objects which excite its questionings, and raise the
desire for an explanation. It is related of a young Prince of one of
the Pacific Islands, that when he first saw himself in a
looking-glass, he ran round the glass to see who was standing at the
back. And thus it is with the general human intellect, as regards the
phenomena of the external world. It wishes to get behind and learn
the causes and connections of these phenomena. What is the sun, what
is the earth, what should we see if we came to the edge of the earth
and looked over? What is the meaning of thunder and lightning, of
hail, rain, storm, and snow? Such questions presented themselves to
early men, and by and by it was discovered that this desire for
knowledge was not implanted in vain. After many trials it became
evident that man's capacities were, so to speak, the complement of
nature's facts, and that, within certain limits, the secret of the
universe was open to the human understanding. It was found that the
mind of man had the power of penetrating far beyond the boundaries of
his five senses; that the things which are seen in the material world
depend for their action upon things unseen; in short, that besides the
phenomena which address the senses, there are laws and principles and
processes which do not address the senses at all, but which must be,
and can be, spiritually discerned.

To the subjects which require this discernment belong the phenomena of
molecular force. But to trace the genesis of the notions now
entertained upon this subject, we have to go a long way back. In the
drawing of a bow, the darting of a javelin, the throwing of a
stone--in the lifting of burdens, and in personal combats, even savage
man became acquainted with the operation of _force_. Ages of
discipline, moreover, taught him foresight. He laid by at the proper
season stores of food, thus obtaining time to look about him, and to
become an observer and enquirer. Two things which he noticed must
have profoundly stirred his curiosity. He found that a kind of resin
dropped from a certain tree possessed, when rubbed, the power of
drawing light bodies to itself, and of causing them to cling to it;
and he also found that a particular stone exerted a similar power over
a particular kind of metal. I allude, of course, to electrified
amber, and to the load-stone, or natural magnet, and its power to
attract particles of iron. Previous experience of his own muscles had