1889 THE METAPHYSICAL SOCIETY 457 



spread of such extreme opinions as those advocated 

 by Mr. Huxley." Another pause; then Huxley, 

 thus challenged, replied : " As Dr. Ward has spoken, 

 I must in fairness say that it will be very difficult 

 for me to conceal my feeling as to the intellectual 

 degradation which would come of the general accept- 

 ance of such views as Dr. Ward holds." 1 



No amount of argument could have been more 

 effectual in supporting the claim for mutual toleration 

 than these two speeches, and thenceforward such 

 forms of criticism were conspicuous by their absence. 

 And where honesty of conviction was patent, mutual 

 toleration was often replaced by personal esteem and 

 regard. " Charity, brotherly love," writes Huxley, 

 "were the chief traits of the Society. We all ex- 

 pended so much charity, that, had it been money, 

 we should every one have been bankrupt." 



The special part played in the Society by Huxley 

 was to show that many of the axioms of current 

 speculation are far from being axiomatic, and that 

 dogmatic assertion on some of the cardinal points of 

 metaphysic is unwarranted by the evidence of fact. 

 To find these seeming axioms set aside as unproven, 

 was, it appears from his Life, disconcerting to such 

 members of the Society as Cardinal Manning, whose 

 arguments depended on the unquestioned acceptance 

 of them. . It was no doubt the observation of a similar 

 attitude of mind in Mr. Gladstone towards meta- 

 physical problems which provoked Huxley to reply, 

 1 Life of W. O. Ward, fey Wilfred Ward, p. 309. 



