TENDENCIES OF MODERN PHYSICS 57 



electron. It is evident that the philosophical ideas of 

 this theory are the same as those previously discussed. 

 We are driven in both to the supposition that the elec- 

 tron is a space modification of a universal medium and 

 that, in some way, neither electron nor ether is a ma- 

 terial substance, but a kind of transcendental entity 

 called electricity. 



Of course we wish to obtain a deeper insight into the 

 properties of matter, and if we had discovered, or had 

 any means of discovering, a method to such a knowl- 

 edge, no amount of labor would be superfluous while 

 making an hypothesis. But we wish many impossible 

 things; we should like to be satisfied about the im- 

 mortality of the soul ; the causes and nature of life, and 

 a host of other problems. Now Professor Lorentz 

 says we know very little about the ether and the nature 

 of matter, and by very little, he means we know noth- 

 ing. What advantage, then, does he propose, when he 

 says: Come, let us invent something about these un- 

 knowable things, let us make an hypothesis that we 

 may seem to obtain a deeper insight into the mysteries 

 of nature? He knows that the atom of iron is as mys- 

 terious as a ton of that substance, and that he does 

 nothing to explain the nature of iron by giving imagi- 

 nary properties to a sub-atom of iron ; he is aware that 

 he has not touched the reason why iron differs from 

 copper, and he ought to know that, by calling this sub- 

 atom a particle of electricity, he has only added con- 



