1881 OX MATHEMATICS 95 



From G. J. Romanes to C. Dai-win, Esq. 



February 6, 1880. 



I have to thank you very much for your two 



letters, and also for the enclosures from , which 



I now return. The latter convey exactly the criti- 

 cism that I should have expected from , for while 



writing my essay on Theism I had several con- 

 versations with him upon the subject of Spencer's 

 writings, and so know exactly what he thinks of 

 them. But in none of these conversations could I 

 get at anything more definite than is conveyed by the 

 returned letters. In no point of any importance did 

 he make it clear to me that Spencer was wrong, and 

 the only result of our conversation was to show me 



that in opinion it was only my ignorance of 



mathematics that prevented me from seeing that Mr. 

 Spencer is merely a ' word philosopher.' Upon which 

 opinion I reflected, and still reflect, that the mathema- 

 ticians must be a singularly happy race, seeing that 

 they alone of men are competent to think about the 

 facts of the cosmos. And this reflection becomes 

 still more starthng when supplemented by another, 

 ^iz. that although one may not know any mathema- 

 tics, everybody knows what mathematics are : they 

 are the sciences of number and measurement, and as 

 such, one is at a loss to perceive why they should be 

 so essentially necessarj' to enable a man to think 

 fairly and well upon other subjects. But it is, as you 

 once said, that when a man is to be killed by the 

 sword mathematical, he must not have the satisfac- 



