188 SUPER-ORGANIC EVOLUTION 



tornilla." This first attempt was followed by the 

 table of Mendeleef, which, as the reader will see 

 further on, is the revelation and hope that we shall 

 soon see the demonstration that those which are 

 now known under the name of simple bodies are 

 the evolution, the rhythmic development of one 

 single substance that, for example, which Crookes 

 indicates by the name of protilus, similar to what 

 is called protoplasm in the organic world. 



Note what A. Etard 1 says in reference to the 

 table of Mendeleef : 



"It is noticed that bodies are ingeniously dis- 

 tributed in a constant series, but in groups of 

 seven, forming vertical columns, I., II. , III., IV., 

 .... in which the elements present a maximum 

 of similarity, reproducing the classification in 

 families of Dumas : Fl, Cl, Br, I, etc. 



" Studying the bodies, following the order in 

 which they are placed in the vertical columns, one 

 observes that they are characterised by the forma- 

 tion of a typical oxide. The metals of the vertical 

 column I., for example, give the oxides of the type 

 R 2 O and are, following the order of said column, 

 Li 2 O, Na 2 O, K 2 O, Cu 2 O, Rb 2 O, Ag 2 O .... These 

 are the monatomic metals." 



The same thing happens in the other columns, in 

 which all the metals included in each one of them 



1 A. Etard, Nouvelles theories chimiques. 



