ioo Scientific Sophisms. 



known of him is that his " progenitors " " could 

 be not called human." l How came he then by 

 this " inherent " impulse an impulse now " in- 

 herited " as the distinctive characteristic of all 

 mankind yet not possessed by his non-human 

 ancestors, and therefore not derived from them ? 

 Inexplicable however as is this impulse, it is 

 as nothing when compared with the theories to 

 which it has given rise. The theories have been 

 -invented to satisfy a desire of the mind : the 

 desire " to see every natural occurrence resting 

 upon a cause." And to satisfy this desire the 

 scientific imagination of to-day forms " physical 

 theories which lie beyond the pale of expe- 

 rience," and rest upon nothing. If, as the same 

 eminent authority has told us, a "theoretic 

 conception" is a mere " intellectual figment," 

 until it has been "verified" by "observation 

 and experiment," how is it possible that 

 " theories which lie beyond the pale of expe- 

 rience," should satisfy a mind that desires "to 

 see every natural occurrence resting upon a 

 cause " ? " Physical theories," to be satisfactory 

 to such a mind, must lie within and not 

 beyond the pale of experience. 

 " The porter sits down on the weight which he bore," 



1 Professor Tyndall's (Birmingham Address) " Science 

 and Man," p. 61 1. 



