433 
“Newton holds it doubtful whether any body is really at rest, though he 
thinks such a body may perhaps exist in some remote part of the universe.” 
Whether any body in the universe is absolutely at rest or not, appears to me 
to be foreign to the question of conception. The writer goes on to say — 
“ We must revert, then, to another conception. Absolute motions are those 
which are referred to no real body at all, but to the point assumed to be im- 
movable, of empty space. — Is this a true and valid conception ? Do we really, 
in our thoughts, when we speak of these fixed points of empty space, intro- 
duce an immense number of hypothetical or imaginary atoms ? ” 
Not at all. All we have to do with is a point presumed to be absolutely at 
rest, and the absolute motion of any body would be referred to that. There 
are several other passages in which there seems to be a confusion between 
absolute and relative motion, which appears to me to be unnecessary. (Hear, 
hear.) 
PROFESSOR BIRKS’S REPLY. 
/ 
As three speakers have made serious objections to my paper, and only a 
few minutes were left at the time for explanation or answer, perhaps I may 
reasonably claim, in the printed report, some space for a rather fuller 
reply. 
And, first, I regret deeply that Canon Titcomb should have charged me 
with a misreport of his opinions, and almost with having classed him among 
adversaries of the Bible, when he has written and laboured in its defence for 
so many years. I have known and esteemed him for twenty years. He has 
been by my choice and his kind consent a mission preacher in my parish. I 
have called him in my paper, and thought of him as a friend. This would have 
been quite impossible, had I meant to imply the charge he supposes me to 
have made. I said that the essayist, Mr. Spencer, and himself, agreed in one 
point, that Science and Religion could be reconciled by a treaty of partition. 
But I added at once that the partition was quite different, and that while 
theirs really left no room or place for Supernatural Revelation, he reserved to 
it the whole range of moral and spiritual truth. My true meaning, I think, is 
quite plain. Had I dreamed he could so have mistaken it, I would have 
striven to make it plainer still ; and in stating the partial agreement and 
difference, would have avoided putting the three names, even for a moment, 
in apposition ; though it was only to show, within a dozen lines, the great 
difference between them. 
The real divergence between us may be explained most clearly, from my 
