Science, Philosophy and Religion

A SUSSEX labourer, oppressed and depressed by the -burden of knowledge around him, dolefully observed : " Wot wi' faith, an' gas, an' balloons, an' airyplanes, an' the world goin' round on its axle once in twenty-four owers, I'm fairly muzzled and stagnated." Much - the • same sentiment will probably be expressed by many lay readers of- science when they are confronted with the disturbing conceptions and intricate-relationships developed -in these Gifford Lectures.* Science was described by -T. H. Huxley as organized conunon sense, but that was long ago ; and the layman may be forgiven a little indignation- at finding his common-sense ideas becoming nonsensical when viewed in the light of modern scientific philosophy. This, however, is -no new state of mind ; for a similar adjustment of common-sense conclusions was required in earlier days to believe that the earth was not flat, or that the sun and stars did not revolve around it as the centre of the universe. To-day it is easy to conceive that the surface of a globe like the earth in two dimensions is finite and unbounded, but it requires mathe- matical imagination to pass intelligently from the three- , dimensional _space of common experience to the space of Riemann's geometry, finite and not in—any way immersed in space of four dimensions.

In Riemannian spaCe, to which Dr. Barnes devotes one of his lectures, a ray of Right passes from its origin right re-rind the Universe and in course of time returns to the point, from which it started. Thus t in his,. words, " it may

, (apart from physical circumstances unconnected with our present theory) that our astronomers see stars several times over : the light by which the secondary, tertiary, &c., stars are seen will have passed once, twice,, &c., round the Universe." To the ordinary man, whose knowledge of geometry is purely Euclidean, this conception of space is unthinkable, and he will scarcely realize that what he has been taught is "reprehensible mainly because it tolerates the absurd idea that space can possibly be infinite."

Just as the conception of absolute space has to be abandoned, , so has that of absolute time. Einstein fused together space and time in his special theory of relativity and used the geometry of Riemann for this purpose. He was thus able to show that physics could be brought into geometry and to specify the mechanical properties—such as gravitation, inertia, momentum and stress—in this new region of thought. So we are led to the conclusion that the real and; substantial stuff we called matter can be transformed into energy, the amount of which is determined by Einstein's law E = me, where E is the energy due to the, destruction of a mass m of matter, and c is the velocity of light. Atoms are built up of protons with electrons revolving around them, and both Are simply symptoms of space curvature or collections of warpings of space.. "Thus," _ says Dr. - Barnes, " the

• exclusive substantiality of matter is an illusion : it is no more substantial than moonshine." As regards actual substance, therefore,. no greater reality can be ascribed to matter than to light, for both, represent energy propagated through space as particles or - waves. When the physical state represented by a positive, proton combines with that of a negative electron, they are mutually annihilated and so-called • matter is destroyed, the energy thus set free being represented by- radiation. This is the - hypothesis put forward by . Sir James -Jeans to account for the energy emitted by - the sun and stars, and Dr. Barnes • adopts it as " more probable than any alternative." Accepting -* Scientific Theory and Religion. By Dr. E. W. Barnes, Bishop of Birmingham. (Cambridge University Press. 25s:) -

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this explanation, a simple calculation shows that the sun is

radiating away some 4,000,000 tons, of matter every second

in its beams. • As matter can be dissolved into radiation, it has been

suggested that the converse may be true and that matter- building may - be- taking place- in outer space through the condensation there of radiant energy into atoms. This

process, and also ,certain. other atom-building processes, are held by Milliken to be the actual, cause of the cosmic rays to _which much attention has been devoted in recent years, more than four hundred papers having been published on the subject. Cosmic radiation is of very short wave-length, and is very penetrating, and Pr. Barnes mentions the possi- bility that beings of advanced, mental development on planets in interstellar space are usiag radiation of this kind to transmit messages to other parts of the universe. Assuming that the-period of timn which-man has evolved from the most primitive organism is but an exceedingly small fraction of that in which life and mind will flourish on the earth, he foresees the development of super-men of a kind which may now exist elsewhere, and he .adds "Such creatures need not be. anthropoids, or even, placental mammals.

The comprehensive survey of results and speculations in the field of physical science covered in the first- ten lectures occupies nearly two-thirds of the book. The five lectures which follow are concerned -with the origin • and evolution of life

upon the earth, leading up to the evolution of man and of human intelligence. It is held: that " belief in the special creation of reason cannot be maintained,".-any -more than -the theological doctrine of the special creation of the human -species. Through. his sense, impressions and the use of his mind, man arrives at a certain conception 'of the univerae, yet this cannot be complete, and a physical world exists

-even without -human- consciousness of it. •

"But" (says -Dr. Bitrnes), " the external -world thus postulated is not necessarily- the 'world as conceived- by humanity. Though it is not constructed, by my, mind, roy,supposed, knowledge of it is the construction of the general btunan mind. We can, only believe 'that we have' sonie, not' entirely inaccurate, knowledge' of the external world,:as it really: is, •as -it is: known • to .Gort,- if we make the further assumption that our minds are akin to the. Divine Mind, or, in other words, ,that there is some ground of unity between man and God."

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In the three final• lectures- of the series -Dr. Barnes is the enlightened Bishop of. Birmingham establishing • religious belief on a, higher intellectual plane, -rather than the learned tutor and fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, expounding the outlines-of modern scientific- knowledge. He shows that we are moving towards 'a • deeper • rational- -accornit of our impressions-in' which aesthetics',- ethical and religious experi- ences - have -cosmic - signifloance standing out behind the partial -interpretation§ of natural science, Rational religion may thus be described as- the- wider, conscious- reaction of 'men to the ,universe in which- they- find themselves: The -principle- -of evolution must -be :applied- to it just as it has been extended beyond.- the purely- hiological sphere to -psychology and the idea- of God. Oa this view there are no ,final interpretations or hypotheses in religion -any more than there are in science ; • revelation becomes- progressive -discovery, and faith is based 'upon experience-and observation. The method of science has been described as -that of- a search --after truth by progressive' assumptions and -the -search for 'religious truth is -henceforth to be guided by a similar principle. The spirit -of- this new philosophy - of science and religion pervades-th&whole.Of the lectures; and it is-stimulating to both thought and faith.