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WHAT IS THE DIRECTIVE FORCE 599
pure dilute solution of such a body, yttrium for instance, and if we add to it an
excess of strong ammonia, we obtain a precipitate which appears perfectly homogeneous.
But if instead we add very dilute ammonia in quantity sufHcient only to
precipitate one-half of the base present, we obtain no immediate precipitate. If
we stir up the whole thoroughly so as to insure a uniform mixture of the solution
and the ammonia, and set the vessel aside for an hour, carefully excluding dust, we
may still find the liquid clear and bright, without any vestige of turbidity. After
thi-ee or four hours, however, an opalescence will declare itself, and the next
morning a precipitate will have appeared. Now let us ask ourselves, WTiat can be
the meaning of this phenomenon The quantity of precipitant added was insufficient
to throw down more than half the yttria present, therefore a process akin
to selection has been going on for several hours. The precipitation has evideyitly
%ot been effected at random, those molecules of the base being decomposed which
happened to come in contact with a corresponding molecule of ammonia, for we
have taken care that the liquids should be uniformly mixed, so that one molecule
of the original salt would not be more exposed to decomposition than any other.
If, further, we consider the time which elapses before the appearance of a precipitate,
v/e cannot avoid corning to the conclusion that the action which has been going
on for the first few hours is of a selective character. The problem is not why a precipitate
is produced, but what determines or directs some atoms to fall down and
others to remain in solution. Out of the multitude of atoms present, zuhat power is
it that directs each atom to choose the proper path f We may picture to ourselves some
directive force passing the atoms one by one in review, selecting one for precipitation
and another for solution till all have been adjusted.
The italics in the above passage are ours. Well may a man of
Science ask himself: What power is it that directs each Atom and
what is the meaning of its character being selective Theists would
solve the question by answering "God"; and would thereby solve
nothing philosophically. Occultism answers on its own Pantheistic
grounds, and teaches the student about Gods, Monads, and Atoms.
The learned lecturer sees in it that which is his chief concern: the
finger-posts and the traces of a path which may lead
to the discoverv%
and the full and complete demonstration, of an homogeneous element
in Nature. He remarks
In order that such a selection can be effected there evidently must be some slight
differences between which it is possible to select, and this difference almost certainly
must be one of basicity, so slight as to be imperceptible by any test at present
known, but susceptible of being nursed and encouraged to a point when the difference
can be appreciated by ordinary tests.
Occultism, which knows of the existence and presence in
Nature of
the One Eternal Element, at the first difi"erentiation of which the roots
of the Tree of Life are periodically struck, needs no scientific proofs.
It