12 



DESIGN IN NATURE 



be adopted the cosmogony will consist of spiral and other matter in a perpetual state of flux ; the matter circu- 

 lating in time and space and being free to combine and resolve itself in obedience to natural laws. The view here 

 propounded is in harmony with creation as a progressive work, and also in accordance with the ceaseless changes 

 witnessed in the inorganic and organic kingdoms. It further secures to all things a beginning, a career, and an 

 end, and opportunities of renewal.-^ 



The nebular spiral arrangements were first figured by Lord Kosse. They were subsequently very successfully 

 photographed by Dr. Isaac Roberts in his interesting work, " Stars, Star-clusters, and Nebulse." 



The origin of the spiral movements in inorganic matter is involved in great obscurity. In whirlwinds, in 



whirlpools, and in nebulae it is usually attributed to two currents meeting at a 

 certain angle and clashing, with the result that the colliding matter is obliquely 

 deflected and made to assume a spiral course. Such colliding is, however, 

 not necessary. It suffices if matter be allowed to flow into empty spaces, or 

 if it be subjected to varying pressure, or exposed to attractions from nearly, 

 but not quite, opposite points. 



The colliding, clashing theory of the origin of spiral movements is negatived 

 by the spiral movements occurring in organic matter, to wit, in the fluids and 

 solids of plants and animals. 



The spiral movements occurring in the organic kingdom, as I show further 

 on, are essentially identical with those occurring in the inorganic kingdom. The 

 spiral movements in plants and animals are not, however, exposed to collisions 

 of any kind. On the contrary, they manifest themselves without the least 

 commotion, and under circumstances which preclude the possibihty of collisions. 

 Thus, they make their appearance in the growing stems, leaves, flowers, fruit, 

 and tendrils of plants ; in the developing reproductive cells of certain plants 

 and animals ; in growing shells, horns, and teeth ; in the movements of the 

 heart of the bird and mammal in the circulation ; and in the movements of 

 the muscles, bones, and joints of the higher animals in the several kinds of 

 locomotion. 



The origin of spiral movements in the inorganic and organic kingdoms by 

 no means lies on the surface. 



From a wide survey of the subject I am disposed to regard them as 



predetermined, inherent, fundamental movements. This belief is favoured by 



the new electric theory of matter, according to which the atom is divisible into 



innumerable sub-atoms, corpuscles, or electrons ; these sub-atoms or electrons 



forming a system of bodies not unlike the sun and the planets, there being according to the most recondite physicists 



a kind of " planetary theory of the atom." 



According to the electrical theory of matter, the sub-atoms, corpuscles, or electrons are subject to various kinds 

 of strain, are in a constant state of excitement, and in a perpetual whirl of movement, spiral or otherwise ; the 

 movements being as important as the matter moving. 



The electric theory of matter, it will be observed, puts spiral and other movements in the forefront of cosmic 

 arrangements. 



As originally pointed out by Professor Faraday, all things are electric. He divided the several substances, 

 inanimate and animate, into two great classes, namely, the paramagnetic and the diamagnetic, according as they 

 arrange themselves in a line with or across the poles of a horseshoe magnet, as indicated by the magnetic needle. 



Fii.;. 4. — In Fig. 4 the liquid is seen 

 in plane, and the corrugated edges show 

 wliere the free ether is "ri]ipling" or 

 flowing up from below and through the 

 fluid (Hovenden). 



Fic;. 5. — Diagram showing section of a 

 vortex ring in its lirst stage. The arrows 

 indicate the direction of the motion of 

 the molecules (Hovenden). 



' Since writing the foregoing, I find Pi-ofessor Ernst Haeckel has expressed a somewhat similar belief as regards the making and the unmaking 

 of the heavenly bodies. He says : " The universe or the Cosmos is eternal, infinite, and illimitable. Its substance, with its two attribut^ 

 (matter and energy), fills infinite space, and is in eternal motion. This motion nins on through infinite time, as an unbroken develoiiment 

 with a periodic change from life to death, from evolution to devolution. . . . While the rotating masses slowly move towards their destruction or 

 dissolution in one part of space, others are springing into new life and development in other quarters of the Universe " (" Riddle of the Universe " 

 English edition, 1902, p. 5). 



Dr. Isaac Roberts, F.R.S., in 1899 enunciated practically the same views. Leaving out of consideration the origin of matter itself and 

 beginning at the epoch of re-condriicliun, he summarises the order of stellar evolution as under : — 



1. Dark or light aggregations of matter in globular, cometio, meteoritic, or dust-like form, and in gaseous clouds scattered about isolated 

 in space. ' ' 



2. Collisions between any two or more of such bodies or aggregations. 



3. Re-combination of the materials after collision into nebulfe, mostly of the spiral type, and then into stars. 



4. Arrival again at the epoch of maturity. 



Star 



5. Decay, and then return to the epoch of quiescence preparatory to undergoing another cycle of wreckage and of re-constitution ("Stars 

 -clusters, and Xcbuls," vol. ii., p. 178). ' 



