Picture - Cosmic Polymath

i8o DESIGN IN NATURE
THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE WORLD
Views of Stewart, Tait, Thomson, Helmholtz, Stokes, Young, Crookes, &c.
Professors B. Stewart and P. G. Tait, in their work, " The Unseen Universe," found their main argument on
the " Principle of Continuity " in all things. Matter, force, and motion, according to them, pre-suppose pre-existing
matter, force, and motion. They, however, take for granted an Invisible Universe and a First Cause or Deity.
Thus they state : " The argument is in favour of the production of the visible universe by means of an intelligent
agency residing in the Invisible Universe. .
. . We
are led by it not only to regard the Invisible Universe as having
existed before the present one, but the same principle drives us to acknowledge its existence -in some form as a
universe from all eternity."
It should be noted that if the idea of continuity be carried out logically, the Unseen Universe and the First
Cause or Deity should also have had a beginning from a pre-existing Unseen Universe and First Cause or Deity.
To say a thing is eternal does not prove continuity in the sense in which that term is employed. " All this (in
their opinion) follows from the Principle of Continuity, in virtue of which we make scientific progress in the knowledge
of things, and which leads us, whatever state of things we contemplate, to look for its antecedent in some
previous state of things also in the Universe. This principle represents the path from the known to the unknown.
. That
principle of continuity which underlies not only all scientific inquiry but all action of any kind in this
are content to develop from the present recognised condition of things. We take the
world of ours. . . We
world as we find it, and are forced by a purely scientific process to recognise the existence of an Unseen Universe.
We are likewise led to regard the Unseen as having given birth to, the present universe. . . . We maintain that
the visible universe—that is to say the universe of atoms—must have had its origia in time, and that while the
Universe is, in its widest sense, alike eternal and infinite, the universe of atoms certainly cannot have existed from
all eternity. . . . We believe that an extension of purely scientific logic drives us to receive as quite certain the
occurrence of two events which are as incomprehensible as any miracle ; these are : the introduction of visible
matter and its energy, and of visible living things into the universe. Furthermore, we are led by scientific analogy
to regard the agency in virtue of which these two astounding events were brought about as an intelUgent agency,
an agency whose choice of the time for action is determined by considerations similar in their nature to those which
influence a human being when he chooses the proper moment for the accomplishment of his purpose. .
. . We
have assumed that a study of creation leads us up to some conception of God—that we are driven by the faculties
which He has given us to acknowledge the existence of a Paramount Power, and inasmuch as scientific thought
leads us to regard the Universe as both infinite and eternal, so we are driven to regard this Power which underlies
all phenomena as infinite and eternal also."
One branch of their argument is expressed as follows : " Let us begin by stating at once that we assume,
as absolutely self-evident, the existence of a Deity who is the Creator and Upholder of all things. We further look
upon the laws of the universe as those laws according to which the beings in the imiverse are conditioned by the
Governor thereof, as regards time, place, and sensation. . . . Nothing whatever lies, or can be even conceived
to lie, outside of this sovereign and paramoxmt influence. There is no impression made upon the bodily senses,
no thought or other mental operation, which does not take place under conditions imposed by the will of God. . . .
In the first place, there is God, the source of power ; secondly, there are the Conditions which He imposes ; and
thirdly, there is the Ego, the being who is thus conditioned. ... As far as we can judge, the visible universe
the universe of worlds—is not eternal, while, however, the Invisible Universe, or that which we may for
illustration at least associate with the ethereal medium, is necessarily eternal. The visible universe must have
had its origin in time, no doubt from a nebulous condition. But in this condition it can hardly have been fit for
the reception of hfe. Life must therefore have been created afterwards. We have thus at least two separate
creations, both taking place in time—the one of matter and the other of life. And even if it were possible, which
it is not, to get over one of the difficulties attending this hypothesis, that of creation in time, by regarding the
visible universe as eternal ; yet even then we must regard matter and Hfe as implying two separate creative acts
if we assume the nebulous hypothesis to be true."
As to the origin of life on our globe there are, I may remark, four theories :
(a) That life is the result of spontaneous generation
(b) That matter is in some simple sense alive ;
(c) That life has been added to matter by a creative act
{d) That life has been transmitted to our planet from other planets.