atoms into molecules, the molecules into
tissues, and these again into organs capable of a corporate life as a
single organism, supplied with centres of sensation and action. This
intelligence cannot proceed from the mind bodies of the various
beings, for the latter manifest their qualities only when they possess
a fully-developed form--which is not the case with the germs;
moreover, the lower kingdoms show nothing but instinct, and even the
superior animals possess only a rudimentary form of mentality. The
most skilful human anatomist knows nothing more than the eye can teach
him regarding the forms he dissects, though even if he were acquainted
with their whole structure, he would none the less be quite incapable
of creating the simplest sense organ. The Form is the expression of
cosmic intelligence, of God incarnated in the Universe, the Soul of
the world, which, after creating matter, aggregates it into divers
types, to which it assigns a certain duration. The type of the form
varies with the stage of development of the being (_the soul_)
incarnated therein, for the instrument must be adapted to the artist's
capacity; the latter could not use an instrument either too imperfect
or too perfect for his degree of skill. What could the rudimentary
musician of a savage tribe do if seated before the complex organ of
one of our cathedrals; whilst, on the other hand, what kind of
harmony could a Wagner produce from a shepherd's pipe? The Cosmic
intelligence would appear to have created a single, radical form-type,
which gradually develops and at each step produces an apparently new
form, until its series has reached the finished type of evolution. It
stops the evolutionary process of each germ at the requisite point in
the scale; in the case of the most rudimentary souls it allows a
single step to be taken, thus supplying an instrument that possesses
the requisite simplicity; the process is continued longer for the more
advanced souls, but stops just when the form has become a suitable
instrument. When it does not furnish the fecundated germ with the
"model" which is to serve as a ground-plan for atomic deposits,
segmentation takes place in a formless mass, and in this the tissues
are shown without organisation; it is then a mole, a false conception.

It is the same cosmic Intelligence that derides the period during
which the form shall remain in a state of activity in the world. Until
a soul has learnt the lesson that incar