228 



SYDNEY T. KLEIN^ F.L.S., F.R.A.S._, ON 



divisible: both of these are inconceivable, the latter for the same 

 reason as that of the extent of space, and the former because it 

 is inconceivable that an atom could not be divided into two 

 parts by a stronger force than at present holds it together. It 

 might be suggested as an explanation that if an atom could be 

 divided it might cease to be matter, its parts would have no 

 existence, and this is corroborated in a wonderful way by the 

 fact that one of these vortices disappears immediately and 

 completely if cut in two. 



Another example of perception leading to a false concept is 

 our sense of pain ; we apply a red-hot coal to the tip of one of 

 our fingers and our perception would have us believe that we 

 feel intense pain at the point of contact, but we know this to 

 be a false concept, as it can be shown that the pain is only felt 

 at the brain ; there are in communication with different parts of 

 our body small microscopical nerve threads, any of which may 

 be severed with a penknife close to the base of the skull, with 

 the result that no pain can then be felt although the finger-tip 

 is seen to be burning away. 



Another example is our sense of hearing. A musical sound 

 is made up of a certain number of pushes in a second, but 

 each push is silent ; it is only, as we have seen, a musical sound 

 to our sense when the pushes recur at intervals of not more 

 than the sixteenth part of a second. The prongs of a tuning- 

 fork vibrating five hundred times per second seem to be 

 travelling very quickly, but are really only moving at the rate 

 of five inches per second when the amplitude is the one- 

 hundredth part of an inch. 



Light is also composed of rills in the ether, but the rill itself 

 is not light; it is only light when these rills strike with 

 a certain enormous frequency on a special organ adapted for it, 

 we might say, counting those frequencies, and if these 

 frequencies fall below a certain number, or above twice that 

 number, per second, there is no counting, there is no sense of 

 sight. In fact, our physical senses are only adapted for 

 appreciating frequencies within certain limits. 



Let us now turn for a moment to our conception of the 

 supernatural. Our earliest impressions are necessarily anthro- 

 pomorphic ; as children we are taught that God sees what we do, 

 therefore He must have eyes ; He listens to our prayers, 

 therefore He lias ears ; He is able to walk in the Garden of 

 Eden, therefore He has legs ; He calls to Adam and speaks to 

 His prophets, therefore He has a mouth ; He sits on a Throne, 

 therefore He has a body ; and He raises His right hand when 



