paths as far as we can, and to be content with whatever discoveries 

 we have then made, feehng sure that all will be devoid of mystery 

 some day. 



And now with one more o'^servation I will bring this lengthy 

 paper to a close. The language in which some of our beliefs are 

 couched is sometimes said by scientij&c men to be mysterious in 

 itself, and in some cases unmeaning or even self-contradictory. 

 Well, it may be so, or not. I am not about to defend it, only to 

 say tu quoque. What do you think of the following endeavour to 

 account for the twining movements of such plants as the Hop, 

 Convolvulus, and others ? Dr. Hooker states that " this twining 

 habit is the effect of an inherent disposition in the tips of all elon- 

 gating stems to bend successively towards all points of the com- 

 pass," (/). What a lucid explanation ! A plant twines round a 

 support because it has a tendency to turn to the north, east, south, 

 and west successively ! You will find many of the grand assertions 

 of science as verbal as this. 



For simplicity of language let me commend to your notice the 

 following explanation of Evolution. "It is the integration of 

 matter and concomitant dissipation of motion, during which the 

 matter passes from an indefinite, incoherent heterogeneity, and 

 during which the retained motion undergoes a parallel transfor- 

 mation." (m). What can you have plainer, or more easy to be 

 " understanded of the people," than ^'hat ? Or do you feel inclined 

 to regard it as the darkening of knowledge by words ? Then 

 listen how the passage has been " done into English " by some 

 one. "It is the joining of stuff into a lump, then the equal 

 unjoining and sending out of movement from it, the making stuff 

 pass from a no sort of unstickingness into some sort of holding- 

 togetherness, while the movement not sent out undergoes a like 

 change from no sort of keeping, togetherness into some sort of 

 sticking." 



Some of us perhaps may, after all, prefer the explanation of 

 Evolution by another writer as simpler : — " God said, let the earth 

 bring forth the Uving creature after his kind." But remember, 

 that is not a scientific way of accounting for it. 



Dr. Eastes having made a few remarks at the close, was followed 

 by Mr. H. Blanford, F.E.S., who wished to protest against what 

 he considered a misrepresentation of the views of scientific men. 

 He also spoke at some length in favour of Evolution, bringing 

 forward some very interesting illustrations of it. 



(I) Macmillan's Science Primus, Botany, p. S3. 

 (m) Spenoer'8 F'ret Principles, p. 396. 



