﻿WITH 
  THE 
  DOMAIN 
  OF 
  THE 
  INORGANIC 
  53 
  

  

  4. 
  Abundance 
  and 
  Insurgence 
  of 
  Life. 
  

  

  A 
  second 
  impression 
  is 
  that 
  of 
  wealth 
  of 
  numbers 
  and 
  of 
  

   indomitable 
  will 
  to 
  live. 
  There 
  are, 
  indeed, 
  organisms 
  which 
  

   multiply 
  slowly, 
  such 
  as 
  elephants, 
  golden 
  eagles, 
  and 
  cen- 
  

   tury 
  plants, 
  but 
  this 
  is 
  not 
  the 
  way 
  with 
  the 
  majority. 
  Most 
  

   of 
  the 
  streams 
  of 
  life 
  are 
  ever 
  tending 
  to 
  overflow 
  their 
  

   banks. 
  Even 
  the 
  rarities 
  may 
  do 
  so 
  in 
  appropriate 
  condi- 
  

   tions; 
  thus 
  a 
  rather 
  rare 
  wingless 
  Glacier-Insect 
  was 
  recently 
  

  

  C_3 
  i/ 
  

  

  found 
  on 
  one 
  stretch 
  of 
  the 
  mer-de-glace 
  at 
  Chamonix 
  in 
  

   numbers 
  almost 
  equal 
  to 
  the 
  population 
  of 
  Great 
  Britain 
  and 
  

   Ireland. 
  In 
  the 
  case 
  of 
  organisms 
  of 
  low 
  individuation, 
  

   which 
  hold 
  their 
  own 
  rather 
  because 
  they 
  are 
  many 
  than 
  be- 
  

   cause 
  they 
  are 
  strong 
  or 
  wise, 
  the 
  productivity 
  is 
  beyond 
  aU 
  

   our 
  powers 
  of 
  conception. 
  From 
  one 
  Infusorian 
  there 
  may 
  be 
  

   a 
  million 
  by 
  the 
  end 
  of 
  a 
  week, 
  and 
  in 
  some 
  of 
  the 
  floating 
  

   meadows 
  of 
  the 
  sea 
  there 
  may 
  be 
  a 
  quarter 
  of 
  a 
  million 
  units 
  

   in 
  a 
  gallon 
  of 
  water. 
  

  

  There 
  is 
  a 
  well-known 
  British 
  starfish, 
  Luidia 
  ciliaris, 
  

   which 
  produces 
  at 
  least 
  two 
  hundred 
  millions 
  of 
  eggs, 
  and 
  yet 
  

   it 
  is 
  not 
  what 
  one 
  would 
  call 
  a 
  common 
  animal. 
  

  

  We 
  are 
  familiar 
  with 
  calculations 
  of 
  what 
  would 
  occur 
  

   if 
  there 
  were 
  no 
  thinning 
  of 
  the 
  crops 
  how 
  soon 
  the 
  earth 
  

   would 
  be 
  covered 
  with 
  a 
  weed, 
  or 
  the 
  sea 
  filled 
  solid 
  with 
  a 
  

   fish, 
  or 
  the 
  sky 
  darkened 
  with 
  an 
  insect, 
  and 
  recurrent 
  

   plagues 
  of 
  locusts, 
  sparrows, 
  rabbits, 
  and 
  moles 
  remind 
  IH 
  

   that 
  a 
  possibility 
  may 
  easily 
  become 
  an 
  actuality. 
  After 
  

   allowing 
  a 
  prodigious 
  mortality 
  of 
  95 
  per 
  cent., 
  it 
  is 
  com- 
  

   puted 
  that 
  the 
  10,000,000 
  pairs 
  of 
  breeding 
  rats 
  in 
  Britain 
  

   on 
  New 
  Year's 
  Day, 
  1918, 
  were 
  represented 
  by 
  40,000,000 
  

   pairs 
  at 
  the 
  end 
  of 
  the 
  year, 
  and 
  by 
  12,000,000 
  more 
  pairs 
  

   the 
  following 
  month 
  ! 
  There 
  is 
  a 
  grimness 
  in 
  the 
  well-known 
  

  

  