From the Unconscious to the Conscious 



and is beyond the reach of experiment. It is the 

 period of chaos of ancient legend. That from which 

 the universe was to develop was but formless clouds 

 of ether. 



4 Directed and condensed by unknown forces 

 acting for unknown ages, the ether finally organised 

 itself into atomic forms. Matter, as it exists on 

 our earth, or as we can observe it in celestial bodies 

 at different evolutionary stages, is an aggregation 

 of these atoms. 



' During this period of progressive formation 

 the atoms stored up the energy which, under the 

 modes of electricity, heat, etc. . . . they gradually 

 expend as time goes on. 



' In thus slowly losing their accumulated energy, 

 they underwent diverse evolutionary change, and 

 have put on diverse aspects. 



' When they have radiated all their energy under 

 the forms of luminous, calorific, or other vibrations, 

 they must return, by the very fact of this radiation, 

 to the dissociated state to the primitive ether whence 

 they were derived. This, therefore, represents the 

 final nirvana to which all things must return after 

 a more or less ephemeral existence. 



' These summary glances over the origin of our 

 universe and its end are obviously but feeble lights 

 thrown on the darkness which enshrouds our past 

 and veils our future. They are very insufficient 

 explanations. Science can put forward no other, 

 and cannot catch a glimpse of the true first reason 

 of things, nor even reach the real cause of any single 

 phenomenon. It must leave to philosophy and 

 religion the task of imagining systems which can 

 satisfy our need to know.' 



We shall endeavour, in the course of this work, to 

 show that our actual knowledge allows us to go much 



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