himself by analyzing the word 'cause' into uniform sequence. Then arose a
philosophy which, equally regardless of the history of the mind, sought to
save mankind from scepticism by assigning to our notions of 'cause and
effect,' 'substance and accident,' 'whole and part,' a necessary place in
human thought. Without them we could have no experience, and therefore
they were supposed to be prior to experience--to be incrusted on the 'I';
although in the phraseology of Kant there could be no transcendental use of
them, or, in other words, they were only applicable within the range of our
knowledge. But into the origin of these ideas, which he obtains partly by
an analysis of the proposition, partly by development of the 'ego,' he
never inquires--they seem to him to have a necessary existence; nor does he
attempt to analyse the various senses in which the word 'cause' or
'substance' may be employed.

The philosophy of Berkeley could never have had any meaning, even to
himself, if he had first analyzed from every point of view the conception
of 'matter.' This poor forgotten word (which was 'a very good word' to
describe the simplest generalization of external objects) is now superseded
in the vocabulary of physical philosophers by 'force,' which seems to be
accepted without any rigid examination of its meaning, as if the general
idea of 'force' in our minds furnished an explanation of the infinite
variety of forces which exist in the universe. A similar ambiguity occurs
in the use of the favourite word 'law,' which is sometimes regarded as a
mere abstraction, and then elevated into a real power or entity, almost
taking the place of God. Theology, again, is full of undefined terms which
have distracted the human mind for ages. Mankind have reasoned from them,
but not to them; they have drawn out the conclusions without proving the
premises; they have asserted the premises without examining the terms. The
passions of religious parties have been roused to the utmost about words of
which they could have given no explanation, and which had really no