Sophisms. 161 



says Wordsworth. And this he may do with 

 perfect safety, even on the parapet of London 

 Bridge ; for that is within the pale of expe- 

 rience. But woe to the unlucky wight who, 

 in the attempt to satisfy his desire for rest, 

 ventures to sit down on some " abstraction " 

 outside the parapet; for that is "beyond the 

 pale of experience." 



" Trace the line of life backwards," says our 

 Lucretian, " and see it approaching more and 

 more to what we call the purely physical con- 

 dition. . . . We break a magnet and find 

 two poles in each of its fragments. We con- 

 tinue the process of breaking ; but, however 

 small the parts, each carries with it, though 

 enfeebled, the polarity of the whole. And 

 when we can break no longer, we prolong the 

 intellectual vision to the polar molecules. Are 

 we not urged to do something similar in the case 

 of life ? . . . Believing as I do in the con- 

 tinuity of Nature, I cannot stop abruptly where 

 our microscopes cease to be of use. Here the 

 vision of the mind authoritatively supplements 

 the vision of the eye. By an intellectual neces- 

 sity I cross the boundary of the experimental 

 evidence, and discern in Matter . . . the 

 promise and potency of all terrestrial Life." x 

 1 " Belfast Address," p. 55. 



