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no part of all this process shows that matter is self-changing 
or self-moving, inasmuch as the entire process amounts to 
nothing more than matter put in motion, and continuing m that 
state of motion till the impulse given it has been expended. 
The myriad facts that occur in the wide field of experimental 
chemical science, go all to prove that matter can be put in mo- 
tion, but not one of these facts admits, I think, of the shadow 
of a doubt as to the great general truth, that what we universally 
call matter is incapable of self-change or self- originated mo- 
tion. It is a grand mistake to think that this truth is m any 
way dependent on the biassed conceptions of a theorising mind. 
We have no need here to say that we cannot conceive of this, 
or we can conceive of that, for we are not looking at abstractions 
but at experiments. Our belief is of that which actually occuis 
as distinguished from that which never does occur. 
It is held, no doubt, by some that there is “ latent force in 
matter, by which it is somehow capable of moving and 
changing itself. If this is to be understood as meaning that 
matter is capable of being put in motion to such a degree 
that the motion will prove very forcible indeed, the idea 
amounts to no more than that a stone is capable of being 
thrown, and a rifle charge capable of being fired off. It does 
not even approach the subject of the inertia . or essentia 
passivity of matter. Any quality in a material substance 
which if first acted on by mind will issue m what is called 
force , is nothing more in careful thinking than that which 
belongs to a stone of the dullest kind. The spring, lor 
example, which has been bent by a powerful arm, when set 
free has great force, but this is only like the motion 01 the 
stone after it has left the hand. That spring let alone would 
be just as inert and powerless as the stone when allowed to he 
on the ground. The Leyden jar charged with electric force 
as it may be called, may well enough be looked upon as full o 
bottled lightning itself, yet not only is that so-called force 
perfectly inert or passive till acted on by some mind, but it 
can be bottled up for use only by such a mind acting upon 1 . 
We come here again, however, upon a theory m physics 
which, though I confess it is to my thinking of the wildest 
character, is to be carefully examined, because supported by 
the influence of the greatest names, and consequently very 
widely assumed. Its essential element is found m the idea 
that “force” is itself an entity, and not merely a mode oi 
being in mind. It is not very difficult to understand how 
such an idea should be the result of a certain habit of 
thinking, though it is one thing to account for the idea, and 
