54 DR. BUCHNER ON DARWINISM. [iv. 



In short, no matter how far the scientific inter- 

 pretation of nature may be carried, it can reveal to us 

 only the fact that the workings of the ultimate Ex- 

 istence of which Nature is the phenomenal expression 

 are different from what they were supposed to be by 

 uninstructed thinkers of former times. And no 

 matter how far we may carry the interpretation of 

 natural phenomena in terms of matter and motion, 

 we cannot escape the conclusion that matter and 

 motion, as phenomenal manifestations, can have no 

 genuine existence save as the correlatives of a cog- 

 nising mind. To treat of the universe of phenomena 

 without the noumenon God is nonsense ; and likewise 

 to treat of matter (a congeries of attributes) without 

 reference to the mind in whose cognisance alone can 

 attributes have any existence, is also nonsense. How- 

 ever praiseworthy, therefore, Dr. Biichner's book may 

 be as an exposition of a particular set of scientific 

 doctrines, we think it can have but small value as a 

 contribution to philosophy. Its author is one of 

 those men who see very distinctly what they really 

 see, but who in reality see but a very little way 

 before them. 



November 1872. 



