66 HAS SCIENCE DISCOVERED GOD? 



basal elements, and possessing at least the same log- 

 ical value. It is not necessarily the old argument from 

 design, for the assumption of elements of design or 

 plan in a universe may conceivably be the projection 

 outward of the design elements of our brains and laws 

 of thought, just as a prism of glass from the method 

 of its construction, forces an orderly sequence of wave- 

 lengths to be assumed in the incident beam of con- 

 fused and tangled vibrations. This argument, based 

 on analogy, from the majesty of the universe itself, 

 and requiring a supreme mind as a necessity in a uni- 

 verse which contains both mind and matter, and In 

 which we already have an apparently infinite element 

 of matter, is to-day stronger than it ever was, simply 

 because we know more. 



All of which leads naturally to the essential point 

 of this paper: what limit does modern science place 

 upon the formulation of beliefs, either in its own field 

 or in the field of the spirit. There is manifestly a tre- 

 mendous gradation in the beliefs which science now 

 holds. The distance traversed by a body falling to- 

 ward the earth increases with the square of the time 

 of fall. We can test this out; if we think that the re- 

 sistance of the air changes our derived law, we can 

 either imagine the air removed, or actually try the 

 experiment in a vacuum. But even in so simple a 

 physical experiment, the hypotheses or beliefs which 

 we must call in, stretch out to infinity. One of at least 

 two beliefs must be assumed, either of which is as 

 arbitrary in certain respects as is the postulation of 

 Infinite time, space, or power. The older and usual 

 assumption is that there is a mysterious and all-per- 

 vading force called gravitation. We derive certain 



