* * * * * And now, for a few additional words on the subject of our theory that in place of the hypothetical Ether of Science--a Substance that is not Substance--there exists a great Ocean of Cosmic Mind. The idea is not without coroborative proof in the direction of the thought of advanced thinkers even among the ranks of Science. While Science has accustomed the public to the idea that in the Universal Ether might be found the origin of Matter--the essence of Energy--the secret of Motion--it has not spoken of "Mind," in connection with this Universal Something. But the idea is not altogether new, and some daring Scientific thinkers have placed themselves on record regarding same. Let us quote from a few of them--it will make smoother our path. _Edward Drinker Cope_, in several of his writings, hinted at the idea that _the basis of Life and Consciousness lay back of the Atoms, and might be found in the Universal Ether_. _Dolbear_ says: "_Possibly the Ether may be the medium through which Mind and Matter react_." _Hemstreet_ says: "_Mind in the Ether is no more unnatural than Mind in flesh and blood_." _Stockwell_ says: "The Ether is coming to be apprehended as an _immaterial_, superphysical substance, filling all space, carrying in its infinite throbbing bosom the specks of aggregated dynamic force called worlds. _It embodies the ultimate spiritual principle_, and represents the unity of those forces and energies from which spring, as their source, all phenomena, physical, _mental and spiritual_, as they are known to man." _Dolbear_ speaks of the Ether as a substance, which, besides the function of energy and motion, has other inherent properties "_out of which could emerge, under proper circumstances, other phenomena, such as life, or mind or whatever may be in the substratum_." _Newton_ spoke of it as a "_subtle spirit, or immaterial substance_." _Dolbear_ says: "The Ether--the properties of which _we vainly strive to interpret in the terms of Matter_, the undiscovered properties of which ought to warn every one against the danger of strongly asserting what is possible and what is impossible in the nature of things." _Stockwell_ says: "That the Ether _is not Matter in any of its forms_, practically all scientists are agreed. _Dolbear_, again, says: If the Ether that fills all space is not atomic in structure, presents no friction to bodies moving through it, and is not subject to the law of gravitation, it _does not seem proper to call it Matter_. One might speak of it as a substance if he wants another name for it. As for myself, I make _a sharp distinction between the Ether and Matter_, and feel somewhat confused to hear one speak of the Ether as Matter."