1nCnVqgFI

642 THE SECRET DOCTRINEthe
existence of anj^thiiig outside Matter, because with the acceptance
of an imponderable Force—the source and head of all the physical
Forces—other intelligent Forces would have to be virtually admitted,
and that would lead Science very far. For it would have to accept as
a sequel the presence in Man of a still more spiritual power—entirely
independent, for once, of any kind of Matter about which Physicists
know anj'thing. Hence, apart from a hypothetical Ether of Space and
gross physical bodies, the whole sidereal and unseen Space is, in the
sight of Materialists, one boundless void in Nature—blind, unintelligent,
useless.
And now the next question is : What is that Cosmic Substance, and
how far can one go in suspecting its nature or in wrenching from it its
secrets, thus feeling justified in giving it a name How far, especially,
has Modern Science gone in the direction of those secrets, and what is
it doing to solve them The latest hobby of Science, the Nebular
Theory, may afford us some answer to this question. Let us then
examine the credentials of this Nebular Theorv.