THE LAW OF EQUILIBRIUM 131 



rudders as being an impediment to ships, which other- 

 wise would be free to move indiscriminately. The one 

 great truth, rising mountain high above all others in the 

 realm of physical science, is, that natural law is ir- 

 revocably unchangeable, and that, for all its inflexible 

 rigidity, the universe it controls is at once fraught with 

 kaleidoscopic changes of infinite range, yet withal peren- 

 nially maintained in order. So must it ever continue, as 

 ever it has continued. 



NEWTON'S VACUUM-TUBE EXPERIMENT 



In the first place, let it be remembered that this ex- 

 periment was designed and undertaken with but one ob- 

 ject in view, namely, to lend color to Newton's rashly-con- 

 ceived hypothesis regarding the cause of the tides. Had 

 subsequent investigations of the tidal phenomena borne 

 out the hypothesis, the fact would have constituted an all 

 but conclusive confirmation of the basic lesson drawn 

 from the experiment. Far from this being the case, how- 

 ever, we are informed by such lofty authorities as Dar- 

 win, Kelvin and Young Newtonians all par excellence 

 that the tidal hypothesis is "utterly unsatisfactory in re- 

 gard to what actually takes place, ' ' and that " it is nearly 

 as much wrong as possible. ' ' If there is any merit in the 

 logic of facts, then, it follows that, the hypothesis having 

 been weighed in the balance of Nature and found wanting, 

 every link in the chain of deduction is forcibly brought 

 under suspicion. The staple link in this chain is the 

 vacuum-tube experiment ; why, then, should its soundness 

 be taken for granted ? In view of the disastrous outcome, 

 is not the probability precisely the reverse f 



In the next place let me ask, What is the physical or 

 causal relationship, if any, subsisting between the sur- 

 rounding medium and the equilibristic tendency of any 

 object therein contained? Is there, perhaps, some secret 

 virtue in the atmosphere that, passing into the object, im- 

 parts to it the power or imposes upon it the obligation to 

 lower its center of gravity? And, conversely, does the 

 withdrawal of the air from the receiver deprive it, pro 



