I04 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY 



In terms of ether, says W. C. D. Whetham, 

 " Matter is a persistent strain-form flitting 

 through a universal sea of ether." And according 

 to Sir Oliver Lodge, an electron " is only a 

 peculiarity or singularity of some kind in the ether 

 which is of perfectly uniform density everywhere. 

 What we sense as matter is an aggregate or group- 

 ing of an enormous number of such units." 



Such, then, is the belief of modern science with 

 regard to the nature of matter — a temporary whirl 

 or strain in the ether. But what is ether ? To a 

 consideration of that question we will devote the 

 next chapter. 



