of probability, either
experimental or deductive. These suggestions are, therefore, not to be
regarded as properly scientific; but, with this word of caution, we may
proceed to show what they are.

Compared with the life and death of cosmical systems which we have
heretofore contemplated, the life and death of individuals of the human
race may perhaps seem a small matter; yet because we are ourselves the
men who live and die, the small event is of vastly greater interest to
us than the grand series of events of which it is part and parcel. It
is natural that we should be more interested in the ultimate fate of
humanity than in the fate of a world which is of no account to us save
as our present dwelling-place. Whether the human soul is to come to an
end or not is to us a more important question than whether the visible
universe, with its matter and energy, is to be absorbed in an invisible
ether. It is indeed only because we are interested in the former
question that we are so curious about the latter. If we could dissociate
ourselves from the material universe, our habitat, we should probably
speculate much less about its past and future. We care very little what
becomes of the black ball of the earth, after all life has vanished
from its surface; or, if we care at all about it, it is only because our
thoughts about the career of the earth are necessarily mixed up with our
thoughts about life. Hence in considering the probable ultimate destiny
of the physical universe, our innermost purpose must be to know what
is to become of all this rich and wonderful life of which the physical
universe is the theatre. Has it all been developed, apparently at almost
infinite waste of effort, only to be abolished again before it
has attained to completeness, or does it contain or shelter some
indestructible element which having drawn sustenance for a while from
the senseless turmoil of physical phenomena shall still survive their
final decay? This question is closely connected with the time-honoured
question of the meaning, purpose, or tendency of the world. In the
career of the world is life an end, or a means toward an end, or only an
incidental phenomenon in which we can discover no meaning? Contemporary
theologians seem generally to believe that one necessary result of
modern scientific inquiry must be the destruction of the belief in
immortal life, since against every thoroughgoing expounder of scientific
knowledge they seek to