40 CROONIAN LECTURES 



LECTUEE II. 



ON THE FIRST AND SECOND STAGES OF OTJB IDEAS 

 REGARDING THE UNION OF PONDERABLE MATTER 

 AND FORCE IN THE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES. 



" And matter, whatever it is, must be held to be so adorned, 

 furnished, and formed, that all virtue, essence, action, and 

 natural motion, may be the consequence and emanation 

 thereof." LOKD BACON. 



MR. PRESIDENT, 



I ought to repeat the apology which I 

 offered to you in my first lecture, because I shall 

 begin this lecture with some words of wisdom 

 which might not be expected in this theatre, and 

 yet they are words to which I must ask you to 

 give the utmost weight as regards what I am 

 about to say. Mr. Faraday was the greatest 

 experimental philosopher, judging from the 

 quantity and quality of his work, that England, 

 or I might say the world, ever produced ; and, at 

 the same time, perhaps he was one of the most 



