The Limits of Physical Science. 29 



ward and forward to infinity, the result will be wholly 

 false. 



When the order of the universe, as at the beginning 

 of its history it emerges out of and at the close of its- 

 history it passes again into the imperceptible, is- 

 deduced from present knowledge of phenomena, this 

 liability to error is always present. Unless our 

 knowledge of fact be precise and adequate if aught 

 be misread or omitted all reasonings based on it, and 

 extending before and after over unimaginable stretches 

 of time, are fatally tainted with uncertainty. The 

 result is wholly unreliable. The amount of reality 

 with which the physicist set out remains a fixed 

 quantity, while the margin of error has increased at 

 every step. That which, within experience, was an 

 imperceptible divergence from fact has widened to 

 infinity. 



(2.) The bounds of things as existing in space at 

 any given point in time are practically infinite. 

 However far scientific vision may reach, the cosmos 

 extends beyond. The sphere of observation is but a 

 speck in the limitless expanse. Now, to infer from 

 the little portion observed to the vastly wider regions 

 remaining for ever inscrutable, is fraught with peril. 

 We must be assured not only of the similarity, but 

 identity, of concrete existences within experience and 

 beyond it, before we can venture to draw any conclu- 

 sion with an approach to certainty. 



In every case we are 1 met by the initial difficulty of 



