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Introduction to Quantum Computing
 Published 2023 by River Publishers
River Publishers
Alsbjergvej 10, 9260 Gistrup, Denmark
www.riverpublishers.com

Distributed exclusively by Routledge

605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Introduction to Quantum Computing / by Ahmed Banafa.

© 2023 River Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval systems, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written
permission of the publishers.

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa

business

ISBN 978-87-7022-841-1 (paperback)

ISBN 978-10-0096-238-3 (online)

ISBN 978-1-003-44023-9 (ebook master)

A Publication in the River Publishers series

RAPIDS SERIES IN COMPUTING AND INFORMATION SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY

While every effort is made to provide dependable information, the

publisher, authors, and editors cannot be held responsible for any errors
or omissions.
 Introduction to Quantum Computing

Ahmed Banafa
San Jose State University, USA

River Publishers
In the loving memory of my son Malik
 Contents

Preface ix

About the Author xi

1 What is Quantum Computing? 1

1.1 A Comparison of Classical and Quantum Computing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 Quantum Superposition and Entanglement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 Difficulties with Quantum Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.4 The Future of Quantum Computing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2 Quantum Cryptography 5
2.1 Problems with Using Quantum Cryptography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

3 Quantum Internet 9
3.1 What is the Quantum Internet? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.2 Quantum Communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

4 Quantum Teleportation 13
4.1 Quantum Teleportation: Paving the Way for a Quantum Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

5 Quantum Computing and the IoT 17

5.1 A Comparison of Classical and Quantum Computing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

vii
Contents

5.2 Quantum Communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

6 Quantum Computing and Blockchain: Myths and Facts 21

6.1 Difficulties with Quantum Computers [31] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
6.2 What is Quantum Supremacy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
6.3 Quantum Cryptography? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

7 Quantum Computing and AI: A Mega-Buzzword 25

7.1 What is Quantum Computing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
7.2 Difficulties with Quantum Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
7.3 Applications of Quantum Computing and AI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
7.4 Processing Large Sets of Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
7.5 Solve Complex Problem Faster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
7.6 Better Business Insights and Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
7.7 Integration of Multiple Sets of Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
7.8 The Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

8 Quantum Computing Trends 31

8.1 A Comparison of Classical and Quantum Computing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
8.2 Physical vs. Logical Qubits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
8.3 Quantum Superposition and Entanglement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
8.4 Quantum Emulator/Simulator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
8.5 Quantum Annealer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
8.6 Noisy Intermediate-scale Quantum (NISQ) Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
8.7 Universal Quantum Computers/Cryptographically Relevant Quantum Computers (CRQC) 35
8.8 Post-quantum/Quantum-resistant Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
8.9 Difficulties with Quantum Computers [41] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

References 37

Index 39

viii
 Preface

Quantum Computing is the area of study focused on developing computer

technology based on the principles of quantum theory. Tens of billions of public
and private capitals are being invested in quantum technologies. Countries
across the world have realized that quantum technologies can be a major
disruptor of existing businesses, they have collectively invested billions of
dollars in quantum research and applications. In this book you will learn the
difference between quantum computing and classic computing, also different
categories of quantum computing will be discussed in details, applications of
quantum computing in AI, IoT, Blockchain, communications, and encryption
will be covered, in addition, quantum internet, quantum cryptography, quantum
teleportation, and post-quantum technologies will be explained.

This is a list of the chapters of the book:

Chapter 1 : What is Quantum Computing?

Chapter 2: Quantum Cryptography
Chapter 3: Quantum Internet
Chapter 4 : Quantum Teleportation
Chapter 5: Quantum Computing and the IoT
Chapter 6: Quantum Computing and Blockchain: Myths and Facts
Chapter 7 : Quantum Computing and AI: A Mega-Buzzword
Chapter 8: Quantum Computing Trends

Audience

This is book is for everyone who would like to have a good understanding of
Quantum Computing and its applications and its relationship with business
operations, and also gain insight to other transformative technologies like
IoT, cloud computing, deep learning, Blockchain, Big Data and wearable
technologies. The audience includes: C-Suite executives, IT managers,

ix
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Preface

marketing and sales professionals, lawyers, product and project managers,

business professionals, journalists, students.

Acknowledgment

I am grateful for all the support I received from my family during the stages of
writing this book.

x
 About the Author

Professor Ahmed Banafa has extensive experience in research, operations and

management, with a focus on IoT, Blockchain, Cybersecurity and AI. He is the
recipient of the Certificate of Honor from the City and County of San Francisco
and Author & Artist Award 2019 of San Jose State University. He was named as
No. 1 tech voice to follow, technology fortune teller and influencer by LinkedIn
in 2018, his research has featured on Forbes, IEEE and MIT Technology Review,
and he has been interviewed by ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, BBC, NPR, Washington
Post, and Fox. He is a member of the MIT Technology Review Global Panel.
He is the author of the book Secure and Smart Internet of Things (IoT) using
Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence (AI) which won three awards – the San Jose
State University Author and Artist Award, One of the Best Technology Books of
all Time Award, and One of the Best AI Models Books of All Time Award. His
second book was Blockchain Technology and Applications, which won San Jose
State University Author and Artist, One of the Best New Private Blockchain
Books and is used at Stanford University and other prestigious schools in
the USA. His most recent book is Quantum Computing. He studied Electrical
Engineering at Lehigh University, Cybersecurity at Harvard University and
Digital Transformation at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

xi
 CHAPTER

What is Quantum Computing?

Quantum computing is the area of study focused on developing computer

technology based on the principles of quantum theory. The quantum computer,
following the laws of quantum physics, would gain enormous processing power

1
What is Quantum Computing?

through the ability to be in multiple states and to perform tasks using all
possible permutations simultaneously.

1.1 A Comparison of Classical and Quantum Computing

Classical computing relies, at its ultimate level, on principles expressed by

Boolean algebra. Data must be processed in an exclusive binary state at any
point in time or bits. While the time that each transistor or capacitor needs to
be either in 0 or 1 before switching states is now measurable in billionths of
a second, there is still a limit as to how quickly these devices can be made to
switch state. As we progress to smaller and faster circuits, we begin to reach
the physical limits of materials and the threshold for classical laws of physics
to apply. Beyond this, the quantum world takes over. [1]

In a quantum computer, a number of elemental particles such as electrons

or photons can be used with either their charge or polarization acting as a
representation of 0 and/or 1. Each of these particles is known as a quantum bit,
or qubit; the nature and behavior of these particles form the basis of quantum
computing.

1.2 Quantum Superposition and Entanglement

The two most relevant aspects of quantum physics are the principles of
superposition and entanglement.

Superposition: Think of a qubit as an electron in a magnetic field. The electron’s

spin may be either in alignment with the field, which is known as a spin-up
state, or opposite to the field, which is known as a spin-down state. According to
quantum law, the particle enters a superposition of states, in which it behaves
as if it were in both states simultaneously. Each qubit utilized could take a
superposition of both 0 and 1.

Entanglement: Particles that have interacted at some point retain a type of

connection and can be entangled with each other in pairs, in a process known
as correlation. Knowing the spin state of one entangled particle – up or down
– allows one to know that the spin of its mate is in the opposite direction.
Quantum entanglement allows qubits that are separated by incredible distances
to interact with each other instantaneously (not limited to the speed of light).
No matter how great the distance between the correlated particles, they will
remain entangled as long as they are isolated.

2
 What is Quantum Computing?

Taken together, quantum superposition and entanglement create an

enormously enhanced computing power. Where a 2-bit register in an ordinary
computer can store only one of four binary configurations (00, 01, 10, or 11)
at any given time, a 2-qubit register in a quantum computer can store all four
numbers simultaneously, because each qubit represents two values. If more
qubits are added, the increased capacity is expanded exponentially. [2]

1.3 Difficulties with Quantum Computers

• Interference: During the computation phase of a quantum calculation, the slightest

disturbance in a quantum system (say a stray photon or a wave of EM radiation) causes the
quantum computation to collapse, a process known as de-coherence. A quantum computer
must be totally isolated from all external interference during the computation phase.
• Error correction: Given the nature of quantum computing, error correction is ultra critical –
even a single error in a calculation can cause the validity of the entire computation to collapse.
• Output observance: Closely related to the above two, retrieving output data after a quantum
calculation is complete risks corrupting the data. [3]

1.4 The Future of Quantum Computing

The biggest and most important one is the ability to factorize a very large
number into two prime numbers. This is really important because this is what
almost all encryption of internet applications uses and can be de-encrypted.
A quantum computer should be able to calculate the positions of individual
atoms in very large molecules like polymers and in viruses relatively quickly. If
you have a quantum computer you could use it, and the way that the particles
interact with each other, to develop drugs and understand how molecules work a
bit better.Even though there are many problems to overcome, the breakthroughs
in the last 15 years, and especially in the last 3, have made some form of practical
quantum computing possible. However, the potential that this technology offers
is attracting tremendous interest from both the government and the private
sector. It is this potential that is rapidly breaking down the barriers to this
technology, but whether all barriers can be broken, and when, is very much an
open question. [4, 5]

3
 CHAPTER

Quantum Cryptography

Quantum cryptography uses physics to develop a cryptosystem completely

secure against being compromised, without the sender or the receiver of
messages being known. The word quantum itself refers to the most fundamental
behavior of the smallest particles of matter and energy.

Quantum cryptography is different from traditional cryptographic systems

in that it relies more on physics, rather than mathematics, as a key aspect of its
security model. [7]

Essentially, quantum cryptography is based on the usage of individual

particles/waves of light (photon) and their intrinsic quantum properties to
develop an unbreakable cryptosystem (because it is impossible to measure the
quantum state of any system without disturbing that system).

5
Quantum Cryptography

Quantum cryptography uses photons to transmit a key. Once the key is

transmitted, coding and encoding using the normal secret-key method can take
place. But how does a photon become a key? How do you attach information to
a photon’s spin? [8]

This is where binary code comes into play. Each type of a photon’s spin
represents one piece of information – usually a 1 or a 0, for binary code. This
code uses strings of 1s and 0s to create a coherent message. For example,
11100100110 could correspond to h-e-l-l-o. So a binary code can be assigned to
each photon – for example, a photon that has a vertical spin ( | ) can be assigned
a 1.

“If you build it correctly, no hacker can hack the system. The question is
what it means to build it correctly,” said physicist Renato Renner from the
Institute of Theoretical Physics in Zurich. [9]

Regular, non-quantum encryption can work in a variety of ways but

generally a message is scrambled and can only be unscrambled using a secret
key. The trick is to make sure that whomever you’re trying to hide your
communication from doesn’t get their hands on your secret key. Cracking the
private key in a modern crypto system would generally require figuring out the
factors of a number that is the product of two insanely huge prime numbers.
The numbers are chosen to be so large that, with the given processing power
of computers, it would take longer than the lifetime of the universe for an
algorithm to factor their product.

However, such encryption techniques have their vulnerabilities. Certain

products – called weak keys – happen to be easier to factor than others. Also,
Moore’s Law continually ups the processing power of our computers. Even more
importantly, mathematicians are constantly developing new algorithms that
allow for easier factorization. Quantum cryptography avoids all these issues.
Here, the key is encrypted into a series of photons that get passed between two
parties trying to share secret information. The Heisenberg uncertainty principle
dictates that an adversary can’t look at these photons without changing or
destroying them.

“In this case, it doesn’t matter what technology the adversary has, they’ll
never be able to break the laws of physics,” said physicist Richard Hughes
of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, who works on quantum
cryptography. [10]

6
 Quantum Cryptography

2.1 Problems with Using Quantum Cryptography

However, in practice, quantum cryptography comes with its own load of

weaknesses. It was recognized in 2010, for instance, that a hacker could blind
a detector with a strong pulse, rendering it unable to see the secret-keeping
photons.

Renner points to many other problems. Photons are often generated using
a laser tuned to such a low intensity that it is producing one single photon
at a time. There is a certain probability that the laser will make a photon
encoded with your secret information and then a second photon with that same
information. In this case, all an enemy has to do is steal that second photon
and they could gain access to your data while you would be none the wiser.
Alternatively, noticing when a single photon has arrived can be tricky. Detectors
might not register that a particle has hit them, making you think that your
system has been hacked when it is really quite secure. [11]

“If we had better control over quantum systems than we have with today’s
technology” then perhaps quantum cryptography could be less susceptible to
problems,” said Renner. But such advances are at least 10 years away. Still,
he added, no system is 100% perfect and even more advanced technology will
always deviate from theory in some ways. A clever hacker will always find a way
to exploit such security holes.

Any encryption method will only be as secure as the humans running it,
added Hughes. Whenever someone claims that a particular technology “is
fundamentally unbreakable, people will say that’s snake oil,” he said. “Nothing
is unbreakable.” [12]

7
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correlation that is indefinitely quantitative—quantitative in so far as
involving something like a due proportion between causes and
effects. If this can be done, however, some progress will be made
towards the solution of our problem. Though it may be beyond our
power to show a measurable relation between the force or group of
forces which any phase of Evolution displays, and the force or group
of forces immediately succeeding it; yet if we can show that there
always are antecedent forces, and that the effects they produce
always become the antecedents of further ones—if while unable to
calculate how much of each change will be produced, we can prove
that a change of that kind was necessitated—if we can discern even
the vaguest correspondence between the amount of such change
and the amount of the pre-existing force; we shall advance a step
towards interpreting the transformation of the simple into the
complex.
With the view of attempting this, let us now reconsider the different
types of Evolution awhile since delineated: taking them in the same
order as before.

§ 79. On contemplating our Solar System the first fact which strikes
us, is, that all its members are in motion; and that their motion is of
a two-fold, or rather of a three-fold, kind. Each planet and satellite
has a movement of rotation and a movement of translation; besides
the movement through space which all have in common with their
rotating primary. Whence this unceasing change of place?
The hypothesis of Evolution supplies us with an answer. Impossible
as it is to assign a reason for the pre-existence of matter in the
diffused form supposed; yet assuming its pre-existence in that form,
we have in the gravitation of its parts a cause of motion adequate to
the results. So far too as the evidence carries us, we can perceive
some quantitative relation between the motions produced, and the
gravitative forces expended in producing them. The planets formed
from that matter which has travelled the shortest distance towards
the common centre of gravity, have the smallest velocities: the
uniform law being that in advancing from the outermost to the
innermost planets, the rate of orbital motion progressively increases.
It may indeed be remarked that this is explicable on the teleological
hypothesis; since it is a condition to equilibrium. But without
dwelling on the fact that this is beside the question, it will suffice to
point out that the like cannot be said of the planetary rotations. No
such final cause can be assigned for the rapid axial movement of
Jupiter and Saturn, or the slow axial movement of Mercury. But if in
pursuance of the doctrine of correlation we look for the antecedents
of these gyrations which all planets exhibit, the theory of Evolution
furnishes us with equivalent ones; and ones which bear manifest
quantitative relations to the motions displayed. For the planets that
turn on their axes with extreme rapidity, are those having great
masses and large orbits—those, that is, of which the once diffused
elements moved to their centres of gravity through immense spaces,
and so acquired high velocities. While, conversely, there has resulted
the smallest axial movement where the orbit and the mass are both
the smallest.
“But what,” it may be asked, “has in such case become of all that
motion which brought about the aggregation of this diffused matter
into solid bodies?” The rotation of each body can be but a residuary
result of concentration—a result due to the imperfect balancing of
gravitative movements from opposite points towards the common
centre. Such gravitative movements from opposite points must in
great measure destroy each other. What then has become of these
mutually-destroyed motions? The answer which the doctrine of
correlation suggests is—they must have been radiated in the form of
heat and light. And this answer the evidence, so far as it goes,
confirms. Apart from any speculation respecting the genesis of the
solar system, the inquiries of geologists lead to the conclusion that
the heat of the Earth’s still molten nucleus is but a remnant of the
heat which once made molten the entire Earth. The mountainous
surfaces of the Moon and of Venus (which alone are near enough to
be scrutinized), indicating, as they do, crusts that have, like our own,
been corrugated by contraction, imply that these bodies too have
undergone refrigeration—imply in each of them a primitive heat,
such as the hypothesis necessitates. Lastly, we have in the Sun a
still-continued production of this heat and light, which must result
from the arrest of diffused matter moving towards a common centre
of gravity. Here also, as before, a quantitative relation is
traceable. Among the bodies which make up the Solar System, those
containing comparatively small amounts of matter whose centripetal
motion has been destroyed, have already lost nearly all the
produced heat: a result which their relatively larger surfaces have
facilitated. But the Sun, a thousand times as great in mass as the
largest planet, and having therefore to give off an enormously
greater quantity of heat and light due to arrest of moving matter, is
still radiating with great intensity.
Thus we see that when, in pursuance of the doctrine of correlation,
we ask whence come the forces which our Solar System displays,
the hypothesis of Evolution gives us a proximate explanation. If the
Solar System once existed in a state of indefinite, incoherent
homogeneity, and has progressed to its present state of definite,
coherent heterogeneity; then the Motion, Heat, and Light now
exhibited by its members, are interpretable as the correlatives of
pre-existing forces; and between them and their antecedents we
may discern relations that are not only qualitative, but also rudely
quantitative. How matter came to exist under the form assumed, is a
mystery which we must regard as ultimate. But grant such a
previous form of existence, and the hypothesis of Evolution
interpreted by the laws of correlation, explains for us the forces as
we now see them.

§ 80. If we inquire the origin of those forces which have wrought the
surface of our planet into its present shape, we find them traceable
to the same primordial source as that just assigned. Assuming the
solar system to have been evolved, then geologic changes are either
direct or indirect results of the unexpended heat caused by nebular
condensation. These changes are commonly divided into igneous
and aqueous:—heads under which we may most conveniently
consider them.
All those periodic disturbances which we call earthquakes, all those
elevations and subsidences which they severally produce, all those
accumulated effects of many such elevations and subsidences
exhibited in ocean-basins, islands, continents, table-lands, mountain-
chains, and all those formations which are distinguished as volcanic,
geologists now regard as modifications of the Earth’s crust produced
by the still-molten matter occupying its interior. However untenable
may be the details of M. Elie de Beaumont’s theory, there is good
reason to accept the general proposition that the disruptions and
variations of level which take place at intervals on the terrestrial
surface, are due to the progressive collapse of the Earth’s solid
envelope upon its cooling and contracting nucleus. Even supposing
that volcanic eruptions, extrusions of igneous rock, and upheaved
mountain-chains, could be otherwise satisfactorily accounted for,
which they cannot; it would be impossible otherwise to account for
those wide-spread elevations and depressions whence continents
and oceans result. The conclusion to be drawn is, then, that the
forces displayed in these so-called igneous changes, are derived
positively or negatively from the unexpended heat of the Earth’s
interior. Such phenomena as the fusion or agglutination of
sedimentary deposits, the warming of springs, the sublimation of
metals into the fissures where we find them as ores, may be
regarded as positive results of this residuary heat; while fractures of
strata and alterations of level are its negative results, since they
ensue on its escape. The original cause of all these effects is still,
however, as it has been from the first, the gravitating movement of
the Earth’s matter towards the Earth’s centre; seeing that to this is
due both the internal heat itself and the collapse which takes place
as it is radiated into space.
When we inquire under what forms previously existed the force
which works out the geological changes classed as aqueous, the
answer is less obvious. The effects of rain, of rivers, of winds, of
waves, of marine currents, do not manifestly proceed from one
general source. Analysis, nevertheless, proves to us that they have a
common genesis. If we ask,—Whence comes the power of the river-
current, bearing sediment down to the sea? the reply is,—The
gravitation of water throughout the tract which this river drains. If
we ask,—How came the water to be dispersed over this tract? the
reply is,—It fell in the shape of rain. If we ask,—How came the rain
to be in that position whence it fell? the reply is,—The vapour from
which it was condensed was drifted there by the winds. If we ask,—
How came this vapour to be at that elevation? the reply is,—It was
raised by evaporation. And if we ask,—What force thus raised it? the
reply is,—The sun’s heat. Just that amount of gravitative force which
the sun’s heat overcame in raising the atoms of water, is given out
again in the fall of those atoms to the same level. Hence the
denudations effected by rain and rivers, during the descent of this
condensed vapour to the level of the sea, are indirectly due to the
sun’s heat. Similarly with the winds that transport the vapours hither
and thither. Consequent as atmospheric currents are on differences
of temperature (either general, as between the equatorial and polar
regions, or special as between tracts of the Earth’s surface of unlike
physical characters) all such currents are due to that source from
which the varying quantities of heat proceed. And if the winds thus
originate, so too do the waves raised by them on the sea’s surface.
Whence it follows that whatever changes waves produce—the
wearing away of shores, the breaking down of rocks into shingle,
sand, and mud—are also traceable to the solar rays as their primary
cause. The same may be said of ocean-currents. Generated as the
larger ones are by the excess of heat which the ocean in tropical
climates continually acquires from the Sun; and generated as the
smaller ones are by minor local differences in the quantities of solar
heat absorbed; it follows that the distribution of sediment and other
geological processes which these marine currents effect, are
affiliable upon the force which the sun radiates. The only aqueous
agency otherwise originating is that of the tides—an agency which,
equally with the others, is traceable to unexpended astronomical
motion. But making allowance for the changes which this works, we
reach the conclusion that the slow wearing down of continents and
gradual filling up of seas, by rain, rivers, winds, waves, and ocean-
streams, are the indirect effects of solar heat.
Thus the implication forced on us by the doctrine of correlation, that
the forces which have moulded and re-moulded the Earth’s crust
must have pre-existed under some other shape, is quite in
conformity with the theory of Evolution; since this pre-supposes
certain forces that are both adequate to the results, and cannot be
expended without producing the results. We see that while the
geological changes classed as igneous, result from the still-
progressing motion of the Earth’s substance to its centre of gravity;
the antagonistic changes classed as aqueous, result from the still-
progressing motion of the Sun’s substance towards its centre of
gravity—a motion which, transformed into heat and radiated to us, is
here re-transformed, directly into motions of the gaseous and liquid
matters on the Earth’s surface, and indirectly into motions of the
solid matters.

§ 81. That the forces exhibited in vital actions, vegetal and animal,
are similarly derived, is so obvious a deduction from the facts of
organic chemistry, that it will meet with ready acceptance from
readers acquainted with these facts. Let us note first the
physiological generalizations; and then the generalizations which
they necessitate.
Plant-life is all directly or indirectly dependant on the heat and light
of the sun—directly dependant in the immense majority of plants,
and indirectly dependant in plants which, as the fungi, flourish in the
dark: since these, growing as they do at the expense of decaying
organic matter, mediately draw their forces from the same original
source. Each plant owes the carbon and hydrogen of which it mainly
consists, to the carbonic acid and water contained in the surrounding
air and earth. The carbonic acid and water must, however, be
decomposed before their carbon and hydrogen can be assimilated.
To overcome the powerful affinities which hold their elements
together, requires the expenditure of force; and this force is supplied
by the Sun. In what manner the decomposition is effected we do not
know. But we know that when, under fit conditions, plants are
exposed to the Sun’s rays, they give off oxygen and accumulate
carbon and hydrogen. In darkness this process ceases. It ceases too
when the quantities of light and heat received are greatly reduced,
as in winter. Conversely, it is active when the light and heat are
great, as in summer. And the like relation is seen in the fact that
while plant-life is luxuriant in the tropics, it diminishes in temperate
regions, and disappears as we approach the poles. Thus the
irresistible inference is, that the forces by which plants abstract the
materials of their tissues from surrounding inorganic compounds—
the forces by which they grow and carry on their functions, are
forces that previously existed as solar radiations.
That animal life is immediately or mediately dependant on vegetal
life is a familiar truth; and that, in the main, the processes of animal
life are opposite to those of vegetal life is a truth long current among
men of science. Chemically considered, vegetal life is chiefly a
process of de-oxidation, and animal life chiefly a process of
oxidation: chiefly, we must say, because in so far as plants are
expenders of force for the purposes of organization, they are
oxidizers (as is shown by the exhalation of carbonic acid during the
night); and animals, in some of their minor processes, are probably
de-oxidizers. But with this qualification, the general truth is that
while the plant, decomposing carbonic acid and water and liberating
oxygen, builds up the detained carbon and hydrogen (along with a
little nitrogen and small quantities of other elements elsewhere
obtained) into branches, leaves, and seeds; the animal, consuming
these branches, leaves, and seeds, and absorbing oxygen,
recomposes carbonic acid and water, together with certain
nitrogenous compounds in minor amounts. And while the
decomposition effected by the plant, is at the expense of certain
forces emanating from the sun, which are employed in overcoming
the affinities of carbon and hydrogen for the oxygen united with
them; the recomposition effected by the animal, is at the profit of
these forces, which are liberated during the combination of such
elements. Thus the movements, internal and external, of the animal,
are re-appearances in new forms of a power absorbed by the plant
under the shape of light and heat. Just as, in the manner above
explained, the solar forces expended in raising vapour from the sea’s
surface, are given out again in the fall of rain and rivers to the same
level, and in the accompanying transfer of solid matters; so, the
solar forces that in the plant raised certain chemical elements to a
condition of unstable equilibrium, are given out again in the actions
of the animal during the fall of these elements to a condition of
stable equilibrium.
Besides thus tracing a qualitative correlation between these two
great orders of organic activity, as well as between both of them and
inorganic agencies, we may rudely trace a quantitative correlation.
Where vegetal life is abundant, we usually find abundant animal life;
and as we advance from torrid to temperate and frigid climates, the
two decrease together. Speaking generally, the animals of each class
reach a larger size in regions where vegetation is abundant, than in
those where it is sparse. And further, there is a tolerably apparent
connexion between the quantity of energy which each species of
animal expends, and the quantity of force which the nutriment it
absorbs gives out during oxidation.
Certain phenomena of development in both plants and animals,
illustrate still more directly the ultimate truth enunciated. Pursuing
the suggestion made by Mr. Grove, in the first edition of his work on
the “Correlation of the Physical Forces,” that a connexion probably
exists between the forces classed as vital and those classed as
physical, Dr. Carpenter has pointed out that such a connexion is
clearly exhibited during incubation. The transformation of the
unorganized contents of an egg into the organized chick, is
altogether a question of heat: withhold heat and the process does
not commence; supply heat and it goes on while the temperature is
maintained, but ceases when the egg is allowed to cool. The
developmental changes can be completed only by keeping the
temperature with tolerable constancy at a definite height for a
definite time; that is—only by supplying a definite quantity of heat.
In the metamorphoses of insects we may discern parallel facts.
Experiments show not only that the hatching of their eggs is
determined by temperature, but also that the evolution of the pupa
into the imago is similarly determined; and may be immensely
accelerated or retarded according as heat is artificially supplied or
withheld. It will suffice just to add that the germination of plants
presents like relations of cause and effect—relations so similar that
detail is superfluous.
Thus then the various changes exhibited to us by the organic
creation, whether considered as a whole, or in its two great
divisions, or in its individual members, conform, so far as we can
ascertain, to the law of correlation. Where, as in the transformation
of an egg into a chick, we can investigate the phenomena apart from
all complications, we find that the re-arrangement of parts which
constitutes evolution, involves expenditure of a pre-existing force.
Where it is not, as in the egg or the chrysalis, merely the change of
a fixed quantity of matter into a new shape, but where, as in the
growing plant or animal, we have an incorporation of matter existing
outside, there is still a pre-existing external force at the cost of
which this incorporation is effected. And where, as in the higher
division of organisms, there remain over and above the forces
expended in organization, certain surplus forces expended in
movement, these too are indirectly derived from this same pre-
existing external force.

§ 82. Even after all that has been said in the foregoing part of this
work, many will be alarmed by the assertion, that the forces which
we distinguish as mental, come within the same generalization. Yet
there is no alternative but to make this assertion: the facts which
justify, or rather which necessitate it, being abundant and
conspicuous. They fall into the following groups.
All impressions from moment to moment made on our organs of
sense, stand in direct correlation with physical forces existing
externally. The modes of consciousness called pressure, motion,
sound, light, heat, are effects produced in us by agencies which, as
otherwise expended, crush or fracture pieces of matter, generate
vibrations in surrounding objects, cause chemical combinations, and
reduce substances from a solid to a liquid form. Hence if we regard
the changes of relative position, of aggregation, or of chemical state,
thus arising, as being transformed manifestations of the agencies
from which they arise; so must we regard the sensations which such
agencies produce in us, as new forms of the forces producing them.
Any hesitation to admit that, between the physical forces and
the sensations there exists a correlation like that between the
physical forces themselves, must disappear on remembering how the
one correlation, like the other, is not qualitative only but quantitative.
Masses of matter which, by scales or dynamometer, are shown to
differ greatly in weight, differ as greatly in the feelings of pressure
they produce on our bodies. In arresting moving objects, the strains
we are conscious of are proportionate to the momenta of such
objects as otherwise measured. Under like conditions the
impressions of sounds given to us by vibrating strings, bells, or
columns of air, are found to vary in strength with the amount of
force applied. Fluids or solids proved to be markedly contrasted in
temperature by the different degrees of expansion they produce in
the mercurial column, produce in us correspondingly different
degrees of the sensation of heat. And similarly unlike intensities in
our impressions of light, answer to unlike effects as measured by
photometers.
Besides the correlation and equivalence between external physical
forces, and the mental forces generated by them in us under the
form of sensations, there is a correlation and equivalence between
sensations and those physical forces which, in the shape of bodily
actions, result from them. The feelings we distinguish as light, heat,
sound, odour, taste, pressure, &.c, do not die away without
immediate results; but are invariably followed by other
manifestations of force. In addition to the excitements of secreting
organs, that are in some cases traceable, there arises a contraction
of the involuntary muscles, or of the voluntary muscles, or of both.
Sensations increase the action of the heart—slightly when they are
slight; markedly when they are marked; and recent physiological
inquiries imply not only that contraction of the heart is excited by
every sensation, but also that the muscular fibres throughout the
whole, vascular system, are at the same time more or less
contracted. The respiratory muscles, too, are stimulated into greater
activity by sensations. The rate of breathing is visibly and audibly
augmented both by pleasurable and painful impressions on the
nerves, when these reach any intensity. It has even of late been
shown that inspiration becomes more frequent on transition from
darkness into sunshine,—a result probably due to the increased
amount of direct and indirect nervous stimulation involved. When
the quantity of sensation is great, it generates contractions of the
voluntary muscles, as well as of the involuntary ones. Unusual
excitement of the nerves of touch, as by tickling, is followed by
almost incontrollable movements of the limbs. Violent pains cause
violent struggles. The start that succeeds a loud sound, the wry face
produced by the taste of anything extremely disagreeable, the jerk
with which the hand or foot is snatched out of water that is very hot,
are instances of the transformation of feeling: into motion; and in
these cases, as in all others, it is manifest that the quantity of bodily
action is proportionate to the quantity of sensation. Even where from
pride there is a suppression of the screams and groans expressive of
great pain (also indirect results of muscular contraction), we may
still see in the clenching of the hands, the knitting of the brows, and
the setting of the teeth, that the bodily actions developed are as
great, though less obtrusive in their results. If we take emotions
instead of sensations, we find the correlation and equivalence
equally manifest. Not only are the modes of consciousness directly
produced in us by physical forces, re-transformable into physical
forces under the form of muscular motions and the changes they
initiate; but the like is true of those modes of consciousness which
are not directly produced in us by the physical forces. Emotions of
moderate intensity, like sensations of moderate intensity, generate
little beyond excitement of the heart and vascular system, joined
sometimes with increased action of glandular organs. But as the
emotions rise in strength, the muscles of the face, body, and limbs,
begin to move. Of examples may be mentioned the frowns, dilated
nostrils, and stampings of anger; the contracted brows, and wrung
hands, of grief; the smiles and leaps of joy; and the frantic struggles
of terror or despair. Passing over certain apparent, but only
apparent, exceptions, we see that whatever be the kind of emotion,
there is a manifest relation between its amount, and the amount of
muscular action induced: alike from the erect carriage and elastic
step of exhilaration, up to the dancings of immense delight, and
from the fidgetiness of impatience up to the almost convulsive
movements accompanying great mental agony. To these several
orders of evidence must be joined the further one, that between our
feelings and those voluntary motions into which they are
transformed, there comes the sensation of muscular tension,
standing in manifest correlation with both—a correlation that is
distinctly quantitative: the sense of strain varying, other things
equal, directly as the quantity of momentum generated.
“But how,” it may be asked, “can we interpret by the law of
correlation the genesis of those thoughts and feelings which, instead
of following external stimuli, arise spontaneously? Between the
indignation caused by an insult, and the loud sounds or violent acts
that follow, the alleged connexion may hold; but whence come the
crowd of ideas and the mass of feelings that expend themselves in
these demonstrations? They are clearly not equivalents of the
sensations produced by the words on the ears; for the same words
otherwise arranged, would not have caused them. The thing said
bears to the mental action it excites, much the same relation that
the pulling of a trigger bears to the subsequent explosion—does not
produce the power, but merely liberates it. Whence then arises this
immense amount of nervous energy which a whisper or a glance
may call forth?” The reply is, that the immediate correlates of
these and other such modes of consciousness, are not to be found in
the agencies acting on us externally, but in certain internal agencies.
The forces called vital, which we have seen to be correlates of the
forces called physical, are the immediate sources of these thoughts
and feelings; and are expended in producing them. The proofs of
this are various. Here are some of them. It is a conspicuous fact
that mental action is contingent on the presence of a certain nervous
apparatus; and that, greatly obscured as it is by numerous and
involved conditions, a general relation may be traced between the
size of this apparatus and the quantity of mental action as measured
by its results. Further, this apparatus has a particular chemical
constitution on which its activity depends; and there is one element
in it between the amount of which and the amount of function
performed, there is an ascertained connexion: the proportion of
phosphorus present in the brain being the smallest in infancy, old
age and idiotcy, and the greatest during the prime of life. Note
next, that the evolution of thought and emotion varies, other things
equal, with the supply of blood to the brain. On the one hand, a
cessation of the cerebral circulation, from arrest of the heart’s
action, immediately entails unconsciousness. On the other hand,
excess of cerebral circulation (unless it is such as to cause undue
pressure) results in an excitement rising finally to delirium. Not
the quantity only, but also the condition of the blood passing
through the nervous system, influences the mental manifestations.
The arterial currents must be duly aerated, to produce the normal
amount of cerebration. At the one extreme, we find that if the blood
is not allowed to exchange its carbonic acid for oxygen, there results
asphyxia, with its accompanying stoppage of ideas and feelings.
While at the other extreme, we find that by the inspiration of nitrous
oxide, there is produced an excessive, and indeed irrepressible,
nervous activity. Besides the connexion between the
development of the mental forces and the presence of sufficient
oxygen in the cerebral arteries, there is a kindred connexion
between the development of the mental forces and the presence in
the cerebral arteries of certain other elements. There must be
supplied special materials for the nutrition of the nervous centres, as
well as for their oxidation. And how what we may call the quantity of
consciousness, is, other things equal, determined by the constituents
of the blood, is unmistakably seen in the exaltation that follows
when certain chemical compounds, as alcohol and the vegeto-
alkalies, are added to it. The gentle exhilaration which tea and
coffee create, is familiar to all; and though the gorgeous
imaginations and intense feelings of happiness produced by opium
and hashish, have been experienced by few, (in this country at
least,) the testimony of those who have experienced them is
sufficiently conclusive. Yet another proof that the genesis of the
mental energies is immediately dependent on chemical change, is
afforded by the fact, that the effete products separated from the
blood by the kidneys, vary in character with the amount of cerebral
action. Excessive activity of mind is habitually accompanied by the
excretion of an unusual quantity of the alkaline phosphates.
Conditions of abnormal nervous excitement bring on analogous
effects. And the “peculiar odour of the insane,” implying as it does
morbid products in the perspiration, shows a connexion between
insanity and a special composition of the circulating fluids—a
composition which, whether regarded as cause or consequence,
equally implies correlation of the mental and the physical forces.
Lastly we have to note that this correlation too, is, so far as we
can trace it, quantitative. Provided the conditions to nervous action
are not infringed on, and the concomitants are the same, there is a
tolerably constant ratio between the amounts of the antecedents
and consequents. Within the implied limits, nervous stimulants and
anæsthetics produce effects on the thoughts and feelings,
proportionate to the quantities administered. And conversely, where
the thoughts and feelings form the initial term of the relation, the
degree of reaction on the bodily energies is great, in proportion as
they are great: reaching in extreme cases a total prostration of
physique.
Various classes of facts thus unite to prove that the law of
metamorphosis, which holds among the physical forces, holds
equally between them and the mental forces. Those modes of the
Unknowable which we call motion, heat, light, chemical affinity, &c.,
are alike transformable into each other, and into those modes of the
Unknowable which we distinguish as sensation, emotion, thought:
these, in their turns, being directly or indirectly re-transformable into
the original shapes. That no idea or feeling arises, save as a result of
some physical force expended in producing it, is fast becoming a
common place of science; and whoever duly weighs the evidence
will see, that nothing but an overwhelming bias in favour of a pre-
conceived theory, can explain its non-acceptance. How this
metamorphosis takes place—how a force existing as motion, heat, or
light, can become a mode of consciousness—how it is possible for
aerial vibrations to generate the sensation we call sound, or for the
forces liberated by chemical changes in the brain to give rise to
emotion—these are mysteries which it is impossible to fathom. But
they are not profounder mysteries than the transformations of the
physical forces into each other. They are not more completely
beyond our comprehension than the natures of Mind and Matter.
They have simply the same insolubility as all other ultimate
questions. We can learn nothing more than that here is one of the
uniformities in the order of phenomena.

§ 83. Of course if the law of correlation and equivalence holds of the

forces we class as vital and mental, it must hold also of those which
we class as social. Whatever takes place in a society is due to
organic or inorganic agencies, or to a combination of the two—
results either from the undirected physical forces around, from these
physical forces as directed by men, or from the forces of the men
themselves. No change can occur in its organization, its modes of
activity, or the effects it produces on the face of the Earth, but what
proceeds, mediately or immediately, from these. Let us consider first
the correlation between the phenomena which societies display, and
the vital phenomena.
Social power and life varies, other things equal, with the population.
Though different races, differing widely in their fitness for
combination, show us that the forces manifested in a society are not
necessarily proportionate to the number of people; yet we see that
under given conditions, the forces manifested are confined within
the limits which the number of people imposes. A small society, no
matter how superior the character of its members, cannot exhibit
the same quantity of social action as a large one. The production
and distribution of commodities must be on a comparatively small
scale. A multitudinous press, a prolific literature, or a massive
political agitation, is not possible. And there can be but a small total
of results in the shape of art-products and scientific discoveries.
The correlation of the social with the physical forces through the
intermediation of the vital ones, is, however, most clearly shown in
the different amounts of activity displayed by the same society
according as its members are supplied with different amounts of
force from the external world. In the effects of good and bad
harvests, we yearly see this relation illustrated. A greatly deficient
yield of wheat is soon followed by a diminution of business. Factories
are worked half-time, or close entirely; railway traffic falls; retailers
find their sales much lessened; house-building is almost suspended;
and if the scarcity rises to famine, a thinning of the population still
more diminishes the industrial vivacity. Conversely, an unusually
abundant harvest, occurring under conditions not otherwise
unfavourable, both excites the old producing and distributing
agencies and sets up new ones. The surplus social energy finds vent
in speculative enterprises. Capital seeking investment carries out
inventions that have been lying unutilized. Labour is expended in
opening new channels of communication. There is increased
encouragement to those who furnish the luxuries of life and minister
to the æsthetic faculties. There are more marriages, and a greater
rate of increase in population. Thus the social organism grows larger,
more complex, and more active. When, as happens with most
civilized nations, the whole of the materials for subsistence are not
drawn from the area inhabited, but are partly imported, the people
are still supported by certain harvests elsewhere grown at the
expense of certain physical forces. Our own cotton-spinners and
weavers supply the most conspicuous instance of a section in one
nation living, in great part, on imported commodities, purchased by
the labour they expend on other imported commodities. But though
the social activities of Lancashire are due chiefly to materials not
drawn from our own soil, they are none the less evolved from
physical forces elsewhere stored up in fit forms and then brought
here.
If we ask whence come these physical forces from which, through
the intermediation of the vital forces, the social forces arise, the
reply is of course as heretofore—the solar radiations. Based as the
life of a society is on animal and vegetal products; and dependent as
these animal and vegetal products are on the light and heat of the
sun; it follows that the changes going on in societies are effects of
forces having a common origin with those which produce all the
other orders of changes that have been analyzed. Not only is the
force expended by the horse harnessed to the plough, and by the
labourer guiding it, derived from the same reservoir as is the force of
the falling cataract and the roaring hurricane; but to this same
reservoir are eventually traceable those subtler and more complex
manifestations of force which humanity, as socially embodied,
evolves. The assertion is a startling one, and by many will be
thought ludicrous; but it is an unavoidable deduction which cannot
here be passed over.
Of the physical forces that are directly transformed into social ones,
the like is to be said. Currents of air and water, which before the use
of steam were the only agencies brought in aid of muscular effort for
the performance of industrial processes, are, as we have seen,
generated by the heat of the sun. And the inanimate power that
now, to so vast an extent, supplements human labour, is similarly
derived. The late George Stephenson was one of the first to
recognize the fact that the force impelling his locomotive, originally
emanated from the sun. Step by step we go back—from the motion
of the piston to the evaporation of the water; thence to the heat
evolved during the oxidation of coal; thence to the assimilation of
carbon by the plants of whose imbedded remains coal consists;
thence to the carbonic acid from which their carbon was obtained;
and thence to the rays of light that de-oxidized this carbonic acid.
Solar forces millions of years ago expended on the Earth’s
vegetation, and since locked up beneath its surface, now smelt the
metals required for our machines, turn the lathes by which the
machines are shaped, work them when put together, and distribute
the fabrics they produce. And in so far as economy of labour makes
possible the support of a larger population; gives a surplus of human
power that would else be absorbed in manual occupations; and so
facilitates the development of higher kinds of activity; it is clear that
these social forces which are directly correlated with physical forces
anciently derived from the sun, are only less important than those
whose correlates are the vital forces recently derived from it.

§ 84. Regarded as an induction, the doctrine set forth in this chapter

will most likely be met by a demurrer. Many who admit that among
physical phenomena at least, the correlation of forces is now
established, will probably say that inquiry has not yet gone far
enough to enable us to predicate equivalence. And in respect of the
forces classed as vital, mental, and social, the evidence assigned,
however little to be explained away, they will consider by no means
conclusive even of correlation, much less of equivalence.
To those who think thus, it must now however be pointed out, that
the universal truth above illustrated under its various aspects, is a
necessary corollary from the persistence of force. Setting out with
the proposition that force can neither come into existence, nor cease
to exist, the several foregoing general conclusions inevitably follow.
Each manifestation of force can be interpreted only as the effect of
some antecedent force: no matter whether it be an inorganic action,
an animal movement, a thought, or a feeling. Either this must be
conceded, or else it must be asserted that our successive states of
consciousness are self-created. Either mental energies, as well as
bodily ones, are quantitatively correlated to certain energies
expended in their production, and to certain other energies which
they initiate; or else nothing must become something and something
must become nothing. The alternatives are, to deny the persistence
of force, or to admit that every physical and psychial change is
generated by certain antecedent forces, and that from given
amounts of such forces neither more nor less of such physical and
psychial changes can result. And since the persistence of force,
being a datum of consciousness, cannot be denied, its unavoidable
corollary must be accepted. This corollary cannot indeed be
made more certain by accumulating illustrations. The truth as arrived
at deductively, cannot be inductively confirmed. For every one of
such facts as those above detailed, is established only through the
indirect assumption of that persistence of force, from which it really
follows as a direct consequence. The most exact proof of correlation
and equivalence which it is possible to reach by experimental inquiry,
is that based on measurement of the forces expended and the forces
produced. But, as was shown in the last chapter, any such process of
measurement implies the use of some unit of force which is
assumed to remain constant; and for this assumption there can be
no warrant but that it is a corollary from the persistence of force.
How then can any reasoning based on this corollary, prove the
equally direct corollary that when a given quantity of force ceases to
exist under one form, an equal quantity must come into existence
under some other form or forms? Clearly the à priori truth expressed
in this last corollary, cannot be more firmly established by any à
posteriori proofs which the first corollary helps us to.
“What then,” it may be asked, “is the use of these investigations by
which the correlation and equivalence of forces is sought to be
established as an inductive truth? Surely it will not be alleged that
they are useless. Yet if this correlation cannot be made more certain
by them than it is already, does not their uselessness necessarily
follow?” No. They are of value as disclosing the many particular
implications which the general truth does not specify. They are of
value as teaching us how much of one mode of force is the
equivalent of so much of another mode. They are of value as
determining under what conditions each metamorphosis occurs. And
they are of value as leading us to inquire in what shape the remnant
of force has escaped, when the apparent results are not equivalent
to the cause.
 CHAPTER X.
THE DIRECTION OF MOTION.

§ 85. The Absolute Cause of changes, inclusive of those constituting

Evolution, is not less incomprehensible in respect of the unity or
duality of its action, than in all other respects. We cannot decide
between the alternative suppositions, that phenomena are due to
the variously-conditioned workings of a single force, and that they
are due to the conflict of two forces. Whether, as some contend,
everything is explicable on the hypothesis of universal pressure,
whence what we call tension results differentially from inequalities of
pressure in opposite directions; or whether, as might be with equal
propriety contended, things are to be explained on the hypothesis of
universal tension, from which pressure is a differential result; or
whether, as most physicists hold, pressure and tension everywhere
co-exist; are questions which it is impossible to settle. Each of these
three suppositions makes the facts comprehensible, only by
postulating an inconceivability. To assume a universal pressure,
confessedly requires us to assume an infinite plenum—an unlimited
space full of something which is everywhere pressed by something
beyond; and this assumption cannot be mentally realized. That
universal tension is the immediate agency to which phenomena are
due, is an idea open to a parallel and equally fatal objection. And
however verbally intelligible may be the proposition that pressure
and tension everywhere co-exist, yet we cannot truly represent to
ourselves one ultimate unit of matter as drawing another while
resisting it.
Nevertheless, this last belief is one which we are compelled to
entertain. Matter cannot be conceived except as manifesting forces
of attraction and repulsion. Body is distinguished in our
consciousness from Space, by its opposition to our muscular
energies; and this opposition we feel under the two-fold form of a
cohesion that hinders our efforts to rend, and a resistance that
hinders our efforts to compress. Without resistance there can be
merely empty extension. Without cohesion there can be no
resistance. Probably this conception of antagonistic forces, is
originally derived from the antagonism of our flexor and extensor
muscles. But be this as it may, we are obliged to think of all objects
as made up of parts that attract and repel each other; since this is
the form of our experience of all objects.
By a higher abstraction results the conception of attractive and
repulsive forces pervading space. We cannot dissociate force from
occupied extension, or occupied extension from force; because we
have never an immediate consciousness of either in the absence of
the other. Nevertheless, we have abundant proof that force is
exercised through what appears to our senses a vacuity. Mentally to
represent this exercise, we are hence obliged to fill the apparent
vacuity with a species of matter—an etherial medium. The
constitution we assign to this etherial medium, however, like the
constitution we assign to solid substance, is necessarily an abstract
of the impressions received from tangible bodies. The opposition to
pressure which a tangible body offers to us, is not shown in one
direction only, but in all directions; and so likewise is its tenacity.
Suppose countless lines radiating from its centre on every side, and
it resists along each of these lines and coheres along each of these
lines. Hence the constitution of those ultimate units through the
instrumentality of which phenomena are interpreted. Be they atoms
of ponderable matter or molecules of ether, the properties we
conceive them to possess are nothing else than these perceptible
properties idealized. Centres of force attracting and repelling each
other in all directions, are simply insensible portions of matter having
the endowments common to sensible portions of matter—
endowments of which we cannot by any mental effort divest them.
In brief, they are the invariable elements of the conception of matter,
abstracted from its variable elements—size, form, quality, &c. And so
to interpret manifestations of force which cannot be tactually
experienced, we use the terms of thought supplied by our tactual
experiences; and this for the sufficient reason that we must use
these or none.
After all that has been before shown, and after the hint given above,
it needs scarcely be said that these universally co-existent forces of
attraction and repulsion, must not be taken as realities, but as our
symbols of the reality. They are the forms under which the workings
of the Unknowable are cognizable by us—modes of the
Unconditioned as presented under the conditions of our
consciousness. But while knowing that the ideas thus generated in
us are not absolutely true, we may unreservedly surrender ourselves
to them as relatively true; and may proceed to evolve a series of
deductions having a like relative truth.

§ 86. From universally co-existent forces of attraction and repulsion,

there result certain laws of direction of all movement. Where
attractive forces alone are concerned, or rather are alone
appreciable, movement takes place in the direction of their resultant;
which may, in a sense, be called the line of greatest traction. Where
repulsive forces alone are concerned, or rather are alone
appreciable, movement takes place along their resultant; which is
usually known as the line of least resistance. And where both
attractive and repulsive forces are concerned, or are appreciable,
movement takes place along the resultant of all the tractions and
resistances. Strictly speaking, this last is the sole law; since, by the
hypothesis, both forces are everywhere in action. But very frequently
the one kind of force is so immensely in excess that the effect of the
other kind may be left out of consideration. Practically we may say
that a body falling to the Earth, follows the line of greatest traction;
since, though the resistance of the air must, if the body be irregular,
cause some divergence from this line, (quite perceptible with
feathers and leaves,) yet ordinarily the divergence is so slight that
we may omit it. In the same manner, though the course taken by the
steam from an exploding boiler, differs somewhat from that which it
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