390 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
This we presume should be the rationale of the story ; but is it so ? 
It is very easy to frame a suppositional argument, carry it to a satisfactory 
conclusion, and leave the reader to infer that it is precisely analogous to 
another that is hypothetical ; but the author cannot be surprised if his 
readers, finding that his analogy does not hold good, should throw away 
his whole theory as worthless ; and we fear that with many it will be so in 
the present instance. We have no objection to handle the inquiry after the 
author’s own approved fashion ; but we trust he will not object to the 
introduction of a little fresh evidence and one or two additional witnesses. 
As it is a serious case, too, and affects the liberty of the subject (for he 
sentences his man), we hope he will allow us to employ counsel, on our 
granting him the same privilege. We, too, shall put an hypothesis. 
His “objector,” who happens to visit him in his trouble, endeavours to 
dissuade him from calling in the assistance of the police, and does so on 
the ground that as the spoons were taken away at night, the possibility is 
that the laws of nature might have been suspended at this season and that 
there may have been some supernatural interference in the case, into which 
it would be presumptuous in the owner of the spoons to inquire. 
We presume that this means, that as species originated before man 
appeared on earth, or before the beginning of the historic record, there- 
fore, it is possible that the laws of nature were different then to what they 
now are ; that species were supernaturally created ; and it w r ould be pre- 
sumptuous in us to inquire into their origin. 
We will now introduce another witness and a fresh element into 
the inquiry, the nature of which will be fully comprehended from what 
follows. 
Another friend who happens to enter the room just as the owner of the 
stolen spoons has pushed his first friend aside, and is about to depart 
in search of the police, and hears what has happened, stops his exit, and 
says, “ Softly, my friend ; I don’t put so much faith in the reversal of the 
order of nature as does your friend there ; but don’t be hasty : you are 
very much agitated in consequence of your loss ; and, perhaps whilst you 
are running off in search of the police, the thief may be down stairs 
cleaning your boots, and he or she may take the opportunity to secrete the 
plate. Just let me see the marks on the window.” And it is possible that 
when he comes to the window, his friend might say, “ My good fellow, I 
always knew you to be an excellent leaper ; but you seem to think 
there are better than yourself in the world ; for this window is at least 
thirty feet from the ground, and if the thief did not fall into the area 
and break his neck, he would certainly be impaled upon the spiked 
railings beyond. Have you ever tried the experiment yourself?” Now 
we can imagine our friend of the stolen plate a little puzzled at first, but 
replying with great confidence: “Well, not exactly; but it occurs to 
me that a friend of mine, a much more active man than I am, once tried 
to get down into the garden, and he succeeded after endless labour and 
risk in reaching that ledge which projects from the wall about half way 
down. He came up again and expressed his conviction that the remainder 
of the descent was feasible also, — and so with your permission I shall go 
for the police.” Well, we may tell our readers frankly that we think .this 
