THE FUTURE OF ALCHEMY. 607 



And here we may ask : " Is the distinction between that which is 

 living and that which is not — between the organic and the inorganic 

 worlds around us — properly drawn? " If the changes undergone by 

 the forms of both are due to the same causes, wherein lies their differ- 

 ence ? Both forms are capable of assimilating material from without ; 

 the organic by nourishment, the inorganic directly, as when a crystal 

 grows by the assimilation of material from a solution in which it is 

 placed. Both also are capable of producing offspring — at least by 

 division if not by sexual genesis. Are we then justified in assuming 

 the gap of distinction between these two orders of existence to be as 

 wide and deep as it is generally considered ? Life is the gradual modi- 

 fication of material forms by the action of physical forces ; the con- 

 tinuity in time of the changes thus wrought ; the competition of the 

 forms thus evolved. It is the projection of the past into the future. 

 It is the persistence of history. 



And we may well question whether it were not better to extend 

 our idea of life. Even if that wide gap which we imagine to open be- 

 tween the organic and the inorganic does exist, we may still ask: " Is 

 the organic form the only living one, and the inorganic form so abso- 

 lutely dead ; or do they not rather both constitute forms of life radi- 

 cally and polarily opposed — vast alternate generations of existence, 

 majestic in their mystery ? " The power which fashioned this earth 

 wrote not only upon the bark of the tree and the brow of man, but 

 also upon the cold and passionless rock and the wide expanse of the 

 deep, blue sea, their history. That which is seemingly so inanimate, 

 as well as that which throbs with a warm consciousness of being, 

 obeys the commanding influences of the past, and transmits them 

 to the future. The biologist and the geologist have read the story ; 

 where they have not — the letters await but the riper wisdom of the yet 

 unborn sage. 



But the chemist has not yet acquired a knowledge of his historic 

 alphabet. To him specific forms of matter are still immutable, unva- 

 rying, constant. He knows naught of differences wrought by the in- 

 fluences of the past, or of their transmission to the future. He is not 

 aware of a competition or struggle for existence taking place between 

 individual and specific forms of matter. The idea that substances, as 

 we find them, are the result of a process of natural selection has been 

 expressed, but it is as yet unsupported by experiment or interpretation 

 of facts observed. 



But, where a natural selection takes place, artificial selection is also 

 possible ; and, when chemistry shall develop before us the spectrum 

 of the law of inorganic creation, the artistic spirit will seize upon the 

 individual colors of truth, and once more endeavor to paint the image 

 of the chemical ideal. The recognition of the law of evolution com- 

 pels the acceptance of the inexorable conclusion that the competition 

 of races must, in the course of infinite ages, inevitably lead to the ab- 



