THE WONDER OF LIFE 



6 43 



the blue. May it not have been that the anima animans 

 has been with creation through and through, and from 

 first to last ? We think of the majestic order of the heavens 

 and the perfection of the dew-drop, of the extraordinary 

 surge of our whole solar system towards some unknown 

 goal, and of the internal ' life ' of crystals. We wonder 



FIG. 100. Rings formed by placing a drop of 80 per cent, silver 

 nitrate on a thin layer of 5-10 per cent . gelatine, which contains 

 about 0*1 percent, of potassium bichromate. The gelatine under 

 the drop is coloured red-brown, silver chromate being precipitated. 

 Outside that a dull, white margin is formed which spreads slowly 

 outwards. As the diffusion goes on the rings of similar precipitation 

 of silver chromate are formed at a little distance beyond the area of 

 uniform precipitation. (After Liesegang.) 



if Time has, after all, simply flowed over the opal and the 

 agate, and whether the beryl has garnered no fruits of 

 experience. A photograph of a zoophyte e.g. Sertularia 

 cupressina is extraordinarily like the beautiful dendritic 

 frescoes which imprisoned Manganese makes on the wall of 

 its cell ! To take another example, we admire the intricate 

 zonal structure of Liesegang's rings formed, for instance, 



