190 Mr. G. Johnstone Stoney [Feb. 6, 



would find any change going on in my brain while I am thinking 

 that is not of those kinds which on ultimate analysis resolve them- 

 selves into motions and the relations between motions. 



The Universe One. 



And here, after our survey of the material universe let us pause 

 for an instant to reflect what all this really means. Some of the 

 motions that are going forward in nature we call ponderable matter, 

 others we call the ether ; and again, within the range of ponderable 

 matter we think of individual bodies each separate from the others. 

 Now all this is very convenient, not only convenient but indeed 

 essential to our making an intelligent use of the great world that lies 

 around us — but it is not an accurate presentation of what really 

 takes place. The motion that pervades the universe is not many 

 motions but one motion, indescribably complex, but not divisible into 

 parts that exist separate from one another. All the parts, if they can 

 be called parts, mutually interpenetrate each other ; and we do not 

 view them correctly when we think of any one of them as having an 

 existence independent of the rest. The motions that went on yester- 

 day in the table at which I stand are succeeded by those that are 

 going on there now, but these are not the only offspring of those 

 former motions, neither are those the sole progenitors of these present 

 motions. Those motions of yesterday also gave rise to an undulation 

 around, some of which having escaped through the skylight is at this 

 moment urging its rapid flight over an ever widening area -to the 

 distant stars ; other parts of the undulation enabled this table to be 

 seen by every member of the audience which was in this room yester- 

 day ; much of it fell upon the walls, the ceiling, the floor, bearing to 

 them heat, light, electricity, which have made their motions, the 

 motions in the rooms beyond them, in the street, all over London, 

 different now from what they otherwise would have been. The earth 

 as it darted forwards on its course has borne all the molecular motions 

 of that table along with it, and changed their distance and direction 

 from the other bodies of the universe : and, as a consequence, the sun 

 himself, the planets, the most distant stars have recognised its 

 influence, have ceased to bend towards its former position, and are at 

 this moment inclining a little towards that it now occupies. All 

 these motions and multitudes of others are the lineal descendants of 

 the molecular motions which yesterday constituted this table ; and, 

 correspondingly, those which are now going on in the table have not 

 wholly sprung from the motions in it yesterday, but the entire of the 

 rest of the universe has contributed to them. 



Many will be disposed to say, " These effects are trifling, too small 

 to deserve notice." This is not so, though some are small, not one of 

 them is one whit the less real ; neither are they in their own nature 

 small, and some of them are conspicuous even to the few and slender 

 moans which men possess of becoming acquainted with tliem. Bring 

 even one candle into this room at night, and in an instant its small 



