436 tiu&MWito ov SCIENCE. 
homogeneous than any possible organic germ. What is it 
that causes the liquid to cease contracting at 39 degrees 
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 conceivable 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 particles 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 ten- 
dency is given to their powers; so that when these poles 
and powers have free action, proper stimulus, and a suitable 
environment, they determine, first the germ, and after- 
ward the complete organism. This first marshaling of the 
atoms, on which all subsequent action depends, baffles a 
keener power than that of the microscope. When duly 
pondered, the complexity of the problem raises the doubt, 
not of the power of our instrument, for that is nil, but 
whether we ourselves possess the intellectual elements 
which will ever enable us to grapple with the ultimate 
structural energies of nature.* 
* " In using the expression 'one sort of living substance' I must 
guard against being supposed to mean that any kind of living proto- 
plasm is homogeneous. Hyaline though it may appear, we are not at 
present able to assign any limit to its complexity of structure." 
Burdon Sanderson, in the " British Medical Journal," January 16, 
1875. 
We have here scientific insight, and its correlative caution. In fact 
Dr. Sanderson's important researches are a continued illustration of 
the position laid down above. 
