1 10 16 https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/37c9a618aaf86f108c5fff7f5dcb2ded.pdf?Expires=1779321600&Signature=n9dcs8kUYv6RyqBALFHqVu-%7EWNUrxqOJjGLQgFjiNbGpr%7E4ADNpplWGp6TvoV%7E3iFUhusUVqrMHVxujOSgKb5fceERMUZhTixhshRFyaBn%7E1oggeV-V9TrUpLURW1gq0uclprEvfRiDTh2mVEPwDJcm9Ty912M2tYdDOCcwZWGb03RboNUBhRp3vH-T9KYUO1b3es6VGdI2fKvCk-bCxGxKu7%7EC%7EcrYR7yohyKXJ29v1m0%7EqjVhS%7EGfmwgRxvI1P18j3B6MVfkDQCwy0231bG8uEUgImxieJLF2CdKiCXOyOm2JxC3FHeJ6-Lb6CQuEaaHkoFuJWsPkVNAJ1R0O5-w__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM e0322d8972cd44381069bdaf523428cb PDF Text Text SCIENTIFIC PROPAGATION. BY JOHN HUMPHREY NOYES. T is generally agreed among the highest thinkers that sociology is the science around which all other sciences are finally to be organized. But this nucleus is manifestly complex, and we may still inquire, where is the nucleolus ?—which of the departments into which sociology is divisible is the center of the center ? The an­ swer, if it has not yet been uttered, is fast forming in the general mind. The vital center of sociology, toward which all eyes are turn­ ing, is the science which presides over reproduction. It is becoming­ clear that the foundations of scientific society are to be laid in the sci­ entific propagation of human beings. In perfecting animals we attend to two things, viz., blood and train­ ing ; and we put blood first. But in the case of human beings we have thus far left blood to take care of itself, and have given all of our attention to training. Education is well advanced, but we are begin­ ning to see that it is like the ancient writing of manuscripts, a slow process, with many drawbacks. We labor to perfect the individual, but what we want is the art of multiplying copies of our work. Educa­ tion is waiting for its printing-press, and its printing-press is to be scientific propagation. The duty of the human race to improve itself by intelligent pro­ creation has certainly been seen, in some dim way, from the earliest ages. The analogy between breeding animals and breeding men is so obvious, that it must have thrust itself upon the reflections of the wise at least as long ago as when Jacob overreached Laban by cunningly managing the impregnation of his flocks. Four hundred years before the Christian era, Plato represented Socrates as urging on his pupils this analogy and the duty resulting from it, in the following plain terms: Z “ Tell me this, Glaucon; in your house I see both sporting dogs and a great number of well-bred birds ; have you ever attended to their pairing and bringing forth young?” “ How? ” said he. “ First of all, among these, though all be well-bred, are not some of them far better than all the rest ? ” “ They are.” “ Do you breed, then, from all alike; or are you anxious to do so, as far as pos­ sible, from the best breeds ? ” “ From the best,” �98 SCIENTIFIC PROPAGATION. “But how? from the youngest or the oldest, or from those quite iu their prime ? ” From those in their prime.” “ And if they are not thus bred, you consider that the breed, both of birds and dogs, greatly degenerates ? ” “ I do,” replied he. “ And what think you as to horses,” said I, “ and other animals ; is the case otherwise with respect to them ? ” “ It were absurd to think so,” said he. “ How strange, my dear fellow! ” said I; “ what extremely perfect government must we have, if the same applies to the human race ! ” “ Nevertheless it is so,” replied he. Republic, Book 5, Chap. 8. Perhaps Socrates died for this bold criticism; but his thought did _ not die. This same argument from analogy, which has thus been pressing on the human conscience in all ages, has become actually clamorous in modern times. The physical sciences, as they have been successively developed, have all turned by inevitable instinct toward their predestined center. Their drift has constantly been from the inorganic to the organic, and from the organic to. the reproductive. Agassiz passes from geology to biology, and finds the secret of biology in embryology. Darwin gathers all he finds in the botany and zoology of all ages into the demonstration that plants and animals can be molded ad libitum by attention to the laws of reproduction. His object was to establish a theory looking backward to the origin of species, but the practical result of his labors has been to establish a theory looking forward to the duty of scientific propagation. His great theme is the plasticity of living forms. He shows, first, how nature alone, in the countless ages of the past, has slowly transmuted plants and animals; then how the unsystematic care of man, since the dawn of intelligence, has hastened these changes; and finally how modern science and skill have rapidly perfected the races that are subservient to human use. In all this he has been at work on Plato’s argument. He has not dared to make the application, but others have not dared to ignore it, and to them Darwin has been an awful preacher of the law of God. Along with the evolution of the physical sciences, there has been an enormous growth of zeal and skill in practical breeding. Every plant and animal that man can lay hands upon has been put through a course of variations and brought to high perfection. And every suc­ cess in practical breeding has added emphasis to the law that com­ mands man to improve his own race by scientific propagation. Every melting pear, every red-cheeked apple, every mealy potato that modern skill presents us, bids us go to work on the final task of producing the best possible varieties of human beings. Every race-horse, every straight-backed bull, every premium pig tells us what we can do and what we must do for man. What are all our gay cattle fairs, but eloquent reminders of the long-neglected duty of scientific human propagation ? �SCIENTIFIC • PR OF A GA T IO N. 99 And this preaching has not been wholly without effect. There is evidently much resulting conviction among those who read and thiuk on scientific subjects. Nobody really attempts to obey the law pro­ pounded, or even expects to ; but all approve of it. In this as in other cases, we “ consent unto the law that it is good, but how to perform that which is good we find not.” Phrenologists, popular physiologists, and reformers of various kinds have long been busy carrying over the laws of Darwin into the public conscience, translating analogy into application ; and it is remarkable how common it has become for books and newspapers to acknowledge the duty of scientific propagation, and confess that in this matter “ we are all miserable sinners.” In a rapid run through a mass of popular literature nearest at hand, we have met with the following specimens of out-cropping conviction: “ With the acceptance by scientific thinkers of the principles of structural transformation upon which Mr. Darwin’s theory is based, must needs come their recognition by men of unscientific education, and their application to individual life. No scientific thought, thoroughly established and wrought into the belief of the common people, can be without its influence upon their life. Men have as much need to apply the doctrine of Mr. Darwin to themselves as to their horses and cattle.”—American Exchange and Review. “ Consider agriculture, horticulture, flori-culture, the stock-raisers, even the ‘ fanciers,’ and borrow from them the lessons they practice so accurately. Think of it! Years of study have resulted in volumes of registered observations and deduc­ tions for the improvement of the brute races. The horse, the ox, the swine, and every other domestic animal has been raised to a higher type of physical being. Even flowers and vegetables are thought worthy of this same care ; yet the pre­ cious casket of the human soul is left to dwindle down from one stage of degen­ eracy to another, till a large proportion of the human race are employed in the vocations that can only flourish upon human decay.”—Dr. Chaklotte Loziek, in the Tribune. “Agricultural reports have teemed with lessons for breeding and taking care of all our stock except the most precious—that of ourselves and our children. The Atlantic cable sinks to insignificance compared with the science of the develop­ ment of man. We exhibit beautiful animal stock, but deformed, erysipelatory, rickety, narrow-chested, dyspeptic, teeth-rotten, flabby-muscled, scrofulous, crook­ ed-backed, bad-jointed girls and boys, with diseased kidneys, diseased livers, and bad nerves. Let all agricultural orators open their mouths against these terrible evils of the land.”—American Institute Transactions for 1858, p- 160. “What is needed, in order to improve the physical characteristics of American children, is. in the first place, to find out wherein they deviate from the true model, and then to set at work influences which, under the laws of reproduction, shall directly tend to induce conformity thereto, instead of deformity. It is just as easy to improve the breed of children as the breeds of domestic animals ; for the human organism is as impressible in this respect as the organisms of animals, and, I think, rather more so—the susceptibility in this direction being in ratio to the rank. “ If it be true that, in the case of a sheep, you can, by proper heed to certain laws, including as these do certain conditions of living, so change a species of that animal that, from being a small animal with a small quantity of wool, it, shall be­ come a large animal with only a small quantity of wool; or from being a large ani mal with a small quantity of wool, it shall become less in size, but with a larger �100 SCIENTIFIC PROPAGATION. fleece, you have reached a point in the modification of the animal structure which may seriously affect all its vital conditions. If this can be done in the case of one species of animals, it can in others—in truth, in all others—and man forms no ex­ ception to the rule.”—Dr. Jackson, in ‘'Laws of Life.” We ask our friends to read our extracts from Darwin attentively, and see if they do not discern, looming in the background of the facts here presented, a most gigantic question affecting the future of human society—that, namely, relating to its scientific propagation. If the races of plants and animals have been so far im­ proved as is there shown, by attention to selection in breeding, the question comes up in force, what is man about at this late day, that he is not applying the same principles and observations in a scientific manner to the improvement of his own race ? If the farmer achieves with perfect certainty the elevation of his flocks and herds to a certain standard of form and size, beauty and disposition, by observing the fixed laws of propagation, why should not something be done systematically for man in the same way ? Why should not beauty and noble grace of person, and every other desirable quality of men and women, internal and external, be propa­ gated and intensified beyond all former precedent, by the application of the same scientific principles of breeding that produce such desirable results in the case of sheep, cattle and horses ? Farmers and herdsmen all over the civilized world are enthusiastic in regard to matters that relate to the improvement of stock. Socie­ ties are founded, principles are discovered and practically applied, and the ends of the earth are ransacked for desirable animals with which to cross and develop new excellencies. But while this is true of the animals below us, man leaves the infi­ nitely higher question of his own propagation to the control of chance, ignorance, and blind passion. The place where science should rule most of all, is ruled by the least science ; the subject around which the highest enthusiasm should cluster, is viewed with the most indifference. Human Breeding should be the foremost ques­ tion of the age, transcending in its sublime interest all present political and scien­ tific questions, and should be practically studied by all. May the time hasten wheD this shall be ! ’’—Religious Paper. A writer in the Galaxy (a popular monthly) closes a brilliant account of horse-breeding with the following argumentitm ad hominem : “ In the language of the clergy, permit me to make a personal application: At this moment ten times as much care and thought and money are devoted to the production of perfect horses or pigs, as to men and women. By observance of the sgme care, and application of the same rules, as above stated for horses, it is possible to produce a race of men and women which shall be healthy, spirited, hand­ some and enduring. The world is full of weedy, homely, suffering human beings, and who is to blame ? A man has as good a right to be handsome as a pig, a woman as a horse, certainly. “Are we then demented? It is a very curious question, one which we com­ mend to the careful consideration of the ‘ Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.’ ” So far we have come since Plato; and yet all this is only an appli­ cation of the little Socratic argument that we quoted, written two thousand years ago. Let us not make too much of these confessions. This swelling flood of conviction has burst no barriers yet. It is well known that the present constitution of society absolutely precludes, in man’s case, anything like what has been done for plants and animals; and these confessors have no idea of changing the constitution of society. They �SCIENTIFIC PROPAGATION. 101 cry aloud for what ought to be done; but when they come to the how, their voices grow feeble. Thus the writer in the Exchange and Review, whose doughty preaching stands first among the above quotations, im­ mediately after it falls off into such mumbling as this: “ Passion ancl ignorance have too long held sway over the motives which prompt the best of us to assume the relation upon which our own as well as the happiness of our children depends. That ordinary mortals shall consider the future advance­ ment of the race in the selection of their wives, is rather more than our knowl­ edge of human nature justifies us in hoping. Nor are we quite prepared to adopt the extreme materialistic view, and relinquish the institution of marriage in favor of a selected class whose sole duty it shall be to improve and elevate the type of the race. But in a general way we can suffer ourselves to be influenced in the choice of our wives by the knowledge that the mental and physical qualities we bring to the union must be blended and intermixed in the natures of our children ; and the reflection that the habits of our life and thought, and the various condi­ tions into which we are driven, or suffer ourselves to drift, have their immediate and necessary outgrowth in those natures, should produce some effect upon our own self-conduct and control.” Galton, alate English writer, has actually gone forward a step beyond Darwin in the Platonian argument. He demonstrates by elaborate sta­ tistics that genius and all other good qualities are hereditary in human families. Nobody doubted this before; but it is a satisfaction to have such a point seized and fortified by science. He passes over from anal­ ogy to the beginning of direct proof that human nature is as plastic and obedient to the laws of reproduction as that of animals and plants, and therefore as properly the subject of scientific treatment. The ob­ ject of his book, he says, is to show “ that a man’s natural abilities are derived by inheritance, under exactly the same limitations as are the form and physical features of the whole organic world. Consequently, as it is easy, notwithstanding those limitations, to obtain by careful selection a permanent breed of dogs or horses gifted with peculiar powers of running or of doing anything else, so it would be quite practicable to produce a highly gifted race of men by judicious mar­ riages during several consecutive generations.” So far Galton advances beyond Darwin’s line. But when he comes to the point where it is necessary to look beyond his theory to the duties it suggests, he sub­ sides into the meekest conservatism. “ It would be writing to no use­ ful purpose,” he says, “ were I to discuss the effect that might be pro­ duced on population by such social arrangements as existed in Sparta, [which arrangements were only a distant approach to the system which all breeders of animals pursue.] They are so alien and repulsive to modern feelings that it is useless to say anything about them; so I shall confine my remarks to agencies that are actually at work, and upon which there can be no hesitation in speaking.” Then he goes on to show what can be done by wise marriages, much in the vein of the phrenologists. A writer in the new English journal of science called “ Nature,” �102 SCIENTIFIC PROPAGATION. even discusses, after a fashion, the possibility of improving the human race by applying the Darwinian principles. But it is curious to see how gingerly he touches the practical part of the subject. After show­ ing that in the case of wild animals which mate without interference, any improvement by variation must be exceedingly slow, and that in the case of domestic animals, owing to scientific propagation, the prog­ ress is incomparably more rapid, he speaks thus cautiously and mys­ teriously of the human problem : “ The case of man is intermediate in rapidity of progress to the other two. The development of improved qualities can not be insured by judicious mating, because as a rule human beings are capricious enough to marry without first laying a case for opinion before Mr. Darwin. Neither would it be easy, nor perhaps even allowable, to extend any special protection by law or custom to those who may be, physically and intellectually, the finest examples of our race. Still, two things may be done ; we may vary the circumstances of life by judicious legislation, and still more easily by judicious non-legislation, so as to multiply the conditions favor­ able to the development of a higher type ; and by the same means we may also encourage, or at least abstain from discouraging, the perpetuation of the species by the most exalted individuals for the time being to be found.” This last hint is the boldest we have seen; and yet it is but a hint. Thus we find the public generally, and even the most advanced 'writers, simply under conviction in the presence of the law of scientific propagation. The commandment has come; we all acknowledge it and preach it, and “delight, in it after the inward man, but we see another law in our members warring against the law of our minds.” Duty is plain; we say we ought to do it—we must do it; but we cam not. The law of God urges us on ; but the law of society holds us back. This is a bad position. Either our convictions ought to become stronger and deeper till they break a way into obedience, or we ought to be relieved of them altogether. The boldest course is the safest. Let us take an honest and steady look at the law. Let us march right up to this terrible analogy which has been so long troubling the world, and find out exactly what it is, and how far the obligation which it suggests is legitimate. What ought to be done can be done. It is only in the timidity of ignorance that duty seems impracticable. In order to get clearer ideas of the analogy which is pressing upon us, and of the duty which results from it, we propose for fresh consid­ eration the following questions: 1. What has been done for plants and animals ? 2. How has it been done ? 3. How far and by what means can the same be done for human beings ? This last question will require a survey of the special difficulties in the case of man, and will lead to some criticism of existing institutions. Without much formal­ ity the remainder of this article will be devoted to the discussion of these questions. To show what has been done for plants and animals, we cannot do better than to put Darwin on the stand. His testimony is known to �SCIENTIFIC PROPAGATION- 103 philosophers, but it ought to be familiar to everybody. The following are quotations from his late work on the results of Domestication : “ As to plants, no one supposes that our choicest productions have been pro­ duced by a single variation from the aboriginal stock. We have proofs that this is not so in some cases, in which exact records have been kept; thus, to give a very trifling instance, the steadily increasing size of the common gooseberry may be quoted. We see an astonishing improvement in many florists’ flowers, when the flowers of the present' day are compared with drawings made only twenty or thirty years ago. * * * And the gradual process of improvement through longer periods may plainly be recognized in the increased size and beauty which we now see in the varieties of the heartsease, rose, pelargonium, dahlia, and other plants, when compared with the older varieties or with their parent-stocks. No one would ever expect to get a first-rate heartsease or dahlia from the seed of a wild plant. No one would expect to raise a first-rate melting pear from the seed of the wild pear, though he might succeed from a poor seedling growing wild, if it had come from a garden stock. The pear, though cultivated in classical times, appears, from Pliny’s description, to have been a fruit of very inferior quality. The art which has produced such splendid results from such poor materials has consisted in always cultivating the best known variety, sowing its seeds, and, when a slightly better variety has chanced to appear, selecting it, and so onward. * * * 11 Let us now briefly consider the steps by which domestic races of animals have been produced, either from one or from several allied species. Some little effect may, perhaps, be attributed to the direct action of the external conditions of life, and some little to habit; but he would be a bold man who would account by such agencies for the differences of a dray and a race-horse, a grayhound and blood­ hound, a carrier and tumbler-pigeon. One of the most remarkable features in our domesticated races is that we see in them adaptation, not indeed to the animal’s or plant’s own good, but to man’s use or fancy. Some variations useful to him have probably arisen suddenly, or by one step ; many botanists, for instance, believe that the fuller’s teazle, with its hooks, which cannot be rivalled by any mechanical con­ trivance, is only a variety of the wild Dipsacus; and this amount of change may have suddenly arisen in a seedling. So it has probably been with the turnspit dog ; and this is known to have been the case with the ancon sheep. But when we compare the dray-horse and race-horse, the dromedary and camel, the various breeds of sheep fitted either for cultivated land or mountain pasture, with the wool of one breed good for one purpose, and that of another breed for another purpose ; when we compare the many breeds of dogs, each good for man in very different ways ; when we compare the game-cock, so pertinacious in battle, with other breeds so little quarrelsome, with ‘ everlasting layers ’ which never desire to set, and with the bantam so small and elegant; when we compare the host of agricultural, culi­ nary, orchard and flower-garden races of plants, most useful to man at different seasons and for different purposes, or so beautiful in his eyes, we must, I think, look further than to mere variability. We cannot suppose that all the breeds were sud­ denly produced as perfect and as useful as we now see them; indeed, in several cases, we know that this has not been their history. The key is man’s power of accumulation ; man adds them up in certain directions useful to him. In this sense he may be said to make for himself useful breeds. “ The great power of this principle of selection is not hypothetical. It is certain that several of our eminent breeders have, even within a single lifetime, modified to a large extent some breeds of cattle and sheep. In order fully to realize what they have done, it is almost necessary to read several of the many treatises devoted to this subject, and to inspect the animals. Breeders habitually speak of an ani­ mal’s organization as something quite plastic, which they can model almost as they please. If I had space I could quote numerous passages to this effect from highly �104 SCIENTIFIC PROPAGATION. competent authorities. Youatt, who was probably better acquainted with the works of agriculturists than almost any other individual, and who was himself a very good judge of an animal, speaks of the principle of selection as ‘that which enables the agriculturist not only to modify the character of his flock, but to change it altogether. It is the magician’s wand, by means of which he may summon into life whatever form and mold he pleases.’ Lord Somerville, speaking of what breeders have done for sheep, says :—‘ It would seem as if they had chalked out upon a wall a form perfect in itself, and then had given it existence.’ That most skillful breeder, Sir John Sebright, used to say, with respect to pigeons, that ‘he would produce any given feather in three years, but it would take him six years to obtain head and beak.’ * * * “ What man has effected within recent times in England by methodical selec­ tion, is clearly shown by our exhibitions of improved quadrupeds and fancy birds. With respect to cattle, sheep, and pigs, we owe their great improvement to a long series of well-known names—Bakewell, Colling, Ellman, Bates, Jonas Webb, Lords Leicester and Western, Fisher Hobbs, and others. Agricultural writers are unani­ mous on the power of selection : any number of statements to this effect could be quoted; a few will suffice. A great breeder of shorthorns says : ‘ In the anatomy of the shoulder modern breeders have made great improvements on the Ketton shorthorns by correcting the defect in the knuckle or shoulder-joint, and by laying the top of the shoulder more snugly into the crop, and thereby filling up the hol­ low behind it. * * * The eye has its fashion at different periods ; at one time the eye high and outstanding from the head, and at another time the sleepy eye sunk into the head; but these extremes have merged into the medium of a full, clear, and prominent eye with a placid look.’ “Again, hear what an excellent judge of pigs says: ‘The legs should be no longer than just to prevent the animal’s belly from trailing on the ground. The leg is the least profitable portion of the hog, and we therefore require no more of it than is absolutely necessary for the support of the rest.’ Let any one compare the wild boar with any improved breed, and he will see how effectually the legs have been shortened. “Few persons except breeders are aware of the systematic care taken in select­ ing animals, and of the necessity of having a clear and almost prophetic vision into futurity. Lord Spencer’s skill and judgment were well known ; and he writes: ‘ It is therefore very desirable, before any man commences to breed either cattle or sheep, that he should make up his mind as to the shape and qualities he wishes to obtain, and steadily pursue this object.’ Lord Somerville, in speaking of the mar­ velous improvement of the New Leicester sheep effected by Bakewell and his suc­ cessors, says : ‘ It would seem as if they had first drawn a perfect form, and then given it life.’ Youatt urges the necessity of annually drafting each flock, as many animals will certainly degenerate ‘from the standard of excellence which the breeder has established in his own mind.’ Even with a bird of such little importtance as the canary, long ago (1780-1790) rules were established, and a standard of perfection was fixed, according to which the London fanciers tried to breed the several sub-varieties. A great winner of prizes at the pigeon-shows, in describing the short-faced almond tumbler, says : ‘ There are many first-rate fanciers who are particularly partial to what is called the goldfinch beak, which is very beautiful; others say, take a full-size round cherry; then take a barley-corn, and judiciously placing and thrusting it into the cherry, form as it were your beak ; and that is not all, for it will form a good head and beak, provided, as I said before, it is judi­ ciously done; others take an oat; but as I think the goldfinch-beak the hand­ somest, I would advise the inexperienced fancier to get the head of a goldfinch, and keep it by him for his observation.’ Wonderfully different as is the beak of the rock-pigeon and goldfinch, undoubtedly, as far as external shape and proportions are concerned, the end has been nearly gained. �SCIENTIFIC • E * ■ K PROPAGATION. 105 “ Not only should our animals be examined with the greatest care whilst alive, but, as Anderson remarks, their carcasses should be scrutinized, ‘ so as to breed from the descendants of such only as, in the language of the butcher, cut up well.’ The ‘ grain of the meat’ in cattle, and'its being well marbled with fat, and the greater or less accumulation of fat in the abdomen of our sheep, have been attended to with success. So with poultry ; a writer, speaking of Cochin-China fowls, which are said to differ much in the quality of their flesh, says, ‘ the best mode is to purcliase two young,brother cocks, kill, dress, and serve up one; if he be indifferent, similarly dispose of the other, and try again ; if, however, he be fine and wellflavored, his brother will not be amiss for breeding purposes for the table.’ “ The great principle of the division of labor has been brought to bear on selection. In certain districts ‘ the breeding of bulls is confined to a very limited num­ ber of persons, who. by devoting their whole attention to this department, are able from year to year to furnish a class of bulls which are steadily improving the gene­ ral breed of the district.’ The rearing and letting of choice rams has long been, as is well known, a chief source of profit to several eminent breeders. In parts of Germany this principle is carried with merino sheep to an extreme point. ‘ So im­ portant is the proper selection of breeding animals considered, that the best flock­ masters do not trust to their own judgment, or to that of their shepherds, but em­ ploy persons calied “ sheep-classifiers,” who make it their special business to attend to this part of the management of several flocks, and thus to preserve, or, if possi­ ble, to improve, the best qualities of both parents in the lambs.’ In Saxony, when the lambs are weaned, each in his turn is placed upon a table, that his wool and form may be minutely observed. ‘The finest are selected for breeding, and receive a first mark. When they are one year old, and prior to shearing them, another close examination of those previously marked takes place : those in which no defect can be found receive a second mark, and the rest are condemned. A few months afterwards a third and last scrutiny is made ; the prime rams and ewes receive a third and final mark ; but the slightest blemish is sufficient to cause the rejection of the animal.' These sheep are bred and valued almost exclusively for the fine­ ness of their wool; and the result corresponds with the labor bestowed on their selection. Instruments have been invented to measure accurately the thickness of the fibres ; and ‘ an Austrian fleece has been produced of which twelve hairs equalled in thickness one from a Leicester sheep.’ * * * “ The care which successful breeders take in matching their birds is surprising. Sir John Sebright, whose fame is perpetuated by the ‘ Sebright Bantam,’ used to spend ‘two and three days in examining, consulting, and disputing with a friend which were the best of five or six birds.’ Mr, Bult, whose Pouter-pigeons won so many prizes, and were exported to North America under the charge of a man sent on purpose, told me that he always deliberated for several days before he matched each pair. Hence we can understand the advice of an eminent fancier, who writes, ‘ I would here particularly guard you against having too great a variety of pigeons; otherwise you will know a little of all, but nothing about one as it ought to be known.’ Apparently it transcends the power of the human intellect to breed all kinds : 1 it is possible that there may be a few fanciers that have a good general knowledge of fancy pigeons ; but there are many more who labor under the delu­ sion of supposing they know what they do not.’ The excellence of one sub-variety, the almond-tumbler, lies in the plumage, carriage, head, beak, and eye ,’ but it is too presumptuous in the beginner to try for all these points. The great judge above quoted says, ‘there are some young fanciers who are over-covetous, who go for all the above five properties at once; they have their reward by getting noth­ ing.’ We thus see that breeding even fancy pigeons is no simple art: we may smile at the solemnity of these precepts, but he who laughs will win no prizes.”— Da/rwin’s Animals and Plants under Domestication. �106 SCIENTIFIC PROPAGATION. Our primary object in these citations was to show what has been done for plants and animals; but they also partly answer our second question as to the how. It is necessary, however, to bring into more prominence two or three of the practical measures by which the domes­ tic races have been perfected. The art of the animal-breeder, so far as mere propagation is con­ cerned, is all contained in two precepts, viz.: Breed from the best, and Breed in and in; and these precepts are reducible to one; for, after a choice stock has been commenced, breeding in and in is breeding from the best. The second precept simply prescribes for choice varieties what the first prescribes for choice individuals. Now it happens that these are the very precepts of the scientific law of propagation which, if applied to human generation, would impinge most violently on the constitution and feelings of society. Breeding from the best means in­ tolerable discrimination—suppression for some, and large liberty for others ; and breeding in and in means incest. In order, therefore, to get the law derived from, analogy honestly before us in all its bearings on human interests, we must enlarge on these features of scientific propagation. The negative part of breeding from the best, which is the suppres­ sion of the poorest, is effected in the case of the lower animals by two measures, viz.: 1. Castration; and 2. Confinement. The positive part of the process is carried on by selecting for propagation the best indivi­ duals of both sexes, but especially males. The special importance of selection in respect to males is founded on the constitutional difference between the sexes as to the amount of reproduction of which they are respectively capable. For example, a mare can produce, at the very most, only about fifteen colts in her whole lifetime. But a stallion can produce a hundred in a single year. The thorough-bred horse Messenger, in the course of his life, begot a thousand; Hambletonian begot eleven hundred; and a descendant of Hambletonian begot twelve hundred. And for proof that the male transmits his special qualities on this great scale, it is recorded that the English racer, Eclipse, begot three hundred and thirty-four horses that won races; and King Herod begot four hundred and ninety-four suc­ cessful racers. So that, with reference to direct action on the character of a single generation, the male has the advantage over the female in the ratio of more than fifty to one. And although the female may pro­ duce very great results in the second generation—since any one of her male offspring taking her place, may produce his thousand, conveying her characteristics—yet it must ever remain true that the principal means of breeding choice stocks is by the selection of males. Thus the present generation of fine horses in this country, numbering probably its millions, is said to have come mainly from less' than a half dozen famous stallions. A writer in the Galaxy, before referred to, gives the following account of the process by which our national trotting horse has been created: �SCIENTIFIC PROPAGATION. 107 “ England has produced or perfected the race-horse; America, the road-horse. England, by great care, great skill, and vast expenditure of money, has perfected the race-horse ; wonderfully fine, and altogether useless. America, by great care, great skill, and a considerable expenditure of money, has produced the trotter; altogether valuable—that is the difference. “ This quality—the swift trot—has been, in a sense, created by man, and is now transmitted and perpetuated. How ? “ By breeding from such horses as showed such a tendency, and by training the progeny so as to create increased speed, which increased speed has been transmitted and intensified. It has now reached a single mile in 2 minutes 171 seconds, and twenty miles within the hour. What more can be done ? No man can tell. “ The history of tiffs achievement in breeding can be traced. I said to Mr. Goldsmith, the great horse-breeder at Walnut Grove, ‘ Whence comes tiffs tremen­ dous trotting action, as shown in the American road-horse. Racing men assert that the natural feist gait of the horse is the run, and that no high-bred horse trots fast naturally.’ “ ‘ I will show you a little of the natural fast gait,’ said he. “ Then were brought in succession three young horses, three-year-olds. They were turned loose in the open field, and went trotting away at a great stride, head and tail erect. Then they were scared along by running at them ; the dog went after them, and still they trotted fast; if they broke into a run, they came down again almost instantly; it was evident that they had a fast trot, which was the gait they preferred. “ ‘ What is your explanation of this matter ?’ said I. “ ‘ I will tell you. There have stood in this country the following stallions, all, except Bellfounder and Abdallah, thoroughbreds, and they nearly so : Messenger, about 1795. Baronet, about 1795. Seagull, about 1820. Bellfounder, about 1831-32. American Star, about 1840. Abdallah, about 1848-50. And some others. Of these, Messenger, Bellfounder, American Star, and Abdallah were natural trotters, and it is asserted that Messenger has come in at the end of a running race on a fast trot. Out of these natural thoroughbred trotters have come our great road horses.’ ”—G-alamy, March, 1869. We must remind the reader that we are not now attempting to lay down the law for human propagation, but only to give a clear idea of the methods pursued by animal-breeders. Perhaps reasons may be found for treating man exceptionally; and possibly the breeders have not yet found the very best way of treating animals. However these things may be, our present business is to exhibit without disguise or suppression the processes by which animals are being perfected; and for this purpose we ask some further attention to the principle of selecting males, and the physiological facts upon which that principle is founded. In the propagation of any race, of course two things must be kept in view, viz., Quantity and Quality—increase of numbers and increase of value. And it will be seen from what we have stated above, in regard to the difference between the sexes as to the power of reproduc­ tion, that the function of the female bears a special relation to the in­ crease of numbers, and that of tlie male to increase of value. To sim­ plify the matter, suppose we have a hundred males and a hundred females to breed from. Now it is evident that in order to produce the �108 SCIENTIFIC PROPAGATION. ■ greatest number, we must keep all the females breeding up to their full capacity. But it is not necessary to keep all the males thus breeding. If ninety-nine of them out of the hundred were castrated, the one left might fertilize all the germs in the hundred females, and the numbers produced would be the same as if all the males were in full potency and doing their best. Hence it is clear that, without diminishing the quantity of production, we may exercise a very stringent discrimina­ tion in selecting males. The whole doctrine of the matter may be reduced to the following general formula : The quantity of production will be in direct proportion to the number of fertile females; and the value produced, so far as it depends on selection, will be nearly in in­ verse proportion to the number of fertilizing males. These are the first principles of animal breeding as it stands. Whether and how far they will be found to be transfer able to human generation may remain an open question. But it is best for us, at all events, to know exactly what we are talking about when we use the Platonian argument for scientific propagation. Let us now look at the second precept of the animal breeders, which requires breeding in and in. Darwin says that the object aimed at by eminent breeders is always “to make a new strain or sub-breed, supe­ rior to anything previously existing.” This, let us observe, is quite a different matter from general efforts to improve whole races. It is one thing to seek in any existing race the best animals we can find to breed from, which has always been done more or less, and which implies no segregation; and it is another tiling to start a distinct family and keep its blood pure by separation from the mass of its own race. It is this last method that has produced the Ayrshires and the Shorthorns and the Leicesters. The terms “thorough-bred,” “blooded-stock,” “pure blood,” etc., have no meaning except as they refer to this method of segregation. This indeed is the principal work of modern science in propagation, as distinguished from the unsystematic improvements made in all past ages. It deserves a distinct name, and we will take the liberty to call it. Stirpiculture. Now it is obvious that this method of breeding must begin with a pair, or, at most., with a small number of chosen animals, and must proceed by propagating exclusively, or nearly so, within its own circle. In fact it is a return to the conditions which are generally supposed to have existed at the beginning of all species, the human race included. It is an attempt to create a new race by selecting a new Adam and Eve, and separating them and their progeny from all previous races. This process implies breeding in and in, in two senses. First there must be, in the early stages, mating between very near relatives, as there was in Adam’s family; and secondly, there must be, in all stages, mating be­ tween members of the same general .sfocZ; who are all related more or less closely. This last kind of mating is properly called breeding in and in, though it may not be incest in the human sense of the word. �SCIENTIFIC PROPAGATION. 109 As a matter of fact it is well known that animal breeders pay very little attention to the principles of the law of incest in any stage of their pro­ ceedings. It is even a matter of doubt and disputation among them whether there is any harm in the closest and longest breeding between relatives. Darwin and the best authorities among the breeders incline to the opinion that long-continued mating of relatives, near or remote, leads finally to weakness of constitution and infertility. But they all agree that breeding in and in must be the general law for choice stocks, and that whatever infusion of foreign blood may be necessary must be altogether exceptional. And the general opinion among them is that the necessity of infusion of foreign blood may be obviated alto­ gether by keeping several flocks of the same family in conservatories at some distance from each other, and exchanging breeders between them. Darwin has a long chapter on the effects of close interbreeding and crosses, from which we quote the following specimens: “ That evil directly follows from any degree of close interbreeding has been denied by many persons ; but rarely by any practical breeder ; and never, as far as I know, by one who has largely bred animals which propagate their kind quickly. Many physiologists attribute the evil exclusively to the combination and conse­ quent increase of morbid tendencies common to both parents : that this is an active source of mischief there can be no doubt. It is unfortunately too notorious that men and various domestic animals endowed with a wretched constitution, and with a strong hereditary disposition to disease, if not actually ill, are fully capable of procreating their kind. Close interbreeding, on the other hand, induces sterility; and this indicates something quite distinct from the augmentation of morbid ten­ dencies common to both parents. The evidence I have collected convinces me that it is a great law of nature, that all organic beings profit from an occasional cross with individuals not closely related to them in blood; and that, on the other hand, long-continued close interbreeding is injurious. * * * “ The evil consequences of long-continued close interbreeding are not so easily recognized as the good effects from crossing, for the deterioration is gradual. Nevertheless it is the general opinion of those who have had most expe­ rience, especially with animals which propagate quickly, that evil does inevitably follow sooner or later, but at different rates with different animals. No doubt a false belief may widely prevail like a superstition ; yet it is difficult to suppose that so many acute and original observers have all been deceived at the expense of much cost and trouble. A male animal may sometimes be paired with his daughter, granddaughter, and so on, even for several generations, without any manifest bad results; but the experiment has never been tried of matching brothers and sisters, which is considered the closest form of interbreeding, for an equal number of gen­ * erations There is good reason to believe that by keeping the members of the * The degrees of consanguinity, as reckoned by animal-breeders, are different from those of either the common or the civil law. When Blackstone asks “ Why Titius and his brother are related,” and answers, “ Because they are both derived from the same father,” he presents but half the truth. They are related because they are both descended from the same father u/itZ the same mother. This addition doubles the relation, and brings them nearer to each other than they are to either of their parents. A son has fifty per cent, of the blood of his father; but he has one hundred per cent, of the blood of his brother; for they both have fifty per cent, of the blood of their father and fifty per cent, of the blood of their mother, making iu each one hundred per cent, of the same combination. Brothers having thus absolutely the same blood, it follows that uncles have the same relation to nephews �110 SCIENTIFIC PROPAGATION. same family in distinct bodies, especially if exposed to somewhat different condi­ tions of life, and by occasionally crossing these families, the evil results may be much diminished, or quite eliminated. * * * “ With cattle there can be no doubt that extremely close interbreed­ ing may be long carried on, advantageously with respect to external characters, and with no manifestly apparent evil as far as constitution is concerned. The same remark is applicable to sheep. Whether these animals have gradually been ren­ dered less susceptible than others to this evil, in order to permit them to live in herds—a habit which leads the old and vigorous males to expel all intruders, and in consequence often to pair with their own daughters—I will not pretend to de­ cide. The case of Bake well’s Longhorns, which were closely interbred for a long period, has often been quoted; yet Youatt says the breed ‘had acquired a delicacy of constitution inconsistent with common management,’ and ‘ the propagation of the species was not always certain.’ But the Shorthorns offer the most striking case of close interbreeding ; for instance, the famous bull Favorite (who was him­ self the offspring of a half-brother and sister from Foljambe) was matched with his own daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter; so that the produce of this last union, or the great-great-granddaughter, had or 93.75 per cent, of the blood of Favorite in her veins. This cow was matched with the bull Wellington, having 62.5 per cent, of Favorite blood in his veins, and produced Clarissa; Clarissa was matched with the bull Lancaster, having 68.75 of the same blood, and she yielded valuable offspring. Nevertheless Collings, who reared these animals, and was a strong advocate for close breeding, once crossed his stock with a Galloway, and the cows from this cross realized the highest prices. Bates’s herd was esteemed the most celebrated in the world. For thirteen years he bred most closely in and in ; but during the next seventeen years, though he had the most exalted notion of the value of his own stock, he thrice infused fresh blood into his herd: it is said that he did this, not to improve the form of his animals, but on account of their lessened fertility. Mr. Bates’s own view, as given by a celebrated breeder, was, that ‘to breed in and infiw a bad stock was ruin and devastation; yet that the practice may be safely followed within certain limits, when the parents so related are descended from first-rate animals.’ We thus see that there has been extremely close interbreeding with the Shorthorns; but Nathusius, after the most careful study of their pedigrees, says that he can find no instance of a breeder who has strictly followed this practice during his whole life. From this study and his own experience, he concludes that close interbreeding is necessary to ennoble the stock ; but that in effecting this the greatest care is necessary, on account of the tendency to infertility and weakness.® and nieces as that of fathers to children ; and cousins, having each fifty per cent, of the blood of brothers, i. e., of the same blood, are in the same relation to each other as that of half-brothers. Thus, according to the breeders’ reckoning, incest between father and daughter is precisely the same as between uncle and niece; and incest between half-brother and sister is the same as between cousins, and so on.—J. H. N. * It is worth mentioning that the finest collection of thoroughbred cattle in America—that of Walcott and Campbell, at the New York Mills, near Utica, N. Y. —is a herd of Shorthorns descended from these very animals bred in England by Collings and Bates. The writer of this article has a copy of the herd-book in which their pedigrees are given. The bull Favorite is often mentioned among their pro­ genitors ; and one of the finest of them is a descendant of the triple incest men­ tioned above. The writer has also had the pleasure of inspecting the herd, under the polite guidance of its manager, Mr. Gibson, and can testify, as an eye-witness, to their wonderful size and beauty. One of the cows measures twenty-eight inches in breadth across the hips. Eleven thousand dollars have been refused for another. Breeding in and in is still going on in this American branch of the Shorthorn family, as it has been for many generations in the original English stock.—J. H. N. �SCIENTIFIC PROPAGATION. Ill * * * “ With sheep there has often been long-continued interbreeding within the limits of the same flock; but whether the nearest relations have been matched so frequently as in the case of Shorthorn cattle, I do not know. The Messrs. Brown, during fifty years, have never infused fresh blood into their excellent flock of Leicesters. Since 1810 Mr. Barford has acted on the same principle with the Foscote flock. He asserts that half a century of experience has convinced him that when two nearly related animals are quite sound in constitution, in-and-in breed­ ing does not induce degeneracy; but he adds that he ‘ does not pride himself on breeding from the nearest affinities.’ In France the Naz flock has been bred for sixty years without the introduction of a single strange ram. Nevertheless, most great breeders of sheep have protested against close interbreeding prolonged for too great a length of time. The most celebrated of recent breeders, Jonas Webb, kept five separate families to work on, thus ‘ retaining the requisite distance of relation­ ship between the sexes.’ ” We have now perhaps a sufficient view of what has been done for the lower races, and how it has been done. The laws of scientific propagation, so far as analogy can teach them, are before us. It is time to inquire how far and by what means these laws can be applied to the human race. In the first place, there can be no rational doubt that the laws of physiology are in general the same for man as for other animals. In­ deed the most important of these laws, so far as our present subject is concerned, has just been scientifically fastened upon man by Mr. Galton. He demonstrates that not only the physical qualities of individ­ uals and races, but their intellectual, artistic, and moral characteristics, and even their spiritual proclivities, are as transmissible as the speed of horses. There can be no doubt that if it were possible for men and women to be directed in their propagation by superior beings, as ani­ mals are, or by their own sincere enthusiasm for science, the results of suppressing the poorest and breeding from the best would be the same for them, as for cattle and sheep. There can be no doubt that, if it were compatible with public morality and with the proper care of women and children, to “ give special privileges to the most exalted in­ dividuals in the perpetuation of the species,” as the English journal of science suggested, the elevation of the human species would be as rapid as that of any of the lower races. Indeed the difference between the sexes in regard to the power of reproduction, which is the reason for special selection of males, is even wider in the case of man than in that of horses; and, though existing institutions wholly ignore it, we may be sure that, in the nature of things, it gives man superior possibilities of improvement of blood. Finally, there can be no doubt that by segregating superior families, and by breeding them in and in, superior varieties of human beings might be produced which would be compar­ able to the thoroughbreds in all the domestic races. We have in history at least one splendid demonstration of the powrer of segregation and breeding in and in, which goes far toward establishing the entire parallelism between man and the lower animals in respect to the laws of propagation. The Jews may fairly be regarded �112 s c i A' /v r ii>'i c n. ft o r a <. i ti on as a distinct and superior variety of the human race. Here is an exhi­ bition of the interbreeding out of which that stock issued: The curved, broken lines indicate marriages. They show that Abraham married his sister (though she was only a half-sister, accord­ ing to Genesis xx. 12); that Nalior married his niece; that Isaac mar­ ried the daughter of his cousin, Bethuel, who also was son of Milcah, another cousin ; that Lot, the progenitor of Ruth, who was a progeni­ tress of David and Christ, propagated by his own daughter; that Jacob married two of his first cousins on his mother’s side, who were also the granddaughters of one of his father’s cousins, and great-granddaughters of another; that Bethuel was grandson of Terah by his father, and great-grandson by his mother; that Rebecca and Laban, the children of Bethuel, could thus trace their lineage to Terah by two lines, i. e., through Nahor and Haran; that Isaac could trace his lineage to Terah by two other lines, i. e., through Abraham and Sarah ; and conse­ quently that Jacob, the child of Isaac and Rebecca, could trace his lineage to Terah through four lines, i. e., through all four of Terah’s children. \ These probably are not half the connections that actually existed between the first generations of the Jewish stock. We are not in­ formed where Haran, Bethuel, Lot, and Laban got their wives ; but we may presume, from the fashion of the family, that they found them, or some of them, within the circle of their own kindred. Thus it is evident that the Jewish stock was at first established by a very complicated system of breeding in and in. Afterward Moses made laws against marriages of relatives; but it should be observed also that the rite of circumcision and the whole moral force of the Mosaic economy favored segregation, and was opposed to foreign marriages. The policy of the Jewish institutions, as seen in the times of Ezra and Nehemiab, was as severe against marriage with the heathen as against /'a...,, - �SCIENTIFIC PROPAGATION. 113 incest. The truth, therefore, is, that the original practice of breeding in and in, though ultimately prohibited in reference to individual rela­ tionships, was continued and enforced on the national scale. The Jews, as a people, have always been breeding in and in. Mating be­ tween very close relatives was necessary at the beginning, and not necessary afterward; and so it is and must be in every development of a new stock. As the numbers increase, close relationships can be avoided, and yet the blood can be kept pure. We conclude, therefore, that breeding in and in was the first and general law of Jewish stirpiculture. At the same time it is evident that there was an exceptional policy at work by which foreign blood was introduced from time to time into the Jewish stock. This policy is seen in the cases of Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, etc., and doubtless ex­ isted to a large extent in less notable cases that are not seen. Infusion of the best Gentile blood has always been an important incidental of Jewish stirpiculture. We have, then, as the result of this historical view, two principles contrasted and yet cooperative—breeding in and in the first law, and foreign infusion the second; the first controlling, the second excep­ tional. These are precisely the two laws, as we have seen, that Darwin and the cattle-breeders are promulgating. And to complete the par­ allel, we can even discern in the two widely-separated colonies of Terah’s descendants, and the interbreeding between them in the times of Isaac and Jacob, an arrangement exactly like the separate conserva­ tories recommended by our modern authorities to eliminate the evils of breeding in and in. So that the essential laws of scientific propaga­ tion, as developed in animal breeding, have, in this renowned instance, already been carried over to human beings, and have produced the most perfect race in history. Though it must be conceded that, in the present state of human passions and institutions, there are many and great difficulties in the way of our going back to the natural simplicity of the Hebrew fathers or forward to the scientific simplicity of the cattle-breeders, yet it is important to know and remember that these difficulties are not physio­ logical, but sentimental. As the old theologians used to say, our in­ ability to obey the law of God is not natural, but moral. We are too selfish and sensual and ignorant to do for ourselves what we have done for animals, and we have surrounded ourselves with institutions cor­ responding to and required by our selfishness and sensuality and igno­ rance. But for all that we need not give up the hope of better things, at least in some far-off future. If the difficulties in our way were natural and physiological, no amount of science or grace could ever overcome them; but as they are only passional and institutional, we may set the very highest standard of thorough-breeding before us as our goal, and believe that every advance of civilization and science is carrying us toward it. �114 SCIENTIFIC PROPAGATION. The advantage of holding on to our birthright of hope lies in the fact that it keeps us in the way of free thought and free discussion. We cannot agree with Galton that “it would be writing to no useful purpose to discuss social arrangements that are alien and repulsive to modern feelings,” and that we must confine our attention “ to agencies that are actually at work.” True science does not thus wait on human movements. We hold that the very highest premiums ought to be offered for new social inventions favorable to the scientific propagation of human beings. And the freest discussion of such inventions would not necessarily involve any treason to existing society, while it would gradually and safely prepare transitions which are inevitable. And now,, as liege subjects of that great law which we have, been bringing to view, and which is manifestly pressing on all men both by analogy and by direct demonstration, we propose to set an example of free thought and free discussion, by criticising some of the institutions that confront that law, and by looking beyond them as far as we can toward measures which in time to come may lead on to full obedience. 1. Undoubtedly the institution of marriage is an absolute bar to scientific propagation. It distributes the business of procreation in a manner similar to that of animals which pair in a wild state ; that is, it leaves mating to be determined by a general scramble, without attempt at scientific direction. Even if the phrenologists and scientific experts had full power to rearrange the pairs from time to time according to their adaptations, there would still be nothing like the systematic selec­ tion of the best and suppression of the poorest, which is perfecting the lower animals. How much progress would the horse-breeders expect to make if they were only at liberty to bring their animals together in exclusive pairs ? As we have already intimated, marriage ignores thé' great difference between the reproductive powers of the sexes, and restricts each man, whatever may be his potency and his value, to the amount of produc­ tion of which one woman, chosen blindly, may be capable. And while this unnatural and unscientific restriction is theoretically equal for all, practically it discriminates against the begt and in favor of the worst ; for while the good man will be limited by his conscience to what the law allows, the bad man, free from moral check, will distribute his seed beyond the legal limits as widely as he dares. Moreover there is a fundamental fallacy in the pet theory of the halfwayists that science may somehow be insinuated into marriage by instructing the upper classes how to mate judiciously. For what is gained in one quarter by such management must be lost in another. The principle of the case may be seen better in a small example than in a large one. Suppose we have simply four candidates for pairing instead of four millions— viz., a superior man and a superior woman, and an inferior man and an inferior woman. The advocates of judicious mating would bring about a union between the superior man and the superior woman ; and �SCIENTIFIC PROPAGATION. 115 this pair doubtless would have some fine children. But this arrange­ ment would also compel a union between the inferior man and the inferior woman, and they would certainly have some very poor chil­ dren. How much would be gained on the whole by this operation, especially if, as generally happens, the inferior pair should prove to be most prolific ? So on the large scale, the lucky ones who get the good mates of course leave the refuse to the unlucky ones; and the result is simply no progress, except that of “making the rich richer, and the poor poorer.” We are safe every way in saying that there is no possi­ bility of carrying the two precepts of scientific propagation into an in­ stitution which pretends to no discrimination, allows no suppression, gives no more liberty to the best than to the worst, and which, in fact, must inevitably discriminate the wrong way, so long as the inferior classes are most prolific and least amenable to the admonitions of sci­ ence and morality. What then ? Are we necessarily the enemies of marriage because we say these things ? By no means. We still concede that marriage is the best thing for man as he is. It is the glory of marriage that it utilizes the passions of men so as to make them provide homes for women and children. This is a prime necessity of propagation, scien­ tific or unscientific, and must be well cared for at all events, even if we have to postpone the application of science to improvements in repro­ duction. Animals are perfected, as we said at the beginning, by atten­ tion to two things—training and blood. Thus far training, with home as the indispensable means of training, has been necessarily the main object of human institutions, and doubtless marriage has been the best arrangement that could be devised for this single end. But it certainly is not adapted to the final and superior object of improving blood. We give marriage the credit that belongs to it, and hope it may remain till institutions shall be devised that shall provide for both training and blood. 2. As the general law of marriage forbids breeding from the best, so the special law and public opinion against consanguineous marriages forbids breeding in and in. And as there is no sure line of demarca­ tion between incest and the allowable degrees of consanguinity in mar­ riage, the tendency of high-toned moralists is generally to extend the domain of the law of incest, and so make all approach to scientific propagation as difficult as possible. Thus there have been movements in various quarters within a few years to place marrying a deceased wife’s sister under the ban of law; and the State of New Hampshire has quite recently forbidden the marriage of first cousins as incestuous. At the same time it must be acknowledged that an opposite tendency has manifested itself among scientific men in Europe and in this coun­ try. The pressure of analogy from animal-breeding has led physiolo­ gists and ethnologists to re-examine the old doctrines in regard to con­ sanguineous connections, and venture on some resistance to the pre­ �116 SCIENTIFIC PROPAGATION.» vailing ideas of incest. This is done very carefully, of course, so as not to give shocks. The most that has been attempted has been to defend the marriages of cousins, dropping an occasional hint in extenuation of the pairing of uncles with nieces. A memorable controversy on this line was in progress some years ago among the savants of France, in the course of which Dr. E. Dally read before the Anthropological Society of Paris a learned article, entitled “ An Inquiry into Consan­ guineous Marriages and Pure Races,” which article was afterwards pub­ lished in the “Anthropological Review” of London (May, 1864), and was pronounced “excellent” by Mr. Darwin. To show how far the scrutiny of the old doctrines has proceeded, we extract from this article as follows: “ A distinguished pupil of the Paris hospitals, M. B----- , has communicated to me a case of consanguineous marriage drawn from his own family. I here give a copy of his note on the subject: “ ‘ It seems, from information which has been handed down to me by my family, relating to a period of about one hundred and fifty years (i. e., counting from the great-grandfather of my father), that five generations have married among their first cousins; the degree of relationship has never descended beyond the first cousins, excepting in two cases, where the daughters of first cousins have been mar­ ried by their second cousins. These five generations have contracted a certain num­ ber of marriages which I am not able to particularize, and in which the mean num­ ber of children has been three or four. The total number of branches as direct as collaterals has been one hundred and twenty to one hundred and forty. There has been no idiot or deaf-mute, met with. I may add that the number of branches is the more surprising since a great number of them have devoted themselves to a life of celibacy, or have made religious professions.’ * * * “M. Périer has mentioned, according to M. Yvan, the beauty of the inhabitants of the island of Reunion, who descend from a few couples only, and yet have known how to preserve their purity of blood. Most of the French colonies, where they are prosperous, offer the same character ; in fact, we may remark even in France itself, isolated spots or isolated groups of individuals in the heart of a mixed population ; there are very few travelers who have not noticed it, and this has never been with a view of establishing their degeneracy. Among this number are most of the little fishing villages on the coast of France, where the sailor-popu­ lation lives side by side with the agriculturists, without ever marrying among them. Such is Pauillac (Gironde), about which my friend, Doctor Ferrier, has written me a letter, from which I take this extract: ‘Pauillac contains one thou­ sand seven hundred inhabitants ; most of them are robust, vigorous, and well-made sailors ; the women are renowned for their beauty aud the clearness of their com­ plexion. There is, perhaps, no other place in France where consanguineous mar­ riages are more frequent, and where the case of military exemption is more rare.’ The inhabitants of Batz are either workers in salt-pits or fens. Their hygienic con­ dition is admirable, and misery is unknown in the country. I find, besides, from my notes, that there are very few of the inhabitants who are relatives beyond the sixth degree; for the most part their relationship is of the third or fifth degree: the children are numerous, and average from two to eight in each marriaga1 “ M. Subler, in a recent journey, has been able to establish the extraordinary beauty of the inhabitants of Gaust, in the valley of Assau, in the midst of the Pyrenees. The custom of marrying relations is so inveterate among them that, before marrying an inhabitant of another commune, the young men of Gaust ask permission of the chief men of the place. Our friend, M. Maximin Legrand, has mentioned the same facts about the town of Ecuelles, near Verdun-sur-Saone : and �SCIENTIFIC PROPAGATION. 117 I tliink I could quote a hundred, perhaps a thousand, places in France which fulfill the same conditions.” * In the course of his article Dr. Dally discusses the pure races, such as the European aristocracies and the Jews, and concludes that in these examples vital power and beauty have been the result of close interbreeding. There has been quite recently a notable tendency to similar discus­ sions and conclusions among physiologists in this country; and we have late news from England that Parliament has finally legalized the marriage of a deceased wife’s sister. So far there is certainly a weaken­ ing of the barriers against scientific propagation. 3. Besides the general difficulties which science has to contend with in the laws of marriage and incest, defended by the whole mass of religionists and moralists, there are particular sects which sin against tbe law of scientific propagation in special ways, and with a high hand. Let us look at some of them. The Catholic Church forbids its priests to marry. But its priests are its best men. Therefore the Catholic Church discriminates directly and outrageously against the laws of scientific propagation. In effect it castrates the finest animals in its flocks. It encourages the lowest scavenger to breed ad libitum, and forbids Father Hyacinthe to leave a single copy of himself behind him. We join Galton in the following invective: “ The long period of the dark ages under which Europe has lain, is due, I believe, in a very considerable degree to the celibacy enjoined by religious orders on their votaries. Whenever a man or woman was possessed of a gentle nature that fitted him or her to deeds of charity, to meditation, to literature, or to art, the social condition of the times was such that they had no refuge elsewhere than in the bosom of the Church. But the Church chose to preach and exact celibacy. The consequence was that these gentle natures had no continuance, and thus, by a policy so singularly unwise and suicidal that I am hardly able to speak of it with­ out impatience, the Church brutalized the breed of our forefathers. She acted pre­ cisely as if she had aimed at selecting the rudest portion of the community to be, alone, the parents of future generations. She practiced the arts which breeders would use who aimed at creating ferocious, currish, and stupid natures. No won­ der that club-law prevailed for centuries ovei’ Europe ; the wonder rather is, that enough good remained in the veins of Europeans to enable their race to rise to its present very moderate level of natural morality.” The Shakers are in the same position with the Catholics. They claim to be the noblest and purest people in the world, a sacred gene­ ration, raised by grace high above the rest of mankind; and yet, with full powers to propagate their kind, they virtually castrate themselves, and expend their labors and wealth on their own comfort and on mis­ begotten adopted children, leaving the production of future genera­ tions to common sinners.» Doubtless they excuse themselves by appeal­ ing to the examples of Jesus and Paul; but they wrong those martyrs of the past. Jesus and Paul were soldiers who had not where to lay their heads, and well they might refrain from taking women and chil­ dren into their terrible warfare. But the Shakers live in peace and �118 SCIENTIFIC PROPAGATION. plenty, having the best of houses, farms and barns, and actually breed the best of horses and cattle. So that they have no such excuse as the early Christians had for refusing to breed men. We doubt not that they are sinning in ignorance; but that only makes it the more our duty to tell them that, with their large communistic conservatories, and their material and spiritual wealth, they are just the people to take hold of scientific propagation in earnest, and in advance of the rest of the world; and they could not do a better thing for themselves or for mankind than to expend the vast fund of self-denial and cross-bearing purity which they have accumulated in celibacy on a conscientious and persevering effort to institute among themselves the noble art of breed­ ing from the best. It is curious to observe that while the law of scientific propagation on the one hand thus criticises some of the holiest institutions and sects, on the other it finds traces of good in some of the vilest forms of existing society. For instance, polygamy, so far as the fact of obtain­ ing and supporting many wives implies that a man is superior to his fellows, is an approximation at least to nature’s wild form of breeding from the best, which is more than can be said of monogamic mar­ riage. Again, slavery is always more or less a system of control over propagation; and so far as the interest of masters leads to selection, like that practiced in animal-breeding, it tends to the elevation of the subject race. Probably the negroes have risen in the scale of being faster than their masters, for the same reason that horses and cattle under man’s control rise faster than man himself. Even common licentiousness, cursed as it is, is sometimes not without compensations in the light of the propagative law. It is very probable that the feudal custom which gave barons the first privilege of every marriage among their retainers, base and oppressive though it was, actually improved the blood of the lower classes. We see that Providence frequently allows very superior men to be also very attractive to women, and very licentious. Perhaps with all the immediate evil that they do to morals, they do some good to the blood of after generations. Who can say how much the present race of men in Connecticut owe to the number­ less adulteries and fornications of Pierrepont Edwards ? Corrupt as he was, he must have distributed a good deal of the blood of his noble father, Jonathan Edwards; and so we may hope the human race got a secret profit out of him. Such are the compensations of nature and Providence. Dare we now look beyond present institutions to the possibilities of the future ? We may at least point out briefly the main boundaries of what is needed and must come. The institutions that shall at some future time supercede marriage and its accessories, whatever may be their details, must include certain essentials, negative and positive, which can be foreseen now with entire certainty. In the first place they must not lessen human liberty. Here we touch the main point of difference between the cases of animals and �SCIENTIFIC PROPAGATION. 119 men, and the point of difficulty for our whole problem. Animals, under the unlimited control of man, can easily be kept apart and brought together as science prescribes. But man as a race has no visible superior. That fact declares that his destiny is self-government. And in accordance with that destiny, the institutions that scientific propagation waits for must be founded on self-government. The liberty already won must not be diminished, but increased. If there is to be suppression, it must not be by castration and confinement, as in the case of animals, or even by law and public opinion, as men are now controlled, but by the free choice of those who love science well enough to “make themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake.” If mating is to be brought about without regard to the senti­ mental specialities that now control it, this must be done only for those whose liberty consists in obeying rational laws, because they love truth more than sentimentalism. There is another thing that the institutions of the future must not do; they must not injure home. Here we touch another point of difference between the cases of animals and human beings. Man has a social nature that demands very different treatment from that of animals. The best part of human happiness consists in sexual and parental love, and the best part of human education consists in the training of these passions in the school of home. That school must not be superceded or weakened by the new arrangements, but must be honored more than ever. Can this be done consistently with the changes which scientific propagation requires ? That is the hard question which science has now to solve. We offer but a hint toward its solution. If home could be enlarged to the scale, for instance, of the Shaker families, and if men and women could be taught to enjoy love that stops short of propagation, and if all could learn to love other children than their own, there would be nothing to hinder scientific propagation in the midst of homes far better than any that now exist. The Shakers claim that by making the Church the unit of society, they have the best of homes even now, without enjoying sexual and parental love in the direct way. How much more complete might be their home-life if they should some time heed our suggestion, to introduce home-propa­ gation in the self-denying way which science requires, and for which their long cross-bearing has prepared them. Something of this kind, undertaken by intelligent and conscien­ tious men, endowed with abundant wealth, and under the sanction of government, may ultimately combine home and liberty, with scientific propagation. And it is for such inventions as this, or others more per­ tinent and hopeful, that discussion ought to be set free, and kings and congresses, social science societies, ethnological societies, philanthro­ pists of all kinds, and rich men who wish to dispose well of their money, should be offering the very highest premiums. At all events the practical difficulties of our problem must not turn �120 SCIENTIFIC- PROPAGATION. us away from the study and discussion of it. The great law which Plato and Darwin and Galton are preaching, is pressing hard upon us, and will never cease to press till we do our duty under it. And the need of doing something' for the radical improvement of humanity is imminent. Galton calls earnestly for a new race. Hear his appeal: “ It seems to me most essential to the well-being of future generations, that the average standard of ability of the present time should be raised. Civilization is a new condition imposed upon man by the course of events, just as in the history of geological changes new conditions have continually been imposed on different, races of animals. They have had the effect either of modifying the nature of the races through the process of natural selection, whenever the changes were sufficiently slow and the race sufficiently pliant, or of destroying them altogether, when the changes were too abrupt or the race unyielding. The number of the races of man­ kind that have been entirely destroyed under the pressure of the requirements of an increasing civilization, reads us a terrible lesson. Probably in no former period of the world has the destruction of the races of any animal whatever been effected over such wide areas, and with such startling rapidity, as in the case of savage man. In the North American continent, in the West Indian islands, in the Cape of Good Hope, in Australia, New Zealand, and Van Diemen’s Land, the human denizens of vast regions have been entirely swept away in the short space of three centuries, less by the pressure of a stronger race than through the influence of a civilization they were incapable of supporting. And we too, the foremost laborers in creating this civilization, are beginning to show ourselves incapable of keeping pace with our own work. The needs of centralization, communication, and culture call for more brains and mental stamina than the average of our race possess. We are in crying want for a greater fund of ability in all- stations of life, for neither the classes of statesmen, philosophers, artisans, nor laborers are up to the modern complexity of their several professions. An extended civilization like ours comprises more in­ terests than the ordinary statesmen or philosophers of our present race are capable of dealing with, and it exacts more intelligent work than our ordinary artisans and laborers are capable of performing. Our race is overweighted, and appears likely to be drudged into degeneracy by demands that exceed its powers.” In another point of view, a tremendous crisis is upon us. The socialisms and spiritualisms which have engaged public attention in the last thirty years seem to have weakened the very constitution of society. Free love, easy divorce, foeticide, general licentiousness, and scandalous law-trials in high life, are the symptoms of the times. Many believe that marriage is dying. • Is it not remarkable that in this state of things the loud call for scientific propagation is rising ? Is there not a rational and even Providential connection between these phenomena ? If the powers above are summoning us to the great en­ terprise of peopling the planet with a new race, why should not the old institutions, which are too narrow for such an enterprise, be pass­ ing away ? The birth of the new always comes with agony and rup­ ture to the old. At all events, whether the time for the decease of marriage has come or not, let us not doubt that it must come before the will of God can be done on earth as it is in heaven; and let us be ready, when it does come, to make sure that the formative idea of the dispensation to come after it shall be nothing less than scientific propagation. � 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 A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; 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 An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data 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 A name given to the resource Scientific propagation Description An account of the resource Place of publication: [New York] Collation: [97]-120 p. ; 26 cm. Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Printed on blue paper. From Modern Thinker, no. 1, 1870. John Humphrey Noyes was an American preacher, radical religious philosopher, and Utopian socialist. Please note that this pamphlet contains language and ideas that may be upsetting to readers. These reflect the time in which the pamphlet was written and the ideologies of the author. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Noyes, John Humphrey, 1811-1886 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource [1870] Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available [American News Company] Subject The topic of the resource Eugenics Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <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 (Scientific propagation), 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> Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5417 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Biology Conway Tracts Eugenics Evolution https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/70f6e4d873a3f0b734c9f21ba161275c.pdf?Expires=1779321600&Signature=DkGOmj7LyZH%7EnUghetUTzuJRx0Q6VId1Bn%7E9LZLg-hhT57sC17EptqVD4Rh16V8PQNsqLCmq2EXNTT5MHdTijitFHRzLjkhUBbr4shPDJG0WODeF6yIYD1er9Ov%7EYLtC676L3WasEWyYVg5YTnYVVndbBQwz4YKnbAxb8gorgWE-x-6hP3loipu3nluTH8keCJ8b3YoOasmiOsppZgTaFPi1GlpFIMUmZrwBQFhhR12XzjyRhjtABvHxuYor1FFPJPMOWnRqc-kjSBBJIJRH1m%7EcVAEM4ONrSLPedIdYmIzFcXMg9gGBys7ieb87kCAORVKqoZ3%7EqF8LHu4KD8evrw__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM a675ff9bc82832b1c071810cc0caa586 PDF Text Text ������� 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 A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; 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 An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data 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 A name given to the resource Frauds in reprints Description An account of the resource Place of publication: [New York] Collation: [246]-247 p. ; 26 cm. Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. From Modern Thinker, no. 1, 1870. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available [American News Company] Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource [1870] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5731 Subject The topic of the resource Publishing Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource [Unknown] Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <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 (Frauds in reprints), 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 The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Books and Reading Conway Tracts Knowledge https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/fd8fb317c461200c4707d38b0e3d0646.pdf?Expires=1779321600&Signature=ND4I8xOhWp-dNvamdkzKv4WJGYUJTYJNuVqoYux26kdSWc3lBW7Av6TeaJIEBWhFQ8SEhmvg%7EYj%7ESw5HzQjtAr7oQcoll5N8IKtXdhYcjPeztzfutYqWHJ2wJ2M9t17hFTLX9czMo69DJyWINovvWpfolMVHSi0D13qIstDJ2mHjoFNhnSzjBX5Q%7Ehn5BTDektl2uY4L7LSEYYaj4Ae6ZuLKt918gsV7GJKh-Oz1xhQkZsUZ6oa7iYZtv5rymchrp5ApSEkTa6jd8WtLBo2QCLyk%7E6iKu266qaB-CD13D938eWaqGTqHoruBla-3shbUQIygE-Z30H25VgJw4ALH6w__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 4d7fc74261fd397a434a570cb1038c4a PDF Text Text REBUILDING THE TEMPLE. BY SALEM DUTCHER. T is proposed to offer some suggestions for the better government of these United States. I The Money Power.—I. Under the present system the Senate consists of 74 members and the House of 243. A majority in either body, or 38 in the Senate and 122 in the House, constitute a quorum; and a majority of a quorum, or 20 in the Senate and 62 in the House, can pass any appropriation bill. It is suggested that the rule should be a two-thirds vote, or, as the figures now stand, 50 in the Senate and 162 in the House. This would forbid the slipping through of appropriations “ on a thin house,” and impede, if not prevent, appro­ priations for party purposes. e . II. The President has no option as to the items of an appropriation; he must approve all or reject all, and to remedy the evil growing out of this—called “sandwiching,” or the insertion of corrupt items in a bill otherwise fair and right—it is suggested that he should have the power to approve any appropriation and disapprove any other appro­ priation in the same bill, returning the disapproved items as in the case of any other veto. . III. A practice has grown up in Congress of appropriating the pub­ lic lands, money, and credit to private railway companies, which com­ panies while constructing their roads out of the property of the people of the United States, yet charge said people for the use of said roads as fully as if they had been built with the companies’ own private means. The corruptions superinduced by this practice are even more signal than the injustice it embodies of charging the people for the use of their own property; and it is suggested that Congress should be strictly inhibited from any loan or gift of the lands, money, or credit of the United States to any person, association, or corporation for the pur­ poses of internal improvement. New States.—The Senate consists of two representatives—aptly termed ambassadors—from each State, and by reason of this equality all the States are governmentally upon a par. On any given bill the one member in the House from Nevada may vote no, and the thirty-one members from New York vote aye, thus— supposing the vote of the House otherwise to be equally divided—carrying the measure by thirty majority; but on reaching the Senate the two Nevada senators are �182 REBUILDING THE TEMPLE. equal in their votes to the two from New York, and so far as any measure turns on the States in question, Nevada puts New York at a dead-lock. The chain being no stronger than its weakest link, it thus appears that the political superiority of a large State to a small one is more fanciful than real, and in this view the immense importance of admitting a State may be perceived. And yet, just as twenty-five per cent of Congress may appropriate millions, the same small proportion can bring in new States. The temptation so to do for the purpose of retaining or enlarging party power is one that these few years past haye shown to be irresistible, and it is therefore suggested that no new States should be admitted save by a two-thirds vote of both houses, the Senate voting by States. The Presidency.—Under the present system the President is eligible indefinitely, and experience has proven that no sooner is a man chosen to the chief magistracy than he uses the powers of that office to secure a re-election. It is suggested, therefore, that the President be not re-eligible. Office.—The practice of putting up the public employments of the United States as a prize for the victorious party at each presidential election is too notorious an evil to need exposition. An efficient, faith­ ful, and necessary public officer should not be removed so long as his services are necessary, trustworthy and competent, always excepting members of the Cabinet and persons in the diplomatic service, the nature of whose employ renders it proper that the executive should have the power to remove them at pleasure. Saving these, it is sug­ gested that all public officers should be removable by the appointing power when their services are unnecessary, or for misconduct or ineffi­ ciency, and not otherwise. On this as a basis a civil service, which is. an institution of slow growth, might be reared. The Treaty Power.—Under the present system, it is the preroga­ tive of the President, “by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the senators present concur.” As this latter clause puts it in the power of two-thirds of a quorum, or but a fraction over one-third of the whole number of sena­ tors, to concur in the making of any treaty proposed by the executive, it follows, as the law now stands, that the President and any 26 out of the 74 senators may conclude a treaty which shall be as binding upon the United States as the Constitution itself. By such treaty, further­ more, the faith of the United States may be pledged to the payment of any large amount of money—as witness the $7,000,000 in gold coin for Alaska—without any consultation with, or consent by, the House, which is supposed to be so peculiarly the guardian of the public wealth that all bills for raising revenue must originate therein, and on such pledge the House is reduced to the alternative either of repudiating the same and thus staining the credit of the republic, or acceding to an appropriation which it may not approve either in object or amount. �REBUILDING THE 183 TEMPLE. To do away with the evils of so anomalous a disposition of powers, it is suggested that in case a proposed treaty calls for money, the concur­ rence of the House by a two-thirds vote thereof should be obtained as to so much of said treaty as regards the contemplated expenditure, and then that two-thirds of all the senators elected to the Senate concur in the treaty as a whole; all treaties not calling for money beyond a cer­ tain merely ministerial amount, say $50,000, to be concurred in by a majority of all the senators elected. Representation.—Coming to the House, which is supposed to repre­ sent population, it appears that though the popular vote at the presi­ dential election of 1868 was 2,985,031 Republicans to 2,648,830 Demo­ crats, the representatives stand 164 Republicans to 70 Democrats, instead of 129 Republicans to 114 Democrats, as it should have been on the ratio of the popular vote. This disproportion is due much less to a defect in, than to an interference with, the electoral system. But for extraneous violence the elections of 1868 would have given the compo­ sition of the House as 124 Republicans to 119 Democrats, which would fairly enough have represented the popular vote as above given. As regards the general result, therefore, it does not appear but that the present electoral system, if respected, would give a representation in the House consonant with the political ‘ complexion of the republic at large; but, on coming to particulars, it is evident that the representa­ tion of the several States is not always a fair reflex of party strength within them. Thus, the actual and proportionate representation respectively of Massachusetts and Kentucky as compared with the strength of parties within those States, is as follows : VOTE. REPRESENTATIVES. Proportionate. Actual. Hep. Massachusetts, . . . Kentucky, . . . . Dem. R. D. R. D. 132,000 40,000 63,000 116,000 7 2 3 7 10 0 0 9 To provide against such nullification of the minority as this is the aim of minority, or proportional, representation, of which, as the elec­ tion of Representatives is purely a State matter and this paper regards the Federal polity alone, nothing will be said save so far as respects the effect of minority representation on the House. It is carefully to be borne in mind that, while proportional representation may give the minority more voice, it by no means follows that it necessarily gives that minority more power. Somewheres the majority must rule, and that place is the representative body. On the subject of representation, it is suggested that, whatever good results may enure to particular States from proportional representation, a correct reflex in the House of the whole country can be best obtained by a removal of all present re­ straints upon the electoral system set forth in the Federal Constitution and a relegation of the people of the United States to their original un­ fettered right of selecting as their representatives whom they please. �184 REBUILDING THE TEMPLE. The best practical manner of carrying into effect the suggestions of this paper need not now be touched. For the present it is sufficient to commend them on their abstract merits to the public attention. REMARKS BY EDITOR. In giving place to Mr. Dutcher’s paper, I wish to say, that while I heartily approve of all the suggestions he makes, I do not believe their adoption would restore health to the body politic. The disease is moral, not political ; the difficulty is not so much with the machinery as with the driving power. All our legislative bodies, municipal, state and national, are corrupt because the moral sense of the American people has been debauched by a series of unfavorable influences. Among these may be mentioned : 1. The decay of theology. The Protestant sects in their days of vigor and virulence did supply a sort of moral sense to the community which has been gradually weakening with the growth of liberalism and the accumulation of proofs of the unsoundness, historically and scien­ tifically, of the current theological dogmas. The belief in a hell was a low motive to influence conduct, but it had its effect when men had a real fear of eternal torments. 2. The anti-social and individualistic character of the philosophy which underlies American institutions is beginning to bear its bitter fruit. In the American conception, the individual is everything—he is the centre of the universe; hence egotism, selfishness, the pursuit of individual good without regard to the general welfare, The Human Rights dogma, carried out logically, can have no other result than social and political anarchy. The Transcendental Philosophy, so-called, Liberal Christianity; the writings of Channing, Parker, Emerson, Beecher and Frothingham, all help in this movement toward chaos and the moral death of the nation. 3. The ease with which wealth is acquired in this age of invention and machinery, and the universal belief in that most damnable of all the doctrines of the political economists, that property is a personal appendage and not an institution to satisfy social needs, is turning the whole nation, women as well as men, into mere selfish money grubbers. All Americans are on the “ make.” The only hope is in the growth of a religion and a philosophy more in accord with the higher instincts of humanity. These in time will indicate a polity which will restore health and soundness to the state. The outlook to the political philosopher is very gloomy, so far as the immediate future is concerned. We have entered upon an era of cor-' ruption; of public and private dishonesty appalling to contemplate. Fraud will abound and violence, I fear, will accompany it. Let the reader cut this out and paste in his common-place book to read ten years from now. � 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 A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; 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 An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data 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 A name given to the resource Rebuilding the temple Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Dutcher, Salem Description An account of the resource Place of publication: [New York] Collation: [183]-184 p. ; 26 cm. Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Printed on blue paper. The article concludes with a page of editorial comment on the content from D. Goodman, the editor of Modern Thinker. From Modern Thinker, no. 1 1870. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available [American News Company] Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource [1870] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5428 Subject The topic of the resource Government USA Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <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 (Rebuilding the temple), 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 The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Conway Tracts United States-Politics and Government https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/d868816dc7f799dda9cfc03f3beb7528.pdf?Expires=1779321600&Signature=ZeUBYW8isME7nj%7Ey4B-zyWJbu4aeSyJXUPZ2eTo30ZBhA5j0HdY4EgKZ7voVSkTT1DJ29yHFxM6u1VBbHfZ7YZWQvd6GzUoOYel0vkv7G%7EIY23eigKdJ0JtLtiscy%7E451wBuaIyY0pKyqYsFWlOkl%7EXec5lragvZMc666pS9dwKwh9e4-IrBlL8k-IyS%7E1lqq0THvYqm9F51sp8po2Z6ImRtmvmnlomJCuCtDkizSKQx2lqFm87C%7E5xbEg%7EPQJjpMNPPOinUhJk4I8RxI7I7NqJAigOzPWupSl6oZENKneiXzxq%7EPpQCrufu8tK72vqpcx7ABQ29Ql5Ac8NRb4OFLQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 2247ded444d94f042bbaa41f1ea3c602 PDF Text Text WHAT WE BELIEVE. A DIALOGUE BETWEEN AN INQUIRER AND AN “INCOMPLETE” POSITIVIST. I NQUIRER. I understand you do not believe in a Personal God 01 great First Cause. Positivist. We neither deny nor affirm respecting either. There may be a God such as Christians and Mohammedans gen­ erally accept as existing, but they no more than we can demonstrate the fact, if it be a fact. Inquirer. Then your religion does not recognize any God at all. Positivist. Oh yes, it does. John Stuart Mill has done us grievous injury in saying that August Comte propounded a religion without a God or a future state; whereas we, with Comte, believe in both, if allowed to define what we mean. Our Supreme Being is Humanity, whom we love and serve. We say the only God man can know, or whose existence can be- demonstrated, is the collective Man—the sum of all human personalities, past, present, and future. Inquirer. This strikes me as vague. How can you make a Thing or a Person out of what is clearly an abstract conception ? Positivist. But the human mind does very readily personify abstract conceptions. The Town, the State, the Nation, the Church are no more actual things or entities than is Humanity; yet they are—they convey a definite impression to the rudest intelligence. Now Human­ ity clearly exists as a subjective conception no less than an objective phenomenon. Inquirer. But how about the Creator? How do you account for the origin of the universe ? Positivist. We know nothing of the beginning of things. It is be­ yond our ken. So far as we know, matter and force are eternal. Science proves this in that no atom of matter can be destroyed or any force wasted. Each can take a different form, but the precise quantity or energy of the one or the other always exists in the same definite pro­ portions. Hence to the human scientific mind there never was a be­ ginning—there never can be an end. Eternity with us is a circle; in other words, the old Hindoo symbol —the serpent with his tail in his mouth. The ordinary conception is that of a straight line with a be­ ginning and end. �/ WHAT WE BELIEVE. 149 Inquirer. When you discriminate between matter and force, do you mean that there is any real difference between them ? Positivist. Oh, I speak in a popular way of course. We want what Mr. Lincoln called the “plain people” to understand us. We know of matter only through force; that is, through its changes—by the im­ pression it makes upon us; but this conception, which is simple enough to you or me, is too subtile for common comprehension, and hence we speak of matter and force as two distinct entities. Inquirer. But the ordinary conception of God must have some valid basis. Positivist. So it has. All gods are idealizations of man himself. They are man-made. Every attribute, with two important exceptions, which the human race in its past history have ascribed to its gods, is purely human. Thus love, justice, wisdom, mercy, as well as revenge­ fulness, vanity, and lust—in short, all the emotions and passions which have been attributed to Deity, are purely human. To these have been added conceptions of the Infinite and Absolute, which are extra-human. The elements which compose the popular notion of God vary with every age. The Jewish Jehovah was stern, revengeful, jealous, vain; the Christian God is a tender, loving Father; the more human or man­ like the God, the better he is—hence the noblest Deity of all is the man Christ-Jesus. In short, this brief and imperfect analysis shows us that Humanity is, after all, the only pure metal in this alloy of gods. Let us consecrate all our energies to the service of the only Supreme Being we can ever know—Humanity. There may be in addition an Infinite and Absolute Deity; we do not say there is not; but we hold with Sir William Hamilton, Prof. Mansell, and Herbert Spencer, that from the laws of our being we can never know or understand Him; He is out of all relation with us. Unlike Herbert Spencer, we regard the worship of an unknowable God as a rank absurdity. His ways cannot be as our ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts. He is for us as if he were not. Such is the verdict of modern Philosophy and Science. * Inquirer. How about Immortality? If a man die, shall he live again ? Positivist. We know we live upon this earth. We do not know that we shall continue our personal consciousness after death. It may be so, but we cannot demonstrate .it by any scientific proof. If the phenomenon of Spiritualism so-called could be proven, all would be plain sailing; but it resists scientific tests. There is, however, a real immortality which we are scientifically sure of. We know that the materials of which we are composed are indestructible. Every atom which has formed a part of this body of mine from birth to death will exist forever. And so too of the forces I generate; they cannot be lost or wasted. “ The good I do lives after me.” I live in my children—in the work I do—in what I hand down from those who came before to �150 WETA T WE BELIEVE. those who will follow me. The machine becomes unusable and decays, but the forces to which it gave birth live forever. Inquirer. But does not life lose much of its interest and glory by being confined to this earth, and the few, the very few years we spend upon it ? Positivist. We must take things as they are, and not as we would like them to be. No doubt the hope of a personal, conscious immor­ tality has done much in times past to soften and brighten the harsh lot of myriads of human beings who else would have been given over to despair from the wretchedness of their material surroundings; but notwithstanding the comfort men have got from this and other pleasant illusions, we Positivists decline countenancing the dogma of conscious immortality until it is proven. So far it has no basis of fact to rest upon. If it ever should be demonstrated, we should believe in it; but we do not think this possible. Inquirer. Do I understand you to wish to unsettle the faith of the mass of mankind in a Personal Creator of the universe and a Personal Immortality ? Positivist. By no means. The prevalent disbelief and scepticism is to us a worse symptom of the times than the current theological illu­ sions. Any religion, even the most baseless, is better than the bald atheism and materialism which is gaining such hold upon the age. We want to build up a religion to supply the -spiritual needs of man­ kind, and one which is based upon the facts of nature. The old faiths rest upon supernatural authority and revelation; the new, upon dem­ onstrated facts — in other words, upon science. The priest of the Past appealed to the Unknown; the priest of the Future will be the expounder, or rather the declarer, of the Known. Inquirer. Does the belief in a future state do any harm ? Positivist. Yes; it attracts the best and purest minds of the race away from the solution of practical problems involving human well­ being, to the consideration of insoluble questions. Now what is needed is that all the energies of the race shall hereafter be devoted to making this earth the fabled heaven. Human effort should be confined to human improvement, and to making the earth more habitable. � 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 A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; 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 An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data 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 A name given to the resource What we believe: a dialogue between an inquirer and an "incomplete" positivist Description An account of the resource Place of publication: [New York] Collation: [148]-150 p. ; 26 cm. Notes: From Modern Thinker, no. 1, 1870. From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available [American News Company] Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource [1870] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5419 Subject The topic of the resource Positivism Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <p class="western"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /><br />This work (What we believe: a dialogue between an inquirer and an "incomplete" positivist), identified by <span style="color:#0000ff;"><span lang="zxx"><u>Humanist Library and Archives</u></span></span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</p> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource [Unknown] Conway Tracts Positivism https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/80d9661234f6df58ad4ef7b5bef0d56f.pdf?Expires=1779321600&Signature=mu3Tfrdm96GP9dY76RsXPpHRgNXvARi2Q4a%7EaqzsYlu%7EoFC9tKQl51XuUW-1QJwCaeyFPgcU00zIb6HAhHa41rsbIc-oaDP7hB4V9Lz-vj1yjjCOdrE1ARI6EcJ8-h6FWdHf4OQvy4m2fpGDJK9smpJilg7iGV7asmWWAEjtGWPXUAaPJeoMjiKJozqIAGxFvalDxyHWIXfvPzGEkbq0De233Q6g3bkLQYq9LSvdMOnwe5Mo8bsw4wYEuszCmMr74ncxI-3BfD6MDLf7CLkFAuklSabSWzDcBdy5FUq1HZ29hBfDOMu7VbaYgM-iAau0D1kEgc-TRwe-YVz4Fvz0UA__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM d487a8ab46a58541204047b9e0caacc5 PDF Text Text WHAT OF THE FUTURE. BY D. G. CBOLY. INTRODUCTORY. N the chapters which follow this preface I shall try to forecast something of the future. That the attempt is a presumptous one, I am well aware; but l am certain it is quite time that some one should lead the way in showing the advantages of studying or at least speculating about our earthly hereafter. We are too apt to animadvert upon the Chinese for their elaborate worship of ancestors; but while we do not pay homage to our progenitors in a religious sense, surely too much of the attention of our best and wisest scholars and writers is given to the annals of the past. I insist that the only value of history, apart from a natural curiosity as to what has taken place on the earth before we came into conscious existence, is to give us data by which we may forecast the future. So long as the race believed that infinite Caprice in the form of supernatural and irresponsible wills gov­ erned the universe, there could be no hope of a science of history. This was impossible until the conception of universal law accounting for all phenomena, the course of human events included, became cur­ rent among the advanced thinkers of the race. We have had a good deal, especially in modern times, of what is known as the philosophy of history. Indeed all recent annalists have generalized more or less; but' their theories of events are confined exclusively to the past, and explain with greater or less accuracy what has already taken place, and why it has come about. But the age demands something in advance of this; the time has- come when the attempt at least should be made to lay the foundations of what may be termed the science of human af­ fairs. It is idle to speculate upon history and attempt to explain the laws which govern the movements of human society, without endeavor­ ing to apply the knowledge of the laws thus obtained in trying to realize in thought what may occur hereafter. In the progress of this induction I shall, of course, make many, very many, serious mistakes, but some one must make the attempt; and it is inevitable that whoever does so will help other inquirers in the same field by his very failures. There is a very natural curiosity felt by every intelligent person touching what will take place after he has passed from this earthly sphere—what our children and our children’s children will do—what T �74 WHAT OF THE FUTURE. they will probably believe—what form or forms of government will control them—what will be the material condition of the masses of mankind—what changes in the maps of the world—what inventions to aid man’s control over the forces of nature, and what effect all Wiese changes will have upon human conditions. The belief is becoming general that man himself can very largely control his own future; that the race can be, and in many respects even now is, a “ ruling prov-' idence” to itself, and that the natural laws which govern human society can be modified in their complex relations by the interposition of human will—not arbitrary will, but intelligent human volition, having definite objects in view, and itself controlled by necessary material con­ ditions. In the articles which are to follow I beg of my readers to give me their indulgence. They must understand that the field is almost wholly untrodden, and it is inevitable that some very wild guesses will be made. This much, however, I can confidently predict, that the most incredible statements I shall venture will really be the most trust­ worthy, and that I shall be more apt to make mistakes in that depart­ ment of inquiry in which I shall be least questioned ; that is to say, in speculating upon the future of religion, of the movements of popula­ tion, of the course of opinion, and of the social changes which will take place, I shall very likely be most at fault, because the data for these speculations have not as yet been formulated. The most aston­ ishing results in the future will be brought about by the command to be yet obtained by man over nature, by the discovery of mechanical and chemical appliances which will add marvelously to the happiness and comfort of the race. To illustrate: If at the beginning of this century some theorizer should have set out upon the same inquiry upon which I have dared to enter and should have speculated upon the course of opinions, the fluctuations of religion, the social changes to take place, he would probably have been heard with attention, and if his reasoning was apparently sound, would have secured many assent­ ing listeners; but if he had attempted to foretell the future of tele­ graphy or the application of steam to transportation, he would have been set down as a lunatic, a dreamer of fantastic dreams. Now, the most marvelous changes in human conditions, in the future as in the past, will be brought about by the discoveries of science as applied to the arts. What some of these discoveries may be, I shall try to state in the' papers which are to follow in this series; and just here, where I really stand upon the most solid ground, I shall seem most wild in my vati­ cinations. A simple invention may do more to alleviate certain forms of human misery than the preachings of thousands of clergymen and the wailings of as many poets. The “ Song of the Shirt ” stirred our sympathies, but the sewing machine—what pen or tongue can tell the good it has accomplished for myriads of working women ? Could the press and pulpit combined have had a tithe of the effect of this one �WHAT OF THE FUTURE. 75 beneficent invention ? But speculations as to the religious future, or the social future, will necessarily be incomplete by reason of the com­ plexity of the phenomena which will accompany them, and the as yet unformalized science of society. In the present state of knowledge— especially that which relates to the conditions of human society—the ripest and most cultivated intellect would be at fault, not only by rea­ son of the want of information, but because of his preconceived theories and notions. It is very evident that in speculating upon the future, men will be controlled very largely by their settled convictions and per­ haps by the religious faith in which they have been nurtured. Suppose, for instance, an intelligent Christian, a sceptic, and a scientist, were each to give his views upon the future ; it is very clear, that although each might mean to tell the truth, still each would give a different solu­ tion of the problem before him—none of them could help being influ­ enced by their preconceived impressions. From this cause of distrac­ tion the writer is not of course free. Indeed any scheme of the future —any hope of what is to come hereafter—must be based in great part upon a religious theory; that is, a theory which embraces a conception of the social and religious future as well as of man’s history. The science of history was not possible so long as merely super­ natural wills were understood to be the controlling powers in the uni­ verse; but with the conception of invariable law, then a science of human affairs becomes possible ; but that very conception is in itself essentially a religious one. There is still another element of uncertainty in endeavoring to fore­ cast the hereafter, and that is the surprising results which sometimes are brought about by accidental discoveries in science. The share played by accident is as discreditable to man’s invention as it is morti­ fying to his vanity. Bacon points this out in the 59th Aphorism of his Novum Organum, in which, besides giving examples, he says:— “ We may also derive some reason for hope from the circumstance of several actual inventions being of such a nature, that scarcely any one could have formed a conjecture about them previously to their discovery, but would rather have ridi­ culed them as impossible. ******** We may therefore well hope that many excellent and useful matters are yet treasured up in the bosom of nature, bearing no relation or analogy to our actual discoveries, but out of the common track of the imagination, and still undiscovered, and which will doubtless be brought to light in the course and lapse of years, as others have been before them.” ******* Conscious of his own deficiencies, the present writer cannot but think that however poor his execution may be, such a work as this can­ not but be suggestive, and may lead to the discovery of data by which we may in a measure forecast the future. It is the first serious attempt ever made to estimate accurately the forces at work in society, and to point out what may result unless new agencies are brought into play. Every existing human institution has a history which changes with �76 THE FUTURE OF MARRIAGE. the course of time. Now, in what direction do these changes tend? This is the inquiry to which the papers that follow will be a partial answer. Those who are disposed to criticise the shortcomings of what is to follow, would do well to bear in mind the acute remark of Herbert Spencer, who says: “ Not directly, but by successive approximations, do mankind reach correct con­ clusions ; and those who first think in'the right direction—loose as may be their reasonings, and wide of the mark as their inferences may be—yield indispensable aid by framing provisional conceptions, and giving a bent to inquiry.” CHAPTER I. THE FUTURE OF MARRIAGE. The relations of the sexes ; what will they be thirty, fifty, one hun­ dred years hence ? Is it possible to estimate the force of the agencies at work modifying the old ideal of the institution of marriage, and to point out what will be the probable issue ? Any one who has observed the course of modem history, cannot but have been impressed with certain tendencies concerning which there can be no chance of mistake. During the middle ages and down to the reformation, marriage was a sacrament of the church. It was God, according to this view, who brought people together, and his command was that whom he had joined no man should put asunder. Children, also, under this general theory, were a gift of God ; it was by his will and not by man’s agency that they were brought into existence. This, however, is not the modern theory of the relation of the sexes. Protestant Christendom regards marriage as a purely human institu­ tion, and each State now claims the authority to separate those whom it has joined together in the event of certain infractions of the law regulating the institution. Roman Catholicism still sternly adhères to its historical traditions of the sacramental character and to the indissolubility of marriage, but the modern theory has beaten the old church on its own ground, and in communities composed almost exclusively of its own members. Indeed, this “free love” movement was a potent force in the original outbreak against the church of Rome ; as witness Luther’s marriage with a nun, his subsequent acknowledgment of the validity of the union of a German prince to a second wife, the first being still alive ; and also the tremendous conse­ quences of Pope Clement’s refusal to divorce Henry VIII from Queen Catherine. In every modern nation the first victory over the sacerdotal power of mother church is signalized by the substitution of the civil �THE FUTURE OF MARRIAGE. Tt for the sacramental marriage, and the passage of laws admitting of divorce under certain contingencies. The recent enactment of a civil marriage law in Austria was made the occasion of a national holiday ; the Spanish revolution was signalized by the recognition of the legiti­ macy of such unions ; and the highest courts in Italy, in spite of the protests of the. church, have solemnly affirmed the legal validity of the marriage of priests. But the substitution of the civil for the sacerdotal marriage was only one step in this social revolution. The personal theory or the relation of the sexes is what now obtains the widest sanction. In this view marriage is a mere contract between two persons ; living together is a sufficient proof that the couple are man and wife. This is the American idea of marriage, which needs the sanction of neither church nor state—only the consent of the two persons directly interested to insure the respectability of the connection and legitimatize the off­ spring. Nor is this all ; this theory of mere consent giving validity to the relation involves the further consequence that a separation may ensue when either party becomes dissatisfied. If .marriage is a mere matter of human convenience or pleasure, then it can be dissolved at will ; the same persons who made the contract for their mutual happiness should have the power to dissolve it when their comfort is not enhanced by complying with its conditions. And this is the exact view taken by John Stuart Mill, who represents, probably more than any other living writer, the most advanced view of the times on all topics of social concern. And as a consequence of this growing conception of marriage as a mere personal matter between individuals, what do we see in society at large ? Why a constant tendency to loosen the ties which bind the sexes together ? The statement may be broadly made that since the reformation all legislation in modern Christendom has been in thé direction of the entire freedom of the affections. Not a single instance can be furnished of legal enactment to bind still firmer the marriage bonds, or to go back to a stricter law of divorce. On the contrary, every change or amendment of the ordinances which society imposes on the sexes for its protection and their happiness tends to make the bonds lighter and separation more easy. In our own country, which Booner than any other adopts all the so-called improvements in legisla­ tion, divorce laws are notoriously lax and the number of separations extraordinarily large. Even in so conservative, and in one sense reli­ gious a State as Vermont, there is an average of one separation to every eleven marriages, and in Connecticut (among Americans), one to nine. Of course, in other States, especially those settled by emigrants from New England, the proportion is still greater. Nor do I see in any quarter a desire to go back to a more stringent rule. There is occasionally a feeble protest from some old-fashioned �78 THE FUTURE OF MARRIAGE. divine, but the church as a body has taken no action, and seems quite willing that the marriage laws should be practically abrogated in time. And here it may be remarked that our present monogamic mar­ riage is not a Christian institution.- The Bible was written by and for a nation of polygamists. There is not a text of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, which prescribes that the man shall have but one wife, and the woman but one husband. It is true there was such a limita­ tion so far as bishops were concerned in the early church, but this Very exception proved the rule to have been otherwise. Luther recognized this in an instance I have already mentioned. And here again it must be borne in mind that the relation of the sexes is purely conventional; there is no absolute rule governing all the nations. We must dis­ criminate between a permanent and a transient morality. In all ages, and among all people, it has been considered wrong to murder, lie, or steal; but there has been no general rule recognized among men gov­ erning the relation of the sexes. It has varied widely in every age and clime. There was a time when men married their sisters, and the priests blessed the union. The law,“ Thou shalt not commit adultery,” was given to a polygamous people, and was understood very differently from the way we regard it. The brothel is deemed infamous in New York, but is a govern­ ment institution in Paris; while the tea-gardens as they are called in Japan are as respectable as the school-house or tfie temples, and are supposed to be quite as useful in their way. Hence in discussing this subject of marriage, we must bear in mind that our conventional standards are not common to the entire race, but only to a small part of it, and have not therefore the same sanction as those rules of con­ duct which are recognized universally. So far there have been the following variations of the sexual rela­ tions recognized openly or tacitly by mankind: 1. Polyandry, or several men the husbands of one wife. This was probably the prevalent institution when the race was in its infancy and still in a very savage state—when man was the hunted rather than the hunters of beasts of prey; and hence what was needed to fight the wild beasts of the forest was the strong male rather than the child-bear­ ing female. This accounts for the custom which still obtains in the East of killing female infants at birth. Polyandry is still a custom in Thibet, and in other parts of Asia. 2. Polygamy was the next form of marriage, and the one which has always been held in the highest favor by the great mass of mankind within the historic period. Probably three-fourths of the race to-day practice or tolerate polygamy. 3. Monogamy. This is undoubtedly the very highest form of the relation of the sexes so far instituted among men, and has given us the noblest types of women, as wife and mother, of the race. Some form of the monogamic marriage is always associated with an advanced civilization. �THE FUTURE OF MARRIAGE. 79 4. Concubinage. This is a real institution of monogamic commu­ nities, though in disrepute, and not recognized legally. Statistics would show, if it were possible to collect them accurately, that in all nations where the one-wife rule obtains legally, there are a certain defi­ nite number of women who act as the temporary or permanent second wives of married or unmarried men. Among the Jews the concubine was but an inferior kind of wife, which is just what the kept mistress is with us—only the position of the latter is disreputable, which was not the case with the Jewish concubine. 5. Prostitution. This is also an institution almost exclusively pecu­ liar to monogamic communities. Wherever the one-wife system pre­ vails, whoredom is an inevitable accompaniment. In modern Europe and America it is estimated that one woman in every sixty practically ignores the conventional law 'of marriage either as a prostitute or as a kept mistress, or by indulging in occasional liaisons. From the nature of the case it is difficult to get at exact figures, but it is known that each of these three classes bear a certain fixed proportion to the popu­ * lation in all single-wife communities. 6. Celibacy. It is perhaps a misnomer to class this state under the head of the relation of the sexes, when in fact it signifies'an absence of relation; but old maids form so large and growing a proportion of 'our population, that they must be considered in any discussion of the general subject of marriage, especially the future of marriage. Celibacv is probably the most cruel of all the institutions which control women; it entails vastly more physical and mental suffering than prostitution, apart, of course, from the contagion engendered by the latter, because it affects such numbers of the sex. There are probably two hundred * Since writing the above, further thought on the subject has led me to the conclusion that prostitution is simply polyandry under another name. Both insti­ tutions spring from the same real or fancied necessities of the race. In both a few women are set apart for the satisfaction of the sexual passions of many men. Poly­ andry, however, involves offspring, and is hence an honorable estate among the savages who practice it: while prostitution has no aim beyond satisfying a sexual appetite on the part of the male. The one is a permanent relation, and was and is sanctified by habit and affection; the other is a transient flirtation, in nine cases out of ten wholly animal. Concubinage also is simply the polygamy of monogamic communities. It has been said that there was more polygamy in London than in Constantinople, and this is probably true, only in the one case it is an honored in> stitution, and in the other a disreputable gratification, yet both satisfying pressing social needs. Hugh Miller, in combating the theories of progress rife in his time, attempted to prove from geology that a process of degradation or retrogression was going on as well as progression. What he did show was that upon the advent of a new race of superior beings, the one which had before held the vantage ground fell back in the scale of creation. Thus all living animal types were better represented on this planet than they have been since the advent of man. The same law seems to hold good with human institutions. Polyandry and polygamy, which were once legal and honored institutions, have become degraded in the presence of the highest form of the relation of the sexes as yet known to large masses of men, viz., monogamy; yet it must not be forgotten that prostitu­ tion and concubinage are real, permanent institutions in our present civilization, which zoill exert themselves as social forces, and which cannot be ignored by the sociologist. �80 THE FUTURE OF MARRIAGE. unmated women for every one prostitute, and in some respects the latter has an advantage over the former. Her instinct of sex is grati­ fied to the uttermost, while every purely womanly passion in the old maid, widow, or young maid unmated, is a matter of secret shame and perpetual disappointment. To make matters worse, the whole past education of women has been to train them for marriage, as their sole business in life. That so large a proportion of women are permanently unmated in our modern civilization is proof positive that the theories which have heretofore obtained touching theii’ exclusive devotion to domestic life do not meet all the wants of society. And then the num­ ber of involuntary celibates tends constantly to increase. For this there are many causes, among which are the higher standard of com­ fort and luxury, the greater industrial activity of women, and especially the emigrating tendencies of men caused by the cheapness and rapidity of modern travel. In England it is estimated that of every one hun­ dred grown women only fifty-five are married; the rest are unmated. So much for the past and the present. But now what of the future ? What changes or variations may we expect in marriage before the year 2000 ? Let us apply Comte’s concep­ tion of historical filiation or Herbert Spencer’s law of evolution to this subject, and see whither we are tending. Historically, then, it is evident that we are passing from a super­ natural to a purely human conception of marriage. It is no longer a mystic rite or sacrament; it is an institution designed to perpetuate the race and add to human happiness. All existing criticisms on mar­ riage are from a purely human standpoint. Hence the tendency is to greater individual freedom of action. All legislation, without any ex­ ception in modern Christendom, is in this direction. Individual con­ sent is now the bond between the sexes, not sacerdotal authority. The metaphysical and anarchical doctrine of human rights, now urged with so much vehemence all over the Christian world, is disintegrating mar­ riage. So much for the historical tendency, as any one can see who keeps his eyes open. And now what does the law of evolution lead us to expect ? This law is that in human institutions as well as in the or­ ganic world about us, the tendency is from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous, from the simple to the complex ; that what are at first apparently accidental variations, become at length permanent character­ istics ; in short, that a process of differentiation is constantly going on. Now, if this is true, it will lead to some consequences, in considering marriage, which will startle conservative people. Yet it is very evident that in comparing a savage with a civilized people, one of the marked distinctions will be the simplicity of the marriage institution in the one, and the complex character of the relation of the sexes in the other. A rude, simple community will tolerate but one rule or practice, but a score of variations from the conventional requirement is winked at in �THE FUTURE OF MARRIAGE’ 81 Rome, London, and Paris. As I have shown, monogamic communities are forced to tolerate Polyandry and Pologamy in the form of Pfostitution and Concubinage, but there are many variations of the sexual re­ lation that do not come under those heads which need not be par­ ticularized here, and which are practised in all civilized communities. This differentiation will, I think, go on until the scientific law or laws governing the relation of the sexes has been discovered. What these variations may be, it is now our business to try and point out. One variation of marriage is that of the present Protestant theory of the relation of the sexes carried to its logical conclusion. This in­ volves marriage and divorce at will, without recognizing the authority of any one or any organization outside of the couple most interested. Practically we have almost reached that stage now. There is nothing to hinder people separating and forming new unions, provided both parties interested are willing. The embarrassment in the way is the dependence of the woman, especially if she has children; but the equal rights agitation is teaching her self-help, and the necessity of women working and being pecuniarily independent of men. This general form of marriage may be defined as the Protestant or individual sov­ ereignty marriage, and has in itself many variations. So far it involves an idea of faithfulness to each other while living together, but if there is to be no check to individual freedom—if the man or woman is not responsible to any one but him or herself, it is no one’s business but their own with whom they consort, or how often they change partners. Thus we come to absolute free love, and there is no logical stopping­ place short of that on the prevalent individual rights theory. In a greater or less degree this is the outcome of the marriage relation in Protestant Christendom. The prevalent free-trade, no-government, and every-man-for-himself notions which are generated by our political, woman’s rights and social discussions, intensifies this tendency. Were there no children to be considered, and were women as self-helpful as men, there is no doubt that this form of the relation of the sexes would soon be very common in Protestant and sceptical communities. But the great bulk of women are not independent of men pecunia­ rily, and children will be born, however undesirable they may be deemed by those who wish to realize the theory of marriage which Protestant communities are consciously or unconsciously working out. The class of women workers, however, are constantly increasing, and in a short time tens of thousands of the sex as artists, writers, physicians, professors, teachers, and heads of establishments, will have employment which they will not give up to fill the station of life in­ volved in the old theory of marriage. Hence will come partial unions which may be for a time or for life, which may involve absolute faith­ fulness to each other or entire freedom of change. All this is certain to come about whether we like it or not, and very probably in the next generation. It is very likelv that for the next two generations the �82 THE FUTURE OF MARRIAGE. monogamic form of marriage will obtain with the great mass of people, but th«Tirregular unions I have pointed out will be not only tolerated— they will not be under any social ban, for many worthy people will, in all likelihood, deliberately rid themselves of the marriage fetters which society now imposes. I expect very soon that among the large class of professional women who will earn their own livelihood and whose oc­ cupation do not admit of household cares, it will not be deemed dis­ reputable to have children without any marriage formality. At first, of course, this will create scandal, but if it is countenanced by a few women of real character, standing, and professional reputation, it will soon be tolerated, especially if it is done deliberately and in accordance with some social and religious theory then prevailing, or which may be promulgated to sanction such practices. An assumed noble motive or religious conviction will give respectability to the wildest social aber­ rations. A man or woman of recognized professional ability, who is known to be honest, public-spirited and self-denying, could easily set a fashion of this kind, which would be generally tolerated, though not often imitated. A marriage contract for a limited time has been seriously discussed in several of the Woman’s Rights and Spiritualist journals. It is noticeable that it is the women who propose those schemes. Here is a specimen and one very likely to be tried during the coming years: Ellen Storge sends a communication to the Woman’s Advocate, of Dayton, 0., • in which she proposes the following social platform : “ 1. Let the marriage contract be limited to from one to three years, at the coi­ tion of the contracting parties. “2. Discard the erroneous idea that this contract is divine; admit that this is but a human transaction, intended to perpetuate the species and produce human happiness. “ 3. Make both parties equal; do not exact, special promises or terms from one sex to its disadvantage and the advantage of the other. Exact pledges of mutual fidelity and co-operation during continuance of the marital contract; but let love alone. Love is a sensitive, spontaneous outgrowth of the heart, subject to the con­ trol of treatment and circumstances rather than formal promises ; it is too tender, too sacred, for the public gaze. “ 4. Let the marriage contract embrace the contingency of issue, with full and unequivocal provision therefor. If one child, let its custody devolve by written and recorded agreement, void during coverture ; if two or more children, the same, or division by such agreement, provided that the party refusing to renew the expired contract, at the instance of the other party, or the offender in case of premature an nulment, shall be compelled to maintain the offspring and be the custodian thereof, at the option of the opposite party. “ 5. Enact just laws for the determination of all such contingencies as might arise under this new order of things : make them applicable only to those now un­ married ; let there be no ex post facto taint about the matter. During coverture, us also in the event of non-renewal of the contract., let each party control its own finances ; of that they shall have together amassed, let there be an equal division.” The complex marriage: ‘ this is what obtains at. present, in the Oneida Community, and is simply organized free love. Wives and w �TEE FUTURE OF MARRIAGE. 83 husbands are alike common. To make this relation practicable, as may be well understood, the very strongest social and religious influ­ ence must be brought to bear, as the tendency would naturally be toward pure- license, and a riot of the passions, with no care or even thought of offspring. It could never be even tried except in a community dominated by a strong will, or a stringent public opinion based upon a definite social and religious creed. The complex marriage involves : A non-recognition of preference between two persons of opposite sex, ex­ cept for the time being. As a consequence, “ sweet love is slain,”—that is to say, the romantic and sentimental side of that passion, which invariably involves a conception of absolute possession as well as con­ tinuance and perpetuity, is sternly reprohibited and stamped out. Love in any of its so-called higher phases, involves exclusive possession of the loved object, and this brings in jealousy, a feeling which'cannot be tolerated in a community where all the men and women are common. This necessary crucifixion of the sentimental side of love leaves merely the animal passion to be gratified, and replaces the sense of personal attachment by a conception of womanhood very different from that which now obtains. The Oneida Communists have practiced this complex marriage for some twenty years. It is the most novel experiment in the relations of the sexes ever tried, and deserves the most serious study from the sociologist. This community is also testing some of the problems of stirpiculture, or the scientific propagation of human beings. It is needless to point out the very great value of the data they are collect­ ing upon this most important of all the mysteries connected with the life of the race upon this planet. Nor is it unreasonable to suppose that the current theories with regard to scientific breeding will have their effect in giving us several new variations of the sexual relation. One well known writer has seriously proposed that married men who are conscious of their own unfitness for paternity, should introduce men of superior strains of blood to their marriage bed. “Why,” he asks, “should not a man desire splendid children in his home as well as carefully cultivated flowers in his garden, or superior animals on his farm ?” So far this has been urged privately ; but I have no doubt the writer will, in a short time, make his views public. It will seem a monstrous proposi­ tion to ninety-nine persons in a hundred, but here and there a few crotchety people may make the experiment. If public opinion would permit, there are to-day hundreds of well-to-do women who would have children by men they admire, but whom they cannot or would not marry. There is still another form of the sexual relation suggested by Madame Clémence Royer, whicfy has been described as follows : “ Her mode of mobilizing the family is to abolish the family. Woman, she says, needs and must always have a permanent abode. She cannot rove, as man can and must do ; therefore let her be no longer tied to any man in particular, or any �»4 THE FUTURE OF MARRIAGE. man to her. ‘We must then/ she says, ‘ mobilize the family, destroy its indissolu bility. This is the only way of saving it from shipwreck ; it is only in reforming courageously that we can prevent its falling into complete desuetude.’ So she pro­ poses that the marriage-contract should be dissolved on the simple request of either of the parties, and that there should be instituted a kind of marriage correspond­ ing to the confa/rreatio of the Romans, sufficient to legitimize the woman’s position and the birth of her children, but not binding on her or her husband longer than he or she pleases. The woman being the more permanent person, Madame Royer proposes that she, and not the father, should give her name to the children and be the legal head of the family, the father being relegated to a secondary position, and constituting in domestic life a kind of shadowy auxiliary, of no moral influence or weight, and not necessarily known to his children ; and the mother taking as many husbands in succession as her fancy or circumstances suggested; the result being perfect happiness, purity, and freedom for all concerned, and an end, total and com­ plete, to the quarrelings, falsehood, and oppression of the present system. The scheme is worked out with much ability, and its bearings on property and other social arrangements are fairly considered.” This may seem very chimerical now, yet it but needs a place in some religious or social scheme to have it tried almost any day. There will be other variations of the marriage relation which it is impossible to forecast now, but we may be sure that great diversity will result from the individualistic theories which now obtain. The future is in this respect anything but reassuring to the social philosopher and philanthropist; it is easy enough to write calmly and in cold blood of these possible experiments on the social relations, but they will all in­ volve much human misery and some terrible heart tragedies. For myself I have no faith in the permanence of the Individual Sov­ ereignty conceptions of the relation of the sexes. It may endure for a generation or two, but because it is individual it is necessarily anti-social, and therefore unscientific. Whatever is purely egoistic and selfish is an­ archical and self-destructive. Hence, while all these theories of marriage will be worked out,—indeed it is indispensable to the real progress of the race that they should all be tested by actual experiment,—they cannot endure after their unsoundness as solutions of the great problem have been demonstrated. For there is really a most notable problem to solve. Our present marriage relation is not what it should be; it is a makeshift, and must be scientifically reconstructed. The woes, disease, miseries, divorces and murders which are incidental to the present sys­ tem, or rather want of system, must give place to something which will work out better results, especially in the way of offspring. What that future relation may be it would be premature to point out now; it is, however, certain it will not take the form of free love, but will be an institution purer, more chaste, more self-denying, more altruistic than any form of marriage which has yet been established among men. Until the problem is solved all true reformers will watch and wait, and conform in their own lives to the noble ideal of the monogamic mar­ riage propounded by Auguste Comte—a marriage which admits of no divorce for anyjsause, and which decrees eternal widowhood to the sur­ viving partner.' �1» T E AM AS A FA CTOR. 86 CHAPTER II. STEAM AS A FACTOR IN SOCIOLOGY. The use of steam and its application to transportation are so mod­ em, that we as yet scarcely realize what wonders it has accomplished, much less the marvels it has in store for us. We know in a general way of the conveniences of railway and steam travel; but thus far no one has apprehended all the consequences which will result from this rapid method of intercommunication. We know that one of the first effects of railway traffic was to develop and enrich the centers of popu­ lation. Cities grew at the expense of the rural districts. This has been true of all parts of the world into which railroads have been intro­ duced. Another effect has been the rapid equalization of prices. The inability of agriculturists to market their crops economically at the centers of population, led in the past to great differences in prices. During the last century, and up to the first third of the present, it was a matter of frequent occurrence for all but bankrupt families in En­ gland, to retire to some rural district on the continent to recruit their fortunes, being able in that way to live on one-quarter or one-fifth of their expense at home. In theory it was supposed that the building of railroads would reduce prices at the centers of population ; but such does not seem to have been the case. The converse fact, however, is true, that it has largely enhanced prices in the rural districts. Wherever railroads have run, the prices of agricultural products have increased and have been equalized with the prices which formerly ob­ tained in the large centers and controlling markets of the world. In this country it is not so long since the cost of living away from the large cities was very small. It is within the experience of us all that as means of communication were established, country living became more and more costly. This equalization of prices is having a most important effect upon accumulation of wealth, and the relation of the city to the country. Our farming class are becoming enriched. The comparative poverty which characterized the agricultural community in the past, has given way in these more recent years to comfort and in some cases to affluence. The labor of the agriculturist is better paid and the enjoyments of civilized life have been extended to an enlarged and constantly enlarging class of people. What effect this will have upon the education, the intelligence and the refinement of the farming community, it is needless here to dwell upon. Curiously enough, while the first effect of railroads has been to build up great centers of population, it has had and is having a dispersing effect upon these same centers. For instance, New York and London have grown enormously since the general use of railroads, but, as an �V 86 STEAM AS A I .. FACTOR. offset to this packing of population, the railroad is coming in as a dis­ persive agency also. It has added hundreds of square miles to the available area of very large cities. The street railways, the dummies, and the swarm of local steam railroads, which spring up to accommo­ date the traffic between large cities and their suburbs, are having the effect of scattering dense populations. Travelers in Europe may have noticed that all the old cities, such as Edinburgh, Paris, Berlin, Vienna and others, are notable for the extreme height of the houses, many of them having from ten to fourteen stories. The reason for this packing of population upon a small area of ground, was manifestly the impos­ sibility of living at any great distance from the actual place of busi­ ness. There was a limit to the spread of population with the growth of business, and hence the people who could not be accommodated by a lateral extension, remedied the difficulty by piling story upon story of their houses. This is the secret of the “ Paris Flats,” so called, which some of our unthinking architects have been trying to intro­ duce into our American cities. The plea of necessity for either tene­ ment houses or flats no longer exists ; all that is needed is the proper extension of railroad facilities, the complete systematizing of trans­ portation of local passengers; and the ground to be occupied is practi­ cably illimitable. This is a matter of supreme importance to the resi­ dents of large citiqs, and it is one which has as yet been almost entirely overlooked. The remedy for the overcrowding of cities, is not the erection of model lodging-houses or improved tenement-houses, or “ Paris flats,” or any contrivance for packing people together in dense masses. It is to be found in the extension of our railroad system, so that every city business or working man may have his own home—his own vine and apple-tree. There is a larger view to take of the application of steam to rail­ way and ocean navigation, which also has been hardly thought out, and that is its effect upon the distribution of population. We have seen that one of the most palpable effects of railway extension is the equalization of the prices of produce ; and that further along in their history, the equalizing of the wages of labor between city and country. It will also be noticed that there is a dispersing as well as concentrating action in the development of railroad traffic. Applying this conception to the whole civilized world, we can readily see what changes may yet be made in the distribution of population. History shows us how unequal the distribution of population has been in all countries, in some deiise, in others very sparse, the cause always being the dearness and difficulty of transportation between the densely populated parts of the earth’s sur­ face and. the portions not populated at all. But steam navigation is just beginning to change all this. Its cheapness and rapidity is bringing it year by year more and more within the means of the poorer classes. One of the most extraordinary phenomena of modern times is the equalizing of populations by the emigration of vast numbers of people. �STEAM AS A FA CTOR. 87 Such voluntary-quovement of masses of men and women as have been witnessed since the introduction of steam power for the purposes of transportation, were never known or even dreamed of before. Travel has increased a hundred, aye, a thousand fold. We are still in only the beginning of these enormous movements of population from one part of the earth’s surface to another. Indeed this mighty flux of nations is to be one of the most conspicuous features of the travel of the future. When the post-horse system had reached its perfection in England at the beginning of the present century, it ia estimated that there were never more than eighty thousand persons per day traveling at any one time. It is now estimated that in England alone, the railroads are patronized by nearly one million persons per day. We have no figures touching the rapid interchange of population by means of railroads in this country, but from the general wealth of the community, and the mental and bodily activity of the people, we know that the change must have been far greater here, and it is not too much to say that five hundred persons now travel by railway for every one person who trav­ eled by stage-coach in the first years of the history of the Republic. This easily generalized fact will show us that some of the problems of modern society are to be solved by this ease of transit, in a way quite unexpected to past writers upon political economy. Free travel will b$ found to be a mightier agency for elevating pauperized populations than free trade. The common people of Ireland, of Germany, and of England have begun to find out that there is an opening on other por­ tions of the earth’s surface, and that there is no real necessity for them to remain in their old homes, and starve, when they can go elsewhere and live in abundance; and hence the armies, mightier than those com­ manded by Timour, Genghis Khan or Attila, or led by Peter the Her­ mit—armies not with weapons of war in their hands, but with instru­ ments of labor, and willing and able to work, which are on the march to attack the wild portions of the globe with the view of making them the homes of civilized peoples. Hence the rush of population to our Western Territories and the Pacific coast, the overflowing of New Zea­ land, Australia, and the Islands of the Indian Ocean, and the rapid extension of population even in South Africa. The streams, of emigra­ tion from Southern Europe which have set in toward Brazil and other parts of South America are indices of a mightier influx of population in the future. The most portentous of these changes has already com­ menced upon our Pacific coast. The Mongolians have discovered the enormous riches of California, and are only waiting for proper facilities, such as steam will yet afford, to overrun the whole of the Western coast of the United States; and if not interrupted, millions of that race will yet find their way into the Mississippi Valley, and even to the North Atlantic coast. * This article was written in 1867.—Author. �88 STEAM AS A FACTOR. It is not so difficult, though the magnitude of the result may be surprising, to forecast the effect of these changes of population upon human conditions. All can be predicted with tolerable accuracy. The agricultural poor of England are to-day the most debased of any class in Europe—are the worst fed, worst used, and worst paid. This cheap agricultural labor lies at the very basis of the aristocratic features of English landed property, and of their whole tenant system Let the emi­ gration fever once reach this lowest strata of English-Society—and it is reaching it—and a heavy blow will have been dealt at the great tenant farming interest of that country, and at the wealth of the large aristo­ cratic landed establishments. A very small advance in the wages of English agricultural laborers, will make the raising of wheat and of all the cereals an unprofitable business in that country. It has already to a great extent done so, and hence the attention which has been paid in the last fifteen or twenty years to the growth and development of supe­ rior cattle. But here again the equalizing tendencies of steam naviga­ tion comes into play. While meat is extremely dear in England and the west of Europe, owing to the density of the population and the small amount of ground available for pasture, there are portions of the earth’s surface where meat is worth scarcely anything. The problem is ¿o transport the meat from the place where it is very plenty to the place where it is very scarce. Science is now at work upon the proper method of preserving the meat; and it is believed that if this be not as yet accomplished, it is on the very point of accomplishment. Steam navigation will most certainly supply the necessary facilities for bring­ ing the cheap meat and the dear meat countries into intimate relation; and then another heavy blow will be dealt at the farming and aristo­ cratic interests of Great Britain. Wages will be raised in that country and food cheapened. But the most important problem for us to solve in connection with this coming flux of nations is, what shall we do with the millions of hea­ thens willing to work for little more than a bare livelihood, who will be swarming upon us from Eastern and Southern Asia ? What will become of our working classes if this practically inexhaustible supply of laborers be available for our industrial wants ? It is idle to talk of restrictive laws, though they will undoubtedly be tried; indeed they have been tried. The spirit of the age is all against this stoppage of emigration. We may pile act of Congress upon act of Congress, and station war-ships before every port in the Pacific, yet it would be impossible practically to prevent this influx of Chinese and Hindoos upon our western coast. Nothing will do it but the equalization of the prices of labor in Asia and America. Undoubtedly there is trouble, a great deal of it, in the future working of this question. We have already experienced some of the effects of the influx of cheap labor from Europe ; but so far, our mechanics have had such ready access to cheap lands, that the price of labor has been upheld in the fact of a very large emigration. As the �STEAM AS A FACTOR. 89 foreigners arrived and embarked in the various trades, the American mechanics started for the West and secured homes of their own. But this change of employment will soon reach its limit. It will not/ be many years before all the public lands will be taken up, and then will commence the enhancement of the price of all the lands of this coun­ try. The solution of this labor problem, it will be found, is not a local matter; it is not confined to any one country, and no one nation will be able to pass laws or create any conditions by which its own poor will be well used, well fed and properly educated, without also taking into consideration the feeding and educating of all peoples upon the globe. The trades-unions in England, despite of all that has been said against them, have really had the effect of raising the rate of wages in that country, but in all those occupations in which the unionists succeeded in banding together, they found that the chief obstacle in the way of the success of their strikes and demands for higher wages, was the ability of the English manufacturers to import laborers from France and Belgium. This has, in a measure, been prevented by the English workmen through the forming of labor-unions in Belgium and France, and by having an understanding that there should be no competition between the workmen of either of the three nations. This furnishes a hint as to the solution of this labor problem. Steam is bringing about that dream of the French socialists, the solidarity of the nations. The working classes will find out that to permanently better their condi­ tion, they must take into consideration, not only the workmen in their own locality, but the laboring class of every other population under the sun, and in time they will realize that, with the extremely rapid and cheap system of transportation which is about to obtain all over the world, there can be no very great differences of condition between the laboring population of different countries; and this fact may yet bring about that dream of the past: “ Men, my brothers, men the workers, ever reaping something new ; That which they have done but earnest of the things that they shall do.” This rapid interchange of populations will also have other and far wider effects. What becomes of local patriotism in the face of a chang­ ing fluctuating population ? The farmers in the country and the bouseholders in the city may have sentiments of local attachment, but the great trading community, the traveling and working population who have no stake in the soil—what will they care for one country more than another ? What attachment will then exist to bind them to any particular spot of earth ? Is it not reasonable to suppose that the extension of this agent of modern civilization, steam, may tend to increase the number of cosmopolitans, people who care more for the whole earth than for any particular part of it, for the race at large rather than any of its natural divisions ? Then again as to government, do we not already see that the ex­ �90 STEAM AS A FACTOR. tension of the railroad has had most important effects in changing the map of the world. The “ shrieks of locality ” are no longer heeded; state lines have no longer the sacredness formerly attributed to them. The history of modern governments is the history of the growth of centralization. All efforts of late years towards rebellion or secession have miserably failed. The South could not escape from the grasp of the North. Hungary was beaten in her attempt to separate from Austria. Ireland failed, entirely in her moral agitation to effect a repeal of the act of union with Great Britain. Not so with efforts to consoli­ date nations. Prussia to-day represents some forty smaller nationalities that existed but a few short years ago. Italy is one nation where but yesterday were six or seven. The United States Government keeps adding steadily to its possessions; Russia encroaches upon Central Asia; England extends her dominions in Southern Asia; and so as the means of intercommunication multiply, the smaller become merged in the larger nations. Contemporaneously with this enlargement of the boundaries of great states, we find another curious and hitherto unsus­ pected effect of the influence of modern steam travel, which is the extension of suffrage to larger and still larger classes of the community. There is no doubt whatever that this rapid flux of population is really at the bottom of this equalizing of men’s position as regards the gov­ ernment. In England, in America, in France, in Germany, in Italy, in Spain—in every civilized nation, we see that greater and still greater concessions are being made to the laboring population in the way of political power. But strangely enough, and yet naturally enough, if we regard it in the right light, with the extension of the voting privi­ lege to the laboring classes we see a greater concentration of power in the central authority. This follows naturally from the obliteration of localities. All can see that New York State at large, through its legis­ lature at Albany, takes the power away from New York City; that Washington absorbs much of the power formerly centering in Albany. Berlin to-day represents twenty small capitals of ten years ago. Paris, in the van of civilization, has.long been the virtual head of all France. The reason for this change is obvious. When the doctrine of States rights in this country was preached in its early vigor, Washington was in point of fact at a greater distance from the city of New York than it is to-day from the city of Delhi. In point of actual time, it took over two weeks to reach Maine from the capital, and a still greater length of time to reach New Orleans. There could be no wise govern­ ment of provinces which were so distant in point of time, where infor­ mation to head-quarters took so long to go, and commands therefrom so long to come. And this has been the real force of the argument in favor of the exclusive government of localities by the people thereof; but human conditions have changed marvelously within the last few years, and distance in relation to time is practically annihilated by the use of the telegraph, while space has been greatly abridged by the �STEAM AS A FACTOR. 91 application of steam to transportation. The telegraphic wires have become the real nerves of the human race. They communicate sensa­ tion from all parts of the body politic, and in the fullness of time there must be, as in the human organism, one great brain to which this sen­ sation will be transmitted, and which must act intelligently for all parts of the corporate body. I do not see how statesmen, political economists, and philosophers generally can avoid realizing that the mighty change in human conditions created by the use of steam will change radically (indeed is changing radically) the relations of locali­ ties to the central authority; and that while the equality of human conditions brought about by steam and electricity has had the effect to extend the right of the choice of rulers to wider circles of population, and may yet include even women, it has taken more and more power from localities, and concentrated it in the central governments. In no part of the world to-day do we see any powers taken away from the central governments; in every part of the world, with the extension of suffrage we see more and more power added to the central authority. In fact, when the active intelligent and effective part of the population are rapidly moving from place to place, locality to locality, they are no longer any better judges of the interests of that locality than are people who permanently live at a distance. If in the future, therefore, an agi­ tation in favor of local rights and State authority should prove feebler than in past times in the history of our government, it can be readily understood that this change is made by the agency of steam in effect­ ing rapid intercommunication between all parts of the country. To sum up, then, the effects of the application of steam to transpor­ tation— 1. It has built up the centers of population at the expense of the rural districts, thus stimulating the growth of large cities. 2. In its fullest development it will have a dispersive effect upon large cities, and prevent overcrowding by rendering available larger areas of country for business purposes. Cheap steam travel is the real and certain cure for the tenement-house horror, and most of the evils of overcrowding. One cheap, swift road, reaching out into the country from the heart of a great city, is a greater beneficence to the poor than could be conferred upon them by a generation of Peabodys. 3. Steam travel is equalizing the price of all commodities as well as the wages of labor. So far the effect has been to enhance prices when they were low; the reverse effect has rarely taken place; the leveling has been up, not down. This is a fact upon which depends conse­ quences most momentous to the future of the working classes the world over. 4. Steam is giving an immense impetus to emigration, and is solv­ ing the problem of over-population, or perhaps it would be more pre­ cise to say, is making that problem one upon which the whole race must sit in judgment rather than any one people. Like water, wages. �92 STEAM AS A FACTOR. prices, and population will find their level. The most momentous fact of the immediate future will be the “flux of nations,” the emigration of the laboring poor from places where land is dear to where it is cheap, and from crowded communities to sparsely inhabited settle­ ments. 5. This vast emigration will make the social future of the working class a cosmopolitan question, and will in effect bring about that dream of the continental socialists, the “ solidarity of the peoples.” 6. The railroad and telegraph, in helping to conquer time and space, is bringing about the reign of a centralized democracy all over the world. They tend on the one hand to extend the privilege of the ballot to every grown human being, and on the other to center more power in the general government. Localities are constantly getting to be of less account. Note.—The three chapters above given will form part of a book upon “ The Future,” should I ever find time to write it. One other chapter, “ By 1900, What ? ” was published in Appleton's Journal. In addition I have the rough drafts of about a dozen other chapters, the contents of which may be judged by their titles, as follows: 1. The Future of Language. 2. Synthetic Chemistry, and what it will Accomplish. 3. The Future of Money and Prices. 4. Will the Coming Man Sleep ? 5. Can Human Life be Prolonged, and How ? 6. The Food of the Future, and its probable effect upon the Structure of the Human Body. 7. On the Equalization of the Temperature of the Globe. 8. The Probable Governments of the Future. 9. The Tendency of Educational Changes. Of course the range of topics is endless, and none of them in the present state of Sociological Science can be discussed with the intelligence they demand to be made profitable as objects of serious study. The test of science, as Comte pointed out, is prevision, and the foundations of a science of human affairs canndt be said to have been begun until we are able speculatively to anticipate the future. Now all I can do is to try and point out the tendency or drift of things. I may be mistaken on every point, but of one thing I am sure—that those who follow me will succeed where I have failed. All the value I claim for my speculations is the attempt to deliberately foreeast the future. Now I firmly believe this not only can be done, but some time or other it will be done. D. G. C. �THE SEXUAL QUESTION. * T is to the conspicuous disgrace of the medical profession, that so far it has not supplied the public with any standard work upon the intimate relations of the sexes. Of all the subjects relating to the7 life of man upon this planet, there is no one of such prime importance as the generative act between the sexes. So far it has prac­ tically been regarded as a brute instinct, and an indecent shame has prevented the wise, pure and good of both sexes from fully under­ standing all about the act, as well as all the consequences it entails. The curiosity with regard’to the sexual organs and their uses, not­ withstanding this conventional, indelicate reticence, in every one con­ scious of sex is necessarily very great, but it has to be gratified illegiti­ mately. Mothers do not instruct their daughters, nor fathers their sons touching this most important of all the relations of their life, not only because of the sinful shame they feel in conversing upon such topics with their children, but because of their own amazing ignorance of the antecedents to and consequences of the act by which the race is continued. It may be broadly stated that there as yet has never been written or published in any language one comprehensive and exhaustive work upon the generative organs, their uses and abuses. Science has not yet occupied that field: it has been left to quackery and empiricism. The works appended are useful as an indication that some few physicians at least, are becoming aware that these matters must be discussed from a scientific standpoint, and that the knowledge in the possession of the medical profession must be given to the public. The real difficulty in the way, however, is the singular unacquaintance of the profession with all that relates to the sociological side of this dis­ cussion. Comte complained that in his day physicians were little better than horse doctors when they came to regard man sexually. They looked upon the male as an animal, and paid no attention to the enormous modifications brought about by society, and the course of his­ tory upon the human family. And this fruitful field is even yet left unoccupied. Now that women are getting into the medical profession there is reason to hope for some intelligent discussion of the sexual question; for it is remarkable to note that the women are far less squeamish than the men when this topic is broached in the press or on I * The Preventive Obstacle.—Dr. Bergeyet. den&r. Common Sense.—Dr. Foote. Conjugal Sin A—Dr. Garr- �94 THE SEXUAL QUESTION. the platform. All pure women feel what all artists and poets have ever felt, that there is no sin or shame in any of the legitimate gratifications of the sense of sex. And in considering this subject women seem to realize more truly than men the social aspects of the case. These are now up for comment and settlement, especially so far as they relate to the means to be used in limiting the size of families. The different methods in use to keep down population or prevent an undesirable increase in families in times past, may be summed up as follows: 1. The killing of infants after they are horn.—This is the most ancient practice, and obtains to this day in the East and in exceptional cases among the very poor in so-called civilized communities. The Spartans made a wise use of this practice to rid themselves of mal­ formed children, as well as those who should not have been generated. 2. Abortion—the killing of the foetus in the womb.—This is done to a fearful extent in all " civilized ” communities. It is a worse practice than infanticide, as it entails far more physical and moral evil. It generally injures the physical system of the mother and prevents the birth of desirable as well as undesirable offspring. Then, in spite of all efforts, a number of half-killed children are born, and live to add to the sum of human misery. Our laws tacitly recognize the right of mothers to kill their unborn offspring. Throughout Christendom there is not a law on any statute-book forbidding or punishing a woman for killing the unborn fruit of her womb. It is only those who make a business of committing abortion upon women who are dis­ countenanced by law; but all enactments on this subject are practically null. In New York city abortion is an open and lucrative profession, as witness the advertisements in the papers and Mad. Restell’s splendid mansion on Fifth Avenue. 3. Preventative measures.—George Sand is reputed to have said, apropos of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, that the great concern in the life of a Parisian woman was not “ how to conceive without sin, but how to sin without conceiving.” Omitting all notion of sin in the matter, this is the problem nearly all married couples in modern civilization are compelled to try and solve. How is it possible to nave sexual intercourse without resulting offspring ? That this is done in myriads of cases every one is aware, but can these various practices be kept up without peril to health ? As yet medical science has given no decisive or satisfactory answer; but what little the profession does say is against all attempts to interfere with the propagative act. Bergeret, Gardener, Mayer, as well as nearly all who have written on the subject, assert that all preventative measures are hurtful, and that the increase of uterine diseases among women is due to them. But it is evident from the loose popular way in which these books are written, that as yet this problem is without a scientific solution which is likely to be generally accepted. By commo’h consent it is considered desirable that �THE SEXUAL QUESTION. 95 men and women should marry in order to satisfy the most intense and exacting of all human passions; but at the same time the foremost minds of the age insist upon the necessity of married people control­ ling the number of their offspring. John Stuart Mill, who represents the most advanced wing of the political economists, never tires of bear­ ing testimony to the criminality of bringing more children into the world than the family can well take care of, and the common sense of the community supports this view. We are agreed as to the'what, but how ? asks the married men and women most interested. Science has as yet no answer; the medical profession so far as it has spoken says, “ absolute continence except when you are willing to assume the responsibilities of paternity.” Here, then, is the dilemma. All the best social influences conspire to induce people to marry; when married, every consideration of prudence -and common sense prompt them to try and control propagation; but the physicians say this cannot be done without peril to health, except by complete abstention, some­ times extending over years; for, according to Bergeret and his medical confreres, no intercourse is allowable during pregnancy and lactation, nor after the woman’s “turn of life.” Yet, every one knows that these canons of conduct in the sexual relation are universally disregarded. The Oneida communists profess to have solved this problem by what they call “ male continence.” The sexes have intercourse, but the male stops short of the emission of semen. But this is one of the practices which Bergeret declares is destructive of health. Per contra, the communists insist that they are not injured but benefited in health by this peculiar custom, which has been in vogue among them for over a score of years, and they point to their exemption from disease and longevity as compared with their neighbors, as a proof of the truth of their claim. The simple truth is, the relations of the' sexes have not yet been put under scientific co-ordination. Marriage and propagation are not subject to the “ higher law.” Hence prostitution, celibacy, polygamy, free love, disease, the gratification of mere brute instincts in marriage and out of it, and, as a consequence, the social disturbance, the propa­ gation of faulty human beings as well as the generation of hideous diseases. The work to be done is to collect all the verified facts rela­ ting to the intercourse of the sexes, and generalize the laws which con­ trol them. When we have discovered those laws, all there is to do is to obey them. In the preliminary discussions, what is needed is pure thinking and plain speaking. The tawdry sentimentalizing which dis­ tinguishes Dr. Gardener’s book, for instance, is extremely offensive. Things must be called by their right names; but it must never be for­ gotten that, as the sexual act involves the highest interests of society, it must be lifted out of the slough of mere animality and discussed from a religious point of view. �96 UNIVERSOL OGY. TEPHEN PEARL ANDREWS’S «Primary Synopsis of Universology,” embraces his scheme of a scientific universal lan­ guage. • It is a condensation of another work, covering the whole field of philosophy, as yet unpublished. I do not propose to pass any verdict upon this preliminary work. Its author makes a most tremendous claim. He alleges that he has discovered the Science of Sciences—that he has supplied the connecting link between the body of all human knowledges. In other words, he has not only discovered a new Method, but the Method of Methods. If this claim can be established, America has at length produced a philos­ opher of the very highest type—a greater than Aristotle, Bacon, Des­ cartes, Spinoza, or Comte. The audacity of Mr. Andrews’s claim can­ not but challenge attention from the scientific world. It is quite safe to predict that, whether his work has any value or not, it will be re­ ceived with a storm of derision from all the old schools of thought. The Modern Thinker, however, declines to pass a verdict until all the testimony is in. Mr. Andrews is undoubtedly a man of unusual powers of mind—he is an acute thinker, and has rare powers of persuasion and exposition. We say this much because ordinary readers who take up his book will be repelled by its terminology. Comte points out the great value it would be to mankind if all phenomena could be referred to some one law, such, for instance, as that of gravitation, but in the same chaptei’ he denies that it is possible to formulate such a law. Man is finite, and the universe is infinite, and therefore it is chimerical to expect ever to discover the secret of the grand Unity, if indeed there is a Unity. Now Mr. Andrews declares that what Comte pronounced an eternally impossible feat he has accomplished. The very splendoi’ of the claim ought to command respect, at least; but I judge it will not, and that for a long time to come he will have to submit to a good deal of abuse and ridicule. I am inclined to believe that Mr. Andrews has made a real discovery in his universal language; at least, if he has not solved the problem himself, he has pointed out how it may be done by some one else. There are about sixty-four primary sounds in all languages. Every one of these, Mr. Andrews alleges, is charged by nature with certain meanings, which he prints in his new vocabulary. The instances Mr. Andrews gives to prove his claim will carry a great deal of weight with philologists who have made a study of phonetics. As there is a science of harmony, which was not invented, but discovered, so, says our author, there is a science of sound, expressing sense, which we must find out by careful induction. When discovered, we will have the Language of Man, which must, in time, be common to the whole planet. It is possible that Mr. Andrews has been bedeviled by analogies; indeed his universology is confessedly a science of analogies; but I believe he has in this conception of a universal language hit upon something of supreme importance to the race.—D. G. S � 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 A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; 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 An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data 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 A name given to the resource What of the future Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Croly, David Goodman [1829-1889] Description An account of the resource Place of publication: [New York] Collation: [73]-96 p. ; 26 cm. Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Croly was an American journalist. From 1870 to 1873, he published the journal Modern Thinker which served as a vehicle for the positivist and Spencerian positions of himself and a small circle of colleagues. Chapter headings: The Future of Marriage; Steam as a Factor of Sociology; The Sexual Question. From Modern Thinker, no. 1, 1870.||(BND) Some uncut pages. Includes bibliographical references. Printed in red ink on cream paper. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available [American News Company] Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource [1870] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5416 Subject The topic of the resource Society Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <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 (What of the future), 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 The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Conway Tracts Future Life Industrialization Marriage Sexual Behavior https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/1efa5bccb30367732979aae0262ff448.pdf?Expires=1779321600&Signature=EBz9VbVnnqEYcopt9IFtfwukNMabGuDj05c5QFZwu7qZ3cSXl6fBuvljC9qinBf%7EcrlcUexsBK72m9HrkwdBvYuBq3JahQzFhOdcOK7lEDcfTW5qfUlZKSGRTpqWL0-T9y1qJI6CVJvEpZDzdBaSCEFsB2dBkD8BACXjyYEdxXfNR7iJ8xvOaHMNrLIRJQ6PTPH0quxrrAwM3yRus8ymtyYR5PAh1TlB35niV7WdNB46aDzvJ7LWUKNv9cOYhB1fUbMYz-1ZVPWNVkz2OtnhSSdxvsOp2wHy76nByKZ-CmGKhmoaRim1Gu0h1C%7EmgP6PXMWvSNhWMV-XhKhCKK7AIQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 394a53a2ea7bfbb42f6dbc0cc47601b5 PDF Text Text ������������������������������������������������������������������������ 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 A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; 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 An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data 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 A name given to the resource Self-contradictions of the Bible. 144 propositions, theological, moral, historical and speculative; each proved affirmatively and negatively by quotations from scripture, without comment; embodying the mot palpable and striking self-contradictions of the so-called inspired word of God Description An account of the resource Edition: Rev. & Enl. Place of publication: [New York] Collation: 71, [1] p. ; 18 cm. Notes: Publisher's advertisements on unnumbered page at the end. From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Author attribution from WorldCat. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Burr, William Henry Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available [American News Company] Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1872 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CT24 Subject The topic of the resource Bible Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <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 (Self-contradictions of the Bible. 144 propositions, theological, moral, historical and speculative; each proved affirmatively and negatively by quotations from scripture, without comment; embodying the mot palpable and striking self-contradictions of the so-called inspired word of God), 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 The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Bible-Controversial literature Bible-Criticism and Interpretation Conway Tracts https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/52a4309cd87d381f1468954ca02302be.pdf?Expires=1779321600&Signature=WTVbgwOdRurh3YRzwQbbtepn%7E0SWSnn%7EIC4kHMm4Ghknqs9IvJc4oy1-Q6UgELbZ499DvfZYKD9KXn1yJZtDAjGEtmjXtA8u1hhso3ZF5IIaL3mydAEvJ2nQxKEOAiTzurJbbEB2bHzmVAFcEXyQ6u6vbqAimw4v253PnHr3nF3kkCw9ySMEY1Gl4n1mban8pdj3o%7ENjH-lpv9YbXjB9ublh6TtsUsXr0PPr0xJ6eFXXyJyR4xOcw5aB-Nc8E9R02nZ9dkIxs3xUcPXdoB%7EcRtrVHq%7EEKArVq1E3D4eAdkkhQpvEbKZzfH8nVgWbDupEyJm3jmoC9POAbNFl7uc4yQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM b9c34375ff2eb8f7bfe75c9ee952c53d PDF Text Text KING WEALTH COMING. BY D. GOODMAN. HE following article was published by the writer in the Gal­ axy for November, 1869. It sets forth briefly what he believes to be the solution of the political problem in this country. We live in an industrial age, of which the natural leaders are the bankers, manufacturers, and merchants. We all complain of the demoralization and corruption of our political life; what we mean is that wealth is becoming as powerful in politics as it is in industry. The great corporations, or rather the wealthy men who control them, are the real rulers, and not the characterless lawyers and politicians whom universal suffrage sends to our legislative halls. There is not a State in the Union through which runs a great railroad, but what is practically in the power of the corporation which controls it. The manufacturers could do what they please with any Congress that has sat for the last eight years, and it is quite safe to predict that for the next fifteen years the owners of the Pacific Railroad and the giant con­ solidated roads which feed it, will be the real masters of the American people. That is to say, no Congress can by any possibility be elected which they will not be able to control. To this state of affairs no complete Positivist objects. We submit to the inevitable, and can only hope to modify it by a sound philoso­ phy, and the wise, practical activity it enforces. What is needed is the moralization of wealth, and to effect this it must become personal and responsible. But here is the article: T Nearly all the evils connected with our system of government ean oe traced to one primary cause, to wit: the influence of wealthy corporations and individuals in controlling legislation and executive action for purely selfish ends. In other words, in modern civilization, wealth has become an enormous power, while in this coun­ try at least, it has no recognized political responsibility or well-defined public duties. The lobby notoriously controls legislation—wealth controls the lobby, but what controls wealth ? Nothing but the purely selfish aims of its possessor. How is this difficulty to be met ? Shall we organize against wealth ; bind it in fetters, legislate it out of existence, or exile its influence to some sphere outside of political action ? We are entering upon an era when all this will be attempted; 'but, however well meant, every scheme to limit the power of wealth will inevitably fail, and, in the opinion of the writer, ought to fail. For we must remember that the capitalist is the true king of the industrial era �46 KING WEALTH COMING When war was the normal condition of the race, the great warrior was the ruler, and all the honors in the State were based upon military merit ; but among the advanced natives of Christendom, industry, and not war, is now the absorbing business of the mass of the population, and hence the banker and the manufacturer are destined to be—nay, are the real rulers of the people. This may seem to be a preposterous statement, in this age of equal rights and the sovereignty of the people ; but it is nevertheless true. Who to-day is supreme in the financial, com­ mercial, and manufacturing world ? Who owns the telegraph, the railway, the manufactory, the newspaper, the land ? The capitalist, of course. He is our boss in the shop, our employer in the field, our landlord, out care-taker on the railroad and steamship ; he keeps our money in his bank, and looks after our souls in his churches ; for the church of to-day, of all denominations, is the church of the capi­ talist. People are under the curious hallucination that the only power which con­ trols them is that exercised by the State or the nation, whereas they touch us scarcely at all in the most intimate relations of life. But the capitalists, the owners of the wealth, are not content with all this recog­ nized authority ; they desire to control also the political power of the State and the nation. Well, they are right. They ought to have it. There will be a struggle against it, and the most impassioned protests will be made when their right to rule is formally recognized ; but recognized it will be in time. While the struggle is going on, the capitalist will rule all the same. Our legislators are nearly all lawyers ; now, the lawyer is a creature of the capitalist. He is trained by him, and his wit and tongue are at the service of his employer in the court, and his vote is at his command in the législative body. Wealth, as a power unrecog­ nized, without responsibility or moral accountability, is simply another name for hideous corruption. Hence the lobby, and the sickening legislative history of our City, State and National Government for the last fifteen years. Now wealth, and the enormous social and political power it wields by its very existence, is one of those facts which cannot be ignored. We must accept it, and see what can be done about it. To destroy wealth, or take away the power it naturally gives its possessor, is impossible. If it could be done, civilization would perish. What, then, are we to do ? Accept the inevitable. Capital has the power. Make it personal, responsible. Put the capitalist in authority instead of his creatures, the lawyers and politicians, and then— What then ? Hold him responsible. The next greatest power in modern civilization, after wealth, is public opinion. As yet it is unmoralized, unorganized ; but its influence, even now, is mighty. When this spiritual power has its. proper recognized organs, which it will have under Positivism—then will we be able to control wealth. Public opinion cannot be brought to bear upon corporate bodies ; “ They have neither bodies to be kicked nor souls to be damned.” What does the ring or the lobby care for public opinion ? Once install the individual who is the soul of the lobby into some recognized public position, and he is sensitive enough. Abuse the Erie Railroad Company, and who cares ? Attack Jim Fiske, Jr., and he is after you with a sheriff’s posse or a libel suit. Here, then, is the Positivist’s solution of our political and industrial problems. Wealth, under the foul shapes of the ring or lobby, controls our legislation. We say, Put the holders of this wealth in authority. Make this irresponsible power responsible. You cannot get rid of the power ; it is one of the most enormous facts of modern times. It exists, and will control, whether we like it or not, and hence we must make the best of it. The capitalist has his excuse for using the ring and the lobby. He says, “ What else can I do? There are certain great industrial enterprises to be undertaken, �KING WEALTH COMING. 47 which cannot even be begun without legislative authority. The lawyers and small politicians, who form the great bulk of the assemblies and senates, cannot rise to the height of the great schemes which I have on foot; they oppose me ; but the work must be done—the times demand it; and so I hire the lobby, who buy those fellows up. I am in the habit of employing lawyers to do my business, and when you can hire a man’s brains with money, his vote follows, as a matter of course. Take the case of the great railway consolidations, which are so necessary: why, I am compelled to buy the legislators outright, or these essential changes could not be made.” So there are two sides to the story. The capitalist has his excuse for making our legislators scoundrels. But how is this change to be brought about ? The writer gives that conundrum up at once. He really does not see how it is possible to change our republican representative system without a political con­ vulsion. Hence he looks for years of grievous misrule ; of future legislative con­ duct worse than any in the past. A possible solution of the trouble is a bold seizure of the government by some representative of the capitalist class. The very men who have made our legislative bodies dens of thieves, are just the ones to make that corruption an excuse for seizing the government themselves ; for be it remem­ bered, it is not the kings of the lobby who will be held responsible, but the politi­ cians—the legislators whom they have debauched. Our government, from natural and inevitable causes, has got to be one of exces­ sive powers. The maladministration of the federal power under Adams or Jackson was not of much account, so little were the people at large affected by its action; but now it is very different. The authority of the central government has grown so enormously large, that its action upon the business of the country has become vital. Hence the necessity of a more scientific government than that we had before the rebellion. Let it be distinctly understood, then, that there is a class of thinkers in this country who are profound disbelievers in the whole republican or democratic theory of government. But we are not, therefore, either Imperialists or Monarchists. We do not advocate going back to any obsolete political institutions. Progress is our motto. There is something in the future as much better than republicanism as republicanism is better than monarchy, and that is the rule of wealth controlled by moral considerations; in other words, the capitalist in responsible authority, and he under the dominion of a wise, all-powerful public opinion. Our King has come. He rules already, but it is in such hideous shapes as the Lobby—the Ring. Let us recognize, tame, ennoble him, so that he may serve the highest interests of humanity. �48 THE SOCIAL EVIL. SERIES of articles on Prostitution in the Westminster Re­ view have deservedly attracted a good deal of attention. Without containing anything very new, they sum up the results of past inquiries, and seemingly set at rest several vexed social questions. Among the most important of the points brought out by Dr. Chapman, the writer, are the following: 1. Each new crop of prostitutes does not die out in from four to seven years, as is generally supposed. While it is true that the personnel of that class is replaced in that time, the women do not, as a rule, die of their riotous living, but are absorbed back into the community. 2. The amount of disease engendered by the illicit relation of the sexes is appalling. This is one of the most serious perils of modern civilization. While the danger to the women themselves in the matter of longevity has been absurdly overrated, the damage done to the health of the community by the prevalence of prostitution has scarcely been suspected. 3. Governments from time to time have attempted to suppress and limit prostitution, but have invariably failed. Every possible expedient has been resorted to, but the history of legislation and government action, though it extends over centuries, is a record not only of disap­ pointment but disaster. Nor have they fared any better when recog­ nizing and regulating prostitution. Notwithstanding the encomiums which have been passed upon the French and continental systems, it seems now to be tolerably well settled that recognition has led to wide­ spread immorality, while as a check to the spread of disease, it has bad less than no effect at all. The remedy proposed by Dr. Chapman will hardly be deemed satisfactory. He says the public should get rid of the notion of sin or disgrace in connection with the illicit relations of the sexes or the diseases they entail, and that those sick of syphilis should have the same care and consideration as if the disease was typhus fever or dysen­ tery. The best hospitals are now closed to persons afflicted with sexual disorders, and the woman who would readily seek medical advice for an ordinary illness, such as diarrhoea or rheumatism, is deterred from doing so when the disorder is venereal. So she punishes society for its non-recognition of the legitimacy of her business and its inhumanity to her in her affliction by plying her wretched trade when diseased, thus propagating to the innocent as well as to the guilty the most cruel contagion known to our civilization. It is all very well to say that society ought to recognize prostitu­ tion as a legitimate because necessary business, and should treat the strumpet with the same consideration it does the decent women, but the difficulty is that society won’t do anything of the kind. The truth is, prostitution is a part of the great sexual problem which science must yet solve ; all we can do at present is to furnish the data for the final settlement.—D. G. A � 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 A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; 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 An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data 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 A name given to the resource King wealth coming Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Goodman, D. Description An account of the resource Place of publication: [New York] Collation: [45]-47 p. ; 26 cm. Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. The article was first published in Galaxy, November, 1869 and later published in Modern Thinker, no. 1, 1870. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available [American News Company] Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource [1870] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5427 Subject The topic of the resource Industrialisation USA Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <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 (King wealth coming), 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 The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Conway Tracts Industrialization United States of America Wealth https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/4be1b9ebc8dfd4a9301d0e686ee10b51.pdf?Expires=1779321600&Signature=vn95Wj9tnUw4YL5q5H9kOCOGzmAeHro7AA6NxgsU0U1owXC4M6d6AaSwdQOrU-le1nnzdMb08jt%7ENzQHa7skB8QunTfyyrVUUUCVEO832vtGqNSt-3%7EfZVF8SXC82EGu3loGlxtFnmGx0JiATS4EfaETSgiNNEAqwvMVuRpp5z2OotBGkNUsD-eNwoR%7EqEGTw5SvMc3geQla2tYWU27iSPFF7jXxQtXGWsvarUNC53nY8CZV39hGCX2iu39Wb05xImhpnRfnSKmaeZOobSe3ZqaFpwn6iBJLowzTHLnzaL2WMU%7EKXCd3GSHtrB6X8aRyvnG3%7EcaBhsntjuZKQW0Tag__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 896faf5fac55feafd3329a559bf428c6 PDF Text Text LOVE-LIFE OF AUGUSTE COMTE. BY JENNIE JUNE CKOLY. T is said that no man is a hero to his wife or his valet de chambre; and so inseparable, indeed, is some touch of weakness from poor human nature, that we are rather apt to expect from the excep­ tionally great in some respects, corresponding feebleness in others, and charitably excuse, or else hold them up to the light, as the excuse for our own shortcomings. The private, or emotional life of Auguste Comte is but little known in this country, and the impressions concerning it, derived mainly from John ^tuart Mill, is , not’of a character to encourage strict investiga­ tion. Even his disciples seem to consider his domestic relations as a subject to be avoided, and the second part of his great life-work, the “Politique Positive,” as more the result of the weakness of his heart than the strength of his head. * The aim of this brief and necessarily very imperfect sketch is sim­ ply to state, facts, to show what justification existed for departure from conventional standards, and who and what the remarkable woman was whose brief acquaintance exercised so singular an influence upon the mind of Comte, and inspired him with those ideas which form the basis of his ultimate system. Whatever the weakness or strength of its founder, there is little doubt that the “ Religion of Humanity ” will live and continue to attract, as heretofore, the respectful attention of the wisest and best among us, and with its growth will spring up an interest in that epi­ sode of the life of August Comte which unites his. name with that of Clotilde de Vaux, and accepting her . as the representative of the noblest attributes of humanity, will place her, toward its religion and its be­ lievers, as Laura to Petrarch, as Beatrice to Dante,-as Heloise to Abe­ lard, if not, with all reverence be it spoken, as the Virgin Mary to the Christian Church. “To-day,” Emerson says, “is king,” but we rarely recognize its royalty. Laura and Beatrice may have been very ordinary persons to their intimates, and it is possible that even Joseph saw nothing more in his wife than many a man believes of the woman he loves. Yet who would wish to lose the spiritual significance of the Virgin-Mother by confronting it with the common-place fact of her daily life. Clotilde T �186 THE LOVE-LIFE OF AUGUSTE COMTE. de Vaux may have realized to no other person the remarkable qualities with which Comte’s imagination invested her, but the evidence she has left of high intellectual ability, united with singular purity and devo­ tion, lifts her above the common-place, while, apart from any idealiza­ tion by Comte, her personal history is clothed with a strange, sad, and most romantic interest. Born of a respectable but obscure family, beautiful, delicate, and surrounded always by an air of touching sadness, which seemed a prophecy of her future destiny, Madame de Vaux became early the wife of a man who was subsequently convicted of a capital crime, impris­ oned, and finally sent to the galleys, yet, by the laws of France, still maintained his right and authority as her husband. It was in this position that Comte met her. Comte himself was born, as Robinet, his biographer, informs us, of an admirable mother, Mme. Rosalie Boyer, a strict Catholic however, who shared the monarchical tendencies of her husband. She is de­ scribed as a woman of great heart, great character, and Comte ascribes to her all his higher qualities. He admits also that it was through Clotilde de Vaux that he learned to fully know and appreciate his mother. His family were in moderate circumstances—his father being cashier in the department of the Receiver-General. He was born in a modest house, facing the church of Saint Eulalie, Montpellier; was sent to school at the age of nine years, and was so precocious that at ten he criticised with severity and judgment his teachers and their methods of instruction. In 1825, twenty years before he met Mme. de Vaux, he contracted a marriage of convenience, which proved, as he afterwards declared, the one “ serious ” fault of his life. His wife was a bookseller, an active, capable woman of business, intelligent, but worldly, as most Parisian women of the middle classes are, and utterly without sympathy in any new systems of philosophy or their results. She was proud in her own way of her husband’s ability, but wished it to be acknowledged by the world, and she could not forgive in him the unconscious egotisms of a powerful genius, or the loss of his material opportunities, by his obsti­ nate adherence to unpopular opinions and principles. For seventeen years they lived a life which must have been almost unendurable to both, for Comte, released as he considered himself by the greatness of his work from ordinary duties and obligations, was probably one of the most exigent, exacting, and intolerable of hus­ bands to a busy, ambitious, and practical wife, while she became to him every day more an object of indifference, and even of dread. Mahomet was happy in having for his first disciple his wife: Madame Comte realized nothing but the obstinacy which deprived her husband of honorable positions and material resources. She was quite willing to assist in building up an honorable home, quite capable of forming a sound, and even wise judgment on any of the ordinary affairs �THE LOVE-LIFE OF AUGUSTE COMTE. 187 of every day; she had literary taste and talent of her own, but believed thoroughly in putting them to practical use, in employing them to achieve a recognized name, honor, position, money, and the good-will of mankind, and she considered Comte’s splendid generalizations as the chimeras of a distraught brain. It was unfortunate for both that no children resulted from this illstarred union. The existence of these ties, and the knowledge, through them, which they would have gained of each other, would undoubtedly have softened their feelings, and contributed to a better mutual under­ standing. But it was not to be. Day by day they drifted more and more widely apart, until, upon April 5,1842, seventeen years after their marriage, Mme. Comte left her husband never to return. 1 Although M. Comte had not at that time developed fully his social theory, his natural instincts, heightened by the respect and veneration with which his mother had always inspired him, would have compelled him to endure to the end his self-imposed yoke, and forbidden any sympathy with the anarchical ideas that were then becoming common in France. The defection of his wife he accepted with the dignity with which he had borne his matrimonial infelicity, and considered his condition of domestic isolation as complete and final. His noble nature, however, his truthful instincts, his affectionate disposition, . made this severance of home ties very painful; he realized all the pos­ sibilities of true marriage, all the difficulties resulting from a mistake in this most important act of human life, and his pain was augmented by the knowledge of the detrimental effect which his matrimonial blunder would be likely to exert upon his public career. Believing profoundly in the indissolubility of marriage, insisting with the whole strength of his powerful intellect on the perfectness and perpetuity of the marriage relation as the golden band which purifies and holds society together, his own experience at once justified and illustrated his theory in his own eyes, yet furnished to carping critics a choice morsel of gossip, which they were undoubtedly willing to make the most of. “Behold the teacher!” “Who lives in glass houses should not throw stones.” All this, and much more, must have made Comte feel that a mistaken marriage was the most serious mistake of a man’s life, and that the evils resulting from it must be borne by the individual, not thrust upon society. Of course his situation, isolated and stigma­ tized without direct act or fault of his own, enabled him more readily to appreciate the peculiarity of the woman’s position whose name was afterwards to be associated with his own—Madame Clotilde de Vaux. His first meeting with this still young and gifted lady took place in 1845, three years after his wife had left him. It is admitted by all that she possessed graces of person combined with remarkable purity, ten.derness, and dignity of character. The singular coincidence of their position attracted them all the more powerfully toward each other, �188 THE L O \r E - L IFE OF AUGUSTE COMTE. and the admirable delicacy and consistency which had distinguished her conduct in her peculiarly trying and unfortunate position, estab­ lished at once a claim upon Auguste Comte’s sympathies. Moreover, Madame de Vaux, notwithstanding that she possessed a mind of the finest order, was as little, understood by her family circle as Comte by the rest of the world—a fact which, united with Madame de Vaux’s convictions in regard to the moral nature and duties of women, so different from those of her best-known contemporaries, but •in exact accordance with Comte’s predilections, created a new bond be­ tween them. Under th^se circumstances, it is not surprising that, Clotilde de Vaux became to Comte a revelation of the power, purity, genius, and suffering of woman, or that, having worked out his theory of Divine Humanity, he should recognize its highest development in her noble, self-sacrificing life. It is a fact worthy of particular remark that, notwithstanding the exceptional nature of their mutual positions, no breath of suspicion, even in France, ever attached to their relationship. Slander itself was dumb before the purity of her character, the modesty, and dignity of her life. Her intercourse with Comte was wholly that of master and pupil; and although he fully acknowledges that to her he was indebted for his entire knowledge and education of the heart, yet this was un­ conscious on her part, and she hardly realized that the chivalrous and reverential nature of his sentiments toward her, and all women, owed their development and expression mainly to herself. But with the real claims of Madame de Vaux to the moral and in­ tellectual height to which Comte elevated her, we have little to do. To Comte she gave the key to one half, and the diviner half, of the human race, and became at once the motive and the inspiration to that part of his work which had been left incomplete. His discovery of sociology, of a new philosophy of life based upon the laws of exact science, placed him upon a level with Aristotle and Bacon; his realization of the per­ fectness of moral quality, through Clotilde de Vaux, of its high uses, unfolded to him a new religion, a religion of Man, or Humanity, which can only be expressed by the homage paid to the moral qualities as em­ bodied in their acknowledged representative, Woman. What individ­ uals, Laura, Clotilde, or Beatrice, were in themselves, matters, we re­ peat it, very little. It is enough that they stand as the types of Woman, as the ideals of Mother, Daughter, Wife, Sister, Friend, or all of these —as the embodiment of the sentiments and qualities which men most venerate and admire, and which act upon them as the strongest incen­ tive to worthy deeds. In the preface to his Positive Catechism, which consists bf a series of imaginary questions and answers between himself and adopted daughter, which relation he had intended to legalize with Madame de Vaux, if she had lived. Comte says, in reference to her— “Through her I have at length become for Humanity, in the strict­ I �THE LOYK-LIFE OF AUGUSTE COMTE. IS 9 est sense, a twofold organ, as may any one who has reaped the full advantages of woman’s influence. My career had been that of Aris­ totle, I should have wanted energy for that of St. Paul, but for her. I had extracted sound philosophy from real science ;»I was enabled by her to found on the basis of that philosophy the universal religion.” If Clotilde de Vaux had left no other evidence than Comte’s com­ memoration of her worthiness, she would still stand in the niche of the Temple of Humanity as its first high-priestess—as the eternal mother of that ideal Woman whose image is enshrined in all good men’s hearts, and is dimly realized in the goodness, purity, and self-sacrific­ ing love of some every-day sister, wife, or mother. But young as Madame de Vaux was at the time of her death, un­ fortunately suppressed as the most important work of her life was by the interference of relatives, she still left enough behind to show that she was a woman true to all a woman’s best instincts, to all a man’s ' noblest ideals of Womanhood. Like Comte, her nature remained unwarped by the sad issue of her own conjugal relations. Her little work, “ Lucie,” written altogether from her own inspiration, and before her acquaintance with Comte, reveals at once a charming tenderness, allied with real strength. Individual unhappiness did not lead her, as it would a weaker nature, to denounce marriage, or seek in license the remedy for social ills. On the contrary, in this work she idealizes mar­ riage, accepts motherhood as the natural function of the mass of women, anticipates Comte’s theory of protection for women, and de­ mands governmental institutions for the aid and guardianship of un­ protected women. Moreover, her advocacy of a true home-life for women had more force in France than in this country, because there the doctrine of individualism in marriage had been to a certain extent conceded, and the relationship already assumed a business aspect almost unknown here. The women of the middle classes, it is well known, nearly control the retail trade of Paris, and their mercantile activity and preoccupation undoubtedly prevents the realization of the comfort and domesticity which belongs to the English acceptation of the word home ; and while it has developed shrewdness and business tact, certainly detracts somewhat from the reserve and delicacy which naturally belongs to women. In Comte’s theory of marriage, individual rights are not allowed a place. The institution he considered necessary to the happiness of in­ dividuals and the well-being of society, but the former he subordinates to the latter, and he exacts from all men and women who take upon themselves the obligations of marriage, a stern fulfilment of its re­ quirements. He quotes with great approval the remarks of Madame de Vaux, that “great natures will not involve others in their own sor­ rows and difficulties,” and insists that the mistake of an individual should be confined as much as possible to him or herself, and not hung as a load upon the back of society. �190 THE LOVE-LIFE OF AUGUSTE COMTE. It is for its singular truth, purity, and integrity, that Madame Clotilde de Vaux’s contribution to the literature of her day deserves preservation, and for this reason we reproduce it here. Her clear mind was alike uninfluenced by custom or the sophistical ideas of anarchists and so-called reformers. She did not give to woman all the scope that she must claim for herself while she possesses ability, but she fully recognized the fact that the home is the woman’s rightful domain, that the employment of her strength, talent and energies in other directions, and especially as a means of livelihood, should be exceptional; that the woman cannot be the mother and also the provider, and that no woman ever tries to fill the two positions without feeling that she is constantly sacrificing the greater to the less. A presentation of a theory of marriage which recognizes its full value, its sacredness, and its indissolubility, seems particularly desir­ able just now, and in this country, where individualism is making it­ self strongly felt, and social evils are seeking a remedy in the easy dis­ ruption of the marriage bond. The position which Comte assigns to Woman is clearly stated in the following extract from the general View of Positivism : “ The social mission of Woman, in the Positive system, follows as a natural consequence from the qualities peculiar to her nature. In the most essential attribute of the human race, the tendency to place social above personal feeling, she is undoubtedly superior to man. Morally, therefore, and apart from all material considerations, she merits always our loving veneration, as the purest and simplest im­ personation of Humanity who can never be adequately represented in any masculine form. But these qualities do not involve the possession of political power, which is sometimes claimed for women, with or without their own consent. In that which is the great object of life they are superior to men, but in the various means of obtaining that object they are undoubtedly inferior. In all kinds of force, whether physical, intellectual, or practical, it is certain than Man surpasses Woman in accordance with a general law which prevails throughout the animal kingdom. Now, practical life is necessarily governed by force rather than by affection, because it requires unremitting and laborious activity. If there were nothing else to do but to love, as in the Christian Utopia of a future life in which there are no material wants, Woman would be supreme. But life is surrounded with diffi­ culties, which it needs all our thoughts and energies to avoid; therefore Man takes the command notwithstanding his inferiority in goodness. Success in all great efforts depends more upon energy and talent than upon moral excellence, although this condition reacts strongly upon the others. Thus the three elements of our moral constitution do not act in perfect harmony. Force is naturally supreme, and all that women can do is to modify it by affection. Justly conscious of their superior­ ity in strength of feeling, they endeavor to assert their influence in a �THE LOPE-LIFE OF AUGUSTE COMTE. 191 way which is often attributed by superficial observers to the mere love of power. But experience always teaches them that in a world where the simplest necessaries of life are scarce and difficult to procure, power must belong to the strongest, though the latter may deserve it best. With all their efforts, they never can do more than modify the harsh­ ness with which men exercise their authority. And' men submit more readily to this modifying influence from feeling that in the highest at­ tributes of humanity women are their superiors. They see that their own supremacy is due principally to the material necessities of life, provision for which calls into play the self-regarding rather than the social instincts; hence we find it the case in every phase of human so­ ciety, that women’s life is essentially domestic, public life being prin­ cipally confined to men. Civilization, so far from effacing this natural distinction, tends, as I shall afterwards show, to develop it, while rem­ edying its abuses.” The following “ Complement of the Dedication ” to Mad. Clotilde de Vaux is from the pen of Auguste Comte, and will be found in his last great work. It is followed by her novelette of “ Lucie ” and her poem, “ Thoughts of the Flowers,” which Comte repeated every morn­ ing for the nine years preceding his death. COMPLEMENT OF THE DEDICATION. Paris, 12th Dante, 62. Saturday, July 27th, 1850. In order to complete this exceptional dedication, I think I should add to it the only composition published by my sacred colleague. This touching novel, of which the principal situation essentially characterizes the conjugal destiny of the unhappy Clotilde, was inserted in the columns of the “National ” on the 20th and 21st of June, 1845. In reproducing it here, I hope to furnish competent judges with a direct proof of the exalted nature, intellectual and moral, of the unknown angel who presides over my second life. Following this characteristic production, I publish my unedited letter on the social commemoration, which would have appeared with “ Lucie,” but for the ma­ levolence of a well-known journalist, who has proved himself unworthy of confi­ dence. This little composition offers a certain historical interest to all those who understand the Religion of Humanity. They -will see in it the first direct and dis­ tinct germs of an immense moral and social synthesis, spontaneously arrived at through a pure, private effusion. My normal reaction of the heart, on the mind, was thus manifested several years before I had constructed its definitive theory. I end this natural complement of my dedication with an unedited canzone, that Madame de Vaux wished to place in her “ Willelmine,” although she had composed it in 1843. These graceful strophes, of which Petrarch could have perhaps envied the sweetness, can indicate the facility and the versatility of a talent worthy of the highest commendation. The poetical tendency of this exalted soul showed itself involuntarily, in her most trifling inspirations. IKwould be, for example, suffi­ ciently characterized by this melancholy inscription, secretly written at the age of twenty-two, in an old “ Journal of a Christian,” which I preserve religiously. “ Precious souvenir of my youth, companion and guide of the holy hours which have lived for me, and which always recall to my heart the ceremonies, grand and sweet, of the convent chapel.” �192 THE LOVE-LIFE OF AUGUSTE COMTE. ’‘LUCIE.” A Novelette, by Clotilde De Vaux. A few years since, the little town of----- was stupefied by the commission of a crime complicated with extraordinary circumstances. A young man, belonging to a distinguished family, had disappeared under a terrible suspicion. He was accused of having assassinated a banker, his partner, and stolen from him a considerable amount of valuables. This double crime was attributed to the fatal passion for gaming. The culprit abandoned, after a few months of marriage, a young wife endowed with great beauty and the most emi­ nent qualities. An orphan, she remained, at twenty years of age, condemned to isolation, misery, and a position without hope. The laws granted her spontaneously the separation of person and wealth ; that is to say, of all that which she had already lost. Her husband’s family lent her a shelter and a pair of shoes. Rich men who admired her, added to her anguish of heart insulting offers of protection as disgraceful as they were humiliating. She was, happily, one of those noble women who accept misfortune more easily than disgrace. Her clear mind fully unveiled to her the position she was in ; she comprehended that she owed to her beauty the interest she excited in men ; she foresaw the dangers that professions of sympathy hide, and wished to draw from herself alone all mitigation of her fate. This courageous resolution having been taken, the young wife thought only of executing it. Possessing a remarkable talent, she proceeded to Paris to make use of it. After several trials, she was admitted as a teacher into the house of the Abbaye-awe-Bois, where she found an honorable asylum. During this time, justice took its course ; active steps sought everywhere for traces of the fugitive. Already the irritated creditors had divided the property of the unhappy wife, whose clothing and jewels, even to the little treasures of her girlhood, had been sold at auction. The interest she inspired was so great, that strangers voluntarily redeemed these pledges and returned them to her. One young girl purchased a medallion which contained her portrait, and wore it like that of her patron saint, and the priest of the place bought her weddingdress to decorate the altar of the Virgin. These details sensibly affected the unfortunate one. A noble pride became joined in her heart to a profound sensibility: she felt herself sustained by these proofs of interest that reached her from so many sources. Filled with terror at the remembrance of her first love, she considered her chain as a barrier that she had voluntarily placed between herself and men. The horror and peril of her position thus escaped her mind, and she accepted without a complaint the unjust decree of the laws. An indestructible sentiment, a sweet and holy friendship of childhood, at first saved this noble heart from the bitter griefs of solitude. Philosophy, so pitiful and so arid in egotistical souls, developed its magnificent proportions in that of the young woman. Poor, she found the means of doing good : if she rarely went into the churches, where frivolity sits side by side with sanctity, she was often met in the garrets of the poor, where, misfortune hides itself like shame. Two years slipped by without any event transpiring to change this strange and unhappy position. Time, which can only increase great sorrows, had impaired, little by little, the admirable organization of the orphan. To her heroic courage, to her persevering efforts to tread'the rough path marked out for her, there suc­ ceeded a profound dejection. Thirteen letters which have fallen into my hands paint better than I can the griefs of the weary heart. I ask permission to reproduce them, and thus finish this history. �TSE L OVE-LIFE OF AUGUSTE COMTE. 193 FIRST LETTER. LUCIE TO MADAM M. I write to thee from Malzéville, where I intend to pass several months, my beloved. My lungs had need of country air, and country milk ; and our worthy friends have seized this pretext to invite me to share their pleasant solitude. How much I love these excellent people ! May I not resemble them, or at least allow my heart to share in the peace which reigns in the depths of theirs ? Meanwhile I feel better here : nothing is so healthy as the sight of beautiful nature, and of this laborious and uniform life which forces the mind to rule itself. The General awaits the near arrival of his neighbor, who is reputed the bene­ factor of all this little region. He is a young man of twenty-six, the possessor of a handsome fortune, and a sincere disciple of liberal ideas. He has with him his mother, whom he adores, and of whom they tell a great deal of good. Thou dost advise me to cultivate flowers so as to wean me from music and reading. Alas 1 my beloved, are not these the only pleasures that remain to me ? When I have paid my feeble tribute to friendship, when I have read to the General some passages in his memoirs, when we have together evoked great and sacred recollections, or when I have shared with my friend her little domestic cares, I resign myself to tins absorbing faculty of thinking and feeling, which has become the resource of my existence ; and yet, no woman loves a peaceful and simple life more than I. What brilliant pleasures would I not have sacrificed with joy to the duties and happiness of the family circle ! What successes would not have appeared silly compared with the caresses of my children ! 0. my friend, maternity, that is the sentiment whose phantom rises so strong and so impetuous in my heart. This love, which survives all others, is it not given to woman to purify and mitigate her her sorrows ? SECOND LETTER. MAURICE TO BOGER. Roger, I have at last seen this woman, so grand, and so unhappy, of whom thou didst speak to me with pride. Do not say that “ the die is cast,” if I avow to thee the deep impression that I have felt at the sight of this young and beautiful martyr to social injustice. The touching virtues of Lucie, her mind, her unconscious atti­ tudes, everything about her bears forever the imprint of a profound grief. One feels, in seeing her, that she will have need of generosity in order to love. How­ ever, is she not free in all honor and reason ? By what astonishing lack of .fore­ sight in the laws, may the pure and respected woman find herself chained by society to the branded being whom it casts from its bosom ? What do we call civil death ? Is it a phantom ? To what end does society bind a wife to a man who can no longer give birth but to outcasts ? By what right does it impose isolation and celibacy on one of its members ? From what motive does it force a living death, or irregularities which it condemns ? But I speak as if before judges. Roger, my blood is ready to boil when I see how the apathy of men produces and seems to sanction misfortune and oppression. I have just had a belvedere built in sight of Malzéville ; from there, with a tele­ scope, I see the whole of thé General’s pretty house. Yesterday, I perceived Lucie, who was seated on the edge of a small stream of water; her attitude was dejected. Shall I say it to thee, her looks seemed to me to be often directed toward the south. Alas ! in seeing her so graceful and so broken, I asked myself with disgust the secret of certain influences over our hearts. Why do we see vulgar women fasci­ nate superior intellects and become the objects of a true worship? How does it happen that the generosity and nobleness of certain women are seen so often in the �194 THE LOVE-LIFE OF AUGUSTE COMTE. power Ol selfishness and grossness? We must give up the explanation of this enigma. As thou dost wish a new description of Oneil, I shall tell you, my dear Roger, that, I have made of it one of the prettiest places in the department. They described to me lately a recent dispute on my account between the inhabitants of the neigh­ boring corporation and an old, decayed gentleman. They excited themselves with nothing less than a discussion as to whether they owed the title of Chateau to Oneil, and the first piece of consecrated bread to its proprietor. I have settled the ques­ tion by not going to mass, and by calling the whole country my valley. THIRD LETTER. MAURICE TO ROGER. Never, Roger, never will another woman excite in me the powerful and elevated sentiments with which the mere sight of Lucie inspires me. Friend, thou hast spoken truth ; it is in vain that the laws, opinion, and the world raise their triple barrier between us ; love will reunite us, I feel it. Who knows better than thou the needs of my heart and its insurmountable repugnance to vulgar joys ? Alas ! before meeting Lucie, I have often felt that it is dangerous to refine its sensations. A little while ago my mother made her visit to Malzeville. I was curious, I avow it to thee, to know the impression Lucie would produce upon her. On arriving before the grating of the little park, we saw her grafting a rose-tree. She was dressed in white ; a large garden-hat carelessly covered her head, a simple green ribbon defined her small and elegant waist. One would say, on seeing her, the sweetest ideal of Galatia. I was surprised to perceive no emotion on my mother’s face, she. ordinarily so kind, and who finds so much pleasure in admiring ; she was dignified and cold during our visit; the words duty and honor found a place in all her phrases. For the first time I had a glimpse of what is bitter and implacable in feminine rivalries. Guided by the delicate tact, that the habit of suffering gives, Lucie withdrew before we did, under some slight pretext. Would that I had dared to follow her, and throw my­ self at her feet to protest against my mother’s words. Roger, this moment settles my fate forever ! I comprehend that it is my duty to snatch this sweet victim from misfortune. Perish the chimeras that rise up between us ! I feel myself strong against the false faith of opinion and the blame of the envious ; may I also be so against the self-abnegation and grandeur of Lucie 1 FOURTH LETTER. MAURICE TO ROGER One could willingly curse civilization and enlightenment, when one sees the small number of just minds and upright hearts that there are in the world. I could not tell thee how many pitiful and odious insinuations I have to submit to every day on Lucie’s account. But, what is not the least shocking, all the honor rests with these corrupters of morality who stand proudly on their small proprieties as on a rock of impregnable virtue. It seems, in truth, that success only accompanies hypocrisy and deceit. I have just had a painful conversation with my mother, which has only more strongly confirmed my loyalty and devotion. The latter is a magnificent virtue : it lives, however, much more willingly on enjoyments than on sacrifices. I have lately met in the world the young Countess of -------- , whose husband is in the galleys. She was twenty-four years of age when this fatality overtook her; she was remarkably pretty and amiable. The worthy L-------- fell in love with her, and they are united. Well! she told me that what she has had to suffer from her �TH£ LOVE-LIFE OF AUGUSTE COMTE. 195 own family is incalculable. When I expressed to her my astonishment, seeing their advanced ideas in everything, she answered me, “ Are you still in your cate­ chism in regard to men ? They authorize me to be an atheist, but not to do with­ out the sacraments.” So it is, my worthy Roger, that this admirable humanity is not yet well rid of its debt toward the monkeys, from whom several doctors insist that it is directly descended. FIFTH LETTER. MAURICE TO LUCIE. What have you done, Lucie ? What fatal thought have you obeyed in remov­ ing yourself from me ? Alas! it is in vain that I seek to justify your silence; it weighs on my heart like an icy burden. And meanwhile, only yesterday you made me cherish my life. Your soul seemed to open itself to hope. When a trifling danger menaced me on the border of the lake, you came to my assistance without appearing to fear the presence of those around us. How beautiful you were at that instant, and how womanly in your devotion ! Have you not read in every glance the enthusiasm of which you were the object? 0 Lucie, when it was only neces­ sary, perhaps, for you to show yourself as you are to soften my mother’s heart, by what inconceivable misfortune do we find ourselves separated ? But perhaps you are not the angelic woman that I thought I had discovered; perhaps a generous love is beyond your powers ? Perhaps !—But of what use are these doubts ? You alone can restore the peace that you have taken away ; I await a line from you, a word that may teach me what are your future plans. Think of it! I will not answer for myself if you continue to overwhelm me with your silence. Manuel is going post-haste to Paris : in ten hours I may have your reply. SIXTH LETTER. MAURICE TO ROGER. Must it then be so ? Roger, to have been acquainted with her, to know that which contains this exalted heart, this delicate mind, and perhaps, in a few hours, to have to deplore her loss! May my misery fall again on those who caused it! Alas! when 1 accused her with what I have suffered, she was struck down with the violence of her struggles and her love. I wander like a fool around the General’s house, interrogating his people unceasingly, and receiving from them only vague and unsatisfactory answers. Happily, the physician is ignorant of who I am, and three times a day he forces the truth on my heart. I have this moment quitted him ; he looked so sad, he seemed so overwhelmed that I conjured him not to hide the worst from me. He assured me that she still exists ; but he expects a terrible and inevitable crisis. P.S.-jShe is saved! One should love as I love to comprehend the magic of such news. I threw myself at the feet of the physician ; I asked him for his friendship. In vain he preserved a serious manner; I felt ready to perform any folly in his presence. He is a distinguished man ; he spoke of Lucie with an enthu­ siasm almost equal to my own. But, one thing struck me: he observed me often with thoughtfulness, and seemed ready to confide a secret to me. I have vainly endeavored several times to make him speak his mind. He always ends our con versations about Lucie with this phrase : Society is very culpable. I have often remarked that prudence is the vice of men in this profession, whose profound knowledge renders so capable of assisting the social movement. What important modifications could be produced in the laws by the sole authority of cer­ tain scientific facts which remain eternally hidden from the vulgar ! I wish that a great physician would publish his memoirs ; it would be, in my opinion, a very useful book to humanity. �196 THE LOVE-LIFE OF AUGUSTE COMTE SEVENTH LETTER. MAURICE TO ROGER. x Friend, I have seen her again ! Alas ! one dares not think that she still belongs to earth, so much is her beauty invested with an ideal and celestial character. She has consented to take her first walk leaning on my arm, and I was astonished at. the simplicity with which she described to me her sufferings. If I do not deceive myself, a gleam of hope has crept into her heart; but I have not been able to explain to myself the meaning of several of her words. As we rested in the shade, of a little ruined chapel, a villager’s wedding party passed before us. There was so much happiness and freedom from care on their open countenances, that I could not suppress a bitter reflection in comparing our destinies. Lucie trembled as she heard me. “ 0, my friend I” she exclaimed, “ they are happy ; but it is because their good fortune neither afflicts nor offends any one.” I looked at her with surprise ; her face was slightly flushed; she placed my hand on her heart; then she resumed in a voice serious and moved : “ Maurice, it is in vain that our misfortune forees us to set ourselves against society ; its institu­ tions are great and venerable as the work of ages ; it is unworthy of great natures to inflict upon others the sorrows that they feel.” I would have answered her, but she made me a sign with her hand to indicate that she felt very feeble. It began to grow late. The worthy doctor, who was already anxious at not seeing Lucie return, came to meet us, and he assisted me in supporting her as far as the entrance to the park of Malzeville, where it was neces­ sary for us to separate. Roger, all the obstacles that surround me frighten me less than Lucie’s natural greatness. It is not to false prejudices, I feel it, that such a woman has been able thus far to immolate the sweetest desires of her heart EIGHTH LETTER. LUCIE TO MADAM M. My Cherished Friend:—Hope has overtaken me on my return to health; Maurice consents to raise his powerful voice in a protest against the terrible abuse that separates us. His mother has pressed me to her heart; I shall never forget the delicious sensations that were mingled at that moment with the bitterness of my recollections. O my beloved 1 the love of a pure and good man is a sentiment full of power. How much do I need courage and strength to resist it! But Maurice’s interests and honor are dearer to me than my own happiness can be ; and I am also sustained by the pride of seeing him attempt a noble enterprise ; for it seems to me, that in it I also shall have accomplished something for humanity. It was only yesterday that our fate was decided. We had spent the evening with the worthy physician, whose sentiments are at the same time so gentle and so elevated. Hardly had we left him, when Maurice impetuously seized my hand ; and, pressing it to his heart, he swore to protect me in spite of the world, and no longer permit me to forsake him. I collected my strength to struggle against these sweet yet terrible emotions. I represented to him that duty commanded him to endeavor to free me from my bonds, in claiming a wise and just law. I employed to affect him the arguments which have the most influence on his great heart. I described with ardor the advantages that society would receive from this courageous attempt. For him, it was not difficult to interest him in the fate of those beings, young, feeble, and defenceless, whom an odious bond consigns to despair. He agreed that the injurious effects of the laws result mainly from the apathy of men, and that it is always honorable and useful to struggle against oppression. �THE LOVE-LIFE OF AUGUSTE COMTE. 197 We considered then our position from all points of view. Maurice agreed that a tie like that which he was advising me to contract would suffice for happiness, and that he would renounce, without the least regret, a world which sacrifices true happiness to prejudices arrogantly adorned with the title of propriety. I confessed to him that I did not feel myself high enough or low enough to brave opinion, and that it would be sweet to me to be able to surround our love with the respect of honest families. He gently combated my ideas ; but the thought of his mother was joined in his heart with all the elevated sentiments that belong to him. He finished by prom­ ising me to address a petition to the Chamber of Deputies, and to await patiently the result. I threw myself at the feet of this man so dear, shedding tears of gratitude and love. The efforts that I had made to control myself had so exhausted my strength that it seemed to me that life was going to abandon me. I never felt its value so much as at that moment. O, my friend I thou who dost live calm and happy with the man of thy choice, thou wilt comprehend all that passes in my heart. Thou knowest if I share the ridicule poured upon those women who wish to be deputies, or who ride on horse­ back to demonstrate that they could be at need excellent colonels of dragoons. But thou knowest that I feel sensibly oppression where it is real. It is in striking a blow at the true and modest happiness of woman, that the laws force her out of her sphere, and make her at times forget her sublime destiny. Henrietta, what pleas­ ures can exceed those of devotion ? To surround with comfort the man whom we love, to be good and simple in the family, worthy and self-forgetting outside of it, is not this our sweetest office and the one which suits us best ? It seems to me that from the family circle radiates communities and the world, and is it not woman who is the inspiration of them ? NINTH LETTER. MAUBICE TO ROGER. . A new grief has just burst upon her ; the monster who chains her to himself lias been arrested on the frontier and conducted to the galleys at Toulon, where he goes to suffer his penalty. This event, which gives such great force to our demands, seems meanwhile to have weakened Lucie’s courage. This heart so tender has fainted with terror before the horrible denotement with which the laws associate her. The name that she still bears echoes within her, loaded with infamy, and re-awakens all her gloomy recollections. Her imperishable goodness has just added compassion to all her wrongs. May her strength not be exhausted in this cruel struggle I No, I feel it, laws cannot be voluntarily immoral and absurd. Evidence strikes men ; they will break this odious bond which chains the purest being to a galley-slave. Lucie will still suffer much ; but various circumstances have enlightened me on all her sentiments, and I shall not sacrifice one of them to love. This noble woman shall be a proud wife and mother, pure, true, and loving friend. The sacrifices that she would valiantly accept for herself, she cannot bear the thought of bequeathing to her children. May she find at last the reward of these sweet virtues ! I shall rally my strength and my courage to subdue my impatience. 0 Roger! life has hard trials. I send thee a copy of my petition to the Chamber. “ Gentlemen Deputies :—There exists in the bosom of the. laws an abuse of which the extent is frightful; permit me to signalize it by a striking example. "A woman of twenty-two years, whose heart is pure and full of honor, finds herself chained by marriage to a galley-slave. Fifteen years of imprisonment, infamy, scorn, all that which separates virtue from vice, materially annuls this odious bond. �198 th/: L(> rn-i.rPK o f augusth comte. " The man is civilly (lead; the woman, declared free by the tribunals, regains possession of his fortune, which she already manages. All her rights are evident; yet she must renounce the most precious of them, that of using the liberty of her heart. By an inconceivable lack of foresight in the laws, this woman finds herself " expelled from their protection, and placed by them between two abysses, misfor­ tune and immorality. Which choice dare we assign her ? To adorn herself with a barren heroism, shall she renounce love and motherhood, those beautiful and noble rights of the wife ? “ If isolation weighs like a sentence of death on her heart, and forces her to contract a tie hostile to society, who will protect her against the evil testimony of opinion, and against all the dangers attached to a false position ? “ Between these two, there is a third, into which falls many oppressed and fee­ ble natures—it is baseness. “ Gentlemen deputies, I call your attention to this question of high morals, and I solicit a law which establishes divorce for a single act of an infamous and criminal character.” TENTH LETTER. MAURICE TO ROGER. Our hearts are calmer. Lucie seems happy in seeing me submissive to the laws which govern society. May she reap the fruit of my patience ! Perhaps I have truly performed a duty. I have suffered so much for some time, that I can no longer be a very good’judge on matters of wisdom. Abuses shock me, and oppression inspires me with such horror that I would willingly flee before it instead of contending with it. It may be that Lucie, in her heroism, is much nearer than I to simple justice and morality. Few women unite as she does pene­ tration and sensibility ; she is eminently loyal and spiritual. The better I under­ stand this heart so tender, the more I feel that I could not too well repay her love. How slowly each day brings the moment that unites us ! I love to surprise her in the midst of the occupations which she invents for herself, while expecting me,, she tells me. Yesterday I found her very busy copying a large boo’k of insignifi­ cant music designed for schools. As I evinced my astonishment with much per­ sistency, she ended by confessing that this work was one of her means of living. I could not tell thee, Roger, the painful impression that this discovery made upon me. The true duty of woman, is it not to surround man with the joys and affections of the domestic hearth, and receive from him in exchange all the means of exist­ ence that labor procures ? I would rather see the mother of a poor family washing hei children s CiOthes, than see her earning a livelihood by her talents away from home. I except, let it be understood, the eminent woman whose genius forces her out of the family sphere. Such an one should find in society her free develop­ ment ; for other minds are kindled by the exhibition of their powers. I would not only that women might find in their fathers, their brothers, and their husbands natural support; but that these supports failing them, they should be sustained by governments. Institutions should be founded in which to unite them and make use ot their various talents. There are many kinds of work that can only be done by women. These labors could be performed in these establish­ ments, where feeble and desolate women would at least be assured of a resource against the wrongs which menace them in a struggle with the world without. Our- towns would then have vast bazars where wealthy women would go to choose their attire. We should no longer see poor girls attenuated by forced labor, often obliged to walk all day to dispose of their work. These means, or others analogous, would establish a slight proportion between the strength and the duties of women, which are often so little in harmony. �ELEVENTH LETTER. MAURICE TO ROGER. Where to find a remnant of zeal in this weary, money-loving society ? Money ! that is the key to their dictionary, the word which we must absolutely grasp to comprehend them. I had confided to Count J--------our present position and my proceeding with the Chamber. He thought he would benefit me by introducing me to several of the men whom they call wise, no doubt because they have sacrificed the heart for the good of the head. I did not believe that bluntness could go so far. The conversa­ tion of these men resembled a veritable operation in stocks. It was a curious thing to see their efforts to convert an unworldly person. The obliging manner in which Count J----- — had introduced me to his circle made me, in spite of myself, give my evidence. Forced to speak of my sentiments and my opinions, I became at once the target for the whole assembly. They defeated me in philosophy and morals. They were going to declare me sublime in order to get rid of me, when one of the most influential men of the period took me aside. “ You resemble,” said he to me, “ a crow which pulls down walnuts. Do not err thus. You have just offended men who were able and willing to serve you. Arrange your affairs quickly ; and believe that a hero with fifteen thousand livres rental is not strong enough to walk alone.” This language astonished me so much that I remained silent. “ You come,” he continued, “ to demand divorce; you are authorized by an example striking enough. Truly, justice and reason are with you. A law restricted like that which you demand, would pass without the least difficulty, and would be a real benefit. Very well ! nevertheless, this law, it is a hundred to one, that you will not obtain it.” “ It is my conviction,” added he, while I repressed with difficulty a painful im­ patience, “ the fault is yours, entirely yours. Wishing to play giant, foolishly despising the hierarchy, refusing it deference, and exploring for all support the arsenal of old words, is it not voluntarily taking the role of a dupe, and running, dagger in hand, into the midst of a pigeon match ? Listen,” said he, “ if you were not so young, you would be a fool. But that infirmity excuses everything. I offer you, then, my influence with the ambassador of-------- . You have some position, a noble figure ; you can advance yourself with him. You love a remarkable woman, you will give her a station worthy of her; and believe me, love does very well without marriage.” Finishing his period, my worthy mentor threw me a significant glance and left, me. I went to shake hands with Count J— , so superior to the men by whom he is surrounded, and I returned to Oneil with rage in my heart. Roger, I shall promptly investigate what this man has said to me, and see if there is no longer any trace of justice and honor in humanity. Lucie is too grand and too pure to stoop before it. TWELFTH LETTER. LUCIE TO MAURICE. Maurice, you are noble and good. What heart can be more capable than yours of comprehending justice and reason? 0 best and most generous of men, you to whom I could have sacrificed with joy the peace of my whole life, could you but know to what extent yours has been dear and sacred to me ! My beloved, it is in vain that we attempt to struggle any longer against destiny. My soul is completely broken under its blows. Alas ! when I gave myself up to the happiness of loving �200 THE LOVE-LIFE OF AUGUSTE COMTE. you, I thought to be able, in my turn, to add a charm to your life. Let me collect my last powers in one consoling thought, hoping you will restore again to society and your mother that which they have lost by your devotion to me. How often have I seen your great soul incensed at the sight of the afflictions that fill the world ! 0 Maurice! it is delicious to experience all generous emotions. What destiny is at the same time greater and sweeter than that of the useful man ! Do you not remember having often envied poor artisans the glory of a trifling dis­ covery ? You who can do so much more than they, would you remain inactive ? Dear, very dear friend, live to imprint on the earth your noble steps. When a man like you appears in the midst of society, he should either bring to it his tribute of light and virtue, or condemn himself to the silence and coldness of selfishness. I know your soul; it is rich, and glowing as the clouds in a beautiful sky; never would you have found happiness in isolation. Do not renounce family joys ; chil­ dren will create great interests in your existence. You will find pleasure in devel­ oping in them the noble germs that they will inherit from you. You will make of their young hearts so many hearths in which the flame of yours will be diffused. They will surround you with respect and love. O Maurice 1 are not all the felici­ ties of life summed up in this single word ? . LAST LETTER. DR. L-------- TO DR. B--------. My old friend, I approve the means you take in caring for yourself in turn. For us. who believe in good, it is a painful spectacle that of society in disorder, where nothing that is noble and great can succeed any longer. I have just witnessed again one of those sacrifices which shock the heart and the reason. The unfortu­ nate young woman whose history I have written to you, expired yesterday in my arms, broken by sorrows that I refrain from describing to you. The man whom she loved survived her but a few moments ; it seems as if he could comprehend only his despair. In vain I tried to lead him to reason and calmness ; he blew out his brains beside the death-bed. before I was able to prevent his fatal design. Those who have known the interesting and unhappy woman whose loss I deplore, . will comprehend the fatal passion that she inspired. She had one of those rare organizations in which the heart and mind are equally balanced. No woman felt more than she the possibilities of her position. She might have been an accom­ plished mother and wife. Alas ! in seeing her die in my arms at the age when one should live, I have painfully appreciated how little power is given to man to repair the evil that he causes. � 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 A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; 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 An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data 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 A name given to the resource Love-life of Auguste Comte Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Croly, Jennie June [1829-1901] Description An account of the resource Place of publication: New York Collation: [185]-201 p. ; 26 cm. Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. From Modern Thinker, no. 1, 1870. Printed in red on pale yellow paper. The pseudonym of Jane Cunningham Croly, an English-born American journalist and clubwoman whose popular writings and socially conscious advocacy reflected her belief that equal rights and economic independence for women would allow them to become fully responsible, productive citizens. Includes a letter from Auguste Comte to Clothilde de Vaux, 'Lucie' a novelette by Vaux and her poem 'The Thoughts of a Flower'. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available [American News Company] Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource [1890] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5423 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <p class="western"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /><br />This work (Love-life of Auguste Comte), identified by <span style="color:#0000ff;"><span lang="zxx"><u>Humanist Library and Archives</u></span></span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</p> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Subject The topic of the resource Philosophy Auguste Comte Clothilde de Vaux Conway Tracts https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/9ef2513a32470b055f47e0c750360aad.pdf?Expires=1779321600&Signature=Npkx2MQzUtR-3oU-D6zXjDM6KHl2HimbazhfBS6iwhdmwyfooE5zRaQxwtc8-vobtpDsYc8YJA0Tla1GCZ82mD2w2u9W4k-otR5OtT-2qfGcVHktbhBwuE%7E6dxNk2aNt0XX4nKP8Xc3AMDKNEOAjZZ8OL06Z0eWS3nrTWH3j9nrModiYMUO3Pcmw7q22JfTzWWJE0m3ZTnC7KrqmPXcVeqcEBEourVJaAGdcP6N-%7EV%7E8Mc8mC9OkZuXbh64NZJtfLcvJOd8rqsYeD1NKMvZXdwpkzEGoBZ0lpLFGGTV8qRaWxy2SQGRqJMbmPelcw1F8pNg7dh7GxSdhRm4wfS-PLw__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 3023519d8f803c92f8f5911fd745827d PDF Text Text THE SUBJECTION OF WOMEN. * BY AUGUSTE COMTE. < BOUT the close of the year 1841 a correspondence Began be/ tween Mr. John Stuart Mill and M. Auguste Comte. It be/ \ came at once very cordial and friendly and continued so for some years. Mr. Mill accepted the method formulated by M. Comte in the “ Cours de Philosophie positive.” This acceptance was complete and remains so up to the present. Agreement on this point is the first and most essential; without it nothing can be accom­ plished ; with it, everything. But while such was his relation to the method, it was wholly different as to the doctrine. Mr. Mill reserved this for future contemplation. Very much of it reflection and more extended observation have shown him to be well-founded, and to that part of it he has given his most unqualified adhesion. We may cite, among other things, M. Comte’s view of human evolution; of the philosophical limits of the sciences; and of their concatenation into a series, which are perhaps the most important of “ positive ” doctrines. There were other points, however, on which the English philosopher dissented—a dissent prolonged up to the present time. Such are the study of economic conditions as a separate science—the present politi­ cal economy; the study of the intellectual functions apart from their cerebral organs—the present psychology ; and the social condition of women. Mr. Mill has very recently devoted an entire work, or rather pam­ phlet, to the advocacy of his views on the relations of the sexes, with reference both to the family and to the social organism. Very few (we think) can read the letters, here for the first time presented to the English speaking public, without perceiving that “ The Subjection-of Women”! embodies, in great part, a substantial, if not an exact re­ production of the opinions and arguments communicated so many years ago to M. Comte. As far as the constitution of th'e positive philosophy is concerned, this question is of wholly minor importance; it can be decided either way without affecting its integrity. It is, how­ ever, the fundamental question in social statics without which that half of the science of sociology cannot be constituted; while the lively * Discussion with Mr. J. S. Mill on the social condition of women, f London, 1869 ; and New York, 1870. 22 �172 THE SUBJECTION OF WOMEN. sension about the condition and social destination of women, the more suitable does it appear to me to characterize profoundly the deplorable mental anarchy of our time, by showing the difficulty of a sufficient present convergence even among the minds of the elite, between whom there already exists, beside native sympathy, a logical harmony so pro­ found as ours, and which, nevertheless, diverges, at least for the moment, on one of the most fundamental questions which sociology can agitate; upon the principal elementary base, to speak correctly, of all true so­ cial hierarchy. Such a spectacle might even be enough to inspire a kind of philosophical despair upon the final impossibility, as the relig­ ious spirits pretend, of constituting a true intellectual concord upon purely rational bases, if on the other hand a profound habitual estima­ tion of our mental state, and even a sufficient personal experience, did not tend to clearly convince me that the present position of your mind constitutes in this respect only a necessarily temporary phase, the last indirect reflection of the great negative transition. All thinkers who seriously love women otherwise than as charming toys, have, in our day, passed, I believe, through an analogous situation; on my own part, I recollect very well the time when the strange work of Miss Mary * Wollstonecraft (before she espoused Godwin) produced a very strong impression upon me. It was even chiefly by laboring to elucidate for others the true elementary notions of domestic order, that I put my mind, about twenty years, irrevocably beyond the pale of all similar surprises of sentiment. I have no doubt that my special estimation of this fundamental principle in the work which I am about commencing, will suffice to dissipate, in this relation, all your uncertainties, if, before this moment, your own meditations 'do not. essentially antedate this important demonstration, on which we can prematurely talk a little in our fraternal interview. In resuming summarily the indications of your last letter, I hope that our spontaneous concert is less distant than I at first feared. Although acknowledging the anatomical diversities which more than anything else separate the feminine organism from the great human type,f I think you have not allowed them a strong enough physiological participation, while you have perhaps exaggerated the possible influence of exercise, which, before everything, necessarily supposes a suitable constitution. If, according to your hypothesis, our cerebral apparatus never reached its adult state, all the exercise imag­ inable would not render it susceptible of the high elaborations that it ends by admitting of; and it is to this that I attribute the avortement, too frequent in our day, of many unhappy youths who are exercised at tasks repulsive to their age. Women are in the same category. In a methodical discussion, I will have little to add to your judicious esti*“A Vindication of the Rights of Women, with strictures on political and moral subjects.” London, 1792. t As Littre remarks, this expression is not well chosen; “ human nature has no human type which is independent of woman. The human ty pe can never, physically or morally, be conceived but as double; it comprises two inseparable parts.” �THE SUBJECTION OF WOMEN. 173 naation of the normal limits of their faculties; but I find that you do not attach sufficient importance to the real consequences of such native inferiority. Their characteristic inaptitude for abstraction and construc­ tion, the almost complete impossibility of rejecting emotional inspiration in rational operations, though their passions are in general more gen­ erous, must continue to indefinitely interdict them from all immediate supreme direction of human affairs, not only in science or philosophy as you allow, but also in esthetic life and even in practical life, as well industrial as military, in which the spirit of consequence (de suite) constitutes assuredly the principal condition of prolonged success. I believe that women are as improper to direct any great commercial or manufacturing enterprise as any important military operation; with stronger reason are they radically incapable of all government, even domestic, but only of secondary administration. In any case, neither direction nor execution being suitable to them, they are essentially re­ served for consultation and modification, in which their passive position permits them to utilize very happily their sagacity and their character­ istic * actuality.’ I have been able to observe very closely the feminine organism, even in many eminent exceptions. I can further, on this subject, mention my own wife, who, without having happily written anything, at least up to the present, really possesses more mental force than the greater number of the most justly praised persons of her sex. I have everywhere found the essential characters of this type, a very insufficient aptitude for the generalization of relations, and for persist­ ence in deductions as well as in the preponderance of reason over pas­ sion. All the cases of this kind are, in my eyes, too frequent and too pronounced, to permit the imputation of difference of results chiefly to diversity of education; for I have met with the same essential attri­ butes where the whole surrounding influences had certainly tended to de­ velop as far as possible an entirely different disposition. After all, is it not otherwise in many respects a final advantage rather than a real incon­ venience for women, to have been saved from this disastrous education of words and entities which, during the great modem transition, has replaced ancient military education ? As to the Fine Arts especially, is it not evident that for two or three centuries, many women have been very happily situated and trained for the cultivation, without ever having been able, nevertheless, to produce anything truly great—no more in music or painting than in poetry ? By a more profound es­ timation of the whole field, one is, I think, led to recognize that this social order so much execrated is radically arranged, on the contrary, Sb as to essentially favor the proper scope of feminine qualities. Des­ tined, beyond the maternal functions, to spontaneously constitute the domestic auxilaries of all spiritual power, in supporting by sentiment the practical influence of intelligence to modify morally the natural reign of material force, women, are more and more placed in the condi­ tions most proper for this important mission, by their isolation itself �174 -THE SUBJECTION OF WOMEN. from active specialties which facilitates a judicious exercise of their kind and moderating influence, at the same time that their own inter­ ests are thus connected necessarily with the triumph of universal mo­ rality. If it were possible that their position could change in this respect and that they could become the equals of men instead of their companions, I believe that the qualities which you justly attribute to them would be much less developed. Their small instantaneous sagac­ ity would become, for example, almost sterile, as soon as, ceasing to be passive without being indifferent, they would have to conceive and di­ rect, in place of regarding and counselling without serious responsi­ bility. Besides, for truly positive philosophers, who know how, in all cases, our systematic influence must be limited to wisely modify the ex­ ercise of natural laws, without ever thinking of radically changing their character and direction proper, the immense experience al­ ready accomplished, in this respect, by the whole of humanity must be, it seems to me, fully decisive; for we know the philosophical worth of the theatrical declamations on the pretended abuse of force on the part of the males. Although anatomical estimation has not yet sufficiently established the explicit demonstration of the organic superiority of our own species over the rest of animality, which has, indeed, only very recently become possible, physiological research has left no doubt upon the point, according to the single fact of the progressive ascendancy obtained by man. It is nearly the same in the question of sexes, though to a much less degree; for how can the constant social subordination of the female sex be otherwise explained ? The singular emaute organized in our day for the benefit of women, but not by them, will certainly in the end only add confirmation to this universal experience, although this grave in­ cident of our anarchy may otherwise for the moment produce deplora­ ble consequences, either private or public. The mass of our species was for ages everywhere plunged in a social condition much inferior in every way to that over which some now lament in women; but it has been, since the beginning of the Middle Ages, gradually abandoned among the most advanced peoples, because this collective subjection, a temporary condition of ancient sociability, did not really belong to any organic difference between the dominant and the dominated * But, . on the contrary, the social subordination of women will be necessarily indefinite, although progressively conformed to the normal universal type, because it directly reposes upon a natural inferiority which nothing can destroy, and which is even more pronounced among men than among the other superior animals. By rendering women con­ tinuously more suitable to their true general destination, I am con­ vinced that the modern regeneration will more completely recall them to their eminently domestic life, from which the disorder inseparable See, on this illustration relative to the question of serfdom and slavery further on in the third letter, p. �THE SUB JE C T T 0 N OF WOMEN. 175 from the great modern transition has, I think, momentarily turned their attention in divers secondary respects. The natural movement of our industry certainly tends to gradually turn over to men profes. sions for a long time carried on by women, and this spontaneous dispo­ sition is, in my eyes, only one example of the growing tendency of our sociability, to interdict women from all occupations which are not suf­ ficiently reconcilable with their domestic destination, the importance of which will become more and more preponderant. This is very far, as you are aware, from interdicting them from a great and useful indirect participation in the entire social movement, which could have | never been conducted by them alone, even as to the essential scope of opinions and manners which specially interest them. Every other mode of conceiving their status and consequently their duties and ours, will really be as contrary at the least to their own good as to uni­ versal harmony. If from the attitude of woman’s protector, men enter a situation of rivalry toward her, she will become, I believe, very un­ happy through the necessary impossibility in which she will soon find herself of sustaining such a competition, directly contrary to the con­ ditions of her existence. I believe, therefore that those who sincerely * love her, who ardently desire the most complete evolution possible of the faculties and functions properly belonging to her, must desire that these anarchical utopias may never be tried?’ The third letter in this ensemble, and the last we shall give, is dated Paris, November 14th, 1843. It is as follows: “Having now resumed my daily occupations, I hasten to reply to your important letter of October 30th before commencing my small work upon the ‘Ecole poly­ technique,’ which, as it would take me a fortnight, would delay too K long a response which I regard as the present termination of our great biologico-sociological discussion. The general impression left upon my mind by this letter, leads me, indeed, to think that this discussion has now reached as far as it could with any utility be pushed; in short, that there would at present be more inconvenience than advan­ tage in further prolonging it, and it seems to me from your closing words, that, at base, you are not far removed from the same opinion. Without your divers arguments on this subject having in any way shaken or even modified any of my previous convictions, they have proved to me that the time has not yet come for seeing you arrive at the fundamental truths upon this capital point which I have for a long time received, but leave me, nevertheless, in all its fullness, the hope that your further meditations may end by leading you also to the same conclusion. In our present position we agree neither upon the principles nor even the facts which must indispensably contribute to the decision; and, consequently, it becomes proper not to finally close the discussion, but to indefinitely suspend it, until such time as on one side or the other the conditions of a useful resumption are found effectively fulfilled. Still, I think I ought, for the last time, to take up �176 THE SUBJECTION OF WOMEN. summarily the principal articles of your letter, in order the better to characterize as I have not hitherto been able to do so, the essential points of opposition, at once logical and scientific, thus established between us in this respect. “ In the beginning, I share essentially your logical opinion as to the superior difficulty now offered by questions of social statics as compared with dynamical questions. However, although the positive elaboration of the latter is now much more mature, at the same time that it is happily more urgent, I believe it possible to demonstrate immediately the principal bases of static Sociology, and I expect to give an example of it in the methodical treatise which I will commence at the end of the present winter. I even think that without this preliminary condi­ tion the dynamical theory would not have sufficient rationality. I can now feel bold, as, for my own mind, this preamble has been accom­ plished for many years, although I have not hitherto been able to sufficiently develop this order of convictions so as to have them prop­ erly shared by other thinkers. Owing to the fact that the fundamental laws of existence can never be really suspended, it is very difficult to clearly distinguish their continuous influence in the study of the phenomena of activity; but this is not, however, impossible, as we can do so by properly .estimating what is common to all the essential cases offered by them. Besides, I believe that the preliminary light shed by pure Biology, and which then has, especially in the present question, a superior importance, is. now much more advanced than you seem ready to admit, despite the little satisfactory state of our biological studies. Doubtless, as you say, in reacting against the philosophical aberrations of the last century, contemporary thinkers have been at times led to exaggerate in the opposite direction. Thus Gall, in worthily upholding the preponderant influence of the primordial organism, has too much neglected that of education so abusively extolled by Helvetius. But, though the truth is assuredly between the two, it is far, in my opinion, from consisting in the exact balance {juste milien), and is found much nearer the present opinion than the preceding. It was very natural to at first estimate the external influences as plainer, and thi§ is what the eighteenth century has everywhere done on all biological subjects in which the notions of the medium are always shown before that of the organism. But this is surely not the normal state of biological ’ philosophy, in which the organic conditions must certainly prevail; since it is the organism and not the medium that makes us men rather than monkeys or dogs, and which even determines our special mode of humanity to a degree much more circumscribed than is commonly believed. Under the logical aspect, by applying the natural march that your valuable treatise has so judiciously characterized as the Method of Residues, we cannot, it seems to me, especially in such * * See “ Mill’s Logic,” Vol. Ill, chap. viii. 3d London Ed. (1851) Vol. I, pp. 404, 405. �THE SUBJECTION OF WOMEN. 177 complex subjects, regard as indifferent the order of partial subtractions which ought always to be followed out as far as possible according to the decreasing importance that a primary general estimation sponta­ neously awards to the diverse determinable influences; in short, that in biological researches we ought most frequently to reverse the order which you believe always preferable, viz., from the external to the internal. u I regret exceedingly that the grave defects of co-ordination inherent in Gall’s work should have so shocked a mind as methodical as yours, thus hindering you hitherto from appreciating the fundamental reality of his essential demonstrations, abstraction made of all irrational or prema­ ture localization. You may, perhaps, in this respect be less dissatisfied with his great early work, (Analogicpt physiologie du systeme nerveux en general et du cerveau en particulier, in 4to,) although it is probably too anatomical for your purpose. But the same fundamental ideas are presented in better logical form in the more systematic works of Spurzheim, that is to say, Observations sur la phrenologie, Essai philosophique sur les facultes morales et intellectuelles, the work upon Education, and even that relating to insanity, which constitute in all only four thin octavo volumes, easily read in one or two weeks. Without the subordination of . sexes being directly examined there, we can, however, regard this doctrine as having already sufficiently established, as far, at least, as Biology can do so, the fundamental principle of the domestic hierarchy. Before philosophical Biology had properly arisen under Vicq. d’Azyr and Bichat, and altogether independently of cerebral physiology, an estimable work, though not very eminent, still deserving to be read, had already attempted to found this principle upon the single preponderant consideration of physical destination; it is a small treatise of a Montpellier physician, (Roussel), entitled Systemephysique et morale de la femme, published in 1775, under the scientific impulsion of the labors of Borden, the great precursor of Bichat. Comparative Biology seems to me, further, to leave no real doubt on this subject. In following, for instance, M. de Blainville’s lectures, though he had in yiew no thesis whatsoever on this question, one cannot fail, to perceive arise from the ensemble of the studies on animals, the general law of the superiority of the mas­ culine sex in all the higher part of the living hierarchy; we will have to descend among the invertebrates in order to find, and still very rarely, notable exceptions to this great organic rule, which presents besides the diversity of the sexes as increasing with the degree of organization. I am, therefore, far from agreeing to abandon biological considerations, although I regard the sociological appreciation as being able without other aid to directly establish this important hotion; but biological inspirations must then serve to properly direct sociological speculations, which, in this respect, as in all other elementary ones, seem to me ought to offer only a sort of philosophical prolongation of -the great biological theorems. 23 �178 THE SUBJECTION OF WOMEN. “ As to the sociological appreciation separately regarded, I cannot agree with you that the English medium is more favorable to the mental and moral development of women than the French. Ab­ straction made of all national vanity, of which you know me certainly to be very independent, I believe, on the contrary, that the ladies of France should be more developed from this very cause, that they live in, more oomplete society with men. This diversity between us is otherwise only a consequence of another more general, consisting in the fact that the social constitution appears to you to have been hitherto unfavorable to feminine development, while it seems to me very proper for cultivating the qualities proper for women. As to the rest, I am nowise competent to contest your observation upon English households. But I believe that in it you confound too much simple domestic administration with the true general government of the family. In all Occidental Europe, I believe that, as in England, households are administered by the women; but everywhere also, save individual anomalies, it is the men who govern the common affairs of the family. . “1 cannot at all accept your comparison of the condition of women to that of any sort of slaves. I have indicated this analogy only to prevent a natural enough objection, tending to indirectly invalidate my conclusion upon the passage from fact to principle. But, on a direct comparison of the two cases, it seems to me that, since the establish­ ment of monogamy, and especially in modern sociability, the term ‘ser­ vitude’ is extremely vicious when meant to characterize the social state of our gentle partners, and consequently I can nowise accept the historical parallelism upon the simultaneous variations of two situations so radically heterogeneous. Sale and non-possession are the principal characters of all slavery—they have certainly never been applicable to the occidentals of the last five centuries. * “ As to the progress which, for a century, is gradually working for feminine emancipation, I do not at all believe in it, either as a fact or as a principle. Our female authors seem to me no way superior, in reality, to Mme. de Sevigne, Mme. de la Fayette, ,Mme. de Motteville, and other remarkable ladies of the seventeenth century. I cannot decide, whether it is otherwise in England. The woman who, under a man’s name, (George Sand,) has now become so celebrated among us, appears to me, at base, very inferior, not only in propriety, but even in feminine originality, to the greater number of these estimable types. * See remarks above, p. 174, and also “The Subjection of Women,” 2d London Ed., pp. 8, 9,18, ff., and 28. Mr. Mill here traces pathetically, nay, almost tragically, the parallelistn mentioned by M. Comte. One thought suggested itself while reading it: Why slave-masters who were apparently as much interested as hus­ bands in having their slaves docile, etc., did not try the same means to accomplish this end as Mr. Mill asserts husbands to have done? Should his genesis of the present condition of women prove true, of which certain damaging omissions make us afraid, we would recommend it to Mr. Darwin as the most long-continued and successful piece of artificial “ selection ” to be anywhere found.—Tr. �THE SUBJECTION OF WOMEN. 179 I do not see, in reality, any other notable increase than that of the number and material fecundity of these authoresses, as Moli&re prob­ ably foresaw; but I am doubtful whether any true progress is shown in it. This movement consists chiefly in a growing intemperance, which appears to me a sad but very natural consequence (or rather face) of our universal mental anarchy since the inevitable decay of the frail bases that theology had provisionally supplied to the entirety of great moral and social notions. Beside this part of the negative disturbance having been found especially favored by energetic passions, it has had only to contend against perhaps the weakest part of theological socia­ bility; for what can. be more illusory than to found the, domestic hierarchy upon Adam’s supernumerary rib ? Is it astonishing, that principles so lightly constituted, have not been able to resist the shock of impassioned anarchy? But their momentary discredit really proves no more than the necessity for better establishing them. Under this relation the deplorable discussions thus raised, although yet essentially deprived of logical reasonableness, besides being unhappily inevitable, are at least useful, in obliging us to more profoundly fathom the in­ timate motives of this indispensable domestic co-ordination. The present emeuts of women, or rather of some womejn, will in the end have no other result than that of presenting experimentally the insur­ mountable reality of the fundamental principle of such subordination, which must then. react profoundly upon all the other parts of social economy; but this useful conclusion will be found purchased at the price of much public and private misery, which a more philosophical advance would have shunned were such rationality now possible. If this disastrous social equality of the two sexes were ever really at­ tempted, it would immediately radically disturb the conditions of existence of the sex that some desire thus to favor, and with regard to which the present protection, that must alone be completed by regu­ lating it, would then be converted into a competition impossible to habitually sustain. Such an assimilation will otherwise tend morally to destroy the principal charm which now draws us towards women, and which resulting from a sufficient harmony between social diversity and organic diversity, supposes women to be in an essentially passive and speculative situation that can in no way hinder their just partici­ pation in all great social sympathies. If such a principle of repulsion could be pushed to its extreme natural limit, I venture to affirm that it will appear directly opposed to the reproduction of our species, which restores, in this respect, the biological point of view, more intimately connected there than elsewhere with the sociological. “ All this may perhaps appear to you very extended for a discussion which I regarded as provisionally terminated ; but for this very reason I undertook to better characterize our principal dissidences. For the rest, although without present result, I am far from regretting that you have begun it, for it will assist me considerably in properly feeling the �180 THE ’ SUBJECTION OF WOMEN. A essential points to be especially insisted upon in my forthcoming treatise, in my attempt at a static demonstration of a principle which, despite its eminently elementary nature, is yet so profoundly misunder­ stood by so superior and so well-prepared a mind. Permit me, how­ ever, to hope, according to my own previous experience, that this situation of your judgment constitutes really only a last transient phase of the great negative transition belonging to our age.”* ° Mr. Mill has forcibly called attention (work cited, p. 99) to a fact which deserves Careful study. After acknowledging that no woman had been a Homer, an Aristotle, or a Michael Angelo, he remarks: “ It is a curious consideration, that the only things which the existing law excludes women from doing, are the things ^fliich they have proved they are able to do. * * * Their vocation for govern­ ment has made its way and become conspicuous through the very few opportunities which have been given, while in the lines of distinction, which apparently were freely open to them, they have by no means so eminently distinguished them­ selves.” From the way Mr. Mill puts it, the distinction seems well founded, and on further reflection, seems one of the most “ curious ” things in the world. That exercise and freedom should in woman’s case act the very reverse of what they do among men, seems to go far to substantiate M. Comte’s doctrine of fundamental difference between the sexes. While it seems in the nature of a standing “ miracle” to know how a state could have originated or how it could be kept up that inter­ dicts beings from their real natural vocation. If I understand the English philoso­ pher correctly, it might be wholesome for women to have an edict on our statute books against writing poetry or painting; if it could act as political proscription seemingly does, all should hope for the early arrival of the day.—Tr. � 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 A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. 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Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data 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 A name given to the resource The subjection of women Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Comte, Auguste Description An account of the resource Place of publication: New York Collation: [169]-180 p. ; 26 cm. Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. From Modern Thinker, no. 1, 1870. "Discussion with Mr J.S. Mill on the social condition of women". Based on correspondence between Comte and Mill that began at the end of 1841. Includes bibliographical references. Printed on blue paper. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available [American News Company] Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource [1870] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5422 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <p class="western"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /><br />This work (The subjection of women), identified by <span style="color:#0000ff;"><span lang="zxx"><u>Humanist Library and Archives</u></span></span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</p> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Subject The topic of the resource Women's rights Conway Tracts John Stuart Mill Marriage Women Women-Social Conditions Women's Emancipation https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/93aa104ff5b9d7bef0a544656411ea37.pdf?Expires=1779321600&Signature=s%7EzqS3wOHf2W9rKdJXHpu8OB6hwRDmjdyHgk43bYwUkdK4jG5UkEGvz-Qec6sxVar4zYh5Xg4Nqvg7RxDZmr%7EQQSX1mXtrGQWPvOLfNctxI4kTGHIrFXJYQHFRklzAfvk31YaoIqUq0szzOps9YkWU4GaknCEj67cjlnVRTfBssxgVVKzZkVwHlXAPwTDeNORQYzbaFsoQNetNVS4Mgn%7EUEJ-mPZvl0mmVL6YnBdwQpk7IwMMt-1TDbAhJjZxj-eYq-R4wCC%7EpFE8SNr49JN5413BnkrH9DX0mk3WsYOnR1Oyrq577ykc3zfOP9YOKI7ou9suYvPucHcNongZH228g__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM c7cd5484b6e65bd41cd5680d33bfd569 PDF Text Text THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS ORTHODOXY. OF BY FRANCIS GERRY FAIRFIELD. 1.— THE NECESSARY INTERPRETATION OF HISTORY. HE very recent declarations of Mr. John Fiske, of Harvard, that Positivism regards itself as the legitimate successor of theology, have resulted in directing the attention of thinkers in this country to that subject. The speculations of Spencer, who must be classed as a Positivist, though vastly at variance with Comte in some of his conclusions, cannot be regarded as menacing to orthodoxy, except in so far (if at all) as they may affect the general cosmological and biological theorems upon which it depends. A sys­ tem of philosophy—and Mr. Spencer may insult the adjective synthetic with it, if it suits his fancy or egotism—a system of philosophy that has no sympathy with history, must be regarded as too partial both in its data and conclusions to affect the intellectual and moral evolution of the oentury, except very limitedly ; and that Spencer’s system in­ volves no hearty recognition of human history, is too apparent to need elaborate demonstration. It is like a collection of bones, without moral vitality ; and, in the putting together of the bones even, there is occa­ sionally a lack of that deeper and more comprehensive synthesis which constitutes the profounder part of philosophy. Comte has, on the other hand, accepted the historical necessity of some religious system, both as psychological and social; but has begun by eliminating from it its valuable element, to wit, its supernaturalism, which, per se, is not necessarily theistic or dependent upon the theistic idea, but belongs to human nature and to human history as a progressive evolution of the unconditioned from the conditioned. Spencer’s speculations have not sufficient sympathy with evolution as progressive — are too static. A just system of philosophy must begin with the recognition, not only of history as the collective body of human acts, but as the collective body of human progress in the struggle toward ultimate freedom, in the sharpness of which struggle the supernatural is engendered—the supernatural being understood in its true historical sense as the sporadic manifestation, under given con­ ditions, of that higher unconditioned humanity and nature, toward T �THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF ORTHODOXY. 203 which both historical and geological evolution tend, and in whicli they end. Orthodoxy rests fundamentally upon two historical postulates, namely, monotheism and the progressive historical evolution of the God-consciousness in humanity. Admit these two postulates, and the whole body of orthodox thought must be admitted as valid. Ra­ tionalism is historically illogical, because it has no historical destiny, and omits recognition of that which is to be regarded as evidence of the progress of the evolution of the ultimate—in a word, omits recog­ nition of the supernatural in history; and, for the same reason, Comte’s religion of humanity is inadmissible. For all the purposes of philo­ sophical poiesis it matters not whether the absolute be considered as latent in humanity, that is, subjective, or as the God of the theolo­ gians, that is, objective, or as the historical ultimate of humanity. The fundamental conception is the same in either hypothesis, and, in either hypothesis, represents an ideal sublimate which the history of human consciousness has demonstrated to be universal. Furthermore, any system of philosophy which, like undiluted Positivism, neglects to take this God-instinct into account, is essentially partial, defective, and un­ satisfactory. Omitting the ethical as historically interpretive of the idea of right, and, therefore, not germane to the investigation, the analyses of the historical manifestation of human consciousness may be stated as threefold: I. Philosophical or rational poiesis, which represents the struggle of the rational intellect (Vernunfl) to apprehend the absolute in truth. Subjectively, its processes are: apprehension and comprehension, that is, knowledge; hypothesis and generalization, that is, ideal evolution; -synthesis into system, that is, unification into absolute body of knowl­ edge general, of knowledge particular. II. Imaginative poiesis—art, poetry, music, and literary creation— which represents the toiling of the imagination to apprehend and ob­ jectify the absolute in beauty. As the toiling of reason is after the absolute or ideal in knowledge, so the toiling of the imagination is after the realization of the absolute or ideal in form, using the word in its most comprehensive sense. III. Inspirational poiesis—historically illustrated by the facts of sacred history—which represents the struggle of the God-instinct to compass the absolute in personal consciousness. For purposes of his­ torical analysis, it is not necessary to postulate the objective esse of God as postulated by theologians. Scientific disquisition assumes sim­ ply the God-instinct in humanity, which is all that is necessary in philosophical analysis, and leaves the question of objectivity to take care of itself. The first finds its struggle answered in the absolute in truth ; the second, in the absolute in realization or beauty; the third, in the ab­ solute in personal consciousness, the toiling after which constitutes, philosophically, the ground of what is termed revelation. �204 THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF ORTHODOXY. Subjectively, therefore, truth and beauty are pure ideas, dependent upon reason and imagination respectively. Subjectively, too, any sys­ tem of philosophy or scientific hypothesis is just as really human in­ vention as is a poem or a novel—a conclusion which is as lucidly demonstrable as any proposition in Euclid. Suppose a person unen­ dowed with reason, and truth is an impossible idea; suppose the same person destitute of imagination, and beauty is an idea equally impossi­ ble. It is not necessary at this stage of the discussion to open the question of the objective reality of either—since conception of that reality is grounded in imaginative and rational intellect, and since the conception is often at best mistaken for the reality itself. In the crea­ tion of any philosophico-imaginative cosmogony, like that of La Place, therefore, the evolution of system is based upon the conceptions as material of two faculties, to wit, reason, whence the ideal in abstract, and imagination, whence the realization of the ideal in form. As the construction of any hypothetical cosmogony is grounded in these two ideas uniquely, it is, therefore, necessary to reduce both to ultimate analysis, and develop the atomic notions upon which they respectively depend. At first sight, the idea of truth, in all moods of consciousness, seems to be the simplest axiom or atom of thought, of which it is pos­ sible to form a conception. A more minute scrutiny, however, suggests the hypothesis that, truth as an idea is rather deductive than atomic— suggests, I say, the conclusion that the idea of the true is deduced from the atomic notion of the determinate, of the fixed. The struggle of reason (represented in philosophy) is, therefore, a toiling after the fixed, the determinate, the absolute in knowledge. In the processes and evo­ lution of philosophy, the Positivists are correct in postulating the rela­ tivity of knowledge; but, in its end, if that shall ever be attained, knowledge must be absolute. In its historical ultimate, its to think must be succeeded by to know. In seeking to apprehend this absolute, therefore, which forever baffles and eludes his pursuit, what seeks man but to apprehend the mystery and solve the riddle of himself ?—for, in the consciousness of the man is hidden the secret of the universe and the key of the true cosmogony. Constructive philosophy necessarily consisting of two principal parts,—the synthesis of methods and the synthesis of doctrines,—Comte’s position as a thinker by no means covers the whole ground. His synthesis of methods may form the basis of a philosophical system, but is not, in itself, a system of philosophy, and must be complemented by the synthesis of doctrines which Spencer has attempted to constitute really a philosophical body. Mr. Fiske has been the first to condition Positivism in definition; and its cardinal theorems cannot be stated more lucidly than this exceedingly analytic critic has stated them: I. That all knowledge is relative. II. That all unverifiable hypotheses are inadmissible. �THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS O F O R T H O D O X Y. 205 III. That the evolution of philosophy, whatever else it may, is a continuous process of deanthropomorphization. IV. That philosophy is the synthesis of the doctrines and methods of science. V. That the critical attitude of philosophy is not destructive, but constructive ; not sceptical, but dogmatic ; not negative, but positive. These, according to Mr. Fiske, are the fundamental propositions of Positivism. The Positive Philosophy, therefore, by no means involves radicalism. On the other hand, historically considered, radicalism has always been the handmaid of scepticism—has universally made its appearance in conjunction therewith, aud more or less grounded upon it. Positivism is essentially dogmatic, but not radical and noisy; it maintains the quiet attitude of scientific criticism, and is not declama­ tory ; attacks nothing, no faith, no belief, no theological dogma; is satisfied with science as the developing element of civilization; enun­ ciates what it deems to be truth, and waits its time. Relentless as fate, it quarrels with nobody, but tramps strongly on, stopping only with the cessation of scientific investigation. In its relation to past systems of philosophy it claims to adopt the verifiable, rejecting the unverifiable element. As the latest outcome of the speculative instinct, as emphatically the philosophy of the century and interpretative of its spirit, it represents the present result of the philosophical poiesis his­ torically considered. In historical generalization, philosophy has run through two cycles, and begun its third cycle in the system of Comte. The first cycle is represented by the Greek systems. In ancient philosophy the first period is cosmological, beginning with Thales and ending with Anaxa­ goras and Demokritos; the second is psychological, represented by Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle ; the third period is one of general scep­ ticism ; and the fourth is represented by Proklos whose divine light is nearly identical with the Hegelian intuition, and completes the Greek cycle. Mr. Lewes and Mr. Fiske regard Positivism as the end of the modern cycle; but, more properly, it begins the scientific cycle. The modern cycle begins with the promulgation of the method of Bacon and the cultivation of the physical sciences; the cosmological element cropping out in Galileo and Kepler. Its first period is ontological, be­ ginning with Descartes and ending with Spinoza, whose inexorable logic brought on a crisis and resulted in the reconsideration of the initial conceptions of metaphysics and the rejection of the validity of the subjective method. This led to the second or psychological period, during which, for a century or more, ontological speculation was abandoned or subordi­ nated to psychological analysis. The adoption of the first canon of Positivism—the relativity of knowledge—resulted from the investiga­ tions of this period, and was rendered necessary by the1 inexorable an­ alysis of mental operations, begun by Hobbes, and continued by Locke, Berkley, and Hume. �206 THE SCIENTIFIC BASTS OF ORTHODOXY. This brought on the third or sceptical period, of which Hume ap­ peal’s as the apostle, and in which Hartley’s keen analysis demonstrated the possibility of bringing the scientific method to bear upon psycho­ logical iuquiry. Sensationalism and crude materialism represent this period in France. Against both, as the natural swing of the philo­ sophical pendulum, there ensued later the tawdry superficially spiritual­ istic reaction, conducted by Laromiguiere and Cousin, whose declam­ atory le cœur answers to the divine light of Proklos, and ends the cycle in France, with a fourth or intuitional period. In Germany the cycle ends similarly, the re-examination of the subjective method by Kant being episodical, and preparatory to the reassertion of the intuitional by Hegel, who, again, denies the relativity of knowledge. The great English thinkers of the century, with a caution engendered by the Baconian method, diverge here from the logical completion of the cycle, with the exception, perhaps, of Coleridge, who was addicted to German­ ism ; Hamilton and Mansel accepting the Kantian psychology, but stopping short of Hegelism. Thus ends the second cycle—the third beginning with Positivism as interpreted by Spencer, in England, and Comte, in France, and adopting substantially the cosmological system of La Place. Pre-eminently it may be termed the cycle of the scien­ tific method ; but, as to its ultimate historical deduction, it is folly to speculate. From this cursory generalization of the historical struggle of the rational intellect after the fixed, the determinate, the absolute in knowl­ edge, a parallel generalization of the history of the imaginative/xuLGais, it will be seen, quite unnecessary. Endlessly it everywhere repeats the cycle—beginning with fable, merging into poetry and allegory, de­ veloping into dramatic creation, and ending in pure, natural literature. The historical manifestation of the God-instinct presents really but one grand cycle which commences with cosmogonies. Then comes rev­ elation objective, as its first rude groping after the latent absolute in human consciousness, with its dreams, and omens, and visions. A pe­ riod of transition ensues in which priestly mysteries succeed to objec­ tivity. Then comes the intuitional, prophetic, or subjective- period, in which objective revelation is abandoned, and the God is represented in temporary union with the human consciousness. Then the final com­ pleteness of the union of the God with human consciousness in the son of Mary is asserted and accepted. Again, a brief period of pro­ phetic prediction ensues, represented by the Apocalypse of St. John, in which the ultimate historical triumph of the God-instinct ovei’ all condition is foretold. Then comes a period of evolution ; and the cycle, not yet completed, ends in the realization by the human of the absolute in oonsciousness, as the ultimate deduction of the toiling of the God-instinct after the God. The acceptance or denial of the esse of the objective in no way affects the validity of the subjective instinct —in no way affects the facts of its historical manifestation. The phe32 �TBE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF ORTHODOXY. 207 nomena are attested ; the objectivity of deity is a question with which philosophy has no business. Truth, beauty, and deity may be subject­ ive conceptions; but the supposition that they are cannot annul their historical validity in the manifestation of consciousness. The collect­ ive body of the motion of human consciousness towards freedom in all directions—towards the absolute, in a word—constitutes, therefore, historical progress, history being in ultimate definition the selfexpression of humanity; and at the basis of this progress, forever restless, forever toiling towards the realization of its freedom from con­ dition, tugs the God-instinct of the ego, the motive of all that is grand and sublimated in human thought and human action. Neces­ sary as the integrity of the ego is to this deduction, it may be well here to notice the late English hypothesis that it is constituted by the successive ideas which finds its refutation in the fact that, in the evolu­ tion of ideas the consciousness is a double one—that is, I am conscious of myself as myself, and conscious of myself as thinking. Three profoundly instinctive and irrepressible, even fundamental, directions of consciousness are found, therefore, if the preceding ratio­ cination be valid, to underlie the historical self-expression of humanity. They are, if coinage of the compounds may be permitted : I. The thought-instinct, which seeks the absolute in knowledge, in truth, in comprehension of the processes and laws of phenomenal evolution. II. The art-instinct, which toils to create the absolute in form, in beauty, in objective realization. III. The God-instinct, which struggles for the realization of the ab­ solute in personal consciousness ; which attained, the history of human consciousness as conditioned, ends. The collective body of results, emanating from this threefold toil­ ing of the human after freedom of self-expression, constitutes the es­ sential facts of history, as the ultimate realization of the goal towards which the struggle tends, constitutes its finis. I have proceeded thus far without a break, for the sake of logical coherence. Let me return now, and subject to analysis the idea of beauty. If the idea of beauty be subjected to careful analysis, it will, I think, be conceded to be non-atomic, that is, deduced ; and if, again, the dissection of the few poems, the beauty of which has been univers­ ally acknowledged, be entered upon, their effect will be found to depend upon a certain dreamy undulation, like the weird waving of restless trees under moonlight, which pervades and spiritualizes their composi­ tion. The atomic notion of beauty is, therefore, the undulative, the rhythmical, the indeterminate. It is this principle that imbues the beautiful with its soul of Faëry. From it may be deduced the vague, the spiritual in poetic, artistic, and musical creation. Dispel this perspective, this atmosphere of the indeterminate—imbue beauty �208 THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF ORTHODOXY. with mathematical decision, and it ceases to be beauty. The jump of iambic rhythm is less beautiful than the dreamier winding of the anapest, or the undulative dance of the dactyl. For a similar reason, to wit, greater sweep of undulation, the Persian rhythms are more beautiful than the English. It is not intended in the preceding remarks to deny the mathemat­ ical relations upon which the skeleton of the beautiful in form is grounded. In rhythmical construction the sound-waves observe a certain mathematical regularity of recurrence, as also in music ; but that which constitutes a mathematical system of short and long syl­ lables regularly alternating, and is mere scansion, must not be con­ founded with the ebb and swell of the sound-wave, the undulation of which is the ground of the beautiful in rhythm and music. Sculpture, painting, and the plastic arts afford, perhaps, a more distinct recogni­ tion of the relation of the geometrical to the beautiful ; but, in the study of that relation, the two must be kept separate. The mathe­ matical and geometrical are, so to speak, the bones of the beautiful. “ Beauty of favor,” says Bacon, “ is least. Beauty of color is more than that of favor ; and the beauty of sweet and graceful motion is best of all. There is a beauty which a picture cannot express, nor even the first sight of life. There is no excellent beauty without some strangeness in the proportion.” The father of the scientific method seems here to hint indistinctly at the categories of beauty, to wit, the beautiful in form, which is the ground of sculpture ; the beautiful in color, which lies at the basis of painting ; the beautiful in expression, which verges further upon the ideal than either of the preceding ; and the beautiful in individuation, which is still subtler and more ethereal. The last category connects the beautiful with Schelling’s tendency to individuation, and presupposes the intimate relation of the beautiful to the biological, the plastic, the creative ; but, in no respect, invalidates the reference of the idea of beauty to the wave-motion, which consti­ tutes the law of force. Hogarth, who located the principle in the curve, did, it seems, ap­ proximate to the solution of the problem; the principle being really the undulative or indeterminate curve, resultant from the wave-motion of force as it enters into morphization. Prof. Tilman, in a recent paper, has so lucidly developed the relations of the mathematical and geometrical, upon which the symmetrical is grounded, to the musical and rhythmical sound-wave, that argument is really superfluous. The subject may, in fact, be pursued to any extent of illustration by reference to instruments for the study of wave-motion, and to the subtler inves­ tigation of the wave-forces that condition the forms of plants. The beautiful must not be confounded with its geometry. The latter is the skeleton, of which the former is the vivifaction and soul. This analysis is supported essentially by the psychology of imagina­ tive creation. Longfellow expresses himself as one— �THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF ORTHODOXY. 209 “ Who, through long days of labor And nights devoid of ease. Still hears in his soul the music Of wonderful melodies.” Poe interprets the instinct when in “ Israfel ” he moans out— “ If I could dwell where Israfel Hath dwelt, and he where I, He might not sing so wildly well A mortal melody. While a bolder note than his might swell From my lyre within the sky.” Again, depicting the poet under the similitude of a beautiful palace, he sings— “ And travelers in that happy valley, Through two luminous windows, saw Spirits moving musically To a lute’s well-tuned law.” Shelley, more profoundly a poet than either mentioned, typifies the poet in his “ Skylark ” thus— “ Higher still, and higher. Heavenward thou springest; Like a cloud of fire, The blue deep thou wingest, And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.” _ But why multiply instances, when, from the bulbul-hearted Hafiz to ethereally musical Tennyson, no poet has left the instinct for rhythm unexpressed—when, in fact, the undulative is grounded in the very nature of the art-instinct ? The wave-motion is the essential element of the beautiful in imaginative poiesis, whether it be considered as the rhythm-wave of poetry or as the sound-wave of music, or as the line­ wave of art proper. Connect the gamut of musical sound with the spectrum of color, and it will be seen, adopting the undulatory hypo­ thesis of light, that the two have a direct relation. Red, produced by the least number of light undulations, represents the tonic; yellow, the mediant; and blue, the dominant. The darkest color, indigo, falls on the relative minor tonic; the brightest yellow, on the brilliant medi­ ant. It would, in fact, be perfectly easy to set the Ut-Re-Mi-Fa-SolLa-Si of the sound-septave to the septave of the spectrum; the color translating the sound to the eye harmoniously, and the mathematical correspondence of undulation to undulation being preserved with per­ fect accuracy. The deduction is that light, heat, and actinism result from undulations of the same attenuated medium; the perception of light and color resulting from the ratio of undulations embraced in a single octave. The deduction, incident to this ratiocination, is, how­ ever, a broader one, to wit, that the wave-motion, the rhythmical im­ pulse, is inherent in the objectively beautiful, whether it be represented �210 THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF ORTHODOXY. in sound dolor, or form, which latter constitutes simply the perma­ nence of ttave-motion—is its mummifaction, so to speak, in connec­ tion with matter; and in this rhythmical impulsion is, no doubt, grounded the aesthetic (dement of the objective, its existence consti­ tuting the basis of the aesthetic perception. The universality of the rhythmical in the operation of force has been assumed by so acute a Positivist as Herbert Spencer, and proved; and what has been once demonstrated under the scientific method need not be re-argued, further than to point out the parallelism be­ tween natural and psychological operations, that is, to identify the objective principle with the subjective idea—further than to admit the conclusion that the art-method of human consciousness is identical with the art-method of the phenomenal. There is nothing in Mr. Spencer’s law of rhythm, except its incor­ poration as a part of the scientific method. Dreamers were aware of it before thinkers were. Plato expressed it in his music of the spheres; and an old English author propounded it quaintly in the apothegm: “The verie source and, so to speak, springheade of all Musicke is the verie pleasant sound that the trees make when they grow.” It has, too, been one of the ever-recurring imaginings of poetry. Mrs. Browning expresses it: “ The divine impulsion cleaves In dim music to the leaves, Dropt and lifted, dropt and lifted, In the sunlight greenly sifted— In the.sunlight and the moonlight Greenly sifted through the trees. Ever wave the Eden trees In the sunlight and the moonlight, In the nightlight and the noonlight, Never stirred by rain or breeze.” Or, again, here is a poetic personification of the rhythmical impulse in nature, from “ Al Araaf “ Ligeia, Ligeia, My beautiful one, Whose harshest idea Will to melody run, Say is it thy will On the breezes to toss, Or, capriciously still. Like the lone albatross, Incumbent on night As she on the air, To direct with delight All the harmony there ? Indeed, it is not the uucommonness of the fancy, but the common­ ness of it, which gives it dignity; and its admission into the scientific method is valueless except as demonstrative proof of the hypothesis �THE SCIENTIFIC BASTS OF ORTHODOXY. 211 that the æsthetic evolution of nature is identifiable with the æsthetic evolution of art. As philosophy, historically speaking, is a response to the rational ideal, so art, music, poetry is a response—vague it may be as the music of Memnon’s statue, unsatisfactory as the fatuous fire of the Will-o’the-Wisp, but a response nevertheless to the psychal ideal, to the toiling to embody the ultimate in form. For this the musician trickles music from his finger-tips, and the poet sets his vision to melody of numbers; for this, the insensate blossoms into forms of supernal loveliness ; for this, the quarried marble is fashioned into shapes of beauty by the hand of the artist; for this, in short, the imagination creates unto itself an ideal Eden, reflecting in form, in color, in mel­ ody, its own vague prophecies of the absolute in beauty. In the rustle of leaves, in the soughing of winds, in the muffled music of rain upon grass, in the rhythmical laughter of rills, in the tremulous swing­ ing of reeds—in all things, in a word, in which the wave-motion is ex­ pressed, it seeks expression for its own sublimated conceptions of the ideal—that ideal which is forever restless, and which, probably, no col­ location of present physical forms could fully embody. Men deficient in the art-instinct may sneer at the æsthetic inspira­ tion as fare il santo, but it has its historical significance, nevertheless. Truth, in essence, is sublime ; but its loftiest sublimity is lifeless—is pulseless—is utterly ineffective when brought into comparison with the inspiration of the beautiful. Dismiss rhapsody, and make a last deduc­ tion—a deduction that logically ensues and offers a solution of the riddle. It is that, the absolute in consciousness attained, man, still ceasing not to be man, shall find in the full evolution of beauty the historical answer to the struggle to create firms of physical loveliness. It is that matter, mastered by consciousness and answering imme­ diately, as it now answers mediately, to the art-instinct, shall yield itself to the expression of the psychal ideal with perfect fluidity and subjection. Whence, from beauty ephemeral is deduced beauty eternal. The imaginative poiesis having been identified in principle with the natural evolution of the beautiful, as the philosophical poiesis is identifiable with the rationale of that phenomenal evolution, a more minute analysis of the processes of the philosophical and imaginative may be attempted. Both begin with perception, and proceed from per­ ception to poiesis. The gradations from perception to philosophy in the rational intellect are : 1. Perception of the object as object. 2. Perception of the object as subject, that is, rational cognition— understanding. 3. Rational discursion, or pure reason—eventuating in philosophy. The rational cognition or understanding is inclusive alike of the cognition of the mathematical and of the logical relations of the object. �212 THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF ORTHODOXY. The gradations of the imaginative or sensitive intellect are:— 1. Perception of the object as object. 2. Sensitive cognition, or cognition of the object as subject, that is, in its relation to the idea of beauty—taste. 3. Sensitive discursion, or imagination—eventuating in artistic, musical, or poetic creation. Taking up the third poiesis, that is, the inspirational, springing his­ torically from the theanthropic instinct, a third formulation is neces­ sary to complete the formulations of the historical manifestation of the human consciousness in what may be termed the literary form. This third poiesis begins with the intuitional, and may be formulated thus: 1. Intuitional perception, that is, perception of the absolute as the ground (Urgrunde) of the relative. 2. Intuitional cognition, that is, cognition of the absolute as sub­ jective—faith. 3. Intuitional discursion—eventuating in prophecy, in revelation, or, more comprehensively stated, in theanthropomorphization. This formulation agrees substantially with that adopted in the phrenological scheme—which, however, can have no scientific psychol­ ogy—though I may suggest that, in phrenology, that which is termed the semi-intellectual would be more accurately described by the word psychal, while for intellectual I should substitute rational, and for religious, intuitional. In relation to the phenomenal, the rational identifies itself with causation; the imaginative or psychal with morphization; the intuitional with theanthropomorphization as the historical deduction of consciousness and the historical destiny of man. Any who may wish to study the data upon which the preceding generalizations are based, may, without subjecting themselves to the trouble of looking further, consult Mr. Lewes’ history of philosophy, the admirable work of M. Henry Taine, on art-criticism, and the pro­ foundly philosophical treatise on sacred history, in the publication of which Prof. Kurtz has done more to turn back the current of rational­ ism than the whole body of his orthodox confreres taken together; referring them to which, I may be permitted to take leave of historical induction, and devote the remainder of the argument to the evolution of a biological definition, sufficiently broad to cover not only the struc­ tural, physiological, and psychological per se, but also the ultimate the­ anthropomorphization which historical induction indicates as the final historical sublimate of humanity. I cannot, however, pass to the evolution of the biological definition without noticing a curious and very superficial error, into which, mis­ led by eminent English thinkers and savans, Mr. Fiske has fallen in his summary lecture on Positivism. “ Since,” says that gentleman— “ since the process of generalization has successively metamorphosed �THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF ORTHODOXY. 213 fetishism into polytheism,, and polytheism into monotheism, the in­ ference is that it must eventually complete the metamorphosis of mono­ theism into Positivism; and thus Positivism regards itself as the le­ gitimate successor of theology.” So partial is this generalization, and so inconsequent and unpsychological is its conclusion, that it seems strange that Mr. Fiske should have gravely enunciated it. So far as the historical fact is concerned, monotheism began with the beginning of history. Historically speaking, the relapse was from monotheism into polytheism, that is, monotheism preceded. Fetishism cannot be postulated as the starting-point of theism: Accepting the book of Genesis as the initial attempt at history, which is demonstrably true, it is obvious that theology began with monotheism in the Semitic stem. The history of this stem presents the only completed cycle of theanthropomorphization grounded in the persistence of the mono­ theistic conception. The Indo-European stem presents at the begin­ ning of history a series of mythological cosmogonies essentially simi­ lar, but evidently deduced from the Semitic, which, though polytheistic in terminology, are pantheistic in ultimate analysis. The Hindoo, Persian, Gothic, Grecian, and Roman systems constitute a group, in which monotheism original seems, by gradual process of theanthropo­ morphization, imaginative rather than historical, to have been meta­ morphosed into mythologies, superficially polytheistic, but essentially pantheistic. In their cosmological systems they are evidently deriva­ tive from the Semitic, which is historically older. The Egyptian and Assyrian systems are still more obviously derivative from the Semitic. All these derivative mythologies begin with the postulation of a mono­ theistic original, answering to the Elohim, as in the Jupiter of the Greeks, for example, and proceed to polytheism upon the principle of multiplication; effecting a partial return to monotheism in the pan­ theism that succeeds. The Mongolian stem differs from the IndoEuropean in details of mythology and cosmology, but not so essentially as to stand aloof from the generalization; and, again, historically con­ sidered, fetishism is rather representative of a degraded monotheism than original. In all the so-called pagan systems, there are prismatic reflections of the original element of the theanthropomorphization more historically developed in the Semitic system. They appear in the Vedas, in the Zendavesta. They are written in hieroglyphics amid the relics of Egypt. They reappear in the Gothic, Greek, and Roman mythologies, though more feebly; and, generally, the remoter the an­ tiquity of the system, the more distinctly derivative from the Semitic are these prismatic reflections. The pagan cycle, therefore, begins with monotheism, descends to polytheism by theistic multiplication, and ends in pantheism by generalization of the polytheistic. The return to monotheism is effected through the historical triumph of the Semitic system, which, having completed its first cycle in the synthesis (theo­ retical at least) of the divine consciousness with the human, assumes �214 THE SCIENTIFIC BASTS OF ORTHODOXY. universality by general diffusion and propagation, and becomes the great developing element of an historical civilization, grounded upon monotheism and the ultimate historical theanthropomorphization of man. The utmost deduction of the rational intellect postulates ulti­ mate cause, which the realistic instinct of the imagination transforms into a world-soul, which is pantheism; and, as a generalization, it may be observed that, in the ancient pagan civilizations, in the old IndoEuropean civilization generally—in which the rational and imaginative have had the ascendency—the theistic idea has lapsed from monotheism into polytheism, and from polytheism, by synthesis of polytheistic gen­ eralizations, has ascended into pantheism, and there has been arrested. The historical generalization is, it is seen, in substantial concord with the psychological deduction that the dominance of the aesthetic in­ stinct universally results in pantheism. Poets are inevitably pan­ theistic in proportion to the dominance of the imagination—that is, in proportion to the dominance of the psychal over the intuitional— as artists are in ratio to the intensity of the art-insight. The phil­ osophical insight, on the other hand, is neutral—neither theistic nor atheistic—and concerns itself with the absolute in causation without regard to the realization of the absolute in causation in some absolute ego supposed to stand at the head of the cosmology in the attitude of the cosmical soul. The element of theanthropomorphization, in as far as it colors the Greek system, must be referred, partially, to the em­ bers of monotheism perdu and transmuted from the Semitic, and, par­ tially, to the struggle of the intuitional to assert itself in „the Greek civilization. The elements of polytheism and pantheism have, historically con­ sidered, always been ephemeral and fluctuating. The element of mono­ theism, having as its historical end the theanthropomorphization of the human, has, on the other hand, been permanent, and constitutes the basis of most that is valuable in the present European system of civili­ zation. The historical induction, therefore, denies the validity of Mr. Fiske’s conclusion, and leads to the hypothesis that monotheism and theanthropomorphization will complete the cycle of history in the realization of the latter. Thus, the present cycle of history is found to embrace the interval of biological evolution included between the reali­ zation of the ego as conditioned consciousness and the realization of the ego as unconditioned consciousness; and thus egotism, in its better sense, appears as the definition of history. Thus, too, biology must be considered as divisible into two cycles, to wit, the cycle of pre-historic evolution, and that of evolution historical; and thus, again, the histor­ ical permanence of theology, as at present constituted, may be as­ sumed ; the post-historical being of course represented by perfected theanthropomorphization. �THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF ORTHODOXY. 215 x II.—THE NECESSARY BIOLOGICAL DEFINITION. The imperfect condition of biology prevented the contemporary appreciation of the value and significance of Hartley’s interpretation of Lockian philosophy ; and, until the end of the eighteenth century the glittering sensationalism of Condillac divided the philosophical laurels with crude materialism. The first reaction was constituted by the le cœur system advocated by Laromiguiere and Victor Cousin—a spiritu­ alistic reaction of the most superficial kind, consisting in equal quan­ tities of tawdry rhetoric and rhapsodical appeal to the testimony of the heart. Having deluged France with a diarrhoea of words that meant nothing, the system died of its own want of vitality. In England, at the same time, the scepticism of Hume had produced a philosophical crisis. Then came Kant, in Germany, and Comte, in France—the formel' laying tlie foundation for Hegelism, and the latter appearing as the founder of the Positive system, which may be conditioned as the syn­ thesis of the methods and doctrines of science. The distinctively Posi­ tive attitude of Galileo, Descartes, and Bacon, to the last of whom is due the authoritative enunciation of the second canon of Positivism, prepared the way for that system as elaborated by Comte. The first canon of Positivism resulted from the reconsideration of the meta­ physics of Spinoza, in England, and was the direct consequence of the movement begun by Hobbes and continued by Locke, Berkeley, and Hume. The first two canons of Positivism are, therefore, pre-Comteian. The last three propositions are peculiar to Comte and Spencer, the two great apostles of the Positive system, the ground-theorem of which is that the sciences can be made to furnish the materials neces­ sary to the evolution of a complete, synthetic, and unified conception of the world. Fundamentally, the practical realization of this unified conception depends upon the biological definition which must be equal to the covering of the metaphysical as well as the physical, and equal to the explanation, not only of the pre-historic and historical, but also of the post-historic. For the latest and most lucidly-arranged collec­ tion and collation of the data of biology, the student is referred to Herbert Spencer’s “ First Principles ” and his two volumes on biologi­ cal science, issued by the Appletons. The direction of foreign scientific investigation tends to lessen the number of primary assumptions ; and it is now substantially conceded that hardness, solidity, rigidity, impenetrability, elasticity, and the like, are not properties of matter, but manifestations of attendant force. “ The monstrous assumption of philosophers that the infinitely peren­ nial specific quality of matter-atoms is due to infinite strength and infinite rigidity, has for its only pretext,” says Sir William Thomson, 4f that adopted by Newton and eminent modern physicists, namely : that it seems to account for the unalterable distinguishing qualities of �216 Tin: SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF ORTHODOXY. different kinds of matter. The movement toward the rejection of the hypothesis that atoms are infinitely strong and infinitely rigid was t started by Helmholtz, three years since, in his investigation of the dynamical properties of vortex rings, from which he eliminates an important conclusion. Describing their motion as wirbel-bewegung (whirling motion), he concludes, from his experiments, that, if once set up a perfect fluid, that is, a fluid with no viscosity or friction of particles, it would be absolutely perpetual. Inertia would then be overcome. Vortex rings may be produced by smokers by arranging the lips so as to pronounce the letter 0, and expelling smoke from the mouth gently, with the lips in that position. The smoke answers the function to render the rings visible—they being just as readily pro­ ducible in transparent air, as has been experimentally demonstrated. These cylindrical rings move upward, when expelled from the mouth, perpendicularly to their planes, revolving rapidly, as they move, around a circular axis. This rotation corresponds in direction on the inner side with the general motion of the ring; the outer side moving in a contrary direction. They are not broken by impelling them one against another, but rebound with singular elasticity, the integrity of the ring being preserved. It was this investigation upon which Sir Wm. Thomson grounded his new theory of the molecular constitution of matter; its ground­ theorem being that a closed vortex core is literally indivisible by any action resultant from vortex motion. All bodies being composed of vortex atoms, therefore, the infinitely perennial specific quality of atoms is explicable without the Newtonian assumption. Helmholtz, having proved that this quality exists in a perfect fluid when the motion he terms wirbel-bewegung has been created, and actual experiments having proved that when smoke rings in air are so impelled as to come in collision they cannot be made to penetrate each other, but rebound resiliently, Sir William deduces the conclusion that, by packing them more closely than gases are packed under the dynamical theory, the properties of liquids and solids might be ex­ plained without assuming the atoms themselves to be either liquid or solid, and the further conclusion that the number of primary as­ sumptions may be lessened by one on the hypothesis that all bodies are composed of vortex atoms in a perfectly homogeneous fluid. The dynamic theory of gases, now received by Thomson, Tait, Joule, Helm­ holtz, and others—European physicists of eminence all of them—is in concord with Prof. Thomson’s hypothesis also, which as generalization is of eminent value to physicists. Prof. Huxley, more recent in his conclusions, seems to assume the matter-atom as per se dynamic, if his biological definition is indicial of any opinion on the subject; and, generally, it will be noted, the tendency of physical science is to lessen the number of primary assumptions by rejecting the Newtonian enum­ eration of the primary properties. �THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF ORTHODOXY. 217 The same general tendency may be observed in relation to the physical forces. Prof. Grove has proved that light and heat are moods of the same force. Faraday long since demonstrated that magnetism would produce electricity, with the important condition, how­ ever, that the electricity so produced is static, not dynamic; directive, not active; while Helmholtz has developed many curious analogies in his work on the interaction of forces. Mayer has done considerable in the same direction ; while Carpenter has brought out the essential relation of the physical to the vital forces. These data have been all collected by Prof. Youmans, and brought together into a single ably edited volume. This vortex-atomic theory involves, however, an unverifiable hy­ pothesis in the determination of the specific form of the atom, which is an assumption to be avoided if possible, and can be by postulating that matter is dynamo-atomic. The qualities or properties of matter are thus reducible to a single postulate, which is self-evident, to wit, capacity for motion. Carrying the deduction a step further, from the correlation and interaction of all forces so-called, and from the demon­ strated identity of light and heat; from the proved convertibility of forces and the demonstrated conservation of them, the generalization is valid that force is essentially the same, and that what are termed forces are only moods of one universal force, which may be either dy­ namic or static, either directive or motive, and the law of the motion of which is undulation, or rhythm, or, more properly, the wave or progressive motion. The physicist may begin, therefore, with three simple postulates, two of which are self-evident: I. Force, that which causes to move—affording a very simple ex­ planation of gravitation, light, heat, electricity, magnetism, and con­ sciousness, by reference of either to mood. II. Matter, that which is moved—rigidly excluding all assumption of so-called primary qualities from the definition. III. The explanation of physical, psychal, and intellectual phenom­ ena in strict accordance with the dynamical hypothesis, that is, upon principles strictly mathematical. The presupposition of the undulatory theory of light is that of an ethereal and exceedingly attenuated medium, which may, perhaps, answer the definition of the perfect homogeneous fluid necessary to the permanence of the wirbel-bewegung in Helmholtz’s deduction or Thomson’s vortex-atomic hypothesis. The dynamo-atomic hypothesis presupposes the same attenuated medium or ethereal matter pervading all cosmical interval. The cosmological evolution begins, therefore, with a dynamic element or. causative of motion, that is, force, and a static element or vehicle of motion, that is, matter—which, strangely enough, answer very minutely to the ancient cosmological postulates of the male and female principles in the genesis of cosmogonies. This 28 �218 THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF ORTHODOXY. force is either motive or directive, either transitive or modal. Magne­ tism may be made to produce static electricity, as has been dem­ onstrated by Prof. Faraday. Both electricity and magnetism may be developed into activity by motion or revolution—the difference be­ tween them being that electricity seems to be eccentric and diffusive, while magnetism is concentric and attractive. Assuming. that polar magnetism is magnetic force set free by revolution, and that the magnetic force is concentric—the needle, when magnetized at only one end, should point to the centre of the earth, which is in correspond­ ence with the fact. Both ends being magnetized and the needle bal­ anced, it points in the direction of the magnetic pole, parallel with the magnetic current. Again, place a compass near the magnetic pole and compel the needle to keep its horizontal position, and it points any way at random ; but, if left to itself, it points downward toward the centre of the earth, and this constitutes what is termed the dip of the -needle, as you move it from the equator in the direction of either pole. The conclusion is, therefore, that magnetism is concen­ tric, which accounts for the facts, without supposing the interior of the earth to be a fixed natural magnet, which is disproved by the vari­ ation of the needle from year to year in the same locality, an exhaustive investigation of the laws of which was instituted by John A. Parker in 1866, and printed in the volume of American Institute reports for 1867, under the general head of Polar Magnetism. The conclusion is that electricity and magnetism represent the eccentric and concentric moods of the same force—the latter constituting the ground of what Newton terms gravitation. The former is diffusive; the latter, attract­ ive. Heat and light resulting from undulations of the same attenua­ ted medium, differ materially in this: that the former varies inversely as the length of the undulation, while the perception of the latter re­ sults from the ratio of undulations embraced in a single octave; and, again, heat appears to be attractive, while light is diffusive. Assuming these four to represent the concentric and eccentric moods, affinity may be postulated as their synthesis; and this completes the cosmo­ logical generalization. Again, assume the vitality which is allied to electricity as eccentric, and nervosity allied to magnetism as concen­ tric, and consciousness represents the synthesis of all the moods in biology. The cosmological analysis is formulated thus:— Eccentric moods ------ Light-------- Electricity \ Concentric moods-------Heat-------- Magnetism The biological formulary of the forces proceeds further, and stands thus:— Eccentric moods ------ Light------- Electricity Concentric moods------ Heat------- Magnetism Afflnity /Vitality > Consciousness. \ Nervosity ' The classification of vitality with the eccentric, and of nervosity with the concentric, is in concord with the fact that temperaments in which vitality predominates are the more electric; while temperaments �T H fí S C TEN TIFIO B J S r S O F O U T HOB O X Y. 219 having a predominance of nervosity are the more magnetic. Or. again, the temperament of vitality develops more color; while the tempera­ ment of nervosity develops more intensity. The formulation pro­ pounded need not, however, be further verified, since the argument from comparative anatomy is conclusive as to its validity—the data being matters of every-day observation. Two points of the ground­ assumption remain to be stated, to wit, the persistence of force and the persistence of matter; the mutable element appearing in form. Of the two former the absolute may be predicated ; the latter constitutes the basis of phenomenal evolution and dissolution, or, in other words, the element of non-persistence and limitation. It is, therefore, neither in force nor in matter per se that the relative element appears, but in morphization. The formulation of the two primary assumptions as cosmological or biological includes, therefore, motion and form, and is represented as : Force, that which causes motion, the law of the evolution of which (motion) is rhythm; Matter, that in which motion appears, either as simple and continuous, the law of which is rhythm; or as arrested and limitedly persistent, that is, form or morphization, the law of which is beauty. As morphization, form pertains to cosmology; as individuation, to biology. It is not proposed to attempt here the framing of a mécanique celeste adopted to the dynamo-atomic theory, though, given the wirbel-bewegwig, the elements upon which to ground a cosmological system are com­ plete. Neither is it purposed to enter upon an analysis and enumera­ tion of the data of biology, in which little could be added to the ad­ mirable induction and collation already developed by Herbert Spencer. The aim of this critique is, on the other hand, to develop an adequate biological definition. The definitions thus far propounded are referable to three generalizations, to wit: 1. Life is the tendency to individuation, which is German and con­ notes the essential physical condition of the evolution of organism, that is, individuality. 2. Life is the twofold internal movement of composition and de­ composition, at once general and continuous—which is essentially physiological and merely the assertion of a fact, rather than a general­ ization from a collection of facts. 3. Life is the co-ordination of actions—which, again, is simply the assertion of a fact, and the same fact as before, looked at from the stand-point of the physicist rather than from that of the physiologist. The first represents life merely as a tendency impressed upon the constitution of matter; the second apprehends physiologically the necessary condition of a living organism ; while the third apprehends the same condition scientifically. The post-Kantian or Hegelian period of German philosophy, if valuable for no other reason, is to be credited with the only proximately satisfactory definition of life, as well as a great many valuable contributions to' literary criticism. The �220 THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF ORTHODOXY. sin of German speculators has been—owingto a certain realistic ten­ dency or disposition to mistake words for things, expunged from the Latin stock by dialectics, but still inherent in German—the seemingly profound at the expense of the really and intelligibly profound—as all philosophy postulated upon so-called intellectual intuition necessarily must be. Still, it is by no means a sequitur that the postulate is to be denied, for there can exist no doubt as to the validity of the conclusion that, as there is a poetic intuition or imaginative insight as to the ideal in beauty, so the highest sublimation of the rational intellect is intui­ tional in its processes. Of course, it is possible to explain the seem­ ingly intuitional by assuming insensible processes of deduction going on in the mind, but not perceived as going on, and, therefore, occult ; but the fact remains : both the imaginative vision and the rational vision are, in their most sublimated phases, rather immediate than mediate. The evidence of fact is ample as to this point and this mood of intellect, the paroxysms of which are rare—are, in their illumi­ nation, as if a star had burst inside of one’s head—often astonish, as if a sun had shot athwart the heavens at midnight. Having no method of proof, however, the rational intuition is valueless to philo­ sophical speculation ; and this fact Bacon, himself most profoundly intuitional, was sensible enough to apprehend and announce in the promulgation of the objective method. Logically, therefore, upon Bacon, as the father of the objective method in philosophy, and New­ ton, almost the father of physical discovery, the Positive system de­ pends ; and yet the evolution of the only profound biological definition is due to one of the dreamiest disciples of the subjective. If the wave-motion be taken as the basis of the law of rhythm in the action of motive force, it is to be considered in itself as both pro­ gressive and analogous to Helmholtz’s irirbel-bewegHng, since it has been proved by Gerstner and Scott Russell that, in the typical wave­ motion of a liquid, in the ocean-wave, for example, all the particles revolve at the same time, in the same direction, and in vertical col­ umns. This pulsating motion appears at least in a couple of species of plants—the Hedysarum gyrans and the Colocasia esculenta, as to the rhythmical tremor, of which latter M. Lecoq reported to the Academy of Sciences, France, in 1867, some very curious and interest­ ing observations—and upon it and its dynamical laws is, no doubt, to be grounded the permanent hypothesis of mécanique celeste, all cos­ mical creation being analogous to a limitless and palpitating heart. At the basis of all motion lies this rhythmical impulse. It is not scientific to assume special creations in biology. For its purposes, evolution is the fundamental conception of organism ; and, as Mr. Spencer has been lucid in his definition of evolution and of its processes, quotation is admissible : “1. An object is said to be homogeneous when one of its parts is like every other part. An illustration is not easy to find, as perfect homo­ �THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF ORTHODOXY. 221 geneity has probably never existed in the universe. But one may say that a piece of gold is homogeneous as compared with a piece of wood ; or that a wooden ball is homogeneous as compared with an orange. “ 2. An object is said to be heterogeneous where its parts have no resemblance to one another. All objects whatever are more or less heterogeneous. But a tree is said to be heterogeneous as compared with the seed from which it has sprung; and• an orange is heteroge­ neous as compared to a wooden ball. “ 3. Differentiation is the arising of an unlikeness between any two of the units which make up an aggregate. A piece of iron, before it is exposed to the air, is, to all intents and purposes, homogeneous. But when, by exposure to the air, it has acquired a coating of oxide, it is heterogeneous. The units composing its outside are unlike the units composing its inside; or, in other words, its outside is differentiated from its inside. “ 4. Integration is the grouping together of those units of a hetero­ geneous aggregate which resemble one another. A good example is afforded by crystallization. The particles of the crystallizing substance, which resemble each other, and which have no resemblance to the par­ ticles of the solvent fluid, gradually unite to form the crystal; which is that said to be integrated from the solution. Another case of integra­ tion is seen in the rising of cream upon the surface of a dish of milk, and in the frothy collection of carbonic acid bubbles covering a lately filled glass of ale. When small pebbles, mixed with sand, are thrown into a tumbler and gently agitated, the result is an integration of the pebbles at the bottom of the vessel and of the sand above them.” From these definitions, which are definitions of processes, he deduces his definition of evolution : “ Whether it be in the development of the earth, in the develop­ ment of life upon its surface, in the development of society, of govern­ ment, manufactures, of commerce, of language, literature, science, art, this same advance from the simple to the complex, through successive differentiations, holds uniformly. From the earliest traceable cosmical phenomena down to the latest results of civilization, it will be found that the transformation of the homogeneous into the heterogeneous is that in which evolution essentially consists.” There may be doubts as to the precision of the definition of evolu­ tion as applied to biology. The tendency of matter to organization would, perhaps, express Mr. Spencer’s meaning more definitively; the tendency to individuation expressing with more precision that which Mr. Spencer terms integration. In fact, the definitions of the English philosopher pertain rather to non-biological evolution than to the evo­ lution of living organism. Pre-historically considered, the tendency of matter to organization expresses the biological definition with sufficient precision; but, with the advent of humanity, the necessitv for a broader and deeper gene- �222 THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF O li T H O D 0 X F. ralization appears. The phenomenon of self-consciousness must, be accounted for and admitted into the generalization, if it is to cover more than the mere physical conditions of being, which are expressed definitely enough in the first definition quoted, which is attributable to Schelling, or in the second, proposed by De Blainville, or in the third, which belongs to Mr. Spencer. For philosophical purposes, as inclusive of the phenofnenon of self-consciousness, it is necessary to attempt a deeper generalization—to begin with the beginning, that is, with matter, and end with the result, that is, with self-consciousness. Individuation must appear simply as a law of biological evolution ; and the co-ordination of actions as a condition of its persistence. The word tendency expresses the dynamic idea sufficiently lucidly, and is, perhaps, preferable to motion or impulse for purposes of definition. The three words, matter, as expressive of the ground of organism, tendency, as expressive of its dynamical direction, and consciousness, as expressive of its logical end, may, therefore, be adopted as the basis of definition. The collateral of consciousness, to wit, self-hood, must be included in the generalization, as also must that of realization ; and the fabric is logically complete. Put in the form of a proposition, it stands thus: Life is the tendency of matter to self-consciousness. The propositions of Schelling, De Blainville and Spencer are expres­ sive simply of certain laws of evolution incident to the tendency of matter toward the realization of self-consciousness, and may be formu­ lated thus: 1. Law of evolution : progressive individuation. 2. Law of persistence : co-ordination of actions. 3. Law of physiology: twofold internal movement of composition and decomposition, at once general and continuous. The first might, perhaps, be better designated as the law of mor­ phization, though evolution is more comprehensive, and, for philo­ sophical purposes,- is the most important of the three—the two latter pertaining merely to physics. There remains yet a fourth law, grounded upon the ratiocination which has preceded: it is the law of beauty. For investigation of the question, What is to be the ultimate sublimate of humanity ? the two latter may be rejected, and the law of beauty added. The formulary will then be expressed: Life is the tendency of matter to self-consciousness. 1. First law of morphization : progressive individuation. 2. Second law of'morphization : progressive beauty, that is, progress from beauty as relative to beauty as absolute, from beauty as ephemeral to beauty as persistent and eternal. The persistence of the dynamic and static elements in organism, that is, force and matter, has never been denied. The morphization has constituted the element of mutation ; and that its mutation or want of absolute persistence is due to the imperfect realization of the �THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF ORTHODOX T. 223 individual and the beautiful in organism, ensues as a logical conse­ quence. Again, as the struggle of matter is to apprehend itself in con­ sciousness, and as the struggle of the limited in consciousness is to attain the absolute in consciousness, it ensues, as a logical consequence, that the realization of the theological ideal of the historical destiny of man is by no means undemonstrable from the data and inductions of science. There is one law worth noting here, as to the persistence of the dynamic element, not only per se, but in any special mood that it may develop. The modal persistence of forcé has given occasion to assume plurality of forces; and there is as little reason to suppose that the mood of self-consciousness—its most sublimated mood, certainly— is not persistent as there is to suppose that the mood of magnetism is not persistent. Admitting, therefore, the persistence of conservation of force, as Prof. Carpenter terms it, and the further persistence of mood, which is demonstrable from Prof. Grove’s investigations as to the correlation of forces—the scientific induction proves the persistence of self-consciousness, which may be termed the individuation of force ; demonstrating thereby the theological dogma of the immortality of the soul. It is obvious, therefore, that theology may be brought within the circle of scientific induction, provided the biological definition be deep­ ened in its generalization, as heretofore suggested, sa as to include the phenomenon of consciousness. This conclusion is, of course, fatal to the pretensions of Positivism as the successor of theology, and indi­ cates, with the precision that a weather-vane indicates the direction of an air-current, that the historical persistence of the two fundamental propositions in which the theological system is grounded, to wit, mono­ theism and the historical theanthropomorphization of humanity, is both a valid deduction from the phenomenon of consciousness and a valid induction of science. Moreover, this induction, valid upon the hypothesis of the unity of force, is of equal validity, whether what are termed forces be simply moods, or original dynamic principles. The ego, therefore, is a persistent and indestructible individuality, the self­ expression of which constitutes history, the evolution of which consti­ tutes the pre-historic biology, the finality of which, historical progress being interpreted as the struggle of the limited in consciousness to com­ pass the absolute in consciousness, is theanthropy or that realization of the absolute, which the inspirational poiesis historically foreshadows. At first glance, the biological definition herein proposed resembles a truism, and, if I mistake not, a truism it is. The fact, however, that it has been overlooked in the dreary annals of physical and metaphysical speculation,, answers sufficiently well as an apology for having inflicted upon the reader a rather obvious train of ratiocination looking to its elimination. So many have been the fantastic pagodas of logic upreared with the view of topping them with the solution of the mystery of being, that it must be refreshing to peruse something obvious—at least �224 THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF ORTHODOXY. semi-occasionally; and this is my apology for having discussed at length and rather discursively—for having endeavored to demonstrate, step by step, a theorem which is, in all respects, almost too self-evident to need elaborate demonstration. The key is simple; but, with it may be unraveled the riddle. It unlocks the door, at least, of a reconciliation of theology with the scientific method; and, as both must be ranked as persistent, the recon­ ciliation is desirable. Simple as is its generalization, it opens the way, too, for bringing metaphysics within the circle of scientific demonstra­ tion, and founds a durable scientific basis upon which to build the structure of theological metaphysics: for, theologically stated, the biological definition is equally explicit in its adherence to scientific induction. Let me state it theologically: Life is the tendency of the material toward the spiritual, eventuating in the consciousness of self. Supplement this definition with a second definition, that is, a defi­ nition of history from the theological point of view, and the basis of the theological fabric is complete and grounded on inexorable scientific induction as well. This second definition may be thus formulated : History is the struggle of the human in the direction of theanthropy, eventuating in incarnation, and having for its enji the ultimate his­ torical synthesis of the human with the God-consciousness. This is the goal of the toilers after knowledge, and the goal that forever eludes their pursuit.. It is the basis of the dreams of Kepler; of the scientific reveries of Comte; of the inexorable inductions of Bucan, of the splendid cosmogony of La Place; of the goblin philo­ sophical structures of Hegel and Schelling. It constitutes the secret of the vain pursuit of man after the phantom of truth, of beauty, of novelty—in short, after the distant and vaguely apprehended ideals he seeks to attain, but to attain which were yet madness. Budderless and compassless, he presses on, in thought, in dream, in reverie, in art, in poetry, in philosophy, through fens of speculation and morasses of ontology, until at last his fate overtakes him, and an epitaph is all that is left to tell the story of his vain struggle after the Egeria of his dreams^—the absolute. If materialism is to be the coming philosophy, therefore, the subjec­ tive tendency (or element) of matter must be admitted in order to ren­ der philosophy possible. The definition of evolution as the progressive struggle of matter in the direction of subjectivity, will then constitute the true meaning of Mr. Spencer’s generalization; while life (in defini­ tion) will be represented by matter as apprehending itself in subjec­ tivity, and philosophy will return to a profounder era of metaphysics in the explanation of the phenomenal upon psychological principles The problem will be: Given the objective and subjective poles in mat­ ter to find the x of the grand unity; and this is a problem in the study of which theologians can join with scientists. � 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 A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; 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 An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data 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 A name given to the resource The scientific basis of orthodoxy Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Fairfield, Francis Gerry Description An account of the resource Place of publication: [New York] Collation: [202]-224 p. ; 26 cm. Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Printed in brown ink on cream paper. From Modern Thinker, no. 1,1870 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available [American News Company] Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource [1870] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5424 Subject The topic of the resource Religion Science Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <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 (The scientific basis of orthodoxy), 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 The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Conway Tracts Orthodoxy Science