J 



A Crumb for the " Modern Symposium." 61 



mon cause with theologians. Into the explana- 

 tion of this curious phenomenon I cannot here 

 profitably enter. The reasons for it are some- 

 what recondite, and are subtly linked with the 

 general incapacity, under which positivists seem 

 to labour, of understanding the real import of the 

 doctrine of evolution. However this may be, the 

 impression that the group of opinions represented 

 by Mr. Spencer and Professor Huxley are ma- 

 terialistic is so widely spread that it is worth 

 our while to spend a few moments in ascertaining 

 what materialism is, and how far it is involved 

 in recent scientific speculations. Is the present 

 drift of scientific thought really setting toward 

 materialism, or is it not ? 



No epithets are more familiarly used nowadays 

 than " materialism " and " materialist," but their 

 ordinary function is vituperative rather than log- 

 ical. As vague terms of abuse they are hurled 

 about with a zeal that may be praiseworthy, but 

 with an indiscreetness that is scarcely commend- 

 able, being aimed, as often as not, at the heads 

 of writers who doubt or deny the substantial ex- 

 istence of matter altogether! Such blunders 

 show (among other things) how difficult meta- 

 physical studies are, and indicate that a little 

 mare care expended upon analysis and definition 



