DEATH AND RESURRECTION. 101 



that chemical attraction could assert 

 itself. Regarded as a sun, the earth 

 was then dying and it entered upon the 

 chemical era. During this state the 

 elements combined with each other ac- 

 cording to general chemical laws into 

 such compounds as were the necessary 

 outcome of their atomic weights, 

 valence, and positive or negative quali- 

 ties. In this connection it is sufficient 

 to point out that these processes must 

 go on incessantly until compounds have 

 been formed in which the chemical 

 forces have reached equilibrium and 

 rest. In the case of our planet these 

 products formed the solid crust of the 

 earth, the primeval rock, the mineral 

 world, further water and finally air, 

 the oxygen and nitrogen of which may 

 be considered as remains of the ele- 

 ments. Furthermore, according to a 

 law known to science as that "of the 

 least resistance," chemical reactions 

 proceed from compounds which have 

 more energy to such as have less, 

 wherefore it follows that each product 



