THE BELFAST ADDRESS. 107 



absurdities of the Christian scheme, that they were in 

 no better condition than we were, and that, for every 

 difficulty found upon our side, quite as great a diffi- 

 culty was to be found upon theirs. I will now, with 

 your permission, adopt a similar line of argument. 

 You are a Lucretian, and from the combination and 

 separation of insensate atoms deduce all terrestrial 

 things, including organic forms and their phenomena. 

 Let me tell you in the first instance how far I am pre- 

 pared to go with you. I admit that you can build crys- 

 talline forms out of this play of molecular force; that 

 the diamond, amethyst, and snow-star are truly won- 

 derful structures which are thus produced. I will go 

 farther and acknowledge that even a tree or flower 

 might in this way be organised. Nay, if you can show 

 me an animal without sensation, I will concede to you 

 that it also might be put together by the suitable play 

 of molecular force. 



' Thus far our way is clear, but now comes my 

 difficulty. Your atoms are individually without sen- 

 sation, much more are they without intelligence. ^May 

 I ask you, then, to try your hand upon this problem. 

 Take your dead hydrogen atoms, your dead oxygen 

 atoms, your dead carbon atoms, your dead nitrogen 

 atoms, your dead phosphorus atoms, and all the other 

 atoms, dead as grains of shot, of which the brain is 

 formed. Imagine them separate and sensationless; 

 observe them running together and forming all im- 

 aginable combinations. This, as a purely mechanical 

 process, is seeable by the mind. But can you see, or 

 dream, or in any way imagine, how out of that me- 

 chanical act, and from these individually dead atoms, 

 sensation, thought, and emotion are to rise? Are you 

 likely to abstract Homer out of the rattling of dice, or 

 the Differential Calculus out of the clash of billiard- 



