CHEMICAL COMBINATION 41 



build itself, having a readiness to be seen nowhere 

 besides. These we say are the stones to be wondered at. 

 These form a sight to kindle the soul and make it bum 

 with everlasting admiration. Admiration of what? of 

 the fruits of chance ? No ; of the fruits of mind, of its 

 glorious and inspiring triumphs. 



Matter is thus, through and through, to its least atom, 

 and in its lightest characteristic, pervaded by order 

 exquisitely perfect. But it may be said that the atomic 

 theory is only a theory. It holds the field. Amid the 

 advances of a century it works well and fruitfully. But 

 it may be modified. But it cannot be modified save in 

 the direction of order. Our argument does not depend 

 on any mere theory. It depends on phenomena actually 

 observed, on facts placed among the certainties of science. 

 It depends on the measured qualities and forces, on the 

 order and adjustment which are undeniably characteristic 

 of matter in its elements. The atomic theory may be 

 modified in some respects, but it cannot be so modified as 

 to exclude the wealth of order revealed in the laws of 

 chemical action and combination. The new or modified 

 theory must include these, and reveal some more wonder- 

 ful explanation of them than that now given, or reveal 

 some special point at which new light as to the mode of 

 action breaks forth. But the new will only show more 

 perfect action than the old, will only be a more perfect 

 representation of the mode in which the work is done. 

 In short, no variation in theory can touch even with the 

 lightest finger the contention that matter from its cir- 

 cumference to its core, from its most complex com- 

 binations to its simplest elements, is pervaded by the 

 most perfect order, is therefore crammed with signs of 

 mind and is its work. 



