ON MATTER AND FORCE. 93 



and that they know nothing whatever of matter 

 except as that which can exert or resist force ; 

 and they should not forget that there is no 

 proof whatever that force is something without 

 weight which the Creator has made separably 

 to adhere to matter. 



Those also who are tempted to oppose 

 spiritualism to materialism must remember 

 that, in the progress of science, this something 

 without weight, this fluid, air, or aether, has 

 ceased to be regarded as the actual force itself, 

 but is considered only to be an imponderable 

 matter to which the force is inseparably united ^ 



From this point of view, the question be- 

 tween materialism and spiritualism is, in fact, 

 only a question between ponderable and im- 

 ponderable materialism. Hence the scientific 

 spiritualist of the present day differs from the 

 materialist of the present day only as far as 

 imponderable differs from ponderable matter. 



The spiritualist who still holds the primitive 

 idea of the perfect separation of matter and 

 force may find full occupation for his reason in 

 weighing the evidence on which his belief or 

 internal conviction rests; but he must leave 

 the investigation of the foundations of natural 



