IX.] Mr. Buckle's Fallacies. 155 



of investigation, is once received, its interpretation 

 usually admits of little change. To employ the same 

 example as before, the law of gravitation is received 

 in the same acceptation now as when it was first 

 discovered. Advancing to the more abstruse sciences, 

 such as physiology, we find that the interpretation 

 put upon generally-received truths suffers marked 

 variations. The law of organic development has 

 been held by the most eminent scientific thinkers 

 since the beginning of the present century ; but, 

 since the embryological discoveries of the Germans, 

 it is held in a form different from that in which it was 

 held before. The followers of Spencer, Lewes, and 

 Darwin, do not put the same interpretation upon the 

 law of development that the followers of Lamarck 

 did, forty years ago. Coming now to the very com- 

 plex subject of morality, we find, unfortunately for 

 Mr. Buckle, that the acceptation in which its proposi- 

 tions are held varies with every phase of civilisation. 

 Among the American Indians, so noted for their 

 revengeful dispositions, the obligation not to take life, 

 if recognised, was not so construed as to include the 

 miserable object of the fell passion. Among the 

 ancient Jews, the command, " Thou shalt not kill," 

 meant "Thou shalt not kill Jezus ;" and, from the 

 story of Saul and Agag, we may suppose that the 



