Dr. Buchner on Darwinism. 55 



In short, no matter how far the scientific inter- 

 pretation of nature may be carried, it can reveal 

 to us only the fact that the workings of the ulti- 

 mate Existence of which Nature is the phenome- 

 nal expression are different from what they were 

 supposed to be by uninstructed thinkers of former 

 times. And no matter how far we may carry the 

 interpretation of natural phenomena in terms of 

 matter and motion, we cannot escape the conclu- 

 sion that matter and motion, as phenomenal man- 

 ifestations, can have no genuine existence save as 

 the correlatives of a cognizing mind. To treat 

 of the universe of phenomena without the nou- 

 menon God is nonsense ; and likewise to treat of 

 matter (a congeries of attributes) without refer- 

 ence to the mind in whose cognizance alone can 

 attributes have any existence is also nonsense. 

 However praiseworthy, therefore, Dr. Biichner's 

 book may be as an exposition of a particular set 

 of scientific doctrines, we think it can have but 

 small value as a contribution to philosophy. Its 

 author is one of those men who see very distinctly 

 what they really see, but who in reality see but a 

 very little way before them. 



November, 1872. 



