110 Microscopic Crystals. 



their production are but very imperfectly understood. We are 

 told that the arborescent forms assumed by hoar-frost are 

 the result of markings of the surfaces on which it is deposited. 

 Still, though such markings do influence the particular form 

 assumed, they do not impress upon the crystals the disposition 

 to follow curved lines and mimic the forms of vegetable life. 

 We seem here to be on the confines of the organic and inor- 

 ganic worlds. That the forces which govern both are identical, 

 we are led, by the progress of science, each day to believe more 

 strongly. That " vital force " itself will be found one day to 

 be the simple result of more elementary forces — heat, light, 

 and so forth — we can scarcely doubt. At present the term 

 " vital force *' is a mere cloak for our ignorance. To use the 

 words of a contributor to the Header (Oct. 29, 1864), " It is the 

 compounding in the organic world of forces that belong equally 

 to the inorganic that constitutes the mystery and the miracle 

 of vitality. Every portion of every animal body may be re- 

 duced to purely inorganic matter. A perfect reversal of this 

 process of reduction would carry us from the inorganic to the 

 organic ; and such a reversal is at least conceivable. The ten- 

 dency of modern science is to break down the wall of partition 

 between the organic and inorganic, and to reduce both to the 

 operation of forces which are the same in kind, but whose com- 

 binations differ in complexity. The mode in which these com- 

 binations have been brought about is a perfectly legitimate 

 subject of scientific speculation, and in this we will here so 

 far indulge as to ask a single speculative question. It is 

 generally supposed that our earth once belonged to the sun, 

 from which it was detached in a molten condition. Hence 

 arises the question, ' Did that incandescent world contain 

 latent within itself the elements of life?' Or, supposing a 

 planet carved from our present sun, and set spinning round him 

 at the distance of our earth, would one of the consequences of 

 its refrigeration be the development of organic forms ? Struc- 

 tural forces certainly lie latent in the molten mass, whether or 

 not those forces, reach to the extent of forming a plant or an 

 animal. All the marvels of crystalline force, all those wonderful 

 branching frost-ferns which cover our window panes on a frosty 

 morning, the exquisite molecular architecture which is now 

 known to belong to the ice of our frozen lakes, all this e con- 

 structiveness ' lies latent in an amorphous drop of water, and 

 comes into play when the water is sufficiently cooled. And 

 who will set limits to the possible play of molecular forces in 

 the cooling of a planet ? " But even if we admit the soundness 

 of these speculations, we must still look further backwards to 

 " one Great First Cause," by whom are all things, and for whose 

 pleasure " they are and were created." 



