HEBER D. CURTIS 69 



scopes do not reach to infinity; I cannot go out to the 

 distance of the farthest thing I see, which, in miles, is 

 roughly the figure one followed by twenty-two ciphers, 

 and then prove that the universe goes on at least as 

 far again from there. 



I am accepting in my mind one of these two alter- 

 native theories of an Infinite universe, just because it 

 seems to me more probable than the other, and I be- 

 lieve In It because it seems more reasonable to me, 

 whatever that term "reasonable" may mean In a final 

 analysis. Am I reasoning from analogy or proba- 

 bility in considering either one of these infinite theo- 

 ries? Most certainly. As a matter of fact, nearly 

 every argument which has been advanced against the 

 theological acceptance of God from the majesty of 

 the universe or from its elements of design and pur- 

 pose might equally well be urged against either of 

 these two scientific theories. 



Now have I any right as a scientist to speculate on 

 such tremendous questions? I feel that I have, and 

 that similar speculations by philosophers or theolo- 

 gians are likewise quite worth while and just exactly 

 as scientific. With a pure agnostic who tells me that 

 I can never prove either hypothesis of an infinite uni- 

 verse, I must instantly agree; I must admit at once 

 that my mind cannot conceive anything that is infinite, 

 and that the language of mathematics becomes inde- 

 terminate there. It is self-evident that I cannot prove 

 which theory of an infinite universe Is the better one 

 or the more true; there are admittedly a large number 

 of assumptions In the thought that it is infinite at all, 

 even though it is just as difficult to think of a finite 

 universe as an Infinite. 



