CONCLUDING REMARKS. 299 



formed, or a new nature infused into one which already- 

 existed. Now, we should be the last to deny the 

 difficulty of " imagining " such things ; since we uncom- 

 promisingly assert that it is simply impossible to 

 imagine them. For who even pretends to have wit- 

 nessed the formation of a new creature, or the infusion 

 of a new nature ? While what we have never ex- 

 perienced, we can never imagine. But whenever we are 

 convinced we have really good reasons for accepting as 

 true the occurrence of something whereof we have had 

 no experience whatever, surely the rational thing to 

 do is, to say that we assent to its truth, while affirming 

 the impossibility of our imagining it.* The besetting 

 sin of our day — the sin which leads to the degradation 

 of art and science alike — is "sensationalism." This it 

 is that would reduce painting and sculpture to an 

 exclusive reproduction of what the mere eye sees, 

 neglecting what the refined and cultivated intellect 

 may apprehend. This it is, again, which has made 

 possible novels like those of Zola, or poems like 

 those of Richepin — not to refer to yet more nefarious 

 productions. In physical science, also, we again en- 

 counter this besetting tendency to exaggerate the 

 value of the sensuous imagination at the expense of 

 the intellect ; resulting in an avidity for mechanical 

 explanations, because those are the explanations most 

 welcome to our lower faculties, as we have already 

 pointed out.f 



* As to Imagination and Conception, see " On Truth," pp. 

 Ill, 112. 



t See above, p. 30. 



