repulsion between the two positively charged nuclei now separated by only a small fraction of the atomic diameter. The helium atom has an orbit much like the orbit of a comet save that we substitute repulsion for attraction. This theory assumes electrical forces to be the only ones to be considered and the interpenetration to occur without interference. It tacitly assumes, therefore, the electrical nature of the atom itself. In his theory Professor Rutherford derived a formula which exprest the scattering of the helium particles due to the deflection produced upon impact. This formula was tested by Geiger and Marsden (1913) for foils of gold, platinum, silver, tin, copper, and aluminum and was verified within an experimental error of 20 per cent. From the formula and the experimental results was computed the charge of positive electricity concentrated at the center of the atom. This was found to be a number of "atoms" of positive electricity equal to one-half the atomic weight. We have, then, We have, then, as our tentative theory of the atom, the presence of a positively charged nucleus less than one three-thousandth the diameter of the atom, surrounded by revolving electrons, the entire atom being electrical in character and possessing apparent mass because of the well-known inertia of an electric charge.

An understanding of this modern theory will have a decided influence upon our conception of the significance of man. It is true that man is physically insignificant in comparison with worlds, solar systems, and interstellar spaces, but what of his comparison with the atom, or with the nucleus of the atom? In a man of ordinary size there are a great host of atoms which can be approximately represented in numbers by the integer 1 followed by twenty-seven ciphers. But this is too large to be

comprehended. Suppose that this same number of men were piled one on another, feet to head, how far would the pile reach? The computed result is surprizing. The pile would extend into space much farther than the greatest astronomical distance ever measured. Indeed the time required for light to reach our earth from that point would be many million years. In Rutherford's theory of the atom, the nucleus is one three-thousandth the diameter of the atom or less, and the electron itself is probably smaller. Compared with this electrical atom within a chemical atom, man must be a universe of apparently infinite extension. But this is not the limit of our comparison, for we must remember that probably at some time in the distant future the atom of electricity will be found to possess parts which are much smaller, in fact to be itself. a complex system. Man's physical importance may be a negligible quantity compared with the universe as a unit, but it is exceedingly great when measured in terms of a unit which is but a minute portion of the atom. Modern physics has then made clearer than before that the physical significance of man is but relative, depending upon the unit of measure adopted. Physical significance, therefore, loses its influence in our contemplation of man. This unimportance of physical dimensions in a discussion of man is not new, but the development of physics which makes this truth clearer to one not trained in philosophy must contribute to our contemplation of man and thus indirectly to religious thought.

We have yet to consider the second stumbling block, namely, the tendency to exclude God which arises from the extension of the domain of physical and chemical laws. The discovery of laws where formerly the agency of God seemed necessary has increased the reality of matter in our minds.

Indeed, we have been able to make scientific progress because we have placed our faith in these natural laws and the conservation of matter. This growing confidence in matter as a reality has been augmented in that matter appeals to our senses, it occupies space and possesses inertia. Matter, the visible, has not needed a proof for its existence, whereas the invisible to many has seemed but a play of the imagination, an unreality. To some a faith in the reality of matter seemed not a faith but a knowledge, whereas a belief in that which was invisible was truly a great effort of faith. Naturalism seemed simple, reasonable, and almost self-evident. The modern view of physics, however, destroys the old naturalism, for it shows that the atom has structure and that its component parts are probably electrical in character. Of electricity itself the physicist has no knowledge other than what electricity will do, and, inasmuch as electricity can not be directly perceived by our senses, all this information has come to him through the agency of matter. Electricity is truly invisible. The everyday laboratory faith of the physicist is now not in visible material as formerly understood, but in the invisible thing we call "electricity." He has repudiated the atom as a unit, observing in it a wonderful and complex system of unending interest and great experimental possibilities, and has accepted the atom of electricity as the basis for his scientific belief. This new conception of science should remove from the minds of the people that depressing influence upon religious thought which has accompanied

the extension of the known domain of physical law. For now we see more clearly that the explanation of the material world about us can be written only in terms of the invisible. The reality of matter, as formerly conceived, is now abandoned, and the

invisible becomes the everyday reality of the scientific laboratory. This does not lead to the formation of a new religious faith, but to the exclusion of the hindering influence of the old naturalism. The new naturalism can not exclude God, for there is as much opportunity for him in the complex system called the atom as there used to seem to be in the solar system. Indeed, the atom of electricity, which is but a minute portion of the atom, must be itself divisible. One familiar with physics thinks at once of the possibility of the electron being merely a merely a manifestation of that mysterious hypothetical medium termed "the ether." At the present time the problems of the ether are the most perplexing and fundamental, undoubtedly perplexing because fundamental. The only cognizance we have of the ether is due to the action of electricity. It would therefore seem reasonable for us to consider the atom of electricity to be produced by the ether, and if this be accepted, the description of the whole realm of matter in terms of the medium, the ether, becomes possible. The tenableness of this attitude on the part of the physicist strengthens the tendency to interpret all in terms of the unseen, the immanent mind, God. Indeed, the modern conception of the immanence of God finds splendid reenforcement in the view of modern physics.

Modern physics may not contribute constructively to religious thought, but an appreciation of its present teaching does assist in the formation. of the religious thought of the people by removing the tendencies presented by the physical insignificance of man and the simplicity and apparent reasonableness of the old naturalism.

Although serious efforts have been made to eliminate an all-pervading medium from our consideration, the experimental evidence as a whole forbids the abandonment of the ides.

The shifting of the scientific faith of the physicist from the atom to the electron gives us a clearer view of the unending search for the ultimate unit. The wonder and complexity of the atom gives us a greater confidence in the immanence of God and builds for us a vision which makes clearer

than ever the thought aptly exprest by Lodge:

"We are deaf and blind, therefore, to the immanent grandeur around us, unless we have insight enough to appreciate the whole, and to recognize in the woven fabric of existence, flowing steadily from the loom in an infinite progress toward perfection, the ever growing garment of a transcendent God."

THE delegates to the Church Peace Conference, both those who succeeded in making their way to Constance, and those who were prevented, some by railroad tieups and some through their arrest and detention by the German authorities, were eye witnesses to the truth of some of the very principles which they had been prepared to utter, among them that the present international political order is unstable because unchristian, and, more significantly, the foolishness of the familiar fallacy that the best way to avert war and insure peace is to be prepared for war.

To understand the conflict now raging, one has only to read a significant book, Germany and the Next War, which appeared in 1912, by General von Bernhardi, a leader of the militarist party; for in it and in the fulfilment of its lurid prophecy of war, which the author said would be due in 1914, are clearly seen these two facts: that war is engendered and provoked by its own preparations and assumptions, and that our present international and race relationships are founded on an unchristian basis.

If one goes back into the relentless philosophy of Professor Treitschke, the historian of the military element of Germany, the whole meaning of the present moment is seen, and the

The delegates to Constance, seeing thus the real meaning of things, were distrest but not dismayed, and their first action was to send a memorial to the rulers of Europe and the President of the United States in these consistent words:

"The Conference of members of Christian churches, representing twelve countries and thirty confessions, assembled at Constance to promote friendly relations between nations, solemnly appeals to Christian rulers to avert a war between millions of men amongst whom friendship and common interests have been steadily growing, and thereby to save from disaster Christian civilization and assert the power of the Christian spirit in human affairs."

The conference assembled on Sunday morning, August 2, and adjourned that evening to continue at London, because word came that the last train out of Germany would leave on Monday morning.

Twelve nations had prospective delegates, including Germany, whose leading representative, Dr. F. Siegmund-Schultze, formerly assistant court preacher at Potsdam, brought directly from the Kaiser assurances of his interest. Indeed, the attitude of the Kaiser is inexplicable except in the assumption that he was, as he as