NATURE AND LAW, 369 



II. But as the scientific conception of "law," based on the 

 discoveries of Kepler and Newton, extended itself into every 

 department of nature, and one class of her phenomena after 

 another was brought within its range, the idea of Divine govern- 

 ment, originally embodied in the phrase "laws of nature," 

 dropped away; the study of "final causes" was found to hamper, 

 instead of guiding, scientific research; and the more thoroughly 

 the pursuit of the truth as it is in nature has been freed from 

 theological trammels, the more successful that pursuit has been. 

 While, however, the idea of " government " by a God is now 

 excluded, by general consent, from the domain of science, the 

 notion of " government " by law has taken its place, not only in 

 popular thought, but in the minds of many who claim the right 

 to lead it ; and it is the vaUdity of this notion which I have now 

 to call in question. 



We may, I think, best begin our inquiry into what a " law of 

 nature " really means, by tracing historically the p)rogress of our 

 knowledge of that one, whose simplicity of form allows it to be 

 stated with the greatest clearness and precision, and whose uni- 

 versality seems to have been demonstrated beyond all question. 

 I mean, of course, the law of gravitation, as enunciated by Newton ; 

 which affirms that " all masses of matter attract one another with 

 " forces directly proportional to their masses, and inversely pro- 

 " portional to the squares of their distances." As I pointed out in 

 my former paper, what is meant by " force," in this and similar 

 expressions, is the " pull " of which we ourselves become sensible 

 in any attempt we make to resist its action — as when we try to 

 hold back a piece of iron that is being drawn towards a powerful 

 magnet. 



That all solid or liquid bodies fall to the ground if unsupported, 

 must have been among the very earliest of the generalized 

 experiences of the human race ; and the downward " pull " felt by 

 every one who held such bodies in his hand, justified his attribut- 

 ing their fall, when let go, to the " attraction " exerted upon them 

 by the earth. The difference upon the " pulls " exerted by stones 

 of different sizes, would give the notion of differences of iveight ; 

 and certain standards being adopted, the balance applied the 



