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reason for believing that any stone so eircnmstaneed will not fall 

 to the ground ; and that we liave, on the contrary, every reason 

 to believe that it will so fall. It is very convenient to indicate 

 that all the conditions of belief have been fnlfilled in this case, 

 by calling the statement that unsupported stones will fall to the 

 ground, " a law of nature." But when, as commonly happens, 

 we change will into must, we introduce an i-dea of necessity 

 which most assuredly does not lie in the ol)served facts, and has 

 no warranty that I can discover elsewhere. For my part, I 

 utterly repudiate and anathematise the intruder. Fact I know ; 

 and Law" I know ; but what is this Xecessity, save an empty 

 shadow of my own mind's throwing ? But, if it is certain that 

 w^e can have no knowledge of the nature of either matter or 

 spirit, and that the notion of necessity is something illegitimately 

 thrust into the perfectly legitimate conception of law, the mate- 

 rialistic position that there is nothing in the world bnt matter, 

 force, and necessity, is as utterly devoid of justiiication as the 

 most baseless of theological dogmas. 



The fundamental doctrines of materialism, like those of 

 spiritualism, and most other " isms," lie outside " the limits of 

 philosophical inquiry," and David Hume's great service to human- 

 ity is his irrefragable demonstration of what these limits are. 

 Hume called himself a sceptic, and therefore others cannot bo 

 blamed if they apply the same title to him; but that does not 

 alter the fact that the name, Avith its existing implicjitions, does 

 him gross injustice. If a man asks me Avhat the 2)olitics of the 

 inhabitants of the moon aiv, and I rej^ly that I do not know; 

 that neither I, noi- any one else have any means of knuv>'iiig ; 

 and that, under tiiese circnir.staiices I decline to trouble myself 

 about the subject at all, 1 do not think he has any right to call 

 me a sceptic. On tlie contrary, in replying thus, I concei\e that 

 I am simidy honest aAd truthful, and show a proi)er regard for 

 the economy of time. So Hume's strong and subtle intellect 

 takes up a great many problems about which we are naturally 

 curious, and shows ns that they are essentially (piestions of lunar 

 politics, in their es;-.enee incapable of being answered, and there- 

 fore not worth the attention of men who have work to do in the 

 world. And thus ends one of his essays : 



" If we take in hand any volume of l)i\lnil \ , -t -riKM.l ;neia- 

 pliysics, for instance, let us ask. Does it contain any ahstract 

 reasoning concernlnr/ quantity or number? No. Does it con- 



