Religion and Science
3. The Mechanical Interpretation of the Universe
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showed the same result. If this concept was
successful in one instance, they felt assured that
they would always succeed in producing the same
result. In the physical sciences, therefore, no
discrepancies were to be found in the law of
causation. It was only in metaphysics that the
system of cause and effect did not work.
But this happy state of affairs was short-lived; with
the beginning of the twentieth century, many facts
came to light in the world of science, which were not
consistent with the mechanical interpretation. For
instance, numerous experiments which were carried
out to determine the cause of radioactivity (a
spontaneous disintegration of certain unstable types
of atomic nuclei — as happens with radium) met
with no success. Even today, we do not know what
causes the breaking away of a particular electron in a
piece of radium from its atomic system. The same
mystery surrounds the magnet’s power to attract
iron. Many theories have been put forward to
explain this phenomenon. Sir James Jeans having
attempted to analyse this fact, concludes that we do
not know why a magnet attracts iron. “Perhaps it
has been ordered to do so by its Creator.”
