OF SOCIETY. 



517 



by Huxley,^ that it was not Comte himself but 

 Positivism modified under the influence of Mill, 

 Spencer, and Darwin which became such a prolific 

 vein of thought in Comte's own country. 



^ The discussion of this subject 

 by Huxley in two of his earlier 

 Addresses (see 'Lay Sermons, &c.,' 

 1891, pp. 104, 128) is still of great 

 interest in the history of philo- 

 sophical thought as distinguished 

 from that of science and philosophy 

 themselves ; for he has shown how 

 a long list of flagrant mistakes of 

 fact and theory in science, phil- 

 osophy, and history, which he has 

 collected from Comte's works, has 

 not stood in the way of the marked 

 and lasting influence which Comte's 

 philosophy has had, first in this 

 country and then on the Continent ; 

 so much so that the term Positivism 

 and the spirit of positive research 

 has outlived the many attacks made 

 upon it. It is well worth while to 

 inquire into the hidden causes of 

 so remarkable a phenomenon in 

 the history of Thought. So far as 

 Huxley himself is concerned he 

 sums up his opinion of Comte in 

 the words: "I shall be sorry if 

 what I have [said] should lead any 

 to suppose that I think M. Comte's 

 works are worthless ; or that I do 

 not heartily respect and sympathise 

 with those who have been impelled 

 by him to think deeply upon social 

 problems and to strive nobly for 

 social regeneration. It is the virtue 

 of that impulse, I believe, which 

 will save the name and fame of 

 Auguste Comte from oblivion. As 

 for his philosophy, I part with it 

 by quoting his own words, reported 

 to me by a quondam Comtist, M. 

 Charles Robin : ' La Philosophie 

 est une tentative incessante de 

 I'esprit humain pour arriver au 

 repos ; mais elle se trouve inces- 

 samment aussi derangee par les 

 progres continus de la science. De 



lii vient pour le philosophe I'obli- 

 gation de refaire chaque soir la 

 synthese de ses conceptions ; et un 

 jour viendra oil I'homme raison- 

 nable ne fera plus d'autre priere du 

 soir.'" Incidentally it may be 

 remarked that the earlier of the 

 two Addresses referred to, that 

 entitled " The Physical Basis of 

 Life" (1868), contains two remark- 

 able passages, the first emphasising 

 the fact that even in the science of 

 inanimate nature the atomising 

 process consisting of analysis into 

 parts and synthesis into compounds 

 does not lead us back to the natural 

 products we start with. " It is, 

 in strictness, true that we know 

 nothing about the composition of 

 any body whatever, as it is. The 

 statement that the crystal of calc- 

 spar consists of carbonate of lime 

 is quite true, if we only mean that, 

 by appropriate processes, it may be 

 resolved into carbonic acid and 

 quicklime. If you pass the same 

 carbonic acid over the very quick- 

 lime thus obtained, you will obtain 

 carbonate of lime again ; but it 

 will not be calc-spar nor anything 

 like it" (p. 112). The other pas- 

 sage gives concisely what may be 

 supposed to be Huxley's own phil- 

 osophical creed : " It is necessary 

 to be fully possessed of two beliefs : 

 the first, that the order of nature 

 is ascertainable by our faculties to 

 an extent which is practically un- 

 limited ; the second, that our 

 volition counts for something as a 

 condition of the course of events " 

 (p. 126). On Comte's disregard of 

 biological discoveries during his 

 lifetime, such, e.g., as the cellular 

 theory, see also Dr P. Earth, loc. 

 cit., p. 90. 



