Chapter V

AN EXAMINATION OF THE SCOTCH INTELLECT DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.

The Scotch philosophical literature of the eighteenth century,
was a reaction against the theological spirit of the
seventeenth 281

But the peculiarity of the philosophy which now arose, is
that, instead of being an inductive philosophy, it was a
deductive one 281-282

This is well worthy of notice; because the inductive method
being essentially anti-theological, it might have been
expected that the opponents of the theological spirit would
have followed that method 282-284

The truth, however, was, that the theological spirit had taken
such hold of the Scotch mind, that it was impossible for the
inductive method to gain a hearing 284-289

Hence, the secular philosophy of the eighteenth century,
though new in its results, was not new in the method by which
those results were obtained 289

In this respect, Scotland is similar to Germany, but
dissimilar to England 289-290

Summary of the most important distinctions between induction
and deduction 291

The whole of the Scotch philosophy, physical as well as
metaphysical, is deductive 291

Hutcheson's philosophy 292-304

Its results and tendency 292-299

Its method 299-304

Adam Smith's philosophy 304-330

His _Theory of Moral Sentiments_ and his _Wealth of
Nations_ are different parts of one subject. To understand
either, we must study both 304-305

His deductive method depended upon a suppression of premisses 304-309

Account of his _Theory of Moral Sentiments_ 309-314

Account of his _Wealth of Nations_ 314-330

Hume's philosophy 331-349

His want of imagination 331-332

Importance and novelty of his doctrines 333-337

His method was eminently deductive; and he, like Adam Smith,
cared little for experience 337-341

Hence, his injustice to Bacon, whose method was diametrically
opposed to his own 338-339

His _Natural History of Religion_ 342-348

Comparison between the method of this work, and the method
employed by Cudworth 348

Reid's philosophy 349-361

His timidity made him look at the practical tendency of
speculative doctrines, instead of confining himself to the
question of their truth or falsehood 349-354

But a philosopher should deem it his business to ascertain
new truths, without regard to their consequences 349-350

Reid attacked Hume's method, because he disliked the results
to which that method had led 354-355

And yet, in raising his own philosophy, he followed the very
same method himself 355-359

Estimate of the value of what Reid effected 359-360

Opposition between the method of Reid and that of Bacon 360-361

In physical philosophy, the deductive method was equally
prevalent in Scotland 361-seq.

The laws of heat 362

Indestructibility of force. Interchange of forces 362-365

Black's philosophy 367-377

His theory of latent heat prepared the way for subsequent
discoveries 367-371

His method was deductive, and does not come under any of the
rules of the Baconian philosophy 371-372

He reasoned from his principles speculatively, instead of
occupying himself with a long course of experiments 372-377

To do this was to indulge the imagination, which is deemed
dangerous by the inductive school of English physicists. But,
in the pursuit of truth, we need all our powers; and the
advance of physical science is retarded by our neglect of the
imaginative and emotional faculties 377-382

Black, therefore, did immense service by giving free scope, to
the imagination. The same plan was pursued by his successor,
Leslie 383

Leslie's philosophy of heat 383-388

He derived great aid from poetry 385

And was unjust to Bacon, whose inductive views he disliked 388

Hutton's geological philosophy 388-402

Fire and water are the two causes which have altered, and are
still altering, the crust of the earth. The supposition that
volcanic action was formerly more powerful than at present, is
quite consistent with the doctrines of an unbroken sequence of
events, and of the uniformity of natural laws 388-390

The action of fire and water on the crust of the earth, may be
studied deductively, by computing separately the probable
operation of each. Or they maybe studied inductively, by
observing their united effects, and rising from the effects to
the causes; while the deductive plan is to descend from the
causes to the effects 390-391

Of these two methods, the English followed the inductive; the
Scotch and Germans followed the deductive 391

English geology founded by William Smith 391-393

German geology founded by Werner 393-395

Scotch geology founded by Hutton 396

The English observed effects in order to ascertain causes. The
Germans, assuming water to be the cause, reasoned from it to
the effects. The Scotch, assuming heat to be the cause, made
its principles the first step in their argument 391-396

Reasons which made the Scotch geologists argue from the
principles of heat, instead of, like the German geologists,
arguing from the principles of water 396

Though Hutton founded the theory of metamorphic rocks, and
ascribed such immense importance to heat, he would not take
the trouble of examining a single region of active volcanos,
where he might have seen those very operations of nature,
respecting which he speculated 398

But, by a deductive application of the principles unfolded by
Black, he arrived at a conclusion concerning the consolidation
of strata by heat 399-400

That conclusion was entirely speculative, and unsupported by
experience 399

Though experiment might perhaps verify it, no one had yet made
the trial; and Hutton was too averse to the inductive method
to undertake the investigation himself 400-401

Sir James Hall afterwards took the matter up, and empirically
verified the great idea which Hutton had propounded 401-402

Watt's invention of the steam-engine, and discovery of the
composition of water 402-406

Contrast between the method by which he, as a Scotchman,
discovered the composition of water, and the opposite method
by which the Englishman, Cavendish, made the same discovery at
the same time 404-406

Nature of the evidence of the supposed difference between the
organic and inorganic world. Life is probably a property of
all matter 406-410

Assuming, however, for the purposes of classification, that
the organic world is fundamentally different from the
inorganic, we may divide organic science into physiology and
pathology 410-412

The two great Scotch pathologists are Cullen and John Hunter.
Hunter, having a larger mind than Cullen, was also a
physiologist 412

Account of Cullen's philosophy 413-427

His love of theory 413

Theory, though necessary in science, is dangerous in practice 414-416

Difference between the science of pathology and the art of
therapeutics 417-418

Comparison between the method of Cullen's pathology and the
method employed by Adam Smith 417-419

Cullen's theory of the solids 420-seq.

He refused to inquire into the truth of the principles from
which he argued 421-422

His conclusions, like his premisses, represent only a part of
the truth, and were extremely one-sided. Still, their value
is unquestionable, forming, as they did, a necessary part of
the general progress 423-424

His theory of fever 424-426

His nosology 426-427

The philosophy of John Hunter 428-458

His grandeur, and, unfortunately, his obscurity of language 428-430

In his mind, the inductive and deductive methods struggled for
mastery. Their conflict oppressed him. This is one of the
causes of the darkness of his thoughts and consequently of his
style 429-432

His natural disposition was towards deduction 432

But circumstances made him inductive, and he collected facts
with untiring industry 432-434

By this means he made a large number of curious physiological
discoveries 434-436

He traced the history of the red globules of the blood, and
arrived at the conclusion that their function is to strengthen
the system rather than to repair it 436-437

Long after his death, this inference was corroborated by the
progress of miscroscopical and chemical researches. It was
especially corroborated by Lecanu's comparison of the blood in
different sexes, and in different temperaments. 439

Hunter's inquiries concerning the movements of animals and
vegetables 439-441

He recognized the great truth that the sciences of the
inorganic world must be the foundation of those of the organic 443

His object was, to unite all the physical sciences, in order
to show that, the operations of nature being always uniform,
regularity prevails even amidst the greatest apparent
irregularity 443-444

Hence, aiming chiefly at a generalization of irregularities,
his favourite study was pathology 444

In his pathological inquiries, he took into account the
malformations of crystals 445

As a physiologist, he was equalled or excelled by Aristotle;
but as a pathologist, he is unrivalled for the grandeur of his
views 446-447

In pathology, his love of deduction was more obvious than in
physiology 447

His pathological speculations respecting the principles of
action and the principles of sympathy 448-452

But his English contemporaries, being eminently inductive, so
disliked his method, that he exercised scarcely any influence
over them 453

This is the more observable, because his discoveries
respecting disease have caused him to be recognized as the
founder of modern surgery, and the principal author of the
doctrines now taught in the medical profession 454-457

Such were the great results achieved by Scotchmen in the
eighteenth century. Difference between this splendid
literature and the wretched productions of the Scotch mind in
the seventeenth century. 458-460

Notwithstanding this difference, the deductive method was
supreme in both centuries 461

The deductive method strikes the senses less than the
inductive. Hence, induction being more accessible to average
understandings, is more popular than deduction. Hence, too,
the teachings of an inductive philosophy are more likely to
affect national character than the teaching of a deductive
philosophy 461-464

Theology forms the only exception to this rule 464-465

The Scotch literature of the eighteenth century, being
essentially deductive, was, on that account, unable to affect
the nation. It was, therefore, unable to weaken national
superstition 465-469

Superstition and religious illiberality still existing in
Scotland 469-471

The notions countenanced there respecting the origin of
epidemics. Correspondence which, in consequence of those
notions, took place, in 1853, between the Scotch Church and
the English Government 471-476

These superstitions are eminently irreligious, and are
everywhere becoming effaced, as physical science advances.
Nothing else can touch them. Hence the gradual liberation of
the human mind from the slavish and unmanly fears by which it
has long been oppressed 476-482

HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION IN ENGLAND.