14 NATURE STUDIES. 



leading to the escapement-wheel proof positive that 

 no reasoning mind had fashioned the mechanism. 

 That which the bigoted on either side, the religious 

 and the irreligious fanatic alike, agree in regarding as 

 the disproof if admitted of a Being working "in 

 and through all things/' affords in reality the most 

 overwhelming evidence, the solemnest demonstration 

 that such a Being exists : though science must say of 

 Him now as was said of old by Elihu, " as touching the 

 Almighty, we cannot find him out." 



DREAMS. 



BY EDWARD CLODD. 



THE remarks which follow some questions concerning 

 the attitude of science towards dreams, asked in 

 one of the earlier numbers of Knowledge, indicate how 

 belief in their quasi-supernatural character lurks in 

 the minds of intelligent persons who would resent 

 being called superstitious. 



Certainly, the antiquity and persistence of that 

 belief are small matter of wonder when we reflect 

 that the phenomena of dreaming are precisely of a 

 character to sustain that feeling of mystery which 

 man's surroundings awaken within him ; but an 

 inquiry into its origin and growth may best dispel it, 

 while such an inquiry will add its witness to that of 



