250 



NA TURE 



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nervous ti-sue, the developmsnt of the mind as well as the ma- 

 chinery of the mind becomes perfectly possible. We develop 

 our intellect through the accumulation of exact fact-:, through 

 the collation of pure facts, no matter whether it be a humble 

 kind of a truth — as the knowledge of the changes of the seasons, 

 which induces some animals to lay up the M'inter's store — 

 whether il he knowledge of the fact that the sting of the bee is 

 very unpleasant, or knowledge of the fact (of which the ox, no 

 duubt, IS thoroughly aware) that the teeth of the wolf are not 

 pleasant to come in contact with, or whether it be the complex 

 knowledge of man. When the cerebral matter has become 

 larger and more com; lex, it receives and retains a much greater 

 number of impressions, and the animal becomes a more highly 

 educated being. 



As regards the department of emotions or passions, it is also 

 much stimulated by the environment. Animals which live in a 

 state of constant strife naturally have their antagonistic passions 

 much developed, while amiable, sympathetic sentiments are 

 better and more largely produced by peace-loving animals. 

 Thus it is that the various departments of the mind have the 

 beautiful results which we now find in the human species. 



There are some departments of the mind which some of our 

 friends decbne to admit having had such an origin. The moral 

 faculty, for instance, is excepted by many from tliis series. But the 

 reasons why they object to its production in this way are, to my 

 mind, not valid. The development of the moral faculty, which 

 is essentially the sense of justice, appears to them not to fall 

 within the scope of a theory of descent or of evolution. It con- 

 sists of two parts. First is the sentiment of benevolence, or of 

 sympathy with mankind, which gives us the desire to treat them 

 as they should be treated. It is not sufficient for justice that it 

 is unmixed mercy, or benevolence, \\liich is sometimes very in- 

 jurious, and very often misplaced. It requires, in the second 

 place, the criticii-m of the judgment, of the mature intellect, of 

 the rational faculty, to enable the jiosses'or lo dispose of his 

 sentiments in the proper manner. The combination of rational 

 discrimination and true judgment with benevolence constitutes 

 the sense of justice, which has been derived, no doubt, as a sum- 

 mary of the development of those two departments of the mind, 

 the emotions and the intellect. 



It is said that a sen^e of justice could not be derived from the 

 sen-e of no justice ; that it could not have been derived from the 

 state of things which we find in the animals, because no animal 

 is known to exhibit real ju-tice: and that objection is valid as 

 far as it goes. I suspect that no animal has been observed to 

 show a true sense of justice. That they show sympathy and 

 kindness there is no question ; but when it comes to real justice 

 they do not display it. But do all men display justice ? Do all 

 men understand justice ? I am very ^ure not. There are a good 

 many men in civili-ed commui>itie-, and there are many tribes, 

 who do not know what justice is. It does not exist as a part of 

 every mental constitution. I never lived among the Buhmen, 

 and do not know exactly what their men*al constitution is ; but 

 in a general way the justice of savages is restricted to the very 

 smallest possible circle — that of their tribe orof their own family. 

 There is a class of people who do not undrrstand justice. I do 

 not refer to people vNho know what right is, and do not do it ; 

 but to the I'rimitive state of moral character, in which, as in 

 children, a sense of justice is unknown. 1 call attention to the 

 fact because -ome of our friends luve been very nmch afraid that 

 the demonstration of the law of evolution, physical and meta- 

 physical, would result in danger to society. 1 suspect not. The 

 mode in which I understand this question appears to me to be 

 beneficial to society, rather than injurious ; and I therefore take 

 the liberty of appending this part of the subject to its more 

 material aspect. 



To refer to another topic, and that is to the origin of li^'e, the 

 physical basis of life. The word " life" is so complex that it is 

 neces-ary to define it, and so to define it a«ay that really the 

 word "life" does not retain its u-ual definition. Many pheno- 

 mena of life are chemical, physical, mechanical. We have to 

 remove all these from con ideration, because they come within 

 the ordinary laws of mechanical forces; but we have a few 

 things left which are of a different character. One is the law of 

 growth, which is displayed in the processes of embiyonic succes- 

 sion; secondly, the wonderful phenomena of sensibility. Those 

 two things we h ive not yet reduced to any identity with the 

 ordinary laws of force. In the phenomena of embryology the 

 phenomena of evolution are repeated, ordy concentrated in the 

 tarly stages through which animals have to pass. .So whatever 



explains the general phenomena of evolution explains the 

 phenomena of embryology. 



What is the nature of physical sensibility ? In this planet it 

 is found residing only in one form of matter which has a slightly 

 varied chemical constitution, namely, protoplasm ; so called 

 from a ph\sical standpoint. Now this world, .as you all know, 

 has passed through many changes of temperature. Its early 

 periods, it is probable, were so very hot that protoplasm had a 

 very poor chance. The earth has passed through a great many 

 changes of temperature, many of which would not permit the 

 existence of protoplasm. Again, can we assume for a moment 

 that this little speck in the great universe is the only seat of life ? 

 I suppose scarcely atiy scientific man will venture to do so. If, 

 therefore, life exists in other jiarts of this great universe, does it 

 necessarily occupy oodies of protoplasm in those different, 

 remote spheres ? It would be a great a sumption. It is alto- 

 gether improbable. The cerla-nty is that in those planets which 

 are in proximity to the sun's heat there conld be no protoplasm. 

 Protoplasm in the remote planets would be a hard mineral, and 

 near the sun it would be dissipated into its c impment gases. So 

 that, if life be found in other parts of this universe, it must reside 

 in some different kind of material. It is extremely probable that 

 the physical conditions that reside in protoplasm might be foui.d 

 in other kinds of matter. It is in its chemical inertness and in 

 its physical constitution that its adaptation to life resides ; and 

 the physical constitution necessary for the sustentation of life 

 may be well :uppo-ed to exist in matter in other parts of the 

 universe. I only s ay the door is open and not closed : any one 

 who asserts that life c.vnnot exist in any other material basis thin 

 protoplasm is assuming more than the world of science w'ill 

 permit him to assume. And that it is confined to this single 

 planet, and not in the great systems of the universe, — that 

 assumption will not for a moment be allowed. Therefyre the 

 subject is one which allows us a free field for future investiga- 

 tion : it is by n ) means closed in the most important laws 

 which it presents to the rational thinker. I hope, therefore, 

 if the evidence in favour of this hypothe-is of the creation 

 of living forms be regarded as true, that no one will find in it 

 any ground for any very serious modification of existing ideas on 

 the great questions of right and wrong, which have long since 

 been knov\n by men as a re-ult of ordinary experience, and with- 

 out any scientific demonstration whatsoever. 



THE REMARKABLE SUNSETS 

 \S7E have received the following further communications on 

 this subject : — 



Referring to Mr. Meldola's letter in your last number 

 (p. 224), I beg leave to state that I likewise observed an astoni-hing 

 atmospheric Iumino.sity, out ide of this town, at 2-3 a.m. in the 

 moonless and fogjjy night of January 1-2. It is reported that 

 in these dajs the " I'amerungserscheinungen " have again been 

 very striki g at many places in Germany. Here the state of ihe 

 atmosphere has of late been unfavourable for observing these 

 phenomena; their most brdhant display, a "red glow" of 

 oextraordinary extent and intensity, I witnessed on the morning 

 of December I, beginning about two hours before sunrise. 



The view that these luminosities are caused by volcanic dust 

 acting as nuclei for the condensation of vapour in the liigher 

 strata of the atmosphere will have suggested to many of your 

 readers the probalility of so-called cosmical dust being often 

 derivable from similar terrestrial sources. To me it has, more- 

 over, recalled an hypothesis on the origin of meteorites, put forth 

 some twenty years ago in an elaborate treatise by Mr. P. A. 

 Kesselmeyer of Frankfort-on-the-Maine (" Alihandlungen der 

 Senckenbergischen Naturfor.-chenden Gesellschafc," vol. iii.). 

 Mr. Kesselmeyer contends for the derivation of meteorites from 

 condensation of metallic and other vapours issued from vol- 

 canoes ; he distinctly supposes those of Eastern Asia as chief 

 sources, and, among other ingenious reasons for these views, he 

 particularly insists on remarkable statistics of geographical and 

 seasonal distribution of stone-falls (Nature, vol. xvi. p. 558). 



I am well aware of the momentous difficulties of this hypo- 

 thesis, which fails to explain why such masses of vapour (or 

 dust), after travelling for enormous distances, become cc nden-ed 

 into sclid bodies. On the other hand, there appears to me not 

 to be such a contradiction to astronomical theories as might 

 seem at first sight ; the view in question would merely involve 

 the .assumption that there are fireballs and fireballs: those which 



