8 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY 



twentieth century, the labours of mathematicians 

 have reduced matter and the laws of matter to 

 little more than mathematical equations. That 

 fire could be the source of all things may also seem 

 absurd, yet we must not forget that it is just from 

 fire — from the fiery nebula — that modern science 

 has derived the solar system ; that the relationship 

 between heat and energy is one of the great 

 mysteries of science. Moreover, if we follow the 

 reasoning of Heraclitus, we find it astonishingly 

 strong and acute. His views are given thus by 

 Edward Clodd {Pioneers of Evolution) : " Flux 

 or movement, says Heraclitus, is the all-pervad- 

 ing law of things, and in opposition of forces, by 

 which things are kept going, there is underlying 

 harmony. Still on the quest after primary sub- 

 stance, whose manifestations are so various, he 

 found it in fire^ since ' the quantity of it in a flame 

 burning steadily appears to remain the same ; the 

 flame seems to be what we call a thing.' And 

 yet the substance of it is continually changing. 

 It is always passing away in smoke, and its place 

 is always being taken by fresh matter from the fuel 

 that feeds it. This is just what we want. If we 

 regard the world as an everliving fire — this order 

 which is the same in all things, and which no-one 

 of gods or men has made — we can understand how 

 fire is always becoming all things, while all things 



