KINETIC OR MECHANICAL VIEW OF NATURE. 39 



matters, that at the present moment he knows as little 

 as to the true nature of these agencies or substances as 

 he did fifty years ago. 1 



Viewed from the position which we occupy in this 

 history of thought i.e., in relation to the development 

 of ideas the conception of an ether has, however, like 

 the atomic theory, had the most marked influence on 

 scientific research and reasoning. In digging for a hidden 

 treasure, in trying to describe the atoms or the ether, 

 many practically useful conceptions, applicable to tangible 

 phenomena, have been discovered. The atomic theory 

 led at once to an enormous increase of our knowledge of 

 different forms of matter, the knowledge of the elements, 

 and of their innumerable possible compounds. The con- 

 ception of the ether has led similarly to an enormous ex- 

 tension of knowledge of the different possible forms of 

 motion. It is in this sense that we are greatly indebted 

 to these abstract conceptions : both have guided our ideas 

 in trying to understand and grasp the endless variety 

 of phenomena. Let us see how from the early years 

 of the undulatory theory of light our knowledge 

 regarding the different forms of motion has grown, how 

 that theory has contributed to the kinetic view of nature. 



1 Lord Kelvin, in referring to i first session as professor. Some- 

 fifty years of scientific labour, said thing of sadness must come of 

 (see the publication by James failure ; but . . . what splendid 



Maclehose & Sons of the proceedings 

 at his jubilee in 1896, p. 70) : "I 

 know no more of electric and 

 magnetic force, or of the relation 

 between ether, electricity, and 

 ponderable matter, or of chemical 

 affinity, than I knew and tried to 

 teach to my students of natural 

 philosophy fifty years ago in my 



compensation for philosophical fail- 

 ures we have had in the admirable 

 discoveries by observation and ex- 

 periment on the properties of 

 matter, and in the exquisitely 

 beneficent applications of science to 

 the use of mankind with which 

 these fifty years have so abounded." 



