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this, that true science merely deals with phenomena as such ; but there is 
a field beyond that, and if I understand Professor Kirk rightly, there is a 
field beyond that, which is the field of wisdom. All true science must have 
its basis in the spiritual, in the living, and in the real ; and therefore I 
go back to Genesis, and see there how all these things are brought out in 
the most beautiful order. If I come to our own being, I see in us that which 
takes me to the very origin of creation. If we speak of origin of creation, it 
must spring originally from the first moving cause of all being and all nature, 
and all being before nature. If we had time to go into the large subject 
which this opens up, I am sure we should certainly see the cause of all these 
varieties, and we should have an exhaustive commentary upon all the grand 
and glorious truths which are recorded in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd chapters of 
Genesis. 
Mr. Phene. —As a stranger to this Institute, may I be allowed to say that 
I think this a most admirable paper, and that the only valid point of objection 
to it, that I can see, is that which has been already pointed out by Mr. Poyer, 
as to whether there are sporacular particles in odour or whether it is merely 
a form or effect of motion. As to the point raised by Mr. Row, with regard 
to the struggle in plant life, I would ask him what he would say of parasites 
— one plant growing on another, and not only living upon it but killing it ? 
Look at the various species of parasitical plants, to say nothing of fungi, of 
which the parasites of the gorse and clover afford instances. In Devonshire, 
I have seen large masses of fern growing from the oak. That appears to 
me to be an illustration of an actual “ struggle ” in plant life. (Hear, hear.) 
Rev. Dr. Rjgg. — I am anxious to pay my tribute to this paper. It is rare 
to find a man who is at once a man of science and a thorough metaphysician, 
and at the same time a thorough believer in the Scriptures. I take it that 
Professor Kirk combines all these three qualities in himself, and I must say 
I do not complain of the obscurity of the passages which have been pointed 
out. One of the passages pointed out is : — 
“ The moment any one speaks of true force, he leaves the strictly material 
which may be seen, and turns, not his eyes, but his reason, to another pro- 
vince of being.” 
Now that sentence will bear any amount of consideration, and you cannot 
easily express a truth more easily or more exactly. It is a profound thought, 
removed from the region of common apprehension or misapprehension, and 
therefore it needs a considerable amount of study before we apprehend it in 
its exactness. Then Professor Kirk says : — 
“ In dealing abstractedly with forms and types and laws of life, it is ne- 
cessary to remember that we are dealing with states of mind only.” 
Surely that must be true. It may be that there are eternal 
ideas ; — and here I may be permitted to say that I have often wanted 
to see a living Platonist, and it has been my felicity since I came to the 
