88 The Bible of Nature 



when we have merely dispensed with its employ- 

 ment." 



Do we mean, then, that from such a beginning 

 as a swarm of meteorites, the whole earth with all 

 its beauty and order has grown? That is what 

 science seems to suggest. What a poor and inade- 

 quate beginning, you may say, for such a wonder- 

 ful result. But has any one a right to say this ? 

 Whence came the swarm of meteorites and all 

 that they contained, what is electricity, what is the 

 ether ? What is the reality behind all the counters 

 whose moves it is permitted to science to formulate 

 and eventually to predict? 



Do we mean that from such a beginning the 

 whole earth with all its beauty and order has 

 grown without direction from without? That is 

 what science seems to say, that the direction is 

 from within, that the Kosmos was already in the 

 Nebula, that there never was any chaos at all, that 

 there is nothing in the end which was not also in 

 the beginning. And if you like to add, "In the 

 beginning was the Logos," science has no word 

 to say against it. 



Lafcadio Hearn tells us that in the house of 

 any old Japanese family the guest is likely to be 

 shown some of the heirlooms. ... "A pretty little 

 box, perhaps, will be set before you. Opening it 

 you will see only a beautiful silk bag, closed with 

 a silk running-cord decked with tiny tassels. . - . 



