266 THE EEV. CHANCELLOR LIAS, M.A., ON 



of droHght likely to occur in any given year. Cyclones, 

 typhoons, tornadoes, and other violent phenomena, defy 

 calculation, while earthquakes and volcanic eruptions add an 

 additional element of uncertainty to the problem. 



In fact, the further we examine into natural phenomena, the 

 more we see that however invariable forces may be in their 

 action, in their results they vary even to infinity. Therefore 

 all arguments drawn from the invariability of the natural 

 order must be abandoned. Invariable laws of force produce 

 any amount of variation in their results. And if it be pos- 

 sible for other laws of force to be brought to bear upon 

 natural phenomena beside those whose action has been 

 observed, and whose laws have been ascertained, so that 

 ■additional variations are thus introduced, this can take place, 

 as will hereafter be shown, without the collapse or overthrow, 

 or even serious derangement, of the order of nature. 



The next step was to inquire into the nature of force. It 

 was shown that here science must confess that it has no 

 -answer whatever to give. The effects of some forces at least 

 are evident, and can be computed with mathematical accuracy. 

 But the modus operandi of force utterly transcends our powers, 

 and one of our most distinguished men of science feels that 

 he can give no other account of it than as " the effect of 

 consciousness or will."* 



For who can tell us what force is, how it is generated, and 

 how it acts % Take the force of gravitation, for example. 

 A'Vhat do we know of its modus 02yercmdi? AVe understand 

 the "law" of its action, we say. But the word "law" is 

 itself ambiguous. As the Duke of Argyll has said in his 

 lieign of J.aw,^ the word is used in many senses. It means, 

 he says, (1) an observed order of facts; (2; such observed 

 order in relation to force ; (3) the observed order of action 

 of any particular force ; (4) combinations of force with 

 reference to fulfilment of purpose or discharge of function; 

 (5) it is used of abstract conceptions of the mind, necessary 

 to our comprehension of phenomena. These distinctions 

 are not clear. But at least the Duke says enough to shew 

 that care must be taken to understand what we mean by the 

 Avord. In its ordinary acceptation it means none of these 

 things. In popular language, and even in some departments 

 of exact thought, it means a rule imposed on us from without, 

 which we are under the necessity of obeying. Thus the 



* Sir John Herschel, Astronomy, Sec. 440. t Pp. 64, 35. 



