I: A CENTURY OF SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT 



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HERE is a lovely mountain tarn, one of 

 the many in that region of natural beauties 

 JL known as Kerry, to which my thoughts 

 have often turned whilst thinking over the subject 

 of this article. High up, embosomed in the moun- 

 tains, for the most part of the year it is even 

 unfishable, because its sheltered position leaves its 

 surface too glassy for the trout to be deceived by 

 the fly. When, however, the wind blows from the 

 right quarter, what a change in the lake ! Its mirror- 

 like surface is torn with waves, miniature water- 

 spouts and spindrift rage and tear over its face. It 

 is hardly recognizable as the peaceful thing it was, 

 and will be again. For when the wind dies down, 

 once more the pool returns to its peaceful state ; 

 once more puts on its glassy surface. Yet, no doubt, 

 profound changes have taken place in the dis- 

 position of its waters : they are not as they were. 

 The depths of the pool have been stirred, all cannot 

 be as it was before the storm raged. The pool is the 

 same, though a profound reconstruction of its con- 

 stituent parts may have taken place. And any 

 dweller by its shores could tell the casual visitor 

 that such a storm, such a reconstruction, such a 

 subsequent calm, was no unique experience, but 

 a thing which had happened before, and must be 

 expected to happen again. The analogy, like all 

 analogies, breaks down if pushed very far beyond 



