132 The Bible of Nature 



believing in the erstwhile origin of the living from 

 the not-living, we give a greater continuity to the 

 course of events, and we must again read some- 

 thing into the common denominator of science 

 Matter, Energy, and the Ether. We have already 

 read into this, Wonder and Mystery, Harmony and 

 Order, and we must now read into it Progress 

 and, from a philosophical standpoint, Purpose. 

 Unless Increase of Complexity and Integration, 

 Harmony and Beauty, be considered Ends justi- 

 fying themselves, we cannot read the Riddle of the 

 Earth considered by itself. If, however, the dust 

 of the earth did naturally give rise to living creat- 

 ures, if they are in a real sense her children, then 

 we understand better all the groaning and travail- 

 ing, and what seemed only a development becomes 

 an evolution. 



