Atoms. 195 



tion, I understand Professor Tyndall to admit as indis- 

 pensable." 



This witness is true. The " original monistic 

 assumption " is now discarded by Professor Tyn- 

 dall 2 and Professor Bain as emphatically as by 

 Mr. Martineau himself. The " ultimate homo- 

 geneous units " of Mr. Spencer are now found to 

 be utterly inadequate to the task required of 

 them. They must be in motion ; they must be of 

 various shapes ; they must be of as many kinds 

 as there are chemical elements ; for how could 

 we possibly get water if there were only hydro- 

 gen elements to work with ? And when, by 

 means of this very considerable enlargement of 

 the original datum we have got water, what is 

 that further enlargement by which we should be 

 able so to manipulate our ever-increasing re- 

 sources as to educe, for example, consciousness ? 

 Let some Power so ordain, and some Wisdom 

 so contrive, that all the atoms are affected by 

 gravitation and polarity ; let there be, as 

 Fechner insists that there is, a difference 

 among molecules ; let there be the inorganic, 

 which can change only their place, like the 



1 The Rev. James Martineau : Modem Materialism 

 (Contemp. Rev., vol. xxvii. p. 338). 



2 For Prof. Bain's dicta, see " Mind and Body " : pp. 

 124-135. 



