POLAR CONDITION OF MATT1CR. 265 



had covered it. In speaking of the vegetable world, 

 nd the remarkable processes by which the leaf, the 

 flower, and the fruit are produced, this sage brings for- 

 ward the fact of the diamagnetic character of the plant, 

 which has been, within the last two years, re- discovered; 

 and he refers the motions of the Sun-flower, the closing 

 of the Convolvulus, and the directions of the spiral, 

 formed by twining plants, to this particular influence. 



This does not appear as a mere speculation, a random 

 guess, but is the result of deductions from experiment 

 and observation. Kircher doubtless leaped over a wide 

 space to come to his conclusion ; but the result is valu- 

 able in a twofold sense. In the first it shows us that, 

 by neglecting a fact which is suggestive, we probably 

 lose a truth of great general application ; and secondly, 

 it proves to us, that by stepping beyond the point to 

 which inductive logic leads, and venturing on the wide 

 sea of hypothesis, we are liable to sacrifice the true to 

 the false, and thus to hinder the progress of human 

 knowledge. 



Magnetism, in one or other of its forms, is now proved 

 to be universal, and to its power we are disposed to refer 

 the structural conditions of all material bodies, botli 

 organic and inorganic. This view has scarcely yet been 

 recognised by philosophers ; but as we find a certain 

 law of polarity prevailing through every atom of created 

 matter, in whatever state it may be presented to our 

 senses, it is evident that every particle must have a polar 

 and directing influence upon the mass, and every co- 

 herent mass becomes thus only a larger and more 

 powerful representative of the magnetic unit. Thus we 

 see the speculation of Hansteen, that the sun is, to us,. 

 a magnetic centre, and that it is equally influenced by 

 the remoter suns of the universe,* is supported by 

 legitimate deductions from experiment. 



* " For these reasons it appears most natural to seek their 

 origin in the sun, the source of all living activity, and our con- 



