194 OF FORCE. 



directive force, inasmuch as they would thus be multiplied exceedingly; but then it is just 

 as unphilosophical to suppose, from all that we know of chemical combination, that there 

 is any more in it than change of elements, and that there is no directive power by which 

 organs can be developed, or form grow out of it. In the seed the first change in germina- 

 tion, as it is called, is chemical, it is only formative — the preparation of the elements ; 

 here the activities would cease were there no other force present: something must direct 

 and arrange the new molecules into characteristic cells, or the development of the indi- 

 vidual can not go on. Chemical force is confined to a single result, a new combination 

 of elements ; here this force ceases, except to repeat — its sphere is limited to the forma- 

 tion of products, and can not extend to the construction of organs, any more than in inor- 

 ganic beings, where crystals, not organs, are produced. We have to suppose, in the forma- 

 tion of crystals, a force unlike that of chemical force ; and it seems quite as necessary, in 

 organic beings, to suppose also that something must be superadded to chemical force, to 

 secure the development of an individual : hence I am unwilling to adopt the idea, that the 

 development and growth of a body is due only to chemical force. The error has been in 

 excluding chemical forces from organized beings, and refusing to admit this force in 

 vegetable and animal bodies. 



In all bodies there are at least three forces, a gravitating, a chemical, and an electrical 

 force, which is also called polarity ; no substance is destitute of them ; the first belongs only 

 to the mass, the two last belong to the molecules, and they slumber in the mass, but ac- 

 quire activity by division. We see this fact illustrated in a bar of iron; chemical force 

 slumbers in it; but divide it into its atoms, and its affinity for oxygen is energetic; a new 

 product is formed, consisting now of two elements placed in juxtaposition; they can not 

 penetrate each other, and we can not distinguish the form of the compound molecule, as 

 it is too minute for the most powerful microscope, and yet the microscope reveals the form, 

 of particles which are so small that four millions may lie in a cubic inch of space. We 

 might probably divide each of those individuals into one hundred distinguishable parts, 

 and yet we do not obtain the simple individual molecule, we see it yet in masses ; the 

 minuteness then of a single molecule is inconceivable, yet it is a body possessing extension 

 and impenetrability, an upper and a lower side. Forces which slumber are capable of 

 being aroused by heat, light and electricity ; even the presence of a third body is some- 

 times influential in exciting the activity of the forces of bodies. 



The distance through which chemical forces operate is imperceptible ; this seems to fol- 

 low from their extreme minuteness. 



Another force should be recognized in many cases, as it differs essentially from those which 

 have been noticed in the foregoing paragraphs. This is molecular force : it is action be- 

 tween molecules of the same kind. The change which results from it is simply aggrega- 

 tion of similar particles. If we mix carbonate of lime, silica and alumina, in extremely 

 fine powders, with sufficient water to form a paste the lime particles will combine and 

 form concretions, at different points, and will increase in size, in proportion to the quantity 



