28 ORIGIN AND NATURE OF LIFE 



alone, were the two fundamental entities of 

 the physical world, and that each was eternal, 

 unalterable, and had existed in fixed amount 

 from the beginning of days, uncreatable and 

 indestructible. 



This fixed belief led to many great discov- 

 eries, although there is little question that it 

 also delayed and inhibited others by setting 

 up an unwarrantable boundary to thought. 

 The fundamental experimental discoveries 

 upon which these laws of the conservation of 

 matter and conservation of energy were based, 

 still remain intact, and in certain directions 

 potent to lead to discovery. There is no need 

 to abandon them entirely, but recent experi- 

 ments have shown that they must be modified, 

 and given their limitations, and this defect 

 in the scientific idols, having been discovered, 

 it has become permissible to examine them 

 critically, without being guilty of sacrilege, 

 to discover if perchance any other part than 

 their feet is made of clay. 



To put the case in as simple and non-tech- 

 nical language as possible, matter represents 

 the stuff or structure of the universe, as obvious 

 to our senses unaided, or aided by artificial 

 means, and energy is the activity (or the power 

 to develop activity due to relative position) 

 of the component parts of the stuff or matter. 



