"Mesmeric Revelation" - читать интересную книгу автора (Poe Edgar Allan)

P. Can you give me no more precise idea of what you term the
unparticled matter?
V. The matters of which man is cognizant escape the senses in
gradation. We have, for example, a metal, a piece of wood, a drop of
water, the atmosphere, a gas, caloric, electricity, the luminiferous
ether. Now, we call all these things matter, and embrace all matter in
one general definition; but in spite of this, there can be no two
ideas more essentially distinct than that which we attach to a
metal, and that which we attach to the luminiferous ether. When we
reach the latter, we feel an almost irresistible inclination to
class it with spirit, or with nihilty. The only consideration which
restrains us is our conception of its atomic constitution; and here,
even, we have to seek aid from our notion of an atom, as something
possessing in infinite minuteness, solidity, palpability, weight.
Destroy the idea of the atomic constitution and we should no longer be
able to regard the ether as an entity, or, at least, as matter. For
want of a better word we might term it spirit. Take, now, a step
beyond the luminiferous ether- conceive a matter as much more rare
than the ether, as this ether is more rare than the metal, and we
arrive at once (in spite of all the school dogmas) at a unique mass-
an unparticled matter. For although we may admit infinite littleness
in the atoms themselves, the infinitude of littleness in the spaces
between them is an absurdity. There will be a point- there will be a
degree of rarity at which, if the atoms are sufficiently numerous, the
interspaces must vanish, and the mass absolutely coalesce. But the
consideration of the atomic constitution being now taken away, the
nature of the mass inevitably glides into what we conceive of
spirit. It is clear, however, that it is as fully matter as before.
The truth is, it is impossible to conceive spirit since it is
impossible to imagine what is not. When we flatter ourselves that we
have formed its conception, we have merely deceived our
understanding by the consideration of infinitely rarefied matter.
P. There seems to me an insurmountable objection to the idea of
absolute coalescence;- and that is the very slight resistance
experienced by the heavenly bodies in their revolutions through space-
a resistance now ascertained, it is true, to exist in some degree, but
which is, nevertheless, so slight as to have been quite overlooked
by the sagacity even of Newton. We know that the resistance of
bodies is, chiefly, in proportion to their density. Absolute
coalescence is absolute density. Where there are no interspaces, there
can be no yielding. An ether, absolutely dense, would put an
infinitely more effectual stop to the progress of a star than would an
ether of adamant or of iron.
V. Your objection is answered with an ease which is nearly in the
ratio of its apparent unanswerability.- As regards the progress of the
star, it can make no difference whether the star passes through the
ether or the ether through it. There is no astronomical error more
unaccountable than that which reconciles the known retardation of
the comets with the idea of their passage through an ether, for,
however rare this ether be supposed, it would put a stop to all