Astronomy and the Bible;

THETRANSFEROFENERGY 67

hiddenas ever. Inregard tothe law ofgravitation

weknowa greatdeal;butinregardtotheforceof

gravitation—whateverwemaythinkorbelieveabout

it—weknowabsolutelynothing,andthesameistrue

ofeveryotherforce."

—

JosiahParsonsCooke,Erving

professor of chemistry and mineralogy in Harvard

University.

Newton,overandover again,insistedthathehad

nothing to do with gravitation as a physical cause.

Hesaid: "Howthese attractionsofgravity,magnet-

ism,and electricitymaybeperformed, Idonothere

consider. WhatIcallattractionmaybeperformedby

impulseorbysome othermeansunknown tome. I

usethewordheretosignifyonlyinageneralwayany

forcebywhichbodiestendtowardoneanother,what-

everbethecause."

—

"Optics/'queryji.

"Newton assuredlylent no shadow of supportto

the modern pseudo scientific philosophy which con-

founds lawsandcauses."

—

Huxley.
"Allweknowabouttheforceofgravitation,orany
otherso-calledforce,isthatitisanameforthehypo-
theticalcauseofanobservedorderoffacts."

—

Huxley.
Huxleycallsthisforceahypotheticalcause. "Hypo-
thetical"hasreferencetoahypothesis;itissomething
"assumedwithoutaproof,forthepurposeofreason-
ingand deducingproof." But a hypotheticalcause
is,intheabsolute sense,nocauseatall. Forces are
notcauses; forthey themselvesinturn mustbeac-
counted for. Noticehow itworks: Bodies tend to
move towardeach other; whatis the cause? "The
forceofgravitation,"saysthescientist. Butwhatis