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nature. So soon as the constitution of any product of the organic 

 world has been satisfactorily ascertained we look forward with con- 

 fidence to its artificial preparation." Roscoe Schorlemmer, Vol. Ill, 

 part i, page 10. I confess to much impatience on reading such a state- 

 ment. Talk of the arbitrary assumptions of ecclesiastical authority ! 

 There never was anything of that sort equal to this scientific popery. 

 It is enough to justify the clergy of the present day in exclaiming 

 "Quare fremuerunt gentes." "Why do the heathen so furiously rage 

 together and why do the people imagine a vain thing?" And no 

 wonder that some unbelievers in science feel justified in adding " He 

 that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn ; the Lord shall have 

 them in derision." 



But apart altogether from the opinions of those among us who are 

 of a religious turn of mind, I feel bound to maintain that such assertions 

 as the one I have quoted from Roscoe Schorlemmer are not reasonable. 

 To ignore the existence of life and the wonderful influence which it 

 exerts on organic substances is not a scientific proceeding. And it 

 appears to me to be still more unscientific to ignore the Author of life 

 and of the unity and order of the universe. Is it reasonable, I ask, 

 after having contemplated the myriads of miracles observable all around 

 us, the wonderful intelligence and power displayed in nature, the 

 astonishing phenomena and inexplicable results which are exhibited 

 in every department of science, to stop short in our reasoning, shut up 

 our mental vision and declare that we can know nothing of the Originator 

 of all these marvels, because perhaps their complete explanation does 

 not lie ready to our hands. To me the wonder is that men are forth- 

 coming so trained or school bound as to be able to put fetters on their 

 reasoning faculties just at this point. No doubt there are limits to the 

 powers of the human intellect, but I do not see why we should stop 

 short of these limits. They have been defined by Emmanuel Kant in 

 his treatise on pure reason, but that did not prevent Liebig and others from 

 thinking and writing of an unfathomable wisdom "The philosopher 

 who has attained to the highest summit of moral wisdom, is he who, if 

 he use his mind aright, has the clearest perception of the limits of 

 human knowledge, and yet the most earnest desire for the lifting of 

 the veil that separates him from the unseen. 



