,,archimedes ,,or ,,the ,,future ,,of ,,physics ,,to-,,day ,,and ,,to-,,morrow ,for a full list of this ,series see the end of this ,book ,,archimedes ,,or ,,the ,,future ,,of ,,physics ,,by ,l4 ,l4 ,,whyte ,,london3 ,,kegan ,,paul1 ,,trench1 ,,trubner ,,co41 ,,ltd4 ,,new ,,york3 ,e4 ,p4 ,,dutton ,,co4 ,to ,,lotte ,made and ,printed in ,great ,britain by ,m4 ,f4 ,robinson ,co4 ,ltd4 at the ,library ,press1 ,lowestoft ,,contents ,,chap4 ,,page ,i ,,the ,,sciences ,,converge #g ,,ii ,a ,,modern ,,duel3 ,,einstein ,,and ,,eddington v4 ,,bergson ,,and ,,whitehead #bb ,,iii ,,time ,,in ,,astronomy ,,and ,,physics #cg ,,iv ,,an ,,evolutionary ,,experiment #dg ,v ,,physics ,,and ,,the ,,human ,,mind #ff ,,vi ,,the ,,future ,,of ,,the ,,sciences #gi ,,notes #ie ,,archimedes ,,or ,,the ,,future ,,of ,,physics ,,chapter ,i ,the ,sciences ,converge ,one of the most fascinating features in the history of thought is that on several occasions an important new idea has come simultaneously to independent minds4 ,thus after ,euclid's geometry had remained without a rival for two thousand years the conception of an alternative non-,euclidean system was reached separately by ,gauss1 ,lobatschewsky1 and ,bolyai during the years #ahbj-cj4 ,bolyai's father1 while ignorant of the fact that ,gauss had already made the same discoveries1 wrote to his son urging him to publish his results and used the following prophetic words3 8,there is some truth in this1 that many things have an epoch1 in which they are found at the same time in several places1 just as the violets appear on every side in the spring40 ,another example of the simultaneous emergence of an idea in the minds of different thinkers is given by ,darwin in his introduction to the ,origin of ,species4 ,he there calls attention to the fact that in #agid-e the broad idea of the evolution of species--though not its cause--was simultaneously formulated by ,goethe in ,germany1 ,st ,hilaire in ,france1 and his own grandfather1 ,dr ,darwin1 in ,england4 ,moreover ,darwin himself had the remarkable experience of finding in an essay submitted to him in #aheh by ,a4 ,r4 ,wallace a complete summary of his own unpublished theory of natural selection as the chief cause of the evolution of species4 ,the last few years constitute another critical period of a similar kind1 since an idea1 which when made precise will transform scientific thought1 has already come independently to many thinkers4 ,since #aibb many scientists have felt that in studying the emission and absorption of light physics has come near to the problem of life4#a ,others have proposed that in order to straighten out its atomic problems physics will have to take a hint from biology1 but what this hint should be has not yet been indicated4 ,the following pages suggest a definite line of advance for physics1 and interpret these isolated flashes of intuition as evidence of a special feature in the present situation of the sciences4 ,we stand at the eve of a new epoch4 ,physics1 biology1 and psychology are converging towards a scientific synthesis of unprecedented importance1 whose influence on thought and social custom will be so profound that it will mark a stage in human evolution4 ,for centuries science has concentrated its highest genius on the study of inanimate matter2 to-day the three great sciences are at last reaching the problem of life4 ,for their researches on matter1 life1 and mind are now overlapping at one common issue3 the nature of the fundamental electrical processes which underlie radiation and chemical combination4 ,thus physics is at present occupied with the changes that occur when an atom emits either light or electricity4 ,biology is at the same problem in studying the electrical processes which are the basis of all organic behaviour1 whether in primitive forms of protoplasm or in the highly developed central nervous system of man4 ,meantime psychology is dealing with an identical process when it analyses the structure of mind1 and considers the elementary changes of consciousness which are produced when light of a given colour falls on the retina and sends its influence to the brain4 ,as the result of these convergent researches1 life and consciousness will soon be subject to the first stages of a theoretically-grounded control1 compared with which the present tentative efforts of medicine and psychology will be looked back on much as we remember the haphazard work of the alchemists before the foundation of chemistry4 ,but this development of human knowledge and powers will carry with it great responsibilities1 and scientists have to prepare themselves for the new tasks that will very soon fall to them4 ,by indicating the main ideas through which this broad scientific synthesis may come about1 this essay aims at showing that this possibility has to be taken seriously4 ,we shall first examine the situation in physics and then turn to consider the influence which future developments of physical theory may have on biology and psychology4 ,two main types of process defy interpretation within the present scheme of physical conceptions3 life itself1 and the atomic processes of radiation and the building up of stable compounds4 ,in organic processes on the one hand1 and the energy-interchanges of atoms on the other hand1 we find something happening which cannot adequately be explained as a change in the structure of the system considered4 ,by structure is meant a spatial pattern of particles1 which are supposed to be permanent and to move about like cricket balls or planets4 ,systems with a structure of this kind could not display the purposive quality of organic behaviour1 and when we try to make a structural model of the atom we find that it fails to explain why the atom radiates energy in the abrupt packets which are called #8quanta'1 instead of in a continuous wave4 ,we shall return presently to the question of organisms1 after making an endeavour to discover why the atom cannot be described in terms of a particle structure4 ,in #aiaa ,rutherford achieved remarkable success in accounting for the results of his own researches in radioactivity by adopting a model of the atom as a miniature solar system1 with planetary electrons rotating rapidly around a nucleus4 ,but in order to explain the fact that the spectrum of the light emitted by an atom shows a characteristic series of lines1 ,bohr suggested that an electron inside an atom could emit light only by making a discontinuous jump from one possible orbit to another quite distinct orbit4 ,this apparent discontinuity in the motion of electrons has intrigued physicists for more than ten years1 and the following interpretations have recently been offered for this puzzling behaviour3 #a4 ,nature is made up of electrons1 but neither space nor time is fundamentally discontinuous4 ,the electron appears to have some freedom of choice1 and to be able to reappear unexpectedly at forbidden places4 #b4 ,nature is not discontinuous or arbitrary1 but nevertheless something prevents us determining all the things we should like to know about an electron4 ,for instance1 if we try to determine exactly where it is1 it behaves so that we cannot simultaneously measure its exact velocity4 7,heisenberg47 ,this view may perhaps be interpreted to mean that we have made the atom model more complex than the atom itself is1 and that consequently we have been using more quantities than are necessary for describing all we can observe of its behaviour4 #c4 ,nature is not made up of electrons1 but of waves4 ,the atom must be considered as a system of electric waves spread over its whole volume4 #8,electrons' are merely an inaccurate way of describing some of the properties of these waves4 ,the wave picture of the atom is1 however1 to be considered only as a temporary expedient to be used until some better description of the atom can be invented1 in which both the wave and the corpuscular properties of atoms will appear as aspects of some more profound physical property4 7,schrdinger47 ,the first alternative is a mere cry of despair1 since it does not propose any line of advance4 ,but the other two suggestions may be combined thus3 #d4 ,the view of the atom as a structure of ,newtonian particles is wrong since it gives rise to discontinuities1 and provides more quantities than we at present need4 ,a new formulation of atomic processes must be found using fewer quantities which will explain why we find wave properties1 and why sometimes the electron does behave like a small billiard ball though really it is some different sort of thing4 ,now since the ,newtonian mathematics of moving particles is inadequate for describing the changes that go on in the atom--just as it is for describing organic processes--there must be some assumption implicit in ,newton's laws which is valid neither for atom nor for organism4 ,such an assumption can be found very easily1 though physics has never given it much attention4 ,it is that the elementary processes in nature are reversible1 or would be if they could be isolated4 ,by reversible is here meant that the laws governing the process remain unchanged when the direction of time is reversed1 i4e4 when -t is substituted for t4 ,if the law is changed by this substitution so that the reversed process never occurs or is recognizably different1 then the process is called irreversible4 ,an irreversible process can therefore be used to yield an objective criterion of past and future1 when these terms have been once defined4 ,to take an example4 ,if ,i am standing behind a hedge and take a cinematograph film of a stone which suddenly rises in the air and disappears from sight1 ,i could not tell from an examination of the film which way to wind it4 ,thus if it is wound one way the stone appears to rise1 and if wound the other way to fall from the sky4 ,to tell which was the right way ,i should have to use my subjective sense of the direction of time1 i4e4 remember the fact that ,i saw the stone low in the air before ,i saw it high up4 ,this case1 like every gravitational process1 is reversible1 and motions of this kind have provided the basis for modern physical conceptions4 ,but suppose that instead ,i had taken a film of a cup of tea as it was cooling4 ,one end of the film would show the steam above the cup and the spoon changing in length as it changed in temperature4 ,passing along the film these effects would grow less marked until the successive photos showed no variation when the temperature of the tea was nearly that of the surrounding air4 ,it would be obvious which way to wind this film1 without using any subjective criterion supplied from memory of the individual process which had been photographed4 ,this process is irreversible1 but physics has hitherto assumed that all such processes are merely the statistical result of a chaos of molecular motions each of them perfectly reversible4 ,the assumption of reversibility seems to some physicists so fundamental that they think there could be no science without it4 ,but that is a mere prejudice arising from the fact that ,newton conceived one particular way of giving mathematical formulation to the measurable features of physical processes4 ,by suggesting that all the laws of nature might take a form similar to his law of gravitation1 he made the implicit assumption that all elementary processes were reversible4 ,gravitational motions are so1 at any rate within the accuracy of ,newton's law1 and as a consequence of the confirmation of his law and the fact that it has been taken as a model for the whole system of modern physical conceptions1 the latter are only appropriate for reversible processes4 ,apparent irreversibility1 such as the cooling of a cup of tea1 is attributed to statistical effects1 and the second law of thermodynamics1 which asserts that temperatures tend to uniformity1 is treated as merely a statement of what is highly probable4 ,this is probably quite legitimate1 but even where no statistical effect can enter and the process is clearly irreversible physics usually adopts any measure rather than assume that a fundamental elementary process is irreversible4#b ,we cannot be surprised at this1 since if physics once admitted that any elementary process was irreversible it would have to give up the whole system of ,newtonian conceptions4 ,matter1 force1 energy1 action1 and wave properties are all unsuitable for the treatment of irreversible effects since they all ultimately depend on ,newton's reversible law4 ,an entirely new set of ideas is necessary for describing processes which necessarily proceed in one direction1 so that one particular state of the system must precede another state4 ,it appears conceivable that an alternative set of conceptions to replace the ,newtonian might be established by demanding the irreversibility of all natural laws1 as well as the demands hitherto made by physics1 i4e4 the permanence of matter and the conservation of energy4 ,the question of the reversibility of natural processes provides the key to a great intellectual struggle which is now in progress behind the complexities of philosophic and scientific thought4 ,the issue can be formulated thus3 ,is there a real temporal process in nature8 ,is the passage of irreversible time a necessary element in any view of the structure of nature8 ,or1 alternatively1 is the subjective experience of time a mere illusion in the mind which cannot be given objective expression8 ,these are not metaphysical questions that can still be neglected by science with impunity4 ,for just as ,einstein made his advance by analysing conceptions such as simultaneity1 which had been thought to be adequately understood for the purposes of empirical science1 so the next development of physical theory will probably be made by carrying on the analysis of time from the point at which ,einstein left it4 ,moreover1 the above questions may be put into precise scientific form by asking if the causal relations which are studied by science are symmetrical and reversible so that we cannot obtain from them any criterion by which to distinguish past and future4 ,if1 on the other hand1 they are asymmetrical and irreversible1 the laws of nature lead us on necessarily from what went before to what comes afterwards4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,a modern duel3 ,einstein and ,eddington v4 ,bergson and ,whitehead ,in this battle over the importance of time and process great names stand out as representatives of the two opposed views3 ,einstein and ,bergson1 with their lieutenants1 ,eddington and ,whitehead4 ,the two leaders use very different methods4 ,einstein1 as mathematical physicist1 suggests that physical laws can best be expressed if we assume that space and time are so similar that physics can make no absolute distinction between them4 ,thus in relativity theory the symmetry of space involves the symmetry of time1 and therefore the reversibility of physical laws1 as has been shown by ,birkhoff4 ,bergson1 as biologist and philosopher1 denies that the view of time which is implicit in relativity mathematics is adequate when a wider range of experience is taken into account4 ,einstein starts by excluding all but a very narrow range of physical experience1 and finds that he can make successful predictions about light and gravitation by treating the irreversibility of the passage of time as of no importance for scientific measurements4 ,bergson1 by studying a wide range of biological and subjective experience1 comes to assert the existence of a creative process1 though the inherent limitations of the intellect and of science may leave the essence of this process outside their reach4 ,both protagonists have left their flanks exposed1 by omitting to present their view as a consistent logical system1 ,einstein because he is concerned only with the equations that can be empirically tested1 and ,bergson because his chief interest is non-intellectual4 ,it is here that their lieutenants step forward to develop the two points of view1 and hence to intensify the conflict4 ,eddington provides a logical basis for the theory of relativity and reveals that the significance of physical laws is not quite what we used to think4 ,they are1 he argues1 identities which the human mind discovers in its search for something permanent that it can call matter beneath all the changing appearances of the world4 ,we have made matter the real thing by demanding permanence or indestructibility as the basis of physical reality4 ,now that we know that we have done this it need not trouble us too much to find that absolute unchanging matter doesn't exist1 since this merely means that we started out with a demand that nature cannot fulfil4 ,unfortunately ,eddington doesn't discuss what alternative demand we might now make in order to build up a more satisfactory system of scientific ideas4 ,but in spite of his enthusiastic support of ,einstein's theory1 with its implicit assumption of reversibility1 ,eddington hesitates at least once in his advocacy of reversible laws1 for facts are turning up which suggest that this undiscussed presupposition may not prove valid4#c ,meantime ,whitehead has been at work on the other side1 and by sharpening his logic till few can understand him has made the idea of temporal process the basis of all intellectual and scientific thought1 whereas up to now process has always presented many difficult problems for the intellect4 ,he proposes that since the conception of matter has been found to be unsatisfactory we must start from the basic idea of process in building up a new physical theory4 ,as a consequence of his line of thought1 ,whitehead found it necessary to reject some of ,einstein's arguments and to show that ,einstein's law could be reached from quite different postulates4 ,for instance1 ,whitehead assumed that the motion of light was irreversible1 and that light did not travel with the same velocity in the two opposed directions4 ,so much for one aspect of the conflict1 its logical and philosophical basis4 ,but the issue must be decided by appeal to experimental confirmation over the widest range of phenomena4 ,orthodox physics still assumes reversibility1 and has on its side the explicit statement made by ,einstein in #aibe1d but by doing so it excludes at the start any reference to organic processes4 ,conceptions based on this assumption could never be legitimately applied to life1 and all attempts made hitherto to explain the central controlling processes of organisms in terms of classical physics have necessarily failed4 ,we know now that this failure could have been foreseen4 ,the same objection cannot be made against the basic ideas of ,bergson and ,whitehead1 nor against the new atomic physics as interpreted by ,born1 as we shall see in a moment4 ,to ,bergson and ,whitehead1 as to many others amongst whom ,lloyd ,morgan must be mentioned1 the process of nature is creative1 i4e4 it involves the coming into being of the new1 the appearance of new combinations essentially precluded before4 ,this probably means that the laws of physics which are to describe what is actually happening in the world must be given irreversible form4 ,for reversible equations make no distinction between to-day and to-morrow1 and cannot express the fact that at later moments new forms may emerge1 either in the evolution of organisms or of stars4 ,on the other hand irreversible laws can be arranged so as to display time as an active factor in causation1 i4e4 to emphasize the fact that a certain period of time necessarily has to pass before some new combination can be attained4#e ,the upholders of a real process in nature can appeal to the facts of organic life1 human memory1 and to biological and stellar evolution4 ,but their case is still weak because fundamental irreversibility has not yet received explicit mathematical formulation suitable for experimental test4 ,when this has been done the intellectual battle will be brought to its decision1 and if irreversibility wins the day biology and psychology will find themselves in possession of a physical basis well suited to the facts with which they have to deal4 ,there is reason to believe that the decision will be made very soon4 ,we saw that the implicit assumption of reversibility underlies all ,newtonian conceptions4 ,it may therefore be that the reason why we cannot interpret atomic behaviour in terms of particle motions is that electrical and radiational processes are essentially irreversible4 ,particle motion and wave propagation--the two ideas on which all modern theories of matter are based--are both represented by mathematical expressions which are essentially reversible since time enters only through the square of #8dt'4 ,if the quantum processes should prove to be irreversible1 we have already found a reason why the old conceptions of particles and waves must be inadequate4 ,this speculation may indeed be found correct1 since ,born1 one of the leading experts in ,quantum ,dynamics1 asserts that all quantum processes are irreversible and that the apparent reversibility of classical processes is only an approximation due to the fact that their irreversibility happens to be negligible4#d ,we may therefore hope that the atomic physicists will soon formulate the quantum laws in a clearly irreversible form which admits of precise experimental test4 ,but this may take some years1 and in the meantime we must look around and see how this issue is affecting current thought4 ,we find the doubt about process presented by ,mr ,sullivan 7in ,gallio71 who has not yet made up his mind to which side science will grant the victory4 ,thus on one page he writes3 8it seems to be true that events do not really take place1 we come across them0 and suggests that process may be 8a totally irrelevant idea when applied to reality04 ,but later we learn to our surprise that 8it seems likely that 7in scientific theory7 the world will have to be regarded as an evolutionary process1 where patterns of value emerge04 ,however1 this inconsistency need not bother us1 since we are told that 8the teachings of science so far as the spiritual problems of man are concerned are merely irrelevant04 ,these views reflect perfectly the uncertainty of the time1 and will be looked back on as a precious record of the state of mind which preceded the scientific synthesis4 ,perhaps the most interesting feature of the essay is the indecision it displays with regard to the spiritual importance of science4 ,this is a relic from the days when there were two worlds1 the world of science and the world of religion and art4 ,no one ever knew which of these worlds they were living in1 and this is no wonder4 ,for the division was made only because at one time it looked as though the scientific method could only deal with quantities1 and therefore that science could have nothing to say about values or qualities4 ,this view is no longer tenable4 ,for instance1 there is a quality in organic integration which most of us value1 and without this and many other such conceptions biology and psychology could not get far4 ,before proceeding any further it is necessary to correct a common misunderstanding with regard to the significance of ,einstein's theory of relativity4 ,this theory is mathematical1 and is based on a series of postulates which rule out any claim to present an ultimate theory of space and time4 ,one of these postulates#f asserts that all our physical knowledge can be reduced to the space-time coincidences of pairs of point-events1 or in other words the intersection of the world-lines of electrons4 ,no respect for the supreme genius who predicted two experimental results and eliminated the chief discrepancies remaining in ,newtonian theory should restrain scientists from pointing out that this postulate assumes something that has never been known to occur1 and has no valuable reference to the world of physical experiment4 ,the confirmation of ,einstein's final equations cannot give any validity to this postulate4 ,for it is difficult to think of any physical experience considered by theoretical physics which does not involve the perception of light or colour1 and one cannot assume that the perception of light is a perception of coincidences4 ,light varies in colour and intensity2 coincidence in space is too abstract to account for an effect which is subject to variation4 ,moreover all physical experience requires a certain amount of time1 and this fact is neglected if perception is reduced to the recognition of instantaneous coincidences4 ,even if these two criticisms are left on one side we still have to notice that ,einstein's postulate rules out from the range of physics the important fact that many processes are irreversible4 ,for instance1 if we accept ,einstein's definition of physical experience1 then the interesting fact that radioactivity is only observed in the form of disintegration1 and not also as the reverse process of a spontaneous building up of heavier elements from lighter1 has to be left over by physics to be dealt with by some other science4 ,it almost always happens that the formulations of genius are exaggerated and form the basis of a pernicious orthodoxy1 and it has certainly happened to relativity theory4 ,against a tide of exaggerated praise ,whitehead1 ,larmor1 and ,bridgman1 as well as some ,continental astronomers1 have debated the general assumption that the theory of relativity is adequate to its task1 but those in whose hands the power of orthodoxy lies have not yet answered their criticisms in print4 ,neglect has always been the weapon by which orthodoxy has unknowingly hindered the advance of new ideas4 ,but while this neglect is easy to understand1 it is really remarkable that the postulates of relativity theory were not subjected to closer examination before it was made the basis of wide philosophical speculation4 ,the experimental confirmation of ,einstein's law of gravitation does not guarantee his postulates1 since ,whitehead has reached a similar law 7identical within the accuracy of the observations7 from different assumptions4 ,einstein's profound creative intuition and use of a difficult technique compel our deepest respect1 but his work should never have been regarded as a general theory of time and space4 ,not only does he neglect the question of irreversibility but it is very doubtful if periodic processes can be made to fit into his scheme1 as has been pointed out by ,russell and ,bridgman during the last year4 ,probably ,einstein himself has never regarded his theory as more than a stage in the attempt to create a still wider physical synthesis1 and we must not interpret in a broad sense his statement that one of the demands of his theory 8takes away from space and time the last remnant of physical objectivity04#f ,this could only be true if physical time shared the absolute symmetry of space1 i4e4 if physical processes were all reversible4 ,but there are processes from which we can obtain an objective criterion of the direction of time1 and hence time does retain an element of physical objectivity as distinct from the absolute symmetry of space4 ,one of the most interesting features in the future of physics will be the explanation of the fact that ,einstein reached a correct law from postulates of limited validity1 and in this connection ,whitehead's alternative derivation may prove to be of importance4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,time in ,astronomy and ,physics ,the real discrepancy between the world of physics and that of life lies in the fact that physics has never recognized the irreversibility of time1 while this is fundamental to life4 ,we may even feel a doubt if the #8t' of physics has the same significance as the time of biology1 evolution1 history1 and human experience4 ,the physical conception of time arose from the practical utility of clocks for describing natural processes1 and finally took the form of defining astronomical time in terms of the rotation of the earth4 ,the day was in fact taken as an absolute measure of time1 and this remained quite satisfactory so long as the laws of physics were found to take a simple form with reference to the time so defined4 ,but then a complication arose4 ,the study of the moon's motion suggested to astronomers that the earth's rotation was slowing down1 i4e4 to account for the apparent motion of the moon they had to assume that the day was increasing in length4 ,the theory of the tides revealed a possible cause for this slowing down in the tidal friction on the bottom of shallow water basins1 for instance the rush of the ,atlantic tides into the ,irish ,sea provides an appreciable frictional force retarding the spin of the earth4 ,in addition to this slowing down there appears to be a very slow periodic variation in the length of the day such as would be accounted for by a rhythmic expansion and contraction of the earth's crust4 ,the astronomers declare that our old measure of time is not only getting slower and slower1 it is even varying rhythmically6 ,it is clear that they have thrown over the earth as their definition of equal time intervals and have surreptitiously substituted something else4 ,yet one cannot discover any formal announcement of this1 or find out if they realize that by doing this they have altered the theoretical significance of all physical measurements4 ,in earlier days physics defined time in terms of a selected clock1 and then set about finding the laws of nature4 ,but the old ways aren't good enough for the modern astronomer who gives us our time and sets the clocks of our physical laboratories4 ,he has reasons for disapproving of the earth1 and has almost reversed the procedure4 ,in order to save the laws of inertia and gravitation in connection with the moon's motion--and to a lesser degree in the cases of the planets and the sun--he has made these laws his standard of equal time intervals in place of the earth's rotation4 ,it is a curious situation1 especially in view of the fact that ,einstein's law1 which has superseded ,newton's1 is not very suitable for use as an astronomical clock1 as has been pointed out by ,larmor4 ,perhaps the physicist will soon be able to use the atom as the theoretical clock for physics1 and we can go on using the corrected rotation of the earth as our practical standard4 ,there is a faint chance1 for instance1 that if physics can invent some way of measuring the minute time intervals along the track of an electron1 then electrons might be used as giving the fundamental measure of time4 ,thus if the velocity of an electron were first measured by some indirect method the electron itself might then be used as a clock4 ,but in the meantime the astronomers should make a formal announcement to the ,royal ,society of what they have been up to4 ,it then might be found necessary to appoint a commission to discover exactly what physics is now doing4 ,for by using an astronomical clock of the new type it is assuming classical laws while researching on processes which are already known to undermine the absolute validity of these laws4 ,theoretical physics cannot hope to clear up its fundamental problems until it has considered exactly what is involved in this suspicious procedure4 ,like most professions1 physics includes a good deal of bluff1 but unlike the others physics is now occupied on a campaign to get rid of all pretence4 ,for instance1 physical text-books have been filled for twenty years with phrases of this kind3 8an electron with a velocity of so many cms per sec40 ,yet the professors omitted to tell their students the awful secret that this hypothesis of electron velocities is one that has never yet received direct experimental confirmation4 ,to-day a reaction has set in and the demand is being made that physical theory shall not make use of conceptions that do not correspond to directly observed quantities4 ,thus the latest theories of the atom have eliminated the idea of electron orbits because it was realized that these were nothing more than a mathematical trick for calculating something quite different3 the wave-length of the light an atom can emit4 ,in place of the orbits it is hoped to substitute something which only makes use of the directly-observed features of the atom1 but this new picture is not complete4 ,yet physics still makes use of ideas that have not been adequately justified4 ,for though the idea of moving electrons has been removed from the latest atomic model1 no substitute for it has yet been proposed for the case of electrons outside the atom4 ,it therefore becomes very important for the experimental physicist to discover whether he can measure the distance travelled by an electron in a measured fraction of a second4 ,as yet we have no proof that nature has not confused us by making electrons behave rather like moving particles1 though really they are something different4 ,in fact we have not yet made enough direct experiments to know even whether the dimensional system which is used for electrons is correct4 ,since no electron velocity has ever been directly measured we cannot be sure that the dimensions of the new constant #8h'--called ,planck's constant--are really what we suppose1 energy multiplied by time4 ,until a way has been invented of making a direct measurement of some time involved in electronic motions1 it is impossible for physical theory to know how it should deal with the quantum processes4 ,when we realize how uncertain are the conceptions on which the whole of electron theory is based1 we may wonder what is really known about the atom itself4 ,yet it is possible that we know more about the atom than we think1 and that what are talked about as facts concerning electrons and radiation may really be better viewed as information about individual atoms and the way in which they influence one another4 ,the emission of light is an atomic process1 and we only know about light when it has reached some atom and been at least partially absorbed4 ,some un-understood change of condition occurs in an atom when it radiates and passes this changed condition on to another atom4 ,the absorbed energy may cause chemical change1 as on a photographic plate4 ,but if a human mind is to become aware of this change of condition1 then sooner or later1 directly or indirectly1 its influence must be passed on to an atom in the retina4 ,we know very little about this change of atomic condition1 and though it is usually called a change of the internal electrical energy of the atom this supposes more than we really know until some electron velocity has been directly measured4 ,the dimensions of electrical energy are taken as those of kinetic energy1 i4e4 mass times square of velocity1 but we do not yet know if this describes atomic changes correctly4 ,since no one has ever measured a time involved in an electronic process1 the scale of time in the atom might be quite different from that given by our calculations4 ,our ignorance of what this change of atomic condition really signifies is so profound that some writers have begun to treat the atom as though it were an organism1 alive when the atom is excited1 and dead when in a state of minimum energy4 ,thus ,whitehead proposes that we should call the atom an organism1 though this of course may only muddle us since we know even less about life than we do about the atom4 ,yet we do know one very interesting thing about this change which happens to atoms but cannot be reduced to a change of structure4 ,when light reaches an atom in the retina1 an electrical stimulus passes up a nerve and alters the condition of the protoplasm somewhere in the brain4 ,this change in brain condition is known to us directly as the perception of colour4 ,therefore in one sense we know more about this change of atomic condition than we ever did about #8electric fields' or #8gravitational potential' or any other of the mathematical conveniences used by physics in correlating observed quantities4 ,the change in a sodium atom when we put salt in a flame is not a change in the consciousness of the sodium atom1 because it is not part of a complex nervous system with the same high co-ordination as is found in the human being1 and therefore the atom has no consciousness4 ,but when an atom in the brain undergoes the same change we may become conscious of it1 and the changes in matter which occur when light is absorbed are undoubtedly associated with the problem of consciousness4 ,thus we are led to ask3 how are single atoms built up into complex systems which have the characteristics of life1 and finally into still more complex systems which have human consciousness8 ,,chapter ,,iv ,an ,evolutionary ,experiment ,questions are often made unnecessarily difficult by their being expressed in an abstract or theoretical form1 and instead of asking ,what is life8 it will be more valuable to put forward a practical issue for discussion3 ,could an infinitely wise physicist order the necessary chemicals to-day1 and to-morrow put together a synthetic man8 ,if not1 why not8 ,what are we really up against1 that seems to put some aspects of life beyond our control8 ,let us watch this ambitious physicist as he enters his laboratory4 ,he has started quite easily and has in a moment prepared some simple molecules from their elements4 ,now he has completed the first colloid that he will require1 and is starting on his first organic synthesis4 ,but his infinite wisdom does not give him eternity within a minute1 and we notice that he is getting on more slowly4 ,while the actual combination of the first molecules took only about a thousandth of a second1 once he had the apparatus ready1 the simplest colloid took about a second4 ,the organic colloid has taken him about a minute2 it seems that nature won't work faster than that4 ,she has her own rhythm and won't be rushed4 ,if we wait patiently till the end of the day our friend may have his first speck of protoplasm1 and all the skill in the world would only have helped him to make more of it1 not to have got any further in his game of evolution4 ,but look at him now6 ,he is making a hasty calculation as though he had just realized some great secret of nature1 and knew that he could never create his homunculus4 ,we look over his shoulder and read3 ,estimated minimum time required by the synthetic processes of nature to attain various evolutionary stages4 ,starting from the ,minimum elements1 to ,time ,simple inorganic compound #a_/ajjj sec4 ,simple colloid #a sec4 ,protein #a hour ,primitive protoplasm #a month ,simplest uni-cellular organism #aj years ,flagellate #a1jjj years ,mammal1 including ,homo sapiens #a1jjj1jjj years ,this highly speculative estimate is based on suggestive facts4 ,a certain amount of time is necessary for two atoms to approach one another and form a molecule4 ,the time required will be greater if many atoms have to settle down together into some special arrangement4 ,for instance1 the metal silver is normally crystalline1 but if silver vapour is condensed too quickly the atoms will not have time to arrange themselves1 and it is found that they pile up anyhow into an amorphous mass4 ,colloidal processes require even longer periods1 because great clumsy molecules have to arrange themselves on the surface of the colloidal particles4 ,in elementary forms of protoplasm the molecular patterns are still more complex1 and yet more time must be necessary to get the molecules properly adjusted4 ,it is probable that only our ignorance prevents us from building up protoplasm1 but that we shall require rapidly increasing amounts of time for each successive stage of evolution4 ,this will certainly be the case when we have reached organisms which can only be rendered more complex by controlling their environment while they reproduce themselves for many generations4 ,a higher organism cannot be built up directly2 the molecular arrangements in its body can only be reached through the synthesis of some simple form of life which must then be allowed to evolve through countless generations4 ,organic heredity resides in molecular patterns which can only be built up by this very slow process of repeated reproduction4 ,thus it is shortage of time that our ambitious scientist is up against in his haste to create a homunculus4 ,only the synthetic alchemy of time can build up organisms1 each bearing within itself a long heredity4 ,the estimates given for the minimum time required in each case are about a thousandth of the actual time taken in a laboratory experiment or in the history of evolution as known from geological records4 ,it may have taken a million years or more for the first mobile cells to have developed from inorganic materials and a thousand million years for the mammals4 ,yet perhaps these processes might have gone on more quickly4 ,the times given are mere suggestions of a minimum time which may be necessary under ideal conditions4 ,we waste a lot of time adjusting the apparatus in a laboratory experiment1 and in evolution there may have been stationary periods with little or no new development4 ,but it seems likely that when we know more about it we shall discover that a certain time is required for the formation of organic systems of given complexity4 ,in this sense we may say that then human spermatozoon and ovum carry within them the synthesis of at least a million years4 ,only an ,international ,institute of ,evolutionary ,research under the most stable of ,leagues of ,nations could hope to create an artificial man1 and even then man could hardly take the credit1 for ,time would have done more than man4 ,but with sufficient consistency of purpose man could do this1 provided he learnt how to make use of every moment of the creative power of time1 and never made a slip by which the accumulated treasure of the years 7i4e4 heredity7 might be broken4 ,how man would learn to value life1 and how profoundly such an experiment might alter his view of human beings1 each one a priceless miracle1 fruit of a million years6 ,in twenty years' time scientific knowledge will be adequate for the beginning of this giant task1 and we shall be subscribing our guineas for the foundation of the ,institute4 ,time has created man2 man may use time to create man once more4 ,with a million years ahead of us before we reach the sensitive mammals1 we need hardly fear criticism from the ,society for the ,prevention of ,cruelty to ,animals4 ,we are simply going to allow life to evolve itself under ideal conditions with ,switzerland as the ,state for ,evolutionary ,research4 ,it may happen that under such perfect conditions life will evolve more swiftly than it did on this rough-and-ready planet4 ,but equally well we--or rather our descendants--may find that the ,darwinian struggle for survival is essential for evolution1 and then the nations would have to debate on the morals of reproducing the #8cruelty of nature' inside the ,world's ,evolutionary ,zoo4 ,perhaps a wrathful god will seek to punish mankind for attempting to build this ladder to the secret of life1 this modern ,tower of ,babel1 and amuse himself by watching the community of scientists stricken by a plague of inconsistency amongst their weights and measures4 ,the possibilities of such grand schemes have to be taken seriously4 ,we are now highly self-conscious beings with a tremendous technique for research4 ,men with genuine creative imagination who reverence life must shoulder the responsibilities of the twentieth-century consciousness1 and use scientific technique for creative not life-destroying purposes4 ,one can imagine a growing fraction of the interest now given to war1 other people's adultery1 and greyhound racing1 turned towards ,switzerland1 whence at critical moments wireless bulletins would announce that the first amoeba had just successfully taken nourishment4 ,if we wish it1 the future of science can be such as to recompense for its recent occupation with gunpowder4 ,governments would be powerless to make war if the physicists refused to make the guns and the ,royal ,society called upon scientists to go on strike until each war crisis had been settled by arbitration4 ,the problem of life may be seen in a new light if the speculations of the last section are accepted and we assume that a definite period of time is necessary for the building up of any living organism4 ,for if this is so the laws which govern life must involve the age of the organism since some definite moment in its history4 ,we might choose for this moment the instant when the parent spermatozoon entered the ovum in the case of a higher organism1 or in the evolutionary experiment just described the age might be reckoned from the moment when the first elementary chemicals were combined into molecules4 ,the point is that this whole evolutionary process must be described by laws which take into account the age of the system under consideration4 ,let us take a very simple1 indeed the simplest possible1 example4 ,if two hydrogen atoms having just the correct total energy for the formation of a hydrogen molecule have approached one another and combined1 the law describing what has happened must indicate that at a definite moment the combination was complete and the process at an end4 ,this is an example of an irreversible process1 since the molecule does not spontaneously break up again4 ,moreover1 the mathematical formulation of this process must include the definite age of the system at which the process was complete1 this age being measured from some selected initial moment4 ,this process provides an interesting limitation to a principle put forward by ,maxwell as the basis of physical science4 ,he suggested that the laws of physics must be considered to be eternal and unchanging and that therefore they must be expressed in a form which does not contain the time explicitly4 ,this means that for physical laws there can be no difference between to-day and to-morrow4 ,the laws are concerned with small changes which systems undergo in small time intervals1 and need not express any fundamental distinction between one moment and another4 ,such laws cannot express the fact that anything sudden ever occurs which makes an essential change in the system as when two systems become one1 or when one system breaks up into two4 ,the laws of organic growth or the evolution of individual systems must display the fact that at a certain age of the system special things happen1 such as the combination of two hydrogen atoms1 or the attainment of maturity by an organism4 ,maxwell's principle puts a limitation on the form of physical laws which precisely eliminates the laws that would be appropriate for organisms4 ,but there is no reason why a broader physics should not try to frame this new type of law that would be applicable to the history and development of individual systems1 and it is probable that if this could be done the reversible laws of ,newton1 ,maxwell1 and ,einstein would appear as approximations which were valid when nothing of special interest was happening1 i4e4 when only spatial movements were involved without synthesis1 disintegration or the emission of light4 ,laws of the ,newtonian type which ,maxwell had in mind assume that one can adequately describe the present state of a system without specifying its past history4 ,but we cannot say anything very precise about the inside of a living organism1 and it is found far more efficient to describe what is known of its past history4 ,we do not try to say where atoms are in an organism2 instead we mention its species1 age1 etc4 ,organisms might be defined as systems whose future behaviour is more easily estimated from their past history than from what can be known about their immediate internal structure4 ,the most convenient formulation of organic laws will therefore be expressed in terms of the age of the organism and take account of how its life has been spent4 ,these laws are necessarily irreversible1 since the assimilation of oxygen or food is always going on in a manner which can never be reversed4 ,life is like a function which must always alter in one direction2 when this development ceases life has disappeared4 ,the contrast of living and dead now appears less important than the following classification of natural processes3 #a4 ,processes which are reversible and whose laws can be expressed independently of the age of the system1 e4g4 gravitational and mechanical motions which do not involve light or heat4 #b4 ,processes which are irreversible1 the laws being best expressed in terms of the total time which has passed since some initial state1 e4g4 chemical combination1 growth1 evolution1 radioactivity1 and all changes involving light or heat4 ,physics has always asserted that processes of the first type were fundamental in nature1 and astronomy provided the ideal example in planetary motion4 ,it was this assertion that gave rise to the essential issue behind the conflict of mechanism and vitalism4 ,but if ,born is right1 and the fundamental atomic processes are irreversible1 then the situation is completely altered4 ,there is no longer a question of life being an arbitrary irruption in a world of mechanical law1 since the laws of gravitation and mechanics must then be looked on as the limiting case1 when the irreversibility is vanishingly small1 of a whole series of irreversible processes which constitute the most important examples of the fundamental order in nature4 ,this series would include the atomic processes connected with heat1 light1 and electricity1 chemical combination1 colloidal effects1 organic growth and evolution1 and the highly co-ordinated electrical processes which form the physiological basis of consciousness4 ,if this view is correct the atomic processes of radiation and chemical combination should be just what the biologist needs to build up organisms4 ,instead of a chaos of little particles obeying inverse square laws1 the modern physicist offers to the biologist a new kind of atom with electrical and magnetic properties which cause it to build up stable compounds4 ,the biologist may reply3 8,yes1 but organisms have four chief characteristics1 their behaviour is irreversible1 and displays growth1 memory1 and purposiveness4 ,if you tell me that your atoms obey irreversible laws1 so much the better1 because my organisms certainly do4 ,but your crystals grow very differently from my cells and organisms1 and you can't explain away the apparent purposiveness of all life40 ,to which the physicist may answer3 8,suppose that two hydrogen atoms are some distance apart with the total energy necessary to make a molecule4 ,if they begin to move towards one another under some attractive influence which they exert we display no surprise4 ,but they are moving towards a final end1 which is an end1 even though they are of course unconscious of it2 and provided that nothing interferes they will reach one another1 form a molecule1 and the process will be consummated4 ,the atoms move under an irresistible law of attraction towards a final condition which is unavoidable unless outside influences prevent it4 ,the system of the two atoms develops necessarily towards a consummation1 and the process has in this sense a teleological quality1 though this need not mean that any god or man had consciously planned the end for these particular hydrogen atoms4 8,this quality was not present in ,newton's law of gravitation precisely because it failed to say what happens at the end of any process1 for instance when a meteorite hits the earth4 ,newtonian laws avoid the responsibility of dealing with all the exciting events1 like the wedding of the atoms or the death of the meteorite4 ,on the other hand it appears probable that all irreversible laws can be interpreted as leading either from or to some critical end condition4 ,thus all heat processes tend towards an approximate uniformity of temperature1 and chemical reactions also move towards a final condition4 8,such systems as these display the rudiments of unconscious purpose4 ,one must imagine these systems made much more complex so that it takes a long time and considerable nourishment before their unconscious purpose is fulfilled1 whether this be the instinctive reproduction of their kind or any other biological function40 8,maybe4 ,i like the unconscious purpose which you have revealed in irreversible physics1 because ,i am troubled by colleagues who see conscious mind everywhere4 8,but if ,i grant that your view of the atom1 and hence of molecules and colloids1 allows me two of the four features ,i find in life1 i4e4 irreversibility and unconscious purpose1 you have still to deal with growth and organic memory40 8,yes4 ,growth and memory are things that physics has as yet little to say about4 ,but we have at any rate reduced the problem of life to smaller proportions4 ,it is no longer the question what is life8 but1 how do colloidal processes build themselves up into continuously-active1 developing systems which can react to their surroundings so that some distant condition can ultimately be attained8 ,this is a much less difficult question4 ,moreover1 since the problem of radiation underlies all the chemical processes which are associated with the maintenance of life1 we may expect considerable assistance when physics has cleared up this crucial problem40 ,,chapter ,v ,physics and ,mind ,if a psychologist who was not a behaviourist had been listening to this conversation he might break in3 8,does the physicist seriously propose that we should try to leave mind out of our picture of the human organism8 ,even if we can eventually explain the unconscious purposes of the lower organisms as ends towards which they are driven by physical laws1 yet man has the supreme distinction of a conscious mind1 he can select his aim1 and if he likes renounce it again for something else4 ,you must therefore allow in your picture for the emergence of mind at some point during the course of evolution40 8,wait a moment10 replies the physicist4 8,your whole outlook towards consciousness betrays not only an anthropomorphic standpoint1 but one limited to a single stage in man's development4 ,there is no single condition adequately described by the word #8conscious'4 ,there are in fact a great many different states of awareness which may grade into one another1 or may form a series of distinct conditions4 ,we do not know much about them yet1 but their variety is most striking4 ,there is the dim sentience as we awake from chloroform1 the awareness of the dreaming state1 the passive experiencing that accompanies any intensely rhythmic activity such as running4 ,again1 quite different states are known in day-dreaming1 intellectual concentration and the delicately-balanced semi-consciousness of creative thought4 8,consider especially the states of awareness associated with love1 or with the supreme creative activities of the mind4 ,free-will1 or the deliberate choice of a purpose1 is completely lost in a whole-natured falling in love1 as it is also in the artist's need to follow some dimly-conscious intuition of a task he must attempt4 ,at these important occasions free-will disappears before a sense of inner organic necessity4 8,these examples seem to me to make it clear that #8conscious purpose' is not in any sense the ultimate or highest criterion of human behaviour1 and that free-will need not be taken necessarily to mean the power to over-ride any laws of nature4 ,in my view #8free-will' is simply the apparent characteristic of organic behaviour when no complete integration of the personality has been achieved and the mind seems to be able to oscillate from one purpose to another4 ,we really have to deal in human beings with a whole series of forms of behaviour of increasing complexity and integration3 reflex and instinctive actions1 deliberate activity1 and finally the intuitive whole-natured creative functioning which leads to ends which could not have been intellectually foreseen4 ,to each of these must correspond a certain type of awareness1 and in my view1 a brain process of a definite degree of complexity4 ,by analogy with our own experience of different modes of consciousness1 we may be able to infer from the structure of the central nervous system of an organism what sort of awareness it can experience4 8,eventually we must expect to be able to give a complete scheme of all organic behaviour in terms of the organic processes and their laws1 but none the less it will remain a great deal more convenient in some cases to refer to what happens to human beings by using words that suggest their conscious experience4 ,the behaviourist denies the scientific significance of all but the very barest elements of conscious experience1 but of course he has to start from the human perception of light and colour4 ,science cannot get on without ideas which obtain their whole meaning from the qualities of conscious experience1 and hence the extreme behaviourist position merely arises from a prejudice which prevents clear thinking4 ,but as a campaign to put more stress on the direct observation of what really happens to living beings in terms of physical movements1 behaviourism can only do good by bringing more unbiassed knowledge about life4 8,my own interpretation of the question may be put in this way4 ,the thing that is given in nature is a process in time4 ,according to its complexity and degree of co-ordination an organic process has different degrees of awareness4 ,there is no one condition called human consciousness1 because the human organism can function with different degrees of co-ordination1 and if we ask if an atom in absorbing light is conscious1 the question has no definite meaning4 ,but in a few years those who are studying the physiology of the central nervous system will be able to indicate how many steps of synthesis and integration occur between the simplest cell and the creative thinker1 and to each of these stages will be ascribed a mode of awareness4 ,but below a certain degree of organic complexity this #8awareness'1 will cease to be anything that can be consciously imagined by man1 e4g4 below the dimmest sentience one might allow an undifferentiated knowledge of mere continuance1 based in turn on the rhythmic pulsation of the elementary cells40 8,your scheme is of course still rather vague1 but in its main outlines it appears satisfactory01 replies the psychologist4 8,but tell me outright1 can mind influence matter8 ,if ,i understand you rightly1 you suggest that matter certainly influences mind40 8,on the contrary1 ,i do not6 ,you are back at the meaningless questions on which philosophers have wasted much time4 ,to ask if mind can influence matter does not mean anything until you know what you mean by mind and matter1 and to a scientist that means knowing the laws they obey4 ,now1 on the one hand1 relativity and modern quantum theory indicate that there is no matter in the old sense of particles made of some unchanging stuff1 and physical science recognizes atomic and other processes as fundamental in the place of #8matter'4 ,on the other hand1 you really mean by #8mind' one particular form of conscious activity3 the deliberate selection of a purpose4 ,therefore to give your question real meaning ,i have to ask instead #8,does the conscious selection of a purpose alter the physical processes going on in the human organism8' 8,but that is an absurd question4 ,it is like asking3 ,does a dint in the outside of a hat cause an alteration in the shape of the inside of the hat8 ,to which the only reply is that the dint on the outside is merely another way of describing the dint on the inside4 ,there is no causing of the one by the other any more than if you fold a bit of paper you can say that the crease on one side causes the crease on the other side4 ,they are identical and the double method of description used in the question creates a meaningless problem4 8#8,conscious selection of a purpose' is one way of describing a particular process1 and after this process has occurred the brain will be different from before4 ,the old theories of the correlation or interaction of mind and matter presupposed that they were separate things in themselves4 ,the important questions become quite different when one realizes that mind and matter do not exist independently1 but that they are both somewhat inadequate ways of describing certain aspects of one organic process4 ,the spatial aspect of organic process is called the physical organism4 ,the temporal aspect of organic process corresponds to the content of its consciousness4 ,the physical body is a group of spatial characteristics4 ,consciousness is a system of temporal elements2 memory1 anticipation1 deliberate repetition1 creative longing1 hope and fear are all things set in time4 8,professor ,alexander has said #8,time is the mind of ,space4' ,he attempts to explain space and time by an anthropomorphic analogy4 ,it is a very suggestive idea1 though for the searcher whose goal is the nature of consciousness itself it is more valuable to put it the other way round3 mind is the temporal aspect of process1 body the spatial aspect4 ,but it is very important indeed to notice that we have not yet found the adequate terms for describing these two aspects of process4 ,matter is unsatisfactory for the spatial aspect1 because there are no unchanging particles4 ,but nor is mind sufficient for the temporal aspect1 because there is a temporal aspect to the combination of hydrogen atoms and to chemical and colloidal processes1 and yet we must not speak of these as having mind4 ,when the new words for these two aspects are invented they will form the foundation of the scientific synthesis which ,i am expecting40 ,to which the psychologist may answer3 8,well1 at heart ,i have always been a thorough-going determinist like you1 at least in dealing with my patients4 ,moreover ,i find it works1 because ,i have always included in my picture of the patient a life-impulse of some sort1 which can be influenced by my personality4 ,thus if the behaviour of my patient is absolutely determined1 the conditions which determine what happens to him include some inner life tendency1 and also the effects produced on him by all the people he meets4 8,but if one attempts to formulate such an absolute determinism1 or to apply it to oneself1 one gets into deep waters1 and ,i haven't the courage to try it4 ,it seems you must be right at bottom1 but that only a god could believe it without its upsetting his mental balance or his sense of moral responsibility40 8,there ,i agree10 replies the physicist1 8as long as one does not simultaneously revise one's whole view of life in terms of this new organic knowledge4 ,that is a very big task1 but ,i should like one day to attempt it4 ,two things especially would attract me to such a revision of human values4 ,one is that people who ought to know better still go about making moral judgments about their acquaintances4 ,now that we know how profound is the influence on a child of the treatment it receives during its first five years of life1 moral judgments become rather old-fashioned and only show that the person making them has himself not yet learnt to find emotional fulfilment in healthier ways4 ,an analysis of human behaviour along the lines of organic determinism might do something to show that moral condemnations1 whether of bolshevism or of the sins of one's children1 are never effective unless immediately accompanied by positive example or creative suggestion4 8,but there is another more attractive reason why ,i should like to attempt this transvaluation of values4 ,if organic determinism is valid1 then the artist's aspiration to create is a natural consequence of some organic law4 ,creative aspiration may then be looked on as the natural destiny of certain human beings1 though they no more know where they are going than did the two hydrogen atoms4 ,but organic determinism allows us to understand why it is of no importance that the artist doesn't know what he is going to create before he does it4 ,it seems that in some matters our organic body is wiser than ourselves1 or rather wiser than our very immature consciousness4 ,when we have developed our consciousness by the discovery of the organic laws of our own natures we may be able to make human life more beautiful40 ,,chapter ,,vi ,the ,future of the ,sciences ,the preceding pages have very broadly indicated the way in which current physical researches may influence the scientific outlook on the problems of matter1 life1 and mind4 ,the view has been put forward that we are on the eve of a profound scientific synthesis of which the main outlines are already determined4 ,these general suggestions will now be made more precise in order to offer to anyone who is interested the opportunity of testing for himself some definite prophecies regarding the future of scientific thought4 ,the forecast made here does not involve any supernatural reading of the future1 but is based on tendencies already inherent in the different departments of science4 ,for convenience it is expressed in the form of separate assertions concerning the future of physics1 biology1 and psychology4 #a4 ,before #aidj a very remarkable simplification will be made in atomic theory1 which will indicate that in quantum processes physics has #8touched bottom' and that--for the time being--we may consider that nature is not infinitely complex within the heart of the atom4 ,the proof of this apparent if not absolute limit to the micro-structure of nature will take the form of the discovery of simple relationships between the fundamental constants of atomic structure1 e1 m1 ,m1 c1 and h4 7,the electronic charge and mass1 the mass of the hydrogen nucleus1 the velocity of light1 and ,planck's constant47 ,such relations are already known but are considered to be of no significance since they are ruled out by the accepted theory of electrical dimensions4 ,yet this dimensional system is not based on direct observation1 and the importance of these relationships will soon be recognized in consequence of experiments aimed at a direct determination of an #8electron velocity'1 in a curved track4 #8,electron velocity' as calculated from deflection experiments will be found not to be the same as the directly measurable cms4 per sec41 and in the case of straight electron tracks1 the measured velocity may be found to be always that of light1 though this does not mean much since the velocity of light in one direction has never been measured4 ,as the result of the study of individual radiation tracks1 for instance in the reflection of electrons by crystals1 and particularly of any time measurements that can be made1 a new system of physical conceptions will be built up appropriate to irreversible processes1 which will be substituted for the ,newtonian reversible system4 ,the new scheme will probably be based on the conception of the atom1 with its radiating electron tracks1 as a natural clock which not only can be used to measure out equal time intervals1 but also to yield an objective criterion of past and future4 ,in order to make this idea1 or at least one part of it1 capable of empirical test the following hypothesis is put forward3 ,the time-interval between any two point-events on any electron track is a simple function of the length and curvature of the part of the track between the two points4 ,this hypothesis contradicts the current interpretation of electron theory on a point which has never yet been subjected to experimental test4 ,the conceptions which will be built up on electron velocity experiments will very quickly bring within one simple theory the facts of chemical combination and colloidal processes4 ,for these depend upon irreversible effects connected with radiation and electrons1 and will therefore be amenable to treatment by the new conceptions for the very reason which necessarily puts them beyond the scope of ,newtonian laws4 #b4 ,as the result of the alteration in physical conceptions biology will soon cease to draw a definite line between inanimate and living systems4 ,the normal characters of life will be recognized as appearing in steps as one passes up the series atom1 molecule1 colloid1 protoplasm1 cell1 and through further stages to mammal and man4 ,in each class of organism a central controlling process will be discovered and its laws formulated with some precision1 in terms of irreversible electrochemical processes4 ,the process which in each organism represents the co-ordinating factor and is the life of the organism considered as a unit may for instance be described in terms of a quantity which we shall call #8f'4 #8f' would be such that so long as #8f' keeps on increasing the organism is alive1 while if #8f' stands still the organism dies4 ,the rate of increase of #8f' indicates the tempo or intensity of the organism's life4 ,in a simple case #8f' might be directly related to the intake of oxygen or food1 and just as respiration and assimilation are irreversible1 so is the change in #8f'4 #8f' must go on increasing1 or else cease to represent any quantity in nature2 as soon as it ceases to increase the process to which it corresponds cannot be identified any longer4 ,the most important factors which influence the life-function #8f' 7i4e4 which affect the central controlling process in any organism7 will be known before about #aiej1 with the result that local rebellions such as cancer will not only be controllable1 but easily prevented4 ,harmless methods for increasing the rate of change of #8f'1 i4e4 for increasing the lan vital of the organism1 will be discovered1 so that1 for instance1 the duration of child-birth will be reduced to a natural minimum4 ,if child-birth sometimes takes very long nowadays1 this is presumably because the woman's body is tired1 exhausted1 or partially poisoned by her mode of living1 and by raising her vitality at the critical moment we may expect to be able to let the process go on at its natural speed4 ,there must be some minimum time necessary for the act1 since a vast number of complex organic processes have to complete themselves in a certain order1 but probably this time is considerably shorter than that during which many women in this country have to suffer4 ,it is already known that the ,mendelian genes which determine heredity are related to the rates of development of special processes in the organism1 and a control over the life-tempo1 or rate of increase of #8f' in any organism or group of cells within an organism1 will provide a new method of tackling the practical problem of heredity4 ,it is possible that hereditary tendencies to specific weakness or disease will be overcome by accelerating or retarding the rate of development of the human system at some special moment between conception and maturity4 ,rejuvenation will soon be safe and efficient1 but not as a means for attempting immortality4 ,it will be socially recognized as healthy and legitimate only when undertaken to compensate for premature ageing due to specific repressions1 illness1 or anxiety4 ,the elimination of known diseases by a genuine science of life does not mean that other diseases will spring up perhaps worse than before4 ,a theoretical science of life will know the meaning of all disease1 and will not prevent one in such a way as to give rise to another4 ,instead of making campaigns against influenza or any other one disease1 it will determine the conditions in which no disease can survive1 and thus gradually eliminate all the organic diseases which attack the body4 ,but this does not mean the attainment of a hygienic ,utopia in which human life necessarily fulfils itself4 ,a balance will be made to the disappearance of cancer and syphilis1 not by the arising of other diseases but as a result of the consequent increase in the sensitiveness of the human brain4 ,the supremely difficult task of the next hundred years will be to keep the mind of the race healthy and stable through a period of critical sensitiveness4 ,we are in a transition stage of violent instability1 of intense cruelty coupled with compassion 7,america71 of blended love of liberty and need of discipline1 of emotional religions and of wars--but we must hope that it will lead to some mode of life with greater inherent stability4 #c4 ,psychology is now occupied with the discovery that the human response to perceptions is not additive1 i4e4 that the effect made by a group of sounds or colours depends on the pattern in space and time in which they are arranged4 7,gestalt-theorie47 ,for instance1 the effect made on a man by the individual notes of #8,god save the ,king' when played in the wrong order is negligible1 and bears no relation to his response when he hears the tune played in a cinema1 and it reminds him of #8patriotism' and the ,war4 ,so far no scientific method has been found of describing when a group of elements is to be treated as a #8whole' for the purposes of psychology1 and this is where the greatest advances may be expected4 ,most scientific conceptions have been based on the method of spatial analysis1 i4e4 the reduction1 where possible1 of a thing to its smallest spatial elements4 ,physics1 biology1 and psychology have all lacked the equipment to describe what makes the atom1 organism1 or the pattern function as a unit1 and how we are to know if some group is a unit or not4 ,the analytical method is fully developed1 but we lack even the basis for a synthetic treatment4 ,this leads some hard-headed scientists of the materialistic school who will #8stand no nonsense' to assert that there is no such thing as #8synthesis'1 that this is a mystical idea left over from primitive anthropomorphism4 ,yet to any mind that is guided not by prejudice but by a simple search for truth1 the fact of synthesis is obvious1 though not yet properly formulated4 ,here modern physics can supply a clue4 ,analysis is the method required in a search for instantaneous spatial structure2 the synthetic method which we need must deal with the temporal history and behaviour of systems4 ,the fact that the human being reacts in the ways he does to a tune as a whole is evidence of something in his history1 that he has heard the tune often under certain emotional surroundings4 ,the unity of any synthesis1 whole1 or organism is not an instantaneous fact explicable in terms of structure1 for we can recognize this unity only from a continued observation over a period of time4 ,physics can invent one law to describe the approach of the two hydrogen atoms to form a molecule1 and in doing so treats the two together as a unit4 ,this suggests that the fact of organic unity is to be defined and formulated in terms of an irreversible law which governs the system as a whole4 ,thus a group of atoms1 cells1 or any other elements is to be called a unit when1 and only when1 one irreversible law can be found which expresses the behaviour of the different elements as contributing towards some common end1 like the formation of the molecule in the case of the hydrogen atoms4 ,we can now draw a practical conclusion for the future of psychology1 which is in great need of a moral principle to guide its treatment of disintegrated human personality4 ,on the analogy of the two atoms1 a human being is to be considered as a unity when his whole behaviour displays continuous co-ordination towards some end4 ,but there is an important difference in the two cases3 the atoms move towards an end which we know because it has already happened in history1 whereas man's development is creative1 that is it proceeds towards an end we cannot know exactly before it comes into being4 ,thus the parent or psychologist need not trouble if he cannot understand what his child or subject is aiming towards3 so long as some consistency and harmony of functioning is apparent1 the #8end' can be left to nature to look after1 because such harmony means that the organism is tending towards some ultimate condition4 ,the psychologists of the future will therefore have to follow some principle such as this3 their only legitimate aim is the maintenance and restoration of harmonious co-ordination of all the human functions1 and no concern need be paid to ultimate intellectual or spiritual ideals4 ,of course if the person considered is apparently tending towards some degenerate condition1 that is known to the onlooker because it is not new but a repetition of what many human beings have done before1 then this tendency can be altered4 ,at least1 it can be altered if the onlooker can use his intuition to discover signs of repressed conflict which show that the immediate tendency is not whole-natured1 but based on the repression of some more profound aspiration or desire4 ,then by bringing this repressed aspiration back into consciousness the degenerate tendency may be arrested4 ,but this control over the lives of others can only be effectively exercised by the intuitive discovery that their present tendencies are not whole-natured4 99 99 99 99 99 ,prophecy can never be scientific1 and forecasting in the realm of science is perhaps the most dangerous form of intellectual acrobatics4 ,science must be thorough1 and all vague speculation is its enemy4 ,but there are moments when a profound revision is necessary1 and amidst the responsibilities and rich appeal of daily life no one will undertake this task who does not believe that it offers an adequate reward to science and to man4 ,to-day prophecy can call attention to unjustified limitations inherent in current scientific thought1 and encourage the students of matter and of life to get together and try to discover the single system of natural law which we must believe covers both realms4 ,it may even help them to find crucial experiments by which to guide their search4 ,the reward is certainly great4 ,the indifference to the destruction of life which has marked recent years is no cause either for surprise or for despair after an epoch of orthodox and insincere religion coupled with an abstract science of matter4 ,one thing only can guide humanity to a saner and richer life3 the recognition and valuation of life4 ,this can be assisted by science and art both revealing life in all its significant forms4 ,but the roots of art have been destroyed by the domination of a science which had not recognized the significance of life within the realm of natural law4 ,for great art can only arise from a profound reverence for life1 whereas to the scientific mood of this period life appeared as an arbitrary impulse in continual conflict with the laws of matter4 ,physics is now studying light4 ,the radiant influence of light nourishes life and within human body forms the fabric of consciousness4 ,we are alive and conscious1 but our consciousness is immature for we do not yet know the laws that govern our own lives and thoughts4 ,yet it is certain that light1 life1 and consciousness are bound together by some undiscovered law4 ,this secret of nature's alchemy is still hidden from us within our own bodies4 ,by revealing it physics will create a new hope for man4 ,,notes #a ,whitehead1 ,science and the ,modern ,world4 ,eddington comes near to the same idea in an essay in ,science1 ,religion1 and ,reality1 #aibe4 ,see also ,weyl1 ,was ist ,materie8 #aibd1 p4 #hd4 ,it has also been expressed by others quite independently1 though ,i do not know of other published references4 #b ,e4g4 the irreversible motion of an electron in the field of a bar magnet is rendered formally reversible by the assumption that the magnetic field is due to moving electrons4 ,yet this assumption is highly artificial since it postulates electronic movements that have never been observed4 ,in other cases irreversibility is eliminated by the choice of special co-ordinate systems4 ,some physicists now hold the view that irreversibility may be inherent in atomic as it is in organic processes4 #c ,internal ,constitution of the ,stars1 #aibf1 p4 #ef4 ,compare note on p4 #dd4 ,it may be convenient here to summarize the processes that give at any rate superficial evidence of their irreversibility3 processes involving heat changes1 or the radiation of light1 or mass2 the production of energy in a star1 the motions of electrons in magnetic fields1 certain types of atom-ion collision in mixed gases1 processes dependent on retarded potentials1 radioactivity1 organic growth and evolution1 and consciousness itself4 ,eddington deals only with the case of the emission and absorption of light1 but suggests that the direction of time can only be deduced from statistical processes4 ,this is the orthodox view1 though it is very doubtful if it is valid now that the quantum processes are receiving formulation4 ,in this connection1 see note #d4 #d ,einstein4 ,berlin ,akad41 ,sitzungsberichte1 #aibe1 p4 #dah4 ,but ,einstein's view must be revised in view of recent experimental results 7e4g4 ,harnwell1 ,phys4 ,rev41 vol4 #bi1 #aibg1 pp4 #fhc and #hca71 if these have been correctly interpreted4 ,see ,born1 ,zeitschr fr ,physik1 vol4 #dj1 pp4 #agg-h2 and ,jordan1 ,naturw4 #aibg1 p4 #gib4 #e ,the idea that time may be an active factor in causation has the mathematical significance that #8t' 7for the system in question7 must appear explicitly in the formulation of the law1 and not merely as the square of a time-differential found convenient for the correlation of a standard clock with a reversible process which is being observed4 ,a law whose mathematical formulation involves #8t' measured from some moment in the history of the system1 gives an entirely new meaning to #8t'1 though one consistent with the properties of the reversible ,newtonian differential #8dt'4 ,such a law may claim to express the fact of historic1 irreversible1 duration1 a feature in nature which is neglected by laws involving only #8dt' squared4 #f ,einstein1 ,annalen der ,physik1 vol4 #di1 pp4 #ggf-g1 #aiaf4 ,,sixty ,,volumes ,,are ,,now ,,published ,,to-,,day ,,and ,,to-,,morrow ,each1 pott #hvo1 boards1 #b_/f net ,this series of books1 by some of the most distinguished ,english thinkers1 scientists1 philosophers1 doctors1 critics1 and artists1 was at once recognized as a noteworthy event4 ,written from various points of view1 one book frequently opposing the argument of another1 they provide the reader with a stimulating survey of the most modern thought in many departments of life4 ,several volumes are devoted to the future trend of ,civilization1 conceived as a whole2 while others deal with particular provinces4 ,it is interesting to see in these neat little volumes1 issued at a low price1 the revival of a form of literature1 the ,pamphlet1 which has been in disuse for many years4 ,published by ,,kegan ,,paul1 ,,trench1 ,,trubner ,,co41 ,,ltd4 ,broadway ,house3 #fh-gd ,carter ,lane1 ,london1 ,e4,c4#d ,,from ,,the ,,reviews ,times ,literary ,supplement3 8,an entertaining series of vivacious and stimulating studies of modern tendencies40 ,spectator3 8,scintillating monographs 444 that very lively and courageous series40 ,observer3 8,there seems no reason why the brilliant ,to-day and ,to-morrow ,series should come to an end for a century of to-morrows4 ,at first it seemed impossible for the publishers to keep up the sport through a dozen volumes1 but the series already runs to more than two score4 ,a remarkable series44440 ,daily ,telegraph3 8,this admirable series of essays1 provocative and brilliant40 ,nation3 8,we are able to peer into the future by means of that brilliant series which will constitute a precious document upon the present time40--,t4 ,s4 ,eliot4 ,manchester ,dispatch3 8,the more one reads of these pamphlets1 the more avid becomes the appetite4 ,we hope the list is endless40 ,irish ,statesman3 8,full of lively controversy40 ,daily ,herald3 8,this series has given us many monographs of brilliance and discernment4444 ,the stylistic excellencies of this provocative series40 ,field3 8,we have long desired to express the deep admiration felt by every thinking scholar and worker at the present day for this series4 ,we must pay tribute to the high standard of thought and expression they maintain4 ,as small gift-books1 austerely yet prettily produced1 they remain unequalled of their kind4 ,we can give but the briefest suggestions of their value to the student1 the politician1 and the voter44440 ,new ,york ,world3 8,holds the palm in the speculative and interpretative thought of the age40 ,,volumes ,,ready ,daedalus1 or ,science and the ,future4 ,by ,j4 ,b4 ,s4 ,,haldane1 ,reader in ,biochemistry1 ,university of ,cambridge4 ,seventh impression4 8,a fascinating and daring little book40--,westminster ,gazette4 8,the essay is brilliant1 sparkling with wit and bristling with challenges40--,british ,medical ,journal4 8,predicts the most startling changes40--,morning ,post4 ,callinicus1 a ,defence of ,chemical ,warfare4 ,by ,j4 ,b4 ,s4 ,,haldane4 ,second impression4 8,mr ,haldane's brilliant study40--,times ,leading ,article4 8,a book to be read by every intelligent adult40--,spectator4 8,this brilliant little monograph40--,daily ,news4 ,icarus1 or the ,future of ,science4 ,by ,,bertrand ,,russell1 ,f4,r4,s4 ,fourth impression4 8,utter pessimism40--,observer4 8,mr ,russell refuses to believe that the progress of ,science must be a boon to mankind40--,morning ,post4 8,a stimulating book1 that leaves one not at all discouraged40--,daily ,herald4 ,what ,i ,believe4 ,by ,,bertrand ,,russell1 ,f4,r4,s4 ,third impression4 8,one of the most brilliant and thought-stimulating little books ,i have read--a better book even than ,icarus40--,nation4 8,simply and brilliantly written40--,nature4 8,in stabbing sentences he punctures the bubble of cruelty1 envy1 narrowness1 and ill-will which those in authority call their morals40--,new ,leader4 ,tantalus1 or the ,future of ,man4 ,by ,f4 ,c4 ,s4 ,,schiller1 ,d4,,sc41 ,fellow of ,corpus ,christi ,college1 ,oxford4 ,second impression4 8,they are all 7,daedalus1 ,icarus1 and ,tantalus7 brilliantly clever1 and they supplement or correct one another40--,dean ,inge1 in ,morning ,post4 8,immensely valuable and infinitely readable40--,daily ,news4 8,the book of the week40--,spectator4 ,cassandra1 or the ,future of the ,british ,empire4 ,by ,f4 ,c4 ,s4 ,,schiller1 ,d4,,sc4 8,we commend it to the complacent of all parties40--,saturday ,review4 8,the book is small1 but very1 very weighty2 brilliantly written1 it ought to be read by all shades of politicians and students of politics40--,yorkshire ,post4 8,yet another addition to that bright constellation of pamphlets40--,spectator4 ,quo ,vadimus8 ,glimpses of the ,future4 ,by ,e4 ,e4 ,,fournier ,d',,albe1 ,d4,,sc4 ,second ,impression4 8,a wonderful vision of the future4 ,a book that will be talked about40--,daily ,graphic4 8,a remarkable contribution to a remarkable series40--,manchester ,dispatch4 8,interesting and singularly plausible40--,daily ,telegraph4 ,thrasymachus1 the ,future of ,morals4 ,by ,c4 ,e4 ,m4 ,,joad1 author of 8,the ,babbitt ,warren10 etc4 ,second impression4 8,his provocative book40--,graphic4 8,written in a style of deliberate brilliance40--,times ,literary ,supplement4 8,as outspoken and unequivocal a contribution as could well be imagined4 ,even those readers who dissent will be forced to recognize the admirable clarity with which he states his case4 ,a book that will startle40--,daily ,chronicle4 ,lysistrata1 or ,woman's ,future and ,future ,woman4 ,by ,,anthony ,m4 ,,ludovici1 author of 8,a ,defence of ,aristocracy10 etc4 ,second ,impression4 8,a stimulating book4 ,volumes would be needed to deal1 in the fullness his work provokes1 with all the problems raised40--,sunday ,times4 8,pro-feminine but anti-feministic40--,scotsman4 8,full of brilliant common-sense40--,observer4 ,hypatia1 or ,woman and ,knowledge4 ,by ,,mrs ,,bertrand ,,russel4 ,with a frontispiece4 ,third impression4 ,an answer to ,lysistrata4 8,a passionate vindication of the rights of woman40--,manchester ,guardian4 8,says a number of things that sensible women have been wanting publicly said for a long time40--,daily ,herald4 ,hephaestus1 the ,soul of the ,machine4 ,by ,e4 ,e4 ,,fournier ,d',,albe1 ,d4,,sc4 8,a worthy contribution to this interesting series4 ,a delightful and thought-provoking essay40--,birmingham ,post4 8,there is a special pleasure in meeting with a book like ,hephaestus4 ,the author has the merit of really understanding what he is talking about40--,engineering4 8,an exceedingly clever defence of machinery40--,architects' ,journal4 ,the ,passing of the ,phantoms3 a ,study of ,evolutionary ,psychology and ,morals4 ,by ,c4 ,j4 ,,patten1 ,professor of ,anatomy1 ,sheffield ,university4 ,with #d ,plates4 8,readers of ,daedalus1 ,icarus and ,tantalus1 will be grateful for an excellent presentation of yet another point of view40--,yorkshire ,post4 8,this bright and bracing little book40--,literary ,guide4 8,interesting and original40--,medical ,times4 ,the ,mongol in our ,midst3 a ,study of ,man and his ,three ,faces4 ,by ,f4 ,g4 ,,crookshank1 ,m4,d41 ,f4,r4,c4,p4 ,with #bh ,plates4 ,second ,edition1 revised4 8,a brilliant piece of speculative induction40--,saturday ,review4 8,an extremely interesting and suggestive book1 which will reward careful reading40--,sunday ,times4 8,the pictures carry fearful conviction40--,daily ,herald4 ,the ,conquest of ,cancer4 ,by ,h4 ,w4 ,s4 ,,wright1 ,m4,s41 ,f4,r4,c4,s4 ,introduction by ,f4 ,g4 ,,crookshank1 ,m4,d4 8,eminently suitable for general reading4 ,the problem is fairly and lucidly presented4 ,one merit of ,mr ,wright's plan is that he tells people what1 in his judgment1 they can best do1 here and now40--,from the ,introduction4 ,pygmalion1 or the ,doctor of the ,future4 ,by ,r4 ,,mcnair ,,wilson1 ,m4,b4 8,dr ,wilson has added a brilliant essay to this series40--,times ,literary ,supplement4 8,this is a very little book1 but there is much wisdom in it40--,evening ,standard4 8,no doctor worth his salt would venture to say that ,dr ,wilson was wrong40--,daily ,herald4 ,prometheus1 or ,biology and the ,advancement of ,man4 ,by ,h4 ,s4 ,,jennings1 ,professor of ,zoology1 ,johns ,hopkins ,university4 ,second ,impression4 8,this volume is one of the most remarkable that has yet appeared in this series4 ,certainly the information it contains will be new to most educated laymen4 ,it is essentially a discussion of 444 heredity and environment1 and it clearly establishes the fact that the current use of these terms has no scientific justification40--,times ,literary ,supplement4 8,an exceedingly brilliant book40--,new ,leader4 ,narcissus3 an ,anatomy of ,clothes4 ,by ,,gerald ,,heard4 ,with #ai illustrations4 8,a most suggestive book40--,nation4 8,irresistible4 ,reading it is like a switchback journey4 ,starting from prehistoric times we rocket down the ages40--,daily ,news4 8,interesting1 provocative1 and entertaining40--,queen4 ,thamyris1 or ,is ,there a ,future for ,poetry8 ,by ,r4 ,c4 ,,trevelyan4 8,learned1 sensible1 and very well-written40--,affable ,hawk1 in ,new ,statesman4 8,very suggestive40--,j4 ,c4 ,squire1 in ,observer4 8,a very charming piece of work1 ,i agree with all1 or at any rate1 almost all its conclusions40--,j4 ,st ,loe ,strachey1 in ,spectator4 ,proteus1 or the ,future of ,intelligence4 ,by ,,vernon ,,lee1 author of 8,satan the ,waster10 etc4 8,we should like to follow the author's suggestions as to the effect of intelligence on the future of ,ethics1 ,aesthetics1 and ,manners4 ,her book is profoundly stimulating and should be read by everyone40--,outlook4 8,a concise1 suggestive piece of work40--,saturday ,review4 ,timotheus1 the ,future of the ,theatre4 ,by ,,bonamy ,,dobr,e1 author of 8,restoration ,drama10 etc4 8,a witty1 mischievous little book1 to be read with delight40--,times ,literary ,supplement4 8,this is a delightfully witty book40--,scotsman4 8,in a subtly satirical vein he visualizes various kinds of theatres in #bjj years' time4 ,his gay little book makes delightful reading40--,nation4 ,paris1 or the ,future of ,war4 ,by ,captain ,b4 ,h4 ,,liddell ,,hart4 8,a companion volume to ,callinicus4 ,a gem of close thinking and deduction40--,observer4 8,a noteworthy contribution to a problem of concern to every citizen in this country40--,daily ,chronicle4 8,there is some lively thinking about the future of war in ,paris1 just added to this set of live-wire pamphlets on big subjects40--,manchester ,guardian4 ,wireless ,possibilities4 ,by ,professor ,a4 ,m4 ,,low4 ,with #d diagrams4 8,as might be expected from an inventor who is always so fresh1 he has many interesting things to say40--,evening ,standard4 8,the mantle of ,blake has fallen upon the physicists4 ,to them we look for visions1 and we find them in this book40--,new ,statesman4 ,perseus3 of ,dragons4 ,by ,h4 ,f4 ,,scott ,,stokes4 ,with #b illustrations4 8,a diverting little book1 chock-full of ideas4 ,mr ,stokes' dragon-lore is both quaint and various40--,morning ,post4 8,very amusingly written1 and a mine of curious knowledge for which the discerning reader will find many uses40--,glasgow ,herald4 ,lycurgus1 or the ,future of ,law4 ,by ,e4 ,s4 ,p4 ,,haynes1 author of 8,concerning ,solicitors10 etc4 8,an interesting and concisely written book40--,yorkshire ,post4 8,he roundly declares that ,english criminal law is a blend of barbaric violence1 medieval prejudices and modern fallacies4444 ,a humane and conscientious investigation40--,t4,p4's ,weekly4 8,a thoughtful book--deserves careful reading40--,law ,times4 ,euterpe1 or the ,future of ,art4 ,by ,,lionel ,r4 ,,mccolvin1 author of 8,the ,theory of ,book-,selection40 8,discusses briefly1 but very suggestively1 the problem of the future of art in relation to the public40--,saturday ,review4 8,another indictment of machinery as a soul-destroyer 444 ,mr ,mc,colvin has the courage to suggest solutions40--,westminster ,gazette4 8,this is altogether a much-needed book40--,new ,leader4 ,pegasus1 or ,problems of ,transport4 ,by ,colonel ,j4 ,f4 ,c4 ,,fuller1 author of 8,the ,reformation of ,war10 etc4 ,with #h ,plates4 8,the foremost military prophet of the day propounds a solution for industrial and unemployment problems4 ,it is a bold essay 444 and calls for the attention of all concerned with imperial problems40--,daily ,telegraph4 8,practical1 timely1 very interesting and very important40--,j4 ,st ,loe ,strachey1 in ,spectator4 ,atlantis1 or ,america and the ,future4 ,by ,colonel ,j4 ,f4 ,c4 ,,fuller4 8,candid and caustic40--,observer4 8,many hard things have been said about ,america1 but few quite so bitter and caustic as these40--,daily ,sketch4 8,he can conjure up possibilities of a new ,atlantis40--,clarion4 ,midas1 or the ,united ,states and the ,future4 ,by ,c4 ,h4 ,,bretherton1 author of 8,the ,real ,ireland10 etc4 ,a companion volume to ,atlantis4 8,full of astute observations and acute reflections 444 this wise and witty pamphlet1 a provocation to the thought that is creative40--,morning ,post4 8,a punch in every paragraph4 ,one could hardly ask for more #8meat4'0--,spectator4 ,nuntius1 or ,advertising and its ,future4 ,by ,,gilbert ,,russell4 8,expresses the philosophy of advertising concisely and well40--,observer4 8,it is doubtful if a more straightforward exposition of the part advertising plays in our public and private life has been written40--,manchester ,guardian4 ,birth ,control and the ,state3 a ,plea and a ,forecast4 ,by ,c4 ,p4 ,,blacker1 ,m4,c41 ,m4,a41 ,m4,r4,c4,s41 ,l4,r4,c4,p4 8,a very careful summary40--,times ,literary ,supplement4 8,a temperate and scholarly survey of the arguments for and against the encouragement of the practice of birth control40--,lancet4 8,he writes lucidly1 moderately1 and from wide knowledge2 his book undoubtedly gives a better understanding of the subject than any other brief account we know4 ,it also suggests a policy40--,saturday ,review4 ,ouroboros1 or the ,mechanical ,extension of ,mankind4 ,by ,,garet ,,garrett4 8,this brilliant and provoking little book40--,observer4 8,a significant and thoughtful essay1 calculated in parts to make our flesh creep40--,spectator4 8,a brilliant writer1 ,mr ,garrett is a remarkable man4 ,he explains something of the enormous change the machine has made in life40--,daily ,express4 ,artifex1 or the ,future of ,craftsmanship4 ,by ,,john ,,gloag1 author of 8,time1 ,taste1 and ,furniture40 8,an able and interesting summary of the history of craftsmanship in the past1 a direct criticism of the present1 and at the end his hopes for the future4 ,mr ,gloag's real contribution to the future of craftsmanship is his discussion of the uses of machinery40--,times ,literary ,supplement4 ,plato's ,american ,republic4 ,by ,j4 ,,douglas ,,woodruff4 ,fourth impression4 8,uses the form of the ,socratic dialogue with devastating success4 ,a gently malicious wit sparkles in every page40--,sunday ,times4 8,having deliberately set himself an almost impossible task1 has succeeded beyond belief40--,saturday ,review4 8,quite the liveliest even of this spirited series40--,observer4 ,orpheus1 or the ,music of the ,future4 ,by ,w4 ,j4 ,,turner1 author of 8,music and ,life40 ,second impression4 8,a book on music that we can read not merely once1 but twice or thrice4 ,mr ,turner has given us some of the finest thinking upon ,beethoven that ,i have ever met with40--,ernest ,newman in ,sunday ,times4 8,a brilliant essay in contemporary philosophy40--,outlook4 8,the fruit of real knowledge and understanding40--,new ,statesman4 ,terpander1 or ,music and the ,future4 ,by ,e4 ,j4 ,,dent1 author of 8,mozart's ,operas40 8,in ,orpheus ,mr ,turner made a brilliant voyage in search of first principles4 ,mr ,dent's book is a skilful review of the development of music4 ,it is the most succinct and stimulating essay on music ,i have found44440--,musical ,news4 8,remarkably able and stimulating40--,times ,literary ,supplement4 8,there is hardly another critic alive who could sum up contemporary tendencies so neatly40--,spectator4 ,sibylla1 or the ,revival of ,prophecy4 ,by ,c4 ,a4 ,,mace1 ,university of ,st4 ,andrew's4 8,an entertaining and instructive pamphlet40--,morning ,post4 8,places a nightmare before us very ably and wittily40--,spectator4 8,passages in it are excellent satire1 but on the whole ,mr ,mace's speculations may be taken as a trustworthy guide 444 to modern scientific thought40--,birmingham ,post4 ,lucullus1 or the ,food of the ,future4 ,by ,,olga ,,hartley and ,,mrs ,c4 ,f4 ,,leyel1 authors of 8,the ,gentle ,art of ,cookery40 8,this is a clever and witty little volume in an entertaining series1 and it makes enchanting reading40--,times ,literary ,supplement4 8,opens with a brilliant picture of modern man1 living in a vacuum-cleaned1 steam-heated1 credit-furnished suburban mansion #8with a wolf in the basement'--the wolf of hunger4 ,this banquet of epigrams40--,spectator4 ,procrustes1 or the ,future of ,english ,education4 ,by ,m4 ,,alderton ,,pink4 8,undoubtedly he makes out a very good case40--,daily ,herald4 8,this interesting addition to the series40--,times ,educational ,supplement4 8,intends to be challenging and succeeds in being so4 ,all fit readers will find it stimulating40--,northern ,echo4 ,the ,future of ,futurism4 ,by ,,john ,,rodker4 8,mr ,rodker is up-to-the-minute1 and he has accomplished a considerable feat in writing on such a vague subject1 #ib extremely interesting pages40--,t4 ,s4 ,eliot1 in ,nation4 8,there are a good many things in this book which are of interest40--,times ,literary ,supplement4 ,pomona1 or the ,future of ,english4 ,by ,,basil ,,de ,s,,lincourt1 author of 8,the ,english ,secret01 etc4 8,the future of ,english is discussed fully and with fascinating interest40--,morning ,post4 8,full of wise thoughts and happy words40--,times ,literary ,supplement4 8,his later pages must stir the blood of any man who loves his country and her poetry40--,j4 ,c4 ,squire1 in ,observer4 8,his finely-conceived essay40--,manchester ,guardian4 ,balbus1 or the ,future of ,architecture4 ,by ,,christian ,,barman4 8,a really brilliant addition to this already distinguished series4 ,the reading of ,balbus will give much data for intelligent prophecy1 and incidentally1 an hour or so of excellent entertainment40--,spectator4 8,most readable and reasonable4 ,we can recommend it warmly40--,new ,statesman4 8,this intriguing little book40--,connoisseur4 ,apella1 or the ,future of the ,jews4 ,by ,a ,,quarterly ,,reviewer4 8,cogent1 because of brevity and a magnificent prose style1 this book wins our quiet praise4 ,it is a fine pamphlet1 adding to the value of the series1 and should not be missed40--,spectator4 8,a notable addition to this excellent series4 ,his arguments are a provocation to fruitful thinking40--,morning ,post4 ,the ,dance of iva1 or ,life's ,unity and ,rhythm4 ,by ,,collum4 8,it has substance and thought in it4 ,the author is very much alive and responsive to the movements of to-day40--,spectator4 8,a very interesting account of the work of ,sir ,jagadis ,bose40--,oxford ,magazine4 8,has caught the spirit of the ,eastern conception of world movements40--,calcutta ,statesman4 ,lars ,porsena1 or the ,future of ,swearing and ,improper ,language4 ,by ,,robert ,,graves4 ,third impression4 8,goes uncommonly well1 and deserves to40--,observer4 8,not for squeamish readers40--,spectator4 8,no more amusingly unexpected contribution has been made to this series4 ,a deliciously ironical affair40--,bystander4 8,his highly entertaining essay is as full as the current standard of printers and police will allow40--,new ,statesman4 8,humour and style are beyond criticism40--,irish ,statesman4 ,socrates1 or the ,emancipation of ,mankind4 ,by ,h4 ,f4 ,,carlill4 8,devotes a specially lively section to the herd instinct40--,times4 8,clearly1 and with a balance that is almost ,aristotelian1 he reveals what modern psychology is going to accomplish40--,new ,statesman4 8,one of the most brilliant and important of a remarkable series40--,westminster ,gazette4 ,delphos1 or the ,future of ,international ,language4 ,by ,e4 ,,sylvia ,,pankhurst4 8,equal to anything yet produced in this brilliant series4 ,miss ,pankhurst states very clearly what all thinking people must soon come to believe1 that an international language would be one of the greatest assets of civilization40--,spectator4 8,a most readable book1 full of enthusiasm1 an important contribution to this subject40--,international ,language4 ,gallio1 or the ,tyranny of ,science4 ,by ,j4 ,w4 ,n4 ,,sullivan1 author of 8,a ,history of ,mathematics40 8,so packed with ideas that it is not possible to give any adequate rsum of its contents40--,times ,literary ,supplement4 8,his remarkable monograph1 his devastating summary of materialism1 this pocket ,novum ,organum40--,spectator4 8,possesses a real distinction of thought and manner4 ,it must be read40--,new ,statesman4 ,apollonius1 or the ,future of ,psychical ,research4 ,by ,e4 ,n4 ,,bennett1 author of 8,problems of ,village ,life10 etc4 8,a sane1 temperate and suggestive survey of a field of inquiry which is slowly but surely pushing to the front40--,times ,literary ,supplement4 8,his exposition of the case for psychic research is lucid and interesting40--,scotsman4 8,displays the right temper1 admirably conceived1 skilfully executed40--,liverpool ,post4 ,aeolus1 or the ,future of the ,flying ,machine4 ,by ,,oliver ,,stewart4 8,both his wit and his expertness save him from the nonsensical-fantastic4 ,there is nothing vague or sloppy in these imaginative forecasts40--,daily ,news4 8,he is to be congratulated4 ,his book is small1 but it is so delightfully funny that it is well worth the price1 and there really are sensible ideas behind the jesting40--,aeroplane4 ,stentor1 or the ,press of ,to-,day and ,to-,morrow4 ,by ,,david ,,ockham4 8,a valuable and exceedingly interesting commentary on a vital phase of modern development40--,daily ,herald4 8,vigorous and well-written1 eminently readable40--,yorkshire ,post4 8,he has said what one expects any sensible person to say about the #8trustification' of the ,press40--,spectator4 ,rusticus1 or the ,future of the ,countryside4 ,by ,,martin ,s4 ,,briggs1 ,f4,r4,i4,b4,a4 8,few of the #ej volumes1 provocative and brilliant as most of them have been1 capture our imagination as does this one40--,daily ,telegraph4 8,the historical part is as brilliant a piece of packed writing as could be desired40--,daily ,herald4 8,serves a national end4 ,the book is in essence a pamphlet1 though it has the form and charm of a book40--,spectator4 ,janus1 or the ,conquest of ,war4 ,by ,,william ,,mcdougall1 ,m4,b41 ,f4,r4,s4 8,among all the booklets of this brilliant series1 none1 ,i think is so weighty and impressive as this4 ,it contains thrice as much matter as the other volumes and is profoundly serious40--,dean ,inge1 in ,evening ,standard4 8,a deeply interesting and fair-minded study of the causes of war and the possibilities of their prevention4 ,every word is sound40--,spectator4 ,vulcan1 or the ,future of ,labour4 ,by ,,cecil ,,chisholm4 8,of absorbing interest40--,daily ,herald4 8,no one1 perhaps1 has ever condensed so many hard facts into the appearance of agreeable fiction1 nor held the balance so nicely between technicalities and flights of fancy1 as the author of this excellent book in a brilliant series4 ,vulcan is a little book1 but between its covers knowledge and vision are pressed down and brimming over40--,spectator4 ,hymen1 or the ,future of ,marriage4 ,by ,,norman ,,haire4 ,this candid and unprejudiced survey inquires why the majority of marriages to-day seem to be so unsatisfactory1 and finds the answer in the sexual ethic of our civilization which is ill adapted to our social and economic needs4 ,the problems of sex-morality1 sex-education1 prostitution1 in-breeding1 birth-control1 trial-marriage1 and polygamy are all touched upon4 ,the ,next ,chapter3 the ,war against the ,moon4 ,by ,,andr ,,maurois1 author of #8,ariel'1 etc4 ,this imaginary chapter of world-history 7#aiea-fd7 from the pen of one of the most brilliant living ,french authors mixes satire and fancy in just proportions4 ,it tells how the press of the world is controlled by five men1 how world interest is focussed on an attack on the moon1 how thus the threat of world-war is averted4 ,but when the moon retaliates4444 ,galatea1 or the ,future of ,darwinism4 ,by ,w4 ,,russell ,,brain4 ,this non-technical but closely-reasoned book is a challenge to the orthodox teaching on evolution known as ,neo-,darwinism4 ,the author claims that1 although ,neo-,darwinian theories can possibly account for the evolution of forms1 they are quite inadequate to explain the evolution of functions4 ,scheherazade1 or the ,future of the ,english ,novel4 ,by ,,john ,,carruthers4 ,a survey of contemporary fiction in ,england and ,america lends to the conclusion that the literary and scientific influences of the last fifty years have combined to make the novel of to-day predominantly analytic4 ,it has thus gained in psychological subtlety1 but lost its form4 ,how this may be regained is put forward in the conclusion4 ,caledonia1 or the ,future of the ,scots4 ,by ,g4 ,m4 ,,thomson4 ,exit the ,scot6 ,under this heading the ,scottish people are revealed as a leaderless mob in whom national pride has been strangled4 ,they regard1 unmoved1 the spectacle of their monstrous slum-evil1 the decay of their industries1 the devastation of their countryside4 ,this is the most compact and mordant indictment of ,scottish policy that has yet been written4 ,albyn1 or ,scotland and the ,future4 ,by ,c4 ,m4 ,,grieve1 author of #8,contemporary ,scottish ,studies'1 etc4 ,a vigorous answer1 explicit and implicit1 to ,caledonia1 tracing the movements of a real ,scottish revival1 in music1 art1 literature1 and politics1 and coming to the conclusion that there is a chance even now for the regeneration of the ,scottish people4 ,lares et ,penates1 or the ,future of the ,home4 ,by ,h4 ,j4 ,,birnstingl4 ,all the many forces at work to-day are influencing the planning1 appearance1 and equipment of the home4 ,this is the main thesis of this stimulating volume1 which considers also the labour-saving movement1 the #8ideal' house1 the influence of women1 the servant problem1 and the relegation of aesthetic considerations to the background4 ,disconcerting prognostications follow4 ,,nearly ,,ready ,archon1 or the ,future of ,government4 ,by ,,hamilton ,,fyfe4 ,a survey of the methods of government in the past leads the author to a consideration of conditions in the world of to-day4 ,he then indicates the lines along which progress may develop4 ,hermes1 or the ,future of ,chemistry4 ,by ,t4 ,w4 ,,jones1 ,b4,sc41 ,f4,c4,s4 ,chemistry as the means of human emancipation is the subject of this book4 ,to-day chemistry is one of the master factors of our existence2 to-morrow it will dominate every phase of life1 winning for man the goal of all his endeavour1 economic freedom4 ,it may also effect a startling change in man himself4 ,the ,future of ,physics4 ,by ,l4 ,l4 ,,whyte4 ,the last few years have been a critical period in the development of physics4 ,we stand on the eve of a new epoch4 ,physics1 biology1 and psychology are converging towards a scientific synthesis of unprecedented importance whose influence on thought and social custom will be so profound as to mark a stage in human evolution4 ,this book interprets these events and should be read in connexion with ,gallio1 by ,j4 ,w4 ,n4 ,sullivan1 in this series4 ,ikonoclastes1 or the ,future of ,shakespeare4 ,by ,,hubert ,,griffiths4 ,taking as text the recent productions of classical plays in modern dress1 the author1 a distinguished dramatic critic1 suggests that this is the proper way of reviving ,shakespeare and other great dramatists of the past1 and that their successful revival in modern dress may perhaps be taken as an indication of their value4 ,,in ,,preparation ,bacchus1 or the ,future of ,wine4 ,by ,p4 ,,morton ,,shand4 ,mercurius1 or the ,world on ,wings4 ,by ,c4 ,,thompson ,,walker4 ,the ,future of ,sport4 ,by ,g4 ,s4 ,,sandilands4 ,the ,future of ,india4 ,by ,t4 ,,earle ,,welby4 ,the ,future of ,films4 ,by ,,ernest ,,betts4 99 99 99 99 99 ,transcriber's note ,minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice4 ,other spelling has been retained as originally published except for the changes below4 ,page #ib3 8be effectively exercized0 8be effectively exercised0 ,page #aje3 8,mr ,colvin has the0 8,mr ,mc,colvin has the0 ,page #aac3 8their montrous slum-evil0 8their monstrous slum-evil0