r 



34 



FACTS AND FANCIES 



has an independent testimony to give with ref- 

 erence to its origin and its connection with a 

 higher creative power. 



Matter, it is true, occupies a somewhat equiv- 

 ocal place in the agnostic philosophy. Accord- 

 ing to Spencer, it is " built up or extracted from 

 experiences of force," and it is only by force 

 that it " demonstrates itself to us as existing.'' 

 This is true; but that which "demonstrates 

 itself to us as existing " must exist, in whatever 

 way the demonstration is made, and Spencer 

 does not, in consequence of the lack of direct 

 evidence, extend his Agnosticism to matter, 

 though he mis^ht quite consistently do so. In 

 any case, science postulates the existence of 

 matter. Further, science is obliged to conceive 

 of matter as composed of atoms, and of atoms 

 of different kinds ; for atoms differ in weight 

 and in chemical properties, and these differ- 

 ences are to us ultimate, for they cannot be 

 changed. Thus science and practical life are 

 tied down to certain predetermined properties 

 of matter. We may, it is true, in future be 

 able to reduce the number of kinds of matter, 

 by finding that some bodies believed to be sim- 

 ple are really compound; but this does not 

 affect the question in hand. As to the origin 



