Theoretically, and in one, and by no means an unimportant sense, the _Zero_-Element or _Nothing_-side of the Universe or of a given Department of Being, is one whole half, or an equal hemisphere of the Totality of Being. Thus, for example, _Zero_ (0) in the usage of the Arabic Numbers, while it is represented in an obscure way merely by a single figure below the nine digits, yet stands over, in a sense, against all the digits, and all their possible combinations, as equal to them all in importance. For it is by means of this _Zero_ (0) that the One (1) for instance, becomes 10, 100, 1000, etc.; and that all the _Positive_ Numbers acquire their relative values, according to the places or positions in space which they occupy. In another sense, however, the Negative Ground of Being, in the Universe at large, or in any given Domain, quickly sinks out of view, and Positive Being becomes the whole of what is commonly regarded. It is in this sense that, ordinarily, in speaking of The Digits of Number, the _Zero_ is left out of the count. In the same manner, when speaking or thinking of the Material Universe, while the notion of _Space_ is ever present, and is, in the absolute sense, an equal half of the whole conception, still it is Matter, the total congeries of objects and substances in Space, of which we mainly think; the Space, as such, being understood and implied, but subordinated as a mere _negative_ adjunct of the _positive_ idea. In strictness, _Matter_ and _Space_ are so mutually dependent on each other, that either without the other is an impossible conception. The notion of Space permeates that of Matter; passing through it, so to speak, as well as surrounding it; so that it needs no proof that Matter cannot be conceived of as existing without Space. But, on the other hand, Space is only the negation of Matter; the shadow, as it were, cast by Matter; and, so, dependent on Matter for the very origin of the idea in the mind. If _Space_, therefore, be the analogue of _Nothing_; _Matter_, wholly apart from Space, is only a _theoretical_ Something, really and actually as much a Nothing as Space itself, when abstractly considered in its equally impossible separation from Matter. But Matter, completely separated from Space, is the exact external analogue of the _Something_ opposed to the _Nothing_ of abstract Metaphysical Thinking. Here, then, is a lucid exposition, by virtue of these analogies, of the famous Metaphysical Axiom of Hegel, which, at its announcement, threw all Europe into amazement: _Something_ = (_equal to_) _Nothing_.