282 FROM NEBULA TO NEBULA 



There are but three possible hypotheses by which the 

 relation of matter and energy may be explained, namely; 

 first, by construing them as identical; secondly, by re- 

 garding them as separate entities, and, thirdly, by sup- 

 posing energy to be a state of matter, or, in other words, 

 that it is only, the way matter has of manifesting itself 

 to our senses. Of these hypotheses the first was known 

 as the theory of Phlogiston and prevailed all through the 

 lifetime of Newton; the second is that now universally 

 taught in the schools, and the third is my own. 



In the narrow limits of current theory the marvel- 

 ous force of gravitation cannot be made to fit, so the doc- 

 trinaires are little by little sophistrizing it altogether out 

 of existence. In their philosophy gravitation is a tether, 

 a brake, a clog. In the field of planetary motions they 

 have even cast doubt upon the actuality of central at- 

 tractions, because they cannot reconcile it with the secu- 

 lar acceleration of the moon. In thermodynamics they 

 have degraded it into a mere accident of situation. At 

 best, they treat it as a reservoir of power soon drained, 

 instead of as the never-failing well it really is. They 

 say it is not creative; that whatever it is, it will all even- 

 tually be converted into heat and perish in stagnation 

 and triviality. 



In my philosophy, on the contrary, gravitation is the 

 marvel of all marvels, the immortal fecund mother of all 

 other so-called forces in nature. When gravitation first 

 entered into matter, it made every part of it a permanent 

 magnet, unchangeable, imperishable, and obedient to an 

 unswerving law. Whether a given mass be hot or cold, 

 gaseous, solid or liquid, separate or in combination, its 

 inherent power to attract and be attracted remains for- 

 ever identically the same. The power of gravitation can- 

 not be crowded into matter, nor can it be abstracted from 

 it like the widow's cruse, the world of matter preserves 

 its fulness. Gravitation needs not to be fed, nor rested, 

 nor fostered. Every instant it wells up afresh. The at- 

 traction that the earth exerts today upon the moon, the 

 sun upon his planets, the stars upon each other, is not 

 the same that will be employed to-morrow or next day; 



