204 
through all time, and such, as far as can be traced, they exist 
to the furthest extremities of the universe. 
The laws of chemical combination do not seem to be taken 
into account by those who would fain make life a manifesta- 
tion of crystallizing action. A fresh proof of this meets me 
in the Address I have been considering. The Doctor speaks 
of “ a double conical or spindle-shaped radial lineation of the 
protoplasm, which, if we were inclined to speculate as to its 
nature, seemed almost as if it marked out the lines of molecular 
force acting in the organizing process / 5 
Molecular force acts only between atom and atom, and 
this speculation as to the lines of molecular force is as much 
at variance with all that we know of chemistry as is the notion 
of a spindle-shaped lineation resulting therefrom. All solid 
bodies are formed by thereuniouof molecules placed together. 
These moleculea.are like each other in the same body, but 
different from those of another body. The result is, in bodies 
susceptible of crystallization, their arranging themselves in 
their own peculiar form ; the crystals of sea salt, for instance, 
in the form of a cube, or some shape of which the cube is the 
basis, always in regular mathematical figures, although these 
may be obscured in manifestation.* 
Fig. 1. 
Transformation of the Cube into a regular octohedron. (Laurent, Precis 
de la Cristallographie.) 
The cube, which is the very symbol of stability, may be 
taken as the expression of all inorganic nature. It is fixed, 
unchangeable, self-contained, reaches forth to nothing beyond, 
owns no organizing power. Such as it is, such and no 
other (as far as science can see) it must be to eternity. 
Beauty in Creation. 
With the introduction of life comes in a completely new 
order of things. The structure of chemical compounds is 
entirely submitted to mathematical law; whilst, on the contrary, 
in organization mathematical law has been avoided. f Every 
* Cristallographie, Laurent, pp. 52-8, 25, &c. 
t Architecture du Monde des Atomes, p. 3. 
