THE BELFAST ADDRESS. 137 



mands the radical extirpation of caprice, and the ab- 

 solute reliance upon law in nature, there grew, with 

 the growth of scientific notions, a desire and deter- 

 mination to sweep from the field of theory this mob of 

 gods and demons, and to place natural phenomena on a 

 basis more congruent with themselves. 



The problem which had been previously approached 

 from above, was now attacked from below; theoretic 

 effort passed from the super- to the sub-sensible. It 

 was felt that to construct the universe in idea, it was 

 necessary to have some notion of its copstituent parts 

 of what Lucretius subsequently called the ' First 

 Beginnings.' Abstracting again from experience, the 

 leaders of scientific speculation reached at length the 

 pregnant doctrine of atoms and molecules, the latest 

 developments of which were set forth with such power 

 and clearness at the last meeting of the British Associa- 

 tion. Thought, no doubt, had long hovered about this 

 doctrine before it attained the precision and complete- 

 ness which it assumed in the mind of Democritus,* a 

 philosopher who may well for a moment arrest our 

 attention. ' Few great men,' says Lange, a non- 

 materialist, in his excellent ' History of Materialism,' 

 to the spirit and to the letter of which I am equally 

 indebted, ' have been so despitefully used by history as 

 Democritus. In the distorted images sent down to us 

 through unscientific traditions, there remains of him 

 almost nothing but the name of " the laughing philoso- 

 pher," while figures of immeasurably smaller signifi- 

 cance spread themselves out at full length before us.' 

 Lange speaks of Bacon's high appreciation of Democ- 

 ritus for ample illustrations of which I am indebted 

 to my excellent friend Mr. Spedding, the learned edi- 

 tor and biographer of Bacon. It is evident, indeed, 

 * Born 460 B. c. 



