THE ACTIVE FORCES OF LIVING ORGANISMS 5 



The bare statement of such a theory as that of Queries 

 vortex atoms brmgs a host of questions to one's lips, guesses. 

 If this be true of the atom, is it not true of the world 

 also ? Is not a world a collection of atoms, just as a 

 crowd is a collection of individuals ? and does not a 

 crowd behave in a general way, though perhaps with 

 greater intensity, as a single individual does ? If 

 atoms are mere collections of ether, is their perma- 

 nence relative or absolute ? Are we right in supposing 

 them to be eternal, to have had no beginning and to 

 have no end ? Or, on the other hand, are they the 

 result of forces in the ether itself — forces acting 

 within a given space, it may be, for trillions of years, 

 and yet not eternal in that space ? Can we attribute 

 eternity to atoms and not to worlds? Can we take 

 such a stand positively, remembering that vortex 

 movement is but one phase of motion or force ? If 

 the force implied in the vortex movement of atoms 

 be really and solely intrinsic, how are we to explain 

 the fact that all ether does not resolve itself into 

 atoms ? May we not conclude that in every sufficiently 

 great volume of ether there is a tendency towards the 

 formation of a focus due to more or less equal pressure 

 on all sides ? May we not suppose that the rotational 

 movements of stars and atoms alike are the result, in 

 the first instance, of pressure of this kind ? Motion, 

 within certain limits, is, we may assume, the property 

 of infinitely divided matter, such as the ether. All 

 that is wanted, therefore, is a certain condition of 

 things which shall give that motion direction. The 



