METAPHYSICS 



3753 



METCHNIKOFF 



Mixed Metaphor. In the use of this very 

 common and striking form of speech, there is 

 a danger that an abrupt change of figure, or the 

 use of two or more metaphors in too rapid suc- 

 cession, may give rise to the absurdity known 

 as a mixed metaphor. The so-called "Irish 

 bulls" are examples of this misuse of figurative 

 language. Examples may often be found in 

 newspapers, and recognized authorities in litera- 

 ture are sometimes betrayed into them. The 

 following quotations from various sources are 

 mixed metaphors: 



The chariot of the revolution is rolling along 

 and gnashing its teeth as it rolls. 



The backbone of the cold wave is broken. 



He received severe Injuries at the hands of a 

 bulldog. 



METAPHYSICS, metafiz'iks, a branch of 

 philosophy concerning itself with such ultimate 

 problems as the nature of substance, of cause, 

 of time and space. It is the branch which, ac- 

 cording to its spokesmen, should crown the 

 whole structure of the physical sciences and 

 become the final master-science. 



The Greek philosophy gave to metaphysics a 

 lofty reach. It was natural to the Greek mind 

 to distrust simple appearance, and to look be- 

 yond the visible, tangible world of objects for 

 another sort of reality, which such thinkers as 

 Plato regarded as the deepest and most worthy 

 reality. This idealistic view of the universe 

 dominated philosophy for centuries, but it has 

 undergone noticeable modification in the mod- 

 ern world, some critics going so far as to deny 

 the utility of metaphysics. 



The special sciences, physics, zoology, chem- 

 istry, etc., deal confidently with appearances 

 a world of things that can be touched and seen 

 and which do not challenge the reality of these 

 appearances. Metaphysics, on the contrary, in 

 its quest of ultimate reality challenges and 

 examines the assumption on which the special 

 sciences rest. 



The name metaphysics is derived from Greek 

 words meaning following the physics, referring 

 to the position this science had in the collected 

 works of Aristotle. 



Consult Calkins' Persistent Problems in Phi- 

 losophy; Fullerton's A System of Metaphysics. 



METCALFE, CHARLES THEOPHILUS, BARON 

 (1785-1846), a British statesman and colonial 

 administrator, Governor-General of Canada 

 from 1843 to 1845. Though personally a man 

 of great popularity and many admirable quali- 

 ties, Metcalfe received his training in a politi- 

 cal school whose methods were those of the 



eighteenth century. It was unfortunate for his 

 fame that he should have been sent to Canada 

 at the very time when the struggle for respon- 

 sible government was at its height. In India 

 and Jamaica he had played the part *of a be- 

 nevolent autocrat, but when he tried the same 

 role on Canada he was destined to failure, and 

 his reputation has suffered because he opposed 

 responsible government. 



Metcalfe was born at Calcutta, India, but 

 received his education in England. After his 

 graduation from Eton in 1800 he returned to 

 India to enter the service of the East India 

 Company. Having been allowed to taste the 

 delights of English society, young Metcalfe 

 was reluctant to leave, but finally submitted 

 when his father, a director of the company, 

 insisted. He remained in India until 1838, 

 more than half of his life being spent in the 

 service of the East India Company. He be- 

 came a member of the supreme council of 

 India in 1827, and was temporary Governor- 

 General in 1835. During this one year he 

 initiated a number of reforms, the most impor- 

 tant of which was to insure freedom of the 

 press. "If India," he said, "could be preserved 

 as a part of the British Empire only by keeping 

 its inhabitants in a state of ignorance, our 

 domination would be a curse to the country 

 and ought to cease." Such ideas were not ap- 

 proved by the company's directors, and Met- 

 calfe resigned in 1838. 



In the next year the British government ap- 

 pointed him governor of Jamaica, where he 

 showed great tact and executive ability, par- 

 ticularly in establishing more friendly relations 

 between the negroes and the planters. In 1842 

 he returned to England, but in the next year 

 was appointed Governor-General of Canada. 

 There he found a government by party, which 

 he had never before faced. Almost imme- 

 diately he came into conflict with the assembly, 

 and refused to admit the executive council's 

 right to be consulted on appointments. The 

 general elections of 1844 resulted in a defeat 

 for the Reformers, and allowed Metcalfe to 

 pick a council or cabinet which agreed with 

 him. It was a misfortune for him as well as 

 for Canada that he lacked the training and the 

 temper to apply the new principle of govern- 

 ment to Canada. In 1845 Metcalfe resigned 

 and returned to England. . W.F.Z. 



METCHNIKOFF, mech'nikohf, ELIE (1845- 

 1916), one of the world's greatest biologists, 

 for many years a professor at Pasteur Institute, 

 Paris. His theory that the congestion of blood 



