36 THE NEANDERTHAL SKULL. 



tained, and presenting a suitable nidus, or 

 receptacle for the accumulation of chaotic 

 matter, an immense deposit of it would be 

 gradually accumulated, after which the 

 filament of fire being produced in the 

 chaotic mass by an idiosyncrasy, or self- 

 formed habit analogous to fermentation, 

 explosions would take place, suns would 

 be shot from the central chaos, planets 

 from suns, and satellites from planets. In 

 this state of things the filament of organi- 

 zation would begin to exert itself in those 

 independent masses which in proportion 

 to their bulk would expose the greatest 

 surface to light and heat. This filament, 

 after an infinite series of ages, would begin 

 to ramify, and its oviparous offspring 

 would diversify their former habits, so as 

 to accommodate themselves to their various 

 incunabula which nature had prepared for 

 them. Upon this view of things, it seems 

 highly probable that the first efforts of 

 nature terminated in the production of 

 vegetables, and that these being abandoned 

 to their own energies by degrees, detached 



