While we Christian Scientists as a body are rejoicing in the casting off of the old and putting on the new man—the divine immaculate concept born of Truth and righteousness—it is of interest, now and again, to look without and note how mortal mind is being educated out of itself. As another sign of these times, I give below a short abstract of an address delivered at the Convention of Natural Scientists in Lubeck, Germany, September 20,1895, by Professor W. Ostwald, entitled "Die Ueberwindung des wissenschaftlichen Materialismus." (Defeat of Scientific Materialism.) (Reprint from Zeitschrift für Physikalische Chemie, XVIII. 2. Leipzig. Wilhelm Engleman. 1895.
The address has met with considerable attention in scientific circles (Physics) as Professor Ostwald is an authority in Physical Chemistry on both sides of the Atlantic. It is long, and scientific in its domain, hence I have translated only leading passages which give a correct idea of the entire argument, without entering upon the laborious detail requisite under the circumstances of its presentation. While his negations are convincing and no doubt will stand, his constructive theory from the basis of energy is but another step, howbeit a large one, as pointed out in Science and Health, p. 91, 10-18 and 164-9.
In this elaborate paper Professor Ostwald proves scientifically the unreliability of the atomic theory, so universally accepted by the foremost natural scientists, and declares, ''There is no matter." That "the atomic theory, however universally accepted by natural scientists in this, our day, after years of fruitless effort to come to some conclusion upon the most important and deepest questions of humanity, is in absolute contradiction with unmistakable and accepted facts." He disclaims at the outset "any connection between these conclusions and those of ethics and religion, not because of any antagonism thereto, but because [his] results have been won solely and entirely in the domain of exact science." He says, "I fully recognize the responsibility of daring to place myself in opposition to the foremost and greatest thinkers of these times, but silence would be culpable, inasmuch as I see that the materialistic conception of the universe is absolutely untenable. At whatever cost of past labor and renewed diligence in the future, my duty is to give warning; as in the field of scientific research it also holds good that 'he putting his hand to the plow and looking back is not fit for this kingdom.'"
