82 THE REIGN OF LAW. 



related to Purpose and subservient to the dis- 

 charge of Function, And this is the highest 

 sense of all — Law in this sense being more 

 perfectly intelligible to us than in any other; 

 because although we know nothing of the real 

 nature of Force, even of that Force which is re- 

 sident in ourselves, we do know for what ends 

 we exert it, and the principle that governs our 

 devices for its use. That principle is — Combi- 

 nation for the accomplishment of Purpose. 



Accordingly it is Avhen natural phenomena can 

 be reduced to Law in this last sense, that we reach 

 something which alone is really in the nature 

 of an explanation. For what do we mean by an 

 explanation ? It is an unfolding or a " making 

 plain." But as the human mind has many facul- 

 ties, so each of these seeks a satisfaction of its 

 own. That which is made plain to one faculty 

 is not necessarily made plain to another. That 

 which is a complete answer to the question What, 

 or to the question How, is no answer at all to the 

 question Why. There are some philosophers who 

 tell us that this last is a question which had better 

 never be asked, because it is one to which Nature 



