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NOTES AND QUERIES 215

to their minutest details, are necessary results of the per-
sistence of force under its forms of matter and motion.
Given these in their known distributions through space, and
their quantities being unchangeable, either by increase or
decrease, there inevitably result the continuous redistributions
distinguishable as evolution and dissolution, as well as all
those special traits above enumerated.

16. That which persists, unchanging in quantity, but
ever-changing in form, under these sensible appearances
which the universe presents to us, transcends human know-
ledge and conception; is an unknown and an unknowable
power, which we are obliged to recognise as without limit in
space, and without beginning or end in time/*

And the universal formula of Evolution stands
thus : "Evolution is an integration of matter and con-
comitant dissipation of motion; during which the
matter passes from an indefinite, incoherent homo-
geneity to a definite, coherent heterogeneity; and
during which the retained motion undergoes a
parallel transformation" (First Principles, p. 396).

Notes' and Queries.-—(l) It should be noted that
Spencer never suggested that he had explained the
origin of things. On the contrary, " While the
genesis of the Solar System, and of countless other
systems like it, is thus rendered comprehensible, the
ultimate mystery remains as great as ever. The
problem of existence is not solved: it is simply
moved further back." What he offered was a
genetic description, and that is all that the scientific
evolutionist ever offers.

(2) In the strict sense Spencer was no materialist.
" Though the relation of subject and object renders
necessary to us these antithetical conceptions of
Spirit and Matter, the one is no less than the other
to be regarded as but a sign of the Unknown Reality



	NOTES AND QUERIES 215 to their minutest details, are necessary results of the per- sistence of force under its forms of matter and motion. Given these in their known distributions through space, and their quantities being unchangeable, either by increase or decrease, there inevitably result the continuous redistributions distinguishable as evolution and dissolution, as well as all those special traits above enumerated. 16. That which persists, unchanging in quantity, but ever-changing in form, under these sensible appearances which the universe presents to us, transcends human know- ledge and conception; is an unknown and an unknowable power, which we are obliged to recognise as without limit in space, and without beginning or end in time/* And the universal formula of Evolution stands thus : "Evolution is an integration of matter and con- comitant dissipation of motion; during which the matter passes from an indefinite, incoherent homo- geneity to a definite, coherent heterogeneity; and during which the retained motion undergoes a parallel transformation" (First Principles, p. 396). Notes' and Queries.-—(l) It should be noted that Spencer never suggested that he had explained the origin of things. On the contrary, " While the genesis of the Solar System, and of countless other systems like it, is thus rendered comprehensible, the ultimate mystery remains as great as ever. The problem of existence is not solved: it is simply moved further back." What he offered was a genetic description, and that is all that the scientific evolutionist ever offers. (2) In the strict sense Spencer was no materialist. " Though the relation of subject and object renders necessary to us these antithetical conceptions of Spirit and Matter, the one is no less than the other to be regarded as but a sign of the Unknown Reality