3fi 



FACTS AND FANCIES 



just as much in need of a creative power to 

 initiate it as the creation of matter out of noth- 

 ing would be. Besides this, we now have to 

 account for the existence of the ether itself; 

 and here we have the disadvantage that this 

 substance possesses none of the properties of 

 ordinary matter except mere extension ; that, 

 in so far as we know, it is continuous, and not 

 molecular; and that, while of the most incon- 

 ceivable tenuity, it transmits vibrations in a man- 

 ner similar to that of a body of the extremest 

 solidity. It would seem, also, to be indefinite in 

 extent and beyond the control of the ordinary 

 natural forces. In short, ether is as incompre- 

 hensible as Deity ; and if we suppose it to have 

 'nstituted spontaneously the different kinds of 

 matter, we have really constituted it a god, which 

 is what, in a loose way, some ancient mytholo- 

 gies actually did. We may, however, truly say 

 that this modern scientific conception of the 

 practically infinite and all-pervading ether, the 

 primary seat of force, brings us nearer than 

 ever before to some realization of the Spirit- 

 ual Creator. 



But to ether both science and Agnosticism 

 must superadd energy — the entirely immaterial 

 something which moves ether itself. The rather 



