454 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY CHAP. XXIII 



Pollock, Robert Lowe (Lord Sherbrooke), Sir M. E. 

 Grant Duff, and Lord Arthur Russell; Sir John 

 Lubbock, Dr. W. B. Carpenter, Sir William Gull, 

 and Sir Andrew Clark. 



Of contemporary thinkers of the first rank, neither 

 John Stuart Mill nor Mr. Herbert Spencer joined 

 the Society. The letter of the former declining the 

 invitation to join (given in the Life of W. G. Ward, 

 p. 299) is extremely characteristic. He considers the 

 object of the projectors very laudable, " but it is very 

 doubtful whether it will be realised in practice." 

 The undoubted advantages of oral discussion on such 

 questions are, he continues, best realised if under- 

 taken in the manner of the Socratic dialogue, between 

 one and one ; but less so in a mixed assembly. He 

 therefore did not think himself justified in joining 

 the Society at the expense of other occupations for 

 which his time was already engaged. And he con- 

 cludes by defending himself against the charge of 

 not paying fair attention to the arguments of his 

 opponents. 



It followed from the composition of the Society 

 that the papers read were less commonly upon 

 technical questions of metaphysics, such as " Matter 

 and Force " or " The Relation of Will to Thought," 

 than upon those of more vivid moral or religious 

 interest, such as " What is Death 1 " " The Theory of 

 a Soul," "The Ethics of Belief," or "Is God Unknow- 

 able ? " in which wide scope was given to the emotions 

 as well as the intellect of each disputant. 



