
which are common in their ultimate form cannot be, which presently takes the
to man and the animal creation.
form, in some minds of a philosophical
But here also science stops. Science turn, of what is called an intuition, on
can give no account of how these germs which they proceed to build up a demon
and nucleated cells, endowed with these stration of God and immortality.
marvellous capacities for evolution, came
But, again, what do they really know
into existence or got their intrinsic more than science has already told us?
powers. Nor can science enable us to The essence of all spiritual existence, as
form the remotest conception of what far as we know anything of it, is per
will become of life, consciousness, and sonal consciousness. This clearly depends
conscience, when the material conditions on, or is indissolubly associated with, a
with which they are always associated certain condition of a material organ—
while within human experience, have i the brain. With a less active condition
�CHRISTIANITY WITHOUT MIRACLES
of this organ, as in sleep, personal con
sciousness is suspended. In. the case of
a man recovered from drowning by arti
ficial means, it is gone, and the man is to
all intents and purposes dead for per
haps a quarter of an hour, and would
remain dead if warm blankets and arti
ficial respiration did not recall him. to
life. Where and what was he. during
this interval ? and, if his personal identity
and conscious existence were gone for
that quarter of an hour, why and when
did they return ? and, if the Humane
Society’s men had been less prompt,
would they ever have returned 1
These are questions to which no meta
physical system that I have ever seen
can return the semblance of an answer.
Again, how is it possible for philosophy
to lay down as an axiom that man has
an intuitive perception of a Deity, in the
face of the fact that whole races of savage
men have no such perception, and have
not got beyond rude fetichism and a vague
superstitious fear of ghosts and evil
spirits, while others, further advanced,
have made their own anthropomorphic
gods, obviously from reflections of their
own faculties and passions on the distant
mists of the unknown, like the spectres
of the Brocken ? We can trace the idea
of Deity, step by step, from early attempts
to explain phenomena of nature, astro
nomical, legendary, and linguistic myths,
and reverence for departed ancestors ana
heroes, up to the philosophical concep
tions of a Plato or a Marcus Aurelius.
In the same way we can trace, step by
step, the transformation of the tribal
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, into
the national God of Israel, who was
at first only better and stronger than the
gods of the surrounding nations, but
finally became the sole God of the uni
verse, degrading the other gods to the
category of dumb idols. So, also, we can
see the first crude anthropomorphic con
ceptions of this Deity gradually giving
way to purer and nobler ideas. The God
who required rest on the seventh day
becomes the Almighty one at whose word
all things were created. The jealous and
cruel God who withdrew His favour from
the chivalrous Saul, because he would
not hew his captives in pieces before the
Lord, is transformed into the God who
“loves mercy and not sacrifice.” The
God who found after His own heart the
man whose depraved mind could con
111
ceive such an act of foul villainy as David
practised towards Uriah, and who not
only condoned the crime, but rewarded
it by giving the succession to the son of
the adulterous intercourse with Bath
sheba, has become the God of holy love
and purity of the New Testament. At
which of these stages entered that, philo
sophical intuition of God which is said
to be an innate faculty of the human
mind, and the surest base of all our know
ledge of the universe? Where is the
inevitable intuitive perception of a per
sonal Deity in the minds of some of the
deepest thinkers and purest livers of the
present day, who, like Herbert Spencer,
can discern nothing behind the veil but
a great unspeakable and unknowable ?
After all, we must fall back on Chris
tianity for any grounds upon which to
trust, more or less faintly, in the “ larger
hope.” The Christian religion, apart from
auy question of miracles, is an existing
fact. It is a fact which for nineteen cen
turies has proved, on the whole, in accord
ance with other facts and with the deepest
feelings and highest aspirations of the
noblest men and women of the foremost
races in the progressive march of civili
sation. Why do we say that its moral
teachings, such as we find in the Sermon
on the Mount, and in St. Paul’s definition
of Christian charity, carry conviction
with them and prove themselves ? Be
cause they accord with, and. give the
best expression to, feelings which, in the
course of evolution of the human mind
from barbarism to civilisation, have be
come instinctive. We may be able to
trace their origin and development, we
may be able to see that they are not
primary instincts, implanted, at birth,
like those of the lower animals, but
secondary instincts, formed by the action
of a civilised environment on hereditary
aptitudes. Still, there they are, and being
what they are, and living in the age and
society in which we actually live, they
are inevitable and necessary instincts,
and it requires no train of reasoning or
laboured reflection to make us feel that
“ right is right,” and that it is better for
ourselves and others to act on such pre
cepts as those of “ loving our neighbours
as ourselves,” and “doing as we would
be done by,” rathei’ than to reverse these
rules and obey the selfish promptings of
animal nature Of the same order, though
less clear and cogent, are the teachings of
�112
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
the Gospel respecting God and immorta
lity. They are less clear and less cogent,
because the only evidence by which they
could be demonstrated from without, that
of miracles, has broken down and failed
us; and because we cannot verify them
experimentally by an appeal to facts, as
we can in regard to the working of moral
laws and precepts. But it still remains
that they are ideas which have arisen
inevitably in the course of the evolution
of the human mind ; and that they fit in
with and satisfy, in a way which no other
ideas can do, many of the best and deepest
feelings which have equally been deve
loped in that mind, in the course of its
progressive ascent from lower to higher
things.. It remains also true that science,
while it can add nothing to this proof,
takes nothing from it, and that while
it excludes miracles and supernatural
interference after the order of the uni
verse has been once established, it leads
us back step by step to a great Unknown,
in which, from the very fact that it is
unknown, everything is possible.
Further than this it is not possible to
carry the proof. If we are to believe at
all in a God, we must be content to believe
that He knows better than we do what
is right and consistent with the conditions
of our own existence and that of the
universe ; and that part of the scheme is
that at a certain stage of the develop
ment of our race we should have to
exchange the certainty , of simple and
limited faith for the fainter trust in a
larger hope. We may, perhaps, dimly
discern something analogous in the
progress of each individual from child
hood to manhood. He has to part with
many a «simple belief and unhesitating
trust, and climb the hill of life staggering
under many a burden of doubt and
difficulty; and yet it is better for him
to “set a stiff heart to a steep brae,”
and struggle upwards while life is in him
rather than to remain an innocent child
playing at its foot.
Anyhow, whether we like it or not, this
is. the fact we have to accept; but the
hill is steep, the burden heavy, and we
may well be grateful to anything which,
however vaguely, helps and cheers us
on the way. From this point of view,
the ideas of God and of a future life
taught by the Christian religion, ac
cepted by so many good men, and
hallowed by so many venerable traditions
and. sacred associations, should be
cherished, as far as it is possible to do
so without shutting our eyes to facts
and indulging in conscious insincerity.
For the same reason we shall do well
to be tender with the forms and creeds
2* religion, even when they appear
to be getting obsolete, and their strict
and literal interpretation becomes no
longer consistent with known truths.
It is far better, that the transformation
requisite to bring them into accordance
with the evolution of modern thought
caused by the discoveries of science,
should take place gradually and spon
taneously from within, ratherthanforcibly
and abruptly from without. Evolutionists
specially ought to trust to the healing
influences of time, and the inevitable
though gradual survival of that which
is. most in harmony with its existing en
vironment.
Already a great deal has been quietly
done in this direction. Intolerance and
fanaticism have almost disappeared from
cultured minds. Even in the ranks
of the. clergy themselves, many, in all
denominations, are devoting themselves
more and more to good works, and less
to theological disputes and sectarian
wranglings.
The metaphysical side of Christian
dogma is fast receding into the far
distance. The Athanasian Creed, which
once convulsed, empires and occupied a
foremost place in the thought of the age,
has become a mere form, read once or
twice a year by lukewarm preachers to
indifferent or scandalised audiences, who
would be only too glad to have a decent
excuse for dropping it out of sight alto
gether. Let any sincere Christian put to
himself candidly the question what part
the “Holy Ghost,” or the definition of
the. Logos,”really has in the living faith
which guides his actions, and he will be
astonished to find into what infinitesimal
proportions these once vital dogmas
have actually faded. It will be the same
with all dogmas which, in their literal
and historical interpretation, contradict
established facts. They will be either
forgotten, or, if they contain a kernel of
spiritual meaning, will be transformed
into truths taught by parables.
In the meantime, it behoves those who
see more clearly than others the absolute
certainty of the conclusions of science,
and the inevitably fatal results to
�PRACTICAL LIFE
Wigion of staking its existence on literal
interpretations which have become flatly
incredible, to do their best to assist the
■ransformation of the old dogmatic theo
logy into a new “ Christianity without
jtoiracles,” which shall retain the essential
spirit, the pure morality, the consoling
beliefs, and, as far as possible, the vener
able forms and sacred associations of the
old faith, while placing them in thorough
accordance with freedom of thought, and
with the whole body of other truths,
d&covered and to be discovered, respect
ing the universe and man.
CHAPTER X
PRACTICAL LIFE
Conscience—Right is Right—Self-reverence
—Courage—Respectability—Influence of
Press—Respect for Women—Self-respect of
Nations—Democracy and Imperialism—Self - knowledge—Conceit— Luck— Specula
tion—Money-making—Practical Aims of
Life—Self-control—Conflict of Reason and
Instinct—Temper—Manners—Good Habits
in Youth—Success in Practical Life—Edu
cation—Stoicism—Conclusion.
Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control,
These three alone lead life to sovereign power.
Yet not for power (power of herself
Would come uncalled for) but to live by law,
Acting the law we live by without fear ;
And, because right is right, to follow right
Were wisdom in the scorn of consequence.
Tennyson, (Enone.
In these lines, which he puts into the
mouth of the goddess of wisdom, Tenny
son, the.same poet who has already con
densed the essence of modern thought
in the lines already quoted from “In
Memoriam,” gives us what may be well
palled “ the Gospel of practical life.” It is
clearly our highest wisdom to follow right,
Hot from selfish calculation or hope of
reward, but because “ right is right ” ; in
other words, because we have a standard
pvithin us which tells us, in an unmis
takable voice, what to do and what to
refrain from doing. For practical pur
poses, it is comparatively unimportant
how this standard got there ; whether,
Recording to old creeds, by direct inspira
113
tion or, as modern science tells us, by
the slow evolution of primitive faculties,
and the accumulation through countless
generations of hereditary influences
tending towards the survival of the
fittest, both of individuals and of
societies, in the struggle for life. In either
case the standard is there, not as a vague
and theoretical, but as an absolute and
imperative, rule, and the difficulty is not
to discern it, but to act up to it.
It may be that it is to a great extent
the product of education, and depends on
the environment in which we are brought
up. It is pretty certain that if I had bees
kidnapped when a child by Comanche
Indians, I should have grown up with a
very different moral standard touching
the taking of scalps and the practice of
treacherous murder. But I have not
been so kidnapped, and having been
born and brought up in a civilised country
of the nineteenth century, it is inevitable
that outward influences combined with
inward capacities should give me a con
science, which tells me in clear enough
accents whether I am doing right or
wrong. And it is equally certain that by
acting in accordance with this conscience^
I shall, on the whole, be doing better for
myself and better for others than by
disregarding it. It is none too easy to
make our life even a tolerable approxi
mation towards doing right for the sake
of right, and it would be folly to
allow any theoretical considerations as
to the origin of the idea of right to be an
excuse for relaxing any of the constant
and strenuous effort which is requisite to
keep our feet from straying from the
straight path. It is much wiser to cast
around us for influences and inducements
to strengthen the inward law, and to en*
deavour by clear insight to .bring reason
to the aid of faith, and enable us to see
intelligently the main causes both of our
weakness and of our strength.
This is what the poet does for us in the
lines above quoted. Rightly considered,
“self-reverence, self-knowledge, and self
control ” are the three pillars which sup
port the edifice of a wise and well-ordered
practical life.
Self-reverence, in its widest meaning,
includes the faculty of forming some
ideal standard superior to the lower
nature of animal man, and recognising
in ourselves some power of approximat
ing to it. The higher the standard the
I
�114
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
nobler will be the man who cherishes it
and tries to attain to it, but it is by no
means a rare gift confined to a few select
natures. On the contrary, it is the com
monest and most universal incentive to
good conduct. Even in the rudest and
simplest form of admiration for physical
courage, it makes heroes of many a
common soldier and sailor. If poor
Tommy Atkins, fresh from the plough
tail, stands firm in the shattered squares
of Waterloo, or on the bloody ridge of
Inkermann, it is because he has been
brought up in the fixed idea that a Briton
must not run away from a Frenchman or
a Russian.
In civil life the idea of respectability,
though not a very elevated one and apt
to degenerate into narrowness, and that
which Carlyle and Arnold sneer at as
“ Gigmanity ” and “ Philistinism,” is yet
one of universal and, on the whole, bene
ficial influence. A large majority of the
middle and upper working classes lead
decorous lives very much because they
feel it incumbent on them to be “re
spectable ” in their own eyes and those
of their neighbours. In the case of one
half of the human race, the female half,
the feeling of self-respect and the desire
to be what is called respectable afford the
strongest and most constantly present
securities both for good morals and good
manners. The immense majority of
British women are modest maidens and
faithful wives, not so much from any
cold calculation of the balance of ad
vantages, or from fear of consequences,
as from an instinctive feeling that they
cannot be otherwise without losing caste
and forfeiting their own self-respect and
that of their neighbours.
From these common and universal
forms of “ self-reverence ” we rise, step
by step, to the higher ideals, which, in
every rank and every condition of life,
give us among gifted natures what may
De called the “salt of the earth,” and the
shining examples which guide the world
to higher things—noble men and noble
women. A Sidney, dying on the field of
Zutphen, hands over the cup of water
to a wounded soldier because his soul,
nourished on noble thoughts, and his
fancy, fed by the old ballads which, like
that of “ Chevy Chase,” stirred him like
a trumpet-blast, had led him to conceive
an ideal of a perfect knight which would
have been tarnished by any shade of a
selfish action. Gordon sacrifices his life
at Khartoum, not only cheerfully but
almost instinctively, because the sugges
tion that he might save himself by
abandoning those who had trusted in
him seems an absolute impossibility.
It is a great advantage of the present
day that education and the press bring
such instances of devoted heroism vividly
before millions who would never other
wise have heard of them. The influence
of the press, both in the way of books
and newspapers, is happily in this country
almost entirely one which makes for
good. There is not a noble act done
throughout the world, by high or low, by
private or officer, by soldier or civilian,
which is not held up for praise and
admiration ; while any signal instance of
cowardice or selfishness is held up to
contempt. Newspaper correspondence
and leading articles have, to a great ex
tent, superseded sermons, and do the prac
tical moral work of the world in asserting
the right and rebuking wickedness in
high places. In like manner all the
higher works of poetry, fiction, and
biography, have a good tendency, and are
read by an ever-increasing number of
readers. Enid and Elaine, Jeanie Deans,
Laura Pendennis, Lucy Roberts, are the
sort of models set before girls ; while
boys who have any heroic fibre in their
nature are fed with such lives as those
of Lawrence and Gordon. For all, but
especially for the young, there is no help
to self-improvement so great as to read
good, books in a generous spirit; and
nothing which dwarfs the mind so much
as to debauch it by frivolous reading, and
by the moral dram-drinking of sensational
rubbish, until it loses all natural and
healthy appetite for the pure and ele
vated. An affectation of narrow know
ingness is also a very fatal tendency in
the youthful mind. A man from whose
mouth such words as “rot’’and “hum
bug” are constantly heard is, in nine
cases out of ten, a very poor, rotten
creature himself.
Among the many advantages of selfrespect, not the least important is that it
teaches respect for others. The petty
jealousies and suspicions, the senseless
quarrels, theslanderings and backbitings,
which so often turn sour the wine of life,
disappear of themselves when a proper
standard of self-respect has been firmly
established, and a high ideal of human
�PRACTICAL LIFE
life has become part of our nature. As
Tennyson says:
Like simple noble natures credulous
Of what they wish for, good in friend or
foe;
while on the other hand • '
The long-necked geese of the world
Are always hissing dispraise, because their
natures are little.
There are some who delight in running
down everything and everybody, and
whose appetite for scandal is so great
that they are positively unable to re
frain from believing and spreading an
ill-natured tale, if it affects some emi
nent man, and still more if it affects
a well-known woman. Such are as
suredly not the sort of persons whom we
should like to resemble ourselves, or to
see our sons and daughters resemble. I
have always found through life, a safe
rule to go by was, if you hear an illnatured story of a man, discount ninetenths of it as a lie, and if of a woman,
don’t believe a word of it.
Perhaps the best test of the amount of
real “self-reverence” in an individual or
a nation, is to be found in the tone and
manner in which women are treated. A
low toneinvariablybespeaks a low nature,
and testifies to innate coarseness and
snobbishness, however high may be the
rank and polished the outward varnish
of the person who indulges in it. On the
other hand the roughest miner or back
woodsman is already more than half a
gentleman, if his attitude towards women
is one of chivalrous courtesy. Nothing
looks more hopeful for the future of the
human race than to see that the female
half of it are constant gainers by the
progress of freedom and education. It
goes a long way to reconcile one to the
dangers of democracy, to find that in the
newest and most democratic countries of
the world, such as the United States and
British colonies, women can travel alone
without fear of insult, and have far more
innocent liberty and freedom of thought
and action than they have in older
societies. Whatever may be the case as
regards men, for women there can be no
doubt that there is a progressive scale
upwards from East to West, from despot
ism to freedom, from Turkey to America.
What has been said of individuals is
115
even more true of nations. Self-respect
is the very essence of national life. A great
nation may suffer great disasters, and
survive them, if the spirit of its people
remains intact. England survived the
war of American independence, and
Prussia recovered from the defeat of Jena.
But if a nation loses its vigour and selfrespect, if it begins to groan under the
burdens of extended empire, and to pre
fer comfort to honour, ignoble ease to
noble effort, the hour of its decline has
sounded. Imperial Rome did not long
survive when she began to contract her
frontiers and buy off barbarians. The
most fatal thing any Government can do
for a country is to destroy its sense of
self-respect and teach it to acquiesce in
what is felt to be dishonourable.
Looking forward to the future of the
great British Empire, this is evidently a
turning-point of its destinies. The tri
umph of democracy is an inevitable fact;
for knowledge is power, and whether
for good or evil, the masses have either
acquired, or are fast acquiring know
ledge, and with equal political rights
numbers will tell. How will this demo
cracy of the future affect Imperial
interests, and what will be its attitude
in regal’d to foreign and colonial policy ?
On the one hand it may be hoped
that by making our institutions more
popular, and going down to the heart of
the masses, our policy will acquire fresh
energy and our public men fresh vigour.
The working classes are very patriotic,
and, on the whole, more open to the in
fluence of generous ideas than the class
immediately above them. In the recent
instance of the great civil war in the
United States, we have seen a democracy
making greater sacrifices of men and
moneyfor theideaof maintaining national
greatness, than was probably ever volun
tarily made by any monarchical or aristo
cratic country. The Copper-heads, who
preached peace where there was no
peace, and advised letting the erring
sisters go their way rather than spend
lives and money in the attempt to coerce
them, found no response from a nation
who felt that the union was their union,
and its greatness the separate personal
possession of each individual citizen.
But, on the other hand, demagogues
will never be wanting to flatter the
people, and angle for power by appeal
ing to their lower instincts and advoi 2
�116
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
eating measures of present ease and
popularity. If a necessity arises for
maintaining by the sword an empire
which has been won by the sword, the
army of parochial politicians who gauge
everything by the standard of pounds,
shillings, and pence, will be reinforced
by the far more respectable body of
sentimentalists and humanitarians, who
shrink from the shedding of blood in
wars the abstract justice of which is not
absolutely demonstrated. A large num
ber, perhaps a majority, of platform
orators will therefore be found now, as
it was in the days of Demosthenes, to de
nounce armaments, ridicule precautions,
minimise responsibilities, and look upon
India, the Colonies, and extended empire
generally, as troublesome encumbrances
rather than as glorious possessions. The
t wo conflicting ideals constantly set be
fore our future political rulers, the four
millions whose votes decide the fate of
policies and of ministries, will be, on the
one hand, that our first duty is to hand
down the British Empire to our sons no
less great and glorious than we received
it from pur fathers ; on the other, that
it is better to stay at home, mind our
own affairs, avoid entanglements, con
tract responsibilities, pass reform bills,
and reduce taxes, trusting to the “silver
streak ” and the chapter of accidents to
protect us from invasion. It is the old
story of the fable of Hercules, which pre
sents itself constantly to each individual
and to every nation. Shall we follow the
strait and narrow path which leads up
wards, or the broad and easy one which
leads, with a pleasant slope, to a lower
level 1 Would it have been better for'
Paris to give the golden apple to Minerva,
counselling “ self-reverence, self-know
ledge, self-control,” or to Venus, promising
pleasure ?
SELF-KNOWLEDGE
Oh wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us !
Burns.
A gift -which is unfortunately as rare
as it is necessary. Without self-know
ledge to see our faults how shall we
correct them ? How shall we become
wise if insensible to our follies ? How shall
we achieve success if we learn no lessons
from cur failures ? There are some men
so blinded by vanity that they go through
life committing ungentlemanly actions
while fancying themselves perfect gentle
men ; who are convinced that all men
admire them and all women are in love
with them, while in reality every one
sees through them and laughs at them.
A thoroughly impervious vanity is like
a waterproof, which throws off the
wholesome rain on the outside, while on
the inside it is soaked with unhealthy
exhalations.
Fortunately this type of vanity is not
a common one with our English race,
who are too proud and self-reliant to feel
the petty anxiety of the really vain man
to be always shining in the eyes of others.
With us it takes more the form of priding
ourselves on artificial distinctions, and
attaching an exaggerated importance to
matters of trivial importance. Your
commonplace English swell, for instance,
is apt to class all mankind under two
categories—those who associate with lords
and wear clothes of a fashionable cut,
and those who do not, and to set down all
the former as the “ right sort,” and all
the latter as “ brutes.”
It is a sign of narrowness to make a
fetich of these or any other arbitrary
distinctions between an upper ten and the
rest of mankind, and self-knowledge is
never more required than to show the
hollowness of adventitious advantages
which are not supported by intrinsic
merit. A true gentleman feels
The rank is but the guinea stamp,
The man’s the gowd for a’ that,
and feeling this, he holds out the hand of
hearty human sympathy to peasant as
well as to peer. If born to rank and
riches, self-knowledge tells him that he
is simply placed on a pedestal, where,
if he fails to act on the maxim that
“ noblesse oblige,” the failure will be the
more conspicuous. No man who really
knows himself can ever be conceited, for
he must be aware how far he has fallen
short in practice ofhisown idealstandard,
and how constantly “ he has done things
he ought not to have done, and left un
done things he ought to have done ”
On the other hand, there is an opposite
extreme from which self-knowledge will
save a man : that.of undue despondency
and want of proper confidence and selfreliance, There are men who fail ip
�PRACTICAL LIFE
everything they undertake because they
have not the heart to undertake it
resolutely, and who at last sink down into
the hopeless condition of querulous men
tal invalids, who cherish their ailments
rather than combat them, and are rather
proud than otherwise to be considered as
interesting victims of untoward circum
stances.
For all the relations of practical life the
one essential requisite of success is to see
things as they really are, and not as we
wish them to be ; and for this purpose
self-knowledge is the foundation of clear
insight. If the focus of the glass is
wrongly adjusted it will show only dis
torted images, but if a clear eye looks
through a properly focussed glass, out
ward objects will be truly represented.
Perhaps the commonest of all delusions
is that of being born under a lucky star.
A man gambles, bets, or speculates be
cause he thinks he is lucky and sure to
win. Now, there is in reality no such
thing as luck, it is all a question of
averages. The only approach to what
may be called luck is, that a fool will
probably have more of it than a wise
man, for as the fool foresees nothing,
whenever fortune’s die turns up in his
favour he sets it down to luck, while the
wise man, who has schemed and worked
for the event, calls it foresight. But the
actual average of events, which depend
entirely on chance, will be the same.
If a man plays at rouge et noir with
one chance in a hundred in favour of the
bank, it is certain that if he plays often
enough, he will lose his capital once at
least for every hundred times he plays.
Or, if he speculates on the Stock
Exchange, the turn of the market and
broker’s commission will, in the long run,
certainly swallow up his original capital.
And yet men will gamble and speculate,
because they cannot resist the pleasing
illusion that they are lucky, and that it
would be very nice to win a large stake
without having had to work for it.
There is nothing for which self-know
ledge is more indispensable in practical
life than to enable a man to steer a
straight course between opposite ex
tremes, and to discern clearly the boun
dary line between right and wrong. The
law of polarity, by which things good in
themselves if pushed to extremes become
bad, and every truth develops a corre
II?
sponding error, is of daily and universal
application in practical affairs.
Take, for instance, the much-debated
question of the pursuit of money. Poets
and novelists are never tired of denounc
ing the “ Auri sacra fames,” and there is
no doubt that, when carried to excess, it
is the fertile source of crime ; and even
in a less degree, it leads to meanness and
dishonesty, and has a degrading influence
on the individual or the nation who give
themselves up too exclusively to the
worship of the “almighty dollar.” But,
on the other hand, the desire, or rather
the necessity under the conditions of
civilised society, of making money, is by
far the most powerful and all-pervading
influence of practical life. And, within
due bounds and under proper conditions,
it is a healthy and beneficial influence.
At the lowest stage it obliges men to
work instead of being idle, and this is
an immense advantage both to the com
munity and to the individual. An idle
man, in every grade of society, is
generally a worthless and often a bad
man; while an honest working man,
whether the work be of the head or
hand, is far more likely to be happy
and respectable.
Again, the necessity of earning money
is a wonderful test of the real value of
a man in the world’s market. We should
be all very apt to become pretentious
wind-bags of conceit, if we were not
brought to our senses by the wholesome
douche of having to work for a livelihood.
Many a man who fancies himself intended
for a poet or politician, and some who by
accident of birth or fortune are pitchforked into prominent positions, would
find it difficult to point out any occupa
tion in which they are honestly worth a
couple of hundred a year.
Even in the higher departments of art
and literature, it may be questioned
whether the healthy, natural desire to
turn an honest penny has not inspired
greater works than a morbid appetite
for fame. Shakespeare’s ambition was
to retire to his native town with a
moderate competency ; Walter Scott’s to
become a laird, with a family estate, in
the border-land of the chief of his clan
—“the bold Buccleuch.” And, in the
present day, literature is becoming more
and more an honourable profession,
which men take to, as they do to law
�118
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
or medicine, as a means of earning a
livelihood.
It must always be borne in mind that
under the practical conditions of modern
civilisation, money means not only the
possibility of bare existence, but nearly
all that makes existence tolerablehealth, recreation, culture, and independ
ence. The number and locality of the
rooms a man lives in, the number of cubic
feet, and purity of the air he and his
family breathe, are questions of rent ;
the food they eat, the clothes they wear,
the books they read, the holidays they
enjoy, are all questions of money. And
above all, without money there is no in
dependence. An absolutely penniless
man has to fall back on crime or the
workhouse; a poor man is at the mercy
of a thousand accidents ; sickness, fluc
tuations of trade, caprice of employers,
pressure of creditors, may at any mo
ment reduce him and those who depend
on him to want. It admits of no ques
tion, that the first duty of every one is
to endeavour to raise himself above this
level of ignoble daily cares, and plant
himself in a position where he can face
the present and look forward to the
future with tolerable equanimity. As
we rise in the scale of society the
problem becomes more difficult. Money
making is very apt to be pushed to
excess and lead to gambling and dis
honesty ; while the worship of wealth,
which is perhaps the besetting sin of the
age, is distinctly the cause of much lax
morality and snobbish vulgarity. But
on the other hand, money is power, and
a large fortune honestly acquired and
well spent, gives its possessor unrivalled
opportunities for doing good. He can
assist charities, patronise art, and if
gifted with force of character and fair
abilities may become a legislator and
statesman, and enrol his name in the
annals of his country. It is hard to say
that if a man has an opportunity of
making a large fortune honestly, and
feels that he has it in him to use it nobly,
he should refrain from doing so because
moralists cry “Sour grapes,” and tell
him that riches are deceitful.
But for nothing is “self-knowledge”
more requisite than to enable a man to
see clearly how high he can safely aim,
and what sort of stake he can prudently
play for. The immense majority of man
kind have neither the opportunities nor
the faculties for playing for very high
stakes, and must be contented with the
safe game for moderate and attainable
ends. One such end is within the reach
of almost every one :
To make a happy household clime
For weans and wife,
Is the true pathos and sublime
Of human life.
So says Burns, who has a rare faculty
of hitting the right nail on the head ;
and the ideal he sets before us in these
simple lines is at once the truest and the
most universal. The man who fails in
this is himself a failure; while the man
who by his industry and energy supports
a family in comfort and respectability
according to their station, and who, at
the same time, by control of temper,
kindness, unselfishness, and sweet
reasonableness makes his household a
happy one, may feel, even though fortune
may not have placed him in a position
of higher responsibilities, that he has
not lived in vain, that he has performed
the first duties and tasted the truest
pleasures of mortal existence, and that,
whatever there may be behind the im
penetrable veil, he can face it with head
erect, as one of “Nature’s gentlemen.”
SELF-CONTROL
This is, after all, the vitally import
ant element of a happy and successful
life. The compass may point truly to
the pole, the chart may show the right
channel amidst shoals and rocks, but the
ship will hardly arrive safely in port
Unless the helmsman stands at his post
in all weathers, ready to meet any sheer
of the bow by a timely turn to starboard
or to port. So self-reverence and selfknowledge may point out ever so clearly
the path of duty, unless self-control is
constantly present we shall surely stray
from it. . At every moment of our lives
natural instinct tells us to do one thing,
while reason and conscience tell us to do
another. It is by an effort that we get
up in the morning and go about our
daily work. It is by an effort that we
refrain from indulgences and forego
pleasures, control our passions, restrain
our tempers. The uncultured man is
�PRACTICAL LIFE
violent, selfish, childish ; it is only by the
inherited or acquired practice of self
control that he is transformed into the
civilised man—courteous, considerate,
sensible, and reliable.
The necessity of self-control in all the
more important relations of moral and
practical life is so obvious that it would
be only repeating commonplaces to
enlarge on it. But there is often danger
of its being overlooked, in those minor
morals of conduct which make up the
greater part of life, and determine the
happiness or misery of oneself and
others.
For instance, control over the temper.
A man never shows his cousinship to the
ape so much as when he is in a passion.
The manifestations are so exactly similar
—irrational violence, nervous agitation,
total loss of head, and abdication of all
presence of mind and reasoning power.
To see a grown-up man reduced to the
level of a spoiled child, or of a monkey
who has been disappointed of a nut, is a
spectacle of which it is hard to. say
whether it is more ridiculous or painful.
Even worse than occasional violence is
the habitual ill-temper which makes
life miserable to those who are obliged
to put up with it. We call a man who
strikes a woman or child with his fist a
brute ; what is he if he strikes them
daily and hourly, ten times more cruelly,
with his tongue 1 A ten times greaterbrute. And yet there are men., calling
themselves gentlemen, who do this, either
from sheer brutality of nature, or oftener
from inconsiderateness, coarseness of
fibre, and inability to exercise self
control in minor matters.
There is one very common mistake
made, that of considering relationship
an excuse for rudeness. The members of
a family may relax something of the
stiffness of company manners among
themselves, but they should never forget
that it is just as much ill-breeding to say
a rude thing to a wife, a sister, or a
brother, as it would be to say it to any
other lady or gentleman. In fact, it is
worse, for the other lady can treat you
with contempt and keep out of your way,
while the poor woman who is tied to you
feels it keenly, and has no means of
escape from it. Good manners are, in
practical life, a great part of good
morals ; and there is something to be
119
said for religions which, like the Chinese,
lay down rules of politeness, and make
salvation depend very much on. the ob
servance of rites and ceremonies intended
to ensure courtesy and decorum in the
intercourse of all classes of the com
munity in daily life.
Although not so bad as the indulgence
of a violent or morose temper, a great
deal of unhappiness is caused by a fussy
and fidgety disposition, which makes
mountains out of molehills, and keeps
every one in hot water about trifles. This
is one of the common faults of idleness,
as genuine work both strengthens the
fibre to resist and leaves no time to brood
over petty troubles.
The excuse one commonly hears from
those who give way to these petty
infirmities is, “that they cannot help
it, they are born with thin skins and
excitable tempers.” This is the excuse
of sloth and weakness. If, as the poet
says,
Man is man, and master of his fate,
what sort of an unmanly creature must
he be who cannot master even the
slightest impulse or resist the slightest
temptation, and allows himself to. be
ruffled into a storm by every passing
breath, like a shallow roadside puddle?
If he will not try he certainly will not
learn; but if he will honestly try to
correct faults, he will find it easier
every time, until the fancied impos
sibilities fade away and are forgotten.
A man who is so much afraid of
tumbling off that he will never mount
a horse, may fancy that Nature has dis
qualified him for riding; but for all
that, nine men out of ten, if obliged to
try—say as recruits in a cavalry regi
ment—though they may not all turn out
accomplished horsemen, will all learn to
ride well enough for practical purposes.
It is peculiarly important for the young
to set resolutely about correcting bad
habits and forming good ones, while the
faculties are fresh and the brain supple ;
for, in obedience to the law by which
molecular motions travel by preference
along beaten paths, every year cuts
deeper the channels of thought and
feeling, whether for good or evil. A brain
trained to respond to calls of duty soon
does so with ease and elasticity, just as
�120
MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT
the muscles of the blacksmith’s arm or of
the ballet-dancer’s leg acquire strength
and vigour by exercise; while, on the
other hand, motion is a pain and selfcontrol an effort to the soft and flabby
limb or brain which has been weakened
by self-indulgence.
It is scarcely necessary to say-that for
success in practical life, self-control is
the one thing most needful. To take
the simplest case, that of a young
working man beginning life with health,
knowledge of a trade, or even without it
with good, thews and sinews, he is the most
free and independent of mortals, on one
condition—that he has saved £10. With
this, he is a free agent in disposing of his
labour, he can make his contract with an
employer on equal terms, he can carry
his goods to the best market, and is
practically a citizen of the world, ready
to start for San Francisco or Melbourne
if . he thinks he can better himself.
Without it, he is a serf tied to the soil,
he cannot move from place to place, he
must take whatever wages are offered
him or starve.
But how to save the £10? That is a
question of daily and weekly recurrence ;
whether to spend an extra shilling in the
pleasant way of going to a public-house
and sitting with a pipe and a jug of ale
by the fireside among jolly companions,
or. to forego the pleasure and save the
shilling. A shilling a week saved will,
in four years, give him the £10, and go a
good way to establish habits which, if he
is enterprising and goes to a colony, or
is clever and has any luck at home, may
readily make the ten a hundred, or even
a thousand pounds. So in every class of
life, the man who gets on is the man who
has schooled himself never to ask whether
a thing is pleasant, but whether it is
right and reasonable ; who always keeps
a bright look-out ahead, and who does
his best at the task, whatever it may be,
that is set before him.
Education really resolves itself very
much into teaching the young to acquire
this indispensable faculty of self-control.
The amount of positive knowledge, useful
in after life, acquired at our English
public schools, is really very little beyond
the three B’s. A boy who could teach
himself French or German irrfive months
spends five years over Latin and Greek,
and in nine cases out of ten forgets them
as soon as he leaves school or college.
Almost everything we know that is worth
knowing we teach ourselves in after life.
But the discipline of school is invaluable
in teaching the lesson of self-control.
Almost every hour of the day a boy at
school has to do things that are dis
agreeable and abstain from doing things
that nature prompts, under pain of
getting a caning from the master or a
thrashing from other boys. The memory
also is exercised, and the faculty of
fixing the mind on work is developed, by
useless almost as well as by useful studies.
In this point of view even that ne plus
ultra of technical pedantry, the Latin,
grammar, with its “Propria quse maribus’’ and “As in presenti,” may have its
use in teaching a boy that no matter how
absurd or repulsive a task maybe, he has
got to tackle to it or worse will befall
him.
But it is in a moral sense that the
influence of a good school is most valu
able. The average boy learns that he
must not tell lies, he must not be a sneak
or a coward, he must take punishment
bravely, and conform to the school
master’s standard of discipline and the
school-boy’s standard of honour. In this
way the first lesson of life, stoicism,
becomes with most English lads a sort of
instinct or second nature.
For stoicism, after all, is the foundation
and primary element of all useful and
honourable life. Whether as Carlyle’s
“Everlasting No,” or as George Eliot’s
advice, to take the pains and mishaps of
life without resorting to moral opium,
the conclusion of all the greatest minds
is that a man must have something of
the Red Indian in him and be able to
suffer, silently, and burn his own smoke,
if he is to be worth anything. And still
more a woman, who has to bear with and
make the best of a thousand petty an
noyances without complaint. Men can
bear on great occasions, but in the
innumerable petty trials of life women
as a rule show more self-control and
moral fortitude. What would the life of
a woman be who could not stand being
bored with a smiling face, put up with
the worries of children and servants with
cheerful fortitude, and turn away an
angry word by a soft answer ?
There is much more that might be
said, but my object is not to preach or
�PRACTICAL LIFE
moralise, but simply to record a few. of
the practical rules and reflections which
have impressed themselves on me in the
course of a long and busy life. I do so
in the hope that perchance they may
awaken useful thoughts in some, es
pecially of the younger readers, who may
happen to glance over these pages. This
much I may say for them, I have tried
them and found them work well. I have
lived for more than the Scriptural span
of threescore and ten years, a life of
varied fortunes and many experiences. . I
may say, in the words which my favourite
poet, Tennyson, puts into the mouth of
Ulysses:
For ever roaming with a hungry heart,
Much have I seen and known, cities of men,
And councils, climates, governments.
121
And the conclusion I come to is, not that
of the Preacher, “ Vanity of vanities, all
is vanity,” but rather that life, with all
its drawbacks, is worth living ; and that
to have been born in a civilised country
in the nineteenth century is a boon for
which a man can never be sufficiently
thankful. Some may find it otherwise
from no fault of their own; more by
their own fault; but the majority of
men and women may lead useful,
honourable, and on the whole fairly
happy lives, if they will act on the
maxim which I have always en
deavoured, however imperfectly, to
follow—Frar NOTHING ; MAKE THE BEST OE
EVERYTHING.
�THE
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Victorian Blogging
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Modern science and modern thought: with a biographical note on the author by Edward Clodd
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Laing, Samuel [1812-1897]
Clodd, Edward [1840-1930]
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Place of publication: London
Collation: xii, 121 p. : ill. ; 21 cm.
Notes: Date of publication from introductory note. First published, London: Chapman and Hall, 1885. Issued for the Rationalist Press Association, Ltd. Printed in double columns. Publisher's advertisements on back cover. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
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Watts and Co.
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[1902]
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N430
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Religion
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NATIONALSECULAR SOCIETY,
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NEW EDITION.]
TAKE A ROAD OF YOUR OWN
Or Individuality and Mental Freedom.
»
By
COLONEL ROBERT G. INGERSOLL.
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•
“ His Soul was like a Star and dwelt apart.”
On every hand are the enemies of individuality and mental freedom.
Custom meets us at the cradle and leaves us only at the tomb.
Our first questions are answered by ignorance, and our last by
superstition.. We are pushed and dragged by countless hands
along the beaten track, and our entire training can be summed up
in the word—suppression. Our desire to have a thing or to do a
thing is considered as conclusive evidence that we ought not to
do it. At every turn we run against cherubim and a flaming
sword guarding some entrance to the Eden of our desire. We are
allowed to investigate all subjects in which we feel no particular
interest, and to express the opinions of the majority with the
utmost freedom. We are taught that liberty of speech should
never be carried to the extent of contradicting the dead witnesses
of a popular superstition. Society offers continual rewards for self
betrayal, and they are nearly all earned and claimed, and some are
paid.
We have all read accounts of Christian gentlemen remarking,
when about to be hanged, how much better it would have been
for them if they had only followed a mother’s advice. But after
all, how fortunate it is for the world that the maternal advice
has not always been followed. How fortunate it is for us all that
| it is somewhat unnatural for a human being to obey. Universal
obedience is universal stagnation ; disobedience is one of the con
ditions of progress. Select any age of the world and tell me
what would have been the effect of implicit obedience. Suppose
the Church had had absolute control of the human mind at any
time, would not the words liberty and progress have been blotted
from human speech ? In defiance of advice, the world has
advanced.
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Suppose the astronomers had controlled the science of astro
nomy ; suppose the doctors had controlled the science of medicine ;
suppose kings had been left to fix the forms of government •
suppose our fathers had taken the advice of Paul, who said, “ Be
subject to the powers that be, because they are ordained of God ” ;
suppose the Church could control the world to-day ; we would go
back to chaos and old night. Philosophy would be branded as
infamous ; Science would again press its pale and thoughtful face
against the prison bars, and round the limbs of liberty would climb
the bigot’s flame.
It is a blessed thing that in every age some one has had
individuality enough and courage enough to stand by his own
convictions—some one who had the grandeur to say his say. I
believe it was Magellan who said: “ The Church says the earth
is flat; but I have seen its shadow on the moon, and I have morp.
confidence even in a shadow than the Church.” On the prow of
his ship were disobedience, defiance, scorn, and success.
The trouble with most people is, they bow to what is called
authority ; they have a certain reverence for the old because it is
old. They think a man is better for being dead, especially if he
has been dead a long time. They think the fathers of their nation
were the greatest and best of all mankind. All these things they
implicitly believe because it is popular and patriotic, and because
they were told so when they were very small, and remember
distinctly of hearing mother read it out of a book. It is hard to
over-estimate the influence of early training in the direction of
superstition. You first teach children that a certain book is true—
that it was written by God himself—that to question its truth is a
sin, that to deny it is a crime, and that should they die without
believing that book they will be forever damned without benefit of
clergy. The consequence is, that long before they read that book
they believe it to be true. When they do read it their minds are
wholly unfitted to investigate its claims. They accept it as a
matter of course.
In this way the reason is overcome, the sweet instincts of
humanity are blotted from the heart, and while reading its
infamous pages even justice throws aside her scales, shrieking for
revenge, and charity, with bloody hands, applauds a deed of murder.
In this way we are taught that the revenge of man is the justice
of God ; that mercy is not the same everywhere. In this way the
ideas of our race have been subverted. In this way we have made
tyrants, bigots, and inquisitors. In this way the brain of man has
become a kind of palimpsest upon which, and over the writings of
nature, superstition has scrawled her countless lies. One great
trouble is that most teachers are dishonest.
They teach as
certainties those things concerning which they entertain doubts.
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They do not say, “ we think this is so,” but “ we know this is so.”
They do not appeal to the reason of the pupil, but they command
his faith.
They keep all doubts to themselves; they do not
explain, they assert. All this way you make Christians, but you
cannot make men ; you cannot make women.
You can make
followers, but no leaders; disciples,, but no Christs. You may
promise power, honor, and happiness to all those who will blindly
follow, but you cannot keep your promise.
A monarch said to a hermit: “ Come with me and I will give
you power.”
“ I have all the power that I know how to use,” replied the
hermit.
“ Come,” said the king ; “ I will give you wealth.”
“ I have no wants that money can supply,” said the hermit.
“ I will give you honor,” said the monarch.
“ Ah, honor cannot be given; it must be earned,” was the
hermit’s answer.
“ Come,’, said the king, making a last appeal, “ and I will give
you happiness.”
“ No,” said the man of solitude, “ there is no happiness without
liberty, and he who follows cannot be free.”
“ You shall have liberty too,” said the king.
“ Then I will stay where I am,” said the old man.
And all the king’s courtiers thought the hermit a fool.
Now and then somebody examines, and, in spite of all, keeps his
manhood, and has the courage to follow where his reason leads.
Then the pious get together and repeat wise saws, and exchange
knowing nods and most prophetic winks. The stupidly wise sit
owl-like on the dead limbs of the tree of knowledge, and solemnly
hoot. Wealth sneers, and fashion laughs, and respectability passes
by on the other side, and Scorn points with all her skinny fingers,
and all the snakes of superstition writhe and hiss, and slander
lends her tongue, and infamy her brand, and perjury her oath, and
the law its power, and bigotry tortures, and the Church kills.
The Church hates a thinker precisely for the same reason a
robber dislikes a sheriff, or a thief despises the prosecuting witness.
Tyranny likes courtiers, flatterers, followers, fawners, and super
stition wants believers, disciples, zealots, hypocrites, and sub
scribers. The Church demands worship—the very thing that man
should give to no being, human or divine. To worship another is
to degrade yourself. Worship is awe and dread and vague fear and
blind hope. It is the spirit of worship that elevates the one and
■degrades the many; that builds palaces for robbers, erects monu
ments to crime, and forges manacles even for its own hands. The
worshipper always regrets that he is not the worshipped. We
should all remember that the intellect has no kness, and that,
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whatever the attitude of the body may be, the brave soul is always
found erect. Whoever worships, abdicates. Whoever believes at
the command of power tramples his own individuality beneath his,
feet, and voluntarily robs himself of all that renders man superiorto the brute.
The despotism of faith is justified upon the ground that Christian
countries are the grandest and most prosperous of the world. At
one time the same thing could have been truly said in India, in
Egypt, in Greece, in Rome, and in every other country that has, in.
the history of the world, swept to empire. This argument provesnot only too much, but the assumption upon which it is based is
utterly false. Numberless circumstances and countless conditionshave produced the prosperity of the Christian world. The truth
is, we have advanced in spite of religious zeal, ignorance, and
opposition.1 The Church has won no victories for the rights of
man. Luther labored to reform the Church, Voltaire to reform
men. Over every fortress of tyranny has waved, and still waves,
the banner of the Church. Wherever brave blood has been shed
the sword of the Church has been wet. On every chain has been
the sign of the cross. The altar and throne have leaned against,
and supported each other.
All that is good in our civilisation is the result of commerce,
climate, soil, geographical position, industry, invention, discovery,
art, and science. The Church has been the enemy of progress, for
the reason that it has endeavored to prevent man thinking for himself. To prevent thought is to prevent all advancement except in
the direction of faith.
Who can imagine the infinite impudence of a Church assuming
to think for the human race ? Who can imagine the infinite
impudence of a Church that pretends to be the mouthpiece of God,
and in his name threatens to inflict eternal punishment upon those
who honestly reject its claims and scorn its pretensions ? By what
right does a man, or an organisation of men, or a God, claim tohold a brain in bondage ? When a fact can be demonstrated force
is unnecessary ; when it cannot be demonstrated, an appeal to force
is infamous. In the presence of the unknown all have an equal
right to think.
Over the vast plain called life we are all travellers, and not one
traveller is perfectly certain that he is going in the right direction.
True it is that no other plain is so well supplied with guide-boards.
At every turn and crossing you will find them, and upon each one
is written the exact direction and distance. One great trouble is,
however, that these boards are all different, and the result is that,
most travellers are confused in proportion to the number they read.
Thousands of people are around each of these signs, and each one
is doing his best to convince the traveller that his particular board.
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is the only one upon which the least reliance can be placed, and
that if his road is taken the reward for so doing will be infinite and
•eternal, while all the other roads are said to lead to hell, and all
the makers of the other guide-books are declared to be heretics,
hypocrites, and liars. “ Well,” says a traveller, “ you may be right
in what you say; but allow me at least to read some of the other
■directions, and examine a little into their claims. I wish to rely a
little upon my own judgment in a matter of so great importance.”
“ No, sir,” shouts the zealot, “ that is the very thing you are not
allowed to do. You must go my way without investigation, or you
are as good as damned already.” “ Well,” says a traveller, “ if
ihat is so, I believe I had better go your way.” And so most of
them go along, taking the word of those who know as little as
themselves. Now and then comes one who, in spite of all threats,
■calmly examines the claims of all, and as calmly rejects them all.
These travellers take roads of their own, and are denounced by all
the others as infidels and Atheists.
Around all of these guide-boards, as far as the eye can reach,
the ground is covered with mountains of human bones, crumbling
and bleaching in the rain and sun. They are the bones of
murdered men and women—fathers, mothers, and'babes.
In my judgment, every human being should take a road of his
own. Every mind should be true to itself—should think, investi
gate and conclude for itself. This is a duty, alike incumbent upon
pauper and prince. Every soul should repel dictation and tyranny,
no matter from what source they come—from earth or heaven,
from men or gods. Besides, every traveller upon this vast plain
should give to every other traveller his best idea as to the road that
should be taken. Each is entitled to the honest opinion of all. And
there is but one way to get an honest opinion upon any subject what
ever. The person giving the opinion must be free from fear. The
merchant must not fear to lose his custom, the doctor his practice,
nor the preacher his pulpit. There can be no advance without
liberty. Suppression of honest inquiry is retrogression, and must
end in intelligent night. The tendency of orthodox religion to-day is
toward mental slavery and barbarism. Not one of the orthodox
ministers dare preach what he thinks if he knows a majority of
Ids congregation think otherwise. He knows that every member
■of his church stands guard over his brain with a creed, like a
■club, in his hand. He knows that he is not expected to search
after the ■truth, but that he is employed to defend the creed. Every
pulpit is a pillory, in which stands a hired culprit, defending the
justice of his own imprisonment.
Is it desirable that all should be exactly alike in their religious
convictions ? Is any such thing possible ? Do we not know that
there are not two persons alike in the whole world ? No two trees,
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no two leaves, no two anytliings that are alike ? Infinite diversity
is the law.
Religion tries to force all minds into one mould.
Knowing that all cannot believe, the Church endeavors to make
all say they believe. She longs for the unity of hypocrisy, and
detests the splendid diversity of individuality and freedom.
Nearly all people stand in a great horror of annihilation, and yet
to give up your individuality is to annihilate yourself. Mental
slavery is mental death, and every man who has given up his
intellectual freedom is the living coffin of his dead soul. In this t
sense, every church is a cemetery and every creed an epitaph.
We should all remember that to be like other people is to be
unlike ourselves, and that nothing can be more detestable in char
acter than servile imitation. The great trouble with imitation is,
that we are apt to ape those who are in reality far below us.
After all, the poorest bargain that a human being can make, is to
give his individuality for what is called respectability.
There is no saying more degrading than this : “ It is better to
be the tail of a lion than the head of a dog.” It is a responsibility
to think and act for yourself. Most people hate responsibility;
therefore they join something and become the tail of some lion.
They say : “ My party can act for me—my Church can do my
thinking. It is enough for me to pay taxes and obey the lion towhich I belong, without troubling myself about the right, thewrong, or the why or the wherefore of anything whatever.” Thesepeople are respectable. They hate reformers, and dislike to have
their minds disturbed. They regard convictions as very disagreeable
things to have. They love forms, and enjoy, beyond everything
else, telling what a splendid tail their lion has, and what a trouble
some dog their neighbor is. Beside this natural inclination to*
avoid personal responsibility is, and always has been, the fact that
every religionist has warned men against the presumption and
wickedness of thinking for themselves. The reason has been
denounced by all Christendom as the only unsafe guide. The
Church has left nothing undone to prevent man following thelogic of his brain. The plainest facts have been covered with the
mantle of mystery. The grossest absurdities have been declared
to be self-evident facts. The order of nature has been, as it were,,
reversed, and the hypocritical few might govern the honest many.
The man who stood by the conclusion of his reason was denounced
as a scorner and hater of God and his holy Church. From theorganisation of the first Church until this moment, to think your
own thoughts has been inconsistent with membership.
Every
member has borne the marks of collar and chain and whip. No
man ever seriously attempted to reform a Church without being
cast out and hunted down by the hounds of hypocrisy. The
highest crime against a creed is to change it. Reformation is treason.
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’
Thousands of young men are being educated at this moment by
the various Churches. What for ? In order that they may be
prepared to investigate the phenomena by which we are sur
rounded ? No ! The object, and the only object, is that they may
be prepared to defend a creed ; that they may learn the arguments
of th^ir respective Churches, and repeat them in the dull ears of a
thoughtless congregation. If one, after being thus trained at the
expense of the Methodists, turns Presbyterian or Baptist, he is
denounced as an ungrateful wretch. Honest investigation is utterly
impossible within the pale of any Church, for the reason that if you
think the Church is right you will not investigate, and if you think
it wrong the Church will investigate you. The consequence of this
is, that most of the theological literature is the result of sup
pression, of fear, tyranny, and hypocrisy.
Every orthodox writer necessarily said to himself : •“ If I write
that, my wife and children may want for bread; I will be covered
with shame and branded with infamy. But if I write this, I will
gain position, power, and honor. My Church rewards defenders,
and burns reformers.”
Under these conditions all your Scotts, Henrys, and McKnights
have written ; and weighed in these scales, what are their com
mentaries worth ? They are not the ideas and decisions of honest
judges, but the sophisms of the paid attorneys of superstition.
Who can tell what the world has lost by this infamous system of
suppression ?
How many grand thinkers have died with the
mailed hand of superstition upon their lips ? How many splendid
ideas have perished in the cradle of the brain, strangled in the
poison-coils of that python, the Church ?
For thousands of years a thinker was hunted down like an
escaped convict. To him who had braved the Church, every door
was shut, every knife was open. To shelter him from the wild
storm, to give him a crust when dying, to put a cup of water to
his cracked and bleeding lips; these were all crimes, not one of
which the Church ever did forgive ; and with the justice taught
of her God, his helpless children were exterminated as scorpions
and vipers.
Who at the present day can imagine the courage, the devotion to
principle, the intellectual and moral grandeur,.it once required to
be an infidel, to brave the Church, her racks, her fagots, her
dungeons, her tongues of fire—to defy and scorn her heaven and
hell—her devil and her Gcd ? They were the real saviors of our
race, the destroyers of superstition, and the creators of Science.
They were the real Titans who bared their grand foreheads to all
the thunderbolts of all the gods.
The Church has been, and still is, the great robber. She has
rifled not only the pockets but the brains of the world. She is the
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stone at the sepulchre of liberty; the upas tree, in whose shade
the intellect of man has withered; the Gorgon beneath whose gaze
the human heart has turned to stone. Under her influence even
the Protestant mother expects to be happy in heaven, while
her brave boy, who fell fighting for the rights of man, shall
writhe in hell.
•
It is said that some of the Indian tribes place the heads of their
children between pieces of bark until the form of the skull is per
manently changed. To us this seems a most shocking custom ;
and yet, after all, is it not as bad to put the souls of our children in
the straight-jacket of a creed ? to so utterly deform their minds
that they regard the God of the Bible as a being of infinite mercy,
and really consider it a virtue to believe a thing just because it
seems unreasonable? Every child in the Christian world has
uttered its wondering protest against this outrage. All the
machinery of the Church is constantly employed in corrupting the
reason of children. In every possible way they are robbed of their
own thoughts and 'forced to accept the statements of others.
Every Sunday-school has for its object the crushing out of every
germ of individuality. The poor children are taught that nothing
can be more acceptable to God than unreasoning obedience and
eyeless faith, and that to believe God did an impossible act is far
better than to do a good one yourself. They are told that all
religions have been simply the John-the-Baptists of ours ; that all
the gods of antiquity have withered and shrunken into the Jehovah
of the Jews, and that all the longings and aspirations of the race
are realised in the motto of the Evangelical Alliance, “ Liberty in
non-essentials ; ” that all there is, or ever was, of religion, can be
found in the Apostles’ Creed; that there is nothing left to be dis
covered ; that all the thinkers are dead, and all the living should
simply be believers; that we have only to repeat the epitaph
found on the grave of Iwisdom ; that graveyards are the best
possible universities, and that the children must be for even beaten
with the bones of the fathers.
It has always seemed absurd to suppose that a God would choose
for his companions, during all eternity, the dear souls whose
highest and only ambition is to obey. He certainly would now
and then be tempted to make the same remark made by an English
gentlemen to his poor guests. The gentleman had invited a man
in humble circumstances to dine with him. The man was so
overcome with the honor that to everything the gentleman said he
replied “Yes.” Tired at last with the monotony of acquiescence,
the gentleman cried out, “ For God’s sake, my good man, say ‘ No,’
just once, so there will be two of us.”
Is it possible that an infinite God created this world simply to be
the dwelling place of slaves and serfs ; simply for the purpose of
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^raising orthodox Christians ? That he did a few miracles to
;astonish them ; and that all the evils of life are simply his punish
ments ; and that he is finally going to turn heaven into a kind of
religious museum filled with Baptist barnacles, petrified Presby
terians, and Methodist mummies ? I want no heaven for which I
must give my reason, and no happiness in exchange for my liberty,
.and no immortality that demands the surrender of my individuality.
Better rot in the windowless tomb, to which there is no door but
the red mouth of the pallid worm, than wear the jewelled collar
•even of a god.
Religion does not, and cannot, contemplate man as free. She
accepts only the homage of the prostrate, and scorns the offerings
<of those who stand erect. She cannot tolerate the liberty of
thought. The wide and sunny fields belong not to her domain.
The star-lit heights of genius and individuality are above and
beyond her appreciation and power. Her subjects cringe at her
feet, covered with the dust of obedience. They are not athletes
: standing poised by rich life and brave endeavor like antique statues,
ibut shrivelled deformities, studying with furtive glance the cruel
face of power.
No religionist seems capable of comprehending this plain truth.
'There is this difference between thought and action; for our
^actions we are responsible to ourselves and to those injuriously
.affected:; for thoughts there can, in the nature of things, be no
^responsibility to gods or men, here or hereafter. And yet the
iProtestant has vied with the Catholic in denouncing freedom of
^thought:; and, while I was taught to hate Catholicism with every
drop of my blood, it is only justice to say that in all essential par
ticulars it is precisely the same as every other religion. Luther
denounced mental liberty with all the coarse and brutal vigor of
ihis nature ; Calvin despised, from the very bottom of his petrified
■heart, anything that even looked like religious toleration, and
t solemnly declared that to advocate it was to crucify Christ afresh.
All the founders of all the orthodox Churches have advocated the
:same infamous tenet. The truth is that what is called religion is
^necessarily inconsistent with free thought.
A believer is a bird in a cage ; a Freethinker is an eagle parting
.the clouds with tireless wing.
At present, owing to the inroads that have been made by Liberals
and Infidels, most of the Churches pretend to be in favor of
religious liberty. Of these Churches we will ask this question :
How can a man, who conscientiously believes in religious liberty,
worship a God who does not ? They say to us : “ We will not
iimprison you on account of your belief, but our God will.” “ We
will not burn you because you throw away the sacred Scriptures,
ibui their Author will.” “ We think it an infamous crime to per-
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secute our brethren for opinion’s sake, but the God whom we
ignorantly worship will on that account damn his own children
forever.”
Why is it that these Christians not only detest the infidels, but.
cordially despise each other ? Why do they refuse to worship in'
the temples of each other ? Why do they care so little for thedamnation of men and so much for the baptism of children 9 Whv
will they adorn their churches with the money of thieves and1
flatter vice for the sake of subscriptions ? Why will they attempt
to bribe Science to certify to the writings of God ? Why do they
torture the words of the great into an acknowledgment of the truth
of Christianity? Why do they stand with hat in hand before
presidents, kings, emperors, and scientists, begging, like Lazarus,
for a few crambs of religious comfort ? Why are they so delighted
to find an allusion to Providence in the message of Lincoln ? Why
are they so afraid that someone will find out that Paley wrote an-,
essay in favor of the Epicurean philosophy, and that Sir IsaacNewton was once an infidel? Why are they so anxious to show
that Voltaire recanted; that Paine died palsied with fear; that;
EmPer°r Juliau cried out “ Galilean, thou hast conquered”;
that Gibbon died a Catholic ; that Agassiz had a little confidence
in i loses; that the old Napoleon was once complimentary enough,
to say that he thought Christ greater than himself or Csesar ; that.
Washington was caught on his knees at Valley Forge; that blunt,
old Ethan Allen told his child to believe the religion of her mother
that Franklin said, “ Don’t unchain the tiger,” and that Volney got
frightened in a storm at sea ?
,
because the foundation of their temple is crumbling, because*
the walls are cracked, the pillars leaning, the great dome swaying"
to its fall, and because Science has written over its high altar its.
menu, mene, tekel, upHARsix—the old words, destined to be the.
epitaph of all religions ?
Every assertion of individual independence has been a step,
towards infidelity. Luther started towards Humboldt; Wesley
toward John Stuart Mill. To really reform the Church is to*
destroy it. Every new religion has a little less superstition than
the old, so that the religion of Science is but a question of time.
I will not say the Church has been an unmitigated evil in all
respects. Its history is infamous and glorious. It has delighted
m the production of extremes. It has furnished murderers for itsown martyrs ; it has sometimes fed the body, but has always starved
the soul. It. has been a charitable highwayman, a profligate beggar,
a generous pirate. It has produced some angels, and a multitude
of devils. It has built more prisons than asylums. It made a.
hundred orphans while it cared for one. In one hand it had.
carried the alms-dish and in the other a sword. It has founded.
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schools and endowed universities for the purpose of destroying true
learning. It filled the world with hypocrites and zealots, and upon
the cross of its own Christ it crucified the individuality of man.
It has sought to destroy the independence of the soul, and put the
world upon its knees. This is its crime. The commission of thiscrime was necessary to its existence. In order to compel obedience
it declared that it had the truth, and all the truth ; that God had
made it the keeper of his secret—his agent and his vicegerent. It
declared that all other religions were false and infamous. It
rendered all compromise impossible, and all thought superfluous^
Thought was its enemy, obedience was its friend. Investigation
was fraught with danger ; therefore investigation was suppressed..
The holy of holies was behind the curtain. All this was upon the
principle that forgers hate to have the signature examined by an
expert, and that imposture detests curiosity.
“ He that hath ears to hear, let him hear,” has always been the
favorite text of the Church.
In short, Christianity has always opposed every forward move
ment of the human race. Across the highway of progress it has
always been building breastworks of Bibles, tracts, commentaries,
prayer-books, creeds, dogmas, and platforms, and at every advance
the Christians have gathered together behind these heaps of
rubbish and shot the poisoned arrows of malice at the soldiers,
of freedom.
And even the liberal Christian of to-day has his holy of holies,
and in the niche of the temple of his heart has his idol. He still
clings to a part of the old superstition, and all the pleasant
memories of the old belief linger in the horizon of his thoughts
like a sunset. We associate the memory of those we love with the
religion of our childhood. It seems almost a sacrilege to rudely
destroy the idols that our fathers worshipped, and turn their sacred
and beautiful truths into the fables of barbarism. Some throw
away the Old Testrment and cling to the New, while others give
up everything except the idea that there is a personal God, and
that in some wonderful way we are the objects of his care.
Even this, in my opinion, as Science, the great iconoclast,
marches onward, will have to be abandoned with the rest. The
great ghost will surely share the fate of the little ones. They fled
at the first appearance of the dawn, and the other will vanish with
the perfect day. Until then the independence of man is little
more than a dream. Overshadowed by an immense personality,
in the presence of the irresponsible and the infinite, the indivi
duality of man is lost, and he falls prostrate in the very dust of
fear. Beneath the frown of the Absolute, man stands a wretched,
trembling slave; beneath his smile he is at best only a fortunate
serf. Governed by a Being whoBe arbitrary will is law, chained to
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-the chariot of power, his destiny rests in the pleasure of the
Unknown. Under these circumstances, what wretched object can
he have m lengthening out his aimless life ?
And yet, in most minds, there is a vague fear of the gods—a
shrinking from the malice of the skies. Our fathers were slaves,
■and nearly all their children are mental serfs. The enfranchise
ment of the soul is a slow and painful process. Superstition, the
mother of those hideous twins, Fear and Faith, from her throne of
.skulls still rules the world, and will until the mind of woman ceases
to be the property of priests.
When women reason and babes sit in the lap of philosophy
-the victory of reason over the shadowy host of darkness will be
•complete;
In the minds of many, long after the intellect has thrown aside
as utterly fabulous the legends of the Church, there still remains a
lingering superstition, born of the mental habits contracted in
•childhood, that after all there may be a grain of truth in these
mountains of theological mist, and that possibly the superstitious
side is the side of safety.
A gentleman, walking along the ruins of Athens, came upon a
fallen statue of Jupiter ; making an exceedingly low bow, he said :
.0 Jupiter! I salute thee.” He then added: “ Should you ever
sit upon the throne of heaven again, do not, I pray you, forget that
I treated you politely when you were prostrate.”
We have all been taught by the Church that nothing is so well
calculated to excite the ire of the Deity as to express a doubt as to
his existence, and that to deny it is an unpardonable sin. Numerous
well-attested instances are referred to o^ Atheists being struck
dead, for denying the existence of God. According to these
religious people, God is infinitely above us in every respect, infinitely
merciful, and yet he cannot bear to hear a poor finite man honestly
question his existence. Knowing, as he does, that his children are
groping in darkness and struggling with doubt and fear ; knowing
that he could enlighten them if he would, he still holds the expres
sion of a sincere doubt as to his existence the most infamous of
■crimes. According to orthodox logic, God having furnished us with
imperfect minds, has a right to demand a perfect result.
Suppose Mr. Smith should overhear a couple of small bugs hold
ing a discussion as to the existence of Mr. Smith, and suppose one
should have the temerity to declare, upon the honor of a bug, that
he had examined the whole question to the best of his ability,
including the argument based upon design, and had come to the
conclusion that no man by the name of Smith had ever lived.
Think then of Mr. Smith flying into an ecstacy of rage, crushing
the Atheist bug beneath his iron heel, while he exclaimed: “I will
teach you, you blasphemous wretch, that Smith is a diabolical fact! ”
�13
What then can we think of a God who would open the artillery of
heaven upon one of his own children for simply expressing his,
honest thought? And what man who really thinks can help
repeating the words of Ennius: “ If there are Gods they certainly
pay no attention to the affairs of man.”
Think of the millions of men and women who have been
destroyed simply for loving and worshipping this God. Is it.
possible that this God, having infinite power, saw his loving and.
heroic children languishing in the darkness of dungeons ; heard
the clank of their chains when they lifted their hands to him in
the agony of prayer; saw them stretched on the bigot’s rack,
where death alone had pity; saw the serpents of flame crawl
hissing round their shrinking forms—saw all this for sixteen
hundred years, and sat as silent as a stone ?
From such a God, why should man expect assistance ? Why
should he waste his days in fruitless prayer ? Why should he fall
upon his knees and implore a phantom—a phantom that is deaf,
and dumb, and blind ?
Although we live in what is called a free government—and
politically we are free—there is but little religious liberty in
America. Society demands either that you belong to some church,
or that you suppress your opinions. It is contended by many that
ours is a Christian government, founded upon the Bible, and that
all who look upon that book as false or foolish are destroying the
foundation of our country. The truth is, our government is not
founded upon the rights of gods, but upon the rights of men. Our
Constitution was framed, not to declare and uphold the deity of
Christ, but the sacredness of humanity. Our is the first govern
ment made by the people and for the people. It is the only nation
with which the gods have had nothing to do. And yet there are
some judges dishonest and cowardly enough to solemnly decide
that this is a Christian country, and that our free institutions are
based upon the infamous laws of Jehovah. Such judges are the
Jeffries of the Church. They believe that decisions, made by
hirelings at the bidding of kings, are binding upon man forever.
They regard old law as far superior to modem justice. They are
what might be called orthodox judges. They spend their days in
finding out, not what ought to be, but what has been. With their
backs to the sunrise they worship the night. There is only one
future event with which they concern themselves, and that is their
re-election. No honest court ever did, or ever will, decide that our
Constitution is Christian. The Bible teaches that the powers that
be are ordained of God. The Bible teaches that God is the source
of all authority, and that all kings have obtained their power
from him. Every tyrant has claimed to be the agent of the Most
High. The Inquisition was founded, not in the name of man, but
�14
in the name of God. All the governments of Europe recognise the
the greatness of God, and the littleness of the people. In all ages
hypocrites, called priests, have put crowns upon the heads of
thieves, called kings.
Decoration °f Independence announces the sublime truth
that all power comes from the people. This was a denial and the
hrst denial of a nation, of the infamous dogma that God confers
the right upon one man to govern others. It was the first grand
assertion of the dignity of the human race.
It declared the
governed to be the source of power, and in fact denied the
authority of any and all gods. Through the ages of slaverythrough the weary centuries of the lash and chain, God was
acknowledged ruler of the world.
To enthrone man was to
dethrone Him.
To Paine, Jefferson, and Franklin we are indebted, more than
to all others, for a human government, and for a Constitution in
which no God is recognised as superior to the legally expressed
will of the people.
They knew that to put God in the Constitution was to put
man out. They knew that the recognition of a deity would be
seized upon by fanatics and zealots as a pretext for destroying the
liberty of thought. They knew the terrible history of the Church
too well to place in her keeping, or in the keeping of her God, the
sacred rights of man. They intended that all should have the
right to. worship, or not to worship ; that our laws should make no
distinction on account of creed.
They intended to found and
frame a government for man, and for man alone. They wished to
preserve the individuality and liberty of all; to prevent the few
from governing the many, and the many from persecuting and
'destroying the few.
8
Notwithstanding all this, the spirit of persecution still lingers in
■our laws. In many of the States, only those who believe in the
existence of some kind of God are under the protection of the
law.
The supreme court of Illinois decided, in the year of grace 1856,
that an unbeliever in the existence of an intelligent First Cause
■could not be allowed to testify in any court. His wife and children
might have been murdered before his very face, and yet in the
absence of other witnesses, the murderer could not have even been
indicted. The Atheist was a legal outcast. To him, Justice was
not only blind, but deaf. He was liable, like other men, to support
the government, and was forced to contribute his share towards
paying the salaries of the very judges who decided that under no
■circumstances could his voice be heard in any court. This was the
law of Illinois, and so remained until the adoption of the new Con
stitution. By such infamous means has the Church endeavored to
�15
•chain the human mind, and protect the majesty of her God. The
fact is, we have no national religion, and no national God; but
•every citizen is allowed to have a religion and a God of his own,
■or to reject all religions and deny the existence of all gods. The
Church, however, never has, and never will understand and
.appreciate the genius of government.
Last year, in a convention of Protestant bigots, held in the City
■of New York for the purpose of creating public opinion in favor of
a religious amendment to the Federal Constitution, a reverend
•doctor of divinity, speaking of Atheists, said: “ What are the rights
•of the Atheist ? I would tolerate him as I would tolerate a poor
lunatic. I would tolerate him as I would tolerate a conspirator.
He may live and go free, hold his lands and enjoy his home—he
may even vote; but for any higher or more advanced citizenship,
lie is, as I hold, utterly disqualified.” These are the sentiments of
the Church to-day.
Give the Church a place in the Constitution, let her touch once
more the sword of power, and the priceless fruit of all the ages will
turn to ashes on the lips of men.
In religious ideas and conceptions there has been for ages a slow
a,nd steady development. At the bottom of the ladder (speaking
of modern times) is Catholicism, and at the top is Science. The
intermediate rounds of the ladder are occupied by the various sects,
whose name is legion.
But whatever may be the truth upon any subject, has nothing
to do with our right to investigate that subject, and express any
opinion we may form. And that I ask, is the same right I freely
accord to all others.
A few years ago a Methodist clergyman took it upon himself to
give me a piece of friendly advice. “ Although you may disbelieve
the Bible,” said he, “ you ought not to say so. That you should
keep to yourself.”
“ Do you believe the Bible? ” said I.
He replied, “ Most assuredly.”
To which I retorted: “ Your answer conveys no information
to me. You may be following your own advice. You told me to
suppress my opinions. Of course a man who will advise others
to dissimulate will not always be particular about telling the
truth himself.”
There can be nothing more utterly subversive of all that is really
valuable than the suppression of honest thought. No man, worthy
of the form he bears, will at the command of Church and State
solemnly repeat a creed his reason scorns.
It is the duty of each and every one to maintain his individuality.
“ This above all, to thine own self be true, and it must follow as
the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.” It is
�a magnificent thing to be the sole proprietor of yourself. It is a.
terrible thing to wake uP.a^ night and say: “ There is nobody in
.
this bed.”
,
x 1S humiliating to know that your ideas are all
borrowed; that you are indebted to your memory for your prin
ciples ; that your religion is simply one of your habits, and that
you would have convictions if they were only contagious It is
mortifying to feel that you belong to a mental m?b, and cry
Crucify him, because the others do; that you reap what the
great and brave have sown, and that you can benefit the world onlv
by leaving it.
J
Surely every human being ought to attain to the dignity of the
unit. Surely it is worth something to be one, and to feel that the
census of the universe would be incomplete without counting you.
Surely there is a grandeur in knowing that in the realm of thought
at least, you are without a chain; that you have the right to*
explore all heights and all depths; that there are no walls nor
fences, nor prohibited places, nor sacred corners in all the vast
expanse of thought; that your intellect owes no allegiance to any
being, human or divine; that you hold all in fee and upon no con
dition and by no tenure whatever ; that in the world of mind you
are relieved from all personal dictation, and from the ignorant
tyranny of majorities. Surely it is worth something to feel that
ere are no priests, no popes, no parties, no governments, no*
kings, no gods, to whom your intellect can be compelled to pay a
reluctant homage. Surely it is a joy to know that all the cruel
ingenuity of bigotry can devise no prison, no dungeon, no cell in
which for one instant to confine a thought; that ideas cannot be
dislocated by racks, nor crushed in iron boots, nor burned with fire.
Surely it is sublime to think that the brain is a castle, and that
within its curious bastions and winding-halls the soul, in spite of
all worlds and all beings, is the supreme sovereign of itself.
Reprinted verbatim, from the authorised American Edition.
~ READ*—
THE
FREETHINKER,
Edited by G. W. FOOTE. >.
THE LIVELIEST PAPER IN ENGLAND.
Published Every Thursday.
Price Twopence.
The Fbeethought Publishing Company, Limited, 2 Newcastle St
Farringdon St., London, E.C.
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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Victorian Blogging
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
Creator
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
Text
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Original Format
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Pamphlet
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Take a road of your own, or : Individuality and mental freedom
Description
An account of the resource
Edition: New ed.
Place of publication: [London]
Collation: 16 p. ; 19 cm.
Notes: Reprinted verbatim from the authorised American edition. No. 40d in Stein checklist. Date of publication from KVK. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
Creator
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Ingersoll, Robert Green [1833-1899]
Publisher
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[Freethought Publishing Company]
Date
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[1902]
Identifier
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N402
Subject
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Individualism
Rights
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Take a road of your own, or : Individuality and mental freedom), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
Format
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application/pdf
Type
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Text
Language
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English
Individualism
NSS