Everywhere throughout our planet
we notice this tendency of the ulti-
mate particles of matter to run into
symmetric forms. The very mole-
cules seem instinct with a desire for
union and growth. How far does
this play of molecular power depend f
Does it give us the movement of the
sap in trees? Assuredly it does. Does
it give us in ourselves the warmth
of the body and the circulation of
the blood, and all that thereon de-
I)end ? From the processes of crys-
tallisatiou which you have just seen,
you pass by almost imperceptible
gradations to the lowest vegetable
organisms, and from these through
higher ones up to the highest. One
class of thinkers regard the observed
advance from the crystalline through
the vegetable and animal worlds as
an unbroken process of natural
growth, thus grasping the world,
inorganic and organic, as one vast
and iudissolubly connected whole,
the other class suppose that tlie pas-
sage from the inorganic to the or-
ganic required a distinct creative act,
and that to produce the different
forms, both in the world of fossils
and in the world of living things,
creative acts were also needed. Men
of equal honesty, earnestness, and
intelligence, are taking opposite sides
as regards this question. Which are
right and which are wrong is a pro-
blem for reasonable and grave dis-
cussion.— ^6«<rac^ of a Lecture in
the Free Trade Hall, Ma)iche8(ei\
October 28, 1874.
The Acoustic Transparency
and Opacity of the Atmo-
sphere. — By Professor Tyndall
(vide page 21). — (Abstract of the
conclusion of a discourse at the^
Royal luatitwtYOti.^ TVsa *ia«Q. ^1
October waa «. ^^ ^1 «x5awst^\i»K^
^ optical \aro3a»g«K«ws^^ \s^ >s^ ^^



1S4



THE TSAB-BOOK OF FACTS.
