156 
An eminent divine recently said * of men of science, that 
they dealt with material objects outside of ourselves, and not 
belonging to the inner vision, to which the only realities were 
the things which “ eye hath not seen nor ear heard, and which 
hath not entered into the heart of man.” Repeating the idea 
already quoted, he says : u When men of science say they 
understand matter, this is exactly what they do not under- 
stand.” And then he adds — shall I say prophetically, and, 
judging from the estimation in which what in the six- 
teenth century was called “ science ” is now held ? — “ Future 
wisdom will laugh at the unhealthy period in which we 
live.” 
14. Is it not true that the effect of all experimental science 
is to create a spirit of scepticism, which, if kept within proper 
limits, may be really useful ? for we ought to prove all things, 
and hold fast only that which is good. If pushed beyond these 
limits it has this effect : that the mind becomes at last sceptical 
of its own scepticism ; the experimenter, like the followers of 
Confucius, brings himself to “ believe in anything, or every- 
thing, or nothing.” Unhappily the train of thought thus 
induced is not altogether limited to things cognisable by the 
bodily senses. But there are exceptions to this rule. For 
example : one of the most accomplished of experimental 
philosophers is reported as expressing himself thus : — “ I 
have noticed during years of self-observation that it is not 
in hours of clearness and vigour that this doctrine ( f Material 
Atheism *) commends itself to my mind ; that in the pre- 
sence of stronger and healthier thought it ever dissolves 
and disappears, as offering no solution of the mystery in 
which we dwell, and of which we form a part.”*}* 
But, in the meantime, the doctrines of which I have endea- 
voured to submit to you examples are being promulgated under 
the authority of names high in rank among the learned. As 
in the period selected by me for comparison of modern views, 
the system of the day, or delusion, beguiles men’s minds. The 
manner in which it is affected by, and in its turn reacts on, 
current thought has been shown, and the tendency of its 
teaching indicated by the climax reached — that minerals, 
plants, animals, only differ from each other in degree ; that, 
for purposes of “ research,” they are all alike to be examined 
exactly in accordance with one and the same method ! J In 
* Address by Pere Hyacinthe at St. James’s Hall. See Morning Post , 
June 9, 1882. 
+ See Paper by J. E. Howard. F.R.S., Trans , vol. x. p. 107. 
t See Nineteenth Century , Dec., 1881 ; also Brit. Med . Journ ., Dec. 17, 
1881, p. 987. 
