522 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 
Still, a formative poiver has obviously here come into 
play which did not manifest itself in either the liquid or 
the vapor. The question now is, was not the power 
" potential '.' fhboth of them, requiring only the proper con- 
ditions of temperature to bring it into action? Again I 
answer for myself in the affirmative. I am, however, quite 
willing to discuss with Mr. Martineau the alternative hy- 
pothesis, that an imponderable formative soul unites itself 
with the substance after its escape from the liquid state. 
If he should espouse this hypothesis, then I should demand 
of him an immediate exercise of that Vortellungs- 
fahigkeit, with which, in my efforts to think clearly, I can 
never dispense. I should ask, at what moment did the 
soul come in? Did it enter at once or by degrees; perfect 
from the first, or growing and perfecting itself contem- 
poraneously with its own handiwork? I should also ask 
whether it is localized or diffused? Does it move about as 
a lonely builder, putting the bits of solid water in their 
places as soon as the proper temperature has set in? or is 
it distributed through the entire mass of the crystal? If the 
latter, then the soul has the shape of the crystal; but if the 
former, then I should inquire after its shape. Has it legs 
or arms? If not, I would ask it to be made clear to me how 
a thing without these appliances can act so perfectly the 
part of a builder? (I insist on definition, and ask unusual 
questions, if haply I might thereby banish unmeaning 
words.) What were the condition and residence of the 
soul before it joined the crystal? What becomes of it 
when the crystal is dissolved? Why should a particular 
temperature be needed before it can exercise its vocation? 
Finally, is the problem before us in any way simplified by 
the assumption of its existence? I think it probable that, 
after a full discussion of the question, Mr. Martineau 
would agree with me in ascribing the building power 
displayed in the crystal to the bits of water themselves. 
At all events, I should count upon his sympathy so far 
as to believe that he would consider any one unman- 
nerly who would denounce me for rejecting this notion 
of a separate soul, and for holding the snow-crystal to be 
"matter." 
But then what an astonishing addition is here made to 
the powers of matter! AVho would have dreamed, without 
actually seeing its work, that such a power was locked up 
