THE BREATH OF LIFE 



The atoms of different bodies are all alike, and 

 presumably each holds the same amount of electric 

 energy. One wonders, then, how the order in which 

 they are arranged can affect them so widely as to 

 produce bodies so unlike as, say, alcohol and ether. 

 This brings before us again the mystery of chemical 

 arrangement or combination, so different from any- 

 thing we know among tangible bodies. It seems to 

 imply that each atom has its own individuality. 

 Mix up a lot of pebbles together, and the result 

 would be hardly affected by the order of the ar- 

 rangement, but mix up a lot of people, and the re- 

 sult would be greatly affected by the fact of who is 

 elbowing who. It seems the same among the mys- 

 terious atoms, as if some complemented or stimu- 

 lated those next them, or had an opposite effect. 

 But can we think of the atoms in a chemical com- 

 pound as being next one another, or merely in 

 juxtaposition? Do we not rather have to think of 

 them as identified with one another to an extent 

 that has no parallel in the world of ponderable 

 bodies? A kind of sympathy or affinity makes them 

 one in a sense that we only see realized among living 

 beings. 



Chemical activity is the first step from physical 

 activity to vital activity, but the last step is taken 

 rarely — the other two are universal. Chemical 

 changes involve the atom. What do vital changes 

 involve? We do not know. We can easily bring 



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