_Gems from the East._ FORM OR MATTER. BY W. E. GATES. From the old darky who preferred a railway wreck to one at sea, because in the former "you'se thar," to the leaders of science, the earth has been the symbol and type of permanence and solidity. Science has yielded one of these characteristics to force, in positing the conservation of energy, but it has never felt quite sure just where to place force in the ultimate analysis of things. Of matter however it has always felt sure—matter was a fact, there has always been just so much in the universe, and always will be just that much and no more or less. Of this matter, to whatever extent its mechanical subdivision or chemical dissociation might be carried, certain fundamental characteristics have been ever alleged—it occupies space and has weight. Weight is a general term, used to denote the attractive force between two bodies of matter, commonly called gravitation. These two may be regarded as primary, certain other familiar properties being only expressions of these under varying conditions. We thus speak of matter as solid and impenetrable, and say that two bodies cannot occupy the same place at one time. We also speak of the chemical affinities of different atoms and of the cohesiveness of masses of matter, both forms of attractive force. We also say that this matter possesses, or more strictly is, substance—that is, it is self-caused and self-sustaining. That it is objectively real—indeed the most real conception we have. We have finally one very important concept, that of form, whose relation to matter is most clearly expressed by the statement, matter displays form. Form is a limitation of, or in, space, and may be conceived of apart from matter, but the latter is required for its manifestation to the senses, by, in the little boy's words, "drawing a line around your thinks." We thus, since all aggregations of matter are perpetually changing as to their forms, do not attribute reality to form, but for this so-called impermanence, think of it as the least real thing we know, the very opposite of matter, an incident only of the latter and a very non-entity.