282 
ORDINARY MEETING, February 1, 1875. 
C. Brooke, Esq., F.R.S., Y.P., in the Chair. 
The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed, and the follow- 
ing Elections were announced : — 
Associates: — Major J. H. Lutrnau, Shepherd’s Bush; Rev. T. H. Clark, 
M.A., Clifton ; Rev. Edgell Wyatt-Edgell, Lutterworth. 
Also the presentation of the following Works to the library : — 
“ Transactions of the Royal Society,” Part 157. From the Society. 
Transactions of the Geological Society,” Part 120, Ditto 
“ Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology,” 
Part 1, Vol. III. Ditto 
“ Theism and Modern Science.” By Professor G. Sal- 
mon, D.D. Ditto 
Tlie following paper was then read by the author : — 
THE INDESTRUCTIBILITY OF FORCE. By the Rev. 
Canon Birks, M.A., Professor of Moral Philosophy in the 
University of Cambridge. 
miTE Indestruetibility of Force is one main pillar of that 
JL Fatalism which has lately been proclaimed by various 
writers as some grand discovery of modern science. According 
to Dr. Tyndall, “it binds nature fast in fate to an extent not 
before recognized/’ and is “ an idea of the widest grasp and 
radical significance.” Applied first to inorganic, it lias rapidly 
embraced organic nature, and “ brings vital as well as physical 
phenomena under its dominion.” Nay, according to Mr. Spencer, 
the leading exponent of the new philosophy, it is an “ a priori 
truth, which lies deeper than any other, and transcends both 
experience and demonstration” (F. Pr., pp. 189, 192). But 
before we resign our faith in prayer and worship, in God, 
Christ, and immortality, to this alleged discovery, let us look 
it closely in the face, and try to fix its real meaning. Rapid 
growths are suspicious. So are self-evident truths, discovered 
only yesterday. Mushrooms, in science as in nature, may grow 
up in a night; but forest oaks arc slower in their growth, and 
commonly need centuries to mature. 
The doctrine has various names, — the Conservation, the Indc- 
