26o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



venient ; the land is tilled ; the rivers are tamed ; houses are built ; 

 ships float upon the sea ; everything is regarded with reference to 

 human comfort, and the will of man has utterly transformed the whole 

 surface of the globe. The uniformity of Nature, as Nature had been 

 known or manifested hitherto, is altogether set aside by the action of 

 the will of man. 



These examples may be sufficient, or at all events may help, to 

 show the manner which the hypothesis of the uniformity of Nature 

 must be regarded in order that it may express the truth. For my 

 own part, I have no desire to speak lightly of it, or to despise it as a 

 scientific guide. I have no sympathy with that opinion of Cardinal 

 Newman, quoted by Dr. Ward at the meeting of the Metaphysical 

 Society, to the effect that England would be in a far more hopeful 

 condition if it were more superstitious and more bigoted. When he 

 adds " more disposed to quail beneath the stings of conscience, and to 

 do penance for its sins than it is," I allow that the words may admit 

 of a wholesome meaning ; but superstition, if I understand what is 

 meant by the word, is an immeasurably and unutterably evil thing : it 

 is the substitution for truth of that which is not truth ; it is something 

 which, from its possible poetical accompaniments, may be tolerable to 

 man, and nevertheless must, as I conceive, be infinitely intolerable to 

 God. But there is no occasion to sigh for a little more superstition, in 

 order to counteract the evils which may arise from a one-sided view of 

 Nature ; nor are superstition and bigotry the best guides to true pen- 

 ance : the thing really to be desired is a symmetrical and equal-handed 

 dealing with human and divine knowledge. In the one department, 

 the uniformity of Nature may be accepted as a valuable working hy- 

 pothesis ; in the other, we contemjDlate God without any hypothesis 

 at all, as the Author and original Cause of Nature, of whose will uni- 

 formity and variety are equally and co-ordinately the expression and 

 the means of manifestation to human intelligence. 



To sum up the views which I have endeavored to express in this 

 paper : I trace the belief in the pi'inciple, described by the phrase " the 

 uniformity of Nature," to the direct and indirect influences of the 

 successful application of mathematics to the physical theory of the 

 solar system. The principle so established may be used as a working 

 hypothesis in physical investigations, so far as it predisposes us to seek 

 for law and order in all parts of creation. But it must not be dealt 

 with as an absolutely true principle, if for no other reason at least for 

 this, that it has not been found practicable to define its meaning with 

 precision. And especially we must take care not to assume it even as 

 an hypothesis, except in cases in which it is quite clear that nothing 

 but physical causes are concerned. Which last consideration should 

 be regarded as a warning that the introduction of the principle into 

 theological questions may very possibly lead to most erroneous con- 

 clusions. — Nineteenth Century. 



