Psifr/iofDf/intl /nr^Mfit/ationx 261 



subjective but objective." We cannot lussert that our own instinctive con- 

 victions alone are to be trusted, we are forced to grant no less trustworthiness 

 to the convictions !in<l fimcies f>f others. All such convictions should be 

 tested, whenever possible, by )ip|)eal to facts which admit of rep<:tttioyi, for 

 experience shows that only observations of such facts lead to results which 

 can be univerKally acknowled<;ed. (Jalton insists on the duty of suspending 

 our Uilief and nianitaining the freedom of our mental attitude whenever there 

 is strong reason to doubt (p. 298). The section on Knthusiasm closes with 

 a fine paragraph, which indicates how far astray the critics went, when they 

 labtilled Galton a materialist: 



"There is nothing in any hesitation that may l)0 felt oh to the possibility of receiving help 

 and inspiration from an unseen world, to discredit the practice that is dearly prized by most 

 of us, of withdrawing from the crowd and entering into quiet conmiunion with our he«rt«, 

 until the agitations of the moment have calmed down, and th<^ di.stortc<l mirage of tht- worldly 

 atmosphere has sulwideil, and the greater object^s nnd mort> enduring afffctions of our life 

 have reappeareti in tlieir duo proportions. We may tlien take comfort and find support in the 

 sense of our forming part of whatever has existed or will exist, and this n»«<l tx- the motive 

 of no idle service, but of an active conviction that we possess an influence which may be 

 sniiill but cannot be inappreciable, in defining the as yet undeternune<l pos.sibilities of an 

 endle.ss future. It may inspire a vigoi-ous resolve t-o use all the intelligence and perseverance 

 we can command to fulfil our {>art as members of one great family that strives as a whole 

 towards a fuller and a higher life." (p. 298.) 



It was a great revolution in thought that Galton was proposing and 

 probably few grasped its extent in 1883. He had in mind a new religion, a 

 religion which should not depend on revelation, physical to a few selected 

 men, or psychical to a few individuals. Man was to study the purpose of the 

 universe in its past evolution, and by working to the same end, he was to 

 make its progress less slow and less painful in the future. Darwin had 

 taught evolution as a scientific doctrine; Galton j)roposed that this new 

 knowledge should be applied to racial and social problems, antl that under- 

 standing of, sympathy with, and aid in the progress of the general evolution of 

 living forms should \ie accepted as religious duties. If the pui-j>ose of the 

 Deity lie manifested in the development of the universe, then the aim of man 

 should be, with such limited {xjwei-s as he may at present posse-ss, to facilitate 

 the divine purpo.se. Before I )arwin, living form.s, indeed the world itself, had no 

 history ; there was held to be no serious etymological difierence Ijetween the first 

 man and modern civilised man; the reptile and the mammal were coeval. 

 Darwin for the first time gave a real uistory to living forms, and Galton 

 following him said: Study that history, study the Bible of Life, and you will 

 find yoiu" religion in it, and a new and higher morality as well. Thereby he 

 raised Darwinism on to a higher, a spiritual plane. Thus it comes about that 

 the last 40 })ages of Galton's Liquiries into Human Faculty conttiin some 

 of the finest passages he ever wrote, for they are devoted to his philosophical 

 or i-ather religious views, and to their Darwinian basis. Galton sjvw \n his 

 doctrine a new moral freedom for man and a new religion based on scientific 

 knowledge. His theologictd critics found it pure materialism, a fresh war 

 against Heaven. Who snail determine which party was in the right? These 



