RELIGION AND SCIENCE 243 



matter, in due process of time, originated from non- 

 living ; and if that be so, we must push our conclusion 

 farther, and believe that not only living matter, but 

 all matter, is associated v^^ith something of the same 

 general description as mind in higher animals. We 

 come, that is, to a monistic conclusion, in that we 

 believe that there is only one fundamental substance, 

 and that this possesses not only material properties, 

 but also properties for which the word mental is the 

 nearest approach. We want a new word to denote 

 this JT, this world-stuff ; matter will not do, for 

 that is a word which the physicists and chemists 

 have moulded to suit themselves, and since they 

 have not yet learned to detect or measure mental 

 phenomena, they restrict the word * material ' to 

 mean * non-mental,' and * matter ' to mean that 

 which has such ' material ' properties. 



You will remember William of Occam's Razor ; 

 ' Entia non multiplicanda praeter necessitatem ' j when 

 we are monists in the sense I have just outlined, we 

 are using that weapon to shave away a very unre- 

 strained growth of hair which has long obscured the 

 features of reality. 



Holding to these principles, we must, until evidence 

 to the contrary is produced, reject any explanation 

 which proceeds by cataclysms, or by miracles ; a 

 miracle becomes (when not an illusion) simply an 

 event which is on the one hand uncommon, and 

 for which, on the other, there has been found no 



