143 
it is natural to us to ask how he knows even that it is a 
“ quality ” of matter at all ? That is a pure assumption. 
If then, the human mind in its scientific imagina- 
tions is permitted to “ look behind the germ/'’ and sisteney with 
think of “ the genesis,” or the pre-phenomenal v™ aent anal y* 
origin, we cannot understand why religious thought 
may not also move in the same direction, without being subject 
to that unreasonable scorn which it is easy indeed to assume, 
but impossible for thoughtful persons to feel. 
Dr. Tyndall tells us that some of the chemists recoil from 
certain of his notions as to atoms and molecules, while they 
are reverting without hesitation to the undulatory theory of 
light ( — not yet, perhaps, quite triumphant) — (p. 136). He 
points out to them, we think rightly, the vagueness and im- 
possibility of that theory, if the atomic system be denied. He 
bids us “ ask our imagination, if it will accept a vibrating 
multiple proportion, a numerical ratio in a state of oscillation ? ” 
Let us ask him, in our turn, to be as clear and distinct as he 
would have his chemical friends to be. If he “ will focus his 
seeking intellect so as to give definition without penumbral 
haze ” (we use his own terms) “ he will hardly be able to crown 
his edifice with such abstractions as motion and force,”- — or 
“push,” or “pull.” 
16. To our mind then. Dr. Tyndall’s own admissions convict 
him of inconsistency , which is a very serious thing, as it implies 
a powerful animus stirring him to unreasonable op- And with 
positions and dislikes. We appeal to himself and previous ad- 
all competent thinkers, whether he has any right as a 
scientific man, or any foundation as a reasoner, when he indites 
a vigorous passage at page 93 of his book, as a sort of “ Lay 
Sermon ; ” — for if we admit the first half of that passage, we shall 
find that we destroy all excuse for the rest. “ If you ask me 33 
(he says), “whether science has solved, or is likely in our day 
to solve, the problem of this universe, I must shake my head in 
doubt. You remember the first Napoleon’s question when the 
savans who accompanied him to Egypt discussed in his pre- 
sence the origin of the universe, and solved it to their own 
apparent satisfaction. He looked aloft to the starry heavens and 
said, f It is all very well, gentlemen; but who made all these? 3 
That question still remains unanswered, and science makes no 
attempt to answer it. As far as I can see, there is no quality in 
the human intellect which is fit to be applied to the solution of 
the problem. It entirely transcends us Behind, and 
above, and around all, the real mystery of this universe lies un- 
solved, and as far as we are concerned, is insoluble. 33 Such 
being the avowal of science ; the writer then goes off into 
