24 THE UNFATHOMED UNIVERSE 



and profundity, except that due to the introduction of the 

 Copernican Astronomy.'' 



(5) Finally, it may be useful to remember that, accord- 

 ing to current and probably well-warranted scientific belief, 

 there was once a time when what happened upon the earth 

 might have been formulated in its immediacy with apparent 

 exhaustiveness in terms of the dynamics of particles. But 

 that cannot be said now. New aspects of reality have in 

 the course of ages ' welled up ' and required new sciences. 

 We know, too, as we say, the ends of processes which in 

 azoic days had only begun. And yet we are not sure that 

 we know any ends (in the sense of goals), for the process 

 continues. Science seems bound to be not only approxi- 

 mate but asymptotic, for its subject-matter continues to 

 evolve. 



One may have a more or less wholesome dislike of per-, 

 petual-motion mongers and their successors, but one resents 

 scientific absolutism which will consider nothing that seems 

 to infringe a law. For these laws, beyond those of mathemat- 

 ics, are not more than summations of experience in a certain 

 limited here and now. The Uniformity of Nature which 

 the legalists hold over us as a sacrosanct principle is a big- 

 assumption. For who shall define its tenure in a world of 

 aeonic flux? 



We should remember, too, how thickly beset we are with 

 unsolved problems of a less ultimate nature. What, for in- 

 stance, is the commonest and most universal vital event? 

 It is cell-division. And though the literature about it would 

 fill a large library, we do not yet know the conditions of its 

 occurrence or the forces at work in its accomplishment! 

 When we succeed in stating a problem in a clear way it is 

 gratuitous to speak of it as insoluble, but of the number of 



