tendency to place Reason as the first and highest attribute of
Man,--and it would not pay me to pronounce my personal preference
for the natural and vastly superior gift of Intellectual Instinct.
I advise my scholars to become atheists, because I perceive they
have a positive passion for Atheism, and it is not my business,
nor would it be to my advantage to interfere with the declared
predilections of my wealthiest patrons. Concerning my own ideas on
these matters, they are absolutely NIL, ... I have no fixed
principles,--because"--and his brows contracted in a puzzled line
--"it is entirely out of my ability to fix anything! The whole
world of manners and morals is in a state of perpetual ferment and
consequent change,--equally restless and mutable is the world of
Nature, for at any moment mountains may become plains, and plains
mountains,--the dry land may be converted into oceans, and oceans
into dry land, and so on forever. In this incessant shifting of
the various particles that make up the Universe, how can you
expect a man to hold fast to so unstable a thing as an idea! And,
respecting the testimony offered by sight and sense, can YOU rely
upon such slippery evidence?"

Theos moved uneasily,--a slight shiver ran through his veins, and
a momentary dizziness seized him, as of one who gazing down from
some lofty mountain-peak sees naught below but the white,
deceptive blankness of a mist that veils the deeper deathful
chasms from his eyes. COULD he rely on sight and sense...DARED he
take oath that these frail guides of his intelligence could never
be deceived? ... Doubtfully he mused on this, while his companion
continued:

"For example, I look an arm's length into space, . . my eyes assure