122 



SCIENCE. 



[N. P. Vol. IX. No. 213. 



of the horse and head, the horse and body, 

 the horse and legs, the horse and tail, and 

 then consider the horse as one thing, the 

 head, body, legs and tail as other things? 

 Yet this is the error of those who consider 

 matter as one thing and properties as other 

 things." 



"As it is of matter, so it is of space : One 

 man sees the disc of the moon when it is 

 riding high as having the size of the top of 

 a teacup, another as large as a cartwheel. 

 But the moon will be seen larger than a 

 barn if it is seen behind a distant barn, or 

 it may seem to be as large as a great moun- 

 tain when it rises behind such a mountain. 

 As the moon rides the heavens it seems to 

 be this side of the surface of the sky, al- 

 though we know that there is"no such sur- 

 face. Such habitual judgments of space 

 and time seem to contradict each other. 

 By a natural process of fallacious judg- 

 ment the idea of space as void is developed 

 as an existing thing or body. This is the 

 ghost of space — the creation of an entity 

 out of nothing. The space of which we 

 speak is occupied. We can by no possibil- 

 ity consider true space or void as a term of 

 realitJ^ If we reason about it|mathemat- 

 ically, and call it x, the meaning of x in 

 the equation is finally resolved^by express- 

 ing it in terms of body as they are repre- 

 sented by surface. This non-space has no 

 number ; it is not one or many in one — 

 it is nothing. It is not extension as figure 

 or structure — it is nothing. The fallacy 

 concerning space is born of careless reason- 

 ing. ISTo harm is done by this popular mis- 

 cqnception of space until we use it in rea- 

 soning as a term of reality ; then the attri- 

 butes of space may be anything because 

 they are nothing." 



" The universe is a concourse of related 

 factors composed of related particles. A 

 relation cannot exist independent of terms 

 "We may consider a relation abstractly, but 

 it cannot exist abstractly. To affirm a re- 



lation the terms must be implied. When 

 an abstract is reified, that is supposed to 

 exist by itself independent of other essen- 

 tials, and the illusion is entertained that 

 there is something independent of the es- 

 sentials which supports them, a mythology 

 is created so subtle as to simulate reality. 

 So when relations are reified and supposed 

 to exist independent of terms the mind is 

 astraj' in the realm of fallacies." 



All this seems to me to be so important 

 and significant that it cannot be said too 

 often, for it is all so essential to clear think- 

 ing upon the significance of science that I 

 believe the author has done good service in 

 repeating it, although it was all said long 

 ago in still simpler and clearer words. 



Berkeley tells us that " what seems to 

 have had a chief part in rendering specula- 

 tion intricate and perplexed, and to have 

 occasioned innumerable errors and diffi- 

 culties in almost all parts of knowledge; 

 is the opinion that the mind hath a power 

 of framing abstract ideas or notions of things. 

 He who is not a perfect stranger to the 

 writings and disputes of the philosophers 

 most needs acknowledge that no small part 

 of them are spent about abstract ideas. 

 These are in a more especial manner 

 thought to be the object of those exercises 

 which go by the name of Logic and Meta- 

 physics, and of all that which passes under 

 the notion of the most abstract and sublime 

 learning. Whether others have this won- 

 derful faculty of abstracting their ideas 

 they can best tell ; as for myself I dare be 

 confident I have it not." (' Human Knowl- 

 edge,' Introduction, 6-10.) 



" I am tempted to think nobody else can 

 form these ideas any more than I can. Pray, 

 Alciphron, which are those things you would 

 call absolutely impossible?" 



" Such as include a contradiction." 



" Can you form an idea of what includes 

 a contradiction?" 



" I can not." 



