y merely by a
single figure below the nine digits, yet stands over, in a sense,
against all the digits, and all their possible combinations, as equal to
them all in importance. For it is by means of this _Zero_ (0) that the
One (1) for instance, becomes 10, 100, 1000, etc.; and that all the
_Positive_ Numbers acquire their relative values, according to the
places or positions in space which they occupy.

In another sense, however, the Negative Ground of Being, in the Universe
at large, or in any given Domain, quickly sinks out of view, and
Positive Being becomes the whole of what is commonly regarded. It is in
this sense that, ordinarily, in speaking of The Digits of Number, the
_Zero_ is left out of the count.

In the same manner, when speaking or thinking of the Material Universe,
while the notion of _Space_ is ever present, and is, in the absolute
sense, an equal half of the whole conception, still it is Matter, the
total congeries of objects and substances in Space, of which we mainly
think; the Space, as such, being understood and implied, but
subordinated as a mere _negative_ adjunct of the _positive_ idea.

In strictness, _Matter_ and _Space_ are so mutually dependent on each
other, that either without the other is an impossible conception. The
notion of Space permeates that of Matter; passing through it, so to
speak, as well as surrounding it; so that it needs no proof that Matter
cannot be conceived of as existing without Space. But, on the other
hand, Space is only the negation of Matter; the shadow, as it were, cast
by Matter; and, so, dependent on Matter for the very origin of the idea
in the mind.

If _Space_, therefore, be the analogue of _Nothing_; _Matter_, wholly
apart from Space, is only a _theoretical_ Something, really and actually
as much a Nothing as Space itself, when abstractly considered in its
equally impossible separation from Matter. But Matter, completely
separated from Space, is the exact external analogue of the _Something_
opposed to the _Nothing_ of abstract Metaphysical Thinking. Here, then,
is a lucid exposition, by virtue of these analogies, of the famous
Metaphysical Axiom of Hegel, which, at its announcement, threw all
Europe into amazement:

_Something_ = (_equal to_) _Nothing_.

It is the logic of this statement that all _Reality_ or Relative Being
is a product of two factors, each of which is a _Nothing_. The
strangeness of this proposition will disappear when it is reco