Page:Maud Howe - A Newport Aquarelle.djvu/91

 one finds one's self in a cul-de-sac, and is led up to a blind wall. I therefore maintain that certain of his premises, and the inferences he draws from them, are fallacious. In my book I have tried to explain my doubts of his principles."

"How interesting you must find it to set your mind in an antagonistic attitude to thinkers like Spencer and Huxley! Could you explain to me just where you differ from these English philosophers?"

"In the hypothesis which they maintain concerning cerebral action and intellectual activity. Morality and immorality, according to Huxley, depend merely upon the condition of the muscles and tissues of the body. He admits no responsibility of man, save towards his descendants. For his own misdeeds man is not responsible; his sins are chargeable to the account of society. The inner essence, the ideal side of human nature, is denied. But let us talk of something else besides my hobbies, Miss Carleton.