226 ( I 2 ) 



manifests itself throughout the whole of what we call 

 inorganic nature. 



The forms of minerals resulting from this play of 

 forces are various, and exhibit different degrees of com- 

 plexity. Men of science avail themselves of all possible 

 means of exploring this moleculer architecture. For 

 this purpose they employ in turn as agents of explora- 

 tion, light, heat, magnetism, electricity, and sound. 

 Polarized light is especially useful and powerful here. 

 A beam of such light, when sent in among the mole- 

 cules of a crystal, is acted on by them, and from this ac- 

 tion we infer with more or less of clearness the manner 

 in which the molecules are arranged. The difference, 

 for example, between the inner structure of a plate of 

 rock-salt and a plate of crystalized sugar or sugar-candy 

 is thus strikingly revealed. These differences may be 

 made to display themselves in phenomena of color of 

 great splendor, the play of molecular force being so reg- 

 ulated as to remove certain of the colored constituents 

 of white light, and to leave others with increased inten- 

 sity 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 phe- 

 nomena similar to those noticed in crystals are observed. 

 And why ? Because the architecture of the grain re- 

 sembles in some degree the architecture of the crystal. 

 In the corn the molecules are also set in definite posi- 

 tions, from which 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 position by a power external to themselves. 



