THE OBJECTS OF SCIENCE 43

Anyhow, we are convinced that the existence of a God

can only be known through a process of inference based

upon things and actions perceived; and it appears to us

a very illogical proceeding to affirm that objects cannot be

perceived save as related to a certain entity, which entity

itself cannot possibly be known to us except by the help

of objects not perceived as being so related.

Nevertheless (as we think), Idealism enshrines an im-

portant truth, namely, the truth that our apprehension of the

world about us is much less perfect and complete than is

often supposed. Our perceptive powers are inadequate to

supply us with a complete knowledge of nature, which, as

it appears to us, may be very different from what it might

appear to any intelligences higher than our own.

It is certain quite apart from any system of Idealism

that the material bodies about us (assuming that there are

such bodies) must possess powers and qualities which our

present senses are entirely unable to detect. Had we (as

before suggested) an organ of sense fitted to enable us to

apprehend "magnetism," as our eyes enable us to apprehend

" light," how modified might not the aspect of the world

become? We rejoice in the beauty of wild flowers and the

gay plumage of birds, some of which delight us with their

song ; yet, though we are not Idealists, we do not hesitate to

affirm that their colours and their notes are not by any

means just that which they seem to us to be. The most

startling and impressive lesson we have had in the present

century is that taught us by the Rontgen rays like light,

yet so different from it with such unexpected powers of

penetration, that wood is to them, as it were, translucent,

as the iron rod of a lightning conductor is for electricity

a tube down which it tumbles.

We may seem to have thus delivered ourselves up to the

Idealists with our hands bound ; yet such is by no means

Anyhow, we are convinced that the existence of a God

can only be known through a process of inference based

upon things and actions perceived; and it appears to us

a very illogical proceeding to affirm that objects cannot be

perceived save as related to a certain entity, which entity

itself cannot possibly be known to us except by the help

of objects not perceived as being so related.

Nevertheless (as we think), Idealism enshrines an im-

portant truth, namely, the truth that our apprehension of the

world about us is much less perfect and complete than is

often supposed. Our perceptive powers are inadequate to

supply us with a complete knowledge of nature, which, as

it appears to us, may be very different from what it might

appear to any intelligences higher than our own.

It is certain quite apart from any system of Idealism

that the material bodies about us (assuming that there are

such bodies) must possess powers and qualities which our

present senses are entirely unable to detect. Had we (as

before suggested) an organ of sense fitted to enable us to

apprehend "magnetism," as our eyes enable us to apprehend

" light," how modified might not the aspect of the world

become? We rejoice in the beauty of wild flowers and the

gay plumage of birds, some of which delight us with their

song ; yet, though we are not Idealists, we do not hesitate to

affirm that their colours and their notes are not by any

means just that which they seem to us to be. The most

startling and impressive lesson we have had in the present

century is that taught us by the Rontgen rays like light,

yet so different from it with such unexpected powers of

penetration, that wood is to them, as it were, translucent,

as the iron rod of a lightning conductor is for electricity

a tube down which it tumbles.

We may seem to have thus delivered ourselves up to the

Idealists with our hands bound ; yet such is by no means