CHAPTER XXXIV 

 THE END OF THE MACHINE 



AN impenetrable veil hides from us the beginning of things. So 

 far as we can now see, it will never be lifted. Equally from 

 our view is veiled the end. The forces with which physical 

 investigations deal are finite ; they are measurable, and, in a 

 way, simple. The single exception to this and that may be 

 only an apparent exception, the outcome of our present ignorance 

 is gravitation. So long as that riddle is unexplained, it is 

 idle to conjecture. Perhaps it would still be idle if it were 

 solved. 



So far as we can now perceive there appears to be, in Spen- 

 cerian formula, an increasing aggregation of matter. If the 

 matter of the universe is finite, and if this aggregation be pur- 

 sued indefinitely, it could have but one result : that would be 

 final congregation into a single mass. The universe of suns 

 and planets would be tumbled into a single lump. 



Whatever be the larger fact, it is not improbable that this 

 may be the fate of that part of cosmos which it will ever be 

 given to our human kind to know. There is much in recent 

 stellar discovery to suggest such a conclusion. It is obvious, 

 for example, that, if we do not mistake as to the vast size of 

 Canopus, we should have here a relatively advanced stage of 

 the process. 



If the meteoritic idea of the origin of suns and planets hold 

 aught of truth, the tendency is towards the formation of larger 

 and larger bodies. Each of these would act in some sense as 

 centres of aggregation. It is fairly clear that in the course of 

 ages the earth has grown, all of the planets have grown, the 

 sun itself has grown. The continuous sweeping of these 

 large bodies would eventually empty space of all its minor 

 contents. 



If we prolong our vision we shall see that amid the alternate 

 formation of systems, and their disintegration through stellar 



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