imitable scope and colossal grandeur be somewhat
comprehended. But there was no study of life comparable to the vast
stretch of worlds; for material science had made the remarkable blunder
of assuming that the last word on the nature of matter had been said.
Then came the startling discoveries that revolutionized the accepted
views of matter, that proved that the supposedly indivisible atom was a
miniature universe, a tiny cosmos of force. The old theories about
matter had to be thrown aside. They were as much out of date as the
belief that the earth is flat. Stripped of technical terms of expression
the revised view of matter is, substantially, that it is the lowest
expression of life; and now modern science is turning tardy attention to
a study of the life side of the universe. The moment that is done the
sense of consistency and the law of correspondence compel us to
postulate a gradation of intelligences rising above man as man does
above the insects.

The scientific mind instantly grasps the inherent reasonableness of the
existence of superphysical beings. Writing on the subject of energy,
Nicola Tesla says:

"We can conceive of organized beings living without
nourishment and deriving all the energy they need for the
performance of their life functions from the ambient
medium.*** There may be *** individualized material systems
of beings, perhaps of gaseous constitution, or composed of
substance still more tenuous. In view of this
possibility--nay, probability--we cannot apodictically deny
the existence of organized beings on a planet merely
because the conditions on the same are unsuitable for the
existence of life as we conceive it. We cannot even, with
positive assurance, assert that some of them might not be
present here in this our world, in the very midst of us,
for their constitution and life manifestation may be such
that we are unable to perceive them."[N]

Alfred Russell Wallace, who was called "the grand old man of science,"
wrote in one of his latest books:

"I think we have got to recognize that between man and the
ultimate God there is an almost infinite multitude of
beings working in the universe at large, at tasks as
definite and important as any we have to perform on earth.
I imagine that the universe is peopled with spirits--that
is, with intelligent beings with powers and