VITALITY 57 



and who will set limits to the possible play of mole- 

 cules in a cooling planet? If these statements startle, 

 it is because matter has been denned and maligned 

 by philosophers and theologians, who were equally un- 

 aware that it is, at bottom, essentially mystical and 

 transcendental. 



Questions such as these derive their present interest 

 in great part from their audacity, which is sure, in due 

 time, to disappear. And the sooner the public dread is 

 abolished with reference to such questions the better for the 

 cause of truth. As regards knowledge, physical science 

 is polar. In one sense it knows, or is destined to know, 

 everything. In another sense it knows nothing. Science 

 understands much of this intermediate phase of things 

 that we call nature, of which it is the product; but 

 science knows nothing of the origin or destiny of nature. 

 Who or what made the sun, and gave his rays their al- 

 leged power? Who or what made and bestowed upon 

 the ultimate particles of matter their wondrous power of 

 varied interaction? Science does not know: the mystery, 

 though pushed back, remains unaltered. To many of us 

 who feel that there are more things in heaven and earth 

 than are dreamed of in the present philosophy of science, 

 but who have been also taught, by baffled efforts, how 

 vain is the attempt to grapple with the Inscrutable, the 

 ultimate frame of mind is that of Goethe: 



Who dares to name His name, 



Or belief in Him proclaim, 



Veiled in mystery as He is, the All-enfolder? 



Gleams across the mind His light, 



Feels the lifted soul His might, 



Dare it then deny His reign, the All- upholder? 



