Feb. 1, 1886.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



133 



rating heat, or in some other way doing work, lay no means 

 makes its motion active. Such motion as it has, and is 

 for the moment retaining, represents in reality passive 

 energy. On the other hand, energj- of position or poten- 

 tial energy is essentially active. The compressed spring 

 is all the time exerting pressure. So is the compressed 

 gas even though it be held compressed. Water in a 

 reservoir is exerting active energy, as the strength which 

 we have to give to the reservoir should show us. 

 Weaken the walls by which the ever-struggling energy 

 downwards is opposed, and that energy will show in a 

 very obvious way whether it is active or passive. It 

 maj' be argued that only so soon as it is thus free to show 

 it is active cau we recognise its activity ; but in reality 

 we might as reasonably argue that a prisoner pulling 

 with all his strength at the bars of his prison is inactive, 

 and that he is active only when the bars have yielded end 

 he gets away. 



* * * 



If one were a.sked to indicate one hundred of the 

 vainest things men had ever attempted, one might after 

 setting at the beginning the attempt itself, set i^ext the 

 attempt to indicate the hundred books which a man 

 should read. Perhaps the absurdity of this attempt has 

 been emphasised by the way in which persons of vtry 

 special pursuits, tastes, aptitudes, and so forth, have in- 

 dicated the h undred books they find best as best for all. 

 Then the way in which the word book has been ased in 

 these lists adds to the absurdity. "Read Shakespeare 

 and Cicero De Amicitia I"' — one might as well s;iy " Kead 

 the Bible and the episode of Glaucus and Diomed in 

 the Iliad," or "read Dn,rwin and Chaucer's 'Xonne 

 Priestes Tale.' " 



* * * 



I WOULD suggest as a pendent to Sir J. Lubbock's list, 

 the following : — 



TWENTY .ARTICLES OF CLOTHIXG " THAT WOULD SUFFICE 

 rOR 'A person's' WHOLE STOCK." 



1. A cocked hat. 11. Set of shirts (frilled and 



inffled). 



2. GalligaskiDS. 12. Straps. 



3. A Fardingale. 13. Collars. 



4. Xankeen coat. 11. Dalmatic. 



5. Mark-of-the-beast waistcoat. 15. Braces. 



G. Boots. 16. Neckties (varions). 



7. Button-bole nosegay. 17. Waterproof overcoat. 



8. Epaulettes. 18. Berlin gloves. 

 0. A chasuble. 19. Kid slippers. 



10. Trousers. 20. Furbelows. 



For congruity and fitness for every " person " likely to 

 use clothes at all this list seems fairly to match the other. 



Mr. Labouchere, one with whom I find myself in nine 

 cases out of ten most heartily agreeing, and to whom I 

 always feel grateful for the tine example he sets in saying 

 plainly what many feel but seem afraid to s.^y, very 

 properly launches ridicule at a certain foolish person (I 

 forget his " highly respectable name ") who finds atheism 

 in the theory of eternal motion. But he goes on to 

 express the opinion that inquiries into the laws of evo- 

 lution, and into matters metaphysical, are alike a waste 

 of time. Now, with regard to metaphysics I have 

 nothing to say — which means of course that I m.ight say 

 a good deal, but nothing favourable. If, however, there 

 ever was a matter which was of vital importance to the 

 human race, it is the theory of evolution. If the 

 gradual progress of this theory had p)roduced no eifects, 

 one might understand doubt as to its importance. 



But on the contrary, this theory as it has gradually 

 been established and as it has still more slowly been 

 accepted, has entirely changed the ways and thoughts of 

 men. Such modes of thought as we recognise in Mr. 

 Labouchere and others would have no existence now, but 

 for the struggle made by thinking men in the last few 

 generations to establish the doctrine of evolution in its 

 general form, — in other words to indicate the prevalence 

 of law and the fertility of lawlessness no matter under 

 what high and sacred names it may be disguised. 



* * * 



Mr. a. Frederick Harrison falls into a similar mistake 

 (I cannot but think it such) in treating the doctrine of 

 evolution as merely exprtssinu a mode of thought, instead 

 of being (and having shown itself in action) one of the 

 most potent factors of modern progress. " Is it enough," 

 he asks, " to have a vague sentimental impression of some 

 mystical harmony of the Universe, some shadowy Opti- 

 mism that somebody or something must have ordered 

 these things for the best: to hold the mind secure in 

 that bastard philosophy of evolution, which is merely 

 another form of laisstz /aire — the selfish acquiescence in 

 evil, I mean, in the lazy pretext that everything is work- 

 ing itself out in the long run, whether it be for the best, 

 or the worst, is not our affair, and whatever it be, it is 

 not for us to meddle. How can any intellectual opinion 

 about the laws of this material world in any case inspire 

 a moral and social devotion to active duty ? Devotion to 

 duty, under a deep and abiding sense of our moral and 

 social responsibility, needs to call in all the powers of our 

 complex nature, all the secret springs of character and 

 motive. We must appeal to men's sympathy as well as 

 knowledge ; to enthusiasm as well as convictions ; to 

 habits as well as to culture. Ambition, envy, covetous- 

 ness, disorder, injustice, vanity, and mad recklessness, are 

 passions so common in our social organisation and so 

 frightfully dangerous to its peace, that we need every 

 resource that we can get to curb and guide the move- 

 ment of public life." 



* * * 



"When a real human religion," he proceeds, "has 

 established its kingdom on earth — a religion with 

 a code of earthly duty, - — and a scheme to kindle 

 earthly emotions and enthusiasms, all grouped round 

 and issuing out of our sense of fellowship in htimanity, 

 and our part in the welfare of humanity — men will 

 be trained from childhood to look on their great civic 

 duties as amongst the noblest of all human obligations ; 

 public opinion will be elevated by the ever-present sense 

 that a public function is a religious duty ; the meanness 

 of personal ambition will be confronted with a sense of 

 the mighty and organic whole with which we are in- 

 corporate, or which we are defying. Sloth and selfish- 

 ness in our public duties will be treason against humanity 

 as well as disloyalty to our fellow-citizens. And as we 

 debate and vote upon the questions of the hour, it will 

 be ever present to our memory that our vote, be it wise 

 or foolish, selfish or patriotic, is so far as in us lies, 

 deciding the future of that greatest Power of which we 

 have certain evidence on earth — the course of Human 

 Civilisation, and is forming some infinitesimal atom in the 

 life of Humanity." 



* * * 



All this is in reality, though he does not see it, the 

 expression of what must actually result, what acttiall}" 

 has already in part resulted, from the influence of the 

 doctrine of evolution in its relation to man. When men 

 generally accept the doctrine of evolution, they will 



