Making of man : a study in evolution / by Sir Oliver Lodge.

  • Oliver Lodge
Date:
1924
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Making of man : a study in evolution / by Sir Oliver Lodge. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    30/194 (page 26)
    were insufficiently acquainted with the other material existences, of which Matter is only a part. It is, I agree, difficult to suppose that Life and Mind can exist without some sort of body or instrument of manifestation or at least of utilisation; nor can we expect it to operate effectively without some control of Energy; but there is no need to con¬ jecture any such deprivation. To think of atomic Matter only, leaves us with all manner of unsolved difficulties. In terms of Matter only, we cannot conceive the action of the Sun upon the earth, nor of any other action across space : and it really does not matter whether the space is measured in millions of miles or in millionths of an inch : the puzzle is the same. The Ether has become an absolute neces¬ sity for clearness of thought, even in these familiar directions. We know that the atoms of every object, every stone, every piece of wood, every tree, and every animal, are held together by the cohesive force of Ether. Hence every object consists not only of Matter, but associated with it is a body of Ether too : otherwise the atoms would be disconnected, a mere powder or impalpable dust, the nearest approach to which in our