384 gPARKS FROM A GEOLOGIST'S HAMMER. 



that uniformity of succession is only the phenomenal sym- 

 bol of underlying efficiency; that in the midst of all the 

 concausation accompanying an effect there is one coexist- 

 ence which must be viewed as efficient, metaphysical 

 cause; that all force rests back ultimately in a subject 

 which possesses the attribute^ of intelligent personality. 

 The principle of continuity is a metaphysical principle, 

 but it underlies the deepest and broadest of the funda- 

 mental doctrines of modern science. The phenomena cor- 

 related in so-called evolutionary series rest on and express 

 this principle. It guides us in tracing the forms of inor- 

 ganic matter from a primitive homogeneous state, and 

 also the forms of organic matter from a primitive vitalized 

 plasma. The evolutionary arrangement of phenomena 

 may, indeed, be ascertained empirically, but the principle 

 of continuity points to the rule of arrangement and the 

 bond of union. So science may empirically search out and 

 ascertain the place and mode and material causation of 

 origins, but essential causes lie quite within the region 

 of the metaphenomenal. 



It appears, therefore, as Lewes states, that " the funda- 

 mental ideas of modern science are as transcendental as 

 any of the axioms of ancient philosophy," and that " every 

 physical problem involves metempirical elements." Be- 

 sides the metaphysical implications of the current doctrines 

 of science, all its fundamental conceptions self, substance, 

 cause, force, life, order, law, purpose, relation, unity, iden- 

 tity, continuity, evolution, natural selection, species, genus, 

 order, class are purely metaphysical concepts or ideas. 

 These are not the objects of sensible perception, like the 

 phenomenal data of science, but are apprehended by the 

 rational insight. They have no legitimate place in that 



