802 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



solutely confidential and unreported, they were almost always of much 

 animation and interest. They suggested to myself (as honorary sec- 

 retary to the society) the idea of the " Modern Symposium " which 

 several times appeared in this Review. The following were among 

 the papers read before the society : 



The Theory of Causation. 



The Theory of a Soul. 



Is God unknowable ? 



What is Death ? 



Will and Responsibility. 



The Scientific Basis of Morals. 



The Nature and Authority of Miracle. 



Has a Frog a Soul ? 



On the words Nature, Natural, and Supernatural. 



The Ethics of Belief. 



What is Matter ? 



The Soul before and after Death. 

 * What is a Lie ? 



How do we come by our Knowledge ? 



The Personality of God. 



The Verification of Beliefs. 



The Emotion of Conviction. 



Memory as an Intuitive Faculty. 



The Relation of Will to Thought. 



Matter and Force. 



The Absolute. 



The Nature of Things in Themselves. 



The Nature of the Moral Principle. 



The Evidence of the Miracle of the Resurrection. 



The Arguments for a Future Life. 



Hospitals for Incurables from a Moral Point of View. 



Double Truth. 

 The subjoined article, kindly volunteered by Mr. Hutton, was 

 suggested by him, not as a portrait of any actual meeting, but as a 

 reminiscence of the sort of debate which used to go on. Its faithful- 

 ness is remarkable, except for the omission of his own valuable part 

 in the discussion. Editor Nineteenth Century, .] 



The following attempt to give an impression of a typical meeting 

 of the once rather famous "Metaphysical Society," of which I was 

 throughout a member, must not be regarded as in any sense contain- 

 ing an historical report of an individual debate. No such reports were, 

 so far as I know, ever taken. But to a rather diligent member of 

 the society there were plenty of opportunities of learning the general 

 views of the more eminent members on such a subject as was discussed 

 at the meeting here selected for treatment ; and though it is likely 



