96 Chauncey Wright. [vi. 



One of the most marked features of Mr. Wright's 

 style of thinking was his insuperable aversion to 

 all forms of teleology. As an able critic in The 

 Nation observes, to Mr. Wright "such ideas as 

 optimism or pessimism were alike irrelevant. Where- 

 as most men's interest in a thought is proportional 

 to its possible relation to human destiny, with him 

 it was almost the reverse." But the antagonism 

 went even deeper than this. Not only did he con- 

 demn the shallow teleology of Paley and the Bridge- 

 water Treatises, but any theory which seemed to 

 imply a discernible direction or tendency in the 

 career of the universe became to him at once an 

 object of suspicion. As he was incHned to doubt 

 or deny any ultimate coherency among cosmical 

 events, he was of course indisposed to admit that 

 such events are working together toward any assign- 

 able result whatever. From his peculiar point of 

 view it seemed more appropriate to look upon 

 phenomena as drifting and eddying about in an 

 utterly blind and irrational manner, though now and 

 then evolving, as if by accident, temporary com- 

 binations which have to us a rational appearance. 

 " Cosmical weather" was the tersely allusive phrase 

 with which he was wont to describe this purposeless 

 play of events, as if to liken the formation and 



