78 TWO NEW WORLDS 



those "mighty atoms," to pass another thousand 

 years in thraldom. When the switch is turned 

 in our world, a new cycle of evolution begins 

 among the atoms of the wire. The infra-man 

 finds a new force and purpose at work among 

 the roving infra- planets. Whenever they are free, 

 they all tend to move towards one particular part 

 of the sky, being driven by the push of other infra- 

 planets intruded into the system from behind. 

 While the infra-suns (atoms) keep fairly well 

 within their allotted spaces, the electrons find 

 their way down the slope of potential, thread ing 

 their way among the atoms by fits and starts, and 

 making up what we call the electron current or 

 negative current. 



3. Life from Within. We have no reason to 

 believe that organic matter, such as protoplasm, 

 has a structure essentially different from inorganic 

 matter. There is no doubt less stability, less 

 definiteness of structure, a more rapid transforma- 

 tion of molecules, a continual binding and unbind- 

 ing of electrons. There is, in short, more chaos 

 than cosmos. It is just as if chemical transforma- 

 tions in organised matter were too multifarious and 

 rapid to allow any part of it to settle down to 

 a definite chemical composition. Those portions 

 which are most alive show the greatest chemical 

 instability, the greatest lack of definite chemical 

 properties. Carbon and nitrogen, two elements 



