THE SPIRITUAL NATURE OF ''ATOMS. 



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each atom, with Leibnitz and Lotze, as a meta^ 

 physical entity or monad, and to regard their inter- 

 actions as constituting the material universe, or 

 to ascribe them to the direct action of divine force. 

 Nor is it a question of vital importance which we 

 prefer. For, on the one hand, we cannot dispense 

 with the divine force in trying to understand the 

 arrangement of the world and the aim of its pro- 

 cess, and, on the other, it is not very much more 

 difficult to conceive of an atom as possessing rudi- 

 mentary consciousness and individuality than to- do 

 this in the case of an amoeba. But perhaps- it is 

 better. In the present state of our knowledge, and 

 until Mr. Crookes' theories of the individualities of 

 atoms (ch. vil. § 1 1) have received fuller confirmation, 

 to recognize the distinction betweea organic and 

 inorganic being, and to ascribe consciousness only 

 to living beings, out of which It is historically pro- 

 bable that our highly evolved consciousness has 

 directly developed. 



An atom, then, may be defined as a constant 

 manifestation of divine Force or Will, exercised at 

 a definite point. In this definition, which moreover 

 can be easily adapted to new requirements, should 

 the old conceptions of atoms cease to be serviceable 

 expressions for the scientific facts, the constancy of th^ 

 divine Will excludes the association of caprice, while 

 the localization prevents the fusion and confusion of 

 the force-atoms. It must not, however, be supposed 

 that there is any intrinsic connection between the 

 forces and the mathematical points at which they 

 act. It is merely that at these points we come 

 under the influence of a certain intensity of divine 

 Force. That this Intensity Is a constant and definite 

 one, and that we can therefore measure it in num- 



