PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 7 
Another important result of these investigations was to 
prove experimentally that matter is inert, and that it exer- 
cises no initiative of its own; that it is moved only by ex- 
ternal agencies; and that, in physics, action and reaction 
ar: always exactly equal and opposite, from which it follows 
that all material things are under the reign of law. This 
cannot be taken as a proof that mind is absent from dead 
matter, for it is possible to conceive mind as present, but 
unable to manifest itself to us. But the experiments de 
stroyed the supposed basis of fact on which Pantheism had 
formerly been built, and reduced it to a purely metaphysical 
speculation. 
If, however, science showed that the original basis of Pan- 
theism was erroneous, it now furnished new evidence, which 
seemed to place that philosophy on a firmer foundation than 
ever. 
Up to the middle of last century, it seemed probable that 
the Universe might be eternal. - Matter and energy were 
known to be indestructible, and it foliowed that the amount 
of each in the universe must be fixed and unalterable. Also, 
the mathematicians, Lagrange, Poisson, and Laplace, were 
supposed to have demonstrated that the Solar System was 
truly a perpetual motion. Even in the earth itself, the 
celebrated geologist, Dr. James Hutton, sought. as he said, 
in vain, for any “ vestige of a beginning or prospect of an 
end.” So far as could then be seen, the world might go on 
for ever as it is now, an endless succession of similar years 
and of nearly similar plants and animals. It was not even 
necessary to suppose, with Democritus, that the Universe 
was the result of a fortuitous concourse of atoms, for there 
was no beginning. The Universe had always been here, and 
here it would remain. Life, they thought, had always been 
on the earth, and where life was there also was mind. And 
just as one form of matter, or one form of energy, passed 
into another, so life kept renewing itself—constant decay 
-and death with constant rejuvenescence. If matter was in- 
destructible, so, also, was mind. All was eternal. All was 
made to go on for ever. No controller was necessary. The 
Universe and its Maker were one. 
Thus, the conclusions of science seemed to prove that mind 
pervades all matter; and this belief was more acceptable to 
our reason than the opposite one, that mind can exist out- 
side of matter, for of the latter we have no experience. 
Thus, a pantheistic, or monistic, view of the Universe be- 
came prevalent, especially in Germany. As the study of 
paleontology advanced, the succession of life on the earth 
became a difficulty, and Darwin’s theory of organic develop- 
