Scientific Sophisms. 151 



mere assertions. We look for certainty and find 

 only probability : eg., " It is more than probable 

 that when the vegetable world is thoroughly 

 explored we shall find all plants in possession 

 of the same powers." The premises then have 

 still to be collected ; and yet the conclusion has 

 been confidently proclaimed. Compare this 

 " more than probable " vaticination concerning 

 vegetables with the positive assertion "that 

 the powers of ALL the different forms of living 

 things were substantially one, that their forms 

 were substantially one, and, finally, that their 

 composition was also substantially one." J Again, 

 he says, " So far as the conditions of the mani- 

 festations of the phenomena of contractility have 

 yet been studied." Now this " so far " is not 

 " yet " by any means " very far." But what is 

 meant by " the manifestations, j>f the phe- 

 nomena"? The manifestations are the phe- 

 nomena! and they completely refute Mr. 

 Huxley's latest theory. Again, we hear that 

 it is "the rule rather than the exception," or 

 that " weighty authorities have suggested" that 

 such and such things " probably occur," or, while 

 contemplating the nettle-sting, that such "pos- 

 sible complexity " in other cases " dawns upon 

 one." On other occasions he admits that 

 1 Scotsman, November 9, 1868. 



