THE LAW or EQUILIBRIUM 113 



himself could not fathom, his followers, more materialis- 

 tically given, have aimed to supply the place of the Deity 

 by the banality of alleging such wonders to be " natural' ', 

 without taking over the burden of showing why and how 

 they are natural. They convince themselves that the sun 

 and the stars are dashing through space, and then they go 

 on and say it is "natural" for all celestial bodies thus to 

 dash through space, and that the phenomenon ' ' demands 

 explanation only as mere existence does." They behold 

 one member of a binary star circling about its fellow, so 

 they declare ' ' the central one whirls the other round and 

 round, ' ' and that such behavior is natural, up in the sky. 

 They see the earth rotating on its axis, and this again 

 they sagely inform us is natural, also, else why, forsooth, 

 should it be so rotating? Furthermore, seeing the equa- 

 torial ring, they say that such momenta as inhabit plane- 

 tary bodies are different "by nature" from terrestrial 

 momenta in this, that they are ' ' persistent, ' ' and can go 

 on doing work forever without any fresh feeding of the 

 motive power. All these so-called laws ( !) they affect to 

 believe true of celestial mechanics ; and, in line with this 

 policy, they teach that the vulgar law of equilibrium is 

 altogether too corporeal to consort with these supernal 

 archetypes. 



Far from being a clog upon matter, whether here or 

 in the sky, whether in this paper weight or in the terres- 

 trial globe of which it is a part, the principle of equili- 

 brium is an inestimable endowment indispensable to the 

 preservation and regulation of the universe in all its ac- 

 tivities and through all its broad extent. Here on earth,, 

 is not equilibrium the ruling factor that makes for order 

 as against confusion, for system as opposed to chaos? 

 Why should it be preferentially assumed, then, that, in 

 the greater cosmos, the principle should prove itself 

 otherwise? As well might one advocate the abolition of 

 rudders as being an impediment to ships, which other- 

 wise would be free to move indiscriminately. The one 

 great truth, rising mountain high above all others in the 

 realm of physical science, is, that natural law is ir- 

 revocably unchangeable, and that, for all its inflexible 



