Atoms. 20 1 



the earth, the sun, the stars, as if the very mould 

 used here had been lent to Sirius, and passed 

 on through the constellations ? " 



For answer to this " ulterior question," we 

 shall find none more conclusive, none more 

 authoritative, than that of Professor Maxwell : 



" No theory of evolution can be formed to 

 account for the similarity of the molecules 

 throughout all time, and throughout the whole 

 region of the stellar universe, for evolution 

 necessarily implies continuous change, and the 

 molecule is incapable of growth or decay, of 

 generation or destruction." 



Again he says : " None of the processes of 

 Nature, since the time when Nature began, have 

 produced the slightest difference in the proper- 

 ties of any molecule. On the other hand, the 

 exact equality of each molecule to all others of 

 the same kind precludes the idea of its being 

 eternal and self-existent. We have reached 

 the utmost limit of our thinking faculties when 

 we have admitted that because matter cannot 

 be eternal and self "existent it must have been 

 created." 



"These molecules," he adds, "continue this 

 day as they were created, perfect in number, 

 and measure, and weight ; and from the inef- 

 faceable characters impressed on them we may 



