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Show ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. CANTO I. 20 Earths from each sun with quick explosions burst, And sec~nd planets issued from the first. 230 Then, whilst the sea at their coeval birth, Surge over surge, ·involv'd the shoreless earth; Nurs'd by warm sun-beams in primeval caves Organic Life began beneath the waves. ". First HEAT from chemic dissolution springs, And gives to 1natter its eccentric wings; beginning or birth, and is a strong natural argument evincing the existence of a cause of its production, that is of the Deity. Earthsj?·om each sun, 1. 229. See Botan. Garden, Vol. I. Cant. I. .1. 107. First Heat from chemic, 1. 235. The matter of heat is an ethereal ·fluid, in which all things are immersed, and which constitutes the general power of repulsion; ~s appears · jn explosions which are produced by the sudden evolution of combined heat, and by the expansion of aU bodies by the slower diffusion of it in its uncombined state. Without heat all the matter of the world would be condensed into a point by the power of attraction; and neither fluidity nor life could exist. There are also particular powers of repulsion, as those of magnetism and electricity~ and of chemistry, uch as oil and water; which last may be as numerous as the particular attractjons which constitute chemical affinities; and may both of them exist as atmospheres round the in eli vidual particles of matter; see Botanic Garden, Vol. I. additional note VII. on elementary heat. ..... -~ . CANTO I. PRODU:CTION OF LIFE. With strong REPULSION parts the exploding mass, Melts into lymph, or kindles into gas. ATTRACTION next, as earth or air subsides,~ £1 The ponderous atoms from the light divides, 240· Approaching parts with quick embrace combines ~ ' Swells into spheres, and lengthens into lines. Last, as fine goads the gluten-threads excite, Cords grapple cords, and webs with webs unite· ' And quick CoNTRACTION with ethereal flame Lights into life the :fibre-woven frame.- . Attraction next, 1. 239. The power of attraction may be divided wto general attradion, whic:h is c:allecl O'ravity· and 1' 11to t' 1 • . . ' · b ' par ICU aT attractw. n, which IS .t ermed chemical affinity · As· nothm' g_ can ac t where ~t does .not exist, the power of gravity must be conceived as e~tendmg from the sun to the planets' occupy1'noo· tha• t I· 1n mense space; a~d may therefore ~e considered as an ethereal fluid; though , not cognizable by our senses like heat, light, and electricity. Particular attraction, or ~hemical af£nity, must likewise occupy the spaces between the particles of matter which they cause to ap-proach each other. The pmver of gravity may therefore be called the general attractive ether, and the matter of heat may be called ~he general repuls.ivc ether; which constitute the two great agents . m the changes of 1nanimate matter. And quick Cont·raction, 1. 245. T'he power of contraction, which exists in organ~zed bodies, and distinguishes life from inanirnation, appears to consist of an ethereal fluid which resides in the brain and nerves of living bodies, and is expended in the act of shortenino· b - |