9 2 [Proc. B.N.F.C., 



Professor Tyndall and his school in working out their Molecular 

 theory. From an experience, and that one by their own showing 

 more imaginary and transcendental than experimental, they reach, 

 or imagine that they reach, conclusions (better styled, indeed, 

 conceptions) which are "wholly ultra-experiential." I would 

 venture to put it to ths judgment of any person of sound mind and 

 unprejudiced opinion whether or not this be a safe basis for any 

 physical system ? What have physical inquiries philosophically to 

 do with ultra-experiential theories ? 



You will at once perceive the difference between a science of 

 absolute certainty, such as that of geometry or mathematics, and 

 one whose conclusions rest on such a debatable foundation as 

 this. There is absolute certainty in the one case ; there is none in 

 the other. Similarly, in regard to purely physical science, there is 

 the process of induction, founded on well-ascertained and accu- 

 mulated facts. Is there any theory, even remotely, resembling 

 this in the professor's process ? In no other instance has a 

 molecule such as these philosophers imagine been rendered 

 palpable to sense, however aided by the appliances and instruments 

 of science, nor is it even conceivable that it should so become a 

 matter of cognition. And yet we are asked to receive the existence 

 of such into our catalogue of facts, and to build thereon a theory 

 which is to account for the primary origin, the nature and the 

 properties of all living things, ourselves included. Is this philo- 

 sophical ? 



To point out the results of such theorizing, I have but to refer 

 you to the closing paragraphs of Professor Tyndall's address — 



" And if, still unsatisfed, the human mind, with the yearning of 

 a pilgrim for his distant home, will turn to the Mystery from which 

 it has emerged, seeking so to fashion it as to give unity to thought 

 and faith, so long as this is done, not only without intolerance or 

 bigotry of any kind, but with the enlightened recognition that ulti- 

 mate fixity of conception is here unattainable, and that each suc- 

 ceeding age must be held free to fashion the mystery in accordance 

 with its own needs — then, in opposition to all the restrictions of 



