Chapter XV: Practical Polarities (2)

On the other hand, there is no doubt that when we come to more complex cases, in which land is held in large masses, fenced in, not by the natural right of a man to the produce of his own exertions, but by artificial legal systems of inheritance and settlement, we are on neutral ground, where fair discussion is possible as to the limitations and conditions under which the State may afford its protection. Landed property is more the creature of law, and runs greater risks in case of revolution or communistic legislation, than personal property, which is more easily concealed or transferred. It is not unreasonable, therefore, that it should pay a higher insurance in the form of taxation, and especially when it passes by inheritance or settlement, when the new owner’s title is to a great extent artificial and the creation of the law. No one can dispute the abstract justice of a succession duty on all property, landed or personal, in proportion to its amount, passing by operation of law: the only question can be as to the amount, and the expediency of confining it within limits that shall not trench on confiscation or impair the desire to accumulate capital. And in the case of land, there is no doubt that there are a good many instances in which the question of the ‘unearned increment’ is raised more forcibly than in the case of ordinary property. Take a practical instance within my own knowledge, for an illustration is often better than an argument. There was a mountain property in Wales which, as a sheep or cattle farm, might be worth at the outside 800_l._ a year. Coal and iron were discovered under it, capitalists sank pits and erected works, two or three sets lost their money; but the works were carried on, a large amount of labour was employed, and in course of time a town of some eight or nine thousand inhabitants, sprang up. The proprietor’s 800_l._ a year grew into 8,000_l._ from fixed rents and royalties, which he has enjoyed for the last thirty years, through good times and bad, without being called on to contribute a penny towards schools, churches, roads, sewers, water, or any of the local objects necessary for the civilised existence of the population of eight thousand whose labour has added to his wealth. I do not blame him: the law told him to do what he liked with his own, and it probably never occurred to him that he was under any moral obligation to go beyond the law. But I do think that the law would have been more just, and better for the interests of the community, if it had made some portion of this unearned increment of 7,000_l._ a year liable for a contribution towards the sanitary and other objects essential for the decent existence of the town which had grown up on this property and given it this increased value. I cannot help thinking that centuries of landlord legislation, and of a public opinion based mainly on that of the wealthy and specially of the landed classes, have made our laws in many respects too favourable to the predominant interests, and that the swing of the pendulum now is, and properly is, in the direction of recognising the duties as well as the rights of property.

We must take care, however, not to let it swing too far in this direction, for of the two evils it is better to put up with occasional cases of hardship and oppression on the part of bad landlords than to endanger the security of property by reforms pushed to extremes at the dictation of impulsive masses, designing demagogues, or sentimental philanthropists.

Herbert Spencer, in his works on Sociology, often dwells with great force on the evils which arise from State interference. There can be no doubt that it is very undesirable that the State should become a sort of Jack-of-all-trades, and undertake branches of business which can be conducted by private enterprise. It is undesirable for two reasons: first, because the work is certain to cost more and be worse done; secondly, for the still more important reason that it tends to extinguish individual enterprise, strangle progress with red-tape, and teach a nation to look, like children to outside guidance, rather than, like men to their own. Still the question has two sides. Whatever individual enterprise can do should be left to it; but there are, in the complex conditions of modern society, a number of things which cannot be done by individuals, and which must either be left undone or done by the State, or by some local authority, joint-stock company, or other quasi-monopoly sanctioned by the State. Thus, if it were a question of bringing coals from Newcastle by sea, no one would suggest that the State should interfere with the private enterprise of individual shipowners. But to bring them by land requires railways, and railways can only be built by capitals beyond the reach of private individuals. If the State had not delegated a portion of its powers to joint-stock companies, not a ton of coal would ever have been brought by land to London.

And if the State may thus occasionally delegate its powers with advantage to the community, there are cases in which it may, with equal advantage, undertake itself branches of the nation’s business. For instance, the Postal Service. The advantages of a cheap and uniform system for the collection and delivery of letters throughout the whole kingdom are so great that they far outweigh any theoretical objections to State interference. Possibly some of the larger towns might have been as well or better served by private enterprise, but no non-paying district would have had a post-office, and the enormous commercial and educational benefits of the penny post would have been in a great measure lost to the community.

The case of telegraphs is not so clear. Probably, on the whole, the advantages of a uniform State management preponderate, but there are drawbacks which make it doubtful. Even at a sixpenny rate a great deal of the telegraphic communication of the large towns and active centres of business is taxed to make up for the deficiency of the rest of the kingdom. And invention and improvement in telegraphy are no doubt checked to a considerable extent by creating a State monopoly whose first duty it is to try to satisfy its masters at the Treasury by making the system pay.

When we come to railways we are on debateable ground, and it is fairly arguable that they should be worked by the State for the public good. But the objections here outweigh the advantages. Every one who has any practical experience of the working of railways must be aware that the simplicity and uniformity of the penny postal system are totally inapplicable, and that the traffic of the country requires, above all things, great freedom and elasticity in meeting, day by day, the varying contingencies which arise. Here is an illustration: In a certain town in France, on a railway worked by the State, it was determined to have a _fête_ in order to raise funds for a hospital, and, as an attraction, to bring down from Paris a small troop of actors and have a play in the evening. The question turned on the railway consenting to give them a reduced fare for the return journey. The manager of the railway was quite willing, but said that he had no power to alter the tariff without permission from the Minister of Public Works. The permission was applied for, and the result was that it arrived exactly on the day twelve months after the _fête_ had been held.

Contrast this with the case of the general manager of the London and North Western Railway sitting in his office at Euston and receiving half a dozen telegrams asking him to quote special rates, one perhaps for beef from Chicago to London, another for emigrants from Hamburg to New York _via_ Liverpool, and all requiring telegraphic answers then and there, if the business is to be done at all.

Again, if railways had been in the hands of the State, I do not suppose that we should have had half our present mileage; for the Treasury would never have sanctioned the outlay of public money on lines which could not show the prospect of a fair return on the capital, and it would have vetoed any multiplication of trains or reduction of rates which threatened loss to the exchequer. I can speak with some authority on this point, for I have been both Chairman of a railway company and Secretary of the Treasury, and I am certain that, in the former capacity, I have introduced important innovations, such as excursion trains and cheap periodical tickets, by which the public have greatly benefited, which I should have vetoed in the latter capacity.

Still there may be exceptional cases, as that of Ireland, where an unreasonable number of poor companies, in a poor country, wrangling among themselves, and giving a bad service at an excessive cost, intensify social and political evils, where the arguments in favour of a State purchase may outweigh the objections; and the extent and nature of State control over British railways is always a question fairly open to discussion.

In other departments, the supply of articles such as water and gas, and the enforcement of sanitary conditions, are probably best left to local authorities: in the latter case, under some central supervision to see that the duty is not evaded. Wherever neglect involves danger to others, as in the case of small-pox and other contagious epidemics, it is clear that the decision cannot be left to individuals, and the State is bound to interfere to enforce rational precautions.

So also the State is bound to undertake trades which are essential for the protection of the nation against foreign enemies. Our dockyards and arsenals may, and doubtless do, often make mistakes and turn out expensive work; but we could not safely leave the building of ironclads and supply of cannon solely to private enterprise, for there is no such large and steady demand for such articles as would induce a number of private firms to erect works and keep up establishments adequate to supply the wants which might arise in an emergency. In all such matters, therefore, of national defence we must put up with a certain amount of drawbacks incidental to State management, and confine ourselves to endeavouring to reduce them to a minimum. And this is to a great extent within the power of the nation and its Parliament, by applying common-sense principles of business to national expenditure, and seeing that while on the one hand we get as nearly as possible a pound’s worth of work for every pound spent, on the other hand we do not spend nineteen shillings uselessly, because some Chancellor of the Exchequer wants to gain momentary popularity by the ‘penny wise and pound foolish’ economy of docking the extra shilling off the necessary estimates. In private life a man gets on by knowing when to spend as well as when not to spend, and true economy has no greater foe than spasmodic parsimony alternating almost certainly with spasmodic extravagance. It would be easy to multiply instances, for there are few phases of political and practical life to which the principle of polarity does not apply, where extremes are not false, and where there is not a good deal to be said on both sides of the question. But the very obviousness of the principle makes it difficult to deal with it generally without degenerating into commonplace, while to trace its application exhaustively in any one instance would require a volume. Those who wish to pursue the subject further will do well to study the works of Herbert Spencer, where they will find the application of general principles to all the problems of sociology treated with a depth of philosophic insight and an abundance and aptness of illustration which I cannot pretend to equal. My ambition is of a humbler nature. I do not expect to set the Thames on fire, or to produce a revolution in modern thought; but I do hope that the views which I have endeavoured to express may do somewhat to make some readers more tolerant and charitable in their judgments, less bitter and one-sided in controversy; and that whatever truth there may be in my ideas will contribute to form a small part, neither more nor less than it deserves, of the great body of truth which is handed down from the present to succeeding generations, and which becomes, long after I am there to witness it, the inheritance of the human race in the course of its evolution.

And now, before I take my final leave of the reader, let me for a few moments throw the reins on the neck of fancy, and suppose myself standing with that group of Parsees by the shore of the Indian Ocean, listening to its murmured rhythm, inhaling the balmy air, watching the silver crescent of the new moon, and musing on the wise sayings of the ancient sage; the sum of the reflections which I have tried to embody in the preceding pages would take form and crystallise in the following sonnet:—

Hail! gracious Ormuzd, author of all good,
Spirit of beauty, purity, and light;
Teach me like thee to hate dark deeds of night,
And battle ever with the hellish brood
Of Ahriman, dread prince of evil mood—
Father of lies, uncleanness, envious spite,
Thefts, murders, sensual sins that shun the light,
Unreason, ugliness, and fancies lewd—
Grant me, bright Ormuzd, in thy ranks to stand,
A valiant soldier faithful to the end;
So when I leave this life’s familiar strand,
Bound for the great Unknown, shall I commend
My soul, if soul survive, into thy hand—
Fearless of fate if thou thine aid will lend.

INDEX.

Abraham, 186.

Accumulator, the electric, 63, 64.

Acetic ether, 73, 74.

Acids, 69, 70.

Aerobes, 87, 88.

Affinities, chemical, 51, 52, 55, 68;
of Zoroastrianism and art, 212.

Agriculture, 245.

Ahriman, 4, 180, 202, 203, 265.

Air, a cubic centimetre of, 20;
pressure of, 24, 25.

Aleutian Islands, 97.

Alga, 95, 105;
forests of the, 97.

Algonquins, funeral custom, 149.

Alizarine manufactured, 86.

Alkalies, 69, 70.

America, woman in, 111, 112;
respect for law in, 235.

Amœba, 76, 77, 82;
propagation of the, 103, 104, 117.

Amos, 187.

Anemone, sea, 104.

Angiosperms, 98.

Animal life, 92, 93;
Zoroaster enjoins kindness to, 207.

Aquarium, 93;
nature one huge, 101.

Arnold, Matthew, 207;
definition of the Deity by, 171.

Aryan race, divisions of the, 199;
religion of the, 200;
language, 200.

Assur, 153.

Astronomy, 5;
in early religions, 153.

Athanasian Creed, 181-183.

Atlantic cable, 60, 61.

Atoms, 5, 10, 14;
weight of, 15-17;
theory of, 16;
elementary, 18;
and their laws, 19, 22, 25;
vibrations of, 26;
and ether, 32;
and the vortex theory, 33, 34, 36;
action of heat on, 43;
and chemical energy, 50;
affinities and repulsions of, 51;
the primary element of matter, 66, 67;
polarity of, 68;
in hydrates, 69;
of hydrogen in acids, 69, 70;
of oxygen, 70;
multipolar, 71;
magnetic, 72;
dimensions of, 119.

Augustin, 201.

Australia, free trade in, 242, 245.

Authorities to whom the author is indebted, x.

Atavism, 103, 118.

Avogadro, law of, 13.

Axolotl, 123.

Bacteria, 85, 105.

Balkh, Zoroaster at, 201.

Bees, reproduction of, 106.

Bel, 152, 153.

Berkeley, Bishop, 142.

Berlin, spirit-seeing in, 166.

Blindness cured by hypnotism, 165.

Bombay, death rate in, 1881, 1882, 218.

Books, the best mirrors of an age, 111, 112;
modern French novels, 113.

Bozu, Buddhist priest upon the Divine Creator, 160, 161.

Brahm, 114.

Brahminism, 207.

Braid, Dr., cures by hypnotism, 165, 168, 193.

Brain, the, 125, 126;
tissue of the, 127;
average weight of the human, 129;
organs of the, 130, 131;
areas of speech, hearing, and sight in the, 132;
intellectual faculties in the, 133;
abnormal state of the, 134, 135;
action of the grey tissue of the, 137;
of the higher animals, 137, 138;
cells of the, 140;
action in a murder, 189;
organ of will in the, 191, 192;
effect of injuries to the, 192;
effect of will on the, 194.

Bret Harte, 110, 112.

Bruce, legend of the heart of, 228.

Buddha, 187.

Buddhism, 156;
in Shakespeare, 160;
the Divine Creator in, 160, 161;
morality of, 160, 184;
based upon pessimism, 177, 197, 198, 206, 207.

Burial of the dead, 149;
prehistoric, 151;
Parsee avoidance of, 208.

Butyric acid, 73, 74.

Byron on the Parsees, 219.

Calculus, the differential, 6, 28-32, 138.

California, 256.

Canterbury, Augustin at, 201.

Capital and labour, 176, 246-248.

Carbon, 16, 18, 71;
in dynamite, 50;
radicals of, 73, 74, 77;
in the protoplasm, 80;
early abundance of, 86;
in a dead body, 88;
plant life and, 93.

Carbonic dioxide, 16, 51, 82, 83, 92, 95, 96;
in plant life, 101.

Carlyle, 171, 188, 251.

Carnegie, Andrew, on modern worship, 219.

Catholic theology, 147.

Cause, the Great First, 122, 162;
Dr. Temple’s definition of, 170;
evolution of the idea of, 172, 201, 203;
Zoroaster and, 204;
the only reasonable theory, 208.

Cell, the first step in organisms, 78, 79;
the nucleated multiplication of the, 104.

Centrifugal force, 89, 90, 117.

Centripetal force, 89, 90, 117;
in societies, 233.

Chaldean legends, 152, 153;
of the Creation, 193.

Chalk, formation of, 95.

Chemical energy in electricity, 60.

Chemistry, 5, 14, 25;
elementary substances in, 17, 18, 74;
energy in, 47;
a modern law of change, 75;
and the protoplasm, 84.

Chinese funeral custom, 149;
religion, origin of the, 152;
religion, 156, 159;
myths, 164;
faith in a virgin mother, 155.

Chlorine, 16, 70, 71.

Christianity, 157, 198;
the position of women influenced by, 108, 109;
Pauline, 177;
the creed of, 180, 181;
impractical, 182;
morality of, 184, 185, 188;
influenced by Oriental asceticism, 212.

Clausius, 19.

Cleanliness and religion, 223, 224.

Clerk Maxwell, 19.

Coal, 45, 49, 97;
heat in burning, 61, 62;
land animals found in, 99.

Cobden, Richard, 242.

Colloids, 77, 78, 80.

Comets, 25;
supernatural dread of, 164.

Communism, 252, 253.

Conceptions, our, 143.

Confucianism, 184, 198.

Conservative legislation, 230;
in England, 235.

Contract, law of, 254, 255.

Creation, unknown, 19;
early myths of the, 152, 153.

Cromwell, 213.

Crystals, 10, 26-28.

Cumming, Dr., 47.

Darwin, 6, 122, 172;
his theory of Pangenesis, 119;
his theory of evolution, 121.

David, 186.

Descartes, 141.

Deus, derivation of the word, 200.

Deutsch, Emmanuel, on the Talmud, 172, 188.

Diamond, the, 74, 77.

Dionæa, 96.

Dog, will in a, 39, 40;
sense of right and wrong in a, 193.

Drummond, Professor, 3.

Dryopithecus, 100.

Dynamite, 48, 50, 74, 176.

Dynamo, the, 61-63.

Earth, structure of the, 51, 52;
first temperature of the, 86;
orbit of the, 22, 89, 117.

Echidna, the, 124.

Education, 237-240.

Egypt, ancient tombs in, 149, 150;
animal worship in, 150;
priests in, 152;
astronomy in, 153, 154;
a virgin mother worshipped in, 155;
religious morality in, 184.

Electric energy, 47;
light currents, effects of, 57-59;
telegraph, 59, 60;
accumulator, 61;
light, 56, 57, 61;
engines, 62, 63.

Electricity, 2, 14;
ether in, 25;
nature of, 52-55;
in pith balls, 52, 53, 71, 72;
velocity of the current in, 56;
and magnets, 58, 59;
storage of, 64.

Embryology, 106.

Emerson, vii.

Energy, 2;
nature of, 35, 36, 38, 66, 67;
of motion and position, 37, 48;
transformation of, 41, 42;
in heat and light, 43, 44, 47;
variations of, 47, 48;
molecular, 49;
chemical, 50;
in electricity, 54-57;
cost of, obtained from zinc, 61, 62;
conservation of, 62, 63, 139.

England, conservatism in, 236, 237;
education in, 237-239;
free trade in, 243.

English literature, 111;
woman in, 112, 113;
colonisation, 232.

Eozoon Canadiense, 99.

Ethelbert, 201.

Ether, 22, 36;
density of, 24, 25;
waves, 26, 43;
vibrations of, 27;
attempt to identify, with atoms, 32, 35;
nature of, 66.

Evil, origin of, 170, 173;
attempts to reconcile it with good, 178;
consistent with theory of God, 173, 202;
modern treatment of, 224.

Evolution, 6, 8, 121;
of religion, 4, 155, 156, 185, 186;
of matter, 80;
of life, 100;
important facts in the history of, 123;
does not tend to virtue, 173, 176;
of moral ideas, 186, 191;
of the horror of murder, 189, 190.

Fable of the shield, 227-230;
applied to politics, 230;
to commerce, 243, 244.

“Faust” a Zoroastrian drama, 209.

Ferdousi, 201.

Fermentation, 87, 88.

Ferns in the primary epoch, 97.

Fetish worship, 150.

Fiji, 149, 189.

Fire, primitive means of obtaining, 41;
worship, 207, 220.

Fish shells in the Tertiary epoch, 98;
in the Silurian epoch, 99.

Fungi, 95.

France, protection in, 246;
state railways in, 261.

Franklin, Benjamin, 163.

French Revolution, 231, 233;
colonisation, 232;
trade in a colony, 233.

Frog with the brain removed, 137.

Galileo, 147, 164, 205.

Gallio, 239.

Gas in dynamite, 51.

Gases, law of, 11-13;
in water, 14;
kinetic theory of, 14, 33;
substances reduced to, 44;
expansion of, 45.

Galton, Mr. F., 240.

Genesis, the Creation in, 152, 153.

Geology, 5;
records of, 96;
earliest strata of, 97;
vegetable records in, 96-98;
animal records in, 99, 100.

Geometry, 139.

George, Henry, 256.

Ghosts, universal belief in, 149-151.

Glass, 49, 53.

Globigerena, 95.

God, Buddhist idea of, 161;
a magnified man, 170, 171;
Carlyle on, 171;
Arnold’s definition of, 171;
Jewish doctors on, 172;
prevalent idea of miraculous intervention by, 173;
the author of good and evil, 179;
primitive Aryan word for, 200.

Grammar, 239, 240.

Gravity, the law of, 5, 16, 48, 49, 121, 144;
atoms subject to the, 34;
universal confidence in the, 148;
a dangerous heresy, 164.

Greeks, religion amongst the, 155, 156.

Gushtasp, 201.

Gymnosperms, 97, 98.

Haeckel, 119, 122.

Hale, Justice, 164.

Halley, 164.

Haug, Dr., 202, 205.

Heat, produced by work, 41, 42;
nature of, 43;
performs work, 44, 47;
and electricity, 54, 61;
and the stability of substances, 74;
in chemistry, 75.

Helmholz, 32.

Hercules, 193, 197.

Heredity, the principle of, 117-121;
in education, 240.

Hesperornis, 123.

Hillel, morality of, 188.

Hindoo religion, 152, 156;
migration, 199.

Horace, 163.

Horse, 119.

Human remains in Tertiary period, 100;
implements, prehistoric, 144, 145.

Hume, 162.

Huxley, Professor, v., vi., 78, 86, 122, 172, 203;
on spontaneous generation, 85;
on the protista, 94;
on the uniformity of law in Nature, 146.

Hydrates, 69.

Hydrochloric acid, 16, 70, 71.

Hydrogen, 11, 13, 16-18, 70, 71, 74, 75;
composition of, 15;
in the sun, 26;
in dynamite, 50;
in water, 52, 68, 238;
in the accumulator, 63;
in acids, 69;
in the protoplasm, 80;
in a dead body, 88.

Hypnotism, 134, 192;
blindness cured by, 165, 166;
an old lady dancing through, 193.

Ibn Ezra, 172.

India, British railways in, 250.

Indians, North American, totem of the, 150;
murder amongst the, 189.

Indigotine, 86.

Induction, phenomena of, 58.

Intellectual faculties, the seat of the, 133, 134.

Iodine vapour, 75.

Iranian migration, 199;
language, 200.

Ireland, popular ignorance of the land question in, 9;
rents in, 233, 234;
contracts in, 254;
railways in, 262.

Iron, filings and a magnet, 1, 10, 11, 27;
contraction of, 49, 50;
bar and a magnet, 68;
rust, 68, 81;
motion of, 83.

Irving, Edward, 166.

Isaiah, 187.

Isomerism, 74.

Istar, vi.

Jehovah, gradual conception of, 157, 158, 186.

Jehuda Hilmi, 172.

Jesus, on miracles, 168, 169;
the personification of Ormuzd, 180-183, 204;
an historical personage, 198;
adopted a Jewish view of religion, 212.

Jewish doctors on God, 172;
gradual development of the, religion, 157;
morality in the, religion, 186, 187.

Jijibhoy, Jamsedjee, Sir, 217.

“Jingoism,” 241.

Joule, Dr., 42, 46.

Jupiter, the planet, 22, 25.

Kant, 141, 142.

Kesar, 152, 153.

Knowledge, limits of our, 125-127, 136, 139-141.

Knox, John, 221.

Lakman and Lakmana, 152.

Latimer, 221.

Law in Nature, 6, 144, 145, 164, 171;
common, 236.

Lead, 63.

Leibnitz, 194.

Lichens, 95, 96.

Light, waves, 19, 23, 24, 26-28, 43;
velocity of, 21, 22;
energy in, 47;
electric, 56, 57, 61.

Lightning conductors, 163.

Lourdes, miracles at, 168.

Luther, 198

Magnet, the, 1, 2, 27, 68, 70, 71;
nature of, 58.

Magnetism, vii.

Mahometanism, 157, 158, 198, 213.

Maimonides on God, 172.

Manuals in geology, 100.

Manufacturers, generous, 217.

Marriage, 115.

Mass, the, 223.

Matter, 10;
nature of, 66, 67.

Meat, frozen, 45, 87.

Mechanical action in life, 39, 40, 91;
power, 41;
process in nerve action, 129, 130.

Menai Bridge, 50.

Mercury, 17, 44.

Metrical system, the, 42.

Mexican myths, 154, 155.

Microcrith, 15.

Microscope, 11, 239.

Mill, John Stuart, 161.

Milton, 209, 213.

Miracles, 6;
a question of evidence, 162, 163;
early belief in, 164;
uselessness of ordinary, 167, 170;
not found in Zoroastrianism, 204.

Molecules, 5, 10, 12, 22, 25;
weight of, 13;
in chemistry, 14;
of oxygen and hydrogen, 15;
composition of, 18;
in a cubic centimetre of air, 20;
vibrations of, 26;
the vortex theory of, 33, 34;
action of heat on, 43-46;
of nitrogen, 50;
nature of, 67;
complex, 73;
of monera, 79;
of the protoplasm, 80, 81.

Molecular energies, 47, 49.

Monera, 79, 94;
reproduction of the, 103, 117.

Monogamy, 109.

Monotheism, 156.

Moon, worship of the, 102, 153;
Parsee worship of the, 219.

Morality, in religions, 108, 184-188;
in nations, 110;
origin of, 190, 191.

Mormonism, 213.

Motion, of living beings, 83;
independent of will in the brain, 137, 192.

Music in religion, 222.

Murder, 189, 190.

Nerves, 129, 130;
divisions of the, 131;
channels of the, 133.

Newcome, Colonel, 211.

Newman, Cardinal, 147, 148, 159.

Newton, 16, 17, 28, 121, 138, 144, 205.

Nickel, a magnet, 68.

Nicolai, visions seen by, 166.

Nitric acid, 69.

Nitrogen, 18, 69, 88;
in dynamite, 50, 51;
in the protoplasm, 80.

Nitro-glycerine (dynamite), 50, 51.

Nitrous oxide, 51.

Northumberland House, lion on, 167.

Novelists, English, 111.

Nummulitic limestone, 94, 95.

Nursery rhymes, 142.

Nutrition, 81.

Octoroon, 118.

Oersted, 59.

Optimism, 176.

Ormuzd, 3, 4;
Jesus the modern, 180-182;
a definition of, 201, 202;
homage due to, 203;
sonnet to, 265.

Oxide of iron, 43, 81.

Oxygen, 11, 13, 14, 18, 57, 238;
composition of, 15;
is universal, 16;
weight of an atom of, 16;
and iron, 43;
in dynamite, 50;
affinities of, 52;
in the accumulator, 63;
in water, 68, 75;
bipolar, 70;
in the protoplasm, 80;
in contact with dead bodies, 88;
and animal life, 93, 96;
in plant life, 101.

Palgrave, 158.

Pangenesis, 119.

Pantheism, in China, 156;
prevalence of, 159, 160.

Paris, 241.

Parsees, the, 199;
creed of the, 205;
rites of the, 207, 208;
the distinguishing characteristics of the, 214-216;
women amongst, 215, 216;
a commercial people, 217;
death rate amongst the, 218;
Byron on the, 219;
modern worship of the, 219, 264.

Parthenogenesis, 106.

Pasteur, 87.

Patriotism, 240, 241.

Peel, Sir Robert, 242.

Pendulum, 37.

Perceptions, the basis of knowledge, 125, 140.

Permian formation, 97;
reptiles in the, 99.

Perron, Anquetil du, 203.

Peruvian myths, 154, 155.

Pessimism, 177, 178.

Pharisees, 168, 169.

Philo, 187.

Philosophy, and the unknown, 141;
in Eastern religion, 160.

Physical conditions and religious progress, 224.

Pigeon with the brain removed, 137, 192.

Pith-balls, electricity in, 52, 53, 71, 72.

Planet worship, 155.

Plant life, 82, 92, 93;
reproduction of, 84, 105;
food, 95;
fly-eating, 96;
gradual appearance in geology of, 97;
in the chalk, 98.

Plato, 142.

Polarity, law of, v., vii., 1-4, 10, 65;
in crystals, 27, 28;
in wave motion, 38;
in will, 40, 195;
of chemical elements, 68, 70;
electrical differs from magnetic, 72;
is the clue to the construction of the world, 74;
in life, 76, 89, 93;
in the organic world, 91;
in evolution, 100;
in sex, 107, 109, 114, 115;
a law of existence, 171;
asserts itself in society, 174;
in moral life, 178;
in art and fiction, 209-211;
in politics, 230, 231;
in political economy, 247-250.

Polytheism, 157.

Poor laws, the, 253.

Population, effects of the accumulation of, 175, 176.

Postal service, 260.

Potassic hydrates, 69.

Pramantha, 41, 42.

Prayer, Zoroastrian, 223, 225.

Prehistoric faith in spirits, 151.

Priesthood, first records of a, 52.

Primary period, the, 97;
fish in the, 99.

Principles, Zoroaster’s two great, 202.

Progress, modern, 7.

Prometheus, 42, 209.

Propagation of life by germs, 104, 118;
of the lower plants, 105.

Property in land, 255, 256.

Protection, 244-246.

Protista, 94.

Protoplasm, the, 78, 79, 81, 84;
nature of the, 80;
the first, 87;
the origin of all life, 93;
in nerve-endings, 129.

Proudhon, 256.

Putrefaction, 87, 88.

Pyramids, the, 10;
astronomical value of the, 153, 154.

Quakers, the, 213.

Quantivalence of substances, 71, 72.

Radiolaria, 95.

Railway, companies, 248;
profits of companies, 249, 250;
working of a State, 261, 262.

Religion, 4;
nature of, 146;
origin of, 148, 149, 151;
early, 152;
universal faith in a virgin mother, 154, 155;
planet worship, 155;
gradual evolution of, 155, 156;
philosophical in the East, 160;
nature in, 163;
wars of, 179;
amongst savages, 185;
Jewish, 186;
and morality, 188;
Aryan, 200;
of Zoroaster, 201, 208, 223;
probable form of modern, 203, 209;
music the language of, 222, 223.

Roman Church, the, 223.

Reproduction of species, 83;
of worms, 104;
sexual, 105, 106, 118.

Reptiles, 99.

Ricardo, 247.

Russia, 243;
communism in, 253.

Sabbath, the, 212;
origin of the, 155;
in England, 212, 220.

Saint Paul, his doctrine of predestination, 158;
on God, 172;
Christianity of, 177, 188;
on charity, 182.

—— Vitus’s dance, 166.

Salt, 52, 70.

Salvation Army, the, 180.

Sanskrit, 199, 200.

Sargasso Sea, 97.

Saul, 180, 186.

Savages, and numbers, 138, 191;
religion amongst, 149-151, 185;
murder amongst, 189, 190.

Schliemann, Professor, 151.

Scotland, virtue in, 176;
the poor rate in, 253.

Scott, Sir Walter, 210, 211, 241.

Secondary epoch, the, 97;
reptiles and birds in the, 99;
transformation of a water into an air population, 123.

Semitic races, religion amongst the, 156.

Sermons, 220-222;
on the mount, 184, 187, 254.

Sex in ancient creeds, 102, 103.

Shakers, the, 166, 252.

Shakespeare, on women, 112;
Buddhism in, 160;
despondency of, 178;
polarity of character in, 210, 211.

Shelley, 19, 226.

Snakes, changes from oviparous to viviparous, 124.

Soap bubbles, 19;
a clue to the dimensions of light, 33.

Socialism, 251, 252.

Society, 231.

Sociology, H. Spencer on, 259.

Socrates on religion, 172.

Sodium, 52, 70.

Solar myths, 152-154;
system worshipped by the Aryans, 200.

Somnambulism, 126, 134, 135, 192.

Sonnet to Ormuzd, 265.

Soul, the, 194.

Sound waves, velocity of, 24.

Species, 118, 119.

Spectroscope, 25, 26.

Spectrum of sun-rays, 43.

Spencer, Herbert, x., 113, 161, 203;
on antagonistic forces, 90;
on polarity in religion, 109, 172;
on politics, 231;
on altruism, 254;
on sociology, 259;
works of, 264.

Spiritualism, 136.

Spontaneous generation, 84, 89.

State interference, 253, 255, 257;
railways, 261, 262;
trade for national defence, 263.

Steam, action of, 45, 49;
engine, 45, 61.

Stone-throwing, brain action in, 38, 39.

Substances, quality and grouping of, 73;
stability of, 74, 75.

Succession duty, 258.

Sun, 26;
heat of the, 45.

Sutherland family, crest of the, 150.

Tait, Professor, 32.

Talmud, the, 172, 212;
morality in the, 187, 188.

Telephone, the, 60.

Temple, Dr., 162;
on evolution, 121;
on a Creator, 170, 203;
on man, 193.

Tennyson, 203, 210, 226, 241.

Tertiary epoch, 98;
mammals in the, 100.

Thomson, Sir W., 19, 21, 32.

Tobit, the Book of, 187.

Trade, free, 242-245.

Trance, phenomena of, 135.

Traveller, a, on misery in Christian lands, 175.

Triton, the, 122.

Tulliver, Maggie, 112, 211.

Turkey, 110, 111;
woman in, 112.

Turks, English, 113, 114.

Tyndall, 94.

United States, the, 241, 242;
protection in the, 242, 243, 246;
homestead laws in the, 256, 257.

Unknown, the Great, 126, 127.

Urea, 86.

Variations of species, principle of, 120.

Vedas, the Hindoo, 152;
antiquity of the, 199.

Vendidad, the, 202.

Virgin mother, prevalence of faith in a, 154, 155.

Voltaic battery, the, 14, 55, 61.

Volume, variations of, 12.

Vortex theory, 33, 34.

Wales, coal in, 258.

Wahabite reformer, 158.

Water, formation of, 11, 12, 14, 15, 52;
and electricity, 14, 53;
a cubic inch of, magnified, 21;
becomes vapour, 45, 46, 75;
freezing, 81.

Waves, motion, 23, 24, 48;
light, 19-24, 26-28, 43;
sound, 24.

Wheat, mummy, 80.

Will, free, 191;
nature of the, 194.

Witchcraft, 164, 179.

Woman, natural office of the, 107, 108;
position of, a test of civilisation, 110, 111;
in modern books, 111, 112;
rights of, 116;
amongst the Parsees, 214-216.

Wood, burning, 75.

Wordsworth, pantheism in, 159, 160.

Worms, reproduction of, 104.

Zend, dialect, 199, 200;
scriptures, 201, 202;
Avesta, 203.

Zinc, in electricity, 61.

Zodiac, the, 153.

Zoophytes, 94, 95.

Zoroaster, 4, 187;
theory of, 7, 179, 197, 202, 203, 223;
history of, 197, 198;
known by his book, 199;
a reformer, 200;
at Balkh, 201;
his creed not weighted by tradition, 204;
miraculous conception of, 205.

Zoroastrian, a modern, 3;
creed of a, 180;
morality, 205, 206.

Zoroastrianism and art, 212;
and modern thought, 213.

THE END.