9° [Proc. B.N.F.C., 



question. Need I state my conviction — yours, I trust, also — 

 that real Christianity has ever proved, not the handmaid merely, 

 but the elder sister and friend of true science ? Need I point to 

 the line of light, traced on the world's history since the appearance 

 among men of the Founder of Christianity, by so many of His true 

 followers? Has not the history of our race since that period 

 proved that Christianity and civilization, so far as the elevation of 

 that race is concerned, may be viewed as almost synonymous 

 terms ? So far from unduly reining in science, Christianity has 

 ever proved its safest and surest guide. I shall not tread on often 

 trodden ground by recalling to your recollection such names as 

 those of Bacon and Newton, in the sister land ; Boyle and Berkley 

 in our own, who never considered it necessary, in order to insure 

 their claim to the title of philosopher, to abjure the name of Chris- 

 tian. Still less do I think it necessary or expedient to come down 

 to our own day and the history of our time, in order to mention, 

 in the same connexion, the name of Faraday, the really philo- 

 sophical and withal humble believer in Christianity ; or to quote 

 the emphatic words of the English philosopher, Mr. Prichard, the 

 astronomer, spoken even more recently than the meeting of the 

 British Association, wherein his noble testimony is given to the 

 truth of revelation. 



I gladly dismiss such topics in order to advert to another, mor 

 in keeping with the present occasion. At the risk of appearing 

 highly presumptuous, I venture to repeat that a most imphilosophical 

 c haracter appears to pervade the greater portion, if not, indeed, the 

 entire of the document under review. 



I shall not pause to draw your attention to the very loose 

 and inaccurate resume given of the ancient Grecian and Roman 

 philosophy, betraying what appears to me nothing short of 

 unacquaintance with the writers referred to — at least in their 

 original languages. I prefer, however, to refer to one or two of the 

 subjects more prominently discussed, and the mode of their 

 discussion. I mean the Molecular Theory as bearing on the Origi- 



