The answer to the oft-repeated question, Is there no matter? involves another question, What is matter?
The word matter is defined, by standard authority, as the material, or substance, out of which any object or thing is made, — substance which changes in form according to the evolution of physical law, as seen in the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, in their various stages of birth, growth, and decay. Matter is also spoken of as something which relates to the metaphysical, as well as physical, world. The subject-matter of a sermon may be termed its substance.
Every word or statement in any language, defining thought, must be classed either in the scale with Truth, or in the opposite scale with error, falsity; and if matter is a word defining a thought of Truth, then it is evident that every object, of which we take cognizance, must be composed of substance, in some form. What proof may be found for the truth or falsity of this premise?
