EDITOR'S TABLE. 



843 



gather force. Much may be done by 

 each individual to promote and strength- 

 en his own mental soundness by exer- 

 cising control over his casual thoughts. 

 " Were anybody," says Dr. Maudsley, 

 "to observe carefully what goes on 

 in his mind during waking, he would 

 perceive that it was the theatre of as 

 many fantastic, grotesque, incoherent 

 thoughts as in dreams. . . . Obviously 

 it will depend much on the occupation 

 that each one gives his mind, and on 

 the habits of attention and thought that 

 he has trained it to, how large a part 

 these incoherent vagaries of thought 

 shall play in his waking mind, and in 

 some degree in his dreams also. . . . 

 Now, if it be thus possible by good and 

 regular exercise of the higher faculties 

 of mind to gain some mastery over 

 thought in dreams, how much more is 

 it within our power, and shown to be 

 our duty, to obtain and exercise domin- 

 ion over the vain and evil thoughts, in- 

 clinations, and imaginings of the day, 

 and so hinder their luxuriant growth! " 

 In the ordinary conduct of life much 

 that is harmful would disappear if life 

 were once regarded as something that 

 should and must be brought under sci- 

 entific rules. Feelings, opinions, ac- 

 tions may all be brought to a scientific 

 test — that is, to the test of outward real- 

 ity — or, in other words, of conformity 

 to our necessary environment. With 

 some people it is enough to say that 

 they feel so and so : their feelings are 

 assumed to be unalterable, and to carry 

 their own justification with them. Such 

 a temper is not far removed from the 

 hysterical, and, if it should assume that 

 unhappy character some day, the result 

 should not be considered surprising. 

 The human being who persistently 

 looks inward rather than outward for 

 guidance, and makes more of his or her 

 subjective impressions than of the 

 teaching of objective facts, is in an un- 

 stable and dangerous condition. Again, 

 in the matter of opinions, some persons 

 esteem it a precious privilege to be able 



to think and believe, as they say, what- 

 ever they please. Their opinions they 

 regard as their property, which no one 

 must venture to trespass on. But the 

 true test of opinions, it is needless to 

 say, lies not in conformity to personal 

 inclination, but in their agreement with 

 some established order of things. It is 

 folly to talk of believing whatever we 

 please ; if we are rational people at 

 all, we believe as we must. Eeason 

 constrains us, and we have really no 

 choice. In regard to actions there is per- 

 haps a more general feeling of responsi- 

 bility ; and yet even here how much we 

 are inclined to trust to hap-hazard ! 

 How little we keep before us a rational 

 scheme of life, or steady, uniform prin- 

 ciples of action ! The very man who 

 would sink in his own estimation if he 

 played a card unscientifically in a game 

 of whist, will play many a card most 

 unscientifically in the much greater 

 game of life. Why ? Because, while 

 he believes in a science of whist, he 

 does not believe in a science of life. He 

 studies the laws of whist, but does not 

 study the laws of life. Yet science 

 is prepared to step in and shed a clear 

 light upon every department of hu- 

 man duty. All that science needs as 

 a basis is a fixed order of things. Such 

 a fixed order is discoverable in human 

 nature and its environment. Here are 

 facts, and every fact yields its own les- 

 son. The time, we have no doubt, will 

 come when men will see that life is a 

 network of cause and effect, and that 

 trouble does not spring out of the 

 ground, nor promotion come at hap- 

 hazard from the east or the west, but 

 that whatever "happens,*" as the ex- 

 pression is, has its own adequate ante- 

 cedent. But why should we not hasten 

 the coming of that time by proclaiming 

 — those of us who believe in it — the 

 efficacy of science for the direction of 

 individual and social life ? 



That science lays claim to the region 

 of politics is evident from what has 

 been said, but that it is conspicuously 



