EXPLAINS NATURAL PHILOSOPHY 161 



my theory, is that all visible things come from the 

 great invisible sea of electro-magnetism in which all 

 things exist, which he calls the imperceptible, and 

 are woven by magnetic attraction and the aggrega- 

 tion of billions of invisible atoms into visible forms. 

 Then, after they have run their course as visible 

 substances or organic forms, they are again dis- 

 solved back into this invisible sea of electro-mag- 

 netism. Just as water continually changes from 

 solid and liquid to invisible vapor and back again, 

 so nature continually renews and purifies her ever- 

 changing molecules but changeless atoms, and builds 

 up organic forms by magnetic attraction and dis- 

 solves them by electric repulsion. I contend that 

 matter could be gathered into visible form in no 

 other way than by electric attraction. 



The life period of all visible things is while magnetic 

 attraction has sway and is paramount ; the death or 

 dissolution period is when electric repulsion predom- 

 inates. The blossoms and fruitage of summer are 

 samples of magnetic life from the sun currents, while 

 the decay of winter is a sample of electric repulsion 

 and dissolution. 



The law of incessant change, he says, must be the 

 unifying principle which in its simplest form is "the 

 redistribution of matter and motion. ' ' Again he says : 

 "The progress from the most diffused and insensible 

 state to that of concentration and definition is 

 called evolution, and is attended by the dissipation 

 of motion and the integration of matter." This 

 I call the law of electric attraction. "The progress 

 from the form of definition to that of diffusion," 

 he says, "is called dissolution and is attended by 

 an absorption of motion and a disintegration 

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