138 LAY SERMONS, ESSAYS, AND REVIEWS. [vm. 



contained in the earlier volume, (a) As a matter of fact, the 

 human intellect has not been invariably subjected to the law of 

 the three states, and therefore the necessity of the law cannot be 

 demonstrable a priori. (6) Much of our knowledge of all 

 kinds has not passed through the three states, and more parti 

 cularly, as M. Comte is careful to point out, not through the 

 first. (c) The positive state has more or less co-existed with 

 the theological, from the dawn of human intelligence. And, by 

 way of completing the series of contradictions, the assertion that 

 the three states are &quot; essentially different, and even radically 

 opposed,&quot; is met a little lower on the same page by the declara 

 tion that &quot; the metaphysical state is, at bottom, nothing but a 

 simple general modification of the first ; &quot; while, in the fortieth 

 Leqon, as also in the interesting early essay entitled &quot;Con- 

 side*rations philosophiques sur les Sciences et les Savants (1825),&quot; 

 the three states are practically reduced to two. &quot; Le veritable 

 esprit general de toute philosophic theologique ou metaphysique 

 consiste a prendre pour principe, dans 1 explication des pheno- 

 menes du monde exterieur, notre sentiment immediat des 

 phenomenes humaines; tandis que au contraire, la philosophic 

 positive est toujours caracterisee, non moins profondement, par la 

 subordination necessaire et rationelle de la conception de I homme 

 a celle du monde.&quot; 1 



I leave M. Comte s disciples to settle which of these contra 

 dictory statements expresses their master s real meaning. All I 

 beg leave to remark is, that men of science are not in the habit 

 of paying much attention to &quot; laws &quot; stated in this fashion. 



The second statement is undoubtedly far more rational and 

 consistent with fact than the first ; but I cannot think it is a 

 just or adequate account of the growth of intelligence, either in 

 the individual man, or in the human species. Any one who will 

 carefully watch the development of the intellect of a child will 

 perceive that, from the first, its mind is mirroring nature in two 

 different ways. On the one hand, it is merely drinking in 

 sensations and building up associations, while it forms concep- 



1 &quot; Philosophic Positive,&quot; iii. p. 188. 



