NATURAL HISTORY OF CREATION. 141 



his many doings upon the surface of the earth, may occa- 

 sionally, without his being aware of it, or otherwise, 

 act as an instrument in preparing the association of con- 

 ditions under Mhich the creative laws work; and perhaps 

 some instances of his having acted as such an instrument 

 have actually occurred in our own time. 



I allude, of course, to the experiments conducted a 

 few years ago by Mr. Crosse, which seemed to result in 

 the production of a heretofore unknown species of insect 

 in considerable numbers. Various causes have prevented 

 these experiments and their results from receiving candid 

 treatment, but they may perhaps be yet found to have 

 opened up a new and most interesting chapter of nature's 

 mysteries. Mr. Crosse was pursuing some experiments 

 in crystallisation, causing a powerful voltaic battery to 

 operate upon a saturated solution of silicate of potash, 

 when the insects unexpectedly made their appearance. 

 He afterwards tried nitrate of copper, which is a deadly 

 poison, and from that fluid also did live insects emerge. 

 Discouraged by the reception of his experiments, Mr. 

 Crosse soon discontinued them ; but they were some 

 years after pursued by Mr. Weekes, of Sandwich, with 

 precisely the same results. This gentleman, besides 

 trying the first of the above substances, employed ferro- 

 cyanet of potash, on account of its containing a larger 

 proportion of carbon, the principal element of organic 

 bodies ; and from this substance the insects were pro- 

 duced in increased numbers. A few weeks sufficed for 

 this experiment, with the powerful battery of Mr. 

 Crosse ; but the first attempts of Mr. Weekes required 

 about eleven months, a ground of presumption in itself 

 that the electricity was chiefly concerned in the pheno- 

 menon. The changes underg(me by the fluid operated 

 upon, were in both cases remarkable, and nearly alike. 



