178 ALFEED T. SCHOFIELD, ESQ., M.D., M.R.C.S., ON 



mind, known to us only by matter and motion, without 

 Avhicli they could not exist. 



Turning to the third, "the universe," Ave find something 

 more than a mere projection of mind, we find "a thing" — 

 consisting of, some say, three, and some, two parts — of ether, 

 matter and force, or of ether and force only. 



Matter is believed now by many to be resolvable into ether,, 

 but ether is a creature of faith, not of demonstration. 

 Disciples of this school therefore arrive at the somewhat 

 starthng conclusion that the foundation substance of all 

 sciences is to them at present little more than a projection 

 of their OAvn minds. 



The matter on our earth is composed of some seventy-one 

 elements, the mass of the world being however built up of 

 about a dozen, the remainder being apparently little used. 

 Life itself has a physical basis of but four or five, and water 

 and air two each. 



These elements consist of molecules, formerly supposed 

 to be composed ultimately of hard indivisible atoms.^ 

 Although these atoms are merely " believed in,'' nevertheless 

 some attempt has been made to guess their size, and it is 

 asserted that 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 are con- 

 tained in each drop of water, a statement we are not in a 

 position to deny. 



Some more modern scientists, feeling sure that even an atom 

 might be divided, were there a knife thin enough to cut it, 

 commit themselves to points or centres of force (of Boskovitch) 

 having no magnitude, being the ultimate constituents of 

 matter ; or in short that matter has no objective existence at 

 all, but is merely a form of force. Others again, to whom we 

 have already alluded (Helmholtz and Thomson), occupy an 

 intermediate position, and believe matter ultimately to con- 

 sist of what is a little less than matter, and yet a little 

 more than force, and that is ether. Finding that air 

 coloured Avith smoke, by rapid rotation in the form of rings, 

 can be made to move through air, as a foreign and inde- 

 pendent body, they said Avhy should not ether, if formed into 

 A'ortex or rapidly whirling rings, move independently in 

 ether as of it, and yet not of it; ether at rest having, it is 

 allowed, none of the qualities of matter, save perhaps inertia. 



Having got thus far in metaphysical physics, and found, 

 moreover, that the contact of rings of air produced A'ibra- 

 tions, and agreed in their behaviour Avith the supposed 

 movements of the imaginary atoms, it Avas comparatiA^ely a 



