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Show 290 EXPLAN ATI~NS. fore, the speed of thought may be reduced to. numbers, and a man may think at the rate of 192,000 miles a sE-cond! We ·well know that the author Inay shelter himself under the juggle of his o~·~ words, and. tell us that he speaks only of the transmisswn of our Will through thP: organs of the body. Let him, then, write in more becoming la~guage." Now a man is surely entitled to be judged by his owu wol'ds, or all judgment might as well cease. After showing that a galvanic battery produces at least .some ?f the effects of the brain, and endeavoring to reconcile ordinary thinkers to the idea of. their partial identitJ: by insisting on the almost metaphystcal character of the unp<?ndel~able agents I said in a foot-note, "If mental actwn Is electric, th~ prove;.bial quickness of t~ought, th~t is, the quickness of the transmission of sensatwn and wtll-may be pre umed to have been brought to an exact meaaurement " &c. I leave the reader to judge if language more direct and less delusive than this could have been employed. With r gard to the idea conveyed, t}1e ·critic has per hap foro·ot, or never kn<?~n, th~t the merzt of suggesting the identity of th~ electnCity-di:lven ~lockwork of De. luc with that operat1on _of t~e brain w.htch produces t~1e pulsations of the heart, 1s claimed by h ts '' model of p~Ilosophic caution," Sir John Hersche~.* The expre~swn used by that philosopher on the occasion, " If the brain .be an electric pile," &c., ought doubtless to condemn htm in the ey s of our critic as a man enamored o~ resembl~r:ces, and a user of unbecoming phraseolo.~Y-:I! our crtt1c be a man of impartiality. But he mu. t (1f cr1hcs be c~pable of uch weaknes ) revise hi opinion on the subJect of resemblances. ·It might surprise even hi~ self~~onfident mind to find in what decisive terms thmr ulii~ty ~s one of the means of advancing in scie~tific ob.servah?n I,~ insisted on by thi very " model of plulosop luc cauho~. lie will find the passage at page 94 of the celebrated Dts-course. ·d · After di cus ing the \Vhole arguments on both s1 es In so ample a mann r, it may be hardly nee s ary to advert to the objection arising from the mere fact that nearly al~ the scientific men arc oppo ed ~o th !heory of the Vestige~. As this objection, however, Is one hk ly t.o be of some ava1l \Vith many minds, it ou~rht. not to be .entirely passed ?ve: If I did not ~hink there w re reasons mc.l pendent of JUdg " Discourse on Na.lural Philosoph?, p. 343 OPPOSITION OF THE SCIENTIJ'IC CL.A.8S. 291 ment for the scientific class coming so generally to this conclusion, I might feel the more embarrassed in presenting myself in direct opposition to so many men possessing talents and information. As the case really stands, the ability of this class to give at the present time a true response upon such a subject appears extremely challengeable. It is no discredit to them, that they are, almost without exception, engaged, each in his own little department of science, and able to give little or no attention to other parts of that vast field. From year to year, and from age to age, we see them at work, adding no doubt much to the known, and advancing many important interests, but, at the same time, doing little for the establishment of comprehensive views of nature. Experiments in however narr? w a. wall~, fa_cts of 'Yh~tever minutene~s, make reputatLons 1n scientific soc1ebes; all beyond Is regarded with suspicion and distrust. The consequence is, that philosophy, as it exists amongst us, does nothing to raise its votaries above the common ideas of their time. There can th~r~fore, be.nothing more co~clu.si ve against our hypoth: es1s In the disfavor of the sc1en hfic class than in that of any other section of uneducated men. There is even less· for the position of scientific men with regard to the rest of the public is such, that they. are rath~r eager to repudiate than to embrace general views, seeing how unpopular these usually are. The reader may here be reminded that there is such a thing in human nature as comina to venerate the preju.di~es which we are compelled to t~eat tenderly, because It 1s felt to be better to be consistent at the sacrifice of even judgment and conscience than to have a war always going on between the cherished and the avo_:weu. According~y, in t~e case of a particular doctrine, whi?h, however U~J~Istly, Is re~a~·ded as having an obn? xw.us t~ndency, It Is n?~ surpns1ng that scientific men VIew It with not less hosbhty than the common herd. For the ver.y purpose of maintaining their own respect in the concesswns they have to make, they naturally wish to find all P?ssible objections to any such theory as that of progress! ve. de~elopment, exaggerating every difficulty in its way, reJeC~Ing wherever they can, the evjdence in its favor, and extenuating what they cannot re! cct · in short taking G\ll the well recognised means which ha;e been s~ often er:nployed. in keeping back advancing truths. If this looks hke ~pec1al plead; ng: I can only call upon th ~reader |