PROFESSOR VIRCHOW AND EVOLUTION 413 



responsible, prior to the ** Belfast Address,'* is embodied 

 in the following extract from a brief article written as far 

 back as 1865: *' Supposing the molecules of the human 

 body, instead of replacing others, and thus renewing a 

 pre-existing form, to be gathered first-hand from nature, 

 and placed in the exact relative positions which they oc- 

 cupy in the body. Supposing them to have the same 

 forces and distribution of forces, the same motions and 

 distribution of motions — would this organized concourse 

 of molecules stand before us as a sentient, thinking being ? 

 There seems no valid reason to assume that it would not. 

 Or supposing a planet carved from the sun, set spinning 

 round an axis, and sent revolving round the sun at a dis- 

 tance equal to that of our earth, would one consequence 

 of the refrigeration of the mass be the development of 

 organic forms ? I lean to the affirmative. ' ' This is plain 

 speaking, but it is without ''dogmatism.'* An opinion is 

 expressed, a belief, a leaning — not an established "doc- 

 trine. ' ' 



The burden of my writings in this connection is as 

 much a recognition of the weakness of science as an asser- 

 tion of its strength. In 1867, I told the working men of 

 Dundee that while making the largest demand for freedom 

 of investigation; while considering science to be alike pow- 

 erful as an instrument of intellectual culture, and as a 

 ministrant to the material wants of men; if asked whether 

 science has solved, or is likely in our day to solve, "the 

 problem of the universe," I must shake my head in doubt. 

 I compare the mind of man to a musical instrument with 

 a certain range of notes, beyond which in both directions 

 exists infinite silence. The phenomena of matter and 

 force come within our intellectual range; but behind, and 



