Page:The kernel and the husk (Abbott, 1886).djvu/386

370 iii. Cause and Effect

iv. Spirit

v. Matter

The existence of Matter has never been proved; and it is nothing but a hypothesis. All the phenomena called "material" might be explained, without Matter, by the hypothesis of a number of centres of force. The raison d'être of Matter is the notion of tangibility. But scientific men now tell us that no atom ever touches another. If this be so, scientific tangibility disappears and the raison d'être of Matter disappears, with it. But it is so natural a figment that we shall all probably talk about it, and most of us probably will believe in it, until human nature is very much changed.

Matter cannot be defined positively except by repeating, in some disguise, the word to be defined, as thus:—

Material, or Matter, is a name given to an unascertained and hypothetical "material," "matter,