MATERIAL UNIVERSE. 67 



CHAPTER V. 



WE have stated, that the heated waters became 

 a vast chemical laboratory ; and, as they passed 

 through every temperature, very gradually, from 

 a state of extremely rare vapor to the freezing 

 point, every chemical combination necessary to 

 the formation of all crystalline and vegetable 

 organization might then have taken place. Here 

 were all the materials which now exist in crys- 

 tals, as well as in vegetable and animal organi- 

 zation, in a state of solution ; the temperature 

 of the solvent being sufficiently uniform to com- 

 plete any organized form that might have been 

 required. Here, too, was a warm and humid 

 atmosphere, without winds, containing electricity, 



