(10) Crystals, as you know, are born, grow, live, and may be killed by chemicals or electricity. Some investigators have discovered indications of elementary sex functions in certain crystals. A scientific writer has said: "Crystallization, as we are to learn now, is not a mere mechanical grouping of dead atoms—it is a birth." The crystal forms from the mother liquor, and its body is built up systematically, regularly, and according to a well-defined pattern, plan, or design—as true to the pattern as are the bodies of plants and animals. The certainty is present in the crystal creative life activity. And, not only does the crystal grow in this way, like a plant or an animal, but it also reproduces itself by separation and division, just as do the individuals of the lower forms of plant-life and animal-life. The distinguishing point between the growth and reproduction of crystal forms and that of the higher forms of life has, heretofore, been held to be as follows: the crystal takes its nourishment from the outside and builds up its bodily structure on its outer surface, while the lowly forms of plant-life and animal-life takes its nourishment from the outside but builds up its bodily structure from within. If the crystal had a soft-centre and took its nourishment in the way of the low form of plant-life or animal-life (building from within) it would be almost identical with the diatom; or if the diatom grew from the outside, and had a hard centre, it would be considered a true crystal; so, as you see there is very little real difference between them. And, now, lo! even this distinction is apparently to be wiped out by the discovery of artificial living crystals, evolved in the laboratory.

(14) The common opinion is that crystals are formed by mechanical causes, such as outside pressure, etc., but the careful student of science, as well as the occultist, knows that the formation of a crystal is a growth , and is as much the result of stored-up psychical ideas in the particles, as is the growth of plant substance or animal bodies. The student of crystallography soon becomes convinced of the presence of Life and Consciousness in the world of crystals.

(13) Moreover, on some of the higher minor planes of this Plane of the Minerals, there is manifested the crystallization of the mineral particles according to a definite principle of design embedded in the consciousness of its particles. The crystal is built upon a definite plane, just as truly as is the acorn or the oak—and in all of these cases the pattern is but an "idea" in the consciousness of the combined particles. The Universal Builder works through the consciousness of the mineral particles just as truly and as wonderfully as through the particles of humanity which we call individual men. The study of crystals, and their formation will open up a new world of thought to the average person, and will give him a peep into the workshop of the Universal Builder in which he will see things heretofore unsuspected and undreamt.

(19) In 1886, Professor Van Schrom, of Naples, Italy, was experimenting with the bacilli of the Asiatic cholera, and was examining the same under his high-power microscope. He was attracted by the formation of double pyramids of bacilli in the shape and general appearance of true crystals. These "living crystals" manifested growth and movement, and seemed to be alive and conscious. From these experiments he arrived at the conclusions that all bacteria produce living crystals, and his continued experiments seemed to verify his contention. These bacteria-crystals are composed of homogeneous albuminous matter, which at first is colorless and structureless, and which at a certain stage of their life history seem to lose their life qualities and to become, to all intents and purposes, "dead" crystals. These living crystals seem to be impelled by some inherent force akin to vital action to assume a geometrical figure. And while possessing these indications of elementary vegetable life they also exhibit the characteristic qualities of crystals, viz., refraction, inclusion, absorption, and polarization. Later investigations have revealed the presence of similar living crystals in the secretions of living organisms.