102 THE CREATION OF MATTER 



They say : " A divine mind is in all our work, and on our 

 every atom. The Only Wise made us, and clothed us 

 with ordered potencies and adjusted relationships, and all 

 our fitnesses for the work we do, the structures we build 

 up, and the life we yield. We are His servants, the 

 work of His hand." 



Haeckel puts forward what he calls his great carbon 



theory of life. He ascribes to this substance the chief 



potencies by which life is generated and the organisations 



of the world built up. Carbon he supposes to be so 



marvellously endowed as to be capable of quickening, 



moulding, and fashioning all things that are quickened, 



moulded, and fashioned. Carbon is the true fountain of 



vitality, and does all things that have been ascribed to a 



wonder-working God. Carbon is God. But if carbon be 



God there are gods many indeed. One atom of carbon 



would be impotent. It could accomplish nothing. It 



depends on the existence of another, and another, and 



others innumerable. It depends on finding them like 



itself, characterised by its own properties, possessing its 



own high endowments, by which it can work its wonders. 



It also depends on its finding materials with which to 



build, on its finding side by side with it, in its sphere 



and within range of its influence, atoms of oxygen, 



hydrogen, and nitrogen. Innumerable carbon atoms 



must exist, innumerable master-builders, and these must 



find the vastest quantities of three other substances, the 



vastest multitudes of individual atoms, and all and every 



one so measured and adjusted to themselves in many 



minutest respects, that they can lay hold of them, mould, 



and fashion, and build them up into complex forms, and 



in these give birth to life and its marvels. The amount 



of dependence of carbon in this work ascribed to it is 



enormous. Instead of being an entity absolutely in- 



