3o6 THE ORIGIN OF LIFE 



vast edifice which they laboured to erect. New 

 observations are made only by those who are on 

 the alert. It was Pasteur, if we remember rightly, 

 who said that " in the great field of observation 

 chance only favours those who are prepared." 

 There is a tendency amongst would-be critics to 

 distrust, and even to discourage, these natural 

 flights of the speculative mind, quite forgetting 

 that in science creative and destructive thought 

 are partners, allies in the same field. 



The idea, however inconclusive in its present form, 

 that the chemical atoms of which matter is com- 

 posed are built up of electrons of one type, that 

 matter is electricity, is, notwithstanding many diflB.- 

 culties, slowly but surely gaining ground. Beautiful 

 models have been devised by Thomson to illustrate 

 the structure of the atom and the way in which 

 it may be supposed to be built up of electrons. 

 The agreement, on the whole, with the periodic 

 law, notwithstanding some exceptions, is certainly 

 remarkable. There are some gaps which still 

 remain to be bridged over. The models are con- 

 fined to two dimensions, and may be supposed 

 to lose much of their value on that account ; 

 but the analogy is so striking that, approximately 

 at least, it seems possible, if not also probable, that 

 the atom is itself flat and two-dimensional ! Like 

 little solar systems the rotations of each group would 

 be merely in one plane, and, like a top, spin with 

 rigidity and stability. Those critics whose know- 

 ledge is but second-hand, not being actively engaged 



