would seem, to assert the fixity and rigidity of matter, is now of the
opinion that matter is not the solid thing we are apt to think it. The
experiments of Kelvin and Lodge and the discovery of radium, have
brought forward a new theory of matter; the old-fashioned base, the
atom, is now regarded as being essentially movement; matter is as
wonderful and mysterious in its character as spirit. Further we must
note that the researches of Einstein, culminating in the formulation of
his general Theory of Relativity and his special Theory of Gravitation,
which are arousing such interest at the present time, threaten very
seriously the older static views of the universe and seem to frustrate
any efforts to find and denote any stability therein.[Footnote: Consult
on this Dr. Einstein's own work of which the translation by R. W. Lawson
is just published: Relativity: The Special and the General Theory.
Methuen, 1920.] In the light of these discoveries, Bergson's views on
the reality of Change seem less paradoxical than they might formerly
have appeared. The reality of Change is, for Bergson, absolute, and on
this, as a fundamental point, he constructs his thought. In conjunction
with his study of Memory, it leads up to his discussions of Real Time
(la duree), of Freedom, and of Creative Evolution. We must then, at the
outset of any study of Bergson's philosophy, obtain a grasp of this
universal 'becoming'--a vision of the reality of Change. Then we shall
realize that Change is substantial, that it constitutes the very stuff
of life. "There are changes, but there are not things that change;
change does not need a support. There are movements, but there are not,
necessarily, constant objects which are moved; movement does not imply
something that is movable."[Footnote: Translated from La Perception du
Changement, Lecture 2, p. 24.]

To emphasize and to illustrate this point, so fundamental in his
thought, Bergson turns to music. "Let us listen," he says, "to a melody,