A Parasite of the Maggot 



and so on, right to the end of the row. In 

 less than no time, the capsizing wave spreads 

 and the handsome edifice is shattered. Order 

 is succeeded by disorder, I might almost say, 

 by death. What was needed thus to upset the 

 procession of friars? A very, very slight first 

 push, out of all proportion to the toppled 

 mass. 



Again, take a glass balloon containing a solu- 

 tion of alum supersaturated by heat. It is 

 closed, during the process of boiling, with a 

 cork and is then allowed to cool. The con- 

 tents remain fluid and limpid for an indefinite 

 period. Mobility is here represented by a 

 fant semblance of life. Remove the cork and 

 drop in a solid particle of alum, however 

 infinitesimal. Suddenly, the liquid thickens 

 into a solid lump and gives off heat. What 

 has happened? This: crystallization has set 

 in at the first contact of the particle of alum, 

 the centre of attraction; next, it has spread 

 bit by bit, each solidified particle producing 

 the solidification of those around. The im- 

 pulse comes from an atom ; the mass impelled 

 is boundless. The very small has revolution- 

 ized the immense. 



Of course, in the comparison between these 

 two instances and the effects of my injections, 



379 



