to Western Europe, and on
to our familiar Alps. Here another wonderful metamorphosis occurs.
Floating on the cold calm air, and in presence of the cold firmament,
the vapour condenses, not only to particles of water, but to particles
of crystalline water. These coalesce to stars of snow, which fall
upon the mountains in forms so exquisite that, when first seen, they
never fail to excite rapture. As to beauty, indeed, they put the work
of the lapidary to shame, while as to accuracy they render concrete
the abstractions of the geometer. Are these crystals 'matter'?
Without presuming to dogmatise, I answer for myself in the
affirmative.

Still, a formative power has obviously here come into play which did
not manifest itself in either the liquid or the vapour. The question
now is, Was not the power 'potential' in both of them, requiring only
the proper conditions of temperature to bring it into action? Again I
answer for myself in the affirmative. I am, however, quite willing to
discuss with Mr. Martineau the alternative hypothesis, that an
imponderable formative soul unites itself with the substance after its
escape from the liquid state. If he should espouse this hypothesis,
then I should demand of him an immediate exercise of that
Vorstellungs-faehigkeit, with which, in my efforts to think clearly, I
can never dispense. I should ask, At what moment did the soul come
in? Did it enter at once or by degrees; perfect from the first, or
growing and perfecting itself contemporaneously with its own
handiwork? I should also ask whether it is localised or diffused?
Does it move about as a lonely builder, putting the bits of solid
water in their places as soon as the proper temperature has set in? or
is it distributed through the entire mass of the crystal? If the
latter, then the soul has the shape of the crystal; but if the former,
then I should enquire after its shape. Has it legs or arms? If not,
I would ask it to be made clear to me how a thing without these
appliances can act so perfectly the part of a builder? (I insist on
definition, and ask unusual questions, if haply I might thereby banish
unmeaning words.) What were the condition and residence of the soul
before it joined the crystal? What becomes of it when the crystal is
dissolved? Why should a particular temperature be needed before it
can exercise its vocation? Finally, is the problem before us in any
way simplified by the assumption of its exist