THE LAWS OF NATURE AS APPLIED TO THE AFFAIRS 
OF LIFE, 

READ BEFORE THE SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION OCTOBER 238, 1885, . 
.BY C. S. CLARK, VICE-PRESIDENT. 

In the effort to make life worth living on this earth, there has been such an 
appalling waste of energy, and such puny results have followed, that the 
thinking men of all ages have seemed to abandon their efforts with a feeling 
of despair. Some have come to the conclusion that by reason of some defect 
or sin of our remote ancestors a punishment has been allotted to all their suc- 
cessors to the end of time. That we are entangled in the meshes of a web,” 
from which there is no escape, unravel as we will. That there is no hope, 
except in spending our lives in trying to get into a better world when we are 
compelled to leave this. Others have thought that there was something 
wrong in the substance of matter itself, for which there was no remedy. The 
Mahommedan reduced it to few words, and said: ‘It is the will of Allah,” 
and so resigned himself under adverse circumstances as best he could. 
All have agreed, however, that evil predominates so largely over good, that 
there must be another world where compensation will be made, at least to a 
part of mankind. A very large majority still hold to one or the other of these 
views, but within the last fifty years, there has been a growing feeling that 
the world may have been mistaken, that it might turn out quite differently 
if we could only gain knowledge sufficient to inquire into the facts of such 
phenomena as presented themselves to our senses. Acting upon this hope, 
schools have multiplied, science has been encouraged, facts have been gathered, 
classified, and reduced to some order. It has been discovered during the in- 
vestigation, that what appeared to be discord and confusion, was really the 
closest order and regularity; so much so, that the wise ones began to say every — 
thing was regulated by law, and they called this uniform succession ‘The 
laws of Nature.”’ These laws, or some of them as applied to the affairs of life, 
is the subject of my paper to-night. | 
It has been said by eminent historians that during the religious wars of 
Europe more than a million of men were killed over the disputed meaning of 
one Greek word. Men no longer resort to arms to settle definitions, still many 
disputes have occurred and great bitterness engendered by reason of a mutual 
misunderstanding of the meaning of the terms used. The term “laws of 
nature”’ is a very misleading one, and has probably crept into scientific litera- 
ture from theological and legal modes of expression. Doubtless learned men 
have a common understanding of its true meaning, but they do not always 
make themselves clearly understood by the people. The plain, common sense 
meaning, as I understand it, is that things in this world move and act in a 
certain observed way and have always done so, under the same or similar cir- 
cumstances, and therefore we feel justified in thinking they always will. 
Water always seeks its level, or, to use a common phrase, runs down hill. 
Apples fall to the ground by reason of the law of gravity, which is believed to 
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