Picture - Cosmic Polymath

MAGNETISM, ELECTRICITY, LIGHT, HEAT, AND MOTION 115
It follows that dead and living matter exhibit, for the most part, a community of structure and movement.
There is an obvious sympathy as between the inorganic and organic kingdoms. The subjective organic finds its
correlate in the objective inorganic.
The inorganic and organic Idngdoms are adapted to each other. The eye and the Hght are made for and are
physiologically the counterparts of each other. The same is true of all the sense organs, and the objects on which
they act. There would be no need for eyes, ears, taste, smeUing, and touch bodies in animals if there was no light,
and no sounding, smelling, sapid, and extraneous substances outside the animals. Similarly, the inorganic and
organic movements, if not co-ordinated, would clash, oppose, and nullify each other. In nature the law of " least
action" is always at work, and neither in the inorganic nor organic kingdoms is matter or energy ever wasted.
The phenomena of heat, hght, magnetism, electricity, &c., are not confined to the inorganic kingdom. Plants
and animals both generate heat, and animals also generate electricity.
It thus happens that the living plant and animal are in sympathy with everything around them. The in-
organic and organic kingdoms and physical and vital force reciprocate to quite an extraordinary extent, and prove
very conclusively that the universe is to be considered as a whole. The science of optics supplies us with the
microscope and telescope, and these in turn enable us to perceive and study infinitely minute near objects, and
infinitely vast distant objects : the electric telegraph not only connects all parts of the earth physically—it also
connects nations with common aims mentally, and, in a sense, enables them to annihilate time and space : the tele-
phone and wireless telegraphy permit them practically to speak into space and be heard and understood thousands
of miles away ; and the phonograph hterally enables them to embalm and preserve for long ages and future genera-
tions the human voice even to its most subtle inflections. In this way even the dead speaketh. The reciprocation
here alluded to is traceable to an intelligent Creator or First Cause, Who correlates and co-adapts everything, living
and dead. The palpable design every^vhere apparent in the universe negatives the idea that anything organic or
inorganic exists by chance.
Everything had to be created according to a preconceived plan, and all the parts of the inorganic and organic
kingdoms had to be adapted to each other. The inorganic came first, then plants, then animals, and lastly man.
An atmosphere and soil had to be prepared for plants ; and an atmosphere, soil, and plants for animals. An
atmosphere and soil were required for the leaves and roots of plants, plants had to be produced for the food of animals,
and plants and animals were both necessary for the sustenance of man. A habitation and pabulum were required
for plants and animals, and special plants and animals had to be formed, and adapted to meet the exigencies of certain
external conditions, at particular periods.
This necessitated the gradual cooling of the incandescent young earth, the preparation of various subtle gases
and fluids, the slow formation of soil and other solids, &c. The more simple plants and animals were necessary to
the existence of the more complex ones, and physical and vital changes followed each other in an endless but well-
ordered sequence until the universe, as we know it, was evolved. At no point in the great evolutionary process
has the Master-Builder's plan broken down. That, notwithstanding all that has been said of late years to the con-
trary, is sound in warp and woof. It is impossible, even by a stretch of the imagination, to regard the universe as
a chance product.
§ 29. Magnetism, Electricity, Light, Heat, and Motion Correlated.
The universality of magnetism, electricity, light, heat, and motion in the world necessitates a brief considera-
tion of these subjects. They all are the outcome of law and order, and, as such, afford important testimony of
Design and of the existence of a Creator or First Cause. If it can be shown that the subjects referred to all hang
together and are inorganic in their nature, and if, further, it can be demonstrated that they occur also in the organic
kingdom, and that the inorganic and organic kingdoms have much in common and are correlated, it goes without
saying that the great fabric of the universe is a designed whole, and the product, not of chance, but of an
Intelligent Designer. When in every direction in the inorganic and organic kingdoms law and order, and only law
and order, can be traced, and when it is seen that everything inorganic is carefully adapted to everything organic
and vice versd ; the most perfect correlation and co-adaptation being, in every instance, scrupulously carried out
it is next to impossible to ignore the manifestations of Intelligence which everywhere present themselves. This
condition of things acquires additional significance when it is pointed out that the hues of force produced by the
action of natural and artificial magnets and electricity on iron-fihngs resemble in their general arrangement, and even
in their details, similar lines of force employed in the formation of crystals, plants, and animals ; . the fines of force
explaining in large measure not only the structure of crystals, plants, and animals, but also the chief movements
of the two latter. If law and order were confined to the inorganic and organic kingdoms respectively, there would.