282 COSMIC PHILOSOPHY. [pt. h. 



an aggregate of coexistent positions which offer resistance 

 to our muscular energies ; since it is primarily by virtue of 

 such resistance that we distinguish matter from empty space, 

 it follows that our idea of matter is built up of experiences 

 of force, and that the indestructible element in matter is 

 its resisting power, or the force which it exerts. Con- 

 sidering different portions of matter in their relations to 

 each other, we are brought to the same conclusion. When 

 we say that it is chemistry which has proved with the 

 balance that no matter is ever annihilated, we imply that 

 the test of the presence of matter is gravitative force, and 

 that this force is proportional to the quantity of matter. 



The case of motion is precisely similar. We cognize 

 motion as the successive occupation of a series of positions 

 by an aggregate of coexistent positions which offer resist- 

 ance ; and the essential element in the cognition — " the 

 necessity which the moving body is under to go on changing 

 its position" — has been proved to result from early expe- 

 riences of force as manifested in the movements of our 

 muscles. Consequently, as Mr. Spencer observes, when we 

 find ourselves compelled to conceive motion as continuous, 

 we find that what " defies suppression in thought is really 

 the force which the motion indicates. The unceasing change 

 of position, considered by itself, may be mentally abolished 

 without difficulty. We can readily imagine retardation and 

 stoppage to result from the action of external bodies. But 

 to imagine this, is not possible without an abstraction of the 

 force implied by the motion. We are obliged to conceive this 

 force as impressed in the shape of reaction on the bodies that 

 cause the arrest." 



Or to put the whole case briefly in another form : — The 

 fundamental elements of our conception of matter are its 

 force-element and its space-element, namely, resistance and 

 extension. The fundamental elements of our conception of 

 motion are its force-element and its space-and-time-element, 



