468 MODERN SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION : 
tell” ?—and how incomprehensible that, by the action of 
only material laws, mental force, or, it may be, moral in- 
firmity is transmitted from generation to generation, in 
spite of the system of infinitesimal dilution through which 
it passes ! 
Strange as it may seem, there are to-day men, respecta- 
ble by their numbers and attainments, who are believers 
in spontaneous generation; but with this proviso which 
leaves the mystery as great as ever, that only from or- 
ganic matter can organisms be produced. So that to the 
original and primary appearance of life upon the earth, 
modern science has given us not the slightest clue. 
And now, even with this hurried and sadly imperfect 
exposition of the tendency of modern science, the time 
at our command has been consumed. Before leaving the 
subject, however, I crave your indulgence for a word to 
those who, wholly absorbed in the study of the laws 
which regulate the material universe, are so deeply im- 
pressed with their universality and potency, that they 
forget that law is but another name for an order of se- 
quence, and has in itself no force. These are they who, 
in their pride in the achievements of the human intellect, 
fail to realize that the universe furnishes conclusive proof 
that all our philosophy, all our logic, all our observation 
are utterly inadequate to solve the problems that are pre- 
sented to us; inadequate not simply from the limited na- 
ture of our powers of observation, but because the human 
mind, though forced to confess the existence of the inti- 
nite,is utterly unable to grasp it; and that while the logi? 
reason and the logic of numbers suffice for a qualifi 
understanding of the manner in which material forces 
work, of the origin and nature of these forces we are 
-~ must ever remain ignorant, unless gifted with bigher 
