44 



Tyndall ; and its leading principles are as follow : — Matter is 

 eternal; it lias two cliaracteristics — 1. Quantitative relations, 

 whicli are original ; 2. Qualitative, which are secondary and 

 derived. According to this theory creation is a myth, and 

 the distinction between matter and mind is abolished. Matter 

 consists ultimately of oto7iis, which, v^ere originally distributed 

 through empty space ; they are homogeneous in quality, but 

 heterogeneous in form; motion is the eternal and necessary 

 result of the original variety of atoms in the vacuum ; the 

 atoms are impenetrable, and therefore offer resistance to one 

 another; all existing forms and beings in the universe, — the 

 stars, the planets, the earth, plants, animals, mind itself, — are 

 evolved from these atoms ; the process of evolution began by 

 the atoms striking together, and the lateral motions and 

 whirlings thus produced were the beginnings of worlds ; the 

 varieties of things depend on the varieties of their constituent 

 atoms ; the first cause of all existence is necessity, — that is, the 

 necessary succession of cause and effect. To this succession 

 the name chance is given, as opposed to the term mind (vovc) 

 as employed by Anaxagoras. The soul consists of fine, smooth, 

 round atoms, like those of fire. They interpenetrate the 

 whole body, and in their motions the phenomena of life arise. 

 The atoms of Democritus are individually without sensation ; 

 they combine in obedience to mechanical laws ; and not only 

 organic forms, but the phenomena of sensation and thought 

 are the result of their combination. Empedocles introduced 

 the notion of love and hate among the atoms to account for 

 their combination and separation. Lucretius rejected the 

 notion of any interfering Deity, and affirmed that the interac- 

 tion of the atoms throughout infinite time, rendered all manner 

 of combinations possible ; of these the fit ones persisted, 

 while the unfit disappeared. From all eternity they have been 

 driven together, and after trying motions and unions of every 

 kind, they fell at length into the arrangements out of which 

 the present system of things has been formed. So that we 

 owe the present universe of matter and mind to the self- 

 evolved action of a fortuitous concourse of atoms.* 



And this most fanciful theory, or rather aggregate of 

 theories, is put forward in the name of Science ! What are 

 its proofs ? We cannot, as I have stated above, admit a mere 

 theory as possessing any authority in our present investigation. 

 What is the proof that matter is eternal ? There is none ; 

 and from the very nature of the thing, there can be no scientific 



* Tyndall, Address, pp. 1-9 ; Lucretius, De JRi'Tum Natiira, i. 



