SCIENTIFIC MA TERIALISM 



57 



pervading. It is in the ground on which 

 you tread, in the water you drink, in the 

 air you breathe. Incipient life, as it 

 were, manifests itself throughout the 

 whole of what we call inorganic nature. 



The forms of the minerals resulting 

 from this play of polar forces are various, 

 and exhibit different degrees of com- 

 plexity. Men of science avail themselves 

 of all possible means of exploring their 

 molecular architecture. For this purpose 

 they employ in turn, as agents of explora- 

 tion, light, heat, magnetism, electricity, 

 and sound. Polarised light is especially 

 useful and powerful here. A beam of 

 such light, when sent in among the 

 molecules of a crystal, is acted on by 

 them, and from this action we infer with 

 more or less clearness the manner in 

 which the molecules are arranged. That 

 differences, for example, exist between 

 the inner structure of rock-salt and that 

 of crystallised sugar or sugar-candy is 

 thus strikingly revealed. These actions 

 often display themselves in chromatic 

 phenomena of great splendour, the play 

 of molecular force being so regulated as 

 to cause the removal of some of the 

 coloured constituents of white light, 

 while others are left with increased 

 intensity behind. 



And now let us pass from what we 

 are accustomed to regard as a dead 

 mineral, to a living grain of corn. When 

 this is examined by polarised light, 

 chromatic phenomena similar to those 

 noticed in crystals are observed. And 

 why? Because the architecture of the 

 grain resembles that of the crystal. In 

 the grain also the molecules are set in 

 definite positions, and in accordance 

 with their arrangement they act upon 

 the light. But what has built together 

 the molecules of the corn ? Regarding 

 crystalline architecture, I have already 

 said that you may, if you please, consider 

 the atoms and molecules to be placed 

 in position by a Power external to them- 

 selves. The same hypothesis is open to 

 you now. But if in the case of crystals 

 you have rejected this notion of an 

 external architect, I think you are bound 



I to reject it in the case of the grain, and 



' to conclude that the molecules of the 



| corn, also, are posited by the forces with 



which they act upon each other. It 



would be poor philosophy to invoke an 



; external agent in the one case, and to 



reject it in the other. 



Instead of cutting our grain of corn 

 ! into slices and subjecting it to the action 

 | of polarised light, let us place it in the 

 ; earth, and subject it to a certain degree 

 of warmth. In other words, let the 

 molecules, both of the corn and of the 

 I surrounding earth, be kept in that state 

 ! of agitation which we call heat. Under 

 I these circumstances, the grain and the 

 j substances which surround it interact, 

 I and a definite molecular architecture is 

 I the result. A bud is formed ; this bud 

 i reaches the surface, where it is exposed 

 i to the sun's rays, which are also to be 

 j regarded as a kind of vibratory motion. 

 ! And as the motion of common heat, 

 j with which the grain and the substances 

 ! surrounding it were first endowed, enabled 

 the grain and these substances to exer- 

 cise their mutual attractions and repul- 

 sions, and thus to coalesce in definite 

 forms, so the specific motion of the sun's 

 rays now enables the green bud to feed 

 upon the carbonic acid and the aqueous 

 vapour of the air. The bud appropriates 

 those constituents of both for which it 

 has an elective attraction, and permits 

 j the other constituent to return to the 

 j atmosphere. Thus the architecture is 

 carried on. Forces are active at the 

 root, forces are active in the blade, the 

 matter of the air and the matter of the 

 j atmosphere are drawn upon, and the 

 i plant augments in size. We have in 

 succession the stalk, the ear, the full 

 corn in the ear ; the cycle of molecular 

 action being completed by the produc- 

 tion of grains similar to that with which 

 the process began. 



Now there is nothing in this process 



which necessarily eludes the conceptive 



or. imagining power of the human mind. 



j An intellect the same in kind as our 



j own would, if only sufficiently expanded, 



j be able to follow the whole process from 



