66 FEAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



freedom of liquidity molecules which had been previ- 

 ously 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 demo- 

 lition which clearly reveals the reverse process of con- 

 struction. 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 re- 

 duce 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 com- 

 mon magnifying glass. After you have ceased breath- 

 ing, 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 



