PREFACE 



and this crowding for space as the origin and na- 

 ture of all force that human reason can perceive, is 

 not this a new philosophy of Matter and Force? 



Form, which is not outward shape alone, but 

 identity of physical construction, from the arrange- 

 ment of ultimate particles to the utmost confines 

 of complexity. This is set forth as the real identity 

 underlying identical Life and Force. And may 

 not this idea of Form hold something worthy of 

 consideration ? 



That this book fails in proving the momentum 

 of bodies in motion, to consist in a connection with 

 a universal ether movement, rather than in an ad- 

 dition of occult force to inert bodies, is not to 

 be wondered at. Yet there may be something indi- 

 cated that will cause some one to make a real 

 advance in the study of momentum. And it seems 

 as if one little invention in connection with momen- 

 tum, like its conversion directly into electricity, for 

 instance, were worth a wagon-load of books. Stick- 

 ing potato balls together with pegs could scarcely 

 succeed in determining the form of different Atoms, 

 yet evidently this can be done, if Atoms are com- 

 posed of lesser ultimate spheres. Can the great 

 science of Darwinian biology possibly be resting on 

 an insecure foundation? It can scarcely hurt to 

 examine the foundation again and again before a 

 great sky-scraper is completed. 



No one understands gyroscopic persistency. No 

 one knows how to make an etheroplane that may 

 take hold of plane layers of ether particles, rather 



iv 



