22 THOUGHTS ON NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 
tion of thought, and we think that it is hotter. As a result 
of the sensation of thought, we think, or have the sensation 
that we are; we cannot think that we are not. 
Freely moving matter is free; all its temporary bonds are 
doomed to destruction. Thought, being the product of freely 
moving matter, must also be free. Efforts have been made 
to bind and tame it, but all the petty efforts of man to 
confine Nature end in time in failure; she rends and con- 
sumes the bonds in the majesty of her progress. Free thought, 
by its clashing and warring, speeds thought to greater 
brilliance, or cools it to more tempered and exact argument, 
and is beneficial. Even the incoherent ravings of a poor 
lunatic have their uses if they drive us, as they should, to a 
close scientific study of their causes, in order that the disorder 
may be alleviated or abolished. Nature is greater than we, 
her puny product. 
The master key to the whole subject is material motion. 
Minor keys are: 1. The speed of material portions; 2. Like 
forces, with like matter, produce like results. The slightest 
variation in force or speed, or arrangement of matter, may 
give a tendency to variation in results; and this, carried far 
enough, accounts for the variation in individuals and species. 
Darwin’s work dealt more with the outward manifestation, 
this deals with the material power, in the form of material 
motion. 
It has been previously stated that electricity and 
magnetism are material motion in special forms or modes, 
and only in operation when material motion takes those 
forms or modes. Lightning is electricity. It is admitted 
that lghtning takes the line of least resistance, as any 
physical force will do. This means that lightning follows 
the path of the best conducting material, and that it is 
surrounded by matter of less conductivity, it is insulated. 
