eternity or non-eternity of matter (or ether) is as futile as the
question about its infinity or finiteness. We shall see in the
next chapter that science can trace the processes of nature back
for hundreds, if not thousands, of millions of years, and has
ground to think that the universe then presented much the same
aspect as it does now, and will in thousands of millions of years
to come. But if these periods were quadrillions, instead of
millions, of years, they would still have no relation to the idea
of eternity. All that we can say is that we find nothing in
nature that points to a beginning or an end.*

* A theory has been advanced by some physicists that there is
evidence of a beginning. WITHIN OUR EXPERIENCE energy is being
converted into heat more abundantly than heat is being converted
into other energy. This would hold out a prospect of a paralysed
universe, and that stage would have been reached long ago if the
system had not had a definite beginning. But what knowledge have
we of conversions of energy in remote regions of space, in the
depths of stars or nebulae, or in the sub-material world of which
we have just caught a glimpse? Roundly, none. The speculation is
worthless.


One point only need be mentioned in conclusion. Do we anywhere
perceive the evolution of the material elements out of electrons,
just as we perceive the devolution, or disintegration, of atoms
into electrons? There is good ground for thinking that we do. The
subject will be discussed more fully in the next chapter. In
brief, the spectroscope, which examines the light of distant
stars and discovers what chemical elements emitted it, finds