8 PHYSICAL SCIENCE BK. i 



deem void of counsel, hurried hither and thither at 

 random ; or at best, nature, they suppose, does not 

 know what her own aim is. How profitable then, 

 think you, will it be to ascertain the truth on such 

 questions and exactly to define each position ! For 

 example, what is the extent of the power of God ? 

 Does He create matter or does He employ 

 matter already given ? Does the pre-existing 

 archetype give shape to matter, or does the matter 

 determine the shape ? Can God perform anything 

 He wishes, or does material fail Him in many 

 15 cases, just as a great artist often produces inferior 

 work, not through any defect in his art, but because 

 the material on which it is exercised is refractory ? 

 To search into such things, to learn them, to medi- 

 tate upon them why, is it not in effect to transcend 

 the limits of mortality and to be enrolled a citizen 

 of a higher state? What good will it do you, 

 you ask. Well, if nothing else, I shall, at any rate, 

 know that measured by divine standard all earthly 

 things are mean. But of this more anon. 



To come now to my purpose listen to the explana- 

 tion offered by Natural Philosophy concerning the 

 Fires which the atmosphere drives athwart. Their 

 oblique course and amazing velocity furnish proof 

 that they are thrust out with great violence. Evi- 

 dently they do not come forth of themselves, they 

 are shot out. There are many different forms of 

 them. A certain kind of them Aristotle calls a She- 

 Goat. If you ask me why, I must retort by asking 

 you first to explain why they are also called Kids. 



