If You Cannot Measure It, Then It

It Is Conceivable That Animal Life Might Have The Attribute Of Using The Heat Of Surrounding Matter, At Its Natural Temperature, As A Source Of Energy For Mechanical Effect . . . .the Influence Of Animal Or Vegetable Life On Matter Is Infinitely Beyond The Range Of Any Scientific Enquiry Hitherto Entered On. Its Power Of Directing The Motions Of Moving Particles, In The Demonstrated Daily Miracle Of Our Human Free-will, And In The Growth Of Generation After Generation Of Plants From A Single Seed, Are Infinitely Different From Any Possible Result Of The Fortuitous Concurrence Of Atoms.

Symmetrical Equations Are Good In Their Place, But ' Vector ' Is A Useless Survival, Or Offshoot From Quaternions, And Has Never Been Of The Slightest Use To Any Creature.

Mathematics Is The Only True Metaphysics.

Can You Measure It? Can You Express It In Figures? Can You Make A Model Of It? If Not, Your Theory Is Apt To Be Based More Upon Imagination Than Upon Knowledge.

In Physical Science A First Essential Step In The Direction Of Learning Any Subject Is To Find Principles Of Numerical Reckoning And Practicable Methods For Measuring Some Quality Connected With It. I Often Say That When You Can Measure What You Are Speaking About, And Express It In Numbers, You Know Something About It; But When You Cannot Measure It, When You Cannot Express It In Numbers, Your Knowledge Is Of A Meagre And Unsatisfactory Kind; It May Be The Beginning Of Knowledge, But You Have Scarcely In Your Thoughts Advanced To The Stage Of Science, Whatever The Matter May Be.