CHAPTER OF CRITICISM. 
202 
take the words 44 beyond the records of time” in their obvious sense ; for time is 
measured by actions, and therefore by referring to 44 what is beyond the records 
of time,” we either refer to the negation of action, which is nothing, or to those 
actions which have not yet taken place, which, except in the manner already 
noticed (that is, by induction), is equally referring to a negation. Such assertions 
cannot, I think, have been contemplated by the lecturer ; but we have examined 
his words under every sense which they will bear; in none of these have the 
individual meanings produced collective sense; w T e must therefore conclude, 
either that the writer attached to the words some peculiar meaning of his own, 
inconsistent with that commonly received, or, that they were unconsciously used 
as a medium for conveying ^owsense. 
Let us proceed.— 44 It is because he possesses this principle, that he can survey 
the world we live in.” This, it must be owned, is a marvellous anti-climax, 
after being in connexion with divinity, and spirit, and eternity. But it is not 
only an anti-climax ; it is not true ;—for if it is by means of this principle that 
Man surveys the world he inhabits, then every animal which possesses perceptive 
faculties must also be possessed of this principle; which comes in direct contra¬ 
diction to the assertion of the lecturer. The Eagle, in its lofty soarings, 44 surveys 
the world we live in” to great advantage, and yet it is not allowed any peculiar 
principle to enable it so do so. This requires explanation.—Again :— 44 measure 
its ponderous movements through space, expose the elements of which it consists, 
investigate its mineral strata,’’ &c. &c. 44 He looks upon a world filled with 
beauty, and sees that it is made for him.” But what renders it beautiful to 
him ? Is it the same principle which enables him to 44 measure the world’s pon¬ 
derous movements through space” ? Is it the same principle which inspires the 
poet’s page, and which assures the calculations of the mathematician ? which 
numbers the stars, and which adorns the canvass? We have the answers to 
these questions before us. 44 The numerous tribes that we have glanced at are 
all the servants of Man, and they are his because he possesses a mind to see their 
adaptation to his purposes, and to comprehend the relation in which they stand 
to him as their lord and master.” Yes ! this is the true answer; but what has 
this to do with any peculiar 44 principle” ? The Horse and the Dog possess minds 
superior to those of the animals which formed the subject of Mr. Lankester’s 
lecture ; they possess more and higher mental faculties, but th zprinciple is the 
same; Man possesses higher powers than all, but where is the need of going to 
a new principle to account for them, since, in the case of differences of mental 
power among the inferior animals, none is needed ? There is none at all; and 
those who do so, especially when professedly speaking of scientific subjects, leave 
the broad highway along which science can alone be successfully followed, and 
lose themselves in the endless mazes of vague hypothesis and fruitless conjecture. 
