168 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE 



the body, and that of the coal in the furnace. He would 

 assuredly have anticipated Mayer in calling the blood 

 which the heart diffuses '*the oil of the lamp of life," 

 deducing all animal motions from the combustion of this 

 oil, as the motions of a steam-engine are deduced from 

 the combustion of its coal. As the matter stands, how- 

 ever, and considering the circumstances of the time, the 

 boldness, clearness, and precision, with which Descartes 

 grasped the problem of vital dynamics constitute a mar- 

 vellous illustration of intellectual power.* 



During the Middle Ages the doctrine of atoms had 

 to all appearance vanished from discussion. It probably 

 held its ground among sober-minded and thoughtful men, 

 though neither the church nor the world was prepared to 

 hear of it with tolerance. Once, in the year 1348, it re- 

 ceived distinct expression. But retractation by compulsion 

 immediately followed; and, thus discouraged, it slumbered 

 till the seventeenth century, when it was revived by a con- 

 temporary and friend of Hobbes of Malmesbury, the or- 

 thodox Catholic provost of Digne, Gassendi. But, before 

 stating his relation to the Epicurean doctrine, it will be 

 well to say a few words on the effect, as regards science, 

 of the general introduction of monotheism among Eui'o- 

 pean nations. 



"Were men," says Hume, **led into the apprehension 

 of invisible intelligent power by contemplation of the 

 works of Nature, they could never possibly entertain any 

 conception but of one single Being, who bestowed exist- 

 ence and order on this vast machine, and adjusted all its 



> See Huxley's admirable "Essay on Descartes.*' — **Lay Sermons," pp. 

 364, 365. 



