236 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY 



likely, that in a few more thousands of years we 

 shall not only be able to make and break atoms at 

 will, but that we shall have new faculties and 

 senses — perhaps an electric sense, for instance. It 

 may be noted that the world, as we know it, seems 

 purely a matter of waves. As the writer of 

 Confessio Medici remarks : " The tint of walls, the 

 pattern of the carpet, the warmth of the fire, the 

 sound of my voice, the fragrance of your smoking, 

 the sight of your faces — all are waves of which I 

 know nothing, agitating an invisible something of 

 which I know less than nothing." And yet the 

 waves that make the world — the waves of ether 

 and the waves of air — are very few in number, 

 and there are many other waves — the ultra-violet 

 and infra-red, for instance — of which we know 

 nothing. Surely there is at least some likelihood 

 that our octaves of sight and sound may be 

 extended. There seems little doubt that even the 

 insects and flowers have senses and faculties that 

 we do not yet possess. 



One fact seems to the writer particularly sug- 

 gestive. Perhaps the most characteristic physical 

 features of man are his prominent frontal lobes. 

 These lobes are always considered the seat of the 

 higher mental faculties, and yet there seems no 

 doubt that various parts of these are still quite 

 functionless and unused. Cases have been known 



