COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



sipation of part of its contained motion, and, at 

 last, the diffusion of its constituent matter ac- 

 companied by reabsorption of the lost motion, 

 or its equivalent. 



Thus we are gradually reaching something 

 like a concrete result. As we saw, in the pre- 

 ceding chapter, that rhythm necessitates a con- 

 tinual redistribution of matter and motion 

 throughout the knowable universe, we now 

 find that this continual redistribution every- 

 where results in alternate concentration and 

 diffusion. Such, indeed, must inevitably be the 

 result. The same universal principle of dyna- 

 mics which prevents the perturbations in the 

 solar system from ever accumulating all in the 

 same direction is also to be seen exemplified, 

 on a more general scale, in the law that neither 

 aggregation nor diffusion can proceed indefi- 

 nitely without being checked by the counter- 

 process. Unless we suppose that the sum of 

 the forces which produce aggregation is infinitely 

 greater or infinitely less than the sum of the 

 forces which resist aggregation, so that either 

 the one or the other may be left out of the 

 account, we must admit that the only possible 

 outcome of the conflict between the two is a 

 series of alternations, both general and local, 

 between aggregation and dissipation. 



It is now the time to apply to these antagonist 

 processes some more convenient and accurate 

 200 



