Ixxxiv REPORT — 1872. 



And thus we are led to the culminating point of Man's Intellectual Inter- 

 pretation of Nature, — his recognition of the Unity of the Power, of which her 

 Phenomena are the diversified manifestations. Towards this point all Scien- 

 tific inquiry now tends. The Convertibility of the Physical Porces, the Cor- 

 relation of these with the Vital, and the intimacy of that nexus between 

 Mental and Bodily activity, which, explain it as we may, cannot be denied, 

 all lead upward towards one and the same conclusion ; and the pyramid of 

 which that Philosophical conclusion is the apex, has its foundation in the 

 Primitive Instincts of Humanity. 



By our own remote Progenitors, as by the untutored Savage of the present 

 day, every change in which Human agency is not apparent was referred to 

 a particular Animating Intelligence. And thus they attributed not only the 

 movements of the Heavenly bodies, but all the phenomena of Nature, each 

 to its own Deity. These Deities were invested with more than Human power ; 

 but they were also supposed capable of Human passions, and subject to 

 Human capriciousness. As the Uniformities of Nature came to be more 

 distinctly recognized, some of these Deities were invested with a domi- 

 nant control, while others were supposed to be tlieir subordinate ministers. 

 A serene Majesty was attributed to the greater Gods who sit above the 

 clouds ; whilst their inferiors might " come down to Earth in the likeness of 

 Men." With the growth of the Scientific Study of Nature, the conception 

 of its Harmony and Unity gained ever-increasing strength. And so among 

 the most enlightened of the Greek and Eoman Philosophers, we find a 

 distinct recognition of the idea of the Unity of the Directing Mind from 

 which the Order of Nature proceeds ; for they obviously believed that, as our 

 modern Poet has expressed it, — 



" All are but parts of one stupendous whole, 

 " Whose body Nature is, and God the Soul." 



The Science of Modern times, however, has taken a more special direction. 

 Pixing its attention exclusively on the Order of Nature, it has separated itself 

 wholly from Theology, whose function it is to seek after its Cause. In this. 

 Science is fuUy justified, alike by the entire independence of its objects, and by 

 the historical fact that it has been continually hampered and impeded in its 

 search for the Truth as it is in Nature, by the restraints which Theologians 

 have attempted to impose upon its inquiries. But when Science, passing 

 beyond its own limits, assumes to take the place of Theology, and sets up its 

 own conception of the Order of Nature as a sufficient account of its Cause, 

 it is invading a province of Thought to which it has no claim, and not un- 

 reasonably provokes the hostility of those who ought to be its best friends. 



For whilst the deep-seated instincts of Humanity, and the profoundcst re- 

 searches of Philosophy, alike point to Mind as the one and only source of 

 Power, it is the high prerogative of Science to demonstrate the Unifi/ of the 

 Power which is operating through the limitless extent and variety of the 

 Universe, and to trace its Continuity through the vast series of Ages that 

 have been occupied in its Evolution. 



