The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-02-20
HYDROGEN THE SOURCE OF LIFE.
Romance OF Modern Seies ce-Dre aiming
Plants and pictures on Dead Eyes.
New York Mercury

Romance OF Modern seIe-ce-Dreamine
Plants and pictures ON Dead Eyes.
New York Mercury.
Every newspaper reader is aware that
Mr.. Joseph Norman LOckyer, the cele-
brated French astronomer, has announced
his discovery that there is but one form
o. matter truly elementary. This primal
element is introduced to Us in the shape
IF hydrogen. French chemists have
recently reduced hydrogen from its gas,
eOus torn 10 liquid condition; and
almost simultaneously the English
scientist, by means o the spectroscope,
arrived at the c,rcIu,io n that " hydro
gen Can 10 l,nger be r. gaidr d AZ q nipple
element" H-g. e. turtner: He declares
| mis- conviction that hy d6ogen is the one
hmdy of which sit the elements in the
chemist catalogue are cOmpOssd So
rom tnrc and startling an interpretation
[ al all the Vhtu mEBA tsf animate ana
/ inauimaJe nature o. all We can Sc or
| imagiur in the szure star depths ar Oh
! our own Plan t-alnrusJ parsIyz-s the
! Imagination. That jhe sUbstance we
| nave hitue 70 known rs one the sky
odd elements o. the CREST cosmic2l laAra
! tOry should be endowed with such pro
| team carscities O. form Is g conception
! "u CT u y cry Ctt4 llsts tue u tis 81 OfeaEla
! o. the my biologists or aichemists. VIII Ie
| L ckver IS on the very threshold Of
! demonstrating that there Is but a Jingle
element the great German scientist
| Ha-ckel boldly enuucEates the theory
| that there xJsCs in nature but 2 single
/ force-tbe mechanical See, now, how
/ c0smagony IS simplifed. Molecular
atoms Of hydrogen governed by the
| simple ns GhRDical m0LiODes OF attTactiou
and IepuislOn explain the universe.
| HeuceforUh there Is no more dincuity in
| accounting for the phenomena or lite
! than t0T the falling Of a sLOns TO the
earth. " When q stone is thrown into
the air, " said Prof Haeckel in ais recent
address at Munich, 'it rails again 10 the
/ earth according to definite laws When
g crystal Is formed from 3 saline fluid,
when su phur and mercury UDige to
form cinnub8T, these facts are neither
more or less mechanical life phenomena
than the growth aud wering IF plants.
than the propagation OF animals, or the
perceptions Of man Thsre is no
essential difference" continues this great
inpovetionist, g between living and not~
living matter. 1t Is all d question of
degree. All the natural bodies with
| which we are acquainted with are
has Il sOul--the atom soul "
Query-What Is the atom soul %
Answer (by Prof. Lockyer( Hydro
g There is no difficulty" continues
Haeckel, I" as regards the central soul,
mind or spirit OF man. All soul life or
mind life, which you will, Is ultimately
reterabie TO the two simple functions OF
sensation and motion. The simple sen.
sation OF like and dislike, the simple mo.
lions of attraction and repulsiOn, make
all the complicated combinations OF
the mental faculties" The love and
hate of hydrogen. the attraction and res
pulsion of hydrogen molecules, the Airta'
tiOns of hydrogen atOms-sOuls-thesec con.
stitute creation and the glOries thereof
The psychological principle Is the same il
plants as in animals. 1t IS long since
plants were caught mapping. Recently
it has been discovered that they dream
Mr.. Francis Darwin, NJ B, lecturing al
the London institution few weeks since
ID reported TO have said I" have been
sitting in the dollhouse at night, waiting
to make an observation at a given hour
when suddenly the leaf of a sensitive
plant has been seen to drop rapidly to it;
fullest extent, and slowly to rise to 1T
old position Now, in this action the
plaut is Orh wing Xacrly as If 1t haC
! nePn touch d on ats sensitive lint thu
s'me Internal process produces the SAM
impression ON the plant asa real eXteTna
st mulus. In the same way a do.
.raming ny the fire will yell and move
ms egs a. tie We're bunting g real in
IT al 81 IN imaginary IN bolt F"
Lis Proper To reurai K that the wonder
rui vAtIciu" m ct L .ckyer and Haeck.
were anticipated "v thirty years By
. the reSCIeuce %. what. tor want of
bitter pin rasp, we ave accustomed to e u
oer ic inspiration. TrnuysOu's In Memo
rjaRl was putt shed IN l849, and il
many admirers will readily remembe
; that the lsureste os- the poem, O
p rather series OF poems, with the remark
. able lines:
r "OIs @ ID, one law one element
? Ana one far-off d vine event,
To which the whole creation moves
a An interesting question here arises
/ When 8 ewy years later FaT8dav uttered hi
D famous prophecy of reducing the social
cd element to a single one, had he thi
= utteraDce o. the p set in bic mind ?
. Pot. Huxley has remarked that thu
. pathways of science are strawu wit
the murdered myths of antiCuitv'
! While this Is Undeniab'e, it is equal,
I true that science IS instrumental in r.
! suscitaJiBg many previously Teiecte,
: | superstition. From parativeIy an
, ! Gent times we derive the superstition
! that the last object visible 10 the dYin
: eye Ia imperishably photographed upol
= the dead retins. Most readers will re
= call to mind tales of Tetributive iustic
, based upon the Identification and con
: victiou Of 2 murderer, through tn
! agency OF his photograph IN dead man
., eyes and within the isst decade tn
plot Of play, not 10 mention half
dozen sensation novels founded upon th
g same thesis, hss been constructed to turl
3 upon. the terrible witness OF such
J: r1gues' gallery The TACT has bsen an
!, ! th0ritativsly denied over and over agail
( nv pbvsiolOgists OF established rsputa
r tions. gneered at as a relic of metaphysi
3; cal SPECULATION reinforced By mOrbi,
!, fancy, and finally committed TO the limb
g of utter impossibilities. But 1t turd
Q out that this grim conception Of pOeti
I Justice was founded on fact. Under Ger
q Tain circumstances the development @
t sucF, images as identihab!e photograph:
Y j. a very simple and practicable. process:
= Optograms as such Tetina images sT
g scientifically termed, are now set an
q | mounted TOR permanent illustration c
= the curiosities Of Tetinal physiology
b The foregoing Is an example of resul
o rected myth.
# The much discussed question Of spoH
taneous combustion, since Loekyer's die