Summary.—­Thus, then, on a review of the whole, we find all things are endowed with attractive power, and that there is no particle which is not directly or indirectly related, in manifold ways, to the other particles of the universe.  There is, first, the universal attraction of gravitation, under which every particle is, by a fixed law, drawn to every other within the sphere of existence.  There is, secondly, the attraction of cohesion or aggregation, which acts at short distances, and unites the otherwise loose atoms of bodies into coherent masses.  There is, thirdly, the power by which elements of different kinds combine into compounds with new and useful qualities, known by the name of chemical affinity.  And, lastly, related to the action of affinity, aiding in it and resulting from it, there are those strange negative and positive, attractive and repellant polar forces which appear in the phenomena of electricity and magnetism, agencies of such potency and universal avail in modern civilisation.

On the permanency of such forces and their mutual play the universe rests, and its wonderful history.  With the collapse of any of them it would cease to have any more a footing in space, and all its elements would rush into instant confusion.  What a Hand, therefore, that must be which holds them up, and what a Wisdom which guides their movements!  Verily, He that sends them forth and bids them work His will is greater than any one—­greater than all of them together.  How insignificant, then, should we seem before Him who rules them on the wide scale by commanding them, while we can only rule them on the small by obeying them!  And yet how benignant must we regard Him to be who both wields them Himself for our benefit and subjects them to our intelligence and control!

FOOTNOTES: 

[B] This paper on “Attraction” is the substance of a lecture which I composed on the basis of notes taken by me when.  I had the honour of attending the Prince of Wales at the course given, on the same subject by the late Professor Faraday.  The Professor, having seen the resume I had written, warmly commended the execution, and generously accorded me his sanction to make any use of it, whether for the purpose of a lecture or otherwise, as might seem good to me.  It is on the ground of this sanction I feel warranted to print it here.

THE OIL FROM LINSEED.

Various processes have for a long time been in use for the purpose of extracting the oils from different species of nuts and seeds, a few of the more interesting of which are not unworthy of brief notice and description.

In Ceylon, where cocoa-nuts and oil-producing seeds abound, the means employed by the natives in the last century for extracting the oils were of a most primitive character.  A few poles were fixed upright in the ground, two horizontal bars attached to them, between which a bag containing the pulp of the seed or nut was placed.  A lever was then applied to the horizontal bars, which brought them together, thus creating a pressure which, by squeezing the bag, gradually expressed the oil from the pulpy substance.  This rude machine was at that time of day one of the most approved for the purpose.