MATTER AND FORCE 61 



• 



were, so to speak, the complement of nature's facts, and 

 that, within certain limits, the secret of the universe was 

 open to the human understanding. It was found that the 

 mind of man had the power of penetrating far beyond 

 the boundaries of his five senses; that the things which 

 are seen in the material world depend for their action 

 upon things unseen; in short, that besides the phenom- 

 ena which address the senses, there are laws and prin- 

 ciples and processes which do not address the senses at 

 all, but which must be, and can be, spiritually discerned. 

 To the subjects which require this discernment belong 

 the phenomena of molecular force. But to trace the 

 genesis of the notions now entertained upon this sub- 

 ject, we have to go a long way back. In the drawing 

 of a bow, the darting of a javelin, the throwing of a 

 stone — in the lifting of burdens, and in personal com- 

 bats — even savage man became acquainted with the 

 operation of force. Ages of discipline, moreover, taught 

 him foresight. He laid by at the proper season stores 

 of food, thus obtaining time to look about him, and to 

 become an observer and inquirer. Two things which he 

 noticed must have profoundly stirred his curiosity. He 

 found that a kind of resin dropped from a certain tree 

 possessed, when rubbed, the power of drawing light 

 bodies to itself, and of causing them to cling to it; 

 and he also found that a particular stone exerted a 

 similar power over a particular kind of metal. I allude, 

 of course, to electrified amber, and to the loadstone, or 

 natural magnet, and its power to attract particles of iron. 

 Previous experience of his own muscles had enabled our 

 early inquirer to distinguish between a push and a pull. 

 Augmented experience showed him that in the case oi 



