777 K /.' ADDRK 



this issue of < sness from tin- chish of atoms is not 



.mgruous than tin- flash of li^lit from the- union of 

 oxygen and hydrogen. Hut I beg to say that it is. For 

 such incongruity as the flash possesses i> tliat which I now 

 force upon your attention. The "flash" is an affair of 

 10 objective counterpart of which is a 

 vibration. It is a flash only by your interpretation. .- 

 are the cause of the apparent incongruity; ;in:l you are the 

 thing that puzzles me. I need not remind you that the 

 great Leibnitz felt the difficulty which 1 feel; and that to 

 get rid of this monstrous^ deduction i of life from de_ath_ he 

 displaced your atoms bylus monads, winch were more or 

 less perfect mirrors of the universe, and out of the sum- 

 mation and integration of which he supposed all the 

 phenomena of life sentient, intellectual, and emotional 

 to arise. 



" Your difficulty, then, as I see you are ready to admit, 

 is quite as great as mine. You cannot satisfy the human 

 understanding jn its demand for logical continuity between 

 inolecular^prpceasea and^the phenomena of consciousness. 

 Thia ;is ITrock on which jlaterialism must ihevitably~ilit 

 whenever itpfegnda 10 be.a^ompiete philosophy of life. 

 What is the moral, my Lucretian? You and 1 are not 

 likely to indulge in ill-temper in the discussion of these 

 great topics, where we see so much room for honest differ- 

 ences of opinion. Hut there are people of less wit or more 

 bigotry (I say it with humility), 011 both sides, who are 

 ever ready to mingle auger and vituperation with such dis- 

 cussions. There are, for example, writers of note and in- 

 fluence at the present day, who are not ashamed publicly 

 to assume the " deep personal sin " of a great logician to 

 be the cause of his unbelief in a theologic dogma.* And 

 there are others who hold that we, who cherish our noble 

 Hible, wrought as it has been into the constitution of our 

 forefathers, and by inheritance into us, mu-t necessarily be 

 hypocritical and insincere. Let us di>a\ow and discoun- 

 tenance such people, cherishing the unswerving faith that 



* This is the aspect under which the late editor of tin* "DuMin 

 Review " promoted to hb read-r> tin- m.-ni..ry ..f John Stuart Mill. 



lean only say. tliut I would as so.ni take my chance in tl tli.r 



world, in the com puny ot tl,,- unl.-|i.-\ ,-r. " a* in that of hia J< 

 detractor In l>r \\itrdwe have an i u li..U-..uur and 



vigoroua nature, soured and perverted by a poiaonoutt creed. 



