An introduction to mathematics, by A. N. Whitehead.

48 INTRODUCTION TO MATHEMATICS
heat from the hand to the stone, or from the
stone to the hand; and, according to modern
science, heat is nothing but the agitation of
the molecules of a body. Finally, the organ
begins playing, and again sound is nothing
but the result of motions of the air striking
on the drum of the ear.
Thus the endeavour to give a dynamical
explanation of phenomena is the attempt to
explain them by statements of the general
form, that such and such a substance or body
was in this place and is now in that place.
Thus we arrive at the great basal idea of
modern science, that all our sensations are
the result of comparisons of the changed
configurations of things in space at various
times. It follows, therefore, that the laws
of motion, that is, the laws of the changes
of configurations of things, are the ultimate
laws of physical science.
In the application of mathematics to the
investigation of natural philosophy, science
does systematically what ordinary thought
does casually. When we talk of a chair, we
usually mean something which we have been
seeing or feeling in some way; though most
of our language will presuppose that there
is something which exists independently of
our sight or feeling. Now in mathematical
physics the opposite course is taken. The
chair is conceived without any reference to