546. Crystallization belongs to the essence of the earth as the globular form does to that of water. The life of the earth consists in the formation of crystals. The being of the earth and of the crystal are identical. The solid planet earth, has originated also according to the laws of crystallization. 547. It is not, however, a single large crystal, the structure of which appears to be homogeneous; but it is crystallized in its smallest parts; it is an accumulation of crystals, which its atoms, integral parts, or _constituent forms_ present for our examination. If a schorl or feldspar were extended to the size of the whole earth, its integral parts, though undiscoverable before by the microscope, would then become visible. Crystals would be exhibited therein of silicious, argillaceous, talcose, and calcareous earths, of iron, boracic acid, &c. In short it would prove a complex _kind_ of _rock_ or _mountain_. The fundamental or principal mass of the planet is thus a granular _kind_ of _rock_ or _mountain_, probably like granite. Each of these constituent forms is crystallized for itself out of the fluid-mass according to the laws developed in the theory of crystallization, in every point of the fluid a globe of crystallizing forces being constituted, that generated the constituent forms. 548. The earth (regarded as planet, not as element) has during its coagulation into a solid nucleus, generated an infinity of polar spheres, as every polar line consists of an infinite vicissitude of poles. 549. These integral crystals have originated only in drops of water; for then only was an infinite multitude of polar axes and polar radii separated from each other. Water in infinitely numerous drops is rain. In the primary rain each drop crystallized, and each fell towards the centre, because the primary water ranged over a vast extent. The granular rock has originated in and out of rain. It is crystallized _rain_. 550. It does not follow from this, that the earth should be an accidental accumulation of small crystals, which, by the rotation of the planet, formed themselves mechanically into a spheroid. As in small crystals the infinity of poles reunites to constitute some principal polarities, so also is this the case with the globe of the earth; this results from its genesis whereby it is present in a definite space, and hence coheres or hangs together as _one_ piece. The earth is only _one_ small punctule of contraction wrought in æther-space by the agency of light. Again, it was without doubt a single central tension, which, occurring upon a large scale, attracted together all the particles of æther, and from that circumstance arranged them also. It was probably magnetism, which is so intimately connected with the rotation of the earth's axis, or the conflict of magnetism in its interior with the electricity upon its surface, which was active in the condensation and arrangement of the masses.