SPECULATION. 63 



blishing an hypothesis which may illumine the path 

 of the physicist until he arrives at the demonstra- 

 tion of the physical origin of life. Since it is well 

 known that the infinitely minute particles of cosmic 

 vapour, of which by mere aggregation worlds are 

 formed, are diffused through space, is it not reason- 

 able to imagine that between these, perhaps sup- 

 porting them as well as separating them, is a subtle 

 animated vapour ? Heat, as is well known, causes a 

 re-arrangement of material particles, which may be 

 scattered or condensed according as the cosmic forces 

 operate upon them. This scattering or condensation 

 would occur at a different temperature in the case of 

 different particles, according of course to the original 

 properties of the molecules. Certain particles of the 

 cosmic vital steam, would, at a given temperature, 

 gyrate upwards and distribute themselves, while 

 others might approach one another and form a 

 vital crystal. This, growing by aggregation, might 

 become a spontaneous ovum, the product of evolution 

 and formifaction, containing potentially not only a 

 fully developed organism, but whole generations of 

 altering forms, every one of whose specific characters 

 might be denned at this very time by a sufficient 

 intelligence ! The rapid increase of physical energy 

 encourages the physicist in his attempts to forecast 

 the future, while it enables him to secure some frag- 

 ments of the real which, but for his successful efforts, 

 would have been for ever lost in the infinite void of 

 unfathomable nothingness. 



