832 COSMIC PHILOSOPHY. [pt.il 



of more than 200 degrees below the zero of Fahrenheit, and 

 under a pressure so enormous as to shorten the steel piston 

 employed, oxygen remains gaseous ; and hydrogen and 

 nitrogen display a like obstinate molectilar mobility. Now, 

 of these four substances, carbon has the most highly com- 

 pounded molecule. In chemical language, the molecule of 

 carbon is tetratomic, while that of nitrogen is triatomic, that 

 of oxygen is diatomic, and that of hydrogen is monatomic. 

 That is to say, a single molecule of carbon will hold in com- 

 bination two molecules of oxygen, or four molecules of 

 hydrogen ; while three molecules of carbon will hold four 

 molecules of nitrogen. It follows that in any organic com- 

 pound, made up of the four above-named elements, a large 

 number of molecules, possessing enormous mobility, must be 

 held in combination by a relatively small number of molecules 

 possessing little mobility. And, since it is a corollary from 

 the persistence of force that the sum of properties belonging 

 to any compound must be the resultant of the properties 

 belonging to its constituent elements, it follows that a com- 

 pound molecule of organic matter must concentrate a great 

 amount of motion in a small space. If, for example, we 

 suppose ten molecules of carbon united with four of oxygen, 

 eight of hydrogen, and eight of nitrogen, we shall have a 

 compound in which ten immobile molecules hold together 

 twenty highly mobile molecules. And while the twenty 

 retain much of their mobility, the immobile ten prevent this 

 mobility from disintegrating the compound. 



Here we have reached a most beautiful and marvellous 

 truth. If we now proceed, secondly, to follow out the way in 

 which these quantitative relations are compounded, the case 

 will appear still more remarkable. Instead of tens and 

 twenties, we have to deal with hundreds of integrated 

 molecules. Instead of such hypothetical cases as the one 

 just cited, we have to contemplate real cases like the follow- 

 ing. A single molecule of albumen is built up of twa 



