SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM. 115 



intangible molecules of carbonate of lime. This tendency 

 on the part of matter to organize itself, to grow into shape, 

 to assume definite forms in obedience to the definite action 

 of force, is, as I have said, all-pervading. It is in the 

 ground on which you tread, in the water you drink, in the 

 air you breathe. Incipient life, as it were, manifests itself 

 throughout the whole of what we call inorganic Nature. 



The forms of the minerals resulting from this play of 

 polar forces are various, and exhibit different degrees of 

 complexity. Men of science avail themselves of all possible 

 means of exploring their molecular architecture. For this 

 purpose they employ in turn as agents of exploration, light, 

 heat, magnetism, electricity, and sound. Polarized light is 

 especially useful and powerful here. A beam of such light, 

 when sent in among the molecules of a crystal, is acted on 

 by them, and from this action we infer w T ith more or less of 

 clearness the manner in which the molecules are arranged. 

 That differences, for example, exist between the inner 

 structure of rock-salt and crystallized sugar or sugar-candy, 

 is thus strikingly revealed. These actions often display 

 themselves in chromatic phenomena of great splendor, the 

 play of molecular force being so regulated as to remove 

 some of the colored constituents of white light, and to leave 

 others with increased intensity behind. 



And now let us pass from what we are accustomed to 

 regard as a dead mineral to a living grain of corn. When 

 it is examined by polarized light, chromatic phenomena 

 similar to those noticed in crystals are observed. And 

 why ? Because the architecture of the grain resembles the 

 architecture of the crystal. In the grain also the molecules 

 are set in definite positions, and in accordance with their 

 arrangement they act upon the light. But what has built 

 together the molecules of the corn ? I have already said 

 regarding crystalline architecture that you may, if you 

 please, consider the atoms and molecules to be placed in 



