INORGANIC EVOLUTION. 17 



the aggregation into one whole of portions of matter which 

 before had been apart from each other, the motions of these 

 several portions inter se coming to an end or greatly diminishing 

 as they thus gather into a single mass. In such cases we have 

 the formation of new masses. In other cases portions of matter 

 which had aggregated into a single mass are separated from each 

 other and begin to move freely inter se. In such cases we have 

 the dissolution of the masses thus separated into their component 

 parts." To take one instance, we may suppose, for example, that 

 the Solar System at some inconceivably remote period consisted 

 of an innumerable number of widely - separated particles of 

 matter probably all homogeneous or similar in character, and 

 endowed with a great amount of motion amongst themselves, 

 and that in the course of myriads of ages these particles have 

 become aggregated into various large and heterogeneous or 

 dissimilar masses, namely, the Sun, Planets, Satellites, and other 

 members of the System ; while the motion of the particles 

 amongst themselves has greatly diminished. To complete the 

 illustration we must suppose that a time will come when the 

 different particles of matter which now compose the earth, sun, 

 planets, etc., will once more be widely separated, and again move 

 rapidly and freely amongst themselves. This, indeed, is the 

 essence of the most recent speculations as to the origin and 

 perhaps the end of the Universe. 



Let us never forget, however, that evolution, even in its widest 

 sense, is not an attempt to disprove the existence of the Deity, 

 but rather, so far as our limited faculties will permit, reverently 

 to try and trace, and dimly to apprehend in some faint measure, 

 some little inkling of the manner in which the Almighty 

 Creator, by whom and in whom and for whom are all things, is 

 working and has worked through all the ages past. 



I can only sketch out very roughly and very briefly the lines 

 on which we may imagine that the evolution of the Universe has 

 proceeded. 



During the last few years especially it has been suggested that 

 evolution is not restricted to living organisms, but that our 

 Earth and all the varied worlds and suns, and all the countless 

 bodies that are scattered through boundless space, and even the 

 very elements themselves as we know them, have undergone 

 a process of evolution from simpler and comparatively 

 homogeneous bodies to more complex and heterogeneous forms. 

 It is this kind of evolution that I wish to say a few words upon 

 to-night. 



VOL. XIII. PART I. 2 



