THE BORDERLAND OF CHEMISTRY AND ELECTRICITY. 
225 
Mars is known to have ice caps and snow zones at the north and south 
poles, and long canals are traced across the surface of this planet, 
which are supposed to be the work of possibly more revolutionised and 
more intelligent beings than exist upon this earth. It evidently has 
an atmosphere, and is in the latter water stage condition. As far as 
can be seen, it is a planet more advanced than ours, as there are no 
high mountains apparent; denudation and shrinkage have rendered 
its surface in all probability comparatively flat. Hence the necessity 
of these canals. 
Jupiter seems to be a body less far advanced as regards world¬ 
making than the other planets, but here again there are traces of 
allied phenomena to those which exist as forces on our own earth. 
The question which is exercising the minds of many thinkers is— 
1 What is life V As life is so intimately mixed up with chemical 
action or regeneration, it therefore seems to be a pulsation. It 
exists everywhere and may be called—poor term though it is—the 
Eternal Ether—no beginning, no end ! 
The Bible contains a good deal of what we call science. It is 
poetical in its language, and therefore extremely difficult to understand 
and to sift actual facts from mere tradition, which have no doubt not 
lost by repetition. If the whole meaning is correct, as I take it, then 
God is life, life is everywhere and is eternal. We are a portion of that 
life, and therefore, in the poetical language of Scripture, we are the 
children of God. Anything happening to us must affect that life. We 
are even told that not a sparrow falls to the ground without the effect 
being felt. You begin with life on this world, and, as far as one can 
possibly see, you end with life. Death is but a transitory condition. 
I am not putting it from a religious point of view, nor am I by any 
means a parson. As a man evolutionises his life, so shall that 
life be fitted to occupy an environment or body in the next 
life. As scientific knowledge increases and teaches us to use our 
common senses in an intelligent manner so future generations 
will lead better lives, more in keeping with the great teaching of 
nature. Sir William Crookes almost repeats the old prophecy that 
swords shall be turned into plough-shares, for he has told you that, in 
the great future, as nitrogenous compounds in the ground are being 
exhausted in all our great wheat-growing countries, and that as nitrates 
must be obtained, and the nitrate bodies are being exhausted, so 
men’s attention will be more and more devoted to the tilling and 
manuring of the ground for producing the great staff of life. In the 
great struggle for existence men will be drawn together by one 
common feeling—the preservation of life on this earth. And science 
will be the cause of war ceasing, reciprocal trading between nations 
ultimately developing into one universal family upon the earth. 
Now, ladies and gentlemen, I thank you very much for your kind 
attention. I am afraid I have bored you upon one or two matters that 
I have been discussing to-night. I developed the idea of the subject- 
matter of this lecture, the title of which was suggested by Major 
Abdy, and I have done my best to show you in a short space of time 
certain scientific opinions connected with it. 
