CHAPTER VII 



THE CHAIN OF UNIVERSES 



A GENERAL survey of the ground covered by these 

 investigations shows that they necessitate a revision 

 of hitherto-accepted views in those departments of 

 science and philosophy which deal with the infinite 

 and the infinitesimal, and, generally speaking, with 

 space and time in the abstract. The relativity of 

 space and time itself, always accepted as an axiom, 

 is here for the first time carried to its logical conclu- 

 sion, and given a physical interpretation. It would 

 have been easy, and also somewhat fashionable, to 

 extend the limits of space by breaking down its 

 three-dimensional character. Greater freedom of 

 hypothesis, and greater security from criticism, 

 might also have been obtained by abrogating other 

 fundamental laws of nature. But the experience of 

 mankind is opposed to any such proceeding. When 

 Newton first extended the earth's attraction as far 

 as the moon his hypothesis appeared far-fetched and 

 presumptuous. But we have gone much further 

 since, and have learned more and more that the 

 strange and the wonderful must not be looked for 

 beyond the stars. The abysses of space are no more 



