INAUGURAL ADDRESS BEFORE THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 493 



law was before unknown or not comprehended, 

 or that the circumstances which determined its 

 action were too obscure or too complex to be fully 

 comprehended. Studying this advance of knowl- 

 edge, the thinker is struck by the fact that the 

 supposed activity of the gods is confined to fields 

 where the chain of causes cannot be traced, and 

 that these beings invariably disappear when the 

 work in which they are supposed to be engaged 

 is opened up to the light. 



4. Final causes having thus one by one disap- 

 peared from every thicket which has been fully 

 explored, the question arises whether they now 

 have or ever had any existence at all. On the 

 one hand, it may be claimed that it is unphilo- 

 sophical to believe in them when they have been 

 sought in vain in every corner into which light 

 can penetrate. On the other hand, we have the 

 difficulty of accounting for these very laws by 

 which we find the course of Nature to be deter- 

 mined. Take as a single example the law of 

 hereditary descent. How did such a law — or, 

 rather, how did such a process, for it is a process 

 — first commence ? If this is not as legitimate a 

 subject for inquiry as the question, " How came the 

 hand and the eye into existence ? " it is only be- 

 cause it seems more difficult to investigate. If, as 

 the most advanced scientific philosophy teaches, 

 creation is itself but a growth, how did that 

 growth originate ? We here reach the limits of 

 the scientific field, on ground where they are less 

 well defined than in some other directions ; but I 

 shall take the liberty of concluding my remarks 

 with a single suggestion respecting a matter which 

 lies outside of them. When the doctrine of uni- 



versality of natural law is carried so far as to in- 

 clude the genesis of living beings and the adap- 

 tations to external circumstances which we see in 

 their organs and their structure, it is often pro- 

 nounced to be atheistic. Whether this judgment 

 is or is not correct I cannot say ; but it is very 

 easy to propound the test question by which its 

 correctness is to be determined. Is the general 

 doctrine of causes acting in apparently blind obe- 

 dience to invariable law in itself atheistic ? If it 

 is, then the whole progress of our knowledge of 

 Nature has been in this direction, for it has con- 

 sisted in reducing the operations of Nature to 

 such blind obedience. Of course, when I say 

 blind, you understand that I mean blind so far as 

 a scrutable regard to consequence is concerned — 

 blind like justice, in fact. If the doctrine is not 

 atheistic, then there is nothing atheistic in any 

 phase of the theory of evolution, for this consists 

 solely in accounting for certain processes by nat- 

 ural laws. I do not pretend to answer the ques- 

 tion here involved, because it belongs entirely to 

 the domain of theology. All we can ask is that 

 each individual shall hold consistent views on the 

 subject, and not maintain the affirmative of the 

 question on one topic and the negative on anoth- 

 er. The frequent notice of inconsistency of this 

 kind between the opinions expressed by think- 

 ers of the same school upon the subject we have 

 been considering has been my main incentive in 

 presenting the views I have this evening. And 

 my object has been, not to convert any one to 

 any form of belief, but to promote logical con- 

 sistency among those who discuss different theo- 

 ries of Nature. 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS BEFORE THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



By WILLIAM SPOTTISWOODE, M. A., F. E. S., LL. D., D. C. L., President. 



ON looking back at the long array of distin- 

 guished men who both in this and in the 

 sister countries have filled the chair of the Brit- 

 ish Association ; on considering also the increased 

 pains which have been bestowed upon, and the in- 

 creased importance attaching to, the presidential 

 address, it may well happen when, as on this oc- 

 casion, your choice has fallen upon one outside the 

 sphere of professional science, that your nominee 

 should feel unusual diffidence in accepting the 

 post. Two considerations have, however, in my 



own case outweighed all reasons for hesitation : 

 first, the uniform kindness which I received at 

 the hands of the Association throughout the eight 

 years during which I had the honor of holding., 

 another office ; and, secondly, the conviction that 

 the same good-will which was accorded to your 

 treasurer will be extended to your president. 



These considerations have led me to arrange 

 my observations under two heads, viz. : I pro- 

 pose first to offer some remarks upon the pur- 

 poses and prospects of the Association with 



