He asks the question,
What is Matter? and answers, Nothing. We know, he says, nothing but
force; and as the only force of which we have any immediate knowledge
is mind-force, the inference is "that the whole universe is not merely
dependent on, but actually _is_, the will of higher intelligences, or of
one Supreme Intelligence."[5] This is a transition from virtual
materialism to idealistic pantheism. The effect of this admission on the
part of Mr. Wallace on the theory of natural selection, is what an
explosion of its boiler would be to a steamer in mid-ocean, which should
blow out its deck, sides, and bottom. Nothing would remain above water.
The Duke of Argyll seems at times inclined to lapse into the same
doctrine. "Science," he says, "in the modern doctrine of conservation of
energy and the convertibility of forces, is already getting a firm hold
of the idea, that all kinds of force are but forms of manifestations of
one central force issuing from some one fountain-head of power. Sir John
Herschel has not hesitated to say, 'that it is but reasonable to regard
the force of gravitation as the direct or indirect result of a
consciousness or will existing somewhere.' And even if we cannot
certainly identify force in all its forms with the direct energies of
the one Omnipresent and All-pervading Will, it is at least in the
highest degree unphilosophical to assert the contrary,--to think or to
speak, as if the forces of nature were either independent of, or even
separate from the Creator's power.
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