in these strictly scientific speculations. To myself personally the evolution 
theories of Professor Tyndall, Dr. Bastian, and Mr. Darwin, as well as the 
physical theory of life generally, have always seemed scientifically un- 
satisfactory ; but evolution of some kind, as at least an important factor in 
the Divine method of creation, commends itself to me more and more. 
And so far from its obscuring the recognition of a personal God or weaken- 
ing belief in His never-failing Providence, it has an eminently contrary 
effect. And I desire to express my earnest conviction that the advocates of 
special creations and immediate providences, and the assertors of continuity, 
evolution, and invariable law, may meet on common ground of piety ; and 
falling down together before God may worship Him in that glorious Tris- 
agion which deserves to stand as the confession and thanksgiving of every 
true son of Science, “ Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, Which 
was, and is, and is to come. Thou art worthy, 0 Lord, to receive glory 
and honour and power ; for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy 
pleasure they are, and were created.” 
Eev. Prebendary Row. — I am desirous of offering a few remarks on the 
present paper. The examination of the strictly mathematical and scientific 
portions of it I shall remit to others. My observations will be chiefly con- 
fined to those portions of it which deal with the subject of miracles, which 
may be considered to come more particularly within my province. To 
some points, as laid down by the Professor, on this subject, I shall have to 
take exception. Before doing so, however, I wish to ask a question as to 
the atoms and the ether, which are so frequently referred to by Professor 
Challis. He seems to divide the universe into two portions, atoms and 
ether. Are we to understand that the ether is material, or immaterial ? 
If the former, does it consist of atoms ? If so, it is merely dividing the 
universe into atoms and atoms. The ether is described as possessing the 
power of pressure. Whence does this power originate, if the ether consists 
of atoms ? There is something analogous to the Professor’s views on this 
subject in the work called The Unseen Universe ; but its authors go a 
step further, and affirm that force is a thing which has an actually objective 
existence in the universe, and as such, that it passes from the visible 
into the invisible universe. This is certainly, to say the least of 
it, a startling position. I wish to express my full agreement with the 
Professor’s observations in paragraph 10 of this paper ; as to what 
the authors of The Unseen Universe assert as to the duty of men of 
science, “ to put back the direct interference of the Great First Cause — 
the unconditioned — as far as they possibly can in time.” One thing, 
and one thing only, is the duty of the man of science, to discover 
truth, and to embrace it whenever it can be found ; and not to enter 
on his investigations of the universe with any prepossessions whatever. It 
seems to me, that such a view of the universe is one which resolves it into 
a huge machine, which goes on in a series of self-evolutions, and represents 
the Creator as standing entirely external to it. If my memory is correct, 
they make use of the following metaphor to give us an idea of their meaning. 
VOL. XI. R 
