Memoranda for Materialists 65 



which have in the last century been made, 

 and though he rightly regarded it as his 

 mission to make the scientific point of view 

 clear to his benighted contemporaries, and 

 was full of enthusiasm for the facts on which 

 materialists take their stand, he saw clearly 

 that these alone were insufficient for a 

 philosophy. The following extracts from 

 the ' Hume ' volume will show, first, that he 

 entirely repudiated materialism as a satis- 

 factory or complete scheme of things ; and, 

 secondly, that he profoundly disagreed with 

 the position which now appears to be 

 occupied by Professor Haeckel. Especially 

 is he severe on gratuitous denials applied to 

 provinces beyond our scope, saying : 



" that while it is the summit of human wisdom 

 to learn the limit of our faculties, it may be wise 

 to recollect that we have no more right to make 

 denials, than to put forth affirmatives, about what 

 lies beyond that limit. Whether either mind or 

 matter has a 'substance' or not is a problem 

 which we are incompetent to discuss ; and it is 

 just as likely that the common notions upon the 

 subject should be correct as any others. . . . 

 'The same principles which, at first view, lead to 



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