THE WHY. 443 



feed ; the spirit of music arises from primeval speech, 

 by means of which males and females are attracted to 

 each other. But the true origin of these instincts 

 cannot be ascertained : it is impossible to account for 

 primary phenomena. There are some who appear to 

 suppose that this world is a stage-play, and that if we 

 pry into it too far, we shall discover ropes and pulleys 

 behind the scenes, and that so agreeable illusions will 

 be spoiled. But the great masters of modern science 

 are precisely those whom nature inspires with most 

 reverence and awe. For as their minds are wafted 

 by their wisdom into untra veiled worlds, they find 

 new fields of knowledge expanding to the view ; the 

 firmament ever expands, the abyss deepens, the 

 horizon recedes. The proximate Why may be dis- 

 covered ; the ultimate Why is unrevealed. Let us 

 take, for instance, a single law. A slight change in- 

 vigorates the animal ; and so the offspring of the pair 

 survive the offspring of the single individual. Hence 

 the separation of the sexes, desire, affection, family- 

 love, combination, gregariousness, clan-love, the golden 

 rule, nationality, patriotism, and the religion of hu- 

 manity with all those complex sentiments and emo- 

 tions which arise from the fact that one animal is 

 dependent on another for the completion of its wants. 

 But why should a slight change invigorate the animal ? 

 And if that question could be answered, we should 

 find another why behind. Even when science shall be 

 so far advanced, that all the faculties and feelings of 

 men will be traced with the precision of a mathe- 

 matical demonstration to their latent condition in the 

 fiery cloud of the beginning, the luminous haze, the 

 nebula of the sublime La Place : even then the origin 

 and purpose of creation, the How and the Why will 



