PROFESSOR VIRCHOW AND EVOLUTION 413 



responsible, prior to the " Belfast Address," is embodied 

 in the following extract from a brief article written as far 

 back as 1865: " Supposing the molecules of the human 

 body, instead of replacing others, and thus renewing a 

 pre-existing form, to be gathered first- hand from nature, 

 and placed in the exact relative positions which they oc- 

 cupy in the body. Supposing them to have the same 

 forces and distribution of forces, the same motions and 

 distribution of motions would this organized concourse 

 of molecules stand before us as a sentient, thinking being ? 

 There seems no valid reason to assume that it would not. 

 Or supposing a planet carved from the sun, set spinning 

 round an axis, and sent revolving round the sun at a dis- 

 tance equal to that of our earth, would one consequence 

 of the refrigeration of the mass be the development of 

 organic forms ? I lean to the affirmative. ' * This is plain 

 speaking, but it is without * l dogmatism. ' ' An opinion is 

 expressed, a belief, a leaning not an established "doc- 

 trine. ' ' 



The burden of my writings in this connection is as 

 much a recognition of the weakness of science as an asser- 

 tion of its strength. In 1867, I told the working men of 

 Dundee that while making the largest demand for freedom 

 of investigation; while considering science to be alike pow- 

 erful as an instrument of intellectual culture, and as a 

 ministrant to the material wants of men; if asked whether 

 science has solved, or is likely in our day to solve, "the 

 problem of the universe," I must shake my head in doubt. 

 I compare the mind of man to a musical instrument with 

 a certain range of notes, beyond which in both directions 

 exists infinite silence. The phenomena of matter and 

 force come within our intellectual range; but behind, and 



