6o 



FACTS AND FANCIES 



there is no place for a God in nature, originat- 

 ing, directing, and controlling its forces by his 

 will, as it would be to assert that there is no 

 place in man's body for his conscious mind." 



Taking Haeckel on his own grcand, as above 

 defined, we may next inquire as to the method 

 which he employs in working out his argument. 

 This may be referred to three leading modes 

 of treatment, which, as they are somewhat di- 

 verse from those ordinarily familiar to logicians 

 and are extensively used by evolutionists, de- 

 serve some illustration, more especially as 

 Haeckel is a master in their use. 



An eminent French professor of the art of 

 sleight-of-hand has defined the leading principle 

 of jugglers to be that of " appearing and dis- 

 appearing things ;" and this is the best defini- 

 tion that occurs to me of one method of rea- 

 soning largely used by Haeckel, and of which 

 we need to be on our guard when we find him 

 employing, as he does in almost every page, 

 such phrases as "it cannot be doubted," "we 

 may therefore assume," "we may readily sup- 

 pose," "this afterward assumes or becomes," 

 "we may confidently assert," "this developed 

 directly," and the like, which in his usage are 

 equivalent to the '^Presto /" of the conjurer, and 



