134 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE 



employ a phraseology calculated to mislead. When, for 

 example, the contents of a cell are described as perfectly 

 homogeneous or as absolutely structureless, because the 

 microscope fails to discover any structure; or when two 

 structures are pronounced to be without difference, be- 

 cause the microscope can discover none, then, I think, the 

 microscope begins to play a mischievous part. A Kttle 

 consideration will make it plain that the microscope can 

 have no voice in the question of germ structure. Distilled 

 water is more perfectly homogeneous than any possible 

 organic germ. What is it that causes the liquid to cease 

 contracting at 39 Fahr., and to expand until it freezes? 

 We have here a structural process of which the microscope 

 can take no note, nor is it likely to do so by any conceiv- 

 able extension of its powers. Place distilled water in the 

 field of an electro-magnet, and bring a microscope to bear 

 upon it. Will any change be observed when the magnet 

 is excited? Absolutely none; and still profound and 

 complex changes have occurred. First of all, the par- 

 ticles of water have been rendered diamagnetically polar; 

 and secondly, in virtue of the structure impressed upon 

 it by the magnetic whirl of its molecules, the liquid twists 

 a ray of light in a fashion perfectly determinate both as 

 to quantity and direction. 



Have the diamond, the amethyst, and the countless 

 other crystals formed in the laboratories of nature and of 

 man no structure? Assuredly they have; but what can 

 the microscope make of it? Nothing. It cannot be too 

 distinctly borne in mind that between the microscopic limit, 

 and the true molecular limit, there is room for infinite 

 permutations and combinations. It is in this region that 

 the poles of the atoms are arranged, that tendency is given 



