606 



SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT. 



gen applies to each individual molecule, and not merely 

 to the average of groups of millions of molecules." 

 And Clerk-Maxwell goes on to show how the fact that 

 the molecules l " all fall into a limited number of classes 

 or species with no intermediate links ... to connect 

 one species with another by uniform gradation, produces 

 that kind of speculation with which we have become so 

 familiar under the name of theories of evolution, it being 

 quite inapplicable to the case of the molecules. The 

 individuals of each species 2 of molecules are like tuning- 

 forks all tuned to concert pitch, or like watches regulated 

 to solar time." 3 



1 ' Theory of Heat,' p. 330. 



2 Ibid., p. 331. 



3 The passages quoted from Clerk- 

 Maxwell's writings, and the infer- 

 ences drawn by him. were criticised 

 by Clifford in a lecture delivered 

 in 1874 with the title, "The 

 First and the Last Catastrophe. 

 A Criticism of some recent Specula- 

 tions about the Duration of the 

 Universe " (reprinted in ' Lectures 

 and Essays,' vol. i. p. 191 sqq.) ; and, 

 quite recently, Prof. Ward has, in 

 his Gifford lectures, reviewed both 

 Maxwell's and Clifford's arguments 

 ( ' Naturalism and Agnosticism,' vol. 

 i. p. 99, &c. ) As Prof. Ward says, 

 the ideas of Herschel and Clerk- 

 Maxwell " are far more due to theo- 

 logical zeal than to the bare logic of 

 the facts." It is, therefore, out of 

 place to discuss here the philosophi- 

 cal consequences of the ideas of the 

 immutability or of the gradual 

 evolution of the ultimate elements 

 of matter. In a former chapter 

 (see pp. 360 sqq. and 369, note, of 

 this volume) I referred to the 

 theories of the evolution of the 

 different chemical elements as 

 they have been put forward by 

 various scientific authorities. The 



interest which attaches to the pas- 

 sages quoted from Clerk-Maxwell 

 is, that in them, for the first time, 

 an instance was given of the 

 application of statistical methods 

 in the domain of abstract science. 

 The reader may gather from a 

 perusal of the writings mentioned 

 above, as also of the present 

 and foregoing chapters of this 

 history, that there is an inherent 

 contradiction (or as Kant would 

 say, antinomy) between the logi- 

 cal methods and the highest ob- 

 jects of scientific reasoning. The 

 methods all tend in the direction 

 of reducing existing differences in 

 the things and phenomena of nature 

 to a small number of data which 

 are easily grasped and calculated, 

 whereas the observation of things 

 natural forces increasingly upon us 

 the existence of ever greater differ- 

 ences, changes, and varieties. The 

 question presents itself, Is it likely 

 that a process the principle of which 

 is unification and simplification, will 

 ever lead to a comprehension of 

 that which increasingly reveals 

 itself to be infinitely complex and 

 varying ? Dr Larmor has some 

 remarks which bear on this subject 



