And we have a Babel of discord and a confusion of tongues.

Anthropologists occupy themselves with questions relating to facts "so far off and so long since "that they scarcely admit of demonstration and verification. Perhaps they do not know that the exact age of the world has been determined. This was accomplished, according to Venerable Bede, at a council held at Jerusalem, about the year 200 A.D. After a learned discussion, reported verbatim, it was finally decided that the world's birthday was Sunday, April 8, at the vernal equinox, and at the fall of the moon (Opera, tom 2; pp. 346, 347. Ed. Basil, 1563.) Here, at least, Anthropologists have one valuable and important fact to start from, and this question having been so satisfactorily settled, they may perhaps feel disposed to take the next step onward; so that, in course of time, arriving at the idea that sensibility is connected with the nervous system, and that the brain is the centre of this system, they may begin to feel some little interest in its varied functions and Gall's discoveries.

There are many at the present time who have been obliged to disregard "the tales they have heard from their mothers," and to abandon prevailing opinions, anxiously enquiring what is to take their place, and they are as desirous as the world has ever been to know Whence we came, Why we are here, and Whither we are going. The Spectator, a paper of some authority in such matters, in a notice of Mr. Maurice's work on the Conscience, September 26th, 1868, remarked that a large section of the ablest of our young men hold and avow more or less openly, according to their courage and honesty, that the attempt to solve such problems as the moral philosopher deals with "can lead to no results save that of entangling the inquirer in vague speculations, inca

pable alike of refutation or verification ;" and Lord Macaulay also asserted that "the best writer on Morals does not deserve half the gratitude from mankind which is due to a good shoemaker." Nevertheless the present work is another brief and humble attempt, by making use of the light of modern discovery and by putting together and systematising what have hitherto been detached and isolated truths, to answer this question of our Whence, Why, and Whither. I have endeavoured honestly to think out modern facts and discoveries to what appear to be their legitimate conclusions, although it may perhaps take the labours of another generation of workers to test and verify the deductions that have been here made. This task has been done without dread of the consequences, in the firm conviction that we have nothing to fear from truth, and that whatever intuitional aid we may receive from Conscience, we must still learn what is true in order to do what is right."

The Author has been accused by former critics of being too fond of "inverted commas," that is, of quotation. This accusation is quite true. Having no personal ends to serve, and knowing the value of authority with the general publicfor much that is here if given merely as his would probably obtain little acceptance-he has always been glad to support his position by names deservedly better known to the world. than his own, and to build up his edifice with bricks that have the "trade mark" of science upon them. It has also been said that he offers "authority" for "proof;" this also is partially true. In a single volume it is impossible in many cases to do more than point to where proof may be found, and those who are really in search of truth, and wish to study the subject, may refer. Should such a truth-seeker

meet with apparent contradictions, let him reflect how very imperfect a medium language is to express new ideas, and that we are frequently obliged to use old terms in a new sense, which often begets an apparent contradiction. Men ordinarily believe, like Shakespeare's Shepherd, "that the property of rain is to wet, and fire to burn, and that a great cause of the night is lack of the sun;" they believe also quite as firmly that grass is green, and that there are forms and bodies to which this colour belongs they never for a moment suppose that they are conscious only of their own perceptions, and that that consciousness is all they know, or can by possibility know; and yet as long as they continue under this illusion and delusion, and fail to recognise that the greenness is in themselves, and not in the grass, the same apparent contradiction must appear in language as there is in that which speech is supposed to represent.

It has also been said that the doctrines here propounded tend to lower our ideal. This also may be partially true, but our real good will be found in the proper restraint of our unbounded ideal longings within proportions commensurate with the real facts of life. Much of our duty may be better done by the light of a farthing candle than by that of the stars. No doubt much else may be justly said, much unjustly; but

To the long-necked geese of the world that are ever hissing dispraise, Because their natures are little,

-Tennyson,

The author has nothing to reply.

The Spectrum Analysis is affording proof to many pro

blems in physics, and Prof. Tait tells us that the doctrine of the Conservation of Energy is now thoroughly accepted by scientific men, and that it has already revolutionised the greater part of physics. Scientific men, however, have confined this discovery to physics, and there has been little or no attempt hitherto to carry it beyond. The Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, however, says "that we owe much to Dr. Carpenter for making it perfectly clear that though there is a certain amount of correlation between vital and physical forces, yet that the differentia between them is distinct and well defined, and that it is to be sought for in the nature of the material substratum through which they work, whether that be inorganic matter or organised structure. Such generalisations are helpful and suggestive; we owe much to them, and in the future we may owe still more." I have endeavoured to carry this generalisation a step further, to the correlation between mental and physical forces, and all the novelty I lay claim to in this work is the application of the Conservation, Transmutation, and Dissipation of Energy to Mind, Morals, and Religion. This doctrine of the Persistence of Force or Conservation of Energy furnishes the proof to much that has been known from the earliest ages, but which has been known as mere speculation. Prof. P. G. Tait tells us that it is "simply preposterous to suppose that we shall ever be able to understand scientifically the source of consciousness and volition." Nevertheless, I have endeavoured to show the conditions under which physical force or automatic mind again resumes its consciousness; how the Persistence of Force, and Philosophical Necessity or Law in Mind, are the same, and how, therefore, our Ethical systems may and must be brought into harmony with this.

now known fact; and I have endeavoured also to show the Unity of Force, and that all Power is Will Power, conscious or automatic, or, as Mr. W. R. Grove has put it, "Causation is the Will, Creation the act of God." Physics and Metaphysics Physiology and Psychology thus become united, and the study of man passes from the uncertain light of mere opinion to the region of science.

I wish some one with a learned handle to his name, or with a better claim to the world's notice, had taken up this subject; but the fact is that literary and scientific men are either too much occupied in their special department, or do not like to face the odium theologicum and all the other odiums which attend speaking out on subjects which in the present day belong more to feeling than to reason. It is only one who has no position and reputation to lose who dares venture upon this ground. Dr. Tyndall, in the Preface to his Volume of Essays just issued, says: "Most of the Essays are of a purely scientific character, and from those which are not I have endeavoured, without veiling my convictions, to exclude every word that could cause needless irritation." I am afraid I have not been equally cautious. I bow to science, but science is only valuable as it helps to solve the problems here propounded of the Whence, Why, and Whither. Faraday, however, says ("Life and Letters"): "I do not think it at all necessary to tie the study of the natural sciences and religion together, and in my intercourse with my fellow-creatures that which is religious and that which is philosophical have ever been two distinct things"; and, if we are to follow Faraday's example, that which is religious and that which is philosophical must ever remain two distinct things. Faraday was a "Sandemanian," and