It is therefore a consequence of this doctrine that something is always going on everywhere, even in so-called empty space.

This conclusion is in accord with modern physical science which presupposes the play of an electromagnetic field throughout space and time.

This doctrine of science has been thrown into the materialistic form of an all-pervading ether.

But the ether is evidently a mere idle concept--in the phraseology which Bacon applied to the doctrine of final causes, it is a barren virgin.

Nothing is deduced from it; and the ether merely subserves the purpose of satisfying the demands of the materialistic theory.