tent
our hypotheses will be limited and faulty. It would need an Infinite
mind to form a perfect theory of the philosophy of the universe, because
only an Infinite mind possesses infinite experience. A finite mind can,
however, form true philosophical conceptions of natural phenomena, if
that mind will only follow the guidance of his own experience, and be
willing to accept the teaching that always arises from the results of
that experience. In order to do this, however, it must be observed, as
Herschel points out, that all old prejudices must be put away, and the
question or problem to be considered must be viewed with an open mind.
Let me illustrate what I mean. Suppose, for example, that for two
hundred years, chalk had always been thought to be a mineral, and then,
owing to the development of the microscope, and to the increased
magnifying powers of the lenses, it was conclusively demonstrated that
chalk is made up of the shells and remains of certain organisms that
lived in the sea ages ago. Would it be philosophical to throw over the
results of the microscopical research, and, simply because for two
hundred years chalk had been thought to be a mineral, to argue, and
still retain the idea that chalk was a mineral?

Such a result would be entirely opposed to all the teaching and
principles of philosophy. In a similar way, suppose in the development
of the physical cause of Gravitation, a certain conception of the
universal Aether has to be put forth in order to account for
Gravitation, and that that conception is opposed to some of the theories
which have been held relative to the Aether medium for the past two
hundred years; but that the conception so advanced is supported by the
experiments and observation of some of the ablest scientists of the
present century, would it be philosophical to reject the newer
conception which harmonized with all experiment and observation, and
still retain the old conception of the aetherial medium; or, to accept
the newer conception of that medium, and to reject some of the ideas
included in the old conception? From a purely philosophic standpoint,
there can only be one reply, which would be in favour of the newer
conception, by which our philosophy would be brought into harmony with
our experience.

This I premise will be done in this work, and the result will be, that
for the first time, our philosophy of the aetherial medium will agree
with our experience; and, as the natural