Astronomy and the Bible;

THETRANSFEROFENERGY 71

showswhatwemean. Thelargecirclerepresentsthe
sun,thesmalleronetheearth,andthedotstheether.
Letusaskagaintheoriginalquestion,andletthe
scientistanswer. "Howislighttopassfrom sunto
earthoverninety-threemillionmilesofvacantspace?"

"Bymeansofwavesintheether,"saysthescientist.
"Buthold! Yourtheoryoftheconstitutionofthe
etheristhatitiscomposedofatomswhicharenever
incontact—which have,likethe sunand theearth,
vastspacesbetweenthem?"
"Yes."
"Thenhowdoes thisforce,in passingthroughthe
ether,movefromoneoftheseatomstotheother?"
Heissilent;hecannottell.
Withouretherhypothesis,wearenobetteroffthan
wewerebefore. Westillhavetoimagineabodyas
actingwhereitisnot,andintheabsenceofanything
by which its action may be transferred. The phi-
losophyofthethingisthesamewhethertheexercise
offorcebeonalargeorasmallscale. Inthewords
of Herbert Spencer: "We see... that the exer-
cise offorce isaltogetherunintelligible. Wecannot
imagineitexceptthroughtheinstrumentalityofsome-
thinghavingextension;andyetwhenwehaveassumed
thissomething,wefindthattheperplexityisnotgot
ridof,butonlypostponed. Weareobligedtoconclude