ophy having become a meditation, not
merely of death, but of annihilation, the precept _know thyself_ has
become transformed into the terrific oracle to OEdipus--

"Mayest thou ne'er know the truth of what thou art."'

This analysis will have been at least sufficient to give a clear idea
of the general argument of the _Candid Examination_ and of its
melancholy conclusions. What will most strike a somewhat critical reader
is perhaps (1) the tone of certainty, and (2) the belief in the almost
exclusive right of the scientific method in the court of reason.

As evidence of (1) I would adduce the following brief quotations:--

P. xi. 'Possible errors in reasoning apart, the rational position
of Theism as here defined must remain without material modification
as long as our intelligence remains human.'

P. 24. 'I am quite unable to understand how any one at the present
day, and with the most moderate powers of abstract thinking, can
possibly bring himself to embrace the theory of Free-will.'

P. 64. 'Undoubtedly we have no alternative but to conclude that the
hypothesis of mind in nature is now logically proved to be as
certainly superfluous as the very basis of all science is certainly
true. There can no longer be any more doubt that the existence of a
God is wholly unnecessary to explain any of the phenomena of the
universe, than there is doubt that if I leave go of my pen it will
fall upon the table.'

As evidence of (2) I would adduce from the preface--

'To my mind, therefore, it is impossible to resist the conclusion
that, looking to this undoubted pre-eminence of the scientific
methods as ways to truth, whether or not there is a God, the
question as to his existence is both more morally and more
reverently contemplated if we regard it purely as a problem for
methodical analysis to solve, than if we regard it in any other
light.'

It is in respect both of (1) and (2) that the change in Romanes' thought
as exhibited in his later Notes is most conspicuous[15].

At what date George Romanes' mind began to react from the conclusions of
the _Candid Examination_ I cannot say. But after a period of ten
years--in his Rede lecture of 1885[16]--we find his frame of mind very
much changed. This lecture, on _Mind and Motion_, consists of a severe
criticism of the materialistic account of mind. On the other hand
'spiri