282 PROF, G. MACLOSElEj D.SC, LL.D., ON 



scripture ; though it may favour naturaHstic interpretations of 

 the cosmogony, the deluge, and some other parts, in accord- 

 ance with geological discoveries, and as suggested in the 

 Bible itself. 4. It will fortify the proper miracles of scripture, 

 by showing that whilst incredible as part of the ordinary 

 course of nature, they may be a unique case^ bound to 

 stand or fall along with the Divine character of redemptive 

 revelation. 5. It will not weaken faith in personal immortality, 

 or in the operations within us of Divine grace, or in the 

 existence of an unseen spiritual world ; but it may favour the 

 opinion that the human soul is derived from and dependent 

 on some physical substratum. G. Whilst recognising God's 

 continued control over all parts of nature, we do not under- 

 stand that His control involves any disturbance of natural 

 order or movements (that is to say, the free acts of men 

 are in some sense their own and not God's, though men 

 are dependent on Him for the exercise and limitations of 

 their liberty) ; nor that He is the only worker. Nor do we 

 expect ever to understand how He is able to operate upon 

 nature. We can operate upon our own bodily organism, and 

 thence upon the external world ; but we cannot tell how, 

 except that we act in harmony Avith natural laws. The fact 

 of the Divine intervention is equally credible, and its mode 

 must for ever remain equally inscrutable. 



The President (Sir G. G. Stokes, Bart.., F.R.S.)-— I am sure 

 I may convey your thanks to Professor Macloskie for his learned 

 paper. I must not forget also to ask you to thank its reader. 



J. W. Slater, Esq., F.E.S., P.C.S.— Of course all present will be 

 more or less familiar with the speculations of the late eminent physi- 

 cist, Siemens, on the return to the sun of the energy which it emits ; 

 but no one, I believe, has ever detected the existence of any such 

 recuperation : — At the third page of the paper the author says : "The 

 earth and our body are, in whole or in pa.rt, machines at work, 

 and a great deal more, and the task of science is to watch 

 movements, transformations, and developments, and to formulate 

 them into ' laws of nature. ' " These reservations " are in whole 

 or in part machines at work and a great deal more " go far to 

 exclude organism from the purview of a merely mechanical con- 



