THOUGHTS ON NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 63 



does cyanogen arise ? Here, organic chemistry pre- 

 sents the highly significant fact that cyanogen and 

 its compounds arise only in an incandescent heat 

 e.g., when the necessary nitrogenous compounds are 

 brought in contact with burning coal, or when the 

 mass is heated to a white heat. Accordingly, nothing 

 is clearer than the possibility of the formation of 

 cyanogen-compounds when the earth was wholly or 

 partially in a fiery or heated state. Moreover, 

 chemistry shows how the other essential constituents 

 of proteid, such as the hydrocarbons, the alcohol 

 radicals, etc., can likewise arise synthetically in heat. 

 It is seen how strongly and remarkably all facts of 

 chemistry point to fire as the force that has produced 

 by synthesis the constituents of proteid. In other 

 words, life is derived from fire, and its fundamental 

 conditions were laid down at a time when the earth 

 was still an incandescent ball. (Pfluger.) 



Life, be it said, is an arrangement of suitable 

 materials, by material motion, in suitable form, moving 

 within certain rates of speed. Too much speed, and 

 death ensues. Too little speed also causes death. 



Heat, light, colour, and sound are sensations 

 caused by material motion. * Thought is also a 

 sensation, arising from the same cause. Increased 

 motion causes the sensation of heat; the motion is 

 conveyed to the brain, giving the sensation of thought, 

 and we think that it is hotter. As a result of the 

 sensation of thought, we think, or have the sensation 

 that we are ; we cannot think that we are not. 



* Read Mental Evohttion in Animals and Man, by Romanes. 



