SCEPTICISM AND CREDULITY. 221 



results so obtained is the highest function of human 

 reason. 



Eecognising physical science as that portion of our 

 knowledge which has done most to quicken and define 

 all that relates to the evidence of truth, it may be well 

 to remark that as the circle of such knowledge enlarges 

 the circle of doubt enlarges also. A single new fact 

 discovered may beget ten questions unseen before, and 

 equally requiring solution. Science abounds in such 

 instances. What Newton terms ' the ocean of undis- 

 covered truth ' spreads out more widely before us as we 

 advance upon it darkness, or faint gleams of light 

 only, upon its horizon. Some men stand doubtingly on 

 the shore, or embark with a spirit too timid for disco- 

 very ; others adventure suddenly and rashly on this 

 unknown sea ; a few, by some happy intuition or acci- 

 dent, find what may be called a North-West Passage ' 

 to the truth sought for ; but it is usually reached only 

 by assiduous labour, and the fortunate conjunction of 

 zeal with a rational scepticism. 



Natural temperament, in fact, is the ruling power 

 in the intellectual as in the moral world ; and its diver- 

 sities in different men can alone expound the anomalies 

 we every day see in the antagonistic habits of scep- 

 ticism and credulity. Those of credulity are doubtless 

 the more remarkable in our age, as in every antecedent 

 time, and form a curious chapter in the mental history 

 of man a chapter saddening in some of its aspects, 

 but in others relieved by its kindred with that poetic 

 faculty appertaining to man alone. Credulity changes 

 its forms and objects in each successive age, but as a 



