436 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



homogeneous than any possible organic germ. What is it 

 that causes the liquid to cease contracting at 39 degrees 

 Fuhr., and to expand until it freezes? We have here a 

 structural process of which the microscope can take no 

 note, nor is it likely to do so by any conceivable extension 

 of its powers. Place distilled water in the field of an 

 electro-magnet, and bring a microscope to bear upon it. 

 Will any change be observed when the magnet is excited? 

 Absolutely none; and still profound and complex changes 

 have occurred. First of all, the particles of water have 

 been rendered diamagnetically polar; and secondly, in 

 virtue of the structure impressed upon it by the magnetic 

 whirl of its molecules, the liquid twists a ray of light in a 

 fashion perfectly determinate both as to quantity and 

 direction. 



Have the diamond, the amethyst, and the countless 

 other crystals formed in the laboratories of nature and of 

 man no structure? Assuredly they have; but what can the 

 microscope make of it? Nothing. It cannot be too 

 distinctly borne in mind that between the microscopic 

 limit, and the true molecular limit, there is room for 

 infinite permutations and combinations. It is in this 

 region that the poles of the atoms are arranged, that ten- 

 dency is given to their powers; so that when these poles 

 and powers have free action, proper stimulus, and a suitable 

 environment, they determine, first the germ, and after- 

 ward the complete organism. This first marshaling of the 

 atoms, on which all subsequent action depends, baffles a 

 keener power than that of the microscope. When duly 

 pondered, the complexity of the problem raises the doubt, 

 not of the power of our instrument, for that is nil, but 

 whether we ourselves possess the intellectual elements 

 which will ever enable us to grapple with the ultimate 

 structural energies of nature.* 



* " In using the expression 'one sort of living substance' I must 

 guard against being supposed to mean that any kind of living proto- 

 plasm is homogeneous. Hyaline though it may appear, we are not at 

 present able to assign any limit to its complexity of structure." 

 Burdon Sanderson, in the " British Medical Journal," January 16, 

 1875. 



We Lave here scientific insight, and its correlative caution. In fact 

 Dr. Sanderson's important researches are a continued illustration of 

 the position laid down above. 



