i88o.] 
“ On the Unity of Natuve." 
673 
may, if competitive examinations last so long, and if 
so they will become organised and take their place among 
the “ intuitions of the mind.” 
From what the author has said, in the passage quoted 
above, one would suppose that general beliefs on abstruse 
natural phenomena were frequently correct, and that all 
Science had to do was to interpret the inspiration and set 
its seal upon it. Now I think it would not be too much to 
say that there never yet was a natural phenomenon, not 
being about as obvious as that the sun is a source of light 
and heat, that vinegar is sour to the taste, or that a blow is 
painful,— that is to say, which did not direftly impress itself 
upon the senses,— that was not misinterpreted by general 
beliefs. A step or two in the process of deduction and gene- 
ral beliefs are a chaos of errors. Indeed if one wants, to 
know for certain what is wrong with regard to any question 
which is not immediately patent to the senses, he has only 
to find out what the popular belief is or was. I will give 
one or two illustrations : — There were two ways at least of 
accounting for the apparent movement of the heavens round 
the earth, one of them being that the heavens actually did 
move and that the earth was still ; so this erroneous theory 
wa s a dopted, and the corre(5t one when discovered was rej ebted, 
on account of the supposed great importance, morally, of the 
earth and man ; so that not only was a wrong theory accepted, 
but the right one was rejebted for a wholly irrelevant and 
personal motive — a very common line of argument, as we 
shall presently see. — Except in the case of direct physical 
injuries, all pain and disease were accounted for by witch- 
craft and similar agencies, by which also many other natural 
phenomena were accounted ; and we all know the erroneous 
beliefs of mankind with regard to the nature and effects of 
comets, eclipses, meteors, &c. — Illustrations could also be 
given from religion and politics, but as these are still in the 
region of popular beliefs there would be too much difference 
of opinion for them to have any force. 3. here are, howevei, 
two fadts which may be said to have reached scientific pre- 
cision which will forcibly illustrate the wrongheadedness of 
popular beliefs ; one is the advantages of free trade over 
fettered trade, the other is the advantages of tolerance of 
opinion over intolerance ; yet how many ages have passed 
and how much misery had to be endured, through the adtion 
of the wrong theory, before the right one made any im- 
pression on popular beliefs. In speaking of popular beliefs 
it must not be supposed that I am alluding to the populace, 
or lower classes, as distinguished from their so-called betters. 
2x2 
