_Quære_—Whether a practical application of this theory would not enable us to account for the genesis or original formation of space itself, in the same manner in which Dr. Darwin has traced the whole of the organized creation to his six filaments—Vide _Zoonomia_. We may conceive the whole of our present universe to have been originally concentred in a single point; we may conceive this primeval point, or _punctum saliens_ of the universe, evolving itself by its own energies, to have moved forward in a right line, _ad infinitum_, till it grew tired; after which the right line which it had generated would begin to put itself in motion in a lateral direction, describing an area of infinite extent. This area, as soon as it became conscious of its own existence, would begin to ascend or descend, according as its specific gravity might determine it, forming an immense solid space filled with vacuum, and capable of containing the present existing universe. Space being thus obtained, and presenting a suitable nidus, or receptacle for the generation of chaotic matter, an immense deposit of it would gradually be accumulated; after which, the filament of _fire_ being produced in the chaotic mass by an _idiosyncrasy_, or self-formed habit, analogous to fermentation, _explosion_ would take place; _suns_ would be shot from the central chaos; _planets_ from _suns_; and _satellites_ from _planets_. In this state of things the filament of _organization_ would begin to exert itself in those independent masses which, in proportion to their bulk, exposed the greatest surface to the action of _light_ and _heat_. This filament, after an infinite series of ages, would begin to _ramify_, and its viviparous offspring would diversify their forms and habits, so as to accommodate themselves to the various _incunabula_ which Nature had prepared for them. Upon this view of things it seems highly probable that the first effort of Nature terminated in the production of vegetables, and that these, being abandoned to their own _energies_, by degrees detached themselves from the surface of the earth, and supplied themselves with wings or feet, according as their different propensities determined them in favour of aerial and terrestrial existence. Others, by an inherent disposition to society and civilization, and by a stronger effort of _volition_, would become men. These, in time, would restrict themselves to the use of their _hind feet_; their _tails_ would gradually rub off by sitting in their caves or huts, as soon as they arrived at a domesticated state; they would invent _language_ and the use of _fire_, with our present and hitherto imperfect system of _society_. In the meanwhile, the _Fuci_ and _Algæ_, with the _Corallines_ and _Madrepores_, would transform themselves into _fish_, and would gradually populate all the submarine portion of the globe. Footnote 214: Ver. 46. _Trochais_—The Nymph of the Wheel, supposed to be in love with Smoke-Jack. Footnote 215: