PREFACE. THE present volume is composed partly of papers which were found amongst the manuscripts left by my father in a form ready for publication, partly of essays which have appeared on various occasions in literary or scientific periodicals. No use has been made of the greater mass of the manuscripts which exist, as they were intended to be entirely rewritten and rearranged before publication. Nor have any extracts been given from a series of volumes which contain his work from 1859 to 1863 and again from 1869 to 1870. These volumes would form the most available source to whoever wished to make a study of the course and bearings of my father's inquiries, but are hardly adapted for general perusal, as they are more a record of his thoughts in the process and order of development than an exposition of the results at which he arrived. In order to make their contents accessible, it is necessary to bring together into one parts which are often separated by many pages, and to collate them with later and unprinted manuscripts. A book thus formed will, I hope, some time be produced. Of the essays in this volume the two, "On the Bases of Morals" and "Professor Tyndall and the Religious Emotions," which appeared in the Contemporary Review," taken together with the short paper entitled Others' Needs," seem to me to give the best representation there is of the ethical portion of my father's writings. Between pages 100 and 212 will be found a series of articles which are for the most part reprinted from the "Christian Spectator." Some of them were in the form of letters to the Editor, and when this was the case I have simply removed unnecessary paragraphs. Amongst them, on page 213, is an explanation of "The Mystery of Pain," contributed at the Editor's request shortly after the appearance of that book. It is included here, as it places the scope and object of that work in a very clear light, and is the only available reference to a class of subjects which occupy great prominence in the manuscripts. Although many of the essays from the "Christian Spectator" were written so long ago as 1860, it will be found, I believe, that they place in a very clear light a great many elements which were essential in the development of my father's later thoughts. At the end of the volume will be found those amongst my father's scientific papers which seem to have a general interest, and at the same time not to be altogether disconnected with his philosophical views. Of the greater part of his writings on science I am not in a position to give a summary, nor would it be of general interest if I were, as they consist of papers on particular questions in medical science, for the most part on subjects connected with aural surgery. To the introduction contributed by my father's friend, Mr. Shadworth Hodgson, I do not feel that I can add anything, nor do I feel that this is the place for any personal reminiscences of my own. I cannot help remembering, however, one occasion on which the conversation turned on music. The idea was suggested that owing to the limited number of notes, and the unlimited number of compositions that were produced, a time would at last come when all the possible combinations would have been made, and all future attempts to compose would be simply repetitions of harmonies already exhausted. His remark was, that the man would some time come, breathed on by a new spirit, whose feeling would be much more nearly represented by saying, instead of "All music has been written," "No music has been written." And so, on looking back, I cannot help recalling these words, for as I turn over the pages of this book what I b find there hardly seems to me the same as what I once heard. Yet, if the whole purpose of the thoughts in this book may not be manifest, and although the spirit which animated them, and made them seem a different thing when they were spoken, has to be reconstructed, still I am sure that the reader will be able to gather from these pages a great portion of my father's life-work. In order to show the impression which different minds received, I have appended, under the title of "Recollections," a few papers which are in each case the report either of single or of several conversations. To the writers of these, and to Mr. Shadworth Hodgson, I must express my sincere thanks. C. H. H. CHELTENHAM, October 1878. |