46 WHAT IS LIFE ? 



mathematicians, that space is not, matter is not, force 

 is not all are abstractions of a brain which they say 

 cannot exist it being matter. It must not be forgotten 

 that mathematics is an a priori science, and all depends 

 upon the reality and truth of the a priori definitions. 1 

 The physicist feels he is wrong somewhere, 2 and he 

 craves to remedy the wrong. Few minds are able to 

 bear the mathematical strain, because this strain is 

 the effort to remember very complex formulae which 

 are not understood. Obviously, therefore, we must 

 simplify in order to bring these great questions 

 questions, we shall see, upon which human progress and 

 our common welfare depend within the reach of 

 ordinary intellectual minds. 3 



Mathematical formulae are never true from the 

 nature of things they cannot be true. They are only 

 numerical approximations. Let us take the formula of 

 inverse squares a fundamental law in physics ; " the 

 law of inverse squares is not universally true. Its 

 truth assumes, first, that the source is a point or 

 sphere ; next, that there is no reflection or refraction 

 of any kind ; and lastly, that the medium is perfectly 

 transparent. The law of Inverse squares by no means 

 holds from a prairie fire for instance, or from a light- 

 house, or from a street lamp in a fog." 4 Who ever saw 



the instant. But after all, the sword exercise is only the hewing 

 and poking of the clubman developed and perfected." ('' Lay 

 Sermons, Addresses, and Reviews," Thomas Henry Huxley, LL.D., 

 F.R.S., 1893 ; p. 66.) 



1 See the author's work, " What is Heat ? " p. 17. 



2 See "Modern Views of Electricity," Prof. O. J. Lodge, F.R.S., 

 &c., 1892, pp. 66, 67. 



3 See Appendix, p. 285. 



* "Pioneers of Science," Prof. 0. Lodge, F.R.S., &c., 1893, p. 209. 



