The Relation of Science and Religion.pdf - Online Christian Library

INORGANIC ELEMENTS. 111physical science itself relies as on a foundation.This is a universally accredited truth,that "no portion of matter, however small,goes out of existence or comes into existencein any operation whatever." " The wonderfulchemical laboratory of living organismmay change many forms of matter into livingtissue, but all returns again to its place inthe inorganic mass. Material may pass fromone phase into another, but there is nothingmore than change. The sum total of materialexistence is unaltered. To suggest thecontrary,-and specially to do so in the nameof science,-were to bring science face to facewith the conceptions rejected as alien to itsvery nature; for to say that matter may beoriginated, is to affirm creation; to say that itmay be destroyed, is to affirm the possibilityof annihilation; and these two are beyond therange of science, and if once admitted withinits boundaries, they would destroy scienceitself.So it is when we pass over to the doctrineof energy. The same clear and ultimate conclusionis proclaimed. The doctrine of theconservation of energy is the ultimatum on* Tait's Recent Advances, p. 15.