500Trh ORDINARY GENERAL MERTING. 
MONDAY, JANUARY 10rn, 1910. 
HELD IN THE LECTURE THEATRE OF THE ROYAL 
UNITED SERVICES INSTITUTION, BY PERMISSION 
OF THE COUNCIL, R.U.S.I. 
LiEuT.-CoL. MACKINLAY, CHAIRMAN OF THE COUNCIL, 
IN THE CHAIR. 
The Minutes of the preceding Meeting were read and confirmed. 
The following elections were announced :— 
Associates: Miss A. Habershon. 
Miss M. Spokes. 
H. Wilson, Esq. 
The Chairman congratulated the Institute on its having reached the 
500th Ordinary General Meeting, an occasion which, besides being 
marked by the very valuable paper about to be read, would, he hoped, 
be made celebrated by increased efforts on behalf of the Institute by all 
its supporters. 
The following paper was then read by the Author :— 
MODERN CONCEPTIONS OF THE UNIVERSE. 
By G. F. C. Szarte, M.A., F.RS., University Lecturer in 
Experimental Physics, Cambridge. 
§ 1. Introduction. § 9. The Origin of the Universe. 
§ 2. Purpose of the Paper. § 10. Law and Order in the Uni- 
§ 3. The Universe and Human verse. 
Thought. § 11. The Beginning and End of 
§ 4. The Complexity of the Uni- the Universe. 
verse. § 12. Life and Matter. 
§ 5. Nature of Matter. § 13. Origin of Life. 
§ 6. Radio-active Substances. § 14. The History of Species. 
§ 7. Abrupt Changes. § 15. The Fate of Living Organisms. 
§ 8. The Universe as a Single | § 16. Man and the Universe. 
System. 
§ 1. Zntroduction—In our discussion this afternoon, I purpose 
to follow the line of thought adopted in a paper on “The 
Modern Conception of the Universe,” which I read before the 
Pan-Anglican Congress in 1908. I do so for several reasons. 
Many people who are anxious to know something of the relation 
between religion and science are so little acquainted with 
science that the common-places of physics come as a surprise to 
them. They are further astonished to find that these common- 
places of physics do bear a very distinct and definite testimony 
