We are now beginning to open up Dr. Johnstone Stoney’s conception of the relation of the autic _universe_ to phenomenal Nature. Nature is the totality of phenomenal objects; but corresponding with each phenomenal object or “protheton” there is an _onto-object_ or _antitheton_; and the totality of _antitheta_ constitute the _universe_. _Minds_, mine and those of other beings, constitute the egoistic part of the universe; the rest of the universe is constituted by _sense-compelling auta_. We may liken the _sense-compelling universe_ to a great machine in motion, and the _tekmeria_ or perceptions which it produces within our minds to shadows cast by it. The laws of the movements of the machine are the real laws of the universe—laws of nature are but the laws of the changes which the shadows in consequence undergo. It is these shadow laws alone which natural science can reach: the real laws of the _universe_ of which these are shadows are beyond its grasp. In Nature the reflective eye of science sees not only phenomenal objects, but the relations which they bear to each other. But such relations are themselves phenomenal; they are protheta of which the _onto-relations_ of the real _universe_ are the _antitheta_. Every space-relation, therefore, in Nature—for instance, that my foot is at present three yards from the fender—has a real autic relation in the sense-compelling _universe_, which is its _antitheton_; an _onto-relation_ between the _onto-foot_ and _onto-fender_, meaning by these terms the _auta_ which send men the tekmeria which, when synthesised, furnish these two phenomenal objects. The space-relations of Nature are but the shadows cast by the _autic relations_ within the _minds_ of men, and perhaps some other animals.