48 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. viii 



formed the earth and the sky. The Confucian Chinaman and 

 the positivist Fortnightly Reviewers, similar products of ad- 

 vanced thought and culture, are alone careless of the past and 

 future — content with the barren philosophy of utilitarianism. 

 These are stunted forms of thought — curious and interesting as 

 are those clipped and trimmed trees sometimes seen in royal 

 gardens — but the natural and healthy instinctive intelligence of 

 mankind is ever questioning as to the " why?" the " whence? " 

 and the " whither ? " of our universe. Those who would deprive 

 us of our metaphysics, and whose whole hope for the cure of the 

 world is placed in positivism, universal education, and competi 

 tive examinations, may look to China for their ideal land of 

 culture and intelligence. 



Dr. Dawson justly dwells with considerable emphasis upon the 

 fact that the recent discoveries of science concerning the identity 

 of light, heat and motion explain some parts of the Mosaic 

 record which were before obscure. For instance, the announce- 

 ment of the creation of light before the sun is said to have 

 existed, is a remarkable instance of the avoidance of a very 

 natural error, and the gradual development of life upon the 

 globe as related by Moses, runs in the same course with the 

 story of the fossiliferous rocks. Upon such points as these 

 Dr. Dawson is one of the first living authorities. He stands 

 among a very few, at the very summit of this branch of science. 

 His knowledge is not the knowledge of the closet only, but the 

 knowledge of a man who has won it by hard labour and patient 

 investigation in the field, the forest, and the mine ; and to the 

 study of the facts of natural science the whole of a busy life has 

 been devoted. When, therefore, as in these lectures, he declares 

 that no antagonism exists between the two records, we know of 

 no man more entitled to a patient hearing. 



Although we are disposed to allow full credit to the lofty 

 monotheism of the Hebrew mind, as indicating a belief in the 

 unity and uniformity of natural law, we are not disposed to ac- 

 quiesce in the lecturer's disparaging reference to the " crudities 

 of Greek philosophy." It seems to us that the secret of the 

 universe cannot be discovered either by the theological method 

 of the Hebrew, by the subjective method of the Greek, or by the 

 objective method of modern science alone. All three are neces- 

 sary, and all three find their synthesis in Christian science. The 

 mind is oppressed by the elaborate ritual and stern sacrificial 



