CHEMISTRY OF THE EARTH 79 



high specialization or adaptation which is 

 seen with exquisite refinement and balance 

 in living organisms. 



CHAPTER IV 



CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS ON EARTH 



After the various forms of the atoms have 

 been forged in the mighty furnaces of the 

 suns, the differences in atomic structure so 

 imparted to them cause them to possess 

 specific dynamic properties varying from one 

 sort of atom to another. It is not to be 

 supposed that the constituent groups of 

 electrons forming an atom are at rest and 

 fixed ; but rather that each possesses the 

 properties of an infinitely small microcosmic 

 system with constituent groups of electrons 

 in vibrational or orbital movement in respect 

 to one another. The atom is in reality charac- 

 terized by the amount of energy it contains, 

 and is not to be looked upon as a dead 

 mass with fixed motionless structure. It is 

 necessary to insist upon this because the 

 chemical symbols by which the chemist 

 attempts to fix and visualize the atoms with 



