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    Method By Which the Causes of the Present and Past Conditions of Organic Nature Are to Be Discovered — the Origination of Living Beings
    Method By Which the Causes of the Present and Past Conditions of Organic Nature Are to Be Discovered — the Origination of Living Beings
    Method By Which the Causes of the Present and Past Conditions of Organic Nature Are to Be Discovered — the Origination of Living Beings
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    Method By Which the Causes of the Present and Past Conditions of Organic Nature Are to Be Discovered — the Origination of Living Beings

    By Thomas Henry Huxley

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    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateNov 25, 2013
    Method By Which the Causes of the Present and Past Conditions of Organic Nature Are to Be Discovered — the Origination of Living Beings

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      Book preview

      Method By Which the Causes of the Present and Past Conditions of Organic Nature Are to Be Discovered — the Origination of Living Beings - Thomas Henry Huxley

      The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Method By Which The Causes Of The

      Present And Past Conditions Of Organic Nature Are To Be Discovered.--The Origination Of Living Beings, by Thomas H. Huxley

      This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

      almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or

      re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

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      Title: The Method By Which The Causes Of The Present And Past Conditions Of Organic Nature Are To Be Discovered.--The Origination Of Living Beings

             Lecture III. (of VI.), Lectures To Working Men, at the

                    Museum of Practical Geology, 1863, On Darwin's work: "Origin

                    of Species".

      Author: Thomas H. Huxley

      Release Date: January 4, 2009 [EBook #2923]

      Last Updated: January 22, 2013

      Language: English

      *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAUSES DISCOVERED ***

      Produced by Amy E. Zelmer, and David Widger

      THE METHOD BY WHICH THE CAUSES

      OF THE PRESENT AND PAST CONDITIONS

      OF ORGANIC NATURE ARE TO BE DISCOVERED.

      THE ORIGINATION OF LIVING BEINGS

      Lecture III. (of VI.), Lectures To Working Men, at the Museum of Practical Geology, 1863, On Darwin's work: Origin of Species.

      By Thomas H. Huxley

      In the two preceding lectures I have endeavoured to indicate to you the extent of the subject-matter of the inquiry upon which we are engaged; and now, having thus acquired some conception of the Past and Present phenomena of Organic Nature, I must now turn to that which constitutes the great problem which we have set before ourselves;—I mean, the question of what knowledge we have of the causes of these phenomena of organic nature, and how such knowledge is obtainable.

      Here, on the threshold of the inquiry, an objection meets us. There are in the world a number of extremely worthy, well-meaning persons, whose judgments and opinions are entitled to the utmost respect on account of their sincerity, who are of opinion that Vital Phenomena, and especially all questions relating to the origin of vital phenomena, are questions quite apart from the ordinary run of inquiry, and are, by their very nature, placed out of our reach. They say that all these phenomena originated miraculously, or in some way totally different from the ordinary course of nature, and that therefore they conceive it to be futile, not to say presumptuous, to attempt to inquire into them.

      To such sincere and earnest persons, I would only say, that a question of this kind is not to be shelved upon theoretical or speculative grounds. You may remember the story of the Sophist who demonstrated to Diogenes in the most complete and satisfactory manner that he could not walk; that, in fact, all motion was an impossibility; and that Diogenes refuted him by simply getting up and walking round his tub. So, in the same way, the man of science replies to objections of this kind, by simply getting up and walking onward, and showing what science has done and is doing—by pointing to that immense mass of facts which have been ascertained and systematized under the forms of the great doctrines of Morphology, of Development, of Distribution, and the like. He sees an enormous mass of facts and laws relating to organic beings, which stand on the same good sound foundation as every other natural law; and therefore, with this mass of facts and laws

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