Sand is insoluble in pure water, but it is dissolved by alkaline solutions. Natural waters which contain alkaline carbonates always have some sand in solution. Sand from its two fold nature seems to be the bond between death and life or the solution to the theory of "from dust to life." Sand when in solution is a colloid. If 8 or 10 parts of carbonate of soda or potash are mixed with 12 or 15 parts of sand and 1 part of charcoal on being heated they melt and form a mass resembling ordinary glass, but it entirely dissolves in =hot water=. If now chlorohydric acid be added to the solution it neutralizes the alkali and the silica or sand separates as A TRANSPARENT JELLY. A colloid! It is "hydrate of silica," but it is now fixed like albumen or an organized substance and is insoluble in water or acid. If it is kept moist it remains a colloid, but by drying it and separating it from its partner, water, the colloid making alchemical mysterious WATER, the sand turns to dust again--a gritty powder! At common temperatures carbonic acid is stronger than silica, and upon many of the combinations of silica the air acts as a destructive agent, its carbonic acid slowly uniting with bases or alkali and liberating the silica, and at the moment of its liberation the sand is soluble in water. Sand, it will be seen, acts both as an acid and combines with an alkali and as a base and combines with acids. Sand in solution enters the roots of plants and from its transforming nature or transmutation, it performs great wonders in nature, it performs miracles in the animal body and in water itself. It is the ideal agent for the generation of =vacuo spaces= or life cells, from its being in one state when warm and in another when cold, from its being capable of forming soft cell walls and then concreting around a quantity of ether or spirit upon cooling. It proves itself the "Philosopher's Stone." Hot and cold and silicon! What a wonderful combination! It explains the mysteries of the universe, radio-activity and life. It may be well to here state that there is no chemical difference between a dead man's brain and nerves and a live man's brain and nerves. This in itself shows that the cause of life and intelligence is simply from some conformation of matter which allows the presence of Spirit. This is the invisible process of the formation of WHITE SPARKS or the making of a hollow center to molecules. LIFE is not a principle per se of organic matter, but organic matter is arranged into round molecules with cell center of silicon phosphorus, sulphur or iron. The hard and fast nature of the elements is an imagination and it is only a short step of nature from quartz or silicon to carbon and I may also say to nitrogen the gas of the atmosphere.