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The Chairman : — Before the paper to be taken this evening is read, I 
would venture to remark that attacks in the name of Science upon the truths 
of the Christian Religion have been fewer of late ; it would seem as though 
those who sought to drag science to their aid in attacking religion 
are getting less united, and are beginning to find that their scientific 
theories are but theories, and that they are irreconcilable one with another ; 
in fact that their Science is as uncertain as they would make out our 
Revelation to be. The great strife between Haeckel and Virchow is fresh 
in our memories, and I fancy the rift that has shown itself there may not be 
confined to any particular branch of scientific inquiry. F our or five years ago 
such people spoke of the Scriptures as an old book which intellectual people 
had agreed to scatter to the four winds, as being unreliable ; they are now 
beginning to moderate their tone and recognise that those who regard the 
Scriptures as true are worthy of respect, and may after all not be so entirely 
in the wrong, or so unscientific ; and in bringing this about I would fain 
believe that this Institute, which in a few years has grown from a Society 
of 200 to one of more than 800 members, has borne some part. 
The following paper was then read by the Rev. T. M. Gorman, M.A., the 
author being unavoidably absent : — 
PHYSIOLOGICAL METAPHYSICS. By Noau Porter, 
D.D., President op Yale College, United States. 
T HE phrase Physiological Metaphysics is selected simply 
for precision, because no other expresses our meaning 
so well. We do not intend by it any single or special science, 
as when we speak of the science of mechanics, or optics, or 
chemistry, or geology, or of any other subject-matter, whether 
physical or psychical. Nor do we use the word collectively for 
the systematized or interpreted knowledge of several classes 
of objects, as when modern science is spoken of, and usually 
though improperly made to include only those sciences which 
have matter for their sphere. We believe most fervently 
in science, in each and all of these senses ; we rejoice 
in its progress ; we confide in its methods, and are not 
afraid of the direct or indirect results or any of its dis- 
coveries concerning man, the universe, or God. We loyally 
accord to it independence and supreme authority within its 
sphere. 
Nor do we intend by it physiological science, or that science 
