1883.] Recent Progress of Electricity . 463 
particles of different kinds of matter are free to mingle with 
each other, which, by means of heat, air, water, and other 
media, they can be made to do, he can make them change 
their arrangements, and subject them to such magical trans- 
formations as to become entirely new substances with 
appearance and qualities essentially different from their 
previous condition. That he is the immediate agent effecting 
this may be fairly inferred from the analogous work he is 
known to do on a larger and visible scale, as well as on 
other reliable scientific grounds. 
We can easily see the results and accompaniments of this 
great spirit’s working, in many of the phenomena of the 
world, but no man has ever yet seen him actually at work, or 
discovered his precise modus operandi. When God made 
himself known to Elijah, it was not in the tempest, the 
earthquake, or the fire, but in the still small voice in the 
desert. And so it is that the silent and secluded chamber 
of the scientist is also the most congenial and favoured place 
for contemplating the working of his great minister on the 
earth. By long-continued transformations of the kind 
described, he has changed, and is still changing, the aspeCt 
and condition of the surface of the world. And it is by a 
knowledge of these powers, and the wisdom to take 
advantage of them, that most important results, both to the 
initiated scientists and to the world in general, can be ob- 
tained. Out of three or four elementary substances, for 
instance, he can, under propitious circumstances, form avast 
number of things of very diverse qualities, adapted to enrich, 
sustain, and beautify the world and its inhabitants. Like a 
skilful general or a clever master of ceremonies, he can 
place his subjects (small and invisible to us as they are), in 
all manner of composite groups, and in every variety of 
arrangement ; and by his signal of command can make 
innumerable hosts of them embrace and coalesce so as to 
constitute new masses possessed of a character and qualities 
very different from those they had before, as well as from 
those of other groups composed of the same elements. 
Individuals previously harmless or benign he will some- 
times combine together so as to form a band of poisonous 
murderers. Awkward and spiritless dolts he can associate, 
pair, and arrange together in such a way as to develop in 
them high-spirited and estimable qualities. By selecting, 
drilling, and arranging a parcel of the most worthless and 
unattractive of things, he can turn out some of the most 
beautiful, useful, and valuable combinations that have in 
these times enriched the world. But besides the changes in 
