Semper ego auditor tantum? nunquam reponam 'Je vois ordinairement que les hommes, aux faicts qu'on leur propose, s'amusent plus volontiers à en chercher la raison, qu'à en chercher la vérité.' MONTAIGNE, liv. iii. chap. xi. "En voyant la complaisance du public pour les faiseurs de systèmes qui l'entretiennent tous les jours de leurs rêveries, on ne peut s'empêcher d'admirer le singulier penchant des hommes pour tout ce qui est explication. Personne ne s'informe si les explications sont exactes et précises, si elles sont établies sur des faits bien observés, déduites avec rigueur, confirmées par les phénomènes; on regarde seulement où elles vont ; et plus elles vont loin, plus on les reçoit avidement.' BIOT, Mélanges, vol. ii. p. 110. PREFACE. THE substance of the following pages was written in 1874, shortly after the meeting of the British Association at Belfast. That the publication has been so long deferred, is due to causes in great measure beyond my own control, into any discussion of which it is unnecessary to enter. The essays are now offered to those interested in these enquiries, with the intention of showing that those purely physical theories of life and mind, that have of late years been promulgated on high authority, and with unhesitating confidence, and have obtained such extensive credence even amongst thoughtful men, are simply untenable and unscientific, and are exercising a mischievous and benumbing influence in every domain of thought. As these chapters were at first intended for serial publication, it has been thought advisable to preserve, as far as possible, the original plan; notwithstanding that this necessarily entails some want of consecutiveness in certain parts of the argument. 75 HARLEY STREET, W. November 1876. |