LIFE AS MECHANISM 



by observation; and yet it is categorically denied by 

 modern geometry to be a fact. As an example of Law, 

 let us take Newton's law of universal gravitation. 

 What does Huxley know about it"? Our experiments 

 in the laboratory show that it is approximately true 

 and that we do not know the law of attraction. Fur- 

 thermore, beyond the limits of the solar system, we 

 have not a single observation or fact to show that 

 Newton's law has any agreement with fact; the mo- 

 tions of all fixed stars appear to be independent of 

 this generalization as their paths, to us, are straight 

 lines. Lastly, the essential postulate of the conserva- 

 tion of matter is contradicted by the quantitative re- 

 sults of every experiment made by us in the chemical 

 laboratory, and no one knows anything about the 

 quantity of matter in any body not on the earth. 

 Every so-called fact and every so-called law in the 

 physical sciences is accepted in spite of the inaccuracy 

 of our observations and measurements, and is ex- 

 tended to regions beyond our reach by that very 

 Necessity which Huxley repudiates. We must accept 

 facts and laws because we see law and order; the man 

 of science calls this Necessity by the name of Nature 

 and the religious man calls it, God. 



Huxley was very frequently accused of materialism 

 and of atheism. These he indignantly repudiates, and 

 he is quite explicit in his denial. He says: "I, in- 

 dividually, am no materialist, but, on the contrary, 



C 259 ] 



