, 1876-08-27

The Introduction TO 1roI. lYNDAL
fragments Of Science which had previ-
ousIy appeared as contribution to the Fort
nightly Revx,o, contains some general ideas
Of his upon the question of Materiallsn
which are extremely interesting. The paper
itself Was written Ia the form Of an answer
to JAMES MARTMEAu's criticism Of the Pro-
fessor's famous t Belfast Address" and, As 1t
contains numerous notes and references to
previous essays and addresses, it is extremely
difficult to reproduce the substance Of it in
an intelligent manner but We may at 1east
gather sufficient from it to arrive at Prof.
T1NDA11's general idea Of the force Of mat
ter, the part it plays in the creation OF organ
isns from the lowest forms up to man, and
its relations to the principle called Life. The
broad basis upon which be builds his doctrine
comprehends the existence OF certain force
pervading the i1limitable universe, known in
its most familiar form by the name of Life,
which may be regarded as thes ultimate es-
sence of matter. The illustrations which
Prof. TrNpA11 draws of the operations Of
this force are 50 e1quisitely beautiful that we
are tempted to reproduce them. The first
appertains to the action Of this power in Or
ganic matter, which is illustrated in the
formation of the snow-crystals:
Let US then travel in company to the Caribbean
Sea- and halt upon the heated water. What is
that sea. and what is the sun which heats 1t? An
swering for myself say that they are both matter.
fill glass with the sea-water and expose 1t on
tue deck of the vessel, after some tine the liquid
has ali disappeared. and left solid reaidne Of
salts in the glass behind. We have mobility, in
visibIlity-apparent annihi1ation. In virtue Of
The glad and secret aid
The sun unto the ocean paid,
the water has taken to itself wings and nown of
yapor. From the whole surface OF the Caribbean
Sea such yapor is rising: and now we must follow
it-not upon our legs. however, nor in a ship, nor
even In balloon, but by the minds eye-in other
words, BY that power Of Vorstellnng which Mr.
MAnr1NEAU knows so we'll, and which he SO justly
scorns when it in0ulgea in loose practices.
Compounding, then, the northward motion Of
the vapor with the earths axia1 rotation, we track
our fugitive through the higher atmospheric
regions, obliquely across the Atlantic Ocean to
Western Europe, and OF to OUT familiar Alps.
Here another wonderful metamorphosis occurs.
F}oating the cold, calm air, aud in presence of
the cold armament, the vapor condenses, not only
to particles OF WATER bnt to particles OF crystalline
water. These coalesce to stars Of SHOW, which fail
upon the mountains in forms exquisite that when
first seen they never fall to excite rapture. As to
beauty, indeed, they put the work OF the lapidary
to shame, while us to accuracy they render con-
crete the distractions Of the geon,cter Are theee
crystals matter? Without presuUsing to dog
matize, I answer for myself in the affirmative.
Still, formative poTer has obviously here come
into play which did not manifest itself in either the
liquid or the vnpor. The question now is Was
not the power ''potential" in both Of them, re-
quiriug only the proper conditions Of temperature
to bring 1t into actions Again answer for myself
in the affirmative.
From these lower forms Of organic matter
he passes to the vegetative principle of life,
aud draws his illustration from the oak:
A Sunday or two aso1 stood under an oak planted
by Sir JouS MOORE, the hero OF Corunna. On the
ground near the tree little oak1ets were euccees-
fully fighting for life with the surrounding veee-
tation, The acoms had dropped into the friendly
soil and this Was the result Of their fnteraction.
What is the acorn: what the earth? and what the
sun, without whose heat and light the tree could
not become tree, however rich the soil, and how
ever healthy the seeds answer for myself: as
before-all 'matter," :" and the heat and light
which here p1ay SO potent part are acknowledged
to be motions OF matter. BY taking something
much lower down in the vegetable kingdom than
the oak, VIC might approach much more nearly to
the case Of capitalization already discussed, but
this is not now necessary. II the power to build
tree be conceded to pure matter, what an anaz-
ing expansion Of our notions Of the ''potency OF
matter Is implied in the concession. Think Of
the acorn, OF the earth, and Of the solar light and
heat-was ever such necrotaancy dreamt Of rs
the production OF that massive trunk those sway
ing boughs and whispering leayes, from the inter-,
~ %1-n.+~ knu
moreover, consists whit we call 1lfe.
The elimination Of the power Of matter is
in the production Of Man. Prof. TyspA11.
applies his theory as follows:
Psychologists say that every human being comes
from al egg, not more than 1-l20th Of an inch in