‘There is no actual disease,’ said Cameron, when his examination was concluded. ‘The pulmonary organs are sound, but they are far from strong. You must take care of yourself for some time. Those weeks in confinement have injured you more than you think.’ Then Cameron lit his pipe for the fourth time, and smoked awhile in silence. ‘Duncan, what is your religion now?’ asked Alec suddenly. ‘_Religio medici_; that is, none at all.’ ‘I’m sorry to hear you say that,’ said Alec gravely. ‘But I don’t believe you.’ ‘I was thinking of definite faith, of dogmas,’ said Cameron. ‘Of course I have religious instincts, emotions, and so on; but I can’t classify them.’ ‘“True religion consisteth in great part in the affections,” says Jonathan Edwards. Perhaps you think dogmas are hindrances, not helps.’ ‘True houses consist in great part of walls,’ retorted the Highlander; ‘is that to say they should have no foundations?’ ‘But I thought you said you had no dogmas.’ ‘Exactly; and therefore I don’t profess to have any religion. It makes me sick,’ he continued, getting up and walking about the room, ‘to hear the way in which men prate about “the fetters of dogma” and so on. I hate phrases that beg the question like that. Good heavens, man!’ he went on, turning upon Alec with a frown, as if he had been personally ill-used or insulted, ‘canna the moles see that it a’ depends on whether the dogma’s _true_ or no? If it’s not true, it may be a “fetter,” no doubt. But if it’s true, what can it be but a heaven-sent boon? You might as well talk o’ releasin’ the earth from the fetter that binds it to the sun. That would be a fine result o’ the freethinker’s theory carried out in practice.’ ‘But I thought----’ ‘Look at my own subject,’ continued Cameron, not heeding his companion. ‘Take anatomy. If you have false opinions on the subject printed and promulgated, they will no doubt do harm. But if certain opinions are indisputably true----’ ‘That is just what is denied.’ ‘Then what is the sense of begging the question by assuming that they are false?’ ‘Then you do believe in dogma in religion?’ ‘No religion can exist without dogmas, be they many or few, any more than a tub can exist without a bottom. But whether the dogmas of Christianity are _true_ is more than I can say.’ ‘But there must be a God?’ ‘That’s just what I don’t feel sure about,’ said Cameron slowly. ‘Why may not matter be eternal, and produce of itself all we know of?’ ‘Because, for one thing, the chances against its being in a position to produce anything at all were millions to one.’ ‘That is true. But then, how can we tell that under other conditions of temperature, and so forth, other results, totally different, but equally wonderful, might not have followed?’ ‘All to come out of so many metals and gases?’ asked Alec. ‘I think the man who believes _that_ must be the most credulous of mortals.’ ‘I didn’t say I believed it, did I?’