It need not imply, and
it does not, so far as I am concerned, any _a priori_ hypothesis that a
centaur is an impossible animal; or, that his existence, if he did
exist, would violate the laws of nature. Indubitably, the organisation
of a centaur presents a variety of practical difficulties to an
anatomist and physiologist; and a good many of those generalisations of
our present experience, which we are pleased to call laws of nature,
would be upset by the appearance of such an animal, so that we should
have to frame new laws to cover our extended experience. Every wise man
will admit that the possibilities of nature are infinite, and include
centaurs; but he will not the less feel it his duty to hold fast, for
the present, by the dictum of Lucretius, "Nam certe ex vivo Centauri non
fit imago," and to cast the entire burthen of proof, that centaurs
exist, on the shoulders of those who ask him to believe the statement.
Judged by the canons either of common sense, or of science, which are
indeed one and the same, all "miracles" are centaurs, or they would not
be miracles; and men of sense and science will deal with them on the
same principles. No one who wishes to keep well within the limits of
that which he has a right to assert will affirm that it is impossible
that the sun and moon should ever have been made to appear to stand
still in the valley of Ajalon; or that the walls of a city should have
fallen down at a trumpet blast; or that water was turned into wine;
because such events are contrary to uniform experience and violate laws
of nature.
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