84 THE WOKLD-ENERGY 



Thus in a concrete sense the continuity of matter 

 necessarily implies the absolute fluidity of matter; just 

 as, on the other hand, the discreteness of matter no less 

 necessarily implies its perfect rigidity. But it is precisely 

 in this concrete sense, as we have already seen, that 

 matter (that is, force) in its very character of the con- 

 tinuous develops within itself infinite discreteness. The 

 infinite fluidity of the extended is nothing more nor less 

 than the varying relation between the complementary 

 aspects of force, known as attraction and repulsion, 

 whereby any and every given quantity of "matter" is 

 constantly undergoing expansion or contraction, and 

 whereby, at any given moment, therefore, the complete 

 disruption of the given quantity of matter may begin; 

 following which, or even accompanying which, such given 

 quantity may become completely fused with other quan- 

 tities and thus undergo entire re-constitution. And 

 it may be that the conception here presented is not so 

 very far removed from that of the perfectly elastic fluid 

 which, in the vortex-atom theory, is assumed to fill all 

 space. 



Here, then, the puzzle of the infinite divisibility of 

 matter finds its solution. Considered as continuous merely, 

 matter is, like space, infinitely divisible ; for as simply 

 continuous matter must be as absolutely indifferent to 

 division as is space itself. But, on the other hand, matter 

 considered as merely discrete and such the atomic theory 

 makes it cannot possibly be thought as undergoing infinite 

 division, since it has already undergone final division, and 

 hence consists of ultimate, unalterable particles. 



It would seem, then, that the reconciliation of these 

 two apparently irreconcilable views is found in the fore- 



