THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD 141 



for all our experimental facts by a simple addition to 

 the attributes of matter and continue to base our 

 theories on mechanical laws. 



So long as the measurement of physical qualities be- 

 comes ultimately a matter of measuring mechanical 

 forces, it is advisable to express quantitative physical 

 laws in terms of mechanical formulae. For this rea- 

 son electricity should be considered a function of me- 

 chanical energy rather than the converse. If it be 

 possible to place mechanics on an electro-dynamic basis, 

 it is certain that we may always explain electricity in 

 terms of pondero-dynamic laws. As both are possible, 

 it seems far more natural and more rational to con- 

 sider electricity as an attribute of matter than matter 

 as a phenomenon of electricity. 



