ii4 THE REIGN 0F LAW - 



human life. When the bursting of some small 

 duct of blood upon the Brain is seen to destroy 

 in a moment the Mind of Man, and to break down 

 all the powers of his intellect and his Will, we are 

 in presence of a fact whose significance cannot be 

 increased by a million of other facts analogous 

 in kind. 



Yet on every fresh discovery of a few more such 

 facts, there is generally some fresh outbreak of 

 old delusions respecting the forms and the Laws of 

 Matter as the supreme realities of the world. But 

 when the new facts have been looked at a little 

 longer, it is always seen that they take their place 

 with others which have been long familiar, and the 

 eternal problems which lie behind all natural phe- 

 nomena are seen to be unaffected and unchanged. 

 Like the most distant of the Fixed Stars, they 

 have no parallax. The whole orbit of human 

 knowledge shows in them no apparent change 

 of place. No amount of knowledge of the kind 

 which alone physical Science can impart can do 

 more than widen the foundation of intelligent 

 spiritual beliefs. We think that Astronomy and 

 Geology have given to us in these latter days ideas 



