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1 76 EXPLANATIONS. 



regarded with suspicion and distrust. The conse- 

 quence is, that philosophy, as it exists amongst 

 us, does nothing to raise its votaries above the 

 common ideas of their time. There can, therefore, 

 be nothing more conclusive against our hypothe- 

 sis in the disfavour of the scientific class, than in 

 that of any other section of educated men. There 

 is even less; for the position of scientific men with 

 j regard to the rest of the public is such, that they 

 I are rather eager to repudiate, than to embrace 

 j general views, seeing how unpopular these usually 

 [ are. . The reader may here be reminded, that 

 , there is such a thing in human nature as coming to 

 venerate the prejudices which we are compelled 

 to treat tenderly, because it is felt to be better to 

 ■\ be consistent at the sacrifice of even judgment and 

 conscience than to have a war always going on 

 \^ between the cherished and the avowed. Accord- 

 ingly, in the case of a particular doctrine, which, 

 however unjustly, is regarded as having an ob- 

 noxious tendency, it is not surprising that scientific 

 men view it with not less hostility than the com- 

 mon herd. For the very purpose of maintaining 

 their own respect in the concessions they have to 

 make, they naturally wish to find all possible ob- 

 jections to any such theory as that of progressive 

 development, exaggerating every difficulty in its 



