118 SCIENCE AND PSEUDO-SCIENCE m 



profound, assumes to explain under one common abstraction, 

 the movements due to gravitation and the movements due to the 

 mind of man ? 



To which I may fitly reply by another question : 

 What shall we say to a controversialist who 

 attributes to the subject of his attack opinions 

 which are notoriously not his; and expresses 

 himself in such a manner that it is obvious he is 

 unacquainted with even the rudiments of that 

 knowledge which is necessary to the discussion 

 into which he has rushed ? 



What line of my writing can the Duke of Argyll 

 produce which confounds the organic with the in- 

 organic ? 



As to the latter half of the paragraph, I have 

 to confess a doubt whether it has any definite 

 meaning. But I imagine that the Duke is alluding 

 to my assertion that the law of gravitation is nowise 

 "suspended" or "defied" when a man lifts his 

 arm ; but that, under such circumstances, part of 

 the store of energy in the universe operates on the 

 arm at a mechanical advantage as against the 

 operation of another part. I was simple enough 

 to think that no one who had as much knowledge 

 of physiology as is to be found in an elementary 

 primer, -or who had ever heard of the greatest 

 physical generalisation of modern times the 

 doctrine of the conservation of energy would 

 dream of doubting my statement; and I was 

 further simple enough to think that no one who 



