﻿10 
  THE 
  UNFATHOMED 
  UNIVERSE 
  

  

  tions? 
  (a) 
  First, 
  instead 
  of 
  explaining 
  an 
  event 
  by 
  show- 
  

   ing 
  that 
  it 
  obeys 
  a 
  law 
  of 
  Nature, 
  the 
  modern 
  investigator 
  is 
  

   content 
  to 
  say 
  that 
  it 
  is 
  fully 
  described 
  or 
  represented 
  in 
  

   such 
  and 
  such 
  a 
  formula, 
  that 
  it 
  can 
  be 
  included 
  in 
  this 
  

   or 
  that 
  typical 
  case. 
  As 
  Aristotle 
  said, 
  from 
  a 
  great 
  number 
  

   of 
  experiences 
  one 
  general 
  conception 
  .is 
  formed 
  which 
  will 
  

   embrace 
  all 
  similar 
  cases. 
  There 
  is 
  unification 
  under 
  a 
  

   common 
  law. 
  As 
  Clifford 
  says, 
  " 
  A 
  true 
  explanation 
  refers 
  

   the 
  previously 
  unknown 
  to 
  the 
  known." 
  It 
  assimilates 
  the 
  

   less 
  known 
  to 
  the 
  better 
  known. 
  But 
  we 
  must 
  not 
  overlook 
  

   the 
  preliminary 
  analysis 
  and 
  reduction 
  to 
  a 
  common 
  denom- 
  

   inator 
  which 
  made 
  it 
  possible 
  to 
  bring 
  an 
  apparent 
  incom- 
  

   mensurable 
  into 
  a 
  series, 
  and 
  to 
  recognise 
  unity 
  and 
  

   continuity 
  of 
  process. 
  Equations 
  may 
  not 
  be 
  explanations, 
  

   but 
  the 
  analytic 
  descriptions 
  given 
  by 
  exact 
  science 
  are 
  very 
  

   different 
  from 
  the 
  pictorial 
  descriptions 
  of 
  everyday 
  life. 
  

   There 
  is 
  sometimes 
  a 
  mock 
  modesty 
  in 
  the 
  declaration 
  of 
  the 
  

   scientific 
  inquirer 
  that 
  he 
  is 
  describing 
  not 
  explaining; 
  and 
  

   there 
  is 
  deceptiveness 
  in 
  his 
  formulation, 
  if 
  he 
  reaches 
  his 
  

   simplification 
  by 
  violence, 
  by 
  a 
  jugglery 
  which 
  coerces 
  to 
  a 
  

   common 
  denominator 
  such 
  fractions 
  of 
  reality 
  as 
  motion 
  and 
  

   emotion 
  which 
  are 
  radically 
  incommensurable. 
  

  

  (&) 
  Second, 
  there 
  are 
  laws 
  of 
  Nature 
  such 
  as 
  Gravita- 
  

   tion, 
  which 
  sum 
  up 
  uniformities 
  in 
  terms 
  largely 
  independ- 
  

   ent 
  of 
  hypothetical 
  constructions. 
  These 
  must 
  be 
  distin- 
  

   guished 
  from 
  summations 
  in 
  terms 
  of 
  what 
  Rankine 
  called 
  

   " 
  conceptions 
  of 
  a 
  conjectural 
  order 
  ' 
  which 
  image 
  the 
  inti- 
  

   mate 
  nature 
  of 
  things 
  and 
  processes. 
  Ohm's 
  laws 
  remain, 
  

   whatever 
  be 
  our 
  view 
  of 
  electrical 
  energy. 
  Mendel's 
  law 
  

   remains, 
  whatever 
  be 
  our 
  views 
  as 
  to 
  what 
  are 
  called 
  ' 
  fac- 
  

   tors 
  ' 
  in 
  inheritance. 
  As 
  long 
  as 
  we 
  consider 
  moving 
  bodies 
  

   in 
  bulk 
  within 
  sensible 
  distances 
  of 
  the 
  earth, 
  the 
  law 
  of 
  

  

  