20 From Matter to Man. 



to prove the generation of matter from energy, when 

 all evidence demonstrates energy to be only a 

 property or condition of matter? Moreover, energy 

 absolutely requires matter for its manifestation, hence 

 without matter could practically never exist, and 

 certainly without it could not possibly be known to 

 or seen by men. All evidence confirms the supposi- 

 tion that existence is a duality, not a unity ; wedlock, 

 not celibacy. It takes two potencies, matter and 

 energy, to produce visible phenomena, and no natural 

 product, mineral, vegetable, or animal, is exempt from 

 this dual law. 



In an incisive exposure of Mr Spencer's formula, 

 a caustic critic advised the author to " stick to his 

 evidence and nothing more ; " but the censor, in a 

 weak moment, ventured the following rash improve- 

 ment : — " All observation and meditation, science and 

 philosophy, bring us to the practical belief that man 

 is ever in the presence of some energy or energies of 

 which he knows nothing, and to which, therefore, 

 he would be wise to assign no limits, conditions, or 

 functions." * 



But the merest tyro would reply that if there be 

 any energy in nature of which man at present knows 

 nothing, it would be infinitely wiser to determine 

 whether it is or is not related to the energy of which 

 he knows something, than to write himself down a 

 Dogberry. Man would be reflecting on his own 

 intelligence if in this scientific age he could not at 



* Mr F. Harrison, Nineteenth Century, February 1S85. 



