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Properties And Qualities Of Nature's Elements

( Originally Published Early 1900's )

There are ultimate elements in nature which seem to be unvarying in principle, indestructible in essence, yet in-finitely varied as manifested through transitory forms.



1. Matter is a universal substance.

2. Motion is a universal activity.

3. Life is a universal element.

4. Attraction is a universal mode of securing cooperation.

5. Repulsion is a universal mode of securing divorce.

6. Intelligence is a universal principle.


"Matter is sensible substance ; that which offers resistance to touch or muscular effort ; that which can be moved, strained, broken, comminuted or otherwise modified, but which cannot be destroyed or produced; that which reacts against forces, is permanent, and preserves its identity under all changes. Matter has three stages of aggregation, the solid, the liquid, and the gaseous. See solid, liquid, gas, and ether."

The Century Dictionary.

No scientist is fully content with the above definition. It is merely an attempt to describe matter by its properties. The essential nature of matter is unknown. The so-called "elements" are substances which chemists are not at present able to resolve into two or more "elements."

With the new discoveries of scandium, gallium, germanium; the radio-active elements, radium, thorium, uranium, polonium and actinium; and the gases, argon, helium, neon, krypton and xenon; it is now considered that there are about eighty-three "elements" of matter. Occasionally one and another of the leading scientists will venture a prophecy or drop a hint that there is such a thing as transmutability of the "elements" and a possibility of there being only one ultimate substance.

These eighty-three elements comprise the substance of all physical matter. The same substances which compose the earth, its atmosphere, and the bodies of its plant and animal life, also compose the planets, sun and stars, as revealed by spectrum analysis.

Ether, instead of being some mysterious form of non-matter, is now believed to be the lightest and simplest of the elements and a definite form of matter. It probably pervades all space and interpenetrates all other forms of matter.

The theory known as "The Law of the Conservation of Matter" states that the sum total of matter in the universe is fixed, that no particle, however small, can be created or destroyed. This "Law" is a formulated confession of man's impotence.


Like Time, Space, Gravitation, etc., absolute Motion is a concept which man uses in his attempts to explain phenomena. It is conceived from all experiences and means of judging that every particle of matter in the universe is in perpetual motion. Change is a characteristic of every material object.

Another name for this universal Motion is Energy. The store of Energy in the universe is supposed to be fixed, that no portion of it is ever lost or created. This theory is called "The Law of the Conservation of Energy." This "Law" is man's formulated recognition of an uncomprehended Superior Power.


Many of the most astounding discoveries of modern science since the invention of the microscope have been regarding the universality of life. Life to an astonishing degree of abundance has been located in the most unexpected places. Alexander von Humboldt's beautifully written and most instructive essay on Physiognomy of Plants furnishes many examples of this abundance of life in all stages and forms. He says :

"According to Ehrenberg's brilliant discovery, the yellow sand or dust which falls like rain on the Atlantic near the Cape de Verde Islands and is occasionally carried even to Italy and Middle Europe consists of a multitude of Silicious-shelled microscopic animals. Perhaps many of them float for years in the upper strata of the atmosphere, until they are brought down by vertical currents or in accompaniment with the superior current of the trade-winds, still susceptible of revivification, and multiplying their species by spontaneous division in conformity with the particular laws of their organization.

"But, besides creatures fully formed, the atmosphere contains innumerable germs of future life, such as the eggs of insects and the seeds of plants, the latter provided with light hairy or feathery appendages, by means of which they are wafted through the air during long autumnal wanderings. Even the fertilizing dust or pollen from the anthers of the male flowers, in species in which the sexes are separated, is carried over land and sea, by winds and by the agency of winged insects, to the solitary female plant on other shores. Thus, wherever the glance of the inquirer into nature penetrates, he sees the continual dissemination of life, either fully formed or in the germ."

Thus, it seems to be fully demonstrated that the atmosphere contains countless living germs.

Professor Huxley made the following summary in his Presidential Address to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, entitled Biogenesis and Abiogenesis:

"To sum up the effect of this long chain of evidence :

"It is demonstrable that a fluid eminently fit for the development of the lowest forms of life, but which contains neither germs nor any protein compound, gives rise to living things in great abundance if it is exposed to ordinary air ; while no such development takes place if the air with which it is in contact is mechanically freed from the solid particles which ordinarily float in it and which may be made visible by appropriate means.

"It is demonstrable that the great majority of these particles are destructible by heat, and that some of them are germs or living particles, capable of giving rise to the same forms of life as those which appear when the fluid is exposed to unpurified air.

"It is demonstrable that inoculation of the experimental fluid with a drop of liquid known to contain living particles gives rise to the same phenomena as exposure to unpurified air.

"And it is further certain that these living particles are so minute that the assumption of their suspension in ordinary air presents not the slightest difficulty. On the contrary, considering their lightness and the wide diffusion of the organisms which produce them, it is impossible to conceive that they should not be suspended in the atmosphere in myriads.

"Thus the evidence, direct and indirect, in favor of Biogenesis for all known forms of life must, I think, be admitted to be of great weight."


Definition from the Century Dictionary :

"Attraction, the force through which particles of matter are attracted or drawn toward one another; a component acceleration of particles toward one another, according to their distance. Such attraction is a mutual action which in some form all bodies, whether at rest or in motion, exert upon one another. The attractive force with which the atoms of different bodies in certain cases tend to unite, so as to form a new body or bodies, is called chemical affinity; that which binds together the molecules of the same body is called cohesion; those of different bodies, adhesion. Connected with the last-named forces is capillary attraction, by which liquids tend to rise in fine tubes or small interstices of porous bodies. In all the cases mentioned the forces act only through very small distances. When bodies tend to come together from sensible distances, the force being directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them, the attraction is called gravitation, as when the earth attracts and is attracted by a falling body, or attracts and is attracted by the moon, etc., or magnetism, as when exerted between the unlike poles of a magnet; or electricity, as when dissimilarly electrified bodies attract one another."

The cooperation of two or more elements of matter is universally brought about through the principle of attraction, or polarity, or positive and receptive energy. Two

Properties and Qualities of Nature's Elements 111 other useful terms for this principle of nature are "chemical affinity" and "sex affinity." This universal principle is the generator of all physical life, the integrator of all physical forms, and the fundamental motive power of Evolution.

The principle has also been formulated as, "That fundamental principle in nature which impels every entity to seek vibratory correspondence with another like entity of opposite polarity." In other words, it is the universal principle of sex attraction and impulse for union.

From page 224, The Riddle of the Universe:

"The different relation of the various elements towards each other, which chemistry calls `affinity,' is one of the most important properties of ponderable matter; it is manifested in the different relative quantities or proportions of their combination in the intensity of its consummation. Every shade of inclination, from complete indifference to the fiercest passion, is exemplified in the chemical relation of the various elements towards each other, just as we find in the psychology of man, and especially in the life of the sexes."


Repulsion is "the action which two bodies exert upon each other when they tend to increase their mutual distance": as, the repulsion between like magnetic poles or similarly electrified bodies."

One of the most important manifestations of Repulsion is found in the disintegration of organized bodies when the life force has departed which originally integrated the particles.

This is a very important principle in nature, as its operation assists in securing a universal circulation of matter, giving opportunities for continual new adjustments and aiding in the transmutation and refining of Material and Life Elements.


1. If we examine any existing species of plant, animal or human life, we find that it is a manifestation of some degree of intelligence. Its integration, its structure, its form, its design, its functions, all indicate a measure of response to intelligent, purposeful power. It seems to be the result of the action of an intelligent power and purposeful design.

2. There is no evidence of any species of plant, animal or human life having a complete understanding of itself and, therefore, the individual did not and could not supply the intelligence and power which created its own organ-ism. Furthermore, no individual understands the power and process of reproduction of its own species.

3. There is no evidence of any species having knowledge, purpose or power to create any other species, either lower or higher than itself.

4. Laws, methods and processes do not in themselves explain the intelligence and power operating through and by them.

Conclusion : Whereas, there are manifold manifestations of an intelligence which is not possessed, understood, or controlled by the life forms which manifest it, and, where-as, laws, methods and processes do not possess intelligence : Therefore, it is considered that there is a Universal Intelligence which is superior to any Individual Intelligence known to man. Also, the Universal Intelligence is necessarily superior to the laws, methods and processes by and through which it operates.

(Note: Whether or not this Universal Intelligence is also an Individual Intelligence in essence, in purpose, and in power, is not herein discussed.)

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