( 173 ) 



XV. 



ADDRESS. 



THE MYSTERY OF MATTER. 



By the President, John Morison, M.D., D.P.H., M.R.C.S., 



F.a.s. 



Delivered at the Anniversary Meeting at Watford, V2th March, 1907. 



Ladies and G-entlemen, — 



We are surrounded by mysteries we cannot penetrate. Our 

 own conscious life, nay oui* very existence, is an inscrutable 

 mystery. The little about the Universe which the wisest man 

 can know and understand, is incomparably small when set 

 against the much which man does not know and perhaps can 

 never grasp. Sir Isaac Newton said that he felt like a child 

 collecting shells on the sea-shore, while the great ocean of 

 Truth lay all undiscovered before him. And though much has 

 been discovered since Newton's time, we can still say that what 

 we do know is like a tiny drop in comparison with the vast sea 

 of the unknown. There is the Mystery of Life ; the Mystery of 

 Space ; the Mystery of Time and Eternity, etc. But one of the 

 chief amongst them is the mystery which environs us and 

 enfolds us and forms the very framework of our being, the 

 Mystery of Matter. 



Recent investigations and discoveries have enabled us to 

 penetrate this mystery to some slight extent, though very much 

 still remains dark and veiled and perhaps unknowable. On this 

 subject I wish to say a few words to-night, though I can only 

 give a very brief and imperfect sketch of some of these recent 

 researches and discoveries. 



The astronomer has to study bodies of almost inconceivable 

 magnitude, and to range through almost infinite distances, 

 but I must ask you to-night to view with the eyes of the mind 

 objects ,of such unthinkable minuteness that they would have 

 to be magnified many millions of times to render them visible 

 in the most powerful microscope. Science has to deal with the 

 infinitely little as well as with the infinitely great. 



I can only treat the subject in a very general way, and you 

 will have to accept a great many of my statements on trust, as 

 it is impossible for me to enter into detail as to the manner in 

 which they have been proved and verified. 



The question of the constitution and structm-e of matter is 

 one which lies deep down at the very foundation of all knowledge, 



VOL. XIII. PART III. 13 



