MODERN V1P:WS ON MATTER. « 



By Sir Oliver Loihje, H(jn. D. Sc, F. R. S. 



The nature of matter has been regarded by philo.so])hers froiii many 

 points of view, but it is not from any philosophic standpoint that 

 I presume in this university to ask you to consider the subject 

 under my guidance. It is because new views as to the structure and 

 properties of what used to be called the ultimate atom are now 

 being born, and because these views, whether they succeed in ulti- 

 mately esta])lishing themselves in ever}' detail or not, are of surpass- 

 ing interest, that I have chosen this very recently deciphered chapter 

 of science as the suljject-matter for the lecture — the Romanes lecture — - 

 to be given this 3'ear in remembrance of a man whom I knew as a 

 friend, and w^hose mind, if he had been alive to-day, would have been 

 widely open to these most modern developments of physical science. 

 Nor would the admittedly speculative character of some of the hypoth- 

 eses now being thrown out have deterred him from hearing about 

 them with the keenest interest. 



If I may venture to say so, it is the more philosophical side of 

 physics which has always seemed to me most suitable for study in 

 this university; and although 1 disclaim an}' (.-ompetence for philo- 

 sophic treatment in the technical sense, yet 1 doubt not that the new 

 views, in so far as they turn out to be true views, will have a bearing 

 on the theory of matter in all future writings on philosophy, besides 

 exercising a profound effect on the pure sciences of physics and chem- 

 istry, and perhaps having some influence on certain aspects of biology 

 also. 



In admitting that I am going to pronudgate a speculative hypothesis — 

 that is. a hypothesis for which there is evidence but not yet conclusive 

 evidence — 1 must not lead you to suppose that the whole of what 1 have 

 to say is of this character. On the contrary, nuu'h of it is certain; 

 that is to say, is accepted by a consensus of opinion to-day among 

 those who by reason of study are competent to judge. I will endeavor 

 carefully to discriminate between what is in this sense certain and what 

 must still be regarded as doubtful and needing further support. 



«The Romanes Lecture, delivered in the Sheldonian Tlieater, Oxford, June 12, 

 1903. Rei)rinted 1)\' permission of the author. Published by the Clarendon Press, 

 Oxford, England, 1903. 



SM 1903 15 



215 



