REV. J. MARTINEAU AND BELFAST ADDRESS. 233 



though its author has thought fit to give it a witty and 

 sarcastic tone. He analyses and criticises ' the materi- 

 alist doctrine, which, in our time, is proclaimed with 

 BO much pomp, and resisted with so much passion. 

 " Matter is all I want," says the physicist; " give me its 

 atoms alone, and I will explain the universe." ' It is 

 thought, even by Mr. "Martineau's intimate friends, 

 that in this pamphlet he is answering me. I must 

 therefore ask the reader to contrast the foregoing trav- 

 esty with what I really do say regarding atoms: 'I 

 do not think that he [the materialist] is entitled to 

 say that his molecular groupings and motions explain 

 everything. In reality, they explain nothing. The 

 utmost he can affirm is the association of two classes of 

 phenomena, of whose real bond of union he is in abso- 

 lute ignorance.'* This is very different from saying, 

 ' Give me its atoms alone, and I will explain the uni- 

 verse.' Mr. Martineau continues his dialogue with the 

 physicist: ' " Good," he says; " take as many atoms as 

 you please. See that they have all that is requisite to 

 Body [a metaphysical B], being homogeneous ex- 

 tended solids." " That is not enough," his -physicist 

 replies; " it might do for Democritus and the mathe- 

 maticians, but I must have something more. The 

 atoms must not only be in motion, and of various 

 shapes, but also of as many kinds as there are chemical 

 elements; for how could I ever get water if I had only 

 hydrogen elements to work with?" "So be it," Mr. 

 Martineau consents to answer, " only this is a con- 

 siderable enlargement of your specified datum [where, 

 and by whom specified?] in fact, a conversion of it 

 into several; yet, even at the cost of its monism [put 

 into it by Mr. Martineau], your scheme seems hardly 

 to gain its end; for by what manipulation of your re- 



Address on 'Scientific Materialism/ 



