Manchester Me7noirs, Vol. xlvni. {igo^)), No. \. ii 



of the primitive modes of thinking described in the 

 following passage from my lecture referred to : " Just as 

 " the spasmodic and capricious movements of the 

 " organised forms of the hydro-carbon compounds create 

 "in the mind the idea of spontaneous motion, acting from 

 " within, so the regular and rhythmical motions of 

 " inorganic substances, under constant conditions, induce 

 " in the early stages of man's intellectual development, the 

 " idea that such bodies only move by impulse, acting from 

 " without, and of necessity." ^ 



An enquiry into the origin of the various ideas of 

 Causation is a subject of great philosophical interest, but 

 it has not yet received that amount of attention which its 

 importance deserves. The principles involved cannot be 

 discussed in this paper, but with the object of giving a 

 direction to the enquiry I here present in graphic form 

 (Table II.), the striking parallelism, or the actual identity, 

 of modes of Causation in natural science and in natural 

 religion. 



All the modes of causation in the natural sciences as 

 therein set forth were originated, and have been adopted 

 by men who have made the greatest and most numerous 

 contributions to natural knowledge within historical 

 periods. On the other hand, the origins of the homol- 

 ogous modes of causation in natural religions are lost in 

 the mists of a remote antiquity, but these can now be 

 clearly defined by comparison with the analogous modes 

 of causation in the natural sciences. 



All the exalted ideals around which the homage and 

 affection of humanity have crystallized have been born 

 into, and have made one or other of the modes of causa- 

 tion in religion as therein set forth, with their respective 



^ •' On the Evolution of the Mental Faculties in Relation to some 

 Fundamental Principles of Motion." Manchester Memoirs, Vol. XLVI., 

 (lO), pp. 1-34, 1902. 



