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posed of body, soul, and spirit — the entire purport of “ the 
Address ” disappears ; and the stately edifice of molecular and 
materialistic philosophy crumbles into dust ! 
On the whole, it appears to me that throughout the very elabo- 
rate and skilfully concocted dissertation under our notice, nothing 
is so much proved as the skill of the lecturer, by which he suc- 
ceeded in entangling his hearers in a labyrinth, from which they 
found no clue to escape; preferring to place themselves at the 
disposal of this master of the art of captivating the minds of the 
multitude ! 
“ Cogito, ergo sum !” according to Descartes, is the best proof 
of a man’s own existence. What shall we say, then, of those 
who never think for themselves, but only hang on the words of 
their favoured orator? I cannot understand the reception of such 
an Address by the body of persons to whom it was delivered, 
except upon the supposition that his hearers trusted themselves 
implicitly to the guidance of a great name ! 
The British Association for the Advancement of Science 
ought surely to have considered whether Science can be advanced 
through a departure from the only paths by which it has arrived 
at results truly beneficial to mankind. 
*** All the above quotations from Professor Tyndall are from the Edition 
of the Seventh Thousand “ with additions.” 
APPENDIX. 
PHILOSOPHY AS “ RESTORED ” BY DESCARTES. 
“ It may prove instructive to the student and general reader to make a 
brief allusion to Descartes’s doctrine of Vortices . by which he attempted to 
explain the phenomena of the material world, and which created such a lively 
interest among the literati of Europe when it was first published. 
“ He maintains there is nothing but substance in the universe. This is 
divided into two kinds ; one a spiritual, or thinking, and the other an ex- 
tended substance. Descartes affirms there can be no vacuum in nature ; that 
the world is full ; as everything which is extended is matter. 
Now he supposes that the Deity created matter of an indefinite exten- 
sion ; that it was portioned out into little small square patches full of angles ; 
that it was, by His sovereign power, impressed with two motions. One 
which made each part revolve round its own centre ; and one which enabled 
an assemblage of these patches to turn round a common centre ; and thus 
as many different vortices or eddies were created as there were masses of 
matter created. 
“ The mode of operation is thus unfolded by Descartes. The various 
