46 From Matter to Man. 



lastingly rotates. Only the rotating part constitutes 

 phenomenal existence. This rotating part consists of 

 vortex atoms, vortex filaments, vortex tubes or vortex 

 rings." 



How these vortex atoms constitute phenomena has 

 not yet been ascertained, nor is ever likely to be ; for 

 the demonstration can only be accomplished by 

 mathematical analysis, a task which Professor Tait 

 says, "would tax to the utmost the powers of the 

 greatest mathematicians for generations to come." 

 Obviously, life is too short and intelligence too im- 

 patient to accommodate such a visionary theory. 

 Besides, this conjectural manner of casting the horo- 

 scope of existence is too suggestive of the haphazard 

 prognostications of gipsy fortune-tellers to merit the 

 serious attention of practical scientists. 



A further objection is that in order to explain the 

 existence of one thing, matter, it has been found 

 necessary to postulate the previous existence of two 

 things, vortex atoms and an inert fluid. True, the 

 vortex atoms alone are alleged to be matter, but if 

 the fluid be not also matter, then, as Professor Tait 

 aptly says, " it explains matter only by the help of 

 something else which, though it is not what we call 

 matter, must possess what we consider to be one of 

 the most distinctive properties of matter.* This 

 complacent method of explaining the origin of one 

 thing by postulating the previous existence of two 

 things is common enough in metaphysics, but its 



* Properties of Matter t p. 21. 



