A NEW THEORY OF THE UNIVERST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2545, 24 December 1902, Page 48

A NEW THEORY OF THE UNIVERST.

~Mr A. Redcote Dewar's work, " From Matter to Man," in which he propounds a now theory of the universe, is likely to attract considerable attention from those who take an interest in scientific and. philosophical writings. The book is frankly materialistic, and the writer so clearly defines what ho means by materialism that there is no possibility of misunderstanding him. According to ms view there is no such thing as dead matter. Life, he says, has ever been erroneously restricted to vegetable and animal?, because man persisted in ignoring thefundamental baai?- of all life — material energy. "The term 'life' has not hitherto been associated with minerals, yet if ai frost fern, a lead tree, or a snow shrub grows there can be no fundamental distinction;, for all life at bottom is merely motion. . . . This admission, however, would dispel one of the croat mysteries of existence — the origin of life." Mr Dewar differs from Herbert Spencer in thinking that the force behind all phenomena is unknown and unknowable. So far from this being the case, the author of " From Matter to Man " holds that the force inherent in all matter is magnetism. Atoms, he maintains, are magnets, and are dual or sexual in kind ;| consequently their energy, singly or collectively, as minerals, plants, or animals, i» magnetism. Matter, by its once inherent power, is also capable of manifesting itself in all the forms of life we see around us; and as it is eternal as well as magnetic, there is no need for a Creator. The universe as a whole is uncaused. It n-ever had a beginning, even as it could never have an end. This will suffice to give some idea of Mr Dewar's drift of thought. The book, however, it may bo added, is lucidly and forcibly written, and contains many suggestive passages, although, no doubt, there is room for difference of opinion as to the soundness of the writer's conclusions. As to its blemishes, not the least of these ia its dogmatic tone, which is very pronounced for a wOrk of the kind. Its contemptuous references to metaphysics and certain forms of religious belief, coupled with its frank avowal of Atheism, will, moreover, servo, to condemn it in the minds of theologians, by whom it will probably be tabooed. Bub even should this prove to be the oase those who hold with Emerson, that the man of. this age should bo taught all scepticisms and unbeliefs, and made the sifter of all opinions, will not bo deterred from reading it on that account. The work has been recently introduced into the Dunedin