COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



our present system has been evolved. In seek- 

 ing to trace out the implications of this conclu- 

 sion, we at once arrive at an impassable barrier, 

 which is only shifted, but not overthrown, when 

 we consider the results of the probable ultimate 

 conflict between our own system, thus disin- 

 tegrated, and other sidereal systems belonging 

 to our galaxy. In order to give a complete 

 account of the matter, we ought to know what 

 has become of all this motor energy which we 

 have been so prodigally pouring away, in the 

 shape of radiant heat, into the interstellar spaces. 

 Is the equivalent of this motor energy ever to 

 be restored, or is the greater part of it forever 

 lost in the abysses of infinite space ? Before we 

 can answer such a question, we need to know 

 whether the interstellar ether, which is the ve- 

 hicle for the transmission of molecular motion, 

 is definitely limited in extent, or practically in- 

 finite ; and we need to take into the account the 

 dynamic relations, not only of our entire galac- 

 tic system, but of other stellar systems, if such 

 there are, beyond the utmost ken of the tele- 

 scope. Here science fails us. Astronomy, the 

 simplest and clearest of the sciences, becomes, 

 when treated on this great scale, the most diffi- 

 cult and obscure. An infinity and an eternity 

 confront us, the secrets of which we may not 

 hope to unravel. At the outermost verge to 

 which scientific methods can guide us, we can 

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