THE WONDER OF LIFE 643 



the blue. May it not have been that the anima animans 

 has been with creation through and through, and from 

 first to last ? We think of the majestic order of the heavens 

 and the perfection of the dew-drop, of the extraordinary 

 surge of our whole solar system towards some unknown 

 goal, and of the internal ' hfe ' of crystals. We wonder 



Fig. 100. — Rings formed by placing a drop of 80 per cent, silver 

 nitrate on a thin layer of 5-10 per cent. gelatine, which contains 

 about O'l percent, of potassium bichromate. The gelatine under 

 the drop is coloured red-brown, silver chromate being precipitated. 

 Outside that a dull, white margin is formed which spreads slowly 

 outwards. As the diffusion goes on the rings of similar precipitation 

 of silver chromate are formed at a little distance beyond the area of 

 uniform precipitation. {After Liesegang.) 



if Time has, after all, simply flowed over the opal and the 

 agate, and whether the beryl has garnered no fruits of 

 experience. A photograph of a zoophyte — e.g. Sertuktria 

 cupressina — ^is extraordinarily like the beautiful dendritic 

 frescoes which imprisoned Manganese makes on the wall of 

 its cell ! To take another example, we admire the intricate 

 zonal structure of Liesegang's rings — formed, for instance. 



