The New York herald., 1878-08-26
THE COURSE OF NATURE.

PROFESSOR NEwcoMB's ADDRESS UPON RErIn-
mo FROM THE PRESIDENCY or THE AMER
IcAN ASSOCIATION FOR TIE ApvANcExxNr
OF SCIENCE.
[From the ST. Louis Gobe- Democrat, August 2a1
At the second meeting oi the American Association
for the Advancement Of Science iu in st.
Louis Professor Newcomb delivered before retiring
from the presidency, lengthy address the "Courss
OF Nature, Traced by the Human Intellect OF our
Dsy" In closing, the Professor SAID
The reason why modern science greatly OK.
tended It's scope Is that modern science has acquired
been obtained. We all know iuii well that the action
oil teeoogca causes nus always been sscribed TO ops-
raions into which human investigated oouid not Den-
etrate although their ultimate effects might be plainly
seen. wheneve- the subject becomes SO we'll UNDER
stood that the chain OF natural causes be clearly
ioowed miracles and hna causes cease, SO lar as ths
scientific explanation OF things Is concerned. That
bali or spear thrown In one direction would bend ia
course INTO an en.mey cefent dirccton no one ever
The telescope has revealed 10 US q universe com.
pared with winch tina. known to ancents 10 but
atom, and geology has opened up 10 vsta
ol ages IN which tbe lifetime OF our generation Ia
hardly more than momeut. And mus dual causea
have taken their hight from vast region ~ which
they before lay md obscurity. The ial Of simple
crop ., ram a. any .u.are urs nms any ether way
causes now and ways IN operation would be com.
pete miracle n would The appearance OF building
without the Intervention OF human hands. You may
now ask, Have thcy simply taken refuge In the moro
distant but vastly wider circumlerencc which now
marks the boundaries OF our knowledge, or are to
suppose them entirely banlshed from naturer This
ID entirely question OF intuition ana not at ali OF
scieI tito hv,htigutop have described scientific
theory adm tting scrutabe nnai
ut all, but claiming thai he law Of The iang rock
is symbolic OF all her operations. But think this Il
u view toward which philosophers have always In.
cncd
THE BKGISSING OF THINGS
We must always expect that men viii incline to
tins view IN proportion 70 tncir familiarity with the
material SIDE ol nature Al the time It Is evi-
da,tt al6 horv,e
things, anu that nature could moi havs c0mmen need
herself. We haze, therefore, wide bet lett between
the origin VI nature anu tue boundaries OF our
knowledge In which We may suppose the Inscruta0le
cause TO have acted. Here reach questions OF
philosophy weich lie outside oil held, and which.
therefore, wo cannot now stop 10 CONSIDER Tho exact
bearing oil the subject will be better Understood Dy
coaaensing what has already been ssld, 20 pre-.
sent the wnolo iu u brief space.
l. When men study The operations OF the word
arouad them they nnd that certain OF those opera
tons are dsterlnlned Wy movable antecedent conot.
lions aud go on with that bnd disregard Of conse.
quenccs which they call law They also md certain
her operations winch they unable trace
to tho operation of law.
2. Men attribute this latter class 10 intelligent au-
tbropomorphic beings or gods, having the power to
bring about changes IN nature 1nd certain o.
jccis. worthy or ignoDe, In view, which tney thus
endeavor 10 compass. Men also believe themselves
able 90 discern these Objects and thus explain tho
operations which bring them about The objects are
worthy iguobe, according 10 the state OF sociesy
In ancient times they often tue grathcation OF
the silliest pride or the lowest iusts.
8. As knowledge advances, one after another Of
these operations lound 10 We really determined by
law the only difficulty being that the law before
unknown or not compromised, or that the circum-
stances which Determined It's action obscure
100 complex to be iuliy comprc bended.
Final causes having thus, by one, disappeared
from every t1icKet whic has been July explored tue
question arises whether they now ever had
any existence at all On tue one hard II may
ciaimsa that 1t Is uuph,losophca to believe in them
when they have been sought IN vain IN every corner
into whicn light can penetrute. On the other hand
have tho diniculty OF accounting ior these very
lava BY which We Ind the course OF nature be de-
term'nsd Take, as single example, she law OF here
ditary descent. How did such y aw-or rather how
a,d suSn . process. Tor y Is proccss-hrs! COM
curry as the question. How came the hand ana tie
eye INTO existenccr II s only because II seems more
diibcult 10 investigate. II, AS the most advanced
scientific philosophy teaches creation Is itseh but
grown, how did tnat growth ortgtRatsY We here
wnerc they less well defined than Ia como other
directions, but shah take the liberty OF concluding
my remarks with a single suggestion trespessing
matter which lies outside OF them Wken the doctrine
OF The unversay VI natural law Is carried Tar a.
70 include the genesis oi living beings ana tho
adaptations to external circums mstancss cn we see
In their organs anu tneir structure, u IL often pro-
nounccd 10 be Athestic Whether TINS judgment
is correct cannot say, but is very easy TO pro-
pound the test question BY which s oorrecness Is to
DC determined Is the general doctrine OF causes
Ing IN apparently biind obedience TO iuvarabic law
IN se athestic Ii IL is then the whole progress OF
our knowledge 0f nature has been tnis direction,
for II has consisted ia reducing tho operations Of
nature to such bhnd obedience. OF course, when
say bind, you understand that mean blind lar
scru abc regard TO consequence ID coHcerped-blind
like Just lice, IA fact IL the doctrine athelstc.
then there Is nothing atneIsc ia asy apnas0 OF the
theory OF evolution, Tor this consists .selsSy IN
countng for certain processes o. natural aws.' do
not preienI TO answer the quesu0n hera Involved,
because belongs entirely to tie domain VI theology.
All We ask Is that each individual shall hold COO,
si-tcat tho subject maintain
affirmative o: the question topic aud the nega-
tive on another. MY object In presenting the views
have has been not so much TO PROFOUND nov theory
10 promote consistency OF views among tho labor.
els Ia the scientihc Held.