HI ON THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF LIFE 161 



And what is the dire necessity and " iron " law 

 under which men groan ? Truly, most gratuit- 

 ously invented bugbears. I suppose if there be an 

 " iron " law, it is that of gravitation ; and if there 

 be a physical necessity, it is that a stone, un- 

 supported, must fall to the ground. But what is 

 all we really know, and can know, about the latter 

 phenomena ? Simply, that, in all human experi- 

 ence, stones have fallen to the ground under 

 these conditions ; that we have not the smallest 

 reason for believing that any stone so circum- 

 stanced will not fall to the ground ; and that we 

 have, on the contrary, every reason to believe that 

 it will so fall. It is very convenient to indicate 

 that all the conditions of belief have been fulfilled 

 in this case, by calling the statement that unsup- 

 ported stones will fall to the ground, " a law of 

 Nature." But when, as commonly happens, we 

 change will into must, we introduce an idea of 

 necessity which most assuredly does not lie in the 

 observed facts, and has no warranty that I can 

 discover elsewhere. For my part, I utterly re- 

 pudiate and anathematise the intruder. Fact I 

 know ; and Law I know ; but what is this Neces- 

 sity, save an empty shadow of my own mind's 

 throwing ? 



But, if it is certain that we can have no know- 

 ledge of the nature of either matter or spirit, 

 and that the notion of necessity is something 

 illegitimately thrust into the perfectly legitimate 



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