THE NEW SCIENCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20243, 1 May 1929, Page 16

THE NEW SCIENCE.

Sir, —I read with miich interest Mi\ Luyten's article on " The New Science " which appeared, in . last Saturday's supplement of tho Herald. But some of his "ten commandments" are old-fash-ioned, if not obsolete. For instance, Mr. Luyten tells us that " recent -'developments of relativity have shown lis that Newton's law of. gravitation does not represent the whole truth, but the corrections that must be made to it arcs exceedingly minute." But Einstein's theory is much more radical than this. It regards the whole law of gravitation as unnecessary. It is merely a matter of geometry, and Einstein's geometry has no need for Newton's law. When JVlr. Luyten asserts that "all things follow the shortest line in space " he is not stating a "law"; he is making an act of faith. His assertion cannot be proved. Some of his other "laws'- are only hypotheses in process of verification. Mr. Luyten is extremely daring when ho declares that by means of his ten "laws" all phenomena in our material universe can be explained. As a matter of fact, science cannot explain even a blade of grass. Professor Poyoting has reminded us that a "law. of nature" explains nothing; it is only a descriptive formula. " There are no indubitable in science "—so says a recent- authority. " The scientific practitioner usually treats his hypotheses as tools, but to t the human they become dogmas." : * Norman Burton.