228 ( I 4 ) 



by the production of grains similar to that with which 

 the process began. 



Now there is nothing in this process which necessarily 

 eludes the power of mind as we know it. An intellect 

 the same kind as our own, would, if only sufficiently ex- 

 panded, be able to follow the whole process from begin- 

 ning to end. No entirely new intellectual faculty would 

 be needed for this purpose. The duly expanded mind 

 would see in the process and its consummation an in- 

 stance of the play of molecular force. It would see 

 every molecule placed in its position by the specific at- 

 tractions and repulsions exerted between it and other 

 molecules. Nay, given the grain and its environment, 

 an intellect the same in kind as our own, but sufficiently 

 expanded, might trace out d priori every step of the pro- 

 cess, and by the application of mechanical principles 

 would be able to demonstrate that the cycle of actions 

 must end, as it is seen to end, in the reproduction of 

 forms like that with which the operation began. A sim- 

 ilar necessity rules here to that which rules the planets 

 in their circuits round the sun. 



You will notice that I am stating my truth strongly, 

 as at the beginning we agreed it should be stated. But 

 I must go still further, and affirm that in the eye of 

 science the animal body is just as much the product of 

 molecular force as the stalk and ear of corn, or as the 

 crystal of salt or sugar. Many of its parts are obviously 

 mechanical. Take the human heart, for example, with 

 its exquisite system of valves, or take the eye or the 

 hand. Animal heat, moreover, is the same in kind as 

 the heat of a fire, being produced by the same chemical 

 process. Animal motion, too, is as directly derived 

 from the food of the animal, as the motion of Treve- 



