26 ADDRESS OF 



the more distant but vastly wider circumference which now 

 marks the boundaries of our knowledge, or are we to suppose 

 them entirely banished from nature? This is entirely a question 

 of intuition, and not at all of scientific investigation. I have 

 described the scientific theory, of nature as not admitting scru- 

 table final causes at all, but as claiming that the law of the 

 falling rock is symbolic of all her operations. But I think this 

 is a view towards which philosophers have always inclined. We 

 must alwa} r s expect that men will incline to this view in pro- 

 portion to their familiarity with the material side of nature. At 

 the same time it is evident to all that there must have been a be- 

 ginning of things, and that nature could not have commenced her- 

 self. We have, therefore, a wide belt left between the origin of 

 nature and the boundaries of our knowledge in which we may 

 suppose the inscrutable cause to have acted. Here we reach 

 questions of philosophy which lie outside of our field, and which, 

 therefore, we cannot now stop to consider. 



The exact bearing of the subject will be better understood by 

 condensing what has already been said so as to present the whole 

 in a brief space. 



1. When men study the operations of the world around them, 

 they find that certain of those operations are determined by knowa- 

 ble antecedent conditions, and go on with that blind disregard of 

 consequences which they call law. The criterion for distin- 

 guishing these operations is that their "results admit of being 

 foreseen. They also find certain other operations which they are 

 unable thus to trace to the operation of law. 



2. Men attribute this latter class to invisible anthropomorphic 

 intelligences, having the power to bring about changes in nature, 

 and having certain objects, worthy or ignoble, in view, which they 

 thus endeavor to compass. Men also believe themselves able to 

 discern these objects, and thus to explain the operations which 

 bring them about. The objects are worthy or ignoble according 

 to the character of the intelligences, which again depend upon the 

 state of society. In ancient times they were often the gratifica- 

 tion of the silliest pride or the lowest lusts. 



3. As knowledge advances, one after another of these operations 

 are found to be really determined by 1ft w, the only difficulty being 

 that the law was before unknown or not comprehended, or that the 



