IX.] Mr. Buckle's Fallacies. 177 



complex subjects as we now know about the most 

 simple ones, there can be no such thing as doubt at 

 all. " The mystic drama will be sunny clear, and all 

 Nature's processes will be visible to man, as a divine 

 Effluence and Life." ' 



We have seen that in the theological stage of hu- 

 man development, scepticism did not exist ; that in 

 the metaphysical stage, it arose and extended its 

 sway over every department of thought ; but that, 

 in the positive stage, it is destined to decrease, until 

 it exercises no perceptible influence. Corresponding 

 to these three stages of evolution are the three pre- 

 dominant mental states, of belief, doubt, and know- 

 ledge. The three great periods into which Comte 

 has divided the history of civilisation might be named 

 with perfect accuracy, the period of credulity, the 

 period of scepticism, and the period of science. 

 Mr. Buckle's law has this much of truth in it, that 

 the sceptical age is the necessary forerunner of the 

 scientific ; that in the race, no less than in the 

 individual, doubt must intervene between behef and 

 knowledge. 



We shall now briefly consider Mr. Buckle's fourth 

 fundamental law — that "the great enemy of civili- 

 sation is the protective spirit," or in other words, 



^ Lewes' Seaside Studies, p. 219. 



N 



