74 The Higher Usefulness of Science 



masses, existed only as a latent attribute of molecules ? 

 But let that pass. It is not the point in the statement 

 specially open to attack on the principles we have 

 been examining. Nor is the vulnerable point in the 

 contention that the existing world once "lay potentially 

 in the cosmic vapor." Since the existing world is an 

 undoubted reality, it undoubtedly did once lie poten- 

 tially in the cosmic vapor if such a vapor ever 

 actually existed. The point upon which our assault 

 must be directed is the assertion "a sufficient intellect 

 could, from a knowledge of the properties of the mole- 

 cules of that vapor, have predicted . . . the fauna of 

 Great Britain in 1869." The trouble with the asser- 

 tion can be brought out by asking, what would be a 

 "sufficient intellect" to make such a prediction? An- 

 swering this in the light of what we have learned about 

 the nature of experiential knowledge, we see that no 

 amount of augmentation of power, or content of such 

 intellect as ours, would be sufficient, but that a wholly 

 different kind of intellect would be necessary. This is 

 so because, constituted as we are, we have no sense 

 with which to observe potentiality and no thought 

 method with which to conceive it. Nor have we an inkling 

 of what kind of sense or what kind of thought could 

 do that, even supposing it might be done. What sort 

 of sense would it be, do you think, that would perceive 

 water in oxygen and hydrogen? Do not fail to make 

 the distinction between seeing potential water in oxygen 

 and hydrogen, and finding certain properties in the 



