THE 
JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 
NOVEMBER, 1880. 
E THE DUKE OF ARGYLL “ON THE UNITY 
OF NATURE.” 
By J. Foulerton, M.D. 
<£=L 
N an article by the Duke of Argyll, in the “ Contempo- 
jji rarv Review ” for September, 1880, the author explains 
what is meant by the Unity of Nature by examples 
drawn from natural phenomena, and gives certain specu- 
lative opinions with regard to its belief in very early times, 
and its relation to Monotheism. . 
The examples drawn from natural phenomena, though 
containing nothing that is aftually new, are very forcibly 
put, but I can only give a very brief statement of them here, 
just sufficient to show the line he adopts. . 
First of all he refers to gravitation as a mysterious force 
linking the whole universe together, and not only keeping 
the heavenly bodies in their places, but intimately connedted 
with our very existence and the due performance of vital 
fUn He°t n h S ;n considers that highly elastic body pervading 
space, the medium of light and heat, eleftricity and che- 
mical adtion, and how the various wave-motions which 
constitute these all move with immense velocity through the 
ether without jostling or contusion, like the harmonious 
vibrations of sound in the atmosphere. . 
He also refers to the nature ot Life, which he cannot 
regard, as some do, as simply a physical condition and pro- 
perty of protoplasm, but rather of the nature of a force oi 
energy working on protoplasm, and that theie is a unity in 
VOL II. (THIRD SERIES). 2 2 
