6 THE ACTIVE FORCES OF LIVING ORGANISMS 



celestial bodies may be looked on as foci of ethereal 

 force, each one of them reacting to some extent upon 

 those nearest to it. If we adopt this view, do we not 

 obtain an inkling of the causes which have determined 

 the existence of so great a variety of atoms — a variety 

 which is reproduced in so striking a manner in the 

 most distant corners of the heavens ? Deny these 

 causes, and, since hydrogen is known to exist in the 

 furthest nebulae, one must suppose that all matter 

 was once united in one huge mass, a conception 

 appalling to the imagination of the veriest Atlas 

 amongst philosophers. Moreover, if we regard each 

 kind of atom as a particular degree of force embodied 

 in ether, we can imagine to some extent how its vibra- 

 tions in chemical action give rise to nervous and other 

 forms of force. 

 The omni For a long time a belief has been entertained that 

 of matter, beyond the limits of our own atmosphere nothing 

 remained but empty space. But of recent years this 

 opinion has been frequently called in question, and 

 many of our foremost thinkers have now become so 

 materialistic in their view of things as to conceive the 

 hitherto inconceivable notion that ether itself is a 

 form of matter, that it is to be found everywhere, and 

 that empty space is simply non-existent*— at least, 

 so far as the universe is concerned. What there may 

 be beyond the universe, supposing it to embrace all 

 that we are ever likely to see with the most powerful 

 telescope, need not trouble us very much. Even 

 * Lodge, loc. cit., p. 879. 



