242 JAMES CLERK MAXWELL. [CHAP. VIII. 



telescope of theory in proper adjustment, to see not the 

 physical events which form the subordinate foci of the 

 disturbance propagated through the universe, but the moral 

 foci where the true image of the original act is reproduced, 

 then we shall recognise the fact, that when we clearly see 

 any moral act, then there appears a moral necessity for the 

 trains of consequences of that act, which are spreading 

 through the world to be concentrated on some focus, so as 

 to give a true and complete image of the act in its moral 

 point of view. All that bystanders see, is the physical act, 

 and some of its immediate physical consequences, but as a 

 partial pencil of light, even when not adapted for distinct 

 vision, may enable us to see an object, and not merely light, 

 so the partial view we have of any act, though far from 

 perfect, may enable us to see it morally as an act, and not 

 merely physically as an event. 



" If we think we see in the diverging trains of physical 

 consequences not only a capability of forming a true image 

 of the act, but also of reacting upon the agent, either directly 

 or after a long circuit, then perhaps we have caught the 

 idea of necessary retribution, as the legitimate consequence 

 of all moral action. 



" But as this idea of the necessary reaction of the con- 

 sequences of action is derived only from a few instances, in 

 which we have guessed at such a law among the necessary 

 laws of the universe ; and we have a much more distinct 

 idea of justice, derived from those laws which we necessarily 

 recognise as supreme, we connect the idea of retribution 

 much more with that of justice than with that of cause and 

 effect. We therefore regard retribution as the result of inter- 

 ference with the mechanical order of things, and intended to 

 vindicate the supremacy of the right order of things, but 

 still we suspect that the two orders of things will eventually 

 dissolve into one. 



"I have been somewhat diffuse and confused on the 

 subject of moral law, in order to show to what length 

 analogy will carry the speculations of men. Whenever 

 they see a relation between two things they know well, and 



