MATTER AND Fd&CR. 3^1 
ing certain points for attack, round about those points the 
beam works silently, undoing the crystalline architecture, 
and reducing to the freedom of liquidity molecules which 
had been previously locked in a solid embrace. The 
liquefied spaces are rendered visible by strong illumination. 
Observe those six-petaled flowers breaking out over the 
white surface, and expanding in size as the action of the 
beam continues. These flowers are liquefied ice. Under 
the action of the heat the molecules of the crystals fall 
asunder, so as to leave behind them these exquisite forms, 
We have here a process of demolition which clearly reveals 
the reverse process of construction. In this fashion, and 
in strict accordance with this hexangular type, every ice 
molecule takes its place upon our ponds and lakes during 
the frosts of winter. To use the language of an American 
poet, " the atoms march in tune/' moving to the music of 
law, which thus renders the commonest substance in 
nature a miracle of beauty. 
It is the function of science, not as some think to divest 
this universe of its wonder and mystery, but, as in the case 
before us, to point out the wonder and the mystery of 
common things. Those fern-like forms, which on a frosty 
morning overspread your window panes, illustrate the 
action of the same force. Breathe upon such a pane 
before the fires are lighted, and reduce the solid crystalline 
film to the liquid condition; then watch its subsequent 
resolidification. You will see it all the better if you look 
at it through a common magnifying glass. After you have 
ceased breathing, the film, abandoned to the action of its 
own forces, appears for a moment to be alive. Lines of 
motion run through it; molecule closes with molecule, 
until finally the whole film passes from the state of liquidity, 
through this state of motion, to its final crystalline 
repose. 
I can show you something similar. Over a piece of per- 
fectly clean glass I pour a little water in which certain 
crystals have been dissolved. A film of the solution clings 
to the glass. By means of a microscope and a lamp, an 
image of the plate of glass is thrown upon the screen. 
The beam of the lamp, besides illuminating the glass, also 
heats it; evaporation sets in, and at a certain moment, when 
the solution has become supersaturated, splendid branches 
of crystal shoot out over the screen. A dozen square feet 
