It is probably because we cannot simultaneously perform two contradictory actions, that we cannot contemplate consciousness, or think of an idea and at the same time think of that act of thought. In accordance with this, even Newton, and other great geniuses, have been unable to accurately describe the mental processes by means of which they arrived at their most difficult results. In consequence also of this, we cannot define consciousness, and are often {101} unable to directly observe or a.n.a.lyse our mental actions, especially those of a very abstruse or complex kind.
Much of the knowledge of the operations of our mind, we are therefore obliged to obtain by indirect means; by a.n.a.logies, and inferences from the phenomena of nature, &c., and in this way our knowledge of mental action largely depends upon our acquaintance with physical and chemical science, and can only advance as it advances. To clearly understand one subject we are often obliged to study several others. Ignorance of science in general, and of cerebral physiology in particular, is the chief obstacle to our acquiring a more accurate knowledge of mind.
Next to consistency, the great principle of causation const.i.tutes the most essential part of all natural truth, and to deny the operation of this principle in particular cases of mental action, simply because we, with our very finite powers, cannot in the extremely imperfect state of our knowledge, yet fully explain some of the most difficult, complex, transient, and ever-changing phenomena of will and consciousness, is contrary to the most weighty evidence. "The Will" is a conscious mental effort to effect an object, the idea of which is already in the mind, and being a mental "effort" it absorbs the mind and thereby incapacitates it at the moment from observing its own action.
If any phenomenon (such as mental action) is essentially dependent upon another, it must be connected {102} with it in a never-failing or indissoluble manner, so that when the one occurs the other is always present, otherwise it would not be essentially dependent. The only known connections of this kind are those causation and continuity of phenomena, according to which every phenomenon has a cause, and all phenomena are indissolubly connected in endless series. The evidence of the truth of these principles is so vast, that even all mankind thinking through all ages, and after having made an almost infinite number of definite experiments and observations, have never yet met with a single well verified instance of their failure; and we are therefore justified in inferring that they are universal. There are however instances in the physical and chemical sciences, as well as in mental action, where the dependence of phenomena upon those principles is not very apparent, and has not yet been sufficiently proved, but it is probably in consequence of our imperfect knowledge and limited faculties, that we are unable as yet to fully trace such dependence. The history of science, abundantly proves that we should not a.s.sume that a phenomenon arises without a natural cause, simply for the reason that it is very difficult to trace its origin, but wait patiently for more knowledge respecting it. It is unphilosophic and contrary to reason to attribute to occult agencies, effects which may be explicable by ordinary causes, or to refuse to believe in more abstruse causes where the a.s.sumption of simple ones is contradicted by some of the evidence. {103}
The principle of causation forms the basis of many minor ones, such as selection, evolution, differentiation, &c. Plurality of causes also is a very common circ.u.mstance in all the sciences, and especially in concrete phenomena, and in the complex ones of animal life; the arrival of a ship for example at a distant port, is a result of many conditions. Similarly with most of our mental actions, they are compounds of feeling and intellect, and produced by many causes, such as hereditary tendency, acquired habit, internal and external mental excitants, dogmatic belief, knowledge of empirical rules, and occasionally of verified principles.
Several of these causes also frequently conspire to produce a single idea or decision.
Various general principles of lesser magnitude arise from the combined action of two or more of the greater ones, and these also appear to operate in mental actions as well as in physical ones. Thus by the combined influence of causation and of the principle that every phenomenon occupies time, "effects often lag behind their causes;" and in some cases during a long period. The greatest heat of summer for example usually occurs several weeks after mid-summer. The mental effects of early mistakes are often not fully experienced until old age. The decline of a nation also follows a long time behind the period of action of the chief causes which produce it.
Although effects are indissolubly connected with their causes, they frequently do not occur in an active form until a long period after them.
In such cases {104} they are stored up in what is termed a potential or latent state, ready for liberation at a future occasion, when the suitable conditions are present; the storage of chemical power in gunpowder, of solar heat in coal, and its subsequent liberation in our fires, are suitable examples. The principle of deferred activity and storing up of power, occurs also in vital and mental phenomena; potential heat is stored up in our food, and is afterwards evolved by oxidation in our tissues.
Muscular power is stored up during sleep, ready to be evolved during labour. The storage also of cerebral impressions, and cerebral energy, ready to call forth ideas, and thereby powerful emotions, by the exciting action of memory, may also be viewed as an instance of similar kind belonging to mental phenomena. A new and striking instance of the storage of energy has been shewn in Faure"s improved form of secondary voltaic battery, in which the most powerful voltaic current may be (at least practically) stored up (in a box containing lead plates immersed in dilute sulphuric acid) and conveyed to a distance with little loss, and then liberated.
Exciting causes operate very extensively in mental actions as well as in physical ones, a mere look or word from an eloquent speaker will excite the pa.s.sions and liberate the muscular power of a mult.i.tude. Every part of the human body, especially the muscles and nerve centres, is a store-house of power always ready to be set free by the slightest suitable causes; this is strongly ill.u.s.trated in the irrepressible activity {105} of children, and in the excitable pa.s.sions of young men and women. The more immediate cause of this power is the oxidation of a.s.similated food; and the source of power in the food is the heat of the Sun stored up in the plants and animals they have eaten.
The subsequent liberation of power under the influence, often of very slight causes, long after the original cause has ceased to act, has led us to conclude erroneously that causes are not always proportional to effects.
Proportionality of effect to cause appears to be universal; it probably operates in mental as well as in physical actions, our faith in education as a means of intelligence is based upon this; the more complete the education of a particular individual, the greater usually is his degree of intelligence. Proportionality of cause to effect is apparently disobeyed not only in physical but also in mental phenomena. Throughout the whole realm of nature, minute circ.u.mstances often act as exciting, deflecting, and guiding causes, and contribute to the production of apparently disproportionate effects. Thus a spark will discharge the largest cannon; a touch determine the most distant electric signal; a word or look, excite the strongest emotions; the little change of position of a railway point will direct a train either to distant North or South; the minute change of contact of the telegraph switch, will determine the signal to places wide asunder; one false idea also at a critical moment will often lead a man or woman to ruin; and in all these cla.s.ses of cases, {106} whilst trifling causes _appear_ to produce great effects; the real causes are the stored up latent powers set free or directed. It is astonishing how small a circ.u.mstance will excite an idea, and deflect the entire current of our thoughts; and it is equally surprising what great physical and chemical effects are often started by most minute exciting or deflecting conditions; the explosion of seven tons of dynamite at h.e.l.l-gate, near New York, by the pressure of a child"s finger closing an electric circuit is a suitable example.
Every phenomenon therefore whether physical or mental, is probably connected in an indissoluble manner with some preceding phenomenon, either immediately in point of time, or remotely through some static condition, usually that of stored up power. In this sense the great principle of continuity of phenomena appears to be universal, and the present state of the Universe is said to implicitly or potentially contain all the future states of the Universe. Mind also in this way, like each of the physical forces, often acts as a link in an endless chain of causes and effects, and is connected with non-mental phenomena in accordance with the great principles of science.
Science has demonstrated what has been termed the "Convertibility of Forces," or, that when one form of energy disappears, another form (or forms) of energy, and in precisely equivalent amount, is produced in its stead, either in a latent or active state. The equivalent quant.i.ties of the various forms of {107} energy have also been discovered by actual experiment and measurement. A pound weight falling through 772 feet gives forth as much energy as would (in the form of heat) raise the temperature of one pound of water one Fahrenheit degree. We know that so much mechanical power is equal also to so much electric current, chemical action, &c., and a large amount of evidence exists to show that these transformations of energy occur in all the organs of living creatures, and in obedience to the law of their equivalents. How far mental power is a "mode of energy" transformable, and obedient to the laws of equivalence, are interesting questions for future research.
The mechanical principle of action and reaction is another which can be traced in mental as well as in physical phenomena. Mental excitement is often succeeded by mental depression, "after pleasure follows pain." The power of mental self-guidance and self-education is largely dependent upon the two well known scientific principles of latent energy, and action and reaction. We are able to liberate energy, not only in cases where it will influence inanimate matter but also ourselves. The principle of self-guidance is not restricted to living creatures, nor is self-regulation limited to mental power. The principle of self-regulation operates in clocks, watches, musical boxes, the governors of steam engines, water regulators, gas regulators, &c., &c., and upon an immense scale in the movements of the heavenly {108} bodies. With the electric locomotive, the greater the load it has to draw, or the steeper the incline it has to ascend, the more strongly does it exert its strength, up to the full limits of its power. Neither in physical nor in mental actions can a body or force usually act directly upon itself to change its state whether of activity or rest. In both cla.s.ses of cases however we meet with plenty of instances where, a body by an almost imperceptible expenditure of energy on its own part either alters some surrounding conditions, or excites a powerful liberation of energy in another body which then reacts upon it to change its state. In this way the action of clock-work in the self-exploding apparatus of a torpedo liberates at a particular moment a spring, and causes an explosion which destroys the apparatus. Similarly, whilst a man, in many cases, is unable to _directly_ alter his mental state, to increase or diminish his mental activity, to cause sleep, &c., he is able _indirectly_ to change his mental condition by drinking stimulants or by adopting means of self-education; and to induce sleep by means of opium, suitable exercise, &c.
The principles of indestructibility or conservation of matter and energy, flow from the preceding ones, and are exhibited in mental actions as well as in physical ones. Whilst the universal experience of mankind has not yet afforded us a single well verified instance of actual creation or destruction of matter or energy, it has supplied us with plenty of examples of apparent destruction and creation of each of them. {109} But scientific knowledge corrects the uncertain testimony of consciousness; whilst we see coal burn and be apparently destroyed, science proves to us that the elements composing it remain undiminished. We observe also that the heat of the fire dissipates and is apparently lost for ever; but science again proves that it is either stored up in the latent state, ready to be again liberated at a future time, or else converted into other forms of energy. A given atom of matter or a portion of energy, therefore, to the best of our knowledge, continues and persists for ever. As we cannot either create or destroy matter so also can we not create or annihilate energy, and this truth probably holds good with regard to mental as well as to physical and chemical power. Great changes of state in bodies (as in the combustion of wood &c.) have led us to erroneously think that the substances are destroyed; and great apparent differences of property, such as those of diamond and charcoal, have led us similarly to conclude that they are entirely distinct and independent of each other when they are not.
As the cerebrum of man is composed of matter, and during excitement, its parts are active, we might confidently predict that its particles obey the First law of Motion, viz.: that a body in a state of rest or motion will continue in that state of rest or motion until some cause arise to prevent it. So it has been found that the action of the vital and mental forces have a degree of persistence, like the physical ones. It has been experimentally found that portions of {110} living bone transplanted to fleshy parts of animals where there was no bone, continued to grow for a time by a life of their own, and increased by formation of additional bone, like a crystal grows in its medium; but after a time they diminished and disappeared. In a similar manner we are all of us aware of the persistency of ideas, even in opposition to the will, after the cause of them has been removed. Sometimes we cannot retain an idea because of the persistence of others; and at other times we cannot get rid of one, for a similar reason.
Our mental habits also have often very great persistence.
The principle of heredity may be viewed as a result of the First law of Motion, and appears as Persistency of state, either of structure, form, or mode of action. It appears both in inanimate bodies, living structures, and in mental phenomena; in the latter, as hereditary mental peculiarities. The principle of Persistency of structure and Heredity of form and property, during repeated or even continual dissolution and aggregation of a material substance, is more or less manifest nearly throughout the whole of nature.
In the formation of crystals it is clearly seen; each crystallizable substance will only grow into its own shape or shapes; each particle of common salt, during an endless series of successive solutions and aggregations into the solid state, always forms a more or less perfect cube; that of silica a hexagon; and so on throughout the entire series of thousands of different crystalline bodies. As each {111} form of crystal only produces crystals of like form and property (or at most in certain cases a limited number of modified forms, as in the instance of calcic carbonate, &c.) so also each seed, both of animals and vegetables, only produces its own particular essential shape and collection of functions.
The same principle shews itself in the transmission of particular types of disease, and of eccentricities of organization, from one generation to another of animals. Peculiar malformations of body and characteristics of mind often persist in families from generation to generation. This persistency or heredity of structure and of property is not limited to solid bodies, but exists also in liquids: "The effect of vaccine virus upon the liquid blood, in producing a permanent and organic change in its const.i.tution and character, which continues to exercise a protective influence against small-pox, in the great ma.s.s of cases, through a long life, during which time the blood must have undergone, many thousands, if not millions of changes and modifications." (F. Winslow. "Obscure diseases of Brain and Mind," page 432). The same persistency of structure and property of structure, has even been detected in vapours; the vapour of red iodide of mercury for example, deposits only crystals of red iodide, whilst that of the yellow deposits only yellow (see Gmelin"s Handbook of Chemistry, vol. 1, p. 100.)
We often appear to mentally select when we only yield to causes acting upon us, _i.e._, to the strongest influence or motive. That "self-preservation is the {112} first law of nature," is not only true of living creatures, but largely also of dead substances. Inanimate as well as animate matter, appears to usually select what is good for itself. Apparent selection, which is manifested in the phenomena of instinct, is exhibited not only by brain, but by all material substances. Acids appear to select bases, North magnetism rejects North and prefers South magnetism. Also if a piece of zinc is put into a mixed solution of the nitrates of silver, magnesium, calcium, strontium, barium, lithium, sodium, pota.s.sium, and rubidium, it will select the silver only with which to form a "metallic tree," and reject all the other metals. Everything which aggregates or grows to a definite shape, appears to select its material; if a crystal of a particular salt is placed in a mixture of saturated solutions of different salts, it will only select and a.s.similate to itself suitable material, either particles of the same composition as itself, or those which are isomorphous with it, _i.e._ belonging to the same crystalline system. In living bodies also, the same principle operates; Living tissues, whether of animals or vegetables, usually select from their nutrient fluids, and a.s.similate, particles only of those kinds of matter which are suitable for their structure; in this way, a bone a.s.similates lime and phosphoric acid from the mult.i.tude of different substances conveyed to it by the blood. And in all these cases, the selecting material appears to act as if it possessed the powers of instinct, perception, comparison, judgment, and {113} volition. The act of self-repair is clearly connected with this, and is not limited to living structures; Sir David Brewster observed that if a portion of the surface of a perfect crystal of alum is very slightly abraded by dissolving a film from it, and the crystal be then immersed during a very brief period in a saturated solution of alum, the abraded portion repairs itself. The subjects of "malformation of crystals," and "diseases of crystals" have been scientifically investigated. The power of selection (or rather of apparent selection) is no doubt a result of the combined action of causation and of the inherent properties of bodies, and depends, like consciousness, upon difference of impression, the strongest suitable influence determining. If apparent selection can thus be performed by inanimate matter, we should not, except for a very sufficient reason, a.s.sume the existence in living creatures, of a special occult power to perform the same function. In the selection of ideas also the intellect acts according to the purely scientific method.
We frequently appear to mentally adapt ourselves to particular circ.u.mstances when we are really determined by causes; and this apparent adaptation is also seen in ordinary physical and chemical phenomena. The course of a river for instance, adapts itself to the configuration of the country through which it flows, and if it cannot pa.s.s wholly by one channel, as in seasons of flood, or on occasions of accidental obstruction, it travels through several; and a similar result {114} occurs with the flow of the blood when an artery is tied or becomes obstructed. A plant when growing in a dark recess, bends itself towards the light as if it preferred light; and its roots adapt themselves to the forms of existing obstacles. A decapitated frog jumps away from a source of irritation, as if he still possessed sensation, volition, and choice. A man seeking his way through a crowd avoids the course in which the throng is densest. The human mind also, chooses as it were, the easiest way of solving a problem, and usually adapts itself to altered circ.u.mstances.
The principle of evolution also operates both in physical and mental actions, and is a result of that of causation. Complexity of structure and function is evolved out of simplicity of composition and property by plurality of causes and conditions. For instance, many complex forms of crystals of ice are produced from water. Calcspar crystallizes in more than one hundred varieties of form, (all derived from an obtuse rhombohedron) under the influence of a number of slightly different conditions of temperature, impurities in the solution, &c. The most complex bodies are evolved out of the simplest, the bodily frame of man himself (and that of other animals) is constructed of less than twenty of the elementary substances. The same simple substances are capable of yielding very different and more complex bodies under different conditions; thousands of different chemical compounds are composed of hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon only. In the development of {115} living forms from ova, the ultimate form produced does not exist in the germ, any more than a crystal exists in its solution, but is a natural consequence of the forces acting in and upon the germ, like the cubical form of a crystal of common salt is a result of the forces acting in its const.i.tuents under the conditions of its environment, especially those of pressure and temperature. The extent to, and manner in which, the force and principle operate, depend upon the material substance, and its conditions internal and external.
It is a common circ.u.mstance, both in physical, mental, and moral subjects, for the apparent to be the very opposite of the real. This general truth has been repeatedly ill.u.s.trated in an incidental manner in this book, and need not be much further elucidated. Phenomena are none the less real, however, because they are not readily manifest; our earth is as much tied to the sun by the invisible power of gravity, as if it was attached to it by visible material chains. Mistaking the apparent for the real, largely explains the persistency of certain beliefs, and why it is that persons unacquainted with science, cling to self-deception, and resist some of the most firmly established truths. The more evident but untrue explanation is believed, whilst the less apparent but true one is rejected. It is the chief cause of the belief that "the will is a supernatural power." To a scientific man however, apparent contradictions are not unfrequently a sign of truth; too accurate results sometimes {116} indicate that they have been artificially made to appear correct.
Sympathetic action or propagation of similar influence by immediate impulse, is a property of all the natural forms of energy, as well as of mind. Similar actions are propagated thus in all kinds of dead substances, as well as in the living brain. Matter is sympathetic to sound in the phenomena of singing-flames, and a vibrating string responds to a particular note in obedience to well-known laws. Iodide of nitrogen may be caused to explode by the influence of a particular note from a fiddle. In the phenomena of light, with a spectroscope, a luminous gas is sympathetic with, and emits and absorbs, only particular kinds of luminous rays. In chemical action also, combustion excites combustion, ferment excites ferment, infection communicates infection, and the similar chemical change is transmitted from molecule to molecule. Mental excitement and disease in one person, often excite similar phenomena in another, as is seen in "religious revivals," and well-known epidemics, such as the "dancing mania," "preaching epidemics," the "leaping ague," the "mewing contagion,"
etc., etc., (See "Epidemics of the Middle Ages," by Hecker; Sydenham Society publications; also Carpenter"s Mental Physiology, p. 312.) Like excites like in the actions of each of the forces of nature; both in physical, chemical, and mental action, the kind of impulse transmitted is similar, unless conditions exist which trans.m.u.te it. Dynamite, {117} started into combustion by a flame, burns slowly away; but when started by a detonating substance, detonates violently. Guthrie has also discovered that if a melted cryohydrate (_e. g._ a chilled saturated aqueous solution of a solid salt) is cooled to a certain greater extent, it will not solidify--nothing separates out, although the solution is four or five degrees below its proper solidifying point. If a little crystal of ice be then thrown into it, nothing separates but ice, which comes to the surface.
If we throw in a little anhydrous salt, nothing but the anhydrous salt separates out, and that sinks to the bottom. But if we throw into it a crystal of a previous crop of cryohydrate, then nothing but the cryohydrate separates. In this case also, like evidently excites like only, in obedience to physical laws. (Addresses, Science Conferences; South Kensington Museum, 1876; Vol. 2, p. 108). Even two clocks, when hung near each other, against a board or surface which readily transmits vibrations, have been known to exhibit, by synchronous action, an apparent sympathy, which changed their rate of going.
Periodical phenomena, also, brought about by definite causes, occur in mental, as well as in physical phenomena. In the former we have the phenomena of sleep, and in the latter, definite causes produce summer and winter, day and night, the tides, cycles of solar spots, maxima and minima of magnetic intensity, etc., etc.
Conversely to the manifestation of the principles of {118} inanimate matter by living bodies and in mental action, so have modern inventions demonstrated the possibility of the performance by inanimate substances and apparatuses, of the functions, not only of our bodily organs, (as of locomotion by the steam engine,) but also of our senses and intellect, and in some cases, to a degree far surpa.s.sing unaided human power. Apparatus, sensitive to sound, have been constructed, as in the microphone and singing-flames; others capable of reproducing articulate speech, as in the phonograph, telephone, etc.; others again sensitive to light, as in the production of visible images by photography, and reproducing them at a distance through wires by means of the photophone; the power of indicating or foretelling future events has also been embodied in instruments called "tide predictors," and that of evolving inferences has been shewn in Jevon"s "Logical machine."
The various facts mentioned in this chapter prove that mind agrees with the various forms of physical energy in many essential points, and obeys many of the same laws or principles. Examine whatever general phenomena of the mind we may, we can always detect some apparent or real connection of them with the great principles of inorganic nature; and in order to prove the dependence of them upon the great principles of science it is not necessary to show that all such actions are subject to those principles. Until the whole is explained however, there will always remain mysterious phenomena to cavil about. {119}
MORAL PROGRESS.
At the present time few competent persons have largely investigated the fundamental relations of morality to Physical Science, consequently moral actions are usually considered not to have a scientific basis, and the doctrine is still extensively taught that some moral phenomena are essentially supernatural.
As new scientific knowledge has increased, belief in witchcraft, sorcery, demonology, exorcism, evil influences and omens, unseen spirits, a G.o.d of evil, supernatural and occult powers, supernatural sources of strange diseases, evil presages from comets and eclipses, fetishism, worship of images and of the Sun, a belief that the Earth is the chief body in the Universe, that man is the "Lord of Creation," &c, &c. have largely pa.s.sed away, and beliefs more consistent with facts and with true inferences drawn from them, have taken their place. Belief in the supernatural nature of the human will however is still largely retained. A writer on morality, says--"In every genuine volition we have a phenomenon not law-determined, law-regulated, and law-explained."[15] A popular expositor of religion says--"The phenomena of the human soul are essentially different from the phenomena with which the student of science is most familiar, and must be investigated on other principles and by other methods." "The voluntary activity of man lies beyond the limits of science." "Every language man has ever spoken--no matter how {120} perfect or how rude--the literature of the ancient and the modern world, the indestructible instincts of the human soul, the testimony of consciousness, unite to affirm that the human will is independent of natural law." "The will is a supernatural power." "I myself am not under the dominion of natural law;" "my moral life is essentially a supernatural thing." "As soon as you approach the intellectual and moral life of man, you enter a region in which you have to do with a new order of facts." &c.[16]
Morality, the subject of duty, or of right and wrong-doing in conscious creatures, is usually considered to relate only to those actions over which a man has or might have had control, and which it was his duty either to perform or avoid, and not to those which are entirely beyond his influence, it is therefore essentially dependent upon the power of selection or choosing. As then all moral actions require voluntary choice between right and wrong, and every act of choice is a mental one of comparison of two or more things, all moral actions are mental ones. We cannot compare things which have not made any mental impression upon us. We know further, and the evidence already given proves, that mental actions are intimately dependent upon the principles of nature operating within and around us. If then all acts of morality (or immorality) are mental ones, and if all mental actions are intimately dependent upon the great principles of nature; then all acts of morality {121} are dependent upon those principles. Morality also cannot be properly understood without a knowledge of various sciences, especially biology, because it relates to human creatures, all of whom are morally affected by the various forces and substances belonging to the physical and chemical sciences.
Having shown that moral actions are mental ones, and adduced evidence to prove that mental actions are largely subject to scientific principles;--it follows as a necessary consequence, that moral actions also largely obey those principles, and I need not repeat that evidence.
The extension of scientific knowledge conduces in a very general way to moral progress, by diffusing the "scientific spirit," increasing our love of truth, facilitating the attainment of greater certainty and accuracy, enabling us to more perfectly avoid error, reducing our ignorance, dispelling superst.i.tion, inculcating obedience to law, diminishing difference of opinion and thereby lessening strife, conducing to humility, to greater economy of means, to increased cleanliness, &c, &c. Scientific research also, by disclosing to man his true position in nature, enables him to act in harmony therewith, and thus increase his morality and general happiness.
Knowledge is as free as the air, once diffused it becomes impressed upon the brains of men and cannot be easily destroyed or restrained; and the greatest moral effects of science are cosmopolitan ones. Inventions based upon new scientific truths are gradually {122} breaking down the barriers between the various nations of the Earth, and infusing common interests amongst all mankind. Nothing is uniting the sympathies of different nations, increasing the friendly feelings between them, and diminishing the probability of war, more than the increasing facilities of communication brought about in a great measure by the developments of science and art; more particularly by ocean steam navigation, rapid postal communication and the telegraph, (see p. 51). At the present time there are about six Atlantic telegraph cables in use, and an almost daily service of pa.s.senger steam ships across that ocean. The use of inventions based upon scientific discovery has aided moral progress in various ways. All inventions are made with the object of supplying some real or supposed want, and nearly everything which supplies a common want, conduces to contentment and happiness and the general progress of mankind. No one can possibly measure or estimate the advantage of the inventions of writing and printing, in helping men to avoid quarrels, to settle differences of opinion, to sympathise with suffering, to give advice: &c. Similar moral functions are also performed by the electric telegraph, and a few specimens of some of the messages sent through the wire would clearly ill.u.s.trate this fact.
Great moral progress has also resulted from cheap daily intelligence, collected largely with the aid of the telegraph; and of cheap books produced by means of the steam engine. It is estimated that 250 millions {123} of copies of newspapers are yearly published in Great Britain. The Bible and Religious Tract Societies could hardly have existed had not the properties of the ingredients of ink been discovered. The present multiplicity of testaments, prayer-books, hymn-books, &c., has also been rendered possible by the invention of printing. As darkness is favourable to crime, so the invention of gaslight has conduced to morality. The numerous sources of intellectual and moral enjoyment, developed by inventions based upon scientific discovery, have attracted mankind from more sensual and less moral amus.e.m.e.nts, and the invention of the piano-forte has operated largely in a similar manner.
In many respects, the poor man of to-day can command social comforts, conveniences, and pleasures, which an emperor could not in former times.
Who can estimate the amount of beneficial moral influences of an indirect kind obtained by means of modern science? The relief from pain by chloroform and other new medicines, the diminution of domestic toil by the sewing machine; the increased health and pleasure obtained by access to the country and seaside by means of railways; the diminution of anxiety resulting from more speedy conveyance of letters, and especially of messages by telegraphs, the increased pleasure of life resulting from being surrounded by objects of beauty multiplied cheaply by means of scientific processes, such as photography?
The human mind cannot greatly resist impression, the various effects of scientific research necessarily {124} produce an influence upon it. Whilst great deep-seated truths make a powerful impression on the minds of philosophers, the great practical effects of science in inventions, &c., profoundly impress the ma.s.s of mankind. One of the chief influences of the discovery of important scientific truths and of their practical application in some wonderful way, such as in the telescope and microscope, phosphorus matches, photography, electro-plating, the electric light, the spectroscope, microphone, telephone, &c., is to produce a profound and wide-spread impression of the existence of a great and mysterious influence, which produces (or enables us to produce) such striking effects.
Whilst also the novelty of the practical effects of new scientific truths in inventions, astonish persons in general; the definiteness of scientific phenomena, and the certainty with which they may be reproduced convince all competent persons who examine them, that they are rigidly subject to definite laws. In this way the antique belief that natural phenomena are produced by supernatural agencies, is gradually being abandoned, and the more moral conviction of the omnipresence and universality of law has been largely established in its stead. Every new scientific fact and invention thus becomes a new proof of the universality of law. Belief in the supernatural has diminished in proportion as scientific knowledge has advanced; instead of natural phenomena being erroneously ascribed to demons, spirits, supernatural {125} powers, and occult causes, they have been proved to be results of natural powers, acting in accordance with known principles. a.s.sertions which have been made, that "the will is a supernatural power, independent of natural law" &c., are not supported by evidence at all equal in cogency to that in proof of the statement, that our mental and moral powers as a whole act in accordance with the great principles of science.
That moral phenomena, like those of the physical sciences, are capable of being made the subject of experiment, observation, comparison, a.n.a.lysis, and inference, is very manifest. Every case of bribery may be viewed as an experiment in morality. The very common case where an employer tests the honesty of a servant by some contrivance, is also a trial of a similar kind. The dependence of the moral powers upon scientific conditions, is clearly seen in the influences of intoxicating drinks. A mere natural substance could not possibly overcome the influence of a power which exists entirely independent of it; _i.e._, a "supernatural" one. Even the greatest believer in the "supernatural" power of the human will, deplores the serious injury which the abuse of alcoholic liquors produces upon mankind, rendering the will powerless, and debasing the moral sentiments. The effects of opium, haschisch, &c., are other examples. A vast number of experiments remain to be made of the effects of drugs and organic compounds, both solid, liquid and gaseous, upon moral actions; {126} which will probably prove a still greater degree of dependence of those actions upon purely physical and chemical conditions.
The "order of facts" in the subject of morality requires precisely similar mental treatment to those to which scientific investigation has been already applied with such great success, and which include all phenomena admitting of observation, comparison, a.n.a.lysis and inference; and not only those in which we are able, but also those in which we are not able to produce by means of experiment, the phenomena to be observed, such as those of astronomy and geology. Different subjects also are experimental in different degrees, physical science is more experimental, physiology is more observational; morality is partly experimental, and therefore capable of reduction to scientific system by means of our intellectual powers.
In consequence of the essential nature of truth being the same in all subjects, and of the fundamental processes of mental action in the determination of truth being also alike in all, the essential modes of arriving at and detecting moral truth are the same as those employed in research in the physical sciences. We possess therefore no special faculty, call it "conscience," or what we may, by which we are enabled to infallibly arrive at truth in moral questions. What is right and good, and what is wrong and evil, are determined by precisely the same general means as what is true; our much vaunted consciousness alone does not infallibly tell us; reason alone, {127} acting upon the evidence, is the final arbiter in any doubtful or disputed case. The truth of moral questions must be examined and tested by precisely the same mental faculties and processes as those employed in physical science, viz:--by the faculties of perception, observation, comparison, and inference, acting upon the whole of the evidence; and by the processes of observing facts, comparing them, inferring conclusions; by a.n.a.lysing and cross-examining the evidence in every possible way, and extracting from it the largest amount of consistent knowledge.
Although we cannot detect moral truth by any other than intellectual processes, we may however arrive at correct moral conduct in two ways, viz:--either blindly or intelligently. We arrive at it blindly or automatically by the process of trusting to our inherited and acquire tendencies and dogmatic beliefs; and intelligently by the conscious use of our knowledge and intellectual powers; and each of these methods has its advantages. The former process being an empirical one, is very uncertain and cannot be employed for the judicial detection of truth, or the certain discrimination of it from error, it has however to be trusted to in all cases where we are deficient in knowledge, or have not time for investigation. Truthful ideas and correct conduct also, which at first require the exercise of considerable intellect and much self-discipline, in order to arrive at them, become by habit so completely converted into acquired tendencies as to be automatic. It is not improbable {128} that many of our truthful ideas and correct tendencies were originally arrived at by intellectual processes; and have become incorporated into our mental and physical structure by habit, education, and inheritance.
The scientific basis of morality is further shewn and essentially proved by the fact that the fundamental rules of morality are dependent upon scientific principles. According to Dr. Clarke, the two fundamental "rules of righteousness" which regulate our moral conduct are, first, that we should do unto another what we would, under like circ.u.mstances, have him do unto us; and second, that we should constantly endeavour to promote to the utmost of our power, the welfare and happiness of all men (to the latter might well be added, the welfare of all sentient creatures). The first of these rules is essentially dependent upon the scientific principle of causation, viz:--that the same cause, acting under the same circ.u.mstances, always produces the same effect, if what we did for another person under like circ.u.mstances might produce a different effect to what it would when done for ourself, the rule could not be depended upon and would be of no use. The second also agrees with the great principles of science, for the more we obey those principles, the more do we really "promote the happiness and welfare of all men." The first of these rules however in the form usually stated, is incomplete, because it does not provide for the circ.u.mstance, that many persons desire to have done unto themselves, not that which {129} is most right, and really most for their welfare and that of mankind in general, but that which would most please them. The desire of immediate pleasure or consolation is greater than the love of truth in nearly all men, and this is connected with another fact, viz:--that persons unacquainted with the great principles of science, have not the advantage of the moral sustaining power of those principles, and are compelled in circ.u.mstances of trial to seek extraneous mental relief.
The desire to do right is not the primary source of morality; there must be a cause for that desire, and this fact also shews that moral phenomena are dependent upon the scientific principle of causation. We can also much better understand a subject, especially a complex one like that of morals, when we can co ordinate its facts in a scientific manner, by referring them to some general principle which governs or includes them. Referring moral actions to a verified scientific principle, is more satisfactory than referring them to a less definite source such as "conscience"; the "testimony of consciousness"; or "the indestructible instincts of the human soul," because a principle affords a more consistent explanation than a dogmatic idea. The fact also that the discoveries of science usually precede the developments of the moral advantages of science to mankind, is in harmony with the general truth that effects follow their causes, and with the conclusion that moral rules and moral progress have a scientific basis. {130}
In a general way, the influence of science upon moral progress is connected with what has been termed, "the scientific spirit." This characteristic consists mainly of an intense love of truth, a desire to acquire new knowledge, to arrive at certainty and accuracy; also an obedience to law in general, and a consequent philosophic resignation to inevitable ills.
Science inculcates these qualities, and it is well known that scientific discoverers have usually been highly moral persons, truthful, accurate, law abiding, patient, persevering, temperate, &c. On the other hand, the most lawless persons are usually those who are most ignorant of the great laws which govern their actions, who over-estimate human power and ability, and are impelled by ill-regulated enthusiasm or feeling.
Belief in and obedience to law, being a fundamental moral quality, is in its turn the source of other moral qualities of less importance; for instance, it tends to produce calmness, resignation, contentment, patience, submission to the inevitable, &c. No man can be highly moral who disobeys the great principles of nature. We may however obey those laws either intelligently, by acquiring a scientific knowledge of them; empirically, by obeying rules framed in accordance with them; or blindly, by obeying dogmas which happen to agree with them. Those who do not understand laws cannot of course intelligently obey them, and those who most disobey them, consist nearly wholly of those who do not understand them. {131} Superst.i.tion, ignorance of natural law, and a belief in occult powers, encourages lawlessness, injures the moral sentiments, and is often attended by bigotry, a.s.sociated with strife, schism, and sectarian dispute.
Probably the greatest influence which scientific discovery has had upon the moral progress of mankind, has been by inculcating an intelligent love of truth on account of its own intrinsic goodness; in this respect it stands pre-eminent. Love of truth is a fundamental virtue because it is the basis of many smaller ones. It is more virtuous, also, to pursue truth on account of its own intrinsic and unqualified goodness in all respects, than for any narrow extrinsic quality, such as the personal pleasure or utility it may afford, or on account of any personal gain or loss, reward or punishment, which may result from pursuing or neglecting it. In the present imperfect state of civilization however, the great bulk of mankind unavoidably employ less n.o.ble, as well as the n.o.blest motives, as a means of improvement. Most men can only be moved to do right by means of inferior motives, one of the most effectual of which in a commercial nation is "small investments, large profits, and quick returns;" an expectation of great reward in return for small self-sacrifice.
The discovery and dissemination of verified scientific knowledge is a purer kind of occupation than the promulgation of any kind of dogma, because the statements of verified science are usually capable of demonstration, whilst those of doctrine, being often {132} contradictory, may, or may not be true; mere affirmation also, when not based upon proof, is often dangerous to morality. In dogmatic subjects a man may tell untruths with impunity, because no one can disprove or convict him; but in demonstrable ones, a man dare not utter falsehoods, because others will prove his statements to be erroneous. It is demonstration rather than doctrine that is of divine origin. A man also who practises scientific research is largely compelled to adopt the most truthful views of nature, in order to enable him to make discoveries.
Real science is largely independent of opinion or faith. Whether we believe or not that a piece of clean iron immersed in a mixture of oil of vitriol and water, evolves hydrogen gas, the fact itself remains unaltered. It is a great and glorious circ.u.mstance for mankind, that human progress depends essentially upon a knowledge of new verified truth. As verified experimental knowledge can only come from the great source of all that is good, to doubt the value of new demonstrable truth, is practical atheism.
Those also who systematically investigate sources of verifiable truth, are much more likely to ultimately arrive at the fountain of all truth, than those who employ unsystematic methods, or prefer unproved beliefs to verified knowledge.