148 The Evolution Hypothesis. 



fined. But if the essential characteristic of the atom 

 is resistance, how does kinetic energy arise ? Is the 

 atom a force-bearer, or is the force inherent in the 

 atom ? Have we the atom + kinetic energy exerted 

 through it, or are the atom and the kinetic energy 

 one ? The distinction here indicated may seem some- 

 what fine-drawn ; but it is important as marking two 

 wholly diverse views of the universe. Is all force 

 immanent in the atom, or is the atom the instrument 

 of force ? The difference is a very real one : it marks the 

 discrimination between agent and instrument, between 

 that which acts, and that which is acted upon. Mr. 

 Spencer favours the latter view. It has an important 

 bearing on his hypothesis ; for if the atoms that are 

 built up into the cosmos are not themselves the active 

 forces ever working in it, but are only the vehicles 

 or instruments of the operative forces, then have 

 we, besides matter and motion, a something which 

 is not matter, but plays with it. The atoms, form- 

 ing the stuff of which the universe is built up, are 

 moved and directed by this force, or these forces, 

 for it may be one force or many, and the result 

 is not the outcome of the law of the atoms, but is 

 wrought out by the undiscoverable force or forces 

 behind them : in which case we are not dealing with 

 matter whose law we might be able to discover, but 

 with forces behind matter whose law is wholly in- 

 scrutable, except in so far as it may be revealed in the 

 mode in which the atoms aggregated in molecules or 



