New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-09-05

III
xou nv .ouohnx YOU tho retort would DO that am
equally transgrossing tho limits OF fact for what am
really conscious Of IT, not that you are there but tna
the nerves OF my hand have undergone cnanRe. All
we hear aud see, aud touch and taste ana smell are
Il would be urged, variations OF our own conu
tion beyond which, even to the extent OF n"i'
breadth We cannot Co. That anything answering 70 our
exist. outside Of ourselves not fact but an
Inference to which all validity would be denied oI an
idealist like Berkeley, or by skeptc like Hume MI
Spencer takes another line. With him, as Win the uh
educated man. there is no doubt or question as W .o
existence Of external world But no diners from .no
uneducated who thinks that the world really Is "na'
consciousness represents 1t to be. Our states Oh con
seriousness arc symbols OF an outside entity "nicn
produces them and determines the order OF their
sion but the real nature Of which We can never know
In fact the whole process of evolution Is the maniesta
t,on of mower absolutely nscrutabe TO the INTELLECT Oh
man. As little day as In the days OF Joo can man
by searching find this power out. Considered iuhu"
mentally It is by operation OF an insouDie mystery
that life Is evolved species differentiated, ana m'hu
unfolded from their prepotent elements In INC 'ln
measurable past There is, you will observe no very
rank materialism here.
THE STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS OF EVOLUTION.
The strength OF the doctrine OF evolution consists not
in an experimental demonstration tor the subject
hardly accessible to mode Of PROOF but IN It's gene
raj harmony with the method OF nature as hitherto
known From contrast. moreover it derives enormous
relative strength. On the one side wo nave 'noorS
an 1t could with any propriey be so caiied' uerVcu
were the theories referred to at the beginning OF TINS a
not from the study Of nature but from the OBJ
seryation of men. q theory which converts inc
Power whose garment Is seen IN inc 'isip'o
universe into an artincer fashioned after the hu
man model and acting by broken en0rts as man
ia seen to act On the other side We have the con-
ception that all We around and all we feel whn
us-the phenomena OF physical nature as wen as 'nose
Of the human mind-have their unsearchabe roots III
cosmca Ie II dare apply the term, an infnitesimai
span of which only offered to the Investigation OF man.
And even this span is only movable in part We can
trace the development OF system and oorreate
with it the parallel phenomena Of sensation and
thought We see with undoubting certainty that they
90 hand Ia hand. But try to soar In vacuum 'ne
moment we seek to comprehend the connection between
them An Archimedean fulcrum Is here required
which the human mind cannot command and the
effort to solve the problem. to borrow an ILLUSTRATION
from an Industrious friend of mine. Is like the effort OF
man trying to lift himself by his own wastband AL
that has been here said be taken In connection
with this fundamental truth. When "nascent senses
are spoken Of when the differentiation OF tissue at
first vaguely sensitive all over is spoken off, and when
these processes associated with the modification
OF an organism by its environment the same parallel
IN,
implied. There is no fusion possible between the two
classes of facts-no motor In the intellect OF man
10 carry IL without logical rupture from tho one to the
other.
THE HUMAN UNDERSTANDING A MATERIAL PRODUCT.
Further the doctrine OF evolution derives man, in his
totay from the nteracton OF organism and environ
mept through countless ages past The Human Unuer-
standing for exampe-that faculty which MT spencer
has turned sifully round upon its own antecedents
is itself a result OF the play between organism ana
environment through cosmic ranges OF time Never
surely did prescription plead so Irresistible claim.
But then cones pass that over and above his I'M
derstandiug there are many other things appertanng
TO man whose prescrpvo rights quite strong as
that OF the understanding itself. 1t Is result for
example, OF the play Of organism and environment that
sugar sweet and that aoes are bitter that the smell
of henbane differs from the perfume OF the rose Such
facts flor which, by the way adequate
reason has yet been rendered. are quite as old as
the understanding itself and many other things can
boast an equally ancient origin. Mr. Spencer at one
place refers to that most powerful Of passions-the
amatory passionas one which, when 1t first occurs Is
anecedent all relative experience whatever ana we
may pass claim being at least as ancient and "a
valid as that OF the understanding itself Then there
are such things into the texture OF man as the
feeling of ave. reverence wonderland not alone the
sexual love lust referred TO- but the love OF the beau
full physical, and moral In nature. poetry, and art
There is also that deep-set feeling which, since the
earliest dawn OF history. and probably FOR ages prior
to all history incorporated itself in the religions OF
the world You who have escaped from these religions
into the high and dry light OF the understanding
may derde them; but in so doing you deride
accidents OF form merely and fail to touch the immov
able basis OF the religious sentiment IN the emotional
nature of man. To yield this sentiment reasonable sat
sacon the problem OF problems at the present hour
And grotesque In relation to scientific culture as many
Of religions OF the world have been and are-danger
ous nay destructive to the dearest privileges Of free
men Of them undoubtedly have been, and would
IL they could be againt will be wise to them
as the forms Of force mischevous, II permitted to IN
trude on region OF knowledge which 1t holds
command, but capable Of being guided by liberal
thought noble issues In the region OF emotion which
proper sphere 1t vain to oppose this force with
a view to its extrpation. What We should oppose to
death II necessary, is every attempt to found upon
this elemental bias OF mans nature system which
should exercise despotic sway over his intellect do
not fear any such consum nation.
TIE TRIUMPHs OF SCIENCE.
Science has already to extent eavened the world
and 1t will leaven more and more should look upon
the mild light of science breaking In upon the minds Of
the youth Of Ireland, and Strengthening gradually TO
the perfect day, check to any intellectual
spiritual tyranny which might threaten this island than
the laws OF princes the swords OF emperors. Where
is the cause Of feari We fought and battle
even In Middle Ages; why should doubt the issue
of conflict nowi The mpregnabe position Of science
may described In few words. All religious theories
schemes, and systems which embrace notions Of cos
mogony which otherwise reach into its domain,
IN so az they do this submit to the control Of science
and renqush all thought Of controlling It, Acting
otherwise proved disastrous in the past. and 1t is
simply fatuous to-day. Every system which would
escape the fate Of organism too rigid to adjust itself
s environment be plastic to the extent that the
growth of knowledge demands. When this truth has
been thoroughly taken in, riRdity will be relaxed
exclusiveness diminished things deemed essential
will be dropped. and elements now rejected will be
assmilated The lifting Of the life Is the essential
nont. and "a long az dOgmatism fanaticism and