the direction of the current lies in one of the lines of atomic motion the current passes without resistance and is imperceptible; but if it chances to meet in its pathway a line of force passing from atom to atom in a different direction, there is instantly a neutralization of motion and the arrest of each atom at the point of crossing which gives polarity, and the molecule is the result. In space the electric current is the first form of creative manifestations the atoms assume.
Electricity belongs to the atomic forces, has intimate relations with organic life, and gives us a key to unlock its mysteries. Electric energy plays such an important part in cosmic construction that without some knowledge of its nature it is impossible to explain the processes which are the basis of world building.
The crystal rock under microscopic examination shows the same beautiful figures and marvelous lines of arrangement that in winter the new fallen snow-flakes exhibit, and indicate that the lines of form are essentially the same that gave the planetary rock its forms of crystalline beauty and massive structure. And the beautiful snow that falls so gently upon the wintry lap of earth is one of the best representatives of creative power acting in the primitive states of formative forces. This tends to show that the earth began its formative period in extreme cold and not heat, for the formative lines of shape and force are the same in the crystal ice and crystalline snowflake as they are in the crystalline rocks of earth's primary foundations. And they all indicate the lines of electric energy and magnetic force in atomic activity and molecular formations, which are the beginning of all visible material creations.
The shaping of the molecules of the so-called cosmic elements by electric energy into crystalline form is the second great step in world building. While magnetism (the dual force of electricity) serves to hold the form-structure in more or less enduring relations, for the magnet has the power to radiate atomic force in circles and tends to draw the elements into form and hold them there. The electric force keeps the atoms always moving; the magnetic force keeps them or would keep them in atomic balance, or at rest, but electricity keeps magnetism always on the alert, and between the action of the two, or attraction and repulsion, all visible forms are evolved and dissolved.
Thus magnetism is the centripetal force, of planetary construction, and electricity the centrifugal power of planetary changes, and upon these two depend all the complex varieties of inorganic and organic forms that exist. And so long as they exist with their powers of atomic motion so long will world building and form building continue, and must continue through the æons of creative force.
The magnetic state of the earth, with the pulsating currents of electric force in the atomic and radiant form, plays a sovereign part in the economy of nature and makes the planet itself alive with creative force and evolving power.
To demonstrate electrical power in world building and the shifting relations of the elements in the planetary combinations, watch the electric plating battery at work. There you will see the atoms in the solution flowing towards the negative pole and depositing themselves in minute crystals upon the metallic surface, if the negative pole is a metal, and adhering with great pertinacity; the metallic crystals penetrate the crystalline surface of the substance to be plated in minute arms filling up the infinitesimal space, and the atoms in this process transfer their atomic motion in line with the electric force, and become arrested as in the primitive state when they formed the crystalline foundations of primitive earth. It will be found that the power or electric force required to plate one metal is just the same as to disintegrate it, and the electric force is a great solvent, while the magnetic force is a concentrating form-moulding world-building power. And these two forces evenly balanced perpetuate the universe. The fluidic condition of matter arises from molecular activity before the atoms have assumed the crystalline state, and all fluids are easily vaporized to invisible gases.
The primitive planet, in coming from nebula to crystalline form, had to pass through the fluidic state, because the electric atomic balance had not yet been acquired sufficient to produce solidity.
In this stage there could be no organic life; but the earth was enveloped in dense clouds of vapor, and there was no light for many ages, because the earth's surface was below the electric and atomic rate that produced light, and the dense gases and vapors floating around it and between it and the sun prevented the light penetrating its atmospheric pall of darkness.
But in that darkness and vapor and cosmic convulsions was going forward the processes of organic construction essential to fit it for the coming generations of sentient life. Night and darkness ruled, but chaos had no part, and never ruled in all the cycles of creative power. The direct currents of electric force and the circular currents of magnetic power swept through and through earth's molecular structure, ranging the atoms in all the lines of crystal perfection and spherical form, and laying the rock-ribbed foundations in geological stratas in the heart and center of a growing world.
The lines of electro-magnetic force at this period in the planet, with their circular spiral motion, would shape the world into a globular spherical form, and the elements in watery solution would almost come into crystalline firmness, and then an impulse of electrical power would throw them into restless agitation; and again they would respond to the grasp of magnetic strength and return to a state of partial arrest near the crystal condition, and again sway back to the electric primitive molecular state. But they could not get free from the lines of magnetic force which held them with giant grasp until they were incorporated into the foundation rocks of earth's solidifying sphere. And the centre of our planet became a vast solid crystalline magnet, and was never a fiery mist or molten substance.
Finally when the crystalline rocks were settled into a crystalline globe the life-cell was born as the basis of a new condition of planetary form. And in the dark waters where no light was, organic life under the law of creative electric energy began its work upon the planet. The life-cell is the resultant of electric-magnetic action.
During this period of primeval "darkness upon the face of the earth," the resistless electric waves of the sun were beating upon the cloud-enwrapped surface of the planet, but its light had no power to penetrate its cimmerian gloom. And the earth was sending back its pulsating magnetic currents to the sun, and both were evolving themselves into giant dynamos of marvelous electric power—giving and receiving electric currents of positive and negative polarity of wonderful life-giving potency. Gradually the earth solidified into a vast magnet of crystalline rock and metal and like the magnetic core of a steel magnet of vast extent and power, it drew millions of meteors from space.
The internal electric forces in volcanic convulsions were upheaving islands, continents and mountain ranges, rending the rocks and crystalline strata in the contracting crust of the earth, amid lightning flashes and resounding crashes of thunder, like the fabled Titans in primeval battle. It was a contest of the giant forces in their elemental power baptizing a world in the fires of creative and creating energy. The planet was shaken by magnetic force and torn and agitated by electric storms. Gigantic boulders were dislodged from the surface and ground into powder against each other, making soil for coming vegetation and marking out the pathway of the rivers and valleys. It was the adjustment of elemental forces, the night of ages in whose depths and womb of viewless power conscious life originated by electric energy under the evolving law of evolution as the will of Creative Deity. And the mountain ranges following the lines of axial direction of the two poles upon opposite sides of the planet began to slowly rise above the surrounding waters, and lifted their mighty crests above a world floating in surging waters, and darkness, except as it was lit up by lightning gleams of electric power. It may be that during this stage of the planet was laid the foundation of all the distinctive types of life-force, including the cell forms that lay at the basis of living structure, the plant forms and the living forms of animalcular life that float in the ocean below and mists above. All of which had their home and birth in the dense darkness that covered the face of the deep.
It was the formative period of elementary life, and the descendants and successors of that mighty host of living beings have to this day to lay the foundations of their being in similar conditions of darkness. Creative energy
