1864. | Atheism and Science. 553 
the Jews before the Babylonian exile (how the race must have degene- 
rated according to the author’s views!) ; Shakespeare, (!)* Pliny, 
Homer, Simonides, Seneca, Pomponatius, Frederick the Great (the 
predecessor of kings who rule by divine right!) and ‘ the enlightened 
of all nations and times,” + amongst whom the “dogma of the immor- 
tality of the soul has ever had but few partisans.” On this ground 
then, if on no other, Messrs. Biichner, Tuttle, and Co. may be added 
to the above authorities, and included amongst the “ enlightened.” 
But it appears from Preface No. IV. that some of the author’s critics 
are not disposed to admit him into this rank of society, and that others 
go still further in their malignity, and have attempted to damage him 
in public opinion by casting suspicions upon his moral character. 
Not knowing anything of his private character, we cannot, of 
course, Express an opinion on so delicate a matter ; but we will allow 
the author to state his ideas of morals and morality ; ideas which we 
presume to be held by all of like professions with himself. 
“Science has no concern with morals.” (p. xv.) 
“The person of the investigator, and that of his moral convictions, 
have nought to do with his investigations.”} (p. lxv.) 
“ Annihilation, non-existence, is perfect rest, painlessness, freedom from 
all tormenting impressions, and therefore not to be feared.” (p. 205.) 
“Free will, if it exist, can only have a limited range.” (p. 239) 
“Man is free, but his hands are bound; he cannot cross the limit 
placed by nature.” (p. 245.) 
“ Another (person) § inclines to conscientiousness ; he is just in all his trans- 
actions, and may puta term to his existence if deprived of the possibility of 
Fulfilling his obligations.” 
. 
Very convenient doctrines these for persons whose “ cerebral 
matter ” happens to be endowed with propensities to indulge in vices 
which do not come within the pale of the law, and who “act according 
to their impulses or habits,” as all men do, in the author’s opinion! | 
No free will, and a kind of conscientiousness which causes men to put 
an end to themselves, and seek the haven of “ perfect rest,” and “ free- 
dom from all tormenting impressions,” when they can’t pay twenty 
shillings in the pound. : 
This is the morality of Atheists and Materialists ! 
That any human being endowed with reasoning faculties and pos- 
sessed of a fair amount of information could have trusted himself to 
give utterance to such a tissue of contradictions and absurdities as are 
to be found in this book, and should attempt to pollute the scientific 
literature of his age with such trash as it contains, is explicable through 
the views which he entertains concerning a Deity; but whatever can 
have induced an Englishman, aspiring to a respectable position in 
the scientific world, a Fellow of the Geological Society, voluntarily to 
Bago. “Thy best of rest is sleep, 
And that thou oft provok’st; yet grossly fear’st 
Thy death, which is no more ! ” 
+ 213. * The Duke,” in *‘ Measure for Measure.’ 
¢ This depends very much upon the notions which he has concerning truth. 
§$ We italicize these lines. 
|| Quoting Auerbach, p. 244. 
