600 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION F. 



from one kind to another. 4. That the sum total of energy- 

 being always constant, no portion of energy can be put out 

 of existence or created by any power at the command of man. 

 5. That energy may be readily transformed — although the 

 quantity present Avill remain the same. 6. That all the 

 ])hysical changes that take place, including those that are 

 inseparable from thought, are merely transformations of 

 energy. 7. That energy may be — 1. Potential (in position) ; 

 2. Kinetic (or in motion). 



Now, the Universe is a vast storehouse of energy, and the 

 great problem set for human ingenuity to solve is how to 

 transmute energy so that it may become most useful and 

 serviceable to man. 



It is to this great storehouse of energy that we must look 

 for the real source of wealth. 



All labor implies the pre-existence of capital that can be 

 drawn upon to satisfy every desire of human life, and this 

 capital is only to be found in the vast stores of energy in 

 INature that are ever ready for transmutation and adaptation 

 to the requirements of man . 



If so much has been admitted, the following conclusions 

 will also be accepted : — 1. That the only way in which labor 

 can aid in the production of wealth is by taking advantage 

 of the natural energies that surround us ; 2. That all labor 

 means a consumption of energy ; 3. That labour may be 

 M?iproductive. 



That labor may be unproductive needs little argument to 

 prove ; and yet, strange to say, we continue to find some 

 economists who do not hesitate to assert that labor is the 

 only source of wealth, and men like Henry George declaring 

 that " Nature gives wealth to labor, and nothing but hibor," 

 and supporting their contention by illustrations that clearly 

 indicate the little attention they have given to an understand- 

 ing of those fundamental physical truths essential to a proper 

 and scientific view of the question they profess to grapple 

 with. 



" The value and magnitude of the produce," says Philip, 

 very correctly, I think, " depends not on the productive 

 power of labor, but on the definite and measurable quantities 

 of the potential energy. of Nature which the product contains, 

 and which are in no sense created or called into existence by 

 anything that man can do." 



Labor must be thought in action to be profitable to man ; 

 for the admission that labdr may be unproductive is an 



