UNEXPLAINED ORIGINS. 31 
still farther and ask: Whence is matter? Whence is 
force? ; 
Nor, indeed, do evolutionists hesitate to express an 
opinion concerning the origin of matter and force. The 
universe, as it exists to-day, is made up of matter dis- 
posed in various forms,—stars, rock, plants, animals,— 
and endowed with energy in various forms; and from the 
earliest age of speculation, as we have seen, the human 
mind conceived of a time in which there was unorganized 
matter, substance without form. Like the ancient Greek 
philosophers, evolutionists to-day try to formulate a 
working hypothesis to account for the origin of the uni- 
verse. It is believed that, in a broad way, the Nebular 
Hypothesis put forth by La Place indicated the manner 
in which the earth and the system to which it belongs 
have been evolved. We have outlined, briefly, in our 
first chapter, the main features of this theory. We shall 
now indicate the difficulties which stand in the way of 
its acceptance even as a working hypothesis. 
1. The Nebular Hypothesis assumes that during a 
past endless time there has existed an incalculable num- 
ber of original atoms. Let us understand that according 
to the so-called atomic theory, matter is composed of in- 
divisible particles, called atoms. Since the discovery of 
radium this theory has been considerably modified, each 
atom now being understood to consist of many thousands 
of smaller particles, called electrons. However, whether 
we call them atoms or electrons, the smallest, indivisible 
particles of matter are assumed to have existed during in- 
finite past time. Now, the origin of these simplest com- 
ponent parts of matter remains an unsolved mystery. 
The mind is unable even to formulate a guess with 
ereference to their organization. 
2. A second postulate of the Nebular Hypothesis is 
the origin of force and motion in the huge gas ball which 
