28 THE LIMITATIONS OF SCIENCE 



correct definition a complex idea must be explained into 

 simpler parts. 



The theory of Professor Lorentz is essentially the 

 same, although he does not attempt any speculations 

 as to the structure of the ether or atom. But he, too, 

 postulates the existence of small, electrically charged 

 particles in all bodies and deduces all electrical laws 

 from the positions and motions of these electrons. 



It is not necessary to state that both these writers 

 develop their theories with great skill and from a pro- 

 found knowledge of the science. They have, perhaps, 

 achieved a closer unity in the branches of physics, 

 although I feel confident that they have really only 

 substituted an electrical atom which will not explain 

 matter for a material atom which would not explain 

 electricity. And to attain this ambiguous advantage 

 they have introduced postulates which lie still further 

 outside the domain of science and have, by fixing our 

 attention on a sub-atom, given an appearance of greater 

 reality to the relatively gross atom. 



The influence of such abstruse and metaphysical 

 theories on scientific thought is already apparent in a 

 certain eagerness to advance startling hypotheses and 

 novel ideas. Many men of science of to-day have tem- 

 porarily put aside the sobriety and restraint which 

 should characterize scientific reasoning. The most 

 tremendous results are based on insufficient evidence, 

 and the simple statement that the cause of a phenom- 





