190 Darwinism and Other Essays. 



be given up. Then the barrenness of doubt had 

 to make itself felt before it could be supplanted 

 by knowledge. It was not until Hume, by carry- 

 ing scepticism to its uttermost extent, had shown 

 its unsatisfactory character and vain results, that 

 the germs of scientific method, implanted by Ba- 

 con and Descartes, could develop and bear fruit 

 in the positive philosophy of Comte. 



As the metaphysical period is but a transition 

 from the theological to the positive, it only re- 

 mains to show that scepticism is peculiar to it, 

 being a transition from belief to knowledge. We 

 have here very few facts to guide us to an induc- 

 tive investigation, since the positive era is only 

 now commencing. But, if we consider the state 

 of human thought at the present day on the vari- 

 ous subjects of scientific research, we shall find 

 that in the most advanced departments scepticism 

 no longer finds a place. Astronomers long ago 

 gave over doubting and asking questions of each 

 other about the fact of the earth's motion. It 

 was the scepticism of Copernicus and Galileo that 

 overthrew the old notion of its fixity ; but that 

 scepticism speedily issued in positive certainty. 

 Whether a man believes or disbelieves in the mo- 

 tion of the earth is now a mere matter of knowl- 

 edge or ignorance. There is no place for doubt, 



