364 THE LIMITS OF NATURAL SELECTION 



the special chemical, electrical, and magnetic properties 

 of special forms of matter.* Each chemical element 

 will thus consist of a molecule formed of simple atoms, 

 (or as Mr. Bay ma terms them to avoid confusion, 

 " material elements") in greater or less number and 

 of more or less complex arrangement ; which molecule 

 is in stable equilibrium, but liable to be changed in 

 form by the attractive or repulsive influences of differ- 

 ently constituted molecules, constituting the phenomena 

 of chemical combination, and resulting in new forms 

 of molecule of greater complexity and more or less 

 stability. 



Those organic compounds of which organized beings 

 are built up, consist, as is well known, of matter of an 

 extreme complexity and great instability; whence re- 

 sult the changes of form to which it is continually 

 subject. This view enables us to comprehend the possi- 

 bility, of the phenomena of vegetative life being due to 



* Mr. Bayma's work, entitled " The Elements of Molecular 

 Mechanics," was published in 1866, and has received less 

 attention than it deserves. It is characterised by great 

 lucidity, by logical arrangement, and by comparatively simple 

 geometrical and algebraical demonstrations, so that it may 

 be understood and appreciated with a very moderate know- 

 ledge of mathematics. It consists of a series of Propositions, 

 deduced from the known properties of matter; from these 

 are derived a number of Theorems, by whose help the more 

 complicated Problems are solved. Nothing is taken for 

 granted throughout the work, and the only valid mode of 

 escaping from its conclusions is, by either disproving the 

 fundamental Propositions, or by detecting fallacies in the 

 subsequent reasoning. 



