FROM NEBULA TO NEBULA 



often used the term force ; and the idea of force, as will later be 

 discussed, has confused the issues and retarded the growth of 

 science to an almost incalculable extent. Carlyle says, meaning 

 energy "Force, Force, everywhere Force ; we ourselves a myster- 

 ious Force in the centre of that "There is not a leaf rotting on 

 the highway but has Force in it: how else could it rot?" The 

 very idea of Force is, however, what would be termed an an- 

 thropomorphism ; that is to say, it ascribes the behavior of 

 inanimate objects to causes derived from the behavior of human 

 beings. We have come to associate the motion of matter with 

 somebody or something pulling or pushing it. When one body 

 is observed to move toward another, like a stone falling to the 

 ground, it has been supposed that, although no agent is visible, 

 something must be pulling it. What, however, is actually ob- 

 served is a change of position of the body, which acquires at 

 the same time motion or velocity. The observation is correctly 

 expressed by saying that energy, before associated with the 

 position of one body with reference to another (potential energy), 

 has changed into energy of motion (kinetic energy). To suppose 

 that the one body attracts or pulls the other with a certain 

 "force" is to imagine a cause which, if it existed, would account 

 for the effect. Forces are not conserved, they have no physical 

 existence, but they still survive even in scientific parlance, mainly 

 because of the poverty of the language, which hardly allows ef- 

 fects to be expressed without some causal inference. 



And on his page 112 Mr. Soddy says further : 



An ingenious theory of gravitation was put forward a 

 century ago which, though not accepted, is very suggestive, and 

 illustrates the difference between what science would consider a 

 real cause and one that is fictitious, like the {< force of gravity." 



Now, it must not be supposed that these excerpts are 

 merely the unsupported opinions of two eminent men ; on 

 the contrary, they express the consensus of opinion of the 

 entire orthodox scientific world. Coldly analyzed, they 

 amount to a denial of the inviolability of natural law, and 

 set a finite limit to the chain of physical cause and effect. 

 To do either of these things is to destroy the very founda- 

 tion of physical science. A nebula can no more rotate, I 

 hold, without the continued application of 'some physical 

 power than can a mill-wheel, nor a star spontaneously 

 shoot through space any more than can a leaden bullet. 

 Modern Astronomy is therefore based on a rank heresy. 

 It sets out to solve the machinery of the solar system, 



