Taking the ground that “the visible universe must _certainly, in transformable energy, and probably in matter_, come to an end,” and “the principle of continuity ... still demanding a continuance of the universe...” the authors of this remarkable work find themselves forced to believe “that there is something _beyond_ that which is visible[314] ... and that the visible system is not the whole universe but only, it may be, a very small part of it.” Furthermore, looking back as well as forward to the origin of this visible universe, the authors urge that “if the visible universe is _all_ that exists then the first abrupt manifestation of it is as truly a break of continuity as its final overthrow” (Art. 85). Therefore, as such a break is against the accepted law of continuity, the authors come to the following conclusion:— “Now, is it not natural to imagine, that a universe of this nature, _which we have reason to think exists_, and is connected by bonds of energy with the visible universe, is also capable of receiving energy from it?... May we not regard Ether, or the medium, as not merely a {188} bridge[315] between one order of things and another, forming as it were a species of cement, in virtue of which the various orders of the universe are welded together and made into one? In fine, what we generally called Ether, may be not a mere medium, but a medium _plus_ the invisible order of things, so that when the motions of the visible universe are transferred into Ether, part of them are conveyed as by a _bridge_ into the invisible universe, and are there made use of and stored up. Nay, is it even necessary to retain the conception of a bridge? May we not at once say that when energy is carried from matter into Ether, it is carried from the visible into the invisible; and that when it is carried from Ether to matter it is carried from the invisible into the visible?“(Art. 198, _Unseen Universe_.) Precisely; and were Science to take a few more steps in that direction and fathom more seriously the “hypothetical medium” who knows but Tyndall’s impassable chasm between the physical processes of the brain and _consciousness_, might be—at least intellectually—passed with surprising ease and safety.