312 COSMIC PHILOSOPHY. [pt. ii. 



direction and in velocity, but it would take place in closed 

 curves, and the distribution of forces at the end of each 

 rhythm would be the same as at the beginning. In the 

 simplest of actual cases, however, — in the case of our 

 planetary system, — such a result, though apparently realized 

 so long as we eliminate from the problem all factors save the 

 two principal ones, is not truly realized ; and if we were to 

 take into account the motions of the whole system, due to 

 the forces exerted upon it by remote stellar systems, we 

 should see that it is very far from being realized. Viewed 

 in its relations to the entire visible universe of stellar bodies, 

 no planet moves in a closed curve ; and if we also take into 

 consideration the unceasing loss of molecular motion by 

 each cosmical body, we shall perceive that even in this 

 relatively simple class of cases, the rhythms are far too com- 

 plex ever to result in the reproduction of a given distribu- 

 tion of forces. In the relatively complex cases furnished by 

 geology and biology, this truth is still more strikingly 

 exemplified. Thus in the actual case with which our science 

 has to deal — the case of a universe in which innumerable 

 millions of bodies, from a gigantic star like Sirius down to 

 an inconceivably minute atom of hydrogen, are ceaselessly 

 exerting forces upon each other — we see, not only that all 

 motions must be rhythmical, but that every rhythm, great 

 or small, must end in some redistribution, be it general or 

 local, of matter and motion. 



Or to state this final conclusion in a slightly different 

 form : — The mere coexistence of a vast number of bodies in 

 the universe necessitates perpetual rhythm, resulting in a 

 continuous redistribution of matter and motion. Thus fresh 

 significance is given to the truth vaguely surmised by 

 Herakleitos, that ceaseless change is the law of all things, 

 and that the universe of phenomena is in a never-ending 

 flux. But the scientific demonstration further shows us that 

 the change is always from an old state to a new state, and 



