GOD IN NATURE I?7 



impression of Nature presented to a mind uninitiated 

 in its mysteries is that it is a mere conflict of 

 opposing forces; but so soon as we study any 

 natural phenonema in detail we see that this is an 

 error, and that everything is balanced in the nicest 

 way by the most subtle interactions of matter and 

 force. We find also that, while forces are mutually 

 convertible and atoms susceptible of vast varieties of 

 arrangement, all this is determined by fixed law, and 

 carried out with invariable regularity and constancy. 



The vapour of water, for example, diffused in the 

 atmosphere is condensed by extreme cold and falls 

 to the ground in snowflakes. In these, particles of 

 water, previously kept asunder by heat, are united by 

 cohesive force, and the heat has gone on other 

 missions. But these particles do not merely unite ; 

 they geometrise. Like well-drilled soldiers, arranging 

 themselves in ranks, they form themselves, according 

 to regular axes of attraction, in lines diverging at an 

 angle of sixty degrees ; and thus the snowflakes are 

 hexagonal plates and six-rayed stars, the latter often 

 growing into very complex shapes, but all based on 

 the law of attraction under the same angles. The 

 frost on the window-panes observes the same law, 

 and so does every crystallisation of water, where it 

 has scope to arrange itself in accordance with its own 

 geometry. But this law of crystallisation gives to 

 snow and ice their mechanical properties, and is con 

 nected with a multitude of adjustments of water in a 



