252 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE 



play which did not manifest itself in either the liquid or 

 the vapor. The question now is, Was not the power 

 "potential" in both of them, requiring only the proper 

 conditions 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 

 hypothesis, 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 Yorstellungs- 

 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 

 contemporaneously 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 appli- 

 ances 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 condi- 

 tion 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 ques- 



