eye could be formed by natural selec"tion can hardly be considered real."

I confess I think that our Philosophy cannot do less than lift up her hands and eyes in astonishment at this gigantic fabric of hypotheses, of which the basis is a suspicion that any nerve may become sensitive to light. There may be gradations from an imperfect and simple eye, -from a scrap of nerve sensitive to light, to a perfect and complex eye; and each grade is useful to its possessor, and hence the difficulty of supposing this to be the true history of the matter is not real! The inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, are all on the imaginary road from a bit of nerve to a complex eye; and therefore Nature has travelled on this road to the complex eye. This, it is confessed, seems absurd, but yet this is the doctrine insinuated. But the difficulties are not yet half stated. For, besides all this, and running parallel with these gradations of the optical adjustments, we have a no less complex system of muscles for directing the eye some of them, as the pulley-muscle, dwelt on by Paley, such as resist the tendencies of their neighbours; and the numerical expression of these correspondencies of the gradations of the optical and the muscular adjustment of the eye is to be multiplied into itself for every organ of the animal, in order to give the number of chances of failure to success in this mode of animalmaking. Verily the Philosophy must have a large swallow that can gulp down

these numbers!

And this, it seems, is the best physiological philosophy which we can get, if we reject final causes! And those are "advanced" physiologists who hold such doctrines. I confess I see no reason to believe that advance of science consists in denying truths formerly established. I believe, on the contrary, that truths once obtained are true for ever; and I deem that "Positive Philosophy" to be a false and worthless lore which consists in perpetual negations of what has been

established by thoughtful men in careful examination of facts.

I have written so much of M. Conte and his Positive Philosophy with great reluctance; for I cannot conceal my opinion that he is quite unworthy to be made the serious subject of discussion among philosophers. But the respect in which I hold some of the persons who have praised him-Mr. Mill and Mr. G. H. Lewes for example-has made me revise my opinion concerning him, long ago delivered; and I have thought it might be worth while to point out what seem to be the most attractive features of his philosophy, which I have tried to do. The praise which Mr. Mill bestows upon some parts of his writings is to me quite marvellous. But my wonder is somewhat lessened when I come to perceive, in reading these praises, that they refer to performances in which I conceive the object to be of small philosophical value, such as the classification of the sciences, and the arrangement of sciences one above another in a certain order. These attempts, even if successful, seem to me to be of small value. No science is yet complete; and yet when we classify and derive them, we suppose to be so. I think M. Comte's performances in this way worse than those of other persons-than M. Ampère's, for instance; but I see no interest in weighing them against one another.

it

When I say that M. Comte's speculations on the history of science seem to me to be worthless, I shall not be supposed, I presume, to hold that this subject is of no value. I contemn M. Comte's speculations on this subject, because I find in them so little of the history of science, and in that little many errors in the most important points, as when he ascribes Newton's discoveries about central force to Kepler, who never had the idea of central force. And his discourse concerning the theological stage of science seems to me to have no more to do with the history of science than the stories about Thor and Woden have to do with the history of England. But if any one will write the history of any science, marking the

speculations. In this essay he maintains his doctrine of the three stages of science-theological, metaphysical, and positive also that human activity in society has three corresponding agencies, -the conquering military, the defensive military, and the pacific industrial; and "that philosophy (or general beliefs) "in passing from the theological to the "positive stage must bring about the "substitution of the industrial for the "military regime; and, finally, that the "spiritual reorganization, which is the 66 necessary condition of all social re

organization, must repose upon the << authority of demonstration: it must "be based upon science, with a priest"hood properly constituted out of the 66 regenerated scientific classes."

Soon after this M. Comte married Caroline Massin, bookseller. He took to pupils as his support. "At the time "of his marriage, Comte had but one pupil; this pupil was 'the Bayard of our day,' as his admirers style General "Lamoricière. With the small sum of "money brought by his wife, a modest

66

lodging was furnished in the Rue "de l'Oratoire. Here M. de Narbonne 66 proposed to place his son as boarder "and pupil. Other aristocratic families "would, it was hoped, follow the "example. To receive these pupils, a

66

66

more dignified apartment was taken "in the Rue de l'Arcade, at the corner "of the Rue St. Lazare, and fresh "furniture had to be bought. But "when the small stock of ready money was thus invested, the pupils never came, and the apartment was a burden. "In a few months the solitary boarder "was sent back, and the young couple "had to migrate into more modest lodgings in the Rue Montmartre."

66

66

In 1826, he commenced a course of lectures in exposition of his system; and many of the most distinguished men in Paris,-Humboldt, Poinsot, De Blainville, Carnot, &c.-with the good-nature in manifesting an interest in a brotherprofessor's lectures, which is happily and properly common among men of science, attended his lectures; but, after three or four had been delivered,

an attack of insanity abruptly closed the course. Mr. Lewes has given very curious details of this season of insanity. He has added to them a very curious speculation; a list of "illustrious madmen." To Lucretius and Cowper, he adds Mahomet, Loyola, Peter the Great, Haller, Newton, Tasso, Swift, Donizetti, as showing that, in such cases, "the mind is lucid in its lucid intervals." This will, I think, strike an ordinary reader as a curious way of proving the lucidity of M. Comte's mind.

In 1830, he published the first volume of his Course, the sixth and last in 1842. And the admiring Mr. Lewes says:

"With the publication of the Philo"sophie Positive, he assumed his place " among the great thinkers of all ages, but "drew upon himself the bitter hatred of "rivals and humiliated professors, which, "being supported by the indignation of theologians, metaphysicians, and jour

66

nalists, who were irritated at his dan66 gerous elevation and sweeping scorn, "ended in driving him from his official "position."

I must refer to Mr. Lewes for the tale how certain eminent and generous Englishmen offered to replace the official salary for one year, understanding that, at the end of the year, Comte would be either reinstated, or would have resolved on some other career. But M. Comte had other notions. From this time he regarded these and the like contributions as his right; and spoke in the tone of a man defrauded and betrayed when they were withheld. This tone of self-conceited ingratitude is so revolting to our ordinary feelings that I do not choose to dwell upon it.

But I will not omit a happier and more interesting passage in his later days, of which Mr. Lewes speaks from personal knowledge. He was separated from his wife in 1842. "In 1845, he "first met Madame Clotilde de Vaux. "There was a strange similarity in their "widowed conditions. She was irrevocably separated from her husband by

66

crime which had condemned him to "the galleys for life; yet, though morally

Mr. Lewes adds, he was fond of applying to her the lines of his favourite Dante

"Quella che imparadisa la mia mente

Ogni basso pensier dal cor m'avulse."

'Every one who knew him during his "brief period of happiness will recall the "mystic enthusiasm with which he spoke "of her, and the inexpressible overflow"ing of his emotion, which led him to

speak of her at all times, and to all lis"teners. It was in the early days of his "attachment that I first saw him; he "spoke of her with an expansiveness "which greatly interested me." We cannot read without emotion what follows: "When I next saw him he was as ex"pansive in his grief at her irreparable "loss; and the tears ran down his cheeks

as he detailed her many perfections. "This happiness had lasted but one year."

66

His devotion to her memory, and the curious form that it took, must also be read with great interest; but I am perhaps borrowing from Mr. Lewes more than one writer in a magazine should do from a contemporary. I can only excuse myself by saying that the great interest with which I have read his account makes it difficult for me not to quote largely from it in speaking of M. Comte. But in speaking of M. Comte's later work, the "Politique Positive," I will rather quote Mr. Mill, who has given an account of this portion of M. Comte's speculations which is full of interest; and which is, as seems to me, written as favourably to M. Comte as any rational person can write. One judicious remark of Mr. Mill will show the spirit and temper in which his criticism of M. Comte's "sociological" speculations is written :

66

"We cannot but remark a singular "anomaly in a thinker of M. Comte's calibre," [it is curious to me how often Mr. Mill is led to the assumption of "anomalies" by his stedfast belief in M. Comte's "calibre,"] "after the "ample evidence he has brought for"ward of the slow growth of sciences, "all of which, except the mathematico"astronomical couple are, as he justly "thinks, in a very early stage, it yet 66 appears as if, to his mind, the mere "institution of a positive science of sociology were tantamount with com"pletion.' This remark Mr. Mill applies in detail to Comte's "sociology." I will borrow from him the outline of the Comtian polity (Mill, p. 122):

"A corporation of philosophers receiving a moderate support from the state, surrounded by reverence, but "peremptorily excluded not only from "all political power or employment, but "from all riches and all occupations

66

except their own, are to have the "entire direction of education; together "with not only the right and duty "of advising and reproving all persons respecting both their public and "their private life, but also a control (whether authoritative or moral is not "defined) over the speculative class "itself; to prevent their wasting time "and ingenuity on inquiries or specu"lations of no value to mankind (among "which he includes many now in "high estimation), and to employ all "their powers on the investigation "which may be judged, at the time, to "be more urgently important to the "general welfare. The temporal govern

66

ment, which is to co-exist with this "spiritual authority, consists of an aristocracy of capitalists whose dignity "and authority are to be in the ratio "of the degree of generality of their "conceptions and operations-bankers "at the summit, merchants next, then "manufacturers, and agriculturists at "the bottom of the scale." According to my recollection, this "aristocracy" was the government projected by the SaintSimonians. Mr. Mill adds: " Liberty "and spontaneity on the part of indi

66

"viduals form no part of the scheme. "M. Comte looks on them with as great jealousy as any scholastic pedagogue, or ecclesiastical director of con"sciences. Every particular of con"duct, public or private, is to be open "to the public eye, and to be kept, by "the power of opinion, in the course "which the spiritual corporation shall "judge to be most right.' The deference with which Mr. Mill discusses the Comtian scheme is a most edifying example of philosophical humility; and, in spite of what seems to me the absurdity of the process, is very instructive and very entertaining. I shall not, however, attempt to follow it, but some of the details cannot fail to amuse the reader, and have obviously amused Mr. Mill no little.

M. Comte in his later labours, as Mr. Mill says, came forth transfigured as the High Priest of the Religion of Humanity. A religion implies a cultus, and M. Comte, surrounded by the cultus of the Catholic religion, and aspiring to rival or replace it and its influence upon the minds of his countrymen, was led to provide an equivalent both for the private devotions and the public ceremonies of other faiths. The reader will be surprised to hear, says Mr. Mill, that the former consists of prayer :

"But prayer, as understood by M. Comte, does not mean asking; it is a mere outpouring of feeling, and for this view of it he claims the authority of the Christian mystics. It is not to be addressed to the Grand Etre, to collective Humanity, though he occasionally carries metaphor so far as to style this a goddess. The honours to collective Humanity are reserved for the public celebration. Private adoration is to be addressed to it, in the persons of worthy individual representatives, who may be either living or dead, but must in all cases be women; for woman being the sexe aimant represents the best attributes of humanity, that which ought to regulate all human life; nor can Humanity possibly be symbolized in any form but that of a woman. The objects of adoration are the mother, the wife, and the daughter, representing severally the past, the present, and the future, and calling into active exercise the three social sentiments-veneration, attachment, and kind

ness. We are to regard them, whether dead or alive, as our guardian angels, les vrais anges gardiens. If the last two have never existed, or if, in the particular case, any of the three types is too faulty for the office assigned to it, their place may be supplied by some other type of womanly excellence, even by one merely historical. Be the object living or dead, the adoration (as we understand it) is to be addressed only to the idea."-(P. 150.)

M. Comte having thus provided his disciples with forms of private prayer and with guardian angels, proceeds to public worship, and other matters into which he enters with wonderful minuteness. But I will only make one more extract from Mr. Mill's extremely interesting and amusing abstract:

"Not content with an equivalent for the Paters and Aves of Catholicism, he must have one for the sign of the cross also; and he thus delivers himself -" Cette expansion peut être perfectionné par des signes universels... Afin de mieux developper l'aptitude nécessaire de la formule positiviste à representer toujours la condition humaine, il convient ordinairement de l'enoncer en touchant successivement les principaux organes que la théorie cérébrale assigne a ses trois éléments."-(P. 154,)

M. Comte made a craniological system of his own, which is here referred to; but what parts of the head or face are thus to be successively touched in the mutual recognition of two Comtians, I have not studied the system sufficiently to be able to tell. But the effect must be much like that which has been thus described by a modern imitator of

Homer :