FJiOM THALES TO LUCRETIUS. 33 



Modern science knows nothing of a beginning, and, 

 moreover, holds it to be unthinkable. In this it stands 

 in direct opposition to the theological dogma that God 

 created the universe out of nothing; a dogma still 

 accepted by the majority of Protestants and binding on 

 Roman Catholics. For the doctrine of the Church of 

 Rome thereon, as expressed in the Canons of the 

 Vatican Council, is as follows: "If any one confesses 

 not that the world and all things which are contained 

 in it, both spiritual and mental, have been, in their 

 whole substance, produced by God out of- nothing; or 

 shall say that God created, not by His free will from 

 all necessity, but by a necessity equal to the necessity 

 whereby He loves Himself, or shall deny that the 

 world was made for the glory of God: let him be 

 anathema." 



3. The primary substance is indestructible. 



The modern doctrine of the Conservation of Energy 

 teaches that both matter and motion can neither be cre- 

 ated nor destroyed. 



4. The universe is made up of indivisible particles 

 called atoms, whose manifold combinations, ruled 

 by unalterable affinities, result in the variety of 

 things. 



With modifications based on chemical as well as 

 mechanical changes among the atoms, this theory of 

 Leucippus and Democritus is confirmed. (But recent 

 experiments and discoveries show that reconstruction 

 of chemical theories as to the properties of the atom may 

 happen.) 



