SCIENCE IN ITS RELATION TO LITERATURE. 175 



national progress before he could be evolved. Before be can make 

 bis society, bis society must make bim ; so tbat all tbose changes, of 

 which he is the proximate imitator, have their chief causes in the 

 generations which gave him birth. If there is to be anything like a 

 real explanation of these changes, it must be sought in that aggregate 

 of conditions out of which both he and they have arisen." 



And so on through the literature of all nations, from the earliest 

 times down to the present day, it abounds in antagonism of sentiment. 

 And when two or more authors happen to agree, others will be found 

 who will refute their positions, and convict them of mistakes ; so as 

 almost to justify tbat saying of Voltaire, tbat "the history of human 

 opinion is scarcely anything more than the history of human error." 

 More than this : not only will these various disagreements be dis- 

 covered among different authors, but different passages in the same 

 author will show a similar want of harmony, and, what is a greater 

 wonder and anomaly still, the same passage, which will not want for 

 admirers on account of its beauty and the justice and accuracy of the 

 sentiments it expresses, will sometimes find just as many, even though 

 its meaning be entirely reversed. Take the commencement of one of 

 Emerson's latest essays, called " Resources," to illustrate what I mean. 

 I place side by side with the original affirmative propositions their 

 negatives : 



" Men are made up of potences. We 

 are magnets in an iron globe. We have 

 keys to all doors. We are all inventors, 

 each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, 

 guided each by a private chart, of which 

 there is no duplicate," etc. 



Men are made up of impotences. We 

 are magnets in a wooden globe. We have 

 keys to no doors. Scarcely any are invent- 

 ors, sailing ont on a voyage of discovery. 

 Scarcely any are guided by a private chart, 

 of which there is no duplicate, etc. 



Or take this passage from one of Dr. Johnson's essays : " It seems 

 to be the fate of man to seek all bis consolations in futurity. The 

 time present is seldom able to fill desire or imagination with immedi- 

 ate enjoyment, and we are forced to supply its deficiencies by recol- 

 lection or anticipation. . . . Thus every period of life is obliged to 

 borrow its happiness from time to come. In youth we have nothing 

 past to entertain us, and in age we derive little from retrospect but 

 hopeless sorrow." If there are persons to be found who will subscribe 

 to these views, there are more who will adopt the contrary, as thus : 

 It seems to be the fate of man to seek all his consolations in the 

 present. The future is seldom able to fill desire or imagination with 

 sufficient enjoyment, and hence we are forced to supply its deficiencies 

 with that which is immediate. . . . Thus every period of life is obliged 

 to borrow its happiness from the present moment, etc. 



Now, as I have before hinted, there is no chance for such contra- 

 dictions in science ; or, if they ever occur, their existence, from the 

 very nature of the pursuit, can not be of permanent duration. There 

 is no such thing as imaginary laws controlling phenomena. Nature 



