20 
reference to tlie sensations of sound and light, the intrinsio 
characters of which our mathematical researches make no 
approach to, although we can thereby obtain very distinct con- 
ceptions of the material conditions under which they are felt. 
They coexist with, and correspond to, these conditions, solely 
by the will and power of the Creator. Now, according to the 
third hypothesis, all active force is resident in the ether, and 
by the argument in sec. 13 it is shown that, besides atomic 
constitution, all that is predicated of the ether is, that it is 
endowed with a constant elastic force as a primary quality. It 
would, therefore, be a contradiction in terms to say that this 
quality results from antecedent material conditions : we can 
only say of it that it is an immater ial concomitant of the existence 
of a material ether, just as the immaterial sensation of sound 
accompanies certain movements of the material organs of hear- 
ing, and that of light certain movements of the material organs 
of seeing. Thus, in short, the constant force of the ether is 
the result of immaterial, or spiritual, agency. For this reason 
we might with propriety call that force the energy of the 
universal ether, this term having already an established usage 
relative to mental or spiritual operation. 
25. The truth of the foregoing inference may, I think, be 
confirmed by the following considerations. Assuming that all 
active force is exerted by means of the ether, it must be by 
the same medium that force is exerted when of our own will, 
under conditions and limitations of organization, we move our 
limbs, or set in motion any extraneous body. But in this case 
our own consciousness tells us that the exertion of the force 
is a mental or spiritual act. (See sec. 13.) We may hence draw 
the general conclusion that the quality of the constant force 
pertaining to the ether is, as was said above, spiritual. This 
force — this constant and universal energy — is power of God, 
“ who is a Spirit,” a share of which power He communicates 
under conditions either of organization, or of external natural 
phenomena, to voluntary agents, to men or to angels ; but still 
it is His power. “ In Him we move/’ as is said in Scripture. 
26. In sec. 21 a distinction has been drawn between the 
active force resident in the ether, and the passive forces per- 
taining to the atom, namely, its vis inertice and its unlimited 
resistance to change of form. What, it may be asked, is the 
essential character of these forces ? It can only be answered 
that they exist as primary, and therefore underivable, qualities, 
immediately imposed and maintained by the power of the 
Creator of the atom ; and, being inseparable from it, may be 
called innate or inherent qualities. According to the philosophy 
of Mr. Herbert Spencer, the non-annihilation of matter means 
