THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 
335 
though it may be opinion, it is not scientific, to affirm or imply that 
duality of nature cannot be the ultimate basis of diverse phenomena; 
that unity of conception demands that the "difference transcending 
all difference " between thought and thing shall be resolved into a 
noumenal unity; that the laws of the conservation and trans- 
ference of force can be so far abrogated that molecular movement, 
which is mechanical force in motion, can actually be the cause of 
thought, which is not mechanical force ; and that force in form of 
motion is the all in all. Those who read such works as Buchner's 
know with what dogmatism opinions are asserted as though they 
were established scientific facts. To represent thought as a "secre- 
tion of the brain " as truly as bile is of the liver may be a clever 
way of coining a smart phrase, but it is in violation of all known 
scientific principles. It ignores the distinctive nature of thought, 
confounds a condition with cause, and breaks the law of the con- 
servation of force. It is because true Science, when pushed as far 
as human ingenuity can carry it, accepts the dualism of the universe 
as an ultimate reality, and sees reason in that which knows, being 
in nature essentially different from that which as object is known, 
that the restless spirit I have referred to proves itself to be so far 
a false and illegitimate spirit. As Professor Seeley says, these 
restless ones charge Science, as thus limited, with "cowardice;" but 
the charge maybe calmly borne, since a "cowardice" based on 
reason is to be preferred to a rashness that sets at nought the very 
principles on which hitherto discoveries have been made. The 
spirit that resents all limitation, and would have things other than 
they actually are, may be a fervid feeling, but it certainly is not 
born of true Science. 
Looking on into the immediate future, it is very probable that 
much of the intellectual force which is now spending itself in the 
distinctively scientific direction will after a while have found the 
measure of itself, and, proud of its achievements, will work on 
more free from the excitement which in the recent flush of its 
strength has accompanied its development. Vain efforts to alter 
the inevitable in the duality of existence will doubtless subside as 
in days gone by, and possibly men of all views ana! aspirations will 
learn the old lesson over again, written in more deeply-wrought 
lines, that man is both great and little, and that much of his wis- 
dom lies in knowledge of himself. Never perhaps as long as man 
retains his consciousness will he escape the feeling, that his own 
