2oo PHYSICAL BASIS OF CIVILIZATION 



however, with reference to atoms, molecules, or 

 masses, is too absurdly anthropomorphic to be 

 entertained in a rational mind. The idea of pro- 

 pulsion which implies contact somewhere, and the 

 transmission of energy thence through an unbroken 

 line of matter to the point of meeting, has the ad- 

 vantage of being rationally conceivable. Attrac- 

 tion, then, being inconceivable and propulsion the 

 only possible other cause that can be assigned in 

 explanation of motion, it would seem that it must 

 be accepted as the universal cause of motion or 

 change. Thus the query arises, Where and what 

 is the source of the ubiquitous propulsion ? 



The general evidence of all things leaves a deep 

 impression on the mind that the matter in the uni- 

 verse is in continuous commotion. The very nature 

 of all our consciousness proves the truthfulness of 

 this impression. An absolutely unchanging con- 

 sciousness is impossible. We are unconscious when 

 no changes occur in consciousness. We only be- 

 come conscious when consciousness changes. And 

 since the world to us exists only in consciousness, 

 and since consciousness, as above pointed out, is 

 invariably consciousness of change, and since all 

 change, in the last analysis, is some mode of motion, 

 and since matter is that which moves, therefore it 

 follows that it is an implied universal dictum of 

 all experience and a part of each and every mani- 

 festation in consciousness that the matter in the 

 universe is in continuous commotion. From this 



