32 THE ANATOMY OF SCIENCE 



next chapter, has proved to be an extremely 

 unprofitable conception. But how is an empty 

 space to be reconciled with the view that space 

 is but the order of arrangement of things? If 

 we have a number of objects in a row we do not 

 say that the "row" has any substantial existence 

 independent of the objects, nor need we attrib- 

 ute to space any objective existence. But we 

 know so many objects with so complex a mesh of 

 interrelationships in three-dimensional order 

 that when a few objects are moved we try to 

 keep intact as many as possible of the former 

 relationships, and this we can best do by saying 

 that space is left empty in a certain region. 



In order to dwell for a moment longer upon 

 these fundamental notions of order, which give 

 rise to our purely qualitative ideas of one-di- 

 mensional, two-dimensional and three-dimen- 

 sional space, we might speculate as to whether 

 a conscious being could be entirely without any 

 idea of space and yet later acquire that idea ; 

 although it must be realized that such specula- 

 tion is apt to lead into the deeper quagmires of 

 metaphysics. Let us imagine a person paralyzed 

 and devoid of all senses save one, the sense of 

 smell. He might have a mental life consisting of 

 memories of a past succession of odors, with 



